Halloween

This year we had a little halloween party at our house with all of our family. We had dinner then went trick or treating. Once again, we had a lot of fun!

Kaysia as Dorothy

Me and the kids, Kaysia wasn't happy if you can't tell.

The Chunky Monkey! Soooo DANG cute! (I am not sure why his eye looks funny in the pic though??

My and the monkey!

Kyson is 3!!

Kyson turned 3 on October 10th. I can't believe it!! He wanted a spiderman birthday so I went all out! When he woke up on this birthday the house was all decorated for his birhtday. We had all of our family here and had a blast.

And what would be a spiderman party without spidy himself?!




The cake I made (with a little help from my dad, the artist)






All the kiddos on my side of the family.

Growing so fast.....

Camden is such a sweet and happy baby. He brings so much joy in our family! It makes me so sad to see how fast he is growing, but very thankful that he is happy and healthy!



Playing in his jumper





Such a happy boy!!

Zoo Trip

We went to the zoo a few times this year. The kids really like to see all of the different animals.








Ice Cream break.....YUM!!




Camden just chillin.




Kaysia Posing....she is so silly!

The Duck Pond

We had a lot of fun this summer. It went by WAY too fast!! We found a really cool place to feed ducks. There are sooooo many of them. On this day we went through 4 loaves of bread in about 20 minutes. It is interesting, there are so many colors and sizes. I never knew ducks had personalities! Some were shy and some were pushy and bossy. Another duck would not eat the bread off the ground, he had to catch it in his mouth and then would wag his butt in grattitude! It was hilarious!
I can't wait until the spring so we can visit them often!



I love this picture of the odd ball duck in the middle of the group!




Kyson wasn't sure what to think of them all surrounding us.



Camden just sat in his stroller wondering what all the quacking was about.


This guy was eating the bread out of my hand, I couldn't feed him fast enough. I was afraid he was going to bite me! We had a lot of fun!

Love Since Birth.....

My good friend had a baby boy 2 months before I had Kaysia. Even though they live in another state, Kaysia still seems to have a connection with this little boy. We recently visited them and Kaysia had a secret to tell me. "I love Carter so much!", she told me. It is so cute to see them together.


Carter and Kaysia as chubby little babies

Kaysia going in for a wet kiss

Carter and Kaysia 2007



2008

Once again, the little love birds holding hands. AWWWW!

Deep in Thought

In the year 2007 I watched the American Idol Gives Back episode and forever have been changed. I don't know how many of you saw that one but it was heart wrenching for me to say the least. I always knew there were children in this world suffering, I guess I just never put actual faces to the situation until then. I was moved, I checked into adoption and I just really wanted to help more than the 25 bucks I donated. I have talked about adopting children from other countries ever since. (I don't think Jason understands how serious I really am when I talk about it). Anyway, then I met this lady yesterday. She is an amazing person and a great mother of two adopted boys, who can't have children of her own. I never asked her why she couldn't but from what I gathered, her eggs are fine and her husband can fertilize. She just had a failed attempt at envitro, the eggs were great, they just didn't survive in her. She was devistated. So here I am again, thinking "I could help this couple and be a surrogate mother." Once again another situation brought to me making my little brain think of how I can change the world for them. I think I could really do it, knowing I could give them their world almost effortlessly. (not that being pregnant is a walk in the park, but it really is nothing compared to what they have endured emotionally).

So the burning question is.......Will I change the life of a child somewhere out there and give them opportunity to live and thrive and be a part of a family? Will I take the gift of bearing children that God has given me, and give back to a deserving couple that would appreciate nothing more then to look into the eyes of child that was created from them? I really want to use this life that God has blessed me with and change the lives of even just the smallest number of people. Time will tell and God will lead me to do the things that I need
to do in this life.

Picture Day

I took the kids to get their pictures done earlier this week. It is hard work but it paid off! I bought the boys matching shirts when I was still pregnant with Camden intending on using them to get pictures done. He is growing so fast that he almost grew right out of it before we got the chance!! I love these pictures and I LOVE MY KIDS! They are a huge blessing in my life and I thank my Heavenly Father everyday for them!

Goodbye hair!

Kaysia's hair was sooooooo long! It was very difficult to take care of. She didn't like me to brush it and was very picky in how it was done. I HATED washing it! To add to the difficulty of her hair, she cannot stand being hot. So I had it WHACKED off! She looks adorable, and best of all she LOVES it and has made it very clear, she doesn't ever want long hair again. I almost cried when they took the 10 inches off, but I am so glad that I did it.

TWINS

I always wanted two girls I could dress the same. It never thought it would be just as much fun to do it with boys too!! Here they are just as cute as can be! I LOVE MY BOYS! (and my one and only princess too of course!)

Multi-tasking..

As some of you may know, my laundry room is on the main floor and all the bedrooms are upstairs. Well getting the laundry up and down the stairs with a newborn that demands to be held all the time has become quite the chore!! So now, I just lay him in the basket with the clothes. I am becoming a master at doing two things at once!! Not to mention the added weight going up and down the stairs might help with my baby fat!

Routine.......

Jason and I have moved EVERY year for the past 9 years, sometimes twice in one year. Finally I thought we have found a home and a neighborhood that I thought we would raise our kids and live in for the long haul. We originally made the move to Layton because Jason worked right down town and the commute was better than from South Jordan. We built our dream home, exactally how we wanted it and have been slowly making it OURS. We have painted walls, hung pictures and decorated. Something that we have NEVER done in the 3 other homes we have owned. I have been happy here, met friends that I have things in common with and absolutely LOVE our ward. Well, much to my surprise, the church is pulling the department out of downtown and moving it to 134000 S and Bangerter Hwy. So once again a move is in order. This time I have mixed feelings, mostly not really wanting to move but trying not to fight it too much because it will happen. We will be starting over again, but that isn't always bad. For right now the thought consumes me. Somedays I am excited for a change and a do over, and somedays I get really sad that I have to pack up MY house, a home that we built and made completely our own, and have someone else take it away from me. We can't justify building another home. Right now in the market you can get the same house for 50k cheaper if it is pre-exsisting. So I guess we will be taking away someone elses house!

It has been a while......

The never ending pregnancy finally ended and here we are almost 8 weeks later. Camden Charles finally came April 22, just 3 days before Jason's birthday. He is such a JOY in my life! I feel like my life is complete with him in it. I have been VERY busy trying to juggle 3 kids and my other responsibilities. It has been tough, but I think we have almost gotten completely adjusted to a new person in our family. Kaysia ADORES her baby brother! It is neat because she most likely won't have a sister but she does have a little brother that looks like her (even has her same crooked toes)! Kyson loves his brother too, he is having a hard time with the new addition. He never really adjusted well to anything in the past so I knew this was coming. He doesn't act out towards the baby, he has just become more testy and disobedient. Hopefully this will be coming to an end soon! Here are a few pictures of camden, in age order......

The Nursery

Here are some pictures of the the baby's room. This little project tooke me almost 2 weeks to finish. Each stripe was measured out, taped off painted with a layer of glaze and 2 coats of paint! It was a process, but it paid off! With the exception of some touching up that still needs to be done, the room turned out better than I expected. Now if only I had a baby to put in it........

The never ending pregnancy..........

This morning was my light at the end of the tunnel. FINALLY the end! The end of being uncomfortable. The end of worrying if my baby was okay in his cramped living space. The end of wondering what he looks like, my big belly, swollen legs and so much more. I felt like this day would NEVER come. Like the days do, they come, and for me this was an important one! I go to the hospital so anxious and excited to meet this person growing inside me.After 9 long hours of labor, NOTHING! I didn't do ANYTHING! So, the doctor made the decision to stop the Pitocin and send me home! So here I am waiting once more, still pregnant and awaiting a day that feels like it will never come!!!

Pretty Little Tootsies

Kaysia's toes have completely moved forward. It is amazing the difference. Her pinkie toe is still over-lapping but I have noticed a difference in that toe as well. It is really weird for me to see her toe where it should be! It is almost like she has an extra toe. She still has stitches in the back of her toes and we are just waiting for the little buggers to disolve. Check out the before pics below.

No stopping Kaysia

Kaysia had surgery a few days ago on her toes. She was completely excited about the whole thing and did great! She LOVED her hospital pajamas and was sad she couldn't wear them home. When she woke up from her surgery she was calm and the nurse asked her if she wanted me or Jason and she said, "no". The nurse of course called us back anyway and I was surprised at how well she was doing. She just looked like she just woke up, because she did. She watched a couple shows and then wanted to go home and play with Maddy (her cousin). On the way home she was her normal silly self. She didn't get to eat breakfast so she was REALLY hungry. I told her we would get her ANYTHING she wanted for lunch, her request, A HOT DOG.......YUCK!
She also wanted to go play at a McDonald's play place that night. She has been unstoppable and I have to keep reminding her she has cuts in her toes and she needs to take it easy!

She has what the doctor said is 'Curly Toe'. It is where the fourth toe on each foot curls back behind the others. It is caused by a tight or small tendon in the bone. The doctor made a small incision in the back of her toe and simply cut the tendon. The toe looks great now, but now she has a second problem. It is what the doctor refers to as an overlapping fifth toe. This may or may not need surgery. Her little pinky toe actually looks worse now because the other toe is up where it belongs. This is really concerning to Jason, he is really afraid she is going to be self conscious of her feet later in life. Being a girl, especially one with a shoe fetish, I think that may be true, however, I would rather leave the surgery choice up to her for those toes when she gets a little older. That is if it isn't medically necessary.

Stretching out

Here I am on my third pregnancy, and it still amazes me how BIG your stomach can get. According to emails I receive weekly, my baby weighs about 4 lbs right now. I have 8 lb babies, so, that means my baby will DOUBLE in size from now until I deliver. I look at my stomach and think to myself, " I am gonna get HUGE!" I guess we will see exactally how HUGE I will get. I have been taking some pictures with this pregnancy and it has been fun to see how much I grow between each picture!!

"Nesting"

What is this strange surge of energy I am experiencing? Some people would refer to it as 'nesting'. I am moving furniture, taking on projects in my house I would otherwise just put off, and just feel plain antsy about the to do list of things that would be 'nice' to have done before the baby comes, but are completely unecessary. I am not complaining, because I know when the baby does come, I will have no energy at all! Maybe that is why I am anxious to just get EVERYTHING I can think of done around the house, so I don't have to worry about it when my bundle of joy arrives. If you haven't been to my house recently there have been quite a few changes. My favorite change is that almost every room in my upstairs is a different color. It is cheery and I love it! The project I am currently taking on is the baby's room. I would normally just leave it alone until he gets big enough to have a big boy bed and then I would paint his room accordingly to the furniture and decor. Instead, I have decided to get creative and paint it with 2 different colors and have a big stripe running horizontally down the middle. I hope it turns out as cute as I invision it to be. Kaysia's room is FINALLY finished (with the exception of a few accessories)!! It suits her well. I refer to it as the "Bold Princess" room. She loves it and always makes sure it is clean and her bed made.

I have only six weeks left and everyday I am sure everyday will be jam packed with things that I feel are important to get done. All I can say is I am soooo thankful that I have been blessed with so much energy with this pregnancy. I only wish that my body didn't hurt so bad!