Life in 2015

Man these days sure do fly! I hate when I wait so long to write. Life is so different from when I last posted. The kids have gotten so big and are so old:) Our weeks seriously go by so fast but I feel like we just keep doin the same thing. Jake is still a graphic designer for Ariix and he loves what he does. We thought he would have to look for a different job the last couple months but things have really smoothed out at Ariix and things are better for the time being. We dont know if he'll be there forever but we just take it day by day and he at least loves the people he works with. Its a great atmosphere so thats great! I have gotten to know alot of people from his worth and do some of their hair and its been so fun to get to know the people that your husband interacts with every day:) Jake is 2nd counseler in the Elders Quorum and isnt super busy with that so thats good.. or is it?? He loves to keep up with politics and whats goin on on the other side of the world and keeps me updated on all the crazy things that are happening and that will happen. He's been reading this book called " Yearning for the Living God" and its about this guy who lives here in Bountiful. Its been really eye opening to him and its given him a kick in his pants to make sure we as a family are doin what we need to be doin and is better about scripture study and saying family prayer. He is such a fun dad and loving husband and we are so lucky to have him.

Paisley is now 4 and goes to preschool at Boulton Elementary 2 days a week. She loves goin to preschool and its been the best thing for her. Shes learned so much this past year and its really been a blessing. I was really starting to worry and get stressed because she was so far behind in her speech. She sees a speech therapist once a week at school and she is a completely different girl. At the end of the school year she needs to be at least 50% better then when she started but just in December they game me a paper of all her statistics of where shes at and where shes come and shes already 70% better then when she started and I cried tears of joy when I read that. I always felt it was my fault that she was far behind because when she was a little girl she hated to read and I didn't push her and hold her tight and make her read with me. Who knows if thats why shes behind but Ive just compared her and briggs and he's talked alot better then her way early on... at one point I even thought Briggs talked more and better then her.  She is a tough one to deal one but definetly has her sweet and sincere side. We butt heads alot and thats probably how it always will be until she moves out of the house. Shes really stubborn and stomps her feet at me when she doesn't get her way and tells me to go away alot of the time, but on her sweet side she has always been so caring of others peoples feelings. Whenever I cry or Briggs or someone gets hurt she says "its ok mom" and will wipe my tears or give briggs hugs but is just really loving. She not shy at all and will talk to anyone. Alot of people still ask me what shes saying so I still have to play translator but its getting better. She has been in such a creative mood lately. She loves to craft and color, paint, cut paper and anything in that area. For Christmas her Aunt Jennie gave her this bucket full of fun creative things to do. Whether its stringing fruit loops on a string, or gluing cotton balls on paper to make a sheep, or tracing the letters, she has loved it! Its been the best gift she  ( and I ) have ever recieved. She still has a love for the tv and could watch it ALL DAY LONG if I let her. Somedays when I do hair she knows she gets to watch it but Ive been trying to better as shes gotten older to understand that she needs to go play with her toys or just run around the house and with her bringing on this creative side luckily she could do that for hours. She says the cutest things lately and I'm goin to be better about posting them so I can look back in 10 years and remember because in my head I cant remember what funny things she said yesterday so this will be good getting back into the swing of journaling our lives. She has a best friend named Kamry Gardner and luckily Jake and i and her parents have become pretty great friends which makes it nice. Alot of the time they play almost every day. They love to get dressed about 13 times while they play with each other. Its so cute to see there imaginations come out! Pais is in CTR 4 right now and has the best teachers ever. Most of the time she wants to come sit by my in the back of the room and falls alseep alot but I try to take her back up there and listen to whats being taught and sung. Shes starting to memorize the primary songs and so fun to see that what is being taught is sticking her her head and shes remembering. 2 nights ago she had her first dance recital and it was such a great night. Allen and Diane (jakes parents) and my parents, camille & avery, sierra and scotty all came. I was nervous when it was her time to go on cause I thought it would be my luck thatour families travel all this way and watch her just stand up there with a pout and her arms folded. She freakin owned that stage and we were all dying of laughter! All of the cute little dancers had it memorized and they didn't need any help. It was the best dance of the show! Diane was even crying afterwards just cause I dont think shes even seen pais shine that way before. It was so darling! After the whole recital we went up there to get her and some of the other dancers moms brought flowers which i was feeling horrible that I hadnt even thought of it and we went up to Pais and congratulated her and she looked at us with this straight face and said "wheres my flowers" it was hilarious. Luckily one of my friends Kristy Hodgkindson had extras and she let me have some to give to Pais. She slept with them that night! She is starting to add more things to her eating list which is nice but still doesn't eat a whole lot. I love to see what outfits she puts together and is all about "matching". My favorite is when she puts on her swimsuit and her snow boots, life jacket, and beanie and coat. Especially when its 20 degrees outside. She still loves her blanky and her sippy will be the death of me!


 Briggs, he is 2 1/2 goin on 15. He is in such the cutest stage ever! He is very destructive and wants to throw everything with much power. For instance, our neighbors  (the browns) dog had puppies and we went to go play with them and briggs took one right over to there ledge in the backyard and looked like he was about to drop it off the ledge. He is so funny but you have to watch him. He loves tractors, dump trucks, backhoes, loaders, fire trucks, garbage trucks, trains and any heavy machinery. He is ALL.BOY! Its been so fun to have one of each! He does this little squint lately with his whole face.. mostly when hes concentrating, watching tv...... i die of laughter everytime! Last night he farted and we looked at him and he just gave us the biggest cheasiest grin! He has the cutest smile and can get me to change my mind in a jiffy! He loves to take things from his sister and run for his life! He loves to be chased and tickeld and thrown against the cuddle bag or couch or thrown on a bed. He falls off the couch all the time and we hold our breath for a sec wandering if hell get up screaming or laughing and most the time its laughing so he can take a beating! He eats SO MUCH! He seriously already eats like a teenager which is nice because pais dones't eat anything! Its amazing the things that he eats and he will pretty much eat anything we give him. I love the time I get with him while Pais is at school. Hes so fun to play with and he loves me to read to him. He is verry good at talking and you can understand almost everything he says. Whenever you ask him a questions his reply is always "uh-huh" and its the cutest thing ever. Both the kids are very good with there manners and i'm so proud cause manners are a huge deal for me! I cant wait to get him in some sports cause he will tear up the feild or court. He looks 100% his dad but acts alot like me which alot of people say Pais is lookin just like me but acts more like her dad. Briggs loves being outside and could play in the sandbox any time and any weather. Hes still working on sharing his toys and get upset most of the time but sometimes he'll shock us and be so willing to give up his toys. Alot of the time he walks around with all his toys in hand and holds on for dear life so that no one can take them from him. I think thats the pack rat in him coming out. For the most part Pais and briggs play pretty good together. There good buds and dont really get bother by each other. Only if briggs is stepping all over pais or teasing her. Briggs is in nursery and does really good. Goes in like a champ everytime!


As for me.. ahhh where to begin. Motherhood is hard. It is such a whirlwind and your always wandering if your doin what your suppose to and its so hard reading things of what to do and what not to do cause you don't want your child to turn out a certain way or if they are like this then its because of this but alot of times I just try to listen to my motherly instincts and do whats best for me and my kids. Now that there older it is easier but sometimes i feel like there only getting harder. Now that they know how to talk back and have an opinion. I totally feeling the "should we have another one yet?" I totally want one but most days I wander how i'll be able to do it all. One thing Ive learned about myself is that I am not a nice person when I am stressed. I always thought that I would be the nicest, funnest mom and so patient. WRONG! I have learned so much about myself and have learned what works best and somethings I'm still trying to figure out about myself. This year Ive finaly been good about goin to the gym and taking care of myself that way and the kids love goin to the daycare there. I go with my friend leigh and it makes a huge difference having someone to go with! I feel like most days all I do is clean but somedays I just say screw it and we all sit on the couch and watch a movie! I need to be better at playing games with them but we sure do love and have dance parties bout once a day. Once of my favorite times of days is right when the kids wake up and we hug like we haven't seen each other in a long time. The other is when we put them to bed. We lay with them and read stories and sing songs and we just talk to them and its so fun! I will miss these days! I get told all the time that before I know it they will be moving out. I'm definetly not ready for that but I am getting better about enjoying the journey and not being so stressed all the time! Life is so wonderful! I love that Ive been able to help my grandma dot so much. I love her with all my heart and my kids love her too.  I hope that they will remember her when she goes:( I know that time is coming close and its a day we all dread but she is miserable. She wants to die and it makes us so sad cause she says things like I have nothing to live for anymore and she just hurts and complains all the time. Sometimes are hard to not talk back to her and tell her to quit complaining about everything but we know we just have to suck it up so we don't regret anything:) I love being in the primary presidency and the women I get  to serve with. They have been so good to me this year and letting me vent to them. Once thing that Ive learned living up here is that people and there values are different and thats been hard for me. Its been eye opening and a game changer for me and makes me take a step back and make sure Im being my true self! I have 2 best friends that i get to see alot named Emily Clark and Ashley Musgrove. I love these women and they have so many good things to say. I feel like were all on the same wave length and i feel comfortable telling them personal things and they have helped me get through them. I hope we can stay friends forever! I love our house and the area that we live. We have great neighbors and an amazing ward! I cant picture us anywhere else at this point in our lives. Somedays I wander if i need to go see a therapist and just talk about the past and my moms death. I think me and my brothers are still scarred from it and need to talk about it and get help. Not sure what to do but I am about to put together this book of my mom and i cant wait to see it all come together! Thats all for now:)

Jake surprised me for our Anniversary/my birthday with a trip to Vegas. He had arranged for my kids to go to my mom and dads. This was a much needed vacation and it meant so much to me that he would think to do that and go through all the effort of makin it happen. Deanna that works for Jakes company has become good friends with some of Avril Lavignes band member so she got us the hook ups. I was so excited to go see Avril in concert. I have seen her 2 other times but this time I was told we would get to meet her. That didnt end up happening and I was way bummed but its all good.. She opened for backstreet boys so we were able to watch them also and they were great. It was so fun just to be with jake and just enjoy each other and not have to worry about takin care of the kids. This month has been a crazy/life changing one. We have gone through some tough times.. one that we will never forget but I wouldnt change a thing because we both are so much happier and so much more in love and appreciate each other. As fun as vegas is I was so ready to be home just the 2 nights we were there. It always make me so greatful for life because you see some crazy wacked out people there and that life style is just not for me.. although i do love watching drunk people:)  I will always remember this trip and how much it meant to me. As fun as it is to get away from the kids its always fun to get back to them and love on them. So greatful for great parents who are always so good to take the kids for us. We are very blessed.

Cutest princesses ready for the show!

Pais and I went with Kate and Lyndee Hopper to princesses on ice and it was a BLAST! I really wanted Pais to see that princesses were real and not just on the tv. Every time a new princess would come out Pais would scream the princesses name with all excitement! I'm so glad I got that one on one time with her and to be able to go do something fun like that! We look forward to the next time we get to go!

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!!