First Bath

Dan was able to go with Parker to the nursery and get pictures of his first-ever bath! Here they are:

Getting ready...

Not so sure he likes getting a bath

But he did enjoy getting his hair cleaned!

That is one cute, clean baby!

At the Hospital

Day 2 at the Hospital:

Dan brought the kids over to meet their new baby brother

We only got a picture of Natalie holding him because it was time for Parker to eat and the kids to leave for school.

Later that day Dan and Tyler came to hang out with me and Parker

Later still, the kids came back for a little while

Can you tell they're excited to have a new brother?

Our four beautiful children :)


Day 3 at the Hospital:

Look at all that hair!

Our first family of 6 photo:

Then it was time to go home!

All bundled up in his new carseat, Parker is ready!

Nathan, Tyler, and Natalie - excited for our new family adventures!

Our New Home

Now that we are finally feeling a bit settled (that is, until the baby arrives!), I thought I'd share some pictures of our new home here in Utah. Please keep in mind that we are not completely set up yet. As in, no pictures hung up yet, no curtains, etc. I actually want to paint before we do that - the white walls are killing me! But here's a little tour for now:

Here it is! Our new home

Why yes, that IS a 3-car garage. We can park both of our cars in it AND store all our stuff - we love it!!
The backyard - not much to talk about but the kids are loving the basketball hoop left behind

Living room - view from front door

Another view

View from living room into formal dining area

Breakfast room, kitchen, dining room

Laundry room - entrance from garage into house

Master Bedroom featuring our new bed! We figured after 9 years it was about time to replace our old mattress. We went from a queen-sized to a California King. I must say it was about time!!

The other side of our bedroom looks like this:

We currently have it set up as the Baby Room!

Eventually we'll probably put a desk in that space, but we're not sure yet.

At the top of the stairs is the loft.

The retro couch we found for $40 for the loft - sweet!

(it even has a fold-out bed for when the kids have movie night)

Upstairs bathroom

Natalie's bedroom

Nathan & Tyler's bedroom

One thing I love about this house is all the storage space. Each of the 4 bedrooms have big walk-in closets. There's a large storage closet under the stairs. Even the linen closet upstairs is big!

Upstairs linen

Right now we have the 4th bedroom set up as a guest bedroom (hint, hint - anyone want to come visit??), sorry no pics yet. But it may become the baby room. And eventually we'll probably have the 3 boys share a room since the boy's room is big enough! But not for awhile :)

We've met some really nice neighbors on our street and are slowly getting to know people in our neighborhood and ward. It is so weird to me that the 4-5 streets around us are our ward! And yes, we can walk to church - crazy!! So far we are enjoying our new life here.

Now we just need this baby to come to make our home complete!

Here's the Scoop

With the impending arrival of our baby (hopefully any day now!), I feel compelled to get this blog up to date. The few who read this probably already know about everything going on in our lives but for any who are not aware of our latest news then here is THE SCOOP!

To start, we are now living in Utah (again). "Why???" you may ask, here is the answer. Dan got laid off from his job in Austin. We actually knew about the layoff several months in advance so he had time to look for a new job. He found a new job. The week before he was supposed to start his new job (and finish at his old job) he heard from his former employer in Utah. Apparently they had been trying to contact him for awhile but hadn't been able to reach him. They had the "perfect job" for Dan and really wanted him to come interview for it. Dan was open to the idea, but me? I said "No Way!" Here I am about to have a baby, completely content where we were at, the kids had the best teachers at their school, and I was nesting! We were supposed to be painting the baby's room, not talking about changing jobs!

Needless to say, I was not supportive of the idea of him interviewing in Utah. I believe my exact words were, "I will never live there again!" Boy, did I eat them!

Then another bomb was dropped: the job Dan was supposed to start fell through (thank you, Dell). And suddenly it didn't seem like such a bad idea for Dan to go interview for this great job out in Utah. Which he did. And of course they hired him pretty much immediately - it helped that he could start right away (having no job to go back to).

So I had the joy of packing the house and getting ready to move back across the country, again. I must say we're getting pretty good at it. But it was still a huge task and I couldn't have done it without all the help from our family and friends. I've never had to move being so pregnant - I don't recommend it!

We had a few stressful situations along the way (our dream house Dan found fell through at the last minute, our moving truck was too small, my legs reacted VERY badly to the long drive out, we didn't find a house until the 11th hour - literally, I could go on and on). But the important thing is that we DID make it to Utah safe and sound, we DID find a house that is ideal for our growing family, and now that we've been here almost a month those trials seem distant and we just feel very blessed to have a job and a home to live in.

So the scoop for our family right now: Dan is really enjoying his new job and is doing very well, he especially loves being able to go running on his lunch hour everyday (lookin' good babe!). Natalie and Nathan are attending a good school that is less than 5 minutes from our house and they get to ride the bus, which so far has been a good experience. They are making friends fast and enjoying their good friends from Texas who also just moved back to Utah - yippee!! And Tyler has found a new playmate in his cousin, Arthur, who he gets to see on a regular basis since they live so close!

As for me, here are all the things I am loving right now:
-A husband who works days! And gets to be with us at night, it really is so wonderful to have him home
-Hanging out with my SIL, Karin, and her kids - it's about time we lived in the same state/country!
-Sitting on our front porch and watching the kids ride their bikes up and down our street (it's not too busy so I don't have to worry much)
-Getting to know all of our extended family that live here and have been so welcoming
-Our house! It may not be fancy but it is perfect for our family. I especially love our bedroom... (the pics will explain it better - soon to come!)
-Getting ready for this baby to arrive - he cannot come soon enough! The clothes are washed and organized, the hospital bags are packed, the carseat is installed. Now we just need the baby!

So there it is, the scoop on what's been going on this past month in our lives. I have left out a lot of the details (some of it was just too stressful to delve into), but you get the main idea. And now we are just excited looking forward to what the future will bring!

PS- Thank you so much to all those who have given us so much support, we can feel your love and prayers. And please don't stop just yet, at least until after the baby's born. :)