Keith, Natalie and Mackenzie

Take 2

2011-12-06T09:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T23:55:00.000-05:00

Keith and I have been able to spend all 3 of our Thanksgiving dinners out here in Kentucky with good friends. Last year we were with Gosnells and contributed a pie. This year we contributed rolls, pies, stuffing, ham, and potatoes. It was a lot of work, but nice to use the same recipes my mom uses and not feel so homesick for family. No matter that my crescent rolls came out looking like big blobs, they still tasted buttery and sweet, and comforted my soul.

This year I am most grateful for our new baby Clara. She is the sweetest addition to our family and I can't imagine how our lives were complete without her. I'm also grateful for such a wonderful husband. He keeps busy with school and his calling and yet he always makes time for me and the kids. And today when he clogged our sink with potato peels (because he peeled all 12 potatoes) and I left to go shopping for black Friday with the girls, he put Kenz to bed then pulled apart the sink and bleached it. He's a keeper. I'm grateful for Kenzie because she makes me laugh. She's full of boundless energy and attitude.

I'll leave you with a little video of Kenz and her buddy Parker. Keith was on-line and this song started playing and they started busting out moves we'd never seen before. We were impressed with Parkers break dancing and Kenzie's booty shaking....must come from those Shaws:)

10 weeks old

2011-11-22T15:13:00.000-05:00

This video is from last Sunday when Clara was 10 wks. I'm not lying when I say this girl is so happy! As you can see in this video, I'm not even talking to here just smiling. She's so social, we just love it

Family Pictures: 1st attempt

2011-11-22T09:02:00.000-05:00

I mentioned in a previous post how we kind of failed at these pictures. It was no ones fault really, it was quite dark when we started pictures and Susan's flash wasn't working so she did her best while editing to brighten them but that ended up really washing us out and blown up to an 8 by 10, the family pics look really grainy. The one of Clara and last of Keith and Kenz were my favs. We tried again on Saturday and I'm excited to see them. Kenz was a little more cooperative and it was a beautiful day.

Ruby

2011-11-18T16:22:00.000-05:00

When we first moved to Kentucky, we had very little furniture- a small sofa, a bed, a pack-n-play. I was invited to a bow making party within the first couple of weeks and there I met Amber Gosnell. She was incredibly nice and I knew I wanted to be friends with her. That night I think I mentioned how Keith and I needed to start searching yard sales for a kitchen table and chairs. Within a couple of days, I found out that she had put out a facebook message requesting a kitchen table and chairs. Someone offered theirs and she drove down to Lexington to pick them up then kept them in her garage so we could paint them. A great friendship was born.

Chairs before we finished them

Last June, Amber called me to ask if I could go swimming. I started to cry and told her I wasn't feeling up to it, that I had just miscarried. At the time, she was the only one who knew I was pregnant and had been trying to have a baby for several months. She immediately dropped her plans and came over to cry with me, feed me lunch and clean my house for me. In September when I miscarried again, she was there for me once more crying with me and making me food and helping with Mackenzie.

Our cute girls last summer

Around that time they decided they wanted to try to have another baby too. We hoped we could be pregnant together and the stars aligned and I found out I was pregnant in December, and she found out she was pregnant in February. It was so wonderful to have one of my best friends pregnant with me to moan and complain to about the woes of pregnancy and share our craving for peanut butter.

At her 12 week appointment she called to tell me they thought there might be a heart problem and I tried to reassure her that all would be well. It turned out that her sweet baby girl did test positive for down syndrome and while they mourned the loss of a healthy baby, they also embraced the idea of such a wonderful baby coming to them and met the challenge with amazing faith.

Amber came to my baby shower with a smile on her face and never once complained to me about the injustice of my having a healthy baby girl. She happily volunteered to take Mackenzie overnight while we
were in the hospital with Clara and texted me pictures of Mackenzie while she had her.
After Clara was born, she came to visit and we cried a little together as she held my baby and we talked about her baby girls uncertain future.

Amber at my baby shower- so sad we didn't ever take a belly pic together

About 7 weeks after Clara was born, Amber's little girl Ruby was born. She was in the hospital downtown and it seemed impossible for me to get down there without the girls and making it work around my nursing. I finally got to hold Ruby's sweet little hand two weeks after she was born. I started to cry when I saw Amber and gave her a hug and being the incredibly selfless person she is, she asked if I was ok and knew it would be hard on me to see her baby like that.

I love my girls dearly but I have never fallen in love with a baby as fast as I did Ruby. She had the most beautiful spirit I have felt on this earth. I asked her to get better so she could be best friends with Clara. That night I went home and snuggled Clara and prayed hard for the Gosnells.

Yesterday, I watched Amber's daughter Rose because Ruby was off of the life support machine and they needed to take the tubes out of her heart. It was her day to sink or swim and I was worried sick for her.
At 12:55 AM, Ruby joined her Heavenly Father. My heart is broken for her parents today but as you can see, she has the most wonderful mother whose faith is so incredible. I love her dearly and am so grateful for the wonderful friend she is to me.

If you want to read Amber's journal entries you can access her website here:http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/rubygosnell.
A video was also made in honor of Ruby you can find here:https://fbcdn-video-a.akamaihd.net/cfs-ak-ash4/353828/1011/10150373030996828_35317.mp4?oh=f03ba76744
or if that link doesn't work, you can find it on my Faebook profile.

It's times like these I'm so incredibly grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ and I know that Brian and Amber can have Ruby for eternity.

2011-11-13T20:32:00.000-05:00

We've been busy enjoying the beautiful weather this past week. We've been going on daily walks and as you can see from the pictures below, Kenzie gets as much exercise as me. She's such a natural runner, always has been, and keeps up with me for a couple of miles.

I'm so obsessed with these trees. They look like they are on fire, they're so beautiful. I will definitely miss the gorgeous Kentucky fall when we leave

Clara is just so happy, she's incredibly easy to love! She sleeps about 10 hours at night and wakes up super happy. The rest of the day she can be fussy unless she's being held. This little girl loves attention and I don't mind spoiling her with it when she rewards you with these cute smiles

Our terrible 2 turns 3!

2011-11-13T20:22:00.000-05:00

We had a lot of fun throwing a party for Kenz. She requested a Princess party and because I know she hates big groups we decided to keep it small. I asked which friends she wanted to invite and she named off 5 which sounded great to me. Two of her friends couldn't make it so we only had 3 which made it easy for us. Keith stayed home to help me out and I'm so glad he did.

We had the kids decorate cupcakes with pink frosting and princess sprinkles

Then played a game tossing the balloons in the air

Played a little pin the crown on the princess. Mackenzie actually didn't play she just cheered Everett and Lily on

The best part for the kids was opening presents. They all wanted to join in and did really well sharing. After presents we popped popcorn and Keith built a fort for the kids to sit in while they watched Sleeping Beauty.

That night when Keith got back from school, we had our little family party. Mackenzie opened presents from her grandparents and from us.

She requested chocolate cake with chocolate frosting- she definitely inherited that from me. The week before when we were skyping with Keith's parents, they asked her what she wanted for her birthday and she shouted "chocolate!"

I thought this was really cute, my mom got her a nativity scene and she had everyone face baby Jesus without any direction on our part.

So the title's a little harsh, she's not all terrible:) Two was a challenge because of the increased tantrums, the attitude and the testing of boundaries. It was wonderful because of her growing knowledge, increased capacity to love and watching her become a big sister. You bring so much joy to our lives Mackenzie, we love you!

Halloween

2011-11-13T13:52:00.000-05:00

We had such a fun Halloween! Kenzie's first Halloween she was too little to go out and last year it was on a Sunday so this was our first time going out in the neighborhood and trick or treating with her. She was so excited all day and switched out of her Cinderella dress into her Rapunzel dress that night to go out in. I didn't get a good picture of either of the girls because Keith got back just in time to go out and I was too busy getting them ready. The night was a little chilly but pretty comfortable.

Clara wore the same kitten costume her little cousin Paisley did. We didn't plan it and I wish they could be closer so we could have taken our girls out together! Clara did great by the way, we took turns cuddling her.

The neighborhood was pretty packed and Mackenzie had the time of her life going up to each door and getting candy. We stayed out for almost 2 hours and by the end she would put her hand up and say "stay here" at the end of the driveways so she could go up by herself. This was one night I was glad again that we're in apartments so that Keith and I could enjoy taking Mackenzie out together instead of one of us having to stay home to hand out candy.

Clara: Week 8 (and a little of 9)

2011-10-31T17:50:00.001-04:00

I am finally caught up! I don't have many pictures from this week, I really have to make an effort to remember to take any at all. I dressed Clara up in this outfit because it's the same one Kenzie wore at Christmas when she was 8 weeks old. Click here to see how they compare.

This week was a hard one for me. Kenzie was really acting up a lot and not being the sweet big sister she normally is. She was just really disobedient and rough with Clara. It was a good week for the girls nights because I needed an out and we had a lot of fun stuff planned.
Tuesday night, we saw the new Footloose. It pretty much just makes you want to get up and dance the whole time. On Wednesday we had a bunko night. It was such a blast and I won a prize for the most wipeouts (not a good thing but whatever I still scored a prize right?) I impressed all that were there with my mad skills at moving tables and nursing at the same time.

On Friday we took family pictures which may have been a disaster because Kenzie was in a foul mood, it was really cold, dark and her camera was having issues. From there, we went to our ward Halloween party which was really well done. We had a chili dinner and a lot of people (including us) decorated a door and handed out candy for the trick or treat portion. In between they had cookie decorating, games, face painting and crafts. No pictures from that because I am lame and it let's face it, two kids keeps you pretty busy and focusing other things besides pulling out your camera.
Saturday night we went to another Halloween party. There were a ton of people there and our white chili won the award for the best chili despite my accidental addition of curry to it. Yep, we just called it Indian chili and it was a hit. We dressed up as a mad scientist and a witch and I have no documentation of it because Kenzie wanted to go potty every 2 minutes- no exaggeration and when we got home my hormones took over and I got mad at Keith for who knows what so we just didn't get around to it. Maybe tonight I'll finally capture a picture of our princess and little kitty...just a teaser so ya'll will come back and look at the blog again.

Clara: Week 7

2011-10-31T17:31:00.000-04:00

Clara loves her older sister this week. She's really becoming aware of us and socializing with the cutest coos, gurgles and smiles.

She loves her binky in the evening hours. I'm so grateful she'll take one! Otherwise the Shaw household would be a noisy one at night. Luckily she's not dependent on it to sleep, just to calm down when she's having her fussy times during the day.

Mackenzie is dressing up like a princess just about every day. Her favorite is Rapunzel and I finally fixed that dress. In the meantime, she's been favoring this Cinderella dress.

On Monday the 17th, I went to my friend Sarah's house to get my hair done. I wanted a change and really didn't want to chop it off. I loved going dark after Mackenzie so I thought I would give it a whirl again. Keith was against it at first but I was pretty determined to get it done. Poor Sarah, the coloring system had changed so we tried a new way of doing it and my hair went RED. So we stripped some color and put on a darker shade. Still red. At this point it had been 5 hours and Keith was home so he came over to pick up the girls. He was kind of shocked to see me hair so red and was pretty worried how I was going to look at the end of the night. After almost 8 hours, we got the look we were going for, albeit a couple shades darker than planned. It was shocking to see myself in the mirror those first few days but it's faded a bit and I really, really like it. Keith was pleasently surprised when I came home with brown hair instead of red and he's since admitted he was wrong:)

Mackenzie sometimes think Clara's just another doll to play with as you can see in this picture. All in all, it was a fun week with my last Drs. Appt that checked out good and two girls that got along pretty well.

Clara: Week 6 & Boo at the Zoo and Potty Training

2011-10-31T16:45:00.001-04:00

We love Boo at the Zoo, it's one of our favorite Halloween events. This year we went on a Thursday night (13th) which was a rainy day. It seriously stopped raining just as we reached the zoo so the place was empty. That proved to be a good thing because Mackenzie hates crowds and she really liked going to the different booths and asked to have her picture taken in front of the castle and with Elmo and the princesses.

Clara did great! I nursed her before we went into the zoo and then she fell asleep after a bit in the carrier. It's so much nicer to carry her on top of my stomach instead of inside!

Mackenzie is really obsessed with Princesses right now. She loves any story that begins with "Once upon a time" and ends with "And they lived happily ever after." Anyways, she's wanted to be a princess for Halloween for awhile and right before we left for the zoo she put this Dorothy dress on (I bought at Target on clearance last Halloween for dress up- she doesn't even know who Dorothy is) and told everyone she was a princess. So no, I didn't forget the braids and ruby slippers, I just wasn't planning on a little Dorothy.

This is really Harry Potter's castle but she didn't care. Of all the pictures, this is the one she wanted most.

I just love this picture. They're both so dang cute and best buddies. I picked a good one!

This week I was feeling ambitious because Keith had Monday and Tuesday off so we decided it was finally time to buckle down and potty train. We warned Mackenzie Sunday night that we were taking away the diapers. On Monday we told her to tell her last diaper goodbye and put a pair of underwear on her. She was MAD. She threw a big half hour screaming tantrum then decided to go potty and that was pretty much it. We've had a few accidents but overall, she rocked it! It's so nice that she's so independent now and doesn't need much help. Keith was also a huge help and definitely contributed to her success.

Clara: Week 5

2011-10-31T16:27:00.000-04:00

This was a busy week for us. We took Keith's mom, Joan, to his school and showed her around. We also took her to Schimpffs, Huber Farms, and Bernheim Forest (see posts below for pictures). The weekend was realxing because it was General Conference. Keith took Mackenzie out to fly a kite between sessions on Sunday. While Joan was here, Mackenzie was able to spend a lot of time outside exploring and taking walks with her grandma as well as reading books. We were sad to have her leave but she's already making plans with Keith's dad to visit next year. It's so much easier saying goodbye to our moms when we know we get to see them soon at Christmas! Clara also had her month check-up on the 3rd. She weighed in at 9 lbs. 7 oz. and measured 21 inches. This week, she started to really smile and sleep a 5-6 hour stretch at night (thank you Babywise).

Schimpffs and Huber Farms

2011-10-31T16:10:00.001-04:00

While Joan was here, we also took her to Keith's school, then Schimpffs and finally to Huber Farms. Schimpffs was really fun this time because the owners were there and demonstrated how they make their red hots and let the kids in the museum area have a treat out of the old candy machine. Kenz thought that was really cool and picked a tootsie roll. Below are the pictures from Huber Farms. We had a delicious lunch at the restaurant and Mackenzie loved all of the painted pumpkins and picking her own pumpkin. She was really in love with the mini pumpkins so we picked out one large one for the 3 of us to carve and got her a little one to paint.

Bernheim Forest

2011-10-31T15:57:00.000-04:00

While Keith's mom was here, us girls took a little trip to Bernheim Forest. I mostly nursed while Joan and Mackenzie took pictures and walked the beautiful grounds but it was a fun outing.

Clara: week 4

2011-10-31T10:53:00.001-04:00

We were really starting to get the hang of things at this point. Keith was back in full swing at school and I was really enjoying my days at home with the girls. Kenzie was still a sweet big sister, willing to help me all of the time. On Friday the 23rd we had our first date night (Clara tagged along of course) but it was nice to get out. The next day I went to my good friend Sarah's baby shower and then to the Louisville Bats museum because we couldn't miss free museum day and we had a lot of fun! Keith had a volleyball tournament right after that (they won!) and then we went to dinner at our friends the Schmidt's. It was a really busy but fun day and life felt really normal. On the 27th Keith's mom came. It was so fun to have her to ourselves and Mackenzie especially enjoyed her undevided attention.

Clara: week 3

2011-10-31T10:44:00.000-04:00

Not a whole lot of picture taking going on because the sleep deprivation and taking care of 2 was starting to catch up to me. Clara was still proving to be a good baby though with awesome sleep and eating habits. We both went in on the 19th for appointments. My body was healing well with 30 lbs. now off and Clara weighed in at 8 lbs. 4 oz. and 20 1/2 inches. Compared to Mackenzie, she seemed chubby to me. She had a little click in her hip joint that the doctor told us not to worry about until her 1 month appointment. Other than that, she proved to be perfectly healthy!

Clara: week 2

2011-10-31T10:36:00.000-04:00

My mom left a few days into week 2 and I of course cried when she left. Keith called to check and make sure I was ok on his way back from the airport "So were you crying because of hormones...or you were sad she's gone, or hormones..." yep. Week 2 was good though, we started to develop a little bit of a routine and Clara started sleeping a 4 hour stretch during the night. It helped that we had meals brought in for a few days after my mom left. I continued to feel better and had shed about 25 lbs. (of 45 I gained) by the end of week 2.

Clara: Week 1

2011-10-31T10:29:00.000-04:00

Week one was much easier than I anticipated. We left the hospital Sunday afternoon and Keith had Monday off so he was able to stay home with me. Mackenzie was actually really sweet with Clara and didn't seem too jealous of a new intruder who occupied most of my time and attention. I spent Tuesday at home by myself and actually liked the challenge of caring for two, probably because I knew reinforcements were coming that night:) My mom came in Tuesday night and stayed for a week. It was so wonderful to have her help and company!! Keith was able to take quite a bit of time off also so we saw more of him than usual. Clara was a little fussier than her sister but she ate and slept better. Despite getting up several times at night, I surprisingly had a decent amount of energy and my body was quickly recovering from labor. We took my mom on a walk at Anchorage Park, went to Keith's school to show her around, went to Schimpff's Confectionary and then on a walk around Waterfront Park.

Sisters at 8 weeks

2011-10-30T08:22:00.000-04:00

Kenz on the left, Clara on the right.

Clara Elizabeth: The Birth Story

2011-09-06T17:12:00.000-04:00

I can't believe we actually have 2 kids! I'm a little overwhelmed by the idea (and hormones) but we're so grateful that our baby girl made it here safely.
We called the hospital at 5 AM Friday morning September 2nd and they told us we were good to come in at 7 AM. We were the last of 4 couples who were getting induced so we had a bit of a wait when we got to the hospital. We finally got into our room around 8 and got hooked up to the pitocin around 9. I was hoping to get my water broken first but the doctor didn't come until 11 to do it. I'm not sure if they were stress/anxiety induced, but I was having contractions all morning and they just seemed to get a little more frequent on the pitocin. Once she broke my water, the contractions really started working and I was soon grateful for the birthing videos I watched so I knew how to breathe through them.

Last pregnancy picture

Around 1, I was really starting to sweat and getting nervous because the contractions were pretty painful and less then 2 minutes apart with a lot of cramping between so pitocin won and I gave into the epidural. I have to say, it was a wonderful decision because I was able to relax and rest a bit until it was pushing time. So the epidural was started a little before 2 and by 5 I was at a ten and ready to push. This part was so different for me. With Mackenzie, I was in so much pain, I was begging to push and the process was incredibly long, exhausting and miserable to the point that I didn't even really want to hold her after she was born. This time, everyone was excited, including me. I wasn't sure if I would be able to feel enough to push, but there was enough pressure from the contractions that I knew when one was starting so I could push at the right time. The nurse had me push a few times through 2 contractions and much to my surprise, the baby was crowning. She went to grab the doctor who came in with her "team", set everything up and had me push for one more contraction.

Taking a practice picture before pushing so we could make sure camera was set up right

Words really can't describe the experience of having a baby enter this world and meeting them so fresh from heaven but I was the most grateful for my epidural at this point because I wasn't focused at all on the pain, just the beauty of my new baby girl. She had the tiniest little cry when she came out and she calmed down quickly. They let her stay with me for several minutes to warm up, then weighed and measured her (7lbs. 2oz. 19 inches), swaddled her and put her back in my arms to eat and continue to warm up.

We named her quickly. We had a list of several names and Clara was one I had loved for a few years. A couple of days before she was born, Keith decided it was his favorite and so when she came to us it seemed a perfect fit. Elizabeth is a name I've loved as long as I can remember and always said I would name my first girl. Well Mackenzie didn't look like an Elizabeth to me, and Keith and I both felt it fit perfectly with Clara this time. Both are family names also which we liked.

We stayed in our room until 7:30 when we were transferred to the mother/baby unit. The night was kind of long as Clara was a bit fussy from swallowing fluid. Up until her noon feeding on Saturday, she threw up every bit of her food. I also hate how often you're checked on and poked and prodded throughout the night. At about 4:30 AM, I finished feeding Clara and she cried until 5 AM when Keith took her. Just as he took her, she calmed and fell asleep and the nurse came in to do my tetanus shot, Clara's Hep B shot and check our vitals. I was so mad at her because it seemed like it could all wait until later and she woke my poor baby up to strip her down and give her a shot. She also came in the middle of the night to take Clara away from me and put her back in her bassinet because they don't allow parents to sleep with their babies in case of accidents. She took him from Keith at 5 and scolded him also. Needless to say, I was ready to leave by Saturday afternoon!

Our friend Erica had Mackenzie Friday night and so she brought her to meet Clara in the morning and Kenz just hung out with us in the hospital until 12 when Keith took her home. You know the cliche a picture is worth a thousand words? I happen to think Kenzie's initial reaction to Clara was captured perfectly here:

In the end, she wouldn't hold her

Our original plan was to have Keith stay the night with Kenz and come get me in the morning but baby blues hit early and the thought of being in the hospital alone really everwhelmed me. So he called up a wonderful family in our ward, the Gold's, who have 2 little girls and a boy and they were happy to take her for the night and to church on Sunday. I was so grateful for that, and Keith and I had a much better night Saturday. We were discharged Sunday at noon and have loved having Clara home. She is a wonderful baby! She has her fussy times here and there but for the most part, she eats, sleeps and poops like a regular newborn.

I can't believe how much better this experience has been! While my body was more damaged this time around, I felt I was more prepared for the pain and interruped nights. Breastfeeding is still hard, but it's not as painful and I know there is a light at the end of the tunnel! I'm actually in love with getting up with Clara in the middle of the night to snuggle her and have such a wonderful bond.
Kenzie is adjusting SO much better than I thought she was going to after seeing that first reaction. She mostly ignores Clara because she sleeps so much but when she notices her, she wants to hug her and kiss and her and touch her "tiny toes and fingers." I think she can't wait for the day to be able to play with her and she's a little disappointed I'm not bottle feeding so she can't give Clara a bottle like her babies.

We feel so incredibly lucky to have great friends who watched Kenzie for us and who are bringing us meals until my mom gets here tonight. I thought it would be hard having a baby so far away from home and while it is and we wish we could be near them, Kentucky makes it much easier to feel like you're surrounded by people who love you and will do anything for you.

39 weeks

2011-08-27T09:00:00.003-04:00

Here she is folks, ready to pop! The body is so unbelievable how it can grow and accommodate for a baby. I originally hated the idea of induction. I had a long, miserable experience with Mackenzie and so I was all for letting my body jump start itself this time. And then my doctor mentioned how she would induce me anytime after 39 weeks, especially because we had an ultrasound done at 38 weeks to check the position of my previously transverse baby and we found that she is now head down and perfect size to be born through my small pelvis. Knowing all looked good and the fact that I'm dilated to a 2, 50% effaced, and having multiple BH contractions every hour, I started contemplating induction in the case that I did go a week over. I really want my mom to be able to help with the baby and the thought of another month of pregnancy made me want to knock back a bottle of castor oil. So Keith and I started discussing it and I had it in my head to induce on the 9th if she wasn't here yet until Keith said "what about Labor day weekend?" Of course that weekend had crossed my mind but I wanted my body to have as much of a chance as going into labor on it's own as it could. But I can't describe the feelings I had when he mentioned the 2nd. It was a warm, enveloping peace prompting me that for some unknown reason, that date was exactly right. We both felt so good about it we didn't think about it again until Keith ran into a little conflict with his school schedule. Again as we discussed it though, the warm peace overcame me and let me know that we should stick with the earlier date. So there you have it, if she hasn't come by next Friday (day before she's due), we're forcing her out!

Showered with Love

2011-08-26T16:01:00.000-04:00

I think we live in the most amazing ward. Everyone is so kind and welcoming and they love to throw a baby shower! I kind of resisted the idea because this is my 2nd girl and I really didn't need anything but I gave in for the sake of a girls night and the chance to be surrounded by women I love.

Kristen was kind enough to lend us her house and Tia and Stephanie took care of the food and decorations.

L to R: Stephanie, me, Kristen, Tia

Gross picture of me but weren't the decorations cute! And the food was delicious

Some of the beautiful ladies that were there:

This was such a cute idea. Tia asked me what children's book I loved and didn't have. She then bought a big copy of it and put it on the entrance table for everyone to sign.

Sweet little Emma makes me SO excited for another girl

I love having pregnant friends who know exactly how you feel! Veronica on the left is due end of October with a girl and Sarah on the right is due with a boy beginning of November. My friend Amber is also due beginning of November but we didn't get a picture with her before she left. I love these girls!

Baby girl was thoroughly spoiled with some amazing homemade blankets, and plenty of cute clothes and some essentials. Thank you everyone for your love!!!

Birthday Boy

2011-08-26T15:36:00.000-04:00

I am the worst at documenting our birthdays. I took 4 whole pictures of Kenzie's 2nd Birthday and none of those were with her cake. This is the first birthday I have pictures of Keith. He doesn't like to make a big deal out of his birthday (or mine or any other holiday for that matter) but I think he liked being spoiled a little bit. We were lucky enough to have him home for a week long break the second week of August so he got to spend the whole day with us. We started off the day with presents- cards from our parents and his sister and some shorts and T-shirts from me. Lame gift I know, but it's what he wanted. I made him homemade pretzels using this recipe, and then a German chocolate cake using a family recipe that was delicious! That night we went to a baseball game. It was LDS night so we rode with some of our friends and had a blast. Plus, a guy in our ticket line gave us an extra ticket so we ended up paying only $6 and getting dinner because it was $1 hot dog and soda night. The next day, we went to Red Robin for his free Birthday burger and Thursday we had pizza, cake and ice cream with one of our favorite couples the Barratt's. All in all, I think he had a good birthday week!

What will probably be the last pregnancy post

2011-08-03T16:48:00.000-04:00

I'm not planning on having the baby anytime soon, I just know I probably won't take the time to blog again. I still have lots of organizing and cleaning to do so I've got to prioritize my time! It's amazing to me how the belly can stretch out in the last trimester of pregnancy. I'm glad I actually documented it this time so I could see how amazing the whole process is. I'm feeling about how I think I should for being 35 weeks: Uncomfortable, tired, anxious, nervous, swollen, hot, heavy, irritated. Wanna know why I feel all of these things? I'm not getting much sleep these days between bathroom breaks, my sciatic nerve is driving me crazy, I've put on over 40 lbs. so that means my joints are hurting, I don't fit into my maternity clothes anymore, and the sweating is out of control because the humidity this summer has made being outside almost unbearable (my ring finger is up 3 full sizes). Despite the negative side of being about 9 months pregnant, there's lots of positives. Keith's really hit with the reality that a baby is coming, I can pull the pregnancy card whenever I want, people don't even remotely judge me for taking seconds they actually encourage it, I can fully blame my cranky mood on my hormones, and I am having dreams about this baby all of the time because I'm so excited to meet her. As frustrating as it can be to have the baby kick various organs inside of me and keep me up with her movement, I love feeling her and knowing it will be just a short time before I can snuggle her in my arms. I realize how lucky I am to have this opportunity to be pregnant again and know that every minute of these past nine months will be worth the sacrifice to bring one of God's children into our home.

27 weeks

29 weeks

33 weeks


35 weeks

Mackenzie the morning after she was born

Can't wait to meet you baby girl*!

*No name has been picked out, we have a list and we'll name her when we see her

4th of July

2011-08-03T16:17:00.000-04:00

I've been in Idaho for the 4th before, but I'd never been to the parade or fireworks show. Both were so fun! The kids had a great time at the parade because there were a lot of bands and candy to catch.

My brother Caleb playing the drums with his high school band

The fireworks show was wonderful. While it didn't come close to the theatrics of Thunder over Louisville, our seats were right under the fireworks and they were nonstop for almost an hour. We were so close, we ended up getting hit with a lot of firework debris. It was pretty funny to hear people shout out as they were pelted with a huge piece of cardboard.

Kenz watched for a few minutes with Kate and Taft, then hid under my blanket for the rest of it


Thanks for letting me steal all of your pictures Nycole!

Island Park

2011-08-03T16:02:00.001-04:00

For the last 5 years, my family's made it a tradition to float the Snake River in Island Park. The first year was shortly before Keith and I got engaged.

My mom said we were obnoxious and lovey dovey on that trip.

In 2008 I went without Keith because I was pregnant and thus no pictures were taken because he's the one who remembers to do things like that. I don't think we were able to go 2009 because we were in Kentucky.

2010: Kenzie seems so much smaller last year. She didn't really care for the tube then either.

And this year Keith had to miss out again. I did feel pretty guilty enjoying such a beautiful day while he was back in Kentucky studying for boards.

David with Paisley getting ready to raft.

She was in the tube with me for about 20 minutes. Then despite her crying, my family let me drop her off in the raft where she eventually calmed down and spent some one-on-one with my mom.

The scenery was gorgeous

My little bro Caleb- check out those abs!

Kate and Taft were brave and floated on their own for awhile

We saw a moose at the end

We capped off the perfect day with buffet at Craigo's aka Pizza Pie Cafe.

Gotta love that Oreo Pizza

Idaho

2011-08-03T16:02:00.000-04:00

I have awesome sisters who were willing to drive me to and from Idaho and hang out with me while I was there. Mackenzie was doing a little better with the trip and liked having her cousins in the house all of the time.

Kate was so sweet and held Kenzie's hand as they went down the slide together

This is monumental. Mackenzie has NEVER liked swinging and for some reason she decided she was going to join in the fun and give it another go.

Taft is getting a great sense of humor and he's such a fun kid to be around.

The kids on Sunday

Paisley is the happiest little girl! Always clapping and smiling

To beat the heat, we set up a little sprinkler pad for the kids to play in

And set up a Buzz Lightyear sprinkler

Kate wasn't crazy about Mackenzie shadowing her all of the time and Mackenzie wasn't a fan of Paisley following her around so this picture made me laugh because they really did need space.

Nighttime is so much cooler in Idaho and Utah. The kids decided to play duck, duck, goose with Rachel, Caleb and my dad.

The kids all piled onto Uncle Caleb

Party Time

2011-08-03T15:10:00.000-04:00

Brandon and Katie set up their fun slip n' slide on their hill again this year and the older kids (not mine) had a lot of fun.

Because dad wasn't there to take Kenzie, grandma took his place, compression hose and all. What a good Grandma!

This is how Kenzie acted in between all of the partying and time she wasn't with her cousins. I don't think I've ever seen her throw so many tantrums in such a short period of time. Every day she asked me if we could go home and told me she wanted daddy. I never realized what a homebody she is. I was able to get out one night with my roommates which was a blast. Keith's parents watched her and said she was much better without me around.

Sophie and Eva had a combined Birthday party while we were there. It was princess themed and Joy did such a great job with it.

Sophie rocked while Kenzie sat. She was between laughing and screaming the whole time trying to decide if she liked it or not.

Eva and Sophie were so incredibly sweet and let Kenzie help open their presents.

Brandon and Katie bought all of the girls Princess dresses which they loved.

Wheeler Farm

2011-08-03T15:01:00.000-04:00

After the Church museum, we grabbed lunch at the Lion House which was a little tricky with 5 kids and only 3 adults to get them through a long cafeteria line. But the food was good and gave us the energy to go onto our trip to Wheeler Farm. Despite the hot sun, the kids had a lot of fun.

Joy with her girls on the wagon ride around the farm

Grandma with Gideon and Kenz

I was shocked by how much snow was still on the mountains. Utah was suprisingly green and pretty for the middle of summer.

Utah: The first couple of days...

2011-08-03T14:47:00.000-04:00

I anticipated the plane ride to be hard but it turns out that it was one of the easiest parts of my whole trip! Our friends let us borrow their portable DVD player which was really nice and helped occupy Kenzie on our

2 1/2 hour flight from KY to Denver. Our layover in Denver was just a couple of hours but Mackenzie sure made it seem longer! She kept me busy not listening to me, running around like a wild child, running up stairs we didn't need to go up and throwing herself on the floor. I think it was so much harder because I was 8 months pregnant, carrying 3 bags, and she's much faster than me. The flight from Denver to Provo went well and we were excited to meet Keith's sister Katie and her husband Brandon at the airport.

Poor Brandon tried so hard to get Mackenzie on his good side but she just wasn't having it with all of the new people around. The next day she let Katie blow bubbles with her outside.

Keith's family came over for dessert Sunday night and upon my request, Brandon took Mackenzie kicking and screaming away from me and held her hostage outside with the family so that I could get a bit of a break from her and so she would interact with the family. It took a little while but she finally warmed up a bit and had fun.

Grandma brought the parachute and the girls had a blast playing. Sophie and Kenzie are just 4 months apart but have very different personalities. They had a good time, though Eva and Mackenzie seemed to get along the best as the week went on.

Cousins (and a neighbor) blowing bubbles

Sophie and Kenz eating their pudding

It had been a year since I'd seen Serena. It's amazing how much babies develop and grow in that year, what a cute girl!

Keith's mom took me and Joy's family to the museum of Church history and art in downtown Salt Lake where they have a lot of beautiful paintings and artifacts. The kids had fun in these beds which were supposed to be like the bunks on the ships that came to America.

John Borrowman is a relative of Keith's

Upstairs in the museum was an area for kids. They had this magnet board so the kids could create quilt patterns.

They also had dress up clothes for both boys and girls to put on so they could dance

I thought this cradle was adorable, I want one!

The cousins in front of the Salt Lake Temple.

June

2011-08-03T14:09:00.000-04:00

June- I wish my brain could think back that far! Good thing I have some pictures to remind me. I actually think these first few pics are from the end of May but here we go... we went to a handful of Birthday parties that Kenzie had a blast at. She can't wait for her Birthday now which is still a few months away.

The Birthday girl is sitting next to Kenzie in this one

Kenzie loves all of these boys which is great because I love their moms

This is at one of the parties and I just wanted to include it because I've been so lucky to make great friends here in Kentucky and Keith is always willing to let me go hang out and do girls nights which have been pretty frequent with the laid back summer schedule. I have to soak it all in until this baby comes and I don't have a social life anymore.

Everett's pirate party was a blast, I wish I would have taken pictures of Tia's cute decorations and cake. These two are great buds.

We went out to Spaghetti Factory with our old neighbors for Neha's birthday. They were so sweet to think of a family friendly place to accommodate Mackenzie

I went into major nesting mode in June and hit up a lot of yard sales and have been busy painting and refinishing projects. This mirror is finished and hanging above Kenzie's bed right now.

We've spent a lot of time at the park and pool. At least a couple times a week, a group gets together and plays volleyball. I have to say one of the top 3 things I'm not digging about being pregnant in the summer is the fact that I can't play- I miss it!

We're still going strong with our baby swap and Mackenzie and Parker are still loving each other.

Just had to include this one because she is full of spunk and personality... not the easiest child but she's definitely entertaining.

Mackenzie snuck into my room and put her elephant to bed. She's really into babies right now and often I'll come into her room during nap/quiet time and she won't be sleeping because she's tucked the baby into bed. She'll say "shhh, baby's sleeping." I recently got the car seat out and washed it up so now she likes to put her babies in there to sleep.

We got a little vanity with all kinds of cute accessories at a yard sale and Mackenzie loves it. Her favorite is the nail polish and she especially likes to paint our nails. Keith's a good sport and lets her paint his fingers and toes.

Another yard sale find was a set of new sponge curlers for a quarter. We tried them out on Kenzie's wet hair one night and she had the cutest curls in the morning.

This is a gross picture taken right after the pool but I had to prove that I met the Duggars. They came to the Summit shopping center about 10 min. from our apt. and I had to go meet them and tell them how much I appreciated their values. Almost all of the kids were there- the littlest ones were sleeping in their bus. They were as nice in person as they are on TV. I might have gotten Keith to come with but he was in Pikeville Kentucky doing dental service with the school.

Tickled Pink

2011-05-23T09:38:00.000-04:00

I've wanted to paint Mackenzie's room since we moved in but I never managed to talk Keith into it. When we found out we were having another girl, Keith gave me the green light to paint. I seriously spent hours at Lowe's and on-line trying to pick a color and using virtual painting. Keith was so good to spend our date night last week picking out a pink color with me. It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. Our old neighbors the Mirsky's bought a condo recently and so they had all of the equipment to paint and let us borrow it.So Saturday after I finished hitting the yard sales, we got to work. Kenzie was amazingly good and stayed out in the living room playing and watching Curious George the whole time. I forgot to take a before but this was on the last wall right before our paint ran out and I had to run out and buy another quart.

And after:

I want to paint the changing table (thank you Grubbs!) but I love the jewelry holder from Neha and the little lamp I scored for a couple bucks this weekend.

I made that butterfly chandelier from a tutorial Adrienne posted when we first moved here and painted those letters and made the hanging poms a couple years ago in Rexburg. The rag quilt on her bed I meant to post but never did. I used another tutorial Adrienne found to make it using the layer cake 'It's a Hoot' by MoMo

And here's the little angel sleeping on the couch while we painted. I'm so excited to have two girls!

A Last Break

2011-05-23T09:12:00.001-04:00

With the end of Keith's 2nd year of school, he had another break which was much needed and appreciated! We had wanted to go to St. Louis but with our car having continual issues, funds ran out and we ended up having a fun time hanging out in our hometown.

First off, the zoo to check out the new Glacier Run. We've loved having a zoo pass as it's somewhere we all love to go over and over again.

These next few pictures were before our trip to Bernheim Forest. I can finally pull this little girls hair back in a ponytail. I can't get over how grown up she is starting to look.

We met up with friends at Bernheim Forest which is always beautiful. This particular day was a little too hot with temperatures hitting the 90's and bad humidity but we had fun and Kenz enjoyed running around.

Keith spent some quality time with Kenzie in the visitor's center building with the quirky nature objects while I tried to cool off and calm my contractions down. I am so not fun to take anywhere anymore. Every time we walk, I get painful, cramping contractions and if we go uphill I have to majorly slow down and stop to breathe every few minutes. The doctor said it's normal and I was worried about it for awhile but I'm getting used to it. So much for those work out plans though!

The only bad part about the break was saying goodbye to our good friends the Birds. They've been here the past couple of years we have and are moving on to Oregon. We had a little going away party at our apt. the night they left and I'm so mad I didn't get pictures. We'll miss them a lot and I know Mackenzie will miss their little girl Brynlie.

Brynlie came over to play while her parents packed and the girls spent a lot of time zipped up in Kenzie's tent with their babies.

For the rest of break, we spent time enjoying the sunshine outside and spent Saturday night at a baseball game with some friends. It was a lot of fun and something we want to do a few more times this season.
After a full week of leisure, Keith and I got the bug to start some projects we've been intending to do. First up, painting our kitchen table, and recovering the chairs. Here it is sanded down. We need to do a finishing coat and then I need to borrow a staple gun to put the fabric on the chairs. I'm majorly nesting and have about 5 projects I got for free or bought cheap at yard sales this weekend to work on so maybe I'll be good about taking before and after pics. No promises though!

Boy or Girl?

2011-05-02T09:53:00.000-04:00

21 wks.

22 wks.

Who knew it would be so hard to find out the gender of our baby? We went in for a 20 week appointment on the 18th. I had a feeling the day before that we were not going to be know the gender and as a precaution, took orange juice and drank it right before. The feeling proved to be justified as we went in and immediately saw the baby's legs crossed and curled up. After a good 20 minutes, the ultrasound tech let me empty my bladder then come back. Baby still hadn't moved and wasn't cooperating for pictures in general. It seemed my uterus was split in two parts, one part filled with a curled up, sleeping, thumb sucking baby and the other side with most of the amniotic fluid. She let me go to my doctor's appointment then come back again. I jumped up and down, layed on my stomach to no avail, the baby was in the same stubborn position 10 minutes later. The tech was so nice and I think she was just as frustrated because she said she only gets babies this stubborn about every 2 months, and even then she can normally give a 80% prediction. She overrode the doctor and set up my appointment for the next week instead of the next month.

We went in on the morning of the 27th and the moment that wand was on my stomach, we had a leg shot and I said "It's a girl." The tech said, "I think you're right..." and kept prodding until she could determine it 100%. I was a little surprised because I've felt this whole pregnancy it was a boy but I knew if I could choose, I would choose a girl so I was really excited.

We also confirmed that the baby is in my back which is the reason for my smaller belly (don't be fooled, I've gained PLENTY of weight) and the reason for my back pain. I had pain last time but not shooting nerve pain like this. Also, baby has measured for Sep. 3rd the last 3 ultrasounds so that's the date I'm sticking to. Hooray for a healthy baby!!! I would endure any amount of pain for this pregnancy.

Easter 2011

2011-05-02T09:28:00.000-04:00

We had a great Easter Sunday. Church was wonderful and we were able to have dinner with a good group of friends. We have so many blessings in our lives and I'm so grateful for the Savior and all that He did for us and the hope that comes with His resurrection.

These were our Easter family photos. I always forget to have someone take pictures for us and Keith and I were in need of a nasty close up after our Sunday naps.

Keith's parents were so sweet and sent us an Easter package. This cute dress was made by Keith's mom. Kenzie's in love with it and likes to twirl so I couldn't get a straight shot.

This is totally not Easter related, but we found this little guy a few weeks ago in "our backyard" and I had to include him in a post because it's been fun to go out and try to find him and catch him.

Springtime

2011-05-02T08:44:00.003-04:00

Despite all of the crazy storms we've had here, spring has been beautiful. We go outside every chance we get and soak up the Vitamin D.

Kenz is such a tree hugger. When we go for walks, she has to hug every tree along the way and sometimes lays a big kiss on them. Not sure where she learned it, but I think the trees feel the most loved when she comes along.

This is Kenzie's new stand-in aunt, Sarah. She is so incredibly good with Mackenzie and last Sunday, Kenzie sat by her all of Sacrament meeting and wanted only Sarah to take her to nursery. She asks for her often.

We love having so many sudents in our complex. We get together often for BBQ's and once the weather warms up, volleyball.

Kenz was mad at me one day and stormed into my room and put herself to bed. It was great!

Oh our never ending battle with our windows. I took these as proof of how bad the rain had soaked my carpet, walls, blinds, ect. and they finally came out and tried to seal them again. Too bad it didn't work, we're just waiting on a sunny forecast so they can try to check them out again.

We take walks every chance we can. I'm so in love with how beautiful spring is here and feel blessed to live in such a nice area where we feel safe walking.

Food Glorious Food

2011-03-30T17:21:00.008-04:00

The beginning of my pregnancy my diet consisted mostly of these staples: Saltines, cereal, oranges.
I'm just now starting to get back into cooking and Mackenzie has decided she needs to be apart of the process every night. Keith was home early enough one night to document his girls making some stuffed french toast.

Cute apron courtesy of Grandma Joan.

Please ignore our hair, mine doesn't know what to do with the humidity and Kenzie's styles never last more than a few hours.

We learned this recipe at YW's and I love the simplicity of it:

Cut a loaf of french bread in half. Soften up some cream cheese and spread it on both sides of your bread. Dice up whatever fruit you love and press lightly into cream cheese on one side. Put your bread together and cut in slices. Whisk together some eggs, a little vanilla, a generous amount of cinnamon and a little milk. Heat a skillet to 330. Grease hot skillet with butter. Dip your slices into the egg mixture and cook on each side until golden brown. Serve with Buttermilk Syrup.

Some people like to blog about beauty/cleaning products they love. As my life kind of revolves around eating right now, I'm going to share some of my obsessions in that category.

First off, has anyone tried this yet? AMAZING. We bought 2 boxes to start and they were gone within a couple of days. All 3 of us are obsessed.
Peanut Butter+ Oatmeal+ Milk+ Brown Sugar+ Dash of Cinnamon+ Raspberries= Heaven

And for some reason, I have a hard time with chocolate when I'm pregnant which is about as weird as it gets because I'm normally a MAJOR chocoholic. So while M&M's still taste off and hurt my belly, these little guys are replacing them. Not a lot of chocolate but lots of creamy PB. Thank you Reese's!

Spring Break

2011-03-29T07:47:00.027-04:00

The rest of Spring break turned out to be pretty relaxing.

We slept in and Keith enjoyed making up for lost time with Mackenzie

On Thursday, we went to Cincinnati. Keith was a good sport and took me to the Gap outlet first. This is the cheapest outlet because a lot of the merchandise has broken zippers or little defects that are usually really easy to fix. I only spent an hour and a half there and we came out with clothes for the three of us all for the price of a pair of jeans I took back to the Gap a month ago.

Driving into Cinci
At the outlet, we had the luck of running into a sweet woman in the ward who gave us her passes to the Newport Aquarium. We've heard a lot about this aquarium the past couple of years and were really excited to get a chance to go. It definitely lived up to the hype and was most enjoyable because we could go on a weekday when it wasn't busy.
I don't know what I would do if I encountered these guys in the ocean:
Their faces made me laugh in this photo:
The jellyfish were so beautiful! I don't have any good shots because the room was dark but there were several tanks of different kinds of jellyfish swimming to classical music.
The shark tunnel was the highlight. We spent a lot of time watching them swim and imagining we were underwater with them.

After the tunnel, we were able to pet some of the sharks. They weren't as smooth as I thought they would be.

Right outside the aquarium:

This isn't related to break but for documentation I thought I would include a belly shot. I have 3 total with Mackenzie and I hate that I didn't take more. My belly is completely different this time around. I'm 17 weeks now and I feel so good that if it weren't for my voracious appetite, afternoon fatigue, and little kicks, I would forget I'm pregnant. Hooray for actually enjoying my second trimester this time!

For comparison, here's my belly at 13 weeks with Mackenzie

Just Another Day In Paradise

2011-03-15T16:05:00.003-04:00

I wanted to post a little bit of every day life because I definitely don't do it enough and I know these are the memories I'll cherish when our kids are older.

Monday marked the first day Spring Break for Keith. We decided a couple weeks ago to take a little road trip to St. Louis where Keith served his mission and the last minute decided against it because our car is having issues.

We started the day off lazily sleeping in then went to Costco. When we got home, we had to make room in our freezer for food and Keith found a can of Orange Juice so I thought Kenz could help me make some Orange Julius. I asked her not to touch the buttons but she's a defiant two year old and the second my back was turned and the lid was off the blender, she pushed a button and that frothy goodness went everywhere. The picture doesn't quite do it justice and I should have gotten Mackenzie in it because she had it all over her. I'll admit I had to stop my flaring temper so I could take a step back and laugh at the situation then document it.

Keith immediately threw her in the bath and he got a little too caught up playing angry birds and didn't really catch the cues she needed to go to the bathroom. Not once in her life had Mackenzie pooped in the tub before and I was just happy I didn't have to clean it out. (Pic taken a few weeks ago)

Did I mention she skipped her nap so she was a little on the cranky side the rest of the day? I took off before bedtime to watch the Bachelor with some friends and I couldn't help but think while I was away how crazy the day had been and yet, I was so grateful for it. Keith's first day of "break" might not have been much of one but we truly love this phase of our lives and our (mostly) sweet girl.

5, 10, 15 weeks

2011-03-15T16:00:00.002-04:00

Ignore my gross mirror and lack of photographer, Keith is never home when I think to take a belly shot. I think I'm about the same size as I was with Kenz at this point, maybe a little smaller because I still feel like I'm so in-between looking fat and pregnant right now. I am carrying lower (boy maybe? or just lack of muscle tone) and I'm feeling better than I did the first time around. I wanted to thank everyone for their sweet comments on Facebook and the Blog. We feel so loved and supported. I'm incredibly grateful for this opportunity to be pregnant. These past couple weeks I've been feeling the baby move so much, it's such a reward for the sickness and puts my anxiety at ease.

2011-02-23T07:31:00.005-05:00

January: Not much to say about this cold, long month. The new year started off good with a trip down to Georgetown on new years eve with our friends Brian and Amber. We stayed at Amber's parents house and ate too much food and played games. Her parents are really welcoming and made our stay so fun. The next day we watched football, slept in and just relaxed. That night, we met up with my old roommate Katie and her husband Tommy for bowling. It was a blast and we ended the night with dinner at The Parkette Drive In which was featured on Food Network's, Diner's, Drive-In's & Dives. I can always count on Katie to show me where to find good food. As for the rest of the month? Keith spent it either in class or studying (for real I loathe 2nd year of dental school), Kenzie has been building her vocab with phrases such as "Stop it Mom!!" and I spent it sick on the couch.
February has been so much kinder. The weather has been hitting the 60's and (knock on wo0d) we haven't seen snow yet. Blessed sunshine, I've never been more grateful for an early spring so I can let Kenzie out to run around. As you can see above, Kenzie got a new bed. She was SO excited when it came and plays in it all the time. I was really scared for the transition, but she hasn't missed her old crib for a minute. I don't miss it either, her room seems twice as big with it gone and I don't plan on putting it up again for another year. The second picture was just funny. Keith went to check on her a few nights back and that's how he found her. She loves to cram her bed with toys and dolls.

We have continued with our Friday night baby swap. We have 5 other couples in it so our turn doesn't seem to come around too often. Kenz is buds with one boy in particular named Parker. She asks for him almost daily and added his name into a little song we made up about her friends. Keith and I loved the face she's making in this picture.

The Best Christmas Gift

2011-02-21T12:11:00.004-05:00

The best gift we received this Christmas was a positive pregnancy test. I woke up feeling like I had morning sickness. I couldn't open anything until I had something in my stomach and the thought of the chocolate I bought for our stockings made me sick. I went ahead and took a test knowing I probably wouldn't be able to get a positive result because it would be such an early result. I could see a glimmer of something on the stick but wrote it off as nothing. A couple hours later the feeling kept nagging me so I took another test and within five minutes I had a very faint positive line. I took it to Keith in a bit of disbelief but neither of us let ourselves get excited, I think we were both afraid something would go wrong. Well the nausea continued day after day and my blood work came back good every week. At about 8 weeks I went in for an ultrasound and everything was good, just measuring a little smaller baby and one very big uterus.

I went in for another ultrasound today and everything looked wonderful! They determined a due date of September 6th which puts me at 12 weeks tomorrow. This ultrasound was amazing to see such a tiny, perfect baby kicking around inside my belly. The heartbeat was nice and strong at 150 BPM. I've been feeling like it's a boy this past month but Kenzie keeps saying she wants a sister and because she's closer to Heaven then I am, she will probably be right.

This pregnancy has been really different from Mackenzie. The nausea started before 4 weeks and continued constantly throughout the day with peak times being about 3-4 hours in the afternoon and sometimes evening. I'm tired but not nearly so much as I was the first time and I've only put on 3 pounds. With Kenzie, I felt sick all day every day for most of the pregnancy with the worst of it being in the first 16 weeks. I'm already feeling much better, just getting headaches now and I'm still having a really hard time working out because it makes me so sick and tired. I feel like my belly's about the same as last time. Even though I haven't gained nearly so much, my stomach is obviously not as tight this time so my jeans have been uncomfortable since week 7. I'm so glad I invested in a belly band because it's really stretched my wardrobe. I am having a hard time with chocolate and sugar just like I did with Kenzie which is crazy for me because I'm normally a chocoholic. I've been craving PB&J's and fast food which I try not to give into often.

This isn't the best picture but I loved Kenzie in it so here was my belly at 10 1/2 weeks. I love winter for the layers, I think I wear sweatshirts at least 5 times a week.
Now that I finally got this post taken care of, I'll try to catch up on January and February.

Christmas Eve

2011-01-24T09:23:00.002-05:00

We were able to go to the Olsen's house for Christmas Eve dinner and nativity. Their little boy Nathan was Joseph and Craig and Jaclyn's baby girl played the part of Jesus. Don't let the happy pre-party pic of Kenzie fool you. She was supposed to play the part of Mary but she was being just a little temperamental that night- sorry for the tantrums everyone. I believe Keith was a shepard/wise man. He really rocked that bathrobe. It was a great night!

Christmas in Kentucky

2011-01-24T09:01:00.008-05:00

We were so excited to have a white Christmas. We really weren't expecting one but mother nature pulled through for us and we enjoyed this peaceful view all day.

Keith and I woke up about 8 AM and opened our stockings. Mackenzie normally wakes up at 8 but she was worn out from the night before. We got antsy and ended up waking her up at 8:30- check out that sweet morning hair:

It was such a fun morning watching her open her gifts. Keith and I had a lot of fun opening gifts also. Our families were so generous to send packages and so we had a lot of fun surprises.

That was it for the pictures of the day. We went to a friends house for a yummy breakfast and then came home and prepped dinner. We had our old neighbors Justin and Neha over along with our good friends Amber and Bryan. We cooked a ham and I finally made a successful batch of homemade rolls. It wasn't nearly as good as dinner at our parents but it was a fun night and we were so happy to have good friends to spend it with.

Pre-Christmas

2011-01-11T09:07:00.011-05:00

I have a lot of catching up to do! Keith had almost 3 weeks off for Christmas and we spent most of that time playing the wii and hanging out with different friends in the ward. We were sad we couldn't go home for Christmas but did have a lot of fun starting our own traditions.

Our friends Kameron and Jodie put together a little ugly sweater party with some other 2nd years. We ate some yummy food, played Guesstures and Ashley put together really fun crafts for the kids to do.

Derek proudly took home the trophy for ugliest sweater...fur's in though right?:

This was just a cute shot

Our ward had a Christmas party with Santa Clause and dinner. As you can see, Kenzie sat on Santa's lap for about 1 second. She wouldn't talk to him but she did give him a high five.

I also helped with our Stake Creche. My friend Brandi is on Stake Activities and she was desperate for help so she asked ME to help paint-ha! I really didn't do much but I thought this scenery turned out pretty cute. This was the stable backdrop for the children's nativity. We set up a room for the children to color and make little baby Jesus in his manger and then had this set for them to put on costumes and act out the nativity scene.

Now we'll see if I can get Christmas posted sometime soon!

November/December

2010-12-07T22:50:00.013-05:00

I feel like such a slacker with my blogging lately. Mostly our lives have been so full of the busy day-to- day things but it's 11 PM and I'm forcing myself stop procrastinating...ready?

This poor guy is pooped! We came home from YW/Scouts/Tithing Settlement at 9:20 tonight and this is where he ended up after putting Mackenzie to bed. Finals started beginning of December and end the 14th. This semester has definitely been the worst. Not only are his classes a lot more demanding but I've been a bit of a crazy person lately. He's so good to put up with me and study as hard as he does.

On the 3rd, we went to Red Robin to celebrate my birthday. Did you know you get a free burger on your b-day if you sign up for their e-mail? It's kind of becoming our tradition. It was fun to get out and the waiter was nice enough to snap a picture because I seem to never take them on Birthdays. Keith got me a Kitchen-Aid for my b-day/anniversary/part of Christmas. I've wanted one for a long time and finally found a deal on Kohl's for $100 for the classic. I busted it out today and made homemade pizza dough and breadsticks, yum!!
This picture makes her look so sweet and innocent. She is most of the day. She's my best bud and her evolving speech makes me laugh. My favorite phrase is "We're home!" every time we pull into the complex. Today her diaper leaked (again!!) while she was supposed to be napping. When I walked in there she told me "Mamma, poo, stinky, bath!" For once Keith and I are actually considering potty training sometime soon.
I laughed when I saw this picture as I uploaded them. I HATE this dog. Unfortunately, he lives directly above us. I took a picture trying to catch it in the act of leaving his gigantic pile of poo right by my porch that his owners did NOT pick up. This happened twice during Thanksgiving break and I was more than happy to report it to management. I figured the dozen newsletters addressing the issue were warning enough. He also barked for 2+ hours a day sometimes waking me up in the morning, other times just driving me crazy in the afternoon. I used my mom yell on him several times and I was surprised how well it shut him up.
We bought our tree at Lowe's again this year. You can't beat $15 for a 6' tree and it's beautiful! Kenzie loved directing where the ornaments should go:All of my pictures of the tree lit up are blurry so these are the shots you get instead (she's about to attack me in these pictures hence the crazy faces) :

She's so fun
And finally a little Christmas craftiness. I made this with Carlie and I'm so glad I did because it was cheap, easy and I love seeing it every time I pass the front door. Mackenzie however throws a bit of a tantrum every time we leave because she wants a "sucky"
So I cut out scrapbook paper and put it behind each cubby on this shelf from my friend Amber. Do I like how it turned out? Yes. Worth 2-3 hours of my time? Maybe. Worth cutting my finger (including under my nail) with a rotary cutter and having it bleed for a couple days? Definitely not.
And to end this long post, I have to say that nothing makes me happier than sitting by the Christmas tree at night when all of the lights in the house are off except the ones on the tree. It's such a beautiful, peaceful sight. I'm so grateful for this Christmas season. I'm grateful for a wonderful little family here in Kentucky and our extended families back West. We miss everyone dearly but maybe staying here for Christmas will help us focus on the blessings we have and the celebration of the birth of the most important baby this world has seen. How lucky we are to have the Gospel of peace and love in our lives!

Kenzie's 2nd Year

2010-11-18T22:39:00.001-05:00

Better late than never.
It's cut off on here so click the little YouTube link on the
bottom right to go to YouTube if you want to watch it full screen.

Kenzie Turns 2!

2010-11-03T22:25:00.002-04:00

It's a big day- the only day you double your age and I have to say I'm feeling a little bittersweet about it all. I cried on her first birthday and I cried again on her second. We had a fun morning taking some pictures found here and then we walked around the mall while everyone oohed and awed over the tutu Keith's mom got for her this summer. I wanted to take her to the zoo but it was a gloomy day. We stopped at BF Rose's house to play for a few minutes then came home to nap. Then she watched TV while I made dinner. When daddy got home it was crazy- dinner and presents and neighbors visiting then book club at our apartment for a few hours.

After all was said and done I felt like I hardly held my baby on her birthday so I sneaked into her room and found her awake. I picked her up and rocked her and marveled that she was ever small enough to curl up in my belly. And then I cried. I cried because I felt like I had just delivered her and time was slipping away, because I loved her so much I didn't want to think about anything hurting her, but mostly I cried because over the past couple of weeks I have watched her slip away from being a baby and instead, turning into a little girl.

We are so very lucky to have you! Happy Birthday Mackenzie Shaw!

Corn Maze

2010-10-30T11:13:00.011-04:00

On Friday, we made our way back to Deere Farms to go through the corn maze. Unfortunately, we had a bad storm on Tuesday with some high winds and a couple of tornadoes that destroyed a lot of the corn maze as you can see below:

But it was still a beautiful day and we had fun trying to hit the different checkpoints. Keith mostly had fun watching me try to navigate us through the maze with the help of a map.

It was a little challenging to enjoy it with this girl. We've both had colds so she was tired and she wanted only to eat the dried corn on the ground and sit to say "cheese" for the camera

We thought this view of the church was so beautiful. The bells rang out hymns for about 10 minutes at 6 o'clock, it was so peaceful.

Carving Pumpkins

2010-10-30T11:01:00.003-04:00

We carved pumpkins this year with 1st year Mitch and his wife Kristi and 3rd year JD and his wife McCall. They're such great friends and we had a lot of fun together. My pumpkin is supposed to be an owl and Keith's is a wolf. If you want to see what our pumpkins should have looked like, check out my friend Kaleena's blog...

Zoo Boo

2010-10-30T09:37:00.008-04:00

I must have been inspired when I bought Mackenzie's costume on clearance last year. My sweet little 11 month old was anything but a monster but this year being only 3 days off of 2 she fits the costume a bit better :) We were glad we didn't take a stroller this year. Kenzie can walk for quite a long time without getting tired and she loved the crowd and the freedom.

My pictures of the attractions were better last year. We went later at night this time and so most of my pictures don't show the cute decorations very well so you jut get a few:

New this year was a Toy Story area with Buzz and Jesse.

One day a few weeks ago, Kenzie started asking for Elmo. I'm not sure where it came from because we get only a few channels and PBS isn't one of them but she loves him.
Her monster friend
You can kind of see Shrek and Fiona in the background here
Some of the carved pumpkins on display

Ward Halloween Party

2010-10-15T22:35:00.001-04:00

Our ward Halloween party was really fun. It was held at the Button Farm just outside our ward boundaries. They had a hayride and grills for hot dogs and burgers. As you can see, we dressed up last minute and threw on the only costumey outfits we have anymore.
I managed to only snap one picture of another couple- the Birds. We'll miss them when they leave us next spring!

My friend Michelle's little girls in their cutu tutus. Those girls are the reason Kenzie will be dressed cute the next two years. My friend Brittney and I took Blake and Kenzie trick-or-treating in Indiana later in the month. They had a lot of fun. Keith and I recently made up a song with Kenzie's friends in it and she always sings the first line "Blakey" over and over.

Bernheim Forest

2010-10-13T22:15:00.008-04:00

Deere Farms

2010-10-13T21:56:00.018-04:00

On Saturday we went to a Deere Farms in Indiana with our friends Brittany and Tanner and their little boy Blake. It was a blast and we were really excited that everything but our pumpkins were free. Kenz was really excited to go:

The 30 minute drive was beautiful

This girl is obsessed with pumpkins and kept trying to pick up the biggest ones.
The Barratt's
Blake and Kenz loved this bed full of dried corn
Pony rides that the kids didn't go on because our little girl is afraid and we didn't want to dish out $5
The kids maze
Our happy little pumpkin head
The very dirty slide that Keith braved over and over
The giant pumpkin bounce house. Kenz and Blake weren't sure what to do inside but once they figured it out, they had a blast

Into the Woods

2010-10-13T21:48:00.006-04:00

We decided to go on a little "hike" a couple of weeks ago with Mackenzie. She never runs out of energy and loves to walk/run so we figured she was big enough to rough the woods with us on her own two feet. She did a great job following behind dad with her bucket in hand to collect some of nature.

Every time she saw me pull out the camera, she plopped down on her bottom and said "cheese"
She got really into modeling and wanted to lie in the leaves for a couple shots. Keith calls them her bridal pics.

Art Sparks museum

2010-10-13T21:43:00.005-04:00

Little Mommy and Terrible Two

2010-09-27T10:57:00.008-04:00

We are three weeks off of the official "Terrible Two's" but I'm pretty sure it has already hit. This lil' girl keeps me on my toes! The above picture was taken a few weeks ago when her friend Rose was over to play. Kenz thought it would be fun to show her the drawers that are off-limits while I was blow-drying my hair and face painting ensued. She tends to be a lot more daring and naughty when other kids are around to show off for.
For a while there our mornings were a battle. She woke up with a smile and then 2 seconds later turned into quite the drama queen as she screamed over breakfast and thus began my ritual walks the second she woke up. I quickly found out that I could shove a banana in that cute screaming mouth, pop her in the stroller and after walking an hour she was forced to eat the cereal/milk I had brought along with us. On the positive side, all this walking means I am (finally!!!) back to my pre-pregnancy weight.
Despite the morning, mid-morning, noon, afternoon and nightly tantrums :) Kenzie is a very sweet girl. She likes to randomly give us kisses and hugs and is getting into dress up. Check out this cute skirt Grandma Shaw got for her:
And like any other little girl, she is SO into dolls. She loves to dress them and feed them their bottle. I caught her talking to them in her crib the other day. In a high-pitched motherese voice she was telling one baby to say hi to the other and then making them wave. All those sweet moments make the terrible two's bearable!

August Recap

2010-09-13T13:56:00.007-04:00

The first week went like this: A couple days in Michigan and driving home then the rest of the week spent recouping. Poor Kenz ran around naked somewhat ignored as we caught up on sleep.

On the 9th, we celebrated this guys 27th birthday! He celebrated the day by starting Fall Semester of his 2nd year of dental school then later we played some volleyball and shared mud pie with friends.

On the 20th, we went to a dental school BBQ at Cherokee Park. The park is my favorite with it's abundant trails and playgrounds.

On our way out of the park, Keith ran the car into a ditch. This picture makes it look better than it was. The car high centered and we had to enlist the help of some strong boys to pull it out. I couldn't stop laughing. This poor car needs to last us 3 more years. It leaked what we hope was water the rest of the way home. On the 23rd, I had a doctor's appointment. It was a 9 week pregnancy ultrasound and they found that the baby was not growing like it should be. That week was really long as I was told not to do anything strenuous and we would wait and see. I started spotting Tuesday which continued throughout the week until my ultrasound on the 30th. I wasn't too surprised when they couldn't find a heartbeat and it confirmed what I already knew. I was given some Cytotec to help things along and I would never ever recommend it to anyone. That night felt pretty close to my labor with Mackenzie as I cramped and finally miscarried around 5:30 AM when I finally fell asleep.

It was disheartening because it was my second in a row and I had really let myself get excited about this baby. But my friends are incredible, taking Mackenzie for a few hours here and there so I could rest and go to several doctor's appointments. I have an amazing doctor here. Despite the loss, we feel really blessed and know that we will have a baby when the Lord wants us to.

These experiences have made me realize how much easier it is to have the support of family and friends. Keith really wanted me to hold out on telling anyone about the pregnancy (in case I miscarried again) but I was showing after only 6 weeks and I had several people ask so it got around quickly in the ward. I was incredibly grateful for that when I did miscarry and next time I'm not going to wait for the 12 week safety. After my sister miscarried at 16 weeks, I don't think I will ever feel safe and I'd rather have more people there to rejoice with me or mourn with me.

These experiences also made me more grateful for the knowledge I have in a Heavenly Father that loves and watches over me. My heart was turned to the Savior as I thought about the sacrifice He made for each and every one of us. My night of intense cramping was eased by the blessing Keith gave me and also my faith in the Savior knowing He had endured greater pain and that he could ease my burden. I felt Him with me throughout the night and I know the happiness I feel now is due to the peace of the Spirit in knowing the Lord has a plan for each of us.

Labor Day Walk

2010-09-13T13:46:00.004-04:00

We found ourselves a little bored on Labor Day. Keith had the day off but needed to study a bit and we really didn't feel the need to go anywhere after all of our traveling this summer so we thought we would take a walk along the Ohio River. For you non-geography buffs like me, the Ohio River divides Indiana from Kentucky. It's a pretty dirty river but there are some fun parks and walkways.

A piece of downtown Louisville

No post is complete without a pic of this little girl

Michigan

2010-09-12T17:48:00.001-04:00

Our neighbors Justin and Neha invited us to go to Michigan with them at the end of July. They planned a lot of fun stuff for us! We left Thursday night, all of us crammed into The Mirsky's car and arrived in Alanson, a small town in Northern Michigan, 10 hours later. We stayed at Justin's parents house and I wish I had taken pictures because it's beautiful. The backyard is a little haven with a huge hammock, a fountain, a fire pit and no neighbors. We spent a lot of time out there enjoying the nice weather and roasting s'mores. The pictures above are from Petoskey. Justin's parents live about 15 minutes outside of Petoskey which borders Little Travers Bay of Lake Michigan. Beautiful! We were able to go swimming and the weather was a lot warmer than I thought it would be. Kenz had a blast in the shallow water.

2010-09-12T17:45:00.003-04:00

Justin's parents surprised us by buying a hotel room for each couple at a cute little B&B. It was wonderful to be able to stay overnight and see the island when most of the tourists were gone for the day. Please don't mind my hair. Not only did I forget conditioner, I forgot a brush and I was too cheap to buy one at the overpriced drugstore.

Mackinac Island

2010-09-12T17:41:00.001-04:00

Justin's parents joined us on the Island in the afternoon and they were sweet to take Mackenzie to the park for an hour while we rode to see the "inside" of the Island. These are some of the shots we got.

The FUDGE

2010-09-12T17:36:00.001-04:00

Mackinac Island is famous for its slab fudge. It definitely lived up to the hype and I find myself craving it often. In every shop you can watch the fudge making process. The ingredients are boiled in a large pot then poured onto the first table. When it's cooled down, it's formed into a long row of fudgy goodness then sliced for customers. If you're there for the last part and have enough gall to ask, they'll give you the hot scraps- yum! We sampled at several stores and our favorite combo was always peanut butter and chocolate.

Mackinac Island

2010-09-12T17:31:00.001-04:00

The highlight of our Michigan trip was Mackinac Island (Google it I swear it's spelled that way). We chose the perfect day to go. The weather was in the 70's and overcast so we spent the whole day out. Because there are no automobiles on the island, the first thing we did was rent bikes. The path around the Island is about 8 miles and gorgeous the whole way as you can see in the pictures (Click collage to enlarge it). That top right corner is a shot of the Grand Hotel where Somewhere in Time was filmed. I won't bore everyone with pictures of all of the houses on the island but they are so beautiful!

Utah: A haricut and one last night of family fun

2010-08-05T20:53:00.001-04:00

This is my last Utah/Idaho post. Scroll down for a lot more!
The whole trip, Mackenzie was made fun of for her mullet and rat tail. So a couple days before we left, I performed the first haircut.

That night, some of Keith's cousins and Aunts and Uncles came over to say hi. Mackenzie was hammin it up for them with "Popcorn Popping" and "Head, shoulders, knees and toes"

Utah: Fun at the park

2010-08-05T20:52:00.001-04:00

The main reason we went to Utah this summer was to attend my grandma's 80th birthday party. Only a few relatives were unable to make it. It was so busy and packed, I didn't manage to take a single picture of the event but we were so glad we could be there to celebrate such a wonderful woman. We love you Grandma!
Below are random pictures from parks and the slip n' slide Katie and Brandon set up.

Utah: Friends

2010-08-05T20:50:00.001-04:00

One of our favorite parts about Utah is the fact that so many of our friends live/visit there. I didn't get pictures of everyone and I had to steal a couple of these off of friends blogs

Top Left: One of my best friends from Spokane Ashley Murphey (Barnes)
Top Middle: Old roommates Kaleena and Amber
Top Right: Old Roommate Amber and our friend Devanie Bottom Left: Our husbands that roomed together in college; Sam, Keith, Scott

It was a blast to get together for a roommate reunion and girls night. Amber and I married roomates and so we bonded a lot in college while we stalked then dated and eventually married our husbands. Keith and I really loved BYU-I and the friends we made there! We miss you all!

Idaho: The Green Belt

2010-08-05T20:18:00.001-04:00

This is the prettiest area in Idaho Falls to me. We like to do this walk when we're in town. I was able to talk my parents into impromptu family photos which is a pretty amazing feat.

Top left: My sister Rachel and her husband Heath with her kids Kate and Taft
Middle: All the siblings L-R David, Rachel, Nycole, me, Caleb

Top Right: My parents with all of the grand kids

Bottom middle: The sisters with our girls. We'll have to wait and see if David and Caleb have firstborn girls as well.

Idaho: Henry's Fork

2010-08-05T20:13:00.000-04:00

This was one of the highlights of Idaho for us: Floating down Henry's Fork. The weather was perfect, the view was amazing and the water felt so refreshing. My parents rented a raft and 4 tubes. I don't have a lot of pictures because I a lucky one on the tube most of the time

Idaho: Grandparents, Rexburg and the movies

2010-08-05T18:32:00.001-04:00

We are really fortunate to have our parents live as close as they do. Salt Lake to Idaho Falls is only a 3 hour drive and Keith's parents are always so willing to lend us their car when we want to make the trip. We spent a week in Idaho and loved how relaxing it was. My sisters were both able to come and so our whole family (minus Scott) was able to be together for several days. Who knows when that will happen again.
Pictures: Kenz with my dad's parents and bottom right is Nycole's baby girl Paisley. She is such a good baby!! I loved cuddling her up all day.

Mackenzie has awesome uncles that like to play with her. Top left is my brother David and to the right of that picture is Caleb. My dad's work had a party at the movie theater so we went to see "How to Train Your Dragon" for $1. It was Kenzie's first movie theater experience and I don't think she watched more than 5 minutes of the movie. The pictures at the bottom were taken at Millhollow in Rexburg. It's one of our favorite places to eat. In Rexburg, we were able to spend time with our friends John and Meagan twice! It was so fun catching up and playing domino's for hours and hours. How did we seriously not get any pictures with you guys?

Utah: John & Amy's wedding

2010-08-05T18:22:00.003-04:00

One of Keith's closest cousins John got married in the Manti temple while we were there. It was a beautiful temple and a wonderful sealing. I love attending Temple marriages, there's such a sweet spirit of peace and happiness that can't be found anywhere else.

Utah: Katie and Brandon's

2010-08-05T18:16:00.003-04:00

We were able to stay with Keith's sister Katie and her husband Brandon for a couple nights. They hosted a BBQ with grilled ribs. Mackenzie loved the ribs. As you can see in the pictures below, she gnawed on one of the bones all night.
Kirk and Joy just had their 4th, a sweet little girl named Serena. The kids raced down the hill as Keith yelled out "Ready, Set, Go!"

We also went fishing on Strawberry Lake with Brandon and his friend. I didn't catch anything but Keith managed to get a couple.
Don't judge my outfit, it was cold and I had to "borrow" Brandon's sunglasses and sweatshirt.

Utah: Thanksgiving Point

2010-08-05T18:11:00.000-04:00

This was a beautiful day. Kenz was really loving on her Grandma and all of us had a fun time at the Children's Gardens.

Utah: Kirk & Joy's

2010-08-05T18:09:00.000-04:00

There's no way I can write one big long post about everything we did while we were in Utah, Idaho and Michigan, and I really don't think anyone would want to read one. So I've created more than a dozen collages to give a snapshot into our vacations starting at the beginning.

We arrived in Utah around 12 AM. Our 2 1/2 hour flight from Louisville to Denver ended up being 6 hours due to thunderstorms and we were actually really lucky our flight from Denver to Salt Lake wasn't any more delayed than it was. Kenz was such a trooper on the plane and we were lucky enough to have the only empty seat on the plane next to us for those 6 hours. Our first day was spent with Keith's family and that night (or the next- it all runs together) we went to his brother Kirk's house where we stayed up late playing Guitar Hero and catching up.

The photos in the bath are of Kenzie and Sophie. Sophie wasn't all that happy about Kenz sharing the bath with her despite the free backrubs. Eva received some stickers from Aunt Rebecca and Gideon was showing off his pearly whites. Oh and that little boy in the monkey backpack? That's what our little boys are going to look like. She was at our babysitting swap and managed to soak herself so our friend dressed her in her little boys clothes. I hardly recognized her when I picked her up and Keith's mom said "That little boy could be Mackenzie's twin" when she saw the picture :)

Pictures of the trip part 1

2010-07-19T15:39:00.003-04:00

Well we haven't been very good at updating lately and I have a ton of pictures I want to upload but I don't think it will happen until August. We are just really enjoying our time with family right now! Here's a link to Keith's parents blog if you want to check out some pictures from Utah: www.randyandjoan.blogspot.com

19 months

2010-05-30T20:36:00.015-04:00

Life has been pretty relaxed for us lately. Keith has school until July but his schedule is really low key which means we get to see a lot more of him. Mackenzie especially likes this. She is a full fledged daddy's girl now and chooses him over me every time.

Summer is definitely in full swing. We've had some warm weather, thick humidity and some fun storms. I loved the shot of this storm as it rolled in:

A few weeks ago I decided I was tired of my hair and needed a change. Patience has never been a virtue of mine and seeing as how it was Sunday and I couldn't run out and get it cut, I had Keith chop off the bottom and I cut the front. The first dentists were barbers so I guess it makes sense that he should have the talent for cutting hair.

Mackenzie is almost 19 months. 19 months...where did the time go? She's looking and acting less like a baby every day and as much as I love her growing independence and personality, I hate that she's getting so big.
She's a little copycat and loves to come into the bathroom and get ready with me. This day she got into my eyeliner and knew exactly where she needed to put it. Cute huh?

We think this is a Keith face, what do you think grandparents?Such a little sweetheart:

I love this girl to death. Yesterday we had a bonfire with some friends and she was running all over with her daddy trying to catch fireflies and I was overwhelmed with love for her. I think I have the best job in the world being able to stay at home and care for my sweet girl.
For the record here's a little bit of what she's doing: (Feel free to stop reading)

*Daily and clearly says: mama, dada, baby, head, toes, nose, no, yes, eye, uh-oh, banana, book, bubble, cheerios, duck, dog, milk... she repeats other words after us but these are the few that have stuck so far. She knows some sign language that I wasn't even aware of until I watched a signing movie with her and saw her do the signs before they did.
* We have a train close by and she loves to say "choo-choo." She can also make noises for horse, cow, dog, duck, cat, lamb, monkey, elephant
*She loves her babies. She cuddles them at night and loves to carry them around.
*She loves getting out. She hams it up in public. Today she was flirting with the apex salesmen behind us- not a good sign
*She loves her baths and she loves to swim
*She still eats as much as we do. Cheerios, milk and fruit in the morning, yogurt and veggies and bread for lunch and various things for dinner and snacks. Bananas and yogurt top the list for favorite foods
*She still sleeps 12+ hours a night and takes a 2-3 hour nap during the day
*She's in nursery and loves it because the leaders rock! Especially Amber, her second mom. Friday, I took her to Amber's house with me and when I set her down she walked right over to Amber and put her hands up to be held.
*She loves to run but hates to swing
*She loves Baby Einstein but her attention span is still short- about 10 minutes.
*She loves other kids, especially babies and big kids that dote on her.
*She's happy 99% of the time
*She finally loves to read. She can sit still through a whole story
*She understands just about everything we say now and she has quite the opinion on food, books, movies, you name it.
*She is a little bit of a cuddler now. When she's tired she'll lay on our shoulders and when you ask for hugs and kisses she'll give them.
* She loves to sing "Head, shoulders, knees and toes."
*Around 17 months she started showing signs for readiness for potty training. We bought her a potty so that she would be used to seeing it and within a few days she said yes when I asked if she needed to go and she did! Needless to say my enthusiastic response scared her to death and somewhat hindered her progress. This new phase scares me.
*She loves nature and is getting used to dogs. Birds are her favorite animal

When the In-Laws Come to Town

2010-05-10T08:18:00.032-04:00

Keith had a week long break last week and so his parents took advantage of it and came out to pay us a visit. We were so excited to have them here and they planned an amazing trip for the 5 of us. I'll keep the captions brief and let you skim through the pictures because I know they're more exciting than anything I'll write.

Here's Mackenzie just waking up and excited to see her grandparents

First stop: Frankfort - capitol of Kentucky

A beautiful floral clock outside
Abraham Lincoln- born in the bluegrass state
The mayor's office. We were surprised how welcoming it was with the doors wide open
A shot of the beautiful marble interior
Keith and I duking it out. I can see a future politician in Keith, can't you?We stopped at Cumberland Falls for a picnic lunch. Because of all of the recent rain and flooding in the area, the falls were roaring.

Hiking the Appalachian Trail. Did you know it runs all the way from Georgia to Maine?

The smoky mountains = beautiful. We had to watch Last of the Mohicans when we got home to see the scenery again

No more pictures!! She was pretty good in the backseat but definitely threw her fair share of fits

The Biltmore Home in Asheville, NC. George Vanderbilt's home opened in 1895 and is one of the largest private residence in North America. We weren't allowed to take pictures of the interior but did get some shots of the grounds.

The grounds were expansive and breathtaking

Keith's parents in front of some beautiful plants in the greenhouse

After spending a full morning at the Biltmore Estate, we went back to the hotel to cool off in the pool. Showing off the new suit:The water was CHILLY. We only lasted a few minutes before we migrated to the hot tub.

Joan has the magic touch.

Getting comfortable at the restaurant.

Our next stop was Shaker village in Harrodsburg, KY where we ate the best fried chicken I've ever had. It was really fun to learn about the Shaker's and their celibate lifestyle. It was a peaceful contrast to the busyness of the Biltmore. Everything was very simple.
Kenzie has two speeds: Run and run faster. Who needs a stroller when your kid walks faster than you do?

One of the work buildings

A worker explaining his trade. Some workers are volunteers, others are paid.

Kenz made friends with a cat, I might have to post videos of her "talking" to the kitty. The cat was a good sport. Kenz poked it's eye and stepped on it's foot and it still hung around.

On Friday, we had the opportunity to go to the Louisville temple with Keith's parents. For me, it was the highlight of the trip. You can't beat the peace and spirit of the temple. Being there with loved ones helps me to remember what's truly important in this life.
Friday night we went to Wicked. I LOVED it! The music, the story, the acting. It was wonderful. I would go again and again if I had the money.
Saturday morning, we went to Churchill Downs. We watched a live interview with Calvin Borel- the Jockey who rode the winning horse in the Derby last week. A nice rich looking man overhead Keith asking where to buy tickets for the races and he directed us outside to his friend who gave us free box tickets to watch the races for the day. We forgot our camera so i don't have any pictures of Churchill downs but it's a lot bigger and more beautiful than it looked on TV.
It was such a great week and we hope this motivates all of you to come out and visit us! Thanks Randy and Joan for the fun trip, we can't wait to see you again in July!!

Thunder over Louisville

2010-04-20T10:59:00.010-04:00

Saturday night, we went to "the largest annual pyrotechnic display in North America." It was absolutely incredible!! Every year Louisville puts on a fireworks show called "Thunder over Louisville" to kick off Derby. It lasted 28 minutes and was synchronized with a wide variety of songs. According to this website, eight 400-foot barges assemble on both sides of the 2nd Street Bridge to form the stage from which the fireworks spectacular ignites. In other words, it was like a three ring circus trying to watch everything at once.

Thanks to a couple in our ward, we had a fabulous spot downtown to watch the show. The place was crowded (over 700,000 in attendance) and we saw the finest people Louisville has to offer including a rather large and hairy man who decided to expose just about everything right in front of us. Keith and Bryan said it was an instant self-esteem boost while Amber and I still gag at the thought of the scene. See the guy in the red shirt? We call him meal-in-pants guy because he had a fast food bag (with food) tucked into his tight jeans. Fries anyone?

The air show went from 3-9 PM so we were able to catch the last hour of it. You can barely see the plane in this video but I thought the sky was beautifulThe "Belle of Louisville" aka "The Belly"

Posing with the champion

This is what Mackenzie did through the whole fireworks display. I ate it up, I love when she cuddles!

And finally, the videos which absolutely don't do the show justice. The first is a fun clip Keith caught with some fun songs and fireworks. These are small videos but if you look close, you can see hearts and stars.
The second clip was a mini-finale in the middle where there was just a small lag. It gives you an idea of how many fireworks were going off.

And if you're wondering why they call it "Thunder over Louisville" check out this clip. It's from 2007 and at about 42 seconds, the fireworks start sounding like thunder. They do it for the finale of every show and there are no words to describe how they feel and look. Our camera didn't have a chance at capturing it.

Easter

2010-04-05T10:31:00.004-04:00

We had such a great Easter weekend. On Saturday morning, we joined the missionaries and a family investigating our Church at our friends house where he made us Orange chicken for lunch. We then trekked over to our apartment to watch General Conference on our computer. It was interesting to watch the first session at 12 PM instead of 10 AM. Keith and I spent the afternoon together in peace as Kenzie napped then made a Costco run before Keith left for the Priesthood session that started at 8 PM.

Sunday morning, I made buttermilk pancakes with Buttermilk syrup. Growing up, my mom always made a good breakfast and we had Sunday brunch with the Thompson's so I felt compelled to put together something nicer than cold cereal.

We had a small egg hunt with Mackenzie then watched the morning session of conference at home as a family which was really nice. I'm so grateful for technology that lets us watch conference live all the way across the country. Right after that session, we had brunch at a friends house. We ran home to put the ham in the oven and were off again to another family's house to watch the afternoon session of conference on an actual TV screen. As always, the talks were uplifting and filled with the Spirit. I especially loved the talks on motherhood. I feel extremely lucky to be a mother to such a sweet little girl!

Last minute, Keith and I decided to put together an Easter dinner. We had ham, rolls, mashed potatoes, salad, and cake from Costco. We had just a few people over which was more than our little table could accommodate so we ended up eating on the living room floor where we had sprawled out our huge picnic blanket. I was feeling pretty homesick that day after talking with Keith's family the night before, but I felt so much better that day surrounded by good friends, good food, and the Spirit of Easter. It's such a beautiful holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I know that he lives and that we all have that hope to live again because of Him.

Spring is in the Air!

2010-04-01T08:20:00.010-04:00

The weather has been amazing this week! Yesterday we had a high of 77 degrees and today it's supposed to hit 82. I'm thinking we definitely need to fix the AC in our car. I feel like everyone's throwing parties now that the weather's been warming up because we've been out and about the past few weekends getting to know more of our ward members and meeting more people in our complex.

One party in particular we played Rockband where I had the opportunity to sing "If You Wanna Be my Lover" by Spice Girls. As I sang, I was transported back into my 10 year old body to Stephanie Johnson's house where we recorded our scantily dressed selves singing this song. Let's just say I knew every word and rocked it almost to the point of embarrassing myself. The host now calls me Posh every time I see him.

Anyways, We started a babysitting swap with a few couples in our ward so we now have a few hours on Fridays to go on dates, it has been SO nice!!

For our last date, we went to Chick-Fil-A. It was my first time and I have to say that I was impressed. We came back to our apartment after eating and played tennis for the first time in a LONG time. Seriously, I played when I was 4 or 5 months pregnant and threw out my back so I didn't pick up a racket again until the spring after Kenzie was born. That spring we only played once or twice with (our amazing friends) John and Meagan (please move out here!) while our babes were content for a few precious minutes in their strollers.

If we had played a real game, Keith would have killed me. His serves are pretty amazing. I started out pretty shaky but eventually I was outrunning and outhitting Keith. I was also incredibly sore the next day as my arms and glutes were not used to the exercise.

Enough of my rambling, here's the pictures:

This one has Spring written all over it

We've been taking advantage of the playground a lot lately. Keith and I have a lot of fun trying to be kids again going down the fireman's pole (I'll spare you pictures of us):
"Look Mom, no hands"
And doing the monkey bars:
I have video of me crossing the monkey bars and I will save myself the embarrassment by not posting it. I did manage to go back and forth while Keith didn't quite make it across :)Mackenzie begs to go outside at least a few times every day. She runs to the door, pounds on it and jiggles the handle. She's quite the runner once she breaks free. Luckily, after skinning her knees numerous times, she's learning to slow her pace on the sidewalk.

The pigtails really deserve a post of their own. It's taken her a long time to grow that cute hair and a long time for me to buck up and let her scream for the 30 seconds it takes me to put the rubber bands in.
I have to end on this one because it makes me smile every time I look at it. This girl is incredible! A friend asked me the other day, "Is she always happy?"Yes, she really is

Red Nails

2010-03-10T08:20:00.006-05:00

Look at that face, pretty innocent huh? Not so much. If you look close (and can look past the gross cracker crumbs) you will see traces of RED nail polish. This little girl managed to find my red nail polish purchased around 2002 for Girls Camp that for one reason or another I've held onto.
After finding it, she proceeded to open it (curse her ability to unscrew lids now) and happily parked her cute rump 2 feet away from me while my visiting teachers were over and proceeded to paint away at her hands, her stomach, shirt and pants. If only I could have captured her hands before the incident. It took 2 of us and a quarter of a bottle of nail polish remover to clean it up.
You might be thinking to yourself, "How did she manage to paint for so long with her mom and two other moms within 5 feet of her and not have any of them notice despite the strong fumes?"
I believe Amber was telling her story about the guy breaking into her 2nd bedroom at night and crawling up to her bed. True story, and it's why we pay extra to live where we do.
Now for some cute pics from Sunday I couldn't resist blogging:

I should also note that she's at a stage where "yes" is her favorite word. Incredible- I'm not counting on it lasting long though. Also, Katie Lambert is to be credited with the cute clothes. She has the cutest daughter who also owns the cutest wardrobe that she selflessly shared with Mackenzie.

Why I hate going to the Dentist: Ironic, don't you think?

2010-02-25T10:43:00.003-05:00

Let me give you some background. Due to some very crooked teeth I've had my fair share of dental/orthodontic work done. Each time, I went into the dentist, I would have some minor anxiety which was only amplified with laughing gas. Just about every time the dentist has tried to numb my mouth it's a serious process including a series of shots and on one occasion, pressing forward with the procedure even though I felt a lot of pain.

Tuesday I went into the dental school because I had three bad fillings in the past that needed to be redone. One in particular has gotten so bad, it's almost to the root and that's what I went in to have fixed.

The dentist working on me was a fourth year in our ward that I trust completely and feel is absolutely competent as a dentist. I warned him that I would be a difficult patient and it proved to be true. He tried 3 big (might I add painful) shots in the back of my mouth with no success. We called over a dentist and he tried his hand at it by shooting higher with no luck. Next, they took a little gun to my mouth and tried to isolate the tooth by giving a series of shots all around it. We did this twice and each time, I could feel the nerve shooting pain as soon as the drill got going. No luck.

Two hours = a partly numb mouth, no fixed filling, and one incredibly painful jaw for days to come.

Is it bad that I just want to get knocked out for the rest of my dental work? I mean, I managed to deliver a baby after 25 hours of pitocin and yet I work myself up into a nauseating sweat over a couple hours of dental work. I'm so sorry for being a difficult patient Brandon, maybe we'll get it next time eh?

!

2010-02-16T14:09:00.002-05:00

We had a fun weekend making decorations and goodies for our neighbor's birthday and a little V-day bash at our friends house Friday night.
Mackenzie is finally feeling better and back to her sweet nature so we were able to drop her off with our friends and see Avatar in 3D on Saturday. It was an amazing movie (and free thanks to Keith's parents) and if it wasn't so expensive, I would see it again. The graphics are absolutely incredible, I felt like I was truly living in another world for 3 hours.
Yesterday we enjoyed a snow day and Mackenzie and I REALLY enjoyed having Keith home another day. School has really picked up for Keith and we don't get to see him as much as we would like to but time is flying and in just two weeks, he'll have Spring break.
Life is good, we can't complain. Money is tight but we have everything that matters in life and I've been blessed with babysitting jobs here and there.
Mackenzie is so full of personality and attitude lately. She has to feed herself and will no longer eat what we're eating for dinner unless rolls are involved. She demands baby food and as much as I hate buying it, the pediatrician says to give her anything she'll eat because she's barely tipping the scales at 20 pounds. We're praying her ear infections have cleared up because the next step is tubes.
I felt so blessed this weekend to be married to such a wonderful husband. He is always so positive and kind. And though he may be one of the least romantic guys around, he's an excellent provider and one of the sweetest dads I've seen.
Mackenzie was feeling the love this weekend also. She was practicing this little trick all day Sunday:

Look-A-Like

2010-02-16T13:57:00.000-05:00