Twenty-seven

Today I turned twenty-seven.

I woke up and said, "This is going to be a good day. Today is a special day."

Hours later I thought, "This is going to be a fun day. Today is special."

Today I played with my children.

I made an honest effort to do things that make Henry happy.

Henry and I laughed together a lot today. He's at a fun, funny stage.

Today I ate dinner with my family.

I laughed with Henry while Maggie cried (she does not like carrots).

Brendon and I talked while we cleaned the kitchen together.

Today was mostly like any other day, except for the flowers, the cake, and the birthday wishes.

I had moments filled with frustration and moments filled with joy.

My family and I did what we usually do together.

Today was a good day. A fun day. A special day.

Today I had an epiphany, realizing every day can be a good day. A fun day.

Today I turned twenty-seven. Today I learned every day really is special.

 

Living in Lubbock

Lubbock is, in three words: warm, windy, and welcoming. While getting acclimated to our new area, we have been so grateful for the wonderful people living here who have extended a hand of friendship through service, a friendly hello, dinners, and invitations to play. Moving is never an easy thing to do, but this has been a smooth transition.

When people said, "Lubbock isn't the prettiest place," they were right. When a friend drove through and called to say, "The freeway is the highest point in the city," he was right. And when people said, "You will love it here," they were right. Well, I can't say I'm smitten with the place, but it will grow on me. I can already tell.


So far our favorite places in Lubbock are our backyard pool, the Science Spectrum Museum, TJ Maxx, the Lubbock Temple, the parks, and our house. We still have a lot to explore but have already found things to do to keep us busy. And keeping busy is what will help me get through these next three busy years sanely.


Our backyard pool has already provided hours of entertainment. We are loving the backyard patio, the sidewalk chalk, our kiddie cars and scooters, and the room to play. The backyard is basically dirt right now, but Henry could care less.

The Science Spectrum Museum had a mini zoo where I ventured to take the kids (by myself...my first big event alone with two kids). Henry's favorite thing was the fake dinosaurs that are always at the museum. He loves "sa-sores" with all his little heart. We got a pass to the museum and will be playing there often. The museum teaches a lot about science (think Phsyical Science 100 from BYU in all its' glory) and has everything from bubbles and balls to cars and trains to dinosaurs and fish. We've spent six hours there and haven't played with everything yet. 

The shopping in Lubbock is great. You name it, we have it (except for Costco). And the kids' clothing clearance racks are not picked over, leaving me with a great selection.

The Lubbock Temple is beautiful. The temple parking lot is our church parking lot. Henry pointed to the gold Angel Moroni on top and exclaimed, "Je-Jus (Jesus)!" He must carry some heavenly knowledge from before his birth, because we have not taught him about the gold statue on top of the temple. I'm not sure how he knew it was a religious being. Today, while leaving the church, Henry was crying (tantrum tears). All of a sudden, he stops crying, waves at the statue and says, "Mye Je-Jus (bye Jesus), mye Je-Jus." Too cute.

Our home is perfect for us. I love the size, the cinder-block, one-roomed basement (aka: the play room), our good-sized family room, the big backyard, and the bedrooms. The kitchen is small but doable. Brendon loves the two-car garage and the five minute commute to work. Our neighborhood is safe enough to run around, but our sheriff neighbor warned us to keep our garage closed due to burglaries in the area. All in all, we love the house.


Lubbock is proving to be a good fit for us for this time of our lives and we are anxious to meet more people and make good friends.

Seven Months

{one hundred percent girl}

She loves to talk. 

She loves companionship.  

She loves to snuggle.

{content}

"She is such a good baby," people say. 

She is in no rush for physical development (crawling or rolling over the full 360 degrees).

She smiles often and laughs when she's in the right mood. 

{tough}

She smiles when brother comes around. 

She takes a lot of what he dishes out.

"When she's crying, that means stop," I tell Henry. And when I pick her up, she is all better.

{silly}
She taps her left foot--especially while in her bumbo--when she's bored.
She has a shimmy dance move that she is really good at.
She makes herself cough and starts to laugh.

{loving}

Her snuggles are priceless. 

She has an apparent love for people with the excitement she shows on her face.

Her eyes tell me she loves me when I take the time to notice. 

{patient}

She is a second child.

She talks/moans to keep herself company.

She can wait for food.

{lover of the outdoors}

Like her brother, whenever she's crying, I can take her outside and she's happy.

Although tired, she will stay awake while taking a ride in the stroller outdoors.

Always content to play outside with brother.

{beautiful}
She is peaceful, calm, and pure.
She lights up a room with her open-mouthed smiles and smiley, squinty eyes.
She is our "bald beauty" with blue eyes and a sweet, gorgeous face.

{good baby}

Good sleeper: often wakes up during the night, but only once.

Good eater: stays focused while nursing and is eating solids well.

See {content}, {tough}, {loving}, and {patient}.

{We adore and love you, Maggie!}

Saying Good-bye

Our original moving plans were preponed, giving us twelve days to pack, clean, and get out of our apartment...oh, and find a place to rent in Texas. It was a busy, stressful two weeks. Packing and moving weren't bad, but the house hunt didn't go as smoothly as anticipated, and with an earlier move-in date, we were frantically looking online for somewhere to live.

On our drive home from graduation, Brendon asked, "What do you want to do in Utah before we move?" Well, the list was scratched pretty quickly when we found out that moving had to become the priority. I guess we'll have to go mountain biking together some other time. We did, however, make sure to see family to say good-bye.

First, we said good-bye to my brother, who left home for two years to serve an LDS mission in El Salvador. He adores my kids (which I love). We will be sure to frequently mention "Auz-is" to Henry so he remembers him. Our children will be so different the next time we see him. But we all adore Austin and are excited for him.



We said good-bye to our grandmas, aunts, uncles, and cousins who live in Utah. We have enjoyed living closer to them over the past two years and although we could have spent more time with them, we are grateful for the time we did spend together.

Finally, we said good-bye to my family. We absolutely loved living so close together. Two years ago, three of the four of us (siblings) moved back to Utah (with the fourth already at home). Looking back, it's a miracle our timing worked out so well. Now, two of the kids are out of state with another moving a little further from home, although still in Utah. During our time together, I loved getting to know our newest brother-in-law better, watching my children play with my sister's children, seeing my brother love and play with my children, going shopping and out to lunch with my mom, having regular visitations from my parents, and spending Sunday afternoons together. 

Saying good-bye this move was a lot easier than the first time I moved away from my parents. I am sad to leave, but know good things are ahead and am so grateful for technology and transportation that allows us to talk with and see each other.

BFF

When I moved into Roman Gardens as a sophomore at BYU, I had no idea I would make lifelong friends. I was told I would, but I didn't realize how true that statement would be. That fall I met Cassie. We immediately formed a great friendship. She was someone I looked up to as she taught me about running, nutrition, making friends, the importance of staying busy, spirituality, & balancing the demands of school with fun, among a list of other things.

We have so many fun memories together--many of which involve food--but the years we spent living together were the highlight of my college career. We learned how to snowboard together, we played practical jokes on our friends, we ate lots of ice cream together, we laughed, we cried, we talked about any & everything, we ran,  we studied, we stayed up late, we went to church, we made roommate pacts, we talked about boys, we went to sporting events, etc., etc., etc. Oh, the days!

As life has continued, we have stayed in contact with each other, but our paths happened to cross a few miles from each other for the past couple years. What a treat! Our two boys became good friends (most of the time) by force because we started having regular play dates to talk about raising active boys, life, motherhood, recipes, and anything else that popped into our heads. I believe people come into your life at certain times for a purpose and she was the friend I needed these past two years.


Henry always looked forward to playing with her son.. Any time I said, "Let's go play with Carter!" He would look up, gasp, and say, "Car-er!" These boys are so much alike. I'm pretty sure they would be BFFs if they had the chance.

But no matter where we live, we'll still have the BFF connection. You know, the haven't-talked-to-you-in-awhile-but-it-feels-like-we-talked-yesterday connection. The talk-to-about-any-and-everything connection. The talk-for-five-minutes-or-fifty-minutes connection. Because we all need those kind of friends. And she's that kind of friend.

Doctor Holmes

Remember when I said Brendon had practically graduated from medical school? Well, he has officially graduated from medical school. He is now Dr. Holmes, although he will remain "Dad" and "Brendon" around here.

Congratulations, Brendon! You made it! Twelve years of school plus four years of college plus four years of graduate school. That is a lot to take on, but you made it through with a dream and with a lot of patience, perseverance, hard work, and dedication and, all the while, you put your family as your number one priority. We love you! Thank you for making us top priority; we admire you for accomplishing your goal.

Graduation allowed us to take our longest road trip yet. It was fun being together and we enjoyed our time with family and friends for a week and a half. We took advantage of the trip to spend some time in Colorado with Heidi's (Brendon's sister) family. We played with cousins all day, every day and had a blast. We went on walks, played in the kiddie swimming pool, watched movies, ran through the sprinklers, played games, hung out, played the Wii, and got reacquainted with each other, with Porter & Maggie meeting for the first time. It's a shame families don't all live in one area together--pretty sure these kids would be great friends.

 

After a few days, we left for Kansas City. We stayed in our cheap, cramped hotel room in true Holmes' style and quite honestly, I didn't realize what a crappy hotel it was until we got to our hotel in Kirksville (courtesy of my parents) with a room that allowed us to have walking space amidst our pack n' plays. While in Kansas City, we enjoyed some real barbecue. It was delicious! The cashier told me "you (white) folk like pork," so that's what I got. She gave Henry a free 24 ounce drink of soda/pop filled with sugar. Henry devoured it and was a little crazy afterwards. We also went to see Liberty Jail. Even though I was busy trying to keep Henry entertained, I felt the spirit of that neat place. We bumped into our medical school friends, the Ewells, while at Liberty Jail, who were also traveling to Kirksville.

While in Kirksville we spent a lot of time with our grandmas and grandpas. Brendon and I were so grateful to have our parents with us for this celebration.

Henry was in heaven with both sets of grandparents at his beckon' call. And I'm sure Maggie was thrilled with how much she was held in everyone's arms. See how happy they are? 

 

 

Brendon and I had a couple of dinners to go to and the grandparents graciously accepted responsibility of our children. It felt like date night after date night for me and Brendon as we spent time with each other and good friends. We loved catching up with everyone and are so grateful for the friendships we have made that have helped make this medical school journey more enjoyable. 

{The study buddies & their wives}

Henry loved playing in the pool with dad and grandpa, who were quick to take any opportunity to swim with him. Maggie even got in the pool (mostly to get in her cute swimming suit). Henry loved the pool when he was her age; she didn't cry but didn't seem to love it either. We also spent a lot of time chatting with our parents and playing card games.

Graduation was a day full of celebration. The ceremony was...well, just like any graduation ceremony. Sister pooped out onto my skirt to make it more memorable. But truthfully, it was a proud wife moment. I felt a lot of gratitude for making it to this point in our medical school journey. Along with Brendon's medical knowledge, we both learned a lot about life, ourselves, each other, and how we work together. When I asked Brendon what it feels like to have graduated from medical school he asked what it feels like for me to have endured the journey. I told him I forgot the hard things. The human mind is great that way. Not that it was all hard, but there were definitely difficult days/weeks/months during the last four years when time together was limited. But we made it!

After the graduation ceremony, we got pictures with our dear Kirksville friends and spent the rest of the day with our family going out to eat at La Fuente (my favorite Mexican restaurant), shopping, and playing card games.

During our last day in Kirksville, Katherine had us over for dinner. As always, the food was incredible and the company was wonderful. We love the Fields like family and really enjoyed our time with them.

This was a great trip for our family. We were able to spend time with the people who have offered so much love and support to help us succeed. What an accomplishment!

One Mile

We live one mile away from my parents. I love it. I could live this close to my parents forever. But alas, we have residency to do and family in California, so we're not so sure about where we'll end up permanently. That is, if we ever settle down anywhere. Brendon & I don't really talk about that phase of life. We used to, but it usually went something like this, "I want to live in (insert home state here)." Then we realized life has its' own way of working things out and we'll end up wherever we need to be. So we agreed to stop talking about it until it mattered. And right now it doesn't matter, so we don't talk about it.

For now, though, my parents live one mile away from my home. It is wonderful...perfect, even. My dad stops by on his way home from work to chase Henry around the couch. My mom stops by when she runs errands & we chat. We stop by their house whenever we feel the need to get out of the house or want ice cream or want company. It works out great. Perfect, even.

As we quickly approach moving time, I feel sad every time we drive away from my parents' house, realizing how much I'm going to miss this place. Not my apartment, but the close distance to my parents.

I'm going to miss so many things, like Sunday dinners & hanging out afterwards,

 random drop-ins & watching "PAPA!!!" & Henry play together, 

celebrating events/holidays with each other, 

going out to eat together, 

playing Spades, 

watching my parents interact with my children in a way that Skype won't allow them to, 

and just being together.

Living one mile away from my parents has (probably) been a once in a lifetime experience & I'm so grateful we were able to experience it. There have been no drawbacks to living so close, except for the fact that being close to my family means being far from Brendon's family. It has been wonderful having family so close. I'm going to miss it. I'm definitely going to miss it.