LORENC FAMILY

SNOW!!!

2012-01-13T10:54:00.000-08:00

Well it finally snowed here! It took until January 12th to do so, but it finally did. Makayla couldn't have been more excited! She has been dying to play in some snow.

Makayla making a snow angel. She proceeded to make one by each house around us so that they could all enjoy an angel.

Lucy's first time in the snow. She loved it, other than the time she fell on her face. Isn't she the cutest in this little snow outfit!

She is so happy!

Watching daddy work hard! She just followed him around it was so cute!

My cute girls! I know Makayla's eyes are closed but it was the only one I got of them together!

Now that we have had our fun in the snow it can go away! I am officially ready for spring!

Lucy's 1 Year Old Pictures

2012-01-09T20:49:00.000-08:00

Even though Lucy is now 14 Months old I had to post her cute 1 year old pictures that Erica Jessop did for me. They turned out so cute and I am in love with them! I couldn't pick just a few so I posted a million I am sorry!

Enjoy!

Celebrating the New Year 2012!

2012-01-04T20:00:00.001-08:00

I can't believe it is 2012!

There are some pretty big changes coming this year. I have been waiting for this year for a long time. Two of them are we get to move home in June and Caleb graduates in October! I know our lives will never be like they are now and sometimes I am super sad about that because I have come to love the people I have met here in Iowa. One of the good things is I know that most, not all, but most of them will be moving just like me so it makes it easier to leave.
To ring in the New Year we decided to start the day off with a few games of bowling. We met up with the Jorgensens and had a lot of fun.

Makayla and JayLene bowling.

They literally went up together each time one of them was bowling. It was so cute. They are such great friends.

Lucy just hanging out watching everyone bowl.

Marci in action. Just a side note I am not very good at bowling, but hey I like to go!

Caleb in action. He is much better than me!

Of course we had a casualty while we were there and you would have thought it was the end of the world. Makayla got her finger smashed between two balls and she sure let everyone know about it. Doesn't she look so sad.

The girls together again.

The pink ball was for the girls.

Lucy started to get fussy, but was happy again once she got some crackers, even though the signs said "no outside food or drink, NO exceptions!"

I took this after Makayla got all the pins down. She was so excited that she actually go them all down.

Later that night we had our friend the Ramos' come over and hang out and ring in the new year with us. We decided to play a joke and plan out our night in a very detailed manner. Little did we know Makayla would take it so literally. She kept saying, "mom what is next on the list". She didn't get it was a joke!

Here is a close up of what we had planned for the night! :)

Makayla and Caleb waiting for the New Year!

Our friends Paul, Natalie, and baby Zoey came over and rang in the new year with us

Banging pots and pans! Makayla was so excited to go outside and make a lot of noise. And yes she really did stay up until midnight!

Lucy on the other hand went to be at her normal time, so I had to include a picture of her the next morning! I also think this is the funniest picture of Caleb that I have ever seen! He is such a good sport to let me put this on here!

Happy New Year!!!!

Lucy's First Ponytail

2012-01-03T19:24:00.000-08:00

FINALLY!!!

I can finally put Lucy's hair in a little ponytail on the top of her head!!!!

Makayla had a ton of hair at this age so it is weird for me to still be putting headbands on Lucy.

Side view!

Not all of it fits in the ponytail, but at least she shouldn't get mistaken as a boy anymore when I don't put a headband on her!

Front view! She is so cute!

Oh can you see the cut she has on her lower lip? Well one night when we were putting her down for bed she was sitting on Caleb's lap and she jumped off of something and smacked her face on the garbage can that is in there room. We though she just bumped it, but when Caleb's pulled her away from his shoulder she was bleeding pretty bad. She is so tough though and she let me wipe it off put ice on it for a minute and she was as good as new.

She was running away from me as I was trying to take her picture. She thought it was so funny! I think this picture captures her personality so well. She is so fun and silly!

Yay for ponytails!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-30T19:34:00.000-08:00

Christmas Morning!!!!!

Christmas morning was a little bit crazy this year because it fell on a Sunday and we had church at 10:00AM. I am actually glad that it fell on a Sunday so we could really focus on what Christmas is all about and that is the Savior and his birth! I think it helped Makayla understand a little bit better that Christmas isn't just about presents and Santa, but about Jesus and all he did for us!

Since we had church at 10:00AM we decided that we would let the girls open the presents in their stockings before church and then we would open the rest after church.
(I know we are mean parents, or so that is what my brothers and parents said! :))

Lucy didn't even wake up until 9:00AM so it was a good thing we decided to wait so we didn't have to rush through everything. Oh and no we didn't have a white Christmas this year. In fact it was like 50 degrees out there! It was crazy warm and honestly it makes me a little sad not to have a white Christmas. I don't know how people do it in places where it never snows.

All the stockings were hung....

Presents under the tree.

Getting ready to open presents! Everyone was so excited!

Matching purses!

We didn't know what to get Lucy for Christmas this year and then 2 days before Christmas we were at the mall and Lucy wouldn't let go of a little purse she found, so I decided to make her one, and if I make one I end up needing to make two.

Watching her face while she opens presents is priceless! Here she is opening the movie, Enchanted.

Lucy got a little ball and baton and she was in heaven!The littlest things make her so happy!

Since Makayla will be starting Sunbeams next Sunday we decided to get her a Book of Mormon so she can start taking it to church with her. She was so excited to get it and she walks around now reading it and telling us the story of Christ's birth. She is getting so big! I love her!

Lucy got this Minnie Mouse pillow pet from her Uncle Cory and this is what she was doing with it all day!

Makayla got a Rapunzel dress from Grandma and Grandpa Hunter and she could wait to put it on. She also got a Rapunzel doll from her Uncle Cory so of course she had to have a picture with it and her dress.

We, especially the girls, were so spoiled from my family this year and I want them to know how much we appreciate all they do for us! The girls LOVED all of their presents and play with them all the time!

(Thanks Eric and BreAnn for the little pet things, they are driving me nuts, but they sure do entertain the girls!)

Later that night we went over to the Snarr's house and had dinner with them and the Jorgensens. It was a lot of fun to hang out and just be with the people who are like our family since we are so far away. Being away from family really is hard, but with friends like we have we are so lucky! You guys are the best and I am truly going to miss you when we move!

Christmas truly is a magical time of year and I can't wait for next year!

Merry Christmas!!!!

Family Christmas Picture 2011

Christmas Eve Fun 2011

2011-12-29T19:48:00.000-08:00

Christmas once again has come and gone in the Lorenc house, and yes we did have a great time! I am not going to lie and say that I didn't miss going home and being with family, because I did, but I am glad that I have my cute little family and that is who I got to be with for the Holidays. So here is a little recap on the this years events!

A few days before Christmas the girls and I went to a friends house and made gingerbread houses. Makayla had to much fun and was so proud of her end result!

Lucy just wandered around the whole time. I think she was secretly watching for the kids to drop any candy on the floor so that she could pick it up and eat it! Little stinker!

On Christmas Eve we made sugar cookies. This is one of Makayla's favorite things to do. She loves to help me cook and I think she especially loves making these cookies because it is super messy!

Frosting time! Look at that cheeser in the back! Lucy tried to eat the frosting the whole time, and to be honest I am not sure how much she actually got! I Hope it wasn't too much!

In my family it is tradition to have a ham dinner on Christmas Eve and even though we weren't home this year I still wanted to make sure we had a nice ham dinner. It was just us this year and while it was quiet and small I really enjoy being with my family!

After dinner we all opened our usual one present. Can you guess what they were......

Yup pajamas! I love Makayla's face when she opens things. She makes whatever it is seem like it is the BEST thing in the world.

The girls showing off their Palmer jammies! I made these again this year and I am pretty proud of the way they turned out!

The back view!

Graduation in 2012 I can't wait!!!

Just chillin by the fire in their cute jammies!

Later on that night we went over to the Jorgensen's house to read and act out the nativity story.

Makayla and JayLene played and played with the baby in the cradle it was so cute. They took turns being Mary and it was so cute!

Makayla being Mary (I love this picture) and Canyen being Joseph.

Lucy got to be a sheep and isn't she the cutest sheep you ever saw!

A group shot of all the participants! It turned out really cute and ShaLene made a cute video it all, but I can't ever get any videos to upload so you will just have to take my word for it!

After the nativity stuff we headed home so the girls could go to bed and be ready for Christmas morning!

Makayla's 2nd Dance Recital

2011-12-22T18:00:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday Makayla had her 2nd dance recital! To say she was excited would be an understatement! She has been taking dance for a little while now and has improved so much. Last time she took it she was in a class with a couple of her little friends, all of which have since moved away. This time she was moved up by the teacher to be in the 5-7 year old class. She is only 3 let me remind you. No it isn't because she is amazing talented, but because she listens (when it isn't me talking) and the teacher said she would have been board in the younger class. I was happy she moved her up because she got to have the cutest little outfit and she got to learn and preform the cutest little dance.

Picture before the recital started.

(Aren't those outfits so cute!)

Had to post her posing!

My camera didn't take very good pictures of her actually preforming so I have to post a bunch of the ones I took before the recital started.

Sisters!

Lucy actually loves to watch Makayla dance. She is one of her biggest fans!

She kept wanting to go down to the stage before the recital started so when I finally let her I found out she just REALLY wanted a picture on the stage!

On stage getting ready to preform. Makayla is the first one on the left.

One of her friends, that didn't go anywhere for Christmas break so was still here, came to see her dance. She was so happy she came. Since we don't have any family out here it is nice that our friends who are like our family can and do come and support us. Thanks Jorgensen's for coming!

A group shot. Makayla is in the center, she is the short little one!

After the dance Makayla got a flower from her dance teacher and some from her daddy. She was so cute when he gave them to her!

After the recital was over Lucy felt like she needed to get in on the action and got up on stage and let it all go! She loves to dance!

Makayla and her dance teacher Miss Kate.

She does an amazing job with these kids and has patents that just blows me away.

Makayla did such a great job and can't wait for her next recital. I tried to upload a video of it, but for some reason it won't work, so you will just have to take my word for it.

Until next recital......

Ward Christmas Party 2011

2011-12-14T19:51:00.000-08:00

We recently had our ward Christmas party and I thought it was a lot of fun. First off we had ham and mashed potatoes for dinner and nothing is better than that. After dinner they had all the kids go to four different rooms and learn about how people in different parts of the world celebrate Christmas. They had people talking about Mexico, Sweden, America, and Africa. I followed Makayla around to a few of them, but didn't get pictures of all of them, but I sure thought it was a cute and fun activity.

This was the Makayla's group learning about Mexico's traditions.

They break a pinata during their celebrations. Makayla wanted her picture by it she thought it was so cool.

Makayla and one of our favorite people in the ward, Macy!

In the room where they talked about American traditions they had Santa Claus come. I know the true meaning of Christmas isn't about Santa Claus, but it was nice to have him come and let the kids talk to him and enjoy that part of Christmas.

Here Makayla is with Santa. Can you guess what she asked him for....... a sewing machine! Honestly who's child is this again!

Lucy's turn with Santa. She was trying to figure the whole thing out in this picture, but hey at least she wasn't screaming!

She like him for a second and then she was done and reaching for me to take her. I was pleasantly surprised at how well she did.

After going to all the rooms the kids got a special treat and they got to come back to the gym and break one of the pinatas. Here Makayla is taking her swings.

After the pinata they had all the primary kids go to the nursery and get ready to act out the nativity while the adults listened to some musical numbers. Makayla got to be one the angels in the nativity and was so excited about it.

They sang a couple of songs and then it was over. Makayla is so excited to move up in primary and actually become a sunbeam and learn all of the primary songs!

After the primary's performance the party was over. It was a lot of work and we are so glad we got to go. I can't believe that is our last ward Christmas party here!

Disney on Ice 2011

2011-12-09T19:33:00.000-08:00

Recently a friend of ours asked us if we were interested in going to Disney on ice with them. Of course I said yes! Makayla LOVES Disney anything and I knew she would be ecstatic to go to it.

It started with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy coming out, and as soon as they did this is the face we got from Makayla!

She was so excited!

Lucy enjoyed it as well and probably more than I thought she would.

Alice in Wonderland

Tinkerbell

(one of Makayla's favorites)

Another one of Lucy enjoying the show. She loved listening to the music.

A family shot during intermission.

Makayla and her cute friend JayLene. It was so fun to go with some good friends.

Lion King

Aladdin

Little Mermaid

Tangled

(another one of Makayla's favorites)

At the end all of the princess came out and Makayla thought it was the coolest thing in the world! She was pointing to all of them and naming them and making sure I saw all of them.

I didn't get a picture of one of her favorites, Snow white, but at least she is in this one.

Makayla after the show.

She was one happy girl.

We had a lot of fun and I can't believe we have never gone to one before. I think Makayla may be talking Grandma into taking her in the near future.

White Coat Ceremony (4 months late)

2011-12-07T17:11:00.000-08:00

Well it finally happened, or I should say it finally officially happened. Caleb had his white coat ceremony. You see the way it works is that in 7th trimester the students have a ceremony where they receive their white coats and are officially allowed to see patients in the student clinic. Well when that day was suppose to happen for Caleb, back in July, they had a bomb scare at school! Go figure! It obviously got cancelled and they just went on with things. Well I think some people might have complained about it so they rescheduled it for 8th trimester as a transition from the student clinic to the outpatient clinic. Some people thought it was dumb that they were doing it 4 months later and decided not to go. The turn out for their class was pretty small, but I will tell you what I was still excited to go. After all it is such a huge milestone in their schooling. I am glad I went and I am so proud of Caleb.

Makayla and Lucy waiting patently for it to start

My camera didn't take good pictures but oh well here are a couple from the ceremony.

All of us with the soon to be "Dr. Lorenc"

We are very proud of you!

Luckily one of our friends did decide to come so Makayla had someone to play with. Makayla and Ashlyn played on the stage after the ceremony and had a blast.

Can't forget Lucy! She also was having a blast running around on the stage!

Caleb with his girls!

Gearing up for Christmas

2011-12-06T14:19:00.000-08:00

Once we got back from Missouri it was time to get ready for Christmas. First thing we did put up the Christmas tree!

Makayla was even more excited to get a tree this year!

Having way too much fun with the tree!

This was where Makayla hung all the ornaments that she was in charge of. Needless to say there are a million of ornaments in one spot on this side of the tree. It is so cute!

Lucy putting up her first ornament. She loved helping and I think most people would be surprised to learn that she hasn't touched the tree since. I thought for sure we would only be able to decorate half the tree because my 1 year old would go straight for it, but I have been pleasantly surprised.

Once the tree was up Makayla and I pulled out the rest of the decorations and got the house looking mighty Christmasy!

Now to show you some of my new Christmas creations for this year.

Our traditional Christmas PJ's. This is our last Christmas here so this year's theme is Palmer. Caleb will be graduating in Oct. 2012 so that is why we have the 2012 on them, and Palmer's colors are purple, white, and black hence the colors. I am pretty excited about them. I still need to perfect the adult sizes but I think the kid ones are going to be great!

Next we have stockings!

We haven't had matching ones since we got married, and it has always bothered me! Since I love to sew now I decided to try and make us some matching ones. I think they turned out great! I even have more fabric for future kids!

Since we don't have a fireplace to hang our stockings over I decided that we should just make one. With the help of my sweet husband we made this beauty! He is more artistic than I am so he drew all of the stuff and I sewed and ironed it all together! I am in love with it!

Stocking and the fireplace together!

(side note Lucy doesn't touch these or the little trees next to it either!)

Finally we have the felt Christmas tree I made for the girls inspired by pintrest! I LOVE pintrest and saw this on there and thought "I have to make this". It took me awhile to sit down and actually make it, again with the help of my husband, but I finally did and the girls love it. They play with it all day.

My little cheesers showing you how it is done!

Another thing we had to do this year was write our letter to Santa. Even though that is not the focus of Christmas it is still a fun part of the season! Makayla was so excited to write a letter this year and she even did some of the writing.

Here is a closer view. She wants s sewing machine and and ironing board? Honestly what kind of a child do I have!

Oh and who can forget the Christmas dresses! Thanks to Grandma Hunter the girls have some pretty cute dresses! Here Lucy is modeling hers.

And Makayla modeling hers

I love this picture because of both of their smiles! It shows their personalities! So excited for this Christmas season!!!

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-12-04T20:02:00.000-08:00

I know I am a little late, but I am finally posting about Thanksgiving. I know that not many people read this, but that is ok it is more for me anyway. This year will be our last one out here in the Midwest, and we debated about staying here and hanging out with our Palmer friends, but then we remembered that it would probably be the last one that we would spend with Caleb’s family that live out here so we decided that to Missouri we would go and we were very happy that we did! We had a lot of fun spending time with family and just getting away!

We didn’t actually have Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving because one of Caleb’s brothers had other plans, so instead we had it the day after. We spent Thanksgiving, and Caleb’s birthday just hanging out and going bowling. The next day we spent all morning in the kitchen getting things ready for our feast. It was a lot of fun making food with my sister-in-law Yvonne! For Thanksgiving I was in charge of mashed potatoes, a Thanksgiving salad (thanks Michelle for introducing me to this yummy salad last year), pretzel jello salad, and a banana cream pie!

A picture of our feast! It was SOOOOO good!

Eating our dinner outside! We don't get to do this very often so it was kind of fun having Thanksgiving dinner outside because it was warm enough!

After dinner we took turns taking rides on Uncle Quinn's four wheeler. Here is Makayla with Uncle Quinn!

Caleb, Marci, and Lucy taking our turn. Lucy LOVED riding on the four wheeler!

After Thanksgiving dinner we gathered around the fire pit in the back yard and roasted some marsh mellows! Makayla thought Uncle Quinn's and Aunt Jamie's house was the best!

Lucy found a ball that she could fit inside she had so much fun with this toy!

I had to get a picture of the boys doing the dishes! I have a similar one from two years ago.

When it got too cold and dark outside to play the kids came in and watched a movie. Let me just say Makayla was in heaven having so many cousins to play with.

While the kids watched a movie the adults played some cards. This is one of my favorite things to do. It was fun, oh and I can't forget to mention that Yvonne and I dominated!

Wes (our newest brother-in-law) spent some quality time with Lucy. He isn't really into card games so he played with her instead. It was good practice because he and his wife Cami are expecting their first in February! We are so excited for them.

I just love her!

Oh and her too! Makayla took particular interest in playing with her cousin Michael. They were so cute together and we could hardly separate them. She still asks if she can play with him. I think she misses him a little bit!

On Saturday we went to Bass Pro Shop to walk around and see the Christmas decorations. We did this two years ago when we were there and we had so much fun we decided to do it again.

Looking at some of the fish under the bridge.

Seriously isn't she so cute!

They had a carousel in the middle of the store for the kids to ride on. Makayla and Lucy loved it! I don't think either of them stopped smiling the whole time!

Makayla waving to the camera!

Makayla with two of her cousins Savana and Alena

"Sledding"

Hanging out on a boat! She kept playing peek-a-boo it was so cute!

Caleb wasn't feeling so hot this day, but managed to come and have a good time with us! The girls love their dad and were so glad he was there!

A shot of all the grand kids, that were there in Missouri 11 in all, on a boat at Bass Pro.

Anytime we get more than a couple of Caleb's siblings together we have to take a picture. Here he is with two brothers, a sister and his mom.

Brady, Dory, Caleb, Cami, and Quinn

And of course we have to get one of Grandma Dory with the grand kids.

Jaden, Thomas, Michael, Grandma Dory, Lucy, Alena, Makayla, Amber, Ben, Tanner, Savana, and Matthew. Oh and yes that belly is suppose to be in there. That is "baby" Ogden the soon to be newest grand baby.

Well that wraps up our Thanksgiving festivities.

We had such a great time and are so thankful that we got to spend this fun holiday with family. Thanks to Brady, Yvonne, and family for putting us up at there house we had a lot of fun! Thanks to everyone else Quinn, Jamie, Dory and family for making it such a fun weekend!

Caleb's Birthday

2011-12-01T20:46:00.000-08:00

Here is the post I said would come about how we celebrated Caleb’s birthday. I really didn’t know what to get him for his birthday and I always feel like I kind of over look it, what with Thanksgiving and all. So I decided that I was going to throw him a surprise birthday party. The Saturday before his birthday was the day I picked. I thought that way he wouldn’t suspect anything. It was also the day after the new Twilight came out so I knew I had a good cover up. I told him that a friend had offered to watch the girls while we went to a showing of it with another couple. He totally bought it. I did such a good job at keeping it a secret until the day before when Makayla started to tell him about the cake I had made that day. I thought he knew I was up to something, even though I played it off pretty well. Anyway needless to say he really didn’t know what was going on. I wish I had a picture of him when he walked into the room and saw everyone there, he looked so confused. We just hung around, ate cake, and just enjoyed some good company. I am grateful for our friends out here and for making this surprise work so well.

Here he is with the "30 Sucks" sign I made for him!

(Even though he is 30 he is still like 20 at heart!)

This is what the boys did. They played a shooting game on the Wii.

The awesome cake!

See how excited Caleb was to blow out his candles!

Picture with the cake! I spent a lot of time on that thing!

Of course one of my baby! Here she is advertising Snapple! Seriously this bottle could entertain her all night long. I think we might know what we are getting her for Christmas!

On Caleb's actually birthday (which was also Thanksgiving) we were in Missouri visiting two of his brothers, one of his sisters, and his mom. Caleb's only requests for his birthday were that he get to play football and then watch it on TV. So that is what he did! Also we were not having Thanksgiving dinner until the next day so we decided to go bowling too for his birthday. It was a lot of fun! All in all I think he had a pretty good birthday and if he didn't he better lie to me and tell me that he did!

The Big 30!

2011-11-24T08:00:00.000-08:00

Today while we celebrate Thanksgiving I want to give thanks
for my wonderful husband! Today Caleb turns 30 and he is so excited! (haha)

I am so lucky to have him as a husband and father to my children! He is an amazing man who makes me want to be a better person every day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CALEB!

I LOVE YOU!

(A post about how we celebrated his birthday will come later.)

Lucy's 1st Birthday Party

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

SHE'S ONE!!!!!

My baby had her first birthday November 2nd and of course we had to celebrate! I know I am a week late getting this up, but at least it is up!

When she woke up we let her open a couple of presents before daddy had to go to school.

She would tear off a little bit at a time and hand it to me. It took forever for her to open them, but she was so cute!

While she took her morning nap Makayla, my mom (we were so lucky to get to have her here for Lucy's birthday!), and I frosted Lucy's cake and cupcakes.

Our "little pumpkin's" pumpkin cake.

For Makayla's 1st birthday I made a ladybug cake that was red and black and she would have nothing to do with it, so I decided to do one that had brighter colors to see if it would make a difference with Lucy. Also her birthday is in the fall and pumpkins are all over the place right now!

The pumpkin cupcakes for our guests. I thought these turned out cute too. Orange frosting with a tootsie roll as the stem. So fun and it went with the pumpkin theme perfectly!

Lucy with Grandma! Again we can't say how excited and happy we were to have her here with us for Lucy's birthday! I missed not having my whole family around to celebrate such an important day, but there is always next year!

Daddy with the birthday girl!

We didn't have a big enough house to have all of our friends come over to celebrate, so we took the party to Chuck E. Cheese. You get in for free, you can bring your own cake, and tokens aren't really that expensive. Thanks to my mom we were able to give each of the kids at least a few tokens to play with. I didn't know if Lucy would like it as much as the older kids like Makayla would, but she LOVED it and I am so glad we did it!

Driving the fire truck. She loved to push the button and watch the water spray on the screen.

Riding the big horse. She thought she was so cool, which she is!

Riding the clock ride. I didn't know if she would like being buckled in, but she did ok. I think she was confused by all of it to tell you the truth.

Driving with Chucky! Look at the happy face. Priceless!

Watching her daddy play a game. I think this is when her obsession with the coin and cup started. After this game she wouldn't let go of those two things and she screamed if we tried to take them from her.

I had to add some of Makayla. Here she is with one of her BFF's Joy! This was the last time they would get to hang out. Joy moved away and Makayla has been super sad! They were so cute riding this ride. I think this might have been one of Makayla's favorite rides. I always seemed to find her here.

They made room for one more! Makayla, Joy , and Taylor

I really wanted to get a picture of the kids all born about the same time as Lucy, but try as I might I was not successful. This is the closest thing I got.

Brinley (1 month older), Lucy (birthday girl), Dylan (1 month younger), and Emily (1 1/2 months older)

I tried again! This time I got the girls.

Emily, Lucy, & Brinley

Yet another try.

This time Brinley, Lucy, and Dylan

Cake time! Notice the cup in hand. She would not hand that thing over for anything. She loved everyone singing to her!

Blowing the candle out.

I was trying to help her, but she just wasn't interested.

I really want one of my kids to just dig into their birthday cake, but I guess Lucy isn't that child. Too much like her older sister I guess! Just look at that face! At least the older kids enjoyed the cupcakes!

After cake we opened a few presents and this one was by far her favorite. Lucy loves babies! In the picture she is giving her kisses. She is always trying to steal Makayla's baby dolls so for her birthday Makayla wanted to give her, her very own baby doll. She carries that thing around EVERYWHERE! It is so stinkin cute!

One more picture of the birthday girl. Again notice that cup and coin! OBSESSED!

We had a really fun birthday party and finished off the night with a trip to Red Robin, because Lucy loves french fries! They even sang to her and she loved it! Again thanks to everyone who came and shared this special day with us!

Happy 1st Birthday Lucy!

2011-11-02T21:07:00.000-07:00

Wow a full year has gone by and my Lucy is now 1! I can hardly believe it was a year ago that I was in the hospital holding my sweet baby girl for the first time! I remember wanting Lucy to come so bad because my parents had come out to be here for her birth. I remember going to the hospital Monday night “having contractions” and the doctor being so nice and not sending me home even though she could have. I remember getting checked into my room, getting my epidural (that only worked on one side), and settling in for what would come bright and early in the morning. When it was time to push it literally only took 2 pushes to get her out. She came so easily! I was in labor for about 8 hours and at 3:35 AM Lucy Christelle Lorenc was born weighing 7 lbs 1 oz and measuring 20 ½ inches long. I was so excited to be a mom again and fell in love with her right from the beginning!

It is crazy to think she ever was that small.

She has grown leaps and bounds in the past year. She is walking all over the place. She started about 2 ½ weeks ago. She never really liked or got the whole crawling thing down. Walking is by far her preference. She has a TON of teeth. Literally she has 12 of her teeth in already. She LOVES to eat! She wants anything and everything we are eating! She especially loves her baby puffs and English pancakes. She is saying words like mommy, daddy, hi, thank you, and baby! She is absolutely in love with babies! She is constantly looking for one to carry around with her. She sleeps through the night and goes down on her own. She has been doing this for a long time
now. She also is great at taking naps. She usually takes 2 a day. What can I say she loves her sleep! I love to get kisses anytime I get her out of bed. She loves her big sister and likes to follow her around. She is such a sweet girl and boy is she a momma’s girl! She definitely makes our family more complete and we couldn’t imagine life without her! Here are some pictures of her growing up through the year…….

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUCY!!

WE LOVE YOU!!!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T14:24:00.000-07:00

Halloween came and went around here and boy did we have some fun! We started it off this year with the Palmer Trick-or-Treat that I posted about earlier in the month. Our next adventure was to trick-or-treat at the radio station. This was our 3rd year doing it and sadly for the last two years I have forgotten my camera. Oh well it was still a blast! This is one tradition I will miss next year! Next up on our activities was the ward trunk-or-treat the Friday before Halloween, and yes I forgot to take pictures there too, but we did have a lot of fun!

Finally it was Halloween night and time for the real trick-or-treating. Our town is a little weird and they do trick-or-treating the day before and since that fell on Sunday we decided to go with some friends who live in the next town over and they trick-or-treat on the 31st. We had a lot of fun! I am sure going to miss these friends we have here!

Makayla my cowgirl!

Lucy my Ladybug!

(I think I have the cutest girls! I am just saying!)

Some of the group waiting to go.

We were lucky enough to get to have Grandma here for Halloween! We love it when she comes to play with us!

Makayla and her gal-pal JayLene

I love this picture! Just look closely at this little kids and you can't help but smile!

(Sam, JayLene, & Makayla)

Lucy enjoyed herself as well. At one point she wouldn't let go of her bag or candy she was holding! It was pretty funny!

Family picture Halloween 2011

One more this time with Grandma!

Some super cute kids!

Cooper, Carson, Canyen, Sam, Makayla, and JayLene

After trick-or-treating we went downtown to a Halloween parade. Yes I said a Halloween parade. Honestly who has them, all I know is that we do! We went two years ago and had fun, so we decided to go one last time.

Watching the parade and getting lots of candy! Funny note about the parade: at the end they probably 200 or more people walking like "the walking dead" and they were trying to scare people, not my favorite thing for them to do to my 3 and 1 year old, but....My husband being as cute as he is told Makayla to growl back at them trying to make it so she didn't get scared. It totally worked and well I went to get Lucy from him and what did she do to me as soon as I picked her up....she growled at me! I couldn't stop laughing!

Of course of Halloween activities couldn't be complete without pumpkin carving.

Makayla and daddy carving Makayla's Cat. She actually helped him quite a bit and was so proud of herself.

She still isn't a huge fan of the insides! She only did it so I could get a picture and then her hand was quickly out!

Lucy was having lots of fun watching everything!

One of Caleb's masterpieces. Mike Wazowski from Monster's Inc.

(this was like a week after he carved it, so it was starting to go bad!)

His second masterpiece! Scar from Lion King. He is really talented, this is all free handed. He amazes me all the time.

All three of our pumpkins.

Caleb's, Marci's, and Makayla's

Cutest girls ever!

We hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

Can't wait until next year!

Uncle Cory's Visit

2011-10-30T09:30:00.000-07:00

We just recently had a great surprise visit from my older brother Cory! He had told us he was thinking about coming out, but I didn't actually believe that he was going to come, especially because two nights before he told me he probably wasn't going to come. Well he proved me wrong and he did indeed come out!

When someone comes to Iowa to visit what do you take them to see and do?

(No really what do you do?)

Well we came up with John Deere Pavilion, Field of Dreams, and the Zoo!

First up John Deere Pavilion

John Deere is huge out here, so a trip to Iowa wouldn't be complete without at least seeing something that has to do with John Deere.

Just chillin

If you look closely Lucy is in the back behind the grate thing. She was loving it back there.

Makayla and Cory in one of the many tractors there. Makayla was having so much fun with Uncle Cory. She made him sit in all of them with her and be her "co-pilot".

Cory teaching Makayla something mean!

My two girls in one of the tires. The tires are so huge!

Next up Field of Dreams!

This was one of Cory's requests. He is obsessed with baseball after all! This was our second time going there, last time I was pregnant with Lucy. The Sunday after we went they announced that they were selling it. The new owners say that they will preserve it, but that they are going to build more fields for people to have actual tournaments on. We will see! I am glad we were able to go there before all of that happens!

Uncle Cory and the girls on the bleachers in front of the house.

Out by the corn field. This time it wasn't green and you could see that it really does end.

Sisters!

Isn't Lucy so cute!

Makayla got in on the action and hit a few balls.

And ran a few bases

She even beat her daddy to home plate! SAFE!

Makayla and Daddy after her run around the bases!

Final stop the Zoo

It was free Friday and the Zoo so we took advantage and went when it was still pretty nice weather. Then nice thing, our zoo isn't too big so we didn't have to spend all day there!

I swear we have so many pictures on this specific dinosaur at the zoo.

I LOVE this picture she is so cute!

There is a new baby giraffe at our zoo, so we were hoping to get to see it, but it wasn't to be. Lucy was happy with seeing any animals so she wasn't too disappointed!

Measuring up!

No trip to the zoo is complete without a ride on the carousel. This is Makayla's favorite thing.

Lucy's turn!

(she really didn't get to ride, but hey she will never know, right?)

We ended our trip to the zoo with a ride on the train!

We were so lucky to get to have Uncle Cory come out and visit us! We had a lot of fun with him and hope that he had fun with us! Thanks for coming Uncle Cory!

Family Pictures 2011

2011-10-25T19:00:00.000-07:00

We just recently had family pictures done and I LOVE them! One of my good friends, Erica Jessop, took them and she did a fabulous job! Check out more of her work here!

Makayla 3 1/2 Years Old

Lucy 1 Year Old

I can't get enough of these two!!!

We got this one while Makayla had her only break down, she scraped her finger, and I am so happy we did. I LOVE it!

7 1/2 Years and going strong!

My little family of 4!

Love Lucy's face in this one! It is her typical face.

And that is just a few of them, honestly there are so many more that I love, but I didn't want to put them all on here. I think I already went over board with these ones, but oh well I love them!

Thanks again Erica! You are the best!

Palmer Trick-Or-Treat

2011-10-18T20:04:00.001-07:00

We look forward to the Palmer trick-or-treat event all year. In fact it is all Makayla can talk about for months after it happens. Each time we go to Caleb's school she reminds me of the time that she got to go there and trick-or-treat. This year is the last time we get to do it. Next year we will be in Utah and Caleb will be getting ready to graduate, crazy I know! Anyway here are some pictures from the fun night.

My cute Cowgirl and Ladybug!

I had to talk Makayla into being a cowgirl this year. She really wanted to be Rapunzel from Tangled, but I was so afraid EVERYONE would be that and I didn't want her to be like everyone else. Also we had these cute pink boots that I really wanted her to wear, thanks to her friend Cadence, and they will be too small very soon. I told her Grandma would buy her the Rapunzel dress for Christmas and then she was ok with being a cowgirl. I guess all she wanted was that dress!

Makayla with some of her cute friends, Kinidee (she is moving soon and we are really going to miss her), Carson, and Cooper. (luckily we get to have these two around until we move and even then we are going back to the same town and place to work!)

Kinidee and Makayla again in front of the "bones" as Makayla calls them!

Lucy the ladybug! She was getting a little tired here, but boy is she cute!

Makayla and one of her best buds Joy.

Joy is also moving here really soon and boy is Makayla going to miss her!

Lucy showing off during the costume contest. She didn't win, which I think was a mistake! jk

I not competitive at all! hahaha!

Cooper, Joy, Makayla, and Maddi. I love all their little costumes!

Makayla during the costume contest. She was so cute standing there. This time she was up there all by herself, no coaching from daddy or mommy! She looked so cute and guess what...................

She WON! This is her surprised face!

She won the "cutest" costume award again. We are 3 for 3 at the costume contest! She has won something every time. Good thing I talked her into being a cow girl and not Rapunzel! (side note: there wasn't even one Rapunzel at this event! hahaha!)

Makayla with the other winners for her age group. I love her she is such a sweet and good girl!She sure has her moments, but over all she is a good girl! I am so lucky to have both my little girls and I love them more than anything! I can't wait to go trick-or-treating!

I also can't wait for my mom to come out to visit! She will be here to go trick-or-treating with us and to celebrate Lucy's first birthday! I am so excited.

Pumpkin Patch 2011

2011-10-16T19:47:00.000-07:00

Well it is that time of year again, time for our annual trip to the pumpkin patch! I love going here each year and often look forward to it for a long time! This year we went back to Country Corner. We went here two years ago, out first year living out here. We went with some great friends and had so much fun! Just like last year it was a very hot day when we decided to go, not as hot as the year before, but still hot.

Riding the cow train. This time Makayla got to ride by herself and Lucy rode with her daddy. Caleb said Lucy was laughing and smiling the whole ride! Aren't those cows the cutest little things.

Shot of our whole group riding the cow train.

Feeding the animals. You can't tell but as I was taking this picture I noticed that Lucy was chewing on something, so when I finished taking the picture I asked Caleb what was in her mouth. He said nothing as he looked down at the cup of animal feed he was holding. I about died as I realized what was in her mouth! Gross!!!! She was eating some of the pellet looking animal feed! I was so grossed out, but I also couldn't stop laughing!

Some of my great friends.

Crystal, ShaLene, Tiffany, and me

Lucy amongst all the pumpkins. She is so cute, if I don't say so myself.

My girls on the giant pumpkins. I love pumpkin picking.

Family picture at the pumpkin patch.

I think she found the perfect pumpkin and she couldn't have been happier about it!

We tried really hard to get all the kids to put their little faces in here, but it was not happening. They wanted nothing to do with it.

So instead the mom's decided to show them how it was done!

We had so much fun! I am really going to miss this next year. Not that we won't go to one next year, but we will be back home in Utah and we probably won't go with these amazing people. It is crazy how time is flying this year, and how everything we do is becoming our last time to do it while we are here. I guess we better live it up!

Oh and to top off the whole thing our friend had her baby this day, Oct. 8th, and we were able to go and see her after we left the pumpkin patch! Yay for baby Zoey!

Preschool Fun

2011-10-12T19:24:00.000-07:00

A couple of my friends were going to did a little home school for their kids this year and invited Makayla to be involved in it. To say she was excited would be an understatement. She is only 3 and with us being in school and not having a lot of money, putting her in a preschool was not really an option to us. This has been perfect! We meet once a week for a lesson and then once a week for field trip to explore more about what they learned about earlier that week. Here are some pictures from the field trips we have been able to go on!

First day of school!

September 6, 2011

(Jaylene, Cooper, Carson, Canyon, Makayla, & Max)

Art field trip.

They got to make their own piece of art. Makayla had so much fun.

Pouring the paint onto the spinning paper.

Music field trip.

Each of them got to hold and play the guitars and many other things. This was such a fun field trip.

Rocking out on the drums

Playing the keyboard.

Lucy wanted to get in on the action as well. Maybe she will be a pianist!

Hike field trip

We went on a hike and had lots of fun.

Jaylene, Makayla, Maddi, and Kinidee.

These four girls are great friends and we are so sad to see Maddi and Kinidee move away!

Jaylene and Makayla!

Such cute girls who just love to play together.

Radio station field trip.

The kids got to go on a tour of a local radio station. The kids were given the opportunity to talk in the microphones, but some were a little to shy. Not my Makayla! She was all about it and even sang one of her favorite songs.

Again Lucy wanted to get in on the action.

The kids with our tour guide. Mr. Tony Tone.

In front of the radio station signs. These kids are so much fun!

Recycling center field trip.

Our most recent field trip was to the recycling center where the kids, and might I also add the adults, learned a lot and had so much fun watching them sort all of the stuff being recycled.

I am loving doing this school thing with my great friends. It so so fun for Makayla and love getting to hang out with two of my great friends out here. Stay tuned for more field trips!

Lucy's Sad Face

2011-10-09T19:19:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to share with all of you the saddest sad face in the world......

Doesn't it just break your heart?

This is what I see on a regular basis.

She is such a drama queen and let me tell you it gets old, but at the same time it is so hard to not do anything when she is so sad.

Makayla really wanted to get in on the sad face action. (She isn't really good at pretending sad, but don't tell her. She is still really cute, messy face and all!)

I think I like this face much better!

September Happenings

2011-10-05T19:04:00.000-07:00

Well it has been awhile since my last post, again! So I am playing catch up with the next few posts. Here are some of the random things that have happened over the last little while.

Football season started and of course we have been sporting our BYU shirts each week!

Lucy has also been cruising along furniture and getting so close to walking on her own! She still crawls in a funky way, but she is getting around on her own so that is nice!

My two beautiful girls on one of our walks during our nice weather. I seriously hope that they are best friends as they grow up.

Playing in the rain! Makayla got this rain gear from our good friends the Murzycki's (We miss you guys!!!). Every time it rains now all she wants to do is go outside and play. She does has rain gear after all!

One of Lucy's many talents, shoving a bouncy ball in her mouth. Yes I took it right out after the picture, even though she was so happy with it in!

Just chillin at a friends birthday party. Like this one because of the hat. I think she is so cute with it on!

Makayla taking care of Lucy!

How did she get up there?

Well that is what September looked like here. Stay tuned for more updates on what has happened so far in October!

Finishing Summer Up -Back At Home-

2011-09-05T19:52:00.000-07:00

This post is random pictures from our summer spent back at home. In between our trips to Utah.

While in Utah we got to celebrate Uncle Cory's birthday, but we left a week before Uncle Eric's so what did we do about it....... We celebrated without him!

I am all about any excuse to have cake, and Makayla loves to make birthday cakes so we were in a win-win situation.

Caleb and Makayla enjoying Uncle Eric's birthday cake! Don't worry we sent him a picture!

It sure was good!

Makayla at a princess birthday party for her friend Taylor. It was such a fun party! It was also VERY HOT! I don't think it could have been any hotter! The humidity out here is one thing I won't miss!

Lucy looking cool! She is growing up so fast.

In this picture she is 9 months old.

Makayla getting ready to help me make homemade salsa for a baby shower that I threw for a very good friend out here. You may wonder about he gloves....let me tell you that the last time I made this salsa my hands smelled like it for weeks. They also burned for days. I decided to avoid that this time and wore gloves. It worked like a charm.

One last picture of Lucy. Makayla took this one and the camera didn't quite open all the way so it turned out like this. We thought it was cool and it had one cute girl in it so I had to post it!

The Flying Curse

2011-09-03T20:54:00.000-07:00

Well this post will not have pictures, sorry in advance. I am writing about my most recent, and most horrific flight. I recently went home to Utah to attend my Grandma's funeral. It was just me and the two girls, Makayla-3 and Lucy-8 months. Caleb had just started his 7th trimester of school and was just getting into the student clinic and couldn't afford to miss school. I totally understood, but after all of this I wished more than anything he would have been there. I am writing about this because it was just the craziest flight and yes I think I would like to remember it one day and hopefully laugh about it.

The flight to Utah was one that was pretty uneventful. I mean I did have to sit on the plane in Minnesota for an hour while we waited for some late flights. That stunk but my girls were being good. I knew that because my flight there had been uneventful my flight home could be as well, and boy was I right!

Our flight home had a connection in Denver, that is what stinks about flying into a small city there are no direct flights. We bored the plane and started our trip to Denver. Not too long into the flight the pilot told us were were heading into some bad weather. Then he got back on later and said that the storm had made it impossible to land and that Denver wasn't letting any planes in. He said we were going to circle and see what happens. So for about 40 minutes, thank goodness we were ahead of schedule by 15 minutes, we circled in and out of turbulence. Let me remind you I get motion sickness very easily, oh and I don't do well when others throw up. Yes that is what happened. During all of this turbulence the lady in front of me was throwing up. Not quietly and not without smell. (gross I know I am sorry, but.....) Here I am trying to hold Lucy, who is SOOOO tired at this point, trying to take care of Makayla, who was an angle and didn't even notice anything was happening, and trying not to loose my lunch all at the same time! When we finally landed she proceeded to tell us all about what she had just went through. She went through 7, yes I did write 7, vomit bags. She told us two of them broke on her. Can you say mega gross! Oh man I did not want to get back in the air, and I thought wasn't going to be able to. You see my connection time in Denver was 1 hour. With us not being able to land, my connection time was decreased to 25 minutes. I had a message on my phone that said they had re-booked me and everything. I was freaking out! I did not want to spend the night in the airport with two kids and no husband, so even though I had this message I was still going to try and make my connection. Everyone on the plane was helping me get off the plane as fast as I could. When I finally got out I started to run as fast as I could pushing two kids in a stroller. While I was running I was looking for a agent at a desk that wasn't busy so that I could ask them to call to the gate and tell them I was on my way. I finally found one and she said she would call and that I shouldn't worry. I was still worried, but I made it to the gate and the plane was still there. I was so happy. I was telling Makayla that we made it and I was so happy. Little did I know that would change when I got on this part of the flight.

So as I am boarding the plane I am apologizing to everyone for making them have to wait for me. Everyone was like you are fine and don't worry about. The flight attendant was so nice and helpful too. I thought I was going to have a great flight, until I got to my seat and the first thing out of the lady next to us was, "There goes my peace and quiet flight!" Oh and she didn't say it quietly. She said it so that I could hear. I didn't know what to say. I was shocked that someone would be so rude when she didn't even know me or my kids. Anyway as the flight attendant was helping me get settled she continued to make rude comments under her breath. (examples: "honestly kids are the worst!" I can't believe I have to put up with this!", etc.)

At this point the flight attendant while still smiling at me says to the lady, "If you make one more comment we can find you a different flight." I was so relieved that she stood up for me. As the flight attendant left the lady pulls out a notebook and says "threatened by a flight attendant" and wrote it down. I was starting to get to nervous about having to sit by this lady. Next thing you know Makayla is telling me she has to go to the bathroom. I was like you have to wait until we are up in the air. I was not going to make this lady even more upset with me. Well the flight attendant came back on the intercom and told us we were waiting for one more person. That is when I decided to take Makayla to the bathroom. As I got up she made another rude comment and I lost it on the way to the bathroom. I think with all the stress and everything I just started to cry. Everyone was staring at me as I was bawling on the way to the bathroom. When we got inside Makayla was like why are you crying mommy? I told her someone wasn't being nice. So when we come out she immediately tells everyone that someone wasn't being nice to her mommy. That little girl loves her momma and has her back! I love her. Anyway the two ladies at the back volunteered to change me spots and I jumped on that chance. I went back up to get my stuff and the captain was there and asked me if everything was ok. I told him I couldn't sit by the lady because she was being so rude to me.

The rest of the flight went pretty well. Although Makayla told everyone that came to the bathroom about me crying. Needless to say I was a little embarrassed about how I had reacted (crying) with the mean lady. When the flight was over I was mad and really wanted to give her a peace of my mind. I never saw her again and it was probably a good thing. Oh and the flight attendant had come back to me during the flight and told me that the lady had told the Captain that we (me and the flight attendant) had attacked her. I was like, what? How did I attack her. Whatever!

I was so happy to finally be back home. I went to go and get my luggage and the drama continued. My bag didn't make the flight. My car seats didn't either. I was so frustrated and just wanted to go home. I was so happy when the guy told me that they had car seats I could borrow until mine got in. Finally we could go home. All we had to do was wait for daddy to come.......This is when I got a phone call from Caleb to tell me he was lost. He had tried to get on the freeway but it was closed so he had to enter another freeway and it had totally turned him around. Seriously I was so tired by this point. Anyway he finally got to the airport and we finally got home.

I think I am cursed when it comes to flying! I think I am going to take a break for awhile! Well that is the end of my long and probably boring story, but it feels good to get it out.

(Oh and they returned my luggage to me at 12:15 in the AM! Who knocks on a door at that time! Good service to get it to me as soon as possible, but honestly!)

Makayla's First Pedicure (I know, I know)

2011-08-31T20:01:00.000-07:00

After my Grandma's funeral we still had a few days to hangout with my family, which was so nice! My mom had promised Makayla that the next time we came home she could go with us to get a pedicure. We thought that would be next summer, but alas it turned out to be a month later. When my mom and I decided that we needed another pedicure before I left Makayla insisted that she get to come, and of course my mom could say no to her!

So yes Makayla at age 3 got her first pedicure and she LOVED it! I think I might have created a monster! At least she is cute right....

Soaking her feet.

(we were just going to get her toes painted, but she wanted the whole thing done. so of course my mom gave in and let her get the real deal)

Getting ready for the paint. She loved every second of it and was so enthralled in the whole process.

Such a big 3 year old!

Makayla and Grandma.

(Grandma definitely spoils her)

The people there were so sweet to her and made her feel so special. Makayla sat so still it was amazing.

The finished product. The color was so cute on her. She even got a flower on them. So cute!

She is growing up too fast!

This was a one time thing, trust me!

Grandma's Funeral

2011-08-27T20:23:00.001-07:00

When I got the phone call that my Grandma wasn't doing to well and wouldn't be with us much longer, I knew that I had to make the trip even if it was without Caleb. I started looking for flights and by the weekend I was on my way to Utah. The girls and I made it there without too much of a problem, we only had an hour delay in Minnesota and both girls did very well. I am so glad I was able to be there. My Grandma is so important to me and I could not have imagined missing it for the world. The funeral went very well, and it was nice to be around family during this difficult time.

Lucy and Brinley entertaining themselves very nicely.

My beautiful Makayla. For a 3 year old her understanding of what was going on amazed me. She truly loved her Great-Grandma.

Dedication of the grave

The 5 kids

-Aunt Sue, Mom, Uncle Mike, Aunt Julie, and Aunt Bonnie-

These five took such amazing care of my Grandma. They loved her so much, and they will miss her dearly.

Me with my girls.

We were sad that dad couldn't make it, but with his crazy school schedule we understood.

My family

Again I am so thankful for the plan of salvation and my knowledge that families are forever and that I will be all of them forever!

Dedicated To Grandma

2011-08-25T20:46:00.000-07:00

GRANDMA......

I am writing this post as a dedication to my Grandma who passed away Friday August 5 at the age of 83. My grandma was one of the greatest examples of love. The most important thing to her in life was her family. She loved us so much and showed it every chance she got. My grandpa was her everything and she just hasn't been the same without him. I know it was because she missed him so much. She had 5 children and dedicated her life to raising them to be good people.

She was always so proud of us when we did anything whether it was big or small. She had a way of making even our small accomplishments seem huge.

Here I am with her at my graduation from BYU. She wouldn't have missed it for anything. I love that she loved to be there when we accomplished things. I will miss her wanting to come to everything. Even just to see a new house or apartment that we had moved into and decorated.

My Grandma loved the Lord and the gospel and was an example of it. She made me want to try harder everyday to be a better person so I would have the opportunity to be with my family forever just like her. One of the things I will remember about her is how she loved to buy us little things. I remember countless times she would let me go to the dollar store and pick out little presents. She will also always be the gummy bear grandma to me. I think that is why I have such a love for them. She ALWAYS had them in her cupboard growing up.

Another thing I love about my Grandma was how much she adored my girls. She was always talking about them and how beautiful and smart they were. It gives me confidence that I am doing an ok job raising them. Makayla loved Great-Grandma too. On this last trip home this summer she was always asking to go and see her when my mom would go up to visit. My mom took her with her countless times and Makayla loved it. Great-Grandma and Makayla became buddies and loved to share Swedish fishes. I am so glad that Makayla got to spend some time with her and see why I loved her so much and why I will miss her dearly.

4 generation picture taken at Eric's wedding.

Grandma was an incredible lady. Her testimony was unshakable and she will forever be an example to me. Things will definitely be different with her gone, but I know she is in a better place with her eternal companion. I am grateful for my knowledge of the plan of salvation and the fact that I will see her and Grandpa again.

LOVE YOU GRANDMA!!!!!

Summer Vacation (Part 5-The Last) - Lagoon, The Zoo, & Cory's Birthday

2011-08-22T21:00:00.000-07:00

Well I am finally finishing up my last post about our summer vacation. It has taken me awhile because of the passing of my Grandmother, but that is another post in and of it self to follow later.

Back to our vacation, about 4 days before Caleb was going to try to fly standby home and I was going to stay and spend more time with family, I was lying in bed and realized I had to go with him. You see we have one car and if I didn't go home with him he would have no car to get to school and back for about 2 weeks. Not a good idea. After I made that discovery we decided to make the most of our remaining days.

Last summer we really wanted to take Makayla to Lagoon, but it didn't happen. This year we made sure that it did and she had so much fun. We only bought her a pass so she had to go on all of the rides by herself and she was a champ. Nothing scared her!

Giving me the "thumbs up"!

Grandma came along with us and here she is keeping Lucy company in the stroller. Sad for her she spent a lot of time in there while we were there, but she was smiling the whole time.

Makayla riding bulgy the whale. This was one of my favorites when I was little.

This was probably one of her favorite rides.

This is the slowest ride ever! She loved it and wanted it to be her last ride, but the line was too long and since the ride is so slow we would have been there forever! Needless to say I talked her out of it.

Daddy and his girl watching the kids on the rides

We were also lucky enough to get to go to the zoo while we were there. This time they had dinosaurs set up all over the zoo. Makayla had so much fun looking for them and got so excited when we would find a new one.

Don't they look scared!

Lucy doing what she does best, riding in the stroller enjoying the sights!

Makayla and dad digging for bones and Lucy watching!

Digging some more.

I love my little family!

This elephant blew water out of his trunk and even though it was hot Makayla wasn't a very big fan of it.

Yet another dinosaur we found.

Makayla and Dad being silly.

Uncle Cory celebrated his 30th, yes he is old (hahaha), birthday while we were visiting. We all know Makayla is in love with birthdays and making cakes and all that goes with a birthday. So of course we had to make a cake. Uncle Cory got a lemon with raspberry filling baseball cake. The raspberry filling started to leak out so it turned a little bit pink, but Cory's favorite team is the Boston Red Sox so I guess it kind of worked.

He needed a little help with all those candles!

Uncle Cory and Makayla with the masterpiece

(I know the 30 is upside down, it was a long day)

We also got to spend some quality time with my grandma while we were there. Even though she wasn't her normal self we loved and cherish all the time we had with her.

The girls with Great-Grandma Marchant

And I just had to throw this one in because she is just so cute!

Well that concludes our 2011 summer trip. I know it was long, but we just had to much fun and I wanted to document it all for my sake!

Summer Vacation (Part 4) - 4th Of July & Baseball

2011-07-28T19:00:00.000-07:00

Our trip home once again fell over the 4th of July, so we got to celebrate it at home and go our little towns parade. I seriously love this parade it is not too long and they throw candy at it! They always hold it on the Saturday before the 4th so for us the 4th of July holiday was spread out over a few days.

My girls right before the parade started in their 4th of July matching shirts! Sadly we didn't get a picture of them with their friend Taylee who also had a matching shirt.

Lucy watching the parade with Grandma in the shade. What a life!

This was probably Makayla's favorite float. It was full of princesses. She wouldn't stop waving and pointing out all of the different princesses on it.

Me and Lucy! I just love her little face in this one!

Isn't this dog so cute! It is a friend of ours and I just had to have a picture with my girls and his little hat!

The same night as the parade we went to fireworks with our friends and their kids. I of course forgot my camera but we had a blast! Makayla loved them!

On the actual 4th of July we spent the afternoon swimming at my aunt's house

Makayla and her swim gear!

She is becoming so brave! With the goggles on she wasn't afraid to keep her head in the water! I am proud of her!

After swimming we went back to my parents house and had a BBQ and did some fireworks of our own! I sure do LOVE the 4th of July holiday!

Lucy having a good old time!

Ice cream please! Makayla and a few of my cousin's kids!

Lucy with my cousin Missy! She is like a sister to me!

Makayla wasn't too sure about the whole sparkler thing. She did a couple but then decided she didn't want to do any more and she would rather watch. Maybe she will like them better next year.

Uncle Eric bought some stink bombs. This was Makayla's reaction to them!

The group getting ready to watch some fireworks!

Lucy was very much entertained by the fireworks!

What a fun filled 4th of July we had! We are so grateful to all the men and women who fight for our country's freedom!

One of the nights we were there we went to a baseball game. We took Makayla to one last year and she loved it so we decided to do it again. Last year she tried so hard to get a baseball, but didn't get one. How anyone could not give that cute face one I will never know! This year was different though, within minutes of us being there she had a baseball!

One proud daddy with his girls and Makayla's baseball! She was happy about it I promise. She just had a mouth full of seeds and didn't know what to do with them when I said smile for a picture!

She even got Bumble Bee to sign it for her! She thought she was the coolest kid ever! And well I guess she kind of is!

Once again Makayla was able to talk Uncle Cory into buying her just about anything she wanted! I guess that is what Uncles are for, right!

Makayla with Aunt BreAnn and Uncle Eric

Uncle Eric with Lucy. She had her straw so she was happy without mom for a few minutes

Grandpa and Grandma with Makayla and Lucy!

These two are two spoiled little girls, their Grandpa and Grandma love them so much!

Lucy sporting the baseball hat!

That is it for this post. I know what you are thinking, "she isn't done yet?" The answer to that is nope! Stay tuned for yet more summer fun!

Summer Vacation (Part 3) -Car Wash, Haircuts, & Friends

2011-07-27T20:01:00.000-07:00

For part 3 and the remaining parts of our summer trip we were home-sweet-home!

First thing first was to wash the VERY dirty cars! Caleb was all over that job, but he didn't have to do it alone. Makayla was right there at his side helping the whole time!

Aren't they so cute!

She made LOTS of bubbles! I came out to find her pouring and pouring and pouring soap in the water!

Look at how hard she was working!

Oh and take a look at her hair, because I kind of forgot to take a before picture of her hair before we cut it which is the next part of this post. It was so long, but sooooo needed to be cut since we have never cut it and we needed it to be healthy.

So without anything further here is Makayla's first hair cut.

(sorry lots of pictures, it was a special occasion for us)

Getting her hair washed

Sitting in the chair ready to start. She decided about 3 days before we did it that it was ok to cut it. Up until then she was not game for us to cut her hair at all.

Cousin Brooke getting read to make the cuts. She did an awesome job.

Look at that grin she was so excited at this point, and I was in tears!

Just another cute shot

The finished product! Isn't she beautiful!

It use to be down to her waist. I was looking at her today and I kind of miss it. I know it is silly, but I do! Good thing it can grow again. She however keeps telling me she wants it cut again. Silly girl!

First haircut June 27, 2011

I got my hair cut and colored that day too. So here we are with our new haircuts!

Another thing we loved about being home was being able to spend more time with these guys!

Makayla, Kyson, and Taylee

We LOVE this family and enjoy being with them when we are home. We also got to meet their newest little sister, sadly I don't have a picture of her, but she is so cute! I can't wait to be able to see them everyday!

Just my cute Lucy!

Getting ready to run through the fountains.

Makayla wasn't quite sure of it at first. Thanks Kyson for showing her how it was done!
They are a match made in Heaven! We miss you guys so much!

Well I think that is enough for this post. Again stay tuned for more of our summer fun!

Summer Vaction 2011 (Part 2)- St. George-

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

The second part of our summer trip took us to sunny St. George.

We went there to see this cute man!

My Grandpa Hunter or the girls Great- Grandpa!

Lucy, Great-Grandpa Hunter, & Makayla

This was the first time that Lucy and Great-Grandpa had the opportunity to meet, and Makayla just loves this man. She is always calling him cute!

4 Generation picture

-Great-Grandpa Hunter, Grandpa Hunter, Me, Makayla, and Lucy-

I am so glad we took this trip to see him. He is a special man and means so much to me but he is getting very old. I don't know if I will get to see him again since we live so far away. The time we got to spend with him was priceless! I love you Grandpa!

Makayla and Grandma

While we were down there we also took a trip to the St. George Temple. Makayla loves to look at Temples so it was fun to take her to a new one she hadn't seen before.

Lucy in her stroller at the Temple. She spent a lot of time in this thing during our trip, but hey at least she is happy in it!

Family picture at the Temple

Grandpa and Lucy

Grandma and Lucy

Our other reason for going to St. George was to take Makayla to Tuacahn (an outdoor theater) to see Little Mermaid! I was so excited for her to see this show, but we almost didn't! Long story short, when my parents and Makayla went to pick up the tickets they were told that we had bought tickets for the following week and not for that night. I was devastated! We put our name on a wait list and thought we were out of luck when a sweet women came by and listened to my sob story about being from far away, that we couldn't come back, and a sad three year old daughter. She some how found 5 tickets right in a row! It was nothing less than a miracle and an answer to a prayer!

Since we were a little flustered with all that was happening we forgot our real camera and had to use our phone ones, which are not that good, to take pictures. This is how they turned out.

My little mermaid!

Makayla with a sea creature

Makayla and Scuttle

Makayla and Ariel's Father.

My favorite thing about this picture was the fact that she told me afterwards that he was all wet when he touched her!

Prince Eric, Makayla, and Ariel
She was so excited to meet these two and couldn't stop smiling!

It was such a fun show and we are so grateful that we got to see it!

While vacationing in sunny St. George we took advantage of the pool at the hotel and swam our little hearts out! Lucy loved the water.

Lucy just chillin!

Makayla in the hot tub!

She has gotten so comfortable in the water, and has so much fun!

Lucy! She is just so cute!

My two sweet girls enjoying the pool!

On our way to my parents house we stopped at Cove Fort to walk around and let the girls out.

Here is a family picture from there. I love Lucy's face in this one!

All of us, minus Grandpa, on the fort wall!

This part of the trip was a lot of fun! We really enjoyed staying in a hotel and not having any responsibilities. We LOVED visiting Great-Grandpa. We also LOVED not having to share Grandpa and Grandma with anyone else or any of their regular responsibilities.

That is the end of summer vacation part 2!

Stay tuned for more!

Summer Vacation 2011 (Part 1)!

2011-07-14T20:00:00.000-07:00

(Disclaimer: These next few post about our summer vacation will have LOTS of pictures so beware!)

Once again for Caleb's summer break from school we took the opportunity to take a trip to Utah to visit family. We made a couple stops along the way and I will be sharing all of our fun in the next few blog posts.

Makayla was so ready to go! Look at how helpful she was packing herself!

However we couldn't leave without saying hi and goodbye, again, to our dear friends the Murzycki's!

Makayla and Cadence.

Can you tell she was excited to see her!

All these girls love each other so much.

It was so fun to see them all together again!

Not only are all the kids friends but all of us moms are friends too! I am so grateful for these girls! It was so good to see Jocelyn again, she really became one of my best friends out here. I don't think I could have made it through the first 2 years here without her.

Once we had gotten to say hi and goodbye to our long lost friends we were ready to get on our way. We decided to try driving over night, since Lucy sleeps through the night. We thought that we might have better luck with her at night than during the day.

We spent the first weekend of our trip at Caleb's dad's house. We had a lot of fun. I think Makayla had the most fun playing with her cousin every waking moment. She wanted nothing to do with me or her dad, which is a rare occurrence.

While there we were also able to see one of my old college roommates and her little girl. Her little girl and Lucy are a few months apart.

Lucy and Claire

One of the days we were there we went to Garden of the Gods and Manitou Springs. We have been to these places before, but I like going so we went. I feel like it is kind of a tradition to go to them now.

Our little family with Garden of the Gods in the background.

Lucy doing what she does best. Riding in the stroller. You will see a lot of these pictures from the trip. She was always so happy in them.......when I was taking a picture or we were moving!

Makayla playing peak-a-boo.

Hanging out with the cousins. They stole Makayla's heart! She loves them and can't stop talking about them. She tells everyone here at home about her cousins that she got to hang out with this summer.

Kaden and Makayla! They had a love hate relationship.

My Lucy girl!

My two favorite girls!

One more family picture.

She crashed as we got to Manitou Springs!

But woke right up when it was time for fun!

One of my favorite pictures. Notice the sign................

Uncle Travis!

Makayla picking up quarters from her Uncle. Each time they would go around he would give them quarters. Now Makayla thinks they grow on trees or something!

I had to take a picture of her on this pink elephant, because I have one of her at 9 months on the exact say one. I can't believe how much she has grown.

The trip wouldn't have been complete without ice cream.

These two are so cute!

Well that is it for this post and the part 1 of our summer vacation! Stay tuned for more to come!

Dance Recital

2011-06-13T11:59:00.000-07:00

Makayla has been taking a dance class for the last month at our local YMCA. I signed her up because she loves to dance and be on stage and thought she would love it. I was right she did, and as a bonus she got to be in a dance recital. The teacher was so sweet to the girls and Makayla just loved her.

Here she is getting ready for the dance recital. I think she was sick of pictures by the end of the night! But I couldn't help myself she was so cute!

Here she is with her cute friend and fellow dancer!

This was her little class. They are all 3 years old and it was so fun to watch them dance, or should I say try to dance!

(I know Makayla is the only one in pink. The teacher said they could wear either black or pink it didn't matter and of course Makayla wanted pink. Had I know the others would all be in black I would have insisted on her wearing black! Oh well!)

She was seriously so cute!

Up in front of everyone getting ready to show what they could do.

Copying the teacher as best as she could! She really tried so hard and I am so proud of her!

There were two other classes at the recital so here she is with all of them and her teacher!

Her teacher gave them all a framed picture of themselves, a flower, and a cookie. Makayla was so excited.

Makayla with her teacher, Miss Kate

(I know it is a little blurry :( I don't know what happened)

I am so glad we signed her up!

Thanks Grandma Hunter for helping us to be able to pay for it all!

You know the best part of it all is the fact that she LOVED it and wants to do it again! We will see how long it lasts, after all I use to dance. Then the headaches set in :) and I was done with it and on to soccer! Whatever she wants to do I am ok with!

Swimming Lessons and Stuff

2011-06-12T20:00:00.000-07:00

Well this summer has started off being a busy one. Sometimes I like it and sometimes it gives me a headache, but oh well it is what it is. Makayla has been taking swimming lessons at one of the local pools here and is loving it! Well she loves it most of the time, as long as it isn't raining and cold!

Hard to see but Makayla is sitting under that umbrella listening to her teachers intently, I hope!

A closer shot of her.

In the pool.

They won't let us get too close so the pictures are from far away!

All wrapped up and getting warm.

After swim class playing in the sand. These three were so cute working together. They kept saying, "we can do it" as they were moving water around in that thing.

We have had a couple of sick days lately, Lucy had a runny nose and fever, so we had to find things to do inside. Makayla got a few puzzles for Christmas and we finally put them together! She loved doing it. Here is the finished masterpiece. It is actually three smaller puzzles hooked together.

Makayla being silly!

Makayla entertaining Lucy with a balloon. Lucy was so sick in these pictures but her sister sure knows how to make her smile!

My sweet Lucy!

Oh and I can't forget to post a picture of Makayla's first trip to the dentist! She did awesome and was so brave. We practiced what she was going to be asked to do, so before the dentist could even ask her to open her mouth she had it open and was ready to go! Everything looked good and she is set for another 6 months!

May In A Nutshell

2011-06-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

Well May has come and gone, and I can't say that I am not happy to see it go! Although May is when we celebrate my birthday, this year it was also the month that we celebrated the most sicknesses in our household. I tell you what if it wasn't Makayla then it was me, if it wasn't me then it was Caleb, and as the month ended Lucy got in on the sicknesses. Hence why I am able to sit here and write this blog post. My Lucy has her first cold and is miserable! I love the cuddles but hate to see her not be able to breath! Anyway here are some pictures of what we were up to in May when we did get some breaks from the sickness bug.

(I blame all this sickness crap on Iowa I just want all of you to know!)

Makayla reading to Lucy is one of my favorite things to see. She has done this since Lucy was little!

Lucy wearing her little baseball cap as we were getting ready to go play some baseball.

Playing at the park with friends! This has become one of the things I look forward to each week. Makayla loves to play in the sand and with friends and this park usually has both.

Dance class! Makayla started a ballet/jazz/tap class at the YMCA. She loves to preform and thinks this is the best thing ever! She sure is cute when she is trying to learn the steps. Sometimes I worry that she has my dance skills (which are not good) hopefully she will prove me wrong. She has a dance recital in a little over a week. More pictures to come.

Snuggling up with friends. Some afternoons when I have felt under the weather Makayla will say she wants to lay down and take a nap so we will, let me rephrase that, I will. When I wake up I will look over to see her all tucked in with her stuffed animals enjoying whatever movie we put on.

Lucy hanging out showing off her two bottom teeth. (if you can see them)

She now has 4 teeth total! She got the two bottom ones in mid-April and the two top ones this month! She is growing up so fast.

Makayla with our adopted pets, Matasha and Mark. Matasha built a nest under the bush outside our house and we spent everyday looking at her and feeding her. Makayla loved her Matasha! Well sad part to the story none of Matasha's eggs survived and she left. We thought we had seen the end of her, but not too long ago she showed up with Mark. They now hang out in front of our door on a daily basis.

Makayla's crazy long hair!

Lucy not only got two more teeth this month but she also learned to roll from her stomach to her back. It is about time! As for the other way. We are still working in it.

My sweet girls wearing matching skirts that.........I MADE!

Lucy!

Her skirt was a pain to make because it was so small.

Oh and another thing she can do is sit up on her own now.

Makayla!

Her skirt was much easier to make!

Such a cutie pie!

To end this month we had a visit from Caleb's mom. Her visit fell on her birthday so we got to make a cake for her, ok we made brownies but it still worked. Making cakes is Makayla's favorite thing to do.

The girls with Grandma Dory.

Happy Birthday!

Showing off the hard work!

Easter Fun!

2011-04-27T19:06:00.001-07:00

The last couple of weeks have had a lot of ups and downs due to sicknesses, but despite it all we had an enjoyable Easter this year!

Makayla got to participate in some Easter egg hunts (3 of them) this year and loved it.

The first one was with some friends a few days before Easter. It was a cold day, but at least it didn't rain that day!

Getting ready for the hunt!

She is such a sassy little girl!

I get this face a lot now when I want to take her picture!

Look at that haul she got! She was so proud!

Makayla with a couple of her little friends!

The next Easter egg hunt we went to was just outside our front door, literally! The complex we live in does a hunt each year on the hill across the street from us. After the hunt Makayla and Lucy got to have their pictures taken with the Easter bunny.

Family picture!

(I was starting to get sick when we took this picture so don't mind me)

Here is Makayla at her third hunt. She was a pro by this time! She was also a lot better this time at sharing and making sure everyone got lots of eggs. Once she filled her basket she helped others find eggs for their baskets.

This one is a little blurry, but it just captures the excitement on her face!

She is so animated I love her!

Lucy enjoying her find!

Makayla Easter morning with her Easter basket

Makayla got a baseball bat, ball, and mitt for Easter.

Daddy will make sure she gets good use out of it I am sure!

Easter just wouldn't be complete without dyeing eggs. We had planned to do it the night before, but due to sickness we had to postpone it until Easter night. We still had a lot of fun! Makayla wanted the monster eggs so here she is with her monster egg. With the left over stickers she now makes everything monsters!

Caleb with his monsters!

(Sometimes I think he has more fun than Makayla doing these things! I sure love that about him!)

Lastly I have to post pictures of the girls in their Easter dresses! They were SO cute! Thanks Grandma Hunter for sending them!

ADORABLE!

BEAUTIFUL!

I love these two girls!

Easter 2011

We are so thankful for the Easter season and the chance we get to refocus our thoughts and lives around Jesus Christ our Savior. We are so thankful for his sacrifice for us and know that he did rise that third day and because of him we can return to our Heavenly Father!

Better Days

2011-04-16T12:55:00.000-07:00

Since today is a pretty crappy day, the weather outside stinks, Makayla is sick, Lucy is cranky because of her teeth, and Caleb is gone I thought I would post some pictures of happier times!

Hahaha! Just playing!

But really here are some random pictures of the girls!

After church one Sunday. The girls playing while mom and dad finished dinner.

For her birthday Makayla got this Cookie Monster play dough thing from our good friends and it seriously entertains her for hours! You make food shapes and feed them to him and he eats them. Pretty cool! Thanks Paul and Natalie!

You can't see them but this was the day I figured out why Lucy has been so cranky..... She has her bottom TWO teeth coming in. She is 5 months and that is just craziness to me!

(April 12, 2011)

The beginning of this week was so beautiful outside. We spent a ton of time outside just playing. We would be out there more if Makayla had her way.

Lucy chillin on the blanket

My two sweet girls! Love them.

Drawing with chalk. She has recently learned to write the letter A. She was practicing outside. So cute, right?

Riding her giraffe that she is getting a little too big for. She got it for her first birthday. I guess it will be Lucy's soon, but don't tell Makayla that she might get upset!

This one just because I think it is cute!

She is getting so big!

Makayla's Birthday Party!

2011-04-07T20:18:00.000-07:00

This year when I asked Makayla what kind of party she wanted to have she said, "I want a girls birthday party". I said ok who would you like to invite. She started to name off people and all of a sudden she was naming off boys that she plays with. I had to stop her and say wait I thought we were having a girls party. Once we cleared that up I thought we were good to go, but after her party was over she says to me, "Ok mom, now I am ready for the boys party!" Silly girl loves to have parties, hence why she got so many this year!

For her "girls" party we had a butterfly and flower theme. It was a lot of fun.

Getting ready for the party.

She was so excited!

One thing we were going to do was paint flower pots and then plant a flower in them. I thought it was a great idea, but didn't factor in that I would have a bunch of 3 year olds painting with paints that could stain. I have to say though they did a great job and I don't think there were too many tragidies when it came to the clothes!

I wanted to have butterflies flying over our heads so this what I came up with. Balloons with homemade butterflies that Makayla and I made hanging from them.

She had to have a picture with all of the decorations!

Hard at work painting!

Playing a butterfly game.

(For your information, yes the birthday girl cried when she didn't win the first time!)

Presents! Thanks so much everyone for the great presents she loves them all.

Her butterfly cake. Don't laugh too hard at it! I had issues with the icing at midnight the night before!

I can't believe she is 3!

The crew eating treats!

Playing outside with butterfly nets!

We had her birthday party the day before her birthday, so on her birthday we spent the day just relaxing, going and eating lunch with daddy at his school, and then we went to her favorite place Chuck E. Cheese.

On her birthday

I just thought this was cute of her.

Being silly.

Her long hair! We have not cut it, EVER! Not even a trim. She freaks out when we even mention the idea!

Makayla with her best friend and, little sister, Lucy.

At Chuck E Cheese dancing for free tickets!

Riding in a princess carriage.

We came home and sang to her again with the remnants of the cake from her party. Daddy wanted to sing to her but I didn't want to make another cake.

Makayla with some of her presents.

Pillow pet from Grandma and Grandpa Hunter!

Sunglasses!

(love her expressions)

Makayla loves the movie Tangled so I made her a Rapunzel Pillow!

And of course TANGLED!!!

Yup there is still more. Since we didn't get to celebrate Makayla's birthday with some of her favorite people out here, since she had a friend party. We had them over on Sunday for some cake and ice cream.

Yet another cake. Yum, Yum!

This time Makayla helped me decorate it since I didn't do it at midnight!

What fun celebrations we had!

Happy Birthday to my sweet Makayla!

She's 3

2011-03-31T08:00:00.000-07:00

3 years ago today I gave birth to this beautiful baby girl......

A year later this is what we had.......

(Makayla: 1 years old)

After another year we had this........

(Makayla: 2 years old)

Today this is what we have.....

AND WE LOVE HER!

(Makayla: 3 years old)

We are so lucky and happy to have her as our daughter! She is one stubborn little girl, but she is also one of the most loving and thoughtful girls I know!

We are so lucky to have her in our life!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAKAYLA!!

St. Patrick'sDay

2011-03-21T08:02:00.000-07:00

I am not really a big St. Patrick's Day person, I think it is because I don' like to wear green! Not that I don't like the color or anything, but I just don't like it on me. Anyway having kids I look forward to ANY holiday so that we can do extra special stuff! So I guess I now like this holiday! Kids make everything more fun!

(Oh and it just so happens that Makayla's favorite color besides pink is green!)

Green English pancakes!

These were my very favorite growing up and now they are Makayla's favorite!

She was a little confused as to why I was making them green. She asked me why I was doing that and when I tried to explain it to her she said well now can we do it red? So much for explaining it!

After breakfast we decided to go to the Zoo!

It was just me and the girls and we had a blast!

Lucy loves being outside!

Makayla with the lions in the background!

She loves them!

Just chilin with her buddies!

No trip is complete without a ride on the carousel.

Me and my girls!

We had such a fun day!

Lucy's Blessing Day February 27th

2011-03-13T22:00:00.000-07:00

One of the greatest days we had while in Utah was the day we blessed Lucy. I had wanted to bless her while there with family so we waited until Caleb came back for his week break to do it. She was almost 4 months old before we got her blessed. My mom kept joking that she was going to be walking and talking before we did it. Makayla was 3 months when we blessed her so it only seemed right that Lucy be older as well!

Her Blessing was beautiful and her Daddy did an amazing job. I am so lucky to be married to such an amazing man and Lucy and Makayla are so lucky to have him as there father. I was amazed at how quiet she was during the actual blessing. Lucy is definitely a fussy baby and so I thought for sure she was going to cry through the entire thing, but again just like with Makayla I was pleasantly surprised. As they took her in their arms she went completely silent and they said she just stared at her Daddy the whole time he spoke. She looked beautiful in the same blessing dress that Makayla wore that Great-Grandma Marchant had bought. Also with the beautiful bow that Grandma Hunter bought. Here are some pictures of her from her special day.

Isn't she just so precious!

I love this one! She just kept smiling these huge smiles with her mouth wide open and every shot I got had her mouth wide open or her tongue hanging out!

So happy!

Love her!

She also loved to suck on her dress. I guess it tasted pretty good! It was hard to keep it out of her mouth!

Daddy and Mommy with sweet little Lucy!

Before Church. Lucy wasn't too happy to have her picture taken, but Makayla sure wanted it. She loves her little sister so much! I can't believe it was almost 3 years ago that we blessed Makayla! Look at how big she is!

The proud Daddy!

The proud Mommy!

Grandma Hunter with Lucy

Lucy and Grandpa Hunter

Uncle Cory and Lucy!

Aunt BreAnn and Uncle Eric with Lucy

(Don't they look so natural with a little one! J/K . I think after having my two kids around for as long as we were they will be waiting awhile to have kids! haha!)

My wonderful little family! I don't know what I would do without you!

One more of my two beautiful girls! I love them so much and am so grateful everyday that they are mine! I am truly blessed!

Thanks to all who came to support us on this special day! I am sad I didn't get more pictures of everyone that came. It meant so much to us to have family and friends there to support us.

Well that will do it for the Utah posts. I think I am caught up, and I will try to stay on top of things now that I am home. Can't promise anything but I will try!

Utah WITH Daddy

2011-03-11T09:35:00.000-08:00

After 3 1/2 long weeks apart Caleb came back to Utah to spend his week break between trimesters. May I add here that we are officially half way done with school!!

YES!!!!!!

Way to go Caleb!

Anyway....when Caleb got back to Utah we all went to Rodizios to celebrate all the February birthdays. Makayla wore her Brazilian soccer jersey to the restaurant and she fit right in. She got it from my brothers for Christmas and it is really from Brazil. They bought it when they went there this fall for a trip.

My little soccer player!

Daddy with his girls. Oh how he missed them and they missed him.

Another thing Caleb did a lot while in Utah was play the Wii. He got the World Cup soccer game for Christmas and I think he took every opportunity to play it with anyone who asked him to play it. To be honest I was a little, ok a lot, sick of it by the time we left. He even played it while hanging out with his girls.

We also took an opportunity to go to BYU and show Makayla where her mommy went to school. She gets to see where daddy goes to school all the time, and since we were going down there to visit friends we thought it would be fun to go to campus and look around.

Future Cougar!!!

Kangaroo Zoo!!!

One of the days we were there we got together with the Kovac's and took the kids to play at a place that is full of blow up toys. They loved it and could have stayed there all day, but sadly the dads got a little worn out and we had to leave!

Lucy with her daddy!

These three are so cute together. They have so much fun when they play. We miss them so much already!

These two are about 1 1/2 months apart.

We had to have one last birthday celebration before we left Utah and who better to have it for than the one who loves to celebrate them. Makayla will be turning three at the end of this month and since we don't get to celebrate it with family we decided it couldn't hurt to have an early birthday part for her.

It was very spur of the moment, but thanks to all the family and friends that came to celebrate with us.

She was a little afraid to get to close to the fire. It took her a few tries to get them all out.

The cutest kids ever!

Makayla and her buddies Kaden, Taylee, and Kyson

Opening presents! She is one lucky girl, and keeps talking about her Utah party.

My dad got a fire pit for Christmas and we thought it would be fun to try it out for Makayla's party. She wasn't a fan of the smoke, but she had so much fun.

I had to throw this picture in, notice the size of the roasting stick my mom is using compared to the other ones. She insisted that they were plenty long enough for the kids to use! Yah right!Thank goodness my aunt and uncle let us use their roasting sticks so no one got hurt! Love ya mom!

Roasting the mallows!

Still roasting away.

Daddy's turn

Grandpa was in charge of watching the fire so no one got hurt. He did a pretty good job I would have to say. Thanks dad for letting us break in your fire pit.

Enjoying a yummy smore!

(She was done with it right after I took this picture. I guess she is not a huge fan!)

We had a great day and she still talks about it and can't wait for her birthday here. I guess I better make sure I get on that and get one planned or I will be in a lot of trouble.

Well again that is just some of what we did while Caleb was with us in Utah. Again I didn't get pictures of everything we did, but this is a good representation of it.

This last picture is of the girls in our hotel in Dallas, Texas. Yes you read that right and no it was not a planned trip! Took make a long story short after boarding our connection flight in Dallas we were told we had to deplane because our captain had called in sick. Then we were told our flight was cancelled and that there were no more flights to our destination until Wednesday, it was Sunday mind you. Instead we got a flight the next day to a place 70 miles away from home and with much effort and pressure that night and the next day we were also provided with transportation from there home, something I am told they never do. That is the short version of what happened. If you want the full story and ALL the things that went wrong just ask, but I am warning you it is a long story!

Since we had to spend the night they put us up at a very nice hotel. This was Lucy's first time in a hotel, and I think she liked it! All I can say is this was very inconvenient with a 3 year old and 4 month old, but we tried to make the best of it. I sure hope the email I am going to write will get me some compensation from them!

We had such a great time in Utah and can't wait to go back in the Summer! Thanks mom and dad for letting us stay at your house for so long! The girls and I already miss you guys more than you even know!

Utah WITHOUT Daddy

2011-03-10T08:00:00.000-08:00

After the wedding Caleb had to go back home so that he could finish up his 5th trimester at school. We were defiantly sad to see him go, but excited to get to spend some quality time with family and friends. This post is all about our time in Utah WITHOUT daddy.

The first week there was not as much fun as we had hoped for. Lucy was having "issues" and Makayla broke out in a crazy rash. We still have no idea what is was, and are very thankful that it went away and it didn't seem to bother her too much. Not having insurance, because you are out of state, and not having your husband there sure makes for one stressed out mom!

This is what covered her entire body!

So sad!

Lucy with Uncle Cory.

(don't you just love his smile!)

We loved getting to spend so much time with family!

We were in Utah for the Super Bowl, and my brothers are big Packers fans, so of course we had to have pictures with the cheese head!

If their Uncles have anything to say about it these two girls will be saying "Go Pack Go" when they are older!

One of the rare times that Makayla actually took a nap and of course it was on Grandma's lap. So Grandma used it as an excuse for her to take one to, after all she couldn't get up!

We also celebrated Valentine's Day while in Utah without daddy, but he still managed to make the day special for us even though he was so far away. These are the beautiful flowers that he sent to us. I love that he wants to make his girls feel special and sends them their own rose to enjoy. He also sent them the cute shirts they are wearing with a special Valentine note.

She loved to smell it.

My Valentines this year!

Since we didn't get to spend Valentines with daddy this year we went to our good friends house and made some good old fashioned sugar cookies. Since we did this at Christmas this has become one of Makayla's most favorite things to do.

Look at how good she has gotten at it too!

Just hanging out with her best buds Kyson and Taylee. We sure did have a lot of fun with these two while in Utah!

We also got to celebrate a lot of birthdays while we were there. Both of my parents have there birthday in February and we were lucky enough to be there this year to celebrate it with them. Makayla loves to sing happy birthday and make cakes. This is the one we made for Grandma.

(just in case you were wondering sprinkles can and do go bad. We used some sprinkles my mom had in her cabinet not knowing how old there were and lets just say no one got to enjoy the cake! haha)

These are just a few of the fun things we did while we were there. We did lots of other stuff, but I didn't get pictures of everything we did so this will have to do! Next post will be all about the fun we had while daddy was in Utah!

A Utah Wedding

2011-03-08T16:40:00.000-08:00

Wow! Two months with no posts, man I am good!

So I guess I get to play a little catch up on here. For the last 5 weeks Makayla, Lucy, and I have been in Utah, with Caleb joining us at the beginning of the trip and the end of it. I am going to write about the trip in a few different posts so bare with me.

The reason for our trip in the first place was because my little brother was getting married, so that is the post I will start with. We were so excited to get to go and spend this exciting day with my little brother and soon to be sister-in-law, and wouldn't have missed it for anything. Here are some pictures from their special day, January 29, 2011

Makayla getting her hair done for the big day. She sat so still I was amazed, since she never sits that still for me. Funny thing about her getting her hair done, was she really didn't want to have it done. I think she was afraid we were going to "cut" it and she doesn't want it cut. Anyway the only way I could get her to agree to letting my cousin Brooke do it was to promise her that she could have sparkles in her hair. Thanks Brooke for making that happen!

All done!

Isn't she the prettiest thing your have ever seen?

Makayla and Uncle Eric before the ceremony.

Eric and BreAnn!

(outside the Bountiful Temple)

Lucy all bundled up for pictures at the temple.

Makayla holding BreAnn's flowers, she loved getting to hold them for her.

I love this picture of her!

I think this picture is hilarious! They are so cute together! We are so excited to have BreAnn in our family!

Me and my brothers

The Family at the reception

The girls with their Grandpa

4 generation picture

Our first "official" family of 4 photo

Makayla always has to be the center of attention.

What you get when your almost 3 year old doesn't catch the bouquet and she thinks she should have! Boy was she sad and she let everyone know about it for at least 10 minutes! I guess I shouldn't have sent her out there! haha!

The girls with their Grandma.

The girls and their Uncle!

Thanks for getting married Uncle Eric and making it so we could come and spend time in our favorite place in the world, UTAH!!!

Christmas 2010

2011-01-07T12:05:00.000-08:00

Finally my Christmas post! Only two weeks late, no big deal right? Warning that this is long!
Well this year we didn't go home to Utah for Christmas, no we stayed right here in good old Iowa and celebrated! I am not going to lie I really missed my family, but we did have fun with some of our great friends instead. It was also nice not to be traveling during the busy Christmas season, instead we got to relax and spend some much need time as a new family of 4.

However this does not mean I am not looking forward to our trip home in 20 days for my brother's wedding!!!

So here is how Christmas went at our house! We spent Christmas Eve with some good friends out here. First we had dinner at the Ramos' house, anyone who knows Natalie knows she is an amazing cook so we were lucky! After a delicious dinner we went to another friends house, the Eager's, for a little party. It was a lot of fun to spend time with so many people. It helped keep my mind of missing my family, so thanks so much for having us over Cassie!

Caleb enjoying being able to relax and just hold Lucy!

My sweet Makayla playing with some of the other kids

While at the Christmas Eve party the kids acted out the Nativity story. They let Makayla be Mary and boy was she excited. Just look at that face! Really she would have been so excited to be anything, she really loves to preform. I don't know who she gets it from, it is definitely not from me!

During the "production"

This is something I always want to be a part of my Christmas Eve celebrations. Whether we actually act it out or just read it I truly hope to teach my children the true meaning of Christmas! Santa is fun, but I hope to teach them about Christ and the spirit of giving!

They also had a little talent show and everyone was suppose to come with a talent to share. It is a good thing I have a daughter who likes to preform, it gets me off the hook! For our talent Makayla recited the story "The Night Before Christmas". We have read it a "few" times and Makayla picked up on it and kind of memorized some of it. She has the first two pages memorized and then bits and pieces of the rest. She did such a good job and was so cute! She is even animated as she tells it. Like I said she doesn't have it all memorized so having the book there kind of through her for a loop because she saw some pages she didn't recognize. Don't worry though she improvised and added her own twist on the story.

I am going to try and upload the video of it so look for it either here or on another post. Until then here are a few pictures that I hope can kind of give you a visual of just how cute it was!

After the talent show we had a special visitor, Santa! He gave each of the kids, and some adults, a gift.

This is Makayla's reaction to hearing him call her name to come and get her present.

Makayla sitting on Santa's lap! I am so glad she wasn't scared of him this year.

Lucy even got a little present and got to sit on Santa's lap for her first Christmas.

Daddy got a present too and Makayla had to sit on Santa's lap with him. Thanks Santa it was fun to see you!

After all the fun at the party it was time to go home and get ready for Santa to visit us. We opened one present and it was new John Deere pajamas that yours truly made! I had the hardest time finding this material, you would think it would be hard our here in John Deere country, but it was! Anyway Caleb and Makayla got green ones and Lucy and I have pink ones. Don't worry green is one of Makayla's favorite colors so she wasn't too upset she didn't get pink.

Daddy and Makayla with their matching PJ's.

Mommy and Lucy with ours!

After our pajamas were on it was time for bed. I guess Makayla isn't quite old enough to have a hard time sleeping in anticipation of Santa. She went right to bed which was nice for us. In the morning she came in our room just like normal and it took Caleb reminding her about everything to get her excited again!

Here she is Christmas morning coming down to see what Santa had brought her!

She was so excited to see everything, but she was a little confused as to where Santa was. She really thought he was going to be there.

She got some lip gloss and couldn't stop putting it on. I even caught her putting it on her eyes and cheeks. She had to be told it was only for her lips. It was pretty funny.

The thing she wanted most was a camera, so what did Santa bring her...... A hello kitty one! Now hopefully she won't want to use ours all the time.

Practicing her picture taking skills!

After presents we had our Christmas breakfast. I love to have fresh squeezed orange juice, and this year was no different. Makayla had so much fun putting the oranges in the juicer.

My sweet girls Chrismas morning!

Our cute little family Christmas morning

Us showing off our Christmas pajamas. Last year Iowa, this year John Deere, what will next year be?

Makayla with her Christmas sweater she got. Her and Lucy made Christmas so great this year. I am so lucky to have them in my life as well as a wonderful husband!

Ice Skating!!!

2011-01-07T11:55:00.000-08:00

I am way behind so bare with me! Let us start this post off with a couple more pictures of the girls in another one of their Christmas dresses. Grandma Hunter once again spoiled the girls and gave them another dress to wear for Christmas. Aren't they just the cutest.

And since I took a picture with the girls in their last dresses it was Caleb's turn to take one with them in these dresses.

Boy do I love these three!

Ok on to what this post is really about, ICE SKATING!

So a couple in our ward invited us over for dinner and then to go ice skating with them. Dinner was fabulous and ice skating was a blast! Thanks Cameron and Wendy for inviting us! Here are some pictures of all the fun we had. Let me just tell you ice skating was all Makayla could talk about the day we were set to go and it is all she talks about now!

Ice skates on and ready to go! She could barley walk in them at first, but by the end she was actually pretty good for being only 2 and for wearing skates 2 sizes too big!

Daddy and Makayla on the ice!

I love this picture, it looks like she is going so fast on her own. Really though she did skate by herself some of the time. It was more like walking, but hey she did it pretty well.

Even when she fell she still had a smile on her face!

Mommy and Makayla skating together.

Sometimes she fell just because she wanted to! Crazy girl.

They even had these cool walkers for her to use. At first she didn't like them and neither did we, it really hurt your back to bend over the whole time. By the end though she was steady enough to use it by herself so she enjoyed it then.

This was by far her favorite way to skate, in the middle of two people holding her up.

The ice skaters!!! Thanks again Kowallis' for inviting us to come along we had so much fun!

Our little family of 4!

Reindeer Ornaments, Gingerbread Houses, & Sugar Cookies!

2010-12-26T19:47:00.000-08:00

By the title of this you would probably guess that there will be a lot of pictures, and if you did then you would be correct. I also know that I should be posting about Christmas, but I am not. That post should follow shortly, but for now there is a lot to post about the week leading up to Christmas. Caleb has been out of school and it has been the best thing ever! We stayed here for Christmas, and even though it was hard not to be home for the Holidays it was kind of nice not to have to travel and to get to just relax. We will get to go home soon enough, Jan. 27th to be exact but who is counting, for Eric's wedding and I am super excited! Anyway....... Like I said Caleb has been home and we have been doing lots of fun stuff.

First off Caleb's family exchanges ornaments for Christmas instead of gifts. There are 8 kids in his family and so we rotate having each of the siblings for Christmas ornaments. This year we decided to home make the ornaments. I saw this on a friends tree and copied the idea! We made little reindeer out of puzzle pieces. Makayla loved painting them and then helping to assemble the parts. No she did not use the glue gun, she just helped push all the pieces on. She is getting so big and loves to help with EVERYTHING!

Finished project!

Next up we have gingerbread houses. We have done these for a few years and enjoy it each year. We usually buy a kit, I am too lazy to make the gingerbread myself! No really we usually do it spur of the moment and I don't have time to make it, maybe one day I will. Since we have been in Utah for all of our Christmas' until this one we usually make my parents do these type of things. Instead this year we had some friends over and lots of fun making them.

Look at those faces, they must have been up to no good! Maybe Makayla was eating the frosting! That was her favorite thing to do, which I don't understand since it was so gross!

Ramos'

Jorgensen's

US!

A look at the three finished products until.............

One came crashing down! (That one was Paul and Natalie's!!!) They all had roof problems, but only the one caved in. I think we always have the same problem and I think it is because we don't have the patients needed. Next year I think we will use glue for the structure! (Thanks for the idea ShaLene!) It was a lot of fun making them, thanks guys for coming over!

Last up sugar cookies. Makayla has been looking forward to making these for the longest time. We didn't get around to making them until Christmas Eve and we didn't get them decorated until today (the day after Christmas), but hey they are done now and Makayla is happy!

Rolling out the dough with daddy.

Not sure about this look, but both Caleb and I thought it was hilarious!

So proud of her work and so messy!

Decorating time! Lots of cookies and frosting. Makayla did a pretty good job keeping the frosting on the cookie, until she got a taste of it and then it was over with. She couldn't keep it out of her mouth. I sure hope she doesn't get sick tonight!

Daddy was so proud of his work! Sometimes the things we think Makayla will enjoy the most are the things that daddy enjoys the most! :) He is the best daddy and the most fun too!

Lucy enjoying herself, I just had to throw one in of her. She is smiling more now and I kind of got it here!

Makayla showing off one of her cookies, this was before she tried the frosting!

What a great week we have had. I can't wait for the next week, we still get daddy home for another whole week!

Stay tuned for Makayla's first ice skating adventure and Christmas!

Fun in the Snow

2010-12-16T21:05:00.000-08:00

We got our first real snow fall a little while ago and there was no holding Makayla back! The minute it snowed she wanted to be out there playing in it. Caleb being the good day he is took her out there and played with her until she was satisfied! Here are some pictures of the fun she had in the snow.

Getting ready to go. You defiantly have to bundle up to outside here. It is freezing! Last year we didn't have snow pants for her, but this year we bought some and she loves them! Also she got new boots. They are too big for her, but she loves them and wears them everywhere!

Playing in the snow while daddy was hard at work.

Showing off her snow outfit.

She loves to throw the snow in the air, but doesn't like when it hits her in the face. It is kind of funny when it does.

She was trying to run away for me and she fell. Normally she would scream, but with all that snow stuff she didn't mind!

I had to put a picture of Lucy in this post. This is what she did while Makayla played outside, slept!

Makayla can not play outside without wanting to build a snowman. This year Caleb was very proud of her because she really wanted to and did help build it. It was so cute to see her get snow and bring it to her daddy.

The finished product. Isn't it so cute.

The two behind the hard work. A few days later we came home and some of the punk kids in our neighborhood had come and knocked it down. I was like oh great she is going to cry when she sees it, but her reaction was even better. She was dumbfounded! all she did was point and say, "Who did this?" in her very stern voice. Then she was like we need to build another one. She still talks about those "punk" kids as I called them in front of her. She is so smart, she picks up on EVERYTHING I say.

Playing in the snow is not complete without a sledding adventure. This was Makayla's first time sledding and she loved it.

She even went down a little hill we have across the street from us. At first she went with daddy, then she went on her own while daddy held the rope, and now she goes all by herself with someone even giving her a little push. She is growing up too fast.

She finished up outside with making a snow angel! What a great time she had. I don't know how many more times she will get to play outside here, because you have to play in the snow right when it snows or else it turns to ice, because it is so cold, and then it is no fun! I guess we will have to wait and see!