Has it only been 2 weeks?

I literally cannot believe what a whirlwind these past 2 weeks have been. Let me just give you a quick play-by-play to give you an idea of our first week or so here in Utah. We packed the moving van on Saturday (2 weeks ago) and waved goodbye to Albuquerque. We made it all the way to Helper, UT (about 2 hours from our final destination) before our moving van broke down on the side of the highway. We waited there for over 4 hours until Penske finally decided to buck up and just tow us out of there. We got to Christian's parents' house in Fruit Heights around 2am. It was quite the trip, to say the least.
Sunday- day of rest. Literally.
Monday- drove to Provo to find a place to live, signed a lease, and then back to Fruit Heights.
Tuesday- move-in day, drove to Provo, arranged for my family to meet us at our new place to help move us in. Went to a pre-wedding dinner with my brother, Beau's wife's family in Provo. Drove back to Fruit Heights.
Wednesday- Beau and Amy got married in the Salt Lake City temple. Reception at Soldier Hollow in Midway. Back to Fruit Heights.
Thursday- I drove to Provo to clean our house and unpack. Then, met up with my sister, Julie's husband's family in Midway for a pre-wedding BBQ. Back to Fruit Heights.
Friday- Julie and Seth got married in the Manti, UT temple (very long, beautiful drive). Drove back to Provo for their reception. Back to Fruit Heights.
Saturday- Drove to Provo to unpack the house. Spent the night at my parent's cabin in Sundance.
Sunday- Church. Back to Fruit Heights to spend the night.
Monday- Memorial Day with the Bells in Morgan, UT. Drove to Park city afterwards to get Christian some new work attire. Went and bought a car in Murray. Back to Provo to spend the first night in our new place!
Tuesday- Cleaned my parent's cabin in Sundance= nightmare because Amelia screamed the whole time (she's got ANOTHER cold). Jason and Claire (my sis) were our first guests that night in our new home.
Wednesday- drove Claire and Jason to the SLC airport.
Thursday- unpack, unpack, unpack.
Friday- the same.
Saturday- I think I've finally got my head above water. YEAH!

Whew! I know it sounds like a whirlwind, but it was totally worth all the stress and driving because we got to witness the coming together of two amazing, beautiful couples in the temple and also got to spend lots of time with family.

Pre-move: Amelia playing in the rapidly emptying cupboards.

Double Trouble

Amy and Beau after the sealing. Her dress was seriously one of the most stunning dresses I've ever seen. And, she practically made it. This girl is not only fun, sweet, and beautiful, but seriously talented.

It was a dream come true for all the little girls around.

I don't know what's up with the funny face Christian is making here. He might make me take this down once he sees it, so enjoy it while it lasts.:)

With the kiddos at Soldier Hollow Golf Course in Midway.

We tried our best, but conditions were a little windy.

Beau and Amy's reception at Soldier Hollow.

Amelia and Poppy. She was being pretty picky about who had the privilege of holding her but I guess Poppy made the cut.

Julie and Seth after their sealing at the Manti temple. Let me just tell you, it was the prettiest temple I have ever been in. I was seriously regretting not getting married there myself. G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S. Not to mention, their sealing was beautiful and so touching.

Julie looked amazing. Not too hard when you look like Julie, but still.

See what I mean about the Manti temple? It sits atop a little hill and is so picturesque.

The reception at a friend's house in Provo. The florist/decorator/planner was so talented- the reception was so beautiful. Note: this is before the table arrangements and hanging lanterns were in place.

Sisters- Jenn, Amanda, Julie, me, Emily, Jessica, and Rachel.

The spread- all very color-coordinated by the talented chef (Seth's cousin).

I would also like to give a little shout-out to all the wonderful people in our ward in ABQ that helped us with the move. The Young Women showed up and cleaned almost my entire house, so many of my friends watched my kids, and then the Elders Quorum moved us all out. Thank you, thank you, thank you. It truly was an act of charity. We miss you all and hope to see you soon- please call when you come to UT!

It's Official: to Utah

So, I guess we should make an official announcement: Christian has accepted a job in Provo (yes, Provo) Utah! It's for a start-up company that he couldn't be more excited to work for. So, it's back to the old stomping grounds we go. Actually, we're hoping to find a home NOT in Provo- nothing against the place, it just kinda doesn't feel right to me to live there unless you're a student. They want Christian to start the first of June so we'll be packing up and moving towards the end of this month.
We are really so sad to be leaving New Mexico. We absolutely love our ward, our home, our friends, and the city of Albuquerque. We will really, really miss this place.

Look Who's...

...CRAWLING!!! No more army crawl for this little chickadee, she's up on all fours. I love how her little bum sticks up in the air as she moves along. We had my brother Jake over for dinner last night and as soon as he picked her up, she laid her head down on his shoulder for like the next 20 minutes. She's becoming quite the snuggle bug- just like her big brother.

Oliver having a little fun at Amelia's expense- the story of his life nowadays...

Christian showed Oliver that he could "make" a truck out of dominoes and wooden blocks. He spends a huge portion of his days now crafting these trucks.

Yes, he crafted this entirely on his own.

Please ignore the mess.

Utah, Half Marathon, and some Motivation

So, we went to Utah a couple weeks ago. We love being in Utah with Christian's family. Oliver got to attend his cousin Benny's birthday, we spent some time in Provo with my fun sister, Julie, and I got to have a few Demarle parties with my sisters-in-law.

Oliver ready for some cake at Benny's bash.

Oliver's attempt at the pinata.

I only got a couple pictures in Utah- I'm so bad about remembering to take them! We had to come home to Albuquerque a little earlier than we would have liked because I was running in the Albuquerque half marathon on Saturday. There were like 10 people from our ward running it, so it was really fun to be there with everyone. The temperature couldn't have been better, but it had rained really hard the night before and since the first 2-3 miles were through a dirt field, it made for a VERY muddy day. My shoes still haven't recovered. I got third in my age group and got as an award a... medal same as the finisher's medal!! Yeah!! I'm going to refrain from posting a picture of me post-race because I always regret my sweaty, puffy-faced portrait.

The kiddos waiting for Momma at the finish.

On a side note, I am training for the Utah Valley Marathon on June 12th right now and let's just say I'm a little burned out. I've been training for marathons for a year now and I need some new motivation! Any ideas? Anyone want to run with Utah Valley with me? :) Also, I get almost unbearably nervous at races. We're talking throwing up nervous and it literally makes me sick to my stomach- any ideas on this one??? I'm desperate for some advice!

Easter 2010

I loved that General Conference fell on Easter Sunday this year. It was so neat to really reflect on the Atonement and Resurrection of our Savior in addition to listening to so many amazing talks. I loved conference this year- it was definitely one of the best years I can remember. There were so many talks that I felt directly applied to my life. Maybe that's because there were a lot of talks about parenting and raising children and I feel that I have a lot of room for improvement in that area. Seriously, though, I loved it and have made some goals to be more patient, humble, and selfless, especially with my family. I'm so grateful for the gospel and the direction it gives me in my life. So, without further delay, here's a recap of our weekend:
We had yummy buttermilk pancakes for breakfast and then Oliver and Christian looked for their hidden Easter baskets. It actually took Christian longer than it took Oliver to find his basket. What can I say? I learned my hiding skills from the best: my dad. He used to hide our baskets each Easter and it would literally take us hours sometimes to find them. Someone would inevitably be in tears each year because they couldn't find theirs and my Dad was somewhat merciless- he wouldn't give in easily and tell us where ours was hidden and sometimes he couldn't remember (there was 11 of us after all).
Anyway, in between sessions we had an egg hunt in the back yard. Amelia was all over that and figured out how to open the eggs and the candy inside them before Oliver even figured out that there was something inside the eggs. That girl means business when it comes to chocolate.

Exploring the loot.

Oliver found the golden egg!

On a side note, Amelia is officially army crawling. She is in to EVERYTHING.

After the final session, we went over to the Alders for an Easter dinner. It was such a nice, beautiful day. Here's to warm weather!!!

Catch-Up

Why is it every time I look at my blog I feel guilty? I ALMOST just gave up on it all together, but then I remembered that this is my journal too, and we've had quite a few important happenings around here that I really should document. Sorry, I know these catch-up posts are a little boring...

It was Amelia's FIRST birthday last week. We celebrated by going to the park as a family. Then, I made some cupcakes and we sang "Happy Birthday" and opened presents that Oliver helped me pick out earlier that day (wrapped in leftover Christmas wrapping paper because that's how I roll).

Then, my mom came to town last weekend and we celebrated again, this time with Jacob because it was his birthday last week as well. We had dinner at El Pinto, a beautiful New Mexican restaurant in the old part of Albuquerque.

Outside El Pinto. I know, my eyes are closed. We're working with what we've got here.

The next night, we had glazed poppyseed bundt cake for Jacob, which is my all-time favorite cake. If you've never made this, do- now. You won't regret it.

It was so fun having my mom here. She's so fun and easy to talk to and is such a great listener and friend. Come back soon, Mom!!!

"Until next time, folks!"

Blast from the Past

Inspired by this post (my SIL), I decided I would do my own little "blast from the past."

The first time I saw this picture (which was only about a year ago) I was seriously struck by how similar Oliver and I looked. I also really like the pole-dancing move I was doing here.

Um, community bath anyone? The weird (and scary) part about this is there are 3 people in there with us that I don't even know. And this is not an illusion (though it may appear that way with the 80's-style bathtub and mirrors) but we were fully un-clothed.

I kid you not, my mom let me go out in public with this 'do. The 80's were not kind to us. But, wait, it gets worse...

Yep, that's me. Don't act like I'm not making this work. This is what I call the trifecta of 80's perfection: perm, mullet, acid-washed jeans. One word: h-o-t.

SUCCESS!!!

"Most successful men have not achieved their distinction by having some new talent or opportunity presented to them. They have developed the opportunity that was at hand."
–– Bruce Barton

That quote could just as well have been said by Little Oliver, right??:) I had a mission companion who, EVERY time she came out of the bathroom, would throw her arms in to the air and yell, "Success!" It must be noted that most Filipinos (who live in the Philippines) talk very openly about their bowel movements. This was somewhat alarming to me at first, but that's another post for another day... now back to Oliver. Yes, he did it! He is officially POTTY-TRAINED!! Ok, not officially, he had a little- no, a BIG accident (for which both his underwear AND his jeans are the dumpster right now) during his quiet time yesterday, but all of his pee-pee's have made it in the toilet. And, here's the clencher: it only took half of a day for my 3 1/2-year-old to get it down. I am sooooo proud of him, as well as relieved that I no longer have to change my child's man-poo diapers (hopefully).

Now, on a MUCH lighter note, here's some of the pics we got back from Amelia's latest photo shoot with Liz Evans, photographer. Liz was commissioned to take pictures for an Etsy shop, Bowtique, that makes little girls' bows (I don't own any of these bows). So, she asked a bunch of moms in our ward to bring their girls over for a photo session. Excuse me if this is a little overboard, but I really can't resist.







Sidenote: Liz is an INCREDIBLE photographer. I was super impressed the entire session. So, if you're looking for someone to shoot you, your kids, or your family, I HIGHLY recommend her. She can be found here.

GIVEAWAY!!!

FYI: I am having a giveaway on my other blog, Peachtree Cooking for a FREE Demarle Silpat in honor of the launch of my new Demarle website! Go on over there to check it out and enter!!!

QT to Denver

We made a last-minute, quick trip to Colorado last weekend for my nephew, Gabe's baptism. My sister's family lives in the prettiest little town outside of Denver called Parker. We got there Thursday night and Gabe's baptism was on Saturday so we spent the time chatting, exercising, and cooking. It was so fun to be able to spend time with family and be there for this special milestone in cute little Gabey's life. Congrats Buddy!

My Mom reading to the little boys, Oliver, Gabe, and Hayden.

Amelia had an adoring fan club all weekend with all her cousins. Here she is with Izzy.

Oliver and Izzy loved jumping on the tramp together (maybe because she was the only one Oliver could keep up with on that thing).

The special boy, Gabe on his special day.

Hayden was always there when I needed a break from holding Amelia. He was sooo sweet with her and would just sit and hold her for like 20 minutes at a time.

Grandma and the Tubba Love.

Could this girl be any cuter????