Catch up

The last few weeks have been fun. We got to participate in my cousin Christian's mission farewell. He is in Africa now and is doing great. We loved being part of his special time leading up to his mission. We also got to spend a week in Park City with my Aunts and their families. Lexi had so much fun and has gotten really comfortable around everyone. We shopped at the outlets (and got amazing deals!), went to a movie, ate out, made smores, went swimming, and made lots of kid crafts. It was such a fun week!

2 months old

Carter is 2 months old! I love love love my little boy! He is the best baby. He smiles all the time and is generally a happy baby. He melts my heart. He loves it when anyone pays attention to him and always rewards attention with big smiles. He really likes Lexi and will always smile at her. He is filling out and has the cutest rolls on his legs. He likes to be held but will sit alone for a while too. He gets up about twice a night doing a 3-4 hr stretch and then a 3 hr. His sleep habits are manageable but combined with Lexi getting up at least once a night it makes for a very tired mother. My favorite physical features are his ears, hair, smile, and eyes. He likes his hair washed and usually smiles the whole time we do it. He is such a delight and so adorable! We are so glad he's in our family.

Lexi Update

Lexi is loving living in Utah! She has been able to play with her cousins a lot and has made some new friends too. I'd have to say her best friend is her Grandpa. She loves to play with him and gets really excited when he comes home. Lexi is learning a lot of new things and surprises me with her development. We are currently working on colors and it has been really fun. Her strength still seems to be counting but she is picking up shapes pretty well too. She loves to play games and matching games are her favorite. She likes containers of any kind that she can put things into and tote around. She is doing a lot better with the adjustment to sharing attention with her brother. She is a very good girl and pretty obedient. She still talks about her friends in Flagstaff and misses them but loves it here. She is really enjoying nursery which is such a blessing. She is having a hard time sleeping through the night which has made things hard for Mom and Dad. She gets up at least once a night and comes into our room. We take her back to bed and she goes back to sleep there. Lexi has some funny quirks right now:
-She calls Carter her sister. She insists he is a sister. I think it is hard for her because she's a sister and doesn't understand why he's a brother.
-She puts ing on the end of a lot of words. She says stucking when she's stuck. She also puts a s on things that don't need one. She calls Carter buddies.

Laughs

Lexi has noticed some things here in Utah are different than Flagstaff. She thinks that everyone's backyards are "parks" and that she should be able to go play in them. She's not used to everyone having swing sets. She gets very upset when I don't let her go play on them. She also thinks there is a temple on every corner. I've tried to tell her they are churches but she says, "No Mom...that's a temple."

Going Home

The time has come to finally go home. Cole was offered a job at Edward's Life Sciences in Draper, Utah and has taken it. He has been unhappy in his current job for a while now and wanted something different. He has been applying at various companies for a long time. Two weeks before Carter was born he got interviews with three different companies in Utah. Edward's was our top choice and the day after Carter was born they offered him a job. We've been waiting until Cole gave his two week notice to tell people. He had 3 years at Gore this week which meant he was fully vested, thus the need to keep this quiet until that day. He gave his notice yesterday. Needless to say his employer was very surprised and very sad to hear he is leaving. They are begging him to stay but he doesn't want to.

Preparing to move has kept us very busy. It's been hard for me to focus on the move because my focus is on Carter right now so Cole's done a lot of the planning for us. Me and the kids will drive to Utah next weekend with my Dad and Cole will come the following weekend. We've listed our home at the lowest amount we can (which means we will loose a lot of money) and if it doesn't sell we will have to rent it. My parents have graciously offered to let us live at their house until we settle things with our Flagstaff home.

I am leaving Flagstaff with mixed feelings. I am going to miss the associations we have here and I hate starting over. Change can be good but it usually comes with hardships. I am so excited to be near family. I am thrilled that my kids will grow up with family around. I am excited to be around to celebrate events and help with hardships in our families lives. I look forward to having more support when trials come. This last year has been hard and we've felt a longing for families support. I will not miss the liberal element in Flagstaff. Even though it is in AZ it is a very liberal town with a strong transient element. I will not miss the long windy season. I will miss Lexi's playgroup, my bunco group, my young women, Oregano's, my house, and the way the trees look after it snows. We would have been fine staying here but we are so excited for the opportunity to go home!

One Month Old

Carter is now one month old. It has been an eventful month at our house. We love having Carter in our family. He is such a good baby and makes us smile each day. Below are pictures from his first time going to church, Lexi reading to him, and just being cute.

Fun weekend

We had a very fun weekend. Grandma and Grandpa Chamberlain came to visit. We started the weekend by going to Eden's home in Phoenix. They blessed Crew and we enjoyed being able to be there for his blessing. Crew and Carter are about 8 weeks apart but Crew is a lot bigger already. Lexi loved, loved, loved playing with her cousins. They were so excited to see her and were so nice to her. At first they asked us if she could talk. We said yes and that she is shy at first. A few minutes later they came running in and excitedly told us she talked to them. It was really funny. It was so good for Lexi to go and have fun with them. The adjustment to getting less attention from Mom and Dad has been hard for her. The next day we got to see Aunt Ariel and hang out with Cole's parents. Lexi got a cute hat from Turkey that Grandma brought. We enjoyed seeing everyone and miss them already.