Baker Family

Kelton Turns Two

2010-09-23T14:04:00.000-07:00

well i'm a little behind on this post but last friday, the 17th, kelton turned two years old. my little stubborn toddler is growing up so fast. yes, kelton is definitely one who knows what he wants and will let you know the way he wants it. his favorite place to be is outside. he brings me his shoes at 7 in the morning when he wakes up to go "side" (his word). his favorite person is brixley. he is always concerned for him and bringing me his blanket, pacifier, and diaper. he gives him kisses constantly. he loves to play with cars and phones. he loves to eat hot dogs, fishys, grapes, apples, yogurt, and anything sweet. he has tons of energy and is a tough little boy. i love my sweet boy kelton, happy birthday.

mikenna and andon enjoyed picking toys out for kelton and wrapping them. they spent the night all playing with his new things.

kelton wasnt much impressed with his cake. he didnt know what to do, even when we tried to show him how to blow out candles, he just sat there.

at first he didnt even care to eat his cake, he was more interested in his new car

he finally ate the frosting and enjoyed it.

also on friday night, we went to the bullard high school football game where mikenna was marching and performing with the bullard belles drill team (my sister jordann is on the drill team)

andon and kelton before the game cheering on mikenna and jordann

mikenna ready to perform

before she starts

marching around the field

performing her stuff, she had a lot of fun and we loved watching her.

Brixley's Blessing

2010-09-08T12:30:00.000-07:00

last sunday was brixley's blessing. he was so good and was given a wonderful blessing from his daddy. it was great to have our family there for support.

here is my precious brixley

all the kids together before church

john and i with our little one

and finally our first family picture since brixley's birth. and trust me i have tried many times to get a picture but every time i do, it doesn't happen. still cant believe i have a family of 6, but definitely wouldn't change a thing.

Fun Times

2010-08-11T13:39:00.000-07:00

big boy brixley in the bathtub. you can see on the bottom right the scar from his surgery.

cute boys playing around

brixley sitting on the couch

i loved this shot. i laid him down and then found him like this asleep a few minutes later.

on monday brixley had a follow up appointment in dallas with the surgeon. so we decided to make it a fun weekend with the kids. brixley, by the way, had a chest x-ray at his check up and everythings looks perfect. he is doing great and we are so happy to have a healthy baby again.

we stayed in a hotel for two nights, which the kids found facinating, and we went to hurricane harbor (the six flags water park)

here are the kids looking out the window to downtown dallas. we were on the 22nd floor and the kids loved taking the fast elevator up and down.

brixley at the water park. he actually did very good there and enjoyed being in the water with us.

the three other kiddos excited to be around water

john and the three kids in the kids area swimming. it was so nice because there were three areas that had shallow water and the kids could walk around and play

towards the end of the day, the boys wanted to ride while we moved to different play areas. we had a fun time and it was nice to spend time with the family away from home.

E.R. Trip Turned Nightmare

2010-07-26T19:12:00.000-07:00

i had an every mothers nightmare experience with my little brixley. two thursday's ago on the 15th, my one month old baby was up at 2 am eating. it was not a normal feeding. brixley seemed uncomfortable and was fussy. after not eating much he threw up everything. i figured he had a stomach flew and would now feel better. well he didn't. all morning and day he barely ate and threw up after every feeding. i knew this was not normal so i called the pediatrician and i was going to take him in friday morning. i worried about him all day thursday and by 6 pm he was not getting better. his breathing had started to seem weird and i was debating whether to take him to the er. john got home that night about 8:30 and was holding brixley. he noticed his breathing was off too so we decided to take him in. i didn't want to have him sick through the night again while i waited to take him to the doctor in the morning.

at the er, the doctor said because he was so little they would test him for everything so we could find out what was causing his throwing up and shortness of breathe. they took his urine, his blood, and took chest xrays. if the xrays didn't show anything then they would have to do a spinal tap in his back.... the xrays came back and the doctor found that he could have pnemonia or possibly a diaphramatic hernia (dh). before he could explain to us what that was, i told him i had a dh when i was born (i was born with one and nearly died but had surgery 4 hours after being born to fix it a dh is a whole in your diaphram which allows your intestines to go up and affects your lungs which makes you cant breathe). immediately he said then that he was sure that is what brixley had. i was so shocked. i didn't even know that was genetic. apparently it is. the doctor had already called the children's hospital in dallas because they have a pediatric surgeon and that is what we needed. they told us brixley would be ambulenced to dallas. still shocked we made phone calls and got the other kids taken care of while we went for a journey to dallas. john left the hospital to go get us clothes and then met us at the children's hospital. i stayed with brixley to ride with him and waited to be transported. in the meantime my mom and dad came to the er and my dad gave brixley a blessing before we left.

we left at 12:30 am and it was the worst ride to dallas ever. it was bumpy, uncomfortable, i couldn't sleep, and i was so worried about my baby. here is a picture of him in the ambulence.

it hurts me still to see him like this and have to feel for him. he slept most of the way but whined every once in a while which was comforting to me to know he was still alive because i was scared. about 10 minutes away from the hospital the ambulence pulled over to check on brixley because his oxygen level went down. he was more pale and was breathing horrible. they put on the sirens and rushed the rest of the way. of course i am barely holding it together as we got there at around 2:15 am and the paramedic walked us in. the er had no clue where we came from but when they saw my poor baby, with no color, and hardly breathing they took him into the room and a doctor immediately started working on him. he asked me questions regarding what he had and where we came from. he then called for the critical care unit and within about 15 seconds, like ten doctors came rushing in. i totally lost it and just stood there balling not knowing whether my baby was going to live. a few minutes later the icu people from upstairs came down because they were expecting brixley. they had all the info from our er and the xrays and stuff. so now that everyone knew what was going on, i was still crying, had people trying to get my information, and i waited 20 minutes for john to arrive. the doctor had informed me he was going to put a tube down his mouth and take over his breathing for him. john finally got there and i was so disfunctional, i couldn't tell him what was going on... plus i didn't know much of his condition at this point. john looked in the room, saw brixley, then turned to me and said it doesn't look good. we just stood in the hallway crying. then a social worker comes and starts consuling us. so now we are real frieked out waiting for bad news. after some time the doctor finally comes to tell us they are moving him to the icu. his condition was not good but he was stable. watching them role him past us was another vision that was so hard to see. he was covered with a blanket but i saw his face and it was sad.

on the way upstairs they told us we would wait in the waiting room until they had brixley moved over and after the surgeon looked at him to decide what to do next. so we sat in silence waiting, still shocked that this was happening. in my mind i kept thinking, what if i had not took him in, what would have happened. and as hard as it was to not think about that, i had to remind myself that john and i had the inspiration to take him to the er and that he would be ok. at about 3:30 am, the nurse and surgeon came out and talked to us. brixley was improving and doing okay. he would have surgery to repair the hernia when he was in great condition. finally, we were a little at ease as we got the good news. we were able to go back in the room with brixley and be with him. we didn't sleep at all and now it was a waiting game. in the morning the surgeon came to see him. he was doing much much better and they scheduled his surgery for that day at noon. before the surgery john gave him a blessing, and again i cried as they rolled him away. i knew he would be okay but it was still hard. i got two phone calls during the 3 1/2 hours he was gone that everything was fine and brixley was doing great. when he came back to the room i felt okay taking a picture of him at this time. it is still a sad sight but it is the start of his recovery...

friday night, saturday, and sunday we waited around and watched as he grew stronger and stronger. through this time brixley was being weaned off the oxygen and breathing more on his own. sunday night was a big step. they took the tube out of his mouth, put a little oxygen through his nose and we were able to hold him for the first time since thursday night. in those days, he went from pale to more pink, he was swollen to being able to open his eyes, and he laid there helplessly to being awake and moving a bit more.

monday morning i was able to feed him and he was hungry. he was awake and alert most of the day and had his health improving so greatly. monday night they took out his chest tube. this was the last big step. now he was being watched to make sure he was eating, pooping, and breathing correctly. all his xrays from after the surgery were great and he was healing quickly.

tuesday morning we were moved out of the icu to the surgery floor. here i was able to feed and take care of brixley like normal. here he is off of all tubes and iv's.

we went home wednesday afternoon and it was so nice to be home. it's so strange how brixley went from healthy to sick literally overnight. and then from the er to dallas he went from sick to almost not living. he is our little miracle. the nurses and doctors cant believe he had been healthy from birth for a whole month with having a dh. and he recovered so well and quickly. but i know i am blessed to have brixley still here and healthy. he is still getting back to a normal routine since we've been home but i know he may still not feel 100%. we are so glad to be home and thank all those who prayed for brixley.

home and happy with his brothers and sister

Comparing Babies

2010-07-04T10:43:00.000-07:00

i have been looking through my old pictures on my computer and found all the baby ones of the boys so i wanted to compare my three boys and see who brixley looks like the most. what do you think?

andon at 2 weeks old

kelton at 3 weeks old

brixley at 2 weeks old

Brixley Pictures

2010-06-22T16:44:00.000-07:00

well it has been a week since i have had brixley so i thought i would post a few more pictures i have taken in the past couple of days. it so weird how different babies look from the hospital after only a week

i guess this isn't the best shot but i was trying to get a picture with his eyes open

oh, there are those beautiful eyes i was trying to see.

here he is awake and happy

big sister mikenna and brixley. she is so good with him and i know she will be such a big help as he gets bigger

big brother andon and brixley. it seems like every time andon wants to hold brixley, he cries

big brother kelton watching over brixley. he protects him while he is in his swing.

one of brixley's first sink baths.

brixley laying with daddy on father's day. you can only see john's hand but i still love the picture

here they are, my four favorite people. i love my kids. they are so precious.

My Baby Boy is Here

2010-06-17T18:42:00.000-07:00

Announcing the birth of Brixley John Baker born Tuesday at 7:07 am. He was 6 lbs 13 oz and 20 inches. He is beautiful, healthy, and we love him like crazy already. I only had time to post a few pictures but here he is..

of course he has a full head of black hair and i love it

a glimpse of his eyes open

not a great picture but the first of my four kids and i cant believe i'm a mother of four. i am so blessed and i love my beautiful kids who make my life wonderful and hectic.

1 Week Left

2010-06-08T18:35:00.000-07:00

well this post has no pictures but it is my announcement that i have one week left of this pregnancy and as of yesterday, my body is ready. i hit rock bottom yesterday where i couldn't do anything. i have never felt so miserable at the end of a pregnancy and i have worked my body to much that i just have no energy left. so i am doing nothing every day and waiting to have this baby boy next tuesday. i will be going in for my c section at 7 am. anyway, watch for pictures some time next week and i will be as quick as i can.

BitterSweet

2010-05-20T14:51:00.000-07:00

5 weeks ago my grandma parks passed away. she was 5 days away from turning 87 years old. i was very close to her as i did grow up living by her and she has always been involved in my life. i was able to go to arizona for the week and be there for the funeral. it was a bittersweet time as we said good-bye to her. i was able to see lots of family that i haven't seen in a long time and be there for my grandma. she lived a long, wonderful, faithful life and even though i will miss her tremendously, she is with my grandpa now, who passed away 15 years ago. i took a few pictures while i was there...

this is a picture i wanted next to the bouquet that was on her casset. each flower has a name on it and represents every person in her family. there are a lot of us and this bouquet was beautiful

dinner at claim jumper (dad, mom, sister jessica, bro in law josh, bro tyler, grandma weaver, and sis jordann)

me, sis laura, sis in law rachel, bro bobby, sis janell, and cousin danielle

me, laura, and janell

after the funeral, we took pictures. this is the first time my brothers and sisters have been all together since we moved to texas so we enjoyed spending time together

my bros and sis from oldest to youngest

my two nephews, braxton and nixon, that still live in arizona

the sisters

the sisters with my grandma weaver who came from utah

janell and i

31 Weeks

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

these pictures are per request of my friend kim but i always enjoy seeing other people's pregnant pictures so here i am.

thanks to my photographer, mikenna, she loves taking pictures.

Short and Sweet Update

2010-04-15T16:59:00.000-07:00

yeah, i am finally posting pictures again. and it is not really going to be that short but i am going to be brief and just update the past couple month events. first of all if anyone is wondering, the bakers are doing fine. we are busy busy and i am trying hard to get my mind set prepared for the summer and baby to come but so much keeps happening. the time is flying by as i have 9 weeks left. scary but i did buy a car seat and now i feel better since that is pretty important. we have recently moved around the block but i am not posting my address because this is not a private blog, so that has kept me busy. i have switched from being the sunbeam teacher in primary to the 11-12 year old class and that has taken a new challenge for me. the kids are growing, happy, and enjoying playing outside as the weather has been wonderful. john is continuing to work a lot and we enjoy spending all our free time as a family. okay so back to the pictures. these first ones are just random pictures that are cute that i have taken.

kelton sat with my dad one day and was copying everything he was doing. it was so cute i had to take a picture, especially since kelton usually only goes to my dad when he has food.

kelton loves john game controllers so here they are playing together

andon fell asleep on the recliner and he looked so cute and peaceful.

my favorite picture of kelton showing his personality. he put these mr. potato head glasses on and kept making these cheesy faces. my mom, brother, and i could not stop laughing at him. he is so cute and hillarious

easter 2010- it was so wonderful to sleep in since conference here started at 11 and we usually have 9 oclock church. the kids woke up to easter baskets...

then we colored easter eggs...

and later we went to my mom and dad's for dinner and had an easter egg hunt. it was a relaxing and wonderful easter.

spring break in march- last month we decided to go to sea world in san antonio during mikenna's spring break. it wasn't until we got there on sunday that we found out sea world is only open on the weekends during this time of year. we were so bummed when we couldn't go since we were there to go monday and tuesday. we had to make it fun for the kids anyway so we went to the zoo on the first day....

the next day we went to the river walk, saw the alamo

and we took a boat ride around the riverwalk

New Blankets

2010-02-18T18:08:00.000-08:00

yesterday i went to the store to pick out material for a fleece blanket that i was going to tie for my friend as a baby gift. i came across a totally cute fabric that i liked for mikenna. i thought to myself that i really wanted to make her a blanket. this was a perfect idea. first of all her blanket is a small ragidy old ripped 28 year old yellow blanket. i know this because it is my baby blanket. some how when she was a baby, i used it for her once and never got it back. i have been trying to preserve it but she is so attached to it. my kids have a blanket maniac obsession. anyway, i bought the fabric and made her a nice big comfy blanket.

this is her old blanket...

and i traded her for it with this new one.. and she loves it. last night i gave it to her and to my shock, andon was very upset he didn't get a new blanket. i felt so bad and his blanket is pretty beat up to... plus this is a new interest that i enjoy doing so .....

i went back to the store today, bought some more fabric, and made andon a new fleece blanket as well. i thought it would be so hard for them to let go of there blankets but they love their new ones so we are all happy

getting ready to go to bed with their blankets... now i am trying to find people and things to make some more blankets for.

First Time Experience

2010-02-12T08:36:00.000-08:00

SNOW, a first time experience i had today. i have been in the snow before but living in it is totally different.

last night it started to snow little flurries and left some white ice on the yard. the kids were so excited so they went outside to play.

i woke up this morning to my backyard looking like this...

holy cow that is a lot of snow. it is crazy to me. i know a lot of people reading this are from utah and other way more snowy areas, but when you come from hot arizona this is new.

here is my front yard... it was so pretty to see the trees all white and all the rooftops.

this is part of my house and yard.

so after i take the pictures, i go to wake mikenna up for school. she is not the best morning person so all i had to say was "mikenna come look at all the snow outside, there is enough to make a snowman" she jumped out of bed and we went to look outside. about 15 minutes later john informed me it just was announced on the news that school was cancelled. what? that is weird. nothing ever cancelled school when i was growing up. anyway, the boys were up within a half an hour later and within 15 minutes after that, everyone was dressed and ready to play outside.

the snow was so white and soft and the kids had a blast. we all went outside and had a ton of fun...

mikenna and andon scooped up lots of snow and had snowball fights...

mikenna made a snow angel...

kelton mostly stayed on the side walk and didn't like it when he tried to walk in the snow. he fell a little but enjoyed just being outside and watching everyone...

john and i loved spending the morning with the kids and playing with them...

and of course we made a snowman with a hat, two raison eyes, a carrot nose, three cherry buttons, no mouth, and two yellow straw arms.

was it a fun morning? yes it was different and fun and the kids had a blast, but i still would not survive living in the snow. i am so glad i got this experience, it has been a good day.

Andon's Birthday

2010-02-04T19:07:00.000-08:00

i am a few days late on this post but on monday the 1st Andon turned 3 years old. he really has grown up lately and is so handsome. he loves balls, big cars, animals, and watching movies. he likes to drink strawberry milk with a straw and eat waffles with syrup. he is obsessed with gum. he likes to be outside and he wears shoes all the time. we have been working on potty training but he is not doing so well as mikenna did. it might take a little longer for him to get it but i'm not giving up. we love andon so much and having him a part of our family.

for his birthday we had a family bbq at our house and it was real fun. this picture didn't get turned the right way but it is of andon before his birthday party.

all the kids eating food

andon with his football cake.

blowing out his candle

opening presents with the help of all the kids. there is no breathing room when it comes to seeing the gifts

grandma weaver was in town visiting from utah so she was able to be there and we love when she comes to visit.

at the end of the night, his "best buddy" cousin sawyer ended up getting to stay the night. the boys were bouncing off walls until 11 o'clock and playing with all of andon's new toys. i think it is safe to say he had a great birthday and now is a big boy.

Ultrasound Results

2010-01-19T12:06:00.000-08:00

okay so i am so excited because i have never been able to put up ultrasound pictures because i don't have a scanner to scan them. but this time at the doctor i got a cd with the pictures on them so now i can put some cool sonogram pictures up.

and of course i am excited about the results.. i would have been excited either way...

ITS A BOY!!!! as you can clearly see here...

and a face...

a profile...

a foot (this is such a cute picture i think)...

and a hand... hi everyone

we are very excited and looking forward to having three boys and mikenna. she was not disappointed even though she has wanted all her brothers to be sisters. but she still hopes for a sister some day.

15 month old check up

2010-01-13T15:55:00.000-08:00

today i had the weirdest doctor appointment that i can remember. i took kelton for his 15 month check up (but he is 16 months old) anyway, this morning, after his nap, i got him dressed at 11, we had lunch, and headed for the doctor's. we got there and while i was in the room undressing him i noticed he was covered in a rash. i was totally taken by surprise as i had just noticed it. the doctor came in, did his nomal check up, and noticed his throat was a little red. he swabbed it and did a test to see if he had anything that was the cause of the rash. now if i was at home, i would have not taken him to the doctor for a rash because normally it goes away after a few days because it's just a little virus. but i was there so he was checked just in case.

the boys played while we waited for the result, kelton got his shots, and then the doctor came back in. kelton has strep throat...... uh strep throat are you serious. i couldn't believe it. it's not very common on a 16 month old and at this age, a rash is a beginning sign of it. so fortunately we caught it before it got worse but unfortunately strep throat is very contagious so i hope no one else gets it. i asked the doctor, so what would happen if i didn't come in today. he said you would be in here in three days with a very sick child. thank goodness for the rash that made the test happen and ammoxocillan, kelton will be fine by tomorrow night and not have to get the real feeling of strep throat.

stats for kelton:

weight-20 lbs- 3%ile

length- 3o inches- 12%ile

head- 75%ile

i know kelton is small but he is growing and is so adorable. we love having him around and hope he gets better soon.

Christmas 2009

2010-01-07T18:15:00.000-08:00

i realize christmas was two weeks ago but i am a little slow at blogging. i figured since it has been almost two months since i last posted, any update will do. at a last minute decision, we made the long 18 hour drive and spent christmas in arizona with john's family. we were able to see my sister, brother, and attend my grandma's christmas but the majority of the time we spent with my in-laws. we had a great time and missed the cold almost snowy christmas in texas. but i enjoyed a week of warm weather. i didn't capture our whole trip because me and the camera just have not been friends but here is most of what i got.

this is just an adorable picture of kelton wearing andon's hat.

my sister-in - law april and i were laughing at this sight of nana and the three kids. after waiting for an hour and a half to see santa, nana took the kids over to the corner and fed them food while april and i stood in line for another 20 minutes to pick up the santa pictures. they came out cute and it's worth the wait to capture santa pictures every year.

we spent most of christmas eve in the kitchen cooking and baking to prepare for christmas day. i love going to my mother- in -laws because there is always lots of yummy food to eat.

here april, mikenna, and andon are frosting cookies.

yeah, it's christmas morning and santa got mikenna's letter telling him we would be at nana's for christmas.

kelton got a fun leap frog table toy...

andon got a bike...

and mikenna got a bike... a big one with no training wheels.

we spent a lot of time outside trying to teach both the kids how to ride. mikenna is getting pretty good but andon only knows how to brake.

kelton just played in the rocks.

andon wore his helmet all day.. and loves this sword he got from uncle david

mikenna enjoys her puppy dog that came with a carrier

irene (my m-i-l) made this fun game with the kids that everyone played. they made this poster, if you can see in the background, for the game pin the baby on kim. of course i loved it, and so we made little paper babies and eveyone tried to pin them on my belly. it was so funny to watch. here is me not winning

mikenna, andon, and tia april

april and kelton

the kids also got to spend a lot of time playing with their cousins jaiden, sean, and alexis. andon especially loved to wrestle and play basketball with them

the boys showing their muscles.

the girls.. alexis and mikenna

nana's 6 grandkids. kelton, andon, sean, mikenna, jaiden, alexis. they are sitting youngest to oldest.

my three kiddos after opening all their gifts

kids with nana

this is the only picture i got of john and i and we just couldn't get andon to not be in the picture. but how can you resist that cute smile.

obviously, the worst part of the trip was the way home. somehow we made great time and got there in 17 1/2 hours but it took us 20 1/2 hours to get home. it was worth the drive and definitely doable again. hope everyone had a great new year.

Catch Up Time

2009-11-15T18:38:00.000-08:00

well it feels like forever since i have blogged, probably because it has been a couple of months. but my computer is now working and i have a lot to catch up on. so this will be long but there is a lot of great pictures you are not gonna want to miss. lets go back to...

September 17... my baby kelton turns 1

kelton is now one and is so adorable. he is such a good baby and i love him to pieces.

for kelton's birthday we had a little celebration at our house with pizza, cake, and water balloons.

here is kelton before the party started.. he is excited

now the water balloons were originally supposed to be a fun activity for the kids to do because it was something different and you know kids love getting wet.... well what it ended up being was a 5 minute water balloon fight with john, my b-i-l troy, and my bro tyler using the balloons to try to drench me and my sister laura. as you can see in this first picture, the patio is soaked where we were standing. everyone had fun and that is all that counts.

the kids scramble to get balloons before they are all gone.

a quick shot before we go back inside.

kelton was not a great present opener but he got a lot of toys so he was happy

a clown was on the agenda for kelton's cake. i though it was cute, but of course i did make it. i guess i was satisfied with the outcome of it.

October 1...Superhero's

my kids go through stages of what they are into and for the month of october it was superheros and fighting. so they are very creative and spent a lot of time running around playing. i love to see mikenna and andon use their imagination

October 15... Mikenna turns 6

mikenna got a real special present for her birthday... a surprise visit from her nana (john's mom) and nana nani (john's grandma) from arizona. they had been planning to come for about a month and we kept it a secret from mikenna. just a little background, mikenna and her nana are real close, mikenna had the hardest time moving away from her. they talk a lot on the phone and it's like two best friends reuniting when they see each other. so anyway, i picked them up from the airport and we got home right before john got home from picking up mikenna from school. he told her there was one more birthday gift in her room. she walked in and the nana's jumped out of the closet. here was her reaction.

mikenna enjoyed opening all her gifts.

after our family left we had a get together for mikenna and my nephew mason's birthday. here is mikenna with uncle tyler (any one who is looking or knows anyone single, my brother is available :))

the boys like to play with mikenna and her new doll house

October 31... Halloween

i had the privilage of attending mikenna's fall party at school. it was so fun and the class even performed a couple of songs for the parents. it was cute.

this year we had our first annual baker family halloween night. it was so much fun to stay home and just be together as a family while enjoying halloween activities. i forgot what we ate for dinner but after that, we

made cookies and frosted them

and mikenna and andon both got a pumpkin to carve

okay so our night didn't sound to exciting but it was and it is something we are going to do every year.

we had our ward trunk or treat halloween afternoon with dinner, games, contests, and a parade

mikenna was a pretty witch (i tried to get her to be a mean one but she didn't go for the idea)

andon was a blue ninja. he just wanted to have a sword

kelton was a lion. the cutest one around

kelton was so fun to watch. one, his mane was so heavy that when he tried to walk, he fell over most of the time with his head being so top heavy. two, he went off wondering in the parking lot at the church when our friend, sam, who was dressed as a safari hunter, followed him and pretended to hunt him. it was hillarious, we laughed so much. but it was such a cute moment, i had to take a picture.

my kiddos were so adorable for halloween and we had a great night.

so to end my blog, i guess i will share the news that somewhere in between all these crazy events (to be exact it was oct. 10) we found out we are expecting baby #4 (crazy!!!) in mid june. i feel like i have know forever and i am only 10 weeks, but here is my official announcement. it took some time for the news to really sink in but we are excited. mikenna swears the baby told her she's a girl but we will see in january. we are still deciding whether we will find out what we are having, it just might be another surprise. i'll keep everyone posted.

Kindergarten

2009-08-24T06:30:00.000-07:00

My baby girl started kindergarten this morning. i have known this day was coming soon and all summer i have prepared for this....

i have never been sad or worried about mikenna. she is almost 6 and so ready to be in school. plus, she needs something to do during the day because she gets bored. i was the weird excited mom that couldn't wait to get everything on her school list, help her pick out a backpack and lunch box. i sat down last night and enjoyed filling out all her papers she needed to take back and double checked her list, set her clothes out ( which mikenna picked ), and dreamt about her first morning getting ready but...

i woke up this morning with knots in my stomach. i was nervous. i followed her around all morning because we were the only two awake. i talked to her about every little thing before school and was weird.

Mikenna, on the other hand, has been excited about school except last week when we started counting down the days. she went back and forth saying whether she wanted to go or not. last night before she went to bed she finally started screaming that she was so excited. that made me feel better. this morning she was silly. she laughed and was just being silly.

we got to school and i walked her into her classroom. she was quiet, shy, and, calm. she sat down and i helped her put her stuff away. i said goodbye and i left. no tears from me or her thank goodness. as soon as i got home my knots were gone and the house was quiet.

I cant wait to pick her up this afternoon.!!!

mikenna in front of her school

sitting down in her classroom

A Quick Update

2009-07-30T10:12:00.000-07:00

i realize it has been a month since i have posted anything but i just feel like time is never there for blogging. no excuses, just that i have been busy like everyone else, my computer was down for two weeks, and i have not taken many pictures lately. but for anyone who wants to know here is a little update about the past month.

kelton is now 10 months old, and WALKING. i love it and he is so cute. he is just so small but he loves to walk. he is 17 lbs 15 oz and in the 7%ile for weight. he is 28 1/2 in long and in the 44%ile for length. he eats well drinks a lot, sleeps great, plays with everything and is very snuggly. he has 6 teeth and uses them to bite everything, including me.

he loves to take baths. he actually cries when i take him out.

mikenna is almost 6 and will start school in a few weeks. i cant believe she will be in school but we are ready and have shopped a lot for her to prepare. she is my big helper at home but did give me my first experience to the er. we were at my sister laura's house. the girls were back in the room playing and we were on the couch when kaden brought mikenna out and said she was bleeding. we found a gash on the back of her head gushing out blood. after about 5 minutes we decided i better take her to the hospital to get it checked out. it ended up not being a very long cut but it was deep and she got three staples. mikenna did not cry at all in the er, she actually was giggling when they were numbing her head. she did great and a week later we went back and got her staples removed. oh we figured out she fell off the bed and hit her head on the corner of the window sill.

the pictures are not very good of her head but the first two are of the staples and the third is after the staples were removed.

andon is 2 1/2 and is so adorable. i just love to give him hugs and kisses. he loves basketball and just got a new golf play set that is his new interest. he likes to wear glasses and his lip lops (flip flops) all the time. and i am not kidding, when he wakes up his shoes are the first thing he puts on and they stay on until i make him take them off for either a bath or bed. he plays with mikenna and kelton real well and likes to be outside.

i love being a mom to these kids and life is good. john and i are great and just enjoying our family. hope everyone has a good rest of the summer before school starts again. :)

Father's Day

2009-06-28T14:52:00.000-07:00

i know i am posting this a week late but this past week i have not been my computer at all, i have been just crazy busy. on father's day we had laura and janell and there families over for dinner and we hung out and played games. it was a lot of fun. normally we have dinner at my mom and dad's but they were out of town.

here is the wonderful father of my children with our beautiful kids.

you know i had to jump in for a picture because how often do we get a family photo... not much.

two weeks ago i told john that on monday the 22nd he needed to be completely free and make no plans. monday are john's saturdays so i had planned a special fun day for him. he had no clue what we were doing. on sunday i gave him his fathers day card and in it told him to be ready in the morning at 8:30. he was hoping to sleep in but didn't get too.

monday morn i got up at 6 and got ready and then woke the kids up and got them ready. we left at 7:30 and john was still asleep. i took the kids to my sister's and then was home by 8:20 to pick john up. we left and started driving. we drove to arlington (about 2 hours) and went to six flags for the day. john was impressed that i planned this but i felt we needed a day alone together. the timing was perfect after a rough previous week and we had a blast. it was an awesome day.

so here we are right when we get there and wanted to take a picture with batman. the other character was aquaman. not a huge fan of whoever he is. all i can say about him is his ride is the first one we went on and we got soaked from head to toe.

this ride was the titan, the monster roller coaster. this was the end of our day. we pretty much went on all the big rides and that was good for us.

after we left, john wanted pf changs for dinner. i was not a huge fan of there even though i love chinese food but i am now because it was excellent. and i tried something new i have never had, chicken lettuce wraps, they were amazing.

john is my amazing husband and i love him more every day!!

Lisa Turtle

2009-06-12T14:16:00.000-07:00

john was driving home from work and saw this turtle passing the road. he brought it home and even though the kids wont hold it, they like to watch it roam around.

p.s. her name comes from a famous tv show... i know you all have seen it :)

The Zoo

2009-06-12T13:58:00.001-07:00

we also went to the zoo this week and had so much fun. the weather was great and the kids enjoyed looking at all the animals.

the white tiger was very active and fun to watch.

kelton was very good and is such a cutie

mikenna and maegan watching the leopard

andon and sawyer always tried to hold hands while strolling along the way

all the kids in front of the lions

here are the kids looking at the rhino

andon and mason watching the penguins

mikenna, treston, kaden, and jared in front of something, i just don't know what animal.

andon and sawyer getting a break from their strollers

mikenna and elephants

andon and giraffes

kelton and glasses:)

treston and sawyer

laura and her 5 kids

me and the kids

The Lake

2009-06-12T13:44:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week we went to the lake. it was so much fun. there was a sand area and out a little ways into the water there was a floating wood platform to jump off. this kids had a blast.

john and andon

my sister janell and her nanny caressa

troy, laura, and mason... he didn't like the water

me and kelton... i think part of the reason we had so much fun was that our kids were really good.

janell, laura, and me... just laying out

out on the platform, we played 500. basically john and troy were on shore and threw the football out to us and we raced to get it. we had so much fun and we probably looked like dorks out there but oh well.

john and the kids

mikenna

kelton

andon

andon and saywer laying in a puddle of water

"John and Kim + 10"

2009-06-06T14:04:00.000-07:00

last night was a crazy night while john and i were on babysitting duty for laura's 5 kids and janell's 2 boys. add our 3 kids and we had a total of 10 kids all night. i was expecting a mad house but it turned out pretty smoothly... most of the time. so i started taking pictures and decided to keep record of the night. but the pictures are posted a little out of order.

here are the groups of kids that stayed together most of the time..

tatum, andon, and sawyer were a clan of 3...

treston and jared hung out and played ball with john...

mason and kelton just hung around...

and kaden, mikenna, and maegan were all girly

bedtime was pajamas, snack, and a movie after i put the two baby boys down. and i must add that 7 of the 10 kids got baths before bed. that was nutty

okay so before the indoor fun and bed, the kids played outside.

here are the boys being cool...

and being normal...

here are the girls being silly...

and then lovable...

laura's crazy kids (she was mad i didn't get a good picture of them)

janell's silly boys...

and my triple scoop of cuties...

now i wound normally say here are all the grandkids, but we are missing one. braxton is in arizona and we miss him. so here are 10 of the 11 grandkids... having funny faces

what a great group of kids!!!

Big Fun Update

2009-05-21T18:43:00.000-07:00

wow it has been a long time. i actually have been in phoenix for the past week and a half so i have been having lots of fun. i posted a ton of pictures for those who want to see how much fun i had. i was so busy and ate for like 7 days straight that i actually got sick before i came home. it was yucky but oh well.

for the first week we stayed with my mother in law and had a blast just hanging out and talking. mikenna and andon missed there nana and were at her side the whole time.

i found out on this trip that my kids love washing dishes. who knew?

this mini guitar was a hit toy and there was lots of music and dancing with it.

my sister in law april and kelton

john's nana came from tucson and the kids enjoyed seeing her along with all the family that came down to see us.

the kids with their cousins jaiden and sean

jaiden, alexis, kelton, mikenna, andon, and sean (i own half of the grandkids... way fun)

MOTHERS DAY!!!!

mikenna and andon looking great for church

my wonderful husband and me.

me and kelton....

and andon...

and mikenna. she surprised me with this beautiful rose for mothers day. she is so sweet!

we took a trip to the movies and saw the hannah montana movie (it was really good i thought)

and we went to the mall which was awesome considering i live by a crapy mall

john and i went to a diamondbacks game with my brother bobby and sister in law rachel. we had a lot of fun

i had a wonderful lunch and afternoon visiting with my friends from my old ward. i also saw my friends stefany and kim but i have no pictures of them.

jenny, me, danielle, jaimi, kelly, becca, and jill

mikenna and andon enjoyed playing with lots of friends

kelton with his buddy dylan who is 5 days older than him and a "little bit" bigger. my baby is so little.

john left home and i went to my sister's jessica for the rest of the week and weekend to stay with her. she had her first baby in december and i hadn't seen him yet so i was so excited to see them

here is my 5 month old nephew braxton. he is so cute and he has the most luscious lips and chubby cheeks.

this is john and braxton before he went home

mikenna made him laugh a lot

3 months apart and almost the same size

my sister has two 9 week old huge great dane puppies and kelton spent most of his time getting licked by them in the face or standing at the window watching them

braxton and kelton in the bath

my sis, nephew, and brother in law joshica (that is what i call him)

so the craziest part of the vacation was when i flew home with 3 kids by myself and carried kelton, a backpack, my purse, a car seat, and two other kids through the airport. it is not something i would do regularly but i think i could handle it once a year. the kids had there ups and down but they were pretty okay overall. it was a long day

Jam Friday

2009-05-01T13:45:00.000-07:00

today my mom and i continued our yearly tradition of making jam in april when strawberries are in season. i didn't get a lot of good pictures because my kids were not cooperating during the process but we were able to do 6 batches.

here is my fridge full of berries before we started....

washing the strawberries and cutting off the stems...

andon sitting by the yummy prepared strawberries that he enjoyed snatching here and there...

mom mixing the jam...

me and my jars of jam. we had lots of fun and enjoyed spending the afternoon together.

2 Year Anniversary

2009-04-29T18:45:00.000-07:00

today is the 2 year anniversary for the best and most important day i ever had. it was a windy and warm day that john and i were sealed in the mesa arizona temple and then sealed to our 2 beautifuls, mikenna and andon. it was an amazing experience and we had so much support from friends and family.

my sister laura and me outside the temple.

my long time friend stefany and me. we had lots of friends there to support us but i forgot to ask everyone to stay after for pictures so i didn't get many of my friends.

me with my mom and all my aunts from out of town. my aunts are the coolest. they attend all important events and i love there support. it is so much fun to hang out with them too.

my sis laura, my mom, me and sis janell

mikenna playing on the steps. her dress and purse are very special. my mom made them out of my wedding dress.

mikenna- 3 1/2 years old and andon- 3 months old.

me and john outside of the temple.

my eternal family. my life long dream and goal finally came true and it couldn't have been better. my life has definatly changed for the better since this day.

thank you to all those who have been a part in our lives through this wonderful experience, before, and after.

Two "Hair"ibble Experiences

2009-04-21T08:45:00.000-07:00

so in the last 4 days, i have had two first experiences that just come with having children. the first one happened on saturday night. the kids were in the bath and i was around doing stuff when i heard mikenna calling me and heard the words "mom, gum in hair. " i was scared to see what that was. i walked in the bathroom and this is what i saw...

my first reaction was go get the camera and take a picture. so i did and then i walked out to get the peanut butter and asked john "are you ready to shave your son's head?" the gum was pretty stuck in his hair.

peanut butter always did the job when i was little so that is what i used......

and it worked very well!

now on to last night. i went to dallas for the day with my mom and when i got home mikenna was watching tv in my room and she was in there for most of the night and i was out in the kitchen and family room doing stuff. well it was later after i got home and i found andon running around with the nail clippers; so i took them from him and went to put them away. i opened the drawer and saw this...

aawww i sceamed and was really flipping out. i yelled for mikenna and john to come in there and looked at her hair. this is what it looked like...

i was so not happy about what she had done. i asked her why she did that and she started crying saying she wanted her hair short. john calmed me down because i was furious but we talked about it and i came to realize it was not that bad and it was definately fixable. it could have been a lot worse.

this morning i took her to get her haircut and this is what her hair looks like now....

it looks real cute... but i hope she learned her lesson.

On a happier note, on saturday we went to the animal museum. my grandma weaver has been visiting for the past two weeks and we decided to go here before she left.

my mom and grandma with all the kids.

me and my kiddos

laura and her 5 kids

mom, grandma, jordann, and my other sisters 2 boys

Walmart and Rain

2009-04-17T13:19:00.000-07:00

walmart and rain do not mix. so here is how my day went. we had a couple of things to do today so the kids and i ate breakfast and headed out this morning. it was beautiful outside. we made a few quick stops, one of them was mikenna's school she'll be attending this fall and registration is next month. i can't believe my baby girl will be in school. anyway, next we went to get kelton's pictures done. he did so good and they turned out so cute. it's hard to choose when there are so many good ones. and i wanted to blog them but i have no way to. i was wondering how i could get them on the computer because i have seen other people put some on their blog. two hours later when i was on my way home i remembered that the lady asked me if i wanted the pictures emailed to me and i said no. duh, that's how i could have blogged them. oh well so you don't get to see them but they are cute.

okay back to the point of the story. our last stop was walmart. it was not raining when we went in but when we left it was pouring. i had no jackets or blankets to cover us, because i left them in the truck, three kids, and a cart load of groceries. i had no choice. we raced out in the rain and mikenna and i walked swiftly through inches of rain. our pants and shoes were soaked and all of our heads. i put the kids in the truck and loaded the wet groceries as fast as i could. when i got in the truck the kids were all laughing and thought it was cool that they got wet. so i decided let's take pictures of our wet selves and blog about it. the pictures don't show the best wetness but we were wet and it was fun.

i know what you're thinking, why was this so great to blog about. well it's not but i haven't had many of these experiences in arizona with no rain and it's crazy how fast the weather changes here. plus, some kind of blog is better than none.

Easter Fun

2009-04-13T13:13:00.000-07:00

for easter we colored eggs and had an egg hunt at my mom and dad's house. it was fun and the kids had lots of fun.

get ready for the big hunt

this is what your basket looks like when you go to the store the day before easter. it has pink on it and it was 99 cents. and it broke after 2 minutes of finding eggs. oh well, at least he had something

grandma weaver is visiting and it was fun to have her here for easter. she likes to hold kelton a lot and he enjoys sitting on her lap and watching everyone else.

happy easter everyone!!!

Sams Club

2009-04-10T15:33:00.000-07:00

well today was a crazy day. back in arizona i used to grocery shop every friday with my sister laura and my mom. we would go to costco and walmart and frys. well here there is no frys or costco but there is a sams club. so today we attempted to shop all together again. BIG MISTAKE. the kids were out of school because it was good friday. so at sams club there were me and my 3 kids, laura and her 5 kids, my grandma, my mom and little sister jordann, and my other two nephews we were watching. this is how we went through the sams club. it was an hour and a half stop. i think we won't do this again.

Big Boy Kelton

2009-04-10T15:23:00.000-07:00

kelton is a week away from turning 7 months and he is doing new things everyday.

the other day i was in the kitchen talking on the phone and i turned around to see him standing up like this. i screamed because i was so shocked. i cant believe he pulled himself up already. but then he started to wine because he couldn't get down.

one afternoon i went in to get kelton after he woke up from his nap and he was sitting up in his crib. he was so happy when he saw me come in. well then i ran to get my camera so i could get a picture and he started to cry because i left. `

later that day when he woke up i brought my camera with me so i could get a picture of him being happy when i came in and he was.

Mason's Finger

2009-04-03T15:23:00.000-07:00

on wednesday night my nephew mason hurt his finger pretty bad and spent most of the night at the hospital. he is doing better now but wears a huge whale on his arm. i put these pictures on my blog for my sister laura. for those of you that know my sister or are just curious of what happened, you can go to her blog to get the full story.

laura and mason

mason showing off his whale... i signed it

it is so big on him but he wears it well

still a happy boy

Sticks and Scooters

2009-03-30T19:24:00.000-07:00

the weather has been beautiful here and we have spent many evenings outside watching the kids play. well this night mikenna rode her scooter and andon (like he does every time he is outside) found a stick to hold. it was fun watching them play and andon just followed mikenna every where she went, with his stick in his hand.

we live on a street with four houses on it and the only two are occupied. across the street and all around us are fields so there is no one around and no traffic. i love it because the kids can play outside and i don't worry about them as much.

just a quick note on mikenna's outfit... she is wearing red, purple, and pink... she obviously picked out this outfit... and no, we did not leave the house with her looking like this. when i say mikenna get some warm comfies on and we will go outside, this is what she put on. i love her.

my handsome stick man. he is never outside without a stick in his hand

my baby just hanging out with me. he enjoys being outside and watching everyone play

Family Night

2009-03-23T18:26:00.000-07:00

for family night tonight we decided to have dinner at the park and let the kids play. the wether was beautiful and a little breezy. all the kids had fun.

mikenna eating her fun lunchable

kelton loves to be outside

andon needed help to go down the slide at first but was soon going down the big and small slides alone

mikenna and andon went down a lot together and had a blast

kelton even went on the slide with me

6 Months Old

2009-03-17T19:48:00.000-07:00

today kelton is 6 months old. i cant believe how fast the time has gone by and how big my baby is growing. you know, before i had kelton, i had thought to myself that since it takes me so long to get pregnant i would be ready to start for another one when kelton was 6 months old. am i CRAZY. i feel like i just had him and i want to enjoy him as a baby before i have another one so i think i will change my mind.

anyway earlier today i was doing stuff and i came back into the kitchen where kelton was in his walker and i found him like this.... andon had put his hat on him and i just thought he looked to adorable. he was so happy

my mother in law sent this little doggy toy to kelton that barked and walked. he was very interested in it, as you can see.

close up... and if you look closely you will see 2 little teeth that he has on the bottom of his mouth, well you cant really see them but they are there.

Pictures of the Month

2009-03-15T13:52:00.000-07:00

well i finally have some pictures to post and i am excited. i hope i can get back into my routine of posting pictures more often and keep up with things.

these first pictures are of kelton at 5 months old. i know they are from last month but he is just so stinkin adorable i had to show him off.

he found his feet and when he is laying down they are always in his mouth.

he rolls and rolls and lays great on his tummy

today when i got the camera back from john, i wanted to take pictures of the kids but mikenna was not cooperating and decided to be silly. so it was fun to photograph her.

she did snap a cute pose with her daddy

andon always loves to take pictures

kelton is almost 6 months now and is just so snuggly and a total momma's boy, and i love it.....

and actually both of my boys are total momma's boys

yes he has begun to sit up

Busy, Busy

2009-03-02T13:48:00.000-08:00

hello everyone, i know i have been away for a long time and that is not like me but i have some good reasons. first of all we moved into a home the first week of february... YEAH... well it is actually a rental but it is brand new and is in the area we want and down the street from the school mikenna will attend this fall. but i love it and i am excited... no more tiny apartment... and no more squeezing into two rooms at my sisters. second, by moving we didn't have internet for about two and half weeks. and last, my husband has been taking my camera with him to work for the past month so i haven't taken any pictures that i can blog. so even though i don't have any pictures to blog today i still wanted to give an update on what has been happening lately.

well where do i start. probably the business, since that is the whole reason we are out here. well, i haven't had a husband for about the past three weeks for he has been gone all day and most nights trying to get the store set up and ready to open. the great news is that today we passed all the final inspections and can open as soon as we are ready and so that will be this friday. YEAH YEAH YEAH!!!!! after months and months of waiting and waiting, going through many ups and downs in the process, and having no money we finally can get things going and have fun.

two weeks ago my sister laura, my bro in law troy and there five kids moved here to texas. i am so excited. for those of you that knew me in az my sister laura and i were very close and leaving her was hard. but for the past couple of months janell and i were close and had a lot of fun together. so now that she is full flegged into the business laura came just in time. we have enjoyed lots of days hanging out together, playing yahtzee, and mikenna has her girl cousins to play with again. i still miss all my family and friends in phoenix but it is nice to have some here too.

mikenna is growing so much and is so ready to start school. she gets bored and needs things to keep her busy. but i enjoy her help around the house and with the baby. she has got real brave carrying kelton around the house and picking him up to play with him. she is so girly. every morning she picks out her clothes, and a necklace to wear, and earings, and hair ties, and nail polish. she loves to wear my shoes around and play dress up.

andon, my little boy. he loves to play basketball. he has like 10 balls but only likes to play with one specific one. he loves high school musical movies and last week we bought number 3. this is an every day affair to watch musical 3, as andon says it. he loves to play outside and copy and do whatever mikenna does.

kelton, my snuggly boy. he is so happy and so adorable. he loves to hang out in his walker. his favorite thing to do is suck his thumb. and now i have noticed he even sucks his finger. he has one tooth and the second is not to far behind. the other night he slept from 7 to 4:30. it was awesome. but it only lasted 2 nights and then we were back to getting up 3 times a night, 2 on a good night.

well i think that sums up most of my life right now. hopefully i will get my camera back soon and can take more pictures and update more.

All About Andon

2009-02-02T17:47:00.000-08:00

My big boy turned 2 yesterday. we had a fun day except that the cardinals lost the super bowl. they still did me proud making it to the big game. anyway, here is a little bit about andon.

*andon has the cutest smile. it is so cheesy.

*his favorite two words to say are beebee (sippy) and teetee (blanky)

*andon's favorite toys are balls.

*his favorite movie is high school musical 1 & 2 (yes he can watch these movies over and over again.)

*his favorite food is bread

*andon loves to play and wrestle with his daddy and sometimes me

*andon loves his big sister (nenna) and little brother. (baby)

andon likes to be like kelton

brothers...so cute

and andon definately like to be like mikenna.....all girled out

andon's birthday... all day you ask him how old he is and he would say "two", real cute

opening a present from kelton

its a big bouncy ball

a gift from mikenna.... a teeball set

and a gift from mommy and daddy..... a tricycle

a book from grandma and grandpa

andon's cool basketball cake.

blowing out the candle.... it took him forever because his blow was so soft

he wanted to eat the candle

the three kids before bed.... and i might add that mikenna and andon were both asleep by 7:45

happy birthday andon, my snuggly boy. i love you!!!

4 Months... and Growing

2009-01-17T15:05:00.000-08:00

Kelton is 4 months old today. he is my cutie little baby boy, as you can see. he is the highlight of my days, for obvious reasons being he is the baby and needs most of my time. he can be a stinker in the middle of the night for he does not get the sleep through the night yet.. and actually he has gotten worse since he was born. but i love him to pieces. he is real smiley and i love to smell him. i know that sounds weird but i like all of his smells... the smell of his breath, his hair, his hands, his feet (even when they are sweaty), and his poop. yes i know every thinks i'm crazy but baby infant poop, at least my kids, smell good. i love his fluffy soft hair and snuggling and kissing him all the time. at times he is not a good baby but he is getting older and getting better at keeping himself entertained with toys i give him. mikenna and andon love him and they are such big helpers. i'm sure his exact size but we do go to the doctor next week so i will know soon.

kelton just chillin on the big lovesac

andon and kelton

so at about 4 months, i start to introduce my babies to cereal. so here is the story of kelton's first feeding.

why do i think my little baby will fit in a highchair? i dont know what i was thinking

okay so he hated the first feeding, he cried, and spit, and cried, and spit.

what is going on, i want my milk.

so i calmed him down and we tried again.... this was his happier face after we practiced and he got the hang of it a little.

by the third night he ate much better and enjoyed it... and look, an empty bowl and a happy, full kelton

My Cutie Kids

2009-01-10T12:04:00.000-08:00

i know i haven't posted in a while but i just haven't taken a lot of pictures so i posted the ones i have.

Kelton is my growing adorable baby. He is so snuggly.

I love this picture because i put him on my bed so i could vacuum and he fell asleep. it was sweet to me.

andon, smiling his usual cheesy smile, playing outside with the puppies max and dax.

my boys

mikenna and kelton snuggling so cutely

my three precious ones

lots of kisses

Christmas 2008

2008-12-25T18:51:00.000-08:00

i love christmas. it is a wonderful time of the year. this year we stayed in texas for the holiday and spent it with my family. since my mom, brother, and sister just arrived here on tuesday, janell and i planned christmas eve and christmas and kinda took over this year. we spent a lot of time preparing and had a great day.

christmas eve was a night of service, nativity story, games, snacking, and the traditional getting kids pajamas.

this is jordann and mikenna in there matching pj's...

the boys in there pj's...

and all the kids together

Christmas morning the kids wait to go out and see what santa brought them

here they are running down the hall to the family room...

wow, kelton got a activity mat from santa...

andon got a basketball hoop...

and mikenna got a play kitchen

grandma and kelton

tyler, jordann, mom, and kenna on the couch while we opened gifts

my gift from john was a bike. janell and i have been jogging a lot at night and we would ride bikes but i didn't have one, only she did so john surprised me with an awesome bike. i was so excited.

kelton just hanging around playing on his mat

the kids around the tree

Mikenna's big gift..... mikenna and treston were both getting the same big gift. to give them this we sent the kids on a scavenger hunt to find it.

here they are running to some of the clues

after finding six snowflake with clues on them, they made it back to the house and ran inside to find the mysterious gift...

two baby miniature dauchounds.... yes mikenna got a puppy... and why did i do this, i don't know... but i hope i don't regret it.

here she is with her little puppy at there first meeting. it is a boy and she named him max. treston's puppy is also a boy and he named him dax. the two are brothers and yes i know there names rhyme , it's confusing but oh well the kids named them

the kids played with the puppy's all day. they are fun, at least right now they are

mikenna and max

we hope you had a wonderful christmas and celebration of the savior's birth. merry christmas. love, john, kimberly, mikenna, andon, and kelton

A Fun Day

2008-12-12T08:36:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we had an awesome fun day. we went to dallas to the galleria which is a mall with an ice skating rink in it and then we went to the Gaylord, which is a place that has real neat christmas stuff.

first we saw santa. we were the first in line and while we waited for santa to arrive mikenna and treston scoped out his chair.

mikenna told santa she wanted a tv and princess for christmas.

my three cuties with santa. andon was okay for this picture but not for long....

treston-cute smile, andon- not happy, kelton-just chillin, sawyer-no expression, mikenna- happy and she was so proud of herself for not being scared

all the kids liked petting the reindeer.......

and enjoyed sitting in the sleigh with mrs. claus

this was a big house made out of real gingerbread

i know this one is sideways but it is a picture of this huge tree that is in the middle of the ice skating rink. it was really cool

this is looking down from the third floor of the galleria

and here is mikenna and i standing at the bottom

mikenna and treston ice skating

here is me and my dad. i had so much fun ice skating, this is what i looked forward to doing at dallas. and my dad came too, it was really fun.

mikenna gets pretty good after she practices a while.

my dad is old so when he was done ice skating he convinced john that i wouldn't give him any hubba hubba if he didn't come ice skating with me because i kept asking him to and he didn't want to. so john finally agreed and took my dad's skates and joined me in the rink

we had lots of fun.

these next set of pictures are at the Ice exibit at the Gaylord. we walked through this exibit where everything was made of ice. it was 9 degrees in there and after we bundled up they gave us parka's to wear. i have never seen anything so amazing and have never been in a place so cold.

here are andon and sawyer bundled up in there strollers. sawyer eventually got out and walked around but andon did not want to get out.

janell and i are standing in front of the ice house

grandpa treston and mikenna peeking out of the window

mikenna sawyer and treston sitting on the ice santa. look at that santa, everything is ice.

me and john sitting on a fun sculpture

the last part of the sculptures was an ice slide. we all went down it and had such a blast. this is mikenna sliding. her and treston went down the slide a ton and just had a blast

mikenna sliding again.

on the way out there was the nativity scene in an ice sculpture and that was amazing to see. here we are in front of it. john is holding kelton who also had a parka to cover up in

Real Reindeer

2008-12-08T12:53:00.000-08:00

santa and his reindeer visited one of the hospital here and so we went to see them. the line to see santa was way to long so we spent our time with the reindeer donner and blitzen. the kids loved to see the real reindeer.

mikenna (in black hat) and andon (white and gray) watch the reindeer eat and drink

treston reaches out for one and mikenna watches him

mikenna and andon watch the reindeer some more

grandpa and andon

Christmas Parade

2008-12-06T11:18:00.001-08:00

on thursday night, there was a christmas parade downtown. it was really fun. we made hot chocolate, found a corner on the street, and watched all the cool floats with lights, trees, and decorations. i have never had to bundle my kids up so much ( you know, coming from arizona) and it was fun to buy them big coats. but we definately needed the warm stuff.

here is mikenna and treston, with the lighted swords we bought them, waiting for the parade, drinking hot chocolate

here's andon and sawyer sitting nicely in there strollers with there swords

me and my baby boy. he is so cute

here we are watching the parade

janell with her boys, treston and sawyer

grandpa and the grandkids

here is our texas clan (everyone who is here) at the parade

and of course my wonderful hubby and kids... our family

so if you were wondering or even care, no i didn't take any pictures of the actual parade because i find that when i take pictures with no people in them, i don't ever use them for anything so it is kinda a waste.

fyi: also to clear up my whole house situation, a lot of people had questions about it from my previous post of the decorating, it is a bit confusing thing and may not make sense to any one but it is what we are doing until things are a little further on with the business. we are moving out of our apartment that we are in right now and moving in with janell for a few months. my dad is moving out of janells to get his own place for when my mom gets here for christmas. and this is all happening this month. probably in march, we will move into our own house. we want to build a home here so we may not be completely settled and in a permanant place for a year or so. i hope that clears up any confusion anyone had.

22 Days Till Christmas

2008-12-03T13:27:00.000-08:00

It's beginning to look a lot like christmas...

We helped janell decorate her house chrismasy since that is where we will be for christmas and we are moving the end of the month so i am not putting stuff up in my house.

so janell treston and mikenna put together the deer...

andon and sawyer just played around and got in the way...

and i had to put the lights on this tree and it was not easy but it was fun. we finished the outside just in time for it to rain.

kelton hung out and watched us

inside we put up the tree...

and we all decorated it

the finished product and the happy kids

Just Some Pictures

2008-11-13T13:39:00.000-08:00

these are just some random pictures i have taken over the past week.

i started giving kelton baths in the tub on his bear. he loves the water and there is definately more room than the sink.

janell and i took the kids to the zoo and this is the only picture i took. i guess i wasn't in the mood to stop and take lots of pictures. and you can't see very good but mikenna and andon are in front of the lions.

the kids and i started to have play time with kelton. when i lay him on the ground i have to watch him carefully because he gets clobered. so here i just took some fun pictures of them.

mikenna was talking and playing with kelton and she just looked so cute being a big sister i had to catch the action on camera.

Jack Jubilee

2008-11-10T14:23:00.000-08:00

last weekend my nephew treston had an activity night at his school called jack jubilee. we went with them to it and the kids had a blast.

the kids played soccer...

they jumped on the bouncy thing...

treston and mikenna had a gunny sack race...

my sister and i even got in on the fun ( and i won)

and the kids got a horse ride (this was the highlight for them)

we attempted to get andon on and as you can see he didn't like it ( but he was facinated with looking at the horses)

treston and sawyer liked the ride

Kelton's Blessing

2008-11-05T05:24:00.000-08:00

kelton was blessed this past sunday the 2nd. it was a very special day and kelton was a very good baby during sacrament (even though his pictures say otherwise). he received a very beautiful blessing by john. i missed all our friends and family from home to be there.

kelton cried every time i tried to take a picture of him but he is still adorable

mikenna, kelton, and andon

kelton was asleep but we still needed pictures after church

i was determined to get a family picture because we haven't got one since kelton was born. so here is my family i love so much on a beautiful sunday afternoon.

Making Pizza

2008-11-04T07:19:00.000-08:00

the kids got to make pizzas at the pizza store on saturday and we had a blast

first was rolling the dough out...

then they rolled out the air bubbles...

next comes the sauce...

then the cheese...

andon liked to eat it

next is lots of pepperonis...

stick it in the oven...

and last of all enjoy eating the pizza.

Halloween

2008-11-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

for halloween this year janell and i took the kids out. the pictures are a mix of the activities we did. we had our ward trunk or treat, we went trick or treating at the mall, and we went trick or treating in the neighborhood. it was a handful having the five kids and just us two but we had fun and the kids had a blast and got lots and lots of candy.

treston the blood monster, sawyer the vampire, mikenna the scarecrow, and andon the superman

mikenna and andon trick or treating

my two cuties striking a pose

what an adorable scarecrow

the cutest superman in town

most precious halloween baby (if you cant read his shirt it says this is my costume)

four crazys making faces and having fun

my three pumpkins!!!

hope everyone had a great, scary halloween

Random Pictures

2008-10-30T12:30:00.000-07:00

Sarah Palin?

nope, just a cute picture of mikenna with her aunt april.

just hanging around on mom's bed. my kids are just so darn adorable

brothers!!!!

Kelton's first pair of boots... and they are so cute.

giddy up baby cowboy !!!

yes my son likes his thumb and prefers it over a binky. oh well

Arizona Trip

2008-10-26T13:35:00.000-07:00

Last weekend my brother bobby got married so we went home for a week to peoria to be there. it was very fun and we were very busy.

here they are walking out of the mesa temple.. bobby and his new bride rachel

such a cute couple

still at the temple we took some pictures. here is my whole family, well excluding kids.

the seven of us kids. now there are 5 married... 2 to go.

my cousin elle came down for the wedding and watched kelton for me while i attended the sealing.

bobby and rachel took a great picture with all the 10 nieces and nephews before the reception started.

andon and sawyer just chillin

mikenna, kaden, and jordann hanging out together

andon on the dance floor. we did a lot of dancing.

grandma weaver dancing with kelton

me and my sisters, laura, janell, and jessica having a blast dancing away like crazys

being there for my brother was great, but we also squeezed some other fun activities in while we were there......

Spending time with friends and family we haven't seen since we moved this past summer

mikenna, andon, and kelton with nana and april

john and his brothers and sister, stevie, michael, and april

mikenna with her cousin lexi

lexi and kelton

april with the kids, jaiden, sean, andon, and mikenna

laura, me, and jessica

grandma and kelton

my bro bobby and newest sister-in-law rachel

the kids hanging out at grandma and grandpa's

mikenna and maegan

andon and mason

we spent one afternoon with friends from our old ward

mikenna with her friends abby, brynn, and summer

jaimi, me, jill, and kelly. we had a great time visiting and eating cookies. we missed jenny and becca who could not make it. the babies are kelton and dylan (he belongs to kelly) they are 5 days apart

We made a few trips out for milkshakes.

this is us at fudruckers. me, mom, jessica, grandma weaver, mason, and laura

the milkshakes were delicious

my brother tyler and me.

We celebrated mikenna's 5th birthday.

we had two little celebrations for her.. one at each of our mom's. she got lots of fun things and had fun with both families

#8 Tag

2008-10-23T03:16:00.000-07:00

8 Favorite Shows I Like to Watch

*friends

*prison break (hot brothers)

*the hills

*american idol

*saved by the bell re-runs

*iron chef america

*suite life of zack and cody

*CSI/NCIS

8 Favorite Restaurants

*texas road house

*5 and diner (turkey club and root beer milkshake)

*islands

*ihop

*outback

*chinese (lemon chicken and chicken fried rice)

*peter piper pizza

*cold stone

8 Things I Did Yesterday

*i made homemade pancakes for breakfast

* i did 4 loads of laundry

*i unpacked our suitcases from our trip

*i took 2 naps totaling 2 and 1/2 hours

*i watched high school musical and high school musical 2 with my kids

*i changed about 10 diapers between my two boys

*i cleaned the kitchen

*i made lots of phone calls for visiting teaching

8 Things I Look Forward To

*thanksgiving (favorite holiday... lots of yummy food)

*day after thanksgiving (favorite day of the year.... lots of shopping)

*mikenna starting school next year

*my mom to move here to texas

*kelton's blessing

*moving out of this apartment and into a house

*raising my kids everyday

8 Things On My Wish List

*my house in peoria would sell

*i had more time to scrapbook

*i had no debt

*i had 72 hour kits for my family

*mikenna would sleep in her room all night and not be in my room every night

*john's family will get to hear the discussions someday

*my boys will go on missions

*all my kids will marry in the temple

Tagged: Laura, Janell, Jessica, Becca, Anny, Kass, and Brock

Dallas

2008-10-23T01:22:00.000-07:00

Last week we went to dallas for a day and a half to go hang out and go to this big shopping mall. on the way we stopped at the temple and took some pictures. and just fyi, my pictures posted in backwards order to what i wanted, and if you notice andon is missing in these first pictures, its because he was asleep in the car and i did not wake him up for this.

kelton posing in front of the temple flowers

mikenna standing near the front entrance

mikenna in the front of the temple area

me and john in the front area with the two kids

Ice Skating at the Galleria

Galleria was the shopping mall we went to and at the bottom was an ice skating rink. my sister janell took mikenna and treston skating while i watched from the side with the little kids. this was mikenna's first time and she did very well. they had lots of fun.

kelton and andon hanging out watching the big kids skate.

taking a break

mikenna held on tight at the beginning

treston was a great little skater... what a stud

mikenna learned quickly and was soon skating alone

we decided after this trip we needed to go back to the galleria and shop again when we had more time and money!!!!!

Water Fun

2008-10-11T15:30:00.000-07:00

its just another day at the water park. mikenna, andon, and sawyer had a blast. we had a picnic and just hung out.

Batter Up

2008-10-07T15:50:00.000-07:00

john has been anxious to get andon a bat and ball to play with so the other night we went to target and got andon a bat and some balls. lesson one began that night and john tried to show and teach mikenna and andon how to bat. it was so funny to watch them play.

andon pretty much just liked to throw the balls the most... and there were balls flying every where all night

More Pictures

2008-10-03T18:07:00.000-07:00

I don't get out much so all i have to blog are pictures i have taken at home. mikenna and andon love to hold baby kelton and so i manage to capture a few pictures here and there.

i tried to take a picture of the kids feet but it didn't exactly turn out like i wanted. i still think it's a cute picture though

kelton definately sleeps a lot but when he is awake he is very alert and so cute.

Kelton's First Week Home

2008-09-26T18:54:00.000-07:00

Mikenna loves to hold kelton and will take him whenever she can.

I can't believe how big andon is. he's so heavy to carry around now and he has really been good with the baby. i am surprised.

a close up of kelton

keltons first bath at home

my three peas in a pod

when andon is happy he loves the camera and always gives me a big grin. he loves baby kelton and today started to say "brother" when he saw pictures of kelton. it's so cute

kelton has so far been the best of all my babies and it is such a blessing to have a non cauliky baby. we love him and are so grateful the Lord sent him to be part of our family.

Where's Waldo?

2008-09-22T18:20:00.000-07:00

remember those fun books where's waldo?..... how about...

Where's Kelton?

my sister janell just moved here and she was showing us her play room and thought it would be fun to hide kelton in the pile of stuffed animals.... and it was fun.

Kelton Lane Baker

2008-09-19T17:52:00.000-07:00

Yeah!! he is finally here. Kelton was born on wednesday at 12:34 pm. he weighed 7 lbs 6 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. the surgery went well and the baby is perfectly healthy. he had to stay under the warmer for a couple of hours after he was born to get his temp. up but no problems at all for him or me. he is so beautiful and we love him so so much. we have been blessed with a good healthy baby. he eats great and sleeps a lot (compared to my other two cauliky babies) sorry it took me forever to get these pictures on but we got home from the hospital at 7 friday night so thanks for waiting.

mikenna loves her baby brother and is already such a good help

andon, as you can see, is a happy big brother to kelton

my three beautiful children.

2 days old

this is kelton waiting to go home

after waiting at the hospital since 2:30 for my rogham shot, we are finally ready to go home at 7

Tomorrow is the Big Day

2008-09-16T19:11:00.000-07:00

it is tuesday night and about 9 pm and i finally have a minute to do a quick blog to reflect my last nine months of pregnancy.

when did i find out i was pregnant? january 11

what were my feelings when i found out? well, i was excited because i always enjoy being pregnant and i knew it could happen but i was a bit nervous when i realized that andon was not even one yet and the two would be only 19 months apart. i didn't tell john for like three days.

was i sick? yes, it was a very annoying sickness because it lasted all day long and so it was hard to enjoy doing anything, and everything about this pregnancy was harder because i had two kids at home to take care of.

what was the best day of my pregnancy? the day i found out i was having a boy. i wanted a boy so bad and was so afraid that i was going to have a girl. when the nurse said, "that is a penis, it's a boy" i was so relieved and could not be happier. and i really wanted a boy because the baby and andon would be close in age a boy would be perfect for him.

how much weight did i gain? 33 pounds

what were some of my cravings? chocolate milk, ice cream, candy, wheat thins, and frozen grapes

what are my most recent cravings? pancakes with peanut butter and syrup and soda

what are my feelings about tomorrow? i am excited to have a new baby and to hear that first cry and see that full head of hair. the miracle of birth still amazes me and i cant wait to see my new son. i am a little nervous because going into surgery is always a little scary but i trust my doctor and know that everything will be okay. i will be in a new hospital and am wondering how this experience will be. but besides all the mixed feelings, john gave me a blessing so i know that i will be taken care of and that me and the baby will be fine.

just a few last pictures before i lose all my pregnant curves!!!

Girls Night

2008-09-10T07:57:00.000-07:00

in the last couple of weeks, i have realized that my little mikenna is about to become a big sister again and i am going to need her help a lot. i know i wont be able to spend as much time with her after the baby is here so i decided we needed a girls night/ mommy and mikenna night out. i told her about this last week and she has been very excited for our girls night. so here is my documentation on our night. we left at 4 in the afternoon and didn't get home till 9.

the first stop was walmart. i needed a few things and while we were there mikenna got to pick out a prize, a toothbrush, gum, and a new outfit for the baby.

our next stop was dinner. we went to chick fil a and had some yummy food. mikenna played on the toys for while after we ate and then we left.

the main event for our night was getting pedicures. mikenna is very girly and i thought that getting her feet done would be fun. she loves massages and painting her nails too. this was new for me as well but i knew this would be fun for both of us. and we had a blast!!

mikenna giggled a lot but liked the man working on my toes

she liked the massage on her feet the best. it felt good.

after getting her toes painted, mikenna was able to sit back in the chair and get the massage on her back. it was new to her and we sat there for a while and relaxed.

the finished project. mikenna's bright pink toes and my red toes.

after pampering our feet, we went to get haircuts. this is mikenna starting her cut....

the finished project. i have been debating for a while whether to cut her hair or not but she wanted to get it cut so we did it. and i like the way it turned out.

our last stop was braum's, the icecream shop. mikenna had strawberry and i had german chocolate. it was delicious.

we got home and shared a hug on the couch before we went to bed. i love mikenna and she is such a good daughter. we had a great girls night.

"Stolen" Camera

2008-09-03T13:42:00.000-07:00

so the other day i left my camera on the couch, big mistake, and mikenna found it. she loves to take pictures, usually of her toys and stuff, but this time she was not the photographer. after her, treston, and andon disappeared for a while, i found out that they had my camera and this is what i found as the pictures. i laughed a ton because i thought it was hillarious. apparantly, mikenna had no problem posing while treston took the snapshots. and andon just was hangin around with them.

it doesn't matter what faces or poses they are doing, my kids are just so darn cute. i love them to pieces.