March Mundaneness

We've officially gotten into a routine in our family, which means it must be time to change it up again. Baby boy is coming in roughly 8 weeks, and I'm sure that, once he does, life will be very different as we re-adjust. But for now, we're somewhat in a holding pattern. Not much is happening, and I consider that a good thing.

One thing has changed, though. Paige is now able to open doors. She used to only be able to open doors that she needed to push on, but recently, she figured out the pulling side of doors. This skill means she's now able to open her bedroom door. Unfortunately, this affects how well she sleeps now. We put her in bed and, within a minute, she's back outside her room. To solve this, we put a locking doorknob on her door with the lock facing outwards. I don't like that we have to lock her in her room to make her stay put, but it really is for the best of everyone--she actually sleeps and doesn't wander the house unsupervised. The few times we put her to bed before we installed the lock, she would get up during nap time and rearrange items in the house, like moving the upstairs plunger into my bedroom and taking the pancake mix from the pantry and bringing it to bed with her. Locking her door and then unlocking it once she's asleep has been the best solution so far.

Spring has arrived, and with that, Paige and I can explore more and play outdoors. She has been loving the parks I take her to, and I love that she can wear herself out while I watch from a bench. Being pregnant and keeping a toddler alive takes a lot of energy, so I love when she can play independently from me, but we can still have a good time. We've been exploring different parks both nearby in our neighborhood and around the valley. She definitely loves slides, and she's impressed me with her bravery as she plays on the equipment meant for "big kids". 

I've also been taking her to library programs for toddlers, and she absolutely loves them. She is a social butterfly and thrives on interactions with others. She loves the nursery rhymes and songs that they sing at the library, and she's finally at the point where she tries to sing along. She also has learned to share and likes to tell me she's sharing her toys when she's playing with other kids. I'm grateful for that. She's not very possessive of anything, so, if other kids take her stuff, she finds something else to do. 

Paige has been enjoying spending time with her Aunt McKenzie and Uncle Nicholas. They have babysat a few times for us this past month, and it's been super helpful to have them close enough to watch Paige. She loves playing with them, and often asks if they're coming over. Stephen and I have been able to go on dates thanks to their babysitting. We went to the new Provo temple for the first time and had a nice time there. We also were invited to a "Death by Chocolate" party hosted by our realtor. I enjoyed having an excuse to dress up a bit, and the chocolate fountains were delicious. Most of all, I'm glad Stephen and I can take some time before baby boy comes to have these outings since it will be much harder to do them in a few months. 

Stephen has been busy with work, but is doing well there. His company is growing beyond their office space, so he and some of his coworkers have been relocated to a nearby building for a while. Lucid is changing offices in the Fall, once their new building is completed. The new office is about a half mile from his current office, so it won't be a dramatic location change. Stephen's been working on several projects, mostly integrations, and he's been put in charge of important tasks. I don't fully understand it all, but Stephen does, and that's what matters.

As far as me, I've still been sick. It's not an all day nausea, but rather, it mostly hits me at night or in the morning. It's a few minutes of getting the food out of my stomach, and then I'm ok again. Though, if it's the morning, it's normally dry heaving until I can get some food in me. Being in the third trimester, I feel uncomfortable almost all the time. Baby is growing well, but he's also growing a lot. At times, I can feel my body stretching as he pushes on me. He moves a lot, especially when I'm trying to relax. I don't feel balanced or steady much anymore, and my back and hip is giving me pain, even though I see a chiropractor weekly.

So, fun story. With pregnancy, your blood gets checked a lot. With Paige, I had my blood type tested and it came back A+. With this pregnancy, my blood test said I was O-. Blood types don't change, however, meaning we had a problem. With pregnancy, being O- requires an additional shot because of reasons (google it if you want, I'm not super interested in explaining it). Anyway, they retested my blood and confirmed that I am O-. No one knows what happened with the first pregnancy, but luckily, I was not affected by missing the extra shot from last time, so no harm was done. But from now on, I get extra shots, which is so (not) fun. 

Anyway, this post is lacking in actual events, but rather is a snapshot of our life. It's one of those "no news is good news" times where our day to day life is boring but pleasant. It's nice to not be dealing with a lot of drama or stress. I know this period in our lives is only temporary before we add an additional child to the mix, so we'll soak it in while we can and look forward to new adventures soon.

February Feelings

I have a two-year-old daughter. While I feel like I should say I can hardly believe it, part of me has felt like she has been two since Christmas. She's definitely mature and smart for her age, though she is still short as far as percentile goes. Paige is so full of life, and I love watching her do things. She is so funny and fun and just straight up adorable. She sings and dances to music, she plays pretend with her toys (Stephen has officially had his first tea party with Paige), she loves being a helper and doing chores and cooking with mommy, and she is a chatterbox and wants to learn new words all the time. She knows all her letters and numbers, but only has about half of the colors down (everything is either blue, green, or purple). She says her own prayers now without much, if any, coaching from us. 

For Paige's birthday, I hosted a Frozen themed party. We invited a few of her nursery friends from the neighborhood to come play on a Saturday morning. I had fun decorating our basement with streamers, banners, and snowflakes. I served a few snacks that I tied into the theme, like Sven's Snacks for carrots, and the Fjords for blue jello. The kids played with "snowballs" made from crumpled paper, did a pin-the-nose-on-Olaf game, and danced with streamers to "Let It Go." We had cupcakes and Paige opened presents. Overall, it was a great party, and a special treat for Paige to have so many friends over at once.

Stephen and I also celebrated a nice Valentines Day. We've decided to try splitting the holidays so that one of us is in charge of V-day and one is in charge of our anniversary in August. I was the one that planed Valentines day this year. I kept things pretty simple though. We stayed home and had a nice dinner together as a family. I attempted to make steak, and it turned out pretty well. I also made a chocolate berry cobbler (delicious). Once Paige was in bed, Stephen and I rearranged our living room furniture to be able to play games on our TV and have the controllers reach. We played a game Stephen likes called Overcooked.

Stephen indulged me for Valentines day by joining me in facials. We made a promise not to take pictures, and the charcoal seaweed junk we had all over our faces really didn't make us very photogenic anyway. It was a fun, relaxing night. I also surprised Stephen with a commissioned artwork of dragons which he really loved and was meaningful to him and me. He's not an easy person to shop for, so I was proud of coming up with the idea.

I'm still sick with this pregnancy for baby boy. I vomit most days. I haven't gone more than three days without vomiting since September. I also get strong heartburn and indigestion, and the symptom known as "round ligament pain" is now a part of my existence constantly. Also, I'm practicing getting up several times at night, but right now, it's just to go to the bathroom.

I don't know why my body really struggles with being pregnant, but I get a lot of the really bad side effects that are unfortunately normal. Whoever is in charge of this whole Women's Rights things really ought to focus on getting medical help for pregnant ladies, because there's so little done to treat any discomforts. My midwives are sympathetic, but say that the cure is labor and delivery. Some days, I feel like we're going to have a small family due to the roughness of the nine months on my body. But I know it's temporary, and that the end blessing is eternal and very much worth it. It would just be nice to not vomit anymore. 

Stephen is doing well at work. He got a nice bonus for the end of the year that is just now coming into our bank account (most of it goes to paying for baby and paying off my student loan). He also talked with his supervisors and got a nice raise, which most of is going to saving for a second car. However, the need for another car has decreased since Stephen found out a neighbor on our street works in the office building next to Stephen's. He also has the same 8-4 schedule, so Stephen has been able to get rides with him. It's very nice for all of us. I get to have the car now most days, which allows Paige and me to get out of the house more. 

Lately, since the weather is still cold, I've been taking Paige to play places at McDonald's or Chick-fil-A. She absolutely loves it. She thinks she's one of the big kids and loves to go down the large slides all by herself. She plays well without much supervision, which is really nice, and I feel like she's much safer since she's indoors and contained. I also love that she can get some energy out without me being her only source of entertainment, because, let's be honest, I'm far more tired than she'll ever be.

Overall, life is pretty routine now, which is good. I'm both looking forward to the end of my pregnancy and enjoying the time I have left with Paige as my only child. We still haven't decided on a name for baby boy, but we do have a few more months left to think it out. I'm personally ready for Spring to come, but seeing as it snowed all day today and is predicted to do so again tomorrow, we'll have to settle for more Winter. Meanwhile, I'll continue to work on growing a human, and maybe one day, my body will actually look pregnant rather than just extra fat. And maybe one day, if I'm really lucky, I won't be sick anymore.

Happy Holidays

Oh hey there, blog. Nice to see you again. No, I haven't forgotten about you. I've just been putting off writing for way too long. Last time I wrote was November. We've had Thanksgiving, my birthday, Christmas, New Years, and three months of Paige growing up in the time between the last post. I could write full blog posts on each subject, but I don't want to, so I won't. I will, however, devote a paragraph to each.

Thanksgiving was fun this year because I hosted my family at my house. I wasn't very nervous because I had made every component at some point before, so I knew what I was doing, though the stressful part was planning the correct amount and figuring out the timing of everything to have so many dishes ready to go at once. I was grateful for the help my family gave, and it was a delicious dinner. We had a fun weekend playing games and spending time together. Paige enjoyed having so many aunts and uncles to play with, and I was grateful to not be her only source of entertainment. It was nice not needing to travel, and I'm grateful I have a house large enough to host my family.

Stephen spoiled me for my birthday. He was very thoughtful beforehand to come up with gifts I would appreciate and honestly kept most of them a surprise from me. We went out to eat at Red Robin for our first time, and then he took me to see Moana. It is such a cute movie, by the way. It was fun to look at where I am in life now that I'm 25 (is that how old I really am?). I feel like I've achieved way more than I thought I would by this point, but I'm super grateful for how my life is now for the most part.

Christmas break was spent in Idaho with Stephen's family. We had almost two weeks with them, which was great for celebrating so many things, including Christmas, New Years, and a wedding for my brother-in-law Nicholas and my new sister-in-law McKenzie. It was very snowy the whole time we were there, and it turned out to be the most snow for Boise ever recorded. But white Christmases are pretty, so it all works out. Paige loved spending time with family and would play for hours with Elise, her cousin, and Jacob, her 4-year-old uncle. Again, I loved her having playmates and new-to-her toys to play with.

Paige enjoyed Christmas this year much more enthusiastically than last year. She caught on quick to the idea of unwrapping presents, and she was excited about a lot of her gifts. She got a baby doll from Santa, doll accessories (stroller, car seat, high chair, and crib) from Grandma and Grandpa Hutchins, Frozen themed cups from Grandma and Grandpa Rollins (she's obsessed with Frozen), and a small indoor slide from Stephen and me. She got some other small gifts too, but those were her big ones. She has loved all of them since she got them, and we felt like it was a success. Stephen and I also got some nice gifts from each other and from family, and we are very appreciative of them.

A few days after Christmas, Nicholas and McKenzie got married. Their Boise Temple sealing was beautiful and reminded me of the day I married Stephen (best day ever). It was fun for our family to dress in the wedding colors of navy and silver, though I stressed too much finding a navy dress for Paige. I found a perfect one for her though, so it payed off, and she looked really cute. Their reception that evening was beautiful, and it was nice that we took a lot of pictures indoors due to the weather. I'm so happy for Nicholas to find a great girl, and McKenzie already felt like a sister to me, even before they were married.

New Years Eve was fun with the Rollins family. Paige and Elise were cute as they dressed up in party gear at 7:30 and celebrated hours before midnight. She didn't know the difference, and still got all the sleep she needed, so I felt like it was a win-win. When it was actually midnight, Stephen kissed me, marking another year of him making my dreams come true. We drank some sparkling cider too, but my stomach didn't like that, and almost immediately rejected it. Oh well. Though the best part of the new year is probably switching from 9:00 church to 11:00 church.

After we returned home from our vacation, Paige and I got sick. It's hard to be a mom to a sick toddler who doesn't understand what's happening and why she feels the way she does. It's also hard to be sick as a mom trying to take care of a sick child. It is even worse being pregnant and sick and taking care of a sick child. It wasn't the best week in our home. Paige threw some really bad tantrums (banging her head on the wall and floor, thrashing, scratching Stephen and me, and crying/screaming uncontrollably). I was worried it was the beginning of the terrible twos, but as she got healthy, her tantrums went away, so that was a blessing. We did a lot of gentle home remedies to overcome our sicknesses, but they finally went away, and we both are just fine now.

My pregnancy with baby number two has gone by both fast and slow. We found out just before Christmas that we're having a boy! We shared the news with everyone Christmas Eve, so that was fun. I'm intimidated by the idea of having and raising a son, but I'm sure things will be fine. It's probably be just like having Paige, but with less bows, ruffles, lace, and pink, right? Stephen and I are not sure on a name. We've gone back and forth on a lot of them, but hopefully will have the perfect one chosen by the time we leave the birth center.

I've been considerably more sick this pregnancy. I am currently 25 weeks along and still haven't gone more than three days without vomiting. It's pretty much a daily occurrence. I've become so use to it, I'm not phased anymore, which is both a good and bad thing. I have strong heartburn often, and my body aches as it stretches. I definitely feel him moving a lot, and the other day, Stephen felt and saw my stomach move for the first time, though I've been feeling him for months now. Paige doesn't have much concept for a baby being in mommy's tummy, but I feel like she'll adjust alright.

Paige is growing up so much. She communicates a lot better and has become a chatterbox. She likes to repeat words until I say them back to her. She also repeats me now, but luckily, I don't have any really bad habits in my language for her to copy. She is really cute most of the time. She has this little prancing walk she does when she's happy and it's adorable. She absolutely loves watching Frozen, and I'm pretty sure her best friends are Elsa and Anna. We transitioned her to a toddler bed a few weeks ago, and it's been better than I expected, though she doesn't nap nearly as well as she use to. But baby brother is going to need her crib soon enough. She is showing interest in the potty, though I'm intimidated to cross that bridge and attempt to potty train her. We'll see when that happens. She very smart and social for her age and loves going to nursery and playing with kids of all ages. Her birthday is in a week, though it feels like we've had a two-year-old for a while now with all of her advanced skills.

I can't promise I'll be better at writing blog posts, but I'll try not to get so behind again. A lot has happened in our lives, though our day-to-day routine is pretty simple. We have our ups and downs like everyone, but overall, we're doing really well!

When October Goes

Our family had a pretty good October. There were some ups and downs, but overall, we're doing well. Stephen spent a few days at the beginning of the month in California for a work trip. It was hard to be a single parent without him, but Paige and I survived. Stephen had a great time during his trip, and even took an opportunity to do some karaoke. He brought home a lot of swag from other companies, but the best gift he gave was taking a day off of work to help me clean the house and overall recover from his absence.

This month, Stephen and I got haircuts. Stephen needs his hair cut every four to six weeks to keep it looking good, but I can get away with much longer before I need a cut. In fact, it had been over two years since I had a professional haircut (I occasionally trim it myself to get rid of split ends).  It was so refreshing to feel like my hair had a style again. I don't know at what point Paige will need a haircut. So far, it's growing really nicely and staying out of her eyes for the most part. I can put her hair in a ponytail and pigtails, and there might be enough for a small braid, but she won't sit still long enough for me to get in a good try. 

Stephen and I both got callings in our new ward. I am a visiting teaching supervisor, and Stephen is a gospel doctrine teacher. As stressful as his calling may be, he does a great job teaching, and has even had to fill in for another teacher and give a lesson on the fly when no one showed up to teach. Stephen has also been filling in for other callings. Word got out that he can play the organ, and now he substitutes when the official organist is out of town. Everyone was impressed at how talented he was, especially considering his age. He has also covered for the primary pianist. My husband is very musically inclined, whereas my instrument of choice is the radio. It's good that he can bless others with his talents.

As anyone over the age of 18 in America is painfully aware, voting season is upon us. I wanted to be an informed and involved voter, so I spent time watching debates between candidates. While there is obviously much to say about the presidential candidates, I focused a lot on local races. One night, we went to a "meet the candidates" night at a local school. Both Stephen and I found that to be very helpful. It was great to talk one-on-one with someone about issues, and then cross the room at talk with their opponents about the same issues. I ignored party lines and tried to get to the real stances people had. While I know I don't know every issue or every candidate well, I had a lot more confidence voting this year than I have in the past (at least in some of the races).

I can't cover October without covering Halloween. Last year, we dressed Paige as the tooth fairy while Stephen and I were dentists. This year, we continued the family costume theme, but this time, we went with Pokemon. I got a pikachu costume for Paige from China that turned out to be really cute and super easy. I decided that Stephen and I should be Ash and Misty, and I went a little more diy on our costumes. I did some thrift shopping and rummaged in our closet. I sewed Stephen's jacket, which turned out to be a fun project with low stress (it's only a costume, anyway). I'm really proud how everything came together.

Our family had fun carving pumpkins. We had gone to a local farm a few weeks ago, and there, Paige became excited about pumpkins, though we waited until closer to the holiday to actually buy some. I was hoping Paige would like playing with the pumpkin innards, but she wanted nothing to do with them. She became really disinterested when we told her she couldn't eat the raw pumpkin seeds. However, she was a good sport and let mommy and daddy carve an outline of her hand into her little pumpkin. Stephen carved a spider and I went with a classic jack-o-lantern face. We watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" as per tradition, and listened to the only two Halloween songs in existence (Monster Mash and Thriller). 

We had a great time trick-or-treating. Paige caught on really quick and was happy to grab candy and put it in her pumpkin bag. She totted to each house insisting that she carry her candy, even when it got quite heavy. If people held out the bowl of candy long enough, Paige would grab a second or even third handful. She seemed to have a knack to grab candy she wouldn't like, like red hots, so we had to help her trade sometimes (especially when there were good stuff she would want to share with her parents). She was really cute and had a lot of fun. I really enjoyed watching her participate now that she's old enough to understand somewhat what is happening. 

With all the fun happenings this month, we've also struggled a bit. I don't want to go into too many details, but I've been having some health challenges lately. I was suffering for a while before I finally got the medical attention I needed, and after 2.5 liters of fluids pumped into my body with an IV, I felt much better. I started some new medication, and while that definitely helps, one of the side effects is drowsiness, and boy, am I tired! I basically have to nap every day when Paige does. I'm feeling much better overall, and while I'm not healed, there is hope. We are excited for the holiday season. Spending time with family and watching Paige enjoy the celebrations will be worth all the effort. 

Weddings, birthdays, and funerals

If you haven't heard already, the past few weeks in our family’s lives have been kind of crazy. We've had a lot of ups and a lot of downs that are all just part of mortality. We've been able to celebrate with those who are celebrating, and we've mourn with those who are mourning.

To start off, at the beginning of September, I received news that my grandma was in surgery. There were some complications, but for a while things looked hopeful. However, her health took a turn for the worse. It was over the 3-day Labor Day weekend that I heard my grandma may not make it. After talking with Stephen, we decided that Paige and I should go to St. George to be with my mom and my grandma.

Stephen would have come as well, but he was scheduled to fly to California for a work conference that week. It actually turned out nice so that I was able to have help with Paige while Stephen was out of town. I drove down that Monday evening and visited my grandma in the hospital. She was heavily medicated, and, in order to control her pain, sedated as well.

The next day, many of my grandma's children gathered at the hospital. They had a family council to decide what should be done with my grandma. The road to recovery would have been long and difficult, if it was possible at all. There was also the questioning of her quality of life if she did recover. After much prayer and consideration, my grandma's children decided to honor her wishes to not be kept alive with machines and rather to allow her to join my grandpa in heaven. My grandpa had died two years ago to the day.

My grandma's passing was very peaceful and spiritual. I personally felt the confirmation that this would have been what she wanted. In fact, a few days before I knew things were going bad, I had a dream where I saw my grandpa. Only I could see him and I asked him what he was doing. He told me with a smile on his face he was just waiting for my grandma. Basically, he was waiting for whenever she was ready. The look he had on his face was very loving and tender towards my grandma. It was a very special dream of comfort to me. I have no doubt that they are together again.

That next weekend, I came back home to Salt Lake City for Stephen's cousin's wedding. Stephen's family was able to come and stay with us for a night and attend the wedding with us the next day. It was great to show them our new house since they hadn't seen it yet. The wedding was all so beautiful. They are one of those couples that make you feel like they were meant to be together all along. It was a nice day to spend with family.

A few days later, my dad came to stay with us while he had cataract surgery on one of his eyes. The surgery had been scheduled for a while and he was excited to have it done. Everything went well with the surgery, and Tuesday morning came with zero complications. My dad was supposed to go into the eye doctor for a follow-up check, and then drive home to St. George. I had been invited to go hang out with some friends that morning. I had to leave about a half hour before my dad would have needed to leave, so I asked him to lock up and drove to be with my friends. About a half-hour later, I received a phone call from my neighbor saying that my dad was having a stroke. Understandably, I was quite in shock. I left Paige with my friends and drove to the hospital to be with my dad.

My dad then explain to me what had happened. He had carried his suitcase upstairs and was lifting it to put it on the couch to add a few more items to it. He said he then felt very dizzy and nauseous. He laid on the ground, hoping it would help him feel better, but it didn't. He tried calling someone for help but his phone wasn't working properly. My dad then crawled a few feet to my front door and laid on my porch, calling for help. A few of my neighbors heard him and were able to call the ambulance for him. My dad was numb on the right side of his body. Later in the hospital, it was determined that he also could not swallow. His speech was very labored and slow.

I called my family to update them on what had happened. Once the doctor told me to tell my mom to come, she gathered the kids from school and drove up to Salt Lake. My dad was transferred to the Murray Hospital where he stayed a few days. So many people were concerned for him, it was hard to keep everybody updated, especially when there was either no news or only negative news to share. Everyone had good intentions, but I felt like the only answer I could give to everyone was "I don't know."

Even though my dad was in the hospital, my grandmother's funeral was scheduled for that weekend.  We had to leave my dad behind in the good care of his doctors to travel to Arizona for the funeral. It was nice to have Stephen travel with me this time. We stopped in St. George the first night in order to break up the driving. We then continued on to my grandparents’ home town of Page, Arizona the next day for what presumably would be my last time visiting there. Well, it was obviously a sad time together, but it was really nice to be with so much family. There were many relatives there that I had not seen in years. My grandmother's funeral was beautiful and I felt comfort and peace. She was 82 years old when she died. She had nine kids, 37 grandkids, and 37 great-grandkids. She lived a full life and was loved much and gave much. Honestly, I feel like since everyone has to die sometime, this is the ideal way to go, surrounded by family and love.

Being at my grandma's house without her there was different, but there was also so much family that it felt like home still. While going through some of her things, we found a stack of love letters that my grandpa had written to my grandma while they were dating. They were sappy and full of longing during their long-distance relationship.

For those that don't know. My grandparents eloped when my grandma was 16. They had told her parents they were going to visit the Grand Canyon. Instead they drove to Vegas. There, they wanted my grandma to prove that she was 18, but since she wasn't old enough, she couldn't prove anything. So they drove to Pioche, Nevada. There, the wedding chapel decided that, if she looked old enough to get married, she was old enough. After their elopement and a night in Parowan, my grandpa took my grandma back home and they both said they had a lovely time at the Grand Canyon! After a few weeks, my grandma admitted to her parents that they actually got married and wrote my grandpa asking him to come get her. My grandpa nervously talked with my grandma's dad, and after a bit of disappointment from my great-grandpa for the secrets, he said he approved and told Grandpa to take care of my grandma. In their record of this story, my grandma said he had more than fulfilled that promise.

Because there was so much extended family visiting, we were not able to stay at my grandma's house. Instead, a kind neighbor of my grandma's offered up her home. We were amazed that the accommodations. They were several bedrooms and two kitchens. However, the biggest surprise was probably the indoor ball pit built into the wall. Paige was initially nervous to play in there, but she warmed up to it and had fun. The neighbors also gave us snacks and fed us dinner and breakfast. We are very grateful for their generosity.

The Sunday after the funeral, we all drove back home to St.George. We then got ready and went to the temple for some photos. To backtrack, my sister Susan got married this summer. we have been waiting on the photographer for the photos for several months. She finally reached out to us and told us that the photos were lost. She was able to recover the photos from the reception, but all of the photos taken at the temple were no longer available. It was very heartbreaking to hear. To try to make this up, we had a redo wedding photo session this weekend. We all dressed up as if it were the wedding day and took photos. While this obviously cannot replace the actual events with all of the wedding party, it is at least some little consolation. Once we were done with the photos, Stephen, Paige, and I drove back home.

After all of this craziness, it was nice to celebrate Stephen's 26th birthday today. I surprised him at work with a balloon and some cupcakes. Page and I also put his name on the wall with crepe paper as per our tradition. I made him sausage casserole, a dish his mom makes, and well I got a stamp of approval, he did admit that it wasn't quite like how his mom makes it. He told me he was willing to let me practice making it anytime I want. I gave him some presents and let him play games with his friends online for the evening.

I'm sure this blog post is missing several details that would be worth noting. The past few weeks have been so busy and crazy, it is hard to remember everything. However, I think my family and I will be stronger for all of this. Page has been resilient through all the turmoil and changes. She is really cute. I wish I could capture every adorable things she does and share it with the world. I could mention her expanded ability to talk and her creative ways of playing with toys. I wish I was able to remember every little detail of her and capture it in time for ever. She is growing up. I love each stage of her life as it comes. It's been quite an experience to see so many phases of life within a few weeks. Childhood, weddings, sickness, and death. You can also add beginnings of life into this mix, because a close person to us told us they were expecting recently. I'm not sure how public they are making the news, so I won't give details. Mortality is an interesting process we all go through. I thought being an adult was something I achieved by getting married, having a child, and buying a house. However, I now realize that being an adult means dealing with adult problems that don't always have an easy answer or solution. However, through it all, I am comforted by the gospel and by my Savior. I am grateful to know that families are forever, and I am grateful that I have the family that I do.

Summer Adventures

There is so much to cover because I haven't written in a few months. My excuse is that I was too busy living life to record it (or I procrastinated, but I like the first reason better). There are four major things I want to cover: Susan's wedding, Nicholas coming home, buying and moving into our first house, and how adorable Paige is. Each of those topics deserve a post on their own, so forgive me for cutting out details. 

Wedding: My sister got married! Susan is child number four in our family, but the only other married sibling I have. She married Joe Harris in June. It was a beautiful wedding. I had been helping for months before, so it kind of felt like showtime on their wedding day to make sure all of our plans came together. They were sealed in the morning in a beautiful ceremony at the St. George temple. I loved seeing how excited they were and how much they loved each other--it brought back memories from my wedding day and how eager I was to be married to Stephen (best decision ever). 

We took pictures afterwards and went to the luncheon. That was put on by Joe's family and they did such a great job that we borrowed some of their decor for later that evening. After lunch, it was a race to make sure all the last minute details came together. I decided to print off slips of jobs that needed to be done during setup of the reception since I knew we only had an hour to decorate. I'm so glad I made the job assignments because then it was really easy to give the needed information to the many kind helpers who showed up early to set up. We finished with 10 minutes to spare, which is pretty great. 

The reception was everything we had planned for it to be, and Susan and Joe were a lovely bride and groom. After the sendoff, cleanup happened pretty quickly, too. I'm so grateful for all the help that day. It was a wonderful day with family, and I'm grateful for weddings that bring people together. Joe and Susan are great together, and it was nice to celebrate their marriage that day. 

Homecoming: Stephen's brother, Nicholas (also child number four in their family), came home this summer from his LDS mission in France. I went to the Salt Lake Airport to see him during his layover for a bit with some other family members. It was his first time meeting Paige too, since he left while I was pregnant two years ago. The next day, Stephen, Paige, and I drove up to Boise to spend a week with the Rollins family. 

Nicholas gave a great homecoming talk on Sunday. It was fun to see how much he has grown and how much he is still the same. The main differences include his bilingual abilities and his hair. Since it was the first time in two years all of Stephen's siblings were together, we spent the next week having a stay-cation in Boise (though for us, it was an actual vacation) for our Rollins Reunion. We swam at a lake, went hiking to a waterfall, played in a park, watched Finding Dory, went golfing, and played a lot of games. We were really grateful to spend so much time with family.

House: We bought a house! Crazy, right? We are young for homeowners (I'm 24 and Stephen is 25), but we were ready to start building equity. The process was crazy to find a house as the market is really hot right now, but the moment I saw the listing for this house, I knew I wanted it. I was ready to put an offer in without walking it, though we did wait until the next morning after we walked through it to make a strong offer. After some back and forth, they accepted our offer. That whole process took from Friday night to Monday night. 

The next month was a long process of paperwork and waiting. Stephen handled most of it, which I am so so grateful for. Our agent was great and our lender was very helpful. I would highly recommend both of them. We finally closed on the house a week and a half ago and moved in last weekend. Guys, this is such a great home for our family. Five bedrooms, four bathrooms, completely finished basement, granite counter tops in a large kitchen, huge master bathroom with a separate shower and soaking tub--the list goes on.

It's located in Daybreak, which is a community in South Jordan, UT. We are right by the elementary school, really close to a pool and the lake, as well as several parks within a few blocks of us. I can't imagine a better location. There is also shopping close by with any store I could want. We share a grassy area known as the courtyard with several other houses, so Paige will have a great play space as she grows to share with her neighbors (and we won't have to mow it). We also have great neighbors who have been helpful and friendly. I look forward to getting to know them more and making strong friendships since we plan on being here for a while. 

Paige: I have a full-blown toddler. Paige is vivacious. She has been really resilient with all the action and changing going on around her. She is very vocal now, and while her language isn't quite English, I can understand her pretty well. She says "yeah" consistently, and most of the time, she even means it. She loves dogs ("dawdaw"), ducks ("dawdaw"), and daddy ("dawdaw"). She gets excited for dinner time ("ninneh") and knows we need to pray before we eat. Lately, when I haven't given her the food quickly enough, she will fold her arms, babble, and then say amen ("ma") and blow a kiss all on her own, thinking this will bring her food quicker (Stephen and I try to kiss after we pray, so she consequently thinks all prayers end with a kiss).

Paige has come to like water. She enjoyed swimming during our Boise trip, and has since settled down during bath time. She even enjoys it now, which was not the case a few months ago. She loves to read and brings me books--we've read through all the ones we own so much I can basically quote most of them without looking. Paige loves being a helper. She adores the praise we give her when she does things to help us. She learned how to throw away her own diapers, which is great, but now thinks it's "helping" to put anything into the trashcan, which has led to some digging adventures for us. She wants to help load and unload the dishwasher, mostly by hiding the silverware around the house. She will close doors for us and is all too excited to hand me toilet paper when I need it in the bathroom (yeah, I get an audience now--full blown toddler, remember?). 

Paige is learning how to do stairs in our new house. She's only had two tumbles, and both of those were in the first two days of living here. Since then, she has learned to go down stairs backwards, and while I still want to spot her, she's fully capable of going up and down on her own. She thinks she is one of the big kids, too. Anytime she gets to play with children older than her, she loves it. She's been doing great in nursery and is excited to play at the new parks we're taking her to. I'm sure there's more, but I can't think of anything else to mention. She's just my little buddy. 

As you can see, our Summer has had a lot of life-changing events. We are really excited for our new circumstances and for our setup. We are honestly in a good place. There have been difficulties, sure, but there have also been so many kind people helping us. I am so grateful for God and how He is watching over me and my family. We have truly been blessed. 

Start of Summer

Summer time is officially here in the Rollins household. We've started our crazy summer adventures, including looking for a house, a vacation, and a staycation. It's been a whirlwind of a month, but I'll try to recap.

We told ourselves we wouldn't get a realtor until June--but then we met Emily. We were spending that Saturday looking at open houses, a common hobby of ours, when we drove by a house I had seen listed online the day before. I didn't think there was an open house for it, but then I saw the signs and balloons. We went in and were greeted by Emily, who instantly impressed us. When choosing a realtor, one of the biggest factors is how well your personalities mesh. She clicked with us really well, and I felt she understood us in the few minutes of talking with her. She's the kind of person you want as a friend. After we left, she sent us a personalized video, going above and beyond, and that's all it took for me to know she would be a great person to help us. 

We met with her the next week to talk over our wants and needs, and then started looking at houses. It's very different to go through a casual open house compared to a private appointment. Open houses are low pressure for us, and it has been mostly daydreaming. Now, however, with our realtor, things just got real. I have to thoughtfully evaluate each house and question if I want to live there or not. Daydreaming is one thing, but trying to actually make decisions is very stressful. I want to make the right choice, but it's hard when my options change daily. 

We saw seven houses the first outing, and got a good feel for things but nothing grabbed our attention. Then on Thursday night, a listing was posted for a house in a neighborhood we really like. We scheduled to see it the next day at lunch, and while there, got excited. There were some downsides, but overall, we were happy enough to make our first offer. We went in a little below asking, but had a strong offer otherwise. However, our realtor found out there were already multiple offers on it and the sellers planned to accept the highest price on Monday regardless of other factors like order of offers submitted or quality of financing and such. We decided not to fight for that house, but were glad to get our first offer out of the way.

That night, Stephen and I left Paige with a babysitter and went to Park City with some of his coworkers for a "team activity" for Stephen's work. We toured a chocolate factory. This place prided themselves on the purity of their chocolate and only had the cocoa beans and a bit of sugar as ingredients, making the bars taste nothing like Hershey's. They were not my favorite flavors, but it was a fun experience and a good date night all the same. After the tour, we all ate at an Italian restaurant where Stephen and I actually ate during our Honeymoon. It was yummy and a fun night. 

The next day, we saw five or six more houses. We were immediately impressed with the first one we saw.  The flooring was really pretty, it had a family room and a living room, the kitchen was nicely done, but best of all, it had a double oven! Oh my goodness, enticing! There were some negatives, the like the laundry being out in the open next to the nursery, and the basement was only 50% completed (I like the idea of an unfinished basement to put my personal touch on, but it also equals work and more money). I also was really disappointed in the master bath. Overall, it was a good house--Stephen probably liked it more than I did, but I knew it had a lot going for it. 

We left that house and saw a few more, but none of them compared the the first one. Then, on the final house, we finally had some competition against the first one. It had a huge kitchen and a nice floor plan, with carpet in the living area. The basement was completely unfinished, but that means we can choose where to put walls and really design the full space. The master bathroom was impressive except for the carpet. Whoever decided to put carpets in bathrooms is gross. However, it would be an easy fix. The other down side is it's only a 2-bedroom house, and we were really looking for 3. 

We spent the next few hours going back and forth on those two houses, wondering which we should put an offer on, if either. We finally decided on the first house and submitted our offer that night. I was very unsure and had my reservations, but it was probably due to the process as a whole--I assume I'll be anxious over buying any house. We went to their ward that Sunday to get a feel for the demographics of the neighborhood and drove around the area more. 

The next day, Monday, we heard back from the sellers. They had countered our offer. We had gone in $10,000 below asking, but felt it was fair due to comps and such. They asked for an additional $6,000, which wasn't bad. I still felt uneasy about it, and after talking it over a lot more with Stephen and getting the advice from others, we decided to decline. We had only been in the market formally for a week and felt like there would be better options to come. However, before our realtor was able to formally decline the offer, the sellers revoked their counter offer--a move that rarely happens. It was weird and unprofessional, but since we didn't want it anyway, things were ok. 

That same Monday, Stephen and I went on vacation--but not together. Stephen's work has an annual company retreat. This year, they went to Zions. He hiked Angel's Landing, rode horses, and played lots of fun games with his coworkers. I decided to spend the few days he was gone with my family in St. George. There were wedding plans we wanted to get done that were easiest if I was there too. It was also good to have help taking care of Paige. I don't know how single moms do it. We had a lot of fun with Grandma and Grandpa Hutchins, as well as aunts and uncles. We made a lot of progress on the wedding plans and had a nice break. 

We both came home Wednesday and had some downtime before Memorial weekend. Heidi, Stephen's sister, Scott, her husband, and their daughter Elise came to stay with us for a few days during the long weekend. Elise is only a few months older than Paige, and while it makes a bit of a difference now, as time goes on, the age gap will matter less and less. I'm glad they have each other as cousins, and can grow up to be friends. 

It was fun to have their family visit. We went to Wheeler Farm Saturday morning and the girls loved seeing the animals. Paige was just old enough to appreciate her surroundings, and Elise had fun making the animal noises. Afterwards, we came home and had lunch and let the girls nap while Heidi and I went to Ikea. I want to shop there more--they have a lot of good deals on more than just furniture. 

That afternoon, we gathered everyone up and went to Temple Square in Salt Lake. The girls liked watching the water fountains in City Creek, and had a lot of fun in the children's play area in the Church History Museum. The weather cooperated for us too, even though the report made us worry. We put the girls to bed that night and stayed up playing games. Sunday we went to church and then had dinner with Stephen's Grandma and Grandpa Barth who live nearby.

On Memorial day (which is today as I'm writing this), we took the girls to a splash pad nearby. Today was the first day of the season for the splash pad to be open. I expected a crowd, but when we got there, it was just us. People trickled in though, and there was a good turnout by the time we left. Paige was very hesitant and unsure about the water. She wanted to be held rather than play in it. We helped convince her that it was suppose to be fun, and she slowly got into it more and more. I'm hoping more exposure will help her be more comfortable. Elise had a lot of fun splashing and playing. 

After we had our fun there, we went and ate In-n-Out burgers. We said our goodbyes after lunch since they drove back up to Idaho right afterwards. It was a good staycation for us, and glad to have family to share it with. It's different being the parent when planning vacations and activities than as a child. but a lot of fun still. I hope to do more holidays like this in the future.

Right now, I'm enjoying a bit of down time while Paige is napping before doing some shopping and cleaning. The rest of the summer is going to be as eventful as the past two weeks have been, so stay tuned for more blog posts to come, and cross your fingers we find the perfect house!