What You Missed While We Were Missing You - July, August, September in Ca

Dear Matt, 

You send weekly letters to Lydia and me; now it's our turn to write one to you!

If this post seems all over the place, let's agree it's because you've been gone five (FIVE) months, I'm 37 weeks pregnant, in the heat (90°+ most days), taking care of Lyd (she's wonderful but 3 year olds are a lot of work), wrapping up work projects before maternity leave, and trying to function like a normal human being. Forever grateful for the help we've had from parents/family, friends, and church. I could never do this alone!

So, tough stuff aside, Lydia and I have had a fun summer - here's what we've been up to in July, August, and September!

From last week: 36 weeks... made it to 9 months!

Preschool

Lydia's Montessori school has been perfect since we got here in April, and with the new school year she bumped up from 4 mornings per week, to 5 (still just 3 hours a day). We love Miss Katherine and the friends L's made in her Pre-K3 class.

First Day of the '19-'20 school year, Pre-K3

BFFs

Some fun things they've done recently (I love that their teacher sends us these pictures) - 

• Apple tasting - they had a whole unit on the life cycle of an apple tree and tried some different kinds of apples you can eat!

• Community helpers - the fire department, garbage trucks, and police all came to visit. 

• Learning the letters of the alphabet (sounds and recognition), numbers 1-1,000 (really!), all about the ocean, shapes, colors, and songs - and of course lots of play time.

Having her in school through summer was the best choice - it's something constant for her despite the craziness of back-to-back(-to-back) moves, Daddy being away, and baby brother coming.

The baby shower
I wish you could've seen it - and not only because Sarah and Ellen glued your face to a life-size cutout of Prince William (which, really, looked just like you on any given Sunday). I wrote allll about it back HERE - and having B and Stacy stay with me that weekend was the icing on the (tea)cake. 

Bay Area...

Baker Beach w Sarah. We brought Barkley, and I'm still deciding if it was worth the hassle? He threw up 3 times that night after drinking sea water. You'd be proud how I cleaned it up with minimal fuss. I guess that's what you have to do when Dad is away.

But I think Lydia's smile says yes, it was worth it!

Just before we left, we were watching the sunset when an entire pod of dolphins started jumping in the waves! Everyone on the beach was cheering. It was incredible! Did you know dozens of pods of dolphins live in the SF bay? 

Napa w Mom

I guess I never realized Napa is only 45 minutes from here? We took a day trip to have lunch and explore. You would've loved seeing Lydia try to drive the ancient red tractor.

Mt Diablo for sunset with S, including crashing a wedding, blasting T. Swift's new album and making friends with horses. This was your idea, you know.

Sarah and I also took Lydia to the Walnut Festival where Sarah went on all of the rides with L. That was a nice break for me. :) Isn't Sarah the best? L's still asking to go back!

Tilden Park, Oakland Zoo, Broadway Plaza...

L's getting excited for Baby Brother and picked out these things for him at Nordstrom. ;) No, we didn't buy them. We're still saving for your very last semester of grad school next term.

At the Oakland Zoo, she didn't really care about seeing the big animals. She just wanted to brush the petting zoo animals and ride the rides! She can't wait for you to take her back here, but don't be surprised if she skips the elephants and goes straight for the little roller coaster. 

Oakland Temple
We're lucky to have been to the Oakland Temple a lot - concerts, ward temple day (our ward set up a whole nursery so parents could go inside), stake conference, and visiting with Bethany.

Professional development course at Stanford
You'll remember CoreHealth sends each employee to a professional development activity every year. Last year they flew me to Salt Lake City for a conference while you did your first stint in Korea (just 3 weeks that time - little did we know what was coming). This year I chose a weekend workshop at Stanford.

It was about gamification, or how to motivate employees/customers by making tasks into games. Sounds like parenting, right? I do this a lot for work (designing fitness challenges and creating fun worksite wellness programs), so it was interesting to see how people use the same ideas in other settings. I came away with some fun new ideas for work.

Meanwhile Lyd hung out with Aunt Sarah and they had the BEST day. She was talking about 'Sarah Day' for a full week.

I'm still working 20 hours/week until you get back!

Matt's 30th

You turned THIRTY! Lydia and I sent a care package and organized a cake drop-off at your office. Excited to party when you get back!

Couldn't get enough of this sweet note.

Handsome man :)

Dad's 70th

Dad turned 70! Of all of the birthdays to have while we're living here, this big milestone was a fun one. We went to Rocco's, his favorite - the usual crowd plus Ellen, Corey, Stacy and Bethany, who were in town that weekend for the baby shower.

He also went to Hawaii with Mom, Ellen, Corey, Sarah, and some extended family, but Lydia and I stayed home for that. Because I was 32 weeks pregnant. :)

I love this picture of Dad from Thanksgiving in DC last year.

Our ward

We're in a big, active ward and love it. There are so many young families that they're expanding from 2 nurseries, to 3! We've felt included right from the beginning and have loved getting together with church friends at least a couple times every week. Play dates, mom's night out, ward parties, etc!

 A couple quick videos from the Pioneer Day party:

And we have a fantastic nursery - Lydia loves hanging out with her church friends and Miss Emily and Miss Lori every Sunday. She never leaves without hugging each of her teachers goodbye. :) And she talks to Miss Emily about Korea sometimes since she served her mission there (and you'll love the quilt she made (by hand!) for Baby Boy. I'll show you when you get here.)

Care packages & FaceTiming

Hope you've been enjoying our monthly care packages. :)  Lydia likes sending you ALL of the art she makes at school. :) It's helped you feel within reach.

Cutest conversation about how the post office works:

L: "Will the box float on the ocean to Korea?"

Matt: "Actually, it goes in an airplane and flies over the ocean."

L: "Oh. And someone will hold onto it?"

Matt: "It will go in a big box inside the plane!"

Choosing which crafts to send Daddy. She chose all of them. :)

And daily video chatting.

Lydia finally dropped her daily, 2-hour nap. At just over 3 years old it was probably time, but I really enjoyed those breaks. And she still needs the sleep! Remember the years (ages 1 - 3) when she slept 12 hours every night plus her 2 hour nap? 

What "naps" look like now...

2019 Reading Challenge

Still going strong with a book per week! I'll write about it soon to recap the whole year, but let's just say I feel smarter and it's been a good way to avoid binge watching Netflix after Lyd goes to bed every night. :)

My Q3 reads. I love how you can carry on an intelligent conversation about any of these topics or stories.

So we've had a lot of fun but it hasn't been an easy summer. What's for sure is that we're learning and growing and getting stronger in ways we never could have otherwise. It'll be somehow empowering to look back and say we did this, right?

You will be here in a matter of days, which marks two milestones: 1. the half-way point of your year overseas, and 2. the very near arrival of our baby boy. Here we gooooo!

Love,
Laura and Lydia