Today Lauren was awarded for the second time for the Honor Roll! The first quarter she made the “A” Honor Roll which is an A average. This time she impressed us even more and made the Principal’s Honor Roll which is straight A’s!! This is all something new to Cory and I since we were average to below average students in our formative years. We are so proud of our little girl! Yay Lauren!!!
Her teacher Mrs. Sanchez
She said “Thanks for letting me have her in my class. She is an absolute jewel and is going to do big things in her life!”
I’m being a total slacker this year and not sending out cards or newsletters. This will have to do!
We began the year in Lewiston, ID. The girls and I were there staying with my parents while Cory was rotating at various residency sights throughout the country for the school year. Lauren was in Kindergarten so we stayed put while Cory did all of the travelling. Then in June we moved to Florida! We had a good summer going to the beach and enjoying the sun. The humidity took some getting used to but Cory and I both agree that even though Phoenix had a “dry” heat it was still more unbearable in the summer than this summer in Miami was. We could get in the car and actually touch the steering wheel and not have the belt buckles scorch our skin! We have enjoyed visiting the unique areas that this part of the country provides. We have gone to the Florida Everglades several times, We drove down through the Florida Keys while Cory’s mom was in town and took a glass bottom boat tour out of Key Largo and saw the coral reefs up close. And of course we have been to several beaches! What is nice is all of these places are within a half an hour of where we live.
Kristen turned 3 in August and loves having her alone time with Mommy during the day. She plays perfectly by herself and is happy to just be home and have all of the toys to herself! She has had her potty training ups and downs but as of right now she is trained…we’ll see next week though, things change fast with our little Jekyll and Hyde. She so sweet one moment and a total bum the next. Lauren is usually the unlucky recipient of Kristen’s rage!
Lauren started first grade in August and is doing fabulously. She was the only one in her class to receive an award for the Advanced Reading program. Then a couple of weeks later she received an award for being on the Honor Roll! Cory and I laugh because neither of us were on the honor roll in school. She is growing in to quite the tall, beautiful girl.
Cory is working hard being a first year Podiatry resident. In June he graduated and can officially be called Doctor! We are so proud of him!
I am trying to keep things afloat at home. I have a little house cleaning job I do a couple of days a week for a little extra money. It’s nice because I get to bring Kristen along and I do it while Lauren is at school. It works out perfectly. The downside is it leaves very little motivation to clean our own place! I was called as the 2nd counselor in the Primary Presidency the second Sunday we went to church here! The other ladies in the Presidency said they had been praying for someone to come along for quite a while and nobody seemed right. But when I came in to the ward they said “That’s her!!”. What a wonderful welcome !
We miss all of our family and friends but we have made some great new friends here and are enjoying our new church family! Here are some pictures from the last year-
On the glass bottom boat ride, everyone striking a pose!
Miami Beach
Catching Florida Blue crabs in a parking lot
The first day of school in uniform!
Fun with Nana at the gator farm
Exploring the Everglades (see the alligator??)
MERRY CHRISTMAS 2010!
Chatty Kristen from Jodi Brown on Vimeo.
Lauren has had a great first soccer season. She has enjoyed herself but is still pretty timid when it comes to actually kicking the ball. She is such a silly girl and usually does a skip/hop combo when shes out on the field, but she will run really fast when its intense until she gets to the ball, then she gets shy. She did manage to make her first goal this last week. We were very proud! She been able to be on the same team as her best friend Hailey and Hailey’s dad is the coach so It's been great! Lauren is such a shy girl especially when it comes to men (thank goodness!) and Hailey’s dad was no exception, even after spending a ton of time playing over at their house. He would always say hi to her and ask her to give him a high 5 and she would completely ignore him! Now that he has been her coach he’ll walk in the room and she shouts “Hey coach!!”. So cute!
BEST BUDS!
Here is her individual shot
followed by the group shot…Notice that I failed to take the gum out of her mouth!! Lovely… 
And here is her first class picture! I just Love how the little boy in the front right is totally looking off to the side and so is the Principal! So funny!
In the end of February Cory and I had a chance to go on a little vacation down to Phoenix for a couple of days without the kiddos. He had a test to take and I saw this as our chance to have one last Hoorah before we move and don’t have built in babysitters anymore :) We had a wonderful time visiting our old town, favorite dining spots, new dining spots, and wonderful old friends. While Cory was taking his Boards I went to hang out with some of the old gang on the lawn at Midwestern’s housing complex. Ohhh how I’ve missed that place and wished I had my girls with me to run around on the grass in the beautiful sunshine! Unfortunately I forgot my camera and didn’t get any pictures of my old friends and their adorable kids. Luckily I will have the chance again in June when we go back down for GRADUATION!!!
While we were there we had a chance to go to a neat little place called Pizzeria Bianco. We had heard raves about this place for years from various people and even Oprah! It was apparently voted best pizza in America at one point. The only thing stopping us from trying it while we lived in Phoenix before was the 2-3 hour wait to even get in the door! They can only seat 40 people in the little old brick building. We lined up at least an hour before they opened and already there was a line waiting in front. They opened the doors and we were numbers 41 and 42 in line..so we got to wait for another hour. Cory went next door to Bar Bianco and got us some sodas. All they had was regular coke in bottles…and I don’t think they serve them very often since we popped of the tops and they were a little rusty! Luckily it was a gorgeous evening. Just perfect for sitting outside and sipping a nice cold coke from a bottle :) The pizza was great and Cory is so happy we finally went. Good times!
We stayed at an awesome resort called the Hilton Tapatio Cliffs. It was set on the side of a hill and was really cool and old world feeling. Our room was beyond our expectations and we got it for a smokin’ deal! We paid Super 8 prices for a resort. It doesn’t get much better than that!
The time went by way to fast but I was very happy to get home and kiss my girls.
Then Cory went to Denver for his last month away in March. Now he is back with us and working with a local Podiatrist and then it’s graduation in June and then we’re off to Miami! What a crazy rollercoaster of a year we’ve had! In a nutshell, we’ve lived in Phoenix, Denver, and Lewiston. All in the last 12 months! Cory has lived in all of those places and also Tacoma, WA and Grand Blanc, MI. But alas, we have survived and have had a great time!
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