Visit to Cali

Most of October I was able to spend in sunny California! I went down the first week and spent three weeks down there at my parents house. It was a lot of fun to be there. We did lots of fun things but mostly just loved being around Grammy, Grampa, Aunty Breanna, and Uncle Dallin (and Aunty Britt and Uncle Scot when they came down to visit.) We went to Disneyland TWICE while we were there and had so much fun both times. We also went to Lombardi's Ranch/Pumpkin Patch and tons of other fun things. What a nice break.

Disneyland...

Dream come true for Zoey :) I overheard her talking to her cousins Bella and Katie the other day. She exclaimed "I saw Tangled and she LIVES at Disneyland"

The only picture I took with my camera the first Disney day. It was raining that day but still so fun. We walked on every ride so that was awesome!

Jane warmed right up to the princesses. When we saw the first princess she said "hug, i-a-wella" (hug cinderella.) It was cute.

Thomas did awesome the whole time both days. Yay for bottles and good babies!

This was the second time we saw Cinderella that day. The girls loved her.

Happiest place on earth!

Treats at the end of the day.

This picture turned out pretty cool

The girls at the front entrance in front of masked Mickey (decorated for Halloween)

Jane's eyes have always been extremely photogenic. They are gorgeous!

More pictures to come, many, many more. Stay tuned :)

Grandma Shirley

This is Zoey's great grandmother Shirley Irene. She is Andrew's mom and one great lady. I took this picture when she was staying here at Andrew's parents for a few days a month or so ago. It was such a sweet moment to see the bond between these two girls. I just think of the completely different lives they both have; such a large generation gap yet both are completely unfazed by it. Ancestral bond is a strong thing! A couple months ago I found a couple of grandma's journals and started reading through them. She has spent a lot of time putting together journals of her life and the lives of close relatives. I've really only been around her a handful of times within the last four years so reading these entries introduced a whole new person to me. I loved getting to know her on this level. When I saw her after reading those journals, I felt like I really knew her. It was neat. She is Andrew's last grandparent still living after the passing of grandpa Olsen in August. We are grateful to have her here and love her so much.

Sleeping Habits

I would love to really discuss my view on sleeping habits for babies and children but I'm just not in my normal blogging groove so I'll just add this much.

http://inashoe.com/2006/08/hes-sleeping-like-a-baby/

This is a blog I came across today that I found extremely interesting. It's a mom of 10 children who blogs about parenting. While I don't expect to have 10 children and quite frankly get light headed at the thought of it, I admire this mom and aspire to be more like her. She has some amazing advise on mothering and one section on sleep habits made me happy. I pretty much do the same things she does as far as newborns sleep is concerned. I did learn a few extra tips that I will immediately be starting now. One of the tips is letting the baby only nurse just enough in the middle of the night so he doesn't get used to waking fully. She said her middle of the night feeding is almost always less than 10 minutes. That way the baby gets used to eating more before bedtime and in the morning. I probably do this already since I'm so out of it in the middle of the night anyways. Her techniques just make sense to me. She said 10 of her 11 babies slept through the night by 7 weeks. That's saying something. I like how she says she needs a good nights to hold things together during the day (as do I!!) and to maintain a good "attitude-something that is pleasing to God". I found it humerous when she stated "Some people just don’t see a problem with waking up every hour and a half with a new baby, or waking up once or twice a night with an older baby. If this suits you and your husband, then keep doing it cheerfully." I don't know about you but I can see her sense of humor shining through on this statement. I mean, who wouldn't see a problem with waking up every hour and a half???

As far as Thomas goes, he has had a wild 2 months of life. He has no place to call home, nor does the rest of his family. We have been between Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and soon to be California for the past two months. It started out with a wedding, then two funerals, then a new job, etc. Thomas has mostly slept on the floor next to our bed for the past month while we are temporarily living here in Lindon at Andrew's parents. When we were in ID, he had a bassinet. He takes most of his naps on the couch in the "round room" (a nice room where VTing/home teaching/etc. takes place) because the kids aren't "allowed" in there. So, with all this madness that's taken place, I was pleasantly surprised to have him sleeping in 8 hour stretches by 2 months. I haven't been incorporating the techniques I learned with the girls as strictly as I'd like to so seeing this improvement was really a shock to me....a very nice shock however. The timing of his "8-hour stretch" is still up in the air since I'm not scheduled enough to put him down at the same times every night. If you'd like to hear more of what I think about babies and sleep leave a comment and let me know. I've been blessed with good babies and good examples in my family on how to sleep train your children. It's worked for all 3 of mine so far which has been awesome.

Most of my views come from a book called "On Becoming Babywise" Great info in that book.
You can get it used from Barnes and Noble for $1.99 here

Newborn Pictures

Here are a few of the pictures Andrew's cousin took of Thomas. I love them and will always cherish these.

Pictures from Grandpa Kenyon's funeral

I have so many pictures of Jane like this but I just love every one.

Aunt Britt and Janey

Left to Right: Lily, Josh, Zoey, Maia, Azlan. Great grandchildren of Karl and Zoe Kenyon

Breanna holding Thomas and Scott. We were laughing because it looks like a family picture :)

Playing by the creek at our family picnic.

Group shot.

Family shot...not my best but pretty cute of the kids :)

Classic watermelon shot

Thomas and Logan fast asleep. They are second cousins??? I am cousins with Logan's dad so whatever that makes it.

By the way Zoey thinks "picnics" are "picnits" :) I don't correct her because there are very few words miss smarty pants mispronounces.

About half the gang.

Jane contemplating...I believe this is a distant relative of mine.

Busy few weeks

Life has really been busy this past month. I guess it all started with the birth of our sweet baby boy. A week later we were attending wedding festivities in UT. While down there my dear grandpa passed away (July 29th.) It was something expected and honestly a quite happy occasion as he is now reunited with his eternal companion. The funeral services for him weren't scheduled until August 12th (two weeks later) so we headed back to ID and got about a week and a half of rest before heading out to Ely, NV for the funeral. We got there Thursday evening, the night before the funeral. The funeral was very nice and it was SO nice to be able to visit with cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. We stayed until Saturday and decided to drive back by way of UT to stay at Andrew's parents for a few days. A few days after being in UT we were made aware of the state of Andrew's grandpa Olsen. He lives in Orem, UT and has also been living without his wife for sometime now. His health had gone downhill and this past Tuesday he became pretty unresponsive and somewhat unconscious. He passed away Thursday morning and the funeral services for him are being held today and tomorrow. It has also been a really neat experience just to be around family that we rarely get to see. Both men were seriously amazing examples and lived lives to be proud of. I can't even imagine the joy that must be felt right now on the other side of the veil as both worthy men are greeting their spouses and other family members. Love these great men!

I will be posting a lot of pictures later. I am so behind. I especially need to post pictures of Zoey's third birthday. All in due time. I am enjoying this time with family while I can.

UT trip and back in Rexburg

We've returned back to Rexburg after a nice little trip down to UT. Below are a couple pictures from the trip and just a couple from around our apartment. Everyone keeps asking about how we are all doing. We are just fine. The transition to three kids has been good so far. Both girls have adjusted really well. I was most nervous about Jane but she has been nothing but kind and sweet towards her baby brother. Zoey hasn't had any problems either and absolutely adores little Thomas. My recovery has been good as well. No pain.

I made this contraption for Zoey to be able to carry two babies, one on front and one on back.

Licking the frosting off the beaters

Jane was thoroughly delighted that I would hand something to her that was so yummy.

I like the angle of this picture Karlie took.

My baby boy all dressed up for church :)

We had a crazy rain/hail/thunder storm here in Rexburg. Zoey and Jane had fun going outside in it.

Can you tell how much she loves him??

I just can't get enough of this cute little mug!

Zoey has some interesting faces at times. She is such a goof :)

Say "cheese" :)

Zoey and I got to go to the BYU Creamery for lunch and ice cream while we were in UT. It really made me miss my alma mater!! So many good memories there.

So peaceful. My little angel.

Laying down at Nanny and Papas watching a movie.

Yummy watermelon!!

Zoey really LOVES seeing all her cousins when we go to UT. "LOVES" being an understatement.

Wide awake, what a sweetheart.

First bath with Nanny, he really loved it.

They say pictures speak a thousand words....I say that's most definitely TRUE! I've never seen Zoey so happy in her little life. This one night in particular they were running through a sprinkler in the backyard. She was so happy she would blurt out phrases like "I am SO happy" and "I'm soaking WET, I'm soaking WET (repeat a million times)" When I went to take their picture she didn't need any prompt to smile, she immediately grinned from ear to ear. I love that I captured this shot. I wish we lived closer to cousins :(

This picture speaks for itself as well :)

Hi baby!

We sure do love our baby brother!!!!!