Boy, oh Boy!

Last week we had a very exciting week!! On Monday we went to the doctor for my 16 week check-up. I brought Jake and Kaylee with me because my doc said he may be able to tell what we were having. Kaylee kept telling us she wanted a sister (she can't really say brother) but she is actually going to have a baby brother! We're very excited. So far everything is looking good. I have my big ultrasound next Monday to make sure that he is doing well so we'll know more then, and hopefully they'll confirm that he is actually a he.

On Wednesday Jake called me during the day and asked me if I was sitting down. I got really nervous when he said that except for the fact that he sounded like he was holding in good news. He told me that our realtor had called and said that our offer on the house we wanted was ACCEPTED!!! Kaylee was taking a nap or else I would have been jumping up and down screaming! I was so excited. So now we just have to get the loan and do all the paperwork and we can hopefully move in next month. Woo-hoo!!! I can't even tell you how happy this makes us! We are so ready to be out of this apartment! (And since I can't paint while pregnant - I'm open to anyone coming to visit and help! ;))

THEN, on Friday we went to Spanish Fork because on Saturday Jake's mom was taking us on her annual Red Lobster feast and Christmas show/play. The food, as always, was amazing! The company, as always, was fantastic. And the show was good too - some might disagree with me on that but I thought it was good. It was cute and had a good message. It was a really good way to end such a great week! We look forward to this every year and it's just so fun to get together with everyone with no kids! Thanks Janice!

Hopefully this next week won't be a downer because of all the excitement of last week. But my mom is coming to visit this weekend - we're making candy, yea! So at least I have her visit to look forward too.

Live Nativity

The first Saturday of December our stake put on a live nativity. They do it every year but this year was our first time going. We didn't really know what to expect and we hesitated going because it was outside and it was freezing that night but we bundled up and went anyway. We are so glad we did!

I wish I would have taken some pictures but I got so caught up in it that I totally forgot. It was outside of a church and they did such a good job. The costumes were great and they even had real animals. Kaylee loved the cute little donkey they had. The spirit was very strong and I think Kaylee felt it too. She randomly leaned over and gave Jake a hug and kiss and then did the same for me. She then just turned back to the nativity and sat there and watched with a little smile on her face. It was very cute.

It was the perfect start to the holiday season!

Thanksgiving

We had such a great Thanksgiving. It was with my family this year and it was the first time in a long time that we were all there. It was so fun having all my brothers there. And we had lots of amazing food. Thanks Mom! Kaylee was spoiled rotten by her uncles - she had so much fun with them!

The next day we did a little shopping - nothing crazy. I wasn't feeling the whole black Friday experience this year. That night I got together with the girls in Jake's family and we did a Christmas craft while the boys went to do their thing. We had so much fun. And now I have a new Christmas decoration that I have no where to put. I only have one table to decorate in our small apartment and it's for my nativity so it'll have to wait until next year... :( But it was great spending time with the girls.

Saturday Jake and I went shopping for Kaylee's Christmas and birthday gifts. She's all finished up and I am so excited about her gifts! I think she'll love them. Now if only I knew what to get everyone else on my list....?

I'm so glad our families live close by each other so we can see them both on these special holidays. It was so great to spend time with everyone. It was a great Thanksgiving!!

Change

Change scares me. I know it can be good, lot of the time it is but the unknown is a little nerve wrecking. And right now, Jake and I have a lot of changes going on.

First of all, Jake got a new job. He started last week and thinks that he likes it so far. We've both been really nervous and excited about this new opportunity for him. I think it will be really good though.

With Jake getting a new job, that means we will be staying here in Roosevelt. I'm sure most of you have heard me complain about Roosevelt but honestly, I'm just excited that we've finally made a decision. We've been in limbo about whether or not to stay here since we've moved here so it feels good to just know what we're doing. And Roosevelt is growing on me, although winter is right around the corner so I may be complaining a lot more.

So since we're staying, we've been looking at houses. We actually have an offer out on one but it's a short sale so we won't know anything for a while. So keep your fingers crossed for us because I really want it!

Just recently they split our ward. I love our ward!! This was really sad for me because I knew we would be out since we live on the outskirts of town kind of. So we are now in a new ward with a lot of people we don't know. And we have new callings.... ugh. I loved teaching my CTR 6 class. Such a good class and I really miss them. I am now the Relief Society Secretary and I'm pretty nervous about it but I'm also liking it so far. Jake is the Assistant Ward Clerk over Technology. Our new ward is nice but I really miss our old one. I was mostly worried about Kaylee in nursery but I had no reason to be. She's doing great in there and loving it.

And the other big change in our lives right now is a new baby! We're pregnant (12 weeks along) and the little one is expected to arrive May 20. We're so excited!

So we have a lot of new things going on, exciting changes but also a little scary.

Halloween Weekend

We had such a fun Halloween weekend!! Friday me and Kaylee had a great start to the weekend by going to lunch with some friends. Afterwards we went to a Pumpkin Patch with my dad and Jed. Kaylee loved the petting zoo they had but especially loved the corn box they had to play in!



That night we all dressed up and went to the Nielsen's Halloween Party. Jake was Julius Caesar, I was someone from the 80's and Kaylee was a cowgirl. We obviously did not do a theme this year, instead we went with what we had on hand. The party was a lot of fun. We played lots of fun games and had lots of yummy treats.

She wouldn't keep her hat on!

On Saturday we did family pictures with the Nielsen family. It was cold and it took a while for Kaylee to be happy but hopefully we got some good pictures. Kaylee looked cute anyway.

After pictures we went back to my mom's and carved pumpkins. Kaylee wasn't too interested in this but Dad, Jed and Jake took this very seriously and they carved some awesome pumpkins. My mom grew some really big ones this year!

This is what Kaylee does when we ask her where her smile is.... total cheeser!

Monday night we dressed Kaylee back up in her cowgirl outfit and went trick-or-treating with some friends. I wasn't too sure how Kaylee was going to do with the whole trick-or-treating thing but she actually loved it! And she even kept her hat on! It was so fun seeing her have so much fun. I loved it.

It was such a great weekend and such a great Halloween!

Thriller & Lots of Shopping

This past Friday I went with some friends to Park City to see Thriller. But first we ate some yummy food at the Baja Cantina. SO GOOD! Anyway, and Thriller was good too. We had so much fun.

We then drove to Salt Lake to spend the night and then we woke up early and did some serious shopping. It was exhausting - especially since we only got like 4 hours of sleep. Somewhere in between shopping we stopped at Olive Garden for lunch. I love Olive Garden. Needless to say, I ate way too much on this little trip. I'm pretty sure I walked a lot of it off though with all the shopping...

We got back late Saturday night and I seriously had so much fun. I didn't buy a ton but I had great company. Thanks girls for such a great trip!

Goodbye

You know how they say "Dog is Man's best friend"? It's so true. Kage was our best friend. And this past Friday he died. And we are so sad. We loved our dog so much and have had a hard time saying goodbye.

I could post tons and tons of pictures of Kage but I just picked a some of my favorites...

Just a few days after we brought Kage home.

Kage and my nephew Hunter at the cabin.

Kage used to always lay down by Kaylee when she was a baby.



Blanchett Park


Payson Canyon

We are really going to miss him.

Our Summer Fun

As it was kindly pointed out to me today from a friend, I have not updated my blog in a really long time. It was the incentive I needed. I have lots to catch up on so I'll condense most of it to one (long) post.

The 24th of July Weekend:
We started off our weekend by going to the Spanish Fork Fiesta Days Rodeo. It's one of my favorite events during Fiesta Days. We were so excited to take Kaylee and I really think she loved it. She loves horses but the thing that caught her eye the most were the cows. They were right underneath us under the bleachers so she kept peaking down there.

Grandpa bought her a cowgirl hat at the Rodeo. So cute.

Over the rest of the weekend we went to the carnival, we went to a concert in the Park, and we had a BBQ with Jake's family. We had so much fun over that holiday weekend spending time with both of our families.

Kaylee on the Merry-Go-Round

July 28th:
One night when Jake got off work, we went shooting guns. I'm not the best aim but I did hit a couple of cans. It was still fun though.




August 2nd-3rd:
My mom, Kaylee and I drove to Idaho to visit my Grandpa Stoddard. I wish we could have stayed longer because it was so good to see my Grandpa. It was really weird being up at his house because I hadn't been there since my Grandma passed away and it was different without her there. But I loved seeing my Grandpa and I loved having Kaylee be able to spend time with him as well. We picked TONS of raspberries and made so much raspberry jam. While my mom and I picked raspberries, Kaylee followed Grandpa around. She went for a ride with him on the tractor and she loved it. She loved hanging out with Grandpa Stoddard and so did I. It was a really good couple of days.



August 4th:
Kaylee and I went to visit Grandpa Vane and the horses. My dad hooked a horse halter on the walker and we put Kaylee in it so she could go for a ride. I used to love this when I was little. Kaylee didn't like it so much. Maybe when she gets a little older....?



August 14-19:
We went on a cruise!!! I will be dedicating a whole post to this as soon as I get pictures so stay tuned.

August 30th:
This is what it looks like outside of our apartment. (I know, it's awesome.) You can almost, not quite, drown out all the junk with the weeds. Jake decided to mow them down and Kaylee LOVES the 4-wheeler so she helped.



September 2nd-5th:
We went to the cabin for Labor Day. Kelly and Jen and some of Jen's family came up as well. We had a blast. Lots of 4-wheeler rides, lots of good food (as usual) and so much fun. We are so blessed to be able to have this cabin and enjoy the beautiful scenery up there. It's gorgeous and we always have the greatest time.

Kaylee loved picking flowers

Kaylee kept falling asleep on the rides we went on.
She would get so excited to go and then miss the whole thing.

During this time we were also dog-sitting for Zac. We had little Zoey with us for a week. Kaylee and Zoey loved playing with each other. Kage and Zoey, not so much. We had fun watching Zoey. She is sooo cute!

Zoey!

Kaylee kissing Zoey goodbye

It's sad to say goodbye to the summer. I always have a hard time with it because we have a short fall and then winter hits. But we had an awesome summer.

This past weekend Zac came home to visit so we decided to also come visit so we could see him. Saturday we went boating with Tye. Audrey and Dad had to work unfortunately so they couldn't come with us. But the rest of us had so much fun! We all had a turn at wakeboarding and then when the water got a little rough we blew up the tube.

Kaylee and Uncle Zac

Kaylee driving the boat

Zac & me on the tube!

Mom, Zac and me on the tube! I have never laughed so hard!!

Jake and Kaylee



Tye took my mom, Kaylee and I on a non-wild ride

My mom is holding sleeping Kaylee on the front. Me, Jake and Tye on the back. Zac is in the tube taking the picture.

That night Zac, Jake and I went to see X-Men First Class. It was really good but I think Jake and I still like the Wolverine movie the best but it was still so good!

Sunday we were all pretty miserable. We were sore, sunburned like crazy but it was totally worth it. It was seriously so much fun!! And it was so good to see Zac!

4th of July

Jake and I started our 4th of July weekend by going to Vernal to the Rec Center. We went swimming and had so much fun! They have an awesome swimming pool! Kaylee wasn't so sure about it at first but I think she had fun.

The next day we went up to the cabin after church. Almost everybody in Jake's family came up and we had a blast!!! We went 4-wheeling, fishing, ate some good food and just hung out. Kaylee's favorite was 4-wheeling. She loved waving to everyone.

Kelly & Jen, Jamie & Chris, Cory & Elisha, me & Jake

Jake, Cory and Chris getting ready to go on a dark bike ride

Jake and Kaylee fishing

Kaylee really enjoyed wandering around and collecting rocks and sticks

Grandma and Ken with all the grandkids

Grandma and Kaylee hanging out

We had a lot of fun and were so glad that so many of Jake's family could come up at least part of the time. Jess even made it up for a little while - unfortunately she got super sick but it was still good to see her!

We came home on Tuesday and can't wait to get back up there again!!

Mom & Daughter Weekend

My mom and I used to go on little mini vacations when I was younger. Just the two of us. We would usually go during the summer right before school started up again and go school shopping. We'd go to Park City a lot or sometimes St. George. Regardless of where we went, we had a lot of fun. I'm convinced that these trips brought us closer together and is part of the reason that we're such good friends.

We hadn't been on one of our trips for awhile. We decided we needed one. So we went to Salt Lake for a night. We left Saturday morning. We had lunch and went shopping at the Gateway. Then we decided to go get pedicures. My mom did not enjoy hers (long story) but I really enjoyed mine. We then went back to our hotel (The Little America - which we loved!!) ordered some dinner there at the restaurant at the hotel and went to our room, ate and watched a movie. It was a very relaxing day.

The next morning we went across the street from our hotel to the Grand America where they have an amazing buffet brunch. We ate 'till we were sick! They had little stations where chefs would cook you something right there. They were making omelets, crepes, pancakes and lots of other things. They had crab legs, shrimp, prime rib, fish and sooo many deserts. Seriously, we ate so much and it was so good.

After rolling out of the buffet, we then had to go buy Kaylee her souvenirs since we missed her so much. And then we went for a drive.

I forgot to take my camera with us so I didn't get any pictures (not that my mom would have let me take any of her anyway) but we had such a great time and I'm glad that we were able to do this. I've missed our trips and the fun we have on them. My mom is one of my very best friends and I can only hope that Kaylee and I will have a relationship similar to the one I have with my mom. I can't wait until Kaylee is old enough to go and enjoy it with us because we are making this an annual outing again!

Cookies

Kaylee and I decided to make some cookies last week. We made Oatmeal Chocolate Chip - they're my favorite. It started out great. I got out her apron that matches mine. Elisha made them for us. This was Kaylee's first time wearing it. Isn't it adorable? Kaylee was very excited.

So we made cookies. She loved sneaking some dough when she thought I wasn't looking... and I sneaked some dough when I thought she wasn't looking... She loved helping pour the ingredients and she loved watching the Bosche mix the ingredients. She even loved watching them bake in the oven. All was going well until....

I put our first cookies on the cooling rack to cool - which was on top of a dish cloth - which I accidentally left the corner hanging off the side of the table. Do you see where this is going? I turned around just as Kaylee grabbed that corner and pulled. Cookies went flying everywhere.

The cookies didn't turn out that great anyway, so it wasn't a huge loss. But Kaylee and I had fun making them in our matching aprons anyway.

Memorial Day Weekend

Saturday we decided to pack a picnic and drive Nine Mile Canyon. It was a good/bad experience. The road was awful! It was so rough. I had a headache within 5 minutes of driving on it and we were on the road FOR.EV.ER. We did eventually make it to a little picnic area where we had lunch and walked around to look at the Indian engravings. We were all relieved to get out of the truck and didn't want to get back in for the drive home. We still had a good time though. And this really nice couple from California (from an area where Jake served his mission in) came up to offer to take a picture of our "cute little family" for us.



Monday morning we drove to Orem, met my mom, and all drove up to Sandy to go to the Living Planet Aquarium. Kaylee loved it. She was fascinated with all the fish. The penguins were my favorite! We all had so much fun. Then we went to lunch at the Olive Garden. YUM! There's not a lot of good restaurants out here so its always nice to go out to eat when we make it to the city. And we were so glad Grandma Vane could spend the day with us!!

It was another great weekend!!

Dinner, Car Show, Pirates and Nursery

The Friday night before the Car Show we went out to eat with some friends to this new Mexican Restaurant (can't remember the name) in Orem. The food was good. However, I wasn't impressed with the service. Not to mention our waiter was a guy I went on a date with a long time ago and I'm pretty sure it was one of the worst dates I've ever been on!

We had a great time hanging out with our friends. And I know Kaylee totally loved playing with her friend Landon. I think she might have a little crush.... And seriously, how cute are they?!

Saturday we went to the UVU Car Show at Thanksgiving Point. We've been the last few years and we always have a lot of fun. Fortunately, the weather was beautiful! There were lots of fun cars and Jake can't wait until he can put his car in shows some day.

Out of all the awesome cars we saw, this was one of Jake's favorite. Seriously. And it was in the Swap Meet part - not the actual car show. This is why we keep collecting junk....

This was one of my favorite cars. I want a car like this some day to take to the car shows with Jake.

After the car show we went over to Jake's mom's house to celebrate our nephew Hunter's birthday. It was a pirate party and was a lot of fun. Kaylee looks pretty darn cute as a pirate. I didn't take my camera but hopefully I can get some pics emailed to me.

We drove home Saturday night so we could be at church on Sunday. Jake took Kaylee to nursery and stayed in there with her for a few minutes. She was doing great so he left. Shortly after we both heard a child screaming down the hall.... It was Kaylee. She didn't do as well as we had hoped in Nursery. She did great as long as Jake was in there with her. Oh well...

All in all, it was a great weekend. And we had great weather - at least for a little while.....

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

Seriously! GO AWAY!

What's the Point?

Sometimes I wonder what the point of going to church is with an alomst 17 month old...

We try to listen to the speakers in sacrament meeting but most of the time Kaylee makes it pretty difficult. She's either trying to take the toys/books from the neighbor kids or begging for treats from the neighbor (she has her own but she wants what everybody else has) or she's throwing a fit because I'm not letting her beg. Or just throwing a tantrum for who know's what reason... She's spends a lot of time out in the foyer throwing fits because we don't let her play out there....

And then there's Primary - Jake and I are both in there and we, mostly Jake, just chase her around the whole time. We're pretty excited for her to be old enough to go to Nursery - actually we're thinking about putting her in there early.

By the time church is over - we're all exhausted (and we only have 1 child! How do people do it?!) but especially Kaylee & Jake (since he's the one doing most of the chasing). Kaylee is usually passed out within 30 seconds on the drive home but the problem with this is - she gets 5 minutes of rest on the way home, then we wake her up to go inside, eat lunch and then take a nap - but she figures she already took her nap - in the car - for 5 minutes. She doesn't sleep, so she's feisty and grumpy the whole day. Sundays are kind of nightmarish.

Today I tried something new, I sat in the backseat with her on the way home and kept her awake. It was hilarious trying to get those eyes to stay open but we managed it and she came home, ate lunch, and took a nap - for 2 hours!! 2 hours is a good nap for Kaylee - it's unheard of actually, especially on a Sunday.

Hopefully we figured out how to make AFTER church better and hopefully DURING church will be better once that little tornado can go to Nursery.

I figure everybody else manages just fine with mulitple kids so either we're doing something wrong or we're not nearly as patient. Probably both.

Oh well, until next Sunday....

Easter

We started off our Easter festivities on Thursday (we were leaving on Friday to go out of town) by coloring eggs - one of my very favorite Easter traditions. We let Kaylee participate - she got dye all over the place and threw an egg on the floor. It was really funny.

Friday we drove up to Spanish Fork to spend time with our families for Easter. We went to lunch on Saturday with my family, came home and colored more eggs. Saturday evening we went to Jake's mom's house to eat dinner and have an Easter Egg hunt. We also shared stories about Jake's dad who had died 5 years earlier. It was a lot of fun to be with everyone and so good to hear stories about Jeff. We left that evening to drive home so we could be to church on Sunday.


Kaylee loved looking what the Easter Bunny had brought her Sunday morning, and she looked super adorable in her new Easter dress! Although, during Sacrament Meeting - our neighbor next to us kept giving her candy - lots of candy and she was drooling blue all over her new dress. She seriously had pools of blue all over her. I wasn't too happy about it but luckily it came out.

That evening we went to some friends house for a delicious dinner and an awesome Easter Egg hunt. Kaylee brought home lots of candy and she had tons of fun playing with the other kids.

It was a fantastic Easter and I know we got caught up in all the Easter Bunny stuff but I am grateful for the true meaning of Easter. I'm so thankful for my Savior and the sacrifice he made for us.