Big Boy Beds

We finally got the boys some mattresses for their big boy beds! We also got some Star Wars sheets and let them each pick the color of their bedspread.

They were both so excited for bed the first night! 

Nolan upgraded from a toddler bed and Branson out of a crib.

Unfortunately, Branson fell off the first night. But luckily we had already ordered a bed rail for him so he had it the second night. 

The 'transition' out of a crib has been pretty darn easy with Branson (just like with Nolan). We either have really good boys or we just successfully put the fear in them because Branson has been able to climb out of his crib for a long time if he wanted to, he just didn't. Nolan will get out of bed every so often, but we'll usually hear him imitate my "I'm serious" voice and threaten Branson with something to get him to stay in bed. Poor kid, but I guess it does keep him from getting out of bed!

Easter

We were pretty excited to have Easter in our new house! Although sadly it was raining so we couldn't do the Easter egg hunt outside like I was hoping. Oh well.

Can't a guy get some sleep around here?! I laugh at this picture because it reminds me so much of a picture from when I was little where my dad is trying to sleep and all 3 of us kids (Mal wasn't born yet) were all over him haha.

The boys loved opening their baskets! They each got a Transformer, an umbrella, and some other goodies. They also got some play scarves and a Darth Vader night light to share.

I guess I don't have any pictures of the egg hunt in the basement, but they loved it! Nolan was rushing every which way to try to get more eggs than Branson 😐 

Breakfast and dyeing some Easter Eggs 

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I don't have any pictures of it, but we tried to work on teaching the boys the real meaning of Easter this year. We had 12 numbered eggs, each with a scripture and an item pertaining to that scripture. They each opened 1 each night for a week leading up to Easter. I hope they learned a bit from the activity and they looked forward to it every night! In fact, once we were done they wanted to start over!

Things I Don't Want to Forget

• We've been watching Transformers Prime and B is super into it. While driving in the car he was quizzing us..."Guess who rides in Bulkhead?" Who? "Miko." "Guess who rides in bumboobee?" who? "Raf."
• Both of the boys love listening to songs in the car. We even made them their own bad guy song playlist. It's cute, but sometimes frustrating because they want to dictate which songs to listen to and will argue/whine about which song was chosen or that theirs wasn't picked first. If you don't pick the one Nolan wanted, even if it's one he loves, he'll tell us he will NOT sing it (like it's a punishment for us haha). B's favorite is the Imperial March and will clench his fist and pump it in the air during the song. 
• It about melted my heart when I asked B, "Branson, who is your best friend?" And he responded, "My brudder is my best friend." 💗
• Several nights we'll hear them on the monitor doing Transformer battles when they should be sleeping
• We have been talking about David and Goliath and they both love that story. When Branson does something brave he'll say, "I'm brave like David!"
• If you throw a ball at B instead of catching it he'll let it hit him so he can do a dramatic fall. sometimes stepping backwards into a wall before falling dramatically to his pretend death 😆
• Branson likes to jump from the window seat, almost land on something, and say, "Phew, that was close!"
• Sometimes Branson will pull up a chair next to you and say something like, "So, how was your day swimming?" or "So, how was your sleep mommy?" or "How was your day at work daddy?" Such an adorable conversation starter. 
• Branson weasels his way into many a heart with how he grabs your hand and leads you somewhere. So adorable.
• Read 2 Dragon Masters books by himself, is very motivated by Transformer toys, won't read to Branson though
• Nolan can be such a sweet, sweet boy one minute, and a total pill the next (and that's a euphemism). 
• B sometimes puts his hands on either side of my face and says, "You're the best mommy in the whole wide world." 💗
• B will yell, "I LOVE you guys!!" about the silliest things. Like, if we tell him we're doing pancakes for breakfast or we're watching a movie, or going to play in the loft. Cute boy.
• GG called him 'Darling' and he said, I'm not Darling, I'm Branson Michael Bailey!

We bought a house!

Well it's been a long time coming, but we finally moved into our new house!!

I first moved into 4839 Memory Lane #6 with Brittany Gilson back in 2009. She was the best roommate ever and we really got a long so well. Then she bought a house and I started dating Justin. Once Justin and I got married in 2013 we moved into #5 across the hall and we've been there ever since.

I have so many good memories there from when I was single and even better ones from more recent years. Justin and I shared our first kiss on the stair landing outside the doors, and we brought our 2 beautiful boys home to that apartment. It's been the only home they've ever known and really it was a great place. The rent was cheap ($850 for a 1200 sq ft, 2 bedroom, 1 bath), especially for the nice area, and we LOVED the Holladay 14th ward so we weren't really in a hurry to leave. But we just started outgrowing it and were definitely feeling a little sheepish living in an old apartment with 2 kids when we were old enough and established enough that we could afford a home :D.

It was a long search because there were things that we really wanted in a home and neighborhood (Justin was even more picky than I was though haha). We looked for probably 8 months and then our ward friend Melanie Campbell told us about a home in the Sandy area that the owners were waiting to sell until their new home was built. She got us their number and we arranged to go look at it. The rest is history. I really really liked the house the first time I walked into it. We first looked at it in July 2018 and finally went under contract in October. However because they were still building we couldn't close until February 2019 and couldn't move in until March. Oey, it was a rough wait, but now that we're here it feels like it wasn't so bad. Funny how that works. I still look around and can't believe this is really our home!!

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They boys are absolutely loving the new house. When we first talked about moving Nolan was a little nervous that he would have to leave his stuff. And a few days before we moved we went for a walk in the Holladay Cemetery (where we've gone so many times) and I noted that this might be the last time we go walking there Nolan got really sad and said he didn't want to move and can we come walking here again?! It was pretty sweet. But once they came to the new house and most of their stuff got moved in and (most importantly) we turned on the projector in the basement, they didn't look back. They LOVE our new house!

In fact, Branson doesn't want to go to our old apartment. We're still taking them to Jeanni's and when I picked them up Branson got sad and said, "I don't want to go to our old house, I want to go to our new house." When I said, "ok! Let's go to our new house!" He got a big smile on his face and said happily, "ok!"

Our new ward is much smaller than the 14th ward. Nolan was very nervous to go to Primary the first week, but went with no problem the next week. He even snuggled right up to his new teacher during singing time which was cute.

Branson was just the opposite. The first week we took him to nursery and he went in without looking back. They brought out some blocks and he sat down and said bye mommy and daddy! The next few weeks he seemed fine and excited to go to nursery, but as soon as the door opened to nursery he cried and clinged to us.

We've already met some of our neighbors and they're all so nice. We are just so excited to be here. We still have so much to do (and so much to buy, yikes!), but it's fun.

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Boxes everywhere in the apartment. We were really feeling cramped at the end there because there was just nowhere to store boxes while we packed them up!

We had so many amazing friends help us though - Brad and Myranda Nielson watched the boys for a few hours while we packed one night,  Charlotte Baker had the boys over for over 4 hours one Saturday, and Shannon had them over too. We have the best friends!

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The day we got the keys to our new home!

The previous owners were so sweet and left the boys their haul of blasters. Needless to say they were in heaven with their new toys! These pictures don't really show it, they left probably 15-20 blasters and a bunch of ammo!

We've Joined the Minivan Gang!

Well, I finally said goodbye to my beloved Honda Accord. I remember when I bought it. My parents were in town so I took the opportunity to have my dad come shopping with me. He and Granky were with me when I bought the car. It was nice to have them there (not to mention having a co-signer 😊).

We put the car seats in Justin's car since we weren't driving mine much (it had some serious issues at the end with overheating and things). It was weird driving back from the auto repair place without my boys in the back seat. But luckily I caught a glimpse of them on the road!

Behold our new amazing van! Yes, I'm that excited about it. A lot of people try to avoid a minivan, but not this girl. I'm ecstatic about all the features and ROOM!

The boys are SO excited! We've had it for about 2 months and Branson still always asks if we're "riding in our new van?" And Nolan loves telling people about all the cool things it can do. Their favorite features are definitely the ability to make phone calls (and everyone in the car can hear), the automatic doors, being able to get in and walk standing up to the other side, and the ability to play their favorite music from mom's phone.

My favorite features are pretty much the same (except I would also add how easy it is to listen to books and podcasts, not just music!). Yay!