Need I say more???

What's New??

It's been a little crazy around here the last 6 weeks. As if taking care of a newborn isn't enough to keep me busy, add a 4 year old who started pre-school, and a 2 year old boy who thinks he wants to potty train to the mix. Actually, he just doesn't want to leave his diaper on and wants to wear the big boy underwear so he can go to pre-school too. He does pretty good, but he still has a hard time recognizing when he needs to go. Half the day, I'm trying to keep clothes on him and keep him from peeing on the floor! He'll come out to the family room naked and I'm wondering, "Where is his diaper/underwear and what's in it?" I'm always afraid of what waits me when I finally FIND the surprise he left me. UGH!! It's a work in progress though. I really need to just devote one whole day when Aaron's home to get him trained and be done with it.

Kaya had her first field trip with the pre-school to Wheeler Historic Family Farm. She had a great time. Look at the picture below. The geese came running when they realized the kids had food to feed them. It almost looks like something out of a horror movie. Attack of the Geese!! (They're about as big as most of the 4 year olds!!)

2 Fridays ago took the kids to the BYU Life Science museum. (FREE!) The kids had a good time checking out all the animals and playing in the activity room with the museum's toys.

After the museum at BYU we headed to J-Dawg's restaurant just off of campus. This is the infamous hot dog shack that we've been dying to try. Not only were the hot dogs and polish dogs superb (With the special sauce) - we got to meet a "Utah" celebrity. Former BYU Head football coach LaVell Edwards stopped by for a bite to eat. Aaron struck up a conversation and I happened to watch him rub somebody's bumper while pulling out of the parking lot and then keep driving. In Lavell's defense, I don't think he realized what he did, but it was pretty funny none the less.

A week ago Saturday we took the kids to the Utah State Fire Museum. It was a fun and FREE museum in Grantsville, UT. The kids enjoyed climbing all over the old fire trucks and we just enjoyed getting out and doing something fun. The kids got some free fire hats!
After the Fire Museum, we zipped over to the Tooele Valley Railroad Museum. Another FREE attraction for the kids. Logan LOVES trains and loved seeing the full size trains up close and also checking out the huge model railroad disply they had. Kaya's favorite part was the picnic lunch we brought with us to have on the grass. We had a good family outing seeing some of the museums in Utah.
And for Emily...well we have a thumb sucker! Kaya started sucking her thumb when she was about 3 months old. (And she's STILL sucking her thumb - any tips?) Logan preferred the pacifier. We just broke him of the pacifier shortly after his second birthday last month. Now that I've had one of each, I must admit I prefer the thumb sucking. Of course, that's going to obviously be a harder habit to break than just snipping a hole in the pacifier. But it was so much more convenient than always trying to FIND the pacifier and making sure it's clean. I especially hated the stage when Logan needed the pacifier to fall asleep and then would wake up and cry when it would fall out (because he didn't know how to find it and put it back in his mouth.) We would have to give him his pacifier 10 or 12 times a night before he would get into a deep enough sleep and not care if it fell out. Emily has never really cared for the pacifier and she likes to suck on her hands. She's been getting closer and closer to finding her thumb over the last 2 weeks or so. It's only been in the last couple of days that she has definitely shown a preference to sucking her thumb. It does look cute and she's pretty content when she gets it in. However she does get pretty mad when it comes out. She'll get the hang of it soon enough, I'm sure. So here's a picture of how I found her after her nap the other day:

That's about it for now. It's a full time job taking care of 3 kids under 4. I LOVE it but I sure am tired by the end of the day!!

A Quick Picture

I haven't had much time to even think about updating my blog lately. We've just had a lot going on around here. So here's a cute picture of Emily for the time being. Look at all that hair!!!

The Circle of Life

We have had a busy last few days. It started on Thursday night when my parents flew into town to visit for the weekend. For easy reading I'll create several posts for each event from our long weekend. I titled this post "The Circle of Life" because of the variety of things that happened this weekend. All we needed was a wedding to really make it complete!

Great Aunt Mary Dullam

Aaron's great aunt Mary Dullam passed away on Saturday September 6th. She lived to be 99 years old!!!! She was a wonderful woman with lots of spunk. She never married or had children, but she enjoyed spending time with her extended families. Mary is in a much better place and we will miss her dearly. We Love you Aunt Mary!!

Emily's Blessing Day

On Sunday morning, September 7th, Aaron blessed our little Emily at Church. It was an extra special day and she looked so cute in the blessing gown my mom made for her. My mom also made Kaya's dress 4 years ago. My parents were able to be here for the special occasion and we had a few additional family members. Emily even ended up sleeping most of the 3 hour block of church!

Happy Birthday to ME

Sunday, September 7th, was also MY 32nd birthday. Where have the last 32 years gone???? It really does seem like yesterday that I was living at home, going to high school, attending young womens, going to college, dating my husband, getting married, having my first baby, etc. I remember growing up thinking that Christmas was NEVER going to come and that the summer was SO LONG. People always say that the time goes by quicker the older you get. I'm a firm believer. If the next 32 years go by as fast as the first, then I'm in for a serious E-ticket ride! My party was complete with Mater hats for Logan and Princess plates for Kaya. A true Mommy Birthday Party!

We LOVE Papa & Grandma

Did you know that Sunday was ALSO Grandparents Day? According to the calendar and local Hallmark store... IT IS!! So we were lucky to not only celebrate my birthday, Emily's blessing, but we were able to honor our grandparents. My kids are lucky to have 2 sets of super grandparents. My parents spent a long weekend here and did lots of fun things with the big kids. They took them all over and had a great time shopping, visiting family, and going to the Utah State Fair. Kaya helped my mom make me a birthday cake and Emily loved all the extra attention. Even Logan talked my Dad into buying him the "Gordon" train at Toys R Us. What a fun time. The kids woke up Monday morning asking where Grandma & Papa were. (They left really early.) We all enjoyed having them here.

Grandma Joanne Luna

(Grandma & Heather - 1977)

My parents called me early on Monday morning from the airport. They just found out that my dad's mom passed away early on the morning of the 8th from causes related to cancer. She had secondary breast cancer that had metastasized. She had been sick for a little over 2 years. My grandfather (her husband) passed away a little over a year ago. This is a difficult time, however we are so thankful that Grandma is free from her physical body and has been reunited with her husband and all the others that have gone on before her. Grandma was a WONDERFUL woman full of love, kindness, compassion, and generosity. I will miss her dearly but am grateful to know that I will see her again.(Great Grandma & Kaya - 2006)

Kaya's First Day of Preschool

Today was Kaya's first day of pre-school. She has been looking forward to going to school all year long and was VERY excited for the day to finally be here. We had a meet & greet open house today and tomorrow will be her first official day (With NO Mom there). Kaya is a very social little girl and will greatly benefit from having school 3 days a week, especially in the winter when we can't really go outside to play. Here's a picture from her first day:

COUSINS

I have 2 sister in laws so far and all three of us were due to have babies this year. Jeffrey and his wife Brittany live in Wisconsin and are due to have their baby in the end of September. My other brother Jason and his wife lived in Salt Lake until about a week ago when they packed up their things and headed off to law school in Minnesota. So my sister in law, Sara (Jason's wife) was due with her baby 3 days after me. We were neck in neck right up until the end when I delivered on 8-8-08 and she delivered on 8-13-08. We had our adorable Emily and Sara gave birth to handsome Damien Quinn. Emily was 8 lb 3 oz - 20 inches long and Damien was 9 lb 3 oz - 22 inches long! Since Sara and her boys fly out to MN in the morning, we got together to get some pictures of the kids before they left. Logan and their son Preston were born about 3 months apart in 2006. It'll be fun for the kids to have cousins so close in age as they grow up. Me & Sara on 7-13-08 (One month to go!)

Emily & Damien checking each other out.

Logan & Preston

Above is my brother and my cute niece, Ettoile, in Wisconsin. She will be getting a little brother in about 3 weeks.

And of course we have Kaya! She's the lucky one to start it all only 4 years ago. My parents will go from having 4 grandkids to 7 this year!