For The Fam

Yes, I know it's been a while since I've posted. Not much has been happening at our house. I had a nasty cold last week that wiped me out for about five days or so. I'm feeling better now though, and it's nice to be healthy again!!
This picture is for our families! My mom keeps asking me if I'm showing, so I thought I would just post a picture. Niah took the picture- it's a little blurry. Here I am at 14 weeks and 5 days pregnant! I think I'm a lot bigger (fatter and showing sooner!) with this pregnancy than I was with the first two. Everything is going great. I LOVE being pregnant. People think I'm crazy when I say that, but it's true. I don't get sick at all, so I'm sure that has something to do with it. I love feeling the baby move inside me. I think I felt it for the first time today... maybe I was dreaming- it's still pretty early for that! I love the anticipation of waiting for the baby to come, finding out what it is, and all that stuff. I love thinking of names. Girl names are hard now that we have two of them but boy names are easy- we have lots! I am looking forward to finding out what we are having, we will probably find out in about five weeks. I'm not sure what I will do if it's a boy, our house is all girl! I can't wait to have another one join the family.

Barbie Party

Yesterday, Niah had her first real birthday party. It was so much fun. Niah chose to do a Barbie's Diamond Castle party theme. I love to plan parties so this was a great excuse for me to go all out. When we first started planning, I was just going to invite all the little girls Niah's age. What little 3 or 4 year old boy would want to come to a Barbie party, right?! Well, when I read Niah the invite list she said to me, "But Mom, what about Gavin, Mitchell, and Clayton?! They have to be at my party!" She was so upset about it that I decided we better invite the boys too. So, we told them to dress like princes and we provided a sword for them. Niah loved having them there and they seemed to enjoy the Barbie party more than I thought they would. I was worried they would get bored! All the girls dressed like Barbie princesses and brought their favorite Barbie dolls. Anyway, we had 12 little kids here in our tiny house and it was a blast. They had some free play with the Barbies and swords and then we played 'Pin the crown on the princess'. I also had some crayons and coloring pages out that the kids could color. We then opened presents. Niah was spoiled by her friends. She got some great gifts! (Thanks to everyone who came and who was so generous!)

Here's the centerpiece... Niah's Diamond Castle Barbies with a Christmas ornament tied to the balloons to hold them down!

Here's Niah cake. Every year I have tried to make Niah a cute cake, but they are never that great so this year I gave up and we had a store bought cake. I thought it turned out really cute!

Chloe posing and saying cheese for the camera. She loved hanging out with all the big kids.

Here are some of the kids coloring...
Blowing out the candles. Ni actually let everyone sing to her this year without freaking out!


Here's Niah posing by the Barbie poster.

Opening presents...
(I am still learning how to use my new camera so some of these are a little blurry. Hopefully, I'll get better with practice!)
A zoomed out view of our centerpiece...

When everyone left I realized that I didn't get a shot of everyone together, tear. It got a little crazy serving cake and ice cream, and then before I knew it, the party was over. I am really bummed about not getting a group shot. The party was so much fun and I think Niah would agree with me- she better! Thanks again to everyone who came and for all the nice gifts. Niah is lucky to have such awesome friends!

Baby #3

Yes, we are going to have another baby! (All my friends here in Vermont are probably rolling their eyes and saying, "I knew it!") We were planning on keeping it a secret until we found out what it is, but I'm not very good at lying or keeping a straight face about it and Bryan accidentally spilled the beans to one of his classmates. So, we decided it was time to make the announcement! I am thirteen weeks along and due on July 24th. This pregnancy wasn't exactly planned. Bryan and I had talked about having another baby but hadn't come to an agreement yet. I guess it was meant to be. We are thrilled!! We wanted to let Niah be the one to tell our families, but last night when we told her that there was a baby in my tummy, she didn't react the way we thought she would. She looked at my tummy and you could see the wheels turning. She said, "No you're not." I guess my belly isn't big enough to have a baby in it yet! A few minutes later I asked what she thought of it and she said, "That's interesting." She will not talk about it to anyone. If Bryan or I bring it up she says, "I don't want to talk about it." Tonight while I was tucking her in bed she asked me, "Mom, why are we having another kid?" I told her that Heavenly Father decided it was time for us to have a baby. She then asked me, "Does Heavenly Father make babies?" My response was simply, "Yes, he does." Hopefully, she'll come around. We can't wait to meet this little person and we will definitely post when we find out what it is!

Niah's Birthday

Niah had a very fun and busy birthday. It started with dance class. She told everyone that it was her birthday and her teacher was really cute about it. She told Niah after class, "I thought something was different! Your cartwheels looked like 4 year old cartwheels today!" Niah thought that was the greatest thing ever. We then went to Toys R' Us. Niah is a birthday club member and they give the kids a balloon and a crown and they announce that it's her birthday over the speaker. She got to pick out a toy, she chose a Barbie Baby Doctor that came with two little babies for the Barbie to take care of. It's really cute. I would have loved this toy as a kid!!
We told Niah she could do anything she wanted for her birthday so she decided she wanted to go bowling and to McDonalds. Sadly, when we got to the bowling alley it was league night so we ended up going to Pizza Putt to play games and eat pizza. The girls had a good time even though we didn't go bowling. Niah and Bryan wouldn't make serious faces for me! What a face B!I attempted to make my mom's famous German Chocolate Cake for Niah. It doesn't look that pretty, but it tasted really yummy!! For some reason my frosting was really runny so it looks like it's melting off of the cake, oh well. The girls couldn't keep their hands out of the frosting!

Niah got lots of fun presents. Chloe couldn't figure out why she couldn't open any of them. Thankfully, Niah was nice and let her open two of them for her! She got some HSM barbies...

The game 'Guess Who'...
Her wedding prince that she has been asking for for months now...
Some new Barbie clothes...
A HSM dance mat that we can't wait to try. She also got some really cute outfits.
Thanks to everyone who called and to everyone that sent presents. I can't believe I have a four year old, that's weird to me. Niah had a wonderful birthday and she keeps reminding me today that she is now four, not three. We are so glad that Niah is a part of our family. We love her sooooo much!

My Big Girl!

This is a day early, but tomorrow my little girl turns four! I can't believe it. Where did those years go?! Niah is such a special little girl. She makes me so happy and I am so proud to be her mom. She is funny, smart, loving, and she makes us laugh every day with the things she says. She is a great big sister to Chloe and she loves being with her friends. I love that she is my little buddy. We have so much fun together. We love you Niah and hope you have a wonderful birthday tomorrow!

Christmas 2008

We had a fabulous Christmas break! It was a very busy, fun, much needed break for us. It was so great to be with family. It seems like it's been forever since we have visited them. On Christmas Eve, we went to see Madagasgar and then headed to my Aunt Mindi's for our annual Christmas Eve party. Niah had a good time playing with my cousins that are her age. We then headed up to my dad's new cabin. It is the sweetest place ever!! I didn't want to leave. Christmas morning was so much fun with Niah and Chloe. They loved every minute of it. Niah got her princess drums that she asked for and Chloe got a Little Einsteins Pat Pat Rocket that she loves. Niah told her friend Addi when she saw her at Church in Aurora that "Santa is a smart guy. He brought me everything I wanted and more!" Bryan and I got a Digital SLR camera from my parents and Bryan gave me running shoes. Bryan's mom and dad gave us money- much needed!! We all got spoiled! Christmas day we had a little get together with my Grandpa and Aunt Dee and some of her friends from Australia. It was a little rushed because they didn't want to get snowed in at the cabin, but it was fun to see them all. Our time at the cabin will be remembered forever. It was so cozy and relaxing up there. Niah loved sledding and riding the 4-wheeler. We couldn't get her to come in. The day after Christmas we drove to Aurora to visit Bryan's family. Niah and her cousins were inseperable. They had so much fun playing with each other. Bryan's family got a Wii for Christmas so we had fun playing that and just hanging out together. We loved meeting our new niece Addison who was born on Dec. 1st. She is so sweet. Bryan and I were able to go to the Manti temple on the day that his Grandma RueLeen works there so it was a great opportunity for us. We haven't been to the temple for a while. Then we headed to our old stompin' grounds in Ephraim, UT to say hello to our friend Connor who we haven't seen in 4 1/2 years. It was great to visit with him for a few minutes. Visiting Ephraim brought back a lot of memories of when Bryan and I were dating. I love that place. New Year's Eve was fun too. Bryan's mom made Chinese food and it was so yummy! We played the Wii and then watched the ball drop. When Niah saw Dick Clark on the TV she said, "Is he real or is he fake?" We had just been talking about how he probably had some work done because he didn't even have a wrinkle on his forehead, so this was hilarious that even Niah noticed something was up! On the Tuesday night that we were there, Bryan's mom got a phone call that Bryan's cousin Melea's little girl, Shelbi, had died suddenly of what seemed to be the flu. She was only six years old and the cutest little girl. I don't know all the details, but they later found out that she had a hernia that had caused part of her colon to die and that caused infection which caused her death. We went to the viewing on Friday night and I had a hard time keeping my emotions in. I have known Melea and her family, the Sheppards, since I was a little girl and my heart aches for them. Our thoughts and prayers are with them. (If you want to read more then click on the link 'Jaden and Stacy Shaw' in our family and friends list. She does a good job of telling the story.) Even though we had an unexpected tragedy in the family, our trip was a success and I am so glad we made it there to share the holidays with them. I am excited to ring in the New Year and experience the new adventures we will have this year!