July Update

New month, new update!

Adam and Ashley: I decided to combine ours because let's be honest, you really would rather hear about Eli ;) The biggest update we have is that we got a new car!!!! We've been looking for awhile knowing that we needed another one. Eli and I have been going stir crazy stuck at home haha. Adam had the day off on Pioneer Day because of him working for a church school so we decided to look. We happened to find a minivan online the day before that we really liked and was an awesome deal. So we took it for a test drive, prayed about it, and then signed the papers!! We all absolutely love our new (to us) 2015 Dodge Caravan :)

Eli: will be two in a couple weeks! He is getting so smart and maybe a bit too smart haha. He is learning words by the dozen and is getting better at copying what we say. He also figured out how to use door knobs and then figured out how to rip off the door knob covers we have (which were too small anyways but hey they lasted a month or so haha). He has also learned how to take off his pajamas and sometimes his diaper...so yah that's been fun to wake up to haha. He is getting a little too obsessed with the TV which has been hard to moderate since if we say no, he will attempt to climb up and turn it on himself. His obsessions are cars, trains, fish, and going outside. Seriously, he could talk about them all day haha. He also loves video chatting people especially Grandma and Grandpa (both sets), Lala (my best friend Kayla), and baby (Kayla's little boy). He will often point to my phone and ask for them by name. Such a social boy :)

My sister's wedding!!!
Read about it here!

My Sister's Wedding

Earlier in July, we got to take a trip to Washington!!
We decided to have Adam work a half day so we drove part of the way on Monday the 3rd, stayed overnight in La Grande.

Sleeping at the Fort

We drove the rest of the way on Tuesday the 4th. Eli did "relatively" well with the drive. We were able to get in early enough so that we went to lunch at Burgerville and then we went down to the Fort Vancouver fireworks show which has been something I grew up going to so I was excited to show Adam. Eli took a nap on daddy's back and enjoyed playing with Grandma and Grandpa Tanner. We were a little worried about the fireworks because we had gone to a smaller thing with Adam's family and he didn't like it. But I think that was just because it was too close and too loud. He LOVED the big fireworks show and so did we :)
Then Wednesday, we got to see Jessica go through the temple for the first time! Its always so nice to go back to the Portland temple since that is where we were married and I went through the first time :)

Getting our nails did :D

Thursday, Adam sweetly took care of Eli for the majority of the day so that I could go with my sister, mom, and some of Brad's side of the family to go and get our nails done! They turned out really well and it was nice to pamper Jessica. Then, that evening we had a little bachelorette party at Beaches restaurant and then hanging out at her sister-in-law's parents' house. 

Hanging with Chelsea!

Friday, we had a family party with all of my mom's side to celebrate my grandpa's birthday and we had a little baby shower for my aunt. It was so fun to hang out with everyone and Eli enjoyed playing with his second cousin and his first cousins once removed (when your youngest aunt is only a few years older than your oldest sister, cousin lines get confusing haha).  

Cute ring bearer!

Beautiful day :)

Saturday of course was the big day!! We got to see my sister get married for time and all eternity to an amazing man in the same place that we got married as well as my sister Stephanie <3 I totally cried haha. It was a beautiful day and after pictures we went out to my favorite Thai place. Then that evening, we had the reception at Green Meadows club which was gorgeous! The catered appetizers and the cake were delicious and the decorations were super cute. I didn't get a ton of pictures because most of the time I was video chatting with Stephanie who is in Peru for her husband's internship. I am so grateful for modern technology which allowed her to see all of the big things at the reception like the ring ceremony, first dances, cake cutting, shoe game, speeches, etc. They exited in a decorated golf cart to get to their decorated car that was taking them to their honeymoon!

sleeping at the reception

Gorgeous cake!

Then Sunday, we made the long trek home! During the day while we were there was often spent visiting with old friends of mine and just driving around Vancouver (sometimes just so Eli could get a nap haha). So now all of Adam's siblings and all of mine are married!

Heading off!

June Update

Ahh life has been crazy but I've finally got around to a new blog post! There aren't as many personal updates but mostly stuff about what we've done this month. So here is how June went for us :)

Babywearing at Yellowstone

At the Idaho Falls zoo

Adam: is continuing to enjoy his job! Even with all that hard work, he still comes home ready to help out around the house and with Eli. I'm so lucky! He is mostly just redesigning already established courses but he is liking it. He has been able to get to know a few of his coworkers as well. He has been loving the extra free time in the evenings and weekends which have quickly filled up. But he's been able to read for enjoyment which he hasn't done for awhile!

Ashley: I have mostly been attempting to keep up with Eli (hello tantrums!) and keeping busy with all of our various activities. I have been working on getting a local babywearing group established here which has been fun. I've even been able to help a few people in person! I also got a bike which promptly broke after one ride to the park with Eli in our new trailer. We got the new part this week so hopefully we can get it back in working order again!

Post-nap temper tantrum over socks...

Sleeping at cub scout day camp (my new church calling)

Eli: is 22 months and LOVES to talk. And about 1/3 of it is understandable, but mostly the same few words haha. But he is learning more. His new favorite thing is counting which I've been trying to teach him #1-5. He enjoys counting goldfish crackers and his toes by going "1,2,1,2,5!!" or "1,2,5,2,5!!". "5" is always shouted out with glee haha. He also has gained an affinity to tantrums which hasn't been as fun. Full on rolling-on-the-floor-kicking-and-screaming tantrums. So if you have any advice on how help with tantrums for a mostly nonverbal nearly 2 year old, I am all ears. He LOVES to go outside to parks and this month we went to the local zoo here! He loved it and since it's small, it's the perfect size for him. We let him walk around using the leash we have (he's a runner) and he liked feeling independent. Adam is diligently trying to teach him how to say "I love you, mommy" which has also been adorable :)

We also went to Yellowstone (for the first time for me) with Adam's brother and his wife! Eli absolutely adored them and I thoroughly enjoyed all the cool sights! My favorite was West Thumb's paint pots. All the colors of the rainbow! It's amazing what natural processes can create. And Eli kept pointing at all the steaming, bubbling pools and saying "It's hot! It's hot!" over and over again haha. I can't wait to take family and friends that have never been!

May Update

 Our first month in Idaho!! Besides Adam and I getting a horrible stomach bug early on, the month has been good :)

Adam: started his new job as an Online Curriculum Designer at BYU-Idaho! He is loving it so far :) He has a nice office to himself (that I have yet to decorate haha). He enjoys his coworkers and could see him working in this job for awhile. He loves not being in school as well haha (as do I).

Ashley: I have spent this month mostly getting us settled into our home. We're nearly there but still have some stuff to unpack. All of the main areas are set up so we actually had family over for Memorial Day which was fun :) Recently I also have done a lot of family history which has been really fun! Now we need to find time/babysitters so that we can do all the temple work I've collected. I've also had fun connecting with some old friends who happen to live in the area as well as get together with my family quite a bit. It makes a new place a little less lonely. It is hard not having two cars but we are coping :)

Eli: is 21 months old and definitely getting towards the terrible twos. He is an emotional roller coaster sometimes. One moment he'll be playing quietly by himself, the next he'll be screaming at me to go outside and hitting me, and the next he'll be cute and silly playing with me haha. It can be a bit exhausting. He rode a horse for the first time thanks to a friend of a friend and he's enjoyed interactions with more animals in country life haha. He is learning more words every day and currently his favorite phrase is "thank you" which I don't mind ;) he says it after I give him a snack, change his diaper, and once after I vacuumed haha and that was without prompting! His fine motor skills have developed a lot as he can now do a puzzle super easily (even turning the pieces to fit) and stacking legos into a tall tower. He loves going outside and hates when we come back in. He likes to try to help with household chores like laundry, dishes, sweeping, and putting things away. Even though he can be difficult, it just makes the sweet times sweeter haha.

Cute smiley boy, enjoying his new slide, and being a cute whiner haha

April update

Cheering on Dada

Holy crap!!! This month has been NUTS so I'll try to keep this brief. So here it goes!

Adam: graduated!!!! Last week he finally finished school with a Master''s of Science degree in Instructional Psychology and Technology. It was a hard last leg to the finish line but he did it! He even got a better grade than he thought in his last class especially taking into account him finishing his project and job searching. I'm so proud of him :)

at the Great Cloth Diaper Change world record event :)

Ashley: I spent the month preparing for the move mostly so lots of setting up and canceling utilities, reserving a uhaul, changing banks, and packing. Oh and trying to take care of Eli :)

Eli: is 20 months old! He is learning lots of new words and some of them are distinguishable haha. He enjoys "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" and gets so proud of himself when he gets it right. He has taken up high pitch screaming which has not been enjoyable but we're working on it. He has also started a slight fear of nursery which has been strange because he has always loved it but hopefully that is just a phase. He does enjoy praying and will fold his arms and bow his head (sometimes randomly). If we do family prayer, I'll peek and often he'll put a finger to his mouth and go "shh" hahaha. He still loves people and when anyone leaves, he gets very sad. He has 16 teeth broken through as well. He can be a little rascal sometimes but we love him :)

cousin Easter egg hunt; getting into trouble at church while Daddy does some clerking; playing with toys brought by grandparents; giving Brad some Uncle training haha

Graduation and Moving

These people... <3

So the week started off with my parents coming to visit starting on Sunday :) We were able to do lots of fun stuff with them as well as Stephanie and Eli loved the extra time with Anders. On Thursday, Adam's parents came and right off the bat helped us finish our packing. Often I would take Eli away and spend time with my family while they and Adam would pack. They were complete life-savers. Then Friday was graduation and we got to see my sister Jessica and her fiance, Brad! Afterwards, we went out shopping to look for bridesmaids dresses and then everyone went to dinner at Wallaby's (our favorite local place). We were a big group haha :) I'm so glad all of them were able to come celebrate Adam graduating! Next, Saturday came. My parents said a brief goodbye before heading off and we finished packing and loading the truck. After that, we said a very tear-filled goodbye to our best friends, Kayla and Steven, and then headed out of Provo. We made, in my opinion, one of the smartest decisions in hiring cleaners to come after we left. It was SOO nice not to stress about that! If we can afford it, I think we'll do that every time haha. On the way north, we stopped at Ikea to eat lunch and pick up our new sectional. Adam's brother Jared who had helped us all day Friday and Saturday morning met us up there to help us load that into the truck. The trip up to Idaho Falls went well, and thankfully Eli did great on the drive! Then when we got to the house, we were met by my aunts Amber and Linsy as well as their kids (and my cousin Calvin's kids), and some neighbors and church members. So much help from so many amazing people! Adam's parents stayed with us until this morning. I seriously CAN'T imagine what we would've done without them. They were AMAZING help :) We also got to go to the Idaho Falls temple open house (although it was built in the 40s, it just underwent extensive renovations so it will be rededicated).

On our own now!

All in all, we are so excited for this new adventure and can't wait until we're all settled into our new home. I will try to do a facebook live tour of it once that's done!

<3

March Update

This was a very VERY exciting month so I will attempt to be brief haha...

Adam: is completely and utterly done with his Master's project!!!!! I know I've said something like this before but then he was just finished writing it before submitting. This month he defended his thesis (which the committee said was probably the shortest defense ever haha), passed with revisions, and completed those revisions! Besides some PTSD with our desktop computer we have come out of this experience with minimal scarring and much relief haha. He also applied for more jobs and even got 4 interviews in one week! He skype interviewed for a position at Utah State University, did two phone interviews for two different positions at Oregon State University (one of which he actually was asked to do a final in person interview but that was after we had accepted another offer), and of course did a phone and in person interview for the job he accepted at Brigham Young University-Idaho!! We were both so excited about this because that was surprisingly the position we felt best about throughout the process even though we both wanted to move to the Northwest. So now with those things done, all Adam has to do is his one class and his current jobs!! He is quite a bit burnt out and especially now that the job offer is taken and everything, he is mostly focusing on just passing that class haha. I am so proud of all the hard work he has done this past month and I am so grateful for the blessings that have come from it.

Ashley: I also had quite a busy month with looking for jobs for Adam and then looking for houses in Idaho Falls! Even though such a big move is stressful, I am grateful that we know now where we will be going after graduation. I am a super planner with something I'm stressed about so I have lists upon lists and I am slowly knocking things off. Although there is only so early you can start packing ;) We got to go up to IF Eli-less (thanks to everyone that helped!) and look at some rental properties we had seen online. The online favorite turned out not to be as great so I am very glad we made the trip. There were a few houses that we really liked but didn't end up seeing. After some discussion and calls to the rental agency, we didn't have too many options left (a lot had just signed leases) but there was one we saw in person that we really liked and that was the one we got! Now we have that set up, we are SO beyond ready to finish the semester and move on to our next step in our life!

Eli: is 19 months old! He has developed so much especially with language! He has added the words poop (which he points to his diaper so I am not sure if he thinks diaper=poop haha), five (referring to high fives), "boom" (or fist bump), and shoe to his repertoire. His main growth is in how much he understands us. He can follow simple directions and his favorite new game is sitting on my lap with his First 100 Words book and I say "Where is the...?" and he points to the item. He actually understands way more than we thought! Now comes the stage of spelling out words that we don't want him to understand haha. He now has 12 teeth and two canines that just barely broke but he's still working on those :( hopefully that won't take too much longer. Eli loves to go outside, read, play with his puzzles, and lead us around the room holding our hand. Other than the introduction of toddler tantrums, this stage is fun :)

In keeping with our personal mantra...ONE MORE MONTH, ONE MORE MONTH!!!!!

Blessings in Disguise

Throughout our marriage, Adam and I have found so many blessings in times of anxiety and fear or directly coming from unfortunate times. I wanted to compile a list for my memory and for posterity as well as share about our most current blessing. These examples show how our Heavenly Father finds unlikely ways to bless us and how times of trial can turn around.

- After we got married in December 2011, Adam immediately found a TA job in January 2012
- In April 2012, I was prompted and followed through with quitting my job at Subway without another job opportunity. A week or so later, I got a job as a secretary in the Office of Digital Humanities.
- At that same time, Adam got his position as a TA for the new BYU Online pilot program which paid nearly double what he was making before.
- Skip ahead to fall of 2013, Adam applies to the Instructional Psychology and Technology graduate program at BYU directly because of his positive experience with BYU Online.
- February 2014, I get in a car accident.
- Adam gets into the IPT program.
- I get a full-time job in a group home that turned out to be a complete failure.
- Because of the secretary job I had, I had the idea that Adam could teach a new intro course in the Digital Humanities minor while a graduate student. After both Adam and I talking to the coordinator, Adam gets offered a position as an instructor.
- After graduation in April 2014, not knowing what to do after the previous experience, I get a part time job as a secretary at a mental health clinic.
- Because of the identity crisis from the above, I go to the temple to seek help. We get prompted to have a baby.
- December 2014, we get a substantial financial settlement from the car accident in February which was more than enough to pay for starting our family.
- A couple weeks after the above, I find out I'm pregnant.
- The part-time secretary job turned out wonderfully, allowing me to self-care while pregnant as well as make priceless friendships.
- August 2015, we have Eli right before a new semester for Adam.
- Adam's BYU Online position (which he continued through graduate school) allows him ample time to work from home while I struggled with postpartum depression.
- Skip ahead to fall of 2016, we decide that since Adam was finished with his coursework, he would try applying to full-time jobs.
- He gets zero interviews or job offers after already giving notice of leave for his current jobs.
- November 2016, we get prompted to stay here for another semester even without jobs.
- December 2016, Adam finds out they need him to teach DigHT 215 again.
- Also in December, Adam gets offered a position from a professor he worked with previously in BYU Online. This position would be to manage over a bunch of TAs as well as redesign a major GE course to incorporate blended aspects (mix of online and traditional class) using a learning management system most jobs are asking for experience in.
- Winter 2017, Adam applies to jobs again
- Last week, Adam had 4 job interviews.
- Yesterday, Adam gets offered a fantastic full-time position as an Online Curriculum Designer with BYU-Idaho for after graduation in April 2017. This position works with BYU-Idaho's program as well as the worldwide BYU Pathway online degree program. It also offers an amazing salary and stellar benefits.
- Today, he accepted the offer!!!!

So in conclusion, we will be moving to Idaho Falls, Idaho in about six weeks!! We feel so incredibly blessed and grateful for the guidance of Heavenly Father that led us to where we are today. It was a rough road at times but we have definitely felt His hand in our life.