Friday, April 18, 2014

On the Way Over


Last day living in this beautiful place...


The night before we left Seattle we had just so happened to be staying at Joel and Abby's so we could have a place to sleep. Up until this point we had wished that Abby would go into labor and have her baby so we could at least see her before we move far far away! Obviously Hattie was listening...and being the sweet angel she is, she decided to come that same night we were staying at their house before we left!!!! We were all asleep when they rushed to the hospital. When we noticed that Joel had texted Steve that they were in the hospital I nearly jumped out of bed in happiness! It was too perfect that we were already there to watch the kids too! And we were more than happy to do it!


Steve conducting a relaxing morning of yoga. It was a hit! Right after that they insisted on a Karate video haha. 


We had a meeting in the morning with the kids and we made a schedule for the day, we had the time down and everything! Wyatt volunteered to write it for us :) He would make a great secretary. 

Lucky us, we got to stay an extra day longer to see the baby :) That girl had hair. Like no one's business. She is so so so precious, I miss her already!! It was almost cruel that we had to see her and then leave :( When I held her it shocked me again at how tiny and light they are! How could I have forgotten, I just had one afterall?! When Joel came home from the hospital to get the kids, he looked so incredibly happy and proud!  New Dad happy is best kind there is. It really is different and special! And Abby being the mega champ she is at child birth, came home less than 24 hours later after delivering. She seemed so relaxed and calm, maybe it was the exauhstion kicking in haha. But there was no doubt that she was so happy too! It was very special to be there with them!


On the road! 


My loves. So sweet!

On the road to Texas we stopped in Salt Lake! Steve was going to continue the drive to Dallas while Graham and I stayed in Utah with my family. We figured the drive was going to be too rough on the baby. So flying would be a better option for the two of us. We planned on me staying for about a week and it just so happened to be the week my Dad was visiting Jonny and Ash! Steve had only one day to spend in Utah and then he was back out on the road. We made the best of it, filled with good food and even better people!


Morning time with our cousins :) These babies get along so well!! This morning Landan, Corin, and Tammy made us the french toast they sell on his food truck. Steve wouldn't be able to visit the truck since he was only there for a day, so they just made some specially for him to try. Steve is such a foodie, so he was in heaven talking about and tasting the different menu options with them. It's so cool that Landan is making his dream a reality!! 


Lunch at Pretty Aunt Lori's. We had the hit the jackpot with traveling this week because guess who else was visiting...Todd and Ann!! They had been seeing Lori, Jim and Nan that week and we caught them on their last full day visiting. Lunch with them was so much fun and it was delish. It really made us miss Steve's parents!!  :) 

That night we had dinner with some really fantastic friends and then we had a game night at Amber's house!! It was a really fun day for us! 


Here are some pics of what Graham and I did for that week in Utah.


Ashley and I really wanted to try out the new Provo rec center pool! Amber came with us too! So fun!!


Cute boys loving the water!! For this time swimming it was really easy to tell that Graham enjoyed it! He was waving his arms like crazy in the water! So cute. Killer cute!


Hangin' out with GG-Ma! I love seeing that beautiful smile!


Trent being a good babysitter for Beckham and Graham while the rest of us played games :) perks of being Ashley's boyfriend, you get put on babysitting duty! Kidding :) He had a good time just playin' with the babies. On the road Steve texted me for a picture of the the baby. At that moment Trent was playing with Graham, so I asked him to take a selfie haha!


This was the priceless picture that we sent to Steve haha!! 


It's the pretty truck!! I love it and love what comes out of it...


But most of all I love who's inside it :) Hey look Dad's here!


The "photobombed by a moose" pic!

Jonathan was pretty busy so he wasn't totally available that week. We got to see him a lot though still! BYU finals week was coming up, and he was going to choir rehearsals to sing in GENERAL CONFERENCE!!! I gave him permission to be busy in that case :) 


Being scared of this bear.

I really was kind of uncomfortable though...it was alive once afterall! I've always been a little uneasy when it comes to being in the wild and possibly meeting a bear. Especially where we used to live, the chances of seeing bears are pretty high when your out walking the trails. They even walk into your backyard regularly! This never happened to us, but a lot of people in my ward talked about bears walking in their yard. When I was pregnant and had crazy weird dreams, I would dream about bears getting us! So I figured I should put those fears to rest. I stepped up to this bear and examined it pretty good. It kind of helped! But then I stood in the middle of it's paws and I felt a little vulnerable again. Ahhhh. 



We were about to head to the airport, but I guess Graham wanted Grandpa to come with us! He stole his ball cap. I think Graham might need one of his own.


There was this awful terrible flu bug that plowed through the whole house around the time that we left Utah. Ashley had it first, the night before we flew. Amazingly she felt good enough to play tennis with Dad and I the next morning so it was a short virus. I got sick when I landed in Dallas, and by that time everyone back at Tammy's house was throwing up too! Except for Landan and Corin. But it's okay. They spent their anniversary throwing up together a couple weeks earlier, so I guess it's fair haha! 

And then I gave it to Steve a day after I arrived....love you sweets! XO







We Are Here!

I've officially unpacked the last box in our little apartment in Dallas! Hooray! A mountain of packing paper later, and we are done...for now! We are in temporary housing for several months and then it's moving time again to more permanent housing. Still somewhere in the Dallas area, but basically we will be back to the drawing board as far as we are concerned! For now we reside in a town called Waxahachie (wawk-sah-hatch-ee.....as them Dallas folk say it)

Hmm how do we like Texas? We. Love. It.


We've lived here for 2 weeks so far. I've already been blown away by the general happiness that exudes Dallas folk. I'm not kidding!  Everywhere I go people find something to make glad conversation with. I also love hearing "have a blessed day" when  I leave the check-stand at the grocery store.

Oh, and southern hospitality is a real thing. I was at the post office on the last day of taxes (yup we procrastinated) and I forgot an envelope! Amidst all the craziness, one women saw me with my baby in the car seat next to me while I was trying to find an envelope as I moved up the line. She stopped me dead in my search and insisted that I take one of hers and a couple stamps too. Little gestures like that make a big difference! And that's only one example we've had!

I have also stumbled across honey biscuits from Church's Chicken. Amazing.


We listened to General Conference in our empty apartment on the floor. The movers were coming the next day but we were getting sick of our little hotel room so we decided to get semi settled into our house, doing laundry and stuff.

Speaking of sick, we were both fighting a baaad case of the flu that weekend! It was totally not cool but thankfully it was only a 24 hour bug. Regardless of that little unpleasant factor, we loved the messages of General Conference!!! It is a happy time indeed :)


My husband is such a goofball! 


Sometimes I think Graham wonders about his Dad haha. But I hope he grows up to be just like him :) 

I already have my trip planned to go see Brittany in Mississippi, Steve got work off and we are going next week!! I am sooo excited to see my sister!! I am way excited to see D and my super duper adorable nephews and niece. It's been over a year since I last saw them! Too long. They are so excited to see "baby graham-t" as Case calls him. To make it even more fun, Graham is their first cousin on Brittany's side of the family, so it's been a long time coming right?!

It's also basically summer here, and I dig that. A lot!