Jesse | Jen | Kaden | Ellie | Kameron

Halloween 2011

2011-11-03T16:17:00.004-06:00

Jesse dressed up as a couch potato this year. I kept calling him my sweet potato. Isn't he cute? Once again I dressed up as Jen Wakley.

Instead of making the huge mess of carving our pumpkins this year I decided to paint them. It was so much easier and the kids loved it! We did our usual boys vs girls contest. They both turned out cute.

Kameron was a green dragon this year. He didn't mind his costume at all. At every door he would drop his candy in his bucket and then say "See ya!"

Ellie was a princess again this year. Rapunzel to be exact. Kaden was a hunter. He's pretty much been obsessed with hunting since he went with Jess. But I didn't mind because it was the easiest costume ever!

I thought this pic was funny! I think he just discovered his finger fits perfectly in his nose!

Jesse's first elk

2011-11-03T15:57:00.003-06:00

Jesse shot his first elk this year. It was only a spike but it was the first one he saw and he doesn't care about the size too much. Especially since I don't like the meat anyway! Unfortunately for the elk his first shot wasn't fatal so they had to track the poor thing down for four hours before ending it's suffering. (I'm trying to not let my personal feelings about hunting come out in the post. Is it working?)

He had a lot of fun with Nick either way. We all went up the week before to try for his deer tag. But Kaden and Brayden were with them so it was hard to really see anything. And they almost got their licenses taken away by the Fish and Game for riding four wheelers on a closed trail. :) Me and Ellie and Kameron had a much more comfortable time watching movies and drinking hot chocolate in the trailer.

Here's our full freezer. I don't know who's going to eat all of this meat.

Welcome home Nick!

2011-09-21T14:55:00.005-06:00

Jesse and I have been best friends with Nick and Tami Edwards for years. I think our relationships work so well because Tami is just like Jesse and Nick and I are very similar. Nick left for Iraq last August. It was a long year for Tami and Jess to have Nick gone in Iraq. But on September 13 he finally came home! He flew into Pocatello with about 30 other soldiers. It was so cool to see him come home. I was crying and I'm not even his wife! My eyes watered the whole time I made this post. I never realized until seeing it first hand how big the sacrifice is for soldiers and their families to go to war. Thanks Nick! Glad your home safe soldier!

Where's Nick? He's actually at the very top of the picture holding Jaycie.

Jaycie doesn't let Nick out of her sight for days when he comes home. She's a daddy's girl!

Kaden told Nick, "I'm glad you didn't get shot in Iraq!" So are we!

Nick always gives Ellie what he calls a tight squeeze. Here she's catching up for a year's worth I think.

This picture makes my eyes water. Nick you have no idea how excited Tami was for you to get home. We sat at her house fussing over what outfit to wear, how to do her hair, if her makeup looked ok. I'm sure Nick would have thought she looked hot even if she came in her pajamas!

I think Kameron thought we went there to give everyone hugs!

Home at last. Finally, Jess can have someone to laugh at his jokes again!

Wasn't that sweet of Nick to bring Tami a flower?

Here's the happy family. Together again at last. Life can continue now :)

First day of school 2011

2011-09-21T14:38:00.005-06:00

Ellie missed the real first day of school since we were in California. Oops. Oh well. So here's a pic of Kaden and Ellie on like the fourth day of school. Kaden got two days in before we left. Ellie has been dying to go to school all summer. Not Kaden. He would be content to stay at home with mom all the time. (And honestly, I would be good with that too.) Kaden doesn't do very well emotionally for the first couple weeks of school. It's so funny how completely opposite they are. When we were walking to school Ellie was running ahead and making jokes and laughing and Kaden hung back by me and was trying not to cry. Luckily we got Kaden to laugh when I pointed out that Ellie's back pack was so big that it went clear past her knees. (Or is it because Ellie is still in 4T clothes?)

Disneyland and San Diego

2011-09-21T14:06:00.009-06:00

We go to San Diego every year but the kids are little enough that they haven't quite caught on to that tradition yet so we decided to "surprise" them this year. After staying up for hours packing all night so the kids wouldn't see, we woke them up in the morning and told them we were going somewhere for a surprise. Jess wanted to wait until we actually pulled up into Disneyland for them to figure it out so we didn't tell them anything about where we were going. We flew out of Idaho Falls so on the drive there we were all trying to guess where we thought we were going. Ellie was so funny. She was saying places like "Blackfoot! Wait! I know! Malad!" She was excited to go anywhere! When we pulled into the airport they were excited to see we were flying somewhere. When we were driving to our hotel the GPS voice said, "Turn left on Disneyland Drive.'' Jess and I thought for sure they would figure it out so we turned around to look at their faces. Nope. Still no clue. We finally had to help them out a little bit but once they knew they were at Disneyland they freaked out and were so excited. (Oh ya, Kameron was a total bear on the flight there. Not that we expected anything different!)

Something about this castle. Have to stop and take a picture in front of it every time!

Kaden was so excited to do this Jedi training. You have to jump up and down and be really loud to get picked and that is so NOT Kaden. So I put him in a Star Wars shirt that day hoping it would help. He got picked and loved every second of it.

Night time firework show, another must. We stayed on the resort this year so I was able to go back and have Kameron take naps and bathe the kids at night before the firework show. So nice to be so close.

Kameron loves to say cheese for the camera!

Another Disneyland must. Mickey Mouse ears. Much to Jesse's dismay :)

It was so hot the second day we were there! In California Adventures they had some little water parks for kids. It was the most fun poor Kameron had all day. He was pretty much stuck in a stroller for two days except for the carousel and the teacups. He got completely soaked and finally had a smile!

After two days at Disneyland we went down to San Diego for Jesse's conference. Usually the kids have a quiet day at the beach. Not this year. Kameron smashed their sand castles and threw sand in Ellie's face. Never a dull moment!

This picture sums up what Kameron thought of the beach. He hates sand. He was constantly trying to wipe it off his hands and feet. When we all walked out onto the sand he stayed back on the cement and wouldn't walk on it for a while. And then the waves would come and he would scream at them. My poor baby.

Definitely not Kaden and Ellie. We always have to drag them away.

San Diego Zoo. I'm actually lucky I have this picture at all. I lost my camera at the zoo and a good samaritan turned it in to lost and found so I got it back. Yeah! Oh ya, and the zoo was awesome.

Kameron hated his mustache. It didn't last very long. I thought it was super cute. After posting about our vacation I realized there isn't a single picture of me on our adventure! I guess I need to pass the camera over more often! I promise I was there!

Casey and Shane

2011-08-14T18:47:00.006-06:00

My little sister Casey got married 12 days later to Shane Humphries. They are an awesome couple and he is so good for her. All of my sisters were her bridesmaids. She had a beautiful outdoor wedding at a church in the country. Unfortunately since I was busy chasing kids around and being a bridesmaid I don't have many pics of her wedding yet.

But she was a gorgeous bride and I am so happy for her. All of my siblings are married now and I must say we have all made perfect choices. But nobody's as lucky as I am...

Jeff and Anna

2011-08-14T18:34:00.006-06:00

My little brother Jeff got married on July 30. I can't believe he's married. He picked an amazing girl named Anna Belnap and we all love her. She fits perfectly in our family. They had a beautiful wedding. They were sealed in the Idaho Falls temple in the morning and then had a reception that night.

These are my grandparents from Arizona. I only see them once a year. I don't have any pics of them so I made them pose for me. They are amazing people.

Since we had tons of family and kids at my parents house waiting for the reception, my parents were kind enough to rent a huge jumping water slide. The kids loved it. Me and my sisters were dying laughing at Ellie because she had a monster wedgie the whole time!

The reception was gorgeous and Jeff and Anna were so happy. It was a perfect day.

Kameron and Ellie dancing. Awww! What a gentleman! Ya right. Everyone who knows him knows that's a joke!

Bear Lake and a broken arm

2011-08-14T18:16:00.006-06:00

We make a trip to Bear Lake every year. This year was much different than any other year! To start with, the lake was VERY high so all the beaches were under water so we didn't even go to the actual lake. We stayed at the KOA which luckily had tons of stuff for the kids to do so we still had tons of fun. Tami and her kids came with us and tried out our new trailer. It was our first time using it and to start it off right, we punched a hole in the side of it while we were putting out the slide out. Oops. It totally crunched the electrical box and left a gash in the siding of the trailer. Needless to say Jesse was NOT a happy camper! (Ha! No pun intended!)

The KOA had cool bikes to rent and a big jumping pillow that the kids loved to play on. Things were going great.... until Kaden and Brayden thought it would be a good idea to jump over the cooler. Ya, Kaden didn't make it! When he tried to jump over the cooler he landed on his arm and ran over to me screaming at the top of his lungs that he had broken his arm. Well, earlier that morning he had fallen off his bike and insisted that he had broken his back. So I didn't believe him. The poor kid was up all night "trying to get his arm comfortable" and in so much pain. So first thing in the morning we drove him to Bear Lake Community Care and got an x-ray. Sure enough...

It was broken. I felt awful. Poor Kaden. I guess I'll try harder to believe him next time. We had a fun time still. We went to Minitonka Cave which was really interesting. Very cold inside. The kids did really well considering there are 888 stairs!

Tumbling

2011-08-14T18:05:00.004-06:00

The kids are in tumbling this summer. It was Kaden's idea. He is really into Star Wars and thinks it's so cool that all the Jedi's can do flips and back flips so he wanted to learn how. He does really well and tries really hard. Ellie... not so much. She doesn't listen to her teacher very well and kind of gives a half effort. But she loves to go and has fun on the tramp!

This is Kaden attempting a hand stand!

This is Ellie in the middle of a cartwheel! I love it!

Here's Kaden doing a flip on the tramp. He tries so hard to land on his feet!

And here's Ellie doing a handstand. It is fun to watch them try so hard and get better each time. I think I'll put Ellie in dance for the fall. Kaden will stay in tumbling for sure. He can't wait until they teach him how to do a back flip!

July 4!

2011-08-14T17:57:00.006-06:00

We just stayed in Pocatello this year for Independence Day. We went to the parade in the morning which was LAME! There was a total of about 12 floats. It was over in like 15 min and we had to sit through a rainstorm while we waited for it to come. Blah! Kids didn't really know the difference though.

We went up to the fair grounds to see the fireworks. We just sat in the back of Jesse's truck so we had a quick getaway and weren't stuck in traffic for hours.

Then we lit off our own fireworks. The kids didn't get to bed until 12:30, the latest they have ever stayed up. Kaden still talks about it!

My baby girl is 5!

2011-07-03T15:38:00.004-06:00

I can't believe Ellie is five already. Here's my typical birthday list of things we love about Ellie:

1. She HAS to say "byeloveyouseeya" with a kiss everytime someone leaves or she is in tears. Sometimes it's frustrating when I'm in a hurry but I know someday I'll miss it.

2. She says the funniest things like, "Mom, my nose be's squeaky when I'm in bed." She can always make us laugh.

3. That girl can sleep! This is one I especially appreciated when she was little. She is still my best sleeper sometimes sleeping for 13 hrs.

4. She is such a good friend to her brothers. She can be a big kid and play with Kaden and then turn around and play baby games with Kameron. It doesn't phase her at all that she's the only girl!

5. Ellie loves to be tickled. If you do it wrong, don't worry, she'll tell you. She'll sit by you and stick her arm on your lap and say, "Tickle me." It's more of a demand than a request really. She likes them "softs" not scratchy and will make you do it until your arm is dead.

We love you Ellie Bellie!

Here is the front of Ellie's cake....

And here's the back! I have now vowed to never make another birthday cake ever! Everytime I make one it is a DISASTER. This one was no different. Everytime I turned around more of the cake would just crumble away! Kaden said it was "the dumbest cake ever." I totally agreed. Luckily it didn't bother Ellie a bit and she was just happy it had Tinkerbell on it.

And of course to hold with tradition we went to Texas for dinner. They didn't sing to her like they usually do and she kept asking when they were going to, so I sang to her all through dinner. I'm sure the people around us didn't enjoy it as much as Ellie did!

Mesquite

2011-07-03T14:54:00.007-06:00

We went with our friends Heath and Heather to Mesquite for a week in June. It was SO warm (yes Jess, it was warm not hot) and we had tons of fun. It's always nice to get away from the distractions and work at home and just be a family. The boys went to golfing for a couple days and me and Heather had a fabulous day at the spa. I was the only bump on a log that didn't gamble at the casinos. For some reason I have no desire to go sit in a smoke and alcohol filled environment and lose all my money! :) We had an awesome week!

It was a long drive but the kids did pretty good. As long as Kameron had a sucker in his mouth. He actually was quite the little stinker. He sits in the middle of Kaden and Ellie and he would pinch them and pull Ellie's hair and yank on Kaden's headphone cord-- mostly anything he could do to make them scream. What a turkey! Super cute, though!

We took the kids into Vegas for a day. We went to the M&M factory, saw the lions at MGM and of course the Bellagio fountains, which are my favorite. It was a little warm for Jess and the kids so we were pretty wiped out by the time the fountains finally went off.

We went up to St George to Sand Hollow reservoir for an afternoon. My kids are beachaholics. They could stay there all day and still not want to leave. It was windy but so much warmer than Pocatello. I love the red rock scenery.

My wild child. Kameron has texture issues so he didn't really like the sand too much. He mostly just liked to sit on the chair. He never ceases to amaze me with his craziness.

Sigh... he's so handsome. My love.

Kaden and Cooper decided to make sand angels. I think the sand was the exact same color as his hair!

We stayed at a condo with a pool and the kids swam at least once a day. It's was nice to soak up some rays. We have not had a summer yet in Poky. Nobody wanted to come home!

Yep, there's my kids. My two mello, obedient children and then... Kameron. Never a dull moment. We love all the excitement he adds to our family.

Heather and I took the kids to the St George temple while the boys golfed. (This was right before we shopped at the outlets!)

That night we went to the Tuacahn Theater outside St George. We saw the Little Mermaid. It was cute and well done. Ellie absolutely loved it. Kaden and Jesse... not so much. I looked over once and they were both catatonic and slumped in their seats. Kaden said there was too much singing.

We had the lucky experience of getting a flat tire on the way home. We got to spend the afternoon in Fillmore, UT while they fixed our car. We ate at Bucks Pizza and were very ready to get on the road again. But we were watched over and blessed and no harm done. It was hard to come home!

Vegas!

2011-07-03T14:15:00.002-06:00

My sister Keri and I decided to get away to Vegas for a weekend in June. It was so relaxing and fun to spend time with her. We were super close when we lived at home so it was nice to spend time and be best friends again. We had lots of laughs (or as Jim calls it "cackling") and just shopped and ate and relaxed and watched Law and Order late at night. Just like the old times. We had a blast! Thanks again Kiki!

We stayed on Fremont Street, which is the old strip. It was cool at night because there's a lighted ceiling that they light at night but it was a pretty rough crowd. We stayed at the Golden Nugget. I know it sounds cheesy but it was actually a nice hotel.

Hands down, the best part of the trip was going to the Cirque de Soleil show Beatles Love. It was AMAZING! We grew up listening to the Beatles so it was that much better. We were total nerds and bought tee shirts for the show and everything.

Me and Harrison Ford!

Wicked, graduations and bikes

2011-06-02T12:12:00.008-06:00

Jess and I got to go see Wicked in Boise in May. I have wanted to see Wicked for years and keep missing it by a day or two in different cities when we travel. I LOVED it. But I love musicals. Jess not so much. But he's so madly in love with me that he goes anyway. He did admit it was good and even laughed at some parts. We made a weekend of it in Boise and Tami came with us. She was kind enough to watch the kids while we went to the show.

We barely all fit in the car but we made it! Poor Tami was stuck in the back with the kids!

Our handsome chauffeur rocking out to Boots with the Fur! We missed you Nick!

We took the kids to the Discovery Center. It was a good time.

Tami took the kids to the zoo and the park while we were at Wicked.

And Ellie graduated from preschool! She loves, loves school and was not excited for it to be over. Mom sure is though! I love having my kids home with me. I miss them too much when they are at school. Summer is my favorite!

She was the cutest little piggy for their skit!

Here she is building her house of bricks.

Oh my handsome baby! He always smiles when I pull out the camera!

Then we had Kaden's kindergarten graduation. I actually got teary-eyed watching him walk down the aisle to the graduation march song. So silly. They sang some cute songs with actions then received their diplomas.

Kaden was so funny- a couple days before graduation he told me he didn't want to hug his teacher, he just wanted to give her a hand shake at graduation. So we told him just to stick his hand out and she would shake his hand. When he went to get his diploma he stuck his hand out to shake hers before he even took his diploma. She grabbed him and gave him a hug anyway!

And we finally got the kids new bikes! Kaden has been riding an $8 DI special and Ellie was still riding the tricycle she got when she turned two! They are always outside riding their bikes. It's the first thing they do after breakfast and usually the last before before bedtime. Now if the rain and construction would stop so Jess and I could ride...

Behind again

2011-05-13T12:44:00.006-06:00

Here's another catch up post...

Ellie loves to play with Kameron. She chases him all over the house and has HIM push HER on his little car. Once the weather turned warmer she let him push her on her tricycle too. It's fun to see them play and get along so well with the almost 4 year gap between them.

Easter was the usual color the eggs, find the eggs, eat the eggs deal. Most easter egg hunts are over in about 60 seconds so I got tons of eggs this year so they could hunt a little longer. This equated to TONS of easter candy left over. Still it was fun. The Easter Bunny hid Ellie's basket in the shower and Kaden's under the table. She even hid Jesse's in the washer! Sneaky! Kameron's was a little easier to find. :) Kameron finally figured out at the end that the eggs were supposed to go IN his bucket. He never didn't figure out his bucket had a handle so his eggs kept spilling on the floor.

(I really need to use a camera and stop taking so many pics with my iPhone- they're so fuzzy.)

Jesse was so nice and let me go to BYU Women's Conference this year. It was absolutely wonderful to get away and recharge my spiritual batteries. I went with my sister and met my cousins and aunt down there. It was nice to enjoy being with the girls and listening to amazing speakers. We even got to eat at Kneaders. Yum. Jesse was so nice to hold down the fort while I was gone. Work was crazy but he still ran the house and did it all. He's so good to me.

This is a pic of Jess and Kaden at our ward roller skating party. It was the first time we've ever taken the kids roller staking. Kaden had a rough time for sure. I think he expected to jump out there and start doing double axels or something because when he kept falling he was so hard on himself. He kept saying stuff like "I'm the worst skater ever; everyone is better than me". It got old after a while. Ellie was smart and held on to the stroller I was pushing Kameron in. Luckily I got to push Kameron in the stroller most of the night or I would have ended up like Kaden. And in case you were wondering- Yes, Jesse is hot in roller skates.

Finally! Last but no least, Cinco de Mayo! I have never really celebrated Cinco de Mayo. At Ellie's preschool they were doing a pinata at the very end and invited younger siblings to come. Kaden didn't have school that day so he came too. Well, this is what ended up happening..

Kaden didn't get to be a part of it because he was older than all the other kids. So I felt bad and decided to go get a pinata to do at our house later that night. Below is a picture of the face Kameron gave me when I told him he couldn't eat the Sixlet he found on the ground. He's so funny. He doesn't talk much yet but his expressions say it all.

What started with a simple pinata turned into a full blown fiesta! We hung a banner, tied balloons all over the kitchen, hung lanterns, had flags and sombrero hat straws, etc. We invited some friends over last minute and had a good time. We had chicken enchiladas, quesadillas, beans and rice and strawberry margeritas. (Alcohol free of course.) It was a good time. Se habla espanol?

This is our make-shift pinata. I realized after dinner that I didn't have a rope OR a place to hang one if I did. So we improvised with a mop handle and a belt. Worked the same. Kids still got to whack it with a bat and squealed like they had never seen candy before when it broke.

Whew! That's three weeks in a nutshell. I have the best life.

Spring is here

2011-04-19T13:14:00.004-06:00

Ahhh. The signs of spring at the Wakley house. Jess breaking out his motorcycle and going to the rodeo.

We had awesome seats this year. Right in the front and center. Thank heavens Kameron had this walkway to walk around in all night or we wouldn't have made it to the bull riding!

Jess took the kids for rides around the block on one of the three nice days we've had this spring. The kids love it. Mom didn't get a turn :(

Kaden is way into Star Wars lately. It's all he talks about and if he's not playing with his light sabers he's playing Star Wars Legos or watching one of the old Star Wars movies (the new ones are too violent.) He is my biggest helper around the house. I can always count on him to do what I ask without complaining. Heavenly Father knew what He was doing when he made Kaden my oldest child. Here's my favorite Kaden quote for the month, "Mom, I wish baths weren't real."

Ellie loves going to preschool. Today she had the option of going to school or staying at home and enjoying a relaxing french toast breakfast with dad (which is rare because Jess is always working before they wake up). She chose preschool. Stinker. She's so mellow and laid back but can be brought to tears in seconds. Usually it's over little things like Jess cutting her pancake BEFORE he put syrup on it. Here's Ellie's quote for the month, "Mom, when I was sleeping my shirt fell off."

Last but not least Kameron. He redefines what I previously knew to be a toddler. He is so different from my other two. He gets into everything, throws fits, makes messes all over the house, empties my shoes into the bathtub (then turns on the water), tackles the other kids and sits on them, screams at the top of his lungs if he doesn't get his way, etc, etc. All this on 62 calories a day because he still doesn't eat a darn thing. BUT with all that being said life would never be the same without our Monster Baby. We love him so much. He keeps us on our toes and makes us laugh every day. Since he doesn't talk yet here's Kameron's monthly moment: Kameron LOVES the vacuum. Whenever I vacuum he follows me around, stands right in front of the vacuum and literally nose dives onto the vacuum. That's my upright vacuum. When I get out the central vac hose, he hides in terror. I don't understand the difference but he seems to see one. This is a pic I took of him hiding and crying in the kitchen while I was using the central vac. Silly baby.

March is almost gone..

2011-03-29T14:07:00.006-06:00

I am horrible at posting lately. I can't believe it's been a month. Oops. March was busy but fun. Jess and I celebrated our 8 yr wedding anniversary on the 14th. He brought me home beautiful pink roses! Pink is my most favorite color for those of you who don't know.

I made him muddy buddies (which he remembered when I made them that they were his favorite treat-- I know him so much better than he knows himself :) Then we went to Sandpiper for dinner. Here are eight favorite memories from the past years:

1- Kaden

2-Ellie

3- Kameron (in no special order of course... or are they?)

4- Our wedding day. He treated me like I was the most special person on earth.

5- Our honeymoon. He gave me a tiny white flower while we were on a hike and I still have it pressed in my scriptures in the Bible dictionary under the heading "Jesse".

6- Our first christmas together. We had NO money so we weren't going to get each other anything. He surprised me with tons of presents saying he "wanted our first christmas together to be special for me."

7- When we were taking celestial marriage together at the institute while we were engaged the teacher was talking about how we act when we cherish something. He pointed down at the way Jesse was holding my hand for an example. He was softly holding it between his two hands. Ahhhh. How sweet.

8- All of our vacations. He's always up to trying some new different restaurant or to go swimming spontaneously in the ocean with me. We always have a blast. And even when he gets ANGRY when he's lost I think it's cute. Love you sweetie.

Why are there so many wrinkles on my face?I feel old. I found my first grey hair the other day :( It had Jesse's name on it.

For spring break we decided to just go down to SLC for a getaway. Our trip was cut short when Jess had to work for 20 hrs the first day. One of the construction workers at the new hospital cut all of the internet wires so the whole hospital was down which wreaks havoc on Jesse's PACS system. Needless to say I didn't have a husband that day. We finally made it to our hotel in time for me to take the kids swimming. We stayed in West Valley at the hotel with the water park. The kids had a blast. Then we went back to the room just in time to watch Jimmer and the cougars lose the game. Bummer. We had a good weekend though. We went and had family pics done, ate at my favorite sandwhich place Kneaders, saw Tangled, hung out at Jeramy and Heidi's and went bowling.

Kaden LOVES bowling. It was the number one thing he wanted to do on our "vacation".

Who knew they had these to help kids bowl? Obviously not me or I would have been using one for years. I got THE WORST bowling score out of all of us. Including the kids. I'm good with that though. Bowling is not my favorite thing to do.

Saturday night we went to Jesse's 10 yr misson reunion. (Thanks again for babysitting Jeramy and Heidi!) I love listening to stories about his mission from OTHER people. They never fail to mention how crazy he was (like when he scaled the outside walls of the MTC to take the bars off his window) but also mention just as much how hard of a worker he was. Anyone want to watch my three kids for two weeks while we travel back to Croatia?? Where's Jesse?

The joys of my life

2011-02-24T13:22:00.006-07:00

I love my life. I am so blessed to be a member of the Church. I am so lucky to have an amazing family and a healthy body. Here are some of the things that make me happy...

My crazy kids. They love to "dive" in the bathtub. Mostly this just means sticking their face in the water for ten seconds. They make me laugh.

My MonsterBaby (his nickname). He keeps us all laughing every day with his jibber-jabber talking and screaming at the top of his lungs for no reason. This smile melts my heart.

My sweetheart. He always plays with the kids so I can get stuff done and stays up late into the night trying to calm me down by thinking of rational explanations for all my fears and worries. Jess and the kids have invented this game called Jail which is a combo of kick the can and tag. It's always Kaden/Ellie vs Dad/Kameron. It has a billion and one rules and I love listening to them play.

Time with my kids. I am kind of a perfectionist. Jess prefers to call me a stresser. I have learned to let go of things like a clean house and a scheduled day and am trying to spend more quality time with my kids. At the end of the day, which really matters more?

Who cares if they wanted Christmas and Halloween cookies in February?

My Savior. Without Him, none of the above would be possible. I took the kids to the IF temple visitors center yesterday to watch the Joseph Smith movie. During scripture study one night Kaden kept asking questions so I told him we could go watch the movie. He didn't take his eyes off the movie for a second and asked a million questions. It's neat to watch him build a testimony and learn about the gospel.

Ok, ok. I had to put chocolate in there somewhere, right? Ellie has an obsession with cupcakes and so I took the kids to a cupcake store in IF. Ellie was in heaven. Kaden refused to pick one out. They didn't have vanilla with vanilla frosting. What a goofball!

I love

my life.

Happy Valentine's and Kameron's walking!

2011-02-14T18:45:00.005-07:00

These are the beautiful flowers Jess was sweet enough to give me for Valentine's day. He had them delivered to my office since I had to work. He was also my last patient of the day so that counted as our valentine's date! :) He remembered I had purple roses in my bouquet when we were married. How sweet. Aren't I so lucky?!

I love my husband more than I can say.... however. He tends to be a little on the disorganized side. Those of you who know him understand completely. I have described him many times as a tornado wreaking havoc in his wake. He leaves things in random places and loses everything. If I had a dollar for every time he said, "Where's my wallet?" I would be traveling around the world in style! For the past year and a half we have lived in this house I have refused to clean his closet. I just close the door and ignore it, trying to make him do it himself. I finally cracked this week and cleaned it for him. Needless to say I filled TWO big garbage bags full of junk. I found some really random things that made me smile and just giggle because he's so funny to me. I love that guy. Here's some of the things I found: the lost tax papers for his business that we have been looking for for ages!, 11 golf tees, 2 golf balls, 6 tubes of chapstick, 25 referral business cards, 5 pens, 6 bullets and 2 UNUSED gift cards. Here's a picture of the finished product. I put a gift bow on the door.

Ellie got a balloon for her valentine party at school. Kaden wanted to see it and let it go in our living room where the ceilings are really high. So it was stuck up there for hours until Jess got a ladder to get it down. When she finally got to play with it again she refused to let it go. She watched a movie, played airplanes with Kaden and ate all her meals with her little hand clutched to the string of the balloon. She's so funny. I love my Ellie-bellie.

Today after work I was standing in the kitchen holding Kameron on my hip and Kaden said, "Ooh mom, you must be getting ready to have a baby real soon because your tummy is huge! OR you just need to exercise, but it looks really big to me." Gee thanks Kaden. That makes me feel like a million bucks. Kids say the funniest things. And mostly, their honest.

And last but not least... Kameron is walking! He started on his birthday but he is now officially walking only and no crawling. He's so cute! He dropped weight at his one year appt and is in the 6th percentile for weight so I have to put him BACK on formula. Blah. The doctor also wants us to see a speech therapist to help him with his food aversion. He's such a funny guy. Here's some video of the monster...

Weekend in SLC

2011-02-08T18:27:00.004-07:00

Our niece Maddie got baptized in Lehi this last weekend. It was so neat to see a baptism. I realized I hadn't seen someone get baptized in like 15 years! To help Kaden and Ellie understand more about baptism before they watched Maddie, I had an FHE lesson where I crumpled pieces of paper up and taped them to Kaden to represent wrong choices. Then when we are baptized our garbage is washed away. When we were sitting in the chapel and Maddie and Jeramy walked in wearing white Ellie said, "Mom, I still don't see Maddie's garbage!" Pretty funny. Kids are so innocent.

Kameron and Grandpa Kim. He's always so nice to give mom a break.

Jesse's mom's dog Puppy was put down a couple weeks ago. :( While we were down in Lehi they picked up their new puppy, a corgi. We stayed up half the night during Christmas vacation trying to come up with the perfect name for Mary's new puppy. She decided to name her Lucy Katherine. She's pretty cute!

I love when kids are dressed in matching clothes. I haven't been able to do that until now. Kaden is in kids sizes now so it's hard to find clothes in infant and his size. They sure are handsome. Good thing they look like their father!

Just a few words

2011-02-02T15:08:00.002-07:00

Kaden wanted a snow shovel for his birthday (no surprise there) so he could shovel the driveway with Jess. Well as shown in the picture below Jess has never shoveled the driveway so Kaden and Ellie took matters into their own hands and shoveled for him. I had to take a picture because Ellie thought it would be best to use a garden shovel. They finally got cold and gave up.

This is a typical meal for Kameron. Everything on his tray ends up on his bib after he spits it out. He doesn't eat anything. I don't know where he gets the energy to tear the house apart everyday. I bought some pediasure today... maybe that will help him break out of the 10th percentile!

Kameron's 1st Birthday

2011-01-29T11:07:00.013-07:00

I can never believe it when my babies turn one. That first year goes by way fast. Even though Kameron had no clue it was his birthday, Kaden and Ellie did and they were so excited all week. Kaden asked if he could stay home from school and with Jesse's permission I said "Yes!" (Most of you know my opinion of Kindergarten.) So we partied all day. The kids played with balloons all morning.

Happy birthday, new car seat! I love when I can turn the car seats forward! Kameron, of course, had a scowl on his face like always but he finally got used to his seat.

The kids wanted to go to McDonalds for lunch which is kind of a birthday tradition. Kameron was pretty hyper. Probably because his best friend Jesse was there!

My parents came down and took us to dinner at Texas Roadhouse, another birthday tradition in the Wakley family. Kameron was CrAzY at dinner. We could not control the monster! All he wanted to do was sit on the table and throw everything on it on the floor.

It's not a party unless you have a party hat! It didn't last very long on his head but I had to try.

Oh look! Imagine that! Kameron has his mad face on! (That's what Ellie calls it.) He did NOT like his cupcake. I tried to get him to at least try the frosting but his scowl got worse.

Jesse is always so good to have fun in the moment! I always have to stick to the schedule!

Kameron's favorite thing to play with is cars so his favorite toy was the car he could ride. He actually had to wait his turn while Kaden and Ellie enjoyed it too.

We love our Kameroony! Like I said on previous posts he is like a new baby lately. He does not like to cuddle or to let you rock him to sleep. He will give his dad hugs and me kisses though. But only when he wants to. He's doing better at night and takes longer naps during the day. He is a horrible eater. His favorite is oatmeal with yogurt. Other than that he usually spits it back out. He loves to make funny faces and knows when people are laughing at him. He is so close to walking but refuses to try. I remember Jess and I saying "He'll be walking by Thanksgiving for sure!" He's been able to crawl and walk with his walker since he was 7 mos old and at Christmas he was walking all the way across the room. But now he won't even try to walk. Maybe someday. He loves Kaden and Ellie and they are always so nice to play with him and run into his room when he wakes up from naps. They still fight over who gets to pick out his diaper. They are pretty protective of him and always run to tell me if he has something in his mouth or is going up the stairs. He likes to throw fits already when he doesn't get what he wants which is something the other two never really did. But we love all the laughs he gives us--he's such a cutie pie. Happy birthday Kameron!

If looks could kill...

2011-01-26T09:12:00.008-07:00

Kameron started making this face a couple weeks ago and I can easily say this is how his face looks 50% of the day. At first it made me feel bad, like he was mad at me or didn't like me. But then I realized that he makes that face for just about any emotion. When he's mad, sad, hurt, confused, doesn't like something or someone. It's pretty funny. What a cutie.

He has changed into a completely different baby within the past couple months. He had allergic colitis when he was born so he was on soy formula and was constantly throwing up. When I switched him over to whole milk at about 10 mos he completely changed. No more throwing up, he sleeps better, he actually has a personality now. He was super mellow and kept to himself. Now he's a total wild child and doesn't slow down for one second. He loves to laugh and talks all day. I didn't recognize this for what it was until he was off the formula then I realized how bad it was. When I would go get him from his crib in the morning he would have no emotion where my other kids would get excited and smile. Now when I go get him he cuddles into my shoulder and talks to me. I feel pretty badly about it. Poor kid. So in some ways I feel like I'm just starting to get to know Kameron.

So the other day Kaden and Jess were wrestling around like they usually do and Jess sat on Kaden and farted in his face. (Totally gross, I know. Where do boys come up with this stuff?) Well, Kaden didn't appreciate that so he went up to his bedroom upset. A couple of minutes later a little note came floating down from his bedroom and this is what it said, "dad win you fardid in mi fas that mad me sad." Translated it says "Dad when you farted in my face that made me sad." It was pretty funny. A couple hours later Jess made him upset again and throughout the rest of the night we got two more notes floating from the sky. They read, "mom, dad iz bad," and "dad, you ar doomd". That's Kaden for you.

I took this picture and later realized what Kaden was doing in the background! Yuck! So this last week Kaden and Ellie both had nightmares at night and I was laughing at the differences in their nightmares and now they totally match their personalities. Ellie who is dramatic and has a vivid imagination had a nightmare that she was being chased by wolves. They chased her into a wall and there was a pathway to get out but they were blocking it. Then they started to bite her arms and her back. I thought this was a pretty intense nightmare for a four year old! Very scary. A couple nights later Kaden also told me he had a nightmare. He said he somewhere eating lunch and he was so full but the lady said he HAD to eat ALL of his soup. Then he said, "It was VERY scary!" Of course this would be a nightmare to Kaden who is too logical to have too much of an imagination and follows rules to the tee. I had to laugh. I love my kids.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-30T15:22:00.009-07:00

Christmas was fun this year but a little hurried. It's been a crazy month. I miscarried a baby and had a D&C the day after Kaden's bday. Jesse's grandma passed away the day after his birthday and her funeral was two days after Christmas. I didn't feel like I got to spend enough time with the kids and help them feel the real reason for the season. Good motivation for me to try harder next year. But we still had a very merry christmas...

We made gingerbread houses. We split into teams and did boys vs girls. I don't need to tell you who won :)

Finished products. Girls is on the left.

Tami and her kids joined us for dinner on Christmas Eve. The kids opened the presents they got each other. They all got pillow pets and I could not believe how excited they all were!

After dinner we acted out the nativity which is a tradition from my childhood. It's always my favorite part of Christmas. Jesse makes a good donkey!

Here are the kids modeling their Christmas pajamas.

The kids got Jess a belgian waffle maker. He made us waffles for breakfast. Needless to say, nobody finished theirs!

Here's the calm after the storm.

We went to Malad later that day. All of the cousins got a pillow pet for Christmas. Here they all are sitting on them waiting for more presents.

Jesse and his brother and his dad. They all got those funnel ice scrapers.

Ellie got the Lalaloopsy she was hoping for. She also got a makeup kit and put makeup on all day every day we were there. For some reason she mostly applied it to her chin and nose. What a cutie.

Happy 30th Jesse!

2010-12-30T14:48:00.004-07:00

Jess turned 30 years old on the 21st. He actually has been dreading this birthday for the past year. I tried to make the day special to make him forget his old age. He loves to go out for breakfast so we went to Denny's. After work he opened presents then we went to a movie and dinner. (Thanks Tami for watching the kids!) I think his favorite present was the chess set made of marble from Iraq from Nick.

He does have ONE gray hair right above his left ear. He still looks hot to me though! He is always so good to play with the kids and wrestle with Kaden. He is Kameron's favorite person in the world. He follows Jess around all day and dives out of my arms so that Jess will hold him. (Nevermind that mom has been changing his diaper and feeding him all day!) He is so patient with me even when I wake him up at 3am because I had a bad dream. He makes me laugh everyday with his sarcasm and jokes. He would do anything for anyone and does everything for us! Thanks for being you! We love you!

I am a total loser and the only pics I took all day were at Denny's that morning. Here's my handsome boys.

I don't think Ellie ever just smiles for the camera. She's my crazy girl. I look like I just turned 80 in this picture!

Kameron as usual was a pure delight at the restaurant. I'm sure it was because we kept him up all night :)

Happy Birthday Kaden!

2010-12-17T12:29:00.003-07:00

Kaden turned 6 on Wednesday! I was realizing the other day how much I depend on him. He is the biggest helper around the house. He does whatever I ask without complaining. He was the perfect child to be the oldest. He's always so cheerful and loves to have fun. He gets so excited for his birthday! He doesn't care about Christmas until his birthday is done.

We went to Craigos pizza for dinner with Tami and kids. Then we went to the Fun Zone which has become quite the birthday tradition around here! Then home for cake and presents.

Kaden as usual wanted vanilla cake with vanilla frosting! I was able to convince him to have the Rainbow chip sparkles this year. That's my boy! Never too adventurous. Doesn't like to try new things.

We sent him balloons at school. When I picked him up all of the kids were circled around him wanting to see his balloons. He loved it. It came with a bag of candy which he didn't even touch. Ellie, however, asked if she could have the whole thing.

He got spoiled with presents! His favorites were his remote control car and his spark scooter. The next morning him and Ellie were arguing about something and he said, "Ellie! You have to be nice to me, I'm 6 now!" Too funny. We love our Kaden!

Catch-up pictures

2010-11-29T09:38:00.005-07:00

Since I've been horrible at posting lately I thought I would put up some random pics I found on my iPhone...

I think this is the funniest picture of Kameron! Taken this summer in West Yellowstone.

Family picture at Mesa Falls.

Kaden tackling a Big Judd's burger!

My boys! Kaden is the biggest helper with Kameron.

Spongebob pj's! They love wearing these together.

Kaden thought he was so funny the other night, he insisted I take a picture.

We went to dinner with Keri and Jim. Why does Keri have antlers?

Kameron in his winter hat.

Kaden and Ellie playing in my mom's backyard in the leaves.

It's so handy to have a camera on my iPhone. Tons of moments I would have otherwise missed.

Girls Weekend

2010-11-09T13:53:00.005-07:00

This last weekend my sister Erin turned 30. To celebrate all of us sisters and my mom had a shopping trip in Park City/Salt Lake. It was so much fun! Jess was super nice and watched the kids for two full days.

Me and my mom. I love that lady!

Here's Erin Casey and Keri (left to right.) All of my sisters are so amazing to me. They always just love me for who I am.

These two pictures are a total inside joke that runs in the family. To sum it up we like to laugh at silly things, which is why I love my sisters. Thanks for the awesome weekend girls! Can't wait til I turn 30! Vegas baby!

Halloween 2010

2010-11-09T13:14:00.004-07:00

Better late than never. Here's the Wakley Family Halloween 2010:

Kaden was Optimus Prime, Kameron a duck and Ellie a Princess.

He sure hated this costume! Kept him warm though.

Here's Ellie the Princess for trick-or-treating.

Here's Ellie the Mouse for her preschool party.

And Ellie the Angel for the ward carnival. Good thing she hasn't grown in two years, all of her old costumes still fit!

We made Halloween sugar cookies with Mary's BEST EVER sugar cookie recipe.

Jess dressed up as a princess for the ward party! Ellie was so discusted that dad was wearing makeup. He won the award for the nuttiest costume. Even dressed as a girl sweetheart, you still look good! :)

First day of school

2010-09-21T18:14:00.003-06:00

I'll admit I was looking forward to school starting again. It's nice to have a schedule and a little more quiet at the house. Ellie is going to preschool this year and Kaden started Kindergarten.

Ellie loves school. She came down the stairs on her first day with her backpack asking if it was time for school yet. She didn't even look back, just ran inside and hung up her coat.
Kaden was also pretty excited. But when I picked him up on the first day he buried his face in my leg and bawled. He HATES it. Every time he has to go he cries and cries. Hopefully it gets better. They are doing all-day kindergarten so maybe the day is just too long for him. Who knows. Poor guy. Any suggestions?

San Diego 2010

2010-09-21T16:18:00.016-06:00

The more we go to San Diego, the harder it is to leave each time. I'm getting pretty attached. We always have a blast. There's something about the ocean that makes you always want to go back...

Here are the kids on the plane. It's always such chaos getting through the airport with three suitcases, three kids and three carseats!

We got to San Diego on Tuesday which was my birthday. I got to pick where we had dinner so I chose Alfonso's in La Jolla. We've been there before and I love their soup and tortillas!

La Jolla is so pretty! After dinner we walked around the shops and watched seals swimming in the cove.

While Jess goes to meetings all day we lay around the beach. The kids played here for hours!

My sweet baby Kameron. Always gives a smile!

Here's Jess with the kids riding the waves. We had gorgeous weather!

Kameron was content to crawl around in the sand and would have stayed there forever. I was surprised, he didn't even try to put the sand in his mouth.

Since it's been eternity since I posted, this is the first picture of Kameron crawling. He started crawling at seven mos old. He crawls like this though, on his hands and feet. It's pretty cute. He already pulls himself up to a stand on furniture. I think he'll be walking pretty soon...

The kids' favorite part is always Seaworld. This year they had a new dolphin show which was pretty cool.

Kaden wanted to sit in the soak zone at the Shamu show. We got pretty wet. Ellie cried. So did Kameron.

We got wet again at the dolphins and at the dog/cat show. Ellie cried every time. So did Kameron.

Kaden LOVES to ride his bike so Saturday morning we rented some beach cruisers and went for a bike ride on the beach. Jess and Kaden were on a tandem bike and I pulled the trailer with Kameron and Ellie in it.

That afternoon we went to the pier. This statue is next to the USS Midway. It was huge.

We love eating sea food, but only when it's fresh. That's one of my favorite parts about going to the coast. It was cool to watch the boats and the seals in the water during lunch.

Next we took the ferry over to Coronado. It's another small touristy town place. I like the lady smiling at the camera behind us! :)

We went to a cupcake shop in Coronado and Kaden and Ellie each picked one. Their choices are so typical of their personalities: Kaden - vanilla on vanilla and Ellie - chocolate on chocolate! Kaden is very cautious and predictable. Ellie's wild and ready for adventure!

Our new camera does a panoramic shot. Kinda cool.

I found this handsome guy on the pier. He's a keeper!

Ellie's haircut

2010-09-21T15:47:00.004-06:00

Well, the inevitable happened. Every family has their story of their children cutting their hair. We all know Jesse has a strong preference for long hair. I quickly realized that when it comes to Ellie, I do too. I was sitting in the office at the computer when Ellie came in to ask me a question. I looked over at her and immediately yelled, "What did you do!?!" Ellie had chunky layers on both sides of her face going all the way up to her ears. Jesse came running in and when he found out what was wrong he pounded his fists on the ground and yelled, "NO!!" To no surprise all of this yelling made Ellie start to cry. Jesse immediately scooped her up to make her feel better. We definitely over reacted. To add to the problem it was 5 o'clock at night on Labor Day and we were leaving for San Diego at 7 am the next morning. Luckily, Malad is on the way to Salt Lake so we ran down to Tera's house and she fixed Ellie's hair. (Thanks Tera!) We had to cut off 8 inches total. Ellie was hardest on herself. She told Jess, "I hate my face!" After it was cut I asked her that night if she liked her hair cut and she said, "No, I just want my hair long." Hopefully she'll remember that next time she decides to play with her school scissors with Kaden!

This was the pile of hair I found in the garbage can. We came to find out that it was Ellie's idea but Kaden did a few snips too!

This side was the worst. You can't really see it but she took a chunk out just above her ear lobe.

She did pretty good on this side! It actually looked like it was supposed to be that way. For an after shot, see following posts...

Northwest Vacation

2010-07-21T13:23:00.008-06:00

We decided to start taking some fun vacations instead of buying each other birthday and Christmas presents. This year we went over to the Oregon Coast and up through Washington and northern Idaho. It was 10 days and absolutely wonderful. It was nice to spend time as a family. The kids loved it and did great considering all the driving we did!

First stop was Bend, Oregon. We were there just in time for their Summer Festival. This was a statue the kids sat by on a bench... Kaden is looking inside his empty wallet.

Kameron definitely logged some serious hours in his backpack carrier! He did really well during the vacation, except for a few screaming spells in the car (which was expected!)

What handsome boys!

This is Newport, Oregon our next stop. We spent three days here. It's a town right on the coast. It wasn't warm by any means but we had a lot of sunshine and a good time.

These sea lions were sun bathing on the pier right in the middle of town.

That's my girl! Always pulling some sort of face!

Here we are eating Mo's famous clam chowder. It actually just tasted like potato soup. Way over-rated!

We went to the beach which is always the kids' favorite thing to do. You can't really swim here though. The water is ICE cold. It makes your feet ache when it touches them. Still fun to play in the sand.

I love this picture because it is the perfect example of my children's personalities. Kaden would rather work and do something productive and Ellie is a wild child who likes adventure and getting dirty. He wanted to build sand castles and she just wanted to jump in the water and run away from the waves. They couldn't be more opposite.

This is one of the two times a year Jesse wore flip flops! He walked very slowly and gingerly! Even the soft sand hurt his baby soft feet.

The coast was so green and pretty. It was a scenic drive.

If you strain your eyes that little white dot clear on that cliff is one of the lighthouses we saw.

We went to the largest sea cave in the world. You take an elevator down 300 feet and you can sit and watch the sea lions interact. It smelled so bad! This picture is outside and above the sea cave where the other half of the sea lions were. None of my pics from inside the cave turned out.

This is the tallest lighthouse in Oregon called Yaquina Head. They aren't as big as I pictured...

The kids were very helpful and always wanted to take turns pushing Kameron around. It's much easier having three children than one!

One of the coolest things we did was exploring the tidal pools. When the tide recedes it leaves these pools of water with sea life still in them. There were tons of star fish (below- who ever knew there were purple starfish?) crabs, mussels and anemone. We made Ellie say green anemone like twelve times because she said it so cute!

And now for the awful part of our trip! This picture below is the last picture taken with my new camera! Right after this picture I slipped on the rocks and smashed my lens. Luckily I was able to get the pictures I had already taken off of it but my camera is broken. For the rest of the trip we had to use Jesse's iPhone 4 which luckily has a good camera in it. Bummer...

The next day in Newport Jesse had booked a deep sea fishing trip. It was suggested by the captain that Kaden not go so I decided at the last minute to take the kids on a whale watching cruise while Jess was fishing all morning. We had a blast! We saw two whales, the kids got to throw out a crab box and then hold the crab they caught. We didn't get seasick at all. (All my pics from the boat are on our old iPhone.) When we got back to the pier and met Jesse he had had a much different experience on the water! He only lasted about ten minutes after the boat stopped to fish. For the next four hours he was leaning over the side of the boat puking his guts out. He threw up so hard he popped a blood vessel in his eye and strained all the muscles in his neck. Poor guy. He didn't even want to keep the crab he caught.

Next was up to Portland. Our plan was to go to the zoo. Or on second thought maybe not! We got stuck in traffic for an hour trying to get to the zoo only to find that both parking lots for it were completely full and the line to get on the shuttle buses was about 500 yards long, four people deep. I called the zoo to see what was going on and found out it was their busiest day of the year-- Discount Day. Who knew. We skipped the zoo and went to see the temple instead...

Then we were off to Seattle. We went to the Museum of Flight which was really interesting. Kaden and Ellie love airplanes so they liked it. This is a picture of the inside of the Air Force One from Pres. Kennedy and Pres. Johnson.

Our second day in Seattle we went to the famous Pike's Market Place. It's a huge outdoor local farmers market. There was some good food and BEAUTIFUL flowers for way cheap. I wanted to buy all of them but I hear flowers don't last long in a hot car.

Kaden couldn't resist but touch all of the fish he saw.

We made Ellie's day when we bought her a bag of cherries. She loves fruit!

Our last stop was in Coeur d'Alene for three days. We went to an amusement/water park one day. We were there for 11 hours and could have stayed a lot longer! Jess was brave and went on all the roller coasters. I did a few but I don't enjoy the crazy ones like Jess. The kids went on tons of rides and swam and then crashed at night. We played on the lake the next day and then made the long 7 hr drive home. It was an awesome trip. I wonder where the road will lead us next summer...

Fourth of July Weekend

2010-07-07T13:46:00.004-06:00

We went to Malad for the fourth. I like their parade because it's short with lots of candy for the kids. Then we went to Logan because my sister blessed her baby. I didn't take any pictures at the blessing which is a bummer because her baby Thomas is super cute. Kameron and him are the same size even though Thomas is three mos younger. I actually think Thomas weighs more!

Kameron is in this new phase where he sticks his pointed little tongue out all the time. Cracks me up.

Look at all those little girls! Maddie, Macie, Lindsey, Kallie, Brookelyn, Ellie and Kaden. Kameron and Carter need to grow up faster so Kaden can have a friend!

Monday I went to IF with the kids- Jess had to work as usual :(. We went to a Chukars baseball game. It was tons of fun. The kids did really well.

Here are Kaden, Ryan and Jonathan trying to stick a plunger to Kaden's stomach. The plungers kept the kids entertained which was nice!

Keri and her fiance Jim! It's a good thing Uncle Jim was there to keep the kids entertained!

Chris and Rachel and Ethan.

Casey and Josh.

Grandpa and Kameron. My family super spoils me when I visit and always help with the kids. It's nice to get a little break. The Chukars totally got smashed but ice cream, cracker jacks, pop, cotton candy and four pieces of pizza later we had a great time!

New pictures of the kids

2010-06-27T08:58:00.004-06:00

I got the kid's pictures done a while ago. The kids did pretty well. Kaden's still in the cheeser phase and it took some work to get Ellie to smile. Kameron was a happy boy except when he was on the suitcase tower!

A Day To Adore Photography ©

Ellie's four!

2010-06-26T08:32:00.005-06:00

Wednesday was Ellie's birthday. I can't believe she's already four. She's a super sweet little girl but still packs a little sass. She still loves her blanket named One although she doesn't need it as much anymore. She loves anything sweet especially chocolate. If you come sit by her while you are eating she asks for the WHOLE thing of whatever you have. (She says, "Can I have the whole of it?") We love our baby girl!

Here's Ellie with her birthday money from my grandparents. Five whole dollars!

Kaden was so excited to get her a present. He picked one out for her himself. He gave her princess walkie talkies. They've been playing with them all week even though they don't even work.

We went to the park for lunch then took the kids to Toy Story 3. They loved the movie and I'll admit it was pretty funny. Then of course we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner! Ellie's choice!

Here's my Happy Kamper! He has to have something in his mouth at all times!

These are the things Ellie wanted for her birthday: a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, a pink princess computer and a suitcase.

She loves to dress up as a princess. Grandma Wakley made a good choice!

Then Jesse and Nick surprised the kids with a trampoline. They set it up in the backyard while we distracted the kids. We've been telling them they could have one for a couple months but the weather has been horrible. This was the best picture I could get. They love the tramp. They go out there first thing in the morning. Mom and dad don't mind jumping either! Happy Birthday Ellie! We love you!

Catch up time

2010-06-26T08:24:00.003-06:00

It's been super long since I posted. Not a lot has been happening. We did go to American Falls Reservoir with the Edwards. We got rained on a little bit but it ended up being a nice day. The kids had tons of fun.

Ellie had to take her shirt off like the boys. Oh well.

Jesse and Nick spent the whole time being good examples for the children. They were trying to hit birds with rocks. Luckily they did NOT succeed. Boys will be boys!

weekend away

2010-05-30T19:44:00.007-06:00

We took a little weekend getaway to Salt Lake Friday and Saturday. We needed some family time. I always notice such a big difference in all of our attitudes towards each other when we take time for all of us. It was short but sweet!

It rained on us the whole time at the zoo. It was actually really nice. It was a constant sprinkle so we didn't get drenched and we all had umbrellas. It kept the crowds away and the temperature perfect. It was our best trip to the zoo yet!

I love this picture. It makes it look like the giraffe was super close.

Kaden got his finger pinched in his umbrella and it ruined the rest of the trip for him. So when they went on the carousel he didn't want to pick an animal. You can see him sitting on the bench. Ellie had a blast though!

This picture made me laugh! If you've been to Hogle Zoo you know that this big wooden elephant makes random noises through it's trunk. Ellie was sneaking up to it and it blasted her right in the face. I caught the picture at the right second. Pretty funny.

I call this little guy my happy Kam-per. He's so cheerful.

Saturday we went shopping, to the planetarium and then took the kids to Shrek Forever After. Cute movie. Fun weekend. Over too soon.

What we've been up to...

2010-05-17T15:35:00.004-06:00

I haven't posted in like a month but not a whole lot has happened. Here's some random pictures from the last few weeks...

Ellie loves to play in the hampers while I do laundry. As long as she has that blanket she has named "number one" she can sleep anywhere. Love the static hair.

This would have never happened to child #1. But when there's three kids and house chores, sometimes the little guy gets neglected for a while. Poor little thing.

Kameron LOVES to smile. He especially smiles when Kaden and Ellie give him attention. He's starting to be a good mix of Kaden and Ellie in looks and in attitude. He's starting to cry a lot more, which is still not very much. His cry is pretty loud when he gets going just like Kaden but he's super easy to please and pacify just like Ellie.

Here's my babysitter Ellie. She likes to push Kameron around in his stroller. Kaden and Ellie are so good with him. They'll feed him his bottle if I'm busy or if we are in the car. In some ways child #3 is easier than having just one! But just some ways.

Kaden learned how to ride without training wheels this week. It took him one try without Jesse holding him and he got it. He hasn't had a crash yet.

When Kaden wants a new toy he has to earn money for it. Here he is doing the laundry for me so he could get a new train set. (He knows how to run the washer better than Jess, no lie.) He is such a hard worker and Ellie is so NOT a hard worker. Ellie was earning some princess gloves which were $7 and Kaden's train was $50. They both finished earning their money on the same day. Kaden would work hard all day and Ellie would only do it when she wasn't doing anything else... which was never. But all three of my babies are the best. Kaden and Ellie always help when I need them to and Kameron sleeps amazing at night. I can't complain at all.

Kameron's Goodnight

2010-04-19T21:32:00.004-06:00

Jess is out of town in Boise tonight. The kids called to say good-night to him but since Kameron can't talk on the phone here's his goodnight to daddy!

Good night sweetie! We love you!

April catch-up

2010-04-13T20:29:00.010-06:00

We've been busy and I am behind on blog posts so here it goes...

Easter! We did the normal Easter stuff. We had a neighborhood easter egg hunt on Friday then dyed easter eggs Saturday night. I felt bad. After we dyed eggs on Saturday I was going through in my head what I needed to get out for the kids easter egg baskets and I realized I hadn't got Kameron anything for Easter. Nothing! Not even a basket. I was going to go to the store but Jesse said that would be silly, he would never know the difference. Hopefully years from now when Kameron reads our blog book he won't be disappointed. Sorry Kameron!

We followed our yearly tradition and went to the Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo. We always have a good time. We went with our great friends the Edwards. All of the kids got these horses outside the rodeo from a news crew. It was nice because they kept them busy during the boring parts.

What a crazy crew!

This is Kameron before the rodeo. It's hard to get a good picture of him smiling because he has to see a face to smile but if the camera is in the way...

We went to Boise that weekend with the Edwards. Nick had drill so we tagged along. It was super nice to get away since Jess is always gone and had a very busy week. (Even though he still brought his laptop, iPad and iPhone!)

Swimming at the hotel. Even Kameron got in on the action!

It was hard to get a good picture. Ellie loves to jump in and have Jess catch her. I felt bad because she was using her swimsuit from last year so she constantly was picking at a wedgie!

Kaden is a little nervous in the water (DEFINITELY Jesse's son) so he mostly just squirt everyone with his soaker. Got quite obnoxious really.

Nick gave us a tour of the Gowen Field. The kids loved it because they got to see helicopters, jets (with missiles), tanks, airplanes, etc. Kaden is way into all of that stuff so it was fun.

I had to represent and put a picture of the man in uniform. Who is that hottie next to him? Whew!

Poor Kameron. It was a lot of riding in his carseat and eating bottles on the go but he was a trooper.

Then we took the kids to ride Go Karts. It was nice weather so it was a good time. Girls took a turn then the boys. I think I have half a brain left from inhaling all of the gas fumes!

Even though Ellie was kind of tossed around in the car like a rag doll she kept laughing and telling me to go faster.

The boys were all about the competition and had to race. Of course I posted the picture when Jess was in the lead! :)

Jesse's car died right at the finish line. Hehehehe! It was a good weekend away! We always have fun with the Edwards. Thanks guys!

Man-Catchin' Beignets

2010-04-03T19:37:00.005-06:00

For those of you who have seen Princess and the Frog (or for those who have seen it 56 times!) this post will make more sense! Kaden and Ellie love that movie and actually I would have to say Kaden likes it more.

In the movie Tiana makes "man-catchin' beignets" (pronounced bin-yeas). Every time Kaden would watch it he would ask what beignets were and what they tasted like. So.... I looked up a recipe (after I figured out how to spell it) and we made them today. He was so excited.

They actually ate a lot of them and really liked them. I thought they would eat one and be done with them. They were pretty good. Tasted like poofy scones. Better with cinnamon-sugar. Ellie was a little sad in the picture because I wouldn't let her stick her nose in the hot pan of oil. She has such a mean mom!

I had to post a picture of Jess with his new iPad or as the kids call it, his BIG iPhone. He was so excited for it, he would tell me where it was every day. He finally got it this morning. Great! Another electronic to take up more of his time! Just kidding Sweetie! After all, he was the one who got me hooked on my iPhone that I now couldn't do without!

This is a picture I stole from my sister-in-law's blog of Kameron. She got better pics than me at the blessing! Kameron is such a smile bug now! I've been lazy though and the only pictures of him smiling are on my phone. He is still such a good baby. He never has a continuous cry. He just never gets that upset. We joke that he's the perfect mix of Kaden and Ellie. Kaden would scream LOUD and long! Ellie never cried at all. And Kameron will just give out these loud bursts of energy letting you know he needs something. But he rarely cries. This week he actually cried and it was only once. But you can't blame the guy when mom is giving kids a bath and he is 20 minutes late for his breakfast!

Kameron's Blessing

2010-04-02T16:27:00.003-06:00

We blessed Kameron on Sunday. Thank you to all of the friends and family that came to support our little guy. His outfit was way too big but he still looked very handsome. I was busy visiting with family and didn't take anymore pictures. Oops.

7 years

2010-03-16T13:35:00.007-06:00

Sunday was our 7 year wedding anniversary! We didn't do anything exciting. We couldn't find a babysitter so on Saturday we took the kids bowling and then we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. It was fun to spend our anniversary as a family. The longer your married, the less romantic you become!

Ellie loved her bowling ball and would give it hugs every time she bowled. She did end up wiping out on the slick part of the wood. Oops!

Jess would give her ball an extra push down the alley. Kaden did pretty good by himself though.

Kameron slept the WHOLE time. Which is actually nice though. I think it's kind of funny that we go and do all this fun stuff and he just wakes up back at home again!

It's nice that Kaden can take pictures by himself! Now we don't have to ask some random person who doesn't know us to take our pictures while we cheese-it for them!

While we were waiting for our food at Texas we all made crazy faces for the camera.

Ellie's were best. We were all laughing at her. This is just one of many that she made.

That's my sweetheart! Too bad I'm the one that posts the blog so he doesn't get to chose the pictures! Hehehehe!

We did have a romantic moment I guess. On Sunday we danced to our wedding dance and had cheesecake. Then we took a quiz to see how well we knew each other. Jess did better than I did which actually surprised me. I still think he would rather see Jonny Cash in concert over Jack Johnson. Oh well. Love you sweetie!

5 weeks old

2010-03-04T14:27:00.004-07:00

Kameron is five weeks old today. He weighs roughly 9 lbs. He has allergic colitis due to a milk allergy so I had to quit nursing and he gets soy formula now. But he is doing great and is getting big. We couldn't get along without him!

Jess and Kameron just about to take a Sunday nap.

One night Jess put a diaper on Ellie. We were all laughing but Ellie took it off immediately!

Ellie and Kameron are a lot alike, not just in looks. They both have the milk allergy, horrible reflux, and they were both great babies. No offense Kaden but I spent too many nights walking the floor with you screaming in my face!

Kameron always makes this confused face and with his lips like an "O". It makes me laugh. Super cute.

When he was born Jess and I were both confident he would have green eyes like Kaden and Jess. Now I see we were wrong. They are definitely going to be brown.

Kameron's first Sunday at church was this week. It makes me nervous to take him there with all those germs, but Jess kept him and high priests don't care too much about babies! :)

I had to pack away all his newborn clothes this week which was kind of sad. Kaden already has anxiety about him not staying little. That's ok he'll always be the baby... until number 4 comes along!

My Little Fisherman

2010-02-24T13:00:00.008-07:00

Kaden and Jess went ice fishing with some friends a couple weekends ago. Kaden surprised them all by catching a fish within about one minute of putting his hook in the water.

I wasn't there but I am told that Kaden stayed by his hole the entire time and wasn't interested in playing with the other kids. The next weekend Jess took Kaden out again down by Malad and they caught about 5 more fish. Kaden's all about hunting and fishing these days. It's funbecause it is great boy-time for him and Jess. Mom's not much of a fisherman or hunter! :)

Jess taught Kaden a rhyme and for the next week Kaden would walk around the house saying, "Fishy, fishy in the brooke, won't you bite my little hook!"

Ellie just played with the other girls the whole time. Not much patience for fishing. Kaden and Jess ate the fish that night. Kaden LOVES to eat fish but got kind of nervous when he found a bone in it. I like to eat fresh fish too, but after seeing Jess skin the fish, I was out. I guess it was a little too fresh for me.

What do you think?

2010-02-20T19:43:00.005-07:00

Tons of people say that Kameron looks just like Ellie. Not just family who remember what Ellie looked like as a baby but other people too like their doctor, neighbors, etc. So I pulled pictures up in iPhoto of Ellie when she was weeks old like Kameron. I was shocked. They really do look A LOT alike. What do you think...

Adjusting

2010-02-10T16:03:00.003-07:00

I've always heard the third child is the killer. We love our baby Kameron but he does require some adjusting.

Kaden got booted to the back seat in the car. He gets car sick pretty easy so we'll see how that goes. Poor Ellie has lost her favorite coloring pal because I'm always feeding the baby. Jess has yet to catch up from his "time-off" when Kameron was born. I use the term time-off lightly... really he was still on-call and stayed up until 2 every night answering emails, trying to keep his head above water. My house is trashed, the laundry is not done and dinner has been leftovers every night this week. But we love our baby boy. He's so good to me at night. He goes back to sleep after eating only cries when you wipe his bum with a cold wipe.

He had his two-week appt today and now weighs 7 lbs 9 oz. They also did his circumcision today. They used to do it in the hospital but changed the policy. It's been a sad day- if he's awake he's crying, which is not like him at all.

Here's how bedtime goes at our house. Instead of our normal family time when mom brushes teeth and dad plays with the kids, they get to watch a movie.

Life will return to normal soon! It's all worth it because we have the sweetest little angel in our home!

Kameron Neil Wakley

2010-02-04T17:34:00.005-07:00

Kameron Neil Wakley was born January 28th at 7:18 am, weighed 7lbs. 2 oz. and was 20 in. long. We are so excited he is finally here. He is the sweetest little thing and we all are quite attached to him already. Things went well during the C-section. Kameron had some troubles breathing at first so he spent about a half hour in the NICU but we were blessed with a perfectly healthy little boy.

I was too excited the night before so I only got three hours of sleep. One of the disadvantages of knowing when you are going to go have a baby!

Kaden was 9 lbs and 22 inches long when he was born... needless to say he never wore newborn clothes. I guess I was kind of expecting the same thing with Kameron but by the time we left the hospital he was only 6 lbs 11 oz. I put this 0-3 mos outfit on him and it was HUGE. The picture doesn't show it very well but his legs are only half way down the outfit. We had to make a trip to get some clothes for the poor guy.

Here are my boys. What a good looking crew! You won't find pics of Ellie with the baby. Until today she pretty much ignored his existence. She never said anything bad about him... she never said anything about him at all really. Today though she saw that he can actually open his eyes and so she started to pay a little attention to him. At least she doesn't hate him! Kaden is quite the opposite. He loves the baby and always wants to hold him. He makes sure he knows where he is and always tells me that he loves our baby. Kameron has the best big brother!

Kameron is the best baby. He sleeps a lot and only cries when he gets his diaper changed. He HATES to be cold. We need to invest in a diaper warmer. He does pretty good at night, I really can't complain. My mom has been here this week which is a life-saver. She pretty much takes care of the older kids and I take the baby. Thanks again, mom! You're the best!

Jess is also a super help. This week at work has been pretty much the worst week to have a baby but he helps out so much and stays up until 2am to get his work done. He always gets up and changes the baby's diaper at night so I don't have to kneel down on the floor. He always takes Kameron so I can have a nap even though he has tons of work to do. He takes such good care of us. I love him to death! He's all mine!

Here's the little guy with his eyes open. He was my most active baby by far when he was in my belly but now he just sleeps all day. I'm sure his energy will come back.

I love that all of his socks are knee-highs. He's so little. At his 5 day appt he had gained .9 oz. They rounded up to 1 oz for us. What a cutie.

A lot of people say he looks like Kaden with Ellie's complexion. I think he's a good mix of both, what do you think?

Like I said before, Kameron HATES to be cold. His umbilical cord fell off today so he got to have a bath and boy did it make him mad. It was about 90 seconds long but even that was too long for him. We love our little Kameron and are so excited he is here and healthy.

Gotta love those kids

2010-01-26T22:39:00.004-07:00

With the arrival of our new one coming up, you could say I've been a little distracted and stressed on occasion. I want everything to be ready and perfectly clean before our little guy gets here. Unfortunately, some days that means Kaden and Ellie get the brunt of my emotions, less than healthy meals and extra cartoon-watching while mom takes a rest. They are super cheerful kids though and have been super nice to their fat-n-lazy mom. For example, the other day I was battling with the credit card company over the auto-renew Costco membership charge on my cancelled card. As usual I was stuck in one of those never-ending conversations with the automated lady who kept asking me to repeat my response. The kids were eating lunch in the other room and kept yelling at me to come help them. When I would tell them to wait, the automated-lady would think I was talking to her, of course, and would send me in a circle of options. This happened like three times so I finally went into the kitchen and less than politely told the kids to wait until I was off the phone. After I finally got my issue resolved, I went back into the kitchen and apologized for getting upset. Ellie said just as cheerful as ever, "Oh that's OK! We just "X"ed you!" Which means they draw an imaginary "X" over me. They do this to things they don't like. Made me feel a bad, which was good. My cheerful kids deserve better on many occasions. Here they are taking a bubble bath tonight instead of mom. I figured they needed the stress relief more than I did. They're the best!

Only one more day alone with these two rascals! They are so excited for the baby... hopefully it lasts! Stay tuned for a baby post in a week or so!

Jeramy, this one's for you

2010-01-10T12:38:00.005-07:00

For years now Jess and Jeramy have had a sibling rivalry over random trinkets from their childhood which they consider to be treasures. For example, Jess was quite jealous when he heard that Jeramy was given the old elf Christmas ornaments and the pair of chili bowls with the handles missing. Jeramy claims Jess was favored because he got the Lazy Boy and the old 1989 Buick. Jess claimed revenge by stealing the Barnum and Bailey's Circus cup. (We subsequently lost said cup and it has somehow been blamed on me. Geez Jen!) We actually got rid of the car and the chair so Jess was left with nothing. But out of the kindness of his heart and an even bigger stretch of his pride, Jeramy gave Jesse a beloved chili cup for his birthday. Only because he has the other one. He actually claims he gave up Heidi's. So when we had soup the other night for dinner Jess promptly replaced the bowl I set for him with the chili cup. Soup tastes better in the cup, just like milk tasted better in the long lost Circus cup. I think the boys are crazy. Jesse's poor mother has had to quit handing down childhood treasures because she is constantly blamed for favoritism. Thanks so much for the birthday present Jer, the soup was GREAT!

Christmas 2009

2009-12-29T21:42:00.007-07:00

I have to make a confession. One day about a week before Christmas the kids were fighting non-stop. So I got after them and told them that if they didn't stop fighting Santa was going to put coal in their stockings. When it was finally Christmas Eve I asked Kaden if he was excited for Santa to come and asked him what he thought Santa was going to bring him. Kaden said, " A piece of coal." My heart crumpled to the floor. He had been convinced for the past week that he wasn't getting anything for Christmas! I felt so bad. After I promised him he was a good boy and that he would be getting presents he was a lot more excited about Santa coming that night. Poor kid! Evil mother!

For Christmas Eve we went to my parents and had dinner and acted out the nativity. I always did this when I was little so it was neat to see Kaden and Ellie get so excited about it.

Ellie had to be Mary, of course, and Kaden has been really into Joseph since he learned a song about him in Primary. Dad got to be the donkey. Mom was the photographer.

The kids learned the nativity story by heart this year mostly because they loved to play with our nativity sets at home. I would always find them telling each other the story while they played with the little figurines. Pretty cute. It always made me feel better because like any other kids, they were all about the presents.

Here are the kids modeling their new Christmas pj's. Kaden couldn't wait to get home to open a present. He hasn't figured out yet that it's always pajamas.

Here's the kids coming down the stairs Christmas morning. They didn't wake up until 7:30 which was nice. Ellie woke up crying because her earring was stuck to her Nemo doll. We had to give her a couple minutes to cheer up before starting the presents.

The kids loved opening all the presents and even got excited about the apples and oranges in their stockings. I wonder how long that will last.

Jess and I finished a room in our house for each other's present and weren't allowed to get each other anything. I didn't follow the rules though and got Jess a remote control helicopter. We got Kaden one and I couldn't resist getting Jess one too. Seriously, I think he asked for one the day we met. As long as I can remember that's what he's asked for. He probably plays with his more than Kaden does!

We went to Malad on Christmas day but I wasn't feeling well so no pics were taken! It was lots of fun though. Jesse's mom makes the best stuffing ever! Yum! Thanks to the wonderful mothers in my life, I didn't have to do any cooking! Merry Christmas to me!

Happy Birthday Dad!

2009-12-21T21:04:00.004-07:00

Well yesterday officially started Jesse's birthweek. He turned 29 today even though he tells everyone he is 25. He's in denial. We had a fun day. Jess got a full body massage and only had to work a half day. He got to hangout at home and play with his new electronics. I think he quite enjoyed himself!

Here's Jess modeling one of his gifts. Looking good cutie!

And of course we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner!

Jess works super hard at work and never complains about anything. He's always very willing to help out at home when I ask. We are spoiled! Happy Birthday sweetie! You are an amazing husband and an even better dad! We love you!

Busy December

2009-12-21T20:51:00.002-07:00

Kaden's preschool class went to a retired home to sing Christmas songs. He didn't really know the words but he still did great ringing his bells. He really froze up when he dropped his sleigh bells under the wheelchair of a senior citizen. He just stood there and stared. Someone else had to get them for him. I kind of giggled.

What a cute Rudolph!

On Saturday we met my sister in Ogden and rode the train into Salt Lake to see the lights on temple square. The kids have been so excited to ride a train.

Ellie and Kate actually talked to each other which was fun to see. Little kids have the funniest conversations!

The kids love this statue. It was good to be reminded of the true meaning of Christmas.

Kaden's Bday

2009-12-21T20:18:00.004-07:00

Kaden's birthday was actually last week but hey, it's the holidays... so here's the post!

If any of you know Kaden you know that his birthday is the most exciting thing ever! He doesn't care about Christmas, just his birthday. We've had a count-down paper chain going since September. Ya, you could say he was excited!

His preschool teacher made him this crown at school. Here he is playing his favorite video game Ace Combat. He is all about airplanes.

And guns. Good thing he's wearing his safety goggles, eh Jess? :)

Cool toy from Grandma Wakley!

He's been asking to have a birthday party at Fun Zone since June. It's an arcade/play place in town. It was so nice not to have a party at my house. No mess! It was great! Ellie was cute, she kept making sure she was one of the kids that was invited. We made sure to give her an invitation!

Here's Kaden's ice cream cake. He only likes vanilla EVERYTHING. So all the cake had was vanilla ice cream and frosting. None of the kids ate theirs! Yuck!

It was actually nice to kick back and just chat instead of being the party hostess! Definitely recommend the Fun Zone! We can't believe Kaden is five. He is the funniest little boy. It's amazing how much he is like Jess. Things that I never thought would or could be inherited like turning his pillow over in the middle of the night to sleep on the cold side. He's such a good helper and has such a tender heart. We love you Kaden! Happy Birthday!

Chicago and Nauvoo

2009-12-08T12:51:00.004-07:00

Jess and I went to Chicago all last week for a business trip, which means I got to go shopping all day! :) Neither of us had been there before so it was a lot of fun. We drove to Nauvoo on Friday and spent a couple days there which was really neat to see.

Here we are eating famous Giordanos Chicago-stuffed pizza. It was really yummy. Too bad you can't see the pizza!

The view from our hotel room. We stayed right in downtown on Michigan Avenue. I watched workers clean windows on scaffolding. That is a job I will NEVER have.

Chicago is so pretty at Christmastime! (Not that I've seen it any other time.) Every street downtown had christmas lights on all the trees and every store was decked out in decorations. Very festive. Jess forgot to bring his coat. And yes, Chicago is a windy city! Needless to say we had to go buy him one before he froze!

We went to the John Hancock Observatory instead of the Willis Tower (Sears Tower) because it was right by our hotel. Once you've seen the city from above it's all the same right?

This old cathedral was next to our hotel. I was glad I went in because I found out it was the church that they filmed the movie "My Best Friends Wedding" in (which is one of my favorite movies). It was cool to see. It was 95 years old.

One night we went to Blue Man Group. They wouldn't let you take any pictures inside during the show. It was pretty cool.

We spent Friday and Saturday in Nauvoo. Nauvoo is like a ghost town in the winter. We were the only ones on all of our tours, which was nice.

Here's Jess outside the Mansion House with our tour guide. They still have some of Joseph and Emma's stuff inside the house. Again we were the only ones on the tour so I could ask all the questions I wanted! Which was a lot!

The only disappointing thing about our trip was Carthage Jail. We saved it for last since it was a half hour drive away and we got there at 3:15 because they closed at 5. Well they decided to close at 3 o'clock that day for a Christmas walk they were doing in Nauvoo, so we were too late. We were super bummed. I was really looking forward to seeing Carthage Jail. All we could do was take pictures of the outside and peer in the windows. It broke my heart. Who knows when we'll get to go back.

We did a session in the Nauvoo temple that night. It's a beautiful temple especially on the inside. It was way nice to spend a week with Jess especially with the baby on the way. We knew it wasn't going to happen again for years to come probably.

The only down fall..... seven days is a LONG time to be away from the kids. I got to talk to them on the phone everyday but it was still hard. Jesse's parents were nice enough to take them for the full week. Thanks Kim and Mary!! The kids really did have a good time in Malad with Grandma and Grandpa but they were ready for us to come home too. When we got there on Sunday Kaden was really emotional and kept crying about everything. Ellie wouldn't let me hold her for a while. She just clung to Jess. When he put her down I asked her if I could have a hug and she just looked at me so I said, "Ellie are you mad at me?" and she said yes. She finally warmed up to me later on that day but in the morning I got scolded. She told me to never leave her for that long again ever. It was a great trip but it's always good to be home.

I counted my many blessings

2009-11-25T20:22:00.007-07:00

We got these pictures taken the other day of the kids. These are just a couple of them. I thought she did a great job! Kaden pulled faces the whole time but it ended up working out.

So the other day it was NOT my day. Nothing huge happened just little things like the kids spilling gumdrops all over Winco and dumping all the toaster crumbs on the floor at breakfast. Things like this kept happening all day and I was getting grouchier and grouchier. We were at home eating lunch and Ellie had her toys all over so I said, "You guys need to be better at putting your stuff away. When the baby comes I can't clean up after you all the time because I will be taking care of the baby."

Without hesitation Kaden said, " Mom, we would do anything for you! Really! Anything!"

It melted my heart to the floor! It sure made me have a better attitude for the rest of the day even though it didn't get any better. (Including when Ellie got her earring stuck to the pillow!) I think I have the cutest blessings around! That includes their father!

We got our baby's birthdate the other day! January 28th is the big day! Nine weeks to go baby!

What a week...

2009-11-22T20:53:00.005-07:00

I promise I'm not one of those crazy TwilightMoms but I did go to the premier again at midnight on Thursday night. It was fun to socialize with friends and have a girls night out but during the movie I was thinking..."Why am I only going to get 5 hrs of sleep tonight for THIS movie?" Sorry girls, it was tons of fun but I might not make it for Eclipse in June! New Moon was definitely better than Twilight though.

Me and Tami. Yes, my shirt says "Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?"

Then on Friday night we went with Nick and Tami to the Boise vs Utah State game in Logan. It was tons of fun and was nice to have a night without the kids. (Thanks mom and dad!) It was a little chilly and we stood by drunken fans (or were they high off of the permanent markers from their poster?) but it was a good time and Boise won. Go Broncos!

We truly were the only people in the Boise section who weren't in orange. Our shirts were covered by our coats. I guess we weren't true die hard fans.

So the next day I run up to IF to get my kids and was sitting there talking to my family and my mom says, "Are you wearing two different shoes?"

Yes, I was wearing two different shoes. And not just two different shoes but a black one and a brown one. I remember selecting the brown one that morning in my closet and then sliding my other foot into what I thought was the other shoe and ran out the door. But since I can't see my feet at all these days I did not notice. I was super embarrassed but decided to go to a craft fair anyway... and yes someone noticed. My sister heard her talking behind my back. SO embarrassing.

Keep in mind for this next one that I was short on sleep from the TWO previous nights. I was in the kitchen cutting an orange and decided to cut my finger instead. It was pretty obvious right away that I needed stitches. There was a lot of blood. The kids were kind of nervous. But I was brave and didn't shed a single tear, even though the anesthetic hurt more than actually cutting it and I felt him sew three of the five stitches. (It was better than having the doc shove another needle in my finger.) Sorry so graphic for those who are weak in the stomach! Jeramy-ahem!

On the way to the urgent care Kaden said, "I am not going to use knives until I am VERY old like 28 and when I do, I won't do it like mom did." Thanks Kaders. Dad most certainly agreed. The best part about it is that they told me I have to have the stitches out in 10 days which is when we will be in Chicago so the nurse just sent us with some surgical scissors and a hemostat so Jess could do it. Dr. Jesse will have to pull out those old fly-tying skills I guess... At least we will be there with a bunch of doctors right? Keep you posted on that one!

Hunting Trip

2009-11-06T16:54:00.003-07:00

Jess went hunting with his friend Nick this week for three days. They brought Kaden and Brayden who were so excited about going! Kaden loves guns lately and so to go camping with dad for three days, looking for elk with guns was about the most exciting thing ever! They froze all day and all night but had a blast.

Even with the cold and waking up before the sun, Kaden never complained.

They had the trailers to keep them warm but they were already winterized so no bathrooms, no plug-ins and no water. Too much roughing-it for mom and Ellie!

They took four wheelers since they had the little boys with them. They must have scared off all the elk because they didn't see a single one. Plenty of moose but no elk. Kaden had a good idea though. "How about we just sneak up on a moose and tell him to hold really still so we can shoot him and then we will just put him back together." Probably not.

This is their "campsite". They just pulled off the road and parked. Unfortunately they didn't get anything but they had fun with just the boys anyway. When Kaden came home this is how our conversation went...

"Mom, are you so glad I'm home?"

"Yes, Kaden I am very glad you are home. Are you glad to be home?"

"Um... I was glad when I was hunting."

Oh...ok. Me and Ellie had a great time at home just the girls. We went shopping, went to see my sister in Logan and watched movies in bed. It was lots of fun. Ellie loved being the center of my attention. But it was nice to have our boys home again!

Halloween

2009-11-03T09:37:00.007-07:00

Finally I have an excuse to post again! Nothing exciting happened in a month so Halloween is my only excuse to post!

Kaden going to his preschool Halloween party. There were three Raphael's there!

We had a princess and a GI Joe this year. Ellie actually picked out a giraffe costume at the store so she could be Melman from Madagascar but she ditched that idea and insisted she was a princess. She picked out these horrible pink high heel shoes from the store that were way too big for her. I'm surprised she didn't break her ankle walking around in them!

Here's the pumpkins we carved. Jesse made a big confession this year... he always has and always will hate carving pumpkins. He put on a good face for the kids though.

We went up to visit some friends house across town and the kids got a pretty good load at their house. We came back home to go trick-or-treating around our neighborhood and Kaden was like..." I don't want to go trick-or-treating, I'm just gonna stay home." So he stayed at home the rest of the night handing out candy to trick-or-treaters. I don't blame the kid actually, he doesn't even eat candy.

Ellie on the other hand would sell her right arm for a bucket full of candy so Jess took her out all over the neighborhood. She loved it.

They came back and twenty minutes later Ellie wanted to go again! So mom took her out for round number two. She lasted quite a while then got too cold. But she was very nice and said, "Thanks you!" at every door.

My Babies...

2009-09-18T19:28:00.003-06:00

This is just a random post about all of my babies...

Kaden said a few things that made me chuckle this week....

We came home from our trip Sunday night and I worked on Monday. Tuesday morning I told Kaden to go get dressed for school and he came back downstairs and said, "Mom, did you do the laundry?"

"Nope, I didn't Kaden."

"Mom, I don't have plenty of clothes! Do the laundry TODAY!"

What a turkey. Also clothes related, he had been telling me for a couple days that he needed new socks because his were too small. Today I went upstairs when I sent him up to get dressed and he was laying there on the floor all depressed and said, "Mom, see this giant thing? (He held up his foot for me.) I can't get this into those tiny socks anymore!"

We went to Walmart and got new socks today.

My Ellie baby. She had her three-year check up this week. She gained one whole pound in a year! She weighs 27 lbs and is 36 inches tall. She's so little. She still wears 2T clothes and most of those are too big still. I was shopping with Jess today and said, "At least I know Ellie's not running short on clothes, she hasn't grown out of anything!"

Baby number 3! I went in for my 20 wk ultrasound today. You can see his heart beating and can see him swallowing amniotic fluid. I was kind of anxious to see if it was still a boy! We had that first ultrasound early so it could have been a mistake, but it's a boy for sure and he looks healthy and strong. This pregnancy is going by so fast. Probably because I am perfectly content where he is. No diapers to change and no restless nights!

San Diego

2009-09-15T18:07:00.009-06:00

CAUTION!! THIS IS AN EXTRA-LONG POST!

We went to San Diego again this year for Jesse's convention but this time the kids came along. It was a blast! The kids made it that much more fun! None of us wanted to come home!

Oh ya, the day before we left it was my birthday and we went to the fair. I turned 27 and in Kaden's words, "Whoa, that's old!" Jess got me a new camera for our trip! It was perfect!

I was nervous to see how Kaden would do flying. I knew Ellie wouldn't care and I was right. I kept trying to show her out the window to see stuff and she kept saying things like, "I want peanuts! Where's my apple juice?" Kaden did great and said it was his favorite part of the trip. He just had 101 questions!

The kids thought they were totally ripped off when they found out dad STILL had to go to work in San Diego! We managed to fill up our days until he was off though. The kids weren't super impressed with the temple but I still am every time.

Exploring the hotel while dad is in meetings! Don't feel too bad for Jess though! He got to eat catered meals of steak and fish while we had PB&J in the hotel room!

The kids loved the ocean, especially Ellie. She ran out into the water and then when she saw a little 6 inch wave coming she turned around and ran back to the sand! Way funny! I don't blame her I guess because it did end up knocking her over!

Kaden loved playing in the sand. He repeatedly hit Ellie with a shovel-full.

I don't know what the deal is with my kids' obsession for birds but they chase them EVERYWHERE we go! California birds were no exception.

My hair has just enough wave in it that it goes CrAzY FrIzZy with the humidity! Jess said, "You're hair is kind of crinkly!"

This is the view from our hotel balcony. Mission Bay is on the left and the Pacific Ocean is on the right.

The resort has these exotic birds everywhere to look at. They talk back to you too! I called them birds and both kids said, "No mom! It's a parrot!"

Seaworld was Ellie's favorite. We timed it perfectly-- we got there right when a Shamu show started so we were by ourselves by the other whales' tanks. It was nice.

The kids could have stayed here all day!

All Ellie wanted to see in San Diego were dolphins and Snow White. Here's half of her wish.

Ellie absolutely LOVED the Shamu show. She kept saying, "Whoa! WOW! Mommy I want to swim with the whales!"

Then I looked over at Kaden and this is what he was doing. He got a little bored!

They both still liked it though.

This is a steamboat that takes you on a ride in the bay. We took it right at sunset one night. It was so pretty!

Ellie had a tummy ache from the stale popcorn at Seaworld! Kaden loved the boat though.

We saw the best sunsets on the beach!

And of course, Disneyland. We stayed for 9 hours and only saw half of the park! It was great though, the kids had a blast. Jess and I enjoyed ourselves too. I made the kids wear these harnesses. My greatest fear was losing them somewhere in California! I felt like I had two puppies!

The Dumbo ride. Kaden's favorites were the Pinocchio story ride and the Matterhorn Mountain. He did so good on the rides! He kept asking for more! The kid gets sick in a car, but bring on the rollercoasters!

The Mickey Mouse House line was pretty short. We did really good all day! The lines went by really fast. I think we hit them all at the right time.

The only character Kaden had to see was Goofy. We finally found him after searching all day. We mobbed him right when he came out of the door. Kaden was pretty excited.

Ok I lied. All of the lines were pretty short EXCEPT the Princess line. We waited for over an hour so Ellie could see the princesses and when we finally get back there.... she won't even look at them! She buried her head in my shoulder and wouldn't talk to them. Kaden liked them though!

I felt silly getting my picture taken with princesses but Ellie wouldn't do it without me there.

Like I said, Kaden wasn't shy. Him and Ariel had a talk about sharks because she's been chased by one, you know!

Ya, this is the face Ellie had for the whole princess thing. What a stinker! She was disappointed though because Snow White was nowhere to be found. That's OK, she wouldn't have looked at her anyway!

We thought this sign was too funny not to take a picture of it.

It's a boy!

2009-08-29T17:38:00.003-06:00

For those of you who don't know yet, we are expecting a baby boy in January! I am 17 weeks along and super happy to be done with my first trimester! It was the worst one I've had by far. Jess and the kids have been super patient with me and my lack of desire to cook and clean. Kaden and Ellie are so excited to have a baby brother. They are already fighting over who gets to get the diapers and wipes to change his diaper.

I had Kaden take these pics for me. He did pretty good!

People constantly remind me about how large I get. For those of you who have never seen me pregnant, watch out!

I found these pictures on my camera. Boys will be boys! Can't wait to add another one to the pack!

Horton Summer party

2009-08-25T09:33:00.005-06:00

We went to my parents' this weekend for my brother's homecoming. My mom rented one of those big inflatable water slides. The adults had more fun on it than the kids! Kaden was afraid of the water that sprayed his face at the top so he only went down a couple times. Ellie wasn't very impressed either. Jess was crazy enough to try a flip from the top. Tons of fun.

I don't know why Jeff went face first, the water was FREEZING!

Ellie didn't like how cold the water was so she spent most of the time on the swing wrapped in her blanket.

Jim won the prize for the highest bounces!

Yea Casey!

Jess would always make a tidal wave of water at the end. Many children got soaked standing there!

My parents were a little more conservative when they went down. I don't blame them! We all had battle wounds and were a little sore the next day! Way fun though! There aren't any pics of me going down... Jess said kept saying something about "not very graceful" when I would go! Hahahahaha!