Sundays at our new house

I like Sundays. I'm not exhausted because I've had Dave's help with the kids and our evenings allow for time for me to force family walks upon everyone. Last week we took a walk to a nearby Confederate Graveyard. I need to study up on my US history but I believe Kentucky had soldiers that fought for both sides. It was really cool to see all of the headstones for the confederate soldiers that are buried there. The kids were spent by the time we started walking back (have I mentioned Dallas is like the laziest kid ever when it comes to exerting physcial energy). As you can see I ended up with Brooklyn on my shoulders and Dallas took a ride in the pink stroller.

I also like our new house. Tons more room and brand new so we get to claim every mark, stain and dent when we move out =). But really, this is a pic of the kids on our back deck . . .I love the wooded creek that runs right through our backyard so fun to be doing dishes and look out a window at this beautiful scenery rather than stare at a wall. Also boasts an unfinished basement which in our house equals a room where the kids can play and not destroy anything but cement walls, scrap carpet and our old tv. Lovin' It!

The Spirit of the Lousiville Slugger

I feared the boys being bored out of their minds moving here in the middle of summer-being at home all day everyday and not having any friends-so I was very quick to find the YMCA and sign them up for tee-ball. This is one of those times where it paid off to have our kids so close together as they got to be on the same team in the 4/5 year old division. This is their first exposure to baseball so it's been fun to watch how they respond. We also visited the Louisville Slugger Factory/Museum per Trenton's birthday request and posed for a photo in front of the huge bat. They've now had two games and we've decided that Trenton can hit pretty well although he seems to like to send line drives right to the first baseman (luckily none of these little kids can even stop the ball and if they do, it takes them a few minutes to remember to then go and tag the base. Dallas complains a lot about being hot and tired and I think the only reason he gets excited about games is for the snacks and drinks that follow, but he's still fun to watch and although he's by far the shortest on the team at least has the left-handed thing going for him.

Long, lost and in Kentucky

I know most have probably stopped following our blog as I have stopped posting, but now that we have moved, are somewhat settled and I am currently not working-I am making a goal to be a little more diligent in my blogging so as to keep connected to all of our friends and family that are no longer living near. Quick catch up (pictures to follow on another day as I just went through photos on 4 different memory cards and these were really the only ones I could find . . . now I just have to find more of our memory cards which could be interesting).

Dave graduated from Dental School and passed boards so now I get to mock him and call him Dr. Butler anytime I feel he is being ostentatious Well, if you know us, you know I may have already used that title a few times as we love a little friendly banter. But all joking aside, I am really proud of all that he's accomplished. Moving on from dental school is bitter-sweet as I can already look back and recall the fond memories more than the long hours and hard work it took as a family to get through the last four years. We were happy to leave the rain, sad to leave the scenery, friends and family. Change is hard but good and so far we really are loving our new surroundings.

We had a nice long and pleasantly less painful than anticipated drive across the country in the odyssey. Dave's parents took Dallas back to Salt Lake after Dave's graduation so we didn't have him for the first leg of the trip which worked out wonderfully. We spent four days with Dave's family in Utah and then drove to Colorado where we stayed with one of my roomates from college for a night. They were so nice to open up there home to us and feed us dinner and how did we thank them? Dallas took a leak on their deck in plain view of all the neighbors and Lexi decided to projectile vomit with 3 of 4 large heaves all over their living room carpet. Needless to say we were horribly embarassed and won't be returning with the kids anytime in soon. So sorry Tracie and Troy . .we figure the best thank you is going to be to not come again =). We got up early the next morning and took off and drove for 15 1/2 hours before crashing at a hotel. That left us with just 3 or 4 hours on the road the next day to Louisville. Unfortunately, they still had to unload some other things off the trailer so we didn't get our stuff until the following day. We slept on the floor tried to acclimate ourselves to the humid air and the kids and I got to see fireflies or lightning bugs for the first time. I've decided I would take humidity and a/c anyday over our place in Portland where it would get in the high 90s inside our condo.

Our new ward is huge, active and friendly. Fourth of July ward barbecue shot:

Lexi's new favorite place to scoot/roll is under our bed. The first time she did it we were laying on our bed hearing her babble but she was nowhere in sight . .we were laughing hysterically when we found her underneath us happy as a clam.

Schedules have pretty much been thrown out the window so I'll find Lexi asleep under our bed, in her highchair, on the floor. etc.

There's always time for this, ha! ha!

Not officially crawling yet, but she'll hold poses like this forever which I personally find even more challenging than crawling. She's going to have some great looking abs and shoulders once she gets rid of all those rolls if she keeps this up.

Dave still finds time to shoot random photos and these are two that I like as they represent the kids' personalities: Brooklyn who thinks she is pretty pretty princess and Trenton who is desitned to be some kind of geeky science loving guy.