Fun Fun

Stella loves her "tummy time" mat. As long as she is in the right mood for it she just stares at the little sea animals on it for what seems like forever. Now she has started to roll over off of it because the little pillow puts her in a good position to do that, so you have to watch her closely, because if she rolls, she gets mad. See, Stella is a little drama queen. When she is mad, everyone needs to know it, and boy they do. I think she may even be able to scream louder than me - and that is saying something.
Stella also LOVES to hang out with her daddy. He flies her around the house, lifts her to touch the ceiling, holds her upside down, etc. and she just can't get enough. Yesterday when Andy came home from school, Stella had been sitting on my lap talking with me. When Andy put his face down by mine, Stella got the biggest smile on her face. She loves talking with her dad, and when he stops, she will stare at him as he walks all around the house until he comes back and gives her more attention.





Speaking of big smiles, I don't think I have posted any pictures of Stella smiling. She is most smiley in the morning. Right when she wakes up she is an angel.

Some of my favorite pictures

Well sorry, I can't seem to help myself. Now that we finally have the internet up and running, I want to keep putting more pictures up. I will try to control myself, but I don't know how successful I will be.

Stella can Stand

Well, one of Stella's favorite things to do is stand up. She is so strong. Last night, Andy put her up against the chair to see how long she would last. She does pretty dang good. She loves to stand there and just stare at us like - "what are you looking at?" Pretty funny.

a celebrity look-alike in the fam

I have always thought it would be kinda cool to look like a celebrity. People have told me I look like Mandy Moore before, but we all know I don't really look much like her. My sister, however, just got her hair done, and she suddenly looks quite a bit like Ashlee Simpson. Lucky Duck.

smiling faces, beautiful places...

So, to get started, I will just play catch up with some pictures and activities that we have done "recently". (oh yeah - forgive the different sized pictures, etc... don't ask) When Stella turned 1 month, we went to the Utah county fair. We had a ton of fun. It was very hot, but stella enjoyed going around in her stroller.













There was a baby goat that was exactly the same age as Stella. It was pretty cute!






Stella also had her first major blowout while we were at the fair - so she was changed in the parking lot. Oh what fun.




Stella goes through little phases where she loves her pacifier, and then hates it. Each phase usually lasts a couple of days. Guess which phase she is in here...





Stella hangin with Aunt Andrea



And Aunt Michelle



And chillin with her madre











And here are some more random pics...



This is Stella milk drunk. Her favorite state of being to be in. We like it too!











Before we made our trek out to South Carolina, we went to California for a Law School prep course that Andy took. And of course we stoped off at the best beach in the world - Carpinteria - for a little fun in the sun. I think Stella may have had more fun in the sink at the hotel than at the beach. She loves her bath time!











We came back to Utah to pack up our moving truck, and Bless Stella before our move. We had lots of friends and family there to help celebrate and help move. We really appreciate all of their help and support, and we love them all. Stella's grandma Smith made her the most gorgeous blessing dress I have ever seen. In fact I cried when I saw it. I am going to make a post just for it, but that will have to be another day. Andy did a wonderful job on the blessing. It was an all around great experience!











Then it was time to say our goodbyes... This was very hard. It was especially hard for me to say goodbye to my best friend Rashel. I know I will have the chance to see my family fairly often. My Mom will make it happen, how ever she can. However, Rashel and I both have young families, so we can't just decide we want to see eachother and then make it happen. We hope to meet up in Carpinteria every summer so that we can share some time together, and our daughters will know eachother. Saying goodbye to my Family was kind of surreal because I have never really moved away from all family, so I kind of was feeling like I wasn't really moving away. In fact, it still hasn't hit me that I just can't see them with a short drive. I guess that us good though. Leaving "the west" was especially hard for Andy. Alpine was a wonderful home for us and we will miss it.







On our way to South Carolina we stopped for a day in Colorado to spend some last minute time with Family there. It was good to be able to visit just a little more.





While we were there we got to visit with Mary, Grandpa and Grandma Smith's good neighbor. She made Stella a very cute little sweater and hat. Sooo cute!





Then we started the real drive. It was long, and it was hard at times with Stella, but it was also fun and exciting. We saw some pretty cool things.











I was pretty nervous about making the drive with a little baby, but for the most part Stella did great. Some of the time she was pretty mad...



but most of the time she looked more like this...





Tennessee was our favorite State. Andy and I both thought it was so beautiful. Nashville was very nice for a big city.



And when we finally got where we were going -





Stella was as happy as could be. (And so were we)



Then we just had to find a place to live, move in, buy $1,000 worth of books, and it was off to school for Andy. He hated to say goodbye to Stella in the morning, but he was excited (and a little nervous) to get off to school and hit the books.



Stella and I drove him to school, it takes about 25 mins or so...



And then he was on his own.



He likes School. He finds it very interesting, but also very time consuming. Sometimes the cases are hard to read, because they can be pretty horrific, at least the criminal ones that is, but he likes what he is doing for the most part. He said he has never looked forward to a friday more then he did after the first week of classes. Well, neither had Stella and I. We miss him during the day, but we sure are proud of him, and very grateful for the sacrifices he is making and the work he is putting in so that he can provide for our family. I will write more later, post some pics of the school, and of our home and community. We miss you all. Muahhh!!!