Summer Vacation 2011

This summer we got to take a long trip to Southern Idaho for my 10 year class reunion. The reunion itself was pretty lame, but we packed a whole lot of fun into our week long trip! Hadrian was about two months old so everybody was really excited to meet him. He got to meet his great grandma and great grandpa Hurley in Idaho Falls.

Alma and her cousin Brynly got to spend lots of quality time together. They played together at the play-place in the Mall and went swimming in the tub!

My entire family was home this week so one morning we loaded up all 8 of my Mom's grandkids and took them to the zoo. Alma had a lot of fun growling at the animals. Alma also got to celebrate her second birthday . . . a third time, with all of her cousins! There was lots of back yard swimming involved. This is how we found out how much Alma loves the water. Every time she thought nobody was looking she was scooting as fast as her little arms could push her toward the pool.

During our trip we took two days and went on a mini-vacation with just our family. We drove to Island Park and spent the night at Brenda and Travis's cabin, which was so lovely. This allowed us to drive into Yellowstone twice. The first night we hung out in West Yellowstone and did some shopping. The next day we went in and visited the wolf and bear reserve. Then we spent a few hours at Old Faithful, which was awesome, because both kids fell asleep while we were there so Dan and I got to walk around all of the trails and really enjoy our day. We also got to visit the paint pots, but then we had a major diaper explosion so we had to cut that short.

When we got back to my parents house we loaded up the entire family for an afternoon at the Pocatello city pool. Once again, Alma had an absolute blast! She and her cousin Bryn had a lot of fun splashing around together.

After the pool we had a small family reunion that consisted of my family and a few of my aunt's and their families. Here is a great photo of my whole entire family!  

Alma's Casts

This summer Alma had her third operation on her feet. This procedure was much more invasive than her previous surgeries and was quite involved. We went to Shriners on Sunday night so we could be there bright and early for surgery on Monday morning. My Mom came up to stay with us so that she could take care of Hadrian while Dan and I stayed with Alma. That was such a blessing! I don't know how we would have done it without my Mom being there. We stayed at the family housing facility at Shriners in Spokane. Talk about amazing. It's just one short walk away from the surgical floor at the hospital. Alma was in the Operating room for about four (very long) hours. She had to have an epidural to control her post-op pain, which was also very stressful. She was in casts for four weeks post op, but was also in casts for about four weeks before she had surgery. Basically, she spent the majority of the summer in casts. She is doing really well now and her feet look better than ever. We hope this will be her last surgery, and even though she can rock a pair of hot pink casts like nobody else, we hope these will be her last casts as well!

Alma Turns Two . . . Take Two

This year the Shriners Circus happened to be the weekend after Alma's birthday. Since we LOVE the Shriners, we decided to go. We thought it would be a bit of a gamble, taking a two year old to the circus not knowing if she would sit and watch. We anticipated the possibility of leaving halfway through or even earlier. Because it is such a wonderful cause we decided to go anyway. We invited Dan's parents to join us and were so happy to be wrong about Alma! Not only did she watch the entire Circus, I think it was the most exciting thing that has ever happened to her! She loved the acrobats and the lady who had 50+hula hoops going at the same time. The animals made her laugh. And when the motorcycles came out and rode around in a cage, well, she got so excited she had to cover her eyes with Dan's coat.

 Dan's parent's came over for dinner before the circus so that Alma could open their gift to her. It was an awesome table and chair set with a singing tea pot. Alma and her Papa Beej had a lovely tea party together!

Alma Turns Two!

 In June Alma celebrated her second birthday! Her actual birthday wasn't the most exciting evening since Dan and I had to work but we did have a very private party for her in the evening. We invited our dear friends, the Jarolimek family, to our house for a pancake dinner. At the time pancakes was one of the only foods that our very picky eater would actually consume. So it was pancakes and eggs all around! At the ripe old age of two Alma is very interested in books. Her favorite activity is story time and she frequently comes scooting our way with a book in her hand. She loves to sit on your lap for a good story. In the spirit of this most of Alma's birthday presents were books. We also bought her her very own couch to sit on while she reads. This wasn't such a huge hit, as it turns out she is afraid of Lightning McQueen. Luckily, with time she has gotten over that!

 Here is Alma and her Auntie Gretta enjoying a good book!

 Harper thought he would help Alma open up her gifts, which was good, because she kept getting distracted by trying to eat the tissue paper.

 Hadrian looks on, longingly, waiting for his first birthday party.

 Alma, relaxing after the party with a good book on her new couch.

I baked red velvet cupcakes for Alma instead of a cake. I really do not think this was such a great idea. Turns out, red velvet cake and two years old children is somewhat of a recipe for disaster :) Happy two years to my little cupcake!

Alma and Oliver

Alma is really into Sesame Street right now. We have acquired several videos and one of her favorites is titled "The Best Pet In the World." Ever since she started watching this video we have been walking around singing the Best Pet song and telling Alma that her kitty, Oliver, is the best. Clearly, kitties don't come any cuter than this! She can bite him, pull his tail, or climb on top of him and all he does is purr.

Hadrian's First Solid Food . . .

Was a huge success! This was some boring rice cereal, but now he is eating bananas, strawberries, corn, carrots and even oatmeal. We make all of our own baby food with my handy-dandy Magic Bullet which will puree just about anything in seconds!

On May 6th, 2011, at 4 p.m. I graduated from my Master of Social Work program! It was a very exciting day that I have been working towards for the past three years. My parents came up, and my brother Nate was even able to attend the ceremony. After the formal ceremony, in which I received my hood, we came back to Genesee and our friend's, the Jarolimek's, joined us for dinner at the Brass Lantern. I can not think of any other way I would have spent the night.

Pictures here include: Hooding ceremony, family photos, and a shot of me and my three best friends from grad school, Katherine, Erin, and Rachael.

About two weeks after graduation I took my licensing exam, and I passed! What a feeling of relief. Henceforth, I shall forever be known as Darci M. Graves, LMSW.

Little Elephant Baby!

Baby in a Box!

Hadrian's Baby Portraits

The same friend who wanted to take my maternity photos also wanted to take baby pictures of Hadrian. She took them all at our house and did such a wonderful job. Hadrian was exactly 14 days old, and absolutely beautiful.

Front-pocket shirts

Two of a kind!

Easter 2011

This year we had a very low-key Easter, since little baby Hadrian was only about a month old. We spent most of the day napping, and then went out to Grandma and Grandpa Funke's house for dinner. Hadrian got to spend some time with his Godmother, Lacey. Good times were had by all.