Nursery!

Today we are in Washington to celebrate Christmas with Dave's family and it is so wonderful to be here! Today was also Bailee's first day to go to nursery at church and it was kind of a big deal for me. In my mind it is the passage from baby to toddler and I just can't believe my baby is getting so big! During sacrament she was singing the "ooooo" part in gloria to the song Angels we have heard on high so loud but I absolutely loved it. She is a musical little girl and continues to be so independent. Dave and I both loved that we were able to be in our own classes and know that Bailee was happy and in good hands. One of the nursery leaders told me that she was so surprised that this was her first day in nursery and Bailee was so great for them. I love the feeling that comes when I hear positive feedback about my child from other adults :) It sure makes me grateful for my independent and happy little girl!
I also added a picture of Bailee with her cousin Hannah who she absolutely adores :) I had to stop her from trying to pick up Hannah to go play with her. I am grateful that Bailee is having this time to get to know her cousins even better and make memories with them :)

Well here goes nothin'....

After a long year and a bit of not being sure about our next step after college, Dave received news today that he got into the accelerated nursing program that he wanted... In Tennessee!!! We will be just outside of Nashville in Hendersonville. So we had thought we would have some time to prepare for it, but it starts at the beginning of February so things will happen quickly! We are so excited for this change in our original plan and we have found that The Lord is truly blessing us. We have loved our time in Sacramento and we are so grateful to have been here but know that to move forward we must go on. We happened to set up a lease that ends in January and we had been thinking maybe that was a bad idea. Now things are happening for the best and we look forward to a new adventure down south! We have learned a lot personally and together as a family that has taught us faith and diligence in doing what we know is right and The Lord will bless on his timetable. Just find joy in the journey :)

Temple visit with Bailee

This morning I had to get our car checked out at the honda dealer and took Bailee along since Dave was working. The temple is literally the next street over from the Honda dealer so I had them take us up there for the time they would work on the car. It felt so wonderful to be on the temple grounds and have Bailee there with me. It was much better to be there than trying to entertain her in the dealership. While we were at the temple Bailee would go off the main path into the bushes and I would just simply say to come back to the sidewalk and she would listen so well. I was amazed because listening has been a struggle... She would point to the temple and say her version of temple and we talked about how it is Jesus' home. Lately the answer we get to everything is "no" but when I asked if she wants to go inside the temple and get married in the temple she shook her head yes very excitedly. It was a sweet experience for me and just makes me hope that we can help her know how much her Heavenly Father loves her and how important she is. Her response to my question also just reminded me of the faith of a child and how sweet and pure they are. I love seeing her face light up when she identifies a picture of Jesus and how she says his name with so much excitement!

Hanging out with great grandpa Barrett

We are spending the weekend with my grandparents since they returned home not long ago from their mission at Martins Cove. They live on about an acre of property and Bailee just loves being able to run around. Being here makes me want to live on a piece of property like this to raise children and to be able to have space to have trees and a garden. I feel like I can breathe out here!

Halloween night!

We were not planning to take Bailee trick or treating but went ahead with it at the last minute. I looked up the best places to trick or treat in Sacramento and came across an area called Curtis park that really was not too far from us and we were excited to check out a new part of Sacramento. On our way there bailee fell asleep so we decided that we would let her nap a bit and luckily I always have a deck of cards in my purse so Dave and I just sat in the car playing games until she woke up. The neighborhood was an older area and we loved the uniqueness of each house and the friendliness of the people there. Dave even had a great chat with a guy who moved here from Portland with his family and how much they love that neighborhood they are in now and how it reminds them of Portland/Vancouver. We are so glad we went and it was so fun as parents to see how much people loved seeing Bailee so small and confident walking up to their door and happily accepting their treats and knowing to put them in her bucket. My favorite was the bucket that had a banana and orange as gag treats and Bailee picked up both of those and managed to grab a chocolate with the banana. I gave the fruit back to the guy because he would need it later but it was quite entertaining for all of us. Another guy let her pick her own and said she could get another candy, she got into power mode and quickly grabbed 2 more pieces. She just loved it and we are glad we went ahead and did it because she loved it so much and we were able to love it from a new perspective as the parents :) oh and nothing scary seemed to phase her. She loved touching the scary decorations and thought it was silly when they would make spooky noises! The pumpkins i posted are from a house that is famous for amazing pumpkin carvings and they had ( if i had to guess) about 20 pumpkins displayed on their lawn to look at and all were very unique. One more thing I just remembered was that Bailee would not let either Dave or me hold her bucket under any circumstances. She even fell over once because it had to be at least 2 lbs and she had the death grip on it and would not let us help her carry it.

Canning attempt #2

So there were two aspects of my day canning, one was way fun and the other very eye opening and humbling and I would like to share both. So I would be canning for my second time and since my awesome grandpa gave me a pot to have and picked all of the tomatoes for me, I figured I may as well get the last couple of canning tools that would make it possible for me to can in the future. So the Walmart closest to us that has canning supplies involves driving through some rough areas. After getting my supplies and on my way home, I was stopped at a red light and happened to notice a man looking through the garbage of a business. I assumed he was likely getting cans to recycle and get money from, but instead he pulled out some kind of food and put it straight to his mouth to eat it. Other times I may have been grossed out and just quickly looked away but after having read a book not long ago called "the glass castle" I saw him differently. I was thinking that he is somebody's son, a brother maybe... And due to one circumstance or another, his life has come to getting his food from others' garbage. It made me not only count my ABUNDANT blessings, but also instilled in me a desire to do what I can to help those I can. As the holiday season approaches, it reminds me of the true meaning of the season and how our Savior Jesus Christ was the perfect example of giving and serving everybody regardless of their station in life. A lot to take in but I wanted to share and record that experience because it really impacted me.
On a lighter note, we went home and I got to canning the tomatoes! I ended up doing the whole process on my own as Dave was at work and it was such a great feeling to accomplish such a task and know I could do it on my own if I had to. I ended up with 14 quart jars and 9 pint jars which was awesome. I no longer have a fear of canning and look forward to continuing to do it as opportunities come.

A couple of silly pictures lately...

So I found the cutest panda umbrella that matches Bailee's shoes and couldn't resist getting it and she loved playing with it! She is not the best yet with holding it up but you can kind of see what the umbrella is of. Another thing that was fun was Dave and Bailee playing with the box her umbrella came in. He packaged her up and delivered her to me in the box. She seemed to be a bit unsure at first, but went with it and stayed really still in the box, then popped out for me :)