Happy 2nd Birthday Ariana!

Well another year has flown by and our sweet angel turned 2! Her birthday turned out to be a success. I couldn't decide for sure what to get her, it was between a tricycle or a little kitchen set. Those were the two things I was kind of thinking about, but I settled on the tricycle (partly because I remember that is what I got when I turned 2!). I definitely think we made the right choice, she was very excited to receive it. We captured the moment on video and it her reaction will be a classic, that's for sure.

We got out the special plate and had birthday waffles for dinner. In my family growing up, we always had birthday waffles for breakfast, but since Seth is gone before we get up, we decided to have waffles for dinner. Ariana especially loved the strawberries on top of the waffles.

I had fun making her Despicable Me cake. I saw it pinned on Pinterest and since Ari's favorite movie is Despicable Me, I decided I would try to make her the cake. It took a couple of stores to buy everything I needed, but all in all, it wasn't too bad. I tried to pick an easy one. We practiced blowing out her candles earlier in the day (at which time she wouldn't do it) so when the time came that we sang to her, she actually blew them out like a pro! It made me laugh because she wouldn't do it earlier that day.


Well the other big news is that we found a house to buy! We are officially homeowners! I had my doubts it would ever happen, but we found one and it seems to be working out well. We closed August 28th and officially moved in September 20th or somewhere around then.We spent a month doing some updating to the kitchen and painting walls. And with the help of my family, especially Dad, Brock, Ryan and Mom, we made some great improvements. We really couldn't have done it without them! I should find some before and after photos to share. The home is in Sugarhouse and was built in 1908, so it is quite an older home. Three bedrooms all upstairs and a good-size backyard.

We have been trying for number 2, but not running into much success again. I was hoping number 2 would be easier than the first go around, but apparently not. We have tried artificial insemination four times and so we are giving it one last shot this next month before we have to move up to IVF, which I really hope we don't have to do. So wish us luck!

Summer 2013

Well I won't really try to catch you up on all that has happened since my last post, but I figure I should write something or I will just get further behind. Ari is 21 months today. We had these pictures taken 2 months ago. Ariana is becoming such a fun girl with a fun personality. She has three of her four molars now and is learning to brush her teeth. She loved to suck on the top of lotion and sunscreen bottles. I have no idea why she thinks it tastes good.  She loves her walks and loves her show Phineas and Ferb (Dad loves it too!) This summer has been full of fun. It started off with a 50's Sam's Diner party for my dad's birthday. We went to Lagoon with the Probst family on Memorial Day. Seth, Ari and I hiked Emigration Ridgeline trail again and this time went pretty far. It was a tough trail at some parts. We were able to go to Lake Powell with my family for a little bit and Ariana loved the kayaks. We spent the 4th of July in Midway and Paul, Connie, and Marissa were able to fly out for that. Steven and Luci have moved to Orem, and we were able to go to Wesley's baby blessing this month as well. We went to Bear Lake with Jace, Brooke, Amy, Megan, Emily, Tavish, Mom and Dad. It was so fun. We hope that becomes a family tradition. It is so beautiful up there. Then the following week, Kylee and Jon were in town and we ate some yummy thai food and went to Seven Peaks in Provo along with Amy and Ryan and their family.

We have been busy house hunting and it is a tiring process. It has been a good 3 months of looking every day at the new listings and going out with our agent to look at houses. Everything is going really fast right now and interest rates climbing, so it feels a bit stressful, but we hope that the right one will open up soon. It is such a hard decision and I want to love our choice. Seth is enjoying his work, but he is usually pretty tired come Thursday afternoon. It has been really nice that he has Fridays off. I usually go into work that day unless we have out of town weekend plans. Seth has played airsoft a couple of times this summer and is excited more of his brother/cousins/friends are getting guns. That is a fun activity for them. I have been playing tennis with girls in the neighborhood on Tuesdays and Thursday and am also on a women's soccer league with Krista Blanch and some of her friends. It has been fun to be active and play some sports. It makes me happy. I haven't played outdoor soccer for a long long time, but it is fun, even if I am winded after three sprints up and down the field. 

Ariana is in no hurry to learn to talk. She knows how to make the noise for dogs, cats and birds. She loves to try on everyone's shoes and is getting very tall. People ask me a lot if she is tall for her age. She used to love nursery but now doesn't want us to leave her in there. She has a bad habit of biting and scratching when she gets upset, so we are trying to help her break that habit. Not an easy thing. We sure love her though.

Seth Got the Job!

I have been waiting and waiting to be able to write those words.... Yay, it finally happened. Seth got a full-time position as a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney at West Valley City. He is thrilled about the new job, as am I. He started this past Tuesday and so far he as really enjoyed it. He has an office and everything. They have put him and another attorney in charge of all of the domestic violence cases, so that will be mostly what he deals with, but also other cases as well. The office actually works four 10-hour days, Monday - Thursday, so he has Fridays off every week, which we think we will really enjoy. When he got called back for a second interview, we were trying really hard not to get our hopes up again, but you just can't help it. We really wanted this job and feel really blessed that we actually go it. So we start a new and exciting chapter in life. Yay. Just had to share the exciting news. :)