The Minnesotes

Tribute to Kayla

2011-11-02T04:28:00.001-07:00

Riding a pony at the Renaissance festival

Kayla lets me get her ready almost everyday. She will sit in front of the mirror while I do her hair. She is my real live baby doll!

I have been such a slacker when it comes to blogging. I actually tried to upload some photos from Halloween and it didn't work so I got frustrated and quit. I realized though that I have not blogged since Alex's birthday. Now Kayla's has come and gone and I have not said a word. So here is my tribute to my beautiful 3 year old daughter.

3 years and a few months ago we received an awesome phone call. Our little girl was born 6 weeks early. Her Birth mom called us the day before and let us know her water broke. I was excited she was coming but worried because it was so early. I immediately prayed that she would be okay and that she would be healthy. Early the next morning we were woken up to let us know she had been born. I was so anxious to meet her. We were able to meet her and her birth mom a few hours later. Kayla was only 4lbs 9oz. So little and so beautiful. She was such a precious little bundle. They kept her in the hospital for a week and I visited her as often as I could. With a 2 year old at home that made it difficult, but i made sure I was there every single day. They said they would keep her for 2 weeks, but after one week she was eating and breathing like a champ, so they let us take her home. Right now she is at that fun age where everything she does makes us laugh or smile. Well maybe not everything, the tantrums are not so cute, but everything else is adorable. Kayla has the personality that draws people to her. She has so many people that love her and want to be around her constantly. Her little mind is like a sponge. She absorbs everything she hears. We are surprised but what she knows and what she says. Half the time we have no idea how she knows what she knows. Recently my parents visited from Idaho and one thing they noticed she does is she winks at you. She is a winker and it is so cute to see. Kayla is still a little princess. She loves to play dress up and has almost all the princess dresses. She loves to play dolls and has several of the princess ones.
Another thing she loves to do is anything artsy. She loves to draw, paint, color, cut, glue....really anything. She also has a love for horses. I could not get Alex on a horse to save my life. The first time Kayla saw a horse and could ride it she was just 2 years old. Now she wants to ride them anytime there is one to ride. This makes me wish we lived closer to my parents. We grew up with horses and even though we no longer have them we know enough people who own horses that she would be able to ride one often. I guess we will have to just make sure she gets a ride every time we visit home. Kayla is still at the age where she needs mom. I love this most of the time. She will say mom, I need you, I need you to hold me. I do love this but sometimes I need to get something done and little miss Kayla is under my feet wanting me to hold her or snuggle her. She is starting to love dad as much as mom which I am LOVING. If she gets in trouble she now cries for daddy. Speaking of, she is super sensitive. If you tell her not to do something she may end up in her room with her hands over her eyes crying little soft cries. It is so cute with the lip poked out. Then she may say something like you are mean to me, or you are not my friend. Then I will hug her and explain why she couldn't do whatever it was. She is so sweet. Kayla is also a little comedian. if she can make you laugh she is one happy girl. She loves to make her brother laugh. If she says or does something and he laughs, she will repeat this over and over again just to hear him laugh.

I feel like I am the luckiest mom in the world. I love both my kids so much and they are so perfect for our little family. When people find out that they are both adopted they can not believe it. Then they can't believe that Alex and Kayla are not biologically related. I know that God had a hand in both of our adoptions. They are both my perfect little beings! I love them so much and can't imagine my life without them. Happy 3 years Kayla! I will try and do better at blogging from now on.

Alex is 5 today

2011-05-05T06:43:00.000-07:00

I want to pay a little tribute to my favorite little boy in the whole world. Today Alex turns 5. I can not believe it has been 5 and yet I still remember that day like it happened yesterday. My mom was in town visiting waiting as anxiously for his arrival as we were. We got a call on May 5Th. At 3:27 p.m a couple of hours earlier she had our baby. 9lbs 12 oz and 22 inches long. We were told that we could come and meet him the following day at 3 p.m. Knowing my baby was here and I had to wait nearly 24 hours to meet him drove me bananas. We immediately got in the car and went shopping. The ultra sound early on did not indicate if he was a boy or girl so we didn't have a lot of things for him. So we went shopping. Believe me shopping therapy works.

We met Alex on May 6th the day after he was born. What a bittersweet moment. We are so thankful to Stacey and the sacrifice she made for us to be able to have this sweet Little boy in our lives. I can't believe it has been 5 years. I am getting so emotional thinking back to that time in our lives. I can't imagine my life without this awesome kid. I love him SO much.

When I woke him up, to Kayla and I singing "happy birthday" , He got a big smile on his face and said "am I 5 now?". Such a big mile stone, not only to me but to him too. He is so excited to be able to say that he is 5.

Alex is a great kid. Most of the time if he is told not to do something he listens, he knows what is right and what is wrong. He is so tender hearted. He is aware of others feelings. If someone at school is having a hard time he is the first to put his arm around them and help them through the day. I am such a proud mom when I learn of the great things he does at school. He makes friends easily and has a lot of them. He is a good helper and is so proud when he does his chores. He is very athletic too which makes playing with him a lot more fun for us big kids. He has such a excitement for life, always wants to have fun. (hmmm wonder where he go that) He is so dang smart too. I had parent teacher conferences a couple of weeks ago. The teachers love Alex and are going to miss him. She showed me some of his work and i said well that is pretty good. It was identifying letters and #s. H got 48 of 54 right with letters and on #s 17 of 21. So I said that is pretty good and the teacher said, no, that is incredible. Kids in kindergarten might get 10 out of 54 right. Imagine how I felt knowing my kid is so brilliant.

Alex I love you so much. I have loved every moment in these last 5 years and I look forward to the next!

Zoo

2011-05-01T06:17:00.001-07:00

Playing at one of the parks at the zoo.
She is was in a weird mood at the playground. I think she is still cute as heck.

My little chicken

Alex loves the grizzly bears

Grizzly Bears.

Once again I am posting zoo pictures. Everyone better just get use to it because we have a pass and it entertains the kids for hours. They love the zoo. Summer at the zoo is a lot more fun because the kids can play in the fountains and we are outside the whole time. Winter gets a little long unless we get an occasional nice day like this day where we can venture on outside. Lucky for us a big portion of the zoo is indoor.

copy cat

2011-05-01T06:08:00.000-07:00

Alex was laying on the floor so Kayla of course had to copy him and lay right next to him.

Alex would not smile normal. Kayla thinks he is hilarious. I like this picture because of the way Kayla is looking at Alex. You can tell she absolutely adores him.

These kids crack me up. Notice Kayla is really reaching her feet to the stairs because Alex has his feet on the stairs. Alex had his hands behind his head so Kayla copied him. He moved his hands as I snapped the picture.

My divalicious daughter

2011-05-01T06:01:00.000-07:00

My makeup had to be put up high, on a tall shelf out of sight. Why you ask? look at this little diva. She can not keep her hands (or face) out of my make up. There has been 3 occasions where she has applied mascara to her eyelashes and most of her eyes. The lipstick was in my costume drawer. I don't normally where bright red lipstick, just on Halloween. Now when I am getting ready she comes in and says "mommy, you do make up". I tell her yes I am and she says "I need my makeups" So she sits on my counter and pretends to put makeup on using my makeup brushes. I have learned to get my makeup done before she wakes up or while she is busy. Love this girl so much.

Whats going on.

2011-02-18T04:59:00.001-08:00

This is mostly going to be a written post. I decided to throw on some pictures of the kids because I personally like looking at blogs with lots of pictures. It has been a long winter and we are all ready for the spring and summer to arrive. Alex is in his second year of pre-school and doing fabulous. A few months ago we decided that we would like to put Alex in a Montessori School. If you don't know much about them, google it and check it out. Well in my research around here the tuition was just too high for us. It ranged from $600-$1000 a month. At that point I decided that we would have to put him in regular kindergarten. I was bummed out about this because I felt so strongly about wanting him in the Montessori school. Well one of my friends said there was a Montessori school in St. Paul that would be taking a # of students for free grades k-2nd. So we went to the open house to learn more and we applied. They were taking 24 extra kindergartners and if any more applied then it would go into a lottery and it would be the first 24 drawn. We of course didn't tell very many people so that his chances of getting in would be better. Only 24 kids applied so he got in and my friends son got in. I am excited about that because her son and Alex have gone to 2 years of preschool together. Also we can carpool to the school. The other great thing is, now that Alex is in Kayla will get in because it is preference.

Alex has been taking swim lessons since last Sept...one day a week. Last week his teacher said he is doing so well and he is ready to move up. I was so excited. I watched his first lesson in the new class. There is only one other child in this class and that child didn't come this last week so Alex got a private lesson. AWESOME! So I watched him, and man was I impressed. He is doing so good. He can swim 10-15 feet on his own, both on his front and on his back. I couldn't stop smiling. Right now the things Alex likes to do are....play guns. He got a few Nerf guns for Christmas and he and Dad play guns all the time. he also really likes to play go fish, war, and match with cards. He is really good with his #'s right now. He still likes to be outside any chance he gets. Kayla is our real life little princess. This girl loves to wear dresses, everyday, she wants her nails painted, everyday, and she likes her hair done like a princess. When it is time to do her hair I ask her which princess she wants to look like. It actually was a way for me to be able to do her hair without her complaining. She loves to have tea parties. She talks about tea parties after having a play date with her friend Hannah, or after the gym. So for Valentines day I got her a cute little princess tea set. She loves it. We have had our fair share of tea parties around here. She also really likes her princess dolls, her doll house and her kitchen she got for Christmas. Lately I have been buying the Disney Princess movies on VHS. I have found them for $1 each. She was requesting to watch princess movies that we didn't have so I being the sucker that I am, caved and went out and got them. Kayla is such a sweet heart. If I have been gone for even an hour, as soon as i get home she runs to me and says "I missed you so much" with a huge hug. She is talking so good. She can say just about anything. I understand everything perfectly. Some people have a hard time understanding her and need me to translate for her. The big news is Kayla is fully potty trained. YAY! No more diapers. Well just at night. Even during her naps she is keeping her diaper dry. She is wearing big girl underwear and in the beginning after a couple of accidents I would tell her the princess and Dora underwear were sad when she peed on them. Soon she would put on clean underwear and say "I not pee her" "she be sad" Oh this little girl melts my heart. I LOVE LOVE LOVE her so much. The other night I was having a rough night and needed to get a good cry in. Kayla saw me and said "mom, I be right back okay" She ran to the bathroom and got a tiny piece of toilet paper, not even a square, and brought it to me. She said "this is for your eyes". She is so thoughtful.

We have been so blessed in our lives with these 2 awesome kids. They are a perfect fit for our little family. I am so grateful that they are a part of our lives. How lucky are we!

New Blog

2011-01-26T15:53:00.000-08:00

I have a new blog. It is designated for healthy food only. Erik and I have a news years resolution to eat healthier and work out more regularly. The program is set up for 12 weeks. We are both loving this new "lifestyle change". We like it so much that we are going to continue our journey after the 12 weeks are over. Well the food was getting boring so I started searching for new recipes on line. I have found and tried several that I love and he likes most of them too. You have to understand that Erik is a "meat and potatoes" kind of guy so this health thing is a bigger adjustment for him. Anyway here is the new blog for anyone interested in my new favorite healthy recipes.

www.theminnesoteseatingforlife.blogspot.com

Christmas Morning part 1

2010-12-29T01:56:00.000-08:00

Christmas program part 3

2010-12-28T19:13:00.000-08:00

Alex's Christmas Program Part 2

2010-12-28T13:02:00.000-08:00

Christmas program

2010-12-28T05:15:00.000-08:00

This is Alex during is christmas program at school. I will be uploading more but it took half a day to do this part so stay tuned.

Halloween 2010

2010-12-27T10:40:00.001-08:00

Kayla Trick or Treating

Alex Trick or Treating

Happy with a caramel sucker!

Face painting at the gyms Halloween party!

Alex playing a game at the gyms Halloween party!

Kayla Playing!

Getting ready to leave the gym!

If you couldn't tell, Alex was batman and Kayla was a butterfly princess. We had a great Halloween. We took the kids to Lifetime's Halloween party in the morning. It was only $2 to get in and they got to play all sorts of carnival games. There was face painting, cookie decorating, free popcorn and cotton candy. The kids had a great time. We also took them to our church party. There they had trick or treating from door to door in the building and more carnival games. Then the night of Halloween we too them out Trick or treating for the first time. We met up with several of the neighbors in our cul De sac and went door to door with them. Alex LOVED it. He was running ahead of us with all of his friends on the street. They hit our cul de sac and the one across from us and their bags were full. Kayla burned out towards the end so we headed home and skipped the last 5 or 6 houses. Alex went back to one of the neighbor kids houses with all of the other neighbor kids so they could go through there candy and see what everyone got. That cracks me up because they went to all of the same houses and probably got exactly the same thing. Kayla was adorable. She would say trick or treat in her sweet little voice and i believe it would melt the heart of anyone who opened the door to her. Almost every door gave her extra candy.

Raking leaves

2010-12-27T10:11:00.000-08:00

Notice Kayla is wearing a ballerina outfit. She is always dressing up like a princess!

Alex and Kayla's cousins, Gavin and Blake, came up for a visit this fall. They saw all of our leaves and wanted to help rake them. So I asked our neighbor if we could borrow a couple of rakes. Now each of the boys and myself had a rake. We still needed one more so I improvised and gave Kayla a broom. They helped for a lot longer than i thought they would. Gavin lasted the longest. Alex, Blake, and Kayla ran off to play on the swing set. After we made a few piles they came back to run and jump into the piles. The kids had a blast hanging out with each other.

Visiting Eriks dad

2010-12-27T10:02:00.001-08:00

daddy carrying Kayla

. Alex helping Grandma push Papa to the park.

Happy Birthday KAYLA!

2010-08-13T11:44:00.001-07:00

I know I keep saying this but "where has the time gone"???? My baby is 2 years old already. What the heck! So yesterday Kayla turned 2 years old. When she woke up I said Kayla you are 2. She said "no, I one." I said no your 2. and she then argued with me and insisted that she is one. We started the day watching the princess and the frog. She loves princesses right now. So what better way to celebrate then with a princess theme. I made her a castle cake, got her a tiara which she wore for a few minutes at a time through out the day. We went to the gym and they made her a crown....Alex wanted to where the crown. I think he was feeling a little left out. Whenever it is someone else's birthday Alex gets upset and wants it to be his. It is probably a good thing that Erik, Kayla, and my birthday are all close together so Alex can learn than everyone gets a birthday, not just him. We had grandma Audrey, our friends Dan, Christy, and Alaina, and also our other friends Alicia, James and there clan....5 kids and one on the way, all come to the birthday party. It turned out to be a really fun evening.

Kayla was checking out her cake. She loved it. This is her seeing it for the first time. There are two little princesses on the cake that we got her for her birthday. She kept saying pense(princess) and spoon. She is so stinking smart. She wanted the dolls and a spoon to eat the cake.
her face when she saw the cake. Notice she is holding a princess.

The cake!

Kayla after she opened her presents.

Grandma Audrey got her this awesome dollhouse with a bin full of things to go in it. Dolls, beds, furniture, animals, toys. . . .everything you can think of. It was the highlight of the birthday party. All of the kids gathered around at one point and they were all playing with it.

Kayla opening her presents. She also go some dress up jewelry from both of our friends. She is so girly and loves anything girly and anything that is princess like.

Kayla was so cute when we sang to her. You could tell she was loving it and holding back her feels just a hair. She was kind of moving to our off tune song of Happy birthday! She loved having a party just for her. I was really surprised that she knew how to blow the candles out. She surprise us on a daily basis with the things she knows!

The other day we were putting Kayla in the car and i started to count. I said 1, she said 2, I said 3 she said 4, we did this all the way to 10. She must be listening and grasping things while we are teaching Alex. She is starting to say little sentences and tons of little words. She know a few of her colors, like red, blue, yellow, and Pink. She loves pink! See a girlie girl! She pointed at the color white once and told me it was the color milk. She got the fact that milk is white so she was trying to put something else white with it. Every song that i have taught her with actions she learns the first time. She is the sweetest little thing. She has a very tender heart. If I react to quickly when she gets into something that might hurt her she will just melt. It is the cutest thing you have ever seen. Her lip fold up and she gives the saddest little face ever. It is so cute and innocent that my heart melts. I am so grateful for this little angel that is in our lives. She brings me joy on a daily basis. I love to kiss on her and squeeze her any chance I get. I feel so blessed that she came to our home. Kayla, we LOVE you so much and we are glad you are a BIG part of our lives! HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRINCESS!

gloves and hats in the summer?????

2010-08-13T11:33:00.000-07:00

The kids got into the hats and gloves. Who knew they would have so much fun with winter hats and gloves. They played for over an hour like this!

Kayla adores her big brother. If he is doing it she wants to do it too. Most of the time he lets her follow him and copy him. Once in awhile he gets sick of it and doesn't want to be bothered. I am glad they get along so well most of the time!

Washington County fair!

2010-08-13T11:07:00.000-07:00

We went to the Washington County fair and it was a good time. I LOVE fair food! So bad for you, but it tastes SO good! We had a really good time. We ran into our friends, Dan, Christy, and there daughter Alaina! Then we followed them around the rest of the time we were there. Alex loved the mini golfing, he played 2 times. it is fun to watch him play! he cracks me up. He drags the ball along more than he hits it. At one point I told him we were not on a driving range. he was full on swinging at the golf ball. Kayla fell asleep on the way to the fair so she slept the first hour we were walking around. When she woke up we took them to the giant slide. Alex went down the slide 3 times and Kayla went down twice. They both loved the big slide! Kayla kept stealing everybodys sunglasses. She is in the "its mine" stage. Evidently everything belongs to her!

If you can enlarge this one do it. Alex's face is pretty priceless. This was his first time down the slide.
Mine, Mine, Mine! (mommys sunglasses)

Kayla and Dan! She has his sunglasses on!

Lovin' the slide!

Snoozing!

Golf Pro!

He always wins!

SPRING

2010-06-01T05:22:00.001-07:00

Be prepared to look at A LOT of pictures. These are pictures I have taken with my phone this spring and I finally got them uploaded to the computer. So if they are a little out of focus that is why!

Erik gave me these gorgeous flowers for mothers day. I thought this was a good way to start my Spring Blog. HAPPY SPRING!

Action pictures tend to look a little stretched. We got the kids a slip and slide a week ago and we have already got a lot of good use out of it!

I don't have a lot of pics of my kids together. . .this is one of my favorites!

Alex turned 4 in may. I made him this chocolate train cake. He loves chocolate and he loves trains, what better combination is there!

This is one of my lilac bushes/trees that we planted last year. I love spring because of the smell of lilacs. it reminds me of my grandma fay! I miss you grandma!

This was a picture of Alex on his birthday! What a handsome little man!

My sweet Kayla all ready for church!

The kids have loved digging in the dirt this spring. We just planted a bunch of flower and plants here so there "sand/dirt box" is no longer a play area! I am sure Kayla will tell us otherwise.

This was at edinbourough. Kayla sat in here for a while with this other little girl! So cute!

Bath time!

Aren't they the cutest things ever?!?!?!

I LOVE this picture! I just wish it was in better focus. She is such an angel!

We went to Fond Doe Rosa in Wisconsin a couple of weeks ago. The kids get to feed the animals. They LOVED it.

Daddy helping Kayla feed the deer!

Flying a kite. Alex did really well with his first time flying a kite. Well maybe second time. The first time I think he let it go and got it tangled in trees. (last year)

Mommy helping Kayla feed the deer. Kayla is not loving it. Her idea of feeding was throwing the food at them and keeping her distance!

We went to eat at Broadway pizza. Kayla's hair was in the way so I threw it up in a pony tail. She looked so dang cute I had to get a picture!

Kayla pulled out all of my pots and pans and decided she fit nicely in this one. She was yelling "owie owie" and then she would giggle. She was quite thrilled with herself.

Carver lake. The only thing you really need is a bucket for each kid. They spent most of the time filling it up with water and then dumping it on the sand.

Kayla at Carver Lake!

Alex at the Children's museum. If that place wasn't always so crowded I would go more often. I don't want to go unless I have an extra set of hands. Alex and Kayla like different things there so they run in two different directions. We got a membership so we will be going quite a bit.

Carver Lake! by the way, it is only about 5-10 min from my house. SO convenient.

This at the zoo. There is a place to go and read. Kayla read here for awhile, by herself and with daddy.

I was taking pictures and Alex jumped in front and asked for his picture. What a goof ball!

Swinging at the park!

Playing in the slip and slide.

Feeding the deer

We were at K-mart shopping for sunglasses.

Kayla flying the kite. She actually let it go a couple of times so I was chasing after the fly away kite a few times.

On your birthday you get to go on the rides at the MOA for free. I had Grandma watch Kayla and Alex and I went to the Mall by ourselves. We had a great time.

Alex digging for bones at the children's museum!

Alex on the big turtle at the zoo.

More feeding at Fond Doe Rosa!

Easter week!

2010-04-06T14:27:00.000-07:00

On Sunday afternoon, my sister-in-law and I watched the kids so that Erik, Ross, Jakk, and Audrey could go and visit Larrie. I think they should get together more often. What a good looking bunch of people!

EGG HUNT

As soon as everyone showed up at the house, Trish and I went up to the park to hide the eggs for the kids. WE were lucky that no one was around the park that morning. When we were almost finished, I called Erik and had them walk with the kids to come and hunt for eggs.

Kayla loved looking for eggs.

Alex looking for eggs!

Here's another one Dad!

I see it Dad!

The kids sat here for awhile looking in their eggs and eating candy. I then reminded them there was a park behind them if they wanted to go and play!

(L-R Gavin, Blake, Alex, Kayla, and Erik)

Okay boys, that is your last piece of candy! LOL (I believe that is what Jakk was telling them)

My sweet little princess!

Grandma Audrey got a basket too!

Trish came over with Cole a few times this week. My kids loved him. They were constantly in his face. Cole really likes Alex, he laughs whenever Alex laughs! SO cute!~

Cole is getting tired of the exersaucer!

This is at the park we went to on Tuesday last week. "Chutes and Ladders"

Alex and his friend Reese coming out of the slide, one right after the other!

I snapped a few pics of the park so you could see it!

Kissing my baby!

I loved her hair this day so I had to get a picture.

One of her lovely temper tantrums! Yes I did say one of them. She likes to get her way and when she doesn't she will lay down and kick and scream. It use to be cute, now the cuteness is fading!

This is Alex playing with his cousin Cole!

This is Kayla doing the actions to a primary song. She is so dang cute!

SPRING BREAK!

2010-03-31T08:34:00.001-07:00

What a week we have had!

Monday we went to the zoo all day long! The kids had a great time. I met about 4 other parents with their kids and we just took our time letting the kids enjoy every moment.

Tuesday we went to a park called "Chutes and Ladders". It was awesome. I decided to leave my baby Kayla with Grandma so she could get a nap in. Monday was really hard on her because it was such a long day. Well it turns out that Kayla was too much fun for Grandma so she didn't get a nap. That is what Grandma's are for, to spoil those little ones. So we had 2 long days in a row for both of our kids.

Wednesday I decided it was a day to get some laundry done, dishes washed ,and the house cleaned. I put Kayla down at about 1 and Alex played outside. My sister-in-law Trish came over so we sat in the nice warm weather and talked while Alex played in the dirt. He was digging in my flower bed and at one point I asked him what he was doing. He said mom, no don't look over here. . . .look at her, talk to her (her meaning Trish) He is so funny sometimes. Well, Kayla fought her nap. She played in her bed for about 2 hours until I finally got her out. We then got ready and went to the movies. We met with some friends again so Alex went to Chipmunks with his friends and I took Kayla to The Princess and the Frog. They were both showing at the same time. Then we went to and got little Caesars $5 pizza and took it to a park. We ate pizza and played with the kids until almost 8. What a day this turned out to be

Thursday we went to Inver Grove Park to the indoor water park for kids. It is only $3 per kid on Thursday's in the winter. So $6 for all 3 of us. We played for 2 hours in the pool, and then we went outside and played at their playground. I packed a lunch so we ate lunch in between climbing and going down slides.

Friday I took the day off. Alex woke up and asked where we were going to go. I started a new trend that he wants to continue. Now it is Saturday and he wants to go play with his friends again. It is the first thing he says when he wakes up. He is going to love the summer. My house is not going to like me so much this summer, it will be neglected a little with all the playing I am planning to do with my kids. I am excited that Kayla is old enough to enjoy all of these things with us. This year is going to be so much fun for both of them.

Today we are going Easter shopping for our big Easter plans for tomorrow!

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!

Private

2010-03-27T08:36:00.000-07:00

So let me know if you have friends or family that like to look at the blog! If you want, you can give me their addresses too so I can add them as well. I am mostly thinking of Alex and Kayla's birth family's. I know you might have kids, sisters, parents, and even grandparents that like to look. If you want me to add them just send me an e-mail with their addresses. You can also give them your address with your password if you want! Also, if you want me to add you and I haven't yet, it is because I am not sure who you are. Some of you have just said to add you but I only have your e-mail address to look at, and the e-mail isn't clear on who the person is.

Going Private

2010-03-19T09:51:00.001-07:00

Well I have decided to go private with my blog. No offense to you readers that I don't know, but it scares me a little bit to get comments from people I don't know. They are nice comments, but it makes me wonder what other kind of weirdo's are looking at my blog. I have decided this is the safest thing to do for our family. If you would like to continue to look at our blog please send me your e-mail address so I can add you to the list.

you can send it in the comment box or via e-mail or you can send me a private message in facebook.

Alex shaving/Kids dancing and more!

2010-02-17T05:29:00.000-08:00

We got this shaving kit for $1. I saw at this Christmas time and almost got it for Alex but it was about $15 then. Well we went to good will and evidently Target takes there stuff, that doesn't sell, over to them. I got this kids shaving kit brand new, plus 3 pairs of shoes for Kayla that still had tags on it. I love finding really good deals! So, Alex was really excited to shave with dad.

I found this spider man shirt in a box while cleaning things out in the basement. Either my sister Rebecca or Tia left it the last time they came. Alex had it on first and then Kayla. She looks like a little rag a muffin. So cute! She would not let us take the shirt off of her. Alex wasn't happy that she had it on. He wanted it back!

We turned music on and let the kids dance! They had so much fun. In the last few clips Alex is dragging Kayla instead of dancing with her. He keeps knocking her down but she is having so much fun that she keeps going back for more. I can't upload long videos so there is several short clips!

This last clip is Alex and I doing the "ELEVATOR" I just learned how to do this last week. The kids can't get enough, especially Alex. Kayla is still a little fearful.

Kayla is 18 Months/ Alex lost his tooth. . .not in a good way!

2010-02-12T09:19:00.001-08:00

My baby is 18 months today! She is growing out of the baby stage and becoming a little girl. She is all girl too! She loves to sit and watch me get ready and I will use my makeup brushes on her eyebrows and cheeks and she loves it. If she finds a Barret she will try and put it in her hair saying "pe ee" She loves to do things that makes her pretty! If I give her a bath before bed I will blow dry her hair and she loves it. She loves getting all dolled up.

We finally got her some snow boots. I got a great deal at target this week on these boots. They were about 75% off. She LOVES her boots. After I put them on her she would not let me take them off. She is a size 4 and these are 6. We went to pick Alex up from school yesterday and while we were waiting I was talking to one of the other moms. Kayla kept pointing at her boots and saying "shoos. . .shoos" She wanted to show off her NEW shoes. She is such a funny character. She LOVES baby dolls! She will rock them and shush them, and hug and kiss them. She is a good little mommy. She likes to rough house and wrestle too, she is all girl with a little bit of tom boy to her. As long as it is all in fun. If she thinks I am getting hurt she will come and push the person away that is hurting me. She was with me at the Chiropractor last week and while he was adjusting me she was trying to push him away, while screaming at him. She was cussing him out good. She is definitely Mommy's girl but I could see that changing and her becoming daddy's girl. She does love her daddy. Right now she prefers mom. . . .unless Grandma Audrey is around. I am glad that she is still so attached to Grandma! I hope she always feels that way. Grandma always gets a warm greeting when she comes to visit. Squealing and laughing and cheering. Both kids get way excited to see her!
I tried to get a picture without the bottle but she was not letting that happen. She did not want the picture taken so I gave her the bottle to get her 18 month birthday pic in. I also did my 1/2 Year measurement. I have a wall that I mark every 6 months to see how tall they are. She is close to 30 inches. Alex was over 30 inches at 6 months. LOL She is my little petite peanut I love her so much and I am so grateful she is a part of our lives.

HAPPY 18 MONTHS KAYLA!

Erik and Alex were playing on Monday night and Alex collided with the cedar chest. It knocked his tooth almost out. We called several dentists and ended up talking to 3 total. They said to try and pop it back in. So we pinned the poor boy down and tried to pop it in twice. It would not stay up so we guessed it was broken . Tuesday morning we went to the dentist and they did an x-ray first. Sure enough it was broken. They said the best thing to do would be to remove it. So pretty soon we are holding him down while they numbed him with gel, then with the needle, then yanked the tooth out, and then stuffed it with a gauze of some sort. Poor little guy!

His first dental experience was so traumatic. I guess not his first. Our dentist has had him sit in the chair while they counted his teeth, and then another time they polished his top 4 teeth. I am sure getting him back to the dentist in the future wont be an easy task.

He is doing fabulous now. He is so cute even with the missing tooth. I will post some pics soon of him with the hole in his smile. He is adorable!

Our family photos from OCT! All of them!

2010-01-14T12:10:00.000-08:00

These are all of the pictures that my cousin Melissa took for us. She is an excellent photographer. We will definitely be using her again in the future. I think she did a great job. Next time I will plan it so it is the only thing we do that day. We had a lot going on that day and it makes it hard on the kids! They were pretty good sports though!

Our Christmas card! I am still hoping to mail it out. I know it is a little late but if I can I am going to get it done!

One of my favorites. I love how sweet Alex is to Kayla!

Love this one!

I love the look of curiosity miss Kayla has!

I absolutely LOVE this one!

She looks so angelic here. I LOVE this one too!

I LOVE this one! Alex had to go pee in the middle of the photo session. There was a tree in the back of the alley where we were. I didn't know she took this picture until she gave us the CD. Both Erik and I got a good laugh. Especially because Kayla is holding up one finger.

He is going #1!

I like the uniqueness of this one!

This is when we first came out of the temple! I wanted to show off how beautiful Kayla was in her dress! She looks like a little princess!

This is such a great photo! He is such a sweet boy!

There is my smiley girl! So SWEET!

I love this one. . .our eternal family looking at the gorgeous temple!

Home Remedy and the going ons!

2010-01-14T07:39:00.000-08:00

There is a lot of little sickys in my house this week. Kayla started us with a little bit of pink eye. She would wake up in the morning and after her nap with her eyes sealed shut from the mucus. Poor baby. So I called in reinforcements. . .grandma! Grandma has some good home remedies for just about anything. We did a lot of different things. Salt and Soda baths, rubbed cod liver oil on her feet, full body olive oil massages, and gave her tons of fluids. Then someone told me about Colloidal Silver being a good home remedy for Pink eye. So I asked grandma Audrey about it. She got on the phone with a company that she bought Molecula Silver from. Similar to Colloidal but better. So we followed their instructions and put it in her eye and also gave it to her orally. While we were at it Erik took some, Alex, Grandma, and even I took some. Well after we put it in her eye we put her to bed. The next day . . . . . NO Mucus! Coincidence. . . I don't think so. Well now Alex is getting pink eye and a little mucus. So we put the Molecula Silver in his eyes last night and WA LA. . . his eyes are better today. No mucus sealing them shut. His are still a little pink but I was half way thinking he would wake like she had in the past before we tried the Molecula Silver. So the point to this is, if you get pink eye and you like home remedies, try Colloidal Silver or Molecula Silver.

A cute thing that happened yesterday was Alex had found his dads harmonica! He was playing it telling me it was his. Well I want him to understand that not everything he likes belongs to him. SO I told him it is daddy's harmonica but daddy likes to share so you can play with it. He liked the idea that Dad was so willing to share. Then I asked him if he knew what it was called. He said what. I said it is called a Harmonica. He said No. It is not Monika's, it is daddy's. I said no it is called a Har-Mon-I-Ca! That is the name. He then said, no it is not Monika's. . .it is daddy's. I don't want to share it with Monika! Alex has a cousin named Monika so you can see where he got a little confused. SO I told him it was called a musical Reed instead for arguments sake. I was laughing pretty hard.

Alex has discovered that he likes to talk and especially now since his vocabulary has increased so much. He just talks and talks and talks and talks. I remember the days when I wanted my baby to talk and now I wish I could mute him sometimes. Erik came home last night and he finds it funny how much Alex likes to talk. I said of course you do. . . it is really cute especially if it is just for a little while. He has so many questions and he will ask them over and over again until he gets the answer he wants. I love him to death though. Normally it is endearing but I have been fighting my own sickness this week and it would be so much nicer to just lay in bed. But the life of a mom doest allow a sick day. Yesterday I had Alex napping with me, I had already made my bed once keep in mind. He started coughing and then threw up all over my bed. So I quickly took all the soiled things threw them in the wash and put clean sheets on the bed. Well then he fell asleep so I left to get some laundry done. The last thing I wanted to do was do laundry while feeling so lousy. Then I heard Alex crying. I went upstairs, his diaper was off (he wears a diaper for bedtime) and he said I peed in you bed mommy. So I changed the sheets again, and had to do more laundry. Oh the life of being a mom. Most days I love it but when I am sick I don't love it. I want to be taken care as much as my kids need me to take care of them. Erik has been really good to help. He stayed late on Tuesday and took Alex to school and then he picked him up. So I was able to rest while Kayla napped that day. As I said earlier Grandma has been helpful too. Anytime we are sick she runs over with her bag full of things to make us all feel better. What would we do without her. We are lucky to have someone that cares so much about our health and well being. Thanks Grandma Audrey! :)

Blueberry Princess! and What we are doing now!

2010-01-10T12:47:00.000-08:00

Guess who likes blueberries? Likes is an understatement. . .guess who LOVES blueberries??????

Alex likes his picture to be taken only when I am taking one of Kayla. He gets jealous and wants attention too. This was taken in the middle of the blueberry photos! :)

Look at that tongue!

Kayla LOVES blueberries! I can't give them to her fast enough. While out in Idaho mom bought a huge box of blueberries and froze them. So we had blueberries all of the time. Kayla likes them frozen the best. I am sure that is because they feel so good on her gums. She is still teething, as a matter of fact she just barely got her 6th tooth. So when we got back we went and bought some frozen blueberries for her. She still loves them.

Another great milestone for Kayla is that she started walking while we were in Idaho. She was 16 months old when she got up and took off. She decided walking was much for fun. It made my life a lot easier because she loved this new thing she could do. I would sit and watch her walk circles from the kitchen to the living room. She was walking laps around the house. She is now a little more independent which is nice! She also become very fond of baby dolls while we were out there. She would see a doll and think it was hers. If she was able to get it away from the other cousins she would hug her baby and kiss her baby and feed her baby. (we got her little bottles for her baby) She would not let go of the baby dolls.

Alex's vocabulary is getting better everyday. He surprises us sometimes with the things he says. While in Idaho his cousin gave him a picture she had colored. He said "you did this. . . I LOVE IT. . . . you did such a good job. . . .I am soooo proud of you" It was too dang cute! WE are always laughing with the things he comes up with. Just last Sunday we subbed for his sunday school class. It was his first day as a "sunbeam". So after the lesson the kids were just playing. I was holding one of the little girls because she was sad and wanted her mommy. Her name is Claire. . .she said "I miss my mommy" and as I comforted her Alex went and climbed on Erik's lap. He looked sad like she did. But I thought, why would he be sad. . . both Erik and I are in his class today. He then said " I miss Lola. . . waaa haa haa!" We both started cracking up. He just wanted to miss something too, so he said he missed our dog and faked his cry!

Kayla went to a class for her first time last Sunday too! She went to Nursery. One of the gals from church came and took her to nursery for me because we were teaching a class. She did very well and will be ready when she is old enough. She will be 17 months this week so 1 month to go and she will be in nursery.

I am going to try and be better at writing things that happen. I need to treat this blog more like a journal. So many things happen and the older I get the more I forget.

Christmas 2009

2010-01-10T12:12:00.001-08:00

Our family with Santa!~ Santa comes to grandma's house every Christmas eve to visit the kids and bring them gifts!

This was after Kayla cried because she didn't want to sit on Santa's lap!

She was squirming her way off his lap as fast as she could! She liked him but did not want to sit on his lap alone!

All of the grand kids with their new pajamas. Well most of them have their new pajamas on!

Alex is sitting by Monika waiting to eat some Christmas Eve food!

Alex is with Uncle Sean waiting to sit on Santa's lap!

So brave to sit up with Santa all on his own!

Kayla is eating Doritos's and Olive's. . . what a lovely combination. She learned that you can put the olives on your finger tips. She would put one on each pointer finger and then grin like she is doing in this picture!

The kids had a great time visiting their cousins in Idaho! It was a long drive there and a long drive home. It was fun visiting and playing games with the fam. I was able to play a little bit of Volleyball with my sisters while we were there too. I was so busy doing things with the kids that I forgot to tote the camera to most places. OOPS! So there are not very many pictures. I will try and do better in the future!

CHOPPED!

2009-11-15T17:42:00.001-08:00

This is the before shot. This was taken when I went to see my parents in Oct.

Look at that hair. . .she is barely 15 months and I can get it all into pig tails. I actually have put it all in one pony tail.

This is Kayla's hair up close. . . isn't it gorgeous!

I just loved this picture!

14 to 15 inches!

The after shot!

Yep I chopped off my locks. The gal that cut it chopped it to my shoulders at first. Then I told her to go shorter. My hair that I donated was about 14 to 15 inches. Then she cut another 2 or 3inches. So I cut off 17 to 18 inches of hair. What a drastic change it was for me. I have figured out how to pull it back so I can still play sports. I have been itching to cut my hair for several months. Finally it was just time. I have 2 friends that have 16 year old daughters with cancer. We just found out about the second girl back in Sept. I felt like I needed to do something. Some of you probably remember we were trying to raise money for Hannah several months back so I could donate my hair to her. It turned out to be way too expensive, so we gave them the money we had raised to pay bills and do what they needed to do with it. I sent my hair into Locks of Love. My hair dresser said I had enough hair for 2 donations. Well she said enough for 2 wigs. I found out it takes about 5 heads of hair to make 1 wig. So I was able to give enough hair to make about half a wig. The sad part is she only used about half of my hair for those two pony tails. She didn't add the hair on the sides because it was shorter then the back. I have decided that from now on I will grow my hair out really long and then chop it off and donate it! It is only hair and it grows back. Alex was pretty funny. When he saw my hair he told me that I needed to put it back on tomorrow! Then I asked him if he liked it and he said "no"! I love the honesty of children! The cool thing about this new "do" is everyone thinks I look just like my mom! What a compliment!

Family Pics. . .just the proofs!

2009-10-27T20:12:00.001-07:00

We went to Idaho last week to do a lot of different things. I will blog more later on our trip. These are pictures that were taken of our family while we were visiting. We took our baby Kayla to the temple and these are a couple of the shots that our photographer got. My cousin Melissa is the photographer. She does amazing work so I had her take our family pictures. After the temple we took a picture of us all in white, and then we changed for some casual family photos. These are just a few of the ones she took. I couldnt wait to post them so here they are. I will post the ones with out the wording through the middle of it when I get them. There will be a lot more too.

This says it all. . . our eternal family!

Kayla looks like a little angel here. She is so precious!

Family photo

Kayla is holding up 1 finger. . .I think she wants us to know how old she is!

What a little stud! SO Hansome!

Adorable! I love her grin with her 2 teeth showing!

So Sweet!

Alex!

2009-10-13T18:05:00.000-07:00

Alex says the funniest things sometimes. The other day Erik got home and the battery in his truck died. Alex and I were outside playing when it happened. He said what happened dad, the truck is broke. Erik said yah, the battery broke. So Alex went inside got into the junk drawer, found a D battery and brought it to his dad. He said here dad, here is the battery for your truck! He is such a little thinker already.

Just before Alex put on Dad's big ole work boots he was giving him a back massage. Erik is training this kid right. I got home and Alex was massaging Erik. Now Erik is rolled over and fast asleep. He was exhausted. Well Alex had to put on dads boots and try walking in them. He did a pretty good job.

Jumping in his jumper. We pulled this out after our trampoline was stolen. Yes it was stolen. . . .we woke up one Sunday morning and we were loading in the car to go to church and there was something missing. So we figure it was done the night before but neither of really remember if it was there Sat. Oh well. He was happy to have the jumper outside instead of in the basement.

This is the crazy stuff he does in the jumper. Maybe he is a future WWF man. Who knows with this kid. He has so many interests in so many different things.

Kayla!

2009-10-13T12:30:00.000-07:00

Kayla loves to put shoes on her hands and crawl!

Kayla likes her dog! She climbed in with Lola while Lola was napping!

I left Kayla alone in her high chair while I was getting Alex ready for school. I forgot that she could reach the place mat and I set her sweet potatos far away from her, on the edge of the place mat. While I was upstairs getting Alex she was being so good. Usuallly she gets mad if we leave her in her chair too long. When I cam downstairs this is what I found!

Kayla turned 14 months this week. Nothing has really changes about her since 13 months. She still is refusing to take even a step alone, and she only has her 2 bottom teeth. She acts like she is teeting ALL OF THE TIME! I wish those darn teeth would just come in all ready. She is my independent child. She wants to feed herself all of the time, she wants to do everything herself, except for walk. Alex at this age was still wanting us to spoon feed him and hold his bottle for him.

1st day of Pre-school!

2009-09-15T19:08:00.000-07:00

This is the pre-school that Alex is attending this year.

He was so excited he jumped out and put his backpack on and ran ahead of me!

When we got there they had a little circle time and let the parents stay for 10 min.

Miss Joany would ask questions and Alex would answer them out loud. I am so proud of my little man!

This was him running around the car this morning avoiding the camera. It quickly became a game. I snapped probably 20 pictures.

This was right after breakfast. He was checking out his new backpack and all the cool pockets it had. He picked this backpack out all by himself. I think that is one of the reasons he likes it SO much!

Walking to the car.

Running out of the house ready to go

I can't believe my little man is already old enough to go to pre-school . I remember the day we got the phone call telling us he was born. It really does feel like yesterday. I remember so clearly driving the 3 hours to the hospital. Those 3 hours seemed like a life time. I remember holding him in my arms for the first time, what a precious moment that was. Now he is my big 3 year old going to school. He LOVES school. I think he would go every day if we would let him. I asked him how his day went and he said "we had snacks" I said well what did you do? "we had snacks" I asked him a few other questions but he only said they had snacks. LOL I then asked him things like did you play with play dough, read books, draw. . .etc. . .and he said yes. They end the day playing outside at the playground. I love that they do that because their last memory of the day will be playing so he will always be excited to go back.

Kayla is 13 months!

2009-09-15T18:54:00.001-07:00

She is such a happy delightful baby girl!

She loves to blow kisses!

Kayla turned 13 months just a few days ago.

She is not walking yet but I think she knows how. Once she takes off there will be no stopping her. She barely hangs onto our hands when we help her walk. If we let go she stands really well until she realizes that we let go. . . and then down she goes. She lacks the confidence to walk is all.
She still only has 2 teeth. I wish the others would start coming in. She has a rash on her face. . . which I am sure is from the teething.
She has said her first sentence. She says "don't touch it" loud and clear! One day she was getting into the garbage so I yelled don't touch it. . . she started yelling back and pointing her finger at me. I got it on video so I have proof. . .and sometimes she will say her line for you if asked!
She can climb up and down the stairs by herself. . .the child gate is gone!
She loves her dog Lola. I think she is confused though. . .she kind growls, almost snorts to mimic Lola! She doesn't really do the barking noise anymore. Maybe that is because Lola sounds like a pig and not a dog! (PUG)
Kayla is "grandma's girl" If grandma Audrey is around no one else gets to hold her. She will be with grandma until we make her leave grandma. (even me) I am just glad she loves her so much . . . I don't mind sharing!
She is the happiest in the morning. I love getting her in the morning. She is usually just sitting in her crib playing. When I swing the door open I get the biggest grin and she reaches for me. . . it melts my heart every time.

There are a zillion more things but this will be it for now. We love you Kayla!

Video disaster

2009-09-15T18:50:00.000-07:00

Before!

After!
My kids got a hold of the video shelf! They couldn't leave even 1 movie on the shelf. (and yes Alex is naked. . . we try to keep the clothes on but they eventually come off)
This goes to show you that you can't leave them alone for even a minute!

Tie Dye

2009-09-15T18:45:00.000-07:00

Alex's shirt!
Erik's shirt

My 3 shirts!

We went to our friends Chris and Christy Speak to tie Dye. It was soooo much fun. We helped Alex tie his shirt and then he dyed his all by himself. We had a garbage bag on him with gloves to keep him from being the one dyed. Kayla got passed around to all the adults while we took our turn tie Dying. Good Times!

Idaho Fun Part Deux!

2009-08-30T17:26:00.001-07:00

On Sunday while I was out in Idaho we went to my Aunt Cheryls for a pot luck dinner. This was not everyone. My Aunt Janell, and Uncle Kent were there. Cousins Hope, Bryon, and Whitney were also there. Aunt Doris was there and Aunt Gaylene and Uncle James too. I think pretty much every one else is in the pictures. Sorry if I missed someone. We were lucky because it was kind of a rainy day. We had our dinner, then we hung out by the fire for awhile. . . .then a storm snuck up on us really fast and we all went inside. It was so fun to get together with everyone and catch up. I wish I lived closer so I could keep up with everyone. We need to plan more family get togethers when we come home!

Here we all are! L -R

Gill, Aunt Cheryl, Uncle Bill, Chelsea, Me, Kayla, Jill

Front---Rebecca, Boston, and Terry

We roasted marshmallows and just hung out around the fire!

Everyone LOVEd miss Kayla! She was such a sweet heart!

Tyler hanging out with Rebecca's baby Boston. (and yes he is always that happy)

Cody was throwing the football around with Keayen and Kelly!

Keayen. . . like father like son! (His dad played college football)

Trip to Idaho! (birthday party and rafting)

2009-08-26T12:54:00.000-07:00

The pictures from the rafting were taken off of my facebook so they are a little small. If you want to see them bigger you can look at facebook. . . if you are my friend. HA! LOL We went rafting on Saturday evening. . . it was soooooo much fun.

Monika is in front of the babies. SHe is sooo cute. . . I LOVE those curls!

Kayla loved Boston. She would pat his head 2 times and rub and then repeat. She was so funny!

Such a raga a muffin. We got up on Saturday and lazed around after the party the night before. SO Kayla's hair is looking a little crazy!

Blowing out the candles!

TIa and I being sang at!

Tia and Rebecca dancing and being silly!

More silliness!

Tyosn and Jared singing "i'm too sexy" Jared is Tia's hubby. Tyson is his friend. We went to school with Tyson. . .and he and I ended up serving in the same mission. Cool guy!

A bunch of us sang "ain't no mountain high enough"

Matt and Wendy! (Matt is my brother and wendy is his Fiance)

Misty and Me. Misty and I were room mates in college.

Me and Rebecca. (little sister)

Tia and Chris singing Karoke. Seth is on the left side he is my nephew. Chris is my older, oldest brother!

So here is my week in a nut shell. I flew in on Thursday and flew out on Tuesday. I played Volleyball everyday but Sunday, we went river rafting. Rebecca threw us a huge party with Karoke and dancing. The party was planned before I got there so it was planned mostly for Tia. I didnt mind it being something she would enjoy more then me. I had a lot of fun visiting with friends and family while they danced and sang. I did sing a few Karoke songs though.. . . I know , SHOCKER! My Aunt had a BBQ on sunday afternoon and there were a lot of relatives there. It was so fun to go home and visit everyone. I can't wait for next time!

ZOO! We LOVE the ZOO!

2009-08-18T05:09:00.001-07:00

BFF's at the zoo. This is Kayla and Ava hanging out at the zoo. Ava was adopted by one of my best friends about 7 weeks after Kayla! They are so dang cute!
They are looking at the fish swimming around in the grizzly bears water.

Fascinating!

At the zoo there is a little fountain area where the kids play in the water. Everyone brings their suits and gets soaked. It is perfect for those really hot days. I rarely go to the zoo in the summer so I didn't even think to bring Alex's suit. Well when I told him he could go play in the water, I helped him take his shirt off. When I turned my back he started taking off the rest of his clothes. I was dying. . . .laughing! I made him put his shorts back on!

This was Kayla right when we got to the zoo! She is such a happy girl!

Posing/ Indian outfit!

2009-08-15T05:03:00.001-07:00

I asked Alex to take a picture of me in my out fit from India. My parents sent me a cool outfit from India a couple of months ago. They wanted pictures of me in it. Well I decided to put it on and since Erik was gone. . .Alex was my photgrapher. After he was done taking my picture he said "my turn mom" I guess I was doing a lot of posing because he tried to copy what I did. So here is Alex posing at our little photo shoot!

By the way, there is a boquet of flowers right behind my head. . .that is not my hair. My hair is pulled back into a bun. Everyone keeps asking if that is my hair!

Happy 1st Birthday Kayla!

2009-08-12T19:05:00.001-07:00

Kayla was just a few days old here! It is hard to believe she was ever this small! Her preemie clothes are too big! She is so precious! (This was a year ago. . . so crazy)

Today is Kayla's 1st birthday! Can you believe it has been a year already? I can't! We had a party for her on Sunday so that our cousin Whitney could be there. She flew back to Idaho on Monday. She came out last year when Kayla was born to help me with Alex. Whitney is my guardian Angel! I don't know what I would do with out her. A year ago yesterday we got a phone call letting us know that Angela's (Kayla's birth mom's ) water broke. I was so excited but I began to pray that Kayla would be all right. She wasn't due for another 6 weeks. I also knew that she would most likely have to stay in the hospital for a little while if she was born that early. So I called Whit to come out and help with Alex so I could be with Kayla at the hospital. She was on the next plane out! Anyway, early the next morning Angela called us to tell us our angel had been born. 4lbs 9 oz. So small and so perfect. . . her lungs and everything were perfectly developed. We went to the hospital as soon as we could to meet our precious daughter. She was as perfect as Angela said. I remember wondering when they would tell me "never mind, you can go home now. . . you can not have her" I had that feeling for most of the week. And then I put her in my car after the week and drove home. She was really mine! She is a miracle and we are blessed to have her in our lives. Her personality is amazing. . .people are drawn to Kayla! Everyone thinks she is adorable and cute. . . and she loves people too. She will go to almost anyone that will just talk to her and play with her. I love my baby and I am so grateful she is in our lives! Happy Birthday miss Kayla. . . Thank you for coming to our family! We love you!

This was at the end of her party. Kayla was snuggling her dolly and her mommy. . .she got the doll for her birthday. . .from mom and dad. I love that her favorite present was from us!

This was her bath after the cake. . . sorry all the pictures are out of order. I don't know why it does that!

Almost done eating the cake!

Starting to dig in!

At first she didn't know what to think of the cake. She was spitting it out here!

She kept trying to grab the flame! Silly girl!

Riding on her new sit and spin zebra! I saw her playing with this at the gym's child center and she LOVED it, so I had to go get it for her!

Alex was helping Kayla open her presents. She got this cute tea set and princess book from our good friends Dean and Christy.

After Kayla opened her baby doll, she didn't care about the other presents. She loves her new dolly!

She kept loving her and holding her. They matched and no...., that was not planned!

Crawling to her unopened gifts!

The cake! I knew I wanted to make her cake but I wasn't sure what I was going to do. I got some ideas on line and then my cousin Whitney and I went to Michael's to get some inspiration!

We looked at a lot of ideas but one that I wanted to do was one I saw on line. Butterfly's and flowers. I told Whit my idea and she said"wait here" When she came back she had a package of butterflies. Then we came up with the idea of a flower on top of the cake. And then we saw ribbon to go around the cake! It turned out perfect! We ended up baking the cakes all on Saturday and staying up all night decorating it. Thanks Whit for all of your help! Without you it would not have turned out the same.

DINOSAUR!

2009-08-09T18:09:00.000-07:00

Erik figured out that Kayla is afraid of this toy Dinosaur! It is so funny to watch so we had to record it. Watch all 3 as if you are watching 1. She cracks me up.

Random Recents!

2009-08-07T05:56:00.001-07:00

We went to the car show down in North St. Paul. Mostly to get out and get some fresh air on this rainy day! The kids loved it.

Alex is eating his popcorn. As long as he has popcorn he is happy.

Kayla is holding her shoe. We can not keep them on her feet. . .her socks either. She likes to be barefoot!

Whitney pushes the kids. . . we are going to miss her when she leaves. She goes back on Monday. :(

Alex playing at the beach in Nisswa, MN!

Kayla was eating the sand!

A friend of mine from my mission came to minnesota a week or so ago. She was with one of her old college friends helping her out with her baby. They had to go to Nisswa MN for work. Well after spending a great day with my friend golfing and going out for sushi they headed up north. Then I got a call from them. They were in a ginourmous cabin and wanted to make good use of it. So they invited us to come up and stay. So Whitney, Alex, Kayla, and I went up there. (Erik had to work) It was a lot of fun. Alex and Kayla played on the beach. The resort had a pool with a water slide too. So we went down the slide at least a hundred times. I went down with alex and Kayla. They both loved it. I wasn't sure what Kayla would think but she loved the water. Both of my children are little fish!

I showed Kayla the piano and she loved it so I put her in her booster seat right next to it. She had a ball playing.

These flowers are from my garden. . . I am proud that I actually grew them!

Kayla being cute!

Kayla was playing with her plate after lunch. I liked this one of her hiding behind it.

She has the cutest little smile. She is such a happy little girl!

On the way home from the car show tonight I turned the radio on and Kayla started dancing. So I told Whitney to grab the camera and record her. Alex thought Kayla was hilarious!

Happy Birthday DAD!

2009-08-05T19:55:00.001-07:00

I think they are feeding each other cake! I love this picture of them. . . they look so happy together! I hope after being married that long that Erik and I still feel that way about each other. This picture really makes me miss them.Here is my dad dancing at his birthday bash!

Yesterday was my dads birthday! As most of you know my parents are on a mission in India. So it is time to pay a tribute to my dad. My dad is the most patient guy in the entire world. I can only remember maybe 1 or 2 times where he lost his temper, and that is really good when you have 4 daughters and 3 sons, but especially 4 daughters. He is kind and loving and so fun to be around. He has so much talent too. He can play the piano by ear, he plays the guitar. . .he writes music, and he has even written a book, yet to be published. He has a beautiful voice too. I remember when we were first learning to play basketball he would go to the church or to our front yard and shoot hoops with us. I am sure he used his patience then too. One story I remember is he was saving his money to buy his dream car. . .a 58 Chevy. . . (this is the way I remember it so if I am wrong sorry) Well he also wanted to take us on a nice vacation. So he cashed in his savings for the car and took our family on a nice long road trip. He has always made those kinds of sacrifices for his family. He gave up a dream to have memories for a life time. (mom got him the car a few years ago for Christmas) He never LET any of us win in anything. If we won. . . it was because we won! I think I got my competitive spirit from him. I like to win and I will try my hardest to do so. He taught us to always try and never to give up. I love you dad. . . I can't wait for you to come home! I hope you had an awesome birthday! From the pictures I saw it looks like you did. You are such an influence in so many peoples lives. People love you and love being around you. I know I do!

~HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!~

GIRLS CAMP!

2009-08-03T18:39:00.000-07:00

Last week I went to girls camp and I had a blast! WE camped in levels this year. For those who do not know what that means let me explain. In our church we have wards where we meet for church on sunday. There are 7 or 8 wards in a Stake. Normally you meet with your stake to go to girls camp. When I was growing up we camped in wards so it was all the girls in our ward of all ages. When you camp in levels you are put with girls your own age but they are all in different wards. SO then the girls have an opportunity to meet and make new friends. Anyway I was over level 2's which are mostly 13 year old girls. Our level color was orange. Level 1 had red, level 3 had yellow, level 4 had green, and the YCL's (youth camp leaders) had purple. So the girls in the orange bandana's were in my level! We tie dyed, learned how to make bracelets, went hiking, got soaked in the rain, ate a lot of awesome food. I of course brought my volleyball net and we played a lot of volleyball. I met a lot of girls playing volleyball with them.

Our level had 24 girls and 4 leaders. The rest of the levels had between 12 and 14. My cousin Whitney brought Kayla up to visit 1 day so she is in one of the pictures taken. Last time we left her with grandma over night for a couple of days, she did not do so great. SHe really missed her mommy. She really loves her grandma but still is young enough that she needs me. So I planned to have her come half way. Alex would never leave if I were to let him come up so he stayed home with grandma!

I met some wonderful girls, and I think I camped with THE best leaders that went. I had a grand ole time. If you want to see pictures here is the blog to our camping trip!

http://oakdalegirlscamp.blogspot.com/

Kaylas big Adoption Day!!!!!!!!

2009-07-17T14:08:00.001-07:00

This was taken after we got home! She is getting into the toybox. She is chewing on one of Alex's army guys!

She is such a happy baby. One of the witnesses in the court room said she was one of the happiest babies she has seen.

We took some family pictures after we got home from Court! This is on the side of our house.

Erik told Alex to give Kayla a hug. . . .and so he did! The funny thing is, Kayla loved every second!

THis was taken in the court room right after the proceedure!

L to R~ Audrey (grandma), Erik, Alex, Michael McNabb (Lawyer), Kristina, Kayla, The Judge, and Whitney!

Today was such a special day for our family! It is a relief to have the legal side our adoption complete. I never really worry that anything will happen but it nice to have it done. Today Kayla is officially Kayla Louise Peterson! Now we wait for the paperwork to come back and then we can have her blessed and sealed to us! Time to shope for a white dress! YAY! We love you Kayla and we are glad you came to our home to be a part of our family!

3 on 3 volleyball tournament!

2009-07-14T12:36:00.000-07:00

Well this is the biggest grass tournament in the USA. . . I think! That is what I heard anyway. There were nearly 200 nets set up. We didnt play as well as I would have liked, but now I know what to expect I am ready for next year. Erik and I are already planning the trip for next year and how to make it better.

We got to Wisconsin Dells on Thursday and played at the waterpark. . . we played Friday too! Then Saturday we played volleyball all day! That is pretty much all you are getting out of me for this one! LOL

4th of July!

2009-07-04T21:58:00.001-07:00

Selah is such a doll!
Jared and Porter in front of this old garage/barn. I don't know what it is but Jared thought it would be cool to get a picture.

Sack race in the park after the parade!

Porter in the sack race!

Alex did really good until he saw everyone had finished and then he fell. I tried to pick him up and help him finish but he was done. He was so tired!

Alex is the little guy lined up with all the big kids.

He was so excited to race!

Whitney and Kayla! Best Buds!

Erik, Kristina, Alex, and Kayla

I think Alex was upset because Porter and Selah picked up the last 2 pieces of candy that were thrown! It is amazing the way a 3 year old thinks!(the end of the world)

Fire trucks and police cars are being really loud! Alex cried once because one of the fire trucks honked his horn and startled him. It was endearing!

Jared, Tia, Selah, and Porter

Princess Selah

The fire trucks got pretty loud!

My little sweet angel!

I love this girl!

Tia and Selah

Watching the Parade!

Tia, Me, and Whitney!

Getting ready to pose but Tia had some parenting to do before we posed!

I guess this is just a random shot of everyone waiting for the parade!

Porter and Selah!

They are so cute!

Alex chomping on his candy!

Tia and Jared drove all night and got here at 4 a.m. on the 4th. We got up and got ready and went to the 4th of July parade in Afton. . .Minnesota. (that was for all you Idahoans and Wyoming People) It was such a fun day. The kids had a great time. We decided instead of leaving quickly we would hang out in the park and let the kids play. We all had something to eat (hot dogs, brats, chicken, egg rolls and rice), the park had several stands to choose from. They had bobbing for apples and sack races for the kids. Then we walked back to our cars which I forgot to mention were parked at least a mile away. Then we went home and relaxed. Erik and Jared got stuff to BBQ, so we BBQued later in the afternoon. We left at about 9ish to go watch the fireworks. Then we all came home and crashed. It was a fun filled day with good company and good food. . . what more can you ask for!

THE FATHERS DAY QUILT!

2009-06-26T21:07:00.000-07:00

I took these with my phone because I couldn't find the camera.

There is a reason that I am blogging this quilt. I have been working on it for over 8 years. I bought the colored squares at deseret industries over 8 years ago with the intention of making a quilt. It didn't happen. For the past 5 years or so I have been collecting Erik's work Jeans as he threw them away. I would wash them and the cut them into squares. Finally I had a enough to make a quilt. I sewed up all the squares about a month or so ago and then I had to decide who to give the quilt to. I decided that this would be the perfect Fathers day present. Erik gave me a hard time because the last quilt I made I gave it away. He doesn't like to see all that hard work go away I guess. So then I just needed to buy the backing and the batting. I went to the store hoping to find a good deal on the backing. I found a light weight corduroy for $2.00 a yard. I thought. . .that isn't too bad I will take it if there is enough. I needed at least 8 yards. Well the lady measured it out and it was exactly 8 yards. $16.00 was pretty good. Well when she ran through the scanner it was 1/2 off. . .so I got it for $1.00 a yard. It was the exact measurement at the perfect price. I had a few days to make the quilt and I decided I was going to use my fancy sewing machine to bind it instead of tying it. . . .big mistake. I got it all done and then I sewed up all the edges. I HATED IT! I couldn't give Erik this gift and I certainly didn't want to claim that I had done it. . . so guess what I did. . . .I unstitched the entire thing and started over. I had to go to Home Depot and get 4 boards so I could tie the quilt. Lucky for me my cousin Whitney was here and her grandma who is my aunt taught us both how to sew. I think Whits mom taught her some and my mom taught me some. Point being she knew how to tie a quilt. So we got to work. Well when we finally met in the middle I realized she had doubled the yarn and I had not. Oh . . . my. . . heck! Can't I do anything right with this quilt. So I undid all of my half and redid it. Well tonight I finished the edging and decided to take a picture of the finished product. This thing is huge. It is bigger than a King. Just slightly though! If I would have done it right the first time then it would have been done days ago. . .but I didn't. When I get in a hurry, I get flustered and can't think straight. I am so glad Whit was here to help me figure it out. I hope Erik likes it. I figure it will make the perfect drive in movie quilt, or camping, or hang out side with the kids on the lawn, or just put on the bed in the middle of winter. It is heavy and warm. It reminds me of my dads Levi quilt that my mom made for him. I loved that quilt. . .it was and still remains one of my favorites.

Reorganizing by princess Kayla!

2009-06-22T14:52:00.000-07:00

Kayla has figured out how to open drawers. . . and this is what happens when she opens them. I guess she doesn't like how I have things!

She is busy deciding where to put the dish towels. . . . hmmmm. . .the floor looks nice!

She is reorganizing her closet. She pulled everything out of the box and put it on the floor. We couldn't get her attention she was so busy.

If of course could not pick so I uploaded all the videos. She is so funny and full of so much personality!

I took the crawling videos about a month and a half ago. Uploading them takes forever so that is why I am so far behind. She was just so dang cute so I had to add both.

Kayla is 10 months!

2009-06-13T00:53:00.000-07:00

I had pictures and videos uploaded and the my computer decided to freeze! So I am going to just talk about miss Kayla. I will post the videos and pictures later!

Kayla turned 10 months yesterday! Wow! I can not believe it. These are some things she is doing right now.

1~She is crawling everywhere. . she figured out that she could climb the stairs on her own.

2~She pulls herself up on furniture and walks along it. Then she gets nervous because she hasnt figured out how to get down. . . so she yells for help until help arrives.

3~She is Grandma's girl! Most of the time if Grandma is around she doenst want "anybody" else! It is a very cute. . .I will reach for her and then she turns her head with the biggest smile and trie to climb up grandma's shoulder with her legs kicking a hundred miles an hour. Then she turns back towards me and I reach for her again. . . . we could play this game all day!

4~She is starting to copy a lot of different noises that me make. She says mama and dada!

5~She still has no teeth. . . not one! She has acted like she is teeting since 4 months. . . it is off and on. . . lots of drool, and gumming objects!

6~She eats everything we give her (maybe she will rub off on Alex). . . last week she decided she doesnt like the baby pureed food. She wants what we are eating, so I have been giving her small pieces of our food. She does really well with everything. She gums it just enough to be able to swallow it.

7~She is a people person. She hasnt really hit the "only want mommy or daddy phase" She will go to anyone! (unless grandma is around) Sometimes she will hear my voice and want to come back, but for the most part she is content with anyone willing to hold her.

8~She does not sleep through the night. . . well she did last night. . maybe she will tonight too. It is 3 a.m. and she is still sleeping. . .maybe we have fixed that problem. . .cross your fingers! (Alex woke up crying about an hour ago and I couldnt fall back to sleep) SO I am blogging!

9~She still hates the car. That has not changed since we brought her home. She cries almost everytime we go anywhere! I am hoping when we turn her around that she will be a happier, more content baby! 2 more months!

10~She adores her big brother Alex. He can make her laugh better then anyone! I love that they like each other so much. He is really good to her for the most part (except when she plays with his toys) I hope their relationship stays like this through the years!

So there are 10 things about the going on's of Kayla. One for each month of her little life!

Kayla is the most beautiful little girl in the whole world! (I may be biased but that is how I feel) We are so lucky to have her. I feel so lucky and blessed to have her in our lives. Kayla we love you and wish you a happy 10 months!

Alex's birthfamily!

2009-06-07T05:30:00.001-07:00

Alex's birth mom and biological brother and sister came and visited him last week. The pictures are all mixed up. For some reason they are not being loaded in the same order that I uploaded them.

We went to K-mart so they could get him a present. . . he got a tool kit set. He LOVES it! He has played with every day since he got it.

Here is his safety goggles They called him scuba Steve! LOL

Helping dad put the tool set together.

Posing with the box before we put it together. He was so excited to put it together.

Hanging on the trampoline

Miss Kayla being cute as always!

Stacey is behind Kayla. She is Alex's birth mom!

This is Regan and Christian. . . Alex's biological brother and sister. Regan is only 12 and Christian is about 14 or 15. It gives me an idea of how big Alex is going to be. He is going to be one big boy!. Christian is already 6' 2" and Regan is like 5'7" ish.

The stroller was meant for Kayla but Alex LOVED it and plays with it all the time. Good practice for being a good dad I guess. We put a stuffed animal in it for him to push around and care for.

I know some people find it strange that we have them come visit but it isn't strange to us. It is very comfortable and we figure how can a child be loved tooo much? They can't. They adore him and I love that. I also love that they adore our new addition Kayla! When they come I feel like our good friends are coming to see the kids. They don't step on any toes and they let us be mom and dad. The adoption world isn't what it was years ago. It is more common to have open adoptions. It is up to the birth family and the adoptive family to decide how open they want to be. I love Stacey! I met her long before she was pregnant with Alex. The way things worked out was not by mistake. . . the Lord played a big role in making it happen. I think about my life and the different things that have happened. When Erik said we were moving to Minnesota I was not happy! I was very irritated and angry! I went because it was what we needed to do to make a living. I was miserable for awhile because I didn't embrace the situation and jump in with a good attitude. As I adjusted I was learning to love it. Now if given the opportunity to move back I don't thing I would. I really have changed my attitude. Okay. . . so I have a point! Had we not moved to MN, I never would have met Stacey. . . .are you seeing where I am going with this! If I didn't meet Stacey she wound not have place Alex with us! Secondly if we were not in MN when Kayla's birth mom was looking to place she would not have selected us. She wanted someone from Minnesota. Looking back, I now know it wasn't by mistake that we moved here. It was inspiration. . . I am just glad Erik was open to listen to the inspiration while I was dragging my feet all the way to Minnesota. So if you want to think it is weird that we have visits from Alex's birth family that is your prerogative. What matters is how we feel and how Alex feels! I write this to try and help people understand that it is okay. I hear more and more about adoptions that are as open as ours. It is the new NORM!

KIDS!

2009-06-07T05:10:00.000-07:00

It is so hard to get a picture of Kayla smiling! I think her eyes are pretty sensitive to the light. Whether it is the flash of the camera or the natural light I get squinting or her eyes closed.
Alex on the Jumper! He calls the trampoline "the jumper"

Look mom, I found grass. (she eats it too) We were at the beach last week and she was eating sand. This girl puts EVERYTHING in her mouth.

So cool!

Lola was napping by the door so Alex went and layed down by her.

Just because!

2009-05-20T11:12:00.001-07:00

Erik brought home these flowers a couple of weeks ago just because. I love getting flowers when I dont expect them. Not that I ever have a day that I expect flowers. Normally guys pick a day such as mothers day or valentines day. . . my guy picks tues day, wednes day, or thurs day!

I posted my food, just because too! Actually for those of you who dont know I am not that keen on eating vegetables. Well last summer my girlfriend introduced me to this little meal and I am hooked it is so good. I know some people post recipes for desserts and things so here is my reciped for my favorite vegetable dish.

1st you put in a little olive oil in the bottom of a pan. Then you add some minced garlic and diced onions. While those are sauteing you cut up the other vegys of your choice. In this one I have asparagus, yellow squash, zuccinni, and spinach. After it is cooked to your liking you add a little cheese. I have used both cheddar and Feta. I prefer the Feta. Then after you are done you add some freshly diced tomatos. It is easy to make and very good! I hope you all get a chance to enjoy some thing that I have learned to LOVE!

Grandpa and Grandma P

2009-05-19T05:04:00.001-07:00

If you ever come to our house when Grandpa and Grandma are visiting, dont be surprised to see Grandma holding Kayla. When Kayla had learned to crawl Grandma hadn't seen it because she never put her down. I think she loves having a grand daughter. . .or a girl period for that matter. Her kids are all boys and her grand kids are all boys too. . . . until Kayla came along!

Grandma is getting a work out from Alex.

If Alex likes something he will say "again , again!" So Grandma was doing this over and over again. She is holding him and twisting from side to side.

Alex adores Grandpa. He adores both actually. He gets so excited to see them. His face lights up and he yells their names. Then he runs and gives them big hugs.

Alex was so excited to see Grandpa on this day that he just sat and chilled with him.

A big hug for Grandpa!

The Angry Indian!

2009-05-17T17:37:00.000-07:00

Alex got this cute outfit in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa Kasper. They are on a mission in India right now. So we got him already for church today and this is how he looked.

He wasnt too happy!

He didnt care much for the new outfit!

Okay, he hated it!

Sorry if this hurts your feelings grandma!

Trying to take it off!

Please MOM!

Get this thing off of me!

Needless to say we changed him after we were all ready for church. I think it scratched him a bit and he was irritated. So mom here are the pictures. . .this was the first time he wore and probably the last. I dont know if we will be able to convince him to put it on again. I told Erik before we change him we better get pictures. He did look cute but the yelling and crying was not fun.

Happy Mothers Day!

2009-05-09T20:01:00.000-07:00

Kayla is a mover and a grover! She is crawling in, and on everything and going anywhere and everywhere. She is so amazing and fun. Her smiles and giggles is what makes everything worth it. She learned to say mama this week. What a great mothers day present. Her first word was "mama" Kayla I love you!

Alex cracks me up every single day! This picture is a little of taste of why he cracks me up. We have been potty training and he is doing fabulous. I caught him using the toilet just like this. I dont have any idea where he learned it but I think he is hilarious! When he is not being a monkey then he sits on the toilet backwards. Silly boy!

I found some cute pictures on line for Mothers Day! Enjoy them all you mothers!

I have so many mothers in my life to be thankful for. I am thankful for both of my grandmothers, for without them my father and mother would not exist. Both women were great in there own way. I loved my grandma Fran for her spunkyness and crazy character. She was always fun to be around, so full of life. I loved my grandma Fay for every possible reason. She was the grandma we lived the closest to so we were able to see her more often. She could sing, act, and dance amazingly. I loved to watch her in the plays she did and I loved to visit her. I don't know why but lately I have been remembering her making me cheesers. (a slice of cheese on a piece of bread and then microwaved for about 20 seconds) as a kid I loved these. I miss both of my grandmothers a ton!

My mom has been such a blessing in my life. She has been a great supporter in everything I have done in my life. I remember her coming to all of our ball games and cheering us on. I also remember looking for her to make sure she was there and watching. I didn't realized how much I counted on her until she left for her mission to India. I didn't think it would affect me as much as the other kids because we live so far away and I don't see her that often anyway. I failed to remember that I use to talk to her on the phone nearly every day. I think I have been going through withdrawals not having her at my beckon call. She is the one I want to call when things are great and when things are not so great. I want to tell her first that we might be getting a baby, or that it didn't work out. I want to tell her what new things the kids are doing. I want to tell her when life is unfair. She always knew how to make me feel okay about things. Mom I miss you and wish I could still call you everyday. You are a mother to so many more now. The people in India love you and probably wont give you back.

Erik's mother Audrey has also been a great blessing in my life. She lives so close and has been very helpful to us. She loves our children so much and we love her too. It is nice to have a mother so close to talk to once in awhile. It really has helped fill the void of not having my own mother around. Erik and I love to get together with his parents to do things. Even if we are just hanging out at one of our homes and talking it is still nice just to be together. I don't think I would survive with out her. She is always willing to help us in any way. We love to go to dinner and road trips too. It is nice that they are willing to join us in our little adventures. Audrey thank you for all the help you give us. Thank you for the treatments and for loving our kids so much! They are lucky to have you as a grandma.

Now this is for 2 very important mothers in my life, for without them I would not be a mother. Alex and Kayla's birth mothers are both amazing women. I don't know how I got soooo lucky twice. (okay, maybe I do) The Lord knew what he was doing! To have the strength and courage to do what these 2 ladies did is amazing. They are both selfless to have given us these beautiful children. I feel like I am so lucky to have the children I do. They are both beautiful and amazing in their own ways. I use to be sad on mothers day, wondering if I would ever be a mother myself. That changed 3 years ago, and now I am a mother of 2. This will be my first Mothers day with 2 kids. I want to wish both of you a Happy Mothers Day! Know that these two babies are loved soooo much! I will always have a special place in my heart for both of you!

I feel so blessed to have so many mothers that have really made a difference in my life. My grandmothers were amazing and very much needed. Because of my wonderful mother I am here today, and because of Erik's mother he is here. You get the picture right. Our children's birth mothers have made the biggest difference in my life. I love my kids more then anything in the world and cant imagine our lives without them.

I want to wish all the mothers out there a Happy Mothers Day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX!

2009-05-07T08:14:00.001-07:00

Alex turned 3 on the 5th of May. Yes he is my Cinco day Mayo baby. We had other things going on so we celebrated on the 6th. Actually we started celebrating the 5th and it is still a party over here. LOL

He is learning the best techniques to opening birthday presents. I think he has it mastered!

Notice there is still 1 candle lit. He hasn't figured out that making the "f" sound doesn't blow out candles. I was trying to teach him to make an "o" shape and blow. Needless to say we had A LOT of spit hit the cake. We all got a good laugh!

The kids jumped on the trampoline before we went in and opened presents and had cake.

This is as creative as I got this year. I did not make the cake this year. I am a slacker I know. But it was so easy to buy this delicious chocolate cake and then decorate it with sprinkles and cars. Alex LOVED it. . . . and that is all that matters!

This year we got Alex a sandbox with sand toys. He helped dad put the sand in (1 bag and then he was playing in it) and then he was there until everyone else showed up. The party was last night and this morning the first thing he wanted to do was play in the sand. It has been almost 2 hours and he is still playing. It is the best investment yet.

So people that came to see Alex were. . . Grandpa and Grandma Peterson. They came earlier and gave him a present. 3 cookies for his 3 years and a cool t-shirt. He is wearing his new shirt at the party. Grandma helped me with Kayla while I got things ready for the party. Thanks grandma for all the help and the advice. . .even if I didn't use your advice it was fun to talk to you. (you know me. . . I am determined to do it my way, although I did do the cake a little different then I thought I would) HA HA HA!!!! Thanks a million!

Nate and Darlene came with their two boys and Dean and Christy came with their 2 girls. Dan came with his daughter Alayna. Dan's wife Christy had to work. Alex is always asking to play with Jackson or Olivia! He asks for Max on occassion and even Ava who is younger then Kayla. Thank you so much for the gifts everyone.

So overall it was a great day. Christy gave us a DVD of Alex when he was 1 day old. I haven't seen it since we filmed it. We used their video camera before we got our own. It was amazing to watch that first day. We have footage of us driving to the hospital with my mom, and the of Stacey in the hospital room. Then a little bit of his first few weeks. It is amazing that he is 3 years old now. Where has the time gone.

Alex. . . we love you so much and we are grateful you are a part of our family! You are a perfect fit for us. You are the best little boy in the whole world and we wouldn't survive without you. You have a fun loving spirit, and a personality that draws everyone to you. Thanks you for being you. Happy birthday big guy!

A WIG FOR HANNAH!

2009-04-28T15:49:00.000-07:00

My brother in law wrote this on their blog so I copied and pasted it to mine. I thought it would be a good way to get this message around. So we are raising money for a wig, but we will see what the Porters would like to do. I have not found a place that is cheaper then $2-$3000 so we are still reasearching. If she can buy a wig that is not my hair, cheaper, that would be the better way to go. The money we raise will all go to the Porter Family, I am sure they have plenty bills and would be greatful for any help they can get. Read the paragraph below so you know what I am talking about.

The girl we are raising money for is only 16 years old. She has Lymphoma and has 2 years of Chemo ahead of her. She has a synthetic wig but it can not be styled. She would love a real one and that is where this whole thing started. If any of you know where a wig could be made cheaper, please let us know. If you are great at navigating a computer then please consider helping us research and finding a better deal.

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WRITTEN BY MY BROTHER IN LAW!!! (below)

We are trying to raise money for Hannah Porter. She is the granddaughter to Peggy Egbert, who has kept Pierre's Playhouse in Victor, Idaho, running for, well i don't know how long, but a long time. Hannah has cancer and is going through Chemotherapy. She has lost her hair and Kristina has willingly and lovingly stated that she will cut her hair off to make a wig for Hannah, because non real haired wigs just can't style, so I hear. But making the wig costs somewhere between two and three thousand dollars. So I decided to jump in and raise money. We have raised close to $400 so far, but obviously that is not enough. IF ANYBODY actually reads our blog, please donate, if you have not already, and tell your friends and family. E-mail me at kellysnead2002@yahoo.com with your pledge amount. I will then add you to an email list and update you on the progress and when it comes time I will alert everyone as to how to get the money to me. PLEASE HELP!!! Here is a website about Hannah, check it out, and please donate. THANK YOU! Remember to tell your friends, family, and neighbors too.www.caringbridge.org/visit/hannahporter

We know times are hard for everyone but every penny will help. Even if it is a small amount please consider helping.

EASTER FUN!

2009-04-15T08:22:00.002-07:00

We are sooooo behind on blogging pictures so I created several slide shows. There is tons of Easter pictures because we had 3 Easter egg hunts. The first one was with our friends from when we lived in Farmington. We met them at 11 on Saturday for a picnic, Easter games, and an Easter egg hunt. It was really fun to see our friends and let Alex run around with the other kids. The second hunt was Sunday morning. It was more intimate and probably one of my favorites. We had Erik's parents come over and we had a hunt just with Alex. He found a basket full of goodies and several Easter eggs. Then I made a yummy breakfast for all of us. Larrie and Audrey stuck around for awhile and then they had to leave to another Easter event. So we put the kids down for a nap. Then we went to our friends Rand and Victoria's for Easter dinner. They had yet another Easter egg hunt. There were several kids and they hid over 120 eggs. Alex is going to think Easter is better then Christmas at this point. We had a great Easter weekend, and why wouldn't we, we were able to spend it with a lot of great people.

There is a slide show of random photos ,and then 1 of Kayla eating and taking a bath. I also have one of the first time we took Alex bowling. He loved bowling. Some times I wondered if the ball would make it down the alley but he had a great time and that is all that matters. We went bowling with a bunch of moms from church and their kids. Alex didn't like taking turns. He was easily distracted.

I think that pretty much covers it. I couldn't leave any pictures out so you get them all! ENJOY!

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Volleyball

2009-04-15T06:35:00.001-07:00

This winter I played in several Volleyball tournaments. It really helped the winter go by fast. We have our last tournament this weekend. I have had a lot of fun getting to know new girls and playing one of my favorite sports. It has been a nice way to get a break from everyday life. These area couple of pictures from the Duluth tournament. We ended up getting 3rd out of 20 teams. Not to bad. My husband and his parents came with us for the weekend. It was fun to have them all there watching. I love a good cheering section and they did a fabulous job!

This is me serving!

I actually got this block.

White Water Rafting 2007!

2009-03-31T10:51:00.001-07:00

These are out of order a little bit but you can see what is going on. I believe this was 2 summers ago. Summer of 07. My friend finally sent these to me. . . I have been asking for these pictures off and on for the last year. So on this particular raft trip we had about a dozen of us in the raft. I did not know everyone. My sister and a couple of our friends were on board. The newbies did not know what they were doing. We told them that we had to paddle through the big rapids or we would flip. . . did they listen. . . NO! So what happened. . . we flipped the raft. It was an exciting trip to say the least. I have done this hundreds of times so I had no fear. . . we did have couple of rookies that were a little scared. Overall it was a great day. This is one of the reasons I have to get out to Idaho/Wyoming each summer. The sad thing is, we probably won't make it out there this year.

Flipping. . .

Just before we flipped!

before the flip. . .

Whoa these are way out of order. . .

flipping. . .

lots of flipping. . .

right before the flip. . .

flipping. . .

flipped!!! Its about time!

Where did everyone go?

Some were a little nervous here . . .

There we all are!

Counting heads!

Who is missing?

Looks like everyone is here.

That was awesome!

Where are all the paddles?

The paddle is your ticket back into the raft. Before we leave we tell everyone that if you fall out the only way back in is with the paddle.

We are holding paddles up and counting!