You may have noticed it's been pretty quiet around these parts for awhile. Occasional movie reviews but nothing consistent. Well there's a good reason for that lack of commitment:

We MOVED!
 
Completely NOT in the plans for the year when we made goals, NOT in even our minds really but here we are hahaha

I've said here before that the house we were in was not our forever house. It was the perfect starter home and we loved it dearly. We started to feel the nudge sometime in the end of March. First week of April we just decided to look around at some houses nearby to see what was even on the market. On a whim we saw this house (I had hated the pictures of it online) and we fell in love with it. And that's when the madness started hahaha

Within a week we had our house up on the market. Guys I've never worked so hard for so long on something (other than growing babies) and we had multiple offers come in which was great. We also knew that we couldn't afford this new house without selling ours first. Basically take the equity and roll it over into our down payment. So we took a cash offer that seemed to give us the most wiggle room in a new budget to work.

After the inspection period, these buyers got difficult. They now wanted pictures of the EMPTY house 3 days before close, lowered their price to "help them with upgrades to the property", and a few other things that I've honestly blocked from memory.

We could have backed out and put it back up and seen what would happen. We could have done that, but Andrew and I both felt prompted to just keep going. We didn't want to lose THIS house. It had been on the market for about 50 days when we saw it, and we were the only offer on it but it was contingent upon the sale of our house. And if we had put ours back up and waited, this house would probably be out of reach because they were waiting for a certain period of time before they  would open this house for more financing options.

And so, we plugged on. The week leading up to Memorial Day was moving week. We had to pack the truck on Wednesday so we could take pictures of the empty house for them to wire the money on Friday so we could simultaneously close on the new one same day.

Guys, THIS WAS SO STRESSFUL!

We had plans to pack the truck and leave room for the mattresses so we could sleep one more night there and then be out by Thursday. Well our water had other ideas and we were kinda forced out Wednesday night. THANK GOODNESS for amazing ward members and neighbors who allowed us to crash at their house and helped us with this move. We lived out of our car for most of Thursday, stayed the night with some friends, and most of the day on Friday while we waited for the green light to move into the new house.

Oh and did I mention this was also Rory's last week of school???? My poor girl didn't get a proper last week of school and quite frankly I felt really bad that her teacher didn't get the same amount of gifts or attention that her kinder teachers did last year. All because of this move hahahaha

But as I sit here in my new office and type this, I am BEYOND grateful.
We know for a fact that the Lord's hand was in this.
We've felt His promptings and love and peace while in the midst of chaos.
We're both so grateful to everyone that helped us in any way with this new adventure.

My saddest part of this move however was leaving my sweet girls. My Young Women have been in my life for the 5 1/2 years we lived in that house. I grew up with them as their teacher and I have loved them as though they were my own (and still do don't you worry girls!).

They surprised me on our last week at church with signed posters, a Sodalicious gift card (it's like they know me), treats and lots of tears and hugs. They're my "babies" and I am sad that I won't be there every week to see them anymore. Lucky for us, we only moved like 5 minutes away so they are still stuck with me as a friend and ally!

So there ya have it! Now you know why it's been kinda silent on here for awhile  and it may continue to be so while I unpack and get everything settled away. So bare with me while I try to work some pixie magic on this house and make it into our true forever home!

So I recently redid my hair!! I added a little purple to the mix and my amazing hair girl (Shea Madison Salon in Queen Creek)  mixed it into my teal so perfectly it's amzing and I will never go back to brown! Ok I probably will at some point, cuz money, but the point is: I love this so much it just makes me so happy!
 
So I asked my friend Morgan to take some pictures for us again (last year's pictures here) so my hair still looked good and so I can print them out for our walls! Behold our gloriousness hahaha

 We took them at the Riparian Reserve in Mesa AZ and I love them!
The cactus were gorgeous that day and even though it was super windy (like seriously.....it was gusty) they turned out amazingly well and  Morgan is just so good at getting my kids to be comfortable.

You guys, it's September! Finally!!!
 
This means it's one month closer to my birthday! And hopefully some cooler temps PLEASE!
 
I wanted to share what we did for Jade's birthday this year and just kinda what we've been up to!

We took her to Build A Bear to give up her binki for a new "buddy" (aka stuffed animal, we call them buddies in our house) And she picked a UNICORN! Yeah I know, she's from My Little Pony but my kids don't watch the show so she just knew unicorn! Also, *I* want to go back and get this one ahhhh! (ok and I probably NEED this don't I?!)

After Build A Bear we HAD to stop at the Disney Store or what kind of mother would I be?! They were super sweet to Jade and even to Rory about her birthday! They gave a Rory an UNbirthday button and a bag full of goodies for both of them.

After the Disney Store we took them to Famous Dave's BBQ just like we did for Rory's 3rd birthday! Sadly they don't do the giant ice cream sundaes anymore for birthdays BUT she got to sit by her Daddy and Grandpa (2 of her most favorite people) and Daddy shared all of his corn with her which made her so happy.

And guys she's done GREAT with letting her binki go! She cried for a couple nights then when she realized we weren't giving in nor could we get it back (it's INSIDE the unicorn) she relaxed and is fine now hahaha

We're getting into a better school routine and now Rory is wanting to do everything herself. And I let her do most things but making her sandwich is still MY job cuz I don't trust a 5 year old with a knife yet.

I recently got some new juice boxes from Apple & Eve to try with the girls and they LOVED them! I'm a member of Influenster and we received these samples for free which is always amazing and the kids just loved the flavors!

I've been adding more to my "office/craft room/MY room" gallery wall!
 
Unicorn Chalkboard/Lightbox/LED Mickey Ears/4 square prints/large print/square print
/calendar (similar) 
 
I've been LOVING putting things up on the wall finally! I have more I'm wanting to display but I need more frames and I gotta wait for the "redecoration funds" to come haha

And just in case you thought I wasn't busy enough, here's what my desk looks like pretty much all the time!
 
And this weekend we're headed "home" to Disneyland and guys I can't WAIT!!!
 
How have you guys been?? What are your big plans for Fall!?

This weekend we had a big party for my mom!
 
She turned the big 5-0 and asked for a Harry Potter party! Guys, you all know how much we love Disney around these parts, but you may not know that we're big Harry Potter fans too! My mom is one of the biggest ;)
 
SO it started as me, my dad and brothers doing most of the planning, but my mom is a party planner. Like she LOVES this stuff and since it was HER party, she asked if she could help too, and with our powers combined we made it EPIC!

This past week our family visited Andrew's uncle (Unkie) who lives in South Carolina and we had a fun time!

We flew into Charlotte and then drove to York and when we got there we had food and fireworks waiting for us! After all, it WAS the 4th of July and what kind of Americans would we be if we didn't have fireworks?! The girls loved them (thanks to some handy dandy ear protection) and we all slept very very soundly that night.

Daddy was feeling pretty adventurous while on this vacation because he decided to try to play Monopoly with the girls (insert shocked face emoji). They liked the idea for about 15 solid minutes then they got pretty bored hahaha but they finished it more or less!

Andrew also decided to make empanadas and milanesa for dinner on our last night for Unkie and the family. Guys he made his own dough! From scratch! He hasn't done that since being IN Argentina, and he won parent of the year by letting the girls roll their own dough. Guess who's the favorite parent now hahahaha

We had so much fun but we were very happy to get home.

Even though what we came home to was this (reposting my FB status here hahaha):

"Return home day checklist: forget water bottle in the van. Check. 
Giant poop blowout AFTER checking bags (with the flight boarding soon). Check. 
Giant branch of the tree breaking off in the storm overnight and blocking the driveway. 
Check (friends with chainsaw moved it out of the way for us). 
Have A/C go out 2-3 hours before we get home and getting up to 90 
in the house before getting someone over to repair $450 later? 
Check. Sleep in our own bed after all this? Check and check."

Needless to say, we're chilling at home now and we're ready for the normal to kick back in hahaha

​I absolutely love Saturdays. Andrew's off from work and then the possibilities are endless!

We have the Pogo Pass and tomorrow they're taking away one of the venues: The SeaLife Aquarium so therefore we HAD to go see it for free ;) It was so much fun!! So I grabbed my good camera and prepared to take so many pictures, then we get there and there was no flash photography and I could NOT figure out how to not make the flash pop up....so I used my phone for a few pictures but it was super dark so I only took a couple but still it was awesome!

​Rory's face when we went inside was priceless! The look of wonder in her eyes and the excitement just made it totally worth the 45 minute drive.
 
After the aquarium we were at the mall with a carousel and a Disney Store! Guys, my daughter LOVES a carousel. So I went on it with her and then we hit the Disney Store

​I didn't do the best job her first time on the carousel, and even this time I missed the gigglefest by 2 seconds! Dang pockets hahaha

Like I said, I love Saturdays and spending time with my sweet little family ;) Andrew and I couldn't have asked for better girls and we adore every memory we can make with them!

I've been thinking about this past year,
and it's been a crazy one ;)


First few weeks of being a married couple
Got my old credit card stolen 
Chopped my hair off to re-grow it out
Our first married couple dinner party

 Got Andrew through this crazy year of school
Trying to make our apartments look like home
Learning to be crafty-ish
Went on two trips to Disneyland - one with my family and one with just my mom

Lost an angel
Got our callings as Sunbeam teachers ;)
Having random late night nice dinners
My Disney Store closed
Got our pictures taken thanks to Perla
Got hooked on Pinterest
Saw the end of an era with Harry Potter 7 part 2
Celebrated our birthdays
Found out we're going to have a baby!
Going together to the OBGYN for our baby appointments
Spent our first Thanksgiving together as a married couple
And now our second Christmas as a married couple

Just a few things lately :) Andrew started school again. Doesn't he just look so chipper? It's only 6:45 AM after all...One of our favorite places to eat is Red Robin. Most of you know of its awesomeness. For those of you that don't know its amazing power of delish, go NOW! I always get the Banzai Burger Yes, that's pineapple friends. On a burger, heaven. The husband wanted to give me a smile and that crazy face is what he gave me And this is the redo I demanded: Isn't he just super cute? Andrew has a few burgers he goes between. He picks ones depending on whether I'll let him kiss me afterwards. It's awesome! For our Valentine's Day date, he took me to another one of my favorite places. Cafe Rio! I'm simple in love with their pork salad and burritos. Chips and salsa are amazing too :) And I'll post pictures of our date soon! But they do feature these boots: Aren't they awesome!? Got them at Shoelicious in the Fiesta Mall for $15! And yay for cheap cuteness!