Trip to Utah recap #1

I must be crazy. 4 weeks in Utah?? Let me tell you, it has been AWESOME! And it's still not over :) I think being away for 4 years has really helped me charish my time in Utah. I know a lonely, friendless and husbandless (thanks to residency) Indiana is waiting for me when we go home. :(
Here a few pics from our first few weeks surrounded by family and lovin every minute of it.
This is just the beginning. Stay tuned for more fun and adventure!

Waiting for our plane in Indiana. Elliot is obsessed with planes.

He was in heaven watching them come and go.
Our #1 reason for the long visit! My new sweet twin nieces. Brooklyn Rae & McKenna June. Born May 20 (5 weeks early) Now they are 6 weeks old and still don't weigh as much as Elliot did the day he was born. Yikes. I just can't keep my lips off them. YUMMY!!

Elliot loves his cousins. He's constantly giving kisses on the head and asking to hold them. Cute!

Grandma was so great to hook the boys up with cowboy getups. SO CUTE!

My little cowboy. Yeehaw!

Little grumpy face.

Chillin' in the tree house at PVP

Hangin with the Haynie Fam at PVP

A rainy day at Bear Lake

We got chased off the beach by the wind.

Goofing off with friends at PVP

Doobie, J.R. and Andy were in a golf tournament at Bear Lake and took 2nd place! Sweet! They all got matching hats. J.R. also won golf balls for the long drive competition.

Me and Shar were a tad upset when they got home 3 hours late. The boys brought us food and dessert as a peace offering.

This is the best part of my day here. Just lounging, holding those sweet girls.

Visiting my other sweet baby twins.

We love you Landon & Lydia!

Our Zoo Craze

Gotta love the Zoo. From Columbus to Indiana to Utah, we just can't stay away.
It was strange to have to drive 1 1/2 hours to the zoo in Utah when we've lived just 5 minutes away from the zoo in Columbus.

Even Sharli, Andy and the twins joined us.

Cart & Elliot

Merry Go Rounds in both zoo. Elliot's favorite part!

I love these pics of our last trip to the zoo. We got rained out, but it made for pretty fun photos!

Dr. Haynie DDS

His official diploma. Sweet!

Just a few of his many awards. (embarrassing that they couldn't all fit in one picture)

The one in the frame is for being #1 in his class! It came with a fat check too. HOORAY, being GREAT really does pay $$

The supportive wives

All the "Mormons"

J.R's parents were so kind to come show their support

CONGRATS DR. HAYNIE!!

J.R. graduated Dental school #1 in his class and we couldn't be more excited for him! He has worked so hard these past 4 years and I can't believe it's over. Everyone told us it would fly by and they weren't kidding. We've grown so much and learned very important life long lessons while living in the Buckeye state. We love Ohio and will miss Columbus so much. We actually have even considered moving back once we're ready to settle. Hummm....it's not official, it's just crossed our minds. :-)

Seriously though, J.R. is INCREDIBLE. He blows me away constantly with his dedication and commitment to what he's doing. When he sets his mind to something, consider it done. My cheeks are aching from the smile that never ends. What an amazing man!!

I LOVE YOU HONEY! Thanks for being so great!

(J.R.'s going to kill me when he reads all this gushy boasting, but I don't care....he deserves it!)

A "WICKED" week

This has been a more then crazy week. Amidst all the packing, planning, and graduation activities, J.R. and I were in charge of our stake variety show. Now if anyone has had a stake calling you might know how big a project it can be. Especially when our stake is spand out over a huge area of columbus. After all the planning, preparing, planning and creating it came together. It was a huge success too. There were more then double the attendance from last year and all the performers were fantastic!
As if we didnt' have enough to think about J.R. decided to pull our ward choir together to perform a medly from Wicked. It came together pretty quickly and it was so fun to be able to sing with such great people and belt out loud on stage again. Everyone was incredible and J.R. was in his element. Music really is his love and passion!

(more pics to come...)

Our lame Cedar Point attempt

BUMMER. That pretty much describes our day at Cedar Point. Actually, we never even made it into the park. We drove the full 2hours to the park, paid the $10 parking...sat in the car waiting for the pounding rain to calm, ran to the entrance while being pushed along by the gushing wind, decided it wasn't worth the money, ran back to the car (1st stopping to take a pic) and drove the 2hours back to home.

I was so mad. I've been wanting to go to Cedar Point since we got to Ohio and we just never got the chance. Then when we finally had a baby sitter (thanks Ben) and it was the very last chance to go before graduation and moving....IT RAINED. And it wasn't just "rain" it was a major storm. The wind literally whipped our car doors open when we ventured out of the car. What a disappointment.

I guess that's life. Better luck next time perhaps.

Sarah & Glenn were great enough to come with us. We would have had so much fun. STINKY!!

Happy 2nd Birthday my Elliot!

To try to give you an idea how busy our lives have been lately...I'm finally getting around to posting Elliot's bday pics and it's July 5th. Yikes.

We had a great time opening presents and watching him ride his new bike around the house. He was so excited. We made pancakes before church and let him blow out candles. Later that night a few friends came over for cake and ice cream.

Happy bday my sweet Elliot. You are growing much too quickly. A few fun milestones...

-He repeats everything we say...

"mom, kumear" (mom, come here)

"tweets"(treats) "nak"(snack)

"jew" (this is the general word for anything liquid - juice, water, milk etc...)

"moobee" (movie - his recent new love)

"beebee" (binky) "binkit" (blanket)

"boooks" (books - the nightly routine that's followed by prayers, teethbrush, and bedtime)

"kenzin" (kenzie) "andin"(andy)

"tweest" (Twist. this is my favorite to hear him say...so cute)

"meeka moose" (mickey mouse - our daily morning cartoon- this is usually accompanied with a funny arm dance)

"bankeeks" (pancakes - his favorite bfast food)

"old you" (hold you...which usually means he wants me to pick him up)

"wear it go" (where did it go - I love when he says this cause he always puts his hands up and shrugs his shoulders)

He loves to watch Dora Dora, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Special agent Oso while eating bfast. He's really into movies too. He's obsessed with Madagascar and would watch it several times a day if I let him. (sometime he actually did so I could get all the packing and cleaning done) He loves the song "I like to move it move it" He actually calls the movie "moobit" (move it) because of the song.

He runs, kicks, swings bats & golf clubs, jumps, front rolls, climbs the bars up to the slides, hangs on the monkey bars, swings on the bars just above the slides before he goes down, everything active.

He counts to 10. Repeats his ABC's. Knows the sounds that go with the letters. Sings "popcorn popping" with help. Loves to sing and be sung to.

He knows about a million animals and their sounds and actions. He loves to find things in the pictures of his books.

He loves sticks and bugs and everything boy. He even likes to pretend with sticks and makes funny shooting sounds while pointing them around. (I have no idea where he learned it, but its really cute)

He's sat on the toilet several times and even grunts like he's trying to go. Today JULY 5th was the first day he told me he needed to go and then actually pooped in the potty. It was great! We'll see if that can be a trend. I'm planning on getting more serious about after our trip to Utah is over.

He sleeps 12 + hours at night -with bedtime at 8 pm and takes a 2 hour nap around 1pm. Somedays that is my sanities saving grace!!

He fills my life with so much joy! We have so much fun together. He is my sweetest blessing!

I love you Elliot. Happy Birthday!

(the cake I made for him - amateur, I know, but cute nonetheless)

I'm so lucky!

Whitney, We miss you!

Whitney (aka: Ty) came to visit us last weekend. We were so happy when we found out she had a cavity that needed filled just in time for J.R.'s boards. It was a good excuse to "force" her to come see us :0) It was so nice to know one of his patients was a family member who wouldn't go MIA the day of boards.
It was so great having her here! Elliot loved hangin with his Aunt even though he still couldn't get her name right - no matter how many times we corrected and practiced with him. Humph. He still loves you Whit!!

Thanks Whitney for the visit! I love you and miss you already!

A shout out to Oma...

...and the rest of the Tennessee Hutch family!!

We miss you guys!! Thanks for the sweet duds!

We looked out the window and what did we see...

We decided to go for a walk after a huge down-pour and this is what we found just creepy-crawling down the road.
I think it got washed up from the drains in the road? Not sure. I didn't think Ohio had baby lobsters but, I guess I can learn something new everyday. We thought about keeping it, but then I kinda wanted to barf imaging having to look at that everyday so we pushed it back down the drain....after we messed around with it for a while.