So this is what 24 looks like

Well this week marked a fun date for our family. My birthday! Yeah! Our week started out really fun with a package from Frankie, Krista, and the kids. They sent us a box full of stuff to make cookies, and not just any cookies but PRINCESS cookies! Rilyn was in heaven! They also sent some sidewalk chalk which Rilyn also loves and a little fairy that has joined Rilyn growing collection. She calls it one of her tinker fairies. The day before my birthday a huge box came from my parents with this HUGE "No Peeking" sticker on it. The UPS man gave me a good talking to about how I'm not allowed to peek! I couldn't believe it! I listened though (I know aren't you surprised Mom) and waited until we woke up on my birthday to open it. It was a pair of really cute boots for me and of course the Princess got some too! So spoiled! I had a great birthday. My family really made me feel special all the way from AZ (they sent me a cheesecake because they couldn't make me one like they usually do). And my friends made me feel special here (Ashlee and Smitty brought me over cupcakes and balloons). You might notice that theres an almost naked kid in the balloons. She opened the door with me for Ashlee and Smitty and as soon as she saw the balloons she said "Oh thank you" like they were for her! What a nut! She shook the heck out of those balloons too. By the next day they were all on the ground she had played with them so hard! And my own little family made me feel pretty special (but I always feel special with them). On my birthday Rilyn, Ashlee, and I went to the zoo. It was a lot of fun. We even got to see the polar bear outside of his little cave! Ri and I decided he looked like a big version of my parents dog Tex. Rilyn also decided that Ashlee is her new best friend and drug her all around the zoo. The funniest thing that happened was while looking at a monkey it charged Rilyn (they were separated by a window instead of a cage) who was eating a bag of chips. Rilyn jumped so high! It was so funny! If you ask her about it she tells you it was scary but that the monkey couldn't get her because there was a window. What a goof!

I also have to share what a crazy kid I have. She has recently decided that its more fun to jump from the top of her slide rather than actually slide down it. I'm waiting for her to break something! This kid is NUTS! She totally reminds me of my little brother. He was crazy and still is!

Shopping fun!

This week Rilyn and I went shopping with my friends Ashlee and Rachel. It was so fun! We drove out to the outlet malls (halfway to Pitt from Erie) and spent at least 5 hours walking around. There were lots of fun stores and way too many good sales! Rilyn had a blast and eventally passed out in her stroller. Daddy favorite thing she got is this cute set of jammies with the skeleton. We told him that she wanted to help him study! On Saturday we decided to go for a family bike ride down at Presque. It was a lot of fun. We ate hotdogs at Saras (a little restaraunt that is always PACKED everytime we go so we had to try it) before we went riding. It was pretty good. The best part was the french fries! Very yummy! Hope everyone else has a great Labor Day weekend! We're looking forward to one more day of Cody.

Party at the Bholts!

Well this week Rilyn and I finally went out and played in the rain! It was so fun to splash around in our boots. Cody was BBQing while we were playing and I just loved his outfit so much I had to share. Don't you just love the pants. Rilyn has decided that she just loves her rain boots. She has been wearing them non stop. Here she is in her jammies, bathrobe, and boots running around the house. On Friday we decided to have a little get together with the other first year med students in our ward and their wives and kids. It was so fun to get to know everyone better! I hope we do things like a lot, especially since we'll be together for the next 4 years. Rilyn had a blast playing with the other kids and it was so funny to watch the girls dance while the boys jammed out on Guitar Hero.

Oh and if you want to see one of the fun things to do in Erie is check out the Frog Hunt blog. Erie has statutes of frogs and fish (102 statutes to be exact) all over the city and we are on the hunt to find them all. I hope by the time we're done in Erie that I have a picture of us at everyone. I'll make a book or something. Some of them are hard to find too because they're in buildings, infront of things, in parks, there EVERYWHERE!

New New New

Well this last week we had some fun new stuff going on. We bought a new car (well technically its old but its new to us). Its a 2002 Subaru Forester - Subaru's are really popular around here because they're supposed to be awesome in the snow which is why we bought it. I think a good name for it is Marge because its old and blue.

Rilyn took up a new hobby. She is now a professional racket ball player. Well ok maybe not but doesn't she look so cute with Cody's equipment? He was going to play with some friends from school and Ri decided to try out the goggles. She is too cute!

Ice Cream at Connies isn't new to us but Rilyn tried a new flavor and looked so cute doing it I had to share this picture.

Rilyn has decided that she LOVES the bath tub and tries to take at least 10 baths a day - our last house only had a shower so she only got to take baths every once in a while at my parents house. If you don't help her fast enough she strips down and runs around the house until you can catch her. The other day I was talking with a neighbor in the backyard and she came running out of the house naked because she wanted a bath! What a goof!!

Since we've moved I started a project of restoring my great grandpas trunk. It was a lot of hard work but I finally have it done (except for the handles). I've turned it into my coffee table and I LOVE it! It turned out perfect! I wish I would have taken pictures of the process. When I started it was a crumbling army trunk and now its so pretty!

Rilyn and Lola have become the best of friends (most days). Poor Lola is more like a toy for Ri and she gets a little harassed.

Rilyn has become quite the little chef. She loves to help me cook. It is so fun! He favorite part is stirring. I love having a little helper!

I was lucky enough to get an early birthday present!! I LOVE presents!! My Nana got me the rain boots I wanted. They're barbie! How awesome is that!! Cody hasn't stopped laughing at me since they came! I can't wait for it to rain enough for me to go splash around with Rilyn in some puddles.

I had to put this picture on to show what a big girl I have. She fell asleep holding her purse! She is constantly carrying around her purse and pushing either a stroller or shopping cart (usually with lola as the passenger). She is so cute!

Rilyn has been dying to fly her Cinderella kite since we got here. She and Daddy were able to get it up in the air for a little bit this week. Its really hard to fly because its just a piece of fabric with 2 stings. There isn't a frame to keep it open or anything.

Rilyn has been loving spending time outside (here you can go outside and not feel like you're going to die from heat stroke). She has been spending tons of time on her trampoline. She loves to do somersaults and she was cracking me up making these funny faces by pushing her face up against the net. What a goof!

And last but not least Cody and I received new callings at church. Cody is our wards executive secretary so he will be at church pretty much all day on Sunday. And I am now in the nursery. I'm hoping that Rilyn does ok with me in there. I was really hoping I wouldn't be in there with her because I wanted her to learn to be by herself but I guess someone has other plans for us. We're both a little nervous but excited about our callings.

Erie: The Weird, The Funny, and The Beautiful

So now that I've been in Erie for a few weeks I think I've got a pretty good list to share.

The Weird

-First off we have Seagulls - I know thats not too weird but we don't even have salt water around here (at least in Salt Lake the lake is salty here we just have a HUGE freshwater lake)

-We have Geese that fly by all the time. They are so noisy!! (My mom says this shouldn't be too weird since we're so close to Canada but being from AZ makes them weird to me)

-We're learning some state laws, one of which is it is illegal to buy or sell cars on Sunday

-You have to go to different places to register your car and get your drivers license (there is no DMV where you can do it all

-You have to pay sales tax on everything (even when bough private party - like a car)

-We hear trains all day and all night long

-Its bright out until really late at night

-It seems like most people don't start doing anything until 10am (probably because everyone stays up late thanks to the light)

-You can only by alcohol at special stores - its not available in grocery stores or gas stations like in AZ

-Most speed limits max out at 40 (how ANNOYING - especially when I'm so used to just jumping on a freeway to get around going at least 65!)

-You hardly ever see cops - I'm hoping this means that I live in such a safe part of town that they don't feel needed over here and hopefully it means I have a much smaller chance of getting caught speeding!
-The grocery stores (on top of carrying way differnt brands) don't carry the right things I need to make Mexican food

The Funny

-Next to the turn arrow light at intersections there is a sign that says what the light is for (left turn signal next to a left turn arrow)

-For the first time in a long time we don't have cable and are getting used to regular tv - besides the channels being way different from AZ (except for channel 12) we have 3 PBS channels! Who knew that people would love Antique Roadshow so much they would want to watch it 3 different times during the day!

-I love people's reactions when they see Lola - I'm going to guess Chihuahuas are not a big thing over here because besides freaking out about how small she is everyone asks what she is. I guess I'm used to being closer to a different boarder where Mexican dogs are known. (Maybe we'll have to get a Canadian dog to keep her company- JK).

-We have 2 waterparks - one outside that is attached to an amusement park type place with rollercoasters (I'm dying to go!) and another big one that is totally inside. They say in the ads that they keep it a nice 80 degrees inside the building at all times so you at least think you're supposed to be in the water. It's open all year long too. (Some of the slides pop out of the building for part of your ride - I'd love to see someone get stuck in one of those because it freezes during the winter)

The Beautiful

-Sometimes I feel like I'm Snow White with all of the little animals around my house. We get these cute little bunnies and chipmunks.

-The trees go right up the the beach around the lake.

-The weather is amazing (aside from the humidity which we're getting used to)

-Everything is green! Even the trees are growing moss and some streets are growing grass as well. Its a HUGE change after all of the brown in AZ!
-People are very friendly - I was pretty surprised at this because I was expecting the East Coast attitude but I guess we're still far enough away from the coast to miss it
-I think my house needs to fall in this category because I love it!
-I don't know how beautiful this is but there are a lot of things within walking distance to my house so we get to save gas (thats beautiful for the environment)

-There is no "brown cloud" here.

-You can see the stars at night (when its not too cloudy)

I may come up with more to add to this list later but for now this is the list. I am totally loving PA (infact I told Cody that I would be ok if he decided to do his residency here too - of course that won't start for another almost 4 years so I'll probably change my mind by then).

A day at the beach

Rilyn and I had a fun day at the beach today. It was so fun. The sun was out and it was warm (luckily it wasn't as hot as Sunday). Lola came with us and I think she enjoyed the beach as well. I hope we have a few more sunny days so we can go back. We weren't crazy enough to get in the water but there were a ton of people in there. Crazy PA people!

Fun in Erie

This week we've been able to relax and have some fun around Erie. Rilyn has figured out how to talk to grandma and grandpa on the computer. Anytime the computer is out she thinks she needs to talk to grandma and grandpa. She also figured out how to play on her bed.Thanks a lot daddy!! Rilyn has made a friend, Miles, and he's introducing her to the rest of the kids around here. Last Friday we went to a party at Presque Isle for LECOM (Cody's school) and Rilyn LOVED seeing the water. She calls it the ocean. I can see where shes coming from. There is just so much water!! She also really likes the lighthouse. She can say lighthouse pretty well too. Shes so smart!We found a great ice cream place right around the corner from our house called Connies. Its so good!! Anytime we walk by it Rilyn wants to stop in! On Tuesday we went to the zoo with a few families from our ward. Its so fun to get to know people and for Rilyn to get to play with kids. On Wednesday we had to get our car inspected (part of the registration process around here - you have to get your car inspected and the emissions checked on top of renewing your registration every year). We ended up with 2 hours to kill while our car was checked out so Rilyn and I walked to the stores that were close by and walked around. It rained on Thursday so our beach plans were cancelled and the rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful. Sunday is was actually HOT here. I was way shocked by that. The only problem was that on top of being hot it was HUMID! Like way humid. I felt like I was in Florida. Yuck. Hopefully we don't have too many days like that! We're looking forward to the children's museum this next week and hopefully we'll finally make it to the beach.