Summer Happenings

Yes, I know it' s almost Halloween, but I don't want to skip over the fun things we did over the summer. One big thing was that Chris finished his nasty 5th year of residency, and we began our last year here! His schedule as a chief resident has been sooo much better, which is good because we're filling up all of our free time, it seems, with things to get the house ready to sell next year.

The beginning of this summer actually kind of stunk because we had to say good bye to some of our closest friends who finished with life here in Cleveland and moved on. This picture is not very good, but I wanted to include it because it is so representative of the great times we've had with the Shupes. We traded babysitting with them almost every month for over 3 1/2 years. When the kids came over to our house, Chris almost always told them a "Nutty story." Nutty is a squirrel, and he was the hero of a bunch of stories that Chris made up. Lakely and Kimball often told us that one of the things they would miss the most about Cleveland is Nutty and his adventures. Anyway, soon before they left for Washington, the girls slept over, and here they are engrossed in the last installment of the Nutty stories.

Pancake breakfast the next morning. I can't believe I didn't get pictures of Kimberly and Erik. We really do love you guys too! We miss you!

These are pictures of when we picknicked with the Brimhalls (minus the dads) at one of the free weekly summer concerts at Shaker Square. The music wasn't that great, but it was fun to just be outside and let the kids run wild.

WWF smackdown

These are pictures at one of the best playgrounds we have ever taken our kids to. It consists of things that many say are too dangerous nowadays- huge tires, metal slides (that feel like frying pans in the blazing sun), zip lines. Frankly, I'm surprised that it still exists, but we are sure glad it does!

In the name of playground safety, people have taken away some level of danger, but they have also stripped away a level of fun and excitement. My kids have never been so engaged in a playground before. It was awesome.


This is for you, Grandma and Grandpa Weight - thanks for the Alaska shirts!

Slip 'n' slide!!

This summer was so cool and wet that there were not that many good slip 'n' slide days.

This was the last day we had with the Chipmans before they moved to Colorado. We love and miss you guys!! (And, once again, I only got pictures of the kids, not Greg and Stacey)


Chris' Uncle Dave and Aunt Shauna stopped by for a few hours on their way back home from a Church history trip in June. It was so fun to see them. They are so kind to us and to our kids. We especially appreciated their humor and patience with the boys in the restaurant (our boys + restaurant - that combination does not usually mix well).

Now this picture does not seem like a big deal, but I had to get record of it because at this time, Hudson would refuse any sort of interaction with most adults besides me and Chris. He'd usually start to cry if anybody looked at him too long. But somehow Shauna won him over, and here he is handing her woodchips. It was so great to see you Dave and Shauna - we love you!!

This summer, Brig played soccer with some other 4 year olds, thanks to Ali who set it all up. He spent most of the time standing by Chris, who was one of his coaches, or climbing the goalie net, but every once in awhile he ran in and tried to kick the ball, and then usually ended up on the ground, underneath one of the kids from the other team . . . actually it was the same kid everytime; for some reason he had it out for Brig.

Yes, that's Chris wearing a ref shirt. He found it at the DI a few years a go and he's never found a reason to wear it until now, when he was Brigham's soccer coach. He was delighted to put it on every week!