July 4th

This year we had an afternoon get-together with good friends, complete with a summer storm and a mud-pit greatly enjoyed by these boys:

It was so cool and breezy after that-such a relief from the heat here. Hopefully next year we'll have some grass but it was fun watching them have so much fun in the mud! We had a leisurely time, then headed over to the electric light parade.

Nicky practicing his hip-hip-hoorays:
Then it was back to the house for a few fireworks, although Nicky crashed out on the way home and I didn't bring a camera along...

I really love introducing him to holidays, and trying to make special memories. There's nothing like childhood for that.

happenings

Our most exciting news as of late is that this baby is a boy! Nicky will have a baby brother. I'm so excited to see them grow and play together. Since I never had a sister, I've always felt like having a same-sex sibling is really special. Or it seems special to an outsider :) So now I'm pondering baby names and sleeping situations and what to buy, etc...and just grateful that our little family is growing. It's really easy to get caught up in all the busy-ness of life, but lately I'm taking a step back and just trying to take notice of all the little things.

Nicky is at such a sweet, fun age. He is so affectionate and silly and loves to laugh. He has so much personality. I'm savoring the feeling of him being the only child for a few more months. That part of our lives has been really special. I know things will change, just not sure how.

I'm still working full time at the hospital. It's getting less overwhelming and scary with time....kind of...I wonder if I'll always have a slight feeling of dread going in to work. But I do feel like I have a little more to offer people than when I started....this nursing thing is so much harder than I thought! But it's encouraging to think that anything worth doing should be hard. I believe it will be worth it in the end. For now it's humbling, challenging work-that's got to be good for me in the long run.

brother or sister?

We find out in a few days!

first garden

This is our first "real" garden. I've been growing tomatoes in planters for a few years, and we had an assortment of flowers, some basil and failed strawberries a few years ago, but this one is the real deal. Can't wait to see it in a few months....

three

Three has been such a fun age. I love his joy at the smallest of things. Anything silly just makes his day.

When he sleeps, there is still so much baby in his face.

Cloudy

The mountains are covered with clouds and undoubtedly, snow. They are one of the things that makes living here majestic. Here in the valley it is sunny and I'm squinting with my glasses on, tired of contacts for one day at least. We are leaving this house in a week and a half, moving up to the East Mesa, to a brand new house. This causes me to dream, and to reflect. This house has chipping-off paint and missing pieces and a backyard full of stickers, and plumbing that is reliably unreliable. But it's pleasant too. The paint on the walls and cabinets is a reminder of hopeful work, ours and friends. Nico's room reminds me how much I want his childhood to be whimsical, no matter where we are. Our history in pictures covers the walls, the refrigerator. There are reminders everywhere-how I've learned to really work on marriage, not just let it happen to me; the kitchen where I really started to love cooking. The birthday parties I planned despite my reluctance to have people over. The luxury of having good friends for neighbors. Learning community. The early mornings heading off to clinicals, the late nights opening the door and smelling the woodstove and the feeling of coming home. Ricky transitioning from school to work, and now me. The place where we started dreaming about another baby.
I can already see myself romanticizing this season we've been in, the one we're moving forward from. I suppose that's inevitable. It was hard in some ways, but in others, it's what so many are looking for. We've been happy, and at peace. I'm so grateful for that.

Goodbye DC

Living close to Washington DC has been the best part about this summer. I will miss having such a cool city to spend Saturdays in. I (so naively) thought we would see everything in each Smithsonian, visit each monument multiple times, and Cutie Bug and I would visit the zoo or aquarium each week. This was not the case, because
a) we could live in DC for five years and probably not see everything
b) it takes an hour and a half to get to said zoo on the Metro, meaning it also takes that long to get home after a long day at the zoo with a sleepy/sleeping two year old.
But really, it doesn't matter. We've seen a lot of things, and been a lot of places (I feel a song coming on) and I am just satisfied and ready to go home!