Hess Family

Ashley's Growth

2011-11-08T20:59:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I have been so terrible at blogging this crazy little girl. She is so much fun and just can't wait to keep up with her brother & sister.
This is her first bath at home. She has since learned to LOVE bathtime.

She LOVED being all wrapped up right after her bath although I quickly learned to put the diaper on first.

About 2 weeks old

My grandpa Andrews with Ashley May 1

4 generation- Ashley, me, my mom, my grandma Andrews - May 8

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

Ashley hates her carseat. She has from day 1. Unless she is just fed and burped she cries. Although that is getting better as she can play with toys and interact with Jayden & Jennilyn. She put herself on a schedule before she was 3 months old and I ruined it because we had so many late nights this summer. She was sleeping about 10 hours by 6 weeks. (WOW, that was a great surprise. I've never had a baby sleep through the night so early.) She has grown up so quickly. She rolled over, got up on her knees, and started scooting all within 2 weeks, when she was 5 months old. She's now got 2 bottom teeth and I think she's working on both top ones. She is not a fan of people, or crowds. She always cries and only wants Chris or I. I'm hoping that will change. Jayden & Jennilyn LOVE her to death. Jayden is in this wanting her to walk mode and so he stands her up all the time. I haven't yet found a punishment that will work to make him leave her alone. Jennilyn LOVES to lay on her. IDK how to get her to stop that either. But Ashley still loves them both. We are so blessed to have her in our family! I can't believe she is already 7 months old. Where does the time go.
As for me, I'm just trying to take in all I can of these little kids while they are still little. Jayden goes to school next year and I don't know how I feel about it. It's a new phase in life that I'm not sure I'm ready for, but ready or not. He is so ready though. He talks about going to school and doing homework all the time. I think it will be really hard on Jennilyn when he does go. She will have 2 years after he goes before she will. Jennilyn is my princess. I LOVE how she is 100% GIRL! Her favorite color is PINK and she would wear dresses every day if it weren't getting so cold. She just got a nightgown and she LOVES it! She is Jayden's partner in crime, and most of the time the little evil one. She is all potty trained, in fact, doing better than Jayden some days. I told them I didn't want them to grow up and get big a few weeks ago, and they got really offended. "Why not mom?" I said "Well I want you to stay little and stay with me forever" and they started crying "But I wanna get big." haha. I have had to explain multiple times that eventhough I want them to stay little forever, I don't really get to choose that. They will grow up and I will be happy for them everyday! I love my kids. I love my family! I love my life! I couldn't ask for any more! Well, I do kinda wish the snow would just come and stay! But I guess I'll be patient!

Our Summer

2011-11-08T19:42:00.000-08:00

First of all we did FINALLY get a dishwasher just before we had Ashley. And yes I have absolutely LOVED it!! Chris had some good help when he was installing it!

We GOT A VAN!! The week before we had Ashely we finally sealed the deal! It has been the best investment! I LOVE it! I can't imagine what we ever did without it!

Here's a little glimpse of what we did this summer!

We learned there is a Hess Park in Payson! It seriously pointed to this little rode that looked like it went to someone's back yard, so no we didn't go check it out.

Chris worked hard, and slept everywhere! (My favorite it the bottom left where he's got Ashely's pacifier in his mouth and she is screaming! lol

Every chance we got we played on these...

We did a LOT of this... With friends and cousins and basically anyone that would join us!

We did this most every day...

We did this for the Fourth of July...

We made it to 2 Rodeos.. PG's Strawberry Days and the Ute Stampede...

We FINALLY made it to Lagoon.

We took LOTS and LOTS of pictures and thanks to Camilla's singing Christmas tree for the bribery!

We only took 1 trip on a airplane. 3 kids didn't even kill us! Maybe we're finally getting the hang of this!

We got to celebrate these 2 start their life together. Congrats to Mindy & Curtis! Check out the group pic.. They asked all the couples to kiss.. Jayden and Jennilyn are always telling me they are going to marry each other. So cute!!!

We took a little pony ride at the Animal Farm at Thanksgiving point!

We did LOTS of riding in the car. Sometimes it was fun, sometimes not so much...

We visited 2 Temples. Timpanogos and Palmyra...

We made it to 3 reunions.. The Turnbow Campout, Hanna Hoedown, & the Andrews Reunion (I don't have pics)

The Turnbow Campout

The Hanna Hoedown

The first night we had dinner up Aspen. It was a little chilly, but so fun! Jared & Jessica made dutch over chicken & potatoes. YUMMY!

We had a great talent show and I somehow got zero pics.

We cleaned up the yard and relaxed...

We rode 4-wheelers, horses, and had water games...

We played field day games which were a huge hit. Chris & I even won the 3-legged race! :)

The kids had a blast...

The kids made little marshmallow shooters and horses. We had a hot dog roast out back and celebrated Jennifer's Birthday...

Family pics

We're still alive!

2011-09-09T12:16:00.000-07:00

I guess 3 kids keeps me more busy! We have had a very fun-filled summer and part of me can't wait until it's over so that we can just stay home for a little while. Get back on somewhat of a schedule! pictures of our summer adventures are coming. So stay tuned!

Ashley's blessing

2011-05-26T09:31:00.000-07:00

We blessed Ashely on April 17. It was such a nice day! We had most of our family there. It was fun! Ashley did so good all day. She was just Super happy! Thanks everyone for traveling to be here with us and for all your help!

Us & Grandma & grandpa Turnbow

Grandma & grandpa Turnbow with Ashley

Us with Grandma & Grandpa Hess

Grandma & grandpa Hess with all the grandkids- Jayden, Jennilyn, Austin, Ashley

The Hesses- missing Tyler & Mckenzie & Curtis

They really hate taking pictures! But they were so good

My grandparents, me & Ashley

My grandma & grandpa Andrews with Ashley

Jayden & cousin Jacob- he just loves him

Cousin Brinley, She is 6 months older

Cousin Austin-He is 2 months older then Ashley

Time Flies!

2011-04-08T12:08:00.000-07:00

It's amazing to me how slowly the time passes while you are pregnant and then all the sudden the baby is here and now a month old. It just goes by too fast! The past month has been just wonderful! The kids LOVE her to death and always have to know where she is and want to hold her all the time. She's been doing really great at sleeping at night.. Well all day actually, but this is my first that hasn't had her days and nights mixed up from the beginning. So far she will go anywhere for 2 to 4 hours at night and one week she went for 5.5 hours one night, then 6 and then 6.5. Not all right in a row, but she can sleep. It's great for me.

We've had lots of help. My mom was here for a week right after she was born and Chris' family was all here 2 weeks ago! The kids have been pretty spoiled (And so have I) They got out to the park every day and I got to sleep in plus get a nap. It was a good week. We are back to reality now and it's going ok. It's been raining and super cold so the kids are just dieing being stuck inside. A friend came and took them for a few hours one morning last week and that was so nice. :) I spent the time cleaning bathrooms and the kitchen, but doing that without the kids around was very nice.

As far as the other 2 go.. Jennilyn thinks she is done with naps. I don't know what it is about my kids and giving up naps too early, but oh well.. I'm trying to figure out a good thing, but I still just don't know what to do. If she takes a nap she won't go to bed until after 9. Without a nap she will go to bed at 7. But with the summer coming I wanted to push their bedtime back to 8 or 8:30 so that we could enjoy the summer evenings... taking walks or playing outside. So we are still up in the air with that. We started potty training her this week. So far it's not terrible. I'm just trying to teach her how to recognize when she needs to go. But she goes through all of her pants plus a few of Jayden's every day. lol. And she has like 10 pair of pants. Jayden is LOVING getting to help with the whole potty training. He told me today "mom, I'm so glad that Jennilyn is wearing underwear like me." lol He's a great big brother. He's been in this trowing fun little obnoxious fits lately. I honestly don't know what to do with him when he does that. And it's over things that he already knows, but all the sudden he freaks out about it. But he can officially ride his big boy bike all over the place. (It does have training wheels.. He's not that big yet) And he just LOVES it! He would ride back and forth in the driveway all day if I would let him. He's getting so big. I can't even believe that he'll be 4 in August! It's so crazy how fast they grow.

I'm so lucky to get to spend all day EVERY day with these crazy kids. I honestly don't know what I would do without them. They are my everything (And Chris, of course)

We are now a family of 5! Crazy!!

Kids helping!

2011-03-29T15:41:00.001-07:00

Our Family

So I walked away from the computer and left my post up and apparently the kids posted it for me. I'm not yet done. lol!

So it was a much better labor then Jennilyn's and I was very glad that my doctor was there! She weighed 8 pounds 2 ounces and was 20 inches long! We named her Ashely and she is such a good baby! She was having some gaging issues in the hospital so they sent us home with a monitor that watches her breathing and her heart rate. Which is kinda nice, because I think I sleep better. And she is on the lights at home for Jaundice. Not so fun, but oh well.

Well we failed at bringing her home with us. It wasn't because of the low blood sugar tho. She didn't have any problems with that, but because of her gaging thing they kept her a day later. :( I guess she stopped breathing 3 times. 2 of the 3 they had to give her oxygen. So I guess it's ok that they kept her for that. But still, it was not fun! The one time she did it the pediatrician was there and it freaked him out. He said it took him like 2 minutes to get her breathing again. So he did a chest xray and ran all these tests. All of them came back PERFECT! So it will just take time for her to figure it all out I guess. But she hasn't done it at all since she has been home. So hopefully that will be done with. We are just so glad that she is here and doing good! She's even going 2-4 hours at night between feedings. It's very nice for me!

If you go to bellababyphotography.com and click on view photos and type in 0324ashleyhess for the password you can see some pictures they took at the hospital. They will only be up for 2 weeks! But I'll get my pictures and post soon!!

Jayden and Jennilyn are LOVING having Ashley around. They are going to be very helpful and protective of her I think! :) It will keep life fun!!

New Addition

2011-03-29T08:07:00.000-07:00

I had a Dr appointment on Tuesday and first of all the nurse couldn't find the heartbeat. Freak me out!! She tried for a few minutes and found nothing but mine! So finally she says, "Don't panic.. I'll go get the nurse who is really good at this." So I tried not to panic and the nurse came in felt my tummy and put the thing on and BAM! There was the heartbeat! 151- Perfect!! WOW... So then the Dr said he thought her head was thrown back, looking up. And it's suppose to be down with her chin to her chest. So he did an ultrasound and her head is back, but also turned sideways. So she's looking at my hip. So he wanted to talk about it. He said that it didn't scare him, but he has other doctors helping him right now, cause he just let his partner go, and he needs to breath everyone other weekend. And of course he wasn't on call this weekend. And he could see this scaring some doctors and then they would just do a c-section. So if I wanted to he would induce me on Thursday. I of course was like yes, but I needed to talk to Chris first. But Jennilyn was the same way and my doctor was NOT the doctor on call. So after her turned her completely face up and after pushing forever he used the vacuum and then said want a c-section or call your doctor? I said call my doctor and he was on his way in already. Within 5 minutes of him walking in the room he had her out. So I didn't want to have that experience again. The doctor just didn't seem very confident, and I go to my doctor because he is and I TOTALLY trust him! So we decided to do it. They called me on Wednesday and said "We will get you in, but we have no clue when. So you just be ready. It could be any time from 7am to 7pm. WOW, that makes for a LONG day. I guess I was a little excited, or nervous or whatever, cause I slept terribly. I just kept checking the clock. I didn't wanna miss their call and what if I just didn't hear it. Well at 7:30 they called and we headed in. They got me all hooked up and started the pitocin at 9:10. At 9:45 I was dialated to a 4. At 11 I was ready for my epidural, but he there were 2 people in front of me. So finally at 12:30 I got the epidural, which was wonderful! My dr came and broke my water at 1:55 and I was a dialated to a 6. So I decided I was gonna take a nap. Chris left to take a walk and at 2:10 I started feeling TONS of pressure. I really thought I was gonna have the baby in the room by myself. I called Chris and he didn't answer and I couldn't find my call button for the nurse. Then Chris came back in and got the nurse and I was fully dialated and ready to go. They called my dr back and she was born at 2:21. She was face up, so he used the forceps to flip her, but then did not use them to get her out. He has had to pull the other 2 out. And she was bigger, so that's weird. But it was really quick.

Disney on Ice

2011-03-23T19:48:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine was able to get tickets to Disney on Ice for us. So we all went together. It was so much fun and the kids absolutely LOVED it! Toy Story didn't come out until the very end and it had me worried that they wouldn't be there, but thankfully they were. That was who we were waiting for!

Me with my 2 kids

The opening act

Daisy Duck & Minnie

Cinderella & Prince Charming

Micky & Minnie dancing through the princesses

The Toy Story Gang

Micky & Minnie on the sleigh

Jesse, Woody, Buzz Lightyear & Army man waving to us

Friends- Austin, Emma, Jayden & Jennilyn

We got a van!

2011-03-23T19:29:00.000-07:00

We finally did it. We got a minivan! :) I'm so excited! I absolutely LOVE it!! It's a 2010 Dodge Caravan, and we got a really good price on it. So we are very excited about that! They gave me the roses after we decided to buy it! It's so fun!! Now we're are just waiting for this little girl to come!!

Update- Only 3 weeks to go

2011-03-15T09:02:00.001-07:00

Well we are down to only 3 weeks to go! I can't believe it's almost here. Some days I think I am so ready for her to be here and other days I think there is no way I can handle 3 kids. It's definitely going to be interesting at our house for a while! I've been measuring big the last half of the pregnancy, so maybe she'll come early, or just be very big. Who knows! Last week my doctor told me he is just waiting for me to have her. Any day really. I've had lots of contractions for the past 2 months, which I don't remember having with the last 2 kids, so that's been not so fun! I had an ultrasound last Friday and it was so fun to see the baby so late in the pregnancy. I've never seen them past the 20 week ultrasound. She is quite a mover. She was going crazy in the ultrasound, but everything is looking good. We even saw some hair floating around in there. Pretty amazing what they can do with technology these days!

So I haven't yet been able to bring my baby home from the hospital with me. They have low blood sugar when they are born and they have a hard time eating at first so they can't bring up their blood sugar. So they put them on an antibiotic and have to monitor them for 48 hours. But since they only put them on it the second day, I leave and they keep my baby.. It's hard. I really hate it. So I've been trying to fix it. Really all they can say is that it's the kids fault. There is nothing I can do to fix it. But one nurse mentioned how the sucking reflex is one of the last things that a baby develops, so since my kids come early, they have a harder time eating and can't fix the problem. (And that's also why they can't get rid of the jaundice either.) So I am hoping that she will stay for another week or 2, but we'll see!

I'm pretty excited about having Jennilyn so old when this baby gets here. Where Jayden was only 17 months when Jennilyn was born, it was really hard. But Jennilyn is so much older and I'm excited. It will be so totally different. Also, since the first of the year we have really worked on getting our kids to put themselves to sleep and sleeping through the night and I have to say, 2 and 1/2 months later, it is finally paying off. It's exciting to think that the whole house won't be up all night. The kids are doing wonderful. And it's much less stressful on me..

I got sick last week. Just a cold, & cough, but it is so annoying! I'm afraid it might not leave me until I have the baby, but I'm hoping. The kids got it too, so hopefully we can at least get them healthy before she comes. I don't really wanna bring my new baby home to a sick houseful.

Austin's Blessing

2011-03-15T08:58:00.002-07:00

Juston & Nicole blessed Austin February 20, so we went up for the weekend. It's amazing how much they grow up in just a month! We had a fun weekend seeing everyone. And the kids were actually really good on the drive, so that was excellent. They even slept ok!

Austin

The Riley Family

Austin

Nicole & Austin

The proud Grandpa

All the Hess' who were able to make it.. We missed you Andrea & mom

On Juston's side they have only grandsons so Jennilyn was the only little girl. And really, she tried to take out all the boys. They were so sweet to her tho, they would just tell her. "Don't push that hurts." And she would push them again. LOL! Jayden has taught her well, I guess.

I just love these 2 kids

My Birthday

2011-03-15T08:58:00.001-07:00

This year I turned 27 on January 27. It only happens to everyone once in their life.. Kinda cool. Well the kids weren't SUPER nice to me all day. Of course. Chris made me dinner and a cake. It was spice cake with homemade cream cheese frosting. It was so good. My mom, dad & Alesha stopped by so they had cake & ice cream with us. It was fun. So Chris told me that one of my presents was going to be late.. He went to buy it at the store and it wasn't there, so he bought it on amazon and it would be there in a day. So the box came in the mail and he said I could open it. And it was Rachel Ray pots & pans... WOW, I have wanted them for a few years, but I never thought I would actually get them.. I LOVE THEM!!!!

They are all nonstick, and so easy to clean. Although I can't use any of my metal utensils on them, so good thing I have plastic ones. Thanks babe! I LOVE THEM!!

Well the next week Camilla asked if she could take me out for dinner for my birthday. So we went and got pedicures and went to dinner. We were going to go to a movie too, but she was saying how she has this huge project due for one of her classes, so she needed to get home. So we were done eating by like 6:30. But mom called and needed some milk, so we stopped at macey's and so I got some things too. And then we came home. Camilla said she really needed to use the bathroom, which totally made sense to me because I needed to go to. And we got to the door, and I had left my keys, so I knocked on the door. The lights were all out and I couldn't believe that Chris already had the kids in bed and it wasn't even 7:30 yet. So he opened the door and I came in and there was all my family, in the area, to surprise me. WOW I was so not expecting that! (Of course I started to cry.) lol! They had decorated my house with balloons and streamers and my mom made my favorite ice cream cake. And Camilla gave me the movie 27 dresses, cause of the 27. And inside were 27 $1 from each person in my family! There are 29 of us, but minus me and Spencer who is on his mission- it worked out perfect. Each person signed one. It was really clever. So we had a fun night. Grandpa & Grandma Andrews even came. Thanks to everyone for making it great!

Chris & I

My mom made my favorite Ice cream cake

My 27 $1Jessica
My brother Jared
All the kids, Katie, Alesha, Jayden, Me, Jennilyn, & Jason

Camilla & I

My dad
My mom
Grandpa Andrews
Grandma Andrews

Baby Austin

2011-03-11T11:07:00.002-08:00

Chris' sister, Nicole, had her baby on January 18, so we went up to visit that weekend. It's so fun seeing little ones. They just grow up so fast! They named him Austin John.. And he is such a cutie and such a good baby! Congrats Juston & Nicole.

The kids of course wanted to hold him the whole time! They LOVE babies

Jennilyn LOVES to give kisses, but pretty much just smashes his poor face

They found these, of course they were broken to pieces before we left. Thanks kids

We stayed with my sister, Jennifer, and th

ey took us sledding. It was so fun and the snow wasn't wet, like ours is, so we stayed warmer. The kids loved it! Thanks Jen

some videos of the kids sledding- Just ignore me

Jennilyn turned 2

2011-03-11T11:07:00.001-08:00

Jennilyn turned 2 this year! I can't believe she's already 2. She is so much fun! It's been exciting to see how different she is from Jayden. Even though they are so very similar, they are so totally different.

We celebrated hers & Aubrey's Birthday's the day before with my family. She had fun blowing out the candles. My mom made her a doll blanket that matches the blanket she made Jennilyn when she was born. It is the FAVORITE doll blanket and has to go everywhere the doll goes.

Licking the frosting off the candles

She burned her hand on the stove, but it really wasn't that bad. I just put the wrap on to keep the band-aid on and she wouldn't let me take it off.

Tyler, Mckenzie & Mindy came over for cake and ice cream later in the week.

Good blow

Grandma Knickerbocker (Chris' grandma) gave her this dog. WOW, she sure loves it!

She got a princess chair, elmo slippers, and an outfit from mom & dad

Jayden was such a great helper at unwrapping

Happy Birthday sweet girl! We are so happy that you are in our family!

Christmas

2011-03-11T11:06:00.000-08:00

This year we spent Christmas with my family! My parents only live 10 minutes away, but we went up and stayed for a week anyway. It was so much fun! Aubrey took us all ice skating on Christmas eve. The kids absolutely LOVED it. As for me, skating while pregnant isn't my most favorite thing. haha! But it was fun!

Jennilyn & I putting on our skates

It's a killer to skate with little ones, cause they want to hold both your hands. And it sure works your back!

Chris & Jayden

We got hot chocolate and Jayden loved it

Jennilyn & Camilla

Camilla & Jayden

Jayden skating with Aubrey

Jennilyn loving the glass

They had these little walker things for kids that they can push around to help them skate. Of course they were all taken when we got there. Jayden wanted one so bad. He started crying, which just annoyed me and I was ready to leave. Finally just before we were going to leave a little boy was done and coming out and his mom asked if Jayden wanted it. This was the first picture taken after. haha! He was sure happy that he got it.

Santa Clause was driving the zamboni. That was pretty exciting!

After ward we went caroling to some friends and then home for dinner. Jared & Jess picked up Chick-fil-a for everyone. WOW, those chicken nuggets are amazing! Thanks guys. It was great!

Then we did our gift exchange and the nativity. The kids all wanted to help each other open their gifts.

Jayden got Chaps from Alesha (Thanks mom for making them)

Jennilyn opening her present

She loves her phone

And purse!

For the siblings we did a food storage gift, but the $ limit was $10. So we had to be creative. Anne & Steven gave us both a box of life... Isn't that a great food storage. lol! I thought it was great!

The kids all slept in quite a bit on Christmas morning.

Jennilyn was so tired, she fell asleep right in the middle of the floor

Jayden loved his candy the most

Our family Christmas morning

We of course had to document Chris' hair

All the grandkids, & Alesha in their matching Christmas PJ's from Grandma & Grandpa

Jayden got into a fight with the couch! The couch won! lol

Our family with Grandma & Grandpa Turnbow

The whole Turnbow clan - minus matt who was sleeping

Our matching Christmas PJ's.

The kids in front of our tree

Snow family

2011-03-11T10:10:00.000-08:00

Chris & Jayden went out and made a whole snow family! You can't really tell, but the one on the far right is me. And she has even got a belly. lol Jayden was absolutely frozen, but he had so much fun! Jennilyn went out, but only lasted about 5 minutes before she was done.

Jayden, and dad with their first snowman

He was so proud of this snowman.

Jayden has had so much fun with the snow this year. He goes out and helps Chris shovel the driveway everytime it snows. He just can't get enough of it. And he LOVES to eat it! haha! I just try to tell him to eat the clean stuff!

Lights on Temple Square

2011-03-11T09:20:00.001-08:00

We went and looked at the Christmas lights with Tyler & Mckenzie, Mindy & Curtis & Juston & Nicole! It was so fun! We didn't get pictures with everyone.. oops. Curtis is the only one that Jennilyn gave a hug to and he is the only one that could get her to laugh. It's pretty cute how she much she loves him! We stopped at McDonald's after for some hot chocolate and of course Jayden spilled his all over the place!

The kids being silly

Our Family-Jennilyn didn't want to ride in the stroller, of course, and we couldn't get her to put her coat on. Thankfully she didn't freeze. Silly girl

Curtis & Jayden

Christmas Trees

2011-03-11T09:17:00.000-08:00

This year we went up Rock Creek because up Mill Hollow had too much snow and we couldn't get up. It was really nice. The drive there wasn't near as scary and we could drive our car the whole way as opposed to having to cram us all in the trucks. It was good. The kids had a blast in the snow and we were able to just walk up the road to find our tree! I really liked it actually!

Forgive me that the pictures are in NO SORT OF ORDER. I can't figure out how to move them all the sudden!

Us in front of our tree

The whole group! We missed you Jenn & Kire (and of course, Spencer)

Jayden made this snowman. He even gave him his hat

I don't know what it is about this girl and eating her gloves.

Jayden with his masterpiece. He was so excited that he made him!

Grandpa was great and entertained all the littlest kids while we all were out hunting down a tree. I think the kids had a blast playing in the truck! Thanks dad!

After we got our tree cut down Jayden wanted to help Chris drag it all the way back to the truck. Poor Chris. As if dragging a Christmas tree isn't hard enough without a 3 year old trying to hold on and keep up! But Jayden had a lot of fun.

Throwing snowballs

Cutting down the tree

As Chris and I were heading out to go find a tree all the sudden we heard some crying/yelling for us. Jayden saw us walking away and wanted to come with us and was running down the road crying. Poor kid. So he got to come with us

This is one of Jayden's favorite faces. I don't know why

Mom, Anne, Aubrey, Camilla, & me

Jennilyn, and Katie Jo enjoying their cookies

She loves her Chocolate

Playing in the SNOW!!

2010-12-17T11:21:00.000-08:00

The kids have been so excited to play in the snow since the first time it snowed. Sadly it's always gone by the time we get out there to play so finally one day we got to it before it melted. They had a blast. It's so fun watching things through the eyes of your kids, because nothing matters. Who cares if you hands and face and feet are frozen. It doesn't matter as long as you get to play and eat the snow. It's been fun this year as Jayden is understanding more about Christmas. It makes it a little more exciting for all of us. :) Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas Tree

My kids

2010-12-17T10:59:00.001-08:00

I don't know what it is about doing dishes that so fascinates the kids, but it sure does. We don't have a working dish washer, so I get lots of help washing the dishes by hand. And sometimes they are nice enough to help when I'm not around. I found them like this, this morning. Both completely drenched from head to toe and giggling like it was the best thing in the whole world.

Another time they helped me do the dishes

They LOVE the cat in the hat!

I french braided her hair one day. She was actually really good while I did it, but I haven't tried again since. It makes her look like a totally different girl

The back. I just think it is so cute!

They LOVE books. Sometimes I can even catch them just sitting there reading them. I LOVE it. In the morning when they wake up if it is light outside they will just talk and then Jayden will get books for both of them so they can read. And they will stay entertained for quite a while before they come and wake us up.

Jennilyn has become quite the biter and poor Jayden gets it all. :( She breaks skin quite often. I just don't know what to do to make her stop! She doesn't do it just out of fun, she is always being bothered when she bites. So maybe I need to work with Jayden to quit pestering his sister.
New outfits from Grandma Knickerbocker. Thanks! They LOVE them!

November

2010-12-06T13:33:00.003-08:00

It's a..... Girl! We found out on Chris' birthday that we are having another girl. We took the kids with us to the ultrasound and they were very excited. Jayden kept asking if she could walk and talk and eat. It was cute.

For Chris' Birthday I decided to try and surprise him. He really wanted a new phone and we put my sister on our cell phone plan and she was up for a new phone so he decided that he would ask her if he could use her upgrade. So I asked her and she said she wasn't gonna use it. So I asked her to tell him that her phone was dying when Chris asked. So she did and he was kinda hurt, but he couldn't get mad cause it was hers to use. (And she has been having bad luck with phones, so it kinda worked out great) So I was thinking maybe once I will be able to surprise him. He always figures things out cause he thinks about it too much so I have never yet surprised him. So we went and got the ultrasound and then I asked if he wanted lunch and it wasn't even 11 yet, but we decided to pick something up and he could take it to work. So I drove and we went to the Verizon store. He smiled when we got there and he totally had figured it out the night before while he was lying in bed trying to go to sleep. Darn him. I can NEVER surprise him. I would have to turn his brain off for the whole time and I don't think that is possible. But he did get a new phone and he loves it. Happy Birthday honey! WE LOVE YOU!

We went to the Mall and rode the Train. The kids absolutely LOVED it! Me, I would have been fine not riding. lol!

We were able to go to New York for Thanksgiving, thanks to our flight vouchers that had to be used within the year. Our trip over was long. We left our house at 6:40am and went to the airport. We flew out at 9:45. Landed in LA at 10:45 then had a 2.5 hour layover and then had a 4 hour flight to Detroit where we had an hour and a half layover. The kids were AMAZING! It was a long day, but it was good. I had a rough time. I don't like the smaller planes or take off and landing. I really thought I was gonna throw up on a few flights. Thankfully I didn't. We didn't land until 11pm. We had a nice relaxing week. We had a full house for Thanksgiving. It was fun we were able to see most of the family out here. We were going to go into NYC to meet up with my cousin and her family on Saturday, but Jennilyn woke up at midnight and wouldn't go back to sleep until after 5 and Jayden didn't go to sleep til almost 1. I decided that I shouldn't leave Jennilyn not knowing if something was wrong with her, and there was no way I would last all day in the city walking around. So we canceled. I was so bummed. It would have been fun, but Jennilyn ended up being fine. IDK what he problem was. She just didn't want to sleep. Thanks mom and dad for making us feel at home! Jennilyn got her first bloody nose. She was standing between Chris and I holding onto our legs and then her hands slipped and so she had nothing to catch her fall. She hit her face hard. So her nose started bleeding, thankfully it wasn't very bad. Our trip home was about the same as the way over. We flew out at 12:30pm and stopped in Detroit for an hour and a half and then flew to Las Vegas where we had a 50 minute layover. They boarded us early since everyone was checked in and they told us we were going to try to get out early. It was only a 50 minute flight into SLC. So just as they were getting ready to pull away from the gate a half hour early, there was some error on the computer so they had to check that out. We sat on the plane for 2 hours before they finally got it fixed and we took off. Thankfully our flight was only about half full, so we had a whole row of 6 seats to ourselves. Otherwise it would have been pretty rough, but the kids had fun playing around. We landed in SLC at 10pm and we were so happy to be home.

The boys
The girls

As we were walking past this guy in the LA airport Jennilyn said " That guy silly" So we had to take a picture by him. They were both trying to get the peace sign down. haha

Jayden asked me if my arms were tired from carrying my backpack. I said ya so he said I will help you and I'll carry yours and Jennilyn can carry mine. LOL! Everyone was cracking up that walked past us. One guy asked Jayden if he would carry his bag too. Jayden didn't respond. He had to bend over or he would fall over backwards.

For one flight Jennilyn was so tired, she was out before we even took off.
In Vegas there were a bunch of rocks and Jennilyn decided they were her phone.

Playing on the plane while we waited

Me + Running in flip flops = NOT GOOD

2010-12-06T13:33:00.001-08:00

So on November 1 I had a bit of a scare. The kids and I went to return a paper to a neighbor. We got talking and the kids were being crazy, picking all her tomatoes and playing with the neighbors cat. Then the cat went under a truck parked on the side of the road. I told the kids to come away from the truck but of course they didn't listen so I was watching them. Then Jayden started walking around the other side of the truck (The road side) so I yelled at him and he came back. Then Jennilyn did, so I yelled at her to come back and she did. But she didn't come back on the sidewalk. She was standing on the road, but right by the curb. I saw a car coming from the other way so they couldn't see her standing behind the truck. I told Jayden to go bring her to me and instantly I knew that was the wrong thing to do because she will just run from him. I took off running and screaming at her. But I was wearing flip flops and I totally can't run in them and I totally fell like 2 feet from her. Flat on my face. The car saw me and her and stopped. Smiled, probably trying hard not to laugh, and drove past. I just started crying. First of all that is SUPER EMBARRASSING and secondly I seriously saw my little girl getting hit by the car in my head. It was so real to me and it scared me to death. I ripped a hole in my knee of the only pair of pants that currently fit and scraped up my toe and totally cut up one knee. The other one was only a little scraped. I cut up my hands a little, and even what wasn't cut just BURNED. I was a little worried cause I was 18 weeks Prego at the time but my stomach never hurt at all. My hands and knees took the whole fall, thankfully.

So it was pretty much my embarrassing moment of the year, but when it comes to your children it really doesn't matter!

September & October

2010-12-06T13:31:00.000-08:00

For the General Relief Society Meeting all my sisters were in town. It was so fun. We all went up to the Conference Center with my mom and had a blast. Afterward we went and ate at the Lion House. It was yummy. Thanks for getting the tickets mom. It was fun. Lets make a tradition out of it. I like that!

My Brother Jared had his 3rd child on the 28th of September. A little girl and she is just so tiny and adorable. They named her Brinley and the kids just LOVED her so much. Jessica had to help me pull her out of Jennilyn's grasp a few times. It kinda makes me nervous for our next one. Jennilyn will be a great big sister. I'm sure she will want to help so much more than I want.At his Farewell
My youngest brother Spencer went into the MTC. It's been harder on me this time then when any of my other siblings left on their missions and I think I figured it out. I am looking at it more from a mother's perspective and I sure don't wanna send my kids out on their own for 2 years. It sure scares me. I am however grateful that it is quite a few years away . Maybe by then I will feel that I trust Jayden on his own a little more. But we were excited for him to go and start serving the Lord. I know he is going to be a great missionary and the people of New Jersey will be blessed.

The whole group

All the FUTURE MISSIONARIES

Anne's boys with Jayden & Jennilyn

All I wanted was a nice pic of us with Spencer and of the kids with Spencer and they did NOT want to cooperate with me. I guess they had too many cousin there to play with.

This is the best we got.

And he's off

Jennilyn learned how to climb out of the crib. I woke up one morning to her standing by my bed. She said "mom I wanted out" lol I cracked up. I tried to get her to show me, but she was pretty scared, so she never did it for the camera.

For Halloween we went to my parents house for dinner and then went Trick or Treating. The kids had a bit of a runny nose, but that wasn't going to stop them from Trick or Treating. They were both crayons and were very excited about it. They LOVE going with my little sister Alesha and hopefully she enjoys it too. While we were out Jennilyn got going a little too fast and totally fell and scraped up her nose. So her and I went home to clean up, but she was not done so we had to go back out and get some more candy. Jennilyn would only carry her bucket when she got to the door for the candy. Then she would walk to the edge of the porch of every house and say "Hold my bucket." It was pretty cute! They got lots of candy and they had so much fun. They are starting to get the hang of it and it just gets more exciting.

It wasn't the best weather, but we got to see some rainbows out of it.

Aubrey was painting Alesha's face, so these 2 needed their faces painted too!

My sister Alesha as the vampire
Here are our faceless crayons

They had fun seeing the kids come trick or treating

My 2 cute little crayons
So it took me until I was 26, but I finally got toilet papered. Not that I was wishing for it... We went to a lodge with some friends for a weekend and my friends Toilet Papered our house. It rained that night.. :( Thankfully it was dry when I cleaned it up. The kids thought it was pretty cool and had a blast helping me clean it up. lol! Thankfully there wasn't much.

August

2010-11-27T20:19:00.001-08:00

Jayden turned 3

I can't believe Jayden is already 3. The time has gone by so fast. He's grown up so much over the past few months. He's a little boy now instead of a toddler. He doesn't throw the fits that he use to anymore. He will actually sit on the chair or in his room when he gets in trouble and then come to me and say sorry mom. I'm done crying now. It's been so fun watching him grow up. My sister Jennifer was coming into town just after his birthday so we celebrated a little late and had more cousins to celebrate with. Jennifer made a baseball cake for him and he LOVED it. That's all he talked about for weeks after. Thanks so much Jenn!
Blowing out the candlesEating with his cousinJennilyn really enjoyed her cake
He has ALWAYS been my climber and he had a fun time climbing at the park
The whole group- minus Camilla who is taking the pic
He was thrilled to death to get his tent and laptop! Now he's just like dad

On August 6 I started not feeling so good and I realized that I was in fact Pregnant. So it was the beginning of 2 & 1/2 months of the constantly feeling sick.

The Aquarium
We wen to the Aquarium in Sandy and the kids loved it.
Riding in a canoe
In a cave
This Frog was a highlight
Jayden
Jennilyn
I LOVE this one cause it looks like the fish is right there looking at Jayden
How do you measure up against the Penguins??
Mirror Lake

We had our Turnbow Campout at Mirror lake this year. We almost didn't go. Jennilyn threw up sunday night and then was fine and then again Tuesday and Wednesday night Jayden threw up, and then that was it. So Thursday afternoon we decided to go since they hadn't thrown up. So right as we pulled into our campsite Jayden threw up ALL OVER the car. So we decided to stay and he never threw up again. The first night camping was interesting. The kids were not too excited to be in the tent, but it was ok. The second night was so much better. I was quite impressed. Chris took the kids fishing. Jayden was so excited! They had a really good time. Saturday Chris took the kids home and I went to a wedding shower for my cousin with my mom and sisters. I wasn't feeling really good, but I was thinking it was just cause I was pregnant. Right after we got home I threw up about every 5 minutes for an hour or so. It was rough. Chris got it that night. Thankfully the kids were over it.
My cute parents!
I was freezing
Jayden LOVED it. He got to be outside all the time!

Me & my Girl!

Chris got the hickups the first night and they wouldn't go away. IDK if you've ever been camping with someone who had the hickups but you can hear them very clearly. Tents don't block out much sound!
Jason & Jayden
Jayden & Garisen
Us at Provo Falls!
Aubrey & Camilla

Mom, Spencer & Camilla

Mom enjoying a hammock

Chris & Jennilyn
Chris swinging with his 2 kids. They loved it
We all went for a walk around the lake. The kids had fun and wanted to get in.
Me & Jennilyn
Chris, Jayden & Jennilyn
Jennilyn- The lake is so beautiful
All of us at the Lake
We all crashed on Friday and took a nap in the tent. I guess Jennilyn didn't fall asleep quite as quick as the rest of us and Camilla was standing outside our window talking to her. She wanted out of the crib, but she did however eventually fall asleep.

And after naptime...
Jenninlyn got shots for her 18 month well check and she does not do well with them. My brother Spencer got his mission call that night and she just cried and had to be held all night. When we got home this was the only way we could get her to just be happy. In her carseat watching a show. Poor girl.

July

2010-11-27T19:00:00.000-08:00

4th of July

We had a Happy 4th of July spent with my family!

This horse swing is Jennilyn's favoriteJayden does the silliest things My mom, Camilla, Alesha & IUte Stampede

We went to the Ute Stampede Rodeo with my family. It was a lot of fun.

Jayden & Jason being cowboys together

The entertainment was motorbikes. They were awesome. They were jumping and doing all kinds of tricks. It was probably the best I've ever seen.

As we were walking to the car Jayden was tired, so Chris carried him on his shoulders and Jayden had gum in his mouth... Needless to say it didn't stay there for long. But we did learn that peanut butter does in fact take gum out of hair. It was quite disgusting. I really don't like playing in peanut butter or my sons gum in my husbands hair, but it worked. Now we make sure that Jayden doesn't have anything in his mouth when he goes up on shoulders

At a party for Chris' work they had a dunking tank and they let the kids do it. Of course Chris held him the whole time and he wasn't too excited about the cold water, but he wanted to so bad!

We went to the Fair one night and let the kids each ride 3 rides. They had a blast! Jennilyn was a little nervous at first...

But that changed really quickly when it started moving!

Catchup!

2010-11-27T18:42:00.000-08:00

I know I am SUPER behind. I'm gonna try and catch up. We've had such a fun summer.

June
The Reed & Julie Turnbow Family Reunion!
We had a blast for our Family Reunion this year. We went to St George and just hung out for a few days. The house we stayed in was AWESOME! There was even a pool and Basketball court in the back yard. SO FUN! We stopped at Cove Fort on our way down and the cheese factory. It was so windy, but fun. Jennilyn of course woke up with a fever.The first night we went to Chuck-a-rama and the kids all had a blast. Jennilyn enjoyed her orange Jello a little too much and that stuff stains your skin. Needless to say, she was orange for a few days.
We hiked in Zions and watched Tarzan at the Tuachan Theater. It was amazing. We spent some good time swimming and playing basketball. It was so much fun! Thanks mom and dad for a great time!
Lee Brice
We went to a Lee Brice concert in a bar in SLC. Can I just say I really don't like bars. I just don't really feel comfortable in them. It's not my kinda place. But it was a fun concert. I really like his music. It was a lot of fun and we were able to meet him afterward.
Jayden cut his hair for the first time
We got this which was our greatest joy this summer The kids just loved to go swimming.
I decided to get rid of all the bushes around our house and put in rocks. They were just too much work for me right now and I don't have time for it. I LOVE the rocks! And the kids LOVED seeing the rocks when they arrived. And they were the greatest to climb on til we moved them.
Backstreet Boys
Camilla, Jonathan, Spencer, my mom, my dad and I all went to the Backstreet boys concert together. It was really a lot of fun. It took me back to high school when they were big. It took them FOREVER to come out but it was a really fun concert. Before it started they were just playing music and everyone was singing and I think I knew like 1 song. I feel so old and out of the loop.
rI think my mom actually enjoyed it, but I'm not so sure that my dad did. It was super loud.

We LOVE water at our house
Jayden LOVES to play in the car and drive Jennilyn EVERYWHERE!
Our Monkey Jayden
Our little Miss Jennilyn

Mother's Day!

2010-07-19T08:50:00.000-07:00

Jayden made these flowers for me at a primary activity. Thanks bud

Jayden & Jason

Jennilyn & Katie

Jayden & Katie
Jayden & Jennilyn
Jayden & Camilla
We all went out for pedicures and lunch on Saturday. Jess was there too, but we didn't get any pics with her

Although a little late, Thanks to all the mothers in our lives!

Branson, Mo

2010-07-18T19:14:00.000-07:00

WARNING:PICTURE OVERLOAD

In the middle of May we took a little family vacation to Branson, Mo. We drove. It was about 22 hours of driving, plus stops. We drove to Lyman, and stayed with Aubrey our first night. We stopped in Echo Canyon and took some fun pictures.

The next day we drove about 10 hours and stopped in the middle of Nebraska and got a hotel.

The kids had a blast in the hotel jumping from bed to bed (mom doesn't allow jumping on beds at home, but it was different at a hotel, so they had fun)

We made a few pit stops along the way and they had some fun toys

It was a little rough sleeping in the car for the kids, but they managed, thanks to our pillows

We had the funnest week. It was totally relaxed and a REAL VACATION. We didn't even have internet in the room. But they did at the front desk. We woke up the first morning to the fire alarm going off, only to go outside and have it pouring rain. It was a little scary, but thankfully nothing big, the neighbor was cooking bacon and set his off and it went through the whole building. I LOVED the rainstorms, they are real rainstorms. Big, warm rain drops. You can see them bouncing off the fire truck and the parking lot.
We went to one show. The Baldknobbers. It was the first show in Branson years ago when it started. It was really good. The kids enjoyed it too, so that was a major plus.
We spent lots of time in the pool. Not many others were there, so we got it pretty much all to ourselves.
Jennilyn mostly enjoyed getting in the FREEZING COLD water, and climbing out and sitting on the chair and getting down and getting back in the pool, and over and over and over again.
Jayden loved it. It was about a foot and a half deep at it's deepest part, so he could walk through the whole the and just LOVED it.
I think Chris had the most fun tho. Playing in the water with his kids. (He had to work for a bit while we were there, so he took his laptop to the pool area, because he could get the internet there, and he worked by the pool then we came and brought him lunch and then we all went swimming. I think we could get use to that! :)

After swimming one day it was so hot so we went and got ice cream cones. I wouldn't give them to the kids while we were in the car and they were almost completely melted by the time we got back. They sure enjoyed it tho, as you can see.

We took a "Ride the Ducks" tour. This is the bus/boat. It drives on the road and then drives right into the water to take a boat ride. It was fun.
Jayden was having a blast
Jennilyn was a little exhausted
We went to the Fantastic Caverns. It's a HUGE cave. It was pretty awesome. It took the kids a few minutes to get use to it, they didn't like the darkness, and low ceilings. But it was amazing.

On our way home from the cave we stopped at Lamberts. It's a famous restaurant known for the roll throwing. When the hot rolls come out of the oven someone comes out and says "Hot Rolls" you raise your hand and he chucks it at you. Hopefully you can catch.

After a week of fun we headed home. We took a little detour to Independence, Missouri and got to stop at the visitors center there and then went on to Liberty Jail.
They had a little play area in the Visitors Center with a little log cabin and a horse and wagon. The kids had a blast! Aren't they cute Pioneers?

It's amazing the horrible conditions that Joseph Smith and others endured in that Jail.We stayed the night in Omaha with my cousin Sabrina and her family. She has a little boy and the kids had fun playing together. Sadly I didn't get any pictures. Thanks so much Sabrina it was so fun.
We made it home. They kids are pretty much sick of the car, but they were AMAZING! I couldn't have asked for anything better.

Jennilyn

2010-05-06T10:30:00.002-07:00

It is so fun seeing this little girl grow up. She is now 16 months old and is so much fun. She talks a lot. She loves her crib. She loves naptime. She loves her brother so much. I LOVE seeing these 2 play together and interact. It is so much fun! Jayden likes to think he's the mom and can carry her around and help her with everything, but she doesn't quite agree. She has an attitude that I'm not sure I can handle some days. She likes to throw her fits. We find her like this a lot

or this..
She loves her horse, sometimes she can even ride it the right way
She loved to play in my plastic bags, so I put locks on my kitchen drawers

She prefers to wear her bowl as a hat
But she does LOVE to do this, at least during nap time, and that is FABULOUS
And she is our sweet little girl

While we were in Idaho for my niece, Lyndzee's, baptism they had lunch at the church so all the guys could play basketball. And Jennilyn just wanted to be on the floor too
She also enjoyed her chocolate cake a little too much.
Camilla's camera has this cool feature that can make people smile if they aren't. This is Jennilyn

Jayden

2010-05-06T10:30:00.001-07:00

Jayden keeps us all laughing. He's a lot of fun and never stops going. He is accident prone though, but of course they are just minor accidents.

This is a blow up chair but there is a hole in the arm rest part, so that part is flat. He was able to squeeze his head through, but then had some troubles getting it out. Scared the kid to death

He hits his head on everything and always needs a band aid. Thankfully he learned his lesson with this one and doesn't ask for them on his hair anymore At wal mart last week he was sitting on the edge of the cart with his feet in the basket, and we moved the cart and he went out right on his head. It was LOUD and HARD. You could hear the thump throughout the whole store. He cried and cried for probably an hour. He had to have a MAJOR headache. I was real worried. Head injuries really scare me. But we just waited it out. He ended up throwing up only once and has been fine. It has made him more scared. Every time he falls or bonks his head he will cry. And of course I'm sure it's a sore spot there and will be for a while. But hopefully he'll get his tough self back!
He can sleep anywhere, which I do love, because Jennilyn can't and WON'T
He Loves his daddy so much. He always wants him when he gets hurt, even when I'm the only one home.
He reads the newspaper just like his daddy, although I've never seen his daddy read on the counter like that.

We are working on getting him to go to the bathroom on the toilet! He doesn't really like it most of the time, but he's been doing quite well!

He loves to draw. Sometimes he misses the paper
Like any 2 year old he LOVES the toys at the stores. I have never actually put money in to turn one on, but he sure loves to sit on them or in the cars and pretend to drive
He got invited to his first real birthday party. He was so excited, but when we got there he wouldn't walk in the front door. So I stayed at the part with him. I wanted to teach him that Birthday parties are fun and he should want to go. But he just loves me too much I guess. He has the same problem with nursery. He just won't go.

But we love him all the same
I FINALLY got a double stroller. It is the greatest investment ever. I LOVE it. Now if only the weather would be nice we could enjoy it

Our Crazyness!

2010-05-06T10:28:00.000-07:00

Be prepared this is really long!
I feel like the past few weeks have just been RUN RUN RUN for us. And sadly the kids ended up sick for most of it. It doesn't make for fun traveling.

Chris' sister, Nicole married Juston Riley in the Salt Lake Temple on April 9. It was a beautiful day and such a beautiful sealing. We are so happy for them! They had a luncheon before the wedding at the Lion House! It was delicious! And Mindy & Andrea sang a song and did a great job! Juston's family told some fun stories and played a cute game to see how well they know each other. I was quite impressed. They know each other very well. It's a great way to start a marriage!
They did it!

The Happy Couple

Jennilyn with the Bride

The sisters, Andrea, Nicole, MindyJayden was styling his shades on our way to the wedding

The kids outfits. I didn't actually take any pics of them

Then that night we headed up to Idaho. We spent the night at my sisters with the rest of my family. I think there were about 27 of us in there. It was full, but it's always more fun to have everyone stay together! Thanks Jenn for putting up with us. Jennilyn wasn't really feeling very good and wouldn't go to sleep so I ended up taking her out for a drive at midnight til she fell asleep! Then when I brought her back and got out of the car it was a little too windy and she woke up. She did fall back asleep thankfully! But she wouldn't sleep by herself, so she slept with me and Chris slept with Jayden. Jayden slept good, but he woke at one point cause he had rolled around on the floor and ran into the toys. It scared him pretty bad! That morning my niece, Lyndzee got baptized. It was so fun. Jayden has talked of nothing else since. He is very excited to get baptized himself!
We had lunch and headed out to Lewiston Utah for Nicole and Juston's reception. They did a beach theme and it was a lot of fun! Jennilyn is really working on her attitude and she throws a fit over everything. There were ceramic little fish on a stick that they put in pots like flowers, and she thought it was a sucker and wanted it so bad, but obviously she couldn't have one. Needless to say she spent most of the night pouting on the floor. But at the end some of the other kids got to play with them and she came over to me and showed me her fish. She tried to eat it, but realized it wasn't a sucker. BUT she did win! She got her fish! We had a late night, and a long weekend, but a lot of fun!

The kids got more sick every day and we were to fly out on Thursday! I was really having a hard time. I don't like flying with kids and I really didn't want to fly with sick kids. So Wednesday Jayden was feeling better, but Jennilyn had a fever so I took her in to make sure it wasn't an ear infection. It wasn't but they did give her some medicine to help with her cough and sore throat! We had to leave the house by 4:30am Thursday morning to make our 7am flight, so we tried to put the kids to bed at 6. Jayden went down, but Jennilyn fought us for 3 hours. We made it through the airport, no problems. (I LOVE the salt lake airport. They are so much more friendly then anywhere else) The kids slept for about the first hour on the plane, then they were up. And they did really well. I mean I can't expect them to be perfect! We had a short layover in Detroit and Jennilyn was exhausted so I put her in the baby carrier and walked down the moving walks (Like a flat escalator thing) at least 50 times back and forth. But she did fall asleep. We had a fun weekend with everyone in New York and the reception was beautiful and fun! Jayden was sick, so he was either with Chris or me all night! I was sad cause he just loves to dance, and he missed it all! Jennilyn had her wonderful attitude issue again, but she had some fun dancing and meeting new people. She went to just about anyone who would pick her up! Chris had the DJ play a song we could cowboy cha cha too. It made my night. But it was only us and Juston and Nicole out there and they certainly showed us up. We decided we need to learn some spins or something. But it was a lot of fun!

They had fun with the cake!
Jennilyn loves animals. She had a blast with Nadia, the dog. Poor Nadia would run from her, but Jennilyn was very entertained
Jayden & Josiah. These 2 are best buds. Josiah's mom was out of town for school stuff, so he spent a few nights with us. These 2 really enjoy having someone around to play with. And Josiah is the first person I've met who has the same birthday as me. We are awesome! (Nadia does share our birthday too)
Sunday morning Chris and I decided that we were going to have a good flight no matter how the kids were. We would be happy and have a good day. So we got to the airport and went to check our bag and my drivers license expired in January. I had no idea. Thankfully the guy was nice and said that because TSA only says it has to be within the year he would let it go. But Delta says it was to be current. So we go to security and they were checking everything. I had some baby apple juice for Jennilyn on the plane and I brought some out and had no issues, so I had some to take back and they had to open them all and test them. I said well I don't want them all because then they have to be refrigerated. The lady that tested them gave me some plastic bags to get ice from the flight attendant to keep them cold. So that was nice. We got on the plane and a guy came on and said that there were 4 infants on board and only 3 infant life vests, so someone with an infant had to deplane. So he checked to see how quickly he could get each of the families to their destinations, and we were flying the farthest so we were the lastest. No one volunteered so he choose the couple he could get the quickest. Well they were fighting him and not wanting to leave so Chris went up to see the problem and the husband was going for interviews so his wife would have had to stay by herself with the baby and that just didn't seem fair, so we got off and in the process left our baby carrier. :( But we didn't realize it until the next day when we were flying out. So it's gone. Sad day! Anyway they gave us $1,200 in flight vouchers, so that is very helpful, but it was a stressful day! And checked our bag for free! They would have put us up in a hotel and got us a shuttle to the hotel and back to the airport. We of course would rather stay with family, so Chris' sisters came and picked us up. Jayden had a terrible fever all day Sunday so it was a blessing in disguise that we didn't have to fly out on Sunday. Chris and I were very hesitant to say that we were gonna have a great day Monday when we woke up! Monday morning we went back to the airport to do it all over again. This time they checked the bag under Chris so they didn't even look at my license thankfully and they were short on workers, so they didn't test the apple juice. LOL! We were in the front row instead of the back so the flight attendant was right there and very helpful. Jennilyn dumped Jayden's orange juice all over him and he was soaked so he started crying and Jennilyn wanted to sit in the juice on the seat! lol! Then we had a 4 hour layover in Detroit. It's a cool airport tho and we had some fun. They have this walkway that goes underground to get from one terminal to the other. The sides are some sort of glass and they change the lights behind it. So it was pretty cool. We spent some time down there playing and running around and taking pictures. They also have this cool fountain that Jayden absolutely LOVED. The only thing Jayden wanted to eat was mac and Cheese. Since we had a few hours we looked around and we found some at chili's. So the kids both had some and they were happy. They threw a lot of it on the floor, but they had a fun time eating it. They have a tram that goes from one end of the terminal to the other and Jayden kept watching it, so we took him on a ride. He was in Heaven. Before we even took off on our second flight Jayden was out and Jennilyn fell asleep shortly after. Jennilyn slept for 2 hours and Jayden woke up just before we landed. It was a very nice flight! We got lots of compliments on our kids. They seriously were as good as we could expect. We had such a fun time, but we are so happy to be home and to put the kids in their own room!
this is the cool underground walkway
JaydenJayden took this picture. Pretty good huh. The whole famShe was such a trooper. She just sat in the stroller the whole time at the airport for our layover. And she was just happy!Jayden's fountain. On the train at the airport.
Happy Girl
Having fun on the airplane. Jennilyn loved the window and so the 2 of them shared a seat a lotWe changed the kids diapers in the trunk when we got to our car. They thought it was the coolest thing ever

Easter

2010-05-06T10:27:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks before Easter my whole family went to Tabiona for a wedding reception of a friend, and we celebrated Easter with everyone here. We did our traditional Easter Egg hunt, which the kids had a blast. There were a few mice running around that I wasn't too excited about, but the kids sure were.
Jayden had a blast. He is really catching on to this whole I get candy in these eggs thing and he loves it.
Jennilyn was struggling walking around carrying her basket and she fell down

And then just decided to stay there
Here are all the grandkids and Alesha with grandma & grandpa

Silly kids! Jennilyn kept walking away every time I would set her down. She is just at that age where she wants to get out and explore. But we were able to get some cute pictures!

Aunt Camilla asked if any of the kids would share their candy with her. This is what she got. I guess they love her

Chris' family was here for the real Easter and we had a fun time. We played lots of Mario cart, and Wii games and had way too much fun laughing!
Every time a purse was left on the floor the kids attacked it. They got lots of gum, some phones, cameras and some glasses

I think these are Grandma's glasses. Silly boy! He looks real smart though.

Rock-a-bye is her new favorite word

Aunt Mindy and Jayden being the Easter bunny

I took Jayden to the Spanish Fork Easter Egg Hunt. He was scared to death at first, but he had a good time and got some yummy candy and some fun toys! He was even nice enough to share with his sister since she didn't get to hunt.

Jayden and Jennilyn got little sleeping bags for Easter. Grandma Turnbow was kind enough to make them for me. They love them so much!

I scream You scream we all scream for...

2010-05-06T10:24:00.000-07:00

ICE CREAM!

Who doesn't love a little ice cream. And what's even better...
Sharing it with someone you love

I LOVE these kids!

OTH

2010-05-06T08:31:00.000-07:00

The cast of the tv show One Tree Hill filmed in Park City so Camilla and I and some friends went up to watch. It was FREEZING! But it was quite fascinating to me to watch them film it. We only saw like 4 scenes, but it took all day. They have to get so many different camera shots and they do it a million times. It's a long process. I don't think I would be able to do that. I would just want to be done. It was fun seeing "FAMOUS" people. It doesn't seem real, because you just don't meet those people. It was amazing how they say the camera adds 10 pounds. The girls were SUPER skinny, they looked ill. But they don't on tv.It was weird too because they only sorta cared to meet us and take pics, but we feel like we know them because we watch the show and know their lives on the show. But that's not really who they are. So we felt like best friends and they didn't. Not real cool!
Cool BearJamie (he is the cutest little actor. He's like 7, but he would do his part just like all the big kids. So cute!Me & SkillsMe & Mouth

Me & Jullian

us, Clay, Quin, Nathan Scott

Me & Hailey James

us, Alex, Brook, Julian

Me & Jamie

Valentines Day!

2010-05-06T07:55:00.000-07:00

I had a lot of fun with Valentine's day this year. I made dinner special for the occasion.
The roses in the middle are what Chris gave me!

We had Heart shaped finger Jello

Heart shaped Hamburgers

Heart shaped ice cream rolled in coconut.

It was so yummy!

JASON CASTRO

2010-03-28T19:07:00.001-07:00

Camilla and I went with some friends to see Jason Castro from American Idol. It was so much fun! It was in this very small place. It was basically a garage. But we were able to meet him. It was so much fun! I LOVE his music! The girl who opened for him was Caitlyn Crosby. She was really good! She dated CHUCK from the tv show Chuck and he dumped her when he became famous, so all her songs were how she's still not over him. I LOVE Chuck, so I felt like I had a connection to Chuck by meeting her. Weird I know, but it was cool. Then Matt Hires was the last performance. I didn't really know him, but he was good. :)

Before the show we ate a Tucanos Brazilian Grill! I love it!
The Server tried to make Camilla and I eat a chicken heart and put it on our plate. NASTY! And NO we did NOT eat it!

Jordan talked me into trying the COD. It wasn't my favorite, but it wasn't terrible. But I would probably never get it on my own!
Summer & ICamilla, Jordan, Summer & I just before Jason came onJason walked through a door we were standing right next to and I freaked out! It was so NOT real. I'm not suppose to meet and see famous people. I only see them on TV. It was AWESOME!
Jason getting ready to sing to us!
Jason Castro. I know the hair is kinda nasty, but it was so cool to meet him
Caitlyn Crosby (CHUCK's x-girlfriend-BTW she totally hated me talking about chuck. oops.)
Matt HiresJordan, Summer me & Camilla after the concert! YAY for fun!

Sunday Dinner FUN!

2010-03-28T18:41:00.000-07:00

We all went over and had dinner with grandma and grandpa Andrews one Sunday in February! It was a wonderful meal, as always, and we had lots of fun!
Grandma made a red velvet cake. It was delicious! And made our tongues very red!
Jason & Jayden with Aunt Camilla
Jason & Jayden in the process of giving Aunt Camilla kisses
We measured to see who was taller. Jason does have his shoes on, but he is definitely taller than Jayden! Jayden & Jennilyn giving kisses!Great Grandma & Grandpa Andrews with JaydenGreat Grandma & Grandpa Andrews with Jennilyn

So Precious! I just LOVE this one!

Our Sweet Little Jennilyn was actually happy! It seems that every time we leave our house she is ornery. So it was fun to have her happy all night!

Jennilyn's growth

2010-02-17T15:12:00.001-08:00

I haven't been very good at posting pictures each month of my kids first year, so here is Jennilyn's first year!
January 3, 2009

1 Month

2 Months

3 Months4 Months5 Months

6 Months

7 Months

8 Months

9 Months

10 Months

11 months
1 year

Rock Concert!

2010-02-16T19:44:00.000-08:00

Camilla decided that before I am no longer 25 I should be able to say that I have been to a rock concert! So I went with her and our friend Jordan to Safetysuit & Parachute! Surprisingly I actually enjoyed it! Other then standing on my feet for like 4 hours. Wow, I guess I am getting old! haha!
This is the lead singer, Doug from Safetysuit
Thanks Camilla it was fun!

My BABY turned 1!

2010-02-16T19:30:00.000-08:00

Jennilyn turned 1 on January 3, and I can't believe it's already been a year since she was born! She has been such a sweet baby and is turning into a terror 1 year old! She just wants to be down and have freedom, especially during church! Our Church starts at 1pm, so it makes for HORRIBLE Sundays so far. Jennilyn has started saying quite a few words: Mama, Dada, hot, bubbles, book, bottle, grandma (is actually ma) yesterday she got in trouble for spitting and Chris was telling her "Don't do that" and she said it right back to him. She has been sleeping through the night for a while! It's fabulous! She will even put herself to sleep if I lay her in her crib, something Jayden still has trouble with. She LOVES her brother so much. I love seeing them play together, when Jayden is nice. We have a new motto at our house! "Try NOT to make Jennilyn cry!" I think Jayden is catching on! She has started taking steps, but is not quite confident enough to just take off, although she really wants to!
Birthday's at our house are not very much fun lately! Jayden was sick on his birthday last year and Jennilyn was sick on her birthday this year! It makes for a very sad birthday! We had cake & Ice cream at my parents house and celebrated Aubrey's birthday too! Jennilyn wasn't excited about the cake at first, but she warmed up once she realized it was sugar!She finally took a bite and enjoyed it!Sadly it didn't last long enough!

Jason & Katie Jo showing us how they give Horsey rides!

My happy little girl! She ended up having a fun night playing with her cousinsNeed I say more?Opening presents! It's so nice to have a big brother to do it for her! We are so blessed to have her in our family!
We LOVE you Jennilyn

Christmas in New York!

2010-01-05T10:18:00.000-08:00

This post is REALLY long. Sorry! It's mostly for me because I'm not real good at keeping a journal on paper, just here in my blog. So forgive me!

We were able to go to New York to spend Christmas with the Hess family! It was lots of fun! We did a LOT of driving, but we were able to see all the family back there, so it was worth it. Most of our driving was done either in the middle of the day or at night so the kids did really well. They slept most of the time in the car. We landed in Philadelphia on the 23 at 5pm. The kids did SUPER good on the flight, but didn't want to sleep and I did so that was no fun! Our luggage took FOREVER to come out and when we finally got our 3 suit cases, 2 carseats we were off to find the car rental place. Which is said that it is at the airport. Well it is, but you have to take a shuttle to get there. I was NOT expecting that. Chris had Jennilyn in the pack and I was pushing Jayden in the stroller with the 2 carseats, and Chris had the suitcases. (Seriously someone should have followed us around with a video camera. It would be hilarious to watch now) When Chris was lifting the suitcase up to get on the shuttle he smashed Jennilyn's legs and she started SCREAMING! so here we are with all our baggage and a screaming baby trying to get everything in with a line of people behind us. Well we did it with a little help from the bus driver and a few kind people who felt bad for us. We ended up being LAST in line to get our car, of course. We don't move very quickly! So Chris went in and waited in line with Jennilyn while Jayden and I waited outside with all our luggage since it was TOO crowded inside. It was freezing! So we got our car and took off. It was 7pm. We stopped to see Chris' grandma and grandpa Knickerbocker who live there. They took us out to dinner and then we headed home for our 3 hour drive, which took us a little longer. I stress out a lot when flying with kids, so on our way up realized that I was getting a cold sore and we needed formula for Jennilyn. So we tried to GPS a walmart and we weren't having much luck. They were all closed and we finally ended up just stopping at the one by Chris' house. We got in at like 2:30 I think. Mom & dad were still up waiting for us so it was a late night for all. I tried really hard to stay awake in the car, but I'm not very good at staying awake late at night and driving it worse. Chris was excellent. We only got the car under his name so he did all the driving. I would have got us lost, oh wait I did. Oops. We had some exciting times. Let me just say I need to work on my navigating skills! The kids of course woke up when we got in so it was a challenge getting them back to sleep and trying to get them the sleep the WHOLE week! We had a wonderful Christmas. Chris' parents gave all the kids tickets to see "Shrek the Musical" in the city. Jayden got lots of fun toys and clothes and a SCOOTER which is his favorite. Jennilyn didn't care much for the whole opening presents thing, but had fun getting into everyone's stuff. I got ambitious this year and made us all matching pj's. :) So fun! Maybe it'll become a tradition! We had family and friends over on Christmas eve and Christmas day. We were even able to spend some time with moms friend Vicky and her son Josiah. He & Jayden have a blast together! And they left their Wii when they left for their vacation! It was a lot of fun. We all had a blast playing Mario cart, Guitar Hero and of course the cow racing! We might just have to invest in one of those ourselves! Sunday after church we headed down to Harrisburg PA for a Christmas party with moms side of the family! (about 3 hours) We had some good food and we even celebrated Jennilyn & Derek (Chris' cousins boy who was born on December 31, 08) since they were both turning 1. Jennilyn loved the cupcake and made a HUGE mess of it! After lots of gifts and lots of food we headed for New York City (another 3 hours) We stayed on the queens side of the brooklyn bridge, I think! Some friends got us an EXCELLENT deal on a hotel so we could stay right in the city. It was very nice. We went looking at wedding dresses with Nicole, which is just like in the movies. Very fun! And walked around a lot. It was cold, but fun! The kids all went to "Shrek the Musical" while grandma and grandpa took the kids swimming. Jayden said he had a blast. He loves to swim! It was fun being in the city with no kids again! They don't have much fun at this age so I think they enjoyed it much more! After Shrek we walked around and looked at everything! We found the BIG Christmas tree at Rockefeller center and all the fun decorations! We decided to walk across the Brooklyn bridge, since we try to everytime we go to the city! It was like 1:30 and very windy and cold, but we did it. It is a really long bridge! We took a few reenactment photos of our engagement in the EXACT spot! It was fun! Nicole, Juston, Chris & I decided to get up early and go to the TODAY show! We didn't make it on TV, we stood in the wrong spot. But it was fun! I would so do it again, but make a BIG sign so they would come talk to me! Then we walked around Central Park a little. It was freezing again of course, but nice. Chris and I then headed back to pack up our room cause we had to checkout. We were just in time. We headed home that afternoon and had a day to rest and then we drove back down to Philadelphia to stay with Chris' Aunt Jan, & Uncle Luke since we flew out at 7 the next morning. It was fun to get to spend some time with them. Luke's got Jayden convinced to play football for PENN state! (Ok, it didn't take any convincing, he just said YES) The kids of course didn't sleep well, they had slept the 3 hours down there! But we got up at 4 to make it to the airport by 5 to return the car. Chris dropped me off at the curb to do the SKYCAP check-in because I didn't wanna pack all our stuff back on the shuttle. So there I was with 3 big suitcases, 2 carseats, a backpack, a gym bag, stroller and 2 kids! Thankfully the man was having a nice morning and was very helpful. He even checked Chris in so that we could check his bag so I wouldn't have to drag it around while I waited for Chris to get back! Then he took my carseats inside and checked them in for me for free and brought me back my tickets! It was so nice! So we waited for Chris! We were worried about security after the whole Christmas day bomb scare, but nothing changed from when we left Utah! I took formula on the plane and they didn't say a word! The flight back is a little longer because we are flying against the jet stream instead of with it, and the kids did good. They slept for the first 3 hours, but then were awake for the last 2! We were very glad to be home and trying to get things put away! We had a wonderful Christmas and a fun time! Thanks mom and dad for letting us come stay and for helping us out with all our stuff!Playing Guitar Hero

Giving Kisses! Jennilyn actually started giving kisses while we were there! Grandpa got a lot!

Christmas Morning

Matching PJ's

New York City is in the background, but my camera doesn't really work so this picture is us

And here's the city and the Brooklyn Bridge!

We had fun on the subway when it was nearly empty

Nicole & Juston. We are so excited for you guys!

Mindy
Andrea

On the Brooklyn Bridge!

The Reenactment!

The Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center

At the TODAY show. Matt Lauer!
The Brooklyn Bridge!

Stitches!

2010-01-05T09:56:00.000-08:00

The first of December I was washing dishes (by hand, our dishwasher is not working) and I was washing a glass. As I twisted my hand to wash the inside of the glass the glass broke and sliced my knuckle. It didn't bleed a ton, but it hurt. We debated going in and finally decided to have it checked out. They put 6 stitches in and told me not to do dishes or bend it for a week. Yeah right. I have 2 children who seem to like to be held and have their diapers changed. It was an exciting week! I realized it is very hard not to use your hand! They took the stitches out after a week and put some of that super glue stuff in it so seal it up. It worked, but on occasion it hurts underneath! :) Here are some pictures!

This was just before we went to the dr

After they put the stitches in

After the Super Glue got put on

Santa Claus & Temple Square!

2010-01-05T09:47:00.000-08:00

We stopped by the mall to see Santa since we missed him at our ward part and Jayden was very excited until we sat him on Santa's lap. haha! I think all of our pictures on Santa's lap look like this! It was Jennilyn's first time and she wasn't a fan either. We'll have to work on that. Maybe next year they will both like him! And they only got a coloring book, no candy, so there was no chance they were gonna warm up to him!

We went up to Salt Lake and met Chris' family, Tyler & Mckenzie and Nicole & Juston. It was so beautiful! Jennilyn wasn't exactly thrilled, but it was fun! There were TONS of people and it was very cold! Nicole & Juston were flying home to New York the next morning so they were staying in Salt Lake. They were SUPER nice and offered to take some of our stuff with them so we would have less to pack around the airport. It was so helpful!

Jennette Turnbow

2009-12-22T14:52:00.000-08:00

My grandma Turnbow passed away on December 8. She was an amazing woman and will be missed by so many. But I am so happy for all of the wonderful reunions that she has been having in heaven!!! Grandpa passed away 6 years ago and her father died when she was 14! Most of her siblings have died and her mother! Someone said at the funeral that the party is going on over there! She turned 99 in October! She lived a very long and good life. One thing I always remember about grandma is her stories. She LOVED to tell stories. As she got older she loved
talking about the scriptures more and more. She could recite many of them!

This was the day Jonathan came home. She sang Jingle Bells to him and also recited the preamble and the Gettysburg address!

These were taken in February 09. Jennilyn was just over a month old

This was the day Aubrey went into the MTC in 2007! Jayden was just 4 days old

So sweet!

This was taken at my wedding in 2006

November!

2009-12-20T19:49:00.000-08:00

We started out November with my brother Jonathan returning home from his mission in Argentina! We are so happy to have him back with us! It's so fun to see the change after a mission! He's all grown up and an adult!

Jonathan met Jennilyn for the first time and Jayden was 3 months old when he left! Jonathan and most of his sisters! We missed you there Jennifer!

He was spreading his love!

Jonathan & me

The 3 red heads of the family

My Grandma Turnbow was there holding the sign!The whole group!

Some sweet hugs!

We finished up with the Jennilyn's helmet on the 6th of November! I was so excited! She is done. She was still off by 2 millimeters, but her whole head grew 2 millimeters also, so the dr figured the correcting part was complete! We are just glad that we are finished! I'm so glad that it has paid off and her head is beautiful and perfectly round! Well not by the numbers, but it looks like it! I'm also very glad that she was so good through it all. It never bothered her! I took these the morning we got it off!

Cheese

Chris turned 27 this year.
We had cake and Jayden got to it before I did. haha! He was trying to cut it with a knife! It still tasted good tho!We spent Thanksgiving with my family! We went and found our Christmas tree on Thanksgiving day and then celebrated Thanksgiving on Friday! Jayden had fun riding the 4-wheelers playing in the snow with his cousins! Jennilyn just wanted to lay down and sleep all day and it didn't quite work for her! It was my nephew, Jarom's birthday so we had cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday to him!
Jayden got to help saw the tree down. He was so happy!

Jayden wasn't a huge fan of walking up through the mountain! I carried him most of the way! It was quite the workout for me!!
We weren't at the same spot that we have been for the past like 4 years so our family picture tree wasn't there. but we found a similar one! :0

We had our family Christmas party on Friday night! The talent show was fun, as always, although I never really plan anything... Maybe next year! Jayden & Jason sang the snowman song. It was very cute! They are both SUPER dancers and singers and LOVE the attention! Sadly I didn't have my camera and don't have any pics!

The Deer Hunt In Hanna!

2009-12-15T11:20:00.001-08:00

Me and the kids went out to Hanna for the deer hunt. Chris had lots of work to do, so we decided to give him some time where we wouldn't distract him. Sadly he ended up waking up Saturday morning with a fever, so he didn't get much done anyway. We had a good time, although Jennilyn decided that she didn't want to sleep for 3 hours in the middle of the night. We ended up in the fruit room so that we didn't wake anyone up while I bounced her until she fell asleep! The hunters got up early and headed out. My brother-in-law Steven was able to get a deer just as we were leaving.I took a few pics of the kids in the leaves. Jayden didn't want to cooperate, but Jennilyn was an angel! It's so beautiful out there! It was a fun weekend!

This is the only pic he was looking at the camera!

The kids playing in the leaves!! It was the coolest thing! They loved it!Jayden's first time on a horse! I know, can you believe it's taken 2 years + for me to put him on a horse! He was scared to death and there was no way that he was going to get on by himself so I got on too and realized that it's been a few years since I've been on a horse and then I think I did it just to get a picture! lol! He really did enjoy the ride once he realized it was safe! Thanks Uncle Jared for catching duke and letting us take a ride!

Family Pictures

2009-11-23T11:07:00.001-08:00

Jayden-25 Mo

Right after this he fell and grabbed onto the pole and was hanging with the water splashing him in the face til he finally let go Jennilyn-9 Mo
She was NOT in a smiling mood, so we didn't get many pictures with her smiling, but she wasn't screaming so that was nice

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-09T14:16:00.001-08:00

We had a fun time this year for Halloween! Last year Jayden was just a little too young to enjoy it. But he had a blast this year! Aunt Camilla helped me come up with a Rock-star outfit, which he just loved. Chris made his guitar and we sprayed his hair blue. That was his favorite part! On Friday Chris' work did a trick or treating to the offices so we went around there and Jayden really loved that! One guy asked if he could borrow his glasses, just joking and Jayden totally took them right off and handed them to him. The guy was shocked that he would give them up that easily. It's nice to know he is learning how to share! Jennilyn was my little pumpkin. Last year we bought her costume at the after Halloween sales and it worked out really good. She was super cute!

Our Rock-star playing for usThe Blue Hair was his favorite part. And it came out SUPER easy!

Grandma & Grandpa Turnbow had us over for dinner and then we all went trick or treating in their neighborhood! Jared & Jessica came so it was fun to have Jason & Katie Jo there too!
After each house Jayden would hand his bucket, guitar & glasses to someone. Grandma ended up carrying the guitar most of the time!

My little Pumpkin & me
These 2 were bunting heads! See whose tougher!
All the kids & Grandpa. Alesha is the ghost, Jayden-Rock-star, Jason-Pooh, Grandpa-zoro, Katie Jo-Piglet, Jennilyn-PumpkinAll of us! Thanks for letting us come share your Halloween!

Pumpkin Carving!

2009-11-09T14:09:00.000-08:00

We got a pumpkin to carve the night before Halloween! It was fun. I honestly really don't enjoy carving pumpkins. And we got some pumpkins last year, but never did carve them. So I decided I just wasn't going to say anything this year! But Chris wanted to get it, so we did. And I felt NO obligation to be a part of it. haha! So Chris & Jayden did it. And they did a fabulous job! Jayden LOVED it! So I guess it'll be happening from now on!
My boys, just getting started
Jennilyn got a little too excited when she grabbed that knife!

Jayden digging for the GOLD

This is really what Jennilyn & I did for most of the time! I had to entertain her with the empty box to get her to sit still to cuddle with me!

Grandpa Hess Visit!

2009-11-05T18:48:00.000-08:00

Grandpa Hess came out to visit and took us all to a BYU football game. Sadly it was the TCU game which was all but an exciting game, but it was still fun to get out with everyone. Tyler & Mckenzie and Nicole & Juston came. We left Jennilyn with Grandma Turnbow but took Jayden and he had a good time. Everytime the boys would yell he would look at them like they were crazy, but he had fun! It was fun to have him come out to visit! Jayden still calls our extra bedroom grandpa's room! Thanks for the visit and for letting us entertain you! Jayden sure enjoys someone new to show off for!

Update on the Helmet!

2009-10-22T14:19:00.000-07:00

We went into the doctor for Jennilyn's helmet the first of October.He started doing the measurements of her head, and then he said "I gotta do this a few more times and make sure I'm right before I say something out loud." He then told us that at our first visit the difference was 10 millimeters and now after just 8 weeks it's down to 2. He said that according to the numbers we are done with the helmet! But she is only 9 months old, and is below average in her head size and weight, and her head is still so soft, so there is a slight chance that it could go back. But it was our choice. He said if she were 10 months old he would say we were done, no questions. But it was our decision. We decided to keep it on for another month just to be safe! But I am so excited. I just haven't been a huge fan of the helmet, so it's nice to see it's paid off so quickly. My goal was to have the helmet off by Christmas and we will. Just another 2 weeks and we are done. She is so good with it though. She is just a sweetheart and she does make the helmet look good, doesn't she?? It's been interesting for the past 2 weeks seeing how I'm not so strict with the helmet. When I take it off to give her a bath it just doesn't go on for a few hours or sometimes a day. I'm enjoying seeing my cute little girls hair. I just don't want to cover it up! She's been a real trooper and I'm so happy that we were able to get her head looking better!We're almost finished! YAY!

The Grotto

2009-10-22T13:41:00.000-07:00

Chris' parents came into town for Mindy's graduation in August, so we had a little birthday party for Jayden while they were here! It was fun! He wasn't sick this time, so he had fun blowing out his candles!

Let's hope it was only AIR that came out of his mouth!

Afterward we hiked the Grotto with my family. It's a little waterfall up Payson canyon. Jayden just loved to run up the trail. He had a blast! He didn't want to sit still and he loved the water! He kept throwing in his sticks so that he would have to walk in to get them. haha! They are so brilliant even at such a young age! Jennilyn loved it as well. Thanks Jenn for the carrier! It was wonderful! She loved being about to feel like she was a big girl walking up there too!
Jennilyn & me

Jayden throwing his stick in the water!

Aubrey, Spencer, Camilla, Alesha, Lyndzee & Garisen hiked around to the top of the waterfall!

Big CheeseFamily Photo in the cave

One of the sweet (or SOUR) moments of my GLAMOROUS life being mom!

2009-10-22T13:40:00.001-07:00

The other day I told Chris something about how the kids wouldn't sleep, and they were just being cranky, and then I said "It's just part of my glamorous life being mom" Since then I have had a few of those glamorous moments that you just really would rather not have!

So my cousin Glen got married a few weeks ago in the Rexburg Temple. Since my sister Jennifer lives up there we went up on Wednesday night to stay with her. Jayden wouldn't take a nap during the day, so when we left at 5 he was majorly ready for a nap. So of course he slept until we were about to Ogden. We stopped and got some food and headed on. Jennilyn was being very fussy, and I couldn't figure out what was wrong, so I made her a bottle and she drank most of it and then 4 or 5 times she spit up, so I thought. It wasn't a ton, like throw up, but she hasn't spit up since she was like 6 months old or something. So I was confused. We got in at 10:30, visited and headed to bed about midnight. I had to feed Jennilyn, and Jayden wasn't at all tired, so Chris laid down with Jayden, and after Jayden put Chris to sleep, he came over to entertain me. I tried to get him to lay in his sleeping bag, but he was just too awake. He kept rolling around. I finally got Jennilyn to sleep at 12:30 and laid down. I rubbed Jayden's back, and tried all those things to try to get your kid to sleep. (Did I mention that my cousin Glen had been staying with Jennifer, so he was just in the other bedroom, so I was trying to keep my kids quiet. I didn't want to be the reason the groom was exhausted on his wedding day) I think I fell asleep, and then Jayden came to lay by me. Oh, he had laid his water down on my side of the bed, and so it was wet when I went to bed, so I put a blanket underneath me so I wouldn't get wet, which was brilliant on my part. So he was laying on my arm, and at 1:30 we all woke up to him throwing up all over.. UGH... Luckily I had put a blanket down, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been! So of course it woke up Jennilyn, and Chris. I took Jayden and ran into the bathroom to clean him off. We took a bath and got him all cleaned up. And Chris cleaned up the mess on the bed. We woke up Jennifer so she came to help out. We turned on a movie and that calmed him, and kept a bucket and towels close by. But Jennilyn was now wired and wasn't about to be going to sleep anytime soon. ha. He threw up every 15 minutes for about an hour then it slowed. He would fall asleep in between and then it would scare him when he woke up. Finally at about 3 I got Jennilyn to sleep, but only if we held her so I took Jayden and Chris took Jennilyn and we all went to sleep. I laid Jayden on towels and laid next to him. Jennilyn woke up about 4 so I traded Chris and got her back to sleep and then Jayden woke up about 4:30 and 5:30 and both times, I was upstairs on the couch and I had to go down and wake Chris up to help Jayden. haha! I was asleep too. (Although I guess moms don't sleep very deep when their children are sick) So finally Jennifer's kids got up about 6:30 or 7. It was the longest night ever, and so not fun. So we obviously couldn't have Nicole, Chris' sister, watch our sick kids, so I went to the wedding and Chris stayed home with the kids. Thanks honey!

The wedding was beautiful, and it was sunny and beautiful, chilly, but a gorgeous day! Then we decided to stop by the reception and then head home. Jayden was wanting to eat and drink all day, and it was so hard not letting him. He was asking everyone for a drink. haha. Finally he asked grandpa, who didn't know he was sick, and he gave him a drink. Not even 5 minutes later it was all over the carpet. Sorry Jen. My sister did have some Pedialite, so we gave him a little of that and it stayed down, so we tried some more and that came back. So as we were leaving, he wanted an apple so bad, but we waited until after we left the reception. We gave it to him in the car before we left and then about an hour out he threw up. GROSS!! We pulled off on an exit to clean him up. It was so cold outside and so stinky in our car. It was NASTY!! So we got him all cleaned up and changed and found an unopened car air freshener and we opened that all the way. It was strong, but so much better. We got home about 12:30 that night. Put Jennilyn in her bed, and she slept all night and then we laid Jayden on the floor. He woke up twice. The first time he got his cup of milk out of the fridge and didn't know I was on the couch and I found him crying at the top of the stairs in the dark. He wanted more milk! I finally gave him a little, and got him to go back to sleep. Then he woke up about an hour later and wanted his water. So I gave him a drink and got him to go back to sleep. But he didn't throw up again! YAY!! So I just gave him a little throughout the day. He wasn't eating a whole lot, but he wasn't throwing up. So he NEEDED to get out of the house, so we went to my little sister Alesha's soccer game and he was feeling great. We stopped by my moms after and he ate dinner. It was just great. He was asleep when we got home so we put him in bed and he didn't wake up til 5. But he had thrown up. So I wake up Chris and he helps me, Luckily this time Jennilyn didn't wake up. I gave Jayden a bath and Chris cleaned up the crib. Then I laid on the floor with Jayden for a few more hours while we replayed the Little Einstein video over and over. He did throw up 3 or 4 times, but finally fell asleep! So we were afraid to feed him on Saturday. But he was so starving. And every time we would open the fridge or pantry or even mention anything that related to food in any way he would start whining that he was hungry. So so sad and hard. We let him eat a little and he wasn't throwing up so we decided we were good. Then at dinner he wouldn't finish his food and us SMART parents told him if he wanted any dessert he had to finish his dinner. I guess we were not thinking straight due to lack of sleep, we'll say! And he gagged and threw up. Yuck. I was like, "Oh that was dumb of us wasn't it". haha! So he is doing very well now. We are all doing better. Still working on gettting the kids to sleep all night in their own beds and taking naps. It's an ongoing process here! Jayden thinks he's done with naps, and this has happened a few times. But after a few days of NO NAP he's exhauted and will just crash anywhere. So that is our daily struggle. But every mom needs a break from her cute little monsters! That's why they take naps!

I am so grateful to a husband who doesn't mind getting dirty. There are certain parts of motherhood that I am so not a fan of and cleaning up their little messes is one of them. He was so good to just be right there cleaning up every time. Thanks babe, I love you!

Las Vegas!

2009-10-15T06:28:00.000-07:00

Chris and I won a free trip to Vegas for listening to a travel company! So we went in the middle of August. My mom kept the kids, which was the hardest thing I have had to do. I was so afraid our plane would crash! Crazy! Anyway, so we had no plan so we just walked around. I would not recommend going to Vegas with NO plan. It is a very dirty city and when there is no plan you see it all! But it was a nice break from the kids! It's the first time we've left Jennilyn, and I have only been away from Jayden overnight when I have been in the hospital!

This guy creeped me out, but I wanted a picture. He held onto my thumb and when I went to leave he wouldn't let go!There is a Gondola behind us in the water if you look closely WhoppieWe stayed at the Circus Circus Hotel. It was nice, and I think more kid friendly, so that was nice for us, but it is at the far end of the Strip, so we did a TON of walking. My feet hurt so bad. My ankles were black by the end of the day! But we spent a day at the theme park at Circus Circus and it was fun. Most of the rides were closed, so we rode the same ones quite a few times, but it was fun!The Belligio Fountains are my most favorite!! That is probably the only thing I would EVER go back for! We probably watched like 10 shows. It is just amazing and Beautiful! I know these pictures don't do it justice, but I'm putting some up anyway!M & M World! I had no Idea they could fill a 3 story store with M & M stuff!Of course we had to go to the New York hotel, which is almost the total OPPOSITE end of the Strip! The Brooklyn Bridge! I know it's not quite the same size, but we are standing pretty close to the same spot where Chris proposed, just the wrong side of the country! (No, we are not in this picture, we are just taking it)It was a great little break, but I was SO Happy to come home to my little kiddos!!

Jennilyn's Helmet!

2009-09-22T08:15:00.000-07:00

Jennilyn did end up getting a helmet for the flat spot on the side of her head. She was borderline on whether she NEEDED it or if it would fix itself as her head grows. But we decided to just to do it anyway. It was very interesting watching him cast her head and take the mold. First he put some nylon on her head so that it wouldn't stick to her hair.

He had a wrap that he dipped in water to make it sticky and he just wrapped it around her head.
Then waited until it dried and then he cut up the sides to take it off. So they got the shape of her head.

Her beautiful hair afterward!
The cast. He sent it out for the helmet to be made and they just create a symmetrical helmet, so that when it is on she has an air pocket on the side that is flat, so that it has room to grow into. And there is also a little air pocket in the front so our little girl will have a perfectly symmetrical head!

A few weeks after that we went in for the fitting.

They make it a little big and then he marks it and cuts it right then

Marking where he needed to cut

She was so good. She never cried through any of the casting or the fitting

She was just HAPPY

The first day we had to wear it one hour on one hour off and not during naps or nighttime. The next day it was two hours on one hour off no naps or nighttime. Then it was four hours on one hour off and naps and nighttime. Chris and I were leaving to go to Vegas 2 days after she got the helmet on so we sped up the process a little so my mom wouldn't have to deal with trying to get her use to it.

I was surprised how quickly she got use to it. It doesn't bother her at all now. She has to wear it 23 hours a day! I don't really like it, but at least she is fine with it. It has come in handy when her sweet big brother decides to hit her with things. It doesn't hurt her. But when it's off her head is much more sensitive.
Aunt Camilla came over to take some pictures of her in her helmet!

Of course Uncle Spencer had to dress it up for her. GO BYU

Jayden's 2

2009-07-31T10:44:00.001-07:00

I can't believe that Jayden is already 2. Wow how time flies. The past 2 years have been so much fun! He's such a smart kid. It's fun to see the new things he comes up with every day! He is catching on to everything. And he is sleeping through the night and putting himself to sleep on his own! It has been wonderful! He IS a toddler though and he DOESN'T like to listen to me at all! It's frustrating sometimes, but I'm trying to just enjoy these times, because I know they are going to be gone before I know it and I'll wish I could have them back! He is such a sweetheart to Jennilyn. He is so gentle with her and he loves her so much! He's been such a good kid for the most part. We feel really blessed to have such good children!

Since we got a bumbo seat for Jennilyn, Jayden has always wanted to sit in it, so we decided to get him his own chair and see if that will fix the chair problem. So he got a cars chair, and a bike. He LOVES bikes!
The bike was in the room when he came downstairs, and he was thrilled!
Jayden loving his BIKEAfter church sunday we got home and put Jayden in his chair for lunch and he was just being all cranky and our church gets out at 2 so we just figured it was WAY past naptime. So I picked him up and he was ON FIRE! So I took his temp and it was 103. So I gave him medicine and put him to sleep. When he woke up the fever was lower, but only 101. So I kept doing the same thing all day and all day monday. His fever wouldn't be so high when he was on the medicine, but once it wore off he was up to 103 again. The highest it got was 103.7. Poor kid. Terrible timing. He didn't have the best birthday ever! Of course he hasn't slept very well for the past few nights, because he has had such a high fever. He woke up on his birthday at 6, of course, so I took him downstairs to try and put him back to sleep. Well he wouldn't go back to sleep. He was wide awake and as happy as could be. So we woke up dad and opened presents. As you can see from the pictures that he was so happy. Sadly that didn't last all day. He helped me make his birthday cake and talked about it all day, but when it came time to eat it he wouldn't eat anything.
Our poor little guy was all but thrilled when it came time to blow out candles!
(He did blow, but because his throat hurts, he doesn't swallow his saliva, so he's just constantly leaking out of his mouth. LOL. So thankfully he wasn't close to the cake when he did blow! lol)
He ate breakfast, but since then he hasn't really eaten much of anything. He has a bunch of canker sores on the back of his throat and it hurts. He won't drink anything. He won't eat anything. The poor kid won't even take medicine. So last night we took him into the dr. I was afraid it was strep and I've had that before and it's miserable. I didn't want him to be miserable all night so we went in. They said it's a viral thing. Herpangina. It can also cause sores on the hands and feet as well as in the mouth, but Jayden doesn't have any. Anyway, so there is no cure. But we did find some sore throat suckers. YAY! They are helping. It doesn't seem to last very long after the fact, but enough to at least get some fluids and food in him.
This is how he was today after he realized it didn't hurt to eat his yougart. :) He sure enjoyed his food!
So it wasn't the best birthday, but at least he's only 2.
Happy Birthday bud! We love you!

Lake Tahoe

2009-07-31T09:52:00.000-07:00

We went to Lake Tahoe last weekend for a Family Reunion! WOW, that place is Gorgeous! I LOVED it. The water was PERFECT! They said it's normally colder than that, but it was perfect. My Uncle Steve has a boat so he took us all out for rides. It was so much fun! Jayden loved riding the tube! He kept saying, "Bouncy, bouncy" and then the water was splashing him in the face and he was seriously drenched, and had water dripping off his face and he was grinning and saying "splash me, water splash me" It was the cutest ever. We hiked up to Eagle falls. Very pretty! It was so much fun!

We had to find lots of ways to entertain Jayden on the drive. (It took us 11 hours) These are just a few of his fun times!

He was tired and needed to take a nap, but of course didn't want to, so Chris showed him how his pillow case could work as sleeping bag. He loved it and did it again on the way home to sleep!

I made these glasses out of Pipe Cleaners. He loved them until he pulled them apart! But has anyway seen UP?

Jennilyn wanted to try them out too! She was so good for the ride. It was hard for her to not get good naps, so by the end of each day she was really done and just wanted to lay down and not be held, but she did great!

It's amazing how much fun one can have with pillows!

The Beautiful Lake Tahoe!

Us up Eagle Falls with the lake in the background

Jayden LOVES the water and the sand. He had tons of fun. He would play in the sand and then rub his eyes! haha!

Chris, Jayden & I on the tube! We rode the tube from California to Nevada and then back! Thanks Uncle Steve!

Me, Uncle Steve, Chris, & Jayden on Steve's boat

Hanging out on the beach

We had to get some pictures with the bears! They are everywhere up there!
Chris & Jayden and the Bears!

Me & Jennilyn and the bears!

Thanks for showing us your part of the world Steve and Rita. It was so much fun!

New York

2009-07-30T15:39:00.001-07:00

We went to New York for Tyler & Mckenzie's wedding reception back there. It was so good to see all the family! We don't get to see them near enough! And the reception was beautiful! Great job at decorating mom and all who helped!

The Bride & Groom with Jayden & Jennilyn. Of course Jayden wouldn't cooperate! Jayden met Josiah, he is the son of Vicky, Chris' moms friend. He is such a cute little guy. The 2 of them were instant friends. It was cute! They look like they could get in a lot of trouble together don't they? haha!

Jayden & Josiah in the rocking chairs!Jayden did lots of swinging! He loves to swing every way possible!! :)Another of Jayden's friends was the dog, Nadia! Although this one was not an instant friendship, they did end up getting along, as long as Jayden was nice! (sadly I didn't get their first meeting on video! It was so funny! Jayden freaked out! But as you can see he quickly got over that.)
The girls taught him how to pet her tummy!

4 Generations! Nana Hess, John Hess, Chris Hess, Jayden Hess, & Jennilyn Hess

Jennilyn was so happy to have a few days rest before traveling all day again! Flying with 2 kids was very different then with 1. We got a seat for Jayden because we just knew it would be too much for him and it would have been! And too hard for each of us to have a kid on our lap the whole flight. And the poor person who would have sat by us. haha! but we didn't have that problem. Our flight left at midnight, which wasn't the best idea on our part, but we had to have a layover that was longer than 45 minutes or we wouldn't be able to catch our second flight. And we didn't want to be stranded! So we took the red eye flight. Jennilyn did super good on all of the flights. She just went right to sleep every time. Jayden was a little too excited to sleep at first. So we walked onto the plane very last and we're each carrying and kid and we had Jayden's carseat. Well for Jayden never being on a plane, and not liking big crowds or confined spaces, this was the WRONG place for him. (Oh we were last getting on the plane, what happened to letting those with kids get on first? I don't know) So we start walking down the isle and Jayden is kinda starting to freak out, because there is not a ton of space and all these people. So he starts crying and Jennilyn starts crying because Jayden was crying. LOL! I just laughed as I looked at all the faces that said "Are you seriously on my flight?" "Why did I get stuck on the flight with the screaming children" LOL and I just thought to myself wow, I hope they all don't hate us by the end of this flight! So it took Jayden a few minutes to settle down, but he was as happy as could be by the time we took off. Wonderful! But he was wide awake. He finally did sleep about an hour or 2 into the flight. We caught an amazing sunrise. I always LOVE them from the air! But overall it went really well. No screaming kids the whole night long! We had a layover in JFK for 2 hours and then got on a smaller plane up to Syracuse. This time Jayden found that the seats were closer and he could kick the seat in front of him. Not the greatest idea. The poor guy in front of him was on our all night flight too. I felt so bad!! But that flight was only about an hour! We made it. We were all exhausted, but we did it. Now we only had to do it once more to get home! So we started home and on our first flight I sat in front of Jayden so he could kick my seat the whole way! Wonderful, I didn't stress about him kicking someone else, and Chris sat next to Jayden and held Jennilyn, so I got to just enjoy it. Although my mind started playing games with me about what would happen if we were to crash! I hate that! This time we had a 3 hour layover at JFK. So we got us some food and tried to entertain a 2 year old in an airport. WOW, by the time we were ready to get on the plane I was so done. I told Chris I am NEVER doing this again! It is so stressful on me. I don't like all the looks I get. I don't like being the odd one out, and sticking out like a sore thumb. I'm a sit in the back and mind my own business kind of girl. Well that can't happen if we keep flying with our children. I know we'll do it again, but I'm shooting for driving all the way!! Anyway the last flight was great! The kids did fine again, but it is just so much work to travel with kids. I'm learning, and it's not quite as much fun. But I do love to be with my kids and with family, so we'll keep doing it. Good thing I find joy in packing or I'd say it so wasn't worth it! haha!
Here's Jayden and Jennilyn chillin at the airport! We had such good flight attendents on all our flights. They even gave us extra cookies and won Jayden's heart!

What we've been up to!

2009-07-30T08:12:00.000-07:00

We have had a VERY crazy month of July! It's been lots of fun, with lots of traveling, but it was crazy! First, for the 4th of July we went up to Sugar City Idaho for the blessing of my little nephew Mathew Kire Madsen. It was so much fun, and he is such a cute little guy. Congrats Jenn & Kire!

We went to the Rexburg parade in the morning, which was the BEST parade I've been to in quite a while. They had this HUGE shopping cart for the float for Broulims (The grocery store up there) Super cool. And amazing that they could actually build that!
Jayden absolutely loved the parade. He was just running around crazy. He loved the fact that people were throwing out candy for him. haha! Him and Jason were having a blast dancing to all the music! And those 2 can sure move!

Jayden needed a break - Rest on dads head!
Jennilyn was so good!
After the parade Kire & Jenn took us all out to the river to ride the Jet Skis! Thanks guys. It was tons of fun! Jayden was a little hesitant at first, but he loved it. Chris said on the whole ride he was practically crying and saying "Fun, like it. Jayden like it" haha!
So this red ski was not quite as steady as the blue one and wow, we almost tipped the thing a few times. haha! But it was so fun!
We decided since we were in the area we would go to the famous Idaho Falls Fireworks show that they have on the 4th. So we went down and parked in a warehouse parking lot on a street that headed out of town. (Thanks Kire for the directions out of town away from the traffic) It was nice! We didn't even get stuck in traffic headed back!
Sunday Kire blessed mathew and he was so good.
Thanks Jenn & Kire for letting us all come invade your house for a weekend. It was lots of fun! You have such a cute family! We love you!