and we're off

Well, not quite, but we soon will be. We packed up the rest of the house yesterday with my mom's help. My BIL stopped by last night to say bye because he won't be back before we leave. It feels like it's been a long time in coming but yet it's so surreal. Bill heads out this week and the rest of us next. We were talking yesterday about how much we'll miss everything here. It's been a good life here. I've been in Utah since 2001. Bill and I have been married since 2009. All our experiences together are here. It will hold a special place in our hearts as the place everything began.  So here's to a lovely last Christmas here and then onto a brand new adventure.

The tablet

We don't have a TV in our house.  We can find pretty much anything we want to watch online on Netflix, and we just would rather avoid some of the hard decisions that could come if we had a TV.  Don't be fooled though.  We're a very tech savvy family.  We have a number of computers, phones, and other devices and thoroughly enjoy them.  But I've been very happy so far with how Spencer has developed his playing skills without a TV around.

However, our newest techy device acquisition is a pair of Android tablets that we picked up at Costco a month or so ago.  I didn't think I wanted one.  Yeah, I was wrong.  Both Bill and I love them.  And guess who else loves them? Spencer!  He is completely certain both tablets are his personal property and he can play his games on them whenever he chooses.  It's quite the exciting transition. I can't say I'm completely happy about it, yet it's incredibly helpful at times to be able to give it to him and have him captivated for long periods of time.  The kid has learned so fast how to navigate to where he wants to go.  It's mind boggling to see what a not even two-year old can do on it. I'm very happy that I will have mine around for the long, long plane rides to Atlanta in three weeks, as it really does keep his attention for a long time, but I sometimes wonder if playing on the tablet is a small bit of what I wanted to avoid having a TV around.  But they're not going anywhere, so we'll just have to figure out the limits on them as time goes by.  I definitely don't regret the purchase, so I guess I get what I paid for on all accounts. :)

All the details are coming together

Since I can't think of much else besides this huge change in our lives coming up very, very soon, here's another blog post about moving to South Carolina. :)  This week we got Bill's official offer letter for his assistantship at Clemson.  In other words, they finally told us how much they are willing to pay him, how much tuition will cost, etc.  It was pretty much everything we've been hoping for and so he accepted it.  What a relief!  While we've been planning this move to happen for months, there was always this question in our minds because we didn't have that information.  It is so nice to have that piece fallen into place. Now we're free to move forward getting an apartment, finalizing our move, etc.

Bill is taking his last final of his undergrad degree as I type this.  Then we'll have the rest of the month off and doesn't start school until the 9th of January.  Well, he has the rest of the month off. I still have to work, but that's a good thing since money is helpful with everything we'll be spending on this move. :)  And I'll have a big chunk of time off too during the actual Christmas and New Year's weeks. Anyway, all the stress of making the decision is gone and now we just have to get ourselves there.  I can handle that part.  It feels so good to be getting this much closer to taking this big step forward in our lives.

And in the rest of our life news, here's some cute pictures of the kids from this week.

3 Months and my favorite Spencerism this week

This little lady is three months old.

She is just a doll.  She's smiling like crazy these days and just such a delightful baby.  She will laugh when we sing to her, which is so endearing.  She's a serious chunk.  She already weighs at least 14 pounds and is growing like a weed.  She loves these little lovey blanket toys.  She has three. :) She'll suck on them for hours.

She's quite patient with her brother's desire to hug and kiss, i.e. body slam, her 100 times a day.  We're working on that one. :)

Speaking of her brother, Spencer has started doing two very amusing things.  First he brings his little pillow out into the living room with a book and wants me to read to him while he lays on the couch.  I can never say no to that.  Two, he likes the ABC song but he calls it the ABW song.  We'll ask him what song he wants us to sing and he yells ABW!  The day Genevieve was born everyone came to the hospital to see her. My niece Lily started teaching Spencer his letters from the letter magnets we got him as a gift from Genevieve that day.  He latched onto the letter 'w' and it's been his favorite ever since.  He wanders around the house saying all the letters of the alphabet and now counting and also going through different colors he knows. He's learned all of these since Genevieve was born. It's pretty impressive.  Every time he says "eweven" it just makes me laugh.  Such a cute kid.  Now if we can just help him understand that Genevieve is more than a life-sized toy to be prodded and poked and hit.  He's a bit hardheaded about that particular subject.  He loves on her a bit too much at present.

good week

So I like to post on my blog about once a week just to keep it going, but really, I have nothing to post about of any substance.  It's been a lovely Thanksgiving week with tons of time spent with Bill's family.  Thanksgiving day was wonderful.  My grandparents came along to the feast too and that was awesome.  I'm pretty sure I didn't take any pictures, but suffice it to say we had a good time.  Genevieve and Spencer were much fawned over by their adoring aunts and grandparents. We took family pictures.  Those will be forthcoming later. Bill's sister was so kind to take them for us. 

Yup, that's about it.  The biggest thing on my mind is that Bill is exactly two weeks from the last day of classes for his undergrad degree. What a blessed day that will be!  Then three or four weeks after that we're off to South Carolina. Woot! This has been one of the fastest semesters of school imaginable yet it feels like it's been an eternity since August  because so much stuff has happened, or to be more exact, more life decisions made in the last three months than in the last four years.  Heck, we had a baby, applied and got into a PhD program, planned out our  move, and in the meantime served as young women's president and in the stake young men's presidency.  It's been a tad busy to say the least. :)  Good times have been had all around.  And that's all I've got tonight.

Tickets purchased

I just purchased plane tickets for me and the kids to fly out to South Carolina in January.  This is the first actual money we've spent towards this move.  The rest is just scheduled at the moment. It still feels a little surreal.  Bill finishes his bachelor's degree in three weeks.  We were talking last night about it and it feels like we've been going full speed with no end in sight for years and then suddenly it's over.  There was no slow ride to the end or any build up.  Just suddenly he's in his last semester and it flew by at the speed of light and we're just about done.

I was reminiscing last night about when I was 10 and my family moved from California to Colorado Springs.  I was so stinkin' excited about the move until the very last night when it hit me that I was leaving my best friend.  I called her and totally bawled on the phone about it. That was the moment it hit me everything I was leaving behind.  I feel like with this move I'm getting to that point now.  I've lived in Utah for the majority of the last 11 years.  I didn't plan to stay here that long, but I have and it has become home. 

Both my family and my in-laws live here now, so this is where we will come back to when we visit family.  It hasn't felt like the place we would end up as a family for a while now, but it's still home at the moment and I'm truly going to miss so many dear friends and family members around here.  If the air quality wasn't so bad here, this would be my ideal location to live forever.  The outdoor activities available here so close to us are beyond amazing.  Being near family has been wonderful.  So as excited as I am for this new adventure of ours, I'm starting to feel all the things I will miss too and that's sad.  It's a good thing though because it will help us to make the most of our last month and hopefully do as many things as we can to enjoy it to the fullest.

A Mix of Things

I forgot to post Genevieve's 2-month pictures.  And her blessing pictures.  Apparently I'm using my time for other things these days. I was definitely more into blogging every little change in Spencer's life.  Don't worry, Genevieve. We still love you. Life is just a little busier with you around.  So here are a few pictures to show what's been going on lately.

Everyone that came to Genevieve's blessing, plus Kelly, who was taking the picture. She got blessed on October 14th.

Best family photo we got. We're all smiling.  Looking at the camera is optional.

Genevieve put her pants on her head.  Oh wait.

Two-month picture.  I packed the globe.  Oops.  The clown is cuter anyway, especially since it was mine when I was a baby, so it's in my baby pictures too.

First snow of the year.  We got probably 8 inches. Spencer loved it until he got wet, then he didn't want anything to do with it. 

He spent most of his time pulling the berries off the bush and throwing them.

Bill spent most of his time building an epic snowman...which fell down before we even went inside.  Oops.

Genevieve actually seemed to enjoy standing in his pocket.  Really she just enjoys standing, wherever she happens to be.

The story of her life. Spencer laying on her.  He thinks he's loving her. One of these days she's going to get him back for all the times he squished her. 

I got the camera out fast enough to get a smiling shot!

See, Genevieve's already perfecting "the look."  Spencer looks scared. :)

Halloween

The actual day of Halloween was a tad anti-climactic, but we had awesome costumes. Spencer didn't take a nap during the day, so when we went to the ward trunk-or-treat that night, he was dead tired and not nearly as fun as he would be if he were actually well rested.  That didn't stop him from looking adorable in his costume and stuffing his face with as much candy as he could get his hands on. We decided not to go do any trick or treating at houses with as tired as he was, so that ended up being the extent of our Halloween.  Oh well. We have lots more years to do this again.

At the trunk-or-treat, Spence really didn't get the concept that candy went in his bag.  He knew how to put it in, but when he saw something he liked, he got really mad when we didn't give it to him.  I guess I can't blame him. :)

We went as African explorers with our tiger and zebra in tow.  Bonus, Spencer looked like the Clemson mascot.  We'll pretend we planned that. :)  In reality we picked up their costumes at Costco before going to Clemson was anywhere near decided, back around Labor Day. Another bonus was Bill and I scrounged our parts of the costume up from clothes and gear we own, except for the pith helmet.  That's his dad's and it was awesome. I'd say it was a successful year, tired kid and all.

Perfect dinner prep activity

Hi guys. I like to draw.  And when I do this then Mom can make dinner in peace.

He liked drawing so much that he ignored the cookie.  That's saying something. I ate it for him. :)

Spoiler alert. We have a cute baby.  And she thinks she can stand at two months.

She's not into smiling for the camera.  That's the best we've got.

Recipe for an unhappy child

1. Back molars coming in.
2. Mom refusing to feed said child solely fruit snacks and chocolate chips

Result?  He has mastered the art of throwing himself down on the floor and crying hysterically only to pop back up the moment something distracts him as if nothing were wrong.  It's driving me a tad crazy.

In good news however, he is now officially sleeping in his toddler bed.  He's been sleeping in his crib turned into a daybed for a couple weeks but I switched his toddler bed and crib places today and put the side back up on the crib in preparation for the little sister to sleep in it sometime. And it only resulted in one freak out that his world was totally ending because he couldn't climb into his crib anymore.  Don't worry though.  He figured out how to climb up into it while he was with Dad tonight.  Climb up on the side, step up on the mattress, dive into the crib head first! Good thing he doesn't have quite enough courage to get back out the same way. He slept in his bed during his nap and is asleep in it now no problem.  There's one thing checked off my list of things I have to teach my child that worry me. :)

Pumpkins!

We went with Bill's mom and brother/SIL and the kids to pick out pumpkins on Saturday and it was so much fun!  Spencer is so more interactive and fun this year, so he actually enjoys these activities and we just had a great time.  We went to a sweet pick your own pumpkin patch in Salt Lake not too far from where Bill's parents live, and it was just perfect.  Spencer spent a bunch of time just wandering around the patch, throwing a few pumpkins, falling down, getting covered in dirt, and just having a great time.  And then he picked a beautiful pumpkin and we'll be carving it sometime between now and Halloween. Good times!

Dirt.  That's really all he needs to be happy.

Hi Mom.  This is fantastic!

This is what Genevieve was doing pretty much the whole time.

Hey look, a dry bush.  That looks fun to play with.

Sometimes I can't believe we have two kids.  They're pretty awesome. 

We caught a smile on camera! She smiles a lot, but I never get a picture of it.

I love the polka dot hat.

Just playin' in the dirt with my aunt.  Life is good.

hello gorgeous quilt

 You may think you have a great MIL, but can she make this for your new baby?  Because this is seriously a beautiful quilt and Genevieve is going to love it forever.  Or I will at least.  And Spencer has an equally amazing one too that I'm sure I took a picture of when he was born. Why yes, here it is in this post about his bed. Thanks, Suzanne!

Blessing Dress Pictures

Genevieve and I had a little photo shoot yesterday in our backyard with her blessing dress. I wouldn't say I'm an amazing photographer, but she's pretty cute and that makes it all work out. Here's some of the shots.

that's her quilt from her grandma.  It's a work of art.  I should take a picture just of it to post

token Spencer shot. :)

she thought about smiling

I love her eyes

best shot of the actual dress