We made it!

This last week has been just about the busiest of my life! I honestly couldn't have gotten through it without the kindness and generosity of so many of the girls in my old ward in Wymount and my husband's wonderful family. Special thanks to Kerri-Anne(thanks for taking care of that hoover for me too), Tia and Nicole who helped me a ton by taking the wee handful Jack off my hands while I packed up the apartment.
Ryan's parents and uncle were able to make the trip out to Utah to help us move our stuff back to Oregon and attend Ryan's graduation of course! Hooray for Ryan! He has made it through the three grueling years of law school...I am so proud of him. Now he gets to start studying AGAIN for the Bar! The work is never over it seems. So Saturday morning, after a long night of cleaning, we said farewell to Provo. I felt really sad as we took that last drive through the town. It's been my home for the last seven years and in so many ways I will miss it. All of my first memories of Jack are there in that small Wymount apartment and it was hard to leave the familiarity of Utah. But after a long thirteen hours of driving we finally made it to Salem, Oregon. Jack slept for a whopping 8 hours of the trip and even managed to sleep through the night when we arrived. Amazing!
He was eager to start exploring what will be our home for the next few months...Ryan's parent's home. We plan on staying here with them while looking for an apartment to rent for about a year or so. Then when we start making some proper money, we can look for a house. Ryan begins at the Portland office tomorrow and I think is both nervous and excited about getting started. He left some great friends at the Sandy office,but has a great time with the lawyers here too.
Grandma Liz and I have been trying to get the house baby proofed, but Jack is a difficult one to keep up with when you aren't living in a tiny Wymount apartment anymore....he's always finding something new to get into..and loving every minute of it I might add.
We miss all our friends already there in Utah, but are enjoying and looking forward to our new life here in BEAUTIFUL Oregon.

The Proof

Just Kidding

My wee 10 month old boy

Wow! Where does the time go?! I was looking at my wee Jack tonight as he snuggled into my arms and just couldn't believe how big he has suddenly gotten. It seems like yesterday that I was just bringing him home from the hospital ...oh I remember that first terrifying night when it dawned on me that I couldn't press that magical button for the nurse to come and have him taken away for a wee while so I could get a nice sleep...but here we are 10 months later and doing just grand together. In fact tonight the little one went to his bed at 7.30pm!
He has been walking around for 2 months now and is SO confident. He is exhausted at night time now...so there is one blessing that comes from an early walker I guess. Anyway, we just had such a nice day together today and I just had to mention how grateful I am for him in my life.

Our BYU experience is almost over!

Well, yesterday was Ryan's last day of classes here at BYU. He will graduate from BYU law school on the 25th of this month and then we are leaving to move to Oregon the VERY next day! Scary! For some reason I thought we had way more time, but suddenly the closeness of this whole life-changing experience is only a mere 2 weeks away. Tonight we attended a dinner for his graduating class which was really nice. Ryan mentioned that it felt strange having his two worlds collide; family and school. One of Ryan's law professors told their class a story about a colleague of his whose son used to call him "bye bye" (he thought that was his daddy's name!) cause he worked so much....I think Ryan is determined to make sure Jack doesn't start calling him that! I hope to see him a little more too.
My dad is a lawyer as well and I remember my mum warning me about the amount of hours Ryan would have to spend studying, but I never dreamed it would be as much as it has been! It's been hard not being able to spend as much time with him as I would like, but I understand the need to get the work done so he can support our wee family. I am just so grateful that I get to stay home and take care of our son.

I got to spend another couple days hanging out with my brother and friend from home this week which was great fun. They leave to fly home on Monday. They were here for a massive 3 weeks, but had so many people to see while they were here and did a ton of traveling too. I laughed so hard when I was with them. They truly brought out more of the Scot in me! I noticed my accent getting thicker and more of my good ol' slang coming out as we sat and had a banter together. Good Times.
I am determined to make a scot out of my wee Jack too. Yeah, he'll have an American accent, but I'm sure he'll be able to do the best Scottish accent around! I'm getting soooo excited to go home this May...it'll be brilliant!












Pic: Uncle Euan and Jack

Friends

Recently I have been thinking a lot about friendships. My friend, Erin, came into town this weekend with her family and it's been so nice catching up. I love when you have that closeness with somebody that you can literally chat about EVERYTHING. You can have a good laugh, but then also discuss the serious things and have a wee cry if you need to. As time passes and we move on in life, we sometimes loose that closeness we might have once had with some friends. I often think about friends I have had throughout my life that I miss terribly. When I came to BYU I never thought about the friendships I might be leaving behind. I thought I would be able to keep my closest friendships alive. Unfortunately, that saying "out of sight, out of mind" seems to ring true. I tried. I tried really hard to keep in touch, but we were all moving down such different paths it seemed.
I look forward to making some new friendships when we move to Oregon and hopefully I will find some wee pals for Jack too.

Homesick

Last week I was able to spend time with my younger brother and childhood friend. This is their second visit to the states in the last 9 months. This time they decided to venture off to California for a week and a half before spending the last week of their holiday back in Utah. Every time someone from home to comes to visit I am thrilled beyond belief. I am STILL homesick. I just can't seem to shake this utter heart-wrenching feeling I have when I think about the fact that I won't live in Scotland ever again. Poor Ryan! I wonder sometimes how he puts up with me. I don't walk around perpetually grieving for my homeland, but I do well up from time to time and have a wee cry. When this happens I try so hard to stop myself quickly and refocus. I wonder sometimes how my life would have turned out if I hadn't come to BYU. Yes, I would probably still be in Scotland, but would I be living such a happy life? Who knows. But what I do know is that I am so eternally grateful for the decision I made to come over to the States. Ryan is incredibly good to me. I feel so lucky to have him as a best friend and to have a lifetime and more to spend with him. And then there is that wee beauty, Jack. Becoming a mother is indescribable. I feel like now, more than ever, I have a purpose for being.
So ultimately, yes, I am still incredibly homesick for Scotland, but I couldn't ask for a more loving wee family to comfort me and make me remember home is where your family is.