Casey, Rachel, Isaiah, and Brooklyn Davis

Hawaii!!

2012-02-12T22:32:00.000-08:00

The first week of February Casey and I had the great privilege of taking a four day trip to Kona, Hawaii (which is on the Big Island of Hawaii.) We owe a big THANKS to Synergy Companies for inviting us to join them on their company retreat this year. And also a big THANKS to mom for coming out to watch our two kids for us the whole time we were gone! We wouldn't have been able to do this without you mom. Thanks again so much! It was both of our first times visiting Hawaii and hope we will get to go back sometime in the future! It was amazing and so worth it! It was a trip of a lifetime. So join me as I take you on our adventure through Hawaii. And for all of you who are freezing in winter snow and coldness we hope you can imagine you are here by looking at all the pictures and have a little getaway of your own. :) Just to help you imagine it a little better it was in the 80's pretty much the whole time we were there!

Sunset by our hotel the first night we were there

Another view from our hotel

Flying in to Hawaii

Wish I could have kept the camera on to get the really good pictures as we were close to landing. It was gorgeous.

After landing and getting through the airport we stopped at this little beach spot on our way to the hotel.

Beautiful lei that smelled WONDERFUL that Diana bought for me when we landed. I loved it! Never worn a fresh lei before and it really was heavenly. It was made of Plumeria and Orchids!

Big fat ugly sea cucumber. They were kinda gross to watch move around.

Black Starfish. They were really fast and would crawl under the rocks and hide from us. A lot of the creatures (star fish, crabs and sea urchins that we saw were all black to blend in with the lava rocks.)

Another sea cucumber. We only saw them at this location, not at the beach where we stayed, so it was kinda neat.

Next to this little beach spot was a cool little walking/nature path with lots of plants and flowers that we explored. So gorgeous!!

Hibiscus They were everywhere!

So many pretty different colors!

One of the craziest looking spiders I have ever seen. It looked like it was gold and silver. It was sparkling in the sun.

One of the pretty tropical floral arrangements at our hotel.

We stayed at the Keauhou Beach Resort! It was so awesome! Not only was it gorgeous the breakfasts there were amazing and it was such a great location!

View out front of the Resort

View from our hotel room balcony.

Another view from the balcony! Isn't it gorgeous!

Sunset that first night we arrived!

I think this is one of the best photos we got of us. This was Thursday night right before heading to dinner! Loved the orchid lei I got too! :)

Friday morning the meeting I was supposed to attend got canceled because the projector and all the other equipment they needed for the presentations kept getting sent back and forth between the other islands. So I was happy to go snorkeling with some of the other wives while Casey had his meeting! I have never been snorkeling before and was a little worried, but it was a blast once you get used to the coldness of the water on your face. Plus you have to get used to breathing through your mouth under water! Once my face got used to the temp of the water it was no problem though! This snorkel spot was right outside of the resort/hotel and it was amazing! There were lots of beautiful tropical fish everywhere. They wouldn't even swim away from you when you swam up to them! I WISH I had an underwater camera to capture all the beautiful fish I saw. My favorite one was bright purple and pink with turquoise around the edges. They were so pretty and so many different colors! Then as I was swimming along there would be these little needle fish floating at the surface of the water. They were about a foot long or so and they were clearish and would camouflage really well in the water. It kinda freaked me out because you would be swimming around and all of a sudden they would all be right in your face! It was really neat though and was glad that I got this experience! It felt like I was swimming in a really big fish tank! It was so cool!

This was a great snorkel spot. Some of the people saw the turtles swimming in the water with them while they snorkeled. They would come up in the shallow water and swim around and sun on the rocks. They were so cool

Hawaiian Green Turtles

After snorkeling that morning and after the big company meeting was over we all got ready and headed towards the Volcanic National Park! It was a long windy crazy road and luckily Casey got to ride in the front of the van or he would have been sick! :)

The tropical part of the Island on our way there

View of the ocean as we drove

On our way we stopped at the black sands beach. I was told that this is the only place in the world that has black sand beaches. ???? I still haven't confirmed this, but sound right? Anyway it was really neat. The sand was more course and didn't stick to you as much as "normal" sand does. It was so neat. It was a really pretty place to stop. We could see the turtles in the ocean swimming around in the waves and it was so relaxing after that long windy drive I didn't want to leave. :)

I was trying to get a good picture by this mossy rock that I loved but I about got soaked in the waves so this is the best that I got. :)

Deana and I's toes. You can see how pretty and black the sand is. It kinda looks like poppy seeds on our toes.

My favorite little mossy rocks. :)

Casey and Rachel at the black sand beach

I love how pretty the white water and the green moss and the black sand all look together!

Cutest little puppy that was playing in the sand. I just had to get some pictures!

After stopping at the black sand beach we continued on to see the volcanoes. Our next cool thing to see was what is called a lava tube. Somehow when the lava cools it forms these tubes, or little tunnels. Well this one was a really big one!

More lush tropical plants

Casey and I standing in the entrance to the huge lava tube!

Its hard to see how long it really was but if I remember right it was about the length of a football field!

Walking through the lava tube!

Just after exiting the lava tube! My hair was starting to get pretty crazy by this point due to the humidity and driving for so long with the van windows all rolled down! :)

Next stop was a really cool lava field. The lava went for as far as you could see. It was so neat!

We saw two "NeNe" or Hawaiian Geese. They used to be endangered so it was cool to see them this close up.

Casey and Tommy climbing on the lava hills

King of the mountain! :)

So fun!

These huge ferns were just growing right up out of the lava!

A little eruption spot

And more eruption spots

And this weird looking bubble that I guess cooled before it popped or something?

And this even weirder one that looked like a statue. LOL

A huge wall of lava that just stops!

Another eruption spot. Look at all the colors of rock!

These next ones are really cool! they were these deep pits and the rock looked like lava, but it wasn't glowing! Five years ago when our group came to this spot they actually saw lava flowing from these!

This one was a huge crack in the earth that went on forever...like the earth just opened up! So crazy!

These are some small lava tubes that kinda collapsed.

I loved how shiny and multi-colored these rocks were! Who knew a rock could be so cool right? They were kinda like glass. It was neat!

Here you can see how the lava flowed right out onto the road and just cooled. Then in the back of the picture the lava completely wiped out the whole road. The road just completely disappears!

Vast lava flows as far as you can see. It was crazy how there would be random plants and big trees that would grow up through the lava. As we drove along the road there would be signs all along the way saying what year each of the eruptions happened. It was really neat!

I think this picture turned out gorgeous! Click it to make it bigger!

Then we stopped to check out all of the steam rising up out of the earth! It was really neat!

It reminded me a little of Yellowstone. It was kind of surreal thinking that we are standing on an active volcano that could possibly go off at any moment and here we are feeling this hot air just coming out of holes and cracks in the earth.

We never actually got to see the lava flowing, but this was a s close as we came. We saw the glow from the lava down the hillside after dark! It was crazy!!!!!!!!!!

Hard to get a good picture of it at night.

It was a long fun day. Even though my van accidentally left me at the visitors center while I went in to use the bathroom. I came out to find them driving down the road without me. I tried to stop them but they didn't see me. And since Casey had been riding in the front so he wouldn't be car sick and I had been riding in the back of the van, I was wondering how long I would be left at the visitor center before my van realized I wasn' t there. Luckily it was only a few minutes. Good thing because the visitors center was getting ready to close and there weren't very many people there and we were out in the very middle of nowhere! :) So after seeing all these cool volcanic rocks and steam and the glow and the huge lava tunnel/tube and taking the long drive home we didn't get back to the resort until 10:30 pm if I remember correctly.

On Saturday morning we had time to relax. Then we headed over to Neptune Charlies and Timberwolf and we got to get on their boats. They took us out in the ocean and we got to snorkel and dive (for those who were certified) out in the ocean! This was the highlight of my trip! The water is way warmer there than it is here in San Diego and so pretty and blue! Our first stop we got to get out and snorkel with a manta ray. It was really neat. This time was Casey's first time snorkeling since he didn't get to go with me the morning before. Let's just say Casey was having a tough time snorkeling :) Then our next stop we got to get out and snorkel with dolphins! It was the coolest thing ever! I think I can say it was one of the neatest things I have ever done! There were pods of dolphins everywhere and they would swim all around us. Instead of swimming away they just kept circling the boats. The closest I got to them in the water was probably about 5 feet away! Three of them swam right up to me! How cool is that? It was such a neat experience swimming with these big friendly animals in the wild! Again I wish I had an underwater camera so I could have captured some better pictures! So after we were really tired from swimming all around Casey and I headed back towards the boat to take a break. We then got on the Kayak and paddled all around! We would look for a pod of dolphins and paddle over to them and they would just be swimming and jumping all around us! We could have reached out and touched them that was how close we were to them! It was SOOOOO NEAT! There were so many of them and it was so cool to see them jump up out of the water and spin and do flips! Oh and it was really neat to hear them singing while we were in the water too! I really think this was a once in a life time kind of expereince that I don't know if I will ever get again! So it just makes it that much neater. Plus now I can say that I have swam with dolphins!

At this same snorkel spot I also must have swam into some jellyfish larva. They stung my leg up a little bit. I didn't see them or a jellyfish or anything. It happened soon after we first jumped into the water. I didn't want to miss the dolphins and I really wasn't sure what the stinging on my leg was. I thought about jelly fish but I didn't see one. Then I thought that maybe I got a scrape on my leg and the salt water was irritating it. but I was so excited to see the dolphins I didn't think about it too much. Once I got back on the boat I checked it out and it was like a red rash on my leg that was a little swollen. So I asked the captain and he said it was probably a sting from jelly fish larvae. He sprayed some stuff on it (I think it was baby shampoo in a a spray bottle) and then it was fine. It really was probably only stinging for about 5 minutes in the water. Either that or I was having so much fun with the dolphins I just didn't notice it much. But it is kinda fun saying that I got stung by it. :) haha

We didn't have our camera out much because we didn't want it to get ruined in the water so i tried to get some pictures from the boat. Some turned out okay. Wish I could have gotten some better ones especially when they were all around our kayak and jumping, but we didn't have our camera with us out there!

We also saw two hump back whales! They came pretty close to our boat! So cool! This was the best shot we got of them. It was neat seeing all the water that would spray up out of their blow holes!

The water was so beautiful!!!!

I thought this was a cool picture.

Love the colors of the water! It's way prettier than any swimming pool!

This was the next dive spot. We didn't get out here because we were really tired by this time and there weren't any cool things like dolphins, manta rays, or whales. Just regular fish. :)

We had such a fun time out on the boats! It was an experience I will never forget! Then Saturday night we got to go to this really cool place at the four seasons resort and eat dinner on the beach at a place called Sand, surf and stars. It was the fanciest buffet I have ever seen in my life! It was a really expensive place at $100 a person! They brought us really yummy drinks with orchids in them. I learned from our waitress that if you have a flower in your hair on your left ear that means you are taken. If it is on your right ear then you are available and if it is in the back of your hair by the end of the night then that was a flirtatious signal meaning follow me home. :) There was endless delicious food. There was a cold salad bar that had all sorts of delicious things. I tried some of the sushi and it was pretty good even though I am not a sushi person. Then they had things like lobster tail, ribs, all kinds of fish, steak, chicken, shell fish and more! Plus all the sides of rice, mashed potatoes, and island vegetables. It was so delicious. Saving room for all the desserts was the hard part! They had delicious chocolate mouse, chocolate or coconut souffle and all sorts of other yummy delicious stuff! Once the sun went down there was star gazing available and they also had a spot light on the ocean and we saw some of the turtles swimming around in the ocean. :)

This was a picture of the place. It had one of those really cool never ending pools with a view out to the ocean. This place had luxury written all over it! It was breathtaking.

We were seated at these tables in the sand right next to the ocean!

You can see that the other people are seated to the right and the buffet is in the back of the picture. They also had a live band and a dancer for the whole dinner!

What a great end to the day! Then the next morning was Sunday and we went to church. The church was located right next to the Kona temple. A cute little baby was blessed and it was once of the neatest blessing I have ever heard. The little girls name took about five minutes to say it was so long. She was blessed through every step of her life. I think she was born to a teenage girl and I think this baby needed those blessings to help her and her mom. It was really special. The little girl sitting next to me was the cutest little Hawaiian girl with these cute big brown eyes. She kept smiling at me and pointing to the flowers on my dress. I was really missing my kids by this point and I just wanted to pick her up and squeeze her. She was so cute! After church we walked around the temple. We saw this cute little gecko. He was really fast and kept trying to hide from us. He was a bright green with a bright turquoise blue around his eyes! Another time when we were in walmart Casey had this little one crawl on his arm! they are so cute!

Kona Hawaii Temple

The rest of the day we spent relaxing at the hotel and waiting for our flight out that night. As we were getting ready to leave for the airport Casey spotted some hump back whales jumping out in the ocean by our hotel! They kept surfacing and jumping clear up out of the water! It was really neat. We didn't want to leave we just wanted to keep watching them. But we didn't want to miss our flight either, so we finally left. It was a great end to an awesome vacation!

The trip home was long and we didn't get home until 8:00am Monday morning! But although we were very tired it was so worth it and we would go back in a heart beat if we could! It was such a magical place and we recommend it to anyone who wants a nice warm getaway!

Brooklyn 6 months old!

2012-01-23T21:30:00.000-08:00

Can you believe that she is already half a year old?! I can't! I'm not sure where the time went but it sure did go by fast! She is still my sweet little girl although she is definitely growing up fast! She has been eating solids since we got home from our Christmas/Wedding trip and she now loves eating rice cereal with bananas and wheat cereal with applesauce. Those are her favorites. The last week or so I started introducing some veggies. She has tried sweet potatoes and likes them okay and today for the first time peas. She wasn't a huge fan, but ate them alright. Her rice cereal with bananas makes her constipated, so I tried giving her some prunes the other day and she hated them! Her face was soooo funny! I had to mix some in with her cereal in order for her to even eat it, but it sure did the trick! :) She usually eats solids once or twice a day now and is getting to be quite the champ at it.

One of her favorite things to do is watch Isaiah. She loves him so much and wishes he would give her more attention. She giggles so much when he will laugh with her! It is the cutest thing ever! Yesterday when I was getting them ready for bed I pulled their shirts off part way so they were stuck on their heads like hats and had them both look in the mirror together. They were both laughing so hard I wish I could have gotten it on video, but Casey was gone and I was holding Brooky so I just enjoyed the moment while it lasted. :)

She also loves shaking her rattles, getting put up high in the air, and looking in the mirror. She loves to rock back and forth and loves slamming her head back into the couch while she rocks. She can sit up really good now, but loves rocking so much I have to be careful or she will just suddenly throw herself back. :) She is also loving bath time and is starting to learn how to make some pretty good waves. I am sure before long they will be splashing everywhere! I think she loves it so much because she can kick those legs as much as she wants in there because she isn't wearing her brace. She still loves twirling her ankles and is such a sweet baby most of the time. Lately she has been a little more cranky and I am not sure if she is getting ready to cut teeth, or if it is the little cough she has that is bothering her. But we sure love this sweet baby and her big fat rolls! And I can never get enough of her chubby cheeks! She definitely knows her name and will always look at you when you call for her. She still usually wakes up once a night to eat, but it usually isn't too bad, so doesn't bother me too much, but I was hoping now that she was on solids that she would start sleeping through the night. Oh well. Here is my beautiful baby and yes i may be biased, but I think she is a doll, even with that big scratch she gave herself. She woke up with it on Sunday morning. It sure was a big one and her fingernails aren't even long!

These are the pictures of her at 6 months old. She is my little doll, even with the big scratch.

I LOVE this cute girl!

She looks so big to me in this one!

Her hair is starting to get thick and she already has way more hair than Isaiah did at this age. Even if it still is short. :)

These ones were taken just a few days before she turned 6 months, but she doesn't have that big scratch on her cheek, so I thought I would include them too. :)

She smiles so easy and at everyone! I love it!

All Smiles

So Happy

This face cracks me up!

Isaiah took this picture. He has been taking several lately. Most of them I have to delete, but this was a cute one. She actually likes the food, but is turning to look at him and he was so close she blinked when the flash blinded her! :)

Potty Trained, Flowers, Beach, and MORE!

2012-01-22T22:30:00.000-08:00

*Warning this post is long because I decided to put it all together in one post instead of doing several small ones. :) Also has a few "potty words" because Isaiah is now going in the potty! :) Hope you enjoy.

It has been a very good week! It all started when Sunday (Jan15th) I returned home from church to hear the good news that Isaiah had gone pee pee in the potty! I was shocked. Now let me back up a bit and fill you all in. Earlier in the week Isaiah had gotten really bad diarrhea and his bum was really sore. Thanks to a friend telling us that when her little girl had the same problem the doctors recommended putting Mylanta mixed with Desitin and make a paste to put on their bum. The antacid helps to get rid of the acid that burns their bottom. I though it was worth a shot and sure enough it cleared right up after not long at all. When we put it on he screamed and screamed. Casey had to hold him down while I put it on him. Well he didn't like it at all, but is sure cleared up the rash fast. So Sunday morning came and we weren't sure if he should go to nursery since he had been sick, so Casey stayed home with the kids while I went to church. I would have stayed, but I had to teach my primary class. And when I came home he had gone in the potty twice! I was shocked because I was just the day before telling my friend how he had no interest in going in the potty at all. He was perfectly content on wearing dirty diapers and refused to even let me try and put him on the potty. (Previous to this I had let him pick out his own potty chairs and we bought him Thomas the Train underwear and tried getting him to be excited about going. He never wanted to and would scream and struggle if I tried to get him to even try. He wouldn't even try on the underwear to see how they felt. So I figured he wasn't ready and we would patiently wait until he was.)

So when I returned home from church to hear the news I was shocked! I'm not sure if he decided he was ready because we kept telling him that he wouldn't have that bad rash if he would just go poo poo in the potty. Or if he heard me telling my friend over the phone how he didn't want to and he wanted to prove me wrong that he really was ready and mom doesn't know anything! Or if it was because his dad had the magic touch and was able to convince him in a way that I wouldn't. All Casey did was tell him that he is a big boy and he can go in the potty and that when he was ready to come and tell him and he would help him. he showed him what to do and how easy it is. After Zaya went in his diaper one more time that day he just reminded him again that next time if he wanted to he could tell him and he would help Zaya go in the potty. So sure enough the next time he had to go he came to his dad and went in the potty. And he has been going ever since! And now after one whole week of potty training he is doing so AWESOME!

At first he had a few times where he would get his underwear a little wet and then realize he didn't have a diaper on and then run to the potty to finish going. Then he did have one time on Tuesday that he peed himself and he wasn't too happy about it running down his legs. So after that I think he was determined that he would stop it from happening again. Well it did happen one more time on Friday, but it was probably part my fault. We had been out shopping all morning and he stayed dry the whole time. Then when we got home I put the kids in the house and went back down to finish getting the groceries. When I came back inside a few minutes later he was frustrated/screaming and crying in the bathroom because he couldn't get his pants off his ankle and he couldn't hold it anymore and had wet himself again. If I would have helped him go before I went back down for the groceries I am sure he wouldn't have had that accident. Other than that he has wet the bed the past two nights but the other night kept them dry. I think I just need to stop letting him sneak water to bed with him and this will hopefully stop.

Overall I am SO SO PROUD of my son and how great he has been doing! Never once has he pooped in his big boy underwear and he loves all the praise he gets and how fun it is to pick a treat out of the basket off of the fridge. (It takes him like 5 minutes to decide, no joke!) But I am just happy that he is excited about it and how well he is doing! So much better than I could have hoped for! I always thought it would be much harder than this. So far so good. I never have to ask him if he has to go he will just always run in there and go and when he is done I help him put his undies and pants back on. He is SO BIG! And it is crazy how much bigger he seems now with his big boy underwear on!

Here he is in his dad's hat and his big boy undies!

It's amazing how much more grown up he looks without that diaper!

So happy to be running around without any clothes! :)

My little handsome man who lately loves posing for the camera and taking hundreds of pictures with it as well. :)

On Wednesday we also got to go to a nice dinner hosted by Casey's work. It was held at a golf course in Temecula and the food was delicious! Every employee got to bring their spouse and there were lots of people there! We had a great evening spending some time together without the kids and are so grateful for our good friends Aline and Ben watching them for us at the last second. We had a couple of babysitters that we had lined up. One canceled early on because of mutual (it was new beginnings) and the other got sick and couldn't at the last minute. So we were so thankful for them to bail us out so I could still go spend the evening with Casey. And so proud of Zaya that he didn't have any accident while at their house! The event was really nice and worth the struggle that it was to actually get there.

So my week was already going really well because Zaya was doing awesome at potty training. I had heard so many horrible stories about other kids potty training that I was prepared for much worse. Well then to make my week even better Casey came home early from work with a big bouquet of flowers on Thursday! I was so surprised and excited! Happy that he was home early and I LOVE getting flowers. Although when I saw how many of them there were I was a little worried at how much he had spent! Well my day got even better when I found out that it was only.... wait for it....$16! He got it at a little flower market down the road from our house! I told him that I was so excited that if we could get flowers like this for that price we may just have to stay here forever! I wan't a huge fan of the wrap that it came in so I decided to arrange it myself and decided that since it was so big I would make two arrangements instead. I just wasn't a huge fan of all the colors and flowers all together in the same bouquet. Wish I would have taken a before picture so you could see what it used to look like. Oh well. Anyway here is what it turned out looking like when I was done with it.

So gorgeous and exotic! LOVE it!

I love the color of orange roses and birds of paradise are so fun!

Here's the second one. It is really simple but I liked having the lilies and baby's breath separate from the rest.

So gorgeous!

Thanks again BABE! Totally loved getting these flowers!

And to finish of our week we were able to watch our friend's little girl Saturday morning. Isaiah absolutely loves playing with Gabby and was so excited to find out that she got to come over and play! I think she is one of his best friends here in CA but that could have something to do with that we see them quite frequently. :) Or it may be all the hugs she gives him and the few kisses she sneaks when she hugs him goodbye! LOL! They had so much fun playing hide and seek in the closet that they were screaming with delight!

Here they are eating their snack of apples and peanut butter

Cute budds!

Then Saturday evening we went to Oceanside harbor because Zaya had been begging all week to go to the beach and daddy was getting the urge to go fishing again. It had been raining all morning and had been kinda cold but it was still really fun and I was surprised that I enjoyed it so much despite the cold wind. When we first got there we went over to this little inlet to show Zaya the pelicans and seagulls. Then all of a sudden I saw something big surface to the top of the water. There were some seals there and it was so much fun watching them keep surfacing. I kept trying to get a good picture, but I failed. I think the one below has a picture of part of the seal, but not sure. I have never seen seals in the wild before so it was just super neat!

I think the seal is by the gap between the second and third floating doc. Do you see him?

This is on the other side of the parking lot from where the seals were. This is the ocean. At night people have their campfires going. So fun! Although we always come back smelling like smoke. :)

View from the playground where Zaya LOVES going and the reason why he kept begging us to take him back to the beach. What kid wouldn't want to play on a playground with views like this?

Another view from the playground. In the distance you can see Oceanside Pier. It is the place I blogged about earlier that we went to. These are our two favorite beach spots.

And here's to hopefully another great week! :)

Oh Isaiah!!!!

2012-01-07T11:03:00.000-08:00

Not sure how other mom's do it? I can't seem to get into the shower without Isaiah getting into something. Once before when I was showering I heard Isaiah come into the bathroom towards the end of my shower. I asked him what he was doing and he said, "eating chocolate milk." Immediately I though of the huge mess he probably made. I looked out to see the damage and he had a bag of chocolate chips. He had pushed a chair over to the freezer, climbed up and got himself a bag of chocolate chips. Then he proceeded to find the scissors and cut the bag open and eat them to his little hearts content! Well today I hopped in the shower and because Casey was gone this Saturday I put on Over the Hedge for Isaiah to watch while I got in. Well I am not sure if he got this idea from the movie or what, but part way through my shower I hear screaming. Brooklyn is asleep and I knew it was Isaiah! I yell out and ask him if he is alright. He yells back that he is, but he is still screaming. I decide I better get out all conditionary and all and see what is going on. Well he had decided to climb onto the kitchen counter and then up onto the toaster over and was hanging onto the shelves inside the cabinet for dear life! He was trying to reach something (i think either the pecans or marshmallows) on the highest shelf. I got him down and gave him the pretzels which he had already taken out and made sure he wasn't hurt. Then I quickly got back in the shower to finish rinsing off. Well Isaiah was still crying up until I finished showering. After I got out I came out to the living room to see what was going on and asked him why he was sad? He said, "Isaiah's sad because he's too wild" LOL!!!! He was still scared from almost falling off the toaster oven to the ground. I'm not sure what else to do, but a woman has to shower and I don't know how to ever get in if he is going to keep doing things like this! It really could have been bad had he fallen that far! I feel like a bad mom when this kind of stuff happens, but there is no way to keep him contained and still get a shower in. Anyone have any good suggestions?

Paul's Wedding and Reception!

2012-01-06T23:40:00.000-08:00

One wedding down and one to go! What a crazy week it was with Christmas then two weddings! Isaiah and Brooklyn did great considering the fact that we spent about a total of a day and a half (36 hours) in the car over the course of about 10 days! Our new portable TVs saved our lives on this trip! Totally worth the money! One funny thing that I have to add in real quick. On the trip Zaya was being a little bit of a stinker because he was tired. Well I asked him if he was going to behave and he said, "No I'm NOT bein' HAVE!" Well I really had to try not to laugh because it was pretty funny. Now he sometimes will say "I am being have mom!" Oh the funny things kids say! We did have a great time though and were really glad that we were able to make it out for both of my siblings weddings. Paul and Kylie got married on Friday the 30th in the Salt Lake Temple. The sealing was awesome and it was really neat to have my Uncle Paul be able to seal them. It just added a nice special touch. Since our FIVE year anniversary happened to fall in between the two weddings we decided rather than try and squeeze it in, we would wait to celebrate it after we return home to California.

Me enjoying the chance to hold the bride's bouquet!

Coming out of the Salt Lake Temple

So cute!

Love this one!

So happy and cute together

Still can't believe my little brother is married!

Me with my cousin Maurina

Bride and Groom with the Parents

Paul with his siblings (except Pete who is on his mission and Mary who was so kindly babysitting all of our kids at the hotel so we could be there!) Thanks again Mare!

So happy for them and excited because it was such a warm day considering that it was the end of December in Salt Lake! Not even any snow! Can you believe it?

And another of the cute couple

Sweet Mary watching all her nieces and nephews and a few others so we could be there for the special day.

Izky holding Brooky who had fallen asleep on her lap! So precious.

Aunt Coyote making sure she gets her share of this baby while she had the chance. :)

Her she is again with her hand in her mouth.

The reception in Sandy Utah

Had a cute little love bird theme

Paul getting a hug from his nephew Zaya

Mommy enjoying a little dance with my Brooky

What do you think do we look alike? I still think she looks like her dad.

The two beautiful girls in their beautiful dresses and Kylie's hilarious dad in the back!

Paul singing to Kylie while Jen played for him. Don't remember the name of the song, but it was really good!

Here is everyone listening to the song. I was getting teary eyed so it must have been good!

Getting ready to cut the cake

Cutting the cake

Feeding each other cake :)

After the reception was over our family, and my sister Jen and Mary all went to Temple Square and met up with Ben and Jamie and their kids and looked at the Christmas lights. Zaya also liked the horse and carriages that we saw and the bagpipe man.

Here we are piled in our car headed over to see the lights. Mary is clear in the back seat with the strollers! Looked so funny I had to get a pick!

Temple Square Lights

Zaya having fun

Our family at temple square. Brooky is in the stroller.

My sisters Mary, Jen, Jamie and Me. (Jamie I count you as a sister.)

Here we are at our friends Kyle and Melanie Kropf's home. They were kind enough to let us stay with them on our way through Vegas. It was good seeing them again and we were so excited to find out that our other good friends (the Peruch family) were also in town as well! So good to see you all again!

L to R: Melanie, Kyle, Bryce, Isaiah, Casey, Rachel, Brooklyn, Rachael, Cosette, and Nathan

Happy New Year Everyone!

Be sure to click on older posts if you missed the ones of my sisters wedding and the Christmas post. :)

Hannah and Nic's Wedding and Reception

2012-01-05T15:50:00.000-08:00

My little sister is married! So crazy! I still can't believe it! Hannah married Nicholas Moseley in the Rexburg, ID temple. I totally forgot to bring the camera to the temple so we didn't get any pictures of her there! After the sealing there was a really nice luncheon at the church right next to the temple. Then that night we had the reception. Everything turned out really nice. I was so happy to be able to do the flowers for her wedding! I think they turned out really good for being artificial. Welcome to the family Nic! You definitely got yourself an awesome girl!

Hannah's bridal bouquet

Bridal bouquet

I love how it turned out!

Little toss bouquet

Groom's Bout.

Father's bouts.

Cake Topper (looks better on cake)

One of the mother's corsages

Casey and Brooky at the reception

Aunt Sarah (Coyote) enjoying Brooky

My sweet girl in her VERY glittery dress!

Cousins playing in the nursery room while reception is going on.

Sign-in table

Picture of a picture

Reception

Hannah and Nic in the reception line

This is one of my favorite pics that they got. So nice!

Wedding Cake

Mom made the cake and I put the flowers on!

Delicious reception food

Buffet table flower arrangement

More pics :)

Jenny Moseley and Mary Pieper ( I think the little girl is a niece of the Moseleys.

And one last picture.

Zaya having fun with his cousin Jenny Wren at the reception.

Zaya hugging Grandpa Pieper in the reception line.

Okay this picture is not part of the wedding in any way. After the reception was over we headed into town for a late night snack. As we drove down the street, we saw that one of Casey's old favorite taco bus/truck now has a drive-up window! Only in freezing cold Rexburg! So funny! wish we could have gotten a picture with a car in the drive through. Click on the picture to make it bigger and you can see the little hill you drive up to get your food! I am still laughing about this!

Christmas 2011

2012-01-04T19:36:00.000-08:00

This year for Christmas we decorated our little apartment even though we knew we wouldn't be home for Christmas this year. This year we made some delicious ginger spice cookies, easy pretzel turtles, and some fudge. All the recipes we used were off of the website ourbestbites.com I am totally in love with the recipies on this blog! The ginger spice cookies were probably my favorite! Then we delivered them around to some of our friends and neighbors. It was so fun having Isaiah help me make the goodies this year. Then we got ready to go on our big trip. We ended up spending Christmas in Boise, ID with Casey's sister Melissa and her family. Then right after Christmas we headed over to Rexburg for my sister Hannah's wedding and reception. Then on to Salt Lake City where my brother Paul got married. Then we finished off our trip by stopping in Las Vegas, staying with some friends and although we never saw many fireworks, we did hear them and enjoyed catching up with our friends and visiting our old ward and our home there that we miss.

Our Christmas Tree

Zaya got this train and loved driving it all over the house and loading the box car full of his toys and driving them around.

More Christmas Decorations

And some more

And a few more. I made the Christmas countdown blocks this year and they turned out super cute!

Here is Isaiah opening one of his gifts.We had to open some of our gifts before we left because we didn't have enough room in our car for them all.

Christmas is so much fun with kids!

He loves opening presents and we had to hide most of them so he wouldn't open them before Christmas. He opened a few before it was time...oh well, what can you do?

Some of the gifts he got from G&G Davis

Christmas Eve Dinner

Decorations and a real tree!

Zaya and the cousins loved bouncing on these balls.

Having fun taking a turn in Nick's new classic fire engine!

Brooky and Zaya in their Christmas Jammies on Christmas Eve

Never did get a very good shot of them. :)

He kept complaining that she was too heavy. :)

My sweet girl growing up way too fast!

Turned 5 months old the day before this photo. She is still my happy sweet little girl, although she does have her occasional moment. I just started her on solids and she seems like she is starving and gobbles it down! Although she is still trying to figure out how to eat cereal off of the spoon, you can definitely tell she is hungry! She loves sucking on everything and even likes to lick her dresses and other clothes. :) She constantly loves sucking on something, whether it is her binkie or her fingers or her whole fist. :) She will be ready for her next size up in brace in probably a week or so from now. She loves to smile and will smile at almost anyone. And she loves to laugh for Isaiah and also her cousin Matthew. She loves getting attention from other boys closer to her age. :) Hopefully this isn't a sign of things to come. :)

She is getting to be quite the chunk! She kept having blowouts on our trip so when we got home I put her in size 3 diapers. She is no longer having any problems and I am still a little shocked that she is already wearing size 3! It makes me sad that my sweet little girl is growing up way too quickly! Also something she loves to do is turn her little feet and toes in circles. It is so cute! I guess since she can't move her legs, she decided the next best thing would be to just twist her ankles and her toes around and around. She loves watching herself move her toes and feet all around. It cracks me up!

Family pics after church Christmas day.

Turned out alright I guess. :)

My sweet girl in her pretty silver dress.

She got these rashy rosy cheeks and they seemed kinda chapped. So I put Aquaphor on them and tried to keep the slobber off of them and they cleared up in a few days. Not sure what it was but I think it was a combination of all that slobber and maybe the change in weather that may have caused it.

But I still think she is beautiful regardless.

Here she is licking her dress. :) I guess she thinks it tastes good. She is always sticking her tongue out too! :)

What a beautiful girl! You can totally tell that I am in love with dressing up this girl! So much fun!

All in all we had a very enjoyable Christmas! We had fun with cousins, had a delicious Christmas Eve dinner, had fun doorbell ditching goodies to some of the neighbors and were glad that Grandma and Grandpa Davis could Skype with us through the TV on Christmas morning and see all their grandkids and all the fun stuff that Santa brought them.

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-30T14:38:00.000-08:00

This year for Thanksgiving we were able to spend some time relaxing at the R&R Ranch! It was so nice to be able to spend time with Casey's family at his Grandparent's ranch. All those who made it to the feast this year were: Our family, Jeff (Yolanda wasn't able to make it because she was sick) Aunt Pam and Uncle Gary, Cousin Rachel and her boyfriend, and of course Grandma and Grandpa. We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner with the regular Turkey, Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes & Gravy, Greens Beans, Rolls, and Pumpkin Pie.

Isaiah is definitely getting into a lot more mischief than he was when we were there last time! I think Grandma was ready to have her peace and quiet back by the time it was time for us to go! He loved chasing the dogs (Gunner and Stubby) around the house and looking right in their faces. They are nice dogs, but I was a little nervous because he kept antagonizing them and I was afraid they were going to bite him on the face. Luckily for him he got away unharmed. The dogs were definitely getting sick of him and kept trying to hide from him :) He also enjoyed helping feed the horses (Zinger and Chile). He didn't want to go for a jeep ride or ride the RTV this time though. Not sure why. But I know he had a lot of fun because the whole drive home he kept on saying that he wanted to go back to the ranch! And he is still saying that he wants to go back to the ranch!

Anyway we all had a great Thanksgiving and are glad that we were able to spend the holidays with some family. This year we are especially grateful for our many blessings. We are so grateful for our two sweet children, good health, good doctors, a good job, insurance, that I can be a stay at home mom, friends, a good ward, and all the other countless blessings that we have! We just feel so blessed! And hope to pass on some of our gratitude by giving throughout this upcoming Christmas season!

We didn't get many pictures this time, but here are a few that I managed to get.

I was so happy/surprised when grandpa asked to hold Brooklyn! I was even more surprised the next day when she was sitting in the recliner next to his chair and next thing I know Grandpa is holding her again! I guess he is starting to love children even more as he gets older. I don't remember him ever doing this with Isaiah. Maybe he has a soft spot for this sweet girl. She definitely has her daddy wrapped around her finger! Maybe she is working on grandpa now too! Although I really don't know how anyone could resist this sweet girl!

Grandpa and Brooky

Grandma, Case and Jeff

Brooklyn and Case

Brooklyn 4 months old

2011-11-30T14:15:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how fast my little girl is growing up! Today she had her 4 month check up and seems to be very healthy! She is now weighing 13 lbs and 13 oz. And is 25.25 inches long! So she is in the 75% for height and 50% for weight. She is getting so heavy to haul around in her car seat! And since she is so long, her legs are barely fitting in the car seat with her brace on (since they come out at an angle her knees are hitting the sides of the car seat)! So we are going to have to figure something else out as far as that goes because it wont be long before she doesn't fit in it at all! She also got another set of shots today and handled them like a champ! Lately she has been seeming like she is still hungry after I feed her so I was starting to wonder if I am starting to loose my milk. So I would try and give her formula after I was done feeding her. Well she doesn't like it at all and spits it out. Although last night in the middle of the night she was crying like she was still hungry after I fed her. So Case made her a bottle. She gagged part of it down because she seemed like she was starving. The doctor thinks it may be that she is ready to start solids already. So we shall see. If she keeps acting like she is hungry we may try the solids and see how that goes. :) He said not to worry though because she is definitely on track with her weight. Other than this though she has been a super happy baby and smiles at everyone. She especially loves her big brother and he can always get her to laugh if he pays her any attention at all! It is super cute seeing them start to enjoy interacting with each other! Here are some really good pictures of her smiling on her 4 month pictures. She is also starting to drool a LOT! As you will notice in the pictures the whole front of her shirt is soaked in drool! :)

Getting tickled by Daddy

Biggest smile! This girl's smiles make me soooo happy!

Isaiah and his BIG words!

2011-11-19T12:09:00.000-08:00

Isaiah has always loved playing the game, "Isaiah can you say......." Then we think of a big/hard word for him to say. No matter how big the word he would always attempt to say it and his dad and Grandpa Davis love playing this game with him the most. Well now the missionaries (who we have been having over a lot lately or running into them at our apartment complex) love playing this game too. They always ask him to say Onomatopoeia which he says pretty much perfectly every time! Once people see his skills at saying big words they always ask him if he can say Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (not sure how it is spelled). He hasn't been able to say this one and was always a little overwhelmed by it. :) Well I have now taught him how to say it and he can say the whole word! It is really funny. I am definitely going to have to get it on video. So as I am feeling all proud of my son and his "big word skills" I am also finding that it is not such a good thing. On Thursday night we were doing a little bit of grocery shopping and while we were loading the groceries into the car there were some people near by cussing up a storm. Well Isaiah heard them and decided to copy. He spouted off a whole string of expletives. I about died! I quickly told Isaiah that we don't say those words and they are naughty. I wanted to yell at the people next to us in the parking lot "Hello don't you realize there are little ears listening!" I guess people like that aren't too concerned about who hears them. Anyway I am quickly finding that there are many things out there that I am already having to teach Isaiah that are not good. For example as we go through the grocery store he sees a can of beer and thinks it is soda.(This has happened many times). So I have to explain to him that it is yucky, it is not good for us, and that we don't drink beer. Then he will see people smoking in our complex and stare at them and point and say, "what's he doing mom." Sometimes he thinks they are eating suckers. I always get so embarrassed and have to tell him that smoking is yucky and not good for us. And that it stinks and will make us sick! I'm sure it doesn't make the smokers like us very much, but I could care less...I'm sure they already know all of the things I am telling him. I knew that the day would come that I would have to teach him about all of this stuff, but I was really hoping it would be when he was a little older. He is only 2 1/2 years old! I guess we can't protect them forever, but I sure wish I could.

Isaiah's Accessories and Brooklyn Update

2011-11-16T15:07:00.000-08:00

I took Brooklyn to the Orthopedists today. She got her hips X-Rayed and we were so glad to get good news! Everything seems to be right on track. Her hip is still staying in it's socket and is stabilized. She has to come back in three more months for another check up and if all is still going well she should be able to get out of her brace. But anything can happen and there are no guarantees that it won't regress....so we just have to wait and have faith, hope, and patience and know that the Lord is in control. But so far so good! Oh and Brooky will continue to wear the same brace until she outgrows it. They gave us the next size up for when she does outgrow it so we don't have to drive all the way back when she does outgrow it. :) Also I was so so soooo happy that the kids were good for me because Case wasn't able to go with me to the doctor this time. Zaya was such a good boy and just sat on the chair and ate his little sliced apples. He even did really well while Brooky got her x-ray and sat off to the side in the other room in his chair while mom helped hold Brooklyn's legs. Brooky didn't mind it at all and she even gave the x-ray technicians a great big smile at the end. I got many compliments on how cute my kids are and how well behaved they were. All I can say is that all the prayers I said on the way down must have worked because Isaiah isn't always that patient or good when we go to the doctor. He even took a little nap on the way home, but too bad it wasn't long enough and now he doesn't want to take a nap now that we are home. I guess he will get to go to bed early tonight. I just love these little kids!

I also wanted to post these hilarious pictures of Zaya. He got all dressed up with his sunglasses and head lamp the other day before going to bed. Anyway I just think they are hilarious!

He kinda looks like he is singing a rap in this one! :)

Oceanside Pier

2011-11-09T13:47:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to post some of the beautiful pictures we took at the beach. We went on the Saturday before Halloween. We enjoyed walking along the pier, taking pictures, watching the surfers and the fishermen, and enjoying the awesome Diner that is at the end! It was so fun to sit and enjoy your meal while looking out over the ocean! It was beautiful weather and we couldn't believe there was such a cool place that is free (besides the diner part) just 10 minutes from our house. This is the best "beach place" we have found so far. And we didn't even get time to take Zaya to the playground that was on the beach! I guess that will have to wait until our next trip back here. Oh ya and Zaya loved watching the pelican eat some fish that one of the fishermen gave it! So cool! Now every time we read his animal book he points to the pelican and says, "We saw a pelican at the beach!" :) I just wish I could have gotten some pictures of the sunset right before the sun disappeared below the horizon. It was so beautiful!

Happy Halloween

2011-11-03T15:57:00.000-07:00

This year for Halloween we had a ward Halloween party on Friday night. They had a yummy dinner at the church with some fun little games and a big blow up spook house. After all of that they did the trunk or treat. Isaiah loved running around and I would turn around to find my little cowboy nowhere in site. Usually he was headed towards the big spook house! He loved that thing! He did pretty well going around to all of the trunks and he had lots of fun but I could tell he was so tired once the night was over. He got a nice little bucket full of candy (or at least plenty for him).

On Sunday as we were walking in to church Isaiah said, "It's the Halloween church!" "It's the Halloween church, Mom!" I think he thought we were going to another party. :) I had to explain to him that it is not a Halloween church, but that is just where we had the party.

We didn't go trick or treating Monday night because I figured we got enough candy from the ward party. Besides that Isaiah had just as much fun handing out the candy to the trick or treaters that came to our door. He would always get so excited and loved to help hand out the candy. I figure there will be plenty of other years for trick or treating when he is a little older. Why wear myself out when he doesn't care that much?

Here are some of the pictures. We didn't get the best pictures because we were late to the party and Isaiah was not in a good mood right before we left. I think it was because he was hungry...anyway he didn't want to wear his cowboy hat and I couldn't get him to smile. He also rubbed off his makeup mustache. After that he decided to add some of my mascara to his face. :) I had a feeling he might get the idea to add makeup after I tried putting some on him for the mustache. Well at least I got it off, but he didn't get another mustache.

Brooklyn all dressed up for her 1st Halloween!

Wondering why her brother won't cooperate for pictures. :)

"Come on brother you know you want to sit by me."

My sad little cowboy and his cute little cow.

Got one with his hat on finally! He didn't wear it most of the night.

Cowgirl and her sweet little cow.

Two cowboys a cowgirl and their sweet little cow.
This is the only picture we got of all of us.

Happy after he ate dinner. As you can see it is all over his face. :)

Enjoying the big blow up haunted house.

Checking out the cool light-up ghost.

Our trunk

Case thought it would be cool to put one of the glow up necklaces as a crown. :)

Picking out a piece of candy at the end of the night.

What do you know he picked a sucker. His favorite. :) You can see in his eyes how tired he is.

Pumpkin Carving

2011-11-03T15:31:00.000-07:00

We each picked a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch to carve for Halloween. I ended up carving mine and Isaiah's and painting Brooklyn's. Case had to leave partway through to go fix a work emergency and he still beat me done with his huge pumpkin! We got his big one really cheap because it had this weird metal piece shoved in it. Because of this it was marked down by a lot which was really exciting! Anyway Isaiah loved helping me get all the guts and seeds out of the insides. We saved the seeds and made roasted pumpkin seeds for the first time. It was lots of fun. The not so fun part was cleaning up the disgusting molding mushy pumpkins after Halloween was over. One poor trick or treater stepped on Isaiah's mushy one and left a big old shoe print in it. Sorry I didn't get any pictures of how awful they looked after they turned all moldy and gross. I had to throw mine away before Halloween even started because it was so gross! Maybe next year we will have to carve them just a few days before instead of a whole week prior.

Here you can see the weird metal piece that was shoved in Casey's pumpkin. Zaya is so excited to start! He had his little pumpkin scraper and couldn't wait to help!

I made some pumpkin chocolate chip bread that day to eat while we carved the pumpkins. Well partway through all of the fun Brooklyn had a huge blow out! So I was changing her and when I came back Isaiah had grabbed a loaf off of the counter and started munching on it. (Notice all the chew marks around the edges. ) I guess he couldn't wait for me to finish and come cut him a slice. LOL!

Inside the big punkin' (as Zaya likes to call them)

Isaiah decided to take a break from helping me clean out the pumpkins and he went and got Brooklyn's little bed and decided to climb in and rest by his sister. :)

He is way too big for it, but he was having so much fun I couldn't help but laugh!

He did get out after a little while though. He just needed a quick break I guess. :) Silly boy. He also loves climbing in her carseat and rocking himself. :

Casey's big one with Zaya's little one.

Isaiah called this one the scary punkin' (this one was mine).

All three pumpkins

Zaya having fun lighting the pumpkins.

Notice the difference in the seeds we got from the big one and the other two. They were huge! And we didn't even keep all of them. We kept all of the ones from the two smaller pumpkins and there were still more from the big one! I don't think I have ever seen pumpkin seeds this big before...at least not that I can remember.

After they were all baked up.

Brooky's cute little spider pumpkin.

I think I did pretty good for having no skill at art whatsoever! :)

Pumpkin Patch Fun

2011-11-01T18:36:00.000-07:00

This year we decided to go to a Pumpkin Farm with Isaiah. We went a few Saturdays ago (on the 22nd) and it was really hot and there were lots of little flies flying around everywhere! They were very annoying and especially bothersome to Isaiah. Other than that though we had a really good time. Isaiah's favorite part was feeding carrots to the goats. If I would have known I probably would have brought my own carrots and saved us a little money, but it was worth it because he loved it so much! He also really enjoyed the wagon hayride from Farmer Steve and he even came home and hooked up one of his toy train wagon things to the back of a tractor and he named his farmers Farmer Brown and the other one Farmer Steve. Now he really enjoys pulling around his own little hay wagon. :) He also had fun helping pick out the pumpkins and driving and old tractor. He wasn't a big fan of taking pictures with all the bugs and the sun in his eyes. :) Brooklyn slept through the whole thing and especially liked being rocked to sleep by the bumpy hay wagon ride. Here are a bunch of pictures of the fun:

Brooklyn getting ready for the fun! I was so surprised that she fit into these 6 month jeans!

Trying to lift a big punkin' (that's what he calls them).

He wasn't supposed to sit on them, but I guess they make the perfect little stools for toddlers. :)

Brooklyn missing out on the picture because she was asleep in her stroller. :(

Excited to move on to the next best thing.

Had a hard time getting a good picture in these things because it was too sunny! Zaya didn't like this at all.

But he sure loved the goats!

I was surprised he wasn't scared to feed them by himself.

The goat loved them as much as Isaiah loved feeding them to him.

Cornfield (we didn't go through the maze.)

Enjoying the hayride.

Tractor pulling our hay wagon.

Pumpkins and corn

Proof that Brooklyn was there, and that she was asleep. :)

Having lots of fun in the sun

Zaya loved trying to drive this old tractor!

And he loved sitting on the big pumpkins!

Brooklyn 3 months old!

2011-11-01T16:15:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how fast time is flying by! Brooklyn is 3 months old already and is growing up way too fast! She loves watching her brother and always smiles and giggles when he gives her any attention, which isn't all that often. Zaya still finds Brooklyn a little boring I think. He is a big helper and likes to give her her binkie and check on her when she is sleeping, but other than that he doesn't pay her too much attention. Although he does like to mimic her and is now blowing bubbles with his spit like she does. Not too funny. Anyway back to Brooklyn. She is giggling a lot more now and she has even laughed a little. She is ticklish but her laugh sounds more like a happy grunting noise. It basically sounds like she is saying, "stop tickling me mom...you are torturing me" It is so funny though! Anyway one of these days I will have to try and get a video of it. She also loves sucking on her fingers/fist/hands all the time now. She is drooling a ton and soaks the front of her shirts. :) She is so much fun and I just love her chubby little cheeks. I can not get enough kisses!

The nicknames that she had already acquired are: Brooky, Brooky Bopper, Darlita, and Chalky Rivers. Don't ask me why her dad calls her Chalky, or Chalky Rivers, but he does and it was so funny the other day Case was calling her that and Zaya said, "No it's not Chalky Rivers, it's Brooklyn dad." Darlita is short for Darling with a spanish twist I guess. Casey also started calling her this and now we are all calling her this including Zaya. LOL! Here are some pictures of her at 3 months old.

All Smiles!

2011-10-18T16:57:00.000-07:00

Okay so I am hoping this post will at least get you to smile if not laugh out loud. I found some cute pictures of Brooklyn smiling that I forgot I had taken and I also wanted to post some hilarious things Zaya has been saying lately. I wish you could hear them for yourself because some of them are so much funnier in person, but just try and imagine Zaya's little sing songy voice. :)

Zayaisms:
These are some things I just started writing down as I listened to him talk while he played.
"Where's the yellow car? Yellow car come here right now okay. Come here before you get a spanken!"
"Okay time for drive through time. Where did all the cars go? Are they back there?"
"It's not very good. It tastes like yucky!"
"What's that noise? Is the truck in the drive through making noises? We better get the drive through. Hurry. Hurry. Hurry we better get the drive through outside.
"Woa..Careful. Careful mom." He says this a lot and he said it the first time when I had to slam on the brakes in the car! :) This is just one of many hilarious conversations that he has with himself while he plays with his toys.

~As he drags around a suitcase he says, "I'm coming for school."
~As he looks at a bunch of papers on the table or as he climbs up to the computer desk he says, "I'm checking my e-mail mom. Zaya has ta check his e-mail." He also says this quite a bit. :)
~While looking at the brownies that just came out of the oven he exclaims very enthusiastically while throwing his hands in the air, "Its going to be very delicious and watch a movie!" (We were going to watch a movie while eating the brownies.)
~Zaya comes up to me and says "Zaya has a great big smile." I look down to find my concealer on his cheeks in a shape of a smile. It made me laugh so hard I had to get a picture. Even though I usually get mad because I don't even know how many times I have to tell him not to put on my makeup. :)

~While looking at a tag on the suitcase that was from an airplane ride a long time ago he says, "20 dollars WOW! 20 Dollars!" He has also said this a lot while looking at other stuff and I am not sure quite where he came up with this but for some reason 20 dollars is so amazing to him!
~This morning he came up to me after he had gotten out of the bath (which he was in for awhile) and he said, "My hands are all greasy mom." So I told him to let me see. He held his hands out for me to see and I couldn't see any grease so I felt them and they were clean. He couldn't quite figure out why his hands where so wrinkled! I guess wrinkly hands are close to greasy? LOL!
~He also says, "Here you are go." This is a combination of Here you go and here you are. He says it whenever he is giving you or someone else something.
~As we drive down the road he always says, " I think a _____." Usually he fills in the blank with windmill or garbage truck, ambulance, fire truck, or any other thing he feels like looking for. But instead of saying, "lets look for..." he says, "I think a...". :)
He also says, "You're such a big helper mom!"

Those are all that I can think of for now. What a silly little Zaya! :)

My smiley Brooklyn in her cute little hat!

Brooky 2 months old

2011-10-16T18:59:00.000-07:00

Okay so Brooklyn actually turns 3 months old next week so this is a little late, but better late than never. :) At her 2 month appointment she weighed 10 lbs 13 oz, but this was on the 15 of September, so she wasn't quite 2 months old. She was 22 3/4 inches tall and her head was 15 3/4 cm. So if I remember correctly the doctor said that her weight was 75th percentile and her height is 50th percentile. I don't know what her head is. So Again she is long and skinny, but not nearly as long and skinny as Zaya was at this age. :) She is getting to be quite the chunk and I just love her little fat rolls! :) Although really she isn't that fat, she just seems like it since Zaya was skinny. :) She also got her first set of shots and handled those pretty well. Here are some pics of her at 2 months. The first and last picture she isn't exactly two months old but they are just cute pictures of her sleeping that I love! Sorry I get carried away with the amount of pictures and hope you enjoy them as much as I do. :) Oh and as you can see her hair is coming back in! YAY!

Brooky's Brace

2011-10-16T18:41:00.000-07:00

So I have been meaning to post more about Brooklyn's brace for a while now...anyway she got her brace put on on the 1st of September. So she has been wearing it for approximately a month and a half now. At first she really hated it and so did I! She screamed and screamed the first day and then ever since then it hasn't bothered her much. Now it doesn't seem to bother her at all. After she had been in the brace for two weeks we took her to the orthopeds and her doctor said that her hip was no longer dislocating like it had been. At that point he said we will just keep her in her brace and hope that everything starts to heal correctly. So she has to wear the brace at all times except for bathing and changing. We take her in again around the first of November and they are hoping that by then her bones will be developed enough that they can get a good x-ray to give them a better idea of what it going on. So until then we are just hoping and praying that this brace is working and that we won't have to go to a more "difficult" brace. If this brace doesn't work I think the next one will be one that doesn't come off...but not 100% sure on that. Their guesstimate is that she will be going through this process anywhere from 4 months to a year. I am hoping it is closer to the 4 months and if so that would mean we are almost halfway done!

So far I think the brace has been a little more difficult for me than it has for Brooklyn, which I guess is a good thing. I just wish she didn't have to wear it and it is just so much more fun to hold her and cuddle her without the hard scratchy thing on. I am starting to get used to it now and it doesn't bother me as much as it used to but I still wish I could just hold and cuddle her without it. I just have to keep reminding myself of all the positive things that the brace is accomplishing and remember that it would be worse in the long run if she didn't wear it now. I am just glad that she won't remember having to wear it and that her only memory of it will be from pictures. :) I still get frustrated when I look in her drawer and see all the cute little dresses and little rompers and things that would be so much cuter if she didn't have to always wear some sort of pants/leggings under or over them. Anyway I really don't get frustrated about it too much unless I stop and think about it like I am right now. :) I just hope that we don't have to end up going to the more severe braces or casts.

It basically is made of plastic with straps and Velcro. Then it has a metal bar that goes across the front and the back. The top strap goes around her belly and the other straps wrap around her legs. Kind of hard to describe but it shows a little better with her wearing it I guess.

Fishing at Carlsbad lagoon

2011-10-15T13:28:00.000-07:00

Isaiah and I went fishing at the Carlsbad Lagoon. It was our first fishing experience in San Diego. We hauled in a 12 inch Small Mouth and had a great time. I would ask Isaiah where the fish were and he would respond "dere daddy! The fish are in dere!" pointing to the middle of a bush. Isaiah also liked to pull the worms out of the bag and stretch them until they ripped in half. "broke it daddy." Looking forward to fishing more when Isaiah is a little bit older.

Brooklyn's Baby Blessing

2011-09-14T19:50:00.000-07:00

While we were up in California we were also able to bless Brooklyn. It was nice to have so much of Casey's family around. We got special permission and were able to bless her at Grandma Davis's house. She has been in the hospital and was able to come home now, but was unable to go to church. So we did it there so she could be there for it. It was nice, because they share the same middle name, so it was kinda special. Casey's mom made her blessing dress, it was a bit big on her, but I thought she looked absolutely beautiful in it! She also made the flower head band! Thanks again Karen! Here a bunch of pictures and a few family pictures finally! I don't think we got a good one with everyone looking, but oh well.

Brooklyn with Grandma Karen Davis

On her blessing day! Which I just realized was 9/11/11.

I like this one the most I think.

A few with big brother.

Casey's brother Jeff and sister in law Yolanda with Dad and Mom and our family.

On the road again!

2011-09-14T19:31:00.000-07:00

I think we have about done our fair share of traveling lately. This past weekend we traveled up to Santa Margarita and Atascadero, CA to visit Casey's relatives and attend Casey's Grandpa's funeral. Grandpa Donald Davis passed away at the age of 93 of old age. He lived a nice long life. It was good to meet some of Casey's relatives that I hadn't had the chance to meet until now. It was also good to learn more about Grandpa Davis because I really didn't know him very well. I have only visited him a handful of times. Each time I met grandpa he would always say, "It is so good to meet you." I guess he couldn't remember that he had already met me. :) I always thought it was funny when he would say that. It was a really good funeral service and I am glad that we were able to attend.

While we were up for the funeral we also got to spend time with Casey's grandparents on his mom's side. Zaya had so much fun out at the ranch. He enjoyed going for jeep and RTV rides out on the ranch. Catching a big frog or toad, not sure which. Riding and feeding the horses. Watching the birds eat and splash in the bird bath. Feeding grandpa's dogs Gunner and Stubby, but mostly Stubby. Playing with the trains. And eating WAY too much sugar! I guess that is what grandparents are good for, spoiling them. :) He also really enjoyed the jerky Grandpa Parsons sent home with us and I think Zaya probably ate half of it! The whole bag was gone by the time we got home! I only got one little piece, so that tells you how much Zaya ate. It was also really good to see Casey's parents one last time before they leave on their mission next month to the Baltic states, which is over in Latvia and Lithuania. We are definitely going to miss visits from them over the next year and a half. We also were able to bless Brooklyn while we were up there. I will do a separate post on this.

On the way home we hit bad traffic again. So we decided to stop in Santa Barbara and have fish and chips! It was a nice break from driving and the traffic. The fish and chips and clam chowder were delicious and the scenery was so beautiful. I wanted to get some pictures but our camera battery was dead. We really enjoyed our trip and were glad we were able to get away for a few days and spend time with family. Enjoy the pics. Sorry if there are too many. I always have a hard time deciding which ones, so I just post a ton! :)

Feeding Zinger

Getting ready for the horse ride!

Zaya riding with me

He enjoyed it quite a bit.

But he had more fun playing in this watering trough afterwards.

I always knew I could be a cowgirl. :)

Having fun riding Zinger

My handsome cowboy!

Casey riding away on Zinger

Zaya also loved this little tractor

He was so enthralled by it!

Petting the horses

Pretty rainbow that stretched across the sky!

Zaya's little frog!

He thought it was pretty cool!

He really liked carrying it around in this bowl.

Brooklyn with her Great Grandma Parsons

Some cute pictures of Brooky smiling!

Brooky with Grandma Davis

Brooky with Great Grandpa Parsons

Relatives at the graveside service

Casket and flowers

Casey and his cousins with Grandma Davis and Zaya had to get in too. :)

Another one.

Brooklyn's Brace

2011-09-14T15:12:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of Brooklyn in her Brace. She looks so peaceful here after she has now gotten used to wearing it. I am so happy to say that it was only the first day she had to wear the brace that she really fought it. Every day she is in it, it seems to bother her less. We are both starting to get used to it. Not sure yet how long she will have to be in it and whatnot, but for now I am just glad she is happy and that we are both adjusting to it. She always has to wear pants or leggings in this brace so that it doesn't rub her legs raw. I still don't have any pictures of the back of the brace or the brace by itself, but I will get some. I will post more details once I find out more about what they are going to do after this step.

Zaya licking mashed potatoes off of the beater! You would think it was frosting or something! Silly boy! He had to get a picture too! :)

Labor Day

2011-09-14T14:42:00.000-07:00

This year for Labor Day we spent a good share of the day just catching up with life and trying to finish getting settled into our apartment here in California. We finally got all the pictures up and finished putting everything away. It is nice to be rid of all the boxes! :) We also took part of the day to go to the Ocean. We had fun building a sand castle with a mote and letting the cold waves run over our feet. It is so relaxing to just sit and listen to the waves crash. Brooklyn enjoyed it too and she pretty much just slept the whole time in her car seat! It was a little colder than normal because it rained a little (you can see the gray skies). But even still it wasn't bad and we enjoyed our trip to the beach. It is so nice to live so close to the ocean that we can have fun at the beach AND get some work done.. all in one day! I have a feeling our car is going to constantly have sand in it with as many trips as we may be taking to the beach. :)

Zaya and Dad at the beach

He had fun playing with this little stick he found.

Gray sand and gray skies

Beautiful waves

Gorgeous cliffs and palm trees

Building the sand castle. Brooklyn sleeping in the background.

Making good use out of the stick he found. :)

Brooklyn Update

2011-09-04T21:34:00.000-07:00

Brooklyn turned 6 weeks old yesterday! She is getting so big and I mean BIG! She is such a cute little chunk! She already weighs over 10 lbs when I took her in on the 1st to get her hips looked at! I think it was 10 lbs 2 oz. Isaiah was never chunky and it is fun seeing her cute little chub rolls!
She has been such a good natured little baby and I think this is the only reason I have survived all the craziness that has been going on in our lives the past few weeks. She rarely cries and if she does it is because she is needing to eat usually. Otherwise she may fuss a little and that is because she has a gas bubble or needs a diaper change, or just wants her binkie or something.
She has such a sweet little spirit and she has brought so much joy and happiness to our lives already! I love seeing her smile which she is doing more and more of every day! When I may be having a hard day or something and I just need a little cheering up all I have to do is hold her and talk to her a little and she will smile at me and all my cares go away and I feel happy again. It really is like magic.
Her hair is also falling out. It was so crazy on I think the 17th of Augaust (so she was not quite a month old) is when I noticed her hair was starting to fall out a little, so I started rubbing my hand over her head and handfulls of her soft fuzzy hair just started to fall out! It was kind of crazy. It all fell out in like two days just tons at once! Hopefully that is normal. The back hair still hasn't fallen out so she kind of looks like she has a skullet but we still think she is cute anyway and hopefully her hair will either finish falling out or hurry up and grow back in so it doesn't look too silly for too long. Her hair already seems to be coming back in a little so I am hoping she won't be bald for as long as Isaiah was when he was tiny. :)
I am not sure what color her hair or eyes are going to be for sure yet, but just from my observations and my best guess, I think her hair is going to stay dark and her eyes will be blue, but that is just my guess. That could be completely wrong, or even if it isn't it could change. Who knows? I just think it is fun to guess.
She usually eats every 2-3 hours and at night she almost always goes at least 5-6 hours now (which she has been doing for a few weeks now!) It makes such a big difference!
She usually only poops once or twice a day, which is so opposite of what Isaiah did! I am starting to wonder if that is why she is getting so fat! Maybe she is absorbing more of the nutrients instead of pooping them all out. :) ??? Anyway they seem to be quite opposite of each other so far.
She got her hip brace on on Thursday and she absolutely hated it! She screamed and screamed! I have never seen her so mad about anything! Not even when she gets pretty hungry does she cry that bad! It just broke my heart and it was so hard for me to see her be so frustrated when she would try to move her legs and then she couldn't and then she would just be scarlet red with tears rolling down her face and I could barely calm her down. She had to be held most of that day, but she has now gotten used to it thank heavens! I was worried my happy baby would never be happy again! but she is back to her usual self and I am so glad she is such a calm baby or she may really have had trouble wearing this brace! I will give you more of my feeling about the hip brace on a future post. But for now that is about all I can think of about our sweet little Brooky! We sure have enjoyed having her in our home!

Oh and one more thing I wanted to write down before I forget...this one is about Isaiah. The other day about a week ago or so I was trying to get a lot done and probably wasn't giving Isaiah the attention he needed. SO he was starting to do things to get my attention...like make more messes and things and I was getting a little frustrated. I stopped to think for a minute and realized Zaya just needed a little love and attention too. So I sat down on the couch and told Isaiah that I loved him very much and gave him a big kiss and hug which he returned. I then told him that he was my special boy. Then he looked at me and said, "You are my special friend mom." I was expecting him to just mimic back exactly what I had said to him, since that is his favorite thing to do lately, but I was shocked when he changed it from boy to friend. It is times like these that having children is so worth it! I just love the sweet things they do and say!

I love these cute little chubby arms!

Three weeks old

1 month old

So sweet and peaceful

My little chunk!

This is the skullet hair I was talking about. :)

She loves baths.

Double chin.

Sweet little smile

Picture is kinda dark but it is a funny face.

6 weeks old

Sleeping peaceful.
You can sort of see how her legs are not together anymore. It makes it a little hard to swaddle her and feed her and cuddle her with the brace on. I will post pictures of the brace soon.

All ready for church today before I put her brace back on.

Not sure why this one is side ways. Oh well. :)

Idaho Family Reunion 2011

2011-09-04T20:44:00.000-07:00

This year we held our 2nd reunion with just my siblings and their families. Our family is growing so quickly that there are enough of us now to hold our own special reunion and I can't imagine how many new spouses and grandkids there will be in the family in a few years from now! It was so fun to see everyone again that we hadn't seen in such a long time! This year Ben and Jamie were in charge and they reserved a cabin for us in Island Park where we spent a few days. Everyone showed up a day or two early in Rexburg at mom and dad's house and then Monday we all went up to the cabin and had fun having picnic lunches, boating on the lakes, fishing, and just having a good time relaxing and playing games together. The cousins also had lots of fun playing and getting into mischief! I wish I would have gotten more pictures but I dropped my camera in the water in the boat while we were out on the lake so it was out of commission for part of the trip. I am just relieved it didn't break! Here are some pictures that I did get though:

Mom, Dad, and Jacob

Hannah, Matthew, and Issac

Here they are again in another shot.

Beautiful scenery

Getting ready to go on a walk.

Grandma and Brooklyn

Everyone gathered together.

Preparing some of the swords and shields for the Armor of God FHE for the kids.

Sarah (Coyote)

Isaac, Matthew, and Jenny

Zaya finally decided to join in with the warriors.

Isaac with Paul and his big fish.

Coyote and Tommy

Grandpa and Jacob

Mary holding Brooklyn

Lucy after eating in Grandpa's raspberry patch. :) Which all the grandkids enjoyed.

Cute Tommy

Jacob gobbling down his corn on the cob!

Isaiah after getting into my makeup once again! I can't believe how well he did putting on the mascara!

Notice the lipstick and cover-up on the cheeks

And the lipstick he drew everywhere and the mess he made!

Lucy enjoying an apple!

One of Lucy's several artistic expressions. She sure loved those markers. :)

Lucy and Zaya saying farewell.

Cute cousins

Zaya having fun riding the four wheeler with grandma.

After we got home from the trip Zaya fell off of his chair at the table and somehow hit his eye. Luckily it wasn't any worse!

Our past 6 weeks!

2011-09-04T19:49:00.000-07:00

Wow how time flies! It has been a really crazy but good past 6 weeks. I can't believe that Brooklyn is already 6 weeks old (yesterday). Since she has been born this is what we have been up to.... So after Brooklyn was born things were going very well with everything so we officially decided that we needed to move as soon as possible to California. Otherwise I would have been home by myself during the week while Casey commuted back and forth on the weekends from San Diego. I didn't want to try and cope with being by myself with a brand new baby and adjusting to having two kids on my own, so I thought the sooner we could move the better. I really didn't want t move but I knew the sooner the better and that it was what we were supposed to do. It was hard saying goodbye to friends and our new home and moving once again. Not to mention the fact that Brooklyn was only 2 weeks old when we arrived here in San Diego. So two days before we were to move I took Brooklyn in for her check up and the doctor found that her left hip was really loose and wanted to schedule us for a hip ultrasound to check for certain. We were unable to get in to the radiologist before we left, which was really frustrating. So the doctor said it would be fine if we waited until we got here to do it. So we moved into our apartment here in Vista, CA on the 11th of August and had tons of help from the ward here unloading the truck which was such a blessing. We were here a week and then we left to drive 15 hours all the way to Idaho for a family reunion that I refused to miss. :) I will do a separate post about that with lots of pictures. Once we returned from that I was able to take Brooklyn in on September 1st (since our new insurance took effect that day) and get her hips looked at again. The doctor here told me that her left hip was really loose. Instead of doing a scan he just wanted to get her in a hip brace right away. So right after that appointment I had to drive down to the other hospital location and get the brace put on. We still don't know exactly what we will have to do with her hips but she will have to be in the brace for months...not sure how many, and we know this is just the beginning step of fixing her hip. I will also post more about this later. Anyway we are finally back and life is starting to get back to normal again! It has been a crazy past few weeks and they have flown by so quickly. We are starting to adjust to our apartment here in Vista. I think the things that we are adjusting to the most are the weather, which is really nice, but humid, which is such a change from the dry desert heat! Also the crazy traffic and roads here. It is not nearly as easy to navigate as Vegas because there are many twisty roads that change names, lots of hills, and just weird little streets. But I love all the beautiful plants and flowers here! Everything grows here and it is so fun seeing some of the plants I studied in school and exciting for me to try and figure out what half of the ones are that I have never seen before! We are also really excited about living only 10 minutes drive from the ocean and are excited to go explore and relax there as much as we can.

Brooklyn's Birth Story

2011-07-25T13:00:00.000-07:00

You don't have to read all about this if you don't want to, because it is more for myself than anything else. :) I don't think I could have asked for a better labor and delivery. I was really worried that things wouldn't go well since I had to be induced. On July 22nd I still hadn't gone into labor on my own so the doctor set up my induction for 4:00 am on Saturday July 23rd (which was my due date). They didn't want her to risk her getting any bigger and since she went clear up to my due date they figured we better be induced. I was only dilated to a 1 and a half cm when I went in although my cervix was softer than it had been the week previous. So this made me feel better about being induced now, instead of the week before like they had originally planned. We showed up at the hospital just after 4 in the morning they did all the paperwork and IV and all that good stuff and then they hooked me up to pitocin at 6:00am. Then we had a really great nurse come on call shortly after that. Her name was Merna. She told me that her shift was until 7:00 so we were going to try and get her here before that. She used all her "tricks" to help me have a quick delivery and they must have worked, because it didn't take long at all. Just before 10:00 I was dilated to 4 cm and they broke my water. An hour later I got an epidural which was a little crazy at first since my back is so sensitive I couldn't help but jump every time the anesthesiologist touched me. I had to try really hard to hold still. The first try didn't go well because the space was too tight or something. My left leg started getting all tingly and then started cramping up. So he pulled it out and he had to go in a second time. The second time worked well and the epidural was great! I could still feel my legs and everything but no pain accept for a little pressure. By 11:40 I was dilated to a 6 and the baby was a zero station. From then on I dilated so quickly I told the nurse a little while later that I was feeling a lot of pressure. Well she checked me it was around 12:24pm and I was dilated to 10cm so she told me to try and wait while she got the doctor and then we would push this baby out. I pushed with the nurse a few times. The doctor showed up and we pushed a little more. Her head was sideways and her heart rate went down a little so they wanted to use the vacuum to try and help get her out more quickly.Well only a few more good pushes and Brooklyn was born at 12:51 pm. So from the time I got the pitocin to the time she came it was less than 7 hours total! I only had to push for like 12 minutes or so. I was so surprised at how quickly I progressed. This labor was 10 times easier than Isaiah's and I didn't even really feel that tired after she was born! It was crazy! I really couldn't have asked for better nurses and doctors or a better delivery. It was so great! And I don't mean to sound like I am bragging to all of you who read this and haven't had easy deliveries, I am sorry. I know how they are though, because Zaya's was horrible when compared to this!

After Brooklyn was born we did have a little trouble with her blood sugars being too low. They almost had to put her in the NICU on Saturday night because they were one point above the cut off line from being too low. They just kept dropping and dropping. Anyway we started supplementing her with formula and then they went back up, so she barely escaped having to go the NICU and having an IV. Other than that there were no problems. I think her apgar score was a 9 and she had lots of that cheesy vernex stuff all over her when she was born. I think that is about it. I am just so grateful for all of the prayers that were said on our behalf and feel so blessed and grateful to have such a sweet little girl who is happy and healthy. Isaiah wasn't quite sure what to think about his new baby sister when he came to visit her at the hospital. He didn't want to have much to do with her, but he was happy to see mom and dad. He is now very curious around her and starting to warm up, but he keeps wanting me to hold him. It is hard though, because my back is still in a lot of pain. Other than that though we feel great so far and are so happy about this new little addition to our family.

Brooklyn Ruby Davis just minutes after birth,

Proud mama!

Proud Daddy!

In her cute little outfit ready to come home from the hospital.

My cute little Brooklyn

Still haven't gotten any pics of Zaya with her. We will work on that one, but I want him to be able to warm up to her at his own pace and not force him. :)

Our Sweet Baby Brooklyn

2011-07-24T21:15:00.000-07:00

Brooklyn Ruby Davis was born on Saturday July 23, 2011. She weighed in at 7 lbs 4 oz and 19 inches long. Everything went really well with the labor and delivery and we just feel so blessed to have her here. We definitely have felt the prayers of many on our behalf. We just feel so blessed to have her sweet spirit in our home. We are all doing well and are happy to be home from the hospital. Here are a few pictures of her.

Daddy holding his new little girl. So Proud!

Just 24 hours old

I think this one is so precious!

Me right before the induction.

My first craft in ages!

2011-07-17T17:38:00.000-07:00

So I finally decided to pull out the sewing machine that Casey bought me a few years back for my birthday and put it to good use. I made these two reversible car seat covers to try and make our boyish car seat look a little more feminine. I thought it was better than buying a whole new car seat, and it will help keep the sunshine out of her eyes. While making these car seat covers I learned a lot of patience and perseverance. I am so surprised that I finished the first one after much frustration, unpicking, broken needles, and crying to my mom on the phone over it all. :) And even more surprised that I finished the second one after how crazy the first one was. They are far from perfect but all in all I think they turned out pretty cute and I feel that more than anything I at least learned a few good life lessons through it all. I knew there was a good reason it had taken me so long to pull out that sewing machine...I always get so frustrated when sewing because something, if not a million things always seem to go wrong! :) Oh and in case you are wondering how I made them, I just looked at a ton of different ones on other peoples blogs and then just kind of made it up from there...so i am surprised they turned out as well as they did.

39 weeks

2011-07-17T17:26:00.000-07:00

Well I am 39 weeks along now and am just counting down the days til this little girl gets here! I can hardly wait! I am hoping I won't have to wait clear until the end of this week for her to finally come, but I guess I just have to be patient. I decided to cancel my induction date that was set for tonight, because I felt that it would be better to wait... so I am hoping everything goes well and that this was the right decision. The doctor left it up to me weather or not I should be induced. So that is what made it so hard to decide. Oh and for those of you who were wondering the reason that they even set up the induction in the first place was because the specialist I am seeing recommended it because I have gestational diabetes and a little extra fluid. My other doctor said it was a really soft call weather or not I really needed it since my diabetes has been diet controlled and sugars are in good range. Ultrasound shows that she is growing at the right size and the extra fluid isn't much of a concern. So all in all when he checked me again and I was still only dialated to maybe 1cm and still really high he left it up to me. He said that either way I would do great! But I am not so sure. :) Now just more waiting and patience since I thought it would be better to let my body go into labor on its own. Here are some pictures of myself 39 weeks along with this little girl!

Beautiful picture of the sunrise here in Vegas. I took this the other morning when I couldn't sleep because of "false labor." I though I would be heading in to the doctor that morning, but instead I just got to enjoy my first sunrise. I am usually never awake at 5:30 am to enjoy this beautiful scene.

39 weeks

Random Funny Pictures and silly Zaya

2011-07-08T16:09:00.000-07:00

Here are some candid shots of Zaya doing what he loves to do best...try on mom's high heels. :) This time it was right before church so he had his church clothes on. He decided to add another accessory this time...daddy's fishing hat! I just crack up when I see these pictures!

Then the other day while I was getting ready I saw Zaya doing this:

He pulled the little box off from on top of the bigger one and decided to pretend this was his rocker and ottoman I guess. It is hard to tell from the picture, but he has his feet propped up on the bigger box and he is reading himself one of his favorite books! I usually read him stories in the rocking chair and he likes to sit on the ottoman while I read to him, so I guess this is where he decided to do it this time. :)

He is also starting to get very imaginative and likes to play pretend. He will always pretend to eat food out of the books and say that it is yummy and he likes to tell me "bye mom i'm going to....." and each time it is something new. Sometimes he is going to the store, sometimes he is going to daddy's office, sometimes he is going to get gas, it is always something new every day. He even says he is going to school sometimes. :) He usually does this when he is coming out of or going into the bathroom. :)

Isaiah also has found a new friend. Her name is Hailey and they are in our ward. He loves going to nursery with her and sitting by her in church (they usually sit the row in front of us) and he loves to share his snacks with her over the bench. One time Hailey was trying to squeeze through the small space between the bench and the wall to come see Zaya and she couldn't fit, so Isaiah held her hand and was trying to help her through. It was really cute and funny and I was trying not to laugh, but it was so cute! They are good little buddies and Zaya loves hanging out with her. He is always asking about Hailey.

Isaiah, Hailey, and Hailey's cousin.

This picture was taken at Hailey's house when his mom offered to watch him while I went to one of my doctors appointments. They had so much fun playing together. That morning when Zaya woke up he yelled for me like he always does when he wakes up, when I opened the door to get him out of his crib he was standing there and the first thing he said was, "Go to Hailey's now!" He was so excited that he got to go over and play at Hailey's while mom went to the doctor. We are so glad to have them as friends and Zaya sure loves playing with her! Thanks again Alison for watching him for us! I think they are super cute together!

July 4th Fun!

2011-07-08T15:47:00.000-07:00

This year we couldn't really go anywhere for the 4th of July, because I didn't want to risk going into labor in the middle of the desert somewhere. So we tried to find something fun to do around here. We decided to go check out the Hoover Dam and drive over the new bridge that has been done for some months now and we just haven't gotten around to seeing yet. So we packed a picnic lunch and drove over to see it. When we drove to the other side of the bridge you enter into AZ and we told Isaiah that we were in Arizona, so he looked around and said, "Where's Zachy, Ike?" His cousins Zachy and Ike live in AZ and he was wondering where they were since he couldn't see them, so we had to try and explain to him that they lived in a different part of AZ. Anyway I thought that was really funny.

After we drove over, we decided it would be fun to park and walk out over the bridge on this walkway that they have. Zaya had fun going up all of the stairs and ramps they had to get to the top. It had a great view of the Dam but it was pretty freaky! It was also raining and windy, but it was just enough rain that we all thought it felt good and was a nice change from the heat, but some of the pictures aren't the best because of it.

Then we decided to drive out past Search Light, which I am still not even sure where this little town is and go to some cove that Casey wanted to fish. It was like an hour away or so. Anyway we got there and it was so hot! and packed with lots of Hispanics, but we did manage to hike through the sand a ways to a spot in the back where there weren't too many people and found a nice little shady spot to have lunch and wade out in the water. Luckily it was much cooler down by the water, or we never would have lasted. Casey didn't have much luck fishing there because his lures kept getting snagged, but we all had lots of fun exploring a new part of Nevada and being somewhat adventurous. Zaya loved throwing the rocks in the water and watching them splash!

Hoover Dam (view from the bridge walkway)

Up on the walkway

Another scary view! It is so high up!

My cute boys!

Not looking the best with the rain, but at least we are both smiling and looking at the camera :)

I thought these were cute!

So funny!

View of Lake Mead from a look out point.

Silly Zaya eating some apple. It was really bright so I am squinting pretty bad!

Out at Cotton Wood Cove ( I think that is what it was called)

Eating an apple while Zaya throws his rocks!

Relaxing in the shade

It was so bright outside, but I still like this pic.

After this we all came home and showered and slept and relaxed then at night we went into town to watch some fireworks. We didn't end up in the best of locations, but we still got to see a few fireworks and it was still pretty fun. Zaya did not enjoy the few little ones we bought to do with him. He is deathly afraid of fireworks up close and hates the loud noises they make. He kept crying and saying that he wanted to go back in the house. He really learned to like the ones from far off though, and thought they were really pretty. A few nights after the 4th Zaya was asking me where the fireworks were and I told him I didn't think there would be any but we could go down and do some sparklers if he wanted. He said that he was excited and that he liked sparklers, so i thought we would give it another shot. Well as soon as he saw what I had in my hands as we went out the back door, he realized what was going on and started to get all worried and said, "Put it back mom. Put it back." I asked him if he wanted to watch me do some, but he would have none of it, so despite my efforts we still have a bunch of little fireworks that have yet to be set off. :)

Fireworks

Pregnancy Update

2011-07-08T14:59:00.000-07:00

Okay so I know this was a few weeks ago, but here are the most recent belly pics of me 35 weeks along with this little girl.

35 weeks

35 weeks with little girl

I will be 38 weeks tomorrow. The doctor thinks it may be a good thing to induce me a little early because I have extra fluid and that combined with the gestational diabetes makes it a little more scary I guess. Anyway it isn't too crucial but they want to keep monitoring me. If by the time I see the doctor next week I am dilated or progressing more, then they may induce my on the 18th or 19th. If I am still at maybe a 1 (which is what I am now) then they will probably wait until my body is more ready for labor. They just don't want me to end up having a long hard labor or having to have a c-section because of inducing too early. Anyway that is where we are at at this point. Lots of monitoring (twice a week) plus seeing my regular doctor.

I had an ultrasound on Wednesday and everything looks great besides the extra fluid. They think she weighs 7 lbs 5 oz, but it could be a pound more or less. They got a really cute 3D picture of her face and with all the pregnancy hormones I almost started crying when I saw it. Something crazy about being able to see her so clearly...it just choked me up a bit! Crazy pregnancy hormones anyway. I don't have a scanner so I took a picture of it to put on here, it isn't the clearest, but you can get an idea anyway. Wish you could see the actual one. :) I think it is cute, but of course I am very biased. :)

Little girl at 37 1/2 weeks gestation

3D picture

~So other than that you may be wondering if we have picked a name yet, and we really aren't sure! There is one we are leaning towards, but are not sure on and we have no clue on the middle name still. So I guess we either better get it figured out soon, or hopefully it will come to us when she is born. :)

~I have had some swelling in my feet and ankles and it is always worse in my left leg for some reason but it hasn't been too bad. It usually only lasts a couple of days then goes away. Then it will come back. I think when I stay hydrated and try and not sit or stand too long, then it stays away.

~My tailbone aches every now and then.

~ Lots of pressure on my bladder at night and it hurts like crazy so I always have to get up in the middle of the night, but other than that am sleeping pretty well, thank goodness.

~Not really any food cravings, but i think maybe I do crave peanut butter. It is weird though, because I have never loved peanut butter, but now I am eating it like crazy, either PB and J or on sliced apples. Maybe it is just because it is a good protein that works well with my diet. But either way I am eating tons! :) Other than that no real food cravings this pregnancy.

~Okay one last thing that I think is really funny is that now that my belly is so big I always make a sort of grunting noise when I bend over to pick something up off of the floor (because it is really uncomfortable) so now Isaiah does the same thing when he picks stuff up. It really cracks me up! He makes it sound like what he is doing is soooo hard! :)

Zaya's Adventures!

2011-06-20T16:29:00.000-07:00

Lately Isaiah has been so full of mischief. I guess it is normal, but scrubbing crayon and pen off of walls and furniture sure gets old when you have a huge belly in the way! I have to make sure and keep any kind of writing device out of his reach or he will draw on anything and everything. The other day I went upstairs for 3 minutes tops and when I came back downstairs this is what I found! I guess he is trying to tell me that if I am not going to get around to painting the walls, then he will do it for me. :) Luckily it all came off with a little elbow grease and a whole box full of magic erasers! Those things really are magical!

Also last week I had been telling Zaya that we were going to be going to play group to go swimming in the big pool. We had been talking about it all day Tuesday and he was so excited to go on Wednesday! Then Tuesday night I realized that playgroup was on Thursday this week, not Wednesday. I knew Isaiah would be disappointed so I asked Casey what we should do instead. Well we decided to get out the little blow up pool that we bought at Wal-Mart a few months back, and blow it up and go swimming in our own backyard! We haven't quite finished installing the backyard yet, but Zaya had a blast anyway. He had so much fun swimming and splashing all morning with me, then when dad came home from work he wanted to go swimming with him too! He is my little water boy! I am so glad to have this little pool because now that it is getting into the triple digits it will come in handy to be able to get outside without dying of heat stroke! You can just see how much fun he is having in these pictures!

Fun with Family

2011-06-20T16:09:00.000-07:00

It was so fun to have Ben and Jamie and their two cute little boys come and visit us last month. They came up May 20-24th and we had such a fun time having them here! I wish we could have them here every weekend it was so much fun! We will definitely be going to visit them down in Arizona once we get this baby here and get settled into our new crazy lives! I wish we had more family that lived closer! Here are some of the fun things we did while they were here: went out to eat at Famous Dave's and Red Lobster, which was really awesome because we all got a great deal at Red Lobster with our coupons and gift cards which made it so we could go out to eat twice! We also went to Bass Pro Shop, which Isaiah never gets sick of doing. :) On Saturday morning Ben and Casey had a fun time cruising around Lake Mead fishing in Casey's new kayak. Jamie and I enjoyed taking the kids to the park and shopping while the men had their fun. Sunday was church and Ben and Jamie made us an awesome dinner! Then Monday we went to the strip to see the Belagio gardens, the lions at the MGM, a short 10 minute 3D movie at M&M world, ate at the Rainforest Cafe where Zach and Zaya both got free birthday desserts and rode the Monorail all around! It was so much fun and I am surprised at how well all of the boys did without getting their naps in. We wished that Casey could have come with us but he had to work. We had so much fun having them here and can't wait to see them again. (Hopefully soon.)

Ike and Zach sitting in the carriage at the park.

They liked getting out of the hot sun inside the carriage.

Ike wanting to drive the carriage with the boys inside.

Ike driving while Zaya pulls with his horse. (Zach was inside.)

Ike at the Belagio gardens

Zaya loved the glass balloons (or badoons as he calls them).

I loved this painting made with flowers. It reminds me so much of the interpretive art that I did in some of my floral classes in collage! If I could have a dream job it would probably be doing something like this!

I just love the different textures and colors from the variety of flowers they used!

Ike and Jamie

Zaya sporting his cool glasses

Zaya and I inside the little bird house in the gardens.

Cousins having fun at the Rainforest Cafe

More Fun!

Zaya pointing out where we are all eating with Ben and Zach in the back.

Zaya thought this alligator was pretty cool. It would move around and chomp its mouth open and closed.

Lion and trainer at the MGM

Pictures with Elmo

Zaya couldn't believe it was actually Elmo!

Zaya waiting for our M&M 3-D movie to start

Ike sporting his 3-D glasses

One Fat M&M standing next to another. :) I am 31 weeks and 2 days in this pic.

Fixed it!

2011-06-03T14:52:00.000-07:00

Okay, I was finally able to figure out how to get the backgrounds back. At least I can live with my blog now. It was so ugly a second ago. Well hopefully I can get it looking even better in the future, but if not oh well. I think I am all done for today...I will post some exciting posts soon. Sorry for these boring ones. :)

Oh Boy!

2011-06-03T14:30:00.000-07:00

So I was trying to install a new cute blog background and somehow ended up deleting the HTML/Java script thing were you are supposed to copy and paste your blog background. Now it is gone and I don't know how to get it back. So I put a new background, using a different template so it wouldn't be blank at least. It is not very cute and I think I would have been better off not trying to make my blog look better. Now I am just frustrated and don't know how to get it back? Anyone know? If not my blog may be ugly forever! :)

Zaya's Birthday!!

2011-05-18T14:51:00.000-07:00

This year for Isaiah's birthday I made him a big chocolate layer cake! He loves chocolate so what better than a huge chocolate cake for his birthday? It was the first layer cake I have ever made and am happy to say it turned out really good! He loves seeing the candles in the cake, but he still hasn't quite figured out how to blow strong enough to blow them out, so we had to help him. I decorated the house with streamers so that when he woke up from his nap he would be surprised! He thought they were pretty neat. I also made him BBQ hot dogs because he loves anything barbecue and he loves hot dogs! They were a big hit as well, but he wasn't a huge fan of the potato salad. He loved the balloons daddy brought home and had a blast playing with them! He loved pulling on the strings and then watching them go back up to the ceiling. The day after his birthday he discovered that the latex ones were fun to sit on. He had a blast and then kept asking me to find the balloon after it popped! Silly boy. We were going to take him to the park to play, but after he got his tricycle he just wanted to ride that around the whole time. We had a great time celebrating his birthday. I can't believe he is two already! My how the time flies. The whole day on his birthday he kept talking about chocolate presents and chocolate cupcakes. He is too funny! He also loved it every time we would sing him happy birthday or someone would call to wish him a happy birthday! He is getting so grown up and very independent. Thanks for all the birthday cards and gifts grandmas and grandpas!! He had just as much fun opening his cards as he did his presents!

My first layer cake

He kept calling it a big chocolate cupcake!

Happy boy on his big day!

He also loved the Happy Birthday sign and kept pointing to all the letters and naming them all.

This smile cracks me up!

Opening his presents!

Trying on his new sunglasses

Dad wanting to try on a pair too. :) They actually kinda fit! :)

His new helmet

Riding his tricycle for the first time!

He hasn't quite got the concept of how to peddle yet, but he had lots of fun just pushing it around too!

Getting ready to blow out his candles.

Bouncing on his balloons.

Balloon couldn't take it anymore...and popped!

Zaya sad...he kept telling me to find the balloon and asking where it went. :)

Realizing there was still one left to bounce on. :)

Easter

2011-05-10T14:16:00.000-07:00

Isaiah has loved Easter. I think his favorite part was at the ward easter egg hunt when he discovered that there is delicious little candies hidden inside the eggs. He also had a blast coloring eggs and eating all the Easter candy. His favorite are "chocolate eggies." Any chocolate candy that is shaped like an egg. He also loved the suckers and jellybeans. We also had fun doing our own Easter egg hunt at home and eating ham and special potatoes for Easter dinner. We tried to get him to understand the real meaning of Easter, but all he could think about was candy. I guess that is probably normal at this age. :)

Getting ready for the hunt

Gathering his eggs

He got a nice little basket full

Coloring eggs

He also colored his hands. :)

It was much more fun to just pull the egg out of the dye with his hands I guess. :)

Beautiful bright colored eggs with Sesame Street stickers.

Zaya on Easter morning

Checking out what the Easter bunny brought

He looks a little disappointed. I think it is because I told him he had to wait util after breakfast to eat the candy.

He got a chocolate bunny, lots of candy filled eggs and some baseball caps to keep the sun off his head.

Don't miss the post right after this one that tells all the fun things we have been up to lately!