We are in Bakersfield

We made it! We are so excited to finally be here and we are getting settled. Our house is still a disaster but we are working on it. Hopefully it will look nice in time for Christmas. We don't have internet until Tuesday so I will post more then.
BTW, I had to turn in our cell phones back to the school since I purchased them through the school. So we had to get new cell phones and new phone numbers. So if you feel like giving us a call you can at:
Angela Cell 661-616-8499
Eric Cell 661-616-8495
We home you all have a Merry Christmas!

We are outta here

I am happy to announce that Eric has found an internship which will hopefully turn into a full time job. He will be working as a Forensic Accountant and CBIZ in Bakersfield, CA. If you don't know what that is you will have to ask him. It has something to do with investigating fraud and working with the legal system, or something like that. You will have to ask him.
We will be moving right during Christmas time. I have a feeling that we won't have much of a Christmas this year. Eric has been applying for internships all semester and when CBIZ came to campus a couple of months ago Eric wanted an interview. He couldn't sign up for an interview though because he did not meet the GPA requirement so he just showed up and asked the guy for an interview. The interviewer gave up his lunch to see Eric and he had a great interview. He was so excited about his interview that when he came home I was out in the dorm doing clean checks and he found me so he could tell me about it. After waiting for almost 2 months he was sure he wasn't going to get the internship because he knew that hundreds had also interviewed for four positions. We even considered staying in Rexburg when Eric was offered an internship here with a local accounting firm. A few weeks ago Eric received a phone call letting him know they were considering him for the position. Then later that week Eric got a letter offering him the position.
I am so excited for Eric that he was able to get the internship that he wanted. If he does well with this internship then he will most likely get a job offer. In today's job market that is so nice. :)
Over our thanksgiving break Eric and I took a trip to Bakersfield, CA to look for a house to rent. We looked at 5 different houses and the very last house we looked at we knew we wanted it. We are so excited that we were able to sign the lease on the house before we left. It was a quick trip but we got a small taste of what the next chapter of our life will look like and we are so excited. We will arrive in Bakersfield on December 20th. Here are some pictures for our friends and family to see although I don't think the pictures give the house justice. I think it is beautiful and the perfect set up for our situation right now. It is at the end of a cul-de-sac so it is very private. It has a big backyard for the kids and Sugar (we get her back!!). It has 3 bedrooms so I don't have to worry about the kids waking each other up until the next kid comes. :) It has 2 bathrooms and a big kitchen that over sees the living room and the sink looks out to the backyard. It also has a lot of counter space. I am also excited to have my own laundry room again. I am also happy that the dinning area has tile and not carpet so my kids can be messy and not mess up the carpet. The living area is carpeted so I can get on the floor with my kids and play comfortably. Okay, I will stop and just say that we are sooooooooooooooooo excited to be in a house again and out of the dorm.

Eric turns 29

On November 17th we celebrated Eric's 29th birthday. Our number 2 candle has officially been worn down. Eric had a great birthday. The first part of the day was normal with school and work. After he got home I got a babysitter and took him out to dinner. We came home for some birthday cherry cheese cake (Eric's favorite) and presents. Then we put the kids to bed and watched Star Trek.



Eric got a new pair of headphones so he can tune me out whenever he wants. :) jk
Here is Eric opening his new GPS. He loved it and it has been very helpful for us while we were in Bakersfield. (That story is coming in the next post)

Happy Birthday Eric! You are a wonderful husband and father and we love you very much!

How Pretty!

I was putting on my make-up one morning and got a knock on the door. While I was distracted for a few minutes it was very quiet. When I came back I found Aaron putting on make-up. He has mascara all over one eye and lip stick all over the other eye. After trying to wash it off I could only get the mascara off. The lipstick stayed on his face for a few days until it wore off.

Brother loves his Sister

Aaron just loves having his little sister around. These two make each other laugh all the time. I love watching these two interact. Here are a couple of videos of these two in action.

Halloween pictures, Finally!

Halloween was a month ago and I am finally getting around to posting these adorable pictures. Aaron made a cute Elmo and Kaylee is an adorable lamb.

Kaylee looks like she is mad that I made her look so darn cute.

From the right angle Aaron really looked like Elmo. He loved it!

2 Adorable Kids

It is crazy how much I don't feel like blogging anymore. Sorry! I know I am not the only one though because some of you are just as bad as me. :) I still love to check out everyone else's blog but I am never in the mood to update mine.

I think I finally have figured out how to manage two kids and a dorm. Things have definitely gotten a ton better for me. I was hitting some post partum depression for awhile. I think the stress of a new semester and two kids was just too much for me. I think going on that cruise was a wonderful break for me. It gave me the energy to come back and do better. I am trying to keep a positive attitude about everything and enjoy my time with my kids. I love being a mom and love that I can spend all day with them. They are just so cute. :)

I love watching Aaron and Kaylee interact with each other. Sometimes Aaron will do something silly and it will make Kaylee laugh. I love those moments. Here are some updates on my kids.

Aaron - shortly after Aaron's 2nd birthday we made the big switch of letting him sleep in a big bed instead of the crib. For the first month he did great. He went to bed when we put him down and he stayed in bed until we came and got him. Then it finally hit him. Nothing was keeping him in that bed. He could get out whenever he wanted. Now we are struggling with putting him to bed because he will keep coming out of his room for 2 hours after bed time. Sometimes I find him sleeping right in front of the door. It is pretty cute though when he gets out of bed and lies down next to the door and sticks his hand out.

With Aaron in the big bed we have the crib set up for Kaylee. We tried to let them sleep in the same room together but it was very hard because they would wake each other up. Aaron would sometimes climb into bed with Kaylee and wake her up. No one was getting sleep in our house. So now I have Kaylee sleeping in the pack n play in the living room. Sometimes Aaron gets up in the middle of the night to play and one morning I found him asleep back in the crib.

We are slowly working on potty training Aaron. I haven't made the official switch to underwear yet but every once in a while I let Aaron sit on the potty so he can get the idea. It was funny one day when he tried to get on the potty himself and some how pull the seat out from under him and he fell in. He wasn't quite sure what to do and mommy and daddy just pulled out the camera and laughed. :)

Kaylee - She is now 5 months old and is a very easy baby. She is very patient with mommy when she needs to take care of her demanding older brother. Kaylee smiles at everyone who pays attention to her. She loves to suck on anything and everything and is always drooling. She doesn't roll over yet but she can sit up all by herself for about 10-15 seconds. She loves playing with Aaron's toys. Aaron keeps reminding Kaylee that she needs to "share" as he takes those toys away from her. Overall she is a very happy girl and we are blessed to have her in our family.

Winter is almost here and it has already snowed a few times (luckily it didn't stick around). When it did stick to the ground I pulled out Aaron's snow gear and let him go outside. He wasn't quite sure what to do with the snow but he liked it.

Kaylee is so sick of lying around. I can tell that she wants to get up and play with the rest of us. She must have some killer ab muscles because she is always lifting up her head like she wants to sit up.

My little princess!

I have two adorable kids and I love them very much!

Where to go from here???

I can't believe that we have been back here in BYU-Idaho for almost 2 years. Time has flown by so quickly. Aaron was not even 6 months old when we moved here and now he is jumping off our couches and talking more and more not to mention we have another wonderful spirit in our home. I am so proud of Eric for making this big change of coming back up to BYU-Idaho and majoring in Accounting. He has worked really hard these last couple years and has come out with amazing grades and I can tell he has learned a lot.
This semester is his last semester of classes and then all he needs is an internship to (finally) graduate. Maybe I am just being a worrisome wife because I have no idea where we are going next and it is driving me crazy. Eric is out looking for an internship to start sometime hopefully in January.
I had this brilliant idea of posting his resume on the blog. This way if any of our friends or family know of any internships in accounting then maybe you will be willing to help out. :) Please feel free to send Eric an email or give him a call if you have any leads on an internship for him. He can send you a better copy of his resume.

Cruise to Mexico

Sept. 20th - Sept. 27 My family and I went on a Cruise! It was amazing. I had so much fun and I loved spending that time with my family. My siblings have been planning this cruise for about 6 months to surprise my Dad for his 60th birthday which was on the 22nd. When everyone was planning this cruise I was still pregnant with Kaylee and was convinced that it would not be a good time to go because I would have to leave my baby. Not to mention how expensive it costs.

For the last couple of months I would get phone calls from my siblings trying to convince me to go. I just couldn't see how it would all work out. I didn't want to leave my baby and I didn't know if I could get work off. Kim kept calling to tell me that the price went down ($299). At the end of August I asked her, "don't I need a passport to go?" She was disappointed because I didn't have a passport and thought there was no way I could go.
After Kim did some research she found out that I could get a passport expedited and get it in 2 weeks. So I applied for my passport on Sept. 2nd and received it in the mail on Sept. 17th. Just in time for the cruise. I found good deals for flights. I started feeding Kaylee formula a couple of times a day so I could pump milk for her. I pumped 40 bottles of milk in 2 1/2 weeks. Then another miracle happened. Eric's mom called and offered to come and help Eric out with the kids while I was gone. It was definitely a blessing that she came out because I knew that my kids were going to be taken care of and I didn't need to worry about babysitters.

The cruise was amazing. We went on the Mariner of the Seas from LA to Puerto Vallarta. My dad was very surprised and excited that we all came to celebrate his birthday. We had 5 out of 6 kids there with 3 spouses. Melissa and John could not come because they are now living in Japan.(We missed you guys) Eric also could not come because he couldn't afford the time off school.

I thought the ship gorgeous and huge with a total of 14 decks.

Here you go, Melissa. Since you could not be there here is the small video of Dad when he first saw we were on the ship.

The ship has so much to do. It has miniature golf, basketball, ice skating, rock climbing, pools, solarium, track, gym, spa, theater, shopping, buffets, dinning rooms, one or two shows every night, and bars all over the place. I am sure the Mormons on the ship were the only ones that could resist the alcohol. :) The best part was just lounging around reading books or relaxing.My Mom and Sister, Kim, ice skating.
We had fun eating dinner together every night. The best part was that all the food on the ship was FREE and all you can eat.
This is my brother, Craig, and my sister, Kim, with her husband, Scott.

We spent some time in Cabo San Lucas by going snorkeling. (sorry, I didn't get any pictures)

Then we went to Mazatlan and spent the day on the beach.
This is a picture of the beach we were on. Not the part with all the rocks but on the other side.

Our last day in Mexico was in Puerto Vallarta and that was by far my favorite.
I spent the day with my parents and we rode ATV's up the jungle and then stopped at a waterfall for a little swim. Then we rode over to the zip lines. We did 10 zip lines and it was gorgeous. I wish I could have taken pictures but I didn't want to lose my camera. We were basically zip lining from one mountain to the next. The longest zip line we did was 480m which is about 1/3 of a mile. Then we rode the ATV's back down to the city.

My Mom with the waterfall

My dad and I in front of some old church.

My last morning on the cruise. I didn't want to go.

It was a very fun and a very much needed vacation. I enjoyed a whole week of no cleaning, cooking, and no responsibility. I have been pretty stressed out lately from my kids and job that it was nice to have a get away. I missed my kids so much though that I was very happy to see them again. I think they were pretty excited to see me to. I think Eric was more excited than anyone to have me back.

Family Portraits

Today we had our family portrait taken since we are now a family of four. It has been since Aaron was 6 months old since the last time we took a real family picture. We also did individuals of the kids now that Aaron is 2 years old and Kaylee is 3 months old.

Last night Aaron of course trips and falls and hits his eye on his high chair and ends up with a bit of a black eye...the night before our pictures.
Then we had a VERY rough morning getting Aaron ready for the pictures. Aaron woke up this morning gagging and trying to throw up. Once we put on a video he seemed okay. Then in the bath tub is when it turned from bad to worse. He was throwing tantrum after tantrum because he wasn't getting his way or he kept hurting himself (like burning his hand on my straight iron after I told him it was hot). Eric was ready to just send me with Kaylee. But some how we all managed to get in the car and drive to Idaho Falls. When we get there they told us that there was about a 20 minute wait. Since we were in JC Penney I found a dressing room and fed Kaylee while Aaron continued on his roller coaster of emotions. First he was mad because we left his blanket in the car then he was happy playing with the door of the dressing room then he is mad again because who knows why. It went on and on and we were still convinced that these pictures were going to be a disaster. Luckily we made it in the portrait studio and Aaron quickly finds an Abby Cadabby doll from Seasame Street. We were surprised he recognized the doll and started calling her Abby. Abby seriously saved our pictures and got both Aaron and Kaylee to smile. YEA!!!
So here are our favorites of the kids. Grandparents, let us know which ones you would like.

Kaylee - 3 Months old

Aaron - 2 years old

Aaron and Kaylee

The Bell Family Portrait

July 5th: Kaylee's Blessing

On Sunday, July 5th Kaylee was blessed. We felt it would be neat to bless her in Utah with the family there. We decided to have an intimate meeting at my parents house with family and a few close friends. It worked out very nicely. Eric's parents flew in from Texas and his sister came up from Las Vegas. His grandparents live in the area so they were able to attend as well. I had all my siblings there except for Craig because he flew back to Texas that morning. I really liked the small meeting for Kaylee's blessing. We had some refreshments following the blessing. Thanks to my parents for letting us bless Kaylee in your home.

I know I am her mother but I think she looks adorable in her blessing dress.

Mother and Daughter

Three generation picture

Our first family picture

Grandma and Grandpa Coleby

The Bell Clan

Grammy and Grandpa Bell