Measuring a year

WARNING:  long, emotional post ahead!

Today marks the one year mark since we arrived here in Kentucky.  It is so hard to believe it's already been a year! This year has flown by, but a lot has happened in the last year as well.  I'm not sure I've ever been so scared in all my life as I was the day I drove into Louisville.  I was nervous, anxious, and terrified about what might lie ahead of us here.  

And now here we are a year later, and so much has happened.  We had our beautiful baby Kaeson here--and he is now nearly 10 months old!  We spent our first Thanksgiving as well as Easter without family.  Parker celebrated his 3rd birthday. I was given the most challenging church calling I ever been given!  We made lasting friendships; some of whom we are lucky enough to spend more time with, others who we miss dearly!  Lance survived his first year of dental school!!!

One of our first weeks at church in our ward here, the Relief Society lesson was on goal setting.  The teacher asked us to right down a few short term goals, long term goals, and steps and a timetable to reaching those goals.  At the time I just kept thinking about how hard the next four years here were going to be.  The only thing I wrote on that sheet of paper was "To learn to be happy here."  At the time it seemed like such a steep mountain to climb, and I fought back tears at the prospect enjoying life here!  Now I can look back at that day and laugh at how silly that goal seems today!

I feel so blessed to call Kentucky home right now. As I sit here righting this, I am getting a little teary eyed thinking of this past year and realizing how much I love it here!  As silly as it sounds, I truly feel like I have grown so much in the last year, and I know I have so much more to learn from our time here.  I have said it before, but I sincerely feel that the Lord sent Lance to school in Louisville for my benefit! We are surrounded by people here that teach me so much, and I pray that while I'm here I learn and grow all that I know I should.

We miss our family every day, and look forward to being closer to them someday, while at the same time hope that our time here doesn't go too quickly.  Thanks to all you who have made this such a great place to live!

Little of This, Little of That

Here are a few pictures of the kids lately. They are all pretty random.

Kaeson got haircut number 4 this week.  I went back to doing it myself, and I actually think this one turned out pretty good.  The picture makes it look bad, but it's not.

The popsicle worked wonders for keeping him still!

Parker jumping into the pool.  Good action photography, huh! He insists on having his regular clothes on instead of changing into his swim trunks!  He runs in a circle all around the yard, jumps into the pool, and then repeats the process about a thousand times.
Just a cute picture of my little baby!

Kaeson is biting his crib and scratching it like crazy, so here is my tacky solution to saving the crib!
Kaeson being a model in the swimming pool
It took him a while to get used to it, but once we got him in the pool, he LOVED it!
Parker and Ella!  He is going to love this picture someday!!!! 
Aren't they so cute!  

Splish Splash

We are so excited that summer is finally here!!!  It is already pretty hot here, and we have been having so much fun in the sun!  We tried swimming at Calypso Cove but realized their water is like ice, so we just swam in the indoor pool that day.  That was fun and good for Parker!  Thanks Ashley!  He has been pretty scared of the water lately, but that day he did really good in the pool, so I was glad we went. We have been to the splash park at the zoo a couple times in the last week, and have spent a couple days just splashing around in the backyard.  

Parker didn't love sliding down the slip n' slide, but he likes running through the water and playing in the pool of water at the end.
He loved when we put the tramp over the slip n' slide.  He was so excited because he says the water makes him jump higher!  I don't know why he thinks that, but it sure makes him happy.
We were at the splash park at the zoo for two hours on Monday, and he just ran in circles in this same corner of the park the whole time, but he was in heaven!  He loved this little spout, so he would stand, or sit on it for a few seconds, then run in a circle around the pool, and stand on the spout again the entire time!
Austin, Parker, and Paxton in front of the gorillas
Kaeson is not much of a fan of the splash park just yet.  Hopefully he starts to enjoy it more soon, cause we will be there a lot!

We've Moved...Again!

Our little apartment was getting too small for our family, so we have moved into a house!  We could not be more excited to have our own house and our own yard, and a little more space.  It's nothing fancy or big, but it's perfect for us!  Another dental school family was living here, but have just graduated, so we are now renting it.  We are so excited to stay in our ward and in the same area that we have grown to love.   Here are a few pictures of  the place.  We haven't gotten much decorated yet, so it's pretty plain.Master bedroom and bath
The people who were here before left their trampoline, and the kids LOVE it!  Kaeson just lays there and lets Parker bounce him all over the place.  Kaeson will get up and try to crawl around, but the bouncing always knocks him down,  and he gets up and keeps trying, all the while making very little progress, but he doesn't seem to mind.
Kaeson and his wild static-y hair!  I love it!
I made these little canvases to match the monkey stuff in the kids bathroom.  It's not quite the vision I had, but oh well.

The kids' toy room. It's supposed to be a dining room, but we just put the table in the kitchen and turned this into a toy room.
A view of the whole yard.
Our living room.  I was really nervous about it, because it's tiny, but it's actually not bad.  We just got rid of the big entertainment center, and used this corner one instead to open up a little space, and it's not bad.
I put this vinyl up in the toy room.  I think it looks so cute!