Sunday, June 21, 2009

Happy Father's Day

Happy father's day to all the fathers out there!

I have the best dad ever! He has sacrificed so much for our family. He always worked so hard. When I was in junior high, my dad decided to go back to graduate school to get his master's. We moved to Champaign, IL to the University of Illinois. My dad got two master's degrees in two years, a 4.0 GPA, with 5 kids and working 5 different jobs to get by! Can you believe it?! My dad is one of the smartest people I know. He always helped me with my homework and projects. When he was in graduate school, my parents would leave at 3 AM to do their early morning paper route. Then my dad would be gone the rest of the day working and going to school. I am so grateful for his determination. He has taught me to work hard for what I want and to persevere and finish things that I start. I love him with my whole heart. My heart aches for the things he has to endure now, but he does it with a good attitude and always puts on a happy face for us kids. I love you daddy!

I have been so blessed in my life. Not only do I have the best dad, I have a husband who is the greatest dad. I love watching him with Tay. She loves him so much!

Here are just some cute daddy/daughter pictures from when Tay was 3 weeks old.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

A Plethora of Pictures

I found my camera cord, and found TONS of pictures I forgot about. Ahhh...this is going to be another long post! Sorry.

We went to our ward's Gold and Green Ball. We had tons of fun, and Tay loved playing with the balloons until the older kids got there and started popping them...then she wanted nothing to do with them!Our neighbors in Utah would give us tons of veggies last summer from their garden. Unfortunately we just caught the beginning of it this year before we left. But, Tay loved it. This picture is a little blurry, but I love it. She has a carrot and a radish.

Her bored look.
Loves sunglasses when she can just put them on and rip them off a million times in a row. Hates them if I try and really make her wear them!For Eric's birthday we hiked to Timpanogos cave and went through the cave. It was on Memorial Day, so it was packed! We had a blast. The hike was great, and the cave was amazing! Anyone in Utah should go do it...it's up American Fork Canyon.One of our last nights at our house.:(Learning how to talk on the phone. If she's anything like I was, we better have unlimited minutes. Geez.Loving this, as you can see. It makes me feel better that she's not pushing my face away~!When we first got to our house to start moving stuff in, our AC wasn't working. It was 96 degrees in our house! So, all Tay wanted to do was drink daddy's lemonade.Our new house.The entry when you first walk in the front door.Front room. Don't really know why it's blurry. HmmmAlso part of front roomTay's roomWork out room by Tay's.Living room.AgainKitchen
I forgot to take pictures of the guest room and our master bedroom. Oh well, you get the idea. Really excited to paint and decorate some more. We love our new place!

Moving

Hi! Well, life has been crazy around here lately. But, we are loving it! We moved to Tolleson, AZ (just outside of Phoenix) on June 3rd. The move went really, really well. Only a couple broken things and a little ding on our table, no big deal. Eric's dad drove the moving truck down for us, and left at 4 AM! Talk about a good dad! Thank you sooo much (I KNOW he will never read this, but thanks anyway!). Eric and I split the trip up and spent the night in Vegas with Tay, and then drove to Arizona the next day. Tay was really good in the car.

Once we got here I was REALLY excited to see the house. I had seen it once before, but I didn't remember it, because we saw seriously like 50 other homes. We were looking at homes that were in the upcoming auction, and we had no idea which one we would get, and what would be in our price range. Eric got the house at an auction for a killer deal. Anyway, I love the house!! It is a rambler, which is what I really wanted. It it about double the size of our other house. It has 4 bedrooms, and a really open floor plan. It is so fun to watch Tay. She loves all the open space. It's funny, because in our other house I would always know where she was, because basically I could see anywhere in the house. Here, I have to go find her sometimes. She'll be playing in a back bedroom, or shut herself in the bathroom (naughty!). It is really fun. I took a bunch of pictures of our new place, but of course I can't find the camera cord. So, when that is found, I will post all the pictures of our new place. We have lots of plans for it. We want to paint, do a backsplash, paint the cabinets, get the carpet cleaned, and a little decorating. But, all in good time! ha. We're not in a huge hurry, because we still love it the way it is.

In other news, our Utah house in UNDER CONTRACT!!! We got an offer in the day before we moved out! It was such an answer to our prayers. This is exactly the way the Lord works in my life. Things ALWAYS work out, but usually it happens right at the last second! I swear this is because I am such a planner, that the Lord is trying to show me who's in charge!! haha I love it. Thanks for all the prayers for our house. It is a really cute young couple with no kids. They are really nice. Hopefully all will go through, and it will close the end of this month! Exciting!

But, we really miss our families and friends in Utah. It definitely is not the same. Especially since I always have to watch Tay, no dropping her off at Grandma's house or with her aunts! Oh how I took that for granted! My one saving grace is that Eric's sister and brother are down here with their families! That is sooo nice. We love hanging out with them. Eric's sister just moved here, and lives only 10 minutes away, and they have a POOL!! It is awesome.

We also just barely got back from Vegas, where we went to Eric's cousin's wedding. It was a great sealing, and the reception was beautiful! Loved it, and loved seeing all our family. They are so much fun to be with.

Tay is doing well with the transition. She sleeps well in her new room. I love that her room is on the other side of the house, because now I can actually do things during her nap without waking her up. It is a beautiful thing! She "talks" ALL the time now. It is the cutest thing ever. She jabbers the entire day, I love it. She is saying more and more real words too. But, she is also getting pretty fiesty. She has learned the word no, and likes to tell me no multiple times a day. She also just learned how to open our doors, and can get into the pantry and bathrooms!! Ahhhh. Sure keeps me busy. She is so smart. She grabs my hand and takes me to whatever she wants, usually to the door so she can go outside. Also, she will get in her cupboard and bring me a sippy cup when she is thirsty. Such a good girl. We went swimming yesterday, and she loved it. She was so happy. She didn't even cry when her head went under the water a couple of times! ha, whoops!

This post is getting long. I'll post a few pictures of our last house all finished. Eric did such a good job with it.
I'll post pictures of the new house as soon as I find the cord!