Finally, an Update!

For those of you who have been anxiously waiting to hear what's been going on with our family, the time has finally arrived!  :)  Unfortunately, not a whole lot has been going on.  Josey has been busy coaching basketball, and the rest of us are just trying to make it through each day without mommy ripping her hair out by the end of the day.  Really, it's not that bad.  These kids say the funniest things all the time  (and the not-so-funny, such as Jordan learning the F-word and asking if the middle finger was a bad finger); I just wish I did a better job of writing down some of the things they say and do.

This sweet little (6-month-old!) angel still gets plenty of kisses every day.  Since I hadn't taken a picture of her in a month or so, I captured this one of her chewing on her sock.  Much better than the day I caught her chewing on one of Josey's dirty socks that he left lying around.  Seriously, gross! 

She rolls everywhere and loves chewing on everything.  She has also started eating some solids, which she seems to enjoy.  Feeding is my very least favorite of baby jobs, so I put this one off until 6 months.   

She has also already started to be annoyed by her headbands and bows, so she rips them off and chews on those too.  Bummer, because they are really cute.  Josey captured this picture of me fighting with her about this issue.  

And she got to have her first visit with Santa Claus.  Well, I wasn't actually going to have her sit on his lap, but I decided to try and get a picture.  Probably a bad idea.

For some reason, Jordan & Jarrett were not super-excited to see Santa Claus.  (Probably because I have threatened them with the naughty list too many times.)  But we talked them into it.  Bad idea, since all Christmas presents had already been purchased.  Out of nowhere, Jordan asked for a "Nerf axe."  I had no idea what this was, but we did a little searching at Walmart and found this huge foam axe that looks to be very dangerous in the hands of a 5-year-old, let alone a 3-year-old with an infant sister (because of course Jarrett will be jealous if Santa brings Jordan a Nerf axe and he gets the plain old pop gun that he asked for, so we got him the Nerf mace that was clearly labeled for ages 8 and up.)  Before actually visiting with Santa, all I could get out of them was that they wanted a pop gun.  Neither of them even know what a pop gun is, but after reading "The Grinch" a few too many times, that was all they asked for.  I'm interested to see what they'll think about their pop guns on Christmas morning.  Thank goodness for the internet, although I'm sure I will be regretting these purchases. 

And finally, thank you Santa for the green candy canes!

Happy Halloween!

We really struggled this year getting some cute pictures of our kids in their Halloween costumes, but we tried, and this is the best we got.  The boys wanted to be ninjas this year, which was a super easy costume.  Jarrett didn't like having the mask pulled up over his nose, even for pictures.  Jaycie didn't seem to mind her costume too much, though sometimes I didn't notice the cat face falling too far over her face and covering up her cuteness.  The boys got tons of candy from the "Trunk or Treat" at the church and around town.  I will be sure to "inspect" all of their candy before they eat it (and maybe pick out my favorites.) 



The boys with their other ninja buddy at the ward party.



I Love these (Beautiful) Kids!

I can't believe it's been 4 months since this sweet little girl came into our family.  Time flies by way too fast.  The other night I was reading an article in a magazine about dealing with teenagers and was discussing it with Josey.  He had to remind me that I didn't need to worry about that for another 10 years, but still...I wish I could just freeze time for at least a couple of years and keep my kids small and sweet and innocent.  I admit that I worry way too much about them becoming teenagers.  Jaycie had her 4-month checkup this week.  The shots went a little better than last time, though she by far has taken it way worse than Jordan or Jarrett.  She weighs 11 lbs. 13 oz., which puts her between the 5th and 10th percentile and she is somewhere between the 10th and 25th percentile for height, which means we will probably have a short one like me, as Josey feared.  She is talking a lot more and is full of smiles.  She gets plenty of kisses from everyone, and her brothers adore her.  Of course, she hasn't been able to start bugging them too much yet.   

Jordan seems to love kindergarten, and Jarrett likes preschool.  I think he is a little lost without his brother, and he needs to get over some shyness and start playing with the other kids, but hopefully he'll warm up to them soon.  Josey has been busy with school, and is excited/nervous for basketball season to start.  I'm not really looking forward to having my husband gone so much, but such is the life of the wife of a coach.  We've had absolutely beautiful October weather here and I can hardly remember the last windy day.  Yes, I know it will end soon, but for now we will enjoy it as much as we can.

Pinedale Half Marathon

Before this sweet blue-eyed beauty was born, I set a goal for myself.  The original goal was to run the Pinedale 10K, but as it got closer to race day, I decided I could probably do the half-marathon, so I signed up for it, and I ran it.  I finished in 1:45 and something seconds, which is a few minutes slower than my best time, but not too bad for someone with a 3 1/2 month old baby (too bad that can't always be my excuse).  It was a gorgeous day and Josey and the kids came along to support me.  Unfortunately they missed the only part of the race they got to see me (the finish line) because Jarrett just had to go to the bathroom right at that moment.  So I didn't even have anyone to cheer for me, but that's okay.  I know many people can't understand, but I love running, and I love races.  I'm so thankful that Josey and my kids support me in what makes me happy.  

I think Jordan is my future runner.  This boy cannot stop moving.

My biggest fans! (Okay, my only fans.)

I Have a Kindergartner!

I can hardly believe it, but today I sent Jordan off to his first day of school.  Here we have all-day kindergarten, which makes it even harder for me.  Still, I didn't even cry.  I guess it makes it a little easier that he was very eager to go.  I told him I was going to take him at least on his first day, but he just told me, "No, I'll ride the bus."  He was out the door and on the bus before I even knew it was coming.  It came about 3 minutes early, and I know he didn't even know where the bus stop was because I hadn't shown him yet.  After brushing my teeth, I went out to find him and show him where the bus stop was, and I saw the bus driving by with him already on it.  Then I did go to the school to help him find his class and make sure everything was taken care of, and he acted like he already knew everything.  I hope he loves kindergarten.

We'll miss having Jordan around during the day, but it will be fun to spend a little more time with Jarrett and Jaycie.  Jarrett will start preschool next week, and I think he's excited, but I think he's just a little more timid than Jordan.  I took Jaycie for her first real run in the jogging stroller this morning.  It was a beautiful day, and both she and Jarrett slept.  I think I'll get used to this 'having a kid in school' thing quickly.  

Pretty Girl

I just couldn't resist posting this sweet picture of my beautiful baby girl.  We are so in love with her!

Power Yoga

It's been time for an update for awhile, but I'm still waiting for all the pictures from our trip to Montana, so hopefully I'll get to that sometime.

In the meantime, I thought I'd share a couple other things we've been up to. This morning Jordan asked me if he could watch a show while I was still in bed. I said sure. When I came out into the living room a few minutes later, this is what I found:

Jordan had found an exercise show called "Power Yoga" and was determined to do all the moves. Jarrett, on the other hand, was not one bit happy about Jordan's choice of a show and was laying on the couch pouting.

(We put the Wii away at the beginning of the summer because Jordan was obsessed with it. He has missed his regular dose of Wii Fit and also loves doing P90X videos to make up for it.) He is a funny kid, but at least I'm teaching him the good habit of exercise, right? I've also got a video somewhere of him running on my treadmill. Jarrett, so far, has not taken up the exercising habit.

Josey has been busy for the past 2 or 3 weeks putting in a fireplace and sandbox in our backyard. He has some big ideas for the rest of our yard, but for now it is kind of half-finished because he is tired and our funds are tight. But we're happy with what he's done so far. Yesterday the boys played in the sandbox all afternoon with their friends and it was a very peaceful afternoon for me. Thanks for all your hard work Josey.

Jaycie is growing way too fast.  At 8 weeks, she weighed 9 lbs 3 oz.  She started smiling about 3 weeks ago, but is not much of a smiler. This is the best shot I've got of a half-smile.  And since it has taken me ALL DAY to figure out how to get my pictures on here (and I still can't figure out how to rotate Jaycie's picture so I'm going to give up...something is really messed up with my Blogger account or computer) she has a new trick:  rolling over!  At 9 1/2 weeks, she is my earliest roller, but she did it 3 times today so I'm sure it's not a fluke.  She is a very good sleeper, usually sleeping 9-11 hours at a stretch at night, and then napping most of the morning. This has given me a much-needed energy boost and I'm starting to love running again. For awhile, I dreaded it every day because my legs felt so dead, but I kept doing it because I just knew eventually it would start feeling good again.

We're just trying to enjoy the last couple weeks of summer now. Luckily school doesn't start here this year until after Labor Day. Jordan will be starting kindergarten, which makes me sad. Times flies by way too fast.

The other day one of my friends said that her brother who flies helicopters for the army was going to stop by to visit her because he just happened to be flying by the area. (He did inform us that the fuel cost for one of these Apache helicopters is about $4000-$5000 per hour.) I'm glad I took her up on the offer to take the boys to see the helicopter because they thought it was really cool. I thought it was cool that I could just drive my car right up to the helicopter and there were not a million kids crowded around to see it. Little things like this make me happy to live in a small town. Even though we miss out on a lot of things, I don't miss the crowds.
We spent a hot weekend visiting my parents while Josey was at a basketball camp. The boys had a blast playing with their cousins in grandma's new pool. It's always fun to play with cousins and they were completely worn out. The trip must have even worn out Jaycie who slept from 9:00 last night to 5:30 this morning. I'll count that as my first full night's sleep in awhile, and it felt great.

Fossil Butte

Since we've lived here for 4 years now, we decided it was finally time to make a visit to our very own national monument, Fossil Butte. This area used to be covered by a lake that left a lot of fish fossils as well as some other animals, such as this crocodile seen here. It would be nice if Kemmerer still had some of the tropical climate! Although Jordan was mostly interested in trying to get us to buy something for him from the gift shop (which we didn't), I think the boys had a fun time. After visiting the museum, we decided to take a quick little hike (about 2 miles). It would have been great, but we were kind of in a rush and the mosquitoes were swarming like crazy so the whole time we're pressuring Jarrett to hurry and I felt bad for the little guy. He sure is a trooper though. At one point I asked him if he was having fun and he replied in the sweetest little voice, "Not too fun." I don't think he whined or complained once, although the same can't be said for his older brother who kept asking us about every minute if we could just go back. The little field trip did do the trick of exhausting them though, as it's 7:30 a.m. and they're both still asleep. I don't think they've slept past 6:30 once this summer. Enjoy the pictures and if you ever decide to visit us, this is what you get to look forward to!

This is just a picture Josey took of the sunset from our porch. We do get to experience some beauty here.

June

I just wanted to do a quick little update while I have a few minutes. The kids are in bed and it is nice and peaceful. I can't believe Jaycie is 3 weeks old today. She has already brought so much joy into our home. I've heard the transition to three kids is a lot more difficult than having two, but my life has been made a lot easier due to the fact that Jaycie is a very good baby and Josey is home for the summer. Jaycie sleeps for about 3 hour stretches at night, and she's only awake for about 15 minutes to eat and then back to sleep, so I've been feeling pretty good. She almost only cries when she's hungry and she loves to be held. It has been a lot of fun to have a summer baby because we can go outside and go for walks and still do a lot of fun things. Jaycie has been to the pool a few times already, and each time she has just slept the whole time. We've gone to Bear Lake. We've enjoyed watching Jordan play his first season of T-ball. It took him awhile to get the hang of things, but then he started enjoying it quite a bit more and also became a little goof-off (as you can see from the picture). He did get to play on the same team as his two best buddies, so that was fun for him. We've banned the Wii at our house for the summer, due to Jordan's obsession with it. The trampoline has been doing a good job of keeping the boys entertained. They got a chance to sleep out with their dad one night and I think they loved every minute of that, although I'm not sure Josey did. We're looking forward to visiting Montana in about three weeks and letting Jaycie's grandparents meet her for the first time. We're sure they'll be in love.

Introducing...

Jaycie Rose Allen, the newest sweet addition to our family, was born Thursday weighing 6 lbs 6 oz and measuring 20 inches long. I'm proud to say she has a beautiful head of dark hair. We'll see how long it lasts. She is beautiful and sweet and perfect and I'm so happy she was born healthy and strong. She came 16 days earlier than expected, but I really had been hoping (and doing a little bit of praying, I'll admit) that she would make an early entrance.

So far, she has been a sweet angel and has let me get a lot of rest. I'm feeling great. The labor went very similarly to that of my boys, with my water breaking at 3 in the morning and no contractions starting until I went to the hospital at 9:30 or so and got some pitocin. I was only dilated to about 1 cm. By the time I got to 4 or 5 I was really ready for the epidural, but they were a little slow getting it to me (in my opinion, nothing could have been fast enough) and before it started to really kick in I felt like I was really close to having a baby. But then I complained about feeling a little too much pain on my right side (that's right, I like to feel NO pain) and so they upped my dose of the epidural a bit and by the time the doctor was ready for me to push I could feel absolutely nothing. With my other epidurals I felt no pain, but I could definitely tell when I should push. This time was hard because I pushed for about 40 minutes feeling nothing and probably made no progress. But the doctor and nurses were encouraging and when the epidural finally started wearing off and I could feel the need to push, it only took another 20 minutes or so to get her out.

I'm so happy to have Jaycie here as the newest member of our family. The boys just keep saying how tiny and cute she is. Jordan has many questions about the umbilical cord. They are loving giving her kisses and Jarrett always makes sure to ask me if his face is clean before he kisses her. My mom has been here trying to keep them entertained, and I appreciate her help. I'm in bliss and a little hormonal as today I started crying watching a CMT music video. I can't even remember the last time I cried, but I guess I better warn Josey before things get out of hand. (And just because I'm a little surprised myself, I will let you know that the day before Jaycie's birth I did run 2 miles pushing the boys in the jogging stroller. Who knew I would really run through my whole pregnancy?)

May Snow Day

This is what you get to wake up to in May (and June, and probably July...) when you live here in Wyoming. I know you are jealous! The good news is that the wind isn't blowing! And the boys got to enjoy about 10 minutes of playing outside before Jordan filled Jarrett's coat with snow. Jarrett came in bawling because he was freezing and Jordan was trailing after acting perfectly innocent. I really wanted to stuff some snow down Jordan's coat (which I'm sure Josey would have done), but I resisted the temptation and was actually rewarded a few minutes later listening to Jordan apologize and ask Jarrett's forgiveness. (Remember that last post about being happy every day that I get to stay home with these boys...I think I was feeling a little sappy considering it was Mother's Day.)

I can't believe it's been two months since I last updated my blog. My mind is still blank as to what to say, and I have no pictures. I have been lousy at taking pictures, but I'm sure we have about a billion pictures from Josey's track meets. That's my excuse for having no pictures...he always has the camera. Track season has been tough for him this year because the weather has not been very cooperative. I've been trying really hard to have a positive attitude, but I'm just going to say it...this weather STINKS!! My kids have been wanting to play outside, but over the past month, there have honestly been maybe 4 or 5 days when they could do so without freezing their little bums off or blowing away in this Wyoming wind. Somedays it can be really hard. Anyways, enough of the negative...I just know some warm weather has got to be coming someday...just not this week.

March and April flew by. We spent the first week of April in Montana visiting Josey's family. We thought about going somewhere warm, but it all came down to what the boys wanted to do, which was see their grandpa & grandma. Their favorite thing is to play in the hot tub and they got plenty of time to do that. They also loved going to the auction and just being spoiled.

I think I got hit with the symptoms of "nesting" & spring cleaning at the same time and went a little crazy through the end of March and most of April. I spent a couple of weeks moving the boys downstairs, painting their dresser and closets, organizing the basement, and totally dejunking. It felt so good when I was done because it was like we found a whole extra room, and now we have a little guest room. I'm typically pretty good at getting rid of junk, but I didn't realize we were holding on to quite a few things that we would never need. There are things Josey claims he will need someday, but so far he has never missed anything that was thrown away.

After tackling the basement, I was ready to get to work on the nursery. I've never decorated a nursery before, especially a cute girl one, so I was pretty excited to get to work. After repainting the room twice, I still wasn't satisfied with the color and I spent a lot of nights tossing & turning and stressing about stupid stuff and money and time wasted. This project was not going anywhere close to how I planned it. Let's just say I'm not meant to be a decorator. But once I got everything in there - the wall border, the valances, the crib - it actually looks pretty cute and it seems I spent a lot of time stressing over nothing. I'm very happy with how it turned out; now I just need a baby to go with it. Seven more weeks!

I'm still feeling really good and I'm so lucky to have had such an uneventful and healthy pregnancy thus far. Last week running started getting a little painful, so I might be sticking with walking and the elliptical for the next few weeks, but we'll see. I have the energy for running, but walking around with a hip that I can barely move for the rest of the day doesn't really seem worth it.

And as today is Mother's Day and I have no current pictures, here are a few older pics of my sweet boys who are growing up way too fast. Today we had a lesson in Relief Society on the prophet. I'm reminded of how blessed I have been by choosing to follow the counsel of our prophets and apostles by making motherhood a priority. I have been blessed to be able to stay home with my kids, even being married to a poor old school teacher. When I was younger, I did not see myself staying home with my kids. I saw myself making lots of money! I worked hard to get a good education, and some would say it has gone to waste. But I do not feel this way at all. EVERY DAY I think about how lucky I am to get to be with my kids (even when Jordan says to me at one of my worst moments "Why did you even have kids?"). I am happy and fulfilled and at peace trying to figure out how to teach these sweet spirits with CUTE CUTE bodies and faces how to navigate this confusing world and make good choices. I'm so thankful to be a mom!

What's Happening in Wyoming

Yay! Basketball season is finally over! True, track practice starts in a week, but...I'll forget about that for now and enjoy my husband for a week. We've spent the last two weekends at region and state basketball tournaments. Regionals were in Riverton, WY and Lyle & Jan surprised us by showing up at the first game. The boys were super happy to see them (and Arielle for a day) and it was nice having a little help keeping them under control.

The weekend before regionals, the team had to stay overnight for two away games and because the school district is making so many budget cuts, Josey had to share a full size bed with the other assistant coach. Luckily, they decided to splurge at the tournaments so each of the coaches got their own room, and we decided to make it a fun little family trip. This seemed like a great thing until Jordan came down with a horrible cough and kept us up all night for a couple of nights in a row. Other than that, it was a fun little family trip and the boys got to enjoy plenty of swimming.

Josey is the assistant coach of the Kemmerer girls team, and they surprised a lot of people by making it to the state tournament for the first time in 17 years! The coaches have done so much work with this group of girls, who really do not have a lot going for them athletically, and have not been taught much about basketball through the years. They have seen so much improvement over the last couple of years, and hopefully the program will continue to improve.

This past weekend we traveled to Casper for the state tournament. This time we decided to leave the boys with my parents (thanks a lot mom & dad!). It turned out to be a very good thing we did because Josey & I both came down with a stomach bug that made us pretty miserable for the first day and I'm sure the boys would have been completely miserable too. Besides, I'm sure they had a lot of fun tormenting their grandparents. The basketball team ended up losing both games at state, but they gave it their best shot and were up against some really tough teams.

Other than that, there hasn't been a whole lot going on in our lives. I'm well into the second trimester of my pregnancy (24 weeks) and feeling really good. The hip problem that plagued my running during the first trimester gradually disappeared around the beginning of the second trimester until I felt absolutely no pain at all. I knew it was some weird hormonal thing, even though Josey thought that was the craziest thing he'd ever heard. But it feels great to run with no pain, although it's getting a little bit more uncomfortable each day. I still run about 3-4 miles a day, but sometimes I feel like I'm moving like a snail. And I'm starting to feel a little embarrassed about the way I look running. Oh well, I'll probably keep doing it for as long as I can and not worry about what people think.

Anyways, here are some pictures from regionals. Luckily Jan brought her camera because I forgot mine.

Isn't She Beautiful?

Yep, that's right. I'm having a girl!! I've been thinking that this one was another boy, but I was wrong. It will be an exciting new adventure to have a sweet baby girl. Now I will have to redo the bedroom and come up with a name, which is my biggest dilemma right now. The girl name I like is the one I've always liked, but it doesn't start with a "J." So I'm thinking of abandoning the "J" name thing, but I'm not sure. I'm not going to tell you the name, but if you have any "J" names you think are cute, feel free to share. Josey won't even tell me the names he's thought of because he knows I will think they are weird. He likes unique, but I do not really care so much about that. Do you think it would matter if we all had "J" names and this baby did not? Just interested in some opinions.

Cute and Not So Cute

Cute: The day before Jordan's birthday he informed me and Josey: "I'm going to be 5 tomorrow, but don't worry, I'll still live with you."

Not So Cute: Tonight I was laying on the couch and Jordan walks over to me and says, "Even if you're getting fat, I'll still love you." (I informed him that I wasn't getting fat; I just have a baby in my belly, thank you very much.)

Happy Birthday Jarrett!

My sweet Jarrett turned 3 this week and Jordan will be 5 this next week. They're growing up so fast! The other day at lunch I was telling Jordan that I was going to be so sad when he went to kindergarten next year and Jarrett said, "Don't be sad, mommy, I'll still be here."

Here are a few pictures from Jarrett's birthday party. Not too exciting, just our little family, but still fun. My parents came up on Friday to visit and bring presents. It's always great when someone will travel to Kemmerer to see us! Jarrett was so cute and grateful for his presents and willing to share everything with Jordan, who wouldn't stop pestering him about it all day.

Yes, there really is a baby inside that belly.

A sled from Grandpa and Grandma C.

Some balloons from Grandpa and Grandma A.

And this is a little note that Jordan wrote for Josey. This writing thing has really been a long time coming for him. He has never wanted to sit down for more than a few minutes and try writing anything. And it's only been a couple of months that he would actually write his name in a straight line. This time he really wanted to tell his dad that he loved golfing with him ("except for when daddy yells at me"... unfortunately, his clearest memory of golfing with Josey was last year when Jordan and Jarrett took off down the fairway for the water stop with Josey yelling at them to come back. They paid him absolutely no heed, and they came home crying to me that they made daddy really mad.) Anyways, I love seeing Jordan so excited about learning and can only hope it lasts when the schools start squelching it out of him with all of their tests. I could hardly believe that my active little boy would concentrate for about 30 minutes on this special note for his daddy.