It has been a long time...sorry! With it being the New Year and all I thought I would post something and if you could all do me a favor and comment if you still check our blog cause if not I'll just stick with Facebook.

So this past year was pretty crazy, hence no posts, Trav graduated with his Masters in Utah and then got a job in Arizona. Oh and of course we added Mr Thatcher to our growing family!

Isn't he just the cutest thing you've ever seen! And on top of being adorable he's such a good baby, always happy and calm...big change from Miss Riley! I can't believe he's nine months... it's gone by really fast!

And this is my Riley Roo, she is the most stubborn, sassiest and sometimes just plain crankiest little girl I've ever met, but I wouldn't have it any other way! She's now two and of course that means she knows everything, is a better mother to Thatcher and seriously must be deaf cause she doesn't hear a thing I say! Isn't she so cute though!

So we're in AZ now and we are loving it! The people here are so nice and welcoming! And Trav loves his job. The house we're in is great and hey it's January and it's 75 degrees outside, you can't beat that!

I'm hoping to find the time to blog more this year so once again please let me know who still reads this so I can know if I should or not.

Cousins and Friends

Clara and the kids came in to town after the 4th and they made a pit stop in SLC before going to stay at mom and dad's... so we totally painted the town! We went to the Natural History Museum, they were having a free day so that worked out nicely! Them to the Aviary at Liberty Park and then to the Planetarium and finally spent the better part of Thursday on Temple Square. Needless to say it was a busy four days!

This is how much Riley enjoyed the Museum!

A T-rex print!

Cousins at play

Riley actually really enjoyed the Aviary, she thought the birds were pretty cool!

I think the cloud machine at the Planetarium was her fave!

We have a really strong baby!

Our good friends the Jardines were in town and we had a great time with them and Miss Lillian!

Boating Babies

We went and spent the weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's and went boating. Amanda, Lin and Deacan came into town as well and Aaron and the girls came too! It was a lot of fun and Riley's first trip on the boat. She did really well, the water was a little cold so she didn't get in but she liked riding on the boat!

Just making silly faces rocking in her rocking chair.

She loves to swing! We're really loving our apartment complex, great playground and great people!

Getting ready to go swimming with the cousins!

I love her tutu bathing suit!

Summer fun! We had a great Memorial day weekend!

Happy Birthday Shelby

As Shelby's 3rd birthday has rolled around of course it has made me think about her even more than I normally do. She has been one of the biggest blessings in my life! I can honestly say I would not be as strong a person if not for her and I would not have the knowledge of the Gospel that I have. I know with all my heart that the Church of Jesus Christ is the only true church on Earth. I know that Joseph Smith restored the Gospel and he died an innocent martyr. I know the Book of Mormon is a true book, that those people lived and that I can learn from their lives. I know there is a Prophet of God on Earth today and his name is President Monson. But most importantly I know the atonement is real, that Jesus Christ died for our sins and it is because of him that I will have my daughter again some day. My family is an eternal family, the blessings of the Temple can't be numbered. I can't look at Riley and not think of the fact that she just left her Heavenly Father to come here and that I'm responsible to teach her all of the things that I know... pressure! I love my family and am so grateful for them!
When Shelby passed I made a scrapbook of her life the next day so we could take it to the services and on the last page Travis and I wrote letters to her. I want to share the letters we wrote because I don't think I can put in better words how we feel about our oldest daughter...
Shelby,
Your mom and I love you very much. We were very blessed to have you and we know that we will hold you again one day. Through the Lord you will receive your body again, this time without the infirmities that troubled you in life. you are a choice daughter of God, who was meant to stay here but a short time. you will be remembered and cherished by all who met you. I want you to know that the Lord loves you and gave His life so you can live with Him in glory. I know we are sealed as a family and your mom and I will live in such a way as to be worthy of you.
Love Daddy

And I wrote...

Shelby,
I love you so much! And I miss you with all my heart but I know you are happy and safe where you are. I feel so so very blessed to be your mother and amazed that our Father in Heaven would entrust you to me. I have all my life to work to deserve you. You made me a better person and have built my testimony of the restoration so much. I can't wait to hold and kiss you again. We love you so much and thank you so much for coming here and enduring all that you did. I know it was more for me than for you, I needed you! Thank you so much!
Love Mommy

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY! WE LOVE YOU!

I just realized that I forgot to mention how proud I am of Travis! He is amazing! Talented, hard working, a wonderful husband and a great father! All of his hard work has paid off! I can't imagine my life with out him, he makes me a better person. I love him and again can't say how proud I am of him!

Update

So I know I haven't posted in awhile... a lot has happened! We have been staying at my parents sense T graduated in December because we didn't know where we were going. Well during that time we had to make the decision whether we were going to get a Masters or get a "real" job. We decided that we were going for the job so we turned down the U of U(that T got early acceptance to!) and T had many interviews and was about to be flown to Colorado for a job interview and offered a job.... well Heavenly Father decided that that was not the right decision, T received a phone call from his counselor at the U and he was told he was given their scholarship and assitantship (the only one they offer for the MACC program) that he hadn't applied for! T said he had turned them down and that he hadn't applied for that scholarship, the guy said well we read your entry essay and decided to give it to you and if you want back in I'll get you in.... So long story short we are going to the U in fall!
After all of this we still had to figure out where to live during school, I applied for the student housing on campus but after living almost 5 years in 2 bedroom apartments I wanted a 3 bedroom. And as most of you probably know in most student apartments 3 bedrooms are hard to come by and go very very quickly. Mom and I happened to be SLC so I asked if she could take me to the student housing, well guess what... we got the only open 3 bedroom the had and they even said how unlikely it was that there would be one open and if I hadn't of gone in that day we wouldn't have gotten it! I'm pretty excited! They are old apartments but have a lot of character and it's 1100 sq ft! The only thing is we have to move in in 2 weeks! They have about 1 1/2 to 2 ft wide floor to ceiling windows in each room and even more windows in the living room, its hard to describe but once we get settled I'll post some pics.
Riley is doing good, rolling over, sitting up by herself and just being adorable as usual!