Goings on

It's time to play some serious catch up. Since moving to Virginia I have totally neglected this blog. It's bee =n a busy couple of months, but it has been so much fun getting to spend some serious time together and learn and grow.

December-

• Moved out of our teeny tiny apartment in Idaho Falls. We miss that place so much already.
• We drove to Seattle to spend a couple of weeks and Christmas with my family. We saw lots of family and not as many friends as we would have liked. Brenden got sick the night before we left to drive cross country. 
• Started our cross country drive to Virginia
• Stayed in 3 different homes in 3 different states, and 3 different hotels in 3 different states. 
• Had 4 different Christmas exchanges with family.
• Got Aria's ears pierced. Eek! I know. The most frightening experience of my life.
• Said goodbye to our dear friends in Idaho.
• Aria is 4 months old and is so smiley, but she doesn't like baby food or tummy time.

January-

• Arrived in Virginia
• Aria turned 5 months old and still refuses baby food.
• Blessed Aria in Virginia. Beautiful!
• Took Brenden and Aria to downtown Washington DC. We saw the Natural History Museum, National Monument, site for the new MLK monument, Lincoln Memorial, Arlington Cemetery  and the Pentagon.

February-

• Celebrated Brenden's second Birthday!
• Celebrated my 24th Birthday
• Finished all of my doula certification exams. ALMOST THERE!
• Chris started applying for new jobs.
• Started potty training Brenden and it was a total bust!

March-

• Got our tax return! YIPPEE!
• Potty Training Brenden, Take 2!

Chris- Chris is still working at Sam's Club, but when we moved to Virginia, he transferred to one out here. It's still about a 40 minute commute, but he got a pay increase, so it's okay for now. Chris has been taking a few semesters off from school and just working, saving that money for when we go back to Rexburg for those last few semesters. Chris will start taking online classes come September, so far he's only got 2 semesters left. I hope that's all anyways. Our real hope is that he can take the rest of his classes online and we can just stay here in Virginia. We really love it here! The only problem is that all of Chris' classes required to graduate are not yet offered. BYU-Idaho is always adding classes to their catalog, so Chris is hoping that by the time he needs to take classes, they'll be offered online. If not, there's a possibility that he may be able to transfer to BYU and take the rest of his classes through BYU and graduate online. It's still up in the air as to where we'll end up, but we're hopeful something will turn up. Chris loves it here in Virginia and it's great spending time with family.

Sadie- Sadie has been working diligently to finish her birth doula certification. We'll see who gets done first. The competition is on! Sadie has done a great deal on her essay, read all of her books, and completed all of her exams for her certification, whoot whoot! All that's left is to attend births! It's been a real challenge for Sadie to try and study while taking care of a two year old trying to potty train and a newborn who is now over 6 months old. She spends her days taking care of 2 super cute kids, making some extraordinary meals, creating preschool lessons for Brenden, and keeping up with laundry. Chris and Sadie have picked up Scentsy again since moving to Virginia, as well as Velata. Check it out. It's been fun living with the in-laws and for right now, I wouldn't have it any other way. It's been great not having to cook every night and having some awesome help with the kids. I love watching Chris' parents with our kids. It's nice to see my kids being rottenly spoiled.

Brenden- Brenden loves his little sister so much and you can tell. Aria lights up every time she sees Brenden's face and he loves to try and make her laugh. We tried potty training with Brenden when we first got here to Virginia, and it was a bust. I found myself getting super frustrated and Brenden crying and not liking anything about it. I decided that I was ready this last week and I was ready to give it another try and was hopeful that Brenden was ready as well. Well, Brenden is now a potty training rock star! Excuse me if it's a little too mcuh, but he is accident free most days, asks to go to the potty, and even takes off his diaper during nap time to go to the potty! He even poops in the potty! Brenden loves his underwear and doesn't like accidents. He cries every time. The first time was the worst. He had no idea what was happening and then the poor little boy fell in it and bonked his head. Poor boy, but he is doing so well now. I am so proud of my little boy.  Brenden is now a 2 year old! Where have the last 2 years gone? I don't know, but he is sure a smart boy. Brenden is getting so talkative and I am so amazed by the things that he comprehends. I love it when I ask him if he wants lunch and he goes and grabs his soy milk out of the pantry, along with peanut butter and honey, and bread from the bread drawer. As soon as I'm done making his sandwich, he'll go and put everything away. How did I get so lucky? He's a little smarty and I love him so much.

Aria- Aria is growing so fast, even with the lack of eating any baby food, she is still growing and getting prettier every day. I can hardly believe that she's already 6 months old. She had her ears pierced back in December, she cried so much. I don't blame her, but I felt so bad, but at the same time, I'm really glad that we had them done now rather than waiting. I didn't want them done when she was 1 or 2 and have her pulling and yanking them out, but I didn't want to wait until she was 8 or 9 either. I had mine pierced when I was a baby and wanted to have hers pierced at that time as well. Aria doesn't like tummy time or baby food. She usually cried every time we lay her on her tummy. She is getting better at it though. And she doesn't really like baby food. She'll take it if we give it to her, but that only lasts for a few spoonfuls. I make all of her baby food, just like I did for Brenden. I've tired bananas, apples, pears, lemon, squash, peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, and homemade rice cereal. She seems to like the rice cereal the best, but even that isn't a big hit. I'm open to anyone who has suggestions. Sure, she may not be ready, and that's okay too. Aria started sitting up this week and she's doing so well. She still doesn't roll over, crawl, but I'm sure she'll catch on soon. She likes to stand though, so maybe she'll walk before 18 months. Aria is the sweetest little girl and we love her so much!