NUTTCRACKERS

Summer Fun :)

2010-08-03T17:24:00.000-06:00

We are having such a fun summer!! The kids have loved playing outside, and we love going to do fun things!! These pics are some of the fun things we have done. We went to the zoo. Jeff and kids saw the bird show, and sat only a few rows up from the stage!
We also had a fun 4th of July (that resulted in me losing my voice for almost 3 weeks). We went to the paradae, and then went and walked around the booths in Provo. Jayden got to meet a princess, and go on a high jump trampoline thing. Thanks to grandma :) We also have gone down to the Riverwoods to some fun summer events, and the latest one was a western theme! We got to go with grandma Karen,(bestest grandma ever), on a carriage ride, eat yummy food, and pet horses. Jayden also got butterfly face painting. She would not wash it off for 2 days! Hope you all are having a fun summer as well ;)

Moab in May 2010

2010-06-11T20:54:00.000-06:00

It has been forever!! But here are some pics of when we went to Moab!! We had a blast, we went on a nature walk, and to Arches National Park, we didn't want to come home!!

Do we look similar?

2009-11-13T22:07:00.003-07:00

Both of these pictures were taken around the boys each turning 7 months old. I have been wanting to compare similar facial expressions to see how much they look alike. I think they do look a lot a like! What do you think?The top picture is Collin last year carving pumpkins,and the bottom is Brody sitting up. I am curious your opinions, so please leave a comment!

Happy Halloween

2009-11-01T10:03:00.001-07:00

Happy Halloween Everyone! This year Jayden was a bumble bee fairy, Collin was a turtle, and Brody was Santa! I went up and suprised my parents at their house before heading out for the candy. Jeff had to work, so we invited Karen (favorite mother-in-law) to come trick or treating with us! Can you believe she said yes? :) We walked around my neighborhood for close to an hour. It was a perfect amount of time for the kids, and they had so much fun! Brody slept most of the time, and I would carry Collin up to the doors with Jayden. He loved holding out his bucket, and Jayden was great at saying trick or treat, and thank you!
We decided to go up and suprise Jeff at work so he could see the kids. Luckily he was not on a call, and he was very suprised to see us! Josh and Janelle came over and said hi too!
We hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween. We had a blast!
P.S. In the second picture, can you spot a bumble bee fairy? She is somewhere in the picture! :)

Happy Birthday Jayden!

2009-10-31T11:12:00.000-06:00

Jayden's birthday started out a 6 am! She got to come to work with me, and help me! We had a holiday kick off party at 8, so for the first couple hours she got to help me work! We had fun. When we got home Jeff had part of her present ready. We decided this year to get her a bike, and helmet. Jeff had the clever idea of just giving her the helmet first to see what she would think. She opened it, and was very excited to have a princess helmet, and very confused on why she needed just a helmet. She was asking if it was for her trike, and Jeff said well maybe you need something else, and went down to the basement and brought her up a bike! She was so excited and has been riding pretty much non stop when we have been home. We have an unfinished basement, so it is perfect for her to ride around!
Jeff and I took her down to the Bean Museum during the day, and on our way she fell asleep in the car because of her early start! Once we were there she was excited!
Later we were going to go take up a cake and ice cream to Jeff''s work and celebrate, but he got busy until late. So me and Collin sang to Jayden again!
We are so happy to have Jayden in our family!

Jayden's 4th Birthday Party

2009-10-31T10:44:00.000-06:00

I can't believe that my little girl just turned 4 years old! Time flies by! This year she decided she wanted to have a princess party. It was a lot of fun to plan, but slightly stressful! 4 year olds can be hard to impress :)
As the kiddos arrived we painted their fingernails to make them feel like princesses! Affter that we played musical chairs, but instead of chairs we had Alladin's magic carpets. As the music turned off, and a child didn't have somewhere to sit and were out, we gave them a treat so they didn't feel left out. As soon as Jayden realized there was candy involved, she prurposly didn't find somewhere to sit so she could get candy!
We then made princess door hangers with pom poms and stickers for each of them to take home and hang on their door knob. They all enjoyed making them and took their time to make them special. They were so creative!
After that we opened presents and had cake and ice cream! She got lots of fun stuff and has played with all of it over the last few days!
Happy Birthday Jayden!

Milestones

2009-10-07T20:44:00.000-06:00

Tonight I was working with Brody on sitting up, and suddenly, he was doing it all by himself for a long time! He was being so cute! He was so happy! Lately he has been frustrated with laying down all of the time, so he was so excited to see the world differently! P.S. He is not as close to the stairs as he appears! :)

Broken Legs Are No Fun!

2009-09-18T14:35:00.001-06:00

Last night Collin was playing in the kitchen as I went to sit down in the living room with Brody, and I heard "that cry" that I had never heard. The cry of extreme pain. I ran around the corner to the kitchen and saw Collin lying on a blanket on his back. As I picked him up he was saying ouchie, and I thought he had re injured his foot that he fractured last Saturday (under the pillow in the picture). He then started grabbing at his right leg, and I noticed a HUGE bump on his shin. Thankfully, my fab mother-in-law was available (Jeff was working, unable to answer my frantic calls), and came down to watch the other kiddos while me and Collin took a trip to the emergency room. We ended up splinting it for the drive with a blanket and duct tape. We are in the middle of moving, and all key broken bone, splint items are already moved!

The doctors and nurses were great! They made a special point to get him a ball (which he loves), and bubbles! He ended up with a broken tibia, and we will have it casted next week. Jeff said I could get him a pink cast, but I think Collin would hold it against me when he gets older :)

The hospital took great care of us to ensure he was a comfortable as possible. Jeff ended up getting off work and making it to the hospital as we were being discharged.

I think I handled my first broken (rush to the emergency room) bone pretty well! I only cried on the way home for a few seconds! Everything was happening way to fast to freak out.

I will definantely post again after he gets his cast next week!

Let the dancing begin...

2009-08-19T18:01:00.000-06:00

We have had Jayden in gymnastics, and just recently decided to see what other talents she has, so on Tuesday she started dance class. Isn't she adorable? I took her to the store with me and she got to pick out her dance outfit, of course pink. She did so good! They will be learning tap, ballet, and hip hop. They will also be having recitals, I can hardly wait!

Summer Days

2009-08-04T19:08:00.000-06:00

Wow! Its been a long time since I have sat down to blog, or actually just sat down! We have been crazy busy and blessed with 3 wonderful kids! Brody (left) is now 4 and a half months old, Jayden (middle) almost 4, and Collin (right) is 17 months old. We have been having a great summer! We went to Moab the end of April with my family, which was a blast! We have also been swimming up at Jeff's sister Janelle's pool and enjoying the summer air! We also had a great 4th of July at the parade, a picnic in the canyon, and my favorite part of the 4th, walking around the Provo arts and crafts booths!

I recently told my work that I am now ready to go part time! Yes, part time! Hooray! That means more blogging time for you, and more kid/parent time for me! Jeff and I are both extremely excited for this to start soon! In order to work part time, we will be selling our home we are currently living in. We decided it was worth the trade for me to be home with the kids. I am planning on it happening soon so we still have some summer days to play!

We hope that all is going well for each and every one of you, and I look forward to more blogging time!

Mom and Me at the Zoo

2009-05-09T22:05:00.003-06:00

Happy Mothers Day to all you moms out there! Today we went to "Mom and Me at the Zoo" We had a blast! We got face painting done, made crafts and of course loved seeing the animals! I got a butterfly painted on my arm and it is now sunburned into my arm! It is pretty funny! The kids had a blast!

Brody at One Month

2009-04-20T21:04:00.005-06:00

For christmas my fabulous mother in law Karen got me a digital scrapbooking program. I love downloading cute kits, but haven't had the time to make anything yet, until now! Here is my first try at digital scrapbooking! I hope you like his birth announcement! We chose the middle name Vernon after my grandpa. He is an amazing person! He has personally done so much for me and our family all my life. He is a very humble person with a strong spirit that you can feel with him in your presence. We feel honored that we can name Brody after him! We are so happy to have Brody in our lives! What a blessing for us to have 3 completly healthy kids! Collin's favorite thing to do is to give him kisses on the head (supervised of course :), and Jayden loves to be helpful with getting things to change his diaper, and hold him. She is a very protective older sister, and I love that she loves him so much! While we are talking about things we are thankful for, I need to say that I am so thankful for Jeff in my life! I am so greatful that he is worthy to have the preisthood to bless my life, and our kids! The power of the preisthood is truly amazing, and spirit that comes with it is undeniable. It is amazing what a comfort it brings. I am so happy to have the gospel in my life!

Once there was a Snowman...

2009-04-16T11:29:00.003-06:00

I am still finding it hard to believe how much it snowed overnight! Jeff and Jayden went out this morning and built this snowman! Her name is Daisy the Duck (could you tell she loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse) :) Jayden is pretty convinced "summer is not going to come afterall"!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-16T11:23:00.002-06:00

Happy Easter everyone! Hope you all had a great day! We had so much fun as a family coloring easter eggs! We all had a blast! Who knew boiled eggs could be so much fun!

Our Family of Five

2009-03-27T11:23:00.003-06:00

We had a nice suprise early on St. Patricks Day. At 1 am I started having contractions. I woke Jeff up at about 2:30 am (not wanting to wake him for a false alarm). At about 3:30 am we decided that we should probably go the hospital and see what was going on. (At this point I was still in denial that I could be going into labor 2 1/2 weeks early). We took the kids to my grandparents house about 4ish and headed to the hospital. After finding out that I was dialating, they said we were ready to have this baby! Jeff gave me a very sincere blessing of peace and comfort, and we headed off to the operating room. At 6:20 Brody was born. He weighed 5 pounds 11 ounces, and was 18 inches long. He came out healthy and cute as ever! Thanks to everyone who has helped us and visited us!

2009-03-08T17:33:00.001-06:00

In rememberance of Jeff's Grandma that recently passed away, the Stevenson family decided to do a humanitarian project. She was a huge believer of donating, and so each year the family wants to do something around her birthday.
Between Jeff and the family they decided to donate stuffed animals to Gold Cross. Gold Cross keeps the stuffed animals on the trucks to give to children who are being transported. Overall there was a total of 77 stuffed animals! It was so great! Jeff was able to have his supervisor Nic, and another medic Dave come to recieve the donation. Jeff was able to bring over an ambulance, which the kids LOVED! We were able to take lots of pictures, but good luck getting all of the kids to look, let alone smile! Thanks to everyone for making it such a successful day!

Random items? I think not...

2009-02-23T19:51:00.000-07:00

You may wonder what's with the random picture, and are all of these items related somehow? Yes, there is always an explanation :) All of these items have seen their lives under water (or floating in water) , until later discovered, in the bottom in our toilet! This has all taken place in the past week, Collin's new obsession! He thinks the toilet is so cool, and if only he were slightly taller, or could balance on his tippy toes better, he could reach that water! I must say I credit Jeff for being able to take this picture, since it has all happened different times when I was gone! I do admit I look forward to hearing what has been thrown in! So far a bowling pin, toy car, 2 pairs of socks, bowl and spoon, and today hairspray have become victims! Are we learning you ask? Slowly, but surely we will make sure the toilet lid is closed every time!

Days of a Princess

2009-01-18T11:47:00.006-07:00

Princesses have to be beautiful all the time and never seen in the same outfit, right?

I have been noticing for a while how many times a day Jayden changes her clothes, and decided you might all like a preview too! I have 6 pictures, but missed the pajamas that she woke up in and the outfit she went out in after the jeans picture! When she wakes up she has to put on her "comfy" clothes right away. It was after she changed and had been awake for only 5 minutes I thought that this would be fun to document! She will dissapear upstairs for a short time, then come down in something completely different, just because. Anytime we leave the house and she wears jeans, the first thing she does when she gets home is puts back on "comfy clothes," even if I have told her we will be going somewhere soon. Hey, atleast she dresses herself, right?

Let it Snow...

2009-01-06T12:52:00.000-07:00

I love snow! Okay, not to drive in, but to have kids to play in snow with. Yes, I was out there, but do you need proof? No, these two are cuter anyways! Jeff was getting his workout by pulling Jayden on the sled. She loved it! Jeff took Jayden and I on a ride too, and in the second picture, see that tree on the left? Yea, my knee met that tree personally, but only slowing us down for a second! Don't worry, no stitches needed. I think I will survive!
Collin was safely asleep inside. Last time we tried to bring him out for a sled ride, Jayden was holding on so tight, but the two of them tipped over! She was still hanging on with Collin face first in the snow. We pulled him up quickly, but it was awfully tramatizing! Jayden commented that he looked like Santa with all the snow on his face!
I hope you all get a chance to go play in the snow!

Merry Christmas

2009-01-02T22:54:00.001-07:00

We hope all of you had a great Christmas, ours was a blast! After Jayden would open a present she asked Santa for she would comment "this is just what I wanted!" Collin had fun playing with boxes (of course), and Jeff and I enjoyed watching the kids! It is so much fun having a 3 year old to watch the joy in her face as she opened her gifts! Collin is so much fun and just goes along with the flow. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Nuttall Family Christmas Party

2009-01-02T22:49:00.000-07:00

These are some of the pictures from our Nuttall family Christmas Party.
The kids had so much fun seeing Santa, even Boyd and Karen got to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas!

2008-10-21T16:38:00.000-06:00

On Saturday Jeff had the day off and we went to South Fork up Provo canyon. We stopped at the playground at the bottom on the canyon where there is a pond. We wandered over to look at the water after playing on the playgound. A way cute dog came over and made friends with Jeff and Jayden. It kept jumping in the pond and finally brought out a four foot stick. Jeff tossed it into the water and the dog dove right in to the water after the stick. They continued playing fetch for a while. Another couple who rode up on bikes was watching and after a short time mentioned how well behaved our dog was. I said it is a really well behaved dog, too bad it is not even mine! They thought that was so funny! We played a little longer then decided to go up further to the upper park. We knew it would have more leaves to play in. We had a blast making a giant leaf pile and burying Jayden in the pile first, then daddy. We also saw a horse trailer and Jeff and Jayden went to see it! It was such a beautiful day, and so nice to enjoy the warm weather!
I hope you are all having a great fall season!

I LOVE my BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-09-09T19:55:00.002-06:00

Thank you to all of you who called to wish me a happy birthday, you truely made my day special! Jeff got me an MP3 player and a puzzle for us to do as a family. I must say my favorite gift was from Jayden. Jeff took her to walmart to all the toy aisles to pick out something special for me. She really wanted a shark, but they couldn't find one. But she found something even better. She picked out the prettiest princess dress she could find! It was a childrens size 3! It fit over my shoulders perfectly! For some reason it seamed to fit her a lot better! It is such a cute dress, but I have a feeling Jayden will get much more use out of the dress!

Jeff suprised me today and took us to Park City for shopping and lunch. We left the kids at my moms and had such a fun day together! Thanks hun!

Let the Birthday Celebration begin!

2008-09-09T19:44:00.001-06:00

Since my birthday should be considered a national holiday, I took work off Monday and Tuesday (my birthday actually on Tuesday). We took the kids up to the state fair in SLC. There is so much to do! Jayden got to ride on the horse named Thunder and we got to walk thru and see sheep, goats and cows. Collin thought they were very cool, and after petting one of them came out with a handful of hair!
We got to take the kids for an adventure on the farm to learn about earning money. They got to feed a cow, pick apples from a tree, plant seeds, drive hay to the sheep, and take all of our food to the market to sell. Then they got a "dollar" for all their hard work and got to pick out a treat to "buy." It was fun for kids of all ages! By the way Jeff held up the kids in the college faces, and we just barely noticed that they are switched in the boy and girl heads. I blame Jeff :)
While walking around we saw a transformer, which scared Jayden (bottom right hand picture). We got to go on some fun rides and spend lots of money! Jeff bought me a churro that costed $4! I swear that they used to cost a $1.50...
Overall we had such a fun day...Happy Birthday to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Family Time

2008-08-25T11:43:00.000-06:00

So I have been a blogging slacker, but I am trying to catch up. These pictures are of a few fun things we have done lately. Jeff and I took Jayden and Collin to the Dinasour Museum at Thanksgiving Point. Every Tuesday in August is $2 Tuesdays. Jayden wasn't quite sure what to think about the giant bones she was seeing. They have a fun place with sand and water, with dinasours and trees that you can make your dino a home. We had fun walking around and seeing everything. We even saw a pair of sunglasses in one of the exhibits, and had no idea sunglasses were around that long ago :)
One of my good friends Deb and I took Jayden and Collin up to This is the Place Monument up in SLC. Macys was sponsoring the shirts and we thought it would be fun to go support it! She got to ride on a horse, water corn, play in a train and a little village, and take a big and small train ride. They also have houses you can go in and do activities. We had a blast. Afterwards we all got treats, and you can see where most of Jayden's treat ended up!

Fish Lake

2008-08-10T12:14:00.001-06:00

So I am a little slow about getting this blogged, but here it is! Last weekend we went to Fish Lake with Jeff's side of the family. Jeff's parents rent an amazing cabin that we can all stay in together! Fish Lake is a georgeous place, if you haven't ever been there, I reccomend it! We had such a fun time taking the kids out on the boat to catch perch. They catch fast and they are fun for the kids. In one of the pictures on the boat you can see Jayden holding a worm. Shortly after that she didn't want it close to her. She is so funny. After a full day of fishing, she fell asleep on the boat, it was so cute!
One of the days we were there, Melissa and I decided to color while the guys were out fishing, and we decided to make it into a little contest, one for our brother-in-law Josh to be the judge. They were arrriving later that day. So we colored our little hearts out, and of course, we each thought ours was the best. Josh arrived and we layed out all of the pictures. Melissa entered 3 pictures, I entered 2, Jeff entered 1 and my father-in-law entered 1, but put his initials on the page so he was disqualified. The judging began, and 1st place was my Strawberry Shortcake picture! I was so thrilled, because Melissa is so competative. 2nd place-my pony picutre! Jeff hoisted me in the air as I went prancing around, so proud! 3rd place was her Strawberry Shortcake picture. The look of devestation on her face was the best moment of my life (ok, not really, but you have to understand how competitive she truly is--the truth has come out). As I was cheering I glanced over, and there she was, with my picture in hand, just staring at it. Then she called Josh over to explain why my picture was so much better. To make circumstances even better, knowing how great this was that I won, Jeff held an awards ceremony. For my 1st place picture I recieved a portable DVD player (owned by me), my 2nd place picture I recieved a digital camera (owned by me), and Melissa's 3rd place she recieved a bag of cheetos. I offered her coloring lessons, if she was interested. Melissa, you know I love ya!
Karen was so sweet and loved to hang out at the cabin with the babies. One of the days we rented a "party boat", which was so great! It had a carpeted deck, and tons of space for the kids to play on deck. It was fun because the entire family was able to go out at once, including the babies!
Overall, Fish Lake was so much fun and so memorable! Thanks Boyd and Karen!

Trip to Bear Lake

2008-07-27T15:30:00.000-06:00

I started my vacation for 10 days last Friday, and Jeff had to work all weekend, so I decided to pack up the kids and go up to Bear Lake with the kids and my family. My aunt and uncle's family have a cabin up there. It was about a 3 hour drive. Am I slightly crazy to take the kids alone? I say yes, but the kids were great on the drive up! (We will talk about the drive back later :) )Collin slept about 2 hours, and Jayden slept over an hour. That evening we relaxed and hung out with the cousins at the cabin. Jayden was in seventh heaven being with her cousins. They watched a movie that evening, and she then decided to sleep in a twin bed with me rather than with all of her cousins. Fun! I had Collin in his car seat next to me. He had been awake for a long period of time that evening so I assumed that he would sleep so well! Boy was I wrong! He woke up at 12, 3, 4:30 and 6:30. At 4:30 I decided he would sleep a little longer laying next to me, so all 3 of us were sleeping in a twin bed! Good thing we are all small! The next morning we got ready and went down to the lake. It is such a beautiful aqua color, the pictures don't do justice! Jayden went out in the water, and something (probably seaweed) touched her foot, and she freaked out thinking it was a dolphin. I had to explain that there aren't dolphins in the lake, so she decided it was a fish. My cousin went out into the water with a plastic bat and pretended to "kill the fish" so she wouldn't be scared, but that didn't work. It was very entertaining to watch, and defiantly worth it! She enjoyed sitting on a tube being pulled around in the water. We took her on a tube ride pulled by the boat. It is a tube with 3 places to sit, so she was on my lap in the middle, with my brother and his girlfriend on the sides of us. She loved it. After her ride my brother and I decided we wanted a more adventurous ride. Our first ride we skidded outside the wake behind the boat, and I got dumped off. It was so fun! We decided to go on one more ride, and wow, it should go in the record books. We again were outside the wake and we hit a huge swell that popped us up clear in the air. My family in the boat said they could see the bottom of the tube, and I was above that flying high in the air. They said I was about 8 feet in the air before I hit the water! It was quite the adventure! Oh the best part? My brother stayed on both times! What a punk! We stayed at the lake for close to 5 hours, Collin also did great hanging out in the shade.
That evening we went into town and got delicious shakes. That night we had a bigger bed, and Collin only woke up at 4 and 6:30. We had another great breakfast, and packed up and came home to my cute husband! The first hour of the ride home the kids were whinny and tired, but they both fell asleep until we were a few minutes from home, so it worked out great! We missed Jeff so much! We were so excited to get home to him, and missed him on our trip, but defiantly enjoyed it!

2008-07-22T21:42:00.000-06:00

Tonight we decided to get out of the house and go do something fun. We came up with the idea of going up to Bridal Veil Falls. It was absolutely beautiful! We picked up KFC, had a picnic and went up to play in the water. Jayden cracks me up. The water was ice cold, but she wanted nothing more than to play in it forever! Jeff went out and waded in the water with her, and played around in the falls. She kept refering to it as Fish Lake (because she knows we are going there soon). I highly recommend taking the time to go up there with your families, and enjoy the summer weather!

Happy Fourth of July!

2008-07-05T14:08:00.001-06:00

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY TO EVERYONE! I hope that you all had a fun, happy and safe holiday! We had such a fun day! It all began at 8 am, and ended at 10:45 pm! My kids are such little troopers! We went to the parade down in Provo, which was a blast. Just Jayden and I went with my mom, grandma aunt and uncle. Collin and Jeff stayed back because of the heat, yea... (Jeff doesn't love parades). Jayden was pretending to play the musical instruments with the bands that came thru. After that we went and walked around the boothes at the Freedom Festival for a little while. Around 1 pm we met up with Jeff and Collin and went out to Hobble Creek canyon with the Nuttall family for a barbeque. My mother in law (the same favorite one), and my sister in law Janelle (who just got back from Switzerland this week) decided to go walk around the boothes a little more. Jayden took a few minute nap on the way there. It was so much fun! They had blow up slides that Jayden was able to play on, and she went "fishing" and got a whistle (yeah! a whistle! my favorite!). We left and went up and had a barbeque and did
fireworks works with my family. I have 2 brothers that can't just do fireworks, they have to make them bigger and more explosive. It was so fun to watch. We all had boxes of poppers, and it was fun to scare each other with them!
Today we are simply recovering from all the fun :)

We LOVE Summer!

2008-07-02T16:20:00.001-06:00

So I wanted to get Jayden one of those sprinkler balls, but realized that I have no where to store it. My friend told me about a sprinkler that she used to play with as a kid, and I went to Lowes and got this for $3.oo! Even better :)

Need I Say More?

2008-06-28T09:40:00.001-06:00

Last night I was cleaning up toys, and Collin started getting a little fussy in his swing, so I hooked up the links for him to play with. I looked away for a couple of minutes, and this is what I saw when I looked back over! Jayden had found the pile of Collins toys, and was making sure he had enough to play with! I counted a total of about 20!

So Jeff has discovered a new way to entertain both kids! This is Jayden's doll stoller. Don't be so alarmed, the bottom of the chair has a double cross bar for safety, and he is wearing his seat belt! :)

Summer Fun with Mommy

2008-06-17T21:02:00.000-06:00

Saturday night I took Jayden and Collin to the Orem Summerfest! Don't worry, I am not crazy enough to do this alone. My friend Deb and her husband came with us. It was so much fun! They hold their parade in the evening, so we had time to go on a ride before and after the parade. She had so much fun at the parade talking to the princesses, and one even gave her the last piece of candy she had. She watched the parade for an hour and a half, which was a shock to me that it kept her attention that long. Jayden loved riding in the boat, and dragging her hand along in the water. The third picture in here is a picture of Deb with Jayden. Jayden loves to play with her, and since she doesn't yet have kids of her own, I would say that Jayden and Collin are her favorites! Jayden didn't want to leave the carnival, but eventually I convinced her by telling her we would go to more throughout the summer. She is definantely getting too smart for her age! :) ( I am sure some of you can relate)

Summer Fun with Daddy

2008-06-17T20:34:00.001-06:00

One of Jayden's favorite things to do is to play with daddy in the sandbox. He was digging a giant hole, and Jayden kept telling him to dig deeper so she could climb in. She did, and she loved being buried up to her arms! She is so funny! They also built a canal for water, and Jayden climbed right in! In the last picture she looks a little cold, but on such a warm day, what better way is there to cool down? :)

Greatest Husband in the World!

2008-06-15T21:53:00.000-06:00

So this is my tribute to the greatest husband in the world (you are just in denial if you think your husband is better). He is such a loving and caring guy. He gets about 3-4 hours of sleep most nights and is soooo amazing with our two kids. He takes such good care of them, and Jayden loves to play forever with daddy. Her favorite things to do with daddy are play in the sandbox, hear him sing lullibies, and have tea parties. No matter how tired he is he MAKES time for the kids. I love him so much, and appreciate all that he sacrifices for his family!

2008-06-01T16:40:00.000-06:00

On Friday my favorite mother-in-law Karen (and she's not just my favorite because she is my only one), and I took Jayden, Collin, my niece and nephew to Discovery Park at the Gateway Mall in Salt Lake. It is such a fun place, I recommend it to anyone with kids! They have tons to do! We went and played for a little while, then walked over to the food court, had a QUICK bite to eat, with the kids playing on the toys more than eating, then headed back over to the park for some fun-filled adventure! They have a HUGE open area with a construction zone, play house, water area, farm, grocery store, and tree house all within visable range. So where is the picture with all 4 kids together? YEA RIGHT! We tried and tried to get the 3 older ones to sit still, but with so much to do, there was no time! They were so cute playing together. We played for 5 hours, and we were convinced that the kids would never run out of stuff to do. We were so proud of ourselves for taking out 4 kids, and surviving that long! We had so much fun doing it. That night Jayden was laying in my bed quietly, and she turned to me and said "Mom, I like grandma Karen for taking me to the Discovery Museum." The next morning she wanted to go back up there and play some more! So cute :)
Karen with Collin in front of the grocery store :)
Jayden's told me that her favorite thing was the horse. The kids climb up the stairs, and can climb up onto him! She was so cute posing for the picture :)
So this is one of the closest pictures I got of even 2 kids to look at the camera! This is over next to the tree house.

911 Emergency!

2008-05-25T09:32:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I was up in Sandy with my mom, grandma and the kids. We were able to meet up with Jeff, and see the ambulance. Jayden was so excited. Isn't Jeff the hottest paramedic you have ever seen? I think so :) Jayden was being so cute playing on the radio, trying on medical gloves, and laying on the bed. (Don't worry, it was a clean sheet, I asked) She even got to turn on the sirens for a second, and sound the horn! I just asked her what her favorite thing on the ambulance was and she told me hit somebody. She is always being a tease!
I don't think she is a certified medic, but it would brighten up my day to see this cute face!

Luckily she didn't hit the button to talk to anyone! She also pretended like these were a phone, and had one up to both ears!

Planting Flowers

2008-05-17T11:19:00.002-06:00

We planted flower yesterday, and yes, this was Jayden's reaction to getting her hands in the dirt. She would help for a second, and then she would talk about how yucky her hands were, and she would go wash them out in the faucet. She spent the majority of her time playing in the water, while I took pictures, and Jeff planted the flowers. I helped for a little bit, but I couldn't keep my flowers in a straight row, so I left the planting to my amazing husband. There was a moment when both Jeff and I were in the house, and when we came back out there was a plant with no flower buds on it. The buds were sitting on the edge of the planter box, and we had to explian that we can't pull those off!
Collin spent his time napping, and laying on a blanket in the backyard. He is such a smily little guy, and loves attention (which of course, we love to give him).
Jeff had built this planter box in the backyard when he built the sandbox, but it had been to cold to plant anything.
I had to put this bottom picture on of how cute and crazy my kids are! I love them so much :)

Mom and Me at the Zoo

2008-05-11T15:07:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was Mom and Me at the Zoo. The title fit us perfect, because it was my mom and me at the zoo :) We sell the shirts at Macys department store (where I work), so my mom and I decided to take Jayden and Collin. Jeff was home catching some zzzzzzzzz's because of his overnight work schedule. They had some fun activities for us with shirts. We did a craft and made a cute headband with flowers. The next booth we went to was face painting. Jayden, after much decision making, decided to be a tiger. They were willing to do any animal you wanted! I decided to let Jayden choose what I would be, and tada, she chose a giraffe! Aren't we cute? My mom chose to be a butterfly. They were also serving free ice cream, and they had 6 different flavors to taste. They let us taste as many as we wanted! They did have free massages for moms (Happy Mothers Day to those of you reading), but we didn't make it in time to that area. After that we went on the train ride. The craziest part is when they take you thru the buffalo part, and they are just loose in there! Jayden was sitting on the train saying "chugga chugga," having so much fun. After all of those activities we decided it was time to go see some animals. They were all moving around and being fairly active. The best was the giraffes. I'd have to say I am the best looking giraffe on this page :-) They were inside eating, and Jayden really wanted to go into their pin with them. We had to keep explaining to her that she was too little . They did have a cute baby giraffe to look at. We had such a fun time at the zoo. Collin slept most of the time, which worked well so he wasn't out in the sun.

I didn't know that lions ate tigers!

Our Trip to Moab

2008-05-05T22:25:00.000-06:00

My parents have a fun tradition of taking our family to Moab every year, so we left Collin with my fabulous mother-in-law, and decided to make it a fun trip for Jayden. When we arrived we decided to set up camp. As you can see from the top picture, the tent looks fairly normal, but isn't even close. Jeff and I started putting poles in slots. We began with 2 long poles and 5 short. We placed the long ones in what we thought were the correct spots (crossing over the biggest part of the tent, and connecting at the bottom), but as soon as we connected them, one corner would come loose. To make matters worse, We had 5 spots left for poles (that none of them crossed each others path to connect), and 5 poles. For those of you who have put tents together, we were in need of expert assistance! We tried everything from one of us standing in the tent to see if we could see more slots for poles to laying it down flat and starting over. After a short time we said "forget this, we will deal with this later". My brother and dad came back from a bike ride, and we enlisted the help of my brother (who just graduated as a mechanical engineer), and knew we had found our expert advise. After admiring the job we had done so far, the knowledge came that we were missing the top piece (that would connect all of our poles that were pointing to the sky together)! FYI--Jeff gathered the tent--So as you can see in the next picture, they found a plastic bowl in our car, and decided to duct tape (works for anything right?) our tent poles inside. There were six of us around, 4 holding poles up, one holding the bowl down, and Jeff duct taping the poles inside the bowl. Jeff, in his duct taping madness, had the sticky side up, so the first few rap-a-rounds didn't stick, (and we were all laughing too hard to tell him), managed to make it stay up. I'll let you finish laughing for just a second, yes there is more! So we figured we could stack bags in the corner to hold the tent up, and Jeff climbed inside to blow up the air matress. He came out and notified me that he had seen 2 air mattresses in the attic, but just "picked one," and it turned out to be a twin size mattress (that us 3 were supposed to sleep on), and that the pump didn't even fit it, even if we wanted to try and make it work! FYI--Jeff gathered the mattress--After all of this, we decided to just rent a cabin from the same campground. What have I learned in all of this you ask? I from now on, will do the packing, ALL OF IT!

Later on that day, we went hiking up by Slickrock bike riding trails. We had so much fun just being together as a family, and enjoying each others company!

Day 2 In Moab

2008-05-03T15:54:00.004-06:00

On our second day in Moab, we went to the Arches National Park. It was so much fun! The first hike we did was to Delicate Arch. It is a 3 mile hike round trip. Jayden walked almost the whole way up, and part of the way down. We couldn't believe how much she walked! It was so windy on top, as you can see from our hair blowing in the wind, we didn't stay long up there. It is an incredible view! The center picture in the collage is Jayden within 5 minutes after finishing our hike! After eating lunch, we went to Sand Dune Arch. For those of you who haven't been to Arches, it is a huge area of soft sand in the shade. Unfortunately it was so windy, and sand was blowing in our eyes, we got a few pictures in the narrow rocks you hike thru, and we left. We decided to go to Double Arch, or as Jayden would call it, echo arch. It was fun to yell so loud, and Jayden thought it was so funny! They have a sign posted before hiking in that area, that if you see a mountain lion, pick up your small children! I figure if I saw one, my hubby would protect me! We went to a couple of other arches, and had so much fun being outdoors, and seeing a beautiful national park! Did you notice in which picture you can see a sheep? It is actually named sheep rock! And yes, there is a picture of me concuring that mountain! Don't I look so tough :)

This is Double Arch, an amazing sight to see!

The top middle picture is sheep rock
In case you were wondering, Jeff and Jayden really are holding up that rock :)

The Mayan

2008-04-24T18:45:00.000-06:00

So today we decided today we decided to take Jayden out for a couple of suprises. The first place we took her to was the Mayan up in Sandy. These pictures are in the waiting area...don't worry, the divers are coming :) They have redone the resturant and the menu, and it was really good food. We watched the divers 3 times. It was so cool! They have changed the diving show, and it was so entertaining. They were playing and throwing each other off cliffs, then hiding from each other. I tried to save them, ran out and offered my hand, but they said "ma am, this is just an act." How was I supposed to know? : ) At the end of the diving shows, Jayden said "Lets go to my next suprise!"

Here it is ladies! This is the only picture I have left of the divers, but I figured it was worth posting. Jeff "accidentely" erased the other pictures that I had taken. :( You might just have to go see the show for your self!

Living Planet Aquarium

2008-04-24T18:17:00.000-06:00

So for Jayden's second suprise we decided to take her to the Living Planet Aquarium. It was such a fun place to go! Collin decided to wake up and play with us. It was so cool to see octupus, jelly fish, and tons of exotic fish. The best part was the sting rays that you can pet. Jeff and Jayden had fun putting their hands in the water. Me you ask? Someone had to watch Collin and take the pictures :) Jayden touched them a few times, but she was kind of nervous. I wonder if she remembers what happened last time she petted them. Last summer my mother-in-law and I took Jayden and her 2 cousins to the aquarium. She went to take pictures on the far side and I stayed with the 3 kids, hands dangling in the water. Suddenly, a sting ray came up and touched all of their hands, and they all freaked out and started crying. It scared them all so bad! It was so funny and tramatic all at the same time!

First Smile Caught on Camera

2008-04-18T10:40:00.002-06:00

I am soooooooo excited that I got this picture! Collin has been smiling a lot lately but I have not been able to capture it on camera. He is so much fun and has such a sweet personality. Jayden is getting more curious about what she can and can't do to Collin. The other day he was sitting in the corner of the couch and she pulled him down so he was laying flat, and later that night he was on a blanket and she decided to move him by dragging him by his pants, so by the time I got to him his pants were around his ankles:) I have heard that the second child of the family goes thru a lot and I am afraid I am only seeing the beginning of the truth! Jayden's newest response when you ask her why she did that (like drag her brother across the floor) is " Because me had to." I would like to know who told her that she "had to" so I can send them to time-out instead:)

2008-04-14T15:24:00.000-06:00

Today before Jeff left for work we decided to go have a picnic at the park! It was so much fun, and Jayden had a blast! Collin decided to take a nap rather than play on the slides:) Jayden was so funny, she loved going up to the very tallest slide and going down all by herself! She made a friend, and they were having so much fun following each other around. We are looking forward to more warm days, hopefully soon!

Jayden and Collin

2008-04-10T09:20:00.007-06:00

I have been so excited to update my blog!
My ever so talanted sister-in-law Melissa took
these cute pictures of our kids for us. Collin is
now 5 weeks old, I can hardly believe it!
Time has gone by so fast. Jayden was being so cute for pictures, but you know her attention span, we did a handful of pictures and she was done!
Collin has such a sweet personality. He loves to be held and cuddled and rocked.
I love the last picture of him crying, he has such cute facial expressions!

More Cute Pictures

2008-04-10T09:08:00.001-06:00

While doing pictures of Collin, we decided to do some pictures of Jayden alone. Doesn't she look so sweet and innocent? She has been such a joy in our lives. She loves to help out and be involved with whatever we are doing. Tonight she came up to me and told me that she loves my blog! It was so cute!

Jayden has a "sign" that she does, and she says "whutz up" while doing it (thanks to my little brother). Out of know where she felt the need to show Melissa her "sign"!

I thought that these pictures turned out so cute!

This is Collin with his cousin Hallie who is 3 weeks

older than him. Hallie was being so good at staying asleep for Melissa to take the pictures, but Collin kept moving around. In the bottom picture Collin has one eye that is slightly open!

2008-03-28T13:26:00.001-06:00

These are the newest pictures of Collin that I took yesterday! He already seems like he has grown so much! I took him to the doctor 3 days ago and he weighs 8 pounds 8 ounces, and has grown 3 inches longer! He has such a sweet personality!

2008-03-26T23:54:00.000-06:00

Today I decided to do some pictures with Jayden in her cute Easter dress. She is almost two and a half, and is looking so grown up! How I got her to smile you ask? Candy of course!

2008-03-25T23:27:00.001-06:00

2008-03-25T23:15:00.000-06:00

Jeff decided last week that he really wanted to build a sandbox in our backyard for him and Jayden. Wait... did I say for him and Jayden? I think Jeff enjoys it just as much, if not more than Jayden! They have had such a blast out there!

Our New Sandbox

2008-03-25T21:45:00.000-06:00