Did you say TEXAS?!?

   The rumors are true!  We will be moving out to Houston, Texas come May after Jordan graduates with his MBA.

I am so proud of him and that he will have a dual masters and already has a job set up.  We feel so blessed that he had so many offers and that we have felt so great about accepting to work for a company called Goodman Manufacturing.
   Am I excited to move out of Provo?   Am I nervous to leave Provo and go out to the real world?  Holy Cow, YES!!  It is funny how we often start looking one step ahead.  When we are single we want to get married, but as soon as we are married we want to have a baby, but once we have a baby we want to have another one, and etc.  Well, we are super excited for this new adventure in our life and are really learning to enjoy the time in Provo with close friends, before it's time to go to the place with the heat.
    I never in my life thought we would end up in Texas.  Does that mean my kids are going to have southern accents? (I would love this)Does that mean we are going to become beach bums? (so excited to have a beach so close) Does that mean my kids are all going to have HUGE Texas pride?

     We couldn't be more excited (all 3 of us)!! Plus we have family in Houston, so goodbye fears, and hello Houston!

(... and some recent pics that are my favorites).

Family Pictures

Say What?!

AHH! 6 Months already!?!

Yup, that's right!  McKae is now 6 months and she is growing up so quickly.  We really wish we could slow it down just a little bit.  She has even picked up a few new tricks.

She can sit up all by herself!

At 6 months she...

-eating solids (loves squash!!)

-babbles and entertains us with her velosaraptor talk

-can bend in half and suck on her toes

-can roll both ways

-loves to blow bubbles

-can play peekaboo... she pulls the blanket off her face

-gives a nice "hearty" laugh

-smiles ALL day long!

We sure love our sweet pea and couldn't imagine our life without her!  Bring on the adventures of the next 6 months...even though we know it could get messy!

Red Paper Airplanes

Jordan and I just celebrated our 3rd year wedding anniversary.  It was simply perfect!  Many of you readers already know this story but three years ago Jordan took me on a "rememberance date" with doing all kinds of things that had some special meaning for us and one of them was making paper airplanes.  So on the day we got engaged we threw white paper airplanes off of the balcony at the JFSB.  Jordan told me we needed to go pick them up.  As we did ran down to the bottom we found some RED paper airplanes.  Well, those weren't ours so I skipped right over it until Jordan told me to come take a look.  I opened it up and it said 100 reasons why I love Kaitlin.  There were 10 airplanes with 10 things on each one.  The last one said... "She just might say yes!"  He then pulled out some flowers (from under a bush) and a ring in the pocket and proposed.  I was so surprised but said yes and the rest is history.  Here are some pictures of our engagement day 3 years ago.

For our anniversary every year we take turns planning.  This year it was Jordan's turn.  Man, he knows me so well (I love surprises and I am very EASILY surprised).  We dropped McKae off at his sisters and headed to our dinner reservation.  He said we had a little bit of time so he thought it would be fun to go fly some paper airplanes again. This time we wrote compliments hoping that people would find them and make them happy.  Well we felt bad about littering so we headed down to go pick them up.  When I got down there I found, yes, a red paper airplane.  It had reasons 101 to 110. of why he loved me.  He pulled out a dozen roses from under the bushes(thanks to his siblings for making the white to red airplanes and stashing the flowers both years - Carl and Gary) and gave me a beautiful necklace.  Could life get better than this?!  I submit that it cannot.  I know everyone says this, but I truly am  THE LUCKIEST girl!

Later that night we headed to Macaroni Grill, where we had the best yummy food.  They also have paper on the tables that you can draw on so we played pictionary with our favorite memories.  It was so fun!

So glad that 3 years ago we...

- got married in the slc temple for time and all eternity

-we decided to spend the rest of our life with our best friend.

-started on a journey full of ongoing adventures!

 

Don't worry we're not dead!

So I know we kinda fell off the map for the whole summer, but don't worry we are not dead.  We just didn't have internet, so here is an overload of pictures of what we have been up to.  This summer Jordan and I had the opportunity to head out to Cincinnati, Ohio so he could do an internship with Proctor and Gamble (yeah, he's amazing!)  We LOVED Ohio!  (except for some minor details like no sidewalks, mountains, etc.)  We loved the lightning bugs, the family friendliness, the green rolling hills, the ice cream (I crave Graeters still!), P&G, our calling as Sunday School teachers for the 17 yr. olds, the wonderful friends we made, and so much more.  I wish I had more pictures, but here is some of them.

There are a bunch of bridges that cross over from Ohio and Kentucky.  We lived right by the border of Kentucky.

We were so lucky to make such great friends while we were there. Seriously... friends can make any situation great!

This is right by the river

We also got to go and spend some time in Dayton, Ohio with Jordan's cousins and family.  We got to go to the Wright Patterson Air Force Base Museum and see tons and TONS of planes.  I decided to let Jordan take our time until after an hour he told me that we just made it through one side of one hanger (yes, there were a total of 5 hangers).  But it was really neat to see all the planes that had been used by the presidents and the planes used during all the wars.

 

We also traveled up to Columbus, Ohio so that we could meet up with Dan and Heather who had  been in Cleveland.  We were able to go to the Columbus, Ohio temple.  Man, it had been way too long since we last saw them.  Heather also introduced us to Culvers which was soooo good.

To come back to Utah, I flew with McKae while Jordan drove back by himself.  He made a stop in Iowa to see Dallin and Laura.  Before they made it there they decided to make a stop at some church history sites.

Thanks Dallin and Laura for taking care of my man.  We sure love you guys!

All in all, we really couldn't have asked for a better experience in Ohio.  We hope they will have a future job offer for us (here's to crossing our fingers).  

so in love

McKae

Do you believe in love at first sight?

WE do!

Touchdown

Touchdown!

Can't wait to go with Daddy to my first BYU football game!

Parenthood 101

Since being a mom I feel I have already learned so much and I want to remember it for in the future so I am going to write it all down.

1.When you give your baby a bath and you dry them in their towel, RUN to put that diaper on and then you can cuddle all you want.  If you decide to cuddle while they are still in the towel, well... you may get a little more than wet!

2.Little girls are almost always "Daddy's Girls".  McKae loves to sit in dad's lap.  She will often calm right down.

3. Did you know the word "blow-out" does not always mean up the back?  Oh no, it could me out one side, or even a whole 360.  We have just learned to appreciate that McKae doesn't like them anymore than we do and she'll let us know what's going on.

4.  Baby girls are so reverent!  (This swing has been a lifesaver for us) 

5.  McKae may end up being a super dancer, because she has the best stretches I have ever seen.  We take her out of the car seat and lay her down and she will stretch EVERY part of her body and then just lay there.

6.  I have heard it said many times that time just seems to move too fast when you have a baby and I couldn't agree more.  Slow down and enjoy every moment or at least to learn to laugh at em' (refer to number 3.).

7.  I once heard it said that raising children will be the hardest job we will ever have to do, but that the joy that comes from them will be the GREATEST joy we will ever have.  I know everytime McKae smiles we see just what that means.  We love our sweet baby McKae!

It's a Girl!

Kaitlin is all hooked up to those ivy's, just waiting for that baby to come.  This picture was actually taken after the water broke so McKae is nearly a part of the family at this point!

It's a girl!  McKae is literally seconds old in this picture, getting cleaned up by the nurse.

The cone head is a testament to the ordeal both Mom and Baby had to go through!

But so worth it!

Have you ever seen a more beautiful pair?

I mean trio?

Next is a trip to the nursery...

Where McKae met an anxious Uncle Carl!

No name card yet for a while...Mom and Dad were still deciding on McKae

Uncle Carl

Uncle Gary!  We were so glad to see their excitement to meet McKae.  Everyone's support has been so great!

Melanie visited on Saturday and was a huge help!  Thanks!

Mom and Baby ready to go home!

Leaving the Hospital!

Cute!

Baby loves Daddy!

And Mommy!