Happy Birthday Ron!!!

Happy Happy Birthday to the most wonderful husband and daddy! There are so many reasons why we love Ron, but here are just a few.......
- Ron works hard in everything he does.
- Ron is honest with everyone
- Ron is a great father and Reese absolutely adores him
- I love that Ron will dance and sing with Reese
- Ron has such a solid testimony and presides in our home

 - Ron loves to learn new things. He learned to do a little bit of re-construction at our old house and is now constructing our theater room.
-Ron is very reliable
- Ron always makes time for Reese
- Ron is very selfless and always willing to help others or stop at the store for me whenever I ask
- Ron loves his family

For Ron's birthday, we had some friends over and had a little surprise party, which was a lot of fun. The next day we went to Ron's favorite restaurant, Tepanyaki, and Reese loved the fire.

 We are very grateful for Ron and all that he does for our family.

15 months old

 Another month goes by and Reese just keeps getting cuter and cuter. I love that her personality is just coming out in full bloom and I love her sense of humor. I am noticing more and more just how much she watches what I do and wants to be like her momma. Anytime she comes into the exercise room, she uses the ab slide or the yoga ball. The thing that I love about it is that she is having fun.

15 mo old stats....

Height: 29.75 in. -25%

Weight: 19 1/2 lbs - 7%

Reese loves to run and she looks like she is going to fall on her face at any moment. Our favorite thing to do lately is that I start to stomp and chase her and she runs off the opposite direction squealing. I love her laugh and she loves to get tickled. Ron usually holds Reese and I chase them around the kitchen and she just yells and squeals and buries her head into Ron. I think Reese will be a dancer when she gets bigger because she loves to dance. Anytime any music comes on, she starts to nod her head and shake her body. She is the biggest dare devil and climbs everything. She usually uses her baby stroller to step onto and climb onto the fireplace. She also climb up on her table and stands up and when I don't catch her before she stands up, she says "Ma" and shakes her bum, like, "I'm up here and you didn't stop me."

 So Reese's favorite word or I should say name is Isla. Everywhere we go it's Isla Isla Isla. She loves her cousin. She also learned to say Sach (our dog Sachi), place (which we tell our dog when she goes to her bed), no no no (along with the pointed finger), ball, jump, hello, bye, uh-oh (all the time), hello, grandma, and others that I can't think of right now.

 We have been working on throwing and kicking balls and she loves that. I think I might have scarred my child from catching a ball though. I threw the ball to her and it would hit her in the face so now she puts her arms out to catch and her eyes closed. Poor girl!

 I have been so proud of Reese as I watch her care for others. It's neat for me to see her take her toy to her friend that is crying or when a child wants her toy, she gives it to them without complaint and then gets another toy to play with. She is such a miracle baby and teaches me so much. She has such a loving personality and I am grateful that I get squeezes from my little girl every day.

Pleasant View 5K

 A little while ago, my oldest niece Kennedy was training for her first 5K, but was unable to do it because her sister ended up having a dance competition. My mom, sister, Isla, Reese, and I decided to do a 5K with her and we ended up doing the Pleasant View 5K.

 Reese and Isla rode in the double stroller, but she had to look the part!

 Reese didn't take off her medal for about 2 days! I think she liked it!

A day at the zoo....

Each week, I look forward to saturaday because we always do something as a family. We have gone swimming, to the treehouse, car shopping, and just spending time together. Last saturday we went to the zoo and it was so much fun! My mom and Isla came as well and Reese loved every minute of it. Reese just learned to yell Isla's name and anytime she couldn't see her, she was saying "Isla, Isla, Isla." I think Isla was sick of her by the end of the day:) Reese definitely loves her cousin. 

My mom is the greatest grandma and wanted the girls to have matching outfits for our trip to the zoo!

Reese loved the tigers and we spent a good 30 min watching Reese point and yell at the tigers. She wanted to make sure everyone had seen her tiger.

These little meerkats were so cute. These babies were 6 weeks old and just followed their momma wherever she went.

Another favorite was the elephant. Reese squealed when she saw the baby elephant because she her favorite book is a baby animal book and she always kisses the baby elephant good night before going to bed.

We were lucky that we were able to get so close to this giraffe, but it kinda scared the girls.

Isla really wanted to ride the carousel so we started on a peacock, but once it started moving, Reese flipped out and we ended up on a bench with a daughter that was clinging on for dear life. After the carousel had stopped,  we at least snapped a fake picture of Reese riding an animal.

This girl definitely loves water

I was so excited for summertime so that Reese and I could go swimming. She has always loved water and loves bath time. She loves to put her face into running water and lay on her belly and put her face in the water. Even when she sometimes accidentally goes under the water, she sits up laughing. Reese and I went swimming at my neighbor's pool the other day and she was showing me what to do to teach Reese to swim. So I blew in Reese's face and dunked her and she came up smiling and hadn't swallowed any water. We did it again, but this time she smiled and spit out water. I was surprised she hadn't swallowed it. A little later, Reese was trying to get to me and so my neighbor pushed Reese in the water towards me and Reese kicked all the way over to me without swallowing water. I was very impressed. This little girl seems to be a natural when it comes to swimming. 

Reese absolutely loves water fountains and could spend hours in there. The problem is that she is constantly trying to drink all the water:)

Reese's new table

We bought this little table at IKEA for $20 a while ago. I put it together and Ron said, " I thought this table had some color." I thought to myself....Oh, I can add some color. Well, I took the table apart and started spray painting the the wood white and then it sat for about a month. I had to wipe the dust off the wood, but then I added fabric to the chairs to give it an upholstered look and then embellished with poms. I was so excited for Reese to wake up and see her new table and I wasn't disappointed when she saw it. She absolutely loved it and grabbed her babies to have snack time with her. Lately, she has hated her high chair and will not eat very well, but she loved eating at her new table. This was an easy project and definitely worth $20.

Love being a mom...

For the past few months, I have been really busy sewing and selling dresses. When I initially started sewing dresses, it was because I loved making fun stuff for Reese. When people started asking me to make dresses for their daughters, I was excited that other people liked them as well. Before I knew it, I was spending every extra minute I had up in my sewing room, my house was a mess, I always felt like a horrible wife and mother, and what I did for fun in the beginning, became a job. I remember one time when I was making Reese a bow and she was pulling on my leg because she wanted me to play with her and I realized that Reese doesn't want a bow, she wants her mom.  As I was busy sewing and selling dresses, I kept getting promptings that this is not the most important thing I could be doing with my time. It was neat to me to feel how much Heavenly Father values motherhood and being a wife. Every little thing I do with Reese to try to teach her, nurture her, and love her is more valuable than money or anything else. I have waited too long to be a mother to just spend my time sewing.

It seems that a lot of moms feel a need to compare and show how crafty and how amazing their lives are through  facebook, blogging, craft blogs. I know I had previously been caught up in this. I love all those things as well, but I realized that I don't want to be so busy blogging and crafting that I can't have just have fun playing with Reese, even if the world doesn't see it. Being a mother is good enough for me and the most rewarding thing in my life. Now that I have stopped trying to keep up with crafting, blogging, and everything else, I have felt the spirit so much more in my life. Through this experience, my testimony of motherhood has grown so much. I have felt how much Heavenly Father loves mothers and wants us to feel how proud He is of everything we do. We may not be paid or get much praise, but watching Reese swim, saying "Amen" after prayers, and learning new things is the most rewarding thing in the world. 

This past week...

This week has not been the easiest week, but I have learned to be grateful for the little things in life. Monday and Tuesday, Reese was getting hot and not feeling well. Her temp was almost 102* and so her dr checked her out and she didn't have an ear infection or anything he could tell. She kept getting worse and worse and wanted me to hold her all the time. I was up with her on Tuesday night and she was laying down with me and I was trying to reach for something on the floor and strained some muscles in my back . In the morning, I could barely move. I couldn't pick up Reese, but she was bawling and reaching up for me so I would pick her up anyway. I didn't realize how many things you do in a day that involve your back until it hurts to do it ( getting her out of her crib, high chair, setting her on your lap, changing her diaper, pouring milk, loading dishwasher, laundry, vaccuming, making dinner, and so many other things.) It made me realize how much I enjoy being able to accomplish so many things in a day that requires a healthy body. By the time Ron got home, I couldn't even stand up straight and I had to hold onto something to walk. I am grateful for a brother-in-law that is a chiropractor and was nice enough to go into his office at 9:30pm to work on me. I wanted to cry the whole time and when I stood up after, I about collapsed because it hurt so bad. When we got home, Reese just wanted me to pick her up and she was crying, I was crying on the couch because I hurt so bad and I couldn't pick up my baby girl and felt guilty that Ron was trying to take care of both of us. I couldn't even lay down in bed without hurting. Ron 's dad came over to give Reese a blessing and gave me one too.  I am very grateful for the power of the priesthood in my home and a husband that loves us so much and takes good care of us. The next day was about the same as the day before, but, by the third day, I could walk and it was as if nothing happened, which was a miracle. Reese broke out in a rash all over her body and we found out that she had roseolla. So lots of cuddling time with my baby girl. I am very grateful for this experience which helped me to be grateful for the little things in life. I am grateful for my health that allows me to be a active mother and accomplish so many  things in a day. It feels so good to work and be able to comfort a crying child. So...........be grateful for the little things in life.

Reese is walking

I can't believe Reese is walking already. It was a week before she turned 13 months old that she started taking 2 steps, then 3, and in one week she was walking all over the place. She is so cute when she walks. She gets excited and starts clapping for herself. I love it! I hate that she is no longer my little baby, but I love holding her hand when we go on walks outside and when she talks to us. I am just loving being a mom. 

Goodbye Keiko

 We had to say goodbye to Keiko last week and it was so hard! She has been the best dog and we have loved her so much! She came as an unexpected blessing when I was struggling with infertility. She was so excited to see us when we got home and we loved taking her for walks all the time and throwing the football with her. With each failed adoption, I would be sitting on the ground crying and Keiko would come lay down on my lap and let me hug her. We got Sachi so that Keiko would have someone to play with, but they have not been getting along and Keiko has just seemed miserable since we moved into our new house and we cried when we realized that we needed to find her a new home. We had prayed and prayed that we could find a good home for Keiko where she would be happy and they would love her and take care of her. It seemed to take awhile, but finally this family called and it truly was a perfect match. They have older kids that love to play football and wrestle with dogs. They had previously had 2 female dogs that didn't get along so they understand that situation, and when they came to meet Keiko, she loved them and was having fun with them. Another thing that excited me was that the daughter that came to pick up Keiko was going to school to become a vet. We couldn't have asked for a better family and I am so excited that Keiko is happy and can run, and have lots of people to give her attention. We are so grateful for that Heavenly Father brought this family to us.