Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to post and say Merry Chirstmas to everyone. I'm headed up to Eagar today until tomorrow. Heidi, Devin and Corey are visiting from Idaho! I'm SOOOOOOOOO excited to see them!!! It's been over a year since the last time I saw them. Then my in-law's are coming to our house on Sunday for Christmas. That is, everyone but Danae (Brent's youngest sister). She just reported to the MTC on Wednesday. :( She'll be there for 8 weeks then she's headed to Portland Oregon sign language mission. Anyway, have a great Christmas!! Hope Santa's good to you! :)

Thanksgiving and Stuff

We went to my parent's for Thanksgiving, and had a fun time. I haven't been up to Eagar in a while, and I've really missed my mom! Kate has started crawling everywhere, and pulling herself up to standing. She also has two teeth on the bottom now, and two more soon to come on the top. She said "da da" a few days ago too. That made Brent pretty happy. Kaden is loving preschool and has also started a weekly playdate with a few of his friends in the ward. He has more of a social life than I do! :) Anyway, I haven't posted any pics in a while, so I thought it was time. Here goes...

Here's a few pictures of Halloween. Kaden was a firefighter and Kate was a flower. They had so much fun.

Kate's been crawling all over the place. I found her the other day just sitting next to the wall, like she was posing for a picture, so of course I had to take a few!

And here's a few pics I took of the kids today. I was trying to get a descent one for Christmas cards, but it is SO hard to get them to both look at the camera at the same time!! The top one is my fave.

My baby's growing up so fast!

Kate had her Dr appointment on Thursday last week. She now weighs 13 lbs 3 oz at nine months old. She's in the 25th percentile for her head and length, but still not on the growth chart for her weight. The good news is that her growth curve has gone up instead of dropping like last time! YAY!!! The high calorie supplement I've been adding to her baby food must be working! Her Dr was very pleased with hor progress, especially since she's been so much more mobile lately. (I guess that's when most babies really start to slow down on their growth about this time because of using so much energy moving instead of growing.) So yeah, she's started doing a traditional crawl a little bit, as well as the army crawl she's so good at. Yesterday she pushed herself up from laying down to sitting. She's not pulling up to standing yet, but I think that's coming soon. Also, she got a tooth! Her first one! And I've been bitten with it already. Yeeeoooooooww!

Since I've been talking about Kate so much lately, I thought I would include a funny story about Kaden. The other day he found a white fuzz ball on the floor. He picked it up and said "Look mom! I found the Holy Ghost's nose!" I said "Oh, okay. You can throw it away if you want." Kaden said "NO!" He looked so offended, like he couldn't believe I actually suggested that, and he stuck the Holy Ghost's nose (ie a fuzz ball) in his pocket. I couldn't help but laugh. He is just so darn cute!

The Joys of Motherhood

While I think that motherhood is, overall, a joyfull experience, there are times when it is pure bliss! Times in the life of your young child that it seems you'll never be happier in life then right at that very moment. I had one of those moments last week. Kate said her first word! And it was....................................

MA MA!!!

It was the cutest thing ever. She was sitting on the floor playing a few feet away from me and all of a sudden she just belted out "ma ma!" She said it a few more times too, to show off for daddy when he got home from work. Kaden said Dada first, so it was fun to have Kate to say mama first. I love all the baby milestones... laughing, sitting, crawling, walking... but this has got to be my favorite! It certainly made my day and made for one very happy momma! I love my sweet little angel kids!

Life

Things have been pretty boring around here. Not much exciting to post about. Everyone around here got a cold except me. Luckily, Kate had a pretty mild cold. Just a little cough and runny nose. But Brent and Kaden had a pretty wicked cold for about two weeks. They both have a few lingering symptoms but are feeling much better.
I didn't wean Kate yet, because she started eating solids. Yay! So I can add her high-calorie fortifier to her baby food instead of a bottle. I guess it just took me deciding to wean before she would finally give in and decide to eat solids. Anyway, in the last few weeks since she has been eating better, I've noticed (and a few people have commented) that Kate is starting to fill out a little bit. I see a little bit chubbier cheeks and wrists and thighs. I am really happy about this! I guess that high calorie fortifier is working!
We went camping last weekend up by Prescott with Brent's brother Branden and his wife Shanna, and their girls Londyn and Teela. It was so much fun! Kaden had a blast playing with his cousins. And the guys had fun panning for gold. We didn't strike it rich, but still had lots of fun!

Vacation!

We went to California last week. We drove over on Wednesday and camped on the beach in Carlsbad (between San Diego and LA). On Thursday and Friday we went to Legoland. On Saturday we hung out at the beach. It was so much fun!! Of course, I brought my digital camera, but the battery was dead and I didn't bring my charger. Go Figure. So I bought a disposable one and still have to go get the pics developed. Anyway, while we were there we popped a tire and had to buy a new one for $200!!! For one tire!! I guess our car needs a special kind of tire, and everything is more expensive in CA. Kaden had so much fun at Legoland, and keeps asking to go back. Both of the kids did really good on the car rides and at Legoland. They never got fussy or whiny at all. That sure makes a vacation a lot nicer, when the kids are good the whole time. We had so much fun!
Also, I just wanted to add a few more things. My sister Heidi brought her baby home from the hospital on Wednesday. He is a month old now and weighs over five pounds. They're doing really good.
Secondly, I think I am going to ween Kate this weekend. She still isn't gaining weight very good, and she has a dairy intolerance (meaning I have to avoid eating dairy, which is really hard for me to do). I think she'll gain weight better being on formula where I can monitor how much she's eating and I can also add a high calorie fortifier to the formula. I'm a little disappointed that the time has come to ween her, since I really have enjoyed nursing her, but I think it's for the best. At least I made it to the 8 month mark!

Kate

Kate had a Doctor appointment yesterday for a weight check. She's 7 1/2 months old and is at 11 pounds 13 ounces. She's gone down even further below 0% on the growth chart. She just keeps dropping down. :(
She's only gained 8 ounces in the last 6 weeks. She had to have some bloodwork done yesterday to see if her being so underweight is caused by any health issues. It was torture! They had to draw blood out of both arms and it was coming out so slow that it took like 10 minutes on each arm, and Kate was screaming the whole time. They still didn't get enough blood. They said they'll try to do all the testing with what blood they got, but she may have to go back in for more blood. My poor little baby. I think all the tests will come back negative though. I think it's just genetic. She takes after her daddy and big brother. Kaden is still only about 25 pounds at three years old, and Brent had always been really skinny his whole life. Brent had all this testing done when he was little too, but was perfectly healthy. At her 6 month check up her doctor told me to hold off on giving her solids for a bit since there are more calories in breastmilk than solids. I have to start giving her a nutritional supplement pouder that adds extra calories. Usually the powder is added to a bottle, but Kate will not take a bottle or sippy cup. So I have to add the extra calorie powder to baby food and see if I can get her to eat more. Anyway, that was our day yesterday.

RVHS

I thought this was fun, so I stole it from Katie's blog! Fill this out about your years in high school! The longer ago it was,the more fun the answers will be!!

1. Who were your friends? Holly, Katie, Nicole, Jenny, Claire. Those were the closest anyway.

2. What sports did you play? none!!

3. What kind of car did you drive? a Geo Metro!

4. On a Friday nights what were you doing? Football games then the dance after ward, or sometimes all my friends would have a slumber party but I always had to go home at midnight!

5. Were you a party animal? Nope

6. Were you considered a flirt? Nope

7. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? I was in honor chior for a few semesters.

8. Were you a nerd? Nope. I always considered myself normal, not popular and not a nerd

9. Did you get suspended/expelled? No

10. Can you still sing the fight song? Heck no!

11. Who was your favorite teacher? Mr Smith!

12. Where did you sit during lunch? I went home usually

13. Name the school full name? Round Valley High School

14. School mascot? E-L-K-S what's that spell? ELKS! ELKS! ELKS!

15. School Colors? Black and Gold

16. Rival high school? St Johns

17. Did you go to Prom? Yes, junior year, no senior year. And yes I was sad about that.

18. If you could go back and do it again, would you? Heck no! I couldn't wait to be done with high shcool and get on with the rest of my life!

19. What do you remember most about graduation? Katie and I though we were so cool wearing these dumb "2000" glasses at graduation that we got on clearance after New Year's at Claire's on one of our many trips down to the valley. We though we were so cool back then!

20. Where did you go senior skip day? I don't even remember having one so who knows??

21. Favorite memory? Just hanging out with friends. I loved taking road trips. I went one with Holly, one with Jenny and several with Katie. So much fun! I also loved being the "office girl". The secretaries that worked there gave me an award when I graduated for working in there so much and I also won the Principal's Award. That was kind of cool too.

22. Were you in any clubs? SADD, and that's it.

23. Where did you go most often for lunch? home with Heath and Heidi and sometimes my cousin Jarrod. We always had fun.

24. Have you gained some weight since then? Oh yeah! I weighed like 110 in high school! I don't think I'll ever be that skinny again! :(

25. Who was your Senior prom date? n/a :(

26. Are you planning on going to your 10-year reunion? As long as some of my friends go.

27. Who was your home room teacher? I don't remember.

28. Who will re-post this after you? Who know's? I don't know if very many people even read my blog. Katie already has this on hers, so the only other one that comments is Rachel! :)

29. Who was your high school sweetheart? HAHAHAHAHA what a joke! I never had a high school sweetheart! I went to a few school dances, but other than that I didn't date, much less have a sweetheart! Not until after high school.

30. Do you still talk to people from high school? Yup

31. Did you win prom queen or king? Not even close!

32. Where did you work in high school? ALCO!

33. What were your grades? B's

34. What was your dress style? Casual. I never considered myself in-style. Still don't know how to be in-style

35. What year did you graduate? 2000 Y2K!

Here he is!!

My tiny cute little nephew, Corey!! Gosh, he looks so little! It looks like he's got lots of blonde hair.

I have a new nephew!!!

Heidi had her baby this morning. His name is Corey, and he weighed 4 lbs, 4 oz. He was born 6 weeks early. Heidi had to have an emergency c-section due to severe pre-eclampsia. I'm told that Corey will spend about two weeks in the NICU and Heidi will be in for 3-4 days. Heidi was visiting some of Devin's family in Logan, UT (about 3 hours from Rexburg) so that's where they are now. They are both doing pretty good, considering the situation. I was camping with my parents where we didn't get cell phone service when this all happened, so we didn't find out about it until six hours after he was born. My mom is on a plane up there now. Congrats to you both, Heidi and Devin! We are so excited to get to meet Corey. I'll post pics when I get them!

Kaden started school!

Yup, that's right! Kaden started preschool last week. He goes on Tuesdays and Fridays from 9:30-11:30. He LOVES it!! We are doing it with a group from our ward. There are 4 kids total, and all the mom's are taking turns teaching. Kaden is almost a full year younger than all the other kids, but he is still having a blast. He's been begging me to go to school every day for the last 6 months.

And one more picture of my cuties!

Also, I got my wedding ring back yesterday. Yay! I haven't been able to wear it in about a year. First I lost weight when I was pregnant and didn't want to loose it, so I didn't wear it. Then, the prongs were loose and I didn't want to loose my diamond. I picked it up from the jeweler yesterday after getting all four prongs fixed. It feels so wierd to be wearing it again. But I'm happy to be able to wear it again!

Me and my Man!

I stole this idea from Katie's blog!

Basics
1. Who is your man? Brent
2. How long have you been together? 5 1/2 years
3. Dating/Engaged/Married? Dating for 2 months, engaged for two months and married for just over 5 years
4. How old is your man? 26 1/2

You or your man?

1. Who eats more? Pretty equal
2. Who said "I love you" first? He did. We had known eachother for only two weeks, so it freaked me out a little.
3. Who weighs more? We weigh pretty close to the same, but he's a lot taller than me, therefore I'm a little more roundish.
4. Who sings better? Hmmm, I don't know. Probably about the same.
5. Who's Older? Him by one and a half years
6. Who's smarter? Him book smart me everyhting else!! ;)
7. Who's temper is worse? That's a pretty even match.
8. Who does the laundry? Me
9. Who does the dishes? Me
10. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me
11. Who's feet are bigger? Brent's
12. Who's hair is longer? mine, Brent doesn't have enough hair to grow it out longer than mine! But don't tell him I said that! ;)
13. Who's better with the computer? Definately Brent!
14. Who mows the lawn? We don't have a lawn...
15. Who pays the bills? Me
16. Who cooks dinner? me
17. Who drives when you are together? Brent
18. Who pays when you go out to dinner? usually Brent
19. Who's the most stubborn? Again, that's a pretty even match
20. Who is the first one to admit when they're wrong? I would have to say me, though he's pretty good about that most of the time too.
21. Who's parents do you see more? Probably Brent's because they're closer.
22. Who named your dog? We don't have a dog. We used to have a dog named Sadie, and we named her together.
23. Who kissed who first? Brent asked if he could kiss me. I gave him some tounge and he was more than a little surprised. He was only going to give me a peck on the lips. He had only been home from his mission for a month and a half and hadn't kissed anyone else yet.
24. Who asked who out? Technically, we didn't have our first date until we had already been dating for two weeks. We met through friends and just hung out every night.
25. What did you do? For our first real date we went to dinner at Buca Di Bepo with our friends Liz and Brian. We were going to go 4 wheeling but I was sick.
26. Who's more sensitive? Definately me!
27. Who's taller? Brent by 9 inches
28. Who has more friends? Me! Brent takes a minimalist approach to friends. He likes to have just a few really close friends. For me- the more the merrier!
29. Who has more siblings? I have 6 he has 4
30. Who wears the pants in the relationship? Hmmm... I would say Brent a little more so than me. And I'm okay with that!

Pictures!!!

Okay, I've spent literally hours on my computer today, and I finally got some pictures downloaded (Grrr... see post from yesterday)! Yay!!! Here we go:

This is of the kids in the bath last week. Kate's in her Bumbo chair. They had so much fun together! We have a big garden tub in our master bath that Kaden loves to take a bath in. He calls it his swimming pool. Once in a while I'll put Kate in with him for a few minutes, and he loves the company.

Kaden is riding his first bike ever (Grandma and Grandpa Hathcock gave it to him) for the first time yesterday! He's had it for a few months, but we just got the training wheels put on it.

Kaden and Kate love to play together. Kaden loves to try to make her laugh, and Kate just watches his every move. I love to watch them interact. Kaden is such a good brother.

Another picture of Kaden. He's riding a horse ride in from of an antique store here in Payson when Brent's family came up for the 4th of July. He thought it was the coolest thing ever and rode it for about 15 minutes before I had to drag him off.

And one last picture of my little angel. She is so sweet! I just can't get enough of her.

Stupid computer!!!

Okay, so I got a new digital camera a few months ago for my birthday and I have TONS of pictures on it but my ancient computer is retarded and won't let me download the pictures for some reason. Anyway, I wanted to post new pics of the kids but I'll have to wait until later. I've been fighting this for about a month, and still can't seem to figure it out. My last camera was really easy, but the new one is more hi-tech. It takes great pics, but what good is that if I can't share them with anyone?! Grrr!!!
Anyway, I had professional pics taken of the kids on Tuesday, so when I get those back I'll be sure to scan them so I can share!

Kate's 6 month check up

Kate had her 6 month check up on Tuesday. She only weighed 11 lbs 5 oz. She went down on the growth chart from the 5th percentile to below 0. I guess she's going to be just like Kaden! The little stinker! :) But she is otherwise in every way healthy. While we were at the doctor's office, Kaden fell off the steps at the end of the table where he was watching the doctor do her thing with Kate, but he tripped and landed on his head. He started screaming and got a big knot on his head. His doctor ran out and got him an ice pack, and checked his eye dilation for a few minutes to make sure he didn't have a concusion. I just thought it was ironic that it would happen while we were at the doctors office.

Holy Cow!

I have been so busy the last two weeks. After my Grandpa's surgery, he had a stroke. It affected his speech and memory. He is in a rehab center for a few more days before he goes home. From what I'm told, his doctors expect him to make a good recovery.
I spent most of last week at my mom's house helping her out after her hysterectamy that she had a little over a week ago. Things went well with that, except she had a roll of gauze left inside of her. It was removed with no further side effects. She's still a little sore, but doing better every day. She starts her teaching job again next week.
Also, I found out last week that Brent's uncle Kris has to have a double hip replacement and he's only 53, I think. They live up here by us in Pine.
And this really breaks my heart. I just found out last week that my sister Heidi's husband Devin is mostly blind now. He was diagnosed a while back with the juvenile form of Macular Degeneration, and his vision has been deteriorating. From what I'm told, he still has a little bit of peripheral vision. Heidi is due with her first baby in mid-October.
My sister Megan moved to Thatcher to go to college! She will be attending EAC. I can't believe she's that old already. Time sure flies!
My brother Heath and sister-in-law stayed with us over the weekend. The guys went scouting for Heath's upcoming antelope hunt, and Kayla and I and the kiddo's had fun hanging out and going to church.
So that brings me up to date. Boy, this has been a busy and rough few weeks! I will be back later to post a few pics.

Crazy weekend!

We had a crazy weekend! My Grandpa Good (my mom's dad) had a triple bypass surgery on Friday. It was estimated to be a 3-5 hour procedure, but he was in surgery for over 7 hours due to excessive bleeding. He is doing okay now (after several blood transfusions), recovering a little more every day. He will be in ICU for another day and in the hospital still for a few days, and we are told it will be about three months before he is 100% recovered.
Seeing my Grandpa after surgery, on a ventilator and with drainage tubes coming out of his chest, so pale and swollen was really hard for me. It reminded me a lot of the two times Kaden was in the ICU, clinging to life. Life is so fragile and precious. I'm glad my Grandpa is recovering well though. I want to have him around for a lot longer.
We also went to the wedding of some old friends, Janae Stickel and Jason Richards. It was fun and beautiful. It was so much fun catching up with old friends who we haven't seen in years.

I am so blessed!

So, here I sit crying, feeling sad and thankful all at once. I was reading my friend Katie's blog from yesterday, (she was talking about the 2nd anniversary of her brother's deaths) and thinking how hard that must be, and about the incredible support she has had from her family. They all just rally around eachother, it seems. (I know you'll be reading this, Katie so I just wanted to say again, LOVE YA, and your family is amazing!!) I feel so sad whenever I think of things like this that happen. Sometimes it's so hard for me to understand life. I really just have to put my faith in the Lord that things will work out in the end, weather it's that we will all get to see our loved ones who have passed on again, or whatever other trials come our way.
I just have to say how thankful I am for my husband, children, and mine and Brent's families, and I love them all so much. And I have such incredible friends, whom I also love very much.
I am reminded of a Martina McBride song called "blessed". It is one of my favorites.

Blessed
I get kissed by the sun each morning
Put my feet on a hardwood floor
I get to hear my children laughing
Down the hall through the bedroom door
Sometimes I sit on my front porch swing
Just soaking up the day
I think to myself, I think to myself
This world is a beautiful place
I have been blessed
And I feel like I've found my way
I thank God for all I've been given
At the end of every day
I have been blessed
With so much more than I deserve
To be here with the ones that love me
To love them so much it hurts
I have been blessed
Across a crowded room
I know you know what I'm thinking
By the way I look at you
And when we're lying in the quiet
And no words have to be said
I think to myself, I think to myself
This love is a beautiful gift

I think those lyrics sum up my feelings very well!

Happy news!!

I know I haven't posted a new enrty in a few months, but for very good reason. We were approached by a couple in our ward a few months ago who offered to sell us their house for a really good deal. We weren't in the market for a house, but it was such a good deal that we couldn't pass it up. They paid an almost $10,000 down payment for us as well as all of our closing costs, and sold it to us for below the appraisal price also. There's no way we would have been able to buy it without their help. So anyway, I've been very busy finding financing, packing, moving, and unpacking. We closed escrow on our first home on July 6th. We are so excited!!

And on to the house. It is a nice 2004 manufactured home (the same size home in a site built would have been way out of our price range at about $300k here in Payson) on a fifth of an acre. It is 1800 square feet, with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. There is a separate living room and family room. The master bath has a large garden tub, which Kaden calls his swimming pool. He loves to take a bath in it. We have already been having fun doing little projects. Brent can't wait to do some landscaping also. This has been an excellent opportunity for us to won our first home, especially since we already have some good equity in it from the beginning. We are very thankful to the Park family for helping us out so much!

We are all doing good, healthy and happy!!! We would love for anyone to stop by and see us any time you are in Payson.

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog! I'm really excited about it. Feel free to stop by once in a while to see new pics of the kids 'n stuff! I'm still learning how to do it, so please be patient with me while I get it figured out!

Mother's Day

Yesterday was Mother's Day, and I think it's the best one I've had so far in my three years of being a mom. We spent the weekend at my parent's up in Eagar. It was a blast! My mom made the best ever carrot cake from scratch. It was TO DIE FOR!!! So good! We also got to do a scrapbook project. Brent got me a very sweet card and Kaden made a little picture for me in nursery. He traced his hand and put some stickers on it and put it in a frame. It was so cute! And Dad made us all a steak dinner. It was a fantastic day! I am so thankful for the chance I have to be a mom to my wonderful kids. I am also very thankful for my Mom. She's the best, and I love her so much!

And of course, here's a picture of my little one's that I'm so thankful for. Pretty cute, I must say! Kaden sure loves his little sister. He loves to lay next to her and talk or play with her. And Kate loves to watch Kaden do what ever he's doing. They are great kids!