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The mountains are SO close!!  We are loving it.  Even when Nate doesn't get home till after 7 we can still make an evening out of it…

 

Dear Nate, 

I have never been surprised at what you have accomplished over these last 14 years of training – with your talent, determination, and work ethic I have always expected extraordinary things of you.  
Having seen all you've done and all you've become from the inside, however, I know something of the effort it has taken and how much of yourself you've put into becoming what you've become.  
You have made a lasting impact on your patients, your colleagues, your consultants, and even your institution.  You DID do it all right, and you have every reason to be as proud of yourself as we are of you.  

Congratulations!!!   We sure love you.  And we know there are so many more good things to come!  Keep dreaming big.  

We miss you!  Sure would have been nice if you'd have fit in the moving truck…

love, 

us

So, as I tried to start catching up on all the pics I took (and never posted) from our last few weeks in Rochester, I decided I'm not ready yet.  Too sad to look at our awesome house and yard and friends and school that aren't OUR house and yard and friends and school anymore (okay, the house and yard are still technically "ours" – although someone else is living in them – and the friends are still ours too, but it's not the same…)

So instead, I give you the best of the new situation:

(Which is awesome, by the way – but will be even better on Thursday when Nate is "done".)  

Mountains.

Cousins.

PACE popsicles.  (I better go eat one before they're gone…)

And FAMILY.

I was telling my mom that I thought we'd amost worn out our welcome with all the help we've received from family since we've been here, and she just said, "I think you've been gone so long that you've forgotten that that's just what family does."  It made me smile.  And it made me grateful.  It's good to be here.  

I remember as a kid always thinking it would be so awesome to have a big brother.  Meg is a lucky girl.  The interactions between these two are so sweet, I couldn't help but try to capture a few while Zach patiently played catch with her.  

Meg @ 15 months:  

* into EVERYTHING.  (markers have been banned from her reach.  she opens and scatters every drawer she can get her hands on, especially Emma's clothes as she says "Jams!  Jams!" – her word for pajamas.)

* loves babies.  Just learned to say "baby!" 

* babbles a ton.  Says about 20 words including "die!" (bye) which makes me laugh every time. 

* is not interested in sitting still.  Especially for church.  We've entered the countdown to nursery…

* is NOT shy!  Loved the grandparents at first sight.  Heads for complete strangers at church to say hello.  Not like any of our other kids at this age!

* unfortunately bites poor Carter and pulls his hair whenever they are in close quarters.  ouch, poor guy.  

* is still sleeping in the pack n play.  (and sleeping well, at least last night…)  But headed for a crib, since there is finally room (and we finally found the crib screws that were lost in the move.)

* gives great hugs.  and sweet kisses.  Can't imagine our family without her.

 

One of the most charming parts of the new house is a tiny room under the stairs, with a couple of shelves that became the storage for all of our books when all 3 of the kids' bookshelves didn't fit in the truck…

This week, the kids decided it was "the reading rocket."   

Remember the reading rainbow song from when we were kids?
"I can go anywhere!  Take a look, it's in a book…"

And maybe you've read the Magic Treehouse series?

Kind of the same idea.  This is how it works:  

You go inside, shut the door, and pick a book about where you want to go.  Scan it on the light, and read some from the book, and you are instantly zapped away into a galaxy far, far away;  the Baltimore Orioles stadium, the Atlantic Ocean, or anywhere else you can image.  

And to get home, you have to scan the page in the atlas that is the closest thing they could find to UT.  

Come try it… you never know what adventure is in store! 

One of the hardest things to say goodbye to in Rochester was the library.  And it sure felt a lot more like home here in UT when we found our new one: 

It is different – cozier – but it is still full of all of the things that make the library such a magical place.  

(As a side note, our car has been out of commission and so we walked there on a 95* day – and were happy to discover we passed a 7-11 on the way home.  I was more than happy to introduce the kiddos to a slurpee…)

You are a wonderful dad.