Rest of our Utah Trip, September 2016- Cousins and Friends

We loved our time with the cousins and friends when we were in Utah!

Cora loves her bear backpack leash. She wanted to hike the Y that way.

 But she only made it that far before they had to turn back.

 Bethany's first official hike to the Y as a cougar!

 Graham and Cora LOVED eating the peaches off great grandpa's peach tree.

 Graham really wanted Cora's bottle.

 Hugs.

 We got to visit (the outside of) the Provo City Center temple! Notice poor Cora's feet. Her shoes from the wedding cut huge blisters into the back of one foot (ankle roll problems) so she had to wear socks and ace bandages for a while.

 Poor baby.

 

 Then Cora got a fever and was sick for a few days.

 It was so fun to see Jamie and Clay and meet baby Abigail! Cora was more than happy to run around the park, and got super hot and sweaty.

 I also got to see my old roommate Lindsay who I haven't seen in SIX years. Cora was obviously thrilled.

 Not a cousin picture, but still cute.

 They liked the old Provo Library. I was dying from the construction and death traps.

 It was fun going to pupusas in Provo.

Cora loves having so many other people around her to play with. So did I!

DK Wedding!

Beginning of September we had the chance to see Dallin and Krystel get married! It was a great time.

Cora and I flew out first, since Brandon couldn't get out there until the morning of the wedding. Thank goodness for an afternoon sealing time!

Cora was a doll in her wedding dress. She had a great time.

 It was so fun to see everyone gathered in Grandma and Grandpa Myres' backyard. Lots of friends and family there to wish the new couple well.

 The sealing was beautiful. I have seen my grandpa perform 3 sealings now, and I love it every time. I got a little teary at the end thinking about how I wanted my dad to be there, and he wasn't able to. It brought up the lyric "Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven".

Now see naughty Dane in the corner? He had the idea to hide behind that pillar and run out to tickle Krystel when they came out. Nobody knew until he did it. It was hilarious!

 

 See there he goes!

 Cora got scared of the loud cheering,

Cora was a joy to work with during family pictures. 

Luckily she sat with Grandma while we took some bridesmaid pictures and took a little nap. We found out her shoes rubbed huge blisters into her feet, so that was a poor parenting moment on our parts.

 The luncheon made us laugh and cry, and then Dallin's "groomsboyz" (BFFs from high school) decorated his car.

  I will write about the rest of our trip next!

A little about Brandon and I as adults.

So while we are obsessed with Cora and our lives revolve around her, here are a few things we are doing that don't involve her.

Did I mention I started a master's program? I did! I'm almost 6 months in, in fact. It has been hard but it is something that I want to do. I am getting my master's in special education. It is something that I feel will help me through these first couple of years of being a stay-at-home parent. It is hard sometimes, finding creative things to do. I just have one more paper to turn in by the end of the month.

I also have started teaching piano lessons for the ward. It has been a nice little job, and people have been SO kind as to let me work around Brandon's schedule as he is in the ER rotation. The only frustrating thing has been when people don't communicate when they aren't coming and I am left hanging. I feel badly because I have to have someone in the bishopric come and unlock the door. But it has been enough to make our car and credit card payments for the month! I am going to keep working as much as I can before we move,
While working with piano lessons has been a blessing, we were praying that I could find some job that I could work while we are in California for a few weeks after we leave Florida, and then when we are moving somewhere else. Well, a week or so ago a teacher I worked with reached out to me and told me about a job she started in the mornings teaching English to kids in China online. I jumped on the application and got hired last night! I just need to turn in a few more documents and I will be ready to go! The only tricky part is I need to work 7.5 hours a week during their peak hours which is 6-10 AM Florida time. Which means when we go to Utah for Dallin's wedding in a few weeks I would need to work an hour and a half a day between the hours of 4-8 AM. So I am trying to find a Starbucks or something nearby so I can have good Wifi. But this is such an answer to prayers!

I am crocheting again and trying to sell things online. I found a niche in the Pokemon stuffed animals market, so hopefully those sales pick up more!
https://www.etsy.com/shop/CamillesCrochet?ref=hdr_shop_menu

And Brandon got a job as a TA for the fall! It is only about 2 hours a week, so not much money but it looks GREAT on a resume.

We are just getting ready to fly to Utah at the end of the month for Dallin and Krystel's wedding!
And one more thing with Cora. We are going to Ecuador this fall! I got Cora's passport all ready, and we are so excited to go there and spend time with Grandma and Papa and Cole and see what they are doing.

Cora's mugshot passport picture.

Cora's Quarterly Report- 15 months

I miss doing the monthly updates on Cora. Even though I know I missed a few and I need to go back and see what I wrote about her, I like doing the little updates. So here is our little lovey at 15 months!
1) Cora is still afraid of the ocean. Stinker. She doesn't even like being held when WE are standing in the water. She is getting better and sometimes crawls down to the water, but she always gets knocked down and then this happens:

2) We are definitely getting more into the toddler phase of life. There are random tantrums everywhere. The hardest part is that it happens at church every week now. Which is rough when Brandon is at work (just for the last few rotations) and I am there by myself with her. But we survive!

3) Cora is walking EVERYWHERE. When we go to the park she usually doesn't even want to play, she just wants to walk and walk and walk and walk... she is a pioneer child. She is our only child to learn to walk on the beach. How sad! She is also beginning to run, which is even better. Those tiny chubby toes just can't move fast enough!

4) I will have to find a video, but Cora is obsessed with animals. Every time she sees a dog or bird or horse or fish or whatever she makes the same noise... it sounds like a pigeon. She is so cute like that.

5) She is really babbling a lot. Her favorite word is "wowowowowow", but she has found her tongue and throws random L sounds in there too. It is so cute. She only has 2 words that she repeats that we can understand- "Baba" (always whispered) and "Nuhnuhnuh" for banana. Her 2 favorite foods. She has said "Boo" for blueberry a few times, and has signed "more" and "all done" randomly. But never consistently... I don't know where she gets her strong opinions from.

6) She is definitely just 1 nap a day now. It is usually between 1 1/2-2 hours long in the afternoon, which is long enough for me to do some school work, or read, or clean, or do none of those and nap. Her bedtime is between 7:30-8 most nights, and she is working on getting off the dang "baba" and drinking out of a sippy cup before bed. But she can put herself to sleep just fine 95% of the time which is HUGE!

7) She laughs at herself! One of her favorite things to do is to lay her head back on the couch (she is so short she can do that while standing) and talk to herself with her hands and randomly giggle. "Heh heh". I NEED to get it on tape.

8) She is STILL obsessed with bath time. She runs over as fast as she can and screams with joy until we put her in the tub. And then she stands up in the tub and begins to walk around. Which is much more stressful than crawling in the tub.

She is so big now! My red-haired (still) child, who was so tiny and is now so big and tries to be independent but still loves to snuggle.

Cora's Car Seat Pictures- Month by Month

So when we got home from the hospital with our teeny tiny newborn, we put her down in her carseat and just laughed at how tiny she was. Then we took this picture.

Can we just notice the fail of how her leg is sticking through the arm hole? Man, we were the most clueless parents. She was SO TINY!

One of the things I wanted to do was take a picture month by month for the first year. Which is what the cute quilt pictures are. But I didn't take a picture of her when she was tiny on the quilt, which makes me so sad! Because she grew 2 inches and gained 3.5 pounds in those first few weeks. It isn't the same. But anyway, I decided to take pictures of her in her car seat to show her growth.

1 month:

2 months:

3 months:

4 months:

5 months:

6 months:

7 months:

8 months:

9 months:

10 months:

Believe it or not, she still has 3 inches and 10 pounds to go before she outgrows the car seat!
11 months:

12 months *Actually about 14.5 months, last day before we transferred her to her new carseat:

I can't believe she is already that big!

The end of an era.

So when I started this blog, I titled it "California Dreaming?" because I was in the dead of the winter in Idaho and wanted nothing more than to go back to Green Hollow and be in the warmth. That then became the tag for all my posts about going home, because I didn't realize at the time that I would have inlaws in California as well. So a more accurate title would be "Irvine Dreaming?"

But I digress. Last summer my parents told us that they had bought a new house and were going to move into it later that summer. We were all indignant, especially the ones who had already moved out of the house. I was a week away from turning 10 when we moved in, and while we knew they weren't going to live there forever it still didn't seem fair! They said they were going to rent the house out, which made the blow a little easier.

Then with the mission call everything got pushed back. Then they told us they were going to sell the house. It was so sad to realize that was it. 16 years in that house!

Well, the day finally came and went. My parents are in the MTC now, and off to Ecuador on Tuesday.

And while all of this seems surreal (my word of the week), it will be sad to go back to Irvine and not drive up Culver to Meadowood, and turn onto Canyonwood, and go through that gate and to that little cul de sac that never had enough parking in it (because not everyone utilized their driveways).

I mean to say there are so many memories there doesn't even seem adequate. I went to school there from 5th grade on. I had many MANY crushes during that time, a "few" dating interests, many tears and even more laughs, learned to drive, crashed a car and got a speeding ticket, toilet papered some houses, went off to college, brought home a guy who I later married, and I'm SO glad I got to bring Cora back there. Even though she won't remember that house, at least we have pictures.

My mom took this picture after their last walk through. I've stayed in every single room there, but that middle room on the second floor is my special place. Sorry Dallin, but it was mine first!

I was also sad that we had to give Murphy to a new home. Murph was always sitting right outside the door and loved all attention. Except when it was given by things (babies) smaller than him. He was our special connection to aunt Julie, whom we miss so much. But he is in a good home with other dogs to play with and he gets to come inside their house. What more could he want? He is already 11 so he probably won't be there when we come back. Which is so sad. We love Murph.

I KNOW our family will be blessed for my parents serving as mission presidents. I KNOW it. And as long as those blessings help us have employment and be financially independent then bring it on! (as if I could dictate that.) But I am still so sad about all these changes. We will miss 1 Green Hollow, just like the older kids miss 57 Lindburg too.