Can it really be a year and a half since I updated my blog? Sheesh! Well, here I am to try again. I came to update on what my family has been up to, but also to mourn the loss of a friend. My best friend, Sarah Weldon, has lost her amazing husband, Rusty Fry. My heart absolutely aches for her. He was only 28 years old and they have two young boys together. I went to see Sarah yesterday and felt so helpless. I wish there was something I could do or say to help her feel better, but there's nothing that can. All we can do as her friends is be there for her. Sarah is a strong young woman and an even better mother. She's going to make it through this. Somehow. Anytime a friend or family member is lost, the world stops turning so fast and everyone goes about each day in shock. Then slowly, life gets back on track and we again forget just how short life is and how easily and quickly it can end. It makes everyone stop and think about life and death and makes them take an extra moment to hug and kiss their loved ones. Then back to the fast track again until the next person passes away. We need to never forget how short life is. We should always take the extra moment to give a hug or a kiss. I love the quotes "Never go to bed angry." and "Always kiss me goodbye." We just simply don't know when the last time will be. I love my family so much. My kids are the light of my life. They seriously drive me crazy a lot when they fight and bicker, but that's how it should be. They are healthy and (usually, lol) happy and that's all that matters. I wish I had more patience with them. I hardly remember my mom ever loosing her patience with me, and I know I deserved it a lot. I hope someday I can be just as wonderful as she was to me. Jayden loves keeping busy and is always ready to go outside and play, even if it's 95 degrees outside! His new hobby is catching lightning bugs. A couple nights ago, he and Emma and Nick caught 4 of them and we put them in a little critter keeper with some grass. The kids took it into their room with the light off in hopes of seeing them light up. The bugs found a small whole in the lid of the cage and got out! Jayden was then concerned that they were flying around in his room. I'm not sure if they ever found them! Emma is talking like a little pro. She's going to be going to Turtle Tots in August. I cannot even believe she is old enough to go to school. It seems like it took forever for Jayden to be old enough, but time really flew by with her. She is still sporting short frizzy hair and huge blue eyes. I hope she will grow some hair soon so we can start playing hair stylist! She's still obsessed with Mickey Mouse, but we have added a few new friends to the line up. Paw Patrol, Frozen and Tangled to name just a few. Oh, can't forget about Ninja Turtles. She and Jayden love the turtles and she can name them all just as easily as Jayden can. She potty trained within 1 month of really trying. I have to give credit to her baby sitter Corey for that. She only went to Corey's house for about a month before something came up and she was unable to continue baby sitting. But in that time Emma decided she would start using the potty at Corey's house and then finally at home. She was almost easier than Jayden! And he was super easy! Now I need to brag on my super hot husband, Nick! Gosh I love him. I want to cry now just thinking about how much I love him. I hope he knows it. He does so much for me, it's unreal. Just the last couple days he let me drop everything to go on a late night trip to Joplin with my friend Tara R. to pick up some stuff to take to Sarah. I was gone till almost 1:00AM and he never once complained. Then the next day he kept the kids so I could go visit her. It may not be much, but that's huge to me. Nick makes me speechless. I am struggling to put into words how much he means to me. He is my other half. He is my strength, my light, my friend. I love you, Nick. Always and forever. I've tried to add several photos but can't for some reason. It just keeps hanging up on me. I'll try again next time!

We had an absolutely wonderful weekend! We went to Branson, MO! We have gone before with Jayden, but he was still a baby, so he doesn't remember it. The drive was uneventful, but was full of the classic "Are we there yet?" Jayden complained more than Emma did! In fact, she didn't fuss at all except when the sun was shining in her eyes, which I fixed by pinning a jacket up on her window to block the sun out! We first stopped at Bass Pro in Springfield. I'd never been before and Nick had been there once, but didn't have enough time to really look around. We all actually had a lot of fun. There is a lot of stuff to look at. The kids sat on several different four wheelers and a big truck thing, I think it's called a gator? They had a ton of fun and were both very well behaved. Jayden enjoyed the fish. I enjoyed the display of water turtles! I used to have one as a pet and just love those guys! (the green ones with the red spot on their necks!) Jayden had been wearing one of Nick's camo hats and loved it because it was just like Daddy's. But it was an adult hat and was too big. So we found the kids section there and Jayden picked out a new hat that would fit him. Emma got one, too. Pink of course! We finished looking around there and headed back on the road. We packed already made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and chips, so we had those for lunch instead of stopping to eat. Yum! We finally arrived in Branson. We stayed at a hotel that has an indoor water park. We'd been there before and loved it. The kids were so excited to be in the hotel. There is just something about a hotel room that gets kids hyped up. They thought it was the best thing ever!

We were ready to go play at the park, so we got our bathing suits on and went on down! I don't have any pictures of the kids at the park because I didn't want the camera to get wet! They have lockers, but they cost to use. We didn't want to bother!

It was really fun. Jayden wasn't really into doing a lot of the slides, plus that water was freezing, even though it was inside! We mostly hung around in the toddler area, where Emma certainly had a blast. They had a small slide that she was able to climb up on by herself and slide down. I swear that kid probably did it 500 times. No exaggeration. She absolutely loved it. Jayden went on the lazy river with Nick, where they sat on an intertube and just floated. Nick said Jayden insisted that Nick do back strokes to make them go faster. So he did. :) We finished up the night by getting changed back into dry clothes and heading over to the pizza place and arcade that is part of the hotel. The pizza was good, but Jayden and Emma both refused to eat much. They were ready to go play some games! There wasn't much of anything Emma could do, so she just pretended to play. We ended up with some tickets and were able to get the kids each a small bouncy ball. Emma and I headed back to the room while Nick and Jayden went to play mini golf. When they got back, we put a movie on for the kids and were in bed by 10:00. Nick went and bought Krispie Kreme donuts the next morning. We packed up and headed on out shortly after that. We made plans to stop in Springfield again to visit the Discovery Center. It was very fun! I don't think the kids learned anything, but they both had fun looking and playing with all the stuff. Jayden and I became emperors for the day. Haha!

It was a short trip and all too soon was over. It was perfect though. Nick and I are both ready to go on another trip. We want to take the kids to Silver Dollar City next time, now that Jayden is old enough to enjoy the rides there. It would be fun! I can't wait!

Yesterday at church we talked briefly about how wonderful technology is and how awesome it is to always be able to have our scriptures and other church resourses so handy. I looked around during class and almost everyone was holding a tablet or viewing the scriptures on their phone. Even the older people have embraced the technology. How cool is that! We are so blessed to be able to have the Lord's word literally at our fingertips just about any time we want. It got me thinking about how nice it is to have to have our phones with great cameras. I often whip out the phone camera to take pictures of the kids when they are being cute. We have a nice real camera that we love, but sometimes the phone is just so neat to have around so I can catch those little moments so quickly. Just a little blessing I am thankful for today! Nick was playing around with the effects on my phone the other day. I laughed so hard. He is such a goof ball!!

And a normal one of us together. :)

And here's one of the quick shots of Emma in her new dress from Uncle Tyler and Aunt Trudi! Love it! I am so in love with fancy dresses for her. Dressing her for church is totally one of my favorite things to do with her!

I had a video of Jayden and Emma playing with some boxes that was pretty cute, but I guess I can't figure out how to upload it onto here. Maybe next time!

Well, it's been a long since since I updated this thing. I'm hoping I can keep up with it. I really enjoy reading everyone else's blogs, especially when they share pictures! So here I go: January started with the ending of a wonderful year. We didn't get any new jobs or a new house or add any new family members, so it was a pretty average year. It was great though. We had a great Christmas, which I will try to upload photos from later. For now, here is one of Emma pushing her new best friend, Mickey Mouse, around in her new stroller. She is in love with this guy. Actually, Jayden is, too. They fight over him a lot. Crazy kids!

And my favorite gift, an Origami Owl necklace from Nick. It has a CTR shield, Jayden and Emma's birthstones, a "Mom" engraved back, and my favorite: an "In memory of" charm along with my mom's birthstone. Nick was so thoughtful. I absolutely love it!!!

This month started off with a bang. Poor Jayden had to have surgery on the 3rd! Without going into detail, he has been having some trouble with his little boy parts and it needed to be corrected. There was some fluid collecting that needed to be drained and he also ended up having two hernias! The surgery was about 1.5- 2 hours long. I was able to go with him while Nick stayed home with Emma. Jayden was a trooper. He was super anxious though and almost refused to take the liquid medicine that would make him pretty loopy before going to sleep. I had to threaten him with a shot to get him to take it, which is exactly what would have had to happen. He does not like getting shots, so he decided drinking the liquid would be alright. He immediately became drousy and silly. He kept trying to clear his throat but was too sleepy and was making himself and me giggle. He sat on my lap and closed his eyes and just relaxed until the nurses came to get him. I put him in the little red wagon they use to wheel him into the OR. He didn't complain or realize what was going on. I am very glad they gave him that medicine because that is where his breaking point would have been. He would not have willingly left me. His best buddy "Puppy" got to go with him and was even wearing a hair net! I passed the time by cruising Facebook and reading my Nook. When Jayden was finally done, he was brought back in to me in a bed with an IV still in his poor little hand. He was crying for me and it was so heartbreaking. I didn't worry too much until that point. He was in pain now and this mommy did not like that. Jayden saw me and immediately asked for Puppy. His little buddy. He kept looking under his blanket at the bandages and told me he was hurting. I was so sad. The nurses finally brought him some Tylenol with codiene for the pain. Jayden fell asleep within 10 minutes. He slept for an hour. When he woke up, he was a totally different kid. He had previously refused to drink any pop, which is highly unusual for him. But now he was ready for it. He took a sip from the straw and said "Pretty good." Jayden was back! He was happy and no longer complaining of the pain. He was finally ready to go home. Since Nick had to go to work as soon as I got back home with Jayden, I had to take him to Walmart with me to get his pain medicine, more Tylenol with codiene. It was an adventure because he now weighs over 50 pounds and was unable to walk, so I had to lift him into the Walmart basket without hurting him. It was also a very cold and windy day, so that made it even harder. Jayden did great though and happily sat in the basket. We got his medicine and also picked up a bottle of chocolate milk. (I got one, too. lol) Back into the car and home we went. Jayden recovered very quickly and is now back to normal. Nick and I have to get on to him to settle down and stop jumping and horsing around. He doesn't seem to have any pain, he has not asked for medicine in two days. He will not be able to return to school until next week though. He has to be cleared from the doctor, first. He goes on the 9th and will likely be able to go back to school next Monday. I'm so proud of Jayden, he was such a big brave boy. I just hope this is the last surgery he will ever need. It was a very minor surgery but was no fun for him or us! I am very, very grateful that both of my babies are happy, healthy kids!!! Some pictures! Jayden got to pick out special pajamas to wear to the hospital. He picked Mario Kart!

Waiting for the nurses to give him the loopy medicine!

We got to watch Dora the Explorer while waiting.

And this was Jayden right after he fell back asleep after getting his Tylenol with codiene.

Our New House

Greetings!! This new blog entry brought to you from Nick and Tara's new house!!!

Oh what can I say about this house. How about... I LOVE IT!!! This house has been so worth the wait. I am just absolutely and totally in love with it. Although it is only a rent house, it is just as exciting to me as if we had bought it. We will probably never come across a rent house this nice for the price we will pay each month, with the added feature of being brand new. I am truly counting my blessings each time I think of how much I love this house. We have been very blessed.

Before I share pictures, I will tell you about our move. It went great! My dad came to help us with his truck. We started at 9:00 and didn't finish until about 6:00. Normally we would have had to rent a uhaul truck, but since we were only moving about a football field away, we just used Dad's truck and our cars. It was really hard work, but we did it. Jayden was so good throughout everything, too. He got to play outside most of the time, so he was happy. When we finally sat down for the evening, my feet were throbbing. Even my toenails hurt to the touch. It's crazy to think how tired I was because I didn't do any of the heavy lifting because Dad and Nick did all that. I had it easy lol. We now have everything (mostly) put away and where we want it. We had a little bit of trouble deciding where to put our furniture because, even though the area is large, they just weren't fitting right. We think we have it figured out, but we may change it later.

Features I love about the house:

1. Dishwasher. The only time Nick and I ever enjoyed a dishwasher was when we lived at Grandma's house while she was on her mission. It was like torture when we moved out of her house and into our duplex in Seneca. Going from having one to not having one is a big change. But now we have one again and it is so great. I keep looking over at it and just smile. Washing dishes by hand is kind of relaxing for me, I never really minded doing it before, but it was annoying.

2. Double-Rod Closets. Never had these before! I highly recommend them! Our clothes were always mushed together and got wrinkled because I didn't have enough room for both mine and Nick's stuff in one closet. With the combination of both of our work clothes and regular clothes, there was no room left over. Now, Nick has the top rod with more than enough room to spare. I have the bottom rod, also with more than enough room to spare. The only think I can see that some people might not like is that there is little to no room to store things on the closet floor because your clothes are so close to the bottom. I kind of like it because it will prevent me from cluttering the closet too much. Jayden's room has double rods, too, but I have his stuff on the top. He would pull them out every other day if I had them on the bottom. 3rd bedroom has them, too.

3. 3rd room. It is obvious to a lot of people why we are so excited about the 3rd room. I always refused to even think about bringing a new baby into that old trailer, especially because there was just no room. Now we have room. But until then, we have it full of boxes waiting to be unpacked. Nick is going to set up his drums in there, too. It won't be too much longer before we turn it into a nursery, but until then, it will act as a much needed storage area.

4. Tile floors. Who doesn't love tile? It's pretty and easy to clean! Only complaint I have is how cold our feet are going to be in the winter. Guess that's why they make rugs and slippers!

5. Okay, this is something I hate about this house. I have a little red bird in the back yard who is obsessed with our door. I can't figure out if it's a male or a female. I keep thinking if it's a female, maybe she is trying to fly inside to build a nest. If it's a male, I think maybe he sees his reflection in the window and is attacking himself. Either way, every morning he flies repeatedly into the window at 6:00 AM sharp. Then again at 4:00 PM. I have surprised him several times to try to scare him away, but so far I have not succeeded. Nick threatened to get the BB gun out, but I think putting up some mini blinds will do the trick. Hopefully. Stupid bird.

Okay, picture time!!!

Much To Be Thankful For

Hi everyone,

It has been like forever and a day since I updated this blog. Last August, to be exact I think. I have lots to talk about, so please forgive the loooong post.

The first thing that comes to mind is to express how very grateful I am to my wonderful family and friends who have supported me through the loss of my sweet, sweet mama. I want to give a huge shout out to everyone for being such a great help. We felt your prayers in ways I cannot explain. The power of prayer will never cease to amaze me. I know that there are many people out there who, even after a month, are still praying for us. I can feel the strength every day. I am so grateful.

A new house is in our future. We are hoping to move in to the new place in April. For anyone who does not know, we are not buying a house, but are moving into a brand new, still under construction rental house that sits about 100 yards from where we are now. A brief summery- My good friend from work's daddy owns several rental trailers here in Wyandotte. The one we are in was and still is in rough condition. The previous renter just didn't take care of it at all. Nick and I have cleaned it up and done our best to get it into livable conditions. It's still not perfect, but we are happy while we wait for the new house to be done. It was cheaper rent, closer to work, and not in Missouri, where we were. We have been able to watch the new house rise from nothing to something. It is a 3 bedroom house. We are totally ecstatic. It was promised to us when we moved into this trailer, thanks to my good friend, Shelby. We have even been involved in some of the decision making. We got to pick the paint color, the cabinet stain color, and give our two cents on whether or not Larry would put down tile or carpet as the flooring. (We picked tile!) The house is completely built, painted, and has water and electric hooked up. We are just waiting for the flooring to be laid and the rest of the cabinets to be built. Appliances still need put in and hooked up. Other than that, it's so close to being done. Larry predicts to be done with it in April. That's like... Next month!!!

In addition to the new house, we have been blessed to find some amazing new furniture. I just have to tell you all about them. We had a crummy old recliner that had been previously owned by smokers, so it reeked. I hated it but it was something to sit on and rock Jayden in. We also had an old white couch we got when we got married. It was in great shape when we first got it, but having moved so often and having to store it a couple times, it's not so great now. Our storage unit had a water leak so the pretty whiteness is pretty much gray now. I always kept sheets over the couch to cover it up, but those weren't any better. We did a lot of shopping around and finally found a great deal on 3 different pieces, all for under $1000. Talk about a steal. They were delivered yesterday and we are in love. They aren't real leather, but a leather look-a-like. They smell good and have warranties. Did I say I loved them yet??

Jayden is a blessing, too. He is growing so fast and learning new words all the time. He knows more than he speaks, though. He follows directions so well, even if he can't tell me what he is doing or asking. But today, for example, he said 2 new words. Cheek and head. He knows almost all his body parts by pointing to them and now he is starting to name them. I'm so proud of him! He also is praying. He has never acknowledged prayer, but all of a sudden he finally folds his arms and kneels for prayer. I am pretty sure I have caught him praying to himself, too. He randomly folds his arms and starts babbling random words I can't understand. So proud!!! He has made some new friends at his new daycare. I take him to a very wonderful girl named Tara. She has a son close to Jayden's age who Jayden adores. He never cared for daycare and would always cry when we dropped him off. But now that he has gotten used to her and realizes how much fun she is, he loves going. He gets excited and runs into her house all by himself without looking back. I'm so glad he has fun there. We have not really started with potty training yet. I feel like I am slacking in that department because I have heard of kids being potty trained by 18-24 months. But I just honestly feel Jayden is not ready yet. He has been telling us when he has a dirty diaper for some time now, but that's the only sign of being ready he has shown. He has never actually gone potty in the potty, he never allows himself to sit long enough on it. He will sit for 5 seconds before he is ready to get off of it. He screams and throws a fit if I make him sit back down. I don't want to make the experience not fun, so I'm just not even bothering with it yet. I think when he is 2 and a half we will start thinking about trying to train for real. Until then, I'm not worried about it.

I told you I had a lot to talk about. I know I have more to say, but I better stop now. I say this all the time, but I will try to keep up with this blog more often as things happen. Thanks for reading all this if you made it this far! Life is good.

Life Goes On

Nothing new has really changed lately. We are continuing to fix up our little home. We got the kitchen painted a couple weeks ago after some disastrous attempts at wallpaper. Wallpaper is not my first choice, but after you know how much I paid for it you will understand. I bought 8 double rolls for $2. Not $2 each, all 8 rolls for only $2. Talk about an amazing deal. They are prepasted too. I couldn't pass them up. The kitchen needed some color so we went for it. Bad idea. While the wallpaper was good, I think anyways, we didn't know what we were doing. We kept trying to put it up and always messed it up. We either cut each piece too small or too big, in which case we tried to slice the edges off resulting in the paper ripping, or the paper would be the right size but would have wrinkles all over it. Nothing we did would work. My mom always used a towel and a putty knife to smooth out edges. Her wallpapering skills are flawless. Mine and Nick's certainly are. We finally gave up after several failed attempts and went for paint instead. I thought we were saving money. The paint went surprisingly great. While it turned out to be more purpley than the blue I wanted, it looks really good. The kitchen has some character now! We are really pleased with it. We tried to finish painting the ceilings but got frustrated with that again, so it's still not all done. It's very hard painting the entire ceiling of your house. It starts to hurt after awhile, not to mention all the paint specks falling into your face and hair. Ick. That project is to be continued.

Jayden is saying more and more words. While he isn't speaking a ton yet, he is certainly trying. He says a lot more than we know, he knows exactly what he is saying, we just don't always understand it. He says "Get it!" when we throw his toy ball around, he says "Sit down." when we ask him to get into his highchair for a meal. Nick said he waved bye to me as I was leaving one day and said "Bye bye Mama!" He is so cute when we bring out his shoes to go somewhere, he plops down on the floor in front of us. We didn't even teach him that, he just started doing it. He loves to put our shoes on his little feet and walk around in them. Or trip around, I guess I should say! He is full of sentences and words but these are just a few that we can actually hear out of all the baby language he still uses. In time his speaking will be clearer. I feel bad sometimes when I hear about other babies his age practically getting ready to graduate college it seems. But Jayden is perfect and smart and growing in his own special way.



I will have been at the fitness center for 3 years this September. I'm so thrilled. I love it here. I was offered a full time position starting when our construction is complete in May 2011. I said I would love to, but I'm not sure I will be able to. If I work full time, Nick and I would never see each other. I would no sooner get home from work when he would be getting ready to leave for his work. We did that before Jayden was born and it stunk, we hated it. It's not good for a marriage. So I will either have to decline the extra hours or we might try to get Nick on a day schedule so we can all be home together in the evenings. That would mean Jayden would have to go to daycare. At this point, I'm ready to send him. He doesn't play with any kids other than at the church Nursery on Sundays. That's not enough. He needs to learn to share and play. I think being around other kids would help his shyness and even his speaking skills. Nick doesn't think he will be able to switch to days, his Chef wants him on evenings for his skill and maturity. We always say Nick has to "babysit" the other workers and that is no lie. Oh well, we have several months still to try to convince Chef.

We got a dog. And then took it back. Crazy 3 days, that was. Nick and I decided we were ready to have a dog. We found a little Chihuahua on Craigslist. He was 9 months old and already house trained. When we got there to look at him, we discovered he was from a breeder. The lady never mentioned that to us. We thought he was just a family dog that needed rehomed. Turns out the "rehoming" fee was actually a regular breeder-customer sale. I wasn't too pleased about that. But she was nice, knowledgable, and her dogs looked in great shape. She still said the dog was house trained because her children always brought the dogs into her house to play. We went ahead and took him. He was a darling. We named him Bailey. Jayden just adored him. Turns out the dog wasn't house trained. He peed on everything when we turned our backs and he was so afraid of us. Now I realize Chihuahuas are a shy breed, especially when they are in a stranger's home. We gave him a chance and when he still never warmed up to us and was still trying to pee on our furniture (and pooped in the living room at night) we decided he wasn't the dog for us. Luckily the breeder lady took him back. We were very disappointed that she told us he was housetrained when he really wasn't. If it weren't for that, we could have dealt with the shyness. But when you combine a shy, terrified dog and a sharp "NO!!!!" when he lifts his leg on stuff, it was a bad thing. Any fright he already had was made worse when he got in trouble for peeing. I'm sure he is happy to be back home now. I'm positive if the right person comes along that has the patience for that kind of behavior, he will make a great pet. Not us though.

Speaking of pets, my kitten Mischo went to get neutered last week. Yay! Vets are really trying to make it affordable to spay and neuter pets. It was only $40! That's cheap! That's the surgery, pain meds, and 1 night boarding for the animal to recover. Woo hoo!