Finally Going Private

I've been meaning to update the blog for months, but time gets away from me, and it doesn't happen.  Now that I think I might actually get around to it. I've decided to go private.  So, if you'd like to keep reading, please leave a comment with your email.  You can also email it to me if you prefer.  Thanks!

Summer Adventures

We've been busy this summer, and with the move and the baby coming, it's not going to slow down.  That's okay though -- being busy is fun!

We bought season passes to a waterpark called Seven Peaks this year.  We try to go once a week, though we have missed a few times.  Ariana has really enjoyed it.  She has learned how to go down the kiddie slides by herself.  It still takes two of us though -- one at the top of the stairs to be with her as she gets to the slide, and one to catch her at the bottom.  She can go up the stairs and get to the slides on her own, but she's not quite tall enough to see when I'm standing at the bottom so Tim gets to help out too. :)  Tim has also taken Ariana on some of the bigger slides where she can ride on his lap.  She loves it.  I can't go down any of the slides (even the little kiddie ones) because I'm pregnant, so I'm really grateful that Tim is willing to be on daddy-duty and help Ariana.  Lately, she's always talking about going to the "big pool" and wearing her lifejacket.  She loves to tell me about going down the little slides by herself and the big slides on daddy's lap.

Last week, we took Ariana to see her first movie in the theater.  She loves the minions from Despicable Me, so we saw Despicable Me 2.  It was fun, and she did really well.  For the first 3/4 or so of the movie, she sat on her own seat.  Toward the end, she sat on my lap, but was really good.  There was one part that scared her a bit, but she just hugged me and told me she was scared.  She didn't fuss or anything, and she was fine within a few minutes.

Today, we took Ariana to the BYU Bookstore to pick out a BYU shirt for her to wear during football season (because everyone needs a good fan shirt).  Tim and I have a plethora of game day shirts collected from over the years, and Ariana loves to point out that we are wearing "Y Shirts".  Once she was in the store and could see all of the "Y shirts", she was really excited to get her own.  We picked out all of the different styles in her size then let her choose which one she wanted.  She was very decisive and has been really excited about it since.

She was so proud to carry her "Y bag" with her "Y shirt"!

BYU cheerleader

My pregnancy is continuing to progress well.  I am now 30 1/2 weeks along (7 months), and it's hard to believe that in a few months we'll be a family of 4!  Baby girl is very active and is measuring right where she should be.  The warm nights have caused some insomnia, but it's really not awful.  I do look forward to cooler nights, though! :)  Maybe one of these days I'll post a baby bump picture -- I'm just not photogenic so I tend to shy away from those.

The house is coming along.  We are hoping to close September 6, though the latest dates are the following week.  All of our things are in storage and our contract renews on the 10th of each month.  I really don't want to pay a full month for a few days of use, so we're trying to get the builder to push things along.  We'll see if it does any good.  Things at the house seem to be progressing well.  We were there last night and some workers said they thought it would be painted on Tuesday.  We're excited for it to be done and to be able to move in.  Tim and I have decided that building a house is like being engaged -- it's really fun for the first little bit while you share the news with everyone, but then the waiting just stinks!  It'll be done soon, though, and it will be worth every day we had to wait.

7/10/13

7/15/13

7/27/13 -- the exterior hasn't changed since this.  Hopefully, we'll see some work in the next week.

This banister is the one frivolous upgrade we made.  Already, I am so glad we did it.  It's beautiful! :)

We are grateful for the adventures we've had this summer and look forward to the ones on the horizon.

House Update

It's been about a month since I last posted about the house, so I think it's time for some pictures!  They say that buying (or building) a house is never smooth, and we have certainly run into that! Framing began a few weeks ago and we were excited to be able to see progress every day.  This is the stage where the house seems to be progressing the fastest.  You can imagine our disappointment, then, when we drove by and saw fewer walls than the day before!  We had some pretty severe winds that blew down a couple of walls.  After a few days, though, we weren't seeing any new progress -- in fact, a few more walls had come down.  The most frustrating part was watching the three homes that were started after ours passing us in progress!

So, I sent an email to the builder and he called me back the following day.  It turns out that the framer made an error and built our walls 8' instead of 9' which would cause many problems.  So, they had to tear down the walls and start over with the correct height.  Gah!  At least they discovered the error while working on the ground level instead of the 2nd floor.  There is a definite blessing in that.

With all of that, our completion date has been delayed, probably by a week and a half to two weeks.  This will still give us time to get in before the baby comes, provided that no more weird things happen.  It's been frustrating, but we are still feeling very blessed.  We know this is where Heavenly Father wants us to be, and He will work it all out.

Here are some pictures of the house so far.

Basement and Garage poured 6/1/13

Basement 6/1/13

Subfloor going in 6/11/13

Framing starts! 6/14/13

More framing 6/18/13

More on the garage 6/19/13

Fewer walls (still thinking it's from the wind) 6/23/13

Rebuilding of the front wall 6/26/13

Hard to see, but subfloor of 2nd floor getting started 6/27/13

Subfloor of the 2nd floor (taken from the neighboring house) 6/30/13

It's coming along 6/30/13

We're headed to Logan this week to celebrate the 4th of July with my family.  I'm excited to see the change in the house when we get back.

Have a Happy Independence Day everyone!

Excited to Announce...

We are very excited to announce that a baby girl will be joining our family in October.  My due date is the 15th, but we all know how accurate due dates are! :)

We are thrilled to have another girl and she is growing and developing right on schedule.  I had my 20-week ultrasound earlier this week and everything looks great so far.  I am praying that she will continue to develop as she should so she can be born healthy.

Women always warn you that every pregnancy is different, and while I logically understood that, it's been amazing to me how different my two pregnancies have been.  As far as morning sickness goes, I've still been very blessed.  With Ariana, I had absolutely no nausea or anything.  With this one, I had some minor nausea, but nothing that had me rushing to the bathroom.  It was mostly just enough to feel annoyed that I didn't feel completely well.  I know that I am very blessed and that most women aren't as lucky.  This pregnancy I have been way more emotional.  With Ariana, I felt like all my emotions were heightened, so I reacted a bit stronger to things than I usually would.  This time, though, I feel like I am constantly near tears.  Nearly anything can set me off.  And this video?  Tears streaming every time I watch it.  Although, how can you not be touched by it?

The other thing that's been different about this pregnancy is that I haven't gained much weight.  I started gaining almost immediately with Ariana and gained more than the usual amount though my doctor wasn't concerned.  This pregnancy, though, I've gained less than 10 pounds so far.  Some of that definitely has to do with the little morning sickness I had, but I think a lot of it is that I'm not on my feet teaching all day.  I'm definitely showing, though, and I think that it's a beautiful process to watch.

I am constantly amazed at the miracle a baby is.  I find that pregnancy is a very spiritual experience and I feel closer to my Heavenly Father.  What a beautiful thing that God has entrusted us with!

Ariana's Adventures

Ariana is now a very busy 2 year old.  She is always on the go and keeps me on my toes.  She is a happy child, and she is generally very obedient.  She is so fun, and we are so blessed to have her in our family.

Tim and I took her to the Gateway Children's Museum in Salt Lake.  They have an old Life Flight helicopter that the kids can get in.  She had a great time!

We've had an unusually cool spring this year, but we braved the slight chill and went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point.  Some of the tulips hadn't come up yet, but it was still beautiful.

This is a little older of a picture, and Ariana has crazy hair, but she loves to play with toys at Grandma and Grandpa's house (my parents).  She always has a good time when we go to visit them.

Her hair is long enough to put in pigtails and do some other fun things.  The thing I struggle with is getting it to stay all day.  The curse of super fine hair!

This picture is from Christmas morning.  Ariana got a table and chairs and she loves them.

For her 2nd birthday, Grandma NorRene and Grandpa Nelson gave Ariana a slide.  She absolutely loves it!  Notice the dandelions in her hand.  She was so excited to have flowers.

Ariana makes us laugh every day.  This picture is how she plays with my shoes.  She takes them out of the closet and lines them up around the bed.  She also enjoys lining up lots of other things.  Type-A personality? :)

Last Friday, Ariana and I went on a hike up Corner Canyon in Draper (south Salt Lake).  My Webelos cub scouts need to go on a hike and this one sounded fun, but I wanted to hike it before taking 10-year-old boys up there.  So, I met up with a friend and away we went.  The views were beautiful and we had to take this picture with the Draper temple in the background.

For journaling purposes, here are a few things about Ariana that I don't want to forget.

• She knows almost the entire alphabet (capital letters).  She gets G, H, and J confused sometimes, but she does really well.  She started learning them several months ago.  I was surprised but she wanted to learn, so who am I to say no?!
• She is talking in broken sentences.  She will say things like "Mom nap too".
• She refers to herself as "Ana".  I'm not sure why she chose the second half of her name rather than the first, but it's pretty darn cute!
• Lately, she's been saying "Ana marry temple."  We've been talking about temples and that mom and dad got married there.  She decided then that she would get married there too.  I hope she can remember that as she gets older.
• She has very strong opinions about almost anything.
• She loves to sing.  Her favorites right now are "Wheels on the Bus", "I Love to See the Temple", "The Wise Man Build His House Upon a Rock", "A, B, C's" and "Do As I'm Doing".
• She is very outgoing and loves to play with other children, especially those older than she is.

We love our Ariana!

Our House

After more than nine months of neglect, I finally am getting around to updating the blog.  Much has happened since the last post.  I am going to write a few different posts, just so it's not so cumbersome to read through.

In the last post, Tim's parents had recently returned from their mission to Tonga.  They've been home now over 10 months, and we still haven't left their house! :)  We waited until November (Tim's 6-month mark at his job) and began looking for houses. We looked for several months but didn't find the right one.  After feeling frustrated, we started to look into building.  I found a floor plan that I liked and the location was great (about 5 miles south of Tim's parents), but the cost was a little above our price range.  However, the Lord orchestrates everything and after a nice tax refund and a bigger than expected bonus from work, we were able to pay off our car and thus qualify for a higher mortgage amount.  After praying and pondering, we felt really good about building and decided to move forward.  We signed papers with the building company at the end of March and finally -- after a month and a half of waiting for the city's permit approval -- they broke ground on Tuesday, May 14.  We hope to be able to move in during August or September.

We are very excited to finally have a plan and know where we are going to settle down.  The house is big enough that we can stay there forever if we want to.  It's 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath with an unfinished basement so we have room to grow.  Here are some pictures up to this point.  If I actually update the blog, maybe I'll post a picture or two each time so you can see the progress too!

Digging the hole 5/14/13

The hole on the evening of groundbreaking 5/14/13

Forms are in 5/17/13

Foundation walls 5/20/13

Foundation walls 5/23/13

The Past Few Months in Pictures (and a few words)

Ariana's been busy the last few months.  Here's some of what she's been up to:

Ariana learned to drink from a straw.  Of course, she forgot once we taught her to blow kisses, but she's starting to remember again.  Ariana has been learning to eat new foods.  In late March, she got a cold and lost her appetite.  It's taken me several months to get her to eat again. But we've made a lot of progress in the last month and a half, and she does quite well now. Compared to many other children, she still eats very little, but since she's very little, she seems to be eating what she needs.

Ariana found a new friend, Christian, to play with at a family reunion.  They were born on the same day.  Last year they were about the same size.  This year, Christian is much bigger (though you can't tell from the picture).

Grandma NorRene spoils Ariana and her latest treat is this car.  It has several songs that it plays and Ariana loves it.  Thanks, Grandma!

Ariana adores her cousin Mason.  She loves to give him hugs.  He's such a great sport -- seriously, what 7-year-old boy lets a 1 year old snuggle with him?!  This picture was taken at the airport waiting for Grandma Teri and Grandpa Wally to arrive from their mission to Tonga.  We are so glad they are back!

A week after Wally and Teri came home, all of Tim's siblings and their families came into town and we had a great reunion.  We rented a very nice, large cabin up in the mountains.  This picture is on a hike we took.  It was so beautiful!

Ariana loves to swing!  We are lucky to have a park across the street from us, so we often can be found swinging away.

Ariana continues to love shoes.  She has figured out how to (kind-of) walk in Mom's sandals.

Ariana got to play with her cousin, Charity, while Mom and Dad went to see Wicked.  It was amazing!  I've been wanting to see it for many years and was disappointed when we couldn't get tickets the last time it was in Salt Lake.  This time around, though, we were able to go with Wally, Teri, Gouch, Anna, and their daughter, Nikki.  It was wonderful!

Ariana has been sharing her dad with the Saratoga Springs Art Council who recently put on a production of The Sound of Music.  At the last minute, a dancer at the ball scene had to drop out, so they asked Tim to step in since he has dance background.  He was only on stage for about 5 minutes, but it was still fun.  Wally, Teri, and I went to see it last week and we enjoyed it.  Obviously, this picture doesn't include Tim (he actually took the picture at a rehearsal), but it was fun to see him on stage.

You might notice in many of the pictures above, Ariana's hair is running wild.  For many months she wouldn't allow me to do anything with it.  Anytime I'd put a clip, hair tie, or anything else, she'd rip it out.  I felt awful that my little girl looked so scraggly, but it certainly wasn't worth the battle.  Anyway, about a week ago, I thought I'd try again and she actually let me do it!  I am so excited!  Tim thinks she looks a bit like Boo with her hair in pigtails. 

 Although Ariana inherited my super-fine hair, she got a bit of her daddy's curl.  It is darling!

My concert pianist-in-training.  She was so excited to play by herself.  Normally, I hold her while she plays or she'll walk up to the piano and play peeking over the keyboard.

Tim and I are doing well.  We are staying with Tim's parents until the winter, so we've moved our stuff into storage.  We are grateful for their willingness to let us stay with them.  We will be looking for a home in November, but I imagine that it will be January or February before we actually move (why does real estate take so long?!).  Lenders want Tim to be at his job for 6 months before they will give us a loan, so that's the reason we won't look until November.

I was recently given a new responsibility at church.  I am still playing the piano for Primary (just Senior Primary now), but in addition, I am the Webelos Scout Leader.  I am excited, apprehensive, overwhelmed, and have no idea what I'm doing.   It will be a great learning experience for me and I'm excited for the challenge!

We hope your summer has been as exciting as ours!