JOHNSONVILLE

Surgery for Max

2012-01-02T14:41:00.000-08:00

I have totally neglected my blog lately and have so much to blog about. I wanted to make sure I blogged about my tough little man though. At the beginning of December we unfortunatley had to take Max to Seattle Childrens Hospital for surgery on his head. The plates in his head fused too soon and they needed to fix this problem so his head and brain are able to develop and grow correctly. It was by far the hardest thing I think I have ever had to do. For some reason I didn't think about things like this when I started having children. It never really occured to me that things could go wrong. I am so thankful that this was a relatively small problem and that we were able to get it fixed. I feel for parents who have worse things going on with their children. I don't think there is anything more difficult or heartwrenching than to see your child in pain and not be able to take the pain away.

Waiting to hand him over to the nurse was hard. I was thankful he fell asleep in my arms because I don't know if I would have been able to do it if he cried. I probably would have just grabbed him and ran the other way. This didn't stop the tears for me though. It was really tough.
I thought he looked pretty brave in his little gown though.

That first night after surgery he spent in ICU. This was hard because he was in a lot of pain and they were not sure how much medicine to give him because the orders from the doctors were mixed up. He was screaming and I was about to murder someone if they didn't get him medicine NOW. I was grateful my Dad was with me, he works in a hospital and knows a little more than I do. Seth and I held him that night all night and tried hard not to move because every little movement hurt him. We switched off every couple hours to take a break.

This is his war wound. It goes to the same spot on the other side of his head. We just tell him that chicks dig scars.

His head got pretty swollen but luckily his eyes never swelled shut. This is him when the swelling just started to go down.

Finally we started to see the old Max come back. It was such a relief to see him smile again.

Ready to go home!!

Say a prayer for me!!

2011-11-30T13:27:00.000-08:00

Our precious baby boy will be going to Seattle Childrens Hospital this weekend for surgery on his head. When he was born the plates on his head fused down the middle so he needs surgery to correct this. We are told it is a fairly common thing and the doctors at Seattle childrens are really good and do a lot of these surgeries. We are still very anxious and worried about our little guy and could really use all the prayers and blessings we can get. He is just as sweet and cute as can be he is laughing and playing every day. He is a happy little baby and it breaks my heart that he has to go through this. I will be happy when it is over with and they tell me all went well. But until then say a prayer for my little guy, I'd apprecite it.

Halloween fun!!

2011-11-12T14:39:00.000-08:00

Well I have been meaning to post about our halloween for a while now, better late than never I guess. We had a fun halloween this year we went trick or treating with cousins. It was pretty busy with kids everywhere but a lot of fun. Poor Kyle just couldn't keep up with the bigger kids so he had to be carried pretty much the whole time. He had fun though. Here is the gang together ready to head out and gather some candy. Pretty good looking bunch if you ask me.

We had some cute trick or treaters this year. They seem to just get cuter and cuter.

We had a pretty rockin rock star. We put her costume together with just whatever we could find and it was actually a lot of fun. I found anything that had glitter of sparkled and called it good. We found some glitter letters to stick on her pants and spell rock star. We also found some jewels that you could just stick on and we just put these all over her costume. I also got her some fake eye lashes because she wanted them soo bad but when we tried to put them on she didn't like them so that didn't work. She had some sparkley shoes and a sparkley vest and glitter in her hair and everywhere else. I thought she looked pretty good.

As for Max he wasn't goin trick or treating this year so I just got him a little jumper that said little pumpkin on it and kinda looked like a pumpkin he was cute as ever though.

Kyle was the cutest cowboy I think I have ever seen. We weren't sure what to have him be for halloween and it literally came down to the last second. We were going to have him be a football player again this year even though that is what he was last year because everything else we tried failed. He did not want to wear anything that was obviously a costume. I have a dog costume that Haylee wore last year and he did a really good impression of a dog but when it came down to putting this funny looking hair thing over his head he would have no part of that. I also had the idea of making him a cookie and having Seth wear a cookie monster shirt, that way he could be the cookie monster and Kyle could be his cookie. He didn't like that either it might have been because I told him I was going to eat him. Oh well!!! So last minute he was playing upstairs and he had put on this cowboy hat and said gittyup and I thought that is what he should be. So we ran to the store and grabbed a cute little cowboy costume and it worked great because the costume was just like normal clothes to Kyle. And he LOVED that he got to ride on this little horse on a stick. It was a hit.

We had some fun a few days before carving our pumpkins. Haylee has become a pro and carving pumpkins and she dives right in there and gets all the yucky stuff out.

Kyle is another story. He was pretty grossed out that we would even think about touching that stuff and he would have not part of that so he painted a face on his pumpkin instead. He had fun with that.

We were able to go to the pumpkin patch this year with my sister and her kids because they came for a visit. It was really fun and we found some good pumpkins.

Kyle liked this one because it was small enough for him to carry himself.

Even though he sure tried to pick up the big ones. He finally found that they were a little to heavy for him. But I sure loved the faces he made when he would try to pick up the big ones.

We had a good time at the mercantile. They had lots of fun things for the kids to do.

We rode on a hay ride.

We went through the corn maze.

We went to the petting zoo and saw the animals. Kyle loved this he loves animals, he always has. And he has always been really good with animals. He was pretty amazed by all the big animals he got to see and pet.

The kids also ran through the maze of hay. They had fun running through and Haylee was very helpful getting Kyle through. He pretty much just ran behind her and followed her but what are big sisters for right.

Max Smiles

2011-10-04T16:21:00.001-07:00

There are very few things in this world as amazing as the first smiles of a new baby. I can almost see a little bit of heaven in this adorable smile. Plus he is just a cute little guy.
I love it when they start to talk in their coos. It is soooo cute. He is a pretty happy baby most of the time. He gets a little fussy sometimes but he likes to be talked to and he loves to snuggle.

We sure love this little baby. He is pretty fun.

1st day of school

2011-09-28T15:56:00.001-07:00

Haylee has officially started school. She looked so cute on her first day and she was really excited. When I took her to school the teacher let the parents stay for a story. It was a cute story about a little raccoon that was going to his first day of school and was a little scared. So to make him feel better his Mom kisses the palm of his hand so he can take the kiss with him to school. After the story the teacher had all the parents give their child a kiss in their hand and then say goodbye. As I said goodbye to Haylee she had no problem with me leaving she just kinda said see ya while I was the one fighting back the tears. I realize she is growing up and it is all going so fast. It seems like yesterday she was just a baby.

So far she has done really well in school and she really likes it. She has made some friends in her class and really likes her teacher. I think she is going to do great. Haylee has always been the most curious child. One of the first things she learned to say was "whats that?". And I remember her saying that over and over about different things she would see before she was even two. She absolutely loves to learn. I hope she always has a passion for learning and continues to enjoy school.

A Blessing for Max!!

2011-09-14T15:28:00.000-07:00

We were able to bless our little guy at church a little while ago. He did so good, he didn't cry at all and he looked so adorable in his little blessing outfit. My Mom and I went shopping for his outfit while she was here. We found two different ones that we liked but we decided to go with the simpler of the two. It was actually a new born size. It surprised me that it fit him, but the other one was 0-3 months and it was too big. He is soo cute in this picture and I love it because you can really tell just how skinny he is and how long his arms are they reach all the way over his head which I hear is uncommon for a new born baby. He gets this feature from his Dad. We think he might be long and lean just like Seth. I also like this picture because it looks like he is saying "Yay I got blessed." Its just cute.

I got pictures of both my other kids kinda like this on the floor in their blessing outfits so I had to get one of Max too. I think we got a couple cute ones.

I was so glad that my parents were able to come for the blessing. It was so nice to have them here. My Dad got to meet the little guy for the first time also so that was great. Its so hard having so much family so far away. I wish that they could know my kids and see them. So I was gratefull for any family that I could have for this special day. Max is a little upset in this picture but still cute.

Haylee is the proudest big sister. She really loves this little guy. It doesn't matter that he is a boy. I thought she would warm up to him. She still says that she wants a sister but she loves her little brothers. She is so good with Kyle and I am sure that she and Max will get along just as good. She is such a little Mommy to these little boys.

I am so thankful everyday for these beautiful children that I was so blessed to raise. They are amazing. It is so much fun to me to watch our little family grow.

Seth did an awesome job on the blessing. I think he was glad to have it done and over with. We came home and had some people over for lunch and then sadly had to say goodbye to my parents. It was a good day though and it all turned out really well.

The boys in my life

2011-08-28T16:45:00.000-07:00

I got the cutest picture of Seth with Max and Kyle. I thought it was a good father son picture. Seth was pretty proud of his two boys. And although Haylee and I are not all too thrilled about being out numbered in the house now, we still sure do love these boys. And I think they still know that the girls run the show.

So far Kyle is not too upset about Max coming into the family. For the most part he just keeps his distance. Every now and then he tries to put his pacifier in his mouth when he cries, or kisses his head. He has held him a couple of times and has really liked that. I am grateful he hasn't tried to hit or hurt the baby at all. I can tell sometimes that he gets a little jealous and upset that Mommy is holding the baby but he is doing ok with it. I think he and Daddy have gotten a little closer also because I have been so busy with the baby Kyle and Haylee have spent more time with Seth. I think that might actually be good for them. I feel guilty sometimes that I can't spend as much time with him as usual and he doesn't understand that but I just hope he isn't too affected by the change and that these boys can be good friends in the future.

Happy 2nd Birthday Kyle!!

2011-08-22T14:17:00.001-07:00

I can't believe that my little guy is already two years old. I felt a little bad that we couldn't celebrate his birthday on his actual birthday but I was a little busy in the hospital having his brother Max. Luckily he is two and didn't notice. So we had a little get together to have him open his presents and have some cake. He has gotten the hang of the birthday thing. He can sing almost the whole happy birthday song and it is the cutest thing. He will sing the song and then blow like he is blowing out his candles. He also has gotten pretty good at opening his presents.

He got some cute things for his birthday. He has really been into trains and cars lately. He got a couple of train sets and some cute clothes.

His favorate present was probably his scooter though. He has been obsessed with Haylee old scooter for a while now. He is actually pretty good at it too. It makes me a little nervous though, I wanted to get him a tricycle for his birthday but I knew he would like this more. He doesn't seem interested in Haylees old tricycle either. He was really excited about his scooter and rode it around the house. I just hope I don't regret getting this for him.

He picked out his own birthday cake. He got one that had a little truck on it. He pointed to it and said "vroom vroom" that is how he says car or truck. He was excited to get to take it off his cake and play with it also

He also got a special birthday present this year. His little brother Max was born on his birthday. I was so disappointed that I had him on that day and that they will have to share their birthdays from now on but we will just have to make it work. Maybe it will turn out to be something that they will like. So Happy Birthday Kyle, here is your little brother.

He had a pretty good birthday and had fun playing with his trains and other toys all night.

Welcome Max!!

2011-08-15T18:20:00.000-07:00

So our little boy finally arrived on friday morning at 4am. This was not exactly what I wanted because friday was also Kyles birthday. So now I have two little boys who share the same birthday. Oh well!! I hope they don't hate that too much. Its funny because I always would tell people my due date and just jokingly say I just hope they aren't born on the same day. I never actually thought it would happen. My due date was the 19th of August so I thought it was more likely that it would not happen on the 12th.

We decided to go into the hospital at about 6:30 that evening after having pretty regular contractions for a couple of hours. I wanted to go in on the 11th because the doctor I like was on that night and I wanted to get him to deliver. He also told me at my appointment the day before that if I came in with contractions he would keep me. I had contractions all the time but they would always stop.
We arrived at about 7 pm and they checked me and watched my contractions to see if I was actually in labor. I was about 3 cm and having pretty regular contractions. It took about 2 hours but they decided to keep me, which turned out to be a good thing because right after I got to my room the contractions got a lot worse.
I got my epidural when I was 5 cm dilated. I was pretty proud that I was able to hold out that long. I ended up not needing any pitocin at all, which is good because I was a vbac patient and pitocin also makes the contractions a lot stronger and more painful. After breaking my water it took about another 3 hours and it was time to push. I only pushed for about 5 min and he was here.
I thought it was a good experience, I liked that the doctor not only let Seth cut the cord but he also let Seth grab him and hand him to me.

This is me waiting for the action to begin. We didn't ever get a picture of the belly this time. I was a little disapointed that we didn't get around to it so my Mom took this picture so we could have a picture of him when he is still in the belly.

They put the baby on mommys tummy for an hour for skin to skin. It is supposed to be good for the baby. It helps him regulate his body temp. I liked this, to snuggle with him for awhile was nice. I didn't get to do this with my other two so it was really nice.

He came in at a wopping 8 pounds 15 ounces. He was a big boy. He was a little swollen on his face and head from the delivery so that may have had a little to do with it. I guess it also could be all the junk food I ate there at the end.

When we called and told Haylee that he was finally here. The first thing she said was, "is he wearing a costume?" We thought that was a little weird but I guess she had this theory that he was really a girl just dressed in a boys costume. It took about two seconds for her to fall in love with this little guy though, even though he is a boy. She wouldn't stop asking if she could hold him.

Kyle was a little different. He didn't really even seem to notice that there was a baby in the room. He was more interested in the light switch. But he is only two so we expected as much. I had told the nurses that it was my sons birthday so they all new that I had my baby on my other sons birthday. When he got there they all sang him happy birthday, I thought that was nice.

I was super impressed with my Mom, she was a trooper. She got up at about 7 that morning, stayed up all night and didn't go home to sleep until about 11am the next morning. She was up for more than 24 hours. She is amazing and helped me so much. I don't know what I would have done without her telling me to breath and watch the clock to make it through those contractions. She is amazing.

It is still amazing to me how different he looks now than in the hospital. His poor little face was more swollen than I realized. Seth would joke and say that he looked like a sumo wrestler because his face was so chubby and his eyes were puffy. As we got home and settled and the swelling went down he looked so different. Poor little guy, he went through a lot to get here. But he is amazing and we are so excited for him to finally be here.

Seths and Max took a nice nap when we got home. This is Seths favorate thing to do with the babies. They are pretty cute together.

Kyles big boy bed.

2011-07-21T09:15:00.001-07:00

Kyle is officially in a toddler bed. I can't believe it. My little guy is growing up so fast. His Grandpa made this bed for him. I know I couldn't believe it either. He did a pretty good job. It is just the cutest thing I think I have ever seen. He loves it too. The only problem with it is that every morning at aroun 5 am I hear these little footsteps coming into my room and he just walks in a climbs into my bed. Hopefully he will get the hang of it soon. With the new baby on the way we wanted Kyle to be out of his crib for a little while and adjusted to a new bed so that when the baby starts sleeping in the crib Kyle won't feel like the baby is taking over his bed. I am willing to do anything to make this adjustment easier for Kyle. I worry sometimes because he is such a Mamas boy and might have a hard time sharing me with his new brother. Ideas on how to make this adjustment a nice smooth one are always welcome.

Haylee is 5 years old!!

2011-07-03T16:04:00.001-07:00

I can't believe Haylee is already 5 years old. She is growing up so fast. I love this little girl and am so thankful to have her. I can't tell you how much she helps me everyday. She helps me take care of Kyle and she helps me do the chores around the house. She likes to help and she is such a happy positive thing. She is very tender hearted though and hates it when she gets into trouble. She has been a pretty easy child so far. I have never had to put her into time out or even really scold her too bad. You have to be careful with her. If she does something wrong it is enough punishment for her that you are upset with her. She breaks down and starts to cry just because she disappointed you. She is very social and loves to talk to everybody she meets. She loves to make new friends and is excited to be starting kindergarden this fall.
She is a great big sister to Kyle and though she was a little upset when she found out we would be having another boy she will most likely love playing mommy to this little brother also.

Haylee has gone through a lot of different phases over the years. For her two year old birthday it was all about Elmo, (not Kyle is all about Elmo). For her third birthday it was Dora the explorer, everything had to be Dora. When her fourth birthday came around she wanted Strawberry shortcake and loved everything that had to do with Strawberry shortcake. This year we have started the Barbie phase. I think this one lasts a little longer than a year but we'll see. I don't know if this is my favorate phase. Sometimes it is hard to find Barbies that have enough clothes on. But she loves them so for her birthday this year she got a Barbie cake. It was really cute. It also came with a Barbie that she got to take home and keep.

This year we just had a little party with a few friends at the park. It wasn't anything real big but I think she liked it and had a pretty good time.

We looked and looked for a Barbie Pinata for her party. She loved the pinata so much at my Sisters house I thought it would be fun for her to have one at this party, but of course it had to be Barbie. Well I struck out and couldn't find a Barbie pinata so Mom got a little creative and bought a different pinata and turned it into a Barbie pinata by just gluing a Barbie paper plate onto the front of it. Haylee was thrilled. I love it when things are easy and work out.

Kyle's getting pretty good at hitting the pinata also.

One of the most important things she asked for her birthday was a new two wheel scooter. We are too big for a three wheel scooter now so we upgraded to a big two wheel one. She loved and was anxious to ride it around as soon as she got it.

She also has wanted a new big piggy bank for a long time. She has a little one but it has been full for a while. Whenever Haylee finds change around she always picks it up and saves it, (probably a good habit to have). She has so much change around her room that we got her a big piggy bank to put it all in. She really liked it and I was amazed at how much she had. When we put it all in the thing was already almost full.

She opened a few more presents with the family at Grandmas house and got some cute things. I think she had a good birthday and was happy with everything that she got. I can't believe she is already 5.

California trip

2011-06-07T13:06:00.001-07:00

The kids and I recently took a trip to California to visit some of my family. It was really fun to see my family and let the kids play with some of their cousins that they don't see very often. My sister has three kids and so we went over and played at her house a lot.

Kyle and Grandad got to be pretty good pals. I thought this was cute he climbed up in the chair when Grandad was watching basketball and just sat there and watched with him. His Dad was pretty proud when I told him about this.

Since Haylee's birthday was only a few weeks away we thought it would be fun to throw her a party while we were there since none of these people get to come to her birthdays at home. We decided to do a water party since it was so hot. My sister Angie did a great job putting the party together. She made cupcakes and goodie bags and even got a pinata for the kids to enjoy.

We let all the kids take a wack at the pinata and then we just let Haylee finish it off. It is actually amazing how strong those things are. She did a pretty good job destroying it though.

Kyle and Matilda are only 3 months apart and got to be pretty good friends by the end of our trip. They were really cute together and even sometimes looked like they could be twins.

Kyles liked the water balloons the best of all. He would pick them up and throw them back in the pool and make the water splash all over him and laugh. He had a good time and was pretty wet by the time we were done.

He took a turn at the pinata and thought it was pretty neat that he got to hold the really big stick. He even hit it a couple of times. He didn't want to give up the stick though when his turn was done.

When we got there my Mom, sister and I decided to make a weekend of it and got a nice room for a couple of days. We took the kids to an animal park one day. It was really fun.

They even had a little petting zoo that the kids could enjoy. Kyle really liked petting the animals.

We also found a spot where we could bye some food and let the kids feed the ducks. It was pretty fun and Kyle was definately not afraid of them.

We had a really good time and enjoyed looking at all the animals. It was a really fun vacation and good to see some of my family I don't see very often.

Easter fun!!

2011-04-29T10:39:00.001-07:00

This year for Easter we went to our new neighborhoods annual easter egg hunt. It was really fun. It was put on in one of the parks nearby. They let the little kids, ages 0-3 go first for about a minute before they let the older kids go. I thought that was a good idea. Kyle was a little unsure of what we wanted him to do at first, but he got the hang of it pretty quick.

Haylee had no problems. She took off as soon as they said go and started grabbing eggs. She had a lot of fun.

There were a lot of kids at the easter egg hunt and they only hid 7 golden eggs. If you found a golden egg then you took it up to the table and they gave you a special prize. Haylee was one of the lucky ones to find a golden egg. She got 5 dollars in quarters and a snickers candy egg.

Kyle was curious about the easter bunny but at a safe distance. This is about as close as he would get to him comfortably. But he watched him, probably to make sure he stayed where he was.

We tried to get a picture of Kyle and the easter bunny but he clung to Daddy pretty tight and would have none of that so we didn't really get a good picture. Maybe next year.

Haylee didn't have a problem with the easter bunny and was excited to meet him and get her picture taken with him.

We also got the kids together with some cousins and colored some easter eggs. It was a little messy but the kids did a good job and had a lot of fun. You just have to color eggs on easter.

Kyle needed a little help and insisted on putting the egg into the color with his hand and then taking it out and putting it in again over and over. So needless to say he had colored hands also after it was all done. He also liked putting the stickers on the eggs too. We had some nice looken easter eggs after they were done.

First visit from the tooth fairy

2011-04-23T13:43:00.000-07:00

Haylee lost her first tooth the other day. It was pretty exciting for her to get to put it under her pillow for the tooth fairy. The next morning the first thing she did was check under her pillow to see what she got. It was exciting but a little sad for Mom, she seems so young to be losing teeth already. Sometimes this little girl is just growing up too fast for me. But she can't stay small forever. I just wish she would take her time growing up sometimes.

Saying Goodbye!!

2011-04-23T13:27:00.000-07:00

Well we are officially moved and into our new house in Kennewick. It was a little sad saying goodbye to our little house that we had made so many memories in. Moving was tough, thankfully we had so much help, I honestly don't think I could have done it all without help. It is amazing how much stuff you aquire in 3 1/2 years. We are happy to be in our new house and love our new neighborhood. It is full of friendly people and a lot of families. When we moved in we got a lot of friendly welcomes from the neighbors we had one couple bring us flowers and another neighbor brought us some freezer meals (which are always good for those nights when I am too tired to cook) and she made cute little bunny suckers for the kids. It is kinda cool too because the people who live next door to us actually have a little 4 year old girl named Haylee (spelled the same way) and a two year old boy. Haylee came over and brought a picture that she had drawn to welcome us to the neighborhood and asked if Haylee wanted to go out and play with her. It was really cute they got along really well. She had a motorized car that the two of them took turns driving around our cultasac. Then they got toys and dolls and played in the front yard for a while. I hope they will always be good friends. We love our new house and neighborhood but it was still a little sad to leave our little house and move on to a new one.

Boy or Girl?

2011-04-12T14:26:00.001-07:00

Well we finally found out if we will be having a little boy or a little girl added to our family. Haylee and Kyle are going to have a little brother. Haylee was a little bummed that it wasn't a girl. We told her that this means that she doesn't have to share her room, but this didn't seem to help very much. I think she is going to just love the little guy though and mommy him just as much as she mommys Kyle. I think it is going to be good for Kyle to have a little brother too. They will be two years apart so hopefully good friends. Seth is excited to have the balance of power shift in his favor. I reminded him that the girls would still run the show. We think it will be good and are excited to meet the little guy.

changes changes changes!!!

2011-03-23T14:45:00.000-07:00

Well as you can see I have been neglecting my blog lately. This is mainly due to the fact that we have not had internet at our house for the last few months. We have had a lot of things going on lately that have been occupying my time also. First of all we FINALLY sold our house. I know seven months later we finally sold our house. It was a long and frustrating road but I think it all worked out for the best. It was funny because we had no offers on our house the whole time it was on the market and then the week that we got our offer we got another offer the next day. Oh well!! We also found a new house for our family in Kennewick that we just love. We will be moving into that house the beginning of April. We are really excited for this new adventure but it is still a little sad to say goodbye to our little house that we had so many good times in and the good friends that we have grown to love in pasco.

Just when you think this is enough change for one family we have another small adjustment coming this summer. We will be welcoming a third baby into our family in August. We are really excited to add to our little family. Not sure if we will be having a brother or sister yet but Haylee is really hoping for a sister. I tried to tell her that you don't really get to order what you want for this. Its seem just about right to add a new little one to our new house. Haylee will also be starting Kindergarten this year and I have mixed emotions about that. I can't help but be a little sad that my little girl is starting school. But I am also happy for her because I know that she is going to love it. Ever since Haylee was a baby she has been a very curious child. Before she could walk I think she could say "was tat". She loves to read and learn anything new she can get her hands on. I think school is going to be good for her. She is so much help to me during the day with Kyle though. I am going to miss her. Even though kindergarten is only like 31/2 hours a day, I still think I will miss her. Kyle is going to miss her too. He can't quite say Haylee yet so he calls her ya ya. Whenever he can't find her he walks around the house yelling "YA YA". It is so cute. He loves his big sister.

So we are staying with Seths parents for a few weeks while we wait to move into our new house. They are nice enough to let us stay while we are homeless for a few weeks. Selling and Buying a house is a little stressfull at times with everything that we have to do, but mostly exciting. We have so much to look forward too. Life is one big adventure and I am just trying to enjoy the ride.

Best of Friends

2010-11-30T13:33:00.000-08:00

Haylee and Kyle have been playing together so good lately. Kyle even says Haylee now. It is the cutest thing. It is hard to make out but it is definately Haylee that he is trying to say. The other day they were playing hide and go seek with Daddy and when Kyle and Daddy were looking for Haylee Kyle would call her, it was pretty cute. Also Kyle loves to climb into things, he got this little wagon for his birthday and has a great time taking a ride around the house in it. Whenever Haylee would stop pulling him he would cry. He also gets rides in other things around the house. Basically anything that Kyle can fit in, the laundry basket or his toy box, at least they are creative. He loves his big sister and I love to watch them play together. It is fun to see them get along and have fun. It is also nice for me because I get more done around the house. I love these kids.

Halloween Fun!!

2010-11-04T21:01:00.000-07:00

This year the kids and I spent Halloween in California with my family. Unfortunately my grandmother passed away about a week before Halloween. We drove to Sacramento for the funeral. I decided that since I was already here I would drive home with my Mom and help out down here for a while. My sister is pregnant and due in a few weeks and could also use a little help. Unfortunately Seth had to go home and go to work. It was really hard not being together for Halloween this year. I think the kids had a good time with their cousins from California that they rarely get to see though.

This is a picture of Haylee with her cousin Christopher a couple days before Halloween while we carved pumpkins. Haylee and I carved our pumpkin together. I thought we did a pretty good job.

Haylee had a hard time this year deciding what she wanted to be for Halloween. Every time I would ask her what she wanted to be she would change her mind. But finally she landed on a dog. She really liked the costume and enjoyed running around the house acting like a dog. I thought she made a pretty cute dog.
I was trying going to make Kyle a football player for Halloween this year but I couldn't find an acceptable jersey for him to wear. All they had were the Raiders or the 49ers. Both of which are not acceptable teams (according to my husband.) But luckily my sister had a jersey and some pants that didn't have a team on them. I looked everywhere for a helmet for him too but couldn't find one. I don't honestly think he would have kept it on anyway. He did have a little football he carried around though. Everybody thought he was the cutest thing. I had all kinds of people coming up to me telling me how cute he was.

I wasn't sure how Kyle was going to do this year trick or treating. He is only 14 months old so I didn't expect too much from him. I thought I would just take him to a couple of houses and we would call it good. He sure proved me wrong. He is a pro trick or treater. He even carried his bucket around. He like picking which piece of candy he got out of the bowl and then he would proudly show me and put it in his bowl. They were cute trick or treating together. Haylee got tired of going slow though. After a couple of streets Kyle went home and after that Haylee insisted on running from door to door. At least I got a little bit of a work out.

Well here is the clan before they went out. Haylee the dog. Kyle the football star. Christopher was a knight. And little Matilda was a cookie. They were a cute bunch.

CRAZY FACE!!

2010-10-15T16:52:00.001-07:00

Kyle has the CUTEST crazy face. I'm not sure where he picked this up (probably Daddy). But all you have to say to him is "Kyle show me the crazy face," and he gives you this silly face. It just makes me laugh everytime I see it. I love this kid. He makes life fun.

Just say a Prayer!!

2010-10-11T11:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday it was raining hard almost all day. I made a comment to Seth that it had been raining a lot lately. He said that this much rain was hard on the potatoes out at his Dads farm and that they were going to have a hard time because it will be so muddy. Well Haylee was listening to us and she perked right up and told us that all we needed to do was say a prayer that the rain would stop so that papa could get his potatoes. We were in the car at the time and so Haylee went ahead and started to say a prayer for Papa and his potatoes. It was the cutest thing ever. I think it is funny how sometimes I learn more from her than she learns from me. It was a good lesson for me. When things get rough just say a prayer.

A New Haircut!!

2010-10-10T20:38:00.000-07:00

Kyle's hair has been getting so long lately that it was almost into his eyes. Finally I thought Ok, this kid needs a haircut. I was a little bit worried because I had never cut his hair before. He has already had like 4 haircuts because the kid has a lot of hair (he gets that from his Mom), but I had never cut it. Usually my Mom has cut it for me whenever we are visiting her. So I called her up just to get some pointers on what to do and I went for it. I was actually really pleased with the job that I did. He didn't look half bad. I didn't cut a whole bunch off because I was such a chicken about it. I figured if I messed up it would not take as long to grow out if I didn't cut it too short. I think it turned out good though. I was so proud. I tried to capture some pictures of the final product.

He is a pretty handsome boy!!!

The Answer is YES!!

2010-10-09T11:58:00.001-07:00

Haylee had her first sleepover last night. Grandma had to watch cousin Chloe friday night anyway and asked if Haylee wanted to come over and have a sleepover at Grandmas with Chloe. When we asked Haylee if she would like to go her reaction was hilarious. She got sooo excited and told us that the answer was yes and that she was going to go pack her stuff up. She started talking about all the stuff that she was going to need to bring and which toys she was going to bring. It was really cute. She likes slumber parties at Grandmas house and doesn't seem to miss Mom and Dad at all. But I think that is a good thing. Haylee has always been very independent and likes to do things on her own. And even though it makes me a little sad that my baby is growing up so fast. I am glad that she is independent and can manage things on her own.

Feeling Better!!

2010-09-28T12:40:00.000-07:00

Well we are all finally feeling a little bit better. Haylee ended up getting the same virus that Kyle had and was sick for about a week. Thankfully we didn't have to take her in to the E.R. We thought we might have to at one point because she was looking pretty bad but she pulled through. We threatened her that if she didn't start drinking she was going to have to go the hospital and get a shot in her arm. I think that was motivation enough for her to drink on her own. I also ended up with the horrible virus and was also sick for about a week. We are now starting to feel a little better and are very thankful for that. It makes me a little bit nervous that we are already getting sick and we haven't even begun flu season yet. I am also so grateful for the fact that we have a worthy priesthood holder in our home. Seth and his Dad were able to give Kyle a blessing before he went to the hospital and Seth gave Haylee one also when she was doing pretty bad. It is such a comfort to have that blessing in our lives.
So it finally feels like we are back in the swing of things. It was a little stressful for a while but feels like things might be slowing down a bit. We are settling into a little routine during the day, which I like. Seth is also getting things settled back at school. I just really hope for a fun fall, with as little sickness as possible and just a lot of good times. Heres to wishing right!!

sick weekend!

2010-09-16T13:51:00.000-07:00

Well this last weekend was not the best for our family. Our little guy got sick with diarhea and he was throwing up. Saturday night we realized that this was serious and we needed to probably go into the emergency room. He was very pale and lathargic and didn't want to eat or drink anything. This scared me really bad. We rushed to the ER. They took some blood from him and gave him some fluids through an IV. It was hard but we were feeling like this will help him get better. We got home from the ER around 2 in the morning and the second we walked through the door, he threw up everywhere. I thought "great, all the liquid they just put in him is gone." The next day he didn't look much better and still I couldn't get him to drink anything. I knew that he was dehydrated because I hadn't seen a wet diaper for a while. Finally he got really bad and was just not there. It was hard to look at the little guy, he just looked so sick. I said thats it, and we went back to the ER and he was admitted to the pediatric floor in the hospital around 4pm on Sunday. They gave him another IV. The first time she couldn't get it into his vein and he was screaming and I was crying because it was hurting him. It was horrible to watch, I finally said I wanted someone else to come and try again. A different nurse came in and tried to start his IV and told us that it was REALLY hard to get a vein because he was so dehydrated. Finally she got it, thank goodness and they were able to start some fluids. We were in the hospital with him until Monday night, when he finally started to show signs that he was recovering and he would drink a little bit on his own.
This experience has made me more sympathetic to parents who have any sick kids that have to be hospitalized. It is by far the hardest thing in this world to have to look at your child and have them look at you with these pleading eyes and have there be nothing you can do for them. It is an intense feeling of helplessness. It is horrible to have to hold your baby down, while they stick him with needles while he is crying. I think I have found the hardest part about being a parent. We got lucky though that he recovered so quickly. I am thankful everyday for the doctors and nurses that helped him. It is amazing though the feeling you get when you know that your child is sick and needs help. Aint nobody getting in the way of him getting what he needs. The second time I took him to the ER, I walked in there ready for a fight. I was not going to wait 5 seconds. I told that lady he needed to get seen NOW!! I said I don't care we need to get back there right now. This Mother Bear just comes out of you and your are willing to do whatever it takes to help him. I think the lady knew that I meant business and they got us back right away. I also think though that you could tell just looking at Kyle that he needed help right away.
Turned out that he was so dehydrated that he didn't even have any tears when he would cry. This made me feel horrible, like I had done failed him or done something wrong, but it happened faster than you would think. They told us that he had some kind of virus and to watch his sister because it is very contagious. I am praying that she doesn't get it too. I hope everyone out there with kids right now takes extra care to wash hands and to those things so that you miss this one. It is pretty bad. Good luck.

One year old!!

2010-08-25T15:36:00.000-07:00

Kyle has officially turned one year old!! I can't believe how fast that year went by. He had his first birthday on August 12th. He didn't quite know what to do with those presents though. Luckily he had a big sister and a cousin that were more than happy to help him open them. He just watched with this look on his face like "what in the world are they doing". It was pretty cute.

I think Haylee and Hank were having a whole lot more fun opening these presents than Kyle was. But he is one so you really can't expect too much from him.

After his presents we got him all ready to get messy in his cake. First we lit his candle and sang happy birthday. He didn't know how to blow it out himself but Haylee was happy to help him. After that we got him ready to get messy. I even took his shirt off of him in anticipation of the big event. I handed him his cake though and he didn't quite know what to do but he sure didn't want to dive into it. He just kind of poked it with his finger a couple times and then looked at me like he wasn't sure what I expected him to do. He eventually got the hang of it but he never really got that messy. Haylee was the same way when she turned one. I broke some of the cake off for him and put little pieces of it on his tray and he picked them up and ate them. Afterward I thought I should have given him a spoon. He gets messy when he eats anything with a spoon. I think he would have liked that a little better. I think he liked his cake though he was happy eating it, he just didn't want to get real dirty.

They change so much in that first year that it just seems like you can't keep up. He is not quite walking yet, but I think it is only because he is afraid of it. He stands on his own and he can take a few steps as long as you are right there to catch him. He is so much fun though. He has only been a part of our family for a year and already when I look at old pictures I think to myself "where was Kyle?" It feels like he has always been a part of our family.

He and Haylee play so good together too they are the best of friends and I hope they always will be. They have there moments don't get me wrong and I am sure there are many more to come. But she is a really good big sister and they have fun playing together. I actually find that I can get more done with two kids then I could with just one because Haylee will play in her room with him instead of needing me to play with her all the time.

First birthdays are happy but always a little sad to me also. Its like he is not a baby anymore. But I also get excited for the things to come. It is so much fun watching them grow and discover new things.

Our summer adventures

2010-08-14T15:01:00.000-07:00

Well we have had some good times this summer. We were able to drive to Lodi California, near Sacramento for a family vacation. I was able to visit with my Grandma which was really nice. We stayed at a KOA campground. We got a cabin and a campground. The kids and I stayed in the cabin while Seth stayed outside in the tent. We did some fun things while we were there. We went to the Jelly Belly factory. Haylee unfortunatly missed this because she got sick that day. We also went to Lodi lake and rented some paddle boats. The next day we were off to fairytale town, which was really fun for the kids. We also went to a little Zoo and a fun park that was right next door.

It is always fun for the kids to see there cousins that they don't get to see very often. This is Kyle with his cousin Matilda, who is only three months younger than he is. They had fun playing together in the play pen. It was fun to watch them use eachother to pull themselves up.

This is a picture of the whole family in the paddle boat. It was pretty funny seeing Kyle in the little life jacket they gave him. Haylee was bummed that she didn't get to paddle but I think she still had fun.

At the campground that we stayed at they had this big jumping pillow that looked like a big marshmellow. Haylee loved this thing, she had a lot of fun jumping on it.

Kyle and I even got on there and had some fun.

Fairytale town was really neat. They had slides and fun stuff for the kids to play on that went along with all the fairytales.

This is Seth and Haylee sitting in the throne at King Aurthers castle.

The slide at owls house at Poohs corner was really fun. Seth even got up there and gave it a try.

Seth and Haylee ran the crooked mile. Well Seth ran it one time, I think Haylee went four or five times.

They had some animals to look at. And we were able to find out how tall Hayee is.

Kyle mostly just rode in his stroller. Evey now and then he would get out and go down the slides or play on the stuff. He was a real trooper.

I thought this was a cute picture. Haylee has a little catching up to do if she wants to reach Daddys huge wingspan. I think his arms reach about as long as the California Condor.

At the Zoo, Haylee got to feed these birds that were really friendly and had really weird lookin tongues. I thought they were really pretty, but they were really loud. It was cute though they would come right up to you and eat out of the little cup. The instructor even told us to hang onto our cups because they will try to take it from you. I saw one bird do this to Haylee but she held on tight.

We tried to get the little guy out of his stroller whenever we could and let him play a little bit.

After the Zoo we headed over to this cute little fun park that they had next door. There were little rides for Haylee to go on.

She got to drive the car all by herself. I think she has reached a big milestone because she is now taller than that sign they have outside all the rides. She is happy to do it all by herself too. In fact she doesn't want any help. She is little miss independent.

The roller coaster was a little scary though so Uncle Kevin went with her. She was a little scared at first but then she loved it so much she wanted to do it again. This time Daddy went with her and bye the end she had her hands up and was yellin and screamin.

She had a fun time on all the rides. I think this was probably her favorate thing that we did.

It was a fun trip and it was good to see some of my family that I hadn't seen in a while. Family vacations are the best.

Fourth of July Fun!!

2010-07-08T15:00:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone had a good fourth of July this year. This year we did our usual. We had a great BBQ with family and then we went down to the river to watch the fireworks. It was nice. We were a little worried about the weather because it had been a little windy that afternoon, but it was actually a really nice night.

A couple of days before the fourth, we had a really weird rainstorm. It was sunny outside all day and then a couple of gray clouds rolled in and it just started to dump rain. Haylee wanted to go outside and play in it so we put her rain coat on and got her unbrella and out she went. I think she was out there for like 10 seconds and she was ready to come in. But I got this really cool picture of her before she came in. I was pretty proud of it.

This is us at the river waiting for the fireworks to start. This was Kyls first year at the fireworks so we were anxious to find out what he was going to think about it all. He was interested for about 2 minutes and then he got grumpy and then he fell asleep.
Grandma brought the kids candy and glow sticks so Haylee was content sitting in her chair waiting and eating her skittles.

While Seth was waiting he got the camara and took a picture of the Sunset. It was another really good picture. It was a really pretty sunset that night.

Haylee and Kyle loved the glow sticks. This would have been a lot better picture if we could figure out how to turn the flash off on our camara. It was dark and the glow sticks were glowing and they would make there whole mouth glow. It was pretty cool.

After the fireworks we went home and put Kyle to bed. Haylee wanted to do some sparklers though so we went out in the backyard and lit off some sparklers. She had a lot of fun with it.

Happy 4th Everybody!!

Happy Birthday Haylee!!

2010-06-30T19:24:00.000-07:00

Haylee is officially a four year old. I can't believe it. We had a strawberry shortcake birthday party for her to celebrate. We celebrated as a family on her actual birthday. Then only a couple of days after we had a big birthday bash in the back yard. I think it turned out pretty good. She had been telling me for months that she wanted a strawberry shortcake birthday party. I was a little unsure exactly what to do. This was the first birthday party for me, and I wanted it to be good for Haylee. The first task was getting all the stuff together. They don't really sell that much Strawberry shortcake stuff anymore. I don't know why but you can't find it at the stores. So I ordered most of what I needed online.

Seth picked out the cake all by himself while we were in California, and I have to say he did a pretty good job. Haylee was really excited about it.

She opened the presents from us with the family and I think she liked most of what she got. We got her some slippers that came with strawberry scented bubble bath and lotion. She also got a big strawberry shortcake toy she was pretty excited about, and snow white polly pocket stuff that came with a prince. She is always telling me when she plays with her polly pockets that she needs a boy. She has all girls and no boys. I don't exactly know if this is a good thing that she wants boy polly pockets or not.

She also got cute outfits from Grandma and Grandpa actually built her the prettiest head board for her bed. It's pretty amazing what he can do.

The big present from us what her big girl bike. Seth even set up a scavanger hunt for her to go on to find her bike. It was really creative. He hid clues for her to find that would lead her to the next clue and then finally to her bike. She was really excited about her bike she rode it until the sun went down.

A couple of days later was the big strawberry shortcake birthday party. It was a blast, they decorated visers and played games. My Mother in law drew up a strawberry for us to play pin the stem on the strawberry, which was really fun.

Haylee opened her presents surrounded by all her cute friends. She got some pretty good stuff too. It was so nice of all of her friends to come and celebrate with her.
The big hit of the party though was little strawberry shaped pinatas that we hid around the backyard for the kids to find and break into. At first they weren't exactly sure what they were supposed to do with these strawberrys, but then I had Haylee stomp on hers until it cracked open and they were off.

The party turned out to be ok. It was actually pretty fun. I have to admit I was a little stressed out about it, especially when I realized while I was trying to set up that morning that the wind was blowing a little bit. I may have a big backyard but I have a small house and we were gonna be out of luck if the weather turned bad on me because I am pretty sure we would not have fit in my house. I couldn't believe the help and support I got though. All theses kids are adorable and it was fun having them at the party.

Fun Times

2010-06-26T19:26:00.000-07:00

We have been pretty busy the last month or so. I cant complain though its all been fun stuff. So needless to say this post is going to be a tad bit long so just a warning.
About a month ago we went to the Oregan coast with Seths family. On the way there we decided to go to the Omsi in Portland. It was so cool. I would definately recommend it. If you haven't been there you should go. There was so much to see and so much to do and it was all pretty interesting and also very educational. We took a lot of pictures and had a ton of fun.

Here is Seth with the kiddos at the Omsi before we got started on the fun stuff.

We finally talked Haylee into touching the electricity ball so that her hair would stand up. It was so funny watching her hair stand up like that. I got a pretty good picture of her too. She was such a trooper. She even gave me a little pose.

Next we talked her into dressing up as a wild animal and climbing into a log on the ground. This was quite a bit easier to talk her into doing. She was pretty cute.

We found a little sand and water table that the kids could play in. They are supposed to learn how to build a dam and make a river and all that good stuff. Haylee loved this. We had a difficult time pulling her away from this one. I think she would have just stayed and played at this the entire time. Seth won't admit it but he had a good time too. I caught him playing in the sand with the other kids. He didn't want to leave either.

The dinasour section was really cool. They had lots of fun dinasour bones to look at. Haylee like this part too. She gave me a different pose at each dinasour.

I liked this picture because it shows how easy it would have been for this particular dinasour to eat Haylee.

We got a little astronaut picture that was pretty cute.

After Porland it was on to Seaside to stay in a really neat beach house with the fam. Seth wanted to hike to the top of tilamook head so he convinced his Dad and Sister to get up early and go hike it with him. I think they had a lot of fun. I was a little jealous. I would have loved to hike with them but I stayed to feed the baby.

We took a trip to the aquarium also. This is a picture of Haylee and I looking in at the seals.

They were so cute and would jump and do tricks. The kids even got to throw them little pieces of fish for them to eat. This was a big hit.

There was a lot of cool stuff to look at and even some stuff to touch.

We spent one day out at the beach. It was so beautiful, the kind of place you have to see to really appreciate just how pretty it is. And even though the weather did not totally cooperate with us we had fun anyway. Haylee immediately started building a sand castle. That is what I like to do at the beach too. We teamed up and built a pretty good one.

Kyle was a trooper. He was all smiles even though Mom had him in like 4 shirts and blankets on him to keep him warm. I think he even had a good time. I actually got creative and used the lawn chairs to build a little fort to keep the wind away. It worked pretty well.

Seth being Mr. adventure decided to play cliff hanger and climb the rocks (while wearing flip flops). I just tried not to look too often.

We even stuck our feet in the water a little bit. That water is pretty cold.

Try as I may I cannot find pants that will stay up on this girl. Her legs are so long that in order for her pants to be long enough they fall off. So once again we captured the bum shot.

After the coast, the kids and I flew out of Portland to make it to my little sisters wedding that weekend. It was so good to get to see my family and be there in the temple when my sister got married. She even let me do her hair and makeup. It was fun to have some sister time. At the reception Haylee and her cousin Aaron started dancing. This was too cute. Little kids dancing together gets me every time.

Here is a picture of Kyle with uncle Kevin. Two pretty handsome boys here.

I found out that nobody was going to decorate the car. I just couldn't have this so I ran to the store and got the stuff. Then I found the groomsmen and gave them the stuff and told them to go decorated it. I helped out a little bit. It was really fun and I think it turned out pretty cute too. We even had cans on the bumper.

I got to spend a little while in California with my family. That was really fun, and then we flew home. So all in all I think that the summer is off to a pretty fun start.

The Circus

2010-05-13T15:31:00.000-07:00

A Couple of weeks ago the circus was in town. Haylee saw the tents and thought that it looked like fun. I had never been to a circus before so I kinda wanted to go also. I mean I have been to like circus circus in Las Vegas, but I am not sure that is the same thing. Anyway it was pretty neat. They had a lot of good acts. It was nice to do something like that as a family. They had two jumbo elephants that were giving everybody rides. Haylee didn't get to ride the elephant but I don't think she was too heartbroken, I dont know if she would have liked it much anyway.

Haylee talked her Dad into buying her one of those light sticks. She loved it, I think she pretty much has him wrapped around her little finger. I think that is the way it is supposed to be though. They went to get snacks and came back with a light stick, popcorn, and a slushy. She is one lucky little girl

They had a dog show act, and a show with pigs that was pretty neat. They pulled a baby pig out of like a mail box and put it in a stroller and had the mom pig get up on two legs and push the baby. I thought that was pretty cute. The only thing I was disappointed about was I wanted to see more acrabats. I like the people that walk on the tight rope and swing from bars and catch eachother, I think that stuff is cool. There was one guy that walked on this spinning wheel thing, kinda like a hampster, that was pretty neat.

I think we had a pretty good time, and now I can say that I have officially been to the circus. I like doing things like this as a family and wish that we could do more. I am hoping that this summer we will be able to go on a little camping trip. Of course we will probably practice sleeping outside in the tent in the backyard first just to see how the kids do and then go someplace fairly neerbye just incase.

A little catchin up to do!!

2010-04-21T12:04:00.001-07:00

So the time has gotten away from me once again. It has been pretty crazy here the last few weeks. First Haylee got sick for two weeks with a cough and cold. Then Kyle got the cough and cold. Then he got an ear infection, after that he came down with a fever that turned into rosiola. He is feeling a lot better now thank goodness but of course now its my turn and I am sick. I feel like saying Ahhhh are we all ever going to be healthy at the same time? Oh well, so needless to say I have not gotten around to blogging. I wanted to put a few pics on here and catch up.

We had a great Easter this year and conference was great. I thought the weather could have been a little warmer but it wasn't too bad. Haylee had a good time having an easter egg hunt in our back yard. It was fun for us too because she is a little older now so we could actually hide the eggs a little bit instead of just lying them in plain sight.
I love this picture of her. Every now and then I get lucky and get a good picture of her that I need to frame because she is hard to take a picture of these days. I thinks it is too difficult to sit still for 30 seconds. But this one turned out great, I was happy too because I didn't get any spring pictures of the kids this year.

I am so proud of Haylee. Lately she has just had this desire to learn. She wants to learn her alphabet and her numbers and she wants to write them. I know I don't even have to force her. Most of the time she prefers to do it herself but she will come ask me when she needs help. She will come say "Mom how do you draw a W, and I'll show her and then she will go practice doing it herself. I did a little quiz on her the other day just to find out how much she knew. I went through the entire alphabet to see how many letters she could identify by sight. She knew all but six or seven I think. I wish I could take credit for this but she just loves to do it. I hope this means that she will love school and enjoy learning the whole way through school. She has also learned to write her name all by herself so she decided to write her name on her egg this year while we were dying easter eggs. So this is a picture of her writing her name on her egg.

Seth of course did a stick boy egg. I thought it was actually pretty cute. He at one point thought about starting a clothing line called stickboy athletic. I thought it was a great idea. He had this logo on sweat shirts, shirts and beanies. It was pretty cute. So I guess this is like Seths trade mark since he is so skinny.

Since Kyle is still too small to color eggs we decided to do one for him. He has kinda aquired a nick name. I know what kind of nick name can come from Kyle right. Well we have started calling him "Kyle Man." It just kinda stuck. So we did an egg for Kyle that said "Kyle Man." I think he liked it.

Haylee went crazy dying eggs. She did a ton of them. Its a good thing that she likes hard boiled eggs so much because we had quite a few colored eggs this year.

Sunday Morning the kids woke up to find the easter bunny had come and left them a basket. Haylee was really excited about hers. She got tinkerbell flip flops, a jump rope, a new sleeping beauty polly pocket, and lots of candy. I think she liked it but she looks a little sleepy still in this picture.

In Kyles easter basket, he got a new toy, a jar of baby food, and a stuffed bunny. I know it hardly seems fair. Its tough being a baby sometimes. I don't think he cared tough. We just kinda placed him by his basket so we could get a picture of him. I think at this age his basket is more because I think its fun, and I couldn't leave him out right?

We were playing pretty pretty princess the other day, which is one of Haylees favorate games and I got this picture. Kyle likes to play with all the necklaces and bracelets while we play. Haylee put the crown on him and I got a picture of my prince and my princess that I thought was pretty darn cute. Hey at least they play together, even if it is dress up right. Little brothers get dressed up sometimes when they had big sisters. Just ask my little brother.

They also play with boy toys. They were playing with Kyles basketball on the floor the other day. So this is a picture of our future basketball players.

Kyle has found a new friend I think. He loves to sit at the glass sliding door and bang on it and yell at the dog. Even when we let the dog get close to Kyle he doesn't seem to mind. It must be the boy in him. Haylee was always afraid of dogs. It seems like Kyle is ready to get down and wrestle with him. I'm sure they will be good friends when the kids get a little bigger.

Family Update!!

2010-02-18T18:05:00.000-08:00

Well it feels like it has been forever since I have blogged, so I figured I should do an update and catch up on what we have been up to the last couple of months. Nothing too exciting but it seems like my kids are changing everyday so I have to write the silly little things down so I will always remember them. For example the other day we decided to go out to dinner. As we talked about where we might want to go Haylee chimed in and told us that she wanted to go to Eatza Pizza. Well this was all great except that both Seth and I wanted chinese food. Well we tried to convince Haylee that Chinese was better but she wouldnt have it. She knew what she wanted. Finally she said to us "thats fine you guys go get chinese but I am staying here, I am going to eatza pizza." We both were a little stunned that our 3 year old daughter had just said this. I looked at Seth and told him, "She is all yours when she is 16." I look forward to those days with mixed emotions. Sometimes I have to remind myself that she is only 3.

The other day I was trying to snap some pictures of them again since I hadn't gotten any good ones of the two of them and I actually think I got some good ones. But as I was taking them I got this one and I think it shows just a little bit of Haylees cute personality.

She and Kyle have really become good friends. I know that they will probably not always be the best of friends as they grow and fight, but a Mother can wish can't she. Kyle just loves his big sister, every time she comes around he lights up. She can always get him to smile or laugh and if he starts to cry and I am not around she tries to talk to him or find him a toy to play with and it just makes me smile. So I was able to get a couple of pretty good shots of them and these are some that I was pretty proud of.

Haylee is a good little Mommy and though she has her moments, sometimes I think it would be harder to have Kyle without Haylee. She is always willing to help. She is also really into making herself pretty. She loves to play dress up and is always getting into my makeup and putting it on when I put mine on. She sometimes can't go out unless she has made herself pretty. So she goes and puts on like 4 bracelets, 6 rings, and 5 necklaces then she insists on whering her black sunday shoes so she can be fancy. I just go with it, even though sometimes what she thinks is fancy is blue pants and a red shirt, I just say you know if anyone has a three year old girl they will totally understand and I don't fight it. She also is always asking me to do her hair like Cinderella, so I just put it up into a bun and that seems to work. She is a lot of fun.

And even though she is so girly and love to dress up. Seth and I both think she is going to totally be an athlete. She doesn't mind going out and playing in the dirt and getting good and dirty and she can throw a ball really well for a 3 year old. She wants to play soccer this summer so we are going to look into that, she also wants to do ballet though so I am not sure what to do. We will have to make a deal because I don't think she can do both. I guess its good because she is well rounded. But thats Haylee, she just loves everything.

Kyle is now 6 months old!! I can't believe that my little baby is growing up so fast. Sometimes I think this is the best time because he is very sociall and loves to talk and laugh and play but he isn't mobile yet. The whole game changes a little when they are able to get around. I am also dreading trying to baby proof my house. I look around and see so many things that I am going to have to change when he starts to get around. He is a pretty good baby and I count my lucky stars that I have had two pretty easy kids so far (knock on wood.)

He is the happiest baby also he is usually smiling or laughing at us and we love it. It just brings so much joy to your life, if I am having a bad day all I have to do is talk to Kyle and he chears me right up. He is also very snuggly. I think that he snuggles a lot more than Haylee did at this age and I love that too.We have started giving him a little rice cereal and he loves that stuff. He is going to be a pretty healthy eater. I think you can tell that by his weight. Also he finally started to roll around. He used to be able to roll onto his back but now he sometimes rolls across the room. I guess it wont be too long until he is mobile.

Well that is pretty much it for now. Nothing too exciting but we love it anyway. I love these two kids more than I can say and am thankful everyday for them. I can't believe that I was lucky enough to get to be there Mother. I love having a little family of my own and I love being a Mother.

Christmas 2009

2010-01-06T17:53:00.000-08:00

This year we were able to go to California for Christmas and spend some time with my family. It was a blast, we hadn't been there for Christmas in a couple of years so it was really fun to get to spend some time there. My Grandma was there also and it was so good to get to spend Christmas with her this year. We had so much fun making goodies and decorating the house and going Christmas shopping.

On Christmas eve Haylee made some food for Santas reindeer so that they were sure to find us at Grandmas house. She had fun making it and then went outside and sprinkled it on Grandmas lawn so the reindeer would have something to eat. It was really cute.

My sister Angie and her family were also able to come for the holidays. It was so good to see them. They have a little boy who is almost two and a new little girl born in November. It was fun having her there because we both had our babies. My Mom said it was fun watching us. She said it looked like we were playing with dolls. Its funny because this is what we did when we were younger. We would each have our baby doll and we would stick in in our shirt to feed it and rock it to sleep. Now we have our real babies and it was fun. Kyle and Matilda are only three months apart so they will hopefully always be good friends.
I got the cutest picture of my Mom and Kyle. I thought it was so precious. Grandma has that special touch with the babies. I use a pacifier to put Kyle to sleep but Grandma doesn't need one she just rocked him and out he went. She was also able to get his crazy hair to lay down. I came home and gave it a try and it didn't turn out as good as her job. Again I guess she just has the touch. We also gave Kyle his first haircut together so that he would no longer have a mullet in the back. It turned out so cute. I thought it made him look older.

My family has a tradition that every year on Christmas eve we put on the Christmas play. We all dress up in robes and each play a part of the nativity. we have been doing this for years. We have all of them on tape and it is a blast going back and watching them all as we grow up. I think the first time we did it I was lik 4 years old so it has been a while. Now that we have some grandkids though we thought it would be fun to let them join in. This year Haylee played the angel. She did a great job too. She even had a line, she said "fear not, Jesus is born" to the shepards, then she flapped her wings really hard. It was the cutest thing ever. I think she had a great time playing the angel. I was a shepard and Seth was a wise man.

So kinda as a gag gift my older brother got underwear for My younger brother, My Dad, and Seth. They made sure that they all opened them together. It was really funny watching them open there underwear. Seths was spiderman, and Kevins was batman and Im not sure what my Dads was but it was pretty funny.

Haylee was so excited for Santa to come that it was difficult getting her to go to sleep. Seth and I had fun too getting everything set up. Santa gave her a doll house this year. She wanted an easy bake oven but we thought she was still a little bit young for that so she got some play dough that she can make hamburgers out of instead. She was pretty happy with what she got I think and had a good time opening her gifts. She also got a little computer that she can play games on. I like it because it helps her learn her numbers and letters. We also gave her a jewelry box. She liked playing with mine and told me for weeks that she wanted her own jewelry box. So Seth being the great Dad that he is went to Khols after thankgiving sale and stood in line for a couple hours to buy her a jewelry box that was on a killer sale. He said that some women standing in line next to him were oohing and ahhhhing over how cute he was buying a jewelry box for his daughter. He is a pretty goood Dad.

I think Haylee had a good Christmas this year and was pretty excited about what she got. Kyle got a couple of things also and Haylee was more than willing to help him open his gifts also. He just got some teethers and socks and a toy. He pretty much didn't know what was going on but it was fun anyway.

We had so much fun visiting but we had to say goodbye and head home.I flew down early with the kids and then Seth drove down about a week later. Then we all drove home last week. We found that it was a really good idea flying me and the kids down on our drive home. It was an adventure. Driving that far with two kids is tough. Kyle is nursing so we had to stop at least once every three hours for him to eat. We decided that it would be easiest on everybody if we split the trip into three days. This made it about 6-7 hours a day. The first day wasn't too bad except that Haylee threw up everywhere about 3 hours into the drive. So we stopped at a gas station and got her out to clean her up. I took her into the bathroom to clean her and the car seat while Seth cleaned out the car. It was so bad I just threw her jeans away. It wasn't worth cleaning them off to me. We stayed that night at my Grandmas near sacramento. We didn't get going early enough that morning and got caught in some snow. They ended up closing the road on us and we were sitting in traffic for about an hour while Kyle screamed in the back seat. We then had to call my parents to find us a hotel at the last minute before they were all booked. We got up the next morning with a little more than we had planned to go. It started okay but when we got to Portland things got bad once again. We got stuck in the worlds biggest traffic jam and sat in the car for over two hours. I think we figured we went about eight miles in those two hours. Haylee actually did surprisingly well during this, she sang the get out of the way song to the cars in front of us. I just got Kyle out of his seat since we weren't moving anyway and held him. Finally we got through that and about the last hour home we ran into some pretty thick fog. We made it about midnight that night though. I just told Seth that this was one of those experiences that you one day will look back on and just laugh. Not yet but maybe one day. It was an adventure life is full of them. This will be one of those, "remember the time" stories, you gotta have those right. I am just so thankful for the time I was able to have with my family this year for the holidays and grateful that we made it home safely, that is the most important thing. Hope everyone had a great Christmas this year.

Visiting Santa

2009-12-05T11:21:00.000-08:00

We took Haylee to see Santa and she surprised us both with how easily she sat on his lap and talked to him. It seems like every year she gets just a little braver. The first year she was about six months old and she did NOT want to sit on his lap. She screamed so we figured ok maybe next year. So the next year we took her hoping for better results. It was even worse, if we got even close to where Santa was she started to cry. We didn't even try to put her on his lap. She was crying before we even got close. So When we took her last year we thought she would get it for sure. She did better but she wouldn't sit on his lap we kind of had to coax her and convince her it was o.k. This is a picture of Seth trying to convince Haylee that Santa is alright last year.

Finally we convinced her that it was ok to stand next to him. She didnt want to sit on his lap but we got close and compromised. She looked a little unsure the whole time though.

This is Haylee this year. She walked right up to Santa and got on his lap and had a long conversation with him. Afterward we asked her what Santa talked to her about and she said that he asked her if she was cleaning her room everyday. I thought "I like this Santa." He also asked her what she wanted for christmas and Haylee told him she wanted an easy bake oven. This is a little bit of a problem because I don't think that is what Santa is bringing Haylee for Christmas but I think she will be ok with that when she sees what Santa is bringing her.

They talked for awhile and even the people in line behind us commented on how good she was doing with Santa. After thinking for a little while I thought this makes sense. Haylee has become a little less shy and a little more social these days. Sometimes she comes with me to the Mothers lounge to feed Kyle at church and she will talk to all the women in there that she has never met. She will then tell me right in front of them that they are nice and that I should be friends with them. She also talks to people she has never met sometimes in the grocery store. So needless to say we have started talking to her about strangers and who we talk to and who we don't talk to. Santa is ok I think.

We then put Kyle up there so we could get a picture with them both seeing Santa. He did just fine. I don't think he is old enough to care. He kinda looked at him funny and that was it. So I thought that this was a pretty successful trip to see Santa. It got us all excited for Christmas.

A Milestone reached!!

2009-11-25T10:53:00.001-08:00

So I went to get Kyles three month pictures taken last monday and they actually turned out pretty cute. He couldn't really lift his head that well though so we had to prop some pillows underneath him to get a good shot. I was pretty happy with the picture. Then that next thursday I put him down on the ground on his tummy and this is what happened.

It was almost as if he was laughing at me. "Ha Ha Mom, I waited til right after my picture to pick my head up." Oh well at least he is picking his head up now. You can really see in these pictures also just how crazy his hair is. I try to get it to lay down but it just stick back up. Oh well maybe when it gets a little bit longer it will lay down. Until then we will just embrace the craziness.

Good Friends

2009-11-19T20:05:00.000-08:00

Now that Kyle has been around for awhile, I was worried that Haylee might start to get a little bit tired of having to share the attention. She started out really good and liked having a baby brother. Now that he is not really bran new anymore I thought this might change. I was wrong, I think she likes him now even more than she did then. She doesn't seem to care that I have to make her wait sometimes for things that she wants because I am busy with Kyle. She just kinda shrugs it off and is ok with it. She talks to him all the time and is constantly trying to get him to laugh. She was making silly faces at him the other day and he started to laugh at her. It was the cutest thing ever. He thinks she is pretty funny. Also a couple of times when he was crying and I wasnt right there to get him, I saw her go and get his pacifier and put it back in his mouth. One time she even went and got him a little teddy bear rattle and tried to play with him with it. She is a good little mommy. She loves to help with him, and I have even let her help me change his diaper. She uses the very tips of her fingers to touch it like its hot or something but she still tries and that is what matters.
Trying to get a picture of these two is next to impossible. Even the professional couldn't do it. I tried like twenty times to get one. Everytime Kyle smiled Haylee wasn't looking or had a silly face. And everytime Haylee was smiling, Kyle wasn't looking or looks stunned, like in the one I have on here. So when we got Kyle 3 month pictures taken I decided to try and get a good picture of them. It was pretty much the same story for her though. Their pictures were so bad I didn't end up buying any of them. They are pretty cute though, it is just hard ages for pitures I guess. But I am really glad that they are getting along so well. Haylee asked me the other day if I could go back to the hospital and get a girl this time because she wanted a baby sister now. She also told me that next time we are going to have twins, a girl and a boy. All I could say was "oh really." I guess we'll see about that one. I hope these two are always such good friends.

Trick or Treat

2009-11-01T21:33:00.000-08:00

Well we hope that everyone had a good halloween this year. We had a great one. We had a cute little skeleton for the trunk or treat. When I bought this outfit for Kyle I was so sure that it would fit him. When I went to put it on him it was really snug. This made me both happy and sad at the same time. I am thankful to have a healthy growing boy but he is growing so fast sometimes I feel like I can't keep up. We had him in the skeleton outfit for the trunk or treat and it was so small on him that I didnt want to put him in it again because its probably not that compfortable and not wanting to buy something else at the las minute I decided to just look in his closet and see what I could find.

I don't remember who gave us this little camoflage outfit but it worked good. I put that on him and put some cute boots on him and called him an army man. Seth said he looked more like a hunter though. Afterward though Seth came up with a cute costume that we should have dressed Kyle up in. His hair is constantly sticking straight up, so he said we should have bought him a black onsie and cut out a yellow lighting bolt and pasted it on it, puffed his hair up and he could have gone as electricity. I thought that was a cute idea. It didnt matter what he was though, he was cute in anything.

Haylee decided to go as a kitty cat this year. She changed her mind about a hundred times. A couple of weeks before Halloween we were at Wal Mart and she saw a Tinkerbell costume. She loved it and said that was what she wanted to be. I thought about getting it for her but with halloween still a little while away I thought there was a good chance that she would change her mind again. Well she did and she made a cute little kitty cat. I was actually really glad that she changed her mind because it was easier to make a kitty cat a warm costume and it cost less.

I decided that I was going to try to get creative with her costume and add a white tummy. I thought of the cat and the hat and got some white felt and just cut out her white tummy. I thought it actually turned out pretty good. I also thought that it made her look even more like a kitty cat. However while we were trick or treating someone asked her if she was a penguin and I thought maybe the white tummy wasn't a good idea. But I think it was just because she didn't have her ears on because they kept blowing off her head when she would run.

This year Haylee got to go trick or treating with her cousins. This is a picture of her cousin Chloe dressed as a bunny and Haylee ready to go out trick or treating.

This picture turned out kinda dark but this is the gang trick or treating. Hank was Thomas the train engine, and Dylan was a dark scary guy with a mask. His mask kept on scarying Hank though and he wouldn't even go near him. They all looked pretty good I thought.

At the beginning Haylee and Chloe were literally running from door to door. They eventually ran out of steam though. Here they are headed to the next house.

After it was all said and done I was amazed at how much candy Haylee got. Here is a picture of the final result. She was pretty proud of all her candy. Seth explained to Haylee all about taxes on her candy. I don't think she quite understood what he was saying but is happy to share a piece or two with Mom and Dad. We had a great halloween this year and Seth and I can't believe that next year we are going to have two little trick or treaters and we can't wait.

Fall Fun!

2009-10-26T14:33:00.000-07:00

We made it out to the pumkin patch this year. We had so much fun. First Seth and Haylee decided to tackle the big straw mountain. Haylee was a little nervous about climbing herself so Seth went with her.

After the straw mountain Haylee took a wack at the straw maze. She loves mazes for some reason and is very good at them. She loves to take her pencil and try to find the way out. She was excited that this maze was life size. She got mixed up a couple of times but eventually found her way out. She had a blast, each time she finished she wanted to do it again and again. I would say that she successfully defeated this straw maze.

I thought this was pretty cute, we got to see how tall we are this fall. There is Daddy at 6 foot 4 inches, and Haylee at aproximately 3 foot 3 inches.

Then me at 5 foot 5 inches

We then decided that we would try our luck at the corn maze. Seth told me that it might take awhile and I thought maybe 20 minutes. Well I was wrong. I think we were in that thing forever, or what seemed like forever. We started with alot of energy and after about 15 minutes I said, "I think that we have been here before," we went in circles a couple of times. I have only been in one other corn maze and I remembered it being fairly easy. I had it finished in like 10 minutes. Well this one was a bit tougher and I dont really have any sense of direction so I was glad that Seth was there or I think they would have had to call search and rescue.

My excuse was that Haylee was leading us but I think she actually did a pretty good job. Finally I told Seth I was done with this "fun" and was ready to leave. And we finally found our way out of ther. It probably took us about 40 minutes.

Here is a picture of Seth and Haylee with the #1 finger after we defeated the corn maze.

They also had a little animal trian that I thought was really cute. I thought Haylee would have a good time riding it. She had to go by herself though and at first she didnt want to leave us. We thought this was good though for her to know that she doesnt always need us around and she can do things on her own. I was a little worried that she wouldnt like it but when the train pulled back up she had a great big smile on her face and said, "I want to do it again!" I thought, "well she doesnt need us." That was good.

The pumkin selection was actually really bad this year. We had a hard time finding anything good. Haylee prefers the little pumkins anyway. We ended up leaving with two little ones and one medium sized one. But it was still fun.

Haylee wanted me to go with her on the big blow up slide. I decided to be a trooper and join all the kids and take her on it. As I was trying to climb the blow up ladder to get to the top and I was being passed by all these like 6 year olds I realized that I might be a little out of shape. It was tough though trying to get myself and Haylee up to the top without get run down by all the kids behind us complaining that we were taking too long. But we made it, and I think I got a little bit of a workout so it was all good.

After the pumkin patch we were so full of the Halloween fun that we decided to just make a day of it. We thought we would get crafty and we went out and got stuff to make doughnut jack -o-lanterns. I thought they turnedout pretty good. We just put frosting on plain doughnuts and then put a chocolate frosting face on them. We had a lot of fun making them but they were a little to sweet. That much frosting on a doughnut was a little much for me.

What I thought was so funny is last Halloween we decorated pumpkin cookies and I have a picture of Haylee and I that is similar to this one only, of course Haylee is smaller. I thought it would be neat to continue doing something like this every year. We've got our own little tradition going here. How great!!

Haylee didnt think so though and she probably would have eaten them all if I would have let her.

We arent the most creative when it comes to things like this so we were pretty proud of our accomplishment. Kyle was a trooper too through the whole day. I am so lucky to have such a good baby. At one point I told Seth that he is either eating, sleeping or smiling. I love pictures like this of our little family.

Finally we got down to the dirty business of carving our pumkins. Seth of course carved the seahawks logo into his pumkin and Haylee and I did an owl. We also did them the next night. I had to put this picure of Kyle in the pumkins on here. It was cute he thought it was fun. We had a really good time this year and I think our pumkins turned out good too. Happy Halloween.

Getting bigger

2009-10-08T14:47:00.000-07:00

Our little man is just growing up too fast. He is starting to be a lot of fun though. He is starting to smile and coo all the time. I love this stage, I love all the baby sounds that they make. He tries so hard to talk, you can see it all just welling up inside him. I have tried so many times to capture his cute little smile. However I think he is on to me because everytime I get the camera out he stops smiling and I usually end up with pictures like these

I got lucky a couple of time though and was able to catch him smiling a little bit. I love the smiles and the coos but it is a little sad at the same time because he is growing so fast. I feel like I have to capture every minute so that I dont miss anything.

I had to get a snap shot of this kids hair all wild. He loves to get his hair washed and Mom can't resist making it all stand up and taking pictures of it. He didn't seem to mind too much. He has a lot of hair and no matter what I do I cannot get it all to lay down. Some of it is always sticking straight up. After I washed and dried his hair this is what it looked like. I think it is pretty darn cute.

Uncle Shane and Aunt Megan let us borrow there fancy swing for Kyle and he absolutley loves it. There is a mirror right above the seat that he just stares into. He is also really amazed by the mobile, it goes around and up and down. He watched the little bird and the bee go around. I am also able to get more done because he will let me put him down in the swing for a while. Thanks a lot to Shane and Megan we love it.

As you can tell I take a lot of pictures of this little guy. I feel like I can almost see him growing sometimes. I did the same think when Haylee was this age. It just makes you feel like you have to take a million pictures so that you dont miss anything.

Haylee is still pretty happy with her little brother I think. She did ask me the other day though how long we were going to keep Kyle for. I told her that we were going to keep him forever and she just said "oh." Then she asked me "well when did Kyle come out of your tummy." So I think she gets that part at least. She tells me all the time that my tummy is still big. I try to just smile and take this as motivation to get up and exercise.

A blessing for Kyle

2009-09-13T13:20:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Kyle was blessed by his daddy. It was really neat because Kyle wore the same outfit that Seth wore when he was blessed. I thought, "What a neat thing to be able to bless your son in the same outfit that you were blessed in." My mother in law says that she even has a picture of Seth in the outfit so I am going to get a copy and put the two pictures next to eachother in his scrap book. I thought that would be really neat to have. Kyle did really good, he just slept the whole time he was being blessed. I was a little concerned because he was a little bit fussy that morning but it all worked out ok.

We were glad that my parents were able to come up to see Kyle blessed. This was the first time that my Dad had even seen Kyle so it was special. We had a good visit with them while they were here.

Seth was really nervous about the blessing all that morning. He did a great job though and was a little relieved to have it all done and over with. He joked about how he was going to bless him to be 6 foot 8 and be a profesional ball player. I told him that I thought that might be a little inapropriate. In the end we had a great blessing that I felt was perfect for this little guy.

Here is a picture of all the men that blessed my little guy. My Dad, Seth, his dad Bruce, and his brother Shane.

I can't get used to pictures of our little family of four. I feel so blessed to have two beautiful kids, and be building my own little family.

Adjusting

2009-09-13T12:05:00.000-07:00

Well we are adjusting to life with two kids. I can't believe that Kyle is already 4 and 1/2 weeks old. Its been a little bit of an adjustment. Lately I have felt like my routine has just been thrown out the window. I have been trying really hard to find time to spend with Haylee during the day so that she doesn't feel left out. Kyle likes his bouncy chair a lot. It sings and vibrates his bum, its kinda like a baby massage chair. I am glad that I have it because he doesn't like to be put down, but he doesn't mind his bouncy chair.

So far Haylee and Kyle are good friends. Haylee hasn't seemed to be threatened by Kyle at all. She likes to help me change his diapers and she loves to pick out what he is going to wear that day. I try to let her help me with him as much as I can. There have been times when Haylee wants me to do something with her and I have to tell her that I can't right now because I have to take care of Kyle. It bothers her a little but she is really patient and just tells me that when I am done I can do it. I am very thankful for this, I am lucky to have such a good little girl. Don't get me wrong she has her moments but for the most part she is very helpful.

Kyle is definately a snuggle bug. Sometimes he will fall asleep while I am holding him and I will try to lay him down so I can get stuff done and immediately he wakes up. He loves you to hold him and snuggle with him. Seth doesn't seem to mind this though and actually likes having a nap time buddy. I have felt totally exhausted lately. I guess not getting more than three hours of sleep at a time will do that to you. I told Seth that it doesn't feel like different days, it just feels like one really long day with a lot of little naps in it. I think it is interesting how you seem to forget how hard that part of having a baby is but when you are up at 3 in the morning and you are finding it hard to even keep one eye open it all comes rushing back. It is all worth it though.

He's finally here!!

2009-08-17T21:14:00.000-07:00

Well after trying a couple of different things to try to get this baby to come, some of which included yoga on the wii, foot masages (which I personally liked the best), a lot of walking, and eating spicy foood....

WE FINALLY HAVE OUR BABY BOY!!!

After learning at our doctors appointment on Tuesday that there was no room at the hospital to induce me until the 22nd, I realized that this baby just had to come on his own. So the doc swept the membranes at that appointment on tuesday and finally I woke up Wednesday morning at 4 am with pretty strong contractions. I thought "they will probably go away like always," and went back to sleep. At 7:15 I realized that this was different and probably the "rfeal" thing. I woke up Seth and told him it was time to go. The contractions got really strong on the way to the hospital so I gave Seth permission to speed. It was pouring rain that morning also and so Seth said "this is much better than just driving there to be induced, it makes it more exciting." At that point I am not so sure if I agreed with him.

When we got to the hospital I was glad to see that my doc from apw was on call and I was sooo glad because I really like him. We went and got on the monitor and it didnt take very long for them to realize that this was no false alarm, (me screaming every now and then may have had something to do with it.) So they admitted me and got me into a room. I thought it would be a good idea to walk the halls a little bit to get things moving along. I found out about 3 minutes later that this was not a good idea as I almost ripped my husbands arm off in the hall. Needless to say it did not take a whole lot of convincing for them to talk me into an epidural. After that I felt great. My epidural with my first didnt work and I was worried this one my not. I was thankful to find out what an epidural is really suppose to feel like. They broke my water and for the next couple of hours I kinda just drifted in and out of sleep. It was great!! My Mom kept on saying "man this isn't fair, they didnt have this when I had a baby." I can honestly say that if I was her I don't think I would have had six kids (strong lady).

I progressed pretty fast this time around and soon found that it was time to push. When the doctor came in he said that I was bleeding a little too much and that we needed to get this baby out. I heard him tell the nurse that if we couldn't get the baby out fast we may need to do a c-section. Well I was really scared, not knowing where the bleeding was coming from and there was no way I was going to have another c-section when I had made it this far so that was all the motivation I needed and it took me three pushes and he was out. I later found that this may have been a mistake because I got a second degree tear, which is pretty painful. But the baby was here and the bleeding stopped right away and everything was fine. I was just happy to have him here. All in all I thought it went great. I was sooo grateful to be able to have him vbac and not have to have surgery, having had such a terrible experience the first time.

I was surprised to find out that he had so much dark hair. I thought that he would come out bald because Seth was bald when he was born. I had dark hair when I was born so maybe he looks more like me. I love his hair though and was really glad that he had so much. We made fun of Seth and told him that he was jealous because Kyle had more hair than him. I don't think he found this very funny.

We got Kyle a "little brother shirt" and made Haylee one that said "big sister." We took a picture of them with there shirts on, it turned out okay, even though you can't see them very well. This was our first family of four picture, ( I wish I looked a little better in it).

Haylees reaction to her little brother was a little surprising. She actually didn't really care very much. She liked holding him and was happy to see him but I just don't think she was very effected by it. This can very well change over time. She helps out a little bit so far though and will run and get me things that I need sometimes, and she likes picking out his clothes.

So even after they scared me so bad at my 37 week ultrasound by telling me that at that point he was already 8 pounds 2 ounces he only weighed 8 pounds six ounces. I thought since they are suppose to gain 1/2 a pound week he would be at least nine pounds. I was happy he wasn't. He was big enough though.

Well we are a family of four now and really happy that he is here. We are trying to adjust to life with two kids. Beside the fact that I feel like I havn't slept in three days and that my chest is filled with lead everything is going good. I feel so blessed to be able to have such a beautiful baby. I am so grateful for him and the fact that I was able to have a safe and good delivery.

Still waiting

2009-08-10T11:34:00.000-07:00

So we are still here waiting for this baby to come. I am not quite to my due date yet so I guess it is a little too early to get impaitient. However I had an ultrasound done at 37 weeks and they told me this baby was already 8 pounds so that makes me a little more anxious for him to get here. It is also frustrating because I have been having some pretty strong contractions every now and then, especially at night, but they always stop. I am reading different ways to naturally induce labor and things like that. I pretty sure none of that stuff works. My mom came up to help me out these last couple weeks and play the waiting game with me. It has been really fun having her here. We got the nursery done and everything put away for this little guy. Now we are waiting and doing A LOT of walking. Seth keeps telling me to have him soon because he has to go back to school on like the 26th of August so the sooner I have him the more time he gets to be here. Its like enough with the pressure. My doctor told me he is going to let me go all the way to the 22nd, which I can't even imagine. I think I am going to be pretty grumpy by then. So if anyone has a secret way to get a baby to kick into gear and get here, feel free to let me know, I am open to all kinds of suggestions at this point. I went to my appointment at the hospital yesterday and toured the birthing center and filled out paperwork. It was kinda neat but as we were leaving we saw a couple just leaving with there new baby. They were wearing byu idaho shirts so we talked to them for a while and said that we had gone there too. She asked me how much longer I had and I told her. She said she was happy to be done. I thought yeah, I'll trade you places. It was nice to see the baby and be reminded that this is all worth it. Well heres to the waiting game, hopefully we will have a baby soon, and hopefully he wont be 10 pounds. Cross your fingers for me.

Getting Ready!!

2009-07-23T17:42:00.000-07:00

Well as I get closer to the end of this pregnancy I am getting totally excited to have another little baby in the house. I went in for my 36 week check up a couple of days ago and was told that I am already 50-60% efaced and 1 and 1/2 cm dialated. I was happy to hear that something was happening since I have had a lot of pain and discomfort in an uncomfortable spot. I have noticed some contractions going on every now and then. I am hoping that things will continue to progress slowly on its own. Both my Mom and my sisters would have contractions for a few hours every now and then and by the time they went to the hospital were already at like a 6. I think this sounds like an okay way to do things. A little bit at a time, it seems like if you do it this way its almost like you get a little head start. Really I just hope that everything goes okay and I am able to have a safe and healthy baby.
I have also started getting this little guys nursery together. I live for nurseries and know that I probably wont be able to do an entire nursery in the future because as we get more kids they will have to share rooms. While I have the opportunity though I am totally going to do one. I was so lucky because I was able to find an entire bedding set that included a bumper, quilt, sheet, valance, skirt, light switch cover, mobile, wall paper border, and diaper stacker online on ebay. I was able to get it all for just $12.50 plus shipping. It was a pretty good deal that I was proud of. It is such a cute set too, its all sports themed and is covered with basketballs, soccerballs, footballs, and baseballs. This was the only thing that my husband would go for in his sons room. I didn't mind though and actually think it is all really cute. So everything showed up today and now I am looking at colors and thinking about painting. I just think it is so much fun. I also have started washing little clothes and blankets in Dreft. The only thing I need now that I can't seem to find is a dresser for his room. So if anyone knows of a dresser for sale or has one they don't need let me know. I love to decorate but am not the best at it, so hopefully this nursery will turn out looking okay in the end.

Summer Fun

2009-07-22T11:20:00.000-07:00

We went over to Grandmas house for a BBQ before the fireworks on the fourth of July and she had her pool out for the kids. I had forgotten to bring Haylees simming suit so we told her not to get that wet. Well within minutes it was too much too resist and she was soaked. So we took her clothes off and borrowed a shirt and swimmer from Hank (Haylees cousin). They just live up the street and ran home to get a t-shirt so that Haylee would have something to wear. Well Haylee wanted to get back in the water. Only she didnt want to wear the shirt she wanted to go like Hank. We tried to explain to her that little boys can go without a shirt but little girls have to wear a shirt. Her immediate response to this unfair rule was "well I want to be a boy." I thought this was funny. We decided to let her go ahead and swim without it. Afterall we will always have this picture of them that might come in handy one day. The important thing was that they both had a really good time.

We made to a baseball game this summer. It was really fun. We went to a game that had dollar feast night. They had hotdogs and other things for only a dollar. So needless to say we ate some really good stuff that night. The game turned out to be a blowout, with us winning by a lot, but it was still fun. Also we got to see some pretty cool fire works afterwards.
Here is Haylee enjoying a hotdog at the game. She had a really good time.

I can't believe that my baby is THREE

2009-06-16T17:00:00.000-07:00

Haylee turned 3 years old on Friday. I cannot believe that I have a three year old. It seems like just yesterday that she was a little baby. I thought that there was a huge difference between her turning three and when she turned two. She was so excited about her birthday. She new that she was having a party and she new who was comming to her party. She also new that her party was on Friday so everyday she would ask me what day it is and how many more days until friday. She would say "how does it go?" and I would have to repeat the days of the weak (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and so forth). I thought it was kinda cute. Also she had a list of things that she wanted for her birthday, and you would think that with a three year old her wish list would be totally bizarre and way out there, but hers was actually very practical. She told us that she wanted more legos and two my Little Ponies and Bendaroos (she got this off of an infomertial) and roller skates.

We had a really fun time, we invited all her cousins and a couple friends so she had quite a few friends to play with and was just having the time of her life with all her friends. We did a little BBQ with just some hotdogs and chips and watermelon it was really good.

Of course Haylee had to have a Dora cake. It is all about Dora right now. So we went to Albertsons and she got to pick out which Dora cake she wanted. She was really excited, I thought that the cake actually turned out pretty cute too.

It turned out to be a great day. Haylee got a lot of really good stuff and we all had a fun time. She knows that she is three now and so she will tell you that proudly if you ask her. It seems a little crazy for both Seth and I that we have a three year old. I don't feel old enough. The time goes by so fast that you really have to just soak up every minute of it. I am going to remember this when our new little guy arrives.

31 weeks and counting

2009-06-16T16:43:00.000-07:00

So I am 31 weeks and one day. I wanted to take a picture at 30 weeks because I kinda think that is a mile marker but it just didnt happen. I thought it would be neat to have a couple of pictures throughout the pregnancy though so I could see how much my belly has grown. I know that I am starting to get big though just due to how angry I get when I accidently drop something and then have to bend down and pick it up. I have been using Haylee a lot for this. I'll drop something and call her to come pick it up for me. She is a trooper and a big help most of the time. Also the baby is getting bigger and sometimes it feels like he is going to kick right through the skin. All in all though things are going pretty good so far. I am starting to get a little uncomfortable and have a tough time breathing at times but other than that its all good. I am also getting a little stir crazy because I dont really have anything and nothing is ready for this little guy. I tell myself I have a lot more time but I am feeling those nesting instincts kicking in I think and I want to get stuff ready for him. One of the main things is that we can not come up with a name for him. We have been through a ton of lists and nothing seems to fit. I think boy names are definately tuffer than girls names. I just hope we have one by the time he gets here so we dont have to just pick one at the last minute.

Vacation Time

2009-05-21T21:46:00.001-07:00

We were able to get away this weekend for a much needed family vacation. We went with Seths family to the Oregon Coast. On the way home we were able to stop at the Multnoma Falls. It was beautiful there. I was a little disappointed that I couldnt hike up to the top because it was a little too hard for me being so far along. Seth hiked up to the top though with Kim and his niece and nephew. They had a blast. Haylee and I just went down and had some Hot Cocoa while they went to the top.

We were able to get one day with some sunshine while we were at the coast and these days are very rare so we took advantage. We had a great time and it was gorgeous. His parents rented a beautiful beach house for us to stay in right on the beach it was great.

The first day we got there it was a little bit foggy and cloudy but kinda cool. I didnt let that stop me though from building a sand castle. My Mom taught me that you can not go to the beach and not build a sand castle so I got one built. Haylee liked to run around in the mist and play in the sand. She had a great time.

On the way there we were able to stop in Portland and go see the animals at the zoo. I had a blast at the zoo. It was soo much fun showing Haylee all the different animals. She got to see the Polar Bears, which were amazing and there was a sign that showed how tall you would be compared to a polar bear. We thought it was pretty cool.

One of my favorite animals we saw was the orangitang. It was so cool because he came right up to the glass and would look the kids right in the eye. I got a picture of him staring Haylee down. She just stared right back at him. It was really neat.

The fish were another favorite of Haylees. They had some really really big fish and then some really small fish. She went nuts over this saying "Look at this one and this one." I thought it was fun to see her so excited.

We had a great trip at the zoo. It was a little tiring for me to walk around all day but totally worth it. In fact we didnt quite get to see all the animals. I was kinda disappointed that we didnt get to see the rino and the hippos and the sea otters. It was a good thing we left when we did or else I think someone would have had to carry me out of there. But I didnt want to leave it was so great. All in all I thought this was a really great vacation and we got to see some really cool things.

Louder and Louder

2009-05-08T16:43:00.000-07:00

So apparantly children tend to get louder as they get older. Sometimes when Haylee is singing now she is basically yelling the song. I even questioned at one point if she could hear ok. I dont think that is the problem thought, I think she just likes to be loud. She seems to be yelling more and more things these days. The library is always a fun experience. Today at Walmart she was running ahead of me singing really loud as usual. I got a lot of looks from people, thankfully it was usually just kind of a smile like "how cute." One lady though did comment and say "wow she has a lot of energy." I usually just nod and smile.

Getting bigger

2009-05-02T23:23:00.000-07:00

Well I am almost 25 weeks pregnant and counting. I can't wait sometimes to meet this little guy. But I am also trying to just enjoy this time right now. It is a good part of the pregnancy now. There is no nausea and I don't feel too uncomforable yet. Also I love just laying in bed sometimes and feeling him kick and move inside. Once I found out that I was having a boy I started to get a little more connected and excited about the pregnancy. I am starting to have a hard time finding clothes that I want to wear. I hate spending money on clothes that I am only going to wear for a couple of months though. But it seems that I won't be able to put this off too much longer. I think that there are a lot of really cute maternity clothes these days too so shopping may be fun.

Haylee is also getting excited to have a little brother and is just so cute sometimes when she talks about him. She tells me that she is going to take care of him and gets a little nervous that we don't have enough bottles or pacifiers for the baby. I thought this was very thoughtful of her so when I go shopping for these things I think it will be fun to take her with me and let her pick out a few things her self. I think it is good that she wants to be involved. I am sure the reality of the situation will not fully hit her until she realizes that he is here to stay and she will be sharing Mom and Dad with him but hopefully this transition will not be too difficult for her.

Bubble Day

2009-03-13T19:14:00.000-07:00

Lately with the weather being so cold we have not had the opportunity to play outside. Both Haylee and I have gotten some serious cabin fever. So the other day in between rain storm it was actually not too cold so we decided to go out and blow some bubbles. Haylee loves bubbles but usually has a hard time blowing them because she blows a little to hard. However I found some bubbles that have like three or four holes so they are easier to blow. She was having a blast. Haylee and our dog Oscar have become pretty good friends and he thought that the bubbles were neat too. When she would blow them he would bark at them and jump up and try to eat them and chase them around. It was a pretty funny thing to watch. It was a fun day and it was nice to be able to go outside for a little while.

Expecting baby No. 2

2009-03-12T21:34:00.000-07:00

Well we are expecting a baby in August. I found out that I was pregnant right around my birthday (all the way back in December). It was the best birthday present ever, in fact I even told Seth that he didnt have to get me anything for my birthday. Having lost my previous pregnancy in an early miscarriage I was very very nervous about this one. I really didnt want to tell anyone or get my hopes up too high. I think that I have remained a little disconnected from this pregnancy because of that. I had an ultrasound real early in the pregnancy because I had a previous miscarriage and when I saw the little heart beating I started to cry. And now the excitement is starting to take me over. I find myself getting a little impatient (already). I can't wait to have another little bundle of joy. I have felt like our family needed another member for a while now. I always see Haylee when she is bored or begging to play with someone. I think of all the times I played with my sisters or just bugged them until they did. I wanted her to have a sibling. I can honestly say that I dont care if it is a boy or a girl and I dont have any feelings one way or another. When I was pregnant with Haylee I dont know why but I knew that she was a girl. I had no doubt about it. With this one I dont seem to have a feeling like that either way. This makes it more difficult waiting until I get to find out. I honestly dont think that I could be one of those people who wait until the baby is here to find out. I am way to impatient. We will find out the sex of the baby in just a couple of weeks and I am really excited. I still get those nervous jitters everytime I have a doctors appointment though. I just cant wait until I can feel this baby kick all the time, I think that will reassure me that everything is fine. Im going to try to take pictures weekly now so that I can see my belly grow. I thought that would be fun to look at afterward. I just hope I can stay so positive in June and July when its a hundred degrees outside and I am huge. It will all be something to laugh about later though.

I'm a big girl now!

2009-01-26T15:49:00.000-08:00

Well Haylee is officially in a big girl bed. I have to admit it was a little difficult for me to move out her crib. We had changed her crib into a toddler bed, which was also hard but this was a little more difficult. I wish she wouldnt grow up so fast. She likes her new big girl bed though and I think she is more comfortable in it because she has a little bit more room. I was a little bit nervous at first that she might fall out of it, but she so far has not fallen out. It just makes her seem so big.

Snow Days

2009-01-26T15:35:00.000-08:00

We recently had some snow fall here in the tri-cities. It was a little too cold to really do anything with. Haylee got to at least go out and play a little bit though. She likes the snow all the way up until she gets too cold. She and Daddy went out one day and tried to make snow angels. I thought they turned out pretty good. I did now participate in this activity though because I think the snow is just too cold.

Whenever Daddy needed to go out and shovel the driveway, Haylee insisted on going out there with him to help. She mainly just played in the snow while she was out there though. But Seth sure enjoyed the company.

The snow ended up actually getting pretty deep. Haylee would try to run outside in it and would end up just like this. I think it was deep enough that it went all the way up to her knees. She didnt mind though.

Merry Christmas

2009-01-05T19:41:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas this year. Haylee got this food from Grandma Davis to go with her Kitchen set that Santa brought her. She loved all the food. It was probably one of her favorite gifts.

Mommy and Daddy gave her a little people farm that she liked. I was a little disappointed that I wasnt able to get the play house but this was okay.

This is her Kitchen set that she got from Santa Clause. It was a big hit, she loved it and is constantly making us dinner.

Goodbye Grandma Johnson and Grandpa Gregg

2009-01-05T19:24:00.000-08:00

It has been a hard couple of months at the Johnson home. Early in November we recieved the sad news that Seths Grandma had passed away. We immediately made plans and got into the car to drive to Utah to say our goodbyes. She was a great woman and will be missed by a lot of wonderful people. Not long after this happened, on my birthday in December we learned that my grandfather had also passed away. Due to the weather we were unable to drive to California for the funeral. So I decided to fly down to say goodbye to a man that will always remain in my thoughts. Although it has been extremely hard to lose two wonderful people in such a short time we are doing well. We realize how short and precious life is. We will miss both of our grandparents deeply but are thankful that we were able to spend such precious time with them. As we say goodbye to 2008 we hope that we will have some happier times to come.

Getting crafty

2008-12-02T21:48:00.000-08:00

So I have never in my life decorated a ginger bread house. So I thought as a good family home evening activity we would do this. Haylee was very exited and couldnt wait for Daddy to get home so we could decorated it. I have now found out why I have never decorated a ginger bread house. I looked at the box at the store and thought, "that looks easy enough." I was confindent that I could do it. Although the final product of our gingerbread house turned out alright, it in no way looked liked the one on the box. It is actually really hard. I think my frosting was too dry, so we had a hard time spreading it. Also I had a hard time explaining to Haylee that we couldnt just eat all the candy. Even though it was messy, and didnt turn out exactly the way I wanted, it was still a lot of fun. Haylee had a good time and was proud of it. She was also happy we didnt use all the candy cause she got to eat the leftovers.

Thanksgiving Memories

2008-11-29T17:26:00.000-08:00

We had a lot of good times this thanksgiving. It was nice to be around some family. I am very thankful to have such a wonderful family. Don't worry, Seth is only chugging the sparkling cider bottle. It was so much fun to see Christopher again he liked uncle Seth and Haylee. He also thought that our little dog Oscar was hilarious.
Angie and I got to break the wishbone. She got the bigger half so I guess her wish will come true and mine won't, dang!!. Anyway thisthanksgiving was a good one. Their are so many things to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-29T16:40:00.000-08:00

Well Thanksgiving is over. It seems like the time is just flying by at times. We had a great thanksgiving this year. My sister Angie and her Husband Jason and their baby Christopher came to visit from Rexburg. We also had my little brother Kevin visit us from Ridgecrest. It was a blast. It was nice to see my nephew Christopher he has grown so much. Angie and I had a good time trying to cook the turkey, since neither one of us had ever cooked a turkey and had absolutely no idea what we were doing. We new that we needed to take out the giblet bag (i think that is what it is called). So I got to be the luck one who stuck my hand in there to get it out. Our turkey was not all the way thawed so it was difficult to get it out.

After not knowing anything about cooking turkeys we realized that it really isnt that difficult and were actually quite proud of the way that our turkey turned out. We forgot to take a picture of it but it was BEAUTIFULL. It was golden brown and crispy on the outside and nice and juicy on the inside. We think that Thanksgiving was a success. We had a ton of food and all ate until we couldnt move.

A new best friend

2008-11-18T22:02:00.000-08:00

We recently got a new puppy. He is a miniature doberman. He is very sweet. Although Haylee doesnt know how to pick him up and hold him very well she loves him very much and tries very hard. She is always making sure that he has enough water and is always feeding him his food. This is the most mellow dog, especially for a puppy. Whatever Haylee does to him he just sits there and lets her do it. Sometimes I feel a little sorry for him. He loves to snuggle up with you and just lay there for hours. I think that he is going to be a very good fit into our family. We still need a name for him however. We have been calling him Boogs because that is what the person who sold him to us was calling him but we think that we need to change it because sometimes Haylee say Boobs which is a little weird. So we are thinking of good names for our little guy. We love him and cant wait to become fast friends.

Halloween

2008-11-03T13:47:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that Halloween has already come and gone. This year was fun because Haylee is a little older now. On Wednesday we went to the ward Trunk or Treat. This was really fun, everyone decorated their trunks and after we went trick or treating they had a cake walk and a bean bag toss. I dressed up like a witch, and Seth dressed up like Joe dirt. I thought our little family looked pretty cute.

On Friday we went out trick or treating. At first Haylee was a little nervous about going up to a strangers house and ringing the doorbell. She caught on real fast though and was soon ringing their bell five or six times. The people had to be careful giving Haylee candy though. If they put the bowl down low enough she would dive right in and get as much candy as she could fit in her little hand. Aaron and Sean came with us which was fun because Haylee got to go trick or treating with her couins. It was cute watching them all run up to all the doors and say trick or treat.

After we had trick or treated to the point where the kids could barely carry their buckets we went home and started going through all the candy. The kids were really anxious to dump all their candy on the floor and see what they had gotten. I don't know about Aaron and Sean but Haylee had a hard time winding down that night. I think she may have snuck one too many pieces of candy.

Carving Pumkins

2008-11-03T13:12:00.000-08:00

Carving pumpkins this year was really fun. Haylee is a little older and was able to help a little bit more. She refused to stick her hand in the pumpkin to pull out all the stuff though. That was just a little too gross for her. We have always known that she doesnt like to get her hands dirty from her first birthday when she wouldnt play in her cake. So she would just try to clean out the pumpkins with the spoon. She liked making faces on them though and was very willing to help us blow them out at night after they were lit. All in all I think that we had a really good time and our pumpkins turned out great.

Calling Jesus Christ

2008-10-26T20:29:00.000-07:00

Haylee sometimes likes to act like she is talking on the phone. Sometimes she actually does call someone without us knowing it. We will often get a phone call from friends or family saying that Haylee called to say Hello. But her most recent phone call was a bit unusual. She was sitting on the floor talking on the phone when we heard her say Hi Jesus. We then asked Haylee, "who are you talking to"? She said that she had called Jesus Christ and was talking to him. I told her to give him a message for me. It was a really cute moment. We took this opportunity to teach Haylee that you can "call" him when you need him when you say your prayers. This was a cute moment that turned into a good teaching opportunity. We will probably always remember when Haylee called Jesus to say Hello.

Silly Face Pumpkins

2008-10-26T12:22:00.000-07:00

Haylees favorate pumpkins are the small ones that she can carry. So we have a lot of these little pumpkins that are really too small to carve. So I saw these silly faces and thought that would be fun. It is very similar to Mr. Potato Head. You can stick them in and take them out and rearrange them any way you want. Haylee liked this a lot, so she probably would like Mr potato head also. Anyway they actually turned out pretty cute.

Riding the Horses

2008-10-25T21:05:00.000-07:00

Seth had a conference in Spokane this week, so Haylee and I decided to go along and make a trip out of it. It was fun, we spent the day at Riverside Park and Haylee got to ride the Carousel (spelling?). Needless to say she loved it and wanted to ride over and over again. When it was time to leave she through a bit of a fit and made some people around us feel sorry for her. One man even gave us about ten free tokens just so Haylee could keep riding. So Haylee got to ride a lot. She loved it.

Happy Fall

2008-10-18T21:31:00.000-07:00

I just cant believe that it is already fall. The leaves are all turning colors and starting to fall from the trees. I like fall a lot more here in Washington than I did in the desert. It is amazing to see the colors. I tell my husband, who has lived here all his life how amazing I think it looks. I dont think he quite appreciates it the way that I do, because he doesnt know anything else. Although I love the leaves and the pumpkins and the cool air, I am not all too excited about the leaves falling from MY tree. I have a willow tree in my back yard. All the leaves are eventually going to fall from it and I will have a big job ahead of me. Even still I think fall is amazing. I love to decorate my house and pick out pumpkins. I just think it is a really great time of year.

On top of the world

2008-10-18T21:15:00.000-07:00

Haylee and Daddy decided to try to tackle the big straw mountain. It was fun watching them climb their way to the top. When you get up there you just feel like you are on top of the world.

Straw Maze

2008-10-18T20:54:00.000-07:00

We Went to Country Mercantile and got to run through the straw maze. It was actually not as easy as it looked. Haylee had a great time running through it. Everytime she would hit a dead end she would just try to climb over it. We tried to tell her that you cant do that, its cheating. I dont think she carred very much. We did eventually find the end. It was a lot of fun.

The Pumkin Patch

2008-10-18T16:33:00.001-07:00

Well we went out to the pumkin patch today at Country Mercantile. It was fun we had lunch and went in the straw maze, we went to the petting zoo and found two great pumpkins. I had a hard time finding the perfect pumkin though. Haylee found hers right away. She likes the ones that are small enough for her to carry. She knows what she wants too, (she must get that from her Dad). When she saw the pumpkin that she wanted she knew. She saw this guy holding this little pumpkin and proceeded to tell him, "I want that one", and pointed to the one that he was holding. Thank goodness he was a nice guy and gave her the pumpkin. It turned out to be really fun. I am excited to carve them for Halloween, we have lots of pumpkins of all different sizes so it will be fun.

Daddys Girl

2008-10-16T01:12:00.000-07:00

Although sometimes they may bump heads. Haylee is definately her Daddys girl. When we ask her what she wants to do this weekend her response many times is go to a football game. One of the first words she said is "Touchdown". She goes to Daddys basketball games and cheers on the coach. She has been able to say the words, "one two three Go Braves" and "Boxout" since before she was two, things that she often chants from the stands. She is definately the coaches assistant.

Halloween Cookies

2008-10-15T22:43:00.000-07:00

This year we started a new Johnson family tradition, decorating pumpkin cookies. Haylee was a bit skeptical at first, she said that pumpkins are scary. But, after some practice found that she was pretty good at decorating cookies.

The Johnson Family

2008-10-15T22:24:00.000-07:00

Well I am now a blogger. As a young stay at home Mom I am excited to have somewhere to put all the fun things that are happening in my family. It seems like my little girl Haylee is doing something new and exciting everyday. I sometimes find it hard to keep up. Many times I feel as if I cant even blink or she gets bigger. She is now two years old and very independent. I miss my baby but am so proud of the little girl that she has become and look forward to new and exciting things for her.