Stats are in...

We headed over to the doctor's office yesterday for Brindi's 3 year and Brooke's 4 month appointments. Brindi had so much fun she wants to go back to play in the waiting room that has a tree house, Brooke on the other hand had shots and is still crabby so I don't think she wants to go back anytime soon. I don't have stats from Brindi at four months, so I guess I'll have to compare notes when Brooke hits 6months instead.

Brindi's Stats...

28.8 lbs

35 inches tall

48.8 in. head

Brooke's Stats....

13.9 lbs

23.25 inches tall

40 in. head

Life in Moscow

Another year has come and gone and another chapter in our lives is being closed. This has been a very eventful year for us. And as we prepare to move this weekend it has caused us to reflect on the many events of the past year and our Life in Moscow, ID.

She's Here!!

She's Here!!! We came into the hospital last night at around 5:00 p.m. Celeste was up all night with contractions and around 7:30 a.m. the Doctor arrived and ordered the epideral. Celeste absolutley LOVED the epideral. At 10:00 a.m. Celeste was dialated to about a 3 almost a 4 and by 11:00 a.m. she was at a 10. She started to push around 11:30 a.m. and by Noon we had our new addition to the family. Celeste did great with the whole process. I am so proud of her. I was able to cut the cord and our baby girl was finally here to see us. She has a bit of hair like an old man with a bald top and hair on the side. Its pretty dark hair which surprised us both. I think she looks more like Celeste, so obviously she is beautiful. She for sure has Celeste's tongue (snake like). She was 6 pounds 12 ounces and 20.25 inches long. We named her Brindi Rae. Rae is after my mother (JoRae) and my grandmother (NaRae) and Brindi is the name she can claim as her own. Welcome to the Lovell clan our precious daughter.

The top picture is several hours after the birth and the one above this paragraph is right after the birth. The other three are also back in the other room. She has been sleeping a lot and as you can tell Mom and Baby are pretty tuckered out after the whole ordeal. But they are both doing great. If the pictures are too small to see you can click on them and they will bring up a larger version.

Here come the In-laws!

We were so excited to have Joe's parents come for the weekend! They drove 12-13 hours just for his graduation. We had a blast having them here...hopefully they found some enjoyment too.
I was able to get most of Friday off so we headed up to Elk River to hike to some falls, but we were disappointed because the road was completely covered with snow so we couldn't even make it to the trail head and I was hoping maybe it would put me into labor so that Joe's parents could see her before they left, but oh well. We did find some very good huckleberry icecream though. We also got to walk around the U of I campus a little and see a part of their gardens that are just starting to get their flowers and green up. Saturday was of course the big Graduation day for Joe. Good thing Sylvan was around to take pictures! He got some great ones! After that we went to the luncheon for Joe's department. Saturday evening Joe's parents spoiled us with a Hell's Canyon boat ride up the snake river.
The prime rib and salmon were great. The best part for me was the 9 FOOT 2 INCH fish that a man caught. It looked like a shark to me...and I will not be swimming in that water...that's just a little to big for me. Anyway we went by just before 6 and the guy had just snagged it and when we came back by at about 7:30 he had just finished reeling it in a few minutes before. I would be SO tired, I can't imagine fighting a fish for that long...and everything is catch and release so he didn't get to keep that huge prize. We also saw some big horn sheep, deer, and a golden eagle with a fish. It was an exciting trip. We had a great weekend having them here. We were sad to see them go, but I bet they are excited to get back to their king size bed after 3 nights away.

Graduation

Hurrah for Graduation! Joe did it! He finished his Masters in Recreation and is SO happy that school is over... for now at least... who knows what the future might hold, but I want him to know how proud I am of him! Congratuations Babe, you amaze me!

Cinco de Mayo - The Big 22

This is the time of year that I do not mind telling people how old Celeste and I are because as of today and for the next 8 months we are only 5 years apart in age. That is right, my cute wife turned 22 today. After chasing her around the apartment for while with no luck of giving her 22 spankins I settled for making her a birthday cheesecake. Her work also gave her flowers and a brownie and she was showered with birthday cards from families and friends. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABE!

Outdoor Workshop

It is getting close to the end of the semester and my Major Professor wanted to do a culminating experience for all the students. We created an Outdoor Workshop which was a two-day campout where each of us created, led, followed, and played a bunch of recreational activities. Our deparment (HPERD) approved it and also funded the entire workshop. It was great. There were 20 of us that went. We had an opening and closing ceremonies and the other activities included: Frisbee Golf, Morse Code, GeoCaching, Extreme Crochet, Horseshoes, Orienteering, Flora/Mushroom Hike, Arts and Crafts, Stories, Tree Ball, Wiffle Ball, Skits, Biking, Paint Ball/Capture the Flag, and Canoeing. The semester is almost over and this was a great way to end my year of graduate school.

This is extreme crochet with two of my classmates. I took second.

We played Frisbee Golf through the whole area. Whoever won the hole would get to pick the next hole.

GeoCaching with Asmad. We cruised through the course and did the course faster than any other group. Too bad we didn't get a prize for that.

Dutch oven lasagna. I made a vegetable lasagna with white sauce. It was acutally pretty good for not having any meat.

Hanging out around the fire waiting for Dinner.

The Flora/Mushroom Hike. It was a little cold for Mushrooms but we did find some trillium.

You have to love playing Horseshoes if you go camping.

This was my Canoeing group. Out of the 8 canoes that went down the river, 4 of them tipped over. The water was freezing. Luckily my canoe was not one of the ones that tipped.

This is right before we played paintball. There is a ROTC guy in my class that was able to get us all the paint ball guns and paint balls for free along with our camoflage attire. I was ambushed and shot simultaneously in the ear and butt. What a way to be eliminated.

BSA Spring Camporee

My degree requires me to do either a Thesis or a Major Project. The idea of me sitting in the library doing a ton of research and then implementing a questionnaire to 200 or more people and analyzing the data and then defending my findings to a committe of intellectuals all a while jumping through all the Univerisity's policy and procedures for reasearch doesn't sound like something I would like to do. Therefore, I opted for the Major Project route which is more hands on and honestly will be more applicable to what I want to do in life. Now the Major Project also has a bunch of policies and procedures and things I needed to do to make it a culminating experience. I know almost all of you do not really care to hear about the acadmeic side of the project and so I will not bore you with those details. Basically, with the increase of inactivity in our society and within our youth especially, I wanted to target a young audience and develop a annual event that involves physical activity. My audience was the Boy Scouts ages 10-14. My idea was an Adventure race combining scout survival skills and physical activity. What was born was the Lewis-Clark Trails District Spring Camporee 2008. The main event, a Survival of the Fittest relay race where troops would race against eachother in a friendly competition. There were seven different legs to the race. The idea is after the participants have ran or biked their respectful leg they would perform a survival skill such as knots, .22 Shoot, and first aid techniques. The terrain was pretty rocky and steep at some points but the boys took the challenge and I think the event was a real success. I also got a lot of positive feedback from the scout leaders. Below are some pictures of the kids.

The Archery Range.








How good is your balance?








How good are you with your Knots?








The Race is on and here comes.....








Ahh, the 'ol .22 gun range.







I also put together an orienteering clinic to teach the scouts the basics of a compass and map. I was able to get a great volunteer to teach the clinic and then he sent each group in pairs of two through the area to test their skills.

We had a closing ceremony where I presented awards to the race champions, best camp, and best troop. I was able to get a couple hundred dollars worth of donations for different awards like dutch ovens and propane stoves which was really nice to give to the troops. Each scout also was given a camp t-shirt and camp patch.

The end of the Ceremony was something special. There are only 4 organizations that are allowed to retire an American Flag: the American Legion, the US Military, Girls Scouts, and the Boy Scouts. We ended the Camporee with the retiring of 10 American Flags. A short speech was given about the American Flag, where it came from, where it has been, and what it stood for. It was a really cool experience and gave the boys a new found respect for the great country in which we live.

Canoe Trip

Joe has been loving his outdoor class that he is co-teaching. They have been getting to do a lot of fun activities when the weather is reasonable. This week they went on a canoe trip down the Palouse river. They were able to see deer and elk as they floated down the river. It looked like a lot of fun! Too bad my dad couldn't bring his canoe when they come. I think he would really enjoy it. Joe had a blast and has now decided that someday we'll have to buy a canoe. He's so funny...so here are some pictures from his adventure.

32 Weeks

Well, I promised Joe that I would take an 8 month belly shot...for some reason he thinks I'm going to want to remember how big I was every month of this pregnancy...so just to satify him here it is. 8 weeks to go and hopefully not too much more to grow!

Pretty in Pink

So my amazing, VERY HANDSOME, and funny husband has been working a lot lately and has come to the realization that he is quite handsome in pink...lol...he really is, it's just funny to see him wearing pink... because he is such a farm/country boy. Anyway at the basketball games they have been doing cancer awareness nights and all the employees have to wear the pink shirts the school is selling... So I thought I'd let you see Joe in his hot pink shirt. I really think he's just getting to know his girly side so he can bond with our little girl!

Third Times a Charm/The Belly

One friday night we went into Old Navy and Celeste found a pair of pregnancy pants. She tried them on and loved them. The best part was they were on the clearance rack for 75% off. Celeste tried to buy them but was told that it was a mix up and they were not on sale. So we left them with the cashier and continued our walk. The next day Celeste returned to the store only to find those same pants again on the clearance rack. She again tried to buy them and was once again told by a different cashier they were not on clearance. My sweet wife was heart broken. The next friday, agian walking through the mall we went into Old Navy to find those same pants still on the clearance rack. This was the last straw. I took the pants and approached another different cahsier from the previous 2 times and made our case. I guess the third times a charm because we walked out of the store with Celeste's first pregnancy pants with the discount of 75% off.


With so many requests for a Belly shot here is the close up. It was 6 months when this picture was taken.

It's a Girl!!

At 20 weeks and 5 days we went in for the "find out" ultra sound.
There's no doubt about it we're having a girl.
We thought we were having a boy, so it was
a nice surprise to see that we were having a girl.
Here are some pictures.














Look at those long legs. Well they look long anyways.














Joe says he forgot to put the stem on the apple.
So enjoy the moon of our child.