2 Yrs

Two years ago tonight i was spending my first night with my sweet little man! He was SO tiny and I just fell in love!

A year later he was already this big (with no teeth but lots of smiles)
He wasnt walking, and saying just a handful of words

And tonight I put this sweet little boy...yes boy not baby to bed...as a 2 yr old and I want to cry!
He has become a spirited, silly, loving, stubborn, helpful little boy and I couldn't love him more! He talks and talks! He is growing and changing every day! He loves cars and trucks, trains and soccer. He is a little stud who hates babysitters and is working on nursrey, loves his mommy and cries whenever daddy has to get off the phone at work! I can only imagine what he will be like next year! My amazing cousin took pictures of him yesterday for his birthday and they turned out FANTASTIC but for some reason this is the only one I can get to load... but seriously how cute is this! There are some more on her blog lifethroughbrislens.blogspot.com

Now of course I my camcorder wasn't working and the battery wouldn't stay in my camera today so I have no pictures of Jaden on his actual Birthday...lame I know, but we have been celebrating him for the last week so I hope these will suffice!

We had a family BBQ with my family last weekend to celebrate dads and Jaden and my mom got Jaden an adorable cars cake and he thinkgs it is just the coolest thing to have everyone sing to him... Here are a few pics

That's my son, as soon as the candles were out...he went for the frosting! In the process though he did manage to singe his eyebrows and eyelashes!

We also had a family birthday dinner at Shawns parent's house where we celebrated both jaden and Nathan's birthdays! We did much better with the candles this time!

My sisters Annie, Sarah, Rachel, and the kiddos came up to visit and we had such a great time! The kids played all day long in the sunshine and played so great with eachother! I love how close in age all our kids are, as of this fall we will have 8 under the age of 4...oh the memories they will make with eachother and the trouble they will cause! I'm so excited!

Libby and Jaden

Jaden got this killer water table from us and Nana for his birthday and all the kids LOVE it!
Here he is with Meagan

Eathing a yummy treat

okay I know this child is not mine but I LOVE this picture of cute Hayla in her sunglasses!


Here is just a fun picture of how Jaden and I spend our lazy days! This child could easily spend HOURS throwing rocks into the creek! Love it!
On Tuesday I decided to head down to see my sisters and instead of going to the pool (because they are lame and don't open until noon) we decided to have a pool party at Nana's. Again...SO much fun with the cousins! We set up the pool, put the slide in and the kids went to town.


My sister Amy bough a slip and slide and I would be lying if I said the kids actually understood how to use it, they still had fun. We ended up just throwing them down...which was a good work out for us and lots of fun for them!


All in all it was just a fun afternoon that I really NEEDED and enjoyed! I love my sisters!

Here is J just playing
That night I ended up taking Jaden to his first movie ever! He did SO good and actually seemed to enjoy it! It was a fun filled day, but one that at the end you some how feel rejuvinated, a perfect day!

Well that ended up being a VERY long post, but that is us the last week or so! We have had a great week and celebrated Jaden often! Life is good and I couldn't love my family more!

Sunshine=Smiles

I am so glad the sun finally came out to play...for a little while!
I love being a mom more than anything in the world and its afternoons like this that I love most!
No where to go...nothing to do....
Just play!

I bought Jaden this cheap little pool awhile ago, and we finally pulled it out today! After searching for about 30 minutes for the attachment to the shop vac to blow if up I gave in and blew it up myself!..almost passed out!

It was worth it though because Jaden had a blast and it wore him out so much he took a 2 hr nap! So did mom! Here are some fun pics!

We also went to a World Cup party this last weekend! It was great! I fully support soccer and the World cup but it was nice to have all the guys in the theater room, all the kids playing in every other room, and a few of us moms chatting it up and when the cheering came loud through the house, we knew to check out the tv for the replay, those are my kind of sporting events!

Jaden and dad sporting their pride!

All smiles after a fun afternoon


and as always the BYU hat!

Okay so this I just had to throw this in here! This is Jaden's new favorite place to watch tv, and yes in case you are wondering that is a candle that he has chosen as his stadium seat!
Love this kid!

I'm trying really hard to be a better blogger! Especially since we are farther away from family and friends! Wish me luck! Maybe if I can keep it up I will get more comments :)

Home Sweet Home!!!

So it has taken a lot longer than we planner but we are FINALLY in Eden and couldn't be happier!
Its amazing to me that in the short amount of time we have been here it already feels like home!
Its so nice to have space for Jaden to run around and room for people to come visit! I love that everything has a place and it actually feel SO much easier to keep a house clean than an apartment because I actually have a place to put things so there is less clutter! The ward here is wonderful and the scenery is amazing! This is the view from our patio!

We feel so blessed to be here! Shawn had his last day at Zions today and will start working for G2 on Thursday! Our lives will be changing quite a bit as this is a much more demanding job than we are used to, but it will be well worth it, especially for him! He is very excited to get started, as he told me this morning before he left for work, this is the day he has been waiting for for the last 10 months! It was worth the wait!
There isn't a whole lot in Eden, but that's one of our favorite things about it! Its very laid back and i find myself feeling so grateful each day for the beautiful scenery around us...Shawn is also excited that the Pineview boat dock is less tan 10 minutes from our front door!

Jaden has been doing especially well with the move! I think one of his favorite things is.....

His big boy bed!!! he has been so excited about it! Whenever anyone has come over he is always so excited to show them his big boy bed! I am so glad we moved him to the bed our first night here it was the perfect time for the transition and he has done great! He hasn't tried to get out of it, he will sit up in the morning and wait for me to come get him while he screams "Let me out, let me out, mommy let me out!" it's quite funny actually! He has fallen out twice in the last week but we have kept a matress under the bed that we pull up next to it when he goes to sleep so he has landed on that and not been too upset, he will cry and I will just go get him and put him back in. its actually been quite a smooth transition. (knock on wood)

Since I havent been working other than swimming lessons a few days a week Jaden and I have had a lot more time just the two of us. Cometime I fins us kind of looking at eachother and thinking...okay what now... :) We always manage to find something fun and do have a lot of fun though and i feel like it has made me a better mom! We go on walks, play at the pool, dig in the dirt (with Jaden its not exactly called gardening) and we seem to spend a few afternoons at the park (I say THE park because there is only ONE in Eden) and occasionally I will drive to hunsville and we will play at the park there (its much bigger). The upside is that he seems to stay longer and enjoy them more seeing as we don't go as much and he doesnt see them everywhere!

It also has been great to have a playroom for Jaden, its down stairs so he doesnt see all of his toys all day long and plays much longer and happier with them when we go down.

Jaden has been VERY into trains the last few months...
(thanks for the outfit nana)

So for an early birthday present we took him to Thomas the Train a few weekends ago and he has a blast!!!! Here are some pictures!

I made the mistake of telling jaden to show me his cheese face when I brush his teeth.... so now when I tell him to say cheese for a picture....this is what i get, the "oh no not again" face.

a real smile

This is my FAVORITE picture and I think it sums up his feelings on the experience.

So that pretty much sums us up!
We love Eden and are so glad for the opportunity to live here and hope we dont have to
leave for a VERY long time!

You have got to be kidding me!

So Jaden and I had a VERY funny day today! Now I know I am lacking in the blogging area but I lost my camera charger and am lacking in pictures and I hate blogging without pictures and lets be honest if anyone reads this they prefer pictures too...but anyways! This was so funny I had to blog about it anyways!

So today was my cleaning laundry day, Jaden's least favorite day of the week by far! So when he comes up to me with his 'The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog' book (yes he is totally my son and loves the whole series...something about it being ok to yell at a book appeals to him! :) I couldn't help but take a time out of laundry to snuggle up and read some books with my sweet little guy. Well his new favorite treat is these...

So I handed him his little box and started to read...well we were done with our pigeon and dinosaur books, as well as our monster books but still having a great time when I noticed Jaden sticking his finger up his nose. Now my beloved father taught him this great trick and i have been striving to unteach it! He has been doing much better about stopping when I ask so I was surprised he kept doing it. Finally in a rather firm tone i told him to stop!! He being the not so stubborn son of mine proceeded to throw himself on the ground and freak out! :) I know...shocking! :) Anyways when he finally decided to calm down he rolled over and I saw white coming out of his nose...I believe my exact words were "Jaden you have GOT to be kidding me!" I took him into his room and grabbed a flashlight but couldn't see much so I grabbed a bulb suction to see if there was anything even up there. I suctioned and kept getting white stuff with little black specs.... I grabbed tweezers too but since I couldn't see anything I decided against it. So I called the pediatrician and asked if since it was biodegradable if i was ok....they said no and to come in immediately! So I did!
Now I have to admit that through the entire process I couldn't help but laugh because when I was his age I did the same thing with a lime green bead that had to be suctioned out! Not to mention he wasn't crying in pain and when I got to the Dr's they weren't sure it was even in there because he was so calm! ( I obviously wouldn't have found it humorous if he was sad)
Well the pediatrician tried for about 30 min and couldn't get it because it was so far back, so he sent me to an ear nose throat doctor to see if he could retrieve it! I know..seriously all this over a raisin! (it wasn't yogurt covered anymore)
So we headed up to the new dr this afternoon to see what he could do! I was impressed that even though it had "expanded" he was still able to get it out quite easily! But it was HUGE!!! As soon as it was all over Jaden sat up and asked if he could have a popsicle! I LOVE THIS KID! Anyways, I have been laughing about it all day and just though I would share because this little mischievous man...

Is all mine and i love every part of his curious miscevious funny lovable self! I'm sure we will have lots more adventures ahead, and I hope we can laugh about them too!

Hooray For Sunshine!!!!

So I am trying really hard to better at updating! So here is the latest from this past week!

The sun FINALLY came out and boy oh boy did we take advantage of it! We spent every sunny day outside and had a ball! With Jaden's RSV past I have been really picky about letting him play outside unless it is quite warm, and so he was SO happy to finally be playing outdoors!

We spent one day at Hogle Zoo with my sister Emily, her kids, Courtney and Kate!
Here is a picture of the crew!

I will just let you imagine how soaked they got here!

Kate and Jaden found this puddle and unfortunately since they have decided to take away the bears and the poor zebra's died, there was nothing to distract them from it! They were not too happy when we took them away, but luckily the penguins weren't far and they were all smiles once again!!

Chillin in the wagon!

We really had SO much fun and can't wait to go back again! We spent another day at the park and can't wait until every day brings a sunny fun adventure!

Jaden and Kate are also shopping buddies! Here is a fun picture!

Much Needed Update!!!

So it has been WAY too long since I have posted and I apologize! It started out that I felt NOTHING was going on in our lives that I really needed to update but then this week has been crazy!!! Anyways, here is what is going on with us!

At the begining of February we moved in with Shawn's parent's down in Lehi while we await our move to Eden. Things are going slower than we planned but all that matters is things are going! We are still not in Eden but are lucky to have the hospitality of Shawn's parent's while we are here! For those of you who don't know we are moving to Eden for a great job oportunity for Shawn and we are VERY excited!

Jaden is adjusting well to being here and has been a real trooper..here are some of his new favorite things!

This is where the J man likes to hang while mom gets ready!

He cracks me up!

We get to go on some fun little walks! Lots more of these in Eden!
I must say that I do LOVE being so close to Thanksgiving Point! It has so many great and fun things to do! Jaden is VERY into horses and animals and loves going to the farm to see the "neighs" (yes every animal is refered to by the sound they make)
Jaden adores his grandparents and I am glad he is getting to spend some quality time together before we are far away and our visits become A LOT less frequent!

So needless to say things have been going well for us, but Monday night we hit a snag....

Last year at almost this exact same time Jaden got RSV/Bronchialitis and ended up at Primary Children's for a week on oxygen. It was an emotional time and so sad to see our little man so sick. He was a trooper though and made a great recovery. Well on Monday Jaden got his second spout with Bronchialitis in the last month and we were back at the dr's. They sent me home but low and behold at about 5:30 I knew that he wasn't ok. I took him to the insta care and by midnight that night we were back in the hospital with you guessed it, RSV and Bronchialitis.

This cute little mischevious face...

Once again looked like this....

We did get lucky this time though and only ended up staying about 24hrs. I was so upset though at the begining of the season the doctor had told me that because he got RSV last season the odds of him getting it again were slim. Well come to find out that Jaden has Restrictive Airway Disease. Which basically means that when he gets a cold, he gets asthmatic symptoms and it hits him hard. The good news is that now we know what to do and he will probably grow out of it! We also now are the proud owners of one of these fun little machines... boo!
It actually will be a good thing, because now when Jaden catches a cold I can give him a breathing treatment at home.

As rough as a week as it was we are back to being healthy and my happy little man is running around again... and we are looking forward to many more days of...


and..


Jaden has grown up SO much lately that I can barely believe it! He is talking so much! Even full sentences...when he feels like it! Time flies!