Her Name!

Kaitlyn's favorite stuffed animal, Violet, sings little songs including this one that spells her name.  Right before I recorded this video, Kaitlyn said every letter (most of them before Violet said it) except for the L, and then she said, "Kaitlyn."  It was SOO cute, and we were all amazed. 

Video - Basement

The basement is technically unfinished.  But we found a store in Boone (just west of Ames) that sells carpet remnants, so we purchased a couple of large remnants, laid them down, and we have been working on making the basement a family room.  We purchased banana chairs for the kids, a recliner on clearance, a tv, and a few other things.  It is looking really nice, and it feels great down there!  I'm sure we will be spending a lot of time downstairs.

Our House

This is a picture of the front of our house.  According to everyone in the neighborhood and everyone in the branch, ours is the "green house on Christian Petersen."

This picture was taken standing on our front porch.  If you look right in between these two houses, (maybe click on the picture to blow it up bigger) you can see Slide Mountain at the school's playground.  (Slide Mountain is HUGE.  I'll take video if I remember to bring the camera to the school one day.) The school is that close to our house.  We love it here!

Video - Grape Vine & Rest of Main Floor

Video - Garden

Video - Outside 1

Video - Kitchen

Video - Front of House & Living Room

While I was busy getting the boys and myself ready for church on Sunday, Kaitlyn was keeping herself busy.  I found her doing this:

The boys love our backyard.  So do Christian and I.

Unpacking

This is what the living room and kitchen looked like just a few days ago:

Once I get motivated to take more pictures and/or video of our place, I'll post it so you can see what our home looks like now!

Brooke's House

We stayed at my sister Brooke's house one night on the drive.  Kaitlyn was copying everything Hunter was doing.  They were having so much fun together - it was adorable.

Saying Goodbye to Our Cedar City Home

We had three people come help us pack up the truck.  We sure appreciated their help!  We also had people bring us dinners, snacks, and watch the kids while we were getting everything packed and cleaned.  We love our friends and neighbors from Cedar City!

Saying Goodbye to North Elementary

The last day of school in Cedar City, I brought the boys to school.  They brought treats for their entire class (Ethan: peanut butter bars; Aidan: chocolate brownies), and they also brought presents for their teachers (both boys: a 12 pack of Diet Coke and a fake rose that plays a song and a hand-written letter to their teacher).

North Elementary

 It was pajama day at Aidan's class

 I don't know how to work with window glares, but I tried to get the front window sign.

It was difficult for all three of us (me, Aidan, Ethan) to say goodbye to their school.  Sniff, sniff.

Sitting on the Couch

We carpet cleaned a couple of days before we left, and Christian put the couch up on its side to get it out of the way.  It quickly became Kaitlyn's favorite spot (to share with her dog, Violet):