February - Start to Finish

Selfie time with Auntie Rachelle. I love Gracie's pose.

Lunchtime picnic!

Dress up! Lately Gracie wants to wear either a princess dress or her winter coat all day; sometimes it's both.

This girl had an owie on her lip and asked for a bandaid. I told her that if I put one on, she had to keep it on all night. You know what? She totally kept it on!

Pretending to be a kitty.

Using the back massager to get a bum massage. Clever girl!

Having fun in the first snow storm since moving to Colorado.

This girl seriously loves snow.

More snow fun. The kids loved sliding down into the snow.

Homemade heart shaped cinnamon rolls for Valentine's Day! So yummy!

This boy got his name put up on the school bus. He was pretty excited about it.

Crazy hair/clothes day at school. Cayden wore his shirt backwards, two mismatched shoes, and had black and silver hair. 

A school creation. Cayden was pretty proud of it.

Trying to get into the room where daddy works from home. That face!

Cayden got some new glasses. He picked them out and loves that he can see so much better!

Poor girl with a gash on her head; twirling like a princess can be brutal. ;)

Much happier after a visit to the Dr.

Laura was so brave at the Dr's office so we stopped by the store to pick out a treat. This little nut picked blueberries... for a treat. What a goofball!

Sweet sibling snuggles.

Cayden built a monster truck at a Lowe's Build and Grow clinic. Laura lost the privilege because she pooped in her pants. Yeah, gross.

Gracie loves sitting in this green beanbag chair. Anytime she is upstairs she makes a beeline for the chair. Cute girl.

Burning some energy at a play place. They had a blast.

This little one loved the toddler slide. And the french fries (which she carried around in her hands the whole time).

More proof that this baby LOVES food. She's getting pretty good with a fork too.

This Man

Bragging time! I haven't gotten around to this yet because we have been so busy, but I am so, so proud of this wonderful man!

 This one right here! Hot stuff! :)

Chad just graduated with his Masters of Science in Information Systems from the University of Utah. He has worked so hard the past year and a half; it has been long and hard and frustrating. There have been lots of late nights, lots of weekends spent at the library, and lots of time away from the family. The kids got so used to Chad being gone that they are still surprised when he comes home from work every night.

While I'm not so sure that I'd willingly relive the last year and a half, I'm so glad that we did it. Going back to school wasn't easy, especially with three kids, but it was worth it. I'm so excited for this next phase of life! I think the kids and I could get use to having Chad around. Congratulations honey, I'm so proud! I love you!

 Officially official!

Part Utah, Part Colorado

Wrapping up our time in Utah...

 The girls in their pretty dresses from Grandma Bird.

 

Sledding with dad. Sledding is infinitely more fun when you don't have to pull the sled up the hill yourself.

Eating ice cream cones in buckets to contain the mess. 

...and starting our Colorado adventure!

Sleepy baby and daddy. They were worn out from all the packing, moving, and driving.

Nakey girls after a bath.

Tooth brushing time!

Sad baby because I told her no more cucumbers until she chewed up what was in her mouth.

Just a baby and a monkey cat. No big deal.

Two little princesses. Gracie wanted to be just like Laura and wear a princess dress too! It was way too big, but that didn't stop her from giggling, grinning, and twirling.

Big Changes!

Where do I even start? Chad graduated in December with his Master's in Information Systems from the University of Utah. Hooray, hooray, hooray!!! In early December he was offered a job with VISA as a Systems and Process Improvement Analyst. Feeling that it was the right thing for our family (it also didn't hurt that it was a significant pay increase as well as Chad's dream job), we accepted the job. The catch? It is based in Denver, Colorado.

We spent the month of December and first week of January packing and moving from Utah to Colorado. We bought out the lease on our apartment, loaded everything up in a 24' Budget truck (who knew a two bedroom apartment could hold so much stuff?!), made the long trek to Colorado, unloaded everything into a storage unit, and moved in with my parents. We'll be living with my parents temporarily while we buy a house.

The kids have adjusted pretty well. Cayden switched schools without any issues and now happily rides the bus to school each morning. It's a bit ridiculous how excited he is to be riding the bus. We're still looking for a house, so in the mean time Chad has an hour and a half to a two hour commute each way depending on traffic. It's a bit brutal, but we're very grateful to my parents for letting us live with them.

So let's see...

Graduating with Master's? Check!
Accepting dream job? Check!
Moved to Colorado? Check!
Buy a house? In progress...

I think we've covered all of the big life changes we've had as of late. I'm hoping that things start to settle down a little bit in the near future.

My big boy riding the bus for the first time. He was so excited! I can't believe he's getting so big. It makes me sad.

Waving to mom before the bus drives away.

MIA

In case you hadn't noticed, I've been MIA for the past month or so (42 days to be exact). We've been super busy and have had a ton of big changes going on which I will post about later. For now, I'm going to attempt the biggest post ever... December activities, Christmas/trip to Colorado... here we go!

In early December we went to a dinner at Rodizio Grill for all of the graduates from the Information Systems program at the U. (For the record, I don't understand what all the hype is about Rodizio Grill. It was good, and yes the pineapple was awesome, but I'm not sure I would really ever choose to go there.) Anyway, Chad's family watched the kids who had a great time making a huge mess with Cheerios and then cleaning it up.

Throwing Cheerios all over the room. Grace's face says it all... pure joy! Now, whenever we give her Cheerios she immediately starts throwing them. Thank you, Grandma.

Cayden and Laura both really enjoyed vacuuming up all the Cheerios.

Counting all the Cheerios. Laura said there were ten - ha!

At our ward Christmas party there was an Awkward Family Photo booth which we had to do. We were watching my nephews, so it was our family +2. Jaxton's face... oh my word. I seriously can't look at this picture without laughing!

A few days before Christmas we made it up to see the lights at Temple Square. We really wanted to go this year since it would be our last chance for a long time. Cayden and Laura really enjoyed the lights and were pretty excited each time they saw baby Jesus.

Gracie's ride for the evening. We had her bundled up pretty good, but I think she still was a little bit cold.

Laura's perch. She rode on Grandpa's shoulders for most of the night. Cayden ran around from light to light yelling, "It's pinkalicious! It's greenalicious!"

The pretty temple. Laura was quite adamant that she was going to go inside. She climbed the stairs to the door and tried to turn the handle. She was really upset when we told her she couldn't go in until she was 12.

The whole crew (minus Grandpa who was taking the picture). Laura was very upset and did not want to sit still for a picture.

After seeing the lights we went to look at the candy windows at Macy's. They were pretty neat, though sadly I didn't end up taking a picture of my favorite ones.

Then after the candy windows we walked over to The Grand America hotel to see their huge gingerbread house. The kids thought it was way cool and Laura even tried to walk inside it, much to the dismay of the worker on duty.

We rode the TRAX to and from downtown. The kids always enjoy riding it and had a blast playing with the straps hanging down from the ceiling. Grace even wanted a turn.

We spent a week in Colorado for Christmas and did lots of fun activities. Some I got pictures of and some I didn't. Sadly, there are absolutely no pictures of Christmas and present opening.

The kids enjoyed making fudge, but their favorite part was licking the bowl and spoon clean.

Making sugar cookies!

Gracie's favorite part was eating the cookies. :)

Sitting in the doll box which was way too small for her.

There was a lot of snuggle time at Grandma's house.

Everyone got their toenails painted. Even Cayden. And boy, was he happy about it.

Dressing up as Ninja Turtles! Cayden was very distraught that he didn't have any 'chucknuckers' (aka nunchucks) like Laura.

The absolute best part of being home in Colorado for Christmas was talking to my brother who is serving a 2-year mission in Xalapa, Mexico.

And finally, all of the random pictures of activities and things we did throughout the rest of the month of December.

Gracie loves to wear Cayden's backpack. She puts it on and walks around happily until he gets mad and takes it away from her. Mean big brother.

We took the kids to the Penguins of Madagascar movie. They all did much better than I anticipated and we actually were able to stay for the whole movie.

Daddy/Gracie snuggle time! This little girlie sure loves to cuddle.

Riding scooters at Grandma and Grandpa Higgins' house. 

Laura loves the Frozen blanket she got for Christmas. She insists on having it on top of all of her blankets and comforter every single night.

Chad and I celebrated our eighth anniversary! Love this handsome man of mine! I'm so proud of him and all he has accomplished this past year. I can't wait to see what the next year brings!

Gracie got friendly with a kitty at a family New Year's party. She was all smiles and giggles and loved petting the cat.