Goodbye's....

Goodbye's are always tough, but tonight I think I had the hardest one of all.  There are no words to describe how sad I am to be leaving this friend behind.  She has been my rock, my shoulder to cry on, my shopping pal, my babysitter, my photographer, my baby girls best friends Mommy, my best friend!  She's like a sister to me, and saying goodbye to her tonight, was the hardest goodbye I think I have ever had in my life.  It's funny how things happen, Jessica and I almost never met, and oh how I would have missed out on one of the coolest best people I know!  We met at the swimming pool; and I was told some things about her that made me a little worried to meet her.  And imagine, that now, we are best friends!  We've taken the kids lots of places: Wildlife Experience, Zoo, Nature and Science Museum, Train Park, Royal Gorge, parks, pools, shopping, Chick-Fil-A, and of course McDonald's!

I will miss Jessica and Zharius (you too Derek, but I don't see you much), so much it hurts my heart!  You are the best friends a girl could ever ask for!  The only thing saving me is, she'll be in Utah in two weeks so I can go say "hey"!  Wish you were coming with us to Utah, or that we were staying here, thank-goodness for the internet!  Love you Jess, and miss you already! ~Em

Pictures

My awesome friend Jessica McAllister, whom I love very much, did Elliana's 2 year pictures today!  Jessica also does amazing work and she is so fabulous!  Here are just a few for a sneak peeks!  Visit Jessica's blog here: http://flourishgallery.blogspot.com/

Here are a few pics:

Wow, it's really happening...

Last night I met up with some great friends at a coffee shop, as I was leaving my friend Angie gave me a hug and said, "this is like a really bad friends finale".  I couldn't agree more!  I'm going to miss my friends here in Parker SO much!  I love all my friends and am really sad to leave them behind, luckily it's not far to Denver and I will be back!!!  Glad that I have my friends!

I can't believe we're really moving, it's happening.  My house looks so empty, and there are boxes everywhere, we're really leaving Parker and going to Utah.  In many ways I'm sad, but then I ask Elli if she wants to go to Provo and she freaks out EVERYTIME, because she's so excited to go to Provo, because she knows Mimi (my Mom) is going to be able to come visit and she is so happy to see my Mom.  She lifts her arms high and the air and says, let's go to Provo!

I've gotten some really fun pictures of Elliana the last few days, with friends' camera's, so I will get them and post them soon.  Probably won't post till next week, we move on Saturday!  Please remember to keep Tom in your prayers, he takes his Board Exam on Friday and could definitely use ANY and ALL help he can get!

Our New Home

We have FINALLY found a new home in the Provo area!  We'll actually be in Springville, but are very excited! We didn't really want to be right in Provo, so we feel like we are in a great place!  Our rent will be $775 which we feel is a steal, after living in Denver.  It's the basement of a house, turned Duplex, and we were really hoping to get a house, but at this point, we are just glad to have found a place.  I can't tell you the stress that is now out of my body and life!  I have a few pictures that I will include, my brother Spencer has been awesome in helping us find a place, and I really appreciate all of his help, though he won't look at it blog!  He's been so wonderful to go and look at places for us, and I know it's been a pain in the butt!  And, we have a backyard!  : D

 The 3rd Bedroom that we will use for an office, we are SO excited to have 3 bedrooms, and a little sad to only have one bathroom, but beggars can't be choosers, and we are poor!  Also, special thanks to my Mom and Dad for ALL of there help, and my Grandparents LaPray who have been so helpful as well!  You'll never know what your support means to us!

 The newly remodeled kitchen!

 The newly remodeled bathroom!

The living room, with a fireplace!  We are very excited, and will be moving to Provo somewhere around July 23rd!  We are excited to start this new adventure in our lives, and any prayers on Tom's behalf before he takes boards in just less than 2 weeks!  What a scary thing!

Also, on a separate note.  HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to us just over a week ago, with all this crazy moving I haven't had a chance to blog!  I can't believe it's been 5 years!  I love Tom more now than ever before, and am so happy I get to spend an Eternity with him and our family!  Elliana's favorite thing to say is after I say, "we are a happy", family; she finishes it in the cutest little Elliana voice you can imagine!  She's adorable and getting bigger each day!

Sippy Cups are for babies...

Tom and I have decided that it's time for the sippy cups to go away!  Elliana has grown FAR too attached for her own good!  So this morning, I decided was the time (after getting up 3 times last night, or was it 4, to fill up her sippy), that they were going away!  This morning we had a little talk, with Daddy and we decided sippy cups are for babies, and Elliana is a big girl.  We got a grocery sack and had her put them all in the bag, saying good-bye to her sippy cups.  Then she threw them away (not really, I will get them out later, because they are SO pricey), and I thought she was good!  Til, about 10 minutes ago when she threw the biggest fit because she wants a sippy cup, and says they're not for babies.  Poor kid!  She'll live and I know this will help all around, and hopefully it will help her sleep a little better, and eat better to, because she won't constantly have a sippy with milk.  We've decided she can still keep her "drink" sippy, which is a clear sippy cup that she has Crystal Light in for a little while.  Wish us luck, tonight is likely to be awful!

I can't lie, I cried a little as she was so excited to get rid of her sippy cups, what happened to my baby?!?!  She is no longer a baby.  She's getting so big and cracks me up EVERY day!

On to another topic.... We went swimming the other night, and while we were at the pool (hot tub) we were getting ready to leave and Tom asked Elliana to put on her sandals.  She looked at him and in her sassy little 2 year old voice said, "dad, they're not sandals, DUH, they're flip flops".  I'm sorry, hello what?  Then, she was walking home, with her hooded towel around her head and holding it around her body and looks at me and says, "I'm so cool Mom".  We love our little girl!  To many more happy memories miss Elliana Mae!