fun.

 there are so many moments that i would miss if it weren't for my trusty iphone. it was my saving grace during these last few months. because even though it's not true, sometimes i feel like if i don't take a picture of it...then it never happened! i don't want to forget a moment. so here's to the thousands of pictures on my phone and the wonderful memories...

and i know i'm not alone...because my instagram is full of friends who also take endless pictures of their day to day lives with their kids. it's the small things that we will want to remember! like this cute picture that lauren took and sent to me. it's from our last official day at church in our ward. trevor and cora were sick at home, as were beckam and jackson. by the time shelby and i got there the only seats left were next to our two best friends bella and lauren! it couldn't have worked out better. there has never been two happier girls in sacrament meeting! 

there is shelby JUMPING out of her seat because she was chosen to be the leader on the sunbeam walk on her last day in class. we didn't make a BIG deal of the whole last time, goodbye, shelby's moving thing, it was just "see you soon!" 

becky and kevin were such awesome teachers, she loved them! their daughter charlie was also in the class and i am so grateful that they kept 10 little sunbeams so happy. my little sweet girl loves chatting and sitting by her friend bella, and they usually had to be separated. this made shelby m-a-d sometimes which she would tell me-"brother andrus didn't let me sit by bella today. it made made me so angry! that wasn't very friendly!" but she was definitely listening to their lessons because she would use it when she saw fit-like that same day after i said that she couldn't watch whatever favorite show she had that week until after dinner she told me that "brother andrus told me that we should be nice to our friends and be friendly and you aren't choosing the right mom." funny stuff.

but she sure misses her friends and asks to visit them or have them come to visit. 

 my husband had great confidence in my packing skills and left the majority of the boxing up to me back in august and september. to break up the monotony of watching me pack (ha!) he took shelby to the movies a few times and even to a...

 giants game! 

 i'm a sucker for a daddy daughter date. they are such buddies.

 cora, your time will come soon! soon he'll have two big girls to take to games! 

 me and cora stayed home and played with her animals. they go everywhere with us!

 during our move time we accumulated quite a few fast food meal toys. 

you can see shelby holding up the fantastic power ranger toy.

 it makes a great hat too.

the night before our big move, two of our neighbors had a goodbye dinner for us! they made traditional indian food. fun to finally get to taste what we had smelled cooking all these years! i was honest and told them that trevor and i had never tasted indian food before and that we were a little nervous. especially when they asked if we eat goat! um, no. i said chicken would be fine! they promised to keep the spices mild too. both women were fantastic cooks. we had an indian style fried rice (though they told trevor it was nothing like fried rice, it actually kinda was-just with mint and a little heat) then a chicken curry that was mild and yummy, a vegetable casserole, and a cucumber raita to go on top (tasted like a greek tzatziki sauce). to finish it off we had a custard with fresh fruit in it, which they told me is a super common dessert that they serve a few times a week. it was fantastic!

one family had one daughter, and the other had a son and daughter. we were the closest to their family and shelby played with them often. mumta, the mom, and i loved to open up our garages, let the kids play outside and run into each other's houses and talk about the bachelorette or whatever. she LOVED that i knew jef's family. :) 

but back to the dinner. while the kids played oh so happily all night long, the rest of us had some fun multi-cultural discussions. it's exciting to talk to people who come from a place as different as india but be able to find commonalities. like our hostess, dhitri, told me that she was starting a fast for her husband the next day. she said that it is common for wives to fast for blessings and health to come to their husband. mumta, our other hostess, said she should do things like that but doesn't. :) mumta's family was a little more americanized. but they were both SO excited to learn that trevor and i fast once a month and at other special times as part of our religion. they also liked that we were married quickly. though both of the other couples had arranged marriages. super common in their culture. mumta and her husband only met on skype before they got married because they lived far away from each other! 

my favorite moment though was when the men were telling trevor that cricket was a much more complicated and all around better sport that baseball. hahahahahahaha! i'm still laughing. 1. baseball is SUPER complicated 2. trevor is a baseball fanatic 3. cricket. seriously? i'm not a redneck, but this is AMERICA and you will win no arguments that involve cricket here! but trevor is such a gentlemen and politely listened and pretended to agree and smile. luckily they had the football game on and could all enjoy that! i also unknowingly looked like a crazy feminist (which i am so not) because i started eating food (with cora mind you) way before trevor. the other women had to wait for their husbands to serve themselves and start eating first! but at least trevor didn't have to go through a week long indian wedding celebration! one day was hard enough on the poor guy. they were telling me all about the 15 wedding parties that they had. wow! 

after such a fun night, we were all sad that we hadn't done this more often!!!

but the moving truck was coming and it was time to stay up all night packing! :)

we got to know our 7 moving guys well. i fed them breakfast, lunch, and almost had to do dinner! 

i'll say it again because i'm still so proud that we made it to school the very next day.

luckily. the day we moved in, shelby immediately met a bunch of little kids that live all around us (though here they are asian instead of indian). next door she met a little girl named darlene and they spent a couple hours talking to each other through a little hole in the fence. shelby would send little treasures through the hole, and darlene got out her ipad so that shelby could watch through the hole. kids. i love how easily my little shelby makes friends! 

i'm sure glad we made it to church that first sunday because i found out that it was their last practice before the primary program the next week! ack! so they gave shelby a little part and i lowered my expectations. the sunbeams in this new ward are very active and so they only had one song to sing, a tiny part at the beginning, and then sat with their families for the rest of the program. sad face. we had been practicing the songs all year! oh well. we have many years of programs ahead of us! so shelby's part was a fill-in the blank: "i can choose the right by...." and then they could choose what to say. shelby chose: "listening to my mom and dad" could she be any cuter? when we got to church they were glad to see us, because they forgot to mention there was a pre-church practice! thanks guys. no matter. shelby was ready. but once it was time for her ONE song with her class (wise man/foolish man) she had to go to the bathroom! HA! so trevor ran her out and made it back in plenty of time for her part, which, seriously, not because i'm her mom, she ROCKED. she said it so clearly and perfectly. i was super proud. and when we got home she and i made pink strawberry cupcakes with pink frosting which she got to decorate all by herself. it was a perfect reward for my perfect girl. 

shelby wore this dress to the program, though i never got a pic of her in it from that day. but here's cora modeling the mini version along with her favorite toothbrush. i find toothbrushes all over the house. maybe i have a future dentist on my hands...

i love her sweet baby face when she sleeps. shhhhhh. 

uncle richard took off work and flew out from utah to help us move in. basically he was there to play with the kids while i unpacked and also help trevor lift big, heavy things. he helped SO MUCH! and both my girls love him to pieces. i'm always amazed by how good he is with kids. he's got a gift. 

seriously, these girls were actually tired of watching movies and tv after this move.

 i didn't think that was possible. 

they just wanted to go outside and play. 

and luckily we moved right by a big park! 

hooray!

we also live by the oakridge mall which has this fun play area! 

i love it when shelby scares other parents. :)

my gorgeous girl. 

it doesn't get any cuter!

the first sunday we were at church, i had 3 or 4 moms invite me to the park playgroup on thursdays. i've gone every week! i love it, the kids love it.  

because shelby gets bored at the park without friends...and actually...so do i! 

i wonder how much longer i will be able to do this! 

shelby calls dandelions "poofy heads" 

dirt girls. 

ever since we moved, cora decided that she doesn't like her high chair and only wants to be big and sit at the table. it's cute and messy, but i guess it had to happen eventually! 

oh how i love bath time! they are so happeeeee and stay in until the water is cold. 

shelby saw the missionaries when we were driving and was excited to see guys "just like uncle brett!" 

at night she prays for brett and sometimes adds that he can "come home in 42 minutes" or to "have a safe flight home soon." 

here's the view from shelby's room. that day there we had a fun lightning storm with hail! 

it was a false alarm because forthe next month after this it was SO hot. 

it's been such a weird autumn. 

people in the back...i can't hear youuuuuu! 

 i think almost 2 year olds are still such babies! 

matchy matchy with grandpa rich

we got to take some fun furniture that didn't fit in their new house!

score! thanks mom and dad! 

grandma cindy's new house now has a room just for cora and shelby. yay!

even though we are now in different stakes, we still live about the same distance away as we did in pleasanton and dublin. because i wasn't going to move far away from my babysitters! no way. also, can you spot the baby in this picture? :) so nice to come back from date night to bathed and pajama-d happy campers. trevor and i had gone to see pitch perfect that night! such a good movie. loved it. 

oh elmo. you're the best. 

playdough-only allowed at grandma cindy's. yuck. 

fun times with my phone! there were over 200 of these bad boys. i made this collage of some of my personal favorites. shelby is quite the stylist/photographer!

the ones that included her cute foot were my favorite! 

cora. my little barnacle. always attached. i know when she's 15 i'll miss it!

their favorite game. running in circles. 

playtime is fun time! love being a mom! 

i asked shelby this question from a little dinner game we play, and her answer was "go to utah to see uncle richard. i miss him." she's the sweetest. i'm so lucky!