Catching Up: Another Week in Pullman

This past Sunday we ended up being crazy busy! So I'm a week behind on updating you all on our adventures.  We attend church meetings every Sunday in Moscow, Idaho.  Taylor and I had both been asked to speak during the first hour meeting and during the third hour I was teaching the lesson.  We had prepared for those tasks and Declan was a trooper!  Right before meetings began, we met with a member of the Bishopric (church leaders) and they asked me to serve in the Primary Presidency.  This means that every week I will get to attend second hour meetings with all the children in our ward.  We don't have too many above age three, but by December there will be at least 23 nursery age (18 month-3 year old) children!  So Sunday afternoon was spent in meetings talking about the needs of all these cute kiddos and then Taylor and I were invited to stay for dinner with some of our neighbors.  Everyone here has been so nice and friendly!  Unfortunately, I haven't taken too much time to escape outside to socialize. A lot of our neighbors go outside during the heat of the day, but our apartment is one of the lucky units that has an air conditioner.  I dread the upcoming utility bill, but it is so worth it!  We just stay inside and cool all day.   We have definitely hit the mid-summer slump where Taylor and I are both a bit bored.  We keep telling ourselves that it is okay for us to be lazy for a few more weeks, because once vet school starts Taylor will be crazy busy.  We keep finding random errands to run and keep us busy.  We drove to Lewiston and got some wooden t.v. dinner trays that work great as tables for my sewing machine and serger. We are working our way through lots of movies and books.  I just finished the Harry Potter book series again and we are working on watching all of the Planet of the Apes movies. We are also doing very well with our goal of trying all the flavors of Tillamook ice cream.  Here's the rankings so far:
1. White Chocolate and Raspberry Yum
2. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
3. Tillamook Mudslide
4. Udderly Chocolate
5. Chocolate and Peanut Butter Swirl
6. Huckleberry
7. Fireside S'mores

Taylor's WSU blanket
(He declined being in the picture)

8. Grandma's Cake Batter

Family Updates:
Taylor: He finished up his blanket project and it looks great! He also went biking with our neighbor and was motivated enough to do his own 14 mile route two days later.   Taylor has been doing great with getting in shape this summer and has lost 10 pounds.  He also spends time working on his Senior paper and surfin' the web.







My stylin' do

Elise: I think the biggest thing I've done recently was cut off all of my hair.  I still go back and forth on whether or not I like it. One day I'll be feeling super cool and stylish and the next I'll be wondering if I look like a boy and feeling like it looks more like a 70s shag cut than a trendy look.  I've also spent a lot of time on Facebook this week as I've been hosting an online Jamberry party. It is fun to have all of the tools to be in touch with so many family members and friends. Technology is so cool sometimes!

Tasting cereal for the first time. 

Declan: He is getting so big! I can't believe he is already 20 weeks old.  He'll be starting solid foods soon, but I let him taste some rice cereal and he wasn't a fan.  Taylor also got him to roll from his tummy to his back four times in a row!  Unfortunately, he has refused to do it since.  He is a super happy boy during the day.  He has had a few random days where he seems to have some teething pain and he'll scream, but luckily it only lasts for a day or two before he is back to his usual self.  We are still working on getting bedtime routines down and then from there we will progress to having him stay asleep when we set him down and hopefully sleeping in his own crib!


We also had an amazing dinner and family home evening with our neighbors last week.  There are so many wonderful people here in Pullman, and we're excited to keep making friends. However, it doesn't stop us from missing all of you. Please keep in touch and I'll continue with the updates!