Sunday, April 3, 2016

Well Hello Again!

Oh wow, it's been 3 years since I've updated this thing!  I'm sure nobody reads this anymore but I have made a goal to attempt to update this just for me.  I've been so bad at recording the happenings of our family and when I think about all the moments that I thought "I'll remember this!" And then I forget it because there's so many of those moments! How can I possibly remember all the incredibly adorable (and not so adorable) things my kids do on a daily basis without writing it down somewhere?!

So right now, here's an update on whats going on with us at this point in her our lives.  Kaylee is 6 and is in Kindergarten. She loves her teacher and all the friends she has!  She's doing so well in class and her teacher has asked her to be a special helper.  When Kaylee gets done with her assignments early, she's been asked to help a girl in class that has been struggling learning her letters. I'm so proud of her for being willing to help this girl and be a friend to her.  Kaylee has been doing tumbling for a couple of years now and her teacher just recently got gymnastics equipment and has started teaching gymnastics.  Kaylee loves it.  She is also involved in dance.  This past Christmas, she performed in The Nutcracker as "a little party girl" and as a Snow Bird. She just recently performed in Peter and the Wolf as a bird.  She loves dancing and she has 3 of her closest friends who perform with her.


Braxton is 3, almost 4, and started preschool this year and goes 3 days a week.  He loves it and it has been so good for him.  His teacher does so many fun activities and he looks forward to going to school.  I think he feels like a "big kid" like his big sister, finally able to go to school.  Brax is so shy around others, hardly speaking but when he's comfortable - watch out!  He is so energetic and talkative and very very loud!  He has so much energy - literally bouncing off the walls, couches, chairs, anything!  He is also doing gymnastics to help get some of the energy out.  This boy, he is going to give me grey hair but goodness, he can be such a sweetheart and he can melt by heart just. like. that.


And little miss Claire Bear is about the most adorable little thing you've ever seen.  She is such a little smarty pants.  She watches everything so closely and gets things figured out so quickly.  I have to keep an eye on her - she's into everything!  She is such a happy girl and loves to tease. She LOVES to play peek-a-boo! She doesn't say much - like the other 2 were at her age, she's a little delayed with her speech.  She only says dad, mom and ball but she babbles and makes lots of noise.  I'm confident she will be as talkative as the other 2 when she does get the hang of it.


Jake is now working as a salesman for the John Deere dealer here in Roosevelt (and has been for about a year now).  He absolutely loves it!  This job has been a blessing for us.  Jake switched jobs when the oil industry started to drop out here.  He might have been okay where he was at but he may not have been as well.  The oilfield is still not doing well.  So many people in this area have lost jobs and are struggling or have had to move to find opportunities elsewhere.  Needless to say, we are so grateful that we decided for Jake to switch jobs. And the kids love getting to ride in the tractors every once in a while! Also, last week Jake finally got his shop!  It's been in the works for quite some time and it was finally put up.  He is so excited about it.  And it's HUGE!


And me.... well, I hang with the kids all day.  I feel blessed to be able to stay at home with my kids.  But I never would have guessed how hard it is to be a mom.  Some days (a lot of days) I'm not good at it.  We fight, we cry, I lose my patience, I yell, the house is a mess and heaven forbid - some days they watch way too much TV.  But we also laugh, play, learn, hug and say lots of "I'm sorry"s. And at the end of the day, we're family and we love each other. It's hard but I wouldn't trade it for anything! (And lets be honest, my Dr. Pepper always helps me get by!)  But on Wednesdays, I get to hang out with some pretty amazing chick.  Almost a year ago, I was called to serve in the Young Women presidency in my ward and I absolutely love it.  I'm involved with the Beehives and they are awesome!  I love these girls.  They are so fun, so creative and have an amazing spirit with them. They are such good examples and I loving spending time with these girls.  I think they teach me more than I teach them!


So that's us.  And we're all just hanging in there and taking one day at time!

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Grandma Janice

April 24, 2013

Jake's mom was able to come visit us in April.  We loved having her here, even if it was only for a few hours. She took us to lunch and then just hung out with us for awhile.  We loved it!



In fact, Kaylee was just looking at these pictures and she said "I want Grandma Janice to visit more"  (*hint hint!)

Meet Suzie

April 15, 2013 (Snow in April - seriously?!)

Meet Suzie the Snowgirl


A few hours later, imagine the devastation when Kaylee went to check on her new friend and found this....


Goodbye Suzie

Easter

We had lots of fun this Easter.  We stayed home again this year and we missed the World Finals of chariot racing and really missed seeing all of my family but we still had a good weekend.

Our local grocery store Stewarts had an Easter Egg hunt in their parking lot.  Yeah, it was kinda lame but the kids loved it! Kaylee got lots of eggs which means lots of candy!


And we met the Easter Bunny!!! Every time we go grocery shopping now, Kaylee thinks the Easter Bunny lives there, she really loved meeting him.  Braxton wasn't too sure of him though.

 


We colored eggs...
 


 


The Easter Bunny brought lots of fun things and he hid all those Easter eggs we colored so the kids had to go looking for them in the house.


Kaylee's new pillow pet Umi the Umicorn (That's how Kaylee says it, it's not a typo)
 

 Braxton was super excited (even though he looks super scary in this photo) to find the "Go Vane Racing" egg (because we missed the races, we sent my dad and brothers a picture of our egg to show them we were rooting for them!)


Ready for church!


 Another Easter Egg hunt outside




We had such a great Easter.  I love my little family!  Happy Easter!







Vegas Baby!

February 9-11, 2013

We went to Vegas with our friends Bret & Sara and we had so much fun!!  We shopped a ton, went to see some shows, ate lots of delicious food and laughed so hard we cried!  I'm not sure what happened to most of the pics I took but these are the only two I can find....

 Watching the 3D movie at the M&M factory


 I'm not sure why I thought I needed a picture with Elvis and Barney...?  But why not?!


My favorite parts of the trip:
*  Someone asked if Jake was Sara's dad!  haha Jake either looks REALLY old or Sara looks REALLY young. 
*  Sara sprinting down the Caesar's Palace mall to get to the Cheesecake factory before it closed!  Thank goodness she did, otherwise we would have missed out on some delicious cheesecake!

It was a much needed break.  And even though we missed our kids it was good to have a little vacation.  And let's be honest - they loved staying with Grandma!

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Jake's Birthday!

February 7, 2013

We had a small birthday party for Jake with just us.  I made him an awesome cake - don't be jealous of my amazing cake decorating skills!

I'm so grateful to Jake and all he does for our family.  He works so hard, sometimes taking on extra jobs/projects to make some extra money so that I can be home with the kids.  He's a great husband and a great dad and we love him so much!





Happy 28th Jake!

January & February Random Pics

The kids and I were bored one day so we just played and took some pictures.  I love these two cuties!




Braxton at 9 months.  Just doing some plank, working those abs.  No biggie.  



I went to get Braxton one morning and this is what I found....



Kaylee dressed herself...



Braxton had spaghetti for the 1st time, I think he liked it!