our new home, vacation fun, and a view on motherhood

       Well we are finally settled into our place in Illinois! It has been a totally crazy past couple months, and it's just settled back into regularity in the past week. We had to be out of our Rexburg apartment in the middle of July. I started packing boxes a couple weeks before we had to be out. I HATE moving, let me just say! There is so much to do.. We were using a UPack pod, so they came and delivered the pod, we filled it, then they stored and shipped it to our new place. That was a great decision that we made; it was so nice not having to worry about any of that stuff after we packed it. But the only thing is that's it's not very big.. So we were already planning on selling our couch; we actually sold it and our entertainment center to C's brother and now sister-in-law for super cheap. So that worked out. However, when we got most of our stuff packed, I was super worried that we weren't going to fit everything into the pod because the boxes were really starting to stack up! So I went through and consolidated things, fitting them into every nook and cranny, getting rid of like 7 boxes! It was a good thing too, because we barely fit everything in.. We were tetris champions packing that thing. So we packed and deep cleaned, which is never fun... and got out of there!

This is our tetris work..

       We drove down to Utah for vacation with C's family for the next couple weeks! We spent a couple days in Centerville before the official family vacay started, then we headed up to Midway for a couple weeks! We had a lot of fun. It was so nice just relaxing after all the work we'd been doing. We did lots of fun things, including jet-skiing, playing tennis, golfing, swimming, going to a rodeo, and other fun stuff! Another awesome thing was that we got to pick my brother up and have him with us for a couple days, then we took him to the MTC! He will be serving a 2 year LDS mission in Tokyo, Japan! It was a so awesome. My other brother and his wife and their little boy also came for a day so they could come with us to drop him off. Oh and also, I got the email saying I'd officially received my degree- yay!!    

 A and Uncle J

 My brother and sister-in-law and their little boy with us and J

 Uncle J!

 We got to take J to the temple before we dropped him off

 Just bein herself

 C and I played lots of tennis, and we had a lot of fun!

 A with Gma C

 Playing shuffleboard.. A is going to help me out

I got to go up to Park City and do this really fun ropes course; Everyone got to do it last year, but I couldn't because I was pregnant, so I really wanted to do it this year. It was so fun! It was so tiring though!

 more tennis

 I love this picture of A and her uncle C

 Love them!

 Rodeo

 Typical A face

 We celebrated our 2nd anniversary while we were in Utah! We went out to eat and the second Planet of the Apes movie. It was a really nice evening. I love him!

A after dessert!

       So after our awesome couple of weeks with C's family, it was time to make the drive! We got up at about 3:30 am and started out! We drove all day the first day, stopping as little as possible. I knew if we stopped and let A out, she'd just be worse when we put her back in! So we tried to just book it through. She actually did really well; we had a lot of help from Barney! We stopped that night at a hotel in Des Moines. We pushed A to her limits! She started screaming a couple minutes before we pulled in, so we made a good decision to stop where we did! We only had maybe 8 hours the next day, so it seemed like a breeze after the first day. Finally we made it. We actually stopped at C's cousin M's house before we went to our apt. He lives here with his wife and their 5 kids. They're awesome! So we had him and some guys from our church help us move in, so we got everything in really fast! Oh yea, we left A with M's wife and kids while we moved in, so that was a huge help!
        Over the next couple days we got everything unpacked and mostly put away. It smelled really bad in our  apt at first.. I'm pretty sure the people before us smoked and had cats.. So it smelled horrible. We had literally like 8 air fresheners going, so it helped a lot, but there are still certain places that I think the smell is still stuck.. Oh well! Hopefully it will go away after a while! Other than that, we really love our apt. It's right on the edge of town, so I can go walking on this sidewalk that goes past these fields and into a super nice development area right by a golf course. It's really nice. At the same time, it's only a few minutes from campus. Also, our complex has a pool, which we used a few times. It was SUPER HOT for like a week, not to mention it's like 100% humidity here.. Every time you walked out the door it felt like you were walking into a sauna. So it was so refreshing having the pool. Another awesome thing is having AC! Yay! We didn't have it in our last apt, so it's amazing having it here. Also, our apt is a lot roomier than our last one, with a huge walk-in closet in our room. It's nice not having to stuff things into every nook and cranny.. Also, we have a back patio and then this huge grassy area and a big park. There is actually an elementary school right there, too. So that's awesome. The last wonderful thing is that there is really good bus transportation, so C rides the bus into campus and home every day. The stop is like a 3 min walk from our place, and his ride is about 15 mins. It's so nice having a car to be able to go do things during the day with A. It's so good for my sanity... lol.

Watching Barney on the trip- She lovvves Barney. It's the only thing she will sit still for!

       After we were in our new place for a couple days it was time for another road trip! We made the 8.5 hour drive to my hometown in PA. It actually took a lot longer than it was supposed to because there was SO MUCH CONSTRUCTION. I was very annoyed, especially because it was the worst within 30 mins of arriving at my parents' house, and we had a very tired and fed up baby; that's not a very fun thing to have in stop and go traffic!!!!! Anyway, we finally made it there. It was so nice being with my family since we hadn't seen them since Christmas! A was only 4 months old! C had to go home after a week because he had orientation, but A and I stayed a few more days. My mom and sister K then brought us back and stayed with us for a couple days, which was a blast. 

Playing with Uncle G on the trampoline!

 Being a cool cat with Gma T

 There was a parade while we were there, and A LOVED it. She seriously never sits still, but she sat through the entire thing!

 The county fair was also going on (which is a big deal for my family because we always show pigs there.) This was her fair outfit that I was in love with :)

 Oh, and I chopped my hair off while I was there! Above was the before, and below is the after! I don't really like how it's styled there, but that's the gist of it. :) I was freaked out at first because it was so short, shorter than I really wanted it, but I really love it; and the best part is that it's soo easy to do.

 A's first corn on the cob!

A seriously loves her Aunt S! She always laughed at her!

       So the last big thing that happened was A's first birthday!  Actually my bday was the day before hers, but it's not as big of a deal as her 1st of course.. But C made it special for me! It was actually Labor Day, so he didn't have to go to school, yay! He secretly asked M and his wife Ch to watch A for us for the day. After we dropped her off in the morning he took me for brunch at Bob Evans, then he told me we could go shopping, and I could get whatever I wanted!! Yahoo! So we went to the mall, and I picked out a few things. It was so fun!! The best part was just being able to spend time with him! That night we had M, Ch, and their kids over for a little party for me and A. We had pizza, played inside and outside, had ice cream pie for dessert, then opened some presents! They got A a cute gift and gave me a gift card to go out to eat and a yummy chocolate bar; they're so sweet! It's so nice having some family here to hang out with! Anyway, that was fun. Then the next day was A's actual birthday that she opened most of her presents on. We got her a big ball, a little golf club set, some shoes (since she's walking everywhere now!), and a couple clothes. 

 First golf lessons

After the cake!

       I can't believe she is 1! We have a toddler! She is certainly a handful. She's very vibrant and has a love for life. However that makes her difficult in some ways!!! The first way is sleep...Oh dear.. She DOES NOT LIKE TO SLEEP, especially during the day. Sometimes she will sleep through the night, but she almost never naps well. First of all, she is already down to one nap a day, which is really early. And that one nap is never longer than 1hr, 15 mins..... That's it!!!  A lot of times it's shorter! She seriously drives me crazy sometimes, especially when she wakes up grouchy.. because she won't sleep! I feel like I've tried everything. I don't know what to do with her. She's also been waking up a lot at night too. I just pray it will sometime end.. although at times I feel like she's going to be doing this forever. Anyway, enough of the sleep rant.. She is super determined, which is great, but it sometimes makes it hard for her parents! She's definitely not easygoing, but she's going to do great things in her life for sure.,.. at least that's what I tell myself to help get through this ;) 

       This kind of brings up another thing I've been thinking about for a while.. I see and hear all the time moms saying and posting on facebook for instance, that motherhood is pure bliss and happiness and how they love every second of it! Well to be honest, that created a false picture of motherhood for me. When I became a mom and struggled (a lot with this child), I wondered, "What's wrong with me? Is there something I'm missing? Am I just a horrible person and mom?? Why am I not enjoying every second like everyone else?????" Don't get me wrong, there are those moments when my eyes fill with tears because I love her so much, and it's such a miracle that we have her here and that I get to experience motherhood and see her grow and develop. I love it. I love her! She makes me laugh and fills me with awe every day. However, I don't love those moments when she is screaming and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it. Maybe it's just her personality, but sometimes she's really hard to calm down, and she has to just cry it out. Anyway, I don't enjoy those moments! Being a mom is hard- so hard. There are times when the only thing I can do is sit there and cry and pray for help. But I think that's one of the beauties of motherhood- how it changes me too. It definitely humbles me and brings me to my knees more than anything else in my life. So one thing I wish mothers did was be more honest. Maybe I'm just being a debby downer. Maybe other moms are just better at looking at the positive! But from my experience, I think basically all moms have those moments when they wonder why they are feeling the way they feel while other moms have it all put together. That's one thing I try to do when I talk to other moms. I don't want it to sound like it's a cake walk or 100% bliss. It's tough! It's hard! Babies don't only cry- they make YOU want to cry sometimes! With that being said, I know the best things in life require a lot of work, and they are hard. Motherhood is one of the hardest things I've done, but of course one of the greatest, too.