Just Updating

We're finally settled in our new apartment. We've only been here for a little over a week (maybe two?), but I love it already. We still have boxes piled in the corners of the rooms, and the place is a bit cluttered because of the lack of closets, but I'm in love with my appliances. I've done about twenty loads of laundry already, just because I can. We came here with three hampers full of dirty laundry because the dryers were broken at our last place. I love just throwing a load in and relaxing, and still feeling like I accomplished something that day. And the dishwasher is a gift from heaven. You can see my counter tops! There are no dishes piled everywhere anymore! What a good housewife I am!

Gwen got used to the new apartment almost immediately. She loves playing in her new room. She has toys and books everywhere, and she can spend hours just playing with them all. She'd rather be outside, though. She begs to go out every day, but with all the rain and snow(!) it's hard to get her outside. I should be getting a double stroller soon, which will make outings a whole lot easier.

So here's a little update on my girls. Gwen seems to get taller every day. She is still as energetic as ever. At her first day of nursery in our new ward, we told the nursery leader that Gwen is very energetic. She laughed it off and said that all the kids are that way. When we went to pick her up, the nursery leader looked very frazzled, and told us that she is indeed very energetic, and she's also aggressive. I think she's tackling the other kids. That's just how she plays, as Eliza's kids well know by now. Let's see. She can count to 13, and she is starting to recognize the letters of the alphabet in her books and random things with words on them around the house. She loves her little sister, but quite a few times, I've caught her trying to lie on top of her or pinching her feet. Phoebe's never cried over her sister's aggressive playing. In fact, Phoebe just smiles and waves her hands at her.

Phoebe is 2 1/2 months now. She is 13 pounds and is already in size 6 months clothing. I still have her beat though. I was 8 lbs and 11 ounces when I was born, but I was a size 2T by the time I was six months old. I won a fattest baby contest at a fair once, too. I was a huge baby. Phoebe's chunky, but she doesn't look abnormal. She has a cute round head and bright steel blue eyes. Her hair is staying dark, too. Gwen's hair turned blond rather quickly, but Phoebe's hair is as dark as ever. I hope is stays dark. I want my blondie and my little brunette. Phoebe is beginning to "talk" a lot more now. She tells her stories, but she's very content and mostly quiet throughout the day. Gwen never stopped babbling and cooing. It's amazing how different my girls are. I love their different personalities. If Phoebe turned into another Gwen, I think I'd probably have a heart attack by the time I'm 30. I'm glad my Phoebe is mellow.

We bought Phoebe this bouncer so we can retire the swing for a while to make room in the living room. She hasn't figured out that she can make it bounce herself, but Gwen likes to bounce it for her and steal her toys. Oh well. Phoebe had better get used to it.

I just like this picture. I love my girls.

My little chunky monkey!

The above picture is a rare shot of Gwen sitting still to watch tv. She watches tv often from under the couch cushion, when she does sit still to watch her morning shows. She's so funny.

Easter Pictures

Thought I would just post some pictures of the day before going to bed. Gwen had a blast playing with her cousins and running around finding all sorts of easter eggs and candy. The extra sugar really made the day fun. Gwen's Easter dress. Phoebe had on a dress just like it. They didn't wear the bonnets all day. After I took this picture, Gwen ripped the hat off and refused to put it back on. Oh well. At least she allowed me one picture.

Gwen had her first Easter egg hunt. Logan held her hand and pointed out the little plastic eggs and she'd drop them in her basket. I don't think she knew it was a game. I think she thought she was just cleaning up. Before all the eggs were found, she broke free from Logan and did her own thing. She liked playing with the egg later though, even if she didn't care about the candy.

Isn't this a cute pic? Gwen is sticky and gross from a day full of chocolate, but she really pulls it off.

Happy Easter, everyone!

Moving On

Yesterday, Logan's parents helped us pack up our belongings, load them on the uhaul, unload our stuff into storage, and helped clean the entire apartment. It took all day, and we were extremely exhausted by the end of it. I'm glad we are finally out of there. Next week we have to load and unload the uhaul all over again, because we can't move into the new apartment until the 18th. We're staying with the Grovers for the week. Thank you, Kris and Eliza! We'd be sleeping on top of boxes in our storage shed if it weren't for you!
Phoebe was extremely good all day long. She barely made a peep. She liked lying on her pillow and watching us clean up the apartment around her. Gwen tried to be a helper, but honestly, it was hard keeping track of her while trying to get everything out. Once she walked out of the apartment and knocked on the neighbor's door. They answered the door and actually offered to babysit her for a while. That was nice! We got a lot done very fast after that.

Here's Phoebe, packed tight in our explosion of a living room.

Gwen rode on Grandpa's shoulders while we walked to Subway for lunch. It took her a while to understand what grandpa wanted her to do, and she tried sitting on top of his head. Pretty funny.

Gwen's going to love her new apartment, I just know it. She's growing up so fast. She'll celebrate her 2nd birthday in her new home. I can't wait to finally move into it already!

Captured Smile!

We finally were able to get a picture of Phoebe smiling. I have so many pictures of confused expressions because the flash tends to startle her. She's so cute.
Well, we're starting our move tomorrow. I still have a lot of cleaning and some packing left to do. I can't believe we're moving out of this place. I brought both my babies to this place, and even though I'm excited to move on, I'm still kind of attached to our dishwasher-less apartment. It's given me a lot grief, but all my memories of our little family take place here. I think Gwen will like the new apartment, and Phoebe won't know any different.
So here are some new pictures, probably the last taken in my daughters' first home.

He Won!

For his last semester at BYU-I , Logan completed a statistical project that found a new and better way to rank players in the NBA. He worked for several months on this, and today he had the opportunity to give a 12 minute presentation at BYU-I's Undergraduate Research Conference. Logan was grouped with seven others also giving oral presentations, and he came out on top! I'm so proud of him! He worked so hard! Here's Logan's prize: a BYU-I wall clock. It's not a check or a plasma screen TV, but it's his first place prize!
He also got a certificate, but I'm not calling this the official one. You can't see it, but the date is wrong. It's last year's conference date on it, because the people in charge of the certificates forgot to change it. He should be getting the corrected one soon.

Congratulations, Logan!

Changing the subject now, I think we found an apartment! We've been searching for a while now, and even spent all day last Wednesday in Idaho Falls hunting for and viewing apartments, but didn't have any luck. There were plenty of available apartments in IF, but just not what we needed. We wound up putting in an application at a place here in Rexburg. I'm all right with staying here in Rexburg, I guess, and this place has everything I ever dreamed of in an apartment: washer/dryer hook-ups and a DISHWASHER! It's a pretty fancy shmancy place, according to their website. We should be going to view an apartment on Monday. We've only seen pictures of it on the Internet, so I'm hoping it's as good as it sounds, or at least close. Here's hoping!

Fun at home

Here's Phoebe a couple Sundays ago, dressed all pretty to go to church for the first time since her baby blessing. Gwen had a lot of fun playing with Phoebe, and Phoebe looked to be enjoying it to! I usually don't let Gwen get too close to Phoebe, since Gwen's so hyper and, well, dangerous. But she laid down nicely next to her little sister and laughed and played. I'm so glad she loves her Phoebe.

Gwen thought it was funny that Phoebe kept hitting her in the face. She's a riot.

Since we're planning on moving next month, we have quite a few boxes lying around, which is Gwen's dream come true. I'm not sure how she managed to fit inside this box.

Phoebe was smiling up a storm, and I couldn't get a picture of it! I'll keep trying every day.

I love my little girls!

One Long, Happy Day!

On Saturday, our family attended Nathan and Rebecca's wedding, luncheon, and reception. It was certainly a long day for us, especially for Gwen and Phoebe. Gwen did pretty well with all the activity, I think. It was certainly exhausting for all of us chasing her around, making sure she didn't crash into anyone's wedding party on the temple grounds. She almost got away from me once, when I grabbed her arm and she pulled it out of her sleeve. She ran around half undressed and ran into a bride with her photographer. I was embarrassed, but Gwen didn't think twice about it. She was just trying to escape me no matter what. Phoebe was a real trooper, and didn't seem to mind being passed from one person to the next. She even smiled her first real smile at the reception! I caught it on video, but not with a picture, sadly. I can't wait until she starts smiling all the time so I can get those precious pictures! Here are some pictures of the day. I didn't take a whole lot, but here you are anyway.