Moved again... Wait?! What?!

Well, we did it again. We moved.
Only living in Orem for 1 month and 2 weeks.


Long story short, I have been thinking a lot about how I wanted to move to Provo for a couple reasons:

1. I wanted to be able to have the car more often while Alma was at work. Trying to take him from Orem to Provo and then back to go get him is almost 2 hours of driving... you wouldn't think so, but with the traffic it is 20-25 mins each way. and that is 4Xs each day. That is a lot of driving!! Not worth it with a baby~
2. We wanted to be closer to the mountains, Not the freeway
3. We wanted a place to live where we could go outside with Kaitlyn that had a lot of Grass and Play Areas (not have to worry about streets and the freeway)
   
4. We wanted to save money on rent
5. We wanted to experience BYU, by living in Provo, not UVU by living in Orem. Alma said sometimes he felt like he went to UVU bc we were always getting flyers and invited to their activities (which was really nice of them!)
   

So Finally one day, last week on Saturday Afternoon, after much discussing, we decided to just Post our Apartment on Craigslist, Just to see if anyone wanted it.

That night a girl called. Her and her friend came the next day, Sunday, to look at it, and told us that they wanted it!!

*their names were Katelyn and Jessica
CRAZY!

We hurried and got the last apartment at Wymount and started to pack
So in less than one week we decided to move, sold our contract, packed, got a Uhaul, moved, and unpacked again.
(we were on the 3rd Floor and we moved to the 3rd Floor! NO FUN!)
Thank you to all who helped:

Jessicas Mom and Dad: for helping me and giving me much needed advice!
Kacey who watched Kaitlyn, Pat who let us borrow his truck, Jared Jeremy Jamie Lindsay Tim John Daniel for moving!
We could not have done it with out your help!!!

Lots of work but it was totally worth it!

It is so peaceful here and we are super excited!

Don't get me wrong, Wymount (our new apartment) is a lot less space than our old apartment in Orem, but it doesn't even really feel like it bc it has great storage and cubboards and a huge Pantry! and we are enjoying all the perks of living in the On-campus married housing at BYU!

Here are some pics comparing our last place to the new one:


View from our Bedroom window in Orem

View from our Bedroom Window in Provo
(we have a great View of the Y on the mount)

This is the View out the Front Window in Orem

View from the Porch in Orem~
Good view of the Freeway!

View of our front Window in Provo

View from our porch!
There is a playground at tons of Grass just below us!



I will post more pictures of our place soon!
Thanks again for all who helped!

Video of Kaitlyn walking!

Well, our sweet little girl is growing up so fast and in a way, WE ARE LOVING IT! We are treasuring each day but it sure is fun to watch her grow!

We took this video of her walking awhile ago so she is a lot better now, she is just getting all over the place!

(sorry I couldn't rotate videos on my computer. If you know how let me know)

We are so proud of all of the accomplishments that Kaitlyn has made. She is so strong and has been blessed with a great little body.

I wanted to write some of her accomplishments and when she did them:

(more for my records)

Rolled from Back to Tummy:

3 months and 4 days

Sit up all by herself:

5 months and 2 days

Cruise/walk along the fruniture:

Few days before 7 Months

Crawled:

7 months and 8 days

Clapped... which she does a lot:

7 1/2 months

Stood by herself:

7 1/2 months

Took a couple steps:

8 1/2 months

Walking:

Right at 9 months!

Mom and Kate

(I love her face here)

One of Almas Best friends, Eric from College got married last weekend. We are so excited for him and his new bride! It was a beautiful day and they make such a great couple! We are so happy for them and wish them the best!

While at the reception, Kaitlyn had a blast... she loves dancing with the College boys, they were so cute with her trying to get her moving and grrrroooving!

Here she is getting into it at the Wedding~

Trip to Wells and Starting school~

Alma Started School Yesterday at BYU! So far he said it has been going well, he did find out today that he is one of the very few who did not do thier undergrad at BYU~ Good for him for getting in! They say it is really tough! Whenever anyone finds out that he is in the Masters Program there for Accounting at BYU they mention how hard it is! We are so Proud of him and know that he is going to Be AWESOME!

Here he is for his 1st day of school!

Go Cougars!

Random Picture of Kaitlyn!

We have been taking a lot of videos of Kaitlyn and she has been so much fun! She loves Cups, I know, I know, 2 videos of her playing with cups is probably a little much, but it just shows how entertaining they can be.

Since we had the month of August off we decided to go to Wells, and visit Almas family. We got to see a lot of family and it was tons of fun! We played games, laughed a lot, ate yummy bread and taco salad, and played baseball! I wish we got more pictures of the trip but we were having too much fun to pull out the camera!

While in Wells, Grandpa Bates was so much fun with Kaitlyn. I love that she could take his teasing! He squirted her with the hose and got her wet and then made a little puddle for her to play in. In this video, he was flicking the water on her face and she was giggling up a storm!

Although, Dad tried to do it, and she didn't think it was quite so funny. I guess she likes to be teased by Grandpa.

While at Grandma and Gradpa Bates' we were feeding Kaitlyn Carrots and right as I went to put it in her mouth, She Sneezed! which caused all the carrots to go everywhere, EVEN ON ME! We just had to take a picture!

Family in town & Kates videos of taking steps!

Both my Parents came into town and since we have 3/4 of the kids in my family living in Utah valley, there was tons of fun to be had.

Wish Kenna was there! She is the Best and so much fun. Her family makes up 1/2 of our extended family get togethers! We missed you but are sure you had a Blast at DISNEYWORLD!

Unfortunately, most my pictures are of the kids, not the adults. Wish I would have gotten more of my mom and dad.

We did lots of fun things like mini golfing, making BLTs, playing at parks, eating cake, going to museums, and playing tennis and golf.

So glad that you guys came to visit!
It went WAYYYYY too fast!

Alma and Me

Grandpa and Branson

I love how Kaitlyn is looking at me like, "Who are you kissin' on, I am the only kid in our family!"
She is in the bottom right hand corner...

A couple people asked us if they were twins!

Kacey, her boy Zach, Me and Alma at Purple Turtle... YUM!

Kaitlyn excited at The Purple Turtle... people prob think she never gets out, cuz when we take her out she goes Crazy!
She gets so happy and claps and waves!

Hanging out!

Branson playing at the Park in Uncle Jareds shoes! So cute!

Kaitlyn and Zach playing so well at the Park!

Cousins! 2 1/2 months apart!
Kaitlyn has a few more rolls on her.
I love how the simple things like cups entertain them for HOURS!

At the Museum
(that is a Liger! Alma and Napoleon Dynamites favorite animal)

Took Kaitlyn swimming for the 1st time!
She LOVED it!

All bundled up!

Long hard day with Mom and Dad!

(I had to do laundry so that is why she isnt wearing a shirt...)

Kaitlyn was being too funny at dinner getting excited about everything. Here is a clip of it, even though it was not the same as being there in person~

Today Kaitlyn took 7 steps! She is getting better and better about taking steps. She wants to walk so bad and has since she was like 1 month old!

She stands all the time, all by herself and she also walks along EVERYTHING! She is really progressing! I think she does great for being 8 1/2 months!

Here is a video of it:

Fun Birthday Weekend

This last Friday was my 25th Birthday.
We got together with my sister and her family and my brother and dad and went to Panda Express for dinner and then had cake in the park. So yummy!

Here is Kacey feeding Zach and Kaitlyn Cake. Yummy!

My dad and Kaitlyn!

Then on Saturday we had a get together with our friends from Texas!

Connie made this AMAZING ice cream cake!
Thanks Connie!

Me and Alma~

The cake from my b-day.

The Gang

Kaitlyn playing with the Becks!
(Becks Rock!)

Girl picture!

Pictures of our new place....

We finally are starting to really feel settled. We got the cable and internet working and we got hot water and the gas going, and mostly unpacked. Few things in the extra bedroom.

So here are a few pictures of our new place:

The Kitchen
(i love our breakfast bar and stools!)

The view when you walk in the front door.

View of the front door
(Door is on the right)

View of living room from the kitchen:
Front door on the left

Hallway to rooms

Bathroom
(Wonder when we are going to get cabinet doors)

View of the living room and kitchen from the hallway:

Our Bedroom

Kates Room

Even though our apartment is only 5 sq feet bigger than our last place, we feel like we have so much more space.

Hope you enjoyed this Tour of the Bates' Home!

Picture overload of the last 2 weeks!

I have been meaning to post some pictures and I found a cord that doesn't go to my exact camera but works for getting pictures off of my Camera so that is good news!
So i was able to upload some of 0ur recent activities.

Here is Kaitlyn playing with her cousins Jeff and Brian!

Big Smiles!

Here is Kaitlyn playing while we were packing!

It was hot so we kept Kaitlyn cool with a wet washcloth.

We are going to miss our 1st home!
(the top left apartment was ours)

In front of our door.... 3700

All packed up!

Eating at Tucanos for our 2 year Anniversary! So yummy!

Gotta have chocolate strawberries and Bubbly to celebrate!

Us Celebrating 2 Wonderful Years!

We are Officially living in Utah~

This last weekend we embarked on the adventure of moving to Utah so Alma can continue in school at BYUs Graduate Program for Accounting.

We Packed up our whole apartment all last week and cleaned like no one had ever cleaned before and said our goodbyes to our wonderful neighbors and friends and started on this new adventure to Utah valley.

Everything in our move went very smoothly. Getting the truck, packing, moving, unpacking the truck (thank you soooo much to all those who helped. Todd, Daniel, Nicki, Pat, Jared, Kacey, Eric.) It was so wonderful to be able to do all the unpacking and packing the truck with extra hands.

We arrived to our apartment around 3pm on Sat. and we unpacked and set up as fast as possible. It was so nice to have Kaitlyn at my sisters house so we didn't have a cute little distraction.

We are all set up today, Monday, except a few things here and there that we would like to do. Finishing touches but it is so nice to be home and settled.

There are a few things we still are working on, getting gas turned on so we can have hot showers, getting lights replaced and cabinets in our bathroom and getting the cable and internet set up. But we love how much space this apartment has!

It sure is different here. Idaho was so quite and peaceful and when we looked out of our bedroom window in Idaho we saw a field with trees and occasionally cows and the temple. But now we look out our window in Orem and we see parking lots and I-15. Last night we counted how many cars were going each way on the freeway for one whole min. There were 74! And that was a Sunday night.

Anyway, we are so excited to be here and if any of you live here call us up! we would love to see ya!

Wish I could post pictures, but I can't find the cord to hook the camera to the computer with. Must be in the same box that I cant seem to find that has everything else in it that I can't find. Love how that happens!