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Lately I've been worried that my kids are wasting their lives away being bored. I've been trying to find ways to create lasting memories for them. Today, on our way to the park I passed by an open fire hydrant. I just happened to have my camera to catch the pure joy that followed.

Sometimes being a parent feels like a never ending chore, but not today. Today I know my kids got a memory that they'll keep, and I got to make that happen for them. I'm so grateful for days like today.

Living in Missouri

We may not have many friends yet, but we find ways to entertain ourselves.

Bahamas part 2

The last night on the island we went to a bonfire on the beach party.

 See the dude to the right of the fire wearing a yellow shirt? Well his wife (black swimsuit) was from Iowa. The drunker she got the more people she told that we and the Dougherty's were from Iowa. Joe and Joseph were always wearing Iowa T-shirts, and she would stop and point and yell "hey Iowa!" It was pretty funny.

 This was fun. There was a fire dancer at the bonfire party, and she went around feeling for some hairy legs to do a trick with. Guess who's legs she found? Ya, she burned off Joe's leg hair. When Joe sat down the lady next to him said that she could smell the burnt hair from his leg.

 Our last few minutes on the Bahama island we got a quick drink. They had little stands all around the port, and one was serving drinks from a coconut. We shared a strawberry daiquiri-minus the alcohol of course.

 We'd never seen a sailboat like this before. It was pretty cool.

 Back on the cruise ship and headed to Florida.

I've said it once and i'll say it again, that was the best vacation ever. The island had some of the most beautiful scernery i've ever seen. We were able to get our tickets on a groupon deal, so if you ever stumble across a discounted trip to the bahamas-DO IT! everyone should be able to see how beautiful it is there.

I love it when we're cruisin together

After graduation we went on a cruise with our friends Joseph and Angela Dougherty. Here we are out on the top deck enjoying the evening breeze as we sail from Florida to the Grand Bahama Island.

 Once we docked we rode a bus to our hotel. Some poor pregnant woman puked the moment she stepped off of the bus. Then a hungover dude did the same. I didn't feel as bad for him.

Here was our hotel.

Did I mention that our hotel had a private beach?

We were pretty thrilled.

We got to ride on a banana boat. I totally freaked out the entire time. Not many people know this about me, but I have a pretty significant water phobia. I blame it on watching Jaws so many times at a young age. Anyway, we got to see one of the ships they used while filming Pirates of the Carribean.

 The next morning we went snorkeling! I was so scared to go. I'd had a dream the night before that I'd been eaten by a shark. I asked Joe if we could sell our tickets, but fortunately he didn't let me. Snorkeling was by far my favorite experience.  I got over my fear pretty quickly once I saw that there were a large group of us going and there were a bunch of people who were slower swimmers and juicier meals for a shark. This is right after snorkeling, but right before a major sunburn.

after scuba diving we hung out in the market place, got some lunch, and then swam in the ocean for like 3 hours. ya, I told you we got sunburned. After all of that we were pretty tuckered out, so we headed up to our room. Here is the view from our balcony. Amazing right? It was so beautiful there. I can't even describe how perfect it was. The weather, the views, the ocean, the room-it was probably the best vacation i will ever take.

ok, right now I have a bunch of photos i'd still like to post, but since our internet is so sketchy i'm going to wait to post the rest until we can get internet set up at our apt. I guess we'll call this Part 1.

pictures of joe's graduation

I know this post is almost a month late, but we've been pretty busy. i'm trying to update in chronological order. Next post will be pictures of our cruise!

 It's hard to see in this picture, but this is Dr. Shneider placing the doctoral hood on Joe. I have no idea why it's purple.  

 Here is Dr. Joseph Whitehead DDS! I'm so proud of him!  I may have cried during the whole ceremony.

 I love this picture of Joe's sisters giving him a kiss on the cheek.

 We were lucky enough to have 2 of joe's sisters and his parents come to Iowa for the ceremony.

 I don't know why i like this picture. We don't really kiss like this with our noses squished. I think I was too happy to care.

The kids' last picture together with us all living in Iowa. Needless to say it's been an emotional few weeks.

I know this post is about Joe, but I just had to add one picture of these amazing, wonderful, incredible, can't-say-enough-about-them ladies.  I hate leaving them.

Story time

"boys do you want me to tell you a story? Once upon a time there were 2 boys who didn't eat there dinner so their mom and dad ate all the ice cream sandwiches all gone, and the boys didn't get any. The end"

after a great deal of time spent fake crying and throwing fits....

"mommy that wasn't a very happy story. I'll tell you a story. Once upon a time there were 2 boys . and Ethan and Noah were holding hands with their mommy and daddy and they were so happy to cross the street and hold hands. And they went to the park and were so happy to play." 

 I love their creative play. although its so obnoxious to hear them sing Rudolph the poop nosed poop dear, I am secretly hoping that it will someday translate into some form of creative writing talent.  This is the first time they have made up their own story. I hope to hear many more in the future.

Family Pictures!

A few weeks ago we were able to have our pictures taken by our friend Kate Allen. Proceed to the bragging: she's an award winning photographer, and she's just been accepted into the Master's program at the University of Iowa College of Fine Arts. Here is her website in case you'd like to see some of her work. 

 http://www.kateelisabethphotography.com/

I love how they turned out!