"Reely" fishy Halloween

Halloween rocked this year. It was such a fun-filled day. And the cool part is, Brian got to spend the morning with us. It's always special when he has some time to be with us.. And he sure caught himself some "reely" cute fish to spend it with. 

(PS-if you notice.. Brian's costume is the same from two years ago when he was a bug catcher.. he's not much into dressing up so.. Usually a hat and prop is the way to go)

This picture almost had me rolling on the ground laughing..Where's Adeline? Halloween really was a blast and I have a feeling it will only get better from here as Lydia starts to understand more and more.

We went to Gardner Village for the Witchfest and did Six Hags. We swam in corn kernels and played in a haymaze and they had a super cute petting zoo that she adored.. even when she got nipped by the horse. I'm pretty sure it was Disneyland to Lydia. She could have stayed there all day. She also got to ride a pony... and it is a good thing her pony was so well-behaved because her loud laughing the WHOLE time would have spooked most horses. It was adorable. Too bad she can't get a pony for Christmas... ha

Kaitlyn was our neighbor in Chicago.. our doors were seriously about 4 feet apart.. We became instant friends which is such a blessing to find when you're away from family.. especially when the person is your next door neighbor.. close enough that she could hear Lydia singing in the tub at night through the wall! It was a blast to have her come visit as well.

Debbie and Lydia have a very special relationship.. Debbie's husband Brett passed away a few months before Lydia was born. Lydia took immediately to Debbie and it often seemed as if Lydia already knew Debbie. I always had a very strong impression that Debbie's husband Brett had sat Lydia down up there and told her to take good care of Debbie while they were apart. Lydia loves and adores Debbie and I think it is safe to say Debbie feels the same. They share a very very special bond.

 

The llama wanted a selfie.. so I had to oblige. 

That smile says it all... like I said. This was probably how Disneyland would rate to this girl.

This is how Lydia feels anytime she gets to hold the baby... and while it is super duper adorable.. it also scares me and has me on edge ready to save Adeline from Lydia's sudden movements (I'm talking about the times when Lydia will push her to land on her face or try and carry her in a choke hold, or "hand" her a toy and end up giving her a goose egg on her head... those kind of sudden movements).

I truly hope Lydia always loves her little sister as much as her face shows in these pictures. I can just stop worrying when Addie can defend herself a wee bit better.

Lydia is obsessed with airplanes or "kites" as she insists on calling them. She reminds me of the dogs from the movie Up. When they see a squirrel they stop mid-sentence or whatever they are doing and say.. "SQUIRREL!" Lydia does the same thing with airplanes.. "KITE!" or "AIRPANE!" Don't believe me? Watch her video I did for her second birthday. I didn't even put in how many times she got distracted by an airplane flying overhead.

I'm pretty sure Adeline wondered why I woke her up to stick her in this big poofy thing... but it kept her really warm so that was worth it. And she makes an extremely adorable fish if I might add..

Lydia was surrounded by quite the crew for Trick-or-Treating.. and I'm that really cool person that made them all wear a costume (which turned into a hat of some sort).

With Debbie and Kaitlyn  in town they were able to catch Adeline's blessing and spend Halloween with us which made Halloween a real treat. Brian's mom Laurie joined us for some quick trick-or-treating. Brian sadly had to work.. He started night shift for the next couple weeks.. Ugh.. don't get me started on that... ANYWAY.... 

 

Trick or treating was adorable.. like melt my heart can we do this forever kind of adorable. We practiced her saying trick or treat before we went and hearing her darling little voice say that was enough to make anyone dump all their treats into her little pumpkin container.

But when we actually went to the door and she saw the candy people where just giving away.. She would say... "P-p-please?" and that put her trick-or-treating cuteness up a notch. SO STINKING CUTE! Especially as she'd wave goodbye and say "Tank Ooou!" and blowing kisses. My mommy heart was bursting.

Trick or treating crew! If I were to somehow tie in all our costumes I would say that Kaitlyn is the magician with a magic mouse (Debbie) that comes out of her hat because the bunny was on vacation. Me and the babies are the fish in the magician's fish tank in her office where the evil assistant magician Laurie is trying to steal Kaitlyn's hard earned money....

Okay.. that was a stretch.

Happy Halloween from our tank to yours! 

Chicago Medical School Graduation 💗

TA DA!!!! Presenting Dr. Larson! After all the dreaming and doubting, the ups and the downs, Brian graduated.

We debated for a while on whether we wanted to fly back to Chicago for graduation.. Paying money for flights, taking the time to walk across a stage, finding a babysitter, a place to stay, etc... Is it worth it we asked ourselves..?

The answer to that was absolutely.

Being able to hear Brian's name as "Dr. Brian Larson" and watching him walk across that stage and be hooded made me speechless. And yes.. I cried. 

You can hear me in the video below...all emotional and who knows what. I just couldn't help shouting for all to hear, "That's my husband! That's him!" and of course crying.. I just allowed myself to give into all the emotions of the last 4 years of watching this man struggle and aspire. 

All those sleepless nights, nail-biting tests, hungry study hours, and lonely days couldn't damper my feelings and excitement. 

There he was.. walking across with the biggest smile on his face.

Yes. This was worth it.

All of it.

We are so grateful for all the tremendous support and love we have received throughout the years. I don't want to imagine what it would have been like without all our family, friends, and the Lord. I can't bring myself to even think about what life would have been like in that world.

We feel beyond blessed to be here. We've seen and felt the Lord's hand in our lives from day one. He has freely given us so many tender mercies and miracles along this journey. Family has come to visit us and take care of us, call just to chat because I'm lonely and pray for us in which we truly felt the prayers. Friends have stood by us in getting us through the days when we needed to relax or vent, adding some fun and excitement to those gray days and learning to lean on each other. We've been fed, clothed, sheltered, and loved.

Thank you... Words can't fully express how thankful we are.

To celebrate, we headed out on Lake Michigan to go sailing. It was perfect to just feel so free and uplifted, even with the dark cloud of residency threatening to hang over us in the next few weeks.

Chicago skyline is beautiful. The weather here in Illinois is pretty decent in the spring, summer, and fall. We've loved the trees and living by Lake Michigan which is pretty much an ocean. We'll miss the food, sights, and sounds. Simple things like fireflies and cicada bugs and all the squirrels (seriously.. like 20 in every tree and half of them black squirrels!). We'll miss being close to Six Flags and all the forest preserves. The museums, one of a kind houses (not cookie cutter like we are used to seeing), and all the farms where we can do our own fruit picking. Of course, above all.. we'll miss the people. Our neighbors, ward friends, the families I worked for and learned to love. We truly will miss it all. Chicago has been good to us and we learned to love it here.

 

So long Chicago. You will be greatly missed. Goodbye medical school.. I'll miss you only sorta. 

To Do List: ☑ Medical School

When Brian and I were dating, he told me his plans to go to medical school and that he would graduate in Spring of 2016. I had just graduated high school only a few months before in 2010 and the idea of waiting until 2016 for Brian to graduate from medical school was daunting.

But then I did the math and calculated that by the time he graduated medical school I would be 24 and it would be a good age to become first time parents.

And halfway through medical school we knew it wasn't right to wait until we were no longer in school, no longer in debt, and closer to family. We knew that it was time for our family to grow. And after I miscarried we second guessed if our feelings on starting a family had been wrong.

We became pregnant again and my new fear was that I would be raising this child alone because her father would be busy with school. I thought that on our first day of medical school that I was giving up my marriage to another woman named Medicine.

I could complain about how many dinners that have gone cold or mushy from trying to keep it warm in the crock pot, or I could talk about each night that they baby got put down to bed without seeing the face of her father-but many of us have gone through similar times.

We aren't crossing the finish line today. But we are celebrating the start of a new race.

This is the end of a very good chapter of our lives-a life where we learned so much about ourselves in our time in Chicago. We learned how to rely on each other, manage our time, work even when we don't want to, become new parents, raise a wild child, and how to truly bloom where we were planted in our little town home. We celebrate today.

There is still so much work to be done, but here is to celebrating the successes that happen all along the way.

The last four years have been different than I ever imagined. You know when people would ask you at the end of high school, "Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?" I did not ever expect to be here.

But I am so happy that I am. The last 4 years have been challenging in so many ways. They have taught us to rely more on our faith and on each other. I went through 4 different jobs, finally settling in on the best job of all: motherhood. Brian worked so hard on studying, clinicals, rotations, and studying some more. On top of that he served as Elders Quorum President in our ward which added its own challenges but helped strengthen him spiritually.

Here is to celebrating the end of one journey and start of a new one. Congrats Brian J Larson, MD!

Match Day: Only a day away!!

Fiddler on the Roof has been in my head all week long.. It plays over and over. "Matchmaker, Matchmaker, make me a match, find me a find, catch me a catch..."

Tomorrow is the day.

Most M4s across the nation will all receive their envelope in which their next 3-6 years of life depends. And at the exact same time nation-wide... the envelopes will open and futures will be unfolded.

It sounds a lot like a mission call to me.. and in some ways, medical school has been for us. I always wanted to serve a mission and moving to Chicago gave me many more missionary opportunities than I thought was possible. This will be our next mission!

The ceremony leading up to opening the envelope will probably be like a small episode of church while we try to confine Lydia and keep her quiet and still (it's during naptime).. but we are going.. ALL of us.

Excited, nervous, anxious, fidgety, restless... eager? Jittery? Wired?  You name it.. I'm feeling it.

We already found out we matched on Monday which was a bit of a relief to know that Brian wouldn't have to do what they call the SOAP (Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program) which is where those who didn't match scramble for a residency program.

Brian received the following email on Monday..

We are matched! And since have been counting down the days and hours until tomorrow at 11 am Chicago time.. (well really we've been counting days for months... but hourly is new haha)

We are ready for any of the choices. We have prayed long and hard that we go where we are needed and we will bloom wherever we are planted.

And now, switching from Fiddler on the Roof and singing in the wise words of Annie, "The Sun will come out tomorrow, so you gotta hang on 'til tomorrow! Come what may! Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow You're only a day away!"

Oh, and Happy St. Patrick's day from this darling blue-eyed girl in green! Come what may!

January Bundles

I still can't believe that it is February. I am really trying to get used to writing 2016 and seeing it everywhere I go. January has been both good and frustrating to us.. There is always a bit of goodness and happiness if we look for it, but we have had a great deal of doctor visits as well. And those are rarely fun.

Lydia has been battling double ear infections for a couple weeks that don't seem to want to go away. So we have been back a lot. Between fevers and weird rashes that have driven us here as well..

Lydia has trigger thumb on both of her thumbs. This is where she isn't able to straighten her thumbs. Her right thumb is bent at a 90 degree angle and her left is at 45 degrees. It doesn't hurt her, but she does get frustrated when trying to open books or grab things with her thumbs. We have gone to an Pediatric Orthopedic surgeon to see if there are steps we can take to help her.

We'll decide by March if surgery is needed or if we can wait a few years and just watch them and see what happens.

This is truly how we have felt about this room at our doctor's.. every week.. And there have been a few weeks of multiples and up to 4 visits! What?!

Lydia's favorite toy in the world would be a book. She is obsessed and I'm not even kidding. This girl owns her own private library and she will sit for hours and just look at her books and be completely satisfied. She knows how to say book , though she isn't great with her "k's" and she will often speak gibberish as she looks through them as if she is reading them. I love it. I love having a little book lover.

My sister Raquel came to visit.. which easily made this January the best January we have had out of our 4 Januaries here. We did our usual Chicago Show-down.. Took her to Millennium Park and to the Field Museum and to the famous and delicious Wildberry and Portillos.. and of course had to top her visit with a visit to the Silo for the best deep dish pizza! It was amazing. We have been so blessed to have so many family members come out to visit us here. We definitely get lonely and so it always feels nice to see those you love. 

Lydia was in heaven to have her aunt here.. but so was I. I really do hope that we will be within driving distance when we move in a few months.

We also took a big leap of faith this month and said goodbye to our precious and beloved cat Minnie. After the big break of being home in Utah for 7 weeks and having her stay with our friend Lynn, we just felt very strongly that Lynn needed to have the cat.

With our current situation of moving and then being in limbo for a couple months while we looked for somewhere to live and whatnot-it just felt like Minnie needed a secure home and environment. Though I have cried because I have seriously loved and adored this cat.. we gave her to the best home in the world. She will be pampered and given the attention she needs and deserves.

It still is hard when I see a boot lying out in the corner of my eye and think it's the cat-or when Lydia tries to climb under the bed looking for the "hi titty". But I know we did what was right and needed. So long sweet Minnie.

With January being such a cold and frigid month, we have been SO blessed to have good neighbors just in our backyard who can walk over and play. Lydia and Lincoln are more like siblings and it is adorable to watch. They love playing together and it makes cold winter days go by that much faster and better.

So long January. We are ready to welcome a fresh February!