We moved into an apartment one week before Christmas. It's in Orange, not the best part, but not a terrible part either. It's 2.3 miles from Chapman, so it's possible for Matt to walk home (though I usually don't make him walk) especially since he's been pretty darn good about running on the track at school and doing push-ups at home and we've both started doing "8 min abs" (he's much better about keeping on top of it than I am, but I'm taking baby-steps to a healthier life style).
So, back to December....We had a great Christmas in our own place. This is the first time ever in our married lives we've woken up and had a Christmas morning in our own place. It was great! Kaelyn was really excited to get her stocking and presents.
We spent Christmas Eve with the Stevens clan, which was busy and fun as always. In the gift exchange I was assigned Sierra and gave her a certificate for an afternoon of activities. Just a few weeks ago our schedules finally matched up so she could redeem it. The activities she chose were making marshmallows (and s'mores of course) and pedicures. We made chocolate chip-toffee and peppermint marshmallows. They were delicious, the mint ones were really good, but not my favorite on graham crackers.
Back to December once again.... Matt really needed some new clothes thanks to the weight he's lost :) So, he mostly got clothes from Kaelyn and me. Kaelyn got a car mat that I made with familiar locations to drive her cars to. Matt got me a beautiful ring that is similar to the one I had when he proposed but sadly lost a few years ago.
The new apartment is really nice inside and we are happy to have our own space, even though it means more loans (fortunately, I did a job--not as quickly as we would have liked, but I can still be with Kaelyn all the time, which was a requirement that made finding a job really difficult).
The other big challenge of moving was a new ward. As you probably don't recall from the last post, Kaelyn was very fond of Sister Wert, her nursery leader. Moving threw off the whole nursery thing all. But....the last three Sundays she has stayed in nursery all on her own! What a big girl!
January wasn't very eventful. February brought Kaelyn's 2nd birthday! It was Cars themed (it was her favorite movie at the time). She had a "small" family party. Although we only invited family we still had about 20 people! She was the happy recipient of many gifts.
March was Alyx's 20th birthday so we threw her a party! That one really was small, just Mommy, Daddy, Thomas, Chelsie, Maya, Matt, Kaelyn and me. We had sushi, chicken, rice and red velvet cheese cake.
April was Thomas' 18th birthday! He wanted Ikea meatballs, potatoes and lingdonberry jam. I made him a camping themed cake (Mommy, if you have a picture, please send it) with a s'mores filling, mountains, a lake, a tent and the van he and his friends usually take camping. April was also my birthday! Matt got me an annual pass to the Discovery Science Center (it's only about 2.5 miles from our apartment!) I've already taken Kaelyn four times. She loved the Sesame Street exhibit, and I'm sure she'll miss it now that it's gone, but there will be new things to see and learn next time we go. In April Matt also was a quarter-finalist in the Golden-Gavel competition. (It's like mock-trial, but is practice for appellate court) We are so proud of him!
Now it's May. Kaelyn talks like crazy (no idea where she got that from) and is pretty dramatic. There are very few dull moments with her around. We adore our little (though rapidly growing) girl.
Matt is almost done with this first year of law school! He'll be a third of the way through in a little over a week! Next up: internships...Matt has two this summer, one with a judge and one with the city of Orange. Neither is very far away but I'm sure they'll keep him busy. Luckily, Matt is really good about making sure to spend time with Kaelyn and she absolutely adores him. So, even though we're in for a long stretch of crazy schedules, I'm glad we're still making lots of good family memories.
