Sick, Weddings, and Haircuts

Daddy come home. We thought he would be gone for six months, turned out to be two weeks.

Amber fell sick the day Ralph got home. We know she is sick when she will fall asleep on the couch in the middle of the day.

Amber felt better, she took these pictures while out to lunch one day.

At our cousin's wedding reception. Amber was almost all the way better, and Hannah's fever broke that night. She was sick the whole next week!

Our kids with Great Grandma Hinkson

Bruce's first noodle experience. Amber's quote, "These noodles are a delight!"

And Bruce's first hair cut. I was nervous, so Ralph took a hold of him and buzzed. He didn't seem to mind much.

 The top is done, still long by the ears.

The finished product, cheerios added to the whole effect. Handsome Boy!

Amber and Hannah playing pretend all day Saturday. Hannah dressed to go on a beach vacation and stay a hotel.

Both dressed up and ready to go.

Hannah is Three!

Hannah's Third Birthday, Amber give her this balloon. She climbed off the stool, gave Amber a big hug, and said, "I love you, Amber!"

The traditional string hung.

Her presents at the end.

She got a Cinderella shirt from Amber

A pretty Easter dress from Daddy

A Leap Frog computer from Mommy

(And Bambi from Bruce.)

And on to her Birthday Party at Chuck E Cheeses

Amber said, "Mommy, I found a friend!"

Hannah liked Arctic Thunder. A girl after my own heart.

Then home for dinner and cake. It snowed just the wrong two hours, and half of our guests couldn't make it up the hill to our house. We had a small, very fun party anyway.

Bruce likes Balloons.

Another attempt at a fancy cake. (Hannah already taste tested the top right corner.)

It was a very fun day. We love our spunky, enthusiastic, loving little girl!

And then we said Good Bye

Amber loves staying in Hotels. We decided to go to Moab before Ralph left to work over seas for a few months. Bruce had no problems going to sleep.

The girls, on the other hand, were up for an hour and a half after lights out! Until we made Amber sleep with Ralph and I slept with Hannah.

One of the only places open during the off season was Love Muffin Cafe. Amber loved the name, and the food was really good.

Driving out to Dead Horse Point.

At Dead Horse Point.

Amber took this picture. Pretty good, egh?

Ralph's job in Draper was put on hold due to federal funding issues. He had been going through the process of going back to Iraq with the same company he worked for a few year back. He found out on a Wednesday that that would be his last day of work, then on Friday he got a phone call to schedule his flight out to Virginia to get processes. So the timing was perfect. He will be gone for six months or more, saving up all of his income to go to University of Utah for a masters degree, ultimately to become a collage professor. We are excited for this change of direction, and for the chance to have an "out" from translation contracting. 

Stay tuned for updates of the family while he is gone. He will start a blog of what he is doing, instead of sending emails this time around. We will be making both blogs private, so let us know if you want to be invited to view them!

On to Seven Months

This is the Place! We went to the monument in Salt Lake.

Bruce loves his toes.

Feb 5, he can sit up!

Amber took a picture of us. Turned out kinda nice.

Playing on the iPod together.

It's snuggle time.

Happy Birthday to Mommy.

Valentine puppets.

My pitiful attempts at a Valentine breakfast. (They were wheat. The girls didn't eat much of them.)

Seven Months Old! Big boy sitting up, chewing on bread. His first tooth broke free on Feb 13th.

Another Valentine attempt. We made chocolate covered strawberries. They didn't look very fancy, but they sure tasted great! Amber's friend's family joined us.

It was like pulling teeth to get a good picture in their heart clothes. Amber insisted that I pulled this dress out of the 3t box for her. She grew out of it a year ago! But Valentine's is her favorite holiday, so we did what we could to celebrate.