Chels and Ty

Awesomeness

2012-02-07T10:02:00.004-07:00

Just thought I'd share some awesomeness happening in my life right now:

-Oakley started crawling this weekend!! Yes, I know I will have my hands full but her new found independence has made her a happier baby that can entertain herself for much longer periods of time. She is crawling so much earlier than Saylor did but I'm pretty sure she's just trying to keep up with that sister of hers!

-I am in my second week of training for my first half marathon! There are so many fun people to train with and it feels great to exercise with a purpose and with a goal at the end. It is very motivating and makes me push myself harder. I've lost all my baby weight but I'm hoping to lose my jiggly tummy with all this running!

-We have some truly awesome friends out here in Missouri. They are always up for doing fun things whether it be playing games, decorating valentine sugar cookies, having last minute parties (even if it means everyone has to run to the store at 11:30 on Saturday night) picnics at the park, bonfires, play dates, or watching the bachelor together.

-I really don't like winter but this one has been amazing!! Last week we played at the park 3 different days. The 60's in January feels so good. It's been really nice to skip out on my usual winter blues.

-This one may not sound so awesome at first, but let me explain. Oakley hasn't been sleeping well lately so me and Ty have been extra tired lately and just kind of grumpy at each other. Saturday night I woke up throwing up which was definitely not awesome. But, after Ty cleaned up my throw up off the floor (this isn't the 1st or even 2nd time he's done this for me) and took such good care of me I was reminded what an amazing husband he is and how lucky I am to have him.

-Oakley slept in Saylor's room last night and everyone in the family slept great!! I even had to wake Saylor and Oakley up this morning to go to exercise group.

-I just found out that a bunch of our friends that moved last year from Missouri are coming back to visit in March. Saylor will be in HEAVEN to have her boyfriend George here!

-I got a package in the mail last week from my friend in Idaho with twins about Oakley's age. She is probably SO busy but she was thoughtful enough to take the time to write me a really nice letter that was exactly what I needed to hear and send some cute headbands and a bow. Getting mail is always awesome:)

-So I thought my mom was coming tomorrow and after talking to her last night realized that she is actually coming today!!! She is flying straight to Kirksville so I don't even have to load my kids up for a 6-hour round trip drive to the airport. My mom is a very busy lady so when she comes to Missouri we get her all to ourselves and we LOVE that!!!

As I write this I am realizing just how blessed I am because this list could keep going on and on! I am so thankful for all the awesomeness in my life!

5 months

2012-01-25T12:04:00.010-07:00

I was looking back at past posts I had done and I was realizing how MUCH I blogged about Saylor and how LITTLE I've blogged about Oakley and I was feeling really bad. I love going back and reading about Saylor as a baby so I'm going to try really hard to stay more updated on Oakley.

Oakley is five months old! As Oakley gets older and can interact more, it is so cute to watch her and Saylor play. She really does adore her sister! Saylor can always get the biggest grins out of her. Oakley is such a strong girl! At four months old she started to get up and rock on her hands and knees and she pushes up and makes an a-frame. She is getting VERY close to crawling and I'm not sure if I'm quite ready for it! Oakley is a very active baby (just like her sister!) always rolling around, kicking her legs or trying to crawl. She is getting pretty good at sitting up. She started rice cereal and loves it! We tried to give her green peas and she absolutely hated them! She kept gagging on them and then just started screaming, her reaction was pretty funny! Oakley is such a people person. When we walk out of the room she will instantly cry because she hates to be alone! She really loves to be held as long as I am up doing things.

We love having Oakley in our family so much. If she was just a better sleeper, she would be perfect!

Here are some pics of our little cutie...

It is always funny to hear everyone's opinion on who Oakley looks like. Here are some pictures of Saylor in the same outfit...

Christmas Break

2012-01-22T17:40:00.002-07:00

So we are finally back from our month long vacation! (Well...we've been back 2 weeks now, I'm just slow) We had so much fun with family and friends! We spent time in Utah and Idaho so here are a ton of pictures completely our of order of some of the fun things we did!

Saylor and Oakley got in a lot of cousin time which they loved!!

Here is a pic of all the girl cousins hanging out.

Saylor and Oakley in their matching Christmas dresses, I love when they match!

Basketball game up in Salt Lake with Ty's fam

I celebrated my 27th b-day in Utah, oh man I'm old! We went to this fun gymnastic place and got to play on all the mats and tramps. Saylor loved it of coarse.

Here she is being brave and jumping into the foam pit.

We went with Matt, Sarah, Essie and Autumn on the Provo River Cruise. There were Christmas lights everywhere and Santa even showed up on a canoe!

Oakley just being cute...

We got to eat at brick oven...my most favorite restaurant ever! Saylor and Essie played and played with their balloons and had so much fun together! This is actually a very monumental photo because Saylor and Essie haven't gotten along in the past. (Much to the dismay of their best friend mommies) This trip they were the best of friends and it made us so happy!!

Saylor snuggling with Grandpa

Dinner at Red Robin with some great high school friends.

Sarah, Bre, Me, Chrissy and Perky

I had to catch this moment when I saw my little girls actually playing together on the floor...so cute!

Saylor had been telling everyone that Santa was bringing her a Tiana doll and a dollhouse for Christmas. Christmas is seriously the best with Saylor. She is so animated and excited about every present, even before she knows what it is. The first thing she opened was actually princess lip gloss and she was ecstatic...she carried them around everywhere for days and even insisted on sleeping with them. She was also very excited about her Tiana doll...

Trying on her new Minnie outfit complete with purse, ears, glasses and slippers.

She had to have a Tiana dress to match her doll of coarse!

Grandma and Oakley

Here is what Oakley will look like in a few years when she gets some hair...haha!

We had a surprise visit from Santa on Christmas Eve!

Oakley and Skyler checking each other out.

We went ice skating on a big group date

We got in lots of Matt and Sarah time

Saylor and Oakley in their matching Christmas tree outfits

Making sugar cookies at Grandma's

We had a super fun night with Matt and Sarah at the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert. These guys are the best, we couldn't ask for greater best friends.

Before the concert we met up with Jules and Nate for dinner and we got to meet their adorable twins!!

And of coarse, we went up to Temple Square with the family to see all the beautiful lights

We also got to spend lots of time with my sister Kirstie which was totally awesome. She is in hair school so we definitely enjoyed all her new skills! She weaved my hair, gave me eye lash extensions, cut my bangs and also gave Ty a hair cut. She is seriously the most gorgeous, kind and fun person I know. We miss her already!

We had such a fun time but it is good to be home. Now just to get through these awful winter months!

Gingerbread Houses

2011-12-06T09:18:00.007-07:00

For family night last night we made gingerbread houses

Erica showing off her awesome house

The cute little babies hanging out together

Elliana, Oakley & Ella

Someday I'll get a good picture of my girls together when they are both actually looking and smiling...

The Whole Group

And here's a close up of our sweet house complete with train and tracks

Check out that overpass over the walkway!

Close-up of the train

And for our family...aren't you excited to see this cute face in 3 days?!!

Enchanted Fungus Ball

2011-12-05T12:41:00.009-07:00

Last Thursday night I came home to find this on the couch...

Hahaha! Ty had asked me to the Enchanted Fungus Ball (the winter formal the school puts on every year) We had such a BLAST! I look forward to this event all year because it is my absolute favorite!! They serve dinner, have free babysitting and then there is a rockin' dance party afterwards!

Eating dinner with the Anderson's and the Howard's

I wish we had taken more pictures but here are a few Ty got of all the girls on the dance floor!

It is seriously such a party! I wish I could have gotten some pictures of Ty dancing because he was super hilarious and so much fun!! I am totally already excited for next year!

After that super awesome date I got up the next morning and ran in the reindeer romp! It was pouring rain and pretty cold but I'm glad I did it because it was a lot of fun. 4 miles is actually the farthest I have ran since I had Saylor or Oakley so I was pretty proud of myself!

The weekend just kept getting better...Saturday night my friends Nicole and Erica had a surprise party for my birthday coming up next week! Sadly I got no pictures but we had delicious chocolate cheesecake and played some really fun games. Sunday night we had a bunch of friends over to watch the Christmas devotional and we drank hot chocolate, egg nog and ate cookies. It was the perfect ending to an awesome weekend.

Oakley got to wear one of her Christmas dresses to church yesterday and she looked so adorable! It was a good thing we had this little photo shoot because right after this she had a huge blowout and pooped all over her dress!

We have a lot of great things to look forward to...gingerbread houses tonight, flying to Utah in 4 days, my birthday in 10 days, and Christmas in 20 days!!!

November

2011-11-29T13:49:00.018-07:00

November seriously just flew by. I can't believe it's already Christmas time! Here are some highlights of our month...

I went to the midnight showing of Breaking Dawn with a bunch of friends and we had so much fun!

I got together with some friends to make this cute Thanksgiving craft

Made these adorable turkeys

Me and Ty made these super yummy turkey sugar cookies.

Yes, all three of these cute ideas came from pinterest! Haha!

Saylor and her buddy Brynlee playing at the turkey bowl on Thanksgiving morning. It was pretty windy and cold but the girls loved running around.

Sadly I didn't get any pictures of actual Thanksgiving dinner but it was seriously delicious! We had dinner with 4 other families and we had SO much food. I made the rolls, sweet potatoes, pretzel jello and my mom's to die for pumpkin cheesecake with butter rum sauce. Everything was amazing and we had enough desserts that everyone could have had their own! This was my first ever Thanksgiving with out family and I thought I'd be sad but it was a party all week long because no one had to study!

On Friday we headed down to St. Louis. I took this picture of the St. Louis temple from our car.

We spent the day at the zoo and the weather was so perfect!!

Oakley hanging out in the stroller...

Saylor and Oakley in their matching Christmas outfits-I've been so excited to put them in these since my aunt gave them to me when Oakley was born. The day after Thanksgiving is officially Christmas season so the girls wore them to the zoo and looked so cute!

With our friends the Andersons and the Sagers

We are so excited for Christmas time and we leave to Utah in a week!! So exciting!!!

A Few More Pics From October...

2011-11-19T12:50:00.011-07:00

Here's one last catch-up post with some of the other fun things we did in October...

Oakley started smiling and laughing! Baby smiles are the cutest thing ever!

We went to Nauvoo for Stake Conference. Our building is under construction so they weren't broadcasting it from Kirksville. We stayed in a condo with a few other couples and had so much fun!

Me and my girls

Saylor calls it the Naboo Temple

A few more shots of Saylor in her Aurora dress...this girl knows how to pose!

When I put Oakley in Saylor's old clothes I feel like I have another mini Saylor...so fun!

Pretty much impossible to get a good shot when they are both looking and smiling...

Say loved the Truman Homecoming Parade and she got tons of candy!

Oakley and Ty at the ward hayride activity

More cute pics of my smiley babe!

Saylor, Elliana and Oakley hanging out at the park

Enjoying Missouri's beautiful fall weather

These last pics are from the Children's social at Truman Farms when Saylor got to go on a hayride and pick a pumpkin. She was so excited!

Oakley's Baby Blessing

2011-11-19T12:19:00.004-07:00

When we were in Utah back in September we decided to bless Oakley. She wore the same dress Saylor was blessed in and she looked oh so cute...

Oakley Kirstie with her Auntie Kirstie

Even though Oakley is named after Kirstie she sure looks a lot like her Aunt Autumn. We think she has Autumn's nose and lips which are both super cute so we don't mind at all.

With her honorary Aunt Sass

A bunch of cute cousins

Oakley and her Daddy-

I know Ty really wants some boys eventually but he sure is an amazing dad to our little girls! I'm grateful to have a righteous husband to bless our children.

It was so fun to let everyone see Oakley while she was still small. Originally no one was going to get to meet her until Christmas and by then she'll be over 4 months old. There's nothing like a sweet newborn babe and I loved that all our family got to hold and snuggle her.

Oakley is so blessed to have two sets of the best grandparents ever!

Our happy little family of 4!

Grandma Leavitt

2011-11-19T12:18:00.001-07:00

My 93-year old Grandma passed away in September.

She was an amazing woman who set such a great example for all of us. She was so full of spunk and energy, even at 93. She was a great storyteller and always so generous. You could never leave her house without her giving you something to take home.

When she was put in the hospital I felt so extremely blessed that we were able to come all the way from Missouri and see her before she died and then attend her funeral.

We'll miss you Grandma Leavitt!

Halloween Festivities

2011-11-02T21:38:00.017-06:00

Halloween was so so much fun this year. We celebrated all month long. I decided it is definitely one of my favorite holidays. These pictures are way out of order but here are some of the fun things we did for Halloween...

Saylor at the SAA trunk or treat

There were SO many Halloween parties this year that I told Ty we probably didn't need to have one at our house again. Ty informed me that we will be having a Halloween party at our house EVERY year for the rest of our lives, haha, and I'm so glad we did because it was SO much fun! It's fun to have a husband who likes to party!

Doing the traditional donuts on a string, couple style! Things got a little crazy...don't worry, there is a donut between them!

The kids doing the cake walk

Saylor REALLY enjoyed her cupcake!

Say hitting the ghost pinata-

I think she thought it was her birthday or something with all her friends at her house for a party!

The kids grabbing all the candy

I had to get pictures of some of our friends awesome Halloween costumes!

You can't see it very well but Lacey has got a big bun in that oven!

This year Ty decided to make our already super creepy basement into a spook alley. Sadly I didn't get any pics but I'm pretty sure it was some of the kids favorite part of the night! We also had some super delicious soups, desserts and homemade root beer with dry ice!

Saylor got to dress up as Aurora so many times that I had her wear her cheerleading outfit to one of the Halloween parties. She was a very cute cheerleader. She was especially good at yelling, "Go Team!" and clapping her hands.

Saylor having a Halloween lunch with some of her friends

Saylor made such a beautiful Princess Aurora, she got so excited to put her costume on!

We had some couples over to make haunted gingerbread houses

Ty is very into having "family" costumes. Since Saylor wanted to be Sleeping Beauty, we went as Sleeping Beauty's parents and Oakley was one of the fairies.

Ty was pretty excited about his goblet, haha!

This was Saylor's first year carving a pumpkin

Our family's awesome pumpkin

Oakley with her friends Adelyn and Elliana

Oakley looked so cute in her little Halloween jammies!

On Halloween night we decided to take Saylor trick or treating for her first time. I felt so old taking her around to the houses. She had so much fun and got SO much candy!

Newborn Pics

2011-10-20T10:58:00.009-06:00

I had some newborn pics taken of Oakley when she was about 10 days old...

What a cute little angry face

Of coarse I had to get some of my girls together...THANK YOU Kelsey for the adorable matching tutus and bows!

We could only get Saylor to pose for pictures for about two minutes total and then she was done but I thought we got some super cute ones in that couple of minutes. Saylor did all of these poses on her own and I think they totally show her spunky personality.

Gotta have that princess pose!

Back to August...

2011-10-19T11:21:00.008-06:00

I realize it is now October but I wanted to go back and document Oakley's first month because she has already changed so much!

I am missing that tiny little newborn stage!

Look at those big luscious lips, what a cutie!

My mom and Kirst with my girls right before they left.

It was AMAZING having them here! My mom made the most gourmet, yummy food for every meal. We were in heaven! She also played with Saylor, held Oakley, cleaned my house, did our laundry and managed to potty train Saylor while she was here too. My mom is like the coolest person I know. I also had sooo much fun with my sister. She took Saylor swimming, always dressed her and did her hair super cute and played with and entertained her so I could cuddle my new babe and relax all day. I didn't have to worry at all when I was in the hospital because I knew Saylor was happy and in good hands:)

Ty's mom came right after that and it was awesome to have so much help!

Snuggling up with her Grandma

Saylor loves her new sister so much. She gets so excited to see her and always wants to hold her and help me take care of her.

Oakley looks so big sitting up in her bumbo!

We had a little football party for BYU's first game

Daddy hanging out with his girls

Already a little BYU fan

I have been having so much fun putting Oakley in all of Saylor's old outfits. Sometimes I feel like I am going back in time and re-living when Saylor was a baby.

Here is a picture of Saylor in the same dress...

Even when Oakley was really little she was super strong and holding her head up.

Bonfire in our backyard

Ty and Reed with their girls

Gavin and Saylor

Me and Erica

Saylor snuggling up with her sis

I am way behind...lots more pictures to come!

Baby Oakley

2011-09-01T21:18:00.017-06:00

Now that Oakley is almost a month old I am finally getting around to posting about it. Life is busy with two kids!

Here I am about to go into the hospital to be induced Tuesday August 9th.

Here is the story of Oakley's birth. Sorry it is kind of long and detailed but I want to be able to remember it all.

We got to the hospital around 7:30am. We had to wait for a little while to get checked in and then they took me upstairs to get changed. They checked me and I was dilated to a 4. They hooked me up to the monitors and it showed that I was having some contractions. Nothing regular but still, why wasn't I feeling them?! I had all back labor with Saylor so I really had no idea what regular contractions felt like and I didn't know what to expect. They put a little tablet up inside of me that was supposed to help dilate me some more and hopefully get my contractions going. We had to wait for two hours to see what would happen. When they came back to check me I was between a 4 and a 5. The doctor told me at that point I could either go home and wait for things to get started on their own or he could break my water and put me on pitocin. I was not leaving that hospital with out a baby! So I told him to go ahead and break my water. (This was around 11am) I wasn't that into going on pitocin and I asked my doctor if we could wait and see if breaking my water alone would get things started. He recommended that I start on pitocin because once your water is broken you need to deliver within 24 hours and he wanted to make sure my labor started soon. Right after he broke my water the nurses came in to get an IV started for my pitocin. My mom, Kirstie and Saylor showed up about then since I told them things were going slow and they might as well visit. The nurses poked and poked and couldn't seem to get a vain. I was starting to get really annoyed because my contractions suddenly started coming really fast and really strong. They started out in the back, then the front, then I was feeling them in the front and the back at the same time. I remember my labor with Saylor not being very bad at all because you get a break between your contractions to recover. These contractions were coming so fast I was hardly getting a break. My mom decided to leave with Saylor so she wouldn't have to see me in so much pain. (This was around noon) Kirstie stayed even though Ty warned her it could be the most horrific thing she's ever seen to witness child birth. Ha. They had to send in like 3 different nurses until someone finally got my IV in. Before they could give me my epideral and start my pitocin they had to go check my blood count or something so they left for a while. I kept telling Ty I needed my epideral right then. I kept asking and asking where the anesthesiologist was and Ty kept telling me they were on their way and I would say someone needs to tell them to run, I am dying here! I told Ty several times that I was going to die from the pain. It really was the worst pain I had EVER been in. Finally the doctor came in. He checked me and I was now at a 7. He also informed me that it was much too late for an epideral. He said they could give me some meds for pain to take off the edge and he thought that I would be able to handle it with that. He thought I could handle it?! That made me freak out. At this point I was getting hysterical and I began begging my doctor to give me an epideral. He just very calmly let me know that by the time they could give me one my baby would already be born. In my mind I kept thinking, why would anyone ever want to do this naturally? This is awful! So they gave me my meds and checked me again and I was a 10! It was time to push! My meds kicked in just in time for pushing which I was so thankful for. All the sudden I was super happy and felt like I could enjoy the moment of giving birth. I could still feel everything but it no longer felt like I was going to die. Being able to feel also made pushing a whole lot easier. I pushed three times and little Oakley popped right out! It was the coolest feeling ever! Oakley was born around 12:45pm which made my labor less than 2 hours!

Me and Ty were so happy to welcome baby girl #2 into our family! We were instantly in love.

Ty giving Oakley her first diaper change

I LOVED having Kirstie there for the birth. She didn't think it was gross at all. She said it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

A nice thing about not having an epideral was I felt totally awesome right after I gave birth and I could hop right out of bed. I was SO happy!

I was so excited for Saylor to come to the hospital to meet her sister for the first time. At first she was a little timid but she quickly warmed up to her and was so cute!

Saylor giving Oakley hugs.

Saylor is such a proud big sister! Every time Oakley would cry Saylor would say, "She wants me!"

As soon as I saw Oakley I thought she looked just like Saylor!

I could hardly wait to put her in some cute clothes and get a bow on her head!

I am such a happy mommy!

Our new family of four

Oakley's going home outfit

I came home to a poster, balloons and a very clean house!

Although being pregnant during a Missouri summer was probably the worst thing that's ever happened to me I love that the weather is warm enough to take Oakley out when she's so little. I was so anxious to use my double stroller!

Some more cute pics of Oakley...

Oh man I LOVE this little girl! I really forgot how much fun it is to have a baby. Having Oakley has been so much easier of a transition than having Saylor was. I guess I just knew more of what to expect and since I'm already a mom taking care of another one isn't that big of a change. I'm not saying that I have the two kid thing figured out yet, because it is still kind of a challenge. Saylor is super sweet to Oakley most of the time but she has been acting out a lot and has been super sassy because I think she wants attention. It is hard finding a balance of how much attention to give each kid. I feel bad when Saylor wants me and I am feeding Oakley and can't help her. I also feel bad sometimes for Oakley because I don't get to hold her as much as I held Saylor as a baby. Most of the time things are great though. Saylor loves holding Oakley and always says, "I love her sooo much!" and "I miss her sooo much!" She has also been very helpful and loves to help change diapers. Saylor can hardly wait until Oakley is big enough to play with her.

Still Pregnant...

2011-08-06T10:29:00.003-06:00

So I have to say that me and Ty are both pretty shocked that I am still pregnant. We never thought I'd go this long. I went to the doctor on Tuesday and I am now dilated between a 3 and a 4...how is this baby not falling out of me??!! I guess she is just not quite ready to make her appearance to the world. Meanwhile I am getting MASSIVE!! I am starting to worry that I am going to have a really big baby here. My mom and sister are coming Monday so I told my doctor that if I haven't gone into labor I want to be induced Tuesday morning. I REALLY want to go into labor on my own but I also don't want to waste time being pregnant when my mom and sister are here to help with the new baby...I'm really going to need them as I try to figure out how to handle two kids!

So at the most I've got 3 days left being this large!!! I'm trying my hardest to enjoy the last few days I have with just Saylor and trying to get lots of sleep to prepare for the crazy exhaustion that comes with a newborn. Oh but we are just so excited to meet this new little one!

Baby Update

2011-07-30T15:17:00.003-06:00

So I am still pregnant. 11 days to go until my due date and I don't think I have ever been more miserable. This pregnancy is going on FOREVER! At my 37 week appointment I was dilated to a one and 50% effaced. At my 38 week appointment I expected to be about the same but I was dilated between a 2 and a 3 and 70% effaced!! This got me SO excited and I was expecting to go into labor any time. Ty was so convinced we were going

to have a July baby. But now it is July 30th and still no baby. Super disappointing. I have been walking every day, having dance parties and doing other things I have heard help induce labor...

I was 8 days early with Saylor so hopefully I only have a few days left!!! I told Saylor to tell her sister to come out of my tummy so Saylor was yelling at my stomach today, "Baby Oakley, come out of mommy's tummy so I can play with you!"

When I was pregnant with Saylor Ty painted a watermelon on my stomach. This time around he decided to paint a globe. I am SO huge! Here's to hoping that baby comes soon because I don't know how much longer I can last!!

4th of July

2011-07-19T12:27:00.007-06:00

For the 4th of July and Ty's B-day we decided to take a trip to St. Louis! Before we left I made Ty some delicious german pancakes. Ty felt special that he got to be the first in the family to use the birthday plate!

Saylor always does so well in the car on long drives. She sat quietly and looked at books for almost the whole drive. (It's pretty much the only time she can ever sit still!)

These pictures are kind of out of order but here are some of the awesome things we got to do...

Seeing the arch was amazing! I loved how the sunset reflected pink off of it.

We got to see Montgomery Gentry perform right under the arch followed by a huge fireworks show! Fireworks right under the arch and over the Mississippi River was one of the coolest things I've ever seen!

During the day of the 4th we went to the St. Louis Zoo. I really wasn't expecting much since it's a free zoo but I was thoroughly impressed!! The zoo was beautifully landscaped and had tons of really cool animals. It was a very hot day and it involved a lot of walking (which is kind of hard when you are 8 months pregnant!) but we had a really fun time.

Riding the carousel

Check out that bear back there!

The penguin exhibit was inside a super cold building that felt so good! Saylor kept saying, "I'm coldy, I need a jacket!"

The penguins were so close you could have reached out and touched them!

Inside the butterfly exhibit, Saylor loved to watch the butterflies fly all around her.

The hippo was my favorite! It was so ginormous and he was squished up against the glass so we could get a real good look at him. We tried to put Saylor next to it to get a picture and she freaked out!

Say and Mommy

Woah, I'm huge!

Everything at the zoo was so pretty. Lots of trees, flowers and beautiful waterfalls!

Hanging out in the hotel

Getting ready to go swim!

This was right after Saylor fell into the pool head first! She was leaning over the edge and fell right in. Luckily Ty was right there to reach in and grab her. Saylor loves to tell this story.

Classic Saylor, singing her little heart out

Swimming with Daddy and Dora

We also got to eat at the Cheesecake Factory, do some shopping and ride the metro. It was so much fun to get away from Kirksville for a few days and have a fun little family vacation.

Here's a video of us at the concert. Saylor was of coarse jamming out to the music and making friends with everyone around us!

Summer Vacation Part Two: Idaho!

2011-06-27T09:25:00.011-06:00

Tyler and I are both blessed to have such amazing families. After spending such a fun week in Utah we got to go up to Idaho and have another week of awesomeness. We stopped to see Shoshone Falls on the way to Boise and it was beautiful!

So worth stopping for!

We also stopped in Twin Falls and had dinner with our friends Jules and Nate. Jules and I have due dates only 2 weeks apart but Jules already gave birth to her twins almost a week ago! Lucky girl!

The day after getting to Boise we packed our bags and headed up to McCall to stay at a cabin for a few days. We were right next to a beautiful pond with canoes and gorgeous scenery.

Say and Grandpa on the canoe

There was a hot tub on the deck of the cabin and Saylor thought it was awesome!

Saylor and her cousin Thyme taking a dip

Showing off her cute little life jacket

Ty and Trent attempted to do the gallon challenge...and failed.

Having canoe races on the pond...Me & Ty against Kirstie and Trent

Family canoe ride

We had so much fun watching movies, playing games, eating tons of yummy food, taking naps and just hanging out at the cabin together.

Saylor's been asking Ty to take her to the zoo to see the giraffes for some time now so we thought we'd better take her to the Boise Zoo...

We got a close up view of the lion!

We got to walk through the wallaby habitat and one jumped right in front of us!

Riding on the giant giraffe slide

Happy Family of 3 (Soon to be 4!)

Say and Auntie Kirtie

Eating at Texas Roadhouse

Getting sno cones at the sno shack! It doesn't feel like summer until you eat a sno cone!

I was SO happy we happened to be in town for my friend Holly's wedding. It was my first time meeting her husband and I think they are totally perfect for each other, seriously so cute.

They had a dance at the reception and Saylor was loving it

Dancing with her Daddy

Saylor found a little friend and was so excited to have someone just her size to dance with!

We also got to see Chrissy & Ian at the wedding

The weekend before we left was super busy because my brother Zach was giving his farewell so there was tons of family in town. Saturday we went down to the Eagle Fun Days parade with a bunch of my cousins.

Zach gave his farewell talk on Sunday and he did such a great job. He is going to be such an amazing missionary in Mexico City! We are so proud of him. He went into the MTC on June 22nd.

Zach is such a good uncle, Saylor will miss him so much! So crazy to think Saylor will be 4 when he gets home and that my new baby will be almost Saylor's age now!

One last kiss for her Uncle Zach

Giving goodbye hugs to Aunt Kirstie, luckily we get to see her again soon when she flies out to Missouri when the baby is born!

Say with Grandma Idaho

All the family that came in town for Zach's talk

Last Family Photo with Zach

It was a great week!

Summer Vacation Part One: Utah!

2011-06-22T13:39:00.008-06:00

We had such an awesome vacation. Ty drove all 17 hours of the drive and when we were only one hour from his mom's house I even talked him into stopping in Park City so I could shop for an hour. I just couldn't resist, we were driving right next to the outlets and I was feeling so shop-deprived. I got the most amazing deals ever for Saylor and the new baby and it satisfied my shopping craving for the rest of the trip so I could spend the rest of my time with all the people we love most:)

Saylor is so in LOVE with these girls. She now says to me almost everyday, "Jess and Muggy come to Say's house and it be so fun?!" They played and played all week long.

We spent a day at Wagner Farms with Ty's family walking around looking at the animals and feeding the ducks.

Saylor is also obsessed with her cousin Tra. She wanted him to hold her all day long.

So sweet...

These girls sure do love their Grandma!

On Memorial Day we went to a ropes course in Provo and it was so much fun! I had no idea how scary some of the stuff would be, it was definitely an adrenaline rush!

Ty on the big swing

Me and Sass about to be spun around on the big wheel

That's me at the top of the zip line. We had to climb up that really tall pole to start!

Say and Essie wanted in on the fun too!

Ty walking across the "Eebie jeebies" This was one he wouldn't let me do being so pregnant and all.

I wasn't allowed to do this one either. Ty is about to jump onto those little platforms from the tree.

Walking across a log that is about 30 feet high

We saved the best for last...the leap of faith! That's Matt jumping for the trapeze off that tiny little platform. This one was by far the scariest! You climb up this super tall pole and have to stand on a tiny platform that is very shaky and jump for your life. Ty and Matt were the only ones that got the trapeze so to make it harder they both did it blindfolded!!! Talk about guts!

The Whole Group

Fishing at the pond

Me and Sass with our girls

Say loved running around in her diaper and getting dirty

Trying to catch a fish

Saylor is in the habit of stealing the camera and taking crazy pictures...she happened to capture this picture of my belly and I just had to show how incredibly huge I am!!

Touching the fish...she wasn't even scared!

What a fun day enjoying the nice weather (humid-free!) and being outside

We discovered a new game on our trip...Settler of America and we LOVE it! We already bought it and have played it here in Missouri.

Before leaving Utah we had to visit our good friends the Oldhams! They just moved to Utah from Missouri and we were already missing them! George is Saylor's best friend ever. If you ask her who she is going to marry she will say, "I'm going to marry George in the castle temple and wear my princess dress!" They had so much fun riding George's pony together.

George leading Saylor around the yard

On our way up to Boise we stopped at Raft River and spent a night camping and playing on the waterslides! It was a blast as usual and the weather was amazing! We all got fried.

What a fun trip!

Ty's family is coming to visit us in Missouri in a couple of weeks and we can't wait to see them again!

Anniversary, Mother's Day, New Bed...

2011-05-21T15:11:00.006-06:00

I have been super lazy about blogging lately, pregnancy kind of does that to me. So here's a big, long post about what's been happening...

Me and Ty celebrated our 6th anniversary! Wow, we are getting old! It's been the best six years ever. Sometimes I wonder how I ever got so lucky to marry such a hard working, fun to be with, best dad ever, treats me like gold especially when I don't deserve it, good looking guy. Even though he is super busy with school he still comes home for lunch everyday, helps me make dinner almost every night, always takes time to play with Saylor and reads stories, sings to her and puts her to bed every night.

I was so impressed with Ty on Mother's Day. He got a bunch of guys together from our ward and organized a big dinner for all the girls. It was so yummy! We had chicken kabobs with a ranch rosemary marinade, grilled pineapple, rice, salad, fruit, a vegetable tray, strawberry limeade (my fav) and hot chocolate chip cookies with ice cream on top for dessert! He did a lot of work to make me feel special on Mother's Day, I was locked out of the kitchen for 2 days while he prepared everything. I have the best husband ever!

Being a mom really is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I never knew my heart could be so full of love for this sassy little two year old I have. Saylor is my bestest little buddy and I am so blessed to be able to spend my days with her. She has taught me so much in her two years of life. I thank Heavenly Father several times a day that I get to be her mom.

Tyler and I have both been blessed with the most amazing moms ever. Even though we are far away they still take such good care of us. Whether its with a package, phone call, paying for flights or gas so we can come home to visit, they are constantly showing their love for us and teaching us by example of how to be righteous, loving parents.

We love you both so much!!!

Ty found an amazing deal on this awesome grill! It is normally $359 and we got it for $100! It was a steal of a deal and we have been LOVING it. We have grilled hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, pineapple, steak, onions, peppers and zucchini.

We've had so much fun having BBQ's and inviting friends over.

We had these super delicious kabobs with chicken, steak, pineapple, peppers and onions.

Saylor got a big girl bed this month! We wanted to switch her over to a bed a few months before the baby came so she wouldn't feel like the baby was stealing her crib.

We talked about how she was getting a big girl bed all week before she actually got it and she was so excited! We couldn't believe how well she did making the switch. She only got out of her bed two times the first night and one time the second and now she is sleeping in it like a champ! She never gets out at nap time or bed time and she goes right to sleep!

I hadn't taken a picture of my belly in a while so I had Ty take one and I couldn't believe how big I look! I feel huge but I didn't realized I looked it too! This picture is taken at 27 weeks and now I am almost 29 weeks.

Some random cute pics...

George and Saylor singing and having a great time!

My beautiful Saylor...

Saylor does a princess pose every time we get out the camera now! So cute!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T19:01:00.007-06:00

Saylor is at such a fun age for holidays. She gets so excited about everything and can actually participate now. We dyed Easter eggs on Monday for family night and Say kept saying, "It's an Easter party!" She carried her eggs around all week long dying her hands all different colors.

The SAA put on an Easter egg hunt for all the kids. Ty had a little practice easter egg hunt at our house before we left so she would know what to do...she caught on very quickly!

Jack and Saylor getting ready to go find some eggs!

Say and Brynlee

Say and George

Eating chocolate and SO happy!

My mom sent Saylor a little Easter hat and she looked so cute in it!

Showing off her super cute Easter dress and basket, she's been carrying her basket around everywhere and she had to have all her plastic eggs in the bath with her last night.

Practicing her princess pose she learned at Disneyland

Giving Mommy kisses...

Hugging her baby sister

Say loves her Daddy!

Blowing dandelions

Easter egg hunt number #3 (We had one in our front yard this morning too)

Snuggling with her bestie George and eating candy, how could life get any better?

Happy Easter!

Spring is HERE!

2011-04-18T11:51:00.005-06:00

Spring is officially here and we've been LOVING the warm weather! Saylor especially can't get enough of being outside. She screams and cries every time I bring her inside. Her new favorite thing is to pick dandelions in our front yard. We have also been loving walks, days at the park and her swing in our backyard!

Last weekend the SAA had a fun run. I had planned on running the 5K but after being on vacation for almost a month and not really working out a whole lot during all that I kind of chickened out. I signed up to walk the mile but a few days before decided I was just going to run all 3 miles. A 5K at 5 months pregnant...it felt awesome!

Having a bonfire with friends

Spring also means a lot of our friends will be moving soon:(

Saylor sure is going to miss these two little guys!

Cutest picture ever, they are the best of buddies!

Saylor's also grown pretty attached to this little cutie, Carter. (George's baby brother) She loves to hold and kiss him. It makes me so excited for Say to be a big sister!

And here are just some cute pics of my gorgeous girl...

Saylor really does crack me up...she loves trying on my shoes and she was able to get this boot all the way up her leg!

Happy Spring!

23 weeks

2011-04-16T11:01:00.001-06:00

I haven't posted a belly pic lately but I sure am growing! I feel so huge already, it's kind of depressing to think that I still have 17 weeks to go...

But on the exciting side, we had our big ultrasound the day after I got back from California! We are so excited to have baby girl #2 coming into our family!! Saylor will LOVE having a little sister and I can't wait to dress them in matching little outfits. It's also nice because I already have so much girl stuff! Makes me feel a little less guilty for all the money I've spent on Saylor's clothes now that they'll get to be used again. The names we are debating between are Scout and Oakley and the middle name will for sure be Kirstie. YAY for baby girls!

DISNEYLAND!

2011-04-11T15:19:00.002-06:00

Our trip to Disneyland was AWESOME!! It was even more magical for Saylor than I had imagined it would be. Meeting the characters, watching the shows, seeing the fireworks, all so much more fun to see through a two year old's eyes. This was Saylor's 3rd visit to Disneyland (spoiled child!) but this was the first time she actually knew what was going on. The only bad thing was how much we missed Ty!

Our first day at Disneyland we walked into the park and immediately saw Pluto. Saylor had a hard time waiting her turn but when we got to the front of the line she ran to him and hugged him so long I thought she would never let go...so cute! Pretty sure we could have left her there all day. As we were leaving Saylor said, "Bye Pluto, go play with Mickey!"

Walking down main street, Saylor was so excited to see the castle! (Sometimes she calls it the temple)

Our first ride was Buzz!

Saylor crashed hard on the shuttle ride back to the hotel. It was nice to be able to go back to the hotel for a few hours in the afternoon so we could all rejuvenate and head back to Disneyland for the rest of the night.

Say watching the fireworks with Grandma and Grandpa. She was so scared of them last time we came but this time she loved them and would clap and cheer the whole time!

Getting ready to watch Kirstie do her solo...Saylor was so proud of her button with Kirstie's picture on it. Kirstie did such a good job!!! She is amazing.

This was one of Sweet Liberty's trophies and Saylor loved it, it was as big as she was! She thought the lady on the top was Kirstie.

Saylor loves her Aunt Kirstie so much and she loved watching her dance. I loved it too, I seriously kept getting emotional watching her. She was always front and center and she seriously has the best facials ever which makes her so fun to watch. I kept thinking, wow that's my baby sister, I was so proud!

Saylor really liked Kirstie's elvis wig. It was so fun for me to get to see all the dances for the first time since I've been so far away and haven't been able to see her dance all year.

After going to church on Sunday we went to the beach to walk around. Saylor thought it was awesome! It was really windy but still really fun. Say loved chasing the pigeons around.

Say loves her Grandpa...

A Whole Lot!

Saylor is becoming such a sweetheart. She is constantly giving kisses on the lips and tightly wrapping her arms around your neck and saying, "I love you so much!"

The Fam

Sisters

Giving the peace sign...Say loves Uncle Zach and will miss him tons when he leaves on his mission in June!

Say could have played in that sand for hours...

My dad always has to make things interesting so as we were all under the pier he was trying to get us to run down and touch the columns before the waves would hit. We all ran down to the first column, then we all made it to the second, then he wanted us to run to the second column and run a circle around it and come back. It took us a little while but eventually we all did it without getting too wet. My mom walks over and we tell her what we're doing and she runs down and tries to circle the second column like on her 2nd try. It did not end well...but I'm pretty sure it was the funniest thing I've ever seen. As she was circling the column, she tripped and fell all the way to the ground just as a giant wave was coming and completely went over the top of her! We all just about died laughing. She was wearing jeans and a big coat, and also happened to have her digital camera and my video camera in her pocket...oops!

We were all pretty wet by the time we left. Saylor kept saying, "Grandma fall in the ocean, Grandma scary!"

On Monday we were back at Disneyland and Say got to meet Mickey!

We ran to see the princesses first thing so we wouldn't have to wait forever when it got busier. This really was the most magical moment of the whole trip, Saylor was absolutely mesmorized by Belle and hugged her for so long.

Belle was so cute with Saylor and sat and chatted with her.

She also got to meet Ariel

Buzz was one of Saylor's favorite rides, she kept saying, "I shoot Zurg!" I just gave her the gun and let her shoot and she actually did really well! She got to level 2!

It's our families tradition to go to the golden horseshoe and see the Billy Bob show and eat delicious chocolate cake. Saylor devoured it!

Saylor was so excited to see Goofy but when we got in line a worker told us he was leaving so she couldn't meet him. I pushed her stroller to the front of the line just so she could get a closer look and she jumped out of her stroller and grabbed onto his leg! It was so cute! The worker was actually really mad, you can see in the picture she is trying to get her to let go.

Later that day she got to see Goofy again at California adventure, she just loves him.

This picture is kind of blurry but as always we spent a lot of time doing the voices and laughing a ton.

Saylor had such a magical moment with Belle that we decided to take her again the next day. Saylor loved her just as much the 2nd time and I thought this Belle was prettier too.

She taught Saylor how to pose like a princess! After that she taught her how to spin like a princess in her dress. Even though lots of people were waiting, she spent so much time with Saylor and acted like they really were best friends!

I always thought it was kind of ridiculous when parents dressed their kids like princesses to take them to Disneyland but Say wanted to wear hers so bad. She even got to meet her twin Aurora!

She was so so excited to meet Minnie but I think she was a little disappointed that Minnie didn't talk to her like the other princesses did.

Catching bubbles at the playhouse disney show...

Watching the fireworks on our last night. We had just came from the World of Color show and we had front row seats so we were all a little wet. World of Color is seriously awesome though!! Like Bellagio Fountains in Vegas times ten!

Saylor couldn't stop hugging Kirstie, we miss her so much!

We had such an amazing trip! I have to give a HUGE thank you to my parents for flying Saylor and I out to California so we could be there for Kirstie's last nationals and spend 3 totally awesome days at Disneyland! Saylor would call Ty every night and go on and on about all the things she did at Disneyland that day...she's going to be talking about this trip for a long time, it was definitely a huge event in her life. She asks me every day now, "We go to Disneyland today with Daddy?" We also stayed at a super fun hotel that had waterfalls and ponds and a big lion that roared every hour that Saylor loved. The breakfast was also oh so amazing, I'm pretty sure I gained 10 pounds on that trip just from the french toast sticks. Oh yum. Saylor sure is missing having seven adults with all their attention on her. She is one loved little girl. What a fun memory!

Spring Break

2011-04-05T12:34:00.007-06:00

After going home in October, November, and December, Ty told me we absolutely were not going home for spring break. I was ok with it, but after a long, dreary winter here in Kirksville I was ready to get out. One night after skyping with family I broke down and cried from being homesick and begged Ty to go home. Ty being the nicest ever husband that he is couldn't bear to see me sad and finally agreed that we could go home. Since Saylor is two now we really can't afford to fly so we made the 17 hour drive to Utah and it was so worth it!

Here are some highlights of our trip...

I got to hang out with my best friend in the world Sarah and her adorable little girl Ester. I signed up for a free week pass at Gold's so I could work out with her all week and we went to some awesome classes. We also decided to take advantage of the beautiful spring weather and take a walk up Provo canyon (one of my most favorite places ever) It felt SO good to sit in the sun and let our girls play at the park.

Sadly this was one of the few moments that Saylor was actually nice to Ester. I think she might have been a little jealous or something because she picked on her a lot:(

Enjoying a nice sunny picnic...

Disney on Ice was in Salt Lake while we were there so I thought Ty might like to take Saylor since he was going to miss our week at Disneyland. Plus, nothing like that ever comes to Kirksville. Saylor loved seeing all the characters and hearing all the disney songs. I think I was just as excited as she was though, I love to watch ice skating!

Say jamming out to the music

This picture has kind of a funny story to go with it...I wanted to get a picture of everyone who went to Disney on Ice so I made everyone stand by the wall. There were people everywhere and I was trying to get someone to take our picture but they were all walking by so fast. Finally, Ty told me that if I didn't ask someone in the next 5 seconds that we were leaving and I wouldn't get my picture. I panicked and handed the camera to the next person I saw. Only after I handed the lady my camera and asked her to take the picture did I realize she was handicapped...I seriously didn't mean it but I couldn't take my camera back now! Under his breath Ty was like, "Nice pick Chels!" The lady reluctantly told me she didn't really know how but at the last second her aid person came to the rescue and took the picture for me. Anyways, I got my picture...

Saylor had her real birthday while we were in Utah so we got to have a party with the whole family! Her cousin Jessi has a birthday only 2 days apart from her so me and Autumn made them this awesome castle cake.

Say was loving all this attention!

Saylor had a blast playing with her cousins!

All the girls playing with their Auntie Autumn

So sweet...

Grandma doing what she loves most

We of coarse had to get in our fair share of Settlers while we were home!

The 3 little girls hanging out and eating popsicles

Ty's mom only lives 5 minutes from the Timp temple now. We have really missed this temple and mostly just having a temple close by so it was such a treat to just pop on over to do a session one morning.

Say and Jess in their princess dresses

It was a great week full of tons of family parties, staying up late playing games, BBQs, picnics, walks, and hanging out with all the people we love! We can't wait to see you at the end of May!

Saylor turns 2!

2011-04-02T12:55:00.003-06:00

Since we were going to be out of town for Saylor's actual birthday, I decided to have a little party for her before we left with all her friends in Kirksville.

I made Mickey and Minnie cupcakes out of oreos...

I look WAY more excited than Saylor in this picture but Saylor really did love being sung to and blowing out her candles

Enjoying that yummy cupcake...

Say loves all her friends!

I just can't believe my baby turned two!! I was kind of emotional about the whole thing. We have been watching a lot of home videos of Saylor from her first two years and I can't believe how grown up she is! I love how much she is talking and how much of a little person she is becoming. She is talking in sentences now and it's so funny to hear the things she says. These are some of my favorites:

"I love you so much!"

"Hey mom, what's up?"

"You're my best friend."

"I wanna snuggle."

"I so tired, I wanna go back to sleep."

"It's ok honey, it's ok."

"I hope it's not permanent."

"Please, please, please!"

"To infinity and beyond!"

Some of the not so cute things she says (usually while pointing her finger):

"Don't!"

"Get out!"

"Don't touch me again!"

Well actually, they are super cute too but I have to pretend they aren't when she says them to me when she's mad. Saylor pretty much repeats everything she hears. When we are driving in the car I can hear her copying the lyrics to the songs on the radio. She still loves to dance and now loves to sing. She watches American Idol with me and dances around the room and sings with her arms stretched out. One day she went in her room and brought back her lamp, took the lamp shade off and used it as a microphone for the rest of the show.

She is super motherly and LOVES princesses right now. Her favorite movies are Toy Story, Beauty and the Beast, Monsters Inc. and Tangled. Her favorite foods are cheese, bananas, avocado, pb&j sandwiches, mac & cheese and most fruits and vegetables. She still drinks juice like there is no tomorrow. Saylor loves to play with friends, go on walks to the park, read books, take baths, swing, go swimming, do dishes with mom, play with dad, jump on trampolines and she would stay outside the whole entire day if we'd let her.

Saylor definitely has both mom and dad very tightly wrapped around her little finger. She is our whole world and is constantly making us laugh and melting our hearts. We feel so blessed that she is ours.

Grandma Visits!

2011-02-25T14:43:00.006-07:00

Woah, so I'm finally back from my month long vacation and I'm super behind on updating my blog! Going back to February...Ty's mom came and stayed with us for 10 whole days!! It was so awesome and she came at such a perfect time. After such a long, dreary winter we needed a little excitement around here. Everyone kept asking, "what are you going to do?" There really isn't much to do in our small town, especially during the winter months but we kept super busy.

This was on our drive down to Kansas City to pick her up. Say was so excited to see Grandma she had her hands up in the air cheering!

Saylor got so much one on one time with Grandma and she loved every second. Snuggling, reading stories and playing...Say sure loves her Grandma.

Delynn came with so many fun ideas for projects we could do while she was here. She decided it was time to redecorate our bathroom and Saylor was extremely thrilled with the princess theme! (And so was I, Ariel is my favorite princess)

We even found cute Ariel fabric and she sewed me some new curtains!

We had to get a princess poster and Saylor loves to point to all of them and tell me their names every time we go in the bathroom.

Kind of wierd to put a picture of our toilet but I think it looks cute.

More new curtains!! Delynn let me pick any fabric I wanted when we drove to Columbia and went to Hobby Lobby and she sewed up a storm all day to make these. I LOVE them!

We made this super cute project too since Valentine's Day was approaching. I still haven't taken mine done because I love it so much.

Delynn also bought stuff at Hobby Lobby so we could scrapbook our own calendars. This is how February turned out...

Saylor loved her new Dora bike Grandma got her!

We also went bowling while she was here and Saylor loved pushing her ball down the little ramp.

Delynn spoiled us SO much while she was here. She took us to dinner, got us some new Wii games, she bought me cute maternity clothes, and Saylor of coarse got some cute new outfits and lots of fun toys. (And pretty much anything else she saw at the store and wanted!) Delynn is so thoughtful and generous. We also tried lots of fun, new recipes for dinner and dessert every night and she was constantly doing my dishes and laundry so I could take it easy. I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful mother-in-law, WE LOVE HER SO MUCH!

Oh Baby

2011-02-13T08:07:00.005-07:00

I feel like everybody already knows this news but I realized I haven't mentioned anything about it on our blog. Yes, we are expecting baby #2 and we couldn't be happier!! As the picture shows I am already totally popping out! It is crazy to me how fast I am showing this time around. I am only at 14 weeks and I feel huge, just this past week I've doubled in size. I do think this pregnancy has been really different but I think it's mostly because I have a baby to take care of and I can't sleep and take naps whenever I feel. With Saylor I always said I felt better than ever but I have had some crappy feeling days and mostly have just been super exhausted. But my first trimester is over so hopefully I will be getting some energy back. Little Baby Robertson will be coming sometime around August 10th!

This is how Say feels about being a big sister, well at least for now while the baby is still in my tummy. She thinks she has one in her tummy too.

Blizzard!

2011-02-12T09:19:00.003-07:00

The huge blizzard was a week and a half ago so this post is a little late but I needed to document this crazy storm! We were really snowed in our house for a whole day. It was kind of exciting. Ty's school was cancelled for a day and a half and the elementary kids had school cancelled all week long.

We have the longest driveway ever and it took Ty 4 whole hours to shovel the whole thing.

We looked out to our back porch and saw this...it looks like a squirrel fell right off the roof and got buried!

I spent about 30 minutes trying to bundle Saylor and I up in warm clothes so we could play outside while Ty shoveled. We were outside a whole 10 minutes before Saylor started crying because she was cold:(

The excitement kind of wore off after being stuck in the house all week. I think everyone in Kirksville is going a little bit crazy because when it's this cold there really is no place to go. There are still HUGE piles of snow all over town. The good news is the temperatures are going to warm up! The forecast says it'll be 59 degrees next week and I am going to spend as much of that day outside as I possibly can!

January

2011-01-27T11:46:00.006-07:00

January has been a very long and cold month here in Kirksville. We have had a TON of snow and freezing cold temperatures which make it hard to get out of the house. Plus, there really isn't anywhere to go except Walmart so we've had some cabin fever. Here is a little of what we've been up to to try and stay busy...

My goal was to start potty training Saylor when we got back from Christmas Break. She is still in diapers and has a long way to go but we've also had some successes. She gets a sucker when she goes in the potty and its starting to happen a little more often. (Like maybe once a day if we're lucky...)

Saylor does get super excited when she gets a sucker!

I made my first ever homemade wheat bread with my bosch I got for Christmas! I LOVE homemade bread fresh out of the oven so it was an exciting day to be able to make it all by myself. I've wanted a Bosch for a really long time so I've been having fun experimenting with bread, cinnamon rolls and homemade pizza.

We made $20 sandwiches with the yummy, fresh bread. (I thought they were worth that much!)

Every quarter they have a night of free babysitting so the students can take their wives on a date! It was a much needed break and excuse to do something fun. Ty was super cute and made up a whole scavenger hunt with his friend Mike and they sent me and Allison all over town looking for clues (in the snow might I add!) The clues all ended up being supplies to play minute to win it games so after the last clue sent us to Ruby Tuesday for dinner we went home and played the games.

We had so much fun and I realized the games are all a lot harder than they look on TV. The funniest game was when we had to tie a banana around our waist and swing it between our legs to hit an orange into a circle. It was pretty funny to watch!

I had some friends over so we could try another fondant cake.

I'm so ready for January to be over that we've started celebrating Valentine's Day a little early. We made some yummy heart sugar cookies.

Saylor does a pretty good job keeping me entertained during the day with all the funny things she does. We've been having a lot of dance parties and watching lots of disney movies. We even ventured over to the pool the other day and Saylor loved it! (Don't worry, it is an indoor pool.)

Saylor got this Minnie Mouse for Christmas and it is so hilarious to see her take care of her because she does everything exactly the same as I do. I've seen her put Minnie in time out on the stairs, put her on the potty, dance around the room with her, try to put a diaper on her, snuggle her when she's sad, kiss her owies better, take pictures of her telling her to smile and say cheese and when she puts her to bed she tells Minnie to say night night and I love you. She is so motherly.

Singing "If you're happy and you know it." She also loves to sing "The Wheels on the Bus" and "Once there was a snowman." Oh and of coarse her favorite, any Justin Bieber song.

Such a cutie...

Saylor also really loves to play with her friends. She loves hugging George...

So we've almost survived all of January and here are some fun things we have to look forward to:

-Ty's mom is coming to Missouri to visit us in 9 days!!! We are so excited to see her!

-Valentine's Day is coming in a couple weeks and I just love holidays and any reason to celebrate!

-Saylor turns two in about a month and a half!

-Saylor and I get to fly to Disneyland at the end of March!!! My sister is a senior so this is her last year at nationals and my whole family is going to watch her dance and spend 3 glorious days at Disneyland! We are so sad that Ty won't be able to miss school and come with us:(

Christmas Break

2011-01-09T09:47:00.009-07:00

Christmas came and went all too quickly this year but it was extra fun because Saylor is starting to understand what's going on and she loved it all.

Before we left to go home we got invited to be part of a Progressive Dinner with a bunch of families in our ward. We had so much fun and ended the night with singing Christmas carols and having a Christmas message. It was the perfect way to get into the Christmas spirit.

For craft night in December we made three different super cute Christmas crafts. This is my stocking board.

I don't know how Saylor grew such a love for Santa but as soon as we got out all our Christmas decorations she was talking about him everyday. We had a wooden Santa on our shelf that she had to hug every time she passed it. She loved saying, "Santa, ho, ho, ho!" When we went to meet him she was kind of nervous at first.
She was holding onto me pretty tight...
But before we left she wanted to go sit on his lap.

We spent our first week in Utah and then drove up to Boise on Christmas day and spent our second week in Idaho. Here are some of the highlights of our trip...

I flew home a few days earlier than Ty so Say could get some extra time with her cousins:)

Ty and his brother Tallon playing some one on one

We took Saylor to the Polar Express. We rode on a train to the North Pole where she got to see Santa again!

We went up to Temple Square to see the lights even though it was freezing cold. Muggy and Say loved riding together all bundled up in the stroller.

Saylor was trying to reach up to Jesus...

Say loves riding on her Daddy's shoulders

We had so much fun spending more time with Ty's brother Tallon and his girlfriend Shelby. We LOVE them!

Say started making really cheesy grins for the camera...

Yummy dinner at Texas Roadhouse!

Me and Autumn celebrated our birthdays together!

This picture turned out kind of blurry but it was just too cute...

Getting ready to go take family pictures

All the grandkids (of coarse Say isn't looking)

The little girls

Saylor got to be the star in the nativity on Christmas Eve, she was very proud and just kept spinning around the room in her star costume.

Saylor didn't mind helping Bailey out opening her present...she's pretty much an expert at it now.

Little puppies she opened on Christmas Eve

One of my favorite traditions in Ty's family is dancing around the Christmas tree!

Saylor loved it!

Say with her cousin Tra, she can't get enough of him.

Christmas morning was so much fun this year. Last year Saylor really had no idea what was going on but this year she got so into it! We kept telling her that Santa was coming so when we woke up she kept saying, "Where's Santa?" She thought he was going to be there I guess. The first present she unwrapped was this pink purse and she just kept yelling, "It's a purse! It's a purse! I love it!" She had the perfect reactions to everything, it was classic. She got so excited about opening every present and she "lubbed" them all.

She got a pack and play for her doll to sleep in but she thought it was for her to play in.
We drove up to Boise with my brother Beau and got there just in time for a delicious Christmas dinner.

I had the chance to get together with some friends from high school while I was home and it was so great to see everyone and all their cute kids! We are so old now!

My birthday lunch at Tucanos with my fam

Grandpa and Say

One of Saylor's presents from my parents was a gift certificate to Build-A-Bear. It was the perfect gift. Saylor had so much fun picking her bear, stuffing it, and picking out an outfit for her to wear.

Saylor was so proud walking out of there with her Bear in it's little house. She insisted that she carry it all by herself through the whole mall.

Bowling on New Year's Eve

Saylor and Auntie KirstieMy parents stayed home and babysat Saylor so we could hang out with Matt and Sarah for New Years and eat breakfast at midnight!

We all had so much fun over the break. We loved staying up late every night playing Settlers, the Kinect and watching movies. (Say especially loved the kinect and would push people out of the way and tell them it was her turn!) Saylor learned to climb out of her pack and play while we were there so she was climbing into our bed every hour saying, "I awake!" Say always gets spoiled by both of our families with love and attention and she can't get enough of that. We love you guys and can't wait to see you again!

Winter Formal

2010-12-09T09:07:00.003-07:00

A few days after we got back from Thanksgiving break I got home and found rose petals and candy leading to my bedroom...

Then I found this...

Ty's school has a winter formal dance and since Ty knows how much I LOVE dances, he wanted to officially "ask" me to the dance. We had such a blast! It had been way too long since I'd had a full out dance party and everyone danced! We had a huge group from our ward out there on the dance floor and it was hilarious to see everyone go wild! Most people were dancing with their alcohol in hand (not the people from our ward) and that was also very humorous to watch.

The school had free babysitting and it was a much needed night out!

Thanksgiving Break

2010-12-06T14:30:00.012-07:00

Thanksgiving break was so awesome this year!! I feel like we are just barely recovering from the trip because all we did was play, play, play! It was so great and we felt especially grateful to be with family when we live so far away.

Our plane ride on the way out, I was seriously so excited and giddy to be going back to Utah! It felt like Christmas morning! Saylor did so good on the plane again and it definitely helped having Ty there this time!

Right after Ty's mom and sister Autumn picked us up from the airport we went straight to Chick-fil-A to meet up with Ty's sister Shoni, her kids and Ty's dad.

It was so cute to see Saylor remember all of her cousins names and to see how excited she was to see them and play with them again.

Getting reacquainted with her cousin Jess...

That afternoon we got to go play at a gymnastic place down in Provo. We did flips, obstacle courses, jumped on the tramps and just ran around and had fun. Say especially loved a chance to not be restrained and be able to run free and jump on all the mats and in the pit. We liked it so much we actually went again later in the week when my family was in town. We were also so lucky to catch Matt and Sarah before they headed up to Boise for Thanksgiving. It was so much fun to see them, we miss our best friends!

Saylor getting to know her new cousin Dean...

She warmed up to him pretty quickly!

Right after that we headed to Brick Oven (my absolute favorite place to eat ever) to meet up with more of Ty's family. So many of Ty's aunts, uncles and cousins came to hang out with us, we really felt so loved.

Life doesn't really get much better for Saylor...hanging out with her cousins, getting a balloon and eating a giant sucker from Brick Oven!

Pretty much every day after that was just as busy- Eating out, playing games, shopping, seeing movies and spending every second with family. I wasn't as good at taking pictures the rest of the trip but here are some other random ones of the week...

Eating delicious french toast at Magleby's Fresh with my family

Shopping at the mall...it's so overwhelming to go from no shopping in Kirksville to SO much in Utah! This is sadly one of the only pics I got of my fam but Say loved being with them too! They are all so cute with her.

Saylor, Jess and Mori couldn't get enough of running around the house chasing each other and screaming as loud as they could. So many times I would just sit and watch them play together and love each other and be amazed at the bond Saylor has with her cousins even though we live so far away from them. I got teary-eyed watching them on several occasions because I could see that Say loves them SO much.

It was a little tricky trying to split the time between our families but it all worked out. Ty's fam was great and had their Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday so we could do it with my family the next day. This was the first time Ty's family has been all together for over two years. Ty's brother Tallon and his girlfriend Shelby could only come for about 24 hours because they both play college basketball in Wyoming but we made the very most of those 24 hours! We met them for another trip to the gymnastic place, came home and all made Thanksgiving dinner together, ate, played minute to win it (which was awesome!), stayed up late playing Settlers, then the next morning got up and made gingerbread houses together. Shelby was so much fun and we totally LOVE her!

Shoni and Autumn getting ready to stack their cups for minute to win it...

Stacking...

Shelby and Stig...

Me and Ty playing, "Don't Blow the Joker"

Shelby got it on her first try!

Me and Ty are very experienced gingerbread house makers and definitely had the most awesome house with camels, a black sheep and a Christmas tree in the front yard!

The girls all doing the dishes together

Friday after Thanksgiving I got up and got some amazing deals. We left for Wyoming to go watch Tallon and his girlfriend play basketball and got to stop in Park City on the way! I also got some awesome deals there. We had a great weekend in Wyoming and then we came home and helped Ty's parents move. Such a crazy, whirlwind week we had and we LOVED it all! Me and Saylor are leaving to go back in 9 days...

November Update

2010-11-17T19:16:00.011-07:00

It's finals week which equals me seeing Ty NEVER! It has seriously been the longest week of my life and it is only Wednesday! (And I'm not even the one who has to study) To help pass the time all the wives have been planning fun things to do together. We've had craft night, game night, I've learned to make artisan bread and last night some of us got together and made this cake! I think it turned out so cute!

We were so lucky to have such a beautiful, warm fall but it has finally gotten cold. One good thing about cold weather is hot chocolate! We had to teach Reed and Erica how to eat grasshoppers with their hot cocoa. Reed got so excited that he spilled it all over his shirt.

Lots of studying for Ty means lots of crafting for me! Here are some of my latest crafts...

A menu board for my kitchen counter

Cute, little wooden calendar blocks that I mod podged

November's sign--Give Thanks!

I tried to imitate the spooky blocks we made for craft night last month and made Thanksgiving gobble blocks!

I made this magnet board to put in my kitchen next to my family rules

This was our first time trying out fondant...

This one was cute too but I think our skills are improving!

And what's a post without lots of cute pictures of my favorite little girl in the world?

One night she decided she wanted ALL those bows in her hair

Love that cheesy grin!

Saylor is such a shoe girl. She loves trying on both mine and Ty's shoes...it was pretty hilarious to watch her try to walk around in those things

Making sugar cookies

Saylor loves to help

Rockin' out to the music on my ipod

We have so much to be thankful for...we have awesome friends out here in Missouri, the cutest little girl ever, and amazing friends and family back home that we get to see in 3 days!!! We seriously can't wait!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T13:03:00.006-06:00

Saylor and I got back to Kirksville just in time to celebrate Halloween with Ty. My good friend Tiff and I decided to plan a Halloween party and it turned out to be so much fun! We had 50 people at our house for the party and we ate soup, salad, bread sticks, homemade root beer, carmel apples and tons of other yummy treats!

George, Tiff and Jed

When Jed walked in Saylor just started saying, "No, no, no, no!"

The kids waiting in line for the pinata

Saylor wasn't very into hitting the pinata, she just wanted the candy

This is a really horrible picture but I had to document our awesome eating donuts off a string competition! Each couple had one donut and had to eat it together with their hands behind their back...it was pretty hilarious to watch!

The kids doing the cake walk...they mostly had fun jamming out to the Halloween music!

George, Saylor and Jack getting into mischief, I love the expression on George's face!

The next morning I took Saylor to the SAA trunk or treat. This is her with her cute friends Brynlee and Landon.

Saylor was LOVING that candy!

Trying to share her sucker with George

Kyle and Saylor

The celebrating continued at our ward party that night.

If you can't tell...Ty was goofy, Saylor was Minnie Mouse and I was Daisy from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (Saylor's most favorite show ever)

Say made such a cute little Minnie!

Another cake walk and the kids just wanted to dance!

Brynlee and Saylor

We had such a great Halloween! Saylor ate WAY too much candy but that's what Halloween is all about, right?

After the party we came home and watched Hocus Pocus

Say giving her Mommy kisses

Surprise Visit To Boise

2010-10-31T12:09:00.008-06:00

When we first moved to Kirksville 4 months ago, I didn't think I'd get to see my family until Christmas. Then we hit a deer with our car and suddenly our budget for airplane tickets home was gone and I didn't think I'd get to see them until next summer. I really am so spoiled though because my mom called one day and told me there were cheap flights and she asked me if I wanted to fly home and surprise my sister for her 18th B-day! I quickly said yes and with a little bit of begging to Ty he finally agreed to let me and Say leave him for a week. I was a little nervous to fly alone with Saylor but she did great and it was so worth the long day of traveling to get to see my fam and see the surprised look on Kirstie's face! It was so much fun to have my family see how much Saylor had changed and how much she talks now. My family spoiled her with love and attention and she loved every minute of it!

Kirst and Say

I was surprised how quickly Saylor became so attached to my mom after not seeing her for so long. She would cry for Grandma anytime she got hurt or my mom would leave.

Sharing popcorn with Grandpa at the Centennial football game

We had a little surprise party for Kirstie, I can't believe she is 18! She was in 5th grade when I moved out of the house and now she is a senior in high school! She is officially an adult now!

Blowing out her candles...

Saylor loves her Aunt Kirstie!!

Kirstie giving Say rides on her feet

Both of my brothers also came home that weekend so we could all be together! Say loves her uncles too!

Carving pumpkins

Kyle and Kirstie...Kyle only came over twice while me and Say were there but he apparently made a big impression on Saylor because she will not stop talking about him. She will sit and talk to him on her play cell phone and she talked about him to complete strangers the whole plane ride home.

My mom always carves the best pumpkins!

Kelsey and Zach

We tried to teach Saylor to say Kelsey and she would just say Chelsey and point to me

I got to go to lunch with two of my high school friends Chrissy and Angela. It was so great to talk and have it feel like we had never been apart. I LOVED seeing them so much!

I also got to see my friend Holly who just got back from her mission. It was so fun to let her meet Saylor and catch up.

While I was home I also got to go mountain biking with my dad, do tons of shopping (since there is no where in Kirksville to shop), and best of all play games, sing karaoke, have dance parties, laugh hysterically and just be with my family. I miss them already but we get to fly to Utah in 3 weeks for Thanksgiving and then back to Boise a few weeks after that for Christmas. Thanks to our families that are so generous and bought all our tickets to fly home! We really are so spoiled and we can't wait to see you!

Yummy...

2010-10-17T12:36:00.003-06:00

Saylor was being a little too quiet the other day so I went to go see what kind of trouble she was getting into and found this...

We had left a cup of ranch on the kitchen table and she was gobbling it up!

Oh Yummy!

Goodness she is cute!

Chopped!

2010-10-14T09:38:00.003-06:00

Last week I had a random urge to chop all my hair off! It's awesome when the person who does your hair is in your ward and is one of your friends because I was able to call and get an appointment that very afternoon! (If I didn't do it that day I'm pretty sure I would have wimped out) Thanks Kenzi, you did awesome! I'm pretty sure she cut off like 5 inches. There was a whole lot of hair on the ground when she was done!

These pictures aren't great but Ty wasn't home to help me so it was the best I could do. It kind of looks like my hair is just behind my shoulders but nope, it is gone! I've been wanting to cut my hair for so long but haven't because Ty isn't a fan of short hair. Sorry babe.

Yay for a fun change!

Crafty!

2010-10-12T12:17:00.005-06:00

These are some of the fun Halloween crafts I have made recently...

This is what we did for craft night last month!

I got together with Allison and Diedre to make these cute Halloween topiaries. The only problem is...Saylor always wants to eat them!

Not Halloween but just for fun I made this R to put up in our house...
I saw this on a craft blog and just had to make it! I LOVE how it turned out. It definitely brightens up our kitchen. I had a lot of fun coming up with our family rules.

Here's a closer look...

Some Cute Pics

2010-10-03T21:36:00.009-06:00

For our family who misses out on lots of these cute little moments of Saylor here are some pictures I took of her recently...

I found Saylor one day sitting in her bumbo with her juice and a little plate of fishies she had made for herself. She had made herself a little snack!

Saylor loves to climb up onto the computer chair and act like she is typing things.
Her 1st trip to Krispy Kreme! We had to go to Des Moines to get our car fixed and so we walked over and got some donuts and lunch while we waited.

Playing at Daddy's football game

Saylor sure does love her Daddy! (Sometimes she calls him Ty because she hears Mommy calling him that!)

Gavin pushing Saylor around in the stroller

Such a pretty girl...

Say loves being tickled!

The other day we were skyping with Tyler's mom and Saylor got so excited to see Grandma that she got right up to the screen!

She was trying to give her hugs, it was the cutest thing ever!

Kisses for Grandma

Hanging out in the cold for another football game

There is a playground right next to where Ty plays football and Saylor loves to swing! She calls swings "wee."

Saylor is so cute with babies, she wanted to feed Logan his bottle.

This past weekend I had a booth at the Kirksville Red Barn Festival with some friends. Here are some of the cute flowers I made!
Some of the fun girls I got to hang out with all day at the Red Barn. They are all so talented! We had the cutest booth ever with little boy ties, scrapbooks, cards, super cute wristbands, hair bows, headbands, watches, earrings, earring holders and home decor.

18 months

2010-09-21T13:35:00.011-06:00

Wow, I can't believe Saylor is 18 months. I remember looking at kids that age and thinking they were so grown up. Saylor is totally growing up! She is just so much fun and talks non stop. She is so smart and has such an amazing memory!! When I show her pictures of family she can name everyone. The other day a picture of my mom came up on the computer screen saver and Saylor said, "Grandma! I love you!" It was so cute it made me want to cry. I'm so glad she remembers her extended family even though they are so far away!

Last night we had a fire in our backyard and made s'mores for family night. Saylor felt so cool sitting in a chair just her size.

Saylor playing with Ginger at Ty's flag football game. She still LOVES dogs!

Ty playing football. He is also playing volleyball, soccer and basketball and he is loving all of them. Say and I come cheer him on 4 days a week and we love it too! Saylor gets to play with the other kids and I get to hang out with the wives.

Saylor found these 1 lb weights during Ty's volleyball game and was trying to work out.

Saylor eating her sucker after going poo poo in the potty for her 1st time! She still has a long way to go with the potty training but its a start.

We've been to the lake 3 times in the last week because Saylor loves it so much! They have a sandy area where the kids can play and swim and we've been trying to take advantage of every last bit of warm weather before it gets cold. I'm actually discovering that Missouri has beautiful fall weather. The humidity is minimal and the temp is usually in the 70's. Perfect park weather!

The support here is amazing! There are always lots of fun people wanting to hang out and there are so many kids to play with! I can't imagine being in a better place for school.

Say with her Mommy
Saylor loves her ju! (That's what she calls juice)
Crazy hair style in the tub!

Watermelon is Saylor's favorite (along with cheese and bananas)

Saylor is so dramatic and definitely has the tantrum thing down...oh but she just looks so cute doing it!

Saylor and her boyfriend George. These two play so well together and they're already trying to sneak away together on a motorcyle! Saylor talks about George all the time.

Just some cute pics...

Saylor just keeps getting cuter! Her favorite things to say right now are, I love you (my absolute favorite), help you (I ask her, do you want me to help you? so she says this when she needs help), cool (especially when she hears thunder which is a lot in Missouri!) and she is getting really good at saying prayers. (She'll fold her arms and repeat about one word from every sentence I whisper to her and ends with Jesus, AMEN!) She loves to repeat everything I say all day long, she is such a good little talker. It's funny for us to hear what she picks up on. Sometimes we don't realize how much we say things until Saylor starts saying it over and over. We LOVE this little girl so much and I feel so blessed every day that I get to be her mom!

Two Super Fun Dates!

2010-09-21T12:55:00.004-06:00

Tyler and I had only been on one date since we moved here due to lack of babysitter (Grandma, we miss you!) but this weekend we got to go on two dates!! The school here is SO family friendly and they periodically provide free babysitting so the students can go out on dates with their wives! It is awesome. Friday night I wanted to do something really adventurous that we wouldn't be able to do if Saylor was with us so we decided to go kayaking! We had so much fun and the weather was great!

We kayaked all across the lake until the sun went down.

I also got to ride on Ty's motorcyle with him for the first time since we moved here. They have a helmet law in Missouri and since we don't have one for me I had to wear this bike helmet! This picture is kind of blurry but I had to post how funny I looked wearing it around. It was well worth it though, it felt awesome to ride out to the lake and feel the warm breeze with my arms wrapped tightly around my hunny:)

After kayaking we all went out to Ruby Tuesdays for ribs! (It's pretty much the only sit down restaurant they have in Kirksville) Oh they were so yummy!

I think Reed was getting a little jealous of all the guys on their motorcyles so Ty finally agreed to give him a ride...these two have gotten awfully close since we moved here...haha. Plus I think Reed just really wanted to try out my bike helmet!

We left Say for 4 whole hours and she did awesome! She loves to get rides on Ty's motorcyle so Ty gave her a little ride around the parking lot after we picked her up. Every time Saylor hears or sees a motorcyle she says, "Daddy, daddy!"

I didn't get any pictures Saturday night but the SAA (the club for med school wives) had another night of free babysitting plus free dinner! We had a lot of fun socializing and meeting some new people. It was an awesome weekend!