The newest addition

This past week our family had the pleasure of welcoming Matthew's bride Kaitlin into the ranks of Dunfords!  Matt and Kaitlin were married in Chicago last weekend in a beautiful ceremony.  We are so excited to include her as part of our family. 

We were still operating under one car at the time (notice the past tense?!  more on that later!) so the boys and I took the train up to Michigan for the festivities prior to the wedding.  Joseph had to work, but he later joined us in Chicago for the wedding itself.  The great thing about the train is that it picks us up right in Ottumwa.  The terrible thing about a train is that the novelty wears off in about ten minutes then you're stuck trying to entertain two rambunctious boys for 12 hours.  Every time I take the train I vow never to do it again.  But then I forget and do it anyway.  It's kind of like giving birth in that sense...

But aren't they cute waiting for the train?    

Once in Michigan we enjoyed a beautiful open house for Matt and Kaitlin with lots of family, friends, and, most importantly, cousins!

 There was a lot of eating, wrestling and running (all outside, of course...boy were those white shirts dirty!)

Joseph's twin brother, Christopher, was there in Michigan for the festivities as well, but since Joseph wasn't there Eli was extremely confused and thought Christopher was his dad!  He kept calling him Daddy and wouldn't leave his side. 

Next we drove to Chicago for the beautiful wedding.

The babies were pretty tuckered out.

What handsome boys!

 Jake was a little hard to appease when it came to taking pictures...

One nice thing about Chicago is that it not only is a good halfway point between Kaitlin's family in Wisconsin and our family in Michigan, but it also provides a lot of entertainment for after the wedding party!  We weren't able to make it to the reception in Wisconsin, so we stayed behind in Chicago and did a few fun things.  

We went to The Rainforest Cafe:

 We told Jake that we were going to go to the zoo, but we never got a chance.  But it's ok, because when we asked Jake about what his favorite part of Chicago was, he told us it was the zoo.  Apparently he thought The Rainforest Cafe was a zoo!  That's fine by me, at least it didn't smell!

 We watched an amazing air show put on by the Air Force:

And enjoyed one of the water fountain parks:

Then it was back home and back to the grind.  We had a wonderful time celebrating the occasion, and again, Congratulations Matt and Kaitlin!

Life in the O-T-T

 I'm not gonna lie, moving to the OTT - as the locals call it - has been an adjustment.  Leaving our dental school family was rough.  And moving to a place where the best shopping is located at a dilapidated Target and most of Joseph's patients would rather have their teeth pulled than fixed (yes, even their front teeth...are you getting the picture?) has not helped the situation.  However, what has helped the situation is this beauty:

We love our new home!  Just the fact that we live in our own place has been like a little piece of heaven.  Our neighborhood is a little oasis.  Across the street lives two retired teachers, a pediatrician, an internist, and next door is another pediatrician.  Our neighbor joked that only in Ottumwa will you find doctors and teachers living on the same street, and we absolutely love it.

Because we are still a one-car family (I know...) I have been spending a lot of time at home getting this place feeling like...well...home.

We bought new living room furniture:

Before  

After

Set up our unfinished basement to be a playroom:

 Got the boys bathroom set up:

 complete with dentures for bath toys (that's how we do it dental style here):

We got Jake's bedrooms done:

and we're still working on Eli's room (no, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you, Eli's room is pink.  C'mon, guys, one thing at a time):

The kitchen is now done:

The landscaping in our backyard is still a work in progress, but we've done lots already, including ripping out a dead tree that was in the middle of the yard.  Why it was there in the first place is still a mystery to me.

There is still a lot that needs to be done.  Next thing on our list (well, besides a car) is to get our entertainment room set up.  We're still living in the dark ages of a big box TV, and Joseph is more than ready to upgrade.

 We also have a fourth bedroom that is sitting completely empty.  Literally.  So, that means plenty of room for visitors, hint hint!  As long as you're willing to sleep on the floor, that is...  Just kidding, we'll get an air mattress.  :)

So as you can see, life has been busy.  It hasn't been all work though.  We've started to make new friends in our church and our neighborhood.  Some of our new friends even took us out on their boat recently.  Yeah, we choose our friends wisely.  :)

Jake getting out of the boat...love the face!

Tubing with friends

What handsome boys!

Life in Ottumwa has been dichotomous.  On the one hand, it's been hard living here.  I've had my fair share of breakdowns, as Joseph can attest to.  It's a completely run down city that the people have kind of left for ruins.  Sometimes I drive around the town and I look around and think to myself, "Wait, I live here?" But on the other hand, life in Ottumwa has been wonderful!  Joseph loves his job, and I love our home.  We have met some wonderful people and are anxious to get to know them better.  All in all, it's taking some time to adjust,  but we feel blessed every day.