Hello ladies - wow I have seriously been MIA, haven't I? What a loser. I am so sorry and I hope we can get this blog going strong again!

First of all, I wanted to take a second to tell Megan how sorry I was to hear of your brother passing and that you’ve been in our prayers. We love you and hope you are doing ok. Sending our love---à

I think its time we begin firming up our plans for girls weekend this year, so I would LOVE all of your input. If you know you can't come, let us know. If you think you might or definitely want to try to come, PLEASE respond to this post - or preferably just post a separate post with your thoughts.

Here's what we need to decide:

Who is "heading it up" and who can come?

Where will it be?

When - what weekend?

As for me, I'm really hoping to make it! If all goes well, I'll have a new baby (end of June) so I'm hoping for an August girls weekend. My two cents about location is that when we did it in UT more people were able to come, so I vote for that. Am I the only one who will be bringing a baby? I don't know if Amy is planning on bringing Alexis.... forgot to ask you that Amy!?! I did mention it to my dad and he said we are welcome to use his house again, so that is one option. If we did decide to do that, It would be awesome if someone else could take on planning the activities etc.

Alright, well that’s it for me. So excited to hear from all of you J Big ((HUGS))

~Jenny

Caywood Update

I finally have something to update on. We are moving to Newport News, Virginia this summer. It is near the coast so hopefully there won't be too much snow. We are excited to move on in life. I have really liked living in Georgia so it will be sad to move. I hope that Virginia is just as great. It is a bigger area so I will get to live by a Costco again. There is only a Sam's Club here and to me it doesn't compare with Costco. I will even be by a Trader Joe's. The possibilities are endless.
Everything else is the same. The girls are growing. Jade is 5 and in Kindergarten. and Elise will turn 4 in a couple months. I was released from Young Women after serving in it for over three years. I am now the gospel doctrine teacher. We had a raccoon kill one of our chickens so Jason trapped it in a live animal trap and then he skinned it and even ate some of it. I didn't eat it but the girls tried it with him and they really liked it. So now we are as redneck as can be. We did get a new chicken to replace the lost one. That is probably the most excited thing that has happened to us for a couple years. I hope you all had a great Christmas.

Jensen Update

Hi! I have loved hearing everyone's updates I sure miss everyone and am so thankful to have such a great network of friends!

We are doing well. Adam likes his practice and work schedule. He gets bored in clinic when his days are slow, but I think overall he is happy with work. I am sure someday he will wish he wasn't so busy. I really love having him home more often. He is only on call around 4 times a month, 2 are on weekdays and the other two are weekends. The ER is really busy, but it's still better than residency! He has every Thursday off and Tuesday is a half day. It is great having a more predictable schedule. He is getting procedures scheduled quite frequently, but I think he would like some more OB. We are so proud of him! It is fun to go see his name all over the clinic, makes it seem real :)

As some of you know, I had been REALLY unsure about moving to Utah. But we have been welcomed so warmly and everyone has been great! We are in a great ward, with wonderful giving people. After being in a branch (which was amazing in it's own way) It is fun to enjoy a fully functioning ward ;) Can you believe we received 12 dinners after I had Annalee!? So spoiled!

And adding a 3rd child has been quite an adjustment. I just feel like my days are sooo hectic! I also have a lot of guilt trying to meet everyone's needs... but it is getting better. We were unsure how wise it would be to have another baby when Hayden isn't walking. But it has already been so good for him, since I can't baby him :) he has started crawling and pulling up to standing! We really had to trust the Lord having another baby that everything would be alright, and it is :)

Hayden is really doing great and saying a lot of words! He is such a happy easy going boy. In so many ways he is my easiest child! We are so lucky to have him in our family

Kyler is loving preschool. I got him into a preschool taught by a lady in our ward. Her preschool is "famous" around here for being really good and he is loving it. He goes M-Th 10-12. He is already sounding out words and I imagine he will be reading by kindergarten! She is such a sweet lady too. We were so lucky to get in.

I am having some problems with attitude with him and being respectful... any advice would be great! He is so.... um particular :) and he thinks he knows EVERYTHING! I feel like I have a teenager. I feel like I am so hard on him cause he is my first and acts so much older than he is. I expect a lot out of him, maybe too much. Anyway, I just hope I don't traumatize him with my lack of parenting experience.

Annalee is our sweet little girl! She really is such a pretty baby and I love watching people ooo and aaah over her :) I really love having a girl more than I ever thought I would. She is a sweet baby and also very sleepy. Which has been good and bad :) She was sleepy and had jaundice in beginning. She lost over 10% of her body weight and I guess I had low milk supply. So just like with Hayden I had to supplement and begin pumping AGAIN.... Ugh. But at 4 weeks she is eating and gaining on her own. Woohoo! She is still a sleepy eater, but at least she is gaining. I am not a patient nurser i guess either :) I just want to do get it done and move on. But her sleepiness helps at night. Most nights she will go 5 and then 4 hours between feedings.

Kyler adores his sister and is very patient. He is very sweet with her. Hayden has taken some time warming up to her, but he will love her I am sure when she is more interactive. Right now he at least acknowledges her ;) The other day he put his hand on hers and looked at her face and said , "hi." Maybe you had to be there, but it was so sweet! A few weeks before he would try to get away from her as soon as she was with in a foot of him :)

I feel like I am adjusting pretty well here. Everyone has been so nice and welcoming. Inviting me to activities etc. I really can't complain. It's also beautiful here I think. After being out on the flat plains, I love the view of the gorgeous mountains just outside our backyard! Well Annalee starting crying, oops missed my opportunity to shower before lunch! ;)

Hope all is well with each of you! Keep in touch!

and hopefully I will update my blog soon so you can see some pictures!

Here we go again!!

So, we are interviewing for residency. Let the fun begin. Trent has three interviews for Radiology next month. Dartmouth-Hitchcock, Penn State, and Univ of North Carolina. We are hoping for a couple more and should know within a few weeks. Scary and exciting. For now, we are still in North Dakota but not frozen yet.

Amen Sistah

I'm all for some updating! As a comment on Shelly's comment: Whoa girl. That's rough. No playgroup or anything? I would die! Maybe they've just been waiting for you to come and start it all up! Other than the ward, what's Sioux Falls like? Cold probably eh? How long are you guys there for?

We are doing pretty good. Its been a crazy year. Just lots of ups and downs and craziness. We're moving in like 6 weeks! On Thursday we'll fly to Washington to find a house. My brother and his wife are coming to watch the kids. Should be interesting! This will be the first time we've left them with anyone other than my mom. But... three days with James, I cannot WAIT! We both really need this time away. He's been away on the ship a lot. When he's not, he's gone from 4:30 in the morning until 5 or 6, but can't stay awake long enough to hang out after the kids go to bed. The worst part is that he is bored out of his mind on the boat. There just hasn't been that much for him to do, but he can't leave. Things should be quite different in Washington, he may even have time to moonlight a little.

I for sure am going to miss Oceanside. Its been awesome. I'll miss the sunshine and all there is to do, but I'll miss my friends most of all. I am looking forward to not having so many "extra-curricular" things for a while. We took Charlie and Annie out of Karate and dance and Dillon only has Scouts and Piano now. I'm really trying to simplify our lives. I will not get suckered into PTO again.... at least not until I feel up to it but boy am I ever going to enjoy having my kids in a decent school system! I hope I can have a break from a stressful calling for a little while. I may finally get to spend some time organizing my thoughts, my stuff, our memories, you know.... stuff I used to do. I haven't scrapbooked in almost 2 years! I so want to update my website and feel like my business is in good working order again. I also want to get back into my good eating & exercising routine. I'm feeling really selfish tonight - can you tell? ;)

I really have missed girl's nights. I hope everyone is on board for girl's weekend next year! Should we still aim for Hawaii, or would more people be able to come if we did it in Salt Lake again? The most important thing is we get as many people there as would like to be there, you know? Its always such a renewing experience.

Well, that's my novel-of-an-update for ya. What's everyone else up to? Rachel your baby (Annalee who shares a birthday with my Annie!) is scrum-diddly-umptious!! Congratulations!!

What's new?

I have just been thinking about you all and wondering how life is going, now that several of us are done with residency. Where is everyone and how is life going? Time for some updates!

Megan

GIRLS WEEKEND 2010 - it was amazing!

GIRLS WEEKEND 2010!

There was a measly group of just the four us this year, but we managed to somehow still have WAY TOO MUCH FUN! ;0)

We spent the first day at the mall- seriously. Like the entire afternoon and half the evening. It was so fun to shop without kids hanging on us and time limitations. We were in H&M for almost 2 hours! We have $1 sparkly sandals, "little black dresses," $1 sunglasses, maternity pants galore, and more than a few "back-to-school" items to show for our "spree."

The next day we headed up to the day spa and soaked, swam, mud-bathed, "wafa-ed," ate, and just plain enjoyed everything there was to offer there - especially the good conversation. Jill has all the good photos (water & mud-proof camera). After our relaxation destination, we ate dinner at Sammy's Woodfired Pizza and saw "Charlie St. Cloud." Pretty good movie if you like Zac Efron.... which we all decidedly DO! Yowza! (husbands aren't allowed to read this.... in case you didn't know ;0) )

Saturday was super fun. We hit the beach,



Can you spell "R and R?"



then more shopping (a GW tradition to bring a "little" something home for the hubby)





Also in keeping with Girls' weekend tradition, we did a little KARAOKE and treats that include the words, "Chubby hubby, paradise coconut, and brownie batter...." just to give you an idea.

The last night, we stayed up until 5:30 AM! ITS A NEW GIRLS WEEKEND RECORD!! ((applause)) Despite the late night, I feel so rejuvinated. I feel so lucky to have such great friendships. In just a few words, the weekend was:

Inspiring
Relaxing
Hilarious
Spiritual
Uplifting
Just what I needed

Thoughts on next year:

We had discussed planning girls weekend in Hawaii next year, but after some further consideration and discussion, we think the most important thing is for us to make it easier for as many people to come as possible. So, what do you all say to Salt Lake City again? Would that be easier and more affordable? We want to still visit Megan in HI, but maybe try for a couples thing in the fall or something... I don't know.

PLEASE ADD ANY INPUT!! WE WANT YOU TO COME!!