Pretty in Pink

I can't believe how much our little girl has changed over the past few weeks. She is so much fun and such a blessing to our family. She's 8 weeks old today and will be officially 2 months old on Friday.

4 Weeks

5 Weeks

6 Weeks

This is her "Poop Face."

7 Weeks

Somehow between 6 and 7 weeks, she gained, like, 2 pounds. Look at those chipmunk cheeks. I love them.

8 Weeks

When One Door Closes...

Mike and I left Washington State on Sunday and started our 3-and-a-half week long move to Washington DC. Because of Army bureaucracy and the fact that they typically make their servicemembers move at around the exact same time, movers couldn't be scheduled to get our stuff until the 27th of July--2 weeks after we had to start our drive.

As I went back into the house for one last look to make sure we got everything we were going to take, I happened to see a quilt my mom made for Sophia on the couch. I was hit with such a wave of sadness that I couldn't keep the tears back. I can't tell you how heart-wrenching it was to drive off and leave all our stuff behind and wonder if I'll ever see it again. I know they're just possessions, but they're OUR possessions, filled with memories and nostalgia. I wonder if that's how Sariah felt when she and Lehi packed up a few belongings and set off with their entire family to parts unknown. This has certainly been a test of my faith. At least Mike and I know where we're going and, barring a crises, we will get our things back. But just in case, I hurried and grabbed the quilt before locking up the house. I just couldn't leave it behind with everything else.

It was harder to leave Washington than I anticipated. I had a wonderful three years there. I arrived single and left married to the most amazing, wonderful man and with a beautiful little daughter. My family relationships now extend to the best in-laws that anyone could ever ask for. I have made friendships that I will treasure forever. Career-wise, I have found the perfect fit for me and I couldn't imagine being anything else.

I'm sure our time in Washington DC will be just as happy. We have a house waiting for us. I've met my coworkers and I already like them. The area is rich with culture and history. And Mike and I have many friends there that we just haven't met yet. There are some great memories in DC just waiting for us to make them.

Playing Catch-Up, the Sequel

FEBRUARY
After returning home from Matt and Felicia's wedding, we spend a couple of days at Portland. Mike wanted to go to the mall to pick up a pair of pants..

...or so he said.

When we got married, we only had the diamond ring.  We felt it stood on its own well enough and it didn't have a matching band, anyway. Besides, a lot of couples only have one diamond ring and forego the band, especially if the wedding ring is decorative enough. Apparently, not everyone got that memo. I got tired of correcting people when they asked when I was getting married, including one well-meaning busybody who sat next to me on our way home from Disneyworld a year ago and implied that we were living in sin for sharing a hotel room.

I expressed my desire to Mike to get a band at some point.  We had even stopped by the jeweler where we got the ring and found one that looked good but didn't order it. We just kept the information on file so that one day we could just call up and have the ring sent to us...like around our 5th wedding anniversary or something.

I didn't suspect anything when Mike said he heard there was a sale on pants at the Nordstroms in the mall with the jewelry store where we got the ring. I remained blissfully unaware that anything was going on when Mike suggested we go into the jewelry store to try on more bands. I didn't catch on that something was up even when I told Mike that I didn't want to try on more bands but he insisted we go in, anyway.  I didn't pay attention to the jeweler behind the counter who disappeared to the back when he saw us because I was too busy explaining to Mike that I wanted THE band I had tried on before and no other. It also escaped me that he came back and surreptitiously handed something to Mike just as I was preparing to leave.

I was explaining to Mike what I liked about the other band when he pulled our a ring and said, "You mean like this one?" and slipped it on my finger. It turns out he had called the jeweler back and ordered the ring, then set it up with them so that it would be a surprise when we picked it up.  And it was.

Now nobody asks me when the wedding is and I have reaffirmed what I already knew: I'm married to the most wonderful guy in the world!

I was going to continue my catch-upping, but I'm putting that off today. (See comment about procrastination in previous blog post.) The reason is that there's another post that I want to write about today that simply couldn't wait.

Our move is coming up. The Army couldn't schedule movers before we're leaving for DC, which is beyond stressful for me. Awesome Emily and another woman in the ward said that they would be able to be here when the movers come, but the fact that we take off and leave all our stuff behind is causing significant anxiety. I've been trying to get some stuff packed into bins this week, since I won't be here to oversee the movers doing it. 

While I was going through one of our closets, I found a calendar from 2010. I was about to trash it, but I decided to open it up instead. I found the following notation on the calendar:

This was January 31, 2010, our first official date where Mike drove up from Newberg to my apartment where we made soup together, watched a movie, and had our first kiss. :) The rest of the calendar was filled with other cute notations reminding him of dates we were to go on and when he was supposed to get off work early to drive up to see me. My favorite is this one:

July 3rd was Mike's and my 2nd anniversary. It was very hard to celebrate it in style because Sophia saps up the majority of our time and energy and what's left goes into moving and work. Steve and Emily were so kind to watch our baby girl for a few hours while we took in dinner and a movie. We saw Brave, which I highly recommend. It was wonderful to be together--just the two of us. 

When I saw Mike's cute little calendar reminders, I got all warm and gooey inside. I married such a sweet, romantic man. He makes me a homemade birthday cake then worries that he hasn't done a good job. He randomly comes up and kisses me. His face lights up when I walk in the room just to sit by him. He watches Sophia so that I can nap. He gives me a wake-up call from my nap with the following heart-melting picture:

Thank you for two wonderful years, Mike. You are the best husband anyone could ask for. Happy 2nd anniversary. 

Oh, and here's a gratuitous Sophia picture:

Playing Catch-Up

OK, so if there's one thing I know about, it's procrastination. It's one of my special talents. There are several things that have happened since last October that I never got around to doing for various and sundry reasons, most of which tie in with pregnancy somehow.  I am now going to do an epic epistle blog post to catch myself up.

Why update all of this now, you ask. Well, last week when Mom, Dad, Matt, and Felicia were visiting, we all played a game called "Things." You pick a topic card. Everyone comes up with an answer that fits that topic then you try to guess who said what. One of the topics was "things that are better late than never." The answer I gave was "thank you cards" (another thing I'm great a procrastinating), but later I thought that I should have said "updating the blog."

So here goes, starting with...

OCTOBER
We had our 2nd annual Halloween Feast. Because I was on partial bed rest and also because I suffered from exquisite morning sickness, 2011's Feast was more modest fare: bloody tomato soup and eyeballs, monster feet, and pina ghoulada. 

NOVEMBER
Mike surprised me by planning a Christmas train ride, complete with a visit by Santa Claus.

It was a beautiful fall day. 

We caught the train at Mount Rainier. 

The train ride lasted about 2 hours and went around the base of Mt Rainier.

 Along the way, we were treated to a visit by Santa Claus and got hot chocolate and cookies! 

FEBRUARY

February was a great month. We visited Utah for a week to see Matt marry his sweetheart, Felicia, in the SLC Temple. All three of my married brothers have picked amazing, wonderful women and I'm so excited that Felicia is a member of our family now.

Just prior to our flight to Utah, Mike and I traveled to Portland, where I did a photo Valentine's Day scavenger hunt for Mike like he did for me the year prior. I found four places of historical significant, made clue in the form of a poem for each one, and gave him four Valentine's cards, one for each clue. Unfortunately, I didn't save the poems, so you'll just have to take my word for it that they were brilliant.  

First we went to a Catholic garden that had a replica of Michelangelo's The Pieta.

We then went to a pioneer cemetery just outside of Portland. The tombstone in the middle is a stone relief of the founders of the cemetery.

From there, we went to Downtown Portland. I had found a couple of cool things there but hadn't taken into account that it was the middle of the afternoon on a weekday and we would have to pay for parking (supposing you could even find it). So we just did a drive-by of the remaining two places. The first was the county courthouse, which has a bunch of bronze animal statues around the sidewalk.

The last place that we went to was one of the first churches built in Portland that has an antique organ that's supposed to be really neat. We didn't go in, which is anticlimactic, I know. We had a fun day together, though, and that's what counts.