July

In July...

 

We moved into our HOUSE!!!!!!!!

 

...

 

Lilia turned 9 months!

 

...

 

We were finally able to use this jumper because we finally had doors with the correct hardware, and Lilia LOVED it!

 

 

...

 

Lilia experienced her first Independence Day!

 

To celebrate before fireworks, we decided to go here...

 

Lilia and I didn't climb up.

 

It was seriously a scorcher that day.

 

...

 

We witnessed the Drum and Bugle Corps play at NCHS!

 

Did you know that Casper has its own?

 

The Troopers.

 

Pretty sweet.

 

...

 

For exercise, Seth and I would go to the river...

 

He would play, and I would run with the kids.

 

Usually, it was as nice as this, but one of the days, a severe thunderstorm crept up on us.

 

We made it back to the cars right before it hit where we were.

 

Multiple lightning strikes hit right by as we drove home.

 

Ah, the plains...

 

...

 

Lilia and Porter have been helpful...

 

...

 

Lilia had her first pedicure...

 

...of which I learned to paint her toes when sleeping next time because this was the "good" foot.

 

...

 

Lilia started climbing up the stairs!

 

She hadn't quite mastered going down, so I would have to follow her up.

 

If I didn't follow her, I would hear her whine and hit the top stair in demand for me to come get her.

 

...

 

Lilia like to save things...

 

...

 

Lilia dancing...

 

 

Seth and Clark decided to compete in a mountain bike race!

 

No prizes, just happiness and bruises from crashing.

 

Porter liked riding around while they raced...

 

...cutie.

 

...

 

Porter and Wyatt helping with the building of a fire pit at Mama and Pops' place.

 

It looks like they're fighting, but they're not.

 

It was pretty cute.

 

...

 

And, that's July!!

June

I had been hoping to write a post about the twins, since it has now been two years since their passing.

 

But, now that I am so far behind, this will suffice.

 

On Jilinda's and Alayna's Angel Day, we took blankets to St. Mark's to keep up with our tradition.

 

 

We have gone through so much, and yet have had so much healing because of Lilia.

 

Of course, it is still a "sensitive topic", but we have all found that we are able to not feel bad about not including them in our number of children we have anymore when people we don't know ask that question.

 

(Never expected that question to be hard, and it still surprises me when there's a little pain involved in the hearing of it)

 

We have found that when we think about them, even though we are sad they aren't growing up with the rest of the kids, they will have their time in our arms, and that makes us excited.

 

...

 

Before we moved, Lilia decided it was time to crawl!

 

 

This made the move difficult.

 

It was difficult anyway with her being so clingy what with all the changes.

 

 

...

 

Lilia also learned how to clap and wave before we left, but this video only shows her waving...

 

 

 

That's the rest of June!



Memorial Day Week

While Seth was at work, I packed up all our decorations in preparation for our first haul toward the big move back to Wyoming.

 

Lots of bundling...

 

After moving thirteen times, I've learned it is better that I do the "nice stuff".

 

Even if it gives me bruises as if I'm beaten because I have no upper body strength and the moment.

 

We took this first haul over the day before Memorial Day.

 

On Memorial Day, we visited the girls, and got to put flowers by their grave for the first time.

 

We were so out of it almost two years ago, that we completely spaced bringing their flowers.

 

Thank you to all who remembered my sweet girls on Memorial Day.

 

I hope your Memorial Day was a good one.

All my kids.

 The next day, after house-hunting from dawn until dusk, we went to a circus!!

 



 

First time for all of our immediate family except Seth.

 

 We picked a great spot as far as the performance went!

 

Check out how close those elephants are!

 

Porter especially enjoyed it.

 

Porter spent the majority of the rest of the week, while we continued our housing stuff, playing in the back yard, going to parks, and swimming in the small pool with his cousins. 

 

 

He was so happy playing so hard that he didn't want to come back home!

Lilia was adorable and happy as long as she was getting what she wanted (like usual).

 

Mama got to hang out with her quite a bit, and I think they both enjoyed that.

 

 

The trip was way fun and completely successful!

 

I think we may have set a record in home-buying history.

 

We found a house in two days!

As of right now, we have no neighbors on our side of the street, but we are just fine with that after sharing walls, floors, and ceilings for the past seven and a half years.

 

So excited!!

 

To end the week, we had Stake Conference with Elder Bednar presiding.

 

I love listening to him speak.

 

He has a gift, and I always learn something.

 

I was lucky to have him as president at BYU-I when I was a freshman.

 

Wonderful ending to a great week!

 

Wish I had taken more pictures, but we weren't "resting" much...

Found A Place

Seth and I started our journey in Utah by living with my brother and his wife while we found a place for ourselves.

I'm so very grateful to them for letting us come crash with them in their already full house.

We had such a great time getting to hang out every day!

Porter especially loved getting to play outside whenever he wanted!

Before we left for graduation, we looked at about 20 places and had a place picked out.

We had given our deposit, but hadn't signed the contract yet.

Seth flew to Oregon while I drove from Salt Lake so I could stop as many times as I want.

While I was in Boise visiting and staying with my sister and her hubby, I got a text from our would-have-been future landlord saying there was a family emergency and they wouldn't be able to rent out the place.

It was kinda a bummer because we loved the location and the fact it was a 1400 sq. ft. basement apartment with a kitchen to die for, but we understand family emergencies.

So, after driving back from graduation quickly instead of visiting with my parents for a week, we looked at 21 more places and got another by the following Wednesday!

We moved in the next day.

It's not organized yet, but we really like it so far.

It's a condo, and it's in a complex with a gorgeous landscape, two pools, a tennis court, and a clubhouse with a sauna, hot tub, and gym (that we happen to live right next to).

When the baby is born, you will find me at the clubhouse...a lot.

Until then, I'll be in the pool.

The only down side is the duck and geese poop you have to avoid while walking to your cars...and there's a lot of it.

Happy to have a place!

Mother's Day

The Friday and Saturday before Mother's Day was spent packing up and driving 7 hours from Cheyenne to Salt Lake!

Mother's Day church was spent in my brother's, aunt & uncle's, Papa's, and cousin's ward.

They all live right next door to each other in a circle, and I think it's awesome.

So, my Mother's Day gift was moving to Utah!

And, I think it's absolutely perfect since I've always wanted to live here.

Porter stood there, mouth closed looking out all confused sang in church during Sacrament for me for the first time, and I was so proud of him!

He also came home with a pretty card for me that he helped color.

Later that day, we went over to my Uncle David & Aunt Connie's for a Mother's Day barbecue, and enjoyed the company of family.

It was a great day!

So great, I didn't bother taking pictures...oops.

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers and mothers-to-be!!

Especially happy Mother's Day to my Moms!

Loves.

Eleven

We've moved!!

We spent all day Monday taking stuff into our new place and felt very much like this:

On our way back to Casper.

Yep!

We came back to take a trailer we borrowed (Thanks Allens!), to fix the Subaru, and to make a second run of stuff.

The Office

Not the show.

(Although, it is one of our absolute favorites.)

Porter and I visited "the office" or Jensen Eye Care, Seth's future workplace, to pick up something from storage in the basement.

The secretaries love getting to shower Porter with trinkets when we visit.

This is what he came home with this time:

He loves the watch, especially.

So much so that he cries about it if it falls off, or he can't get it on, or I wont put it on again for the 20th time in the past five minutes, or he can't find it.

Seriously.

Maybe I'll get him an actual one so he'll stop.

We've actually spent quite a bit of time over there (at Pops' Office) this last week.

Because....

...drum roll...

WE ARE MOVING TOMORROW!!!

In spite of the excitement such large words show, I'm honestly not a huge fan of moving.

I wonder if it stems from never having moved since birth until college...

...or because this will be move number 11...

...or because I know we'll start move 12 in three months...

...or all of the above.

BUT...

I'm excited this time around.

Why?

I told you last week.

But, if you missed it, Seth will no longer be in a separate location from Porter and me!!

Although, our various stuff will still be at four different locations.

One More Week

"One more week" is what I keep telling myself.

One more week until Seth doesn't have to be gone all week long.

One more week and we will be able to see each other more than 2 or 3 days a week (if that, some weeks)

One more week, and this little guy...

...will also have his Daddy around again!!!

I'm excited.

I'm excited because I'm totally over not having him around.

I don't know how military wives do it.

PS: We got the place we wanted in Cheyenne!

And, no, we still don't know what the inside looks like.

Housing

If you can't stand finding temporary housing raise your hand.

*hand raised*

I have spent the majority of the last month looking for a place to live.

Seth's busy driving back and forth 2.5 hours every week to be much of a help.

Plus, I'm the one who really cares about little things like space for all our stuff.

After hours days on the computer and calling people, I narrowed my seemingly never-ending list down to 5 options.

Well, technically I only had 5 options to choose from as basically no one does month to month rent without making you break the bank every month.

I digress.

Friday, Seth and I took a trip down to Cheyenne to check out each of the previously mentioned places.

We found one we are the most interested in, but wont know if we can actually get into it until Wednesday.

Some people are living in it who should have moved out this last month.

So, here's hoping they get out of there.

Because of this, we didn't even get to take a look inside.

There are some things that are more important than seeing what you'll have to deal with for three months like a dishwasher in a floor-level apartment.

Who needs to see the inside of it right?

eh hem.

Maybe I can get the realtor to send me a blue-print or pictures.

While we were there, though, we decided to take a quick drive-by trip to the capitol.

It was nice to get an idea of where we would be in just a couple weeks.

And, yes, I'm totally counting down.

I want to have my husband around.

The Real Windy City

Being that I have never lived in Chicago, I cannot honestly dispute their claim to the windy city title, but I'm pretty positive that if the residents of Chicago came to Casper, they would hand it over.

We have arrived at our final destinations!

I say "destinationS" because our little family will be split apart for the majority of the next three months.

Seth will be travelling back and forth from Fort Washakie over the weekends to see us.

This will be an adventure.

He is staying at a student-only place on an Indian Reservation where his housing is paid for, but family is not allowed as he shares the place with two other interns.

If you've ever been to Fort Washakie, you would know what I mean when I say there is really no where else to sanely live that is closer than Casper.

So, Casper it is for Porter and me!

We tried to find our own housing, but ended up being too far down the waiting list to be able to get a place of our own.

Therefore, we're really grateful that Clark and LaRene are willing to let us invade their basement for a little while...and at such short notice.

So far, we've unloadedeverything, gotten a sweet gym membership at Lifetime Fitness, and been able to visit the girls' grave.

We realized how happy we are to be able to to that whenever we want now that we live so near.

We're excited to be closer to the end of all of this!!

PS: If you're curious, Seth's next "rotation" is in Cheyenne, and then he hopes to have a residency at either the Salt Lake VA or a place in Denver after graduation.

We'll find out about that later.

After a possible year of residency, we will be back in Casper for...well, for forever!

Seth will eventually work with his dad when he's finished.

So, I'm happy that the friends I make here will still be here when we come back!

Just if you were curious.

Halfway Point

Our second and third night of our move was spent in Twin.

Which just so happens to be the halfway point between where we were going from Oregon to Wyoming!

We got to celebrate Mom's birthday while we were there by going to Five Guys!

I forgot my camera.

But I definitely got pictures of Dad singing and bringing out this:

Sweet!

If you didn't notice in the above pictures, my sister Missy came down to hang out with us on our second night!

It was so great to walk the mall and talk with her while we followed around this little bug...

River-I can't believe how BIG she is!!

Porter got to play cars with Isaac most of the time.

And they obviously enjoyed themselves!

After dinner at Five Guys, I got to meet up with my old friend, Chelsea!

Who is pregnant with her first!!!

SO excited for her!

It was great to get to catch up before heading out the next day!

Happy birthday Mom!!!

(Sunday)

I hope you enjoy your shelves!

First Stop

We stopped for the night in Pendleton.

Don't ever do that.

None of their hotels are over 2 stars.

For good reason.

Do what we should have done, and that's go further to La Grande.

Speaking of La Grande...

Look who we saw as we stopped at Seth's favorite restaurant!

EMMA!

We also saw Jenny and little Andrew, as big Andrew was at work, we didn't get to see him.

It was SO good to catch up!!

And, Jenny, I'm so very glad things are going well and that there's a light at the end of the tunnel for all us struggling students! :)

Makes me happy.

Guess what else makes me happy...

...I finally got a picture of these two hugging!

How stinkin' cute is that!?

Miss you guys!

See Ya Later

I don't like to say goodbye.

To anyone.

Or, even to anyTHING, really.

I'm quite sentimental.

Yes, I'm kinda going all over the place with this post.

For those of you who don't know how random I am, you just had a small taste.

Anyway...

We got to say "see ya later" to this place:

We'll miss your greenery.

I mean LOOK at that picture again!

Gorgeous.

We'll miss the awesome friends we have who are still there...

Kristina-you and your sweet heart, amazing talent, and great listening ear.

Reagan-we'll miss your sweet firecracker-ness!

Brianne-you and your entire family were our favorite!

Mikelle-you're one of the most amazing people I've met.

And, that's not even everyone we miss!

Wish we could have gotten to say see ya later to everyone.

We had such amazing help before we left--thank you Kim, Corinne, Laura, Brianne and Anna!!

We got out pretty quickly with all the helping hands.

Whomever gets to move into our apartment, you're lucky to have such great company.

(However, you're not so lucky to be living in that complex with the favoritism, prostitutes, drug dealers, late night police visits, weird rules, cats mating outside the back door and on the furniture sitting by the trash all day where the kids will try to play, but I won't go into that.)

Figuratively, this is for everyone we missed seeing before we left...

See ya later!!!

We'll be back for graduation.