happy holidays from the stock family

Christmas 2011

2011-12-27T19:35:00.000-08:00

CHRISTMAS WAS AWESOME!

we headed to cheyenne and had christmas with dans parents!

its so fun to have a child who gets excited about presents. the one regret we have is not hiding the kitchen. once she layed eyes on it, it was all over. she was forced into opening the presents. lol

here are a few pictures...

introducing PRINCESS SADIE

church was at 9! not the ideal time for church on christmas morning. we had to get ready fast!

grandma jan gave sadie such a beautiful christmas dress, it even came with a matching jacket

christmas dinner. fondue, yummy yum yum

i know most men cant multi-task, but this guy can!

christmas parties

2011-12-19T10:44:00.000-08:00

im so excited for christmas this year!

i cant wait to see the excitement on sadies face when she opens her presents.

she walks around the house all day saying merry christmas! wheres my presents?

and i have to say, only if you are a good girl!

what does she want for christmas this year?

a princess dress

princess shoes

a princess "crown"

good thing mommy and daddy are prepared.

our friends had christmas party, it was a lot of fun! sadie got to decorate her first gingerbread house

the next day dan had his work party which was black light bowling. sadie loved rolling the ball.

both sadie and kellen could not keep their eyes off the crazy lights!

i mean seriously... they just dont get any cuter than this.

no i did not do his hair like that. it just dries that way! i have tried but there is nothing you can do about it!

i love my family! i cant wait to spend christmas weekend with them.

let it snow

2011-12-04T13:23:00.000-08:00

here are a couple pictures of K man at 6 weeks.

his crazy hair is getting long!

today we unpacked the christmas stuff. sadie was so excited.

it was fun to watch her decorate the tree. the whole time she was saying, merry christmas!

unfortunately we didnt have enough room in our apt for a real tree so we had to use our little fake one, but this little girl didnt mind!

its fun to finally have a real mantle this real to hang our awesome grandma made stockings on.

(yes, they are currently taped up since we had nothing else to use)

its been snowing all day which makes decorating for christmas more fun, and legit.

then daddy did this:

and sadie did this:

merry christmas!

weather report

2011-12-01T21:02:00.000-08:00

its 9 o'clock at night and its 5 degrees outside.

see the reflection of the lights on the road? black ice! its covering the entire parking lot.

to all my st george friends. darn you, you lucky ducks.

(however, i do love my new coat!)

snow day

2011-11-20T11:52:00.000-08:00

um hi it was like 20 degrees outside yesterday!!!

dan definitely does not have the proper attire on.

so he froze.

but sadie loved it!

this last month

2011-11-15T12:50:00.000-08:00

so i wish i had time to write all the details about the going ons of the last month, but i dont. 2 kids really cut back on your "me time"

lets just say i made a very last minute trip to st george, i know, it was a very rash decision. probably not the smartest to travel 11 hours with a 2 yr old and newborn, but in my mind there was just no other choice. i missed my family, i missed st george, i needed to get out of our little apartment, but most of all, i needed help with the baby! already having a child and then having a newborn is completely different from having just a newborn. gone are the days of sitting on the couch all day holding them and watching your favorite shows. yes, for me, two children has been hard! especially with a fussy baby. my sweet little kellen got some powerful lungs and will cry and cry and cry if he is not being held.(BTW, i love my little boy so much!) i know its only been a month, so thats my opinion so far.

anyway, i had such a great time in STG. i got to see all my friends, i took mickey to footloose, corinne took me to see les mis at the highschool, and my mom took care of kellen for a few nights. it was great!

halloween was so fun, my cousin calli happened to be in town so we took our little girls trick or treating together. they were so cute! then the next day was sadies birthday, big number 2! ha. i felt bad that daddy wasnt there, but we skyped the whole party, so kind of he was.

after a week and a half i decided it was time to get back to real life. so i said goodbye to my family and headed home. dan flew to salt lake so he could drive the rest of the way with us. that was nice:) even nicer was spending the weekend in cheyenne with dans family. sadie LOVES the snow and did not want to come inside. the last picture is sadie and her cousins. dang myself, it was the only picture i took! it was so cute they all had matching dresses and matching black boots!

anyway, now i have my batteries recharged and will be good for about 3 more months. then i will need another trip to utah:)

big sister

2011-10-16T11:55:00.000-07:00

last night we walked into sadies room to find her in the closet with this...

she put her baby in the carseat! with a necklace and some toys:) it was so cute we couldnt stop laughing at it.

and then in the morning i found it like this...

i guess the baby got hungry and needed to be entertained.
i think sadie is ready to be a big sister.
i go into the hospital 7 am tuesday morning...wish us luck!
its been a long road the last few months and cannot wait to get rid of this belly/all the other sideaffects of being pregnant/ finally have our little baby boy here!!!

weekend in utah

2011-09-13T14:13:00.000-07:00

we got to see my family for the first time since we have moved! it was so much fun!

uncle steve took sadie on her first horseback ride. i thought she would be scared but she loved it!

who knew she would have to drive from wyoming to utah to be a cowgirl?

uncle steve helps coach springville highschool football team so we went to watch that. sadie only lasted the first half and thats only because she had some cheetos

we played with cousins..sorta

the whole reason we drove down was for jennas bridal shower which was awesome and i cant wait to have her in the family. unfortunately this is the only picture i got of the shower, the rest of the time i was chasing a little girl around...

after the shower we went to my grandpas cabin in scholfield. sadie went on her first boat/fishing trip!

she LOVED the water

driving the boat with grampa.

i didnt get a picture but we caught a fish and sadie was only too happy to touch it.

im sad i didnt get any pictures of the rest of my family, i dont know what i was thinking! but other than the 7 1/2 hour drive we had a great weekend!

weekend in cheyenne

2011-09-05T21:08:00.000-07:00

so we spent the weekend at dans parents house.. and since the shumways live there while their house is being built there was never a dull moment! sadie loved playing with sammy who is 5 and connor who is almost 3. they make her laugh so hard! anyway, on saturday once upon a kid was having a huge tent sale on their winters clothes, and since we dont own any i went on stocked up on some for sadie. she now owns a real coat, snow pants, boots, gloves... and when i got home she wanted to try it all on!

the weather was so perfect we just had to go on a bike ride.

playmates sadie and connor. for the most part they were really nice to eachother. until it came to toys...then it became pretty territorial.

playing the shumways guitar. she was singing the barney song it was cute!

what an entertainer

while daniel was jammin away on the piano, he is so good, the kids decided it was time to start dancin! sammy and connor seriously have some sweet moves.

then connor did a summersault, or a dance move i dont know the name of, and sadie just happened to be in the way and got blind sided

connor felt so bad he gave her a hug!

she eats way too many goldfish

on monday jan and wally took us out to lunch and then we went to the park to feed to ducks.. there was only one at first...

but it quickly became a bird brawl for the bread. then they all started getting a little to close for comfort so we left.

and did some labor day sale shopping.. hey i need to some winter clothes too!

she was such a daddys girl this weekend!

she seriously loves her animals so much.. as soon as we got back home they all had to be next to her:)

still around

2011-08-24T12:31:00.000-07:00

   just thought i'd let everyone know we are still alive! i havent posted anything yet because i cant find our camera charger so i dont have any pictures to show:( dont worry we still have some boxes to unpack...which might take awhile. im pretty sure im not going to have any energy for the next two months.
   we have been doing a lot of drving around, getting the lay of the land and remembering where things are.casper is a...quaint town. some of it is pretty and some of it is not so pretty. i guess you could say that about anywhere. i try to stay positive and have fun but it is kinda hard moving to place where you dont know a single person! we have been to a lot of parks and sadie loves the little play place that is in the mall.
   dan is doing really well at his new job. every single person that works for him is a girl! the banks numbers were really low before he came. but last week they hit their daily goals everyday which is huge! he is really turning the bank around... casper main is back on the map! you have to see a picture of his building. its downtown so its really old, and its a huge white dome! kinda bizarre. and they have a huge tower that says wells fargo on it (you can seriously see it from anywhere in town) which i think helps bring in a lot of business
   what else...oh the weather here is amazing. st george friends be jealous. mostly in the 80's and then goes down to the 50's at night. i love it!
   the last few days sadie has randomly been taking  diaper off and then will go potty on the floor... time to potty train! i bought a little seat that goes on the toilet. everytime she sits on it she gets a candy. and then she will sit on it for a while... i get her to drink some water and read books, but no potty yet. im really hoping i can get this to work before the baby comes.
   my brother colton just got engaged, im so happy for him and jenna is so awesome! they are getting married in logan, oct 7th! im planning on going, even though i will be so huge by then. im excitd to see my family.
   oh ya i have to mention how annoying it is to find a new hairdresser. in st george my friend did it and she was so good i love her! its seriously scary going to someone you dont know. my moms friend that lives here told me she goes to the jcpenney salon, she said everyone there is good. and im sure everyone else there is good, i think i must have gotten the one bad one. it took her less than 10 minutes to cut which is insane, she cut it way too short and basically just chopped it. i hate it. i dont know what to do?! prissy come fix my hair!
   well thats it for us so far. i cant believe we have only been up here 2 1/2 weeks! its feels like its been forever. hopefully i will find the camera charger and put up some pics of our new place and new town:)

WYOMING?

2011-07-20T11:49:00.000-07:00

      so we found out last week that we will be moving to Wyoming August 1st.
                        A little fast? yes! a little crazy? maybe....but we are going anyway!
   Kinda out of the blue, Dan decided it was time to start moving up the Wells Fargo ladder. He is a personal banker right now and applied to about 10 different store manager positions in several states- california, colorado, texas, wyoming, idaho, nebraska. the funny thing is, he didnt think he would have a chance at any of them. he thought they wanted someone with manager experience. i truly think he was inspired by the holy ghost because a few days later he had phone interviews set up for nebraska, colorado, and wyoming. we couldnt believe it! the next week he had second interviews with all three!both district managers in colorado and wyoming offered him jobs over the phone!

Now, dan is such a humble guy and would never tell anyone this himself, in fact he was embarrassed when i told my family. He is and has been the number one banker in southern utah for a long time, and only a couple guys up north have better numbers than him. he is such a hard worker. let me point out that he has been working for wells fargo bank for less than a year! so both of these places wanted him pretty bad. we would have taken the boulder colorado job but it wasnt quite as much money, its so expensive to live there, and the banks there are crazy so dan would be working way more hours- which means i would never see him. we both decided Casper would be less stress and therefore better for the whole family. so we have prayed about it and we know that we are suppose to be in casper.

   that being said, i still didnt sleep at all the first couple nights just thinking about all the stuff that needs to be done.... sell our house? rent our house? find a place to live in casper? how much space will it have? what do we have to get rid of? clean the house. our stupid dishwasher is 100 years old and broken we have to buy a new one. my second child will be born in casper? i have never lived away from my family before. sadie will miss them so much! so will i! well at least i dont have to plan my relief society lesson anymore...find a sub. what a fun new adventure! i will freeze to death this winter. im so proud of my husband... how do i survive on my own with a toddler and new born? on the list goes on and on.

   Luckily dans parents and sister live in Cheyenne which is a couple hours away, so we will be somewhat close to family. and it will be nice to get to know them better.
also things seem to be coming along... wells fargo told us that they will be moving us up there, huge stress relief!
we found 6 college boys that want to rent our house.. my parents think we are kinda crazy for doing that, and they might be true, but its going to give us a few hundred extra bucks a month which is hard to pass up! plus they are all returned missionaries and my brother knows them from school and will be their land lord for us. so we will try it out for 9 months and see how it goes.
   dan took out and installed our new dishwasher...what a hunk. i cant believe over a year of not being able to use a dishwasher and we finally get one right before we move!:(
   also tomorrow we are going to casper to find a place to live, we have a few places lined up to look at... wish us luck!

we know these last couple years we have just been so blessed with everything that has happened to us. and besides moving away from my family, we are excited for this next chapter in our lives!

4th of july

2011-07-05T09:11:00.000-07:00

we had a pretty simple 4th of july weekend.. but it was so much fun!

except for saturday morning, when dan had to replace this whole piece of sprinkler pipe!

i felt so bad.. especially since he had to do the exact same thing in the front yard the day before! bummer. lets just say the guy that put these in before really sucked!

ANYWAY... on to the fun stuff

we also had her little kiddie pool out.. ill admit i sat in it with her. its the only way i can stand to be outside right now! its soooooo hot here!

so after naptime on monday sadie was all set to go party at grandmas house.

grandma made that cute 4th of july skirt for her! so patriotic.

we went to the church gym and played some family basketball..

dan showed off his skills:)

cheeser!

sadie had fun just running around the gym.. and then stealing the nursery toys

after that we went home and had a yummy BBQ.

then we watched true grit.

then we drove down to our firework spot and waited for the show...

bored?

marshall finally arrived with the little dinky fireworks.. sadie was completely mesmerized by them!

then the big fireworks started.. she loved those too but was so tired she could barely keep her eyes open!

all in all it was a fun relaxing weekend! sadie was so worn out she slept in this morning.. yay!
also i turn 6 months this week, its so crazy i cant believe it! this little guy is kicking all the time. luckily its just the cute little kicks right now, but i know what im in for! anyway, im getting my naps in whenever i possibly can since tiredness seems to rule my life right now. lets just hope i will make it through this heat over the next few months!

friends

2011-06-24T08:06:00.000-07:00

these are some of my friends from the ward...jenny, laura, and kalo.

we all live within two blocks of eachother!

or use to..kalo just moved across town:(

but laura is moving to delta!

i am soooo sad to see her and her awesome family move away:(

sadie is in love with her 3 year old daughter ava.

we are going to miss them so much!

dunkin' it

2011-06-20T16:10:00.000-07:00

so we (as in sadie and i) have been going swimming at the hokansons lately..

they are so fun to hang out with and their pool is awesome!

dan has been working really hard at his job and finally had his first saturday off in a month!

he decided (mostly i decided) that he needed some sun.... and some fun. so we headed over to the hokansons.

of course dan wanted sadie to play basketball with him,

and when he held her up to the basket, she naturally knew what to do-

dunk it!!! everytime.

she would even end by holding on to the rim.

dan was a very proud and happy papa:)

this last month

2011-05-28T08:59:00.000-07:00

its been awhile!

i feel like we have been so busy this last month..and yet not really done anything at all.

the busy part was going up north three times!

my brothers graduation from utah state

jensens wedding in logan

and my cousin jessies wedding up by provo.. so lots of traveling! lots of unhappy baby in the car.

but also a lot of fun memories!

here is what we have been up to at home..

we finally got our bathroom done! to say the least i am so happy.

new counter, new tub surround, new light fixture, faucets, painted walls, painted cabinets, new mirror.

it was a lot of work.. dan was awesome and did most of the work.

but he is starting to get sick of big projects!

also we hired a landscaper to take out the gigantic island/pond thing that was right in the middle of our yard. now its a completely different yard! we cant wait to get the grass grown and enjoy it!

here is one of our road trips.. colton drove back to st george with us this last time.

although after four hours in the car with sadie he will probably never come with us again..she only watches movies in the car for like 10 minutes at a time now.

my cousin nelson just graduated from enterprise highschool, so we had some family come down..

here is sadie with her great grandma and grandpa jenkins.

this is her first picture with them.. im so glad i remembered to get it!

four generations

my cousin calli and her baby edyn.. calli and i have never lived by eachother but we have always been pretty close. we are about 6 months apart and so are our babies!

here are some silly pictures of sadie..

"i love pretending to be like dad!"

one last thing... i turned 18 weeks today! and im feeling pretty good. my doctor said she would do the ultrasound at 19 weeks so next monday we will find out what it is! we are excited!

graduate

2011-05-09T08:44:00.000-07:00

well we made a fun trip up to logan this weekend...

congratulations to my brother colton!

he graduated in speech communications..

and we are so proud of you!

so we drove home sunday morning.. im sure being crammed in a car with her children was a great mothers day gift for my mom.

but i am so thankful for her.. i could not ask for a better example on how to be an amazing mom.

and when we finally got home dan surprised me with flowers, a really sweet card, and a book he made on shutterfly. and then he made me dinner! i love being a mom:)

18 months

2011-05-03T13:54:00.000-07:00

just wanted to say happy 18 months to my little girl!

i cant believe how fast you are growing up...

happy easter

2011-04-25T12:57:00.000-07:00

hope everyone had a good easter!

i wanted to take family pictures, but since it was right after church and sadie was pretty tired, she wanted nothing to do with pictures! this is the best one we got.

lately

2011-04-18T14:02:00.000-07:00

12 weeks.. ahh finally. this is by far the best trimester. so more sickness.

youre in the "cute" stage.

and for the most part, youre not too uncomfortable.

but now, i know its just going to start going too fast.

this little one is going to be here before we know it!

so here is our destroyed bathroom:

dan ripped out the old bathtub surround and counter.

and then he put the drywall up.

actually we finally had the new surround and counter put on.

it looks so good. and we painted.

other than cleaning, all we have to do is touch up the walls, paint the cabinet, frame the mirror, and put on a new light fixture.

sadie has been taking her baths in the sink, which she has loved.

plastic bowl and top of a bottle, those are always good bath toys.

all she had were winter pjs so i bought her some new ones.

dora and minnie mouse. her favorites! now getting dressed for bedtime is FUN

and she is watching one of her favorite shows, mickey mouse clubhouse.

still watching mickey mouse! sometimes she really gets in the zone and will not take her eyes off the tv.

not even to take a picture with mommy!

we decided to go to the kite festival on friday.

it was fun! it was a way bigger deal than we thought it would be. there were rides and games everywhere.

sadie loved the bus ride we had to take from the parking lot.

going down the little kid slide!

she did not want to get out of the ball pit

then we decided to try the big slide!

i really thought she would get scared...

they really got going prett fast.

but she laughed the whole way down!

and of course she wanted to do it again

my awesome photography

then we made our way over to the kite field. none of us had kites.. so we bought a couple $2 kites.

not the best idea

we had a little trouble getting them to stay in the air.

this little girl would NOT smile for the camera!

we could barely even get her to look at it

see what i mean?

the kites were more important

so important, she decided to give it a go herself

dan finally got his kite up for a minute!

a baby chugging pepsi? wheres your mother!

mmmmmm

i made fruit pizza for dessert on sunday:)

10 weeks

2011-04-04T19:42:00.000-07:00

this is what i look like at 10 weeks:

i cant believe im showing already!

last time i didnt look like this until 18 weeks.

since i have been feeling better i was starting to get excited, so i looked up some old pictures that my mom emailed me.

ok, yes, this is cute.

still the cute stage

and then bam

i remember the first time i saw this. i couldnt believe how huge i looked!

and this is only at 8 months.

the excitement is starting to fade.

and then i saw this and almost started to cry

im pretty sure this was just a couple days before sadie came.

i was so big! being short and having a short torso does not help when you are prego

i dont think anyone besides my family saw me in the last month.

and i dont think i allowed any other pictures to be taken

i was so miserable i never wanted to go anywhere..except maybe to eat:)

plus it was so stinkin hot outside (i promised myself i would never be pregnant during summer again....SHOOT)

plus i had a hernia under my belly button (which i still have) which hurt really bad!

just looking at this makes me depressed.

SO- i just need to keep reminding myself its all worth it!

i cant wait for sadie to have a little brother/sister to play with:)

BYTHEWAY- i wanted to let you all know how proud i am of daniel. instead of paying 160 bucks to have our tv fixed, he fixed it all by himself! he seriously is turning into such a handy man, i love it. stay tuned for our bathroom pictures, dan is ripping it out this week! YAY!

catching up

2011-03-31T13:24:00.000-07:00

sadie is down for a nap.

the kitchen is clean.

ive got my chips ahoy.

and i actually feel good!

its time to blog.

this is what we have been up to for the last month and a half or so..

we made our first family trip up the cheyenne.

in february.

it was freezing. there was a blizzard the day after we got there. and the wind seriously never stopped!

lets just say the only time i was outside was when i was running to the car.

nevertheless, we had a fun time! most of dans family was there, we even surprised his parents!

it was fun hanging out and watching sadie get to know her cousins.

mya and sadie in their matching outfits. they both look so much like their dads, but they look like cousins at the same time.. matching hair and eyes? thats pretty cousinly.

em and i matched our gray and white on purpose too.

here are all the cousins.. minus 2 1/2

the timing was really crazy because the day after we got home from WY, i started having morning sickness.. lets just say it was a surprise. we thought it wouldnt happen for a few months.

i guess this baby really wanted to come!

ive been sick.. i have my zofran which takes the edge off so i dont throw up,

but this last month has been nothing but exhaustion and gross feeling.

water tastes really gross so we have been stalking up on gatorade.

seriously the mango one is sooo good.

ive been trying to stay hydrated so i wouldnt get as sick as last time.

so far so good.

with sadie i could not even get out of bed without throwing up.

this poor child has been raising herself.

thank goodness for my family (and dan) who has been helping out so much:)

so i am 9 weeks now and i am acutally starting to have some good days.

its mostly just the nights where i dont feel good...poor dan

here is part of our garden we planted last weekend. we planted watermelon, tomatoes, carrots, cuccumbers, squash, and honeydew.

we dont really know what we are doing. we just hope something grows.

can you see the little footprints everywhere?

sadie thought it was so funny to throw dirt on us!

a couple days ago my sister mckenna turned sweet 16.

we sure love her!

i looooved her sweet 16 cake.

my parents had a limo take her and her friends to town for some icecream.

the limo driver even rolled out the red carpet for them..fancy

my mom was mean and used trick candles which took several minutes to blow out

no one loved the cake as much as this little girl...

but she didnt mind sharing...

happy birthday mickey!

dan loves mckennas ipad. he taught sadie how to play angry birds. like father like daughter.

do you see the chapstick she is about to apply? she recently discovered this product and loves it a little too much.

like mother like daugher!

going,going,gone

2011-02-03T13:01:00.000-08:00

This is sadie and her good friend Brinley. they are less than 2 months apart.

Stacey and i are determined to have them be best friends.

so we try to get them to play together.

and it works for a few minutes....

but this is all sadie really loves to do now.. walk..and walk..and walk..

she loves going off by herself.

she doesnt care how far away mommy is.

she's going...

going...

gone!

see that little tiny pink dot?

thats my little wanderer.

dont worry, after i took this picture i chased her down.

honestly, she could care less about the swings and everything else at the playground, she just wants to walk. the other day at the park she held my hand and walked a mile with me around the bike path. im not exaggerating!

this has become my favorite time of the day though. i take her outside, she holds my hand, and we will just walk. usually in peace and quiet. sometimes she will have conversations with herself. i love it.

in other news, everyone else is doing really well. dan really likes his job at the bank. he has become good friends with another banker that he works with, who happens to be the number one banker in utah, and he helps him out a lot. he really enjoys not having to make phone calls for three hours a day. most of the time, people just come to him. and he is so good with all the banking business, which i know harldy anything about. he was made the coach for YM basketball. so he goes to that game and then afterwards he plays ball with the old men. he likes the exercise.

im somewhat getting use to being a relief society teacher..i said somewhat. i get so nervous the whole time im up there, so i love when we get a good discussion going. and i am learning so much.

its probably the one week a month i actually get to be in relief soicety the whole time. its so hard with sadie! one of us is always chasing her around. i have recently learned to just take her to nursey and hang out in there. she is such a good girl there, and loves the older kids. most of the time she is the only one paying attention during singing time! she loves it. only three more months left, im counting down the days until she can be there without me and i can enjoy class again.

and i have to say thank goodness for grandmas! and everyone else in my family who helps to babysit.

last friday, my mom took sadie at one! so i had the rest of the day all to myself. its amazing how much you get done when you dont have anyone to watch! i cleaned the house, did laundry, cleaned out the car, swept the driveway, and read my book for a couple hours. it was glorious. when dan got home we went to the temple for a session. it makes me feel good we squeezed it in for january!

oh and one more thing...

sadies aunt gave her this cute and silly flower headband, she wears it around everyday as a necklace.

so pretty:)

things that make mommy smile

2011-01-15T11:18:00.000-08:00

these are some of the things sadie does that makes mommy smile

{and melts my heart}

when she says "toot toot"

when she gets all dressed up for church

her pirate face

pushing her stroller around the house like this..

pigtails!

first haircut. this one was a little sad at first, but now i smile because her hair looks so cute.

this outfit..

dancing during half time at the basketball game

when she is sleeping

whenever i catch her in her favorite sitting spot

but i would have to say my favorite is when i walk into her room in the morning and the very first thing she does is point to the picture of jesus on her dresser and says "jesus"
i love this little girl!

kitchens and nails

2011-01-04T08:27:00.000-08:00

We finally did it! we got the cabinets painted.

our awesome friends have a heavy duty paint sprayer that we borrowed which helped so much!

it stilled turned into an all day project, but totally TOTALLY worth it.

besides updating appliances, which wont happen for a long time, we are done with the kitchen. im so happy i love it!

Thanks to my wonderful husband who put in all that hard work to turn our ugly kitchen into a beautiful country living one. it makes such a differece in a womans life to have a nice place to cook and clean (for you):)

ever heard of jamberry nail shields? you can only get them online. i wasnt too sure at first, but ended up getting them anyway for corinne, mickey, and chelsey for christmas. part of the present was giving them manis and pedis before i (professionally) put them on...even though it was my first time with nail shields.

look how cute they turned out!

they are suppose to last 2-3 weeks. we will have to do this again in the summer so people can actually see these cute feet!

2010-12-25T13:40:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!!!

we had a fun time at my parents house. its been a long time since everyone has been able to be here.

this was Christmas Eve...

sadie really got into the christmas spirit and decided to be cindy lou hoo

this is a game we played where you have to scoop up all the cotton balls and put them in the pan blindfolded...in one minute. its pretty funny to watch. and yes, we are simple people.

i wasnt the best at it.

Christmas morning!

Sadie wasnt too excited to unwrap, but she loved what was inside..

a stroller for her dolly!

Dan got me a nook im soooo excited! i love to read.

of course marshall is playing games on it.

she pushed her dolly around all morning.

do you like her awesome new overalls from grandma? so cute!

Merry Christmas?

2010-12-11T19:10:00.000-08:00

maybe she was just scared cause she knew she was on the naughty list..:)

no bueno

2010-12-02T09:39:00.000-08:00

you know something naughty is going on when there is complete silence.

and i already knew that.

i should have checked on her earlier.

but i didnt

so now she walks up to me with a piece of old cheese which i threw away yesterday.

half eaten.

i walk into the kitchen and half of the the stuff from the garbage is all over the floor.

yuck!

my precious girl is starting to turn into a naughty little girl!

who eats garbage.

oh well.. it was still kinda funny.

thanksgiving (but really all about sadie)

2010-11-29T12:06:00.000-08:00

so i left my husband for thanksgiving... dont judge me!

my family went to norcal for thanksgiving and at the last minute i decided to go since i hardly ever get to see most of my family. and some of them have never seen sadie.

i felt bad but dan told me to go..(maybe he wanted some freedom)..and he had thanksgiving with the hokansons. so it turned out alright.

except it turned into a 13 hour car ride because of the snow packed roads! poor sadie was a trooper for most of it but the last couple hours were rough.

besides that we had fun seeing our family!

she really only pets the cousins she REALLY likes

Lucas is only 8 months old and almost as tall as her. sorry sadie you have short parents

kisses for grandpa

"dontcha wish yer girlfriend was hot like me?"

hey hermano

we were making fun of him because whenever he smiles his eyes are practically closed. love ya

mick and i

beauty queens

"watcha lookin at?"

"rrarrrrrrrrrrrr"

playing dominos with aunt robin

"sadie give momma kiss"

"talk to the hand mom"

fighting over the newspaper?

ps- im so mad i didnt get a picture of sadie with her great grandparents!

rough week

2010-11-19T11:00:00.000-08:00

so a week and a half ago my little girl had her one year shots (4 of them!)

the doctor said she would probably get a fever and be cranky for a couple days.

a week and a half later she is still feverish and cranky and clingy and pretty much just not herself at all.

yesterday she walked right into the arm of the rocking chair, while i was rocking, which gave her a nice bruise on her forehead. which also made her even more cranky.

so ten o'clock last night i had the feeling we should take her to the doctor....

and what happens in the waiting room? sadie is playing with the toys, decides to walk around, sneezes while she is walking, and face dives right into a table.

The doctor probably thought we were abusive parents.

anyway, it's a good thing we took her in. she has an ear infection!

i feel so bad i didnt take her in earlier.

i had a feeling something was wrong. i guess as a mother you need to listen to your gut basically all the time.

Cant wait to have her back to her happy little self!

(this picture is 5 months ago, but i love it.)

halloween and birthdays

2010-11-02T13:14:00.000-07:00

it looks like halloween and the birthday are all mixed together.. well they kinda are.. but dont worry, not on the same day. Saturday night we went to our ward trunk or treat. Sadie was a 50's diner girl. she was the cutest one there:) i really wanted to dress her up as Dwight, her hair is so perfect for that.. but i decided she needed to be cute for her fist halloween. so, she doesnt look happy in most of these pics but she really had such a fun time!

then on sunday we celebrated her birthday (even though it was on monday) so the whole fam could be there.

our awesome pumpkins. mine is the skeleton arm coming out of the ground, and dans is the cool green bat.

one of sadies birthday presents. we let her play with it the night before. she seriously is all over the house with this walker, she even learned how to back it up and turn it around

on saturday we celebrated chelseys birthday!

here she is on sunday with her birthday dress

opening presents. she would only pull a tiny little piece of paper at a time so i did most of the unwrapping

the cool thing about sadies candle... its the same candle i used when i turned one!

goin at it

since she loves elmo i made elmo cupcakes. and my friend made that way cute elmo shirt she is wearing.

still goin at it

finally she got full and starting throwing the frosting everywhere so i stopped her. she clearly did not like that!

happy birthday sadie cant believe youre a whole year old!

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-24T19:45:00.000-07:00

we went out to Stehli's farm to get some pumpkins!

There was also a nice stinky petting zoo (it had rained the whole night before)

You had to get a ride to the pumpkin patch... going by all the stinky cows!

i found a winner! stay tuned to see my awesome carved pumpkin

does she get way too much attention?? i think not.

3 little pumpkins sittin in a row

laughing machine

2010-10-20T20:14:00.000-07:00

October

2010-10-18T11:37:00.000-07:00

well it's another awesome monday morning in the Stock home.

usually no matter how late we put sadie to bed she always wakes up at 8, but this morning she slept in til 9! Complete awesomeness... anyway, sadie and i walked outside to get something from the car, it smelled so good from raining all night long... almost there when i here a crunch under my foot. i look at the ground and there are hundreds of snails all over the driveway! and then i look at our house and they are all over our walls! why do snails want to climb up walls?! it was gross.

anywho, Dan is leaving to provo today for more training. he has been doing this every week this month. its for a few days so i will be staying at my parents house. i know i should stop being such a little scaredy pants but i get so creeped out at night by myself.

last week we went with dan, its was like a little vacation with almost everything paid for!

the first night we got there we had dinner at my aunts house. grandma and other aunts and uncles were there it was a great time.

so every morning consisted of dropping dan off for training, sadie and i would go back to the hotel, get ready, and then go shopping! we were 5 minutes away from two awesome malls so it only seemed logical. one day my brothers girlfriend Chelsey came shopping with me. i love her and it was fun to get to know her. the next day my aunt kelly watched sadie all day! i actually went to a movie by myself which was pretty nice.

then one night we drove to salt lake and went to dinner with my dear friend jenna and her man bj. then we walked around temple square. i had such a good time it was a nice change from being at home. maybe next week ill have to go up there again.

so here are some pictures of our little "halloween party" it was kind of last minute so colton and chelsey could be there. good times with the fam:)

sorry i made the pictures bigger but then they were blurry!

So thats our lives so far this month. the weather has been cooling down i have been LOVING it.

Sadesters birthday is in two weeks! i cant believe she is turning one. This age so far has been my favorite. she is so funny and easy to take care of. she doesnt mind being in her play pen anymore since she can stand up and walk around in it.. yes i said walk around! she will walk in her play pen but not anywhere else yet. i dont count leaning against things and walking. most of the time she doesnt even need to be in there. if i put a movie on she will sit there and play with her toys. and i love putting fall clothes on her they are so cute.

ALSO sadie is on her last can of formula. it is sooo nice not buying anymore formula or baby food. yay!

life is good. thats all i have to say:)

as of late

2010-09-18T20:13:00.000-07:00

well of course this is going to be mostly about sadie! she is 10 months now, her first birthday is coming way too fast. im already calling her mommies big girl.

she has one bottom tooth, she can do patty cake, she can point out a button, whenever we say "yay" she claps, she is a super fast crawler , she "sings along" whenever she hears music, absolutely loves care bear movies and sesame street, has discovered shoes and mommy's closet, crawls everywhere mommy doesnt want her to, and loves to give kisses!

her favorite spot to watch her shows.. maybe a little too close?

She loves the hammock swing!

loves her new foam blocks...one of the best buys i ever made

finally with it cooling down, we go on walks everyday. she cries when its over and i put her back in her carseat

she laughed so much at the ducks at the park

but wasnt too certain of the horsies... dan wasnt too certain either

daddy's girl

what she does in her leisure time

she will crunch leaves forever... but we have to be careful she tries to eat them too.

she snuck one passed me the other day and choked on it... very scary for a first time mother!

picking peaches at my parents house.

even though they were thinned multiple times they were so huge this year they broke some branches!:(

yum lets get all nice and sticky!

old faithful gunner

seriously so many peaches! there's about 99% left of them on the trees

my mom and i made a bunch of yummy delicious peach jam!

spotlight

2010-09-13T16:18:00.000-07:00

Happy happy birthday rinners dear!

...she turned 19 yesterday.

of course i had to make the birthday girl a birthday hat! unfortunately she was not excited to wear it.. but sadie looks a little jealous:)

backsplash

2010-09-06T11:43:00.000-07:00

dan and my dad did the backsplash by themselves.. they did such a good job!

what do you think?

i personally love them!

one more kitchen project .. paint the cabinets!

they are here

2010-08-28T20:54:00.000-07:00

before and after:

...really old gross counters...

new amazing counters!!!

...old nasty sink...

new fabulous easy to clean up sink! and faucet

i cant hide my happiness

next project:

backsplash will be started on monday.

stay tuned.

kitchen redo

2010-08-23T13:19:00.000-07:00

Say goodbye to these!

and say hello to new countertops!

well, almost...

we are getting new QUARTZ ones this week! i cannot tell you how excited i am... our house seriously needs to be updated, and we are starting with the most important room, the kitchen.
the old counters were a pain in the butt to get up but Dan was a trooper and just really went at it and ripped them out.. like an animal...
the only reason we got quartz is because we are getting a killer deal and could not pass it up. this guy (that we had come to give us a bid) found remnants of it just big enough for our little kitchen, so he is only charging us labor..i know!
We decided to go to Lowes to see how good of a deal we were actually getting. the countertop specialist gave us estimates... to have them install LAMINATE would have cost more than this deal we are getting!
ill post pictures when its done!

anniversay number 2

2010-08-17T19:34:00.000-07:00

I know it's a couple days late...last sunday was our 2 year anniversary...but i wanted to let you all know how wonderful it has been spending the last two years with Dan. Ok so we might not always look like this...

or seem as happy as this...

And sometimes we (as in I) even want to do this...

But we really truly do love eachother.

Here are the major happenings of the last two years:

We were married August 15, 2008
lived together..and such...for the first time:)
Dan went from working at the sunbrook golf course to being a credit manager at wells fargo financial
I went from working at the ledges golf course to working at the red mountain spa
attained our first dog bella
after 6 months we moved to the condo
also after 6 months i found out i was pregnant
was sick and wanted to die for the next couple months
bought our first car
had a baby- our lives changed!
became a full time mother
dan became a full time supporter/added stress:)
one appendix removed
one trip to England/ met the in-laws
bought first house
learned that you show your true colors when you have a fixer upper
bought first toilet
been members of 4 different wards
gone through 2,000 bags of sunflower seeds, and 5,000 tacos (dan)
learned how to say sorry..oh this should be at the top of the list:)
now dan is about to switch jobs once again... we wish him luck!

not all of this has happened the way we wanted to... but of course not whose lives are really like that? we are still so grateful for what we have... a roof over our heads, food in the fridge, our beautiful daughter, our health, and most of all, the gospel.

crawler

2010-07-16T10:51:00.000-07:00

We have a crawler on our hands!...and there is no turning back.

technically she started at 8 months, but she is starting to get fast now! and of course she always heads straight towards the dangerous objects. outlets, entertainment center, fireplace, rocking chair, every sharp corner in the house. Those are her favorite places. and she is starting to pull herself up on everything.

Fun for Sadie, not for mommy!

Sadie trying to flex her muscles...

2010-07-10T14:36:00.000-07:00

i don't know why but the quality of this video is terrible through this posting. if you want a better quality video to watch just post your email address in the comments and we'll email one to you.

Hunger Games

2010-06-09T08:35:00.000-07:00

Im sure most of you have heard of and/or read this book... its the big crazy right now.

And I know why. I LOVE this book

I read it in two days, finished it at one o'clock this morning. Thats the one bad thing about a good book, I can't put it down! Which ends with a few house chores getting neglected.

Anyway, its a trilogy and I am already dying to read the second one!!!

a few small additions

2010-06-05T15:12:00.000-07:00

My friend Prissy goes to yard sales every saturday morning...she has so much cute stuff in her house that she got for practically nothing.

Of course I wanted the same so I made her take me along this morning. i officially love yard sales. I found a few small things to help make our empty house a home.

the shelf was $2, and the clock was $1. they looked fine but i wanted these colors (we painted the living room walls a cream color, it kinda looks like a pale yellow, and i love gray and yellow together) so i bought my best friend, spraypaint.

Our living room.. its coming along. new carpet, new paint, new baseboards. trust me, it looks a million times better than when we first got the house.

the middle frames were 25 cents each. i spray painted those also.

As you can see our walls are huge and make the pictures look tiny. we'll gradually add more to fill the wall up

A big thanks to Dan for hanging all this up PERFECTLY!

The Stock Weekend

2010-05-28T08:12:00.000-07:00

Dans brother Matt and his family, Lyndsi, Justin, and Brandon came all the way from Cali to visit us for the weekend. If you cant tell from the pictures, we had lots of fun!

Thanks for coming guys it was good to see you!

the boys played ball

I had a little photo shoot with Sadie... Lyndsi was keeping up with Brandon:)

Lyndsi and Brandon at Zions

we did the first part of the Emerald Pools hike and just went to the lower pool. it was the perfect length for the boys.

One armed Justin playing the Wii.. he was so good at it!

Brandon loved Sadies bouncer. I dare say he was a tad too big. but how could we deny him this joy?

We went to the splash pad. the boys loved it!!!

look at that belly!

the bumbo was another favorite. Brandon is so cute we loved watching him try to stand up.. it took a minute to figure out!

Roast

2010-05-18T21:51:00.000-07:00

Sorry I havent made any posts about our new house. We have been so busy fixing it up and cleaning and moving in.. we all know what a pain this is.

When things settle down I will put pictures up!

We decided we needed some relaxation so we had some friends and family come over for a weenie roast.

Our new house has a sweet fire pit( it's why I bought the house)

It was fun!

sweet potato lovin

2010-05-10T08:34:00.000-07:00

Our little baby (who is growing up way too fast) tried her first real food a couple days ago. She did such a good job. The sweet potatoes were a big hit!!!

These are all pics of the sweet potatoes...sadly the carrots I tried to give her this morning were not nearly as liked.

PS- Happy late Mothers Day! I dont want to share this, so i hope someone will get a good laugh from it.

SO, Mothers day morning, we didnt have church until eleven. We were just hanging out, so i decided to paint my toenails.. Walking from our bathroom to our bedroom the bottle slips from my hand and in slow motion explodes on floor, sending dark red nailpolish all over the floor and WALL.

This happened once exaclty the same way when i was a little girl and i instantly felt like that little girl again.

Us girls know nothing cleans up nail polish except nail polish remover..(right??!)it came off the tile floor just fine. i tried to get it off the wall but the paint started coming off!

Anyway, yes it was a huge mess and i felt horrible and could not believe i did that the week before we move out.. and on my first mothers day! it ruined the happy mood. Thankfully Dan got over it pretty fast. well, not pretty fast, but fast.

We enjoyed the rest of the day at my families house and then went over to a friends house. we had so much fun we forgot all about the wall, until we got home. haha

there is some paint in the garage hopefully it will do the trick:)

Marshmellow

2010-04-21T16:12:00.000-07:00

No this post is not about marshmellows..

This is a little shout out to my brotha (although it's a week late)... welcome home Marshall! You served faithfully for two years and although you were only six hours away we missed you sooo much and are glad you are back and ready to begin a new chapter in your life.

We love you!

CHEERS

2010-04-13T03:07:00.000-07:00

We're back! England was amazing. We visited abbeys and cathedrals(which were breathtaking), watched some jousting and of course went shopping! The best was Dan trying to talk in a British accent the whole trip....which would change from British to Scottish to Australian to who knows what just about every other word. It was wonderful to finally get to know my in-laws, which by the way I am so glad to have such amazing in-laws. They loved Sadie and she loved being around them. I just put all our pics on my facebook if you want to see them, I didnt have the patience to put them all on here:) there are a lot! But the pictures below are taken at the Chatworths Estate, which was Mr. Darcy's house in Pride and Prejudice...one of my favorites so that was really exciting!

See you all later

2010-03-29T07:34:00.000-07:00

One appendix removed? Check. Alright, now I'm really ready for England.
Life is so random isn't it?
I was talking with my mom yesterday and she said, "it's always the bad things that happen fast and unexpectedly." I agree.
Thursday morning I was feeling great. Sadie and I went to the grocery store to get some things so I could make a yummy dessert that night. Dan and I finally had a double date with another couple! I was so excited for a night out. (sorry Jenna!) I guess in a way I did get a night out...anyway, around noon I started feeling sharp pains all around my abdomen. Nothing bad. In fact, I was sure it would leave in awhile. Eventually it got worse so I put Sadie down for a nap and plopped onto the couch. the sharp pains just got worse and worse. By two thirty I called Dan and told him he needed to come home. As soon as he got home, he said we were goin to instacare.
By the time we got there, I was groaning in pain. Yes, groaning. I've never done that before. I thought people that did that were wimps. But having a baby kinda makes you not care what other people think anymore. So after laying on the table FOREVER they finally sent us to the ER, where I ran to the bathroom and uh, you know. I wont share details on that, I'll just say that we waited for a long time and didn't get into a room until about seven where I got my IV and some blessed morphine. After that I was feeling pretty good. Surgery was at three in the moring. Then I stayed in the hospital for half the day.
Now here I am, sore, on Lortabs, and watching cartoons with Sadie.
Dan has been so wonderful this whole weekend. He really is the best husband. He did not let me lift a finger. I practically slept the whole time. It was awesome.
So my mom said it's only bad things that happen fast and unexpectedly. Well I have been planning and waiting for this trip to England for soooooooo long. That must mean it's going to be glorious. We leave Wednesday and will be gone for twleve days. We are visiting Dans parents who are on a mission in Leeds. I will be meeting my father-in-law for the first time! Scary? Maybe if he were a scary man, but I have talked to him on the phone and he is so nice. Plus I have his granddaughter so hopefully he likes me:)
No stinkin' appendix can tie me down! I'm leavin! and I'll see you all in twleve days!

4 months

2010-03-04T12:04:00.000-08:00

Our lil' SJ turned 4 months this week!

Her check-up was this morning. Boy I sure do love her doctor he is a great guy. We waited in the room for twenty minutes (usually 5-10) when he came in he could not stop apologizing for taking so long. He had an emergency at the other hospital but just hates making people wait. I just laughed and said he still beat my own doctor by 45 minutes. How many doctors actually care about making you wait? ANYWHO, in commemoration of our little girl becoming not so little, just wanted to share some facts and pictures...enjoy!

Sadie...

Weighs 13 1/2 pounds, 24 inches long
Everytime she's on her back, its time to roll. And yet cannot roll back over. AND does not like being on tummy for more than 5 minutes
Has the cutest laugh!
Only LIKES to take naps while in carseat or stroller
Favorite cartoon is Chuggington- those trains make her laugh it is so funny!
LOVES her bouncy chair
LOVES when daddy flies her around like an airplane, somehow always ending up as a fighter pilot and blows up mommy
hates headbands. They usually are only on for church because she always pulls them off
Sleeps well at night:) (crossing my fingers)
STILL does not spit up:) (crossing my fingers)
Does not like the binkie anymore. Prefers to suck on her hand and drool everywhere
Crazy hair is finally starting to even out and tame itself
Is so good when I take her places. She loves going to new places and looking around
Has mommy and especially daddy wrapped around her little finger!

Being held by Aunt Mckenna

Loves Daddy

Sucking on hand

SO happy in the mornings!

Watching Chuggington

About to go on a walk

Hangin' out

Be My Valentine

2010-02-18T19:09:00.000-08:00

For Valentines this year we did my favorite thing... we went hiking in Zions! The weather was perfecto, the only bad thing is that we had colds so instead of the eight mile hard hike I wanted to do, we did a moderate six mile one. It still had a really cool view!

I loved it, we had a great time hanging out all day together. I sure do love Dan. And I love making him pose in pictures.

The ones at the bottom of Sadie, well she loves her new chair.
I honestly just cannot get her to smile for the camera. She just stares at it. Oh well our little Sadie bug still looks cute!

9 words women use

2010-02-07T20:33:00.000-08:00

OK... as we went through this list we pretty much were nodding our heads the whole time. The definitions for these nine words are so true!!! And because of how true they are, I thought it was pretty funny so I just wanted to share... Men you should totally know these already...

FINE: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.
FIVE MINUTES: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.
NOTHING: This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.
GO AHEAD: This is a dare, not permission. Don't do it!
LOUD SIGH: This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh mean she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to #3 for the meaning of nothing)
THAT'S OK: This is one of the most dangerous statements a woman can make to a man. That's OK means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.
THANKS: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or faint. Just say you're welcome. (I want to add in a clause here- This is true, unless she says 'thanks a lot' - that is PURE sarcasm and she is not thanking you at all. DO NOT say 'you're welcome'. That will bring on a 'whatever').
WHATEVER: Is a woman's way of saying GO TO HECK.
DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT, I GOT IT: Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking 'what's wrong?' For the woman's response refer to #3.

So hey, have a Happy Valentines Day everybody!!!

Free Time

2010-01-23T11:11:00.000-08:00

My mom was nice enough to give me a sewing machine for Christmas and this is my first sewing project- a carseat cover. Im horrible at sewing, maybe because I have only done it a handful of times in my life. I only remember actually sewing ONE time for sewing class in highschool. Anyway, this was fun and I hope to do it more often from now on...

I highly recommend this book... I LOVED it. I dont think very many people know about the whole in the rock expedtion that the pioneers made. At least I didnt. It took me a few chapters to get into it, but after that it was hard to put down. It's cool because it takes place in southern Utah. Pioneers from all the southern Utah settlements were called on missions to travel over 400 miles to the four corners area. They were suppose to start a new settlement there and were to be a buffer between the indians and the rest of the Mormons. 400 miles over the roughest terrain in the country. They had to build wagon roads through canyons, up and down sheer cliffs. It was suppose to take six weeks, but turned into six months! It was amazing, and so many miracles happened! Historical fiction books are my favorite. There is a great love story in here too which makes it even better. A great read... but dont take my word for it:)

Desert Rain

2010-01-20T12:06:00.000-08:00

So it's been raining all week. Last night especially. Which has been great, we have really needed the moisture here. This morning at about ten there were still a lot of clouds in the sky but I just wanted to go on a walk so bad! Other than the rain the weather has been perfect, in the fifties. Just right for walking with a hoodie on. I decided I had AT LEAST a good hour before the rain would come back again. Sadie and I went on our usual walk. The two parks close to our house have a walking path that goes between. Dan says they are about 2 miles apart (I'm horrible at judging distances) Anyway, we start at one park, walk to the other one and then walk back. But I have to let you know, there is nothing between these two parks. The river is on one side, and fields on the other. So we started on our walk. About half way through, huge dark clouds moved so fast and stopped right above us! It looked like it was going to start pouring any second. Suddenly I realized the few people I passed had all been wearing rain coats. Uh oh! How horrible of a mother am I?! I have a baby out here and it's about to start pouring rain. I panicked and walked REALLY fast, sometimes jogging (I'm out of shape OK?) until I finally got to the other park where we got under some shelter. I was about to call Dan to come pick us up when I noticed my shoe was untied, which these shoes never come untied. As I leaned down to tie it, I decided to say a quick prayer in my head asking to know whether to stay here or walk back. As soon as I stood up I got the feeling that I should walk back and I would be fine. So, I walked back. And I didnt even think once how awful it would be to have a baby and be caught in the cold rain in the middle of nowhere. I felt totally fine! We got back to the car just fine and as soon as I closed the door it started pouring.... JK! but I was so happy and grateful that I drove all the way out to Kayenta and took these beautiful pictures. There is nothing prettier than the desert right after a rain! And the snow on the mountains is my favorite kind of snow... only in the mountains!

this one snuck in!

Good start to a new year

2010-01-13T12:57:00.000-08:00

A NEW YEAR has begun... we had Sadies baby blessing on the 3rd. We had some family come into town for it.. and we had a fun weekend together! Dans brother Ben, his wife Ashley, and their little boy Wesley stayed at our house and all of my dads family came too! Definitely a good way to start out the year!

Christmas 09

2009-12-27T11:00:00.000-08:00

CHRISTMAS has come and gone... and what a fun long weekend it has been! my first Christmas being a parent. It was pretty easy, Sadie was satisfied with a bottle. Next year it will start getting really exciting, I can't wait until

she gets to open presents! But I'm jumping way ahead of myself... Dan was glad to have a long weekend off from work, and we were both glad to just hang out, enjoy eachother, and relax with family...

Sadie loves to stand. She is so funny, she looks like a little wobbly bobble head. But she is starting to get pretty strong.

Uncle Colton home for the holidays. Soon he will leave us again for Utah State. AKA freezing cold Logan

LOVEBIRDS

I know. Cool Picture.

I had to get a picture of my dad in his Christmas pajama pants... you look good dad!

Christmas eve dinner. Dan looks excited to eat. Isn't that a beautiful table? When my mom grew up in northern california they had an old barn behind their backyard and a huge kiwi orchard behind that. It's so pretty there. Anyway, my grandparents recently tore the old barn down to build a new one in its place. Last time we were there my dad hauled some of the old wood from the barn back and he made this table for my mom for Christmas! Awesome

Our infamous game of mexican train.

If you haven't seen Dan laugh pretty hard before, well this is what it looks like. If I remember correctly, which I do, Dan had just messed up my dads train. It's a frequent occurence. Dan cheats. And it never gets old to him!

CHRISTMAS MORNING! MERRY FIRST CHRISTMAS SADIE!

doesnt Dan look dashing in his new glasses? I love them but I can't get him to wear them in public. He would barely wear them in front of my family. Next time you talk to him tell him how rediculously good looking they are.

The next day. Hangin out with some friends from highschool that were in town for Christmas. wow I always forget how short I am. and I never thought I would be the first mom out of this group!

Sadie's first video

2009-12-24T15:16:00.000-08:00

Here are just a few minutes of Sadie making faces and trying to talk. She's so sweet!!! Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

happy times

2009-12-17T13:52:00.000-08:00

BATH TIME!

Time to celebrate, Sadie finally LIKES taking a bath!!! No more tears!:)

So the other night we drove around town looking for some cool christmas lights. I'd have to say this place beat them all!

I love driving around looking at lights. Dan thinks I'm weird but I cannot do this without having a nice hot cup of coco...it absolutely completes the experience. Is anyone else like that or is it just me?

Come on people!

MORE SADIE

2009-12-10T20:50:00.000-08:00

Alright I'm ready to blog! I must admit I feel like a loser... seriously who has their husband update their blog for them?! But I feel, especially now that we have our little girl, that it is my duty to keep everyone updated on our little family! I usually just stick the pictures up on facebook, but it seems really fun to be able to write and let you know whats going on with us. I really love reading everyones elses! So here I go, my first attempt at a blog post...

Of course this is mostly going to be about our little princess... doesnt she look like one? we didnt turn her into one on purpose! I think that due to our lack of parental wisdom we have spoiled her as much as a baby can possibly be spoiled. And it doesn't help having her be the first grandchild on my side and my family around. She pretty much gets held whenever she wants, and it has made her such a cuddle bug. Definitely her favorite way to sleep. But what can I say? We just love her so much! Sadie has brought so much joy to our lives and Dan and I dont know what we would do without her. She makes me smile so much she is so funny and precious!

I love this picture. Sadie right after a bath... her hair is so fluffy and sticking straight up from washing it, nothing you can do about that! I tell you her hair is wild. Apart from being old man hair (tons on the sides and just some wispies on top) it's just so soft and fluffy, I dont know what to do. I try making a little curl on top but it doesnt really work out. Good thing she is cute! Oh and she finally didnt cry during her bath today, she loved it!

She is definitley plotting something here.. probably how to get a bottle sooner than she is suppose to. Also she has been smiling a lot lately but i have not been able to catch one on camera yet! Soon enough...

BURP TIME! I guess we have been extremely lucky in that Sadie never spits up. She chugs her bottle in about ten minutes and then lets out a couple good burps afterward. Our doctor said not to worry, our next kid will probably throw up all over the place. Even without the spit up,certain smells are everywhere. it's crazy how EVERYTHING now smells like either formula, or wet diapers. I can't remember what life was like before this. But it's great!

superwoman! I dont know if Dan should already be starting up with the stunts?

So... can a person possibly look any more comfortable than this? I dont think so. She has been getting a little more fussy lately, and so our friends let us borrow their baby swing. She LOVES it. I love it too. It helps keep her content so I can get things done...when I'm not being lazy.

Gettin held by grandma!

I know this is mean but I couldnt help putting this pic up! it's so cute when she cries. Well not her real cry, that's not so fun, but her fake cry. It's like she doesnt even know what she is crying for and doesnt really want to cry, but just loves the attention she gets from it!

My little sister Corinne, she is a senior in highschool. We went to her Christmas choir concert tonight. She is so good on the piano and she played a few of the songs tonight. Also i didnt take a picture but she is an amazing singer. She is in madrigals and they sang a few really pretty Christmas songs. Good job!

The view from my parents house in Diamond Valley. It's about ten degrees cooler than in town so they got snow and we didnt. It was so pretty i had to take some pics. And there is Bella blending in with the snow! She loved it, she was running around everywhere. Well thanks for reading! Hopefully i'll get the Christmas cards sent off tomorrow:)

Sadie Jayne

2009-11-04T08:09:00.000-08:00

Well the beautiful girl finally arrived!! She is so precious. We named her Sadie Jayne. Sadie was the only name the two of us agreed on, and Jayne is for Lauren's mother Jayne. We love this girl so much.

We were scheduled for an induction for November 5th and we thought there was no way she would come earlier. At about 10:15 Halloween night Lauren's water broke. We weren't sure what was going on or if we even needed to worry since we figured Lauren wasn't ready. We called the hospital and they told us to come in. We got admited about 10:45. Lauren started feeling contractions around 12. She started pushing around 7:10 am and the baby was born at 7:37am November 1st, on my Aunt Joyce's bday. Looks like you'll have to share it with Sadie Aunt Joyce! So Lauren was in labor for a total of about 10 hours. I know you math geeks are thinking I can't add, but daylight savings happened to be that night... which I thought would make it an even longer night, but all in all the night went by pretty quick. Here's the first picture taken of our beautiful little girl!!!

Here's the nurse weighing her. She came in at 6 pounds 10 ounces, 19 inches long... and for those of you who know or care... her app guard test was a 9.

Now that you have the gist of the story I'll just let you look at the pictures and I'll throw in a comment or two...

Look at all that hair!! Just like Lauren!!!

Because of the swine flu the hospital has a rule that only two people can visit... not at a time... only two specific people. So Lauren's mom and I were the only two people that were allowed to be in the hospital. So all of Lauren's family had to wait till we left the hospital to see the baby. We got away with a fast one though... one of the nurses that took care of us is in Lauren's family ward... She suggested that because Sadie's billi ruben score was high, that Brad come and help me give her a blessing. So we did just that and Brad got to come see her... And believe me... he was dying to see her. It took us a half hour to do a 5 minute blessing.

We were able to leave the hospital even though Sadie's billie ruben was still in the high risk zone... but as you can see below we had to take a tanning bed with us... poor thing has to stay under those lights unless being feed or changed. She is such a trooper... she hardly ever cries... Please keep her in your prayers so that her billie ruben count goes down and we don't have to keep her under the lights.

Just like in the tanning beds... which it really isn't a tanning bed... just some warm lights... Sadie has to have her eyes covered... and this is the only method they have to do that...

I keep thinking Sadie is already going to roll on to her stomach. She loves to sleep on her side... it kinda scares me...

2009 Pumpkin Carving

2009-10-22T22:59:00.000-07:00

Who carved which pumpkin. that is the question... i bet you'll be surprised. let's put it to a vote... we will call the top pumpkin "Jack Sparrow" and the bottom pumpkin we'll call "Jack Skellington." We'll reveal the answer on Halloween.

Cox Family Halloween Party Year 2

2009-10-18T15:15:00.000-07:00

Cox Family Halloween Party!!! This first video is of the donut eating contest with a twist. The donut hangs from a string at about mouth level. You can only use your mouth, no hands involved. First one done wins. It's pretty funny... take a look... the baby at the end is a friend of the family.

Second video is of the Flour Game. It's a fun game if you don't lose... but guess who lost. Lauren... definitely didn't lose. I did. Here I go diving for a dime in the flour. It looks nice...

New Family Car

2009-10-17T08:08:00.000-07:00

Here's a little video to show everyone our new/used Honda CRV. We are happier with the car than I thought we would be. Ever since we were looking at buying the car we've seen a million CRV's on the road, and a million silver ones to boot. When we first saw this one we were pleasantly surprised when it was a darker silver than we thought. It looks really nice, it drives really nice. I told Lauren when we first drove it she better not get a speeding ticket cause it's actually got some power. We are happy with the price we got it for, but not too happy with the dealership. There were a lot of little things they should have taken care of and didn't, but at least all the major things are ok. So overall we are pretty excited about this little SUV. Let us know what you think!!!

Family Visit and Kanarville Hike

2009-08-23T19:43:00.000-07:00

This was the beginning of a nice little hike... The pictures got a little out of order and for some reason I couldn't rearrange them.
This was the end of the hike... at the end of the narrow passage way from the next few pictures. It was quite a site. Most of the hike is through a river. The river goes about ankle deep. It's about a half hour hike to get to the last little bit. Once you get here it's about 200-300 feet of cliffs that go strait up in the air. The narrow canyon is about 10 feet wide is all. It's a spectacular view as you can see.

Here are a few shots of the narrowness of the canyon and the height of the cliffs.

This was just some random tree that had fallen accross the river.

This was Lauren's attempt at doing a pull up. Well I guess you could say she is doing a pull up for 2.

We hadn't seen Sam and Kim and the kids in over a year. This wasn't the best of pictures because it was the end of a rough day. I can't remember why everyone was so grouchy. Probably cause they were sick of traveling. Sammy wouldn't even look at the camera, Daniel was acting tough or something. We loved having them over. Wish they could have stayed longer.

This was the first time Lauren and I had ever meet Little Conner. He's such a stud. I don't think there was enough space for him to explore around our little house.

This is the kids attempting to do a cool domino train around the table. They never made it all the way around. Someone always bumped the table or slipped so all the dominos would fall before they could finish. It was quite funny. Nice Smile Sammy...

2009-05-19T18:02:00.000-07:00

IF YOU CAN'T TELL... IT'S A GIRL!!!! THE LITTLE POINTER FINGER IS POINTING RIGHT AT THE THREE LINES OF THE MAIN AREA.

LAUREN AND THE DOCTOR THOUGHT THEY WERE FUNNY AND THEY SAID WE KNOW IT'S A GIRL CAUSE IT'S GOT A BRAIN.

YOU CAN SEE THE FACE PRETTY WELL IN THIS SHOT. YOU HAVE ALL THE FACIAL FEATURES CAPTURED HERE.

SHE'S BEING MODEST HERE AND CROSSING HER LEGS. GOOD THING I WON'T HAVE TO TEACH HER HOW TO DO THIS AFTER SHE POPS OUT.

THIS WAS THE LAST PICTURE WE GOT. IT WAS COOL CAUSE IT LOOKS LIKE SHE'S WAVING GOOD-BYE!!! (FOR NOW)

IT'S HARDER TO TELL, BUT YOU CAN SEE THE TWO LEGS UP IN THE AIR, AND SINCE THERE IS NOTHING THERE.... WELL... IT'S PROOF THAT IT'S NOT A BOY!!!

SO FAR SHE'S GOT ALL THE PROPER LIMBS...

SHE'S GOT THE TIRED POSE HERE...

Eternal Ponds???

2009-04-18T16:22:00.000-07:00

Well we had a hike planned this week with Lauren's family to a spot a friend told them about called "eternal ponds." It was a hike just outside of Snow Canyon Park. If you guys remember the National Park we drove through on our way from Lauren's house to Tuacahn to see the play. So it is a pretty place. So we set off to find this place without a map, just a few pointers on how to find it. It is a place known to few, supposedly. Still unknown to those of us that went, I think.

Here's Lauren and I at the end of the trail. You can see there is no trail, so we had to follow the dried out river bottom to make it to the destination.

This is the whole crew, minus Brad; but he's in the next picture. Bella decided to give you the "blue steel" pose in this shot.

Here's everyone, minus Jayne; but she was in the last picture.

This is way cool, petroglyphs. These are real drawings from Indians that used to be in the area. There are actually quite a few petroglyphs in the area, but the first one I had ever seen. We couldn't make out what it represented, but we think it is a map of the area.

Here's a close up of what we think might be some sort of an animal with horns, an Elk or something.

We finally arrived at what we think might be the "eternal ponds." This was the kind of hike up the cliffs we had to make to see the ponds.

This is the first pond we saw. Bella jumped right in and decided she wanted to swim and take a pee break.

This is where the second pond was supposed to be? It was pretty dried up. But hopefull we'd get to see some better ponds the farther up the cliffs we got we kept pressing forward.

So up one more cliff wall and this is what we got. Another pretty much dried up pond. Oh well. It was fun anyway. Funny thing is, it has rained the past few days, so we figured it'd be more full than this.

2009-03-01T10:36:00.000-08:00

Hopefully this isn't too inappropriate of a picture. We are happy to announce that LAUREN IS PREGNANT!!!