And I thought we were busy before...

2+ months! That's some terrible blogging! So this is my excuse....only like EVERTHING in our lives has changed in the last 2 months.

SO announcement: We are moving!!! Nate is going to graduate school. He'll be attending Iowa State University (in Ames) starting this fall and will be getting his MBA.

This has been our plan all along, but actually deciding to quit a good job and move from a great home to a place that you don't know is SCARY!

So in the last two months we: celebrated Easter (wow, that WAS a while ago!), Hannah got a tricycle, Alli got 4 new teeth, redid a bathroom, Nate put in a retaining wall and landscaping in the front and side yard, Nate notified his work that he will be leaving, we put our house up for sale and then cleaned and recleaned for people to come look at it (not an easy task with little ones!)...and SOLD IT 3 days later, was called as RS Pres (feeling totally overwhelmed and underqualified!), took a trip to CO w/o Nate, gone back and forth to Ames way too many times, stressed out about being homeless (day and night!), finally found a place to live in Ames today, and now it is time to pack and move and celebrate a 1st birthday by the 26th of the month! And ALL of this during Nate's crazy busy time of year at work!!! So here is one big long post, but don't count on another one too soon!

And the more exciting part...some pictures!
Easter

My girls!

My chunky monkey and a blur of her sister in the upper corner...

The Hannimal leaping through the air!

All ready to ride

Trying out her tricycle. She LOVES riding this thing!

And our CO trip. The girls and I went w/o Nate. We had to be there over Memorial Day so that we could see Grandma and Grandpa as well as Uncle Greg, Nana, and Papa who were visiting from CA. Memorial Day is BUSY for Nate at work...the whole summer kickoff thing...but he did fly out to drive back home with us!
We went to the zoo. Hannah and Grandma

Alli's favorite animals at the zoo

Allison and Nana

The girls and Papa

LOVING Chuck E. Cheese!

Enjoying our yard...while it lasts!

Peonies from my yard!

Playing with our neighbor Megan. We are going to miss out neighbors so much!!! :(

Daddy loves barettes! What a great daddy we have!

My little snuggly baby!

I LOVE them!

And...the sign in front of our house! What a blessing that it sold so quickly, but we will miss it! It was a GREAT home and full of LOTS of memories. I'm sure that eventually our new place will feel like home, too, but we might have to find a new hobby! For the last two and a half years we did way too many house projects!!!

Spring is almost here!

Today is windy and cold, but yesterday we were outside and the grass is starting to get GREEN! I can't wait for spring and being able to spend time outside! That and I'm tired of dealing with everybody being sick and then not sleeping, and being crabby, etc. etc....grr... Anyways, so yesterday Nate was "trimming" our bushes...watch out he likes to chop things down, luckily plants grow quickly in Iowa. Here are the girls "helping."

And Hannah's lovely pose...
This month Jace and Josie (Nate's 8 year old siblings) were baptized. It was great because all of Nate's family was able to come...all 12 kids and families and the grandmas. It was also pretty nice because we have a font in our new building...no driving for and hour and a half!
We spent one evening at a hotel in Sioux City, IA because Nate had some work stuff to do there. We enjoyed the pool and breakfast (twice) and got some "big city" shopping done.
My Chunky Monkey!

Thinking that the water is a little cold!!

Loving it!
Most of us enjoyed family night at the Country Club. It was dance night, which Hannah should love, but instead she pouted the WHOLE night because Daddy wasn't paying enough attention to her!

Last, the Allison update. We went to the Doctor's last week, this time for her 9 month well-baby visit (happy day)...she is just about 22 pounds (90%) and I can't remember what they told me for her length, but it puts in at 60%. So she has slowed down growing one direction at least! And as of last night I think I can say that she is officially CRAWLING!!! It has been a long time coming, and for the last month she has been anything but stationary...it is just that she is finally actually crawling. Although at this point rolling and her sitting scoot get her places more quickly, I'm guessing that it will only be a matter of days before she's zooming around my house!

Not lost, just sick!

So it seems like our life is about like everybody else's these days. We've all been sick, well everybody except Nate, and then we've been busy trying to catch up on everything that got behind while we were all sick! I've been giving Nate a hard time because he's the only one that never really got sick, I figured that I must just be getting Iowa colds or something. Then we all got some sort of 24ish hour flu, Hannah the worst, and then I had pneumonia like bad enough that the doctor would have gladly admitted me to the hospital. So for about 2-3 weeks I was sure that we weren't having any more kids and I wasn't sure that I'd make it! But after tons of antibiotics and 3 weeks of zero energy, I'm doing much better, so the family is, too!

So in the last two months my mom and step-dad came to visit.



We moved into our new church building on Feb. 1 and it was dedicated Feb. 15. I don't have any pics of the completed building yet...so much for taking pictures every so often to see the progress! Anyways, it is great to feel like I'm going to "real" church, even if we are still a branch! Having a building make a huge difference, and now we actually have classrooms, too!

Nate's parents also turned 50 in the past two months...here they are celebrating at the Country Club.

We've been trying to finish up some projects around the house before Nate gets super busy again. So we now finally have quarter-round installed along our baseboards (after a year w/o). So that makes the floors look finished. We painted our family room. I don't know, it sure seems like we keep finding more things to do! Does laundry, cleaning, picking up cheerios, changing diapers, etc. count as being busy!?

Oh yeah, I also made Allison some shoes...I finally put my sewing machine (Christmas present) to good use. I made her two pairs, and although I really don't have a clue when is comes to sewing, they turned out great! Well, at least they meet my standards! If I think about it I will take a picture to show off my craftiness...if I remember!

Here are a few pics of the girls, being cute as always.

Saying "cheese" I'm sure!

Hannah rooting on the tigers! Go tigers!
Allison wearing a cute outfit from my mom (that she has already outgrown!) It is an alligator for Alli-gator. Although around here she more commonly gets called Alli cat!
Some day she will just start going! You can also kinda see her shoes in this pic. I'm excited about them at least!






Allison is 8 months old ALREADY! She's not crawling, yet. And that is totally FINE with me. She's been up and rocking on her knees for a while now, but just hasn't quite figured it out. I think she's not too concerned because instead she rolls EVERYWHERE! Hannah was never that much of a rolly polly! Alli also says "mama!" Before daddy :) Although it is typically a crying kinda mama thing, it still makes me smile, mostly :) Allison loves to eat! She is hungry, hungry, hungry and thinks she needs grown up food any time she sees us eating. She is a little bossy when it comes to food, but so far she isn't too picky! Because of this she also has a new car seat. She's 22lbs and Hannah was only 19lbs when she turned 1! Watch out Hannah!

Hannah is a great big sister and mom's helper. She loves to play patty-cake with her sister and she still LOVES to dance to the Mamma Mia soundtrack. She also loves to grab her sister (usually by the head) and give her big hugs. It seems like any time Alli is on the floor Hannah has to touch her, and her head seems to be the most common target. Maybe she will grow out of that someday. Either that or I need a whistle like a referee. Luckily babies are tough and Allison is totally in love with her big sister anyways!

Too busy for blogging!?!

One day shy of a whole month without posting! We've been busy like everybody else around the holidays! Here are some pics of what we have been up to. Watch out, it is long, but mostly just pictures!:)

First a few playing in the snow before Christmas...

Allison trying rice cereal...it wasn't really a hit, but now (after almost a month) she thinks it is OK.

We went to CO, and got to visit the Fairbanks family while there!
Hannah and Kambria, mostly playing nice.

Allison and Weston...two happy babies!
Christmas at grandma and grandpa's house in CO!
Grandma taught Hannah to make snow angels.
Being silly with Aunt Lynn.
The girls sporting new matching outfits-thanks Brenda!
Cutie pie, you can see her teeth in this pic!
Hannah opening a Christmas Eve present.
Allison posing with grandma.
Christmas morning...Hannah's favorite present was chap stick (although she did enjoy others, too) Way to go Santa!!!
Like Allison's Leap Frog table and her toothbrushes!
Hannah showing Alli how her new toy works.
Worn out!
One last picture with Grandma and Grandpa!

The morning after Christmas we got up bight and early to head back to IA for Christmas with Nate's family.
Mom, dad, and Alli.
Hannah with more gifts.
Nate and Gabe being super silly.
Hannah had to join in, too!
Allison's favorite toy.
Grandma, Nate, and the girls.
One more "Christmas" at great-grandma's.
At the pool...we spent New year's day at a hotel w/ and indoor water park for one last Christmas celebration with Nate's mom's side of the family!

We had a great Christmas. Thanks to everybody for all of the great gifts and for the time we got to spend together!
Now we are home and trying to get back into some sort of normal routine! Allison has had a doctor's appointment, and is still about the 85% for her size. So big! She is also sitting up like a pro these days! Maybe I'll take some pics of that soon!

Santa at the Country Club

Last night was family night at the Country Club and Santa made an appearance! Last year Santa made Hannah cry. She did a little better this year, she sat on his lap, but wouldn't look at him. We had been practicing what she was going to tell him. She decided that she would tell him she wanted a "toy" whatever toy that is, who knows, but she wouldn't talk to him when the time came! Oh well, we got a few pictures anyways!


Decorating cookies!
Eating more frosting than is getting on the cookies!

And....
Hannah being silly...you might recognize the headband from an earlier picture (on Allison's head!) Hannah LOVES her daddy!
If you look really close, Alli's tooth is in there! (on the bottom)
Hannah thought she needed to be in a picture, too, so we posed by the Christmas tree!

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

Like everybody else this time of year, we have been so busy. We had a great Thanksgiving. We celebrated at Nate's oldest brother Ben's brand new townhome in Des Moines. I think it would have scared me to have a whole bunch of kids running around, but it worked out well and we had a great time! Hannah loved playing with the aunts uncles and her cousins! Allison also got her first tooth! Thanksgiving day it poked through, I think she must have been hoping for some turkey! I'll get pics when it is a little more visible. Unfortunately, Hannah also came home with pink eye :( which stated our not so very fun past week!

Hannah got pink eye, then the girls and I got a bad cold, then Alli got pink eye (despite crazy hand washing and cleaning of blankets, towels, etc) and then yesterday Alli got another tooth! So our past week has consisted of staying at home (to try and not infect everybody else), not sleeping enough, and listening to lots of whining and crying. Luckily Nate's not so busy at work, so I have been able to stay sane! Yesterday we were finally all feeling better. It is amazing how big a difference that makes!

Here are a few pictures of poor Allison...I do try and wipe her eyes off, but it doesn't help for long!

And here is Hannah wearing her new favorite footwear! These are some boots we picked up at the second hand store and she wants to wear them ALWAYS! She calls them her "winter boots." They light up when she walks and she wants to show everybody!

And last but not least...Hannah and Alli have a brand new cousin! Nate's sister Tiff had a baby boy yesterday morning. Calvin Jay (at least that's what they think they are naming him, but plan on calling him CJ.) Hopefully we can squeeze in a trip to Des Moines to see him before we head to CO next week!

She did it!

Allison rolled over! Yesterday I put her down on her tummy so that I could change Hannah and when I was done, she was on her back! I think it will still be a while before she actually knows how to roll over, but once is a start!


Here is Miss Allison in her favorite pose...tongue out! Her tongue is always out, sometimes she just likes to stick it out, sometimes she is licking things, as long as it isn't in her mouth she is happy. The other day we were playing in the mirror and she wouldn't put her tongue back in her mouth, it was getting all dry before she finally decided she had tasted the air enough! Anyways, I think she is a cutie with or without her tongue! I also think it is funny because she always has things in he mouth, but she is rarely sucking on them. For example, her fingers are almost always by her mouth, but she is usually either chewing on them (luckily no teeth yet)or just licking them. I was worried about her being a thumb sucker (because it can be a hard habit to break later) but so far she doesn't really "suck" her thumb. It has been so much fun to notice all of the differences between the two girls. They are really so unique, even just as babies!

Here are just a few pics of the girls playing and acting goofy.


One last thing, I need your opinions! We are trying to figure out how we should spell Allison's nickname. Ally, Allie, others!? She has two "Ls" in her name, so I think her nickname should, too, but maybe not. Which spelling do you like best??