Cousins!

We're having such a wonderful time in Utah--we still can't believe it's real. To get here, we stopped off in SoCal to visit Papa and Grandma Raynie.



Not long after we arrived in Utah to live, Rebecca had her twins! They are so precious and Rainey goes nuts every time she's around them. I don't have any current pictures of her with them because I have to watch her closely to make sure she doesn't squeeze their faces or give them some intense kisses. Here are the twins in the hospital with Grandma, Aunt Elise, and Tiffany, a friend.


One of the best things about being here in Utah is lots of time with cousins. A favorite past time is storing toys in her mouth.


Enjoying the last days of summer with the cousins outside.


Giving some serious kisses. She gives all of her cousins great loves.


Reading stories together.


She has lots of good help with eating, playing, dancing.


Playing babies, but I think she's the baby this time.


At the very end of the summer, I got to go on a Mitchell girls' weekend. Of course, I forgot my camera, so I don't have any pictures from our fabulous weekend, but I got to come home to this face. She and Kev survived and even had a good time.


We are still waiting on the final details of the closing on a house. So we're still living with my generous parents and really enjoying ourselves. Kevin is really enjoying his job, and I'm continuing with my classes (a bit brutal this semester), but all the cousins are within walking distance. Even though school has started, we still get to see them.

Summer

This summer, we traveled for six weeks and went to three different states.
We started our trip with a weekend in Chicago for my dearest friend's wedding. Sadly, I don't have any pictures of the bride and groom because I forgot my camera at the reception.

Here we are just before the ceremony. Rainey stayed with some cute babysitters so we could stay the whole time.


Here I am with another bridesmaid, sweet Ada, just after the cermony.

Next, we flew to SLC to be with my family before my younger brother's wedding.

Eating some toes with aunt Elise, who took such good care of her


The cousins were so sweet and attentive with Rainey.


Here we are at Ben's wedding. Once again, I don't have a picture of the bride and groom on their special day, but I have one of them when we were with them in SoCal.

And lastly, we flew to SoCal to be with Kevin's family for a few weeks.

Grandma Raynie, Papa, and Baby Rainey. She mastered eating solids in that chair.


Pool time with cousins


The newlyweds over for dinner and belated birthday celebration for Alex.


Sitting up with Aunt Lyndsay. She also learned that trick on this trip.


Beach time.

We loved our time with everyone and thought it would be a perfect way to finish our vacation before Kevin's job and life in the east. But in a week's time, Kev interviewed and we then moved to Utah for his job. So yes, we live in Utah. We can't believe it, but we feel so fortunate to be here near family and for Kevin to have such an exciting opportunity with this new job.

May

The month of May has been an exciting and busy one so far--no more school and work for the summer. We started it off with a fantastic visit from Clint and Diana. We toured Darden and the downtown Mall and played much Guitar Hero and Killer Bunnies. They were very patient with Rainey and her schedule and so we also had some good down time.


The Downtown Mall.


Guitar Hero action.


Good bonding time with Uncle Clint.

We then headed to Duck Beach with some friends from Darden and Charlottesville for a week. Rainey's schedule was very off, and so we were fighting her sleep the whole time and the weather wasn't great until the end. But we still got some time outside at the beach. We had a great time with everyone and the house was beautiful.





And then Kevin's parents came for his graduation and stayed the week after. We checked off a lot of things on our C'ville list and Rainey was such a trooper--she took a lot of her naps in my arms as we were on tours or walking around.


Graduation Day, before the main event on the lawn.


Papa and Grandma Rainey waiting for it to begin.


Kev after Darden graduation with his robes on.


Touring Darden grounds.


Lunch at Michie Tavern after Papa and Grandma Rainey toured Monticello.


In front of the Rotunda, after our tour of the main grounds.


The gardens of Monroe's home--Ash Lawn Highland


The crew in front of Madison's house. They're still in the restoration process.


Our hike to Humpback rocks in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Rainey had to cheer us on b/c it was a brutal incline to the top.


We made it and the view is awesome.


Well done, Papa. You did it!


Picking strawberries in Crozet. They are so d-lish.

Thank you for coming to visit us. We now need to go look for housing in DC before we're off on our summer travels. We've had a great time in C'ville. We'll miss it.

Tagged

ok, I've been tagged twice, so I'm going to do both of them. This might be more than you want to know...

1. What time did you get up this morning? 5:30am, thanks to Rainey.

2. What do you usually have for breakfast? a bowl of cereal, maybe 2. I can't wait to eat normal portions when I'm finished nursing.

3. What is your favorite CD of the moment? Eva Cassidy

4. What kind of car do you drive? Audi A3 or an old infiniti with 210,000 miles on it (ticking time bomb, but we love it!)

5. Favorite sandwich? hummus, tomatoes, cucumbers on a toasted sesame seed bagel

6. Favorite item of clothing? my pair of red sweat pants

7. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Portugal with Kev

8. What color is your bathroom? ivory-ish

9. Where would you retire? near family, hopefully close to the mountains or the beach

10. Most memorable birthday? this past one because Kevin and I had been apart all summer while he interned in Texas. I stayed here to work and take classes. He was driving home and supposed to get in on the night of my birthday. Instead, he surprised me and came home the night before. So he was with me the whole next day and treated my like a queen.

11. Favorite sport to watch? that's a tough one...to watch--tennis

12. Are you a morning person or a night person? Rainey has forced me to be a morning person, so I'm getting better at it. Although, I wouldn't say that I was a night person before...I just really like sleep.

13. What is your shoe size? 7.5 to 8

14.Pets? no thank you

15. What did you want to be when you were little? I think either a teacher or a professional soccer player (in my dreams).

16. What are you today? I'm a pediatric nurse.

17. What is your favorite candy? Probably mounds or almond joy

18. What is your favorite flower? Cala lillies, peonies, or gerber daisies

19. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? the month of June b/c we're traveling to weddings, so we'll see lots of family and dear friends

20. What are you listening to right now? Rainey talking on her mat

21. What is the last thing you ate? a freshly picked strawberry--amazing--we went strawberry picking today with Kevin's parents who are visiting for his graduation

22. Do you wish on stars? not really

23. What faith are you? Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

24. Who is the last person you spoke with on the phone? My mom

25. Hair color? a sad dishwater blond

26. Name of your favorite school teacher? Dr. Hurlbut in college, Mr. Bromley in high school

27. Chocolate or vanilla? chocolate

28. When was the last time you cried? A couple weeks ago when Rainey would not go to sleep, but she wouldn't stop crying and I was so frustrated and sad for her.

29. What is under your bed? Food storage

30. What did you do last night? Went to a nice dinner with Kevin's parents without Rainey--a first. A nice friend stayed at our place while she slept. Then we came home and watched the end of "So You Think You Can Dance"--love that show!

31. Favorite smell? grapefruit

32. What are you afraid of? declining health

33. How many towns have you lived in? Too many to list--mostly in California, Utah, Texas, and Virginia. (a couple years in Baltimore also)

34. Do you make friends easily? I think so. I've moved a lot, so that's helped...

What are 6 quirks about you?

1. I get hooked to the lamest shows and movies--seriously hooked. And on the same note, if I'm reading a good book, it's hard for me to put it down. I lose interest in everything else until I finish it.
2. I can't handle anything touching my ears--no earplugs, no whispering, etc.
3. I leave key details out of my stories, and usually need Kevin to help fill them in.
4. I love musicals/broadway and would listen to them nonstop if Kev could handle it.
5. I can't go to bed without flossing my teeth.
6. I mix up cliches.

And I tag C&D, Chels, and Jessie. You can choose either one.

5 months old

We can't get enough of this girl. She's such a happy, fun, talkative baby. And she's even sleeping better...



Sweet face.



Loving her new toy.



"Sad face." While it is sad, we love it because it's so cute. Usually it's just this face with no sound.



Happy girl. This is the face we get the majority of the time.



Yay for the Stakers who came down to visit us and braved a couple nights in our apartment. We had such a fun weekend with them!

We love Kevin

In honor of Kevin finishing Darden and a belated birthday, this post is all about him. He has been such a loving husband, patient father, and diligent student. Not only does he help me out with laundry, grocery shopping, and even dishes at times, he also watches Rainey for 2 1/2 days by himself. She's always so happy and well rested when I get home. And on top of that, he has excelled at Darden. I can't believe our 2 years are up. We'll miss Charlottesville, but we won't miss our apartment.





Good reading times with Dad.



Lunch time.



Nap time. As you can see, Rainey woke up before Dad--that's never fun. But she stayed there for quite a while before she made any noise...



He even bathes her and dresses her well. But this time, he put her in an old outfit. I don't know if you can tell, but we kept singing "Fat girl in a little coat" to her. She liked the song...



A little gaming with Dad. They're the best of friends...



On Kev's last day of class, we met him to walk home with him.



All finished with classes. We're so proud of him!

4 months today

Rainey had her checkup today on her 4 month birthday, and she was not happy. (This picture is after her visit and a long nap.) Not only was she tired and hungry, but she hated the shots. She's 13 lbs (just under 50th percentile) and 24 3/4 inches (75th percentile). So as of now, it looks like she's got the Mitchell genes, tall and thin--but she's still has plenty of chunk. We're getting more and more comments about how she looks like her Dad. See what you think.



She's so fun these days, always smiling, squealing, and laughing. Here's an updated laugh.



We are counting down the weeks until Kevin graduates (6 weeks) and I finish with work (5 weeks). We've decided to go with Booz Allen, so we'll be moving back to the DC area. We still have to decide which area, but we'll definitely be closer to an airport.