The goodbye's begin

We love our friends. Ryan and I were both so lucky to have made some of the best friends in high school. Lucky for us we've been able to get together often with them, but now we had to say our goodbyes. On Saturday we had a farewell party at Scott's, and watched the Coug's run away to victory! It was fun to be with everyone and see everyone's little families starting to grow.

Then my girls had one last get together before I leave this Thursday. Ever since high school we would all get together for lunch dates every few months to catch up on all of our crazy lives. Here we are years later with husbands, college degrees, babies and still crazy lives!

Thank heavens for cell phones, blogs, facebook, and all the other technology I have to continue to keep in touch with these lovely ladies. I seriously have been so lucky to have such great friends. Thanks for the parties and we can't wait for another big party at Christmas!!

For the Record

Ok. So here's the deal. I think I've had about 745 people tell me that it's cold in Minnesota, that it snows a lot, and that it's really cold. Well I've lived in Utah for an awfully long time, and I'm pretty sure it's cold and snows a lot. This was our car this morning, in Utah.

Now, when I'm driving out of my under-ground heated parking garage in Minnesota, I'll remember how cold Utah is :) Bring it on!

Homeless

We are officially moved out of our house, and a new family has moved right on in. Weird. Who knew that when we bought the house 15 months ago that we'd be moving out? Not me. But we're moving on to bigger and better things! We still have about 10 days of limbo before we pack the car and drive through a whole bunch of corn fields. This is such a crazy time of life. I feel like I have no routine or schedule. I feel like I'm just waiting for life to begin again. I feel like this is the longest goodbye I've ever given to people I love. And it is all still so surreal! I really am excited to settle into our little apartment, make new friends, and grow as our own little family.

But there are some things that will never change...like 6 different outfits for Olivia in one day, 5 loads of laundry in one day (due to the excessive messyness of my child), running silly errands, wanting to sleep-in but can't, loving Olivia's little new-found giggle, loving being married to my best friend, and always anticipating our next big adventure.

My darling little Valentine

We spent our Valentine's Day packing up boxes, lifting heavy furniture, and trying to empty our house. We are exhausted. Sue got heart-shaped pizzas from Brick Oven, they were delicious. I think somehow they even tasted better. My sister and I have a theory that "shaped" food always tastes better (shaped mac & cheese, jell-o squares, heart-shaped waffles, etc.). Ryan got me a beautiful painting of the Savior. I have been wanting a nice picture of Christ in our home for quite some time, and I'm so excited to hang it up! It was so thoughtful of him, I absolutely love it.

Tomorrow we should be all the way out of our house, just in time to clean up for our renters to move in on Friday. We're living with Ry's parents in the meantime, and we're so excited to be down in Provo and spend LOTS of time with family. I'm sure Olivia will love all of the attention too!

Hope you all had a Happy Valentine's Day!

Road Trip

Last weekend we were very brave parents and decided to drive out to San Diego to visit my sister Melissa and her little family. Ryan and Melissa were blessing their little Lucy, so we decided to take a few days off and make the trip. Livy was an angel! She slept all the way to St. George, and then slept another long stretch from Baker to San Diego. It was nice to get out of the car with no coat on and get some fresh air. We also attempted our first road trip with our little Sargie. He too was so good the whole car ride! He had a little bed in the back and looked out the back window or slept, he hardly made a peep! This is all very good news since we'll be making the drive to Minnesota (twice as far) in less than 3 weeks!

I have none of the pictures that were taken with all of us, but my parents also drove out, then my sister Jen and brother Ryan also flew out for the weekend (David, Crissi, Addie, Shanna, Kenna and Tim were all missed :) We drove out to the beach, enjoyed the sea breeze and sunshine, and laughed at all the funny seals and sea lions. Livy had an explosion, so we had to change her at this location right after this picture was taken...not a highlight of the trip.

On Sunday we went to church, and Ryan (Grow) did an amazing job on Lucy's blessing. She looked so pretty in the same dress her mommy was blessed in (I'll add cute pictures once I get them.) Then we had a nice and relaxing afternoon, watching the Super Bowl in our Sunday clothes. Livy especially loved the football game. She loves hanging out with dad.

It was a short trip, but a fabulous one. It's always so great to see family. I'm so excited to see them all in April!

4 Months Old

Our little girlie, Olivia, is 4 months old. She is the cutest baby I have ever seen. She is also the happiest baby I have ever known. She had her 4 month check up with the doctor today and he said she is perfect. Her stats are:

Height: 26" (95th percentile)

Weight: 15 lbs. 9 oz. (87th percentile)

Olivia loves to suck on her fingers. I kept trying to hurry and take a picture with her hands down, but I figure this is the perfect picture to remember this little phase. It's always those first 2 fingers too. She is improving on her hand/eye coordination, she loves to grab my hair, and she's just finding her toes. She loves being barefoot and rubbing her feet back and forth. She is still a great little eater. She has been sleeping pretty good as well at night, but she's a great napper. She's loves her beauty sleep.

Livy loves to coo, smile, and beam with happiness. There are several mornings where mommy and daddy still want to sleep, but she'll just talk to herself and coo for hours. She is a very talkative little girl, there are times Ryan and I can hardly hear each other because she's so noisy! She'll sit in her bumbo and laugh at her reflection in the mirror. Livy is beginning to like her tummy time more and more. Her hair is starting to grow in, but she still is kind of a baldy. Her eyes are turning into a really pretty green color and we're hoping they stay that way!

We love our little Olivia. We are so happy. I can't imagine our lives without her. My home is wherever she and Ryan are. We're excited to make a new home in Minnesota with our little family.

They meet

A few weeks ago my sister Melissa visited from San Diego for a week, and our two babies got to meet! Olivia and Lucy were born about 6 weeks apart, and with many phone conversations about the terrible last few weeks of pregnancy to the frustration of the lack of sleep, we got to chit chat all week face to face! She came out thinking this would be the last time we'd see each other because of our big move, but we're actually going out to California this weekend and we'll both be in Utah again for the wedding in April! Regardless, we still had fun, and loved spending time with our babies and being mommy's. I love my fam.