Moving. I loathe you.

     Some friends in our ward managed some apartments for a few years to get out of debt. They recently bought a house and offered to put us in touch with the owner so that we could manage the apartments after they moved. I am going to keep a long story short and just let you know we got the job! We are very excited!

     The company we will be working for is not only redoing the apartment before we move in there but is discounting our rent, we get a paycheck on top of that, and there is room for raises if we do well. To top it all of I get to stay home with my babies, save us a ton of money during school, and work about 20 hrs. a week split with Tyler!

     I am under no impression that this is going to be a walk in the park BUT it is such a blessing in many ways! We couldn't ask for a more convenient job during grad school! SO we are moving AGAIN on Saturday but hopefully it will be for the last time in a very long time!

~A

Whoops!

     When Tyler first learned to use the phoropter at school he took us all in to check our eyes. Sophia would not sit still and wouldn't tell us what the pictures were. We thought she was just being a 3yr old. Turns out she actually couldn't see the pics. We took her back about 4 months later and Tyler just threw a quick guess correction up there and she read all they way to a 20/15. So we knew something was up. We took her into the clinic on campus and turns out she reads at a -2.0 on both eye. Poor girl was seeing blurry!

      Glasses it is. She just got them last week and she looks adorable! and so much older! I do not think she looks like a 3 yr old now!

     It was so funny when she first put them on, she kept lowering them down her nose and pulling them back up again. You could see in her face she was like, "Wo. Everything is clear." ha ha. Lucky for us she instantly loved them and Proudly tells everyone Grandpa gave them to me!! Thanks Grandpa! 

    Here are all my attempts to get her to smile in the one picture above ha ha. 

She's Crazy! We love her! 

~A 

Thanksgiving

     Thanksgiving this year it was my parent's year. Tyler's parent's had decided to come out to Cali for Christmas so we could afford to make the long trek home! I was worried about the 11 hour drive, with a recently potty trained 3 yr. old but we went for it.

     We left about 2 that afternoon. We stopped in Vegas and had dinner with my brother. We went to this awesome burger place, that I can not remember the name of. It was like gourmet burgers. SO yummy. By the time we got done it was just about bed time so we jumped in the car and hoped the kids would fall asleep. They did, and after some snow, some middle of the night pit stops for Sophia, and lots of snacks later. We made to my parents about 3 am. I did not call my mother ahead of time to tell her we were coming early so they were quite surprised. Also lucky for me my parents are night owls because they were both up. ha ha

     We got to spend a week and a half at my moms and everyday was filled with friends, family, repeat. It was so fun! I didn't realize how much I missed home till I went back! I was caught up in the excitement of moving but once I made home I didn't want to leave again.

Sophia and Layla enjoying a movie.

     Thanksgiving day my brother drove up and we were all there except Ben and Jess who live in Canada now.  It was just a relaxing day filled with lot's of food. The next morning we woke up early and went black friday shopping. This year it was awesome! All the crazies went Thanksgiving night and by the time we got up at 5 and went all the shelves were restocked, lines gone, crazies in bed! It was awesome! We were in and out of all our stores in like 15 min. and got everything we wanted. I did all of Christmas for my family of 4 for under $100. I was pretty proud of myself.

The aerospace museum was one of the many things we did over Thanksgiving.

     The rest of the week was spent playing and shopping and eating more. My mother sent us home with all our Christmas gifts, all Ben's gifts, and I had all the stuff from black Friday. It was a miracle I didn't have stuff strapped to the roof!

     It was an amazing trip and it was so hard to leave again! I miss my family, they are my best friends! We think about you guys everyday! Sophia asks for you guys everyday. Nana, Papa, Grandma, Grandpa,  and cousins are very common subjects Sophia brings up to talk about. Thanksgiving was great!

~A

You can thank my sister

     My little sister Briana has a habit of giving me a hard time when I don't post anything for a while. You can all personally thank her for guilting me into keeping this blog alive ha ha.  Especially since I have recently started hand journaling again. I forgot how much I love to hand journal! Anyway it is way past time to update this blog so let's start back in Oct.

     For Halloween Tyler's school did a trick or treat party. We went to his school and the kids got to go around to the administrations offices and trick or treat. It was really cute! Joel had just started walking a couple weeks before and we threw a cape on him and turned him into Nacho Libre! It was probably the best costume ever! His little pot belly and drunken baby walk were a priceless combination!

     Sophia dressed up as the ever adorable Annie! I made her watch the movie a couple times before hand so she knew who she was. She at least knew how to sing "Tomorrow tomorrow I love ya tomorrow" It was cute!

         Tyler and I dressed up as Wolverine and Gene Grey for Halloween. We were invited to a Halloween costume party and it was so fun to dress up! I don't think we have dressed up in years.

     Our ward also did a trunk or treat. My trunk was a bat cave with Potions inside. I feel like we celebrated Halloween like four times. Which was awesome!

     On the actual day of Halloween Tyler's cousin Mitchell and his Girlfriend Darrian were in town visiting so we spent the day on the beach. When we got home it was a little late for trick or treating but we went to some friends house and had some yummy food and played till late. It was a great day! 

~A

Gymnastics and Ballet

      So I recently put Sophia in some gymnastics and dance classes and it is the cutest thing I have ever seen. Gymnastics she didn't super love but Ballet was heaven on earth for her! She talks about it everyday and can't wait to go back! Lucky for you I got some pics and some awesome videos of her dancing, just wait to swoon over the cuteness! Enjoy!

    I was pretty impressed for it being her first class. She likes to elaborate every now and then with an extra twirl, but who doesn't?

     Adorable right?

             ~A

Table redo

         I am so far behind on Blogging but I finally finished a huge project that has been in the process for a while so I had to brag about it and show it off. So here is my table before, pretty small, basic covered in paint chips. There were to main things I didn't like about my table the size and the color. So I was on a quest to change those.

     I decided my best option was to rebuild a new top attach it to the base. I then wanted to repaint the base and find two fun head chairs and build benches for the sides. Well the benches are another complete project of their own so those aren't done yet. I found to chairs at this little thrift store next door to our apartment complex. 7$! Awesome! I found some fabric to redo the seats and painted the legs and backs of them to match the bottom of the table. 

After a few trial and errors getting the top of the table to stick together and to attach to the base it finally all worked out and looks awesome! So with out further ado here is my finished table!

      Needless to say I love it! It is huge! (Compared to our other table ha ha) The chairs turned out so cute and the top color is exactly what I was aiming for. I feel like the pictures don't do it justice but it looks amazing, you will just have to take my word for it!

         ~A 

Happy Birthday Joel!

     Joel turned one on Wed. Sept 4th. I can't believe it! Where did this year go? It has flown by! Joel is the dang cutest kid I have ever met! I might be biased though. He is seriously so happy all the time. He takes everything in stride and he laughs so so much. Everyone who meets him tells me he is the cutest sweetest baby ever. It's true. His new favorite thing is to open his mouth and go AWE! It sounds weird but it is so funny! He is taking tentative steps but hasn't totally switched over to walking yet. He still has no fear for his life, he dives off, into, and through everything. Pulls anything he can and off and out of anything. We lovingly call him baby hulk. His weight has kind of evened out since his surgeries but he is still nice and tall and has the biggest feet! He is my cuddle bug and I love it!!! All you really need to know is we think he is pretty awesome and are so lucky to have him in our lives!

     So his birthday was on Wednesday and we wanted to do something fun. If you know me, you know I am a birthday party crazy lady so the fact he was really going to get one was breaking my heart. So Monday morning I decided we needed a party. So this was very last minute and I planned a cute little car themed dinner party for us for to have. Sophia loved it and Joel had no idea what was going on!

Birthday Boy! 

Balloon Wall. This was so easy to do and so cute! I will have to do this for more indoor parties!

The whole get up!

Sophia thought the cones were party hats! She kept trying to wear it.

The birthday cake! Turned out cuter than I expected and was fairly easy!

That's right! Digging right in there! After a little help he was ready to attack that cake! 

Joel did a little redecorating on the cake! We thought it was pretty good!

The after mess.

All Joel wanted to do was eat the presents!

This was how present opening went, Sophia opened, Joel played.

His sweet new motorcycle walker, which I got for a steal of a deal!! 

It's hard to believe this precious boy is one! I am feeling very nostalgic right now! What happened to this last year? How I love this boy! 

~A