Date Night

Last weekend we decided to celebrate boards being over by having a night away from the kids. I had actually decided weeks ago that we were going to go out once he was done. I asked our babysitter a couple weeks before since she begs us weekly to let her come over and babysit (trust me I would have her over weekly if I could afford it!) It is always nice to go out together and even better when I can come home and my kids are in their beds asleep! Our babysitter even text me and asked if I knew when we were going to be back and then told me no rush, go do more stuff, and to stay out longer.

We first headed downtown to Beale Street. It wasn't to crowded yet since it was still light outside. We went to Dyer's Burgers. They are famous for their burgers because they are deep fried in grease that is almost a hundred years old. I think they have been featured on one of those shows on the Travel Channel. It was another place we wanted to try before we move. It was really good (anything fried is), quick, and cheap. Their prices seem to be less than a combo meal at Wendy's. I probably ate my points for a month is one sitting!

Andrew upgraded to onion rings, he was a little disappointed though for only getting five!After we were done eating, since it didn't take to long we decided to walk Beale street. The street performers were out by then for the night so we watched them for a few minutes then we went into some shops. The shops were a little strange but we found their window display interesting. They had toilet seats made to look like different musical instruments, another one of those only in Memphis moments. Looking down from the top of BealeAfter that we drove down to the river to watch the sunset, which was incredible that night!We then tried to go miniature golfing but it was closed already so we played a game of bowling and then went and used our last coupon for frozen yogurt at Gracie Bleu (luckily we filled our punch card so one more free yogurt before we move!) It was nice to not have to share my cup of yogurt and to enjoy it! It was a great night out and was really nice to spend time with Andrew. He really sacrificed a lot of time away from us these last 3-4 months and I hope and pray it pays off! There were lots and lots of nights he would come home in time to say prayers and read scriptures with the kids and put them in bed and then go upstairs and study for a couple more hours. We are happy to have him back! Now just one more month of classes and then onto his externships! He is counting down the number of tests he has left in all of optometry school he says about 5 or less! Time is going so fast!

Pi Day

Last Thursday we celebrated Pi Day. Yes it was a week or so late. My friend Ashley has done this a few times since we all moved here but with some of the husbands preparing for their boards when the actual Pi Day arrived she decided to wait until it was all over. Well Thursday was the day and it was a great way for all the guys to celebrate their accomplishment of finishing the test. We had so many pies to choose from more than 10! I did really good and tried two small pieces. I made a fresh strawberry pie with a cream cheese mixture. It was a fun night and we enjoyed spending time with our friends!

Me, Larysa, and Ashley our host

All Done!!!

Last Wednesday we decided to show Andrew how excited we were for him to be done with boards and how proud we were of him. We went and got him some balloons and made him a poster. Getting the balloons was a challenge since no one seems to sell them anymore. Once we finally got to a store that would do them Ella started to show her true colors and screamed NO really loud at one of the employees and ran off. The lady was nice enough to find me a cart since they only had a couple in the store where we quarantined her. Then the lady was nice enough to give both my kids a balloon since the 8 we were getting wasn't enough. It was a super windy day and once again the same lady saved me and carried them to the car for me. It was quite an experience just for a couple silly balloons that were flat the next morning! Ella proved to me that we cannot go anywhere for a while and so we haven't been anywhere really since that day! We are really proud of all the many hours and days he put into preparing for this test! Now we just wait six weeks for the results, which he claims is just as hard as the test :).

I let them both "help" write their names and let Ella color with the markers for a few seconds but I got to nervous with her and permanent markers so we called it good and put them away!

Between Boards

Last week Andrew finally took his board exams. He has prepared long and hard for them. To become board certified and eventually licensed as a doctor he has to take them. There are three parts. This was the first part, the hardest of the three. It is a written test, the other two are "easier" one being clinical basically he has to give an exam to a patient and so on, and the other one they are given case studies and they have to figure out diagnosis and treatment etc. The test consisted of a total of 500 questions given over 15 hours. They go in for 3 1/2 hrs and do 125 questions at a time, so it spanned over two days last Tuesday and Wednesday. They tell them to not talk about it with each other after and to not study between. On Tuesday we headed up to his school just as he was finishing his first part. We figured we could take him some lunch and have him relax for a bit. He had a two hour break. We were able to sit on the grass and have a nice picnic and the kids were able to run around. It turned out to be a perfect day and he was grateful we came to help him relax!

Of course the kids didn't want to play by where we were sitting they ran all the way to the other side of the grass!

Botanic Gardens

We have been up to the Botanic Gardens a lot lately. It has been really nice the last few weeks and a nice outlet for us. Last Monday was the day before Andrew's two day test and they were told to not study that day and he needed to get out of the house and do something fun and enjoyable. We were happy to oblige since we were finally going to get to spend time with him. It turned out to be a great day! It was perfect temperature and not to crowded. All the trees are in bloom and absolutely gorgeous and most of the tulips and daffodils are in bloom.

Ella wanted to smell the flowers. I love how 2 year olds smell it is so cute!

Those red bushes in the back were amazing!

We spent some time in the doghouse! Ella loves the little bench inside of it!

Easton fell asleep on our way there and woke up just in time to play in the sand. They had fun burying their feet, making castles, and unfortunately throwing the sand (and eating it if your Easton!)

We went down the slide about 20 times since we had it to ourselves for a while and once other kids came Ella was done. They ran up and down the ramp to the tree houseEaston is a happy child if he is either eating something or outside playing or doing both at the same time!He gets rather upset if you go outside or anywhere without him! I love the Botanic Gardens because he can just run free!Playing inside the big tree house!They have all these tunnels they call "worms" and they both love to go back and forth through them!

I just love this picture. I need to remind myself to look at it when they are stressing me out, they really do bring us so much joy! We get asked on a daily/hourly basis if they are twins at least now they look more like twins then they ever have! When Eatson was a small baby and Ella was like 18 months I used to get it a lot which never made sense to me one has a mouth full of teeth and the other doesn't and you think they are twins, really?!?Ella loves playing in all the little houses. Their favorite house is the music houseBefore we left we swung on the swings and then they both had a meltdown and so we headed home for naps!

Crazy Hair

When Dad gives baths you never know what is going to happen. He loves to spike their hair. He told me to take a picture and I did. It is getting harder to bathe them together, they are both stubborn and don't want to move out of the way for a second while they take turns getting washed up. They love to be in there together and have a blast soaking Dad and the bathroom :)

Easto

Easton already has a hollow leg and he is 1! He constantly eats and can't get enough. I can't even clean up the kitchen he comes in and stands next to his chair and whines. He will not leave until he has something to eat in his hands. He certainly doesn't look like he constantly eats but that is because he spends his days running. He is growing up so fast! I forgot I had these cute overalls for him for this summer and he looks so cute in them. He also loves to sit on this stool, I can't get them to keep the stool in the bathroom when it belongs. He brings it out all the time and tries to get the stuff off of our fridge, he just can't figure out how to stabilize himself to stand up on it!

Girls Night Out

Last week was my friend Heather's birthday. She had a little girls night out last Friday to celebrate. There is a cute little cheesecake place south of us in Hernando. They are a little shop and serve just cheesecake. It was nice to get out of the house for a couple hours and chat with some of my greatest friends here! There were two young guys working that took good care of us while we sat there for two hours and made a lot of noise. They kept our water pitchers full! Thanks for a fun night out!

Back row: Jen, Thia, Larysa, Heather, Monica, Luna

Front Row: Lauren, Me, Ashley C., Ashley W.

I couldn't decide what I wanted so I got two to try and take the rest home for Andrew. I figured he really could use a treat after he had spent 10 hrs at school studying that day and then came home and took care of the kids while I went out. Thanks babe!

One Last Zoo Trip

Last Thursday we headed to the Zoo for one last time. Our pass expired last Friday and we wanted to squeeze in one last trip. We met our friends the Lants up there nice and early. We decided that since it was spring break here last week and so we wanted to beat the crowds and not have to park far away. We got there just in time and right as they opened. It was supposed to be a hot day so getting there early helped as well since it made it to the mid-eighties that day! It was fun to go and I hope this fall we can get another pass because we really do get our money's worth (after two trips the pass has paid for itself). We figured we went well over twenty times over the last year! Ella has been asking to go to the Zoo everyday this week, maybe we will have to hit up the Hogle Zoo this summer in Utah!

The first thing we did was go over to the farm animals. It had been a while since we had been over there and Ella loved it. The donkey's were making lots of noise which Ella found hilarious! I was surprised when Ella agreed to get up on this cow for a picture!

Watching the cows!We went and watched the Sea Lion show again. It was better than the week before and the Sea Lion were more active!