We have had a great summer! Lots of swimming and the girls and I did lots of traveling. We were able to visit both Colorado and Utah and see lots of family. We met Mark's fiance, Whitney She is great and we are so excited to have her in our family.
It was fun to see all of my family except Luke who is on his mission in Brazil, and Jordan wasn't able to come. We are all getting so OLD!
Lovin Gramie and Papa's pool!
All the 'Louise' name sakes. I was horrible at taking pictures while we were in Utah! Please share sisters!!
Swimming at the Bohn's with Aunt Natalie! Brynlee has become quite the swimmer! She was so proud that she dived off the diving board and swam all the way to the other end of the pool (quite a distance!). She loves swimming on her back the most. Water wings are a thing of the past :) We loved having Natalie here!
We survived our move thanks to my wonderful parents and siblings and we are now St Louis residents! I am LOVING our new home and living in the city. Our townhome is almost three times the size of our last apartment and even has a fenced in area in the back. I love my kitchen and all my cupboard space and especially all of our storage space in the basement. It scares me a little to watch the local news because of all of the crime here, but I feel like we live in a pretty safe neighborhood. Jordan and I took turns going to the temple last Saturday and it only took me 8 minutes to get there! Thrilled!
As you might imagine, these girls were quite helpful (I mean destructive) during our move.
On Ellie's birthday, we went to see the famous St Louis Arch. It's pretty huge!
Jordan has been working out :)
Residency is still residency for Jordan, but I feel like maybe we see hime a little more often...maybe. So far he hasn't had to be gone more than the last year especially because he doesn't have to go in as often when he is on call. He did spend some time out of town this last month at a military base and I'm glad that is over. I think he is a little sad about it though since it provided some great surgical experiences (even a total ankle!).
The girls and I have been staying busy exploring the city and playing! There are so many fun things to do up here and most of them are free. We bought a membership to the children's museum (Magic House) and they love playing there. They are growing so much! Ellie turned '1' just after our move. We had cake with my parents and cousin, Kellie, and her family. She is walking pretty consistently now. She loves singing "Popcorn Popping," "Little Bunny Foo Foo," and lots of other primary action songs. She is saying more words like, "thank you," "amen," "bubbles," "all done," and "ni-night." She loves reading books and playing with Brynlee's tea set. We have a few sesame street books, but she saw Elmo on TV for the first time the other day. She was so excited. I can't believe how many times she said, "Elmo!" Now when we see pictures of him anywhere she get so excited. She's adorable but definitely likes to have things her way.
She looks so thrilled in all of her bday pictures!
How old are you Ellie?
Brynlee is looking forward to turning 4! She is also getting excited for the primary program at church. She continues to get better at reading and writing. She completely amazed us a couple nights ago when we let her read during our scripture study. She did awesome even on some big words. We were blown away. She kills me sometimes with the way she speaks too. The other day in the car she said, "Mom, there sure are a lot of hotels in this area." The same day a car sped by and she said, "He isn't sustaining the law, is he?" Yesterday, I sent her to her room upstairs and she said, "If I go up to my room, I'll be all alone and I'm not ok with that situation!" She really is 3 going on 23. She is quick to remind everyone though that she is almost 4 years old.
All in all, life is good. As much as I hate to move, it has been good to get to know so many great people whereever we live. We miss so many friends and family! Keep in touch.... or better yet, come see us!
