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.

A whirlwind

My friends, this past month has come and gone in a complete whirlwind of activity!  I finally feel like I have a moment to sit down and put it all together, but there is just so much to say that I really don't know exactly where to start.  I guess, the best place to start is with the most important and exciting thing that has happened in four years...JOSEPH'S GRADUATION!!!  

Can you believe it??  After four years of hard work and sacrifice and being dirt poor, Joseph finally has that piece of paper that says it was all worth it.  Congratulations, Dr. Dougherty, I don't think that there is anyone more proud of you than I am!  :)  

The boys spotted Joseph as we were walking in, and Jake wanted to wear his "funny hat."

Here is Joseph standing in line, anxiously awaiting to hear the name "Dr. Dougherty" and walk across the stage.

Such a proud wife!

 Later we celebrated with some cake and friends, always a winning combination!

Then the next day, we left for the Bahamas to celebrate!!  We dropped our kids off with my parents in Michigan then flew to Florida for a cruise to the Bahamas.

We went on our celebration cruise with our dearest of dear friends the Whiteheads, who also graduated from dental school.

 We were in paradise for four days.  

This was the balcony and view right outside our room

This is a view of our hotel from a beach on the other side of the island.  

 We gorged ourselves on cruise food, went snorkeling, tried Conch (the official food of the Bahamas), laid out on the beautiful beaches, shopped the local vendors, watched a fire breather, and saw one of the boats that they used in the Pirates of the Caribbean when they filmed on the island.

It was an amazing trip, to say the least, and we were sad to have it come to an end.

But, once we came home, it meant we were on to our next adventure: moving!

Thanks to a moving stipend from Joseph's new office, we didn't have to lift a finger during the move.  We hired Two Men and A Truck, and they did everything for us!  Packing, loading, moving, and unloading.  I think I could get used to this "real life" thing.  :)

Jake was more than happy to just chill and watch movies while the men packed and loaded the truck.

 So spoiled!

 Don't worry, I will put pictures up of our new house.  I know you want to see them because I'm always dying to pry into others people's homes myself.  But this is all I have for now...our kitchen full of boxes!

 It doesn't look like that anymore...everything has a place (of course it does with all that cupboard space!) and the boxes are gone.  My dear friend Tawnya came over to help unpack, and I really couldn't have done it without her.

Then, as soon as we got all moved in, we took a little trip to Kansas City to meet up with Joseph's sister and her beautiful family.  Of course, I forgot to take pictures, but we had tons of fun playing with each other and going to Oceans of Fun water park.  Just imagine 6 crazy kids and four adults all sharing one hotel room...it was mayhem and we loved every second of it!  (Except for the part where Jake refused to go to bed and Eli screamed every time we left the room...other than that, it was great!)

So, now we're back home and taking a breather from this whirlwind we've been in.  We're starting to settle into Ottumwa, and Joseph starts his new job next week.  Life is good, and life is progressing.  We're so excited to start this next phase, but of course miss our friends like you wouldn't believe.  I guess you can't have it all. *sigh*