Christmas 2015

 We had a holly jolly Christmas.  I LOVE Christmas time.  I love being with family, the games, visits, music, the decorations, gifts, laughter, and taking time to stop and think about the biggest blessing of all- The Savior and his precious birth.  I'm so thankful for him.  Truly, I would be lost and a very unhappy person without him.  Here's our cute little porch.  Through the holidays I loved driving up at night and seeing this.  It made me want to waltz up to the house humming a Christmas carol.  Haha!

 Winter really is so beautiful. Especially when you are near mountains or forests.  The pink glow from the sunset lit up our mountains like this regularly and I had to get a picture.  Mountains are so majestic.  Being in them makes me feel closer to Heavenly Father.  I have always loved living by mountains.

 So this November I was put in charge of the war church's Christmas party.  Boy.  It was A LOT of work.  It took hours of planning, gathering materials and decorations and hours more of setting it up, taking it down, making the program, etc.  BUT.  That said.  I was just SO amazed at how it ALL CAME TOGETHER.  The Lord really is so merciful :)  He knew I would never be able to pull everything together in that little of time, so where I had forgotten things or didn't have enough help, he would find it for me.  People came to me with the things I needed and were so generous with their time and talents.  I love our ward.  We have some real sweethearts and hard workers who love to serve others.  Because of them, our neighborhood is closer and we feel like we can count on each other.  I love love love that.  Living in Utah County hasn't been my favorite for a few reasons, but it has also been so great for reasons like this.
 Can you see those snowmen on the back wall?  Well as the families came in, we had all these snowman pieces that the kids could pick and put together a family snowman and then put it up as their decoration.  I think it turned out so cute and it kept the kids busy.
 Almost all the decorations were either donated or borrowed.  People are so great.  We have what's called a commodity share and people just bring stuff they aren't using or don't need anymore and anyone can take it.  I brought a bunch of clothes and low and behold I found a HUGE box of old Christmas decorations!!  I was so excited.  The theme was an old fashioned classic Christmas, so it worked perfectly.  So thankful :)  I really didn't need to buy much for the party either.  The main thing I did buy was paper.  We made sooo many paper buntings to put around the cultural hall.  Also, to add some extra pop to the tables, I put a piece of Christmas scrapbooking paper under each plate sort of as a placemat.  It turned out really cute.  The program was way fun, too.  We had a couple guys from the ward come up and sing and play guitars.  They were so good!  One sounds like John Denver, the other like James Taylor.  Our friends sang and played ukuleles and another friend sang a solo.  Then of course, Santa came and took the food the kids brought for the homeless shelter and thanked them for giving to others in need.

Phoenix did not know what to think of Santa. He literally stared at him like this the entire time he was on his lap.  It was hilarious.

Josh was SUCH a champ that day!  He took care of the kids while we set up and they were NOT an easy bunch. Haha.  After endless wagon rides, games of chase, poopy diapers, etc.  He was TOAST.  Haha bless his heart.

 Over the break, we took Phoenix up to Vivian park to see the train and river.  Oh it is his FAVORITE PLACE!!!  We actually drove up there a couple days ago and there was LITERALLY 5 feet of snow.  We couldn't even get out to see the river!  He was SO mad.  Big crocodile tears the whole way home!  I thought we'd at least be able to stand on the bridge by the river, but they hadn't plowed anywhere.  Bad mommy planning.  Anyway, he insisted on bringing his little plastic fishing pole and "fishing" with daddy.  It was ADORABLE.

 We had a couple of pretty good blizzards this winter.  This one was my personal favorite. WHITE OUT!  Hope the cats are in! Dude where's my car?!  I am so grateful for this snow!  Even though I am REALLY looking forward to spring, I am so thankful we will have water this spring and summer.  We really need this snow.



This year it was our (as in Josh and I) turn to put on our family Christmas party!  We chose, okay, I chose a Disney theme and it was really cute.  I made personal mouse ears for everyone as their party favor.  They chose a character and I made their ears to go along with it.  Here's what everyone was.  Mom- Peter Pan
Dad- Cogsworth
Shan- Kora (Tron)
Josh- Archimedes (The owl from Sword and the Stone)
Em- Mulan
Tyler- Doug (Up)
James- Mickey Mouse
Phoenix- Coda (Brother Bear)
Jenn- Belle
Mike- Hades. Hahahaha
We had chicken marsala, homemade french bread, and salad.  Then for dessert, we had pineapple dole whip and "the gray stuff" from Beauty & the Beast.  It was yum!  We listened to classic Disney music while eating and had some Disneyland trivia.  After dinner it was game time!! My favorite!  We played some Disney Scene It and then did our traditional candy bar game and gift exchange.  It was also fun to see Phoenix open his presents.  He didn't get much because we got him a trampoline for Christmas, but aren't setting it up until it warms up some more!!  I am SOOO excited for him!  I remember when we got our first trampoline and it was probably the best thing our parents ever put in the backyard for us.  Haha.

Halloween 2015

 Happy Halloween like almost 5 months ago!  Woo!  We had a good one!  We had a party at our house and invited some friends.  I made homemade breadsticks, soup, and cupcakes and then our friends brought pots of soups they had made.  The Lovell's (Karrigan's parents…Karrigan is Phoenix's second best frenemy.  Kaylie being the first.. We were over at Kaylie's a couple nights ago for games and I think the only time they weren't fighting was when they were secretly putting random things in the fish tank together.) brought homemade root beer and it was first rate!  It was so fun watching the kids trick-or-treat.  They are old enough now to get it and they did their own knocking, talking, and RUNNING to the next house.  Hooligans.  It was awesome.
 So, can you guess what Phoenix was?  Nice guess, but he was Ralphie from the Christmas Story!  Hahaha!  I almost went and bought some ovaltine for him to carry around, but that stuff is expensive!  So most people thought he was a nerd.. Which is cool.  Haha

This.  Ommmggg.  This has got to be one of my favorite pictures of Robyn EVER.  I posted it to instagram and my comment was "James E Faust baby".  Hahaha!  Does she not look like him?!  PRECIOUS HILARIOUSNESS!  She had herself a good little time as our cute lil punkin, as you will see below ;)


Now.  Guess who I was.  YES.  Yes you're right.  "This hea's Dahla!  She's muy niece!!"  Easiest costume to put together and people went Bonkers about it on social media.  Hahaha I had fun with it, except having that aluminum foil by my teeth all night made me have seriously sensitive teeth!! I couldn't even eat my cupcake!

 Ahh two of my darlings.  Haha.  He is one hot fly fisherman.  I thought the sunscreen nose really pulled it all together haha!  And little punkin' Byn!  And also, look at that little boy sneaking candy from the trick-or-treat bowl!  Caught you, Mister!

 Our table.  And Mac the truck from Cars.  Let it be known Mac has been Phoenix's FAVORITE toy since he turned 2.  I have had to tape, glue, clean, and fix that truck more times then I can care to count.  Now poor Mac will barely click his trailer on because it is broken from hooking and unhooking the trailer 10 million times.

 Here's the gang!  Oh man.  What a fun time.  We had a few couple more families come, but they came later and missed the picture.

 The trick-or-treaters meeting the goddess Athena.  Haha

This is the BEST.  I love these boys!!  Look at Phoenix's head.  Waiting for the candy to drop in the bag!  He's so CUTE!!!

Summer in the Suburbs

 You know how in the scriptures things aren't always chronological?  Same with this blog.  (Also, I should probably have looked at the pictures I posted in my first summer post, because I would have seen that I had two of the same pictures planned for this blog as were in that one.  But you know.  It's cool.  Whatever.  Haha)  This post is mostly just to add some cute pictures from the summer ;)  We had a good one!  People used to always say "UGH don't be huge and pregnant in the dead of summer because it is the worst!" Well.. fellow pregnant ladies, I beg to differ!  When I was huge and pregnant in the dead of WINTER I felt like a large elephant in a little dark cage all winter because I couldn't get out and do anything!  This time around, I was up and at 'em till the day I delivered.  I LOVED IT!  I had a better recovery from the pregnancy and felt better physically, mentally, emotionally, etc.  during the pregnancy.  I would much rather be sick and barfing my brains out in the dead of winter when there isn't much to do outside anyway.  Haha.  So!  To the pictures.

Mom came out to visit a couple weeks after Robyn was born.  It was wonderful, as usual :)  She is such a fun person all around- fun grandma, fun mom, fun friend.  Phoenix adores her and I'm sure Robyn will as well.  Here they are having a swim at her hotel while she was visiting.
I don't remember who sent this gem to me, someone flipping awesome.  I actually am currently NOT reading a Harry Potter book!!  If you know me well, you now know how crazy life really must be.  Haha! Nerd Alert!


These two! Man.  Looking at this picture makes me happy/sad.  I feel like Robyn's babyhood just slid through my fingers like water.  I had it and it was gone!  She's 7 months now and I just can't believe it.  Where oh WHERE does the time go?!  She's so dang cute and sweet.  Gosh.  Phoenix is the spice in my life and Bynnie is the sugar.  They go hand in hand and make each other better ;)  The Lord knew I needed a little bit more calm, content baby this time around.. I only have so much hair to pull out before it stops growing back.



Here's that cute boy digging in our neighbors sandbox.  They are so sweet.  They work during the day and told me that he can come play anytime in their backyard :)  He actually saw this picture while I was writing this post earlier and went nuts!  "MOM!  Mom sandbox!  Can we go now?!" I wish buddy.  I wish.  Winter is less and less exciting for me as I get older.  I mean, when you don't have a ski pass, snow shoes or time to do those things in the first place… Why do I choose to live in a place with such a cold snowy winter?!  The temperate climates are looking nicer each day.  Haha  I used to tell Josh that I adored the winter.  And I did.  And it is beautiful.  And I love the four seasons of Utah.  But I love winter until about January 1st.  Then.  Not after that.  Those late April snow storms make me want to blow chunks all over the 10 day forecast.






This was 2 days before Robyn was born!  Our last bike ride/walk as a family of 3.  It was such a fun sweet night.  Poor Phoenix had no idea what was about to happen.  He was the happiest with all the attention from Mommy and Daddy.  It was funny, because he really didn't care one bit about my growing belly.  He would almost never talk about it on his own.  One afternoon, Robyn kicked his head when he was laying on my tummy and Phoenix lost his marbles.  Something was in there.  It wasn't just mommy having a huge donut problem.  There was a growing baby girl in mommy's tummy.  After that he referred to the bump as baby.  He loves her soooo much now.  But boy was it rough those first few months.  The transition was full of tears from everyone, tantrums, sleepless nights, etc.  But was also full of answered prayers and an added measure of the spirit to get through the hard days.

Phoenix and his friend Kaylie.  We were talking about cows and mooing at them and they could. not. handle. it.

The last of the cinnamon sunflowers before the fall fell.

Two Kids!

Things have been going good.  Crazy!  But good.  I've said it and I'll say it again, just when we get comfortable with something, things change!!  Haha.  It's so good, though.  It is part of God's plan.  He teaches us through experiences and we show our love for him by making good choices throughout those experiences and helping others through theirs.  Here are some happenings lately.

Phoenix learned to talk and boy he is funny.  HA!!  Oh the things kids say.  I laugh at him every day about something he has said or done.  One of my personal favorite things that he does is he names things.  For instance... He has recently POTTY TRAINED, GUYS!!! PHOENIX!  YOU GOOD BOY WHO LOVES HIS MOMMA AND POTTY TRAINS BEFORE 3 YRS OLD!  Uh, anyway.. haha for his recent "potty prizes"  he chose a little whale figure to take to his tubs, right?  Well he told me that his whale is best friends with his blue shark, named "Sharky Spot"(blue shark with spots on it)  and that his name is Mister Woo.  Hahahaha Mister Woo! hahahahaha.  What a funny kid.  Oh and he has serious night fears, so for one of his potty prizes, I found some of those glow in the dark stars and put them all over his ceiling above his bed.  For each time he poopies on the potty, he gets to add two stars to the ceiling or wall.  Anyway, last night he wanted to hold one of the smallest stars in the box.  He told me that it was his baby star, named Robyn. Hahaha so sweet!  One thing he loves is to shine Josh's flashlight on the stars to charge them and get them really bright for the night.  He is so smart.  I honestly bubble inside with pride as I watch him grow and change.  I am so thankful for him and his sweetness.  He asks for cuddles and snuggles and kisses every day.  I hope that doesn't ever change.  He also just adores his daddy and talks about him when he is off at school or work.  Sometimes at night when Josh is at work, Phoenix will wake up and call for me and talk about the fact that daddy is at work, but he'll be home soon and he will see him in the morning.  Love it.

Josh is so busy.  I just can't believe it!  He is at school all day every week day and then 3 nights a week, he is at work for a fly tying company here in Orem.  I feel bad for him, because on the weekends, I love him to spend time with the kids so I can clean and get meals prepped, etc. But he also needs a break at some point and I am still learning how to read his signs of "I need a break!".  Haha.  I guess I'm just so used to being with the kids all day, that it doesn't phase me when he needs a break from them mauling him after an hour or so.  Haha.

Robyn is learning to eat solid foods. She loves them and loves to spit them out and laugh about it.  Haha.  It's not that she doesn't like them, cause she does.  She is still learning how to let them go down her throat instead down her chin.  ;)

She also is learning to crawl and how to have an attitude with her brother.  Haha!  They love love LOVE each other, but ooo.  I am not excited for the not sharing, hitting, sassing, etc. that is sure to come between the two of them.  They both have pretty strong personalities, but I think Robyn is going to be more in charge. Haha.  She is a boss.  She hollers when she has had enough of Phoenix stealing her toys or poking the back of her head or sitting on her etc.  But they love to play in the tub together and sit next to each other on the big chair.  I love it!

I am doing pretty good :)  Tired almost all the time.  I shower about as much as Severus Snape and eat when I can.  Things are starting to calm down now that Robyn is taking a lot better naps.  She is such a gem.  Really.  I was so worried because I knew I was gonna have to let her cry it out, because she was not able to put herself back to sleep at night when she woke up and I was tired of waking up all hours of the night to nurse her to sleep.  So I got everything ready and moved her crib into Phoenix's room and for her afternoon nap, nursed her cuddled her, and laid her down very tired, but not asleep.  I walked out of the room so scared that she would scream her head off for an hour... And scream she DID!  For 10 minutes. Hahaha!  10!  She barely cries when I lay her down now and sleeps for at least an hour, usually closer to 1 and a half hours.  I'm SO THANKFUL!  What a good baby you are baby Bynie!!  Haha

Last but definitely not least, LEXI GOT MARRIED!!  It was wonderful.  I just can't say enough how incredible temple sealings are.  The spirit is so tender, yet so strong.  I think it is in those sacred gatherings that I have felt the love of the Lord so strongly.

Anyway, things are so good and life is so fun and CRAZY.

Baby Robyn

I haven't been able to write for so long!  I can't believe I haven't even written Robyn's birth story!  I was telling someone a while ago that time sped up once I had a baby.  Well once you have two it is double as fast! So.  Here's my precious baby girl's birth story.

July 21st I had an appointment to see if I looked ready to have her.  I had been a 1 and 70% for quite a while and was really praying for some progress to be made.  When I got checked, my midwife Becky sadly said it looked the same :( I was so sad! We were all worried that baby Robyn was getting too big and we didn't want her to get stuck like Phoenix did.  Anyway,  then Becky had an idea and had me make fists with my hands and put them under my hips and checked me again and I was a 3!!  This meant we were having her the next day! I was thrilled.  Bless her heart, but Robyn's pregnancy was not super easy.  I was Sooo sick for months and months. From 9-25 weeks, I threw up all day every day.  Ugh just thinking about it makes me shudder. But.  I was pregnant and so thankful, so it was very okay. I'd be sick for 20 years to get that baby in my arms :) 

So that night, my mom came down and we had one last night as a family of 3.  Thinking about that is a little bittersweet at this point.  Having Robyn is Sooo wonderful and Phoenix loves her! But poor Phoenix went from doing fun things and being busy just about every day in the summer with me, to suddenly not being with me nearly as much, me being gone, busy, exhausted with the hospital visits every day, and then it becoming winter, so he couldn't even go out in the back and play :( I know everyone talks about how the middle child has it rough... And I'm sure it's true.  But something definitely has to be said for the poor 1st child who has grown up being the apple of mommy and daddy's eye, to that full attention turning away from them- through no fault of their own.  It is sad :(   But we are working on Phoenix getting one on one time with us each day.  He has had horrible sleep regression since Robyn was born.  He would run to his door and scream for me in the middle of the night.  He still does it half the time.  The other half, he wakes up at 5 am demanding to get up.  Josh and I have red eyes and droopy eyelids pretty frequently these days haha. 

Anyway, back to Robyn!

So we got ready early the 22nd and headed to the hospital.  We got to our room and I was put on pitocin to get things going.  When I was having Phoenix, I was put on pitocin because I wasn't progressing and holy hannah-bell.  That stuff made me want to kill myself and everyone in the room.  This time, I was like get that stuff in me cause I know its gonna get this baby here!  Haha.  And it did!  I started feeling some mild contractions and let the nurse (named Shanny!) know that I was ready anytime for the epidural.  So the dr. came in and that epidural was the BEST.  OHHH MAN!! I am SOO thankful to this day and probably will be forever.  I haver heard horror stories about epidurals, but both Phoenix's and Robyn's epidurals were amazing.  This one was so good that I seriously felt warm and fuzzy and content.  No shakes like with Phoenix... Maybe because I had actually eaten and had sleep the night before, hu?  Hahaha.

So the hours started passing and I started to progress.  To pass the time, Josh got on his phone and pulled up the hardest Harry Potter quizzes he could find and ask me the questions.  It was great.  I am always begging him to play silly trivia games with me and he usually finds a way out of it. We got there at 7 and the pitocin started at 745 ish.  They would check me every so often and I was progressing nicely.  I still couldn't wrap my head around the fact that I would be meeting my BABY GIRL AHHHHHHHH!!! any time now!  I still get giddy just thinking about it.  Hahaha especially now that I have had her for a while and she is just the joy of all joys.  Hahaha.

Anyway.  The last hour before I delivered, the nurses put a peanut ball between my legs and boom.  I went from a 6 to a 10 and was ready to push.  Sadly, I totally freaked Becky (my midwife) out because I told her about Phoenix's birth and she was pretty sure Robyn was going to be as big as him.  So she wanted a Dr. there just in case she got stuck.  SO I SAT FOR 15 MINUTES WITH HER RIGHT THERE JUST WAITING TO BE BORN FOR THIS DR TO ARRIVE.  FIFFFFTEEENNN LONG MINUTES OF WAITING WITH HER HEAD RRRIIIIGGGHHTTT THERE.... Umm... guys?  I think my epidural needs a boost.  GUYS!! MY EPIDURAL NOW!  Hahaha by the time I got a little pump from the epidural, the Dr. arrived and he took one look at me and said "well what are you waiting for?  Push her out, then!" Ugh.. Dr's. man.  And you wonder why I went with a midwife... Hahaha Well I did!  I pushed her out in two pushes, my friends!  And at 1 pm, she went right onto my chest and was all purple and warm and chubby and darling!!  Ahhh MY BABY!!  Right here on my tummy instead of in it!!! FINALLY!  Those 9 months were nothing.  Okay not nothing, but were very little compared to this!  Hahaha.  She had brown hair and was covered in vernix.  Oh my heck.  Hahaha even after she got cleaned up, I still found it all over her for a week!  Anyway.

She was having a little trouble getting the mucus and stuff out of her airway, so they took her over to her little heated bed and suctioned her and cleaned her off.  Then she came right back to Momma.  I of course cried and gooo'd over her.  And she was already looking for some suckles.  Haha for guys and moms who don't nurse, it might seem silly, but nursing is one of my absolute favorite things in the entire universe.  It is such a sweet bond between a momma and her baby.  I showed her where her supper was gonna come from and she WENT. TO. TOWN.  Not kiddin, this baby nursed for 3 HOURS.  3!!!  The nurses had to chuckle at my little piglet.  I'll add a picture of the gimme some food face.  It was so sweet and cute.  She has never had any feeding problems since.  (At least on her end).  Josh and I just grinned happily at each other and enjoyed the first few hours of Robyn's life eating hamburgers and taking pictures and laughing at baby Byn.  But we were both so excited for Phoenix to meet his new sister!!

That night, my Mum brought Phoenix to the hospital and they got to meet the newest piece of heaven on earth.  Phoenix LOVED her!  He was so excited! Mum got to hold her and they had an instant bond.  To this day, EVERY TIME I send my mom pictures of Robyn, she writes back "MY BABY!!!" No fail.  Hahaha.  And she is.  She loves my mom.  And they even look alike!  Through the eyes, Robyn is baby Julie Jones!  Its adorable.  So the first day was wonderful.  Wonderful Wonderful WONDERFUL.

The next few weeks were really really really HARD.  Hahaha.  Isn't that how it goes?  Life? Ups and downs.  Keeps me humble and grateful is what it does.  I learned a lot that first month of Robyn's life.  Gratitude, sadness, worry like I had never known, hope, etc.  It turned out Robyn had HORRIBLE jaundice.  So horrible that we couldn't bring her home from the hospital.  I had to go every three hours to the hospital through the next couple days night and day to nurse her while she laid under the billy lights.  Oh my heart.  My broken momma heart just cried for her baby.  I could only hold her for a half hour here and there to nurse and change her and she had to go right back under the lights.

We had an absolute GEM of a nurse named Julie who was a psychopathic hippy woman who always had the right words to say when I was sad and was the best at giving me hope and help.  Ahh.  People like that are so dear.  I will never forget her.  We were finally able to take her home 2 days later, only to have to go back, this time to the big hospital for more light therapy and blood tests.  Poor Phoenix.  Talk about his life got flip turned upside down!  Haha.  He went from being with mommy 95% of the time to like 10%.

The doctors were concerned that her bilirubin levels weren't leveling out like they should.  Every 6 hours she had to get her blood drawn and for weeks even after she was out of the hospital, her levels would rise.  And every day my hopes would be dashed as they talked about possible liver problems, blood irregularities, etc.  And plus, I was trying to do this with post pregnancy hormones still raging in me!  Hahaha horrible!  But after about 3 weeks, we FINALLY saw the levels decrease for the first time since she was born.  It turned out I have breast milk jaundice.  Whats that?! Well.  I don't blame you for never hearing of it since it affects only 2% of the population.  COME. ON.  Haha.  Apparently I have something in my milk that makes the bilirubin get reabsorbed into the bloodstream instead of pooped and pee'd out.  So that was why her levels were so high for so long.... Good to know for my next baby! Haha.

So after we were finally done with that little hiccup (that at the time felt like the worst thing ever) we have had pretty smooth sailing ever since.  She is a great eater, sleeper (for the most part) and just such a happy baby.  I am so grateful for her! She has shown me that not all babies scream their heads off for the first 4 months of their lives (cough.. Phoenix) and can actually be really really enjoyable!  Haha.  She is already 6 months and getting smarter and more of an attitude every day.  Its so fun :)

Throughout our marriage, Josh and I have talked about how we begin to see Heavenly Father's reasons for us to be married and to bring children into the world.  We have grown sooo much as a companionship and individually since the day we said "Yes".  My faith in the Lord Jesus Christ has grown exponentially and I am sure will continue to as we learn and grow as a family.  I love the Lord.  I have been given so much.  SO. MUCH.  I hope I can show him my love and gratitude by keeping his commandments and loving others like he loves me :)