1. December 2011 - Blake starts his new job at Barnes and Thornburg in Indianapolis leaving me home with the kids. I honestly have to say that this was one of the roughest times in our marriage. It was really hard for me to become a single parent for 4 months, having Blake come home for a weekend every 3 weeks. Blake rented a room with a family in the stake there and worked like crazy while he was there to try to get up to speed and make a good impression. The good news is that he LOVES his new job!
2. January 23, 2012 - Blake turned 34. He was pretty burned out from working so much so I sent him on a weekend trip to Denver to stay with my brother, Tim and his wife Kimberly and do some skiing. He had a blast discovering a new area and, of course, Tim and Kimberly totally pampered him. They are the best!
3. February 1, 2012 - Blake and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary. Well, we were 4 states apart on our actual anniversary but the next trip he took home, my mom babysat and we went out to dinner. Blake also totally spoiled me and got me a beautiful 5 stone diamond anniversary ring. He is SO good to me. What a guy! We were hoping to take a trip for our anniversary but since our lives were in chaos, we're going to have to put that off until maybe anniversary #11. I'm so blessed to have married the most AMAZING man and my perfect match!! It's amazing how fast 10 years has gone by!
4. February 7, 2012 - Our little man, Ethan, celebrated his 6th birthday. Last spring we won a free birthday party at the mall at a fun place called Camp Iliff. So, Ethan was able to invite 15 of his closest friends to his party. It was really great that he got one more fun activity with all his buddies before we moved. Ethan wanted a LEGO theme so we made LEGO cupcakes and had LEGO buckets with lots of treats and toys. It was a very busy place but I think the kids had fun.
5. March 31, 2012 - I flew out to Utah to see my baby sister get married. It was a very hectic 5 days but it was great to be there for her wedding and to be with family. The wedding ceremony was very special and she looked beautiful. Taft and Em are so cute together. We're thrilled to have him in the family and excited for their new life together.
6. April 3-7 - We packed up our house and car and made the big move to Indiana. What an adventure! Moving to the mid-west is totally new territory for us. The kids were very excited and kept saying, "are we going to Indiana's house?" For months we had been talking about it so it was exciting to finally make the move. Although, there were very mixed feelings about leaving our family and friends. We were so lucky to live close to Nic, TJ, Grammy, Pops, Pat, Brittanie and Cathryn. We will miss seeing our family members so regularly. Our friends, the Bomsta's were super great and hosted a party for us at their home so we could say goodbye to our wonderful friends from the Ledgewood Ward. It was very emotional for me to drive away from the place were I've grown up, gone to school, had my first job, met my husband, had our twins, etc. There are so many wonderful memories wrapped up in that place for me. We are really going to miss it.
But, we're excited for the next chapter of our lives in Indiana. Our ward seems friendly and Blake's new job is going really well. The kids have discovered the neighborhood pool so now, in their minds, Indiana is awesome! Ethan acclimated really well to his new kindergarten class and made friends quickly. Soon after arriving, Ethan got to participate in the "Kindy 500." So cute! Overall, we feel blessed to be here and are excited for our future here.
7. April 20 - We packed up the car and actually drove BACK to NJ for Emily and Taft's reception. It was a very quick trip but we had a great time hanging out with Em, Taft, the Kewish's, Nic, TJ and Grammy and Pops. The cousins had a great time playing together!
8. May 22 - We celebrated Grant and Addie's 3rd birthday! Since we were new and didn't know many people, we had a few families from our ward over for a bbq to celebrate with them. It was really fun to get to know some other families and let the kids play with some new friends. We are so proud of our little rascals and can't believe it's been 3 years since they came into our lives. They are such blessings to us and brighten our lives every single day!
Baseball: Ethan played t-ball/baseball for the first time this spring and LOVED it!
Indy 500: Growing up in NJ, I wasn't exposed to very much car racing. I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't realize there was a difference between Nascar and Indy racing. Anyway, soon after we moved here, the Indy 500 was taking place. So, we went over to the race track one afternoon and saw some of the cars practicing. It was really incredible. The kids got to sit in some of the older cars, visit the Indy museum and even get race car pins from some of the pit crews. So cool!
White River: We rented a bike thing and rode down by the White River in Indianapolis and explored the waterfront and canal. The kids had a blast on our ride and loved running around the beautiful park.
Indianapolis Zoo: Blake's firm sponsored a family day at the zoo. The kids had such a great time. We saw a great dolphin show, got to pet sharks, go on a roller coaster, watch a 4D Dora show, etc. It's a great zoo and so much closer than driving to the Bronx!!
Louisville: The closest temple to us is the Louisville, KY temple so we decided to go last weekend and explore Louisville. We had never been to Kentucky before so we had fun visiting the area. We went to the Louisville Slugger Factory and Museum where we saw how they make the baseball bats for MLB. We even saw the pieces of wood that were being made into bats for Derek Jeter. The kids all got their own mini bat which, I'm sorry to say, have all been confiscated. We also went down to the waterfront and let the kids play in a splash pad. We visited a small zoo with exotic animals, did temple sessions and had fun playing in the hotel pool. It was a quick trip but we had a lot of fun!!
10. June - Moving to Indiana, we were sad that we no longer had family nearby. Luckily, Blake's aunt, uncle and grandma live about 4 hours away so they are are closest relatives. In June, Grandma Eve and Uncle Bob made the trek up to visit us. The last time we saw them was at Nicole's wedding so they had never met the twins. We had a great time visiting with them. Grandma came equipped with water guns, flashing toys and even a mini ice cream maker for the kids. They were all a huge hit! We made ice cream that evening after going out to dinner. It would have been great had Blake not loaded it up with too much salt. Yuck! We shot off some fireworks and had a great time just catching up.
11. July - A few weeks ago, Grammy and Pops came to visit us for a week. It was so much fun to have them here. We showed them around the area, took them to White River, went to the children's museum, went swimming, got ice cream, etc. Grammy brought a big blow up pool that the kids went nuts over. They've been playing in it ever since. We had such a great time that it was hard to send them back. We sure miss living by family.
Okay, I think I've hit the major events over the last 6 months. Sorry for the novel. It's been a busy 2012 for our family!!
