Milwaukee Friends

I have been putting this slideshow together for a couple months now, just adding the recent photos to it since I started. I wanted to post it before we left town, but didn’t have enough time before we got all packed up and ready to leave, and then I didn’t have an internet connection. Anyways, I just wanted to share these photos of all our Milwaukee friends over the last four years. It’s kind of long, just to warn you. But I enjoyed watching it and recalling all the memories of our good friends in Milwaukee. Thank you all for a great four years, and we are hoping to have a chance to see you again in the future!

Oh, and I’ve tried to be pretty good at sending copies of photos to everyone, but if there are any here you’d like me to send you just let me know – I’d be glad to do it. And if you happen to have any pictures with my boys in them, I’d love to have copies too. Thanks!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

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

Getting Ready to Move

This week has been a whirlwind of packing and getting last-minute things done before our move, with some fun thrown in here and there. On Sunday afternoon Michael’s parents and my parents each left, and on Monday Grandma Faun left too. We were so glad that they could all come for Michael’s graduation!

On Monday Michael got his graduation gift from me (and we used the graduation money from Grandma Faun and the money Michael had earned by helping give a test to the 2nd-years a couple weeks ago, and it was still a pretty big splurge – but Michael really, really wanted it and has worked so hard through school these last few years that I figure he deserves to spend some time just relaxing and having fun). So, I got him a Wii. I was always one of those people who swore our children would never play video games (although I do have a secret love of Tetris). But I do like that the Wii has fun sports games that get you up and moving, and that since it is wireless the kids can play too without accidentally stepping on the chords and turning everything off – Kolby is an expert at bowling already! So we have the sports games and Mario Kart, which is a fun racing game – as long as we steer clear of the killing games, I don’t think it’s bad to sit down as a family or with friends and play some games. Plus, Michael was excited to find out that he could play the games online through our wireless connection with his family and friends who don’t live nearby – he has already played the racing game with his dad in Boise, and with the Hymases. So, needless to say, Michael was pretty excited about that gift.

On Tuesday and Wednesday I went to the family history center and had the sisters there help me translate some of the German records that my parents brought back from their trip to the Czech Republic. I am so excited to sit down and figure out how all these ancestors connect, and my mom said she might even be able to come up to Utah once my brothers’ school gets out, and we can both spend some time at the family history center working on it together – it’s so fun that my parents are both getting interested in family history too now.

I have been quite busy this week also selling lots of our furniture and some other smaller things. This week we sold the entertainment center, the kitchen table, another table that we had in the basement, an end table, the breadmaker, and the car. Now we just need to sell the couch, and we will be set as far as the big things go. We’ve also been doing all the last minute things that come with moving – canceling our YMCA membership, getting transfer papers for WIC, getting the tow hitch installed on the van so we could tow the car on our move, making last-minute doctor’s appointments before we move and have to switch doctors, making big batches of soup to try to use up the meat in our freezer before we move, getting oil changes and check-ups on the cars before moving, finding out that the car had some major problems that we didn’t know about that made it un-drivable and would cost more than the cost of the car to fix, posting the car on sale for craigslist for $350 (hoping that we could get more than just $100 for it), having 30 or 40 people e-mail us about the car the night we posted it online, taking one last trip to the Chicago temple before we move, canceling our reservation to get the tow dolly from U-haul to tow our car to Utah, and having someone come to our house as soon as we returned from our temple trip and offer us $500 for the car and then paying us and taking it off our hands right away. Although we were not planning on having to get another car for Michael once we move to Utah, I guess if you look at the bright side of things, we will no longer have to tow the car on our drive to Utah, so that will not only save us a little gas money, but we will also not be limited to the 6 days that we would have had to get to Utah to drop off the U-haul tow dolly, so now we can choose to stay an extra afternoon or an extra day in Nauvoo or at Grandma Bev’s house on our drive out if we feel like it. Also, it was a little annoying that we had just paid to install the tow hitch on the van and we won’t be using it now, but I guess we will tow whatever car we get on our move to Rochester in a year, so the hitch won’t go totally unused.

We have also had some fun this week. Tyce came over and played a bit on Monday night after we put the kids to bed, and the Hedgecocks came over on Tuesday night after Kolby called and asked if Jordan could come play (Kolby and Eli get really excited lately when we let them call their friends on the phone). On Wednesday we got to go to a playgroup at Enderis Park, where we saw Marcela Maas and some other friends. Michael also took the three older boys swimming on Wednesday night while I repaired furniture to get it in good enough shape to sell it. At the playgroup that morning Marcela decided to organize a BBQ for the next night as a little going away party with some friends. She called everyone and got it all organized, and we were surprised at how many showed up since it was planned at the last minute. It was nice to be able to see lots of our friends and enjoy some time together, although people didn’t linger for long after dinner since it turned out to be a very cold evening. After the BBQ, the Hedgecocks stayed to play and Jana and Marie Wells came back over after dropping Keith off at the school to study. Michael figured out how to play the Wii with the Hymases on the internet too that night, so that was fun also.

And today will be our last day at church in this ward. I’m sad to be going, although I’ve kind of been getting used to the idea since Michael matched, so I’ve not been feeling quite as sad lately as I was at first. And this week will continue to be busy too. The pods arrive on Tuesday and we will have Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to pack everything and clean the apartment. The pods will be picked up on Friday before noon, and we will head out then. We are planning on stopping in Nauvoo, Illinois for a day and then stopping and visiting with my Grandma Bev in Missouri before driving the rest of the way to Salt Lake.

Oh, speaking of Salt Lake, I sat Kolby and Eli down the other day and explained all of our moving plans and answered their questions, and they seemed to understand and accept everything, except there was some confusion about moving to Salt Lake. Apparently Kolby thought we were moving to a place with water, since it is called ‘Salt Lake.’ I explained to him that there is a lake, but that it’s not right next to Grandma’s house, and the rest of the conversation seemed to go pretty smoothly. I think that the boys are starting to understand the idea of moving, although they keep asking me every once in a while if we are moving back home after we live at Grandma Faun’s house – I think Kolby thought we were going on another extended vacation until I recently told him we would have a new house in New York after we live in Utah. I haven’t mentioned to them that they won’t be seeing their friends again, though. I don’t know if I should say anything about that before we go or not – I’ll probably just tell them today that they need to say goodbye to their friends before we move. Hopefully that goes pretty smoothly too.

Count Down to Match Day!

So, this week started out pretty busy (and kind of stressful), and ended up really nice. As I mentioned in my earlier post this week, we had to deal with all the financing for getting the new van and we are still trying to tie up things with the insurance company, but we are glad to be in a new van that works well (what a relief to have a car that doesn’t die when we stop at a red light and doesn’t need to be jumped if we leave the doors open (and the lights stay on) long enough to take the groceries into the house). After we got everything worked out with the van, got the house all cleaned up, and got past a few different days of a few of our kids being sick, it turned out to be a pretty good week.

The Egberts came over for dinner last Sunday night, which was fun to get to know them a little better. And I also had fun because we decided to get out the nice tablecloth and the china for dinner (we haven’t used the china for a while, but because Camden is in a high chair and Kolby and Eli are old enough now, and the Egberts’ kids are old enough too, so there weren’t any small babies to pull the dishes on the floor and break them). On Thanksgiving we set the table with the china and nice tablecloth too, and when the boys saw me get them out, they insisted that I get out the fancy candlestick I used at Thanksgiving too, so that was pretty cute. And our kids played great with the Londyn and Dyllin Egbert when they came over too. I think Kolby has a little crush on their daughter, Londyn. Londyn goes to Kolby’s gym class at the YMCA on Wednesdays, and this week I went to pick Kolby and Eli up from class and Kolby ran up to me and the first thing he said was, “Mommy, Londyn’s here!”

On Monday the boys missed preschool because Kolby woke up early in the morning throwing up (some kid at church the day before must have had a little bug or something). I wanted to stay inside that day, especially with Kolby having been sick in the night, but we had a WIC appointment that afternoon (the WIC office is only open two days a month, plus Kolby was acting totally fine during the day). So we went, and it’s probably a good thing that we got that done. And then we went over to the car place and emptied all of our possessions out of our old van. And then Michael was on call that night, but call hasn’t been bad this month at all so far. He is on call overnight, but this is one of the rare months in medical school that he is on home call, so they just call him in if they need him (which is what I assumed that ‘on call’ meant when we came into medical school, not the usual staying at the hospital overnight). Anyways, he hasn’t been called in yet, which has been really nice for us.

On Tuesday Michael got a little time off work in the day between surgeries and we went and signed the loan papers at the bank and then that night when he got home we went and picked up the van. It was great, except the radio needed to be fixed so we took it home without a radio while the dealer ordered a new one. Then that night Kolby and I had our night out, and we decided to go to the mall. I let Kolby pick what he wanted for dinner, and he got a burrito and a treat from Taco Bell (and I got to have Chinese food, which sounds much better to me than Taco Bell anytime). Then we went over to Barnes and Noble and Kolby played with the Thomas the Train set they have there in the bookstore for kids to play with. Then he picked out a few books and we sat together in one of the big comfy chairs and read them. Although it sure makes me smile when I see my little boys all getting along and playing well together or when I see one of the older ones being sweet to the baby, I have to agree with what my mom told me once: that she enjoys her each of her children individually more than all of them together. I think doing these little one-on-one nights with the kids once a week has been a really good idea so far, because we can do such simple activities with them and they still think it is the greatest thing ever to have alone time with Mommy or Daddy.

On Wednesday morning the boys had preschool and then they had swimming lessons that evening. Near the end of each session, the swim teachers hand out notes to the parents saying if the kids should take the same class again or move up a level in the next session. Kolby’s teacher said he is ready to move up, and Eli had a substitute teacher this week so we didn’t get a note for him yet. I had actually already signed the boys up to be in the same swim classes next session because it is so convenient for us to go and have them in their lessons in the same pool at the same time. The problem is that their lessons are from 6:30 to 7:00 now, and I was looking at the program for the spring session, and the class that the teacher recommended for Kolby is only during the middle of the day or right during our dinnertime. We’ll have to see what Eli’s teacher recommends and then decide if we want to change their classes for next session or not.

On Thursday I finished catching up on the housework that had gotten backed up with this busy week, even scrubbing the kitchen floor and getting everything looking nice again. Then we went over to Karissa’s house for Marcela’s baby shower. She is having a little boy, which will be so much fun. That night we had the Kearls over for games, which is always fun (although it might be nice someday to be able to afford a babysitter so that we could do things without our kids sometimes, but I do think that it’s pretty impressive that we can usually get all four of our kids and both of the Kearl’s kids down to sleep at the same time so that we can play games).

On Friday morning the boys missed preschool again because when I got Camden up in the morning I found that he had thrown up. After he got a good bath and some clean clothes he seemed just fine and didn’t act sick at all. That afternoon I made several cakes and decorated them for the young women’s fundraiser at church (and the next day I was able to ‘fix’ the frosting on two of them so they turned out better than the pictures I had posted earlier). Michael was on home call again on Friday, but didn’t have to go in, so that was nice.

Yesterday we got a lot of little things done in the morning that needed to be done. Michael went to the dealership and got the new radio put in the van, I went grocery shopping, Michael got all the laundry done, we cleaned the kitchen and picked up around the house, and I ‘fixed’ those cakes. On the way to the grocery store, I stopped at Kohls and they happened to be having a sale. I found some cute jewelry (thank you, Grandma Faun – this is what I ended up using the Christmas money for that you gave me and I had been saving up until I found something I really liked) and a shirt on sale, and I got Michael a few shirts on clearance too – I love the Tony Hawk brand of guy’s clothes at Kohls for Michael (especially when we can find them for a few dollars on the clearance rack). That night we went over to the church for our ward’s annual Chili Cook-off and the dessert auction fundraiser. It was fun to see friends at the party, and we were glad for the young women that the fundraiser seemed successful. (My cakes, by the way, did sell, even if they didn’t bring in the most money, but at least they didn’t have to return them to us because no one would bid on them). :) And after Michael came home and helped me get all the kids in bed, he was invited to go and play video games with a few guys from church. He said he wasn’t any good at the game they played, but it was nice to hang out with a few people that he hasn’t had a chance to hang out with in a while.

And today has gone pretty well so far. Michael had one of his home teaching appointments this morning and the boys are all ready to go to church. They have watched the Testaments church movie twice this morning (once in English and a second time in Spanish) while we finished getting everything ready to go. And Michael got the dinner started for tonight while I made bread. We are having corned beef for dinner (it’s my favorite way to have meat prepared).

I made my big batch of bread, and once again it didn’t rise as much as it should have. The bread tastes really good, but it only rises about as high as the edge of the bread pan and won’t go any higher than that. Last time I wrote about having trouble getting the bread to rise, several people gave me suggestions (thank you!), but many of them didn’t apply. I am using a Bosch to mix the bread, so it’s not a problem with the kneading process, and my mom just bought the yeast a few months ago, so the yeast is not too old, and she got me her favorite kind of yeast that she said doesn’t depend on the temperature of the water, so that shouldn’t be an issue either. I have tried letting the bread rise on top of the stove, on the countertop, and inside the oven at it’s lowest setting, and none has worked just right. So, I told Michael this morning that I am hoping the problem is just that our little oven cooks too hot or not hot enough, and maybe when we move we will have an oven that works better and that will resolve this issue. I would appreciate any other suggestions you have for me to try, though.

After church we are staying for choir practice because Michael is going to sing in the Easter program. Then we are having the Maases over for dinner. Marcela’s mom has come to stay with them for the next four months, and she mostly speaks Spanish, so I thought it would be nice for Michael to speak Spanish with her and make her feel welcome. Plus we haven’t been able to get together with the Maases lately, so it will be nice to talk to them again.

This week should be pretty exciting. Tomorrow morning at 11:00 Michael will get an e-mail telling him if he matched or not. Then on Thursday we will all go over to the school in the morning and sit at tables in the alumni center and wait while each student is called to the front of the room one at a time to receive an envelope telling them where they are going for residency. That is at 11 am also, and then there will be a lunch afterwards. And the Hedgecocks are being nice enough to watch our boys for us so that we can go out and celebrate by having a nice dinner out. Michael has been pretty anxious for the match the last week or so. I think he will feel a lot better after tomorrow when he knows that he did match, and is just waiting to find out where (hopefully). I have just been more impatient than nervous lately, since I am such a planner and I want to start researching for houses, school districts, moving plans, and everything else for the place where we will end up. We will be sure to let everyone know how it turns out.

Oh, and I almost forgot the biggest thing of all: Camden gets to start his first day of his nursery class at church today! He has been looking forward to this for weeks – going to the door of the nursery and watching the kids play with toys and sing songs, and then crying when he didn’t get to go in too. He will be in the same class with Eli, so that will be fun for them. I know he will just love it!

Plastic Surgery and Minivans

This week I started my last hard rotation of my last year of medical school. It is what the school calls the surgery sub-internship. I did my medicine sub-internship in September and that was very busy and taxing, so I assumed this would be similar. We enjoyed my free time last month and were preparing ourselves for having the kids not see much of me. So we were pleasantly surprised to find (at least this week) that things were not as bad as we had envisioned. True, I have had to wake up a lot earlier (around 4:30-5:00 each morning) and stay a little later, but it has usually been until 5 or 6 pm rather than the 9 or 10pm that we had thought. I only have to be on overnight call 3 weeknights during the month, and that is home call (which means I can go home and they will page me if they need me). I did my first home call Tuesday night and wasn’t called in. Then I have to go in 2 Saturday mornings this month, but I get all the rest of the weekend days off. That is mainly because there are two 3rd year medical students on this month as well, so we get to split up all the call between the 3 of us. I guess what I am saying is that I have had a lot more home time than we expected.

And the time at the hospital has been nice too. We have a really good team and everyone seems to get along great. Plus, I have come to find out that plastic surgeons get to do some pretty cool surgeries. This week I saw a couple of broken fingers that were fixed with titanium plates and screws; the start of breast reconstruction for a lady that had to have hers removed for breast cancer; a skin graft to a wound on a lady’s lower leg; and a medial thigh lift for a lady that had lost 100 pounds after having stomach bypass surgery and now had lots of leftover folds of skin. They have quite a variety of “toys” and so many things they need to know. So I have really been enjoying the time in the hospital as well.

I just wish the time would go by a little faster. This is because one week from tomorrow we will find out if we matched into a dermatology residency program, and one week from Thursday we will find out where we will be for the next 4 years (depending on how the match turns out). We feel really good about our choices, but it still is a time of high anxiety as we try to anticipate where the Lord will want us to be next.

This week we also had to make a big decision about our minivan. About 2 weeks ago the van was hit in the back while Steph was dropping off the boys at preschool. The insurance company of the man who hit the van had us drop it off at a body shop on Monday with the intent to replace the back door and bumper and gave us a rental car for a few days to get by. Well, they found that there was a lot more damage than anticipated, so ultimately, they decided that we could choose to have them do the work and give us the van back, or total the van and cut us a check. We think this mishap has come as a huge blessing, seeing as that van has given us so much trouble since we got it. So we plan to have it totaled, and with the money that they will give us, along with our tax refund, we decided to go out and look for a newer and nicer van to replace our old electrical lemon. We went out van shopping yesterday and found one that we really like. It is a gold 2001 Chrysler Town and Country Limited with automatic sliding doors, a 4 disc CD player, and many other nice gadgets and toys. And above all, it seems to run nicely and is in our price range. We are having the financial work processed this weekend, and if everything works out, we can probably get it sometime during this next week. We will have to make car payments for a little while, but it will be minimal because of the money we can put down. We are really excited for this change in fortune. Heavenly Father continues to watch out for our needs and finds ways to bless us when we try to do what is right.

We also had fun playing some games this week. We had the Kearls over Friday night and played lots of games. The kids get along so well and we have so much fun together. They watched our kids for us while we went van shopping Saturday morning, and then Tyce and I stayed at his place to watch some of the kids while Steph and Faith took the others to Sofia’s birthday party at Gymboree. Then we played some more games last night. It has been a very enjoyable weekend.

Monday for family home evening we decided to start memorizing a scripture each month, and we thought it would be good to start with the Articles of Faith, so we are working on the first one: “We believe in God the Eternal Father, and in His Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.” I love these simple statements of what we believe. Steph did a lesson on service and we decided that we want to come up with a service project that we can do this next month for someone and help the boys to see how they feel when we do the service.

Today the theme in sacrament meeting was forgiveness. And in the last hour of classes we talked about repentance. In Sunday school we focused on some of the main teachings of Isaiah, including about temples, the gathering of Israel, and his testimony of Jesus as our Savior. I am so grateful for the scriptures we have and all the testimonies they contain about the mission of Jesus and why He should be of so much importance in our lives. We are so excited because Camden gets to start nursery classes next week – maybe we will be able to get even more out of our weekly meetings then!

Last Week

The past week was our first full week back in Milwaukee, and we had so much fun playing games and spending time with friends. It took a few days to get everything unpacked and back in the right places. We also got the Christmas decorations down and put away. After taking all the Christmas boxes and luggage to our storage unit, we had room to finally move the piano out of our bedroom and back into the front room, which has been so much nicer to play. The boys always want to play with it too.

I started into my new rotation, which is surgical pathology. I am with one other student and we sit in a room and look at pathology slides with the residents and fellows. I am amazed at how fast they can look at a slide under the microscope and know within seconds what they are seeing. This is good for me to start getting used to looking under the microscope, since I will have to do this in my dermatology residency.

Last Wednesday we had a huge snowstorm that swept through the area, dumping about 12 inches of snow. There was also a really gusty wind, so being outside and on the roads was bad. The director of our rotation on Tuesday said to not come in Wednesday if the snow was bad enough, so I ended up having a snow day, which was so nice. Steph and I were able to get a lot of little things done at home that day and that night we had the Kearls over for games. We played out in the snow when they first got here and the boys had so much fun because there was so much.

Thursday night we went to dinner with Tyce and Faith to celebrate Faith’s birthday, which was Saturday. We went downtown to the Pizza Shuttle and they had really good gourmet pizzas – we got a bbq chicken, alfredo vegetable, and spinach with feta. We thought it would be more than enough food, but the boys ate so much, and there were no leftovers. They have definitely gotten their appetites back since coming home.

Friday was Eli’s first day of preschool. He is in the same classes with Kolby. We got some really cute pictures of him and Kolby dressed up for his first day. He had so much fun and loves school, especially since he is with Kolby – they are such good friends. Steph said that as soon as they got there the boys were off playing and didn’t need her to stick around.

That night the Kearls had asked us to babysit for them so they could go curling. We went to their house to help out, and when they got back some others showed up for cake and ice cream and games. By the time we were done playing Killer Bunnies, it was pretty late, and all the kids were already asleep, so we just decided to spend the night in their front room. It made me feel like I was back in college. Saturday morning Nathan came out around 6:30 with a little flashlight, and when he saw Steph sleeping in the recliner, I guess he thought she was his mom and got really excited that she was out in the front room. He came over and shined the light on her, but when he realized that she wasn’t his mom, he started screaming and ran back to his parents’ bedroom. It was really funny.

Saturday we got to listen to the worldwide leadership training conference over at the church. The topic was on raising a righteous posterity and the focus was on how to better help our kids to learn the gospel in the home and to make sure that we made our homes safe havens from the evils of the world. I thought it was neat how often they spoke about making the sacrifice of faith to have a family while still in school and not making a lot of money, and that if you would obey that commandment to multiply and replenish the earth, then you would be blessed immensely for it. As I look back on our marriage so far, I can definitely see how much we have been blessed and helped as we have tried to follow the counsel of the prophet and keep the commandments. In the conference they also gave advice on things to do to have more love and unity in the home. Steph and I are continually trying to improve on making sure that our children always feel loved and that we are spending good quality time with them. We decided to set up a weekly night out with one of the boys so that we could spend more individual time with them. We will start with Kolby this week. Saturday night we had Peter and Cynthia Hedgecock over for games and had fun catching up on each others lives for the past few months. They brought a new board game that is now our favorite game for the time. It is called Carcassonne and is similar in some respects to Settlers of Katan, but easier to explain and quite a bit faster to play. Basically, you take turn picking up pieces to add to the table as you build up cities with fields and roads and you get points based on what you build.

Sunday was probably the coldest day that we have had so far since being back – the high was only around 10 degrees, and there was a really cold wind blowing all day. Kolby gave a talk in primary on the topic of how the scriptures teach us about Heavenly Father and Jesus. He said that his favorite parts of the scriptures are those about the Lamanites, and his favorite stories are Nephi building the boat, Noah and the Ark, and Ammon and the sheep. He wanted to do the talk without our help and he did a good job with the primary president helping him. I am really looking forward to next month when Camden will be old enough to go to nursery, because one of us ends up spending the hour in the hall with him because he just doesn’t want to be quiet. :) I also got released from my calling as the ward physical facilities representative and my assignment as the stake building coordinator. For now I will just be doing home teaching, which is different, especially since I have had those callings for almost the whole time we’ve been in Milwaukee.

After church we had dinner over at the Hedgecocks. Peter is an excellent cook and we love eating his food. He made us salmon that was so delicious. I had to run for a few hours to do my home teaching with Jason. We had fun catching up on the lives of Steve and Kara and Kyle and Tracy and their kids. When I got back to the Hedgecocks we got the kids in bed and then played another round of Carcassonne. We are so grateful to have such wonderful friends here in Milwaukee and are not looking forward to possibly having to leave them when I graduate.

Grandpa McIntosh also had his back surgery on Wednesday. It sounds like everything went well, although things were a lot worse than the doctors had thought once they got in and started working. He is out of the ICU but had to have a blood transfusion Sunday night. It is good to hear that he is continually improving, if not as fast as he had hoped. You are in our prayers grandpa and we hope that this will help to alleviate some of the pain you have been dealing with for so long.

We hope everyone else is doing well and love hearing from you.

Kolby's Birthday Party

Something New

So, I decided to start wearing make-up. I know that’s probably not a big deal for most of you, but whenever I’ve worn make-up in the past it has only been eye shadow and mascara, and lately I haven’t worn much of anything most days. The other night, though, I got invited to a Mary Kay party at my friend, Marcela’s, house, and the girl who came let us try samples and showed us how to use the make-up. Although I thought they had good products, I definitely couldn’t afford any of the Mary Kay stuff, so I went to Wal Mart the next day and got make-up in similar colors that was a lot less expensive. I got up this morning and Michael got the boys up while I got ready. Almost an hour after getting up, I had gotten dressed and put on all the make-up – I’m sure it will take me much less time to put it on after I’ve done it a few times. I really liked how it turned out, and Michael said that he liked it too. Now, I’m not committing to doing it every day, but I thought I could at least start with Sundays and other days when we have activities going on. I went to a baby shower this morning, and one of my friends said that my eyes looked very glamorous – which was pretty fun to hear. It’s kind of nice to be able to get a little more dressed-up when I feel like it.

I had Michael take my picture this morning because I felt cute – you can’t really see the make-up that much in the photo, but kind of.

Toddler Art Class Luau

We had a luau the other night at the Nielsen’s house to celebrate the end of the summer Toddler Art Class that Kolby and Eli have been attending on Thursday mornings. The kids made decorations for the luau at their last art class last week, including palm trees, tiki statues, and grass skirts that they modeled for pictures. Then we all brought food and had a nice dinner together in the Nielsen’s back yard. It was perfect weather for an evening outside, except with the recent rain the mosquitoes have been worse this summer than any other time since we moved here, and I think that these annoying bugs were the reason that most families didn’t stay too late. But it was a very enjoyable evening.

Michael and the Boy before the Luau -- they all happened to be matching in their red shirts.

Kids in their grass skirts: Sofia Maas, Nathan Kearl, Mikey Kam, Kolby and Eli Bradshaw, and Eva Nielsen.

Kolby and Eli

No, those aren't chicken pox on Camden's face -- just mosquito bites the morning after the Luau.

Starting the Sub-I

In August Michael had an outpatient medicine rotation that had a very nice schedule. He got off early several afternoons a week and didn’t have to go in too early in the mornings. This means that it has been a really nice week for me – most mornings I get to ‘sleep in’ until around 7:30am and when I get up, Michael has already changed and fed the boys. Michael’s medicine sub-I started yesterday, and he is going to have a much tougher schedule for the month of September. This is one of Michael’s two sub-internship months this school year, which means that he takes on the responsibility of a 1st-year resident, which is a lot more than the normal responsibilities of a 4th-year medical student. Anyways, this month Michael will be working on weekends and be at the hospital overnight every 4th night. I think we may both be pretty tired by the time this month is over – at least the rotations he has scheduled for October and November are both supposed to have a much lighter schedule.

This last week was nice. On Monday I met Amy Schneider de Cortez (a friend from Michael’s school) and her kids at the Children’s Museum downtown. We had a lot of fun playing there, and it was good to see Amy again since we haven’t gotten together in a while. Then on Tuesday morning we got to go over to Jandee Anderson’s house and let the boys play with her son, Isaac. We found out that Isaac is going to be in Kolby’s swim class at the YMCA starting in a couple weeks, so that will be really nice. Later on that afternoon, Marcela Maas got out their baby pool and the boys went and swam with Sofia and with Mikey and Landon Kam. Then I went to the annual get-to-know-you RS BBQ, which was a lot of fun, even though it was very warm and humid out that night. I got to talk to some old friends and met several new sisters in the ward too.

On Wednesday I took the boys to the playgroup at Hoyt Park. The boys had a lot of fun and Camden enjoyed crawling all around the playground – trying to eat as much sand as he could before I stopped him, and climbing up on the playground equipment and playing on the slide. He is getting so old, playing with the big kids. On Wednesday night Kolby had his last swimming lesson of the summer session. On the last lesson of each session they always learn about water safety and bring a canoe into the pool and let the kids paddle it around, which is really fun for the kids. Kolby has improved so much with his swimming over the last few months. Michael took him to his lesson, and then afterwards he surprised him and took him to McDonalds. They each ordered something from the dollar menu, and Michael said that Kolby came and sat in the front seat of the car while they shared their food and talked about how things were going lately. Michael said that it was a really fun experience to have some one-on-one time with Kolby and to just talk to him about stuff. And Kolby talked about it for the entire day afterwards. That was pretty cute. So, the next night after Michael took Eli to his last swimming lesson, he took Eli and did the same activity. Michael said that he didn’t think Eli really caught on that it was a special thing that they got to do an activity just by themselves, but he said that Eli enjoyed getting the food from McDonalds, at least.

We went on Thursday morning for the toddler art class, and it was my turn to teach the lesson. I took these pictures of dinosaur skeletons, and the kids glued different shapes of pasta noodles on to make their own dinosaur skeletons. The other kids in the group ended up with pictures that somewhat resembled dinosaurs, and Kolby and Eli each finished with a piece of paper covered in a 3-inch thick pile of glue and noodles. It was pretty cute, though. That afternoon I also had a doctor’s appointment. I now have two more appointments scheduled in September, and then an appointment scheduled every week in October until the baby is due. Luverda Martin, my midwife, said that everything looks like it’s right on track with the baby. On Friday Michael went to school in the morning to work on his research, and then in the afternoon we took the boys to Nash Park, where someone had told me that they had a playground that was good for smaller kids because the guardrails went all the way down on all the sides of the equipment. Camden loved it – it wasn’t a very large playground, but once he found out that he could climb up the steps and go down the slide all by himself, he did that over and over again. Then we came home and had a bunch of friends over for a game night. We invited several new families in the ward that we hadn’t met before, and several old friends, and had a really fun time getting to know everyone.

On Saturday Michael started his sub-I. He said that it was pretty difficult because they don’t have orientation until tomorrow, so he didn’t know a lot of things that he was supposed to be doing, but that will get better after the first little while. I went to a baby shower for Jill Austin while Michael was at the hospital, and it was kind of a battle to take all the boys with me – they gave me a rough time, but I survived. Then, after the boys got up from their naps, we went over and cleaned the church building as a family. Afterwards we took the kids to Dennys – we love their “kids eat free” deal on Saturdays! We rented a movie for a date after we put the boys down to bed. We got one that Michael’s mom recommended to us called The Ultimate Gift. I stayed up and watched the whole thing last night, and Michael fell asleep on the couch about half way through the movie, as has become his habit lately (he is now catching up on the end of the movie while I am writing this and the boys are all napping). Anyways, it was a good movie – nice to find ones that are rated PG and you don’t have to worry about them having bad language or content. Well, today has been a good day too. It was one of Michael’s four days that he gets off this month (his only Sunday off). Church went well. We had a lesson about finances and making sacrifices for the right causes for Sunday school and the lesson in Relief Society was about the law of chastity and how to teach our children about modesty and how to avoid things that are inappropriate. And tonight we were invited to the Lundgren’s house for an early dinner, so that should be a lot of fun too.

Oh, and I just wanted to thank all of you who helped give suggestions for Michael’s personal statement and resume for his residency applications. He was going to submit his final application yesterday, but is still waiting to hear back from his advisor who had some suggestions for him – but he has decided to submit his application on Tuesday whether he has heard back from the advisor or not. I think it is a really hard thing to write about yourself, but Michael did a really good job of it, and with all the suggestions and corrections that he got from family and friends, I think that he ended up with a really good personal statement. So, once everything is submitted, we will just be waiting to get invitations for interviews, which will mostly be in December and January, so keep us in your prayers (because the more interviews he gets, the better chance he has of getting matched with a residency program). Thanks!

Making Dinosaur Pictures at Art Class

Today it was my turn to teach the lesson at the weekly Toddler Art Class that Kolby and Eli attend. Since both Kolby and Eli love dinosaurs, I decided to make that the theme. I brought pictures of dinosaur skeletons for the kids, and they each got to glue different shaped pasta pieces to the papers to make their own dinosaur skeletons. As you can see from the photos, both Kolby and Eli had lots of fun with the glue, and both of them ended up with a pile of pasta glued onto their papers that didn't really resemble any kind of dinosaur that I have ever seen before -- but they sure had fun making them! We also read some dinosaur stories, and then the rest of the time was spent playing with the swing set and other outdoor toys in Eva's backyard. This little outdoor art class has been great for the boys this summer -- a good opportunity for them to spend time with other kids, play outside (in a nice, fenced-in yard where I don't have to constantly chase them), and to be creative in making their own art work (where I don't have to worry about cleaning up paint or play dough off our floor, walls, curtains, etc. when they are finished). And someone gave me the great idea to scan (or photograph) their artwork, which I have done now. So each of the boys will have a nice binder with big, colorful pictures of their own masterpieces, but I won’t have to worry about trying to protect over-sized pieces of construction paper or keep all the glitter and stickers from falling off of their pictures in some box in the closet for the next 20 years. They already like to sit down and look at their own artwork books, so it is really fun.

Pictures from Michael's Fishing Trip Last Weekend

Ryan Bagley, Tyce Kearl, Jason Maas, and Michael Bradshaw

18 August 2007

A Good Week

So, overall we have had a nice week. Last Sunday we had a new family in the ward, Dustin and Jandee Anderson and their kids, Isaac and Emma, over for dinner. Jandee invited me to bring our kids over to play at their house the next day, so we went and did that after our WIC appointment Monday morning. Camden fell asleep in the car on the way over there, and he ended up sleeping in a playpen the entire time we were there. Kolby and Eli had so much fun playing with Isaac. The boys went outside to play with squirt guns in the yard, and ended up having fun watering the plants (and each other) with the hose. And that night, after Michael got home, we went to the Kearl’s house for Nathan’s 2nd birthday party. Tyce and Michael swam in their blow-up pool with all the boys, and Amy Hymas came with her girls a little while later. After cake and ice cream, we put our boys to bed over there and played a game of “Killer Bunnies” (a card game) with Faith and Tyce. It was fun, but I’m afraid I was kind of a party pooper because I was getting a cold, so I was tired and just wasn’t feeling very good.

Tuesday was pretty uneventful. Our friend, Kendra, came by that evening and dropped off our life insurance policy. It was interesting to see – there is a “preferred” category that saves you a couple dollars a month if you are in good health, and you have to be within a certain weight range for your height to qualify. There are no exceptions for pregnancy, so I was automatically disqualified until I get back to a normal weight at a later time. Michael had a nurse come for a short physical a few weeks ago, and he qualified for the preferred status. But he was right on the lower border of the weight range for his height. So, when Kendra came this time, she said that they had just created a “preferred plus” status that could save people a couple more dollars if they were even more healthy, but we knew right away that Michael didn’t qualify for that one, because he would have had to be around 10 pounds heavier. Oh well.

On Wednesday I went to Amanda Hansen’s baby shower in the morning. There were lots of people (with lots of kids) there. And I watched Chelsey there for a little bit while Amy had to run to an appointment with Emily. That went well, although it gave me an idea of how it will be once I have one more kid to watch – I am always counting heads when we are with a big group of people to make sure I can see all of my kids. Michael got home early that afternoon and watched the boys while I went to my physical therapy appointment. I talked to my therapist and told her that my knee has improved since I started going, and though the pain hasn’t entirely gone away, most of the time it doesn’t bother me a lot, so I was thinking about stopping the physical therapy. She actually agreed, since it seems like I have hit a plateau for the last few weeks – she just said to continue with my stretches and exercises and to let her know if the pain gets worse or if I have any other problems. So that will be nice to have one less appointment to go to each week now. That night I took Kolby for his swim lessons, and then we went for a late dinner out. Michael had some more birthday money from family members, plus he had a coupon for a free meal at a Mexican restaurant we like, so we went and did that. (I wonder how old our kids will get before they will no longer tolerate us taking peanut butter sandwiches for them to eat at restaurants while Michael and I use a buy 1, get 1 free coupon and have a really cheep meal out?) That dinner was fun, and the boys were very well behaved at the restaurant.

Then on the drive home we were looking at the YMCA fall program, and we noticed that they are now going to be charging a fee for their preschool program that was originally no extra cost besides our membership fees. (If you want the details, you can see the post down below this one). Anyways, we have been kind of frustrated since we found out about that, and trying to decide what to do for preschool for Kolby now and for Eli this winter after he turns three. We were talking today, and I think our plan at this point is to wait a little while and see if the YMCA happens to get enough complaints that they might lower the fee (although we are not holding our breath for this to happen). But I think what we decided is to probably continue using the YMCA’s preschool program, even with these new fees, and just not sign Kolby up for as many classes as we had originally planned. Plus, we figured that we will be in Boise for the month of December and in San Diego for the month of January, so we won’t sign Kolby up for the second fall session of preschool at the YMCA, and we won’t be signing either of the boys up for the first winter session because we won’t be back in time, so I guess that will be less money we will have to pay. I know that lots of the area preschools that our friends are using are much more expensive than this one, even with the YMCA’s new fees, but it is still a lot more than we had planned on. But hopefully by sending him to fewer classes and not signing them up for every session this year, we will be able to make it work. We’ll see.

Thursday was a pretty relaxing day for me. Michael got done at the clinic and got home early, so I didn’t have to take the kids along for my doctor’s appointment, which was nice just to take some magazines and just read for fun while I waited. I had my glucose test, which is where they make you drink a bottle of this glucose drink that tastes kind of like semi-flat orange soda, and then you wait until exactly an hour later and have your blood drawn. So, my appointment was short and everything is going well with the baby. And they scheduled my appointments through the end of the pregnancy – so I am now scheduled to go every other week for the remainder of August and September, then to go in once a week through the end of October. So, after that I just waited until the hour was up for my glucose test, and then the nurse called me back to draw my blood. Apparently that nurse wasn’t an expert at drawing blood. I told her that people often had trouble when drawing my blood, and after she tried once in each of my hands, she got another nurse to come in, and then my midwife walked by and said that she would do it. She got it on her first try in my arm, but still had to wiggle the needle around a little to get it all, and I now have this huge purple bruise on my arm that everyone keeps asking me about. One of my hands and my arm hurt the rest of that day, but luckily that didn’t last. But my midwife told me that next time I should tell them that I need to be sent down to the lab to have blood drawn.

That night Michael took all the boys to the YMCA. He dropped Kolby and Camden off at the Kid Care and went to Eli’s swimming lesson with him, so that I could go to an enrichment group. It was a fun activity for cooking group where everyone brought salsa and recipes to share. And then Friday was Debbie’s birthday. Happy Birthday! We called and sang Happy Birthday to her, and Eli was so cute – he knew all the words and was singing along with us for the entire song.

On Friday night Michael went with Tyce Kearl, Jason Maas, and Ryan Bagley for a fishing trip. They slept that night on the boat that belongs to Tyce’s uncle down on Lake Michigan at the border of Wisconsin and Illinois. The next morning there was a bit of a storm and it was very windy with large swells, and Michael and Jason both ended up getting sick, but Michael said it was fun other than that part. They ended up catching a couple of trout and a large salmon that everyone ended up splitting up – and Michael is in the kitchen right now trying to de-bone the fish so it will be ready to prepare for dinner sometime soon. They got home Saturday evening.

Saturday morning Faith and I met at the zoo and the kids had lunch there and then we mostly stuck to two of the indoor areas – the family farm and the big cats exhibit – since it was a rainy day. On our way out, Kolby asked when daddy was going to be home. He knew that Michael was salmon fishing, so he asked if we could have salmon for dinner that night. I told him that we probably wouldn’t have it that night, because it would take too long to prepare. He asked why, and I explained to him that you can get sick if you eat the fish without cooking it first. And he said, “Yeah, if I didn’t cook it, the salmon might bite my tongue when I try to eat it.” I thought that was pretty cute!

That evening, after Michael got home, one of his school friends, Xandie Gold, came over for a little while and brought her 4-year-old niece, Star, who was visiting her for the weekend to play with our boys. They played well together and then the Kearls and the Wellses came over a little later and we all had some cake I had made with fresh apples in it (I was very proud of myself – I made cake from scratch for the first time ever, and it turned out pretty yummy, if I do say so myself). After Star and Xandie went home and we put our kids down to sleep, we played Apples to Apples and Scatergories. Then they went home after a few hours, because Michael and Tyce were still pretty worn out from their fishing trip.

And today church went pretty well. Camden was so tired – we have 9am church and he has gotten into the habit recently of taking a nap around 9:30am on days when we are at home. I got him to sleep a couple of times, but he is so used to napping in a crib that he woke up each time I got him to fall asleep in my arms. But then he did pretty well later on – I didn’t have to leave my Relief Society class until the last minute or two of class – which is the longest he has lasted that third hour of church in the last several weeks. The boys are all down for their naps now, and Michael has been working on dishes while I have been writing this. Now he is fixing a picture that my parents gave us for our wedding – it is a large framed painting of Christ, and a while ago we noticed that the picture had slipped down behind the mat so it was hanging funny in the frame. It has been that way a while, so that will be nice once he gets it straightened. He is leaving for his home teaching appointments in a few minutes.

This week should be good. Michael’s rotation this month has been a really nice schedule for us. And some time in the next couple of days my former BYU Family History Professor, Brother Minert, and his wife are going to be in Milwaukee, so they said they will give us a call and stop by and that should be nice to see them. And Matthew’s birthday is Wednesday, Happy Birthday Matthy!!!

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.

Camden's New Girlfriend

Katie Kearl and Camden Bradshaw

Well, the Kearls were over last night and we decided that Katie and Camden should get married someday. Tyce thought that one of our other boys should marry one of the Hymas' girls -- then we could all stay connected in the future. I figure Eli can marry Emily, since they play well together lately, and maybe Kolby can marry Sofia Maas. Then we won't have to worry about staying in touch with all of our friends after medical school is over. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what all of our kids think about that.