Weekend in Wyoming

The only indication of time passing is that Amelia is growing and growing. Already her 3 month clothes are getting to be too small - and she's 10 weeks old. Crazy. Baths, summer picnics and road trips to Wyoming have been filling our final days here in the United States. We are terribly sad to leave behind this beautiful place, but feel excited to be reunited with the rest of our family. 

A Year

A lot can happen in a year - and a lot certainly did for us throughout the last year.

Yesterday marked a year since we moved back to the United States. It's funny how you can grow such a large attachment to a place you didn't think you'd be able to. Driving along the Belt Route the other day, watching the distinct purpley light reflect on the mountains, I turned to Jordan and told him that Utah feels like home. That's the thing when you fall in love with someone from another continent. You're forever split between two different places - wishing that the people and the places you love could be found at the same location.

Amelia was born on June 8. She was 6 pounds, 12, 18.5  inches and absolutely perfect. We're so in love with our little bean. She too will forever be bound to two different places. I'm happy that her dual citizenship will present countless opportunities throughout her life.

Here's a take of what we've been up to since my last update.

You can check out our family photos/Amelia's newborn photos here

- Alice

25 Weeks

So my perspective recently altered….

I cannot believe that I am already 25 weeks and 3 days pregnant. This whole experience is going by so quickly. She'll be here in 3 months time. I've been getting clucky and making lots of little baby girl things. Today I finished her quilt top. I used this fabric. It's looking very pretty if I might say so.

Our bedroom is also filling up. We have a change table covered in baby clothes, a bassinet and also a cot (which is actually still in storage. We're going to fix it up).

She kicks and moves around a fair bit. She stressed me out last week because I thought I hadn't felt her move in a while. Into see the midwife I went, who told me she was fine. She'd flipped the other way and was kicking somewhere else. Sneaky baby. We've already given her a name - but you're going to have to wait to find out. 

In terms of how I'm feeling - heavy and uncoordinated mostly. Achy and stretching - but also very happy. 

Wyoming

Jordan's friends, the Warburtons have a cabin in Wyoming. By cabin I don't mean a small wooden hut with dusty bunks and no bathroom. The cabin is big. It has 3 or 4 bedrooms, 2 living areas, a dining area, kitchen…. It's extremely cosy and house-like. It sits on a big plot of land in a teeny town called Smoot. We recently went to spend the weekend there. It was exciting - the first time I'd left Utah since we'd arrived here. Our siblings came and so did Jason and his wife Valerie. Evenings were spent playing Scattergories and Dominoes; days spent snowmobiling (Or in my case, watching others snowmobile from inside). The snow was verrry deep and the weather extremely cold. It reached -18 celsius (which is a nip too cold for my liking).

Wyoming is a special place for us. Jordan's mom's side hails from Afton. It's a very small place with not much happening, surrounded by rolling hills and filled with small-town quirks. We went to the house where Jordan's grandparents lived (which is unfortunately no longer in the family). We ate the most delicious fish and chips (a rarity in the US) at a small seafood place and enjoyed driving through the twisting and turning, snow covered canyons. 

- Alice

The Holiday Season

Pepper loves the snow… I'm not the biggest fan.

Maeve wearing the cardigan that I made her for Christmas

Maxwell - Jordan's 'mini me'

Here in the United States, as American as it sounds - you don't just have 'Christmas.'
You have the holiday season. Why? Because a series of holidays begin in October. First you have Halloween, then Thanksgiving 4 weeks later; Christmas 4 weeks after that. It's basically 3 months of forward planning. You have to. You hit one occasion and then before you have time to put up a Christmas tree, it's already too late.

We spent some time with family over Christmas. Tim and Nancy came to visit from Colorado, and then Ryan, Shelby, Max and Wesley paid us a visit from Arizona. It was also nice to start some new traditions with Jordan, as it was our first Christmas in our own place.

Here is a video that Shelby made over Christmas. It pretty much sums up the whole experience. Jordan's family have a tradition of going bowling on New Years Day, so there's some footage of that and also when we find out that we're having a girl!

- Alice

Expecting the Unexpected

So, I've been carrying around a secret for a little while now.
Jordan and I were recently surprised to discover that we will be parents quite a bit sooner than we thought! Our little girl is due June, 19 2014.

We can't wait to meet our daughter!

Will post properly very soon!

-Alice 

Hibernation

The weather got progressively colder throughout November, and I had been dreading snowfall... The thought of driving in it was terrifying. Because of this, I was hoping to have my office set up at home by then. I guess I wasn't organised enough. I'll be working from home next week, though. I'm really happy about that. Thanksgiving was really lovely. It's such a nice tradition to get together with family and friends to feast. Any excuse to do that is just fine by me. We went to Jordan's aunt Jeana's. There was so much food, so many people.... There were 2 turkeys (Jordan carved one), a roast ham, slowly roasted pork, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, mashed sweet potatoes (one lot with pecans, the other with marshmallows on), string beans, salads.... Yeah, a lot. Then for dessert there was: chocolate pie, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, coconut cream pie, lemon meringue pie...cherry pie (and this is only what I can remember). We walked away from thanksgiving dinner with very full bellies and a bag of turkey meat which I made Cornish pasties with the next day.

I haven't ventured out much over the last few weeks. My days have been filled with work, crocheting pretty little things for Christmas, sewing and cooking. I'm in love with this lady's crochet designs. Since it started snowing, the weather has dropped to temperatures I wasn't even aware existed. The last few nights it's been -16, -18 degrees celsius. In the mornings when I leave for work at 5.30, I bundle up, walk briskly to the car and then drive slowly along the icy roads to get to work. Today as I was going home, I thought 'hmm...It's warmer today.' When I got in the car, the temperature told me it was -2 celsius. Can I now officially call myself a Utahn?

We ventured out on Saturday night to Temple Square. I had my friend, Sarah stay with us this past weekend (Sarah is a friend from Lyon, studying in Idaho). Each year in December, Temple Square is lit up so beautifully. We walked around for a bit and then got hot chocolates on the way home (of course) so that we could warm up again.

And, so until it reaches a balmy 3 degrees, I'll be inside eating vegetable stews and curling up with my sweetheart.