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Well... its been forever since our last post, and a whole lot has changed, so if anyone out there still looks at this thing, here it goes!

After Ben graduated PA school he took his boards in January and passed with flying colors! Of course I knew he would! Go Benny! We had a job all lined up in Page, Arizona, but were really wishing we could stay closer to home when Ben got a tip about a possible job in Gooding. He called them and they were just getting ready to add another PA, and he got the job! Then a really great house fell into our laps too for a great deal! So we spent a couple of months painting and replacing the carpet and other minor things and we officially moved into our house on May 28th. We are finally getting all settled in here. Ben seems to really like his job and Ryker and Birklee are growing up way too fast... Birklee turned 1 this summer, and Ryker just started preschool!

Oh yah... right before we moved something else fell into our laps too... Long story short... I went to a Bunco party with my mom and came home with 2 prizes... A new purse and dog! A little lost Shitzu that they had taken in and were looking for a home for him. His name is Charlie and he is slowly getting used to the fact that we are not going to pamper him quite like his last owner obviously must have, but its better than being on the streets, right?

So, everybody is doing good. Ryker is getting way too big and already seems to think he knows everything :) Birklee is getting big way to fast too... she is walking all over the place and getting to be so much fun. I can't believe she will have here first birthday in less than 2 weeks!

Here are some pictures from the last few months!

Graduation

I'm pretty late getting this (or anything else that has happened since August) up on our blog, but I want to tell everyone how proud I am of Ben.

He did it! He's done with PA School! Hooray! Congratulations Benny and we love you so much and are so proud of you!!

Not only did he graduate on Dec. 18th, but he was chosen by his classmates to speak at Graduation! Here are some pics, and a link to watch his speech. He did a great job!

CLICK HERE TO WATCH BEN'S SPEECH!

Whats next? Ben takes the PANCE test (the PA boards) on Jan. 14. (Good Luck Benny!) He has been offered a job in Page, AZ, which he has not officially accepted yet, but most likely will!

Birklee's Baby Blessing

Just some pictures from Birklee's Baby Blessing on August 8th! She was blessed by her Daddy! Doesn't she look pretty? :) Thank you to all of you who were able to be there!

Birklee's 1st Pictures - 10 Days Old

My good friend Tasha took these pictures of Birklee for me! I just love them. You did a great job Tasha, thanks again!!

Our Baby Girl!

Birklee Ann joined our family on July 12! She is a healthy 8 lb. 11 oz, and so very beautiful! :) She was lucky enough to be delivered by her Daddy! (with the help of Dr. Crandall) What a great way for Ben to finish up his OBGYN rotation for PA school!

Birklee is such a sweet baby and we love her so much. Ryker loves his baby sister, and loves to help hold her and take care of her. This gets a little scary at times, but it is so sweet!

It's A Girl!

We got another ultrasound, this time in 3D, and now we are sure the baby is a girl! The first ultrasound was a little earlier than when they usually check for gender, so we wanted to get another one to make sure. (Before buying too much pink!) I love the 3D ultrasound... it was so fun to be able to see her little face! The pictures may not be real clear, but we can tell that she is beautiful! :)

Camping

We decided to do a last minute camping trip last weekend! It was the first time we have gone here in Florida... we finally figured out that around here you go in the winter and early spring, NOT in the summer! Gathering everything for the trip and cleaning it all up when we got home was a lot more work than it seems like it should be, but we had a lot of fun! This was Ryker's first time sleeping "in the outside" (in a tent) and he loved it!

The Campfire

The Tent

Breakfast... oops. We brought a griddle and stuff for pancakes, bacon and eggs, but we forgot to check if our little power inverter for the truck was powerful enough to run the thing... turns out its not! So we tried to cook it in a tinfoil disposable roasting pan over the fire, which did not work very well but we did our best. Bacon just catches fire - too greasy, pancakes stick to the pan without the cooking spray which we tried to use, but also started the pan on fire. The scrambled eggs turned out pretty good, then we all had a bowl of cereal.

Ryker roughin' it on the potty!

Worn out and very dirty!

The next day we went to the Homosassa Springs wildlife park down the road from the campground. Ryker had fun riding the boat to the park and seeing all the animals. I was pretty tired of walking around by the time we left! (6 months pregnant, ya know!)

The boat ride