aaron.anica.emily.isabel.claire

Things I want to remember about Izzy: I love how she exudes happiness with her contagious giggle. When her daddy tickles her, she giggles and when she's calming down she always exclaims, "Ohhhh Dawdy!" in a little accent that is hers alone. I love how when you tell her you think something, like "Izzy I think you're cute" she responds with "Yuh-doo?" which Aaron and I find ourselves using in our conversations with each other now. Brings a smile. I love how she loves her baby sister and talks 'baby talk' to her. The other day we had preschool at our house and her friends were talking to Claire and she said, "No that's not how you talk to her" and she proceeded to do her high pitched baby talk so that when I walked in later, four little girls were standing in front of Claire talking in high- er pitched voices while shaking their heads back and forth exaggeratedly. I love how she is the family announcer for anytime ...

Emily and her sisters, Izzy 2 and Chloe 4  Emily turned 8 back in March and made the decision to be baptized into our church . We had a Family Home Evening on baptism to prepare her. We invited family and friends and when we showed up to the church it was locked and there had been a miscommunication in the scheduling so the font wasn't filled up and would take a while. We waited and visited and slowly went through the program. My sister and my dad both gave great talks on baptism and the confirmation of the Holy Ghost. They explained to Em that she would have a warm feeling. After she was baptized by her dad I asked her how she felt as she climbed out of the water dripping wet and her answer was, "They said I'd feel warm, and I'm just really cold." When Aaron confirmed her, he had to do it twice and he was teasing her after that she was so special she got the Holy Ghost twice, she just looked at him and replied, "No you just messed up." Overal...

I know I'm a little late, Veteran's Day was a couple days ago, but I need to give a little shout out to my favorite vet. Last year was his first year as a vet and we took advantage of the benefits. A lot of restaurants give free meals to vets, so we found ourselves in Applebee's at the Gateway. It was rather crowded and we were seated in an area where a bunch of tables had been pushed together. As we sat down next to a bunch of people, it was obvious that many of them were homeless, which I must admit made me a little uncomfortable at first. As I thought about it, I realized that many of these people had probably served in Vietnam and could have been suffering as a result of experiences they had had while serving our country. It made me extremely grateful for the circumstances in which Aaron was able to serve and that he had the support of many of our friends and loved ones.  I was glad that these people could get a warm meal and felt emotional as I reflected on the ...

Just a little update on where we're at right now, Aaron completed his generals and just got accepted into the nursing program at Weber State University for the upcoming spring semester. We are excited and thrilled to be moving in a good direction! The plan is for him to complete his Bachelor's degree in nursing within the next few years, get some experience, and get into a Master's program to become a Certified Nurse Anesthetist. He is currently in the Army Reserves and a cadet in Weber's ROTC program, which means he won't be deployed again while he's finishing his Bachelor's degree. I am currently enrolled in the Master of English and Master of Education programs at Weber as I work towards a Master's degree in English along with a secondary teaching license. Other than doing hair in my basement salon, I am staying at home full-time (more on that later). Emily is in 3rd grade! (I know, where did the time go?) She is an awesome soccer player and loved...

Love this kid!

Potty training is one of those things that kind of makes me want to gauge my eyeballs out if you want to know how I really feel about it. Kudos to those moms that have all their kids potty trained by age 2 or before.  I am not one of them.  It could be a lack of patience. However, I am happy to say that for the last few months we now have a completely potty trained Izzy!  Just in time to have a few months free before changing diapers again. Apparently 3 is my lucky number because both girls were potty trained about a month before turning 3. I was on my own with Emily at this age and finishing cosmetology school, beginning my program for my bachelor's degree, and working 2 part time jobs, so consistency wasn't one of my strong points, but we made it through. With Izzy I introduced the potty and bought underwear when she turned 2, but she wasn't really interested.  I would keep trying, but not forcefully. When Aaron came home from Afghanistan, I was thrilled ...

When we found out number 3 was going to be a girl there were some mixed emotions in our household. Most of us were hoping to try something new and throw in a boy to the mix, but as luck would have it we get another girl. I think Izzy is impartial, but Emily had a breakdown and so we had a little talk about where we came from and how we chose to be together and to be a family of all girls and she would be the oldest because she is really good at being a big sister. I might have slipped in a promise that I might regret, when I told her someday we could get a boy dog. I have a feeling it wasn't necessarily my little explanation, but this little promise that made it ok with her to have another sister. I love my girls and wouldn't trade them for the world. I'm excited to have another one! I realize I'm going to have to be the one to stand up to them, because they have their Daddy wrapped around their fingers. Izzy put on a pink ruffly dress the other day and was twirling...