Home Again, Home Again

We are once again Pocatellians.

Nate interviewed with two law firms in Pocatello back in February and March but it wasn't until June that we found out we would be coming back home.

We had mix emotions moving back but we knew it was the right decision to accept the job.

We will miss Boise.  We will miss friends, our ward, the amazing parks, shopping, restaurants, Kate's pediatrician, and the North End.  We really loved Boise and maybe one day we will move back.

Nate had his first day of work this past Monday!  He is working at the law firm Merrill and Merrill.  Even though Nate has only worked a couple of days it seems like this firm is the perfect fit for him.  Nate did not want to work at a big firm and work ridiculously long hours where he would never see his family.  Merrill and Merrill is a pretty small firm and they do not work long hours unless you want to.  I think this firm will allow Nate to learn the ropes of being an attorney without becoming overly stressed that a big firm would bring all while enjoying life and his family!  It is pretty perfect in our eyes! We are excited for this next phase of life as we enter the "real world."

7 months

My little sunshine turned 7 months last week.

It was a rough week.  It was my first time being sick as a mom.  I will just say, a mom should never have to be sick when she has a baby or children.  It was not easy taking care of what seemed to be a more than normal fussy baby with a sore throat, body aches and exhaustion.  I am hoping I get a very long break until I am sick again.

 Kate had her 6 month check-up last week, even though she is 7 months.

She weighed 13lb 12oz and 24 1/2 long.  About the 5th% for both.  She might be little for her age but the proportion of her weight to her length is perfect.  She is a healthy 7 month old with chubby cheeks and rolls on her legs. 

 At 7 months, Kate loves to be outside. We spent a couple of days at the pool and a day at Eagle Island playing on the beach.  Kate is so content outside so whenever she becomes too grumpy to handle we head outside to enjoy the warm weather.  She loves riding in the stroller, laying on a blanket looking around at the cars going by, at the leaves on the trees, and enjoys picking at the grass.  She could spend all day every day outside.

Kate loves her momma.  I am her favorite and I hope it stays that way forever.   Her eyes follow me around the room.  She gets very interested in what I am doing so I talk her through things like me unloading the dishwasher, doing my hair or me making dinner.  I love when I can make her laugh or when I peek around the corner and a huge smile appears on her face.  It makes me feel like a million bucks when I get a huge grin from her.

Kate loves to put everything in her mouth.  I know this is the way babies learn but it can be hard to watch her put a dirty shoe in her mouth.  Luckily she hasn't gotten sick from the dirty things that end up in her mouth.  She is becoming quite the mover.  The time has come to baby proof.   Kate can get to anything within rolling and reaching distance.  Kate also loves food.  Her favorites are bananas, watermelon and squash but she also eats applesauce, carrots, sweet potatoes and oatmeal.  She dislikes green beans and the baby food meats, which look and smell gross.  I would say Kate has mastered sitting up.  She can sit for long periods of time and when she gets sick of sitting she leans forward to get onto her stomach.  Every once in a while she tumbles over but I don't worry about her falling over face first anymore.

Kate is a good little shopper.  She can now sit in the shopping cart and loves it.  She is pretty dang cute sitting in the cart holding onto the bars.  We get stopped by all sorts of people.  They love to comment on her big eyes with her long eyelashes.  If Kate isn't too shy she will give a smile and then they really can't believe how cute and adorable she is!  I always agree with them:) 

 Happy 7 months pretty girl!

Arnold and Sun Valley

 Two weeks ago we went to Sun Valley for a couple days to be with my family.  My brother Cole and his wife Sara just got back from being in Hawaii for 6 months and this week they are moving to Missouri for medical school.  This was last our chance to spend time with them before their big move and new adventure. 

Nate was not planning on coming with me and Kate but last minute decided to come.  He wasn't able to do the activities with us during the day but he enjoyed eating, talking and playing games in the evening with everyone. 

The weather was not ideal but that did not stop us from enjoying beautiful Sun Valley.  

We rode bikes, hiked to a lake, and enjoyed the beautiful scenery of Red Fish Lake while sipping hot chocolate.  

One our last day we had breakfast at The Kneadery.  When we were waiting for a table to open up, in walked Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Nate looked at him straight in the face and gave him a nod.  Arnold kind of acknowledged Nate has he went into the restaurant.  We ended up being a table away from him so Nate sneaked a picture of Kate and I with Arnold in the background.

Me and Kate with "the terminator."

Getting out of Sun Valley was quite the process.  Right before we left, I locked the keys in the car.  Well I cannot say I really locked them in there because I never pushed the lock button.  I had no idea the car locked itself but it does.  It took the locksmith an hour to get to the cabin and then it took him 10-15 minutes to unlock the car.  He didn't know how to unlock the Civic and he didn't want to look it up in his book so it took him much longer than it should have.  

Once we got on the road it took about 3 minutes for Nate to get pulled over.  He wasn't paying attention to how fast he was going and right after my dad said he should slow down we were passing a cop.  The cop turned around and pulled Nate over.  It is never good to speed in Sun Valley.  The cops always pull you over.  

So the cop comes up to the window and Nate gives him his drivers license, registration, and insurance.  He asks Nate if he knows why he got pulled over and of course he does cause he was going like 25 over.  Nate then explains why he wasn't paying attention: we just locked our keys in the car and the locksmith just helped us and now we are trying to meet our family.  The cop decides to give Nate a warning, which I was so surprised but happy for.  Like I said, the Nielson family knows all too well that cops like to pull people over and give them tickets in the Sun Valley area.  

The cop then says well next time you get locked out of your car just call me cause I used work for this guy as he looks at my dad.  The thing is we don't know he is looking at my dad cause he is wearing sunglasses.  When he first said this we thought he was talking about working for the locksmith but he was talking about working for my dad.  The cop then goes on to tell my dad how he just saw his father, my grandpa, 3 weeks ago.  He tells my dad how he worked for him a couple of years ago but my dad does not remember this guy.   The cop talks some more and when he is about to leave Nate asks him if he went to Pocatello High School, which he did.  Nate then asks what year.  The cop responds, the same year as you.  Haha.  Man it was so funny.  Nate then asks him to take off his sunglasses to see if he recognizes him.  Nate did recognize him but he didn't know him that well in high school.  It was so crazy the cop knew my dad and Nate but they didn't really know him.  It was pretty awkward. Haha.  I think the only reason why Nate got off was the fact the cop knew my dad and Nate.  It was a huge blessing that cop was the one to pull us over!

Pocatello in May

Before Nate started studying for the bar we spent some time in Pocatello. 

While we were there, my little, big brother received his mission call!  He will be serving in the San Fernando California Mission.  I am so proud of him.  I know he is ready to serve and will be a great missionary!  He leaves on August 28th.

We were in Poky over Memorial Day so we spent some time at the cemetery visiting my Grandma Nielson's grave, along with other Nielson relatives and family members on the Carlson side.

 I was really close to my Grandma Nielson.  I spent a lot time at her house when I was a child.  I always enjoyed playing games with her, doing puzzles, painting our nails, making cookies, picking raspberries, helping her in her garden and selling cucumbers on her front lawn.  I have such fond memories of her.  I am pretty lucky that I get to remember her each time I look at my wedding ring.  My main diamond was hers.  My grandma actually left it to my mom but my mom decided to give it to me.  I love that I have a little part of her with me.  

I always thought Grandma Bonnie would be alive for when I got married and always hoped she would be here when I had children.  She may have not been alive when Nate and I got married or when Kate was born but I am positive she was watching over me with love and excitement in these important times in my life.  I am sure she would have loved Nate and would absolutely love Kate and her big, bright eyes.

On one of the days I went to Utah with my parents.  We stopped to see my Grandpa Stratford.  This was Kate's first time meeting her great-grandpa.

We also visited my Grandma Stratford at the nursing home.  She has dementia and cannot remember much.  It is hard visiting her because she rambles and nothing makes much sense that she says.  So... it is pretty difficult to have a conversation with her.  The one great thing about seeing her is she is usually excited to have visitors.  I am sure it gets lonely at the nursing home so she loves when people come to see her.  She loved meeting Kate!  She couldn't get over how cute she was.  I am sure we made her day by introducing her to Kate.  Kate enjoyed Grandma Barbara, too, and gave her some great smiles!  

Kate also met some of my aunts and cousins. 

Kate loved grabbing the leaves on the tree outside grandpas house.

Kate is getting good at standing on Grandpa Nielson's hands.  

She is starting young at being a "flyer!"

Kate has started to become more cuddly and lovey dovey.  

It makes me a happy momma!

Pocatello, we will see you again soon.

6 Months

My baby turned 6 months old last week. 

She brings a lot of joy into my life.  

My love for her grows each and every day.

She is one special little girl.

I am happy to say Kate is getting over her stranger anxiety stuff.  We went to Pocatello for a week and she never had a bad crying episode.  She has gone to a couple of people at church for short periods of time and has done great.  I still get nervous giving her to people cause you never know with Kate what will set her off.  So far she hasn't really cried but if she starts fussing then I take her back to make sure she doesn't explode.  I hope it continues to get better!

 Kate has the cutest, sweetest voice.  Nate and I love it when she is in another room by herself and she begins to talk.  We will peak in and watch as she explores and talks to herself.  She has become quite the talker!




    

This month Kate learned to roll from her back to her tummy.  She now loves being on her tummy.  If I lay her on her back she will roll over.  She is much happier on her tummy than her back.  She can see and play with things on a whole new level.  Kate now sleeps mostly on her tummy.  I always start her on her back but she prefers to sleep on tummy so she always rolls over.  I know with SIDS they say they are supposed to sleep on their back but there is no way I am going to wake up multiple times during the night to make sure she is on her back.  Kate is not the best sleeper but she sleeps so much better on her tummy than her back so I am not going to disrupt her peaceful sleeping. 

 

Since Kate spends a lot of time on her tummy she has begun to push up on her hands and knees.  She doesn't really move but she can kind of push herself backwards.  In a couple more weeks she will probably be crawling.  Crazy.

 

 
 Kate is working on sitting by herself.  She is stable if she is sitting still but once she starts reaching for things side to side she usually falls over.  It is hard to believe my baby is starting to sit.
This past month Kate seems so much older because she is doing more human like things such as sitting, rolling all over the place and even eating food!

Kate is a smiley baby but she doesn't laugh a whole lot.  Nate was able to get Kate really laughing a few weeks ago, though.  I am so glad I got it on video because I haven't heard her laugh like this since.  It is pretty hard to get her to laugh continuously but she will do small laughs that almost seem fake.  I love watching this video and even Kate likes watching it.  She loves to look at pictures and videos of herself.  She gets pretty excited to see how stinking cute she is!

I really cannot get enough of this girl.  Love Her.

Law School Graduation

Nate graduated from the University of Idaho Law School on May 1st.

I could not be more proud of him.

These past 3 years have flown by.  It seems like yesterday we moved to Moscow to start this journey and now we have been in Boise a year and have a 5 month old.  It is crazy how fast time goes and home much changes in a couple of years.  As fun as it was to move far from home and meet some of our dearest friends, I am glad to be done.  I know Nate is really excited to be finished and to begin his career.  We are ready to settle down in a permanent place.  Nate doesn't have a job lined up right now but he is waiting to hear back about a couple of jobs.  We are optimistic something will work out!  I know wherever he gets a job he will do a great job and they will be lucky to have him.
 

 

Since graduation was on a Wednesday night it wasn't easy for family to come celebrate Nate's accomplishment.  We were lucky to have Nate's mom, my parents and Grandma Carlson come for dinner and the commencement. 

Nate had some great friends in law school.  It was even better that his friends had great wives!  We have had some good times with the friends we met through law school.  I will miss the game nights, dinners, frisbee golf, girls nights, intramural football and basketball, shopping trips, the husbands wrestling, walks, workout groups and all the laughing.

A couple of the families also came to Boise for their 3rd year.  It was fun to have friends in Boise to do things with.  Wherever we end up we will miss our law school friends.  I hope wherever we move we meet as great as people to be our friends as we had in law school.  We will not forget the friends we met and we hope to have many reunions with them!

 The weekend before graduation we got together with law school friends to have a party. 

It was fun to get together with the friends we have come to love through law school.

As you can see Kate was having one of her episodes and was not so excited about being at the party.

For the next two months, Nate will study for the deathly bar.  Kate and I hope these next two months go fast because I don't think we will be seeing much of daddy.  We love Nate and are so proud of all the hard work he has put into school for our family. 
See you in two months daddy!