My Tribute To Blue

This was actually taken at the concert that we were at, I was right next to this girl.

I just love Blue! This was the 2nd concert that I have been to and it was so great to be able to be so close to the stage. Their music is so inspiring and has so much meaning behind it. We saw them in Austin while living in Dallas and were so excited to learn that they would be playing in Salt Lake. During the concert Justin sang to me and then threw me a guitar pick. I told Rick that he should be jealous :). After the show I got to meet him, he signed my shirt, and then I got a hug from him. It was so great and I can't wait to see them again. Thanks mom, Jackie, and Cari for watching Bella and letting me have such a great b-day present!

Life in Salt Lake is good. The weather during the summer months here is so much better than the hot and humid summers in Dallas, but I REALLY miss Dallas. This statement is so funny to me because I hated it there for the first year and I really wanted to move home, but it was such a great place to live and the people there are so friendly! Not to mention all of the great things that there is to do there. I wouldn't be surprised if one day we move back :)!

The house that we are living in is great and we love our ward. We are right smack on the mountain and the views from our deck are amazing. You can see the entire valley. I am sure the winters are going to be a nightmare, but lets not think of that quite yet.

Bella is doing great and has almost mastered potty training. Okay so that is a little premature, but we are on our 3rd day and the accidents are getting fewer. She is now signed up for dance and gymnastics. She has been wearing her ballet slippers to bed at night, because she is so excited to start dance. She is getting so big and her vocabulary is just growing. Her funny saying now is when we ask her what her name is she says "Bella Dr. Larson". We don't know where she picked that up other than maybe from Rick's graduation, but it is so funny.

Rick is enjoying work and is keeping busy. I must say that I love his four day work week. He is staying active with soccer, flag football, and cycling, which can get a little annoying :)...love you Rick!

I am just busy with Bella and work of course. It has been great to be around old friends and especially have Rachel move here.

Hope all is well!


Bella playing dress up.


This was Yancy. We had him for one day and I am tempted to go get him back. He was such a great dog and I just wasn't ready.

Happy 4th of July

4th of July parade with our friends the Gramse's. Doesn't Bella look enthused? She actually really loved the parade and she got to meet some real life firemen and get into a fire truck :)!

Bella with her friends at the splash park.

Rick and Bella tubing in the lake. We had such a good time with the Ence's.

So life has been crazy and great here in the SLC. I love hanging out with old friends and I have loved the weather here during the summer. It definitely beats the Dallas summers! Rick has been keeping busy with his new job and is mastering his dental skills :). I have been busy with work and taking care of Bella. Bella has been enrolled in swimming lessons and gymnastics. She loves swimming and has really taken to the water.

We have had some fun visits from our friends the Dorny's, Jepson's, and the Berry's. It was so great to have our friends from out of state come and see us. Bella loves playing with her "Texas friends".

Not much else is happening, or an other words, we are very boring people :). We hope you all are doing great and we will write more soon.

*I added our family pics that our good friend Whitni Parker did. She did such a great job and I was so impressed with how well Bella did during the shoot.

We Made It!

So obviously it has been a long while since we have updated our blog. A lot has happened in the last few weeks; Rick passing his boards, Rick graduating, moving to Salt Lake, and getting situated in our new house. It has been a very exciting time, but it also has been very sad. It has been so great getting reconnected with my old Salt Lake friends, but I definitely miss my Texas friends.

Bella has been adjusting really well! I have been surprised at how well she has taken to the new house and getting to know new friends. She actually stayed in nursery all by herself yesterday, which as most of you know has been a constant battle for the last 6 months. She loves having a backyard and having her very own playroom. It has been so great, but I do miss all of the activities that we had to do in Dallas.

It was so exciting to see Rick graduate on May 13. What an awesome accomplishment. He was the 1st to graduate from College in his family and now from graduate school. He is amazing and I am so proud of him! All of our families came out to Texas to support him and I must admit that I got pretty teared up seeing him get his diploma. These past four years have definitely been the hardest and most stressful years of our marriage, but also the best years! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband and darling daughter!

The move was easy thanks to family and friends. Getting all of the minor details down was definitely a headache, but it all went so smoothly! Thanks to all of our families for everything that they did in helping with the move. You all are the best!

I will definitely start posting more now that everything has settled down. I can't wait to get caught up on every one's blog! Talk to y'all later!

This is just a slideshow of what we have been up to for the last two months.

Anniversary & Turning the big "2"

7 year Anniversary

Rick and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary on April 13. As a present to me, Rick and I went to the Blue October concert in Austin. It was awesome! We were the 4th row back and I swear the Justin was singing to me the whole time :). It was such a great concert and I even converted Rick into being a Blue fan.

I can't believe that 7 years have already passed. As you all know, I am not a mushy person so I will just say this: Rick you know I love you and am so glad that we found each other. You are such a great husband and father! Enough said!

Bella Turns 2

Our little Bella turned two on April 14th. We had such a good time taking her to Build a Bear and letting her ride the carousel in the mall. It took over two hours for her to open up all of her presents. Thanks to our families for spoiling Bella so much!

Bella's Stats:

Weight: 29 lbs 2 oz 80%

Height: 35 1/2 in 90%

Head: 49.5 cm 94% (She has my big noggin, poor girl)

Bella's Favorite Foods: Milk, Mac & Cheese, noodles, pizza, nuggets, grapes, strawberries, ham sandwiches.

Bella Likes: Gymnastics, movies (Madagascar II and Horton Hears a Who), Dora, friends, jumping, bubbles, and coloring.

Bella Dislikes: Vegetables, most of her mom's cooking, bees, nursery, and naps.

Her Favorite Sayings: "More Milk", "Come on mommy/daddy", "Cleo off the table", "I watch a movie".

Favorite Books: "No David", "Llama, Llama Mad at Mama", and the Pigeon Books.

Favorite Songs: "Elmo's World", "Popcorn Popping", "Wheels on the Bus", and "5 Little Monkey's".

Personality Traits: Stubborn, loving, fiery, and playful.

We love you very much Bella and you are such a blessing!

Bella at two weeks.

Bella at one year.

Bella at almost two years.

Parties, Parties, Parties!!

Bella with her BFF Lucy having a sleepover :)

Bella with her close friends Lucy, and Mckenzie at their tea party.

Bella and Lucy at the zoo. They held hands most of the time, so cute!

The "Sprinkles" cupcakes that I made for Bella's party.

Dora and Diego party

The kids running wild!

Bella with her friends

Everybody jumping.

We have had such a fun month with parties! Bella went to her first tea party a couple of weeks ago at her friend Lucy's house! Mckenzie, Lucy, and Bella had so much fun dressing up, drinking from tea cups, and eating PB & J sandwiches. They were so cute together and they always have a great time with each other!

Our next adventure was the zoo. Bella's most favorite person is Lucy. She is Bella's best friend and they just love hanging out with one another. Rachel and I thought it would be fun to take the girls to the zoo for a day of animal watching. On the way to the zoo we were serenaded with the debut of Lucy's and Bella's first music single "We love the zoo...zoo, zoo, zoo-zoo!" It was great. It was a perfect day and it was a lot of fun to see all of the animals.

The most fun celebration was Bella's Dora & Diego Birthday Party! She was so excited for her birthday party and it was all she could talk about for the last few days. We had her birthday party at her gymnastics place and all the kids had so much fun. She even had her favorite coach, Coach Kelli, as the instructor for her party. It was great! Her friend's Lucy, Gracie, Lilly, Treyson, Mckenzie, Asher, Preston, Caleb, Jacob, Maddie, Sofia, and Randen were all there to celebrate the day. We are so blessed to have so many great friends! Bella's real birthday is on the 14th of April and so she will be really excited for more presents and more cake. The pictures are terrible from her birthday party and I apologize for this. We have a very old digital camera that breaks often and once we get an income a camera will be the first thing I buy :)!!!

NEWS

We are making it official, Rick has accepted an offer from Dr. Kelly Carroll in Salt Lake City. Rick worked with Dr. Carroll before we moved out here to Dallas and he has offered Rick a position as an associate for his practice. It is a great offer and we are so excited to move closer to our families and old friends. Dr. Carroll was actually the one that told Rick to apply to Baylor and we are so glad that he did. We have absolutely loved it out here in Dallas and will miss all of our friends so much. We have made great friends out here and it is so sad to leave them behind. We will also miss the great weather out here as well!!! We will be moving back to SLC on May 16 and Rick will start work soon after. We have found a great house in Draper and it has an awesome backyard, which I am so excited about!!! All of my SLC friends can't wait to see you again and also do any of you workout at 24 hour fitness? Just wondering....

I hope all of you are doing well and hope to talk to you all soon!!

Springing Forward

Bella showing that she can play a little hoops too!

Rick showing us that he still has it even though he is 31!

Bella dressing herself. She loves the bling, bling!

It has definitely been spring here in Dallas. We have really been enjoying the 80 degree temperatures and being able to wear shorts and go to the park. Bella is following in her daddy's footsteps and loves to play soccer. She will just continue to kick the ball until she is stopped by a fence or until she trips and falls down. She is growing up so fast and it is amazing how fast time is flying by. What is also amazing is how bipolar the weather is out here too! It was a nice 83 degrees yesterday and now today's high is going to be 45. Crazy, but all I can say is that at least it doesn't stay in the low temps for very long since we will be back up to the 70's by Monday.

I was trying to potty train Bella this past week, but ultimately my lazy side won. Most of you know how much I hate dirty diapers and stinky bums, so the potty training failed after one missed poop in the toilet. I just love diapers!! I love the convenience of them, I love that I don't have to make Bella use a public restrooms, and I love how, for the most part, all the stinkyness stays inside the diaper. Bella has been asking to wear big girl panties and doesn't want to wear the diapers anymore so I am assuming I will have to start back up again soon...or maybe I will just wait until Jackie comes out for Rick's graduation and she can just do it for me since she has 4 kids experience :). Bella has been cracking us up lately and her "spirited" personality is coming out more and more. She now yells at us "No, be quiet!", "That's mine!", "Stop it!! Ow, Ow, Ow!" The last one is always my favorite saying that she seems to do at church or at the grocery store and she does it right in front of someone so they think that I am abusing her. It is great.

Rick is doing really well. He has only two months until graduation and can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. What a long and hard process it has been for him and we are all just so proud of him. He has passed his National Boards and his Mock Boards and so all he has left is the licencing boards in the middle of April.

I am still staying busy with work and Bella. I am still taking my tennis lessons on Tuesday nights and love it. Plus, being the enrichment leader keeps me busy as well. I am surprised at how much I have really enjoyed this calling, mostly because of the great people on the committee. Rick has also surprised me with tickets to my favorite band in April for our anniversary. We are going to see Blue October in Austin on April 11 and I think that it will be great. I will hopefully get to post pictures of me throwing myself on the stage.

I hope everyone is doing well!

Sorry about the wind blowing in this video.

Bella was delirious for this video, bad nights sleep and a poor nap.