Quick update and HALLOWEEN! :)

I had started this post about a week ago, now Halloween has come a gone, so I figured I might as well finish the post with Halloween pictures!

McKenzie is getting so big and good in the stroller! We've had a few runs with no crying at all, and one very minimal crying run, so hopefully we're in the clear and will only have good runs from here on out! :) Above is a picture of them after a no cry run. I love both of their faces in this one, especially the deer in the headlights look Kenzie is giving...I have such cute kids :)

Even though she is now almost 5 months, I thought I'd give her 4 month stats. Above is a pictures of us waiting for the doc. Without further adieu, my "little monster" (as Mike has so fondly started calling her) stats:

Weight: 15 lbs (75-90%)

Height: 26 1/2 inches (>98%)

...he said that she was off the charts in the height category. I'm hoping that she's just getting her growth spurts early like her Mommy and not going to be too super duper tall

They gave us the go ahead to start feeding her solids-green beans was the first course introduced. even though the next picture is sad looking, it was mainly because she was tired and didn't want to be cleaned up. She's had green beans, peas, and squash and really likes them all!

Mike got tickets from a pharmaceutical company that works with a lot of the Ensign buildings for the BYU-TCU game. It honestly was the BEST GAME EVER! It was pretty high scoring, and was an on the edge of your seat sort of deal till the very end! There were quite a few BYU fans there as well. It was a ton of driving-it was in Houston, so we made a day of it and got a few people to watch our kiddos. It was pretty fun :)

I don't know why I love this picture so much, but I'm so glad that these two cousins are such good friends. Only a month apart and Capri and Steven are such buddies. While they have their moments, they really play quite well together, and the above picture shows them watching Steven's new favorite movie-Bolt. Quick story about these two I want to remember...so I'm babysitting Capri and Casen, and the two little ones are asleep

Anybody who knows me knows of my love of books-I'm starting these kiddos out early trying to brainwash them into loving them too :)

Poor sweet McKenzie got sick :( her nose got all stuffy and she had a hard time sleeping/falling asleep so we had a couple of fun snuggle times that I didn't mind at all :)

My Sweet Love Bug

And now for Halloween! Don't let the black hair fool you-Mister Hulk is none other than Steven! He wiped off the bottom half of his face the silly goose, and throughout the night more and more came off, but it was still a fun Trunk or Treat. We didn't spray his hair or color his face for actual Halloween. So what do you think? Does he look better with black hair? :)

Can't forget Miss Tinker-Bell!

Batman, Thor, and the Hulk. Can you tell Mike has brainwashed his nephew? JT was Ironman last year and Thor this year...hmm....

I chose to be a medieval lady-thanks again Mom for making my AMAZING dress! I've worn it quite a few times since my high school Sadie's Hawkins dance. I'm just glad it still fit after two kids!

And last but not least, my sweet adorable little family. Hope you all had a Happy Halloween!

Still doing pretty good on the runs! Another quick shot of the kiddos before going on our run-its starting to get a little colder now, so we're having to bundle them up all nice and cozy like :)

And this last picture is for my siblings-remember when it would be so cold early mornings in the house? I remember having scripture study and coming out with my sweats over my feet and my hoodie up over my head tied tight. It probably wasn't that bad, but I'm a baby :) Anyways-I'm being just as mean to my kids now :) Its cooler at nights finally so I open the windows so we don't have to use the air conditioner during the day. So our house can get kinda chilly in the mornings. I feel bad so I have Steven wear his jacket and little beanie-at least he looks cute in it right? :)

ZOO!!

We were also able to go to the zoo finally last weekend. It was a lot of fun and Steven absolutely loved seeing all the animals. He didn't get as excited as I expected-but he was still way cute and has continued to talk about the "baby cheetahs" that we saw :) It was a fairly nice day-only got up to the 90's for a couple hours, but the rest of the time it was overcast with a nice breeze and not too intolerable at all! I'm glad we went when we did because this week has been yucky with rain and cold so we hit the weather perfectly! A few cute stories...so we were in this enclosure with birds and Steven was chasing this one that was on the ground and was all excited-that is until the bird turned around and started chasing Steven. He then freaked out and ran right back to us. Haha, you had to be there to get the full gist of it but it was pretty cute and funny. And then when we were in the petting zoo portion with the goats, Steven kept going up and hugging all of them! HAhaha...soooo funny! Again, probably had to be there and I got a video of that, but I"m too lazy to get it off our video camera so just take my word for it. I took more pictures with our regular camera, but thought I'd share the few that I took with my phone. Enjoy!

The baby cheetahs that we were able to get up close and personal with.

Miss McKenzie wasn't liking the stoller too much and so spent most of her time riding on the front of Mommy...good thing she's so cute and I love her so much! :)

My handsome boys :)

I just loved this picture of her with her little eyes peeking out. She loves putting her hands up by her face when she's sucking on her binky-and that's exactly what she's doing in this picture.

Poor kid was so tuckered out-we were there for a little over 6 hours and he did so good and had so much fun running around! Sure do love this little munchkin :)

Texas State Fair

We went to the fair last week-took a few pics and thought I'd share. Also Mom-the whole time we were there I kept thinking of the song "Our State Fair is the great state fair...don't miss it, don't even be late". Do you remember that one and how I use to watch that movie and sing that song all the time? :)

I got some nachos-not the best tasting, but the chips were shaped awesome! :)

Gotta love me some cowboy boots! I don't think I'll wear them again though-my feet were a little achy afterwards. Not horrible mind you, but still I think they'll wait for rodeos instead of walking around the huge state fair. 

They had fireworks-that's what Steven is watching while eating some cotton candy. We had fun...I love fairs and it reminds me so much of home and 4H growing up. 

Love these Kiddos

Quick update...I love my kids. Nice update huh? :) My last day of work was a week ago and so far it has been wonderful! This weekend was nice being home and awake with the family-seriously I loved it! Steven has been better, and I think my mindset it just better as well. I think being better rested has helped as well and just realizing that he has these little things that are new characteristics for the time being (like repeatedly throwing his blankets off and asking me to put them back on, or throwing his doggie when laying down and then I have to get it for him before he'll go to sleep). He is doing better though-has started some new things that are kinda funny and sweet. He'll come up when I'm sitting down and pretend to cry so that I"ll pick him up and hug him, stroke his hair and kiss his head and cheeks etc. He'll then get quiet but still sit there hugging me so that I'll keep lovin him which isn't too hard to do :)

He loves his little sister and is always asking to hold her-but he likes to lay on the ground and have me lay her next to him with his arm around her. She doesn't care for that but its still cute. And really she loves him too-she's always trying to find him and watch him when he's playing and she laughs at him a lot. Steven will go up and talk to her a lot-and when I'm making her laugh by kissing her face all over, he'll come over and start kissing her too just to make her laugh. When I ask him what her name is, he says baby-I ask him again and he says gurl (girl)-ask again and he says baby gurl and won't say Kenzie until I remind him that this is her name. Its kinda funny and cute. He also will say, "Uh-oh mommy, she spilled!" when McKenzie spits up. He has also seen me do this and now he does it all the time-but when she spits up he'll come up and take her shirt or bip and wipe it off her chin. Hahaha it really is amazing to me what he picks up without me realizing. He will repeat words and actions/phrases from movies all the time while watching them-often before they happen since he has them memorized. I love seeing what makes him laugh and what is funny to him. He'll often come up to me laughing and tell me what happened in the movie. MY favorite part is during Madagascar when the "I like to move it move it" song comes on because he dances so cute and always says, "Mommy, ance!" and so we have a little dance party together :) I love my little buddy so much!

I love the picture above because guess who she's looking at? Yup-Steven is playing on the ground right there-She loves her big brother! Quick update on the little miss...she is rolling over from her back to her belly-started doing that last week and is such a champ at it! I find her on her belly all the time now-I frequently have to put her on her back again in the night, but come morning or time for her feeding, she's usually on her belly again. She's turning herself towards sounds/things she wants to look at easier (the previous post showed her slow progression-she can do that a little better and without getting so upset). Her four month checkup is right around the corner so I'll have to let y'all know how that goes-I'm kinda excited to see where she's at :) I can't believe how fast she's growing! Mike's brother and sister-in-law just had their little girl and its crazy seeing her next to her! McKenzie is HUGE compared to Madelyn! Man how fast they grow outta the new born phase and how fast in these first few months they change! Sure love her and her budding personality!

So if you think I'm a little obsessed with my kids-you're right. But honestly, who wouldn't be? These two are so much fun-I'm so blessed to be their mom!

Just cuz they're cute :)

I didn't realize I never actually posted this...so enjoy this belated post!


I love my kids. I know that I am very partial being their mom and all, but I sure do think that they are the cutest things ever! I love their smiles and dimples and blue, blue eyes. However, Miss McKenzie's eyes aren't as blue as Stevens and around the pupil are sometimes more brown. I kinda wonder if she's going to have hazel eyes. I have some new pics...and I think they all are just too cute not to share so I apologize for how many there are :)

Really mom?

She has started rolling onto her side and back again-she gets so close to rolling onto her tummy! But not yet. Soon though I think. I've also tried practicing having her sit up by herself but she hasn't mastered that at all yet either. She'll just end up leaning forward or falling to the side :) Sweet girl-love her so much!

I wonder if she's going to be as obsessed with her tongue as Steven. Tamar is always commenting on Steven's long tongue-it seems he has it out and up almost touching his nose all the time :)

Like in this picture :)

I love pictures of precious babies sleeping, especially when they're my own!

She has found her fingers and loves sucking on them. I have mixed feelings about that-however she does look kinda cute :) she's found her thumb and done just that a few times, but nothing has stuck yet, not even the binky. I still have to trap it in her mouth during nap times or it just plops out. I forget when they start keeping it in their mouths by themselves...?? I thought Steven had it down by this age but I could be wrong.

The other day Kenzie was doing tummy time and I was sitting on the couch watching Steven play with his animals on the coffee table. Kenzie could hear him playing, but not see him which frustrated her I think because she ended up craning her head enough that she slowly but surely moved herself 90 degrees to where she could see him! At first I thought, "hmm...I think she turned some," So I took a picture and sat and watched her and sure enough she ended up turning some more. Took a good little bit and as you can see from her expression in the last picture she didn't like it, but the above pictures were not staged-she moved herself! Crazy girl :)

Again with the sleeping baby. The weather has started cooling off so its so nice in the evenings now! Still muggy and hot enough to work up a sweat on our evening walks, but nothing horrible. We've started going out most nights to give Daddy a break and quiet time to study. McKenzie will sometimes take a little nap on these outtings :)

Got Milk? :)

How can you not just love this face? Seriously...he has gotten to be quite the handful and I'm not quite sure how to help him-I've been praying a lot to be guided on how to be a good mom for him and how to discipline him because what I'm doing just doesn't seem to be working. Despite that I sure love his amazing hugs, laughter/giggles, kisses, and well, just him! He's really not horrible, just two. But I get frustrated with these normal 2 year old and boy tendoncies and so really I'm praying more to be a better mom, and to help him. The other night during his night prayers I had the thought to have him pray for Heavenly Father to help him with these things instead of just having it be me who is praying for it. That next day was a lot better! He wasn't a perfect child by any means, but the spirit in our home was different and I felt like a better mom. I've been working the last few days and haven't had as much time with him so I guess we'll see this next week if maybe that'll help. Making him accountable and bringing his attention to a need for change might be enough? At least I'm hoping so. Our FHE this last week was focused on reverence in sacrament meeting. Steven has been a little holy terror lately and I don't know what to do! So during FHE we sang "The Chapel doors seem to say to me...Shhhh, be still" a couple of times and I told him that if he could be reverent and not have to be taken out of sacrament meeting that he could get a treat (or shh, shh, shh for those who know what that is ;) after the meeting and before nursery. Then the next day I asked him, "Steven, what do the chapel doors say?" and he said, "Shhh...still" and he said it in a quiet reverent voice! I was kinda shocked because I wasn't expecting him to remember, but he did! And every day after that I reminded him and reviewed what would happen if he stayed in the chapel the entire time. I don't know...this boy loves to have me sing to him and he loves his CD of kid songs and when we're driving in the car I'll hear him back there singing to almost every song. Maybe the way to teach him and to get him to change is through song, love, and consistency. Its worth a try I guess! Wish me luck!

His hair is getting long again but I love it. The other night we went to the pool when Daddy got home and I decided to take my Got2BGlued hairspraty and spike up his hair. It was pretty awesome. He wasn't wanting to take a picture unfortunately so this was the best I could get.

And how crazy am I? I read through a sensory thing for toddlers on pintrest and one of the things said to let them play with flour...so guess what I willingly let Steven do? Yea...he had fun, but I sure didn't have as much fun cleaning up the mess after it was done! Lesson learned: don't let him do this again unless I'm planning on deep cleaning the kitchen! :)

New Job, New Opportunities

Mike started in his new position today! Guess what its as? An administrator! Yay! I'm so proud of my hubby-he's worked so hard and was shooting for the stars and has obtained them! It kinda happened quick. This building became open, Mike wanted it so he asked his boss, Rick, if he would consider putting Mike in that building. Well...last week he came and said that he was thinking of doing just that and just had to work out a few things, so nothing official. And then this last Tuesday he said Mike would be going over for a meet and greet with the heads of departments Wednesday and starting Thursday! Mike of course is super thrilled, nervous, all of the above emotions you could imagine. We feel extremely blessed and are excited to start looking for a home now that we know where we're at! The building is only about 30-35 minutes away so we're thinking of staying in this area around family. I guess we'll just see what we end up finding house wise. So excited to share that information with you all when it comes :) To top all of that off, Michael got a new calling as early morning seminary teacher (starts at 6:00) and he still has to take his national and state test to obtain his administrator license. The first test is Sept 30th so wish us luck! He'll be getting up early for his calling, then staying late to make sure the building is running the way he wants, and then when he gets home he'll need to study for his test SO we won't have much of a Daddy for the next bit but we're still excited for this new adventure life has thrown our way :) Wish us luck! :)

Oh and on a side note...my last official day at work is September 28th! I had already given my notice before Mike got this new job, and now I'm so so glad that I did it! I'm going to miss my wonderful co-workers, but I am so ready to be done and so excited :)

These are a few of my favorite things :)

I love my kiddos! Let me just start with saying that...I still can't believe McKenzie is three months old and Steven is two! I did a little photo shoot with Steven-but it was with my phone so I need to do it again using the regular camera for better pictures we can blow up and not have them blurry. The only problem with the regular camera is the shutter speed isn't the fastest :( We'll figure it out though I'm sure :) Anyways, I still really like the ones I took one my camera. Hopefully we can get just as good of pics with the camera. I also wanted to include a few pics of little Miss. She's just too adorable! I love her :) 

We had Steven's 2 year old check up. Thankfully no shoots! I love those visits! :) His stats are weight: 32 lbs (90%) height: 36 1/2 inches (90-95%) head 50 1/2 inches (95%). Big boy! I heard that you can estimate how tall a kid is going to be by multiplying their height at age two. So going off of that Steven will be right around his Daddy's height of 6 ' 1'' . And now the start of the photo shoot pics with Steven! :) Can I just say I love my boy's blue eyes!

And some of Steven's favorite things: Animals, Cars, Toy Story :)