Melinda Payne : June 2014

Earlier in the year, Eric and I started seriously researching Pharmacy schools. Since Eric works with a lot of different pharmacists every day, he likes to pick their brains about how they got to where they are. He had talked to a couple who had attended the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS) in Boston. Eric found their websites and started researching them for days and days. We found that not only did the school have a Pharm D program, but they also had a couple of Bachelor of Pharmacy programs. He didn't have all the pre requisites to apply for the PharmD, but he could apply for the bachelors. He looked at the application date for fall, and to our disappointment we had missed the deadline by just a few weeks. To show his interest in the school, Eric emailed them to ask some more questions and said he was planning on applying the following year. They got back to him and let him know that there were still a couple of spots available if he still wanted to apply for this coming fall. We were so excited and got on the application process right away! By June, Eric received his acceptance letter. He is such a hard worker, so smart, so determined, and I'm so proud that they chose him!! Reality hit us. We are moving to Boston Massachusetts!! And we have to move soon! The school year starts on September 2nd. We were lucky enough to find an apartment already in the city of Quincy, which is just south of Boston. We are going to Utah on the 19th of July to spend time with family and friends. On the 25th, Eric and my mother in law will be driving across the country and on the 29th, Ellie and I will fly to meet them. I never thought I would ever in a million years live on the East Coast, but I seriously could not be more excited!! Everything has been falling into place so well with this move. We both feel completely calm and at peace with this move. Eric will be starting his bachelors (which he already has a good chunk done with transfer credits) and then we will go into the pharmacy program. We will be there for 6 years give or take :) But who knows, maybe I'll fall in love and want to stay there forever!! We've heard so many great things about Boston! We are so sad to leave Orange County and to be so far away from our families. It's going to be very hard. But we know it's right and we will save as much as we can to visit. We know we'll be coming home to Utah for Christmas for sure :)

Our Ellie girl is 6 months old! Last I wrote, she was having some tough times with her health. She still has issues with reflux, but she is SO much better! She still throws up a lot, and we still need to give her meds, but she's gaining lots more weight and she is much much happier :) The biggest problem we're facing now is teething haha Ellie is small, just in the 19th percentile for her weight, but she is a tough little thing. She's tall, she's vivacious, she's funny, she's smart..man is she smart, she's determined, she's still pretty much bald, she's loud, she's wiggly, she's amazing. She. Is. Amazing. Ellie May has the greatest personality ever. I knew she was going to have a huge personality when I was pregnant with her, I knew it the day she was born, but her personality grows each day. You can't meet Ellie and not instantly fall in love with her. She's so outgoing, she lets you know what she wants when she wants it and she will get it haha She has this smile and giggle that will melt your heart. When she is tired, she will curl up and snuggle on you. She's so active and crazy that I cherish those snuggly moments :) She was sitting by herself at 5 months, and within the past couple of weeks, she has started crawling! She's getting better and better each day :) She's eating solid foods (well... she maybe gets like a teaspoon out of the jar..) She's "talking" tons, and now she's even trying to push herself up onto things! She brings so much light, life and purpose to our family. I feel so privileged and blessed to raise this child. Heavenly Father sent us His princess to raise and take care of for eternity. We are lucky parents and we can't wait to see what kind of person Ellie will grow up to be like. But we are enjoying every second we have with her now :) We love her. Being a parent rocks!

In the past 2 months my family has come to visit and Eric's family has come to visit! We've had so much fun with everyone! We've gone to Disneyland, had trips to the beach, and enjoyed our summer so far. Here's lots of pictures from the past couple of months!