family pictures

in case you don't already know, my sister alyssa is so talented.  she did such a great job taking our family pictures!  love you lyss!  if any of you in utah need your pictures taken call her, she is amazing!

summer fun

we decided that we would spend a couple months in utah (since we don't have a house and mike doesn't start work until august).  I signed emerson up for tball and he loved it, but is now ready for "real baseball"

 taking the kids to summerfest in orem.  they loved it.

 but not getting their pictures taken:)

 emerson decided that he needed eye black for tball because his uncle ryan wears it to baseball, he decided to put it on himself!

 we got the pass of all passes in utah so we have spent a good amount of time at trafalga. we took the boys on the bumper boats but got put in with a bunch of 10 year old kids that thought it would be fun to spray me in the face the entire time.  this was before the action happened.  i was soaked after, like dripping wet.  i had so much mascara in my eyes i couldn't even see, mike was taking video of it and laughing hysterically the entire time watching from the side!

 we got to go to lake powell with the halls.

 grandpa and emerson

 madden swimming with aunt kristin

 finding seashells on the beach

 the boys loved driving the boat with grandpa!

we had such a good time.  we stayed on a huge houseboat with a slide, had kayaks, fishing boat and speed boat.  mike did a ton of wakeboarding and we loved just relaxing under the sun!

moving to florida

i am usually a great planner but this year i think i have fallen apart in that category.  i can blame part of it on the fact that moving with the air force had me so confused.....anyway we ended up packing up our 24 foot penske truck a couple days before graduation.  as soon as the graduation festivities were over mike and i were on the road to florida.  my parents were kind enough to watch our boys so we wouldn't have to take them with us:)  

this drive was insane.  not only did our penske truck move so slow (it would top out at about 65 mph and it took a lot to get it there) it was a gas hog. i think on the trip we averaged about 6 mpg!  we got started at about 2pm and drove until we couldn't keep our eyes open.  we ended up stopping somewhere off the road past el paso texas to sleep.  we knew we wouldn't sleep for long so we just decided to sleep in the truck.  i probably got an hour of sleep because i was so cold and uncomfortable. mike slept like a baby but after 3 hours i decided it was time to hit the road.  so we drove for another 19 hours.....

 at about midnight we arrived at our good friends house in new orleans.  dave and natalia were so kind to offer us a place to stay the night, especially because they just had baby #2 10 days before we arrived!  as soon as we got there mike and dave headed out to take a small tour of the french quarter and pick up some yummy pastries.  i stayed back with natalia and held their sweet baby girl.  we went to bed at about 2 or 3 and were back on the road at 6 am. 

i can't wait to go back to new orleans.  it was such a cool place.  the homes are so unique.

 we finally arrived in florida after 38 hours of driving and about 1900 miles.  it was an adventure!  i wasn't sure what i would think about living in florida but i must admit these beaches are incredible and even though we are so far from our family i think this 3 year adventure will be so fun!

 a few days after we arrived it was time to unload our truck into a storage unit.  we worked on unloading for a few hours in the morning and then went to look for houses.  by the time we got back it was about 11 pm and we realized we left our lock keys in our realtors car, so at 11:30 we had to meet up with her to get our keys.  the fun began again at midnight and we finished up a little after 4 am.  it was horrible.  we started unloading so bad that halfway through we were deciding what furniture we would just throw in the dumpster because we were sure it wouldn't fit.  somehow, we got it to fit but it was the worst packing job anyone has probably ever seen.  when we finally finished up we had to drive over an hour to get the truck weighed so we could get paid from the air force and then drive another hour back to have our rental truck back at 7am when it was due.  it was a crazy night!

 finally unloaded, huge sigh of relief!

now, i can't wait to find a house so we get to do this all over again....ahhhh!

graduation!

May was a month long celebration (along with a lot of packing etc) but overall so much fun.  To celebrate Mike's graduation we headed out to Fogo de Chao.  We heard it was amazing and it did not disappoint!  

 The week before graduation we went to a MWU graduation banquet.  It was so fun to be with friends and celebrate their accomplishments.  A group shot of some of our favorite people!

The picture of Mike with his suite "B"  he loved these people and became so close to them.  He felt so blessed to be with such a great group of people and teachers!

The graduate!

 both of us....

 parents.....

 and inlaws......

 me with some of the greatest girls I know....

 me and abby my sweet friend

 abby, robyn and I.  I am making such a weird face:)

 the 3 amigos mike-bret-todd

 and us girls me-bri-ashley

 mike-todd-nate-bret

there is no denying how much we will miss all of our dental school friends!  we have so many good memories with all of them!

tough decisions

It has been a long time since I blogged. Mostly because I have had no free time the last few months. This has been the busiest and most stressful time of our lives. We have had a lot going on and have been faced with some very difficult things.

One of those things stressing us out has been a decision to do an Air Force residency year or not. We have been back and fourth so many times and never felt completely comfortable with the decisions we were making. Back in November Mike was offered a place in a residency program at Scott Air Force base in Illinois (right outside St. Louis, MO). We went back and forth but by the beginning of December we had decided to not to do it. Now we were waiting until we got our 3 year assignment.

Sometime in mid-January we were contacted by a dental director at an Air Force base in New Mexico. I kinda freaked out about it. I knew that this was a base that we could very likely go to and the fact that the director was contacting us scared me a little. This base is located by a city called Alamogordo. There is not much there. The mall consists of a JC Penny and KMART. I told Mike there was no way I could live there and he agreed. He decided to call the Air Force and see if there was still a chance of doing the residency. They said we could still do it and offered us our spot back at Scott Air Force base. We thought about it a lot and told them we would do it, hoping that after we would have a better chance of getting stationed in Italy for our 3 year payback.

A couple weeks went by and we had still not submitted our official acceptance letter. Last Monday I finally told Mike that we needed to send it in. For some reason both of us were so hesitant on sending it in. We just felt really uneasy about it. Ultimately, we prayed about it and just knew that for whatever reason we were not meant to do it. So, once again we made another phone call and told them that we were sorry but we couldn't do it. The Air Force people have been very nice about it and very understanding which I am thankful for!

Well, just a few days later we got our official orders and our 3 year payback commitment will still be at Scott Air Force base! I cannot even describe my relief when I knew we weren't going to New Mexico. I am sure Alamagordo is a great place to live but I don't think it was for me:) Illinois seems like a great place to go. There is a lot to do there and I am so excited for our new adventure!

I am convinced that everything happens for a reason and I am looking forward to finding out why things have gone the way they have. Now we get to start making plans for our big move and find a house which we are SO excited for! I can't even believe that school is almost over, graduation is in just 3 months!!!!

a cool blog to check out

Hey friends. I haven't blogged in FOREVER mostly because I have been way to busy. Today I am just doing a quick post for my cute cousin Megan. She has been given a cool opportunity to attend the Biggest Loser Ranch for the second time. She has won contests and has attended the Biggest Loser Finally and met a ton of Biggest Loser contestants.

She is on her own journey to lose weight and because she is starting to have these opportunities with the Biggest Loser she needs people to follow her blog and make comments. She has a lot of cool stories and pictures on there from her past experiences and will continue to have them.

So, if any of you are fans of Biggest Loser or just want to help support my awesome cousin please visit her blog and become a follower and or make comments. We really want to help support her in this! Her blog is http://couragetofinishwhativestarted.blogspot.com

Thanks!

one down

i am so EXCITED to say that my first semester back to school is finished! i couldn't be happier about it. i have LOVED being in school this semester. going back to school at an older age has made me appreciate LEARNING and i have loved it. i was so nervous to go back (it is a little over 8 years since my last college semester) and i wasn't sure i could do it.

now, i will take a few weeks off and start another.

update on the rest of us:

mike: started his final year of dental school a couple months ago, i can't believe it! our time in az has flown by! he just started studying for the boards part 2 which he will take in nov or dec. we are also working on our air force application for the residency program for next year. we should know in october if we got it and where we will be moving....how EXCITING:)

emerson: this cute little boy is turning 4 on sunday. i can't believe how fast it goes. he is bored to death and we are all looking forward to having the summer over with! he likes to spend his time writing letters on everything....himself, walls, sidewalk, paper....anywhere. he also loves playing batman legos on the "xbox free."

madden: madden is 2. he has the funniest personality. he is a partier. he sleeps less than his older brother and if he can even sense something fun is going on he will stay awake at all costs. he loves going places and wrestling his dad who he still calls "mike" and his "bro-der." he is a very aggressive boy that i just want to kiss all day cause of his killer dimples.

UTAH

This post is a little late. We have been back from Utah for well over a month. It was a good vacation overall. I usually come back to Arizona feeling ready and love being here. This time we spent some time in the canyon and it made me so homesick for this place. Provo canyon has always been one of my favorite places and I have missed it so much. We took our friends up to check it out. The boys all loved it! They threw rocks in the river, climbed on an old train and ran up and down the train tracks. The weather couldn't have been more perfect either (one of the only nice days while we were there).

The other big part of our trip was being able to see our cute little nieces Katelyn and Kassandra. It was our first time seeing baby "KK" and the boys couldn't get enough of holding her. She is such a sweet baby and is beautiful! Every time I go up to Utah Katelyn and Ezra usually don't recognize me which makes me sooo sad. I got to watch Katelyn a few days during the trip and we became friends. She played and smiled at me a ton and we loved every second of watching that sweet little girl!



Because I am a loser aunt I didn't get any pictures of Ezra:( I love that boy so much too. We got to do lots of things together and I love his fun personality to pieces!

One cool thing that happened was in Salt Lake. Me, Mike, Alyssa and my Mom decided to take the kids to the Book of Mormon exhibit in Salt Lake and then have lunch with Justin because he works downtown. We parked in front of the conference center and we were in a hurry after the exhibit. My mom asked us if we had ever been on top of the conference center, we hadn't and wanted to go. We were out of time but I just said let's just see if they will take us up real quick. After a little debating we finally just went up. The guide took us right up, we looked around for a few minutes (I could spend a long time, it is so beautiful up there)! We were walking towards the elevators when Mike stopped and looked across the small room. He started speaking Italian and ran over and started hugging a guy. We were so confused until he finally introduced me. Turns out it was an Italian guy and his wife visiting from Italy. He had been wanting to see Mike but everyone told him we were living in Arizona and it wouldn't be possible. Later that night we met up with a bunch of people and went to dinner. Mike was in heaven. They were really great and I had a good time but learned that I need to speak Italian. I was the only one that didn't speak. It was such a cool thing for him to see them!

The boy who potty trained himself

madden.

this funny little guy had no interest in being potty trained right when he was turning 2 but only a month and a half later he decided he was going to be. Madden would just come tell me "I pee, mommy" and so I would take him, and that's how it went with this boy. We have been going pretty strong for 2 weeks now. We have occasional accidents (especially at our friends house) but he is doing pretty well with hardly any effort on my part:)

He just comes up with things all on his own. Tonight Mike told him he would be right back and to count to 3 and he did....we never taught him to count to 3 but he just knew:) he is cracking us up all the time. We love this little baby guy!

gramps

Sunday morning (June 12, 2011) my sweet grandpa Schroeppel passed away. This weekend has been full of sadness. I was blessed to be with my mom, my aunt kim and my cousin meg when I got the news. We stayed up on Saturday night until about 2 am crying and talking, waiting to hear the news that he had passed. On Sunday morning at around 7:30 we heard that he was gone. We were all in a hotel room together in Tempe because we had gone to Les Mis the night before. Our girls weekend wasn't quite what any of us had expected but I am still grateful we were able to cry together.

Monday morning we all headed up to St. George to attend funeral part 1. It was so emotional for me. This was the first viewing I had ever attended. This is my first grandparent pass away. The whole experience has been hard to handle. Thankfully though, my grandpa has lived such a great life and that gives me a lot of peace.

I came away from the funeral yesterday with a feeling of such love and gratitude for my grandpa. He is one AMAZING man who is loved and respected by so many people. My grandpa spent his life in service for others. My grandpa is one of the funniest guys I know. He is hilarious. Yesterday everyone talked about his wit and humor and that is one of the things I will miss most about him.

Although we were not able to be with him when he passed and did not get to say goodbye, I am grateful for a great visit I had with him back in Feb. He was in the hospital and we were just getting back from our San Fran trip. I decided to make us leave later than we wanted so I could just go say a quick hello to my grandpa in the hospital. I ended up staying for 2 hours, just me and him. We talked, laughed and joked. During my 2 hour visit I think my grandpa had 3 or 4 different visitors from his ward and neighborhood. These people all told me how much they love my grandpa and what a great man he is. I loved this visit and for me, it was such a sweet memory that I have with him. I am thankful I was able to spend that time with him.

Grandpa has been such a good grandpa to all of his 49 grandkids:) I know my grandpa loves all of us equally and we all feel special and loved by him. I think that is a pretty amazing thing especially with how many of us there is!

I will miss grandpa but I know I can see him again. I am thankful to be a part of such an amazing family. I have so many great cousins, aunts and uncles. I feel pretty blessed.

Saturday is the final funeral in Utah County. I am flying up on Saturday to be there for it. I am guessing there will be more tears shed in honor of such a great guy!

Girls Night in VEGAS!

I have A LOT of blogging to do but I will start with my mother's day present this year. Mike decided to get some guys together and send us wives to Vegas for a night. We were all a little excited and a little nervous...we went and had a ton of fun! Our guys scored some major points for this one. They but us up in the Palazzo hotel which was AMAZING! Here are a few pics from our trip.

As soon as we got in our rooms (which were soooo nice) we realized we could be as dumb and immature as we wanted so we jumped on our beds, jump off a ledge onto our beds and giggled, it is pretty fun acting like a 5 year old again!

In the lobby of the Palazzo.

After Jack Sparrow scared the life out of me and Heather, she got a picture taken with him. He was very friendly:)

We thought we got all dolled up before we went out but then realized we were in a whole other world when the guy taking our picture asked us where in the Midwest are we from:) I think we might have been the only girls on the strip in denim at 10pm!

After dinner at our $40 buffet. It was the Wicked Spoon at the Cosmopolitan. It was much more gourmet than any buffet I had ever seen. The best part for me was the desserts, they were fantastic!

After dinner, we shopped until midnight, tried to find a karaoke bar, with no luck and did a little gambling....only a dollar on the penny slots. We got hit on by weirdo guys at 1 am and decided to head up to our rooms.

We spent the next few hours talking and laughing...Jill didn't make it the whole time:)

Ash, Heather and Me on one of our beds (picture taken at 4 am:)

The next day we woke up, went down to sit in the hot tubs, got ready and went to Cheesecake Factory for lunch. Here is a picture before we left Vegas.

We missed some of our good friends who couldn't make it but wanted to:( but we had such a good weekend and can't wait to do it again soon!