Happy Belated Valentines!

Our House

After months of anticipation, I actually got to see the house we've been building in a community called Providence Village, TX. I saw a model that was still being built, but the last time I saw our lot in person it was still overgrown with grass and had nothing that resembled a house. Brandon's been able to see it go up when he was working out here last fall, but for me last Thursday was my first peek at where we'll hopefully be living for quite some time. It was only 30 degrees or so the day we visited, so it was a short visit, but soon enough we will be actual homeowners!

The front view of the house.

Our staircase. The bannister hasn't

been stained yet (it will be the same

color as the cabinets).

The kitchen cabinets. You can also

kinda see the tile on the floor and the

countertops, but they have paper

taped over them.

Brody in his new room.

Ella in her new room.

Here is the backyard back when the house was

first being framed.

Ella's Blessing

Ella was blessed on our last Sunday in the Live Oak Canyon Ward. We had a lot of family in town to help with the move and to be here with us for Ella's blessing. Thanks to all of our friends who came too, I didn't get to see or talk to you all, but I heard you were there. I was glad to get to have one last Sunday and having Ella blessed in California seemed to make it even more special. My mom made Ella's dress and brought it with her at Christmas time. It was so beautiful - more than I could have imagined. And, just as a disclaimer... her blessing came at the end of a very full weekend, and until looking at the pictures I had no idea how exhausted I looked - I'm blaming a little bit of my appearance on the fact that it was freezing outside too!

Brody's 2nd Birthday

We celebrated Brody's 2nd birthday with Avery at Chuck E. Cheese just before we moved. He loved it - he still asks for "Avery, Chuck E. Cheese, party" Some of his favorties right now are Thomas the Train, cars, anything else that has wheels or moves, riding in Grandma and Grandpa's car (he must find their car much more interesting than ours, because he asks for this everyday), playing outside, taking walks, and driving the car cart at the grocery store. Its hard to believe he is already two!

Family of Four

Ella arrived January 10th at 1:53 p.m. weighing in at 6 pounds 9 ounces and was 18 1/2 inches long. We were so happy with how easy her birth was and we were absolutely thrilled that she is finally here with us. For the three weeks she has been here she has been a good baby and we love seeing her grow and do more each day. Brandon and I can't get enough of her. Brody loves her too, and has been great, but is only interested for about 3 minutes a day.

I did it!

After much encouragement and coaching from friends, I officially have started our blog. You can probably tell...we arrived in Texas last Thursday after two really long days of driving -yuck! I'm going to learn how to post by posting about all the fun things we were able to do before we left...so hopefully if it all works like it should, you should have more to look at.