2013 in Review

This past year has been eventful for the Shelton fam :) and since we don't/didn't do a holiday card this is what happened :)

The year started out with the knowledge that Matt's current job in Scottsdale, AZ would be coming to the end in a few months (ended up being longer).  So we began the hunt for new employment played around with the idea of moving back to Utah.  We didn't want to get too serious because of our plans to take a family trip to Walt Disney World in May.

Lynlee and I enjoyed taking daily walks to the neighborhood park for play dates.  We went to the Phoenix zoo where Lynlee loved seeing all of the animals.  We would follow up those visits with going with Dad to lunch :)

After turning down a great offer for a company in Tempe we made the official decision that moving back to Utah was the path we are supposed to follow.  Matt applied to many jobs on ksl and through some contacts that he had.  We met with a recruiter and things were set in motion.

We went to Disney World in May to celebrate Mitch's graduation from Medical school and moving on to their next step of residency.  This trip was fantastic and we loved every moment of it.  We were there a day early and went to a natural spring followed by meeting everyone at the vacation home.  It was awesome this giant house included a pool and spa where we spent some fun quality time :)  We had a blast at all of the parks.  Sad that is had to come to an end, but left with awesome memories :)

Upon returning Matt had set up some interviews in the 'tah and we came up hoping for the best.  At that same time we put our house up on the market :) Being back in Arizona from our trip to Utah for one day Matt got an offer from a job that would push him in the direction he wanted his career to go. Two days later we got an offer on our house and it was all meant to be :) The Lord truly works in our lives.  

We moved within the next couple weeks into my Aunt and Uncle's house in Canyon Rim (Salt Lake).   Incredibly grateful for awesome family for letting us live with them while we found a place of our own.  The new job is in Park City, UT and the commute was best from their house. Since living in Park City was out of the question because I didn't want to work we started looking in Murray, Salt Lake, and surrounding communities to live.  We found a house and fell in love with it in Murray (even though our windows started leaking this past month).   Matt's commute is still about a half hour, but we live in Salt Lake because Matt is going to go get his Masters in Finance :) Let's hope he gets into the program with the U of U.

We had the Shelton reunion at Bear Lake this year and we put our anniversary together with it spending the night before in Logan at Anniversary Inn (we has a discount coupon yay!) We had a blast and met up with the family for a fun time.  We also had the opportunity to go to the Mendenhall Family cabin which we hadn't been too in three years.  This was such an awesome summer.

Our beautiful miss Lynlee turned two and she has embraced the terrible twos throwing horrible tantrums and crying every time she doesn't get her way. Potty training is actually going better than I thought it would (knock on wood).  She transitioned to a big girl bed without any problems.  We love her to pieces.

Our new ward is amazing and has opened us with open arms.  Matt and I both have callings (something that took six months living in Mesa to get).  We fill like we are part of the ward.

The holidays were crazy busy with family parties and trying to get everything ready.  We enjoyed seeing our families and are excited to see what the next year has in store for us :)  Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!

Joys of owning a home

So Matt and I LOVE our new home.  Our favorite of the three we have owned.  This house though when we started having winter conditions problems started appearing :/ really frustrating I tell ya.  The first sign was a frozen pipe to just the basement toilet thankfully Matt has found the remedy for that :) Then there was a leaking window upstairs, but after drying up the mess the leaking stopped.  This happened right after the first snowstorm of the season.  So we didn't think much of it (I checked it periodically to see if there was a leak, but there wasn't).

This last storm that came with freezing rain followed by 4-5 inches of fluffy stuff resurfaced the problem.  The night the storm hit I was awoken by dripping water and yes the window was leaking once again and hasn't stopped.  I have found where the water is dripping (from the roof under the gutter) and understand why it is dripping through the window (bad seal/installation of the window) into the house (not to excited about how much it will cost when we see the full damage).  Then today the basement window below the second story window started leaking and since that window is more accessible I found it is the same as the upper window.

Now we just need to figure why the roof is leaking: do we need a new roof, is there some air thing happening in the attic caused by vents like the internet suggests, or is is just ice building up between the gutter and roof and melting down the house and causing ice to form on the window and melting and ruining the seal.

Is it bad that I stress about things like this? I feel that I should because if I don't when will it be fixed.  It is hard to fix things in the winter too ugh and the official day of winter starts tomorrow.

I am hoping by venting here that I will be able to level my emotions out and have a rational head on. I am frugal and when problems occur I get stressed on the money side of things.  I know that we are still safe and that we will survive, but how much is it going to cost to fix.  The older I get I am surprised more and more by how the level of our finances affects me.

Sorry for another vent post, but I really want to fix this problem, but I only have the resource of the internet and the prayer for patience to wait for help.  

Feelings lately

Ok so this might be a downer post, but I need to get how I feel right now out into the world without offending anyone or just feel like I am offending them.

So last January I had this strong feeling like we should have another child and ever since then we have been trying to conceive really pushing for it after our trip to Disney World in May.  Month after month I have been disappointed I wanted my children to be close to two years apart.  I know that I have had some really early miscarriages because I never cramp with my periods and when one comes a week or so late with cramping (along with symptoms a pregnancy preceding) and heavy bleeding I just know that is what is happening.  I take a long time to show the hcg hormone just fyi. It is difficult to get onto facebook and see all of these people declaring there pregnancy of their second or third child.  Announcing their gender and so forth.  I am sure God has a different plan for us, but it is so hard when people ask how old Lynlee is and then proceed to ask have you thought about another?  It is also always the worst when someone says they got pregnant on accident (it bothers me sooooo bad). I know I am related (in matt's family) to people that have had this issue and used other methods for conceiving.  I know there is nothing wrong with me unless something changed when Lynlee was born.

I know this is just me feeling insecure, but I know we can conceive or else we wouldn't have our beautiful daughter Lynlee. What about that feeling I had about having another child was that just smoke and I was completely conjuring that up? Ugh I am just frustrated.  I was sure this month would be the one I had symptoms, but aunt flow made an early appearance this month just to say nope not this time.

On a brighter note we went to a Chinese restaurant Saturday and my fortune said that I would get some good news in three months haha.  Matt and I joked that was when we would find out the gender of our child (not the case anymore).  Maybe that is when we will find out that we are expecting.  Also if anyone knows me knows that I hate talking about this topic to anyone besides my husband I feel awkward when I do.  When things are really personal to me it is hard to trust them with my emotions.

Sorry for this blabber post, but i had to get this out of my system.

Lynlee turns 2

Oh wow I can't believe I have a two year old :) I just love Lynlee with everything I have.  She is learning and growing everyday.  We love that she is talking in sentences now because we can understand more of what she says :)
Things she is saying (she says A LOT I won't put everything on the list):

• Current favorite thing to say is "I no want" or "I want down."  
• I love that fact that when she wants something to eat she simply says "eat". 
• When she needs to go to the bathroom (or when she needs a diaper change - still not quite ready for potty training) she says "potty" and sits on her own potty and then asks for a "piece" which means she wants a piece of tp.
• "my games"
• "book"
• "I love you....Mom, Dad, trixie, etc."
• "Grandma" and "Grandpa"
• "Elyse"
• "Jammies"
• "I want walk"
• "Come on" - said while pulling on your hand to follow her somewhere
• "sit" - said most when she wants you to sit next to her to read a book or play a game
• "balls"
• "Yes", "Uh uh"
• "more"
• "again"
• "What is that" 
• "draw"
• "Mom"
• "Dad"
• "mine", "Lynlee's"
• "bye" - said everytime she leaves a cashier at any store or leaving anywhere in general.

She says a lot to much to list all of her sayings.  She can say the alphabet.  If you sing it to her she will tell you the next letter by saying its sound.  She can count to two sometimes three.  She likes the head, shoulders, knees and toes song and LOVES to point out that she knows where her knees and toes are haha.

Went to the doctor for her two year check up.  This doctor was really cute with her.  She didn't cry when he touched her with the stethoscope or looked in her ears.  He is really good with kids; being a pediatrician is definitely his calling in life.  Anyways, she cried when the nurse measured her haha silly girl.  No surprise though she is still on the small petite side.  She weighs 22lbs 8oz (5 percentile she is moving up the chart a little bit). 32 1/2 inches long (10 percentile, moving up) and her head is still at the 50 percentile.  The doctor looked directly at me and said that is normal.  That is the first doctor that said it is ok for her being small.  Man moving to Utah was such a good decision :)  She still has very little blonde hair, but I can put it in a little piggy/pony tail and she won't rip it out like the cute flower headbands.

We had a party for her the weekend Mitch and Lindsey came down from Idaho so that she could have as many cousins there to help celebrate (there were nine there).  I will do another post for her party. 

New House # 3

We have been in our new place just over a week and I am loving it.  It is the largest house we have ever owned so hopefully we stay here for awhile :)

On Saturday the 29th was the big day luckily we didn't have a lot to move in.  We sold a bunch of our furniture when we moved from AZ like our couches, beds, and washer and dryer.  When we found our house we started looking for furniture on KSL (I have missed this classified so much better than my craigslist experience).  We got an almost brand new couch for a great deal and a 2 year old washer and dryer set with a steam option :) Very pleased with our purchases.

We found our new bed and spent a little more money on that because I didn't want to buy a used mattress, but I am in LOVE with it.  I sleep so well on it.  With our new bed we decided to purchase a bedding set from tjmax.  It was the color we were looking for, but when we got home and took everything out and slept in it for one night it started to unthread.  It was at that point I took it back and we went to ross and bought a comforter and some decorative pillows and a sheet set from Big Lots all cheaper than what we got from tjmax and I love our decision.

Anyways, in the process it was little Miss Lynlee's second birthday.  I am glad it was her second birthday because I am able to throw her a party two weeks later and she won't even know the difference.  I did take her up to Park City to have lunch with dad and this AMAZING Mexican restaurant and bought her a Minnie Mouse shirt.

And before any of my readers start thinking oh she is two isn't about time she have a brother or sister.  Well, that is one question I hate and am actually bothered by.  It is fine to have kids farther apart in age.  The next child will come when the time is right.  We don't use protection so that is truly what I believe.

I am in love with our new house (not so much having to pay a mortgage again haha) and can't wait to start building memories here.

Camping

Ever since moving to Arizona 3 1/2 years ago I haven't been able to go our family cabin so when we found out that we would be moving back to Utah this summer that was on my to do list for sure.  Labor day weekend we made it up to one of my favorite places ever :) I got to introduce Lynlee to the mountains for the first time.  It wasn't real camping, but it made it more enjoyable when it started to rain. We hung out with family and played games :)

Not a picture from this trip, but this is up at the Family Cabin and Fall is coming and I am getting excited :)

 Picture of the Cabin above ours.  Ours is down the hill, but the view truly is amazing

The next weekend we wanted to make it just a camping trip with my immediate family in tents at a campground.  Our plan was to head up American Fork canyon and camp for the weekend.  When we got up there we were too late and all of the camping sites were taken (it was on a first come first serve bases since it was after Labor Day).  We were bummed and headed down the mountain to my parents backyard and set up camp there.  It was really fun.  We sat around the campfire and roasted marshmallows and had s'mores ...mmm delicious :)

The next morning Nate ended up having to go into work and so we packed up the tents.  Elyse, Tara, Matt and myself decided to head up to Park City resort to ride the Alpine side, Alpine Coaster and other activities.  We have free coupons for guests for these summer activities since Matt works for the company that owns the resort.  Matt, Lynlee and I have season passes :)  It was a BLAST we had so much fun.  We ended our time there playing miniature golf just as the intense rainstorms hit.  We drove home and made it back just in time for the delayed BYU football game to start.

Even though we didn't have our real camping in tents in the wilderness experience this year I was really happy with the way everything turned out.  Maybe next year we can go camping in tents :)

The Job, The Move

Sorry for not posting the rest about Disneyworld, but I have forgotten so much and would only have pictures to show.  All you need to know is that is was an AWESOME vacation (I love to go on vacation though).

So the month of June was a very eventful month for us.  At the beginning of the month/end of May, Matt had a few interviews by phone and in phoenix (which we decided not to pursue because it didn't match up with our future plans).  We put our house up for sale so put our foot forward to moving to Utah.

Well, we decided to go to Utah to see one of my closest cousins bless her cute little baby boy Marshall. Matt was able to set up an interview with a recruiter the Monday after the baby blessing and right after that he flew back to Phoenix to work leaving Lynlee and me in Utah for my cousins wedding.  During the two week break from each other he applied for a bunch of jobs through the ksl classifieds. He landed an interview for the Monday before we were to drive back to Arizona.  His recruiter was able to set up a couple interviews for him on the same day.

Matt's favorite interview/job description also happened to be one that called back on Friday with an offer. We accepted the offer and on the same day we accepted an offer on our house.  Everything was falling into place.  Matt put his two weeks in at work and we moved 4th of July weekend to Utah.

So the job he accepted happened to be in Park City, Utah therefore living with his parents in North Ogden would be a really long commute.  So we considered my parents, but his commute would still be an hour plus to and from each day.  We then realized my Aunt and Uncle live at the mouth of Parley's canyon and would give him the perfect commute.  We asked them if we could stay with them until we found a place of our own and the generously said yes.  They only have one kid staying and home and their youngest just left on a mission to Chile so there is be room for us. Yes we are paying them rent money, but much much less than what it costs to live on the east Salt Lake bench; we felt really blessed.. I am incredibly grateful for such wonderful family.  Matt really likes that his commute that is only a half hour (the shortest he has ever had).

Our house in Mesa closed on July 25th making it official that we can start looking at places to live here.  We are realizing how expensive it is to live in east Salt Lake City or Park City(cost and arm and a leg to live there).  We are considering our options and hopefully we chose a real estate agent that can find us the best deal there is out there.  We don't want to rent if we don't have too.

Well, we have all made the adjustment to living in Utah.  I am so happy to be back my heart feels at home again :)  During the month of July we also celebrated our 4 year anniversary and had the Shelton Family Reunion they both deserve their own posts though.

Disney adventures!!!! part 2

After the first day we went to Animal Kingdom, Epcot and Hollywood Studios the next two days.  We spent a whole day at Animal Kingdom and split half and half with HS and Epcot.

At the Animal Kingdom we started out by going straight back to get on the safari ride; while Matt ran across the park to get fast pass tickets to the Expedition Everest.  After riding the Everest ride I got slightly sick (dramamine must not of kicked in fast enough).  We had some lunch after and then went on the river rapids ride which was fun :) I love rides like that.  We then walked around the nature trails and saw some animals.  We wanted to ride the dinosaur Primeval Whirl, but the line was too long for us so this is where we split up to go our own ways the rest of the day.

Mitch and Lindsey took their girls to the dino playground which I heard was awesome.  Sad I missed it, but Lynlee was grumpy and needed a nap so we took to walking around.

We went with my parents and did the bird show in which the local birds proved that all the training in the world natural instincts take over.  That means the local birds interfered with show and the birds weren't doing what they were taught haha :) I thought this was more interesting because it was natural.  After that Lynlee was snoozing so we headed over the bugs life show which Matt stayed out with Lynlee (such an awesome husband).  I think it would have scared Lynlee a little :)  After that we walked over and caught the Lion King show that was awesome.

After that everyone was ready to go back to the house and swim.  I didn't get pictures of the day, but I think Matt got one and I did.  Here they are.

Matt saw this guy on the way getting the fast pass tickets.

Took this on our way out of the park.  

Oh man I wish I could go back I feel like I missed so much at this park.

Next post will be on Hollywood Studios and Epcot.  I actually took more pictures that day :)

Disney adventures!!!! Part 1

So I love Disney or just being on vacation it is hard to tell sometimes haha :) So the first day was the Magic Kingdom.

There is a picture with all the grandkids, their parents, and Bryan, but I think Lindsey has it.  This is us walking into the park.  I loved that stroller; might have to get one for our next child.  Anyways,  the day was kind of chaotic (with Tara being sick and all), but we went on some rides together at the beginning and had people get fast passes to other rides.  We then split up and went our own way until lunchtime. We went on It's a Small World which Lynlee loved.  Matt and I ran into Mitch, Lindsey, Nate, Melis and their kids at the Belle experience. 

We ended the afternoon riding Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain.  I was really excited because last time I went to Disneyland I was 6 months pregnant and couldn't ride them.  We got the famous Pineapple Dole Whip drink (Lindsey, Elyse and I actually went back Friday to get ours).  During that time Lindsey and I took Makenzie and Lynlee to see Tinkerbell. (Lynlee got to see Belle, Tinkerbell, Woody and Jesse, and I Barney at Walt Disney World).  Lynlee is very stranger shy and was scared to meet everyone of them.  It wasn't surprising though that is how she is with anyone besides Mom and Dad.  

That night Mom and Dad, Lindsey, Elyse and I stayed and watched the electric parade.  We were even able (the three girls) to connect arms and skip down main street.  I thought it was very fitting.  During that time Matt went with Lynlee home and the other cousins and took a cousin bath. 

The first day was a blast and I would go into great detail, but I am afraid I wouldn't do it justice.   

DisneyWorld!!!!!! The start.

Okay I admit it.  I am a HORRIBLE blogger....oh well :)

So in May my family decided to join Mitch and Lindsey on their medical school finishing Disney World vacation.  I love disney and had the best time.  It was fun to have Lynlee be old enough to ride rides and actually enjoy them :)  I would go back in a heartbeat, but maybe Disneyland will be our next disney adventure.  So here is the run down of what happened (or what I can remember).

On Saturday May 11th we headed to the airport where Lynlee was really cute when it came to board the plane.  She would say bye to the people leaving around us as they went to board the plane.  Funny story actually; because there was this one guy and his daughter boarding, and she was focused on saying bye to them, and on the flight home they were on the exact same flight haha. He remembered because she said bye to everyone getting off the plane.  The flight there with her was not bad she didn't cry.  It was her first flight being over an hour and a half (it was 4hrs) so I was very pleased.  We got to our hotel for the night.  We got a nice place because Elyse, Tara, and Bryan were flying in around midnight.  Then we walked around the corner for the best Denny's dinner I have ever had.  Lynlee even ate almost all of her Mac and Cheese and grapes (if you know her she doesn't eat very well).

The vaca was off to a GREAT start.  Next morning we woke up to Tara having the flu : ( poor girl (only lasted 36 hours or so).  We planned to go to Wekiwa Springs (there are cooler ones, but this one was only a half hour drive) and meet up with one of Elyse's friends Broc who was there training for summer sales.  Tara was a trooper and would just have us stop the car for her to relieve herself on the side of the rode : (.  The springs were really cool, but I didn't get any pictures lame I know.  Tara the sick one did and so she will give me some :).   After the springs Broc came with us to the vacation house where we met up with everyone else.  Mom and Dad flew in with Grandma and Grandpa that afternoon and Mitch, Lindsey, Nate and Melis all drove.

I will do another post for the Disney and Universal adventures.

18 Months!!!!

I suppose now that the month is half over I should take time to remember what our little girl has accomplished by 18 months :) Time is going by so fast.  Well, we had her doctor appointment and no surprise she is still our little petite girl.  Still in the 3% for weight and height, but her head is normal in the 50-75% range.  Doctor is still worried (even after blood tests and trying different dietary measures) that she is so tiny.  I am not worried because we don't come from a family of tall people for heavens sake I am only 5'3" !! Anyways developmentally she is where she needs to be. Here is what she can do:

• She has mastered running.  Loves being outside and running around while pushing her stroller with Trixie's toy and laughing because it is so funny :) ( here is the link to facebook for the video I have of her running and pushing her stroller).  
• I wish I could say that she could say a lot of words, but she is definitely average in this area.  She can say:
• Mom (mama and mommy)
• Dad (dada and daddy)
• Shoes (says it everytime she leaves her room)
• Dog
• Trixie
• Ready set go (Go being the most clearly pronounced)
• Car
• Book
• owie
• Please (she really focuses on the p-p-p sound though)
• Jacket
• papa (used when talking with grandparents)
• Wow (new favorite word right now)
• "What?" seriously one of my favorite things she says :)
• baby (doesn't really understand what it means though - looks like we should have another kid haha)
• I would love to say she could say hi and bye, but she refuses to say those words haha :)

• I know she can say more, but can't think of them right now.
• She likes to undress herself and dress herself
• Loves bath time
• Loves to read books - if she has disappeared she is generally found reading a book.
• Really likes to watch her tv shows 
• Can dance
• Loves to follow me around and copy what I am doing.
• Can color and is really cute when she does because she gets on her tummy and kicks her feet while coloring. I really should get a picture of her doing it.
• Loves playing pretend with her picnic basket and baby stroller.
• Points to things she wants
• Can climb on things, but is too short to get up on things (thank heavens haha :))
• Knows wear her facial features are: eyes, ears, mouth, nose and hair.
• prefers drinking from a cup.
• Eats food a lot better with her utensils.
• Loves to grab our hands and take us places.
• Loves throwing balls.

There is probably a lot more that I could list, but can't think of them.  For being small she is right where she needs to be developmentally.  Her hair is still coming in slowly, but is coming in more.  Her hair is really blonde and so she looks balder than she really is. She had her first day of Nursery (outside of our nursery class) and did fantastic :) I can't believe she is old enough to be away from us during church.  Not the best at remembering to take pictures, but here is the most current picture of our little girl.  Lynlee is growing up so fast and she is soooo smart.

Easter 2013

Ever since I was little Easter has been one of my favorite Holiday's I don't know why.  It isn't because of the basket and candy.  I think it is because it was one of the holidays that my immediate family stayed together all weekend.  Also we always got together with my dad's extended family on Saturday at a place called West Mountain in Utah county.  That was one of my favorite places to go.

Anyways,  I was thinking about the first Easter Matt and I shared together.  It was the day that he proposed to me.  He had hidden a bunch of eggs around my parents yard (we currently were in college and visiting family for the holiday) with lines from our songs written on them.  I half expected this was how he was going to ask me to marry him.  After I had opened all of the eggs and taken out the candy I was disappointed and then I looked up at him and he handed me the last biggest egg.  Sure enough at that point he got down on one knee and asked me for my hand.  Another reason to make this holiday a special one for us.

So I want Lynlee and our future kids to enjoy this holiday.  Hopefully it will because of the Savior and the time we spend as a family.

This year is the first year that Lynlee was able to participate in an Easter Egg hunt.  Our ward put together a really simple breakfast and egg hunt.  I didn't get a picture, but she was really good about picking up the eggs and putting them in her basket.  I did get a picture of her with basket when we got home.  For Easter day I bought her a new Easter dress (one of my favorite traditions) and got some simple things.

The Sun was bright so she squinted her eyes haha :)  Eggs from the ward.

Her Easter basket.

I used the same basket and didn't do grass, but she loved opening eggs.  Seriously she is one tan baby.

Her Easter Dress.  

Not being in Utah wasn't as hard this year because I know that we will be moving back there soon enough.  Our home teacher family invited us over for their family dinner. Thank You Niec family :)  It was really nice to meet their family.

I am really grateful for this time of year to remember the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Direction

This weekend was long, but I feel wonderful with the decision that we have made.  On Sunday we fasted and prayed for which decision we should make.  The hard part was that we felt that either decision would be just right.  What helped make our decision came from an earlier prompting about a job (still waiting to hear back) in Utah.  We feel that it is time for us to move back to Utah.

This is definitely the harder path for us to take.  We have no job offer and would have to sale or rent our house.  Since the decision was made I feel really good.  Can't wait for the craziness that is in front of us.  So their you all have it.  We are moving back to Utah.  We plan to be there by the end of May, but still not sure on the timeline so that may change :)

Decision? Decision?

This post is get my feelings out and possible feedback for those of you that read my blog.

So we have known for awhile that Matt's employment here would be coming to an end this year.  With that knowledge we started looking for employment here in Arizona and in Utah.

We started looking first in Utah because we want to eventually end up there. Also, Matt would like to go back to school to get a Master of Finance and having family in the area would make it easier on us to do so.

Being logical we started looking in Arizona next.  We have a house and friends here.  This is the place are marriage started growing stronger because we only have each other.

Truth be told I miss Utah mainly because I miss being around family.  I was able to handle living in Safford Arizona because Ben and Mistie lived there, but they have moved to California and they are no longer a 7 min drive from our house.

These type of big changes stress me out.  I love traveling and seeing new places and things, but I want to do just that, travel to those places not live there for short periods of time. I bring that up because Matt has gotten an offer from a company here in Arizona. It would require relocation every couple years; which I like because there is a possibility that we could end up at their division on Salt Lake City.  He doesn't have a lot of control over that though and  we would most likely quit that job and move to Utah anyways.  He gives his response to them on Monday.

So my thinking is there is this company that we haven't heard back from in Utah that could possibly give him a job, but we would have to wait a few weeks to hear back.  Matt has had two interviews with them.  Matt enjoys the product of this company better than the Arizona company. I just feel that taking this leap into possible no employment is the better choice. Along that note I feel that my emotions and strong desire to end up in Utah sway my thinking and feelings toward the decision.

Truthfully either way we would be happy.  This would just give us that push to be where we want to settle our roots.

As you can tell my thoughts are everywhere and I am jumping back from one to the other.  Which one would be better for us in the long run? I just don't know..both?  I will keep you all updated on our decision as we/I struggle through this decision.  Matt does have his feelings too that will be considered in this decision ;)

Have a lovely day.

Our Drama....

So in our personal life there is no drama really except that of our little diva.  Lynlee is strutting around our house these days acting like she owns the place haha :) If she doesn't get what she wants it's all tears and saying me, me, and me over and over again.

• She is starting to say more and more words it is fun to see her develop.   The last couple days she has mastered the word shoes along with her fascination of wearing mine and Matt's shoes around the house.  
• Also in the last month and a half really taken up imaginary play it is adorable. 
• We bought her a stroller of her own and she LOVES pushing her little baby around.  
• She LOVES giving kisses and hugs.  
• She loves playing with balls.  She will kick them around, throw them, and trying to make them bounce.  
• She loves playing with cars and will make the 'VROOM' sound while running around the house. 
• Loves playing with bubbles.  She says bubu for bubbles it is pretty cute.  She actually can blow on the stick to get the bubbles to come out.   

She is also getting hair which is exciting.  She has the cutest little curls in the back.  

Okay for me my life is just normal stress, but I am loving life.  I have joined a dinner group where we switch making dinner for the other families one day a week.  I have loved getting recipes that I haven't tried before.  This is also making me a better eater and Matt gets a variety of food.  If anyone knew me growing up I was a picky eater.  Also I have joined a book club to culture myself with other books.  Lynlee and I have started going to playgroup to socialize during the day.  It can get a little boring just the two of us sometimes.  And last, but not least we finally got a calling in church (something I am not thrilled about).... Nursery Teachers.  Apparently the Lord knows this is an area I need work in.  I am not much of a baby/toddler fan.  In fact it took me a long time to even want to have a baby.  I don't know why I am not like every other woman out there that swoons over babies and how cute they are.  Hopefully with this calling I will discover why.  

Matt's drama basically is what I live for each day.  Not from himself, but his company. It is struggling and the things he tells me (I act as a sounding board when he gets home) makes it sound like a movie.  I am sitting on the edge of my seat some days to hear what happened.  With all this drama, however, means that his job will most likely end this year sometime and we will have big decisions to make.  I actually get a little happy about it because the front runner option is Matt going back to school to get his Master's in Finance.  That would mean moving back to Utah because that is the area we would like to end up.  We will pray about our different options though and see where the Lord wants us to go though.  

Matt is doing great! He wakes up each morning and works out, then works hard all day and then comes home to be the best Dad and Husband ever.  He LOVES our little Lynners more than anything and will go through the half hour to hour bedtime routine alone to spend time with his little one.  On top of that he generally will do the dinner dishes.  He is also the best Nursery teacher.  He has a natural ability to handle kids.  I married such an amazing man.

That is a catch up on our lives.  Happy Friday!!!!! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend :)  

Christmas!!

For those of you that don't know us.  We live in Arizona and have been here for the last three years.  This means that we travel to Utah for the holidays to spend time with our families.  I like to put up our Christmas tree though.  This years new additions were the tree topper and ribbon.  We also took Lynlee to see good old Santa Clause.  Turns out she does not like him haha.  I hope next year she has grown out of that phase.  We also went to the Mesa temple lights.  Sorry if any of the pictures are crummy I forgot my camera a lot of the time and so my phone captured most of our memories this year.

Our beautiful tree :)

Perfect crying baby Santa picture :)

We left on the 21st (the supposedly end of the world haha) for Utah and stopped about half way in St. George/Washington for the night.

On the 22nd we made it to Ogden for a family Christmas with the Sheltons!!  It was really good to see everyone except Richard, Becca, Nike and the newest twins John and James.  We are so excited to get to see them in the future.  Anyways, we had a big family dinner and went caroling to the neighbors.

Since we don't live in cold weather Lynlee wore two jackets.  She loved singing with everyone :)

You can't see everyone, but there were about 30 of us caroling and two dogs.  It was a lot of fun.

Lynlee hanging out with cousin's Macey and Hazel.

We then exchanged gifts and enjoyed each others company it was a really nice time.  Next day was church and we weren't feeling so great.  Lynlee and I were battling colds (which we had the whole vacation) and Matt battled a stomach bug.  Had a great dinner with everyone and then headed down to Riverton with Christmas with the Mendenhall's. On Christmas Eve we met up with one of Matt's really good high school friends.  She got married this past year and we hadn't met her new husband.  It was really nice meeting him.  As we got ready to leave a big snow storm hit :) this is one of the reasons we love coming up.  We have missed the snow, but still don't like driving in it haha.

Driving back to my parents in the snow.

That night my family has a tradtion of watching this VHS movie of Return of the King, a story of the birth of Christ,  my parents VHS machine officially broke and so we watched another version my parents had of the birth of Christ :) I was a little sad because that was one of my favorite memories.  

I was a dummy and didn't take pictures on Christmas.  Lame I know and not so good for capturing those memories.  Oh well, live and learn I guess.  We spent the morning at my parents, went to brunch with my dad's aunt and uncles, and came back home to Nate and Melis to skype with Mitch and Lyndsey in Kentucky.  It was nice to relax the rest of the day.  My Mom, Nate, and I all had colds it was pretty sad.  Crossing our fingers no one gets sick next year.  

The next day was my little bro's birthday he turned the big 16 (seriously I can't believe how old he is getting). We went to Les Miserables to celebrate.  We had to go in two shifts so that someone could stay and watch Madyson, Ryker and Lynlee.  We were slightly worried leaving Lynlee because of her freaking out everytime Mom and Dad left the room, but she did great and this is what we came home too.

Hanging out with Grandpa watching a movie.

The rest of the time we just hung out.  We met up with some more friends of Matt (Jeff, Jarid and Rick) and one of my old college roommates, Jocelyn and her awesome new husband Peter.  Made it to the extended Mendenhall family party and Matt's cousin's wedding (one that I had never met because we moved to AZ before he got back from his mission.  On the way home we stopped in St. George to stay with my college roommate Chelsey Sharp (seriously love this girl she changed my life).  Her family is so gracious to let us crash at their palce.  Love ya Chels.  

We got home around 5 on New Years Eve got some pizza and cracked open some sparkling cider to bring in the New Year and fall asleep.  We had such a great time.  Someday we will live closer and won't have to use our vacation time for the holiday's, but real vacations haha.  Someday right?  Sorry for the pictures, but that is the shortened version our Christmas adventure.  Can't wait for next year Lynlee will be more fun.