Welcoming Little CODY!

Cody arrived earlier this July and we are sure excited to have him in our family. Since then there have been many visitors and family to help out. The first week my mom and sisters came. Jeanette and Grandma watched the girls while Mom and Cody were in the hospital. Then Jennifer took over for Jeanette and kept the girls busy so Mommy could try to rest. The girls loved having their Grandma and Aunts around (even though Jena doesn't call them her aunts because ants are little and they are bugs). Thanks for all the help and for cleaning the house!

Jeanette and Cody

Jena meeting her new little brother for the first time!

The proud DADDY

Our Little Man!

Jennifer and the girls at the park

Everyone has been very sleepy since Cody arrived... Lets all take a nap!

Celebrating Jena a Little More...

The girls decided to spend the morning of Jena's Birthday at the beach. Jena loved the water. Her favorite thing was to run towards the water and then change directions as the wave came towards her. Such sweet simple joys.

Our Water Baby!

Taylor preferred to stay a little farther away from the water. Her favorite thing was to stomp on the castle that Aunt Jennifer kept trying to make. She would see it forming, pick up her little leg, aim and smash the sand. The funniest thing was the pause right before the strike.

Our Beach Bum!

Jena got quite a few books for her Birthday and would sweetly ask Jennifer to read to her over and over again.

Daddy with the Birthday Girl! We love our little Jena and can't believe how big she is getting already.

Jena's First Friend Birthday Party...

This was the first year we invited some friends to help celebrate Jena's birthday. Neither of us had thrown a kids party so I searched the web for all sorts of ideas. We finally decided on a Garden Theme. There were flowers and butterflies all over. We painted flower pots, decorated gift bags, played games, ate lunch and cupcakes, searched for toy lizards and frogs, planted seeds and lastly gave out live lady bugs to put in a bug container... Needless to say Mom, Dad and Aunt Jennifer were completely worn out and we now know a lot more about how to plan and throw a Birthday Party!

With all that said the one thing we lacked doing was taking enough pictures. Next time we might have to plan a little less and enjoy the time a little more because that was one crazy party!

Easter Celebrations!!!

We had a great Easter at Grandma Sue and Grandpa Rod's home. The girls loved searching for eggs and it seemed like there was an unlimited supply.

Jena can't find the eggs fast enough

Once Taylor found out that there treats inside the eggs she was a maniac and tried to collect every egg possible. It was very cute seeing her shake each egg with excitement.

Grandpa helping Taylor find a few eggs just out of her reach.

We also took a little trip to the Carlsbad Flower Fields. It was an awesome sight, but I think the girls just wanted to play on the playground.

Grandma and the girls

Easter morning was full of more eggs to find and baskets full of treats. Taylor was content eating marshmallow bunnies, while Jena looked at every little item in her basket. She was especially excited about all the chocolate.

Not the Easter bunny, but even cuter.

Skiing in Brian Head

We met my family (minus Jared, plus Dave and Miquelyn) at Brian Head for a weekend of snow and fun. Jena and Daddy went skiing while Mommy and Taylor played in the snow and around the lodge. We played lots of cards and Mexican Train. There was an endless amount of food and laughter. We were even able to see Mommy's friend Alisha from High School.

Jena was a trooper and went down the bunny hill many times with her cousin Tristen. Here she is waiting to get out on the slopes and to taste some freshly fallen snow.

First they started getting familiar with the equipment. They seemed to be more excited to lay in the snow and make snow angels than get their skiis on.

Taylor was excited to explore everywhere she could. Luckily she didn't like getting too cold so she stayed relatively close, until she tried following everyone else to the ski lift.

The girls showing off their pizza wedges coming down the bunny hill. Jena was really easy to see in her fluffy pink jacket.

But no matter how fun the slopes were... the piles of snow were really what we all couldn't get enough of.

By day two Jena was getting to be a pro and zoomed down the hill following the instructor... but

even the most active kids get tired.

Really, Really TIRED...

We had such a great time and love our FAMILY very much. Thanks for everything and we can't wait to go back next year.

Miss Green Thumb

Taylor came home from church with a few seeds in a little flower pot and since them Jena has been wanting to plant some flowers of her own. So, we gathered up a few empty flower pots from around the house, bought a bag of potting soil and a packet of flowers and tomato seeds. Jena was thrilled and about 8 flower pots later Jena was content. Now she just has to wait the six to eight weeks for the flowers to bloom.

Our little gardener!

Happy BIRTHDAY little Tay!

Little Taylor turned two recently and we had a fun little family party for her. Last year she didn't even touch her cake and this year she was very excited about her two cupcake cakes. This next picture sums it all up...

How adorable is that?

Grandma Sue and Grandpa Rod came to celebrate.

Jena helped open most of the presents, but at least she gave what was inside back to Taylor... for a little while.

We all watched "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" together and it which was actually very cute.

No Grandpa Rod visit could be complete without a few rides on the Merry-Go-Round. Jena was thrilled and we enjoyed having a special day to celebrate our little monkey Taylor.