our last day in sunny CA

today was our last day in southern california . . . we are definitely going to miss my parents and siblings and the sunny, warm california weather. to see us off, my brother, cort and his wife kim, and their kids came up to spend the day with us. we went to the outdoor shopping mall, the americana, which also had a farmer's market with a little petting zoo and pony rides. usually william does not get too excited over animals, and in the past has not enjoyed pony rides, but today, with kate's enthusiasm to egg him on, he had a blast! i think he was very proud of himself for riding a pony :)

after the pony rides we got lunch and sat on the grass to eat and let the kids run wild. and they were so wild. but these two little cousins really do love each other.

we are really going to miss seeing all of my family so often! it has been so fun for will to get to see his california cousins over the last two months. and he is REALLY, REALLY going to miss grandma jenny and papa. the first thing he asks every morning when he wakes up is where they are and what they are doing. if my mom goes anywhere during the day, or even just walks into a different room, will immediately questions where she went and tries to find her. poor guy is going to miss his grandparents :( but, on the other hand, us going home means that we're that much closer to having our baby girl, and also to daddy's return! so hopefully the time will pass quickly and the utah weather won't be too terrible! utah, here we come!

13.1

last weekend my husband joined the 13.1 club. you know what club i'm talking about. you're driving down the street and all of a sudden you notice the car in front of you has one of these stickers:

yep. that's right. the person in that car ran 13.1 miles. a half marathon. couldn't quite make the full marathon, but they ran a half. okay, okay, not to offend anyone with a 13.1 sticker, or even downplay a half marathon . . . peter and i always just thought seeing those cars drive by was kind of funny. not that running a half marathon is any small feat. it is not. actually, in my opinion, it's a really big deal (i don't think i've ever run more than 3.5 miles in my life. and that was huge for me.). anyway. back to peter.

about 6 weeks ago, peter decided that he would run the half marathon at a neighboring army base. so, he began training, and well, he did it. like it was nothing. hello. that's my man. just ups and runs 13.1 miles like it's no big deal. oh yeah, and his finishing time was much faster than any of his training runs. he's pretty awesome. especially considering the conditions.

the evening before the race, everyone from his air force base that was planning on running was bussed over to the army base around 4pm. then they were dumped into this tent, where they had some lush, comfy cots set up for them to sleep:

the morning of the race, they woke up bright and early to register for the race at 4:30am. then, peter got to wait a few hours (since it was a full marathon that one could either run solely, or split with another person) until the race started and his partner finished the first half. by the time peter started it was getting very windy. here peter is right before he began running:

and who doesn't like to run with a scarf wrapped around their face to be protected from the wind and sand??? makes for perfect race conditions. yeah right. i would've hyperventilated i think if i had tried to run with that thing around my face. i can barely breathe while i run as it is . . . this picture peter took of himself mid-run. notice the lovely scenery. at one point he even ran by a squadron doing tank drills.

and here's my stallion after completing his first half marathon. what a babe. (they're required to wear those safety belts btw.)

and to congratulate him on a job well-done, he had this little video waiting for him in his email after he finished (please ignore our morning faces . . . ):

good job, peter!!!! we love you!!!!

just a few disneyland pictures

we went to disneyland last week with elise, my mom, and kim, and her three kids.

we are just trying to fit it all in before we go back to utah!!!

Canine Dentistry...

All dentists get to work on canines. But only super special dentists get to work on K9's.

There are a ton a military working dogs in the combat theater. They have a variety of jobs. Some are bomb dogs, some are drug dogs, some are attack dogs. It's pretty cool to see the MWD in action. They respond to hand signal commands as well as verbal commands; so they too can be super stealth when they need to be. Either way, even awesome speciality trained dogs are susceptible to gum disease just like people. So a part of their annual treatment is getting them dental care. Since we are the only dental guys around, the veterinarian brings them to us.

He sedates them, and I do whatever treatment needs to be done. In this case, my tech and I just did cleanings for two dogs. In a couple weeks, we're going to do a major extraction case where we take about 5-6 teeth. At some point we might have to do some root canals as well.

Anyway, you can see, it was pretty cool. Dog teeth are pretty nasty, not to mention that our room smelled like wet dog for the rest of the morning. That being said, I'm glad we got to do it. The base public affairs office came and did a super cheesy write up about it too. If you read it, please note that even though I'm technically quoted, none of those are my words...

(click on to read the article)

our recent happenings

it's been a couple of weeks since i posted, and will and i have done some fun things. a few weeks ago, william, my mom and i went to arizona to visit my grandma. she recently turned 92, and so we went out for a few days to celebrate her birthday. my grandma's name is margie, and will lovingly calls her "grandma jenny margie." (my mom is grandma jenny, so i think it was pretty ingenious of him to put it all together in the right order :)) we had a lot of fun in az. here will and my grandma are in my grandma's three-wheeled bike.

we hung out and had fun relaxing at grandma jenny margie's house.

one day we went and met up with my best friend from college, krista, and her two kiddies at freestone park in gilbert. it was a great park. they had several little rides for kids and will couldn't get enough of the jet ski ride.

we also got to see my good friend from my az days, melissa, but sadly i didn't get a picture with her!

will has also had a fun time visiting with his cousins. last saturday night, my sister, whitney, had her baby girl! little kinsey. and she is a doll.

i had a trip planned to utah, but since my mom was down with whitney, my sister-in-law, kim volunteered to watch will for a couple of days. this was VERY kind considering kim has a three year old and twin one year olds. she already has her hands full! then to throw a wild and crazy little will into the mess is really very saintly of her! but he had so much fun. he loves his aunty kim, uncle cort, and cousin kate. here they are enjoying a fun snack together:

and then they came up with this pose all on their own! yay for cousins!

and while i was in utah, even though it was such a quick trip, i got to spend an evening with my friends and then go to lunch with my sisters-in-law. it was so nice to have some girl time and catch up with everyone that i've missed.

then, the other day, will and i took a super fun outing with my friend, lorraine, and her two awesome little boys. we caught the metro rail here in pasadena and took it into chinatown. we shopped around, let the boys run wild, and then stopped for a yummy lunch. it was the perfect outing for three toddler boys, and fun shopping for their mommas!

california has been fun for will and me . . . just a few more weeks here in nice warm and sunny weather before we brace ourselves to go back to utah!