Utah {part two}

Our second week in Utah was actually spent at Hebgen Lake in Montana with my family. It was a little bit chilly for August, but it was still a blast. I was so excited for Abe to finally go up there for the first time because it is a place with lots of good memories. I think it met all his expectations! We water skied, wake boarded, went on horseback rides, got an exclusive tour "behind the scenes" at the Grizzly Bear park, went into West Yellowstone National Park and hung out with family. It was so fun to be with my entire immediate family plus my aunt, uncle & cousins! We had a blast and can't wait to go again!!

FROG ISLAND




YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK







ON THE LAKE






IN WEST YELLOWSTONE (they are kissing the buffalos legs?)


AT THE GRIZZLY BEAR PARK


CHASE & ABE FISHING


HORSEBACK RIDING

Utah {Part One}

This post is LONG overdue. Things have been a bit crazy since we've been home. The beginning of August we headed to Utah for two weeks. We had a blast seeing both sides of the family. It is always a little bit stressful. We try as hard as we can to make it "fair" between both the families and it makes for a lot of traveling around it seems. We were a little sad because we didn't really get to see our friends because of the time crunch. Hopefully next time!!

The first week in Utah was spent with the Barkers. We were able to go stay at Abe's parents house in Mt. Pleasant and spend some time with them. They have a bunch of stray kittens running around and Adeline is always in heaven there. They do gross me out a little bit, but luckily they ran away from her the most the time. She loved chasing them. Once in awhile she would catch one. We ate a lot of junk (Margie knows us too well and prepares for us by buying treats :), rode the 4 wheeler, visited with Abe's siblings & nieces and nephews and just hung out.




We also went on a little camping trip with the Barkers. Adeline had SO much fun with her cousins. It makes me want to move back so she can play with them all the time. The first day we were with ALL of them, she said to me "I have so many cousins!" She LOVED it!! We ate a lot of good food, went swimming


















Abe also went on a little adventure with his brother Mori and his friend Rob. They decided to hike King's Peak (the highest mountain in Utah) in ONE day. I was not a big fan of this (especially just coming from sea level), but they survived and made it. What an adventure!!

Starting in the dark...





At the top!

Adeline's 3rd Birthday Party

We were going to be on a plane to Utah for Adeline's birthday, so we decided to have her birthday the weekend before. She insisted she have a butterfly birthday; fine with me! I was dreading having a Dora party since she is so obsessed, so I was happy about the Butterflies.

We had a bunch of water toys for the kids to play in/on and had a BBQ. Adeline had a blast with her friends!















The night before her birthday we let her open her presents from us. I LOVE watching all the expressions on her face. She has so many of them and gets so excited about everything. We just love this little girl :)

5 Years

Crazy how 5 years flies by so fast... yet it seems like Abe has always been a part of my life and I can't imagine life with out him or our darling little girls. It's crazy for me to look back at all our adventures and see where we have ended up after 5 years. I never thought I would have lived far from Utah and I'm just about as far away as you can get in the States. It hasn't really mattered to us where we end up (we still have no idea!), but just as long as we are together. I feel so lucky to have found such a great husband and father to my kids. I love him more today than I did 5 years ago.

In the last 5 years we have:

-Moved three times (practically 4)
-Lived in 4 houses
-Had four cars
-Lived in three states
• Santa Maria, California
• Beavercreek, Ohio
• Bedford, Massachusetts
-Been to 11 Countries
Mexico
Guatemala
Belize
France
Italy
Switzerland
Germany
Belgium
Luxembourg
Tunisia (just Abe)
British Virgin Islands
-Visited 26 States
California
Utah
Nevada (Las Vegas)
Montana (Hebgen Lake)
Arizona (Phoenix)
Wyoming
Idaho
Nebraska
Iowa
Illinois
Indiana
Ohio
Kentucky
Tennessee (Gatlinburg)
West Virginia
Virginia (Lynchburg)
Pennsylvania
South Carolina (Myrtle Beach)
North Carolina
New Hampshire
Maine (Acadia National Park & Bar Harbor)
Connecticut
Hawaii (Oahu)
Maryland
Delaware (Dover)
New York (Ithaca & Abe’s trip to NY city)
-8 new nieces & nephews and 3 on the way
-4 new in-laws
-Had two kids
-Acquired one little pig dog
-Been in 3 different wards
-Met lifelong friends
-Bought our first house
-Been on many camping and weekend trips
*
-Abe has gone to school almost 4 out of the 5 years and is almost done with his second Masters
-Abe visited 5 States without me
Michigan
Alabama
New Jersey
Florida
Louisiana
-I started a Photography Business
-I ran my first HALF marathon

7 Months

I cannot believe that Norah is almost 8 months old. The time flies by WAY too fast. A couple things about Norah at 7 months:

-Started army crawling about 2 weeks ago
-As of today is crawling on her hands and knees, but will get impatient and will army crawl to get somewhere quickly
-When she gets excited or happy she gets the biggest grin and squeezes her eyes shut. It's pretty funny.
-Started clapping. She was doing it very well two weeks ago, but is not doing it on cue anymore.
-Got her first two teeth on the bottom last week
-Is COMPLETELY sleeping through the night until 8-9am (FINALLY!)
-Not too thrilled about baby food still. Loves feeding herself bitter biscuits.
-Makes funny squeals that sound like a bird.
-Still very easy going and very relaxed
-Cuddly and such a sweet baby

Oh how we love sweet Norah!! We have been playing way too much the past three weeks and that is the reason we have abandoned the blog. I promise I will have lots of new posts in the next couple of days about Adeline's birthday party, Utah & Abe's moms visit.

Groupon

I have this little infactuation with Groupon. I LOVE paying 50% less than I normally would on something. Today I bought a $50 gift card for GAP for only $25. Thought I would share the wealth :)

Check it out!

http://www.groupon.com/r/uu2583098

Three

Tomorrow Adeline is turning 3 years old. CRAZY how the time flies. I have been watching her a lot lately and thinking... "she is a kid now, not a baby!" I forget all the time that she has already grown up into a little person. We will be waking up at about 4am on her birthday tomorrow to drive to the airport and fly home to Utah. Wish me luck... I am once again flying by myself on a 5.5 hour flight.... yuck!

At Adeline's 3 year check she was:

**25 lbs (barely)- 3rd percentile
**Her height may have been 34 or 35 inches... can't remember already, but it was in the 20% percentile

She is just a little tyke!!

Some things about Adeline at 3 years old:

*LOVES to dance. When she hears music, she immediately wants to put on a dress and dance. Loves "So you think you can dance".
*Loves singing. She seems to always be singing lately and makes up her own little songs. As soon as Norah starts crying, she starts singing a song really fast to try and cheer her up. Favorite songs: Bumblebee, Child of God, sleeping beauty song, 12345/fish song, twinkle twinkle
*Every night
*Loves riding her horse, playing with blocks, playing with her tea set, riding her tricycle, loves dora, Olivia & princess, dolls, Strawberry shortcakes (aka strawberry cupcake)
*tells really funny stories and loves hearing stories
*Has lots of facial expressions
*Is scared of animals in her room at night... still not sure if this is from a bad dream or what
*Loves pushing Norah around in the little car and entertaining her
*Loves when the Star Spangled Banner plays on base. If she is inside the house, she will purposefully run outside so she can stand there and put her hand on her heart. Cracks me up every time.
*Loves both sets of her Grandparents and talks about them all the time. Loves to skype them.
*Starting to say pretty good prayers all by herself
*Loves going to Nursery
*Starting to learn how to play soccer
*She points her finger to you when she talks. Makes me realize I probably do this to her too much :)

Adeline makes us laugh all the time and is so much fun to be around. She has way more energy than me and keeps me on my toes. We love you so much Adeline. Happy Birthday!!