Legally Blonde

Get it? My husband is a lawyer now and I'm now a blonde? Anyway, I am mostly doing this post for my mother who couldn't wait to see my new haircut and also for my husband because he may have forgotten what I look like:) Summer haircuts are fun because I can go really blonde and it looks summery. I was daring and got bangs this time. Sorry for the scary pics. It was 11pm and I was exhausted! Just focus on the hair:)

I have to say this haircut made me sad because it is going to be the last one from my amazingly talented friend Stacey. She always does such a great job and I am so sad I have to find someone else to do my hair from now on.

Congrats to the Grad!

It's official, my wonderful husband has graduated from Law school! We are so proud of him! Unfortunately he is very unceremonious and refused to walk. He has never walked from any school in his life, not high school, or college so why start now? Well that's what he thought but I really wanted him to walk so we could remember where we all were when he graduated and all that our little family has gone through to get here. I told Garrett I at least needed a picture of him with us in his cap and gown but he refused to pay the 300 dollars(!!) to rent the robes so he was planning on borrowing a friends just for the pics. However, he had to rush off to Utah to work for a few weeks on this trial he has worked on over the past two years so that didn't happen either. So we have no pictures to document this exciting event, however, we do have plenty of pictures of him excelling at his most important and favorite accomplishment of being the best dad in the world! He lives to be with our little family and we are so grateful that he is willing to do whatever it takes to provide for us. We love you so much honey! Thanks for all your hard work and all you do for our family, we are so proud of you!!

Uncle B

Garrett's brother Brandon came to town to visit us a couple weeks ago. He had never been to Cleveland so it was fun to show him where we have lived for the last three years. He was in town for a friend's wedding so he only stayed a couple days but the kids had a great time with him. He also took Garrett out to a really nice golf course and treated him to 18 holes for a graduation present. They had a great time and Garrett said it was an awesome course. That is his kind of present:)

Rylynn was really into playing candy land and the snake game with Uncle B. Carter's favorites were showing Brandon his new bed and shooting hoops in the backaball hoop!

Summer hair take 3

So we finally whacked off Carter's mop! I think the result is sooo cute. My friend cut his hair this time and it went a lot better than our home sessions have gone in the past. I held him and he ate skittles so that seems to be the winning combo!

Before

After

Daddy even got a summer cut. He was hoping I'd give into the summer buzz he always wants to do, but I don't love it so much and I had the scissors!

Rylynn Quotes

Today we were driving along and Rylynn says, "Mommy, pretty soon when I grow up I want to be a figure outer, a baker, and an animal doctor!"

A little later she randomly asked, "hey mommy, does red and blue make purple?" Then I said, "yes, how did you know that?" Then she said, "oh because I'm really smart."

Bobsies Number 3!

Bobsies is how our family lovingly refers to babies just to clarify. We also use words like babo, babs(pronounced bobs), or occasionally boberoos. If you are scared by us sorry. Anyway, I was just having a minor panic attack as I clicked on our blog and noticed that I have less than 100 days in my baby countdown!!!! AHHHHHHH! That helps. So I am officially down to the last three months which is very exciting and frightening at the same time. On the one hand, I am already really sick of being pregnant and can't wait to have the baby come out, also I can't wait to see what this little boy is going to look like and to have an adorable newborn again. On the other hand, we still have no job, no place to live, no doctor, and no insurance. Don't worry, I know these things are big deals, I only think about them about 9 trillion times a day. But I also know that it will all work out and I will look back on this post and chuckle at my needless worrying. So as far as what we do know, we are officially moving to the Spokane area in Washington and we are leaving our dear Shaker Heights on May 31st. Of course we didn't get out without being asked to speak in church one last time! Yeah, we have to speak on our last Sunday. I will just warn my fellow ward members that my talk may be about organizing moving boxes because my head will be completely consumed with packing, but oh well. Garrett will be taking the Washington state bar on July 28th and we feel very confident that we will get a job there sometime in the near future. We have a few promising leads. We'll see. So that is the update on that situation.

Now back to the bobs. So I just had to document that the kids are obsessed with my belly these days. Rylynn always says goodnight last to the baby and gives him hugs and kisses, then in the morning the first person she gives hugs to is the baby. She and Carter kiss my belly all day long and they love to blow raspberries or whatever you call it on my belly which they say is tickling babo. Rylynn loves to watch him move around and she puts her face on my tummy so he can kick her in the face. She thinks that is hilarious. The only sad thing is that she is totally obsessed with naming him Danny which is from her my little pony movie and I think she is going to be a little disappointed when he is born because that name is not in the running for now. Rylynn is most looking forward to kissing the baby, rocking him to sleep, and snuggling with him. She and I have had lots of talks lately about how he grows and how he eats and how he is going to come out. Which I have to say is pretty funny since she knows very well that Carter had to get "cut" out of mommy and that she came out the right way. So she always asks me where the baby's head is. She says "if babo's head is up, we have to cut!" I love how my four year old is as concerned about this baby's head presentation as I am since I am hoping to never have another c-section and she doesn't want me to have one either because she knows that I won't be any fun if I have another one.

Carter just likes kissing baby and hugging him and then going on with his usual day not knowing at all that he will be required to share his toys and clothes with this new little man. I think it will be a rude awakening for him. I am not too worried about him getting jealous other than that though. He is really gentle and careful around babies. He loves kissing them and hugging them and he gets very sweet and calm around them. I am thankful for this considering he is a crazy monkey most other times.

And finally, here is the latest preschool pic of Rylynn's. They got to have snack time outside last week because the weather has been beautiful. She is clearly having a great time as you can tell by her face. We are so sad to leave this preschool behind, we have all loved it!

Birthday Festivities!

My birthday was on Sunday and my little sister Abby got to come out for the weekend to celebrate with us! Her birthday is two weeks before mine so we decided to pool our b-day money and fly her out for a little visit. We had so much fun! On friday we went to Chagrin Falls with Ben and Molly and the fam. We had a picnic by the river, fed the ducks (who were too good for our bread), got huge glorious cupcakes at the little cupcake shop, looked at the falls, and ate ice cream and popcorn. We had amazing weather the whole weekend. 80's and sunny!



Then on Saturday we went out to Kirtland and saw the bronze exhibit and some of the church history sights. My sister really wanted to go because her best friend and roommate served her mission there recently. I had already seen the bronze exhibit in St. George, but it was just as amazing the second time. Then we headed out to Hinckley Lake for a bbq and some swimming, kind of, the kids mostly just got muddy, but they loved it.


On Sunday we went to church and everyone was so nice and wished me happy birthday. Then we had a very yummy, very preggy birthday dinner. In our family, the birthday person gets to pick the menu which has always been something that I have loved and looked forward to. However, this year being pregnant this was a stressful task for me. I have had the hardest time lately thinking of dinners to make let alone thinking of what I wanted for my birthday dinner. So after a week of stressing about it and deciding that nothing sounded good to me, I decided to have a dinner of all appetizers. It turned out to be one of my all time favorite birthday dinners! We had steamed artichokes with dip (a big favorite around the monson and hall households), bruschetta, crab cakes, avacado and grapefruit salad, and stuffed mushrooms. The best part was that I didn't have to cook any of it or do the dishes! Thank you to Ben and Molly, and Garrett and Abby for pampering me. The best part was the traditional Monson birthday cake which I just love! Abby made it for me this year and she did an amazing job.

I requested shaved dove chocolate and raspberries for my toppings and she really came through! It was quite the feast. I had such a fun day getting calls from friends and family and birthday wishes from so many people. Thank you!

To end the weekend celebration, we went to the Red Sox, Indians baseball game on Monday night. It will probably be our last Indians game in Cleveland which was really sad, but it was so fun to go with our great friends the Days and the Poyfairs; along with Ben and Molly and the fam.


We got great seats in the bleachers which comes with the added bonus of drunk fans, but still they were great seats.

The kids had so much fun and we all had our fill of peanuts and cracker jacks which is a must!

Of course Carter had to have a hot dog.

Rylynn was really into the cheering with her friend Jaxson!
Thanks for coming Abs! We had so much fun with you and miss you already!

Summer Hair Take 1

Rylynn and I were having a little chat the other day about how every one in our family is in desperate need of a haircut at the moment. She was so excited about the idea of all of us getting summer haircuts, so she decided she needed one too. So she hopped in the chair and a couple minutes later, this is what we got.

It is so much easier cutting her hair than Carter's or daddy's for that matter. Carter will not keep still for anything, and Daddy just asks every minute if I am done yet. He hates getting his hair cut! Carter's hair is completely out of control and I have given up trying to figure out what to do with it so I think I will be taking him to get his hair cut by my friend and see if she can work some magic with his mop. He definitely has my thick hair that grows right out of the back of his head.


Also my new favorite word that Carter says is mushmoos which means marshmallows. They are his new favorite snack and every time he asks for them I think that he is asking for mushrooms.

April update

"...this natural world is only an image and a copy of paradise. The existence of this world is simply a guarantee that there exists a world that is perfect. God created the world so that, through its visible objects, men could understand his spiritual teaching and the marvels of his wisdom." -Paulo Coelho

This is a quote that I love from the book The Alchemist. Garrett's friend recommended it to him and he loved it, so I read it after Garrett was done. It is such an inspiring and thought provoking book about each of our individual journeys and destinies in this life. I highly recommend it to everyone. It is a really fast read too, only 170 pages.

So that is what I have been doing the last couple days. Today was beautiful finally so the kids and I packed a picnic and walked to the park. They had a blast! The next couple days are supposed to be high 60's and sunny so we are probably going to be outside for the next few days straight.


I am excited for a few days outside since for the last two weeks my house has been turned into an art studio! Rylynn is loving cutting papers, glueing things, coloring, and then proudly taping her creations all over the house. Every night we have quite the mess of crayons, and tiny pieces of cut up paper to clean up.

Here is a proud display.
She is getting really good at writing words on her pictures too with her letters. I love seeing her creativity shine through lately.

The other day I finally had to put my foot down and take down most of the pictures. We are now keeping them all safe in her princess folders so we can take them to our "new house".

In other random news, Carter and Rylynn are completely obsessed with the movie Tinker bell right now. We borrowed it from our friends and after watching it everyday for the last couple weeks I finally broke down and ordered it on Amazon. First thing in the morning Carter comes out of his room and says, "I want Tink!" I have to say that I actually love this movie too. It has such a great message and it is done so well. Carter is also obsessed with Daddy's golf clubs, his are not cutting it anymore. It is a little worrisome though because they are way too big for him and he hits them into things all the time. He is talking so much now and he says the funniest things. We really need to get him on video soon so we don't miss this stage. These kids are always entertaining!

Happy Easter!

"Brothers and sisters, one of the great consolations of this Easter season is that because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so. His solitary journey brought great company for our little version of that path—the merciful care of our Father in Heaven, the unfailing companionship of this Beloved Son, the consummate gift of the Holy Ghost, angels in heaven, family members on both sides of the veil, prophets and apostles, teachers, leaders, friends. All of these and more have been given as companions for our mortal journey because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the Restoration of His gospel. "

I saw this quote on my friends blog and loved it. It is from Jeffrey R Holland's talk from last weeks General Conference which was definitely my favorite talk of all of conference. The whole talk is amazing so if you are interested in reading it click here.

I have to admit that Easter is probably my favorite holiday. I love Christmas because of all the traditions and the fun that goes on and on, but Easter is the most important holiday to me by far. I love how the world just takes a small step back from the commercialism of holidays and remembers that without the Savior we would have no hope in this life or the life to come. I know the commercialism is still there, but even in eggs and spring colors there is symbolism of the Savior's resurrection. I found myself all week hearing random conversations in the grocery store about religion and Christianity and people wishing each other a happy passover, or happy easter. It was kind of amazing to me since I feel like these conversations are a little bit frowned upon in our daily lives. Maybe it is just me, but when we are in desperate times, we seem to be a more humble and accepting people. For some reason I feel like the "PC" world has relaxed a little bit as of late because let's be honest, we all need to cling to our faith a little more when we are struggling.

Anyway, we had such a great Easter this year. We had a special family home evening on Monday to start off the week. Rylynn loves hearing the story of the resurrection and it was a great reminder of what this holiday is really about. Then today at church we heard some great talks about the life and death and resurrection of the Savior. I wish that was the topic of every sacrament meeting because that is really the whole point of the gospel. I was also able to sing with the choir a beautiful song called "Here I am Lord". It is all about being willing to go and do what the Lord asks of us. It was a great reminder that even when I am struggling and feeling lost in this world, the Lord is by my side and ultimately, I am committed to doing His will no matter what that entails. It brought me a lot of comfort during this uncertain and stressful time in my life.

After church we had a delicious Easter dinner with Ben and Molly. We had our famous easter lamb, mashed potatoes and gravy, strawberry salad, lemon asparagus and berry cobbler for dessert.

We ate the cobbler picnic style on the kitchen floor so we could all sit by Babo Reagan. She was very envious of the dessert we were consuming.

Carter gave her an empty plastic egg to suck on so she wouldn't feel so left out. Just wait till next year Babo!

When we were stuffed to the point of rolling, we dyed easter eggs with the kids and had an easter egg hunt outside.



Rylynn was so cute to point out all the soccer and football eggs to Carter so he could get them.


She focused all her efforts on the pink and purple eggs. Apparently they have better candy in them.
They were so excited for all their candy!

Then we had our annual easter egg rolling contest and Molly pulled out victorious! It was some tough competition and the girls represented. It was Molly and me in the finals. Rylynn wouldn't participate because she didn't want to hurt her eggs. She dyed a pink one and a purple one and she has not let them out of her sight since we dyed them. She actually asked if she could snuggle with them tonight but I had to tell her no on that one. We put them in the fridge and she said she is going to wake up in the morning and feed them breakfast. She's so funny.

To top it all off today is my little sister's birthday so we called and sang to her and got to wish her happy birthday. I love my family and I am reminded so much of how much my family loves me and what they are willing to do for me when my family and I are going through hard times. I am so thankful for a family that supports me through good times and bad. I was especially struck by the fact today that I am so grateful that because of the resurrection of my Savior, I can live with my family that I love so much throughout eternity. I wish we could have all been together today, but I am so happy that we live by Ben and Molly and can celebrate these special holiday moments together.