Heaven

Today it was so nice outside. It was heaven. I told Alyssa that we were going to play soccer with Noelle before we went running. She has to be bribed to go running sometimes (I don't blame her, it doesn't sound fun to sit in the stroller while I run). When we got to the track Alyssa was very excited to play with Noelle. We had to wait for Noelle, Alyssa was so cute she kept saying "Wait I'll go find Noelle" We played for a few minutes before running.

After running we went to the park. It was crazy full of kids. The sun comes out and everyone comes out of hibernation. We met up with our friend. The girls had so much fun. I hope the sun never goes away!!!

 

Alyssa begs to go outside everyday even if it is cold. I can't wait till it gets warm so we don't have to bundle up and we can enjoy warm weather.

Weekend pictures

This weekend we had the opportunity to go to the Oquirrh mountain temple for Russ's moms sealing. While we were waiting I took some pictures outside. I was going to take some pictures after the sealing but it was VERY COLD and WINDY!

 

I brought my stephescope home this weekend to listen to Alyssa's lungs. She has been coughing and wheezing for over a month. (I think she has some allergies/asthma)To get her interested in letting me listen I let her play with it. She thought she was pretty cool. Then she wanted to listen to the window's heart =)

Our Future House

So  after a lot of thinking and talking we have decided to stay in Utah. Russ was applying to grad schools across the country but we have decided that it would be best for us if he got a job here and then did an executive cross continent program next year. The school that was #1 on his list has a really cool program that he can do from Utah with a few abroad experiences. It will be nice for me to stay at my job and stay close to family. PLUS we are going to buy a house. We have been looking at houses for a while (in case we decided to stay here). We decided we wanted to live in Cedar Hills (it is at the base of American Fork canyon).We found one house that we really liked and we wanted to put an offer in. But unfortunately it had an offer already that went through. We kept looking but couldn't find what we wanted. Most of the houses had tiny tiny lots.When I mean small I mean really small (.05 of an acre). I can't handle that. I need a yard for Alyssa to run around in. She loves to be outside and that would be very annoying. So after looking around we decided to build. The economy is bad which is good for us, meaning that building a house is about the same price as buying an old house. The lot we get to build on is .20 of an acre. It has a beautiful view of A.F. canyon. This view will never be obstructed because we back up to a golf course. We "get" to choose everything for the house. Russ enjoys this and I mostly do. We have to drive to SLC a lot and Alyssa doesn't really enjoy it. It is cool that we get to pick all the colors and styles but it can get tedious. We have already picked a lot out.

Our Lot

Picking out the exterior. This is the stucco and rock we picked.

Alyssa got bored so we went to the car so she could "drive" Mostly she liked to Honk the horn.

Sunday warmth

The sun finally came out and it warmed up a bit. We enjoyed some fun in the backyard. Alyssa is obsessed with going out side and never really wants to come inside.

Happy Birthday Alyssa!!!!

Today was Alyssa's second birthday! Man time sure does fly. She is a wonderful joy in our life.
Alyssa at age 2...
She can say more words that I can count. She is putting 2-4 word sentences together and more and more everyday.
She loves animals, especially dogs/puppies. She desperately wants a little puppy.
She is very active. She loves to run, jump, roll, dance. She is a gymnastics class and loves it.
She is very very affectionate, she gives the best hugs and kisses.
She loves her friends and talks about them often. (she is a social butterfly and wants to be friends with everyone)
Saying that she is very inclusive. When every we play, dance or do anything, she wants everyone in the house to do it too.
 She knows most of her colors and basic shapes. She loves to color or paint.
There are many more wonderful things about Alyssa but this is a short list I wanted to remember.
For Alyssa's birthday I took the day off work. Russ didn't have class, so we took Alyssa to the zoo. She loves all her presents and enjoyed opening them.

she was able to blow out her candle with out a problem. She actually blew it out many times while we were singing to her and we kept relighting it.

she got some cute clothes, she had to try them all on! (what a girl)

Alyssa and her birthday balloons.

Her new bike!!! She has asked for it everyday since we bought it.

At the zoo, on the elephant

Photos

I am in an online Photoshop class. I am working on some new photoshop techniques and I really like how it enhances the photos. Here are some examples of before and after.

before

after

after

before