Monday, January 25, 2010

Happy 3rd Birthday Kyah!



On the 19th my niece Kyah turned 3. It's hard to believe 3 years have flown by.





For her birthday I found this adorable shopping cart. (bought one for Memphis, for her birthday in April too)



It ended up being Memphis and Kaylee fighting over it and things got pretty comical!

This is how I baby sit...

Shauna and my mom went to a Jazz game last week and so I offered to watch the kids since Kyle was out of town. It's easy. Throw the kids in the crib and wa-la! Job done.




Actually, the kids were all great. I had all FOUR of them soundly sleeping by the time Shauna got back. :)

"Dip It"

One of Memi's favorite things to eat is these mini cinnamon bagels. However, she only eats them with cream cheese. For a long time now, she just calls them "dip it". Funny girl!





Nothing better than Saturday morning... Daddy and D still sleeping... just us girls hangin' out! :)

Friday, January 15, 2010

Is it Spring yet???

Despite the fact we are anxious for spring, the month seems to be zipping right along. The weather has been horrendous. So cold and the haze that sits over the valley is just lovely. Yuck! That hasn't stopped me from letting the kids run outside for 15-20 minuets a few times a week, simply just to get out of the house for a moment.


After taking a good month off, I am back at Curves 3 times a week. It's the greatest workout available for busy busy mom's. I really enjoy the "Melissa time" and love that I am becoming more healthy at the same time. This year I am going to eat better and drink more water. Even giving up the addiction of Dr. Pepper. Let's not talk about it though, I might cry. :)


Mike is also trying to eat better and the kids can't seem to get enough of our food. They are like little birds saying... "more, more more" over and over again. That being said, there is no time like the present to teach our kids the right way to eat.
One after another...

A few weeks ago my arms kept going numb. I did a little internet self diagnosis and figured it was signs of carpel tunnel. So I told my boss and he went to work on recreating my desk. He turned my drawer into a keyboard tray. He even added a mouse slide out. I tell ya... that man is pretty dang handy.


I also got to go scrapbooking with some old friends at Heartland paper last week and had a great time. I get so much done when I go somewhere and don't have the distraction of little ones at my feet. I even hired one of the girls from the ward so I could go. I was nervous, not because of her, just me being silly. I am sure it's normal. Right? :)

In December I was called to be the Sunday School teacher for the 12-13 year olds and I just love it. I love trying to connect to them in a way they will actually take some part of the lesson home with them. A few weeks ago we were talking about the plan of salvation and I felt like a missionary again. It's a topic of the gospel I feel so strongly about. I had been taught my whole life about the plan of salvation and while serving a mission it just kinda clicked with me. I gained a testimony of it and felt so passionate about teaching that plan to other people. So it just felt really good to be teaching my class and to have them actually asking questions and participating. I look forward to the year of learning and growing along side them.

Mike has started playing church ball and he too is loving it. I was fearful he would come home with something hurt or broken--but he came home in one piece. Yea! Mike is also back to being best friends with all the local rock radio dj's. A while back Mike asked if I would be upset if he went to a concert on my birthday. Would I???? Nah, Immediately in my head I thought all girl party... whooo hooo! He won the wanted tickets and the very next day won 2 day ski passes to The Canyons. I don't know how he does it, but it's a nice part time job for him. Ha ha! I tell him it's because no one listens to those stations. Hee hee.

The new bed time routine continues to be amazing!


Especially the teeth brushing part. They find any reason to get in the bathroom and brush their teeth. One of the downsides is they are waking up earlier. That part isn't so bad, having a naked Memphis climb into my shower is the bad part. It makes getting to work on time really interesting. :) She is funny, to say the least. Tonight we all went as a family to see the new Chipmunk movie. Memphis did really well for about the first half and then she just wanted to run around. It was fun to do something all together but I think we will hold off on movies for a while. They are not quite ready. :)After the movie we tried to get them to stand with these chipmunks and she wanted NOTHING to do with. It was pretty funny. I think she might be JUST like me. This week Mike took the kids to the DI to pick out some new (used) books. What a great place to get books. The kids had a blast and they were so excited to show me every single one when I got home. Along with that comes a new challenge. I moved the books to a higher shelf so they would not pull every book off 8 times a day. Well, Memphis is getting smarter and finding things to make her taller so she can get them down. I guess I should just be happy they both love books so much. Damien continues to be obsessed with football and loves when Daddy teaches him how to hit a baseball with his little bat. He laughs and laughs. I just think we have some of the greatest kids.

Well... so far 2010 is going pretty well. As I write this I wonder if I could give up scrapbooking for yearly blog books. It's an idea and something I know people are doing. I would still have to do some sort of scrapbooking (because I love it)... but welcome to the digital age I guess! I also decided that I don't really care if anyone reads this. It might all seem really boring, but it's my way of preserving my family.




Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Goal #2 Bed Time

One top of showing off her FABULOUS blog book, I was chatting with my friend Olivia and telling her how little sleep I was getting. She suggested taking one of the long holiday weekends and just letting them cry it out. We had done that for both our newborns, but this whole sharing a room thing was new and 3 months into it, I was beyond exhausted. It used to go... put Damien down at 8:30... let Memphis stay up and play. So then we didn't know how to get Memphis to go down quietly enough to let Damien keep sleeping. Most of the time we would just let her fall asleep on the couch, then moved her to her bed. The worst part is neither of them would really sleep through the night. Memphis would somehow always end up in our bed and if she was in there... don't plan on getting any sleep. I can't tell you how many nights Mike would get home from work at 4 am and I would be sitting on the couch watching cartoons with one or both kids. All around... it was bad.

For about three weeks now, things have been SO much better and I am getting plenty of sleep.

7:00 bath (if needed)
7:30 toy clean up
7:45 books
7:55 prayer
8:00 both kids in bed

It's totally working, some nights it takes them a little while to actually fall asleep. (Memphis likes kicking the wall...odd) They don't cry, they don't get out of bed. It's great. I have been going to bed between 9:30-10:30. So much earlier. 80% of the time they are even sleeping through night. Even if and when they do get up, they usually go right back to bed. Twice now Memphis has been screaming and I let her cry for a good long while and then I felt awful when I went in because she took off her jammies and was freezing!!! (not really sure why she is doing that) Damien has been teething, so once we get through that... it will be smooth sailing.

Can we say HAPPY MOMMY!

Goal Oriented

Along with being a better blogger... we have a few more goals. :)

Mike says: "I just want to be paid to coach, I don't care where"! For the last three years he has been coaching for East High little league... So obviously, his first choice is to coach there... but we'll take what we can get. :)

Someday I will be the wife of a college head coach making millions, right??? :) One can dream.

Along with that....

1. Work more aggressively towards a house
2. Put kids are better night time schedule (a big fat check on this one)
3. Be a better Visting Teacher (100%)
4. Potty Train Memphis
5. Be done with binkies
6. Go on more dates together
And last...but not least
7. We are going to loose weight this year!!! :)

There you have it!

Sunday, January 10, 2010

2010

So one of the goals I made this year was to be a better blogger. I recently saw a blog book done by one of our friends and I was inspired. I realized it's the perfect way to preserve our lives. My babies are only 2 and 1 but I already feel guilty about not writing enough down about their lives and the little things they do that make us laugh, make us crazy and the things they learn day by day in general. So here we go...

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Damien Turns One (and Cute Spencer too!!!)

We had a small family party for the boys a few weeks ago. We had yummy Hawaiian Haystacks, cake and ice cream.


After Memphis wouldnt touch her cake on her birthday I was so excited that Damien could not get enough of his! I made the boys cakes with those mini bread pans and used cool whip for the frosting. It worked great!



Shauna and I love having the kids pictures done together... because it's cute and drops the price in half! Awesome!



This one is my favorite! He just looks so grown up!


Happy Birthday to D man and Spenc!



I am a little late posting this... but saying I have been busy is quite the under statement! :)

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Jesse and Brittney get married!

September 5, 2009


The Newest Mr. and Mrs. Smith



Happy Jesse!

The Parents








Cute Rhan and Aaron...

Austin looking fab in that tux!


I love these girls!


Christy and Lilly!

What a great day! :) We couldn't be more happy for Jesse and Brittney!!!!