September!

Are we halfway through September already? Where did August go???

We're all settled in to our most recent apartment here in Logan, and we're definitely celebrating the fact that this is our last winter in Logan, ever! No offense towards those who love this little city...

Rich is still adjusting to being in school, he's got that lovely "senioritis" bug that makes it so hard to want to do anything school-related. But he's workin' through it, he's a champ! He's excited for his capstone project this year, he gets to participate in a project designing a new type of hybrid longboard. Which, if you know Rich, is pretty much a dream come true! He's also preparing to take the FE exam this fall, which is the big final engineering exam he has to take in order to get his degree. Needless to say, prayers and positive thoughts would be much appreciated there!

As for me, I'm taking this year off of school and just focusing on chasing after our little munchkin, which is indeed a full time job! Sage is very inquisitive and curious, he wants to be everywhere and see and explore everything, and he is fast. He could give Speedy Gonzales a run for his money...literally. He's a very intense little boy! He now says "Hi" regularly, but that's about it as far as speaking goes. He does say "dad" often, and still refuses to say "mom." Ah, well, c'est la vie.

Rich and Sage are quite the pair. Sage is Rich's mini-me in so many ways, from their social habits to their food preferences, they are so much alike it is almost uncanny! Sage has a hard time saying goodbye to Rich in the mornings. This morning he saw Rich getting ready to leave, so he grabbed his shoes and took them to Rich so he could go with him. It's heartwarming and heartbreaking all at the same time, Sage would shadow Rich all day long if he could. He's definitely a daddy's boy!

Welllll, it's been quite a while since I've updated, hasn't it! What a crazy summer it has been! Rich is working for Dish One, originally as a head technician for the Seattle area, but now just regular tech. We had to find a new home for our husky pup, Zoey, because we couldn't bring her with us on this unprecedented job. It was heartbreaking saying goodbye to her, but she's in a nice home now with another sweet puppy and a loving family. We're hoping to one day try again with another fur baby, hopefully when we have a stable income and a house with a yard.
We're currently living in Vancouver, Washington, a mere half mile from the first place I ever lived, and a short walk away from my very first elementary school! We also got to reconnect with my brothers after over four years of separation, which is a huge blessing and a great experience.
We started the summer out in Kent, Washington, about 25 minutes outside of Seattle. It was a gorgeous area, nice and cool! We shared an apartment with my sister, who was the Seattle area administrator for Dish One. It was great being able to have her around, we did a lot of exploring on the trail behind our apartments, went to the local farmer's market (where we spent Sage's first birthday), hiking, and just generally enjoying it.
Dish One ended up shutting down the area because it wasn't producing enough jobs. All the guys on Rich's team transferred to another company, and Rich transferred down to the Portland area as a regular technician under another head tech.
Rich is much happier down here, though he misses his friends on his Seattle team. It's a lot less pressure and stress when you're not in charge! He only has about 2 1/2 weeks left, and then we move back to Utah. We're all ready for this job to be over - it's far too much work for Rich with far too little payoff - but we're definitely not ready to leave beautiful Washington and Oregon and go back to Utah!
We spent our second anniversary at Multnomah Falls in Oregon, which is an absolutely lovely view and hike. Although the humidity was pretty overwhelming while also wearing a toddler on my back. Whew!
This summer has been a rollercoaster emotionally and quite the adventure! We're excited to see family again, we've really missed everyone! And we're very, VERY excited for Rich to start his last year of school!

The Newest Adventure Begins...

So, most of you have probably already heard the news, especially if you follow me on Facebook or Instagram....

Surprise!!!!

Okay, just kidding. Had you fooled, didn't I? But I just couldn't resist. I don't even know whose pee stick that is...I got the picture from Google.
But we really do have a new family member!
We brought home a new baby last Wednesday.
She has big brown eyes, a happy disposition, loves to cuddle, and sleeps like a log.
She also has fur...lots of fur.

Zoey is an 11 week old Siberian husky puppy. She's our fur baby, and fits in to our little family so well!

It was love at first sight for Sage and I. We had originally gone to the shelter because we were bored. Sage loves to look at the animals, especially the dogs. It was a nice day and we didn't want to go home, so we decided to take a trip to see the dogs and cats. Then, at the last kennel, we saw this little sweetie pie...

Of course, we just had to play with her. And the rest is history.

Sage meeting Zoey at the shelter for the first time.

Rich took a little longer, but he finally came around. Especially when he discovered how cuddly she is. He's still getting used to her...he hasn't had many good experiences with animals, and wasn't looking forward to the responsibility. But he likes her, I can tell. 

Zoey is pretty active, much like Sage. She plays hard and sleeps hard, too. 

She is not house trained yet, but we're working on it. She is doing surprisingly well. She sleeps in an old pack & play next to our bed at night while we're waiting for her kennel to arrive, and she does pretty well at staying quiet most of the night, but wakes relatively early. When she wakes up, usually about 5:45 AM, Sage decides it's time to get up, too. I should probably start going to bed earlier than midnight...

People have called me a crazy lady for taking on this rambunctious little girl in addition to our High Needs little boy. I will admit, I never get a second to breathe anymore. I thought it was bad with Sage climbing all over me when I pee, but now I've got Sage and Zoey at my feet, begging for my attention during this time. I've tried shutting the door, but when I do I get to listen to whining and crying, pounding and scratching, and two little paws and two little hands reaching for me in the gap between the floor and the door. 

Whenever I open the fridge, it's almost guaranteed that both Zoey and Sage will come running (or crawling, in Sage's case). They try to swap food sometimes, which is hilarious and frustrating all at once. 

Sage is figuring out how to play with Zo, and Zoey is still learning not to mouth Sage or nip at his feet when he crawls. 

Sometimes it's hard to remember she's a dog, not a human baby. She sure acts like one some times! Either that, or Sage just acts so much like a puppy that I'm used to it...

Well, there's not much else to say...enjoy these pictures of our adorable new family member! She's asleep in most of them...it's hard to get a good picture when she's awake, because she's always moving!

This is an hour or so after we brought her home...she found Sage's blankets.

Nap time!

Zoey likes to sleep on the shelf below the coffee table. She's gonna be so frustrated when she can't fit there anymore...

Log baby [:

Snuggling with Eeyore. Look at that smile!

2014

Sage is officially seven months today, weee! Hooray for us, we've kept a tiny human being alive for seven whole months! I don't have a picture, though, because the little stinker broke my phone, and I lost my camera somewhere...Don't worry, though, he's still as cute as ever.
So, here's where we're at:
Sage is almost crawling, sometimes he does this army crawl/scoot thing, but most of the time he just gets stuck on his hands and toes and then faceplants into the floor. He got a LeapFrog MyPal's dog named Scout for Christmas, and he loves it (along with all the other wonderful toys he was given). He doesn't like to sleep unless Scout and his turtle Tinker are right next to him. He loves stuffed animals, the other day in the store he wanted to give all the Valentines Day animals kisses. Every. Single. One.
We think he's getting tooth #3, and oh boy it's so much worse than the bottom two!
We've started sleep training and so far it's going alright. The first night he slept a four hour stretch then five and a half hour stretch, which was fantastic. The next night he was up every 45 mins - 2 hours wanting to be held and nurse (courtesy of the teething, I'm guessing). On the third night he slept over 10 hours. I didn't, though, because I was up every hour and a half making sure he was still alive. I'm not afraid to admit I was pretty paranoid. The past couple nights have been pretty rough, and he just lays there and calls for me (sounds like crying but it's not really) until I finally go get him. Hopefully this tooth will pop through and we'll all get some rest soon.
Rich had a great winter break. He got to play lots of games with his siblings and cousins, which made him one happy little nerd. He's apprehensive about his workload this semester, but he's excited that it will be his last difficult semester ever. Next year he will be taking mostly technical classes, so no more of these intensely difficult physics, dynamics, and math-based classes. Yay! We still don't know where he will be interning over the summer, but Rich has high hopes for some great sounding places.
Well that's about it. Life has been pretty busy but news-less. We're happy to say good-bye to 2013 and are all looking forward to an amazing 2014!
Okay, I lied. Here are some pictures from Christmas 2013.