Treehouse Museum with Grandma Thompson, Elisa, and Cousins

After living in so many cities with fabulous children's museums, we were excited to find that Ogden also boasts an amazing children's museum called The Treehouse Museum. It's located right next to the Ogden LDS Temple, and close to both Anna and Michael's schools. Today Mom and Elisa and her girls, Mia and Samantha, came up to Ogden for the first time since our move-in. We're excited that they now know Ogden really isn't that far away. (Mom needs official credit here for many trips up here to help us paint the condo, along with a lot of other family who helped with our painting and move-in. And Grandma and Grandpa Dastrup--three times, but who's keeping score?--and Annie and Jed and Adam have all visited. I just wasn't taking pictures or blogging yet!) This museum is charming, and I know we will spend many happy hours here. Everyone is invited to join us! We have two complimentary adult passes with our membership and we'll go with you if you come to Ogden!

Bear Lake August 2010

I haven't posted a blog in a few months, but I figure it's like starting to exercise--again--you have to start somewhere. We missed the official Holdaway Family Bear Lake, which was earlier in the summer, but several members of Travis's family went to Bear Lake for a weekend at his grandparents' time share condo. Living in Ogden we're closer than when we lived in Orem, but it still always takes some doing to get there. Even the shorter 2-hour drive feels longer than it should. Lucky for us we had our little songbird Sarah with us. She sang for most of the drive, and we were greeted with a gorgeous double rainbow over Bear Lake. My candid pictures of our group weren't great, but I'm glad I took a few to remember our happy weekend with. It was great to be with Liz and Andrew before their wedding; Annie and April, visiting from their recent move to Boston; Brigham and Christa and their three wonderful boys, Benjamin, Jacob, and Ty; and of course, Mom and Dad Dastrup. Dad planned and cooked all of the food! He swears it's easy for him, and he always makes it look easy, but I'm still impressed. I've been in on many of these vacations to Bear Lake over my almost-twelve years as a Dastrup, and this place holds many dear memories. I love to think of Grandma and Grandpa Holdaway who are so much a part of Bear Lake. They're no longer with us, but they don't feel very far away.

We Could Make Everything Even if Only Mom Cared Enough

Sarah's been very sick for two weeks, including the worst of her sickness while I was in Utah (for three and a half days) and Travis was alone with the kids. She is finally on the mend, though still whiny and weak, so I decided to take the kids to the Mall of America to exchange a pair shoes we bought for Anna and to just get out of the house. There are no home-packed lunches during these packing days, so we splurged and shared a large milkshake from Cold Stone. I warned Anna and Michael (though we all know I was really talking to Michael), "The lady making our shake is pouring it into four cups. If you complain about the shakes being uneven, you won't get one." "OK. Thanks Mommy!" And then Michael, "Wait, will they be uneven? Because we can make them even."

Sarah's 2nd Birthday

Sarah hasn't had a cute, custom-decorated cake yet, but this Thompson family layer cake is always yummy. 

So far her cat is named Kitty Cat and she sleeps with him every night.

In a moment of insanity I decided I would rather do something creative than deal with our move, so I made a new birthday banner for Sarah. It's hard to see, but they are flowers and leaves.When we moved here last June, I kept thinking, "Sarah will be two when it's time to move." It's June again, Sarah is 2, and it's time to move at the end of the month. We had a simple family birthday party, but it was extra fun because Travis's sister Annie and her husband Tyson and their ten month-old April were visiting. Sarah was happy to open presents and eat cake, but the lit candles made her a little nervous. I hope that on her third birthday we are firmly planted and not packing to move. She got fun musical instruments from Grandma and Grandpa Dastrup, a faucet that suctions to the tub and makes a continuous stream of water from Grandma and Grandpa Thompson, the blue knit cat (which she hugged whenever we saw him in the store) and some Max and Ruby DVDs from us. Two year-olds are so easy to please! Aunt Angie sent a book called the Quiet Book that she found on her last adventure to NYC for the book blogger conference. We wanted to get her a tricycle, but we didn't want to move it. We hope some cousins have tricycles that they're eager to share when we come over to play. . . We sure love this little girl!

Visit with Liz and Andrew--newly engaged!

Liz and Andrew--newly engaged!

This isn't breaking news, but it's news that's made us all very happy. We got to met Liz's boyfriend Andrew before anyone else in the family (only because we live closest, but we pretend it's because Liz loves us best). Liz lives in Iowa City where she is a year-or-so from finishing her PhD in bio statistics. Andrew lives in Champagne, Illinois and is a year-or-so from finishing his PhD in physical chemistry (working with lasers, though I think his degree will officially be called something else). Sorry, Andrew, I should have had Travis check this before I posted. We had a wonderful weekend together in Minnesota. We spent the day at Lake Calhoun, biking, having a picnic, and canoeing. Liz and Andrew were great sports to have Anna in their canoe with them since Travis's and Emily's was full with Michael and Sarah. In the evening we got a babysitter and went out to eat at an Italian restaurant. It was one of those perfect evenings with perfect weather and perfect companions. Andrew is a great guy. He can talk optics with Travis, and he loves to garden and cook! Best of all, he adores Liz, who has always been one of our favorites. We've seen a lot of each other while both living in the Midwest. We couldn't be happier that these two wonderful people are getting married.

Jed's Visit

My family knows it's hard for me to say goodbye when they leave after a visit, so Jed came to Minnesota only two days after Elisa left. He actually had his ticket first, but it feels like they planned it all for me. We had a great time, of course. Sarah and I went to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts on Thursday while Anna and Michael were in school. On Friday the weather was rainy and cold so it was a perfect Mall of America day. Sarah loved her time with just Mom and Jed. Jed alone is pretty great, but it doesn't hurt that he buys things like lunch and chocolate milkshakes, and her mom never does. I'm afraid our kids will be thoroughly spoiled after all of our fun company. On Saturday the rest of my jealous family got to play too, but the weather was too gray and cold to do all of the outside things we had planned. We went to the Cheesecake Factory (we called it a Mothers Day lunch) and Michael has claimed it as his new favorite restaurant, even though he was disappointed that it wasn't a true factory. Jed and I saw Iron Man II at the IMAX theatre while Travis stayed with the kids because we couldn't get a babysitter. Then Travis's pager beeped at 11:30 PM when he was staggering into bed. There was an eleven year-old with an open globe, and he was up all night sewing a boy's eye whose brother poked it with a stick. (Our kids never get to touch sticks.)Travis didn't get to go to church or the beautiful Walker Art Museum sculpture gardens, where we walked after church. It was Sunday, Jed's last day, and we finally had beautiful weather. I love spending with Jed, and I hope he finds his way to Ogden often!

Passed!

A little announcement for the family and friends who knew Travis had taken the written ophthalmology Boards in April. He passed! He was even pleased with his strong score, which is gravy, if you ask me. He has worked really hard his fellowship year, and I'm proud of him for studying as much as possible, which he didn't think was enough. In November he'll take his oral boards in San Francisco (another $1600 on the credit card) and then he'll be exam free for another ten years. Way to go sweetie!