Is it Spring yet?

So it's been awhile...again.  We've had some crazy weather lately.  Highs in the low 50s and sunny one day and snow and 20s the next.  I'm beginning to get whiplash.  This has been a totally mild winter and yet I'm still ready for it to be over.  My friend Mary and I took our boys (she has 2 too) to the zoo last week on one of those rare sunny days and it was amazing! I felt like the weak bear emerging from hibernation.  My body hasn't moved enough this winter so it felt nice to push that giant stroller up and down all the hills at the zoo and breathe the fresh air!

(Picture of Connor at the zoo.  We timed it just about perfectly.  We had about 1.5-2 hours of sun and nice weather and then the last 1/2 hour or so the clouds rolled in and the wind picked up, so I bundled up Connor before we headed out.  We felt a few drops of rain just as we were loading the kids into the car.  Lucky!)

Anyway...moving on.  We had a lovely Valentine's Day.  I made dinner and a cheesecake (see cheesecake here)for my 3 handsome valentines.  What a lucky girl I am!  We decorated sugar cookies a couple different days leading up to the V-day and enjoyed receiving some Valentines in the mail from both sets of grandparents, a great-grandma, and several cousins.  We felt very loved!  My awesome husband wrote me a beautiful love letter that I will keep forever and all in all it was a great day.  Contrary to what the retail world would have us believe, you don't have to spend a lot of money (or any) to make a great Valentine's Day. :)

 

Since then I managed to get laryngitis and both the boys got colds AGAIN.  We have been so sick this winter and I think that's probably the main reason I'm ready to say goodbye to the season.  The boys' pediatrician says it's because we're being exposed to new viruses here in Pittsburgh and we're still getting used to them.  Lovely.  Remind me never to move again. (haha)

Oh, and we also had a playdate with some friends the day after Valentine's day.  These little boys are so incredibly adorable.  They were all born within 2 weeks of each other and they are really fun to watch.  Just today at church (during Sunday School - sorry for the distraction!) they were crawling all around together, giving each other head-bonks and smiles, and having a great time.  They're so cute!

(I tried to get a good picture, but it's near impossible with 3 nearly-one-year-olds).  Connor was born first (in the middle obviously), then on the left is Clark, who was born a week later (don't you love his luscious red locks?!?), and then on the right, with the gorgeous brown eyes, is Moses, who was born 6 days after Clark.  Moses' older brother Joey turns 2 in a couple days and he came over too, so Eli had fun with him.  It's so great to have wonderful friends here!


Eli still loves his legos he got for Christmas.  He plays with them several times a day (any chance he can get if Connor's sleeping and not around to eat them).  And Connor is just as cute as ever!

 Showing me his car he built - all by himself!  I guess he's been paying attention when we make him something.  Smarty-pants.

So that's what we've been doing.  Oh, and we went to the temple yesterday!  Hello, forgot that.  It was a ward temple trip, so we were happy to be there with our fellow ward-members.  It's about 3 hours away (Columbus, OH), so it was a full day of driving, attending the temple, and then driving back.  The boys were pretty good - especially on the drive back, and we had a nice time.

We're very excited for next week when we'll be going on our first real family vacation!  Jeremy finishes his 3rd Mini (like a quarter) next Tuesday and then he has 10 days off for Spring Break.  Woohoo!  We'll be driving up to Niagara Falls, only about 4 hours away, staying on the Canadian side and then driving an hour and a half over to Rochester to stay for a couple nights while we visit the church history sites in Palmyra, NY.  We are very excited!  We have some friends meeting us in Palmyra, so we'll be able to exchange babysitting and attend the temple there too.  It should be a great trip.  We've had a lot of fun planning it and Eli keeps talking about going on a trip to see the big water. :)  And Joseph Smith's bed, since we showed him some pictures of the Smith home.  Haha.  I hope the weather is decent.  That will probably have a big effect on what we actually end up doing, but either way I think we'll have a great time!

Time is flying by!

I cannot believe how fast the last year has gone.  I am completely baffled on the fact that this little guy turns one NEXT MONTH!

I haven't updated about Connor lately, so I thought I better do it before something else changes!  Connor is moving so much these days.  He is crawling like a champ, pulling himself up to stand on pretty much everything and cruising around the furniture, the walls, etc.  He is very curious and I fear he'll be walking all too soon!

Eli actually took this picture.  It's a common sight.  He likes the dishwasher!

Connor is such a happy little guy.  He gets so giddy as he moves around and is just getting so grown up.  I went in the boys' room to get something while Connor was napping one day and found him like this.  Precious!

And he loves to play with the books.

And I had to include this picture.  He loves wrestling with Jeremy & Eli.  He just thinks he's a big boy and I'm starting to realize he is getting there!  He's not going to be a baby much longer. :(

And here are a couple videos.  I've mentioned before how much Connor loves music.  He dances all the time and is always moving when the music is playing.

And here's another.  When Eli was a baby I taught him a few signs and the other day I thought I started thinking about them again, so Eli and I did some of them for Connor.  Well a few days later Connor signed "more"!  It was very cute.  I'm not sure if he knows what it means, but he knows he gets a good reaction from everyone when he does. :)  What a doll.

Oh yeah, we're going to Alabama

So I realized I never shared what we're doing this summer.  I know all of our immediate family knows and probably most of our extended family, but our friends outside of PA probably haven't heard!  So here we go.

Back in October, Jeremy went to an MBA Career Fair thing along with the majority of his classmates and thousands of other people around the country.  He had extremely great success (I can brag, right?) and had 4 interviews (the most in his class that he heard about) and got an offer on the spot.  He then went on to have a couple other 2nd round interviews and - long, story short - in December he accepted an internship at Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation.  Yep, they make helicopters.  Pretty cool, huh? :)

So Sikorsky is headquartered in Connecticut, but his internship will be in...Alabama!  Wow, culture shock, I know.  Neither of us have really spent much time in the south, so it will be an adventure for sure.    We will be in a small town about 45 minutes south of Montgomery, and less than 3 hours from the coast - where supposedly there are some amazing beaches.  (Woohoo!)

We're very excited about it though, and feel like this is an amazing opportunity and a great step for Jeremy.  We're trying to find somewhere to live for 3 months, which is a challenge, but it will be fun!

Here are some fun facts about Alabama (thank you, Wikipedia):

• It was the 22nd state to be admitted into the Union in 1819; in 1861 it seceded from the Union to join the Confederate States of America - then rejoined the Union in 1868 (lots of other history there of course...)
• It is located in the middle of the Bible Belt, being one of the most religious states in the country (Southern Baptist Convention has the highest number of adherents - not too many Mormons!)
• The Center for Disease Control and Prevention shows Alabama as one of the worst in the country for obesity.  Residents are least likely of any state in the nation to exercise....lovely.  We hear they deep-fry, well, everything.
• The climate is humid subtropical.  Summers in Alabama are among the hottest in the US (lucky us!).  It is also very prone to tropical storms, hurricanes, tornadoes....etc....but winters are mild!
• It is home to Maxwell Airforce Base, which is the 3rd highest employer in the state
• They grow cotton, peanuts, corn, peaches, and soybeans
• Property taxes are the lowest in the state - Alabama is ranked the second least tax-burdened state in the country - there's a plus!
• We hear Southern Hospitality is alive and well :)

So it may not be most people's top choice of where to live, but I think it will be great. :)  Now we will have lived on the west coast, the mountain west, the east/midwest (I'm not sure where Pittsburgh fits in there) and the south.  We just want to be well-rounded. :)  It will be an adventure!  He starts the end of May and will work through until the end of August before he starts up school again.  He's excited to get back to having a real-live job and we're both excited to be having an income for a few months. :)  It should be fun!