The Welling Dwelling: A Year's Worth of Updates

So, it's been a while. So much has happened in the past year.

Last August, I had a dream come true for our anniversary celebration. We went to Wicked! I had wanted to see it for about a decade, so I was very happy and excited for it. I was not disappointed. It was amazing!

This is the lobby at the theater.

We got a babysitter (Grandmacita) for our celebration and stayed at a Marriott in Sandy. It was so fun to get away for a night. I had a feeling that something was different, and I was right. I took a pregnancy test and it was positive! Woo hoo! Lydia now has a baby brother! But more about that later.

Positive pregnancy test

In November, I did something so brave, I still can't even believe I did it. A friend of ours got married in LA, and we went down to it. Lance was already in Vegas, so I drove by myself to St George to pick up another friend, and then proceeded to Vegas to pick up Lance. It was scary, but not as bad as I thought it would be. However, I really hope I don't have to drive that far by myself ever again. P.S. The wedding was beautiful! Lydia stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Hansen. She had a blast!

Los Angeles temple

Also in November, we hosted my family for Thanksgiving. It was great! It was the first Thanksgiving my family has had away from my parents house in over 20 years. I'm proud of myself for taking on such a daunting task while I was pregnant. I'm glad it's over, but I'll probably do it again. It was fun!

Our winter activity was to remodel the master bathroom. The shower had leaked, causing the sub floor to rot and crumble. Right now it is finished except for the bathtub faucet and the exhaust fan. I absolutely love it!

We also painted the master bedroom. The brownish color it was before was awful. Now both the bathroom and the bedroom are a bright and happy yellow. Pictures will be in a separate post all about the remodel.

Now for the part you've been waiting for. Braden John Welling joined our family on April 11th, three days after his due date. He is a wonderful baby boy and we can't imagine life without him. He is a really good baby. He regularly sleeps 6-8 hours uninterrupted at night. He has the cutest smile and will charm you any time you talk to him. He's a major mama's boy and is very cuddly. He looks a lot like his sister, except that he's got darker hair.

Braden in his blessing outfit. He got blessed July 5, 2015

Lydia absolutely adores her baby brother. She is almost as much in love with him as I am. She is a great helper. Sometimes she is a little too helpful. But she has learned a ton. She is pretty much the best big sister ever. I am so blessed to have two amazing children.

I had another dream come true recently. I love playing the piano. I used to teach, but stopped when Braden was born. It's just too hard to teach with little kids around. But I absolutely love playing the piano. All my life I have wanted a baby grand piano. Well, I got one! I love it so much! Now Lance gets to work on his sport court. That will be an adventure!