Thanksgiving Weekend

This weekend we had a quiet Thanksgiving at home. Lydia came out and stayed for the weekend. She came out on Thursday. We had a nice Thanksgiving. The girls played.  We had turkey, gravy, corn, cranberry sauce, rolls and of course my special garlic mashed potatoes (requirement). 

On Friday Lydia played with her friend, Jenna and had her stay over. The 2 always have so much fun together. We set up the tree and prepped everything for decorating. Saturday we went and got Santa pictures. Then came home and decorated. Lydia helped me set up our village too.  Sadly, I caught a cold and it hit hard on Saturday. So we took it easy on Sunday. 

Lydia had to leave on Sunday morning. As always, it was so sad to see Lydia go home. We miss her so much when she's gone. Here are a few pictures of the weekend

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I just wanted to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. We are having a low key holiday. Lydia comes out tomorrow and she will stay for the weekend. We can't wait to see her. It has been too long! We have her pictures up on the refrigerator and I was walking by it today with Kaitlyn and she was reaching out for the pictures. I think she misses her big sister. 

I also wanted to say what I am thankful for this year. It has been an eventful year to say the least. So here are a few things:

1. My husband. He is truly wonderful and loves me for me, no matter how silly or crazy I might be.
2. My girls. I am so fortunate to have 2 wonderful girls in my life. There is nothing better then seeing Kaitlyn smile or seeing Lydia grow into such an amazing girl.
3. My unexpected opportunity that is forcing me to step out of my comfort zone and look at other industries to use my skills in training. (As long as I can find something sooner rather then later.)
4. Our beautiful home. Little did we know when we bought it that we would need something this size, guess it's not too big after all.
5. My wonderful family who are spread out between IL, CA, WA and AK. I know no matter what happens in life, they will always be there.
6. I was so fortunate to marry into such a sweet family with the English's. Just like everyone else in the world, I had heard of the horror stories of in-laws. Honestly, I never felt more welcome from the very first day. I could not have asked for anyone better.
7. My friends. So many of which I have known since middle or high school. Even those I have only known a year. I am so lucky to have them.

I love you all! 

I think that covers it for now. I'll post pictures of our Thanksgiving holiday next week. Until then have a wonderful holiday!

Bring on the Holy War!!!

The Holy War is this weekend. That's right, BYU vs Utah. I have great confidence that the Utes will be hunting down some cougars this weekend. To get into the spirit of the game, I have decided to post a story my brother sent to me this week.

Bronco Mendenhall, after living a full life, died. When he got to heaven, God was showing him around when they came to a modest little house with a faded Cougars flag in the window.

"This house is yours for eternity," said God. "This is very special, not everyone gets a house up here."

The coach felt special, indeed, and walked up to his house. On his way up the porch, he noticed another house just around the corner. It was a 3-story mansion that had a 50 foot tall flagpole with an enormous UTES flag, and in every window was the UTE logo.

The coach looked at God and said, "God, I'm not trying to be ungrateful, but I have a question. I was a good coach. I went to bowl games, sent a bunch of my players on to the pros, and I turned around the entire BYU football program."

God said, "So, what's your question?"

"Well," said the coach, "Why does Kyle Whittingham get a better house than me?"

God responded, "Oh that's not Whittingham's house, that's mine".

GO UTES!!!

Trip to Seattle

Last weekend Kaitlyn and I had the opportunity to go up to Seattle and visit some of my family. My Grandpa had never met her before and my brother, Sean, hasn't seen her since she was born. So it was a lot of fun. She had a very eventful weekend! We stayed with my aunt Terri and Uncle Lee. My Aunt Kitty was also up there for work and decided to stay the weekend. So it was a big slumber party. Kaitlyn and I got in on Thursday afternoon. Terri and I took Kaitlyn on her first trip to Fred Meyer's. Unfortunately, she slept most of the time and it was a very quick trip. When Kitty got off work, her Terri and I took Kaitlyn out to her first dinner at Taco Time. We posed her pretending to eat a burrito, but then she really did try to take a bite. I barely got it away from her in time. I think she's a Taco Time fan. Sean came over after work on that night. As always, it was great to see him, even if he was really there to see Kaitlyn (I can't blame him, she's pretty cute).

The next day Terri and I went to Ivar's for lunch so we could show Kaitlyn where the best Clam chowder ever is. Then we walked up the waterfront and on to Pike's Place Market where we showed Kaitlyn how they throw the fish and the wonderful flowers and my personal favorite, the fruit. It's always so juicy. We even picked up a few pears. When Kitty got off work we picked her up and went straight to the largest Fred Meyers in Seattle for a proper shopping trip of the whole store. We made a stop at Starbucks for a treat while we waited for Grandpa to get off work. Once again we posed Kaitlyn with a Starbucks cup and it is a good thing it was empty because sure enough she tried to eat that too. We had dinner on Grandpa's sailboat (another first, she's never been on a boat before). Grandpa was very taken with her, even when she spit up on him. It was a great day. 

Saturday was another funfilled day. Terri, Lee, Kitty, Kaitlyn and I went to the newly renovated Southcenter Mall. Kaitlyn got her fill of shopping on this trip. We bought Frangos too, we let her smell them, but she'll have to wait to try them until she's older. Then we went and met my grandpa at his hanger to take a ride on his new toy, a 1930's Stinson plane. He loves it and has taken it to many airshows this year. Planes have always been a big part of my family so it was very special for all of us that Grandpa got to take Kaitlyn and me up in it for a short ride. That night grandpa and Sean came over for a spaghetti dinner with fresh spaghetti we bought at Pike's. It was so much fun to have every one together and of course Kaitlyn loved the attention. 

Sunday we relaxed until it was time to head home. It was too bad Jared couldn't be there since it is his favorite city. We missed him. He'll definitely have to come on the next trip. This trip truly makes Kaitlyn a jet setter. At 4 months old she has been on 4 plane ride and been in 5 states. 

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Kaitlyn's 4 months old

Kaitlyn's 4 month birthday was yesterday. She had hit even more milestones this month. She is growing like crazy. She had her 4 month doctor's appointment today. They said she is 14 pounds and 11 ounces. She is 26 inches long now. They have said she is in the 72 percentile. Here are a few more things that she has started to do this month.

1. My personal favorite she has started laughing. Jared makes her laugh the most. It is too cute. 
2. She started rolling over on her own. 
3. She can sit up on the couch for long periods of time as long as she is propped against the back.
4. She still tries to sit up but can't quite do it yet. HOWEVER, what she is doing is while holding Mom or Dad's fingers she pulls herself up to a sitting position and then to a standing position. She is very proud of herself and smiles whenever she does it. She looks around to see who's watching and then smiles and them. She does this at every opportunity.
5. Because she holds her head up so well. She is now able to play in a saucer, which she absolutely LOVES!!!! 
6. She also plays in a johnny jumper at daycare. For those who don't know what this is, it is like a seat attached to a bungy cord and hooks onto the top of a door sill allowing her to jump up and down.
7. She has discovered her feet and loves to hold them. Any time she is on her back she is typically holding her feet or knees.

That's pretty much it. I'm attaching her monthly bear pictures and one with her in her saucer.

1 Month:

2 month:

3 month:

4 months:

Her favorite toy:

Happy Halloween!!

Yesterday was Kaitlyn's first Halloween. She had a lot of fun. It was quite eventful. We had a Halloween kids parade at work. So we brought her in for the tour. Of course she was a huge hit. It was a little warm in the office so she was pretty hot in her little costume. She was so good though. She toured the first 2 floors but fell asleep for the last floor. 

She was happier in the evening when it cooled down. She even had a friend over. Our friend Kaysie had a daughter a few months before me. They were too cute. They pulled on each other's costume and even tried to hold hands. They looked like a couple of Marshmallow Peeps. We get the 2 girls together on occasion. Last night we just sat out on the porch since it was about 60 degrees and handed out candy. We had a ton of kids come by this year. Kaitlyn decided she liked candy too and kept trying to grab it. We had to remind her she was still too young and had to stick to her carrot rattle. 

After Kaysie and Hayden left we went over to a neighbors house where all the neighbor parents got together while the kids finished trick or treating.  We had fun spending time with friends.

Unfortunately, Lydia was not able to be with us for Halloween. She was Arwen from Lord of the Rings. We missed her. 

 Here are a few pictures of everything:

Hope everyone had a wonderful halloween!!!