We're baaaaaack

SOOOO, waiting like 5 months between posts is no fun. I start getting overwhelmed about posting again because I'm so far behind but i'll try to give some quick highlights of what we've been up to.

I left off in February. Hmmmm I have no idea about what happened in March or April we'll see if I have any pictures from those months to remind me. In May, Nate finished the 1st year of his 2-year Masters program and University of Hawaii. He did awesome and has really enjoyed his research. Zak and I took a trip to Idaho to visit family so Nate could get in some extra studying for qualifying exams and the MCAT. Zak did AWESOME on the airplane and slept pretty much the enitre flight from Honolulu to Salt Lake. He stayed awake from Salt Lake to Boise and just played and looked out the window etc. He loved seeing his Grandma's and Grandpa's on both sides and some cousins and aunts and uncles. We were a little bummed the weather wasn't better.... it was freezing....but we still had a great time. We were in Idaho for about 3 1/2 weeks and were ready to be home again by the end. Zak and I were both missing Nate like crazy so it was good to be reunited. And I got some flowers from my sweet hubby when we got back to the house. =)

June seemed to fly by. Nate woked and studied hard for the MCAT while Zak and I had some beach days to make up for our lack of beach in Idaho and had fun catching back up with friends here. Then this month Nate took the MCAT. YEAAAAAAH!!! He has to wait like 30 days for his scores to come back but I'm so proud of him for how hard he studied and worked and I think he did AWESOME!

Zak is 2 1/2 and is getting so big. He can count to 10 and knows most of his letters. He can say short bedtime prayers by himself. He has a book of dinosaurs and can name them all and tell us whether they're plant-eaters or meat-eaters. Still not potty trained....but my goal is to actually start trying to potty train him asap. =) When he needs to go poop he goes into the bathroom, shuts the door, poops in his diaper and then flushes the toilet. So we're kinda missing out on the biggest step....but hey...we gotta start somewhere. He loves collecting rocks whereever we go so he can save them to throw into the ocean the next time we go. So at pretty much any given time you can go through my purse and find at least a few rocks...or find them in random places at our house. He loves finding bugs and squishing them, running playing cars, trains, animals, dinosaurs...etc. He's very protective of me these days and let's Nate know if he's not playing soft enough with mommy. =) Or if I say something and Nate says something different, Zak gets pretty worked up repeating what I said to Nate. Zak loves when Nate comes home and LOVES to have Nate play tackle with him. He likes to get thrown on the bed or do little flips (with nate's help) and all those things that mommy's just aren't so good at.
I did the summer reading program with Zak that the library puts on and he LOVES getting new books and reading them over and over. He got to earn some prizes too which was fun.
We have so much fun taking Zak out and doing stuff as a little family. Zak's definitely a stubborn little guy and knows what he wants and when. We love him though and are so greatful he's part of our family.

I guess that's kinda it for now. Sorry it's kinda random. I feel a little scatter-brained but I finally did a little bit of catching up at least!!