We have a date set folks!

June 2nd is our official move date. It seems so close I can hardly believe it and feel completely unprepared! I would LOVE to see everyone one last time, so if you want to see me (and who doesn't? j/k) leave a comment and I will make it happen in the next month!


The rest of this post is just details about the move and what I am feeling. It's mostly just for journaling purposes so feel free to stop reading whenever I bore you to death!

A large part of me is so excited. I am excited to be able to start making plans. I have already called to get quotes from moving companies. I have scheduled all of our last doctor appointments before we are without insurance for a little bit. Chad has been accepted to Univ of TX at Dallas. I have started applying for jobs. I have worked out living arrangements when we get there. So much to do in so little time.

We have one friend and one family member in Texas and they have both been kind enough to let us stay with them while we find our own place to live. Actually my cousin's family is going on vacation for a month so we will be able to stay in her house without being in her way. I am so grateful for both of their hospitality.

Chad has been laid off from work. We aren't too worried about it. We knew it was coming and it is a large part of why we are moving. It is just as easy to be unemployed in Vegas as it is in Texas. It is nice to have him around to help with all of the appointments, packing, and planning. It also doesn't hurt that I get to sleep-in a little more now.

For now our plans are to have the moving company come May 28th to pack the trailer. Chad's sister is getting married May 30th so Chad will drive his truck (while towing the FJ) on June 1st. I am flying with Vance on June 2nd because we figured a 20 hour drive with a 1-yr old sounded horrible and he still flies for free. My mom has been nice enough to open her house up to us for the couple of days in between when the movers come and when we leave.

I am dreading the goodbyes. I am fully aware of how much I rely on my family, not only for help but as friends. I know that it is going to be a hard adjustment and I'm sure I will cry many tears before I can call Texas home. I told Chad I am going to look like such an idiot at the airport. I can only imagine the tears as I say my last goodbyes (at least for awhile, I do realize I'm not dying or anything).

I hope we can afford to come back and visit at least every once in awhile. We will be taking a pretty huge paycut when we move, but I think it will be worth it. Chad and I have always wanted this adventure and this is our time to have it. We kind of skipped the whole super-poor newlywed thing, so we are going to do it now I guess!

I plan on checking out the wards before we pick a house (we will just be renting) to make sure there are other young people. I know it will be hard to be away from all of my family and friends, so I need to surround myself with people who I can be friends with. Chad and I are both pretty friendly so hopefully I will at least be able to find a couple friends to ease the transition.

I'm excited to have some time with Chad. For the first little bit we won't have work or school to keep us apart. I plan on soaking up all of the togetherness and not taking it for granted. Before we know it we will be back to a busy schedule! Hopefully it won't take me too long to find a job. We have worked on building up our savings, but I would rather not burn through it.

Good luck to us!

Nice vacation in a secret location!

This last weekend my family all went out of town together to a location I will not disclose! All of my sisters went (which doesn't usually happen) so it was SO much fun. We stayed at this RV park that had a pond, fishing, trees and grass everywhere, paddle boats, pool/spa, lagoon area, kayaks, playground, and more. As you can tell there was tons of things to do to keep everyone busy.

We started out the weekend with celebrating Colton's birthday. Amy and David got him this battery-powered motorcycle that he absolutely loved. You could hardly tear him off of it. One time Joe, my brother-in-law, was looking down the street and asked if Colton was riding out to Laughlin. We all went to see where he was and found him a LONG ways from camp just going for a ride. It was so cute! He even let Vance go for a ride (b*tch of course, there is no way Colton was going to let Vance drive). Surprisingly enough they actually went on a really long ride together. Colton also got this Radio Flyer scooter. It has three wheel so it is really stable. Vance loved this new toy too. The whole weekend he kept trying to get someone to take him on the scooter. My mom and Briton were the weak links. I love the top three pictures in the collage below. First you can see Vance waiting patiently for his turn. Then Briton helps him hold on so she can take him for a ride, but in the 3rd picture you can see how quickly he loses interest because Briton had to hold him to bring him home.

The kids had a blast out there. I don't think they were ever at the campground. It was nice because we could kind of let them go free and not have to worry about it too much. They spent the majority of their time riding their bikes and scooters around. The adults took their turn riding too. I challenged my mom to a Razor race and totally beat her. I must say though, it was a lot harder than I thought to ride those things!

Once the kids went to bed the adults stayed up playing games. The first night we played Jungle Speed and Chad and I kicked a little butt. The second night we played poker and Rob kicked a lot of butt!

Friday night we tried this caramel popcorn recipe that didn't turn out so great, so Saturday we let the kids use it to feed the fish. I'm certain it probably wasn't the best idea, but the kids LOVED it. Below is a picture of all the kiddos feeding the fish bright and early Saturday morning (isn't it the cutest picture?).

There were a ton of ducks too. There were too mama ducks with babies that the older girls thought made for such a "kodak moment." Those are their words, not mine. I had to take a picture of Kelsie trying to get a good picture of the ducks on her phone because she probably tried for 30 minutes!

Amazingly enough we got all the grandkids together for a picture on the dock without too much hassle (I did have to promise one of the twins $1 though). The picture is not the greatest, but I still think it's cute and it is normally impossible to get all of the kids together in one picture so I was pretty proud of us. I wanted to go back to the dock with my little family and get some pictures. I think they are pretty cute!
Early Saturday morning all of the men woke up and went golfing (in terrible weather condition might I add) for $11 each! Rob won, Chad lost. While the guys were out golfing the girls did a craft with the kids. My mom bought stuff to make tye dye shirts - how sexy are we?! The kids actually had quite a bit of fun doing. The dye was a complete mess though. The kits came with plastic gloves but of course mine ripped and I didn't notice. The rest of the trip my hand was magenta - bright magenta! Once we were done, we hung the shirts on the shade to dry. Does it get anymore ghetto than that? We all wore our shirts on Sunday for a group photo. I know it may be hard, but don't be jealous.

Chad and I got a little restless after that so we decided to take some of the kids out on the paddle boats. Talk about a workout! It looks like this leisure event, don't be fooled. By the end, our legs were both tired (we were trying to get the ducks though so we had to pedal pretty fast!).

During the weekend we ate way too much food. My mom is always bring out yummy snacks. We tried these dutch oven reeses/marshmallows brownies. The bottom got a little burned but the top was delicious. It's no wonder we come back 5 pounds heavier. We also celebrated Kelsie, David, and my mom's birthdays while we were gone. My mom got Kelsie a bra and cute little underwear that we was really embarrassed about so of course we had to take a picture. The funny part is Kelsie forgot to pack underwear so she was wearing them inside out the 2nd day and was very grateful for the gift.

We spent a lot of time at the swimming pool. It was a little chilly for me but we still had fun. Vance loves swimming and everything is more fun when Chad is around so he had a blast. All of the kids have so much fun with Chad, I just like to sit back and watch him play. One picture I took deserved to be all by itself. I get the coolest picture of Rob making Zach doing a backflip!


Check out the picture below of all thid kids scooters and bikes. This is what our campground looked like when they were actually there. To say the least, we had a few toys to keep them busy.
The last night we were there, the older girls watched all of the kids while the adults went to play bingo. I have been wanting to play for quite awhile now but never have. It was a blast! Leslie is our experienced bingo player and thank godness she was there. I swear everyone was talking a different language. It was a little stressful at first (we were playing 15 cards at once), but once I got in a rythum I did pretty good. None of us won, but it was still fun. I know this was a super long post with way too many pictures, but as a reward I will tell you where we were...PAHRUMP! Can you believe Pahrump has something so nice? We got a deal on the campground spots so the whole thing only cost us $10/night. All of the amenities are FREE. I am definitely looking forward to going back there sometime. I know you may feel ghetto going to Pahrump for a getaway, but I promise it will be worth it!

Silly Brayden!

I have to preface this post by saying that for those of you who don't really know Chad, he LOVES beanies. He always has a beanie or hat on.

Okay so the other day we were at Mason's baseball game. It was a beautiful day - probably around 85-90 degrees. Brayden walks up with a beanie on his head and says, "I look like Uncle Chad. I'm SO cool." I started cracking up. Chad was pretty proud of himself though and let's face it - he is pretty cool ; )

I love doing so much with all of our nieces and nephews. It is definitely one of the things I am going to miss when we move. I love being the "cool" aunt and uncle and hope we can keep it up from out of state!

Not to brag but...

I LOVE my new header! Doing stuff like this on the computer is so relaxing to me. I love adding things, taking them off, moving them a little, resizing, etc. You would think I would love scrapbooking, but I don't. I hate the mess it makes which is why I love the computer so much more!


In case anyone is interested in how I did it, I download all of the digital stuff from shabbyprincess.com which is totally free! Then I use photoscape (also free) to make my masterpiece. j/k You have to start with the background and pile everything on top of it. It does take me a minute to do it, but only because I have a picture of my head of exactly what I want the finished product to look like and don't stop until I think it's just the way I want it.
I know you can all see the header on my blog but I wanted to add the picture so when I turn my blog into a book I will have a picture.

My little Mowgli

Vance has decided that he doesn't like the grass or dirt to touch his legs when he is crawling which is quite the dilemma wouldn't you think? Not for Vance -problem solved! This is how you will find Vance getting around outside. You have to check out the video to really appreciate it. I think it is so funny. His little butt sticks so high up in the air.

We have nick-named him Mowgli until he finally decides to walk (which by the way he can totally do, he just doesn't for whatever reason)!

Dinner with the Waldron's

We do monthly dinners with Chad's family. The weather has been so nice that this past Sunday we had a BBQ and played croquet.

Chad was pretty proud of himself that he could still beat his younger brothers in wrestling. I had to get proof just in case they wanted to change the story! I'm proud of you baby - you're so strong!!! Chad's dad really loves the grandkids. You can always find a little one on his lap. He is normally feeding them food or drinks they aren't supposed to have. His hands are full with Vance and Ty otherwise you would see exactly what I am talking about.Can you believe Vance and Ty are like 7 months apart. Ty looks almost as big as Vance already!

Thanks Waldron's for a great dinner!

More jacked-up teeth

So I had a few demands for a better picture of my son's ghetto teeth. In the picture below you can clearly see his two top teeth. They kind of look centered but don't be fooled. These are his two left teeth. The right ones are still no where in sight!The booger bubble is just an added bonus for you all!!!

What exactly is the point of church?

Church has been REALLY frustrating lately. Vance is only 14 months and is awful at church. I really feel like I don't get anything out of going. Pretty much every week I end up in nursery with him. The nursery leaders are nice enough to let me come in with Vance so at least I don't have to walk the halls for 3 hours.

I try my best to teach him to be quiet, but he definitely doesn't get it. If I stay in the classrooms I just end up distracting everyone around me. But what is the point of walking around aimlessly for 3 hours hoping Vance will be good?

Our church is at 11:00 which was great before kids, but not so much now. Chad is nice enough to wake up early so that we can give Vance a nap before church. However we are late just about every week because we wait too long to wake him up. Then we pack a lunch for him that of course he refuses to eat at church because he wants to feed himself which is way too messy. By the end of church he is hungry and ready for his second nap. Just about every week he is asleep before the church building is even out of site.
He may look cute in these pictures (I love his pink tie), but it definitely wasn't pretty about 10 minutes before!!! If you have any suggestions, please please PLEASE give them!

Sister's Weekend

Last weekend we had our annual Sutton sister's weekend. It was Amy's turn to plan it and we had so much fun. We kept it a little low-key this year because everyone was one a budget, but it was still a blast.
We started the weekend with dinner at BJ's. It was so good. We all shared a spinach-artichoke pizza because our husbands will never let us get it! At dinner Jennie surprised us all with the best gift ever - Brighton jewelry. She got us bracelets that said "sister" and my mom's said "mother."

After dinner we went shopping because no sister's weekend is complete without shopping! I ended up with shoes (of course) and a new summery black dress. After shopping we went to dessert at Melting Pot.
It was yyyyuuuuummmmmmmmmmyyyyy! Melting Pot is one of my favorite places to go for dessert. Who doesn't love a little bit of chocolate? I also love the atmosphere. We stayed for quite awhile and just visited. We see each other all of the time, but most of the time we all have our kids and don't have a chance to really talk.Once we were done stuffing ourselves we headed back to Amy's. We unloaded the car and couldn't believe how much stuff we had for just one night. I don't know how we ever fit in one car when we went on family vacations. To put it really nicely, we aren't exactly light-packers.So this may not be funny to everyone reading, but I don't want to forget this. We were bringing in our bags and as you can tell from above it took a couple of trips. Jennie was in front of me and we were both heading out to the car to bring in the rest of our stuff. All of the sudden Jennie starts yelling something and running back inside. I wasn't sure what she said but I ran back inside too. When we got the door shut Jennie said, "Holy sh*t there was a small horse of dog out there! I thought it was going to get me." Amy went on to say that she has never seen such a dog in the neighborhood, so we all concluded that Jennie is seeing things. The new family joke deals with Jennie making up dogs that aren't there. The picture below is everyone looking out the door to see the dog - shocking that we couldn't see it!Once we got settled my mom did pedicures while we watched House Bunny and visited. If you like stupid humor you have got to watch this movie. It is SO funny.
While we were relaxing we heard a loud thud on the side of the house. We went (after calling 311 of course) to find egg everywhere. Who does that? Why would you think you are cool to throw an egg at a stranger's house? We eventually calmed down and went to sleep, but Saturday was the Peccole Ranch yardsale that of course we couldn't miss so we didn't get near enough sleep. When we got home from yardsaling and lunch we thought we would just "rest" for a second. Before long, this is what we looked like:When we finally woke up with enough energy to function (we are a family full of people who need their sleep) Amy had a craft planned for us. We all brought our own fabric and then we made this magnet boards. They were super simple and turned out adorable. All we had to do was use spray adhesive to put the fabric on the sheet metal and glue magnets to the back of buttons. The idea is that you will use it to put up pictures or notes or whatever. Good job Amy, I loved it!
After the craft the sister's weekend came to an end. I had so much fun and thanks again Amy for making it all happen! Until next year!

Zach's Volleyball Games

I swear Chad's family was bred to play volleyball. All of the kids have played. Not only have the played, but they are really good - all of them. How does that happen that every kid is good at the same sport? Well this season is Zach's last year and we love to watch him play. The picture below is really fuzzy but he is the one setting the ball.On Friday a lot of the family was able to make it to his game. There were so many of us the kid next to me said, "Are you guys all Waldron's? Holy cow!" We are a little overwhelming at times, but it is so fun to watch. This is Zach's personal cheerleading section:I had to get a picture of Zach sitting on the bench because it never happens. They were beating the other team so bad they put in second string and Zach took a break. Zach is the fourth one over. So I totally had a flashback at this game. Our niece, Macie, came wearing a Strawberry Shortcake cheerleading uniform and pom poms. I know this is dorky, but I did the same thing for years when I was little. All of my older sisters played volleyball and consequently I got drug to A LOT of volleyball games. The only way my mom could keep me interested was to let me cheer. Macie wasn't sure she could hold still long enough to pose for a picture, so this is the best I could do:

Bumper Trucks

As you can tell by all of my posts, we LOVE being outside. We have really been enjoying our backyard. Now on to the point of the post...

The other day I got home and couldn't find my boys. I thought I heard them outside. I opened up the sliding glass doors to find this -I immediately started laughing. They were ramming into each other and making car noises. Chad just looked at me and asked "what?" Really Chad - that's all you have to say? Is it normal to use dump trucks and tractors in this manner? Am I the only one who doesn't think so?
Not exactly what I had in mind when I bought them! Vance has now decided that the dump truck isn't for pushing around or filling up the back and dumping it out. It is something that you sit on and drive around the backyard.

Happy Easter!

Obviously I am a little behind on my blogging, but oh well. We had a really fun Easter this year. We went over to my Aunt Laurie and Laurie's house for dinner and the Easter egg hunt. We also had a bounce house and a pinata! All of my dad's family was there as well as Laurie P.'s family. It is fun to get together with such a big group.

We didn't have all the eggs stuffed before we got there, so all of us girls finished stuffing. I actually should rephrase - everyone but Jennie had finished stuffing so we all had to help her finish!All of the food was delicious. Laurie and Laurie have a huge backyard with tons of furniture. We all took a seat and ate until we couldn't eat anymore! The seven-layer bean dip was my favorite this year - way to go Aunt Lisa. My Grandma and Grandpa Sutton are the two in the far left of the picture below. Don't you just love Grandpa's cowboy hat? What were the rest of us thinking not wearing a cowboy hat to Easter?After we finished eating, we sent all of the kids to the front yard so play to give the Easter bunny a chance to hide the eggs. I attempted to get the kids together for a group picture. It's not the cutest, but you try getting that many kids together! Vance was still taking a nap so he missed the group picture. My Aunt Tammy and I came up with a really good hiding spot. I don't think anyone will want to grab this eggs!We decided to wake Vance up just in time for the Easter egg hunt. Maybe not the best idea...I forgot to take a picture of his Easter basket but you can kind of see it in the picture above. Vance got some motorcycles, bubbles, slinkys, and balls from the Easter bunny. His favorite part though was the chocolate bunny. After he gnawed on it for awhile he decided Grandpa Kim needed a taste too. After he literally shoved the entire chocolate bunny in my dad's mouth, he went back to eating it - SO GROSS! He didn't seem to mind though. At first Vance didn't really understand the whole egg thing, but once he realized there was candy in there he was much more interested.Kelsie was the lucky finder of the Golden Egg. The Golden Egg had $20 in it so she was pretty stoked. She was convinced she was destined to find it because it had just been her golden birthday. Aren't Laurie and Laurie the coolest aunts to put $20 in an egg (I mean isn't the Easter bunny the coolest of course!).
It was so much fun to watch the kids empty all of their eggs. We all stuff the eggs with money inside (mostly just coins don't get too excited) so the kids toss the candy to the side and count how much money they have.I am new at this Easter thing and kids so I forgot to take a picture of Vance in his Easter outfit. This is the best picture I could find. Aren't his little golf pants SO cute?!Happy Easter until next year!