Wedding Weekend

February 15, 2013 - Michael & Annika were married! We flew to AZ very late the night before and got in really late! The kids slept a little bit on the plane but were both wide awake when we got to my parents house. Jackson immediatly ran into Steven's room to get his trains, lugged them into the family room and said, "tada!" Silly boy was crazy at 1 am Florida time. But we eventually put the kids to bed and hung out with the family and Michael before his big day!!

One of my favorite engagement pics

Their wedding was in the morning at the Mesa Temple and it was a beautiful day! They were sealed by Brother Perkinson who also sealed Tyler and me as well as Paige & Ben. He is my good friend, Jill's Grandpa, and Annika had known him from her ward growing up. He performs such an amazing ceremony and the spirit was so strong. I'm grateful to have been able to be there and for Steven and others who watched Jackson and Abbie outside during the event.

Annika was beautiful and Michael didn't look too bad himself :) She was actually wearing the same veil I wore at my wedding which I thought was really cool :)

I really didn't take that many pictures because I was holding Abbie the whole time, so I got these from other family members and friends!

My mom has now thrown two wedding receptions, but this was her first time with a wedding luncheon. They decided on a luncheon rather than a dinner mostly due to the fact that the night before their wedding was Valentines' Day! So we went straight from the temple to Stonebridge Manor for an amazing luncheon!  I should have taken more pictures, Jackson and Abbie were home with a babysitter so I have no excuse really. But I did take a couple. The flowers, food, and location were all perfect. It was a great party!

My place setting

The reception that evening was amazing as well. It was held in Annika's backyard and they had recently redone everything back there and it was so great!

Tented off eating area, colors of gold cream and mint

Driveway where you walked up, sign in table.

Jackson wore his suit and tie all night and looked so handsome

Abbie was in the cutest little dress, but was so crazy all night from lack of sleep!

The only picture I got with his boutonniere, he ripped it off right after

Love these people

How Jackson spent most of the night!

This frame is made of fresh flowers

Cake Cutting!

It was such a great night and so well attended, the place was packed! That's what happens when two kids from the same city get married :)

Thanks for sending me emails, for those who have! I've got to now just plug them all in and the blog should be private in a couple days.

Time to go Private (sorry!)

We just came home from a great weekend in AZ for Michael & Annika's wedding! It was perfect and we are so happy for them! But before I do a post with pictures and details I need to share that we are going Private on our blog.

With lots of hits from Russia (and other countries in which we have no connection) recently it's unsettling with us. Unless a long-lost friend in Russia comes forward with an admittance to checking our blog recently, we will be going private by the end of the month.

I really don't like doing this because I love blogs and being able to keep in touch with family and friends easily but internet safety (especially with our children) is more important.

So please leave your email in the comments, or contact us in any way with your email.

Thanks so much

Life Lately

Well I'm finally caught up with the blog and can now share some thoughts and pictures from our life so far in 2013. We've been back in Florida for a month and we've had a great time! Abbie has been sleeping at nights much better than on our trip. She still wakes up, but its such a welcome change from the every hour or two for a month straight! One nice thing is that the kids have started waking up later. Ever since traveling the kids wake up around 8 every day. I love it :)

One of Jackson's main presents he wanted for Christmas was a helmet. I'm not sure what gave him the idea but he mentioned it all the time that he wanted one from Santa. SO finally he was able to put his Christmas present to use. He can even put it on by himself, taking it off is a little trickier. But he loves riding around our cul-de-sac and has a routine of the things he sees and touches each time. We play outside pretty much every day and have been loving this mild Florida winter.

He has gotten so great at riding his bike!

But he's even faster on his scooter :)

While Abbie takes her morning nap Jackson and I do puzzles and toys that normally are a little tougher to do with crawling baby trying to get into. He loves his magna-tiles he got from Nana for Christmas and his Thomas puzzle he got from Grammy. With Abbie asleep it makes playing with them much easier :) After playing we'll go outside and let him ride around on his bike and scooter. He also has a dump truck he got from Mom and Dad and loves playing with that recently too. As soon as Abbie wakes up we'll either go run errands or if nothing is on the agenda, we'll go to the park.

My walk buddies, Jackson was checking out some cool cranes and ducks.

He sat in the stroller, buckled himself in and wanted to go to the park!

 There is a new park in the neighborhood that Jackson loves to go to. It also has baby swings so Abbie is in heaven, she could sit in a swing for an hour if I'd let her :)

Collage from a recent park day

We've also been going to Disney A LOT! I think we've been to magic kindom 3 or 4 times, Epcot twice and Animal Kingdom once just this month. We've also gone to a few different resorts and have enjoyed checking out all Disney has to offer! One of our recent favorites was the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Tyler had never been and I'd just been once at night, so we loved being able to see the giraffes, zebras and gazelles roaming the grounds.

Giraffes are one of his favorites :)

 We went to Epcot one morning and met up with our friends, the Myers. Jackson and Madeline are just a couple months apart and this pose was just too cute in front of the car.

Looks like they're heading out on a date

Both kids loved the new Little Mermaid Ride at Magic Kingdom

At least mom and dad are smiling :)

This year Tyler and I want to be better at going out on dates, we didn't get out alone as much in 2012 after Abbie was born. So we had set a goal to go on a date every weekend in 2013 if possible. But after she had such a rough time in AZ & UT going to other people, we were a little scared about this goal. But luckily since we've been back in FL she's gotten so much better. We have gone out 3 times (once a babysitter got sick last minute) and are keeping up with our goal! For our dates so far we've gone to a new Italian place, the temple, and Epcot. Since she's still nursing, we're still coming home by 9 to put her to bed but it has been great to get out and we're so proud of Abbie for being better going to others!

Riding the new Test Track

Waiting for our pizza in Italy @ Epcot

Last weekend we visited Tyler at school for lunch. We hadn't been in a few months and the kids loved seeing Daddy! We got my favorite Pita Pit sandwiches for lunch and Abbie even tried (and loved) lamb from the gyro. (Jackson just liked the chicken, haha). He only has 3 more weekends before he's earned his MBA!

Jackson ready for school!

While Abbie is still not walking, she has learned to climb up the stairs! It happened the start of February and once she climbed, she went all the way. Now it's a bit of a problem because she climbs up every chance she gets! No falls yet, but it's probably time to get a baby gate or something.

She is so fast and can get up in a matter of seconds!

She is an expert walker with her new stroller toy

This sweet boy turns 3 next month and already says he wants a BIG Buzz Toy.

Eye patch or bow? We still really like pirates around here

9 month old Abbie

Abbie is growing up way too fast! She is such a mover and explorer now! I went from having a baby and a toddler, to basically two toddlers.I haven't done a post dedicated to Abbie since 4 months (oops) so here is one all about her.

We took her in for her 9 month check up and she weighs 19 pounds, 6 ounces (70th percentile) and her height is 27 1/4 inches (45th percentile)

She can stand alone for a few seconds. She started doing this in Arizona and has continued doing it in FL but isn't getting much longer, still just a few seconds max. We were thinking maybe she'd be walking by Michael's wedding but that's two weeks away so now I doubting it!

She is starting to cruise on furniture a lot more. Also does it with her walker and loves pushing things around and walking with them!

After having some serious separation anxiety at first in AZ and Utah, she's getting better now that were home. I was afraid to hand her to the familiar faces who had held her at church but she actually did fine. She still isn't great and will reach for me if I'm there but I'm so glad she's better. We have even left her with a babysitter, and plan to tomorrow night too :)

She has been eating so well this month! She still eats her babyfood pouches but is starting to get a little tired of them I think. I have been introducing lots of new solid foods and she loves most all of it. New more random foods that she has eaten fish, broccoli, zucchini, squash, and she loved all of it! She loves little pieces of meat (deli meats or grilled chicken), bananas, pears, grapes, blueberries,  pancakes, bagels, LOVES all types of beans, pieces of cheese and yogurt, and still eats puffs, yogurt melts and crackers while on the go.

She is starting to play with toys a lot. She loves playing in her room with toys and exploring the toy closet.


She is so good at drinking water from a sippy cup! It took Jackson a long time to get it down and eventually I went with the straw one for him because he did best with that. But this girl can drink out of basically any cup. Which is good since I am so over those straw cups leaking everywhere!

She can play peek-a-boo, wave, clap, and her "indian cry" patting her mouth saying ahh ahh ahh.

She loves her brother and gets so excited to see him each morning. She is obsessed with her daddy, seriously. But I have to admit, I think I'm still her favorite, might be that whole nursing thing ;)

She is STILL the most smiley girl we have ever seen and has such a sweet personality. She loves laughing with Jackson, playing with her daddy and cuddling with me. I sure love this girl!

It's fun that my kids can both play separatley, for about 30 seconds until Abbie wants Jackson's car...

The girl loves cheese like her mommy!

Now she can pull up on the couch to get Jackson's toys he used to "hide" there from her

Abbie meeting Captain Hook :)

Clapping in action

How I normally find her, with an empty tray because she eats everything I give her!

Arizona again

For the 4th year in a row, I headed to Arizona while Tyler had his national sales meeting in California. This year, however, was the first time flying by myself with two kids! To say I was nervous would be an understatement! The previous flights hadn't been too bad, but there was no way I could have done those alone. But this was only one hour, right during Abbie's morning naptime and Jackson's happiest time, so we had good odds. Also, Tyler was able to be in the airport with me so he helped me up until the gate. I had lots of prayers going my way and the flight turned out great! Abbie fell asleep just after the plane took off and slept until we got to the gate. Jackson was amazing. He sat and played with the iPad, cars, treats and drink and really didn't cause a fuss the whole time. Since I was holding the sleeping Abbie, this was very important :) Oh and did I mention the one empty seat on the plane was next to me? Blessed.

 

After landing in Phoenix, these kids were amazing!

 Back in Arizona we reconnected with Paige, William and Steven and my parents of course. It was a chill week and we had fun in AZ after all the holiday business was over.

Jackson playing with my old marching band set.

Abbie helped Grammy and Grandad take down the Christmas Tree!

Abbie met Adelaide Fillmore while the boys were wresting somewhere in the grass...

We sent this pic to daddy who was missing his kids

Jackson loved giving baby Will checkups with my old doctor set.

It was a full car heading out with this bunch!

 For the third January in a row, we went to the Railroad Park and Jackson loved it even more this year!

He stood their and posed knowing I wanted a picture apparently :)

This year they had this train museum opened. It's still a work in progress but Jackson was in heaven watching all the trains go by. This made up for the fact that the Sirrine Train Display wasn't open this year!We hung out in here until it was time to go ride the train!

In heaven

So focused

Could have stood their all day

Say Cheese with Grammy!

 He didn't want to leave but then was happy once he remembered about the big train outside!

Giving his ticket

Can you tell he's happy :)

William and Abbie for their first ride

Love this boy of mine :)

OK let's put it all in a collage just for fun.

 Have I mentioned how much Jackson loves baby Will? I think this picture says it all!

One night I was able to go and get a facial and it was so great! Thanks for the present again, Mom! While there they fed Abbie one of her favorite foods and she went to town! I normally give her only a couple at a time to avoid the mess and cleanup, but I think she enjoyed it!

This girl can eat!

Uncle Steven with his only niece!

Have I also mentioned that Abbie decided she really only liked mom and dad best and wouldn't go to hardly anyone this whole trip? And that she would often cry if I even left the room? Back in Florida she had absolutly no problem being held by anyone and hadn't minded the few times I'd left her with babysitters. But all of a sudden she got major stranger danger disease, good timing right?

Oh and did I mention that she slept terribly every night for 4 weeks straight? Woke up at least 3 times every night and sometimes every hour? Yeah, maybe I've been trying to forget about that but yeah it happened. And it was hard. But luckily by the end of the trip, even though she still slept bad, she was much more comfortable going to her family! She finally would be held by anyone, and didn't care if I was there or not. Phew.

Buddies for life

 The kids in their Sunday best! Impossible to get a pic of them all looking though, sorry William!

 

 The trip wouldn't have been complete without a visit with Brook & Hillary! I got to meet cute little Porter Day, seriously a gorgeous baby. And reconnect with little Violet Darner, just 2 months older than Abbie. Is it so crazy we have 5 kids between us now?

If you knew how hard it was to get someone to take this pic, haha!

 It was a great relaxing week in Arizona but it felt good to see Tyler again and get back to our Florida home!