Ch-ch-ch-changin'

Sometimes, when I look at the calendar, I cannot believe we are already so far into January.

It really feels like SO much has happened in the last couple of months; I don't even know where to begin.

Probably the biggest happening is that we've moved! From lil' ol' Spanish Fork up and over to lil ol' Logan. This is (in a nutshell) what happened:

Not too long after Rich was born, Tyler lost his job. This of course, was not in our general plans, but ended up being a really good thing. Tyler interviewed for a few different jobs, and things were looking pretty good for him on the job front, but NOTHING would work out. He'd get so close to landing a job, but for one reason or another, it just wasn't working. One night, as Tyler and I sat in the living room together, Tyler all of the sudden got really excited. You see, he'd been working hard on his own to become an actuary, but the going had been very slow. Turns out Utah State University (up in Logan) offers a math degree with an actuarial science emphasis. And even though Tyler already had a bachelor's degree from BYU, he could get a second bachelor's from USU. And USU tuition rate is not too much higher than BYU's tuition rates. So we got some wheels in motion and within about a month or so, Tyler was accepted to USU's math program and we moved up to Logan.

(This is most of our stuff. Or was. It's crazy what you get rid of and accumulate during and after a move. It's also amazing just how much stuff we have. I'm already dreading our next move--whenever that will be. I'm praying that we won't be moving again until Tyler has a career and we have to relocate to accommodate it.)

This was the beginning of one of the hardest car rides of my life. Poor Richie was all alone in the backseat and cried half of the drive to Logan. I had to pull some pretty fancy (and dangerous) acrobatics to give him his binkies (as a comfort measure) since I couldn't sit in the back seat with him.

And this is one of the first sites that greeted us when we got to our new apartment in Logan. Our neighbor's Christmas yard decorations. No one should have that many blow-up decorations in one yard. It's bizarre at night, and just plain creepy during the day (because everything is deflated).

Two days after we moved to Logan, we flew to California to spend Christmas with Tyler's family.

Christmas Day: We had the cutest Santa ever.

We only stayed a short time in California so that Tyler could start school right as January began.

And while Tyler is learning Maths, the Richie is learning all about his hands.

He cannot get enough of his (massive) hands. And he's starting to realize that he can use his hands to grab things, like his toy rattle (from Tyler's cousins Whitney and Lindsay). We call the rattle "Norman." Richie used to talk to "Norman" when we'd hang the rattle above his head. Now he chews on and holds on to "Norman." 

We're finally starting to feel settled (though still very busy), and our new apartment is really starting to feel like home. 

So here's to a new adventure for a brand new year!