Happy Birthday Kelsey!

Kelsey is one loved little girl!! When people found out that we were going to be in Phoenix for her birthday, several people offered to throw together an early birthday party so that Kelsey could have a party with all of her family and friends before she left.

Jamie put together a princess party for Sadie and Kelsey that literally had everything!!! It was incredible. It had a bouncy castle, painting nails, stickers, cupcakes, a pinata, lunch, pin the jewel on the crown, and last but not least an actual princess. Jamie really went above and beyond. It was a beautiful break from packing and such a fun way to say goodbye to dear friends.

Kelsey was also lucky enough to have a birthday party with the Wing family and that party was Jake themed! It was the cutest! I loved every second of it. Diana worked so hard to make it look perfect and perfect it did look. I'm not really a theme party person. Its just not my skill set. To me its a party if you remember a cake! The Wings have really shown me that that is NOT the way to have a real party. They have changed birthday parties in my eyes. Unfortunately I still do not have that skill set, but at least I get it now :)

Anyway, the Jake party was perfect. It was adorable and again it was a great way to say bye to the Wing family. I appreciate Diana so much for going out of her way to make this happen for Kelsey. It meant so much to me.

 

On June 2nd, Kelsey, Hannah, Madison, and I were all getting ready to drive down to Phoenix. Ethan was already there with the U-Haul which made for a sad actual day birthday. Luckily Kelsey is very forgiving and my attempts to buy her forgiveness worked. Nothing says I'm sorry like a doughnut and Tinkerbell juice.

Once we got to Phoenix and got a little settled, we sang Kelsey happy birthday and gave her an all pink cake and a scooter which she rides everywhere.Happy Birthday Kelsey!! We love you so much.

Kelsey at 3

Loves to read, dance, and sing
Loves all things girly and princesses (knows all the princesses and their songs)
Loves to talk and tell stories
An amazing big sister
Super awesome at her scooter
Very coordinated
Hates swimming and going potty (but we are working on both this summer, 2015)

I love Kelsey. She is my best and right now the only friend I have. Even though we butt heads a lot, my days would be so lonely and way less funny without her.  

Thoughts on Moving

Every move is hard. It is never easy to completely start your life over. You know your routes, you have routines.  You know the sales and the shortcuts. You know the parks, stores, and schools. You have friends, a ward, and a neighborhood.  And when you move you have to leave all that behind just to start over. now let me be very clear. We have moved :) I don't feel bad for us in anyway because I know the road ahead is only going to be even better than the road we've already traveled.  I also don't feel bad for us because we have only moved 7 times and some people have moved in the teens, twenties, and thirties. But lets all be honest. Whether its move 1 or move 21, moving is hard

Ethan and I had a great group of friends, were surrounded by most of our family, had great callings in our ward that got us really involved, and lived in Provo which gave us access to cheap entertainment, cheap babysitters, cheap food, and so much more. We literally lived across the street from BYU which is totally perfect for the Wings.

When we entered school we knew that a move was inevitable. We were ready and excited to start our own adventures. Our lives have always revolved around school and all of a sudden that was going to stop.  Our move to Chicago was super fun, but we always knew that we were coming back to our comfort zone.  As we looked at different companies and places to live Ethan asked me if there was any where that I WOULDNT want to live.

At first I said no. I grew up watching my family make friends across the nation and wanted to do the same. I have also found that the older I get the more I want to see. I really want to visit all 50 states some day. Everywhere has something to offer I just would love to get a taste of everywhere.
The more the school year progressed and the more I thought about moving, I realized that there were some places that I would rather visit than live: Arizona and New Mexico.

 

September came along, we turned down a good job in Omaha, said yes to Amazon and were planning on Seattle for 9 months.Then the announcement came that we were going to be moving to Phoenix., Arizona: one of the only places I DIDNT want to move to. To be totally honest I was only really excited for Seattle because of the summer weather and being close to my parents. There were so many things about Seattle that we were just bracing ourselves for like rent, rain, and traffic. We weren't married to Seattle, but Phoenix? You know it gets to 115 there right?!  Telling my parents we weren't coming was also really hard. I felt like I was letting them down in a weird way. My dad was so cute. I know he was sad, but since my mom and I were already crying, he got his Bishop voice on and said, " Lets name all the wonderful things about Phoenix." I sat and cried and he listed about 20 things that I was going to love about Phoenix. My dad is an amazing man.

Eventually the sadness wore off and then reality checked in: we were going to have to move for real and not come back! Saying bye was hard but then I found myself getting callous to goodbyes. why was I not sad anymore? I was leaving everyone and everything that I loved!. I was talking to my mom, an expert mover, and she put my emotions into such elloquant words, "eventually its time to start feeling a new emotion. You can't stay sad forever. Eventually you have to let yourself be excited." So wise and so true.

 So as the move date approached, Ethan and I weren't sad anymore but excited. It was time to go. Obviously there were still some tears and I still miss all our friends, but we were so excited to try new things. We were excited to be done with school and live in a house, and get a couch, and have all of our stuff in one place and everything else that this move brought.

Obviously I am leaving behind great friends and a wonderful family, but its just time. We have now been in Phoenix for two weeks and we are loving it so much. Yes,  I have been lonely at the park while I watch play groups get together.  Yes, I have yearned for someone to know and care that we have just moved. Yes, the 12 hour work days are making for some real lonely afternoon. Yes, the heat is killing me. And yes, I have felt bad every day for Kelsey because she has no friends, but everything considered,  I can honestly say that I am completely happy. I know that this was the right move for us and I am riding that wave for as long as I can. I think I'm ready for growth and a change.

Moving is hard all the time, but its amazing how ready we were this time to move. Moving meant so many good things that its hard to still be sad. We are so excited with where life has taken us. We are already falling in love with Phoenix. I wish we could stay here for a few years. I really think this is going to be an amazing adventure for our family.

Mother's Day

I completely forgot that Mother's Day happened in our home.
We got back from Disneyland at like 10 pm on Saturday so we decided to let the girls sleep in on Sunday. I went to sacrament meeting by myself (The girls didn't wake up until 9:45!!) and actually had a wonderful experience. When I got home everything was put away from the trip, the girls were dressed complete with hair, breakfast was waiting for me, and there was a sign on the door! I felt so special. Ethan literally had no time to do anything and still did something! What an amazing man.  I love being a mother and am so grateful that I get to take care of these two. I'm also grateful that I get to do this with Ethan. He is such an amazing man and father.

Madison's heart exam

At Madison's well check up in April Uncle Rick found a heart murmur that he wanted us to check out. I'm a worrier by nature. Everyday Ethan leaves for work I am convinced that it will be the last time I see him. Its a serious problem that I am trying to overcome. That being said, when Uncle Rick told me that Madison had a heart murmur,  I wasn't worried. I felt so calm about everything
.
On May 19th Madison and I went to go visit Dr Hoffman, the pediatric cardiologist, and spent three hours doing all sorts of tests and exams.
Madison was a champion. Two nurses came in to get her vitals, one nurse came in to get her heart scanned which required connecting 13 wires across Madison's chest,  then the Dr came in to evaluate and listen, and then a 4th nurse came in to take us to a dark room where he did about 45 minutes of ultra sounds on Madison's heart. Madison had to be asleep or still for most of these tests and luckily she was. She was such a good girl.
My favorite part about the whole experience was how every new nurse that came in was like "Oh my! You have the cutest chubbiest baby!" It lightened the mood

After all the exams we learned that Madison did have a heart murmur but the type that she will grow out of when she gets older. 60% of all babies have a heart murmur. Some grow out of them, some never grow out of them but are perfectly fine, some never grow out of them and need some sort of minor assistance later in life, and very few heart murmurs actually need surgery.
The reason Madison had a heart murmur was this: Her heart is so tiny and has to work extra hard to pump the blood through like all baby hearts. As the heart is beating the extra beats in her tiny chest, sometimes extra blood gets pushed in and out. Because there isn't very much room for the extra blood, blood gets sloshed around causing heart murmurs. As babies grow and their chest expands, their hearts slow down and the extra blood stops hitting the walls of their chest. Talk to your doctor, but this was my understanding of Madison's heart murmur.

All in all, it ended up just being a false alarm, but I am so grateful for modern technology that allows us to be cautious instead of sorry. If something was actually wrong, it comforts me to know that there are a lot of people, tools, and procedures that could help.

Spokane Trip

We got back from Disneyland late May 9th, drove up to Bountiful on May 10th, and left for Spokane on May 12th. It was crazy but the girls did amazing!

Spokane was so much fun because it was the opposite of Disneyland in every way. It was so relaxing. We went to Riverfront Park (where Kelsey rode the carousel 9 times in a row!!!), went to Fiesta, Ethan and I went to the temple, we walked along the Spokane River, ate a Subway, played a million games, helped my dad in the yard, jumped on the tramp, and visited into the hours of the night. It was great. I don't know when we will get to Spokane next because of my parents mission plans, so I'm really glad that we were able to make the trip up there before work.

If we go into a new state, I make our family take a family picture in that state for a map that I am making. This is literally the best we could do for Montana!

 

Within 10 minutes of getting to Spokane, Kelsey had found the basement, made a stack of books, and was reading them. I love her passion for reading. It is the cutest thing I have ever seen

 Foursquare and garden fun

 Walking the river

 

 Subway

 Temple trip: first time back since we've been married

 Playing with Grandma Elson

Riverfront Park

 Playing on the trampoline

 While we were in Spokane my parents gave Kelsey her birthday present which was this costume: "A dancing dress" as Kelsey calls it. I don't think she has taken it off.

 

You can't tell but she is bowing after playing and singing with my mom to jingle Bells

I have a few favorite memories for this specific trip
1. Getting my mom to stop making dinner and come play four square with us.
2. The HOURS of dancing did while Grandma Elson played the piano
3. The HOURS Kelsey spent down in the basement reading and playing
4. The HOURS Kelsey spent on the trampoline with Papa

Two Kelsey quotes that I loved were these
"Cereal in your yogurt? One at a time Grandma"
" Grandma's house is so beautiful. It has stairs, pictures, and windows!"

Kelsey had so much fun in Spokane. She followed my parents everywhere. Since it was new place to her memory she wanted to touch and see everything. She would talk and talk and talk.  I loved growing up there so it was special for me to see Kelsey enjoy it too.