Road Trip!

So, back in April we, rather abruptly, decided to up and move across the country.  Mike hated his job and was having no luck getting into the field that he really wanted to be in, and my parents had offered a long while before to let us stay with them if we wanted to come out and look for a job out there.  We had talked about doing it before, and in fact, about 9 months earlier, Mike was all set to do it, but I convinced him to wait at that point since I was over 8 months pregnant.  But, not being pregnant, having an apartment contract about up, and Mike about to die from boredom at his job, we decided to go for it.  So, we loaded up a POD and took a road trip!

 We stopped in Utah for a few days to see friends and family, and do a little reminiscing.  Can you believe the picture above is the new DT at BYU?? I am so jealous! And of course we stopped at the Malt Shop, which Alexa loved! Kaelyn, too, actually! We were able to see a lot of our friends, play a lot of games and even played night games!

 Then came 3 very long days of driving.  The girls became very big fans of rest stops that had something for them to do.  I think this was their favorite- a big sandbox, lots of grass, and even horses! Well, at least a farm next door with horses.

 Our next real stop was in Illinois where we stopped and stayed with my Aunt Cathy and got to see some of my extended family.  The girls got to meet/see again Great-Grandma, plus a couple of my aunts and uncles and a bunch of my cousins. 

 From Illinois we went to Kentucky to stop and see Aunt Kari.  Kaelyn had bonded with her car seat by that point and liked sitting in it even when not in the car. 

 We went to an awesome children's museum with Kari and co.  Alexa especially loved all the things she was able to see and do!

 I love Alexa's look of intense concentration (and stance) as she gets ready to catch a ball being shot at her.

 And finally we arrived!! It was so nice getting here and knowing that we wouldn't have to drive again the next day! Of course, we had to go another week before our POD got there- which we were not happy with since it was supposed to get there the day after us, but we made it, our stuff finally made it, and Mike got a job not long after!

So, not quite a month after we got here Mike received a job offer and took it! He's really liking it, and it has a lot of opportunity for upward movement.  He's getting really good experience, and while it isn't exactly where he wants to be for years, it is a huuuuge step up from where he was.  It also made us feel very vindicated in our choice to move here, even with so little planning!

Birthday Girl!

So, I know I'm waaaay behind, but to start the catch up, we'll start from now and work our way back.  This cute little lady turned 1 yesterday! It's amazing how fast time passes! 

She had a grand ol' time playing with birthday balloons (which appear in the birthday person's room overnight with our tradition).  Tonight we'll have her birthday dinner and cake and open presents. 

Kaelyn is a lot of fun, she is so happy aaaalllllll the time, really.  I mean, if you don't feed her when she's hungry, she yells at you, but even then she doesn't cry.  And let me tell you, this girl takes her food seriously.  She had a doctor's appointment last month and weighed in at 23 pounds, making is less than 10 pounds difference between her and Alexa.

She has 10 teeth now, keeping pace with the early teething pattern she's had, and is also walking now.  She isn't talking very much, but does say Momma and Dadda, and sometimes will repeat things you say.  We love this happy kid and love watching her grow up!

A Bit of Catch Up

Kaelyn is getting so big! This was her first bath in the big tub, rather than her baby tub, and she loved splashing around!

 She is a full fledged crawler, and has been for awhile now.  Just like Alexa, she seems to have a built in radar for all things technological and off-limits.  This is her spying Mommy with her new camera and deciding to go for it.

 This isn't her first taste of baby food, but I think the faces she makes are hilarious, so we had to document it.  I just love how she looks at me like I've betrayed her by feeding her "real" food.

 We have, however, found out that she loves ice cream.

 This reminded me of the movie Beethoven, when that boy in the park shares his ice cream with Beethoven, because Mike's ice cream cone was making the rounds between the three of them.

This was the first time Kaelyn pulled herself up into a sitting position all by herself.

 We recently went to the zoo for my birthday.  Alexa's favorites were the fish (like always) and seeing the baby elephant.  We decided that we're never taking a stroller to that zoo again.  Neither kid was in it for very long and it's so much harder to move around with it.

I am watching the baby of a friend 3 days a week in the mornings, and Alexa is loving having another baby around.  She thinks it's so fun to have them following her around, and they really do!

 Just Alexa being cute: