Our Home

I've had a lot of requests to see pictures of our home here in Kentucky. John flew out here first to work while I stayed in Utah to sell our American Fork house.  I never actually went house hunting with him. He went with a realtor to see A LOT of houses and found this one before I came out.  A lot of people were surprised that I let him choose our house but we both felt good about this one.  It's in a cute neighborhood on about half an acre.

We have done a lot of painting.  The front door and shutters were shiny forest green so I could hardly wait to paint them black.  We are still working on landscaping and such.  John built this brick wall in the front.

The backyard was a complete slope so John flattened part of it to put our swing set.

The walls inside were all very peach so we picked more of a khaki color and darker in the dining room. We also painted the inside of the exterior doors matte black.

John is probably cursing Pinterest by now for all the little projects I make him do. I made John put faux wainscoting in the dining room. I think it turned out really nice and he did a great job!

We are also finishing the "attic" upstairs.  There will be 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, storage area, and a large living area (all wired for surround sound of course).

Here is the shower John tiled.

I will post pics of the upstairs when it is done.

Jace's Blessing

We debated on whether to bless Jace at one of our parent's wards in Utah when we visited in August or at our home ward.  Our families wanted to see him blessed, of course, but John and I both felt we should do it in our home ward.  John gave him a beautiful blessing and Jace cried almost the whole time. I should have been thinking and sent the binky with a man in the circle.  It's ironic because Jace really doesn't cry very much. 

I thought it was interesting to see Jaxon at the same age.  I don't think they look as similar as some people say they do.

This is Jaxon when he was blessed in the same outfit.  He is a little bit older than Jace was.

Instead of having a family get-together (since it would have been a trip across the country) we invited about 20 of our friends from the ward over for some BBQ pork sandwiches and they all brought something to share.  We are so grateful for our ward!  They have really taken us in and made us feel at home.  

This is the best picture we could get.

We love having Tanner live in Huntsville.  We get to see him every few months.

Jaxon trying to talk his ear off as he heads for the long drive home.

Jace's birth

With our big move, people would ask me if I was nervous to have a baby with a new doctor and new hospital.  I really wasn't nervous at all about that, but what I did worry about was what we were going to do with Jaxon.  I was due July 11 and John's parents and Charity were flying out July 9. I had a feeling Jace would be born before they arrived so who was going to take care of Jaxon?  There were plenty of really nice people in our ward that offered to take Jaxon but he didn't really know them and I wanted him to be comfortable and happy. Maybe it was silly to worry about that but it mattered to me.  Tanner happened to be visiting from Huntsville, Alabama where he lives (about 5.5 hours away) for 2 days over the fourth of July.

Heavenly Father knew my concern and through his tender mercies I started having contractions the night of July 4 at about 2 a.m. (so I guess it was July 5).  I timed them for an hour to make sure they were consistent and close together then I woke John up.  John woke Tanner up to tell him we were going to the hospital.  (Jaxon did wake up in the night and good Uncle Tanner comforted and helped him go back to sleep.) By the time we got to the hospital at 3:45 am the contractions were about 3 minutes apart and very strong.  We went to Central Baptist Hospital in Lexington (about 45 minutes from our house in Winchester).  They were very good at checking us in fast and getting things rolling.  I got an epidural about an hour later and got some relief to relax and let Jace come.  Jace was born at 7:20 am.  He came out weighing 7 lbs 9 oz and perfectly healthy.  I tell ya, there's nothing like holding that sweet newborn for the first time.  Makes pregnancy and labor worth it.

John went home later to check on the boys and they came back later that afternoon.  It was awesome seeing Jaxon meet Jace for the first time.  He's going to be a great big brother.  He loves to give him kisses and hugs although sometimes he does try to play too rough for the little guy.

We were so happy to have visitors come.  It made the adjustment go smoother to have help for a few weeks.  Jaxon loved having more people in the house.  He was so bored when they left.

So ready to go home!

Charity, Mom & Dad Vincent at Steak & Shake

Gwamma Neesey & Baby Jace

Grandma Vincent (at the swimming pool)

What a good grandpa, changing Jaxon

Josh and Teresa stopped by on their way to South Carolina

Cantuckee

I have felt the need to continue the blog for my own record and for my family now that we live across the country, but have been overwhelmed at the amount of updating there is to do.  So I'm just going to start again and things will be missed but I'll try to be more regular.

We sold our cute home in American Fork, Utah in March 2013 and moved to Winchester Kentucky!

American Fork home

first airplane ride

John got a job promotion within Nestle and now works at the Hot Pockets plant in Mount Sterling.  We didn't really have to think very hard whether we should move or not, it just felt right and I think we were prepared.  It couldn't have gone smoother or faster. Our home had an offer the first day on the market for more than we ever thought we could get.  That allowed us to buy a new home in Kentucky without being separated too long. (John was already working at his new job.)  Nestle had a moving company pack us up and ship our vehicles too.  I was 6 months pregnant at the time and John was away so it was very nice, to say the least.  We just hopped on the airplane and away we went.

My parents came to help us clean our house after everything was moved out and this is the thanks my dad got.  Sick little Jaxon pooped down his back. That's love.

Kentucky is beautiful! We love it here.  It's green and full of hills, the people are very kind and down to earth, the weather is mild (although humid).  There are a lot of green fields with nice fences and a pretty horses.  Apparently there's a big deal about horse racing too... Below is a picture of Jaxon messing up the perfectly groomed race track at Keeneland.

 The first week here we travelled with John to Cleveland Ohio for work.  Jaxon and I hung out in the hotel and I tried to find parks and fun things to do. He loved the pool in the hotel.

Tanner stopped by on his way from working in Huntsville Alabama to defend his thesis at Purdue in Indiana. (We didn't have furniture yet but I did buy a cute rug at Target.)

Our first visitors! In May, Mom & Dad came out for Tanner's graduation from Purdue and they all came and stayed with us for a few days. We hiked up Natural Bridge. Look at that view!  That's definitely Kentucky. Very green, lots of hills, and no mountains.

We visited the Horse Park with Mom, Dad & Tanner.  We took a buggy ride around the park and saw some of the famous retired race horses.  They are beautiful! The highlight for Jaxon was the pony ride, of course.  Maybe we can entice more visitors...

We have met lots of great people in our new ward and in the neighborhood. They have really welcomed us and made us feel at home.  We have been staying busy fixing up the house and adding to our family (Baby Jace will get his own post soon.)