Our First Home

It's officially happening.. We're MOVING!!

This has been a long and hard decision for both Tyler and I. Tyler moved to Richfield after college when he was offered a mining engineer position at the coal mine in Salina. He lived in apartments for a few years before he decided to start building a house. About this time, enter me. When we decided to get married we both knew that it would be easier for me to try to find a job in Richfield teaching than it would be for Tyler to find as good of a job in mining in Salt Lake. With that decision made, we focused on building our dream home.  For months Tyler worked day and night building this house. He was the main contractor, but he and his dad did a lot of the work themselves. This house became his biggest accomplishment, and that's why this house is so hard to leave.

We both knew that eventually we wanted to end up back in Salt Lake because both of our families live there and ultimately we wanted to be closer to them.  We didn't know it would happen this soon. We were both liking Richfield (maybe Tyler liked it more than me), we both liked our jobs, and we were just getting established here. Enter Makayla. Having a baby makes you realize how important family is. I missed our families more than ever after having Makayla and that was what sparked the discussion of moving. Tyler said he would put his resume out there and if the perfect job came along, we would look at it and decide. Well that perfect job showed up sooner than we thought. Tyler went in for an interview that ended up being 5 hours long. He came home from the interview and said that I needed to start looking for a job in Salt Lake because he had such a good feeling about this job. I started looking and found a few possible jobs in Jordan School District and found a part time job that I applied for. I had an interview there as soon as the school year ended here and was offered the job. About a week after that, Tyler was offered his job and we decided to make the move back to Salt Lake City.

As excited as I am to move, there are a few things that I will miss about Richfield: It only takes 5 minutes to get anywhere in this town, our neighbors (I have been quoted as saying that my favorite part of Richfield is our neighbor Brandi... Tyler has been quoted as saying his favorite part of Richfield is our doctor, Dr. Greenwood), but most of all I will miss our house. And that's what brings me to this post.

We absolutely love our house. It was our first house together and a lot of hard work when into it. We would spend hours talking about how we would do the basement, and how our kids would love to play in the backyard. We day dreamed about the future and growing old here. Most of all it was a house of firsts... the most important being that we brought our first baby home here. I know I will be bawling when we leave. 

You never forget your first house, but in case I do, I thought I would post a million pictures of our house so that I can remember it. Warning: Picture Overload!

Here's the front of our house.  

And the view from the back

This huge tree is in our backyard. We will never get a view like this again. One of the things I will miss about Richfield is the view from our backyard.

Our front door

And our piano room. I love sitting in here while Tyler plays the piano.

I love our family room. It is so big and open.

Our fireplace...

I think the thing I love the most about our house is the kitchen. The counter is so big and perfect for me to make huge messes when I cook, the cabinets were custom made just the way I wanted them, and the windows looking out over the sink are perfect when I do dishes (or I should say when Tyler does the dishes!)

This is the desk where I am sitting right now blogging.

Right off the kitchen is our half bath.

And off to the other side is our laundry room. Tyler said that this is where I should spend the majority of my day. I just laughed

This is the back door to our garage.

Going the other way is the hallway to our bedrooms.

This is the guest room. The in-laws stay here when the come to visit.

And Makayla's nursery. I love that she is sitting in the chair while I took pictures!

Next to Kay-Kay's room is her bathroom.

It just makes me smile to see her little robe hanging on the door.

Next is the master bedroom (Tyler makes me call it this because he said this is where the master lives... again I just laugh at him!)

What girl can't love the walk in closet?

My second favorite room in the house is our master bathroom. I love the double sink so I don't have to share with Tyler.

And I love our big tub, but I'll admit, it is a pain to clean.

Tyler has said before his favorite room in the house is the shower. He did the tile work all himself and it took a long time to get it just right. But the finished product is something amazing. I have such a talented husband!!

Our basement isn't finished, but like I said before, we had big plans for what we would do when we finished it.

This was going to be a theatre room someday.

And last but not least, our garage.

I love our house and Richfield and I am going to be so sad to leave it, but as hard as it is to move away, we are excited for our new adventures in Salt Lake. We're excited for our new jobs, searching for a new house to call home, and most of all  to be closer to our families, and to raise our family where we grew up.

Just Sayin'

Sometimes being a diva is hard work...

Just Sayin...

A few highlights from May

Makayla just seems to get cuter by the day. Here are a few highlights from May with our cute 4 month old:

Makayla might be her name, but we like to call her by one of her many nicknames:  Kaylers, Punkin, Stinky Bugs, Kay-Kay, Little Missy, or Miss Makayla

I had to go back to work for a month before summer break. I think that was the hardest thing for me. I just couldn't imagine leaving her for 8  hours. The first two weeks were really hard because she wouldn't eat at daycare. We thought she was set taking a bottle, but when she went to daycare, she suddenly stopped. The babysitter was so patient with her and after two weeks, she suddenly started taking it again, and we haven't had any problems since.

Makayla is still the best baby. She hardly ever cries. She smiles a lot and squeals when we get her out of her crib in the morning.

Makayla loves her daddy. She gets the biggest smile when he gets home. Everyone says Makayla looks exactly like Tyler, and I have to agree. It's a good thing I gave birth to her, otherwise we might wonder if I was the mom! :)

Makayla loves to eat her fingers. She always seems to be slobbering all over them.

 Tyler's aunt coaches softball for Texas A & M. She sent us some A & M shirts so we took a few pictures to wish her luck at the tournament.

 Makayla is starting to get more strength in her arms and head and can hold herself up for a little bit. About two weeks ago she rolled over from her stomach to her back. We got so excited and got the video camera out to record it. She did it three more times for the camera, but since then she hasn't rolled over.

 Check out her bald spot... just like her daddy! :) All of her hair has fallen out except for this small patch of hair at the back. We tried telling her that mullets were not in style, but she didn't listen. Within the last few days she has started to sprout new hair. I can't wait until I can do her hair in little pigtails.

 Makayla is still a good sleeper. When I went back to work, she started waking up in the night to eat. I complain about having to wake up at 3, but honestly I look forward to that time. Makayla just snuggles right up to me to eat and after about 20 minutes, she is asleep again.

 This little kiddo can sleep anywhere. I can't imagine this was very comfortable, though.

We keep thinking spring is on its way, but it keeps fooling us. She did get to wear her cute summer outfit one day.

 We got Makayla a cute walker the other day... I think she likes it!

We love our little girl!

Memorial Day Weekend

We spent Memorial day weekend at Hanna Land. It was so much fun! It was Makayla's first time up there and I think she had just about as much fun as we did. We headed up on Friday after I got off work (It was my last day of teaching for a few months... now I get to spend everyday with my adorable little girl!). The drive normally takes a little over three hours, but will our little stink bug and a small detour because of the closed road, it ended up taking us a little over 4 hours. But once we got there, we had a absolute blast. Here's some of the fun things we did this weekend...

We went on a 4-weeler ride. It was Makayla's first time on a 4-weeler.

 The kids played on the swing set. Makayla spent about an hour in the swing and dozed off for a little nap.

 Colton is such a good cousin; he pushed Kay-Kay (that's what he calls her) on the swing.

We had a Hanna Hangball and horseshoe tournament. As usual I was out the first round. Maybe I need to start practicing.

 Makayla got spoiled because everyone wanted to hold her and play with her. This was Uncle Bruce's turn.

 We liked to chill and watch all the other people play games.

 Makayla and Daddy took a nap. Tyler really was asleep, but by the time I got my camera he woke up, so I made him fake sleep for my picture.

 There were about 25 people staying at The Land this time. Of course there was a lot of food! Everyone brought snacks and goodies.

 The weather wasn't the best, so we spent a lot of time inside playing games and watching movies.

 When the weather got better, we headed out for a walk. Karly likes to pose for the camera! :) We don't know for sure, but we think we might have a model in the family!

 You would think it was winter by the way we were all bundled up.

 At night we would all sit around the campfire to talk, play games, and sing songs.

 We look forward to going to The Land every year and being with our family.

Hopefully the next time we head up there it will be a little warmer! Happy Memorial Day!

My First Mother's Day

I absolutely LOVE being a mom. It really is the best job in the world (really it's not a job when you have an adorable little girl like Makayla). People told me before we had her how much our lives would change. People sometimes made it seem like the change would be difficult. Honestly, the change has been so good. I love taking care of her. I love that she smiles at me and squeals when I wake her up in the morning. I love rocking her to sleep. I love that sometimes she just wants me. And I love that I am her MOM!

Makayla and Tyler spoiled me by giving me some flowers and a cd. We also went to dinner that night at one of our favorite restaurants. I feel so lucky to have such a great husband and daughter!

 Being a new mom makes me think of my mom. She is the BEST!  I never had any sisters growing up so I always considered my mom my best friend. We used to go shopping and to Taco Time together almost every Saturday, and I loved spending time with her. My mom is the funniest person and can make me laugh so hard. Sometimes all we have to do is look at each other and know what the other person is thinking. Now that we live in Richfield, we don't get to do as many things, so we have to spend most of our time catching up on the phone. My mom is the first person I call when I have a question and she is always there to give me good advice. She has helped me through so many things in my life.. good and bad. But most importantly, my mom is the best example to me. She taught me how to be a good person, and I look up to her so much. I just hope I can be as good of a mom to Makayla as my mom has been to me.  Love you Mom!

And I just have to say a little bit about my mother-in-law, Terry. Terry is the best mother-in-law anyone could ask for! Terry and my mom set me and Tyler up on our first date, so without her, I wouldn't have met and married Tyler! :) Terry has been the best example to us and we look up to her so much. Thank you for raising such a good son who takes such good care of our little family.  Thank you for always being so thoughtful and calling everyday just to see how we're doing. We love everything that you do for us and appreciate it so much!