All in the Life of This Little Family

Cloth Diapers

2012-01-04T22:52:00.004-07:00

Due to a recent interest I have with cloth diapers, and also to help answer others' questions and to help introduce them to cloth diapering, I have started a cloth diaper blog. Feel free to follow along and spread the word to others who may be interested.

crazyaboutcloth.blogspot.com

-Brit

Our Newest Addition

2011-03-31T16:42:00.004-06:00

Isn't he adorable?! True, I am biased.

So on March 7th I went to my doc appt (being just a couple days over 38 weeks) around 2:30pm. I was dilated to a 3 the week prior so hoping that our little guy would be coming soon. But I did not expect my doc to walk in to my room and say, "Well you were at a 3 last week so I'll check you and if you're at a 4 or more we'll just send you over to the hospital to be induced because I don't want you walking around dilated that much." He checked me and I was at a 4+ and having some good contractions. So his nurse called to see if they could induce me the following day, but the hospital was completely booked. My doc was headed out of town in the next couple days and didn't want me to end up having the baby while he was gone, so the hospital asked if I could be there in an hour. I definitely was NOT expecting that! So we did it! I called Greg and told him we would be having a baby that night. He met me at my parents (where my Mom and sister Court were watching Dax) and we put Dax in his carseat. Greg dropped me off at the hospital and dropped Dax off at his parents house then met me back at the hospital.

I told my Mom and Court they were welcome to join us in the delivery room so they headed on over after dropping Peyton at her aunt's house. It was a party! (Wish you could have been there to join us, Chantel!)

I got my IV put in and finally an hour later they started me on the pitocin and penicillin cause I was GBS positive this go around. That stuff is nasty and burns your arm!

I got my epidural at 6:30pm and then come 10pm it was time to start pushing.

Boston Samuel arrived at 10:08pm after only one push!

He came out with only one short little cry so the doc waited a minute to have Greg cut the umbilical cord. He let out another little cry and that was about it. He opened his eyes and looked around and was sucking on everything from the get-go. He has been a champ at eating!

He weighed in at 6 lbs 6 oz and was 18 1/2 inches long.

Daddy giving him his first bath.

Check out those LONG rabbit feet!

What a good big brother Dax is. He was so excited to come to the hospital to see me and loved holding his little brother.

We only had to stay one day and then were able to leave the next. The birth this time around was so much easier and went so much smoother than the first. My labor was only about 6-7hrs vs 14 with Dax.

Boston is such a sweetheart and so mellow. It has been such a blessing!

We sure love him and find it hard to remember him not being in our home.

36 weeks...The count down begins!

2011-02-23T14:02:00.003-07:00

Today I am 36 weeks and 4 days along in this pregnancy. The plan is to be induced on Thurs March 17th, St. Patrick's Day. That's only 3 weeks from tomorrow and 22 days to be exact. Eek! Everything is ready and now we are just playing the waiting game.

I went to the Doc a week ago Monday and was told baby's head is definitely down and all these Braxton Hicks contractions I have been having have been doing some good, cause I was dilated to a 1+. They scheduled the induction date and I have another appt this coming Monday. Dax came about 8 days early, and bets are that this little guy won't wait til St. Patty's. I would love for him to come early cause I can hardly wait to see his face, snuggle him, and breathe in that new baby smell. What are your bets? When do you think he'll arrive?

Here are some of the projects that have been completed and chilling in Boston's drawers.

Above are the "baby legs" leg warmers I made using the easiest tutorial online. They were made out of knee-high socks. I'd post the link, but don't remember it and didn't write it down. But I do have the instructions if anyone wants to copy them :) Also, some appliqued kimono tops, a couple binky clips/chains/leashes (whatever you like to call them), a newborn knit beanie, some burp cloths, and a nursing cape (which I was so excited about how it turned out! Recognize that fabric? It was leftover from Daxton's bedding when he was a baby).

Burp cloths up close...don't you love the fabrics?!

And this is what baby B will wear home from the hospital with a gray diaper and the cutest black and white skater shoes I found. So cute! I can't wait to see him in it :)

...come on time! Pass by quicker!

The Boys' Bedroom Makeover...Finished!!

2011-02-16T15:46:00.004-07:00

So I finally finished Daxton's and Boston's bedroom. They will be sharing. I came across this color scheme a little while ago and if you know me, you know I'm a nut for Turquoise. I love it complimented with Navy Blue, orange, and tan. So here goes....

This is what you see as you walk straight into the bedroom.

I practically spray-painted everything. Except I was able to find the cute little baskets under the changing table at the Dollar Store! Score! I tried to keep everything low cost, but still look cute. I did pretty well, aside from the fabric.

I spray-painted the frames orange (they used to be a rusty bronze color) and the "D" is just a large chipboard letter that I spray-painted Navy Blue. I heart spray-paint...in case ya didn't notice. You can do so many things with it!! I wasn't able to find the exact turquoise color I wanted in the spraypaint, but this was close enough. So I went with it :) The hooks I found at Taipan for a couple bucks each. They were black rod iron, so yes once again, I spray painted them to match.

To the left of the door is Daxton's side of the room with his bunkbed. I found this car fabric and that's where everything stemmed from. I love it! His bedspread was this tan on the flip side of the stripes (perfect!) and I was able to find turquoise twin-sized sheets, the whole set, at Target on clearance for $7. Again, Score! All the fabrics I purchased at this fabric store called Elaine's by my house that is just like Pine Needles at Gardner Village, only it's bigger!! Let's just say that Greg was not thrilled about this find of mine ;) I could do some major damage in that store!

Daxton's favorite blanket is Navy blue, so once again, it all worked perfect with the color scheme. I found all the chipboard letters up on his wall at Hobby Lobby at 2 for $1. So I picked out the entire alphabet, and the letters that spelled out his name I swapped out for larger letters. Then I wanted the numbers 0-9 to add as well, but they didn't have them. I was able to find them at JoAnn's. I spray-painted everything and then Mom and Court helped me arrange them and hang them using this awesome stuff called "Command Strips" that is like double-sided tape, only really strong and removable too! So I can take them with us when we leave. Not only do I love how this collage turned out, but it is also serving another function at helping Dax to learn his alphabet (he already has his numbers down). He thinks it's fun having his name on the wall too.

To the right of the rocking chair is Boston's armoire and I definitely needed something to go on top. I found this picture frame at DI and the back was broken and it had no glass, so I scored it for $1.

I've wanted to do this saying in Daxton's room for quite a while, but didn't have the moola to fork out to put it into vinyl and have it on the wall. Plus since we are renting, I didn't want to have to leave it behind. So I popped out the matting on the frame, spray-painted the frame, then printed the saying up on my computer onto cardstock and glued it all back together. Voila!

And here is Boston's side of the room.

The lighting is funny so the frames look reddish, but they are really orange.

The "B" I spray-painted navy blue (just a large chunky cardboard letter from JoAnn), and the clock used to be a rusty bronze. I just unscrewed the face and then spray-painted it turquoise. But I'm not loving the tannish color of the face with the blue. It will have to do until I can figure out something else. But I love the shape of the clock and it being turquoise :)

I found some navy blue crib sheets at Target on clearance for $4 (yes!) and then got an all white bumper pad at IKEA for $12. Then I sewed orange fabric onto it alternating with the white. It was originally supposed to be all orange, but the lady who helped me figure out how much fabric I'd need for the bumper pad estimated very wrong, so I didn't have enough and couldn't spend more on fabric. So this is my make-shift attempt at making it still work. For the blanket I sewed the car fabric

and the pillow fabric back to back (both of these are flannel, so they don't need to be quilted cause they cling to each other). For all the pillows I just used a fat quarter or two and sewed them together and stuffed them. So easy!

And there ya have it. I really love having it all done.

Now I just need to fill the frames with pictures and it will be complete!

Celebrating # 3

2011-02-14T17:13:00.000-07:00

For Daxton's birthday we made him a chocolate Thomas the Train cake. I did the easy part and baked the cake in the Thomas pan that used to be Greg's brother's when he was little. Greg cleverly frosted it to look like Thomas. He did an awesome job and we had to improvise with the Green frosting because we were out of red food coloring. Dax was thrilled at Greg's cake decorating! Mr. Ace of Cakes right there!! ;)

On Daxton's big day, he and I went over to my parents' house during the day and my Mom watched him while I went to the doctor. He got a Thomas card...

The game Candy Land, and a puzzle with Diggers on it from my

parents. We can always use activities!!

Then we headed home and Greg's parents and siblings met us at our house and gave Dax

presents too. He received Bulstrode the boat that goes in the bathtub and carries Thomas the Train on him. Dax is begging to take a bath now!

When Greg got home from work, the 3 of us headed to McDonald's and had dinner and Dax

played in the playland for a while. Then we headed to Home Depot and got a big piece of smoothe particle board and had it cut to fit on Daxton's bottom bunk of his bed (we recently moved his bed up top as a reward for several dry nights in his bed). Then we went and he picked out the train Hiro (one of Thomas' friends).

We came home and put the particle board on, with his train

mat on top and then Greg built him a train track. Now he has his own "train table" and it's out of the way. Perfect! Dax loves it!

Then we sang Happy Birthday and blew out candles and went to bed.

Happy Birthday Lil Cupid!

2011-02-14T16:32:00.000-07:00

Daxton turned 3 yrs old on February 14th, Valentine's Day. Courtney took these pictures for me and I will fill some of the frames in his bedroom with them. I love how they turned out! Thanks Court! You did such a great job :)

This is Dax whining cause he is ready to be done taking pictures. We were definitely able to capture all of his personality in these pictures.

We love you buddy! You have sure grown this past year. You are getting so smart...too smart for your own good sometimes. You are so inquisitive about everything and ask so many questions that Mommy gets so frustrated with you sometimes. Especially all the "Why?"s that have started recently. I simply don't always know "Why", but that isn't good enough for you. You even asked me, at 2 yrs old, "How is Boston gonna come out of your tummy?" I told him we'll go to the hospital and the doctor will take him out. That wasn't clear enough for you because then you persisted with, "But HOW??" I gave up and just said the doc will cut him out and then you said, "But that will hurt you! You'll get bleed!" I have assured you time and time again that Mommy will be okay. I love how concerned you are.

You are still fascinated, entrigued, obsessed with, and loving trains. Anything to do with trains. You're always first to spot a train in a store, on billboards, in a book, or a movie. If there's one in a movie, you automatically love that movie and want to watch it over and over again. But usually just that ONE part with the train in it. You love Thomas and all his friends and know all their names. If I call one by the wrong name, you're sure to correct me. Even if they are the same color, you know whether or not they are the same train. I don't know how you do it.

You got a big tricycle at Christmas time and are doing really well at riding it. You love to ride around on it and every time the sun is shining outside while eating your breakfast you ask me if it's a nice day and if you can ride your bike.

You are so excited for your little brother to arrive and daily you flip up the calendar on the fridge and show me what day Boston is coming on. Now that you have turned 3, you know that's the next big thing to happen. We are set to be induced on March 17th, St Patrick's Day, so we'll see if Boston hangs out until then or comes early. You love babies and are so sweet with them. You love to hold them and kiss their heads, and give them a binky when they cry while saying, "It's ok, don't cry." You will be such a sweet big brother.

You are such a sweetheart and tell Mommy almost every day after I get ready, "You look pretty, Mom." Makes me feel so good :) You'll always agree with me when I show you something I like that is cute or small or pretty. Like when Boston's teeny cloth diapers came in the mail and I had nobody else at that moment to show how little they were. I said, "Look Dax, these are for Boston." You said, "Aw, that's cute." I love it!

You sure love your Daddy and love to wrestle (which you call "fight"), play hide and seek, and build things with. You ask everyday when Daddy is gonna come home. You love to play "hide from the Dragons" or "the dinosaurs are coming! Run Dad." You always want Daddy to tell you stories about trains at bedtime. One time Daddy was telling you a "scary" story about Thomas and his friends and there was a noise in the woods. But it turned out to be just a beaver gnawing on a tree. You still didn't interpret that as not being scary after all, and will sometimes say, "The beaver's coming! It's gonna get you! Run!" So I think that you think beavers are another scary creature. So funny.

You are sure tall and everyone thinks that you are older than you really are. You have been mistaken for being 5 twice now. Which is a huge jump from 2 or 3.

You have never been a good eater and still aren't. You could care less about mealtime and would rather just munch throughout the day while on the run. A lot like your Daddy. Meal time is always a battle with you to "eat one more bite" or "take 3 more bites." You have started even saying, "I ate too much, I'm sick" to try and get out of finishing your meal so that you can go play. You often do this after only 3 bites!

Another thing you do that Mom is not thrilled about, is you have started talking with your hands when you are very adamant about something or I've asked you "What?" 3 times because you mumbled. You'll then start explaining loudly, again, but with your hands. Also you like to argue quite a bit lately too, and with your hands. Often times you won't repeat your whole question, so I have no idea what you are saying. Like one day you asked if you could watch a specific movie after you ate breakfast and I said, "What?" and then you'd repeat, "Movie!" I'd then say, "What about a movie?" Then you'd get frustrated and start waving your hand saying, "I didn't say lots of words I only said one word, I said MOVIE!" It frustrates Mom just as much as it does you.

You sure crack us up and can definitely be a stinker at times, but we love you so much and can't imagine life without you.

Happy Birthday, Bug!

Love, Mom

An Angel Among Us

2011-02-07T21:44:00.000-07:00

My cousin and friend, Tiffany, found out last Spring that she was expecting their first child. She was very sick during her pregnancy, unfortunately, but she tried to stay positive despite it all as

she and her husband, Jeff, were very excited about having a child. As her pregnancy progressed, she found out that she would be having a sweet baby girl, but she was measuring smaller than expected, so the due date was pushed back. This happened again and again until the doctors looked further into the situation to figure out why this was and that something was definitely wrong.

After many ultrasounds and testing, the doctors discovered that one of the major arteries in the baby's umbilical cord had either not developed correctly, or had clotted over. Thus leaving sweet Lily to only receive nourishment from two arteries vs. the three that should have been there. Although she continued to develop, this left Lily exceptionally small.

Doctors hoped Lily would stay in the womb as long as possible so that her organs could develop, even if this meant she would be small. They figured once she was born, then she would catch up quickly with her growth outside of the womb with the help of modern medicine.

On Nov 20th 2010, at 36 weeks, Tiffany went into labor and Lily was brought into this world via C-section as distress during contractions prevented her from arriving naturally. She was 3lbs 6oz and 15 inches long, but arrived breathing on her own and looked healthy and happy. The doctors were very pleased.

This little angel stayed in the NICU for 3 1/2 weeks while she continued to develop, grow and learn to eat and breathe on her own without the aid of oxygen and was able to be taken home by her loving parents just before Christmas. Greg and I were able to go visit and meet her in the NICU prior to her coming home. I couldn't believe how tiny she was!

Lily has been gaining weight and doing well while staying in her new home. The doctors continued to track her progress and growth after leaving the NICU and Lily had many appointments to attend so that the doctors were able to do this. With the doctors tracking Lily's weight they noticed Lily wasn't growing as quickly as she should.

On January 17th Tiffany and Jeff took Lily to Primary Children's Medical Center to meet with a specialist. The specialist was concerned about her growth and, even though she had continually gained weight, said she should have been growing more. The doctor wanted to perform a CT scan with contrast of Lily's gastrointestinal system to make sure everything was functioning properly. Shortly after Lily drank the barium contrast and the testing was complete, Tiffany and Jeff were informed that the barium was going places it shouldn't have and the doctors wanted to take Lily in to surgery immediately to repair the problem with her intestines.

Tiffany and Jeff trustingly handed their little miracle over to the doctors so that the surgery could be performed. After many long hours of waiting and not knowing, Jeff and Tiffany were approached by the surgeon who reported that the surgery was successful and they would be able to see their little girl in about 20 more min. Apparently a pic-line IV needed to be placed and then she would be transferred over to a recovery room.

Those 20 min turned into 40 min. Then an hour. Then, over an hour and a half someone finally came out to inform Tiffany and Jeff that there were some unexpected complications and Lily

went into cardiac arrest. She had received chest compressions for over 20 min. They were able to revive her and stabilize her, but because of her being without oxygen for so long, they suspected brain damage, but to what extent was not yet known.

Lily's devastated parents were ushered to her room back in Intensive Care where their little girl was being sustained by means of a ventilator and so swollen that it appeared her earlobes rested on her shoulders.

This little one has been a fighter through all of this and after many difficult weeks of battling in the ICU, Lily was able to return home with her parents on Feb 1st 2011.

Shortly before taking Lily to Primary Children's to meet with the specialist, Tiffany and Jeff received the hospital bill for Lily's birth and NICU stay. They have been overwhelmed and stressed about this debt and after this unexpected surgery and the complications resulting from it, they have many more medical expenses.

In an effort to help them out, Greg's business, Tungsten Rings For Men, will be donating all proceeds made, up until Valentine's Day, to Tiffany and Jeff. Please join in this cause by spreading the word to others who may be looking for a men's Tungsten ring, Demascus steel ring, or Rockwell watches, or by making a purchase through www.tungstenringsformen.com. Greg will be offering a 15% discount that you are able to use by entering the promotional code "LILY" at checkout.

Your help and support is gratefully appreciated.

With love,

Greg and Britney

30 Weeks

2011-01-09T15:34:00.005-07:00

So here I am at 30 weeks...getting bigger and bigger! I am really feeling uncomfortable now and really looking forward to mid March when this little guy will make his appearance. I'm feeling good other than my burning, aching, trying to expand ribs and not being able to sleep good at night. As soon as I lay down Boston thinks it's time to swim a marathon and kicks and rolls and moves like you wouldn't believe. I think Greg thought I was exaggerating until the other night I made him lay there with his hand on my belly for a good 5 minutes and Boston moved the ENTIRE time! Greg was really surprised and said, "Man, I don't know how you can sleep with that," and then rolled over and went to sleep. No fair! Two nights ago I laid in bed for an HOUR, no joke, while Boston rolled around and kicked and moved. I love feeling him move, but not when I'm trying to go to sleep!

I have finished my "Baby Legs" leggings for him, appliqued some tops, made a nursing cover, and finished the pillows for the boys' room. I will post pics of all my projects together as soon as I am finished :) I started spray painting a bunch of things for their room yesterday (no worries, I wore a mask, opened windows and had fans blowing and then I closed doors and shoved towels underneath to keep the fumes out of the rest of the house while it dried) and have just a bit more to do and then I can start hanging things up. Eek! I have been having a craft fiasco lately with all the projects I want to complete. It's so much fun!

I have to share this story, cause it is just ridiculous if you ask me. About a week and a half ago, probably 2 days after Christmas, I woke up with THIS:

"Whoa!" "Are you for real?", "Yeah, that's pretty bad!" These are all comments made to me that morning. This picture doesn't do it justice. It felt like my lip was swollen when I woke up so I went and looked in the mirror and and AHH! It looked like I grew a beak over night! What the heck is this thing you ask? The nastiest cold sore I have ever had or seen, apparently. It was literally the size of a marble and swollen all the way through the inside of my lip. It was very sore and the next morning it had doubled in size, so I called my family doc and asked if there was anything I could take. I had never had this happen before and don't recall getting cold sores ever, really, so I didn't know I had one coming on and was supposed to take something at that point. I told them I was 7 months pregnant and they said they'd check with the doc and see if there was a prescription they could call in for me and they'd call me back. A couple hours later I got a call back from the office saying the doc wanted to see me that day and could squeeze me in 30 min later. So off to the doc I went...really? For a cold sore? Well it turns out that the doc wanted me to come in because I was so far in my pregnancy and just got this and didn't recall ever having a cold sore. He said the herpes virus could affect the baby and wanted to take a culture of this lump to make sure it was indeed a cold sore (YIKES that hurt!) and also draw my blood to see if I had the Herpes virus in my system already, or if this indeed was a new thing, because if the virus was passed on to my little guy, it could stunt his growth, cause him to have low birth weight, cause me to miscarry, or even have a stillborn. Ahh! I had no idea! He put me on a medication and I took it faithfully and waited the long New Year's holiday weekend to hear back about blood results. Fortunately I had previously built up a strong immunity to the virus and it would not be of any threat or risk to my baby. Phew! But I had to share that...

I didn't want to leave the house and you should have seen the looks I got from people when I DID have to leave the house. Seriously on day two it looked like I had previously had surgery for cleft lip. Awful! And I didn't even get a New Year's kiss this year ;(

But all is well now and the swelling went down, made a nasty scab, and that scab finally fell off yesterday. I had no idea cold sores could swell up like that!

Dax is getting so excited for Boston to come and share his bed with him. I have to keep correcting him by saying Boston will be sharing his bedROOM, not his bed. So funny. Dax even asked me a couple days ago how the baby is gonna come out. Ahh! What 2 yr old thinks of those things already?! I told him he'll just come out of my tummy at the hospital and then Dax responded, "Are they gonna cut him out?" I was very surprised by this question and just nodded my head in response. Oh Dax, you are so inquisitive.

10 more weeks to go...I can't wait to meet this little one!

27 Weeks

2010-12-18T00:20:00.003-07:00

It's crazy to believe that I'm already 27 weeks along with this pregnancy. Things are going pretty good. Just a couple days ago my hips started really aching and feel like they are coming out of the sockets at times. I got up a couple nights ago with Dax and could barely walk to his room! I definitely don't remember dealing with this with Dax. My ribs burn all the time and I have reflux (yuck), but overall I feel pretty good. It's definitely harder being pregnant the second time around when you've got a 2 yr old to entertain, chase, and discipline while already feeling exhausted!

It's so exciting to me that I'm in my 3rd trimester already! I have a doc appt at the beginning of Jan and then my doc said we'll be starting our appts every 2 weeks. Wow! That came really quickly! It's all sneaking up so fast! I have so many projects lined up that I have been working on and I am enjoying every minute of it.

Last night I took a bath and the little guy was moving and rolling around so much that it reminded me of that scene from the movie "Alien". I love how much he moves and the constant reminder of events to come. We finally decided on a name for this boy...Boston Samuel. I can't wait to see what he looks like!

My latest project is getting the boys' room put together. Dax and Boston will share a room...I'm a little nervous to see how that goes. My parents gave us my little brothers' old bunk bed and we got a mattress for it the other day. Dax is so thrilled about having a ladder on his bed and being able to climb up to his bed to sleep in at night. Tonight I converted the toddler bed back into a crib and it made me giddy! Daxton's bed is on the left of the room and the crib is on the right side of the room. I am doing their room in tan, navy blue, a turqoise-green blue color, and orange. I found the cutest fabric and have been making pillows, a blanket for the baby's bed, and will start on curtains soon. Plus a changing pad cover to match. Oh, and bumper pads. Don't worry, I will be sure to post it all when it is complete and put together. I love decorating....Eek!

The Stockings were hung...2010

2010-12-18T00:08:00.002-07:00

This is something I wish I would have done in years past and saw on somebody else's blog. They will take pictures around their house of their Christmas decor and compare it to previous years. It's fun to see what Christmas looked like in your home during specific years. So I am doing this for myself, but feel free to take a peek at what our home looks like at Christmas time this year :)

Here is my Christmas quilt that I started last year. I love it and am so proud of it!! It's pretty simple, but I love the fabrics and the way it turned out. This is my second quilt. Sitting next to my pillow I made at Thanksgiving time.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Lights on Temple Square

2010-12-17T23:57:00.003-07:00

Last Saturday (one week ago) we decided at the last minute to go to Temple Square and see the lights. It was such a nice night and not too cold.

Once downtown we rode the Trax shuttles to the temple gates and that became all we heard about from Dax the rest of the night was "when are we gonna ride the train again?" He could have cared less about the lights...little stinker.

But it was a fun little family outing and something I like to do each year at Christmas time.

Famous Family Fudge

2010-12-17T23:40:00.003-07:00

The story goes that Greg's Dad's Mom used to work for United Airlines long ago typing for them. Apparently a new division of See's Candies was opening up in the area she worked so See's was sending across their fudge recipe to the new division. Well Greg's Grandma happened to be the one to receive this to send it on. So she made a quick copy for herself before sending it on. This recipe has been made and revised many times throughout the years to get it just perfect.

Greg's Dad is a pro at making the silkiest, smoothest, best tasting fudge and last year taught Greg just how to do it. The secret is in how long you cook it. Greg makes it for friends, family, and neighbors each year at Christmas time. I love just being able to sit back and watch him work his magic :)

The first batch didn't turn out (still tasted delicious, just the texture wasn't right), but the second batch Greg was so proud of. Way to go babe!

O Christmas Tree

2010-12-17T23:23:00.003-07:00

I love decorating the tree and setting up Christmas decorations. This year we were in desperate need of a tree and couldn't seem to find a good deal on an artificial tree, so the three of us went to the Christmas tree lot down the street and picked up a real tree this year. She smells so good! Greg's family pretty much always had a real tree each year growing up, but this was a new experience for me as I have never had a real tree. She's a 6 foot noble fir. Dax was especially excited about setting up the tree when we told him his Daddy has a train that goes around it. Dax is fascinated, thrilled, pretty much obsessed with trains and anything to do with them. He was excited to be able to put the star on top of the tree because that meant we were done decorating the tree and could set up the train track.

It's so fun to have everything set up and ready for Christmas.

Sledding

2010-12-17T23:11:00.002-07:00

Greg kept telling Dax how he would take him sledding when it snowed and Thanksgiving weekend Greg went out and bought an awesome sled. The day after Thanksgiving instead of Black Friday shopping, we all went sledding nearby our house. There's a park with some awesome hills and also a school right next to it which is on a huge hill. Dax had a lot of fun and didn't want to leave until after we were in the car and his frozen feet started to thaw out and hurt. Then he was all about getting home and getting warmed up.

I even went on a couple runs and this last picture the 3 of us squeezed on the sled and went down one last HUGE hill together. Greg had to drag his feet behind to keep us from going faster than we already were! What a fun day.

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-12-17T22:43:00.005-07:00

Thanksgiving Day this year was spent with my side of the family. We switch off years between my family and Greg's family to keep things simple. We all met at my parents house for a yummy turkey dinner and everyone brought a pie. It was surprising that not one of us brought pumpkin, the traditional Thanksgiving Day pie. I made a cherry pie (since that's my favorite and my Dad and I are usually the only ones who eat it). I was so proud of myself! My first pie :) Although I did cheat and use a premade crust that you just cook. But I did do a lattice top and it turned out very pretty if I do say so myself. Darn, should have taken a picture!

My cute boys (shortly after this picture was taken, Dax was wiggling around on his chair and dumped his entire plate on the floor. Happy Thanksgiving Cooper dog!)

L to R: Mom, Me, Joe, Court (sorry, I chose the one with your eyes closed!), Peyton, Greg, Dax.

L to R: Dad, Dustin, Ryan (I love how his cheeks are bulging with food and he's shoveling up another bite already...haha!), Ashley, Kolby, Grandma B.

Chantel and Carl and their crew showed up later that evening and had come from California earlier that week. It was so fun to ALL be there for Thanksgiving this year. I love my family :)

After dinner was cleaned up and while the boys watched football, us girls got our craft on! It's a tradition that the girls make some sort of Christmas craft on thanksgiving.

My Mom found this tutorial for these cute rosette pillows and we all made them envelope style so that we can make several different pillow covers and switch them out using the same pillow form. Pretty clever, eh? Last year I started a Christmas quilt and finally finished it this year, so with my leftover fabric strips I made this fun pillow...matchy matchy :)

I think it turned out pretty cute, just don't mind the skee-wompus (however it's spelled) center flower. I ran out of fabric and had to improvise and then realized I was doing it more oval than circular. Oops!

We ate lots of food and stayed up way too late visiting, crafting, catching up, and laughing.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Baby Bump

2010-11-08T12:25:00.003-07:00

21 Weeks...

Dax took this picture for me, which is why it is kind of funny, but he managed to get all of me in the screen on one shot!

I can't believe I'm half-way through this pregnancy already and starting my 6th month.

The time sure has flown by this time around!!

I'm very happy with my weight this time around and I'm trying to not over-do it when it comes to late night cravings and munching.

But, we're just barely getting into the holidays, so we'll see how that keeps up ;)

I'm getting so excited for March to come and to meet this little guy!

He moves around quite a bit and last week at my big ultrasound he was so wiggly that the tech was having a hard time seeing what she needed to. It made me smile. I love seeing him!

Things are going good and I'm feeling great. Aside from the hot flashes that is...

I've been having fun making boyish baby legs, burp cloths, appliqued onesies, a beanie to wear home from the hospital, binky chains, and cloth wipes.

Yes, I'm going cloth. I've been researching for months and have decided to go cloth all the way. Cloth diapers and cloth wipes.

I'm so excited!

Since we have Aflac, we will be able to put a grundle into nice cloth diapers that will last us through the next couple kids and it will save us a ton of money.

Dax is potty-trained, but still has accidents at night, almost EVERY night. And I know that's normal for a 2 yr old, but I am really tired of changing sheets every day. Even pull-ups he pees through and they get so stinky gross that I ended up buying my first cloth diapers the other day for him to wear to bed at night and they work like a champ!!

Rumparooz and Fuzzi Bunz.

I'm a nut for cloth diapers now so if you have a question, feel free to shoot it my way :)

Baby Bump

2010-11-08T12:21:00.001-07:00

18 weeks...

Welp, we're having...

2010-10-01T12:07:00.000-06:00

another BOY.

Dax is so excited to

have a baby in the house

as he is a nut for babies.

It will be good for him to

have a little buddy too.

Choosing a name has been

much more difficult this

time around and we still have

not come up with anything

we are set on.

But baby boy is due to

arrive March 19th!!

New House

2010-09-07T21:51:00.008-06:00

Welcome to our "New House" as Daxton refers to it. I told you I'd take you on a tour, so here is as promised...and long overdue, I know. We rented out and moved into a townhome the beginning of June that is very spacious and works perfectly for our needs. It was built in the 70's, so some of the things inside looks pretty old school (ie the blue carpet, wooden doors, and brass fixtures and knobs). But we did score new carpet and paint on the main floor and basement and new tile throughout. It is about 1800 sq ft and has 3 bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths. There is an upstairs as well as a basement and beyond the room in the basement is a large unfinished storage room with workbenches in it, so it has turned into our storage room/Greg's workshop where he can do his ring business out of. Works wonderfully!
Here's our living room/tv room on the main floor. This is what you see first when you walk in the door.
Here is to the right of the dooor, the stairs.
Betcha can't guess...oh you're right, it's the stairs!
stairs again.
And here is our living room standing on the stairs (had to get the whole picture in).

Here is our Dining Nook that you see when you walk around the corner of the living room. And this is my table setting when I have people over for dinner...which will hopefully be a lot more often now that we're settled and the cooler season is upon us. Love my dishes and napkins :) and no, I did not purposely get Daxton's high chair to match...it just happened that way.

Here is our kitchen to the right of the dining area.

And if you continue on through the kitchen, on the other side of the wall is our Wash area and 1/2 bath. To the right of the washing machine is a door that leads to the basement. But our basement is used as an office/craft room/scrapbook room/playroom, so you don't get to see that. Always a big mess. Just one open room.

If you head upstairs and around the corner, the first door on your right is Daxton's bathroom.

And directly across from that is Daxton's bedroom.

(Don't you love how he's in every picture...he kept hopping in and saying "cheese" every time I held up the camera). Daxton's room is now rearranged as he will be on one side and the baby on the other when baby comes.

And if you head upstairs, around the corner and continue straight down the hall, you run into the Master bedroom.

Left of the entrance. The door on the right is our closet. It's a long corridor walk-in closet so it's able to fit all of our clothes and shoes and then some other junk stored up on the shelves ;) Works marvelously.

This is at the foot of our bed and to the left is our bathroom.

Kind of a corridor with the second doorway leading in to the shower and toilet "room".

Here you can see it kicks back in a bit and that's where our double sinks are and long counter. Oh how I missed having counter space to get ready on!

And there you have it! Our New House.

Greg turns 26!

2010-09-07T21:02:00.006-06:00

Greg, Dax, and I celebrated Greg's 26th birthday together this year by going to Pei Wei for dinner (oh how I heart you Pei Wei) and then home for a movie night on Redbox.

I had found out just the day before that I was pregnant and was dying to tell Greg! I thought how perfect that Greg's birthday was the next day to surprise him. Holding the secret in just one day was killer! You should've seen the crazy look Greg gave me when I was chowing day on Dax's snacks in church and during the Sacrament! I had been feeling nauseous for a couple weeks and wondering if I was indeed expecting. I wrapped up the pregnancy test (kinda gross, I know...but I knew he'd wanna see it for himself that it was indeed positive) and then gave him a card saying Happy Birthday and telling him how much we love and appreciate him yadi yadi ya da...then at the end said "Lots of Love, Brit, Dax, and baby #2 (Surprise!)"

Greg was VERY surprised and after reading the card looking at me and said, "serious?" He's very excited :)

No, I didn't just give Greg a pee stick for his present. I had ordered him an RC helicopter off Amazon and it was supposed to arrive that morning...but ended up being on the doorstep the following morning as Greg was on his way to work.

He was very excited and couldn't wait to get home that evening to test it out.
He and Dax have had lots of fun with it and the first thing Dax asks when Greg gets home from work is "fly hel-copter?!"

Happy Birthday Greg!!

We love you!

Daxton's Surprise

2010-08-19T13:48:00.003-06:00

That's right! We're expecting baby #2, due to arrive March 19th.

We're very excited!!

UPDATED

2010-07-28T16:54:00.002-06:00

So I planned to get my blog all caught up today, but I can't seem to find my camera cable to get the rest of the pictures off. It's somewhere in our storage room where we have crammed everything since we are getting NEW carpet in our basement. Yippee! Carpet comes on Saturday, so hopefully I can get all the pictures up and take you on a tour of our place next week :)

For now, feel free to look back to the beginning of May for some new posts.

Later!

Happy Birthday Brit

2010-06-22T20:47:00.000-06:00

yellow and gray fat-quarter fabrics to create something lovely for my kitchen! Thanks Marianne!
My favorite boys

Dax and crazy Grandpa

I turned 27 this year. Yikes! So weird to think that I'm in my LATE 20's already. I had an awesome birthday celebration. I celebrated my actual birthday in St George with my family at a HUGE house we all rented out for a week-long vacation (Palooza). I got to go shopping by myself for 4 hours!! Heaven! Scored some cute stuff for great deals (even better) and then afterward went to dinner with Greg, just the 2 of us, to Red Lobster--my absolute FAVORITE restaurant. Then went back to the house and the girls watched "New Moon" while the guys went out to a movie. Sure wish I could have stayed awake for that movie...I was so tired. Then we had cake the following day.

Then a week later we celebrated with Greg's side of the family at a Penthouse in Park City Marriott. We had dinner, opened presents, and went swimming. So much fun!

Happy Birthday to me :)

GOOOOOOOOAL!

2010-06-11T14:43:00.000-06:00

Back in April Greg joined his work's Indoor Soccer team and played several late night games. He had a lot of fun and we enjoyed going to watch every now and then.

Way to go, Babe! He had some good games and some not so good games, and finished up the season mid June by spraining his ankle on their very last game. Ouch!

Dax loved to watch, but he didn't quite understand the point of "watching" and wanted to get right in there and "run the ball with dad" as he calls it.

All My Bags are Packed!

2010-06-03T14:36:00.003-06:00

...well, just about. We're Moving!! Again. But after living with 3 different family members and friends (which we so appreciate their putting us up) for the past year, this time we're finally moving into our own space. I'm so excited I can hardly sleep at night. I can't wait to get all of our furniture out of storage and to see all my things again. And decorate!! I think I'm most excited to get to sleep in my own bed again. Oh how I miss you, King-size pillow top. Woohoo! Where might we be moving you ask? Cottonwood Heights. We found a very spacious townhome there. Nope, won't be moving back into our Draper house...we'll just continue to keep that rented out and as an investment property. Seems to be working out quite well :) So as soon as we're moved in and things are put in their places, I will take you all on a picture tour of our new digs! Until then...

I Heart Potty-Training

2010-05-26T21:15:00.003-06:00

Yeah, RIGHT! Why is it that kids have to go up and down with potty-training? They do awesome for a while and then there's like an entire week where they act like they've never seen a toilet before and just have accident after accident and it doesn't phase them they're doing anything wrong. Well, at least that's how it's been with my child. He has done awesome since February. It took him about 2 weeks to really get it, and he's had occasional accidents (which I expect and understand happens), but today? I am so upset with him today! He had FOUR accidents...one of which was poop. Are you kidding me?! He hasn't pooped his pants since Feb when we first started potty-training. And this past week he will NOT tell me when he has to go potty. Instead he'll just pee his pants and wait for me to notice. Then I lose it (which I know I'm not supposed to do). I've tried being calm and just explain that he's supposed to go potty in the toilet, but it's like he could care less and acts like, "oh good, I'm not even in trouble." I don't know what to do! After the poop accident today that was it! Thank goodness it was toward the end of the day and I didn't have to see him much longer. I was so upset I just threw away his underwear. What do I do? Why won't he tell me anymore when he has to go? Needing to vent. Any other moms out there feeling my frustration? Anyone have any advice or tips or that can relate and tell me how they got through it??

Blogger, We're not friends right now

2010-05-22T19:47:00.003-06:00

I don't know if any of you have the same problems, but I swear every time I have plenty of time to sit down and catch up my blog, the stupid blogger is having problems staying online, or it won't upload my pictures for some stupid reason. So...as soon as it IS up and working, I have plenty of posts to share with you. So stay tuned!

Hawk it up!

2010-05-17T16:35:00.001-06:00

Greg needed a haircut and when I walked in after he was done cutting it himself, this is what I found.

I love it!
Sexy.Hot.Man.
It only lasted a couple weeks unfortunately...

Happy Anniversary!

2010-05-08T15:43:00.001-06:00

Greg and I celebrated 4 years of being married on May 19th. For his anniversary present, I gave Greg 2 tickets to the "Neon Trees", "Mute Math", and "30 Seconds to Mars" concert at the Rail Events Center on May 8th.
Neon Trees: My new favorite band. They've got such good voices and Tyler Glenn is a hotty! Something about that mohawk...mmm, mmm...reminds me of Puck on "Glee" ;) And their drummer is a GIRL! The only girl in the band, and she's the drummer. Pretty inspiring and impressive if you ask me. You rock, chica!

Mute Math: They have the CRAZIEST drummer ever! When he first came on stage, he put headphones on and then grabbed a roll of duct tape and wrapped it around his head and under his chin several times. I was thinking, "What...?" Then when he began playing I could see why...he slams his head around like nobody's business! Don't want those things flying off. He threw his coat over his head at one point and played "blind" and broke several drumsticks throughout their performance. My favorite was when he poured a water bottle slowly onto his drums while he was tapping the symbols (is that what they're called?) with his other hand. The water emptied out of the bottle after he took a few swigs and then started slamming away on his drums and water was flying everywhere. It was so cool to watch! Near the end they stacked up a bunch of amp boxes and instrument cases and he jumped up top and played them with his sticks. That guy has got some serious talent! A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

Afterward, it was quiet for quite some time before the famous Jared Letto with 30 Seconds to Mars came on. People were squeezing their way up toward the front and crowding in. Some very tall drunk guy was trying to push his way up front from behind me and Greg and ended up shoving me about 5 feet to the left of where I was standing next to Greg. Scary! I yelled Greg's name and he shoved the guy. The guy shoved him back. Greg was about ready to throw a punch, when his buddy Jake (who ended up walking in to the concert just ahead of us) grabbed Greg and told the moron to basically get out here. Greg was all fired up and I was nervous he was gonna get into a fight. That boy needed a serious chill pill that night! But it felt good to know he's got my back ;) hee hee.

When "30 Seconds to Mars" finally came on, the crowd squished in even tighter and I could NOT handle it. So I told Greg I was gonna hang out in the back. I found my good friend Shelli (who is a total Neon Trees fan) and hung with her while Greg and Jake moshed it out together for the rest of the concert.

The famous Jared Leto with a Hot Pink Mohawk

It was an awesome night and a lot of fun to be there with Greg, but then to each end up having a buddy to pal around with so that we were both comfortable. Turned out perfectly.

I forget how fun concerts are. Makes me feel wild and young again :)

(Thanks so much to Brooke and Derek for watching Dax until 1:00am! They played at the park with him, bathed him, and even put him to bed! You guys are awesome. Thanks again!)

On our actual anniversary, Greg and I went out for chocolate fondue at Zupa's and then watched a movie at home afterward. Greg gave me a card with money in it for a deposit on a place of our own. EXACTLY what I wanted :)

Happy Anniversary, Babe!!

I love you.

A New Cousin

2010-05-08T15:38:00.000-06:00

On May 7th Greg's brother Jason and his wife Monica had their very first baby. A little boy named William. Dax sure loves babies and was very excited to meet his new cousin, baby Will.

He sure is a sweetheart! I think he looks so much like his mommy in this picture.

Thanksgiving Point

2010-05-05T15:04:00.000-06:00

For playdate we decided to venture out to Thanksgiving Point. We looked around at all the animals and the kids even got to go on a pony ride!
L to R: Kyden, Lincoln, Makenna, Dax

Dax was so excited for the pony ride, but became hysterical when it was his turn and didn't even wanna SIT on the pony. We walked along side the pony for a bit...

Me and Dax

But then I made him sit on it and get a picture, happy or not, because I was NOT gonna have my $2 go to waste...I'm terrible, I know.

Peyton sure loved it though!

The funny thing is that when the ride was over and we were leaving, Dax threw a fit AGAIN, but this time begging to ride on the pony. *Sigh* There's no pleasing this 2-year-old.

L to R: Courtney & Peyton; Melissa, Makenna & Avonlea; Brooke, Lincoln (and Carter behind Linc); Dax and me.

It was so fun to meet and play and then have lunch and visit. I love my girlfriends!!

It's All In The Bag

2010-04-27T12:36:00.003-06:00

So here's my latest project...finally finished! A good-sized bag to use for whatever.

I've been working on this since December of last year, but I absolutely LOVE it!

You can't see it too well, but one of my favorite things about this bag is the silver rings on the side.

Inside, my mom helped me figure out how to put 3 pockets so that I can use it for a Diaper bag to hold bottles, or whatever else. The center pocket is a little larger than the outer two.

It's so nice and big that I can fit so much in it! And just take along ONE bag instead of THREE. This will be my "everything" bag. Overnight bag, Diaper bag, purse, vacation bag, carry-on, you name it.

Thanks Mom for all your help!

Lovin' my new bag :)

Update!!...ed

2010-04-18T15:51:00.003-06:00

So I finally caught up on my blog. Check back into Feb for all that's been going on in the life of this little family.

Playdate at the Park

2010-04-15T19:37:00.000-06:00

It was finally warm enough to go to the park. So Me and Dax, Brooke and Lincoln and Carter, and Courtney and Peyton packed up a lunch and picnicked in the sun. It turned out to be really warm and everyone ended up a little sunburned. We all forgot to pack sunscreen...not used to bringing that along after the snowy, cold, winter season.

Dax and Lincoln on the tire swing. They're the best of buddies.

Handsome Boys

2010-04-11T16:03:00.003-06:00

Greg and Dax in their matching Easter Outfits.

The Easter Bunny was good to me

2010-04-11T15:57:00.002-06:00

This was Daxton's first time doing a real Easter Egg hunt and was very excited about his "nandy" and "Woody Buzz" underwear and Coloring book he got.

Beep, All Done!

2010-04-11T15:22:00.002-06:00

Dax has recently decided that he's not going to take a nap, anymore. I had tried everything, and it had been 5 days since he'd taken an afternoon nap. But with him only being 2 and down to 1 nap a day, that was much needed alone time for me that I was NOT willing to just let go. I know he needed a nap too, because he would fall asleep around 6pm if he didn't nap earlier and then wouldn't go down for the night until midnight. Not to mention he was SO ornery during the day.

So, after doing some looking around and reading on the internet (don't you just love the web) and talking to my mom, I got the idea to at least have "quiet time" if Dax wasn't going to take a nap. So I went to the store and bought a cheap baby gate to put in his doorway. We went home and did his naptime routine. I put up the baby gate and told him he needed to stay on his bed. He stood at the gate and cried and screamed for 20 min until he pushed the gate over. I set it back up and once again he stood at the gate and screamed for me. Another 20 min went by when I finally decided to try setting a timer. So I set a timer for just 5 min on my phone and went and showed Dax. I told him to calm down, wiped his nose, and then explained that he needed to stay in his room and be quiet until the timer beeped and then I would let him out. I set the phone down on the floor outside the gate, so that he could see it, and there was not a peep from him until the timer beeped! I went to get him and this is what I found:

He had sat at his door staring at the phone through the gate for the whole 5 min! He was saying, "Beep! All Done!" This worked out perfect because Dax now knows that he has to stay in his room until the beep. And he knows he won't just be trapped in his room for who knows how long.

So now he naps every other day and the days he doesn't nap, he gets to turn the light on and play quietly in his room until the beeper goes off.

It's wonderful!! Praise to the timer :)

April Scrapbooking Workshop

2010-04-05T13:04:00.005-06:00

This month's Close To My Heart Workshop will be held on Sat April 17th from 11:00am-2:00pm. (If you would like to host your own workshop with friends on another day, that is also an option. Just let me know). You will be able to make the 2 two-page layouts and 3 cards above for only $29.95!! Included in this cost are the following:

*Veranda Level 2 paper packet

*My Acrylix Follow Your Heart Stamp Set

*Filigree Charms (Pewter flower accents)

*Workshop Guide

You can also add in addition to this any of the following that you wish:

*Mini-Medley Antiqued Copper Accents $4.95

*Just Blooms Spring Blossoms $7.95

The stamp set that comes with this kit has petals you can make into flowers, so if you do not purchase the Spring Blossoms paper flowers, you can always create some with your stamps to make your layout complete.

Please bring your own adhesive, papercutter, and scissors. Also, feel free to bring any of the following if you already own them to speed up your assembly process:

Creme Brulee ink pad

Cocoa ink pad

Tulip ink pad

Garden Green ink pad

My Acrylix stamping blocks

Please let me know by Monday April 12th if you would like to attend either by email or by posting a comment with your email address and I will contact you with directions and total cost.

Hope to see you there!

Britney

Colored Eggs

2010-04-02T19:00:00.000-06:00

Dax colored Easter eggs for the first time this year and loved it!

Coloring a picture on the egg to resist the dye.

His finished eggs. Can you tell which one he colored on himself? Isn't it so cute?!

Good job buddy!

Girl's Night Out!!

2010-03-19T14:51:00.001-06:00

Brooke invited Courtney and me out to her family's condo in Park City for a night. We left late afternoon on the 19th and spent the night. They brought their little munchkins with them, but I was so excited to get to leave Dax at home with Greg for a fun and much needed break.

These cute lil ones are only 5 days apart from each other in age.

We went out to dinner that first night and then came home and began our sewing marathon. Court brought her sewing machine and we each brought fabric to work on something. Court was coaching Brooke on making a little girl's sun dress.

We ate junk food, sewed, talked, and laughed the night away!

I started on some napkins for my kitchen when I get one again. Don't you love this fabric!? I'm totally loving it.

We finally called it quits at 2:50am when Court's sewing machine got gummed up and we couldn't figure out how to undo it. Probably a good thing though or who knows how late we would've actually stayed up.

We went to bed and the next morning we got ready and then headed out to the Tanger Outlets to shop and look around. It was so sunny, but FREEZING! The sun was very deceiving.

Afterward we headed back to the condo, made some lunch, cleaned up, and then watched "The Time Traveler's Wife" (total flop of a movie in my opinion...doesn't make sense and very unrealistic) before heading out.

The time went by too fast, but it was so much fun. Thanks again for having us Brooke!! It was a blast!

I Love My Lover

2010-02-18T14:34:00.000-07:00

For my Valentine's present Greg surprised me and got us a room with a HUGE jacuzzi tub for an overnighter by ourselves. It was in Wendover, which took a bit to get there, but was so fun! He came home from work early yesterday and told me to pack a bag. He had arranged for Dax to stay the night at my parents' house and as soon as we were all packed up, we dropped Dax off and headed out.

We stayed at the Peppermill Hotel. We checked in and then ran to the store for munchies and for Greg to get some dinner (I had already eaten). Then back to the hotel. Greg packed bubble bath, had gotten me my favorite Turtles chocolates, and had borrowed a friend's masseuse book and read up on some massage techniques (I think that was so thoughtful of him) and then gave me the best massage ever!

It was such a great night and so much fun to stay up late, hang out, eat, watch TV, have a full night's sleep, sleep in, and of course just be with my hubby.

Thanks babe! Happy Valentine's Day.

I LOVE YOU!

You Bring Me Joy

2010-02-17T13:34:00.004-07:00

Dear Daxton,

You're officially 2 years old now. It's crazy how fast the time has gone by. I remember you being a teeny tiny 6 lbs 13 oz and snuggled up to me with your knees tucked up to your chin. I sure do miss those days of snuggling you while you slept. But those were also tough times too with many sleepless nights due to your colicky-ness. Poor baby.

Now you're such a big boy. You run around and love to be chased. You come up to me and tug on my leg and say, "Mon, run?" (What you mean is "C'mon, let's run!") You love to jump and spin and be thrown in the air by Daddy. Thanks to grandma and grandpa's vaulted ceiling, he can get you up there pretty high, but it sure makes me nervous. You're at the age where you don't stop moving.

You are getting much more into watching Disney and cartoon movies, which I am loving. Cause if I have to listen to the music on another blasted Baby Einstein movie again...I'm just loving that there's a variety, we'll keep it at that. Your favorites lately have been "Meet the Robinson's", "The Incredibles", "A Bug's Life", and "Nemo" if that's all that's around. You especially love any movie with a baby in it (which is why you love the first three listed) and will watch the first 20 min of "Tarzan" because of this, but then want to turn it off.

You are obsessed with babies lately. And it's a good thing we don't have another one, or you'd probably maul the poor thing. I'd have to be on you like a hawk. You love your baby cousin Peyton and your friend Lincoln's little brother Carter. You're always wanting to hold the baby (which you're not the best at yet) and give lots of kisses and loves. You are totally enamored by their tiny-ness. You like to pretend you have a baby in your tummy and I'll catch you putting things down your shirt and patting your tummy saying, "Baby?" Like the little conductor that goes in the train at Nana's house. You'll walk around with his little head peeking out of the collar of your shirt and patting your belly saying "baby, baby." I'm still trying to teach you that I don't have two babies in my chest and that that's just mommy. A bump is a bump, right? I can see how that could be confusing.

You love to take baths and have ever since you were tiny enough to take them in the bathroom sink. You especially love bubbles. That's something we can be sure to bribe you with when we need you to take just one more bite of your dinner. You are fascinated with bubbles. I was putting my contacts in one day and you saw me put it onto my finger. Your eyes got real big and you shouted, "Bubble!" You saw me put it into my eye and now you point to anyone's eyes and say "Bubbles?" because you think everyone puts contacts into their eyes. You even like to dip your fingers in the solution left in the contact case (after I've put the contact into my eye) and you rub it over your closed eyelids as if putting contacts in yourself.

You're a big helper around the house. You love the vacuum and the broom. You love to rinse your dish and put it in the sink after you've eaten and help to unload the dishwasher. You especially LOVE helping with "oneen" (laundry), probably because it involves pushing buttons. I'll definately be sure to remind you of how much you love to do chores and help out when you get older and try to tell me you don't want to, or "it's boring."

You like to be outside. You love to swing and slide and run and get dirty. You love animals and especially when they're outside! You love going with mom to Pine Needles to pick out fabric, but only because you know you get to feed the ducks afterward. Those ducks sure are little piggies. A couple times I've had to scoop you up and hold you because they start nipping at your hands if you don't have more food for them. But that doesn't keep you from going back to visit. You love ducks. The other day a duck was in grandma and grandpa's yard and got stuck down in Mom and Dad's bedroom window well. It quacked and flapped around all day trying to get out. Later when uncle Nate jumped down in there and lifted him out, you followed him across the yard, down the sidewalk and across the driveway of the place he belongs and just about tried to squeeze through the fence after him, but luckily I caught you before getting your head stuck.

You're talking more and more each day and it's become so nice when you can tell me what is wrong or what you want. There's still times where I can't understand you and it makes me laugh because you are so adament with the same word. You look at me like I'm stupid or can't hear you and repeat it over and over. This usually leads to a fit, which you've become pretty good at throwing lately. We're working with you though to settle down and look us in the eye and say what it is you want, or have you take us by the hand and show us. Like at Nana's house. There is something there that you call "bodo" and you even try to sign it! You turn your palms outward and clap the backs of your hands together and say "bodo". We still haven't figured out what this is. You're starting to speak in short sentences, usually only two words together at a time, and are doing very well at saying your prayers. You love to say "amen" and it makes church difficult sometimes because you think it's time to go after each "amen." With there being a couple prayers and several talks, lots of "amens" are said and it is very confusing to you. Especially during testimony meeting! You make us laugh and keep us on our toes.

You have become so much better about going to sleep for naps and at night. Usually if we stick to our routine you do just fine. We give you a bath, put your jammies on, read a book or two, and then say prayers. After prayers you turn on your music and then turn off the light before climbing into bed. Daddy has taught you that there are many ways to turn off the light (with your head, foot, elbow, or even your bum) that are much more fun than just with your hand, and these different ways always make you giggle. When you climb into bed we cover you up and then have to find every tag on the blankets on your bed (I dunno what it is about these tags, but you are fascinated with them). This is sometimes frustrating as your favorite blanket (the airplane one) has the smallest of all tags. Often times I'll miss it while running my fingers around the edge of it in the dark and find myself going around the blanket two or three times before finding it. But once we've found the tags, I don't usually make it all the way through "Winkle" (the "twinkle twinkle little star" song) before you're telling me "nuh night" and rolling over to go to sleep.

You always wanna be going "buh-bye" and ask me this just about every morning after you wake up. You are a busy body just like your dad and always wanting to be moving around or on the run to somewhere new. Maybe this is why you've done ok adjusting with all the moving around we've done in the past 6 months.

Things you're into lately: Trains, playing with friends, blocks, books, having your back tickled, movies, babies, oranges, fruit snacks, crackers, and "choc-lic" (chocolate).

Things you don't care so much for: Being left with a babysitter, sitting and eating a meal (you'd rather snack throughout the day while on the go), vegetables--except for green beans, and breaded foods.

I started the potty training yesterday with you and things have been going pretty well. We've still got a long road ahead of us I'm sure. But you have been doing surprisingly well with it only being your second day. You've only had 2 accidents, and we're trying to get you to do ALL potty in the toilet, not just peeing.

You're growing up so fast and we love you so much! You are such a light in our lives and always making us smile. It's fun to watch you grow and change and be there for all the funny things you do and your reactions to new things. I sure love kissing those cheeks and hearing you laugh.

Luv You, roni bug!

Mom

Turning 2 is Tough

2010-02-14T22:59:00.000-07:00

Daxton, today you turned 2 years old! You sure had a rough day. The above picture is about the only smile we got out of you all day (and this was after much coaxing). You woke up ornery, crying and whining at about 7:30 am and were much that way throughout the entire day. I sure don't know what was wrong with you. You wouldn't stay in nursery by yourself and after church Daddy tried to take you out back to swing and see if that'd cheer you up, but your swing got the best of you and left you with a nice little shiner below your left eye. Mommy put you down for a nap afterward, and you woke up just 45 min later crying and ornery, again.

It's so funny how you say you're "two" now when we ask how old you are. You sharply say, "Two!" and slam out your hand like you're telling someone to stop, while holding up all 5 fingers. Haven't gotten down the fingers yet.
You're really into trains lately...especially the ones that are held together by magnets. So I came up with the idea to make your cake into a mountain with a train coming down it. Daddy got all excited when I told him the plans for your cake and helped with all the construction. It was all we could do to keep you away from pulling the train off until after you blew out the candles.

You were so funny opening presents. You'd rip off tiny bits at a time and it took quite a while to open all of your gifts. You sure got spoiled!

Nana and Papa got you this remote control car, Great Grandma B gave you some money, Grandma and Grandpa got you a T-ball set to play outside with, Aunt Courtney and Uncle Joe got you a plastic golf set, Uncle Jason and Aunt Monica got you your very first Hotwheels, your friend Lincoln gave you a Digger and some alphabet magnets to go on the fridge, and Mom and Dad gave you some books and some clothes.

As soon as Lincoln arrived, you wouldn't do anything else as long as he wasn't right there doing it with you (he even had to help you open the remainder of your presents). You sure love your friend. You still haven't quite gotten down how to blow, but are real good at blowing your nose because you blow air out of your nose when we tell you to blow. Good thing the candles were on the portion of the cake that didn't get cut into ;)

Happy Birthday, Dax!

We sure love you.

The 14 Days of Valentine's Day

2010-02-01T14:16:00.000-07:00

For Greg's Valentine's present this year I decided to get creative and did the 14 Days of Valentine's for him (after getting the idea from a friend who got it from a friend).

This is day 1.

Greg loved it and was so excited every day to see what that day would bring. Feel free to use this idea for next year :) Here's Greg's 14 Days of Valentine's that he received:

Day 1: One picture perfect child.

Day2: Two glasses of bubbly and my 2 hands to massage your tired back.

Day 3: Three reasons to stay in with me tonight (Redbox movie-one he's been wanting to see, treats, and drinks).

Day 4: Four of your favorite treats.

Day 5: Five things for a great date (Greg has been working late hours, so we got 2 take out lunches, 2 drinks, and played a couple games of "Skip-Bo" while eating).

Day 6: This one's a secret ;)

Day 7: Seven reasons you're the best Dad. (I printed up a letter with the reasons and added pictures of Greg and Dax throughout the years).

Day 8: Eternity. (I gave Greg a framed picture of us on our wedding day and wrote a letter to him telling him some of my favorite memories from that day).

Day 9: Nine cupcakes for my cupcake.

Day 10: Ten things I love about you (on post-its stuck to the inside of his car windshield).

Day 11: Eleven Hugs and Kisses (Hershey's of course--placed in the shape of a heart).

Day 12: A dozen of my favorite memories we've had together. (Sent in an email).

Day 13: Thirteen ways to say I love you. (I put "13 ways to say..." on our screensaver and then put "I Love You" in 13 languages on post-its around the screen).

Day 14: Happy Valentine's Day! (It was a Sunday-and we had Daxton's b-day party that night, so after church I made him his favorite lunch--turkey bacon and avocado sandwiches with Baked Lay's chips- and had made a crossword puzzle for him to do while he ate his lunch).

I love you Greg!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

New Year's Resolutions 2010

2010-01-30T14:03:00.002-07:00

With it being a new year, I try to take advantage of accomplishing some goals. I had them all written up a week before the big day of Jan 1st so I could pump myself up to start working on them. There are quite a few, but they're GOALS, not MUSTS. And, I have an entire year to work on them!

Here are some of them:

Mommy goals:

* Potty train Dax

* Get prego with our 2nd child

* Spend more one on one time with Dax.

* Plan entertaining as well as educational activities for Dax.

* Become better at planning out and preparing meals.

Wife goals:

* Keep up on our blog (try to keep it fairly up-to-date).

* Send out Christmas cards/letters this year.

* Go on weekly date nights.

Physical goals:

* Exercise at least 3 times a week.

* Run 2-3 short races, each 5 miles or less.

* Get more sleep...get to bed earlier!

Intellectual:

* Read at least 3 books.

* Learn a new skill.

* Become a better cook.

Spiritual:

* Read the entire Book of Mormon on my own.

* Start and keep a journal again (I used to be so good at this up until I met Greg...shame on me).

* Attend the temple at least once a month.

Creative:

* Finish Daxton's baby scrapbook.

* Start teaching scrapbooking workshops again.

* Finish Guatemala scrapbook.

* Make crafts for 3 different holidays.

So there ya have it. I'm doing this for myself cause I wanna look back at the end of the year and see how well I've done at accomplishing them. Some goals are more private, so I haven't posted them, but this is most of them. You can do it, Brit!

Aquarium Fun

2010-01-28T14:03:00.000-07:00

Just after Dax turned 1yr old, we bought an annual pass to The Living Planet Aquarium. He's free as long as he's under 2, so really the pass was for me. We went once, but he was a little young to thoroughly enjoy it, and then we moved to California. With his second birthday approaching, I thought we'd better go at least once more to make it worth our money. So we met up with Daxton's buddy Lincoln and his mom Brooke.

Dax liked it a lot more this time around and loved running around and pressing buttons.

(I think the flash was too bright for Linc, he kept squinting. But at least he held still long enough to look at the camera. Come on Dax!)

They touched the sting rays in the water, got all wet, ran around, and laughed at the electric eel shocking his food.

Thanks for joining us Linc and Brooke!

Ringing in the New Year

2009-12-31T13:48:00.000-07:00

On New Year's Eve we (Greg, Dax and I) went up to a friend's family cabin in Oakley. We played games, the boys played in the snow, and we munched prior to ringing in the New Year. Dax loved playing in the snow and riding on the snow mobiles. Early in the day the boys rigged up a home-made rowboat to the snowmobiles in attempt to make it into a sled. So from then on, Dax called the snow mobiles "boats".

Greg trying to make a cover for the boat out of plastic while Dax and I watched from inside where it was warm :)
The gang we partied with

Just after ringing in the New Year :)

We went to bed about 1:00 am (or I should say we retired to our rooms at that time) and then were up for at least another hour talking, joking, and laughing with friends. Good times!

The Party after The Party

2009-12-27T12:30:00.001-07:00

Chantel and Carl came into town late on Christmas night. So we celebrated with our family all together on Sunday. We went to church at my parents ward and and then began the festivities at my parents house afterward which included a nice ham dinner and then exchanging gifts.

Chantel and Carl

Court with her sleeping angel.

Dax got even more trains from Aunt Court and Uncle Joe!

Jax and Crew

Me opening my fabulous coat from Ashley.

Ashley helping Dax put together his train. (Ryan is to the left of her...he managed to stay out of every picture this year! So this is as good of a picture of him as I have, darnit!)

Chantel and sleepy Milo

Grandma B came over too. Jax is so funny and asked her why she has tubes in her nose (she's on oxygen) and Grandma B said that they help her to breathe. Jax replied, "I don't need tubes in my nose cause I can breathe good. See?" and then he took a big deep breath in through his nose. Ha! It was so much fun to be together and to have Chantel and Carl in town. Dax really loved having Milo follow him around and making him laugh. What a cutie he is! Our family sure is growing! I remember talking about the day when we'd all be married with kids and how big our family would be. It's already here...well only partially, and it's already so big!

I love spending the holidays with family.

Whoa...

2009-12-26T12:22:00.000-07:00

Greg and Dax built a giant tower with his new blocks. They used every single block and built it as tall as they could while keeping it standing.

Dax had to put some finishing touches on it...

Then, Ta-Da! All finished. At least we know if Dax didn't care for his blocks, his daddy would make good use of them and enjoy them :)

Christmas Day 2009

2009-12-25T11:37:00.000-07:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS! We started the morning off by opening presents at the in-laws.

Dax opened and loved the blocks that we had spent the past couple days (all day long) making for him.

First set of tools!

Then we headed over to my parents' house to spend the rest of the day.

What a cheesy grin...

Dax got a magnetic Thomas train from Nana and Papa in his stocking!

And some more blocks from Nana and Papa.

Had to try 'em out :)

My parents

Court, Joe, and my cute niece Peyton.

Our little family.

(Notice Dax is in his jammies again...his new pants were chafing his legs.)

What a wonderful Christmas it was! We were sure spoiled by our families this year. Dax has more toys than he knows what to do with and his birthday is just around the corner! Guess you know what that means...he'll be getting lots of clothes ;)

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!

Twas the Night Before Christmas (2009)

2009-12-24T21:40:00.001-07:00

We spent Christmas Eve this year with Greg's family. It all began with their traditional "finger food dinner in the living room." Which, although it was pretty squishy this year, was really good.

Then, next came "family planning" for the following year and planning our next family vacation. Then, onto opening presents! Everyone would be in and out at different times on Christmas day this year, so all the married families opened their gifts from Don and Marianne and then we did the sibling exchange.
Daxton opening a gift from Kyleena...a bowling set!

This was the first year in quite some time that the entire family was able to be there together.

This year for the parents' present, each of us got our family's pictures taken and Alyssa made picture frames in her woods class at school. We put together a collage of all the pictures onto a big piece of plywood and wrapped it. They loved it!

Greg and I opening our gift from the siblings...Super Mario Bros for the Wii!!

(Sorry, this picture is a little blurry.) Daxton LOVES having other kids his age around and to play with. He was crazy about his cousin Kyleena (who he hasn't seen since they were both infants) the minute she walked in the door and kept trying to hug her and play with her. She didn't want much to do with poor Dax...

But she warmed up to him really quickly :) Kissing cousins.

(No prompting, whatsoever, was done for this picture! Cute!)

One of my favorite family traditions growing up was to open pajamas on Christmas Eve. So I've brought this tradition into my own little family.

Now off to bed to await Santa's arrival!

Santa's Workshop

2009-12-22T16:33:00.003-07:00

Santa's busy making Daxton some blocks for Christmas this year. Cutting it close, I know. Hopefully we can get them done in time for the big day! The sleigh's gonna be extra heavy this year.

My job is to stain the blocks after the edges have been rounded. Hopefully we can stay warm long enough to finish. Wish us luck!

...and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

2009-12-20T17:13:00.004-07:00

Ok, so it's not a Partridge. Meet "Tiki" a Sun Conure. She's the funniest bird and Dax absolutely LOVES her. He belongs to his Aunt Monica and Uncle Jason. He met her for the first time this month and really enjoyed feeding her and letting her climb on him.

Dax loves birdies. The video below is kinda long, so be prepared. And don't worry, Dax didn't get it too bad there in the end.

It's Not Christmas Without SUGAR COOKIES!

2009-12-20T16:43:00.005-07:00

At the beginning of this month, Greg's Mom's side of the family got together for a family night of cookie decorating and chowder eating. Mmmm was it good!

The gang

Dax enjoyed decorating the cookie (shows on his face!) and then licking it all off...rarely would he take an actual bite.

These particular cookies (decorated by Alyssa) are DELICIOUS! This recipe all began when my Aunt Julie was making sugar cookies one time and made a mistake by mixing two different recipes together. She ended up adding sour cream, but later was very grateful for the mistake as these are the softest, best sugar cookies ever! It's now a family favorite of ours and my mom makes them for all occasions. Feel free to try 'em out:

Sugar Cookies

1 cup margarine

1 cup sugar

*Cream together, then add:

2 beaten eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup sour cream

*Mix well, then add:

3 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

*Mix well. Chill for at least 1/2 hour. Roll out 1/8" thick and cut into shapes. Bake at 375 for 10 min. Frost if desired.

Frosting:

1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

dash of salt

2 Tbsp evaporated milk or enough to make it easy to spread. Can substitute regular milk.

*Mix and add a few drops of food coloring of your choice.

Enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-27T12:27:00.002-07:00

We packed up and headed out Tuesday morning to Medford, Oregon to be with Greg's dad's parents and family. Jason and Monica rode along with us and it was such a pretty drive. When we got into Oregon we had to slow way down and got to creep along through a cattle drive. So cool, but made me a little nervous. Didn't want any of those cows or bulls to charge into our car, so we made sure to keep a crawling pace. Everything went well, aside from poor Monica getting car sick and Dax getting fussy after being in the car for that long, and12 hours later we arrived in Medford and settled into our hotel for the night. We hung out those first couple days and then on Thanksgiving morning we woke up to this...

Daxton with an ear full of blood! I worried that maybe his eardrum burst in the night, but fortunately that wasn't the case with no blood coming from inside his ear. I washed his ear out and it turned out that he had just scratched it with his fingernails and it bled a lot. But that didn't keep him from being happy!

He was ready for Turkey! We got cleaned up and dressed and head over to Grandma and Grandpa's to help out in getting food prepared.

Dax helping Alyssa mix a coconut sauce that goes over the rolls. Mmmm!

Happy Family :)

The kids: Kim, me, Greg, Nathan, cousin Crystal, Alyssa, Dax, Karianne, Jason, Monica, and Ken.

The adults: Kathy and Bob (Don's cousin and husband), Grandma and Grandpa, Diane (Don's sister), Marianne, Don, Devan (oops, he didn't jump in the kid picture. Son of Kathy and Bob), Alyssa and Bob.

We ate yummy smoked Turkey, ham, yams, "grandpa's green goop" (aka green jello with pineapple and whipped cream), cranberries, potatoes and gravy, stuffing, rolls, and veggies. Then for dessert grandpa had a stash of Amaretto that Karianne graciously accepted and used to make Amaretto bread pudding. Grandpa was a little bummed that we didn't drink to help empty out his liquor cabinet. Ha! Then it was on to visiting, and while our food settled the boys busted out Rock Band on X-Box and jammed while others planned out where they would be heading and what to pick up on the Black Friday Sales. Fortunately I didn't have to participate as I have a little one to watch. Greg was able to get out of waking up at 3am and so the 3 of us had a wonderful night's sleep and were able to sleep in until 9am! Even Daxton slept in until then!

What a fun Thanksgiving and it was fun to be here with so many people and to meet new family.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

So Much to be Thankful for

2009-11-26T19:48:00.006-07:00

The Thanksgiving holiday always makes me stop and think, "What am I thankful for?" I really want to try to recognize every day all that I have been blessed with. Today especially, I realize God has given me so much and for that I am grateful for ALL my blessings. First and foremost I am so grateful to have God in my life and to belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and to have the gospel in my life. I am grateful to get to ride this crazy rollercoaster called "life" with my best friend, my husband, who is so loving, caring, hard-working and an extraordinary father to our little boy. I love you for ALWAYS, Greg! I am also extremely grateful to be blessed with a beautiful, healthy little boy for who I get the opportunity to be a mother to and raise and watch grow. I never knew I could love someone this way or this much! I am grateful for the laughter, patience, and love he brings into my life. I am grateful for my happiness. I am grateful for loving parents who have raised me and helped me to become the person I am today. I am grateful for my siblings and our close friendships and relationships we have with each other. I am grateful to be able to marry into a wonderful family as well and for their always making me feel so welcome and "part of the family." I am grateful for all my friendships I've made throughout my life and those that have called me their friend. I love you my friends!! I am grateful for my health, my knowledge, my experiences in this life and for all the many experiences and memories to come!

I am so blessed.

Where we are...

2009-11-26T19:36:00.002-07:00

So after about 7 months of living in California (Laguna Beach and then Temecula) we decided to move back home to Utah. Greg's job didn't work out in Laguna Beach, so we moved to Temecula and in with Chantel and Carl to be close to family and try and avoid such a big move back to Utah if it wasn't necessary. But, Greg had an extremely difficult time finding another job while living in Temecula and decided to start up his own business being a broker for co-owned RV's, trailers, boats, etc. This is something he has had rolling around in his mind for quite some time and felt that now was the time to put it into action with all the free time he had. Things started moving along and Greg began working with a lawyer in Utah he had met a year ago and also others in Utah. With everything being in Utah that Greg was working on, we thought it was in our best interest to be there in Utah also. So on November 5th we packed up and moved back. We are currently living with the in-laws in their basement and are so grateful to all our family who have helped us out, supported us, and given us a place to stay while things continue to move along and get up and running. California was beautiful and such an experience, but it's so good to be back!

A Trip to Utah

2009-11-01T16:44:00.010-07:00

On Thursday Oct 15th Daxton and I headed out to UT to be there for the birth of Peyton, Court and Joe's first baby, and to catch up with old friends. We flew Jet Blue and luckily I was informed of the wonder drug called "Melatonin" prior to our flight. I gave it to Dax before we took off and while he had a total MELTDOWN in the airport waiting to board the plane, he konked out as soon as we were seated and slept like a ragdoll the ENTIRE flight! It was so wonderful! We arrived in UT around 10:30pm and mom and dad were so sweet to come pick us up and take us to their house where we would be staying for the remainder of the trip.

The very next day Courtney's friend, Kari (who I recommend HIGHLY), cut and colored my hair into an actual style! My hair has been so extremely out of one for some time that it felt so good to chop it all off and start out fresh again.

That night it was off to the Ballash home to scrapbook our Guatemala trip and talk each others' ears off. Unfortunately I got so involved in the talking and catching up that I did hardly anything as far as scrapbooking goes. But it was such a fun night!

Me, Mom, and Dax played throughout the weekend with Court as now she is officially finished with work and we tried prompting Peyton to come soon, but not until after the baby shower on Tuesday.

Sunday was the Spencer family dinner over at Ryan and Ashley's place. We had Empanadas and Cheesecake for dessert. We talked, oo-ed and ah-ed over all the amazing Halloween decor, and watched "Edward Scissorhands". It's always so fun to get together with the family.

Monday Mom, Court, Dax and I went to Pine Needles and drooled over all their amazing fabric. Court got some fat squares for Etsy projects and I purchased a jelly roll of Moda's Figgy Pudding line to put together a Christmas throw. I love fabric! (Chantel, I blame you for this). Then we went and stopped off at Cafe Rio (oh how I've missed you!) to grab some lunch and headed back to Mom's to hang out the rest of the day.

Dax kissing "baby" in Court's belly.

Tuesday, Oct 20th, we got ready for Courtney's openhouse style shower for friends and family. Dax even pitched in and helped where he was able ;)

We had a wonderful turn out! We had so many friends come that we used to work with several years ago and it was so much fun catching up and seeing where everyone is at and what they're up to today. I'm very disappointed in myself, but unfortunately this is the only picture of the shower I have.

On Wednesday Daxton had his 18 month checkup with his doctor (only 2 months late) and the doctor was very pleased with his growth and development. Here are his stats:

Weight: 26lbs 10oz = 45th percentile

Length: 34 1/2" = 90th percentile

Head Circ: (didn't get the cm's) = 90th percentile

So he's still tall and skinny, but now with a big head ;) He got 4 shots (one being the flu shot). He cried and said "Owie!" while they were doing it, but once they stuck those little band-aid dots on him he was fine and in awe at the stickers on his legs.

Previously in the week my friend, Brooke, who was originally due with her baby boy on Halloween, had her baby. So on Thursday the 22nd, Courtney and I went to visit her and see her new little bundle of joy. He is so cute and how peaceful he seemed! Mom and baby were doing great and I was so excited she had him before I had to leave back home so that I was able to sneak a peak.

On Friday I had my old college friend Michelle and her little boy Brody come over to my parents' house for a play date. We ate pizza and talked while the boys played and it was so much fun to catch up!

Brody and Dax

(We tried several times to get us all in a picture, but my arms just aren't long enough).

Poor Brody was so tired and wasn't wanting to "cheese it" for any pictures. So Dax made up for it by saying "cheese" to EVERY picture and then some.

Courtney still hadn't had Peyton (not that she was due until Sunday the 25th) so Dax and I decided to go see what grandma and grandpa Ballash were up to.

Daxton got to meet their 9 chickens and Grandpa let him feed them oats. Dax thought that was all sorts of fun!

Sunday the 25th came and went and Courtney still didn't have Peyton. But early the next morning we got a call that Courtney's water had broken and she was off to the hospital! Mom and I dropped off Daxton to the Ballashs, who were so sweet and willing to watch him, and went to the hospital to await the arrival of baby Peyton. Unfortunately, due to the numerous cases of the flu this season, rules were that each patient was only allowed 2 visitors in the entire hospital at any one time. And the dad even counted as one of those visitors.

So after going in and seeing Courtney to tell her good luck, I headed back to pick up Daxton as I wasn't even allowed to wait in the waiting room. I kept everybody up to date and later that afternoon started coming down with a scratchy throat. I thought I was getting a cold and knew that I'd probably not get to meet Peyton. I was so bummed! Peyton Jade finally arrived at 6:27pm that evening (Oct 26th) weighing in at 7lbs 14 oz and measured 21 1/2" long. While I didn't get to be there, my mom went and took some pictures with my camera so I could see her and also post them for all of you to see :)

Proud new Mommy

She has dark hair and is so precious! She looks a lot like Courtney's baby pictures.

The next couple days were kinda boring because I had a cold so had to stay home while my mom went and helped out Courtney and ran other errands. But on Thursday I was feeling a lot better so Court allowed me to come over to see the baby as long as I didn't hold her.

She is absolutely beautiful and I was so excited to get to see her before I left back to California. I forget how tiny they are at first.

Daxton enjoying an ice-cream cone that night...compliments of Nana.

While in UT Greg and I decided that we will be moving back there and staying with his parents in their basement for a while. So arrangements were made with my parents to keep Daxton for a few nights while I flew home and then drove back with Greg.

So, Friday around 5pm MST I flew by myself back to Long Beach California and arrived at 5:30pm PST (Aw, that lovely time difference). Greg was there to pick me up and it was SOOOO good to see him. It's been like a little vacation for us not having Dax and that night we went to dinner and a movie. It's like dating all over again!

It's so good to be back with you, Greg!

Fresh off the Chopping Block

2009-10-19T10:28:00.001-06:00

...and loving it!!

Introducing YooWhoo

2009-10-08T10:03:00.007-06:00

My sister, Chantel, has been wanting to start an Etsy shop for some time now. Last time my younger sister visited Cali, Chantel mentioned doing one again and we all decided to try it out together. After all, there is safety in numbers, right? We’re still in the very VERY early stages. But here's announcing YooWhoo.

Chantel is amazing with the sewing machine and has always been an awesome "doodler". So she's mixed the two and turned her doodles into these cute stuffed toys for little ones. She even did our banner for us!

Court's having the first granddaughter on our side of the family, so she's been busily coming up with all sorts of cute accessories for girls. And if you know me, you know I love to create anything with paper and/or stamps. So I'm the papercrafter on our shop.
This is still a work in progress, but be sure to check our shop often as we will be posting new and exciting products regularly!

Bugged

2009-09-27T23:54:00.003-06:00

While at Newport Beach (see previous post) Dax had an experience with a bug. So cute! I was trying to clean things up and get ready to go and he was being so quiet. I looked over to see him totally entrigued by this "thing" that had landed on his leg and started making its way up his arm. I was so excited that I was able to whip out the camera while he was still in his "zone" and capture this sweet moment before the ladybug took flight again.

Catchin' Up while Catchin' Waves

2009-09-27T23:39:00.002-06:00

One of my good friends, Melissa, (that I used to work with years and years ago) came into town and got a hold of me and we were able to meet up for a beach day this past week! We went to Newport Beach and were able to hang out and catch up while Dax and Makenna played in the sand. I also got to meet her sweet little Avonlea too. What a doll she is!
Dax with a mouth full of strawberry and a messy face after eating Oreos.

Dax and Makenna

Sweet baby

Old friends, good times

Thanks so much for the fun beach day Meliss! It was so good to see you again and your cute girls too. Keep in touch!

Ready, Set, Jump!

2009-09-27T23:21:00.003-06:00

Daxton has gotten a lot more comfortable in the water over the past month and is so much fun to swim with now! He is so goofy in the water and not afraid to get his face wet. He has also gotten brave enough to jump off the edge into our arms (before he would practically sit down on the edge and make you pull him into the water). These pictures are at some of Chantel and Carl's friends' house. Dax has always liked pretty warm water and it's so hard to keep him out of the hot tub. But don't worry, we don't let him swim in it. He just gets to jump into our arms and/or put his legs in the water.

This picture makes me laugh...it looks like Daxton is the one holding the camera and trying to pull a "cool kid" expression.

Hello bug eyes!

Appologies for it being so dark, but you get the idea. This is a video of some of Dax's first jumps!

I Love to See the Temple...

2009-09-11T23:14:00.001-06:00

Greg and I were able to go to the LDS San Diego temple. This was my first time to this temple...absolutely breathtaking!

Labor Day Fun

2009-09-10T14:19:00.000-06:00

A couple families in our ward host a "Block Party" every year on Labor Day. They barricade off their circle and everyone brings their bikes/toys on wheels and rides them around in the circle. Everyone brings a dish to share and hot dogs are cooked up. Lots of "easy-ups" are set up and everyone hangs out, eats, and slides down a 20ft waterslide (if they like).

Dax fell asleep in the car on our way over...
Greg was good to take care of Milo while everyone was getting set up.
Dax had a blast once he finally woke up.
Splashing in the water and riding the scooter

The enormous waterslide. As you can see, everyone climbs up the left side and slides down on the right. At one point it was crowded with kids going up the left side and were all jumping and bouncing while waiting in line. They bounced so hard that the entire 20ft blow-up structure rolled! But no worries, nobody was hurt.

Love their faces on this one! Dax loved the slide (as you can see below).

We were there for several hours and about to leave when I looked over and Jax was about to pull an "evil canevil" move on a scooter going down this ramp! This kid has no fear!

No worries, Chantel hurried over and still let him go down it, but with help.

Afterward we went and got a 5-buck pizza and breadsticks from Little Caesars and chilled the rest of the night.

Happy Labor Day!

Sweet Dreams

2009-08-31T14:33:00.002-06:00

Carl kicked back while feeding Milo a bottle...

...hot Sunday afternoons will do this to ya.

Family Ties

2009-08-31T14:11:00.003-06:00

Shaunna, Tammy, Chantel, Britney, Courtney

Greg and I are currently rooming with my sister and her family while Greg is getting started in a new job. My younger sister came in to town with her husband (last weekend) for one last vacation before baby Peyton arrives. I found out that two of our cousins were going to be in San Diego as well this very same weekend so we made arrangements and everyone was able to meet up for dinner, good cheek-aching laughs, and some belly rubs :)

Baby Grace and Baby Peyton :)

Thanks for coming to visit! It was so fun to get together, catch up, and laugh. Good times!

Baby Quilt

2009-08-14T15:29:00.002-06:00

It's finally finished! I purchased this baby quilt kit from Pine Needles probably about a year ago and finally finished it a couple weeks ago. This is the 2nd quilt I've done, but much more difficult than the first. (the first was just 5" squares and a rag quilt). My sewing machine broke and I had the time, so I hand stitched the binding. I'm so excited how it turned out and can't wait to do another one. Thanks for all your help Mom!!

2009-07-30T16:24:00.002-06:00

I had to get all of Dax's animal noises on video. They make me laugh. My favorite is the duck, which is why I made him say it so many times. I just cut his hair all by myself as I found some cheap clippers at the store, I'm pretty proud of myself. It'll definately take some practice though. Yesterday Dax came up to me and said, "Poo, Poo." So I hurry and sat him on the potty and after a minute he went in the toilet! I was so excited! But we didn't have much luck with it the rest of the day, unfortunately. But we'll keep trying! And this was only the 2nd time he's said "Love you" and I'm so excited he did it on the camera! Hope you enjoy :)

2009-07-30T15:59:00.003-06:00

A couple days ago Moka and Bentley invited Dax and I to the splash pads at the Spectrum (it's a smaller version of the fountains at Gateway for all you Utahns). Dax thought it was pretty neat until he started getting hit by the water.

going in...

Cheese! (Bentley is in the background in the white swimsuit)

In this picture, Dax got shot right in the face. That was the end of this adventure.

17 months

2009-07-30T15:25:00.004-06:00

Dax is 17 months now. He's changing so much every day. He brings so much joy and happiness into our lives and we just love him to pieces. We're so blessed to have such a wonderful addition to our family. Dax doesn't speak much yet, but jabbers a lot and is starting to learn the animal noises as well as good manners. He says "Ah low" for hello and "Hi", he puts his finger to his mouth and says "shh" when I shush him, and sometimes we'll be talking and he'll put his finger to OUR mouth and shush us. Ha! He still will only sign "please", but is always quick to say thank you "tate choo" when given something. In fact, he'll often remind US to say thank you when he brings us something. He can point to his eyes, ears, mouth, nose, hair, and belly button. He loves to swing and climb at the park and slide down the slides all by himself. He tries to be very independent. He sure loves his daddy and gets so excited when Greg comes home from work. He's a little hesitant when it comes to getting in the water still, and usually stays back in the sand when at the beach, but is liking it more with each day. He loves to sort things and transfer objects from containers. He's also enjoying watching videos a lot more than he ever has as well. He loves "Baby Einstein" movies or anything with puppets in them like Sesame Street. He says "Moobie, Pwe, Moobie, Pwe" until we put one on. He is really good with his routine in the evening of bath, brush teeth, prayers, and climbing into his bed. He doesn't so much enjoy the brushing teeth, but he's doing better as long as we sing the ABC's while we do it. He does really well folding his arms for the prayer and always takes off running as soon as we say "Amen." He gives the best hugs and has the biggest "pucker" out of anyone his age that I've ever seen. He gets the biggest kick out of the littlest things and is very easy to get a laugh out of. Right now his favorite foods are cheese, milk, raisins, chicken, and noodles (which you saw on a previous post). He's not too fond of potatoes, crunchy snacks (aside from Goldfish crackers), cold things which he always says are "hot", and eggs. He loves to watch himself on the camera and laughs at this video even harder than he does in the video itself.

We sure love you, Daxton!

Big Shoes to Fill

2009-07-20T14:11:00.002-06:00

I caught Daxton one day trying to put my shoes on and it was so funny! He pulled them both out and concentrated so hard on getting them both on.

I had to be very sneaky about taking pictures so he wouldn't stop what he was doing. One down...
Success! Ha! You make me laugh, bug.

Noodle Boy

2009-07-20T13:52:00.002-06:00

Mmm...spaghetti! We went to dinner over the weekend and Dax pretty much just ate noodles. He sure loves them, but makes a big mess!

Happy Birthday Greg!

2009-07-15T15:05:00.003-06:00

On Sunday the 12th Greg turned 25! We celebrated the day prior by picnic-ing at the beach down the road for lunch. Then after getting cleaned up we went to dinner.

Laguna Beach has a trolley, free of charge, that runs down PCH each Summer. So we hopped aboard and rode it to Biotopo (spelling?), a little Italian restaurant in down town Laguna Beach. Mmm the food was delicious!

Greg, thanks for all your hard work to support our family and for being such a wonderful husband and father. I sure love you and couldn't ask for better.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!

Beach Bums

2009-07-15T14:54:00.003-06:00

Chantel's ward has a beach day at Oceanside every Tues and we've met up with them the past two weeks. It's a lot of fun! Above is Crew (in the middle) jumping the waves as they crash into shore.

It can be very exhausting sitting out in the sun and playing in the water. Little Milo didn't last very long.

Dax and Me...he was squeezing my neck so hard it made me laugh pretty hard. Hence the double chin.

Chantel and Jax

Gotta love the summer...

Let Freedom Ring

2009-07-06T16:18:00.005-06:00

Our 4th began bright and early with a ward breakfast at Bluebird Park. Pancakes, sausage, and fruit galore! Our ward did a great job putting it together, and Moka--I think the drinks were the best part ;)
Dax was playing in some tunnels with Greg on the other side. I think this picture of Dax is so funny! He's playing "Boo" with Greg.

Next, after Greg took a nap to recover from his early morning (he's definately not a morning person), we headed to the beach and met up with Mike, Moka, and the gang to play for the afternoon.

Greg has been burrying a bucket in the sand lately for the kids to play in. They love it! It's like their own little pond to jump, splash, and play in. Also works great to rinse everything off (including Daxton) when cleanup time comes.

Dax, Bentley, and Me

Greg spent the majority of his time building a monster sand castle. In the background of this picture you can see the big hole that Mike dug. Mak is about to jump in and Bentley is already in it.

The finished product!

Ta-DA! Good job, Greg! Looks Great!

We came home and cleaned up, then headed off to Temecula to join the Moody gang at a BBQ with some of their friends. Chantel's friend Kristen made the best chicken! Throw in some corn on the cob, a couple salads, fruit, dip, and an awesome Red White and Blue jell-o trifle and you've got an amazing BBQ. When it got dark Chantel busted out some glow sticks and then we watched the fireworks from the sports park.

Thanks for the invite Chantel!

Happy 4th of July!!

Lazy Summer Days

2009-07-06T16:12:00.002-06:00

We got this little hammock swing in Guatemala for Dax and hung it out on the deck. He loves it! Here, he is enjoying his favorite snack: Raisins.

Guatemala...Part 6

2009-06-10T17:28:00.000-06:00

Today we drove out about an hour to Quirigua and saw a bunch of Obelisques (mayan sort of totem poles) that the Mayans hand carved. It was so cool, yet unreal.

lean to the left...

The Obelisques were so old that many were broken, faded, or leaning.

This tree was behond gigantic. It is called "The Tree of Life."
If you look closely, you can see Alyssa, Me, and Marianne standing at the bottom of it.

Here we are in a closer view...gives you an idea of how tall this tree really is.

This Obelisque was on the ground like a giant rock rather than a tall pole.

Alyssa and Me at the same one as above.

There were MANY stairs to climb again.

Guatemala...Part 5

2009-06-07T16:57:00.000-06:00

We made it to the resort Sunday evening and settled into our little villas. It was beautiful! While there I held a frog (a good-sized one too!) until it peed all over my hand, and I about stepped on a snake too. Yuck! They had the most ginormous grasshoppers with bright red wings that would spread out when they flew.

There were two villas reserved, so the arrangements were: Married Couples in one and everybody else in the other. There was so much to do at the resort and it was a lot of fun! Swimming, eating (there were 2 restaurants as well as a cafe type eating place by the pool), kayaking, jetskiing, horseback riding, etc. Our second day there we all decided we'd do some horseback riding through the jungle! I haven't been on a horse in forever, and was really excited. Greg's family had several horses many years back and so they're all pretty knowledgeable when it comes to riding and handling horses. June 9th we went horseback riding and there were 13 of us on horses.

The leader told us to go ahead and pick a horse so I chose this beautiful dark brown horse with a white strip down it's nose. We were riding along and all was well when he got kicked by another horse (I guess it didn't like the other horses coming up from behind it that close) and kinda jumped up a little and was shaking his head back and forth. That made me a little nervous, but Don was riding by me and was telling me what to do in a situation like that (how to hold the reigns, etc.) and how to get control of your horse. I was a little nervous but all was well until about 15 min later I don't know what happened cause it all happened so fast, but my horse was standing up on it's back legs with me on it's back. And I mean STRAIGHT UP on it's back legs. I didn't know whether to jump off or what but I was so afraid that the horse was gonna fall backward and land on top of me. He was up on his back legs for a good couple seconds too and everyone was getting worried and panicking and telling me what to do and trying to get the horse to calm down and then he got down but another horse kicked him and he did it again. The leader got him to calm down and I was so shaken up I about started bawling. Greg was way up ahead (cause his horse wanted to be up front, apparently) and came back and traded me horses. His horse was VERY calm. But I was still so nervous to even be on a horse. I didn't know what I was doing and don't know how to even ride a horse to be honest. Turns out the one horse I picked out of the entire pack used to be a parade horse and paraded all around Guatemala and was trained to stand up on its hind legs like that for show. What are the odds? I sure have the best luck eh?

This is me on Greg's horse, barely even holding the reigns as I was instructed to do.

Greg riding "Pasqual" the parade horse. Greg wanted him to stand on end with him on the back, but Pasqual acted like he was all "tricked out" and was as calm as could be once Greg was on his back.

Me and Greg on our horsies.

Kim, Monica, Jason, Me, Greg, Don, Doug, Halee

Sorry, everyone else got cut off.

We made it back just after it started getting dark and had dinner and hung out for the remainder of the evening. Man were we sore the next day from horse-riding!

Guatemala...Part 4

2009-06-07T14:12:00.000-06:00

On Sunday we went to church at Greg's old ward in Tactic where he used to teach and WOW what an amazing experience it was. It was fast Sunday, so it was testimony meeting and the spirit was SO strong! It wasn't too hard understanding what the members were saying and everyone comes up and greets you by giving you a kiss on the cheek. What sweet, humble, strong people they are. After church we went and visited another family. The mom and dad had gotten a divorce since Greg saw them last so he was not there. But both of them do woodworking and had some beautiful things there that they had done. Furniture made out of Mahogany too! They had several stores around Guatemala that bought their furniture to sell. They sure have some amazing talent.

Next we went to Chamche which is like a zoo/park. We ate our lunch there and checked out all the animals.

Lazy Gators

This one's missing an eye...yikes!

The monkeys! My favorite part. This little guy is the same one in all these pictures. He was so playful and kept begging for food. Here he is eating a chip he snatched out of one of our hands.

I wanted him to touch my hand cause he kept reaching through the fence...then he grabbed the yellow bag in my other hand and tried to pull it through the fence with all the food in it! He ripped the bag and I screamed cause it scared me. Sure wish we got that on video.

Beautiful male peacock next to his hideous female. Doesn't that seem a little backwards?

These are the coolest animals! They are called Chinese Chickens, but they look like Chickens with GoGo boots on.

This guy looks like a baby leopard, but it's just a weird cat.

In this video the boys are taking turns touching the cat. One of them got bitten and then you'll hear all of us yell at Nate when he goes for the fur right up by his mouth!

After Chamche we made the long drive to Puerto Barrios where we would be staying at a resort called Amatique Bay for a week.

Guatemala...Part 3

2009-06-06T11:09:00.000-06:00

(Nathan, Marianne, Don, Alyssa, Karianne, Ken, Kim, Halee, Doug, Jason, Monica, Me, Greg)

We drove out to La Lanquin and hiked the cave there (it was so humid and hot and no air circulations so we were drenched when we got out). Then it was down the street to Semuk Champe where they have beautiful waterfalls and a bunch of pools that they empty into. It was so beautiful there!

We swam in the pools and played around in the water. The water was super warm and very clear. If you stood in the same spot for a bit, a bunch of small fish would start gathering around you.

There were also the most beautiful butterflies there that I've ever seen! Lavender, bright yellow, bright orange, and bright green. They would land on the colorful parts of your swimsuit that they blended in with. So neat!

Guatemala...part 2

2009-06-05T13:57:00.002-06:00

Day 2 we got up and had a delicious breakfast at La Posada and then jumped in the cars to go see some sites. Greg first took us to this really old Catholic church. Very neat, but boy were there a lot of stairs! The picture above was only one of three sets just like it that lead up to the church.

This is a very old tomb to the side of the church holding about 4 caskets.

( Tombstones to the right of the tomb)

On the way back down from the church it started pouring rain! It comes out of nowhere and rains real hard for a good half hour maybe, and then it's back to being hot and humid. It's such a normal thing for them that people walking around on the streets huddle under building overhangs and in doorways just waiting for the storm to pass. But when you're in a jungle, that's bound to happen. It's almost daily, sometime in the afternoon that it rains. We hurried down all the stairs and jumped into our cars soaked. Next it was off to an orchid farm.

Octopus Orchids

It was gorgeous there! Most the orchids weren't in bloom, but it was so green and lush. I would love to see it again when they're all in full bloom. I bet it's unbelievable!

Here the man who owns the place and lives there in a house was telling us about all the flowers and plants. According to Greg, he was drunk off his rocker and smelled horribly of alcohol! I didn't get close enough to tell.

(Greg and Me)

The flower in my ear makes the spice Cardemom. Pretty interesting.

Next it was off to Tactic to meet one of the families that Greg taught the gospel and to see some more sites. This was one of the areas in Greg's mission. The 3rd I think? We stopped at this place below where Greg told us the following story:

Many years ago in Guatemala a missionary taught and converted many of the people to the LDS church. The members were very faithful and this missionary asked for a temple to be built in Guatemala as there were so many members. The prophet responded by saying that he does not choose where the temples are built, the Lord does. Well this man started doing temple ordinances in the chapel of their church which used to be where Greg is standing and involving the members in it as well. Apparently the first presidency of the church caught wind of this and sent some people out to this very spot. In the middle of the night they dug trenches around the church, causing it to sink, and then they buried it. The man was obviously ex-communicated and all the members fell away.

(Greg, Nathan, Kim, Marianne)

Here is the paved entrance off the road leading up to where the church used to be. If you look closedly you can see where it suddenly ends. You can also see the tall gate posts on either side of the driveway.

(same picture as above, just from a different angle)

Next it was off to see the Quej Isem family. What sweet, cheery, happy people they are. They were so surprised and excited to see Greg as he wasn't able to get a hold of them ahead of time to let them know he was coming.

Out in their front yard saying goodbye as we left

They are very short people! L to R: Rosaria, Anibal, Oscar, Maria Eugenia, Otto, Pati, Bilma (not pictured is Darbin...he was being shy and hiding).

Greg's older brother Kenny with the single ladies! The one on the left was especially taken by him.

Greg's youngest sister Kim with the two boys.

What an amazing family they are! We all laughed at our broken Spanish and tried to pick up what we could as Greg and the family spoke Spanish and discussed certain people and caught up on what's been going on. They served us gaseosas de naranja (orange soda) and were so happy to see all of us. We love you family!

Guatemala...Part 1

2009-06-03T21:00:00.001-06:00

Greg went to Guatemala on his mission about 5 years ago and promised many of the people that he taught and grew to love that he would be back in 5 years with his family. Well, he managed to live up to that promise and toted 12 other family members to a foreign country to show them around. We had a 12:30am flight on June 4th, so our friend Mike Allen drove us to the airport (Thanks again, Mike!) about 9:00pm on June 3rd. We would be flying a non-stop flight with TACA airlines and got to the LA airport and jumped in back of a LONG line full of Spanish-speaking people to check in and get our boarding passes. Well it turns out that they had cancelled all flights to Guatemala that evening in just the past hour (due to one of the planes being struck by lighting) and were rescheduling everyone to the following day at 1:00pm. I just took a deep breath and thought to myself, "Here we go..." It's become a running joke that whenever Greg travels, something goes wrong. He loses his passport, or misses a flight, or baggage goes missing, or in this situation an international flight is cancelled. I've already slept in an airport before and didn't want to do it again. We were in a real predicament because Greg was the "tour guide" and 11 other "Gringos" would be flying into Guatemala City tomorrow, arriving at about 11:30am. Which means they would be sitting there by themselves, not being able to speak a lick of Spanish, waiting for us to arrive around 5pm that evening. We would be driving to Coban to stay and that's about 5 hours away. Which means that there would be 13 Gringos travelling alone at night in Guatemala. Not a good situation to be in. So...Greg told me to stay put in line with our baggage and off he went to work his magic with his words. He found some airport employees who looked pretty important and spoke to them in Spanish and explained the situation. Because they didn't want to be responsible for anything bad happening to 13 Americans and understood the predicament we were in, they got on the phone and made some arrangements. Next thing we knew we were being whisked away to another line where the guy making the phone calls leaned over the counter and whispered something into the girl's ear and next thing we know we were given tickets to fly to El Salvador and then make a connecting flight to Guatemala City. The flight left about an hour later than originally planned, but no big deal. We didn't get to sit on the plane by each other and wound up on the only row on the airplane without reclining seats, but we'd do whatever it took to try and stay on the same schedule as originally planned. We tried to sleep as much as possible on the plane, and it went rather quickly. We arrived in El Salvador at about 8:00am and then rushed to our connecting flight that was leaving in 10 minutes. TACA airlines are wonderful! Such clean, new planes. We got breakfast on the first flight and they played the movie "Dark Knight", the second flight from El Salvador had leather seats and it had to have been new because it still smelled like new leather. That flight was only about 30-40 min, so I just read a book while Greg did a Sudoku puzzle in the airline magazine.

We arrived in Guatemala City and by the time we got our bag and went through customs, it was about 9:00am when we were sitting outside on the curb waiting for the rest of our family to arrive. Which was about 2 1/2 hours later...grumble. I'm not a very patient person, can ya tell? Greg talked to many of the Guatemalan people just making small talk and trying to explain that we didn't need a taxi or a tour bus to take us anywhere. It was so interesting seeing all the different types of Guatemalans waiting for their friends and/or loved ones to arrive. Some were dressed just like Americans and looked very nice, others looked like they came from poverty, and some were the indigenous Guatemalans dressed in their native garb.

The rest of our family arrived and we all piled into a shuttle and rode over to the car-rental place.

(Karianne, Me, and Halee)

We spent a couple hours trying to get the car-rental arrangements made as there was a problem with insurance and them trying to charge us an arm and a leg, when reservations had been made previously and the information wasn't matching up. When it all got figured out, we had a large van and an SUV rented. The SUV seated 5, and the remainder of people went in the van. We drove to Burger King and ate lunch and then we were on our way...or on our way trying to find our way anyway, to Coban. The pictures below give you an idea of what the area looks like. There are many stands along the roads with people trying to sell fruit and vegetables (as in the picture below) and so many stray dogs running around.

Check out all the power lines coming from just one pole! Crazy!

We drove all day and arrived in Coban around 9pm when we got to our hotel La Posada and checked in for the night. What a neat hotel! They had a restaurant there that the sweet workers stayed later than usual for us to serve us dinner. Then it was to bed for the night!

"Leaving on a Jet Plane...

2009-05-30T12:44:00.000-06:00

...Don't know when I'll be back again," was the song Dax must have been singing when Greg took him to Utah to stay with my parents while we took a trip to Guatemala. Amidst packing everything up to move to California, our passports and important papers we needed got packed away and put in storage in Draper by mistake. So the weekend before our trip Greg flew out to Utah to search for them. My mom came up with the marvelous plan of just bringing Daxton and then she'd watch him clear until we got back. It was about 5 days before we left for Guatemala that he left us and I was already missing him after 3 of those days! Greg was very brave to travel with him alone, but did very well at keeping him under control and happy during the flight. This was Daxton's first airplane ride! We made sure to pack plenty of treats (raisins especially...Daxton's favorite lately), but that only lasted so long before he discovered someone sitting behind them and had to keep peeking over the seat at them. Then he discovered the window shade and Greg says that kept him busy for about 15-20 min alone! Pushing it open and closed repeatedly. He got a little fussy toward the end of the flight, but fell asleep quickly in Greg's arms.

Being a good boy looking out the window (this probably lasted a whole 5 seconds).

(Don't you love Greg's "Guatemala look"? Just wait til you see him at the END of the Guatemala trip...it was like I married a caveman!)

2009-05-29T13:11:00.003-06:00

Dax is funny when it comes to getting his picture taken. He says, "Chee" when the camera is pointed at him and gets all silly. Greg took a video this time and I think it's hilarious how Dax keeps saying "Chee" cause he thinks Greg is taking his picture. This was right before bed and Dax has a cold so we were giving him medicine (he loves it!) and he wandered outside.

Silly Boy

2009-05-15T16:13:00.003-06:00

The other day I was in the kitchen doing dishes and getting the kitchen cleaned up for the day when Dax walked in the doorway saying, "Ha ha, Ha ha." I turned around and looked at him and he had found my headbands in a basket in the bathroom and stuck it on his head. I thought it was so funny how he put it around the back of his head!

Silly boy. Then he pulled on the ends and broke it in half. Grumble Grumble....

Milo's Blessing

2009-05-15T16:02:00.002-06:00

My sister Chantel's little boy Milo was blessed on Sunday May 3rd by his daddy, Carl who gave a beautiful blessing. This sweet little nephew of mine is such an angel! He's so mellow all the time and such a sweetheart. Chantel had him dressed up in the cutest little outfit. I was even able to get him to crack some grins on camera for me :)

I love you sweet baby :)

Tiny Toes Ticklin' the Sand

2009-05-15T15:37:00.001-06:00

We took a walk down to the beach a couple days after we'd been here. We wondered how Dax would like it as he was on this very same beach at 5 months old, but didn't care for the sand and the wind.

I just love this picture. The two loves of my life.

Dax wasn't afraid to walk out to the water, but when the waves would crash and the cold water washed up on his feet, he didn't like it too much.

So for the next little while he stayed back on the towel with me. He sat there so still until he grabbed the sand and that was fun so he started playing in it.

Greg dug a hole which Dax squatted in and helped throw dirt out by the little fist fulls of his. Dax loves the beach now...mainly he likes to be outside. He's not so sure of walking on the unsturdy sand, but I think he's warming up to it all.

Moving fun...

2009-05-01T18:31:00.010-06:00

Well here we are at last in Laguna Beach, just about settled in. Greg is putting together a shelving unit for our kitchen to put groceries on (as there is no pantry) as we speak. Dax is such a helper!

After this, we should pretty much be set.

So we tried to get out of our place in Draper on the 19th and were going to drive straight through, but plans with storing our things didn't work out as we had planned and after a couple days decided to just rent out a storage unit. So after packing up Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday the 23rd (thanks so much to everyone who helped!! We couldn't have done it without you.), and loading up the cars on Thurs, we finally got out of Draper around 2pm. We spent the night in Primm Valley (Nevada/California state line) and then headed on to Laguna Beach the next morning. We had a pretty good trip. The Durango was packed to the max and we had a dolly pulling the Civic behind it. We packed the Civic to the max as well. A little too much, because a couple times we had to pull over and adjust some things as our Civic was honking at us! How embarrassing!! Something kept falling on the horn. We got a good laugh out of it, but after the 3rd time, Greg found something to sit between the steering wheel and the object so that it wouldn't press against the horn. Having to pull over every 30 min was really starting to get annoying. Other than that, everything went well. Dax did really well and there were no episodes of vomiting (thank goodness!) even though I was well prepared with plenty of wipes, garbage bags, and 3 changes of clothes...just in case. The pictures below are kinda backwards. First is the packing up part and Dax having so much fun with all the boxes and foam.

The boxes just happened to have a little hole in them how they were stacked and Dax found it and had a blast crawling through it.

Here are pictures of where we are staying....

When you walk down the stairs and turn left you walk into the bathroom.

(Above is around the door when you're in the bathroom)

If you continue straight after you come downstairs, you run into the kitchen...

In the back you see the sliding glass door and our little deck/patio off of it. At least Dax can still play outside :)

This is to the left of the previous picture. Sink, Counter, Dishwasher, Microwave. Don't pay attention to the me reflected in the window...still in pj's.

This is to the left of the counters and the microwave. No, that's not a pantry next to the refrigerator...that's where the washer and dryer be.

Dax was following me around while I was taking pictures saying "cheeee" so I had to humor him and take a picture. That cute smile is worth capturing :)

This is the living area/bedroom. If you turn right after entering the downstairs this is what you see.

This is facing the smaller couch...

This is the larger couch which pulls out into a sofabed that we sleep on every night and fold up in the morning (good thing I'm already used to making my bed each day). The big chest works as a dresser to store clothes in. To the left of that is a closet.

And this is the closet and TV on the left wall as you walk in.

And that's that! This is where we are living. Good thing the beach is only a block away and there are plenty of places to walk to or close by that we can drive to so that we don't go stir-crazy in our small living quarters. But our friends are good to let us stay here and are very good about letting us know that we're welcome to come upstairs whenever. Here's to a new adventure!

Freaky Friday

2009-04-05T12:47:00.005-06:00

Thursday night I woke up several times in the night not being able to get warm. I'm not usually one who is warm very often, so I blamed it on that and snuggled down in the covers. Come to find out, when it was time to get up for the day, that the furnace had gone out in the night. Great! One more thing to get fixed before we move. Greg said the thermostat was on "hold" at 63 degrees and punched it up to 68. He left for work at about 7:30am and even at 9:00 the heater still had not kicked on. I tried to bundle up in my own house (Dax was in a beanie and footed pajamas) and bare it since I had a lot of packing to get done, but after another half hour it seemed even colder, so I decided to call my mom and tell her we'd be spending the day at her place.

As if a cold house wasn't bad enough, on our way out the door I smelled gas. Right by the door in our hallway that leads to the basement. I opened the door and was about blown away by the strong odor of gas! I got worried and called Greg who said to get out of the house and he'd make a few calls. As we were driving out of the neighborhood Greg called and said that Qwestar Gas would send over somebody within the hour to check on it, but I needed to stay within the neighborhood so I could go over and let them in. So we crashed in on Katie and Quinn (thanks so much!!!) and the boys played for about a half hour when I got a call saying they were there. He checked the gas line in our basement and indeed there was a leak, so he turned off the gas line. It was somehow connected with our furnace (which was why it had stopped working in the night) and he said we'd need to replace a "valve" on it. Greg was able to finally get a hold of a furnace repairman who was in the area and said he'd be able to come over to look at it around 8pm. We were hoping it would get fixed because the temps were supposed to be dropping into the teens that night. That's all we'd need is for our pipes to freeze!

Greg got home around 5:30 and said it was 55 degrees in our house! So he pulled out the electric heater, snuggled down on the floor with Tucker, and watched TV until the repairman arrived.

Meanwhile, over at my parents house Dax had thrown up EVERYTHING he'd had that day and all over me too. I dunno what he caught, but it was bad! We gave him a bath and I borrowed my little brother's scrubs while my mom washed all our puked-on clothes (thanks so much for all your help Mom !!!).

Greg called about 9:00pm and said that the repairman had the part and was able to replace it. After Dax threw up 2 more times and our clothes were dry, we headed home and by this time the house was nice and toasty. Poor Dax had a miserable night and was up several times throwing up and pooping his bed. Which in turn had me up cleaning it all up and bathing him. What a crazy day it was! But at least we had a warm night's sleep to end it with (well, what sleep we got anyway).

Packing Up and Moving Out...

2009-03-22T14:26:00.004-06:00

"...It's time to move to a brand new house. Packing up and Moving out!" Or so the song goes on one of the "Strawberry Shortcake" cartoons I remember watching as a kid. But it's true, we are packing up and moving out. To California we go. After a long week of decision-making, fasting and prayer we've decided that this is what we need to do and where we need to be. Greg's friend in Cali is opening another division in his company and called last week and offered Greg a job that has a lot of potential and room to expand. They've offered to let us stay in their mother-in-law apartment until we are settled and able to find and afford a place of our own. We'll be here until the end of April so that Greg can finish up his semester at school, which will give us some time cause we've got SO much to do! It's definitely going to be hard leaving behind our family, close friends, house, and Tucker dog (we'll have to sell him and it'll be hard seeing him go after the year and a half he's spent with us. He's such a good dog! Check him out on KSL if you're interested) not to mention what a HUGE change it will be! We feel like it will be a fresh new start for us though, and now is the best time for us to make such a big move rather than later. We definitely didn't think we'd be leaving this house so soon, but realize we have to do what is best for our family and also what the Lord wants us to do.

We will miss you all so much, but wish you all the best.

We love you!

Wish us luck...

2009-03-10T14:27:00.002-06:00

Spring Boutique Open House!

Saturday March 14th 12:00-3:00p.m.

Britney's Home

Hosted by Britney & Courtney

Scentsy and Close To My Heart are introducting their NEW Spring products. Join us for an afternoon of fun and shopping! There will be great products such as pre-made cards, scrapbook layouts, 10 new warmers, 18 new scents, door prizes, and much more! You won't want to miss out on being the first to get the hottest products of the season. Let's push away the winter blues and start welcoming Spring!

Hope to see you there!

(Check with Britney for an address)

New Post!!

2009-02-26T16:58:00.002-07:00

I have to announce that I finally took the time to post some things about our sweet little guy, who is now 1 yr old! Don't let the website post fool you, keep on scrolling down...you'll see I've accomplished the task of posting not one, but TWO times! I know, pat on the back for me :)

My new website TungstenRingsForMen.com

2009-02-15T21:28:00.003-07:00

Well this is Greg not Britney writing. I'm just trying to get the word out on my new website. It's been a long time coming but it's here. We're tweaking a couple minor bugs but otherwise its ready to go. The site is fully functional right now, check it out here http://www.tungstenringsformen.com/. Let me know what you think.

I'm setting up an introductory promo code for 15%. It'll work for the first 50 people to use it, or till March 23, whichever comes first. The code is "15%off" Tell all your family and friends, give this deal to whomever you'd like!

Daxton is 1 yr old!

2009-02-14T11:31:00.001-07:00

Daxton turned 1 yr old on Valentine's Day. Since the day fell on Saturday, we decided to throw a little party during the day with cake and ice-cream. We had such a good turn-out that our house was packed and Dax sure was spoiled with presents.

Dax is funny, he smiles when you get the camera out and say, "Cheese!"

Dax and Nana

Studying his new present "Madagascar."

Hurray for Presents!

Daxton's cake and the cupcakes for guests were all monsters. Dax loves monsters and loves growling like one. I made a two-layered 6" chocolate cake and then frosted it. I was very pleased with how it all turned out.

Greg didn't think Dax was messy enough so he decided to make Dax take a plunge into his cake. Poor Dax, that frosting was pokey! He wasn't too happy after that and refused to eat anymore cake. So to the bathtub he went.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAXTON!

We love you so much and are so excited for the year ahead. You've grown so quickly it seems, and are so proud of the sweet little boy you are and the joy you bring to our family. We are so grateful you are ours.

Love, Mom and Dad

p.s. Thanks to everyone for attending and for all the wonderful gifts. Dax is loving his new plethora of toys!

Music to My Ears (well, we can pretend)

2009-02-11T10:03:00.000-07:00

Dax loves playing (more like pounding) on the piano. Lately he has to be up on the bench and will whine until you put him up there. I even tried to put him in his high chair without the tray and let him play, but that's not good enough. He wants to be right there on the bench. Many of his friends enjoy playing with him too.

Dax and his friend Brody

Play group buddies: Dax, Lincoln, and Maddox

Aww, who could resist these faces?

Going AWOL

2009-01-12T15:02:00.004-07:00

I've been a little overwhelmed with this New Year and all the goals I'm trying to accomplish (one of which is to catch up on my scrapbooking) and was just called as 2nd counselor in the Young Women's presidency. Whew! Now I've REALLY got a lot on my plate. So to take out some stress, this post is to inform you all who take a peek at my blog every now and then that I'm taking a BREAK from blogging! I dunno how long it will be, could be weeks, possibly months, but don't be disappointed if it isn't updated for a while. Hope all is well with everyone!

The Stockings Were Hung...

2008-12-16T15:07:00.004-07:00

I did it! I've completed my first Christmas project (stockings), and with plenty of time to spare! I'm pleased with how they turned out. And yes, I hand-stitched the names on. I'm so proud of myself. They're nothing fancy, but that's how I like 'em. They were pretty easy to do once we figured out the best way to put them together. My sewing machine broke halfway through though, so thanks Mom for coming to the rescue and letting me finish on yours!

Had to throw in this cute picture of Dax, MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Turkey Day--California style!

2008-11-27T19:39:00.001-07:00

This year we packed up the Civic and drove to California to spend Thanksgiving with my older sis, Chantel, and her family. It was such a fun visit! It was fun to be able to spend the holiday with them, although we really missed our family back at home, and those of Greg's family who traveled to Oregon. Chantel whipped up the whole feast pretty much on her own (pie and all!). I made mom's candied yams and stuffing. Carl made the turkey--out on the grill! It all turned out really good and we stuffed ourselves as much as we would stuff.

Greg and Dax watching football (the only part of Thanksgiving I don't really care for. It goes ALL DAY LONG it seems like! I'd rather watch the parades or a Christmas movie...)

Dax was real happy the first part of the day...

Carl cutting up the turkey he just finished grilling up.

The feast! Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, rolls, cranberry sauce, raspberry pretzel salad, deviled eggs, green salad, candied yams and for dessert: cherry pie, pumpkin pie, and barbershop delight. Phew! That's a lot of cookin, Chantel! Way to go, it all turned out Awesome!

The cousins Crew, Jax, and Dax (not so happy this part of the day).

Thanks for having us over Chantel and Carl! We had so much fun and hopefully next time we get together we'll ALL feel well. We need to play more games next time too ;)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

Jason & Monica's big day

2008-11-20T19:25:00.003-07:00

Greg's brother, Jason, married Monica in the Salt Lake Temple. The air was freezing that day, but sunny and clear. It was a beautiful ceremony and reception. Monica's aunt made this adorable little Tux for Dax. We love you Jason and Monica and wish you the best and much happiness!