Happy Birthday Taycee!!

Our little tiny baby girl is not so little tiny. It is hard to believe that a year ago I was hold a 5 week early 5lb 11 oz newborn baby. Now she is a chunky active 1 year old. It makes me sad. :( We had a party for Taycee on the 21st. We cleared out the front of our house and set up chairs. Luckily we had enough room to fit all of the family and friends that came. Taycee sure is one loved little girl. She was spoiled with many new clothes and toys. Things took a slight turn for the worse after Taycee ate WAY TOO MUCH of her cute little birthday cake and threw up in her high chair. She had had a slight fever that morning so after the cake we gave her some Tylenol and put her to bed. She slept for about 2 hours, when I went to get her after she woke up I held her for about 30 seconds before she emptied the rest of the contents of her tummy all over me and herself. Poor girl. She wasn't getting any better and a few hours later we called the dr. who instructed us to try and keep her medicated with Tylenol and Motrin to control the sickness and if it got worse to bring her in.
Chris's dad was here so they decided to give her a blessings. Within minutes after the blessings she was up jumping around laughing and happy as can be and she hasn't had a trace of sickness since. It was amazing to watch, one minute she was lethargic and visibly very sick and 5 minutes later she was the happiest most energetic baby ever. I am so grateful to have worthy priesthood holders in my home to be able to give blessings.
Luckily today is her real birthday so she was happy and healthy today.

Tha party was a lady bug theme. My friend Crystal made these darling cakes! Check out her blog here.

Taycee was a "birthday bug" she looked pretty cute.

So cute from behind!

Happy Britdhay Princess,

Mommy and Daddy love you so much. We are so proud of you. You are such a smart little girl. You learn things so quickly and are so curious about everything around you. My favorite part of the day is going to get you out of your crib when you wake up, you are always so happy to see me. You stand up on the side of your crib and jump up and down and squeal. You hugs and kisses are the greatest. When you get in your cuddly moods I could sit and hold you forever. You blow kisses now to everyone and strangers stop and coo over you all the time. You can say "ah oh" "bye" "hi" "mama" "dada" and "patty cake". You love music and shake your head and wiggle your body every time you hear something with a beat. You love your little brother and watch everything he does and try to copy him. You got a little stroller and two dollies for your birthday and you love them. Yesterday you picked up a dolly and tried to rock it the way we rock you. You are almost walking now but are really unsteady and usually fall on your bum. You are such a special part of mommy and daddys life. You make us smile and laugh everyday. You will always have a special place in our hearts as our first little princess.

We love you baby girl!

-Mom and Dad

Happy Birthday Grandpa

It has been a crazy week at our house. Last Tuesday night Chris came home feeling very sick. He was worried it was swine flu. This caused a minor heart attack for me because the kids hadn't been fully vaccinated yet. Kaden had his first does but had to wait for a month for his second dose. Taycee hadn't even been vaccinated yet. That night we quarantined Chris away from the kids and tried to decide what to do for the rest of the week. We decided to go to bed and see how he felt in the morning. Wednesday morning as Chris was lying in bed and I was trying to keep the kids happy, quiet, and away from Chris the worst possible thing happened, I bent over and threw out my back. I simply bent over to pick up Taycee and it was over. My knees buckled from the pain and I was all by paralyzed. It hurt to laugh, it hurt to move, it hurt to breath deep. Can you see the predicament here? I am paralyzed in pain and Chris is suppose to stay far away from the kids... HELP! It made for a very interesting few hours in which the kids were put down for early naps, doctors were called, moms were called, Chris tried to get me on to the bed and passed out. ( I try to say it was just because he was really weak and not because I am a hippo) Long story short we have super moms who came to our rescue. My mom showed up a few hours later and took over for the rest of the day and Chris's parents took the kids down to St George a few days early.

We are doing much better now. I still have some residing pain in my back but Chris is back to full health and the kids never caught anything.

We went down to St George this weekend for Kelly's birthday which is actually today. It is always so nice to spend time with family, and even better to do it in warmer weather.

We love Kelly/Dad/Grandpa so much! He is always one of the first to jump when we need help. He loves our kids more than words can say and they know it. They are always so happy to see grandpa. Kaden asks me daily to call and talk to gama and gampa. He is a great example to all of us and we are so grateful for him in our life.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Kaden brought me the camera today and ASKED for a "pikchur" after I took one he looked at it and said "ah cute..again" this process continued and ever picture had a new face. Who is this kid?? haha I laughed for a long time over these pictures.

Its these faces that make up for the not so nice faces. Yesterday I made him a sandwich that he ASKED for. He refused to eat it and I wouldn't let him get down til he at least had a few bites. I said "Kaden take 3 bites of your sandwich" he said "You're crazy, no way!" What?! who gave him permission to have that attitude. Oh boy we are in for it.
In sacrament meeting last week during the sacrament he took a drink of the water and said.. or should I say yelled... " UMMM DATS GOOD, I LIKE IT!" we are quite entertaining in church. :)

We put curlers in Taycee's pigtails. haha she is so cute. She is almost walking. She takes 4 or 5 steps every now and then but she is still really wobbly.

Grandma and Kaden

Frezzer Meals

It has been a very BUSY and very PRODUCTIVE Saturday. Awhile back Chris and I invested in this...Ever since then I have been busy buying things to fill it up. We are not use to having any extra freezer space. It's nice. I recommend it. My mom has made freezer meals from time to time so I decided we were in need of a "girls day" and informed my mom and sisters they were all going to be at my moms house on the 7th of November for a freezer meal party. And a party it was.
We started at 7:00 am... ok my mom started then, I really started about 7:30. The first item on the list was Browning all the hamburger and cooking all the chicken. My mom has about 20 freezer meal recipes but we decided just to do our favorite 10 (which actually became 11) and do multiples of each meal. We browned about 20 lbs of hamburger and cooked and diced 5 bags of chicken (which wasn't even enough).

Don't judge the our appearances in the next series of photos. It wasn't a "get ready day" it was a "who cares what you look like we have 40 dinners to make" day. Next we started in on dicing and peeling the onions needed for recipes. We had a slight crying party for the next 20 min. and anyone who walked in the kitchen for a few hours afterward got a bit teary eyed.We had fun.
Mom can't be mad for me putting this up. I told her to smile... she did this.
We put each meal in a gallon freezer baggie (expect the lasagna) and label it with the name of the meal and cooking directions.

I may or may not have dropped a plate of chicken enchilada filling on the ground.
Ok I did.

But the end result looked a little something like this.... (times 2)

Here is a list of our end product

Chicken Divan (3 Dinners)

Chicken Rice Casserole ( 3 Dinners)

Chicken Pockets (3 Dinners)

Sweet and Sour Chicken (3 Dinners)

Chicken Enchiladas ( 4 Dinners)

Stuffed Manicotti (3 Dinners)

Ham Rolls (4 Dinners)

Lasagna ( 7 Dinners)

Beef Ravioli ( 3 Dinners)

Sloppy Joes ( 3 Dinners)

Meatballs ( 3 Dinners)

39 dinners total.... if you are wondering how much the groceries cost I spent $210 dollars for all the ingredients and actually had a lot of some stuff left over. However I was short on Chicken and a few other things so all in all I think 210 is a fair amount to say. Which means that each meal cost $5.38. Not bad if you ask me. The other great thing is these are LARGE meals and will easily last my family of four 2 nights.

We finished making all the meals about 3 o'clock so it took us about 8 hours and we didn't stop for any breaks.

I came home with a car full of yummy yummy food. Put it in the freezer. Kissed my husband and kids hello, changed my shoes, kissed my husband and kids goodbye and headed back out the door to go teach dance. I am now returning back home, and need to wind down from dancing. I figured blogging is a good way to do that.

So that was my busy busy Saturday... how was yours?

Liar

Call me a liar but these pictures inspired my blogging....haha so maybe my hiatus from blogging is over. Not only that but the Sunday after I posted my "I'm done" blog we had a long lesson in Gospel Doctrine about the importance of keeping a journal. So my options are this or hand writing it in a book. And this is easier, less writers cramp. So for my husband, grandmas and others who threw a minor hissy fit when I was going to quit blogging, you win.

Chris wrote this for the ward newsletter... I like it so I am going to share.
Isn’t this time of year just wonderful? The blazing summer heat fades, the leaves begin to turn beautiful shades of yellow, orange and red, the first snowfall covers the land in a gorgeous blanket of white and the joy of the holiday season begins to reenter our hearts. It seems that especially through this time of year people really try to reach out to one another new friendships are formed, loved ones are contacted, and even utter strangers find the desire to pass with a warm smile or a friendly hello.
Every time I read that I get excited for the holiday season to begin. Because I LOVE all of those things. the beautiful colors, the peaceful serenity, the spirit of love. It is all wonderful and I am so grateful to be blessed to have it in my life.
I am grateful to have two beautiful healthy children. At times I want to scream, and at times I do scream... but nothing in life, no accomplishment or reward or success compares to the joy and happiness they bring to my life.
I am grateful to have a husband who works so hard for his family. I am not sure how anyone would be able to manage a full semester of the PHD Chemical Engineering program along with the required research hours and still be able to be such a doting husband and father. But he does it with seeming ease. The lyrics "everyone calls you amazing, I just call you mine" come to mind.

We played in the leaves the other day and the kids had a ball.

Taycee is 1 in 16 days. *sniff sniff* I guess its time to stop saying I have a newborn. She changes so quickly its hard to document. She is so close to walking I know she is going to take off any day now and I am afraid she will never slow down.

As I type Kaden is playing with his monkey. He is moving its arms and saying "can I hold you Kaden?" again *sniff sniff* when did he get this old?

Happy Fall Ya'll

Halloween and Snow

I still claim to be on a blogging break. However it is much easier to put pictures up on here than to email them all out to everyone. So maybe it will just be pictures for awhile. Who knows.

SNOW!?! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT! SHEESH! Kaden loved catching it on his tongue with daddy.

We had a fun Halloween party at Jocelyn s house Friday night. Notice Chris and I are the ONLY ones dressed up. LAME.

"Tragic Sam" A Halloween game of identifying body parts in a bad. Rob is smelling his hand after he just felt the "liver"- spam

SuperMan, Ute Cheerleader and Fairy

Candy Corn Toss

This was Taycee Halloween Morning. Crazy Hair!

Kaden Halloween MorningOur family is in need of a dentistKaden thought Trick or Treating was the best thing every he kept saying "tick or teat" and handing holding his basket to everyone.Taycee just liked daddy singing "baby bumblebee" to her while dancingWe went with some god friends the Broughs to Jordan Landing to take the kids around to the stores.Cute Elena was a kitty.
Chris and I were Vampires... the kids were really scared of us when we were dressed up.

Hope you all had a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!