AZ

It's been a while now hasn't it? As an update, we made it to Arizona and we are loving it!  I did forget the charger for our camera, which is a bummer, but good thing I got a snazzy phone for Christmas and it takes good pictures :)  But I am not the best at taking pictures of anything, except Nate.  So...here comes a long list of pictures, mostly of Nate.  But before we look at those, I'll tell you all how life is here.  It's great.  It's kinda hot.  The first week was wonderful, I was wondering why all Arizona people said it was hot because it felt just like July in Richland or Provo...but it was a cool week.  And the last few days have been proving the heat of Arizona and it's only just begun :)  But you know, I kind of like it! 

Steve is loving his job.  He's learning quickly and really likes all the people in the office. He got new shoes for Father's Day and I must say he looks very Attorney-ish.  Nate and I have been hanging out at home and enjoying hanging out with Emily, Mike, Jenni, and Mom Merrill. What wonderful people. We're having a good time together.  

Here are the pictures:

 We had an open seat next to on the airplane, which was a tender mercy, and Nate absolutely loved sitting in a big person chair.

 Cute right?!  Jenni got her wisdom teeth out and I loved the icing method :)

 Nate is loving all his new toys for the summer! 

 He has a love-hate relationship with his crib.  One day we had a little photo shoot and I thought the pictures were cute.

 He loves going over, under, and through things.

 Wahoo, he's eating crackers!

 Wild ride at the store

 Sitting in Grandpa's chair

His hair is getting long :)  I think he looks like a troll, all he needs is a little jewel on his belly button. 

The hate part of his love-hate crib relationship comes around 4am when he wants to get into bed with us. 

The boys 

With Aunt Jenni

He LOVES Jenni, Mike, Em, and his Grandma and Grandpa.  They are spoiling him with attention and he's eatin' it up! :)

It's an even smaller world than a few hours ago

So I wrote that post this afternoon about it being a small world.  Well.....

My good friend Sadie called today on skype.  Sadie is awesome.  She's getting married in August and I get to go!  And I even get to be a bridesmaid (lucky me!) Well she asked me what I was doing April 3, 2004.  I had no idea...it was right before I graduated from high school, right before my 18th birthday...no idea.  She holds up a picture from a a formal dance that I went to in Heber, Utah.  My cousins live there and I was in town that same night, so they hooked me up with a blind date.  So, not my date, but the guy on the other side of me in this big group picture happens to be....Reece, Sadie's fiance.  Haha!  Who knew?!  She was going through his pictures and found some old high school pictures and randomly she sees me in one.  I love it!  It truly is a small world I tell you!!!

The small world we live in

I absolutely love those "It's a small world" moments.  It's awesome to me when you find connections or reconnect with people from a while back.  I've had those moments a lot in my life, and most come from associations in the church; and even more specifically BYU.

We are going to Arizona for the summer and didn't want to haul all our stuff or store it all and end our contract and all that mess.  So, thanks to the queen of connections (my sister-in-law, Nikki) we were able to get some guys to stay here.  Nikki's friend's fiance and his roommate from BYU needed a place for the summer during their summer internships.  Perfect! They came over yesterday to check the place out and lo and behold there at my doorstep is a friend of mine.  Crazy right?  We were in the MTC together and were friends after our missions.  I'm a little more comfortable giving our apartment to these boys now that I know they are good boys :)

Then today at church I saw a new couple.  As I saw her closer up I realized she's a friend of mine from BYU too!  She was in my sister's ward and I had met her several times years ago (like from 2005 or something).

Those are the 2 most recent ones, but so many small-world-moments have happened out here in Virginia.
I've heard that the DC area is like that and I'm loving experiencing it all the time :)

Our first summer celebration

Steve finished his finals and we were off!  We are so excited for summer to begin!

We flew to Washington to spend some time with Laurel before her mission. We got a whole 10 ten days with her, which was wonderful.  We really enjoyed being with her.  

Wilford, Mel, and Stan came up from Utah and it was a blast.  I love them all!  It was also fun to finally meet Stan.  He's Mel's friend :)  It was short with them, but we were so glad they came.

Here's a few of the things we did:

Playing with Christian's homemade fireballs

Going to park several times

Everyone loving on this guy

Feeding ducks, seagulls, and geese

Sending this beautiful missionary off to the MTC

Grandma time

Family temple trip and Laurel's farewell

 Making awesome burgers for this guy 

Swimming (Nate's first time)

Grandpa time

At the end of every trip I always wish I had taken more pictures.  

We also:

Watched Christian's lacrosse game; He's really good

Went out for some rockin' pizza

Ran through sprinklers

Visited with tons of cousins

Late night chatting

Milkshakes

We enjoyed every minute with Kirsten, Mike, Tanner, Austin, Jon, Nicole, Laurel, Christian, Mom, and Dad.  We're lucky to be a part of such a cool family.

Now...we've got 2 weeks here in Virginia before we head out to AZ!!  We can't wait :)

1/2 a year down!

Nate had his half birthday last week.  SIX whole months with our little man and it has been wonderful!  I could write a whole book about how lucky I am and what a sweet baby he is and all...but I think I'll just put that in my personal journal instead. So, I'll just let you all know what he loves these days:

The Tub

Toes (Seriously...he LOVES feet)

Laying in strange positions

Playing with Mom and Dad (we like to wrap him up tight and he just laughs and laughs)

Sports (already!)

General Conference (such a righteous little man)

Cousins

Toys! and messes...

Reading :) Actually I think he just likes to crinkle the paper

Sitting up like a big boy

Letting Mom dress him up for church

Computers

Finding some way out of that chair

Hanging out on the kitchen floor

Snuggling with Mom and Dad 

Attempting crawling (he's getting really close)

Feasting upon the word of God

Blowing spit bubbles

Standing up (with a spotter of course)

Hanging out with his best friend

Climbing on people/attacking camera person

Making funny faces

Oh, and he now has little teeth...yikes.

So, the story of this post is that Nate is just flat out a JOY to have in our home and we love him so much :)

The sweet summer time!

Today is Steve's last final!!!  WAHOO!  And we've got some great plans for the summer.  

We are first headed to Richland to visit Laurel, who will be leaving on her mission on the 16th, and the rest of my super cool family.  Yay for missions! Boo for 18 months of not having my phone friend!!!  Laurel is my chat buddy during the day.  But I'm happy for her.  And I'm stoked to see all of my brothers and sisters and mom and dad.  They're so great.  Mel and Wilford are driving up from UT to see us too, which will be wonderful.  It's like marriage again...both sides of the family partying TOGETHER!

Then at the end of May, we'll be heading to Arizona.  Steve will be working there in a patent office, thanks to his awesome cousin, and we are so happy about it!  It will be really good experience for him. It will be SUPER fun in the nice HOT weather :)  I'm excited to hang out with Jenni, Mike, and Emily all summer long! Merrills rock and I love being a part of that family!

So those are our plans!  Don't worry, I'll be posting about the exciting happenings in both Washington and Arizona in detail as they occur.  We're excited about it all and feel so blessed with all the opportunities that the Lord puts in our life.