Weekend Recap

My mom and sister Amy were here last weekend and we had a great time! My little sister Heidi had her Sophomore Piano Recital at BYU on Thursday so they came out for that. She did an AMAZING job and it was so fun to be there and hear such great music! She had a HUGE crowd (~250) and she did so great!

Amy and my mom both flew in on Thursday afternoon and then they were here until Saturday evening. Friday we had a great time bonding. :) We went out to lunch with my grandparents and all the aunts on my dad's side. It was fun to chat and have "girl time" (plus Eli and my Grandpa). That evening Heidi came up and we had a yummy dinner all together and then had fun again just chatting the night away (and eating ice cream - thank you Jeremy for running to the store!) Saturday we went on a walk around the neighborhood and put up fliers about our house for sale and then we just hung around until they had to leave that evening.

It was so fun to see them and to just enjoy a relaxing weekend together. Eli keeps randomly saying "Grandma!" and "Amy!" since they've left. :( It's really cute, but sad he doesn't see them more often! But today his other Grandma (Grammy) is coming! Yep, Hotel Nowland is up and at it again. Jeremy's mom comes today and his dad comes on Friday because his cousin is getting married on Saturday. Then after they leave, we'll only have a few weeks until my mom comes again for the baby! Crazy.

So that's what we've been up to. Sunday was a GORGEOUS day. We went on a walk in the afternoon and then sat outside and soaked up the sun while Eli played. It was heavenly. Then yesterday, Eli and I decorated sugar cookies (he loves to help do anything related to cooking/baking/helping me in the kitchen - very cute)...

... and then we went on a family date to Red Robin. My mom was sweet and sent us a Valentine's package with some cute candy and a giftcard to Red Robin! Awesome. We've also had some interest in our house, which is exciting, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens! It's a little stressful trying to keep the house spotless, but we're surviving!

So that's the short version of what we've been up to. I forgot to mention earlier that our talks in Stake Conference went well! We both spoke 2 weekends ago (1st weekend of February) in the Adult Session and we felt really good about it and got a lot of nice feedback. Then on Sunday I directed the Stake Choir and that went really well too! Whew. I'm glad that's all over. :) That was the same week we put our house up for sale and so it was a busy week! Anyway, so that's it! I'll try and stay updated more often from now on, but we'll see what happens...

Hi Gwampa!

Yesterday was my dad's birthday. Happy Birthday Dad! So after dinner we called him and sang Happy Birthday to him. Of course, while we were on the phone, Eli wouldn't say a word, but after we hung up, he kept trying to call him on the phone, saying "Hi Gwampa". We managed to get a couple cute videos, but the funniest was before (which I didn't get) when he somehow pushed the button on my cellphone that turns on the "Voice Activation" thing. The lady said "Please say a command" and "Would you like to send a message" and he kept saying "[jabber-something] Gwampa". It was cute.

Anyway, so Happy Birthday Dad! Sorry Eli didn't say this to you on the phone. :)

Cute Kid

Through all this talk of moving/house-selling/school-going/talk-writing stuff, I haven't mentioned lately how great a kid Eli is. He is such a good boy and has been my good buddy these past few weeks as things have been really crazy. He's always eager to "help" me clean or do whatever projects need to be done. He's luckily very obedient and he's such a ham. He makes us laugh all the time and we love him so much!

Here he is wearing Jeremy's safety glasses. He thought that was pretty cool.

He's also talking a ton which has made it even easier to communicate lately. I feel so grateful we've reached this point before the baby comes. I just feel like we understand each other a lot better and I can explain things to him much easier than even a few months ago.

Anyway, I have a lot more I could say, but I just wanted to say I'm grateful for a boy who brings so much joy to our lives! Here are a few more pictures from last Saturday when we bundled up to go wash the window screens outside (I know, exciting stuff).

We're excited for the next little boy to arrive!