Kitchen Photos

Okay, I'm really surprised that everyone (Lindsay) is so annoyed I left out my kitchen. I guess I figured you would just remember a few from before... so I grabbed my camera took 2 photos (because if I had to clean the counters first I would find a hundred other things I should be doing besides taking a picture to put on my blog... ha ha)

So here's my clutter-ry kitchen. We love it!

It has a bar and an island, one day we'll get stools for it.

Here you can see the doors that go outside to the backyard. Can you picture it now?

Halloween In Utah

For October break, the kids get a week off of school, so Jake took a few days off work and we went to Utah. We only stayed 3 days, but we packed in the fun.

The U of U had a fun Halloween trick or treat party for kids that we went to, and this is the only time we broke out the camera. As you can tell, we all went through Grandma Sue's costumes to find something to wear...

Jansen was so cute to pick out this peter pan hat! I would have never guessed!

They had some of the cutest things for the kids to do, each house had a theme and then an activity to go along with it. Like a story with Wendy and a pirate boat to climb through from Peter Pan. A house to color and tie a balloon to it, from the movie Up, and Andy's room with pictures to color of Woody and Buzz, along with 10 Mr. Potato Heads that Jansen didn't want to leave alone. It was so fun.

Remy, Reesa, and Cianna

From left to right, Jake, Jansen, Me, Reesa, Jordan, Zaylee (?) Saige, Cianna, Claudia, Remy, Zoey (?) Simone, Caprice (turned around) Beckhem, Benson, and my dad took the picture.

(Did I get the twins right?)

Happy Birthday Paw-paw!

My Grandpa Whitney, my dad and his twin, Aunt Jeanne all share a birthday TODAY! WOW, at what age do you want to start counting again? It seems like every year is another miracle. My grandpa is 97 today, here's an article my aunt sent, love you paw-paw.

Lately

Who doesn't love when Grandma and Papa come to visit? We sure had fun making cookies with Grandma Sue.

Reesa snuggling with Papa Bill and Fluffy.

and who wouldn't love a little boy that falls asleep right next to you like this?

and finally, Jake and I went to a Zack Brown Band Concert and we were both so tired we fell asleep durning it. I guess we are getting old after all!

Naked baby

Okay, so I know this blog feels like it's turning into what Jansen did today, but honestly I just can't believe it sometimes!!! This morning I'm on the phone thinking Jansen is with Reesa, when I find Reesa alone. So as I run outside to start the search, I hear him over at the neighbors, no clothes, no diaper!!! Stunned I as him, "where are your clothes?" His reply, "I don't know."

(I edited this photo so Jake won't be mad I'm posting it...)

Jansen

I'm not sure whether to laugh or be totally freaked out! Jansen found this new great hiding place that he RUNS to the second he's let outside.

Can you see him in there?

When he finally came out, he looked at me and signed "cat" and pointed into that pipe. Nice try buddy. Even though it's true you're still not out of trouble.

Any suggestions?

And of course Reesa loving her kitty.

Sharing?

Mitchell starts crying, so I go over to see what happened, wait I mean who happened. I guess those glasses fit Jansen too...

House photos

So we moved in to our house at the end of June, and yes, I am finally posting some pictures.

I'm sorry I didn't pick up anything, so this is what you would see if you were here today visiting. I'll take you on a little walk...

You come into our house and you have one big huge kitchen, dining, and family room. We have beautiful hardwood floors so of course I'm ready to make some curtains to keep the noise down in that room. (My kids are extra loud!)

Oh, and you can't forget our tray ceiling we repainted purple.

Our house is all one level, something I NEVER thought I would want. BUT it has turned out to be awesome. Everything feels close and with little kids that makes it feel safer, but mainly we just keep thinking if/when Mitchell needs a wheelchair this house will be perfect for us!!! No stairs to worry about.

Straight out the back of the front room is our patio. We have a yard great for exploring. BUT being in a new territory, we have been so nervous about what might be out there. We have coyotes, rattlesnakes, and mountain lions... So even though a fence is considered rude and tacky out here in the country, I still want one!!!

We have an above ground pool with a slide, extra fun for when you come to visit us!!

Then our small patch of grass which Jake loves b/c it takes about 5 minutes to mow! (and can you see my little witch Jansen?)

Keep walking and you come to our volleyball court in the FRONT YARD!?!? Those posts are cemented in, so no changing that around. But it's also a great sandbox. (Jake was taking down the net when I took this)

Then follow Reesa on this little path back around to the front yard.

Back in our house we have a hallway off the left and right of the great room.

To the right we have our bedrooms, and to the left we have the laundry room, guest room, office, and garage.

guest bathroom

Jansen's bedroom, then I stopped taking pictures, b/c you can't see all of his room, and it just doesn't do any of them justice... so you have to come if you want to see the rest!

I had to include little Reesa all ready for Halloween. She's so excited! She woke up and put her costume on before she came in my bed to say good morning...

So besides the snakes, (which I have still NOT seen a live one thank goodness) did I do a good job of making you want to come visit us out here??? Is this what you thought it looked like?

I really have enjoyed living here and I feel so lucky. It just feels like the right place for our family. AND even though I thought I would hate being in a small town, I've really liked it here. Things move at a slower pace, and I feel like I make the time to enjoy my kids... kind of. ha ha

Jansen's three.

Still catching up... but for "handsome Jansen's" 3rd birthday we had an awesome party. Since Jansen really doesn't follow the rules for a birthday party, we didn't want to have one for 3 year olds, so we just invited some of our friends with their families over for a pool party. It was GREAT. We did a few fun party things, but mainly just let the kids swim.

The night before we had our family party, mainly so Jansen would know what to do with candles in front of everyone. We sang 4 or 5 times letting him blow out the candles for practice. AND it paid off at the party Jansen didn't let us down. He sang just as loud as everyone, blew out his candles, and wanted to do it again. It was great!!! We were so proud of him, AND how quickly he caught on.

Jansen got 5 different Buzz lightyears for his b-day... can you guess what his first word was? BUZZ!!!

Jake drew Buzz and Woody for our corn hole game (bean bag game for all you western'ers) and Reesa colored them! Didn't she do a great job???

I also filled a kiddie pool with 10 packages of of spagetti noodles, but didn't get a picture. It was such a fun night.

Jansen is very active. He can and has run a mile. He can throw and kick a ball very well. His first word, at age three was BUZZ, now he probably has 30 words though. He's very affectionate, and we milk it! If you ask for a kiss and make a kissy sound when Jansen runs away, he HAS to turn around, and come back and kiss you. We LOVE IT!!! Apples are his favorite food and he eats about 8 a day (talk about diaper rash). SO we put a lock on the fridge and now he sneaks about 2 a day. He loves fruit, pizza and JUICE, and anything outside.

Such a sweet baby boy! We love you Jansen!!!

Disneyland 2010

Where do I start? Our summer was so packed it's time to catch-up. So I'll start with Disneyland. We did Disney's "give a day get a day" and got free tickets for Jake and I. (I made covers for heating pads at the hospital with my squister.) We only had to pay for Reesa since Jansen wouldn't turn 3 for a few more weeks (yeah!) and Mitchell is of course a baby.

doesn't this look like fun?

I had matching shirts made and Reesa wore her's for about 5 minutes. She was screaming and crying and we were making her wear it when I just thought "all she's going to remember about Disneyland is that her parents made her wear a shirt and she cried the entire time." So we took one family photo, and off it went. Although all day long I kept asking her if she wanted to put it back on. It had Cinderella on it, which she wanted (but it was a boy T-shirt b/c I couldn't find a solid girl one and I don't think she liked the neckline).

we got to meet Donald and Goofy, which Jansen LOVED

We went with Jake's family and we had a total of 22. It was so much fun. We had a blast entertaining the kids the first half of the day, then that night all the kids fell asleep in their strollers, and the adults took turns staying with the kids and going on rides for the last 3 hours.

Reesa got to go on stage and sing along with Tiana.

So the two best things... #1 Jansen was diagnosed with Autism in June and Disneyland is SO COOL! They let us have a special pass to go to the front of the line with 6 people in our party so Jansen wouldn't have to wait in the lines. And even that was SO HARD. Jansen had to wait maybe 5-10 minutes for each ride and he was screaming and crying to get on the ride. He didn't want to wait at all! Seriously it made all the difference for our family. I don't think I would EVER go again if we didn't have that pass. While were there I started crying just thinking about how nice Disneyland is for thinking of families with kids that are special. It was so touching to me that we were able to have such a wonderful experience there. In fact it worked so well because with changing diapers and feeding kids we would just catch-up with Jake's family as though we had been in the long lines anyway. It was AWESOME!!!

fun at Tom Sawyer's Island

#2. Jake's sister wanted to let her daughter meet the princesses, so I went mainly to keep Allison company. I didn't even think Reesa would care. Well when we turned the corner and saw Ariel, Reesa seriously started jumping up and down and screaming. She was so excited and she couldn't believe it. She wanted her picture but was just a little too shy to do it alone, so I helped out.

Next we saw Tiana and she kept telling her cousins to hurry up because there's "princess and the frog!" She was totally loving on her. I'm serious she was practically malling these princesses, kissing and hugging them! and they were so nice to her.

Finally she saw Belle and the rest of the day wanted Belle's dress (which was $68, no thank you). It was so cute, Reesa was in heaven. It was the highlight of my trip seeing how magical that was for Reesa. And to think I wasn't even going to take her....

Reesa got a baby Aurora instead which she loves! and Jansen got a Buzz lightyear. We had such a great time and can't wait to go back!