Life Keeps on Going

Here are some updates and a current snapshot of our family.

Juevos Rancheros pizza style breakfast. Rachel can pop out amazing meals in no time.

Our new place has a park about a stone's throw away. It makes it so easy to go there often. Our upstairs neighbors from Taiwan have a 2 year old boy named Nathan that the kids get along with great. We have an open door policy with them: that is, either of our kids are welcome to go over to the other's house and play without big arrangements or feeling bad that the other is watching our kids.

Olive, Hannah, Nathan (neighbor) and Heber at Nellie's Cave Park

In other words, when our kids want to go to his house, they ask us and then let themselves out our front door, walk up the stairs and knock on their door and play for a period of time. And since we have stairs coming into our back porch he does the same thing through the back. I'd say he mostly comes to our house when he gets bored.

Kimball moved in Late May. Both of us chose different degrees (Civil Engineering and Geography) but have somehow chose similar careers (GIS applications in Civil Engineering, Planning, etc). Our skills are so similar, in fact, that last year he was able to live with us in Austin, TX working in the same office a few doors down from mine, often on the same projects. This year he is again working in my office for the summer, but now we are only a one or two feet from each other in side by side cubicles. Furthermore, we're both working on the Virginia Tech Hazard Mitigation Plan, him on Hurricane/Tornado hazards and me on Flood and Infrastructure damage/failure.

Like good brothers we either ride our bikes or the bus together to work. The Huckleberry Trail is a nice 15 minute stroll through the forest that is a great way to start and end the day.

In the evening, when we find the time, we like to play Heroes of Might and Magic (nerd alert!) just like the good ol' days growing up in Globe.

Rachel keeps busy with play group on Wednesdays; planning compassionate service for the many nearly full term pregnant women in our ward (There are so many at this time of year. Even for our ward where you'd expect that being full of young graduate student families like us.); Doing a mini-preschool on Fridays with Natasha and her sun Yegor (a Russian family that she met at the park); working on art projects (see below for two of her latest); And just being friends to everyone. I never realized what a great socializer she is. She's not necessarily extroverted and loud, but she is great at entertaining guests and friends we have over for dinner. People love hanging out with her, which means almost every day of the week she's at someone's house or them at ours. I can't say the same about myself.

Heber is our little man of the house. He likes to keep order by enforcing the rules on the girls when they get out of line. He'll clean up our whole house if it means he gets to watch Thomas the Train. He's got tougher skin than the girls, so when he misbehaves I can exile him up on the pull-up bar to think about what he's done without having an emotional breakdown like...

Heber's laughing/slightly nervous face

Hannah is our sweet and responsible oldest girl. She loves helping her mother make food and paint pictures/nails. She loves eating vegetables. In fact the other day Rachel went shopping with just Hannah. Out of the blue this large, black lady busted up laughing. Rachel turned and the lady asked her, "Is that your daughter?"

"Yes," Nervous shock goes through Rachel thinking what did she do now?

Laughing she responds, "She just pulled off a piece of lettuce and ate it. I've never seen a kid do that. That's good."

Her and Heber also love being told Heney and Habbah stories at night (make no mistake Heney and Habbah are a completely different set of twins from Hebey and Hannah. Any similarities are just coincidences.). She also insists on a Baby BamBam story at night which is definitely not about...

Olive is out precious little baby. She's definitely more spoiled than the others—doesn't like to eat her vegetables and demands to be held and snuggled. I think it's safe to say that she is a daddy's girl (as she quietly sits on my lap as I type.). She is starting to talk more and will be going to nursery in a month.

Olive in her hand-picked outfit

I'll be out of town all next week in Emittsburg, MD for some training and then again nearly the whole month of July for Air Force duties.