New Niece

Brandon's sister, Rachel, had her baby a week ago and she is so sweet.  They named her Brynn and we are happy that we get to live just down the street from their family this summer.  She asked me to take some photos of her yesterday and she was a very good baby.  I'm so glad they turned out - hooray!

Double Birthday

Remember how Rachel and I have the same birthday?  She turned one on the 17th and I turned 26.  We had a great birthday and celebrated with a party with family.  The picture above is the birthday cake that BRANDON MADE for me; he asked me what kind of cake I wanted and I told him an "under the sea" cake (?).  My favorite part of the cake is the little tail sticking out - not only is he smart (post below), but he is creative and talented in cake decorating.  :)

I have to be honest, most of the attention was on Rachel (I guess first birthdays are a big deal?).  She had a baby einstein themed birthday and it turned out great.  I made her a cake and kept it simple - but I think the baby einstein caterpillar turned out pretty good.  She recognized it - so that's a good thing.  Also, we have been practicing blowing out a candle and she actually blew this time - she missed the candle, but it was still impressive (especially since a couple weeks ago, she would cry at the sight of a lighted candle).  She was very dainty while eating her cake and didn't make a big mess or dig in, just tasted politely.  She also didn't mind wearing a birthday princess crown from Nana.  Happy Birthday, Rachel!

Graduation Announcement

We're so proud of you, Brandon!  If you're family, you'll get one of these in the mail soon.  

I didn't love the look of the graduation photo cards at Costco (but they're so cheap!), so I made my own in photoshop and they honored the same price as their photo cards w/envelopes.  3L Law school wives, if you want one like this, I can slip in your picture and your graduate's name in the file and you can get your own printed at your Costco - I would love to share it if you're interested.  

This is the Place...

...Utah!  We have arrived for our summer-long stay in Utah and a lot has happened since the last post.  Brandon graduated from Law School (hooray!) and we moved all of our belongings down to a storage unit in Arizona (big shout out to Kasey for all of her help with that - thanks!)  Pictures are in backwards order here, but that's ok.

Look it's the Worthen's!!  It was great to see them back in Chicago and Brock's sister, Liz, helped out by watching Rachel during the hooding ceremony.  Thanks, Liz!

Handsome graduate!

Grandpa Val & Grandma Nancy made the trip to support Brandon.  Rachel got used to them very quickly and we were glad for the extra help chasing her around.

We really will miss all the fun Chicago has to offer!  We will also miss the many friends we made there.  The picture below is of Rachel at the Children's Museum, which she absolutely loves.

We paid a visit to the urologist one more time before we left and Rachel had to have that hour and a half scan again, but she did great (thank you for Baby Einstein).  She's still on antibiotics to prevent UTI's until she's about 18 months old.  She really is so healthy and happy and ACTIVE!

A little dress up play time - she's also waving to you.

Should probably be packing or cleaning...

But instead, I'm playing with photos!  Here's some photos in front of a cute house in Hyde Park.  She was basically running away from the camera.  

Notice two things about this next picture ... #1 is her pal, bear, who she takes everywhere and #2 is the ponytail ... nice!  Which hairstyle to you prefer on little girls?  The straight up ponytail or clipped to the side with a flower/bow?