Connor's Pants

When we got home from our trip to Yellowstone, Mackenzie was rummaging through her suitcase and closet looking for a clean pair of pants. She came downstairs with a pair of capris on and asked "Do Connor's pants fit me?" Yup, she was wearing the baby's pants. (I also love that her shoes are on backwards in this picture.)

Yellowstone

We went to Yellowstone National Park over the 24th of July weekend. We saw some beautiful scenery and animals, including two bears and a herd of buffalo. It was awesome. The hymn "For the Beauty Of the Earth" kept coming to mind; there is a reason why it's one of my favorite hymns.

We stayed at the Days Inn in West Yellowstone. I waited way too long to book a hotel, and so we ended up paying a king's ransom to stay there. It did, however, come with an excellent breakfast at the hotel restaurant.

The trip was a lot of driving for the kids, especially Connor. He was not a very happy baby. It reaffirmed to me that travel with a baby is something to be avoided. Our 5 hour drive there turned into 7, and things didn't get much better from there.

But, overall, we all really enjoyed what the park had to offer and look forward to going again when the kids are older.

LASIK

I got LASIK last Thursday. We have an eye doc who is sympathetic to the med student life and offered to do it for me for cost. I'm still not sure what to think. The procedure itself was not as scary as I thought it would be. The healing process has been a lot worse. Hopefully, it'll heal up fast from here and will be as awesome as I hope.

Test Day

Saturday, July 17 was the BIG day, TEST DAY. Rich sat for the USMLE Step 1 test. He had been putting in 12-14 hour days for months to get ready for it. This test was critical to do well on for his residency. We'll find out his test score in a few weeks.

Testing Supplies:



Last Minute Study:

Hair Cut

One night after I had tucked the kids in bed, I went upstairs and found Mackenzie on my bed with a pair of scissors and big chunks of her beautiful blond hair on the floor. She was really embarrassed and felt bad. The next day, I told her I was so sad that she cut her hair, and she said to me "Be tough, Mom."

Clark and Katie's Farewell

July 13 was a sad day for us. We had a farewell gathering for Clark and Katie, Rich's brother and sister-in-law, who are moving to Kansas City, MO. Clark just finished his MBA. and his company promoted and moved him accordingly. He is doing a fantastic job, and it's a great opportunity for them. We, however, are going to miss them more than I can say. I'll have to figure out a way that we can go see them sooner rather than later.

Congratulations Clark! And good luck to all of you in your new home.

Girl's Weekend Retreat

Rich's Aunt Jean hosted a girls' weekend getaway at the Snoke's mountain home from July 9-11. This was a MUCH needed break for me. Uncle Clark watched Aiden and Mackenzie, so I only had the baby. It was so nice to get away.

We had delicious food, and wonderful company. Rich's aunts, almost all of the girl cousins, and Rich's Grandma all came to visit, and, of course, my mother-in-law, Lorinda, and all my sisters-in-law on the Hymas side. Grandpa Clark and Uncle Brian also paid us a short visit. I really enjoyed myself.

Taylorsville Dayzz

One of my very all time favorite activities we've done as a family is Monday Night at Taylorsville Dayzz. The Utah Symphony puts on a free kid friendly concert, concluding with the 1812 Overture with real cannons, followed by a fireworks show. Yummy food vendors just put the icing on the cake.

Moving Day

On June 9, we moved from my parent's basement into student housing at the U. At 37 (I can admit my age), this is not where I expected to be in life. But, I don't think life ever turns out the way we planned, and as I keep telling myself "life is a journey, not a destination," and "bloom where you're planted."

My dad helped us move our beds and some bare necessities up on Wednesday so we could sleep up in our new place. My dad was there for us the whole week and was such a great help! My mom also helped out by watching the kids. We couldn't have done it without them.

My friend Becky spent some time during the rest of the week helping me get the rest of the stuff packed up from the old place. What a chore! I really appreciate the love and support from our friends in our old neighborhood.

The rest of the stuff didn't get moved in until Saturday, June 12. We had a great turnout from the Centennial Park Ward to help us get everything moved out of our old house. I think there were 9 people from the ward there. Wow! On the other end, we had some guys turn up from our new ward to help us unload everything; they were so kind. And then the real work began!

Here are some pics of the day:

Bountiful Baskets

I still LOVE BountifulBaskets.org. Here's a picture of everything we got a few weeks ago. The produce was $15 and the bread (5 loaves) was $10. Totally worth it!

Connor's Blessing

On May 2, 2010, we blessed our sweet little Connor James Hymas. We had so much love and support from our family who came. Rich gave Connor a very sweet blessing, and Connor was an angel all day.

We had a small get together at our house afterward and enjoyed some sandwiches and salads. I was so sad that I forgot to get the camera out to take some pictures of everyone who came. I got Connor dressed back up in his blessing outfit a couple days later and took some pictures of our sweet little guy.

Hymas Family Reunion 2010

On May 29th, Uncle Doug and Aunt Kathy Grover invited us all to their new home in Eagle Mountain. They were heading out on a mission to Indonesia the following week, and wanted to see everyone before they left. Rich decided to take the afternoon off from his studies to come too.

It was a great turn out. Our family from Idaho and even our cousins from Arizona made it up. It was so nice to see everyone and catch up with those we haven't seen in a while. There was lots of yummy food and even time to catch up on a few winks. Wish we could get together more often.

Creme De La Creme

Anyone who knows us knows that we like to cook! You can frequently find us trying out a new recipe or resurrecting a tried and true one that we haven't made in a while. One morning in May, Rich made us a wonderful breakfast of crepes. It was filled with whipped cream, bananas, and maraschino cherries. How can you go wrong? Yummy goodness! Now, if I could just hire a maid to clean up the mess...

Digi Goodness

I'm SO excited. I feel like I'm in the midst of Digi Heaven, but I am overwhelmed at the same time. I just got my CS5 (thank you Justin), for just about every design thing you can think of. I finally feel like I'm making progress on my design class. Here are two papers to take a peek at (I would LOVE some feedback):




I've also got a couple of other very cool classes I'm signed up for--a hybrid card class, and an Illustrator drawing class. Yay!

I'm also getting Premier Elements for a little video editing software. SO much fun to be had, so little time to have it. Sigh.