It's Official!

I don't think I have officially announced, but I am pregnant! I am half way there...20 weeks! IT'S A GIRL!! Payton was the first one to know that I was pregnant. When I first told her she asked me if it could be a girl! I explained to her that I didn't really have control, but that we would just have to wait and see what it is. A few days later she came to me and said "Mom... I need to tell you a secret." I leaned down and she whispered in my ear that she had prayed to Heavenly Father to have a baby sister. A few days after that, she came back to me and said "Mom, I know I am going to have a baby sister!" Trying to not let her get her hopes up I tried explaining to her that it could end up being a boy too. With quite a bit of frustration in her voice (like she had been repeating herself a million times) she said " Mom, I know it is going to be a girl because Heavenly Father told my brain, and I have a smart brain!!" So, while the rest of the family has been waiting to find out what it is, Payton has known all along! I took her to the ultrasound and she was able to see her new baby sister move and wave to her! A pretty fun experience for all of us!

November

Back in 2002-2003 Ausitn and I spent many evenings at this place. This was the dollar theater that we would splurge on going to for our dates. Since moving from Salt Lake City we haven't yet been back, so thought it would be fun to go and take the kids to see Toy Story 3 since we missed it earlier this summer. It was great! We reminisced, and the kids loved the movie!

One of the perks of being back in Utah is being so close to family of all kinds. Grandparents, Great Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, First cousins once removed and, second cousins. Last week Payton and I went on a special outing with all of the girls in my family that live here...minus one cousin (due to just having a baby). We went out on the town to see "The Nutcracker Ballet." Due to the fact we were running slightly late, I only managed to get a picture or two of Payton in the car on our way over. She absolutely loved it, and along with her "second cousin" Brynlee she was on the edge of her seat the entire time! She has been twirling around like a ballerina all week!

By November 1st of last year, all of our Christmas decorations were out! It doesn't stand a chance in our home when Austin loves Christmas probably more than I do. My kids have been after Grandma Colleen to put up the Christmas tree for a week now. Every time we all attempted to do it, something came up and the kids had to wait another day. Well, we finally decided we just didn't think it would work with us all together, I finally took the kids down and let them decorate the Christmas tree all by themselves. They had so much fun, and even Ashton was being some what helpful, and not so destructive. Here are some pictures of some proud kiddos:

Nothing like little helpers!! Ashton and Jaxon helped their Grandpa clean out his garage on Saturday! Or maybe I should say added more work for Grandpa! But regardless of the multiple times reminding boys to not touch saws and blades and harmful things, they had fun, and even got one of Grandpa's work hats out of it.

October Activities!

We made it to Utah and have settled in! The kids are enjoying all of the neighbor kids! Austin is loving his rotation he is on right now, so much so that he stayed on for a second month in a row. Here are just a few of the things we did in October. Went on a hay ride and picked out a pumpkin...

Decorated and carved our pumpkins...

Jaxon learned what a cowboy was...

We made carameled apples..

Grandma carried on a tradition that she did with us as kids and visited Payton at her school. She scared her class half to death with her witches cackle.

And.... trick or treating...

Payton was a witch and Jaxon and Ashton were the HULK who wouldn't keep their masks on. We took the boys to the Planetarium...

Some of our fellow med student friends from Tennessee came to Utah!!! We met up with Tamsyn and her kiddos two days in a row for dinner! We sure love and miss them!

Goodbye Tennessee!!!

After our return home this summer from Utah, we got an offer on our house. Although it is now November and we are still waiting for our house to close, we are hopeful it is going to go through. We started making plans to move closer into town, (which is what we have wanted for the last 3 1/2 years we have lived in Virginia) and packing our house for a local move. The day before I would have signed a new lease, I made the "out of the blue" and complete last resort decision to move back to Utah. You can imagine how shocked Austin was when he heard how I felt! So while he was gone for the month in Michigan, we made all the plans to move our belongings into storage and start a transitional face that would last 8 months. As hard as it is to leave so many of our closest friends, we do know it was the right decision for our family! So the following pictures are some last "HOORAHS" with our friends in Tennessee!

First Payton was horrified that she would have to leave her Tennessee friends! I was so sad to take Payton out of school because she loved it so much, and the faculty loved her. We had developed a very nice comfort zone there that was very hard to leave. Her wonderful 1st Grade teacher, and her fabulous K teacher had a going away party for Payton, full of gifts, flowers and snacks! They made her feel so special, and loved. Broke my heart to take her away. Over the course of Payton's school days she had a little boy named Adam that grew quite fond of her, he said farewell with flowers and a card.

We made our final trip to the Knoxville Zoo...

Jaxon had his last lesson with his Speech Pathologist...

A BBQ with friends...

Payton had her last soccer game...

We had one last Hoorah with the Holler...

We sure miss Tennessee!!!!!!!