3 years and counting

Yesterday Joseph and I celebrated our three year anniversary! Can you believe it's been that long?? Time has really flown by for us. It seems like...well...I was going to say yesterday, but let's be honest, it doesn't seem quite like yesterday.... But it doesn't seem that long ago that Joseph and I were in the Detroit Temple being married for time and all eternity. Three moves, two different schools, and one baby later, here we are.

We celebrated by going out to dinner at the Iowa River Power Restaurant here in town. It used to be a power generating station with the Iowa River dam right there to bring in power. We go there often with Jake and look at the dam, but have never been inside to eat. I take that back, Joseph said that he went there for prom back in high school, but instead of appreciating it for what it was he was just mad because the food was so pricey and he had to pay. But I digress... It was a really neat experience, and the food was fabulous!
This is how they served the soup, isn't that fun?! I ordered duck for the first time ever and it was SOOOO good! Joseph ordered pork chops and I didn't know they could be made so tender and juicy. Our food was like heaven on a plate. Please excuse the flash in this picture, the window reflected the light.

This is the view of the dam right outside our window.We had a wonderful time together. We came home that evening and relaxed and reminisced about our wedding day and some of the crazy things that happened. Then like old farts we fell asleep early. It must have been our full stomachs...

I am so grateful that I married Joseph. It was the best decision I've ever made (hey, I'm allowed to be sappy on my anniversary!). Thank you, sweetheart, for the best three years of my life and I look forward to many, many more with you.

Aren't friends the best?!!

A couple of weeks ago we got a surprise phone call from some of our good friends in Michigan. They said that they were going to be on spring break and wanted to get out of town (they live in the Upper Peninsula, I could hardly blame them) so they were going to come to Iowa! We were so excited to see them and catch up. They were troopers and just slept in our living room (although we love having visitors, our place isn't exactly a five-star hotel). We enjoyed beautiful weather while they were here and just enjoyed the company. Lucas, Andrea, and Emily, we loved having you guys here and can't wait to see you again!

(Although the following pictures are only of Jake, I swear we DID have visitors! I can't seem to find the other pictures anywhere, but Emily sent me some of these that she took of Jake. I think that he had a slight crush on her, and everyone just ate his antics right up.)

A snotty nosed Jake. I think that maybe you have to be his mom to find this amusing...

"Hey, get off my swing!! I'm just taking a break to get some water!!"

He takes after his dad

A few weeks ago Jake found the toothpaste. He literally walked around sucking on the toothpaste cap for about an hour. Once I realized that he had gotten the cap undone I thought it was probably my motherly duty to take it away to prevent some sort of flouride poisoning. Of course, he threw a fit, but at least the mouth that was screaming in my face smelled minty fresh! Apparently the kid loves toothpaste.

Then this morning I "flossed" his teeth. He was fascinated as I flossed my own teeth and he kept grabbing it out of my hand, so I thought it might be funny to try the impossible. I couldn't believe it, but yet again he loved it! He sat there with his mouth wide open just feeling the floss massage his gums with a huge grin on his face. Of course, he has such large spaces between his teeth that the "flossing" really didn't do anything, but he loved it nonetheless. Maybe he'll follow in his dad's footsteps since he's already showing such promise! :) Wouldn't it be even more ironic to have TWO dentists in the family!?! It might be more than I could handle...

Isn't it ironic?

I was thinking the other night about how it is the most ironic thing ever that I married a dentist. I absolutely LOATHE the dentist. Don't get me wrong, my dentist growing up was a nice enough guy (shout out to Dr. Kane!) but I really and truly had a love/hate relationship with him. Great guy, terrible profession. So for those of you who are bored enough to read this blog, please allow me to explain myself.

As I contemplated where my hatred of the dental profession came from, I had an epiphane. I think it stems from the fact that as I sit in that dental chair, I am having a relative stranger poke and prod my teeth and gums with a tool that looks eerily similar to Captain Hook's arm. I know that he is sitting there judging me. Judging my teeth, counting the imperfections, and seeing dollar signs while I sit anxiously for the results (my dad always jokes about how he single handedly put our dentist's kids through college). And therefore, the only people who love the dentist are those who have perfect teeth. After the ordeal is over, those with a perfect mouth are told, "There is absolutely nothing wrong with you. Go on your merry way and see me in 6 months so I can tell you this again." However, as is too often the case with me, I am told, "See here?? Do you see this x-ray??? You're going to need to come back next week, that looks very worrisome to me."

I swear I take good care of my teeth, even better than my husband at times! Brush and floss twice a day! Is it soft teeth? Heredity maybe? It's certainly not drinking too much pop (as some of you know, my personal motto is "Sip all day, get decay" which comes from a sign that hangs in Dr. Kane's office). Although I don't know, and may never know, the answer to that question, the one thing I do know is this: It is extremely ironic that I married a dentist!! Maybe it's a blessing in disguise. At least the person poking and prodding my teeth and gums from now on won't be a relative stranger!

Egg wars and Easter

Happy Easter everyone!! We had a very enjoyable Easter weekend with some of our friends (although I am sorry for the lack of pictures, I'm not sure what I was thinking). It just wouldn't be Easter if we didn't decorate eggs, so we spent our Saturday evening decorating eggs and having an "egg wars" tournament. The Andersons introduced us to this fun game that Joseph said will be a new Dougherty tradition. Basically everyone decorates a hard-boiled egg and gives it some sort of warrior name like "The Terminator" (I know, it really helps us remember the true meaning of the season). Then you have face-offs. Two people take their eggs and hit them together and only one cracks. If yours doesn't crack then you move on to the next round. It gets pretty competitive, so you can imagine how Joseph's face lit up when he learned about this "egg-citing" new game (lame, I know, I just couldn't resist!!). We also enjoyed chocolate-covered strawberries that were, of course, dipped in pastel colored white-chocolate so they were very "easter-ish".

Then on Easter morning the Easter bunny came! He (or she) brought all kinds of fun goodies for the family, including an Easter book for Jake and the 9th and final season of Seinfeld for Joseph (the collection is now complete!). The Easter bunny also brought a beautiful Easter Lily plant for me. That bunny is so thoughtful.

We hope that you all had a great easter weekend and took time to reflect on the meaning of the season. I am so grateful for the love of our Savior and his resurrection which made it possible for us to live with our Heavenly Father again. Around this time of the year I often think about the phrase, "There would be no Christmas without Easter." We wouldn't celebrate the birth of our Lord if he wasn't our Savior who died for us then rose again. What a wonderful day to remember!

Howdy Partner!

As I mentioned before, my friend just got a beautiful new SLR camera for easter, and a few days ago it was beautiful outside so we decided to have a photo shoot!

All these boys are the same age and have so much fun together! It can get pretty crazy!

A happy cowboy!Jake and mom

What a cute little cowboy!!

Conference Weekend

This weekend nice and relaxing, mainly because our church's general conference was held this weekend. They broadcast it over the internet, so no matter where you are you can listen. I look forward to being able to listen to the words of our leaders and bring their spirit into our home. As Joseph and I were watching conference we realized that we haven't ever watched it with just the two of us before. Jake was sleeping during both sessions today, and we just cuddled on the couch and enjoyed the time together. I must admit I got a little sleepy and took some nice mini-naps myself. Ahhh....

On a completely unrelated note, I tried to take some pictures of Jake the other day and this is what I got:

Sheesh, you would think that I was completely torturing the poor kid. However, we did take some VERY cute ones of him later with my friend Jessica's sweet new camera! Stay tuned!!

After a little convincing I got him to at least stop grimacing at me and he got into this cute little pose:

This kid seriously cracks me up!