Presenting Elizabeth Jane Freeman

We are so grateful and humbled to have welcomed Elizabeth Jane Freeman into the world. She was born May 10th at 11:52 am. She weighed 7 lb 14 oz and 20" tall. She is lovely and perfect, and has brought heaven into our home. My Parents were kind enough to fly to Arkansas for her birth, and it was the sweetest to have them here. We love our little Lizzie so much already - and Mason and Stanley can't seem to get enough of her.

Since her birth Nate also became a Captain. I flew to Utah to visit family and get a minivan. Nate had to work unfortunately. Lizzie was born with a congenital cataract, so she had surgery on June 18th. We were so lucky that they found it so early and that we live so close to a children's hospital where she can get the care she needs. My Parents helped me drive the minivan back to Arkansas and were here for her surgery. Once again it was the greatest blessing to have them here. We feel so lucky to have spent so much time with them. They are seriously like angels to me.

Mason got to go to 'Inventors Camp' this week and loved it. That is really his 'cup of tea' so to speak. I don't have a lot of time to go into detail, but just wanted to give a quick update. Love our little family of five.

Alabama Adventures and Nate's Graduation

 It was great being in Alabama - especially in the late winter and early spring. Beautiful weather. We were there for 2 months while Nate was attending JAG (Military Law) School. He finished by graduating, and I was so proud of him. It was a smaller graduation, but it felt to me like perhaps the most significant - since now he gets to do what he has always wanted to do. The following are some adventures we had on the weekends. I had no idea Alabama has so much history. The people were also so kind. Nate's friend from his freshman year at BYU lives there, and his wife and I became good friends. She even threw me a baby shower before I left. I couldn't believe how people will just throw their arms around you, and love you - even if you're there for two months. We loved our ward - a lot of diversity, and fun feeding the missionaries too while we were there. We also made some other good friends while we were there. Our apartment, though small, was beautiful - and I was so thankful for the swimming pool that accompanied it. Thank you Alabama, for being so good to us.

Gulf Shores, Alabama Beach. I never knew Alabama had such beautiful beaches - and of all of them (including Florida's beaches), I think this was my favorite.

Truman Show House in Seaside Florida - a pristine little seaside city

He's always good for a laugh. Here we got to hang out with a wonderful family with 4 kids that we knew in Charlottesville. The Dad is a JAG now like Nate, but a former special forces guy. Cool family. They are stationed here in Florida.

Rosa Parks Museum. We lived about a mile from here.

Where she was kicked off the bus and thrown into jail

Birmingham Civil Rights Institute

A walk down Dexter Avenue on a beautiful spring Sabbath

Dexter Avenue Church where Martin Luther King preached for many years before he went full time in the Civil Rights movement. Fun to meet many people who knew him and were taught by him.

Pensacola Lighthouse

These two cuties have my heart. I can't believe I made it to the top :). This big Mama was outa breath.

Monroeville - To Kill a Mockingbird Courhouse

Easter Egg hunt

Stan and Mason even won the baskets

um...this sweet bunny!!!!

fun games afterward

The Martin Luther King Jr Home in Montgomery, Alabama

The Alabama State Capital. Our tour guide marched with Martin Luther King in Selma. Fantastic Tour.

watching Daddy play gatorball - and checking out the dogs

Naval Aviation Museum with Nate's buddy from UVA

This was the Capital Building where Jefferson Davis was made the first and last President of the Confederacy

baseball is a big deal in Alabama - fun to go to a game - The Biscuits.

Nate's graduation dinner. Handsome guy right there!

His graduation

So neat to have the top JAG General there with his wife. They were both so kind and personable to me - professional with Nate :)

Tuskegee Air Fields - WWII African American Pilot Training. I didn't get a picture - but we also visited the Tuskegee School where Booker T Washington founded the amazing school which is a beautiful campus and still in operation today.

Also on our drive back to Arkansas - the Hellen Keller home. Love her and so much fun to visit her home.

Alabama

We've been here in Alabama the last month while Nate has been going to JAG (military law) School. We're very lucky that we were able to come along with him. We kind of purposefully decided to home school Mason this year partly so that we could come along with Nate to Alabama. We live in a nice apartment with a pool and gym just off the base, so we can meet up with him for lunch which we love. We miss our family and friends a lot. Lucky for us, other LDS families and other wonderful people have been so warm and welcoming to us since we got here. I just don't know how we would be able to live this transient life without having the Church community in our lives. It is so comforting to know that wherever we go, we have an automatic support system. The military in some ways provides that as well which is so nice. We've been doing school time in the morning and then exploring and playing in the afternoon. We got a zoo pass, go to the Art Museum a lot which is fun (Mason has been getting free one-on-one art lessons with an amazing and generous artist there), we've gone to Florida a couple of times to visit friends and go to the beach, and we go to other parks or museums. We were lucky enough to be here to March in Selma for the 53rd Anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery march. I felt so much more empathy for those people walking for a second on their streets. It really brought it to life for me. Lucky to live in times where things are so much better - still other issues that need to be addressed for sure.

Here are a few videos we've made of our outings. Sorry it is coming to you all at once :). I like to keep them here for my record keeping purposes. Hope you enjoy as well!

Catching Up!

Take a deep breath because you are going to need it if you are thinking about reading this entire post. There is a lot to catch up on! :) The delay I blame on pregnancy (morning sickness) and moving to a new State. Now that we are finally settled down, I am feeling so much better, and far from home - I feel a motivation to stay connected with family and friends far away :). We are loving Arkansas (our first post with the Air Force). Nate loves his job, I love our home, teaching my boys, and meeting new friends. I will just give each picture a little explaining. My apologies in advance that they are not in order. This one was sort of thrown together.

It was so much fun to go with Nate's Mom to introducing Opera to kids at BYU. We all enjoyed it. They were so kind to give us tickets to so many amazing concerts at BYU this year - loved them all!

Nate's Dad gave us his tickets he won to watch some professional hockey in SLC, Stan's new favorite sport :)

Stan was Super Man...again this year...for Halloween (per his insistence :)). His spirit hero.

The amazing Natural History Museum in Salt Lake

We really enjoyed visiting Mesa Verde on our way home from our New Mexico Trip to see Nate be sworn into the BAR

Mason really wanted me to take this picture of him - I spy a little Mason at the top

A LOT of Jamba Juice to get me through morning sickness - fortunately these boys didn't mind :). Thank you Ramona, Jason and Ashley for your generous financial support in form of Jamba gift cards - to help me survive this pregnancy :). More appreciated than I can say!

Some fun Halloween festivities

on our drive to New Mexico

seeing where my ancestors lived - the Hole in the Rock expedition

a log cabin dedicated to Thales Haskell - one of my ancestors. Inspiring to be there.

reading about my ancestor - remember your pioneer stock we always heard growing up :). It's a lot to live up to! So so grateful for them!

Hot Air Balloon Festival in New Mexico. Fun we happened to be there the same weekend

a highlight of the trip for our boys for sure

Visiting the Pueblo of Acama in New Mexico. Natives still live here

Officially becoming an Attorney

Visiting Los Alamos New Mexico - where Nate's Great-Grandpa went to Boys Ranch School and where the Atomic Bomb was created

future chemists

some more pics from Mesa Verde

Mason wants you to see how he wrote BYU in the dirt :) I guess he wanted to claim this territory for the Cougars

this picture scares me even to look at - Stan was so brave as was Nate. He was in a carrier which helped.

skipping ahead to New Years in our New Home. So festive to celebrate with our new neighbors (6 hours away), the Washenko Family.

 I have loved having all of my baking goods back. The first loaves of bread I've made in 7 months, with their help of course :)

developing some amazing paper airplane making skills

finding out they were having a baby sister. Happy moments!

BYU Homecoming Parade with Angels Bob and Jacobie (our matchmakers and their 4 kids)

our first breakfast on our new kitchen table. Nate loves his robe. So cozy!

making the puzzle Grandma Freeman gave us - 300 pieces - a challenge for the whole family

our yearly Christmas tradition - the Advent Calendar

first sightings of Christmas. This one was especially good. They just keep getting better!

Another tradition - watching the Nativity before opening presents

my sweet friend Chrissy even got a present for our baby girl. So sweet of her!

blueberry pancake breakfast

fun new toys from Uncle Ryan

decorating their ginger bread cookies from Santa 

and building his train

yum

Reading stories from Grandma's new app that she helped create - my boys love them. Everyone was so generous with us! We were so spoiled this Christmas!!

crafts with cousins

cookies

post NYC tennis open

4 Corners

The new Attorney Nate and my baby bump emerging :)

Mesa Verde - Mason became an official jr park ranger - so he tucked his shirt in to look the part. love him!

Dr Mason - Halloween celebrations

we got to meet up with Nate's Czech friend

more Christmas - for some reason candy is always a big hit

just what he wanted 

tennis at its finest

these pioneer children did not walk :)

loved watching Mason's face at the Hot Air Balloon Festival

Acama

the second set of stairs - Stan wanted to do all by himself. Of course Nate stayed right behind him! Phew - that kid almost gives me a heart attack sometimes! :)