The "Beach"

This last week Michael walked to work in 37 degree weather. Yeah, fall starts a little early in Idaho. So realizing that summer is quickly ending, we decided we better get out to Rigby Lake before it's too late. We made the mistake of telling Jessica it was like a beach. She's constantly begging for us to move back to California where she can go to the beach everyday, so you can imagine her delight when she learned there was a "beach" in Idaho.

The kids had a great time and our little stunt-devil Jessica had a blast on the slide out in the lake. In fact, the first time she and Michael swam out there, she went down all by herself. Luckily she had floaties on her arms, but it scared Michael since he planned on going down with her the first time. Now to get her to stop plugging her nose...

This was how they got back and forth between the beach and the slide. Chandler had a great time too.

The water was cold, but we'll have to go back a couple more times before we're stuck in the house all winter.

Jessica's had a fun time playing dress-up since her birthday. Here are a couple of her shots.

Jessica's Birthday Video

Jessica's Fourth

Jessica's birthday was yesterday. It's hard to believe that it was four years ago that I missed my first day of law school, and a third-row seat to a Padres game because Jessica decided to come a little earlier than we expected. In such a short amount of time, she's gone from this:

to this:

We started out the day with Jessica's first first trip to IHOP. I can't believe that we've never taken the kids out for breakfast before.

The nice waitress even brought her an ice-cream sunday, for breakfast! I have a feeling that she'll be asking to make this a more regular part of our mornings...

Jessica had a couple friends come over for a princess party lunch. They had a blast painting, eating, and playing dress-up.

Jessica had a great day. I just can't say enough about what a fun, energetic, and sweet girl she is. She's a great example to her little brother and he just adores her. Laura and Chandler were a little sick and had to go to bed early last night, so Jessica and I stayed up late and made a movie quickly reviewing her life. I'll add it here in a second. We love you Jessica!

This is what happens when kids are left alone.

I left the kiddos downstairs while I got started on dinner.  Big mistake.  A few minutes later Chandler comes upstairs.  This is what I saw:

That is all my foundation (makeup) covering him from head to toe.  Seems like Jessica (who was also covered) felt like getting creative.  His hair is CAKED!  This was not a job for tearless shampoo, poor kid.   I'm just still in shock that we only had a couple spots on the carpet.  Goofy kids.

August So Far...

I figured I better get a quick recap on here since we haven't posted for a while. We've been traveling quite a bit since my eye surgery and it's really been a fun month so far. We really got things kicked off when we flew to California for my sister's wedding. Thankfully, there's a new direct flight from Idaho Falls to LAX so that took a lot of headache out of the trip. This is already Chandler's second flight and something like Jessica's eighth. I don't think Laura flew until she was taking college recruiting trips. 

I still see Carly as a little 6 year-old, so it was shocking to find out she was engaged. But Michael Byram is a great guy. The wedding was perfect and we had a great time. All the festivities were awesome. We had a dinner Friday night before the wedding and then the wedding was Saturday morning.  Jessica had a blast the entire time. She was able to play with cousins, get spoiled by her grandparents, and dance essentially the entire weekend.

After the wedding we had the reception at the Westover's house. I can't imagine anyone more generous than they are, especially when I had to go over late at night to drop off supplies. It's also where Laura and I had our reception 6 years ago so it was fun getting back there. It was a busy couple of days, but I was able to get out surfing with my cousin for an hour early Saturday morning before the wedding.

We flew back Sunday and were able to get a little rest after the whirlwind weekend. We had a few days to get back into our routine before we drove to Boise last Wednesday. I had some "continuing legal education" classes to go to so the family came along. While I was in class, they were able to go to a place called Rafiki in the morning where the kids could play.

After lunch they were able to go to a water park in Boise. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of the park, but it was a blast. Jessica had fun going down the "scary" slides (that she probably wasn't tall enough to go down) and body surfing in the wave pool.

After Boise, we had to take off for Salt Lake.

It was hot and the kids needed a little break so we got them push-pops. Sure it made a little mess in the car, but they were in heaven for a few moments. Once in Salt Lake, the kids were able to play with their grandparents while Laura and I went off to celebrate our sixth anniversary.

Jack Johnson was playing so we got some tickets. This was my first concert ever, unless you count Donny Osmond at Stadium of Fire when I was 14 (I don't). I actually got suckered into getting tickets to a Shakira concert in the Dominican Republic, but she got sick and canceled just as the show was set to start. Speaking of the D.R., my buddy Matt and his wife Maggie went with us.

The concert was great and I was excited that Jack played my favorite song, Go On. I was happy since it's not his most popular song, but I think anyone with a little girl who's growing up too quickly might like it. It was a great anniversary.

After driving home on Saturday, Chandler gets nervous every time we get in the car. Poor kid never knows if we're going around the block or on a trip to another state. Lucky for him, we don't have any immediate plans to go anywhere other than a possible camping trip in a couple weeks. But it was all fun and we realize just what a great couple of kids we have.

The Blind Can See

Michael's wanted to get Lasik for 10 years, but his prescription never really stabilized (all that reading in school?) and plus it was just expensive. After graduation he looked into it again, but by then he had dry eyes and a prescription so high that Lasik was no longer a great option. Lucky for him, there's now a Lasik alternative for people in his position. It's call Visian ICL and the procedure involves planting a rectangular lens under the cornea just in front of the natural lens. Michael's optometrist recommended the Eye Institute of Utah.

 You can see the information right there on the bottom right. He went in for the initial exams and within a couple of days, we were all back for the operation. While we were in the waiting room, we could watch video of the surgeries that were going on. I tried to keep Jessica distracted while I got video of Michael's operation, but she got a glance and I hope she's not scarred for life...

I've decided not to embed the video of Michael's surgery on this page. I will, however, include the link to the YouTube video that he uploaded, but having the image of his eye clamped open here...well, it's kind of disturbing and I realize that some of the more squeamish readers might want to read this post without having to look at that screen shot, even if they chose not to watch it. But check out the video if you can. I think it's pretty amazing when you can see the lens actually inserted under his corneal flap and then positioned into place. Again, not for everyone, but check it out if you can:

Michael's Visian ICL Procedure

It was amazing how quickly the surgery went - probably 20 minutes for both eyes. Then they had him take a nap for 2 hours which wasn't a problem with all the drugs they'd given him (he doesn't remember the surgery even though he was awake the whole time). They checked his eyes after and right away he was 20/15 in one eye and nearly 20/20 in the other. And that was it! He loves it and almost cried when we woke up the first morning and spent a few moments feeling around for his glasses before realizing that he could see the ceiling. Now he can't wait to go surfing or swimming without worrying about loosing a contact in the water. 

After we were done at the Eye Institute, we went downtown to celebrate with my parents. We all went to the Garden Restaurant on top of the Joseph Smith Building and had a great time. I love these pictures we got on our way over.

Chandler loves being the little buddy.

 The views were great up there and dinner was perfect.

Jessica wanted one more treat before driving all the way back to Idaho Falls. She's discovered the joys of push-pops.

Well finally, I should add a picture of Michael with his new eyes.

Haircuts

I guess it was time to mix things up a little. Jessica hasn't had a cut for a long time and she just looks so dang cute with short hair. She's been begging to get a cut so I went with her and got a trim myself. Here are the before and after shots:

And yes, she did jump into her swimsuit as soon as we got home... Oh this girl!

Nothing too crazy for me - just a trim.

 And Michael wanted to throw this is there since we went to Chuck-a-Rama tonight. It's his favorite place (rolling eyes). But after tonight, it's Jessica's favorite as well. It's a simple formula really - strawberry ice cream and gummy bears with no limits!

Chandler's Sprint

Chandler really needs to work on his form, but he sure is a fast little monkey.