Dearest Christmas, Please Come Back!!

So, I'm sordof in denial that Christmas is over. I refused to let Ryan take down our Christmas tree last night, and instead we left the lights on and slept by it all night. Christmas just went by too fast, and I'm having a hard time letting it go.

Ryan's family just left yesterday (we had a blast having them all here for Christmas) and Chanley and I have no idea what to do with ourselves now that they have left. We have just bummed around in our pj's all day...trying to entertain ourselves (and failing) and trying to get used to the quiet again. Chanley keeps trying to go outside because she thinks all her friends are out there playing without her. She LOVED having everyone here. She absolutely refused to take any naps the whole week, because she didn't want to miss out on any of the fun. Poor girl was running on no steam whatsoever by the end, but did suprisingly well! She would wake up every morning at the crack of dawn, sit straight up and listen for Carter and Syd. When she heard them she would get so excited! We all had a fantastic time. We don't get to see family very often, so this was such a treat for us.

Hense, the roaming around aimlessly in our pajamas all day.{*sigh*} Hopefully we'll reach a full recovery soon. :)

Thanks for coming Dianna, Mark, Tay-Tay, Brand, Jesse, Syd, and Carter. We miss you!! Please come back! :)

I did an awful job taking pics of our fun week, but I'll try to scrounge some up from Brandi and post them. But for now, here's some pics of our house. I had a fun time decorating this year. Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!!

Our Sweet Lil' Girl

Chanley is SUCH a sweet, cuddly girl and I love it! She is so good at giving hugs and kisses, and loves just to cuddle up on my lap. It's heaven. :)

Cute experience. The other day we were eating at A and W. Chanley wanted to get down from the table and walk around, so we let her. Next thing I know she was walking towards an older lady in a nearby booth. This was a little uncharacteristic of her, since she's pretty shy around new faces. Anyway she went right up to her and just put her little hand on this lady's leg. Then she put her head on her leg and gave her a hug. (Well, her leg a hug, since that's all she could reach.) The lady just melted. :) She looked at me like, "I think she's hugging me!" She told us that Chanley just made her night.

I just love my girl.

Just the Three of Us

We had such a good Thanksgiving weekend. Just the 3 of us. :) We stayed in most of the time, but it was perfect. Just cause.

We...

Laughed (a lot.)

Stayed in our PJ's for 3 days straight. (Ok, maybe that was just me. Ry just loves it when I wear my sweats. Not.) ;)

Cuddled on the couch.

Ate Turkey and Pie together.

Watched a lot of football. (Even Chanley seemed interested. Ry was so proud.) There was one point she had fries in one hand and pizza in the other while she was watching football and Ry gushed, "Channy, you're SUCH a good girl!"

Decorated our tree. The best part by far was Chan's excitement when we turned on the lights. She ooh'd and aw'd all night. Lil' cutie.

Wrapped presents. (Well, tried anyway. Chanley was helping.) :)

Listened to Christmas music.

Stayed up late watching movies. (Ok, Ry stayed up late while I snored next to him.)

Watched old Christmas cartoons. Love those!

Shopped the Black Friday madness....yeah dumb move.

Took naps. Glorious naps.

Memory I don't want to forget.

Tonight we were all laying on mom and dad's bed. Chanley's so funny. Sometimes she just gets in a really cuddly mood. (Which i LOVE.) Chanley would lay her head on my chest and give me a big hug for like 15 sec, and then sit up and lay on Ryan's chest and do the same thing. Then she'd sit up and lay her little head on my chest again, and then Ryan's... She went back and forth. Just cuddling with us. She must have done that for 20 minutes. She had this cute little grin on her face and she just melted our hearts to pieces. It was one of those moments that I could have stayed in forever.

I know, mushy mushy! I love it. :)

I am so THANKFUL for my little family. Hope ya'll had a good Thanksgiving.

Watchin' Football. Can't have Thanksgiving without football, or so I'm told. (Bah!)

I had to share...

Chanley's gift for Ryan for Father's Day. We put these in a frame for him to put in his office. Believe me getting Chanley AND the words in the same shot was not an easy feat, but we had fun. :)

Ry, thank you so much for being such a wonderful father to Chan.
She couldn't adore you more.

MIA

Sorry everyone I have been awful about updating lately! What can I say, life has been NUTS! I have about a gajillion pics I need to post of our recent adventures. Since I last posted we went to Nebraska to visit Ryan's sister, and went to Idaho to visit my family for two weeks. Not to mention Father's day, 4th of july, girls camp, and just plain summer pics...Don't worry I'll post all those soon. Until then I'll post a recent pic of Chanley. She's growing up so stinkin fast!! It makes me a little sad...

Here's just a few updates on our lil girl.

-She's got tonz of hair all of a sudden! And in the sun it almost has a reddish look to it. We pretty much think she's the cutest baby in the world. I've had a hard time putting pig tails in her hair though because it makes her look older. :)

::She just got her 4th tooth!! She doesn't look like my baby Chanley anymore...she's looking like a little girl! (tears *sniff*) Can you tell I'm having a little trouble getting used to this growing up crap. :) Anyway she did pretty good teething wise. She all of a sudden bit me a lot more and started drooling, but other than that I had no idea she was cutting teeth!
But let me tell ya those little buggers are sharp!

-She loves to swim and be outside, we're pretty much at the pool every day. She also loves to go on walks in her stroller. Any time the door opens she is bookin' it over there to try to get outside.

::She is starting to say momma!! She's been saying dadda for awhile but not momma... needless to say I was pretty excited the first time she said it. Don't laugh but it almost made me cry.

-She is soooo ticklish. Particularly her feet, under her arms, and under her chin. It is hilarious how loud she giggles. She also loves it when I lay her down and tickle her with my hair.

::She loves to walk, but isn't quite brave enough to do it on her own yet. We bought her this toy that she can walk behind and push and she gets this big triumphant smile on her face.

-She has learned how to take off her diaper. That's been fun. :)

::She is a very good eater. She especially loves fruit. The other day I was making freezer jam with my mom and she sat in her high chair for 2 hours eating strawberries. Needless to say she is a roley-poley baby. She has rolls on her wrists, her belly, her thighs...aw we love it! You just have to squeeze and kiss those chubby cheeks.

-She loves to make messes. I feel like some days all I do is just follow her around picking up after her. She really loves to scatter papers (then try to eat them), and pull all the dvd's off the shelves (and put them in her mouth), and the speakers...well you get the idea.

::She love to clap, wave and jabber. We just discovered Barney and she loves it when they sing. She starts to move her arms and clap with the music. She also loves it when mommy sings and dances in the kitchen with her.

-She LOVES her daddy. Everyday when he comes home from work she gets so excited and just wants daddy to play with her. Ryan is also amazing at putting her to bed every night. She'll just lay her head down, look up to make sure he's still there, then put her head back down and repeat it until she falls asleep. Its so adorable.

::She's a really, easy-going, relaxed, chill baby and for that I am very grateful. She does pretty good at keeping to her schedule during the day but is even happy if she skips a nap. The only issue we're having is that she LOVES to wake up in the middle of the night and come to bed with mom and dad. Any advice anyone on how to get her to sleep in her crib all night? I complain about her not sleeping through the night, but secretly I know I will miss her little hands grabbing at my face in an attempt to wake me up every morning. There's nothing better than waking up to her little smiling face next to mine.

Every day I marvel at the many blessings in my life. Sometimes I just watch Chanley and get so overwhelmed with joy knowing I am her mother. She brings so much laughter and happiness into our lives. I'm so grateful for my Chanley girl.

--::--

3 years baby!

Yesterday Ryan and I celebrated our 3rd year anniversary. Wow I can't believe it! It blows my mind how fast time flies, and yet I can't remember life without Ryan. He's my best friend... he's my everything. He continues to amaze me every day and I'm more in love with him now than ever. Don't get me wrong our marriage has it's bad days just like everyone else's, but when it comes down to it he's the one I want next to me at the end of the day and the one I want to wake up to in the morning.

I love you babe. Here's to many more tomorrow's together.

You are my sunshine

Mother's Day 2010
Hope all you awesome women out there had a wonderful Mother's Day. I know I sure did.
Now that I am a mother I have a teeny tiny idea of what my mom went through raising all of us.
Being a mom means your time is no longer your own.
My mom is the perfect example of sacrifice and love.
She would do anything for us.
Mom, THANK YOU!
I only hope I can be the kind of mother to Chanley that you are to all of us.

Also thank you Dianna, for raising such a wonderful son.
I couldn't have asked for a better mother-in-law.

~~::~~

Ryan and Chanley--THANK YOU for making my first Mother's Day so special,
{I even got breakfast and dinner out of the deal!} I love you both so much!

~doesn't get any better than this~

Oh HAPPY, HAPPY Day!!

HALLELUJAH!

WE FINALLY GOT A {real} MATTRESS!

Yes you heard right, a MATTRESS!! For some reason, we just never got around to buying one. (I know crazy right?) We've moved around a lot since we've been married (7 times to be exact) so it was just a hassle to move it around. (Plus, they're pretty darn pricey!) So what have we been sleeping on you may ask? A good ole' air mattress. We just put it on our bed frame. It worked alright for us, but it's been THREE YEARS! It was soooo time for a real one. Don't you think?

Chanley representing all of our joy.

:)

{My Faith}

Today I'm feeling gratitude. Gratitude for my Savior, for my life, my family... Today we {hopefully} reached the end of a long, {crazy} difficult ordeal for our family. It hasn't been easy by any means but even so I know we can be made stronger through our trials.

Having a bad day? Watch this sweet, short video HERE
{You may have to scroll down a little but its a short video called "My New Life."}

Everytime I listen to this woman's story it inspires me to live my best life.

There really is so much to be grateful for...so much.

Playing catch-up

Wow i have really failed horribly at blogging these last few weeks. In my defense though, it has been a pretty crazy around here. In fact we are leaving in just a few hours to travel to ID for McKay's farewell. I'll post more about it later. Until then, here's a few updates:

We had a great Easter- My family (bless them) drove all the way here (9 1/2 hours...8 people...) to see us. It was fun to show them around a little bit of our new turf. We went to the Aquarium, which was cool, I'd never been to one and it kept everyone (even the babies) pretty entertained. The boys went on a tour of Investco field, and we did the usual Easter stuff. Of course it was great to watch conference as well. I absolutely LOVE conference weekend, I really look forward to it every six months.

Chanley's first Easter. (More pics to come)

Fun at the aquarium{disclaimer- so of course my camera's battery dies right before we get to the cool fishies...I was so bummed. So sorry for the lame fish pics}

We closed on our condo! We finally got into our new house last Thursday. It was quite the process. Every time we move I am reminded why I hate it so much. Actually it hasn't been that bad for me this time, because Ryan has done the majority of the work since I've been taking care of a sick baby. I've been able to pack a bit when Chanley is sleeping, but other than that Ry has moved it all. (I know, he's the best). On top of moving, I also had to prepare a talk for church on Sunday and prepare my lesson from YW...yeah it was kindof a stressful week.

We're pretty excited about our new place, its perfect for us. And we're very VERY excited to not be renting any more. It's such a liberating feeling to know you own your own place.

Closing day! Pic of us and our realtor (who was a total sweetheart!)

(Sorry for the poor quality pic...it was on self timer)

This is why I'm LUCKY.

How'd we celebrate St. Patrick's Day? Mint Oreo shakes, Netflix, and hangin out as a family.

Perfect.

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Celebrate good times, come-on!!!!

So Ry and I have some good news! We put an offer on a condo and they accepted! We are so so excited about everything about this place. Things go pretty quick in the area we were looking at so we had to snatch it up fast. Its really sinking in now that we are actually doing this. We are so excited/nervous/scared/happy...ect. We've experienced every emotion in the book these past few weeks, but we are really excited about purchasing our own place! (Even though you feel your signing your life away when you sign all those papers) We're scheduled to close on the 30th so hopefully everything goes as planned. Cross your fingers!

Oh bytheway the video above is of Ryan and I boogying down at the thought of owning our own place!!! No more renting! Wahoooooooooooooooo!!!!!!! Aww we're growing up... (tear*sniff*sigh) :)

Spring Fever!

Hello SUNSHINE! I'm so so ready for SPRING! I can feel it comin and I can't WAIT! Its been a beautiful couple days here in Denver!

Today I had a pretty bad case of SPRING FeVeR! I was sooooo pumped/modivated/excited/itchin' to:

-- clean our place from top to bottom...

--get more organized and make a 30 day meal plan

--sell all our furniture

--buy all new furniture

--clean out my closet

--get rid of a bunch of clothes and shoes I haven't worn in ages

--become more crafty :make new pillow cases for our bed/get a new sham and redecorate Chanley's room

--Also I'm SO excited for garage sales (I admit I totally love findin' little treasures and getting a BARGAIN)

Is this a bit obsessive??? Probably...but I can't help it! Spring is in the air!

The hospital...not Chanley's favorite place.

What a week! I am so so so so grateful it is over!! So on Thurs Chanley wasn't getting any better so I was getting a little worried. She had so much gunk in her and the bulb syringe wasn't cutting it. I called a nurse and told her all of Chan's symptoms and she thought it would probably be good to get Chan to a doctor that day. So Ryan left work early and we took her to a pediatric urgent care near our home. The doctor was a little concerned with her O2 level and could here some wheezing when she listed to her breathing. She also said that Chan had an ear infection! Poor girl! No wonder she was so miserable. The doctor diagnosed her with bronchiolitis and said she wanted Chanley to stay at the hospital that night. We ended up waiting 3 or 4 hours while they tried to find Chanley a room at a nearby pediatric wing.

Bronchiolitis is a form of RSV and the whole pediatric unit Chanley stayed in was FULL of babies with this. So here's a little rundown of the illness: your lungs have braches of broniolioles which are very small, especially in babies. They get inflamed and get filled with mucous and it makes it hard for O2 to get to that part of the lung, so the baby has to work harder to breath. So they hooked Chanley up to O2 and started trying to get as much mucous out of her as they could. They had this really nifty machine that kindof acts like a vaccuum and sucks the boogies out. It worked so much better than my bulb syringe. Chan hated every second of it. She would kick and wiggle and scream and cry and try everything to get loose. She was soon known as the "strong-willed" baby to all the drs. and nurses. They had an O2 moniter taped to her toe monitering her blood O2 level and Chan kicked it off every time they would put it on. She's a smart little girl, she learned pretty quick that the people in yellow masks and gowns meant bad news and would try anything to get away. She was such a good little sport though. There was either a dr, nurse, or respiratory dr in our room every hour, checking O2 levels, sucking boogies, giving her eardrops, giving her Tylenol, taking her vital signs, and giving her her antibiotics for her ear infection. It was a very long few days for all of us. Ryan and I got sick as well, and I soon discovered that the only thing worse than taking care of a sick child is being sick YOURSELF while trying to take care a sick baby. I stayed with her the whole time and slept on a fold out chair at night. Ryan took some time off work and would go home at night to sleep because there wasn't enough room for both of us to stay, and then would come back to the hospital as soon as he could the next morning. We ended up staying at the hospital a few days longer than we thought because every time they took Chan off the O2 she dipped too low. Steve Collis, a good friend of our was able to come to the hospital to help Ryan give Chan a blessing. I'm so so grateful Chanley was able to recieve that and that I married a man worthy to give that blessing to her. I have a strong testimony of the power of the priesthood -it has blessed our lives so much.

They let Chanley come home on Sunday night with O2, which hopefully she won't have to use for long. She has already improved so much since we've been home and is almost back to her old self, which we are so grateful for. Hopefully she continues to get better. Thank you everyone for all your love and prayers!

P.S. Hope everyone had a great Valentines Day!

My sick little babe :(

Whew it's been a very exhausting few days. I've decided nothing quite tugs at a mothers heartstrings than seeing your baby sick. Chanley started acting a little fussy on Sunday, and throughout the day developed a little cough. That night she didn't sleep or eat very well, and the next day she had a very nasty cough, runny nose, and was running a fever. There are times when she will just scream and be totally inconsolable. It seems to really flare up at night, she'll get pretty upset so we'll rock her and rock her until she calms down, and then she'll cough and start crying all over again. It must hurt her little throat to cough. You just want to cough up all that mucous for her-I feel so helpless! Needless to say Ryan and I haven't slept very much in the last few days. Last night Chanley had a temp of 102 and I stayed up most of the night holding her and wiping her head with a cool rag. Today I thought she was doing a little better, she took a few naps as long as I was holding her. But then later on she seemed miserable again. At one point I was holding her and she must have gagged as she coughed because she threw up all over her, all over me, the carpet, EVERYWHERE. Poor little girl. I wish so bad I could make her feel better. Well Ryan just went to buy a humidifier...hopefully that helps.

More pics..

Still playing catch up. Love this girl.

Cuddling close to Daddy

Aren't those shoes simply ADORABLE?!?

A pond by our house that we stopped at on our way home from church one day.

5 weeks!





oops! This is Chan's face after she pooped on daddy! Hahahah




Bath time!

1 month

Awwwww

So sweet.

Soakin up the beautiful fall sunshine.

Isn't this just the sweetest picture? I think so.

Love her facial expressions!

Chan and Daddy checkin out the pretty sunset.

3 weeks

I can't believe that Chanley is 6 MONTHS OLD! Wow time seriously flies. I'm still trying to catch up on Chan's pictures...here's some more! These were taken right after our move to CO when Chanley was just 2 weeks old. (P.S. I wouldn't recommend making a major move right after you have a baby.)