The rushton family

Another Novel and Then Some.

2010-03-31T21:19:00.000-07:00

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
and
School Webmasters
(There's my plug for my awesome work!!)

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!

2010-01-31T13:17:00.000-08:00

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

2009-09-14T21:43:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-13T14:44:00.000-07:00

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.

A First. Definately not our last!

2009-07-24T08:32:00.000-07:00

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!

3 Months Old

2009-07-21T20:25:00.000-07:00

Oh goodness where has the time gone?? I cannot believe that my little baby is 3 months old! She is still such a great little girl, she is soo happy. She is on the verge of laughing, Jason says she laughed for him while I was sleeping... I don't believe him. She makes the sound like she is trying to laugh that I can't explain in writing, but it is so adorable. She is exploring her hands and trying desperately to figure them out. She is doing a good job at it. She loves kicking her legs. Still hates tummy time, and has yet figured out how to roll over onto her back again. She is now sleeping completely through the night, 8pm-7am. HEAVEN! And I'm still tired, somehow my body thinks my bedtime is at midnight.

We have been really busy, well trying to keep really busy. If I don't plan things to do I end up sitting around doing nothing with Mackenzie driving me CRAZY! So we try and go to the park at least once a week, and bike rides at least 3 times a week. Which is a good workout for me, and even better if I tell Mackenzie the night before that we are going biking, it kind of makes me get my exercise. Speaking of exercise, I've been doing Tae Bo and Jillian Michaels... talk about kicking my butt, I am out of shape. Heres to losing at least 40lbs though! Geez..that sounds like sooo much! But I'm happy to say I'm below where I was at before I got pregnant with Lexi so I know I can do this!

I've been trying to work on designing my front yard. I have not liked the look of my front yard very much since I have moved in. I have my backyard pretty much the way I want it, so now its time to demolish the lawn in the front yard. So hopefully in the next coming weeks you'll get to see some changes.

I have the itch to go camping, I want to go this weekend, but Jason doesn't fee like going on a holiday weekend, so I may set up my tent and kick it in my backyard!

Mackenzie just figured out how to ride in this car, it took her watching Jason ride in it first though. Hilarious! She is loving it! She thought it was so hilarious that the car would move on its own when you push a little button.

That's all for now, but heres to hoping more frequent posts will come your way during this busy summertime.

Blessing Day

2009-06-07T20:09:00.001-07:00

So today was Alexis' baby blessing. What a wonderful day! We had a great meeting at church and her blessing was beautiful. I feel so blessed to have a husband as great as Jason to hold the priesthood and to be able to give Alexis her blessing today. We had lots of family and friends that were able to join us and filled almost half of the chapel... not really, but it seriously felt like it! Kind of feel bad for those whose seats we stole... only a little though. :) We had a nice little lunch and lots of good visiting.

Alexis continues to be a really good baby. She is smiling lots, and is sleeping more at night. Only up once or twice, and goes right back to sleep. Which is good because I have the itch to go camping and would like if she got up only once to eat, if not at all.

Mackenzie is fun as ever, she and Jason played a really fun game of hide and seek tonight and had us laughing pretty hard. She can count to 10 really fast, it was lots of fun to see Jason try and find a hiding spot as fast as he could because her 10 seconds was really 5 or less, and with her counting so fast and peeking, she still couldn't find him. We are attempting to potty train her and we have our good days and our bad. Some people tell me I should wait till she is 3, but I am dead set on getting her trained now... I'm tired of two kids in diapers, but I sure hate #2s in underwear! Very frustrating, a true test of patience and temperment :)

I love this picture. Lexi really loves Mackenzie! She can be crying and Mackenzie will start talking to her and she calms down almost immediately to hear Mackenzie talk. Mackenzie will sing to her the ABC's and other random bits of songs and I think it is PRICELESS!

Jason's brother got married a couple weeks ago at the Salt Lake Temple and it was a beautiful day and perfect for some pictures, but kids decided it wasn't their day to take pictures...wouldnt you know it!

She Smiles.

2009-05-28T07:17:00.001-07:00

One of my absolute favorite milestones. Smiling. She has been doing it
for a couple days and I am always trying to get it on camera. And
today I succeeded. On my phone camera too! Which has a major delay.
Well she is crying so that is all for now.

1 month old

2009-05-21T12:04:00.000-07:00

Alexis is now one month old. Crazy how fast time goes by. Last night
she only woke up once to eat, here's to hoping she keeps that up and
eventually sleeps through the night. I love my sleep. :)
We are just outside enjoying the nice weather, under my patio in the
shade.
I wish spring lasted longer.
Mackenzie just got back from Kangaroo Zoo. She loves it there. She was
able to go with my sister, which I was grateful for a little time to
relax.

Nice Day!

2009-05-18T12:12:00.000-07:00

It's the perfect weather to play in the water today. Mackenzie has
been wanting to go swimming and since I'm not able to yet, and not so
sure I want to with the risk of the yucky swim bug. We may just stay
in our backyard all summer.
Ignore my weeds in the background. It has been a work in progress.
That's about the last area in my backyard that has weeds. This weeks
project.
Alexis is doing well and is 4 weeks today. Crazy how time flies. She
really has been a good baby, yay for no colic so far!! Makes for a
happy mom.

2009-05-09T00:33:00.002-07:00

Another one of my favorites.

2009-05-09T00:33:00.001-07:00

First date night

2009-05-09T00:32:00.001-07:00

So we may be crazy, or smart I don't know, but we went out last night
to a movie and had my mom come over and watch Alexis and Mackenzie. It
was really nice to get out and felt a little odd at the same time. But
we knew they were in good hands. Even if Alexis stayed awake the
entire time and Mackenzie got a little jealous that grandma held lexi
the entire time and wouldn't put her to bed so grandma could play with
mackenzie all by herself. :) Jason and I had a great time, we went and
saw Wolverine and thought it was a good movie. It was nice to get out.
Especially cause I had the thought that I wouldn't have another date
night in months. My mom is great!
So I hate being tired. I feel like every spare moment I have i'm
sleeping, or going to bed early which I never do! I know it's good for
me and my body and mind need it, but I can still HATE it! :)
While on the subject of hate, can I tell you how much I hate pumping
and how sick I am of it. It is 1 in the morning im here on my iphone
again and I'm pumping and not sleeping like I'd love to be doing. So
why all the pumping? Because I kept getting ripped open and she can't
nurse on the side that's ripped open. So I have to pump until it
heals. So she only nurses on one side, which means she now gets her
fill on one side, I'm producing milk for twins here people! I feel
like a cow hooked up to a milking factory! So who knows how long I
will have to keep pumping, too long I'm afraid.
So as promised here is another picture of the photo session with my
cousin. Loved the way it turned out and is a reminder to me if how
much i'm blessed with two fabulous little girls. And how great a big
sister Mackenzie is.
Well I think i'm done for now and who knows how many more late night
rants you may get to read in the next coming weeks! Lucky you! :)

Busy, Busy

2009-04-30T23:35:00.001-07:00

Sorry it's taken me awhile to post an update, and again this one is
from my phone. I haven't been on the computer in what feels like weeks.
Things are going well, Lexi has been a really good baby so far. Here's
to hoping it stays that way and colic doesn't set in.
I'm surviving round one of mastitis, and really hope I don't get it
again after this. Terrible stuff!
Mackenzie has been a great big sister and loves to try to give Lexi
her binky even when she doesn't want it.
I'm really excited about some awesome pictures my cousin came over and
took for me. Here is a sneak peak of one. I'll post more later for sure.
I am feeling so blessed too. I have the best friends and neighbors
anyone could ask for. Thanks again to those of you that read this that
brought over dinners for us this week. We really have appreciated it.
Well that's all for now. Hopefully I'll make it back downstairs to the
computer one if these days to do better updates. :)

Welcome to the World Alexis

2009-04-20T20:53:00.000-07:00

Alexis Skye Rushton was born today at 1:06pm, weighing in at 7 lbs. 4 oz., 19.5" long. We couldn't be more excited for the addition to our family, for our beautiful little girl. Mom and baby are doing really well. Alexis has to stay in the nursery to be under a little bit of extra oxygen since she's been out, but is doing well. I think she is just trying to copy her big sister.

I'm amazed at how well Amy is moving around after having gone through a C-section. As soon as she got out of recovery and into her room, she was up and out, heading to the nursery despite the nurses wanting her to take it easy for a while.

How amazing it is, the miracle of birth and life. We couldn't be more happy. And we appreciate the much support and congratulations from friends and family.

Today's Drama

2009-03-24T11:56:00.001-07:00

So I thought my day was going great, was getting everything I needed to get done. I walked down the hall to put something away and Tacoma(our dog) comes running out of Mackenzie's room with slobber flinging all over the walls and all over himself. He was gagging. I thought he was choking and was dying right in front of me. I pull him on my lap and pry his mouth open to see if I could see any obstruction, and a shiny little metal object catches my eye and I realize that it is one of Mackenzie's hairclips. Tacoma has a jewelry/metal fetish, he is always trying to chew the stuff up. The hairclip is imbedded in his gums and stuck behind his last molar. I try to pry it out by myself but he is jerking his head away and continually chomping his jaws, embedding it further. So I can't hold his mouth open and get pliers back there by myself. I start to panic, and because I have pregnancy hormones the tears flow and I think my dog is going to die(of course he isn't but its called pregnancy logic). My family is all at work, and the one that is a stay at home mom is on vacation to vegas. So I call Tiffany, one of my friends that live nearby, just hoping she is home and available. She is and is over SO fast! I pin Tacoma between my legs and poor brave Tiffany is given the task to hold open his mouth :) while I pull the clip out. It was over super fast and I can't believe I shed tears over the dumb dog. Just glad it wasn't Miah because I couldnt pay anyone money to stick their hands anywhere near her chomping jaws! Let alone pin her down! So thanks again Tiffany for coming to the rescue and saving my dogs life hahaha!

Happy St. Patricks Day!

2009-03-17T07:07:00.001-07:00

Anyone else have a leprechaun come and dye your food today?

Didn't bother Mackenzie at all, but it was a little more difficult for
me :)

New Bag

2009-03-10T21:42:00.001-07:00

So I got some cute material from my sister for my birthday and I wanted to find something to make it with...and I was in DESPERATE need of a new church bag, the one I have been using I have had for WAY to long, and it definately shows!! So I set out on a mission to find a pattern/design that I liked. All the ones that I liked were sold out so I found one that was close and improvised... this is the end result... granted its taken with my phone(I have become lazy with putting pictures from my camera on the computer) so maybe I'll take a better one... but don't count on it. I definately made some mistakes, but overall I'm pretty happy with it.

Oh and to update on Mackenzie and her bed... She is a CHAMP!! I couldn't have asked for a smoother transition! I was so scared that I have stalled and stalled getting her a bed. But I really am so happy that she LOVES her bed. She loves that she gets to get right out of bed in the mornings, but the funny thing is she wont get out of bed from naps till I go in there and get her. :) I know that wont last long, but she's funny that way. She loves that she is a big girl, now only if she thought that way about being potty trained... I guess one step at a time. I was hoping to have her potty trained by the time the baby is here... but umm.. that is less than 6 weeks away and I have a feeling we aren't going to reach that goal.

Big Girl Bed

2009-03-07T09:58:00.001-08:00

Sorry for the blurry picture of Mackenzie, maybe I'll fix it with some
much better ones later. We'll see. :)
I found a great deal on Ksl.com for her bed, I've been looking for
weeks and finally found one really close. So double bonus. She slept
in it last night for the first time and did great!! She loves it! I
think her absolute favorite part of it all was that she didn't have to
wait for Jason or me to get her out of her crib. I'm really nervous
about naptime, but I have high hopes after last night.

Swimming

2009-03-05T16:24:00.001-08:00

We went swimming at the Rec center in bountiful and Mackenzie liked
that she fit right inside the lockers.

2009-03-03T16:44:00.001-08:00

My OCD child set the table, not Jason, but that is definately where
Mackenzie gets it from.

2009-03-02T17:40:00.003-08:00

FHE Activity

2009-03-02T17:40:00.001-08:00

For FHE tonight Jason made Mackenzie play-doh fingernails. Bright
orange. She loved them until they fell off instantly.

Say "Cheese" Big Bird

2009-03-01T11:57:00.001-08:00

Mackenzie has finally started playing with big bird that she got for
Christmas. Mostly because she just figured out it plays music. As I am
writing this on my phone Mackenzie can see the picture of herself and
big bird, and keeps putting big bird in front telling him to look at
his picture.

We are expecting her last set of molars to come in and are taking
forever!! She won't keep her hands out of her mouth and now she has
caught a little cold because of it. Which Jason woke up this morning
with as well... I'm crossing my fingers I don't get it.

Also today when I sat Mackenzie down to eat some lunch I asked her if
we should say a blessing, and she looked at me and said "of course!"
gotta love her!

Another funny thing.... We were at Grandmas the
other day and Grandma was giving her some cookies, and Mackenzie looks up at her and
says "I looove cookies!"

2009-02-17T14:35:00.001-08:00

On our way home from lunch with grandpa, mackenzie has adopted my
sunglasses since she broke them.