The Nativity Story Starring the Felker Clan

Over the Christmas holiday, our family got together and decided to take a wack at acting out the Nativity Story. It was quite fun to see the nieces and nephews and some of the adults act it out. I didn't get a picture of it b/c I was helping her, but Kayley was one of the angels and she was really cute the way she did it with her really quiet voice. It was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to next year's showing, we'll only charge for ages 12 and older to attend! :) We hope everyone had a great Christmas holiday!

Should I Go Into Business?

Well, I have to say that I was pretty impressed with myself with this gift I made for my Mom and Otto. I promised Michelle that I would post a picture of the finished product, so here it is. It was rather easy to do, just a bit time consuming as I did it by hand. All I did was buy a $4 black fleece blanket from Walmart and 1/2 yard of orange fleece material. I cut out an "M" and a "U" and then stitched them on with black embroidery thread. I probably spent about 3-4 hours on it! I love it so much that I'm going to be making myself one!

Christmas Pictures

Well we hope that everyone had a great Christmas this year! We sure did! The fun part was seeing the excitement of the girls about Santa Claus and their presents. We had fun with the Carles on Christmas Eve, especially with Uncle Jud being so willing to be the reindeer and having all the kids climbing on him!! :) The girls got what they wanted as Kayley was able to get her Pocahontas doll from Santa (the only thing she really wanted!) Cora of course was looking around for Santa Claus when we said "Santa was coming" or "Santa came." This age sure is fun! It is just going by way too fast! I remember our Christmas with Kayley when she was Cora's age and it only seems like yesterday! I'm just trying to savor every moment I can! We hope you all had a great Christmas and that you all will have a Happy New Year this week! Oh and please keep reading as I've put a few more posts up as I haven't posted in a while! Hope you enjoy!

This Is Our Cora

Well, the other day I tried to decide what Cora is, a hoarder of food or a houdini? She was helping me with the dishes the other day and I found these pretzels in the silverware holder and then when I was finished I found her eating on this chocolate bar, which she must have hid it a few days before and then found it again for later. Then she is also a houdini as a few nights ago she started to wake up around 4 in the morning and just cry and cry. Well, I let her cry it out and by the 2nd night Nick and I both heard a thump and she had fallen out of the bed! So, we had one more setting that we could lower the crib and then set up a fort around her bed in case she did her trick again. So far, so good as she has not fallen out and she has also gotten over waking up during that time...for now at least! But, until then, the girls love to jump on the mattress by the bed!

What We've Been Up To

Well, I realize it's been a while since I've posted something. The holidays just get you so busy! Here is a collage of pics that we've been doing. We've baked lots of Christmas goodies, attended a freezing cold Christmas parade in Springfield, played in the first official snow that left remains on the ground, and playing in our snow-wear.

Merry Christmas

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Here's our Christmas Card this year...hope you all enjoy and have a Very Merry Christmas this year! Best wishes to all this year! Be sure to click on all the small pics on the sides so you can see them larger and read the captions.

Happy Belated Birthday Sammy

I know this is a day late as Sammy's Birthday was yesterday, but we wanted to wish him a happy birthday! Sammy used to be Nick's buddy as you can tell when we first got married. We were "ToTo and Neck" to Matt and Sammy was always attached to Nick's hip! Sammy turned 6 yesterday and we can't believe he is getting so big, much less that all our nieces and nephews are growing so fast!

Christmas is Here!!

This last week we put up our Christmas tree. It is so fun to see our girls get so excited for Christmas and putting up the tree. All growing up it was a fun night to put up our Christmas tree as we would unwrap all of our ornaments and put them up by taking turns...I have a second cousin who gave us ornaments every year with our name on it. As we grew up and left the house, we got to take our ornaments with us. Now that I'm married and have my own kids, my cousin continues to send us ornaments, only this time to our girls and some for Nick and I. They love pulling out their ornaments and taking their turns to put their own ornaments up. This year it was fun as the girls put on their Santa hats and loved to decorate the tree! It's fun to see our tree decorated with all my ornaments from when I was little and now seeing it being filled with their ornaments as well. Isn't Christmas so much fun!? :)

Santa Claus is Comin' to Town

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we were sitting at home getting the girls ready to head out to Walmart when I heard some sirens that sounded like they were right outside our door. We looked out the window and sure enough did see some sirens from the police escorting Santa Claus through our neighborhood. Apparently the City of Grain Valley has this cool bus that has been transformed into a trailer or Santa's sleigh. They go around the whole town throughout the end of November and all of December on Saturdays to have kids come out and sit on Santa's lap...for free!! :) The girls were way excited and we rushed them outside with our camera. They both got on his lap, but Cora didn't last very long as you can tell. Kayley wanted to cry, but we reminded her she needed to tell Santa what she wanted him to bring her, so she stopped her frowny face and told him she wanted a Pocahontas doll. (Thanks ebay!) Then Santa gives each child a toy out of his sack. Cora got a Winnie the Pooh that had Baby's First Christmas written on it. Kayley got a Woodstock from Charlie Brown. She thought Santa was going to give her Pocahontas right then and there, but we had to remind her that if she was good he would bring it to her Christmas morning, then we had to teach her who Woodstock was. Then we were lucky enough to watch Snoopy Come Home on tv the next day...what are the odds of that one! :) The girls loved all of it and kept telling everyone that Santa came to see them and carried their toys around all day like they were trophies! It was a neat experience and great memory for them to have! Thanks Santa! :) Oh and have we mentioned that we like Grain Valley?!?

Jesus Has "Maggots"

Ok...I'm not trying to be sac-religious (sp?)...but this is how it was said to her Daddy. Kayley was helping me put out our Christmas decorations the other day and I had my nativity scenes out on our buffet table. Of course the girls were beside themselves and kept trying to get Jesus down to play with Him, but they were really good at listening and leaving Baby Jesus in His bed. Anyway, as I started on other decorations, Kayley mentioned to me that Jesus was cold, so she went and got her magnet set of Book of Mormon stories and got two fire magnets to put in front of Jesus to keep Him warm. But, instead of calling them magnets, Kayley pronounces them as "maggots"...so when Daddy came home, Kayley told him Jesus had maggots. It was pretty cute and very sweet and thoughtful of Kayley to think of Jesus being warm.

"Ralphie!!"

Ok...a couple of weeks ago when we started to finally have cold weather, we put on our winter coats for the first time this season. When I put on Cora's coat the other day, she was so cute because it was so big on her that she kept falling over, so it reminded me of the movie "A Christmas Story" when Randy and Ralphie are on their way to school and their mom gets them all bundled up in their winter attire. Someone pushes Randy over and he can't get up and continues to yell Ralphie's name and saying, "I can't get up, I can't get up!" Cora actually couldn't get up on her own either...so it was pretty funny to me!

Trick or Treat!?!

Well, I know it's about 1 1/2 weeks late, but better late than never! Here are some pics of the girls trick or treating on Halloween night! We had a blast considering the situation...Cora ended up having a fever earlier that day and diarrhea and on top of that, Kayley woke up from her nap with the same things! Nick didn't want to go trick or treating with them being sick, but I told him he could be the one to tell Kayley that. She's been asking almost everyday for the past month and a half when "Halloween day" is? It's actually sunk in what trick or treating means! It didn't take Cora long to figure it out either. She would go up to the door and try to give them candy, then would immediately drop the candy and grab the candy the people gave her. It sure was cute and it was cute to see her dragging her candy bucket when it got too heavy (see pic above!) But, afterwards, she decided that the candy bucket was a stool as you can also see from the pics above. But, we had a fun night and the girls didn't act sick at all when they realized candy was involved! We ended up trick or treating for about an hour! I was impressed! Then the Carles came over to visit and compare loots!! :) We had a great Halloween and hope that everyone else did as well! Oh...and that's one of our sweet neighbors who helped us pose the girls for a pic at one of our first stops. She was cute!

Pumpkin Carving

We got to carve pumpkins a week ago with the Carle Family for Family Home Evening and the kids had a blast! Kayley actually got more into carving pumpkins this year than she did last year. Last year she wouldn't even touch the pumpkin at all. This year as you can see from the pictures, she actually did help a bit even though she still was a bit squimish on touching the pumpkin and it's innards!! :) We toasted the pumpkin seeds and everyone enjoyed them until the next morning. Kayley came to me in the middle of the night and told me she needed a drink and that her tummy hurt. She had such a hard time going to sleep earlier because she had so much fun with her cousins that I thought she was pulling my leg and just didn't want to sleep. Well, needless to say the next morning she woke up and had been sleeping in her throw-up. I felt AWFUL! I've learned to start listening to her more as I'm realizing that she is old enough to start understanding her body and what it is telling her. Anyway, luckily that was all the throw-ups we had to deal with that day as we only had the throw-ups about a month ago. Now I know that next year...no pumpkin seeds for Kayley! All in all it was a fun time carving pumpkins and we love that the Carle's live so close to do these kind of things together with them!!

Deanna Rose Farmstead

Today we went to Deanna Rose Farmstead, a free farm that has lots of animals and other fun things to do for kids in Overland Park, KS. It was a lot of fun and the weather couldn't have been any better being only jacket weather for the first part of it. We went with Michelle and Kendall and fam and Randy was still in town so he got to come along too. Here are a bunch of pics of our fun day!

As you can see from these pics above, Kayley and Cora are once again complete opposites as Kayley had to have Daddy hold her the whole time and didn't want much to do with the animals whereas Cora was beside herself and couldn't get enough of them. It sure is fun to see their personalities develop and see them learn and grow in their own way!

They had a whole bunch of tractors that kids could ride on and race each other. The kids loved them!! And there were baby goats and Cora loved them and ran freely in the gated area whereas once again, Kayley had to be held by Daddy again! She sure is cute though!

The kids got to milk a pretend cow and Kayley surprisingly loved this part. I thought for sure she'd be scared of this part too. Then we tried to get some good kid pictures, but found it more stressful to get them to all look at the same time and smiling too...I'm glad we weren't wanting professional pictures yet! :) Overall we had a fun time and recommend this place to anyone else in the area! http://www.opkansas.org/_Vis/Farmstead/index.cfm However sadly it is closed now for the season.

Happy Birthday Audrey!!

Our Sweet niece Audrey celebrated her 3rd birthday about a week and a 1/2 ago. We went with Jessica and Katrina to Columbia for the day to attend her birthday party. The girls had a blast! Kayley and Audrey seemed to pick up from where they left off in playing with each other. They were pretty good buddies in Columbia and it's neat to see that friendship still carry over even though they live apart from each other now. They are almost exactly 2 months apart and it was so fun to see them grow and learn together at the same rate in Columbia. Cousins are such a special thing! I remember growing up and being so close to some of my cousins and I hear tons of stories of Nick being close to some of his. That friendship bond is so special and strong...almost as strong as sibling bonds. I love that we have since been blessed to live by cousins even though we've moved as we live close to the Carles and the Walkers now. We miss the Columbia Felkers so much but are glad that they are only 1 1/2 hours away still. We love you so much Audrey and hope you had a special and happy birthday! Thanks for having such a fun party! Here are some pics of when Audrey was born...October 21st, 2005.

Olympics...Here We Come!

A couple of weeks ago, Kayley and Cora had a Parents as Teachers activity where we went to a Gym that does Gymnastic lessons. They opened it up for a hour or so for the children to play on the gymnastic equipment. I was way excited for Kayley to go to this event...don't get any ideas...I'm not trying to get her to be a cheerleader (those who know me, know my stance on this!), but I do like the sport Gymnastics and think that it is a good sport to do as I did gymnastics for a couple of years when I was younger. Kayley did not want to go at first, she cried getting into the car and on the way there. I think she was just tired as we were in a rush to get out the door that morning. I told her we were going to go and at least let Cora play and if she wanted to join in, she could. We got there and same attitude, until our Parents as Teachers Teacher convinced Kayley to participate. Boy was I glad and so was Kayley...she had a blast and did not want to leave! It took her a little courage to finally do the big trampoline, but she did do it and loved it too! We are looking forward to going again this next month!

Chuck 'e Cheese

Last week we were able to make an almost complete family outing with Nick's side. Shannon, Randy, and Quentin were all in town at the same time for various reasons and we all decided to celebrate by going to Chuck 'e Cheese for lunch. It was Kayley and Cora's first time and they both loved it! They both loved watching the puppets play music and they both loved the games. And even though they knew there were games awaiting them, they both ate very well before we played games.

Cora's favorite part were the tokens..she carried the little cup around they give you with tokens and she only had one token, but loved to carry it around with her. She didn't really want to play many games, she just wanted to hold the cup with the one token. She was pretty easy to please! Kayley loved the games. Her favorite was riding the cars. I guess she has realized that they are more fun when they work. (When we go to the mall at the play place, Nick and I just sort of shake the cars and pretend they are working instead of putting money in b/c we are too cheap to pay money to get them running since they are so expensive for 20 seconds of riding.) So, Kayley was in 7th heaven that she could ride all of them that she wanted.

Then came the time to redeem the tickets. We had to share them between 3 kiddos with Kayley, Ashlyn, and Cora...so we tried to make it to where they all got the same toys and there would be no arguing. Well, that worked until Kayley changed her mind and wanted a sucker. She turned in one prize for 2 suckers...she went and shared with Ashlyn very willingly...then Cora had to have a sucker, so she did the same and turned in one of her prizes, then problem solved and it was a great trip! We will look forward to trips there again!

Oh...and by the way, look for coupons in the newspaper (sunday's) and also you can go to http://www.dealigg.com/ and print off some more coupons. We found that lunchtime had the best coupon options, plus it's not as packed! Good luck!

Pigtail Debut!!

We have enough hair now for pigtails! I get so frustrated with her hair now looking all messy all the time going everywhere. So the other day I thought her hair might be long enough to put up in pigtails and yes they were! I just melted everytime I looked at her when they were up. Kayley's comment was, "Mommy she looks like Baby Katina!" (Baby Katrina...my sister Jessica's youngest.) Katrina wears her hair in pigtails a lot and I guess maybe she thinks they look alike too. Anyway, enjoy the piggies!! :)

Oh...and she does walk now...she's just crawling after me in these pictures b/c she was wanting to see her pictures on the camera right after I took them. I kept having to back up and take another one. Kids these days will not know anything but the latest technology, which means they will only think that digital cameras exist and nothing else, etc, etc...

My Growing Girls

These are just a couple of random pics of the girls recently and how they are growing up so fast!

Kayley as you can see is still way into princesses as she dresses up as one almost everyday! I have to set rules on when she wears them, otherwise she'd have them on 24/7. So, we don't get to wear them in public so they don't get ruined or to bed for the same reason. In fact this week we've been lucky to have Grandpa here to help Daddy with his truck and they have loved playing with him...I'll have to snap some pics of them and post them later! But, last night Papa asked Kayley which princess is her absolute favorite if she could only pick one which it would be and she replied with "Ariel, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Cinderella." So, she loves so much she can't think of life without them. We have dress up clothes for all three except Ariel, so I'm waiting for after halloween and hopefully get a costume of it half price after the holiday! She is such a good big sister as you can see in the pic that she loves to help Cora with anything.

Cora is something else and getting so big. She loves to do anything her big sister is doing. She loves to play with babies as you can see in this pic. She's already learned how to juggle two kids at once...a true mother at heart at only the mere age of 14 1/2 months. She is starting to say words now and trying to imitate us with what we say. She can now say, mama, dada, please, princess, shoes, uh-oh, bye-bye, hi and newly learned papa. Of course, you have to prompt her on a few of these words, but she'll repeat them back to you fairly clearly. People can even understand her over the phone, which is another thing she loves to do now too. Oh and Cora got herself into Preston's walker without any help and was found just sitting there eating her snacks as happy as can be. It was cute!

It's hard to believe how big my girls are getting and how quickly. I just try to savor the moments now as much as I can b/c I know it will continue to go by faster and faster!

Biscuits n' Gravy Recipe

Here's a post of my biscuits n' gravy recipe...I had a couple of inquiries on how to make it....it's super easy! All it is is a box of the biscuits n' gravy mix from Sam's club...it's a red, white, and blue box...can't remember the brand. Follow those directions and add cooked pork flavored breakfast sausage and a couple of squares of chicken bouillon. Then cook whatever kind of biscuits you like to eat and enjoy. It is the best however with Highland Orange Juice...something we can't get up here in KC area. Maybe someday KC will come to their senses!! Hope you enjoy!

I'm SO glad last week is OVER

Well, you guessed it if you read Michelle's blog at all...we got the flu bug as well in our house this last week from Ashlyn...don't worry, we still love you Ashlyn!! It was a very long and boring, but exciting week. Boring b/c we didn't go anywhere for a whole week and exciting b/c it was always a guess as to who was to be sick next!

Without giving you too many disgusting details...Cora was the first that got hit. On Tuesday night about 11pm she started throwing up and then 4 times after that within the following hour. Then it was every hour on the hour from about midnight until 5am...which is when I started to throw up, but luckily only once more again at 6:30ish. But, the day wasn't that much better as we didn't feel very good all day. Luckily neither Cora nor I threw up the rest of the day. Then on Thursday as Cora and I were finally feeling up to par on our appetites and strength, Kayley starts throwing up. She came to me in the night and said her tummy hurt and she needed a drink, then she said her tummy hurt and she needed to go potty..so I thought here it comes but nothing. So she went to bed and I put the bucket by her bed and told her to try and throw up in the bucket if she needed to and then come get me. Well, she came and got me at about 1:30am and said "Mommy, I already throwed up." So, there we were with throw up all in her hair and on her bed. So I made a pallet next to our bed and she went to sleep while I went to work on the laundry and get her bed cleaned up. Not 5 minutes after I hit the pillow I heard someone in the bathroom and we were at it again, only luckily this time in the toilet. Then that day she woke up and only had one more incident. However throughout the day you wouldn't think she was too sick and she played like normal and wanted to eat like normal. I had to really limit what and how much she ate so we wouldn't have a relapse.

And to top it all off...you're probably wondering where Nick is in this picture. Well, of all weeks for us to get sick, he had to work as their were TWO people on vacation that week (which has NOT ever happened the 2 years he's worked there)...then on top of that, he was also on call once he did get home for the day...and his on call involves actually going in to the hospital for about an hour at a time for a callback. So, our biggest feat was to try and spare Nick from getting sick. Well, he was lucky and did not happen to get sick although there were a couple of times where he felt like he was. But, he was still good at helping me when he was home, even so much that one day he went to Walmart for me to get "sick" supplies instead of taking a shower before work...isn't he so sweet!?! So, needless to say, we are better now and feeling a lot better and glad to not be sick anymore.

These are pictures from when the girls were sick, but I couldn't tell that they looked sick at all. I guess they are always gracefully sick.

Our House Is a Nice House...

Ok...you're probably wondering why this is the title. This last week Kayley has been constantly asking me to go to Grandma's house (Grandma Arlaine is Grandma and Grandma Jani is Grandma Jani to Kayley...for those that were wondering which Grandma we are talking about)...anyway, I kept telling her that Grandma's house is a long way from here. Our conversation went a little like this:

Kayley: "you can drive fast Mommy."
Me: "But, it takes a lot of money to fill the van up with money."
Kayley: "But, you have money's to fill up the van."
Me: "We can't go without Daddy and he is at work."
Kayley: "We can go when he gets back from work."

Well after a couple of quick responses from her, I knew I wasn't getting anywhere with this. So I asked her why she liked going to Grandma's so much. She said, "She has a nice house and when we go there, we go to sleep and then when we get up, she makes us stuff." She then kept thinking about what it was called that she makes us. I asked her if she was talking about Grandma's biscuits n' gravy and she said yes. I told her I had a secret and told her I knew how to make Grandma's biscuits n' gravy and that maybe later this week when Daddy was home from work for a day we would make them for breakfast in the morning. She said she liked that idea and asked me how many days until then. I then asked her if she would like our house if I made biscuits n' gravy and she said that yes, our house would be a nice house if I made them. Well, since Conference was this weekend, we got to sleep in and have a nice breakfast on Sunday morning and yes, I made biscuits n' gravy and yes, our house is a nice house now!! Yeah!! :)

Oh and on a side note...we are so excited that there is going to be a temple in our area soon!! For those of you who may not know...this last weekend during our General Conference it was announced that there was going to be a temple built in the greater Kansas City Area!! Yeah!!! :)

Happy Birthday Aunt Tootie!

We just wanted to wish a special Happy Birthday to our Great Aunt Tootie and the girls' Great-Great Aunt Tootie (Tootie is her nickname and Ruby is her real name...but she goes by Tootie to us!) Her birthday was yesterday and she turned 90 years old! I remember when I was younger and I was so privileged to stay the week with her while her daughter Carrie (pictured above) was gone out of town. At first I was a bit worried that it wouldn't be fun, I believe I was about 12 and I didn't know if we would have stuff to talk about or anything like that. Boy was I mistaken! I had a blast and I became so close to her. I remember she would make me breakfast in the morning before school and then have a snack ready for me when I came home from school and we would talk about my day. I don't even think we turned on the tv but maybe once while I was there. We just sat and talked about anything and everything! I had the best time and loved every minute of it. I was so glad that I got to spend that special time with her! We love her lots and lots and hope she had a great birthday yesterday! We did talk to her yesterday and she was enjoying her day and loving life and the great memories she has had! She is an amazing woman! We love you Aunt Tootie! :)

Happy Birthday Grandma Jani!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Just thought I'd share the cool card that we were able to make for my Mom for her birthday today! Happy Birthday Mom!! We love you!

In Answer to Shannon's Post...

Well..thanks to Shannon's tag...here are my responses...hope you enjoy!

Two names you go by:1. Colton2. MommyTwo things you are wearing right now:
1. short-sleeved shirt, even though it’s freezing outside for September!
2. Capris…same as above!

Two things you want very badly at the moment:
1. My nose/congestion to clear up…I have a slight cold and my throat is extremely dry from breathing out of my mouth
2. My headache to go away…I guess I’m falling apart!

Two people who will most likely send this back
1 Stephanie
2 Cassie

Two things you did last night:
1. Had Family Home Evening…I know it was Wednesday night, but we missed Monday with traveling.
2. Started reading a book…something that doesn’t happen very often!

Two things you ate today
1. Way too many rice krispie treats and there will probably be more eaten before the night is over!
2. Cheerios

Two People you just spoke with:
1. Nick
2. Kayley

Two things you're doing tomorrow:
1. Watching Katrina with the girls
2. Waiting for Nick to get home to start our weekend!

Two longest car rides:
1. From Columbia to Myrtle Beach…although it was longer for Nick as he drove the whole way since I didn’t know how to drive a 5-speed….thankfully we didn’t have kids yet so we could drive straight through!
2. From Sikeston to Columbia when Nick and I were engaged. I had gone down for a visit by myself while he stayed behind in Columbia…I think I was really lucky to not get a speeding ticket…that’s the quickest I’ve ever made it to Columbia from Sikeston!

Two favorite beverages:
1. Country Time Lemonade…nothing beats it sometimes!
2. It sounds weird…but I’m pretty partial to my ice water. Nick always gets me cup of ice water before we go to bed for me to sip on in the middle of the night. Isn’t he sweet!?!

Tag to anyone who wants to feel the LOVE!! And anyone who is a frequent visitor of my blog!! So that means maybe 3 people?? Hehehe. I agree with Shannon’s request here!!

Odd Places

Here are a few places that I've found my girls lately and was quite shocked and they all deserved pictures! I'm going to tell you ahead of time that I really do give my girls a nice comfy bed to sleep in! Anyway, you'll see with the pictures...


This is where I found Cora this morning as I was getting breakfast cleaned up. She is always at our heels waiting to use the computer...well she got the computer alright! It was too cute and she was just laughing when she saw me come in!! It was cute!!!

I found Cora right here...actually behind me when I was prepping my tomatoes from our garden to be frozen. I guess she was really tired. I knew she was down there singing, but I didn't think she was falling asleep...it was so sweet looking though! Definitely picture worthy!!

I found Kayley like this when she was supposed to be in time out. I guess it ended up in a time out for me as she ended up taking a nap waiting for me to get her out of time out! Not sure if she learned her lesson or not. Oh well.

Our Smart Kayley

Today is just an update. Kayley is now 3 years old! Not much has been going on with us lately as we’ve slowed down on our driving places this month, which has been nice to just be at home and enjoy the surrounding scenery. Anyway, so the other day for fun we went to Liberty to hang out with Michelle and Kendall and do our most favorite thing…garage sales! Then we hung out with them at their house for the rest of the day to let the kiddos play with each other. Kayley had to go potty so she went into Ashlyn’s bathroom and then called for us to come wipe. Well, she then ceased to amaze me with how smart she is as she told me that Ashlyn’s toilet paper is different than ours. Now you may think this is not so smart as most likely we don’t buy the same toilet paper…but this wasn’t what she was talking about. She was talking about the way the toilet paper came off the roll. She said ours goes this way and motioned her hands to where the toilet paper came around the back of the roll, then said theirs goes this way and motioned her hands the opposite way to have the toilet paper come off the front of the roll. I was so shocked that she picked up on such a minor detail. Most people could careless about the way their toilet paper comes off the roll…to them, toilet paper is toilet paper. However to Kayley it is different and I guess I have to admit that I’ve created a monster as I’m very particular about the way our toilet paper faces…so I always put it the same direction, but I’ve never told her how to put it on or that I prefer it that way. And apparently I’m not the only one that has this disease as I had this discussion with Kendall afterwards and he is the same way, only he likes his toilet paper coming off the opposite way of me…I guess it’s a good thing that we aren’t married to each other otherwise we’d have to have different toilets! :) But, needless to say, Kayley ceases to amaze me with how smart she is and on the smallest details that she pays attention to. We sure do love her and enjoy her wit and smartness!

This by the way is a picture of her at her 3 year well check-up...it was the first time we had to wear a hospital gown while waiting for the doctor...too cute of an outfit to pass up taking a picture and she liked wearing the hospital gown..it was fun to her!

My Big 3 Year Old Kayley!!

Our little Kayley turned the Big 3!! She was so excited for her birthday to get here. In fact, on Monday we were at Walmart to get some last minute supplies for the big event and I decided to let her pick out some Princess napkins for the festivities. She was so excited, she put the napkins on the conveyer belt and then grabbed them out of the sack as soon as we paid for them…you’d think they were a toy or a piece of candy the way she loved them! Then when we got home she wanted to take a nap with them and sleep with them that night. The next morning I woke her up and told her Happy Birthday and one of the first things she asked me was if she got to open her napkins yet. She was very patient all day and carried them around again all day. Then in the evening when we had her party at the pool with her cousins, she was so excited to get them out and hand them out to everyone. She sure was cute!
We did have a fun day. We got up and she was given the choice of me making her anything for breakfast…and she actually picked toast! (I was a bit relieved as that is easy to make and clean up, but glad that she picked something as she has been sick lately and not had much of an appetite.) Then, about mid-morning, she got a special phone call from the real Ariel…she loved that! Then, we headed off to McDonald’s to pick up her choice of a Happy Meal, with a pop and all, then took our lunch to Daddy’s work to eat with him. Then we went on some errands and went home to take a nap before the big event. In the evening the Carles and the Walkers came over for a swimming party with cupcakes and popsicles. Kayley didn’t want to swim much so she could open presents and eat cake. Typical of a birthday girl! She had a great day and loved her birthday presents and her party! She sure is cute!
We are really blessed to have Kayley. She is such a sweet spirit! She is so smart and surprises us everyday. She is very kind and gentle too. At dinner every night, she goes around the room asking each of us “Mommy, how’s yours?” and so forth. Then she says, “Thank you for making this Mommy.” She is a fun little sprite. She is always up for fun and always asks why we have to take a nap and go to sleep. She is always trying to help me with Cora and loves her little sister. She is constantly asking me if Cora is her sister. She is always good to get me diapers, wipes, even put dirty diapers away for me without complaint. She also likes to help me get food ready for Cora at mealtime. She is a fun little girl and we are so glad that we have her! We love you very much Kayley!

The Newlyweds!

Quentin and Natalie got married on August 9th, 2003 in the St. Louis Temple. It was a great ceremony with a lot of in depth knowledge given out by the sealer...although I know Quentin didn't enjoy all the questions on the most nerve-racking day to begin with, but as a bystander, I enjoyed being able to sit back and soak in all the knowledge! Then it was on to the pictures...and boy was it HOT! I remember how hot it was on our wedding which was also in August 5 years ago, but I think their wedding was hotter as there was no breeze for theirs! But, we endured, even with screaming kids. Then we all went to Chili's for a great lunch with the family. Then it was on to Columbia for the reception that evening at the Stake Center. It was really great to catch up with friends and family there...that's the part about weddings that I love! It was a great event and we are glad that Natalie is now an official part of our family!

Our First Date...The Memories!!

Here are some pics I took of the 63 diner on our 5th Anniversary. This was one place from our first date. Our first date was August 16th (or 17th...can't remember which...whatever that Saturday was that year) of 2002. We doubled with Steven Richardson and Anne Jacobs. It was a tribute to Elvis Presley as his birthday was around that day or something I think. So we went to dinner at the 63 diner, which had tons of memorabilia of him and others from his time. Then we went to watch an outside play at the Maple Wood Barn Theater (which would later be the official place Nick proposed to me.) The play was Bye Bye Birdie. Being an outside theater we took camping chairs to sit on. One thing that impressed Nick like crazy was that when he popped his trunk, I grabbed for my chair and offered to carry my own chair. I'm not sure why that impressed him so much, but it did. What impressed me about him was that he was so chivalrous to me that night. Opening doors, pulling out chairs, offering to get me water or anything I wanted during the play.

Oh...and another cute memory from this night was the flowers...err...the phone book. I was house-sitting for the Loves that weekend and he came to pick me up there. One thing that I did in Columbia that I learned from my sister, Katie was to always carry a phone book in my car in case you got lost or needed a number or something...this was before all the I-phones and GPS's. Well, I only had a big phone book and didn’t even know that a smaller version existed. Well, when Nick came to pick me up for our date, instead of bringing flowers, he brought me a small phone book that would fit better in my car. He said as he was walking up the sidewalk to get me, he thought he should have folded the pages to make it look like a big flower; well he didn’t have time at that point, so instead he told me. I thought it was very cute and sweet. I still have that phone book today and ironically, it’s still in my car even though we don’t live in Columbia anymore…I just don’t have the heart to take it out yet! But, that's my Nick, always being sweet, but practical at the same time!

Another thing that I thought was sweet and cute was at the end of our date. I knew Nick really liked me as our sisters, Katie and Michelle were really good friends and would talk and in turn tell us some information here and there. I was worried about the whole, walk you to the door thing…do you kiss, shake hands, hug…what? Well, as I soon learned throughout the rest of our courtship, Nick is pretty forward but polite. So, he asked me if he could give me a hug at the end. Of course I said yes as I liked him a lot too and he proceeded to give me a hug only to step on my foot! It was funny and cute! Well, a year later we got married and here we are! But we were sad to see that the 63 diner was closed where we first went out…oh well…I guess we’ll have to make a new memory of something first together!

5 Years of Happiness!

On the 8th of August, we had a special day...not only was it 08/08/08, but it was also our 5th year wedding anniversary! We had a fun day! We were lucky to celebrate throughout the whole day.

First we headed to Columbia to go to the 63 diner where we had our very first date only to find that it was closed...evidentally it got foreclosed on? So, instead we went to McDonald's...I know how romantic...but we had coupons for free chicken sandwiches and for those of you who know us real well, this is our way to celebrate...Cheap!! :) Then we went to the Stake Center to help set up for Nick's brother, Quentin's reception, who was getting married the next day. The set up went really quick evidentally since when we got there, it was finished...sorry about that! So, we then we visited some dear friends in Columbia and then headed to St. Louis to the Temple. Since Quentin and Natalie were getting married the next day, we were able to go through the Temple that night and see Natalie receive her Endowment. It was a great session and it was great to see everyone there. Then we headed to the La Quinta for a hotel stay for the night…another way to celebrate! J I get excited to stay in hotels. Then the next day we went to the Temple again for Quentin and Natalie’s wedding, which was very lovely and hot…but we endured!! After that it was onto Columbia again for the reception that night. It’s so fun to get together and see friends and have a reason to celebrate! Then, after the reception, we headed to Branson, Mo for our vacation pulling in at a mere 1:55 am when the cut-off to check in was 2 am! Then we stayed in Branson for a week and had a great time…more to blog about that later!

But we had a great 5th wedding anniversary and it is hard to believe that we have been married this long! It’s been a good 5 years. As I mentioned earlier, it was great to go to the Temple for our anniversary as it brought back memories from when we got married. One distinct memory that I hope to never forget was the day of the wedding. I had stayed the night in St. Louis with my Mom, my sister, Mary and Sarah (my best friend at the time, but now my sister-in-law!) I hadn’t seen Nick for a few days before we got married. I don’t remember being too nervous, just excited as it was a big day and a big event. However, when that morning came, the nerves came on a little. I remember when I arrived at the Temple, the first person I saw was Nick and I ran to give him a hug and the most calm, peaceful feeling came over me in an instant. I knew as I had known before that we were doing the right thing. I’m so blessed to be married to him. He really does complete me (I know that sounds cheesy, but it’s true.) We are so compatible with each other. We rarely argue and when we do, it’s over shortly as we both hate to be mad at each other. We can read each other like books now. I can only imagine how much better it will be 5, 10, 50 years from now! I love him very much and am so grateful to have him in my life!

The Cake

Cora didn't seem to like her cake as much as I thought she would. She just sort of picked at it and didn't eat very much, which is crazy b/c anytime anyone has any food around her, she wants a bite! You'd think she was a little Michelin baby by how much food she likes, but instead she's super skinny still! Anyway, it was still fun to watch her eat it! She didn't like the clean-up very well though as you'll see by the pics!

Follow Up Post

I failed to put some pics of Cora's birthday party on here...so here they are as well as hopefully some more blogs as I'm way behind and August was a busy month for us with birthdays, anniversary, and vacation! So, keep reading...there will be more!

My Baby is 1 Year Old Today!

Yes, I can't believe either. Cora is 1 year old today! My how times flies. Let's see, this time last year I was in the hospital and had just had my water broken about an hour ago and was watching the Today show waiting for our little Cora to come into this world! I have to say that her labor was easier than Kayley's, although Kayley's wasn't that hard either. (I've been very blessed in that department.) But, I remember being very worried that she wouldn't be cute when she was born. I know it sounds silly, but I remember Kayley being such a cute baby from the moment she was born that I didn’t think we would be so lucky a 2nd time. Boy was I mistaken! She was adorable when she was born. I remember her just crying when she came out and then when they wrapped her up and put her in my arms, she just calmed down and looked at me with this deep inquisitive look. It was very sweet.

Now she is a year old and she is still very sweet. She loves to pat your arm when you pick her up kind of like when you’re giving someone a hug and you pat their back. She also loves giving hugs and kisses. She is constantly trying to give Kayley kisses, even when she’s asleep. I really have to time their nap schedules to coordinate with each other b/c otherwise I’m constantly trying to take Cora out of Kayley’s room as she is always crawling to the end of her bed waiting for her to wake up. And aside from a while back when Kayley wanted to sell her on craigslist for $100, Kayley really does love Cora. They always chase each other around the house and they both get a kick out of it. Little Cora is just crawling towards Kayley to play and Kayley thinks she is chasing her so she runs faster, then Cora crawls faster. It’s cute!

This week she has also learned how to blow kisses and fold her arms for prayer. It is absolutely the cutest thing! We say prayers with the girls before they go to bed at night and Cora is so proud of herself for folding her arms. Last night for dinner I forgot to ask her to fold her arms and she actually folded them herself once she realized we were saying prayers….which is great b/c she is normally pointing at the food and going nuts in her seat until we feed her. And yesterday for naptime she was folding her arms before I wrapped her up for bed. So, now we say prayers before each of her naps, bedtime, and meals…she’s going to be getting a lot of blessings! She also likes to be swaddled still, hard to believe since she is so old now. I’ve had to make a special blanket that is big enough for me to wrap her up in it. She is really cute in it though and still sleeps great when she is swaddled.

We are so blessed to have Cora. She is a great addition to our family. She is a really calm, easy going baby. I thought Kayley was easy; Cora has even been easier than her! What can I say more than she was sleeping through the night at about 2 months (8-9 hours mind you!) We love our little Cora and are excited for her milestone as a 1 year old. We’re excited for her eat cake and enjoy her birthday later today! We love you very much Cora! On to the 2’s….!!

I've Been Tagged!

I guess I will respond to this tag…sorry it has taken me so long. And sorry Jamie that I didn’t respond to your previous tag, I’ll just count this one as my tag for that too, if that’s ok!?! Here it goes…

JOYS:
1. Nick ~ Nick and I are so perfect for each other. We just can’t get over how well we mesh sometimes. However just like any couple, we do have our tiffs at times, but they are definitely outweighed by how well we fit together! I’m glad that we married each other.
2. Kayley & Cora ~ Kayley is my big 3 year old soon. She is so cute and so smart. She is constantly surprising us with how smart she is. She always wants an explanation for things. For example, oftentimes she asks me why we take naps and why we sleep…I guess she just wants to play all the time and never sleep. Cora is almost my big 1 year old soon. She is also so cute and so smart. She is quick to pick up on how to do things. She is very loving. She is always eager to give out kisses to you and pat you on the shoulder with a few love pats. I sure do love our girls and am so grateful for them. If and when we have more kids someday, I’m not sure if we could get any kids that were any cuter or smarter!
3. The rest of my family. Other than spending time with Nick and the girls, my favorite things to do is spend time with family, whether we go on small weekend trips to visit them or just chat on the phone with them. I love that my family and Nick’s family are so close. I think it’s really special.

FEARS:
1. June Bugs ~ I hate them. The way the buzz and run into you like they are idiots…what are they good for anyway?
2. Heights ~ You would never catch me jumping out of an airplane. It sometimes scares me to climb the ladder to get into our attic.
3. Loosing a loved one. I know that I would be able to see them again someday, but it sure is hard living without them until then.

GOALS:
1. To lessen the amount of tv our family watches. We like to veg!
2. To somehow find a way to get rid of our weeds in our yard once and for all!
3. To make a habit of a consistent workout schedule and learn to enjoy it.

OBSESSIONS:
1. T.V. – Considering my #1 above, I have to list this as an obsession that obviously needs to be lessened. But what is more fun than just sitting and vegging with your family!?
2. Cleaning my ears out with q-tips after I shower…I have to do it or it feels weird the rest of the day.
3. Craigslist. I have a routine that I go through each day of things I’m casually looking for to buy on craigslist. It’s sad, but hey…I do find good deals…it may just take a while! I love craigslist!

RANDOM FACTS:
1. My birth mark is actually in the exact same spot as my sister Jan’s, however it’s the opposite leg. Funny too that this sister is the one that my body shape/style is the most like.
2. I can spin on a knee board. It takes me a while to get the courage up to do it, but I can do it. I also can stay on a tube a lot better than Nick!! :)
3. When I was little I wanted to be a Veterinarian, but as I got older I realized that my allergies would take the best of me and shatter my dreams. Good thing I decided to be a mom instead!

Well, there you have it, a little bit more info about me that maybe you didn’t know beforehand! Now I get to tag others.
1. Stephanie
2. Mary
3. Katrina

Good luck girls!! :)

Pictures from 4th of July Camping Trip

Here are some pictures from our 4th of July camping trip in Branson on Table Rock Lake. It was a fun trip with Grandma, Shannon, & John. The weather was crazy at night with HUGE thunderstorms....lightening literally striking a few feet away from us on the water. Ironically the girls slept great for being in such a bad storm. The only regret I have is taking a nursing baby camping. I think I'd much rather be pregnant camping than have a nursing baby...especially one with teeth...all the new sounds, she easily got distracted and in return, I got hurt! Oh well, it ended up being a great trip!
More pictures of camping and dining out and playing at the Branson landing play place...it was a fun weekend!

Happy 4th of July as told by Shannon Hufford

Well I was going to put a post of our eventful 4th of July festivities, but then noticed that Shannon had already put a great post on hers...so I just decided to copy and paste hers...but give her all the credit of course!!! However she did forget one huge detail that almost put me in jail! (Not really) The first night we were there we had the privilege of being next to some unruly male adults probably in their 3o's.

As Shannon mentioned in her post, it was very rainy and thundering and lightning constantly at times....so close it was shaking the ground underneath us! Well being a nursing mother at this time, it was a struggle to get Cora to sleep. I finally got her to sleep and our nice neighbors decide to come next to our site to set up there tent and also relay every last cuss word they could think of in the book! Oh and at the top of their lungs too by the way!! Of course, Cora being a light sleeper, woke up!! I was infuriated!! I was really close to going out and giving them a piece of my mind, which would have not been good as I was so tired trying to get Cora to sleep (other mothers with infants know this feeling of empowerment!) Luckily, I calmed down as I thought it was more important for me to get Cora to sleep than cause more of a rucus. Surprisingly Cora did finally fall asleep and the guys finally went to sleep about 1 hour later. Crazy night! Please read on to see what else occurred that weekend! Thanks for the great blog Shan! :)

Shannon writes....

"Realizing we didn't have any July 4th events planned, I went into panic mode and called my sister-in-law Colton and arranged for a weekend rendezvous (yes it's spelled right ;-). No worries, my friends, it's not the type of weekend rendezvous some of you may be thinking of. Colton and I are close but not THAT close....hehe. Anyway, so we decide to plan a last minute camping trip in Branson for the July 4th weekend. Surprisingly, so did 90% of America. As a result, we ended up with a rather interesting weekend.

I called every campsite in the area only to find out that they were all booked. That's rather odd I thought....it's the 4th of July - apparently the biggest camping weekend of all year!! Well, luckily, thanks to my persistence, we finagled a campsite reservation for Thursday night at the Table Rock State Park. However, the only minor twist was if we chose to camp a 2nd night, we'd have to book our booties to a first come first serve spot since ours was taken the 2nd night. We figured we were up to the challenge and signed up - despite the ever present warning of potential rain showers in the area. After all, we convinced ourselves, camping isn't for the weak and we could muster up enough courage, strength, and energy to laugh at Mother Nature in the face. Well, as it turns out, Mother Nature was the one laughing.

Night #1: John and I arrive first and start setting up camp. Midway through propping up the tent we hear an odd sound. Within seconds we get hit with a downpour rain shower. We begin to cover the tarp over the tent and make a run for the truck cab. After sitting in there for a few minutes we realize we aren't made of sugar and decide to venture back out into the rain. After the rest of the crew arrive, we take a trip to Walmart for a few more necessities: tarp, bug spray, and batteries. We head back to our camp and still more rain. We make a few minor modifications to our original sleeping plans and put Nick/Colton and family + Mom into the tent, while John creates a makeshift tent in the bed of his truck for us. By the time we were ready to retire for the evening we were completely waterlogged but cozy and safe in a water tight tarp, tent, truck bed cover. So tight that it turns out we were now fighting for air. We attempt to sleep admist loud booming thunder, torrential rain, and bright lightning. I lay awake feeling proud of ourselves that we didn't resort to the hotel option from earlier.

Day #1: We awake to bright, dry skies. Apparently the little ones (age 3 and 11 mos) slept better than the rest of us. We enjoyed breakfast and began packing up camp for our relocation to our next spot. So far, so good...well as good as can be expected in this environment. We spend the day at the lake and riding the sea-doo. We spend the evening hours eating dinner out, perusing through Branson Landing, doing some retail therapy and watching fireworks.

Night #2: John has headed back to Arky for a golf tourney and I decide to stay behind and endure a 2nd night. Amazing how over zealous I become when I enjoy one day of dry weather. The 2nd night was dry and not too shabby...however the 2nd day was not.

Day #2: We woke up to a sunny cheery sky, enjoyed some breakfast, and sat around basking in our lake-view (as in we were a mere 5 feet from the protruding/rising lake water). Not too long after we heard the familiar thunder come back for another visit. We ended up getting soaked to the bone, holing up in a minivan with two small children, and throwing our wet camping gear into the waiting vehicles. At this point, I was wondering what possessed us to challenge the forecast, the weathermen, and Mother Nature.

Actually, all in all it was an enjoyable time. Anytime we can spend with family (especially my two little neices Kayley and Cora) is a wonderful time. They were the best campers out of all of us - we were all surprised and jealous.

A few random stories....

After our lake outing we decided we were all in desperate need of some showers. The girls of course were faced with the challenge of showering two small children in a nasty bug infested shower facility that provided luke warm sulfur water - all while trying very hard to avoid touching the nasty concrete floor with our bare feet. I opted to take Cora with me while Kayley went with her Mom. I absolutely LOVE when babies are covered in water as they are extra squeezy and cute. However, in this environment, I spent more time trying to hold onto a 10 mos old covered in soap. She was a good sport but I did have a few near misses as I almost dropped her on the ground. It was hilarious but rather traumatic for her.

Also, on a different journey to our wonderful restroom facilities, Kayley notices a june bug laying feet up by the door. She explains to her Mom.... "Look Mom, that bug is tired....he's had a hard day. He's sleeping because he's had a very hard day". It was adorable and hilarious. She couldn't stop sympathizing with that bug over his hard day and we heard about it all the way back to camp. "

Our Garden

Here is our garden for this summer for those of you wondering if I could be a green thumb!! :) We've been really impressed with the outcome of our crops. We have zucchini out of our ears (as you can see with the picture of the girls with one of the zucchini we grew) and lots of other plants. It's been fun! These pictures were actually taken about a month ago so our corn is about twice that high and has corn on it now!! :) Yeah! So, if you ever come to see us, we'll send you home with some goodies!!

Cute swimming pictures

I had to blog these pictures as I just think they are so cute!! I'm a sucker for babies in swimming suits!! I usually always keep my camera handing when we go to the pool...so just fyi...there may be more swimming pictures later throughout the blog!! :) Kayley always loves to help me get ready for the pool..she is such a grown up now. She always helps me round up Cora to get her sunblock on, etc. It sure is cute! More pics to come on the blog too!!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

What is a summer without baseball?!?! Well, we were lucky enough to watch Judson and Edward's baseball games a couple of times this summer. They are both great players and we enjoyed watching them play! In these pictures, Judson is in the orange jersey and Edward is in the blue jersey. And of course the girls loved playing in the dirt! I got some cute pics of Katrina and Cora, but Kayley and Olivia also had just as much fun in the dirt!

Helmets?

This is a clarification post. In the pictures I posted earlier about our trip to Arkansas, Nick is shown riding John's motorcycle. Well, Stephanie (my sister-in-law) made a comment about him not wearing a hemet...which is what I was thinking too Steph! However, luckily Nick really wasn't very good at shifting from 1st to 2nd on the motorcycle, so he never went very fast. But, even if he had gone fast, he wouldn't have been pulled over as we learned that Arkansas has no law on wearing helmets while on a motorcycle. So, even though it's a beautiful part of our country...it's full of idiots who don't wear helmets! Don't worry in case you were wondering John is NOT one of them!! :) He does wear his! Plus, if Nick had fallen off the bike...he was going so slow it would have just been like falling off of a bike!! :)

Our Trip to Arkansas #1

Pictures from our trip to Arkansas....
Driving range....Daddy gave Kayley a few tips and then John gave Nick a few tips!! :)

John was nice enough to let Nick ride his motorcycle and Kayley had fun with Shannon and Brady!

Our Trip to Arkansas #2

Ok..I know that these pics are a little late in coming on here. I had them all ready to go a week ago and the computer did something funky...so here are the pics from about 3 weeks ago when we went to go visit Shannon and John in Arkansas. I had been to Arkansas once before when I was in high school for a basketball camp and it was pretty hick-town and so we were expecting about the same for our visit. We were corrected. It's actually a really beautiful part of the United States. We had a great visit. We went to Abuello's to eat (a highly recommended Mexican Restaurant!!) It was yummy! Then we saw where Shannon and John both work...I guess they do have to work sometime! Then Saturday we did a bucket of golf balls at the driving range and it was really cute to watch Kayley hit the golf balls and to help us pick them up when she hit them. Then we took the girls to the pool while John & Nick did guy stuff and went to the shooting range. Then we had a fun barbeque with some of their friends (indoors as it started pouring down rain right when we were ready to walk out the door.) We had lots of fun and we have the pictures to prove it!! J See below!

The Love of Sisters

Here are a collection of photos of the girls. They are now learning how to play together now that Cora is more mobile. It sure is cute to watch them...at least when they aren't fighting. Kayley likes to take things away from Cora and as soon as she does, she immediately turns to Nick or I and spits at us to sort of tattle on her. It's cute, but can be annoying at times too! One of their favorite things to do is play in Kayley's room. Kayley likes to run to her room and yell for Cora to come running after her. Cora has to crawl pretty quickly, but eventually gets there...then when she gets there Kayley runs into the living room and calls for her to come get her again...it's pretty cute! They are growing so fast, but we are loving every minute of it!!