Piper's Blessing

On Sunday we woke up at the rental house (we spent the night) and ate some breakfast before heading home to get ready for church. Everyone came to our ward, which was really nice. It was the Primary program, so that was fun. After church we went back to the rental to make Josh's birthday lunch. Sunday was also Josh's birthday. For his meal he chose burgers but he likes them how he makes them, so he made everyone lunch on his own birthday, that crazy boy. :) They were amazing, as always. After our meal we got Piper ready for her blessing. We had all our family and friends at the house for the blessing. It was a beautiful day! In the circle we had Josh, Bronson, Morgan, Matt, Jacob, Perry, our two soon-to-be brother-in-laws Tanner and Curtis, and our bishop. It was wonderful. Her blessing was so perfect. She was blessed with a lot of similar things as Elliott was, but a few very unique things to her pertaining to her personality and its affects on others. It was very touching. And it was so nice to be surrounded by people who love us and our sweet Piper. 

She did great during the blessing.

My sweet family. I love them.

So proud of this man.

Check out those mountains! We had the best view at the rental house.

Me and Piper. She is wearing the same dress Elliott did for her blessing that my mom made. I love it!

We tried so hard to get a good family shot but there was always one person looking goofy so I included three of the best. Haha

Proud big sister.

After the blessing we took a bunch of photos before changing and getting ready for some more birthday celebrations. On Sunday we celebrated Josh's birthday (obviously) and also Kate's and Kendal's birthday. I got Josh a Kindle for his birthday. He was totally surprised and loved it. :) His parents, get this, got him $300 since he turned 30 this year! Amazing. He is saving it for Black Friday shopping. So fun. 

We ate more cake and did our favorite things about the birthday people again. Such a great tradition. I hope we keep it up. After our birthday celebration the girls and their boyfriends headed back to Rexburg. It was sad to see them go. Kendal and Matt also had to back to their place in Sandy Sunday night, but we snuck in a trivia game before they left. After they left Morgan and Jenn and us played some N64 before they headed home. Overall, a great day! 

Titus Visit

Last Friday Josh's parents arrived from South Carolina to see sweet Piper and to be here to meet Hannah and Chandler's boyfriends who all drove down from Rexburg for the weekend. 

Laurie and Bronson arrived to Provo around 2pm. They came to our house to meet Piper and hung out for about an hour before heading to Morgan and Jenn's house so I could put Elliott down for a nap. At 4pm they went and got the keys to the rental house that they reserved for the weekend. So when Elliott woke up, I packed up our stuff and headed to the rental house. We hung out for a few minutes and said hi to Tanner and Curtis (the boyfriends) before Laurie and Bronson took the four of them out to dinner. Elliott, Piper and I hung out at the house waiting for everyone else to arrive. Morgan and Jenn and their kids got there, we all ate dinner and then Laurie and Bronson and everyone else got back. We spent the rest of the evening playing games and just talking and getting to know Tanner and Curtis better. Josh was in California all week and got back that night. So Bronson and I headed out around 11pm to pick up Josh from the airport. It was so good to see him after being away all week. I sure missed that guy. By the time we got back, everyone had gone to bed, so we went ahead and headed home. We left Elliott at the rental house though. :) That was nice. 

On Saturday morning we headed back to the house for breakfast before heading to Cornbelly's. We spent the late morning and afternoon at Cornbelly's with Laurie, Bronson, Morgan and his family, Kendal and Matt, Hannah, Chandler, Tanner and Curtis. Cornbelly's was a blast. It grows bigger every year we go. The kids had a blast. We did the giant slides, the jumping balloon trampoline, playing in the wood toys, a hay bale maze, a scary lizard that you walk through, we got snow cones, the kids did some smaller but super fast slides, and then ended it off with playing in a giant pit of corn. It was a blast. 

Sweet family!

Chandler looks awesome in this one! 

Morgan, haha!

Crack the egg!

Jane jumped so straight, it was hilarious.

I love this family.

Tractor ride through the corn. 

This slide was so fast! Elliott would fly off the end when she got to the bottom.

Oh man, Elliott is adorable.

Coming down the big slides.

Playing in the corn!

This is a box that you climb through. This is josh rounding a corner and going through a hole. I would die in there. Way too claustrophobic for that. 

Proud grandparents.

Our new family of four. Love them all.

Making some little scary faces in the morning.

Despite her fake smile, she really did like it. And sorry about the panties. We're potty-training. :) 

Elliott with her soon-to-be Uncle Tanner. All three girls really took to Tanner and Curtis. So sweet.

After Cornbelly's we headed back to the house for lunch and naps. That evening we went to a little pumpkin walk here in Provo that had a bunch of carved pumpkins. Then we went back to the rental, put the kids down and did some birthday celebrations. 

That night we celebrated my birthday, Matt's birthday and Jenn's birthday. We opened gifts and all sat around saying nice things or favorite memories. There may have been some tears as we shared some memories. Things got a little emotional. It was great though.  Josh surprised me with shopping money and my favorite candy and drinks. He's the best! I also got a DownEast gift card from Laurie and Bronson. So excited to go shopping! Saturday night we decided to go ahead and stay the night at the rental to make things easier. 

More to come...

The Alpine Loop

Somehow, Josh and I have lived in Utah for years and have never heard of the Alpine Loop. We've driven up to Sundance dozens of times but never gone past Aspen Grove. How have we never done that?! This fall, we heard about the Alpine Loop from Jenn and Morgan and how beautiful it is in the fall. Josh's schedule is so busy so we tried hard to go for a couple weeks, but weren't able to get up there until this past Sunday. Unfortunately, a lot of the leaves had already fallen off, but there were still sections that were unbelievably gorgeous! And we were able to snap a few pictures up at the summit. What a beautiful place we live in. I love Utah. 

And now, a couple of crappy pictures taken from the car. Nothing can capture the beauty of the mountains!

Life with Piper

Our first two weeks home with Piper, like I mentioned before, were full of help from my mom (week 1) and Alyson (week 2), so this week was my first week without any help. It went pretty well considering! I'm not gonna lie, there were moments that were hard (making dinner is a struggle) but overall, it's going well. Josh's work schedule is difficult because he never makes it home for dinner. The earliest he gets home is 8pm, so I do dinner alone with the girls each night. But, the days have been pretty smooth. Elliott has definitely been acting out more but we are taking it each tantrum at a time. I'm trying hard to be understanding of what she must be feeling and her needs. It's a work in progress. Piper is a little angel. She is so mellow. Even now that she is having more awake time during the day, she really only cries when she's starving or really tired. Otherwise, she's content just lying on the floor, being held or being in her bouncer. What a blessing that has been. She has definitely made the transition to two manageable. So, here are some photos from the last couple weeks. 

Piper's first bath. Content with that binky in. 

She looks so tiny!

First trip to the pediatricians office.

Piper and daddy taking a nap together. So precious. 

She can sleep in any position.

Elliott likes to make her hold toys.

Kendal came to say hi one night!

We celebrated my birthday while Alyson was here. She was so sweet and made me crepes in the morning and even a cake that night! And the next day, we went to Olive Garden with a bunch of friends. It was a great day.  

Piper's first submerged bath. She slept through most of it. Haha.

We took a walk to the dinosaur museum while Alyson was here. It was wonderful getting fresh air and exercise! 2 miles of walking felt great!

Haha. Love it. 

One day last week we walked to the park and met our friends there! It was so much fun. Then afterwards, Jenn and Morgan let us hitch a ride with them to Two Jacks Pizza and we all ate dinner together. Such a fun night!

Elliott wanted her picture with Piper. Piper did not...

Wearing an adorable dress from Aunt Kendal. 

We are loving having sweet Piper in our family. She is such a calming presence. Heavenly Father knew exactly what our family needed.