Moving Away

So when we were planning on moving to Arizona months ago, we told Jared that if he caught a lizard we would let him keep it.

Well. I got lucky and he never caught a lizard. That is until two days before we were planning on moving.

It was so tiny. After one day it had enough of the jar it was in and I convinced my kind hearted Jared to set it free.

Here is the little fella.



This is how we found Novalee on one of our packing days.

She has no fear.

Just for fun. "Sisters"

When you're moving sometimes you just have to eat your cheesecake and little sausages outside. :)



All packed up Monday November 8th, we spent the night in Casa Grande. But then Jared, Sadie and I got up super early and drove to Tucson, so Jared could go to school one more day there.

Jared brought cupcakes for his class.


This little girl, "Kylie" held Jared's hand going outside and then jumped into this picture with him. It was kind of cute.
After cupcakes, everyone took turns saying why they liked about Jared. It was really sweet.

Sadie had her two month check up that day too.

Look how peaceful she is just sleeping while we waited for our turn with the doctor.



She was 12.1 pounds and 23 3/4 inches long.

And she got SHOTS!

What we left behind in Arizona.

Bye Bye pool side.

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On our way to Utah we stopped at Montezuma's Castle.

Here's one of the fam, just outside the park.



I loved seeing trees again! And look at all the Fall colors!




Here's the castle.


Perhaps not grand, but definitely neat.



Sadie's been to a lot of places already and she's only two months old.

She can add the Marble Canyon to the list now too.



I think Jared will love this picture when he is older. It's pretty cool!


On the way to Bountiful, we got to spend a few nights with Grandma Beatty in Hurricane. It was great to get to meet her and visit for a couple of days. I thought it was great that we got a picture of this...

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While there we went to Zion's National Park (We love our annual National Park Pass).

Can you tell our camera is on a timer? Wes is counting, he will be forever captured saying, "twoooooooo." :)



Here are some more pictures of our hike.

Now I know that Novalee is my daughter and therefore I am bias. I also know that a person's looks aren't that important. But you can't deny that she is charming. I just love her!

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We made it to Bountiful without any real issues. We loved our apartment as soon as we saw it. I just love everything about Bountiful! I was giddy for the first three days or so we were here about the whole thing. I probably even squealed a few times. (I try to stay pretty even mannered most of the time). :)

Anyways, in case you were wondering, we're really happy here.

I have photos of it here but seeing as it is after 10pm and sleep is precious when you have an infant, they will probably have to wait for another day and another post.

Goodbye Tucson, I'll Miss You

I wasn't really sure how I would feel about living in Arizona. I kind of had a poor opinion of this desert state from previous visits. But I have to say that it has grown on me and I will miss being here.

I am going to miss the blue, blue skies and the pretty mountains.

I'm going to miss the lovely warm weather, swimming in a pool in November and looking up at the palm trees.

I will miss the lovely stucco homes. (The idea of someday buying a wood siding home after living here is no longer something I look forward to.)

I don't think I will miss our apartments at all.

I won't miss the smokers, that we call neighbors, that have probably significantly increased my chances of developing cancer.

I won't miss sales taxes. (Mainly because Utah has them too but also because they are just plain annoying. Talk about ruining a good coupon or sale.)

Arizona you have been an experience and I am grateful for it.

I am grateful for our little Sadie lady, who was born here.

I'm grateful I got to see Wes excited about being in a place he loves.

I'm grateful for the experiences Wes gained from working with Dr. Edmonds here.

I'm grateful that our family got to go see so many things while we were here.

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In a few short days we will be saying, "Hello Utah!"



Predicted temperature highs are about half of what they have been here. 46 degrees!

What a difference! We will no longer be turning on a fan at night so we can sleep, instead we will be pulling out the wool socks and sweaters. :)

Sadie's 8 Weeks

I can't believe Sadie is already 8 weeks, yesterday.

The crazy thing is she started doing new things for the first time yesterday. Like she just knew she was at a milestone or something.

The first thing she tried out was staying up all day. Seriously. I think she had 15 minute naps all day and with long stretches in between. Normally she sleeps all morning and afternoon until 4pm and then wakes up and stays up until like 9-11pm and then sleeps again.

Hopefully this new routine doesn't become a habit because I didn't get much done yesterday.

The second thing she started doing is, when she is laying on her back she brings her two little feet up in the air and then she brings them together and waits and waits until the weight of her legs pulls her to one side or the other. So she has figured out a way to roll to her side.

At one point last night when I checked on her I even found that she had rolled over onto her tummy. What is that all about? I'm hoping it was a one time deal for a while because she can't really hold her head up that well. Last night when I found her, her head was face down in the pack N play stuck in the corner. Stinker. Totally worried me for the rest of the night.

She also just started talking to her mobile. It is so cute to hear her squeak at it. :)

Anyways, here are some photos of her smiling and her fun hair from this last week.





And her is some from yesterday.

Look how big she is getting!

Wes and Sadie studying together.

Wes even reads his optometry material aloud to her sometimes.

I'm not sure what his reasoning is. Whether it is because it is so boring he is hoping it will put her to sleep or if he finds it so exciting that he hopes to intellectually stimulate her. Either way you can see what she thinks about it. :)

Do you like our fancy home interior designs. Cardboard box wall art and Carseat/kennel side table.

We sure know how to decorate. :)

You All Know This Saying, Right?

We've all heard the saying "We live to work, we work to live?"

Well what about "I eat to workout, I workout to eat?"

I've been trying to workout more regularly to shed some pounds after having Sadie. But I haven't even weighed myself since I started working out, mainly because I eat a ton. And that "ton" is stuff like this...





Let's see, today I had:
Two candy bars
Three sodas, that's embarrassing to admit to.
And Yes, Three Big Wheels Ice Cream bars.

I don't know what is wrong with me. I have never eaten so poorly before in my entire life.

But I am kind of in denial. Part of me wants to believe that the it's all equaling out. Perhaps I should go weigh myself for a little more motivation to eat healthier...maybe not. :)

A Lost Art, Well Many In Fact

I always feel a little bit bugged when I think of all the things I don't know how to do that were pretty much common place about 40 or 50 years ago.

In general I really want to be as self sufficient as possible which prompted my most recent baking attempt.

Homemade Pumpkin Pie from a Pumpkin. I love making Libby's but what about if there was no Libby's Pumpkin Pie Filling?

Now when I thought about doing this, I really didn't know there are actually pumpkins grown for baking, so mine was a pumpkin grown to be this.



Here I am scooping the pumpkin clean.



Here it is after baking in the oven for about 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees.



Pre-baked



If you can't tell, I'm feeling pretty proud of myself.




Everyone ate it, so that's a good sign.



Here is the website I got most of the instructions from.

http://www.pickyourown.org/pumpkinpie.php

Now that I have homemade pumpkin pie down, I'm kind of thinking it would be neat to make my own soap, learn how to can foods, learn how to make shoes, and learn how to spin wool into thread and then weave it into fabric and then make a shirt from it. But I'll have to save those things for another day. ;)

Now don't forget to look at the post below this one for our Halloween Adventures. :)

Halloween Fun

This Halloween we got to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa Crockett at their ward Halloween Trunk or Treat. The kids had so much fun making the loop (in Jared's case several times) around the cars collecting candy. Here are some of the photos from Casa Grande.

















The Spoils





Our cute little pink...um...something. We're still not sure what the costume is supposed to be. But hey, when you get it secondhand you can't complain.











Oh and while we were in Casa Grande, we went to the Casa Grande Ruins. Probably the only touristy thing there is to do in Casa Grande. I guess there is a mall...


Sadie in her sunglasses. So fun!



You can just see what she is thinking, "No, I'm not touching anything."





It was pretty sunny.











And on Sunday we did break down and go trick or treating for a while.





One of those rare moments when excitement and happiness are so high that the kids will do almost anything you ask them. Including hug each other (without complaints).



More teeth rot.



We hope you all had a great Halloween!