3 Months and Mother's Day

Our little Hallie turned 3 months on Mother's Day. What a treat she is to have around these days. She is singing and talking more. We love her "pillow talk" and her sruprised face she makes sometimes after she's done talking. She has found her hands and loves to suck on them. She has become a great little sleeper. She sleeps all through the night and goes down easily. She has the sweetest laugh and smiles with her whole body. She loves books and soon I'm sure she'll truly taste them. Everywhere we go, people love to ooohh and aahh all over her. I really believe that she has brightened people's lives when they needed it most. She has surely brightened ours. We love our little Hallie bear.

Peace Out Provo...

At the end of April we had to say "Peace out" to our beloved home beneath the Chiropractic Clinic in Provo and head out to where we will be for the summer...Burlington, NC. We had a wonderful road trip east which we had planned when we thought we were going to Illinois for the summer, and although it was going to take us the LONG way to North Carolina, we couldn't pass up our trip through some capitols and very important American landmarks.

We drove through the bleak state of Wyoming into South Dakota where our first stop was the incredible Mt Rushmore. We were impressed with the size of the presidents and all the hard work that went into this piece of mountain.

We stopped at World Famous Wall Drug in Wall, SD. There are a million signs across the world pointing to this place in the world. (Word to the Wise: If you want to visit Wall Drug, beware of it's closing time, 7pm).

We stopped and played some croquet in Pierre (which the locals say Peer). Hallie slept all the way through her first game of family croquet. She was also a champ the whole trip in the car. She slept nearly the whole time! When we stopped to eat, she ate and went right back in her seat and was either quiet or fell asleep. We couldn't have asked for a better baby to travel with. We will see how she does when she is a little older on the ride home from the summer!

After Pierre, we made a few stops before reaching our next capitol. The Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD was first. This place is awesome. It is covered in 100% corn from the local farms. None of the corn is died and every year there is a different theme for the building which means all different pictures made of corn are put up. This has been going on since 1904.

Our next stop was the Jolly Green Giant in Blue Earth, MN. He was huge, a lot bigger than he looks in our pictures.

Then on to the Mall of America or the Temple of Materialism as our friend Ron calls it. This place was HUGE! It had roller coasters and an aquarium. It had every kind of store you could think of. And it had a million stores that sold Minnesota paraphernalia. We walked around the whole thing. Didn't do much shopping, we just wanted to see what they had, and I'm pretty sure they had nearly everything but groceries.

We stayed in Minneaoplis with our friend Ron. He was an incredible host, letting us steal his bed and making us Saturday morning Roll-Ups. Thank you Ron!

We played a game in St. Paul where a handful of people were honoring war veterans by shooting off cannons. One of the guys we talked to knew all about different war memorials and museums across the country. You could tell he was very patriotic. We got a picture with him. After our game, Ashton and I were taking a picture while they were shooting off the cannons and I knew it was going to go off soon, but I totally jumped out of my skin when they fired one sooner than I had expected. I wish I could have seen it. I'll have to wait to watch the movies of my life in heaven.

Our last (fun) stops were in Wisconsin. We stopped at a cheese store and taste-tested all kinds of cheese: cranberry, pepperdew, fudge cheese, 12 year aged cheddar...all kinds. Then we played croquet in Madison or "Mad City" which was a lot bigger and more happening than we thought it would be. We were recommended a place called the Old Fashoined where we bought fried cheese curds...a popular treat among Wisconsinites.

All in all, it was a great trip. And now, here we are in North Carolina. It has been great to be here so far. The ward we are in is awesome. We are being well taken care off. Our first week here many people greeted us at church and even more came over to visit or invite us to different activities. We are lucky to be in such a great place. Plus, Burlington has shown us that chivalry is NOT dead. I have had men take my buggy back to the store when I was done shopping and men let me enter the room before themselves. Southern hospitality lives on!

Lots of people have asked us what we are going to do when the summer is over seeing this is Ashton's last year on contract with Pinnacle. Who really knows? Go on vacation to Europe? To say the least, we are just enjoying where we are right now and all things will work out to how they should be.

The Funeral and Cousins

Right before we left for North Carolina, Ashton's grandma Buswell passed away. She was an amazing lady and we are glad we were always on "her team." We all hope to render the service to others and to God the way that she did. We just knew that Grandpa was tugging her over to the other side. She must have more important work to do over there. We love you Grandma and will miss you!

Because of the funeral, all of Ashton's family was together. There have been 5 new grandkids within about 6 months of each other and we were able to get a picture of all the little babies. Oh boy, will it be fun when they're all 2! (This picture is done by age.)

To AZ...amongst the craziness

Between finishing up my thesis, graduation, packing, cleaning and the rest of life, we managed a short trip to AZ to visit family, and our extended family, the Smiths. We are so glad they are in our lives and for the love they share with us!

(Sorry for coming to AZ and not being able to see everyone. The time there was limited and we'll have to come again!)

Please, Call Me "Master"

The month of April brought a lot of events about for our family, one of which was defending my thesis and graduation! Here is a picture of me with my team: Alan, Ramon, and Neil--right after passing my defense. It went a lot smoother than I thought and I passed with minor revisions. Now, you may call me "Master Lydia." I always thought it somewhat lame that people who earn a doctorate get to be called Dr., yet the work for a master's deserves such little entitlement, well... no entitlement.

Graduate school has been 2 awesome years. It was only possible because of my loving husband, a baby who slept a lot, and of course, the greatest cohort on the planet!

Me and my family on graduation day

My incredible cohort who we love so much and already miss

These are our friends the Chattertons, aka Chattmans. Kara just graduated with her JD and is expecting a little baby at the end of the month. They were our best couple friends at BYU and we already miss hanging out with them and are quite distraught that they have moved to ID and won't be in UT when we get back at the end of the summer. We'll have to make a trip north when the summer is over.

2 Months

I know that this is slightly old, but I couldn't resist putting up this picture of little Hallie bear at 2 months. She is getting so big and can do so many things....which I will write more about at her 3 month picture. We are so glad she is in our family!