Our Grand Opening

Most of you know that Brent has wanted to own his own pharmacy since he was in pharmacy school. He has never really wanted to work for a retail pharmacy as he prefers the environment of an independently owned pharmacy. He has worked for an independent pharmacy since he graduated 3 years ago and has had the itch to buy or start his own for some time now. He and his boss decided to go into business together and start a new pharmacy of their own. There are many small towns around here that don't have an independent pharmacy so they have to rely on the ever busy Wal-Mart to get their prescriptions filled. Brent and his partner decided on the town of Hereford to put their pharmacy in. As soon as they got the ball rolling, everything fell into place very quickly. They found the perfect location but the office needed some serious renovation. Let the demolition begin! Brent is quite the handy man so he did a lot of the reconstruction work himself. (He laid tile for the first time and did a great job.) So within about 5 months of the decision to start a pharmacy, a location was picked out, demolition started, reconstruction done, insurance contracts arranged, inventory ordered and shelved, and a handsome pharmacist willing to pack up his family and move to a town where there are more cows than people. Here are some before and after pictures of the pharmacy. I am very proud of Brent; I think he put together a really nice store.

(The previous business was a beauty salon so there were several cubicles and lots of faux painting.)
(These are the shelves that took up our whole garage for a couple of months.)

(This is the little Smart Car that we bought to use as a delivery car. We took a picture of it next to my Tahoe to compare the size. It's so cute and tiny and I laugh every time I see it because it's always smaller than I remember. Drew calls it daddy's funny car. We have to feed the hamsters everyday that turn the engine to make sure Brent can make it to work and back. The store logo is now on the sides but for some reason I don't have a picture of that.)

Today was the Grand Opening of our pharmacy and I think it went very well. The Chamber of Commerce came out for a ceremonial ribbon cutting and an official welcome to the community. Afterwards, we grilled hamburgers and hot dogs and served a free lunch to promote the Grand Opening of Hereford Healthmart Pharmacy. We optimistically planned for about 200 people and I was worried that we would be eating leftover hamburgers and hot dogs for weeks. You just never know how many people will show up to your shin dig so we were hoping for a decent turn out. And decent it was--we ran out of hamburgers by 12:30 and had to go buy 3 more boxes of patties to accomodate the crowd. They estimated about 300 people came out which was a great turn out for us in such a small community in the middle of the workday during the work week. I was very pleased and I think Brent feels good about this new endeavor. The people of Hereford have been very welcoming and encouraging. During the Grand Opening, one of the local radio stations came out to broadcast live from our store. The dj interviewed everybody including me and Drew so we got to make our radio debut today as a family and I hope we didn't sound too ridiculous. Here are a few pictures of today's events.

(Brent receiving his official welcome from the Chamber of Commerce.)
(Brent is holding the gigantic cartoon scissors used to cut the ceremony ribbon in front of the funny car.)
(Drew and Avery trying to stay out of trouble. Drew loves to hold her hand and take care of her.)

(Here is Brent doing his radio interview.)
(Drew's turn. He got on and said "My name is Drew. D-R-E-W." The guy asked him if he was going to have a hot dog for lunch and Drew said "No, I'm having a steak." I don't know where that came from.)
(Yes, even I did an interview. Avery didn't last very long on my lap and I'm sure the listeners heard her grunting to get down.)

So what does all this mean? We are now self employed and will be moving to the beef capital of the world as soon as we sell our house. It's a little scary to just hang your sign out and hope people come in but we are looking forward to this new chapter in our life and hope that the pharmacy is successful. Brent has put a lot into it and I know his hard work will pay off. Hereford, here we come!

We Survived

We recently flew up to Idaho for 10 days to meet up with Brent's family and spend time with them. I don't know how people come home from vacation with their kids and immediately blog about it. I was completely exhausted and it took me a few days to just catch up on sleep! Brent was not able to come with us because of work so I decided to endure the plane rides with the kids because I knew the visit would be worth it. We don't get to see Brent's family very often since we live so far away from everybody so this was a great opportunity. Our journey began on Wednesday, Aug 13. Our flight itenerary left us with a 10 hour day of travel with one of our flights being 3 1/2 hours long. I was most worried about this flight as I didn't know how Avery would act. About a week before we left for Idaho, she developed a major attitude. She is like a teenager in a one year old body. She has become a royal tootenheimer and I don't know where it came from. All my friends with girls assure me that they went through the same thing with their toddlers but I wasn't expecting it so soon! If things are not going her way then watch out. Screaming and rolling temper tantrums on the floor will ensue. Most days I find it funny but if this is a sign of things to come, I don't know what I'll do with a real teenager. But anyways, I digress. So the trip there was relatively uneventful. Drew behaved very well on the plane and was good about staying with me at the airports. Going to the bathroom was a group event where we all piled into the stall together. I gave a woman an eyeful when Drew decided that he was ready to go and opened the stall while I stood there with my shorts around my ankles. Ah, the joys of kids. Luckily on our 3 1/2 hour flight, Avery slept for 3 hours of it. I was in heaven and thanking my lucky stars that the diva took a rest. So after a long day of travel, we finally made it to Boise and settled in to play with the cousins. There were 10 kids in all so it was chaos at times but the kids had fun. On Friday, we all packed up and drove over to Idaho Falls for a family reunion. On the way, we stopped in Twin Falls for the temple open house. The younger kids stayed outside with Grandpa and Uncle Quinn and everyone else went through the tour. I have never gone to a temple open house and it was interesting to go through the temple in street clothes but it was a beautiful temple so I'm glad we made the stop.
(Avery sleeping in the car on the trip to Idaho Falls)
(Drew and Gavin)
(Drew, Trey, Koda, Avery, Bryer, Alex, Reece, Colin, Gavin, Quincy)

So on to Idaho Falls we go. We stayed with Brent's Uncle Evan and Aunt Sandy in Blackfoot and they were gracious enough to put up 11 people for the weekend. It was a party, let me tell you. They have a great space of land so the kids were able to play in the water, jump on the trampoline, fight over toys in the enormous playroom, puke on the lawn, sleep in the camper, have a pole climbing contest and just have fun.
(Bryer, Gavin, Drew and Avery)

(Avery, Bryer, Quincy, Gavin, Drew)

On Saturday we went to the reunion which was nice. Brent's dad comes from a very large family with a posterity of over 380 people from his grandparents. We had fun meeting people even though we didn't know who anyone was. Drew spent most of the reunion wearing his wobble gobbles (water goggles). He thought they were pretty cool.

(Avery eating her favorite food, tomatoes. Gross.)
(Drew practicing croquet)

(Reece and Trey. Trey loved to say "Cheese!")
(That's what he needs--more sugar)

(Avery and Grandma)

On Sunday, we traveled back to Boise but took the route through the Craters of the Moon. And here begins Avery's love affair with her Ring Pop. Luckily grandma had enough for eveyone because Avery really wanted that Ring Pop like the other kids (remember the attitude? Sometimes its best to just give her what she wants).

(I love my Ring Pop)
(Uh oh, it's almost gone)
(Now it's really gone)
(A binky and the wrapper are a fair substitute)
(Drew with his Ring Pop. I think he's sleeping with his eyes open here)

The rest of the trip went well unless you count almost watching my family be obliterated on the highway. OK, maybe it wasn't that bad, but it was a close one, right Darcy? The next day, we went to a splash pad in Boise and the kids had so much fun. Drew is not normally a sprinklers kind of kid -he prefers to swim- but even he had fun. It was over 100 degrees that day so the relief from the heat was nice.

(Trey, Drew, Reece, Avery and Quincy)
(This was the drain. Avery loved the sound of the water rushing through it.)

(Avery and Grandpa)

The next day was one of the most fun. We went to Roaring Springs, a water park. I haven't been to a water park in at least 10 years so it was so fun to play in the water with the kids and go down the slides. Drew loved the lazy river, the wavepool and the kiddie slide. We were able to go down one of the big slides on an intertube together. It was very fast and you are in a pitch black tunnel for half of the ride. When we got to the bottom I said, "Was that fun?!" and he said "YEAH!" so I asked "Do you want to do it again?" "NO!!!" So we pretty much enjoyed the lazy river the rest of the day. Both kids had so much fun and came home exhausted which is always good. (I don't have pictures of the water park because they are on a waterproof camera I haven't developed yet.)

Grandma and Grandpa left on Wednesday morning and we were very sad to see them go. They took one child with them so we still had 9 to look after. We got a babysitter to watch the kids while me, Darcy, and Ami went to see Mamma Mia (I told you I liked it!). Darcy spent the rest of the day packing and they left on Thursday. We left on Friday and let's just say that I will never fly with a child between the ages of about 8 months and 18 months ever again if I can help it. Avery was a little traveler from you-know-where. We were that family that everyone dreads--screaming, crying, whining baby and a mother on edge and ready to snap at any moment. At one point, I wondered if anyone would notice if I retreated to the bathroom alone and left my screaming baby on the seat (or more likely chasing me down the aisle screaming as dramatically as possible and banging on the door). Due to all the potential witnesses on the plane, I was able to at least stay calm on the outside despite completely tearing my hair out on the inside. Benadryl has nothing on Avery. She is determined to have that temper tantrum regardless. That day could not be over fast enough. We finally boarded our last leg in Dallas and luckily it was dark so that kept Avery a little more calm and quiet. She puked on me as we were taxiing in to the gate but I guess that's what you get when your baby is hopped up on Apple Juice, Benadryl and Cheetos. It was a fitting end to a long day. Our luggage did not make it back with us so we went home empty handed and absolutely exhausted. At that point, I didn't care. I just wanted to get home to my own bed and sleep. Like I said, it took me a few days to catch up on my sleep and come back from my exhaustion. We had a great trip and loved seeing everybody and we are glad to be back home with Brent.

(Bryer, Colin, Drew and Quincy. Quincy loves to wear either her swimsuit or her pj's all day.)

(Gavin, Colin, Drew, Bryer and Quincy) (Drew, Gavin and Bryer)

(Is there any question why I usually take her clothes off before she eats?)

(Drew, Gavin and Bryer enjoying a late night chat over their cereal) (Drew and Gavin with their Carnation breakfast shakes)

(Avery loved to pester poor Trey. Can you tell how much he is enjoying giving her a ride?)

(This is grandma and grandpa with 9 of their 13 grandkids.)

Speed Racer

We went on a family date last night with our good friends, the Wintertons. After we went out to eat, we took the kids to the Family Fun Center for a little Go Kart racing. The boys could not wait to get behind that fence and race!

Avery was excited too. She would shake the fence and yell at everybody.

This is Avery trying to make sure Drew doesn't leave her far behind at the track. She loves to tag along with him.

When we saw all the cars lined up, Drew said "I want to ride the white one with daddy!" Unfortunately for Brent, that was the slowest one so they didn't really speed around the track leaving everyone in their dust.

When it was Avery's turn, the seatbelt was merely a prop since she was so small. She kept trying to climb out but once we got underway (in the slow car) I put my arm across her and we bounced down the raceway. I don't think she was too impressed by the whole thing since she couldn't see above the steering wheel but I think she still had fun.

I know Drew had a fun time. That was a perfect activity for him and we will definitely be doing it again.

Where all the "cool" kids hang out