Don't Be Rude At Me

Birth Story

2011-06-28T19:40:00.003-06:00

Warning: This is really long and maybe boring. :)

So, I'd say it all started Saturday May 28th. My Grandpa passed away about 1:30 that morning. He had been suffering with dementia for almost five years. Donovan and me went and visited him the Thursday after he had a stroke the day before. Friday he went into a coma and passed away early Saturday. I'm sharing this for a reason, I promise. Sometime that night Contractions started coming regularly. They were coming 10 to 15 minutes apart for over two hours. Jason was at a concert and we were worried he was going to have to leave early. However, contractions continued coming but never got any closer that night. It wasn't until the next night that they got under five minutes. My Mom was visiting, so Jason and me headed to the hospital. They monitored me for over an hour and said contractions were coming 2 to 7 minutes apart, but there was no change in my cervix, so back home we came.

This was a pretty tough weekend for me. I had many emotions going on that were hard to process. I was saddened by my grandfather's death, but very excited about the baby coming soon. It was hard for me to know how to feel, especially because I thought the baby was going to come on the same day of his passing. I also wanted the baby to come so bad that weekend so we could make it to the funeral on Thursday. The baby had another plan though. Contractions continued coming regularly for days. My Mom and me even went on a 5K walk that didn't help, but make me more uncomfortable. I tried to just keep moving and staying as active as I could. This was very different from my last 12 week activity. I find it interesting that there was all this worry about me having the baby early, then when I try to get him to come....nothing. I was very frustrated.

As Thursday came closer I was torn between wanting the baby to come or not. I really wanted to make it to the funeral, but also really really wanted the baby out. Keep in mind that I'm still contracting, and I'm very uncomfortable and in pain. Every night of this week was horrible. So, Thursday came and the baby was not here. I was really glad that I was able to go to the funeral. It was very special. I was glad I got to say goodbye. I also got to see some family that I hadn't seen for awhile. About ten or so that night contractions started getting closer and more painful. Jason and me debated on going in, but neither of us wanted to be sent home again. We even read in our books about labor to help us decide. I finally just decided to try to sleep about one in the morning. I woke up about four from a pain. I timed the contractions and decided to wake Jason up at 5:30 to tell him that I thought it was time. We called my Mom and got to the hospital about 6:30.

At the hospital we were finally told that I was in active labor. I was dilated to a 6. I had been debating on having an epidural during my whole pregnancy. I hated the way I reacted to the one with Donovan. I believed that I had to push for four hours with him because of it. I think we were there for about six hours before I finally decided to get one. It wasn't because of the contractions. I was dilated to an eight at this point and my water had been broken, and I was handling the contractions fine. It was talking to my doctor that swayed me. I've always been worried about the stitching up after without an epidural. I have a little fear of stitches for some reason. Not needles, just stitches specifically. My doctor said that for her, the stitching up after would be the reason for an epidural. So, I got one and immediately my contractions stopped. They gave me that drug that gets contractions going and we waited for almost another two hours for him to come. So, I still hate epidurals and just don't think they mix too well with my system. Maybe I won't chicken out the next time.

Dexter was born at exactly 2p.m. with about ten minutes of pushing. They put him on my chest, and I knew immediately that he was a big baby. He seemed so huge. He was 8lbs 6oz and 19 1/2 inches long (which we think is wrong).

I find it interesting that my contractions started the day my grandfather passed away, but I didn't go into labor until after the funeral. It's gone through my mind that, that is for a reason. Maybe my grandpa wanted me there. Maybe he wanted to spend some time with Dexter before he came to us. Who really knows, but it's a nice thought.

Dexter's Newborn Pics

2011-06-21T16:29:00.005-06:00

So, I've been lazy with blogging. I want to share Dexter's birth story sometime when I feel like doing a longer post. I find it interesting. Here's his pictures they took of him in the hospital though to hold you over until then. :)

Dexter Douglas

2011-06-07T16:51:00.000-06:00

A couple people have asked how we came up with Dexter's name. So, here it is:

Dexter Gordon is my favorite jazz musician. He played the saxophone, and recorded mostly in the 40's, 50's, and 60's. I thought it was just a cool name, too. After a while, Dallas agreed with me. Check out the song in this post if you're interested.

Douglas is Dallas' Dad's name.

Not everyone was crazy about the name when we told them. Here is the conversation I had with my Mom when I called her right after Dexter was born:

Me:     We had the baby
Mom:   So, what did you name him?
Me:      Dexter Douglas
Mom:   (pause) .... really?
Me:       Yeah. You don't like it huh?
Mom:    It sounds like the phone book guy.

Bedrooms

2011-05-24T19:26:00.007-06:00

We've done some decorating in the kid's rooms. Jason and me haven't been great at decorating. Maybe that should fall more on me. This is my first house I've been able to decorate, and I don't really know how to do it and make it look good. I need to do some reading on blogs or in magazines. Our bare walls are starting to bug me. We've been doing little by little though. It would be nice if the kids had some color on their wall too, but Jason and me HATED painting our main level so bad, that they just may have to wait until we're in our more permanent house.

For those that may not know, Donovan was named after Jason's grandpa. His grandparents recently had to move, and they were kind enough to give us this sign that was above their garage. I was really excited to put it up in his room. How great is it that he'll have something from his namesake for the rest of his life. I hope he cherishes it and always has a place for it in his home.

Jason's Dad gave us these cool John Deere toys that he played with as a kid. We wanted to do something special with these too, so we put these shelves up to display them. I just love getting stuff handed down from generations. The stuff that I have mean a lot to me, and I really hope our kids love them too. I'm waiting to get a picture of my boys to put in the picture frame on the left.

We've had this rug since before Van was born, but here it is again.

Here's the new bunk bed we got. We don't have the top set up yet. It will go unused until Van is big enough to go up there.

Here's a close up of his comforter. My grandma was nice enough to make this for Van for his second birthday. It goes real well with his room and new bed.

Van smiling at me.

This is all we've put up in the girls' room recently. Ashley's favorite animal is the elephant, so we put up this picture for her that Jason had.

36 Weeks

2011-05-20T21:20:00.003-06:00

Only four more weeks! I'm excited to almost be done. I'm also a little nervous. I went to the doctor today and she said I'm almost dilated to a three. When I was told I was dilated to a three with Donovan, I had him two days later. I know it doesn't always work like that, but it makes you wonder. She also mentioned setting an inducement date. I said I don't think I want to be induced. That actually makes me nervous. I would prefer to go naturally. I might set one anyway at my next appointment, since she won't set one before I'm 39 weeks anyway. I'm hoping I'll go before then. I'd bet money I'm having this baby on the first anyway ;). Okay not really. That's just the date that's been in my head since I found out my due date. All the women in my family have had their babies two weeks early, so I'm hoping this one doesn't break that tradition.

Bedtime

2011-05-13T21:51:00.001-06:00

This is Donovan's bedtime routine that he made up. I have no idea where he comes up with this stuff. He's a silly silly kid.

30 Weeks!

2011-04-08T19:35:00.003-06:00

Well, we've made it thirty weeks. As most of you know I started contracting and dilating at 26 weeks. They couldn't get the contractions to stop at the hospital, so I had to stay for a night to get them under control. At the hospital they did an FFN test. How it was explained to me was, when the baby is ready to come it releases a protein on the cervix. If you test positive for that protein, then you are likely to deliver in the next two weeks. I tested positive, which is no good at only 26 weeks. They gave me lots of shots while I was in the hospital. I had ten different needles in me in a 24 hour period. Two of which were steroid shots to get the baby's lungs to develop more quickly....just in case I delivered early. I was a little worried about these, but was told that only good can come from the shots. I was sent home the next day with some medication to help with contractions. There was reason to believe that the FFN test was inaccurate, so they re-tested me two days later. It came back negative this time, which was excellent news. I was still pretty uncomfortable with all the contractions I was having. I also had a lot of pressure pretty much all the time. I stayed down pretty good for two weeks. The pressure finally went away, and the contractions were getting few and far between. I feel normal now. The contractions feel more like the Braxton Hicks now too. My doctor doesn't think I need to be on bed rest anymore, and can almost resume normal activity. She doesn't want me over exerting myself, but she thinks I'll be fine.

Also, they did an ultra sound while I was in the hospital. Everything looked fine. When I was 26 weeks, I was measuring at 29 weeks. They didn't change my due date, but there's a good chance I'll be having this baby early anyway. They're doing another ultra sound in two weeks to check the growth again. I'm curious to see if I'm still measuring bigger. I hope I am. :)

20 Weeks!

2011-01-27T18:46:00.003-07:00

Thought I should take a picture for my 20 week mark and share. So, here it is. As most of you know we had our ultrasound on Monday, and we're having another boy. That's what we were hoping for, so we're happy. The baby looks healthy. He doesn't seem to have any birth defects, as far as they could tell from the ultrasound. I'm doing well and feeling good. I've still been running. Just a couple of days a week. I'm going to try to run a 5K two weeks from Saturday. As of now I know I can do it. I will probably be a lot slower than normal. I'm going to try hard to not push myself during the race. It's hard in a race situation. Anyway...It's a boy! Yay!

Golfin' Trip

2011-01-14T11:08:00.005-07:00

January first Jason and me went on a little trip to St. George. It was mainly so we could go golfing in the off season. We originally wanted to do that golf or spa thing you see advertised for Mesquite. While researching we found out that wasn't such a great deal. We also thought it would be fun to go with another couple. When we had originally talked about doing this, we didn't know any other female golfers. We found out not too long after that our friend Matt's girlfriend golfed. We got excited and started planning. We had to go while Jason was out of school, and this was the only weekend we could manage it. A.T. (my Mom's boyfriend) was kind enough to let us use his condo in St. George. It helped us out a lot. I think it was about 20 degrees below average temperature for this time. It was cold. I think the high for the day we wanted to golf was low 40's. We decided to go into Mesquite, where it was a little warmer. I don't think it reached 50 while we were golfing. I could be wrong though. My hand that wasn't gloved was pretty frozen by the end of the day.

After we had finished our first hole, this guy came up to us that worked for the course. He told us that we took 35 minutes to finish the first hole, which we didn't. They expect you to do it in 15 minutes or less. He told us not so kindly that we need to speed up and let people play through who come up on us. He also pointed out that people pay to finish there, like we didn't. It was fine that he pointed out that we needed to hurry, but he didn't need to be jerky about it. We had a pretty fun time golfing anyway. I played my best ever. It's a lot more fun when you play well. Jason got a 119 and I got a 134 for 18 holes. It was a pretty tough course. There were times you were golfing off cliffs and you couldn't see where the hole was at all. It was the toughest course I had ever golfed.

Other than golfing, we went to a movie. We saw True Grit, which I would say was just okay. We also hung out with our friends, and played games. Went out to eat of course. It was just a nice, relaxing, fun little weekend. We were glad to share it with Matt and Melanie. We're also thankful for the use of A.T.'s condo.

We were lame and didn't get very many pictures. I hope to be better at that this year.

Matt and Melanie

Snow and palm trees. Just seems weird to me.

Jason showing off his sexy belly.

Me showing off mine. Just so ya know, I'm blowing out. My baby bump isn't quite this big yet.

This hole was crazy. You had to hit over that ditch.

Van's Dancing

2011-01-06T13:45:00.003-07:00

Here's our little guy dancing. He loves to dance. He just thinks that's what you do when music comes on. Most of the time he just runs in circles nodding his head. I love his hip shaking in one, and the good use of the chair in the other. Sorry about the shaky camera. I think I was dancing along.

Christmas

2011-01-06T12:57:00.003-07:00

Christmas was great for us this year. We all got way spoiled. Especially the kids, with all their different families. The girls came over about ten and we started opening gifts. After, we made waffles. We've made waffles the past two years now, so that's going to be our Christmas tradition. We hung out at home all day, and later watched Toy Story 3. It was a good day. The next day we visited my Grandma and Jason's parents, and got spoiled some more. My Dad came to visit the Monday after, and I got to spend sometime with him during the week. My step-mom and me got a manicure and pedicure together, which was very enjoyable. My Mom wasn't able to be here for Christmas, so we got Christmas early from her. She spoiled the kids big time. She spoiled Jason and me pretty good too. We are lucky to have so many family members who spoil us and love us.

The week after Christmas I got into a little accident. I think it was the Wednesday after, when it was snowing pretty good. I hadn't been outside all day, and didn't know how bad it was. I started going up the hill where the temple is by our house. I realized a little too late that, that was probably a bad idea. Everyone was going really slow up and down the hill. I had the breaks on the whole way down and felt completely in control. As we were approaching the light, we started to slide, the breaks locked up and there was nothing I could do. Instead of slamming into the car in front of me, I decided to veer off to the right. We went up and over the curb and ran over a small tree. It didn't really feel like much, because I was going pretty slow. The kids didn't even know what happened. As far as damage, there's only a small crack on the bumper, and a small dent in the hood. There doesn't seem to be any other damage. It could have been worse. Anyway, enough of that. Ash and her cool new Converse shoes.
Olivia with an Olivia doll.

I made the mistake of letting Van open Buzz and Woody towards the beginning. He didn't care about anything else after he got those.

See? Here he is holding them while we made him open more gifts.

Jason with his Pink Floyd collector glasses.

Van with his new desk, pillow pet, pillow, Buzz and Woody, and some other little toys.

My Grandmother had these made for us. I thought that was a really cute idea. I might steal it in the future.

The girls' new desk, chair, storage bin, lamp, and a bunch of other stuff on it.

The girls' pillow pets.

I didn't want to show pictures of me opening gifts. My hair's a mess and I look sleepy. Besides, I think looking at pictures of opening gifts is a little boring for other people. Jason got me a griddle, which I've been wanting. A digital photo frame, the last season of Everybody Loves Raymond, that I needed. Some other good stuff too. Jason also got some T-shirts, See's chocolate, and pajamas. Anywho, it was a good time.

Thanksgiving

2011-01-05T09:12:00.004-07:00

Well, I'm a little behind with blogging. Better late then never. On Thanksgiving Jason, Van and me went to my grandparents house for dinner. We had some good food there. I didn't get any pictures though. After we left their house we picked up the girls and went up to Jason's parents house. Jason's grandparents were there and his family was playing the violin for them. For those that don't know, Jason and basically his whole family can play the violin. His Mom taught her kids how to play, which I think is just great. I love watching Jason play, and wish I could see him play more. I love that Ashley is learning now too. I hope to see Jason and Ashley play a duet sometime. Jason with his brothers.

Jason, Geoff, Aubrey(niece), Mindy(sister), and Adam

Adam giving Allston and Van a ride.

Geoff joined in.

Here's a couple of videos of them playing. The sound quality isn't great, because I was just using my little camera. I enjoy watching all of them play together.

Guess What?

2010-11-22T11:30:00.003-07:00

Chicken butt, that's what.

I know I'm sooo funny! Anyway, just want to let you all know that we're expecting again. I'm about 11 weeks along. Right now the due date is June. 15. We're pretty excited! I had an ultrasound at my first visit. It looks like a baby in there. And just one baby. It seems healthy, and everything looks normal. I've been feeling crappy this time. I'm starting to feel better. Up until a couple of days ago, I was feeling yucky everyday. Not anything too bad. Just a lot of stomach aches and cramping. It's made it hard at times to get a whole lot done. I haven't been able to work out a lot, which has been getting to me. Like I said though, it seems to be getting better.

Just in case you're wanting to ask. We're kind of hoping for another boy. It would be nice for Van to have a boy close to his age, since we have the two girls close in age. Then maybe have another, and the youngest can be a baby girl. Of course, who knows how it will work out, and we'll be happy with whatever we get. We're just excited!

Van's 2yr Pictures

2010-11-07T08:12:00.015-07:00

We wanted to get some pictures of Van, since he turned two. My wonderful sister-in-law Mindy was kind enough to do them for us. Jason tried to get some in September, but it didn't go so well. We also got a few of Jason and me. I think the last time we got pictures together was our engagements. So, it was good to get some more. I really dislike posing for pictures though. We really need a family photo. Hopefully soon.

He reminds me of a bunny in this one.

Trunk-or-Treat and Halloween

2010-10-30T22:31:00.005-06:00

I took the kids to our ward trunk-or-treat. They do a chili cook off every year too. I don't like chili, so I didn't have any. There were several to choose from, and the girls chose the one that won the "hottest chili". Olivia kept saying it was hot, but I just thought she was talking about the temperature. Ashley really liked it. I thought that was kind of funny. Van did not want his picture taken. There were kids running around, and that's what he needed to be doing too.

He really like wearing Ashley's hat.

These next ones were taken just before trick-or-treating. I was not looking forward to it. I have a cold, and it was pouring rain outside. I tried to talk the girls out of going, but they didn't go for it. I thought Van and me would just stay in the car. When we got in the car it had calmed down quite a bit. Van and me went to several houses with the girls. He was so cute saying trick or treat. At first he was trying to go in every house. He wasn't sure what we were doing there. When he got the hang of it then he'd say, "trick treat", Hiiiiiii, thank you, bye bye. Everyone thought he was pretty cute. Several people were giving him more candy than the girls. Which is silly, because it will be Jason and me eating it.

I first got this picture. I said "Hey Liv, people usually smile in pictures".

Then I got this.

Sorting their loot.

Van wearing Ashley's hat again.

Ashley Is 11

2010-10-26T11:40:00.005-06:00

Our little Ashley had her birthday yesterday, even though Jason insists that she's not allowed to get any older. He even threatens her with groundings, but she just doesn't seem to care. She just keeps getting older.

Ash is in 5th grade now. Last year was a rough year for her, because of a crappy teacher. So far this year seems to be going good. She has been reading tons lately. She's always enjoyed reading, but now I have to tell her to stop and come spend time with the rest of the family. I'm glad she likes to read, but sometimes I miss her. She started orchestra a few weeks ago. She's in the beginning strings class. Her teacher told her if she can learn her fingers, than she'll move her up to the advanced string class. She knows a lot more than the other kids in her class. Ash practiced for a few days, and she told me she knows all her fingers now. Her teacher will be testing her tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes. It seems to come very easy to her. With my limited knowledge of music, I can already tell that she's learning and getting better. We're very proud of her.

We didn't do much for her birthday. We're just not birthday party people. We did go out to eat though. We went to this place called Charlie Chow's. Oh my, heaven in my mouth. We all got this thing called the dragon grill. You can have noodles or rice, and any vegetables you want, and there's several choices of sauce and meat. You put it all in a bowl, and they grill it all together for you. It was so good. The whole family really enjoyed it. Ash said it's her new favorite place.

This cake was a pain in the butt. I had cake issues, frosting issues, and design issues. I just had to settle with what I got. I'll do one more cake for Livy's Birthday, then I'm retiring from the cake business. It's just not for me.

This is a thing of erasers. They're kind of popular now with the kids. They have moving parts that you can take off. I think they're pretty cute.

Ash in her new coat that my Mom got her.

Color Me Mine

2010-10-22T22:59:00.003-06:00

I took the girls to "Color Me Mine" a couple of weeks ago. For those that don't know, you paint ceramics there. We've been there twice before, but both times we made something for Jason. I thought it was time I took the girls to paint something for themselves. My grandmother had her own ceramic room, and I always loved the times I got to paint. They seemed to really enjoy it. They kept saying things like, "The next time we come....". I was lame, and forgot the camera. I just took a couple with my phone while they were painting.

Olivia's elephant.

Ashley's star box

Van Is 2

2010-10-20T22:02:00.007-06:00

Do you remember when he was this round ball of chub?

Now he's this handsome little boy

It's just crazy how fast time goes when you have kids. He's not a baby anymore, and that makes me sad. I do love his age right now, but I also want my cute little rolly polly baby back. He's such a fun kid. He makes me laugh all the time. He is learning so much, and understands more and more everyday. He's not speaking in sentences yet, but everyday he puts new word combinations together.

Some things that he knows: Alphabet, numbers 1-10, Just about all body parts (including pee pee and bum), Most colors (just today he learned brown and gray), lots of animals and their sounds (he doesn't like doing them much anymore though), and the basic shapes.

I took him to the doctor on his birthday, and she was really impressed with him. She told me he knows more than her three year old. What's funny is I don't really work much with him on this stuff. I'm not one of those parents that are overly concerned with how much he knows. He mostly just picks it up on his own from his toys or T.V. I'm also not one of those parents that brags about their kids constantly, even though I seem to be one right now. I'm just proud of him.

Two year stats: Weight 29lbs - 60%

Height 36in - 95%

Head 19.5" - 90%

We didn't really do anything for his birthday. I just made some cupcakes and a cake for him. He hasn't had one bite of either. He's not really a junk food kid. He sure likes fruits and vegetables though. We did go out to eat with my Mom and A.T. the day before for his birthday. My Mom got him a tricycle, and a toy for the fridge that spells three letter words. My sister also came over on his birthday, and got him a couple of cute things. Here's the few pictures we got of him.

I know you're all wondering, where I get my mad cake decorating skills from. My answer to that is, it just comes natural to me. It can't really be taught. ;) It was actually pretty crappy overall. I didn't really care though. It was my first attempt at creativity.

He got the hang of opening gifts really quick.

I like this one. He looked back at me, and gasped then said "truck!".

Funny Kids

2010-09-30T21:20:00.002-06:00

The kids were funny tonight. Watching, America's Funniest Video gets them hyper. One video shows the kids doing the splits. Van awhile ago taught himself to do the splits, while watching So You Think You Can Dance. He usually says, "Whoa" when he does it, but not on this video. The other video is Van getting dizzy, and the rest of us laughing at him.

Family Pictures...Minus Jason

2010-09-30T08:47:00.016-06:00

Jason took some pictures of us the other day. It didn't go so well. It was as bright as it gets outside. In South Jordan, there isn't too many shady places. We basically found one shady place near us. Van was being a BRAT! Jason was ornery. So, it wasn't the most enjoyable time. We got a few good pictures anyway. Here's some of my favorites.

Van was the photographer on these last two pictures.

Just Some Pictures

2010-09-23T22:45:00.003-06:00

Just wanted to share a few pictures, that I think are cute. Jason was sleepy, and Van cuddled with him for a little bit. I just had to get the camera.
I love that he smiles for me now when I pull out the camera.

Van was being silly, and smiling like this on purpose.

These dragon pictures were taken that day Van hurt his lip. The school had a party for the unveiling of the school mascot. I think his name is Fireball. Van was ornery except for when he was around the dragon. He couldn't get enough. He even cried when it left. He kept getting in the way of people trying to take pictures with it.

The girls really enjoyed themselves. They got popcorn, played games, and got their face painted.

Jason's A Good Dad....2

2010-09-20T20:20:00.003-06:00

I meant to add this one too. I think it's also pretty funny.

Jason's A Good Dad

2010-09-20T10:05:00.003-06:00

He enjoys it. I felt bad for some of those hits though.

Poor Van

2010-09-17T09:12:00.003-06:00

Yesterday the kids and me were eating at Subway. Van slipped on the floor and hit his face, and I believe bit his lip as he hit. He came up with blood all over his mouth, and grabbed his mouth then got blood all over his hand. He was screaming and holding his hand out. It reminded me of a horror film. It was really bad. He was so worked up, that as we were walking out he threw up all over the both of us. I then got him strapped up in his car seat and he threw up again. Ashley commented as we were driving home, that he has blood all over one hand and throw up on the other. Just as we walked in the door at home, he threw up on the both of us again. What also sucked was, we were trying to get to the girls school before a party started, so we could be one of the first in line. That obviously didn't happen. I had to rush to get us both cleaned up, so we could make it to the party as soon as possible. Thankfully the girls offered to clean up the throw up on the floor and in the van, which saved some time. I wouldn't have even asked them, because I didn't even want to clean it up. I would have preferred to just skip the party, but the girls were so excited about it that I didn't really have a choice. What was also bad, was There was a ton of people stuffed into the gym, which made the gym pretty warm. Heat and a bunch of excited kids in a small area isn't my favorite combination. The girls had fun at least. Van and me just tried to get through it. Anyway, not the best day I've had. This shows his lip pretty good, and that he also needs his teeth brushed.
It's pretty swollen.

We're Golfers

2010-09-14T21:50:00.004-06:00

Jason and me have went golfing a few times this summer. We enjoy it, and wish we could do it more. I think we both wish we were better golfers too. I hope to get some lessons sometime in the future. My goal is to beat Jason someday, then join the LPGA. I've came close twice now. Right now, my only hope of beating Jason is on a par 3 course. We've played one twice now, and both times I've been up by one on the last hole. I choked both times. It's a bummer. I think I'm getting better though, so that's good at least. I need a lot of work with the drivers and putting. I did pretty good this last time with my irons and wedges. This could all change the next time I go though. I've had little instruction. I just go out there and try to hit the ball towards the hole. Getting ready to start.
Van with his club and ball.

I have cute boys.

Look at that...perfect form. ;)

My best shot ever! Followed up by my first birdie Ever!

Jason looking for his ball, after I hit my best shot ever!

Van trying to be a golfer too.

Van decided to lay down on our last hole. It must have looked comfy to him.

He's funny!

He walked the nine holes with us, so he was tuckered out after.

See....

Jason got these cool golf covers.

The Lion King

2010-09-14T21:33:00.005-06:00

On Sunday I went to, The Lion King. I went with my Mom, A.T., and Brianna. Five of A.T.'s friends also came. We went out for dinner at Olive Garden before the play, and I ate lots. The play was really good. It's really neat to see how they do it firsthand. Good food, good play, and good company. I had a really good time. Thanks A.T. for getting us tickets!

This was all the pictures I took. I know you're not suppose to take pictures during the play. I wanted to get some of the people that came, but I got in trouble when one of the ushers saw me pull out my camera.

The Summit Triathlon

2010-08-28T16:06:00.006-06:00

Today, I did a mini triathlon with Dad Howell and my brother-in-law Geoff. It went pretty well. It rained real good for about ten minutes before it started. So, everyone got wet. I was really happy that it passed by fast. We started off running 1.5 miles, then biked 6.2 miles, and finished up with a 200 yard swim. I'm pretty happy with how I did overall. I was really frustrated with the biking part though. I was using a Walmart brand mountain bike. I was pedaling as fast as I possibly could, and people were coasting by me on their road bikes. I wasn't sure if I was going to like this, but I found out I did. I like mixing it up with different things. I'd like to do more in the future, if I have a road bike. Maybe someone reading this will buy me one. ;) I'm not sure on the end times. I know Geoff got about 49 minutes , Dad about 51 minutes, and me 53 something. Waiting for it to start. Getting all wet.
Us right before it started.

Us again with Liv being silly.

Our poor wet kids waiting for us.

Geoff finishing up the run.

Dad finishing his run.

I always look like I'm going to cry when I'm running. I wasn't having a hard time at all.

Getting ready to bike.

Do you think my helmet's too big? I didn't know I looked this "special".

Just passed the finish line.

Us at the end. Yay!

I forgot to add, that I swam an extra lap too. When I thought I was on my last lap, I asked the guy there if I had one more, and he told I had actually swam an extra one and could get out. I would have had a better time if I wasn't such a dork.

Living Planet Aquarium

2010-08-18T21:14:00.006-06:00

Today, I went to the aquarium with my friend Natalie and her family. We went in the morning, so I only took Donovan with me. He showed some interest at first, but lost it towards the end. He was most interested in the penguins. He also enjoyed trying to touch the sting rays. That's mostly because it involved water, and he was able to splash. We had fun. Looking at jelly fish.

Van with Valicea and Leora.

This octopus was pretty cool. It was going up and down on the glass. My friend said that she has gone to the aquarium several times, and had never seen it move before.

I find sea horses very interesting. They are just so unique.

He pointed at the tarantula and said, EW.

My friend Natalie, and her friend April behind her.

Pointing at a penguin .

There are a couple of frogs on the right. Van was holding on bouncing up and down saying, ribbit ribbit.

Happy 3 Years!

2010-08-17T08:35:00.003-06:00

Today, Jason and me celebrate three years of marriage. I said a bunch of mushy stuff in my last post, so I won't do it again. I'll just say that, I've really enjoyed the past three years. I'm glad I have Jason to spend the rest of my life with. I look forward to being sealed to him soon, and spending all of eternity with him.

Happy 34th, My Love

2010-08-12T21:02:00.005-06:00

Happy Birthday, my sexy man!

I wanted you to know on your Birthday, just how special I think you are. You are my everything(I know, cheesy). Sometimes I feel that if it wasn't for you, I would have no one. You are such a good man, husband, father, provider, friend and many many more. I love how unwavering you are with your faith. I love how loyal you are, not only to me, but for everyone around you. I love your sense of humor. I love how much passion you seem to have for everything you talk about(even if it bugs me sometimes;). I love how talented you are, and sometimes feel like I have none compared to you. I love and appreciate more than you know, how you're killing yourself right now with work and school, just to ensure that we have a better life. I could go on and on. I just love my Jason. You're my favorite. If I ever have to go to war, I'm calling you first.

P.S. I know this was posted a little before his Birthday. I wanted Jason to see it when he got home.

The Zoo

2010-08-07T09:11:00.005-06:00

I went to the zoo a few weeks ago with my Mom, sister, and niece. I had been wanting to take Donovan for awhile, and was excited to finally be going. However, I was pretty disappointed in the zoo. There's hardly any animals there. I really wanted Van to see a bear, but there was none. We still had fun though. So, here's a bunch of pictures. We got this new pocket video camera, and this was my first time taking pictures with it. All the indoor pictures suck. I need to figure out how to change settings on it. Anyway....

Looking at the penguins.

My mom was being silly trying to make them smile.

Here is Van playing in the mist. He loves anything that has to do with water.

Van with the monkey my mom bought for him. He sleeps with it now.

New Haircut

2010-07-20T21:40:00.004-06:00

I got me a new haircut. I haven't had it this short for quite some time. It was time for a change. I think I like it. My bangs are messy, but I think you still get the idea.

Van's Ouchies

2010-06-30T09:14:00.003-06:00

Our poor kid got beat up this weekend. You can faintly see a bruise on the right side of his forehead. That is from him slipping in a wet bathroom, and hitting his head on the toilet. He has three blisters on his fingers from grabbing my flat iron Sunday. I couldn't get a great picture, but you can kind of see them. He also got some scratches on his legs from playing with a bunch of kids in our ward. Then Monday, Ashley and him were running on cement, and he fell and I watched his head bounce off the ground. As you can see he scratched up his forehead and around his nose. With all of these, he maybe cried a total of a minute. He is one tough kid. He gets that from his Dad, right hun?(inside joke between Jason and me)

Wasatch Back

2010-06-29T14:23:00.007-06:00

Thought I should post about this, since I've been talking about it with people for about a year. Ran the Wasatch Back, a little over a week ago. For those that don't know, it's a 188 mile relay race. It starts in Logan and ends in Park City. We had a team of twelve, and each member ran three legs of the race. I had one of the easier legs. My first leg was 6.7 miles(but really was 6.81), 2nd leg was 3, and last leg was 3.3 miles. I did pretty good overall. I had a pretty ugly hill on my first leg, and walked about half way up it. I was congested and having trouble breathing, so thought it would be faster if I just walked and took longer strides. I was sick through the whole thing, ended up having a wet sleeping bag (which meant no sleep), had to listen to Mindy complain about hand sanitizer ;), but in spite all of that I still had a blast and can't wait to do it again.

The team did so awesome! I was really glad Ken put it together, and asked me to be apart of it. Mindy and me looking fabulous. ;)

Ken after his first leg

These are the members of the 2nd van.

Lisa, Kari, Ken, Mary, Joel, and Geoff

This was our van.

Me, Adam, Mindy, Brandon, Martha, and Anette was running at this time.

Mindy after her last leg.

The team running to the finish line with Ken.

We rode this cool tram down the mountain.

Wish we had known about it going up.

A view of Park City from the tram

Lemon Fun

2010-06-12T09:32:00.003-06:00

Here's some great pictures of Donovan eating lemon slices. He loves them. He made a funny face every time, but just kept on eating. He begged for more the whole time. He kept Jason and me laughing during the whole time we were eating dinner.

"Operation 61" 10K

2010-05-27T20:47:00.002-06:00

I ran my first 10K on Saturday. For those that don't know that's 6.4 miles. I ran it in 1:06:01. I was hoping to get under a 10 minute pace, but didn't quite get it. I think this is about a 10 min 20 sec pace. It still excites me though that I can even run this distance. When I feel a little slow, I just think about how not a lot of people can run this distance. The race was at Liberty Park. You had to run 4 1/2 loops around the park. I've only ran two races, but I've decided that I don't like loop races. I think it hinders me some. The whole time I'm thinking about how many loops I've ran, and how many left I have to go. I drove up with a friend and her friend. Listening to them talk about running, made me realize I am not dedicated at all to running. They have pretty much been lifetime runners. My friend ran it in 49 minutes. She placed 3rd in her age division. Her friend ran it in just over 50 minutes. I was pretty impressed. I ran most of the race with my father-in-law. I felt like he could have passed me up. I'm glad he didn't though, I enjoyed the company.

Well, overall I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Now I need to focus on getting ready for the Wasatch Back. I'm nervous!

Van Is 18 Months

2010-04-27T21:33:00.012-06:00

Van is 18 months now. I can't believe how fast that went by. I thought it would be fun to post some pictures of him growing. It's crazy how much he's changed in just a year and a half. Van is 26.8 lbs and 33 1/2 inches tall. They say that's 50% in weight and 90% in height. We don't really see how that's possible. We think they messed up on one of those.

Van has been such a great addition to our family. He's so much fun. He is happy most of the time, and he makes it hard for you not to be happy around him. He's learning and growing so fast. He's starting to mimic me, which is a good and bad thing. If I decide to teach him a new thing, he picks up on it in a day or two. He jabbers all the time. It's fun now that the jabbering is starting to make sense...sometimes anyway. I think he knows that he is pretty cute and funny. He tries to get away things by being cute. He also does things that he knows will make you laugh. He has such a big personality. We think of him as being charismatic. We're all glad he's a part of our family and love him very much.

Van is saying new things almost on a daily basis. Some of the words he's saying are:
No, hi, bye, don't, mine, ball, dog, da da, mom, flower, purple, toes, eyes, and geez. I know he can say more, but for some reason I can't think of anymore. He also says little two word phrases such as; oh no, uh oh, oh man. He just recently added "not mine", and "no ball". Today when I was dropping the girls off at school, he started to pout when they got out. I said, "they have to go to school". He said in a very whiny voice,"they're mine". I said, "I know, but they have to go to school". He then said more forcefully, "No, they're mine". I thought it was pretty darn cute.

Anyway, I'm done rambling. I tried to only pick a few pictures, but it was hard. So, here's another picture over loaded post.

Edited portion: After spending a couple more hours with Van.... I forgot to mention that he also says, "up" and "all right!". He says these quite a bit.

At the hospital

1st bath at home

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

1st birthday

15 months

18 months

Castle Park

2010-04-16T18:48:00.007-06:00

Took the kids to the park today. Just thought I would share some pictures. I don't have as many pictures of the girls. They can run off and do their own thing. I have to follow Donovan around the whole time. Sorry for another picture overload post. Van loves going down the slides with his sisters.
He was scared of the swings, but now he loves them.

Mr. Attitude

That's wood chips flying in the air. He hated touching them at first, how quickly he changed.

He was very into throwing them....as you can see.

Fun In The Sun

2010-04-15T21:39:00.013-06:00

Van and me played in the backyard today, then went for a little walk. I thought he looked so cute in this outfit. I wanted to get some pictures of him in it, and show them off. Yes it was bright, but I get this face all day long. I just see Jason when he makes this face.

See....
Hims cute.
See the bruise on the right side of his forehead and cheek? He got out of line, and I had to back hand him. Just joshing ya. The poor kid fell, and landed right on Jason's weights. At least he cleaned off some dust though. ;)
Again....and no sun.
Mini Jason
The booger was smiling behind that finger.
I was bugging him trying to get his attention.
Daybreak Lake. This was where we were.

Van Knows Stuff

2010-04-13T20:19:00.003-06:00

I haven't really put anything of Van showing off his intelligence. We work on stuff everyday, and he picks up pretty quick. I was actually trying to get him to do animal sounds for me. He was doing them, until I pulled out the camera....of course. I'll try to get that soon, but he's so camera shy. He's known these body parts for awhile now. We're starting to work on some new ones. P.S. I hate hearing myself. I'm annoying.

Van The Musician

2010-03-30T22:05:00.003-06:00

Van got a hold of Ashley's harmonica the other day, and taught himself how to play. I think he walked around for about an hour playing it almost constantly. We thought it was pretty darn funny and cute. Sorry the video is sideways. I don't have the tools to flip it, and I forgot that if I record that way, than it's stuck like that. Also, I don't know what he's chewing on, but it's not gum.

I just wanted to add this. I love the way he sleeps. It's hard to tell, but he actually has part of his body lifted up. I love how his legs are crossed too. He crosses his legs all the time, and it makes me laugh.

Sweethearts 5K

2010-02-17T20:38:00.003-07:00

So, I ran my first race. I ran a 5K in Bountiful. It went pretty good. I have a couple of injuries, so it could have went better. I ran it in 30:14, which is a 9:26 pace. Not too bad, but not as fast as I was hoping. I did okay during the race, other than some pain in my feet. I wasn't sad when it was over one bit. I ran it with my father-in-law, brother-in-law, and sister-in-law. Dad Howell's time was 27:27. Geoff and Felicia's time was around 36:36. At least I think these were their times. We all did real well. I want to do a 10K now sometime in April. I hope I'll be ready for one by then. There's no pictures of Jason, because he was taking the pictures. He was a proud husband. He told me I'd do better than I was thinking, and I did. Thanks honey!

Pre-race hanging out.

Waiting at the start.

Our two little fans waiting for us to get done.

Dad Howell pass the finish line.

Me walking across the finish line. I really didn't, that's just how it looks.

Geoff and Felicia finishing.

All of us after the race. We're all smiling. That's a good sign.

This is the best part about doing a race, if you ask me anyway. I was really bummed though, because they had me down as a male, so I got a male shirt I can't use.

Grizzlies Hockey Game

2010-02-17T12:22:00.002-07:00

I know I haven't been very good updating our blog. It's not my favorite thing. It takes too long. I'll try to get better though, for those of you who care.

Anyway, we went to a hockey game the end of January. We went with my friend Natalie and her family. It was Van's first game. I was a little worried how he would do with the noise. There was no need to worry, he did just fine. His favorite thing was playing with the arm rests on the seats. I enjoy going to hockey games. I used to go to several a year. There's not as much time for that now. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

Ashley watched Van for most of the game.

The girls got pucks signed by the mascot, Grizzbee.

Ash with her puck

Cutest couple ever

My friend Natalie with her daughters Valicea and Leora

Goofy Jason

Van Walks....Finally!

2010-01-22T20:12:00.002-07:00

Van finally walks! If you count when he first started, than that was around 12 months. He was taking a few steps to Jason and me, than after a few weeks or so, he just lost interest. He wouldn't even walk holding onto our fingers. We don't really count that though. So, I guess he walked at 15 months. The first video is from today and I'm sad it's so dark, because his face was really cute. The second video was of the 3rd time he walked on his own yesterday. I don't think you can really tell from the videos, that he shuffles his right leg and kicks out with his left. It's pretty funny to see in person.

Halloween

2009-11-10T16:41:00.006-07:00

Thought I should put up some pictures from Halloween. The kids looked so cute. Ashley was a witch, Olivia was the bride of Frankenstein, and Van was a chicken. I got the girls ready for school the Friday before. They had a parade at their school, that Jason and me went to. They walked by so fast, so we weren't able to get good pictures. I put a couple of them up anyway. Friday night, we went to our ward's Trunk-or-Treat. I had never been to one before. They had a chili cook off, and pumpkin carving contest. It was fun seeing people you usually see all dressed up in Halloween costumes. I bought only one bag of candy, and for some reason thought that would be plenty. I think we ran out in about five minutes. I'll be more prepared next year. It was pretty fun though. It was a good day.

Thought I should add, that Donovan hated his costume. He looks upset in every picture, because he was. He fussed quite a bit while wearing it.

Aryanna

2009-11-06T20:44:00.011-07:00

My sister had Aryanna Sep. 24. I know I'm pretty slow getting these posted. She's such a cute little thing. She's already grown quite a bit in the last month and a half. I don't remember Donovan ever being that small. He looks so big next to her. He's too big now, I need another one.

Cute little girl.

The girls took a couple of turns holding her.

He looks so interested, huh?

What's this?

Look how big his hand looks.

Watch out Aryanna, he's going to eat you. ;) He likes giving her kisses. It's pretty darn cute.

Ashley is 10

2009-10-26T23:51:00.000-06:00

Ashley turned 10 yesterday. I can't believe that she disobeyed me again by having another birthday. I told her that this is the last one for sure. She can't get any older. I think she might listen this time.

Ashley has been so much fun for me. I am so glad that she is my little girl. She is smart, funny, caring, loving, wise, helpful, sensitive, and many other things. I remember how cute she was when she was born. I remember how much she pooped before they could even weigh her. I still remember exactly where we were when she stood up on her own for the first time. I remember how she always used to ask for "fries and coke" or "noodles and coke" (and that it wasn't me that let her try coke). I remember how she used to say beef turkey (beef jerkey) and holy tell (hotel). When Olivia was first born, Ashley called her Weela. I remember how smart she was, how she could spell her name when she was 2. Later she learned how to count to 100, and wanted to do it for me over and over. Then I taught her how to count to 100 by 10's. Ashley (and Olivia) have been there for me when I've had hard times, by loving me, hugging me, and comforting me.

She loves to read, she loves art, she likes many different types of food, Star Wars is her favorite movie, she loves school (more about this in another post), she likes taking pictures, she loves carrying Donovan around, she loves going to church, she loves playing games, and she's interested in just about anything that makes her think.

Ashley is, quite simply, the best Ashley ever. She is one of my very best friends. I can't imagine loving her more than I do. I would do anything for her, and she would do anything for me. We celebrated her birthday with Van this year. She has been telling me since he was born that she wanted to celebrate it with him. I hope she had a great birthday.

Van Is One Today!

2009-10-19T16:38:00.006-06:00

It's my Vanner's Birthday today. I can't believe he is one year old already. It went by really fast. This past year has been so enjoyable to have him around. He is such a happy baby. He is starting to learn to throw tantrums, but overall he is really good. We have been so blessed. I don't know how Jason and me ended up with such a good baby. He likes all food, dancing, chattering, crawling, playing with the family, getting into everything, and bath time. He pretty much likes everything. It shouldn't be too much longer before he is walking. We had a little gathering yesterday. We didn't want to do anything big. We celebrated both his, and Ashley's Birthdays. They'll be pictures of Ash coming later. It was fun getting to see people. I know there's a lot of pictures, but he's one!

He liked the tags the best.

I had one of these phones, and I had to get it for him.

Getting messy.

Getting cleaned up after. He liked drinking the water.

Van's First Haircut

2009-09-11T09:51:00.004-06:00

Van got his first haircut. I didn't really notice that he needed a haircut. Now that he's had one, I realize that we should have done it a while ago. He looks more like a little boy, than a baby to me now. It looks good though. His hair is pretty much even now.

Triathlon

2009-09-03T21:09:00.006-06:00

Jason did a triathlon on Aug. 29th. He did it with his Dad, sisters, and niece. He should probably be the one to do this post, but I don't think he'll get around to it. His time was 1:00:56. He didn't train at all, but he finished. I was too scared to do it without training. I'm really proud of him for doing it. He said he didn't stop at all during the run and the biking. The pictures are not too great, but they were racing and didn't want to stop to pose for me. Pardon the blue pictures. I didn't notice a setting got changed on my camera. Anyway, good job honey!

Stinky Face

2009-09-03T09:55:00.003-06:00

Donovan makes this face all the time now. I think it has something to do with his top teeth coming in. We call it the stinky face. It cracks us up, every time he does it.

I Have Some Questions....

2009-08-28T10:26:00.002-06:00

Why hasn't Jason done a blog post about our arches trip? Why haven't I even seen the pictures yet? (I already know how he's going to answer this)

Why do I realize I like a show after it has been cancelled?

How do you use a public restroom...when you're alone, and holding a baby?

Why do some women get postpartum depression, when they should be celebrating one of the happiest moments in their life?

Why does breastfeeding hurt so bad at first? That's kind of the purpose for those things.

Jesse? (from Big Brother, for those who watch) Is there anyone out there, besides his family that like him? Ugh.

Why do people bug me so bad? Does it have something to do with me, why people bug me so bad?

Mustard, relish, tomatoes, pickles, and the people who like them? (I'm just kidding, don't send hate mail)

Why does Donovan wake up around eight when Jason is watching him, and before seven when I am?

Does anyone want a cat? She just started pooping on the carpet. Why is she doing that?

Why do babies have to teethe? It would be easier for all those involved if they were born with teeth. It would be weird at first, but we'd get used to it.

Why is there never enough time?

Bee's Game

2009-08-27T12:13:00.005-06:00

Monday we went to the Bee's game. We went with some people from our softball team and family. It was a lot of fun, and had a pretty good turn out. The Bee's lost, which was sad, but it was way past my bed time and I was a little happy that it was over. Here's some pictures from the evening.

Jason and me need a picture like this everywhere we go.

Brenda and Ethan

Me and Van

Grandma and the girls

Geoff, Felicia, and Allston

Brenda, Adam, and Van

Kevin

Doesn't Ethan have the neatest eyes?

Roshena and Rich

Chi and Parry

Matt and his nephew.

Jason's Old!

2009-08-13T09:00:00.002-06:00

Today is Jason's Birthday! Yeah! Jason has a couple of weeks off of school until the next semester. It's nice actually being able to spend time together, and not have him worrying about getting homework done. He has been working so hard this year at trying to better our situation. I'm so proud of him. He has been juggling work, school, and taking care of the baby when I'm at work very well. I don't think I'd be able to do it. He is a wonderful husband and father. Happy Birthday honey. I love you.

Something I Need to Learn

2009-07-14T17:46:00.003-06:00

Well, I need to learn lots of things, but this is what I'm thinking about right now. This was Donovan's outfit today, that Jason picked out. If you can't tell, the shorts are light blue, dark blue, and white. The shirt is a charcoal color. I would not think to put this outfit together. I would probably choose a blue or white shirt. For some reason I can't get out of my head, that clothes need to match perfectly. Jason does this all the time. He'll wear some blue plaid shorts, and put a brown shirt with it. It always works fine, and looks good. I would like to learn how to make clothes that don't match look good somehow. However, I don't think girls can get away with this as well as boys can. Anyway, I know this is random, but I wanted to share.

Here is the durn picture

2009-07-14T01:37:00.002-06:00

So, I figured I would just post the picture I was talking about in the previous post. Here it is.

My photo

2009-07-14T00:33:00.002-06:00

A photo of mine, taken on Antelope Island, was published in this online guide. You'll have to scroll through the pictures to see mine because I couldn't figure out how to just make this widget thingy show my photo. Anyway, check it out eh?

Artistic Fun

2009-07-12T14:57:00.006-06:00

The girls and me have been doing this project for the past couple of days. It's been pretty entertaining. Jason even played with us today. I don't know what it's called, but I'm sure a lot of you have seen it. I did it when I was a kid. I know the beads are called perler beads, and you put it on a grid type thing, and put the iron on them so it melts together.

Olivia's

Ashley's

Mine

Jason's

I made this for Jason. I didn't think about how you turn it around, so it's a backwards "J".

Van Clapping

2009-07-11T09:33:00.003-06:00

I taught Van to clap a few days ago. He loved it when I would clap, and he liked to hold on to my hands while I did it and laugh. Sometimes he'll do it if I ask, "can you clap?". Most of the time he'll do it if I say, "Yeah". He'll say "yeah" too now when he does it. It's so cute, I love it.

Van's First Swim

2009-07-11T09:27:00.002-06:00

We took Van swimming a couple of weeks ago. He loves it of course. He had big smiles most of the time. He likes to splash in his floaty thing we bought. I've taken him once since then, and he didn't want to get out.

Mom of the Year

2009-07-11T09:07:00.005-06:00

A couple of days ago I had a wake up call. Donovan was on my bed, and I had to do something. I saw that he would have to roll over twice to fall off the bed. He was out of my sight for just a few seconds, and that was long enough for him to roll over twice. Jason was down stairs, and he said it was a pretty loud bang. He landed right on his face. He had a red mark on his head for most of the day. His nose took most of the fall. I feel so bad every time I think of it. It was extremely irresponsible of me. My baby is rolling lots now, and now I know he's quicker than I thought. Luckily our bed frame is broken, so the box spring and mattress are sitting on the floor. Uh....I want to cry every time I look at his nose. The first three pictures are of the day it happened, and the last ones are the next day.

5th of July

2009-07-09T22:02:00.016-06:00

We went to my cousins twin daughters first birthday party. I guess that makes them my 2nd cousins? They live in Illinois, so this was the first time I've seen them in person. They were so cute. I didn't get to talk to my cousins as much as I would have liked. Thanks for inviting us guys, and hope to see you again soon.

Van and A.T.

My Mom, Ashley, Olivia, and Grandma.

Jason, Darcin, and Brianna.

My cousin Sunny is sitting behind them. Amanda is on the left, and Layla on the right. Aren't they the cutest?

They started out almost timid with their cake, but by the end they were pretty messy. I think they even had some in their ears.

The dog is Bailey, their big sister, as my cousins like to say.

They kept getting Amanda(on the left)to clap, and chocolate was flying. It was pretty funny

4th of July

2009-07-08T16:37:00.021-06:00

I'm finally getting around to it. We went to Lagoon on the 4th. It was a lot of fun. We went with Jason's sister Brenda, brother Geoff and their families. It worked out pretty well, I think. We had two groups for part of the day. We had the big ride goers, and the kiddie riders. I don't think there was too many melt downs with the kids. Donovan handled it a lot better than I thought, for not napping much. I enjoyed it and hope we can do it again next year.

Cheesy Olivia

Kevin looks like he's having fun.

Ethan and grumpy Olivia

Olivia on the train.

Van enjoying the train ride.

Allston on the train.

Olivia and Allston on the bumper cars.

Shhh....baby sleeping. This was his ten minute nap. He also had a twenty minute one later, and that was it all day.

Ethan, Brenda, Troy, Allston, and Geoff. I don't know what happened to Allston.

Brenda, Troy, Kevin, and Olivia about to get wet on Rattle Snake Rapids

Van hanging out

Allston cheesing it up.

Ethan and Troy. I think this ride is called the Odyssey.

Kevin and Brenda

Geoff and Olivia

getting ready to fall asleep....

and asleep.

My cute Vanny Wanny

Ashley, Kaitlyn, and Olivia on Cliffhanger.

Kaitlyn, Ashley, and Olivia posing.

Van and me super tired at the end of the day. I look pretty terrible

Donovan's 6 month pics

2009-05-27T22:25:00.005-06:00

We took Donovan to JC Penny for his 6 month pictures. We loved them all of course. The one where he's holding our hands is my favorite.

We Got A New Van!

2009-05-15T16:03:00.003-06:00

We got a van today. It's a 2009 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT. We weren't planning on getting it today, but some people are good salesman. We were just going for a test drive. It's really really nice. We got the fanciest one, and I don't think there is any other possible options that we didn't get. We were just looking at the SE model, but the salesman was determined to get us one with all the options we wanted. It has two DVD players, automatic doors, back-up camera, and remote start. It also has a table that can go in the middle, and you turn the seats around so they're all facing the table. We didn't think we were going to be able to get all these up-grades in our price range. The guy came back with some figures that weren't in our price range at all, and I thought we were going to have to go for the standard model. The guy then asked us, what was it going to take for us to leave with the van we wanted today. We told him what options we wanted, and the price we wanted it for, and we got it. It was a really good deal, and we couldn't pass it up. I can't believe how excited I am to have a mini-van. Back when I was cool, I remember talking with friends about mini-van's. We thought they were so dorky, and there was no way we would ever drive one. We talked about getting SUV's, if our family size called for one. Now, that I know more about vehicles a mini-van is a much better option. Maybe we'll put some flames, or racing stripes on it to make it look cool. Anyway, here's some pictures.

What's up dude?

2009-04-30T17:19:00.004-06:00

We got Donovan some sun glasses, and I just had to post these pictures. I think they're way cute.

Don't mess with me.

6 Months Old

2009-04-24T08:56:00.005-06:00

I can't believe my baby is six months old already. It went by way fast. He is such a good baby, and so much fun. We call him a little jokester. There's times when he has his face turned away from me, and I'll call his name trying to get his attention, and he'll just ignore me. When I go to look at his face he has this big grin like he knows what he's doing, and ignoring me on purpose. Sometimes when I'm trying to wrap him up for a nap, he'll lift his legs up and roll to his side or pull arms out really quick so I can't wrap him up. The whole time he'll be smiling real big or laughing. He thinks he's pretty funny. He's starting to talk some. He'll say Da Da, and he's said Ma a few times. He's getting really close to sitting up on his own. He loves to eat. The only baby food he hasn't been crazy about is green beans. He's really interested in what I'm eating too. He'll eat anything I give him off my plate. I went out to eat with my Mom and sister last week, and I gave him lemon, onion, and asparagus to suck on. He loved all of it, and cried when I took the lemon away. We went to his 6 month check up yesterday, and all seems to be fine there. He only gained a little over a pound this time, but he's still in the 90 percentile. He also went from 75 to 97 percentile in height. He's a big boy. I've loved having him so much. I can't believe there's people out there that don't want babies. They're so much fun, and I think they make you happier.

Wicked

2009-04-22T21:57:00.002-06:00

I went to Wicked on Sunday with my Mom, A.T., and Brianna. I had a lot of fun. I was way excited to see it, because I know a lot of people that have really liked it. It was the first time I had been away from the family at night in a long time. I can't really remember a time I've been away from the family ever at night. I felt guilty at first, but I got over that. I really liked the play. It was of course different than the book. The girl who played Glinda was great. She cracked me up. Elphaba had a really good voice. A crazy thing happened about five minutes from the ending of the play. The power went out and it had to be delayed for about ten minutes. It was exciting for a moment. I really enjoyed it, and was glad I had the opportunity to go. I guess it had been sold out for a year. Thank you A.T. for inviting me. Sorry the pictures suck. I just snapped a few with my phone.

Jason Wears A Helmet

2009-04-03T09:59:00.002-06:00

Doesn't Jason look dashing in his new helmet? Jason got a bike, because he wants that to be his form of exercise. We're going to get some type of trailer to go behind it so he can take the baby with him. I just wanted a reason to post this picture, because I think it's funny.

It's Not Fair

2009-04-01T16:01:00.002-06:00

I took those first two pictures of Donovan when he's smiling. Jason took those close up ones, and they're so much better than mine. They're taken with the same camera too. The pictures I take are all the same. They're just straight on, and I'm trying to get Van to look at me and smile. It's okay though, there's too many wannabe photographers in this family anyway. I'm going to pick my own thing to be good at, like playing the violin. Oh crap, that's taken too. I get eye rolling. That's mine nobody take it. ;)

Jazz Game

2009-03-31T16:35:00.007-06:00

Yesterday we went to a Jazz game. Most of Jason's family came and Felicia's as well. I think there were eighteen of us in all. We went to California Pizza Kitchen before to eat, which was good eatin. We got Donovan a Jazz jersey a little while back, and were excited to put him in it. He looked so cute. I didn't get a chance to take too many pictures at the game, because Donovan didn't like the game too much. Everytime they announced something and people cheered he would jump and his bottom lip would tremble. It was pretty sad. I didn't get to watch over two quarters of the game. Jason and Felicia helped the rest of the time. We now know Donovan is a little too young for a Jazz game. Maybe we'll try again in a year or so. I think everyone had a good time. Thanks Geoff for inviting us. Also, thanks Felicia for helping with Donovan.

Rolling Over

2009-03-18T21:36:00.004-06:00

Donovan finally rolled over two days before he's five months old. I think he had such a hard time because he is such a chunker. He looked pretty confused the first time. I think it was mostly because of my reaction. I was pretty excited and was clapping. Here is a video of his fourth time rolling over. I know this may be boring for some of you, but there are grandparents that don't get to see him much and I think they'll enjoy it. The second video is another one of him laughing that I think is cute.

4 Months Old

2009-02-20T20:44:00.004-07:00

Donovan had his 4 month check up today. He's doing well and all a 4 month should be doing. I don't think it takes a doctor to see that he's healthy. The first thing people comment on is how big he is. He now weighs 17lbs 11oz. That's well above average for his age. His doctor informed me that my car seat only goes up to 20lbs, so we'll be needing to buy a new one within the next couple of months. He's a really good baby. He sleeps through the night, which I love. He's not much of a crier. He'll fuss, but he rarely lets out a good cry. I was so worried about how I would do with a baby. I thought it would be hard, but it's been pretty easy. I'm ready for the next one, but I can wait. It's funny how excited I get when he does something new. I just want to share it with everyone. I've taken a lot of video of him basically doing nothing, but I think it's the cutest thing. I have loved every minute of the time I've spent with him. I'm so thankful to have a happy healthy baby.

Ashley

2009-02-19T20:43:00.005-07:00

The little lady. The 9 year old going on 16. These were taken in September or early October when Jason and Ashley went to a Daddy daughter thing at our church. It was a cowboy theme, if you couldn't tell. I'm not sure if we ever did a post about it.

I thought I would write a little about Ashley since she hasn't been featured for awhile on our blog. She's many things, and I'm having a hard time deciding where to start. She's very smart and seems to soak everything in. She asks many questions. She'll always ask what a word means if she doesn't know. She stumps us sometimes, because some words are just hard to explain without using the word in the definition. I don't know if we always explain it well enough for her to understand. She for the most part is very calm and quiet. She has her hyper moments, but they are getting few and far between. Sometimes she's content to go sit on her bed and read for hours. If you give her the opportunity to talk though, she will. For example, not too long ago she went with me to run some errands. I asked her about Webkinz. For those of you that don't know, they are stuffed animals that you buy and register online and can do an array of things with online. I didn't really know too much about them, so I asked her what all you can do online. She talked for an hour and a half non-stop about all you can do with them. After that time, she said "I know there's more, but I can't remember everything". I said that was okay, I think I understand now. She's a very special girl, and it has been fun watching her grow and learn. I'm excited for the years to come to see what kind of woman she becomes.

Olivia's Teeth

2009-02-18T21:12:00.002-07:00

It's been awhile since there's been a post about the girls. We like them too, but there just hasn't been a whole lot going on. We haven't had a lot of time to do anything fun. Here's a couple of pictures of Olivia and her holes. We try to get good pictures of her, but this is about the best we can do. This past year has been near impossible to get a normal smile out of her. She has lost three teeth in the past couple of months, and here she is showing them off. She's really dramatic when it comes to losing teeth. She'll leave them in for way too long, and cry every time she eats. When the first tooth was loose she actually came home early one day from school, because she was crying about it during lunch. Her Mom had to pull out the first and third one, and Jason pulled out the second. She kept the third one a secret from us. I think because we make a big deal about getting them out. She's a very stubborn little girl. She keeps us on our toes. She's lucky she's cute, because I don't know where she would be right now if she wasn't. She's a lot of fun.

Giggles

2009-01-28T21:59:00.004-07:00

Donovan has been laughing for a little while now. Up until today he only laughed when he was tickled. He almost always laughs when I'm dressing or undressing him. Jason got him to laugh in the second video pretty good. I've gotten some bigger laughs from him than what's on these videos, but I haven't been able to get it on tape yet. I'm going to try to record the bigger ones. I love to make him laugh, it makes me happy.

Thumb Sucker

2009-01-23T21:55:00.003-07:00

So, yep I have a thumb sucker. Before he was born I talked to Jason about not wanting him to be attached to the pacifier, and he's not. We'll sometimes force it on him, but he doesn't like it at all. For those of you who don't know I sucked my thumb. I sucked my thumb for way too long too. So, it's extremely fitting that I would end up with a thumb sucker. It didn't even cross my mind before he was born that he may be a thumb sucker. I completely blame myself for this. I would much rather him be attached to the pacifier than his thumb. You can take a pacifier away when you want, but you can't take his thumb away. It amazes me that he can completely reject one but prefer the other. It makes sense to me that if he liked one he'd like the other. It is cute though to watch him suck his thumb. It won't be so cute though if I have a five year old walking around with his thumb in his mouth. Hopefully he'll grow out of it.

Blessing and Christmas Party

2009-01-21T21:37:00.003-07:00

We had Donovan blessed on Jan. 4. Jason gave a beautiful blessing. I'm so happy to have a husband that is a worthy priesthood holder. I'm really proud of him. We also had a belated Christmas party with Jason's family afterward. Brenda organized a family feud game. It was really fun, even though my team didn't win. Thanks Brenda for putting that together, it must have taken some time. Also, thank you to all that came and brought stuff for us to eat. I don't think I thanked anyone that day. Sorry for the late thanks. It was really nice having people over and spending time with family. Here's the only pictures that were taken. I wish I would have taken more.

I have such cute boys. Huh? I'm sad I ruined the last one.

Cute Baby

2009-01-01T16:57:00.002-07:00

I like this picture.

Christmas Morning

2009-01-01T16:34:00.005-07:00

I know this is a little late, but here it is anyway. We had a really good Christmas. There's so much build up for Christmas and it always goes by so fast. I think we all got pretty spoiled. The girls came over about ten and we opened gifts. Donovan slept through it, he didn't seem too sad about it. We opened gifts with him later. We got dumped on that day(as in it snowed a lot). We weren't sure for a bit if we should go to Mom and Dad Howells. We're glad we did because it was only the west side that got a lot of snow. The roads got better the more east we drove. It was a good day and enjoyed spending time with family. Here's some pictures from the day..

Two Months Old

2008-12-20T14:15:00.006-07:00

We went to Donovan's two month check up yesterday, and all we got were these two bandaids. They had to give him three shots, it made me sad. He handled it pretty well. He didn't cry too much, which I was happy about. He's doing really well. He's in the 90th percentile in both weight and head circumference. He's smiling lots and talking lots. I can't get enough of it. Here's a few pictures I've taken the past month.

Bangs

2008-12-05T19:16:00.003-07:00

My bangs have been bugging me for awhile now. Even when I just get them cut I am never happy with them. I thought I would try something different. They're straight across now. I'm not sure if I like them yet. They make me look different. It also bugs me how sleepy I look in pictures lately.

The Rug

2008-12-05T19:14:00.003-07:00

I don't think we told too many people about the rug we got for Donovan's room. Here it is with my cute baby on it. We like it and were excited to get it for his room.

What I've Learned The Past Month

2008-11-19T11:16:00.002-07:00

I thought I would put a few things about what I've learned since giving birth.

-How instant a bond between mother and child can be.

-I now get to use the expression, "That's worse than child birth".

-I now understand that laundry is never-ending.

-I do okay with lack of sleep.

-I no longer care if my hair is always done, or my make-up is on.

-Nursing bra's suck. I've never had a bra dig into me before.

-I can be patient if I try really hard.

One Month Old

2008-11-19T10:44:00.005-07:00

Donovan's one month old today. It's gone by pretty fast, and most of it has been enjoyable. He seems to still be healthy and growing. It still seems like I'm feeding him all the time. The spitting up thing only lasted a couple of days. He has hardly spit up at all since I put the post about it. Thanks to all who left comments. I'm still waiting for him to start sleeping better at night. He has his days and nights straight, he just doesn't sleep for long enough periods of time. I think he's going to smile any day now. When I put him on his stomach he moves his legs like he's crawling, and when he's on his back he'll arch his back and kick his leg like he wants to roll over. I know he's far from crawling and rolling over, but it's fun to see that he's got the concept. It's been so fun so far just watching him develop. He makes a lot more facial expressions and he's making a lot more noises. I'm excited to see more.

For Whoever May Know

2008-11-13T17:30:00.003-07:00

So, for the past couple of days it seems Donovan has been spitting up everything he eats. When I think there can't be anything else for him to spit up he proves me wrong. Whatever is going on also seems to be making him fussier than normal. He was also starting to sleep for longer periods of time at night, but that has gotten worse the past couple of nights. Jason mentioned calling the doctor, but I'm not one of those people who calls the doctor for every little thing. So, I just thought I would throw this out there for anyone that may have some advice.

Two Weeks Old

2008-11-05T17:14:00.003-07:00

We went to Donovan's two week check up yesterday. He seems to be healthy. He went from 7lbs 4oz to 8lbs 8oz in ten days. I'm no longer worrying if he's getting enough food. They had to do this blood test. I think it was called the PKU test. They had to prick his foot and get a bunch of his blood on this card. He was crying the whole time. I have a hard time not crying when he's just screaming and I can't do anything about it. He's fine though, of course. He's mostly a good baby. He usually only cries when he's hungry. Which is a lot. I feel like all I do is feed him. I'm waiting for it to get better. I'm really enjoying being a Mom so far. It would be nice if he slept for longer periods of time at night. Although, at one point last night he slept for three hours (which was nice) but, he then stayed up for an hour and a half. Which I did not enjoy. He usually wakes up every two hours right on the dot. I think I'd rather that if he goes to bed right after being fed. I love him so much though, so he can do whatever he wants right now. We've already noticed how much he is changing. He seems to get bigger every day. His face already looks different to us. A lot of people have said they grow so fast, and now I'm witnessing that. I'm excited to watch him grow and learn.

Boo checking him out.

Stupid Thing

2008-11-05T01:11:00.003-07:00

So, I left the little pregnancy countdown thing on our blog because I was curious what it would do once it hit the due date. But it didn't do a darn thing. It just said zero. Tonight it says -2. Boring. Stupid thing. I'm taking it off.

Jason's answers

2008-11-03T00:50:00.000-07:00

Mindy tagged me too I guess. So here's what I have to say.

8 things i am passionate about:

1. my wife

2. my kids

3. music

4. my mom

5. learning

6. my beliefs

7. photography

8. trivia

8 words/phrases i use often:

1. gosh dangit

2. we have a cute baby

3. you're a silly billy

4. you're the bestest girls in the whole wide world

5. wash your hands and face

6. what the?

7. bop it

8. I love my Dallas poo

8 things i want to do before i die:

1. get a real job

2. raise my kids

3. go on a mission with Dallas

4. travel more

5. retire

6. relax

7. be happy

8. spend enough time with my family

8 things i've learned in the past:

1. you don't have as much time as you think

2. things are a lot harder to get out of than into

3. my kids grow up way too fast

4. go to college right away

5. people will disappoint you

6. prioritizing my time should be more of a priority

7. enjoy the present

8. my kids teach me more than I teach them

8 things i currently want or need:

1. a better shift at work

2. to spend more time with my family

3. more money so Dallas doesn't have to work

4. more energy

5. respect

6. to get done with school

7. to start school again (so I can get done)

8. more photography equipment

8 places i want to see or visit:

1. Italy

2. Australia

3. Boston

4. San Diego

5. Portland, Oregon

6. London

7. Hawaii

8. Ireland

8 favorite restaurants:

1. filet mignon from Ruby River

2. pastrami burger from Training Table

3. sushi from Fortune Cookie

4. McGrath's

5. Paces Dairy Ann

6. Gators

7. Maddox

8. Cafe Rio

8 tv shows i like to watch:

1. ESPN

2. ESPNews

3. ESPN Classic

4. ESPN 2

5. basketball

6. baseball

7. football

8. Conan O'Brien

tag 8 people:

1. Geoff

2. Felicia

3. Bob Sagat

4. Willie Nelson

5. Anyone who reads this

6. Dad

7. Mom

8. Adam

Tagged by Mindy and Nicole

2008-11-01T14:44:00.002-06:00

8 things I am passionate about:
1. Jason
2. My kids
3. Getting back into shape (when I am able to)
4. Family
5. Getting the house organized
6. My faith
7. Getting Jason through school
8. Movies

8 words/phrases I use often:
1. Love you
2. Not right now
3. No
4. Hi baby boy (just lately)
5. Whatever
6. Eat over your plate
I can't think of anymore

8 things I want to do before I die:
1. Travel with Jason
2. Have at least one more kid
3. Watch my kids grow up
4. Go on a mission with Jason
5. Get the house the way I want it
6. Spend more time with family
7. Go on family trips
8. Win an Olympic gold medal

8 things I've learned in the past:
1. Things will get better
2. Don't pre-judge someone
3. Nobody's perfect (not even me)
4. Just relax
5. Don't dwell on the past
6. Be happy with what you have
7. Forgiveness
8. It's okay if things are not where they should be

8 things I currently want or need:
1. The garage cleaned out
2. The house organized
3. A van
4. Money
5. Sleep
6. Jason to be done with school
7. A shower
8. My clothes to fit

8 places I want to visit or see:
1. Australia
2. Hawaii
3. The U.S.
4. Ireland
5. New Zealand
6. Scotland
7. Greece
8. A cruise ship

8 favorite restaurants:
1. Training Table
2. Cafe Rio
3. Ruby River
4. Red Lobster (mmm cheese biscuits)
5. McGrath's
6. Market Street Grill
7. Johnny Carino's
8. Really anywhere other than my kitchen is good

8 T.V. shows I like to watch:
1. America's Next Top Model
2. Everybody Loves Raymond
3. Friends
4. That 70's Show
5. House
6. Bones
7. King of Queens
8. Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?
most of these I've just been watching since being on maternity leave.

Donovan Lee Howell

2008-10-23T23:32:00.008-06:00

Our baby was born! He came 15 days early, so we were a little surprised. He was born on October 19th. He weighed 7 lbs 11 oz, and was 19 inches long. He is doing really good. He had some jaundice, so he had to be on a light for a couple of days. He's off now, and we go to the doctor tomorrow to check him. Hopefully he's all better. We think he's the cutest baby there ever was.

Getting weighed at the hospital. His poor head was pretty stretched out when he was born. That's probably my fault. I think he got my big head. It's all better now though.

Freshly born.

His first bath at the hospital.

He likes to have a concerned look on his face a lot.

Look at his chubby cheeks.

The girls sure love their baby brother.

This is the outfit that we brought him home in. It is actually the same outfit I wore when I came home from the hospital. My mom brought it to us. So it's over 32 years old. I thought it was neat that my mom did that for us.

Here he is all bundled up and ready to go home from the hospital.

Isn't he the cutest?

How can you not love this face? How can a baby possibly get this cute? I blame it on Dallas. You can also see the nice light underneath him. That's what he had to be on for a couple of days.

10 Things We Hate About Our House

2008-10-16T02:07:00.011-06:00

This is the sequel to our wildly popular post "10 Things We Love About Our House". Since our house isn't old like Mindy's, we don't really have any quirky things we love or hate about our house. It's all pretty standard stuff. But here you go anyway.

1. The Swamp. When our house was built 3 1/2 years ago, they decided they wanted to use seed for the backyard. For some reason, they didn't feel it was necessary to make the ground level at all, or even remove good size rocks. They did, however, feel it was necessary to water it to death twice a day or so. Thus, we get a swamp for a back yard. This picture shows it at a dry time. It is completely useless as a backyard.

2. Poop. We have a few neighbors with dogs who don't think they need to clean up after them. Their dogs come onto our yard, and poop on our lawn. I swear, if I knew for sure which house these dogs came from, I would personally go and poop on their porch. There is not a lot of things I hate more than dog poop on my lawn.

3. "Landscaping". Since we live in a townhouse, we have to pay $90 a month for HOA fees. This covers everything on the outside, including all landscaping and maintenance. So this is what we get. $90 dollars a month for dirt.

4. Crappy toilets (no pun intended...ok maybe a little pun). They don't flush very well at all. For some reason, Ashley has always had (there's no polite way to say this) really big bowel movements. So, whenever she has one, she pretty much clogs the toilet. I have to say they are impressive. But back to the point, the toilets suck. Plus the seat is like really cheap plastic.

5. Neighbors. We have really nice neighbors. It's just not always nice to have them so close. They have two teenage girls that really like to run up and down their stairs and scream. Since we share a wall, it sounds like they are in our house sometimes. That's just one of the drawbacks to living in a townhouse.

6. Stairs that don't go straight down. We found out how bad this is when we tried to move stuff to and from the basement. Big stuff like couches and beds don't go around a turn like this very easy. People that design floor plans should know stuff like this.

7. Cleaning our wood floors. This bugs Dallas more than me. We can't really clean our floors without them streaking. We've tried different ways, but they're never just clean and shiny. Maybe we're just dumb and don't know how to do it, but it's kind of annoying.

Well, I'm sure you can tell that I'm reaching for things to add to the list by now, so I'll just stop at 7. We really don't have much to complain about.