First Day of First

We had our first semi normal week here in Utah. Our house is mostly unpacked except for our room, you have to jump over boxes to get to the bed but we are getting there. Chloe is finally adjusting to living in a new place. She is a Texan, lived there since she was two months old and she struggled with the move. The first week she would be up all night crying saying she wanted to go home. She once asked me if our house was gone and I said no that we moved and this was our new house and she got all upset and said "No it's not!" So I made their room a priority to get put together hoping it would help Chloe feel more at home. She is starting to do better, but the other day she asked me, "Mom I want to go back to Texas, how about you?"

She is still adjusting to change of weather from Texas, she still puts on a coat and scarf and carries around her gloves, anywhere feels colder then Texas, lol. One morning we went outside and Emma said, "Mom is it winter!?!" It's 90 degrees people! I think it feels fantastic! It was really funny, one day I was standing outside the school next to some other moms waiting for our kids to get out and they were talking about the weather and one mom said, "The news said it's suppose to get up to 90 this week, oh my gosh!!" "I know that's so hot!!" Come on people are you serious?!? I wanted to chime in and be like excuse me I just came from 105 plus humidity this is heaven, instead I just smiled to myself.

Emma started first grade this last week at the same Elementary school I went to. The school is right down the road, it's so nice being able to walk her to school everyday. I teared up on my first day walking her to school I was overwhelmed with fun school day memories with all my friends, it doesn't seem that long ago, ya know? It's so weird! Emma was a little nervous on her first day, her tummy was upset so I couldn't get her to eat very much breakfast. It's a new school and a new teacher, but her teacher is really nice and she is enjoying it now. I can't believe she is in first grade already. I didn't think I would get emotional this time, that you only cried when they started Kindergarten, but no it doesn't get any easier. After dropping her off and watching her walk into the school without me I went home and cried to Aaron. Chloe and I miss having her around all day. When I pick her up I can't help smothering her with kisses and hugs.

She is growing up too fast!





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Celebrations

To celebrate Aaron's graduation I threw him a surprise Welcome Home/Graduation Party with his side of the family. We had it at Los Hermanos which is the restaurant where we had our luncheon after we got married. Everyone was already at the restaurant when we got there so Aaron was totally surprised. I thought I had given it away so many times, but thankfully he had been totally oblivious to it all. He kept saying "Did you know about this!?!" Um yeah I planned it haha
Here we have Aaron's sister Cheree and her family along with Emma.
And then we had Grandma Bell and Aaron's sisters Sheena and Karley and her two boys and his cousin Markai and her husband Wes. I was so glad everyone was able to come, it has been forever since Aaron and all his sisters have been together.
Sibling Love :)
Cheree and one of her cute twins, sadly I still can't tell them apart so I can't tell you which one this is, I know that's terrible.
Aaron's sister Karley was so awesome and drove 10 hours from Oregon just to come visit us. We haven't seen her in two years so we were really excited to get to spend some time with them. For Aaron's graduation present Grandma Bell and Aunt Karley bought our family tickets to go to Lagoon and we had a blast!

Here we have Ty Ty, Chloe, Karter and Emma being crazy kiddos.
Bumper cars was my ultimate favorite of all the kid rides to watch. Chloe was hilarious, she just kept going around and around in circles.

These cousins get along so great, it's like they have never been apart. Emma and Karter are exactly one month apart to the day and Ty and Chloe are about a year, so it works out great. Karley and I have plans to get pregnant at the same time for our third babies, it is just so much more fun that way :)
You can't go to Lagoon and not ride on the cars and boats.
These two are concentrating so hard on making it around that turn lol!

This was one of their favorites because they could all sit together, they could have ridden it all day if we would have let them.

We also had a game night, where we had pizza, roasted smores, played on the trampoline, Aaron and Karley battled it out in ping pong and we all had fun playing games with the kids. It was such a nice visit with the Arritt family and we can't wait to take a road trip out to Oregon and spend some more time with them.




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Big Changes

My baby graduated this weekend and is now Dr. Aaron Bell, way to go Aaron! I am so proud of him, he has worked so hard for the last 8 years of schooling and really deserves the best.

Shaking hands with President Fabrizio Mancini

It met everything to Aaron that his baby sister Sheena flew out from Utah just to go to his graduation and then keep him company in the Uhaul on the 27 hour drive back home. You're the best Sheena!
Aaron's Dad also flew out for the graduation and to help us pack up and move everything, he was such a big help and Aaron was so happy to have some of his family there to celebrate with him.


I love Chloe's faces in pictures, she cracks me up!
The girls and I were not about to make that drive so thanks to Papa Steve we hopped on a plane after Aaron's graduation. My whole family was leaving on vacation to Lake Powell for a week but my sister Kerstin and her daughter Anna made us a sign and baked some cookies and put some flowers in our apartment to welcome us home. Thanks Kerstin!
My brother Josh and McCall also surprised me with a few thimbles which I collect from their travels abroad this summer. If you ever go anywhere amazing, pick me up a thimble.
Now here are the pictures of our apartment my Dad built for us after his house burned down at Christmas 2008

This will be our driveway....
The walkway to our apartment....
We have a basement apartment....
The living room, the carpet is sooo soft....
The dining area, love the light fixture and hard wood floor.....
The kitchen, love the granite countertops, blinds, cupboards, new appliances....

The girls room....
Our room, love the closet.....
The bathroom, love the tile work....
The hallway that connects onto my parents house....
And a little sign they added for us for privacy hehe....
The backyard!!! So excited about this and Chloe can't wait to roast some smores....
Emma's excited about hot tubbin with Papa Steve....
These are the mountains I grew up with, I've really missed the mountains....
The best part is the trampoline, the girls didn't know what to do at first, just stood there and stared at it, so I jumped on and showed them how it's done. It is soooo nice to be able to go outside and actually be able to play and not be drenched in sweat the minute you step out the door. The weather is so great right now, the girls and I were actually cold when my sister picked us up from the airport we had to turn on the heater. But Chloe's hair has gone completely flat due to no humidity.

They could get used to this....we're so spoiled!


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