My Awesome Husband...

...has had his first ever big deal publication!  That's right, his work is published in this fancy journal:

And what, you may ask, did he write?  What was his important medical research about?  Well, the best part is, he submitted a poem.  :)  And they accepted it!  Apparently they publish a couple of poems every issue.  Here it is, for your perusal:

I'm absolutely tickled that his first-ever publication in a medical journal is a poem.  He is my renaissance man, and I love him.

Our West Virginia Vacation

Conrad had a week off in August, and we headed north to Monangahela National Forest in West Virginia.  Not only is it a beautiful locale, but it also makes for a great place to meet up with our dear Massachusetts Mylers!  We stayed the first night in a motel and enjoyed the pool and sandbox.  After church the next morning we hopped in our cars to drive to the Middle Mountain Cabins.  We drove and drove...and drove...and finally after 3 hours (it should've been 1.5) we found the cabins!  We had 3 GPS units and 2 sets of directions among us, or we may be looking for them still.

Naptime and bedtime for kids meant game time for grown ups!  We played lots of Dominion, Set, and Carcassone.

Coen is happily collecting pinecones.  He was very sticky afterwards.

Bug collecting with cousin Hadley and Uncle/Cousin Tristan.  Tristan had some pretty spiffy bug nets and collecting vials that he was willing to share.

This is Silas digging for worms.  Somehow the children always thought it was a great idea to use their spoons to dig for worms right before dinner.

Conrad is guarding the Dutch oven lest any children try to touch it.  The main kitchen cabin had a gas stove with an oven, but the oven part didn't work.  Fortunately our neighbors let us borrow their Dutch oven before we left.  We baked pizza, veggie pot pie, and hot fudge cake in it.  Conrad took charge of burning the wood down into coals every time.  It was a very time-consuming task, but I think he liked it.  And the children found the whole thing very entertaining.

Happy cousins!

Everyone should make falafel while camping.  Delicious!

Mmmm, Dutch oven hot fudge cake.  We celebrated Eli's birthday with it.

More happy cousins, and Auntie Heather too.  In the background you can see one of the little sleeping cabins.

Coen and Conrad pumping water to use in the sink.

Story time with Uncle Josh.

Silas is happy so long as there's a stick to hold.

There was no running water and no electricity.  We couldn't check our emails or answer our phones.  Conrad was there to help me put our boys down for naps and bedtime every day.  I kept telling him what a lovely relaxing vacation it was.

Where Did Summer Go?

It seems like summer just flew by.  Here are some of our doings from the hottest months of the year.

Pregnant lady as of the 4th of July.  It is hard for me to look at this and acknowledge that I now am much bigger.  I'll put up a more recent pregnant picture soon.

In July we went to Michigan to visit Grandma and Grandpa McKnight.  They took us to the MSU Children's Garden and we ran into Conrad's Grandpa Schafer!  He was helping with the mini train set there, which the boys loved.

Here are the boys playing on the play train at the Children's Garden...

...and here they are riding a REAL steam engine at Greenfield Village a few days later.  You should have seen their faces while we rode.  It was a little boy dream come true.

Here's the engine that we rode.  It even stopped for coal and water and let off steam partway through.  I asked Coen if he would like the job of the engineer, but he said it would be too loud for his ears.

Greenfield Village also had an adorable playground, including our favorite steam shovel (minus Mike Mulligan).

Coen had me take this picture of his dragon arm painting.  Bobo the clown did it for him at the library's end of summer reading party.  Coen wore his cape and helmet to dress up for the party...when you're 4, party clothes mean superhero garb for sure.

Here are my boys enjoying snow cones at the Tomato Art Festival in August.  They also got to help decorate and eat the world's largest ice cream sundae at the event.  There were bounce houses and balloons too.  (Thankfully one of the bounce houses was inside an air conditioned gym or I don't think I would've made it--it was HOT that day!)  On the way home Coen was already talking about going again next year.

These are my two handsome boys, all dressed and ready for church.

The weather cooled off enough for us to enjoy a walk/bike ride around Radnor Lake.  Coen is known to yell, "Guten Morgen!" and, "I'm as fast as a cheetah!" to people we pass by.

This is Silas' face after eating a crepe with Nutella rolled inside of it.  It really wasn't even that much Nutella.  He just has a special talent for getting food all over his face.  In other ways he can be very neat and tidy.  For example, he always insists on putting the milk cap back on the jug immediately after I pour it.  But he loves to mix and mash and dump his food.  Side note:  We ate a lot of crepes in August because I volunteered to make them for a Relief Society activity and had never made them before...so I practiced lots and they turned out great!  And nobody around here complained about having to eat all the practice crepes.

Coen insisted that I tie this empty box lid to his back so he could be a dump truck.  :)  We bought a bushel of apples less than 3 weeks ago and they're mostly gone.