Kids at Play

This is Joe's new favorite thing to do to Kathrynn. Lucky for him, she worships the ground he walks on, so he can get away with it. :)



Every week we make a run to Costco for milk, bread, eggs, etc. and every week the kids have a heyday with the boxes. They're pretty creative, I have to give them that. :)

Valentine's Festivities

We had a fun time this Valentine's Day! Joe was SO excited about a new holiday and we were busy making and delivering valentines and treats.









We had heart pancakes with strawberry syrup and pink milk for breakfast. Pink milk is now Joe's new addiction. He has to have it every day now. :)



The kids and I made brownie hearts for their friends. They had more fun eating the leftover batter than they did making the brownies. :) I, unforunately, forgot to get a picture of the brownies before dropping them off, but they were way cute! :)

The Place Setting Story

I just saw this picture and just lit up! This is how I learned to set the table!! Well, sort of.. my story was that the evil fork guy was trying to get to the spoon princess and the knife knight was protecting her. Everyone laughs at me when I tell that story, but it works! I've never forgotten how to set a table! :) I'm so happy to see that someone out there has the same mentality! :)

6 Years Ago...

..I married the best possible man for me. I remember when I introduced him to my best friend's family, her mother told me, "Julie, you just couldn't do better." I know, that almost sounds like an underhanded insult, but if you know her, you know it was said with all of the sweetness and sincerity in the world. And, you know, she was absolutely right. I couldn't have done better because Steve is the best person out there for me. I'm SO grateful that I married him and not someone else. We do push one another's buttons on occassion, but what married couple doesn't? What is important is that we love each other and he has helped me grow in to the person I am growing into and has all of the strengths that I need in a husband.


We were sealed for time and all eternity in the Houston Texas Temple. It was a beautiful ceremony. We had only a few family members who were able to attend the actual ceremony, but in the place were the dearest friends in our lives who are, definitely, more like family to us than they are just friends. If it were a perfect world we would all live on the same block and I'd be able to see each and every one of them every day. The people who were in that room with us when we were married mean the world to me.

I'm so grateful for the last six years and look forward to the rest of forever with my wonderful husband. :)

A Present from Me

The first five people to comment on this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It'll be done this year (hopefully sooner than later.)
4. You will have no clue what it is going to be.
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.
The catch? Oh the catch is that you must re-post this on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me you did will win a marvelous homemade gift by me!

Let the games begin!!

Tuckered Out

We all had a really long day yesterday. The kids and I went to the Treehouse in the morning for Toddler Time.. Kathrynn actually screamed and ran up to the storytime guy like he was a rock star at the beginning of storytime - pretty hilarious - and quite suprising considering she still has a considerable amount of stranger anxiety. After Toddler Time we tromped around Ogden in the driving snow to accomplish some essential errands and went home to do some post-weekend clean up. Busy day.
Well, I was wiped out and laying on the couch by 7 p.m., hoping to just fall asleep. Kathrynn climbed up and snuggled with me, Steve was laying on the other couch and Joe was keeping himself busy doing this and that, doing everything in his power not to appear tired. Then he got really quiet. 8 p.m. rolled around and I got up to put Kathrynn down and walked in to the dining room to find this:


It's like he just gave up mid-walk and couldn't take anymore so he just passed out on the floor.


Steve carried him off to his room and got him in jammies and he didn't even stir.


I told Joe about it this morning and he looked at me like I was crazy and said, "No, mommy, only animals sleep on the floor." :)

First Born Quiz

Here you go mommies - a different kind of survey for a change - it's all about your first born! Just copy and paste it in a new note for yourself!
Let's see how much you remember!

1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED? Yes

2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME? Yes

3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? thrilled and in awe

4. HOW OLD WERE YOU? 26 when I found out.. 27 when he was born

6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT? Pregnancy test. :) We were trying to get pregnant and I was sure I was, but Steve was away on a business trip for a few days and I promised him I wouldn't take the test until he got home, so I took it first thing in the morning the day after he was back. It actually was negative after the first three minutes then we looked at it again and it was a bright, shining positive.

7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST? Steve. He was there with me looking at the test.

8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX? Absolutely

9. DUE DATE? 11/26/04

10. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? YES! It was triggered very easily, Steve would burp and I would throw up, the smell of people heating up food at work would make me sick and a lizard that the cat brought into the house sent me running for the bathroom. :)

11. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? It went in waves. At one point I could only eat potatoes. Then it was fruit, then hamburgers, then salads, then chocolate. The chocolate stuck throughout most of the pregnancy. I couldn't eat cherry jolly ranchers - they tasted like play dough.

12. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? Nothing that I could remember, but I was HIGHLY emotional. :)

13. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD'S SEX? boy.

14. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING? No, I was thrilled to be having a boy!

15. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY? Ugh. 55. Still fighting that off. See #11.

16. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER? Yes, two. One from my friends, one from my family.

17. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW? I knew - I was so busy at the time that they had to schedule with me.

18. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY? Pregnancy was perfect. Delivery was another story.

19. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, TX.

20. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR? 21 hours.

21. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH? Steve and my wonderful doctor and the nurses.

23. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION? C-section.

24. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN? ABSOLUTELY! I originally planned on going with no medication at all, but am so grateful I didn't or the c-section would have been a bit complicated.

27. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? 7 lbs 8 oz

28. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN ? 11/24/04.

30. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER? Joseph (after Steve's best friend) Benjamin (Steve's middle name)

31. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY? 4

More Pictures

It's not even 8 p.m. and I'm the only one awake in the house... it's been a long week.

Anyway, I missed a few cuties, so I wanted to add them now, since I have some well-earned quiet time. :)

Isn't this a hilarious picture? It's from way back at Halloween. Joe was at a Treehouse party and had been chowing down on a toffee lollipop and was zoned out on something..



Kathrynn at the piano. Whenever we go to Steve's parents' house, she goes straight for the piano. Music flows through these kids' veins. I love it!


These are some I took for a little project I'm working on..




I love my munchkins. :)

Our Budding Musician

I had to make this a separate post because I just love this video! Steve's mom has some ukuleles at her house and Joe will pick them up and strum and sing. I love it when he does that! I'm so grateful to have music in our home. :)

The Great Picture Dump

I've been meaning to post pictures FOREVER, but haven't been able to take the time to download everything on both of our cameras. We have two cameras now - a really nice one, and the one we got when we found out we were pregnant with Joe, so organizing the pictures is a little more complicated now. Anyway, here they are. Enjoy! :)



I'm in love with these aprons! My friend Sandra made them for me and the girls and I wear mine all of the time. Whenever I put it on, Kathrynn immediately reaches for hers and has to have hers on too. :)


Our Christmas Tree:


These are the stocking I made for the kids this year:





Santa came!


Steve and Kathrynn Christmas morning.


Gandalf hiding under some wrapping paper.


We went up to Logan on Christmas day and got snowed in for a few days - 18 inches of snow! Check out these icicles!


We got a new vacuum cleaner and Drew decided to make a train out of it. She named it the "Lightening Bolt Train," but when I looked at it I thought it said the "Shining Butt Train." We all got a really big laugh out of it. :)


The kids are becoming such good friends!


My little monkey.


I think there's a picture of me just like this when I was Kathrynn's age.. I think I was even wearing a similar sweater. I need to find that picture! I guess we had the same obsession with hats. :)


Joseph is very intelligent with conceptual activities - here he make a picture of "Mommy, Daddy, Joseph and Kathrynn."


I love it when Kathrynn reads to her bear - it's so sweet! :)


What a good sport!


This was my first attempt at a funky hairstyle on Kathrynn. I thought it was really cute and it actually stayed in the entire day. :)


This is Kathrynn saying "Cheese." You can see her spunk oozing out. :) Incidentally, this picture led to her raiding the fridge for cheese. :)