Shades of Green / 18 Months

I think this time of year is so pretty on the palouse. The fields are a rich shade of green...that my camera does not capture, but you get the idea.

Macey had her doctor appointment today. She did GREAT with the shot. The nurse I nicely asked the office not give Macey shots...well, she slowly gave Macey her shot today (actually it was a faster version of her slow method). But she only had one shot and only cried for a few seconds. Cody was the most frustrated with it all. He did not want Macey or him to have to get any shots. When the nurse walked in the room he nicely informed the nurse "I'm not getting any shots today."

Macey is 23 lbs. 7 oz. (35%) and 35% for height. She loves putting on shoes. She knows what she wants and will yell for attention to get it:) She has started slowly putting small sentences together. Yesterday Cody told us to "Cut it out" because he heard someone else say it, and Macey yelled cut it out for about 10 minutes. The one downfall to all this is that she CANNOT whisper-and yells in church. She is now old enough for nursery...we'll see how that goes:)

Today

Today was a good day: went running, showered AND got ready (those rarely happen in chronological order), went to the science center-played and had lunch, Macey napped, Cody watched Toy Story II (fav of the week), I made bread and dinner, went to a friend's house, had a good conversation about faith, dinner, bath, bed for the kids, talked to my hubby (instead of shouting over the kids to him at dinner:)). There were still time outs and Macey did crush one of my new contacts; that's life. It was good.

At the science center, Cody is standing by his favorite snake, holding the snake he made:)

Oh, and I was attacked by a bird on my jog. Seriously. I ran by a tree it was in on my way out and it swooped and squacked but I thought it was my imagination that it was directed at me. Then on my way back the bird chased me, swooping and squacking, while I sprinted home, for about 300 yards. That is one FREAKISH bird.

Words of Cody / Words of Wisdom

In place of yes, or any affirmative answer, Cody now says "Totally."

Cody: I don't want to sit in this seat.

Me: Why?

Cody: It makes me weird.

Me: It makes you weird?

Cody: Totally.

Cody: Can I get a sticker at the dank?

Me: What's the dank? (Heading to the bank) Oh, the bank?

Cody: The dank.

Me: It's Bank. Bee. Ba. Bank

Cody: Bee Ba....(a few seemingly thoughtless seconds) Dank. I want a sticker at the dank.

Cody, upon arrival at the bank: We're at the Bank!

And Macey in her cute words asked yesterday as we were getting ready to eat: "Cody sleeping?" Yes, Cody fell asleep on the way home from church, but Macey was grumpy all day. Her nap start time can range anywhere from 11:00 to 2:00. Incidentally, our church goes from 11-2:)

And, speaking of church. When Elder Bednar came when our stake presidency was recently reorganized he kept saying that the Lord qualifies who he calls. Those are words of wisdom. 

MOAB

What a fun week! This picture just captures exactly what Cody and Clayton did: played in dirt. It was maybe the best vacation Cody has been on for that very reason! He and Clayton were filthy all the time and thoroughly happy. They also got to go for a ride on the 4 wheelers! This is at Pasta Jay's, a Great restaurant! They're not such exciting pictures, but it's a great restaurant and if you can just get a visual of the seating it will help explain this story. Jon ordered a shrimp dish. The shrimp were slippery and just as he was taking a bite the tail slipped out of his hands and landed exactly on top of Steph's bread that she was getting ready to eat. It was pretty funny and made Jon laugh, and spit some of his recent bite right out onto Ryan's plate. Perfect. I still laugh.

We did a lot of hiking and sightseeing. Cody was such a trooper. When we did Delicate Arch he hiked three miles. Grandpa was his hiking buddy:

At one point of our hiking I asked Cody to hold my hand. He didn't want to, so I asked him if he would help me down the steep part. He immediately grabbed my hand and said "I will help you be careful mom." Little Mace, lounging in her little chair. This poor girl had a fever the whole week. It got in the 40's at night but she was luckily able to sleep in the trailer with my parents. That meant that my mom got her at night. For as sick as Macey is (at LEAST half of her life has been in sickness) I will say that one of her redeeming qualities is that she sleeps well, sick or not. But she had a terrible cough and my mom and dad made sure she was okay and her fever was down. Bless them! Meanwhile, Cody wriggled out of his sleeping bag at least every hour. He is a wild sleeper!

This is our group minus my mom taking the picture. Nette and Steph were impressive, hiking in their prego state and sleeping on the ground.Cody got a shirt in Moab that says "A bad day fishin with dad beats a good day shopping with mom." Cody was excited to show Ben that shirt and when he saw it Cody said "It says that mom is going to the store shopping." We had so much fun and it was good to spend time with everyone. Once we got home from Moab we had just a couple days to spend with Crosland's. Bonnie was babysitting Blake while Luke and Amy were on vacation. Cute Blake:)

They also have 4 new puppies, 3 dogs, 2 cats; Bonnie was teaching institute - what a crazy week! But what that meant for Macey was pure bliss. She loves animals more than anything else. She just put her little hand out and let the puppy lick her. The very first time she saw them she turned to me and said, "Mom Puppies nice." It was the cutest thing ever! She would sit by Paige their lab and randomly hug her. The first day she followed the animals around crying that they wouldn't all come sit by her. She is still talking about the puppies.

6 Years and Counting, Plus an Update

Happy Anniversary to us! Unfortunately, we aren't even together...but Ben was working all day so I feel a little better. We came to Utah to go to Moab for a little Purdy family vacation - Lynette and Jon are moving to Florida this week for school and we will miss them! So, that meant I was gone for our anniversary and mother's day. (I was going to make Ben make us dinner...because then he couldn't say we will just go out to eat because it was Sunday, but that's another story:)) Here's a little reminiscing from the days of dating:
Lake Powell - first trip:

Bryce Canyon:Right after Ben got home from Alaska:Going fishing:
It's weird to think that was seven years ago...it just keeps getting better.

Finals are over and Ben officially started his fourth year rotations on Friday. It has been crazy, crazy busy so far. There's a lot of patient care and paperwork, and emergencies, etc. I'm thinking I better start getting used to it, because it's going to last for a year...and realistically probably ten or more, but we'll work on one year at a time! Ben also got released from the bishopric and we got a new bishop last Sunday.

We get home on Wed and I'll post pics of Moab, it's been a fun visit!

WSU CVM Green Glove Dance

For anyone familiar with vet school traditions, this is from The Junior Review. It's a night of 'skits' about teachers, inside jokes, you name it. Here's one clip from the night...it's really cool. If it doesn't work here it will take you straight to the youtube video link. If nothin else it's a good song! Down - Jay Sean. Ben even got roped into doing a skit...I haven't seen it yet, but I'll see it when he gets the recording:)!
Finals are coming up, starting on Monday. Good luck Ben! We are giving him plenty of time to study by heading to Utah on Tuesday:) Then...no more studying!! Until Boards in December... He starts his fourth year rotations on Friday, beginning with large animal theriogenology. They are typically two weeks each, most in the vet school hospital, some large animal, some small animal (mostly large for Ben, just a few required small animal). He will have several rotations that are in different places around the country. His first "away" rotation is in Oklahoma in July.
Okay, and unrelated to Ben's schooling. Today Cody was eating an apple and out of the blue he said, "My belly says: I want apples!" You had to be there, but it was funny:)