Summer escapades

Wow. It has been WAY too long since my last post. But I can't say I'm too surprised. Even in my journal I would admit that I needed to write more, but fail to do so. I'll never change.

Since May a LOT has happened. The biggest is that Justin semester ended and that he got a summer break (the first for a long while). We tried to make the most of it by enjoying fruit picking, vacation, a day or 2 at the beach moving to a rental home and, oh yes, mommy baby-free at work. Our biggest adventure this summer was going out to Idaho. We were out for a total of 2 weeks and we tried to fill it up by seeing and spending time with family and friends. We apologize for those who we weren't able to see. From what I have told you so far, you'd think that this trip was for us, but in reality it was for family and them meeting Ariana. (For the record the parents had a good time too.)

Ari was 6 months at the time. She did relatively well. She definitely was a little needy toward her parents, but she was bombarded with new people and places--what can you expect? A week with the Packard's and a week with the Hoskin's is how we split up the time. We enjoyed camping, fireworks, plays, movies, family dinners, swimming and just enjoying each other's company. We were sad but ready to come back home to Virginia.

3 days before leaving for Idaho we moved to a new place. We now rent out a home in a legit neighborhood. We are so blessed to live here despite the initial headaches. Now we have room for guests to come and stay (hint hint). When we came back from vacation all our stuff was still in boxes so it was then time to unpack. Mind you, I was still working in the mornings and Justin was learning what it takes to take care of a baby so it took a while to unpack. Now all we have to do it really make the place ours, but we got time to do it.

Our summer was too short. In mid-August, Justin returned to school full-time taking the car and Ari and I walk about a mile to work each day. The weather has been great and it helps me wake up each morning.
Over the summer Ari has made some milestones. She has started eating food and is now even feeding herself finger foods. Two of her favorite foods: paper and sweet potatoes. She will hone in on the smallest piece of paper several feet away and eat it, or she'll stop everything to consumer some sweet potato puff treats or puree. She loves it!  She also started army crawling near the end of July. At the moment, she wants to stand up and walk around but won't go anywhere with out aide. I don't know what I'm going to do at that point.

Justin and I are tired, but Heavenly Father blesses us with strength and endurance to keep going at it. We know that we are where we are meant to be. Thank you to everyone for your generosity, love and support We honestly could not make it though this without you.