Sneak Peek

I'm too excited for words about our new family pictures - we had them taken a week ago, and our photographer has some of them up on her blog. I CRIED my little eyes out the first time I looked at them they turned out so good! Can't wait to see the rest of them (and to spend a small fortune putting them all over my house!

Here's the link to our pictures on her blog - and let's just remind you all that my skin is not that flawless.....Sheryll just knows how to edit EXTREMELY well :)

http://sheryll-lynne.com/blog/?p=349

Separation Anxiety???? I Think Not!

Today was Lauren's little preschool "Mommy & Me Meet & Greet". I explained to her that we were going to drop Mya off at Shara's house and she and I would be going to preschool for a little bit.
The whole time we were driving she was telling me that Mya was going to Shara's house, and Mommy was going to take her to preschool then Mommy was going home. When I would tell her that I was going to preschool with her, she would just tell me again that I was going home.
You'd think she would be at least a little nervous to go to school with a bunch of kids and a teacher that she doesn't know.......no. Not so much.
I think she was generally annoyed with my presence at the school.
The moms went outside for a bit so their teacher could tell us about what they would be learning, etc., and we could hear some of the kids crying inside, wanting their mommies.
Mine was the one trying not to cry as we were LEAVING because she didn't want to go home.
Ready for preschool?
Um, yeah.

Funeral

Just wanted to post a few pictures from the day of my Grandpa's funeral (all stolen from my cousin - thanks Suz). My dad had said that it should be a celebration of his life, and it was. I learned so much about the man that he was as a father, bishop, patriarch, and sealer. His life truly was centered around Christ and family. He was such a great example.

The family at the grave site

My Grandma Strong - she's so strong, and has maintained her wonderful sense of humor throughout the whole thing. I love her so much!

My dad and uncles were the pall bearers

A beautiful picture of my grandparents outside the temple

The funeral services were amazing - my grandpa was amazing. He impacted the lives of so many people, and I am privileged to have known him, let alone be a part of his wonderful family.

Ronald Davis Strong

08/06/21 - 08/18/09

Goodbye.

I got a phone call from my sister last night at 10:00 telling me that my Grandpa Strong had passed away. He was 88 years old. I am 28 and this is the first grandparent that I am losing. Later my dad called and told me he had a heart attack around 8:30 and they were never able to revive him. He wasn't sick, this was extremely sudden.

I have so many memories of my Grandpa Strong

Weenie roasts after the egg hunt the day before Easter

BBQ's for every summer holiday

Always wearing dress pants and a button down shirt

Wheat germ for breakfast

Buttering his bread before putting anything on it

Telling the best stories

Pruning the apple trees

Taking me down into the scary root cellar

Giving me my Patriarchal Blessing

Pink Wintergreen Necco candies & circus peanuts

Sitting in "his" chair

Playing the piano & organ

Telling me all about the differnet kinds of apples in the orchard

Letting me help in the garden

Sealing me, Bryan, and Lauren together

I am so proud to be related to him, to have even known him. He was a spiritual giant, and never missed an opportunity to let others know how he felt about the Gospel. He had tremendous faith, and it showed in everything he did. He dedicated so much of his time to the Lord, working in the temple and the MTC. He loved my grandma so much, and told us constantly. He was the greatest example of everything I want to be.

At his birthday celebration on Aug. 8, I will always remember saying goodbye to him. He gave me a hug and said "I love you, my dear". He always called us that. I'm so glad I have that last memory of him, and that I was able to be a part of that celebration of his & my grandma's lives. I'm so happy that he got to see all of his kids together for the first time in 16 years.

I've cried so much, but it is so comforting to know that he lived his life as good as one can, and he is free from the stresses of this world. I know that he is in a better place.

Open your doors please Grandpa dearest and I'll love you forever and ever.

#6

With our anniversary also now being the birthdate of our second child, we do realize that the actual day, August 14th, is really no longer our anniversary. At least for the next, oh, 17 years or so. This year we celebrated on the 15th. Bryan's mom & dad were so awesome to take the girls overnight so that we could have an actual date night and get some good sleep.

My favorite flowers are lilies - Bryan brought some home on Friday for me, a total surprise. He usually has flowers delivered, so I was pretty shocked. Then I cried a little bit because I had forgotten to get him a card while I was out & about that day. He really doesn't care - the card would just go in his junk drawer in the kitchen, and eventually make its way to the manila envelope where he keeps all of the useless junk I've given him over the last 8 years. And I know he only has a manila junk gift envelope because he thinks I will get mad if he throws any of those treasures away. Actually, I wouldn't care, but I think it's sweet of him.

For our date we went to dinner, then miniature golfing at Mulligans - hello, we felt so old! All other people of our age that were there had their kids with them. But we had fun - it was beautiful weather, and there was no lack of people watching, our favorite past time. All I can say is, teenage girls need to put their boobs away, and creepy guys in their mid to late thirties shouldn't be miniature golfing alone (and taking it very seriously).

Then we went and got a Red Mango and enjoyed the weather some more outside. It was fun, we got to feel like a couple of young crazy kids again.....until about midnight when we both fell asleep on the couch watching a movie.

Thanks, Bryan - it was a blasty blast!!!

And thanks again, Ma & Pa Kinyon for taking our littles, it was a much needed and even more appreciated break. I'm just glad that Mya's cold turned into an ear infection on Sunday and not while they had her. But enough about sick babies.

I love you, honey, and I'm so excited to spend forever with you!

B-Day Partay

Poor birthday girl woke up not feeling very well - it's hard getting teeth! It was a day of screaming, crying, and not taking very good/long naps. Not fair for a kid on her first birthday!

We had our families over for the big day - here Mya is with a couple of her presents.

At first she was concentrating only on the frosting dots.....

It didn't take long for her to figure out what to do - in her excitement also flinging cake/frosting everywhere. I had covered the floor with a tablecloth....I didn't think I needed to cover the walls as well.

Love this picture of B and Shara - she had a very long day, and was so super sweet after a quick frosting removal bath and got all snuggled in her new jammies.

Oh, and Bryan brought me home some gorgeous flowers for our anniversary - lilies are my fave!

Happy B-Day, B!

My B is 1 today!

So far, it's been an interesting ride with this kid. I went through and read some of the posts I wrote right before I had her last summer - it seems so long ago!

I just love this kid.

We all know what a pain she can be, but she's also such a sweet heart.

She's scooting all over the place, loves to get on the hardwood and spin in circles on her tummy.

She gives me kisses without asking for them, slobbery though they may be, I love it.

She has quite the mischievous grin......I've always said, I'm going to have to keep an eye on her.

She jabbers constantly, is starting to dance along with Lo (and me), and loves music like the rest of the girls in our little family.

We just can't imagine our lives without her!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MYA!!

Oh, and on a side note...

Happy Anniversary, Bryan, I love you!

Why, why, WHY????

Someone explain to me what would posess me to take my children to Nordstrom Rack. Where the clothing racks are so close together that their small shopping carts can barely, if at all, fit in between them. And why I would think bringing Goldfish in baggies would be a good idea. And why I decided to go into the dressing room and let Lauren get out of the cart. Where she decided it would be a good idea to take a peek underneath at our dressing room neighbors. And then scream at the top of her lungs when I got mad at her for being rude and put her back into the cart.

All for the sake of the sale, for the possibility of the best deal ever - the chance that some BCBG shirt normally $158 will be on sale for $39. But I STILL won't buy the shirt, so why even go? What can I say, I'm a glutton for punishment.

Strong Family Reunion

Seeing as how my camera is still being fixed, I'm having to steal pictures of our little family reunion over the weekend from family blogs as they come up :)

Here's pictures of the cakes my sister, McKell made for my grandparents

Grandma

Grandpa

For those of you who don't know, my family is MASSIVE. Here is a picture of my dad and his brothers & sisters. It's the first time in, I think they said 16 years they've all been together at once.
It was such a special day, I love my grandparents and my whole family so much!

Goodbye, My Love

In an effor to simplify our lives, we decided, finally, that 4 vehicles is more than 2 adults need. So we made the decision to sell my car baby.

In a few minutes, the cute little BYU student is going to come back with a check and drive off with her. You can tell the kid is so excited her can hardly stand it. And he should be - I LOVE this car!

As if the 5 gray hairs I found last week didn't make me feel old enough.

Tough Love

This is going to be a ranting and raving post. Because I've had it with my almost 3 year old. She has woken us up sometime between 1:00 and 3:00 am every night for the past 3 nights. And stayed awake for over 2 hours, asking for ridiculous things to bring to bed with her, wanting stories read to her, wanting a drink, medicine, and to "fix her covers". And then, her newest thing lately that just makes me absolutely, insanely livid - if we look the least bit displeased, she starts crying and saying "don't be mad" - over and over and over again. And now she's started with this "I need Mommy to come give me a hug and kiss" - so I go in and give a hug and kiss. As I leave "I need Daddy to give me a hug and kiss" - the kid is so ridiculous I can't even stand it!
We've been trying to just keep her quiet, afraid she'll wake Mya up, so we still have a baby monitor in her room. Because when Mya was littler, she would wake up at the slightest sound and it was hard to get her back down - we just kind of got used to the monitor. Which I know is absolutely ridiculous. She used to be such a good sleeper - she would go down easily at 8:00 and I wouldn't hear a peep out of her until 9:00. What happened????
So I decided this morning around 5:25 that we need to Supernanny our way through this with a little tough love. Today I'm taking EVERYTHING out of her bed except for her blankets. Every night she will get to choose 1 toy to take to bed with her. I know what will happen - she will scream. She will scream at the top of her lungs, and possibly wake Mya up. Oh well. Right now, we put her down at 8:00, read about 10 books to her, and then constantly go in and out for 2 hours until she finally gives up and goes to sleep. I can tell she's just pushing her boundaries, trying to figure out what to say and do to keep us in her room as long as possible. And no more baby monitor. If she wakes up in the middle of the night, she can cry her fool head off. We probably won't hear her unless it's pretty loud. And if that's the case, then we'll deal with it. I'm so sick of tip-toe-ing around her, trying to keep her happy, and now she's just walking all over us. And I am NOT that kind of parent.
Wish us luck, we're seriously going to need it.

One Down....

My li'l bro Trevor got his mission call yesterday - McAllen, TX Spanish speaking. He's been saying for weeks now that he's going to Arkansas, so pretty close! We're all so excited!

So now we wait for Scott to turn his papers in in a few weeks and soon we'll be sending them both off for 2 whole years.

Family gatherings are about to get a lot quieter :(

I just hope Trevor brings me home a shiny new belt buckle!

Love you Trev!!

Look What I Found

So I've been on a rampage trying to find something fun and different for the girls. I know most, if not all of you have known the joys of Etsy for some time now, but it took me a while.

So yesterday, while browsing through the children's clothing section, I found these pillowcase dresses.

Oh

my

goodness!!!

Lo was with me when I was looking, saw this, and freaked out. Birthday present #1 - done.

This one just screams Mya - can't wait to see her in it!

Now I'm on a mission to buy a sewing machine and learn how to make these myself.

8 Years Ago

8 years ago today I broke up with my boyfriend
I put on my blue Roxy t-shirt, Express jeans, and Doc Martin boots
And went to a party instead of a co-worker's wedding
Where I met a bunch of boys from West Jordan
One of which was wearing a green & white plaid button-down, Silvertabs, and white K-Swiss
He had curly hair and the most gorgeous smile ever
We sat on the front porch
And talked about swing dancing

Sometimes it pays off
To blow off a wedding and go to a party
On the day of a bad break up
You just might get lucky
And meet your future husband
Like I did

Family Picture?

My dad informed me a week ago that he needed a famliy picture of the 4 of us sometime before Aug. 8th. I thought "sure, I'll find one". Then I realized that there are NO pictures of the 4 of us. Not a one. EVER. Here I am, all about the memories, with no picture of my little family all together. Pathetic, right? So we had to ask someone to take a quick, very unprofessional, very uncoordinated one yesterday at Bryan's mom's house. And considering the circumstances, they didn't turn out as horribly as I thought they would.

It's so sad that this is the first picture of the 4 of us together - Mya turns 1 in 11 days. What can I say - I'm just too busy taking pictures of the kids by themselves, they're much cuter than me and Bryan anyway.

Bryan trying to get Mya's attention somewhat near the camera by snapping

If you look closely, you can see me holding down Lauren's dress with all of my might. Apparently she thinks it's appropriate to flash her Dora panties for family pictures. It is soooo not.

I think this was the best one of the bunch, sadly

Bryan looks like he's the only one even remotely paying attention. I'm too busy talking (shocker), Mya's too busy looking at the ground, and Lo is too busy trying to figure out how she can somehow get her dress completely over her head for the picture without me pulling it back down.