Home

My brother Greg said that when he went on his mission to Australia, he felt truly far from home when he looked up at the sky and saw different stars.

I'm not nearly far enough away to see different stars, and I didn't really leave home because my family is here with me. But I do feel a bit removed from our extended families, and nothing makes me feel further away than the birds here.

These red couches make me happy.

Birds chirp differently in Texas. The two toned woo-oooo, woo-oooo Ryan and I both grew up hearing is gone and replaced with all kinds of strange sounds coming from beautiful birds.

I love my kitchen, even when it's tiny.

That said, unfamiliar birds aren't much to complain about. Texas has been good to us. We drove into the city a few days ago, and Dallas is unlike any big city I've been in. It's so spread out and so warm. And speaking of heat, we love the weather here—dare I say, especially the humidity. We aren't pounding our way through gallons of lotion anymore and Lyla's cold lasted a few days when it would have lasted weeks in Utah. So far, so good.

And I'll admit, swimming helps with that. Ryan and I like cooling down in our complex's pool, but Lyla loves it. She sits in her little floating seat, leaning forward to lick the water (as much as I try to stop it) or leaned back with her ankles crossed in front of her, relaxing like she was born for the water (I love this). She loves swimming and is truly her father's daughter.

She's really, really like us.

Speaking of being her father's daughter (and OK, maybe her mother's as well), Lyla is quite the little achiever. Since we got here, she's managed to learn how to use her arms and legs to scoot around the floor and get to what she wants. Some people call that "crawling," but only big kids crawl. Lyla couldn't possibly be old enough to crawl. She's just my little baby. So for now, we'll call it "scooting" and that is that.

I love how open it is.

In short, life here is pretty similar to life in Utah. I have Ryan. I have Lyla. And from what I understand, that constitutes home, even if the birds sound funny.