Baxters R Us

We're Still Around

2012-11-10T09:23:00.001-08:00

So... it's been awhile. But good news, we're getting internet next week after almost a year of not having it! So I just might update my blog more often. Or maybe no internet was just a good excuse, we'll see. It's been a great year full of fun. We love our new house and area. So great to be "home". Here are some of my favorite pictures from the last 6 months.

Chad took Jayci on her first fishing outing this summer. She loved it and caught this huge catfish. Chad was quite proud. She wanted to take it home, so he told her that if she held it she could take it home. She brought it home and put it in her little swimming pool for awhile- till Chad gutted it and we ate it.

Jayci loves me to straighten her hair. She looks like a different girl when it's straight.

Jayci loves tagging along with her Dad on his hunting adventures. She especially loves holding the things he kills.

Jayci turned 5 last month and had a fun Pinkalicious birthday party with some of her cute girl friends.

Hunter is 6 months old now and still sweet as ever. He is quite hyper lately and always moving and grabbing and wiggling. He's sitting up really well these days.

We went to Idaho falls on our way home from a friend's cabin. It was beautiful with the falls and temple in the background.

Chad and Cody went to Las Vegas in March to watch Monster Trucks. Cody loved it, and is quite obsessed with monster trucks these days. They went with Chad's sisters- Megan and Michelle. They all had a blast.

They loved the face painting this fourth of July

Cody had yet another accident that landed him in the emergency room one Saturday night. He tripped into the corner of my parents brick fireplace ledge and cut a gash through the skin under his bottom lip resulting in stitches inside and out. He also knocked out one tooth with the root, had one tooth brake off at the gums, and 2 teeth so loose that they pulled them out. Now he is missing FOUR bottom teeth! He was a trouper, and once the ordeal was over he didn't complain once about the pain. In this picture he is showing off his teeth in the cup. He was pretty proud of them!

We had some fun boating with Grandpa at Bear Lake.

. This was at a fun reunion we had with Chad's family this summer. Jayci enjoyed the humming birds that would land near her finger

Cody loved "driving" this tractor at a pumpkin patch this fall.

We had fun at Grandma's decorating haunted houses.

This year Cody made a great Batman for Halloween. Jayci joined him as Cat Woman after dressing up for a super hero party and deciding being a cat is more fun than being Tinkerbell.

Chad dressed up as himself- adding only a cardboard sign to finish his costume. The sign read "Anything helps- God bless"

Chad's been on quite a few bird hunts with his dogs lately and been quite successful.

Baby Hunter

2012-06-03T18:37:00.000-07:00

Baby Hunter Chad Baxter is here! Born May 7 at 3:58 pm. 7 pounds 10 ounces, 20.5 inches long. He has been such a great little baby, so much less fussy than my other babies, which is wonderful. We are loving him. Labor went quite well. I went in at 7:30 am and had him 8 1/2 hours later, which was a little longer than I was hoping, but it really wasn't too painful till the last hour or two. I succeeded in having him natural- no epidural. That was my goal, but I wasn't sure I would make it. Fortunately I had great coaches- Michelle and Leslie. They supported me through it all, and Michelle and I had a great time the first few hours, laughed a lot! I'm glad I did it natural, but am not sure I'll do it again :) There were some great benefits to having him natural, but it made it a little more intense and painful (okay, much more painful) in the end and afterwards. Much more fun with an epidural.

Ready to get this little guy out (though at the time I didn't know if it was a little guy or gal)

Proud father...

...and mother

The kids were excited to come visit and find out if they had a little brother or sister. Jayci was really hoping for a girl, but could tell it was a boy by looking at him. I asked, "Since he's a boy should we just leave him here?" She said no, she still wanted to take him home. She thought everything he did was so cute and just giggled over everything.

They love holding their baby brother. Unfortunately we've all been sick with colds the last few weeks so I try and not let them get too close too often, which is practically impossible. I think Hunter has a cold now, and eye infections the kids had. Oh well. It will be nice when we're all well again, but are you ever all well with 3 kids around??

so sweet! we love baby brother

Fun with baby at home

2012-06-03T13:00:00.000-07:00

The kids sure are loving having a little baby around... sometimes a little too much :) They love to smother him in kisses, "pet" his head, and fight over who gets to sit on the side he's eating on. It's been pretty good having my three, a little wild and crazy at times, and mom is TIRED, but all in all we're doing great. I enjoy my sweet little babies more and more each time I have one. They are so tiny, cute and sweet, and I guess now I realize how quickly they do grow up! I love little Hunter, he's so precious.

My all time favorite picture! Look how happy Cody is, he has the best smile! He always asks "Can I hold him?" He just loves to be up close to this little one.

"binky buddies"

Good thing I got a picture of it because this last week I finally got rid of Cody's binky for good- yay!

This is how he sleeps half the time at night- in his baby seat. He's not a huge fan of his bassinet, and this seems cozier. He usually goes about 2 1/2 hours between feedings at night, but he has gone as much as 5 one time, which is always a huge blessing. 4 hours of sleep in a row? What a difference it makes! Lack of sleep has always been a huge challenge for me, but on Mother's Day after feeling angry about being woken up prematurely, then feeling awful about the way I was acting, I decided it was finally time to face the fact that I'm just not going to sleep as much as I'd like anymore. And fortunately, since that time, I've done much better at being kind, even when I am woken up prematurely.

Rumor has it that he looks like his big sister. She sure loves her little brother!

Hunter's blessing day

2012-06-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

Today was Hunter's baby blessing. It was so wonderful. Chad always gives the most amazing blessings. In fact, I have to admit, I'm always surprised at how amazing his blessings always are. He truly lets God speak through him. How blessed and fortunate I feel to have a worthy priesthood holder in my home. Thanks Chad. I was also very pleased at how well the get together afterwards went. Usually I am disappointed with the poor job I did as a hostess, but this time I think it went quite well, and didn't look back on it realizing what I should have done, but didn't. Of course, that is mostly credited to family who helped me plan and carry it out. Thank you family. It was also awesome having it in our new home close by, and in the spring. The other two blessings were both the first week in January at 9 am in Tooele. This time was so much better. I am grateful on a daily basis that this baby was born in the spring rather than late fall.

Our happy family, aren't we cute?

It seems crazy to me that we are a family of 5. Am I really a mother of three children? I feel like I'm still just 20 years old, not the ripe old age of 28.

The party guests

kids table

Baxter family

Proud grandparents

Other proud grandparents

Joel, Kalli, and Blake hanging out on the little kid bench. They just fit on it! Not that I'm poking fun, being small is great.

Happy mother

Hunter is in the same outfit his dad and brother wore on their blessing days.

We love you baby Hunter!!

Pregnancy Update

2012-04-02T10:57:00.000-07:00

Valentine's day photo of baby belly at 6 months :)

My growing belly at 7 months

So, before this last month I wanted to post how much fun I'm having being pregnant. Unfortunately, the last month hasn't been quite so much fun. I forget how uncomfortable it starts getting towards the end: back pains, other pains, belly getting in the way, etc. Plus on top of that I've just been sick one thing after another for the past month or so. The kids and I have passed around colds and flu and I've had an infection and it's just been no fun. Despite the complaints, and really feeling ready to be done being pregnant, I still have to say that I love pregnancy as a whole. It is such a miracle to have this little body growing inside of me. I always just feel special being pregnant. Plus, I feel I have an excuse to sit around and relax more :). Besides some minor nausea the first few months, and the sicknesses of the last month, I've felt quite well. My baby is very active and always moving around. I am due in about 5 more weeks, May 10. We did not find out this time if it's a boy or girl which has been really fun. I really don't have much inclination, one way or the other, which it is. Lately I'm leaning more towards girl, though Chad's holding out for another boy (always :). Either way, I'm happy. I have both, so either will be great. I'm getting excited to have this little newborn to hold (and be able to stop referring to the baby as "it"...), but I am nervous, also, since my two babies were quite fussy and difficult. I am very excited to be having this baby in Spring rather than the late fall, that'll be so nice!

Accident Cody

2012-04-01T11:13:00.000-07:00

My little Cody seems to be quite accident prone, or maybe it's just that he's VERY active and always climbing, RUNNING, and jumping. My dad nick-named him Tip Over Cody when we lived there because he was constantly falling off stools, tables, etc. So a few weeks ago he was running from the end of the hall to the end of the family room where the fireplace is and tripped and cut his nose on the edge of the bricks... ouch! I'm always worried about what might happen on those darn bricks. There's a ledge about 5 inches off the ground and he's been awfully close to hitting it many times and finally did. It is moments like this that I wish I wasn't the mother who has to witness and figure out what to do about it. Injuries and sicknesses are not my thing! I always wonder if I should take them to the Dr. or wait it out, etc. this one was bad because more than just the cut, he hit his nose so hard that it started swelling between his eyes and bruising. He is quite a tough little guy and acted fine (his usually running, jumping self) so I waited a few days, but just kept worrying it was broken and wouldn't heal right, or would affect his sinuses for years to come, etc. So I called the Dr. and of course he wanted me to bring him in to check out something or other that could be a problem and cause his nose to grow crooked. I was worried after that of all the bad things that could be wrong, but fortunately the Dr. reported everything was fine, and he didn't have to go to a specialist to get the bruising sucked out (gag). Yay. My prayers were answered once again. So now he just has a nice scar across his nose that matches the scar across his forehead that he got in Dec. Another story: The kids and I were at Arctic Circle and he tripped and jammed his head into a step on the play place and blood gushed everywhere. I decided not to take him to the Dr., though now I think it probably should have had stitches; it was pretty deep. It makes me sad to see his once perfect face all scarred, but I guess that's just part of growing up :( (me and him). I'm slowly being strengthened as a mom with each, not so fun, experience. I'm finding out I am quite a wimp, but am getting tougher!

Day 1

Day 3

Day 5

It really healed quite fast and looks fine now. Just a little pink scar.

Home for the Holdiays

2012-01-24T13:52:00.000-08:00

That's right, we enjoyed the holidays in our NEW HOME! We closed Thursday before Christmas and were allowed to move in Christmas Eve 7 am. So with the help of some great family, Chad got everything moved in before we headed off to the Baxter Christmas Eve party. I decided it would be fun to stay there that night, despite the mess and craziness, so that's what we did. It was the first time since we've been married (6 yrs) that we stayed at our own house and not the Baxters. Usually we stay there because they have a party there Christmas Eve and we don't want to drive all the way back to Tooele. I never sleep well because my kids are such terrible sleepers at someone else's house, so I've always wanted to stay at my own house and get a little sleep. This year wasn't much of an exception for the bad sleep because the kids weren't used to the house, But we had lots of fun, despite the unfamiliarity. We woke up Christmas morning to a trunk full of dress-ups for Jayci, stockings full of little nick nacks (one of which was pez dispensers which were probably one of the favorite gifts. Easy to please a 2 and 4 yr. old), and the best surprise was a bounce house Santa managed to get into our house and into the basement (yard sale special!). The kids had so much fun bouncing on it for a few minutes before we headed off to church. We spent a majority of the morning looking for spoons in all our boxes so we could eat cereal from Santa. So fun, I love Christmas. And we love our new house! It smells and looks like an old Grandma house, but hey, it's clean, most everything works, and it's finished; including grass in the fenced backyard and a park 1/2 a block away. So fun. We really are loving our own space and I'm happy to have my kids back on a better sleeping schedule. I'm kind of uptight about my kids getting naps and going to bed at a decent time. One of the best things about our house is that it's 5 min. from my parents and less than 10 from Chad's. I love it. I'm not so lonely anymore and don't have to make that hour drive! We would LOVE ANY VISITORS who would like to come see our house, and us! Give me a call and I'll tell you how to get there!

The kids are so happy to have a new house!

The backyard and back view of the house. Not the prettiest to look at, but I love the covered porch!

The kids and dogs are loving the backyard. Although, it's been too cold for me to enjoy being out there much!

Christmas morning. Jayci was up first looking at her new treasures. We really didn't need Christmas this year because opening our things up that had been in storage for six months was like Christmas alone!

Oh yes, the beloved pez. I gave my kids very little candy this year which was nice since Cody has an OBSESSION with it (and I don't mean that lightly).

Princess Jayci in a new dress up.

This was the Christmas tree we put up. Grandma Baxter gave it to Jayci a few weeks before Christmas, so it was perfect for a last minute tree. Pretty huh!

Personally, I love pink and purple!

Bounce house fun. Great for the long winter months!

This Thanksgiving We're Thankful for...

2011-11-28T08:04:00.000-08:00

Baby number 3!! May 12, 2012

Sold the house

2011-11-17T11:57:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's true. We finally got our house sold and are so happy about it! We are still living with my parents and are in the process of finding a new home somewhere in this valley. It was a little sad to see our finally completed, cleaned home go to someone else, but it was definitely a relief to be done with it and not have to worry about going out there to work on it anymore. Thank you to all who have helped us with it: projects, babysitting, cleaning, praying for us, etc. It was a great blessing. And as depressing as it was to get a lot less out of it than hoped for, we are constantly reminded that we did a lot better than many who lost their homes; so we are grateful. It was just an unfortunate time to buy and sell in this market. We are excited to move to a new home that is closer to Chad's work and to family and friends! What a great Thanksgiving gift for us.

Happy Halloween

2011-11-05T09:03:00.000-07:00

We carved pumpkins for Family Home Evening the week before Halloween. We're not big into carving pumpkins. I have to drag Chad to do it each year because he hates the smell and feel of the pumpkin guts...

...but Jayci loved them! She played with them for a long time. And Cody mostly just watched. Chad's always the designated pumpkin carver.

We ended up with two very simple pumpkin faces, but the kids were satisfied.

Here's princess Cinderella. She loves dressing up like princesses on a daily basis. Probably no different than most 4 year olds.

I thought her hair was pretty in a bun. We tried to make her look as much like Cinderella as we could with what we had.

Halloween morning she had a Halloween party for preschool. She had lots of fun.

And here's my cute little skeleton. I'm not a big fan of skeletons, but this one was adorable! It was so funny to watch him run around in the dark with just his bones showing his cute little toddler run.

He wasn't always happy to be wearing it :)

Not really a matching pair, but cute, nonetheless. We just wear what people will lend us. Cheap, I know, but we're all happy.

We went to Leslie's work at Jet Blue and her co-workers were so nice to give my kids candy and rave about how cute they were. Here's a clown on stilts that Jayci was so scared of. She wouldn't look up at him. Cody was very intrigued.

It was such a fun Halloween. We did just a little trick-or-treating around my parents' neighborhood and my in-laws neighborhood. It was so fun to watch Cody. He loved everything about it. The lights, the pumpkins, the costumes, and of course... the CANDY! He put each piece in his mouth right when he got it. If you don't know my Cody, you should, he's hilarious.

Just everyday life...

2011-11-05T08:32:00.000-07:00

Cody loves bugs... and so does his dad. So Chad often finds bugs and brings them in for Cody. One day it was a cat spider. Fortunately, he didn't take it inside because those are some huge spiders! Chad carried it to the porch and was playing with it with Cody. I looked it up online because my parents, brother, and I were all creeped out, but Chad was right, they are harmless.

If only we had a super quality camera like most of my siblings...nonetheless, Chad's photography is quite impressive. He likes taking pictures of the kids...

...and these are priceless.

Here's Jayci jumping on the trampoline!

One day we used some apples from my mom's tree and painted stars. They didn't work real great, but the kids still had fun.

And the chocolate lover licking the spoon after making something chocolatey

House For Sale

2011-08-13T21:39:00.000-07:00

What we've been up to all summer? Trying to get our house sold. We moved everything, but basic furniture, out at the end of June and moved into my parents so that we could finish up repairs and such. We got it looking really nice and got it on the market about a month ago, but only today did someone walk through it. Let's hope they buy it. I'm wondering if we should move back in, only we really don't want to be out in Tooele anymore, so I think we'll just stay here. Yes, we're paying our mortgage still, which seems like a waste, but I was just so lonely out there and am really enjoying the company of my family. Not to mention the awesome yard we get to play in. So I guess we'll stay here and hope it will sell quickly. If you know of anyone who wants to live in Tooele, I know a sweet place for sale. Send them here for a look! It's sad for me to go out there and have some awesome things recently added that we didn't get to enjoy, like: a new kitchen sink, a really nice, new AC unit, new paint in the basement, and most of all, grass in the backyard. They were just things we meant to get to, but kind of ran out of time, money, and motivation. So we finished them, and it's real nice. We're sad to be losing a bit compared to what we put into it, but I guess that's just what you get when you buy at the top of the market. At least we'll be buying low, right? That's what we're trying to make ourselves feel better about. We're hoping to move closer to Chad's work, which is in Murray. Anywhere from West Jordan, to Lehi, to Eagle Mountain or somewhere in between. Tooele just wasn't for us. We were always spending time around our families anyway. So that's the long story, and to sum it up WE JUST WANT OUR HOUSE TO SELL! Unfortunately we'll probably just have to keep lowering the price to have that happen. Pray for us!

Jayci's cute room that I will miss! Another new thing: the closet doors. We never had those and it makes the room look so much nicer!

Our practically empty bedroom. (again, new closet doors)

We finally got around to putting restore-a-finish on our kitchen cabinets and it made a world of a difference and was quite easy. I think with our next house I'll know how to do simple fix-ups that make a big difference. The question is, will I really do them?

Our sweet, big yard that we finally got looking nice and got all the cement removed out of. This part of the yard is just groomed weeds, with a little field grass, but right behind the house we got sod.

Our huge, beautiful garden that I'm still traveling to Tooele to weed.

I'll miss you, house and yard. We wish we could pick up our house and yard and move it somewhere else, we really loved it.

Oh What do you do in the Summertime?

2011-08-12T17:51:00.000-07:00

This summer has been fun, despite the inconvenience of moving out of our house and into my parents' house. I've really enjoyed staying at my parents'. Lots more company and things to do around here and a sweet yard for the kids and me to play in.

Our newest purchase was this four-wheeler. Chad's wanted one for years and I finally gave in. He found it used on KSL and saved up enough to pay for it in cash, so I figured, what the heck. The kids love it, and I'll admit, so do I. It's been fun to ride around on in my parents' gully.

Here's Cody after being "painted" with mud by his big sister.

Cody's ready for a ride

The kids heading down for some fun in the gully

Having fun by the stream in the gully

Sometimes they really love each other!

so sweet

Cody loves to "cheese"!

playing dead

Jon and family came for a visit last month so we had fun with all 11 grandkids! It's always fun trying to get them all sitting for a picture :) Jon did a good job entertaining them with his crazy "cowboy dance".

We had fun at our Wakefield family reunion this summer. My aunt has this awesome 50 acres of property in Wyoming we spent a few days at. It was beautiful. Here's the lake one beautiful night. Chad tried his hand fly fishing in it, but no bites.

Jayci on a fun swing by the lake

They gave horse rides to the kids. Jayci was a little scared to get on, but enjoyed it once she did.

Cody's favorite part was climbing on the four wheelers and these machines (whatever you call them). We also got taken on rides on these which the kids loved.

This is the nice pavilion they built for such get-togethers. We had 100+ come this year. I love these reunions, they are so fun.

Cody loves bugs. Here he is playing with a daddy-long-leg in Tooele. He likes to carry spiders and bugs around and also loves to stomp on them till they're dead.

Here's Cody passed out in a walker. He likes to climb in this and walk around, and this is how I found him one day.

I guess moving it around in the carpet really wore him out.

Our cute kids hanging out together in our bed a few months ago.

Easter!

2011-05-05T13:26:00.000-07:00

We had a very fun Easter this year; although, I have to admit that holidays are hard for me now that my kids spend the whole day eating candy. I'm trying to relax about it, but it stresses me out. Cody, especially, is OBSESSED with candy and has to have it if he sees it. So all day Saturday he spent the day eating more and more candy. But besides the whole candy thing, the holiday was great. I tried all month to talk, here and there, about the real meaning of Easter to Jayci, and we had a family home evening on it. It's fun to see her learning more about the gospel.

This was our Smith hunt Saturday night. It was fun to have it in the gulley with more spots to hide eggs.

Here's Cody eating some candy in the weeds. I didn't encourage him finding any eggs this time, it would just mean more candy.

Ren and Jayci ready for the hunt

This is Jayci's new favorite dress she wears every day that I let her. It was perfect for Easter. Just matched all the eggs.

I think this was the first year we dyed eggs with Jayci. She loved it. She and Cody were the only grandkids at Grandma's that night so she got to dye the whole batch by herself.

Cody started taking the eggs out of his bucket half-way through the hunt. He just wanted to find candy, not eggs.

Here's my little chocolate lover, scarfing down more candy! Everyone, but me, loved giving him more candy to eat because the look on his face was pure joy. (Does the candy thing bother anyone else, or is it just me?)

The Baxter egg hunt

spinach brownies...yum

2011-04-09T19:53:00.001-07:00

My kids don't know that there is spinach and carrots mixed into this brownie batter...therefore, they love it. The brownies are really not too bad, I mean, pretty good. Only, they take forever to make. Worth it? I don't know. But at least I can eat chocalate brownies and know I'm getting 3 grams of fiber with each serving! Here's them eating the batter off the spoon tonight. Love these two!

Oh, and a little bonus picture: this is the cement mountain that formed last fall when Chad (and helpers) tore out the cement in our backyard. Thanks to KC and Ken's help last week, all the cement is now gone from our yard! Yay! We just have a normal dirt backyard, finally. It only took about 30 loads to the dump (at least). Oh, and this is after we took half the cement to the dump already. That Chad, he gets things done!

Okay, I found a picture of the original pile after hauling loads to the dump all day... it just kept growing. Sometime I'll have to do a post showing the project.

Catch-Up Time

2011-03-02T13:59:00.000-08:00

Yeah, it's been awhile since I've posted. Maybe I'll try to be a little better at posting... or maybe not, no commitment :) My kids keep me entertained and BUSY and laughing and busy, but we sure do have fun together. Little Cody is quite a tease. His favorite thing lately is to push or hit Jayci and watch her great reaction. He still loves cuddling, wrestling, being chased and any other game I'll play with him. Jayci is suddenly coming out of her shell. Well, sometimes. She talks to people and they say, "I think that's the first time I've ever heard her talk!" It's fun to hear all the funny things she comes up with and her more sophisticated talking. She says she's 2 and 3, hasn't yet accepted being 3 I guess. I love these two more than anything. We've had lots of good inside time and are now ready for SPRING! Who isn't, right? So here's a few happenings from the last few months:

Cody loves to "help" me sweep the floor

I've stopped giving Jayci naps hoping she'll sleep better at night, so sometimes she falls asleep in unusual positions.

This is her favorite church dress she wears every week to church. Every other day of the week she wears a some other dress. I made her wear pants to the zoo and she complained about them all day. She only wears dresses.

sweet little bath buddies

They love to play and tease each other

We went to the zoo on a free day last week and I only got these few pics. It was too cold to get my camera out much. Notice how Cody is not fazed by the gorilla statue...

Jayci, on the other hand, was very afraid. Cody is an animal lover like his dad. Jayci was particular about which she liked. She DID NOT like the stinky inside animals and cried to go out the whole time we were in the stinky places.

Here they are bundled up in the stroller

Cody is obsessed with shoes lately. Jayci's are always sitting out in a box in her room, so Cody helps himself to them. It's not unusual for him to wear pink shoes around the house.

Building forts is something the kids love. Like all kids, right? Really, I think I enjoy them almost just as much. It was one of my favorite things as a kid.

Here's one of the few Christmastime pictures I took.

And we call this "cheesers" at our house; one of Cody's favorite looks. He says "shee" as he does it. And when he wants to eat cheese he'll give me this look, too.

Jayci helping out with feeding her little brother (he demands to feed himself lately, quite messy). I can't get enough of the interactions between these two. So cute. Even when they're fighting they're cute. Okay, it does get old after awhile, but at first it's pretty cute!

Can I get any hotter than this?

2010-12-22T12:02:00.000-08:00

Okay, so this is a totally random post, but I came across this picture today and felt like it was worthy to share with everyone. I love this picture of Shelly and me in college. It was Halloween, and I think we made some pretty hot 80's chicks. The sad thing is, all I had to do was comb out my hair and it made for some perfect 80's rock hair. The best part about this is that Shelly got extra credit from one of her teachers for dressing up that day, so she walked around campus like this and said she got such funny looks directed at her. She was about the only one dressed up that day and I think people wondered if she was dressed up... or not. I still laugh when I think about it! I love this girl! Those were the good ol days!

Cody's First Birthday

2010-12-02T13:44:00.001-08:00

My sweet little Cody turned 1 on November 11! Oh how I love this little boy! He is such a joy in my life. After much deliberation I decided to have a "party" for him, and somewhat for Jayci, also, since her birthday kind of got skipped (plus, she wanted everything to be hers, so I figured I'd just tell her it was for her. It's easier that way). After the party I realized why I had stressed about it. I am such a bad hostess! I really am. Not that anything went terribly wrong, just little things. I am not very detail oriented and just don't think of little things that would make parties nicer, or guests more comfortable. Mostly things that I don't really care about or think about myself, that other people probably do. It's a weakness I have, in my opinion. I'm sure everyone thought it was fine, I just needed to get that off my chest. It was still fun. I loved all the support I got. Chad and I have great families!

One of my biggest stresses was a cake. I am so bad at this and have no skills. All in all, I thought it turned out cute. Very basic, but cute. I had to go buy a cake pan, candle, and frosting kit. Maybe now I can improve on my cake making skill.

Cody was wanting to grab it.

Once he had the cake, he was pretty cautious about digging in. I didn't get a picture of him real messy in the end.

He was real excited about the presents. I think he was mostly just wanting the candy on top of Jayci's gift.

Leslie got him a cute cat book with textures and pop outs. He loves looking at it.

Here's Jayci's one gift she was excited about. It had a "J for Jayci", as she loves to say, and tootsie rolls on top, her favorite candy.

Here's part of the fun group. They were so nice to come support me and the kids.

My kids actually smiled in this picture! I think it's so cute!

5 things I love about Cody:

1. He is cuddly and touchy. Unlike Jayci he loves to give kisses, cuddle, wrestle, and just lay on top of anyone within reach. Jayci really hates it :) but I love it!!

2. He adores his sister. In my last post I said Jayci adores her brother, but I think mostly it's the other way around. He follows her around and does everything she does, it's so cute!

3. He is one year old and I love this age. I think it's my favorite. I remember adoring Jayci at 1. I love to watch them toddle around, I could watch him all day! (he is full out running now, and climbing everything).

4. He makes the cutest and funniest faces, and has beautiful big brown eyes.

5. He is our little entertainer. He is always making us laugh and doing funny things. He is quite the tease already (Can I say "like his dad!"). His newest thing is to say "uh-oh" all day to every little thing that happens. I love it, it's adorable! He also LOVES playing games: hide and seek, chase, being tossed onto the bed, etc. He wants to play play play all day.

Jayci Turned Three

2010-11-04T14:36:00.000-07:00

That's right, Jayci turned 3 October 22! Hard to believe. Her birthday got a little neglected because that's the night Chad and I went away for our anniversary. She stayed at my mom's, which I'm sure was the best birthday present to be with her Grandma and cousins. They took her to a ward Halloween party that night and there were balloons and prizes and so Julie was so nice and pointed out all night that they were celebrating her birthday and it was a party for her. :) So I don't have any birthday pictures, but she was an adorable little snow white (with blonde hair) for Halloween. I love my little Jayci. She's so sweet, and animated and fun to have around. She is very shy and not a fan of crowds (which, by crowds I mean more than about 2 people). She loves to dance and sing and do somersaults and other tricks. She's still just a petitite little girl, and I think she's adorable!
5 things I love about Jayci:

She's a good listener and is basically very obedient and wants to do what's right
She is adorable when she entertains with her dancing and singing (and talking. She's quite a motor mouth these days)
She is so cute to watch with her little brother and really adores him
She gets so excited about life and all she does
She's my little buddy and sticks right by my side wherever we go

An Awesome Weekend Getaway!

2010-11-01T15:42:00.000-07:00

Chad and I celebrated our FIFTH anniversary on October 14. I've always wanted to rent a room somewhere since we got married, but Chad had a hard time agreeing to pay to stay over night somewhere. So he always told me we could at our 5 year anniversary. So, I held him up to that. I rented a room at the Johnson Mill Bed and Breakfast in Midway and was so excited! And I wasn't disappointed! It was SO GREAT! It was just the kind of thing we needed, no kids and all the time we wanted to just relax and hang out together. Even Chad loved it. I purposely went there and chose the room I did because it was sure to please him. It had a deck that looked out on the Jordan river and promised for a look at wildlife, and sure enough we saw deer the first time we looked out our window. We also found out after we got there that you could fish in their ponds, so he was bummed that he didn't take his fishing pole. It was BEAUTIFUL with the fall leaves everywhere. Lots had fallen on the ground already, so it made a beautiful ground cover. He took me over the mountain to and from Midway and it was so pretty. Anyone who knows me well, know that mountains and fall leaves are my favorite thing in the whole world to see. I highly recommend this bed and breakfast, so romantic! They are my favorite thing!

That's the bed and breakfast behind us, and a pretty waterfall

This is the path to the gazebo over the pond

This is the pond outside. That night when it was dark we went out in the canoe and chased swans around. They never flew away, but they did swim faster than us, so Chad couldn't grab them:)

Beautiful leaves and a pretty girl he found there

Don't tell Chad, but I snuck a picture of this hot guy. And if you're wondering why he's wearing camo suspenders in all his pictures, it's really just the straps to his binoculars he wore around in case we spotted some wildlife.

The cool waterfall outside the hotel

This is our fun room. It had a loft, which was one of the reasons I chose it, so cute. In fact, we invited our friends to come occupy the extra bed in the loft, but for some reason they didn't show. My favorite thing to do was jump off the ladder onto the bed!

Looking at the room from the loft. It had a nice little fireplace and a TV. We checked out "Hairspray" from the office and watched it that night, so romantic :)

A beautiful little pathway with stairs

Julie's favorite (she thinks it's so funny). She thinks I should blow this up and hang it in our room. He looks like a cute little boy, huh? Yes, I did tell him to pose, it wasn't his choice.

THANKS CHAD FOR AN AWESOME WEEKEND!! I LOVE YOU!

Just Feeding Her Baby

2010-10-06T13:47:00.000-07:00

Jayci loves baby dolls lately. I love to watch her with them. She loves to stroll them around in strollers, put them to bed in her crib (yes she still sleeps in a crib) with strict instruction that I have to "be twiet, my baby's sleeping!", she wraps up books in little blankets and folds it nicely for a birthday present for her babies, and lately, she "feeds" her baby the way mommy feeds Cody. The other day She was just sitting there "nursing" her baby, so I snapped these photos. A few days ago we were outside and a neighbor boy, about 8 was over. Jayci had her baby in her shirt and informed me she was feeding her baby. I told her a few times, "I think the baby's done eating now", but she insisted she wasn't. Either the boy didn't notice, or he was pretending he didn't, Either way, he didn't seem to care.

She wasn't too happy that I was capturing such a private moment
Jayci feeding her baby

Cody Walks!

2010-09-26T17:43:00.000-07:00

Cody turned 10 months old on the 11th of September and three days later he walked! He took a few steps on the hard floor in the basement and then I got the camera out and he took about 20. It is so cute. Now he walks everywhere and has become quite good at it. He loves it. He is such a busy body and into everything, but I love it. My kids are so much happier when they become mobile. I'm so mad because for a few months now I haven't been able to get movies to upload on my blog, so you can't see him walk, but here are a few pictures of him. I also gave him a haircut a few weeks ago. Actually, Julie did. She thought his hair was getting too long, and I agreed, so we went upstairs and cut it. I love it.We cut all the brown off and left only blond hair, so now he's a blondie. We sure love our little Cody, he's a pretty happy boy these days.

Ha! I can run away from you now!

sticking out his tongue

I got Jayci this scooter at a yard sale and she loves it! She is really good at the scooter now and sometimes we even ride around the block.

And here's a baby I got at a yard sale that she loves, too. She named her Zanna. Unfortunately, Chad carelessly threw her in the back of the truck and her leg fell off. But Jayci doesn't mind much. She says, "My daddy broke her leg". When I put her to bed she wants to sleep with Zanna and has me put her broken off leg next to her. It's quite funny. She's almost 3 and you can tell. She's growing up quick.

2010 Wakefield Reunion

2010-09-09T19:05:00.000-07:00

I have a great extended family that has a reunion every summer, which is always awesome. This year was no exception. We went to Hanna, UT where there's a beautiful river, a pond with little boats, and CABINS to sleep in. We had our own small cabin which was so great. My kids are terrible sleepers when not at home, but at least we were in a warm cabin. It was so much fun to be with my family! I was so glad Chad made it up for both nights and a day, he always makes it great. Here are a few clips from the event.

Some of the kids blowing bubbles
This is Breanne, Justin, and family's cabin

These two little buddies were inseparable the whole reunion and still are

Ren and Jayci

The fun stairs down to the cabins and river

The reason we have these reunions: Grandma and Grandpa Wakefield. We love you!

The kids loved playing by the river

Chad caught a big fish he was proud of

Jayci and my cousin, Katie, playing tether ball together. They were so cute. No competition here.

Here are some of the cousins on the paddle boats, they were lots of fun

Camping in July

2010-09-09T18:41:00.000-07:00

So yeah, these were from our camping trip back in July, but they were so cute I couldn't pass them up. We went camping to our hunting spot to scout out deer. This spot is out in the middle of the mountains with no bathrooms, running water, etc. So it's pretty rustic, but we find our own fun. The kids love the outdoors, and love getting dirty, as you can see.

Here's my little Jayci being silly

She LOVES blowing bubbles

Here's Cody all decked out in his hunting camo

And here's my really dirty, ragged kids!

Archery Success for Two

2010-08-28T18:23:00.000-07:00

So I know you are all going to be totally jealous with this post, but I opted to post it anyway. Chad and I were both successful during the archery hunt this past week and each got a big buck! Mine was kind of a sad success, though. I shot it Saturday and after searching and searching we gave up looking for it. Wednesday, Chad went back to the spot and, amazingly, came upon my deer! So he got pictures with it, but I didn't because I wasn't there. Chad got his deer Friday with a great shot. What a great team we make, huh!?

Our twin-er deer. They really are almost just the same size.

Chad's big buckaroo

Jeni's big bad buck