We found a house! Its a girl! And other Utah life catch up

We found a house! Hooray!  We close on Sept 3 right after Labor Day so hopefully we will move in just over a week! Its a cute little old house just a couple miles northwest of Little Cottonwood Canyon. The kitchen and bedrooms are quite small which is not ideal but we are in a beautiful neighborhood, only 3 minutes from gorgeous canyon hiking and biking trails, and only 10 minutes from Blakely's work! And we have extra rooms. Visitors welcome!

Here are some pics from the current owners.

Other big exciting news is that we found out Baby C #2 is a GIRL! I'm still completely shocked because I though certainly we were having another boy but we are thrilled to have a little princess in the house. I continue to feel really good but I am definitely much lower energy this time around. I blame Charlie :)

While Blakely continues to put in long hours at his new job, which he loves, I am busy keeping up with this little crazy person. 

Now that Charlie is past the baby stage he truly is my little companion and friend. Its so fun to spend my days with this little guy who carries on conversation, asks a zillion questions and loves going on adventures with me. 

Ours days are spent with daily walks (where often his head is in a book the whole time), stops at the swings, library visits, play time with cousins and friends, and lots and lots of truck time.

Our new favorite activity is visiting Barnes and Noble and Ikea where Charlie will happily play for hours with the train set and I can sit and read a book. Win, win! 

When we haven't been spending every spare minute house hunting, we have managed to squeeze in a bit of family fun as well. 

Blakely and Charlie with the Instructure Panda at the company party at Hogle Zoo. Blakely and I laughed at the difference between Dell work parties (happy hour at a bar) and Instructure (first a huge carnival then a trip to the zoo for the whole family)

 Family hikes to Cecret Lake, Alpine sliding rock, and Bell Canyon Resevoir. Utah you are amazingly beautiful. I wish we had gotten into the mountains more but many Saturdays were sacrificed to the house hunt.

Baby Noah's baby blessing. Blakely's sister and brother in law adopted this sweet little guy and we were able to attend the family sealing in the Mt Timpanogas Temple. It was was one of the most tender moments I have ever witnessed. How blessed we are to be a part of an eternal family!

4th of July, 24th of July and Draper Days parades. Charlie is the perfect age to enjoy parades with his fascination with cars and trucks. A parade made up completely with police cars and fire trucks is a little boys dream come true.

Totally in the zone.

Visits with cousins to the Thanksgiving Point Farm

Riding the pony It took him a minute or two to warm up to idea (partially because his little finger had just been nipped by an aggressive turkey) but he requested pony rides for weeks afterwards.

Afternoon at This is the Place State Park with Uncle Aaron and Emily.

Charlies favorite was of course riding the train

He also loved the petting zoo. "I hug the goat. I kiss the goat"

We are so lucky to have so much family close by and Charlie adores playing with his cousins. Nothing makes Charlie more excited than running around with other little people. I can't wait to watch them grow up together. Here he is splashing with cousin Annie in her backyard on the 4th

Riding in the Barbie Jeep with Grant. I wish you could see Charlie's white knuckle grip on the side of the car. These two boys are only a 2 months apart and they have quite opposite personalities but they have so much fun together.

Charlie and Daxton are the sweetest of friends. Since Dax just lives down the street from Blakely;s parents where we have staying, we have been able to spend a lot of time with him. I wish Dax could be around always because he makes Charlie laugh harder than anyone else and he can ALWAYS cheer him up.

I can hardly believe that summer has already passed us by. We are taking one last hurrah up to Island Park and Yellowstone this week with my family and then we will move into our house when we get back. I'm looking forward to organizing and decorating our home this fall just in time for baby girl to come in Dec. Hooray!