Happy 6th!

We have come a long way in 6 wonderful years. I'm so happy with what we have to show for it...


(best day of my life)



(Our honeymoon...we were so young and cute)
(This month...2nd gingerbread house making party...a new fun thing we love to do together) (Our wonderful boys with their hero) (2 awesome additions to our family...can't wait to meet our third)

XOXO Justin.......

A Very White Christmas...

Our 2nd week into December brought A LOT of snow. I, for one, LOVE snow. It's probably because I grew up in California and lived just 1-2 hours away from some great slopes...I was born to love it. My family would go skiing at least a few times every winter. We were all into it. I was put into lessons when I was just a little older than Teigen. I loved it.....and it's actually very sad to me that I haven't been in a long time. (Not Justins favorite) ;) And we have small kiddos. ;)
Anyway...we got a lot of snow....which meant....sledding and snowman building (which I'm finding to be very difficult with this dry snow that we have here!) Does NOT compact well.
We still had a great time. Here are some photos of our fun...Mom made a slope for Teigen on the driveway that worked out fabulously...Of course mom had to try...And then dad....and Sophie...because she had to make sure dad was ok...that girl... It wasn't good enough for mom....so pregnant belly and all, hopped the fence....

And Teigen wanted to join...

So we went down the hill together...you can't see Teigen's face...but let's just say mom made him face his fears...head on...;)
CHRISTMAS....I mean Christmas eve!!! ;) We had a great time just the 4 of us, well almost 5...woah....that just sounded weird saying that.

Here are our photos of our blissfull Christmas eve morning....Santa brought Teigen punching gloves...Santa brought Chase an airplane...Gramps and Susu gave Chase a fun little people farm...oh and he also has a mouth full of honeycomb...he couldn't wait to eat...Loves this...Nana and Papa recorded their voices reading a "Cars" book...the boys loved it! So cool!Basketball from Adam&Lauren&kids...Leapfrog Leapster 2 from mommy and daddy...(loves his games from Gramps & Susu to play this with)...Poor Daddy had to work on Christmas...but their station invited all the families over for dinner and visiting...

We had a fabulous Christmas this year...a little unconventional, but wonderful...maybe even better.

We hope you all had a great Christmas remembering our Saviors birth and find peace and joy in the NEW YEAR!!! Love to all!

Cousins...

Susu & Gramps came from California and we were all able to go visit Grant (Justin's brother) and Brittani and kiddos this past weekend for a short but sweet trip. (Grant was set apart by Dad-Val to the office of high priest. He's now 2nd counselor in the bishopric). We had a really nice visit. ;)
These boys were being just too cute. They play so well together. I hope they stay this close.....
Anyway.....I didn't realize there was a "camera happy" kid in this family!! Boy oh boy what a poser that Isaac is! I pulled out the camera and this little boy lit up!

Sneak Peak of Baby #3

.....And NO we are still not going to find out gender before delivery. :)
I'll admit...it's starting to kill me a little not knowing. lol.
This is good practice for anticipation...something I've NOT liked to practice.
But SO worth the wait :)

I might be biased, but I just think this baby is so cute....fluid and goo and all.

Rockefeller Christmas Tree

The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree is an annual Christmas tree lighting that takes place in New York City's Rockefeller Center, in mid-town Manhattan.

I was just watching the news and this year, the tree was spotted and taken from the front landscape of a lady's home in a little town called; Mifflinville, Pa., population 2,500. It just arrived in New York City and the official date of the lighting ceremony will be on November 30th!! (Yes...this gets me super excited! I seriously turn into a child around this time of year. It's kind of like how I get excited watching the ball drop for the New Year. Man....New York gets all the cool stuff!)

Anyway! Just talking about Christmas trees has already got me excited to put up mine. Believe me, I would already, but apparently it's frowned upon. And Justin won't let me. ;)

One day....I will make it to this lighting ceremony event in New York City! I will! It's on my "bucket list".

Does anyone else get excited about this??

My Nemesis...

We're STILL working on potty training.
Anybody that says "Oh my child potty trained in just 3 days" makes me want to pull their hair out. So just as a warning DO NOT TELL ME IT ONLY TOOK YOU 3 DAYS! Or even a month for that matter. Don't tell me, "Just keep trying". Cuz guess what...We've been "trying" for 1 1/2 YEARS!! I'm at the point where I feel like it's never going to happen since it's taken this long.

A big reason for the lengthyness of this process is....Our child is different. He's had this nightmare of #2 for 2 1/2 years now. #1...no problem. DONE. Check. But ONE bad constipation experience when he was real little he has not been able to get over. Even if he's not constipated, he still gets scared to let it come out because he's afraid it's going to hurt. Even with all the prizes, treats, privileges either being taken away or given, he still will not give 100% to #2 on the potty. Yes, he's done well the last couple weeks. He went for 4 days in a row on the potty (but we have to remind him and sit with him in the bathroom and coax him through it). Lately he'll go every other or every couple days. Believe me that's a breakthrough. Before he wouldn't go for almost a week. Yes....a week. Until it was just too big to hold anymore and it had to come out. I tell him that he's doing this to himself and if he went every day, then it wouldn't hurt. He says "ok", but then does it again. This is with us even making him sit on the potty for 15 minutes every hour. He's a "holder"...a secret "holder" cuz sometimes I don't even see him doing it until it's too late, and Teigen tells me "The poopy went bye bye."
So this is our life....which gets me frustrated and edgy. Justin says to not let it bother me, but how can I not when it's what we do all day every day. When I remind Teigen it's time to go "try" he throws a fit, falls to the ground, says "no", etc etc....I get tired of being so calm about it and build up frustration and stress inside (which is not good for me with my condition). I don't know what to do. I can't take back what's been done, only keep doing what we're doing and hope eventually it'll happen. All I know is that I get to retry this in 2 years so I want this to be a better experience for Chase. So if he ever gets too firm of poo, I fix it right away, trying to avoid another traumatic experience.

P.S. Sorry about all the "potty talk", but It's always on my brain and I just needed to get it out.

Revisiting my first love...

Photography. My first love.
Not so much in taking photographs of people though. I loved and still love taking photographs of the beauty of the world that surrounds us. But...that's just not where the money is...at least not right now.

I had a chance to take photographs of my friends newborn. Just 6 days old. Just under 7 lbs. How is it that I already forgot how little they are at first. Or maybe because Chase wasn't that little. I remember having this vision of putting chase in Justins firefighter helmet or his boot and taking photographs. But guess what...I did try. But he was just too big. Remember he was 8.7 lbs? And he never lost weight like most babies. He actually weighed more when we left the hospital, which isn't common. It's usually the opposite result. He wanted to eat and eat. So....maybe this next time I can make my vision come true. Here are just a FEW of the photographs. I'm working on a business name and will eventually make a website. I think I'm finding my new love...

Halloweeeeeen!

Some funnies from tonight:

1. Teigen got extra candy from almost everyone because they loved his costume.

2. Whenever Teigen ran up to a house and they didn't answer, he'd say, "This one's not working."

3. A lady stopped us so she could take a picture of "Brian Wilson".

4. Someone passed us and said, "Now THAT'S a closer!"

5. Chaser fell asleep in the wagon on the way back home. Poor little guy.

We had a great time tonight together as a family. Happy Halloween everyone!

I love a good surprise!

I planned a Surprise 40th Birthday party for my terrific sister, Angela. Chase(13 mo.) and I made a very very sneaky plane trip out to florida 3 nights before the party and finished all the preparations.
(Teigen was being taken care of by his awesome Uncle and Aunt, Grant and Brittani Allred while Justin had to work).
It was hard not to drive over to Ang's house during that time, but I had to do it this way in order to keep the party a surprise. It was a success. Ang was completely surprised and especially that I(with baby Chase) and Aaron(with baby Kai) were there. Ang had a lot of fun and so many of her out of town friends came which meant so much to her. Angela has always been a great sister to me, but mostly best friend. She has been through the unbearable and back and deserved a night letting her know that we all love her and would do anything for her.
Again.....Happy Birthday Ang, you are AWESOME!