Up and Running

I have to admit that I am a Blog addict. I hear admittance is the first step to recovery. I love reading people's blogs and following the events happening in their lives. Because I love reading blogs so much, I thought it might be fun to create a blog of my own where others can read about the happenings in our lives. We are not an adventurous family and don't do "outrageous" things but we have fun and enjoy life. So, I hope you enjoy reading our blog and keeping up with us as much as I enjoy reading others.

To get started here's a little bit about our family:

We have recently moved into our new house in Mendon! It was a long time in coming but it finally arrived on August 11. Prior to Mendon we lived in Nibley in Dave's parent's home while they served a mission in San Diego, CA. We lived with them for four months before they left on their mission and for 10 months after they returned. After many months of planning, waiting, planning, hoping, waiting, planning, and waiting some more, we were able to start building our home in January. You hear of many people hating the building experience and struggling as a couple during the process. I have to say that it was a great experience (long but great) for Dave and I. We loved our contractor and I think we had enough time to think and plan that we already had some big decision decided. Would I do it again? If I could have the same contractor and live in this house for 7-10 years, I think I would. A picture of the house is forthcoming.....

Here's our little family:



Hannah is six years old and currently in first grade. She is attending Edith Bowen Laboratory School (EBLS), which is located on the campus of Utah State University. She attended kindergarten at EBLS because I was able to have the neighbor that lives next to our daycare bring her home each day. There is a new elementary school in Mendon but it does not begin until 9 a.m. and I have to be to work at 8:30 (ok 8:40 most days). It worked out best to have Hannah continue at EBLS where I carpool kids up in the morning and one of the mom's brings Hannah to Traci's (our daycare provider) in the afternoon.

We have had our struggles with Hannah and school this year. Sad to say but she is so much like me. Too much thinking and too much anxiety runs through her veins. We take things one day at a time but it gets so exhausting! I would like to say things are getting better but I don't want to jinx myself. I was talking with her the other night when she says, "Mom, when I go to bed my stomach starts feeling sick because I know I have to go to school when I wake up. My heart says it wants to go to school because once I get there I like it but my body says it doesn't want to go." How do you respond to that?

Hannah is a fun girls to have in our family. Her favorite hobby is driving the golf cart (yes, we have a golf cart) around the house with Ashley by her side. You can see the race track going around the house! She started TaVaci today, which is a singing and performing group. After class today, she was all smiles so I think she enjoyed it.

Ashley is our bright blue-eyed three year old. Oh how I love this age. They are so cute and innocent. You can eat them up. She does preschool at daycare and loves making projects. Her best friend at daycare is Maleik and she loves playing with him every day.

Ashley is our clean freak. She makes sure her shoes come off as soon as she walks in the door and reminds everyone else to take theirs off so they don't get the carpet dirty. We love having her in our family and get quite the crack-ups from the things she says. She started gymnastics last week with her second class today. I can only say that she LOVES it and is a somersault fanatic!!

Ashley is also our one with a big heart. She always looks out for others and is willing to share. Dave borrowed a skidster tractor from a friend so he could move and level the dirt around our house. Ashley was very upset when the friend took it away and she has promised Dave she will buy him a new one for his birthday so he doesn't have to give it back.

Nicole is our 11-month old live wire. She is on the go 24/7. I think she is even moving in her sleep! She has the crawling thing mastered and is almost ready to take off walking. If she didn't giggle so much I think she could walk. Tonight she pulled herself up to the wall, let go and stood for a few seconds, and then took 4 or 5 steps before falling to the ground laughing.

When Nicole was first born she was a VERY colicy baby. In fact, for the first three months of her life there was talk about giving her back. She was so hard!! You would never even know that now. She is the happiest baby. We think we'll keep her!!

This is a little bit about our family. Hopefully we'll keep you updated on more of our daily stuff!!