We're back in business . . . well, sort of.

Well, here we are . . . it's almost January!! We have been quite the busy bunch since we last posted. So, here are a few snippets of what we've been up to (at least up until Lily's "friend" birthday party . . . that's when our camera died). Enjoy!

P.S. It's pretty random . . . maybe someday we will have more fun family blog posts that actually make sense :-)


Maggie is always learning new ways of falling asleep pretty much anywhere (well, when she is really in the mood).

We got a swing set and the girls love it. Here are the girls helping dad set it up. We're excited to be able to play outside when the weather is decent.

Maggie learned how to climb up onto the kitchen table, and how to open Ziploc bags (then enjoy the treats inside).

My parents came down to visit in October as well as my brother. It was so much fun to have them see our new place . . . AND only be 3 hours away from us. Lily loves the idea of being so close to family (especially cousins).

Lily and Maggie truly adore each other. They like to copy each other a lot!

Maggie is becoming a pro at using her forks and spoons. She thinks she's pretty awesome, which we can agree with :-)

I've had a few sewing projects that I've done recently. Here are the stick horses I made with the pattern from this website.

Okay, Halloween . . . yes, we're that far behind, but really, these Holiday months just fly by way too fast!

Here are our pumpkins from this year:

Lily had crazy hair day at school:

 

A friend from church had 2 extra tickets to Disney on Ice, so Lily and I had a Mommy/ Daughter date night to go enjoy some princesses. It was so much fun and it was a great show. Growing up, I always wanted to see this show and never got to, so this night fulfilled one of my dreams and I'm glad I got to share it with my Lily.

Here is Lily all dressed up for her preschool Halloween party. The ears, paws, tail, and collar came from her very good friend (Martina) in the South.

Here we are on the actual Halloween night . . . our 2 princesses and Peter Pan/Tinkerbell.

We went and saw Grandma and Grandpa too :-)

One morning we forgot to close the pantry and our "little mischief" Maggie helped herself to some granola and proceeded to go sit down and eat (while giggling to herself).

Sisterly love caught on camera.

Maggie was so tired one night that she took her blanket in the kitchen while we were getting dinner ready and fell asleep on the floor. Poor girl!

Playing while putting Christmas decorations up and building forts.

Sewing adventure #2! I made a diaper bag for my sister-in-law. It turned out well! I just hope it lasts a long time for her :-)

Recently some wonderful people in our ward GAVE AWAY these beautiful bar stools!! I was so happy to have these because the girls just love them and I have a place to sit when I'm working on stuff downstairs.

Also, at the beginning in December I took my Novice Moves in the Field figure skating test. This was the first time testing in almost 7 years!!! I was REALLY close to passing, but alas there is more for me to work on - hopefully January's test will bring a passing score! I was so thankful to have Scott there with me!

Lily's friend birthday party!!!! Since Lily's birthday is close to Christmas, we have her friends come to an early birthday party for her. This year's theme was Pirate Princess. Below I drew a picture of the pirate princess from Jake and the Neverland Pirates so that the birthday guests could play pin the crown on the pirate.

Lily asked Grandma S to make her a pirate ship birthday cake and the result was AMAZING!!!! Thank you Grandma!

Playing Doggy, Doggy, Who Stole the Bone?

Pinata - Treasure Chest . . .

Treasure hunt . . . here they are digging up the treasure!

What a wonderful few months we have had. We are so happy with our decision to move here and we have been so, so blessed! We can't wait for what this New Year will bring us!! The next post will cover Christmas and hopefully by then we can be caught up . . . sorry for the delay to our faithful readers, whoever you may be. Don't forget to leave comments . . . it's always fun to hear from our friends and family!

We'll be back soon . . .

Our camera charge chord is dead . . . so that means I can't load up any pictures (and our card slot in both computers do not work anymore). So, until we get a new chord . . . we are alive and enjoying life!

Our Journey West

Yes, I finally got around to posting . . . we just got a bit settled (I've actually been working on this post for a while, but just finished it). Lily is enjoying her preschool and Scott is doing well with getting his business started. We  (Scott and I) just received callings (positions) in our ward (congregation). I am a Relief Society (the women's organization in our congregation) instructor/teacher and Scott is now an adviser to the 12/13 year old boys at church as well as the assistant Scout Master. So, we have definitely made ourselves busy while establishing ourselves her on the West coast. 

Anyway, the whole month of August brought our very own journey to the West. We packed up very late on Monday (July 30th)  night. Movers came on Tuesday (July 31st) and Wednesday (August 1st). It was on Wednesday that we said to good-bye to all of our stuff (except what we were taking on the trip). Our good friends the Foster family graciously let us stay the night at their house. Then Thursday morning we were on our way to Virginia.

A big thank you to everyone who helped watch our kids and helped clean our house (Toni, you're awesome!!!) while we got ready to move!!!

We got to Virginia on Thursday night and stayed with the Sampson family (Scott's long time friends . . . thank you!!) while we went to Busch Gardens.

Here we are at Busch:

Both the girls loved their fairy tale show.

The next day, we went to Mount Vernon (home of President George Washington).

On Saturday morning, we headed to Washington D.C. We spent time seeing some of the sights we missed the previous year (before Maggie was born).

(The Capitol)

(Botanical Gardens)

We stayed with my brother Sean that weekend after seeing D.C. It was such a great visit with them (we hadn't seen them for a long time). And the girls loved playing with their Aunt and Uncle!

 After spending a great weekend with family, we headed up to New York to go see Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty!! It was so neat to go to Ellis Island because we had ancestors that went through there on both sides of the family. So to walk where they walked was quite the amazing experience. Then going to the Statue of Liberty was great for Lily because what 4 year old wouldn't be awestruck by a giant statue!

After touring the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island we drove a few more hours to visit our good friends the Lee family. We stayed with them a couple nights and had a great time talking, playing, and watching the kids have a great time together (their older son and Lily are really, really good friends).

When we left the Lee family, we went to Palmyra, New York to visit The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints historic site for Joseph Smith's family farm and the Sacred Grove where Joseph Smith had the First Vision where he saw  Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ!

Here we are in front of the log cabin. Just behind it is the Sacred Grove. We had such a great experience there . . . to be in the same wood where our Heavenly Father and our Savior stood was truly an indescribable experience.

 

It was a good thing we had a great experience while we were there because it helped us through our rough time camping (due to the rainstorm that came through).

After Palmyra we went to Niagara Falls! Yes, we are wearing jackets!! This is a new experience after living in the South for so long! We actually had to buy a new sleeping bag for Scott and I because we didn't pack enough warm stuff for us.

Niagara Falls was just a quick stop on our way to Kirtland, Ohio. This was a great continuation of spiritual uplift for us (besides Maggie feeling a little under the weather and throwing up on Scott while we were touring the Kirtland Temple).

The Kirtland Temple (now owned by the Community of Christ)

 

We also toured the property owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I especially enjoyed seeing the Newel K. Whitney Store because that is where the School of the Prophets was held (where Joseph Smith instructed the other apostles and leaders of the church . . . to learn more click here ). I was able to receive a personal tour there by some Sister Missionaries and the spirit in the School of  the Prophets was so strong!! I recommend anyone to go there and feel it for themselves!

Then we hardly made it to Nauvoo, Illinois before the radiator in our van died completely (but it was a blessing from our Heavenly Father that we made it to Nauvoo and were planning on staying there 3 days  - instead of getting stuck on the side of the road). But it was an amazing experience (once again) being in Nauvoo and feeling the spirit that still resides there so strongly.

The girls' favorite spot to play in Nauvoo was in the "Pioneer Pastimes" where they got to play old Pioneer games and got to dress up too!

(Nauvoo Temple - I was able to go inside and perform a proxy ordinance)

 

After Nauvoo, we traveled to Winter Quarters in Omaha, Nebraska. We got to take a tour of the museum there, have dinner and then got to stay in a hotel for the night.

The next day we went to Mount Rushmore and stayed there over the weekend before heading to Utah!!

 

Yes, we have no pictures from Utah because our camera battery died and couldn't find a replacement while we were there. We did take pictures with our phones, but I  didn't get around to uploading them to this blog post. Sorry!! But, we had a great time visiting with friends and family while we were there!! Scott and I also celebrated our 6th Anniversary by going to the Salt Lake Temple (thank you Laura for watching our girls!!!). Happy 6 years to us!!

 And . . . we made it to Washington!!! Grandma and Grandpa S as well as Grammy and Papa G are so excited to have us closer. Here are some pictures of what we did when we first got here:

(The Campfires and Candlelight event)

(Lily starting preschool)

(Moving into a new house!!!!)

So, here we are in Washington . . . enjoying our new lives together as a family!!!

We're alive and on the West Coast!!

Just wanted to let you all know that we are alive and will post some great pictures of our trek west soon. We move into our new place on Tuesday, so hopefully we'll do an update post later this week!

Happy birthday Maggie!! And other wonderful stuff . . .

SHE'S THE BIG #1!!! Wow, how quickly that year went!

We enjoyed her birthday by going to the children's museum . . .

Then ate at a wonderful restaurant right on the water front.

Maggie even got to enjoy more birthday cake (red velvet, too). 

Presents!

Later that week, we finished off our visit with Grammy and Papa at Fort Sumter and the beach. We really enjoyed having them visit and can't wait to live closer.

In other news, Lily read 15 books all by herself and got a medal, t-shirt, and bag for reaching her goal.

We also decided to enjoy a free meal at Chick-Fil-A, so we dressed up like a herd of cows. Pretty sweet deal for a family of four!

Maggie got her first set of glue stitches (right below her nose). She tripped and fell on one of the chairs in the play room. 

And for the Grand Finale . . . Dun, Dun, Dah!!!!!

SCOTT FINISHED HIS KAYAK!!! WAHOO!!!!! And . . . it floats!

Oh, and we had a great time going to the temple and swapping kids (who enjoyed the toy area at Target for about an hour). Want to know why we go to the temple? Click here.

Now, we continue to wait for the Navy to tell us when we're moving . . . we'll get back to you soon!