Graduation time

 The beginning of May, we headed up to Salt Lake for a wonderful weekend!  Brandon's sister and mom both graduated from the University of Utah.  It was great being up there for it, what an accomplishment!  Shannon and her family were there, so it was fun seeing the cousins and letting the kids play.

While we were there we tried getting an updated picture of the babies.  They were hilarious.  Its impossible to get all 3 to cooperate.  Grayson would grab the girls snacks, or pick his nose, one would cry, another would try to get up and run. 

Grayson 15 months

 Grayson at 15 months:

Weight: 23 lbs - 53%

Height: 31 1/2 inches - 61%

Head: 18 1/4 inches - 36%

Things to remember:

- Has 6 teeth.  2 big front ones, 3 on bottom and one top molar

-Still loves balls and balloons

-Says "Ca" for cars, "ball", "mom", "dad", "aga" for dog, "dose" for those, "go-go", he points and says "dat?" He calls phones "pa". 

he's not much of talker yet, Hadley was saying words so early.  He understands things pretty well.  He knows what things are but just has no interest in saying them!

-loves to give kisses lately 

-Has been quite the mommy's boy lately.  This is different for us.  Hadley prefers her dad but never would cry if you left her with someone.  He screams when we leave him with a sitter or walk out of a room.  I went  out of town for the weekend and now he prefers his daddy.  He's not forgiven me yet or this just cured it!

-loves the bath and being outside!

-obsessed with shoes and cell phones. 

-knows where his head, eyes, ears, nose and mouth are.  And tummy.
-when he hears music he loves to dance.
-is still deathly afraid of dogs! and pretty much other furry animals. 

When you are taking a pic of him and tell him to smile, this is what you get!

 He loves hats!!  When he sees one at the store he'll wear it while we shop.

There has been a few times when he's decided to go take a bath with his clothes on.  He just jumps in, turns on the water and starts playing.  This time happened 10 min before our church started.  He had on his shoes and all.  

   

Our April

 Easter 2012

When the kids got up we headed downstairs to look for our Easter baskets.  To their dismay they were just sitting on the chair waiting for them.  No goofy hiding spots this year. After they looked through and ate some treats, we had a little Easter lesson. I love Easter and I love sharing with Hadley the importance of Easter.  Then we headed to church.  After church we had a yummy Easter dinner with some friends in our ward who weren't able to be with family this year either.  We had a little egg hunt and let the kids decorate some eggs.  It was a wonderful day!

Kason and Nakelle get married!!! April 14th

 I can't believe my baby brother is now a married man!  It was such a fun weekend.  They got married in the St. George temple. It was a little chilly and sprinkled on us at the temple but it really was such a pretty day.  We love you Nakelle, welcome to our crazy family! 

 

 

 

The Luncheon: 

 

 

This kid, if he sees a balloon.  He will find a way to get it! He had a hold of it the whole time we were there. 

 

 My mom and all her cute sisters!  They are the best, they've been to all of our weddings and they don't live close!




The reception:  They had it in Nakelle's paren'ts backyard and it was beautiful! 

 

Grayson LOVES his pappa.  He was his little shadow and stood right next to him in the line for part of it. 

 

Hadley loves taking pictures.  I'm not lying when I tell you she took a picture of every single person that went through that line!  It was hilarious. I love her face in this pic. 

  

This is how my mom and I kept warm!  We found some thermals in her drawer and hiked them up under our dresses. 

Hadley loves her uncle Kade and Aunt Syd.  

 Hadley caught the bouquet, she was so happy and took really good care of it until we finally had to throw it away! 

 

April 21st: 

We finally had a free weekend and Brandon built the kids a sandbox!  They were so excited.  We had a great day planting flowers, playing outside and eating lots of popsicles!

 

 April 28th:  

 My birthday started off by Brandon surprising me and taking me to the Eiffel Tower restaurant.  It was really good and the view was amazing. We had a window seat and just sat and watched the Bellagio fountains while we ate.  Then we walked around Town Square and got frozen yogurt, went home watched a movie and I finished up my relief society lesson for the next day.  

 

 

April 30th: My birthday!!

 I woke up to breakfast from Brandon and the kids.  Hadley made me a card. I even got to spend some of the day with my parents!  We headed to The District for some shopping and lunch.  It was a great birthday!  Thanks for all the calls, texts, and facebook messages!  

 

 

 

 

 

Baby # 3

Holy cow, I can't believe I'm even saying this, but Baby #3 will be here early October!

It started in January. For a week straight Hadley would pray for her baby sister. I joked with Brandon saying that one of us would sleep on the couch for the next 6 months if she kept up with those prayers!

In February Grayson got the stomach bug and wasn't feeling good and then I got it. He got better, I did not. After a week I thought maybe I'd go buy a test just to get a piece of mind so I could feel better. Right when I took it, it was positive like right away. I started shaking and yelled for Brandon. I started bawling but not because I was angry, I was just overwhelmed. This doesn't happen to us!

Usually it takes time, tests, tears, lots of dr. apps, different medicines and more time for us to even get pregnant. So we were completely shocked but immediately felt so blessed. I kept feeling like Heavenly Father was up there laughing at us, reminding us he sees the bigger picture and he has a plan for all of us and this baby needs to come.

I also feel like Ross on Friends, when Rachel tells him she's pregnant. And he's yelling about condoms not being 100% effective and he yells "they should put that on the box!"

I think I'm over the worst with the sickness, I'm 12 weeks now!! I'm finally feeling human again, I don't know what I'd do without Brandon. He is so dang patient, and sweet and the best MR. Mom when I couldn't be. Oh, I love him. I'm so grateful for friends who helped with my kids, brought us dinner and things to help us survive. And for my parents help. I'm one lucky girl.

All about Hadley!

I'm so proud of this girl! She passed off her 100 challenge at school. She counted to 100 all by herself and earned 100 m&m's. She asked me one day to help her learn to count to 100. I told her not to worry, she'll learn when she's in school when she is older. Well she walked in the other room and I hear her counting, so I went in and helped her count to 100. She was so excited and wanted me to come with her to school to show her class. I told her not to be a show off, I had no idea her teacher had challenged them to it! After I found out I felt so bad and then helped her for a week to get it down! She amazes me when she puts her mind to something and she is so determined she can do anything! I wish she could grasp this!

Hadley at 4 1/2:

- Favorite colors: purple and black

-Favorite songs: Mike Posner "cooler than me" and Sugarland "stuck like glue." She loves music and makes up her own songs.

-Favorite foods: pizza, chicken nuggets, grilled cheese and spaghetti
and chocolate.


- She loves to learn. She is learning to read some words. She works on her sight words every night.

-She LOVES animals, especially dogs. This is her new friend Bisquit.



-Loves her brother.


-If you ask Hadley about Nakelle, she will tell you she is her best, big friend. To say she loves Nakelle is an understatement! Nakelle is great with Hadley and Grayson and helps so much when we are at my mom's! (side note, these two love birds are getting hitched in April!! We couldn't be more happy)

-Things you hear Hadley say, "This is so boring" (usually out of context), "This is the worst day" (when she doesn't get her way or gets hurt), "I love you mostest" or "I love you more than the universe", "actually...".

she is very observant and knows details.

She can be the sweetest person to be around, she can cry over the smallest things, she likes things her way and can be very particular.

She is content and can entertain herself.

She is hilarious!

Not my baby anymore!

Grayson turned 1!! This was the fastest year of my life, I swear!
Here is a picture of every month. The last pic he's wearing one of his newborn outfits. I thought I had a pic of him in it when he was little but I can't find it.

His 1 year old stats:

weight 21.5 lbs / 50%
height 30.5 inches / 75%
head 18 inches / 39 %
(At his appointment, he walked along the furniture to get to the Dr. and just laid his head on her lap while she talked to me. It was so sweet.)

Things to remember about this last month:

-he got his 2 top teeth
-he stands for about a min but won't try and take steps
-says: ball, uh-oh, car, dog, go, hi, mamma, dadda, and he said pappa twice but hasn't said it again!
-loves music and bounces up and down to it
-is finally letting me read to him
-is a little lover, he will crawl up to you and lay his head on you or give kisses
-has to do whatever we are doing or especially Hadley. If she climbs up on something, he wants to. If she eats or drinks something, he wants some. etc.
-likes coke. I hate this fact! Hadley wouldn't touch the stuff til she was 2. He is so fast and grabbed our straw and took a sip and didn't flinch. Loved it!
-can go up and down stairs great now. loves to play in the loft.
-always carries a ball around the house or has something in his hand.
-won't eat baby food unless its fruit. He wants the real stuff now!


Good thing it was his first birthday and he won't remember because this birthday all came together like a few days before! Note to self: never have another baby close to Christmas! I was so over parties and gifts! I hope he doesn't get jipped his whole life!

We decided to go to St. George and have a small little party. My grandparents came, my aunt and uncle, my friend Ri and Brittany. My unlce Jule who lives in Atlanta was in town for a few days so him and my cousin Justin stopped by for a min too. It was fun!

For Christmas, Grayson's buddies Nate and Ryan gave him an Elmo. He loves it and sleeps with it so we thought he'd love an Elmo party. It might be a tradition for first birthdays because Hadley had an elmo party as well. My mom, Hadley and I made the cake and cupcakes. We made his elmo cake with 2 round cakes and he ate half of it! He would've kept going but we were getting sick watching so we pulled him away!


On his actual birthday we met up with Lindsay, Nate and Ryan for some lunch. He had a good day if I do say so myself. Nate and Ryan spoiled him and then his daddy brought him home a birthday cupcake.

Christmas time!

I love the holidays! I still can't believe they've come and gone! At the beginning of December the kids and I drove up to St. George to see the "real Santa", he is the same one my mom took us kids to see every year when we were little. Sydney and Nakelle were good sports to put up with us getting a picture with Santa!

Friday the 23rd- Christmas eve round 1:
We asked my family to do an early Christmas so we could be with both families. So on Friday we drove up to St. George and had an early Christmas eve. My mom always makes prime rib and it was delicious! We made our reindeer food so Santa can drop off our jammies. We played left-center-right and opened our gifts from each other.

Sydney and Grayson

Oh this little lady makes me laugh! She is so mad in this picture! She thought she would get to see the reindeer drop off her jammies. Big miscommunication!

Trying to see Rudolph in the sky. Luckily Nakelle saved the night and saw a red flashing light.
Saturday the 24th:
We opened our gifts from my parents and had a nice breakfast. Hadley got a bike!

Watching Hadley play with her bike before we headed to Salt Lake for Christmas eve with Brandon's family.

Nakelle and Grayson

We had a wonderful dinner with Brandon's family! Then we went and looked at Christmas lights before we put the kids to bed.

Hadley was funny this year. Every time we'd ask her what she wanted for Christmas she say, "mom, its a surprise."


Sunday the 25th - Christmas!!:

Caitlin woke us all up at 6,( its the only day I will wake my babies) and the party begins!!

Caitlin and Hadley

It was a great weekend with our families, we were lucky and got to see a few of Brandon's friends and their families too. I wish I had taken more pics!!