NOTE: This post has been a draft for a few weeks, so it’s a little outdated. I was waiting until I could get the pictures the right way, but I still haven’t figured out and I guess something’s better than nothing, right? So sorry for the big lack of updates, the out-of-date post, and the sideways pictures. Hope you love us anyway!

Sorry for falling behind in the posts! Life has been busy. Isn’t it always? But really, life lately has been more-than-normally busy with some pretty big events: graduation, moving out, finding a house, moving in, and travel.

Josh graduated in April with a bachelor’s and a master’s in Information Systems at BYU. And did I mention that he was the Masters of Information Systems student of the year? :) Seriously, Josh is an amazing student. He’s always loved learning and been a really good self-learner (something I really admire about him). He worked really hard his whole time at BYU, got great grades, impressed his professors, and graduated with two great degrees. And – even more impressive – a great job! Josh is now working for a company called Pariveda Solutions, at their Denver office. It’s a great company that we’re excited to be part of. And it’s the same company Josh interned for two summers ago.

So after graduation, we had about a week to pack up our house. My mom had helped us start when she was in town for graduation, but Josh and I had the bulk of it to do ourselves. But we’re both pretty organized people. I like making lists and planning in advance. We wrote down each packing task we had to do on our wipe-off board and divided them up into days, then checked things off as we got them done. We even were a day ahead of schedule. But, holy cow, moving kicked my trash! It was hard! Actually getting out of Provo and taking care of all the last-minute things (sooo glad we loaded the truck a day early) was rough. And not just the packing and the loading, but the long long drive and the unloading and moving in…that’s a lot of work! Here’s some things I learned from moving:

• Ask for help! I wish we had had more help, especially with packing (and mostly babysitting Carson). (Thank you, thank you to Caleb, Sam, Zach, Luke, Heather, Melanie, and everyone else who did help!) Sometimes it’s hard to ask for help…I never want to be the one who has to ask. I never want to inconvenience anyone. Why is it that we’re so reluctant to ask for help sometimes?
• We took our time loading. Sam and Caleb came over and helped load the van like a game of Tetris. It was great. I wish we had taken as much time and brainpower to unload, though. We were so eager to get everything out of the truck and into the house. And we were working against a deadline. It’s not like we dumped everything into the front room – we put a little thought into it – but I just wish Josh and I would have decided more in advance where we wanted everything to go. But maybe a little reorganization as you move in is unavoidable?
• Be sure to take care of myself physically and spiritually during a move. It’s easy to pull late nights, eat too much fast food, and overdo it with lifting stuff when you move. But especially with a little one to take care of, I think I overdid it. Josh, Carson, and I all got colds after the big move.

After a week of unpacking, moving in, and (thank goodness) a little bit of relaxation, we all flew to Texas – Josh to Dallas, where Pariveda’s headquarters are located, for a two-week work training; and me and Carson to Houston to stay with my family.

This past weekend was halfway through the two week training, and Josh was able to come down to Houston to see us, yay! It was a  blast. Now Josh is back in Dallas and Carson and I are still here and grandma and grandpa’s, but on Friday we’ll all fly back to our new home together. I miss Josh a lot, but Carson and I are having a very fun and relaxing time here.

So that’s our big catch-up post on life! I’ll try to post more pictures soon, but here’s a little bit of everything that’s happened lately. (Click a picture to see the caption.) Hope you’re all doing well!