Another Novel and Then Some.

So much for posting more frequently... maybe one day. So sorry, but get ready for a very long post!! We have kept ourselves busy enough. I started a new job towards the end of January working from home for a company that is AWeSOME! We create websites for schools and maintain them. We just launched a new part of the business, creating websites for any company now, not just schools. So I am really excited! So if you know anyone looking to have a website done Check this out or let me know, I get referral bonuses!

Local Biz Webmasters
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I put Mackenzie in a dance class instead of preschool for now. I figured she will probably have 2 years of preschool if I enroll her in the fall. So I'll enjoy having her all the time until then. She loves dance. Whenever we ask her what she learned that is new, she spins every time. It's adorable. These pictures were taken on her first day of dance in her new outfit and she was so excited! So she posed for some pictures, which is not like her at all. She runs from me every time I get the camera out, which is quite frequently. This picture is a little over exposed from the sun coming through the window, but I still think it's precious. She kept asking me if it was time to go yet, and we still had about a half hour to kill... I was a little excited to see her in her new dance outfit too! :)

So we went outside and posed for some pictures to hurry the time a little faster. This is her spinning, her favorite part of her dance class.

I told her to go stand by the pole so I could take her picture and so she did.

She loves this camera... it doesn't take the best pictures, and fills up quickly...but oh well. She enjoys it.

Mackenzie is a big helper in the kitchen and loves to make cookies and anything that she can lick the beaters afterwords.

The most difficult part is now having to share with a sister who loves food, and sweets, more than she does. But she does a fabulous job and is very good about it. Just as long as Lexi doesn't eat all of it... as you can see she is keeping her eye on the beaters to make sure Lexi doesn't over do it.

But really, who could resist this cute smile when she gets what she wants. Lexi is our little comedian and loves to smile and loves even more when people laugh and smile at her.

Jason came home with balloons, stuffed animals and a little treat for the girls on Valentines Day, he is such a good daddy.

The girls love to "play" (pound) on the piano. Especially Lexi, anytime Jason plays you'll always find her right next to him reaching for the keys to play with him. Simply Adorable!

So here comes our little comedian child: Princess Underpants. Yes they are clean, well as clean as the wash will get them...hahaha!! She started it by trying to wear them as a hat...

and Jason helped a little.And this is how they stayed for quite some time. She loved EVERY minute of it!

And sorry, most of these pictures are of Lexi because again Mackenzie runs from the camera, so I have a lot of a blur of what we call Mackenzie :) that and I've been busy trying to get Lexi's One Year photo video done so I've edited a lot of her pictures lately... yes you heard that right Lexi is turning one in a couple weeks!! I am racking my brain on where the time as seriously gone. It amazes me how fast time has gone by with Lexi as the 2nd child compared to Mackenzie being the only child. I really feel guilty sometimes about the time I spend one on one with Lexi, it just doesn't happen like I think it should.

So now for those that are a little queasy and faint of heart, end your novel reading now. And don't look at these pictures. I know they aren't that bad, but in person I had a hard time looking at him and trying to butterfly bandage him.

So for those of you who don't know the story I'm about to tell, enjoy!
Jason is a leader for scouts, and once a week they have an activity in the evening at the church.
I go to my moms to watch American Idol and relax because Grandma and Aunt B get to help play with the girls!
So here I was watching myself some American Idol and get a phone call from Jason asking me if I've checked my email on my phone and I told him no, so he tells me to check it and call him back. So the email I get is this photo with the headline: Punched!!So wondering HOW in the WORLD that happened I called him back. And he proceeds to tell me that there were some defiant skateboarders that didn't want to leave the church when they were asked to leave. So one thing led to another and Jason ended up with a nice shiner and a cut to the face. I thought I could butterfly bandage it, and maybe a little super glue. HAHAA!! Not the case after we cleaned it out and saw that it went through a layer of tissue too. It made me a little queasy to even touch it.

The swelling was incredible, which I think helped the cut spread a little more open.
So off to the Insta-care he went.

And was left with some nice coloring and 7 stitch scar.

Scars are sexy though, I'm reminded of a song by Pink Floyd, Another Brick in the Wall, with a little lyric change goes a little something like:
"We don't need no education
We don't need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the "churchyard"
Jason, leave them kids alone
Hey Jason! leave us kids alone!
All in all you're just another brick in the wall"

Haha! Jason doesn't think I'm very funny and doesn't want me to post that, but it's my blog and I may be the only one that thinks its funny, but thats okay!! :)

THE END

Welcome Back!

Well seriously, it has been way too long. I have often frequented my blog and thought, I really need to update this, and then I go about doing other things. Saving the updating for later. Later turned into months. Several months. We had a great Christmas and are really looking forward to this coming year. I have many goals set for myself this year, and I hope that I can stick with them and achieve them all! Jason, the little sneak that he is, and awesome husband too, got me a DSLR Canon Rebel T1i camera for Christmas! I have LOVED it! I am still learning lots of things about it, and know I am a complete amateur with it. So if you know of any good teaching websites or any good tips for me, I'd love to hear about them! I have a dream of putting together an awesome website this year, so I really hope I accomplish it! Here are some random pictures from the last month:

Mackenzie is doing very well, and is so smart. I have big dreams for this kid. She loves puzzles, and easily memorizes them. I am thinking of putting her in preschool, and would really like a place that she would love and enjoy going to. We are on a waiting list for one, and I have called a couple, but a lot of them are full. So I am definitely willing to hear of any good ones around that are in my price range.

These are Mackenzie's potty training rewards. If you couldn't tell she LOVES Mickey mouse. For her Birthday in December she had a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse themed birthday party and she still talks about it occasionally. She has had her Minnie for quite some time now, and poor Mickey has been sitting on our fridge for months! I couldn't think of a good way for her to earn him because she earned her Minnie so quickly that I didn't need to have 2 rewards. So months went by and Lexi would smile really big at Mickey on the fridge every time we passed it. She thought he was a permanent fixture there. So I finally decided I wanted him gone, and I also was tired of putting Mackenzie in pull-ups for naps just to have them soiled. So we did away with them and had only a handful of accidents and this is the day she earned Mickey. She was ecstatic! And so was Minnie!!

Mackenzie is a big helper in picking up toys with me. She loves to be called a "big girl" and "big helper." She gets a little sheepish grin whenever I tell her I'm so proud of her.

I love this picture. I love seeing these two get a long so well together. Lexi just ADORES Mackenzie and always has. I can't wait until she is just a little older and they can play together all the time. I hope that they get along just like my sister and I did growing up. We were inseparable.

Lexi is doing awesome! She is 9 1/2 months old now and is all over the place. She army crawled for one week and decided that she was better than that and just popped up one day and crawled away. The next day she had her first tooth come in! She loves food and cries every time when its all gone, even though she is spitting it back out because she is so full. She is learning some sign language and her first word signing was "more" (more food!). Go figure.

She has the best gummy smile in the world! My favorite is when she tilts her head upwards and her jaw forward and pulls the best smile with squinty eyes. LOVE IT!

I love this picture too, I was snapping photos continuously because she was doing her adorable gummy, and came up with this.

That's all for now. I hope to be back sooner than 4 months! Now that I have done this post, it may make it a little easier!

Busy Summer

We have had a busy summer and I have been terrible at posting any new pictures, so I will post a few and maybe more to come later.

Hiking to Donut Falls, Lexi's first hiking trip... didn't love it so much.
I walked into my bedroom and I found
Mackenzie and Lexi watching
Mickey Mouse together just like this. ADORABLE!

Playing Outside!

Camping in the Uintahs, we played in some horse stalls that were on the property of a friend of ours.

Lexi fit perfectly in this little cooler compartment in our double chairs. She didn't love it though... we protested until we took her out. This is the trip that ended Jason's bad fishing streak! YAY! We were really excited!

Long Live the Queen... Miah

So I have totally avoided posting anything new on my blog for quite some time and for good reason. I have dreaded it in fact. Because writing what happened makes it all more real, as if I'm finalizing something. And I guess I finally am.

As many of our friends and family already know, we had to put our Great Dane, Miah, down. It was an EXTREMELY difficult decision we had to make and one that we hope we NEVER have to make again. It came on us quite suddenly and she declined in health really fast. She started with bouts of diarrhea and irritability which were a semi-normal ritual, but nothing that some good ol' pepto couldn't cure. But after two weeks of it, I started to worry. And thats when her body began to swell and she developed pitting adema. I work at an animal hospital so I took her in and had some xrays and bloodwork done. Her results came back as having IBD - Irritable Bowel Disease. And looking back on her records she had actually had it for at least 2 years, but it was so mild on her records that it was of no concern. We put her on some medication and it didn't seem to be working. She just got worse. We had to make our decision rather quickly to try and treat her, make her comfortable, or to stop her suffering. We prayed and went to the temple and Jason and I both received the exact same answer that neither of us wanted.

For many reasons we know we made the right decision. But it didn't and doesn't make it any easier. I miss her, and occasionally still feel her around. I miss the shock factor of people stopping us to see her, I miss her galloping around our backyard, I miss her following me around the house to each room I went. And honestly I miss her smelling whatever I'm cooking on the stove and me having to shoo her out of the kitchen. Because she could just walk up to the stove and smell whatever was in the pan! We love her and we may one day get another Great Dane, but for now we are only going to stick with one dog, its much less hectic around here for sure.

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A First. Definately not our last!

We went to the parade yesterday and Mackenzie had a lot of fun. This
was her first parade and she was a little nervous at first and didn't
get the whole idea of it.

But as soon as this little girl took it upon herself to be Mackenzies "big sister" she was loving it!

She would run, hop, and skip back to her growing bag of candy.

Lexi found a new love. Otter Pops! She couldn't get enough and between her and Mackenzie, they had 5!! What a great idea to toss popsycles in 100 degree weather.

We go to the best spot to watch fireworks at the jr high. It's like our own private show with a few people around. Mackenzie is a girl after my own heart and LOVES fireworks, Jason is hoping Lexi will be more like him and not enjoy them so much. I say fat chance!