Life...

Well can I just start by saying LIFE IS TOO BUSY!! Between Chris's full-time school schedule and my full-time teaching schedule, we never seem to get a few spare minutes just to relax. Even our weekends are always jam packed with stuff we need to do and errands that need to be ran. What a crazy life we are living right now! But, I honestly wouldn't change a thing! :) We are doing what we need to be doing right now, and for the most part enjoying it! We are both happy and healthy. Our kids are both happy and healthy....I guess there isn't that much to complain about! Life is life and we are definitely living ours to the fullest right now!! :) I am thankful for life! (and I am thankful that Thanksgiving break is right around the corner!! =D)

Halloween 2010

We had such a FUN Halloween this year. My girls were "The Princess and The Frog." They were so cute. Kenna wouldn't be anything other than a princess, so we worked with it and made Sydney a frog! They were adorable. For school, I wanted to dress up in something easy so my mom made me a costume so I could be Little Red Riding Hood. Chris found this great "big bad wolf" costume to go along with me! It was so fun. Mckenna and I put fake Halloween finger nails on too. Mckenna picked out some for her princess costume. :) I was surprised they had some so small for her nails, but they did. I figured since it was for Halloween it would be fun. She loved them!! They were really cute too. (didn't last very long...but they were cute while they lasted!!)

We went trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. Kenna had a lot of fun. She got LOTS of candy. Chris was pretty thrilled about that. We carved pumpkins Friday night with my sister Sarah. Chris carved a transformers pumpkin, I did a Cinderella one (at Mckenna's request), and Sarah and Mckenna did a "cookie cutter" bat and star one together. I think they turned out really well. We had a lot of fun making them. I love Halloween!

Our Sydney Grace...

I don't know how Sydney is already 6 months old? Time sure does fly by these days! We took Sydney to the doctor for her 6 month check up last week and these were her stats:

• Weight: 13.3 lbs (5th percentile)
• Height: 25.5 in (8th percentile)

I guess she is a little on the petite side, (surprise, surprise) but we aren't complaining. :) She was healthy as can be. She is progressing very fast. She is already crawling and starting to pull herself up on things. She rolls over so fast and has very quick reflexes. She is actually smaller than Mckenna was at this age. Mckenna weighed 15 lbs at 6 months. I would have never guessed we could have a child smaller than Mckenna! =) I love my small girls!! I guess sometimes the best things really do come in small packages!

Some of the things we love about her at this age:

• Her smile!! She is always smiling and so happy! :)
  
• Her big, beautiful, blue eyes!
• Her hugs! She loves to give hugs...especially to her daddy! :)
• Her laugh! She loves to giggle! (especially at her sister!)
• She loves to eat baby food and sit in her high chair!
• She LOVES her big sister. She is always watching her very closely.
• She is a daddy's girl! She gets very excited whenever he is in the room and reaches for him!
  

We are very lucky to have Sydney in our family! She adds so much joy and excitement! I love the age she is at. She is learning so much and is genuinely so happy! We are having so much fun with her. Mckenna is a great big sister and loves to play with Sydney.

Everything else is going well for us. Chris is busy in school. He is half way done with this semester. He made it through midterms and is doing very well in school. I am busy at work. Teaching takes up more time than I really ever expected, but it is worth it. I love my jobs...both teaching and being a mom! Both of them take up all my time and then some!! :) Being a working mom is a full time, and most days an over time job! But, we are enjoying this phase of our lives. At times it is challenging, but together we are making it through it! :)

Family Pictures

On Sunday, Nicole and Toby were down to bless Taylee. It was a special day. We all were there together as a family. We took some family pictures that same day.

Mckenna is going to be 3 next week and Sydney is 5 months. They are growing up so fast! I wish they would slow the growing down, but they are at fun stages and Chris and I are loving being their parents. (Although...Mckenna is at that age where she just makes you want to....well, you know!!) But we love her and her adorable smile makes up for it!! Little Sydney is such a happy baby. She is ALWAYS smiling. She loves tummy time and rolls over all the time! She is such a joyful little baby!

We are doing very well. I have been working for almost a month now at Vista School. I really like it. I am enjoying teaching and I really like the people I get to work with. Chris is busy in school. He studies a lot and does his homework early! I'm so proud of him. =) He is turning into a great student!

My funny little girl...

Yesterday in church, the speaker was talking about being a good example. Mckenna heard him say the word "example." She turned to Chris and I and said, "I love samples! Costco has good samples!" =)

Oh my goodness! She always is saying things to make us laugh! But hey, at least she was trying to pay attention in Sacrament Meeting!!

I love my little 2 year old!!

The Blessing of a New Life...

So what a whirlwind our family has been in the past 4 months!! Lets see...just to start naming a few things we have experienced....

• Sydney was born April 7th =D
• Chris' work went crazy and offered him 2 options (April 8th): move to Reno, NV or Turlock, CA or lose his job. We went to Reno to check it out for a week (Chris + me + 2yr old Kenna + 2 week old Sydney = not a good choice!)
• Decided not to relocate and so Chris became jobless...
• Because Chris was jobless we were able to spend the summer camping and swimming and just playing together as a family =D What seemed to be a horrible thing, turned into a blessing for our family. We were able to spend more time together as family! (Chris has worked 6 days a week since we were married 4 years ago, so this was a HUGE and needed change!)
• Chris decided to go back to school. He starts back up at Dixie State this month. =) (another added blessing. He has not talked about going back to school for a long time. His job never allowed the time to even consider it!)
  
• I started looking for a job and was hired at Vista Charter School. (blessing....check :) I will be in a Kindergarten Class half day and then teaching extended homeroom for Math the other half of the day.
• I start officially teaching tomorrow! =) CRAZY, but I'm really excited. I love the people I am working with and feel so great about Chris watching the girls. If it was a sitter everyday or day care I would feel very differently! (another added blessing!)
  
• Chris is now the best "stay-at-home-daddy" around! =) Seriously, he cleans the house, takes the girls on walks, plays with them, and even does their hair!! (I'm still working on getting him to cook...but that will take some time ;D) I couldn't ask for a better husband! It works out perfect because he will take night classes and online classes and watch the girls during the day! (one more blessing...that we were able to work his schedule out to do so!)
  
• Our roles have switched places completely. I am working and he is the student and care-taker of the girls!
  
• Oh, and Sydney is 4 months old....how that happened so fast, I don't know!!! =)
  

It has been a crazy few months! I am excited for the new changes in our lives though. Everything has proved to me even more that we have a Heavenly Father who hears and answers our prayers. He is aware of our struggles and knows of the things we need in our lives. I am so grateful for that knowledge. It may be stressful at times, but I always have that faith that everything will work out. =)

Another tender blessing that recently happened to our family was with Chris' sweet sister Nicole. I feel that it was a blessing for Chris, as well as for everyone, for him to not have a job while she was so sick. We were able to be there for her, for her sweet baby Taylee, for Chris' parents, for her husband, and for everyone else. We didn't have obligations to anything other than our family while it was all happening. I felt that was such a sweet blessing. I saw and felt how important it was for Chris to be able to be with his family and with his little sister. I don't know how much of an impact we really did make, but I do know that my own personal testimony of the power of family was strengthened so much during those few short weeks. My testimony of the power of prayer and faith in our Savior was also strengthened so much.

The power of family, prayer, and faith is immeasurable and can honestly move mountains...or in our case, provide a healing miracle for a new mother! :) We love you Nicole and are so grateful for you in our lives!

Summer Happenings!

Our summer so far has been very eventful! We have loved spending so much time together as a family. We have been able to go camping, go swimming, have BBQs, go to parks, feed the ducks, go fishing, go on walks, and just have FUN together...whenever we want!! I count myself so lucky that we are able to spend this time together!

We went camping at Kolob Reservoir in June for 3 days. It was a blast! A lot of Chris' family members were able to come so that made it all the more fun. We were able to fish and boat too. Mckenna had so much fun with Chris' cousin's little girl, Allison. They became the best of friends while we were up there. They were seriously inseparable. It was so cute to watch them play and have so much fun. Little Sydney was such a good camper too. She stayed in the tent most of the time because of bugs and wind, but she loved it. She slept really well too and was just a great baby! She is so full of smiles! We just love her so much! Here is some of the pictures we took while up there! We can't wait to go back!!

Kolob Camping Trip June 2010

It is really hard to believe it is already July! The summer is already flying by. Today, Sydney is 3 months old! I can't believe that!! How did it happen? She is becoming such a cutie pie! She is so happy...ALL the time! She sleeps all night long and now shares a room with Mckenna. She no longer sleeps in our room in the bassinet, she is already in her own crib! =) She is growing up too fast! She loves to smile and recently started giggling. It is SOOOO cute! I had forgotten all of the simple joys that come from having a baby. I am slowly being reminded of them and I LOVE IT!! Sydney is such a special little girl and she adds so much joy to our home!

Our 4th of July was really fun. We spent the weekend with Chris' family swimming, BBQing, and of course enjoying fireworks! It was a lot of fun....just still hard to believe it is already July!

Tomorrow, July 8th, Chris and I will celebrate our 4 year anniversary! WOW...how did 4 years already go by?! It's hard to believe. We have had our shares of ups and downs over those 4 years too. (more ups than downs though ;D) I feel so blessed and lucky to have found Chris and to have him as mine for eternity! He is truly my best friend and I love him so much!

Happy Anniversary Chris! =)
I LOVE YOU!!