The Ark

Earlier this week, Barrett and I went on a playdate to The Ark.  The Ark is in a big Baptist church and it's a huge play area for kids.  The have a smaller play place for little ones and a giant one for big kids.

It kind of grosses me out to be in places like this, but Bear had a pretty good time there (even if it doesn't look like it in this first picture).  

See?  He's having fun :)

This is one of Barrett's new friends, Fint.

Part of This World

I've been letting Barrett grow up a little more lately and when we go out to restaurants or to the store, I don't make him stay in his car seat anymore!  This is a big step for me because I really want him to stay a tiny baby that wants and needs me forever!  He loves sitting up and being part of everything around him.

When we found out we'd be moving every 6 months, we put most of our stuff into storage because we didn't want to pack and unpack everything we owned a million times.  One of the things that I wanted to bring, but we didn't have room in the car was Barrett's exersaucer.  He really loved that thing and it gave him something to do while I did other things.  It didn't take long before I realized how much Bear and I both missed that exersaucer that stayed in Utah, so we went searching for one.  We couldn't find one anywhere in stores here, so we hurried and bought the first one we found on Amazon!  It's not as cool as the one at home, but we're both just happy to have it!

Story Time Mondays

We are having a blast going to story time at the library here in Texas.  I don't know if any libraries do this in Utah, but if they do, I missed out on like, 9 months of fun!  Barrett loves seeing other babies and I love seeing other moms!  He loves books at home, but he usually doesn't pay too much attention to them at the library because there's so much other stuff going on!

All the babies are about the same age (between 6 & 13 months) and we've made several new friends already!

Grandma CC

Today is my Grandma's 84th birthday.  Seeing this great picture makes me extra sad we missed her birthday party!  It looks like everyone had a blast!

This is my Grandma with her 5 kids (plus 1 great grandbaby)

Bear's favorite thing right now is to dump out all the toys from the bin.  I pick these toys up probably 5 times every day!

He especially likes playing with the empty bin afterwards!

On another note, we went out for a walk the other day and Bear was sucking his thumb!  He occasionally will suck his fingers, but has never really sucked his thumb, usually he has a binki so he doesn't need fingers or thumbs.  I thought it was really cute, but I'm glad he prefers his binki... easier to take away!

Lastly (and most importantly), Barrett said mama this morning.  It was too sweet!

"You Only Move Twice"

There's an episode in season 8 (probably my very favorite season) of The Simpson's where they move to Cypress Creek for Homer's new job at Globex.  It is a great episode and I'm finding hilarious parallels between the episode and my current life! And, coincidentally, I watched this episode my first night here.

(Neil doesn't actually work for a supervillian as far as I know)

Not even kidding, this is my life now, except instead of the robotic cleaners that Marge has, Fidelity hired me a maid.  I'm not complaining, I just find the comparison very funny!

If you're not familiar with the episode, look it up, it's a classic!

Bear's first time with a sippy cup (it's that blurry thing in his hand).  He mostly likes to shake it and play with it, but he'll takes drinks occasionally too.

He's feeling right at home in his Johnny Jump Up.

We finally made it to the pool and had it all to ourselves!

The Grand Tour

I should just tell you that if you want to see our house, you'll have to come see us in Texas, but since I know not everyone can make it out, here's a tour for your viewing pleasure...

This is our building.  We live in the corner, it's really nice to only have 1 neighbor.

This is walking in from the front door (or the garage door, they're right next to each other).

If you turn left from the entrance, you go to the laundry room.

And to Bear's room/ the guest bedroom.  Yes, if you come visit us, you get to share a room with Buster :)

Barrett's closet.  Our closets are really nice and big.  They especially seem big since we didn't bring all our clothes.

This is our "office area".  It's actually quite perfect except for the fact that it's in Bear's room.  The only time I use the computer is when he's asleep so my favorite computer hardly ever gets used anymore. What would I do during naps without my iPhone, iPad, and MacBook!?

This is Bear's bathroom.  He doesn't actually use this bathroom, so if you come visit, you won't have to share this!

Then you've got the kitchen.  Since we moved here I've had to make dinner (and breakfast and lunch for that matter), something I did at home probably 5 times in the 7 years Neil and I have been married.  What super sucks about this is the cooking utensils/supplies we had at home were quite good but they never got used and the cooking crap they supplied us with here are the cheapest things on the planet and I have to use them every day!  The irony!

Our bedroom is on the other side of the kitchen.

And our bathroom.

I obviously didn't take this picture, but this is our pool.  Bear and I haven't gotten in yet, but we've visited several times and I LOVE it! It's super nice and so is the clubhouse!  The little stone building is our tiny little gym- not that I work out anymore anyways, but it's nice to know it's there!

Before you book your flights, I should warn you that we have found 3 tiny lizards in our house already.  They're just little and I don't think they bite or anything but it's pretty scary when you see one running around in your suitcase or escaping from a blanket you pick up.

I seriously love my house and wouldn't mind doing our 2nd rotation here too!

Getting to The Lone Star State

Neil drove my car to Texas 2 weeks ago because he had to start work on August 2nd.  He drove all the way here, unpacked by himself, and started work.  Meanwhile, I stayed in Utah so I could clean the whole house, finish a few other things, and have Bear's 9 month appointment.  

The day before we left, Barrett and I went to say goodbye to our old house and we also shipped Neil's car to Texas.  

This is in Bear's old room.

On August 9th, me, Bear, and my mom flew to Dallas.  Bear did really well on the plane but he wouldn't nurse or sleep.  He didn't really fuss at all (except when I had to change his diaper in the nasty bathroom) but it was exhausting to keep him entertained for 2 1/2 hours straight.  I couldn't have done it without my mom!!!

He had so much fun with LaLa (as usual).

We finally got to see Daddy again!  Neil's been gone so much over the summer, we've really only been together for about 2 weeks total!

The next day, me, Bear, and my mom went out to Neil's work in Westlake to visit him and see the site. It is gorgeous!  It has a longhorn cattle ranch on the property and a lake with turtles and fish.

This is out by the lake.  We fed the fish/turtles some of Barrett's cheerios.

Here's one of the turtles.  We were only out there for a few minutes and we saw 15-20 turtles and tons of little fishies.

We also went to the local farmers market, although I wasn't super pleased with my tomatoes or peaches :(

My mom only got to stay a couple days because she had to get back for Max and Liv's 9th birthday party and then get ready for our family trip to Bear Lake.  I was so glad she came with us though, even though she couldn't stay long, it made the move much easier- both physically and emotionally!

I need to finish organizing around here and then I'll post our house pictures!

Moving

Moving is the worst!  It is such a pain to pack everything up and clean things and store things and... it just sucks!  Luckily, Neil and I have the best families ever and they helped us tremendously! We had 4 or 5 days when our families came over for several hours and just packed everything up and moved it where it needed to go (mostly to storage).  They worked their butts off and we are so grateful!~  This is about the only picture I took of our many amazing helpers.

I also had to pack up and store all the things from my classroom.  This empty room was a sad sight to see as I left.

Now I get to do all this fun business again every 6 months for the next 2 years!  YIKES!

All 3 of us are here in Texas now and soon I'll post some pictures of the airplane ride and all that other fun stuff! 

Get Togethers

We were lucky enough to get together with quite a few friends and family members before we had to move.  We had a little family reunion with some family friends, the Badgers.  My dad and Bri went to dental school together and we went on family vacations together for YEARS, probably at least 20!  They are such a great family.

We got to have a BBQ with some of our friends at Courtney's mom's house one night.  The boys and kids swam and the girls just talked and hung out.

The angle of this picture and with it being so crowded, the hot tub looks like a tiny kiddie pool.

Me, Kelsey, and Jeanette met up to go to dinner one night too.

We had the annual RJ and GiGi anniversary party.  Bear and I only got to go for a short time though :(

We had dinner with some of Neil's family one night.  Mary loves corn on the cob!

Monica's kids all play so cute with Barrett!

Grandma, Blakey and Jessica.

I went out to ice cream with my sisters the night before I left. 

Don't worry friends, I'll be back soon :)