Wow life has been busy these last few months and I'm glad to be home and ready to relax a little. It has been a while since I have posted so I'm going to try to briefly go over the last few months but we all know that brevity is not a skill I have... I like to ramble.
Zoo
On the first Monday that Nick had off (he's now on a Tues-Sat work week. Every couple of weeks he switches between a Mon-Fri and a Tues-Sat work schedule so no one has to work every weekend) we went to the zoo! Eliza didn't really know what was going on but she liked the Elephants and the bears. Most everything else was sleeping so I don't know if she really knew what she was supposed to be looking at. It was a fun trip however.
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| Watching the Elephants |
Oregon Trip
In the middle of July Karen, Catherine, Jacob, Eliza and I drove to Oregon for my cousin's wedding. It was great to see my mom's side of the family. I haven't seen them since 2009 and none of them have met Eliza yet which they all were very excited to do. It was a lot of driving but Eliza, once again, handled it amazingly. We stayed with my Grandma and Grandpa Redford so we got to see both sides of grandparents in the same weekend! Sadly however, Eliza was a little overwhelmed with all the new people and didn't like to be far from Mama or really be held too much by other people. Even with all that she was a pretty happy and sweet baby like she usually is. Like I said it was great to see everyone (we got to see all but one cousin who had to work) and to catch up with them.
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| Reading with Great Grandma Redford |
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| With Great Grandma Snider |
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| Cheese Face with Aunt Jane! |
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| At the Reception |
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| With Great Grandpa Snider at the Coast. It was super windy that day. |
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One of the few times she let someone else hold her.
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Moving
About a week and a half after we came back from Oregon we moved to a new apartment in Salt Lake. After eight years I finally moved away from Provo. So far we love it. We have a great new ward and it's great apartment across the street from the park and about a 20 minute walk to the library. Thankfully Karen and Catherine were moving around the same time so we were able to use the same truck and save some money there. Unfortunately this also means that we loaded up our stuff Tuesday, unpacked Wednesday, and then packed Karen and Catherine Wednesday night. It was a lot of moving things around. Jacob and Tim were pros and such strong men to help :) Jacob then drove out with Karen and Catherine and helped unpack them soon after. We are still kind of in the process of unpacking but I am almost there. Oh and also throughout this process Eliza got her first two teeth! I guess that might be why she was a little cranky in Oregon.
Nauvoo
A couple of days after we moved Eliza and I went with Nick's mom and sister to Nauvoo, Illinois for a church history tour! I had never been to the church sites out East so it was a great experience to see everything. We were gone for five days and managed to hit up Winter Quarters, Nauvoo, Carthage, Independence, and Far West. Nick's brother was out at Nauvoo already being a counselor for EFY and Nick's other sister, brother in law, and their child met us out there so it was a little family reunion minus Nick and Nick's dad who both had to work. It was a lot of time in the car but so worth it! Seeing all the church history sites really strengthened my testimony of Joseph Smith and of this church.
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| Playing in the grass |
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| Eliza did not like being this close to horses. So far she hasn't liked being close to any animal. |
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| At the grave sites of Joseph, Emma, and Hyrum Smith. Doesn't Eliza look so happy to be there? |
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| Found an ancestor on the Trail of Hope! |
Tim's Wisdom Teeth
The day after we got back from Nauvoo, Eliza and I headed down to Provo to help Tim get his wisdom teeth out. We took him to the oral surgeon then he came back to our place so we could take care of him. Tim was the most normal person that I have ever seen or heard of after getting their wisdom teeth out. No funny stories, was pretty cognitive the whole way home and then after, and was off of pain pills by the next day. Most mild story ever! It was probably good for him though because he was going on a trip up to Idaho and a 12 hour car trip with a painful mouth would be terrible.
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| See completely normal! |
Vaughn Family Fun Time
We got back from Nauvoo on a Wednesday, took care of Tim Thurs-Sat and then Saturday evening we headed up to Preston for Vaughn Family Fun Time! For those who don't know this is the time of year where all Nick's siblings come home for a family reunion. Sometimes we go on trips and sometimes we just hang out and play in Preston. This was more of a stay at Preston trip although we did go to the lake one day. It was so fun to see everyone together and see Eliza interact with her cousin Oliver. I think funniest thing they would do was that when they saw someone holding their cousin, they would then go over and want to be held by that person too. I think Eliza is going to be a little competitive. Like I said, we did go to the lake one day. It was a little too cold for the babies to swim but Fred, Jake, Nick, and I went off the rope swing. It took me a while to decide to do it-it was windy and cold and I'm a worry wart-but it was fun when I finally decided to do it.
Lately
After our busy busy summer it's good to be home and finally really get going on the unpacking and decorating and getting Eliza back on some semblance of a schedule. For the first couple of days she would sleep so much. She would sleep like 14 hours at night(with 1-2 feedings) and then take like a three hour nap in the morning and a two hour nap in the afternoon. She's now better with sleeping around 12 hours at night (with one feeding around 6) and then two hour/hour and a half naps during the day. She is so busy exploring and getting into everything! If there is something on the ground that I don't want her to have, that is the one thing she finds. Her new thing is climbing. She climbs on everything! She also has learned to climb up on the couches by herself so that's fun to have to watch as well. We're thinking we have to move some things around so she doesn't hurt herself while climbing. Hopefully it's a long while before she learns to climb out of bed... I don't know how we will do naptime or bedtime without her being trapped in her bed. She doesn't like to go to sleep. She is also standing on her own and can take around 1-2 steps before falling. Most of the time the second step is more of lunge toward the thing she wants. I swear she gets a new bruise or scrape daily. I'm sure she will be running soon.
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| Look Mom! I found the pots! |
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| And the pantry! |
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| And the wipes! |
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| Watch me climb! |
I think that's about it for the last few months and I have rambled enough. I'll try to keep more on top of updating this thing. I'm sure now that life has slowed down I'll have a little more time.
