Seattle!

Sorry I haven't blogged much lately, I will be better once Spencer starts school again! Feel free to skip the journal entries and scroll through the countless pictures!!

Things I LOVE about SEATTLE: I love driving on the freeways because I fee like I am on a race track and get an adrenaline rush. I love the bridges especially when they are lifted up so the sailboats can cross. I love the weather-- it stays between 70-85 F. I love how lively this city is-- Everyone rides a bike or walks from place to place. I love how there are countess things to do here. I love how diverse it is. I could go on forever but for now will just mention some of the fun things we have done thus far:

Arrived in Seattle: Friday, June 26th
Week 1: Aquarium, Zoo, IKEA, Target (two huge floors-best target I have ever been too), traveled down highway 99 and was fascinated with all the loading docks and barges, bought a bike for Spencer and the kids and went on a couple rides on the Burke-Gillman trail which is 20 feet from our front door, bought 3 fans (no A/C in apartment), and traveled down every freeway just to see the scenery and get to know the city.

Week 2: Madison Park beach, more bike rides, costco, relaxed and prepared for our Canada trip.
Week 3: Week long vacation to the cabin in Canada!! Chad, Nicki, Candace, Clarissa, and Colby met us at the Cabin with Grandma and Grandpa Byers. It was a dream vacation. I seriously felt like I was on a private resort with the perfect beach front property. We played games, read books, played some volleyball, ate the most delicious foods, basked in the sun on our floaties on Lake Kootenai, rode the jet skies, took the canoe for a spin with just Spencer (very romantic!), went on the paddle boat, threw and collected rocks, took the ferry to Ainsworth hot springs, went to church, and enjoyed great company with the family!! It was a perfect vacation. It was very relaxing but tons of fun.

Week 4: RELAX from our vacation (3 full days)! The boys weren’t very good on the ride home. They were exhausted and so were we. After we recovered from our vacation we packed the boys into the car and off we went on more adventures. We went to the Seattle center, Space Needle, Science museum, bike rides, Ballard locks, Salmon runs, botanical gards, beach, and then spent the rest of the week hanging out with our good friends Nicki and Jackie. Oh, I must add that for the first time in our marriage Spencer has had time to read something besides textbooks. At the cabin he started reading novels and has been hooked since. Now he is working on the Harry Potter series and has been up until 3:30am and wonders why I have to pull him out of bed every morning!!!

We are currently on a month long dream vacation. I have to soak up all the time I can get with Spencer because I know I won't be seeing him to much during the year. We have been super blessed with great neighbors and friends and a great place to live in while we enjoy our stay in Seattle.

Champion rock thrower

Dad and Reece on Jet ski

The Miller boys

Best buddies

Ferry ride to the hot springs

Benson and Colby playing while Riss checks his pants!!

Grandpa with the boys

Precious

Dad and Reece found a frog. They also found a snake which Reece LOVED. Might I add that Reece killed his first spider for his mom and flushed it down the toilet all by himself!

Benson's favorite raft

Reece on his raft with his sunglasses (he wore them the whole week)

Benson in heaven--out of the water and surrounded with toys

Dad and Reece on the canoe

Candice being a good aunt and reading to Reece so he could stay up late! Reece clearly on his best behavior!

The outside of the music museum.

The coolest science center ever!! Reece was controlling where the water went.

Go daddy

Butterfly exhibit. Benson thought it was extra fun to blow on the butterflies and make them fly far far away from him!

Brothers

Benson raiding the fridge. Nothing unexpected.

The Ballard locks

Mom and Benson

What a cool flower!

A bumble bee got mad at Spencer and almost stung him for taking this picture

Family picnic at the locks

Mom and the boys at the beach--it was a little chilly.What a handsome little kid

Reece fed the seaguls and squirals. They started attacking us after a couple minutes of feeding them.

What a stinker!

Boys hiding in their closet. They have become best of friends!

Penguin exhibit at the zoo

Bye bye for now. I will see you in a month!

Farewell Moscow, Hello Seattle!!

We have been in Seattle for one week and have fallen in love with this city (we haven't experienced the rain yet!). I thought I would give a little farewell to Moscow where we have spent our first year in Medical school.

The things I already miss:

*Small town equals no traffic!

*The beautiful Palouse. My most favorite scenic view is watching the John Deere's plowing the fields. Nothing is more peaceful and more surreal than that. For those of you who haven't seen the Palouse, it is full of rolling farm hills and is truly a site to see!

*Hillside village! I have LOVED sitting on the playground with all the ladies and chatting about anything and everything. We have meet the best people in Moscow! So thank you Brandi, Kim, Annette, Traci, Ashleigh, Julie, Brooke, Trisha, and Nicole. You are all so awesome!

*Our amazing and wonderful neighbors--Brandi, Miller, Kaiden, Krew, and our favorite "girlfriend" Kennedy (you go girl!)! We seriously miss you so much and are excited to see you when you come visit us in Seattle! You guys are the very best!

Troy, Kennedy, and Reece (Reece's best buddies from Moscow--he asked me if they could move with us to Seattle. Luckily his other two best buddies Lainy and Jackie are moving with us!!)

Brandi and Juliann--she is the most amazing cook. Countless times during the year she would bring me the most delicious dinners. You're amazing Brandi!

*La Casa Lopez! The most delicious Mexican restaurant (next to Cafe Ole').

*The freesbie golf course. This was one of our favorite activities. Reece was my catty and Benson was our champion spectator!

*Krystle and Josh. Krystle was my work-out buddy and unfortunatley I haven't worked out since she left for the summer. We love you guys!!!

The things I WILL NOT miss:
*Moscow's winters. They are cold and miserable. It gets dark at 4 pm and is below freezing for the majority of the winter.

*The lack of restaurants, Target, and things to do in the wintertime.

Final Conclusion: This past year has been full of many surprises and I am so thankful we were in Moscow during those crazy times. We had so many great friends and neighbors supporting us! We were also blessed to be a short drive home to Boise to be with family and wonderful doctors. Our first year of med school was a great adventure--it may be remembered as our Emergency Room year (we have been to the E.R 4 times in the past 7 months and visited our local pharmacy atleast once a week-literally) but will also be remembered for the good people we met and the fun times we spent as a family in the Palouse!

Last but not least--Benson's most favorite toy--the John Deere!! He loved that tractor more than any other kid. If we were outside, he was on it.

Our little family on the boardwalk in Coure d'Alene. Whenever we had a break from school we would escape to Coure d'Alene, walk the boardwalk, and eat at Dockside Inn! YUM!

Quick update

We are moving to SEATTLE on Friday. We found out last Thursday that we were accepted into the family housing on the UW campus. We were quite surprised when we got the notice. They have been telling us all year that we wouldn't be eligible until the beginning of August. We are excited to move but are SUPER SAD to leave our good friends in Moscow. We have met so many wonderful friends here and will truly miss them. One of my highlights of the day is going to the playground and chatting with all the ladies while the kids cause mischief together. We have been very blessed to be in an apartment complex where almost everyone has a husband in school. We all have young children which makes it easy to understand each other and helps form quick friendships. I hope and pray that we'll have the same experience in Seattle.

Daddy's day off

Spencer started his RUOP on Monday (a month long program where he has to follow a physician for a month and participate in all their on-call and regular appointments). He had a great day. He is getting alot of experience. He did an 18 month old well baby check and a 10 day old well baby check. He went in to do the 18 month old well baby check and the mother said her little boy usually cries during these visits. Spencer told her he had two boys at home and had a couple tricks up his sleeves so he would give it a shot. The little boy LOVED Spencer and didn't cry once during the check up. Then the doctor came in and did the same procedures Spencer did and the little boy cried THE WHOLE TIME!
Spencer's doctor had yesterday off and so we took advantage of it and PLAYED! We went to Lewiston and had a picnic and then roamed Costco for about an hour (we love that place!). Benson finally decided he wants to learn how to walk. We hope by the end of the week he'll be walking by himself! (keep our fingers crossed).
OH, Check out Reece's sunglasses! He wears them EVERYWHERE including inside our house.

Like Father like son...

Almost every night I find both Spencer and Reece asleep with books drapped on top of them. Spencer either has his laptop (with notes on his screen) or text books on his lap with the reading lamp on, and Reece has multiple books over, under, and on both sides of him also with his reading light on. You gotta love them!

Love these two!

Reece's toes

Last Friday we went to Shriner's hospital in Spokane to get Reece's toes checked out. If you look in his 3 year old picture you can see that his big toe curls under his other toes (on both feet). Our family doctor sent us to Shriner's because it could be a number of things causing it. Luckily for us he doesn't need surgery nor does he need any kind of cast to fix it. He has a bunion (you can check out this website for more info on what a bunion is http://www.footphysicians.com/footankleinfo/bunions.htm#1) and they can't do anything about it until he has fully matured. If they were to fix it right now, it would come back in a couple years. So for now we check that worry off our list and move on. It doesn't cause him any pain so there is no need to stress about it. If anything, it gives his feet a little more personality!
Here are some pictures from our trip:
As we were feeding the ducks these terribly rude geese started nippin' at us. Instead of us chasing the birds, they chased us and we flew away FAST!!!

















Benson doing what he does best--EAT!

















I gave Reece a dollar bill before we went to Shriner's and told him if he did everything the doctor asked him to do then he could have the dollar bill to buy a treat. It worked like a charm! We found a snow cone shack that had sugar-free snow cones!! He was so nice and shared it with his little bro benson!

Lainy and Reece enjoying the open field.
We were so lucky to have Lainy and Traci come with us! We love them TONS! The kids got along great in the car and got me out of a speeding ticket!