Family Meeting

Last night I went to Enrichment Meeting while Shane stayed home and watched the girls. Because he is having to wake up at 4:00 in the morning for work he usually goes to bed pretty early...so after he got Ava to sleep he went to bed and let Eliza and Hailey stay up and watch a movie until I got home. After I arrived home I sat with the girls and as we talked about what they did with daddy while I was gone Eliza informed me that they had a family meeting in the fort that they had built downstairs. Of course Eliza was the one who called the meeting and decided that the topic of discussion would be 'how to make our family stronger'. She handed out paper and asked that everyone write down ways in which we could make our family stronger. Here were the results:

Hailey: wrote 'Family' at the top of her paper and proceded to draw a picture of our family 'trying to be like Jesus' and a picture of her going to school with her backpack.

Eliza's list: Family Meeting. Stronger Family. Try to go to church every Sunday, have family game night, family home evening, family outings, family fun night, have family meetings more often, and have family morning prayer.

So at this point I'm thinking...oh how sweet...I wonder what Shane wrote.

Shane's list: Family Meeting. Becoming a stronger family.
1. Lift weights
2. Do lots and lots of work
3. Enter weight lifting competitions
4. Work out
5. Wear speedos

Oh my gosh, I laughed so hard. I could just picture Eliza getting upset with Shane at the 'family meeting' because he wasn't taking the assignment seriously. Anyway, I got a good laugh out of it. Does anyone else think my husband is hilarious?

Catch Up #2 GRADUATION!!!!!

Well, HE DID IT! Meet my husband 'Dr. Dangerfield'. I can't believe it's finally over! What an amazing feeling. What an accomplishment. I'm so proud of my man. Graduation was a very surreal, emotional, and wonderful day.

Proud parents...Dad and Mom Dangerfield.It was so great to have Mom, Dad, Steph and Cory out. We were so grateful that they made the effort to be here to support Shane. Our families are awesome!

My mom and dad were able to make it for the graduation as well. They've been so supportive of us and always make an effort to travel out for special occasions. Dr. Zach (also a recent grad) was able to join us too!It was such an emotional day for Shane and I. We have worked so hard and been through so much to get to this point in our lives. Apparently the divorce rate for medical students is extremely high, but I feel that everything Shane and I have been through over the last ten years-because we have been able to see the 'big picture'- has only made us stronger and brought us closer together. I love Shane so much and I'm so grateful for his hard work and dedication to me and our little family. Congratulations my love! You're amazing.

Playing catch up #1 AVA'S FIRST BIRTHDAY

So the last few months have been crazy for our family, leaving me with little time to post anything on our blog. On top of the no time issue our computer has been acting up...so I have a lot to catching up to do. The first event I wanted to document was my baby's 1st birthday. We had Zach and Tirzah and their girls over for a little BBQ party in our new backyard. It was so much fun! I can't believe how fast this year has gone by..... It was a day full of getting messy...nothing new really. I had to go in and frost the cupcakes so I asked my brother Zach just to keep an eye on Ava for me for a minute and this is what I came back to! She had gotten baby food all over herself! Thanks a lot for your help Zach.

So we got the baby food mess cleaned up and then it was time for cake! MMMM

Ava was in heaven!

Of course Ava's favorite gift was the gift bags and tissue paper.



Eliza was in charge of the entertainment for the evening. This was my favorite of the many games and activities she came up with. 'Pin the diaper on Ava'..is that classic or what?! I still laugh when I see this picture.

Daddy nibbling on the birthday girl. We love our little Ava girl. Happy Birthday baby!

Trip to Utah

We took a trip to Utah for my mom's retirement from the Tabernacle Choir. She sang in the choir for twenty years and had so many amazing experiences. It was so awesome to be able to be there to support mom and reflect on the impact that her membership in the choir has had on all of us through the years. Here's a slideshow I put together of our trip. It was great fun!

My little puppies

My instructions to the girls after bath time were as follows: "dry off, lotion up, and put on jammies so I can dry your hair." Simple enough, right? Well, after about 10 minutes or so I went in to check on their progress and this is what I found....

I call them "Panty Head Puppies"

Hailey even took the liberty of drawing a circle around her eye with marker...nice effect.

The instigator of the 'Panty Head Puppies'

I can't believe I've never thought to do this. My girls are so smart.

Anyway, I thought it was pretty hilarious. So typical of my girls to come up with something like this. They always keep me laughing. I sure love 'em!

Cute pics of my baby- enough said!

Match Day! Finally!

Well, it's official! Shane was accepted to the Pediatric Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation residency program at Children's Hospital in Detroit. Which means we will be here for another 5 years! This field of medicine fits Shane like a glove. He's going to be an incredible physician. I'm so proud of him.

Match Day 2009 was a lot of fun. First, awards were presented to some of the students based on their outstanding acheivement in different areas of medicine....and guess who received the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation departmental award??? Yep, my husband! It was really cute because Shane was holding Ava when they announced his name for the award, so he went up to the front and had his picture taken with the head of the PM&R department...and Ava. Later they passed out 'THE LETTERS' and had everyone opened them at the same time. We pretty much already knew that Shane was going to be accepted to this residency, but it was sure nice to finally see it in writing! To top off the afternoon, the school provided a nice buffet lunch for all the students and their families.

Shane and his good friend Larry-who was accepted to the Pediatric residency also at Children's Hospital.

Shane and Dr. Pelshaw-the Pediatric PM&R program director... and Eliza in the corner.

Shane and Erin. We really like each other...ALOT. Oh..and Hailey in the corner.

Eliza will be 13 when we are done with residency! How crazy is that?

And Hailey will be 10! OK, now I'm getting a little depressed...

Shane was definately the only medical student present at Match Day with his wife and THREE children! It has been a LONG road for our family, and we know it's not over yet. But we are so excited to be moving on to this next chapter in our lives.