Welcome to Ames!

So we moved, Nate FINALLY finished working in Carroll while we were living in Ames, and now he started school!

Here are some pics of what we've been up to this past month. I didn't take any pictures of the packing, moving, unpacking process...maybe because I was hoping to forget about it!? Craziness. Maybe we will learn eventually, but when your husband works at a golf course, you shouldn't plan major life events during the summer, like having a baby last summer or moving!!!

Our new home for the next two years! We were in a bit of a panic for a while because we needed a place to live ASAP as we only had 30 days before we closed on our house. Ames being a college town, has lot of places to rent, but ALL leases start and end Aug. 1st. Not good when you need a place to live June 25! We finally found this place and ended up having more space than I thought we would. It smells a little like moth balls (yuck) but it is starting to go away, finally! Other than that it is great!!! Nate all ready for his first day of graduate school!

Our new outside toy...thanks to craigslist and living in a place where people actually put stuff on craiglist! I am so excited that we have a yard for the girls!

One of our last rides on the golf cart...at least for a while!

Nate saying his goodbyes at his going away party at the Country Club And Hannah listening, while drinking her Shirley Temple, or course!

We were in Iowa City for a few days while Nate played in a golf tournament and my mom and grandma flew out to visit us while we were there. We had a great time, maybe next time they will get to see where we are living now!

We also headed to Nauvoo for an afternoon!

Daddy pretending to be a fireman at our block party.

The firetruck that came to the block party...we met some great neighbors!

Hannah's 3rd birthday gift...I love craigslist!!!

Already 1!!!

I can't believe my baby is one! It sure seems like time flew by even faster the second time around!

A few tidbits about Miss Alli...

~She LOVES to smile and laugh...especially at her sister!

~She is soooo snuggly!

~Eating is one of her talents!

~Although she eats anything is sight, and a lot of it, she still think she needs her mommy, a LOT!

~She thinks paper is for shredding...toilet paper is her favorite!

~But she loves books, and doesn't tear them up

~Has become rather opinionated! Which also means she is getting rather loud!!!

~She is getting pretty talkative, although prefers 1 syllable words (mom and dad are the most frequent) Yelling MOM during church seems to be a favorite lately.

~She does a great job using her baby signs (especially MILK)

~She is my laundry helper...take clothes out and put them back

~She is wearing Hannah's clothes that fit her when she turned 2

~She has 8 teeth with two more about to pop through..including 2 molars!

~Started walking just after her birthday and thinks it is great! Her first steps were to get to daddy's cookie!

~Has the cutest curls (finally) starting to grow.

~Is just such a happy baby. We LOVE having her in our home. Happy Birthday baby Alli!

Here are a few pictures of the birthday event...

Before...

During...

and I think she better be done!

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!