The face of many visitors

We have had several visitors over the last couple months. Kevins mom and grandma Leonor came from CA. They came for Kevins cousins wedding and we were lucky to spend a few days with them and welcome them into our home.

After they left we had Kevins other grandma come and spend the week with us. Sadly I did not get many pictures of either visit.

The end of May we had Kevins sister Connie, her husband Reed and their new baby Elisabeth come and visit. We got to spend a day with them and finally meet her husband and their baby. The kids LOVED Elisabeth and could not get enough of her.

Over the last 2 months we were able to get Hannas room all painted! Her room has been a long time coming. We are not done with it, we plan to add beadboard but probably not for another year or so. We need to replace the windows and well windows are not cheap.

This month we are planning a trip back to CA for a week and we have many fun adventures planned. Its Hannas first big vacation. We have not been back there since Preston was 18 months. We are all excited for a fun getaway!

We still have a lot of work to do on the house. We have been trying to get our sprinkler system up and running and the yard not so neglected. We had a lot of beautiful tulips this spring. Hopefully next year we will be able to have more flowers planted. We did get a garden planted and we are so excited for it to feed our family this summer!

Overdue Update!

I was doing well about updating our blog there for a while and then I slacked off. So much has happened since my last post. Let’s jump right in. I might need to make this more like a 2 part post we shall see!

We bought our first house! It was such a fun, exhausting and exciting process! We were scheduled to close on Nov 14^th but had issues due to all the holidays and then USDA got behind. We had to be out of our apartment on Nov 30^th. We ended up closing on Nov 28^th, received keys on Nov 29^th and moved everything that night. I spent cleaning the apartment on the 30^th. We wanted to get things cleaned here and painted but that did not happen. It has since then been a slow going process. It took me 3 days to clean the kitchen and get it unpacked. It was really dirty! We have only painted Preston’s room which he loves! This weekend we plan on painting the guest room/craft room (hint hint to all those far away we have room for visitors and would love to have you come). Also working on Hanna’s room, we put several items in her room that actually go in the guest room which is why her room will be done after. The house is perfect for us and we can easily stay here and raise our family. The house sits on .28 acres of land with a full fenced in back yard. Its 2240 sq ft with 5 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. We have a 2 car attached garage with a big “Man Cave” behind the garage. I think that’s Kevin’s favorite part. The house needs some work in general but also we want to change things to our taste and style. We feel very blessed to of been able to purchase a home with such a low interest rate. We also live in a great neighborhood and really enjoy our new ward. Everyone here is so friendly! We can’t wait for this summer to be able to plant a garden! We love fresh fruits and veggies.

Kevin was offered a full time day role position. It’s not the same one he received in Sept/Oct. He’s now the Quality Tech at his plant. Basically that means he makes sure whatever product they are making whether its Charmin or Bounty passes all the quality in order for it to be shipped to the stores. He works Monday through Friday and hours really vary. Basically he can work as much or as little overtime as he wants. He has a work computer and if he gets calls or texts he needs to either go into the plant or jump on the computer to release product. He normally does not get calls during the week unless there are major issues. During the weekend though he releases product and then answers any phone calls or texts. He’s become super popular there. Sometimes he gets phone calls in the middle of the night. It’s really not too bad though because he gets paid for them! Also because he’s not scheduled to work Sundays (when he did it was double time) he got bumped up $1 an hour. However, if he does work on Sunday he still gets the double time. His holidays also changed up a bit. They are working out a schedule so he can take call one weekend and then someone else do it another weekend. He enjoys doing it and mostly is at a desk now and he even has his own phone number ha-ha.

Brandi, I still stay home with the kids and work with Preston on preschool type stuff. Love watching Hanna learn new things. Still selling Scentsy and currently working on getting healthier. I really enjoy my 2 kids and watching them grow every day. I’m so grateful that I’m able to be a stay at home mommy. Here soon my sister in law and I are going to start doing a craft night to get out of the house!

Preston had a birthday the beginning of January and he turned 4. I cannot believe I have a 4 year old! He’s super energetic and loves to run and jump around constantly. He is extremely smart in so many areas. He’s really enjoying saying prayers all by himself and learning new things about Jesus. He also now knows his ABC’s. He’s still wearing a pull up to bed but does great during the day! I do not have to remind him anymore to use the bathroom. He’s even becoming less less picky of an eater. He loves his new room! Preston’s favorite show is Wild Kratts and its super educational. We took him into his 4yr well child check and he weighed 31lbs and was 39 inches tall. He’s wearing mostly 4T clothing but would still fit into 3T. He received 2 shots and will not need any more until he’s 11. He finally decided that his pediatrician was not such a bad guy and he answered all his questions on counting, colors and shapes. He’s such a good little helper to his sister and he loves her very much!

Hanna also recently had a birthday in January and turned 1. GAH my baby is growing up! She is not walking yet and I am in no need to rush her. She has taken a few steps but prefers to crawl instead. She does stand alone in the middle of the floor. She is not a picky eater and loves everything we give her. She hated baby food so we totally skipped it all and went right to table foods. She’s still nursing with no weaning in sight. She says mama, dada, bubba, and hi. She loves to dance! She also LOVES her daddy. She is a big time daddy’s girl and wants nothing to do with mommy when he is home. I know her daddy enjoys it. We are getting ready to start working on her room. She’s currently still in our room. She’s such a joy! We also took Hanna into her 1yr well child check and she weighs 16lbs 14oz and 29 inches. She’s a tiny little thing wearing 9-12 month clothes but still fits in several 6-9 month items.

Sept update

Couple quick updates!

Our family is doing wonderful! We were approved for a home loan so now we are just in the process of finding the right home for our family. We are really hoping to be in someplace new by Christmas really earlier if possible!

Kevin- a couple weeks ago we were out shopping and he got a phone call from one of his managers at work. They were asking him to switch lines at work and work monday-friday 10 hour day shifts. Such a HUGE blessing for our family. Neither one of my kids sleep well when Kevin is at work at night. We do not know how long this position is going to last but we are greatful for it! Instead of working 10 hours he's been working closer to 12 hours and has been able to get a ton of overtime! This just really helps us in our house buying event!

Brandi- same old same old with me. Just love being a mommy to my two beautiful kids!

Preston- he is doing wonderful with potty training! I can not even tell you the last time he had an accident! He still wears a diaper to bed but he does so well doing the day. We have been able to go out shopping all day without any accidents and he's always so willing to tell us when he needs to go potty. He has loved riding his bike this summer and he was sad to see that our weather is changing and he cant go swimming anymore. His knowledge and understanding just amazes me! I love love LOVE listening to him play during the day and he is constantly asking me a ton of questions all day!

Hanna- she is crawling EVERYWHERE! She is constantly on the go and never naps longer than an hour. She is pulling herself up to standing and has been walking around furniture. She seems to be growing so much just before our eyes. She LOVES solid foods and loves everything we feed her except purees. She also is crawling upstairs. She loves her daddy and gets so excited when he comes home from work.  She says dadda. She also says momma but only when she's crying for me. I cant believe she'll be 9 months in just a few short weeks.

3 year olds say some funny things!

Oh boy do 3 year olds say and do some funny things!
One of my best friends has a little girl who is 2 weeks older then Preston, last friday I was babysitting her and Preston was so super excited because they are the best of buds! They rarely fight or argue, it was a long day for the two of them to just play. About 1-2 hours before her mommy was coming to get her Preston came downstairs and was so upset. The following is our conversation.
Me: Whats wrong Preston? You two need to play nice
Preston: Mom Paisley chewed on my Panda Bear (fake crying)
Me: Then ask her nicely to not chew on your toys
Preston to Paisley
Preston: Paisley please do not chew on my toys
Paisley: (bursts into tears and does not say anything)
At this point Preston disappears into his room to play and keeps asking for her to come back and play. I step in to see how come she's crying.
Me: Pais whats wrong? How come your crying? You are not in trouble
Paisley: (crying uncontrollably) I chewed on his panda because he chewed on my duck (she pulls it out of her cute purse).
Me: PRESTON!!!!

Within 5 mins they were fine and both playing again. After Paisley left Preston came downstairs and was just super upset.
Me: Bubba how come your upset?
Preston: Paisley told me that she is not my girlfriend anymore
Me: How come she said that?
Preston: Because I told her not to chew on my panda

In a text conversation today with Paisleys momma I was telling her about this story and she laughed. She then told me that a little boy asked Paisley at school this week to be his girlfriend and she said no because Preston was her boyfriend. I tell Preston this conversation and he says "Mom she was just kidding me".

Paisley is seriously his best bud. He was watching cartoons yesterday and we seen a commercial for a Cinderella vanity and was so super excited as he said
Preston: Mom I need to save my pennys to buy that toy
Mom: Preston that toy is for a little girl, you do not need it
Preston: But mom I want to buy it for Paisley so she can play with it when she's here.

I can not believe that I already have to worry about the fact that my 3 year old has a major crush on Paisley. I know we laugh now but in a couple years it might not be so funny.

Lots of fun!

We have had to much fun the month of August! We had Grandma Gossett come and visit for a whole week! We also went to the Brigham Temple open house, parade, fair, rodeo, zoo, Antelope Island and the Tree House Museum.

We picked up Grandma Gossett from the airport and quickly headed to the zoo. It was a perfect afternoon and not to hot. I got very few pictures of the zoo. Preston did not want his picture taken and Hanna was sound asleep in the stroller.

The day after the zoo we went to the Brigham City Temple open house. So exciting to be getting another temple in Utah. This will now be the temple our ward will attend. We left Preston with his aunt Danie, he really wanted to stay and play with Mason. I am hoping to make it back and take him this next time. Its such a beautiful temple. Walking through the open house made me super emotional and so greatful to be a Forever Family. It is wonderful to know that your husband and your children are with you forever! I have such a strong testimony of the importance of temple marriage.

After the temple open house we headed to the parade. Preston hated the loud sounds of the firetrucks. He did enjoy getting candy with his dad though.

Saturday night we went and rode rides and went to the rodeo. Preston is so in heaven around rodeos. I did not get any picture of Preston at the rodeo with his cowboy hat. Gradma Gossett did and I forgot to get them from her before she left.

We then spent a few days just relaxing from all our fun adventure. Before doing more fun things!

While Grandma Gossett was here visiting Kevin took some time off work and after she left he still had a few days to spend with us before going back. We wanted to do some fun things so we went to the Tree House Museum. Preston had never been, he now calls it the "fun place". He LOVED it. I took very little pictures because I recorded several of them and lets face it to go and not be able to use the stroller was a little difficult.

We also made a trip out to Antelope Island. I had not been since I was in high school and Kevin and the kids had never been. Really not a whole lot to see out there.We did however see the Wienermobile.

 

 

We also just went to the zoo again with my family.

 

So much has also been going on in our family that we are very excited about! Here is a little update:

Kevin went from being a tech to a tech 1 which included about a $1 more an hour pay increase! i am very proud of him and all the hard work he has put in to get this!

Preston has finally decided to potty train! I hear angels singing! This has been a long work in progress. He had no interest in it and we have tried several times to get him potty trained. Today was the first full day with only 3 accidents!

Hanna has started scooting. forward. She has been going backwards for a while now. She gets up on her hands and knees and rocks but wont go forward. She ha also learned to sit up from a laying down position. She hits 8 months in just 10 days. She also is starting to try and clap. Still only 2 teeth. 

Drive-in Movie Theater

Last week I started doing a chore chart with Preston. So far it has been wonderful! We did simple chores like picking up your toys, feeding the fish, eating your meals (we have a hard time getting the kid to eat). Anyways once he earned 20 stickers he earned a trip to the drive-in movies! He was so excited to get there :). So yesterday we made a day of it. We had a bunch of errands to run so we left earlier in the day. Once it got closer we went and bought some snacks and then we headed to order some pizza. Once we had all our yummy food we headed to the movies! Preston was so excited to see Ice Age 4! We tried the movies last year with him and it was a horrible fail. He had no interest at all. This year I would say we pulled it off wonderful!
The cost is $7 per adult and children under 4 are free! You get to watch 2 movies, ours were Ice Age 4 and Brave. We figured Preston would fall asleep during the 2nd movie but we wanted to stay and watch. Once we got there while we were getting all set up Preston and Hanna played with some toys we brought and ate some pizza while we waited for the movie to start!

After we finished eating our dinner we got the kids in their jammies. I fed Hanna and she crashed and slept pretty much the entire time through both movies. Preston fell asleep during the 2nd movie cuddling with his momma.

We really enjoyed both movies and we got home around 1:30am. Luckily Preston let us sleep past 8am. I have no problems with Hanna she likes her sleep like her mommy and daddy. We had a lot of fun and we have decided that we are going to go at least once every summer. Its to cheap to pass up! This morning I asked Preston what his favorite part of Ice Age 4 was and he told me the Pirates. He LOVES Ice Age!

June and July

Our June and July were pretty slow considering its summer. In June one of my friends came over to visit with her 2 kids. Her little girl is only 4 weeks older than Preston. Her little boy turned 1 in June. Yes this is pretty much the best picture I could get of them all.

Also in June we went camping with my parents and siblings. It was Hanna's first time camping. It was pretty warm the entire time so our children spent a lot of time in diapers or a onesie.

Preston got to go fishing with his dad while we were camping. He didnt catch anything but he did not mind. He had fun!

In July we seen a couple shows of fireworks! For the 4th of July we went to Riverside and during the day I caught this super cute picture of Hanna's first 4th of July!

Also in the begining of July Hanna had 2 bottom teeth show up! She was almost 6 months. She was younger than Preston when he received his first set of teeth. She also started solids for the first time, however, after every feeding she would gag we decided to hold out. We will re-approach it again in a few weeks.

Here are just a few more pictures of what we have been up to!

Upcoming events for August include a visit from Grandma Gossett, a visit to the drive-in movies, Brigham City Temple open house, Box Elder County fair and possibly the zoo. Our month is filling up quick!