2007--The Year of the Babies

It seems like I usually forget the important stuff by the time I sit down to blog. That could be because Kayli is leaning between me and the computer screen asking what all the pictures are for and if I can point to her face with the computer arrow. Anyway, my nephew Matthew Jonas was born on December 19th. He was seven weeks early and had us all worried for a little while, but is a pretty strong little guy, from what I hear. And then my niece was born yesterday but I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be sharing that. Those of you who should know probably do by now though. So, four out of four of my parents' married children (including me) had a baby this year. And the last three came basically in one month! Wow. That should be fun at family reunions.


Anyway, we're headed out to NY tomorrow to celebrate New Year's and Kayli's 3rd birthday (say what?!). Megan and her fiance are in town. I'm so excited to see them!!! So, I hope you all have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Colds, Cancellations,Cookies, & Christmas

It's been an eventful week, as you can guess. So, this may be the longest post ever. We had those bad snow storms a couple of weeks ago and then when it was finally melting enough to go out again, the kids got sick. They are STILL sick! So, we haven't gotten out of the house much (you can see the result of that in Kayli's Wal Mart quote to the left. Sad). We even had to cancel our First Annual Caroling Party because I didn't want to get anyone else sick. Sad, sad.

Kayli likes to try on our shoes. These are Blake's, so they fit nicely.

Kayli is becoming increasingly impossible to photograph these days. She thinks all she has to do is say "cheese", and it doesn't matter where she is facing or what she looks like.

We went to Santa's Workshop (I thought the kids were getting better). It was really cute, complete with cookies and cocoa from Mrs. Claus and elves painting toys. There was a stuffed moose head hanging on the wall above the fireplace and I asked Kayli what she thought he was doing. "He's just chillin'." She is SO funny!

Kayli looks like she's listing off what she wants but she is actually showing Santa her "boo boo" that I already mentioned in the blog. When Santa's Head Elf asked her what she wanted for Christmas, she told her "Presents"--her standard response. If only she would always be this easy.

Don't they all look so happy?

This is Santa's sleigh outside. No reindeer, unfortunately. For some reason, Bryce is generally pretty cooperative when it comes to pictures. Shouldn't it be the other way around? He doesn't even understand English.

Suddenly, the sleigh started to move...Just kidding. This is actually Kayli saying "cheese". Can you get a feel for my frustration?

We went to my parents' home to decorate cookies with some old friends.

I've been wearing my glasses more in an effort to get rid of some headaches. Attractive, I know. These are the Roper cookies. Those that didn't get eaten.

Blake's cookies. His were definitely the best.

Please note the Tropical Gingerbread Woman made by Julia. Awesome.

Julia making a soccer ball. The Rawlings were a little more artistic than the rest of us.

So cute!

A veggie Christmas tree that I made. The dip didn't turn out so well. The best part about it was when my dad began to frost his cookie with it. It did kind of look like frosting. Some day I will tell you about the time he put sugar in green chile stew because of me. All unintentional, of course.

Ann and Julia dyeing the frosting.

My mom making her grandma's sugar cookies.

I think my dad only frosted cookies so he could eat them. Immediately.

Schnuggle!

We went to a choir concert that at our friends' church on Christmas Eve. It was beautiful and amazing. At least, the part that I heard. I got to be a part of the show when Bryce started fussing and I got up to leave. We were sitting on the front row and the pastor said something like, "Have a good night! Bye bye!" You know me, I always have to have the attention.

Explaining why we were hanging stockings.

Kayli had a better idea of what to do with them.

A Luscious Layered Pumpkin cake that I made. Blake was afraid it you'd all think it was a stack of pancakes.

Christmas morning!

One of Bryce's favorite gifts--a tag from some clothes from Grandma and Grandpa Roper.

My parents would have been alone for Christmas morning for the first time in 30+ years so we invited them to join us at our house. It was so much fun.

Opening presents

The tree before the kids came down.

The Number One favorite gift for both of the kids was the packaging that came with the gift from Uncle Brandon. They had tons and tons of fun playing in it. Air-filled plastic. We're good parents, I promise.

If you only could have seen him in action. He was in heaven.

Princess Kayli

I mostly got workout stuff for my triathlon training. Which look better, the glasses or the goggles?

Blake and his haul.

Kayli didn't really want to pose for this photo.

Bryce and his stuff (he's wearing dress up clothes)

Kayli decided to help me feed Bryce the other morning while I was making my own breakfast. She actually succeeded some of the time. A lot was on the floor by the time I came back and discovered them though.

Playing with Christmas toys.

And then this morning, they cleared out all their toys and climbed in one of the toy cupboards together. They had so much fun just hanging out in there with each other. Who needs toys?! I'm so blessed!

More on Angels

Yesterday was kind of a bizarre day for my family. My nephew Matthew Jonas Ketcheson was born 7 weeks early. He was moved to a hospital in Spokane (he was born in Moscow, ID) so he could have a respirator if he needs one. He seems to be pretty healthy for being born premature. But it has really made me think about a couple of things.

First, how blessed I feel to be a member of my family. Only two members of my family actually live in the same state and they are, I believe, 8 or 10 hours away from each other. The rest of us are scattered across the country. Yet, in not much time at all, we had rallied together via phone, Internet, and prayers while we waited to learn if they'd be able to stop the labor and then continued after he was born. It amazes me how close I feel to my siblings despite the difference. And it also amazes me what great things happen when we pull our faith together for something, as we frequently do.

And second, I revisited the thought about angels from the other week. My nephew had to be moved to another hospital late last night so he could have access to a respirator. This meant that my sweet sister-in-law checked out of the hospital less than 12 hours after giving birth. I can't imagine what a day it had been for her physically and emotionally and it's not over. She has four other children at home to take care of as well. She is truly one of the toughest people I know and if anyone can handle this, I know she can. (Mel, when you get around to reading this, I want you to know that that does it. I'm dropping out of the "Mrs. Pioneer" competition. You win--you are THE pioneer.) But I struggled to sleep last night as I thought of her. It's killing me to not be able to go help them. And the only way I can find peace in it is knowing that Heavenly Father will be using people there as "angels" to help them during this time. I'm grateful for that knowledge. It has made me more anxious to help someone around here, as I feel that somehow, if I can answer the prayers of someone else who isn't close enough to help someone they love, then another someone will help those I love. I know no one is keeping score, but it still inspires me to try harder to do my part.

I guess it made me think of one other thing, too. For several years now I've had this wishful dream of living in a large cul-de-sac with all of my family somewhere. I really want that today.

Check out our elf family!

Check out my Slide Show!

Oh, The Weather Outside is Frightful!

I've noticed that Bryce doesn't get much space on this blog. He just doesn't talk as much as Kayli. But since it's his 9 month birthday, I thought I'd give you all an update. 


He measured in at 24 lbs. 11 oz. and 31 inches, putting him in the 95th percentile for weight and off the charts for height.  Not surprising with Blake for a dad.  He's quite the chatterbox these days, possibly just trying to keep up with Kayli. He does an army crawl to get around.  And people are ALWAYS commenting on his great personality.  He is extremely easy going.  No one believes us when we tell them how impossibly difficult he was the first few months of his life.  But he WAS! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this little slide show I put together. 

Needless to say, he loves the Christmas tree.

As for last week:

We went to a friend's house to make these cinnamon ornaments Thursday morning. It was barely flurrying when we got there but we stayed about an hour longer that we should have. What is normally about a 15-minute drive home took over an hour. I prayed, cried, and kept a pretty tight grip on the steering wheel. Blake and my mom helped talk me through it as I drove. It didn't help that I was driving in Blake's car which we just found out needs new tires. I know that I was watched over though, and we made it home without any real problems. I was even blessed that the kids slept through most of it.

Blake came home early and the three of us played in the snow while Bryce napped.

Friday night Blake and I went to Deloitte's annual holiday party. It was nice. The food was very yummy. Our other non-drinking friends had a conflict and couldn't make it, so we sat and watched the younger girls get drunk and dance about as skanky as at my high school dances. It was fun. We did have fun visiting with some friends and were proud that Bryce's picture got the loudest response during the slide show (when they were showing all the babies born this year). A huge thanks to my awesome friend Deon and her husband Steve for babysitting the kids so we could go.

Deon also gave us this cute snowflake pancake maker. I'm not the neatest, so it took a little practice to make them look good. They looked great by the end, but I'd already put the camera away so I wouldn't spill batter on it. We had lots of fun eating our snowflake pancakes.

We got hit with another bad storm Saturday night, so we missed church yesterday. I enjoy church but it was kind of nice to just stay home and relax as a family.

And lastly, we've been "Christmas Tagged"

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? For Christmas, I like wrapping paper. I used to really go to town with the bows and the ribbons, but now that I'm wrapping for 3/4 of our family, I don't always have the energy to make them all THAT beautiful. But it is more fun to open when it's wrapped.

2. Real tree or artificial? Currently, we have a fake. But when we have our own (bigger) home I plan on going out in the woods and cutting down our own real one like we always did growing up. That's just a huge part of Christmas for me.

3. When do you put up the tree? The Sunday after Thanksgiving. We've been listening to Christmas music since early October. I love this season and want to make it last as long as possible. This was inspired by a wise roommate back in college. (Sorry, I ever teased you about it, Lins!)

4. When take down? Don't really have a set date for this one. Whenever I get around to it.

5. Do you like eggnog? I am afraid of it. I think I remember liking it as a child, but I haven't had it in years and I am unreasonably terrified to try it again.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? This one is tough. There was Floppy (a huge stuffed bunny), a dog that my mom sewed for me (there's a long story behind this one, but it is a symbol of how truly awesome my mom is), a set of Constructs (it turned out that Santa had accidentally gotten tags mixed up and this really belonged to my brother, but I was really excited to get it).

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Several, but my favorite is a Precious Moments one that my mom started giving me a part of each year and Blake finished it after we got married.

8. Hardest person to buy for? Definitely any of my in-laws.

9. Easiest person to buy for? Blake and the kids.

10. Worst Christmas gift ever received? I can't think of one.

11. Mail or Email Christmas card? Mail, of course!

12. Fav Christmas movie? Veggie Tales "The Toy that Saved Christmas". I always picture my sister-in-law singing along with Larry and it makes me smile.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? December 26, or whenever I go out next. I just look all year so there isn't a mad rush at the end of the year.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Umm...everything? I don't know that they're my favorite to eat but my favorite food associated with Christmas is the doughnuts we used to make and decorate for our friends and neighbors.

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear lights for outside trees and colored inside.

17. Favorite Christmas song? "Let It Snow" and "Oh Holy Night"

18. Travel for Christmas or stay home? Home

19. Can you name Santa's reindeer? Of course!

20. Do you have an Angel on top or star? We have a bow. I'm not sure I like it really. In general, I like stars better. Most angel toppers look weird and a little scary, but some can be really nice.

21. Open presents Christmas Eve, or Christmas morning? I think one on Christmas Eve (an ornament from my Ketcheson grandparents) and then the rest in the morning.

22.  Most annoying thing about this time of year? People who don't get in the Christmas (or at least Holiday) spirit and stay cranky! You should be happy!

I Will Make You Happy

First I want to give a shout out to my niece Krysta Beth Jensen who was born about two weeks ago on November 27th. I just wanted to make sure her parents got the word out to everyone before announcing it here. I've seen pictures and, not surprisingly, she's adorable. And she looks so tiny since my last experience with a newborn was my HUGE son. I can't wait to meet her!!!!

This is one of my favorite pictures ever taken of Kayli. I count at least 5 rolls on her arm.

Yesterday, Kayli was looking through a magazine with me when we came across a picture of a boy looking grumpy. She said, "He looks mean!" I agreed and then kept looking at other stuff. A little while later she said, "I wish I could go to him." It took me a moment to realize she was still talking about the grumpy boy. A little bewildered, I asked, "Why do you want to go to him?" "Because I would make him happy." Totally melted my heart. But, of course, I had to ask how she planned on making him happy. "I would show him my boo boo." Oh, okay. But the thought was still there and I thought it was very sweet. And maybe her boo boo would make him happy. Maybe?

She's actually pretty good at making people happy. She has an adopted Grandpa at church who has been known to stop by just to get one of her incredible hugs when he's having a bad day. And the other day when I fell down the stairs and began to tear up a bit (it hurt REALLY bad), she quickly said, "Don't cry, Mommy! Listen to the music. It will make you happy!" It was "Philadelphia Chickens" by Sandra Boynton--one of her favorites. It makes her very happy. In another similar situation she told me that we could go to Stew Leonard's and that would make me happy. Again, one of her favorite stores. But her suggestion made me laugh, so it worked. How did I get blessed with such cute kids?

Funniest Ever

Kayli said the funniest thing today and so I had to share it here instead of just including it with the other funny quotes. Maybe I will add it there so you can always read it. But then again, maybe you had to be there because Blake didn't seem to think it was as funny as I did when I told him about it after he came home tonight. 


Anyway, first you have to know that Kayli got a pretty bad "boo boo" today at the activity center at my gym. It might be her worst ever. So, when I went into her room to get her after she woke up from her nap this afternoon, the first thing she said was, "I was trying to not to nap with my owie." And as I was still trying to make sense of that she followed, in a very pleasant tone with, "My boo boo is having a wonderful time feeling better." She placed the emphasis on "wonderful". Okay, you really did have to hear it to fully appreciate it, but it was SO FUNNY!

And just to inspire the other "tagged" husbands, here is what I've gotten out of Blake so far:

1. He is in reality 40 years old. According to our 10 and 11 year old kids in our Primary class anyway. And I'm a teenager--they didn't specify any more than that with me.

2. In contrast, when he was in college some guys once asked his roommate Cody if Blake was his son. Cody is four years older than Blake. So, he's 44 if you're keeping track.

3. When we first got married Blake would make up rhyming words like "schedgie-wedgie" (schedule) and "grammy-mam" (grandma). I don't know why he stopped. I actually kind of miss it although it was a little annoying at the time. Maybe because Kayli makes up enough words for one household.

4. Blake is the seafood chef at our house. I cook pretty much everything else, but if we have any kind of fish, Blake is in charge. He is the reason I am willing to eat fish. Normally, I hate it, but he does something magical with the George Foreman and a little salt and pepper. Seriously, it sounds simple enough but I can't duplicate it. He is AMAZING.

5. Blake cannot find ANYTHING. He always comes to me to search for his things for him. It's amazing how often it is right out in plain sight where he claims to have been looking.

6. Blake is a music hunter. He always likes the songs that will become popular before they do. Become popular, that is.

Okay, men. If Blake can do it, you can do it.

Encounters with Angels

Kayli got into my make up. I sort of let her. It was more vivid in real life.

Kayli and some friends from our playgroup. This was just before they "put on a show" for the Moms. It was very very entertaining.

I wanted to share a quote by Elder Merrill J. Bateman in the December Ensign.

"What is the lesson for us today as we enter a new Christmas season? Who will minister to those in need? Who are the angels that will prepare the way for His return? I have noticed that during the early stages of a dispensation, angelic ministers come from the other side of the veil, but as time elapses and the number of faithful members increases, more is expected of those in mortality. For example, when a new country is opened to the gospel, missionaries learn that many have been prepared in miraculous ways to receive the gospel, and miracles occur with some frequency to advance the work. Once a core of members is established, however, the Lord’s assistance changes as He provides opportunities for the members to become the miracle workers.

Consequently, miracles during this Christmas season require our faith and works. As we sing the hymns of Christmas and speak of angels sent to earth to witness the Savior’s birth in the meridian of time, may we rise to the occasion and minister to those in need in our day. May we be reminded of our promises to “bear one another’s burdens, … to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places … and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that [we] may have eternal life” (Mosiah 18:8–9).
I bear witness that Christmas is a season for angels. As they ministered to the Savior and others in the “meridian of time,” may we, as angels of mercy, minister to other families and to those in need in the “fulness of times” so that the Lord’s work may move forward."

I read this while working out at the gym this morning and it just really appealed to me. I don't know that it's necessarily a totally new concept, I just like the way he put it all together. And it got me thinking about all of the people who have acted as angels in my life.

There are too many to count, from the countless times that friends and family have called or dropped by or sent a note when I needed some extra love, to strangers who have smiled at me on the street or held a door when I've got my arms full, to my beautiful children who are so amazing at making me feel special. I have been blessed with the most amazing family and the most amazing friends.

And of course, I get to keep my most amazing angel for eternity. My incredible husband who has saved me from everything from unbearably dark days to a really really bad haircut that I got last weekend. Not very many husbands could look at a really miserable haircut and determine how to style it so it actually looks cute. And that's only one of his many amazing skills. He is such an amazing blessing that I don't always deserve. But I'm trying to.

Anyway, after realizing just how blessed I've been by all of these angels (i.e. all of you) in my life, I decided to add another resolution to my list for 2008. I resolve to live so that I can be attentive enough and flexible enough to be someone else's angel whenever the Lord needs my help.

This is what Bryce does whenever he is excited. And he is very easily excited. It's amazing he keeps all of his chubs when he moves like this every day. It makes me laugh pretty hard when he really gets going, so I thought I'd share it with all of you to enjoy.

Thanks for the Memories

Hello again! Sorry, for the long lapse in postings. I'm trying to get a jump start on my New Year's resolutions and it's been keeping me very busy to get things organized this week. I tried to post yesterday but in addition to trying to do 5 other things at the same time, blogspot wouldn't upload my photos. Unlike those of you who can have very entertaining blogs with your mere wit, I rely heavily on the adorable pictures of my cute kids.

Thanksgiving was fabulous though. We got up at 4 AM to catch the 5:13 train. Unfortunately, we were going to a station that no one had ever been to before and it was SUPER foggy and to make a long story short, we missed the train. It was an hour until the next one. But it was good because we got to get the kids dressed in the privacy of the car instead of on the train. And I don't think the kids would have handled waiting at the parade for an hour longer.

It was totally packed when we got there, so we struggled a bit to find a good place to watch. Next time we're going to find out who the special people are who get tickets to sit in the bleachers lining the street and how we can become one of them. We were able to find a spot and even had time for Kayli to play at a playground with Blake while we waited.

TA DA! We made it!



Getting ready to watch the show. You can't tell, but we were sitting on a very steep hill. It was very hard to sit up there the whole 1 1/2 hours. I almost slid down it a few times. I also managed to sit in the mud instead of on the Neat Sheets that we had, so I had a nice muddy backside the rest of the day. You can tell we had perfectly gorgeous weather for the day. We couldn't have picked a better year to go.




Dolly started things off for us. Those of you who know Blake will know how delighted he was. As he put it, "She's so much better in person!" (for those of you who don't know Blake well, he was being facetious).



Sesame Street was a highlight too.  Unfortunately, Elmo is so small next to Big Bird it was hard for Kayli to pick him out and get truly excited.  The parade was a lot of fun.  Utah was even represented by the American Fork marching band.  Not quite as impressive as Tennessee though, they were all dressed as clowns and did some fun dances.

However, I don't mind watching from the comfort of my own home in the future.

On our way to FAO Shwartz, we stopped to feed the ducks in Central Park. These were a couple of the braver ones who were willing to get up close to eat the pieces Kayli was dropping right over the fence.

This is what a long fun day will do to you. She was totally asleep for this but her head kept slipping off of Blake's.

We had our Thanksgiving dinner on Friday after my mom and I hit a couple of stores for some Black Friday shopping. It was delicious. The food, not the shopping. But that's no surprise because my mom is an excellent cook. I especially loooove her stuffing.

It was a great Thanksgiving weekend. The only way it could have been better would have been if we had been able to watch the BYU v. Utah game Saturday. But at least WE WON!

And I found a lot of things to be grateful for this year. I have a wonderful family as you can all see from reading my blog. And I'm feeling better than I have in years. I can hardly contain my excitement at finally being so healthy. In addition to great family, I have the greatest friends too. And despite all my complaining about the hours, Blake really does have a great job. He's happy there and it enables us to have such a great life. And the list goes on but this is getting to be a very long posting and I'm not done yet.

A couple days before Thanksgiving we got the first snowfall of the year. It wasn't much but we had to go out and play in it. Blake took Kayli out before he went work to throw a couple snowballs at me while I finished jogging on the treadmill and then I took both of the kids out after getting them dressed in their snow clothes. If you've been following my blog from the very beginning then you know how excited Kayli was to finally get to wear her snow suit and boots.

It actually turned into sleet/freezing rain by the time we got out there and Bryce really wasn't sure what to make of it. I had to work really hard to get this smile which is very rare for him. He usually breaks into smiles as soon as he sees the camera.

Kayli kept trying to throw snowballs at me but they somehow ended up landing in her face every time.

I tried to get them both to look at the camera to no avail.

And lastly, I've been tagged. So, here we go--six things that you probably don't know about me:

1. I LOVE the sky. I love the clouds, the blue-ness, and looking at the stars at night has always helped me put things in perspective and feel at peace knowing that even when I feel so small and insignificant, there is a God who knows me and loves me. But I have a passion for sunsets. I have tons of photos I've taken of them (not so many from Connecticut because I'm rarely up high enough to be able to see the sunset above all the trees). I want to one day publish a book of them. But I need to work on my photography skills a bit.

2. When I was a small child, too small to get myself a drink from the faucet, I would dip a cup in the toilet when I got thirsty. To my mother's credit, she was unaware of this until a few years ago when I mentioned it. I'm sure she would have put a stop to it if she had known.

3. I talk too much. That, by itself, is not a secret about me at all, but the fact that I know it and I'm working on it might be. This blog is actually helping since I post about pretty much everything and anything significant in my life so I have less to actually talk about that my friends don't already know.

4. Gumption and plethora are two of my favorite words. Would you say I have a plethora of pinatas?

5. One of the things I really miss from my single life is making prank calls. I loved doing it and my roommates and I always got a kick out of it. I'm not sure why I don't do it any more. Possibly because my favorite pranks involved calling guys and being pretty flirty (shocking, I know). Or maybe because I'm not sure who to prank any more. Or maybe it just seems unfitting for a mother? I don't know. On a side note, Blake actually successfully prank called me from our bathroom while we lived in our tiny one level two bedroom apartment in Orem. Pretty impressive. That's just one of his many skills.

6. I love being a mother and I can honestly say that there is nothing I would rather be doing right now, however, I am frequently thinking about what I want to be when I grow up. I think I've finally figured it out. I want to be a life coach chef talk show host. I love when people come to me for advice and I am actually able to help them, I love cooking and baking, and (not to be overly confident) I think I'm fairly funny--like Ellen only straight. Well, maybe not quite as funny, but I'm sure practice would help.

I think pretty much all of you have been tagged so, I tag the husbands, including Blake.