Catching up...always catching up!

WARNING: Very long. I use this as a means to document experiences, etc.

Ok so I am a horrible blogger. We all know that. Really a big problem is that I can only upload one picture at a time! I used to be able to upload 5 at a time and I can't figure out how to fix it. I have so much to catch up on that I didn't know where to start so I just shut down and didn't do anything! I have had a few people bugging me (mostly Grandmas :) ) to update since we are ALL the way out in northeastern Pennsylvania now. We are here and yes we are alive and well. The move out here was really rough. Reagan did fantastic though. I was so proud and grateful. On our way from Idaho to Iowa, I had a lovely experience that I never thought would happen in a million years! I was driving the Stratus with Sarah in the backseat and Erik was ahead of me with Reagan. We were in central Nebraska when a semi passed me and the driver window literally exploded into a million pieces. It scared me to death! Fortunately neither Sarah and I were hurt. My skin was a little irritated from the glass shards that covered my legs and arms. I drove about 20 miles with no window until we made it to North Platte. We had a hotel reservation in Omaha which was still a good 4 1/2 hours away. We had to make it there since it was nonrefundable. We were able to get someone to cover the window with the plastic. Once we got back on the highway, it didn't last too long. I proceeded to hold the plastic closed as much as I could with my left hand for 4 1/2 miserable hours. I thought I was going to have permanent hearing damage.

While in Omaha Erik had an experience he will never forget. Our hotel was in downtown Omaha and there were basically only parking garages for parking. We had our van with a trailer hitched to it. Erik attempted to park it in a parking garage. He never would have tried to take the trailer into a parking garage, but this is where the hotel staff said to park. Erik was told the trailer would fit, but the people had no idea what they were talking about. There Poor guy had the worst experience trying to get out of a REALLY bad situation. Fortunately his many prayers were answered and a miracle happened- no other vehicle was damaged, our car and the trailer were also undamaged. We were so grateful.

The trip from Iowa to Pennsylvania was painfully long and the girls had had enough. It took us 2 full, long days. Sarah is my worst sleeper. She maybe slept a total of 2 1/2 hours the entire 4 day trip from Idaho to Pennsylvania. Isn't that nuts? Lots of crying and screaming. Thank heavens for portable DVD players though. Poor thing ended up getting pretty sick the last day of our trip. It made for an interesting move-in day and week getting settled.

Erik started his residency program on July 1st and has been a VERY busy man. He started off with a bang as he was on call over the 4th of July weekend. Apparently that is by far the busiest holiday because well, people do stupid things! So I just wanted to document his weekend- not that either one of us but, especially him will forget anytime soon. Since the 4th fell on a Saturday this year, the hospital gave a lot of its employees Friday off but Erik was on call. He worked a 16 hour shift on Friday, was paged several times in the night and headed in early on Saturday the 4th. He worked 10 hours on Saturday and came home. He was home for 5 minutes before he got paged to go back to the hospital for an emergency. He didn't come home the rest of the night. He was there all day Sunday and finally came home around 2:30. Showered then slept for 2 hours before going back to work Monday morning for a 12 hour shift. So it ended up being 56 hours of working with a 2 hour break in between. We counted all of the hours he worked from his first day, July 1st to Tuesday the 7th was 108 hours. Crazy! And it's really sad that they only pay residents for 40 hours of labor. Thats 68 long hours he worked essentially unpaid. Man can we both not wait for residency to be over with but especially this first year! I'm so proud of him and the way he has plugged along. I couldn't do what he does every day. We're both looking forward to next month when he'll only be on call for one weekend. We all have missed him terribly!

As far as the girls and I, we're trying our best to keep entertained. It has rained a lot since we've been here so we have to make the best of the days that are sunny and dry. It is a lot different here out East. I've had a hard time making friends. Thankfully one of Erik's co-residents is a member and I'm excited to get to know his wife and their cute kids. It's always nice to have a friend who knows what you're going through. We're already looking into moving again. The hospital didn't notify us that Erik had to live within 15 minutes of the hospital until he started work...we live 25 minutes away. It has been hard on Erik driving back and forth, especially when he's on call and gets paged to go in right when he gets home! We're hoping to get out of our lease and move into a house really close to the hospital. Time is so precious these days!

Our ward here has been putting us to work. We got callings only our 2nd week here. We both teach the Gospel Doctrine class. I was and still am totally intimidated but I am very grateful for the opportunity to spend a lot more time in the scriptures. Its been a pretty good experience so far.

In other big news, Erik graduated from medical school on May 23rd! He is officially Dr. Rosenlof and I couldn't be more proud! What an amazing accomplishment. Erik's parents were able to be in Des Moines to celebrate with us which was wonderful. I was very emotional during the ceremony. A lot of sacrifices have been made to get where we are. Now to get through residency! But at least we have a little bit of income :)

Our family following graduation. I am so proud!

Erik and his parents following graduation. Both of our parents have been such a wonderful support in our journey. They were definitely a great help with the kids as we had a lot going on with packing up and moving our stuff out of Iowa. We couldn't have done it without them!

Here are a few recent pictures of the girls. During Erik's month off in June we were spoiled having him around all of the time! He is such a great dad. He made a very impressive fort with a secret tunnel entrance. The kids loved it and we even watched a movie inside it on the portable DVD player.

Here's Sarah stopping to pose for a picture on her way inside the fort.

Reagan havign fun inside the fort- I can never get enough of her cheesy grin!

The girls cheesing it up while watching a movie and eating popcorn.


The month prior to graduation we spent in Idaho with my family while Erik finished up his last rotation. For some crazy reason I got the itch to try out canning. Man is that a lot of work! But kind of addicting at the same time. I did and didn't enjoy it if that makes sense. I wanted to shoot myself while I was peeling, slicing, and dicing, and mashing and stirring over an incredibly hot stove. But the sense of accomplishment and pride over my work was worth it. I ended up canning homemade strawberry jam and salsa. Lets just say I learned that it is really dumb to chop a bunch of jalapenos without gloves on. My hands were on fire for hours and hours and it was awful! I tried everything and pretty much nothing worked. Once I can save up enough money, I want to get my own canning supplies and can homemade spaghetti sauce as my next project. I ended up canning 20 pints of jam and 30 pints of salsa. I couldn't resist snapping some pictures of the finished products:

Homemade strawberry jam.

Mostly medium and a few mild jars of salsa. This one was definitely the most labor intensive. It involved boiling, cooling, and peeling lots of tomatoes. Chopping and dicing by hand: bell peppers, jalapenos (ouch!), cilantro, garlic, and onions. Fortunately my mom helped me out with the cilantro before she left for work and I could chop the garlic in my electric chopper. I foolishly thought that I could chop up the other ingredients minus the tomatoes in the food processor. I learned quickly that wouldn't work- it mushed it and chopped it up too finely. We like it chunky! Anyways, it is good stuff!

Coming up soon: Reagan's 3rd birthday!

Family Visits- Part I of the Great Exodus to Pennsylvania

Since we are moving all the way out to Northeastern Pennsylvania, we decided to spend our last month before graduation visiting my family. Before we left California we wanted to visit Erik's grandparents in Los Angeles. Sarah is named after Erik's grandmother, Elaine. I sure do love both of them. It is hard to see them struggle through the difficulties of old age. They are definitely some of the kindest, most loving people I have ever met. Here are just a few pictures.

Sarah was not cooperating in the least bit. It made it difficult to get a decent picture! Oh well, we tried.

Fortunately, Reagan was in the mood to be photographed. I just love her sweet smile!

It was hard for Erik to say goodbye to his grandparents. We kept the visit a little on the short side because the kids were a tad bit out of control.

After we said our goodbyes to his grandparents, we headed to Malibu beach. I really wanted to hit the beach before we left California. The temperature was nice but the breeze combined with being wet from the water made it a little hard. Reagan was freezing and shivering the whole time. Sarah couldn't get enough of the experience. She was all over the place and particularly enjoyed getting in the waves. I could tell she was cold but she didn't seem phased by it at all.

Notice the lack of pictures? Erik and I were both really busy trying to keep up with these two. I thought I'd include a picture of Sarah in motion. I didn't get any of Reagan because that kid is the squirreliest (made up that word) kid you've ever seen. We had fun but were all chilled and tired by the time we left.

The next stop was to visit Erik's grandmother, Grandma Rosenlof in St. George. The girls loved seeing her and exploring around her house. This was only the 2nd time she had seen the girls so she was really excited that we stopped by. Once again, kids not cooperating very well with the picture taking.

We also stopped at my Grandma Cannon's house in Circleville, UT but I was a dummy and didn't take any pictures. We stayed overnight and loved visiting with her. She's a lot of fun to be around and very full of life at her age!

Our last stop was in Provo which we were all very excited about. Erik's sister Tara just had her baby Lydia in March. Hooray! My girls finally have a cousin in the family! We loved seeing Tara, her husband Dustin, and sweet Lydia. She is such a sweet little thing and so beautiful. Erik really enjoyed holding her. Maybe there is hope that someday I can convince him to have more kiddos!

Tara is such a great aunt. My girls sure feel loved when she is around! She cuddled them and read stories. They loved the extra attention.

Erik's younger brother Trevor is also going to school in Provo. Sarah felt right at home in his lap while he read books to her. My kids are so lucky that they have such great aunts and uncles!

Reagan had been anticipating visiting baby cousin Lydia for a long time. She was so excited to see her and she did really well holding her. She gave lots and lots of kisses. We really enjoyed our visit but sadly it went by too fast. We can't wait to see everyone again- hopefully sooner rather than later.

Easter

I guess it's about time that I blogged about Easter. I have a lot to catch up on. My excuse is always that I'm a bad picture taker and usually Erik is the one that takes them. So, in short, I'm too lazy to take pictures and to hunt down his camera and upload the pictures. We had fun this Easter, which was spent in California. We did an easter egg hunt on Saturday so that we could focus on the true meaning of Easter on Sunday.

I decided it would be fun to have Reagan do a little treasure hunt to find hers and Sarah's easter baskets. So, I used a clip art program and printed off pictures for clues since she can't read yet. She had a blast running around the house to find the easter eggs with clues in them. We eventually ended up in the backyard where the baskets were hidden and they could start finding eggs right away. It is so much fun because Reagan is finally old enough to grasp the concept of things and gets excited about things. She went to town and gathered quite a bit more than Sarah, even though daddy and mommy were helping Sarah out. It was funny to notice the difference between the two girls. The girls are only 18 months apart and even though Sarah is younger than Reagan was last year at Easter, she knew right away that there was candy inside the eggs. She is 100% addicted to sweets, just like her mommy! Feeling bad for her! I seriously need to get myself under control. Erik tried to take pictures but the girls weren't cooperating very well. Here are the few that we got:

Reagan figuring out where to find the next clue.

Pretty excited about the candy inside the eggs! This is the only picture we got of her once we started the hunt. If you know Reagan, she doesn't hold still for anything, especially when candy is involved.

Sarah discovering the goods inside the egg.

Shoving the candy in her mouth. I swear I've never seen a child who loved candy so much. But, she is related to me...poor poor girl. Hahaha!

We had a great Easter this year. Such a beautiful day!

The Many Faces of Sarah

As has been mentioned numerous times, Sarah is just brimming with personality. She is the most expressive child I have seen (not that that means very much, but to me, she is very expressive). The other day Erik took a series of pictures of Sarah and we got a wide variety of expressions. She can be happy, serious, surprised, angry, silly, frustrated, you name it, all within a matter of a few minutes. We often joke that we don't know where she came from. When I was a little girl I could be quite goofy and liked to entertain my friends. I guess as I've gotten older I'm not this way as much. I hope she keeps it with her for a long time (besides the near constant grumpies).
What are you looking at?

Laughing one minute...

Furious the next.

Her surprised expression- one of her favorites.

One of the 5 or 6 different scowls. We know where the scowl came from...me. I am notorious for having a scowl on my face. Not necessarily because I'm angry- I tend to scowl when I concentrate. And I appear to concentrate a lot...hahaha! This is a frequent of hers as she tends to be grouchy a lot.

What word describes this expression...?

What up?

This is what she pulled when we asked her for a pretty smile. She does a pretty good stare down.

There are many more but these were captured in succession over a period of 2 minutes or so.

Fortunately, she's getting to be a little less irritable and grouchy. She's showing a little less frustration and is communicating more every day. It has been a challenge to keep her happy.

She's really starting to love books and is currently obsessed with bugs. We have several books with a bug here and there in them and she will obsess over each one for approximately 30 minutes a piece. I'm trying my darndest to share her enthusiasm. It gets hard after the 1000th time of her screaming buh (bug) over and over.

We sure do love her and I can't believe my baby is already 16 months. Where does the time go?

Match Day

Well, we will be spending the next 3 years in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Erik is very excited about the program there and so I am too. Not excited about the winters but we'll try to make the best of it!

Congrats to all our fellow 4th years at DMU :)

Potty Update and Sarah's sayings and stats

She actually pooped on the potty just a few hours after my post. Yay! I never thought I would be so excited to have my child poop. It was stressing me out! Since she's been watching Cinderella A TON (we've been on house arrest since Monday), she wants to wear a dress all of the time. I didn't want her ruining her church dress and Wal-Mart has them for sale for $6 and they are super cute. I had been telling her all week as soon as she pooped on the potty we could go to the store together and she could pick out a dress. So you better believe we went as soon as we could after she went. It was so cute how excited she was. She already has great bladder control/capacity and stayed dry during our outing. She only goes every 3-4 hours. I decided that I am not doing pull ups at all. They're way expensive and I feel like it'd only prolong her being fully trained. We do a diaper for naps and at bedtime but she stayed completely dry during her nap today. So, I'm happy to report that she has had no accidents yesterday or today. It's going much better than I thought. I didn't even bother reading any books because Reagan is such a unique child, I figured I just had to go with my instincts on what was going to work. I know we still have a long ways to go, seeing as she hasn't told me when she needs to go. I just put her on the potty if she's dancing around like she needs to go or if it has been awhile since she last went. Anyways, just rambling but I'm thrilled with her progress! Thanks again everyone for your advice :)

I've been feeling awful on how I've neglected my 2nd child a little bit more while immersing myself in this potty training business. She has surprisingly done very well, the little sweetie :) I took her in 2 months late for her 1 year well child visit. She was 31 inches long (I think?) which was the 80th percentile and 23 lbs. 12 oz. which was the 75th percentile. She has the biggest little gut ever (if that makes any sense). It is so stinkin cute! Here's a list of some of the words she is saying:
Mommy
Dadda
Bye bye
Hi
Lovey (her blankie)
binky (bee dee)
what's that?
flower
moo
bottle (ba ba)
thank you (day doo)- my favorite!
Uh oh
Owie (when she gets hurt)

I'm thinking Reagan had more of a vocabulary at this age and I blame myself. It's harder for me to find uninterrupted time because Reagan requires a lot of attention and is very jealous of Sarah. It really is sad how much they don't get along.

Anyways, back to Sarah. I can't believe how fast she is growing up. She says a slew of other things that are completely unintelligible. Oh what I would give to know what she means. She truly is animated and expressive. What a fun personality she has :)

So Frazzled...4th day of potty training. Help!

So I'm on the 4th day of potty training Reagan. Wow is this tough stuff! The first two days were pretty rough. She pooped in her underwear the first day but hasn't pooped since. We're going on three days here. Any suggestions?!?! I know this is a common problem when potty training but I'm desperate here. I know the longer she keeps it in, the more it is going to hurt when it does come. Which isn't going to help my plan, you know? She's peeing on the potty pretty good I guess. She never actually says "mommy, I need to go pee pee." I just put her on there now and then but for the last two days, she hasn't full out peed in her panties. Anyways, I could really use some tips or suggestions if any of you have run into a similar problem. Thanks! Oh and some prayers wouldn't hurt ;)