Bella & Mckinlie

During the Priesthood session of General Conference, Trevor goes with his Dad & brother, Tyler. That leaves all the girls alone & since we don't want to be alone....we do this!

I took Mckinlie over to have dinner and play with cousin Bella. We picked up some pumpkins and our paint and had a fun night.

Bella just broke her arm and so she was trying to paint her pumpkin with just 1 arm. The dainty little girl refused to finger-paint and Mckinlie on the other hand...well I guess pictures tell all.

M's First Zoo Trip

Saturday mornings, Trevor has a test prep class at the U. This Saturday, I was sitting at home & decided to take Mckinlie to the zoo. We met Dad for lunch at Costa Vida & off we went.

Even in October, it was still ridiculously hot & the zoo has some gnarly hills. Either that, or we are just really out-of-shape. Yeah, that's it.

Little girl was more into people watching than anything, but that's ok. We still had fun & got out of the house. I took her on the carousel and I think she liked it. Honestly, she was more interested in playing with and grabbing the pole that her animal was attached to. Then as we were leaving, we took her on the train. She just chilled on Dad and looked around. We went through the tunnel and as the train conductor told the kids to make noise as we went through, I knew it was bad news.

The kids started screaming & it got dark & M's pouty lip came out & she looked at me really concerned. Luckily, we have really worked with her when scary noises or things happen, and she has learned to smile and be ok most of the time.

We loved Mckinlie's first trip to the zoo & look forward to lots more zoo time when she is older & with all her siblings!

The babe is 6-months-old

I can't believe that my Mckinlie Rae is 6-months-old. It seems like just yesterday we were counting down the weeks until she would be here. For some reason it's really hard for me to just sit-down & blog, but I want to do better so that I can keep track of all of our happenings!

Here are some things about our little girl at this stage:

-She is SO drooly. It seems like she has been teething for 4+months. She soaks all of her clothes. I'm praying that she gets some teethies soon. Until then, she will chew on everything in sight. EVERYTHING goes in the mouth

-M has been scooting around and trying more and more everyday to crawl. She is able to get up on her hands & knees but doesn't get that she has to move her hands forward. Someday...

I'm really wanting her to crawl, but at the same time it means she is growing too fast!

-She continues to be a super happy girl. Everywhere we go, people tell us that she is the smiliest and happiest baby that they've ever seen. It makes her even cuter than she already is! We can't go anywhere without people stopping us to talk to her and tell us that she is the cutest baby ever. We happen to agree. :)

-Still the best sleeper ever! Sometimes I have to go check on her when she sleeps until 9:30am and happen to wake her up and then she is super grumpy. She likes her sleep just like her Dad.

-Loves to do the lip-buzzing thing and squeals for fun. She has a very LOUD & high-pitched scream but when she is screaming in anger, it can be very deep

I could go on & on, we love this little girl lots. She brings us so much joy and keeps the smile on our faces. How did we ever live without her?! Here's to another 6 healthy & happy months, baby girl!

The Great Renting Move

When we moved to Lindon, we were loving it for the good half-year that we were there. But: Trevor just started another semester at the U and when we worked out schedules we realized that his commute would be a little crazy. How does this sound to you: Driving up to Heber for work, down to SL for school, back up to Heber for work, and home to Utah County. This would be his EVERYDAY schedule. Yeah....not happening. So I began the great hunt.

The best place for us was back in Heber. We love it there and have been fighting to get back. The problem is that there isn't a ton of affordable housing there.

I love looking for houses on KSL, so that was no chore for me. I found this house that had been for rent months ago but when I called on it, it was taken already. I jumped on that one and chatted with the owner for a good 30 min. I gave him our job history and told him about our family. Come to find out, they needed a nanny and I AM A NANNY! We went up, met them & worked out a plan.

Rent is $1050. Ouch.

I nanny for their 4 kids (16, 13, 11, 9)

Rent is $450.

Wait...it gets even better. They provide the fuel for my gas hog & dinner for the majority of the week(which makes sense because I plan and cook the meals)

We thought we would end up spending lots more by making this move & we end up SAVING. Who would've thought?

HEAVENLY FATHER DOES PROVIDE HELP TO HIS CHILDREN WHEN THEY ARE OBEYING WHAT HE ASKS OF THEM!

When we were engaged and close to our wedding date, we were praying about the future. I felt that we needed to start our family and not waste time. I didn't necessarily want this right away & neither did Trevor. In our interview with the Stake President,

we had a great moment of revelation that is too personal to

share on a blog. We were promised that we would be taken care of if we trusted in Heavenly Father. We took a leap of faith and have never been happier. Things always seem to workout in the right ways and we always are provided for.

Mckinlie & Haidon

My goal is always to be able to be with Mckinlie during the day. To help with this, I nanny!
I placed ads online and had lots of calls. The situation that benefited us most, was working for the Williams family.
They have a 2-year-old, Haidon and a 9 & 11-year-old named Addie & Maison. During the first few weeks, I'm just watching Haidon, while her sisters are in school. During the summer, I'm going to have ALL OF THEM.
I have worked for non-members each time that I've nannied and they've been great and everything. But since the Gospel is an everyday part of our lives, and Mckinlie is going to be in this nanny home for the majority of the day, it's best to have the family be LDS. That way, if we want to sing primary songs before nap, no one gets upset!
I like being able to teach gospel principles as we go throughout our day with Haidon and Mckinlie.
Haidon LOVES the baby and likes to help take care of her. I love that Mckinlie is able to be around children and can learn from them.
She and Haidon are totally friends. Haidon loves her..roughly. That's just what toddlers do I guess. She loves to hold her, feed her, kiss her, put her binky in while she was crying and putting toys in front of her face so that she can see them.
Mckinlie loves to watch Haidon and smiles lots at her.
I'm grateful for the chance that I can spend my days with Mckinlie and not miss her little milestones.

More Rough Times

After my pancreas attack back in April, a few days after Mckinlie was born, we were thinking it was done and that attack was a one-time thing. They didn't ever look into the cause of it very deeply, and just figured that it was pregnancy-caused.
Well, it happened again. On May 14th, I woke up and started getting ready to go to work. My stomach was hurting and I recognized that pain immediately. It was the same pain I experienced with my last pancreas attack. I pushed through it and left the house to get to the Williams's house on-time. I went through my day and spent the day talking with Holly, and taking care of Haidon and Mckinlie. Looking back and remembering how bad the pain was, I can't believe that I pushed through the entire day and took care of a newborn and a toddler.
By 3pm, when I was done with work, I knew it was time to go to the hospital. When pancreatitis gets bad enough, the only way to fix it, is to be hospitalized and medicate through an IV.
Trevor came home, picked Kinlie and I up and off to American Fork Hospital we went.
We've been there so many times in the past few months, it's like our second-home.
After being in the emergency room for a few hours getting the test results (and after another $200 co-pay) we were put up in our room and settled in. Last time, Trevor worked and family watched baby while I was in the hospital. We decided to make things simple and less hectic this time, and Trevor and baby girl roomed with me. We got a double-room and Trevor had a hospital bed to sleep in. We also brought all of baby's stuff and her pack-n-play.
During my few days stay, we meal-planned, couponed, Trevor studied, we visited with family, and rented movies.
They still aren't sure what exactly is causing my attacks, but it could be my galbladder and we are seeing a specialist to get that checked-out. Tests also showed that I have cysts on one of my ovaries. We need to have that checked for cancer in a few weeks. I've heard that a lot of women have these, but I won't feel ok about it until we are sure that it is not cancerous.


My mom has these, and constantly has to be on birth control to control it.There's also a chance that they will have to remove them, which decreases our chances to have more children. I'm a worrier and honestly, all of these things are stressing me out.
I know that everything happens for a reason and that no matter what happens, we will be happy and enjoy our lives together.

Conference Center Visit

While Trevor was attending school at the U for Spring semester, I was working-from-home and had lots of flexibility. Some days, we would go to Salt Lake with Dad,
and drop him off at school, and then go stay at Grandma West Jordan's house for the day.
One day in particular, I marinated veggies and got Trevor some chicken and made kabobs! I love the smell of BBQ in the summer, and the weather was just starting to warm-up. My parents have a really awesome grill, and it was my first-time using one. I figured it out and was so proud of myself. I want a grill now, but we don't really have room for it. Someday, right?





I made dinner and Mckinlie laid on a blankie with my Mom's dog, Moose. Moose LOVES the baby! He protects her and is her little guard-dog.



I finished dinner, packed up the babe & we picked Trevor up. We had dinner in a nearby church parking lot, that was kinda like a little park. Then we walked to the conference center and got a tour of it by Trevor's Grandma Hobbs. I have been to the conference center before, but had never really toured it and looked closely! It is such an amazing building! Mckinlie loved looking around and the groups of people taking tours all had to see the baby. What can we say, she is a star! :) We loved being able to spend time with Dad, even during school. Those small & simple things are the best.