I can't believe it!

Dear Family,

I can't believe that I just figured out how to post to the family blog.  Just in time for all the new and fun happenings in each family.  Isn't it fun celebrating with each other!  We are certainly a blessed family.  

Yesterday was dad's birthday and I reflected on all the fun we had growing up with such wonderful parents.  Mom and Dad, thank you for laying the ground work.  

It rained in  Phoenix and I remembered the family sitting on the balcony to watch the rain in Bountiful.  It has always been a great experience stopping to look and enjoy each other and the views of the world.  I see more and more the "older" I get that our parents (grandparents and great grandparents for some) have set the most wonderful example.

Anyway, as this month is here there is a celebration in each family.  Congratulations to Shelly and Brandon for their new little edition, Kelsey and Garth who will be off on a wonderful adventure soon, Camber for completing her residency, and Mandy who will be off to lands new and unknown.  What a fun celebration time!

Mostly, each of you light my life on a daily basis.  Thank you to all.  I love you, Brenda :)

Camber's Road

Camber's long road has achieved another milestone. We dropped her off at college 10 years ago. It was difficult to leave her behind in KC. She spent 6 years, year round in getting her BS and MD at the same time. It was a new and exciting time for her. At times she felt it would never end. Before you know it she was married and getting her degree. One picture shows Camber and her father testing driving a sports car, she settled for a Tercel instead. The graduation pictures were the conclusion of her KC road.

It was off to Rochester, NY. It was time for her residentcy. Med school was hard but the 90 hour work weeks were harder in many ways. Shifts that were always changing, it was hard to get a normal sleeping schedule. At times she felt like she was always tired, never quite rested. The 24 hour shifts take their toll at times. She learned much and gain confidence in her abilities. If there was difficult case with a child she was called on many times to handle it because of these skills. While in Rochester they added to the family, Sylvester and Sadie. They are great company. During this time there is always a need to have interests outside of the work, in Camber's case making quilts was one of these.

Congratulation Camber on your perserverance and your accomplishment of getting through it. The page is now turning to the next stage of your life. Congrats and job well done!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Camber's

Dylan Steven Ivy

Here is the first of many pics of Dylan! Wanted to share a couple - we are downloading the rest of the files from our other camera and will have more later!!

Here are his stats:
BORN JUNE 14th at 10:30PM, 9lbs. 2 oz., 22 inches.

He is a beautiful baby, with such a wonderful temperament! We are SO blessed... he is just the perfect addition to our family. Aiden is amazing me with how much he loves his little brother and what a big helper he is!

We are looking forward to seeing most of you at Kelsey's wedding in August! Dylan will be making his first plane ride at only 6 weeks old!

Love you all - and we will post some more pics soon!

xo - The Ivy Crew

DC Trip

We had a great trip to DC with Camber and Caleb. We saw all of the sights. It was Caleb's 1st time in DC. The WWII is new since Camber was last there. We saw the FDR section for the 1st time. It was a great weekend to be there, Memorial Weekend. There was patriotism everywhere. We also saw a play a the Kennedy Center. There were hundreds of thousands of Harley Davidsons there for Memorial weekend. The name of the Veterans group that rides motorcycles is Rolling Thunder and they were everywhere. They had a PBS event for Memorial day on Sunday evening. We were leaving on Sunday morning and found out that they do a dress rehearsal on Saturday night. We go to see it and it was great. The MC's were from a couple of TV shows and Gladys Knight was one of the performers. One picture is at one of the memorials, another is a great garden in Georgetown, Jerolyn by the Harley she road and the other Harley I got a great dsicount on. (It was not bad except fo the smell of the various varmits that were attched to it). It was fun for all!!!!!

A cute pic of the fam...

Hi everyone!

As I sit here waiting for the birth of our son... I thought you all night enjoy a couple of pics that we took a few weeks ago! Our due date is less than a week away... so we are (I AM) so READY for Dylan to make his arrival! I can't wait to meet him. Next post will be with good baby news and some pics of him!

xoxo - The Ivy Crew

Hey We're Here...fianlly

Hey everybody we finally got on the blog. If you haven't already heard Mandy got her mission call to Cape Verde an island country about 300 miles off the west coast of Africa! Temperatures range anywhere from 69 degrees at night to 85 degrees. Usually its mid-70s so Mandy's excited to escape a cold winter this year (watch it will probably be the coldest year Cape Verde has ever had). She leaves August 13th and will be speaking Portuguese and possibly picking up a little of an African language spoken there. More details to come.