Adventures in Contentment: October 2011

Well, we are super duper behind. Although my life is pretty basic, having a busy 7 1/2 month old who loves to type on the computer and does not like to nap makes it a bit tricky to update the blog. The last two months have gone by in a whirlwind. We packed up our little apartment in Hawaii, flew to Cali,

packed a few belongings in the dump trailer, drove to Utah, unpacked, and started back to BYU!

      First I will give you my update because it is the fastest and the most boring! I work out everyday, eat healthy, play with baby, and clean.  The usual mom stuff, I LOVE it!
      Chad has had quite the two months. The first few days he had a good attitude and then it all came crashing down. He realized that he had been away from school for awhile and that BYU was not going to be a walk in the park. The students are 1/2 his age and three of his professors are younger than he is. He was frustrated to say the least. In a matter of just a couple of months all that has changed! I am soooo proud of him! Not only did I get a hard worker for a husband, but he is a smarty pants!!! His teachers love him, his fellow students love him. This week, for example, he got the results back from an extremely hard test, he was the only A in the class! The teacher contacted Chad to tell that he had recieved the highest score ever (including past years) on the test and that he would strongly recomend that Chad go to grad school. Not only is he scoring high on tsets but on his papers too.  Tonight we are going out to celebrate!
     Holland Rose is a gem! She makes us laugh every day, all day! When did my baby get so big!!! In the last two weeks alone she learned how to crawl on her hands and knees from army crawl and to pull herself to standing. She thinks that she is pretty hot stuff, and we have to agree with her. She now refuses to sit or hold still. Ready, set, here we GO! Just as I thought that we had conquered the nap time, she now takes that time to practice her standing. It took five attempts and five hours today before her first nap happened. She now says Dada, although it is not mama it is pretty darn cute. She is an amazing baby, she is observant, she is sweet, she is smart, and she is strong. She hates being by herself, she hates being left out, and she hates any form of baby food (she wants the big kids food). She still loves her bath time, she loves when we sing, she loves when Chad plays rock and roll and sings to her, she smiles 90% of the time (except when she is teething), she tolerates her car seat, she loves being home, she loves her parents total attention, she loves other kids, she hates getting dressed, she loves peek a boo. I love it when I will be in another room and her little face will poke around the corner with a giant grin. She looks at me like she is so sneaky and hilarious. I love hearing her laugh, it is the best sound in the entire world! And right now she is doing this cute little thing where she raises her hand over her head. I don't understand it, but if you saw her raising her hand with that smirk on her face, you'd think it was cute too. She's always pulling out these quirky little behaviors. A month or so ago, when Jessiann was here, every time Holland looked at her, Holland would open her mouth like a codfish. It was so odd, but adorable. She's so funny! In fact, right now she's pushing (with her head) a giant box of Huggies across the family room. She loves having a body and always seems to be pushing herself to do the next thing.
     We have loved being so close to Thurman, Rosemarie, and Grant! They have been so kind and supportive. Talk about a giant blessing to have them close by. We are with them several times a week, we would be so lonely without them!!! It is also been so exciting for me to have my family a few hours away! I have not lived near them in nearly ten years! I have gone to Idaho twice, and part of my family came here last weekend. I have loved every second with them.
     Here several pictures to show our lives here in Utah: