Maeve

You may have guessed by the lack of shepherd pictures that we rehomed our puppy earlier this year. It wasn't a decision we took lightly, but it was the right one. Buying him, trying to raise him, and rehoming him were all things that I feel bad about, so all you dog lovers out there...go easy on me. We live and we learn! Odin is on a farm in Idaho and loving life.

We will never own a puppy again (big lesson learned) but after Odin we still knew we wanted a dog in our home. A family dog that would teach our kids to respect animals, get us outside to play, and be a sweet companion to us for a long long time. Enter in Maeve (May-vee). :) 

This girl came to us from a rescue. She's a 6ish year old lab mix. She had a ROUGH start where she was used for breeding and then neglected outside. She had very little fur and was in bad shape when her foster got her. With a little love and care she sprung right back to life! We've had her for about a month and she seems to be a perfect fit. Man, I love that dog!! She's still got some sores that we're working with the vet to heal, but we know we still have a good chunk of time with her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

She's gentle, and sweet, and truly the best dog!! 

Nine and Ten Month Update

Here's the kiddo's 9 month update! Ryan •puts himself to sleep •loves his daddy best •wants to crawl so bad, and is so close. He goes backwards and in circles on his belly but not forward •has some serious stranger danger, but it's nothing a little peek-a-boo won't fix •weighs 18lbs and is 30in long. •has 2 bottom teeth and one top that's almost through! We love him so dang much! This has been a super fun stage as he gets more and more playful.

 

 

 

 

We also paid another visit to the cardiologist during his 9th month. Ryan has VSD, if you feel like googling. We were expecting the little holes in his heart to close by now, but they're still open. The doc says as long as he continues to grow and doesn't show any symptoms, he'll be ok and we will revisit it again in another 9 months or so. It's not the news we wanted to hear, but we trust this doctor and will just continue to keep an eye on him! 

 

Our three toothed little hick is 10 months old! Currently Ryan •is all play all the time... kid never slows down •is so funny and if you laugh at him he'll keep doing whatever he was doing •loves the "I'm gonna get you!" game •gives the sweetest loves and slobbery open mouthed kisses •still takes 2 naps a day, but I have a feeling we're transitioning to 1 soon. Love my days with this baby, it's hard to imagine having two!

 

 

 

 

 

Big Family News!

I mentioned in another post that we went through the temple as a family, and wanted to elaborate on that a bit more! The three-ish months leading up to my endowment and our sealing Jake and I worked really hard to receive our recommends. It was a challenging and rewarding process that I would go through again and again to be able to be sealed to my family! This is in the church parking lot after meeting with the stake pres, recommends in hand. :) I love these boys! 

 

The day of our sealing (Nov. 1st, we did my endowment session a week before) we dropped Ryan off at the temple nursery. I'm so grateful my sister Hannah was able to be with him because I was SO nervous about leaving him with strangers! Even cute little old lady temple worker strangers. :) 

The ceremony was beautiful! We had our closest friends and a few family members there. I will never forget the words spoken and seeing Ryan being carried in all in white. Precious beyond words!! He was soooo tired by that point and was a little sad, but he kept it together. This was on the drive home, poor little guy just needed a nap. 

 

We did pictures beforehand (thanks Angela Young Photography, you rock!) and they turned out so amazing! I think you can really feel our happiness through these. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy, happy day! 

Our other big news is that we're expecting baby #2 at the end of May!! We knew we wanted our first two babies close, and boy are we getting what we wished for! I'll be honest, I'm nervous. Nervousness is trumped by elation though, and we can't wait to welcome a little squish to the bunch. 

 

 

I'm 16 weeks now and we find our the gender in less than a week! For my sake I hope it's a girl, but for Ryan I hope it's a boy. I think it'd be so fun for him to grow up with a brother close in age. We'll see!! 

Home Sweet Home!

Brace yourselves for a reeeally long post. Or just skip this one, cause it's about to be all over the place! 

WE'RE HOME!!! We moved in on October 28th, and it's been a whirlwind since. We moved in while still on our construction loan, but with a certificate of occupancy. Which was fine and dandy except converting to a mortgage took WAYYY longer than it should have. I was holding my breath until the very last second. Long story short: they analyzed every. little. piece. of our bank account and were basically convinced we were selling drugs or something. "Where did this deposit come from!?" "Uhh we sold our old piece of crap Ford." "But did you really!? Do you have a bill of sale!? Do you have proof?? We need to see the check! We need every piece of info you have!" So on and so forth. For every even semi-significant deposit in all of history. Happy to report we survived the interrogation and are officially closed. ;) 

We got most of our stuff moved in the first day, and pretty much only unpacked enough to be able to go to bed and have breakfast the next morning. Ryan spent the first couple of weeks sleeping in his pack n play in our closet because his room didn't have blinds yet and our closet was dark. He didn't mind. :) 

We have slowly been getting the place put together. Our list of projects/things to do seems daunting and endless, but all good things take time. We absolutely love it here. The area, neighbors, everything. This move was a really good idea! The day we outgrow this house will be a very sad day. 

 

 

We moved in in the thick of Fall so we of course had to squeeze in some fun. We took a couple trips to Cornbellys, went to Peterson Family Farm for some pumpkins and fresh apple juice, and spent lots of time crunching leaves. We had a low key Halloween. I made soup and we passed out candy to all our new little neighbor kids. I last minute dressed Ryan up as a "cub" and it could very well go down as the most thrown together yet adorable costume ever. Love that little boy! 

 

 

 

Grandma Cindy and Ryan have really missed each other since we've been gone so they have soaked up some serious snuggles every time they see each other. We still go to their house for dinner most Sundays, and everyone enjoys it!

 

We ran away for a weekend in Park City shortly after moving in (running away from responsibility? ;) ) and had LOADS of fun. Jake booked the hotel and picked one that was high up on the mountain. Needless to say when we got out of the truck I almost died over how good it smelled out there! Fresh pine all around. We ate good food, explored Main Street at night, did a little shopping at the outlets, and watched a bunch of Greys Anatomy in the hotel while Ryan napped. We went swimming one evening in the heated outdoor pool and Ryan was in heaven! He's definitely our little fish. When he's in the bath he always sticks his head under the faucet, doesn't care if water gets in his eyes/mouth/etc, and it was the exact same in the pool. He was going nuts. Bonus, it made him dead tired and he knocked out super fast after! 

 

Last, but not least, Jake got a new job! Recruiters often contact him with opportunities. He usually either ignores them, or interviews for practice but never gets an offer that's enticing enough to move. This particular job he decided to interview for, and they made him a pretty dang good offer. After a bunch of back and forth, negotiating, and counter offers, he decided to make the switch. One of the biggest selling points was that he gets to work from home, only going into the office once every couple of weeks. He started this week and so far so good! It's weird but really nice to have him home all day. He has an office set up in our room and I love popping in to give him a kiss or talk for a few! 

Here's Ryan and Jake, taking a little gaming break. ;) 

 

Now we're deep in the heart of the Christmas season and loving every minute!! Watching Ryan experience all the fun traditions has been a real treat. 

 

Since I Last Wrote....

Life has been BONKERS. I wish I would have kept up with blogging during the crazy, cause I honestly can't remember it all! 

The house is DONE and we passed inspection!! Yippee. We didn't make our original deadline (the weekend before Jake's work trip, where he is currently), but it's complete and now we don't have to worry about rushing to get in before he leaves. He gets home tonight after major delays (hallelujah) and we'll unload the storage units and bring everything to the house Friday. To say we are ready and excited would be an understatement! 

I haven't been over there for a couple weeks, so must of these pics are courtesy of the husband! Jake has been going a ton to do some finish work, but I've stayed home with the babe. 

Brad stained the front door! I haven't seen it in person, but it looks dang look in the pictures. 

 

Plumbing fixtures and toilets went in. This was a bit of a fiasco. We didn't like the ones the plumber had, and didn't want to pay a ton to upgrade through him, so we bought our own for him to install. He said to make sure the box had never been opened, because it's common for parts to be missing. The one we bought for our bathroom had clearly never been opened, but just our luck...one of the bolts had been stripped. We fudged the install for inspection and will replace it when Jake is home and we move in! 

 

 

Jake got all the door hardware on, and Brad installed the carpet. Neither of which I have good pictures of. The cleaning crew came and shined the place up, and Jake finished the countertops! 

 

There were times I was nervous about those suckers, but in the end they look super cool. The perfect industrial touch! 

The exterior is finished, and even though they did the wrong color of garage door, we still really like it. It wasn't worth changing. 

 

Ryan started clapping and popped 2 teeth. :)

 

 

Jake and I went through the temple! 

 

Wish us luck with our last move for a really. really. really long time. :)