End of Chapter one.

It all began four years ago to the day... 

when I graduated from here

And Moved here. 

I lived with these girls for a while... 

Before meeting this one.

And we were crazy. 

 Then I met this guy. and happened to take this picture on our first date. 

And we happened to take this picture the date we officially become boyfriend and girlfriend.

 and then we were engaged here, at this bridge. 

 and we got married. 

Our first apartment together was here

 we had our first christmas here with a pathetic little tree

rescued this poor dog here 

 Saw John Mayer here

had an awesome halloween here 

2nd Christmas here... with the same pathetic tree.

Jeff worked here 

we also lived here

We ran a 5k here

Graduated here

moved to west jordan and made awesome new friends here

had a bump here

had our 3rd Christmas here... with a real, giant tree... and a real, giant belly.  

had a giant belly here and here.

 had a miracle here.

and now... we're moving here.

4 years in Utah.

3 years of school. 

3 years of marriage. 

4 different homes.

1 dog. 

1 baby. 

countless friends, countless memories.

If our life was a book, this would be the end of the first chapter. Thanks to everyone who helped us write it! We love you, and we'll miss you. 

Goodbye, maddie's first home!

warning: this video contains dangerous amounts of cheesiness. be prepared. we're embarrassing parents already. 

Well, the time has come to pack up our apartment. It's kind of bittersweet. I really insisted that we decorate this apartment and make it feel like a home because it was the first place since we've been married that we would live in for longer than 4 months.

I particularly wanted to decorate maddie's room because we didn't know if we would be moving next year or not. It seemed sad to just take everything down before somehow documenting maddie's first home, so we made a video just for her to see what her first home was like.

A lot of people have asked me what maddie's room looks like, and now you can see for yourself! 

ps - here are the before pictures of maddie's room. quite a difference, huh? 

13 days and counting

In case anyone was wondering. 

(boxed days are days that Jeff works 16 hours. 

coincidentally, those are also the days when 

I'll be checking myself into the local mental hospital.)

Too Much Change!

I'm looking at (old) pictures of Maddie, and I don't even recognize her! I swear I wake up with a new baby every day. She already doesn't fit into her bassinet anymore, and just a month ago it was so big it seemed as though it was going to swallow her up!

Jeff and I are about to put in our two month's notice to our apartment complex that we will be moving to Saint Louis, and I have mixed emotions.

Pros:
- Going to grad school is exciting. It means better our lives, and it's an amazing program, and I should be so proud to be going to SLU. (or so Jeff keeps reminding me).
- Saint Louis is full of Jeff's family, and they are all amazing and fun to be around. It'll be great for maddie to get to know her aunts and uncles.
- Saint Louis is a pretty cool city as far as cities go.



Cons:
- Leaving some of my amazing old friends (lindsay, amanda) and amazing new friends (elyse, gina) behind. Do friends like you exist in saint louis? I hope so.
- Having to think about leaving maddie at day care once I go to school. I just got her! I don't like thinking about it.
- Moving across the country. with a dog and a baby.
- Accepting that I'll probably never live in Oregon ever again. Hopefully someday I'll become a famous psychologist and write some feminist book that makes us millionaires so we can buy a summer home in Oregon.

It's all just too much change. Can time just freeze for just a little while so I can just enjoy how good things are now?

(and can someone tell this kid to stop growing?)