The fun we'll have!

Pictures

2011-12-14T12:58:00.001-05:00

Just in case anyone who reads my blog isn't on facebook, here is a link to the album I have of baby Camrynn. (copy and paste it.) It's a billion times easier for me to put pictures on facebook, so sorry if I hardly ever put pictures on here. :)

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.809568313384.2245808.193302356&type=1&l=66eea35e91

nursing help

2011-12-03T11:00:00.001-05:00

So...I'm just gonna get straight to the point and ask for help from anyone out there who successfully nurses their kids. Any tips you have...advice...pain management solutions...the works. I read everywhere over and over that nursing shouldn't hurt that bad, but for all 3 kids I've been pushed to the point of almost cursing out loud and then sadly I get pretty grumpy.

I really want to get thru this. Maybe there is a good way to dull the pain??? Or maybe I should get a good stick to bite onto.

Thats all. Please help me. :)

Camrynn Marie has arrived!

2011-11-30T23:05:00.000-05:00

What a wonderful day it has been! A few times here and there I was worried she might not be coming today, but it all worked out AMAZINGLY well. I couldn't have asked for a better labor and delivery, and baby and I are doing fantastic. So here's the gist of how things went to get our little angel here!

(yesterday) 3:00 - membranes stripped
7:00-midnight - contractions 7-9 minutes, but everytime I got up and moved around, they'd stop!
1:00 - we went to bed
3:30-4:30 - contractions 2-4 minutes
6:00 - checked into the hospital
6:30 - only .5 cm more than the day before, and contractions had completely stopped
6:38-7:35 - we walked the hallways hoping they'd pick up again, but much to my dismay NOTHING happened. I was convincced we were going to be sent home, and had to fight to hold back the tears.
8:00 - they chcked me again, and I had gone from 3 cm to 5cm! We were staying!
8:30 - checked into our L&D room.
9:30 - got the epidural
10:00 - got pitocin started because my contractions were fairly spuradic and not getting consistent or closer than 7-9 minutes apart.
11:00 - the nurse checked me to discover that Camrynn was "right there" and we were okay to push!
11:20 - the doctor got there, and they set everything up to push.
11:24 - (after 3 LAME pushes) Camrynn Marie was born!

Camrynn Marie Buttle
6 Lbs 7.3 Oz (bigger than Kendalynn, but smaller than Logan!)

18 inches long (shortie!)

So far she seems as sweet as can be, and is an amazingly good little eater! (When I can wake her up that is!) Tyler brought the kids by with grandma and grandpa, and Kendalynn was constantly wanted to hold her and to see her toes and tummy. Logan was happy, but was more excited about playing with things in the room. :)

comparing the size of my hand to her body!

Her hair was so fluffy and long when they brought her back from her bath. Sooo cute!

a venting post

2011-09-26T12:47:00.000-04:00

This post will have absolutely nothing to do with my kids or anything anyone would probably care to know about me, but is more for my emotional well being than anything else. A few things have been bothering me lately, and today just seems to be the day where I melt down. (no this has nothing to do with Tyler or my children misbehaving, because they're wonderful.)

Sometimes I just miss former phases of my life. I REALLY miss when we were out in Rexburg for the last few semesters of school. We were there with my sister Carrie and her husband Duben, and we would do things together quite frequently. It was wonderful being with her out there. And Tyler was in sports heaven being on tons of teams for various sports, and I LOVE watching him run around being a sports superstar.

I also really miss Raleigh. Yet again, I was with a sister (Jamie) who is pretty much the only person I ever did things with. Our cute little girls adored each other even though Kendalynn was only around a year old and Emmy was 4ish.

I liked the drama free aspects of being friends with my sisters. I like knowing I'm with people who aren't going to talk about me in a rude way when I'm not around. When I hear things going around with my name attached, it haunts me. I'm really not a mean person. (I promise!) I don't like talking negative about other people, and I really don't like hearing other people talk negatively about people. (I am a firm believer that if anything is ever bothering me, Tyler is the only person I should ever share details with. I know he's not going to go blab to someone else, and then usually once I say it out loud I get over it.) So when people think that I am mean or that I did something mean, I seriously feel sick about it and it bothers me for days or weeks even. It just eats at me. So I have decided to become a social hermit...Tyler is the only friend I need. :)

Okay...Logan is asking to go down for a nap (what an awesome kid!) and Kendalynn is getting frustrated because I promised her a movie today. :p So if you made it this far into my post, thanks for caring about my silly self enough to read this. :)

trial run

2011-09-10T20:43:00.002-04:00

(excuse her little blurry bum...they just got out of the bathtub.)

So I'm gonna try out the whole sharing room thing. As you can see I only moved her mattress in case it doesn't work out and I move her back. So far they've been in there about 20 minutes.......and they're still awake. Normally when I lay each of them down, once I leave the room they are SILENT. And that's the end of it.

For the first little while Kendalynn kept asking Logan to say "toot" over and over again and each time they'd crack up laughing. Then I heard her later saying to him, "don't ever wake me up ever ever ever again." He keeps saying "nite nite?" to her, and then she says yes, and then asks him right back, "are you going nite nite?" to which he says yes as well. If only they'd actually go nite nite...

As of this moment I'm not so sure about this!

some thoughts

2011-08-30T21:44:00.002-04:00

I need some opinions. :) When Camrynn arrives, all my kids could still have their own room. I know I want baby C in her own room (for at least a year or so) since who knows how her sleeping habits will be and all of that. But lately I've gotten to thinking...and I'm wondering if I should put K & L in the same room, keep a guest room, and then put baby C in her own room.

SO. There are just too many pro's and con's that I can't make up my own mind.

If you even care about all this...here are some thoughts. :)

1. If no one shares...there is a queen bed in C's room. With it in there, it really squishes the room. Where do I put it? Do I keep it? Do I trade it for K's twin and put the twin in the nursery? (I like the idea of having one of them in there for the late nights.) If we keep a guest room and combine K&L I could keep it out of the way and put a little couch in the nursery instead. I could fit the changing table in the nursery!

2. Logan's room is painted boy colors. Sad to put that to waste as a guest room, so do I put K&L in there? Her bedding actually coordinates with his wall colors. :)

3. K&L's furniture are really different. One is cream/ivory, one is flat white. They'd look kinda ugly together!

4. K&L both sleep through the night without interruption so I don't have to worry about either of them affecting the others sleep. (only bad thing..if one would wake the other one up earlier in the morning. Sometimes L wakes up an hour earlier than K so that would kinda stink.)

5. K&L have done AMAZING sleeping in the same room together when we've gone on vacations and things. In fact, I think K helped L calm down the nights he would cry.

6. I'm a HUGE believer in kids sharing rooms because of the lessons they learn. Sharing space, getting along, cleaning together, late night silly chats that are fun. Carrie used to practice all her different "laughing styles" late at night when I was trying to sleep. :)

7. the fact that I'd have to move all their furniture around.

Not a crazy serious situation...but if anyone else out there has any thoughts, experience, whatever, please let me know!

buggy prayers

2011-08-17T22:28:00.003-04:00

So for the past few weeks I've been making sure that we have Kendalynn say her own prayers at night when we put her in her bed. I always remind her first that we start our prayers by saying the things that we're thankful for, and she ALWAYS wanders off to talk about the weirdest things. Tonight...this is about how it went.

she skips saying the actual "thank you for" or "bless us so" and all those things.

Kendalynn: Heavenly Father, and that we don't have any mean caterpillars in our house. That we only have nice caterpillars in our house, and that there be no more mean giant caterpillars.

Me: Okay...remember to say what you're thankful for.

Kendalynn: That we don't take the bandaids off our feet so they get better cause our shoes hurt us.

Me: Okay. Thank you for our family.

Kendalynn: " " our family.

Me: Thank you for Jesus.

Kendalynn: " " for Jesus and the farm. And the cows. (???)

After that point she said a few more bizarre things I don't remember, and then I had to help her finish off the prayer with more "normal" things to talk about in prayers.

It cracks me up. The whole caterpillar thing was probably inspired from seeing a dead one outside the church tonight. (which she then waved goodbye to and said "see you later dead caterpillar!") But the farm??? No idea. But she sure is cute.

weird

2011-08-15T13:53:00.002-04:00

So if by chance you read the post a few posts down about our 5 year anniversary, you'll recall how we joke that we're definitely meant to be because there couldn't possibly be anyone else that we could enjoy being weird with and such and that I call Tyler my forever weirdo . :) My sister came across this quote and sent it to me. It's perfect!

Thanks Jamie! It will definitely have to find a home on one of our walls. :)

a kid picture!

2011-08-09T14:11:00.002-04:00

This post is completely random, (and yes...the 4th post in just over a day) but I finally got Kendalynn to smile for a picture with her teeth closed normally! She usually sticks her lower jaw really far out, or just makes those typical cheesy fake kid smiles. It made her look so old! I can't believe she'll be 4 in just 4 months!

just so you know...it took me about 3 hours to get it to finally upload.

families are forever

2011-08-09T09:57:00.001-04:00

Last week my grandpa passed away. (my dad's dad...Gumpa as we called him.) As sad as it is to know he's gone, this was one of those things that was more of a good thing than a bad thing. Nani (nanny...my grandma) passed away last October, and since then my grandpa went into a home and slowly started to wither away. It was very obvious that all he wanted was to be with Nani again. It's a wonderful thing to have knowledge of the gospel and that families are forever, and comforting to know that my grandparents are together again.

I was very blessed to have had such wonderful grandparents on both sides of my family. (they are all gone now.) My dad's parents lived just down the road for something like 13 years of my life, and we were able to see my mom's parents every summer for usually 3 weeks at a time, and for other special occasions. Tyler was able to get to know my dad's parents fairly well, but he never met my mom's mom, and only knew my mom's dad once my grandma had died and grandpa was not very much himself anymore. It will be a wonderful thing to see them again someday. :)

Last picture of me with Nani & Gumpa. (Logan was there...but he was asleep in his car seat.)

Kendalynn made nothing but cheesy fake smiles at this point in her life. :) It makes me laugh.

5 years!

2011-08-08T21:00:00.003-04:00

Wow. We celebrated our 5 year anniversary last Friday! Well...Tyler forgot, and scheduled us to feed the missionaries that day, and then to go on splits with them afterwards, so technically we didn't "celebrate" till Saturday. :) His mom came over to watch the kids and we went to Outback for dinner (best...food...ever) and then we went to see Harry Potter afterwards and then we topped off the night with some yummy Coldstone.

So over the weekend we've randomly talked together about all the things that have happened over these last 5 years. How many times we've moved (11 times), the wards we've been in, (7 wards), how we've added 2 crazy kids and are about to add a 3rd. We graduated college (doing the last 2 semesters starting with a 3 week old baby), and Tyler got an awesome job and is doing AMAZING at his job. We bought our first house which we LOVE (going on 2 years at the end of this month, thanks Uncle Ron!) and just a few weeks ago had to buy our first car. (2007 Toyota Sequoia which we also LOVE.) We even have a dog who Tyler pretty much detests, but because he loves me (and she's pretty much the perfect dog) he puts up with her and even pets her...every few months for about 15 seconds. (and then usually kicks her away. Ha!)

Like most people I imagine, we've had rough times, but now we can hardly remember them. But more now than anything we joke all the time about how we're both so weird that there can't possibly be anyone else out there that we could have married and got along with. :)

We have been blessed more than I would have ever imagined. I think to myself all the time that we may not be living what the world or others would see as the most perfect life, but for us it is perfect. So happy 5 years to my forever weirdo and here's to eternity!

My newest find!

2011-08-08T15:11:00.002-04:00

I'm super excited about this bassinet that I found for Camrynn at the Goodwill this morning for a whopping $12! I can fit this in our room perfectly so that little miss can sleep in there for the first few weeks until I move her to the crib in her own room. The whole thing can rock side to side, or you can put up the wheels/legs and then it stays still.

I know it's probably not that exciting for the rest of the world...but all the accessories that I've been gathering (car seat/stroller, baby swing, cute little clothes, shoes) have been getting me even more excited to have this little bopper show up. But...I can definitely wait the 17.5 weeks (4 months and 2 days!) till her due date cause I still need to get #1 and #2 in line! :)

2011-07-13T17:22:00.004-04:00

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!

And I couldn't be more happy about it. (not that a boy would of been bad of course.)

From the very start of this time around being a fatty I felt like I knew right away it was a girl. It seemed way more like Kendalynns pregnancy experience over Logans. For a while there I was worried maybe I just wanted it to be a girl because I fell in love with a name I found the day I found out I was pregnant, but who cares now....I was right!

This time around both Tyler and I were on the same page guessing girl. With Kendalynn I was guessing boy (which I'm pretty sure I was telling myself I wanted a boy so I wouldn't be disappointed with a boy) and Tyler was right with girl, and then with Logan I was POSITIVE it was a boy and Tyler said it was a girl. So we're both 2 for 3.

And no...I'm not going to announce on the blog quite yet what name I fell in love with (even though Tyler loves it too) because I want to make sure I'm for sure "feeling" this name for this wee little monkey.

yikes...advice?

2011-06-27T21:09:00.004-04:00

(don't miss out on the awesome post under this one that I did earlier today. much more exciting than this one.)

Soo.... I went to girls camp last week. Which was awesome. I was only there for 2 days, and only "not home" for a grand total of 49.5 hours. But apparently, it traumatized Logan. Big time. The first few hours of me being home, it was like I just went to the store without him, he seemed totally fine. And then that night...it all started.

He's especially bad (and I mean bad) at bed time and nap time. When he picks up on the fact he's about to go lay down, he starts saying, "no...no...no" over and over again, and then once he is laid down in bed he cries, and pretty much screams bloody murder. EVERY time, I end up having to go in a few times and try and talk him into calming down, and then I lay him down and leave, but the end result is that i have to go and sit by his crib until he falls asleep. Usually it takes a total of about 45 minutes. Only once since then has he been able to fall asleep on his own, after 30 mins of screaming. Other than that, he still freaks out when I go upstairs to change clothes, or even leave the dinner table to go get more food or something like that. Tonight in fact, I was just observing them eat (to cut down on messes of course) and every time I got up to get something he'd start yelling at me and pointing at the chair "sit, sit, sit."

For the record, till now Logan has been a bed/nap time ANGEL since he was about 8 months old. He never cried AT ALL when it was time to lay down, even when he went down wide awake.

Also...he has taken up the terrible habit of waking up EARLY in the morning (anywhere from 4:30-6:30) and sometimes he'll wake up in the middle of the night looking for his pacifier, and then we have to start all over again. He woke up last night at 2:00, and didn't go back to sleep till a little after 3:00. This needs to stop!

So I need some advice from you people out there who might by chance read my blog and yourself have young children who have ever fought bed time. As of now I even have an i-pod thing in there that plays a list of primary songs very quietly to help camp him down. I just don't know if it makes sense to just completely leave him alone till he falls asleep, or should I go in there every 5-10 mins to lay him down again??? Ugggh...I've never had to deal with this kind of bed time/nap time drama. Poor kid...I hope he drops the habit soon, cause it especially can't be fun for him!

5 DAYS!!!!

2011-06-27T17:48:00.008-04:00

5 days to what one may ask??? Only till the BEST event ever to occur every 2 years (and even all the time in between!) The awesomely fantastic in every possible way, the Fischer Family Reunion, other wise known as the FFFFFFF.

We have been looking forward to this since...well, since the last one ended pretty much. For the last few weeks we've been reminding Kendalynn that its coming up, and almost every time we get in the car she says, "We're going to Utah now!" Like I said...we're ALL excited. We've had 2 so far (in 2007 and in 2009) and basically it is a whole week of awesome people, (can't get any better than Fischer folks) fantastic fun, more than fantastic and phenomenal food, and soooo many good times that are had by all, including the wee little children. Ugh, it hasn't even started and I'm already dreading the day that we all have to go home after!

Here's some pictures from our last FFFFF in 2009 that I randomly grabbed from the folder. (I think there were like, 1400 pictures total from last time.) It will be AWESOME IN EVERY WAY!!!!!

The whole gang, and since we've added Logan, Ainsley and wee baby Annie.

Some awesome gaming fun that we have while we're there. Bang is a favorite, as is Liars Dice, countless board games and all sorts of fun with the wii, especially RockBand. Oh ya.

There is lots and LOTS of cousin love to go around. Kendalynn has been asking for her cousins for the last few weeks. Some of them are cousins that she hasn't seen since the last reunion! We're SUPER SUPER excited to see Matt & Mel and their awesome kids again!

Kendalynn feeding the monkey. :) Jk. But there is always a lot of awesome food to be eaten. My mom is AWESOME with anything food related, and my siblings are all following in her footsteps! Even most of the in-laws like to cook/bake as well! (Tyler is probably the only one that doesn't really cook/bake actually! But we don't hold it against him. :))

And probably one of the weirdest, but best things to look forward to. An even that only the brave people take part in. The Harry Potter Bean game. You may know that the Harry Potter beans have good flavors (grape, lemon, apple..) and have TERRIBLE flavors (rotten egg, bacon, sardine, vomit...the works.) We pick a bean and show everyone else with our eyes closed so they know what it is, and then the eater has to guess. Ugh...terrible, but AWESOME!

I'm pretty sure I had rotten egg in this picture....yikes.

And of course there is plenty of crazy-ness to go around ALL WEEK. And it pretty much never ends. We Fischer's are notorious for not taking "normal" pictures. But if you ask me, it's much more entertaining that way!

5 DAYS!!!!!!!!! WE CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!!

So don't call us, cause we'll be too busy having TONS AND TONS of endless fun. :)

random update

2011-05-26T21:01:00.011-04:00

Okay, you all better appreciate these pictures because it took me an hour to get them all on here. Yikes. But here they are none the less.

It's been crazy around here. Kendalynn has been a new kind of something. I love her to death, and maybe it's cause I'm super tired lately with all this growing a human business, but she is getting to be a serious little diva. It's awesome. Lol. We'll see how that goes.. We signed her up for a ballet class (after she's been asking for MONTHS) so sometimes I'm a terrible mother and I tell her she has to be a good girl to go to ballet class, and it works pretty well. Also, I am happy to say that Kendalynn is now completely pacifier free. Wow...ABOUT TIME. Tonight in fact was the first night that she didn't even ask for it or mention it. Wonderful.

Logan is quite cute and really is a sweet boy. But he is a boy all the same and gets these random physical bursts of energy where he just needs to attack something. Luckily not too often though. He's learning the fun that comes with pushing moms buttons, and LOVES to test me out when I say if he doesn't stop doing something he'll go in time out. Ahhh the joys.

Other than that life is good. I'm tired A LOT, and these poor kids watch more Dora than I'd like to admit. (luckily I try and sleep through it...I can only handle so much counting and Swiper swiping.) Tyler loves work, and as of next week he will go down to 3 stores rather than 5. AND they're all the stores that are closest to home. I'm soooo excited.

So anyway...here are the pictures. :)

One of the best parts of having a dog. Auto-clean. (and yes I still mop the floors.)

Just a random cute picture of Kendalynn. I'm pretty sure she is waving at Nathan when he showed up to take pictures. She likes friends.

Logan LOVES to wear Kendalynn's underwear on his head. He brings it over to me and says "hat" over and over again till I put it on. Crazy kid.

One of Kendalynn's favorite faces to make that Tyler taught her. :)

Our little ballerina. She shows me all the time "how to do ballet" with her hands above her head. She's so excited for her class.

Both the kids wearing Tyler and my shoes on the treadmill. (no it's not on...it's unplugged.)

Normal shirt right? Wrong. This is a 0-3 month dress Kendalynn had as a baby. She tries everyday to pull out her baby clothes to wear.

And last but not least Logan dear got a hair cut. I was sad to see it go, but I actually like his new style.

Not the best picture but here he is. I had to give him (and of course Kendalynn) a sucker so he would sit still. He hated it. His hair is SO thin, that it took about 20 minutes cause I had to go over the same areas over and over again. Lucky kids got my hair.

The end.

here we go again!

2011-05-10T15:57:00.002-04:00

Yup...that's right. We're adding to the crazyness of our household. Yikes! I figure I've already lost my mind, so a 3rd child can't do any damage! Juuust kidding.

So yes, much to lots of people's surprise, I am pregnant. Just about 10 weeks, so we've got a lot of time to go before the due date (Dec. 10th) which means I'll have plenty of time to adjust to the idea of being even more outnumbered everyday. But I'm crazy excited.

Adding number 2 was difficult at times, but I think honestly the worst part was how much people talked to me about how it was going to be SO HARD, and everything they had to say about adding number 2 was negative. It made me so frustrated! I knew exactly what I was getting into, and it was the kind of chaos I had always wanted. I know kids are not easy. (wow...do I ever...) They're uncontrollable, and it's crazy hard! But I know more than anything that this is what I'm supposed to be doing, and that these kids are without a doubt the thing that brings me the most joy and satisfaction in life.

So I seriously hope that this time around people will spare me their horror stories about how hard it was for them, and how hard it's going to be for me and bla bla bla. I know it's going to be hard, I never expected it to be easy. But I would much rather focus on all the joys that it will bring, because I know from experience that it's all the memories of the good that help me get through the insanity which inevitably follows. :)

success for the year

2011-04-04T19:42:00.001-04:00

There was almost a terrible terrible disaster on our vacation this weekend. (Which was awesome in every way..I'll post pics later.) As you may see in this picture...it is a picture of the balcony below ours. Yup. And nicely there on the edge is not one..but both of Logan's rags. My heart stopped. Logan does not sleep or even calm down at night without his rag. We called a million numbers to try and get in that condo cause no one was there but to no avail.

So I got my Macgyver on and got to work. My mother would be very proud. A broom stick, mop stick, another mop, some shoe laces, a decor stick from a large vase in the condo, and some duct tape later combined with Dubens long arms...success. We got one back that night and the other the next morning.

I can't tell you how relieved I was. Seriously. Needless to say NOTHING was allowed on the deck after that. :)

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any runner friends out there?

2011-03-17T14:08:00.003-04:00

I finally found something I've been searching for at the Goodwill. (you annoying GW haters please keep your comments to yourself. if i had a dime for every time people bugged me about the goodwill I would own the goodwill by now.)

A super duper awesome treadmill for $55 that is perfect in every way! Woohooo!!!

(this is just a picture from the internet, but the treadmill is the same one.)

So yes. It's awesome. I've used it everyday since I got it home last week. (thanks super friend Audrey for picking it up for me.) I'm already addicted. I had to convince myself to take a day off today (the first day since I got it, except Sunday of course) cause Tyler says I'm going to hurt myself.

So here comes the part where I need running advice. Like, how often people run per week, for how long, and random simple things like that. All in all I guess I'm asking for kinda lame advice...nothing too exciting. I'm not looking to run any marathons or anything, I just really want to exercise. I'd also be interested in what shoes people prefer or where they like to get them cause mine are pretty old.

the end. :)

some mommy bragging

2011-02-17T21:35:00.004-05:00

My kids are pretty cool. Some times when we're having not so great days I think I need to remind myself about how rare those days are. Logan amazes me every day on how much stuff he picks up on and understand around here. (It amazes me even more cause I don't think Kendalynn was nearly as good at this age.) Every night after the kids are dressed in pj's and ready for bed, we read scriptures with Kendalynn. (Tyler and I read 2 verses each, and then we have Kendalynn repeat 1 verse. We've been doing this about 3 months...and we're on page 31. Slow and steady!) Sometimes Logan is calm enough to sit with us, and if not he just wanders. And after reading we say prayers, and for that we get Logan to sit on one of our laps and we help him fold his arms. Well twice now this week I've had to put the kids to bed without Tyler here. Each time Logan voluntarily got up on the couch and sat with us and grabbed the extra Book of Mormon while I read with Kendalynn, and each time when I closed it and put it on the desk he put his copy down and automatically folded his arms! It makes me happy to see the pattern that we're setting and the example that we're setting for our children. :) (and as soon as prayers are done, we're not sure why, but Logan squirms down and runs over to the fireplace, sits on the edge, and waits for everyone to come and give him his goodnight kisses. Then as I carry him upstairs he repeats in all these different "voices" of his night night. "nie nie, nie nie."

Another silly story of Kendalynn really quick. It's not really uncommon for Kendalynn to get out of bed once or twice even when we lay her down at night. Sometimes she'll come all the way down, and sometimes I'll find her on the stairs just hanging out. So tonight I went to check the stairs just in case, and noticed the light I plug in the hallway upstairs was unplugged and on the ground, cause when you pull it out it turns into a flashlight. (which when you pull it out the end turns into a flash light, which I've used to help her find things in the middle of the night. rag, pacifier, certain toys, etc...) So I assumed she was wandering in places she shouldn't be, and was surprised when I got upstairs that she was nowhere to be found and her door was almost closed like normal. I got the light and went in her room where she was under the covers going to sleep, and she explained very sweetly that her cup was "gone" and she had to use the light to find it, and it was back now so she was going to bed. :)

I just love my kids. They're so sweet and wonderful and I love how well they play together.

progress!

2011-02-12T12:54:00.001-05:00

I got the stitches out last week and things are going good. I still had to keep my pinky wrapped and taped cause it wasn't sealing up, and you can see its still scabbed but it almost doesn't hurt at all! I'll be excited when I get all the feeling back..in about a year. (I'll tell you..its much harder to play rockband when I can't tell if I'm pushing the button down all the way cause I can't feel it!)

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silly girl

2011-02-11T13:52:00.001-05:00

So last night half of Belle's face got scratched off as you can see. Yikes. A certain little girl won't admit that she did it, but as she's been playing I suddenly heard some interesting conversations going on with Belle, and Noah. (yes..as in Noah and the ark.)

Noah: what happened to your face?
Belle: I don't know.
Noah: tell the truth!
Belle: I don't know!
Noah: tell the truth again!
Belle: I scratched it off last night.
Noah: oh. Don't do that. We only color on paper!

She's a little bizarre, but I couldn't love my little nut job anymore. She cracks me up all day with her silly imagination, and I love listening to her play!

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for the post below...

2011-01-31T23:47:00.001-05:00

For some reason the picture didn't add. So here it is.

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a special spot

2011-01-31T19:03:00.001-05:00

Real random and real quick.. about 3 years and 1 month ago we came to a Mexican restaurant here in Atlanta. As soon as we got back to the house my water broke and the next morning little Kendalynn was born. Tonight we came to the same restaurant and I sat in the exact same spot. :) So here is a terrible picture of me in the same seat with my Kendalynn love in my lap instead of my stomach!

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Caution: more blood

2011-01-21T18:14:00.004-05:00

so i did a silly thing. i was attempting to fix my rotary cutter (like a pizza cutter for fabric) and ya-da ya-da ya-da somehow i sliced my pinky and my ring finger. whoopee! long story short, i now have 6 stitches in my pinky and 4 in my ring finger. they almost cut off my wedding ring (the brought in the cutters and everything!) but decided that it wasn't too bad so i just need to keep an eye on it.

til now i've never had stitches or had to go to urgent care or anything. first time for everything i guess! luckily tyler was home and he jumped up to help me get towels and bandages to get the bleeding (and lots of it) to stop. the kids were asleep so we called Audrey to come over and watch them for us. although we had to wait 55 minutes to have the nurse call us back, they were all really friendly and the doctor did an awesome job at making sure i didn't feel a thing.

can i just say that i LOOOOOOOOVE modern medicine? i love that i don't have to feel anything while the doc stitched me up. awesome.

caution: blood

2011-01-21T16:10:00.001-05:00

My first real injury. Sitting in the urgent care waiting to get stitched up. If only they were a little more urgent!

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a project

2011-01-19T13:44:00.002-05:00

So a few weeks ago I took pictures of a family in our ward. The parents had all their 5 children and their families here for Christmas. 29 people. The only room to fit them all in left me with a desk and window in the pictures. Then I started noticing that there wasn't one good picture with everyone smiling. Luckily, there was at least one smiley picture of everyone, so I got a little creative. Here is the finished project:

They wanted me to change the color of the 2 kids chairs in front, take out the window, take out the desk, take out the corners of the walls, and I took it upon myself to fix as many unhappy faces as I could. So I ended up changing one face, and one entire child. (wowzers...) It took a lot of different versions of the picture, but I think I finally have it completed. Here is the original picture: Notice the differences??

do you see it?

2011-01-05T00:01:00.003-05:00

Alright...so below is a picture of me when I was, I dunno, tiny-ish. And then below that there is a picture of Logan from a few weeks ago. After Summer pointed out that this picture of me looks like Logan, I totally see it. So I found the best picture of Logan at the same sort of angle for the rest of the world to tell me if they see it or not. I sure do. I just think we have the same cheeks and nose and mouth and, well everything I guess except that my hair was lighter and his eyes are darker.

christmas

2010-12-24T16:28:00.005-05:00

i love christmas. i love my family.

especially topher and carrie.

they are my favorite. not because they are so pretty or smart...they just have something special about them. i hope my kids grow up to be just like them.

thanks topher and carrie for being so great.

now...the rest of my family.

GO HOME.

stop eating my food. stop making my house a mess. stop being so loud.

get out. you eat too much and stay up too late. you're the worst house guests.

merry christmas.

it's a miracle! (i spoke too soon...)

2010-09-30T13:25:00.004-04:00

As you may notice below, I was finally able to upload a few pictures! And as soon as I wrote the title of the blog, it stopped working.

So 3 pictures is all you get. And for those of you who checked the link to my facebook album from last time, you've already seen these pictures. Whoops.

But other news... Logan Walker, is now a walker! (Walker is his middle name in case you didn't get that...) He still crawls a little here and there but it's obvious that all he wants to do is walk. He gets so excited about walking that most of the time that's what knocks him over. Haha. Funny kid.

in front of the flamingo exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Silly little penguin following my finger.

Me and my cute little man.

lame

2010-09-17T22:58:00.003-04:00

So...my blog still hates me and won't let me upload pictures. I promise I tried a ton of different things, but I think it's just a fact that my computer and my blog just don't get along. Sad.

So I added a ton of pictures to Facebook of our AWESOME trip to California this last week. We loved every minute of it. Ate awesome food, went to awesome parks with the kids, the Monterey Bay Aquarium (awesome!), and tons of super awesome other things. We can't wait till we get to go back again!

Here is the link. :( Let me know if it doesn't work!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2193503&id=193302356&l=96b6a71893

love

2010-09-16T19:36:00.003-04:00

I love lots of things. People, places, animals... the usual. But one of the things I love probably more than I should...is the Goodwill. Wow, I have found more things that I've wanted or the kids needed there for the best deals. It's kind of ridiculous. Kid clothes, my clothes (the only place I buy myself clothes), kid toys, books, kitchen stuff. Seriously, it's ridiculous. There have been some things that I've bought there and then sold on Craigslist for a killing. Like an exercise bike that I got for $22 and then sold for $100. (a bike which I know wish I still had...) It's almost like things I say outloud that I wish I had, the next time I make a stop at our favorite place, there it is. Waiting for me.

I have been waiting for a double stroller for a few months now. So Tuesday when I went, there it was. For a whopping $27. This is the stroller that I found. (mine is black, but the same model and all. and if for some reason that link doesn't work, it's a double stroller by Zooper.) A $500 stroller for $27? WHAT???? Little did I know that I was buying a BMW of strollers. I also found this cute little art table for Kendalynn for $5.95. It sells new for $80.

But enough of the Goodwill. One of my other little loves is Kendalynn's new and expanding imagination. She's just now getting to the point where she plays with her toys outloud and has voices for the people and what they're doing. She currently has princesses in the bus and plane on their way to California and it seems to be on a dangerous adventure cause they keep falling.

I promise I'll try and put pictures up. If it lets me.

why

2010-07-27T14:56:00.003-04:00

this is a no picture post. i'll try and post pictures later for all of you who only like me for my children.

Lately I have been asking myself, "why do we live here again??" It is getting sooo hot outside that it's no fun to do anything outside. After switching the car seats the other day I felt so disgusting that I wanted to shower all over again. My sister Jamie and I were discussing this the other day (she's up in Raleigh in the same miserable weather boat) and I guess we were just spoiled growing up in a land with perfect weather. (perfect weather I get to experience in 39 days!)

Another reason I question our location is the bugs. Wow... Again, in good ol' California we were spoiled with an existence free of large many legged creatures. Just today I killed this critter outside that is so cutely named the "cow killer wasp." I stepped on it about 5 times or so, splitting it in half, and still it's upper half with only TWO LEGS tried to get away. WHAT? SERIOUSLY???? Ahhh it makes me want to laugh out loud.

At least the people around here are spectacular. We LOVE our ward beyond reason, even though they banished us to outer darkness....I mean Nursery. :) So I guess we can tolerate the heat and the devil creatures for at least a few more years.

it's been a while...

2010-06-21T10:13:00.002-04:00

We're still alive if you were wondering, I just never get around to doing these kinds of things anymore. But I did manage to add some pictures to facebook so I'll put a link of those at the bottom so you can check em' out.

We had a nice little Father's Day yesterday. After church we came home to hang out with the kids, and then put Kendalynn down for a nap around 2 and Logan down around 2:30 (and they didn't get up til 6!!!) so Tyler and I were able to get an awesome 2 hours nap, and then played games on our phones til the kids got up. Ha. Tyler really stressed that he didn't want anything, so instead I just made his favorite meal. Tyler kept offering to help with dinner, but I'm a firm believer on Father's Day he should get to sit on the couch and do nothing while I make dinner and clean it up. :)

Other than that, we're all doing swell. Tyler is working hard, and has had some bummer weeks where he's had some long days but of course he's a good sport about it. Kendalynn sure cracks us up all the time. Some of her new things are saying, "Logan...what's going on here?" and insisting that she put on her clothes herself (especially the ones with buttons in the front...she loooves to do the buttons!) and when you ask her "what did you do today?" she alllllways responds with "I played with animals!" then she'll list off the animals she played with... lions, panda bears, alligators... the usual household pets of course. Logan is doing good (when he's not grumpy...) and is getting pretty good at scooting around the house. No crawling...just scooting. He has his bottom two teeth, and I can't wait for them to be big enough so you can spot them in pictures when he smiles. I'm doing okay myself. Lately I've gotten into making these necklaces (I'll put pictures below) and I loooove them. I'd like to try and sell them (not online or anything...just by word of mouth I'd hope) to make a little money here and there for other projects. There are too many cute crafty things out there I want to do!

But that's enough talking, I'll just put the link to the pictures for now. But I'd like to share one more cute Kendalynn story first.

(at dinner last night all sitting at the table...)

Ty: Kendalynn, what did you do today?

Ken: I play animals!

Ty: No you didn't...you went to Nursery today! What did you do in Nursery?

Ken: I play Dawson! (a little boy in the ward)

Ty: Oh do you like Dawson?

Ken: Ya....Dawson.

Ty: Is he cute?

Ken: Ya...Dawson.

Ty: Who else did you play with?

Ken: Nathan!

Ty: Oh, do you like Nathan?

Ken: No...Dawson!

Ty: Is Nathan cute?

Ken: No...Dawson. I play with Dawson!

It was soo funny the way she kept smiling whenever she would talk about Dawson. We've never heard her talk about him before, it's always been about Nathan! (And of course to Nathan's defense, he is very cute and Kendalynn really does like to play with him.) It was just too cute!

necklace link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2168786&id=193302356&l=c9e33df537

family pictures

2010-03-23T15:00:00.003-04:00

Last saturday as many of you in the area may have noticed was a beauuuutiful day, so we decided that it was a perfect day to take some family pictures. We got all dressed up and headed over to this bridge/gazebo random place near a church about 10 minutes away and stayed for about 2 hours I think. Tyler took pictures of me with one and or both kids and I took them with him, and then after about an hour our friends showed up to take pictures of all 4 of us together and we did the same for them. It worked out quite nicely.

Afterwards we went to Aldi (just down the road about a half mile) and got a bunch of fun foods and grilled out in the backyard with our aforementioned friends (Audrey and David with wee little Nathan if you were wondering) and enjoyed our wonderful backyard. (thanks again Uncle Ron for finding us the perfect house!) We have the perfect backyard for hanging out on the deck and for letting the wee children run wild around the backyard and play on the swing set.

But enough rambling, here is a link to the photo's that I added to facebook today. I'll try and add more of the millions of pictures we took last weekend of the kiddos outside. :)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2159711&id=193302356&l=e219ec3af3

time to get serious

2010-03-15T11:09:00.002-04:00

Alright people. All of you who have had kids in the last 5 years and have helpful hints on how to get in shape, I am in great need of your assistance. I'm getting to that point where I really need to get serious about this junk. But having 2 kids makes it a little difficult to just go out running or things like that, so I feel a little stuck.

Here are some options that I have.

#1 - I do have Wii Fit (plus) but it's not exactly the most intense workout. But at least I can pause that if kiddos decide to get bothered.

#2 - I also have some workout DVD's, but I don't like being interrupted doing those and I can't seem to find a time to do them. (you may think, get up early and do it in the morning, but whenever I've set an alarm for even an hour before either kid should get up, Logan magically wakes up before my alarm even goes off.) but I guess I could try to do the morning a few more times before I give up.

#3 - I'd loooove to get into running again. The problem is, when to go run? Tyler's schedule is different everyday, and it makes it real difficult to stay consistent when some weeks I get to go 3 times a week, and other times not at all. I'm not a huuuge fan of running late at night, and again with Tyler and never being home at consistent times, it gets tricky.

#4 - My friend Audrey goes to a gym nearby that is only $5 a month, and another $5 for daycare. It's only weights and machines, but still that's probably good enough cause I could easily put some workouts together from when I was out at school. But then I have to pay a sign up fee and that makes me angry. Blugh.

So...anyone with super helpful tips let me know. Cause I'd loooove to get in shape. And I really don't mind exercising, but with kids who's schedules never seem to be the same, it gets a little tricky. I've gotten much better at snacking, and according to wii fit I did lose 6 lbs in January. Yay me. But I've still got a ways to go I think. HELP!

happy birthday tyler!

2010-02-23T10:30:00.005-05:00

#27!!!!!!!!!

Kendalynn has been "helping" me decorate the house all morning to celebrate our dear daddy/husbands birthday! Tyler is not much of a birthday person, but we Fischers most definitely are. Little does he know the house is now filled with streamers and balloons, and after I'm done with this blog he will be the proud owner of his very own true Fischer style birthday crown. Oh yes...it will be wonderful. Even Kendalynn is feeling the birthday spirit, she has been singing her version of the b-day song this morning, "happy day to you, happy day to you, happy daddy!" its cute.

So here's to our super Tyler who is superly awesome in every way. He is the life of the party around here. Kendalynn just looooves to play with him whenever she can, and even Cali begs for some Tyler lovin'. Life just wouldn't be the same with our very own superman. :)

WE LOVE YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

A picture of our very own Superman/Heisman trophy.

A superman daddy indeed.

and its only noon.

2010-02-15T12:25:00.003-05:00

Today has just been one of those days. A lame day. A day where people just seem to be...poopy. A day that I joke with Tyler and say, "the world hates me today." The kids have been fine, but everyone else just seems rude. Blugh.

But going into great detail won't really help any. I am not a big fan of people who complain about things all the time. I always feel bad when hearing the same negative stories about people because I don't know what they're going through and I know that I am in no place to judge anyone else. It just makes me feel uncomfortable to talk about other people even if they did do something wrong.

So maybe the driver that was following behind me so rudely and waving his hands around had somewhere to go to help someone. Or maybe the ladies at Ross who never got around to ringing me up and instead went to take a smoking break (so yes...I eventually left, sadly without my cheesecake pan..) had some crazy drama going on so they never noticed me standing around for 8 minutes. Who knows. And if not, if they were only being rude then maybe I'll sit next to them in heaven and they'll feel bad and apologize. (that was my moms way of guilt tripping us about being rude to people, cause we might end up sitting next to them in Heaven.)

Maybe today will just make me more aware of how little things can really affect someone if they're already having a bad day. Like me. So hopefully from now on my day will get better. That'd be nice.

for you buggers.

2010-01-28T20:38:00.003-05:00

Okay, so I'm not so good at updating my blog that super often. But I've got two crazy kids and sometimes I forget to even take pictures of things that they do. (Sorry Logan...you don't have nearly as many pictures as Kendalynn did.) So for you people who bug me about it, I'll try and add pictures more often. Because apparently after you have children, no one particularly cares to hear about you or see you anymore, they just want your kids.

So since it takes way more effort to upload pictures to this thing cause my computer and blog don't like each other, I will once again add a link to some pictures I put on facebook. I took Kendalynn into the backyard today and just followed her around (as she followed the dog around) and took pictures of her randomly. I didn't stage any, just played along. So here's a link for you people.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2154896&id=193302356&l=000e0a4f4c

2 posts in one day. lucky people you.

2010-01-19T11:18:00.018-05:00

Okay, so Christmas and all that may have been almost a month ago, but I just now figured out how I can post pictures to my blog from my computer. I have to make each of them smaller first and then it usually works. So here we go, I'll leave out the mumbling and just put up some pictures.

Before Christmas we got to see Kara & Ryan when they came in town for the reception.

Kendalynn is especially fond of Ryan. She kept asking him to "come" and she'd make him crawl under the piano with her to play with toys.

For Christmas we went to Bentonville, Arkansas! My sister and her husband (and brand new wee baby Ainsley) live there, since both of them work for Walmart. My parents flew there along with my brother Topher, and so we figured since it was only about 10.5 hours, and Aldi pays for Tyler's car and gas no matter where we take it, it was basically a free trip for us. Fun times were definitely had. And in true Fischer style, there was plenty of yummy food.

a happy christmas Logan w/ his "1st christmas" pj.s (ainsley had matching ones.)

Tyler and kids with their Christmas pjs.

Tyler and his present from my parents. Superly awesome.

Carrie got Duben and Topher (and herself) mugs with their names etched on them.

At first this was about as much as we saw of Topher when he opened a present.

Ainsley's first Christmas present.

Lip gloss from our stockings.

My mom found some wanna be Harry Potter nasty beans. There are like, 12 different colors. Each color has a good one (like peach) and then a bad one (like vomit) that look exactly the same. So cool.

And it even snowed so we had a white Christmas. :) Awesomely awesome.

too bad I don't have any pictures of our 5 course meal on Christmas day that left us all feeling incredibly full. Wow.

perfection with a wiggly tail

2010-01-19T10:40:00.003-05:00

So...if I was to make a list of all the things the perfect dog would be, it would go something like this...

1. doesn't bother my kids in the slightest. in fact, almost ignores them completely. (even when toys are being piled on them while sleeping, eyes are being poked, and "wake up" is being yelled at them while sleeping...)

2. doesn't make any messes in my house.

3. never has any "accidents" in the house.

4. wants my love constantly. (which I'm happy to give.)

5. doesn't bark in house. ever.

6. is so calm and mellow that sometimes I might forget the dog is even there.

7. retreats to a designated blanket for the ENTIRE night while we all sleep.

8. follows me just about everywhere.

9. just down right loves me.

So ya...there are a few other things that might go along with that, but you get the idea. And the greatest part of this story? I have found that dog. That dog is named Cali, and she is on the blanket behind me laying peacefully while Kendalynn yells "wake up" over and over again at her. Tyler and I have been going back and forth about getting a dog because I absolutely love them and he is not the biggest fan. But last week we finally agreed to get one. (yes people, agreed. I did not force him in any way, with a smile on his face he said that as long as I prayed about it and picked the right one he would be okay with it.) Even Tyler has admitted to liking this dog, and our friends are jealous of how awesome she is. She is definitely the dog for us. :)

AWESOMELY AWESOME IN EVERY WAY!

happy birthday buggy dear!

2009-12-14T16:04:00.006-05:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KENDALYNN!

So Kendalynn has been around for a whoppin' 2 years now which to us just seems crazy. She's the craziest kid I know, and we love her to pieces. She's such a great combination of everything wonderful. She's energetic and SO much fun to have around! Of course she has her "fun" moments when she is a typical 2 year old, but if you ask me, she's not at all a "terrible two." At the doctor today (what a fun present...a trip to the doctor! luckily...no shots for her) she weighs a whole 23 lbs (10th percentile) and as the doctor put it, "petite and perfect." I don't think I recognize enough what a blessing it is to have such an awesome kid who has never had any serious health problems and is completely wonderful in every way. Man I just think she's the greatest little girl ever.

As far as Logan man goes... He also had his 2 month check up today (although he is 3 months) and he's perfectly awesome also! He is 14.1 lbs (60th percentile), 24.5 inches (54th percentile), and he is doing extremely wonderful. He sadly did have to get shots today, and he actually recovered quite quickly for the little pansy baby he is. (Now don't think I mean "pansy" in a bad way, because I don't at all. Logan is so incredibly different from Kendalynn as a baby. Both are extremely good babies, but he is much more of the tender sort. You can already tell he's much more sweet and cuddly which makes me ecstatically happy.) Other than that, he's doing great! He sleeps through the night for at least 10 hours which as far as I'm concerned is the most awesome thing in the world.

We sure do love our kiddos!!!

a birthday shout out

2009-12-11T10:19:00.002-05:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMBERLY!

Today is dear little Emberly's birthday. There is no doubt that little Emmy is one of Kendalynns favorite people in the whole world. Kids Kendalynns age tend to forget people they have seen in a while until they see them again and then they quickly remember. Well it's not like that with Emmy. Even though we haven't seen her since

September, Kendalynn frequently walks around the house asking where Emmy is, or she'll stand at the door looking out the windows saying "Emmy, bye bye." And when we look through pictures from the last few months, if we encounter any of Emmy we hear a lot of mumblings about her for the rest of the day.

So here's to you little Emmy girl. Have a superb birthday!

(ignore the hair attacking both their faces. this very intense smile just goes to show how happy Kendalynn is around Emmy.)

a little update

2009-12-06T00:01:00.002-05:00

Well I figured I should update my blog and let people know what we've been up to. And yes, you may have already noticed (since I'm pretty sure people only visit this just to see pictures of my kids..) that there are no pictures. BUT...I will gladly post a link at the bottom to my latest facebook album. Lucky you.

So this last month our most exciting thing was to go out to Utah to go to Kara and Ryan's wedding. Hooray! It was awesome for sure. Casey and Kara went through the temple for the first time together since Casey is leaving on his mission in 10 DAYS to go to Anchorage, Alaska. (enjoy the cold Casey...) While we were there we got to stay with my Aunt Lori & Uncle Scott and we had tons of fun just sitting around with them talking. We also got to go up to Layton area (Kaysville specifically) to go and visit my dad's parents and show off the cute kiddos and chat with them. AND...we ate at Bajio aka Heaven. It was wonderful.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at Tyler's cousin Kristy's house with a bunch of his family that live in the area. It sure is nice to have family around. And tonight we had an early Christmas with Tyler's parents and Casey, since Casey will be leaving before Christmas and Tyler and I & kiddos will be off to Arkansas this year for Christmas. That's right everyone...we're going to Arkansas and I honestly can't wait. HOORAY! My sister and her hubby (and new cutey-pah-tootie baby Ainsley!) live there and my parents and brother are also spending there Christmas there so it will be loads of fun. And sadly we will all probably gain a few pounds with my mom around baking but it will be worth it for all the yummy treats we'll get.

So other than that, things are going great around here. Kendalynn is cute and crazy as ever and doing great with Logan. She never tries to sit on him or pick him up anymore, so that's definitely a good thing! Logan is the happiest baby I have ever seen no doubt. He smiles allllll the time at me, and loves me sooo much that he has been sleeping through the night for a good 3 weeks now. Awesome?? Yes yes indeed. We sure love having them both around, and there definitely is not a dull moment with Kendalynn and all the crazy things that she does.

So anyway, like I promised, here is the link to the photo album I added just the other day. Enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2149177&id=193302356&l=4cfb79f65b

my brain...a mystery to us all

2009-10-14T20:19:00.003-04:00

Alright...so here is a blog free of pictures or anything to do with my children and family. Strictly about my brain. I am one of those chain thinkers. I start thinking about one thing, and the next thing I know I'm on a COMPLETELY different subject. Wow.

For example, one time while we were living in Asheboro (the home of the NC Zoo) I started thinking about how it would be fun to take Kendalynn, and I thought about whether they had tigers or not. Within 30 seconds I had started planning out in my mind what would ever happen if I came face to face with a tiger in the jungle, and how I would protect Kendalynn. And to be honest, I was getting a little worried about it. That is a very simple example.

Last night was an especially good chain reaction. Bare with me here, and mind you that this all took place in under a minute. I laid down after we said prayers, and noticed that my tongue was between my teeth. I then recalled an unpleasant story of a friend biting a chunk of his tongue off jumping on a trampoline and needing stitches to get it back on. I then thought to myself that if there was an earthquake or something during the night, I wouldn't want to risk biting my tongue, so I moved it. But that led me to the thought that there aren't really earthquakes in the south, but more so hurricanes or twisters or whatever. So then I started thinking about how terrible it would be to have a twister come attack my house so I started thinking about how I could make sure I could safely get my family and potential future pets into the basement/cellar to wait it out. That made me think about how if we had a cat and he was out wandering the neighborhood when the twister was about to hit, what if he didn't return when being called? My parents cat will sometimes come back to the house when we call him but not always. Whereas, if we had a dog during this disaster, it would always be in the house or in the backyard so it would be easy to save, and bird would always be in their cages and such. I kinda went back and forth about how it might be possible to have an inside only cat, or MAYBE the cat would sense the twister coming so he'd stay inside if we were lucky. But not likely. So I came to the conclusion that I'd be okay to not ever have a cat in our family. (tyler is allergic anyway.)

Wow. So after I went through this process I said out loud to Tyler that I would be okay with not getting a cat to which he asked where that came from. After telling him my chain of random thoughts he pointed out to me how weird I am. Yup.

So after laughing at myself for a few minutes I decided to blog about this experience for all of you, asking for any of you who do this sort of thing to comment so I know I'm not alone. But if not, hopefully you were at least able to get a kick out of this like Tyler and I did last night. :)

it's at it again

2009-10-06T10:42:00.002-04:00

Well once again my blog will no longer let me post pictures. This time I think I might have a good idea of what the problem is, so we'll see what I can do to fix it this time around. But in the meantime, I posted pictures on my facebook of all the crazy happenings around here.

So thus far life is going good with both of these crazy kids. Logan is starting to be a little bit more of a fussy baby, but I'm starting to get a better idea of what it is he's unhappy about. He's doing really good through the night, and the other night he slept for 6 hours which was WONDERFUL. Kendalynn is doing...okay. She is going through a splendid phase of always wanting to take the blanket off Logan while he's sleeping. And then she'll rush over to him again and try to pick him up really fast before I notice. Luckily, she's never been successful, or even made him cry so that's good. A few times she's attempted to sit on him, and even step on him, but again, luckily it always happens when I'm already right there. She also seems to be getting worse about listening to what I tell her (especially when it comes to leaving Logan alone) so hopefully soon I'll figure out how to move past that cause it's rather frustrating at times. But oh well I guess, it's what comes with the job and I'll figure the only thing I can do is to do my best in the meantime to help her learn!

But anyway...I must be off to protect Logan and feed them both so they'll sleep so I can sleep. Last night Logan did okay...we went to bed at 2 which is really late because he decided to be wide awake last night. He then woke up at 6 to eat (still 4 hours, not terrible) and luckily one ate for about 25 minutes before going to sleep again. Sadly, Kendalynn woke up around 7 (normally she wakes up around 9) and instead of trying to coax her into going back to sleep I figured I'd just bring her in our bed to sleep instead which I never do. And this morning reminded me of why I never do. Kendalynn tends to think of our bed as a sort of "fun" zone or something. Rather than ever attempting to sleep in our bed, she just gets really excited and wants to play. So I tried to sleep a little more while getting kicked in the stomach, hit in the face, sat on, and countless other "fun" things instead. Who needs sleep anyways...it's overrated.

Here is a link that should work to take you to my pictures on facebook. A few of them are repeats, but my kids are cute so you can look at the pictures again. :)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2142909&id=193302356&l=3f8bc5df81

Logan's first bath

2009-09-22T18:23:00.002-04:00

I guess there isn't much that needs to be said about his first bath. We were both thinking he wouldn't like the first one, because most babies don't, but he actually just sat there and seemed to enjoy the whole thing. ...until I washed his hair which bothered him a little bit... But anyways...here are some pictures of the event. :)

I LOVE babies wrapped up in towels. One of my favorite things.

Kendalynn kept trying to take his diaper off afterwards.

One of the first good pictures of me with the kiddos. :)

awesomely cute kids

2009-09-17T11:16:00.007-04:00

Alright you all. Here are some pictures of my super kids.

Life is swell over here as we continue adjusting to Logan's arrival. Kendalynn is...I'm not sure how to put it. She's still an amazingly good little girl, and as we predicted has moments here and there where Logan is of great interest to her. She loves to try and put the pacifier in his mouth and occasionally tries and pick him up...so we always have to be on the look out for her "helping." On the other hand she has also been a little bit more defiant over the last few days because I think she's starting to see the difference in time I used to spend with her that has now gone to feeding Logan and carrying him around so he's safely out of her reach. But overall, she's doing good and really does love wee little baby boy.

Logan is AWESOME. We've decided that he's a little bit more fussy than Kendalynn was, but he's such a good baby. Already at night he'll sometimes sleep 4-5 hours! It's awesome. And he's been awesome at going back to sleep right after so my nights haven't been bad at all. He makes the funniest faces when he's awake that make him look like he's always worried or concerned, and Tyler and I have decided that he's probably on the lookout for Kendalynn, or still just wondering where on earth he is. He's quite jumpy too, so maybe he's just a little paranoid. :) He went to the doctor Tuesday and is already on his way back up in weight gain and is healthy and perfect! The doctor said not to take him out of the house (except for walks around the neighborhood she said) for 8 weeks. EIGHT WEEKS!!!!! Small groups of people can come over to visit us, but otherwise baby Logan needs to stay put. Wow. But oh well. Better safe than sorry.

I'm doing swell. If it wasn't constantly raining and pouring outside, I would be going on more walks around the neighborhood because I feel the need to be active which is good. (my ghetto scale says I've lost about all the weight already. I'm not sure how accurate that thing is, but that'd be nice!) My mom has been here since Saturday so we've been able to enjoy her treats and constant entertainment. (if you know my mom at all, you know there is never a dull moment with her around!) It's been great to have help, but I'm actually looking forward to being the only one home with the kids. I'll definitely admit it's been nice to not have to feed Kendalynn all 3 meals everyday, but I'm excited to get back into the habit of being in charge of all the little things and spend more time with her. She's so wonderful...I love that kid!

But anyways...here are some random pictures from the last week of the awesomely cute kids!

Ooooh I love his feet.

Kendalynn kept wanting to put the hat on. She's so goofy.

Kendalynn likes to lay next to Logan on the floor and try to stick the pacifier in his mouth.

Little man in one of his brief awake moments.

No...it's not beer. Aldi has some bottled root beer, and Kendalynn kept following me around wanting the empty bottle. Picture moment.

I used to think she was so small...

Kendalynn's cute "smile."

Little man in his manly pink chair. :)

His cuuuuute little feet.

more of Logan

2009-09-10T10:07:00.002-04:00

This kid is just awesome. He hasn't even been with us for a full 2 days yet and I already feel like he's been with me forever. SO AWESOME. He's been such a great little boy. He eats like a pro already which makes me soooooo happy. Last night was our first night home (we only stayed in the hospital about 30 hours) and he did really good. He has his "awake" times (which only last about 30 minutes at a time) all during the day, so last night he went to sleep at 11, woke up to eat at 2:30 followed by diaper change, back to sleep, woke up to eat around 6:45 followed by diaper change, and back to sleep again to wake up at 9 to have some open eye time. Wow can I just say I am one lucky little mommy!

Kendalynn has been so excited to have him around. She just loves to point at him and give him kisses and has taken a greater interest in her baby dolls now that Logan is around. We just have to watch out for him trying to "feed" him with her spoon and I'm sure she'll be trying to put loads of things in his mouth and all up in his face. But she's such a sweet girl we're sure she'll just want to help out all the time. Sometimes it just might be a little more "help" than we really need.

Here's some pictures of him in his first little outfit! The frog is the object that I'm going to continue taking pictures of him with to compare how much he's grown from when he came home. Enjoy!

yes...he's here!

2009-09-08T20:17:00.006-04:00

LOGAN WALKER!
7 lbs even
20 inches long
12:10 p.m.

Oh my goodness gracious today could not have gone any better. Hooray! Things have gone exceptionally well, and sooo much faster than I would have ever anticipated. Kendalynn's labor was about 14 hours, which I still don't think is that bad, so I was expecting it to go a little faster this time around...but not nearly this fast! I was also a little worried about the pitocin and if it just didn't like me, but we turned out to be great friends. :) Here's the basic summary of what happened today!

6:20 - get to front counter to fill out a few papers.
7:05 - in our room changing into my gown.
7:50 - start the pitocin!
8:10 - contractions start, and VERY quickly jumped to being VERY consistent at about 1.5-2.5 minutes apart. :)
9:20 - epidural. Heaven.
11:40 - the nurse came in and discovered that his head was "right there"
11:55 - started to push
12:10 - out pops Logan!

So ya. From the time that labor "started" and ended was only 4 hours. AMAZING. It was seriously so smooth. At 11:40 when the nurse came in, it was actually to put a heartbeat monitor on his head because he kept moving so much they couldn't keep one up with the other monitor. Well she then realized that he was moving so much because he was trying to escape. So by the time I started pushing, I had pushed 3 times with the nurse, and then the doctor walking in, looked down to see how things were going and said, "Oh! Hello!" and then one more round of pushing and out came wee little Logan man.

So it's been awesome. I'm feeling great, and hoping to be able to go home tomorrow night if they'll let me...but we'll see. Kendalynn was able to come in a few hours after Logan was born with Tyler's mom and brother Casey and she was so cute. She seemed a little scared of her surroundings at first (which I'm sure reminded her of scary doctor visits that she'd prefer to forget!) but warmed up real quick. She especially liked pointing to Logan saying "baby" over and over again, and pointing out features on his face and giving him kisses. We're sure she'll be a very sweet and loving big sister, and we're excited to get home altogether and get into as much of a routine as we can.

So anyways...things are good. Tyler went home about an hour ago to help with Kendalynn and will come and visit Logan and me tomorrow. And in the meantime I'll just enjoy the last moments of silence that I can and take advantage of the nurses to watch Logan so I can sleep!

LIFE IS GREAT!!

update!

2009-09-06T23:01:00.005-04:00

Yes....I'm still pregnant. But not for much longer! For those of you who haven't heard, I'm being induced this Tuesday (the 8th) so sometime on that day we will be adding little Logan to our family. Wahoo!! Last Friday at my doctor appointment the doctor said I was well on my way to having this baby and could possibly have him on my own before Tuesday gets here. So I've been working on that all weekend... Hopping around, volunteering to retrieve things from upstairs for the chance to run up them, and Tyler and I just finished going on a walk around the neighborhood (during which I would skip for periods of time) to try and get things moving.

So yes...we're excited to add Logan into our lives. I know it's going to make things way more hectic around here, but I'm over being worried about it. People are continuously telling me how hard things are going to be, and I get so tired of it! I decided quite some time ago that since there's nothing I can do about how crazy things may get sometimes, I just need to be willing to live with a messy house sometimes and enjoy my cute and ADORABLE children while I can. So for those of you who feel you need to warn me about how hard it will be or how messy my house will get...don't worry about it! I've heard it all! I'd rather let myself be excited about having Logan around rather than worrying about things that don't matter as much as my cute awesome kids that I get watch learn and grow. SO MUCH FUN! So if you happen to be someone who might frequent my house of the next few months, I'll apologize now for the unorganized messes that will most likely be lurking around every corner! :)

Other than that! For those of you who don't know, Tyler, Kendalynn and I have been living in our WONDERFUL house for just over a week now!!! HOORAY! We've been to our ward twice now, and I LOVE it soooo much. Kendalynn has done AWESOME in nursery and there have been soooo many people who have befriended us already. I can already tell that we're going to make some great friends while we're here.

If no one has seen pictures of our house, here is the link to the house when it was for sale, but what I need to do is take pictures of it with our stuff in it. I made sure to put pictures and decorations on the wall the day we moved in to make it feel like home, so it actually looks like we've lived here longer than a week. We have SO much storage space in this house, so we were able to unpack just about everything in just a few days. AND our wonderful Buttle parents bought us some bedroom furniture as a housewarming present that will be here Tuesday! So we'll finally own dressers and our clothes can go somewhere other than piles on the floor or metal racks that so obviously belong in a garage...not a bedroom.

But to wrap it up...I'll try to include some pictures of Kendalynn enjoying the backyard. But just be on the lookout for pictures of our new addition by Tuesday at the latest! If we're lucky, I'll have him tomorrow so Tyler will already have the day off work, and things will be a little easier to move his schedule around. But anyways...enough rambling. But cross your fingers for me so all this hopping around the house will pay off!

Kendalynn LOVES wearing my shoes. This time she had a little bit of a hard time matching them.

Playing in the backyard today she saw a plane. When she hears one in the sky, she looks around all excited trying to find it. (yes...it's blurry...phooey.)

She found it. And was so excited to watch it go by.

I'm not sure why she's making that face...but it's funny!

an adventure

2009-08-20T17:51:00.003-04:00

Today we all went and had an adventure together! (We being Daddy Buttle, Mommy Buttle, Tyler, myself, Kendalynn, Kyle, Keri, Kara, Ryan and Casey. Wow.) First we went to The Varsity for a good ol' greasy meal, and then headed off to the Coca-Cola museum here in Atlanta. (If you didn't know...this is where the headquarters are.) It was super! I've got pictures, so I'll let them tell the story and add in when I feel the need.

The building. Ooooooh...awwww.

Seriously the best part. They have this bear (with a person inside I'm sure) but the face and everything do all kinds of stuff too! Wow...it was cool. So you can take pictures with it and I was thinking Kendalynn might be a little too hesitant. Not even close. She kept running out of line to go and see it and boy did she love that thing. The rest of the day she kept putting her hands up (how you would when asking where something is) saying "bear? bear?" SO AWESOME. I'll try and post the video we got later.

Everyone with the awesome bear.

Tyler and I. I don't even remember the last time we took a picture together.

Another awesome part. I had heard about this, the tasting room, where you get to taste other flavors that are popular in some other parts of the world. Let me just say...I don't know what on earth the Italians are thinking. DISGUSTING.

Then they had the area just with the typical Coke and normal flavors. Cherry, vanilla (the best) etc...

The happy sign outside the store.

She was also very excited about sitting on the sign. She was mad when we took her down.

So all in all quite a fun day. I'll have to try and remember to post the video of the bear, and Kendalynn with the birds. This kid cracks us up. As we were walking to the museum there were some pigeons by the grass, and she ran after them while the poor things just kept running for their lives. I'm pretty sure she could have gone all day too. She's hilarious and boy do we all love her!

finishing up july

2009-08-14T14:02:00.005-04:00

Alright, I reset my computer today so I could do a little blogging, so I figure I'll do as much as I can right now while it lasts because my computer is weird like that...

So we have left our wonderful home in Raleigh. :( It was actually quite hard for me because I loooooved it there. The weather is much better there, the ward was awesome, our apartment was right next to everything wonderful in the world (even the ward building) and I had a super duper sister and her dear little Emmy like 4 miles away. Every time Kendalynn sees pictures of Emmy she gets really excited and sometimes even runs around like she's looking for her. It's cute, but kind of makes me sad that she won't be able to play with her as much anymore.

But we have arrived in Atlanta (ha...like a month ago) and are doing wonderful! After looking at houses for 2 days with our Uncle Ron, we found one! Things are still going great with it all and we're looking to close on August 27th at 1 pm! Check it out! So things are going well and Kendalynn is having a little too much of a good time here with everyone home. (so much that she never wants to sleep anymore...) Tyler is very much liking his job and is finally rid of the trainee title. We are extremely blessed.

Here are some pictures of one particularly eventful day when Ryan (Kara's fiance) came to visit.

if you can't tell he's sticking his tongue out. Ha!

Bug's enjoying a visit from grandpa in her princess castle.

Boys playing Wii tennis. (Tyler, Justin, Ryan, Casey)

Casey and Tyler getting ready to box.

I love the face!

He was quite into it. It was quite entertaining.

Justin didn't make very many weird faces like everyone else. This was about as crazy as he got.

a random story

2009-08-14T13:55:00.002-04:00

Kendalynn seems to have a love/hate relationship with our vacuum. Some days it seems to terrify her and other days she follows it around laughing at it. ??

One particular day in our last week in Raleigh I started vacuuming and as I finished...my little darling dear was gone. Our apartment was small, and I hate the kitchen/stairs gated off so I knew she was still in the same room but out of sight. I called out to her and this is what I discovered...

If for some reason you don't see her, she's hiding in the couch cushions. Apparently this day she just didn't want to deal with the vacuum drama so hid herself instead. She's so bizarre I don't even know. But sooooo cute!

update with no pictures. lame i know.

2009-07-15T21:36:00.004-04:00

Okay...so first of all we had a BLAST at the FFFF out in Utah a few weeks ago. Someday when I can get my pictures to upload on here I'll try and post a few, but in the meantime if you have facebook (or know someone who has facebook) then I posted 3 full albums of all our crazy activities and such on there. It was a very much needed vacation for Tyler and all his hard work, and Kendalynn very much enjoyed all the attention and following her cousins around. :) We can't wait for the next one!

Earlier this week we had a bit of a scare with Kendalynn. She was playing on her little car and in the process of getting off got stuck on the handle bar, so I held her hand to help her get off and heard a faint pop noise from her arm. She faintly cried for a little bit and I frantically checked her arm for anything out of place, but she quickly calmed down so I figured she was just overreacting because it was 3:30 and she still hadn't taken a nap that day. So I laid her down, only to hear her start crying softly in her crib about 10 minutes later. I went up to get her and she wouldn't move so I took her into our bed and laid down with her. Well after a while of her soft sobbing I pulled out a book to show her and realized that she wouldn't use her right arm at all when she has ALWAYS favored her right hand with everything. ...what.. ..on.. ..earth... I seriously started to panic. I called and texted Tyler to no answer, so I hurried and got normal clothes on and got myself ready and a bag packed for Kendalynn assuming this was going to involve a doctor trip.

Luckily he had the car seat in his car, so it wasn't even an option for me to take her anywhere by myself, cause by no means did I want to do this alone. Once he got home and we had called around to find out where to go, we took her to an Urgent Care center about a half mile down the road, and as soon as we walked back with the nurses she just seemed to know that she didn't want to be there. They didn't get to weigh her because she wouldn't stay still, and boy she did not like that poor doctor. However, within seconds of the doctor coming in and hearing her story he knew exactly what was wrong. Nursemaid's/babysitter's elbow. ?? (you can look it up on wikipedia.) He assured us that it wasn't anything that would affect her arm long term and to fix it he just had to bend her wrist toward her shoulder (which he said was nothing painful) and wait for a pop noise to mean everything went back to normal and then she should move her arm with no problem/pain whatsoever. Well he tried twice (nothing) and left the room to let her calm down (which didn't really happen...) and then came in to try it a few more times, and on the 3rd time he said he got it so he left the room again and told us that if it worked she should move her arm no problem. Wow, right away she started using her right arm again to reach for her cheerios and her pacifier, and after Tyler started clapping for her the doctor came back in again (cue the screaming baby...) to explain a few things to us before we left. The nurse came in to give her an otter pop which actually made her quite happy and after we signed a paper or two we were back in the car to go home.

It was seriously amazing how quickly she went back to normal, and since then she hasn't at all seemed bothered or anything with using her arm. We both felt that we were so fortunate that her injury was such a simple one that didn't involve anything lasting because it was definitely not fun seeing our little Bug Bug so sad and in pain. Hopefully we won't have to deal with anything like that anytime soon. It definitely made us much more grateful for her and for her health because we have never had any major problems since she's been born which we recognize is such a great blessing. We sure do love our little Buggy dear. :)

IT'S HERE!!!!!!

2009-06-25T11:53:00.002-04:00

It's true. Today Tyler, Buggy and I depart for Utah to take part in our wonderful FFFFFF (freakin' fun fantastic Fischer Family Fiesta!!) festivities starting on Saturday. What an extremely wonderful event it is! A week with all the Fischer clan filled with lake day, swimming funtivities, temple day, never ending goodies supplied by our awesome mommy dear, some super game time on the Wii, and for those who are brave enough, a good ol' round of Harry Potter nasty bean game. Oh yes...the EVERY flavored beans...you eat one without looking and then you guess which flavor you got. (I was so fortunate to get bacon 3 times and vomit twice!)

We have been looking forward to this since the last day of the last FFF two years ago. We're also making a quick day trip up to Rexburg tomorrow to visit with family and to eat at Bajio and get a fantastically wonderful snow cone at Snoasis. Wow...words cannot even express how EXCITED we are. And in a short 4 hours we will be on our way to the airport!

HOOOOORRAAAYYYY!!!!!!!

buggy update

2009-06-22T10:44:00.006-04:00

Alright, I think there are about 20 pictures here of my darling DARLING daughter because it has been way too long since I've been able to post any. She is so much fun I can't even begin to explain.

Don't miss my "fatty picture" posting under this one that I made earlier today. :) Hooray for baby #2!

Enjoy!

When she tries to put her shoes on, she holds her foot in one hand and her shoe in the other, and tries to put her foot in the shoe, rather than the shoe on her foot. It's hilarious, because it pretty much always involves her tipping over.

She doesn't yet seem to acknowledge the idea that edges are not good things to just climb over, so if she had her way she would just climb over anything. Even into this pond. (to get to the ducks.)

Just to show the world that I do actually exist in pictures other than "fatty pictures."

Wow! A picture of bugs AND me! Very rare.

These are her adorable swim clothes. It's so nice because we don't have to worry as much about her getting sunburned because it covers her so much.

If there is a Tyler around the house trying to sleep at any time, this is what will soon follow. Kendalynn climbing all over his face, whacking him with toys, or just yelling at him to get up.

A very guilty child after her food was going everywhere EXCEPT her mouth.

What an adorable pool baby.

Every time Tyler tried to put her inside the floaty, she would spread her legs out to the sides instead so he couldn't get her in. Not sure why...

I turned around to find her like this in her car seat. She sat like this for about 15 minutes.

First trip to the pool down in Atlanta. She LOVES water. And she loves it when we pop our heads out from under the water and say "boo." She is an amazingly happy baby.

my fatty self

2009-06-22T09:33:00.005-04:00

HOORAY HOORAY! The world has cause to celebrate today. I "reinstalled" my computer system (whatever that means...) and apparently it solved all of my blogging problems because I have successfully uploaded pictures. It's a miracle.

So no huge explanation needed here really. Just pictures of me, getting fatter every day. These are pictures of me at 27 weeks. Oddly enough, the pink shirt picture is the day before and I think I look bigger in that picture than I do in the red picture. Perhaps my size fluctuates! I'm feeling good these days, and only 13 weeks left to go!

Also.... We were set on the name Logan, but now there seems to be some question about it, so if anyone has any name suggestions we'd love to have more options! Right now we're thinking about Andrew, but we'll see!

This isn't the best picture...but when I stand straight in front of a mirror (darker color shirts help so there are no shadow marks of a fatty stomach), you wouldn't even be able to tell I'm pregnant. It's quite wonderful. :)

super duper sister!

2009-06-06T23:11:00.003-04:00

PREFACE:

Behold...the most wonderful tasty dessert to ever find it's way into the freezer isles in grocery stores. The Good Humor Strawberry Shortcake on a stick. HO-LEE COW. I just want to be eating one every second of every day. I used to enjoy them every once and a while growing up with my mom, and lo and behold they started selling them at Aldi a few weeks ago. (Just another of many reasons why I LOVE Aldi...)

STORY:

So we drove home from Atlanta today and it was a long day. Wow. We left around 12 and got home around 7:30. Kendalynn was AMAZING the entire time, and I actually didn't get too uncomfortable or come across anything worth complaining about but still it was a long day. So good to be home. And even BETTER when I walk into my kitchen to find a welcome home note from my sister Jamie informing me there was a tasty treat waiting for me in my freezer. That's right...a box of my Heaven on a stick Good Humor Strawberry Shortcake yummies. I grabbed the box and ran to show Tyler outside and shouted, "See how much I'm loved!!!"

So yes...I have a super duper sister. (And I hear she even got rid of some creepy crawlers in my house before we got here. Wow...awesomeness.) So here's to you super duper sister. You're super duper!

a proud father moment

2009-05-28T15:35:00.003-04:00

Tyler has been reminding me to blog this story for a few weeks now, but just like most things I always forget. And besides, most of the time our blog followers only check our blog for pictures of Kendalynn anyways. Sorry guys, yet again there are no pictures.

So a few weeks ago in church (mother's day I believe) Kendalynn was standing on my lap looking to the back of the chapel when suddenly she yelled out (quite loud in fact) "BAA! BAA!" Not wanting to look behind me at all but to silence her as fast as I could I just distracted her with a pacifier and a toy.

As Sacrament Meeting ended, we stood up and realized that in the back of the chapel they had opened up the dividers between the chapel and the gym for more seating space, and we realized that Kendalynn's loud outburst was indeed meant to be "BALL! BALL!" because she saw the basketball rims on the other side. When I pointed that out to Tyler he immediately felt proud of her for getting so excited over basketball. It made Tyler unbelievably happy, and that's all I have to say.

We're having a...

2009-05-11T18:52:00.003-04:00

Well I've been trying to send the pictures of the ultrasound today to my e-mail from my phone, but it won't work! (I think iIve received some kind of blogging curse or something....seriously.) But until I can get things to cooperate I'll just have to use boring words instead of pictures again!

Tyler and I put in our final guesses, and he thought we were going to have another girl, and I was absolutely certain it was going to be a boy. I always joke with Tyler that I'm right all the time,....and this time I most certainly was!!! It's a BOY!!!!!! Hooorrraaaayy!!! I'm soooo excited. For the last few weeks I just absolutely knew it was a boy and couldn't stop referring to the baby as "he" and now I know for sure and I love it! And I absolutely love that both of my children have could not have cooperated any better for the ultrasound and each time we've been able to get a 100% absolute answer. :) Awesomeness. So of course I stopped at Kohl's on my way home and bought some ADORABLE clothes in the clearance section for an awesome deal.

So everyone prepare yourselves...Logan Walker Buttle is on his way!!!

even you

2009-03-26T15:06:00.003-04:00

A RANDOM FUNNY STORY

Those who know me (which I would hope is everyone who reads this, and if not...who are you and why are you reading this?) know that I am one of those sappy romantic types. Not terribly, but enough. However, Tyler is not which I very well know so we often tease each other about how he needs to be more sappy or how I need to not be so sappy. Since Tyler is not a sappy person every so often when he says sappy-ish things (such as "I love you") I follow up with something like, "Ooooh! You love me?!" to which he rolls his eyes or something to that effect.

So the story... Just a second ago Tyler called to inform me that he was going to be leaving Columbia shortly to come home. Whoopee! I then made some comment about how Bugs would be excited to see him and how we sure have missed him, to which he replied that he had missed us too and he was excited to see both of us. (here comes the sappyness) and I say "Oooh...You're excited to see me?" (and here comes the great part!) to which Tyler replies, "Ya... even you." HA! Ouch!

I'm still laughing. So of course he didn't seriously mean it that way (yes Mother...it was a joke, no ones feelings are hurt) but I thought it would be funny to share the story of my oh so sappy husband. ...maybe someday... :)

nothing much

2009-03-26T11:02:00.003-04:00

Well not a whole lot is going on in our lives as of now. Tyler is ending his 3rd week down in Columbia (we're halfway done with this nonsense!) and will hopefully be returning to us late tonight instead of tomorrow which is always exciting. He's very much enjoying his time down there with Kevin (the DM he's following) and feels like he is learning a ton about how he can do a good job when he finally gets to do his job. :)

As for Kendalynn and myself - we're up to a whole lot of nothing. Tuesday night she seemed to be coming down with a cold and had a TERRIBLE nights sleeping which of course meant that I did as well. It was seriously terrible. (Once we got out to Rexburg and into our house she has never slept in our bed, which sometimes I think would be a cute thing to do occasionally...to have my little bug all snugly between us. NOT SO. She moves around SO much that it's impossible to even sleep next to her.) But after 2.5 hours of getting no sleep I tried to have her sleep in the bed with me so I didn't have to get up every 10 minutes. But after she kept flopping her head down onto my stomach and whacking me in the face (all while sleeping) it was back to the crib. So Wednesday was a very boring day for us (but thankfully involved a 3.5 hour nap!) but she slept much better last night and besides the runny nose seems to be just fine again.

Other than that... Well there really isn't much other than that that I can think of. So here are a few pictures of the violent sleeper.

Sitting on the couch while we vacuumed the cushions.

She has never let me put these on her before, but for some reason this time she found it all really funny.

I pulled out as many necklaces as I could find and she just kept layering them on. She is such a girl.

She loves to sit at the piano and give it a good whacking.

I love how she turns the pages like she's actually reading the music.

I've been trying to get some cool shots of just her hands on the piano, but the lighting in our apartment is terrible, let alone every time I want to take a picture of what she's doing she stops doing it. EVERY TIME.

a CUTE dancing baby

2009-03-17T22:11:00.004-04:00

Okay...i'd like to point out first that I sometimes worry when I put more than 1 post up in a day, that people won't notice the first one. So for the record...there are new pictures below!

So Kendalynn LOVES dancing. Oh my gosh anytime one of her toys plays a song or a TV show or I-Tunes goes on...she dancing. The day she is old enough to pay attention for longer than 5 seconds we already know we're putting her in some sort of dance class.

So...the day this video was taken, she was dancing ALL DAY. She spins and spins so much that she falls down every few seconds. But anyhow... the song playing was just some random song I clicked (when she's around we listen to classical or pleasant music i promise.)

Enjoy my CUTE kid!

lonely lil' me

2009-03-17T21:09:00.005-04:00

Alright, i've been pretty bad at keeping up with this posting of pictures-but we've been fairly busy so...yeah.

As for our update, we have no returned to Raleigh! Well...I should say I have returned to Raleigh, and Tyler is floating about. March 9th Tyler started a 6 weeks phase down in Columbia, SC for training which is far enough that he only returns to us on the weekends while Kendalynn and I stay at home losing our minds. (alright, maybe i'm the only one losing my mind.) First of all, I HATE sleeping in the apartment by myself, it really freaks me out. At night when I walk up the stairs to our room I feel like I have to walk sideways so I can keep an eye on the upstairs and the downstairs to make sure no one creeps up on me, and most nights I do walk sideways. I'm paranoid, I know...but whatever. Blugh.

Other than that tragic part of our lives everything is pretty much the same. Oh...well there is one more thing I could say. We've decided to let it be known to the world, that yes...I am pregnant again (whoot whoot) and so no...i'm not just getting fat. We were going to wait a little longer to announce it, but I started getting "congratulations!" from people that weren't supposed to know yet, so apparently people are already leaking the news so I figure why not just let it flood out. (by the way...due date is Sep. 20th, I am currently 13.5 weeks.) Tyler and I are both completely convinced that it's going to be another girl. We are both VERY picky about names, so in a way it's easy to come up with them since it's rare that we agree so if it's a girl it will be Taylor Morgan, and if it's a boy it's probably going to be Jackson Morgan. (Morgan after Tyler's great grandpa Lake out in Rigby, Id who is amazing and going to outlive us all. He's 92...)

Anyways...enough writing, lets get to the pictures.

She likes to get in and on everything.

She also loves our phones. We never let her play with phones but she still tries to get them.

We went to Ammon's sister's house with Jamie & Emmy for an egg hunt and Kendalynn very much liked the chalk. I wish I had pictures of it, but she also LOVED the little balls in the backyard, and for good 10 minutes or so tried to pick up all of them at the same time. The most she got was 3.

Just like with phones, whenever we break out a laptop all she wants to do is get close and push the buttons, which she is also not allowed to do. (ONCE we let her sit at the computer desk and push buttons on our Mac... she somehow turned on this function where the computer says outloud EVERYTHING that you're doing (opening/closing folders, selecting stuff, etc...) and it took me 10 minutes to figure out how to turn it off.

She is also getting to this point where she only wants to feed herself the food. So fine go for it. The only problem is, when she "feeds" herself the food becomes a toy rather than something that actually gets eaten. So if someday they take her away for being malnourished...let it be known it is not my fault.

The North Carolina Zoo

2009-02-19T11:45:00.003-05:00

Tyler has last Friday off and came up with the idea that perhaps we should take this oppurtunity (as it would probably be our last) to go to the North Carolina Zoo which happens to be here in Asheboro. It was probably the perfect day because the weather was wonderful and there was hardly anyone there with us.

Most of the animals were just laying around doing a whole lot of nothing, so Kendalynn didn't seem to notice that there was anything specific to look at, but there were a few fun things that caught her eye. Here are a few fun pictures I got from the day.

This was probably by far the coolest thing, and I wish I could have got a better picture! Kendalynn stood right up against the glass and the polar bear swam right up to her face put his paws on the glass and then after a second he'd push himself backwards to the rocks. Then he'd dive down again, come up to her face and do the same thing. It was probably the only thing that got her really excited all day.

Isn't it such a cute fox? Oh they were so fluffy and adorable I wanted to take one home.

Tyler and Buggy dear.

The angry owl. His eyes are even red in the picture.

I LOVE giraffes and was very glad to see them moving around unlike almost everything else.

I was also excited to see the lions...and then we saw them and how boring they were. Sad. (but at least they were visible. Both the black bears AND the grizzly bears were completely out of sight.)

These gorillas were HUGE. blugh.

You can't really tell in this picture, but the baboon closest to the camera had CRAZY hair. It was like one giant afro, and looked as if someone used one of those crimper things everyone used in the 90's or something. Wow.

She was superb the whole day, but by the time we got to the car she was beat.

And not long after we left she grabbed her monkey (she LOVES that monkey) and fell asleep. Cute cute.

Eureka!

2009-02-19T11:18:00.005-05:00

Ladies and Gentlemen it's the moment we've all been waiting for! Last week we got Tyler a new laptop for his upcoming training for Aldi and so I figured I'd give my angry blog a shot on here, and what do ya know...no problems whatsoever! So for the next 2 weeks while Tyler is home with us we'll make sure to do lots of pictures for everyone.

In our apartment here in Asheboro we have a cute little deck right off our family room, and when it's nice outside we let bugs walk around and she LOVES it. So here are some cute pictures of her enjoying the outside and a few other things.

I'm sure anyone who has met my child can guess what she is doing here. To her there is nothing too big/obscure/odd to try (even things that should appear so completely obvious to not belong there at all) to get it in her mouth.

This is probably one of my favorite things that she does, and I'm trying hard to get a good video of it. She puts her sleepy rag (her "blankie" I suppose) over her face...yes...covering her eyes, and then walks around the house laughing at herself. She runs right into things and trips all over the place, and it's so funny! Luckily she's super tough and nothing ever seems to hurt her. Crazy kid.

I just thought this picture was especially cute.

She is not supposed to climb on these chairs. I have to tip one of them over so she won't, and this one (the computer chair) we try to always push under the desk. But man...it's as if she sits and waits for us to forget because the moment we do she's up there.

This time I let her sit up there for a second so I could try and get some cute pictures.

She knows she's not supposed to be up there, so naturally the moment one of us gets close to her she gets very squirmy and crazy because she knows we're going to take her down.

This is so cute. We started saying family prayers with her at night before she goes to bed, so now when we say "fold your arms" this is what she does. Ahhh she's so cute!

Finally!

2009-02-10T10:29:00.008-05:00

It's a miracle! There are pictures this time! Now don't get too excited, because my problem is not gone, in fact it took me 3 hours to get all these pictures on here in the first place. (Every so often I'd try to upload one and after many failed attempts sometimes I'd get one up!)

So here are as many pictures as I could get up today of our cute and precious little Buggy dear, and since Tyler and I aren't that cute or aren't attempting to do new and exciting things we don't bother even taking pictures of ourselves. :) Don't worry, we haven't changed at all.

This one isn't that great, but she's starting to put these necklaces on all the time and I'm glad that she seems to have girly tendencies!

I don't know how I managed to get this face, but I thought it was pretty great.

She decided to help me unload the water bottles. As of late she suddenly loves water bottles. When she sees us with one she really wants us to help her get it in her mouth to drink from it. Sometimes she actually drinks it, and other times she just lets it slip out all over the floor.

I'm really not big on giving her anything that isn't healthy or good for her in someway because I have a hard enough time getting her to eat period. But for the first time I gave her an oreo, and she enjoyed eating it as well as making a mess with it.

She was never allowed on the couch before but now she can climb up so easily that we can't do anything about it really. She gets up there and falls off probably 3 or so times a day AND DOESN'T EVEN BLINK and then she just climbs back up again. At first I really tried to stop her, but then it got to the point where if she's going to do it we figure she might as well learn. I guess it's a good thing it's not a very tall couch!

NOTE: If she gets brain damage I'm blaming Tyler. He's the daredevil here, not me!

I love this face. She makes the funniest faces and sounds while she's in the bathtub and it is rather cute.

update on us

2009-01-27T22:59:00.003-05:00

Well even though I've tried and tried and tried to get more pictures up here (to absolutely NO avail...) I figure I can still at least write about what's going on in our crazy lives! We are still in Asheboro, NC (look it up...ghetto land...not even a Target to shop at!) but we know for sure that Tyler starts his next training phase on March 9th, so we'll be back in Raleigh the weekend before. Whoo-hoo!

Tyler has been working like crazy, and sometimes even puts in about 70 hours a week! He's currently working as a Store Manager for his training and has been so since late November. It's a really tough job. The store has lots of problems but the girls who work here are really trying hard to catch up on the extremely poor training they had before Tyler got here. Tyler's boss isn't very encouraging and hardly ever gives Tyler positive feedback which really bothers me. Tyler is doing great things and more than anything deserves great compliments from his boss. What a poop! Sadly, once this part of the training is done and we get back to Raleigh, Tyler will spend the next twelve weeks (six in Kannapolis, NC and six in Columbia, SC) only to come home on the weekends. The joys training! At least it will end!

Kendalynn is a hoot! She's walking around like crazy and is pretty much always getting into EV-ER-Y-THING. She really enjoys her books and often carries them over to Tyler or I and likes to sit in our laps while she flips through the pages. She LOVES music and will dance to just about anything. Tyler and I watch The Office just about everyday and EVERYTIME she hears the theme song she stops whatever she's doing and starts dancing! We've made a video or two of it and perhaps I can get one up someday. She also really loves her bath time and splashes like crazy. One of her other favorite past times is to push the laundry basket around the house (frequently in to walls or other things that won't move where she gets really frustrated) and gathers current favorite items and puts them in and continues pushing them around. She is such a good little girl and we sure do like her lots. :)

As for me I'm just losing my mind here with nothing to do but shop at Aldi...and bring Tyler lunch at Aldi. :) I'm looking forward to the day we will get to go back to good ol' Raleigh. But anyhow...hopefully someday this madness with my blog not liking my pictures will come to an end and you can all enjoy pictures of our cute and crazy kid!

A PICTURE A PICTURE!

2009-01-27T00:34:00.001-05:00

Okay...I could only get one picture to work (after working on this for quite some time) and Tyler wants to go to bed so I'll try again tomorrow! However...I did want to post it!

So real quick, this is the blanket I finished tonight and I absolutely love it! This is the 4th blanket I've completed! (I'm so proud of myself when I'm crafty!) I made my first one while I was pregnant with Kendalynn and decided I would make one for each of my kids and my siblings kids so I always have one going. So for any of my siblings looking at this (married ones) this blanket could be yours! I would consider it a boy blanket, so first one to have a boy is the winner!

Alright...sorry it's not a cute picture of my kid...but I can be exciting too right? :) Hopefully I'll get some up of her tomorrow! Ta ta!

help help help

2009-01-15T13:20:00.000-05:00

Alright...I surrender.

It seems that all google related things (gmail & blogger) have decided to rebel against me and not cooperate AT ALL. With my e-mail, I try sending e-mails to various people and I happily write my message and click send. But oh no. Luckily I looked up an e-mail I had sent (or thought I sent) only to find that my sent message folder was full of BLANK e-mails to myself in place of the e-mails I meant to send. ???????? Not only that, but most of the e-mails that I am "successful" in sending to people end up in html format. What on earth? No clue.

Also with my blogger...every time I try to upload pictures, it just doesn't work. The pop-up window comes out and I select all the darling pictures that I want to show the world of my cute cute cute child, and then after a few moments of it "uploading my pictures" the window suddenly goes to this page as if the internet cut out. Why why why?

So after all of my attempts to fix the problems that I don't understand I have decided to ask the world for its input. If ANYONE has ANY ideas of what on earth is wrong...whether it's me, my computer (I have a mac), or my internet browsers (Safari & FireFox) I would love to get these things resolved.

HELP HELP HELP!!

so far in California...

2008-12-18T13:49:00.001-05:00

Well thus far in California we have had some fun times. She is madly in love with the family cat Chuney (uncle Chuney to the grandkids) and has enjoyed the new sites and different toys. The very first picture is a monkey that my mom gave her which she gets very excited about and gives big hugs to which is very cute.

I won't say much, because I'm going to try to post pictures as often as I can to keep Tyler updated with what is going on while we're away. We miss him oh-so-very much! Our computer at home and my mom's computer both have web cams, so we're going to try and chat with Tyler this evening so Kendalynn can see daddy. I show her pictures of him that are around the house, and she gets very excited so we know that she still remembers him. (I imagine it would take quite a LONG time for her to forget him...she REALLY likes daddy.)

Alright...enjoy the pictures!

Attempting to follow the cat.

Spaghetti!

We put her in the kitchen so she wouldn't get distracted by all the people at our house. You can see she wasn't very motivated.

A SWEET hair style after a nap.

Getting excited about the her bath.

She's just too funny in the bathtub.

The face just looks loud doesn't it? And wow...she was yelling VERY loud.

A happy baby after bath time.

More than anything, she LOVES the cat. She gets so excited it's like she doesn't know what to do with herself.

Kendalynn really likes this phone. It's nice because then she forgets about mine.

This is one of my favorite toys from when I was a kid-a cute little cash register! She can't play with the coins that go with it though, because we quickly discovered they fit perfectly in her mouth!

the birthday festivities

2008-12-16T15:18:00.000-05:00

So not a whole lot of things happened on Kendalynns birthday that are really worth mentioning. We attempted to go to church, to find that the address I came across was nothing but a dead end neighborhood street. Although, while driving around for an extra hour just to see what we could find we did discover that I have a built in GPS in my brain and was able to direct us back home very easily. Tyler was very impressed. We went home to play with Kendalynn, eat food, and take a good long nap. We then went off to Raleigh to go eat a SCRUMPTUOUS dinner with Jamie, Ammon, & Emberly followed by a quiet evening at our Raleigh apartment while Kendalynn played with her birthday presents from the Ehrisman family. (Jamie, Ammon & Emberly for those of you who didn't know that.)

Anyhow...here are some pictures from the exciting day which were quite cute of our little Bug dear.

I think this is actually from the day before, her hair was really crazy after bath time. And look, I'm in the picture too! I'm never in pictures!!

The birthday brownie! And yes...I actually let her eat some!

She came over and just plopped herself down right next to me, it was quite cute.

Jamie's clan gave her this telephone toy with wheels and a string attached to it and she LOVED it. She pulled it around the rest of the night.

Kendalynn "opening" her presents.

Daddy showing Kendalynn a toy we borrowed for our plane ride.

Kendalynn putting her finger in a picture daddy's nose for the fun of it. Just like her mom.

Very focused on her playing.

I'm pretty sure she had just bonked her head which is why she looks sad. But I thought it was a cute one of her in Tyler's lap.

happy travels...

2008-12-16T14:28:00.000-05:00

No actually. NOT happy travels. So most of you have probably noticed from other postings that I am now in California visiting my parents for a week! Wahoo! We found a plane ticket taking me from Raleigh go San Jose, and then from San Jose to Atlanta (where we will spend Christmas Eve & Christmas day) for only $276! Little did I know what a long and terrible day it would be...

Monday was the fateful day, where Jamie took us to the airport at around 9:30 in the morning. Our first flight was only 50 minutes, and Kendalynn hardly made a sound. We rushed to our 2nd flight which and we safely made it to our seat to find that this was a 5 HOUR FLIGHT! Wow... So we start moving around the runway, to find that our flight was going to be delayed for AN HOUR because apparently too many planes were going towards the west coast. Whoop. However when we land we realize, that we missed our connecting flight there in Las Vegas to San Jose. Crud. So we then get booked for a flight from Las Vegas to Phoenix, and then from Phoenix to San Jose. So we get on our flight headed to Phoenix, when that plane also stopped on the runway to be delayed for a half hour. And then guess what happened? You're right...we missed our connecting flight from Phoenix to San Jose. Luckily...I had my mother on the phone while running around the airport trying to find a plane to tell me there was a flight from Phoenix to Monterey leaving soon. So I run to that counter, get a spot on that plane. Thank goodness!

Well...that plane was actually under maintenance so we didn't leave for quite sometime. By the time we got on the plane for our 2 hr 48 min flight (holy crapola) we landed in Monterey at 1:30 local time, and 4:30 our time. OH YA! AND...while waiting for my Monterey flight, they sent me to 3 different counters to try and figure out what to do about my lugagge (which was tagged to go to San Jose) and no one would help me find a way to get it to Monterey with me. So my mom had to borrow a car seat from someone else that night so we could get home, and borrow some pj's (so Kendalynn was dressed as a boy for a day) to sleep in. The next morning, I had to call and argue with an angry man in San Jose who said I either had to come and get it there, or pay $100 to get it delivered to me. Ahhh! I finally got him to send it back to Phoenix, so they could send it to Monterey that night around 11 where we could pick it up. Wow.

Luckily, Kendalynn was actually quite good throughout our endless travels, and we arrived safe and sound to my parents house. Our loving Chuney cat was ready and waiting for some good loving, and Kendalynn has been more than willing to give it! So, moral of the story...DON'T FLY US AIRWAYS! Okay...that's all, I just wanted to get it out of my system for the world to see!

Time flies!

2008-12-13T16:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to Kendalynn!

That's right, little Buggy-love dear will be turning 1 tomorrow! Yesterday was her 1 year check up which involved a prick to the finger (but no crying at all for that! She's so tough!), and 4 yucky shots. Although she did cry for the shots, it didn't last long and for the rest of the day she was surprisingly happy considering her morning. She is now a whopping 18 lbs 1 oz, and just over 29 inches long! She has definitely come a long way from a mere 5 lbs, 15.6 oz, and 19.5 inches. And now here we are, with a crazy kid who is currently sitting in a box, eating it at the same time.

So Happy Birthday to Kendalynn!! Even though she has no idea what that really means, we'll celebrate anyways with a night of fun with Jamie, Ammon, and Emberly before Kendalynn and I head off to California the next day! Hopefully we will get around to posting a few things while we're in California with my parents, my brother Topher, and my brother Matt, his wife Mel and their 3 amazing and adorable kids Madison, Peyton, and Eli! It will be a fun week!

Getting ready with daddy.

2008-12-12T15:31:00.000-05:00

Alright, heres another quick and cute little story about our little Buggy love. Tyler didn't have to go to work yesterday til around 10:30, so Bugs was eager to follow him around and see what he was doing while getting ready. So while I was out in the front room, Tyler decided to do not only his hair, but Kendalynns as well! So here is my sweet little girl with a new little hair do.

What's in the box?

2008-12-11T15:18:00.000-05:00

Oh funny funny... So Tyler brought home this box that Kendalynn loves to play with, and sit in mostly. The other night Tyler put it over his head and looked out at Bugs through the side hole and she just couldn't figure out what was going on. First she just looked at it, then looked at me, and then she got more curious and daring, and started poking in the hole, and eventually started lifting it up to see that daddy really was in there! She's a funny one!

"the eye"

The timid stage.

The getting a little more curious stage.

The conquering fear stage.

The "Oohh..there's daddy!" stage.

What have you done?

2008-12-10T16:53:00.000-05:00

I thought this was nifty! I was looking at a friend's blog and she had this on there, and I thought it was pretty cool! You copy the list and put it on your own blog, and bold the things that you have done! Just a silly thing to fill up empty slots of time!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie/commercial
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

"DAM" Cruise

2008-12-10T10:22:00.001-05:00

Alright let me explain the title of this blog, because I am not being vulgar! The Holland America Cruise Line has the tradition of all of their ships ending in "dam." The Eurodam (our brand spankin' new ship!), the Westerdam, the Rotterdam and so on and so forth. Hence their fettish with using "dam" with things throughout the week. So remember that in the very last picture, my favorite of the week.

So anyways, here are some of the pictures taken throughout our AWESOME week in the Caribbean!

However...before we get to the details and such...we'd like to dedicate a big

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

to the man who made the whole week of fun festivities with family possible!

We sure do love him and appreciate the chance we had to make all those memories because of him. :)

They had quite a few basketball things throughout the week which Tyler very much enjoyed.

We had to do countless things to keep her entertained each night at dinner!

THE BAHAMAS!

Off to the Bahamas!

Welcome!!

She's going through a climbing face to say the least.

I LOVE this picture of Ryan and Kara. :)

Bugs was a little afraid of the cold water, so we play a game with her in pools, where one of us goes under the water, and then pops out to say "boo!" and she cracks up every time. It was oh so very cute.

Just a cute random shot of her face on the way back.

PUERTO RICO!

Part of the old forts we visited and the BEAUTIFUL coastline.

Just being the doll that she is!

A cool looking little side street.

I admit I totally staged this picture of the boys...but its cool looking! All of them together. :)

Taking the trolley back to our boat. Notice the baby totally knocked out on my lap!

This is the only one I felt worthy of posting from our diving trip in St. Thomas. Isn't Kara the greatest!?!?

I also had to put a picture that showed my poor little tagged baby!

I thought this one was great. She did not eat very well that whole week!

The whole family at a formal night dinner.

This one HAD to be last. After a week of going to cruise activites to earn "Dam Dollars" (yes...thats right!) we had something like $280 of them! So the final night we went and all picked out sweaters and t-shirts that said "Dam Ships" on them!

What a happy "dam" family!

Asheboro - Our New Home!

2008-12-08T14:40:00.000-05:00

For those of you who haven't heard, we moved!....sort of. Tyler was all set to do the next part of his Aldi training as a Store Manager in the store just 10 minutes away, when they decided to put him at a store that had just "dismissed" their manager in Asheboro, NC which is about 1.5 hours west of Raleigh (our REAL home.) Whoop whoop!

Since Aldi is responsible for the move, they pay for our housing here in Asheboro, and first they suggested that we get an extended stay hotel room. However, since Asheboro is rather small, no hotels had anything more than a microwave and mini-fridge! So we did some research and found that renting a furnished apartment was much cheaper than a tiny hotel room anyways, so we have a wonderful 3 bedroom apartment! My favorite part of it is the kitchen, cause there is more cupboard and counter space than I know what to do with. Asheboro itself is....well...for those of you have been to Rigby, Idaho, it's a lot like that! Theres a Walmart........and basically I won't really be leaving the apartment much!

Anyhow...here are some fun pictures of the apartment and some silly Bug pictures.

Our happy Kitchen

I LOVE the gigantic counter. LOVE IT!

Tyler brought home this box, and she LOVES it.

Unless it's "clicked" closed she pulls it down and climbs on in.

THIS is a great story. We went in to Aldi with Tyler after it closed, and I couldn't get her to sit in the cart, cause the floors were no place for a crawling baby. So, I put her in this box and put it in front of the shopping cart and pushed her around in it. She didn't try to get out once!

My Parents Visit

2008-11-18T12:35:00.000-05:00

Hooray for parents/grandparents! We had a superb week with my parents out here, doing fun things and just sitting around with them. Of course Kendalynn isn't old enough to really remember at all who they were, but she warmed up to them as soon as they walked in the door! Grandpa actually made her laugh quite a bit throughout the week, and we discovered that Emberly makes Kendalynn want to fly. (I'll try and post that video so you all know what I'm talking about.)

Well anyways...enough words! Here are some pictures of random things we did throughout their week here in Raleigh!

As you can see here...Jamie has A LOT of leaves on her property, and so we raked them up one afternoon (me with a tiny baby rake!) while Emberly plowed around in the gigantic piles!

Here is a picture of Buggy-love in my sunglasses. She thinks its funny to wear them. And then we also have Tyler dumping all the peanuts from Lonestar into his leftovers to take home!

Here is Emberly standing next to the leg of some dinasour - which really was large - at the Museum in downtown. And then we have Kendalynn sitting in a different ones footstep!

My favorite! My mother eating Jamie's banana bread - and then her sticking the whole thing in her mouth cause I dared her too! HA!

Here is Tyler standing behind the jaw of a extinct (THANK GOODNESS) and distant relative of the great white shark. (CAN YOU IMAGINE? 42 FT. LONG!!) And then theres Emberly, Kendalynn and me standing in a fake tree? I dunno...I guess it was an example of what's really out there.

And last...here is me and Buggy-love at our day at a state park, and another of (it cracks me up!) Emberly and grandpa doing....what exactly? I'm not sure. But it's funny, and most likely inspired by Emberly! She's so funny!

One Will Have To Do...

2008-10-21T15:59:00.000-04:00

Alright...so I keep trying to upload pictures, and after 20 minutes of this I've only been able to upload 1 picture that actually looked normal. ONE! So this'll have to do for the time being until this blog and I become friends again.

So lately Kendalynn seems to have a great love for the pillows from the couch. We use them to lay on the floor to watch movies on the computer, and this last week she suddenly decided that they were very entertaining. Everything seems to be so much funnier to her if it is done on or around the pillows and it gives us SO much entertainment. She's also having some good times reaching up and playing the piano and taking all of her wipes out of the container and tossing them around the floor. She definitely is a little nut job sometimes, but she is definitely a cute nut!

The little Bug herself, enjoying her throne!

Phooey.

2008-10-20T23:36:00.000-04:00

Alright...well I've tried over the course of the last week or so to add pictures onto the blog, but for some reason it just doesn't want me to. So sorry for people who check it often and who feel let down by nothing new and exciting to look at, but know that I'll keep trying to make up for it when I figure out why our internet is unhappy!

Duke Trip - Hooray Blue Devils!

2008-09-19T22:37:00.000-04:00

Due to Carrie's wonderful visit we decided to go to Duke for a day to see the beeeaaaauuuuuutiful campus. We took some loverly pictures of the chapel and old buildings and even tried to get into the basketball gym which of course was locked. We visited the gardens which were quite awesome and full of pretty things. So here are some of the pictures we collected from the day! Enjoy!

The dorm buildings. I wish ours looked like that!

Beautiful architecture.

The pretty chapel.

The insanely large water lilies. Seriously...I could fit our little family in it. Granted it would probably sink....

Me and cute little Bug-Bug.

2008-09-05T14:46:00.000-04:00

CARRIE! Alright...since Carrie and Jamie have both taken time to post a blog all about me, I decided that I would take this opportunity to post something all about Carrie since she is coming to visit! 9 days! How exciting indeed! So hopefully we'll have a grand time take lots of fun pictures to post later. :)

So here's to you Carrie...your stupendous-ness and all your fun faces!

CARRIE!

2008-09-02T14:31:00.000-04:00

Alright it's been a little while so I suppose it's time for an update. The only thrilling thing I have to say for myself, is that we finally got a table and 4 chairs! WOO-HOOO! I was getting so tired of eating on the floor, so on Labor Day I was going through Craig's List and found this magnificent table for a good deal. The seller (named Katie also) said she already had 6 other people ask about it, but when she found out my name was Katie too, there was a sudden bond between us and she said if I could get there before 3:30 it was mine. SOLD! So hooray for tables. I've already done a puzzle, and now I have a place to scrapbook without baby getting into everything and taking my things!

As for our spectacular child...she is now crawling in the traditional way, but does occasionally slip in a inch-worm style movement every so often. She is so fast! She also seems to have mastered the art of grabbing onto things and pulling herself to a standing position. This is usually followed with a few moments standing, then a sad "come help me I can't get down" little whine, or a nice little plop to the ground. Also she has mastered the art of finding the tiniest things to put in her mouth. No matter how many times we vacuum or sweep the kitchen, she finds a way. :) Other than that, life is good here in North Carolina and we couldn't be happier!

Our nifty table!

She pulls herself up standing and sucks on the table...yuck.

Cute pj's

She loves climbing in and on everything.

So rare...and so cute!

She LOVES making messes of her things...mostly the things

she knows she's not suppose to get into. :)

...And Wiser Too!

2008-08-29T12:54:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was my super birthday (a whopping 22!) which was a thrilling day as any birthday should be. It started off with an almost heart attack, as I was lying in bed and heard the front door close. Yikes! As I timidly went downstairs fearing the unknown, I was happily surprised with balloons streamers and birthday signs decorating my living room, with a scrumptious birthday breakfast bagel and cream cheese awaiting me on the chair courtesy of a super big sister. I'm yet to get my birthday package from my mother, because as my dad said, "It wouldn't be a real birthday if you actually got your package on time. " However, I was able to celebrate with lots of fun activities! A work out video in the morning, and lots and LOTS of unpacking more boxes upstairs filled with clothes for which we have no dressers to call home.

Once Tyler got home we took Bugs over to Jamie and Ammon's who offered to watch her while we went out for dinner at the Macaroni Grill. (Which was splendid!) We then made a short trip to the mall where Tyler spent his time enjoying the benches and the watching the evening shoppers while I shopped, and a quick trip to Coldstone to redeem my free birthday ice cream treat. :) Then at the end of the day when we went to collect our Bug dear, as we knocked on the door suddenly the lights went out and a candle lit treat made it's way to the door while Jamie, Ammon & Emberly started singing "Happy Birthday." Jamie was super enough to make our favorite Cookie Monster dessert, which Emmy waited all day for and ate with a super party hat on! (Pictures will come later!) Wahoo for Jamie!

All in all a good day, only 364 days til the next one! Yay for being a whopping 22! :)

Our new addition!

2008-08-19T16:33:00.001-04:00

No no no silly people, we don't have another baby or anything. But we have a new car! Tyler had his first day of work yesterday, and since his job entails a LOT of driving around, they give the District Managers a new Toyota Camry!

Other than that, so far Tyler has really enjoyed work and Bugs & I are having fun setting up our nifty apartment and visiting here and there with Jamie & Emberly. Emberly has been quite a thrill, and seems to think that Kendalynn is a "super baby" and can probably fly. :) Bugs likes Emberly a lot and kicks her legs and yells in excitement just about all the time she is around.

Well anyways...that's all for now. Life sure i

s swell and Raleigh is grrreeeat!

Tyler on his first day!

The new addition! Wahoo!

Targets, Caramel Sundaes & Boxed Furniture!

2008-08-11T21:08:00.000-04:00

WELCOME TO NORTH CAROLINA!!

We've finally made it! After some good weeks visiting family and living out of our suitcases and the joys that go along with that, we've finally arrived at our new

and WONDERFUL home in North Carolina! It's a little odd not knowing where you are and how to get just about anywhere but we're managing just dandy! Luckily my super-sister Jamie is about 5 or so minutes away, and all my shopping needs and more are right down the street. And lucky-ducky little me....there's a nifty Target about a mile away!!!! So wonderful.

So far the ward seems great, and so does the weather! At the very first glance we felt a little let down by our surroundings, but after we've ventured a bit here and there we are actually thrilled with where we are so things just keep getting better. And as I mentioned to my mother, of all the states I've been to in the last year, I have only been able to find ONE McDonalds that sells caramel sundaes, which is in Salinas. But lo' and behold, I know for sure I'm in the right place because I checked the other day, and to my great surprise and thrill, the McDonalds here sell them as well! Life just couldn't be better!

Our cute apartment!

Our reck of a bedroom!

Cute little bug bug on the bed.

Our new bookshelf and desk with awesome computer!

CUTE cute bug bug in her CUTE cute bedding & crib!

California Part 2!

2008-07-30T11:15:00.000-04:00

Well after graduation we started our long journey off to our new life in Raleigh, and our first stop was a fun-filled adventure to California! We spent about a week there doing various fun activities with my parents, Carrie & Duben, and a few good visits from Topher as well. Among the funtivities were a SF Giants game(the shortest baseball game I've EVER seen), a sun-filled day at the beach (with sadly small waves...but still fun!), a trip to Santa Cruz, and of course a trip to Carmel beach with hot dogs and s'mores. Fun fun fun in the sun!

I was wondering why it wouldn't budge...

All us kids. :)

She's such a California girl! (at heart!)

Cutie-pa-tootie!

Little family at the Giants game.

Big family at the Giants game.

Cute little hubby & me.

July 4th - "I'll know it when I see it."

2008-07-04T21:32:00.000-04:00

While still in Rexburg at school we had the great opportunity of spending this thrilling day of fireworks, street booths and the...well...such diverse group of citizens of Idaho Falls and surrounding areas with Grandma Jenkins, Kara, and Carrie and Duben. Fun fun fun... However, The REAL story of the 4th of July festivities however begins long after the sun had gone down.

So as the fireworks died off and we got our things together we proceeded to our cars, which we had decided Tyler and Kara would take Grandma back home, while Buggy and I would join Carrie and Duben to head straight back to Rexburg to get Buggy-love into bed. So Carrie, Duben and I decided the best way would be the back roads. We had a horrible map but figured it wouldn't be too bad so onward we went. It started off great, besides the fact that Carrie started to complain about needing to go to the bathroom. In fact, 5 or so minutes in we reached a point that took us about an hour to get to last year. WONDERFUL! ...or so we thought...

As we wandered quite aimlessly around the back roads of the area, nuuuumerous times we figured we knew exactly where we were or what we were looking for. "I'll know it when I see it", says Duben as he drives us in an hour long circle. A circle you ask? Why yes dear reader. While driving we came upon Ririe and decided to turn left towards Rexburg to go far far from Ririe, for we did not want to go that far south or what not. Well, after a few wrong turns here and a few wrong turns there we came upon a sign for which we all thought would say Rexburg was only a few miles away with our comfy beds, yummy night time snacks, and a toilet waiting for Carrie's immediate use. But no...this particular sign ruined all hopes we thought we had of being anywhere close. Thats right ladies and gentlemen. We had made our way back into the heart of Ririe! So we asked for directions to get on the right route back to Rexburg.

Wowee! So no...Duben will never live down "I'll know it when I see it." Carrie and I came up with a great version of the song "Give Said The Little Stream", we teased Duben a great deal, and watched for glowing eyes of small creatures on the side of the road. Oh yes...fun was had by all.

Snippity Snippers

2008-07-02T20:28:00.000-04:00

Alright...so I've been angry with my hair for a while now and it was time to do something about it. But in this house we don't believe in getting normal haircuts from people who actually know how, so I gave Carrie a 'holler' and she came over that night to chop it off. Whoop dee doo! Now...lets just say it was a good idea that she started going for a longer length...cause it ended up shorter than that. BUT, I love it! I had to do a few minor adjustments the morning after but now I think it's juuust great! Wahoo!

Before the snip...

During the snip...I THOUGHT the garbage bag would help...but...no

The end!

Hooray for cute hair!

I just know she loves it...AND she can't pull it anymore!

Attack of the Bee

2008-07-01T14:41:00.000-04:00

So...here I was sitting at the computer while baby bopper played happily in her crib, when all the sudden there was a scary buzzing noise.... A GIANT bee appeared in the room from the hardly even open window! Now...this was no happy pleasant bee...it was an angry evil bee. From the moment it arrived it kept flying right at me and right at poor baby, and frantically flying right at the window in poor attempts to escape. Silly me...I started moving around the room trying to dodge the scary bug since I've never been stung and don't plan on it happening anytime soon. All while poor baby is sitting there watching me run around and watching this bug and puts two and two together and she started getting a little scared and whimpering. So me being super mommy...I open the door in her room that leads to more doors that lead to outside, grab my little bopper and run from the room so the scary bee can fly out and away to the happy outside. HOORAY! So...if my poor little baby grows up with a fear of bees....I guess we all know why.

Daddy's Day!

2008-06-15T23:42:00.000-04:00

Hooray for daddy's! Today I learned a valuable lesson about Daddy's Day. Don't ask what they won't for breakfast/lunch/dinner/dessert...JUST MAKE IT! All day long Tyler kept attempting to make corn dogs/peanut butter & jelly/cereal for his meals all while I was offering to make him whatever his little heart desired! So finally after stopping his attempts we had pancakes and eggs for breakfast, his favorite dinner of salsa chicken burritos, and the always enjoyable constant snacking of otter pops throughout the day! Little Kendalynn (aka Bug-Bug) wore an outfit dedicated to her daddy as well!

For the fun festivities, Carrie & Duben wanted to go to Mesa Falls for the day so we all piled in the car and were off! Other than the pesky mosquitoes, and Tyler's constant mention of the likeliness that the West Nile Virus was carried by these mosquitoes, we had a good time! Bug-Bug had fun looking at the enormous waterfalls (she loves water), sticking her hand in the drinking fountain, and getting angry on the drive home unless the camera was out. All in all it was a wonderful day!

"My Daada is #1"

Family at Mesa Falls

Me & Bug-Bug

#1 Daddy himself!

Silly baby on the way home.

Pretty Falls.

Pretty Falls again

Update Part 1: California!

2008-04-17T17:54:00.000-04:00

Okee dokee... This month we got to go out to good ol' Salinas and such to visit my dear old parents and fun people and sites! Bug-love sure did have fun playing in the warm sunshine since it was the first time she got the chance coming from evil-cold weather in Rexburg! It was fun to see people in the ward again and visit my old job, and also to see the looovely ocean that I love and miss so much. So anyhow...here are some loverly pictures of our trip out there and lots of the wonderful ocean scene!

Happy parents in Monterey.

Cute little family.

Ahhh...true love!

I just couldn't resist.

Bug-love w/ Granndi & Gred! (I couldn't resist!)

Out at the restaurant on the wharf.

Don't you just love it!

The sunset.

The beauuuutiful coast.

The fun we'll have!

more links

Pictures

nursing help

Camrynn Marie has arrived!

a venting post

trial run

some thoughts

buggy prayers

weird

a kid picture!

families are forever

5 years!

My newest find!

yikes...advice?

5 DAYS!!!!

random update

here we go again!

success for the year

any runner friends out there?

some mommy bragging

progress!

silly girl

for the post below...

a special spot

Caution: more blood

caution: blood

a project

do you see it?

christmas

it's a miracle! (i spoke too soon...)

lame

love

why

it's been a while...

family pictures

time to get serious

happy birthday tyler!

and its only noon.

for you buggers.

2 posts in one day. lucky people you.

perfection with a wiggly tail

happy birthday buggy dear!

a birthday shout out

a little update

my brain...a mystery to us all

it's at it again

Logan's first bath

awesomely cute kids

more of Logan

yes...he's here!

update!

an adventure

finishing up july

a random story

update with no pictures. lame i know.

IT'S HERE!!!!!!

buggy update

my fatty self

super duper sister!

a proud father moment

We're having a...

even you

nothing much

a CUTE dancing baby

lonely lil' me

The North Carolina Zoo

Eureka!

Finally!

update on us

A PICTURE A PICTURE!

help help help

so far in California...

the birthday festivities

happy travels...

Time flies!

Getting ready with daddy.

What's in the box?

What have you done?

"DAM" Cruise