No Delineation Necessary

Hopefully None of Them Are Sick

2012-02-12T22:49:00.000-07:00

Step 1: Get a sucker and sit down to enjoy it. Also gather an audience.
Step 2: Share the sucker with audience member number 1.
Step 3: Share with audience member number 2. Work extra hard to get it back from number 2.

Repeat steps 2 and 3.

A Smurfing We Will Go

2012-02-11T22:40:00.000-07:00

We went to three McDonalds to get the collection.
And you may wonder what I looked like while tracking down all of the smurfs. Well, I will show you. Audrey decided to take up hair styling on the day I decided to go smurf hunting. It was kind of tricky to get a picture of the back of my head; I'm obviously not very good at it. It was quite the hair-do.

Lagoon

2012-02-10T14:43:00.000-07:00

It only took us 5 years to get there. We live sooooo close to this place and yet we have only been there once. We ventured there last summer over the fourth of July weekend and had a lot more fun than I anticipated. It had been about 15 years since I had been there and I really didn't remember a whole lot. There was quite a bit for our kids to do, more than I had remembered. Alivia was a bit under the weather which turned out to be a good thing because she was more than willing to sit in her stroller the whole time.

It didn't seem extremely busy either. In fact Evan was able to go on one ride all by himself; there was nobody else in line. He thought that was great!

Dad's Work Party

2012-02-09T14:11:00.000-07:00

This is probably the second most anticipated event of the year around our house. Christmas is first. Our kids are always talking about last year's party and wondering when it is this year. Of course I forgot to take my camera, but did get a few pictures with my phone. It is ALWAYS lots of fun for the kids. There is face painting, inflatable slides, good food, pinatas, and a balloon artist. Last year it was on Evan's birthday so he pretty much thought the whole thing was for that.

A Post a Day....

2012-02-08T13:59:00.003-07:00

and I'll be caught up by May. So maybe I am not that far behind, but I am still really behind in my blogging lately. I have some excuses:
1. Painting, painting, and more painting.
2. Running, running, and more running.
3. Cleaning.
4. Sleeping.
5. I have 3 kids.

This list could go on and on. I looked through my pictures and realized that I still need to write about everything we did last summer. So I am just going to go in chronological order and start with Audrey's Kindergarten graduation (told you I was really far behind). Here she is.
I didn't really get any other good pictures of her. The really sad part about being so far behind is that I don't really remember anything that happened that was postworthy other than she was there and had a speaking part. I'm pretty sure I was at the back of the audience chasing two kids around. I do know that Audrey had a FABULOUS teacher and she did really well in Kindergarten. Most importantly she learned to love school and she couldn't wait for first grade to start.

Conversation

2011-12-22T22:42:00.003-07:00

There are a lot of other things I need to be blogging about, but I decided this can't wait. Today we (the kids and I) were over at my parents' house enjoying a doughnut with the cousins. Audrey and her cousin had the following conversation:
Audrey: "Popular kids don't get messy when they eat doughnuts."
Cousin: "Yeah, they don't. Evan is obviously not popular."
Audrey: "No he is not popular. I'm popular."
Cousin: "Yeah, me too. Oh, you've got chocolate on your nose."
Audrey: "Um yeah, I know."

I wrote their conversation down word for word. I think kid conversations are SO SO funny.

Last of the Park Posts

2011-10-09T14:15:00.003-06:00

Wow, I have really been slacking when it comes to blogging lately. I have some really good excuses though and I shall be posting about those excuses later. I thought I really better wrap up this whole visiting new parks thing. One of our favorite finds over the summer was the Bountiful City Park. I really liked this park because it seemed like one of the safer ones for Alivia to play at. She is still too little to play by herself of course and sometimes it is hard to watch and reach them on the equipment, but for some reason it seemed a lot easier at this park. I just don't like how close it is to a busy road. And all three kids could slide at the same time. It took several attempts to get this picture and it still isn't all that great. I just can't resist taking the staticy hair pictures.
We also tried out a park in West Bountiful and will not be going there again. It seemed pretty old and dingy. Also it was right next to the train tracks and when the train went by Alivia got extremely scared.
Next stop was the new park in North Salt Lake with the splash pad. I don't know what it is called, but the kids LOVED it. Every time we drove on Legacy, the kids would talk about going to that park. We didn't know that it had a splash pad too. Of course I forgot to take my camera when we went, but here is a picture I got on my phone. We will definitely be going again next summer.

Last, but not least, is the park we went to in Illinois while staying with Grandma. It was great fun and had a splash pad too. More to come on the visit with Grandma and Grandpa.
So this is the end of the park posts, but in reality we have more park news to share. We also went to an amusement park and a few ball parks this summer, but they all deserve their own posts.

Freedom Hills

2011-09-05T14:49:00.000-06:00

We also went to this park at some point during the summer. We actually go there quite often and so it wasn't anything new. The goal wasn't to go to a new park every week, just a different one.

Community Park

2011-09-03T14:48:00.000-06:00

So it has been a while since I have posted. We actually did really well with our goal of going to a new park every week over the summer. Problem is I have forgotten when we went to what park. I know I could look at the dates on the pictures, but apparently I am too lazy to do that. We went to this park at some point during the summer and it was a last minute decision to go. My kids have really been wanting to go to this park because of the dinosaurish things, but I kept avoiding it because there is absolutely NO SHADE at this park. One night it was quite cloudy and so I decided if we were going to ever go, it had to be then. I would say this park was just okay, I'm really not going to make much of an effort to again.

Next Up

2011-07-26T14:32:00.000-06:00

We have been doing very well with our goal of a new park every week this summer. In fact this week we have already been to two new parks. But, first things first. After we hit the two parks closest to the library, we ventured to Smoot Park. I've really been wanting to go to this park because every time we drive by it looks very well shaded. And it was. I think we will be adding it to our list of favorites. Audrey loved it because it had slides, swings and sand. Evan liked it too. And Alivia is just always willing to be doing anything as long as it is outside.

She Turned 31!

2011-07-12T15:46:00.001-06:00

Now that my birthday has come and gone, it will be about five and a half months before there is another birthday in this house. We seriously should have spread these things out better.

Happy Fourth

2011-07-11T16:05:00.000-06:00

Only a week late, but don't we all look nice and festive. Hooray for the red, white, and blue!

What a Girl Wants

2011-07-10T14:57:00.003-06:00

For months Audrey has been saying that she really wants to be in a parade. When I saw she could be in a summer dance camp and participate in two parades, I jumped on the chance since I really didn't know how else I could get her in a parade. Well, you can now cross that off of her bucket list and add it to the list of things she never wants to do again. After the first parade I asked her how it was and she said boring. She would have rather been on the sidelines picking up candy. She said she really didn't want to be in a parade ever again because it was too hot. She seemed to enjoy the second parade a bit more and she was even able to get some candy too. She actually seems to be enjoying herself in the pictures, but that is because we had all started yelling her name and she was excited to see us. I wish I would have thought to take one before we started shouting.

Story Time

2011-07-10T14:54:00.000-06:00

I had two goals this summer: go to story time at the library every week and go to a new park every week. I am happy to report we have only missed story time once since Alivia had a fever and we have made it to a new park every week. I don't have any pictures of the kids at story time because I thought it would be disruptive to start taking pictures during story time. But, I do have a video of a great storyteller that lives in our house. Lately one of our favorite things to do is ask Evan to tell us a story. It is very entertaining and we love all of his sound effects and page turns with his hands. If you can't understand what he is saying, you are not alone. We really don't know what he is saying half the time when he is telling his stories.

As to our second goal of the summer, our first park visit was to Porter Walton park. It is right next to the library so we just stopped by for a bit after story time. No pictures. Of course I forgot my camera. The second park we visited was Founders Park. No pictures from that visit either. Unfortunately we weren't there very long since Evan had a bit of an accident. Don't worry there are park pictures coming from some of our other visits.

Mango Anyone?

2011-07-04T14:19:00.000-06:00

Well, too bad. Evan has eaten all the mangoes at our house. I always tell people that Evan will eat a whole mango all by himself, but the other night he outdid himself and ate two whole mangoes.

Vote Now!

2011-07-03T14:06:00.003-06:00

Before it got too hot and as long as it wasn't raining, the kiddos were playing outside a LOT. Which kid do you think enjoyed their time outside the most? Would you say it was child A that wore these clothes?
Or child B that wore these?Or perhaps you are going to go with child C that wore these.The pictures really don't do justice to their level of filthiness. Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of the children in the clothes so you could really see just how dirty they were. They were obviously in the tub.

She Turned 1!

2011-06-15T23:57:00.004-06:00

Well we finally got around to celebrating Alivia's birthday. I saw the idea for this cake on one of the many crafty blogs I follow and I loved it. I just had to make it for Alivia's birthday. Luckily she is not old enough to tell me she wanted something else. I think she liked it!

She was a little slow at opening her presents. If only there had been someone around that was willing to help her. She did not like the hat in her bag of crap. It's too bad really, I think it would look better on her.
I spent almost an hour making the party hats, so it was a must that every child at the party wear one long enough for me to get their picture. Colton really couldn't be bothered too much though, so the back of his head had to do.

He Turned 3!

2011-06-12T23:27:00.002-06:00

He's quite the statue builder. Ta-da!If you ask Evan how he is doing, his answer is three. If you ask him when his birthday is, he will say Spiderman. For dinner he of course wanted pizza. I was trying to think how I could relate it to Spiderman and I came up with the idea to use olives to make a spider. I thought it turned out pretty well.
He of course enjoyed opening his presents.

A Spiderman/Tangled birthday party isn't complete without a Spiderman cake. I really didn't think I could make a good Spiderman cake, so we bought one from Sam's Club. There is something about making black frosting that really scares me.

First to Last

2011-06-12T23:15:00.004-06:00

The school year really just flew by. I can't believe Audrey has finished Kindergarten. People always comment to me how much she is growing up, but I don't really notice it because I see her every day. I have to look at pictures and compare them in order to see the changes and remember what she used to look like. Here she is on her first and last day of Kindergarten. She is growing up and I couldn't stop her from turning six.

She Turned 6!

2011-06-08T21:54:00.004-06:00

Well today is actually Alivia's birthday, but I figured I better post about Audrey's birthday party first. I am behind as always. This year Audrey wanted a Tangled party and that is what she got. There was also a Spiderman party happening at the same time, but for this post we shall focus on Tangled. I started getting ideas and planning things in February and I didn't end up getting half of them done. I guess I need to start organizing things in November. For dinner Audrey wanted spaghetti with butter and parmesan cheese since it reminded her of Rapunzel's hair. We also made a tower for her cake and it turned out better than I thought it would. She really liked it or at least said she did.
We watched her open presents and she has been thrilled with what she got. She of course is now talking about what kind of party she wants next year. Only 355 days to go!

Raining on a Monday

2011-05-23T23:15:00.005-06:00

Really, where did May go? I can't believe it is almost over and there are only two weeks left of school. I also can't believe it has been a month and a half since my last post. So here is a quick recap of what we have been up to:
1. Going to Audrey's soccer games and practices when the weather permits. It has been fun to watch her try something new and athletic, but I don't know if she'll want to play in the fall. She just keeps saying she wants to do gymnastics. So the plan for now is gymnastics in the fall.

2. Finding Easter baskets, candy, and eggs. Evan was determined not to let anyone look for the baskets; he was upset that he had to ride home from church in dad's car. He eventually got over it and was excited to find his basket and candy. What baby doesn't love Easter basket grass?

3. Easting donuts. The only thing surprising about this is that I bought the donuts. Normally Colby is the donut purchaser around here.
4. Sleeping in unusual places. They only slept here once. I guess they haven't wanted to sleep on a hard bench that they fell off of half a dozen times again.
5. Curling hair for dance and soccer pictures that ended up not being taken. Got the dates mixed up on the dance pictures and didn't get the e-mail saying the team wasn't going to do the soccer pictures. Her hair looked really cute though. LOVE the new curlers.
6. Going to a baseball game with Grandpa. I actually forgot to take the camera to the game which is really surprising even for me considering I had it in my hands right before we left.
7. Trying to get this cute girl to smile for a picture. Unsuccessful.

8. Sitting in a dump truck.
9. Kissing the television. I fear we have another climber on our hands.
10. Going to the zoo with Audrey's Kindergarten class. What an ordeal this turned out to be thanks to Alivia puking right as we got there.
11. Potty training Evan. No picture. I don't know if I dare say this, but it has been pretty easy. He is doing AWESOME! We started a week ago and have been accident free for 5 days now (knock on wood). I really thought this was a stupid endeavor and that he wasn't ready and I would end up giving up and waiting until the end of summer to try again, but that has not been the case. So far so good!
12. Crashing at the end of a hard day.

He's at it Again

2011-04-06T23:23:00.001-06:00

This time he gave her licorice and she is thrilled.

A Very Merry Unbirthday

2011-03-04T13:38:00.002-07:00

Well I kind of feel like Alivia's birthday has been spoiled a bit already. Evan really does love his baby sister. I just wish he would show his affection in a way other than by giving her food. I had given Audrey and Evan a cupcake after dinner the other day and I thought they were sitting at the table eating them while I was cooking myself some dinner. Right now our table is in our living room so I couldn't see them. When I went in there a few minutes later to eat, I found Alivia like this.

Here's a closer look.
It looks like the girl will enjoy her birthday cake in three months. She was really enjoying eating it and was quite upset when I took it away. The cupcake left a nice green stain on the carpet, but I have been able to get most of it out. If our kitchen floor doesn't get done soon, I may need to get a new floor in my living room too.

On the Move

2011-02-24T22:28:00.000-07:00

Once again, this baby is different.
Both Audrey and Evan were crawling all around by now and pulling themselves up to a standing position. Alivia has not been an early mover like the other two were. Recently though she has kind of started crawling backwards and can get herself up to a sitting position. The other day when she was playing on the floor and I was cleaning in the kitchen, she let out a loud scream and so I ran into the living room to find her like this. I'm not really sure how she did this, but I thought it was quite funny. Luckily the camera was close by.

Christmas 2010

2011-02-23T11:06:00.000-07:00

For the last three years we have been in our home on Christmas morning and it has been great. I was so excited for Christmas this year since Evan is starting to understand everything. The two weeks before Christmas he would go to bed every night saying that Santa is coming. I was worried he would wake up disappointed every morning, but he seemed fine. I thought he would be super excited when he actually saw his presents on Christmas, but I think he was just in shock and he didn't show much excitement. He was really excited about the Scooby Doo bandaids though.

After a while Evan got tired of the whole present thing and just wanted to eat. He must have been pretty hungry because he just ignored all of his presents and started chowing down on the apple that came in his stocking. We really had a great Christmas and we enjoyed spending time together.

Where is Evan?

2011-02-22T22:13:00.000-07:00

Did you guess that he is sleeping on the stairs, wearing a girly hat and gloves, and he has his shoes on the wrong feet? Me neither, but that is how I found him.

Who got their first tooth?

2011-02-21T21:57:00.004-07:00

Me.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Alivia has been very different as a baby than her two older siblings. Audrey and Evan were so much alike as babies and I assumed this baby would be the same. I was wrong (I don't say or type this very often). The only thing all three of them have in common is that they have been and are still so darn cute. One thing nice about having all three of their birthdays within 10 days of each other is that it has been so easy to compare when they were doing different things and getting teeth. Both Audrey and Evan got their first teeth before Christmas, but not Alivia. She just barely got her first tooth yesterday. This would explain her orneriness this week.

While

2011-02-20T19:13:00.001-07:00

my mom was getting dressed and
my dad was working in the kitchen and
my sister was putting on her swimming suit,
my brother gave me some of his pop tart.

Just Dance!

2011-02-12T14:35:00.001-07:00

Lately I've been thinking that I don't really have anything to blog about, but then I remembered that I haven't posted anything about Audrey's dance recital or Christmas. Don't know how I could forget about those, but I did. So here are a couple of pictures from the dance recital which was a couple of weeks before Christmas. Her outfit was very loose on her and luckily there was a tutu to cover it up. We couldn't find her dance shoes and so she ended up wearing her black church shoes. Evan was terrible during the recital and kept trying to run up on the stage. We were lucky to get some pictures, to be honest. It was fun to watch Audrey dance, but I'm afraid she isn't very coordinated. She has now decided that she really doesn't enjoy dance very much and she just wants to do gymnastics. So it looks like that will be our next attempt at an extracurricular activity for her. We will see how that goes.

Cute Kids

2011-01-21T11:57:00.001-07:00

I know I'm stating the obvious.

Unsportsmanlike Conduct

2011-01-12T23:05:00.001-07:00

I just love taking pictures of my kids when they are asleep.

Family Pictures

2011-01-11T22:36:00.003-07:00

This last Saturday we went to get some family pictures taken since we really don't have any since Alivia joined the fam. What a crazy day that turned out to be. It was just a really frustrating day from the get go. Colby was on the phone most of the morning (pacing the house of course) and so that meant things were hectic around here. Audrey tried to be helpful and get herself and Evan dressed. Unfortunately she was wearing this and Evan was in pajamas. That is usually what he wears, but he does have to get dressed sometimes. We were doing pretty well and left a few minutes earlier than we needed to. Which was a good thing because on the way there Evan started screaming and we turned around to see blood quickly dripping out of his nose. Of course he had used his shirt to try and stop it and of course Audrey started crying about it. Luckily there was a Kohls right by where we were getting our pictures taken and we had a few minutes to spare. We all went in to clean Evan up and buy him a new shirt. None of our children cooperated well for the pictures. Audrey tried her best to hide her teeth, Evan just wanted to play on the furniture, and Alivia was a bit scared. This is the best shot we got. Overall, the pictures turned out okay, just not as well as I would have liked. We did get some good pictures of the kiddos individually, but I shall post those later.

6 Months Old

2010-12-22T23:51:00.005-07:00

I can't believe Alivia is six months old already. I wanted to wait to do this post until I took her to the doctor and got all of her stats. So here it is. At six months she weighs 15 pounds 9 ounces is 26.75 inches long and she has a big head (I can't remember the exact measurement, but it is in the 90th percentile). We have been thinking for a while that she looks like a Bennion and now she has the head size to prove it. For those of you who don't know my dad's family is sort of known for having big heads; we affectionately refer to them as Bennion heads. Audrey and Evan were so similar as babies that I just assumed Alivia would be just like them, but she is not. At this age Audrey and Evan were rolling around the room and army crawling and Alivia just doesn't really move. She can roll, but she doesn't really. She does do crunches though.

She doesn't really like baby food.

She loves to do the grapevine, mash potato, and the twist (obviously with a bit of assistance).
She loves to take baths.
And I must admit, she loves her mom.

Are you wondering what we did this summer?

2010-12-14T23:59:00.001-07:00

If not, read no further. If so, continue on reading. I will attempt to sum it all up in one post. I'd say the biggest event of the summer was adding a third child to our family. What a way to start. The downside to this was that I wasn't able to take the other two kiddos anywhere for a while and they started to feel cooped up I'm sure. Alivia arrived June 8th and she has been a great baby right from the start.

We blessed said baby the first Sunday in August. What a day! We ended up having double the fun with a double baby blessing. Even though there were a lot of people crammed in our house, it was great to have Alivia share her blessing day with Clark.

Where was Evan during all of this? By the fruit platter. That boy loves fruit!

The next weekend we went to the Bennion family reunion in Idaho. It was great to spend time with Bennions and those lucky enough to marry one. The accomodations were outstanding. I'm not much for camping, but I love being outdoors. So this place was the perfect combination for me.
Audrey took dance lessons from our neighbor.

Audrey took swimming lessons for one week. Like I said earlier, we really didn't do much for very long. It was very hard (and still is) to keep track of Evan while taking care of/feeding Alivia.

We went fishing. Every summer we go to Mirror Lake with my family, but this year it ended up only being us. Serves my dad right I guess. We caught like 14 fish and at times it was difficult to keep up with the fishing poles since they were biting so fast.
I think that pretty much sums it up. If I think of anything else, I'll tell you later.

Trip to the Zoo

2010-11-16T10:31:00.001-07:00

So I bought a zoo pass this year thinking I would go a lot once Alivia had a schedule down, but we didn't end up going all summer. So a few weeks ago it looked like the nice weather was coming to an end and a trip to the zoo was a must before the cold air came. I of course forgot my camera. Other than that, it was a great excursion. Evan was really well behaved and stayed by my side the whole time. Alivia was great and had a grand time in the stroller. Audrey got really scared when they put sanitizer on her hands before we went into the one display house. They said if the fruit bats could smell fruit on you they might attack and so we needed the sanitizer to cover up the smell of the fruit we had eaten that day. It was so funny to watch Evan try to talk to the animals, especially the gorilla. They seriously seemed to be communicating and the gorilla even gives the same "no like it" look as Evan. Here are a few blurry pictures I got on my phone.

Love This face

2010-11-04T20:08:00.000-06:00

I finally figured out how to create a collage for my blog. I'm slow I know.

Do I talk funny?

2010-10-19T23:30:00.002-06:00

That is the first thing Audrey said after I pulled her tooth out. I am still really surprised she lost her first tooth, I thought she would be at least six before it happened. I am also still really surprised that she didn't cry when I pulled it out. Anyone that knows Audrey, knows that she can cry. Like this morning when I was brushing her hair, she cried. Or also this morning when her dad suggested that she be Cleopatra for Halloween next year, she cried. Perhaps the anticipation of the tooth fairy coming distracted her from her usual flow of tears.

Can you tell?

2010-09-17T23:51:00.003-06:00

Audrey has started Kindergarten (and so has the refrigerator).
She absolutely loves it. Everyday she comes home and I ask her what she has learned, most of the time she says she can't remember. This really bothered me at first, but I heard that for kids school is their work and they often try to forget about "work" when they are at home. I think this makes a lot of sense and it makes me feel better. I know she is learning; she keeps reading more and more words everyday and I LOVE it! We do hear a lot of details though about the playground rules, who broke the rules, who pushed who, who wore what, who has curly hair, and all of the other important things that happen in Kindergarten. We also hear a lot about PE. This is apparently her most anticipated time of the whole week and she wishes everyday could be Wednesday. Here she is ready to go to the "big school" on her first day. I was able to go with her, but of course I forgot to take the camera to the school so I don't have any pictures of her there.

Birthing the Baby

2010-09-02T21:07:00.005-06:00

Well I have been wanting to do this post for a while and I am finally getting around to it. Where should I begin? I think I will tell this story counting how many times I was wrong. I'm really not wrong very often, but with this pregnancy I don't think I was ever right. I thought it would take a while for me to get pregnant with our third child: WRONG. I thought I was going to have a boy: WRONG. I thought I would have this baby in May: WRONG. I thought my water would break when I went into labor: WRONG. I thought our baby would be cute and adorable: finally, I got one RIGHT. She is so very very cute. Here is the proof. I just love her to pieces. Back to the story. When I was pregnant with Evan I decided I wanted a natural child birthing experience. The problem was I didn't decide that until I was 36 weeks along and so I was not prepared at all when I had him. I panicked at the last minute and ended up getting an epidural right before I realized it was time to push. I would say that the epidural was about 25% effective when he made his debut. I was so upset and disappointed with myself that I had caved and gotten the epidural. So this time I was determined not to get an epidural. My official due date this time was June 7th. I thought she would be about three weeks early like Audrey was, so around May 17th I starting waiting for my water to break. I was positive my water was going to break since it did with Audrey and Evan; WRONG yet again. I was afraid to go anywhere because I can't think of very many things more embarrassing than having your water break in public. At my 36 week appointment I was dilated to a 3 and 70% effaced, there was no way I was going to make it to my due date: WRONG. So for three weeks I tried every myth there is to induce labor, except for a really long walk since I didn't want my water to break while I was miles away from my home. I did hit the elliptical though several times. So for four weeks I waited and waited for my water to break and it never did. At each doctor appointment she would get my hopes up because I would be slightly more dilated and she said it felt like my water was wanting to break, yet nothing was happening. My last appointment was scheduled for my due date and I was given the option of scheduling an induction or waiting it out for one more week to see if I would go into labor. Reluctantly I scheduled an induction for the 9th since I was so sick of being pregnant and I didn't see the point in waiting a week to be induced. I went home and I cried, a lot. I did not want to be induced. That night around midnight I started having contractions every 10 minutes but they didn't hurt at all. I thought if I walked around our house a lot they might intensify and put me into labor. I walked around for about an hour and nothing more was happening so I decided to go to bed. I woke up around five with contractions that hurt. Finally, but they were only coming every 15 minutes. I didn't think I was in labor because the contractions were too far apart: WRONG. I decided to take a shower so I could relax and go back to sleep, but while I was in the shower they started coming every three minutes. At this point I started to panic and so I hurried to go wake up Colby. When I woke him up he said, "oh good your water finally broke." He was WRONG. I told him I was just having contractions every three minutes. We both hurried to get ready and he called my parents to have them meet us at the hospital so they could take Audrey and Evan to their house. He made the mistake of telling them we were getting ready to go rather than we were on our way. When we go to the hospital it was around 6:30 in the morning and I was sure my parents were going to be there already since they lived a lot closer to it than we do: WRONG, no parents. I was really annoyed because my contractions were so close together. We had to wait about 10 minutes before they got there. Finally we got into the hospital and all checked in. At 6:57 they finally checked me and I was only dilated to a 4. I thought this was going to be an 8 hour labor like Audrey's was: WRONG. Around 7:25 my contractions were really starting to hurt and I could feel a lot of pressure. The nurse checked me again and I was dilated to a 9 and about ready to go. They had to scramble to get everything out and call my doctor. Needless to say my doctor did not make it to the delivery. I am 0 for 3 on having my doctor deliver my babies. A few minutes later I told the nurse it was time for me to push. She told me to wait until the next contraction; I don't know how that is even possible. I said no I have to push and I did. With the first push my water broke and the baby's head was crowning. After a couple more pushes the head was out and she was stuck at her shoulders. I remember they kept telling me to keep pushing, but I couldn't because I wasn't having a contraction. She finally made it out at 7:41 a.m. and I felt so relieved. She was here and I didn't get an epidural. Now came the really hard part, deciding on a name. We didn't fill out the papers until right before we left the hospital. So here she is: Alivia Delyn.

Even More Evan

2010-08-25T23:42:00.003-06:00

When I said the boy could fall asleep anywhere, I meant it. Here he is sitting on a barstool eating an orange. Audrey found him like this and I didn't believe her when she relayed the situation, but she was telling the truth. He must have been really tired. A couple of days ago we were playing outside and I told Evan not to pick the flowers, but he did anyway. I then told him we needed to go inside and put the flowers he wasn't supposed to pick in water. He said okay and ran into the house. This is what I found a few minutes later (sorry for the potty picture). He did what I told him to do. I guess next time I will be more specific.

Everything Evan

2010-08-02T17:27:00.005-06:00

Here are a few things you should know about Evan.
1. He loves baseball and soccer. Recently he turned 2 and we celebrated with a baseball cake. It was much easier to make than a soccer ball.
2. He can fall asleep anywhere including while eating and standing on his head.

3. He loves to help. Two jobs he likes to help with are husking the corn and setting the table. The first time I asked him to help husk the corn it did not occur to me that he would eat it before it had been cooked. He also just likes to put any condiments he can get out of the fridge onto the table.
4. He has the cutest face. This is one of my favorite looks he gives.
5. He LOVES his new baby sister.
6. He is rarely dressed normal. He likes to wear pajamas all day. Sometimes only his pajama pants. Sometimes he likes to wear my shower cap.
7. He likes stickers and he likes to put stickers all over his body.

My Side of the Story

2010-06-24T13:59:00.010-06:00

Hello. I was born on June 8, 2010 and I weighed 8 pounds 4 ounces. My name is Alivia Delyn. It took my parents two days in the hospital to finally decide that this is what my name should be and already my mom is wondering if they made the right choice. I went to the doctor's office for the first time last week; here is how the conversation with the receptionist went down:
Receptionist: "What is her name?"
My Mom: "Alivia, A-L-I-V-I-A"
Receptionist: "Wait, what? The first letter is an A? Start over please."
My Mom: "A-L-I-V-I-A"
Receptionist: "Oh, okay. What is her middle name?"
My Mom: "Delyn."
Receptionist: "Um...I'll just put a D."
We finally got to see the doctor after waiting over an hour. He took a look at my name and said, "that's interesting, why did you spell it starting with an A?" I also had to get my heel pricked so they could check my jaundice level and the phlebotomist asked the same question. Apparently I cry funny too because at my next visit when they pricked my heel and I started to cry, the phlebotomist said, "well that is an interesting sound. Most newborns sound like cats when they cry, but hers is definitely unique. I can't really tell what she sounds like." For the first visit I was dressed in a pink onesie and three people asked my mother "how old is he?" I can't figure out why any parent would put their baby boy in pink clothes and if you don't know the gender of the child, you could simply say, "how old is your baby?" Problem solved.
I am growing. Apparently it just isn't fast enough as I have to go back to the doctor next week to get my weight checked. Hopefully by then I will weigh 8 pounds 5 ounces.
I have a fair amount of hair, most of it is on the back of my head.

Right now I do a lot of sleeping and eating. That pretty much takes up the entire day.

A...a...A....

2010-06-01T00:57:00.005-06:00

All about Audrey.
I can't sleep. I have heartburn still after taking five tums and my feet are hurting because they are so swollen, but this post isn't about me. It is all about Audrey. Audrey has had quite a bit going on lately and I keep meaning to post about it all, so here it is. She went to the doctor for her five year check up and to get three more shots so she can start kindergarten in the fall. She did not cry when she got her shots, she screamed. She is tall and skinny; she was in the 76th percentile for height and the 16th percentile for her weight. This picture has nothing to do with her doctor visit, I just really like it.
Next she had her first birthday party with her friends. We had it two weeks before her birthday just in case her little sister made an early arrival. Apparently we didn't need to worry so much since her birthday is now past and still no sister. She had a lot of fun playing games, getting candy from the pinata, opening presents, and eating cake.

Next she had her preschool graduation. She didn't quite understand that graduation means you never go back. The following week she was upset she didn't get to go to preschool. Then she figured it out and really wanted to start kindergarten instead. She is now very upset that she has to wait so long to start kindergarten. It could be a long summer.

Finally Audrey had her second birthday party with the fam. It was really a party for Evan too, but hopefully I'll blog about him later. Again Audrey enjoyed opening presents and eating her big ding dong cake. It is hard to believe she is now five and will start going to the "big school" in the fall.

Rough Week

2010-05-19T23:06:00.002-06:00

It all started two Saturdays ago, Evan and Audrey were watching a movie and Evan tripped over Audrey's legs and hit his face on the corner of the armoire. Well at least we are assuming this is what happened. The only eye witness is four and she doesn't like to get in trouble. Whatever happened, Evan cried for about an hour and this is what he had to show for it.
Two days later we were out delivering invitations for Audrey's birthday party and Evan was running on the cement and tripped and got a nice scrape on the other side of his face. As if that weren't enough, later that night he fell down three stairs and got a nice carpet burn down his nose as evidenced in this picture.
Also if you look very carefully in the first picture, he has a tiny scrape on his forehead. He got this by running into a corner in the hallway. Luckily that injury wasn't any worse. The wall definitely got the worst of that mishap (just a few days after I had finished all of my touch up painting). Now I shall have to get out the paint again one day. Oh well. You would probably like to know that Evan is healing nicely and there is little proof left of his rough week.

Little time to sleep in FL

2010-04-29T13:59:00.011-06:00

Well we have been home from our vacation now for about a month, so it is probably about time I posted some pictures. Audrey is very glad that these two got married so close to DisneyWorld (those are her words, not mine). She (and the rest of us) all had a great time at the wedding and now Audrey would also like to get married in Florida one day.
We were able to spend a little bit of time on the beach. It didn't take long for Audrey to get soaked even though the water only came up to her ankles.

Colby's favorite part of the vacation was probably going to an Astro's spring training games against the Blue Jays. We had to leave early, but luckily we saw all of the scoring that took place. Of course while we were there, we went to Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Animal Kingdom. We really had a lot of fun and especially enjoyed spending time with family. Audrey had a lot of fun on the rides she was tall enough for and sometimes cried when she wasn't tall enough. She wants to go back in four years since she figures she will be able to go on every single ride then. Hopefully we will one day go back and hopefully I will get to join her on the rides; I will say it was a bit disappointing not being able to go on most of the rides since Sparkles is occupying my belly.

Audrey also enjoyed meeting the characters and getting their autographs in her book.

We also spent a short amount of time at Downtown Disney where we got some food and Audrey and Evan climbed on the statues. Not surprisingly Buzz was the clear favorite for Evan at least.

On the plane ride home, everybody slept but me. That is how it usually seems to go around here. Really I should say the plane ride to Denver. Once we got to Denver, we stayed there much longer than anticipated. Our flight was cancelled due to snow and we ended up sleeping (I use this word loosely) on the floor of the airport. Not fun.

Fifteen hours later than anticipated we finally made it back and I have no desire to get on an airplane anytime soon seeming as next time we will have three children to chase after.

Eas(y)ter

2010-04-21T09:32:00.002-06:00

It is hard to believe I haven't posted anything about Easter yet. You might especially be surprised when you find out I only took one picture; it's pretty sad. I was too busy following Evan around to make sure that he found things and put them in his basket. After he found the first egg, he just wanted to open it and eat what was inside. He needed lots of encouragement to find more so that Audrey didn't get them all. We also did other Eastery stuff like dye eggs and make sugar cookies, but I of course didn't take pictures. Here is the one picture I did take.

The Next Holiday

2010-03-30T13:04:00.003-06:00

Happy Valentines Day! Better late than never. Audrey gets very excited for any holiday really. She loved dressing up for her party at preschool and she couldn't wait to show everyone her hair.

Audrey cried a lot when she found out she wouldn't be able to go to preschool on St. Patrick's Day. Even telling her that we would be at DisneyWorld instead did not console her. So we don't have any pictures to share from that holiday. Hopefully our vacation and Easter pictures will soon follow.

Happy New Year

2010-02-14T22:46:00.003-07:00

I know I am way behind. I really want to post on my blog more regularly, but it just doesn't seem to happen. For now, I will share how we rang in the new year.
Audrey cried a lot because her head was too small for her hat.

Colby slept (not at all surprising) and he was very ornery about me taking his picture.
I tried to get Evan to wear a hat, but was not successful.

180 Degree Turn

2009-12-30T22:25:00.003-07:00

So for a while I had a problem with Evan not wanting to get dressed and taking his clothes and diaper off. The solution: he was sentenced to wear a onesie all day, every day. Now we seem to have the opposite problem; he wants to wear clothing that doesn't really fit him or should really be worn outside. See for yourself.

Bad News

2009-11-05T14:42:00.003-07:00

Well I've been thinking that this could happen anyday and on Monday it did. Evan has figured out how to climb out of his crib. Audrey and Evan were playing in his crib and Audrey got out so she could go get some of her stuffed animals to put in there. I followed her into her room because she wanted me to help carry them and a few seconds later Evan walked in. So I took him back to his crib to see how he did it, especially so quietly. Audrey was only 18 months when she figured out how to escape, although she would just lean forward over the bar and go head first. Evan definitely has a much safer way to get out. The good news to this story is that he still goes right to sleep when we put him down at night or for his nap and he doesn't climb out when he wakes up. We're keeping our fingers crossed he keeps that up.

Silly Stringophobia

2009-10-07T13:03:00.002-06:00

Yet again we have found something else that Evan is afraid of. Although Colby really should not have sprayed it on his face.

Pop-Up Bookophobia

2009-09-01T22:45:00.003-06:00

While I think grassophobia has the potential to become a word one day, I don't think pop-up bookophobia does. It may seem cruel, but I continue to like to get videos of Evan screaming. The other night I was reading books to Audrey and suddenly Evan started screaming for no obvious reason. I realized that he had found the now not so secret stash of pop-up books hidden in Audrey's room. Every time he opened one of the books, he just got so scared. I couldn't help but grab my camera.

Check back later for silly stringophobia.

Everyday of My Life

2009-08-06T13:53:00.003-06:00

Evan is always looking for somewhere to climb. I feel like I never get anything done because I always have to follow him around. Here are a few places he likes to climb.

He has also made it onto the hood of our car, but I didn't get a picture of that one.

Sick of Cleaning

2009-07-10T12:34:00.004-06:00

THE CRIMES

THE CRIMINAL

Everyday

2009-07-08T10:49:00.002-06:00

If you ever see Audrey no matter the day, this is what her hair will look like. She calls it her everyday hairdo and she insists on having her hair like this, you guessed it, everyday.

The Other Child Unsupervised

2009-05-25T21:29:00.003-06:00

Well today I thought Audrey was playing in her room with her polly pockets, but I later found out that wasn't all she was doing. Apparently she had found a pen and decided to draw on her leg. This is what I discovered when I went to give her a bath tonight.

If anyone knows me really well, they know that ink on skin is one of my two biggest pet peeves. At least I can cover it up with clothing.

Unsupervised

2009-05-21T10:43:00.002-06:00

Well I thought Evan was playing with Audrey in the living room until I heard some strange noises coming out of the bathroom. I went to check it out and this is what I found.

Grassophobia

2009-04-23T10:59:00.003-06:00

I don't really think that is a word, but that is what Evan has. He loves being outside, but he hates touching grass. It's not really a problem until he wants to get off of the blanket.

Evan Update

2009-03-11T23:03:00.003-06:00

Well I took Evan to the doctor today and it was like deja vu. He has gained some weight, but apparently not enough. Here are his stats:
Weight: 19 lbs. 1 oz. 24th percentile (last time he was in the 55th percentile)
Height: 29.5 inches 86th percentile
Head: 17.7 inches 40th percentile

I have to take him back in a month to have his weight checked. I'm not really worried since this is exactly what Audrey did. She gained a lot of weight right at first and then gained weight very slowly.

Christmas Pictures

2009-01-29T22:05:00.003-07:00

There's nothing like looking at pictures from Christmas a month late. Here are some of the highlights of our holidays.

Audrey sleeping on top of Evan.

Audrey getting stabbed with a fork.

Evan getting a bike that he can't even ride for a couple of years.

Audrey chilling on the lazy river.

Where Have I Been?

2009-01-18T23:15:00.002-07:00

In case anyone out there is concerned as to my lack of blogging lately, here are my excuses.

1. I was in Chicago for 10 days.
2. I have been reading the Twilight saga.
3. I had a cold.
4. I've been cleaning my kitchen. I'm still not finished.
5. I took a short trip to St. George.
6. I've been doing Wii fit a lot. You can't really tell, but I'm a hula-hooping champ.

I Should Have Never Left Them Alone

2008-12-07T15:32:00.003-07:00

This is what happens when Audrey is left alone with Evan and a headband. Poor boy.

Raw or Wrong?

2008-11-19T13:10:00.002-07:00

I have really been a slacker lately when it comes to blogging. I have to share this story though. Last night Colby told Audrey that he ate raw fish for lunch. She later told me that Daddy didn't cook the fish he ate for lunch and that is called wrong.

I Hate to Spoil the Surprise

2008-10-24T20:34:00.002-06:00

I think my child has OCD. When Audrey is getting ready, she lists all of the stuff she has to do. This usually happens on the days she goes to preschool. She has to get dressed, eat breakfast, do her hair, brush her teeth, put on her socks, put on her shoes, put on her jacket, get her backpack, and then she can go to preschool. She has also started a list of what she is going to be for Halloween for the next five years. This year she is going to be Sleeping Beauty, next year she will be a butterfly, then Horton, a pirate, and then a pig. There's nothing like being prepared.

Feelin' Sad in the Neighborhood

2008-10-22T17:48:00.002-06:00

The Real Story: Audrey's friend Mykelle had to have her tonsils removed this week and she is only two years old. We told Audrey that she had her tonsils taken out and she wasn't feeling very well.

Audrey's Story (This is what she told her nursery leaders): Mykelle is sad because the doctor cut out her feelings. She will never be happy again.

I Can't Wait

2008-10-16T09:22:00.003-06:00

I am really looking forward to November 2. I am tired of daylight savings time. I can't stand waking up in the morning when it is so dark. It's not like I wake up early either. Well I guess some might consider 7:00 early.

And the Little One Said.........Roll Over

2008-09-26T23:17:00.002-06:00

Well, Evan started rolling over today. Unfortunately I missed it. I walked away to get him a bottle and when I came back, he was on his stomach. So we recreated the whole thing so I could take pictures.

Something is Wrong

2008-09-19T15:54:00.003-06:00

It has now been a full week since Audrey has eaten sugar cereal for breakfast. Usually she will eat fruit loops or cocoa puffs for breakfast (purchased by her father). Lately she either asks for oatmeal, yogurt, or oatmeal squares. I'm curious how long this streak will last.

Tear Jerkers

2008-09-12T17:03:00.003-06:00

Audrey tends to cry a lot. I'm hoping that it is just a phase that three year olds go through and that she will soon outgrow it. These are just a few of the things she has cried about this week:

1. The fact that our light bulbs aren't blue.
2. She only has two hands. (While I agree it would be handy to have more, we would just look weird. That's hard for a 3 year old to understand I guess.)
3. In her words "our house is so boring." (Sorry Audrey, but you will probably live here for another 15 years.)

It matches right?

2008-09-07T14:24:00.002-06:00

Well this is what I get for letting Audrey pick out her own clothes. She really does look stunning and the hat and scarf were a necessity for the 80 degree day.

FYI

2008-09-05T21:38:00.001-06:00

I'm starting a blog.