New Year

I love this picture for the fact that Jake and Pais are making the same face and me and briggs are makin the same face!

One of few pics where Pais is smiling at the camera!

It amazes me how fast the days go by these days. My kiddos are getting bigger before my very eyes and it scares me and excites me all at the same time! I am loving this stage right now... its so nice for them to be so mobile and I don't have to pack a million things anymore when I go out. Our days consist of staying in the house since its the middle of the winter. Its starting to warm up a little bit so they love to go out for a minute and roam.... I am already getting excited for summer when we can just go outside and they can run around and I won't have to be so paranoid what briggs is putting in his mouth..Granted he probably still will put things in his mouth but it wont be as bad this year. While staying inside I try to play games and we all LOVE dance parties and the kids (and I ) could dance for hours. Briggs has this cutest little jig bounce and Pais is such a cute dancer. I will try and do different moves in front of her and she immediatly tries and mimics me and its so cute.. She is dang good and I cant wait to sign her up in a dance class.

Whats Pais and Briggs up to these days?

Paisley- cutest and sassiest thing you have ever seen. She is pretty good about cleaning up her toys and sharing when I tell her to. Sometimes she throws a little attitude at me and she makes this discusted noise when I ask her to do somethind when she doesn't want to and its hilarious not to laugh! She is 100% potty trained and its the best thing ever! It was rough there for awhile but I really just had to wait until she was ready and after a few attempts of training her she was done and she literally just woke up one day and said "I neeya go paaa" and would hold herself and went potty and from then on she has been so good at it.  It so nice having diapers last alot longer these days. I have been worried about her speech the last little while and people just kept saying oh it will get better and it has.. she has talked alot more these past few months but she will be screened in Feb to see if we need to see a speech therapist. I am excited for the things that Pais will learn. We can totally understand each other and she minds me really good its just the in between words that are mumbled together. She loves to tickle us and i love the way she says "heyyyy thats mine" when i tease her about taking her blanket. She has the cutest little voice and I cant wait to hear it fully when she can say full sentences. She still is a horrible eater but I have found that she loves my spinach and banana shakes so i'm so glad cause I was worried where she would get her vegetables in from. Pais started Sunbeams this year and its so weird for me. I am in the Primary presidency and so I get to see her interact every week in Primary. Her first time was a little crazy and those kids were all over the place but things are getting better and better. Her favorite songs right now are Away in a Manger and "Tomorrow" from Annie. I love her little singing voice and have been trying to teach her more songs. The past few months Pais and I have really bonded.. more then we ever have before and its been so good for me and much needed. Its so hard for me when she comes in our room at 2 am and wanting to snuggle with me for me to put her back in her bed.. Jake usually does it cause I dont have the will power but then he says I need to start being the mean one to.. lol She loves to dress herself and is pretty good at matching but she mostly just wants to wear her princess jammies and dresses which is fine if were home but somedays I get her ready and then a half hour later her hair is pulled out and her jammies are right back on. She gets so concerned if i'm crying or if I get hurt then she will like "oh are you sad?"  "you ok" and rub her hand across your cheek.. cutest dang thing ever! She went through a phase for like 3 weeks where she loved takin baths and she still does but she would take em twice a day. She also LOVES popcorn and has a small bag once a day. She is such a good swimmer and can swim so good with her life jacket on. She will jump in in the deep end and go far down and come back up and get back up just to do it again. She has no fears!!

Briggs- he is just the cutest thing and is EVERYWHERE! Yes his smile still melts me.. although he has turned into quite the terror. He loves to hit pais and tell her "NO" its so dang cute. he has the cutest high pitched "HI"  and its to die for. Anytime anyone walks in the door he does it and it makes me laugh every time. He is saying lots of words which mostly are "more""no""get out" "lets go" "WHOA" and thats all I can think of off the top of my head.  He is a tank when it comes to eating. He will eat anything and everthing that I give him and also eats Pais food. They are completely opposites! I swear I put food down and 3 minutes later its gone . And when he is just in his diaper his belly pokes out so far and I love it! He looks like an old man at times. I still get so many compliments on how dang cute his smile is and how cute he is. He is 100% boy and LOVES his daddy. He has started throwing fits lately when Jake leaves for work so we have to go outside and wave to him as he drives on and that makes it a little better. When he wants something he will defiently let me know and he won't leave my side until I get up and get it. He loves the water and I'm so excited for the summer and what it will bring. I already know we will spend lots of time at the splash park and at the rec center . Briggs has been fascninated with pluggin things in lately and Diane just laughs cause that s just how Jake was. Just the other day I was in Briggs room and could smell something burning alittle so I looked around.. sure enough he had gotten our waffle maker out of the cabinets and went and plugged it into his room. I'm prett sure it had been plugged in for a few hours.. I have to watch him like a hawk so he doesn't burn down the house. He is such a good sleeper and goes to bed about 7:30-8 and wakes up about 8 and sleeps the whole night. He loves to watch me vaccuum and loves to turn it on and any kinds of buttons. He has this little rasp in his voice and I cant wait to see how he will talk and when he will. He shows alot more interest in books then pais ever did so hopefully that will make a difference in him talked sooner then pais did. Love this buddy of mine so much!

I feel so blessed to have these kiddos in my life. It just amazes me and Jake sometimes and that were really at this point in our lives. Things are goin really good. We love where we live and when the time comes to say goodbye and leave I already know it will be so hard! We have become great friends with everyone on our street and have done alot with them. I have especially become really closew with my neighbor Emily Clark. We get along so great and have alot in common. She is hilarious! Her and John have a little boy name Jackson and he is a doll.. Briggs and Pais love him and its so cute to see them altogether. Em and I are already planning their wedding! Pais and Jackson's that is.. Its been so great for me to have her here and to have someone that I can talk to and tell my daily thoughts to. She has been such a big help to me also with helping me out with my kids when I need a babysitter  or just a getaway. We have another friend Ashley Musgrove that we hang out with to and she is so darling. I love them both so much and hopefully get alot more time with them.. They are the kind of friends that we can talk about anything and they wont judege me and the both give such good advice. Its so important to me to have good friends and good influences in my life and to have other mommies to talk to about daily struggles with parenting and kid stuff. Love them so much! 

Well that sums up alot of whats been goin on lately. The world is getting pretty scary lately so much bad in the world is goin on but I just have to stay true to myself and my faith and remind my self to do what Im commanded to do and do eveything I can to return back to our Heavenly Father. Signs of the times my friends. Its made me realize alot this past year and things that were important to me are not so much anymore and I love that part of growing up. Thats all for now!

Paisley's latest-

Pais is quite the little character. Thats all I have to say! She is definetly a hand full and in my case is a really hard child. Now having Briggs who is such a good baby I am not sure if Paisley is a hard child or if she is just being a normal kid. And maybe I feel like this right now because she has been so whiny... could be teeth? For the most part though I couldnt ask for a better girl. She is so sweet and is so concerned about Briggs and if hes ok. She is coming along with her talking and is getting better and better but I have worried about it for a long time now. She finally likes us to read books to her at night and I think thats helping her a ton. For the longest time I think the main reason is I would talk to her way fast.. she talks alright but just really blabbers and you cant tell what she is saying. My nephew Hunter says she talks like a minion from despicable me so I thought about he being that for Halloween next month. ha I feel like we both understand each other for the most part but there are still some times where we just cant understand each other and its so frustrating. She has really shown a love for Barbies and dress up lately.. Its so cute to see her imagination come out. I know i'm goin to love this stage! Her birthday is coming up and I cant wait for her to get some barbies of her own and watch her play with them! She still is a movie junkie and would watch tv all day if i let her.. She knows all of her letters and the sounds and can count to 4 really good and then she says 6-8-9-10... i'm trying to work with her on her colors.. she says them if i say "thats blue" then she will say "bue" but as far as saying oh thats blue she wont until I have said it.. She is also a picky eater.. I try to shove things in her mouth but she is very strong willed... she is not vey good when we go to stores cause she just wants to run all over the place which i don't blame her but she will just scream if i don't let her out of the cart then I get all sorts of looks which I honestly could care less.. I know millions of people have been there before! My grandma knott keeps reminding me that she is so strong willed because of what she will have to face in her life... and alot of people are saying thats how kids are born these days is more strong willed then like mine or my parents generations. Which I know its such a pain right now but I know in the future it will be a good thing.. hopefully! She has been starting to fold her arms when she doesn't get her way and will kinda look over her shoulder with such attitude... its so hard not to just bust up laughing! So I am just barely gettin around to posting this and its 2 months later... Pais has grown alot these past couple months. She is finally talkin more and we can understand each other better and she doesn't throw as many fits so thats been so nice! She is so sweet and we just celebrated her 3rd birthday on Sat! We had a dinner and dessert and she got tons of presents! She is in such a cute stage right now and she LOVES princesses everything. She got a big set of all the princess barbies and she got a dress up set and wants to wear them nonstop. We had lots of family come to support her and it meant so much to us. She is so concerned if I pretend to start crying she will immediatly start crying for reals and she rubs my face and says "mom you ok?" and it just melts my heart... jake gets so mad when i do it cause he is like your turning her into an emotional person.. apparently thats the last thing he needs:) Pais and briggs are so cute together and briggs just loves to pester her and take her toys and run away.. Its amazing how fast they have grown up.. briggs is a little man and no more baby... Thanksgiving is this week and we are excited to see family and get to go home for the holidays!

















































































































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Whats goin on with us?

Bryce Canyon

6th Anniversary- Dinner in Park city followed by and Ariix event

Much needed temple trip

Thought I would do a little update on us this time. Not sure if anyone still reads but its mostly just for me and my journalness:) Life is oh so so good right now! We have been in our house for about 9 months now and it has been so fun doin project after project. Poor jake.. he is about ready to kill me and says now lets not spend anymore money for awhile on house things k.. haha but sure enough every month Im like .. hey what do you think about this? haha he is so good to help me with what i want. Its coming together but there is still I would love to do to the house... I always tell him that will only be able to sell our house for more money with the projects that i want done cause it will just update it.. haha our house was built in 1955 so its pretty old but most of it was all redone before we moved in.. When we first bought our house I didn't really wanna buy a teeny house and it does look tiny on the outside but on the inside our living room is huge and I love it! It is so perfect for us right now and I really do love it.. we have exactly what we need and the space so it all works out. Jake thinks we will only be in for 3 more years but will see.. I have talked to tons of people who say ya we said that to and its been 7 years now.. guess will have to see and what happens with Jake's work and where it goes. Jake is loving his job.. he stepped down from being creative director and hired his boss and he gets along with him so good. He works with such great people and Im so glad he is around positive influences. He has something else kinda up his sleeve with work right now so were excited to see what happens when it all comes together.. Jake just got called into the Elders Quorum presidency being the Secretary. He is with such a great group of men and in fact they all start with J's.. there is like 5 of them i think.. We both still teach Sunbeams/4 year olds. They are a rambumctious bunch but its fun. We team teach with another couple so thats way nice that we don't have to be there every weekend.. especially us since we are always on the go!. I have had such a different, deeper love for jake this past year then ever before. I honestly don't know what I would do without him. Just this morning I was thinkin of my life before Jake and then the memories I have of Jake when i saw him that one time and thats when I knew I needed to marry him. He has made my life so good and I'm so greatful he takes such good care of me and our two kids. Anyways thats about all:)

Briggs-11 months

I cant believe my little Briggs man is almost one!! I am such a failure and feel so bad I havent kept up on his monthly status and new things. He is the sweetest little boy I have ever known. He really is the BEST baby in the world and our family is so blessed to  have him in our family. I really don't even know where to start with him. He definetly is my special boy and want to cry every time I think about it. The Lord really answered my prayers with him. He knew I needed a mellow, calm, no-drama kid.

He is really active in a laid back kind of way. His smile brightens up any rooms and will smile at anyone. I always am gettin comments on how cute his lips and eyes are and how he is the cutest little boy ever. Our routine goes somethine like this.. Wakes up (a very happy boy) and has breakfast with sister.. gets cleaned up and dressed and plays for a couple hours.. has a bottle and goes down for a nap which consists on average of 3 hours.. wakes up (happy again) and eats- of course- and then plays for a few hours again.. has dinner.. has a bath,, has a bottle and is down for the night. Such a good sleeper and has been since he was about 5 months old. He is the fastest little crawler and man when he is on a mission he really is after it! He has been standing up to things and pulling himself up for about 2 months now and I have practiced walking with him and he is getting better and better.. he will probably be walking within the month. He says momma (sounds like nananana though) and dadda.. and it almost like he knows who we are instead of just saying those sounds he calls us that .. which is so so different than Pais.. She still wont call us mom or dad and she is just shy of being 3.. I can take briggs anywhere and he is just so pleasant everywhere we go.. so happy go lucky... Sometimes i wander what i did to get such a good baby. I am definetly now complaining. I have struggled alot with Pais so it is really nice to get a break with him.. but i guess will see what the future holds:)

He is really into climbing stairs right now and is really good at it.. He has been pretty good lately to go backwards when he wants to go down or get off of a bed. He LOVES  i mean LOVES remotes! He loves our phones to but he gets so so excited when a remote is in site... and he will be miserable until he gets his way and gets to play with it. He hates getting his diaper changed and its pretty much a battle trying to change it every.single.day.  He just barely within the last 2 weeks has had 2 teeth come up and its so cute to see them come down. We had a little scare a couple weeks ago where he had a little seizure and his temp was 104 and we had to take him to instacare. Everything ended up being fine he just had an ear infection and a cold and nothing more. He loves his sister and watches anything and everything she does and he loves to just follow her around like her little shadow.. I am loving this stage right now for both my kids and I honestly feel like things could not be better right now. Love this kiddo so dang much and I cant wait to see what he will become and the things he will do in his life. He brings such a peace to our home and were so greatful for that. Love you bud!!

Southern Caribbean Cruise

Island tour of St. Lucia

First try of coconut water-- nasty!!

Ready to be home and see the kiddos!

Gonna miss these 3 amigos!

Every night at dinner it got better and better! We all celebrated our birthdays and laughed the night away! I pretty much had 3 desserts every night.. Made some really great life long friends! At our table was Mary,Linda, Juan Carlos, gary&shirley( not pictured), Efron, Jorge, and jake and I !

Went to the beach and snorkeled. Saw all sorts of fishes, turtles, and a sunken ship wreck! 

Last stop in Barbados! 

More of sugar beach.. I hope this is what my heaven looks like!

The most beautiful place I have ever seen! SUGAR BEACH 

Went to this waterfall in st. Lucia!

Rented a vehicle and took a tour of the island! This was one of my favorite places! Although the roads were so windy and I was so car sick it was worth the drive!

St. Lucia

Pineapple plant... Did you know the plants only good for 1 pineapple then its worthless and it takes 14 months to grow!

Nasty coconut water I talked bout below;)

Took a tour of the island in st. Thomas.. Saw lots of neat buildings and drank nasty coconut water, and saw how pineapples and bananas are grown..  

Heshee and Werner Berger got married! This was a pretty big deal and not to mention he is the oldest man to climb mt. Everest in the west! Such awesome and loving people!

On our walk back to the boat in st. Marten

Beach at st. Marten 

St. Marten ... Went to the beach and laid out and swam.. FYI - saw lots of topless saggy women! Not a pretty site! My body got fried and I drank lots of salty, ocean water... Barf!

Formal wear night

 

First stop.. St.croix.. Mostly did interviews today and went and visited the slavery museum ! Went to the beach and swam in the bath like water... It was beautiful!