Adalyn Ann

She's here! Our sweet little Adalyn Ann joined our family on July 24th. She was 8lbs 15oz and 21.75 inches long. We are so thrilled to have her in our family and fall in love with her more every second. She made quite an entrance into this world, or maybe that is just how I feel, after 20.5 hours of labor and 15 hours of un-medicated contractions I was more then happy to hold my little girl in my arms. She had lots of visitors while we were in the hospital and are so grateful to the many family members and friends who came to support us. It has been a rough couple of days adjusting to no sleep, and becoming a family of three but well worth all the sleepless nights. We love cuddling her, and I often find my self just staring at our beautiful little girl. Welcome to our family little Addy, we're so happy you are finally here.

A little update

With the whirl wind of events that have happend in the last few months, it feels like life is beginning to slow down a little, at least for me. We got Andrew graduated and our old apartment packed up. We moved into our new apartment in American Fork the second week of May and so far it has been pretty good. Andrew loves his new job and is really enjoying the projects he is working on. It took me about a week and two days to get everything unpacked which isn't too bad considering the whole being pregnant thing. Our new apartment is slowly starting to feel like home. Even though all of our stuff is here it is still weird sometimes to wake up in a new place. I guess once you have lived in the same apartment for two years you get used to it, I know in due time our new apartment will feel like home too. I spent the first few weeks we lived here driving back and forth from West Jordan to American Fork. I had lots of play dates with my sisters, it is so great to just be able to drive up for a few hours and then be able to come home. It is so nice to have family near by, and close enough to go visit at the drop of a hat. We no longer have to plan weekends to come down and visit. Now that the apartment is unpacked and we are pretty much settled I have once again turned my attention to preparing for the baby. I have had two visits with my new doctor at the University hospital, I like her well enough, but am grateful that I was able to go through most of my pregnancy with my Doctor in Logan. I am working on a few projects in preparation for the baby to come. One of them being her crib quilt and the other being her car seat canopy. I am also trying to figure out what other cute crafts and decorations I want to hang on her walls. We still need to put the crib together but other then the decorations and the crib we are pretty much ready for her. We still have 7 weeks to go, which I know will come fast so I am trying to soak up as much "quite time" as I can. Relaxing with my feet up and doing some baking. Things I know will be a little harder once baby comes home. My friends threw me a baby shower a few weeks ago and I, or should I say Baby got some adorable gifts and some much needed things as well. I have one more shower coming up and then we can finish purchasing all the things we still need for baby girl. No, she does not have a name yet. I have found that choosing a name is much harder then I originally thought it would be. I had lots of names I liked before we found out she was a girl, but for some reason I can't commit to any of them. Hopefully she will have a name before we leave the hospital. Last week we had another ultrasound and baby is healthy and strong...and big. She is measuring 3 weeks off from my original due date, mostly due to her length and they estimate her to weigh 6 pounds already. My doctor doesn't want to move my due date up so both she and I are hoping that I deliver around 37 weeks. Which puts us at more like 4.5 weeks. But baby girl will come when she wants to come and I am trying to be patient, which become especially hard when she starts to treat my insides like her own personal bounce house, and my ribs her personal punching bag. I know all this movement is a good thing, but I look forward to being able to breath normally again. Like I said before it has been nice to be close to family. We have done some fun things with them like go car shopping with Andrew's mom, I was able to go to the Taylor Swift concert with Andrews sisters, and we were able to spend a weekend in East Canyon with my family. We are adjusting to our new ward as well. It is a weird transition, at least for me to go from a Married Student Ward where we had 50 couples in our ward and very few kids to a full on family ward with all ages from newborn to grandparents. Relief Society is so different not sitting up in the front, being responsible for all the sisters and attending multiple meetings every sunday. That alone has taken some adjusting. We don't have callings in our new ward yet, but I am sure we will get some soon enough. Our neighbors have been very friendly and we have met quite a few of them. We had a complex BBQ on Saturday with a bunch of them and then on Sunday a few couples that couldn't attend the BBQ invited us over for dinner. I am grateful we have nice friendly neighbors, it will make the transition from Logan to American Fork a little easier on me. Well I guess that is all for now, here are a few pictures from our recent events.


Andrew's Graduation!

Moving Day

Old Apartment


New Apartment

Taylor Swift Concert


East Canyon Resort

Yes, I did sit in the kiddie pool. The big pool was a little chilly so I stayed in there as long as I could, and since I couldn't get in the hot tub, the 2 foot kiddie pool became my personal "hot tub" It was much warmer and a little more relaxing then the big pool.

The Bump

I guess It's time I post a picture of my baby bump. I'm 28.5 weeks in this photo, I feel like I finally look pregnant and no longer like a member of the fat kid club. Baby girl is moving around more and more, she has taken a liking to my right rib cage which I am not to fond of. We still don't have a name picked out but we still have a few months to go. My feet and ankles love to swell up but other then that I am feeling pretty good. Hopefully the 3rd trimester continues to go well.

When it rains...it pours....

While most people look at this statement "When it rains it pours" as a negative thing, it is all I have been able to think since some crazy turn of events in the Noorlander family about two weeks ago. Here we were going on with our daily lives, getting ready for the baby, Andrew finishing up his last semester of undergraduate classes and getting ready to graduate. Life was busy but good. We had a system down. A plan for the next 1.5-2 years which included staying in Logan, Andrew working part time and getting his masters degree. Me working part time and taking care of our little girl. It was going to be tough but it was going to work. Then one day Andrew comes home from school and asks if I want to move? ....uh move where? He goes on to tell me that there was a job opening at a Landscape architecture firm down in American Fork that is looking to hire an entry level Landscape Architect. Side note- for those of you who think that a Landscape Architect is the person digging the holes and planting the plants that is incorrect. What Andrew does is design those beautiful landscapes we see around Temples, houses, business buildings, parks, Golf courses... you name it. Then a contractor and a landscaping crew will go out and dig the holes and plant the plants where the Plans that a Landscape architect came up with tells them to. Andrew always gets a lot of weird looks when he tells people what he is studying so we end up clarifying it all the time. Anyway back to my story... So after Andrew tells me the position is open he goes on tell me that one of his professors has recommended him for the job. Before we know it Andrew gets an email from the owner of the firm asking him to apply. So Andrew stays up late throwing together a resume and cover letter and sends it in. The next day He has a one hour phone interview with the owner of the company, who then asks if they can meet in person the next day. So we drive from Logan to American Fork and Andrew goes in for an inperson interview. Luckily he was able to drop me off at my Mom's house because he was there at the interview for over three hours! He finally gets done and calls me on his way home, they offered him the job! (shock and disbelief) because with the economy the way it is a job as a Landscape Architect was going to be hard to come by, especially right after graduation! So we took some time and though it over. Talked about our options, pro's and con's, all that good stuff. The next day was fast Sunday so Andrew fasted about it, since I couldn't I mostly just prayed and pondered about it. I had a lot to think about, I would need to find a new doctor if we moved. I would be closer to my family if we moved, there were many factors to think about. But over all we decided it was too good of an opportunity to pass up and it felt like it was where we needed to be. So, all week long I searched and searched the internet trying to find a place to live. I found a few apartments that I liked and made appointments to go look at them on Saturday. So again we drove down in search of a place to live. We looked at about 5 different places, I was worried about money and finding one we could afford with still being able to save a little for those unexpected expenses that come along with life, and with baby on the way it was stressful to think we wouldn't have the money to provide for her. But I knew it would all work out. So the second to last apartment we looked at was the cheapest and one of the nicest, it had all of the amenities that we wanted, dishwasher included, hallelujah! So we filled out the application, being told that the manager would look over it with the dozen or so that she already had and would get back to us in a few days... this left me feeling nervous knowing it would be hard for us to drive back down again with work and school and knowing Andrew started his new job on May 6th we needed to find a place fast. But, call it fate if you want, the manager came to pick up the applications right as we were leaving so we got to talk to her for a good fifteen or twenty minutes, she is a super nice lady, she loves to talk and tell stories, so needless to say we were there longer then we wanted to be. After we left we went and got lunch and then to Kohls and then to Target to kill some time before our next appointment. While we were shopping at target, in the baby section of course, Andrew got a phone call. It was the manager of the apartment that we had just looked at, she said that after talking to us she saw no point in going over the other applications and that the apartment was ours if we wanted it! Crazy! We still had one other place to go look at so we told her we would call her back and let her know. So we went to the other place, and it didn't work out so we called the manager back, told her we would take it, went to the bank and withdrew the deposit money cause neither of us thought of bringing the check book and took it back to the manager. We walked through the apartment one last time to make sure it felt right, it did and so we gave her the money, and talked again for another 15-20 minutes... like I said... she is chatty. I was relieved that we would have a place to live, that we found it in one day and that it was all going to work out. I knew it would but I like to plan for the worst. So it is official. We are moving from Logan to American Fork in a week and a half, and here I sit, on the couch writing this blog post because packing up the apartment feels to overwhelming and I don't want to do it. So I will procrastinate it for a little longer. Andrew and I are both sad to leave our jobs in Logan, Andrew will move up to full time at his new job, and take night and weekend classes to still get his MBA and I will get to focus on being a full time stay at home mom. That will be weird, but I am sure I will enjoy it. Luckily for me target is a short 3 block walk from our apartment... can you say convenient!? Luckily for Andrew his office is also only about two blocks from our apartment so he will be able to ride his bike or walk as well. Everything is working out, now I just need to find a new doctor down there and continue on with my prenatal visits. Life is a funny thing, you think you have it all figured out and then you get thrown a curve ball. Here's hoping life slows down for just a minute or two before baby comes so we can take a break. So when it rains it pours, but this time around for us it has been a good thing. Lets hope it stays that way!

Announcing.....Baby Girl!

Andrew and I are happy to announce that baby girl will be joining our family in July! We had our ultrasound appointment a few weeks ago. For some reason I was super nervous a few days before we found out, but totally calm when we walked into the doctors office. Our little girl is quite camera shy, which she will have to get over. The Doctor had to shake my stomach quite a few times to get her to uncurl her legs so we could see what she was, but no matter how hard he tried little girl would not take her arms from over her head so we were not able to get a good profile shot. Just like her mom she is a late sleeper, and didn't like the fact we were trying to get her to move around at 9 in the morning. Doctor said she looked healthy and all her measurements were in the right range. However she is measuring tall, so surprise there, and also a little big so they moved my due date from July 31st to July 24th. We are super excited and already our little apartment is being over run with little pink things. So far my baby bump is still pretty small, I guess being tall provides a lot of room for baby to grow. I will have to post a picture once I actually "pop."

A little update and some exciting news!

It has been a while since I have posted so I guess it is time. I'll start back with Thanksgiving since that was about when I left off. We went down to Arizona for Thanksgiving with Andrew's family to visit his Aunt and Uncle that live there. It was so nice to be in warm weather and not have to worry about layers and layers of clothes to keep you warm. We drove down and split the drive up into two days so it wasn't too bad. While there we had fun spending time with family, enjoying the heat, well at least I did, and eating some delicious food. We went black friday shopping, but thanks to the stores opening Thursday evening instead of early friday we were out and home in less then 2 hours. It was nice. Andrew and I also took a little side trip to Canada over Thanksgiving weekend. My friend Deborah and her husband Matt got sealed in the Calgary Temple so we flew out from Phoenix to Calgary, stayed for about 30 hours, and then flew to Las Vegas where Andrew's family picked us up from the airport and we drove back to Logan so Andrew could be home for classes on Monday. It was a LONG day of travel but well worth the money we saved flying into vegas instead of SLC. Andrew finished up his second to last semester of his undergrad and then it was time for Christmas break. A much needed break for both of us. While I still had to work, and so did Andrew, it was nice to have our evenings together. Usually they consist of him doing homework and me watching TV. So it was nice to spend some time together. We had a great Christmas spent with lots of family, lots of food, and way too many presents. We had an unexpected gift to give to our family this year and I think all of them were surprised. We told our family that we are pregnant! Yup thats right! Baby Noorlander is on its way, Due July 31, 2013! We are so excited! Everything has been going well so far. I am 15 weeks along and thankfully during the first trimester I didn't really suffer from much morning sickness, just fatigue mostly which was treated with lots of couch time after work. We have our next ultra sound scheduled for March 15th, and we will find out the gender of the baby. We are both very excited and I often find my self occupied with baby stuff during my free time. I have been able to contain my baby excitement and haven't bought anything so far, just looking and getting ideas. I am afraid it will be much harder to keep my wallet closed once we know what gender it is. Luckily for us, being the youngest sibling will pay off nicely, we are getting a lot of hand me down items from my siblings and other people we know, which should help in the financial department. Another new addition to our little family is our "new" car. By "new" I mean new to us. My mom recently purchased a new car and since mine was having some trouble she gave us her old one. See, being the youngest has its benefits! Andrew is currently in the middle of his last semester of his undergrad in Landscape Architecture, he will graduate this coming May. He also got some exciting news that he has been accepted into the Masters of Business Administration program at Utah State! He will start that in May also and continue on to the fall and spring semesters. He got into the one year program so we will be in Logan for at least the next year and a half. Then who knows where life will take us. Well that is it for now. I will try to keep things updated a little better now.

Yeah for baby!

Breaking out the Camera

Today I did something I haven't done in a while. I woke up early (well kind of early) put on my hoodie, my hat and my gloves that I use for shooting. (Thanks to Deb for those, they are a life uh... I mean hand/finger saver!) The colors in Cache Valley have been changing for a few weeks now, but I finally had a day off work, so I took the opportunity to head out and take pictures in the almost freezing cold... it was 34 degrees when I left, but I couldn't let that stop me, even though the warmth of my bed was calling my name, loudly. But still, I jumped in the car and headed towards sardine canyon. My mission for the day was to photograph the fall colors and the Brigham City Temple, So that is why I chose Sardine Canyon, I could accomplish both on the same trip without going too much out of my way. So with the car heater on full blast I headed down what I like to call the longest road in America. If you've driven the highway between Logan and the mouth of the canyon you know what I mean. While I was driving I couldn't pass up the beauty of the Wellsville Mountains. Somedays I think there is no place like Cache valley in the world. I love living in this beautiful place, and I'm grateful I have a talent that will let me capture it's beauty permanently.

Ah, the beauty of Cache Valley, there is no place like home!