Date with Mom & Dad

 

I've been a little emotional about adding a new member to our family, and how it will effect Mckinlie.
She has been our little princess for a year and a half and our lives have revolved around her. There have for sure been some mixed emotions this time around & it's been tough.

We've been trying to spend as much quality time with her as possible in this last month of Mckinlie being our only child. One night we took her to In & Out as a special treat. We don't have fast-food often, because of my pancreas condition, and Mckinlie almost never gets fast-food. She had her grilled cheese & water and had a blast sitting outside by the creek looking at the bird by our table.

After, we took her to a splash-pad in Cottonwood Heights. She was a little scared & we had to take turns helping her get wet. She loved it as long as she didn't have to go through the sprayers. We found a little puddle of water by itself & that's what she ended up playing with.


We are soaking up all the alone time that we can with this little girl, because we won't have much when the new baby comes. It'll be different, but I keep reminding myself that it will be double the fun and that she will have a sibling to do things with and that is the best things we could ever give her.

Mckinlie's 1st Birthday

I haven't updated our blog in a very very long time. I wish that I kept up on this so that we could have all of our memories and pictures in one spot.  Hopefully I can do better at keeping up with this.

Our sweet babycakes is no longer a baby. I get teary just typing that sentence. Mckinlie Rae has turned 1 & is now a toddler. We chose the theme "You are my sunshine". That fits her perfectly and is 100% true. She is our sunshine & brings us so much happiness.

For her birthday, Mom & Dad got her clothes (she just about fits in 18 months now), a play kitchen, a bunch of play food, and a few other little things. She LOVES the kitchen but mostly just likes taking it apart. I find the drawer to the kitchen in different rooms lately.
For her birthday activity, we took her to the Treehouse Museum in Ogden. She mostly just ran around & that worked for us, because she was so happy doing that. We also went to Texas Roadhouse and she had her first kid's meal. They had her sit on a saddle & sang to her. She was not a fan of that and cried. It was a bit TOO loud for her. 

She had a few fun parties & she LOVED the attention. This little girl is a fan of being in the spotlight. If we are in a crowd & someone laughs, she thinks they are laughing at her and she will put on a show for them. We love her personality! Anyways, she loved opening gifts & plays with all of her new things daily. When it came to her smashcake, she wasn't super interested. She had her party with a cake the night before her big party, and also got a cupcake on her actual birthday. The poor thing may have been a little treated out.

We love our princess & she is the perfect addition to our family. We couldn't imagine life without her.

Mckinlie's favorite things:

Toy- Pillow pets. She has 4 different ones: poodle, black doggie, brown doggie & a cow

When we get her from her crib each time, she has to pick-up her pillow pet & make sure

that it makes it out of the crib with her.

Food- This little girl eats A LOT. She usually will eat as big of a serving as we do. Lately she is loving macaroni, frozen waffles, and dry cherrios. She loves to drink out of a big girl cup

with a straw.

Movie- Unfortunately I put a tv in her room so that I could shut her in there while I take a

shower. She got used to this and knows exactly what time she gets her movie and will take

me into her room & point at the tv. One day, I was really sick & she wouldn't nap. I

turned a movie on for her to watch in her crib. Big mistake. She now will cry sometimes

during naps or bedtime and when we go in, she will point at her tv. I promise she doesn't

watch it THAT much. Sheesh. She LOVES LOVES LOVES the movie Madeline: Lost in

Paris. She smiles when the songs play & will dance to it. Oh, she also has learned how to

turn the tv on, play the movie, & even how to rewind it when it's over & play it again.

Random- M LOVES baths & will stop dead in her tracks when she hears the tub start & runs tothe bathroom. As far as discipline goes, she knows exactly what she isn't supposed to do,

and will do it while looking at us, just to see what we'll do. So far, timeouts DO NOT work.

Even though we don't laugh, she does and will make funny sounds. Something's gotta give

soon & we'll figure it out.

Her pediatrician is the same one I had growing up. Her name is Dr Bean & we love her.

at her 1 yr appointment, the dr said she is levels above where she is supposed to be

intellectually. We now need to find ways to challenge her. She & I work on puzzles, colors,

shapes & animals. She picks up on words very quickly & a lot of them she has heard once

& will repeat it and knows what it is.

Words that she knows- Mama, Dad, Dog, Go, No No, Round Round (fan), and Plane. She also

signs "more" when she wants food or a drink.

Mom's message to Mckinlie:

You are our sunshine & will forever be. The last year with you has been amazing. We have loved watching you grow & learn. I can't believe that a year ago, you were just born & a tiny little 5-pound girl. Things change way too quickly. Keep up your cute curiosity & desire to discover everything. You are the greatest blessing we could have ever asked for & we are so lucky to be your parents. Always remember that Heavenly Father & your family loves you. You are our pride & joy. I'm so excited for the time that we have ahead with you. If it's anything like the last year, it will be a fun ride!

Dad's message to Mckinlie:

Mckinlie Rae, I love you a lot. Who knew that such a little baby girl could be such source of joy in my life? From the moment you were born you have been fun, smiley, and happy. I have loved seeing you grow, learn, and discover your world. You are a beautiful girl who is lucky to have a mother who sacrifices so much to take care of you, if you grow up to be like her you will not go wrong. Keep up your happiness, no matter what comes your way, your smile and joyful personality will be a source of happiness and hope for everyone around you. I love you more than you will ever know. Heavenly father loves you and is always there watching out for you. You are a princess.

Expecting: One cute bundle in August 2012

As I am writing this, I am 22-weeks pregnant. Yeah, a little behind on the blogging.

When Mckinlie was around 6-months, I started getting promptings that someone was waiting to come to our family. I was exhausted from being mommy to Mckinlie and working for the Larson's. We decided to just push the feelings aside, but they didn't want to go away. We prayed and thought and prayed some more. The prompting were so loud and clear, oh..and nagging that we knew we couldn't deny it. We decided to go for it in November. In December when Mckinlie was 8-months-old, I knew without a doubt that I was pregnant and that we had received an early Christmas present. I took a test... sure enough there were those 2 pink lines. To be honest, I had mixed feelings. We had spoiled Mckinlie for her entire 8-months. Every waking minute had been spent on her. I wanted nothing more than to give all of my time & attention solely to her. At the same time, I knew it was right and knew that we would be blessed immensely for following the Spirit. That has 100% been the case. I never imagined we would be blessed and cared for this much.

In January, Trevor had received a call from an architecture firm that he had submitted an resume to half a year ago for fun. It was time for a raise at his current job, and he was seeing what the going rate was at some other companies. They called him & were impressed enough to ask for an interview. We were not really expecting anything, as we were happy living in Heber & Trevor was more than happy at his current job. Well surprise, he was offered a job with them. They offered him awesome benefits & a significant pay-raise. He also wanted to opportunity to work for a bigger company, and gain more experience. His lifelong dream has been to work on designing a temple. Well, this company designs a lot of temples & he has a very real possibility of being able to live out that dream. After much praying &pondering, we took a leap of faith &  here we are. We moved from Heber, which we miss more than we can express, and made our home in South Jordan. It's much more crowded & we miss home, but we are learning to adjust. I still look for deer when I drive down Bangeter ;).

Anyways, back to the baby. We got an official due-date of August 14th, 2012  & had our gender ultrasound. We were hoping for a boy, I'll be honest as we thought it'd be a fun change. But I guess we are just too great at creating beautiful girls because...IT'S A GIRL!

 It did work out perfect because M gets to have a close sister. They will be about 17-18 months apart & I'm sure they'll be the best of friends. I've had the easiest pregnancy so far, again. I really can't complain &we are excited for the LONG, HOT summer ahead. We can't wait. Blessings do come when you follow the spirit & Heavenly Father's plan for you. We are the poster children of that truth. :)

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.