update

*this picture was taken on Luke's (hopefully) last day of studying

A few of you have asked for an update on our lives in Utah. I have been wanting to update our blog but I still have a few posts left so I decided to keep putting those posts on hold and just give an update.
We moved to Utah in May, the day after graduation. We moved in my parents basement, and the next day Luke started his Bar prep classes. He had his classes down at BYU in the morning and then he stayed down there the rest of the day and studied. So from May to now he has spent countless hours studying for the bar. Over the last month he really upped his studying and studied about 15 hours a day (not exaggerating). It has been a LONG summer. Our families have really got to see how dedicated to school Luke really is and how he has tried to provide for our family over the last 3 years. There have been many times when my mom or dad has commented on what a hard worker he is, when they see him studying before any of us get out of bed in the morning clear till after we all go to bed at night. He is an extremely hard worker. I am so grateful for him, and so glad that it isn't me that has to do it all. The Summer has gone by relatively fast though and it has come time for the BAR. He started the Bar exam yesterday and will finish up today. It is about 8 hours each day. So tonight Luke's schooling will hopefully be COMPLETELY done, so tonight we will definitely be celebrating!!

We are so grateful for our families and for their help through this time. It is so nice to be able to have Luke study all Summer without having to worry about working and for me to continue to get to stay home with the boys. It couldn't have happened without our families! It is a huge help to live at home with my parents and have the rest of our families help with things like our one car situation and other needs we may have. We love them so much and we are also so grateful for all the time we have got to spend with them this Summer! Hopefully one day we will be able to repay them!

I would like to say that Luke has a month or 2 to take a break and just relax, but that is not the case. We are happy that he will start a new job on Monday. His office will be in Sandy so after we hear the Bar results and he hopefully gets sworn in we will move closer to his office.

The kids and I have missed Luke while he has been studying and we have spent lots of time with family to fill the void. Jack and Avery have become joined at the hip. We are excited to have our dad back and plan to fill the rest of the Summer enjoying his spare time outside. I think his 40 hours of work will fill like a vacation after this Summer.

So there you go. The next chapter of our lives will start Monday. We have loved our school years, it has been all 7 years of our marriage, and we have made so many great memories but we are very excited to go to the next stage! We can't wait to be all grown-up!

first tooth already!

On June 25th I noticed that Charlie had a tooth that poked through. He actually got thrush and his first tooth in the same week- poor kid. But he handled it like a champ- have I mentioned he is the perfect baby? There was one day when he wanted to be held more than usual but other than that he was pretty much the happy baby he always is. Now we begin the next 2 years of teething and lots of drool (if he takes after Jack). My poor kids getting teeth at 3 months!

family reuinion

Luke's family had a family reunion the day before Father's day. It was up near Logan.
We were excited to go because Grandma Florence had never met Charlie. We had a nice lunch at a park. Afterward, we went to the Logan "zoo", not much of a zoo but Jack had fun for the ten minutes it took us to walk through it :)

6/19/10

tubby time

He loves it!
6/18/10

toy story 3

Jack had been waiting for months for Toy Story 3 to come out. He is obsessed. So opening night my whole family- including Gma Shippen went. Jack wanted to wear his Buzz costume, but when we got to the theatre he ended up just wearing the goggles. We absolutely LOVED the movie!

tummy time

6/18/10

more carnivals

the next week we had to venture over to Strawberry Days. We had to get some strawberries and cream.

delicious

and we got conned into some games too.

6/17/10

Bee's game

We went to a Bees game with my mom's work. The kids loved meeting the Bee.

6/14/10

Summerfest

We decided last minute to go to Orem's Summerfest. All day long it had been raining and freezing cold. But as it got closer to the parade the skies cleared up a little so we decided to go brave the weather and take Jack on a few rides. We did have to go out and pull out some winter clothes though. Crazy since it was the middle of June.
Gma Kathy bought Jack a light sword.

Charlie slept the whole time all bundled up.

Then Summer and her kids and Gpa came down for the fireworks so we started to head back to the cars where they were so we could watch it with them. We watched the fireworks as we walked, but as soon as we got to them the fireworks ended. Oh well.

We actually had a pretty good time and the weather ended up not being all that bad.
6/12/10

swimming

We have gone to the pool a few times this year and Jack loves it. He is not afraid of anything in the water (which can be scary at times). He loves going down the slides and usually gets in trouble by the life guards because he goes down the wrong way- head first or upside down. So he usually starts out on his bum and then flips half way through. Charlie usually misses out on all the action because he is sleeping in the stroller. I took this picture right before I dropped my camera in the water- so this might be the only picture at the pool we have all summer.

three months

Three months flew by since Charlie was born. June 1st he turned three months. He has been a huge blessing in our family and we couldn't imagine life without him.

Jack is so in love with him and Charlie is very patient with him.

Charlie's absolute favorite thing was to get in the tub. Right when he hits the water he starts kicking like crazy.

Charlie at 3 months:
was smiling like crazy!
when we got to Utah he started sleeping 10-11 hours a night- heaven!
loves his brother and cousins
still prefered to not be held a lot, he was content being laid down
started to get signs of teething- but no tooth
started to laugh a little

memorial day

On Memorial Day we went to Lagoon with my family memorial day. My Brother-in-law has his work party there every year so we all get to take advantage of it. We had a great time!

Luke and Jack looking a little sick.

It was funny because on the swings, the girl in front of Jack reached back and held his hand.

5/31/10