Utah!

Hey all! Hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas. I'm writing today from the West coast instead of the East, which is kind of a change for me. This last week has been really crazy for our little family. Monday we spent getting everything packed and ready to go. Tuesday we left for the airport, leaving around 11 am EST and expecting to arrive near 7 pm MST. However, there was a problem with the plane during our layover in Cleveland, Ohio and we were delayed about six hours. We finally got to Salt Lake and into my grandparents house around 2 am. It was a very long day, but Karen did fairly well. She had no problems with takeoffs or landings, but waiting in the airport was not her favorite thing ever.

Wednesday was Danny and Kathleen's wedding. It was very nice in the Bountiful UT temple. We went early for some pictures, then went to the sealing. It was so nice, and they were so cute! After the sealing we went to the Nadauld's for the dinner/reception. The food was great and there were lots of people from their mission there. During the whole wedding thing Karen was with Calista (my little sister) and my grandparents/family at the family Christmas party at my aunt's house. We were worried a bit because we hadn't left her with anyone else for a very long time. However, she did very well and liked playing with all the kids and everything.

Thursday was excellent. We all went to Provo to visit various people. We talked to Jessica and tried to visit some professors on campus, but none of them were home. It was really cold outside and Karen totally flipped out. Going from 75 degrees in Charlotte to about 15 in Provo was too much for her to handle. The highlight of the day was the Bowl game party in the JFSB. Quita, Shaille, Nancy, and all the rest got together some great grub in the Foreign Language Center. The game was great but it was even better to see all our friends in Utah again.

Friday we flew to Oregon. It was an 8am flight, so we got to the airport just after 5am. It was really early, but it turned out to be a good thing. Calista's friends got there a bit later and one of them acutally missed the flight. It all worked out in the end and we arrived in Portland before lunch. Since then we've been chillin' at my parents house, while Karen gets to know all of her aunts, uncles, and grandparents. She's been really a trooper and loves being able to be held all the time. Here are some pictures from the last week. Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

So, sorry no writing on Friday-this whole end of semester thing kinda throws all of that off. Just to let you know we're leaving tomorrow (Tuesday) morning for Utah and won't have internet access probably until Friday when we get to my parents house in Oregon. So if you want to contact us call our phones. You should all have our number-and if you don't I'm not going to post it on the web, so don't ask. ;) Hopefully... the weather will be nice, the wedding will be gorgeous, we'll get to see everyone we wanted to, Karen will be happy the whole time, and it will be a wonderful experience. Life so far has made me think nothing will go that perfectly, but we can always hope, right?!

Well, that's about all for now. Sorry there aren't any pictures the last couple of weeks, but the whole pictures on different computers and USB drives and all that has gotten kinda crazy. Hopefully we'll get some good ones up next week of everything in Utah and then some truly cute ones from Christmas. Have a great week and maybe I'll see some of you soon!

Howdy!

Hey ya'll! Hope everyone is getting ready for Christmas in a big way...or at least a little way. Not much is going on right now. Joe has been gone most of the week. He's finished classes and only has one more final left, but that one will take a full day of work to finish. No 3 hour time limits here! However we are all three looking forward to a few weeks of no school and vacations. Tonight is our ward party, which will be fun I hope. Sorry this is so short but I'm already out of time. I'll write more next week for sure!

Thanksgiving

Hello to all! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and that you’re now excited for Christmas (which is only 24 days away). The past two weeks have been busy but good. We went to Indiana for Thanksgiving last Tuesday through Saturday, which is why no blog last week. We did have a good time, even with our somewhat-whiney Karen. The drive north took almost 12 hours, and Karen (and me and Joe too) was very tired of being in the car with nothing to see. I can’t wait until she doesn’t have to be in a rear-facing car seat anymore! While we were there it was nice to just chill a bit (in more ways than one-it was so much colder there than it is here!) and hang with the fam. The only down side was that Karen didn’t want to be held by anyone except mom and dad until Friday. The dinner on Thursday was nice, though slightly different than I’m used to. For instance, I don’t think I’ve ever had mac-and-cheese (homemade, not box style) at thanksgiving dinner. We drove home on Saturday, which took only about 9 ½ hours. I’m not sure why it took so much less time; maybe going south is like going downhill…?

Anyway, Monday was Karen’s doctor visit with shots and everything else. She is growing so well! She is now 18 lbs. and 27 inches long. In 6 months she’s grown half a foot and almost tripled her weight. The shots were no fun and she had a bit of a fever for the next day or so, but that’s pretty well over now. Another added bonus of being 6 months is that she gets two meals of cereals/food every day instead of one. This makes baby happy because she likes to eat different things and it makes mommy happy because Karen likes to use nursing time as teething time, which can be painful since she has a tooth now.

Joe’s really busy at school and church/scouts. Karen is frustrated because she’s hardly seen him since we got back from Indy. However after next Friday Joe will be done with all of his classes and finals (except for maybe one) and a week from Wednesday we’ll be on Christmas Vacation! We’re looking forward to a few ‘slow’ days before we head to Utah and Oregon. Speaking of which…after meeting with Danny and Kathleen (who is quite cool), the 21st is really the only day we’ll be able to get together with friends, but as of now the entire day seems pretty much open so let me know what’s going on and hopefully I’ll be able to see everyone!

Well, now that you’re all totally bored to tears, I hope you’re doing well. Good luck on finals for those in school, and Happy Holidays, Season’s Greetings, and/or Merry Christmas (whichever you would personally prefer)! Here are some Karen pics from the last couple of weeks.