4th of July 2012.

What great fun we had celebrating the birth of our nation! We have also lived in the great state of Maryland for one year as well (we look past the stupid speed cameras)!! Being so close to the capital adds some level of excitement to the 4th of July. We thought of venturing downtown to see the big show of fireworks but it was REALLY hot and humid and with the new baby we decided to stick close to home. Because of all the power-outages all the local cities cancelled their firework displays so we were left with party poppers on the front law (funny side note, ALL real fireworks are banned in our county, the only thing you can do are snaps, sparklers, and of course party poppers. interesting because all the vegetation is damp….) Next year we will for sure make the big show in DC, no excuse will be accepted!

We did attend the ward breakfast in the morning where the Franks family gushed over Conrad (their daughter Trish is our go-to babysitter). Seth made this delicious “buttery” flag cake. I walked in the kitchen while he was making up the batter and I saw THREE butter wrappers sitting on the counter. I made the comment that that was an impressive amount of butter for one cake. Seth did a double take and realized he had accidentally doubled the butter in the cake. No worries, extra butter never hurt anything!!

          

This pictures is such a good representation of our life: complete chaos with calm, happy Seth carrying on.

Windageddan (as Seth so creatively named our storm)

We had a storm, a really big one!! I didn’t even know there was a major storm predicted until I was sitting by our window feeding Conrad and was seeing the trees whipping around. The house shook with some of the gusts and we lost power. With the lights all out, we saw an amazing lightning storm where the sky was continuously illuminated with lightning flashes (thankfully our kids slept through it all).

We went to sleep and were a little surprised when the power was still out the next morning. We wound up our little emergency radio and found out that MILLIONS had lost power and it could be daysss before everybody would be restored.  The storm was considered a “once every 50 year storm” with gusts up to 80mph. Seth and I were a bit nervous with the warm 100 degree day ahead of us. Cellphone reception was sketchy but I was able to get my friend Amanda on the phone who I think was the only person in Rockville who never lost power. She was very gracious to let us come over to access her internet and store some of our meat in her freezer.  After reading more information about how devastating the storm was (and seeing lots of downed trees) we were just grateful that we were fine and a tree didn’t fall on our house:(

We spent most of the day in downtown Rockville where we were able to find  AC and play in the water fountains.  Sadly, the library was closed because they had no power but Five Guys Burgers was open. The kids had fun playing in the water and then we headed home prepared for a warm night of sleep.

We were so happy to arrive home to a house with a few lights on and an AC buzzing!!(our total outage time was only 18 hours) I jumped on the computer where I found a message from my visiting teaching companion about a sister I visit teach who had been driving around in the storm with her husband and had a large branch fall on her van. Thankfully they were both fine but their van was out of commission and on top of that their apartment building said it would be closer to a week before they would get power back. I was able to get in touch with her and her husband, plus their five cute kids, and they came to stay in our basement. They ended up staying for two nights and while we had a “full house” our kids had a blast with their new play mates and were sad when they left. 

When we drove to church on Sunday we passed a beautiful home that is across the street from the temple that had a large tree fall on it and completely crush the front of it. Once again, I’m so grateful our tree stayed put and we were safe.

Rad is Three Month! 7-10-12

How can he be three months? This month has brought the greatest baby skill of them all: LAUGHING! It’s cute and sure does make us all happy.

He also graduated to the Bumbo seat which is adding some a new dimension to his life. He likes to sit on the table and watch me make dinner.  He also makes a lovely center piece during meal time.

Conrad has also discovered his hands. He likes to clasp his hands together like he is praying and has started to grab at things (hair being his favorite). I had put Conrad in the swing to sleep and had gone into the kitchen when I heard Lucy shrieking. I came out to find Conrad with two fists full of Lucy’s hair in a firm grasp. Lucy only made things worse by trying to wiggle away from him.  I know he didn’t do it intentionally but it was an interesting change up to see Conrad inflicting a little pain on Lucy.

The last year of my twenties..

And so the last year of my twenties begins. It’s been overwhelming to reflect on all that has gone on the last decade and how much my life has changed in 10 years, thankfully I have been truly blessed. I love all the birthday chats and the fancy I Pad Seth gave me (when I get a chance to play with it, the kids are completely addicted to it).

This cake is in the running for the best birthday cake EVER made!!  Seth used a BT Chocolate cake as the base and vanilla frosting with crushed up Oreos and some mint flavoring in between the layers and on top (I love the chocolate and mint combo). He topped the whole thing with a chocolate ganache. PERFECTION!! The idea for the cake came from Pinterest but the recipe used chocolate chips in the frosting and Seth used Oreos instead. The Oreos added a great crunch.

Darlene and Shannon visit!

Darlene and Shannon were our next door neighbors when we lived in Forest Hills in Michigan (they were our “borrow a cup of sugar neighbors). The boys loved playing with Shannon who would hang out with us sometimes when her mom was in School. I told them they needed to come and visit us in DC and I’m so happy they took us up on my offer. They were able to spend a rainy day exploring museums and then we all went to the beach the day before they left. The highlight of their trip for me was the great chats about religion Darlene and I had in the car (we did a lot of driving). Come again Thompsons!!

  Charlie, Conrad, Shannon, Lucy, and Matthew

“We’re so glad when Daddy comes home…”

Yes, the best part of the day, bar none, is when Seth walks through the basement door with his bike. Screams ring out and kids go running to welcome him home.  We celebrated Father’s day with some friends from Ann Arbor who came in for a visit.  We made a grand feast of Seth’s favorites for his special dinner. We had Hamburgers, hotdogs, Sweet and Sour Coleslaw, Watermelon, Barbeque Potato Chips, and Sweet Potato fries (funny thing, barbeque chips really aren’t Seth’s favorite, they are my favorite and some how I thought they were his favorite as well, Salt and Vinegar are Seth’s favorite, who new?)

I’m grateful every day for the good man I married and the wonderful dad he is to our kids!