Easter 2013

This Easter was very low key! We colored eggs the Saturday before Easter.  Makenna was just trying to stick her hands into all of the colored water and she tried to drink it a few times too.  Noah enjoyed decorating his eggs with stickers.  I feel bad that I forgot to take pictures of us coloring eggs.  I will have to get one next year for sure.  We were actually very bummed because none of us were able to go to church.  Not sure if it was colds or bad allergies but we were all not feeling our best.  I actually think it was allergies because supposedly allergies were very bad that week for many people!  So we stayed home.  But the kids were super excited to get their Easter baskets in the morning.  The Easter bunny hid their baskets.  In order for them to find their baskets they had to find hidden Easter eggs with puzzle pieces in them.  After they found all of the eggs they had to put the puzzle together and the puzzle had a message that said where to find their hidden baskets.  Noah woke up bright, well not so bright and EARLY Easter morning.  He came in to our room at 6:00 in the morning and crawled into bed next to me.  Tommy and I thought it was super cute because he said, "That sneaky bunny hid our Easter baskets!"  It was too cute.  When he was finally able to pull Tommy and I out of our beds I helped him find all his eggs and put the puzzle together.  Makenna was asleep for all of this, but she still doesn't quite know what is going and she wasn't feeling her best so we let her sleep.  Noah kept asking, "What is taking Makenna so long to wake up?"  He was excited for her to wake up and see her Easter basket.  It was a great day.  We went to my moms house for lunch and we hid the eggs around her living room for the kids to find.  It was a great time and a wonderful day.  And of course we tried to reiterate the real  reason for Easter which is that Christ lives and how thankful we are for that knowledge! :)

Makenna finding eggs!

Noah finding eggs!

The note left from the Easter bunny

The puzzle that was in the eggs!

That sneaky bunny!

My two Easter cuties! ;)

Farewell and Baby #3

So starting with Thursday March 7th we had an exciting and fun weekend!  First, my step sister Jessica decided to serve a mission.  Last General Conference in October they made an announcement and lowered the ages that men and women could serve missions.  Boys can now go at 18 and girls can now go at 19.  Girls used to have to wait until 21.  Well Jessica turned 20 in September and after hearing this announcement decided to serve a mission.  She turned in her papers and received a mission call to the Detroit, Michigan area.  Very exciting!  As a side note...the day she opened her mission call, Tommy and I traded in our Chevy Silverado truck for a Saturn Outlook SUV.  We needed more room for baby number 3!  It holds 7 people and I love it!
But anyhow, Jessica had to report to the MTC on Wednesday March 13th and so family came to visit the weekend before to send her off and hear her farewell talk in church.  My mom's sister Melinda and her family "The Russells" came on Thursday the 7th.  They brought my grandma Morgan with them and we were very happy that she was able to make it.  Then my cousins; Keri, Kimberly, and Michelle Crowther came late Friday night/Saturday morning. :)  Then of course the family that lives around us were there to support as well.  It was very fun.  That Friday I also found out if baby number 3 is going to be a boy or girl.  I was positive this one was a boy.  I am carrying the baby low and certain things reminded me of when I was pregnant with Noah.  Well I was wrong.  Baby number 3 is going to be another beautiful baby girl!  I announced the gender to family by filling a black balloon with confetti.  I told them that if boy colors came out we were having a boy and if girl colors came out we were having a girl.  Noah had the honor of popping the balloon and pink and purple confetti flew out!  Everybody was happy and excited! Noah was kind of set on a boy and was a little disappointed at first, but he is just fine with it now. :)
We have decided to name her Lexie Jean.  Jean is my mom's middle name so she is partially named after my mom.  Then Lexie...just because we like it.  So we are excited for her to make her entrance in a few more months!
Back to Jessica's farewell.  She gave an amazing talk and I am very excited that she is serving a mission.  I think it will be very good for her in strengthening her testimony and confidence in herself!  We definitely love her and we are going to miss her.  So that makes two of my siblings on missions now.  :)  Jeffrey and Jessica will actually both get home around September 2014.  So it will be fun to have them both come home around the same time!

 Unfortunately baby Lexie was not cooperating enough so that we could get an actual "gender" shot of her.  But we have a great profile shot and I think this spine shot is amazing.  According to the technician everything looked great.  :)  So hopefully she will continue to stay healthy and strong.

 Here is a picture with my family and Grandma Morgan.  As you can see Makenna is very grouchy   Poor girl had a pretty nasty diarrhea virus the entire time family was here and was not a happy camper.  I was not happy either...cleaning up those nasty drippy diapers either! 

My step sister Jessica with my mom, step dad Bob, and Grandma Morgan. :)

Zoo time!

In February,Tommy's sister Heather came to visit from Montana.  She brought her kids Sawyer and Wyatt with her.  It was fun to see them and Noah had fun hanging out with his cousins! :)  Sawyer and Noah were so excited and loud and running from each exhibit to the next, that they pretty much scared the animals everywhere we went.  lol  As soon as we approached, the animals made their way to the opposite side of the exhibit.  It was a good time.  The picture of all of the grandkids (minus Baylee) is so cute...but right when we went to take the picture a squirrel came running by and grabbed all of the kids attention.  I love Makenna's face! She especially loved the zoo.  She loved all of the animals and each time we went to a new exhibit she would say things like, "Whoa!"  "Wow!"  "Cool!"  It was a fun time!

Kids!

The kids are both doing good and getting big! Noah is still my happy, smart, three year old!  I can't believe he is just a couple of weeks from turning 4! His hair is really darkening and his blue eyes are turning more green.  He loves to hang out with his friends   He recently started Sunbeams at church and I have been told by primary teachers and leaders that he is so smart!  It is not hard to notice how smart that kid is just by spending a few minutes with him. It is funny though because if you ask him if he likes Sunbeams he will say, "Not really because the teacher wants us to sit still and be quiet and I don't want to." lol  He is always excited to show us what he learned and made though.  He also loves to go to the park with his friends, preschool, and library.  He is a great brother and him and Makenna have a lot of fun together.  He also learned how to ride his bike with training wheels.  He is very excited and likes to go ride his bike.
Makenna has grown so much lately.  Her hair is getting longer and definitely has a bit of a curl to it! It is super light...but I am sure it will darken like Noah's has.  Her eyes are very brownish green.  She is such a sweet girl and has mommy and daddy wrapped around her finger.  Whenever she wants something she says "Pease" and gives you a quick kiss.  And let me tell you even if she shouldn't have it, it is very hard to tell her no! She loves to be outside and go to the park.  She is miss independent though and hates that mommy has to help her do things.  She wants to climb and slide and get to all the high places and wants me to just leave her alone while she does it.  She loves to swing and dance and play with her brother.  When she is happy and excited she always yells, "Noah! Noah" because she wants him to see and be excited with her.  She says "Look at me." and so many other phrases and words that are too many to write down.  But she's definitely starting to talk more.  She started nursery at church and hates it.  She screams and cries when I try and drop her off.  Then later when you ask her, Makenna did you have fun at nursery?"  She will make a sad face and says, "I's crying."  It is her way of saying "I was crying."  ha ha  She is rambunctious and happy and scrappy.  Especially when she gets tired she starts trying to wrestle and attack you.  She's laughing while she does it but she just gets more rough when she's tired.  But both kids are doing great.  They are my favorite 3 year old and 19 month old  ever!  Here is a bit of a photo dump of the kids the last few months!

Fun at the park!

Family coloring time. Coloring is still one of Noah's favorite things to do!

Sweet girl!

Helping Grandma with dishes!

Pig tails!

Makenna sleeping. Aww :)

Big girl at the park!

Whee!

Playing super heroes with friends Nick and Kasen

Noah is one tough Iron Man

Oh yeah I am cool, I can ride a bike now

Pretty MK!

This is what Noah called  a "Project" that he worked on and created in his room. :)

Valentine's Day

This Valentine's Day was a lot of fun because Noah is doing the home preschool.  He was able to buy valentine cards and then fill them out for his friends, with mommy's help of course!  He did sign his name on all six cards though.  He had a very fun "first" Valentine's day party at school and was able to make a container for his valentines and receive them from his friends.  He was pretty excited about it all.  On the actual Valentine's Day him and mommy had a "Valentine's Day Game Day."  We played pretty much every game for his age that we had.  It was fun! lol  I feel bad I didn't snag a picture of Makenna on this day.  However, I did want to note that last Valentine's Day that Tommy had the day off and we went to Cabellas and then to Cold Stone Creamery for a Valentine's Date with our kids.  I remember sitting there eating ice cream with my two kids.  Noah was thoroughly enjoying his and the sweet ice cream dripped down his mouth and chin.  Makenna was stealing little pieces of sprinkles with a bit of ice cream on them.  I remember in that moment I felt so happy and blessed to have my little family.  It was not the traditional Valentine's Date that Tommy and I have had in the past...the whole romantic dinner, date, etc.  But it ended being my most favorite and special one.  I guess just because I was overwhelmed with a feeling of immense gratefulness for my kids and husband. :)
We did not go out to dinner or anything this Valentine's Day.  I think we made a special treat after dinner and called it a day.
Tommy and my anniversary is January 24th and we went to a very expensive fondue restaurant called The Melting Pot...so we figured that would have to count as Anniversary and Valentine's Day because of the money we put down! lol
Two great days of love! This year and last! :)

Starits baby #3!

At the very end of November I found out that I was pregnant!  Tommy and I were not expecting it to happen as soon as it did as it usually takes a bit of time, but this time things happened quick!  Which just goes to show that nothing quite goes the way you think it will or the way you plan! But we are super excited for baby number three!  Many people have asked if we are leaning more towards a boy or girl, but we honestly would be happy with either one.  We already have our boy and our girl, so we are excited!   Noah really wants a baby brother, "Because he doesn't have one."  Makenna still has no clue what's going on.  She probably won't know or understand until the new baby is actually here.  It is so strange to think that my baby girl will be a big sister! She is really good with baby dolls though so I think we should be ok! :)  Makenna's birthday is August 22nd and this baby is due August 5th.  So Makenna and the new baby will just be under two years apart.  Should be fun!
I had to go and get blood work done last week and I had to bring the kids with me.  My mom was going to meet me there and watch them while I was getting my blood drawn.  Before we left Noah asked where we were going and I explained I had to go to the doctor to check things for the baby.  So he excitedly hopped in the truck and we headed to the lab place.  Well when I was finished and went out to the lobby and said it was time to go.  Noah looked distraught and asked, "But where's the baby?"  When I explained that this was just to check the baby but not have the baby yet he was very sad.  He is ready!  Every day he tells me he thinks my stomach looks bigger and asks if it is big enough yet?  So he is definitely excited for this baby!  I told him the baby would not be coming until he was four years old, so that has helped him realize he will have to wait awhile for this new baby!  The following are the pictures I sent to my family and posted on facebook to announce our good news!  So we have ended 2012 with a bang!  :)  Which was better then how we really ended it, which was in bed on New Year's Eve....because all of us were sick and passed out by midnight!

Christmas 2012

This Christmas was a lot of fun!  To count down the last 12 days until Christmas I did a special little advent with Noah.  I wrapped twelve books about Christmas and included an activity with each book.  Some activities were things like: play a Christmas game, go look at lights, make cookies, write a letter to Santa, etc.  Noah really looked forward to this and we had fun doing the different activities each day.  This was the first Christmas that Noah was actually excited to get presents and understood that Santa was watching him and would bring him presents! So that was a lot of fun.  It was kind of nice using Santa as leverage too.  "Noah you better be a good boy because Santa is watching you." ;)  Definitely worked magic for the month of December!
This was Makenna's second Christmas but she still did not have much of a clue about what was going on!  She opened presents and played with her toys, but for the most part she just played and was content hanging around all of the excitement   We woke up early to open presents and then headed to Tuscon to spend it with Tom's family   We had spent the Saturday before Christmas at my family's house for a super fun Christmas party.  So we had a great time with family and fun!  One of Noah's favorite presents was Disney Cars bath paints and he loves them.  I had to include the picture of him crying because it cracks me up.  This was after I told him that it was time to get out of the bath.  After he had been in there for almost an hour! ha ha
We had a wonderful Christmas for sure! :)