Ammon

Hello Lindgrenites!

The last few months have been busy, but then when is it NOT busy? At the tail-end of March we headed West and visited the beautiful island of Maui for some R&R. Angela and I hit up where we got married almost 5 years ago, and showed Finn and Harper all the fun things Maui has to offer, including the Aquarium, the beach, the sand, and mini-golf. It was fun times all around and we basked in the glow of 70-80 degree weather with scattered showers (their worse weather all year) day in and day out. Then we flew home and stepped off the plane in Seattle to 45 degrees and freezing cold rain. What a wake-up call. Finn and Harper both did excellent on the plane both ways--we're stoked they're such good little travelers.

Then April hit, aka Suck Month. 1) I came to an understanding with my job that I'd be leaving soon (by June, most likely), as after years of faking it, they finally caught on that I don't really like working there. It's not a bad thing, but scary since I still don't have a new job lined up yet, and I'm working on borrowed time training a new person. 2) Angela found out that she'll be getting laid off in October (October???) as her company is cutting hours--which happens to be all the hours she works. Bummer. Nice to get a heads up, but a looming bummer none-the-less. 3) My Grandpa Ralph Gilbert died at 90 years old in Wyoming. He was a great guy who lived a long life and accomplished many things, but it still sucks that he's no longer around to talk about the weather. 4) Harper got some weird virus in her chest that broke her into hives and gave her a temperature of over 104C. After 2 trips to the emergency room, we finally got it under control, but talk about a stressful couple of days. Emergency Rooms are not fun. 5) Angela's Grandma (who lives in our basement apartment) fell in the middle of the night and broke her hip. She's currently recovering in a nursing center a few blocks away, but it was scary since she's 96 years old. She's a fighter though, and she's still trucking, but still.

That was April--we're glad April is over. So far in May though, Angela and the kids have had colds and my mouth/jaw/tooth has caused me incredible pain--I'm set to get a second root canal on the same tooth I had a root canal on 4 years ago that has since caught an infection and have grew back some nerves--so apparently it didn't really catch on. So they get to give me another one. But we've had decent weather in Seattle, participated in a multi-family garage sale and made some decent cashola, and I even met a chick with the exact same tattoo on her foot as I do, except hers was in black and white. That was surreal--and totally awesome.

Hopefully summer is more relaxing than our Spring. We're looking forward to Emily and family and my mom coming in June for a visit. Finn's talking a lot more these days (and saying some really smart things now and again), and Harper is rolling around and smiling 98% of the time.

That is all.

Love, The Gilberts (Ammon, Angela, Finn, and Harper)