Trip to See Friends=AWESOME!!

Before calving broke out, we went to Utah to visit some of our favorite people...Dan, Patrice, Harrison, and soon to be baby boy #2. Harrison is about 10 mths younger than Reiny, but he is just as big as she is! They had a great time playing and Jordan and I had a wonderful time hanging out in their newly finish basement! Seriously, movie watching at our house will never be the same after this experience!

They also introduced us to Culver's Custard-Style Ice Cream! Oh my...I have dreams about that place now...and not just cus I was a major idiot and left my diaper bag there! That custard was seriously awesome!

I love how Harrison is peeking around the wall in this picture!


Yes...snow...snow...snow!!!


Reiny's 1st kiss!!! Harrison didn't seem too into it!

When the Cows Come Home

We brought the cows home on Friday, Feb. 11, 2011, which can only mean one thing...CALVING SEASON HAS ARRIVED!!! April and Brian, as well as their whole family, came over for the fun event. I managed to drive the truck and horse trailer off the road and get it stuck while trying to stick the binky back in Ryann's mouth. Nothing like a woman driver, eh?

After we spent all morning on Saturday sorting the cows into their respective bunches, they got the gate open between them during lunch and we got to do the process all over again that afternoon!!! AHHHH!!! Is this any indication of what we're in for this season? I only hope that Heavenly Father will look out for us as we attempt to do this laborious (no pun intended) process again!!!

Christmas and Utah Trip

Here's some pictures from Christmas and our trip to Utah.

Reiny's 3rd Birthday

I know this is quite late, but I figured, better late than never. Reiny turned 3 on Dec. 4, 2010 (which happened to also be the 9th anniversary of my first date with Jordan). It's hard to believe what a smart, beautiful little girl my baby has turned in to! She loves puzzles (and is getting quite good at them!), volleyball (which probably has a lot to do with the fact she's followed me to all the high school and junior high practices and games for 2 years now), jumping off of anything and everything she can find, writing her letters (which so far is just A and B, but she's getting pretty good at "school"), and helping Daddy with all his work. She loves to drive the backhoe and "fix" pivots. She's a great sister to Ryann and is very helpful with diapers and burp cloths, as well as kisses and hugs. She started primary this year and although she was a bit apprehensive at first, is starting to really enjoy the songs and lessons (as well as her awesome teacher, Annie Stokes). Much to Mommy's dismay, she has pretty much given up her naps, but she will sit and watch movies whenever Mommy needs a moment to herself. She's a good girl. A beautiful girl. A smart girl. I feel so blessed to have her in my life. She makes me laugh. She makes me cry. She comforts me on my "down days" and laughs with me on my good ones. I love her so much and feel so blessed to have such a healthy little girl in my home.

Reiny,

I love you so much. I remember praying for you to come for so long. I remember sitting in my hospital room, just the two of us, and singing "I am a Child of God" while tears streamed down my face. You are one of my greatest blessings. You try my patience and amaze me with your wit and humor all at the same time!

I love you, Reiny Marie. No matter how old you get or how far life takes you, you will always be my baby girl. Forever and ever...

Love,

Mom

Just as a side note: Thank you to my sister, Catherine, for throwing Reiny a wonderful party on her birthday!!! Lucky girl got 2 parties for her b-day!!

Some Cute Ones of my Little Weed...

This is the most recent picture...I can't believe how strong this little girl is! She holds her head so well now and stands up all the time! I love it, but at the same time, I'm so sad with how fast she's growing up!


All smiles these days!!! If you smile at her, she'll smile back! I love it...so squishy!!



I love pictures of my kids asleep with Daddy...there's something so sweet about a Daddy and his girls!

Pictures Speak Louder than Words 2

Here's a few more...


She fell asleep with her hands in the air...I thought it was adorable.


Yes...that's Ryann in Reiny's doll stroller...She loved being pushed around the house in this thing...and Reiny loved pushing her. It occupied most of the morning.



I curled Reiny's hair for church with a 3 barrel curling iron. I even burned her poor little ear with it, but she was a trooper! All for the sake of beauty...
I wish I'd have taken her picture before she changed out of her church clothes, but oh well...at least Ryann was still dressed.


Just a cute picture.

Pictures Speak Louder than Words

I so need to update this blog!!!! We've been doing so much stuff lately and I need to document it, so rather than write a huge dialog, I'll just post the pictures!

I love bathtime now! It's so cute with both my girls in the tub together. Reiny always wants to help me wash Ryann, which sorta scares me, but oh well!

I love when my parents come to visit! Reiny loves when they come too. My Dad must have read 100 books to her this trip, and she would have had him read 100 more if he could have handled it! FYI: I don't have any pictures of my Mom from this trip cus she seems to think she's not photogenic (I would disagree)...I'll get her next time.

Awww...too cute!

Attempting to take nice pictures with my new camera posed more difficult than I originally anticipated...this one turned out ok.

This was the only nice face she made for any of the 100 pictures I took of her!! Little stinker!

Scary Flashbacks...

I'm feeling a bit apprehensive...at least that's what Jordan says about himself. Anytime Jordan is anything but positive and optimistic, I'm nervous and scared for the future. The truth is...I'm VERY scared for the future. The end of 2010 has had some striking resemblances to the end of 2007 and the start of the year from HELL, 2008. The list is continually growing, but here's a few of the more scary flashbacks: we were audited in Dec. 2007, one week after Reiny was born...I just got audited again Nov. 9th, 2010, a week before Ryann was born. We had a new baby in 2007...we just had our second baby. We lost a bid on a huge project at the end of 2007...we just lost a bid on an even BIGGER project on Monday of this week. Due to some unfortunate accounting, we showed a huge profit at the end of 2007 and ended up paying a substantial amount of money to the IRS in taxes in 2008; so much in fact, that we actually had to take out a loan to cover the taxes!!!...no getting around it, we made money this year...enough to pay a substantial amount to the IRS again in taxes.

The list continues to grow...which only scares me further. I know that the reason 2008 sucked so bad dealt almost entirely with the way I chose to deal with these unfortunate and difficult situations, but what's to keep me from doing it again. That year was so horrible that even the thought of living another day of it seemed unbearable to me. I just don't think I could make it through another year like that. Not with all I have to do now.

I've been a bit preoccupied lately, what with the newborn up all night and all...but the last 2 days, as I've sat and pondered (freaked out, really) over the similarities of the end of this year and 2007, I've made a commitment to get up, get my day started, and accomplish all I can in that day. Yesterday was stressful, but I did get a lot done. Today was less stressful and I accomplished some tasks, but is that really enough?

I hate relying on other people, and I'm not very good at taking criticism...yes, I can openly admit that now. How do I get past these imperfections in myself so that I can be better in 2011 than I was in 2008? I'm scared. I'm scared to talk to Jordan about these fears. I'm scared to post this where people can read it...I'd much rather post cute pictures of my girls or stories about how funny and lovable they are, so that people don't see all my insecurities. If I do decide to post this entry, I guess it's my way of asking for help. Please help me. What advice do you have to get through this next year?

It's been a few weeks now, and my concerns are only growing...I think it's time to post this...

Ryann Eliza

Born: Sunday, November 14, 2010 at 3:03 pm
Weight: 7 lbs
Height: 20"

Well, she's here!! We had a doctor's appointment on the 12th and my blood pressure was up a little bit and I had lost more weight, so my doctor sent us to do a non-stress test at the hospital. The tests came back fine, but my doctor still thought we needed to get the baby delivered, so he sent me in to the hospital on Sunday to be induced. I wasn't crazy about this since I kinda wanted to go into labor on my own, but if he thought it was time, then I wasn't going to argue.

We got to the hospital at 7:30 am on Sunday and by 8 am they started me on antibiotics since I was Beta Strep positive. Then around 9:30 am they started the pitocin to induce labor. Just as I remembered, labor is painful!!! I did much better this time with not yelling at Jordan and telling him how bad he sucked for doing this to me, but then at about 11:30-12:00 pm the pain got to be a little too much and I got an epidural. Thank heavens for modern medicine!!!

My doctor checked me at 11 am and I was only dialated to a 3, so he said he was going to go home for some lunch and then be back. At around 2:30pm he came back and said "Well, let's see if you made any progress." He checked me real fast and then said "Ok...I better hurry and change cus this baby's coming now!" I wanted to laugh and cry all at the same time cus like 2 minutes before he came in to check me I almost said to Jordan "it feels like I should push," but then I thought that I was being crazy. Turns out I wasn't!

The doctor got back and I pushed through 3 contractions and pop! out she came! She was perfect and doing so well that she got to stay in the delivery room with us for over an hour before they took her to get washed. I cried. Jordan cried. It was the most amazing delivery ever!

She's absolutely beautiful, and as soon as I get my pictures back from Mary Kim Photography, I'll post some more pictures.

Eastern Idaho State Fair 2010

Every year we go to the state fair in Blackfoot, Idaho and enjoy the booths, displays, animals, and concerts. This year we made an extra effort to get there early enough to do it ALL!!! I think that was a bit of a mistake given how pregnant I was for this trip! My back and feet hurt so bad by the time we got done and I was a bit on the cranky-side, but at least Reiny had a good time, as usual.

This year she was finally big enough to ride some of the rides at the carnival. She went on the ferris wheel with her Daddy and the attendant lost track of how many times they'd gone around. They were on the ride for like 20 minutes! I thought they'd never get off! They also had this little boat ride where the kids get to "steer" the boat and ring a bell. She looked so serious on this ride, like the safety of this vessel depended solely upon her dilligence! Jordan and I got a good laugh from it!

That night we went the the Kenny Rogers concert...who knew that guy was even still alive! I knew exactly one of his songs, but surprisingly, had a good time! He's one funny old guy, and you gotta give it to a guy who can still snag a 30 year old in his 70s! Reiny and Wyatt called it quits pretty early into the concert and crashed on the benches. They were so cute laying there together that I had to get a picture! We drove the whole way home that night, which put us in at about 1 am, but at least we had some fun and made some memories. I can't believe how fast my little girl is growing up! She does so much for herself these days, and is almost like a little adult. 3 years went by too fast!