Family Night at Camden Yards

There are just too many networking sites to keep up with, so I am a little overwhelmed, so please understand why I am slacking off on my blog (not that it matters). Either way, it is just another way to waste a little time. So, here I am wasting more time. Well, maybe it is not a total waste, but my house is pretty messy and I have some projects waiting for me, so I feel like I am wasting time right now.

Last night we went to Baltimore for the Orioles vs Braves baseball game. The Orioles lost, but we still love them and always have a great time. Our battery died before the game started, so the only pictures are of our family and not the game. Other than a few friends, I suspect that the majority of my 5 or 6 blog readers do not care about baseball anyway, so here are a few pictures of us before the game.

Yes, I am not in any of them. I am usually the one taking the pictures. Not only that, but regardless of any insecurities, I am not photogenic and I don't like having my picture taken. It steals pieces of my soul. ha ha just kidding.

Spring has sprung

We are so excited that spring is here. With warmer weather comes pretty trees and flowers. Maryland is so beautiful.






Other than the gorgeous weather, things are the same around here. We are waiting to find out if we got accepted to dental school and we are still not sure if we will move. We show the house on a regular basis which is a pain, but at least it forces us to keep it clean. Sorry there isn't more to report, but what can I say, we are boring.

Leopold

Leah turned 5 on February 23! We love her so much! She loves preschool and has picked up lots of Spanish being the only white girl in her class. Her best friend is Lorraine and she loves riding the bus. She loves drawing/writing notes and coloring. She loves playing with Dallan and is much nicer to Ryan now that he is getting older. She loves playing with her leapster and loves it when I read her books.I love to do her hair because that is our special time together. She changes her clothes at least 2 or 3 times a day. Her favorite food is pizza. Her favorite color is pink. Her favorite cartoon is Spongebob Squarepants. She is about to lose her first tooth. Her favorite primary song is "I love to see the Temple". Her nicknames are: Sis, Sissy, Sibble, Leopold, Lipple, Cyble Shepard, Libble, and my favorite derived from sweet siss-"swiss cheese".

Motown Philly back again

Clay and I decided to check out Philadelphia since it isn't that far from us. We went to 'Pat's King of Steaks' to try an original philly cheese steak. Then we walked across the street to try a 'Geno's cheese steak'. We liked Geno's the best. It was a cold day in PA, but we still had fun. We went to see the Liberty bell and walk around a little and then went home. We wanted to surprise Kasey with a visit, but it was going to add 2 more hours to our drive and we also didn't think that it would please Kasey's mission president.

Eagles Stadium!

Liberty Bell

The best Cheese Steaks! You say "Whiz steak wit" and it means you want cheese whiz on your cheese steak with onions. We also got cheese fries and birch beer. Yum!

Home of the original cheesesteak. We had it "American wit". Of course when we ordered, we sounded like Prison Mike since we don't have the right accent.

Laser Cats

Leah was star of the week in her preschool class this week. She got to bring toys and anything that she wanted to share with the class. One day she took a picture that she drew of our family. I asked her why my head was scribbled out and she told me that she drew my crazy hair. I also asked her why she scribbled out Dallan's face and she said that she doesn't like Dallan. She is brutally honest. The funniest thing that she did this week was when she brought in a stuffed cat and called it her laser cat. I have included a video that my kids love to help you understand why she would say that. There are 4 videos of the laser cat saga. It is really silly which is why my kids love it.

Geico

Happy New Year

I have to go back to Christmas real quick because Leah's face is so funny in this picture.

And Ryan's face is so funny in this picture.

This next picture is when we went to Ziki's (Japanese steakhouse) after we were all feeling better. It was nice to get out of the house!

Christmas with the Campbells

This Christmas has been out of the ordinary for our family. The week before Christmas the kids were sick and stayed home from school a few of the days. By the weekend before Christmas, we were all so sick and we hoped that we would feel better by Christmas. We had planned to see the lights at the temple, see the lights in DC including the national Christmas tree, and we also planned a day trip to New York to ice skate at Rockefeller plaza and see the Christmas tree. Unfortunately, we did not get better. We still enjoyed opening presents, but slept the rest of the day away. We spent the day after Christmas in the ER from 2:30pm to 10:30pm. Clay has resolving pneumonia and bronchitis, I have pneumonia, the kids have colds, and Ryan has conjunctivitis as well. We are just so happy to have the right medicine now and even though our house looks like a bomb went off in the living room and we all look and smell like death, we feel much better. We have high hopes of getting our sense of smell and sense of taste back so that we can have our Christmas dinner soon. It doesn't sound like a joyful time, but we are happy and will never forget this Christmas.
I didn't take any pictures (only video), but I assure you, we all got some wonderful things and were very excited. Not being able to do everything that I had planned was a blessing in disguise. I was forced to think about what things are needful and what things just take up time. I certainly wouldn't choose to be sick every year, but next year, I am going to cut out the "traditions" that are too commercial.

Breakfast with santa!

There is a progression here! CLick on the pictures to get a closer look at Ryan's face. Ha Ha Ha!




As you can see we had a great time at our ward primary Christmas party!

heaters, ants, cars and christmas cards

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, we discovered that our heater was not blowing warm air. We were warm because all of the cooking and we built a fire. For the entire weekend we kept a fire going and did lots of laundry so that we could run the dryer. We had fun, but the chilly air has given Dallan and I a cold. My voice is so low that it is disgusting. I am not feminine at all! Thank goodness it is fixed now! Hopefully I will become a woman again before I have to sing at a wedding this Saturday.
Another wacky thing that happened this weekend was when we decorated for Christmas. We got out our huge bin of Christmas decorations only to find that many of our items were moldy and covered in ants. It was disgusting. We saved the things that we cared about and threw the rest away. The ants were in huge piles and looked like piles of dirt. It was strange. On the bright side, now we have an excuse to buy new things...and decide if we really need something. Our tree and ornaments are fine. The crafty things are in the garbage. The only things that we want/need to get are stockings and a tree skirt.
The Sunday before Thanksgiving, our second vehicle broke down. It is a long story, but basically the engine seized. The cost of fixing it is more than the car is worth, so we will just live with one car for a while. Thank goodness we had 2 cars. We will probably get a second vehicle with our income tax refund in March.
Many of you know that Clay got to work with the presidential dental team. He met President Bush on more than one occasion and has some gifts and pictures to show for it. Today he also got a special Christmas card from President Bush. It is very exciting for our family!
One more thing...tomorrow is our 13 year anniversary! We feel that it is an unlucky number so we will not be celebrating it. Obviously I am kidding-we will celebrate it on Friday!