Video of Zoey at "Jump on it"

She loved this slide and wasn't scared to go on her own.

Zoey and Hailey

Tonight we celebrated our nephews birthday at a fun jumping gym called "jump on it". Zoey had a blast! I of course didn't jump but it was so nice to just sit and watch her having a ball. They had a childrens section that she played in most the time. She was thoroughly entertained....until some punk dad thought it would be fun to bombard the "4-feet and under" trampolines and voluntarily jumped right smack in the middle of the tramp that zoey was on. She went face first into the trampoline. She didn't get hurt but man the guy was like in his 20's. He should know better than to jump onto a trampoline with an 1 1/2 year old. Poor Zoey. She actually was really tough and never even cried but it made me mad at the dude. She could have gotten hurt! I didn't really mean to tell that story...oh well. We had lots of fun though. Check out a really cute video of Zoey jumping below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ua7piSsqqo

Being pregnant

I hardly ever blog about being pregnant so here it goes.

Updates: I am 35 weeks along. Only five to go! I have gained 20 pounds. The baby is a girl; it has been verified in three different ultrasounds. My cervix measured short on my 20 week ultrasound so the next appointment they did another one to double check it. It was fine the second time around. At my glucose testing the nurse practitioner seemed worried that I hadn't gained weight in one week (I thought that was silly but whatever) so I went in for another ultrasound to measure the baby and check the cervix both of which were fine. The baby was measuring average/above average on everything except length. I guess that's not something they worry about because it's mostly genetic (apparently we are short, who knew :) Zoey was only 18 inches at birth so I wasn't surprised. I found out my doctor is going to Hawaii on the 19th of Jan. She seems to think I'll deliver early, but I bet I don't. I'm guessing another doctor will deliver this one....but oh how happy I would be if she came a week early. I really like my doctor; she's great!


My two pregnancies so far have a few similarities but mostly differences (not really sure why). The biggest difference was that I did not get as nauseous with this one. However, I have definitely noticed more of the typical pregnancies symptoms with this baby than with Zoey. With Zoey, after the nausea finally went away (around week 27) I had a pretty good pregnancy. This baby has caused a LOT more discomfort although I would take it any day over throwing up. I am definitely bigger. About two weeks ago I started saying I was as big as I was when I delivered Zoey. Now, I feel even bigger than I was when I delivered Zoey so hello new stretch marks :( I have gotten that disgusting pitting edema already. That pinching in my ribs started sooner and is driving me nutso! The newest development in this pregnancy has been my restless legs. These are killer. For the past week, every night as I wind down to go to bed, my legs will not relax. They have to be moving or I cannot stand the feeling. I'm sure lots of you guys know the feeling. It keeps me up at night and I am not looking forward to another five weeks + with this :( Any advice? I've tried calcium supplements, warm baths, massages, stretching, etc. Some of that seems to help a little. Nights are horribly uncomfortable for me anyways, so this has really made that worse. It seems that with this pregnancy I have felt a lot more ready a lot sooner for this baby to come. The thought of five weeks seems like forever, but atleast there are holidays in between to keep me occupied. There are a lot of ladies in my ward due around the same time as me. In Young Womens (where my calling is) both the president and secretary are having girls within a month of mine. That will be fun :) There has been three new baby cousins on the Olsen side since August and my turns next! I can't wait. I think I've gone on enough about being pregnant. I probably won't say much more about that. Here's a picture for your enjoyment :/ The only pregnant shot I've taken so far. I did too many with Zoey that I wasn't as excited this time. I am 33 weeks. Merry Christmas to everyone!

Thanksgiving with my Family

This year we were lucky to be able to have Thanksgiving with both families. On Thanksgiving day we were with the Olsens (I unfortunately didn't get any pictures) and my family did ours the day after. It was tons of fun and so delicious!!!!!

Games after dinner. We love this game...Ticket to Ride

We got Zoey's face all messy with pudding and told her to give Daddy kisses. It was cute to watch :)

Zoey was feeding Maia desserts

Breanna got a lot of attention with her amazing desserts

Kisses for grammy

I love this picture. Zoey loved pumpkin pie.

Ice Skating with the cousins

During Thanksgiving break, a bunch of the cousins got together and went ice skating. We heard that Andrew would be able to take Zoey out in her stroller, but when we got there they had changed the rules :( So, Zoey had to just look on longingly. We still had fun and the cousins love Zoey so she was happy.

Bella, Savannah, and Jasmine. Best friends

Snack break. Sammy and Zoey

Baby Caleb is so cute!

Here are some of the cousins (1/4th to be more precise)

Daddy and Zoey

Just a little bit of this and that

While uploading a bunch of our pictures to the computer, I realized that there are some pretty cute Zoey pictures that I should put up for friends and family. Enjoy, there are captions below each one to explain what's going on.

Zoey has been a pretty picky eater lately...sometimes it's hard but this night she LOVED my taco soup. I let her eat it by herself and she made a mess. I have a hard time letting her eat by herself because she has never really cared and unless she hasn't had a bath yet, it's just so much work to clean up a messy Zoey. I know someday I will have to let her, but we'll get there slowly.

Here is Zoey in her winter jacket I got her for 36 cents thanks to a half off sale/30% off friends and family/$14 left on an old navy gift card. We are ready for an Idaho winter! It's actually been quite mild this year for which I am grateful. We've only gotten two small storms where it actually snowed...one the beginning of october (that scared me) and one while I was in UT for thanksgiving. However, this past week it has gotten COLD. I wouldn't know, being inside all day but our nephew Steven said it was -4 degrees F a couple nights ago!! Now that's cold.

Poor Zoey was having a tough time and usually baths will cheer her up a bit. So, I stripped her down and tried taking her blanky away but she really wanted to take it in with her....she won :)

Andrew put his sweater on Zoey to warm her up.

My cute little ballerina. We made these cute little tutu's for a women's activity at chuch. I'm saving it for Christmas, but had to test it out....pretty cute eh?

Andrew has the keyboard out a lot because he is taking a piano class at BYU-I. Zoey loves rocking out to it and trying to play it.

A sad story

Monday was very sensitive for me as a mother.
We took Zoey to her first doctor's appointment here in ID. I randomly chose a doctor based on location and really regret it. The doctor was horrible and Zoey was screaming bloody murder the whole time he was near her. On top of that she was shaking uncontrollably, I wanted to cry. Zoey had a male doctor in UT and did great with him so it wasn't that. The difference between him and this doctor was that her old doctor was actually friendly and good with children. This new doctor obviously is not the best fit for pediatrician. Zoey could sense that something wasn't right as soon as he approached her. She is normally a very social little girl and NOT scared of strangers. This man scared her. Even after she started screaming he proceeded to force her to lay down and made no change to his normal routine to accomodate a terrified little girl. Our old doctor let me hold Zoey if she showed any sign of hesitation (which only happened once) and he did his exam with her in my arms. Personally I don't see that as a very hard accomodation. This man was just not caring enough. So, needless to say we will be changing doctors. I never want to have to live through that again.

Halloweeny

This year Zoey was a ladybug thanks to my mom for the shirt and pants which inspired it all. She was pretty darn cute if I do say so myself. We had fun at our ward halloween party on Fri. and then dressed up on Sat. too. We didn't go trick or treating which I was fine with but we did go and visit Andrew's grandma to show off Zoey's costume and we also went to Andrew's cousins for a relaxing halloween dinner/party. It was great to relax on halloween after the crazy church party. Not saying I don't like to party but one night was enough :) Enjoy the pictures.

I was a monarch butterfly. Very easy and fun. I think the wings turned out pretty cool.

Zoey with Grandma Higham. Grandma Higham actually won the costume contest the day before halloween at the senior living center where she lives. I was bummed we didn't get to see her in costume but we were told by the front desk that she was dressed as a man from the 1920's (Charlie Chaplin look). She apparently played the part as well and wouldn't tell anyone who she was. She didn't even let her husband accompany her so she could stay in her secret character. She's such a funny lady. We love her.

Face painting at the Halloween party.

Eating a powdered dohnut

These are the wings I made five minutes before the party. I used leftover scraps from my fabric box and hot glue. I think they turned out pretty good for how quickly I worked.

She won her only candy from this game. Two pieces :) I ate them :)

These are some goodies that Grammy gave Zoey. A pumpkin sippy and Bisquits pet and play halloween book. Thank you grammy!

We can't forget Andrew's costume. We couldn't figure out a good enough bug themed costume so he did what he knows best....painted his face and wore his trenchcoat :) He was going for a swamp monster....ahhH! Zoey watched him put the makeup on so she wasn't scared of him. I was surprised.

I didn't really give Zoey any halloween candy but she had found a lolipop at the party and I let her hold it. By the time we got home, I turned around to find this...it was a mess :(

Zoey with all the other bugs at the halloween party..pretty cute

A Little Bit of Luck

I looked out my window in the morning and saw this really pretty red bush. Later that day when it was cloudy, I took Zoey out and had a little bit of luck. No huge smiles, mostly because it was too cold, but still some cute pictures. Enjoy!

Just can't keep up

I have not been the best about blogging. Partly because Andrew takes his computer to school (I need my own) and partly because I have been lazy. I keep expecting everyone else to update their blogs while mine just sits. Sorry!

Zoey's update:

Here are some recent pictures of Zoey. My baby girl is almost 16 months old!!! I can't believe it. She is saying so many words that I think I'm taking her "word count" off before it takes up the whole blog. Her most complex words are "cracker" "apple" and "flower". She is so polite and also says thank you (the word and the sign) almost anytime you do something she wants. I weighed her yesterday and she weighs 19.8 lbs...We finally bought her a big girl carseat (the poor thing has been stuffed into newborn position for way too long), I hope no one minds that I am .2 lbs off. She really was illegally tall for her infant carrier and it's so much nicer to look back and see her sitting up instead of laying down crying because the sun is right in her eyes and she can't move her head...poor girl :( She is so fun all the time. She is so social. After the initial "getting used to you" phase she is very good about always saying "hi, hi, hi" to you the moment she sees you. I could go on and on about all her achievements but I won't. She really is the best baby and we love her!

Zoey #2 update:

This is Dustin's (Elder Kenyon's) name for our baby #2. She seems to be doing fine. She is definitely a girl and everything has been great. What a blessing this pregnancy has been. It is nothing like Zoey's (which makes it a blessing). With Zoey, I was either at the toilet or in my bed with a bowl in arms reach for over 27 weeks. I would get light headed and even after 27 weeks, I still had that annoying lingering nausea in the pit of my stomach.... thankfully those days are gone...for now. This time around I have had more energy and did not get AS sick. I still had a bowl by my bed but just didn't get as comfortable with it. Plus, that sickness only lasted until about 20 weeks and now I am 27 weeks and it is long gone (no lingering)! It has been wonderful.

Besides my spout about being sick, here are the major differences this time around....

-I am showing WAY more than with Zoey (hence, why there are no

pregnant pictures of me on this blog :)

-I am getting heartburn earlier

-I don't feel the baby move as strongly (doctor says my placenta being in front causes this)

-I am able to go longer periods without eating

-I have TONS of painless contractions

-I feel lots of pressure

I'm sure there are more but I don't want to bore anyone. I'll move on.

Andrew update:

Andrew started school at BYU-I in September and loves it. He is working hard and always studying. When he gets time he works on his cars that he likes to fix up and sell. Right now he is in ID and I'm at his parents in Lindon and I miss him tons! He's the best and I love him.

Other Updates:

Elder Kenyon is officially in Lubbock, TX as of Monday of this week. We got to speak with him as a family last Sat. night while we were together for my Grandmothers funeral. He sounds like he's doing great and is really excited to be out in the field.

As I mentioned we were at my grandmother's funeral. This was my grandma, Zoe Kenyon, the one we were able to visit while living in Ely at the beginning of the year. She was able to live with my grandpa in an assisted living center in Sandy, UT until she passed away on Oct. 9th. She was 93 years old. I am glad that we were able to spend so much time with her earlier this year. I am glad that Zoey was able to visit with her great grandmother and we will miss her. However, she suffered a lot these past few years and I am grateful she is in a much better place where she can use her mind. The funeral was very special for me.

Another unfortunate event was the passing of my grandpa (on the other side). This happened the day of my grandma's funeral and was a little unexpected. My mom's father had a stroke 4 years ago and has been bedridden ever since with a feeding tube and trach. However, he was only 75 and his mind was completely alive. It broke my heart every time we visited knowing that he wanted so badly to communicate but his body was holding him back. There were no other major health problems during these four years. A week ago he got some kind of virus/infection and it really caught up to him quickly. He only lived for a few more days. He passed away last Sat. and I will be going to CA tomorrow for his funeral. We will miss him a lot too. He had a great sense of humor and was always making us laugh.

I would say this picture looks EXACTLY like me when I was her age. She is squinting her eyes trying to make a funny face. Boy, did we ever laugh :)

Zoey's first concern in the morning is getting her shoes on.


Getting a couple fall pictures.


She had fun stomping through the leaves.


This was when I made sugar cookies. Zoey loved them, plus her face is just too dang cute.


Look at those beautiful eyes!