Hello World!!

Welcome to the LONGEST post in the world! I have finally emerged from my cave and am ready to catch up on this ole' blog of mine. We have moved to Fort Worth and are loving it here! Nathan joined a great practice with wonderful doctors (seriously - they are the salt of the earth!) and we are so happy to not have the job hunt stress looming over us. Looks like we will be Texans for good and we are so thrilled!

Watch out cavities - Dr. West is gonna get ya!

Kes took this picture before we moved and it cracks me up. =)

March was a super productive month for me and then April rolled around and I pretty much hung out on the couch or in the bathroom next to the toilet. In May I started to show my face to the world a little bit more and by the end I was just about back to normal. Babies are such sweet, wonderful things and totally worth it in the end but I have to say the first trimester is one of my least favorite things EVER. I was just as sick (maybe worse) with this one as I was with Bren so maybe we are having another boy or maybe I just get sicker with each pregnancy. I don't know. Were just glad this one decided to stick to the right place and we won't be having a repeat of last time! I am 20 weeks along and due on December 2nd. We are very happy to be adding another little person to our family! I probably won't find out what I'm having for a WHOLE month!! Switching doctors and insurances and figuring all of that out is FUN! =) I was going to scan in an ultrasound picture but I can't figure out this darn scanner. Oh well!

In February we had a kitten adopt us. The girls were playing with her in the front yard after school one Friday and she was so sweet. We took the kids to our friend's house for the babysitting swap that night and when we came home a few hours later there she was waiting for us! I shouldn't have held her - that was my downfall. I loved her right away. She was the nicest kitten and had the loudest purr I've ever heard. As a kid I always loved cats but since becoming an adult I have become a self proclaimed NON-pet lover. I don't want to deal with the poop and the vet costs and the furr and I don't want to be worried about people being allergic to our pet when they come over. Anyway, that all changed in an instant for Pepper! The kids went to bed and I fed her and we knew we were stuck with her for the time being. At first Nathan didn't want anything to do with her but she LOVED him for some reason. We were watching a movie and he would move her by me and she would immediately crawl up on his chest or in his lap and purr her mighty purr. He was won over pretty quickly! She really was too good to be true - she never had any accidents - she'd go to the back door if she needed to go to the bathroom. She never scratched or hurt the kids - she let them drag her all over the place and dress her up and push her around in a stroller and seemed to love every second of it. She didn't meow a lot and she didn't shed too much. AND she happened to be very clean and cute. She was hilarious and would run around the livingroom like a crazy animal at night and she would scare the living daylight out of us by jumping up on the window or the door window outside and hanging there while we were eating. Haha! We knew we couldn't keep her forever though - we aren't allowed to have a cat in that house and we didn't know what to do. I think we had her for a month or two. I got her spade and vaccinated and we found a good home for her with a family in our ward. The night they were coming to get her I had quite the surprise little emotional breakdown. Who knew I'd be so attached to a little cat? We miss her but it's nice to not have to worry about her anymore. I still don't think I'm a pet person. She was just sneaky and managed to bread through my barriers. =)

Nope - I was lying about that emotional breakdown! Haha! Let's blame it on pregnancy hormones. =)

Brenan is doing marvelously in his big boy bed! At nights he almost always falls asleep next to the door and Nathan enjoys getting to go pick him up and snuggle him for a second before putting him back on his bed. He takes naps on it like a champion! It's fun to listen to him talking to himself and singing songs. His favorite is Book of Mormon stories. Brenan's speech has improved a lot since getting tubes put in his ears in April. He has the best facial expressions to go along with his cute voice and it's so fun listening to him. He likes to argue everything. I'll say "Brenan, you're CUTE!" and he'll put his eyebrows down low and stick his lips out and say "No I NOT!" and then we'll go back and forth for awhile. It's pretty fun. Haha! He finally loves nursery after a year and a half of hating it. Yay! I hope moving doesn't mess that up! He is quite the snuggler. If we ask him for a snuggle he'll grab his "blue" (blanket") and come curl right up on our chest and then stay for as long as we want him to. He loves to be a dog. He has a couple "modes" he goes into. Dog mode - where he is a dog and will not talk - only make dog sounds and do dog things. And Silent mode - where he is very helpful and nice but won't make a peep. He loves picking his finger nails and has the cutest chubby toddler hands! He won't eat meat right now at all. If he's eating something that has meat in it he'll chew until all the non-meat stuff is gone and then spit out his glob of meat on the plate. Little pill! He always makes us laugh. I can't believe he's a two and a half year old!!

Girl's night out at Olive Garden was a nice reprieve from my couch sometime in April with these beauty queens! And I didn't even throw up my delicious dinner! Yay!

Me, Amber, Jordan, Heather, Celeste, and Ashley

Kids are so great because even when things aren't as stellar as usual they are still happy as can be! The Easter Bunny did make it to our house and I did manage to make these yummy Easter Morning rolls (after lunch and I used a lot more brown sugar on top!) and we had a wonderful dinner with Sandy, Aaron, and their boys on Easter Sunday. But we didn't make it to any Easter egg hunts and we didn't color Easter eggs which we have done every year that they've been alive! They didn't even notice! They loved their basket hunt and the hunt with the Liddell boys.

Us outside watching the kids look for eggs.

Brenan got to lead the way since he was the littlest!

Everyone else was close behind though.

Kes and Landon

Anika and Lucas

The sun was bright!!

Haha! I love Sandy's face in this picture!

Sandy, Stephanie, and me.

One day I was cleaning the kitchen and noticed that Kasey and Aaron's eyes were covered up with these round magnets - Nathan cracks me up! I had to take a picture of it.

In April, Carol took me and Brooke to Time Out for Women and the guys stayed home and watched the kids for the weekend. Here is Papa loving on Kes. The kids were spoiled - they went to a movie, out to eat, and Papa and Scott even cleaned out the nasty pool so they could swim!

I was spoiled too! We got to stay in a super nice hotel and eat yummy food and be uplifted by great speakers. It was such a fun weekend! Thanks so much!! Here are Mom and Brooke:

Sometime in May we took a little day trip to the Guadalupe River State Park. It was perfect - not too crowded and the water was the perfect depth for little kids. They also loved digging in the rocks. Kes had a bee land on her chest and she handled it much more gracefully than I would have! Haha!

We set up a little ways back from the beach and were enjoying our lunch when a massive group of people came and stood right in front of us. We thought that surely they would move on since there were tons of open spots all along the river and RIGHT next to us was a huge one. But there they stayed and performed a full on religious ceremony. Complete with hand holding and singing/praying - everyone saying/singing whatever they wanted and a couple baptisms, followed by more singing and chanting. It's great if they want to do that but seriously?! Right smack in front of our little set up?! As soon as they were done we moved our gazebo right up to the river just in case they came back. Great day!

I had to sneak a picture- here is part of the group. =)

We went house hunting in May. We came across such a cute, little neighborhood and the best part was that there were peacocks EVERYWHERE! Walking up the streets, sitting on mailboxes, chillin' on front porches and in yards. It was awesome! Here are a couple:

We met up with our buddies, Steve and Mandi, for a night out on the town. We felt like Lucy and Ethel when we sat in the front and the guys sat in the back! Good grief - how old are we again?! Haha! We at yummy BBQ and then played at Dave and Busters. I am so excited to be so close to them again!

These aren't the prettiest pictures (when do I ever take pretty pictures?!) but Keslie REALLY wanted to take a couple with me and I want to remember her sweetness. Plus that band aid on her chin is classic. =)

Saying good-bye!

Ashley left at the beginning of June for Corpus Christi so we had to have a little get together with her before she left.

Jordan, Mandy, Me, Ashley, Heather, Amber, and Celeste

Brenan had his last speech appointment with Becky and Brenda. Here he is with Becky:

We went to Corpus to see the Packards and go to the beach one more time.

After the beach we headed back to their beautiful, new home and ate burgers and hung out for awhile! Nathan and Kevin played some Wii. It was so fun to see them.

Ashley and I did what we do best - take beautiful pictures:

The week before I moved we had one more girl's night out. Lots of laughing was done in the car and then we met at The Cheesecake Factory for some delicious food and fulfilled my dream of taking a picture on the boots out at Northstar mall! Thanks girls!!

Me and Tammy

Amber and Lindsay

Heather, me, Lindsay, Tammy, Amber, and Meghan

And the boot pictures! We were even huzzahed at by a car full of boys! That's right - we've still got it! Haha!

We are going to miss all the wonderful people we met while in San Antonio. I smile just picturing all of your different faces! Thanks for the great memories, belly laughs, being there for us during our little rough patch last year, the great talks at book club, the fun conversation at Bachelor night, the crazy girl's nights, loving my kids, and for being my friend even though I can be a little quirky sometimes! I love you all! PLEASE COME VISIT US!!