Our 2015

What a great year this has been for our family! Its hard to believe that last January we started out as a family of three and now have four. Someday we will be grown up enough to mail out a Christmas card and newsletter, but for now this post will fill you in on how our year went. 

In January we spent a lot of time at home while Jason started another semester of school. I was pretty far along in my pregnancy and suffered from some pretty intense pain due to a separated pelvic bone. (Sounds fun right...?) Walking around wasn't much fun, so I spent a lot of time at home with our goofball Marley. Around this time was when she really started to get into the alphabet and numbers, and she started talking A LOT.

The big event in February was Marley's birthday! Our sweet girl turned two, and had a lot of fun opening presents and spending the day with family. By this point, Marley had learned the entire alphabet and could count to 10. 

March was a pretty big month for us. Our sweet Mackenzie Alice was born and changed our lives for the better. Read her birth story post HERE. 

So much happened in March, it deserved double the pictures! Marley wasn't too sure at first about this little baby, but she warmed up to Kenzie pretty quick. The rest of the month was one big sleep-deprived blur.

April was also very sleep deprived, mostly because we didn't realize Kenzie had reflux. Most of that month was spent at home with the kids, while Jason tried to keep up with school. During April we were able to find a bigger apartment and spent lots of time packing to be ready to move at the end of the month. 

May was spent unpacking at our new apartment, and also enjoying our awesome front yard. We moved into our new place on the first Saturday of the month and it has been so great! The new apartment has a lot more space, and air conditioner, and lots of great neighbors. Marley loves that her little bestie from church lives right across the street! 

In June we blessed Kenzie and my family came out for a fun visit. Marley had fun playing with her cousins, and Kenzie loved the attention too. We mostly loved getting to spend our first summer in a LONG time in an air conditioned house. 

We had a lot of fun in July! Marley really loved everything about the 4th. At first she was a little freaked out by fireworks, but then she warmed up to them and had the best day spending time with family. During that month Kenzie also learned to roll over! 

Later in July we spent Pioneer Day with my sisters and their families. The kids played in the pool and we shot off fireworks.It was such a fun day!

August was a pretty quiet month. We spent a lot of time at home, and Jason started another semester of school. The girls loved getting to spend time outside, and we watched a lot of Giants baseball.

In September Kenzie tried baby food, and we realized that she will eat ANYTHING. She loved trying all kinds of fruits and veggies! Marley loved helping us pick foods from the garden, and was very excited about the 2 strawberries we grew. 

October was a busy, fun month. I got to see Idina Menzel live in concert, and we had lots of fall fun. We took the girls to a few pumpkin patches, parties, and went trick or treating with cousins. 

The best part about October was getting to go visit family in California. Jason had a week off from school and so we drove for an ETERNITY with the girls to visit my parents and little brother, and also Jason's brother and sister. We had the best time, and the girls did really great. 

In November Kenzie started to sit up by herself, and scoot around but not crawl yet. Marley started to write letters by herself and would do them any chance she got. We had a great Thanksgiving with family, and were very grateful for no snow yet.

December was a fun month, and it flew by! Marley was VERY excited about all things Christmas. She loved having a tree, making snow angels, and opening presents. Kenzie learned how to crawl, and kept us on our toes! We had a lot of fun visiting with family over the holidays and are quite exhausted from all the fun.

We can't wait to see what 2016 brings for us. The best part about the coming year is that Jason will be graduating!!!!! He will walk in the spring, but officially be done next December. We've also got some birthdays coming up for both our sweet girls. Stay tuned here on the blog to see what adventures are to come... 

Christmas Week

Christmas is always a busy time for us, but this year it was even better because my family came to visit from California. They've never been here on Christmas, so it was an awesome treat. They got here the Sunday before Christmas, so we had a week of crazy, busy fun times together. 

On Monday we spent the day in Spanish Fork and decorated Christmas cookies. That is a family tradition that I LOVE. Marley loved it too, I'm pretty sure she ate her weight in sprinkles. That was also the day that my sister found out that she is having a GIRL! We are so excited for the new addition to our family. 

Tuesday the weather was really bad, so we didn't do too much with family. I took Kenzie to the doctor for her 9 month check up and then finished wrapping presents.

Wednesday we drove up north to visit my Aunt Bonnie who lives near Ogden. It was great to see her and my cousins too. After that my parents went back to Spanish Fork, and I took the girls back home. Later that night Jason's family came over and we got to see his brother Mason. Mason lives in California too, so it was great to visit with him!

Thursday was Christmas Eve, and we spent the day in Cedar Hills with Jason's immediate family. His sister Heather had flown in the night before, and it was so fun getting to see her! We spent the day visiting, opening presents, and playing games. We played the game "Heads Up" and it was SO FUN! Things got crazy. 

For Christmas Day on Friday we woke up to TONS of snow, and spent the morning at home with just our little family. Kenzie woke up first and then Marley woke up later around 8, and we opened presents. Marley was very excited about the whole thing, she's woken up thinking its Christmas for like the last two weeks. 

After we finished up presents, had breakfast, and Kenzie had a nap we loaded up the car and drove to Spanish Fork. We spent the rest of the day at my sisters house visiting with my immediate family. We had yummy party food for lunch, played games, opened presents, watched some basketball, and then had a delicious ham for dinner. 

I got my niece the game "Pie Face" for Christmas, and we played it after dinner. That was the funniest thing ever!! There were four of us playing, and my niece got hit in the face on EVERY single turn she took. Its completely at random, so it was crazy that she had that happen. And oddly enough, I went the entire game without it happening to me. She was a good sport, and at the very end I pied myself just for fun. We all had some good laughs! 

Saturday, the day after Christmas we went to Temple Square to see the lights with my entire family. We went right when they were turned on and it was barely dark, but it was still freezing! I felt so bad for Kenzie, she was bundled up but still looked like "What did you bring me here for!?" Once we were done, everyone went to Denny's for dinner. 

My parents and brother stayed with us Saturday night, and then left early the next morning to drive back to California. We had such a fun visit with them, and Kenzie is sure missing all the extra attention. 

Christmas week was crazy busy, and exhausting but it was great to be with family! I love my family so much, and my in-laws too. I lucked out in that department. We are so grateful for the gifts we received, and for the opportunity to celebrate the birth of Christ. 

I hope you all had a great holiday season! Now its time to get back to our normal routine, and baby proof this house. Kenzie is crawling like crazy!  

Mackenzie: 9 Month Update

Well, 9 months have flown by! Our sweet little babe has grown up and changed so much in just the last month. Kenzie is on the move!! She has finally figured out how to crawl, and is starting to get pretty fast. 

Kenzie has been scooting around for a long time, but just couldn't seem to get the motion of crawling down. On the 13th we saw her move a little bit and then the next day she wouldn't stop! Its exciting, but now she's keeping me on my toes and annoying her sister by getting into everything. 

Kenzie had her 9 month check up today and she weighs 22 pounds, 6 ounces and is 29.25 inches long. That's 95th percentile for both! Santa might be bringing her a new car seat, she is getting too heavy to carry around. 

Kenzie has also mastered sitting up by herself, and only falls over a few times a day. Most of the time its because she's reaching for something she really wants and kind of forgets what her body is doing. I also saw her a few days ago sit herself up from the crawling position! 

Here's how other things are going...

Mackenzie Likes

Playing with toys

Crawling 

Crashing around in the walker

Squealing VERY loudly (usually along with her sister)

Getting into Marley's toys, especially the legos

Backing herself into a corner/getting her feet stuck under the couch

Going shopping

Daddy...total Daddy's girl!

Waking up early and talking to herself

All forms of baby food

Curious George

Pooping up the back of her diaper

Splashing in the tub with her sister

Mackenzie Doesn't Like

Noticing that you left the room

When her shirt gets wet (If only she would stop drooling)

Sitting in a poopy diaper

Stopping playtime for things like naps...she will hang on to the bitter end and basically fall asleep sitting up.

The bibs we use when feeding her in the high chair. (She literally cringes when she sees it coming)
Sitting still during a bottle if her sister is around

When she accidentally rolls onto her back while playing

Another new development is that Kenzie's hair has gotten SUPER curly! Its been growing like crazy, and especially after bath time she has the cutest little ringlets. Jason's cousin has a little girl with cute curls too and I asked her at Thanksgiving if her daughter's hair looked like that as a baby. She said it wasn't as curly, so I'm super excited to see if Kenzie keeps the curl as her hair gets longer. 

This girl is just the best. Every day she brings a smile to my face, and I just love everything about her. She has the sweetest disposition and is just joy to have in our home. Can't wait for Kenzie to experience her first Christmas! 

Outtakes from trying to take pictures today...

The Toddler Bed

A couple of weeks ago, we finally got Marley a toddler bed. She probably would have been cool with sleeping in the crib for a lot longer, but Kenzie is about to outgrow the pack-n-play.... 

Over Thanksgiving break, Jason had time to help me put it together and then the adventure began. We moved the baby monitor back into Marley's room, so we could watch her and make sure she stayed in bed. 

For our first attempt, I wanted her to try sleeping in the bed for naptime so she could have light to see the room. She's a pretty wild sleeper, so that helped her not fall out of bed, and she didn't mind being in a new spot. 

That first time she did really well. I watched her on the monitor, and she stayed in bed and fell asleep after not too long. Later that night she lasted 10 minutes and then started crying. I went in and tried to comfort her, but she really didn't want to stay in the bed and asked to sleep in the crib. 

After that, Marley did fine and only ended up sleeping in the crib one more time (and that was because I think she had a bad dream and woke up inconsolably crying). 

(asleep underneath her pillow. Silly Kid!)

Then we experienced all the standard toddler behavior. She tried to open the door a few times, and eventually succeeded. Luckily that was when we were still awake, and there is now a toddler lock on the inside of her door. 

Marley also ended up falling asleep on the floor a lot. I decided that I wasn't going to go into her room if I couldn't see her in bed on the monitor. As long as she wasn't crying or messing around, I let her be. She doesn't do it as much anymore, and I think she was just exploring her room. There are zero things to play with in there, so she found out its pretty boring and the bed is more comfortable. 

I can tell she really loves her bed now, and she likes having more room to spread out. Our favorite thing to do is look on the monitor to see how she fell asleep. Its always hilarious! 

Next step is to get Kenzie sleeping in the crib and have these girls sharing a room. I'm super nervous, because Marley takes awhile to fall asleep and usually ends up singing songs or talking to herself. And Kenzie kicks her legs really loudly when she's in bed, so they will definitely need to get used to each other. 

Anytime you change your kids routine the first couple days are always rough, but one thing we have going for us is that both girls love their nighttime sleep. I need to just suck it up and do it. I think I'll wait till Jason is done with finals this week and maybe give it a try. 

Wish me luck!!  

Thanksgiving 2015

We were able to have a great Thanksgiving last month. Now that the dust has settled, I can sit down to blog about it! 

The best part about the holiday is that we got to have Jason home with us for 4 straight days. School and work keep him very busy, so that was a treat. We spent Thursday morning getting together all the food we were responsible for bringing. 

Jason made cranberry relish and I worked on green bean casserole and chex mix. When everything was finally ready, we loaded up the car and drove to his parents house in Cedar Hills. 

We had a fun day visiting with my Mother-in-law's side of the family. Marley had fun playing all around the house, and Kenzie loved soaking in all the attention. Whenever she is in a busy place, she never gets grumpy. 

One thing really I love, is that Kenzie can take a nap anywhere. After awhile I figured she was tired so I camped out in grandpa's layzboy and she just closed her eyes and fell asleep. 

She did that again a few hours later when she was snuggling in the same spot with Grandpa. We love our snuggly girl!

We stayed for awhile after everyone else left so that Marley could spend extra time with her Grandparents and Auntie Heidi. She loves them very much! We didn't make it home till after 10, but it was worth it to have such a fun day with family.

Two days later we spent Saturday with my family that is here in Utah. We got together at my sister's house in Spanish Fork and had a delicious dinner! It was fun getting to visit with my sisters and cousin Catherine, and all the cousins had so much fun playing. 

We had a very busy holiday, but we are so grateful to live close to family. Growing up, I always spent the holidays with Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins so I'm glad my kids get to do the same. 

We have been blessed beyond measure this year, and I know that it all comes from a loving Heavenly Father. I am especially grateful for my sweet little eternal family. They are my whole world, and I love them all so much. 

Marley Stories: November

Here are some of the funny things Marley did over the last month...

*This is for people who have seen Curious George*
The other day I was feeding Kenzie in the living room and Marley was being suspiciously quiet while playing in her bedroom. She came into the living room to get something and quickly ran back to what she was doing. So I yelled after her, "Be a good little monkey!" and She replied in a monkey voice just like George does in the show! It cracked me up.

Marley's latest obsession is twirling. She spins around like crazy, and then falls over. Only thing is, she says she is "making busy" instead of getting dizzy.

Conversation while watching Survivor:
Me: "Look Marley, they're on the beach!
Marley: "I go to beach too. I get my shoes!" And then she runs out of the room. 

Marley has a bunch of Little People Disney princess toys. She only knows the names of a few and the other day she was playing with the little mermaid one, and asked me what her name was. I told her that it was "Princess Ariel." Maybe 10 minutes later I hear her playing and she grabs the mermaid and says "Princess Ariel." Then she grabs a duplo lego guy and says "Princess Daddy.

Right now Marley loves to pretend she is going places. She tells me she's going to school, or to church, or to Grandma's house. The other day she told me she was going to the beach, and I jokingly told her not to forget sunscreen. To which she exclaimed excitedly, "ICE CREAM?!?!"

Sometimes to help Marley eat faster, I do the "train goes in the tunnel" bit that parents have been doing since the beginning of time. Since she is obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine right now, Marley picks a train by name, and that's the one that "goes in the tunnel." Well the other day we were doing this, and then randomly Marley looked at me very seriously and said "Pop-um hat is cross!" If you've ever watched that show, you know what she's talking about. 

This kid has the craziest memory. "Out of sight, out of mind" does NOT work with her anymore. It has been over a month since we saw Uncle Nathan perform with his high school marching band, and the other day Marley was marching around the house. That's pretty normal for a kid to march around, but then she looks at me and goes, "I go march with Nathan!"

Also, it has been MONTHS since Marley has jumped on the trampoline at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Whenever we go visit them in Cedar Hills, Marley jumps on the trampoline with Auntie Heidi. The other day one of Marley's shows was talking about trampolines so she turns to me and says,"I jump on trampoline. I go play Heidi."

AND, Marley was watching a Halloween episode of Word World where they were trick or treating and she said, "I go trick or treating. I go to Jackson's house. (We went trick or treating with her cousin Jackson at their house on Halloween.) 

Her memory is a lot better than mine these days!  

I was holding Kenzie and after I noticed her second tooth poking through I said, "That's why you were such a punk last night!" And Marley chimes in, "She's not a punkin! She's a little girl!" 

Mackenzie: 8 Month Update

Mackenzie is 8 months old. It just hit me, that she is really close to turning 1! The next 4 months are going to fly by, and I wish time would slow down. 

This girl is such a joy to have in our home. She lights up whenever you look at her, and her smile is contagious. Kenzie is so easy-going, and always so happy. She's almost too happy...especially at 6 am when she decides its time to play. 

We have gotten in a good routine with solid foods, and Kenzie has eaten everything we've given to her. Marley was SUPER tough, and gagged all the time when we tried to feed her, so its nice that Kenzie is doing so well. If she would just get some more teeth, we could try even more things. 

Speaking of teeth, right now Kenzie just has one. Its cute when she smiles, and flashes her one little tooth! Its on the bottom, and the second one should come in any day now. 

She is SO close to crawling. Right now she kind of lunges and has started digging her toes into the carpet to push herself. All she's missing, is putting the motions together. 

Here's how other things are going right now...

Mackenzie likes

Waking up early

Kicking her feet VERY loudly in the crib

Scooting/pivoting around on the floor

Sitting up in the boppy and playing with toys

Sesame Street

Curious George

Going backwards in the walker

Falling asleep when daddy holds her

Ripping her bibs off and playing with them

Putting herself to sleep

Going shopping

Giggling at her sister

Spitting up in the carseat

Being outside, even though its cold

Mackenzie Doesn't Like

Homemade baby food  

Her shirt being covered in drool

Eye drops (She had an eye infection last week)

When Mommy takes too long to make a bottle

Sitting still while getting dressed

We're so excited to share the upcoming holiday season with our sweet girl! It will be fun picking out her Christmas stocking, and taking her to see the temple lights.

Kenzie will totally enjoy getting to visit with our families next week, and getting lots of attention. She will have a great first Thanksgiving, and we're thankful she's part of our family. 

Its hard to believe that at this time last year, she was still in my tummy and things were very different. Being a family of 4 now is so much fun!

Kenzie's First Halloween

Our sweet little Kenzie had a great first Halloween! We went to a church party the week before, and she looked so cute in her costume. The fangs on her bat costume drove her a little crazy, because they were right at eye level. 

Marley also had a super cute costume. She went as a witch, a "candy corn" witch to be exact.

It was very hard to get her to stand still for a good picture.

The day of Halloween we drove down to Spanish Fork so the girls could trick or treat with their cousins. We went out in my sisters new neighborhood, and it was really nice. It wasn't super busy, and the kids had a great time (once the toddlers stopped freaking out and realized what was going on).

After the ward party, I kind of realized that Kenzie's costume wasn't very girly. A lot of people thought she was a boy while we were trick or treating. After awhile I started joking that "Kenzie went as a boy" for Halloween, because on top of her costume not being girly she was also riding in my nephew's blue stroller and wore his blanket once she fell asleep. It didn't bother me though, she was the cutest little bat there ever was! 

We headed back to my sisters house and let the kids play and burn off some energy. They sure have lots of fun when we all get together! 

Kenzie woke up and tried to sneak some of her sisters candy. 

Marley Stories: October

Another month has gone by with our silly toddler! Here are some funny things that happened over the last month... 

I noticed a spider on the wall the other day, and asked Jason to kill it. Mr. Spider decided to camp out on one of our picture frames, so Jason took the whole frame outside and avoid spider guts everywhere. When he came back inside, Marley pumped her fists in the air and said, "We did it!!" 

Early one morning, Kenzie was playing on the floor in the living room while I got Marley out of bed and changed her diaper. Then Kenzie made some noises and this conversation followed...

 Marley: "Listen. I hear Kenzie."

Me: "I hear Kenzie too."

Marley (sighs): "Yeah, She's crazy." 

We try to skype with my parents once a week, and Marley LOVES it. I turned on my laptop the other day to work on something and Marley walks up, furrows her brow, and asks: "Where's Grandma? And Papa?"

I finished putting some butt paste on Marley during a diaper change and she goes, "All better! Thanks Mommy." 

I was in the other room when I heard Marley say "Try this Kenzie, it's yummy!" I run in, thinking I'm going to find Marley shoving cereal in Kenzie's mouth. Instead I find Marley giving her sister a Lego ice cream cone.  

Early one morning, I carried Kenzie into Marley's room to change her diaper. (I already knew Marley was awake, because I had heard her talking.) After I changed Kenzie's diaper, Marley asked if Kenzie could come sit on her bed. So I laid Kenzie on her tummy inside the crib and left to get my camera. As I was walking back I heard Marley say, "Here Kenzie. Try this bear." (And then she handed Kenzie her teddy bear.) Then she shoved a blanket in Kenzie's face and said "Try this blanket!" (See Photo Below)

While I don't really find this cute, it needs to be documented. We are in the heart of "terrible twos" and as a result, Marley is pretty whiny and defiant at times. When she doesn't want to do something she says "I'm not..." followed by what you're trying to get her to do. 
Examples: 
I'm not take a nap.
I'm not change a bum.
I'm not go inside.
I'm not pretzels.
I'm not George. (as in the monkey)
I'm not brush your teeth.
Etc. 

Marley is big on opposites. Mostly "fast" and "slow." Lately she has really started to hate it when I wipe her face after eating, so to make her not so mad I would whisper and say I was being soft. Then she would get a big grin on her face and whisper it back to me. Well one day after whispering "soft" to me she exclaimed "HOT!" I was confused, thinking to myself that wet wipes weren't hot. Then I realized that she thought the 
opposite of soft was "hot" aka "hard." 

One of Marley's favorite movies right now is Cars. We took it with us along the drive to California last month, and while she was watching it in the car I overheard something funny. During the beginning when Mater and Lightning are introducing themselves to each other, I heard her say "And I'm Marley!!" Silly kid. I've since noticed that she does this while watching any show where someone introduces themselves.