Moving!

I think most people know by now but I still feel like I need to announce that...

 Keith accepted a job in Atlanta!

Which means we will be moving back to Georgia this fall. We are really excited to start a new adventure but also sad to be leaving our friends and family here in Dallas.

We have so many big, exciting changes coming for our family in the next few months. I'm trying really hard not to get overwhelmed by everything! Just to give you an idea of the craziness our family has coming our way:

• Keith takes the bar July 28-30. 
• Our baby is due August 5th. 
• Keith starts his new job August 31st. 
• I'll move out with the baby mid-October.
• We will be trying to buy a house sometime before me and the girls move out to Atlanta.

So yeah...wish us luck?!

Keith's Graduation

Well this is a bit late, but I'm finally getting around to posting about Keith's Graduation from SMU Law School, back in May! My parents and my sister Lindsay and her family all came out to Texas for the ceremony. It was so fun to have everyone in town! 

The graduation itself was a little bit stressful. Dallas's record-breaking rain this spring created a few obstacles for the outdoor graduation SMU had planned. The law school sent an email saying that the graduation ceremony could be moved inside due to rain, but they wouldn't make an official announcement until 3pm the day of! This wouldn't have been that big of a deal except that it changed the time of the event. If the ceremony was inside, it wouldn't start until 8:30 PM instead of 6:30 PM, as originally planned.

Clearly, no one in charge of this thing had kids! We had to have a babysitter on call just in case it was moved to the later time and the babysitter we had booked for my sister's kids was only going to be available if it was at the earlier time. It was a huge mess! Luckily, the rain held off long enough for the graduation to go on outside, as planned. 

Despite all the stress beforehand, it was an amazing day. The past three years were really tough for both of us. I had been looking forward to his graduation for so long that it was surreal to actually watch it happen. I'm so proud of all he accomplished during law school and I know he will accomplish so much more in the future!

Grace Quotes

Grace has started saying and doing the funniest things. Even though she can drive me crazy sometimes, she also makes me laugh all throughout the day.

Here are some of my favorites from the past few weeks:

• She says "fingertails" instead of fingernails. She has now discovered the wonder of nail polish. Unfortunately, she gets sick of the color after an hour or so and demands a new color. 

• She calls marshmallows, "Smushmallows," which I actually think is a more fitting name. 

• While pulling her around on a raft in the pool, I said, "You're going for a carriage ride! I'm your horse!" She responded, "No, you're a hippo!" Kids always know how to make you feel great about yourself!

• She made up her own verse to "The Wheels On the Bus." It goes, "The Daddies on the bus say I love you, I love you, I love you..." Its really sweet. Too bad the mommies just say "Shh shh shh" : /

• For Keith's last day of class, we made him a bunch of posters that said things like "you did it!" or "no more school!" etc. and hung them up to surprise Keith when he got home. Grace loved practicing saying, "surprise." (She says "A prize!") Well, now Grace is obsessed with making "prizes" and she demands that every paper she scribbles on be taped to the wall to surprise daddy. 

• She's started turning the tables on me. Anytime I try to discipline her or speak in a stern voice, she says, "Be nice mama, okay? No talkin' mean. Be nice." Today I took away something I didn't want her to play with and she told me, "Hey, you're being naughty!" 

• She came into the room the other day and said, "Hi, my names Gracie. Pleased to meet you, mama!" Where does she come up with this stuff??

• She is obsessed with the Rogers and Hammerstein Cinderella broadway soundtrack. Everytime we are in the car she requests to listen to "Singarelly." I'm actually really impressed with how well she knows the words to most of the songs!

• She has also recently become obsessed with "A Turtle Tale," a movie on Netflix that Keith showed her. She is constantly talking about Shelly and Sammy (the two main turtles in the show.) There is one Bruno Mars song in the soundtrack that she loves and while I was grateful for a break from Cinderella, listening to the same song over and over again is starting to drive me crazy!

Ballet Class

From the second I found out I was having a baby girl, I immediately envisioned ballet classes and pink tutus. So as soon as Grace was old enough, I enrolled her in a toddler ballet class through the local Parks and Rec.

While Grace did look the part of a baby ballerina with her leotard, tights and tiny ballet shoes, it was not the experience I had envisioned. I ended up DREADING taking her to class every week. My little independent toddler suddenly became a huge cry-baby-mama's-girl every time we would step foot in the classroom. They ask the moms to stay outside during the class and as soon as I would leave, Grace would begin crying hysterically and would refuse to cooperate. There were a few classes that we ended up just going home after about 10 minutes. Now, I realize this may be normal behavior for some toddlers, but not for Grace. Any time I leave her at the gym daycare, church nursery or a friend's house, she can't get rid of me fast enough! I never really figured out why she was so scared.

What I did figure out however, is that I definitely don't have what it takes to be a dance mom (which let's be honest, is probably a good thing.) I'm sure we will try ballet again sometime down the road but I'll definitely wait for Grace to ask me first this time. In the end, at least I got a few cute pictures out of it, right?

Grace with her ballet teacher

Grace and her fellow ballerinas.

 

And lastly, a more accurate picture to remember the experience by...

Kasey's Baby Shower

My best friend Kasey is pregnant with her first baby (due this summer).  It has been so fun being pregnant at the same time and I'm SO excited that we will have babies so close in age! Plus, she is having a boy and I'm having a girl, so naturally they will fall in love and get married one day - no pressure or anything!

I was able to go out to Florida a few weekends ago to attend Kasey's baby shower and it was so much fun to have some girl time! I left Grace at home with Keith so they got to have some much needed daddy-daughter bonding time and Keith even mastered his first pony tail! 

Her adorable nautical-themed shower was Pinterest-perfect down to every last detail! 

I couldn't believe her friend MADE this cake! I totally thought it was from a professional bakery. I really need to learn how to do fondant one of these days...

Sorry for all the random food pics but they were all so cute!

The two pregnant ladies! Can't wait to meet our little ones!

Nature Walk

Last week, Grace and I went for a little "nature walk" around our apartment complex. She is mildly obsessed with flowers and loves to pick them. I can't wait to take her to see some of the bluebonnets that have started popping up all over Dallas.

She calls these red ones "cherries."

This was her first time wearing overalls so she was still trying to figure the whole concept out :)

I've recently learned that Grace has a serious bug phobia. I tried to show her some Roly Poly's to convince her that bugs aren't all bad. She was actually warming up to them and decided to find one herself.

Unfortunately, she ended up discovering a giant beetle instead and this was her reaction. She was crying hysterically and saying, "no more buggys!" I couldn't help but laugh...

After the traumatic bug incident, I consoled her with a coconut ice cream bar. Worked like a charm.

 Sorry for the picture overload. I just can't get enough of this little girl!

Easter Weekend

We had the best weekend celebrating Easter and watching General Conference! We missed watching the Saturday morning session because Grace was invited to a friend's birthday party. The party was sort of a dress-up theme and she wore one of her new spring dresses. 

I even got ready myself, which is a pretty rare thing these days. Note that I'm NOT wearing pajamas or workout clothes. My hair is also NOT thrown into a bun on top of my head and I AM wearing makeup. Sadly, this is an event worth documenting.

(22 week bump!)

The birthday party was at the cutest little girls clothing boutique in downtown Plano. Half of the building is a store and the other half is set up to entertain for parties. They had a huge selection of dress-ups and a little "stage" where the girls could do karaoke and dance. Between getting dressed up, dancing along to the Frozen soundtrack and eating a giant chocolate cupcake, Grace couldn't have enjoyed herself more!

That night, we had a little girls night with my mother-in-law at La Hacienda Ranch, while all of the guys went to priesthood session. Grace was SO good at dinner and we had a nice visit with Suzanne. Grace surprised us all by downing the chips and salsa - that salsa is NOT mild! I guess she just loves Mexican food as much as her mama does :)

It wouldn't be a trip to La Hacienda Ranch without a ride on the coin operated horses out front!

 After dinner, we went back to Grandma's house and grace took her tricycle for a spin. She was looking pretty tough with her sunglasses...and princess basket.

 On Easter morning, we did a little egg hunt at our house followed by German pancakes (which I  made for the first time by the way - SO good!) and then watched the first session of conference. Please try to ignore the stains all over our white couch...

Grace was pretty excited to find out that the Easter Bunny had visited Grandma's house too! (Just what we needed...more Candy!)

Grace LOVED the play-dough she got in her Easter basket. I'm not sure why it took me so long to discover how amazing play-dough is. She was entertained for hours!

It was such a fun and uplifting weekend to be able to spend time with family and hear messages about our Savior and his gospel. Hope everyone had a Happy Easter!