HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEIRA!!!

So, Keira turned 4 a few days ago on the 19th. That went fast, how time flys. At least she didn't quite make it to 4 before she was potty trained! It seems like just yesterday we where bringing her home from the hospital. I remember when she was born, I was up all night with contractions and finally at 5 am I went to the hospital where they monitored me for and hour and a half and said I was probably in labor and I could either walk around to bring on more labor or go home, get some rest and come back. I opted to go home where I could eat and sleep which surprised them. I got up to change into my clothes and that's when my water broke, the nurse laughed and told me to stay put and now I couldn't eat (dang it!) I remember when she came out she screamed at the top of her lungs for over an hour straight the Dr. said "oh, your in trouble with this one." We have a running joke in our family that she just really didn't want to be born and come out, it's that whole change thing she doesn't like.

She was such a pretty baby and I got a lot of comments like that, she was also my clone and still is for that matter if you pull out my baby pictures she looks just like me, except I had more hair and my hair was curly.

I remember at this age she was so good, people would always tell me how good and content she was. She was always happy to sit and play and entertain herself.

Here is the age when the stubborn streak returned in full force. It was like one day she was this quiet, sweet, content little girl and the next day bam DIVA! She started screaming at the top of her lungs and was soo stubborn. My theory is, it's a good thing she is cute cause I would beat her if not. My aunt said to me once while dealing with Keira while she was screaming "I, just figured out why YOU ended up with Keira, cause if anyone else had her, she wouldn't survive."

She can entertain herself no matter where she is or what she has to play with. She will just sit and play with whatever is available. Whether it's milk boxes from Costco or paper, or even nothing, she has an imagination that won't quit.

She could pretty much fall asleep anywhere and this trait is still with her today. If she is tired she grabs a blanket and just falls asleep where she is at, whether it's on the front steps of my parents camper, with daddy, in the middle of the toy room floor, on a couch, etc






Keira's favorites include Hello Kitty and tinker bell. You should see the excitement level she gets when she sees "her friends"

"Wookit, my woggles!" Something she said many times at Cherry Hill this year.

I added this for good measure, because this is the best example of her stubborn streak; the day she sat on that stinkn' potty seat for over 5 hours and held her urine (little stinker).
Doesn't matter where she is, she sleeps when she can.
She is so funny sometimes, there are many family trips where we find my daughter streaking down to nothing, both these pictures are trips where she was naked, walking around at some point (I really hope that trait doesn't carry on when she gets older)

If she finds water and wants to get in it, it doesn't matter if she is wearing clothes, naked, or whatever she will just hop right in, she is sopping wet here, thus the reason her clothes are hanging down below her diaper.

She can even sleep at dinner time!

We have the best collection of funny faces that Keira makes, she is so full of it and when the camera comes out she hams it up.

Keira, she is cute that's for sure.





I was so excited because we actually got a good picture of her this year, she is VERY hard to get a decent picture of, she wont look at the camera or she makes a funny face or she wont sit still, the list goes on and on, so I was so excited to actually get one of her this year.

I can't believer our little Kiki is 4 already. She will be going to "grandma's preschool" this year and is very excited, she even has a Hello Kitty backpack.

Keira; fun, exciting, imaginative, creative, cute, sweet, active, independent, funny, leader, unpredictable, smart.

That's what Keira is to us, we joke about her extreme stubborn streak but all in all she is such a joy to have, she can put a smile on my face faster than anyone. I love to sit and watch her play with "her friends" she has a collection of little toys that she carts around everywhere and they all have names and she remembers every single name and the names do not change. She loves to make her friends talk to each other, and will play for hours by herself contently. She is very unpredictable, you honestly never know what her reaction can be to things, I am wrong if I guess half the time, so it's fun to watch her. She is very smart to, she won't repeat what she knows (the stubborn streak again) but if she doesn't realize I am watching she will repeat the things and I can catch glimpses of what is stored in that brain of hers. There are things that she knows that Nyah doesn't, she has a good memory I think. I can't wait to watch her grow and learn and explore as she gets older.

Happy Birthday Kiki, we love you!!

It's a MIRACLE

So, we actually did it! We had a miracle happen in our house this week. . . Keira actually is potty trained!!! I mean wearing underpants with no accidents ever, I don't remind her to go she just goes! So it all started after I read the book "Potty Training in Less Than a Day" I was completely prepared with what the book says to do, I had plenty of treats & drinks. We had her day on Tuesday, it started off HORRIBLE, I couldn't even get her to put underpants on without a HUGE fight. We did it though and continued with the potty training which involves a massive amount of praise and excitment, they get praised over every thing they do and for having dry pants etc. It's really very invovled. After so many hours she still had not gone to the bathroom, she was willing but was starting to get bored with the whole thing. Then my aunt came up with the brilliant idea from "Super Nanny" to have the "diaper fairy" come and get her diapers to use on the new babys in the hospital. So we did that, we had her put out her diapers in a basket by our couch and later, it was like magic the diaper fairy had come and taken her diapers. She left a trail of sparkles, a note and some prizes for Keira which where some new Hello Kitty panies, and a small toy. The note told her that if she wanted to keep her prizes then she had to pee in the potty, if not then her mom got them until she did pee in the potty. Well I had to take them from her cause it was still a no go. I was, however not going to put her back in diapers it was just underpants, I had her wear the thick potty training ones and then if we went places I put those vinyl training pants over her underpants so it wouldn't get all over the floor at other places. Anyway we where at my moms and my mom decided to see if she could get her to go. Keira was doing her usual thing getting upset and saying "I can't do it, I want to get down, I done" etc. My mom got really stern with her and said "yes, you can do it, you want to get in trouble" anyway all of the sudden Keira stopped, smiled and looked at my mom and then she peed saying "I did it, I'm a big girl" the whole thing took about 15 minutes. Then after that every few hours we would take her and have to fight her and say "you are doing this, you are not getting up til you pee" after the first time it got easier and easier so after about a day of doing that she didnt' give us trouble when we took her anymore she would just sit there and say "it's coming, I did it, I'm a big girl." Then on Monday I decided to test her to see if she would go without any reminders and she did, we never remind her anymore she just goes, she even came in from playing outside to go and went during the middle of Dora so that is HUGE. We are so excited, it's like this massive weight just lifted off my shoulders.

Jayda's 9 Month Pictures

So I took these a little bit ago and have just not posted them yet as we have had too many things going that I have had to post about. Poor Jayda got lost some where amongst all the other things. I think I got some cute ones she LOVED playing with the necklaces. I love the necklace in her mouth right here

This was one of the last pictures and by then she was so done with this whole thing and did not want to stay there.



I love this one, it's so hard to get them to smile when you want them too, so I was happy she was smiling here.

About 140 Pounds Ago

So, here is the Jared we all know and love with his sister on the far right and his cousins in the middle. He is 6' 2" and 240 lbs of pure muscle, well lets rewind to about a foot and 140 pounds ago. . .

Okay so as promised, I was asked by some friends to share some pictures of Jared from high school. Why, you ask, well that's because he was like 5 ft tall and 100 lbs, ya he was a tiny little bugger. No one believes that he really was that small, I found some good ones I think.

Okay so this is his senior picture so he was 17 here

This picture cracks me up. Jared is the small kid in the back that looks like he is 12 well, no he was like 16 and the guys in front where just a year older than him.
Okay so I think he was like 14 or 15 here but look at his hair, seriously can we say flock of seagulls. He had long hair and when he left the house he has his trench coat, white base and black eye liner. Ya, he was one of those guys at school, even I have never seen pictures of him in his make up and black clothes, I don't think there is any pictures documenting this, too bad cause that would be funny.
This picture I think is the best to show just how small he really was, if you look, you see the girl he is with has flat shoes on and she is taller than him. I think he said he was 16 here.
So, there you have it my husband used to be small, so what happened? The Gym! His brother got him into lifting weights and then he hit a growth spurt at the same time and the rest is history.

It's really kind of a cool thing if ya think about how far he has come from then and he is still loving every minute of the gym, he is so awesome with goals and sticking to something once you have started it. He really is the best example of persistence, I mean look at him he has his masters degree and he hated school, he has been going to the gym now for 15 years, although he loves that. He just rises to whatever occasion he is asked to do, that's one of the reasons I love him so much.

Cherry Hill

So, we went to Cherry Hill this last weekend and it was a BLAST! My family goes every year and camp there for a few days. We played cards and games the first night while the kids watched movies. On Friday we went to the water park and played all day, that night we went to the rock wall to watch everyone try to climb, Jared got all the way up and Nyah even tried and got about half way up before she decided it was to high and came back down. Keira played in the "Hamster Haven" a big play house like at MacDonald's with a pool of balls in the bottom. Jared wanted me to climb the rock wall and I was like are you kidding, first I would most likely fall not to mention my HUGE fear of heights, I was content to watch everyone else. The next day was more water park fun, Jayda by the way LOVED the water she started kicking the moment she got in and did not stop till we took her out. Keira was content to play in the kiddie area where she could run around she was a little apprehensive about the pool where she could not touch, Nyah on the other hand was in the love with the pool and going under the water with her goggles on. Keira did like the goggles and called them "woggles" she looked hilarious in them. Seriously, I am getting quite the collection of funny pictures of Keira she is known to make the weirdest faces or do the funniest things when the camera comes out. That night we went miniature golfing where Nyah would totally cheat her way through by picking up the ball to put in the hole, where as Keira was more serious about it trying to hit the ball with her club the whole time. At every single hole she would ask "can I try dis mom" she really had some fun though. Jared had to leave after like the 3rd hole because Jayda had, had enough for the day and wanted to go to sleep so he opted to go back to camp while I finished with the girls, but honestly as a parent at these mini golf courses with kids, well I was over it by the 7th hole and they have 18 holes, whoever thought of that, come on. After the 9th hole, which I was laughing on anyway because there is a dragon that opens and closes it's mouth which is where your ball is supposed to go well Keira got her ball through and then got right up the dragon saying "hey, you ate my ball, give it back" I was cracking up, but needless to say I was over the whole mini golf thing so after that I said "Okay all done, lets go" Nyah being the smart one was like but there is more golfing and I said "no, we are all done" then they where oh, okay and trotted along merrily. At least they had fun. After that we went home late Saturday night and we where very happy to be in our own beds. I love going there and it was a TON of fun, we can't wait to go again. Here are the pictures from our fun filled long weekend.

Happy 4th of July

We had a TON of fun on the 4th of July weekend. On the 4th of July we had a pancake breakfast with our neighborhood, Keira LOVED the pancakes and ate way more than I did. They did the primary parade and the girls had a great time with that riding their decorated bikes around the block. Keira peddled her little heart out it was so funny I kept thinking of the music played on "The Wizard of Oz" with the wicked witch of the west it was funny. After that we went boating to Utah like aka "sludge lake" with my parents, the girls love boating especially Keira. My mom always brings the starbursts aka "Yummy's." Nyah got to drive with grandpa which she thought was wonderful. Jayda totally fell asleep I think the rocking motion just knocked her out, she likes it to I think. After boating we had a BBQ at my parents with hamburgers and the works, then we made smores which Nyah was so proud of herself, she did the whole thing all by herself. Keira on the other hand, her idea of smores was just putting an unroasted marshmallow between two cookies and there you have it a sugary treat that has you bouncing off the walls. If you look closely at the pictures on the slid show you will see one of Nyah eating her fruit, she is our good eater and eats healthy things. Then I turned around and there is Keira with a bag of marshmallows stuffing her face, oh the contrast of siblings. We then lit fireworks which I thought the girls would be scared of the sparklers but not at all they got right in there and had a blast. The next day we went to a bbq at our neighbors that night where for desert they BBQ'd Twinkies, yes of all things Twinkies, I was hesitant but they where pretty darn good I was pleasantly surprised. She is from down south so I am sure that is where they picked that up but mmmm, it was good. After that we went to our other neighbors for desert and fireworks, the kids LOVED having the desert table right there so they could eat whatever they wanted, when they wanted. The guys had way to much fun lighting the fireworks, I don't know who had more fun the kids with the deserts or the dads with the fireworks ha ha. We had a good time celebrating and BBQing though and now back to the gym I go hi ho hi ho, I think I gained like 5 pounds in two days from all the junk we ate. Oh, well it was worth it.

Family Reunion

So we went to Hanksville, Utah for a family reunion from Jared's moms family a couple weekends ago. It's a town with 200 people in it. It's VERY HOT and full of sand. The family reunion was a lot of fun they had yummy food including mutton and homemade scones with homemade jam mmmm. They had lots of fun activities and games to play, we got to ride horses and 4 wheelers. We played in the water and played water baseball where everyone started to get thrown into the pool with their clothes on, they even got Jared in which I got on video, it was funny. Almost everyone came with the exception of I think 2 cousins that couldn't make it so that is pretty good. I think Jared's grandma Joy was just beside herself with excitement, she loves having people there especially family, we love her she is the cutest grandma ever. In Nyah's words "I love grandma Joy, she is so cute, and big!" If ya, click on the thing below you can see pictures from the reunion.

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