This won't be a very long post, just to let you know what's going on in my life. My mom and sister surprised me in Rexburg on tuesday night after some very sneaky stalking techniques (my dad calling and telling me his tax guy needed my address... right... but I fell for it) so we had a blast this week in the 'Burg just bargain shopping and heading to Idaho Falls. Just fun. And then today we all drove down here for two weeks until my parents head up to Canada and me and Rachael will be catching a ride back. I love Nate because he is so understanding of my need to be with my family. My mom is a teacher so she works ALL year so even when I do come down I can only play with her for a few hours at night so summer is our chance to chill by the pool and do nothing together. Amazing!
This picture is one that my sister-in-law Heidi took when we were in N.C. I know I promised more pics from there, but I left the CD at home so it will be a while still. I just entered this picture in a baby magazine cover contest. We'll know by June 16 if we'll be flying to NYC on August 12 for a photo shoot, then if we make it past the photo shoot we'll be on Good Morning America in October and then America votes for who will be on the cover so watch for us! No really, I just watched "The Secret" and I know this is going to happen.
If you're in STG over the next two weeks let me know and we'll hang out!

Random thankfulness

This is a picture taken in North Carolina. Life is still crazy so more to post later.

So Rachael hasn't been feeling too fantastic the last little while, just a runny nose and slight fever, and I am so grateful that my husband is letting me fulfill my dream of being a stay at home mom. I can't imagine what it would be like having to give my beautiful baby girl to someone else during the day, or on days when she is sick having to call someone to get permission to take care of her. I'm grateful that Nate is as understanding of the importance of being a mother as I am. Sure, its hard some days (a lot of days) and I truly do miss doing hair and taking a shower every day (haha), but in reality, I wouldn't change this. Now I just need to work on finding some friends for me and Rachael and life will be just peachy, minus the sickness and lack of sleep.

Moving, again...

Well we are back in Rexburg after a long day of traveling on Saturday (it feels like that was a month ago!) and only 2 days in STG. Our apartment is... bigger than NYC. But not a whole lot. I'm already loving the dishwasher and washer and dryer. It was the first time since we've been married that we haven't had a furnished apartment so we bought some couches yesterday and they are BEAUTIFUL! Pictures to come when our internet works (I'm currently at my in-laws house). Rachael is almost crawling and just went to the Dr. today. Get this: she is 20 pounds, in the 72 percentile, and is 30 inches, in the 99th percentile! Love that! Well I'll get back to this once life calms down. Bye!

NC

Short post: We are having a total blast here in North Carolina. Today we went on a canoe ride and bowling and currently Nate and his brother Matt are setting up a trampoline. Top it off with Heidi's amazing food and its basically the best vacation EVER!! Rachael is loving the wide open spaces and fun cousins, Nate is loving the great outdoors and building stuff, I love having someone to talk to and be silly with. Pictures later, probably next week.

We're outa here!

I know it might sound crazy to some, but I am so done with this whole city living. Some people were meant for it and some werent. I'm one who is not. Don't get me wrong, its been fun and a great experience but I'm over it. I don't know quite what it is, probably a lot of things. I'll list them here:

• The gazillions of people who are everywhere except in my apartment
• Having to use the stroller to get everywhere among those gazillions of people (I don't mind the walking though)
• Being in the fashion capital of the country and not being able to find any clothes that I like
• Living in a ridiculously small apartment
• Having a child right on the verge of crawling but not having enough room to do it so she fusses because she is bored and wants something to do
• Our mattress that sinks in the middle
• Wondering if I'm getting a foot disease every time I take a shower
• Wondering if cockroaches have been running all over it
• (This new, smaller apartment is the starting place of most of my woes)

I'm not sitting around moping and crying about all this stuff, its just stuff I've been thinking about. Now I'm in the last stage of my packing which is the most stressful, so I'm gonna just do it. We're on our way to North Carolina tomorrow for a week filled of fun!! Then STG for a few days, then back to Rexburg. I never thought I'd be so excited about it but I've got big plans for the next 8 months. See you soon!!

Here are some pics from our last weekend trip to the Central Park Zoo (Nothing like Madagasgar, I was ticked). It was a beautiful day and Rachael was soooo cute! (as usual)

She's been doing this head tilt lately, and she knows shes being adorable.

Two Years!!

Today is our 2nd anniversary! I can't believe it. We didn't do anything TOO exciting, but my friend Rachael took the kid again and Nate and I took a taxi (love taxies) to a delicious Thai restaurant near times square. It is so fun to go to Thai restaurants with Nate, especially when the people who work there speak Thai. Nate enjoys brushing up on his Thai, and we both enjoy him reminiscing about his mission. One day hopefully we'll go there for our anniversary because April 14th is actually the Thai new year and the whole country has one big water fight. Literally. Why doesn't every country do that?? After dinner we went to Times Square and found these super cute sweaters for the whole family. We decided to not get presents because we just spent a pretty penny (quite a few pennies actually...) on a beautiful new camera, but he was sweet enough to bring me these beautiful roses.
Here is a picture of our family now, and a picture of our family two years ago. Times flies! It feels like I've known Nate forever, but its only been a few years. Crazy! I love him so much and am so blessed to have such an amazing husband who works so hard and loves his family. He is my best friend and I'm looking forward to spending the next 52,397,247,689,275 years with him. Love you babe-a-licious!!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone!! I was so excited for Rachael's first Easter but was wondering what to fill her basket with. I decided on some finger puppets, bubbles, socks, books, and the windmill. (The eggs don't have anything in them, they're just there for show) She seemed to like the finger puppets at church and that is a VERY good thing. I was also excited for how cute her Easter dress was. It all looked so cute and she got tons of compliments on it. I'm excited for when she is a little older and I can teach her the meaning of Easter and hope that it will stick with her. We hope everyone had a good day thinking of the Savior and all he has done for us.