It's a Girl!

I probably should have posted this a while ago, but our family of three is becoming four on September 7th.  We are expecting a little girl and couldn't be happier.  My belly has officially "popped" the past two weeks and she moves constantly.  The most movement takes place when Alden goes down for a nap or for the night.  I think this is because she's used to getting jumped on and mauled by Alden all the time, that when he leaves she thinks it's her turn to move around.  Now that we are finally settled down for the summer with only minor trips and parties planned we can finally focus on preparing for our new addition.  I even bought myself my maternity swimsuits this past weekend because I'm pretty sure that's all Alden and I will be doing this summer.  I'm going to need to find ways to stay cool in the heat since I'll be nine months pregnant during the hottest month.

Graduation!

In April Patrick graduated from BYU with his degree in chemical engineering.  We are so proud of him and all his hard work.  He's worked really hard the past several years and it has all paid off.  He is done with school and has a full time job that he started yesterday.  Since he didn't have any finals this semester and we had our trip to Germany planned, we opted to leave Provo early and skip the actual graduation ceremony to move into out new apartment.  The weekend before we left, Patrick and Alden humored me and came with me to campus one morning before church to take some "graduation" pictures.  Even if they weren't done in his cap and gown, I wanted some of the classic graduation pictures from places around campus.  This actually worked out really nice, because there were no lines and we were all done in about 20 minutes.  Megan was good enough to come and be our photographer and I think they turned out wonderfully.  Now we have photo proof that Patrick went to BYU :) 

(Sorry about the picture overload, these are mostly for family to see)

New shoes

Alden got some new shoes a few months ago.  They are his first pair of real tennis shoes.  He looks so cool in them and loved putting them on.  I think this is because he knows that he can't go outside without his shoes on, so every morning he would run into his room and ask to put on his shoes because he wanted to go outside.  Below are the pictures of him trying them on one night.

Boise Trip

We had so much fun when we went up to Boise last month to visit Becca, Skye, and the boys.  I'm so sad I didn't get a lot of pictures, but with it being a quick trip we didn't have time to stand around and take pictures.  Alden was a surprisingly good traveler and had so much fun following Bryce and Brandon around.  They were good sports to share their toys and were very kind making sure "baby Alden" was okay.  We mostly just played around the house and enjoyed spending time together, but we did venture out a few times by going to Cabella's to see the animal exhibits and the YMCA to go swimming.  The boys loved seeing the stuffed animals and ran around the store pointing out everything they saw.  Swimming was fun, Alden hadn't been in the pool since last summer and took a little while warming up to the idea of it.  Mostly because it was pretty crowded on a Saturday afternoon and he wasn't sure of what to think of all the people.  But here he is in his new swimming suit.

The Box

We buy Alden's diapers in bulk, and he has recently discovered the box is the perfect size for him to ride in.  One day he climbed in the box and pretty much asked to be pushed around the house.  So I was on my hands and knees pushing him from room to room in our small apartment.  When we would go by his toys he'd pick them up and load himself down with them.  Finally after a while I needed a break, so I suggested he just push his toys around.  He did for a little bit, but decided he liked being the one in the box better than the pusher.  I don't blame him.  Here he is giving me some attitude for pausing to take pictures instead of pushing.

The Pink Headband

When Patrick plays intramural soccer he likes to wear a pink headband.  It started years ago when he and his brother Tyler were on the same team and both wanted headbands for when they played.  Somehow there was only pink or either they wanted pink, I'm not quite sure of the whole story, but Patrick has kept up the tradition.  So every soccer game that he plays he proudly wears his headband and says it's the good luck charm and reason for them winning.  Alden is also developing a love for the pink headband.  He found it one day when I was doing laundry and knew exactly what to do with it.  He needed a little help to put it on correctly, but he was so proud and wore it all around the house.  Doesn't he look awesome?

A Little Catch-up

I haven't posted anything on this blog in forever and what is probably even worse is that I haven't taken hardly any pictures during this time either.  I'll highlight a few events that have occurred in the past month and a half and promise to do better in the future. 

Patrick and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary on January 24th.  It was great fun.  We switch off planning the celebration each year so that at least one of us is surprised and we don't have to do anything while the other plans it all out.  This year was Patrick's year.  We kept it simple and fun.  We went out to a nice/new restaurant here in Provo.  The food was amazing.  I ate way more than I probably should have, but I couldn't stop myself it was delicious.  We have already made plans to go back one more time in the next month before we leave Utah.  Patrick also surprised me with a new version of the game Ticket to Ride.  We are now the proud owners of the Europe version.  It is so fun and I think we played it non-stop for about two weeks after we got it.  We played it by ourselves every time Alden went down for a nap or with anyone who would sit and play with us.  It was great and I'm going to have to start thinking of ways to make next year's celebration even better!

(Blogger is not letting me upload a wedding picture, so it's an engagement photo instead)

Next up, Patrick thought he needed stitches one Saturday morning in January.  He was entertaining Alden while I hopped in the shower, but Alden was walking in and out of the bathroom bringing different toys and books into the bathroom.  He somehow got a hold of one of the Wii remotes and we definitely didn't want that in the bathroom to accidentally get wet.  Patrick was going in and out of the bathroom removing all the treasures that Alden brought in and turned a little sharply and smacked his eyebrow into the door frame.  All I heard was him yell out in pain and then Alden start screaming hysterically (later I learned it was because he saw the blood everywhere and Patrick fall over in pain).  I'm still in the shower at this point and Patrick comes in to tell me that he is going to Urgent Care to get stitches.  I still have no idea was is going on and he rushes out the door.  Needless to say, he didn't need stitches and had a nice battle wound for a little bit and a not so exciting story to go with it.  I thought it was quite hilarious and could hardly get through a telling of the story without cracking up.  Patrick is find and it healed up quite nicely, I think it just damaged his ego a little bit to tell people he ran into the door frame.

 

About a month ago, in the middle of February, Alden and I took a short trip to Georgia to escape from the cold Utah weather.  My mom and Sawyer had the week off of school and I needed to go over to South Carolina and find us an apartment to live in come mid-April.  The trip was a success.  We visited the ward and area in Anderson and found a great apartment.  I'm very excited and happy that it all worked out so nicely.  I'm excited for the move and ready to get going.  We also enjoyed 70 degree weather all week and even threatened Patrick that we may "accidentally" miss our flight because we didn't want to come back to snow and cold.  Alden played outside all day and had his first experience with a sandbox.  It was wonderful and can't wait to get back to some nice weather.  Utah has had a great last couple of weeks and we've been getting outside everyday, but today was colder and I think it's about time for another storm.  It was too good to last.  Hopefully we'll see some more good weather soon.

Alden is doing great and loving playing outside.  Everyday the first thing he does is go to the front door asking to go outside.  He is at such a fun stage right now.  He babbles all day long and is really understanding more and more of what we are saying.  It surprises me all the time the words he understands and how he knows where things go around the house.  The other day after changing his diaper he picked up the Desitin and took it back into the bathroom where it goes, and then came back for the wipes and took those into his room to be put away.  I didn't know he could reach the shelves, but he surprises me all the time with his arm span.  He loves to help with the laundry and is always very concerned when I don't get to my folding right away.  He has learned to climb in the laundry baskets and loves to wrestle in the file of clean clothes.  He continues to make us laugh and stay on our toes all day.  His favorite food the past few months is strawberries.  He will eat an entire carton all by himself in a matter of days.  We also feel he has become an apple juice addict.  When he's ready for a drink of juice he will go to the fridge and wait until we open it and then point to his sippy cup and then to the apple juice.  There is no fooling him either.  He won't move out of the way to close the fridge until I poured the juice in the cup and handed it to him.  We're going to have to find something else he loves that much to mix it up a little bit.  Patrick's worried it's too much sugar in the juice and not good for him to be so addicted.  Oh well, we'll see what we can do.  For now Alden gets to enjoy his juice as a snack. 

We are currently in count down mode to April 19th.  That's the day Alden and I get on the plane and Patrick starts driving.  We have lots to do and people to play with, and Patrick is trying to finish school all at the same time.  It's all very exciting.  This weekend's agenda is a trip up to Boise to see our good friends Becca and Skye and their family.  We leave tomorrow and come back Sunday in time to hit up a little reunion of sorts with my extended family.  We are going to play, play, play up until Patrick starts work for real in May, because then it's down to business :)  Hopefully I'll take pictures this weekend and have a real update come next week.