Where have we been and what have we been up to?

Wow it's been a long time since I've sat down to write. I never realized how crazy and hectic life can get. So much has happened and changed since I last wrote so I apologize to those who have been waiting for updates and pictures. So lets begin where I left off.

November:

The most important event that took place during this month was Jacob's Baby Blessing.

Jacob was blessed on November 4, 2012 in the Riverside Blackfoot Idaho church house at 4 pm. We were grateful to our family and our friends (the Wilcox's) for coming and being a part of his special day. Josh was able to give him a beautiful blessing. It makes me so proud to have such a wonderful worthy husband be able to give each of our children a name and a blessing at these special times in their lives. The feelings and memories will truly live on forever in my heart.

A week later we celebrated my 26th birthday. I know what some of you might be thinking because I've heard it verbally before- "oh, your just a baby". Well I definitely don't feel like a baby and truly feel blessed for the life that I have lived so far. Josh bought me the one thing I could think of that I wanted- a new cd player. My sister-in-law gave me one shortly after we were married and earlier this year it saw it's end after I taught in Relief Society. He also bought me a cake and bless his heart with trying to be thoughtful. We still joke to this day that it was the worst cake I've ever tasted. Next year I'll just save him the agony and buy a cake mix that he can whip up. It was a great day all in all and I absoulutely loved it when Ashlyn would come up to me and repeatedly sing "Happy Birthday". It's so much fun to see her understand and remember things now and get so excited to tell you it's someones birthday.

Thanksgiving this year felt so strange this year as we did our own, but it turned out well. Normally we get together with one side of the family and eat and play games and simply visit. This year though we decided to do our own thing due to a couple of different reasons. I was pretty nervous about how it was going to turn out but we were well-fed with all the fixings and enjoyed a great game (Josh is a huge Texan fan so it was pretty intense for him to watch them win in overtime). The meal was tasty,the game was fun to watch, clean up was a breeze. I think the only thing that made me a little sad was that we didn't have anyone to play games with afterwards. We also pulled out all of the Christmas decorations and got the house decorated. The girls were in heaven and it brought in a nice festive feeling into our home.

So that was our month in a nutshell. Now moving on...

Decemeber:

Boy has it been a crazy month. The holidays always bring joy, laughter, and hustle and bustle.

Our biggest surprise this month is that josh took a new job that will move us to UT. Josh applied for a job with the Church as an accountant after his dad had mentioned that D.I was hiring an accountant. Josh wanted to know where you even found those positions and ended up finding this job with the Church's Family History department. After Josh had thought about it for an hour or so he decided to apply, not really thinking anything would come of it. The next morning he recieved a phone call asking for a phone interview for the following Monday. He agreed, did the interview and 2 days later got a call to see if he'd go to Salt Lake to do another interview. He left on a Wednesday and was told after his interview that they'd have a decision by Friday or Monday at the latest. Friday rolled around and no phone call and then the same thing on Monday. We weren't quite sure what to think at that point (at least I wasn't sure at that point what was going to happen). Tuesday morning came and Josh received a phone call with an offer. We'd had time to discuss our options and what we would do if they made us an offer that we'd be willing to take so when the time came to decide whether to take the offer we knew what we were going to do already. Since then Josh finished up working for the company he'd been working for and we got the house listed on the market. Now we are hoping it will sell soon and would be grateful to anyone that is willing to offer a prayer on our behalf.

Christmas was wonderful and full of excitement. It's so fun to see the kids excitement-mostly Ashlyn, Kaylee still doesn't understand and Jacob is too little. I think the kids really enjoyed Christmas time. Ashlyn went and saw Santa, we went to 2 different ward Christmas parties, Ashlyn helped me take around neighbor plates to our good friends, we were able to visit Temple Square with the kidsand we were able to teach her a little bit about the true meaning of Christmas and why we celebrate it. On Christmas Eve we went to my parents and actually spent the night- never again will we do this. It was a lot of fun to eat and visit with the family and be able to have my parents be able to see the girls open their presents. After presents Josh and I cleaned up our sleeping area and loaded up the car we headed to Josh's parents house for Christmas breakfast with the family. We accidently left the camera in the car so sadly we have no pictures this year, but it'll be a year I rememeber. Below are just some more pictures of the kids.

(Pictures taken in Nov.)

(Pics taken in Dec.)

What is the difference???

So is there really a difference between a waffle and a pancake? I didn't think so, especially since I use the same homemade reciepem but according to my Ashlyn there is. She requested pancakes for lunch yesterday so I thought I'd obliger her. I whipped up the batter but then decided to use the waffle maker. She let me know fast that they weren't the same and she really wanted a pancake so Josh got out the flat pan and made her one. It's funny sometimes how technical she can get.

Updated Pics of my girls

Updated pictures of Jacob

Can't get enough of this little guy and his chunkiness. He's grown so much and I love his rolls.

(this one was taken in September after one of his baths)

Trick-O-Treating 2012

So this year we weren't even sure if we'd be taking the kiddos out because Ashlyn started in with a fever shortly after getting home from the ward Halloween party. We continued to give her tylenol, fluids, and encourage solids all day. Anyone who knows her knows that if she has a fever you'd never really be able to tell unless you touch her because she acts perfectly normal (last year when she had pneumonia we didn't even know it til we took her in on day 4 of her fever because as long as she had the medicine she was acting like her normal active self). We really wanted to go out to Ririe for the holiday but felt that with how cold it's been and how long we were out 2 years ago with her it would be best to stay home and take them to a few houses in our subdivision.

After we got her to eat some of dinner we had several trick-o-treaters stop in and that got her excited to go. So I got the girls ready and back into their outfits from the night before and found their buckets and we headed out the door. There weren't a lot of people home so that made it easy but Kaylee was being very independent and wouldn't let me hold her hand so it took longer than I planned. We went to 11 diffrerent houses and 3 of those weren't home or didn't have any candy. The girls still came back with a decent amount and this year I'm definitely making them pace themselves so that they don't get sick and so it's not all gone by tomorrow. Josh and Jacob stayed home to pass out candy and watch a competition on tv dealing with carving pumpkins.

When we got home we let the girls have a little bit of candy and got them in their pj's and then sat down and watched Madagascar 3. It was a great way to end the day. Here are the girls in their outfits. This was all I could get since Ashlyn was so excited to go and Kaylee never sits or stands long enough to get good pictures lately, enjoy!

Riverside 1st Ward Halloween Carnival 2012

Here are the girls excited to head out to the ward halloween carnival. Ashlyn has been talking about it non-stop for the last week. She orignially was going to go as a fairy, but then decided to go as a witch. She didn't want to wear a shirt under her costume that was too big so she finally settled on being a pirate princess with a hat from the witch costume she wanted to wear. Kaylee went as a ballerina. Jacob was our little tiger.

Kaylee kept trying to get the butter or escaping to find candy while we waited for the dinner to start. They served several types of soups, rolls, water, and witches brew for dinner before the parade of costumes and the carnival began.

Ashlyn did all the rooms. In the 1st picture she was doing the fish pond, and the other 3 are of her getting a heart painted on her cheek. She was super excited about it. She didn't really talk about the fear factor room or other rooms just about her goodies. Josh was a good sport to take her around. I was feeding Jacob and keeping an eye on Kaylee who didn't want to go into any of the rooms really. A little before 8pm we all met back in the gym for the awards ceremony for the parade of costumes

In this last picture she was showing her award to our friends the Wilcox's. She won the Best Overall Costume and got a big twix bar with her award. She was so happy! Her award was the last one to be called out for the junior primary age group and she was so excited she didn't know which way to go to get it without help from us and other ward members. It was definitely worth it to go to the Carnival to see how excited she was about everything. She definitely grasps the concept of holidays and I'm sure Kaylee will catch on soon enough.

First family trip since Jacob arrived

So in in August my sister called us up to see if Josh was interested in going to the Boise State vs. BYU football game in Boise. Josh was all for it, he'd never been to a college football game before. I jumped at the chance to see my sister and her 3 girls, especially since I hadn't seen the twins yet in person. The game was scheduled for Sept. 20th and we figured that'd be fine to go since Jacob would at least be almost 3 weeks old.

Well as we all know Jacob decided to come in August so when we went down he was 6 weeks old. It was so fun to see Jess and Neil and their girls. The trip wasn't too bad, especially since we had a dvd player in the back for the girls. Neither of them slept much on the way there or back.

Ellie has gotten so big and has such long thick hair. The twins are just solids blocks that I absolutely fell in love with. The only way I could tell them apart was if I helped Jess dress them. I just loved their rolls. The thing that surprised me the most was that they eat as much as Jacob eats (6-7 oz) and they are 5 1/2 months older. Jacob looked so tiny compared to them. Jessica also helped me by giving Jacob his 1st hair cut on Thursday (20th). He now just looks like a little man.

Well when we got to Jess's on Thursday we had hot dogs, a veggie plate, chips, kool-aid, and a peanut butter ball w/graham crackers before we sent the guys off to the game. The guys had pretty good seats and if I can get Josh to put his pictures on his phone from the game I'll add them on here.

Jess and I worked on a Christmas block project while we were there and went to the craft store. When I finally finish my blocks I'll take a picture and post it. We got the idea off of pintrest but couldn't remember the exact layout of the blocks so both of ours are different in the sense of block shapes as the one posted on pintrest.

We had to cut our trip a little bit short because I ended up getting a migraine Saturday night that made me throw up. Grateful that they understood that we needed to go home but felt bad that we had to cut it short. We were going to have a movie night with goodies while the girls had a movie slumber party upstairs. Next time we come Ellie, we'll do it on the first night :) She was so looking forward to it.

Overall it was a really fun trip. Jess and Neil, looking forward to seeing you again.

Umbilical Hernia

So many of my family and friends have heard about Jacob's hernia but haven't seen it so I thought I'd document it. This is how big it is as of now (Oct. 31). It has shrunk quite a bit. Wish I had a picture of what it looked like even a week or two ago because it was enormous, but I couldn't find my camera charger.

He has had this since he was born but it really got big and ugly looking (tight, shiny, and purplish) around September when we went to Boise. It had gotten so big in such a short amount of time and he was crying a lot so we took him in to the doctor. After an ultrasound confirmed that there was part of a bowel loop in it we have had to monitor it to make sure that it doesn't close up and pinch that part. This has in turn made it difficult for him to have regular bowel movements. Thankfully as it has been closing we are still able to push down all the way and now he is starting to have more frequent movements without the aid of Karo syrup or suppositories. He's such a little champ with it all. We still have a ways to go but I know that the doctor will be pleased with the improvement when we see him at his next appointment.

A few milestones for Jacob

Rolled over for the first time (and only time) Oct. 2nd

Gave mom his first real smile on October 24th (it also snowed for the first time this year)

His hernia is closing up more and more.

Hunting 2012

I'd definitely say that this year's hunting trip was a great success. Josh and my brother-in-law, John, put in on controlled hunt and got it. My dad and brothers, Sam and Brandon, went up with them to hunt and I think they all had a great time. John and Josh went up on Friday October 10th to scout out area and came back Saturday night. Then all the guys left on Sunday the 12th after church. John and Brandon got their bucks earlier in the week and Josh shot his elk on Thursday morning. Was pretty impressed that Josh was able to get this 6-point. It was really fun to hear about his experience and to hear the exicetment. I told him to bring something home and he definitely delivered. Way to go babe!

This little beauty was borrowed from my brother and his wife. We absolutely loved packaging our meat with the foodsaver. We decided that eventually we want to get one of our own. It's nice to know all of our elk meat is packaged nicely, labeled, and I don't have to worry about re-packaging like I did last year. It took us 2 days to cut up and package which isn't too shabby seeing that it was really only Josh and I doing it with 3 little ones needing our help. Our neighbor came over and helped Josh finish up the last hindquarter. Now our freezer is happy and so are we.

2 Months Already

Oh Jacob, how you've melted my heart. I can't seem to get enought of you and yes you are spoiled. You went in for your 2 month checkup on October 1st. Let me tell you what, you definitely shocked me when you weighed in at 12 lbs 9 oz. and measured 22 1/4 inches. I don't think anyone sees you as a preemie or would have believed you were a preemie. You've definitely filled out nicely which makes me one proud momma. When we got home I compared your stats with your sisters and you are the biggest baby at this age.

We didn't give you shots because you were still feeling under the weather from a cold you caught from Kaylee. We did get you in though the following week and lets just say you weren't very happy. You had had a very long day of being poked, prodded, and moved between your 3rd hearing screen, 4th newborn screen and your shots (August 10th).

You absolutely love to eat and be held. You eat about every 3-4 hours and do 6-8 oz each feed. You are exclusively on formula now. When you are sick though you cut your feeding down to 3-4 oz. You are very spoiled to get to sleep in our bed as much as you do. We are trying to get you to sleep through the nights but most of the time you won't stay asleep unless you are in our bed being held. Hopefully in the coming months you will start sleeping through the night and then we can move you in with Kaylee.

You still have problems with your bowel movements due to your hernia but the good news is that it has closed a little big. Hopefully it will continue to close without complications so that we can avoid having to have surgery on it.

It's nice to see that you're filling out more so that your newborn pants fit without falling off. I bet though you'll soon be out of them at the weight you are growing. I simply love you and your rolly legs and double chin.

Some milestones for you are that you took your first family trip to Nampa Idaho in September. Your Aunt Jessica also gave you your first haircutwhile we were there. Your momma was too big of a chicken to cut it incase it didn't turn out okay. You definitely needed it.

Love you little mister and so grateful to have you in my life. Love Momma

P.S. Still looking for the charger to the camera so that we can take more recent pictures of you.

Kaylee's 15 month checkup

In August I took this sweet girl in for her routine checkup.

She is getting so big. Already up to 21 lbs (It took us forever to get her big sister to this point). She is only 9 lbs less than Ashlyn and is catching up in height to. She has 12 teeth so far and is constantly drooling, so I'm sure her molars are trying to come in.

Kaylee isn't really trying to talk yet. I've heard from some people that this is very normal for the second child because the first child generally does the talking for them. This is not the case for Miss Kaylee Cakes. She simply isn't even trying. We'll just have to see if she's like her older sister (Ashlyn didn't start really talking until 27 months of age).

She definitely reminds me of Ashlyn at this age. She doesn't like to wear shoes and is starting to fight me on keeping her clothes on-although she's not nearly as bad as Ashlyn was and is. She also likes to take her diaper off anytime she feels it is ready to be changed.

Kaylee is very quick with her motor skills and has a very good understanding of what we are saying and asking. Almost anything we ask her to do she can do without too much help. She truly is a sweet spirit.

Some of the things she loves to do include: dancing to ring around the rosy, climbing on everything, taking baths, following Ashlyn around, and riding in the van. She has taken a recent liking to hot dogs (cold or warm) and cookie dough.

Her biggest challenges right now are attending nursery and separation anxiety. She is such a momma's girl.

Shehas dropped her morning nap but is still very good about going down in the afternoon and then at 8 pm every night. It makes bedtime with her so easy! Love and am grateful that we don't have to battle with her like we do her big sister.

So blessed to haver her in my life. We both learn from each other on a daily basis and she is slowly helping me to become the mother I need to be. Love ya Kaylee Cakes!