Big Boy Bed

Have you ever seen a kid so happy to be in bed?  He was pretty much doing the happy dance in there.  I guess the secret is to have your kid sleep in a pack and play for the first two years of their life so a real bed feels so comfortable they never want to get out!  (Not that we'll be doing that for Marissa, living in Dominica calls for some hard measures!) 

We decided to just go ahead and put Shane in a big boy bed when we moved here since we sold our pack and play in Dominica and I didn't want to deal with trying to get him out of the crib when the baby came.  And so far (fingers crossed!) it's gone off without a hitch.  I will tuck him in and he will say now to me, "Night night.  Love you!  Be good!"  His only problem is that he is a crazy roller (like his mother), and has gotten himself caught in a few precarious places in the middle of night.  At least we had him on a crib mattress on the floor for a couple nights while we were waiting to get him his mattress, and I realized when I would find him rolled off or like this that I needed to get him a guard rail!

I am very relieved that this transition has gone so well, but I know he's secretly just saving all his ammo for when I try to potty train him!

4 Years in Ornaments

On December 27th Josh and I celebrated 4 years of marriage.  It has been a great 4 years and definitely full of adventure!  We only thought it was appropriate in keeping with that theme that we spent our anniversary driving to Provo to get our moving truck and packing all our things from storage into it to move across the country the next morning.  We did manage to sneak in lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, PF Changs, and it was good to just spend the day together while Josh's parents watched Shane.  Josh and I have a tradition of giving each other an ornament every Christmas and since our anniversary is so close to Christmas it is a fun way to look back and see the different stages we've been through every year.  Our first anniversary we were living in Provo while Josh was going to BYU and I was teaching,

We had Shane just before our second anniversary,

We had been living in Dominica during our third year and Josh got me my new camera,

and now 4 years later we are expecting another baby and "re-entering civilization" as Josh would say by moving back to the states.

Who knows what other ornaments will grace our tree in the years to come?  I am excited to find out and excited to have Josh at my side to experience all of it.    

1767 Miles

Well, Josh and I survived the long drive from Utah to Michigan with our two year old in tow.  I give all the credit to the portable DVD player my mom gave Shane for his birthday, a slew of new books, Marshmallow Mateys, and peanut m and m's.  And most importantly, Josh's dad for driving our Penske truck with our second car on the trailer so that one of us could sit in the back and entertain Shane.  On our first day of driving we left Manti at 5 in the morning on the 28th, drove through Colorado and stopped in North Platte Nebraska for the night. 

I had every intention of documenting the places we drove through,

but in the end only ended up with pictures of Colorado because I was busy keeping this dude happy.  But let's face it, it all pretty much started looking the same after awhile anyway!

Shane did very well but was definitely excited to get to our hotel each night.

The second day we drove through the rest of Nebraska, then through Iowa and stopped near Chicago for the night.  We pushed it the first two days so that the last day we would just have 4 or 5 hours to get through the rest of Illinois, a little bit of Indiana, and then Michigan.  We were all very glad to get to our new home and be done with driving for a little while! 

We Are Family

Well, we are pretty much unpacked and settled, I just need to hang some pictures and then I will take some pictures of our place.  I have a few things I wanted to make sure I posted first though.  We were so lucky to be able to see everyone in both of our immediate families except for my sister Shannon and her family.  (We missed you Yoders :( ).  That is no easy task when there are 4 kids in my family and 7 in Josh's!  We had such a good time with everyone, and so did Shane.  He was definitely a stinker sometimes and we're glad that certain male members of the family (ahem, Jake...) were persistent enough even when one of Shane's token phrases became "Ah!  Don't want it!"  We are glad to be so much closer to everyone now and to be able to call them whenever we want!  We love you guys!

Christmas 2010

The Christmas season was extra good for us this year just knowing we would get to stay in the states for good and that Santa could bring things that we would actually be able to take with us.  We enjoyed all the lights, goodies, and festivities that come with it too.  I had to include this picture of me at my friend Christie's cookie party to show that things are a lot different when you do them with a 2 year old!!  But probably more fun anyway :) 

We spent Christmas with Josh's family and Santa found us.  We were definitely spoiled, from both sides of the family!  Here's the little man coming out on Christmas morning.  In typical fashion he was the first one awake.

Checking out his loot with dad

With six little boys ages 5 and under, it was definitely a boy Christmas!  I guess next year we may have a little pink in the mix though :)

He LOVED his new books, and I am loving them too- a little variety is the spice of life!

Josh and I got this for him- a truck where he can put all these little cars in.

After we opened presents we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, relaxed with the fam and played with our new toys, and had enchiladas for dinner.  They wondered if the enchiladas seemed a little strange to the in-laws, but hey, I am always down for atypical traditions that are so delicious!  We had a great Christmas, and a big thanks to all our family for making it so wonderful! 

We're Here!!

I've got a few blog posts I've been wanting to write, but haven't had time yet because I've been busy tackling that pile of boxes (and a few others...).  But I did want to hop on and say that we made it to Saginaw and are really liking it so far! 

I'm sure this isn't normal and probably won't last, but so far it has been way less cold than Utah was! And I promise I don't keep my house an icebox, Shane is just that in love with his "Elmo shoes" and BYU beanie. Josh and I rang in the new year last night by setting up his desk, because that is where he will be glued for the next couple weeks studying for a huge comprehensive test he will be taking later this month.

More pictures and details to follow when I can see my floor a little better!  Happy New Year!

What a difference a month makes...

Earlier this month we were doing this...

Now we're doing this!!!

Thank goodness little kids are so adaptable!