Happy Father's Day!

I know it is a day late but, Happy Father's Day! Adeline and I are in Utah, so we were not able to be with Abe. I feel so bad! Abe is such a great dad and I love being able to watch him everyday with Adeline. Last night, on Father's day, my mom and I were playing with Adeline because she wouldn't fall asleep. She was walking all over the place! So Abe, she must have done it for you! She is not walking everywhere now, but she can walk whenever she wants to. Here is a video.

I was able to meet up with my good friends Meghan, Heather and MIndy for lunch. It was so much fun catching up with them and that they were finally able to meet Adeline! Here is a picture of Me and Meghan. She is pregnant with a little boy and I am so excited for her!

The reason why I am in Utah is for my good friend Maria's wedding. It was absolutely beautiful! I couldn't believe that her and Josh did almost everything themselves. Here are some pictures from her wedding.

Me and Ash

Grandpa Smart and Adeline

Nana Smart and Adeline



Me and Maria


Here is Adeline in a little basket that she crawled into at my parents house. She sat in there and played with toys and stuck them down the toilet paper roll. Since we have been here she has learned to put toys in things, just not out of them. What a smart little baby!

Yesterday for Father's day, I drove to American Fork and had a BBQ with the Barkers. It was so much fun seeing them!

Hocking Hills

On Tuesday morning, we decided to go on a little overnight trip somewhere before Abe actually starts school and since I am leaving to Utah. We ended up going to Hocking Hills National Park, which is about 2 hours away from here. We stayed at the Holiday Inn and then yesterday we went on a hike up to some falls and Old Man's Cave. It was SO pretty!!

When we got to the hotel, we did a little swimming.

Adeline lately loves to put things over her head (particularly clothes). It is pretty funny.


Hocking HIlls State park



Dada and Baby

here is a gigantic leaf that Abe found Adeline. It kept her very entertained....even though she tried to eat it.

Another thing she is doing lately is sorting things. She sat on the floor yesterday and played with these shirts for about 45 minutes until I took them away.

New friends

This last week has been pretty eventful and we have met some new friends. First of all, we have still been working on our house. Abe put the transition pieces on the new flooring and also put the baseboards up. So I just need to figure out how to caulk and get the floor project done. Another project that Abe decided to do was to change all the door handles out. He absolutely hates the gold ones (which I agree), so we bought brand new brushed nickel door handles and hinges. We only have changed one out, but it does make a big difference. Here is a before and after picture:


Some of you have been asking for other pictures of our house, and I will soon!! I am just waiting until we have all our projects done and then I will take pictures.

During the week, I attended a playgroup with some of the other AFIT spouses at one of the Dayton metroparks. Among many other things, there was a little stream and places for kids to play in the water. Adeline LOVED it! She just crawled around in the little stream and played with a little friend she met.



On Friday night, we attended a Ward Camp out. Well, we kind of attended it. We showed up, ate dinner, socialized and then we went home and slept in our own beds. We debated on camping over night, but Adeline has been going to bed so late and needs her sleep. Sorry, no pictures.

On Saturday, Adeline attended her first Birthday party for her new friend Catherine. It was her 1st birthday! She thoroughly enjoyed herself with the other babies.
Here is all the babies attacking Catherine's present. They couldn't resist the bow!

Sol, Catherine (birthday girl) and Adeline

All the babies in the pool



Adeline's new thing now is that if she eats at all.... she HAS to feed herself. It is getting quite ridiculous. Here is what she looked like last night after her dinner. NOT a fun cleanup.

Just hanging out by the window.... thought this was cute.

Life in Ohio

So far we are loving Ohio.... except for the Tornado watch we are under right now. Luckily, our neighbor just told us we were under a watch, which was good because we never watch the news here. So I am trying to get some blankets, food, etc in the basement just in case we have to go down there....hopefully not. We are loving it here though. It is pretty, the people are really nice, there is actually stuff to do, our ward is fantastic and we LOVE our house. The past two days, I have been attending a "mom and baby" workout class on base. I thought it would be a leisure workout, but so far they are the hardest workouts I have ever done (thanks to our drill sergeant instructor). Almost all the girls that go are AFIT (Air Force Institute of Technology) spouses, so it is a nice way to meet people. It has been nice too because Abe still has not started school yet, so we have been able to hang out. We are trying to plan some fun things for the next couple of weeks while he still has time.
Last weekend, we had Abe's friend Rob come and visit us from Virginia. It was so nice to see him and hang out. One of the days, we met Mori, Megan and Mayzee and all went to the Air Force Museum. It was really neat, but HUGE and we were not able to see everything.
Here is Adeline and Mayzee hanging out in the strollers. It is so fun that they are only about 50 minutes away from us for the summer so we can hang out!


Adeline has changed so much since we got here. She is little miss personality and we are constantly chasing after her because she is so busy. She will be walking soon!

She has decided that she is a picky eater, and she will only eat foods that she can feed herself. So let's just say that every meal is a big huge mess!

She has also learned that she can feed the dog.....

Mayzee and Adeline hanging out

The other day we took Adeline to our neighborhood park. Adeline loved it.




Across the street from our neighborhood, there is an apartment complex with a pool. You can just walk right in, so we went swimming there yesterday. Adeline is a little fish and love the water. Below this post, I posted a little video of her swimming under the water. Check it out.


If any of you are ever visiting here, or driving through, you are welcome to stay with us. Okay....back to the tornado alert....

swimming

We took Adeline swimming yesterday, which she loves. The water was FREEZING cold, so we were not able to enjoy it for very long.

Finally in Ohio

A lot has happened since the last time I wrote. We made our big move to Ohio and are finally here. I didn't think I would be sad to leave Santa Maria, but I was. It's weird to live in a place for 3 years, meet new friends and then leave and have to start all over.
Before we left, we were able to get a couple more games of Settlers of Catan in with our friends Chad and Carley. I don't think I have ever been so obsessed with a game. I have become pretty good friends with Carley and am going to miss her!

We also got a visit from Amanda right before we moved. It was so nice to see her and for her to be able to spend a little more time with Adeline. I really wanted to go to the Beach before we left, so that is what we did. Surprisingly, Adeline loved her feet in the sand and enjoyed it. I was so lucky that I only lived 3 1/2 hours from Sierra and Amanda and could go and visit them on the weekend if I wanted to. It is going to be hard to live so far away from family!


On our way to Ohio, we stopped in Utah for a couple of days so we could see our families. It worked out perfectly too because we were able to go to Roni's surprise birthday party. We had to drive both of our cars to Ohio, so we picked up Abe's dad in Utah to help us drive. It was so nice having an extra driver so I could tend to Adeline!

Our next stop was in Cheyenne, Wy where we stayed at Seth and Sarah's house and got to see their new little baby boy. They live on base and had such a nice house. I loved our visit there, but Sarah probably was happy to get rid of us. By this time, we had already been traveling for 3 full days in the car and Adeline's schedule was so screwed up. She about cried every hour through the night.....fun, fun.

Here is a "good" moment of Adeline in her car seat. I sat in the back with her a lot so I could try to entertain her and get her to stop screaming.

Our next stop was Omaha, Nebraska and then Nauvoo, IL. We went to the temple in Nauvoo, IL and it was so pretty. There were so many tulips that were in full bloom and the weather was just right. We sat on the grass and played with Adeline a little bit. She had a "blow out" through her pants on the grass in front of the temple, so we had to get her naked and change her diaper right there. I would post the picture that we took of her, but it would probably be inappropriate. It was pretty hilarious.


A couple days after we arrived to Ohio, my mom flew out to help us paint. We honestly painted about every day that she was here until midnight. Our house looks so much better now and I love the colors we painted. They are a lot better than red, forest green, lime green, yellow, orange/brown, etc. Abe has almost finished our new flooring too, so our house is looking different. I will have to post pictures when we are done. The week my mom was here went so fast and I already miss her!


We are pretty much settled in and Adeline is a lot happier now. Since we arrived here two weeks ago, she has learned to wave, clap and taken her first steps. She is growing up so fast!

As far as me making our blog private, I am still deciding. Family members and friends don't all have google accounts, so it may be more of a headache. I will let you know if I do!

GOING PRIVATE!!

I have been meaning to go private for awhile, but keep putting it off. I would love all of you who read this blog to have access, so please email me at nicolesbarker@gmail.com (or leave a comment with your email) so I can invite you. If my husband or I know you in ANY way (even if you are a friend of a friend), we would be happy to invite you.