The Payne's

Mason's trip to the ER

2012-01-27T21:43:00.000-08:00

It all started last Wednesday night. We put Mason and Kennedy to bed at 7 like we always do. Nate and I went and watched our tv show and at 9 pm Mason woke up screaming his guts out (not just a normal cry, a cry like someone just punched my face kind of cry). So I run in our room and try to calm him down. It took a while for him to calm down, but he eventually did. About 20 minutes later, he woke up screaming again. I calmed him down, and about 30 minutes later he woke up screaming again... I tried feeding him, he wouldn't take it, so I gave him some Tylenol and he went back to sleep. Every hour or so Mason woke up screaming but he was so tired that he would not open his eyes. He was screaming in his sleep.

So finally at 6 am I tried feeding him again (he normally eats at 7am but since it had been such a rough night I thought sticking to our normal schedule would have to skip a day.) After he ate, I changed his diaper and noticed his poop was really dark green/brown... I didn't really think anything of it. So we went to the gym and 30 minutes later, the girl from child watch came and said Mason had just pooped and asked permission to change his diaper. I told her he kind of had diarrhea so I would come change it so she wouldn't have to deal with it. When I opened his diaper, his poop was black and I noticed some blood in the mix.

So on my way home I called my pediatrician and left a message. The nurse called back and scheduled us to come in later that day. So I thought, oh, no big deal. Went to feed Mason and he wanted nothing to do with that bottle. Mason is a chubby baby... and once it's been 3 hours... he is READY to eat again. At the time, I didn't think much of it, just that he was probably really tired. So about 5 minutes later the nurse calls back and says she just talked to one of the dr.s and she said to just take him straight to the ER. She asked me how long it would take us to get there and said that she had already called the ER to let them know we would be there within 30 minutes. Sooo I started freaking out. The children's ER is in the city. I had never driven into the city (not really that big of a deal, I just hate hate hate hate hate driving in Philly), I had no idea where I was going and I was stressing out because I did not want to go to the ER with Mason and Kennedy all my myself. So I called Nate at school and he said he could leave so I went and picked him up and he drove all four of us to the ER.

We check in and they get us right in and into a room. After a while the nurse came to get Mason for an x-ray. I had to pin him down so he wouldn't move while they did it. Not super sad because he wasn't too fussy about it.They said everything looked good so we went back to our room. A little bit later they came and got him for an ultrasound. By this time it was about 1 pm. Mason hadn't eaten anything since 6 am but was still pretty happy. The ultrasound took what seemed like an hour. Mason was screaming the entire time. I had to help pin him down so the guy doing it could get a clear picture. In the mean time, Nate was trying to keep Kennedy occupied and happy. Poor Mason was so sweaty from screaming for so long. They finally finished the ultrasound and I was able to hold Mason and calm him down. A few minutes later, they came back in with a Dr. that wanted to take a look for herself. So back onto the table he went, the second I put him down, he started screaming his head off. Again, I had to pin him down so they could get a clear shot.

The Dr. the explained to us that they saw that a part of his intestines had telescoped (intaciception). Meaning his intestines collapsed in on themselves and that they needed to do a procedure on him to pop it back out. we went back to our room and little Mason fell asleep instantly. A guy from the surgery team came in to explain how the procedure would work, and if it didn't, they would have to take him into surgery to fix the problem.

The nurse came in to get Mason started on an IV to get some fluids in his body but failed to get it in properly 2 times. By this time, Nate decided to take Kennedy home to beat rush hour and get her some food (since all she had had that day was fruit snacks and whatever other candy I happened to have at the bottom of my purse). Since the first nurse failed to get an IV in, she called in another nurse that tried another 2 times and failed. Mason was screaming the entire time they were maneuvering his hands and feet and stinking needles in him trying to find a good vein. 4 attempts unsuccessful. So they called someone from the IV team (whose supposed to be oober good at getting it in). She tried 3 times and failed. Finally they called in one more nurse to try to get an IV in him so they could get him up to the Dr.s that were waiting on him. She got it in in one shot.

After I got him calmed down, they wheeled us up to the room where he was going to have the procedure done. The nurse explained to me again what was going to happen, had me lay Mason down on the table and she proceeded to shove a little tube up Mason's little bum, and she tapped his little bum up so tight so no air could possibly escape his little bum hole. They rolled him over and had an x-ray machine taking consistent x-rays displayed on a TV screen so they could see what they were doing, and proceeded to just pump air into his bum until his intestines popped back into place. It took maybe a total of 2 minutes, then we were out of there.

They moved us to a more roomy room so we could stay the night so they could monitor him to make sure it didn't happen again (if it was going to happen again, they say it would have happened within the first 24 hours) So little Mason and I got all cozy in our room and tried to get some rest.
Finally, the next morning at around 8 am (26 hours since his last feeding) i was able to feed Mason some pedialite and he guzzled that thing like a champ. I had to wait until he had a nice wet diaper (he hadn't peed since his first black/bloody diaper) till I could feed him some formula. He had no problem filling his diaper because he drank so much pedialite! They gave me the ok to feed him some formula and he was in heaven. They monitored him to make sure he could drink and fill his diapers without any problems.

While we where just waiting around, Mason and I went on lots of walks around the floor. He is such a happy baby and I love that he will always give me a smile or little giggle! Nate and Kennedy came back to the hospital that afternoon and we got the ok to go home.

It is such a heart breaking experience having to watch your child be in pain. I thought I would be able to handle it a little bit better than when we had to take Kennedy to the ER when she was 4 weeks old, but no. It wasn't any easier. I am the one that is responsible for doing everything for this precious baby and sometimes I can't help but think that maybe I did something to cause this problem to happen to him. I am so grateful for modern technology and medicine. I know it could have been a lot worse, and I thank my Heavenly Father that it wasn't.

Arizona for Christmas

2012-01-05T19:56:00.000-08:00

CHRISTMAS WAS AWESOME!!! We loved being in warm and sunny Arizona for a few weeks. We haven't seen a white Christmas and we weren't about to let our children be around one. So we flew a long, screaming, stressful 6 hours to Mesa.

Christmas Morning

Mason weighs as much as Kennedy. Look at those CHEEEEKS!

My husband is hot and my baby girl is beautiful. Wut wut.

He is a momma's boy for sure.

She only loves swinging when she thinks there's a chance she can kick Nate.

My 2 handsome boys

BOO!

POPPERS

I think Nate was having more fun than Kennedy

Don't be fooled by those teeth. She has a mean bite. For realsies.

Family Photo sesh. You can find more of our awesome pictures at www.bomb.com

Kennedy is 2!

2011-11-14T15:26:00.001-08:00

I can't believe my little girl is 2! Well tomorrow she will be 2... Nate will be gone all day so we decided to have our little party tonight.

We started off by opening all our awesome presents!

She was pretty good at opening them all by herself.

She is way into purses and sun glasses right now.

Her new Dora bath toys from grandma and grandpa Payne!

Reading her birthday card from grandma Allen

She is such a little diva!

Her first dress ups!

Singing happy birthday... she obviously thought the flame was too amazing to even blink the entire time we sang...

Nate shoved her had into her cake and she couldn't do anything until we wiped it off.

Happy birthday to my sweet little girl! These have been the most amazing 2 years ever. I love being your mom and I love watching you grow!

Halloween.

2011-11-01T09:32:00.000-07:00

For Halloween we went to a girl in Nate's class's house for a little get together. Kennedy was loving all the attention she was getting, and all the candy she was getting or saying "tick or teet"!

Kennedy was a lady bug again, and Mason was a cow.

Happy Halloween!

SNOW!!!

2011-10-30T15:53:00.000-07:00

On Saturday it snowed!! Kennedy was so excited to play in the snow so we bundled her up and just let her go!


		She was so excited to wear her big pink jacket!

Nate tried to teach her how to make a snow angel, and this is all we got.

Nate was having so much fun running around trying to make Kennedy fall! (not in a mean way, he just wanted to see her fall in the snow... ok maybe it is a little mean, but Kennedy is too cautious to fall in something that cold!)

First time touching the snow.

Her first snow ball!

We didn't have any gloves for her so she would cry because her hands were so cold, but after about 2 seconds she would go right back to playing in the snow. She did not want to come inside... even when we bribed her with hot chocolate!!

We were supposed to have a ward trunk or treat that night, but because of the snow, it was canceled :( We were so sad we couldn't go. Kennedy was so excited to go trick or treating, we had been practicing all day...

So we dressed her up and let her trick or treat at home going from one bedroom to the other.

Then after about 10 minutes of trick or treating, we let her feast on her candy.

She was in heaven!!!

We were sad we couldn't go to the party, but we still had a fun night at home!

Mo Pumpkins Yo.

2011-10-25T15:34:00.000-07:00

Last week, I went with the kids to a pumpkin patch for a play group with some girls in my ward. It was so much fun! We got to go on a hay ride and Kennedy was throwing all the hay out of the trailer thinking it was trash!
We got to go into the field and pick our very own pumpkins!

Then we got to eat some delicious ice cream! Kennedy was loving it. I secretly love that she doesn't quite know how to eat an ice cream cone so I had to be the one to contain the drippings. Just one of the perks of being a mom!
On Friday, Nate didn't have school so we went on a little nature walk as a family. Nate and Kennedy went exploring all over while Mason and I stayed on the trail since I was wearing the wrong footwear for such a treacherous terrain.
Mason just chillin in our new Moby wrap. Best wrap ever!
Kennedy had so much fun running around in the leaves and jumping off the big rocks.
Mason just slept the whole time, but I though it would only be fair to document him at least a little on our family outing.

Every time we go outside, Kennedy has to either pick a little cherry from the tree, pick a flower from the grass, or sit on the steps that are all around our apartment. She is so much fun to be around. It's so cute to see the things she discovers and I love that she wants to show me and tell me everything!She is such a cute big sister to Mason. She always shares her toys with him. I guess she thought Mason would have fun with all the balls surrounding his head.

That's just a little bit of what's been going on recently. I love that I get to stay home with these two cute kids all day!

Pumpkins

2011-10-11T10:16:00.001-07:00

Nate got home from school early on Friday so we went to Linville Orchards to pick some pumpkins. This place is less than 20 miles away but thanks to Philadelphia roads and traffic, it took us almost 2 hours to get there!

Kennedy would take a pumpkin out and put it on the ground and while she looked for another one to take out and put on the ground, Nate would put it back. She did this at every crate of pumpkins! Well, not every one, just the ones that had pumpkins small enough for her to pick up... so I guess just 2 crates of pumpkins... it seemed like a lot more at the time...

These pumpkins were HUGE!
One picture with Mason included. He's not quite as fun to document at these sorts of outings since he's just in his car seat the whole time. And this is a great picture of him shoving his face into my armpit.
Kennedy was in heaven at this playground. There were so many different little playgrounds for her to run back and forth to. While I fed Mason, Nate got to be the one to chase her around.
It was such a fun day at the pumpkin orchard. Nate and I both decided that even though it took forever to get there, it was well worth the drive!

On a side note, I like to let Kennedy play by herself in her little nook. The other day, I found her like this. She was sitting on top of all of her books and toys reading a book, but by the time I got the camera she had put the book down... but she did decide to give me a cute little grin!
On another side note, we started potty training! Well, we've only done 2 days of potty training. But she's been pretty good at not going in her panties, however, I think she's still a bit too young and I'm not going to kill myself over this... I still have a ton of diapers for her to use!
So, she's still not potty trained, but she looks so dang cute in her tangled panties I just had to share!

One Month

2011-09-26T20:02:00.000-07:00

Mason is one month old today! I can't believe how fast time is going by! Here is a picture over load of Mason's first month.

Kennedy loves to hug and kiss him.

After Mason was born, we stayed at my Grandparent's house for the first week. My sweet grandpa gave Kennedy a ride on his walker about 5 times a day. She was in heaven playing with her 'papa'
Kennedy saw me pumping one day and decided to try it herself.
Mason is such a sweet baby! I just love him to pieces.
Four generations
Mason's blessing day. Sept. 11th, 2011
Proud dad

Now that my parents and Nate's parent's have left, I've been left alone to take care of my two kids. It's been a lot nicer than I had anticipated. I have only left the house a few times with both kids by myself, I mostly try to stay home. It's a lot easier that way...

Philadelphia is a lot of fun. The weather has been a lot nicer, we sometimes get to wear sweatshirts!
Mason is getting cuter every day! He is getting really good at holding his head up by himself.
Kennedy loves her little brother!
She loves this duck costume. She wants to wear it almost everyday!

Mason is such an easy baby. He is so much fun to have in our family! Happy one month Mason! We love you!

He's here!!

2011-08-29T20:30:00.000-07:00

Mason Miles Payne

8/26/2011
2:48 pm
7 lbs. 10 oz.
20.5 in.

Here's how it all went down...

Last preggo picture at 39 weeks, the night before we went to the hospital.

Thursday night at 10 pm we got a call from the hospital saying they had to bump me because they had no available beds and they would call me once they had an open bed. I was pretty bummed because my dr. told me if I was scheduled for the 3 am induction there was very little chance of my being bumped. Not to mention I was already super nervous, scared, anxious, and everything in between to have this baby and now we had to sit and wait for an open bed! I went to bed that night thinking I wasn't going to be able to sleep at all, but since Nate was there, I actually had the best night sleep I've had in a long time. 4 am comes around and we get the call from the hospital saying they had a bed! I was so stoked we were only pushed back an hour! We got up, and got ready to head to the hospital.

4:30 am we got to the hospital and got checked in.
6:30 am hooked up to pitocin. Dilated to a 3
My mom, sister Dawn and my niece Ashlyn all came before Dawn and Ashlyn had to go to school. I had asked Dawn to be in the room when I delivered but she had to work so she told me I couldn't have the baby till after 2:30 when she could get back to the hospital.
8:30 am contractions 5 minutes apart getting pretty painful
9 am epidural is in. Dilated to a 4. (My mom thought I was a total whimp for needing the epidural when I was only dilated to a 4, but in my defense, I was NOT going to give birth without the epidural so I thought I'd just get it out of the way early...)
1:30 pm Dr broke my water dilated to 7
2 pm dilated to a 9!
At around 2:35 ish my nurse asked me to try pushing once then she went and got my doctor. He came in the room probably around 2:45 pm, told me to push as he was getting his gown on and getting ready to catch this baby. He sat down and told me to push then stop 3 times and baby Mason was outta there at 2:48 pm!

I couldn't believe it! It was completely opposite from when I had Kennedy. No pain. No tears from pain. No sweating. NOTHING! He came out so quick and easy I was kind of in shock at how smoothly everything went.

First time holding our son.
Because he came out so fast, his face got pretty bruised.
Proud dad
Grandma Allen
Dawn made it there about 15 minutes before I started pushing! It was perfect timing!!
I have 2 kids!
Our little family of 4!

So far, in Arizona...

2011-08-23T05:31:00.000-07:00

Kennedy and I have been in Arizona for two weeks already and it has been great to be back! Driving on big roads, lots of parking space everywhere, and no humidity! Our dear friends, Sean and Erin are so nice they are letting us stay at their house until this baby comes. It has been pretty lonely being in such a big house with only Kennedy, I slept with her in my bed for the first 4 nights!
Since we've been here we have visited friends and family, gone swimming, went to Sun Splash, and I've just been enjoying my last few weeks together with Kennedy as an only child. My mom came into town on Sunday and it is so awesome having her here!!

Here is a little photo recap of our trip to AZ so far.

At Barns and Noble for a little story time. She loved the dinosaur book!
At Sunsplash with her cousins!
Just relaxing watching Dora, her new favorite show. She gets so sad when Swiper swipes Dora's things. She loves to say backpack and map, and it is so cute to hear her answer all their questions with yes's and no's!
Swimming at her aunt Amy's house with her cousin Finn and her grandparents!
She loves to wear her rock star sun glasses.

Her grandpa thought it would be funny to spray her with the hose... little did he know she would retaliate in the same exact way! Kennedy got him soaked!
The water was pretty cold coming from the hose, but she loves dumping buckets of water on her face no matter how cold the water is!
Kennedy found some of Sean's hats in their closet and thought she was so cool walking around with one on.
She has been making this face a lot lately... I just love this little girl to bits!!!
She even struck a gangster pose for me!
As far as pregnancy goes, this little boy is still kicken inside my belly, it looks like he will be able to stay put until Friday when Nate gets here!! I am scheduled to be induced Friday morning at 3 AM. Nate doesn't get in until Thursday night at about 11 PM. Hopefully things keep going according to plan... Only 2 more days!!!

Keeping busy

2011-07-28T06:21:00.000-07:00

Since Nate is at school all day, Kennedy and I have to find things to keep us occupied at home since we don't have a car...

Sometimes we walk across the street to the pool.
She did this all on her own... I'm so proud of her :)

Sometimes it's way to hot and humid that we don't even leave the house. So we had a pudding painting party! She doesn't like having stuff on her hands so I shoved her hand in the pudding to show her how to paint with her fingers but she just ate it instead.
Her preferred method was with the paint brush.

We only have a week and half left here until we go back to Arizona to wait around until this baby comes. Time has been flying by, I can't believe this baby boy will be here in 4 weeks! Just a little documentation of this pregnancy compared to pregnancy with Kennedy. I am 35 weeks, I have had no swelling what so ever this time, so my wedding ring still fits like a charm! With Kennedy, I started swelling around 25 weeks and at about 28 weeks my wedding ring was like trying to fit a cheerio around my tootsie roll finger... This baby boy moves like crazy. He kicks and stretches all day. Kennedy barley moved inside me, she mostly just chilled and every once and a while would move to let me know she was still alive... I can't get enough ice water with this pregnancy. With Kennedy, I couldn't get enough chocolate... most likely the cause of the swelling and 55 lbs weight gain :) Being pregnant is so awesome, I love it!

So far, Nate is loving school. He is working on cadavers doing lots of dissections, and comes home smelling pretty gross. By the time I come back to Philly with the new baby boy, he will be done with this part of the program so we won't have to deal with the formaldehyde smell for much longer! I am so proud of Nate for working so hard to get into PA school. I am so grateful to have a husband that is motivated to have a good career. We are so excited we are finally at this stage in life!

1st Day of School and The Grand Tour

2011-07-18T16:09:00.001-07:00

Today was Nate's first day of PA school! It's so exciting for him to finally be starting what we've been waiting for, for the past 2 years!

And here is the grand tour of our new apartment!

Our bedroom. Complete with our new $30 bed from Goodwill.
Kennedy's room.
Her big girl bed that she has yet to fall out of.
Kennedy's play nook.
The family room
Kitchen / Laundry room
Dining area

And just because she's so darn cute, Kennedy with her diaper bonnet.

Philadelphia Catch Up

2011-07-12T05:29:00.000-07:00

This is what we've been up to since we were last in Arizona...

First of all, our last week in Arizona was spent packing up our little apartment and saying good bye to all our friends and family.
Kennedy was quite the helper taking things out of any open box so she could have something to play with.
I went to Texas for a week to hang out with my family while Nate packed up the truck and drove all the way to Philly. Before I left to TX, Nate had a surprise anniversary planned since we wouldn't be together to celebrate our 3rd anniversary. We told each other we weren't going to do anything big or spend any money since we needed every penny to move and get settled in Philly. So we decided to just go to Ned's and get a sandwich for dinner since it was my last chance to eat at Ned's before I left. So Nate drives me to Ned's and then pulls out a blind fold and says you need to put this on, I have a surprise for you. So after a very mysterious drive, we get out of the car and he guides me to the front door of the surprise location... His parents house... His parents came over to our house to babysit, and Nate had set up a little luau for us!
The whole car ride I was telling Nate I was a little sad I wasn't going to get to get Ned's but I was really excited for the surprise... But when I got inside and he sat me at the table, he pulled out two Ned's samich's for us to feast on! I was so excited. It was the best anniversary ever!

While Kennedy and I were in Texas, I hardly took any pictures! But we had a ton of fun with my family. My sister Cherry and her kids are living with my parents right now, and my sister Emily drove from Utah to come hang out for a few days and my aunt Steph and her family came to hang out for a few days too! We went swimming almost every day and did a few puzzles and ate lots of food.

Here are Kennedy and Addi playing on the air mattress.

The only picture I got of my mom with Kennedy.

After spending a week in Texas, Kennedy and I flew to Philadelphia to a nice new apartment that Nate and his brother Jason had mostly moved into. The second bedroom was missing a door so we haven't been able to set up the room yet, but having the mattress on the floor has been good to transition Kennedy into a big girl bed! This is her very first night not sleeping in the port a crib!

For the most part, she stays in bed, but one night we woke up to her screaming like someone had stabbed her. Nate and I run into her room and couldn't find her! She had wedged herself, face down, under the air conditioning unit! We have blankets and pillows stuffed all around the bed so she can't fall off, but somehow she managed to wiggle down there!

Our 4th of July was spent getting things we needed at Walmart, putting together dressers, and unpacking. We didn't get to see one firework :( But it was still a good 4th of July since we got to move into our new apartment!

Since we've been mostly moved in and Nate doesn't start school until the 18th, we have been exploring our new neighborhood, finding things to do and going to the zoo! Kennedy loves seeing all the animals and there are peacocks and ducks just wondering all over the place. The Philadelphia zoo was the first zoo in the world and I must say it's the best zoo I've ever been to!

We went on the hottest, most humid day ever. Nate and I were both dripping sweat after about an hour of being out side!
Kennedy really likes brushing the goats at the petting zoo.

Yesterday morning after we all ate breakfast, we sat down to watch some yo gabba gabba with Kennedy. Nate and I must have been really into the show, or too tired, but Kennedy had found a bag of chips and just sat and ate a ton of them. She must not have gotten enough to eat at breakfast!
She would take a little nibble of one chip and set it down next to her and then grab another chip and do the same thing.I thought it was too cute to not document.
That has been our life since we left Arizona! Philadelphia is much different than Arizona. Just a few of the differences Nate and I have had a hard time coping with is Walmart - not like any other Walmart I've been too, they have barely any food there! Also, fountain drinks do not exist at gas stations! Our bodies have not adapted to the humidity here so we sweat a lot. Other then getting used to a few things, we are so excited for this new chapter in our lives and can't wait to bring our little baby boy into the world to change everything even more!

Nathan Bradley,

2011-06-19T10:35:00.000-07:00

Happy fathers day to my wonderful husband!

Nate has been such an amazing dad to Kennedy, and I know he will be an amazing dad to our little boy and all the other children that we have! It has been so fun watching him learn and grow as a dad and that has made me fall even more in love with him!

The day Kennedy was born I could tell Nate was going to be an amazing dad, even though he had never even changed a diaper before!
Nate has been such a sweet and tender dad to Kennedy, always giving her the love and attention she needs.

I love these two so much and I'm so excited our family is growing!
I love watching them play and explore together.

I love that Nate will let Kennedy sit on his shoulders even though she pulls his hair and hits his head when she's excited.
I know Kennedy loves her dad, even when he kisses her with his pokey beard.

I just love how cute Nate is with Kennedy all the time!
I love that Nate is the dad my kids get to learn from and look up to and I love that he is the man I get to be with for eternity. Happy fathers day Nate, I love you!

A Little Bit of Lately and A Lot of Photos

2011-06-09T14:43:00.000-07:00

Nate and I went to Philadelphia last week to find a place to live. While we were there we went and walked around Philadelphia University campus and it was beautiful! A lot of the buildings are super old houses that have been there for hundreds of years and other buildings are brand new so it's a very interesting place walk around.
We went and looked at about 20 different apartments and houses to live in. The second one we went to look at we fell in love with but we couldn't decide until we had seen all of the options we had. So after two very long days of looking at very ghetto, sketchy, small, cramped and dirty apartments, we decided to go with the second one we looked at.
It is right across the street from a grocery store and shopping center, it has a pool and has TONS of space to play out side. Every other place we looked at was basically right on top of the place next to it with only street parking and nothing to do outside for a couple blocks away. So we are very excited for our new apartment!

Lately, Nate and I have realized we have oodles of pictures of Kennedy but no pictures of us. So... one night, after Kennedy was in bed, we set up the camera auto timer in our cupboard and had a little photo shoot...
I just love that Nate will do these kinds of things with me!

Kennedy has been oober cute lately so here are some of my favorite, most recent, pictures of her.

She is so good at folding her arms for prayers.
And she is very good at saying please... except when her mouth is full of food...
She loves to play with all her bows,
She kept saying "please" so we would put more on her head.

She is just so dang cute I couldn't not put this picture up!
Or this one...
or this one....
Nate is so cute with Kennedy. I love watching them play! She loves to get piggy back rides and thinks they are just the greatest!
Reading books is one of her favorites...
Nate and I got her a little play tent the other day and at first she didn't want anything to do with it, but now she thinks it's the bee's knees!
She will play in it forever! Especially if she has some books to bring in there with her.
And that pretty much sums up what we've been up to recently.

As far as pregnancy goes, I have been teaching dance this whole time so my weight gain has been pretty low compared to last time. Tomorrow is my last day of teaching so we'll see how much I can gain while I'm not forced to work out...

Also, we have decided to have our baby boy here in Arizona. So we move to Philadelphia at the end of the month, school starts for Nate in July and then I will be coming back to AZ with Kennedy in August until I have the baby. My Dr. said he would induce me Aug. 25th so Nate can be there for the birth, so I am praying that I don't go into labor early! It really scares me and stresses me out that there is a possibility that Nate will miss the birth of our little boy, but hopefully everything will work out!

A Day at the Park

2011-05-22T12:26:00.000-07:00

We took Kennedy to the park the other day and she had such a good time! Here are just a few of the many pictures we took.

I loved watching Nate play with Kennedy at the park. Kennedy would grab Nate's finger and make him walk with her to whatever she wanted to do. I am so grateful for such an amazing husband that is so fun and loves to play with Kennedy!

Best Mother's Day EVER!

2011-05-13T12:36:00.000-07:00

For mothers day this year, my sweet husband got me a new camera! It is so much fun having a nice camera that takes good pictures. I may or may not have gone a little overboard with how many pictures of Kennedy I've already taken... is almost 500 pictures in less than a week too much? I don't think so!!!

Here are just a few...

She had a really fun time eating her Popsicle and sharing with Max.
I caught her playing in all her head bands...say cheeeeeeeeesssse!
I just love this little girl more and more every day! It is so much fun watching her learn new things and to hear her start talking! I'm so greatful to have such an awesome family, for a husband that loves me, takes care of me and Kennedy and is always positive and happy, and for a beautiful daughter that makes me laugh and smile everyday! I can't wait for our little baby boy to get here to join in on all the fun!

Recently...

2011-04-17T11:21:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago a couple friends and I, with our kids, went to the zoo! It was probably the hottest day we could have ever gone, but it was so much fun and Kennedy, and the other kids, loved it!

We stopped by and saw the tiger playing around and eating his food.
Kennedy thought it was the coolest thing ever!

Then we went and fed the giraffes. This was awesome! All the kids got to give the giraffe a piece of lettuce...Us moms got to give them a little hard hay candy treat that looked like a pill...

I was a little freaked out by the massive tongue... but it was awesome!
Molly and Griff, Me and Kennedy, and Emily and Titan. All sweaty but having a blast!

We went to the splash pad after we fed the giraffes and Kennedy loved the misters on the ground. She would just grab it and point it towards her face and giggle. It was so cute!
On Thursday my friend Autumn came over to help me with a little craft I have been wanting to do for a while... She is such an awesome friend, she brought all her sewing stuff and basically did the whole thing all by herself!
The baby sling came out AWESOME! I can't wait to use it on our baby boy! Kennedy has never liked being in a sling so hopefully baby boy will get some good use out of Autumns hard work!

My boss had a mini baby shower for me and one of the other teachers that is pregnant too. I just had to show the blogging world this awesome onesie she had made just for our baby boy!Last night our friends Mike and Shannon came over and made the most delicious bbq chicken pizza ever and decorated Easter eggs with us!

Nate and I with our awesomely decorated eggs...
Cute Mike and Shannon and their awesome eggs.The boys were having so much fun!Us girls just coloring away...
The end result!
And finally, we bought another car! It so nice! Nate loves driving this beauty to work now... not that he didn't love driving the 1992 Geo Tracker before, but now he can listen to music and use the back door to put Kennedy in her car seat rather than having to put her in through the trunk...Little pregnancy update:
I am now 20 weeks and feeling great. Baby boy is moving a ton and I love it! I couldn't feel Kennedy move till about 22 or 23 weeks so this pregnancy is feeling more real now that I can feel him move.

It's Official!

2011-03-31T11:48:00.000-07:00

Most people already know, but now it's official... A few weeks ago, I went into Nate's office and had his ultrasound tech see if he could tell what we were having, but the baby's legs were crossed. So I drank some soda hoping it would make the baby move a little, but it was no use. So I went back a few days later and he was able to see this little guys peepee! So we knew about 2 weeks ago, but today was my official ultrasound with my Dr. and he confirmed... it's a boy! It was so cute to see how excited Nate was to find out he would have a Buddie to go hunting and camping with! So far, this pregnancy has been completely different than Kennedy's. With Kennedy, the week I found out I was preggo, I was starving all day every day! I could never get enough to eat... EVER. I had no sickness, nothing. Maybe I got a little more emotional than I normally am, but that was it. In the first 6 months of being pregnant with Kennedy, I gained 12 lbs. the last 3 months.... I gained 40 :( Oh, and I swelled up like Varooka on Willie Wonka towards the end... This pregnancy, the first trimester, I couldn't eat anything. Nothing sounded good and nothing tasted good. Now in the second trimester, I can eat and food tastes good, but I am no where near as hungry as I constantly was with Kennedy. Right now I am almost 5 months along and my total weight gain has been -1 lbs. Yes... -1 lbs. I lost a pound :) I was super sick last week. I'm hoping to keep the weight gain to a minimum this time around, but we'll see how long that lasts.

Water time!

2011-03-24T12:02:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks have been pretty hot here, so we took some buckets and bottles of water outside and Kennedy had the time of her life!

She loves the water!
I found these glasses at the dollar store the other day and Kennedy LOVES them! She wears them all the time outside and in the car, and I just know she thinks she's the coolest kid in town when she has them on!

Kennedy is the sweetest little girl! She melts my heart with her sweet face! She is learning so much everyday and I just love seeing her little personality come out more and more each day!
We went to the pool with Dawn and her kids the other day and this is the only picture I took! Kennedy had such a fun time playing in the water!
Another hot day in AZ with our buckets of water and toys...

I love spending all my time with such a cute girl! She is so much fun and is becoming more of a little lady every day!

Freestone Park

2011-02-28T13:23:00.000-08:00

On Sunday we went to visit Nate's dad at the hospital because he just had a knee replacement surgery. After, we stopped by Freestone Park to walk around and feed the ducks.

Kennedy had so much fun waking around, pointing at things and saying "ooOOooo!"

I just think she is the cutest girl ever!

Nate is such a fun dad. I love watching him play with Kennedy, even though he has already taught her that it's ok to play with bugs!

She LOVED watching all the ducks splash around!

It was such a nice day to be a the park!

Disneyland!

2011-02-18T12:49:00.000-08:00

Last weekend the studio I teach hip hop at went to Disneyland to perform, and it was a blast! Since my niece, Ashlyn dances at Higher Ground, my sister Dawn and her kids came along with my mom and Nate! Then on our last day Owen and Alyssa met up with us! It was such an awesome family trip!

Here are the performers from the first show we did.

These are some of MC Hammer boys!

My advanced calss did a pretty good job only having 4 weeks to learn a whole new dance!

While I was helping with the shows (and since my ego is prego) Nate was able to go on all the big scary rides with my nephews Lochlin and Braeden, so when I wasn't working we could go on all the cute rides together :)

It's a small world.

The happiest place on earth with the person I love most!

Waiting in line is so much fun!

Nate was a champion at Toy Story

It's tough to be a bug...

I can't have a post without having pictures of Kennedy... So here are the most recent.

She's Walking!!!

2011-01-22T20:44:00.001-08:00

Kennedy is officially WALKING!!!!!! I never thought she would do it by herself but the day after Nate's birthday, she just went for it and has been walking ever since!

we haven't had Internet for quite some time now, so these are the only pictures I can put up, but let me just tell you... She can croooozzzz!!! You may not be able to tell from the pictures, but I have LOADS of video or her walking... I just can't upload videos from my phone :( AAAAAAnnnnyyyways. I love watching Kennedy grow and learn new things! I just love being a mom!!!

My little Minute Maid girl!

Guess what!!!!!

2011-01-12T11:47:00.000-08:00

We're Back!!!

So it's been a while... I know... but here's whats been happening in our family in a nut shell.

Christmas was awesome! Nate's sister and brother in law took some family pictures of us and they turned out great!

Christmas Eve we spent at Nate's parents house making cookies and having lots of fun!

Nate got these jammies for Christmas and he spent all day in them!
We all got sick over Christmas break... it was no fun, but Kennedy was really cuddly and so we got to take naps like this!

These are just some recent pictures of Kennedy ... She's so cute...

We went to the park and she LOOVVVEED the swing!

oh, by the way...
Kennedy is going to be a big sister!!

We are having another baby!! Expected to arrive 8/31/2011

Kennedy is 1!!

2010-11-15T22:12:00.000-08:00

One year ago today, I was swollen and miserable all day long...

Then at 7 pm it all started.... I was in labor... 3 hours, and a whole lotta pain later, Kennedy Lynn was born at 10:01 pm.

Weighing only 5 lbs 6 oz.

It was so hard to believe that the little person I grew inside me only accounted for 5 of the 50 lbs I gained in those 9 months.

Kennedy has been the best baby anyone could have ever asked for.

She has slept through the night since she was 3 months old.

She has always been a mama's girl, but Nate is the one that can make her giggle at any given moment.

She is not a drama queen at all....

Now that she has been apart of our family for one whole year, she is starting to walk around (with assistance).

She tries to copy all the different noises Nate and I make to try to keep her entertained.And she is still the cutest baby on the face of this earth!

Happy birthday Kens!

I am so greatful to be your mother.

You have taught me so much over the last year.

I had no idea I could have so much love for one person.

I hope as you grow up I can be the kind of mom that will help you want to choose the right and do good.

I love you!

The Zoo and Halloween!

2010-11-04T13:01:00.001-07:00

The other day my friend Leigh invited us to go to the zoo with her and her boys. On the way, I just so happen to find a little cement wall to run into at the gas station to make sure my day started off right.

After a few minutes of being dramatic and hysterically crying to my wonderful husband on the phone, we made it to the zoo.

Kennedy with a koala bear.
She really liked pointing at all the different things she saw.
At the petting zoo, she only petted the animals with her one finger.
It was the perfect little trip to the zoo with the Root family. I had so much fun looking at all the animals with Kennedy! I just love this little girl to bits!!!

Our Halloween weekend started off with a quiet night of carving pumpkins together. I thought this picture would be appropriate to show as kind of our costume picture because it looks like I have massive spider on my head. (Don't worry...it's not really a spider, it's just my hair) And, because I somehow managed to not get any pictures of us dressed up. So this will have to do.
The finished product.
My friend Autumn helped me make a few last minute things for Kennedy's costume. Kennedy was so cute crawling around singing "my horn can pierce the sky"...
Kennedy as a little pig.
Nate and I dressed up as Mr. Potato head and Bo Peep from Toy Story. Our costumes were not that great so I'm not too sad I forgot to get pictures of us dressed up. All that matters is that Kennedy's costume was cute.

On a side note... Nate's mom got Kennedy this little snowman outfit last year, and we put her in it when she was just a little peewee.

And here she is one year later... our little peewee has grown tremendously!

Partaaayy Week!

2010-10-25T13:29:00.000-07:00

This past week my parents were in town and we had a week full of partying! My great grandma turned 100, my nephew turned 12 and received the priesthood, my brother-in-law turned a year older, my niece turned 8 and got baptized, and we celebrated Kennedy's first birthday (even though her birthday isn't until Nov. 15th, we just did it while my parents were here)!

Here are some pictures of our fun week... (prepare for a picture overload)

This is my tender great grandma that is 100 years old!

My mom and I went to the Apple store and Kennedy was really into the computer games...
Kennedy and Grandma!
Kennedy and Grandpa!
Kennedy loves playing with her cousins.
Kennedy and Grandpa playing trot trot to Boston...

At Lochlin's birthday party enjoying a tasty appetizer. Lochlin's 12 candles in one.
Cousins!Kennedy's birthday party!

Mom and Kennedy
I love these two more than anything in the world!
Our family of 3
4 generations... (Great Grandma couldn't make it for the 5 generation picture)
Steph, Kens and me
Uncle Brodie
Grandpa Payne
Kennedy and Grandma Allen
My dad and sister Dawn
Uncle Mike and Aunt Shannon (she really doesn't hate them, she was just really sick and tired)
Alyssa with Jason and Krystal's baby Paisley
Aunt Erin, Uncle Sean and best friend Saidy
Josh and Nate
The Payne Brothers

Her birthday cake...
She did not like it...

After the party we opened some presents.
She got some fun books for church.
And this is her new face... the "OOOO" face... she does it ALL the time.

action shot...I didn't get any pictures of my niece Ashlyn's baptism, but it was beautiful, and she was beautiful! It was so much fun having my parents in town for a whole week to celebrate all of these birthdays! I love my family!!!

Free Photoshoot Giveaway!

2010-10-22T13:26:00.000-07:00

Alyssa Melody Photography is doing an awesome giveaway... here... and I would LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE to win!!!!! Go check out her awesome-ness!

11 Months

2010-10-06T10:12:00.000-07:00

I can't believe Kennedy is 11 months old already!! She is growing up so fast! These pictures are from Kennedy's play date with Griff and Titan.

Kennedy loves to take Titan's binki...
Although she totally looks like a boy, is this not the cutest smile you've ever seen?!!??!
Kennedy sure can give some dirty looks...
Thank for the pictures again Molly!

I took Kennedy out into the rain the other day and she did not like one bit of it. So she decided to just hang out in her bath robe.

We went on a walk the other day with Emily and Titan and the kids just could not stay awake. I think Kennedy got my dad's ability to fall asleep in any position... no matter how uncomfortable it is...
This is one of her favorite faces. She breaths really loud and does this face when she's excited.
Grandma Allen got her her first pair of Halloween jammies.

Kennedy is so much fun to have around! I love every second of everyday that I get to spend with her!!

Some Awesome News!

2010-09-20T15:28:00.000-07:00

So we have some awesome news, but I'll get to that in a minute. First I would like to share some cute pictures of Kennedy. The other day, we took her to the park for the first time. At first, she wasn't too sure what to think of the sand, but after a few minutes she started to love it!

She is just the cutest baby on the planet!!!!
She is FINALLY crawling like a normal child on her hands and knees, and pulls herself up onto everything! The only problem is that she doesn't know how to get down once she's standing up. So we have some work to do there...
My studly husband...

Kennedy and Titan love to watch TV up close and personal. I think they feel like apart of the backyardagain crew if they are that close.
She just found out how to wrinkle her nose. She does it ALL the time now, so this is one of her new smiles.
Kennedy's fairy God mother (Mini) got her this dress and I think it is the cutest thing!
Now... for the news...

.....

Nate got accepted to P.A. school in Philadelphia!!!!!!! We will be moving, most likely in June to west Philadelphia, born and raised. On the playground is where we'll be spending most of our days...
I am so proud of Nate. He has worked so hard to get into school by having good grades, doing oodles of community service, and working so hard at his job at the hospital... I am so grateful to have Nate as a husband. He is so patient, loving and willing to sacrifice to make me and Kennedy happy.

Along with getting into grad school, one of his dreams is to own this gun....
Gosh I love this boy!

Oh how I love my life

2010-08-27T22:40:00.000-07:00

Hello world. Nate here. I just thought I'd get my blog on for sec. I Love Kennedy, Steph, and our life. We are happy. Exhibit A.

She loves to feel every new texture with just her dainty pointer finger

She's ready for G-Pa Allen to take her to Hawaii!

Steph thinks she looks like a dancer.

"What's that you say?" " Halla"

Rosy Cheeks Payne

She sneezed sweet potatoe all over me, tooted, then laughed for a few minutes. I managed to snap this pic wut wut.

Thanks Molly for the bomb photo shoot. Hot diggity dog!

FINALLY!!!!

2010-08-18T20:10:00.000-07:00

After 9 whole months, Kennedy is FINALLY scooting!

Nate calls it a zombie crawl because she only uses her left leg and right arm to scoot.

Kennedy just had her 9 month check up and she weighs 20 lbs 12 oz.(75%), she is in the 90th percentile for her height, and 95 percentile for her head!

Kennedy and Titan are so cute together... Titan loves to give Kennedy hugs and kisses.

Kennedy has started sticking her tongue out like this, and she thinks it is so funny.

I just love my daughter to bits!

Picture Overload

2010-08-02T09:52:00.000-07:00

Kennedy is almost 9 months old and still doesn't crawl... I'm totally ok with not having to chase her around, but I am just a little concerned that she will be the 18 month old weirdo in nursery that doesn't know how to walk...

This is how we practice... I put her in this position and she just sits there. She can rock but just plops straight down and doesn't go anywhere. When she is on her belly, she can push herself backwards till she's under the couch and can't go anywhere.
So we are still working on that...

This, however is classic. Nate just happened to have is phone out taking pictures of Kens when she decided to put on a little show...

Can you guess what she's doing in this sequence?

Pooping?! Oh on the contrar my friend. When I went to change her, there was NOTHING! haha my daughter is so stinken awesome!

Last weekend we went to Utah for a little family reunion. Nate and I had to take our car to get fixed so while we were waiting, we had a little photo shoot.

K, I know I say this in every post, but how can you not think she is the cutest baby on the planet?

So, while we were in Utah, we noticed that Kennedy had a couple more teeth showing through...
Gotcha! Those are fake teeth we used to sing happy birthday to my grandpa who was a dentist. But Kens loved them.

This is just another cute picture I thought I'd share.
One morning we went to ihop with Taylor and Dane, however we didn't get any pictures with them, so I will just describe the time we had together... We ate, talked, laughed, and rubbed Taylor's cute belly!
She really liked that straw...

After Utah, my parents came back to AZ with us and we went and visited my great grandma. Again, I didn't get any pictures with my parents but this is Kennedy's great great grandma who is almost 100 yrs. old! She is the most tender and precious grandma ever. She has tons of scriptures and all the prophets memorized in order.
Maybe next time I get together with my family I will take pictures of them WITH Kennedy instead of just her...

Another post about Kennedy...

2010-07-12T14:00:00.000-07:00

I figure, since Nate works all day, and I just stay at home with Kennedy, we are pretty boring people to blog about. But Kennedy on the other hand, is so stinken cute and fun that I thought the whole wide world would LOVE to see some more cute pictures of her. So here they are.

Her hair is growing very nicely, I sometimes get a little bit too excited and can't wait for it to get longer to actually fit in these piggy tails.

Kennedy has graduated to a sitting up car seat (facing backwards), so she now has to sit in the shoping carts everywhere we go. So I made this cover and it has turned out to be pretty multi-functional.

She LOVES to drink water from a spray bottle. One day, it was 115 degrees here, and I thought she might want to cool off, so I sprayed her with water and she was in heaven! (I might have gotten the idea from a certain seminary teacher, except instead of punishing her for not knowing her scripture mastery, it was just for fun.)

I just can't get enough of her! She is so beautiful and funny! I love being a mom!!!!

2 Years!

2010-06-28T15:00:00.000-07:00

Many moons ago, Nate and I were just friends. When I was in 10th grade, he and his family went on vacation to Hawaii and he came and visited me!
Almost 5 years after that visit, a bearded Nathan,

and a onsie wearing me, fell in love,

and got married!

Happy 2 years Nate! I love you!!!

Pink Eye

2010-06-24T14:47:00.001-07:00

So the other day I noticed Kennedy's eyes were kinda pink and had some really green, slimy boogies, so like every other time she has a boogie (in her nose or her eye), I picked it. 10 minutes later, it was back. So I wiped it again. This continued for a couple hours, so I thought... "oh great, my child has pink eye and Nate and I are going to get it too!!" So I called the doctor to get her in to get some "pink eye drops"

Here is what she looked like before we went to the doctor

Pink, watery, boogery eyes...

So while we were waiting for the doctor, I noticed her eye was starting to swell quite significantly.

Exhibit A:

So the Dr. checked out her eyes and said it was pink eye and prescribed some drops. When I got home, I attempted putting the eye drops in. After a lot of wrestling to keep her arms and legs from kicking me in the throat and trying to open her screaming, squinted eyes, I got the drops in. By now, the swelling was pretty bad...

Exhibit B:

I knew her eyes would be nasty and crusted shut in the morning, so I went in while she was sleeping and tried to get some of the crusty-ness off with some cotton balls. It did absolutely nothing. In the morning, when she woke up, I could tell she was trying to open her eyes, but they were so crusted she couldn't open them. It was so cute to see her with her eyebrows up, trying to open her eyelids and looking around trying to figure out what was going on.

Here is what she looked like when she woke up.

Not normal...

I've had pink eye before and all that happened to me was itchy, red, boogery eyes... no swelling. So I looked online to see if maybe pink eye in a baby was a little different... nope. Pink eye is the same for everyone. So I called the Dr. and said something is wrong with her eyes, so they told me to go the ER.... THE ER?! It's THAT serious? Is she going to be blind?!?!?! (those are just a few of the thoughts that went through my head.)

At the hospital they gave her a shot of antibiotics and some Benadryl to help with the swelling then they sent me home with some medicine and a different pink eye cream to give her instead of the drops that she apparently is allergic to.

Now the swelling is gone, and she is looking semi normal again...

(minus the hemorrhage in her eye ball)

Thank you insurance for taking care of all the bills!!

Hello

2010-06-22T11:13:00.000-07:00

Here's whats happening with Kennedy...
She can sit up for hours. She LOVES it! (as long as there are some toys or a baby einstine on)

This is one of her best friends, Titan.

They really like hanging out together.

This is her FAVORITE toy (the crushed water bottle).

She always puts her hands behind her head like this, and I think it's really cute.

She still can't roll from her tummy to her back. She still has no teeth. She is not scooting in any way shape or form. But she does have the cutest laugh in the whole entire world, she hardly ever cries, she goes to sleep at 7pm and wakes up at 8am, and she LOVES to cuddle! I love being a mom and spending my days with such a cute baby!!!!!

New ring!

2010-06-15T09:10:00.000-07:00

When Nate and I were talking about getting married and looking at rings, a guy I worked with told me about "this guy" that can get us an AWESOME deal on rings. So naturally, we went to "this guy" and got a pretty good deal on a diamond and ring. In the 2 years I've had the ring, I've had to get it re sized, sautered, re dipped, and had a prong fixed that was coming loose. Since we got it from said guy for such a great price, there was no warranty on it, no "come in every 6 months to get your ring re dipped, and checked out". A few weeks ago, I noticed my ring catching on everything. After a quick examination, ANOTHER prong was coming loose. So I haven't been wearing it for a while. So I went to a jeweler to see how much it would cost to get it fixed.... about $100. So we decided it might be cheaper (in the long run) to trade in my ring from "that guy" and get a ring from a jeweler so we could have repairs done for free. SOOOOoooo, with our 2 year anniversary right around the corner, Nate surprised me with a brand new wedding ring!

The old...

and the new...

Bakini Baby!

2010-06-11T12:09:00.001-07:00

We took Kennedy swimming yesterday... and took pictures...

I'm pretty sure I have the cutest baby ever.

Projects and Memorial Day

2010-06-01T08:27:00.001-07:00

Last week we moved to a new apartment. Two days after we moved in, Nate went to Texas to help his parents pack up their house and drive all their stuff down to Mesa. While he was gone, Kennedy and I were busy decorating the new pad and finding projects to keep us busy... I decided to go to Jo Ann's one day to get some fabric to cover some chairs we have, and I ended up leaving with a ton of extra fabric for about 5 more projects, one of which was a dress for Kens. I thought I could just look at a dress she already has and just kind of eye ball it instead of getting any sort of pattern.

I thought it turned out pretty good for not having any pattern.... but then I put it on Kennedy...
It ended up being just a little bit too small but I was determined to get it on her... so I did... with lots of squeezing and pulling, she was in, but there was no getting out. I had to cut it off. So that project is kaput. As for the other projects, I will be getting patterns so I don't waist any more fabric!

Anyways, Nate is back, Kennedy is sick and teething, and we are loving our new place.

Here are a few pictures from our memorial day/ Hadley's birthday festivities...

Our pasty white family.

Bikini baby

Uncle Jason trying to get Kens hooked on DP

She was too pooped to poop by the end of the day

Thanks for the pictures Amy!

videoooooos

2010-05-12T14:35:00.000-07:00

I just thought I'd share these videos of Kennedy.

She's adorable.
She can blow bubbles.

And she can fall asleep in her bumbo.

Not so little anymore...

2010-05-03T09:14:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that in just 5 months Kennedy has gone for this itsie bitsie, skin and bone baby...

to this hunka chunka!
Ok... So...In the picture below, you can see my car seat cover... pretty feminine right? Well, in the past people used to think Kennedy was a boy, and they'd say "oh he's so cute! how old is he?" HELLO PEOPLE! If it was a boy do you really think he'd be rockin this car seat cover? I don't think so... so last week, we went and got her ears pierced. Kennedy was a champ. She cried for about 30 seconds and that was it...

This is right after we got it done.
Now people won't be getting this blinged out baby girl confused for a Mr.
Here are just a few pictures of what some might consider the cutest baby in the world.

5 Months

2010-04-20T15:16:00.000-07:00

Here's the latest with our fammmmmmily... Kennedy is now 5 months old. Nate is 24 and I'm still 23.

Kennedy loves her play dates with Lilly and Titan.

This is her post-nap stretch...

looks very satisfying huh?

For Easter we watched conference and had dinner with Nate's sister Amy and her hubbs Chase. We were very uncelebrative because we were lazy. But this is our Easter baby.

We also went to the Easter pageant on the windiest day of the year... so naturally we bundled Kens up in her Russian hat.

Kennedy also likes to take naps in hampers.
For another play date we went to freestone park with Emily and Titan.... Our days are so hard, trying to figure out what to do with all our time...
Also, I don't know if you already knew, but Kennedy has a sweet Mohawk.
And here we are today... Kennedy is now sleeping 12 whole hours at night, and we've dropped some feedings... she is the happiest baby and is so giggly and talkative. She has also just discovered her tongue... she LOVES sticking it out and blowing bubbles.
I have the cutest daughter EVER! I can't get enough of her. She is so much fun to spend everyday with!

Chubby Baby

2010-03-24T16:09:00.000-07:00

So here's the latest....
Kennedy is a DOLL!!!! She has the chubbbiest cheeks and I love them!!!!
I am so happy i was able to capture this face.
Nate is the best dad. He always does a great job babysitting.

One day we took my niece, Irelyn to the zoo.
It was a lot of fun... although... I don't know who had more fun, Irelyn or Nate...

Kennedy LOVES being outside and flying.
She also loves taking showers and baths.
I love that I have gotten so many cute hand-me-downs (Thanks Phanelb!) to dress my personal doll up in. Nate and Kens always look so good on Sundays!

Now... Kennedy is an awesome baby. She eats plenty, she sleeps great and is generally always happy... I think she is so stinken cute when she sleeps, and I know Nate and I are not the only parents that watch their kids sleep... So I thought I'd share some of these cute moments... She starts off like this...
and ends like this...
and this...
and this...
and this...
and this...
And This... She's under there.... you can see her fingers by her binki
and this...
sometimes she sleeps in our bed... so I just have to make my bed around her.
Kennedy is getting cuter and cuter every day. I LOVE that I get to stay home with her and spend so much time with her. I am so grateful I have a husband that is willing to work to support his family so I can stay home and take care of Kens. I have the best husband in the world!!!

Trip to Utah

2010-02-26T08:15:00.000-08:00

Kennedy went on her first trip last week. We drove up to Utah with Owen and Alyssa and stayed for a week with my sister Lydia. I planned to go that week because Lydia was supposed to have her baby. Her first two kids came 2 and 3 weeks early so I thought the week before she was due was the golden week to visit so I could be there when she had the baby. To my dismay, she had her baby the day after I left :(. But all in all it was such a fun trip. We helped my sister Emily move into her new house, went out to eat, got our nails done, went to jumping jax, stayed up late watching the Olympics, stayed up late talking, did some crafts, ate lots of food and did lots of sisterly things... It was so much fun seeing my mom and my sisters again.

Here are a few pictures from the trip...
Kaitlyn loves to dance... She's really good at holding her leg up doggy style.

Grandma with Kaitlyn, Kennedy and Kenzie

Grandma reading to the girls while Kennedy just listened.

Baby Kennedy with Kenzie.

almost a smile from baby Kennedy.

I love this girl!!!

Recently people have been telling me that Kennedy looks a lot like Nate...
...I don't see it...

The Haps

2010-01-27T09:40:00.000-08:00

We finally have internet again!! When we moved into this apartment, someone had a wireless connection that was unprotected, so we gratefully used it everyday... until they either put a password on, or moved. So we went a few weeks with no internet... but now... we are proud owners of our very own internet connection.

As of recent, Nate has been working at Banner Baywood hospital. I have been staying at home with this cute bug...
While Nate is at work from 8-5... we just play all day! She has got the NICEST double chin I have ever seen.
watch it grow...

wait for it...
(Nate thinks she looks like she should be singing "we represent the lollipop guild")

wait for it...
BAM!
That is my daughter... Nice and plump.

She is so much fun! She can hold her head up now all by herself, she's starting to baby talk and smile a whole lot more...
She's really not all that flabby... just somedays her double chin is bigger than others...

... this day it was bigger...

For Christmas I got Nate tickets to the Suns game...we sat in the tippy top section with Jason and Krystal.

We thought it would be appropriate to sport some Suns attire, so I got Nate this jersey from WalMart.... he and about 327 other people had the same one... we had fun counting every little boy and girl that had it on.
The Suns lost that game... just like every other game of the season... but it was still a lot of fun.

Hospital

2009-12-30T13:12:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday we had to take Kennedy to the hospital because she had a fever of 101.1. Kennedy had been acting really weird all day. I could wake her up to eat but she'd fall asleep eating and when I would try to wake her up she would just scream. So I decided to just let her sleep thinking "maybe she's just growing" how awful of a mother can I be!? Thinking my baby's so sleepy because she's growing when she's deathly ill... By 8 pm, when it was time for her to eat, she was awake but she would not eat anything. Normally she is READY to eat every 3 hours, but this feeding she would not eat. We had also noticed her feeling really warm so we decided to take her temperature. It was around 99 so I called all my sisters to see what to do. I finally called my Dr. and she had me take her temp in her bum which was 100.2. She said that technically wasn't a fever (.2 degrees away) so we should just watch her to see if it gets worse but we decided to take her to the ER anyways just to be safe. When we got there, they took her temp and it was 101.1 so they rushed her back to start testing for everything... they drew blood and put a catheter in... it was so sad watching her go through all the poking... Kennedy was so lethargic though she didn't cry at all up tho this point. So the only way to test for meningitis is through a spinal tap so the Dr.'s attempted to get spinal fluid 3 times but were unsuccessful. I didn't want to be in the room for the spinal taps but Nate said he has never seen her cry so hard before... anyways, we were transferred to the pediatric hospital and Kennedy and I got to ride in the ambulance... Once we got there they started her on antibiotics and her fever broke the the next day ... but we had to stay an extra 2 days to wait for all the test results to come back. Luckily all the tests came back negative...

This is her after she got all her blood drawn with her plastic cast that holds the iv in place.

Her hospital cage/crib.She would whack her face with her cast so her face was all sorts of scratched.

This is a picture of Kennedy a few days before we went to the hospital...This is her the day we left the hospital... she was treated real good... ate like a queen!
Also... while we were there I was able to catch a little giggle on video...

This is our healthy Kennedy today. She is growing SOOO fast!

Christmas and Blessing

2009-12-29T14:07:00.000-08:00

Our first Christmas with baby Kennedy was so much fun! We got to spend Christmas morning with Dawn and her family and Owen and Alyssa then we got to go to Nate's parents with his family then we got to go do our own Christmas at our little apartment. It was a busy morning but it was a lot of fun!

Our first Christmas family photo!Kennedy put on her Christmas best...
Santa brought Nate tickets to the Suns game... he was stoked.

Dawn got Kennedy a life size sunflower doll... she loves it
Sunday we blessed Kennedy. My parents weren't able to come but my mom sent me the dress I was blessed in and that's the dress we blessed Kennedy in.
These are the professional shots we got of her in her dress...

The gents that blessed her...

I can't believe how fast she is growing up! It is so much fun being a mom!!! I love that my husband will work so I can stay home and do mommy things with my daughter... feed her, change her diapers, hold her, watch her sleep, etc... I am so grateful for my awesome family!!!

Kennedy's photo shoot!

2009-12-02T16:44:00.000-08:00

Kennedy is now 2 weeks old and weighs a whopping 6 lbs!
She is the best baby in the world!!!
I love it when she holds my finger tight. I love it when she stops crying once I hold her close to me. I love all the cute faces she makes. I love all her little baby grunts and noises. I love the way her whole body goes limp when she is asleep. I love watching Nate hold her. I love falling asleep with her in my arms...I absolutely LOVE being a mom!

She's Here!!!

2009-11-18T15:54:00.000-08:00

Kennedy Lynn Payne
11/15/09
5 lb. 6 oz., 19 in.

Here's how it all went down. Sunday Morning, I played my violin at Phanelbs primary program at 8 am. 11 am I go to church and as I am sitting in sacrament, I notice what I think to be contractions happening every 20 minutes or so. Last time I went to the Dr. he said sitting at church you'd probably notice more Braxton Hicks just sitting. So all through church I am keeping track of how often I'm feeling this. Come the last hour, they are happening every 10-15 minutes. So I go home and see if these are the real thing. These pains in my belly are coming every 10 minutes so I call Dawn, Mom, Lydia and Emily to see what their contractions felt like and just ask a million questions. They all gave me their rendition of their experiences and told me what to expect and what I should do and bring to the hospital. So Nate and I went on a walk to see if we could get the contractions to start happening closer together, when we got home, I took a shower thinking, "If I do go into labor, it'd be nice to be clean..." So, at 7 pm I took a shower. As I am washing the conditioner out of my hair.... my water broke.... I get out of the shower, and tell Nate and he is completely shocked. I get dressed and get my things and we head to the hospital. By 7:45 I was in triage having very painful contractions every 5 minutes. 1 hour later, with contractions happening every second the nurses said in order to get the epidural, I had to wait another 30 minutes for my blood to be tested because my blood pressure was so high when I got into triage. So they check and see how far along I am, and at this point, I am 4 cm and fully effaced. Those 30 minutes waiting for the epidural.... I can't even remember, I just know I was in a lot of pain... I finally get to sit on the edge of the bed to get the epidural which ended up taking 30 minutes to put in... mind you, you cannot move while your getting this done and it is nearly impossible to not move while your contracting... So 9:45 the epidural is in and I tell the nurses I am still feeling a lot of pain on my right side so they lay me on my side to see if gravity will help it get to my right side.... at this point, I tell the nurses " uhhhh I have to push NOW". They check me and sure enough I'm ready to go.... They wheel me into labor and delivery and there is one nurse in there setting up the room and I'm telling her, "I have to push NOW!!!!!" She comes over to me and puts my legs into position and I push about 3 times, then my dr. came in and I pushed maybe 2 more times and she popped out! 15 minutes after they finished putting the epidural in, when I should have started to feel the relief from the drugs, I had already had the baby.... She was born at 10:01pm.
Nate was so sweet to me the entire time. Throughout the entire pregnancy, he told me he was not going to watch anything and just hold my hand... but he actually watched the entire thing. He said everything just happened so fast and before he knew it, the dr. handed him some scissors and he was cutting the cord.... and That my friends is the story of Kennedy being brought into the world....
Here are some of the pictures from my sister Dawn who came to support...

This was a very emotional time... for all three of us...

Nate is a DAD!
We love just looking at our daughter.

Halloween

2009-11-07T09:09:00.001-08:00

Halloween was a ton of spoooOOOoooky fun this year. A couple days before Halloween we had a little party with some of our friends and made caramel apples with crushed Oreo's and had a pumpkin carving contest...

Nate, his brother Jason and his friends Sean and Brodie made dry ice bombs (those are pumpkins in their hands, not dry ice bombs...)
Jason and Krystal
Sean and Erin
And the whole group with our carved pumpkins

Now onto Halloween night...
Nate was "A spooOoky daughter sitting on a wall"
And my belly was Humpty Dumpty sitting on a wall... (we wanted to do some sort of theme and this was the best we could come up with)

We had another little get together with our friends Sean (the peanut man) and Erin (her mother in the 80's)

We played games with a whole bunch of couples and watched a spooOoky movie. It was a ton of fun having people to do something with since we are too old to trick or treat.

Since Halloween, Nate and I have been doing little projects around the apt, getting things ready for baby....

We just redid this old cabinet door with lots of help from Phanelb...

and I've been making little bows and this little tutu to play dress ups with once she gets here.
Speaking of dress ups... you will not want to miss out on the Christmas photo shoot we plan on having with Kennedy... we have THE PERFECT Christmas ensemble just waiting for her!!

In other news.... Nate has an interview for grad school on the 20th that we are VERY excited for. This school is only 2 miles away from our little place and is Nate's top choice of schools to go to.

Belly PIctures

2009-10-30T08:45:00.000-07:00

Since I've been pregnant, I have not been too avid about taking pictures of myself, or seeing myself in any pictures for that matter. I find that when I look in the mirror, I look totally normal. Maybe a little plumper in some areas ie. the face, arms, butt, legs, hands and feet, but I feel normal. However.... once I have a picture taken, my world gets shaken by disgust. DO I REALLY LOOK LIKE THAT?!?!?!! DAAAAANNNNGGGG!!!! I just don't understand how a camera can seem to capture every chin that's hiding and make my face look even more plump and round. This has been the cause of very few pregnancy pictures and even less with my face included in the picture.
This is at about 29 weeks.

This is around 34 weeks. Please disregard the hideous double chin.

This is 36 weeks.
As you can see my fingers look like tootsie rolls. They are huge... along with my feet...

Pregnancy is awesome though. Although I no longer have ankles, my fingers and feet have doubled in size, and I no longer have any feeling in my fingertips...it is so much fun feeling our little girl move all over, pushing out her cute little bum... (at the last Dr. apt we were told her exact position and she's ready to head out...) Nate and I are SO excited for her to come into the world so we can play with her!

Blanket

2009-09-19T08:57:00.000-07:00

I don't really do much now that I'm not working and not going to school. So, one day Nate's mom and I went out to Sally's and Jo Ann's to get some fabric to make a blanket for the babe... and here it is!

Family, Wedding, Baby and Graduation!

2009-09-06T10:21:00.000-07:00

Nate and I are officially residents of Arizona! Our first week here was the wedding... it was so much fun having the whole family here and a huge house that we could all hang out at together.

I am so happy that Owen is married now... could anyone be more perfect for him? They are so stinken cute!!
... and the "Allen" skateboard designed by Emily and my dad was AWESOME!

A couple days before the wedding we had a little bridal shower for Alyssa that lasted about 10 minutes...
After the bridal shower was a baby shower for me...
That too lasted only a few minutes... but it was so much fun!
Me, Lydia and Phanelb...
Cherry and Sarah
Sue, Alyssa and Stacy
Emily, Shelley, Phanelb and Grandma
Lydia, Sherri and my mom... Dawn was the one taking all the pictures and helping with presents so the only picture she's in is helping Alyssa... Thanks for doing everything Dawn!

After the the girl time and showers was.... GRADUATION!!! Nate and I did not want to walk at BYU's graduation because we felt like it would be one whole day of waiting and standing up for ever, and sitting down for ever (being pregnant, it's either my back hurting from sitting, or my feet hurting from standing up) so a whole day of that did not sound too appealing, so... there was a mini graduation for me and Nate.
My dad, Cherry and Phanelb were there to present our deplomas

This mini graduation was all I could have ever wanted from a graduation ceremony. Quick, easy, and all about us!

It was so nice having everyone there to celebrate so many different things. My grandma was so thoughtful to throw the bridal shower, baby shower and graduation party while the whole family was in town. It was such a fun day of partying!

So now that all the excitement is over... We are just trying to get established. We are living with Nate's parents in there little apartment, sleeping in their closet... Harry Potter style... Nate has been looking for phlebotomy jobs all over the place and in the mean time has been doing some landscaping and some house work for the main house part of his parents apartment. Life right now is very up in the air... so we are just enjoying this time we have that we can say we are penniless and living in a closet... how many people do you know can say they live in a closet?

Food Storage...

2009-08-08T14:06:00.000-07:00

So, Nate and I are going to be moving down to Mesa in about a week. Since we have been living in Provo, we have been blessed to live next to such a gracious sister, Lydia, who lets us do laundry at her house whenever we need to. Last November, Lydia purchased 2 pretty big food storage units and about 50 boxes of canned food to go on those units. Since then, the frame of those units had been put together, but nothing more. Boxes of food, and all the shelves still had to be assembled. Since Nate and I are moving soon, I thought, "hey, we don't have any boxes to move with, and these food storage boxes would be PERFECT!" I also thought it would be kinda fun to do... so... I decided to put together the remaining shelves and put all the food on those units so we could use the boxes.

Little did I know what kind of project I was taking on....

So about 2 days ago while we were doing laundry at Lydia's, I decided to tackle the food storage basement.... to make the long story short... it took me about 2 attempts to get all the bars in the right holes, and probably a good 45 minutes to figure out where to put the big medium and small racks. Once that was all situated, I began opening all the boxes of food to determine how many big medium and small cans of food there were.... 50 boxes later... I realize they are all big cans! there are no medium or small cans, so I thought, well... maybe the little cans are inside the big cans..... yeah right.... so a few phone calls later, I find out Lydia purchased two different sets of food storage... So I load up ALL the racks and plastic things in the huge boxes they came in and took them all the way back to Lindon... (this is pretty far away from lydias house, so it was a 2 day ordeal) Then... after getting all the right racks and sizes of everything, I was ready to start the entire process OVER....

3 hours later...

It's done!!! and categorized very nicely if I do say so myself... and now Nate and I have oodles of boxes to move with!

Creativity Project

2009-08-05T11:37:00.000-07:00

So for my very last class of college ever... I had to come up with a final project to show my understanding of history and creativity. So, with some help from my mother... this is what we came up with...
To you, it might just look like some meaningless scribbles... but what you might not know, is that this is music... yes, music. Let me tell you...
I taped some paper to a wall in my small apartment, I rubber banded a marker to my forearm, and played my violin. These markings you see are the movements my arm makes when I play my violin. Cool huh? I know.... Thanks for the idea mom!

Yellowstone

2009-07-28T20:47:00.000-07:00

Over the 4th of July weekend, Nate and I drove up to Rexburg with his parents to hang out with Amy and Chase. We had a ton of fun. We played Frisbee in a beautiful park where a fire truck was spraying it's hose to make it feel like rain. We played lots of cards and ate lots of good food... One day we drove to Yellowstone and spent the day driving around looking at all the animals and beautiful scenery.

We saw tons of bison up close and personal...

We went to some steamin holes...
Amy and Chase are so cute and fun!
Mama and Papa Payne are hard core...
And this is just one of the many beautiful pictures we captured with our awesome photography skills...

Now... just a quick update on baby Payne... She's growing... which makes me happy... everyday I'm looking more pregnant and not just like a huge fatty. Now... if I do say so myself, I am just getting cuter and cuter the more my belly grows, so being pregnant is pretty much the best thing that has ever happened to me.

Our new blog

2009-07-19T20:07:00.000-07:00

This is the new blog. The old one, www.stephaniefina.blogspot.com , is gone!

OUR BABY GIRL!

2009-07-13T14:57:00.000-07:00

We are having a baby girl!!

This picture is of her bum. the arrow is between her legs pointing at her private part.

Side profile with her arm by her face.
An attempt at a 3D picture... you can see her right eye and her open mouth... at the bottom of the orange blob...

We are so happy to know our baby is healthy and growing strong. (since i still haven't felt any movement, i was scared there would be no baby in me and the dr. would tell me i was just getting fat). Our new due date according to the ultra sound is December 1st!

1 Year

2009-06-28T08:04:00.000-07:00

The first year of marriage... most people say it's the hardest... if that's the case, the rest of my life is going to be a piece of cake!

I'd like us all to take a moment and enjoy this brief photo montage of our first year of marriage...

The wedding...

All the wonderful trash from moving in the day after we got home from the honeymoon, (forgot to take the camera on the honeymoon = no pictures of honeymoon)

Our first very windy 4th of July together
Nate's sister Amy's wedding
My first visit to the zoo

Our wonderful Disneyland tripOur first Christmas together

Our first snowman on the back of our car
Easter
First and only time hiking the YOur early calibration of our anniversary in Vegas
And now a baby!
One year down... a million more to go!

Aloha!

2009-06-05T14:14:00.000-07:00

Here's an update on the lives of us...

The baby is cooking pretty well. I feel like I'm very paranoid about everything I do. I always wonder, are these pains in my stomach normal? Is it normal for my stomach to hurt if I stretch it? I don't know if I can really avoid sleeping on my back at night, but I try... I just don't know!! Anyways, we have our next Dr. on the 15th and hopefully we will be scheduling our ultrasound to find out what we are having!

School...
There are only 6 more days of school left in the Spring term. THEN I'M DONE WITH COLLEGE!!!!!!! Nate, on the other hand, still has 6 days and then another 6 more weeks till he is done. We are very very excited to move on, get to Mesa and start our cute little family!

Nate volunteers with 4H... not too sure what it stands for... Last weekend they had a luau! It made me miss Hawaii a lot and all the sunshine and the ocean... Anyways, we were in charge of the bowling station and had a ton of fun! We were all decked out hard core...

We're having a baby!!!

2009-05-07T07:58:00.000-07:00

This is our baby so far!!! 10 weeks and 2 days. It may look like a massive nose, but...... it's the baby's arms. We are SOOOoooooooOOOO excited!!!!!

VEGAS!!

2009-05-05T11:24:00.000-07:00

Since Nate is going to be in school June 28th, we decided to have our 1 year anniversary a little early. SoooOOOooooOOOoooooooooOOOOOOOOO.... WE WENT TO VEGAS!!! We stayed at the South Point hotel which was about 2 miles south of the strip. It was AMAZING! We got a coupon book when we checked in for some free meals, free souvenir from the gift shop, free popcorn, free bowling, etc. We had a HUGE movie theater on the top floor of our hotel AND a 36 lane bowling ally. And this here... was our cute hotel room.
Nate really wanted to go to the aquarium so... we went.

We saw sharks...
a huge octopus...
We got to pet a manaray...
They are really slimy
We saw some cool looking fish...
And we are so stinken cute...
Then... we went to the movie theater at our hotel and saw 17 again. and we were the only people in the entire theater...
So... naturally, we had some fun.
We then went bowling... it was $1 a game after midnight so we stayed up till about 2 am bowling. Nate won... but not by much...
Perfect form.
This at the miracle mile. We thought we were cool for taking this picture that looks like we are outside, in the middle of the afternoon, when we were actually inside at like 9 at night.
We took lots of pictures.
When it's just the two of us, there are not too many poses we can choose from for pictures.
We watched the water show, and fell in love all over again...
It was beautiful.

We got some smoothies and found this awesome wall..
My husband is so stinken cute!!!

So that is our photo montage of our trip to Vegas. Since then... we have started Spring term. MY LAST 6 WEEKS OF SCHOOL EVER!!!!!!!! We went to the Dr. to hear the heart beat of our little fetus, but they couldn't find it, SO... I am going in for an ultrasound this week to make sure everything is ok. Now that we are in school again... our lives are boring again.

Nii che

2009-04-17T19:10:00.000-07:00

Winter semester is OVER!!!!! WAAAAHOOO!!!! well, only a few more finals, then it's over for good. My cute husband got me this beautiful flower for Easter because he lovvves me :)

Over the Easter weekend, we went to Lydia's house to decorate eggs and have a little pin the puff on the bunny contest... (lyida won). We had our own little Easter celebration which consisted of small baskets full of candy and 6 eggs hidden. very well.

On Easter Sunday, Nate and I helped Owen propose to Alyssa. We hiked the Y for the first and only time. If it weren't for Owen wanting to propose up there, Nate and I probably never would have hiked that bloody mountain. Straight up THE ENTIRE time... Nothing really to look at while your walking... but when you get to the top, it's pretty nice to see everything in Provo.

We hid in some non-bushy bushes and took some pictures of all the action... they are so cute!

Now... my big brother is getting married! And I can't wait!!!
While Nate and I stay in Provo to finish up the last bit of school, Owen, Alyssa, Lydia, Dan, Kaitlyn and Makenzie are all leaving!!! It makes me so sad... We will miss them a lot...

Oh College

2009-03-25T12:54:00.000-07:00

Since my life is SO exciting and Nate and I are doing so much with our cute newlywed-selves, I thought I'd share a few of the luxuries we have as cute little college kids...

This is our book shelf that Nate put together from WalMart. As you see, on the left side there is a white little rectangle. That my friends... is our thermostat. Nate every so craftily cut out a perfect slot that is easy to reach and very accessible... but never gets used...

Through the bitter cold of Utah winter, this has been our means of heat. We do not turn on the heat... or the air... as our utility bill would be ridiculously high.

This cute little thing is the only storage space we have.

You might be asking yourself, "why in the world is there a picture of such a gross toilet on such a cute blog?" well, as we continue the tour through our cute little appartment luxuries, this one could not be overlooked. As you can see, our toilet has aged beautifully over the last 20 or so years... not only does it have this rustic look on the inside, but you have to hold the flusher down for 15-20 seconds if you want your potty to go all the way down.

You might recall from a few posts back my ranting and raving about "this awesome dresser we got from DI for $12!", well look at it now. Not so great anymore with no top drawer...

It is so much fun being married and living in this cute little appartment with Nate. We have been very comfortable here despite the fact we dont have dishwasher, or washer and dryer (Lydia is kind enough to let us bring our mountin of laundry over whenver we need to)... But with all the money we saved on our utility bill (along with a few side jobs of babysitting and teaching some dirty dancing)... we got ourselves something to make our appartment just a little bit better.

blue halu

2009-01-06T11:59:00.000-08:00

I thought it would be appropriate if I showed the world how excited our lives are as a cute married couple... This is the start of our birthday/Christmas adventure...
We made visors to wear while we were at Disneyland, just in case we got separated for some reason and had to quickly locate each other....
We ended up not wearing them. And this was the only picture we have with us in those beautiful visors...
So our flight was delayed multiple times so we decided to get on a different flight, which resulted in our only bag of clothes and toiletries getting lost. So this is what Delta gave us to accommodate for the inconvenience.
Since we had no clothes, and the sweat shirt i had on was quite thin, we went to the gift shop and picked up this little number....
Hott... I know... So, we walked to Disneyland from our hotel which was right around the corner and when we got to the front gate, we realized we had no tickets. So we ran back to the hotel with our eyes peeeeeeeled looking for some paper tickets on the ground... no use. So we re-printed our tickets, ran back to Disneyland only to find out that those tickets had already be used!!!!! I was pissed. So the lady that took our tickets told us to wait there for someone to come help us. About 30 minutes later, she just tells us to walk 10 steps over to guest services. There, the kind gentelman accused us of trying to get friends in for free by re-printing our tickets twice. I was livid... I told him that we had the credit card we used to pay for the tickets WITH our ID but this nincanpoop said there was no possible way of tracking what tickets were perchased with what credit card. So, I said to him I says, so we are pretty much screwed and just lost $300?!?! Sure enough, all he had to say was, "yeah, pretty much". All of this just so happened to be on my 22nd birthday. Disneyland definantly was NOT the happiest place on earth that day. So, we decide to just go back to our hotel and sulk for a little bit. After a few phone calls to my entire family, we decied to just walk around since we had NOTHING else to do. As we were walking, we just so happened to pass a fine man mowing the lawn of a hotel. In doing such, a nice dirt chuck FLYS out of the lawn mower and hits me!!! RIGHT IN THE FACE!!! I wasn't even mad. Nate and I just laughed.... ANYWAYS....... later that day, our luggage came and broke on the way up the stairs... (the icing on the cake, I know...) the lady in our lobby ended up selling us tickets to Disneyland and we actually saved $30! so, after we got our luggage, we decided to change our almost 3 day old underwear and went to Cheesecake Factory for my birthday dinner....
We walked everywhere becuase everything was so close to our hotel.
DISNEYLAND!!!! We finally made it... and this was the first ride... Indian Jones... and guess who was the driver... ME!!!

Almost all the pictures we have are either Nate or I holding the camera taking pictures of ourselves... we took pictures on every ride, but since the situation was such, you can't tell which ride is which since it is pretty much just our faces in the pictures. But, we finally got someone to take our picture at the famous road thats not really a road.
Christmas Mickey and Minnie!
This is at the bottom of Tarzan's tree house.
M-I-C...see you real soon... K-E-Y...why? becuase we like you... M-O-U-S-E!!!!!!
It's a Small World. (About as creative as I get when it comes to editing pictures... a little blur on the edge)
MARRY POPPINS!!!!!!! We were exhausted at this point but once I saw who it was, I WAS SO EXCITED!!!
We went home after being there for 7 hours took a little nap-ski and came back for the fireworks.
Now, we are back in Provo... and it has be POURING snow!!!
We went to build a snowman with Kaitlyn and Lydia but we just ended up kicking the snow around at each other and making snow angels... Lydia left me in charge of dressing Kaitlyn for the snow and I didn't realize I had put her hat on backwards... that's why it looks so awesome...
I AM SO ACCIDENT PRONE!!!! So one day after getting out of the shower, I was putting on my lotion as normal and once I was done with my legs, I stood up right into the corner of the cabnet I had apparently left open.

I got a staple. Owen thinks I'm a complete sissy...

Next, I burnt my had on Lydia's oven pulling out the pizzas for Makenzies birthday party.

THEN on Sunday, I was walking to the car with Nate, in my high heels, in our ice rink of a parking lot... and sliped and got owned... I was ready to just go to church, but Nate thought it would be best to clean up the bloody mess. These are the awesome cupcakes Lydia and I made for the party...
Nate and I play in the snow!!!!
We built a snowman on the back of our car.

And thats it. That is our life.

hey... LOOK!!!

2008-11-23T20:03:00.000-08:00

Hey Look... AN UPDATE!!!!!

In August... Nate's sister got married in Logan...

We went to Houston to visit Nate's parents and we went to a museum!

Then we went to conference.
... And took pictures...
This is just us... being cute...
Then it was Halloween and we carved a pumpkin.
We make sugar cookies and decorate them.
THEN.........
We went to the ZOO!!!
It's a bear...
Nate is cute.
I'm pretty sure this was my first time to the zoo.... it was fun.
Then Nate found a dog.

That is what we have been up to since the last time I updated. I can't wait to go to Texas for Thanksgiving!!! We are putting our birthday and Christmas presents together and we are going to DISNEY LAND!!!! I can't remember the last time I went there. Then we are going to Mesa for Christmas!!! I love the holiday's!!!

We Are So Cute...

2008-08-18T14:50:00.000-07:00

So Nate and I have been married for almost 2 months now. Nuts? I KNOW!!! Time is FLYING!!! So, a few weekends ago Nate called me on his way home from school and told me he needed some help with the car and he needed me to come down and help him. So I went down to the street to go help him, but he wasn't there. So I came back into the apartment and he had tricked me and surprised me with these....
I have the cutest husband ever! So to begin our date night, we went to the temple and we were the witness couple. It was so awesome!

After our temple date, we drove to Sandy and ate at Texas Road House. I had never been there before... it was SOOOOOOOOOO good. They have such good, fluffy, soft, hot, buttery bread with this cinnamon butter... (my mouth is so watery right now just thinking about it!) The food we got was really good too. Then we went and saw The Mummy at this HUGE cinnaplex place. We had such a good time. I love that my husband takes me on dates.

So, after our date night, the next day we went on a hike to Stewart Falls. It was a really nice pretty hike. It was about 2 miles to the falls. The water was SO incredibly cold, but it was a lot of fun.