Momma and the Papa

Right before we moved we got our pictures taken. And when I say right before I mean like the day before. It was just so last minute that we were moving. I found out on Wednesday and we moved the following Sunday. Nuts! I know. For this reason I have not blogged or given much of any updates. Soooo, now you get THREE! After this one is Ella's and then Carly's so when you feel like sitting down to read a nice novel, just click on the Killian blog. :) We really like the first picture at the top. I think mostly b/c Carly is laughing in it (Ella had the same face in almost all of them)...but I like the black and white one and the last family pictue also. Let me know what you think.







Since being in AZ we have been back to Las Vegas for a day to pack, went to Joseph's family reunion in Seely Lake, Montana (gorgeous!) and back to Las Vegas for about 3 days to finish packing and tie up loose ends. It was crazy and we had left Ella with my parents for almost 9 days!!! When I saw her in the evening on the 8th day I had to hold back tears. She just looked so grown up all of this sudden.
In Montana we had a lot of fun. We went sailing, played a lot of water balloon volley ball, ate good food, the girls did a craft one day while the guys went golfing and then we had an iron chef cake decorating contest then next day while the guys went golfing. It was fun. My team won in the cake decorating contest and Joseph's team won in the golf scramble. Joseph also won a massive jar of Jelly Bellies but promptly gave them away so we wouldn't eat them and gain 50 pounds that night. :)
Golf scramble winners.


Iron Chef decorating winners.


Our awesome garden cake. This picture doesn't do it justice but all the flowers were made out of gum drops as well as the grass. The path way was Bit-o-honey and other toffee. The dirt was crushed oreos and cocoa. There was a big mushroom right by the oreo frog in the corner but it got eaten.

Here is the view from right outside our cabin. It was seriously so beautiful and peaceful there (except for the crazy mosquitoes). I would highly recommend it for any family reunion, family vacation, anniversary or honeymoon.

Anyway, back to AZ life... Joseph has been going back and forth about attending BYU-I and ASU. Both are good schools and both have their pros and cons. He's working real hard laying brick with my dad in the 115 degree heat we've been having everyday. He wakes up at 5 am and is usually working by 5:30. It's nice b/c he's usually home by 4 pm. He comes home sore and needs a back rub every day. He's also been very diligent about working out and we just got a gym pass b/c it's been too hot to run outside. He's lost close to 50 pounds now and we've had to buy him a new wardrobe twice already.

I'm Re-adjusting to my new life now. I really miss the friends we made in Las Vegas but I think I like AZ better than Las Vegas. I still do house work but not as much as I had to when we were living in our own apartment so I get to spend more time with the girls and actually get to teach them things. I'm hitting the gym 5 days a week as well so that is helping me stay on track with my goals. Last few days I've been so sore that I walk like I have Cerebral Palsy (not a joke, it really looks like that). One of the nice things about living with my parents is that Joseph and I have been getting to go on a date at least once a week now. Something we haven't been able to do regularly. It's very rejuvenating. :) I also just got a job as a receptionist at a mental health facility. It's perfect for us b/c I get paid well but only have to work 2 evenings a week so Joseph is home with the girls and we're able to save a little more money each month. It's pretty stressful though. I'm in training right now and if I don't get all the paperwork perfect it could mean someone goes to jail for my mistake. Yikes! I'm trying to get into the hang of having to work again. I haven't had to work for like 2 1/2 years! I definitely don't miss it. :)

Keep scrolling down for the girl's updates. Hope you don't get too bord and this will catch you up to what's going on now. :)

Ella Lu Lu

Ella is such a joy to be around now. She's always got some made up story she's talking about, or some made up song she's singing. She's really into dancing and wanting to do the splits (something she saw on t.v.). Her new favorite words phrases are: "...now", "My Yuv it" (I love it), and "Sure do...". For example: "I need my milk Now." "I need go swimming now." "my clothes pretty now." "I love Carly NOW" So as you can see, sometimes it makes sense and sometimes not. I'm pretty sure she got it from me saying, "come here right NOW." ha ha. The other one is, "Sure do". She'll come up to me and say, "I sure do uv eww mommy"(I sure do love you mommy) and if I ask her if she wants a sandwich for breakfast she'll say, "sure do". If I ask her something like, "do you like your lunch?" she'll hold her hand over her heart as if to say the pledge of allegiance and say, "my yuv it." She's also a momma's girl through and through. She always wants me to hold her, unbuckle her, put her to bed (she calls it "rocky baby" b/c we would sing "rock-a-bye baby" when she was younger)whatever it is, mommy has to do it. It can be a pain sometimes, and sometimes I eat it up. :) Right now she's turning into a bit of a fish. She wants to go swimming, play in the sprinkler park or take a bath/shower any chance she can get. She is really loving that my parents have a pool she goes swimming at least once a day. Usually before lunch and after nap. I'm loving it b/c I get some added exercise, some one on one time with Ella and it really wears her out and she's been taking 2 1/2 hr naps and going to bed at 7:30 every night! Wahoo! These pictures were from our family photo shoot a few weeks ago. She was told that if she sits well for the pictures than she could change into her swimmy suite and play in the water. The photographer pulled her camera back out b/c she wanted to get some shots of this. Anxiously awaiting the splash pad at Aliente Park. Finally got to go in... ...and holy it's COLD!!! Ready to head home. Ella's also great at using her manners. ("who could say no to those manners??" --that's for you Erin lol) She says, "Please mommy, I have it?? Please?" and if I give to her whatever it was that she wanted she says, "Ank ouuu" (thank you) She's a great big sister and always wants to feed Carly, kiss her, hug her...if she's crying Ella will run a binky to Carly and stroke her head telling her, " It's ok Carly, 'so ok". I couldn't have asked her to be a better big sister. Ella still asks for her friends from Las Vegas. If Ethan or Madie would be at nursery, or if Katie or Sophie could come to her pool parties. (everytime we go to the pool she calls it a pool party.) But she is adjusting well and making new friends in her nursery class out here. It's really cute b/c she runs to her closet about 2 times during the week asking if she could put her Sunday dress on for nursery. I tell her, "Ella, nursery isn't for about 5 more days." so she says, "ok, my save it. My save my dess for my nursery at church."

Here's a little peak of our sweet Ella girl...

Carly Bear

This is Carly now. She's what we like to call our "Little Lotta" because there is a "lotta" Carly to love. :) She went in for her 6th month appointment on the 23rd of June and here's how she's doing: Weight: 19 pounds 1 oz Length: 26.5 inches Head : 17.5 cm She loves to spit and coo and giggle. She is so sweet and bashful. If you lock eyes and smile at her she gets an ear to ear grin on her face and buries her face in the blanket she's laying on or the chest of whomever is holding her. She is such a happy baby and I'm grateful for that. She also likes to suck on her toes and has proven herself to be very limber. I think she's going to be somewhat of a thrill seeker b/c she laughs the hardest when you toss her in the air. I think I've even gotten a snort out of her. lol She hadn't started rolling over (except once or twice on accident) until today so HURRAY for Carly!! She was so confused at what she had just done for about 1 second and then got the biggest gummy grin on her face and was so proud of herself for finally getting it. She's done it a few times since but is pretty tired and kinda pooped out after the all times I've coaxed her into rolling again and again. :)Carly's usual playing position. Kicking the legs up.... ...Tuck... ...And Roll... "What just happened??" "Yayyyy!!! I did it!" Carly is a little bit of a weakling so we've been doing a little physical therapy that her pediatrician recommended. Sit ups, bicycle kicks, arm raises and sitting in a high chair. Just in the last 3 days it has really been helping. She just started sitting in her high chair (Actually Ella's booster. Since we moved we put the big high chair in storage.) She started using a sippy cup and is still trying to figure out that you have to hold it up to get the juice out. She is such a sweety and we lover her to death.

Here's Carly's video so you can see a little of her personality.

Happy Father's Day!

This has to be quick b/c we are leaving in like 10 min to go to our Killian Family Reunion in Seely Lake Montana. But I wanted to give a shout out to my sweetheart for being such an awesome dad. We had a good Father's Day. Joseph got a new guitar and amp for his father's day gift along with breakfast in bed (pancakes and milk), a pedometer, a golf pen, golf tees and socks from the girls. Ella had a lot of fun making a surprise breakfast for her daddy and pop. Oh and she's been practicing the song, "Daddy's Homecoming" ("...I'm so glad when daddy comes home...") and sang it to her daddy. It was really cute. We barbequed steaks at my parent's and had all the other barbequed foods along with it. I saw a creative cupcake book that my friend had with some cool ideas for cupcakes in it. I snagged one idea of "corn on the cobb" for our bbq. It was really easy to make and way cute.


The "corn" was just yellow and white jelly bellies, the "butter" was 1/2 of a mini banana laughy taffy, and the salt and pepper was just black and white crystal sprinkles.




Anyway, we'll talk next week. Enjoy the pictures and Happy Father's Day!

After Careful Consideration...

We decided to take a new route for our family. Joseph has been thinking for a few years now that he was wanting to try a new career path. So this year was either now or never. We sat down with a pen and paper one night and wrote out Joseph's likes and dislikes, his strengths and weaknesses, his passions and so on. We even did this test thing called "Job possibilities for the Explorer player". He took a test that showed all that he was interested in so that he could see what was out there, what it paid and if people need that kinda work very badly. Joseph really likes working with other people and being able to socialize at work. He also likes working with his hands (something that made him good at what he did with Carmedic) but he does not like working outside. This was our foundation of our plan making. We came to the conclusion that Joseph would like to be a dentist. I am very excited for this new career change of his because for the first time since I've known him, this is something that he thought of all by himself and decided that it's something he'd really like to do. So now our plan is to move to AZ and Joseph will work for my dad while we live with my parents for 5 months rent free. Then go BACK to Ricks (it will always be Ricks to us) for Winter semester to finish up his bachelors and then off to dental school. It's taken us about 4 years to figure this out but we finally made the decision and we're off. It was either go back to school now or never and stay in the dent repair business. Our girls will be about 9 and 11 years old by the time Joseph is able to get a job as a dentist and he'll be about 33 years old. We'll also probably going to have the rest of our family while we're in school so we're gonna have to get real good at being poor. :) We're well aware of all of these things and are in it for the long haul. It will be crazy living with my parents. I haven't lived with them since I was 17! But it will be very helpful to save money for school and we are very grateful for the opportunity to live rent free, have a job and some help with the girls. :) We left on Sunday night with most of our stuff so that we could bring it down to AZ and we're going back up to Vegas in a couple weeks to finish packing and put things in storage. We had a great dinner party/barbecue with almost all of our friends in Las Vegas. One last hurrah before we left. As I was driving the car to Arizona I started getting teary eyed. It was finally hitting me that we were leaving our home. I never really liked Vegas till I had to leave it. But all of our friends are there, all of the girls friends are there. If you think about it, how hard is it to find so many people that you get along with, your husband gets along with their husbands, your 2 year old gets along with their 2 year olds and then there's the babies that we had together. It's pretty sad actually. I'm really going to miss the fast Sunday dinners, the girl's nights out, the play groups, the card nights, the birthday parties for the girls, the cup cake classes coming up and all the baby trading for date nights. You girls are amazing and I had so much fun with all of you. I'm so sad that I had to be the first to leave and I almost want to come back to Vegas (we'll see :) ) once we get settled (in about 4 years). All this moving around for the next 8 years is going to take some getting used to but I know that it's the best thing for our family and we are very excited b/c this is the beginning of the end for schooling. :)