Graduation, Vacation and Louisville

It's hard to believe that our time is over in Columbus! :( It still kinda seems surreal now that it is all over. We made so many wonderful friends that it was hard to leave and more than a few tears were shed (darn you Jump's);)! It was hard to leave our home and all those who had become our "family." We know that we will never have that time again or so many wonderful friends all in one place and so its hard to move on and start over. The one positive thing that came out of moving away from Columbus is that Brian graduated Dental school and is now officially a DDS! We are proud of all of Brian's hard work and dedication and we are now in our final leg of our journey! Brian will now be an Orthodontic Resident at the University of Louisville for the next 2 years. We hope to enjoy our time there and make many more memories!

Brian's Graduation day. Both of our parents came out along with Brian's brother, Brice and his family. It was fun to celebrate Brian's accomplishment and spend some time with family (and the moving help was also nice).

This was one of our last dinner together with the friends...this will be one of the most missed activities, since we did do it quite a bit!  Everyone was always so much fun!

Steph, Shannon and I took the girlies to Al's Popcorn factory-they have over 50 different flavors or something...we sampled quite a few flavors :).  It was a fun little trip, and one of our last together.  I wish we would've gotten one with all of us-darn it!

St. George

We were able to spend about a month in good ol' SG.  It was fun hanging out and swimming-A LOT!  We visited our favorite eating places-Marv's, Pasta Factory, and of course Cafe Rio.  We had fun with all of the "cousins" as Alli calls them, going to Pine Valley, riding horses and going to the Gunlock Rodeo.  She had such a great time, it was hard to leave them all.  

Lola looks like a little leprechaun dressed in her green outfit with her red hair and blue eyes :).  She is such a contrast to little Alli J.!  When they have a bath together and lay side by side it is so funny.  We have a salt and pepper mix. 

Cousin time in Pine Valley, Alli was in HEAVEN!  On this particular night, most of the kids were tired and ready to go to bed (as you can see)  Alli at one point was getting a little too excited and Ady and Emma came and said something to this extent "Alli is riding me like a horse and I'm tired and want to go to sleep."  Alli had SO much fun just playing and playing and never wanted to stop. :)

Alli LOVED riding horses with Papa.  She went down and helped with the chores whenever she could and of course tried to get a four-wheeler ride whenever she had the chance!  Lola is always just along for the ride :)

Swimming was a daily activity...These girls had a good time together-minus a few mishaps of course-they are going to be such great friends growing up!

Alli has started to conquer her fear of water!  She has never really liked having her face wet etc., but she  will now jump in, go down slides by herself, and let water pour over her face!  This is very good progress.  We have been going to Calypso Cove here in Louisville which is a water park, and she is very brave and now LOVES the water!

Nana has lots of fun toys at her house for Alli to play with and she got this stroller at Christmas time for her to play with.  Alli used to put a play doll in the stroller, but who needs a fake baby doll when you have a real thing? :)  Lola didn't seem to mind :)

St. George has a new Carousel at the Splash Pad and Alli loved riding it.  If it is a horse, real or not, Alli is there.  It made me a little sick, but Alli had a blast riding it over and over and over.  It plays Disney songs while we ride and Alli would sing along to Pocahontas and Little Mermaid.  That made the ride worth it. :)  Good times.

Lola learned to sleep through the night while in SG-YIPEE!!  It took a little longer than her sister, but every babes is different I have discovered. :)  She found her fingers (mainly her thumb) and that seemed to do the trick.  I will go in to get her in the morning and she will be happily sucking on her fingers.  Lolas (that's what we all call her) is the best babes, so calm, so sweet, very patient and loves to be loved!  She loves to smile and giggle and interact with everyone.  If she is tired she will fuss a little, but will then fall asleep on her own.  We love having her in our family!

We were able to go to the Gunlock rodeo this year.  It always brings back memories of when I was little.  It is a fun tradition and I'm glad that my girls will have a chance to experience it as well.  Alli had a great time, she loved doing the chicken chase every night, eating other kids' snow cones :), and of course riding horses, and playing in the dirt with all of the kids.  The Beckstrom gang even came and hung out with us one of the nights. I was able to participate in the breakaway roping as well.  I actually placed 2nd one of the nights, ha ha!  I think I surprised not only myself, but my family too! 

Row is a fantastic Uncle.  Alli adores him and he is always good for helping out and playing with her.  He helped her try and get a chicken, but of course Alli wasn't too sure about that-she just wanted to "chase" them not catch em'.  Alli also helped herself to some of the watermelon from the Donkey watermelon race-she would live off of "melon" if we let her.

It's nice having family around.  Joe, Kailee, Hunter and Hudson live in Louisville as well and we have had a great time getting together with them.  Alli asks to play with Hunter and "Huddy" everyday.  It has been SO HOT and HUMID that if you want to play outside it has to involve water.  The picture in the middle is my camera fogging up- that is literally the humidity in the air-it is pretty thick out here. :)  Alli has definitely become the little adventurer-luckily the Wrights have this slide so that the kids can wear themselves out!

 If it isn't too hot outside, Alli loves to blow bubbles.  Its hard trying to think of new things everyday to do, but this is one staple.  Bubbles and then popsicles :)

Alli loves her boppy which she actually calls her "dobby."  She HAS to have this to sleep.  It is kind of like her security blanket.  It is an annoyingly big security blanket, but we try to just let her have it when she is watching a movie or of course sleeping.  She loves to rub the end of it in between her fingers and suck on her tongue while she does it.  It cracks us up, Alli never took a binky and so I think this is what she did/does in place of it. :)  Lola doesn't appreciate tummy time, but she will last for a little while if she is propped in her boppy, so we have boppy time together.   These girls are going to be good buds, they love to laugh and smile at each other.  Alli has to distinguish though that Lola's "dobby" is the purple one and that Alli's is the green one.  There is no mixing allowed!

And here is the little sweetheart herself.  Lola is now a whopping 4 (almost 5 now) months old!  Time goes by so fast.  This is my favorite stage...they love to interact and are getting some coordination skills so they can hold things, but aren't crawling yet.  Lola is getting a little stronger where she can hold her head for longer periods of time.  She loves to play!  It is nice when I can get some one on one time with her, but it is often hard when the J'ster is around wanting a lot of the attention :).  That is where Lola's patience is much appreciated.  At her 4 month appointment her stats rang in as follows:

Wt: 13.2 lbs- 48th percentile

Length: 24.5 in- 55th percentile

Head: 16.5 in- 75th percentile

Lola and Alli are definitely different.  At this point Alli was 90th in weight and the Dr. was telling me to wean a feeding.  Lola is normal range in everything (although her noggin is a good size), it is just so interesting how two sisters can be completely different (and no there is no milk man involved here). :) 

Little Lolas

She won't let anything get in the way of her fingers!

Here is Lola vs. Alli J.  Alli is 3 months here and Lola is 4.  We called Alli a "Budda baby" and we call Lola a "Yoda baby."  Alli for her chubs, and Lola for her mother's ears.  :)

Alli has started to become interested in dress up and she loves to wear my shoes all through the house.  She has become a little "poser" as well.


And that is about it for now!  Things are going well...it is just hard adjusting to new things.  I have struggled a little bit, but its getting better.  I miss my work and all the friends that we had, and Alli misses her buddies too.  Having the Wright's in town has helped a ton and we are starting to make new friends in the ward etc.  It just takes time :).   We love where we live and the location, but I forgot how it is to move to a new place and start over.  It's just different.  I had forgotten that I felt like this when we moved to Columbus.  I got a letter in the mail from one of the sweet ladies that I worked with and it just hit hard-and it does some days-that I miss our home that we have had the past 4 years.  I know it will get easier as we adjust, but new things bring new challenges.  I hope to come to love Louisville as we did Columbus and have high spirits that we will!  Here's to living it up in the big KY!