Year 2014 in Review & all the mushy stuff in between

Well, another year has come and gone & I got to tell ya this year 2015 just might be the Best year yet for us :)  Rather than doing a little Flipagram slide show, I decided to write a blog. I wanted to show ya some fun highlights of the past year. 

The first of which being at the beginning of the Year we went to Nitro Circus!  Peyton LOVED it.  Can't wait to go back again in May. :)

At the beginning of the year we got this picture taken at Fotofly.  Still the sweetest picture I've ever seen in my life.  seriously.  Can't believe this picture is a year old!

Us girls did our 3rd annual park city trip

We headed to Saint George with the kids in February :)

We went on a BAHAMAS CRUISE!  I feel like it's not so much the places you've traveled when you were single but the places you've traveled with your best friend by your side.  This trip was so much fun.  We loved Atlantis and spending it with my brother & sister in law & some of our closest friends.  We went on our 1st cruise to the Western Carribbean when we were married for 3 years.  This was our second cruise together.  

 

 One of the cutest little pictures of the boys that I have from the past year.

 Easter time :)  Our little J is still a Etsy model for a few shops.  she is such a joy :)

 Our little B got his tonsils & adenoids removed.  It was pretty rough.  Glad it's over & that he's sleeping better at night. 

 

We took at trip to Logan to see Savannah & Quinn for her 1st birthday

 Peyton turned 5!

 Miss J turned 1!

 like....seriously....:)

 

The kids & I took a trip to Saint George in May :) 

this was a picture at Zions

 

We headed on down to Lake Powell in June! 

I cut 9 inches off my hair in the summer time

 

In August we celebrated our 6 yr anniversary- we did a couples massage & went to the Anniversary Inn.  

We headed to Tremonton to meet up with my Mission Prez @ a park. Still can't believe it's been 7 years!

The boys made a softball team & won 1st place overall for Eagle Mountain City!

Then went on to play another 2 months in a Sandy league

Joyce & I went to Wicked

Mr. B turned 3

 

We both turned 30 in 2014.  This was Steve's party 

 

A difficult decision we had to make this past year was deciding for Peyton to do another round of pre-school and to not go into Kindergarten.  I feel it's been a good choice for us to make.  We love Learning Dynamics & his teacher has told us that Peyton is the furthest along in the class.  He's reading and doing everything so well. Bradyn loves school too.  His teacher said he's doing really well.  We sure love these two boys.  My only regret is we didn't start Peyton in pre-school when he was 3! {The other night we talked about how we are planning on holding B back from K too not only b/c of his August birthday but b/c we want the boys to have a grade in between them at school :)}

 

One of our very first outings with Nichole!!

One of the Biggest highlights from the year 2014 was pulling off this amazing event.  haha.  ps. I can't believe I didn't write a separate blog about this event!  My brother Parker & I have always talked about doing something epic when he finds the girl that he wants to marry.  And after meeting Nichole, he & I talked about if she seems the type to like something epic & he got that validation was a yes. haha...so we pulled this off!  It was so so much fun.  I called and called and called every mascot in the SL & Utah County, every news station and harassed as many as I could to be there & we ended up getting 3 mascots to come, so I thought that was great.  Fox 13 news showed up & that quickly made everything that much more exciting.  I had pulled together 4 practices with the girls & we did it!  It was an adrenaline rush and am so happy how it turned out!  I'm forever grateful for the ones who took the time to memorize the song and who really got into it.  I'm also so happy she said Yes! haha! what would parker do w/o me?:) To date, we have over 10 THOUSAND views on Youtube!

In October my friends and hubby surprised me with seeing SHANIA IN VEGAS!!  It was so much fun to head on down South and to have a couples weekend.  We are so grateful for our friendships with these guys and love seeing them often :)  It really makes married life so much fun with such fun close friends to share it with :)

 

While down South for the couples weekend, we decided to get a family picture nearby Dixie Rock :) Love it! 

 

Jordynn in her little Tinkerbell costume.  She so photogenic, i love it!  She sure is a great little Etsy model :)She's growing up soo fast...These are her words that she says: kitty, please, thank you, what's that, book, love you, mama, daddy, shoe, more, owie, papa, hi, bye, parker, outside.

 

For my 30th my mom took us girls up to Park City and spent the weekend up there.  These girls got me the cutest gifts for my birthday.  It was so fun!! Loved having Nichole with us :)  Fun memories :)  For my birthday- Steve & I also went out while Aubs watched the kids as well as my friends all took me to Red Lobster & back to Jen's to hang for the night.  Love it!

Jamie came into town & we threw her a baby shower:) she finds out what she's having soon.  eeek!

 Parker & Nichole got married!! YAY!! They got married Dec 13th :) we did a cute dance for her reception.  So glad we did it!

 Love this dude!

ah...i love our tree!

For christmas we got my parents a canvas of this picture for their wall 

This is little Jordynn at her 1st & 2nd christmas.  We got her a Cinderella doll this year :)

-These are the sports the kids did in 2014-

aside from these highlights were fun trips to the zoo, swiss days, bees game & waterparks :) aaaaannnnddd... i got 3 new nephews this year...their names all start with the letter K.  In fact, funny fact 5/6 of my nephews start with the letter K haha.

This year was so fun & there are so many memories to look back on & smile :) 

**Thanks for stopping by! 

Happy 2015!**

Oh my heart

I had to document this in my blog. This blog is like journaling for me in many different ways... It's so fun to print out blog books each December of the past year and to reflect :)

 so... As my heart is just brimming over the top--- my little baby girl.. Leaned over tonight to kiss me & stared into my eyes (not joking) and said "Love You Mama" just when I thought she couldn't be any more perfect... Sigh.... Seriously in heaven right now. Great ending to a really great day:) 

Couples Retreat

The trip that we had literally planned for, for over like 9 months came to pass!  We headed to Saint George to stay at my parents house for a Couples Trip.  The Boyds and Us got in on Thursday & that evening went to see "Meet the Mormons…"  (gotta be honest, a tad boring….zzzzzz….I LOVED the very last story though…) We also had some Red Lobster, too.  

The next day we went to see "Maze Runner"…..we still have no clue what the heck we saw! The most confusing movie ever!  haha.  It was entertaining though :)  Afterwards we ate lunch @ Jimmy Johns and headed to Snow Canyon. 

While at Snow Canyon we went caveing..Poor Katie, I didn't mean to scare you guys!  haha!  Steve and I have become so accustomed to this cave that we didn't realize how tight spaces and drop offs were that big of a deal….ooops..  Love you Boyds!  

That evening we met up with the Koellikers for dinner at The Pizza Factory…..yummmy!  By that time we hadn't heard from the Merrills or the Arthurs…and soon found out the Merrills were involved in a car accident & were at the ER in Beaver.  it was super sad :(  I didn't realize how devastating it was until after seeing a picture of what had happened.  I am just so glad that they were all alright!  We sure missed them! Later we were able to get a hold of the Arthurs to find out that they were ok. 

 We then played some games & the next morning the boys went golfing.  4 in a half hours of golfing!! like what? haha.

We then went to my most favorite yogurt place, Krave.  Afterwards we headed to Vegas.  

We at here:

And then went to see SHANIA!!! wahoo!! It was so fun to dance around and sing.  I started crying at one point during the concert seeing all of her old music videos!  i just love her!

Although this one is blurry- it's my favorite :)

But I must say…..my most FAVORITE picture ever from this ENTIRE weekend has got to be this one…..Like seriously……I'm so happy to have photogenic kids….this picture was definetly NOT easy to get…but so worth it….I just love these people…Oh my goodness I seriously just wanna squeeze Jordynn…her little stance and everything is just TOO CUTE.  I love Peyton's smile in this picture alot. And love how Bradyn's playing with my necklace and his little round cheeks.  And my Steve, my rock…(he had a hole in his jeans so we were trying to hide it:)) lol!  I really didn't have intentions of replacing our large picture in our living room, but after seeing how this picture turned out…i'm convinced! we gotta do it!  haha!

Just love my baby girl! I have way too many perfect pictures of her…keep em' coming :)  

It was a great weekend and we are so grateful to have such great friends in our life! 

Have a fun & Safe Halloween!!

jordynn is 16 months old!!

So let's just talk about this picture for a second….This little girl just LOVES tinkerbell.  Everytime we put it on, she just squeals and spins in circles, it's so cute.  So we thought naturally, let's have her be Tinkerbell for halloween.  When her package came, the day we'd been waiting anxiously for :)  haha…it was her and i at home and I lifted it up out of the box and no joke she put it up to her and began marching around the house and squealing, it was ADORABLE.  I then put it all on her..took her outside, told her "Ok Jorbears….we are gonna take a picture of you…." I'm NOT even kidding…she put her arms up behind her head and just gave her biggest grin and just held in this pose…like what?!?!?!  Is she my daughter or what?!  haha!! Oh my goodness, i just am so in love with her.  yes, I love my boys..but seriously….a girl is the FUNNEST experience ever…I just LOVE it.  She pretty much is the reason that made us decide that we are for SURE having more kids…I would gladly have 3 more girls.  They are just so so so precious!!!:)  (that's not really our plan, but still haha)  Anywho.. today I took her to her 15 month check up…

weight- 20 pounds 0 ounces- 32 percentile

length- 30.5 inches-- 35 percentile

head- 18 inches- 46 percentile

She tries to do everything her brothers do…if they are drawing..she wants to and she WILL.  haha.  If they are playing seriously any game, any activity any THING  she insists that she is included and strives to do exactly what they're doing.  It's so funny :) oh we just love her!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Bradyn is 3!

My little guy is now 3!! He has been a breeze for us.  He is so easy going, potty trained himself basically a few months ago, great eater, plays SO well with others, loves Church, loves to swim, loves to play outdoors..Just a FUN kiddo!  His favorite show right now is "The Lego Movie" but I honestly think his heart is Always set on any show with Lightning McQueen :)  He begins preschool 3 days a week starting next week!  So excited for him :)  He has become quite particular on his clothes, him doing things solely on his own, his method of putting on shoes, etc.  So that's been different for us to have to be patient about.  ha!  He loves to draw and paint.  He loves to look through books and label everything.  I think his MOST fun activity is boating.  He is Always looking out our window talking about Grandpa and his red boat and how he's coming to pick him up...so so cute.  He loves attention, he loves when people compliment him...(especially from his auntie krystal:))  He's always so mindful of others' feelings.  He's the first whenever J is fussing that he finds where her bottle or her dolly is to hand it to her.  So cute!  Oh we just love our Bradyn.  So...at his appointment today...my favorite quote was "Get ready for a tall, husky football player...:)"  haha.  

Weight- 34 lbs 72 percent (gained NINE lbs in a year)

Length- 39 inches- 85 percent (grew 5 inches in a year)

BMI 16

For his birthday party we met at our clubhouse and had dinner and swam with friends and family.  It was so much fun!! i'll post pics later- but here's one of his cake!

steve's birthday..& updates :)

Well the day has come.....we are hitting our 30's folks!  what?!  Seems so crazy & unreal to me!  BUT...at the same time, it's exciting.  I feel like we are really turning a page in our Adventure book and the "big" adult stuff seems to be coming our way!  {i'll explain in a sec...}  

For Steve's Birthday..we went swimming that day & we went out on a date night (thanks B & K!)  I wasn't feeling great enough to stay up for fireworks that night, so we just tried pretending to the kids like it wasn't going to happen that night, and thankfully they were asleep before they all started.  Where we live, we have an AWESOME view of so many locations of fireworks that go off...

Then the next day we went Boating.  We always have a BLAST boating with B and K.  It's SO fun to see the kids get so excited.  Peyton and Bradyn really adore their sweet little cousins.  It's so fun to see them get together & watch Peyton and Brittlyn get married..haha!  {just ask me for a story :)}

  Then that weekend we met up with lots of friends & family for Steve's Big Birthday Dinner at Goodwood BBQ.  It was a really great place to have this dinner at.  It was a lot of fun!  {THANKS AGAIN FOR EVERYONE WHO CAME:)}  we seriously do have the greatest people in our life :) 

 Steve's really been enjoying his softball team that he's been a part of.  They are undeafted so far, so that's awesome.  It's fun to watch each Saturday, as well as fun for the kids to watch, too!  

One of my bf's Jamie, came into town this past week- it was so fun to see her!  One of the nights we took Joyce out for her birthday and did the parade of homes and watched some Bachelor in Paradise :)  {totally awesome show, guys:)}

  Can I just say how much I LOVE the parade of homes this year!  Oh my gosh...it's so much fun.  Literally one of my most favorite things to do!  It's especially even more fun this year to go.....because......{most of you already know....} we are getting ready to BUILD!  wahoo!! We've decided to build with Candelight Homes in Bluffdale {Independence at the point} We begain with finding one floor plan that we REALLY loved...like tears, you guys...really.....loved....& then I couldn't help but wonder if there were anyother floor plans with Candlelight that was what we were looking for...and we found another plan called the Aspen {Candlelight just came out with a "new" Aspen, so the one on the internet is old}  And umm..yeah....L.O.V.E.D. it!  Again, tears..haha!  We've been out to it plenty of times with friends  & my mom and just love it.  I try to find any excuse to go see it again ha!  We are aiming to begin building in December.  We are watiing for Steve to pass his next exam in December and then to start building & are wanting to move in June 1.  wahoo!  I see this home as being a place where my kids grow up, and I can see them coming home from football practices, and doing their homework, and having countless friends come in & out of the door, and a place where we send them off on their missions...sigh...i just love this floor plan.  It's Exactly what we've been looking for :)  Lucky for us, we bought this place at a great time, so we hope it sells well.  :)  Here's kinda a "sketch..."  of it.  

Peyton & Bradyn begin school soon!  It's so cute that they will be going to the same pre-school together.  {Learning Dynamics} We decided to hold Peyton back, and for him to start K next year, although we do have the option next year to put him into 1st grade.  We will just have to see.  I just have really felt comfortable with him staying at this pre-school for another full year :)  So they will both be going MWF @ noon-2:15.  Peyton's reading has really come along so well this summer.  We tried sticking to a schedule with both boys of doing different academic activities each day, and I think we've done well. I think Bradyn will just LOVE going to school.  He loves when anyone is giving him attention, I can't wait :)  

We've got our Anniversary all planned...6 years!  It seems a lot longer than that haha!  {is that bad to say?:)}  I'm excited for our plans.  My mom keeps wanting us to stay out even longer...all I can say is, whatever you want!  haha!  

We are still primary teachers in our ward.  It's really fun to teach together.  We really love & enjoy our kids & love seeing them out and about and hear them yell our names from across a grocery store, it's super cute.  

Ummmm....Bradyn is turning 3 on sunday!  3!  what!?  Just seems like not too long ago that he was a small baby that I was cuddling....he's the sweetest baby and always will be...I cant WAIT for his party tomorrow!  It's going to be so fun.  But I think the thing I'm most looking forward is his face.  seriously, his face.  Seeing how excited he will get that all the attention is on him.  As always, can't wait to see his cake, too :)  {stay tuned for that!!}  ha!

Well I think that's a pretty good update on us!  All 3 kids are asleep right now...gotta catch up on my Book. PS.  Kate Morton...AMAZING!   lol.  

Thanks for stopping by!

loves

My JorBear's is ONE.....

Oh my little girl is 1....ONE!  The time has come.  One of those kinda things that I can't stop :(  Leading up to her birthday I must say there were quite a few nights my pillow was damp just thinking about it.  Having Jordynn in my life has been a complete perfect dream.  I couldn't ask for a better baby.  She is SO incredibly bright..& has the funnest spunkiest personality.  She's exhausting haha!  I think she wears me out even more than her 2 brothers combined.  She hops on her brothers and will wrestle and roll all over them and just laugh & laugh...it's so cute.  She eats a variety of foods & is an excellent eater.  We've come to learn she is one olive skinned girl.  She went to Lake Powell with us- and has the cutest little tan going on.  (just like her daddy:)) Jordynn began walking at 11 month..has 6 teeth.  Sleeps through the night.  Has 1 nap during the day for about 3 ish hrs.  Points, squeals, shakes her head for No and nods for Yes, turns pages in a book, holds a pencil and scribbles for minutes upon minutes...gives kisses & Hugs...that's my favorite is when she walks up to me and wraps her little arms around my neck and just squeezes me....so so sweet.  (sigh........)  I can't get enough of her.  Her favorite show is Tinkerbell :)  Anytime it's on shes completley hypnotized :))  She loves when i apply blush on her cheeks.  Her hair is long enough now for CLIPS!  Clips!! so so fun :)  (headbands are so annoying to me at the moment :))  She waves and says "bye, mama, dada"  oh we just love our little princess.  She has all of us wrapped around her finger & I can already tell that I will give her everything she wants (oh NO!.......)  she has us cast under her spell and we love it.  Today she got her shots.

weight 18 lbs 11 ounces 27 percent

length 30 inches 47 percent

head 18 inches 48 percent

I've got to blog about her birthday party.  It was the best little birthday party, we just loved it.  We are so happy for all those who came.  :)  My Savannah came all the way from Logan to be there. I just love thinking of jordynn's little girl friends:  Jolee, Elsie, Quinn, Brynlee, It's so fun to have so many friends with little girls :)  Let's talk for a second about her cake...Um.....WHAT?!?!   It was to DIE for!  I loved loved loved how her cake turned out.  It was perfect!:)  I had so much fun decorating for her party and had been planning for months prior.  (naturally :))  We had little backyard games for the kids:  bowling, a duck pond, and a dart toss with balloons filled with candy and money inside :)  She had the CUTEST....THE CUTEST  expression when we sang Happy Birthday to her....oh my heck?!  I just. loved. it. Once it got dark we roasted cookie/smores and watched Fireworks...it was so Fun!  And are so blessed to have so many great friends & family in our lives who knew how important this special day was for us.   It was a birthday party that I will never forget :)

loves!!