Leave of Absence

Hey all, guess what? This post isn't about how cute my son is (although he is pretty cute). It is about me. Yup. You heard me. So, I know a lot of you have asked me what is going on with my Ph.D., if I am quitting, if I am going to keep going, whatever. To answer your questions, I have decided to take a leave of absence from it for at least a year. Come the end of June I can focus on having a little time for me again. I am really looking forward to the break and feel like it is a great option since I am a little torn. I am so worn out but have put 4 years into it and am 2/3 done. It is hard to just quit something you have worked so hard for. I felt like a huge weight was lifted after talking to my advisor about the whole thing yesterday. Anyways, I will get to find out what it feels like to be a stay at home mom that doesn't feel guilty for neglecting her baby or work. It will be nice.

Moab Vacation

Since we ended up matching in Salt Lake, we decided that we would take the time we had planned on going house hunting somewhere else to go on a little family vacation and get some much needed time away. We headed down to Moab and went to Arches and Canyonlands national parks. The first picture is the baby in his hiking backpack. It was pretty nice and most of the time he spent in there he was asleep.

This next picture is of a couple of arches. I am too lazy to look up the name of them.
This is the baby's first swimming experience. He really seemed to like it and loved splashing around. Luckily the pool was about the same temperature as his bath water.
This is the babe and I up by Delicate Arch. He did remarkably well with the trip except for sleeping.
This was on the way down to Moab. I love this picture of him.

As far as other random tidbits go, the baby has started scooting/crawling around. He now follows us around. He is also 8 months old today. I can not believe how big he is getting and how fast it is all going. I feel like I blink and he is a couple months older. We are just trying to enjoy everything despite the fact it is just going too fast.