Easter 2012

Once again, this year we decided not to travel to St. George to the BIG Easter festivities that have always been at my mom's house.  With Brieanna coming home the end of May, we just decided that the best thing to do was to wait until then to go home! Even though we weren't able to go, we still had a pretty good time here.



The town of Paonia has an Easter egg hunt every year in the park on Saturday.  It's sectioned off by age groups, so you don't have little kids competing with big kids.  Jordyn had a strategy this year.  She took off to the very back of her section and made quite a killing!!

I stayed with Aspyn in her age group. They had eggs and a few baskets that had little stuffed animals & other candies scattered everywhere.  She was more interesting in picking up the pinwheels than she was the eggs.  I think we ended up with 5 pinwheels, a few eggs, and a basket with a teddy bear! 

Both girls had a blast.  The event starts at 10:00am and is over by 10:05!  It's so much fun though!

Jordyn had a soccer game at 11:00, so we dropped off our loot at the house and buzzed out to the soccer field.  Her team won, of course!  She scored a goal and played very well.

Once we got home, we lounged around the backyard in the sunshine.  It was a fabulous day!

Abby, Ryder, Jordyn, Emily

The Reedy family invited us over to their house later that night for a nighttime Easter egg hunt.  The kids each had their head lamps, and buckets.  The eggs were put out on the lawn, some in the playhouse, and the hillside.  The kids thought that was so much fun.  Once in awhile, a couple of the kids would find an egg at the same time, so there was a little competition on who was able to snag it for themselves.  They all got along very well though.

Even Aspyn had her own little section to "search" for eggs!  With a little help from Abby and the rest of the kids, she found all her eggs, an Easter book and some $$$! Anytime she would see an egg she would just "ooo" and "ahhh" and get excited about putting it in her basket.  It was a great time. I'm so thankful for the Reedy's. This is the 2nd holiday that they've included us in.  It's really helped not being with our families during those fun times!

A few of Cody's co-workers came over once we got home.  Elizabeth, her brother Steven, and her boyfriend Robert all work, or have worked up at Oxbow! Liz has a daughter, Koraline, who is 2 mos older than Aspyn.  It was great to hang out with them and get to know them a little bit. 

It really was a pretty fun holiday.  Full of fun, friends and of course family!  We did still miss our families, but in just 7 short weeks we will see everyone. Can NOT wait!!

The next 7 weeks are going to be very busy and fun.  Taliah, Alan & Lyli are coming next weekend for a short visit.  The 12th of May is the Red Rock Relay, Jordyn will finish Kindergarten, and of course we'll finish up with soccer. 

Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving this year was in St. George with the Hone Family.  It was so much fun! We actually had a pretty good turn out.  My Grandpa and Jodell came from Wyoming. Chris, JoNell & all of the boys were there.  My Grandma and Ken came up from Vegas, and of course everyone in my family was there (except Brieanna of course)!

It's pretty much tradition to go out to the desert and do a little shooting.  I think everyone really looks forward to it.  We turn it into a "friendly" competition having an Annie Oakley shoot off! It's really is a blast! 

Amberlee and her "Christmas Present"

Armed and Awesome

One of the A.O finals

 We even took Aspyn out. I thought she might get a little freaked out with the all the guns firing, but it didn't bother her at all.  While we were out there, she tripped and did a little nose dive. She ended up with her 1st bloody nose.  I think she was more mad that I was trying to wipe her bloody nose than she was hurt.  After a few minutes she was fine and she was up and running around again!

 My dad taught Jordyn how to shoot the pistol. She absolutely loved it!  All she could talk about was when she was going to shoot again.  I love the fact that she's learning how to handle a gun responsibly at such a young age.  Guns and hunting are such a big part of our family, so it just makes sense to start this young!

Cody wasn't really into the shotguns, but absolutely loved shooting my Uncle's 9mm.  I think that I've found the next toy that I would like to have!

After we went through a ton of shells, & skeets we went back to my parents house and ate some A.May.Zing dinner!  I am never disappointed with any dinner with my family.  We all ate too much, but it was so worth it!  We really enjoyed seeing the Hone family again.  It's been awhile since we've seen everyone.  Everyone looked great! I can't wait until the next Hone get together.

The next day we went down to Mesquite to see Cody's family.  We went out to dinner with everyone and ended up back at Danie'l and Chad's house. We saw a couple other good friends that we haven't seen in awhile, it was great!  Aspyn and Jadon played together really well. Jordyn ended up staying at Grandma Sharon's.  I know Jordyn misses her Grandma and Grandpa Survis so it was great that she spent some time with them.  We really miss seeing Chad and Danie'l as well, but it's always so nice when we are all able to hangout again. 

We ended up in Cedar City for 1 night on the way back home. We stayed with Alan, Taliah and Lyli.  Jordyn loves Lyli, and Aspyn just loves playing with anyone.  We miss them a lot too!
Our Thanksgiving getaway was just what we all needed.  We haven't spent that much time in St. George for a long time!

October Fun

October has been a fun and exciting month for all of us. My mom and Amberlee came to visit for Cody's birthday. We had a great time! We shopped, ate at Texas Roadhouse, just had a fun visit.



Amberlee & Aspyn



Amberlee and my mom helped the girls carve pumpkins!

Amber decided to take a "traditional" approach to her pumpkin!



Heather, Me, Taliah, Laura



On October 22nd we took a very quick trip to St. George so I could run in the Save A Sister 10k with my cousins, Heather, Clint, Laura (Clint's wife), Sarah (Kyle's wife) and Taliah! We had a blast! I finished in 1hour 3 minutes. It wasn't a very quick pace, but I ran the entire thing & I finished. I call that a success! Now that I know I can do it, I've been working on "picking up the pace"!  Sarah, who has ran a lot of races, said that the course was kind of a hard one. There were a ton of uphill parts. I felt better hearing her say that it was kind of challenging!  Now we all are training for the Red Rock Relay in Moab in May!!

Jordyn has finished the Fall Soccer Season. She can't wait until Spring to start all over again. Her team lost only 2 games and every kid on the team scored at least one goal for the Season. Jordyn scored the final goal in the final game!  It was great. It was such a great team.

All the kids really worked together as a team. They learned how to pass to each other and how to really function together.  There aren't many U6 teams that play as well together as they did!

The Saturday before Halloween, we went to one of the Corn Mazes. They had a little scavenger hunt where, as you walk through you find different numbered items. If you find them all you got a little prize at the end. It was great!

This year for Halloween, Jordyn wanted to be something other than a Disney princess. She wanted to be a "Girl Vampire".  After looking at a ton of costumes she saw this one and said it was perfect! She was such a cute Vampire! We both agreed though that whatever she decides to be next year we will be finding a wig instead of doing the spray painted hair! Aspyn was a cute Lil Lady Bug! It took her awhile before she would leave her wings alone though. Both girls had a great time Trick or Treating. Jordyn got a ton of candy, and loved passing out our candy after she was done with her Trick or Treating.  I am so glad that Halloween is over!!

November is already gearing up to be an interesting month! Fun things and another change is happening! Until next time......!!!

Just an Update!

Wow! Time completely has a way of slipping away! It seems like quite a bit happens in just a short time!

Jordyn

Jordyn absolutely loves kindergarten! She is doing so well. She's learning to read a little bit, and learning so much about a lot of different things. Lately they have been learning about the Native Americans.  Everyday she has came home with different "facts" or stories about them.  She gets so excited when she tells me about what she has learned in class.

She is also loving soccer!  Her coach is amazing, the kids on the team are a lot of fun and all get along quite well! She has practice on Mondays & Wednesdays with games on Saturdays.  I can't believe how much she has improved from Spring.  She seems more confident with the game and her skills have improved so much.  She has scored quite a few goals in her games. It's so fun to watch her run around the soccer field with a smile on her face.   I love watching her improve, learn and grow!

She is such a big help with Aspyn and they get along so well!

Aspyn!

Aspyn is just about 11 months now!  She is walking everywhere. She started walking about 2 weeks before her 10 mos.  She is down to 2 bottles max a day. Sometimes 1 in the morning (sometimes not) and one right before bed. I think that one is going to be the hardest to break!  One thing that hasn't been hard to get rid of is her pacifier!  She actually took herself off it.  She just decided one day that she didn't want it anymore.  She would chew on it and let it dangle out of her mouth, but wasn't really sucking on it.   If I would try to give it to her at night she would take it out and throw it on the floor.  So we just put it away and she hasn't really cared since. It's been so nice not having to worry about having one around or with us when we go out.  It's also been nice not having to worry about us taking it away from her!

She no longer is eating baby food. She just eats what we eat or a slight variation of it.  She is down to one nap a day, usually 1-3 hours depending on the day. Aspyn loves books! She has 3 favorite ones that she will find on the book shelf and bring to us to read.  Her favorite toy is still her stuffed Monkey and now she has a favorite cell phone! Yup, she's starting early on the cell phone thing. She will walk around with it holding it up to her ear saying "Hello" and chattering all around the house.  It seems like everyday she is learning new words or some new thing.  Jordyn is still her favorite person. She loves her dogs and still loves being outside.  When we are outside she will walk around the yard, crawl on the dogs or play in the grass, the sand or the leaves! She loves (& prefers) to drink from a straw.

She has 4 teeth, 2 top, 2 bottom with one of her eye teeth popping through very soon. She is happy 98% of the time.

It's so much fun watching my girls grow!!

Cody

Cody has had a change in departments at work.  He is now in the Survey/Engineering department.  He's doing more drafting and working with numbers, more of what he went to school for.  He still goes down in the mine, just not for as long during the night as he used to.  It's been a very nice change.  He leaves to go into work at 11:45pm (to start at 12:30) and gets home about 9:00am.  He usually sleeps until about 5pm.  It's been nice to have him home at night, to have dinner, spend time with the girls, and help put them to bed.  Then we are able to spend some time together before having to leave.  The girls love having him awake and home more consistently. I do too!  It's really done a lot for our relationship being able to spend more time together.  He seems a lot happier in this new department (even though it does have it's down sides) doing more of what he's comfortable doing!

He was supposed to take his Electrical test in November. However, the paperwork to take it was needing to be submitted by October 5th. In order to submit the paperwork you have to have been working for a year. His year hire date is October 6th. They would not make an exception for 1 day. So, the Electrical test has been pushed by to February. That will just give him a little while longer to study so he can pass 1st try!!!

Me

I am adjusting to the changes and all the things that are going on in our family. I love having Jordyn in Kindergarten, Aspyn growing and changing  everyday and Cody's new schedule.  I have started taking time for myself everyday by either going to the gym or running.  It's been great!  I feel a lot better!  In 2 weeks, Taliah, Clint, Laura, Heather and myself are going to be running a 10k in St George.  It's for breast cancer awareness.  It called Save a Sister! I am pretty excited to do it.  That is 1 more goal of mine that I can cross off my list. This race all I want to do is finish the race. I'm not going for an awesome, amazing time. I just want to be able to say that I finished a 10k.  I guess this is just one more stepping stone on my way to my big goal of running a marathon and hopefully (eventually) a triathlon!

All in all we are doing really well.  We are getting excited for Fall/Winter to be here!

Next post there will be pictures.....I promise!!

1st Camping Trip in Colorado & Rusti's Visit

We finally went on our 1st camping trip here in Colorado! My dad came over August 8th for a little vacation. We all decided to head up and check out the Colorado Mountains. We ended up at Island Lake. It was so pretty and so much cooler.

Jordyn and my Dad did a little fishing. They caught a few, but only ended up keeping 1. Jordyn absolutely LOVES fishing with Grandpa. They really have a good time together and have such an amazing bond. I never thought Jordyn would like to fish, but she does and she's pretty good at it. She knows more about fishing and the different baits than I do!


1st Camping Trip

Aspyn really, really enjoyed her 1st camping trip. She did so well. She loves being outside so it wasn't a huge surprise that she had some fun. She loved crawling around in the dirt, trying to eat it and playing with the rocks and leaves. Aspyn loved watching the fire at night . She was just so content to sit on our laps and enjoy being up in the mountain. I think we have another camper in the family! I love it!

We had a great time. We fished a little bit, drove around a little to find other camping spots that are a bit more secluded, and really just relaxed! It was great!  Next Summer, we will be doing a lot more camping!!


Aspyn in Jordyn's shoes

Thursday the 11th, my Mom flew over to spend the weekend with us and drive home with my Dad. We had been trying to talk Ashley into letting Rusti come with her.  Ashley finally agreed, but my Mom told me that she couldn't get the airline stuff figured out for her to bring Rusti. When we picked up Mom at the airport, she comes walking out holding Rusti! Jordyn was so excited to see Rusti, and Rusti was so very excited to see JoJo! She is such a cute girl, and we really really miss her. It was fun having her. Jordyn and Rusti played all weekend. We loved having her visit!


Aspyn, Jordyn, Rusti



 All the girls were so cute together. It's really hard knowing that they don't get to see each other as much as they want to. Hopefully we can keep getting all the cousins together as often as possible!

It was a great week having my parents here, and being able to see Rusti! It's always hard on us when they leave, but I'm so glad that they make the trip out here as much as they can.



Playing Catch Up

These past couple of months have been extremely busy! My Mom & Dad came over on my birthday for a small visit.  We went over to Glenwood Springs for a little swimming at the Hot Springs Pool. That was Aspyn's 1st time in the water. She loved it! She just kept kicking her little legs and splashing. She wore herself out! Jordyn loved the warm water & showed off her underwater swimming skills!  The rest of that weekend was mainly spent in Grand Junction for my dad's Uncle Don's wedding and the Hone Family reunion. It was a lot of fun. We saw a lot of family that I haven't seen in a long time. So it was great to be able to visit with them.

I always enjoy having my family around and I know they love being around the girls & us as well!

4th of July was fun as usual! It was Cherry Days time again in our town. Jordyn loves going to Cherry Days and seeing all the people and booths AND the carnival! This year there were no broken bones so she was able to ride most of the carnival rides with her friend Carmen. She had a blast! It seemed a lot hotter than last year, but we still spent most of the day there. Most of the weekend we hung out with a few good friends, had a few bbq's and was able to go to a friend's parents house and watch the fireworks that they lit off.  It was a great Holiday weekend!

Happy 4th of July

The Survis Family came that following weekend. We picked them up at the Grand Junction airport on Thursday July 7th. EVERYONE came-Don, Sharon, Chad, Danie'l, and Jadon! Friday we had a wonderful turkey dinner at Bonnie's house. Saturday Jordyn went with the adults into Montrose while we took Chad & Danie'l on a winery tour! It was fun to hear the history of some of the wineries & their wine. We found the most amazing Chocolate Merlot Wine sauce. It tastes so great on strawberries! We really didn't go a ton of places and do a lot, but being able to spend some time with them and for them to finally see where we live was a lot of fun! I hope they will come out again soon.

Since the last time that I posted, Aspyn started crawling EVERYWHERE! She's crawling, pulling herself up, cruising around the furniture and standing alone for a few seconds! All this started and progressed in about a week and a half! Somedays I miss the time where she would just lay on the floor and play with toys. It's fun to watch her practice and try to do new things though. Now if I could get Jordyn to not leave little things all over the floor we would be ok!  Aspyn is also eating anything and everything. She LOVES everything she tries, some more than others. She is napping a little better during the day and still sleeping well at night. She still only has 2 teeth & I am not seeing anymore trying to come in yet. She is mainly very happy all day and into the night. We have not given her the reflux medicine for a couple of weeks and she seems to be fine without it! She's 8 1/2 months old and still just as cute as ever!

Jordyn repeated Level 2 swimming lessons. She did so much better this time around. You could just see it in her that it just clicked! She does not have any fear with letting go of the wall, treading water and doing her strokes down the lane. She does still need to work on floating on her back for a little bit longer, but she has done so well!  Her instructor told the kids if they swam the required length to pass, then they could jump off the diving board. She loved being able to do that! She's hooked on jumping. She keeps wanting to do it over and over!

Level 2 PASSED

We've had a pretty fun and busy Summer so far! It's been great seeing our families, spending time with friends and spending time with our girls. Its all going by so fast!

Soccer Saturdays and Sitting Pretty

Today was Jordyn's 1st soccer game! She did great! She was one of the 1st one's the coach put in. She wasn't at all nervous. Jordyn just went right in and started playing the game.  Since this was the 1st game, the coaches on both teams had to do a lot of coaching.  Most of the kids have never played before, so it was a new experience to all. There were a couple of goals made by the wrong team, but every kid seemed to have fun! Jordyn was really close to making a goal! Her team did end up winning. I'm not sure what the final score was. I don't think anybody was really keeping track that well! I didn't really care as long as she had fun! Jordyn's jersey number is 23! Jordan's # for Jordyn! Yeah we're pretty creative!



Jordyn's almost goal



Carmen & Jordyn going for the winning hug!



Yup, she's pretty excited to be there!



Stylin!

Aspyn loves her sunglasses! It's a good thing too. She wears these glasses every day when we go jogging. I thought they would bother her, but no! Cody hadn't been off work too long before we had to leave for the soccer game, so yeah he still looks a little "rough"! He won't miss any of Jordyn's activities. Even if he just got off work or has to go right after. He's always there. Such a great dad!

3/26/2011

Aspyn is now sitting up pretty well by herself. It's just been the past couple of days that she's really had the balance to do it. Before she was quite wobbly and wouldn't last too long, but now she'll sit and play with her toys for quite awhile before toppling over! She still can't get herself into sitting, but she is doing quite well.  Now we can't get her to lay down! She's just growing so fast. It's all just so fun!

Next Friday is Jordyn's final dance recital and another soccer game! So stay tuned for another update!

What Day Is It Again?

Wow! Our lives have just gotten a lot more crazy! Jordyn now has something going every day of the week. This past week she has started Level 2 swimming lessons which she goes to Mondays and Wednesdays. Her 1st day she was quite nervous. They are now in the big pool and she can no longer touch the bottom, so she's not as confident as she was in Level 1. The 2nd day she seemed to do a lot better. Jordyn said she does like it and really wants to do well in it. The instructors have said that Level 2 is the hardest level to pass, so we'll see how it all works out.

 Tuesday 3-15 Jordyn also started soccer! She had a blast! Her good friend Carmen is also on her team. She has soccer practice Tuesdays and Thursdays. It's so much fun watching her learn new sports and try new things. She just isn't afraid to get in there and Just Do It! I'm very glad that she is one that loves to be outside and active. I would still support her if the things that interested her were inside, but we are just an outside family, so it's great!

 Jordyn still has dance class on Fridays! Yesterday they had their 1st dance recital. She wasn't even nervous! She marched out onto the court and performed her little heart out. She was smiling and really animated with her routines. I have to say she was by far the best one (ok I may be a bit biased)! After their routine they stayed and watched the Highschool girls do their routines. Jordyn talked non stop about them on the way home. She said she would love to keep dancing with Ms Linda (her dance teacher) so that she can be as good as the big girls when she gets into highschool!

I'm very proud of her in everything she does. She really is a talented young girl. I guess my career as a "soccer mom" is now beginning. I love it. It makes our days busy, but interesting. We all are pretty worn out at the end of the day, but it is so worth it!

Aspyn is now 4 months old. On her 4 month birthday we decided to let her try a little bit of rice cereal. She wasn't too sure about it. We all had a good laugh though watching her experience the texture of it. We now have switched over to Oatmeal, and she seems to like that a little bit better!

Yesterday we took Aspyn in for her 4 month check up! Wow! She weighs 15 lbs 3 oz (75-90%), and is 24 1/4" tall (50-75%). She is very healthy! Dr Moore is pleased with her growth and development and doesn't see anything we need to be concerned about. We still have her on Zantac, but we have not increased her dose. We are just going to let her wean herself off of it as she contiues to grow. We received the official ok to start solids but I think for now we'll just stick with oatmeal for a little bit and slowly add vegetables for quite awhile before adding fruit. We told Dr Moore about her "mad time" EVERY night. She said it's just colic and as long as she's fed and changed there's really not much we can do, but to let her cry it out. We do still try to comfort her and hold her, but she really does mainly just need to cry for 15 min to an hour then she's fine. Weird. Aspyn is so cute and watching the new things she does is so amazing. Watching the concentration it takes to pick something up or grab something is so cute. She just lights up our entire house!

Cody is taking an Emergency Medical Responder course for work. He goes to that class Tuesdays and Thursdays. He's really not into the whole medical thing, but he needs this class before he can take the Foreman test. Once he's done with the class he will get a raise (YAY!!) but he'll also be on the Mine Rescue team. I'm super proud of him for taking this class. It's been quite the challenge to go to the class, as well as go to work almost right after, but it will all be worth it in the end.

Me, well obviously I'm staying busy getting Jordyn to her various activities, and taking care of Aspyn. I've started jogging again and I feel great! I'm up to jogging 2 miles continuously! That may not sound like very far,but considering I've only been back jogging for a week and a half I feel like I'm doing great! I have 2 goals with my jogging. One is to do a 5k for sure and possibly a 10k by the end of the year. The 2nd goal is to jog 1 mile UP Electric Mountain. Electric Mountain is a steep road that does not level out at all until you get to the very top.  I'm excited!

Yes, we are very busy, but we are having a good time and we do still find time to spend together as a family. It's a very fun time in our lives and we wouldn't change it at all! I can't wait to see how the soccer season goes and how Level 2 works out. Stay tuned!!

Music and Smiles

Music has always been a HUGE part of my life. It's always been a way that I've been able to express my feelings when I can't find the words to do so. It's been a way that I've been able to cheer myself up, calm myself down, or just feel something. I've always loved ALL kinds of music from Classical Instrumental to Classic Rock, from Rap to Country and just about everything in between.

 Last week I heard a song on one of our CD's. I had to stop for a minute, just listen and realized that the song that was playing expressed what I feel when I see my girls smile! I know people can interpret songs different ways, but this song just made me....Smile!

Bad English-When I See You Smile

Sometimes I wonder

How I'd ever make it through,
Through this world without having you
I just wouldn't have a clue

'Cause sometimes it seems
Like this world's closing in on me,
And there's no way of breaking free
And then I see you reach for me

Sometimes I wanna give up
I wanna give in,
I wanna quit the fight
And then I see you, baby
And everything's alright,
everything's alright

When I see you smile
I can face the world, oh oh,
you know I can do anything
When I see you smile
I see a ray of light, oh oh,
I see it shining right through the rain
When I see you smile
Oh yeah, baby when I see you smile at me

Baby there's nothing in this world
that could ever do
What a touch of your hand can do
It's like nothing that I ever knew
And when the rain is falling
I don't feel it,
'cause you're here with me now
And one look at you baby
Is all I'll ever need,
you're all I'll ever need

Chorus

Sometimes I wanna give up
I wanna give in,
I wanna quit the fight
And then I see you baby
And everything's alright,
everything's alright
So right...

Maybe soon I can actually have the song posted or the link to this song, but for now it's just the words!

Family Update

Finally, I'm back with an update on our family!! We had family pictures done January 7th. I thought it was about time to show off our awesome girls! I think they turned out quite well. It was pretty fun to get them done. Even Cody was on board with doing them!

 Cody and I are great! Cody is still working graveyard shift. We have adjusted ok, but it's still super hard when he has to go back after having 3 days off. We really enjoy those days & nights he has off. It's a great job, and he's learning a lot. He does have the opportunity to take it as far as he wants to. I'm finally adjusted to life with 2 kids. We have a schedule figured out, as far as bath times for both kids,  what I can and can't get done while Jordyn is in school. Just normal day to day stuff. I've figured out times that I can finally get a workout in. It's not the time I really want to work out, but it's worked so far! I had a personal trainer tell me once, that 6 months after you have a baby, you can no longer use that as an excuse as to why you are still "fluffy". So, I am doing my best to not look "fluffy" when Aspyn reaches 6 months!!

 Jordyn started taking a dance class January 14th. She's been asking to take ballet since we first moved here. Well, I couldn't find a ballet dance class close to our small town, so she had to take Jazz! She loves it!  Her 1st day she was kind of nervous right at the start, but after meeting her teacher she just jumped right in to the funny dances they learned.  It's a 10 week class, followed by a concert. The teacher asked each girl what their favorite color was (so she could get an idea on costumes), well each girl had a different color. So I think their costumes are going to be rainbow!! She learned the dances so quick. She's such a natural! I think everything she does, she does well. I can't think of anything that she's done lately that she hasn't enjoyed and had a good time at. I still wonder what she's going to want to do in high school. I wouldn't mind if she did everything there is to do. She's just so happy when she's doing some sort of activity. Just seeing her having so much fun and learning and socializing, is so great. She's a lot less grouchy and moody too!

She also moved up to a different class in Primary this year. She is now in CTR class. There aren't a lot of kids in the ward her age, so a couple of classes are combined. She loves it! I think she knows more people (young and old) than we do! There is one girl that no matter where we see her, whether it's the store, or church will just run up to her, pick her up and just hug her. Everybody that Jordyn meets really, really likes her. She's got such a great personality! She's beautiful, and so so so creative!!

Her 5th Birthday is coming up. I'm getting nervous about the bowling party that she wants to have. I'm sure it will go just fine, I'm just stressing a little about it! I can't believe she's almost 5! Wow!!

Aspyn is now 2 months old! She had her 2 month checkup and shots on January 13th. She did awesome. The shots barely bothered her. By the time the needles were out she was back to smiling at the nurses! She weighs 11 lbs 1 oz and is 22 1/4" tall. That puts her in the 50% for both height and weight. Dr Moore is very pleased with her growth and says that she is hitting all the milestones for her age and then some!  Around Christmas we switched her to Soy formula after several weeks of her being colicky, and super mad at the end of the day. We tried other formulas like sensitive formula, gas & colic formula and nothing seemed to make her happy. Soy formula seems to have helped a ton! She is less gassy, and less colicky. At her 2 month checkup, I was telling Dr Moore about her still spitting up a lot, not letting us put her down for at least 30-45 minutes after eating, and sometimes still crying while eating. She determined that she may have a bit of Reflux. So we now have her on Zantac twice daily. Having her on that medication has been such a huge help.  She is now more content to be put down on her blanket to play after eating, the crying while eating is no more and is so much more smiley!!

She is liking tummy time a little bit more, as long as her diaper is OFF. Once it's off she'll play, lift her head up and all around and will be okay for quite awhile. If her diaper is ON, forget about it! She will just be super mad.  She loves, loves to stand up. If she's a bit fussy, if you stand her up she'll smile and everything will be great again. We play a little game where we hold on to her hands and have her sit down. We'll tell her to stand up and she'll pull herself up. She'll stand for quite sometime, we'll tell her to sit down and she'll sit herself down. She knows what's going on and is quite a strong little girl! It's so much fun watching her learn new things! She's been sleeping in her crib upstairs since New Year's Day and it's been great. She will sleep from around 10-11pm to 6:00-7:30am. During the day she'll just catnap, but I am loving the night time!

Everyone is happy and healthy and doing great! We are trying to stay busy and involved with activities and fun. We are getting back on track with things financially and personally. It's such a great feeling!!  So far it seems like 2011 is off to a great start!!

Goodbye 2010

 Wednesday December 29th we woke up to a lot of snow! Jordyn was pretty excited! She wanted to go out and build a snowman, so we did! Isn't he great!!  It was fun. We built the snowman, had a small snowball fight, she made snow angels! Then we decided we were a little chilly so back in the house we went, where Cody had a wonderful fire raging!!

It continued snowing until about December 31st. We have gotten used to driving in this white stuff. Four wheel drive is great!  They don't plow the roads here in town, so where ever you go, don't plan on getting there too quick. Such a different experience than living in Southern Utah! We love it though!

2010 has definitely been a year of up and downs and major life changes. From lost jobs, to big moves, to broken bones, to adding Aspyn to our family it's been one heck of a year! We've learned a lot this year about ourselves and our families and what really matters in our lives. Looking back at all the challenges we had this year, I am glad they all worked out the way they have. Cody and I live in a place where we feel "at home". We have been accepted by the people here and have made a few friends that don't really care how we live, what we drive, the amount in our bank account or what you do for a living. Jordyn has made friends that she will be able to have throughout her school years. Aspyn will have the same opportunity to have those kind of friends as well.

So, while 2010 wasn't exactly what I had in mind when it first started. I am very grateful and happy about the way it ended!

Christmas 2010



Christmas this year was so much fun! It started a week before Christmas actually. Jordyn was able to go to St George and spend that week with Grandma & Grandpa. She had a blast! The original plan was for her to come back with them on Thursday when my family was coming over here, but the weather put a kink in things and they didn't end up coming over until Friday.

Friday my family made it over here early enough that we were able to have a fantastic Christmas dinner or ham, funeral potatoes, shrimp, sparkling juice and salad. After dinner Jordyn and Amber went out and spread Reindeer food out on the lawn for Santa's reindeer, so they would have something to eat while Santa was inside.  Jordyn was so excited this year for Santa to come. Other years she's been excited, but this year was the 1st year that she "got it"! It really wasn't too hard to get her to go to bed, as long as Amber went with her!

Well, Santa came and the next morning Jordyn was super excited to see what he had brought everybody.

 Jordyn had written a letter to Santa saying she wanted a new bike and a new Barbie house. She must have been really good, because she did get both!

 Everybody seemed to have gotten what they wanted and more. It was a great Christmas, not because of all the "stuff" but because my family was there with us. It was great! Aspyn was spoiled as well. We didn't  make her get up with us and participate, but shortly after we started she woke up and was very very interested in.....her bottle! Next year will be great!

Santa brought Cody and I a Wii, with some games and Guitar Hero. Most of Saturday was spent playing the wii, having bowling tournaments and trying to master the songs on the guitar. Who would've thought that by playing the wii you could really become sore?!  We just lounged around the entire day.

We also received a phone call from Brieanna! It was so great to hear from her. She is doing great! I really missed her being there, but hearing from her was just the perfect last gift Christmas day!

 Sunday my dad was able to bless Aspyn in our ward.  He did a really good job!  The missionaries, the Bishop, his counselors, & the Elders Quorum president were also there in the circle. It was such a great blessing. I'm glad he was able to do it here in our ward!

 Monday Cody, Jordyn and I went up Powderhorn to do a little bit of skiing. Jordyn had her first ski lesson. She did amazing!  Her instructors were amazed at how well she caught on. We saw her a few times when we were all in line to get on the lift and asked her if she was ready to go. "Um NO!" Then we asked her if she wanted to come back again. "YES!!"

 I thought she would be scared to try skiing, but she wasn't scared at all. She started out in Level 1 and by the end of the day she was on Level 3. Amazing little girl!

Cody and I had a good time snowboarding also! I think I do like Utah snow a little bit better though!  It's going to be great to have a ski resort about and hour and a half away now that Jordyn is getting into it. Only 3 more years and we'll Aspyn up there on skis!

Tuesday my family had to leave to get home. It was such a great holiday being here with them. I'm so glad they made the trip over. It made the 1st Christmas here in Colorado not so lonely!