Happy Summer day

Today was a perfect summer day. It was hot...real hot.

The boys started out the day with swimming lessons.
They get so giddy before lessons start.

Lessons consist of playing on the playground, swimming, and then a snow cone.

We came home for lunch and were surprised to see my sis Natalie--she came over on her new scooter. Cousin Annabell joined us and they played happily in the boys bedroom.

Reece was the librarian. They all had library cards and could only check 1 book out at a time.

Then we braved the neighborhood playground. We didn't last long--it was way to hot.

We took the girls to "blows" (my mom's name according to the boys)

house and had another Popsicle.

My parents are super busy--which they thrive on:

They are painting their kitchen cupboards so the house is closed.

Dunkley Music is celebrating their 60th anniversary this week.

My mom is hosting the Dunkley Reunion next Saturday.
And two weeks after that my parents are hosting my Grandma & Grandpa Lloyds

50th wedding anniversary!!

And of course there's swimming lessons being taught as well.

Like I said...CRAZINESS!

My contribution to the parties is making baby shower
baskets for my 6 cousins who are prego!

Today I made a "hooter hider" or nursing cover in more modest terms!

We ended our day hearing the music from the ice cream lady.

Of course we HAD to buy some ice cream from the ice cream truck.

(yes...this was their 3rd Popsicle for the day. It's ok, they need the calories!)

Reece got a Shrek Popsicle and Benson got a Red, green, & blue Popsicle.

They enjoyed their Popsicle but their skin was super sticky...hmmm...wonder why?

This lead to the boys newest favorite thing to do:

Use mom & dad's shower

Our shower has a hand held wand which the boys find fascinating.

We also got a friendly visit from a grasshopper.

We chased him down and Reece caught him twice!

They are now sound asleep (7:51pm). Reece gets to wake up at

6:30am to take 50 chickens to the slaughter house with Grandma!

Happy Summer!

Oh...and our handsome daddy spent the day studying.

Actually, he's still at Peterson Motors studying with Blake.

We expect him home around 9pm, after which we'll have a little chat

and then he'll continue his studying through the night.

He's our champion.

Only 2 weeks until his big test (USMLE step 1--aka med boards)

blog

HOW DO I GET MY OLD BLOG TEMPLATE BACK??? I NEED HELP!!!

Dad's birthday

Happy Birthday Dad!

Doesn't that cake look SOOOO DELICIOUS?! My dad and I share the same passion for rich chocolate cake with German frosting! Reece waited all day to put Grandpa's candles on his cake.
Natty's new scooter
Grandpa Lloyd, Ben ben, and Spencer

Grandpa Dunkley and Nicole!

Swimming lessons

Welcome to the Dunkley family swim school.

Teachers this year:

Mom, Kristi, Jessica, and Heather

This is Benson's 1st yr of swim lessons. He is so dang cute in the water--you seriously want to squeeze him. He keeps his mouth open with a huge smile the whole time. My Mom is his teacher and says his chest cavity shakes from him laughing. Well, until you put his eyes in the water. Then he freaks out and whines to his mommy!

Reece is also doing awesome. Thanks to Haylie (and a little friendly competition) he now loves putting his head in the water. Last week he came up with a game where he throws his blue tube away from the steps and then swims until he catches it. He's a brave little guy.
The boys enjoy a snow cone from Natalie and Nicole's candy store after lessons. This session has been especially fun because their cousins Kylie & Haylie were in lessons with them!

LESSONS LEARNED FROM SWIMMING LESSONS:

1. DON'T give Benson INSULIN 30 min. prior to lessons. On his first day of swim lessons I gave him a correction before he got into the pool. I checked him 10 minutes after his lessons and he was 29! I frantically picked him up, ran into the house, and started shoving fruit snacks down his throat. My whole body was shaking--I thought for sure he was going to go unconscious as I was feeding him. Well, the same thing happened on Thursday. I then realized that we can't give him insulin before he takes his bath (or gets into warm water) because the insulin can infect his skin and the hot water causes insulin to activate more quickly. DUH!! Why didn't I think the swim water would do the same thing. Add on top of that exercise and the sun and you have a deadly combination. I've learned this summer that being in the hot sun drops his blood sugars fast. He eats a snow cone (loaded with sugar) after lessons to level him out.

2. Reece has VERY SENSITIVE skin. I tried 4 different sun screens and he reacted to all of them. It got so bad that he told me he was allergic to the sun and sweating. Then he started to get weary of swimming lessons because he was associating his sunscreen reactions to the pool. We finally found a sunscreen that will work for him--it's coppertone for sensitive skin. No more itchy, red blotchy, and irritated skin. Hurray!

Thank heavens for parents...& Natty!

Thank you Mom, Dad, & Natalie for playing with us in Seattle and driving us home to Boise! We took a fun bike ride to Gas works park before we packed the moving truck. They were setting up for the 4th of July fire works and so there was a lot going on. We enjoyed the beautiful scenery, boats, and all the activity around us.


The boys feel asleep during the ride! Natalie, Reece, & Benson playing at our apartment complex. Mom took them to U Village and bought some yummy treats for them to snack on. They were in heaven!

The first day there were in Seattle we took a ferry ride to Poulsbro. We visited the famous bakery (well, according to Grandma and Grandpa Lloyd), ate some delicious seafood, and enjoyed the fun shops.

Then we stopped by a U-PICK Strawberry field. They strawberries were huge and delicious! The boys again, were in HEAVEN!

Then we went to a 40-minute drive through animal farm. That was hilarious! The boys sat up front on Dad's and Spencer's laps.

The Yak tried to kiss my Dad. It was a little to slobbery for his taste!

The bear was soooo cute and only a couple feet away!

The next day we enjoyed a visit to the Seattle zoo. We LOVE LOVE LOVED the Seattle ZOO. If you ever get the chance to visit Seattle--go to their zoo. It's BEAUTIFUL and has a lot of really neat exhibits. It's the best zoo I've ever been to. We went there often last year.

Another picture at Gas works. Check out Natalie's face. She was just a little tired/hungry!

Reece with one with his swedish fish!

At Poulsbro. So pretty!

Ferry ride

Love that girl! Her and Spencer had a competition with each other to see who could last the longest standing outside the ferry. It was super windy and FREEZING cold. Spencer had a sweatshirt on and Natalie was in her short sleeve shirt. She is one competitive girl and totally outlasted Spencer. I'm pretty sure the people around us thought we were terrible people for letting her stand outside in a short sleeve shirt. She won a cupcake!

Ferry.

Farewell Seattle...Hello Boise

We have officially moved to Boise! We made a quick decision to move a little earlier then expected. My parents decided to come visit us the weekend of the 4th and so we thought it would be nice to have them help us drive home. I had everything packed and cleaned so we were able to spend a couple days showing them around Seattle (more about that in a different post).

*****

Before I start about Seattle, I should probably explain why we moved. Spencer is now a 3rd Year Medical student at the University of Washington School of Medicine (UW). The first 2 years of medical school are all book work. UW has 6-7 sites where they send their 1st year med students (we were sent to Moscow, ID because we are Idaho students). The 2nd year all students are combined in Seattle. The 3rd & 4th year are clinical rotations, meaning they spend all their time in the hospitals. In order to accomodate all 220 students they have to ship them all over 5 states. We chose to do the "Idaho track" meaning we would spend the last 2 years in Boise doing rotations instead of being sent all over the place. It will be much more stable for our family and living close to the grandparents is also a major perk!! :)

THINGS I WILL MISS ABOUT SEATTLE....

1. My apartment complex (Blakeley Village UW Student housing). We had the most awesome neighbors and friends there. We always had a babysitter when needed, a friend to borrow some milk or eggs from, and a friend to talk to. The boys had their buddies who they would play with daily. We lived right next to U Village Mall which was HEAVENLY. We would walk there almost daily. Sometimes for a cupcake (Trophy), or something that was missing for dinner (QFC), or just for the scenery and entertainment of all the fun stores. We also LOVED the Burke-Gillman trail that was right in front of our home. We had so many fun walks with Paola and Traci. It was GLORIOUS and so easy to stay in shape.

2. WWAMI FAMILY: I know I already mentioned them but I really do love these girls. We had so many fun girls nights and get togethers. I have made the BESTEST FRIENDS EVER and will always love you girls! Sister Samuelson told us that we would make everlasting friends in Med school--she said we would become family--and she was right.

3. CHILDRENS hospial: Oh how I already miss you. Benson and I would be a mess without Childrens. They saved us. We went to our first appointment and they knew exactly what to do with Benson and already had everything set up for us. His diabetes is very rare for his age, but Children's had the experience and programs set up to give us everything we need. Dr. Christensen (our Boise endo who diagnosed Benson and saved his life) is amazing, but he wasn't comfortable with putting Benson on a pump. We really needed to move to that next step and Children's helped make the tough transition bearable. They were so organized and on top of things. We will visit Children's every 6 months so we can keep our ties with them and utilize their resources.

Children's was a place where I found great comfort when I was trasitioning to the pump. I didn't feel so alone--I knew everyone there was fighting a battle that was most likely a lot harder then mine. It helped keep me humble and also gave me the strength to continue. It was a safe haven for me. They also gave Reece great care when he had his asthma attack. I am really going to miss Childrens and all the families I grew to love and appreciate. Those families helped teach me a great lesson-don't have pity for yourself because it will only make things harder. Be grateful for what you have and deal with the cards that were dealt. No one is exempt from trials. If you are going through tough times--serve others--it will make everything better! :)

4. Never ending FUN: I told Spencer on many occasions that I felt like I was on a one year vacation. The boys and I were always doing something fun. There is so much to offer in Seattle. Fun beaches, activities, places to see, beautiful scenery, events, and the best part was how active people are in Seattle. You can always see people riding their bikes, walking/running, and just enjoying the outdoors. It was refreshing.

5. Weather! You may think I'm crazy but I LOVED how temperate the weather is. I can specifically remember when Traci had baby Leah the 2nd week in January, walking out of the hospital late at night in a sweatshirt feeling perfectly warm. The air smells and feels so fresh and the temperatures stay pretty mild. There were some days during the Spring that I wished the rain would go away, but other then that, it was great.

RANDOMS PICS FROM SEATTLE

The boys have become best friends. They do things like this all the time... And Benson's most favorite thing is to randomly give Reece a hug when he is least expecting it.

THANKS SEATTLE FOR ONE FUN LOVIN' YEAR!!! WE HAD A BLAST!

My WWAMI family---I miss you!

Lainy, Benson, and LaurenThe most awesome ladies ever!

Brendee, me, Traci (baby Leah), & Katie!

The 3 cutest kids on the block. They always had so much fun together.

Me, Traci, & Paola

We met in Moscow, Id our 1st year of Med school. We wouldn't have survived without each other. They kept me sane and were always there when I needed them (i'm pretty sure I called Traci in a frantic tone about 4-5 times this year needing to drop of one of the boys so I could take the other to the ER--it almost became part of our normal routine!).

I LOVE LOVE LOVE all you girls. Thanks for being my friend and for sharing so many fun experiences together. You're seriously the best!

will be back soon!!

We are settled into our new home in Boise and doing very well.

I am teaching Relief Society on Sunday so I can't blog until that is over. I've never taught RS before IN MY LIFE and will probably wet my pants while doing it.

The boys are all doing great--we find baby frogs in our yard almost daily.
What more could a little boy ask for?