The Big 5-5!!!!

Today is my dad's 55th Birthday! We celebrated this evening at my parent's house. We had Mexican food and them cake and ice cream! My mom got him some "essentials" from Costco, and us kids pitched in on a really cool workout wall hanging for his "gym." It is so awesome, Jamie put a lot of effort into designing it.

Happy Birthday, Dad!!!! I love you :)

Flashback Friday

This is from my wedding in June of 2003. Here I am with all of my bridesmaids. How life has changed since that day! It is so weird, I almost feel like my wedding day never happened! Not because it wasn't special, I just feel like I have been at the point of life I am at forever! It is hard to picture it without Lyric and Paxton added to the mix!

I remember I picked out my bridesmaid dresses when Jamie came to visit Utah in March. She did a daring drive by herself with Jordyn, who was not quite one! We got all five of the dresses at the time. Little did she know at the time, she was pregnant, and the dress would not be fitting her in three months! Somehow, when the time came, she went back to David's Bridal and found a different dress, and her friend, Tiffany, helped her sew some sleeves on!

Four Months

Today is Paxton's 4 month birthday! Last night Mike said, "He is almost a year!" No way, not even close, well maybe 1/3 of the way there, but let's not age him that ridiculously much! Here are some monthly tidbits about the "little" guy.

-He is still, consistently, sleeping 8-11 hour stretches at night. I really just need to appreciate this and stop wondering if every night is the last night he'll sleep this great!

-As you can tell from some of the pictures, he loves eating his burp cloths.

-He has his second cold in his four months of life. The last one lasted a week and this one looks like it will last longer! The past five nights he has been coughing so hard, it seriously makes me wonder if he is choking to death! It even wakes Mike up, which is saying a lot!

-He is tipping the scales at about 22 pounds.

-He really gets excited and tries to grab stuff Mike and I have in our hands

-He can hold the longest conversation with anyone or just himself!

I can't think of anymore little things off the top of my head right now. Each day just gets more entertaining with him. He is a pretty happy baby, most of the time.

I Looked In Lyric's Room and What Did I Find.....

Every night, before I go to bed, I check on Lyric and Paxton about four hundred times. I like to make sure they are situated comfortably, and I have this obsession to make sure they are still breathing. Well, last night, I walked into Lyric's room and saw the poor girl sleeping on the floor. Somehow, she must have rolled off and just continued sleeping! The night before, when I went in, she was almost on the floor, but last night she was completely! I am glad I checked, she would have had a cold night!

Flashback Friday

February 2006 (California)
June 2006 (Arizona)
October 2007 (California)

I love to see comparison pictures. These are all three from the visits Tiffani and I have had in the past two years. You always have to have the classic tubby shots! I know we will have many more as the years go by!

Shout Out For Rachael Ray

So, this afternoon I was watching Rachael Ray, her hour show, not the 30 Minute Meal one. I don't watch her on a regular basis, just whenever I happen come across it when it is on. A lot of times she has some intriguing meals that I want to give a try. I have done it once before and it turned out pretty good.
Well, today I was planning on going to Olive Garden for dinner because I got a coupon in the Sunday paper for it. My plans changed when I saw what she was cooking. It looked so yummy and I knew I wanted to try to make it for dinner.
http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/food/recipes/buffalo-baked-chicken-blue-cheese-celery-carrot-slaw/
Here is the link to the recipe. I bought the ingredients and off I started cooking. I felt like Rachael Ray, except I must say that they make things look ten times easier to do on TV! I was actually quite impressed with the outcome. I would suggest this to anyone who likes buffalo chicken!

You Learn Something New Everyday!

So, I have had my digital camera for two years. I would never brag about, or even recommend it to anyone, but it does the job! To say that there is a long delay between the time you press the button until it takes the picture is an understatement! But, I discovered something yesterday. I never knew that it helped a little if I partially held down the button until I was actually ready to take the picture! What kind of a slow learner am I?!?! I told Jamie this yesterday, and she could not believe it! So, I would say, that I have probably cut my waiting time in half! I guess my camera isn't SO bad!

One Year Ago Today

One year ago today, I found out I was pregnant with Paxton. How in the world has time flown by this fast!?!? It makes me feel a little sad. I can't believe that he is almost four months. Now, I wouldn't have it any other way, I love that he is becoming a little person.
Last year, at this time, I was counting down my days of feeling "normal." I knew, for the next year, that emotionally, mentally, and physically, I would be a little whacked out! Pregnancy and the first three months with a newborn can just be dang hard! Of course, it is so incredibly worth it.
Please tell me why in the world I look at pregnant women and think, "Oh, how cute!" Not one time did I feel remotely cute! Saturday nights I would spend AN HOUR trying desperately to find something humane to wear to church! Towards the end, I actually thought my feet were going to split open if I walked for more than three minutes! And, if it weren't for DownEast Basic's lace camisoles, my ginormous belly would have hung out of 99% of my shirts! I know it is my mind playing some major tricks on me! Don't freak out, I am, by no means, insinuating that I want another baby right now! It is just interesting what your mind can do!


How in the world does this........
nine months later turn into this........
and then this..........
to eventually this!!!!!!

I love my little man :)

Paxton's Blessing Day

Can't you tell how much they are into the game!

This past Sunday, we blessed Paxton. I thought it would be fun to do while Tiffani and her kids were here. The day turned out really good. Somehow, no matter how hard I try, I ALWAYS run late. I knew I couldn't be late on Sunday because the blessing is very close to the beginning of the meeting! With a ton of help from Tiffani, we got there, not early, but on time!

Mike gave a very special blessing. I wrote a few things down as he was giving it, but unfortunately lost the paper. Afterwards, my family came over for lunch. We hung out for a while, and then I took Tiff to the airport.

Happy Halloween!

Today was a fun filled Halloween! It started off with dance class. Lyric was able to wear her costume to dance, and at the end they handed out treats and had a little party!

All day, all she could talk about was trick-or-treating. Recently, she has been watching Mickey and Little Einstein's Halloween movies. This has gotten her totally into the Halloween spirit. I kept telling her, after dance we will take a rest and THEN we will go trick-or-treating! About 25 minutes into her nap she yelled for me. I walked in and she said, "Mom, is it time for trick-or-treating yet?!?!" I made her lay back down, which only lasted another twenty minutes. She was too excited.

This evening we went over to Jamie and Tucker's. We ate pizza and then Tucker and Mike took the girls out. They sure got a good amount of junk! We were surprised at how few people came to Jamie's door. Unfortunately, that meant candy leftover! Keep in mind we BOTH bought Costco size 12.5 pound bags of miniature chocolate bars!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a Fun Week!

Last Tuesday, my best friend, Tiffani, and her two adorable kiddos came for a visit. We have made a goal to visit at least once a year no matter what! We had such a fun time! I will let the pictures tell the story.

Tuesday, Oct. 23:

I picked Tiffani, Tessa, and Seth up from the airport. She was one brave woman, flying alone with two kids! Altogether, we have four children: Seth 3 1/2, Lyric almost 3, Tessa 9 months, and Paxton 3 1/2 months.

Fun times in the tubby!

Paxton & Tessa, hard to believe they are just over 5 months apart!

Okay, we just had to do this one!

Wednesday, Oct. 24:

On Wednesday afternoon, we took the kids to the park. They loved it! We put Paxton and Tessa back to back in the baby swing. It was his first time in a swing.

They loved these crazy, windy slides!

Seth pushin' Lyric
They had no idea the other was behind them!

Can't you just tell he loved it!

We also had the ward Halloween Party that evening. Lyric was Tinkerbell, Seth was a lion, Tessa was Minnie Mouse, and Paxton was a Tootsie Roll.

Minnie Mouse Tessa

Tinkerbell and the Lion

The world's largest Tootsie Roll with his Grandma

Tinkerbell and Belle

Me and Tiff

Thursday, Oct. 25:

Tiffani and I crazily took all of the kids shopping. I was on a hunt to find Paxton's blessing outfit! Talk about last minute. We went to the Outlets and then to Target. We had no luck. That evening Mike was nice enough to stay home with Seth, Lyric, and Paxton while we took Tessa and continued on our blessing outfit mission! We did succeed, thanks to Gap and Children's Place!

Just another tubby shot, they had so much fun playing in the tub.

Just a little sneak peak at part of Paxton's blessing outfit!

Friday, Oct. 26:

On Friday we just hung out until the evening when we went to Jamie's for Peyton's 1st Birthday Party! It was lots of fun with lots of kids! Unfortunately, I have no pictures from that. Jamie posted some though. Tiffani somehow managed to take all four kids on a little walk while I was getting ready, Superwoman!

We wanted to get a good shot of their sizes. We stripped them to their diapers and did a photo shoot!

Peyton came to play for a little bit in the morning, just look at that face!!

Paxton in his saucer watching Baby Einstein for the first time. He actually enjoyed it!

Saturday, Oct. 27:

On Saturday, Tiff and I ran some errands to prepare for Paxton's blessing on Sunday. Once again, Mike was nice enough to keep Paxton, Seth, and Lyric for us. Here are some pictures of "daddy type fun," meaning, the kind of fun I probably would have been not so fun and prevented from happening! Hey, what are dad's for!

Lyric in a trash can filled with water!

Keep in mind, it wasn't the warmest day of the year!

Mike was so kind to have them bathed and ready for bed when we got home!

I was so sad to see the week end. It went by way too fast. I consider Tiffani to be my fourth sister. I wished we lived just a little bit closer! Oh well, we won't let the distance keep us apart!

Just something silly, growing up, we always said we wanted to be related. Well, it looks like our dreams could possibly come true! Come on, either Lyric and Seth, or Tessa and Paxton. One of the two has to marry :)