Gardner Village with the cousins

This afternoon we met all the cousins at Gardner Village to take a look at the witches. Sage and I went with our friends last week and will probably go once more with dad before the month is over. It is just that much fun. It's fun to look at all the witch displays and Sage likes to point out the spiders, cats and pumpkins. She had a fun time with her cousins. Afterwards, Jeanne had a yummy dinner for everyone. It's always fun to get together. 

Wheeler Farm with Cole Man

Yesterday Sage and I met up with our friends Caitlin and Cole for a playdate at Wheeler Farm for their Pumpkin Days and Hay Maze. The kids would have been content chasing the ducks and geese around all afternoon, but we took them through the maze, on a hay ride and picked out a pumpkin. It was a lot of fun and nice to get outside before the weather gets too cold. Afterwards, Cole came over to play for a little while. They have so much together. It is so fun to see them interact as they get older. Each time we get together they are both doing new things and interact just a little more than the last. We have been arranging their marriage since before they were born. Cole is about 6 weeks younger than Sage. When we ask Sage if she is going to marry Cole she says, "yeah." We sure hope so! Either way we have a feeling that those two are going to be good friends! 

Mostly Caught Up

Just trying to get caught up... all the pictures we have taken the last several weeks have been taken from our phones since our camera has been packed. We have found our camera but are still on the search for the charger... So, for now we are grateful to at least have our phones to take pictures and are enjoying being able to take pictures in the moment as things are happening... 

Pictures from the last little bit in Paradise...

Pictures from the past week...

(from left to right, top to bottom) 1. all packed up again 2. Sage sleeping on the way down to Salt Lake 3. eating cereal in our empty apartment using Sage's dishes since we couldn't get our things out of storage 4-6. Sage found ways to entertain herself while we unpacked... 7-8. we did some baking. 9. Sage found a little ouchie on her leg and kept kissing it. 10. went to the aquarium 11. fun bath hair 12. reading a book to her baby

1. Harper's crib all put together 2. Picking the crib up- it didn't fit in the car. 3. had a fun night with the Averyt's... had dinner, carved pumpkins, watched a movie and ate ice-cream; they are great friends. 4. stacking blocks takes a lot of concentration, but hooray for Sage! She can do it! 5-8. met our friends Jessica and Grace at Gardner Village for a playdate 9. Sage loved the icee as we walked around Target; we have made many trips there this past week 10. Taylor putting together Sage's new dresser 11. Sweet sleeping baby 12. Sage playing in her bin of beans with Animal Atlas playing on the tv in the background.

23 weeks

23 weeks along and we are getting more and more anxious to meet little Harper. For just moving in a week ago our place is feeling pretty organized with the exception of Harper's room, but I guess we have some time... we did order her crib and when we went to pick it up and saw the box for it I knew it would not fit in the car... Taylor on the other hand insisted it would! He ended up bringing it back into the store for them to hold and picked it up later with the help of our friend Jeff and his jeep. First thing this morning before I was even awake he had the crib half way put together! We are all getting exciting around here! Sage thinks the crib is for her baby dolls and wants to climb in with them. She also has tried out the baby swing and has been trying on baby bibs on herself and on her baby dolls. She obviously is in for a big surprise! When you ask her where baby Harper is, she still almost always lifts up her shirt but she also will lift up my shirt  and kiss my belly. She is going to be a great big sister and Harper is going to be the sweetest little sister. We are excited for those two to meet! Sage had been practicing saying "Harper" and is getting pretty good. Sounds a lot more like "Hoppy" and it is so sweet. We love our girls!

                                           

Quick Update- pictures later

We have moved back to Salt Lake City and as much as we miss Paradise, we are happy to be back in our own space. We loved the time we had there and the time with family. Sage especially misses Paradise. The first couple days she would flap her arms and ask for the chickens and jump up and down and ask for the trampoline. She also would ask for Scruffy and make her cow and horse sounds in the car. She is adjusting though. We all are. I would much rather unpack than pack. Taylor decided to take the offer with Etrade and begins on Monday, so our goal was to get unpacked and organized before then and we are just about there... We have also been having fun spending time together as a family and have done several fun things together.

So blessed

Our luck has made a turn for the better! Yesterday I drove down to Salt Lake to check out another apartment complex and then met Taylor for lunch. Etrade called him and offered him the position! Finally! We waited over a month after thinking we had the job to get an official offer. He went back to EHealth Insurance where he took a seasonal position and resigned immediately. He was still in training, so there was no point in continue the training process for a job he knows he will not be working at. He was able to drive back to Paradise with me. He has another interview with another company tomorrow afternoon. Our initial thought would be to take this other job over Etrade, but we will have to put some more thought into what the long term benefits would be for each job and where we would be happier. In the meantime Taylor has accepted the offer from Etrade and starts Oct. 15th. We move on Friday into our new place! It is the complex directly east of our old complex. It is a 3 bedroom with 2 full baths. It will be so nice to have the extra room and we are excited to get organized, get things ready for baby Harper and get back into a routine with our Sage bug. There are good things ahead! At times it is so hard to be patient and remember that Heavenly Father is looking out for us and is in control, but I know that He is. We have been so blessed.

Absolutely Wonderful

This girl has so much personality. She sure does keep me busy. She is always on the move and has to be doing something. She is independent and sassy. She doesn't like help with anything. She pushed my hand away today at lunch when I tried to help her. She says "hi" to everyone in the stores and if they don't say hi back she repeats it over and over again or yells it down the aisle. She is a jibber jabberer these days with always something to say. We finally got a video monitor and it is fascinating to watch this girl sleep. She is a mover in her sleep too. Every time we look at the screen she is in a completely different position. It is fun to watch her dose off. She often rubs her ear or plays with her hair for a little while before turning over to her tummy and sticking her little bum in the air. She has also discovered her earrings and has been pulling them out. Afterwards she always says, "uh oh!" She also makes this new pouty face, squints her eyes, wrinkles her forehead and pretends to be sad and then laughs and thinks it is funny. She loves her daddy and misses him when he is working. She folds her arms to pray every time she eats, even snacks. We often pray for "daddy" and if I don't she reminds me and repeats "dada dada" over and over until I do. She then smiles and says "yeah" when we do pray for him. She loves ice-cream and cookies thanks to grandparents who spoil her! She has had more treats in the last month than she has had in her life. When I wouldn't give her a cookie this morning she threw all her toys off the table onto the ground. She sure knows what she wants and knows how to throw fits if she doesn't get her way. She is a handful and such a joy. We are so in love with our little bug and grateful to be her parents. She is absolutely wonderful.