Sister Pieper the 2nd

My sister Lauren left for her mission on the 20th. She was called to the Johannesburg South Africa mission, which was her dream mission (the Stake President asked her where she would choose if she could serve anywhere, and that was her top pick). But a month later, her call got switched to Tempe Arizona. Apparently South Africa is unfit for sister missionaries these days. Lauren had a great attitude about the whole thing, and handled it very well. I was pretty bummed for her, bummed because she lost her dream call and she started sortof dating a nice guy and I was remembering how hard missionary work was, and then I was also bummed for myself because I'm losing my sister for 18 months. But when we went to the MTC I got over it. I remembered that missions really are amazing and I'm happy she gets to do it.

To our friends

Here is a picture of Jessica and Noah on our last trip to California. We are planning another trip in March...we just can't stay away, we love it so much. We keep dragging Noah around on trips. We just got back from Idaho. But aside from all our road trips, we are getting settled in St George--it's been 3 months already! We are getting used to our life here. Kyle even started referring to a guy from work as his "friend", and I pretend that my visiting teaching companion is my friend. Now if we could really talk some of our far away friends into moving here, things will really be great. So if you are reading this, and you don't live in St. George (which applies to all of our loyal readers), maybe you should consider relocating, or least a vacation. We are spending all of our money on weekend trips to far away places, so make it easy on us and just come. Noah needs you! See how happy he is with his good old friends like Jessica? Mass migration to St. George, ok!

Welcome Baby Kennedy

We were able to go back to LA a couple of weeks ago to welcome Brooke and Curtis' baby into the world. We weren't planning on going until the end of the month, but when Baby Kennedy's Birthday came, we just couldn't wait to see her, and so we threw some things in some bags and jumped in the truck and headed south. It was funny how excited we were, it was almost like having Noah all over again, minus the intense pain! We made it down there before Brooke and Kennedy were released from the hospital, so we got to go back to Noah's birth place, which brought back a lot of memories! We love San Gabriel Hospital, and all those sweet Asian nurses (one of whom coined the catchphrase: "I love the poopoo! I love to see the poopoo!") I love love love thinking about Noah's Birthday! So we were soooo happy for Brooke and Curtis to have another sweet baby. Kennedy is such a cute little thing, and it was so much fun holding her (although the experience was a little like holding air, compared to our little chunky 4 month old!) Noah was so excited that he tried to eat his new cousin. We are so happy for the new addition to our big family!

Snowy Rigby

More snow pictures, but this time it is serious snow, the way they do it in Idaho. We came up to Rigby to visit Grandma Pieper, and the Kentucky Piepers too. We got to use Noah's snowsuit he got for Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa. He loved his outfit, and was pretty warm and happy during our snow fun and photo shoot (and warmer and happier than Kyle in his flip flops). Kyle did have to step in and take the camera away after about 20 minutes, but we did get some good shots.

oops

The video starts out a little slow, but wait for the big finish :)

Snow fun in St. George

I took noah out in the snow today. It's not every day that it snows in St. George! Our little excursion started out so well. But as you can see, he got cranky really fast. I am afraid that the fact that I dragged my poor little child out into the snow and put him into a cardboard box and shoved a camera in his face makes me a mean mother. But for the record, when I let him come back inside, I held him for a long time and promised to put the camera away for the rest of the day. But if he happens to do something really cute I might have to take that back.

our friends up north

We went up north to visit friends over the Martin Luther King holiday weekend. Since moving to St. George we are living a pretty isolated life, so we loved feeling popular in Utah County :)

This is the update from our friends and family.

Christian:

He was kind enough to interrupt his strict training regiment for the Guitar Hero championship of the world to come hang out with us. But he did bring it with him to practice.

Ryan and Kari:

They shared their big and beautiful house with us for the weekend. We were hoping having a baby around would show them how fun babies are, and would inspire them to give Noah a little cousin. I don't know if it worked, even fun babies cry in the middle of the night when you are trying to sleep or watch the Bourne Supremacy.

Derek and Shelly:

The newlyweds were speaking in sacrament meeting, and Derek did the special musical number, it was beautiful. And they are having a baby! So Noah will be getting another cousin after all. (Ryan is standing in for Shellie in this picture)

Megan and Ella
(and their super cute babies):

I love my freshman roommates. Pretty crazy that we have little babies and husbands. I felt old, like my mom, when she would drag us to her college friend's house every time we visited Utah. I know why she did it, it's fun. Sorry, Noah. And yes, whether he wants to or not, I will force him to be friends with their kids.

Sister Jensen and Sister Pyatt,
old MTC roommates:

I love being with people who bring out the Sister Pieper in me. (I didn't have another picture.)

The Wards:

It was so fun talking with Julie and swapping pregnancy and baby stories, especially since our babies are only 2 days apart. Noah seemed very interested in little Isabelle. Or maybe it was her cool toys that really got him excited. We had to come home and get an exersaucer like hers, which he loves loves loves.

Ben, Shaunie and the girls:

After a few months of checking out blog posts and pictures of the girls' adventures, it was fun seeing their cuteness in real life. Those girls are adorable! We are excited for Noah to grow up and be all old and funny like them!

Landes Holbrook:

We had to visit the man who back in 2006 conceived the brilliant idea of me and Kyle as a couple (when, before Kyle and I had met, or even knew the other existed, Landes threw a photograph of me to Kyle and said "Here's your future wife"). We love him.