We are moving!!

This has been a week of packing and moving. Monday, Memorial Day, was a day filled with packing. Luckily we were invited to a BBQ that night at Ken and Monica Theriot’s, so we had something to look forward to. The weather was perfect and the Theriots have a very nice fenced-in backyard that was perfect for kids to play in.

I was getting so tired of packing as the time got closer to move – it is what we were doing from the time we got up in the morning until the evening. This move was more difficult than previous ones because we had to split everything into two groups, one for Utah and the other for New York. Our goal was to get all of it to fit into 2 pods. That is why we have been selling most of our bigger furniture. We finally got the last sofa sold on Monday, and the guy came to pick it up Thursday morning. We made about $800 selling the furniture, which we can put into savings for furniture in Rochester, and we figure that we will be saving about $1000 by not storing that furniture for one year, so we have been pretty blessed in trying to make things work.

Packing continued all day Tuesday. Thanks to Amanda Hansen and Jill Hunter for watching the kids for a few hours so we could get more packing accomplished. The pods arrived Tuesday morning. They were not very big – only 6 x 7 x 8 feet, and we had to get everything to fit into just 2 of them. I was a little worried. We had some people come from church to help us pack the pods Tuesday night, and as boxes were placed out on the lawn, I started to panic, thinking that we were not going to make it fit, and we would have to use the 3^rd pod. But miraculously, at least in my mind, we were able to make it all fit how we had planned. That felt so good. We were both exhausted after that long day.

Originally we had planned to leave Milwaukee Friday around noon, after the pods were picked up. When the pods were dropped off on Tuesday, we learned that we didn’t have to be there for them to pick up the pods. And after getting so much done by Tuesday, we decided that maybe we could try leaving late Thursday afternoon. Wednesday ended up being a little more of a lazy day as far as packing. We took our time getting up and ready for the day and then had several errands to run with all the kids. We dropped off a van load of things at the salvation army. Then we sold my old nintendos and games and were able to get enough money for 2 new games for our Nintendo Wii – Super Mario Galaxy and Zelda: Twilight Princess.

We met up with Jason and Amy Hymas and Jason and Marcela Maas at Hoyt park that night in order for the kids to play together and say goodbyes. It is still so weird to me that we may not see some of our friends from Milwaukee again after this week. I’m just glad that there are blogs for us to continue to stay in contact with our friends. After the park we took the kids to Peter and Cynthia Hedgecocks to play with Jordan and Carter again before leaving. We are really going to miss our family from Milwaukee. Please stay in touch and let us know if you will be near Salt Lake City over the next year.

Thursday we were able to finish getting everything packed and into the pods. Amy Hymas, Jill Hunter, and Amanda Hansen all volunteered to help Steph with cleaning the apartment, so I took all the kids (7 total) to the park to play on the playground and in the sand while the moms cleaned – thanks to all of you for your help. We were so blessed to be friends with all of you.

Then we got back, finished packing up the car, and left. We decided at the last minute to get a power inverter for my laptop so we could plug it into the cigarette lighter in the car and not run down the laptops battery. We also got a tape to hook into the car’s stereo system so the kids could listen to the movies. Then we got Mulan and Milo and Otis, since all of our other movies were already packed before we came up with this idea. We finally got out of Milwaukee around 8:30 and drove for a few hours. We had decided to try and sleep in the car to save money by not paying for a hotel, so we found a side street and set up camp for the night. The kids actually did really well and the weather was really warm for us. I probably had the hardest time just because I didn’t fit well into one seat to sleep. But at least I tried. :)

We got up Friday morning and finished driving to Nauvoo, Illinois. Our plan was to stay for 2 days and then head to grandma Bev’s Saturday night. We ended up doing just one day in Nauvoo. We took the kids to see the brass band; on a carriage ride with horses around north Nauvoo; to Wilford Woodruf’s house where we got to say hi to Sister Andrea Cartwright, one of Steph’s friends from high school who is serving a mission in Nauvoo; and to the family living center and outdoor pioneer games center. The kids really liked the outdoor play area. But they just had very short attention spans in the places where we would sit and listen to someone talk, and those were the things we had left to do. So we decided to leave after dinner and start on our journey to Grandma Bev’s house.

This time we were able to stay at a hotel where we were able to shower and bathe the kids, which was wonderful. Yesterday we drove the rest of the way to Grandma Bev’s and got here in the late afternoon. She had dinner ready for us, and then she took us to Culver’s, where Aunt Amanda works, and the kids were able to say hi. We also stopped at the store to pick up some Benadryl for me. I am already taking Zertec for my allergies, but Grandma Bev has a cat, and my allergies have been so bad since we got here. I took the Benadryl and after a while it put me to sleep on the couch until we went to bed. Steph was able to video tape a genealogy interview with her grandma, and then she found some old German documents that her grandma had misplaced, which she is going over today to hopefully find out more information about her ancestors.

This morning my allergies were really acting up. I didn’t want to take any Benadryl because I didn’t want to fall asleep at church, but I finally took some, which helped so much. I was tired at church but didn’t fall asleep. In the Sunday school class we talked about Alma’s discussion of things that we should do to become members of Christ’s church, focusing on being a witness of Christ at all times and in all places, and what that means, and how we can try to be better at being a witness for Him. We are having fun being here with grandma Bev. Our plan is to leave sometime after lunch tomorrow and take 2 days to drive the rest of the way to Utah. Our pod is supposed to arrive on Tuesday and then I start my internship 2 weeks from tomorrow.

We have been so blessed as we have been able to reflect on all the people that have touched our lives over the past 4 years in Milwaukee. Thanks to everyone who has been our family away from family, and we hope to continue to stay in contact. Here is our new address and contact information (I am changing my email address so take note):

Michael and Stephanie Bradshaw

4027 Market Street

West Valley, UT 84119

(801) 967-9974

michaelbbradshaw@gmail.com

stephanielbradshaw@gmail.com

First Week of October

Well, this first week of October has been much more relaxed than the schedule we were on for Michael’s rotation last month. He is now doing one of his elective rotations called “Promoting Health in Urban Underserved Communities,” and he has basically had a 9-5 schedule with a lot more flexibility to get time off if he needs to, which is nice because he is taking one of his Step 2 Board exams and we are expecting the baby to come this month.

So, this week was pretty uneventful. Kolby had preschool, which he always loves. It is interesting because his classroom teacher is blind, although I don’t think that the kids really realize this. On Monday Kolby wanted to take a cut-out of a footprint that he made in his church class to show his school teacher. He was showing it to her at the beginning of class, and she was asking if she could hold it, asking what color it was, and telling him that he must have big feet if it was traced from his foot. And he loves his gym class too. Often we go about 15 minutes before the end of class and if they are wrapping up a game that is not very structured, I will let Eli join in with Kolby and the other kids. They have played freeze tag a couple times and the boys really like it. Kolby seems to be one of the only kids that really comprehends the idea – many of the others just kept running after they were tagged without waiting to be unfrozen. And on Wednesday when I went to pick him up, Kolby and another little boy named Simon were running around holding hands and they came up and Kolby told me Simon was his best friend. I let Eli run around with them, and they were holding his hands and playing great with him too. I think Eli will really enjoy going to the classes in a few months – he will be able to start in the winter session once we get back from our trips, since he will be 3 years old by then.

Well, on Wednesday I hit 36 weeks with this pregnancy. So now I have just over 3 weeks to go. I am glad we waited a while in the beginning of the pregnancy to announce to people that we were pregnant this time – I know that it’s all in my head, but it really seemed to make the remainder of the pregnancy go by much quicker than with earlier pregnancies when we announced it soon after we found out. So, on Wednesday night Michael had an AOA meeting, so I took Kolby to his swimming lesson. He is doing great. They have these little float belts that they put around the kids’ waists to give them confidence, and the kids all swam the length of the pool with those on several times in this week’s lesson, then at the end they swam a few feet from the edge of the pool to their teacher with no float belts, so that was pretty cool. It is fun to see Kolby’s confidence increase as he is now really learning how to swim.

On Thursday morning we went to the Twelmyer’s house for the family history group, and I was able to help Sister Twelmyer to learn how to search for some ancestors on the IGI online so that she can prepare the names to take to the temple. Later that afternoon I had my doctor’s appointment – I am down to the last month now, so I am having an appointment every week – and Michael was able to join us for the appointment this time. Everything is going well with the baby, and I am dilated to a 2. (I don’t really care if I’m dilated much yet or not, except that my midwife had mentioned that they would induce me a day or two after my due date, if it goes that long, but that if you get that far and are not dilated at all, they might not do it as early. So anyway, I got her to commit to inducing me on November 1st if I haven’t had the baby by the due date, which is nice to have a final date set). And Thursday night Michael took Eli to swim lessons, and said that they had a lot of fun.

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Eli decorating cookies . __ . __ . __ . __ . __ . __ . Eli licking his frosting

On Friday morning, after I dropped Kolby off at preschool, we went to Jill Hunter’s apartment for some fall activities for the kids from the apartment complex. All of the kids went outside and collected fall leaves, and then we went back in and they decorated cookies that were shaped like leaves. Eli had fun doing that. Then on Friday night we went to the Townsend’s house for our ward dessert groups, and the Sanders family came too. We had banana splits and had fun talking with the adults while all the kids played.

And this weekend has been spent watching General Conference on the internet. The boys kind of had a rough time sitting through the first session yesterday, but it seems like they are getting used to the idea of sitting quietly and watching the 2-hour sessions at a time, and they have done pretty well today (as well as you could expect for a 2- and 3-year-old, and Camden napped through most of this morning’s session). After the last session that will be starting up here in a few minutes, we will eat the roast that Michael has prepared for dinner and then he is going to head down to Chicago. He got a pretty good deal on a motel room, so he can drive down tonight and not have to get up super early in the morning and he can avoid any bad traffic tomorrow. In the morning he will take one of his two Step 2 Board exams. It is the one where they have different standardized patients and they are graded on how they give exams and take the patients’ histories. So, hopefully he will have a safe drive down there and back, and his test will go well. Then I think we are planning to go out to dinner as a family when he gets home Monday evening to celebrate him finishing his test.

Eli, Mommy, and Kolby watching Conference

Oh yeah, and I almost forgot to mention that Michael got another interview invitation this week. He got an e-mail saying that he is on the early invite list for the transitional year program in Salt Lake, and that they will let him know the dates for that interview shortly. So things are all going pretty well. I’d better run get the computer set up now so we can catch the last session of Conference. Hope you all had a great week!

4th of July!

So, our 4th of July this year was great! Just like last year, the weathermen on the news predicted rain, but it ended up being bright, sunny, and quite warm all day. It was beautiful out. We got up early to walk with the Maases down to North Avenue to reserve a spot for the parade. The Hunters, Hansens, Simons, and Hymases all came and joined us for the parade too. Kolby remembered that last year there were people dressed up in Elmo and Mickey Mouse costumes in the parade, and he was excited to see them again. The kids all got little flags, which they enjoyed waving around. There were people walking on stilts and high school marching bands. A civic band came by playing their instruments, and Michael commented that he wants to join a community band when we get settled down sometime soon. And there was a carriage pulled by two large horses that came up near where we were sitting and Kolby and Eli both jumped up and moved away because they were a little startled. At one point the people came by dressed as the different characters and Elmo was across the street, but Kolby got to shake hands with Bob the Builder and Donald Duck, which was fun for him. And both Kolby and Eli came away from the parade with a little bag full of candy that the people in the parade threw to the kids. Camden ended up asleep on my lap by the end of the parade.



After we went home and got a few things ready, we went over to the annual ward 4th of July BBQ party at the Twelmyer’s house. It was very fun. Michael and the boys all swam (we were surprised that there were lots of people swimming, because the pool wasn’t heated and Michael has been one of the few crazy swimmers the last couple of years we had the party, but this year it was nice and warm out). We had lunch and the kids played with Daddy in the big pool and in a little baby pool that someone brought. Camden had a blast splashing in the baby pool, and then fell asleep in my arms as soon as I got him dried off and dressed. He had a short nap in the playpen while we enjoyed the rest of the party.

After going home and letting the boys have a 2-hour nap, we met and parked our cars at the Taylor’s house and walked a couple of blocks to Hart Park for the professional fireworks show. We got a nice spot on the grass in the football field, right up front. The kids ran around playing for a while before it got dark. At one point Kolby and Eli were chasing each other and they got a little too far from us, so I went to get them because there was a big crowd of people there and we didn’t want to loose sight of them at all. So, they were running and chasing each other and then they were running from me, and they thought it was a great game. I was darting in between people and around picnic blankets, and I finally caught Eli, but Kolby kept running fast. He wouldn’t stop when I called him, but I couldn’t loose him in that big crowd, so I picked up Eli under one arm and carried him like a football as I ran, literally as fast as I could, after Kolby. People were probably laughing at the sight of this pregnant lady with a big belly, carrying a two-year-old under one arm and jumping over blankets to try to catch a 3-year-old. I finally caught up to him after running around at least half the length of the football field, and then headed back to our group, where Michael was searching the crowd because he couldn’t see where the boys or I had gone. I was panting for several minutes after I got back, but fortunately the boys stayed right by us the rest of the night.

When it got dark, we all lay down on our picnic blanket and watched the fireworks show together. It was great (especially since last year someone brought a wagon and the boys played in/fought over the wagon through the entire fireworks show). This year they were so excited about the fireworks and they just lay still right next to us the whole time. Camden really wanted to watch the fireworks, but each time one made a loud noise he started to cry. After a minute or so, Michael covered him with his blanket and laid him on his stomach, and Camden quickly fell asleep for the rest of the show. Michael said that during the loudest part of the finale, Camden stayed asleep, but his legs popped up in the air each time a firework exploded. The show was very good, but there must have been a bit of a breeze blowing toward the crowd, because there was ash falling on us from the fireworks, and some got in my eye. Never had that happen before. Also, at one point, part of one of the fireworks hit the ground about 10 or 15 feet from where we were sitting, and sparked and bounced around on the grass for a few seconds before going out. Everyone around there was lucky, because there were people sitting a few feet on either side of where it landed, and it could have burned someone pretty badly. But luckily it all went well, and the fireworks were beautiful. My favorite are the gold, glittery ones that kind of make a crackling noise as they come down. We came home and put the boys right in bed, and got to sleep around 11pm. It was a long, but very fun day!

Sparklers

Here are the pictures I took of the kids at our BBQ last night.

Happy Father's Day!

This week has been quite busy for us. On Sunday night the Kearls came over for dinner and we had fun playing a few games after we got all the kids down to bed. Josh Hunter’s wife and kids were out of town while he was studying for the Boards, so he came over and played for a while too.

Tyce offered to come back the next day and bring some wood and tools to fix our entertainment center door that had fallen off. We decided to do a group family home evening activity and go to play volleyball at a park and let the kids play at the playground after we got the entertainment center fixed Monday. After Michael got home that night, Tyce and Faith came and they worked on fixing the door, but the kids were being pretty wild. We finally ended up taking the kids to a nearby playground because they couldn’t stay inside any longer. I ended up finishing the entertainment center a few days later – and it is nice to have it all fixed (especially since we don’t have to continually worry about keeping Camden out of all the things we store inside the door that was broken before. We had fun at the playground with the kids, but didn’t stay too long because it was late and the kids were all rather grumpy.

On Tuesday the kids got lots of chores done and we got the house all cleaned up, then we went and ran some errands and when we got home I made dinner for us and for some friends who just had a baby. Michael got home that evening, and after we got the boys to bed I went to a Ladies Night Out activity.

On Wednesday morning we went to a playgroup at the Tot Lot playground. The boys had lots of fun at that. Then we ran some errands. I had a doctor’s appointment, but it wasn’t for a couple of hours, so I called Michael and he met the boys and I for a little while and then went to the doctor’s appointment with us. The appointment went well. Everything seems to be good with the baby. And I told the doctor about the knee pain I’ve been having with this pregnancy, because it’s been getting worse lately, so I now have an appointment set up at an orthopedic clinic in a couple days – I am really hoping that I go in and they make a few quick suggestions and whatever the problem is with my knee will be an easy fix. We’ll see.

Wednesday evening was Kolby’s first swim lesson of the new summer session – and we decided to let him try being in the class without the parents in the water again this session. Several months ago we tried that class, and he had a pretty hard time at first, but then he got used to the teacher and seemed to be improving a lot. Then we were pretty surprised a few weeks into the class that the teacher suggested that Kolby shouldn’t be in that class anymore. The teacher had made a lot of comments about having too many kids in her class and how the kids were all so different in their ages, swimming skills, and how well they followed instructions. Anyways, they suggested that we put Kolby in a private lesson, but we ended up doing another session of the parent-child classes with him. This time we let him choose which class he wanted to try – and he said that he wanted to be in the class where Mommy and Daddy watched him from the side of the pool. I told him that would be fine, but that he would need to listen and do everything that his teacher told him to do. So, we went to his new class on Wednesday and he did so well. He was probably the best-behaved child there – he did everything the teacher asked right away. I was so proud of him. He will have fun in this new class, I think.

On Thursday Michael had one of his long call days at the hospital again – from early Thursday morning until Friday around noon. This time I suggested that he just stay after his shift ended and catch several good hours of sleep at the hospital, rather than coming home and just getting a few hours of sleep here and there with lots of interruptions from the kids. I think that it worked out better for him – he was still very tired, but able to do stuff with the family the next day. Thursday the boys had their art class in the morning. Later on, after naps, we went over to the Kearl’s house to play. They got a little blow-up pool for Nathan with a basketball hoop on one side of it, and the boys had lots of fun playing. Afterwards they rode bikes around the driveway. It was fun to just sit and watch them play. Then we went straight to Eli’s swim lesson at the YMCA. His class seems good, although I think that he is old enough to have more work on actual swimming skills and less time spent on the parents holding the children and singing songs. But I guess really that a big part of the swimming lessons when they are so small is getting them comfortable in the water. He enjoyed it, though.

On Friday morning I took the boys to the library. After Michael got home, we got a few things done around the house and then dropped the boys off at the Taylor’s house. We went and saw the musical, The King and I, which was put on by members of our church at a building south of here. Our friend, Cassidy, was the lead role of Anna. I had seen the movie Anna and The King a few years ago, but had never seen the musical or the movie of the musical before. I was a little surprised by the ending (because it was quite different from what I remember happening in the movie I saw), but we liked the performance and had fun spending time out together.

On Saturday morning we got up early and got everyone ready to go to the temple. When we got there, it was pretty hot out and the cicadas were flying around in the trees and making a really loud buzzing noise. Michael and I went in first and we ended up doing a few initiatories. Peter and Cynthia went in next and we took all the kids to Costco while they did initiatories also. We were planning on stocking up on a bunch of stuff at Costco, but then we remembered that they only accept American Express credit cards, and we decided to wait until our temple trip next month to go stock up at Costco instead, once our next set of student loans has come in and we have some more funds in our account. We ended up doing a circle around Costco and letting the boys try each of the free samples for part of their lunches. After eating lunch and dropping Jordan and Carter back off with Peter and Cynthia when they got done at the temple, we drove home and got the boys all down for a nap. I cut Michael’s hair, Michael got the laundry done, and I made dinner. Then the Taylors brought their kids over so they could go see The King and I. They were really good and after watching the movie Curious George that the boys had checked out at the library, and eating some chicken for dinner, the kids all went to bed. We had six kids here, and got them all to bed in the three bedrooms, with one extra bed to spare – we decided that we could easily fit six kids into a little apartment (as long as Michael and I didn’t need a bed to sleep in).

So, Michael is on call again today. He will be home sometime tomorrow afternoon. Luckily he only has one more long call day this month – next Friday/Saturday – and then he is done for a while. After June ends, Michael will officially start fourth year. That is exciting – especially since he only has two months of rotations fourth year that he is scheduled to be on-call again. That will be a big change to have him home most weekends (and, for most rotations, probably most weeknight evenings too). Today is Father’s Day, and we knew that Michael would be at the hospital today, so we gave him his gifts yesterday after we got home from the temple. I got him the sheet music book of Jon Schmidt’s Hymns. He started playing them on the piano for a little while yesterday, and they sounded great. We also made a cute card for him with a picture of a house. The house had three windows that were cut out with photos of the boys in the windows. The boys and I also made a card like this for my Dad and one for Michael’s Dad. Then, in their art class, the boys made Father’s Day cards and decorated bags of cookies for Daddy. So, I think Michael enjoyed those gifts. Today at church the boys did pretty well. We ended up out in the hall after the Sacrament, but they went to their classes well, and Camden played with the other kids during the Sunday school class, then he fell asleep on my shoulder so I was able to go for most of my relief society class. That was nice. Now that we are home and the boys are up from their naps, I think we’re going to play a game or something before dinner – they are getting a little worked up and have started playing a game where they stand on each other’s stomachs – and that can only lead to trouble. Better run.

Oh yeah – Camden started standing up holding on to furniture the other day. And this morning he was trying to play with my foot while I was on the couch, and I slowly moved my foot along the edge of the couch and he moved along after it – he took a few steps and moved along the front of the couch. And, this afternoon, he started clapping his hands for the first time too. So that was pretty cool. Here are some photos of Camden the first time he pulled himself standing up: