Murder In Maui

Im the Activities Chair in our married/student ward and i LOVE it. I had a big activity planned on the 26th of February and it took a lot (like 30 hours) of time to get it all together. Ive always wanted to do a Murder Mystery dinner, so i instantly was up for the challenge in doing it for our whole ward. 2 weeks before the big event, i handed out everyone's parts and the invitations. There were 13 people with big parts but i wanted to include everyone in some way so because the theme was Murder in Maui, i decided to get famous Hawaiian natives names to give to everyone else. There are a ton of famous people from Hawaii. Dwayne the Rock Johnson, President Obama, Jack Johnson, a Playmate from the 60's, and of course astronomers, royalties, etc. I am SO glad everyone actually dressed the part! It really helped to make them feel like they were involved in the mystery. We had 4 different scenes and each one followed with appetizer, main course, and dessert. It was so fun and it went SO smooth! Im so glad. This was one of the biggest turnouts to a ward's activity that Ive ever seen!! I didn't bring my camera, darn it but here are some from another couple in our ward, the Clark's! 

Also: Here is our Ward Blog where you can find more pictures from the activity!

Pax is 21 Months!

Thats right! 21 months! I can't believe that he will be 2 in just 3 months! AHHHHH. It went by so fast. Paxton is such an angelic child. Really! He's asleep WAY more then he is awake which is a good thing but oh how i miss him when he takes his 4 hour nap!

Anywho, Pax is such a talker! He repeats everything we say and of course, he has his own lingo too!
He knows how to say 1 and 2 and shows us with his finger.
He loves me singing to him (maybe he's tone deaf) But i sing and he'll chime in on the parts he knows and  we both do the actions! He loves Pattycake, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Popcorn Popping, Mr. Alligator, Head shoulders knees and toes, Book of Mormon Stories, Ring Around The Rosey, Cows Are in The Meadows and I Like to Eat, Eat, Eat.
He loves jumping, even if its barely and inch off the ground and will say, "1,2,3 Jump!"
He loves spinning in circles and can do it ALL day long if i let him
He loves nigh nigh time and asks for it all day long
He sleeps from 9:30- 10am ish and takes a 4 hour nap during the day
He wears a 6.5/7 shoe
He is still on Almond Milk
He was weighed with our scale and weighed 25 lbs 2 oz
He loves nursery and knows where to go after sacrament and knows where Dad's office is at church too
He is obsessed with Elmo and Mater lately and call for them all day long
He will sit and watch Elmo on Sesame Street for like 5 minutes... why does he hate tv?!
He is still in size 4 diapers
He still signs "more"
This last week, he has eaten everything that we have eaten!! (pulled pork, whole slice of pizza, haystacks, pork chops, breakfast burritos, shredded wheat cereal, jello and twice baked potatoes)
Whenever he sees the Disney Princess's he calls them "Miley". (she's his cousin)
He has 2 very best friends, Lucy King and Ryan Hoyos. They play in nursery together and when we have Star Wars night every week. He even calls out for them when they aren't around!
He tells me when he has poop in his pants and points to it and will bring me a diaper and wipes. We even set him on the toilet one time but he didn't go. Guess he's not ready.
He is still obsessed with balloons and balls. Sports balls.
He points to pictures of our family and says who we are.
He knows his name is Paxton and says "me, Paton"
He loves to go bye-bye and always asks to go. Then he'll bring his jacket and shoes to me!
He is still in his crib that is turned around so he can't escape

Happy 21 Months Pax!

Another Butchered Haircut....

It went from this.........

to this.......

Pax needed a trim. Ok, he's needed a trim for quite some time but I haven't been able to part from it. I LOVE his long shaggy hair but i also love the fohawk style. Marc needed a haircut so i finally came to terms with trimming it so we took him on over to Craig's Cuts. I told the lady how i don't want too much cut off because i want the longer fohawk style. She immediately said, "ew, you cannot have a nice fohawk with only cutting an inch off"... i said, well thats all i want cut off. And left it at that. We let Pax go first. Marc held him and i stood very close to observe. She took the buzzers and went from his ear to his eyebrow line and took WAY MORE THEN AN INCH OFF! i immediately panicked and walked away before i chewed her out and before she could see me cry. She left BARELY a half an inch on the side of his head :( i was heartbroken. But there was nothing that could be done.... Pax hated the buzzers so it was hard for her to get it all cut nice and evenly. She left a ton of stragglers and come to find out, she took about 3 inches off... BOO her. Marc got his done and his looked great but i was still full of steam from her not listening to me. So to get it off my mind, or try too, Marc took me to the Sweet Tooth Fairy to get my favorite black and white cookie and then to Five Guys to try their fries. When we got home, we gave Pax a bath and i had to trim all the areas that she botched. Above is his butchered hair and all of it on the ground.

Balls...

Last night, Pax was laying on my lap playing with a little red ball that he carries with him everywhere we go. All of a sudden he goes, "uh oh mom"... This is how the convo went....

M-Whats wrong Pax

P-Where ball go? Where ball go?

M- I don't know let me look... So i start looking around, while he stays on my lap. When all of a sudden I feel a huge bulge and before i could say anything Pax goes...

P- Whoooah mom. Tada!

M-LAUGHING HYSTERICALLY

P- Big ball Mom..... As he pats it. haha

It was just one of those MANY funny moments I had to document!

Here he is with it.. That top left picture was before his ball went missing.

Valentines Day Dinner

For Valentines Day this year, we went to our cousins house, Nate and Kaitlyns. They bought a duplex in Cedar Hills and its so nice! We had a great triple date with all of the baby cousins too. It was fun. 

 Me and Rocklyn

 Nate and Rocklyn, Marc and Pax, Ivan and Ivy

 Pax and his shag hair

 Another one of me and Rocklyn

 Proud new daddy

 Pax eating dinner in Rocklyns high chair

 The dinner table set up

Heart shaped jello!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

Quintuple Date

My friend Christy put together a quintuple date on Saturday and it was a blast. All of our husbands are in the bishopric together! We went to eat at Five Star BBQ down in Provo off Geneva Rd and then went to the Branbury Clubhouse to play games! It was a blast. We are going to do them once a month and i can't wait for the next one! 

Us girlies! Missing Jody.

Weight!

In 3 weeks I have lost 11 pounds! I am SO happy! I haven't weighed below 120 pounds since I got married! At 12 weeks pregnant, I weighed 128 pounds. My "newlywed" weight was 125ish. It feels so good to put on clothes that I used to fit and now they are a bit baggy!  I just wish I could SEE the change. Everyone else does but I guess Im just hard on myself and when I look down I just see thunder thighs. Boo. I weighed in yesterday at 118.7 lbs so only 8.7 more pounds to lose. Maybe then I will see a difference.

Me in my new lace dress. Im trying to find a before picture but I can't find one right now so Ill post a comparison pictures later

Feeling Blue

I've been feeling a bit down for some reason. Ok, lets be honest, its been awhile that Ive been feeling down. Ok, lets be more honest, I've been feeling down since Paxton was born. Some days, I'm just a bum all day and other days, it doesn't even phase me. I went from working full-time and always being out of the house to staying in the house ALL DAY for 7 days a week while taking care of my 1st child. It was a hard adjustment. No one ever really talks about life after the baby comes and if or when they do they say, "ohhh life is SO wonderful. I have SO much energy that I just don't know what to do with it all.  I love my life. blah blah blah" For some people, that may be true but for the other 99% of women, its HARD. Learning how to take care of another life, learning how to breastfed, learning how to adjust to staying home rather then going out, and learning how to deal with all these things when you are very sleep deprived. Its hard. And since everyone knows that I don't sugar coat anything, allow me to share my struggle with you.

 Last March, I went to my family doctor in California and with 6 questions, she told me I had depression. What were those 6 questions you ask?

• Did you have a traumatic delivery? Yes, i had a traumatic delivery but it could've been a lot worse
• Do you eat 3 meals a day? No, I usually just snack
• Do you sleep fine? No, I have to take Ibuprofen PM every night because i get bad headaches and it takes me forever to fall asleep
• Do you love your baby? OF COURSE I LOVE MY BABY. This has nothing to do with my baby
• Do you have energy? No, not really. Im usually tired from taking care of my baby. 
• Do you have a sex drive? No, definitely NO sex drive. Could it be the IUD?

As I finish answering the first 3 questions, she immediately started writing on her prescription pad. Her reply: You have depression. Here is a prescription. It'll be very, very rough to get through the first 6 weeks you start taking it so i want to see you back in in 6 weeks. I told her that I live in Utah and that I won't be able to be back here in 6 weeks for a follow up. So she scheduled a phone call appointment where she would call me and check up on me. She then turned to my mom and asked if she could go to Utah and be my support as well as with Marc. Must be some kind of drugs, if A) she is making a phone call appointment and NOT getting paid and B) if she's trying to talk my mom into staying with me for 6 weeks. As we left the appointment, i immediately didn't feel right about taking anti-depressants. I guess i just didn't want to be the "new mom" all "drugged up" because her life is "so miserable". That was not the case. I was sealed to the man of my dreams in the temple. I have a beautiful new baby boy. I am lucky to be a stay at home mom and wife. So why did I just feel so alone and empty? 

After numerous prayers and talking with the husband, I decided not to take it. It just didn't feel right. And to be honest, I felt like those questions were too broad. Everyone whether they have a baby or not, may answer yes and no to some of those questions. Not everyone eats 3 meals a day. Not everyone has energy every single day. Not everyone can fall asleep immediately when their head hits the pillow and not everyone can stay asleep at night with no interruptions. I thought to myself, SELF: Your fine. And I am. I know that I am because I know that Im not alone in this. Heavenly Father has helped me SO much during this time. I know that Heavenly Father wouldn't send down one of his precious children to me and be out of our lives completely. I know that Heavenly Father listened to all my 27523723445238 prayers every other minute when I was struggling and needed help or needed comfort. It was a huge testimony builder to finally realize that for myself. I am so grateful for the opportunity Heavenly Father gave me to become a mother and to raise one of his precious children in the gospel. I am so grateful that we were sealed together as a family in His Holy House and I am so grateful for the challenging times I faced when Paxton was a newborn because it truly drew me closer to Him.

Nowadays, instead of letting me feel sorry for myself and instead of feeling so alone and empty, I immediately dismiss those ideas and I get up and do something. My house has never been so spotless and organized and my child has never been more nurtured and loved on. It is an awesome accomplishment and I am so proud to say that Ive come out on top of this trial with a better understanding of it. It also helps me to remember the importance of raising our children in the gospel. I can honestly say that without the gospel in my life, I know I would not have been able to overcome this not medicated. AND who knows what kind of mother I would be. Who knows, where I would be and what I would be doing. It scares me to even think of why life would be like had I not come back to the church.

I want any mother to know that it is OK to have these feelings. Its natural. Just always remember that you are NOT alone. When my mom had to go back to California after being with me for 3 weeks, I was devastated. But instead of relying on her, I had to rely on the Lord. I am so happy that I did.

Paxton Is 20 Months!

 My baby, Ok, my toddler, well he just turned 20 MONTHS old. That means in 4 months, he will be TWO!! Goodness, where did the time go? He is so funny nowadays and seriously such a joy to be around!
He will come and sit on us and say "hey baby"
He says his name, Paston. We're working on the "x"

He still has 12 teeth. Just waiting on his 4, 1st molar teeth and his 4 canines

He will repeat any word you ask him to say

He loves his coloring book and crayons

He finally has the strength to open our kitchen cabinets

He is in 18-24 size jeans

He can still wear shirts from 12 months on

He is in a size 4 diaper because he pees so much. They are still too big for him though

He wears a size 6-6.5 in shoes

He is in desperate need of a hair cut but we don't know whether to have a shag look or if we should cut it and fohawk. Any suggestions??

He loves nursery and playing with others

Every morning when he wakes up, he will play in his crib. When he's tired of playing in it and wants out he will yell, "moooom. mom. mooooom. mom. Up pwease. moooom." COMICAL

He climbed out of his crib so we turned it around so now he can't get out of it. We did buy a toddler bed before we thought about turning it around so we have that on hand for when he decides to try getting out again

He loves to laugh

He knows his eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hands, feet (finally, he used to call them piggies) belly button, bum, head, arms and legs

He will pinch his nose and talk. He discovered how funny he sounds and now will pinch our nose and make us talk

He loves Ring Around The Rosy and will fall every time

He plays Patty Cake and does the motions

He still sleeps really good. 9:30-10ish AM and naps 4 hours a day

He has a new nightlight that projects stars on the ceiling, thanks to Uncle Brian and has to have his "stars" on during nap time and for bed

He will only eat Velveeta Mac N'Cheese. I tried giving him regular mac n'cheese and he WOULD NOT eat it

He is a real good eater. Still drinks his almond milk and has greek yogurt every morning for breakfast along with eggs or french toast

He still gives good kisses and blows them to people EVERYWHERE we go

His new favorite thing is "knuckles" He will put his fist up and say "Nunkles" Its so cute!

HAPPY 20 MONTHS PAX!!