My little climber

Hannah is crawling, pulling up, and exploring everything!  Here is a picture of her in our computer desk.

Meet Jack

As if things weren't crazy enough around here, we decided to add a lab puppy to the mix.

His name is Jack and he came home with us May 1.  Here is a picture of the four of us with Jack in April when we picked him out.

He is a bundle of energy and tries to chew on EVERYTHING but we've been very firm with him and are really starting to see him learn the rules, which is exciting.  The house-training is going better than expected and he is learning not to bite when he plays with us.  This is something we have been planning to do for awhile, as it is really important to us that the kids grow up with pets.

We chose a lab because they are good with kids and trainable.  We are enrolling him in puppy training and eventually dog training when he is old enough to make sure we have a good, well-rounded family pet.  Right now we are just having fun!  I was baking the other day and spilled some flour.  Guess who was right there to help mop it up!

Billings trip

In April we took a trip to Billings to visit our families.  Here are some fun pictures of my parents and sister with the kids.

What We've Been Up To

I haven't blogged in 3 months!  Has it really been that long?  Yikes.  What a slacker.  :-)

Actually, I've been keeping very busy.  Remember that New Year's Resolution list?  Well, I've been doing really well living up to my goals.  Take a peek:

1.  Blog at least weekly - well let's just skip this one, hehe....

2.  Potty-train Nathan - done!!!  Hurray!!!!

3.  Wean Hannah (not till this summer, but it is key to #4) - not time to wean yet but she is down to four feedings per day from 6 at the beginning of the year

4.  Go on a trip with Jared without the kids (we are thinking New York in the fall...) - we almost have enough frequent flier miles and Marriott points to book our trip!

5.  Visit Jared's extended family in Utah, we haven't been down there since before we got married! - still haven't been there yet, but we will be seeing almost everyone in Billings in a couple of weeks for McKenna (Jared's sister) and McKay's wedding!!!

6.  Lose all my baby + holiday weight (10-15 pounds, yikes) - done!!!!  Woohoo!  I still have some toning to do, even at the pre-pregnancy weight, my body doesn't look the same.

7.  Exercise at least 5 days a week - I have been consistently working out 5-6 days a week for three months now....

8.  Increase fruits and veggies, decrease sweets - ummmm, still working on that, there is always room for improvement

9.  Study the Scriptures daily (not a new goal, just one I need to get better at) - Jared and I have both done much better at this so far this year...

10.  Become a better wife and mother!!!! - always room for improvement here too

11.  Keep a cleaner house - I'm getting better!!!!  Yay!!!!

12.  Less time on the computer, more time on the floor (playing with the kids) - this might be part of the reason I haven't been blogging... LOL

12.  Learn new ways to be frugal - Yay for my new friend Harata and the grocery game!  :-)

13.  Establish some great friendships in Denver - I am having a blast getting to know the ladies in our ward in Aurora. 

14.  Have people over to dinner at least twice a month - actually we've been averaging dinner guests around 3 times a month and loving it

We've been up to a lot more, more posts and pictures to come!!!

Happy Valentines Day!

It's a few days late, but I thought I'd share a little of our fourth Valentines Day with you.  First of all, we celebrated on Friday night, because Jared had to leave on Sunday morning for 6 days in Atlanta.  Boo!  We had a great time eating dinner at Texas Roadhouse (LOVE that place!) and Jared got me truffles and the best caramel corn in the world from our favorite chocolate shop in Rapid City (he was there for the first half of last week, training his replacement) as well as a couple of new Scentsy bars.  Great gifts, I love my husband!


That being said, I was about to kill him the next night when I sent him to the grocery store for one item that I needed for my Sunbeams class and he returned with this:

That's right, he apparently couldn't say no to the cute little Brownies selling cookies in front of King Soopers.  The next morning he took off for Atlanta, leaving me with a box of truffles and FIVE boxes of girl scout cookies.  Praying for some will power...

As I took the picture of the boxes of cookies, Nathan said "Ready, cheeeeeeese!  Oh, that's cute!"  Yikes, I guess I'm predictable, huh?  :-)

When Times are Tough

The last month has been difficult for many reasons, some too personal to post on a public blog.  In life there are ups and downs, and for me this has been a down period.  With my husband's travel schedule and the fact that we live farther from home than ever before, I have felt very alone.  I love my children dearly, but I have found my temper growing shorter with them as my pain and loneliness grew.  I finally ended up on my knees in tears a few days ago, pleading with my Father in heaven to take the pain and anger that I felt, and replace it with love and forgiveness.  Some days are better than others, but I know that He has been faithful to answer my prayers.  I feel as if the fog has lifted and I am finally able to move on and become the person I want to be, with His help.

A book that has been so helpful to me in this time is "When Times Are Tough: 5 Scriptures That Will Get You Through Almost Anything" by John Bytheway.  My mother-in-law gave this book to all of her kids at Christmas, and I am so glad she did!  This was the first book that I have read by this author (who incidentally was one of my husband's professors at BYU!) and it was so encouraging to me when I needed it most.

On a bright note, Hannah has officially started solid foods!  So far she has tried green beans, peaches, carrots, and of course, rice cereal.  Carrots seem to be the favorite, as you can see in this picture.  They grow up so fast!

Sleepless Nights and Runny Noses

My children have it: the dreaded Cold.  Some colds are easy, a couple days of runny noses and they are gone before you know it.  Not this cold, it started five days ago and shows no signs of letting up.  All four of us have it, but poor Hannah has been suffering the most.  She gets very congested at night and wakes up every 1-2 hours.  In fact, the longest stretch of sleep she has gotten since the cold started was 3 hours a couple of nights ago.  That felt like heaven to me, as I am also getting up a couple of times per night with Nathan as well to use the toilet.  The only thing that seems to help Hannah has been sleeping in her car seat, which isn't ideal, but necessary to allow us all some rest.  Being more upright in the seat seems to help her drain, and she breathes easier.

The sleep deprivation is getting to me, and I do not have much of interest to type, except for this funny/sad, cold-related story.  Nathan and Hannah were both feeling quite lousy this morning.  At one point, they both had green snot pouring out of their little noses.  As I dove for Kleenex, they looked at each other and simultaneously burst into tears.  Later, after Nathan had perked up, he noticed that Hannah's nose was running again.  "Oh!  Baby!  Nose!  Hannah!  Wipe nose!" he exclaimed.  He grabbed some tissues and began wiping every inch of her little face, yet somehow magically leaving the snot intact.  He was so sweet and so proud of himself though!  What a great big brother...