the rest of winter, spring & half of summer

time to catch up. it's so hard to update this when it's been so long, but i've decided i need to start. my new year's resolution of writing in my journal isn't going so well, so i need to document our family's memories somewhere. for now, we'll go with highlights for each month:

FEBRUARY

russell turned 29! we had a little get-together to celebrate (with rainbow chip cake, of course). it snowed a lot that month, too.

russell made a lovely dinner and dessert on valentine's day
and, mason's cute toothy grin in the tub


MARCH

we had some rainy days and decided to make a box playhouse
and, i seem to have a surplus of tub pics, so mohawks in the tub


APRIL

we dyed sports-themed easter eggs this year

we had easter dinner with our friends the schenk's. pam made a delish feast and we brought lemon blackberry cake and these huge egg truffles for dessert.

russell had spring break! one of the days, we rode a little ferry across the river to augusta, a cute historic town in kentucky for ice cream

we also visited ripley, ohio, which is known for the underground railroad activity before the civil war. the rankin house is up on the hill. we had lunch at a 50's style diner... note my delicious burger and onion rings and russell's marshmallow rootbeer.
and, here's an unrelated, but cute shot of mason helping me unpack groceries.


MAY

i woke up to breakfast, a box of chocolates, and cards from all my boys on mother's day

my mom came to visit for 2 weeks! we took her on the ferry to augusta, to ripley (the top left picture is from the rankin house on the hill looking out over the river), to the aquarium in newport, and to woodland mound, a hamilton county park with a fun splash playground (bottom picture is calvin with his friend kade).

mason turned one! calvin made him this banner and we had a fun time celebrating, which i'll post about separately, very soon! we loved having grandma here and were sad to see her go.


JUNE

mason got a new big boy car seat in preparation for july's road trips. he loves facing the front like his brother. we got to go to lunch and catch up with the holt's, our friends from freshman year at byu.

russell took step one of the comlex board exam on june 15th (and we just found out this week that he passed!) and then he was done with school for a month. we went to woodland mound with playgroup friends, the aquarium, and a cool butterfly exhibit at the krohn conservatory in cincinnati:

we got to walk around with the butterflies everywhere and try to hold them. it was really hot that day, and it's in a greenhouse, which is why we look a little wilted in these pics. it was fun though, and we also discovered eden park, a great spot in cincinnati.

and, here's father's day and some recent pics of these silly boys. i still have our road trips to post about too, but i guess this is a good start. happy summer!