Swoop

So, of course if we are going to be living in slc valley then I need to embrace the University of Utah. This is difficult for me but I am trying. Lol
While we lived in Utah county a couple times I got Landon in a BYU shirt. So I guess it's only fair that I pull the red out every once in a while too.

Well, this weekend we bought a new beta. We had one before, he was blue and his name was finny. Landon accidentally washed him down the drain when he was cleaning his bowl. It was super sad. So, we decided that once we got settled in our new place we would get a new one. So now we have Swoop.

Swoop is all red and friendly and happy! Mckenna loves him. She really likes watching Finding Nemo so of course she has fallen in love with Swoop. Swoop is named after the University of Utahs mascot. He is a fun addition to our growing family!

Tough Guy

So, Max thinks that he is just as tough as the big labs next door. When Max goes outside he runs back and forth between our two property line fences barking at the dogs on each side. You would think he would cower but nope! He barks at them with spitfire! It is hilarious!
So, we got him this shirt to aid his cause.

Wonderful Weekend

On Friday evening Landon and I went on a date, this was our first date alone since Mckenna was born. We went to the Slc Temple and did Sealings. It was our first time doing Sealings together at this temple aside from our own wedding. Afterwards we went into the celestial room and it was our first time being in there together since our wedding day! It was so wonderful!

Not only was is romantic for me to be in the temple with Landon, it was also amazing to see very young looking people getting their endowments out! Since the change in age for missionaries, youth are now getting their temple recommends! It's so incredible to see!

After the temple Landon and I went and got all you can eat sushi!!! It was so nice to have time just the two of us.... And having all you can eat sushi was the cherry on top!

On Saturday I went to a former roommates bridal shower, Marianne.
It was great to see her. Then that night we went to my parents for dinner and then went to my nephews high school play. It was a lot of fun!

Today we have gone to church and had a terrific fast and testimony meeting and now Landon and Mckenna or taking a nap and in a few minutes Landon's parents are coming over to have steak and shrimp. What a wonderful weekend!

Oh and to top it all off, I got to shop at Trader Joes on Friday! I love their Dunkers and dried coconut! Yummy!

You Can't Take it With You

Salem Hills High School is putting on this straight play. Hayden is "Grandpa" and carries the whole show!

Hayden is such a fantastic actor. I am very proud of him and his dedication! If you haven't seen the play yet please do- you will be glad you did.

Shopping with the GIRLS

So, Landons sister and cousin had babies a few months after we had McKenna. It has been a lot of fun to all be prego and now all learning how to be moms. Since the cousins were born we haven't been able to spend too much time together. Holly works full time and I work part time so it has made it hard to work something out for all three of us. Well because today was Presidents Day, Holly had the day off so we were all able to get together.

We met at Carters Babystore. Now, if you have read any previous blogs you know that baby stores are my worst enemy! However I was able to control myself. I only spent what I had on credit there. It was great! Then we went over to Paradise Bakery for lunch. Shalyn and I just pushed out strollers over because its not too far from Carters. I honestly dont remember the last time I actually went inside Paradise Bakery. I get it so much at work meetings that I have never have the desire to go on my own. However, it was so good! I loved it. What was funny though was while we were there Jaren started crying and then once he stopped then Gunner started and then once he stopped then McKenna started. lol

After lunch we went to the Old Navy sale. Even Shalyn who said that she wasn't going to buy anything ended up buying a summer outfit for Jaren. Holly got a bunch of cute things for Gunner and while I was obsessing ocer all the cute girl stuff shalyn had to leave and then holly left and the next thing I knew I was alone.....alone with no one to talk any sense into me and so I bought more than I should have for McKenna. lol Oh well. lol

I really enjoy being with the girls because it gives me so much perspective. We are all so different from each other. For instance:

Holly:
Holly works fulltime and takes Gunner to work with her because the High School that she works at has a childcare program there for babies 6 weeks and up. Holly chose not to breast feed and takes Gunner out of the house frequently. She got rid of her cat for Gunner so he wouldnt get sick and they decorated a cute cute nursery in dinosours.He has always slept in a crib or a bassinet.

Shalyn:
Shalyn is a stay at home Mom and Jaren is a stay at home baby. She doesn't take Jaren out much and they are very careful about who hold him and if their hands are washed. They use cloth diapers and organic sheets. Shalyn breast feeds fulltime. They have a dog and a cat in their apartment. They decorated Jarens room in light colors with a Mickey Mouse theme. They cribbed him at 3months.

Me:
I work part time. When I have to work outside of the home my mom watches McKenna. We do not believe in babysitters other than grandparents....and Shalyn babysat once for us too when McKenna was first born. We are very open with McKenna being held by family members and actually promote it. We want her to be a people person. We kept McKenna inside for the first six weeks except to church and that was just to sacrament. After six weeks we were still careful about taking her out but took her to family events, the store and church. I breastfed for the first four months and now we only bottle feed and table feed. We didn't have animals for the first three months and now have a dog. We use disposable diapers. McKenna started using her crib at 6 months.

What is so funny is that some people from the outside would look at raising a baby only one way. I was worried about understanding that one way and doing it well before I had McKenna. But look at the three of us, we each do it differently and yet all our babies are doing great! Each mom knows best for their baby. I strongly believe that. Parenting is such a privledge! Im grateful that there is no perfect way to do it. Im also so grateful to have Shalyn and Holly to compare notes with, seek advise and just talk with them because they understand. Its such a fun time in our lives!

Our New Ward

So, yesterday was our first day at our new Ward. We have lived in our house since the first of February but we had a baby blessing and then McKenna and landon have been sick for two weeks. Finally we got to go yesterday. It is completely different from our old ward. Our old ward was like a married singles ward if that makes any sense at all. This is a legit family ward. We have all ages, all different kind of lifestyles and lots of opportunities for missionary work. We are so stoked!

The Crib

So, we of course, if you haven't read any of our previous blogs, spoil our daughter! She sleeps in bed with us. She use to sleep in her bassinet but by morning would end up in bed with us. Then when we moved we decided okay she is almost 6 months she needs to sleep in her crib.....and then she got sick! So, this last weekend we started over with trying to get her to sleep in her crib.

I was expecting a big fight. I had heard horror stories of babies who slept with their parents and then could never transition into a crib. So, we bought a mobile and hoped that would help. Well, let me back track and tell you that I have been doing as much kanagroo rearing as I can so I obviously dont believe in letting kids "cry it out" so I looked at a bunch of different approaches and he chose one that was a little bit of BTR and "Crying it out.

So, we put her in her crib and let her cry for ten minutes and then went in and picked her up and calmed her down and then put her back in the crib, then we waited another ten minutes and then repeated the cycle. Altogether we did it three times and she was out. The next night I calmed her down once and then she was out for 12 hours! So um, thats awesome!

We are really happy and excited for her but the funny thing is that WE are the ones that miss HER in our bed. lol Landon kept having nightmares that something would happen to her and would wake up and go in and check on her. What a good Daddy! I on the other hand have zonked out both nights! YESSSSS! Its been great for me!!!

Shopping Spree

So this Saturday we inteded on going to lunch, dropping by Buy Buy Baby and then going to IKEA and REI. Whelp, what ended up happening was we went to Mimi's Cafe for lunch and then went over to Buy Buy Baby and two-three hours later we came out.....Oh wow! It was horrible... Horribly fun!!! Landon never gets to come shopping with me when I shop for McKenna so this was SUPER fun for him. You should have seen the two of them! They like the same things and so Landon would hold something up to McKenna and she would get really excited and then he would hold up my outfit that I liked and she would give a look like: REALLY??? lol

Needless to say she got a lot of what Landon calls "Cool Clothes" He got her an Adidas Warm up suit saying that it would be motivating to go to the gym if we got to dress her up....as if our Nike outfit at home were outdated. lol He got her an Adidas sweatshirt, a hippie easter dress, daisy dukes, converse, another sparkly hippie dress that he insisted that she wear to church the next day. It was a lot of fun! I got to pick out two outfits too. Plus we got her a mobile. Landon got to pick it out and McKenna loves it!

Such a fun time with Daddy. We ended up not feling like we could go to REI and buy our rock climbing shoes after that shopping spree. Maybe next time! lol Landon is such a good Daddy and I looooovvveee to see what a cute little team they make. They have so much fun together!

SPOILED

So, I guess we have a BIG problem spoiling our little sweetie! We can't seem to help it. It is horrible to ever send me anywhere where there might be baby stuff because I will buy it! Its horrible. I have been really working on it but when Landon is with me shopping- we are unstoppable! It doesn't help that she is at the age where she can tell us what she likes and doesn't like. So when she gets really excited it completly melts us and we have to get it! UNREAL!!!

Buying things for her is not the only way that she is spoiled. I am with her pretty much all of the time. So, when she and Landon were sick, I left her with Landon to run out and pick up meds and such....lol boy was landon in for it when he realized that McKenna is use to always having attention. lol Now he understands when I say how hard it is to get hings done each  day. lol

Not only does she get a lot of attention from us but she also gets it where ever she goes. Landon and I have had frank convo's about how to break it to her that the world does not revolve around her. The problem is that she is always so happy, friendly and smiley that she can't help but make lots of new friends where ever she goes.

Hopefully all of this doesn't go to her head!!!!

What a great day!

The three of us had a great valentines day! One to remember for sure! Although we aren't feeling a 100% yet we were able to really have a good time!

Landon came home and surprised us and then we opened gifts and then are some Asian food that I made: edamame, chicken fried rice and general tsoas chicken! Yum!

Then we went up to bed and watched Mckennas new movie The Lorax. She really liked it! McKenna got a puzzle from cousin trey and a teddy bear and the land before time from grandpa and grandma and flowers and balloons from daddy, a swimsuit and swim diapers from me to go to the rec center and do our mom and tot class, a cherry outfit, and the Lorax.

Mckenna got daddy the movie courageous to watch together and a card and she got mommy a bbc chick flick to watch together.

Lots of love, activities and memories ahead of us!

To My Muscle Man

So Landon thinks I'm pretty corny and sappy and let's admit it I am and the older I get it gets worse and worse. So, I decided that this year I would cut the sap and get Landon a Muscle Man gift. I wanted to make it a bouquet but didn't have enough time so I made it a Man Basket.

One of Landon's favorite stores is GNC so I went there and loaded up.

Landon loves his girls!

Landon came home from work with a dozen long stem yellow roses in a yellow vase for me and a real yellow rose inside a balloon for Mckenna so it would be kind of like mommies and then he got some balloons!!! Mckenna and I were both so excited and loved his gifts!

Max love

Max got to celebrate v-day with us too! He got a new ball and bacon treats plus he got to watch one movie in bed with the three of us.

Valentines Day for Everyone!

So I have vaguely met my neighbors in my circle but we have yet to go to our new ward or go and introduce ourselves. Also, with the move I realized I have quite a few vases so I decided to make four flower arrangements with cards to introduce ourselves to our neighbors and say happy valentines!

Valentines day from Grandpa and Grandma

McKenna got a valentines teddy bear and a movie from grandpa and grandma and Landon got a book that he is stoked about and I got a framed saying for the wall and a journal.

Thanks grandpa and grandma sorry we were sick and couldn't come down to payson to celebrate! We love y'all!

Valentines Day from North Carolina

T.R. Ashley and Trey sent us a Valentines day package! Trey looked so cute in his creative valentine! We love it!

Happy Valentines Day! Luv McKenna

We love our cutie! I was going to get her all dolled up for some frilly V-Day pics but she and Landon both had the flu so we decided to go casual style. This is her favorite beenie! Isn't she a cutie??? Even though she is super sick sick she is still happy and beautiful! We are so blessed this Valentines Day to have her here with us! Love has a whole new meaning now!

Six month Doctor visit

McKenna has been kind of sick for two weeks now. It's been a tiny cold but then everyone got the flu and by her 6 month Dr. visit she had a bit of the flu herself.

Even being sick McKenna is very smiley and giggles. In this picture she is sick, you can see it in her eyes, but not sick enough to not be playing and smiling.

The Dr. Tested McKennas cognitive development, weighed and measured her and gave her some shots and some rx for her flu. She also get to try Advil now, we are excited about that!

The night after we went to the dr. McKennas fever spiked and so the next morning Landon went to fill her rx but no one had tamiflu. He spent five hours trying to find it for her and came home successful!

This was our first time ever giving McKenna antibiotics. We really believe that her never being on medications before now has aided in her rapid brain development and her happiness. She rarely gets sick and she is always happy. But she really needed this tamiflu.

The results of the Doc was that she is now a little over 25 inches long and weighs 15.5 lbs. The Docs worry is that McKennas brain development is much faster than her physical development. So, he said we will have to keep a close eye on her bc she will do things that she "thinks" she can do but is physically not ready for. Lol we already see that. She gets very inquisitive to the point where she will pull, dive or snatch something or after something before you can even blink. Then she will investigate thoroughly before she decides to play with it or put it in her mouth. Lol

McKenna passed the 6th month tests, then the nine month tests and most of the 12 month tests. Lol oh dear!!!! We have a smarty on board! Landon keeps telling her: "slow down honey, you don't need to grow up so fast and be so smart, you have the looks, so you don't need the brains."

We love our little girl and are so proud of her. We hope she gets feeling better than ever very soon!!!!

Reunited with Max

When we lived in our condo they would not allow pets so max has been living with Larry and Darlene. Well, on Saturday we were able to pick Max up so that we can now all be one big family.

I am allergic to animal dander but so far it hasn't been too bad. I told Landon that max could not come upstairs in our new house. Well, the first night we had max he broke down the gate and jumped in bed with us! Talk about four monkeys jumping on the bed ( me, Landon, Mckenna and max) oh dear!

Babies and Babies

So when I lived at the Pillar House I had some great roommates. We all seemed to get married around the same time and now we are all having babies.

Mary and Gabe are now in California but in December they had a baby not named Burke.

Megan and Tim live in Orem and they had a beautiful baby girl named Mary in November.

Jerri and Matt just had a baby a few days ago. She is super cute! Her name is Christine and they are currently living in Saratoga springs but Matt is applying to schools right now so we may not have them here much longer.

Our other roommate Chanel is due this summer with a baby boy!!!! What a great time for babies!!!!

Jaren's Baby Shower

Jaren was blessed a month ago but I wasn't able to blog about it. Now I'm playing catch up!

Jaren's blessing was very thorough and wonderful! Josh gave a great blessing. Shalyn also gave a beautiful testimony. Jaren looked super cute! It was a great day!

Landon and I are proud to be an uncle and aunt to Jaren. We hope to be able to spend some time with them before they go to DO school in Oregon. Especially hope that McKenna and Jaren can play before they move.

McKenna loves babies like her and has so much fun talking to them and giving kisses and playing!