Ok - we really need to decide where we're going ...

Happy Labor day weekend to everyone - I know the weekend is long over - I'm a bit behind! :o)

Family picture on Labor day evening

As it comes closer and closer to leaving Arizona, I feel the stress to make a decision about where the heck we're going to live next. We've definitely decided that we'll leave Arizona at the end of this month (September), visit Poky for a couple weeks, then fly out to New York for all the coming holidays. At the beginning of January, we will move back to Utah ... but where!? We've debated on a few places; not going to mention all of them so people who live there wont be saddened that we decided against living there ... (it's not me, I swear! You know I really want to live there!) :o) We've gone back and forth on Logan and Provo, as many of you know, but we've finally decided that Provo is the winner!

Our adorable little girl, gonna be so sad to leave!

We're very excited - now the stress is on to actually find a housing facility! :o) I've missed Provo so much - but it's still so close to family, thank goodness! We hope to have lots of fun and make lots of friends while we're there ... based on the last four months and the coming four months, who knows how long we'll stay in Provo! :o)

Having fun eating the floaty ... and splashing with Daddy!

We are enjoying Arizona, though! I will be sad to leave. I mean, I don't like the crazy heat or the swarming bugs, but other than those two minor details (wink, wink) we'll miss it a lot! It has been ... an experience! :o) Probably never going to do this again, but at least we can say we've tried it, right!? Alexis has gotten attached here and I seriously wonder if she'll forgive me for taking her away.

All of a sudden, Alexis climbed out of the pool and walked around with her floaty!

It'll be hard for her to not go swimming for the next half year! She's just been a little fish down here! She's going to miss a few friends, though. It was fun being able to hang out with Amber, Phil and their sons! Lexi just loves other kids whether they're smaller or bigger than her and she loved the rough-housing boys! :o) I wish we had a way of being able to continue seeing them more often!

G. Aunt Kimi, G. Cousin Amber and cousins, Peyten and Ryder, playing in our apartment!

She also loves her friend, Christiana! We're going to miss Chris and Heidi and her a lot; but at least they visit Provo a lot, too!

Alexis admiring her friend, Christianna!

Alexis is seeming so grown up, it shocks me often! I'll look at her and she'll blow my mind! When did she get so big, I don't know! It seems like just yesterday when she was finally here and in my arms for the first time; how time flies!

Growing up so fast - surfing the web and what-not!

Just in the past week or so, she's saying more, learning more, exploring more - a week ago, she had claimed the drawer under the stove as her own - now she claims the drawer, the small cupboard next to it and the double cupboard on the other side, along with all the mixing bowls and pitchers in them!

Surprises left in the drawer under the stove!

At first she started dumping her toys out of the toy box and into the bowls - now she just ignores her toys and plays with the bowls! She'll wear them on her head like a hat(don't worry - I wash them again before I use them).

Lexi sometimes tries to put too many things in "her" drawer!

Sometimes, she'll yell in her high-chair for something and, after minutes of trying to figure out what she wants, I'll hand her a bowl with magnets from the fridge in it and she'll be totally content!

So cute in her high-chair, refusing to get down!

She also loves her high-chair! Sometimes, she'll sit in there for no reason, not even wanting food! She reminds me of the uncle in the past in Back to the Future that never wants to get out of his playpen! :o) She's learned where everything belongs, so she knows where to go when she wants something.

Dancing and listening to music - a favorite pass-time of Lexi's!

She'll dance around and point to the stereo for music (She's stinkin' cute when she dances, too! She turns her head side to side very quickly and throw her arms around - it's like her whole body turns the way the head turns one second after! It's adorable!); she'll jump up and down and yell "shoes" while pointing to the pile that she can't reach; she'll pull on my pant-leg and sing "toys" while pointing at the toy box on top of the shelf! She also knows how to say "no" and refuses most of the food I try to feed her - everyone says that toddlers all go through that stage and they'll get over it, but it still stresses me out and makes things that much harder. But, of course, all-and-all, we LOVE our little girl!

Reading one of her favorite books - I love you through and through!

She loves reading, singing and dancing - three things that are very important to Jordan and I. She'll go all on her own to her pile of books and pull out a couple (usually the Backyardigans book and the "I love you through and through" book from Aunt Barb) and take them to a corner or to the sofa and just sit and "read". Every now and then, we'll hear her mummbling "words" and pointing at pictures.

"Rar" says the crocodile!

There have also been many times lately where she'll be playing with her "amazing animal" toys and she'll hold them up facing each-other and start "talking" for them; she'll even bounce one or the other up and down as if that one is the one that's talking at the moment!

Taking a walk, searching for the "lost" Daddy!

She loves taking walks as well, especially when Daddy isn't home - I think that she thinks he's just outside and we just need to go find him. She'll yell for her shoes, sit on my lap for me to put them on for her, then run over to the door and start pulling down on the handle - she's getting so tall!

So smiley on her walk, Lexi and I by the fountain!

We'll go outside, wide smile on her face, and walk the apartment grounds, looking for Daddy. After about ten minutes or so, she gets tired of walking and the heat and we'll go back home - where she runs immediatly to the window overlooking the parking lot and yells until I open the blinds! She's definitely a Daddy's girl! Sometimes she's just in the mood for Mommy, but she loves her Daddy! She's so much fun and we wouldn't trade her for anything!

Jordan and I getting ready to go swimming with Alexis.

Jordan is doing very good at his job - especially considering the economy. The sales have been hard for all the men down here - the top salesmen made half as many sales this year as they had last year! But we have still done pretty good and have made progress financially! He's been very motivated and hard-working. I hope that I have supported him fully and helped him feel loved. I'm pretty sure he'd agree. He's just happy to have me out of our old apartment in Ogden ... that place was a little scary; not only was it old and stained and spider "infested", I wasn't very motivated in keeping up on all of it! Sorry, but it's true! Coming down to a nice, clean (and small, so easier to maintain and less possesions) apartment has enlightened him (and me). One of the main peices of advice we'd been given when we got married two years ago was, "happy wife, happy life". Jordan has definitely learned a little about how true that is the past few months. The peice of advice, "if she's right, admit it; if she's wrong, shutup" still needs a little work, though! :o)

Apparently something was really funny -
I think she was watching herself in the screen while I took pictures!

We miss all of you very much and can't wait to see some of you in the next couple months!
Love you all,

Kristen.