2011 In Review

Alot happened this year and it was all GREAT stuff!

- Welcomed a fun, new nephew to the family.
- Sewed lots of stuff for our new arrival.
- Chase continued serving in the bishopric.
- Lauren made her arrival (a whole week late!)on March 31 and has been our world ever since!
- Chase managed to finish Spring semester while getting pretty much no sleep.
- My little sister got married!
- I continued working part-time as a sample testing technician.
- Spent a night in Park City with my best friends since high school.
- Went to my little brother's high school graduation!
- Had a great summer vacation with my family in Bear Lake.
- Moved (again) due to a very unexpected rent increase at our old place.
- Celebrated Chase's 26th birthday.
- Played lots with cousins.
- Chase got several raises at work and applied for a Systems Administrator position.
- Went to New Mexico for a cousin's wedding. (Flying with a baby is no longer scary.)
- Back to the old grind of school in August. But it was our last semester!
- Celebrated my 24th birthday.
- Had a fun Halloween at my sister's and Lauren dressed up as a Lady Bug.
- Discovered Pinterest.
- Spent a great weekend at an Island Park cabin with Chase's family.
- Chase passed his CCNT certification. (Means he knows alot about computers and networking.)
-Spent Thanksgiving with my family.
- Found out we'll have a new nephew or niece on the Christensen side of the family!
- Lauren learned how to army crawl, wave, clap, give cheese grins, fake laugh, pull herself up in her crib, say Dadda and Momma, spit, stick out her tongue, roll over, sit up, open drawers, and all of the other fun stuff babies bring!
- My Dad found a great job close to family.
- Chase graduated!
- Spent Christmas in Idaho Falls with the Christensen's.
- Chase started his "new" job full-time and salaried.

Funny how life can change in such a short time. Our small family has completely changed, we're living in a new place, family members are doing new things with their lives, new jobs, good opportunities. Who would have thought we'd be here right now doing the things we are?

2012 is shaping up to be an eventful year as well. We're looking forward to:

- Me quitting work in the next month or so.
- Losing all of this pregnancy weight.
- Chase getting used to the new job.
- Learning cake decorating.
- Chase rebuilding his computer... again. :)
- Enjoying evenings at home together without homework and school stress.
- Finding a HOUSE... our apartment renting days are numbered!
- Lauren having her first birthday.

I feel like we've just ended a chapter of our lives and started a new one. I remember talking to my sister about what it would be like when we were no longer students but "real adults". We're there, and it's a little scary. We know how to do school. we've never NOT known school. But we're excited to see what the next few years will bring with all the changes and adventures.

Christmas 2011

We were thoroughly spoiled this year! We were able to spend a day with my family to have our family Christmas then headed to IF for Christmas Eve and Day to spend with Chase's family. Lauren had a great time playing in and eating the wrapping paper,



hanging out with her grandparents,



watching Daddy open presents with his cheesy grin,


playing on the awesome rocking horse grandpa made for her,




and smiling big for the camera!



It was a great Christmas and thanks to all of our friends and family for making it so!

HE DID IT!

Chase graduated! (And I pretty much feel like Mickey here!) I really don't even know what to say to express how happy and proud I am of him. Schhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifool has been a rough go so I am glad to see the rewards of his endless hours of hard work.

So here's to those night-after-night of homework until midnight, Bishopric meetings, group projects, and full-time work hours.(Now you only have to worry about two of those things instead of all four!)

We have been blessed and really couldn't be happier. Chase has a full-time salaried job with a great, stable company that will allow us to stay where we are, the cutest little girl ever, a new job for my dad, and good friends and family.

Love you babe and all the hard work you endured for us. :)

pic from here

Eight Months

She's growing like a weed! She's not quite crawling yet but working on it. She's been trying to figure out how to pull her knees up under her this week. She puts her head down on the floor and tries as hard as she can to pull her knees up but just can't quite get it. It's pretty funny to watch. She's really good at pivoting around in circles on that little pot-belly of hers though. :)

She loves her tongue and runs it back and forth on her bottom lip almost non-stop. Or sticks it out. She's started giving cheese grins all the time and has the cutest giggle.

She loves peek-a-boo, reading books, and playing with her cousins. And she's sleeping so much better these days!

She's getting a little temper. She does NOT like to be left alone. :)

She can clap her hands when we say "Yay!" and we like to think she can say mama and dada.

She's charmed the whole ward because she stands on the bench and grins and laughs at everyone.

She sure has been alot of fun! :)

Thought Processes

Lauren slept through the whole night! 6:30 to 6:30. Man I hope this stage lasts awhile!

Almost all done with Christmas. But now what do I do now that I'm done?

Lauren needs shoes. I'm going to make her some, but sewing things that tiny is just really hard so I've been putting it off. Her chubby little feet just don't want to squeeze into any of the ones she has. Seriously, I have never seen a baby with skinny feet, so why don't they make baby shoes that fit chubby little toes?

Two and a half more weeks. We can do this.

Not sure what to do with the pretty yellow and white fabric I got. Thought it would make a good skirt for me, but I'm just not feelin' it.

We're out of ice cream and I would really like a little chocolate now.

Work Christmas party is tomorrow night. Yay for yummy, free food.

Mashed up mouse brains the other day at work. Pretty sure that was the most disgusting sample set yet I've dealt with. Thankfully whole tissue samples don't come in very often. Yuck.

My nephews just make me smile.

Finally made some pumpkin cookies. I should make them more often since they're just so good.

We had a fun Thanksgiving and were able to spend some time with my family. We all squished together at Grandma's house and had a great dinner. Lauren likes stuffing and mashed potatoes.

Quote from institute today: "Having a sensitive conscience is a sign of a healthy spirit." It was from a general authority but can't remember who. Made me feel better since I tend to feel guilty about alot of things, like not putting the cart back in the thingy since it's raining and Lauren is crying, or leaving the restaurant table an absolute mess when we're done.

I wish tubs (and bathrooms in general) were self-cleaning. I don't know what it is but it's harder to get them looking clean in a rental apartment. (Maybe it's just the hard water.) One day I will have a house where the bathroom will actually look like I scrubbed the tub.

I love that Lauren will reach for me when she's sad. It makes me feel loved and important. I love it that she grins when I walk through the door and she giggles when I get her out of the crib.

Excited for our girl's weekend!

House Hunting Itch

Since Chase will be graduating here in a few weeks, (YAAAAAYYY!) and with him having a job waiting for him, the idea of buying a house within the next year is a possible reality. Finally!

But being as this is quite a "grown-up" thing to do, we have never done it before. So how does one go about finding the perfect house? Where do you even start looking? How do you make sure all your finances are in order? Where do you find all those killer deals like short sales and the like?

It's kind of scary. A house seems so... permanent. With apartments if they raise the rent you just move to another one! No big deal. So what things did you all consider when looking for a house?

p.s. Lauren only woke up once last night! :)

Sleeping

We're not doing much of it around here lately.

Our fantastic sleeper used to go 10-12 hours a night without a peep, then she would wake up once a night to eat and go right back to sleep. Now she is suddenly waking up every 2 to 3 hours and not wanting to go back to sleep.

I don't know what changed.

We still put her to bed at the same time. We feed her cereal and a bottle before she goes down. We have a bed-time routine. She has her blanket and puppy. We've tried the "Sleep Easy Solution" that promised fail-proof results, but I think it screwed her up even more.

She was taking one 2 hour nap a day and two 1 hour naps. Now I can barely get her to take two 1 hour naps. She wakes up and won't go back to sleep but I can tell that she's still tired. I miss my constantly happy baby. She's still been pretty good, but a lot more whiny.

We've wondered if she doesn't feel well, if she's teething, if she's too hot or cold. We just don't know.

Any ideas or suggestions?
I know we don't really have it that bad. I shouldn't complain. But we're all tired!