New Beginnings

We have been so super busy lately and I have not been able to keep up with blogging. We finally found a fantastic house and moved in last weekend. The house was officially ours on May 17th but we didn't have to be out of our apartment until the 31st so I was over there almost everyday working on it. So it is in Roy, just 15 mintues west of where we were living. It's still close to all of our parents too--15 minutes in different directions. It has 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a great fenced in yard and a garage! I knew when all the other houses fell through it was for a reason and we are so glad they did because we love this house. The whole house needed a fresh coat of paint throughout so with the help of some friends I had a few rooms done before we moved in. We also replaced the THREE different kinds of carpet upstairs....it was scary :) Lexi loves all the stairs and has found the fun in rolling things down them, especially her baby doll. She love all the space to run (we don't quite have enough furniture to fill it yet) and she is constantly playing in the backyard on the slide that comes off the deck. Sebastian also loves all the room to run around as well as all the new hiding places to get away from Lexi. Curtis loves our garage and has already filled it with his army crap! I am enjoying all the extra space and storage but I am not going to enjoy cleaning it all. I am also remembering how to mow the lawn...I have not done that in years and with Curtis being gone so much I better learn how.

I have also recently found a job. I believe the day after I said "I am officially done looking until we get into our house", I got a call for an interview and then accepted the position. So here I am part-time at the Ogden City Council's office as the council clerk just doing administrative work for the council members and staff. I am really enjoying it, especially the small staff I work with. I am also really enjoying my time out of the house and being with adults! Thanks to my awesome friend Mandy, I found an amazing lady that watches kids in her home just ten minutes from us. Lexi loves it at Melinda's house. She gets to "play with the kids", have lots of snacks and popcorn (her new favorite) and they play outside a lot which she loves! She also loves going there to have milk in her 'go, diego, go' cup :)

As soon as we get our internet connected at home I will be posting pictures of our place!

Easter

For Easter Lexi and I went to Grandma and Grandpa Allsop's house. We had a great dinner and did an Easter egg hunt. Lexi was not quite getting the concept of the Easter basket. She would carry it to an egg, put it down, pick up an egg in each hand, and then wonder how she was going to pick up more! It was so cute watching her.

Update of our Lives

We have been super busy lately in the hunt to find our first home! We have not had any luck lately either. I have gone through 50+ houses and only a few of which we have thought could be one to call home. We did put an offer on two different houses only to find out that other people did as well and out-bid us. Recently we found a perfect one and we thought for sure it was the one. It was up until last week when it didn't appraise for as much as they were asking. After many days of drama and negotiating we had to walk away from it. So now we are back to where we started and hopefully this time we find something amazing and it all goes very smoothly :)

Curtis is still working in Parachute, CO on the oil rig. He is not loving it--only tolerating it. However he is still doing his army thing which he is really loving and recently got a promotion to Sergeant. When he comes home for the week we are always busy seeing family and friends who don't get to see him often and looking at houses.

Lexi is still getting older really fast. I can't say she is getting bigger because she is still a little peanut :) We went to her 15-month appointment last week and she is barely pushing 20 pounds....still! She is getting older and learning more things really quickly. Her range of vocabulary amazes everyone! You only have to tell her what something is once and she will remember it AND repeat it. She is just so smart! Since it is warming up outside, she had discovered the playground and loves it. We can't wait to get a house with a fenced in yard so she can play outside all day and also get her a puppy to play with....Sebastian doesn't play chase and fetch very well although she has decided he makes a pretty good body pillow :)

I am still staying at home with Lexi....for now. Once we get a house I hope to get a part-time job of some sort just to get me out of the house. I have been busy searching for our house...going out about once a week with our amazing agent looking at about 8 houses each time. I am also still playing hockey on my local women's rec team. Our season is coming to an end in the middle of April but we still have a tournament coming up this weekend in Seattle and then we host our tournament in April. It has been a good year but I am ready for the summer break :) I have also been busy with my new found love for pole fitness! There is a stigma that is attached to pole-anything but I assure you it is not as risque as it might sound....no removal of clothing required :) My friend Kristen and I started taking classes at the beginning of the year and I just can't get enough of it. I do it about twice a week and it has totally started to get me in shape. Since I started I have lost 13 pounds! (I sound like an info-mercial) But really, I have been working on losing weight since my wedding and all together I have lost 20 pounds so I am very proud of myself for working my butt off to shed some pounds and inches :)

Sebastians new favorite hangout...good thing I

was paying attention when I went to close the door!

Parade of Homes

Curtis and I got the chance to take a little weekend getaway with our friends, Ashley and Steve, to go see the Parade of Homes in St. George. We stayed in Mesquite for a couple nights and during the day we went and saw all the homes. We had so much fun! They were absolutely amazing! Some of them were ridiculously large and museum-like but most of them were just beautiful. With a few of them having a price tag between 1and 5 million dollars, we kept asking ourselves what these people do to make that kind of money! I have never had the pleasure of experiencing St. George and all it's beauty but now I see why people retire/vacation/live down there.

These are pictures of the view I took standing on the back patio

at the built-in bar/grill of my favorite house.

I could get used to roasting marshmallows

and swimming with these surroundings :)

With only huge glass floor-to-ceiling windows between the great room and this magnificent scenery, I see where the phrase "million dollar view" comes from....I would pay for it!

Hockey Trip to Craig

At the beginning of February, I had a hockey tournament in Craig, CO. It is about a 6 hour drive so I packed up Lexi, my sister Christine, and our hockey gear for a little road trip. This was Lexi's second road trip, the last being to Jackson Hole when she was only six weeks old so I was definitely nervous to see how she would do. I was pleasantly surprised that she was great until the last hour both on the way there and back; however, I couldn't blame her....we were all anxious to get out of the car by then. Our team did ok winning 2 games and losing 2 games, but still it was a fun trip!

Lexi and me after one of my games

Lexi all bundled up and cheering us on!

New Pictures of Lexi

We took Lexi to get her pictures taken during the week of her birthday. We haven't had them done since she was 10 days old! They turned out so cute. She is definitely one of the cutest babies I have seen :)

Remember 1 year ago?

Now she is 1 year old!

My favorite

I just can't believe how big she has gotten in one year. I also can't believe that it has been a whole year! She started walking around Thanksgiving and has not stopped since. She just looks to small to be walking...she is really petite. At her one year doctor visit she was only 17 pounds 11 ounces which is only the 10th percentile compared to other babies her age! She eats like a maniac so she clearly has her dad's metabolism. Right now her vocabulary consists of mama, dada, pupup (puppy/baby), zizzy (kitty), all duh (all done), wassat (what's that-her first words), up, ni ni (good night), na na (food/hungry), ouch, hot, and of course NO, although she thinks it more of a song "no no no". We love to turn on music and dance...she dances to EVERYTHING and she has got more dance moves than me! We are looking forward to this next year with her to see her grow and learn so much more.

Lexi's 1st Birthday

We celebrated Lexi's birthday last month and it was so much fun! We rented out our local ice skating rink so friends and family could come ice skate and have cake and ice cream with us. Lexi's cake was so cute and once she realized that she could eat it and it tasted good she dug right in and ate lots of frosting! She also got major spoiled with presents.

Cute cake Grandma Val picked out!

Umm whose birthday is this?

Lexi with all her presents

It was so great getting some of our friends and family all together to celebrate with us. This year with Alexis has been amazing. We love to watch her grow and learn and she is always making us laugh. Being a parent is no easy job but it is completely worth seeing her smile and laugh....we are loving it!