Wagstaffs and Colorado

Bryce finished his first year of medical school on May 14. I am so proud of him for making it through and doing well despite having a tired, pregnant wife for the first six months and then a tired wife and a newborn for the last three.

The night he finished his final our friends Devin and Naomi and their 1-year old son, Spencer, came to visit us (well, actually they came to see D.C., but still claimed us as friends for a free place to stay-jk). We had fun having them around for a few days. We only did a few things togther, but saw them at night and enjoyed a trip to the National Aquarium in Baltimore.

I had been debating whether or not to fly across the country to see my family for at least a month and finally decided to just do it. I found a decent direct flight to Denver and the swine flu seems to have calmed down, I went for it.

Our family has a tradition of surprising each other. So, since I had only bought my tickets two weeks before my flight, I figured this would be a great time to surprise my family. I only told my sister, Joy (since I needed someone to get me from the airport); everyone else had no idea. My mom is working on redoing our house and Joy was even able to convince her to do a lot of the furniture rearranging and painting so I would have a room to stay in under the guise of just needing to get moving on everything. The surprises went like this:

1) We got to my house in Colorado Springs from the airport around 10:45pm. My mom was in the kitchen (which has windows that look out to the front yard and driveway) so I had to duck so she wouldn't see anyone else in the car. I stayed in the car with Mark sleeping in the back for about 10 minutes until my mom went to bed. My sister, Susan, her husband, Brian, and their daughter, Grace, were up from Albuquerque. We knew they wouldn't go to bed until late, so Joy told them that I was in the car. Susan came out all excited and with Brian's help, we snuck Mark, me, and my suitcases into the basement.

2) The next morning Mark and I went upstairs to find my mom. She was looking for the cat with Grace so when she came out of her closet (the cat's favorite haunt), we were just standing there. She was super excited and Grace was kind of confused, but also excited. Grace will turn three in August so she's still pretty little. Joy just got back from her mission in April so to Grace, Joy and Cathi are one person. When Joy got back, Grace called her Cathi. Now, she calls me Joy probably 75% of the time. You should have seen the look on her face when both Joy and I were finally there together.

3) My dad was getting home late that day, so we decided that Mark and I would hide out that night and then surprise him the next day (his birthday). Yes, I was there for a day and a half without him knowing. We're good. My mom, Grace, Mark , and I met Joy at my dad's office to say Happy Birthday. Joy took Mark while I was still hiding and asked my dad if he wanted to hold him. He had to think for a second, but quickly decided that this was in fact, Mark. He came around the corner to see me. He was very happy (and slightly teary-eyed) to see us.

Anyway, that was long. We went out to dinner for Dad's birthday, but Grace was having a little bit of a rough day. Here she is watching a Mickey cartoon on YouTube on my sister's Blackberry (has it really come to this?). Mark, the angel child, slept for the entire restaurant outing.


Grace had been so excited for Papa's birthday. She helped him open all of his cards and presents.


In the meantime, Joy fed Mark who had woken up.



The rest of the trip was pretty relaxing. Joy gave her homecoming talk in church from her mission to Jackson, Mississippi. On Memorial Day, Joy and I went to cash in our Christmas 2007 gifts at the Broadmoor Spa- massages. They were wonderful. I wish I could have one every week, but I would never spend that kind of money.

Mark did really well on the trip. He's developing quickly. He cough/laughs and smiles regularly. He's discovered his hands and found that they are of most use to pull out his pacifier and then suck directly on his fists. He also loves this firefly. He'll hold and play with it on and off all day long.