A Place to Call Home

June 12 marked a year that we've been in our house.  We didn't know just how exciting our year was about to get, along with the big change of moving into our first house, we soon found out that we were pregnant with B.  We were thrilled!

I was sick with pregnancy, so H and I spent our summer days on our new back deck with her blow up pool.  I felt guilty we didn't do much else, but she seemed happy enough.
Along with moving into a new home, come all the firsts! The first night, which we spent in our living room as a family, birthdays, holidays and more!  Our first Halloween here was so fun, it was also the first year H was big enough to go out trick-or-treating, and our cute little neighborhood was alive with kids and their families going door to door for their treats, I find myself looking forward to it again this year.
We finally had room in our home for both sides of the family to come help us celebrate H's 2nd Birthday, which was Frozen themed of course, and I envisioned many future birthday party's to be held for her and her future siblings.  I've found myself checking out Pinterest photos for ideas on B's 1st Birthday.  I know, I know, he's only 3 months, and I have no idea what he will be interested in, but I'm just looking, calm down people.


Our first Christmas in our new home was exciting too.  I thought I had a million little Christmas decorations, which was true in a small 2 bedroom condo, but for our new house, I found I didn't have enough! So I'll need to keep working on my Holiday decor collection, which I'm sure Casey will be thrilled about.

And with Christmas out of the way, all of a sudden B made his grand entrance into the world! And our lives haven't been the same since.  I love our little house with the back door view of the mountains and the river bottoms, and I love that it's in the very town Casey and I grew up in and loved, and I'm so excited for our kids to grow up here too, and grow to love our little town.
Here's to another great year in our home! B has a few firsts in our house that I know will be just so much fun!

This is a photo of a portion of our back yard a year ago, and what it looks like today.  The lawn wasn't taken care of and we weren't sure it was going to make it! But thanks to Casey's hard work, you can now actually walk on the lawn without shoes!  We sit on the back deck sometimes and talk about all the things we want for our yard, where we want trees, and where he'll play catch with B someday.  Having a little piece of land to call our own and truly been a blessing, and we're so happy where we are!

Blessed

Yesterday was our sweet baby B's blessing day.  Casey was able to do this for him and did such a wonderful job.  We have lots of hopes and dreams for our babies, I want them to grow up to be good people and honest and kind.  I hope we can be good enough examples of this for them.
In preparation for his blessing day, I was in search of the perfect white outfit to bless him in.  I wasn't feeling the cute little white tuxedos for my guy, and a knit outfit was going to just be too hot for a 90 degree June day, so I went to that handy pinterest site and found the perfect thing for my guy to make!  Now I'm no seamstress by any means, but I've been experimenting with my sewing machine, and have made a few things, so I thought I could handle a simple little project for my boy.  I found instructions to made a darling little cardigan onsie.

I've never sewn buttons onto anything before, so that was a little new and challenging for me, but I think it turned out great!  The bow tie was made by my cute friend over at Kates.bows.  You can find her on instagram or facebook, she makes the most darling bows and headbands!
My guy looked so handsome in this! Simple yet classy.

So much of our family came to see our guy be blessed.  I am so grateful that Casey and I both came from such wonderful families!  He has two sets of grandparents that just love him to pieces, and several aunts and uncles that would do anything for him! And many, many cousins who love him too! Casey and I are very lucky for the people we do have in our lives, and are beyond blessed with all that they do for us!  It's been an amazing journey to get our babies here and to be surrounded by family that love us and our children!

Many thanks to our friends and family that made this weekend so special for our guy! Know that you are loved and appreciated!

Kylee

My niece is a high school graduate... This makes me feel insanely old!  She just left her childhood behind and soon begins adulthood.  I don't know about her, but I was sad when I graduated, I had so much fun as a kid, and wasn't quite ready to give it up.  Why is it that we only get to be kids for 18 short years, and then all of a sudden we have to adult?  She goes to USU in the fall, and I know she will have so much fun with that!
I remember when I was told we'd have a new addition to the family.  It was quite the shock, but I remember being so very excited! It was like getting a new baby sister!  I was 9 at the time, and I remember making Jaydale a list of boys and girls names, and at the time was pretty into the chipmunks, so I had strategically placed the names "Alvin", "Simon", and "Theodore" throughout the boys list.  Jaydale caught on anyways.
And then all of a sudden she was here!  And with that gorgeous red hair to boot.  And she was exactly like a little sister to me, was even a little annoying at times if you can believe it, but man was she a cute kid.  She was my little buddy.  I hope she knows what a blessing she was when she joined the family, and how much we loved having a little baby in the house.
As a kid, Kylee loved horses, and "My Littlest Pet Shop", and her little red boots that could make her run fast!  We always found it strange that we had a whole closet full of Barbies and she wasn't interested.  She loved riding her little red trike, and going for walks on the canal road with me and Grandma Robyn.
One thing I always loved about Kylee is that she held on to her childhood a little longer that a lot of the kids her age.  Kids seem to be growing up fast these days, but Kylee held on a little longer and I love that she did.
When Kylee started making the transition from kid to teenager, she came from being the annoying "little sister" to my friend, and where I actually got to hang out with her and have conversations, and that was and still is so fun.  She's become this sassy, spunky young woman, who drives a car, and kisses boys, and next year should could buy cigarettes if she wanted to! (but better not!)  All of a sudden she's this adult person and it still blows my mind!
It was fun to go up to her house and celebrate her graduation with a meal, and then the graduation ceremony at Rich High.  Harlow almost graduated to, but I pulled her off stage before that could happen.
And now she is a graduate, who plans to attend USU, who already has her CNA, and I know she will do wonderful things with her life.  It's been an honor to watch her grow up, be her aunt, sister and friend, and I look forward to what her future holds.

A family of Four

It's been so long since I have blogged, but now that B is here, I wanted to start writing about the fun and cute little things he and H do!  I used to journal a lot before he came, but find that I haven't since he's been here, maybe blogging will be easier! And I figured I had better write B's birth story before I forget!
We'll start with the day before B decided to make his grand entrance! March 5 was Disney's Disney on Ice, and it was Frozen themed.  I bought tickets knowing I'd either already have a newborn, or he'd he here shortly after, but Frozen is H's most favorite thing in this world and I just had to take her!  And take her I did! We went with Grandma Robyn, Aunts, and cousins.  She had the most magical time and loved every minute of it.  She was so disappointed when we had to leave, and kept insisting that we go back for more Frozen.

At this point I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions all week, but was overall feeling pretty good, so I felt fine about going.  We got home a little late by the time we were able to go to dinner and head home.  We got H to bed, I took a shower and then I was out too.  About midnight I woke from some pretty strong contractions, but decided to wait an hour just in case it turned out to be nothing.  By 1 a.m. the contractions were strong and frequent so we called my parents to come get H and got ready to head to the hospital.  By the time my parents arrived, my contractions were 4 minutes apart, so we left H with them, and were on our way!  Driving into Logan, Casey and I got lucky and hit all green lights, which was good because the contractions were getting painful! We got to the Hospital, checked in and then waited for the anesthesiologist to come give me an epidural.  Now many of you know I was very nervous about getting an epidural again, since it went so poorly with the birth of H, but I informed this anesthesiologist and he was wonderful and very careful! Unfortunately it didn't quite work fast enough, and I felt everything below my belly.  I did have to push quite a bit, but labor was fast and within minutes I was holding my sweet baby boy.  Arriving at 4:28 a.m., weighing in at 7 lbs 15 oz, and 20 inches long.  It was such a surprise when he came out with a full head of dark dark hair! I decided not to tell anyone how much hair he had, and let them all be surprised.
By the time I had B, no one even knew I was in labor besides my parents, and we were so excited to send out a text that morning telling everyone to come meet him later that afternoon!
That morning my parents brought H in to meet her brand new baby brother.  She didn't really seem to understand what was happening, but was excited to see me, and I missed my baby girl!

I was nervous about having a little boy, because all I knew was how to have a girl, but I wouldn't trade him for anything, and he has been the most perfect addition to our little family, and H just loves her little brother so much! We love you sweet B!