Easter weekend

Mackenzie loves running around outside!

My new slide in the back yard.

Do you think she likes it?

WEEEE

The kids after the East Egg hunt...Jason found an egg and a truck in the bushes! So he got in the picture too.

Mackenzie finding eggs

Mackenzie and Ethan playing during conference.

We had a great time for celebrating Easter. We had a great time with a wonderful group of friends! After the Easter egg hunt we all had a big Easter dinner with ham, funeral potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, salad, deviled eggs, and a yummy fruit tart for dessert!

Some Cold and Some BEAUTIFUL!

It was finally warm enough to go outside today, so we went to the park for about an hour. She had a blast and there were a million other kids there too.

Such a GREAT DAY!


Smile before you go down the slide!


Ethan was showing her where to go.


Th big kid slide was the BEST!


Patiently waiting her turn.


She was having too much fun to look at mommy!


On the big kid steps to get up to the big kid slide!


Her new swing in our backyard! She calls it a WEEEEE cause that is what you say when you are on it!


On the way to church!


This is now Mackenzie's face when we say smile or cheese!

Long Time No See

Lets start out with some pictures from NC...

My friend Hailey and I got together at the park and here are her two little ones with Mackenzie


This is what Mackenzie did (ran all over the place) while...


Poppy chased her like this making scary noises. It was so funny. If he stopped she would just keep saying more until he would do it again.


Poppy was her chillin out friend too.


We went to Outback to celebrate Daddy's birthday when he came to visit us in NC. Mackenzie helped him eat his ice cream.


She was happy to be eating cheese fries and bloomin onion.

Ok, time to get out now, I have finished eating!

Sorry I have been such a slacker in the blogging department. Since I have been back in Colorado I have been soooo busy whenever I would have the chance to blog.

The only time I really can blog i during Mackenzie's naps and late at night. During all of her naps I have been doing things around this crazy house. For example, as soon as she has gone to sleep everyday this past week, I have run downstairs thrown on my paint clothes and painted a pantry, closet, and another bedroom. That may not seem like much but each one needed two coats and there were lots of nooks and crannys to get to. I am just ready to at least have this house painted completely so that I don't feel icky when I walk into certain rooms.

But life has been good since we have been back in CO. Mackenzie and I really miss being in NC, and I really really miss having constant babysitters and human toys to entertain this girl.

My next big blogging project is to start taking some after pictures of these rooms so that I can post about our house that we have been working on for what already seems lie forever. But I know some of the rooms won't be completely done until July. My parents are awesome and are providing us with lots of furniture to put in our home. So my great hubby gets to drive a Uhaul across the country.

But since we have been back Mackenzie is continuing to learn so many words.

A few that I can think of off the top of my head are

- downstairs

-upstairs

-I love you

-help

-dance

-icky

-yuck

The funniest thing (ok not really funny, but you can't help laugh)...she is starting to pick her nose. Not like for real, but she puts her fingers up her nose and says yuck or icky just to see what we will do. We have tried to tell her it is icky, and to not do it, we have ignored her,but we just can't help laughing to ourselves, because when she does it...it is just too funny.

Also, the first thing she ever wants to do when she wakes up in the morning is dance. She also wants to dance whenever I walk into the kitchen. I have a cd player in the kitchen and she wants me to turn it on and make a fool of myself while she sits and laughs. She just rocks back and forth and will turn in circles if I am lucky, but she gets mad if I am not "dancing".

Also, Alison (Adam's sister) and her husband Ryan decided to take a road trip from Provo to Denver to come see us. It was a fast trip and it was cold, so we didn't do a ton, but it was great to see them. Thanks for coming you guys!

That is all for now because Mackenzie is waking up...

I will try to do better about blogging!

Things are great!

Well, I am in NC and have been for a few weeks now.
I am not doing a very good job keeping up with blogging, but here is a little update without pictures. (They will go up sometime at a later date).


I have had Lasik surgery and am seeing great. I am still a little blurry in one eye, but it is still healing. I got to wear these VERY SEXY goggles to sleep in so I didn't accidentally rub my eyes. I was not supposed rub or touch my eye for a week. That also included putting on makeup, getting water in them, or anything that could come in contact with my eyes. I did a good job and did exactly as the doctor asked. Now I should be good. I my eyes are doing great and I can go about my normal life. I am just so excited that I can see!

Being at home is great, (I just wish my hubby was here too). He did come for a long weekend to spend some time with us, but it just wasn't long enough. He does have a job and has to support us somehow, so he had to get back.

Since we have been home, Mackenzie has not done a great job sleeping. She wakes up at night sometimes and thinks it is time to play. For the first almost 2 weeks, she would be awake for hours at a time in the middle of the night. I thought it was going to kill me. She still is getting up at night, just most nights it isn't for hours. I think she is just excited to have all these people around all the time and doesn't want to be left out.

I also got my hair chopped off a week or two ago. I need to take a picture. I don't really have a "before" picture, but the "after" is very different from what my hair has looked like the last few months. The only bad thing about my hair being this short is that I can't pull it back in a pony tail. If you are just so excited and can't wait to see it, you can go back on my blog like a year or so ago (the summer before I had Mackenzie) and see how short my hair was at that time. I think it is actually a little shorter now than it as then. But it is cute when it is fixed.

Oh I also wanted to put a little update about all the things Mackenzie is doing.

I think this has been a great trip for her. With all the stimulation around, she has really grown and learned a TON!

Some words she says now are:

• please
• thank you
• Gigi (this is now what we are calling my mom cause having 2 Nana's was very confusing)
• Poppy (my dad's new name)
• Papa (my grandfather)
• Ball
• Apple
• Outside (she said it for the first time this morning)
• Up
• Bottle (baba)
• Daddy
• Hi
• Bye Bye
• Me
• Katie (she said it one time, so we will see if she continues)
• Stinky, stinky, stinky (when we change her diaper)

I know there are some that I am missing but I will update this more if I think of any.

She is also changing her baby doll's diaper, feeding and burping the baby, riding her rocking horse, opening doors (she is just tall enough to reach the handle and pull it down to push or pull the door open. We were hoping this one would wait until our next trip. At our house we have the round knobs, so that is take a little longer to figure out.) She is flying up and down the stairs, she is really wanting to feed herself (even though she still doesn't eat hardly ANYTHING), she kicks balls, and it getting pretty good at throwing them, she is also becoming OCD about things being exactly like she wants them. (if you fold a blanket around her baby and it isn't exactly the way she wants it, she will take it all out and get you to do it again.) I feel bad for her cause she is at the age where she wants you to know what she wants, but she doesn't quite know how to convey it, so we are all getting frustrated. We will get past this soon I hope.

But other than that things are good. I wish Adam could come visit one more time, but I will be home in a little over 2 weeks and we will get back to normal life.

Thanks honey for letting me be gone this long. You are a good sport!!!

We miss you! Good thing we have phones and webcams!

New Years Eve

We had a fun night with some friends who came over on New Year's Eve. We played some games and ate lots of yummy food. The babies even decided to be awake for bringing in the new year. Luckily Mackenzie had slept for a few hours, but about 11:30 she wanted to come join the party!

Sean, Tonya, and their little one Ethan (who never even went to sleep until after they left)

Nathan, Chelsea, and thei little one Luke (who was asleep)

And our friends Auburn and Jason came over fo a little while but had to leave early! We missed you guys!

We are so glad and grateful that we have great friends here, especially since we don't have family around!

Mackenzie

This is just some pics and an update on Mackenzie!

First of all, Mackenzie hates to have her hair done, so the other day she was sitting in my lap while I was doing her hair and she decided to take her anger out on my glasses. Good thing I am getting Lasik so soon. I am now wearing my old glasses (the perscription isn't perfect) but it does enough to help me not have a constant headache.


Mackenzie in her 2T dress and her 12 month sweater. Tell me how those sizes work? I am so confused!


Nana, this picture is for you. I AM IN MY CHRISTMAS DRESS!!!


Mom took my hair down, but because my hair is so thin and straight it stays basically the same, just like I still have rubberbands in it!

I decided it was time to go outside so I put on my hat and brought Mom my shoes!

I am just growing up so fast!

When Mom didn't come get me as soon as I woke up, I decided to look outside and see what was going on. But she caught me!

I love to DANCE!

Mackenzie is getting so big! We just had her 15 month check up and everything is great. She weighs 19 pounds 4 ounces, and it 31 1/4 inches tall.

She is learning how to really eat with a fork and getting pretty good at it.

She is running all over the place and just loves to be on the move constantly

She is just sooooo busy and wants to learn about everything we are doing.

The other day she was being too quiet so I went into her room to see what she was doing. She had a diaper laid out on the ground and was putting her baby doll in it and wrapping her up. She now knows how a diaper goes on.

She loves bathtime and would stay in her bath all day long if we let her.

She now has 4 teeth (she finally got her top 2 in a few weeks ago).

She is a very picky eater and won't eat a lot. I guess she eats just enough to live on. And that is why she is so skinny (The doc says she is healthy and she is eating enough for her little body).

She isn't talking a ton, but I think it is because she loves her binky. We have been working on not having it during the day and it seems to be working.

She now says mama, dah (dad), bah (ball), baba (bottle), hi, bye, and I can't remember if she is saying any more.

She does sign

-please whenever she wants something (and if we won't give it to her she does the sign harder and harder as she gets more upset that e won't give her something she wants).

-food (points to her mouth)

-more

She loves to dance. Those of you who watch playhouse disney she loves the ooo and ah song (the song the monkeys) she gets up and tries to sing along. She also loves the little einsteins song and pats her lap the whole time they sing it.

She is really good at the stairs, she is just unsure about how to start goingn down. She will stand at the top of the stairs until we turn her around and put her on the stair and then she is good to go either up or down.

She loves to give hugs and kisses. The other day I was putting her down for a nap and I gave her a kiss on the cheek so she grabbed me around the neck and hugged me tight while saying uh uh (something my mom taught her).

She is also very good at helping around the house. If I tell her to go get something or to put something somewhere she runs to do what I have asked. She is getting pretty good at putting her toys away also if I do it with her and show her how.

She still isn't sleeping very well. She will sleep through the night maybe once or twice a week. She also only takes 1 nap a day and sometimes that only lasts 45 min-1 hr, so you can imagine those are fun days.

But that is about it for now. I can't believe she is so big! She really isn't my little baby anymore! SAD!

Ward Christmas party

We had a Church Christmas party a few weeks ago and it was a lot of fun. I tried to get Mackenzie to take a picture with Santa, but she screamed before I even put her in his lap, so I wasn't mean, I just took her away and let her watch him from a far. She loves looking at Santa and saying "HO HO HO" but doesn't want to be close to a life sized version!

We were all asked at the different tables to make ornaments for the tree that was in the middle of the gym, so our table had stuff the make gingerbread man ornaments. After we finished the ornaments, there were stickers left over, so Adam decided to make Mackenzie decorative also!

We sat with some of our friends:

Chelsea and Nathan

And Krystal and her little girl Grace!

Christmas

Well this Christmas we got to spend it as a family of 3. We didn't get to go home to either side of the family this year. We were really sad that it didn't work out, but that is what you get when you buy your first house!

We did have a good Christmas this year spending it together. Adam really wanted to have a break from work and just chill out and enjoy himself, but I made him do work around the house. We had lots of cleaning and straightening and just still putting things where they belong. He was a good sport and helpd a ton.

Christmas eve we had a couple over who are really good friends to eat dinner and play games. It was great to spend time with them.

On Christmas morning (I will never be too old) I woke Adam up as soon as Mackenzie woke up so that we could see what Santa brought. I was always the first one up at my house and I would wake everyone up and even call my grandparents to tell them they needed to get over to our house immediately! (Most of the time they were up and ready and just waiting for my call to race to our house to watch us open presents!)

Santa still came to our house even though this year we didn't put up any decorations. Not even a Christmas tree. We felt kinda bad, but oh well we just didn't have to energy to put everything up when half of our house was still not unpacked.

Mackenzie's Stuff

Adam's Stuff (and some of our stuff together)

My stuff

Everything

Our lives for the last month or so

Sorry I have been MIA for so long. This whole buying a house at Christmas tme was probably not the smartest idea. We have been sooooo busy trying to get into the house.

So we closed on the house on Nov. 24. Then we got started working as hard as we could. I will actually post before and after pictures of all the rooms because we have changed and fixed EVERY ROOM IN THE HOUSE!!! We are exhausted and still have more work to do.

We had Thanksgiving with a coule of friends here in Denver and then quickly got back to work on the house. It was great to have a big Thankgiving meal with friends, if you can't be with family.

Then the Tuesday after Thanksgiving my wonderful mom flew out here to help me pick out paint and start really working on the house (not just the stuff we had to have professionals do). We got lots of samples to find the right colors, but when we did my dad flew in on Wednesday night to help with the actual paint process. I thought they were crazy when they first mentioned it, but aren't they AWESOME!!! My dad took time off work and my mom left all her responsibilities to come and paint a whole house. Every surface was painted. Every ceiling got 3 coats of white, every wall got 1 or 2 coats (depending on what color the wall was before) and all the molding in the house got painted. My dad did all the ceilings and almost all the trim everywhere while adam rolled a ton of the walls, I cut in , and my mom worked wherever we needed her. She also watched Mackenzie a ton while my WONDERFUL friend Jessica watched her the other times. Jessica's house was Mackenzie's "nap house" for a few days. She would go there for her naps so everyone else could work.

My parents had to leave on Sunday morning which was sad, but we got so much done. The whole main floor was finished except for a few final touches.

That helped us so that we could move in the next week. We got a bunch of our friends to help us get everything out of our apartment and into our home. Luckily the apartment and house are very close because wehad to take 2 trips with the uhaul.

Now that we are in the house, we have been working on the basement. We finished painting the family room and will continue to work on the other rooms. I promise there will be before and after pictures of all the rooms when I get a chance to put them all online.

We had a great Christmas (even though we didn't get to spend it with family) and I will write more about that in the next post.

Now I am leaving to go home on Tuesday and leaving my wonderful hubby for 5 weeks. I am having Lasik surgery a week from tomorrow, and I can't wait. I will finally beable to see!!!!!

Our new BIG news!!!

We are buying a house!!! I have been waiting to make sure everything has gone through, but now it is all good! We close on our first home on Tuesday!!!! I can't believe we are going to be home owners!!! That is so exciting, but CRAZY! I am scared, anxious, excited, just a FLOOD of emotions!

We are really excited because it is the same ward at church, so we don't have to get to know a whole new group of people. YAY!

It is a little over 2000 sq ft. It has 3 bedrooms and a bath on the main floor and 1 bed and bath in the basement. It is a foreclosure, so we have a lot of cleaning, painting, and fixing up, but we will be doing this over a period of time. There will be lots of pictures are we redo things!

Yay for growing up!

Halloween a few days late!

Mackenzie went trick-or-treating with her friend Ethan. Ethan's Mom (Tanya), Chelsea, and I decided to go along also while the guys stayed to hand out candy. Here are some fun pictures.