We are all alive...

Brandon got back on Friday from two weeks in Oregon for a work training test. WE ALL LIVED!! I didn't think it would happen, but it's finally over and I am a much happier mommy. Brandon and I were having the "who had it worse" debate, whether it was worse to be gone from your kids and wife all alone in a strange city, and eating out every night. I think I win, but it was a really close one:) During the long, lonely, two weeks...

Kenzie is a daddy's girl to the core and lets anyone around her, who is not her daddy know it. She was (and still is) teething, complete with fever, runny nose, diarrhea and all out misery, combine that with missing her dad, we had a fun two weeks.

Dillon was trying to see Kenzie at the store and tipped the cart on top of himself, Kenz and all. He has my screaming ability and he uses it each time he is injured, just bruises for both of them, thank goodness.

I had to spend my b-day without my wonderful husband:( He did send some beautiful flowers though and let me shop all I wanted:).

A few days later Dillon fell and cut his chin really badly and I had the mental debate (without my very calm husbands presence) of whether we needed to get Dillon stitches - in the end he got a butterfly bandaid, a movie and a sucker:) The next morning he peeled off and threw away the bandaid and informed me that since it was gone so was his owie. I noticed that while I was not trying to calm a little screaming boy dripping blood off his chin and praying he was okay so we wouldn't have to go to the hospital at 9pm and wake his sleeping sister, that his cut was much smaller than the amount of blood spilled. Stinkin' head wounds! (He's sleeping there, sorry for the up the nose shot:) )
He's being Mr. Cool here by the way. I bribed him with YoGo's to have his picture taken but he still wouldn't do a normal smile.

Kenzie got some hand me down shoes - if we haven't already established, Kenzie, in true girl fashion is obsessed with shoes - she insisted on wearing these ones and was being so cute I had to take her picture - probably for the first time in her life she participated willingly!!!
Dang it, have you seen how cute these kids are??? I think he wins, I would go crazy with neither of them to take care of - though a day or two might be really nice . . .
She looks like a girl who has had 20 tons of hairspray, a pick and a blow dryer. Not that though, hers is combination green bean juice, and pulling her piggy tails out:)
Dillon decorated this house all by himself. I took the kids to mutual with me while Bran was gone, the older girls were doing gingerbread houses for other kids in the ward and Dillon jumped right in.
All in all, we survived, but we are glad our sweet daddy/husband is home to take care of us!

Bountiful Bubbles & Blessings

We LOVE bubble baths here and the kids recently discovered turning the jets on in the tub - hence the monster amount of bubbles!! Kenzie isn't so sure if this is the thing for her but she always comes back for more, maybe because she wants to eat them. Dillon begs to have a bath everyday now.

I love the picture of Dillon with the shadow across his face, I'm not certain why I like it so much, possibly because I'm his mother and everything he does and everything to do with him is adorable:)

We are trying our hardest to survive the next two weeks - Brandon is gone to Oregon for some very in depth training and tests to see if he is ready to take over his own branch. It's going to be tough (on all of us), but I expect lots of emails and phone calls from you guys!!! Little daddy's girl Kenzie seems to be having the hardest time with it, combine that with 2 teeth coming in and a cold and we're having a great time. It's only Tuesday, it feels like it should be Friday. This should be interesting.

Man, I cannot believe how quickly Dillon is learning things. Everyone says kids are like sponges, I've learned that is so true. He was playing and something wasn't going right so he stood up and yelled,"What the heck?!?!" He is totally eating up letters right now. He loves his name. Everywhere we go he looks for the letters in his name and mommy, he'll starts yelling like theres a fire if he sees one.

Have I told you all how much I love Christmas? It is the greatest feeling on earth. Christmas just makes me feel happy. It's so much more fun now that I have kids. It's more about giving than it ever was before, which is maybe why I like it so much better. I miss the 12 days of Christmas though. My mom made us special pillow cases with pockets in them and starting on my b-day every year we'd wake up with little treats in the pockets. Not big stuff but special stuff, like a note saying we could make cookies with her that day, we could get a back massage, or little things like nail polish, candies, a tape. (back in the day:) ) It was like Christmas everyday! I tried doing it for Brandon but it just wasn't the same, he doesn't get too excited about stuff. Oh well. I want to do it for Dillon but Kenz is probably a little young. Well, Merry Christmas everyone.

This is how we potty train...

This was the re-beginging of potty training. It didn't work the first time but it took this time:) We are finally done!!! Don't worry even though these underpants are 2 years old - they've never been worn:)

6 Random Things

Well my friend Alexis "tagged" me. Apparently I have to put 6 random things about me on our blog - she doesn't think we use it enough:)

1. I am not in any way shape or form, crafty. I tried scrap booking and Dillon's book is maybe 12 pages long and covers his first year of life, Kenzie doesn't have one. He's three and she's one. I should get on that, it's not my forte. The crafty gene shows itself once every 2 or 3 years and lasts about 5 days - then I quit cause I can't stand it anymore. I wish I were better.
2. I cannot stop reading. If I didn't have kids I would forget to eat when I have a good book. It's an obsession. I go to the library once a week and I say it's so Dillon can do his art or silly songs class I always sign him up for but really it's for me, I love books. Oh, and he loves silly songs and art. Kenzie pretends she's a big girl during silly songs and dances around the room. I would love to write someday, I just need a good story:) Stephanie Meyer here I come!!!
3. I am a clutter bug who isn't very good at cleaning and my husband is a neat freak who can't sit still unless the house is spotless - we need a happy in between. If I start cleaning all of a sudden Dillon will ask me who is coming over. Anytime we have to clean he says it's cause daddy doesn't like our house dirty.
4. I am super cheap. I can always find something cheaper. There is a thrift store, Other Mothers, (kids clothes and stuff) here and the last Friday and Saturday of the month there is a 25 cent sale - I'm in heaven. Big Lots, The Dollar Store, Ross, anything on clearance, I love good deals, it makes my heart happy. My husband is lucky in that way, he could give me a gift card to the dollar store and I'd be just as happy as if it was roses:)
5. I still daydream about being a famous singer, regularly.
6. I hate marshmallows. They are just plain gross! The only reason they are on this earth is to make rice krispie treats - which I love, we put in butterscotch chips in them and melted chocolate chips on top... mmm. Other things I don't like: onions, I don't mind onion powder and green onions are fine too, I discovered I just can't stand the feeling when I crunch down on them - ewww, green peppers have a similar crunch, all pie except pumpkin, chocolate cake (I like brownies though - strange...) mushrooms (when I was little my sisters used to tell me they grew on cow poop and I've never been able to eat them since - even though I found out everything grows with cow poop - I just can't swallow them) rutabagas, cantaloupe and that's all I can think of now but I'm sure there are more. I am trying to be a grown up though.

This here's for you Lex, but ya'll can feel free to read my ramblin's if it suites ya.

Summer 2007

Some of our Summer 2007 pictures.

Dillon & Minnie

My niece came over to get ready for pictures and of course she had to go outside to be on Dillon's motorcycle thing in her dress! Only her little legs weren't long enough to reach the petals so Dill pushed her around the yard, it was soooo cute! Isn't she adorable!?!?!?!

Our First Garden

I know this isn't that exciting to everyone else, but this is our first garden. It's so fun. I'm sure once there are more weeds than veggies I will not think it is so fun but that's why I'm writing now rather than when the weeds are there:) I dug all the holes and let Dillon put in the seeds. He keeps telling me we are going to have food out there - if I can keep it watered! I definitely have a new respect for farmers, it's not as easy as it looks! Our ground is hard and rocky. It took all day just to get the soil loose enough to plant. Brandon built the trellis's and the beans will grow up them- if they know what's good for 'em. I'll add more pictures to this once we've got some sprouts so you can see it step by step. I'm going to be a homemaking fool this summer. We sprayed our fruit trees early enough so hopefully we'll be able to eat everything before the bugs do. I'll be canning, gardening and making an all out attempt at perfection this summer, please don't laugh when I fail miserably :)

D&K

(No she doesn't wear that shirt everyday but it is one of my favorites! Thanks Aunt Leah!)
Dillon has been so sweet with Kenzie lately. I think he's less scared of her now that she's a little more mobile, that's a good thing AND a bad thing... He likes to pick her up and carry her around when he thinks I'm not looking. He LOVES feeding her. She takes a bottle now and then and he loves giving it to her, of course he likes to share his food with her too- mommy does it, why not?

Huh?

This is my new favorite Kenzie pic. This is a classic Kenzie expression, we see this one all the time, lucky for us we caught it on camera:) I think it goes quite well with her shirt, don't you?

Teething & terrible twos

Dillon loves to show off his muscles, but only if his shirt is off. We are experiencing the joys of the terrible twos and the outgrowing of the beloved nap... such a sad time. He is charming, delightful and perfect until you say no to anything, inform him that he has to share with his sister or try bribing him to take a bath. Kenzie on the other hand is teething. If you call and everyone is screaming just be glad that you are calling and not here:) She is such a sweetie (normally) and such a happy baby. Dil & I have so much fun with her. She is kind of like the toy that we have to learn to share. She has one tiny little start of a tooth and another right next to it just about ready. My favorite thing is to get her all dolled up and take in all the compliments while I am out and about, one lady last week asked if she could buy her. Having a baby is so much fun - until it's 2am, where is everyone then I ask you??? She has melted away her father's tough exterior layer and has everyone in the house waiting on her hand and diaper:) The whole pregnancy he swore that would never happen but lookie lookie, daddy's hookie-d (Don'tcha just love my rhyming abilities!)

Just Plain Cute!

I finally got batteries for the camera so I had to make up for the week of not taking pictures. Dillon & I spent about 45 minutes trying to get a good one of Kenzie but all her smiles end in her tongue sticking out and with that annoying delay on the camera, her smile is at the tongue stage by the time it actually takes the picture! Tongue out or in she sure is a cute little girl. Dillon has started calling her "My Yittle Picess." (it's princess with a few letters missing) He loves being the first one to go in her room when she wakes up and I'll hear him saying that in the monitor, it's so cute.

Dillon's favorite thing lately is gum and his least favorite thing is baths so Brandon's been trying to bribe him to take one using gum - he hasn't had a bath in a little while. Brandon isn't as good at being tough as I am:) Speaking of gum Mom, thanks for the letter... Dillon loved it!



Kenzie is teething, I think this is a long term deal. She'll have a fever and be miserable for a few days on and then a few days off. This time it seems like it might be breaking through but who knows? She is pretty miserable and it's driving Dillon crazy. He says,"Kenzie! Stop Crying!!" I know he shouldn't be saying it but at least he is voicing his frustrations - mine and his:)




I hope my beautiful smiling children make your day brighter, cause they sure make mine wonderful!

Dani & Kenzie

Sleepy

When he's tired, he's tired.

Funny Faces

Cute Little kids. Dillon had his first pizza party with a friend for his b-day and they gave him these sunglasses. He wore them the rest of the day. Kenzie's new favorite is sitting up, of course with some help. I just thought this picture of her made her eyes look so bright. She's such a happy little baby!














One of Dilly's favorite activities is playing in the sink. He would stay there all day if he could. He just doesn't like his shirt being wet so we opt for topless:) When cranky, add water! He'll sure be happy for spring to arrive, he's had many forms of cabin fever for the last few months, his mother just might be the happiest of all...
Kenzie looked so cute on Valentines Day I took a few (hundred) pictures of her. This picture was mid-giggle and just might show her true colors I think, totally mischievous!!

Happy Little Girl

Kenzie is really good roller, I'll lay her down on the blanket surrounded by her toys and a few minutes later I'll look back and she's half way across the room. Not so much actually rolling over, she arches her back and it gets her where she wants to be. She loves Dillon's toys, basically she loves whatever we have - especially if we are eating. If one of us is holding her and we have a drink she goes crazy kicking and shaking until we give her some, she especially loves Brandon's ice water cause he lets her suck on the side of the cup where it's all cold. Nice and slobbery!