Week o Fun

Steve took the entire week off last week and we decided that we would plan something everyday so we could make the most of Christmas. It was so much fun and made it that much harder for Steve to go back to work this past Monday. We made some great memories and took some fabulous pictures. Here's our week in review

Saturday Dec 19: Went and saw Princess and the Frog. Loved it
Sunday Dec 20: Gee Family Christmas party. Wonderful
Monday Dec 21: Saw Christmas Carol. It was good, a bit too spooky for Sophie
Tues Dec 22: Made homemade ornaments and went on the Polar Express to meet Santa. A late night but worth it
Wed Dec 23: Sledding. Mikayla LOVED it, I think I burned 2,000 calories walking back up the hill once with Mikayla and sled in tow
Thur Dec 24: Christmas Eve with the Handys
Fri Dec 25: Christmas day. The best one of my life. Mikayal was so much fun and loved everything about it.
Sat to Sun: Up at the cabin with my mom and dad. Day full of sledding, snowman making and snowmobiling.

Mikayla got a princess outfit from Santa and she wears it EVERYDAY, it's so cute


Christmas Eve present, PAJAMAS!


Sledding


On the Polar Express meeting Santa


Our Dough Ornaments

Diaries of a Potty Trainer

Day 8

It's been more than a week since we've started this journey and so far so good. Mikayla has gone pee pees in the big potty everyday since we've started. She LOVES her potty chair. In fact, the hardest part about the whole process is that she wants to stay on it all day. She gets frustrated when she has just gone to the bathroom and can't get more out. So, she has started bringing books with her to the bathroom and will "read" until more comes out. I know we have a long road ahead of us until she is fully potty trained, but I like this beginning so far.

Potty Training

It wasn't in my plans to start Mikayla on potty training so early, but she had other plans. For the past couple of days, she has been asking about her own "special potty" so tonight we went as a family so she could pick out her own chair. She chose a pink girly toilet chair and as soon as we got home, she asked me to take it out of the box. I thought it would be a milestone to have her just sit on the chair with her clothes on, so she could get used to the idea. I was very surprised when she starting pulling her pants off and was acting like she wanted to do the real thing. So, we set her on the chair, let her sit until she didn't want to sit anymore and imagine my surprise when she stood up and there was pee inside! I was so proud of her! I yelled to Steve and of course we took pictures, gave her a treat and made the biggest deal out of it. Currently she is in the bathroom sitting on the chair, hoping for another chance to get such a reaction from us. Hopefully this pattern continues, it will be nice to have only one child in diapers.


Instead of posting the "real" picture, I took another one of her in her diaper. You get the idea...

Where's Waldo?

Mikayla is the BEST big sister. She loves Sophie so much and always wants to share with her, and if she spits up, Mikayla will grab a rag and wipe up her face. She gives her her binkie when she's crying, and kisses her when I ask her, "Do you love Sophie?" Well, the other day, I noticed she was bringing a lot of her toys out of her room and I was wondering what she was planning on doing with them. One by one, she piled them on top of Sophie until all that was left was a tiny head, looking at me with eyes that were pleading for help. I had to take a picture before I came to her rescue. What cute girls.

What else would this blog be but Halloween?

One thing I love about Blogging and Facebook, is that the day or two after a Holiday, everyone is posting and writing about the same thing. So in keeping with the expectations here is a run down of our Halloween:

I love the way the skeleton is staring at Sophia


Both girls were Winnie the Pooh. Mikayla was a Pooh Bear with a pumpkin stomach and Sophia was a Pooh Bear Sunflower


Mommy and Mikayla (I'm just a basketball player, not very creative)


Steve and Mikayla (Steve had a costume contest at work and won $100 dollars for his costume) Go Jack Sparrow


Halloween was a lot of fun this year. Mikayla LOVED trick or treating. She kept up with the big kids (we went with my brother and sister's kids) and stayed out for an hour and a half and she carried her bucket the entire time. Each time we asked her if she wanted to go back, or if she wanted us to carry the pumpkin, she would absolutely refuse. Here's a picture with her bounty:


When we got home Steve and I made pumpkin cookies, had hot chocolate in spooky skeleton mugs and watched Something Wicked this Way Comes. A great ending to a great night!

Wind Storm

The other day we had a really strong wind storm that came through Eagle Mountain. Steve went out our front door to see if he could find anything blowing around and found this:



Somehow our door mat had weaved itself in and out of our railing. I have no clue how that happened, but I'm sure it would never happen again. That's what I call a spooky Halloween.

Pumpkinland

For FHE this past Monday, we went to pumpkinland in Orem. It was really fun and quite inexpensive. For $3 we were able to go through a corn maze, see animals in the petting zoo, jump in a bounce house, see a "light alley" (instead of a spook alley) and pick out pumpkins. We've decided to make this a family tradition if we stay in Utah for a long time. It was so much fun and Mikayla had a blast. She kept saying "spooky" whenever she saw a witch or ghost.

Steve and Sophia


In a Giant Pumpkin


This was the closest Mikayla would get to the goat. I don't blame her


Picking out the perfect pumpkin


Welcome to Pumpkinland

Cute Pictures

Just wanted to post a few more pictures of my cute family. I love my girls!

I love the way Mikayla is peering down at her sister, making sure she is having a good time


Nap time


Mikayla wanted to help give Sophie her binkie. I love Sophie's face

Monster Mash

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Sophia's Blessing

We blessed Sophie yesterday and it was a great day. I love having all of my family together and it was so neat to see all of the priesthood holders go up to the circle to bless my little one. It was a really beautiful blessing and I felt how special little Sophie is. I feel so grateful to have her (and of course Mikayla) in my life. They are the sweetest little girls ever!

My parents with my family


The men who blessed Sophie


Steve's Parents


As a side note, Sophie has begun to smile like crazy and on a good day we can get a little chuckle out of her. I don't know how one can't feel happy after looking at a picture like this:

Family Pictures

About a week ago we took family pictures on my side of the family and it turned out pretty good. I didn't think we would be able to fit everyone in, but we did it. There are 28 kids in the picture, and the oldest of all of them is just 12. We are a baby factory. :) Sophia is the youngest of the whole bunch and the 5th to be born this year. I really like that we are all in BYU apparel. We are die hard fans, so it's cool to have us all in BYU blue, GOOOOO COUGS!

RockBand

We have the game Rock Band for the Wii and we were playing it the other night for our Family Home Evening activity. Mikayla had a blast grabbing whatever instrument we weren't using and joining in on the fun. On one of the songs, she even managed to get one of the notes right on the drums for a 2% completion percentage. I was so proud, she's going to be a musical genius I can tell already.

Nursery

I never thought this day would come...the day when I could drop a child off in the germ infested toyland and actually listen to a Sunday School and Relief Society lesson. But the day has arrived (and gone) and it hasn't gone as smoothly as I've always dreamed. Two Sundays ago was the first time we dropped Mikayla off and she lasted about 20 minutes. This last Sunday she lasted about an hour and it was glorious (Although the entire time I was worried that she was getting beat up by the other kids or being ignored by the nursery leaders). I think it's been a little difficult for her because our ward has a TON of kids (we have 3 nurseries) and at any given time one of them is crying hysterically for their mom. I'm sure Mikayla is thinking we've dropped her off in some crazy place where kids go to get tortured. I'm hoping for a miracle this Sunday, that she'll actually have fun and last the 2 hours. If Moses could part the Red Sea, why not?

More pictures of Sophia

It's hard to believe that Sophia is already 5 weeks old. In some ways the time has flown by and in others in seems like an eternity.

Her first Sunday outfit (unfortunately she is a big time puker and she lasted about 15 minutes in this)


Holding on for dear life


Reading with Daddy and Mikayla

Sisterly Love

One of Mikayla's favorite toy to play with has always been a ball. Anytime she sees a ball, she will say the word over and over again until we give it to her. If her cousins come over to play and they happen to pick up a ball to play with, watch out. It's not a pretty sight. It doesn't matter what Mikayla has in her hands, she will always go for the ball. Well, the other day I was trying to get lunch ready so I put Sophie in the swing so I could get it ready faster. Before too long, Sophie started to get fussy and I noticed that Mikayla went over to her. I got nervous thinking that she was about to do something she shouldn't, when I noticed that Mikayla gently gave her basketball to Sophia. It was the cutest thing ever. It was as if Mikayla was saying to Sophie, "Whenever I'm sad, a ball always makes me happy so try mine." Mikayla already is a great older sister and I know when they get older, they are going to be great friends.

Handing over her most beloved possession


Standing over her to make sure she uses it

Big Girl

With the arrival of a new baby, I knew that Mikayla would need to be moved into a bed soon so that we could free up the crib for Sophie. So when Mikayla was 15 months, we moved her into a twin size bed. I was really nervous to move her over, I kept having nightmares that she would roll out and get hurt. We debated getting a toddler bed, but felt it would be more economical getting a bunk bed so when Sophie is older we wouldn't have to buy anything else. Luckily the transition went very smoothly and Mikayla loves her new bed. I have heard horror stories of trying to keep a toddler in bed, but Mikayla has been great. She is able to get out of the bed, but she just doesn't. Whenever she wakes up, she just patiently yells for me to come and get her. It is funny to walk into her room and see this itty bitty girl being swallowed up by a twin size bed. She has become my big girl. This is the picture of her in her bed for the very first time. I'm also posting some other pictures of Mikayla because she is just so cute

Back in the Land of Virtual Reality

Yes, I am alive. I know it's been awhile since I've posted a blog. Life has been crazy, busy and full of change. First of all, we moved from our house in Provo after living there for the first 2 1/2 years of our married life. It was sad to leave the house, our ward and friends, but it's nice to have new opportunities and meet new people. We bought a condo in Eagle Mountain and we love it! The move was high stress as I was 3 weeks away from delivery as we packed up everything. Luckily we got everything settled in our new home a few days before Sophia came. Next blog I will post some pictures of the place, but for this blog I wanted to post pictures of our newest addition. On Aug. 6th, Sophia Nicolle was born at 12:27. She was just a little peanut, weighing in at 6 lbs 10 oz. She is the cutest little girl and already I can't imagine life without her. It's hard to believe that she is already 2 weeks old! Mikayla is a great big sister, except when I nurse Sophia. I think Mikayla knows that I can't give her my full attention while I'm nursing, so she tries to get it anyway she can. I love my two girls! Now, sit back and enjoy the pictures of Sophia Nicolle...





Sisters (No Mikayla isn't holding Sophie by herself. My sister-in-law took this picture and photoshopped me out)


Daddy Daughter


Mikayla excited to be a big sister


Mommy and Sophie


Sophia Nicolle

4th of July

Our 4th was very relaxed this year, but it was very nice. We spent the day at a family reunion on Steve's side of the family and then we had a family barbecue at our house. The barbecue was nice because it was just the three of us and we decided to have a "dinner show" of fireworks while we ate. Mikayla always goes to bed at 7:00, so we knew there was no way she would stay up for the main event. We pushed her until 8:30 and she loved watching the sparklers and little fountain fireworks.

Playing with sparklers


In our seats ready for the dinner show to start


Steve preforming the entertainment (you should have heard the sound effects)


Watching the firework called "the Zombie" She liked the way they looked, but not the sound


Mesmerized by the show


After the dinner show, Mikayla was done, so we put her down for the night. We then had my family over to watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks. My family has spent many years watching the fireworks from this house and so it was kind of sad to think this was the last year we would be able to do this (the house is up for sale, so most likely it won't be in our family by the next 4th). Good times 2009