Sunday

Yesterday morning Jeff called me (he was already at church for bishopric meeting) and said "Brother Smith (2nd counsilor in our bishopric) would like to meet with you a couple minutes before Sacrament meeting". I said "Okay" found our what time I would need to meet him and then proceeded to get ready for church while wondering "why would the he want to meet with me?".

Well.... Yesterday I taught my last lesson as the Laurels advisor and am now the ward activities chairman! I did not expect this calling at all (even though I did tell Jeff that I would like to do that calling), especially because of Mckenna. BUT, I am very excited for it! I think I can do some good things for the ward!

So, I would love if you all would post an idea or two of the ward activities that you have loved participating in over the years. They can be small activities or great Holiday themed parties, any idea will be greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks!!!

A couple pictures...

We are back! We had a crazy 42 1/2 hours of traveling home, but we finally made it at 4:30am on Christmas Eve. Our flight from Chicago to San Antonio got canceled. We were going ton have to wait until Christmas day to fly home, but were lucky to get on a very, very last minute flight to Houston. We got to Houston at 12:30am and rented a car. It was crazy, but we made it home in time to enjoy Christmas. All of the stress of traveling made Mckenna sick ad she threw up 8 times on Christmas Eve. We have all had a hard time adjusting back to this time, but are doing a little better tonight.

We spent Christmas Eve night until this morning at Jana and Chad's house. It was so fun spending time with family, and it makes Christmas more fun when you are around kids! Mckenna slept most of the day, so she didn't really open very many presents. She finished opening them today. She got some really cute toys from Grandma and Grandpa Gall and from the Holmes family. The Holmes family also gave us the Guitar Hero World Tour game (just the game not the instruments). That was a lot of fun to play with their family and we look forward to getting the drums and microphone sometime!

Our trip was fantastic, but I feel like I need a vacation from the vacation :-). We were always on the go! We also took like 400 pictures in Paris and 350 in Spain, so I can't share them all on here. I will make a Picasa web album soon so that who ever is interested in seeing them can! For now I will share a couple of my favorites.

This is Jeff waiting for our shuttle bus after we arrived in Paris

I can't tell right now if this was a good picture of the Eiffel tower, but it is one of many. It was SO pretty at night with this blue lights for Christmas. This is what we did our first full day in Paris. It took us so long to get over the jet lag that we only did on thing that first day.

I know that this picture isn't great and that it doesn't look like much, BUT it is a picture of Mckenna getting her diaper changed in the kings bedroom at Versaille. It is just one of those memories that will we always remember. She was being such a crab that day and we couldn't take her stroller into the palace, so we had to carry her. Other than that the place was BEAUTIFUL. I can't believe how old everything is!

AND the number 1 highlight of our trip...SEEING Grandma and Grandpa Jones!!! Mckenna loved playing with them! She was so happy for them and enjoyed all the attention from FOUR adults! Now we just can't wait to have them closer in April!

And I was worried about the food...

I will post pictures later, but I must say that I LOVE the food here- mostly the crepes! YUMMY!!!! I think we ate 3 today :-)--wonder how many more minutes I will have to exercise to work those off. I especially love the plain sugar crepes and will be sad to leave tomorrow (for Spain) only because I can't get a crepe at every corner! We have had some good pizza, pasta, bread and even Chinese food!

We have had a great time in Paris. I will put pictures up later, but we haven't had time to upload over 1000 pictures!!! Mckenna has been wonderful. She is really starting to teeth and constantly wants to chew on everything, but otherwise has done great. She now even has had her diaper changed in the Palace of Versaille- who else could say that?

Lots of you are traveling for Christmas soon, so BE SAFE and have fun!!!

Pictures to come soon!

WE ARE HERE!!!

We have arrived! It is amazing here in France and very cold right now! We have had a crazy day trying to get to our hotel. We thought we had a way to get here by train and then a back-up way of taking a shuttle. From the Disney shuttle we had to get onto the hotel shuttle, well we didn't know that the bus that a nice person pointed us to would be a city bus and not the Marriot shuttle. So, about an hour+ later we were at the second train station, were told that we missed our stop and were told to get off the bus again. Eventually after trying for a taxi and looking at the rest of our options we hoped back onto bus 34 and 16 stops later got on on the RIGHT stop! It was a great experience hangin' out with the locals from Bailly Romainvilliers!!!!

We are so tired, but Mckenna has done AMAZING. She slept for about 5 of the 8 hours on the plane. Jeff and I slept a little on the plane, but we took a long nap after checking in to the hotel. Mckenna is asleep now (it is around 9:30pm France time) and we hope she will sleep for about 7 hours!!!

We are so happy to be here!!! Talk to you all soon!!

WoW

Today Mckenna is 5 months old!! I can't believe it (Happy 5 month birthday to Morgan, too). The time goes so fast and she is growing so much.

The real WOW for this post is that she slept from 10pm until 10am last night- with just a small wake up at 6am for a quick 4 oz. bottle and then she was off to sleep again! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? She also took 3 naps yesterday and one of those was three hours long!!! I think she must be ready to grow again!!!!! I didn't want to wake her up to go walking with my friend, and I am glad I didn't. She is a happy girl this morning and it makes it so much better that Jeff and I are rested too! We hope she keeps sleeping like this on our trip (yeah right with the time change she will be all messed up!)

That is our other news--- We go to Europe on THURSDAY. Yikes, I am getting a little nervous. I am mostly nervous about the food. I don't really know why because I can always get good bread, but the other types of food I have read about do not sound appetizing :-( The flight should be fine, especially because Mckenna will have her own seat! We are excited!!!!!! Off to go get us ready for this big adventure! Expect pictures around Christmas time!!!

Something Funny!

Jeff and I hung out with his sister and brother in law tonight. It was so fun to play games with them while they had 1/2 of their kiddos gone. We were really hungry on our drive home, so we decided that we would stop at Taco Bell for a quick snack. We pulled up at 11:45pm and ordered. After starting our order the woman said back to us...WE ARE OUT OF BEANS.....Wait WHAT? You are Taco Bell- HOW are YOU out of beans!!!!!!!!!!! hahaha....

So tonight, we had beanless Taco Bell. What an experience!

Thanksgiving

I tried my hand at Digital scrapbooking. This is what I ended up with...

LOLLIPOP, TARTAR SAUCE and other four year old sayings

Hadley is my 4 1/2 year old niece. She is a firecracker!! She is always busy doing something and when you get a glimpse into the thought process of Hadley you can't help but laugh! We had so many funny conversations wit her and they kept us laughing all weekend!

We were at the mall and these eyes convinced Grandpa (my dad) to buy her candy from the candy store


She came out with this....


Aren't grandparents the best!!

Anyway, Hadley and Jeff had a conversation about lollipops.
Jeff: How is your sucker?
Hadley: It's not a sucker, it's a LOLLIPOP!!!!

Then she decided to become part of the display window at Aeropostale. She even tried on the boots!


Later that day Hadley started singing
"Dashing through the snow......." and then she said "Dad, is dashing a bad word?"

Lastly, we were bowling on Thanksgiving and she asked...

Hadley: "Dad, is tartar sauce a bad word"
Jake: "No, why?"

LATER after bowling her ball she says
"AHHHH, tartar sauce!"

haha, silly girl!

In Other News!

On Friday Jeff watched Mckenna while my friend, Jessica, and I went to a matinee showing of TWILIGHT It was great. Of course movies are never as good as the books, but it was pretty close! I feel like I need to read the book again though :-).

The sad part about our little girls movie was that I got a speeding ticket (my VERY first one) on the way to the movie. I guess I was too excited to get to the movie theater. I was so confused when the cop pulled me over, I didn't even think he was pulling me over! I was so sure he couldn't be pulling me over because I hadn't done ANYTHING wrong. Well, I was going down a hill and was speeding (I knew I was speeding a little, but he told me I was speeding A LOT!!!) I was so sad. I didn't even cry until I called Jeff to tell him- then I couldn't help but cry (does any one else have that reaction...cry only when they hear their husbands voice?) So, I have to go to court (or I can go to traffic school) on Dec. 10th. That is the day before we go to Europe.... as soon as I think of that then I think oh well about the ticket and

HELLO PARIS and MOM/DAD JONES!!! The count down has started. We leave to go to Europe in 18 days! We are so excited!!!

Jeff is doing really well. He has been really busy with his calling for church (he is the executive secretary). They have been doing tithing settlement, so he is a busy man. He is also trying to sell our Corolla and is VERY excited to drive the new truck home next week (well a week from Monday).

We head to Arizona on Tuesday and are very excited to hang out with family!!! We get to spend Thanksgiving with my family, but I will be brother-less this Thanksgiving (Robby is on a mission in Australia and Tyler just got a new job and will have to work on Thanksgiving day--don't be too sad for him this is a great opportunity for him and he gets to eat Thanksgiving with my Grandparents). I am excited for Turkey day...yummmmm!!!

Well, that is about it for us! Hope everyone is doing well!!!

She is getting HUGE...

After we got our new camera I had to do some "photo shoots" with Mckenna. I love this picture of her, but she looks SO big.

Garden

This summer Jeff helped me plant two tomato plants on the side of our house where the air conditioner drips (last summer we just had a huge watery mess on that side of the house). The tomatoes got over water, so the plants grew as tall as me!!! We have had a few tomatoes, but the other day I walked outside and there were about 15 ripe tomatoes. They were all pretty small, but they looked absolutely amazing. I pick them and then had to take a picture for the blog  Now I want to try a few more plants for next year. Any suggestions?

Look What I Made...

I learned how to make tutus at a craft group that I go to sometimes. After learning that way I came home and did a little research of my own and figured out how to make these really cute tutu dresses. On Etsy there was a woman selling a pumpkin tutu dress as a Halloween costume. I showed it to my older sister and she loved it, SO guess what her girls were for Halloween? PUMPKINS!!! I made all three of them the same Pumpkin tutu dress (and a friend of my sister made the bows) and they looked absolutely adorable!!!!! If anyone is ever interest (or knows someone who is/would be) in having a tutu dress or tutu made let me know!

Kamryn, Anndi, Hadley
PS... The girls even won a costume contest at the ASU East Campus Boo Bash!!! Isn't that awesome?

Mckenna Pop Art

Bright colors were freaky, so this is what we got. Isn't she ADORABLE?

FINALLY!

We got our NEW camera- WOOOHOOO! After our old one was broken, sent to be fixed under warranty, damaged in shipping, lost, and no one could help us find it- we got the replacement last weekend. I have been really wanting a DSLR camera, so we returned the new camera (a newer, nicer model of our old one) and bought a Canon Rebel! I LOVE IT! Of course you can always go bigger and better, but I am so happy with this camera (and it takes really great pictures!!)

Anyway, there may be picture overload in the next few days, but I am sure not too many people will complain!

Birth Announcement

I thought I would finally post Mckenna's birth announcement. I made it ALL on Photoshop (are you proud of me?..haha) She is getting SO, SO big and is getting cuter every day. Today I subbed and when I got home I couldn't wait to hold her. We snuggled and played for awhile and it made me think how grateful I am to have her in my life! Babies are wonderful (almost as good as husbands-- well they are both pretty amazing just in different way!!!)

Ms. Mckenna Loves Her Daddy!

Well, it is 1:34am and I am not tired! I wasn't feeling well today so I took TWO naps (not one, but two..) Both times Mckenna napped today I napped with her and that has left me WIDE awake!!!

Anyway, we got out pictures back from the Konkles today and this is my FAVORITE picture. Mckenna really does love her Daddy so much. She thinks everything is 10x more fun when Jeff is involved. He can't even feed her rice cereal because she thinks it is time to play. When she hears his voice she has to find him and she will ALWAYS smile for Daddy! Well, I think this picture says it all because Daddy loves her too!!


In other news--- Mckenna went to the doctor for her 4 month check up today. She weighs 14 lbs even and is 24 1/4" long!!! She is so long and is getting HUGE! She had to get 4 shots and an oral vaccine, luckily they did the shots in only two needles so she only had to get poked twice. She was a champ again! She only cried a little and the whimpered all the way out to the car. Once we were driving she fell right to sleep! She also had her first baby food today- green beans- and loved it! I was so surprised that she actually enjoyed eating it!!! I am so glad that she is eating rice cereal and food now because it helps her sleep better at night. I took a couple pictures that I will post later, she was a MESS!!!

 

Mckenna, Who won the election?

Mckenna + Daddy = FUN!

This is Mckenna's new favorite past-time...watching Daddy play Halo 3!!! She loves the TV and LOVES to snuggle Daddy--- she usually sits in his lap while he plays. She has discovered the remote and now tries to "play" the Xbox with her feet! Today We caught her laying on the boppy staring at the TV. She couldn't keep her eyes off of it! I guess the little moving men and gun shots are exciting to her!!!

 

 

PS... excuse the big mess that is laying on the floor- it will be gone by tomorrow :-)

The 4th picture in my 4th folder is.....

PHOTO TAG!!!
I have never done this before, but I thought this was so fun!!

The 4th picture in my 4th folder is at my AZ baby shower. This is Alyse, Meagan, Hudson and I. These were some great friends from high school! It was so great seeing them!!!


I tag...Amber Phillips, Jennifer Ray, Jenni Konkle and Hannah Bryan

Something on My Mind!

Well, it was just announced that Obama will be the next president. I don't have much to say about that because like it or not we all knew it would end up that way. I hope that he can do good for our country. BUT, during this election year and with the economy turning bad I have felt so strongly about a couple of issues. My Mom works in the mortgage industry (and has for many, many years) and it has been quite interesting to talk with her about what has happened with mortgages. She told Jeff and I about some deregulation that occurred during Clinton's administration and since that conversation I have been keeping my eye out for an article like this one. My intent is not to put blame on anyone, but to expose some serious misunderstandings that have occurred in the past several months. I liked that this article was written by a Democrat and that it (for the most part) is unbaised. I am glad that someone is addressing the issues that have been bothering me so much lately. Now, if only someone could point out that if we, as consumers, didn't spend beyond our limits we could have helped prevent such a huge economic downturn!!!

I am ready to be done with Republicans VS Democrats...I hope that after tonight it will be OVER!!! I believe strongly in supporting elected officials and hope that we can have a UNITED States of America again, instead of a Red America and a Blue America!!!

Election Day!!!

Yay, we got to vote today!!! I always feel so small and insignificant when I think about how big our country is and how many people are voting, BUT when I vote I always feel that I did my part to make our country a better place. We are so blessed to have that opportunity, SO for any of you that are reading this right now and HAVEN'T gone to vote- GET UP AND GO VOTE!!!! Your vote does matter. Even if you are the ONLY person against someone you are making a difference because it shows that not EVERYONE supports them!!!! If you did vote today- HOORAY!

On a side note- Jeff and I were both sad that they didn't hand out "I Voted" stickers at our voting place... I love the "I Voted" sticker...haha!!!!

Happy November!!!

HOPE EVERYONE HAS A GREAT NOVEMBER!!! It finally feels like Fall around here and it is AWESOME! We went with the Holmes family (Jeff's sister and brother-in-law) to Six Flags tonight for the Fright Nights (which isn't that great...so if you don't have season passes don't waste your money). It was fun to hang out with family though, the weather was PERFECT and Mckenna did great. She was so snuggly- which I loved! I miss the way they snuggle when they are little. Mckenna also tried rice cereal for the first time today. She is too hungry all the time (and it 6 days away from being 4 months), so we decided to try it! We followed the ULTRA watered down "recipe" on the box and it worked really well. She didn't really know what to do with it when we put it in her mouth, but caught on after awhile. It is kind of fun having her grow up, but I can't believe she will be 4 months old next week- CRAZY!!! Time goes too fast!

We are taking family pictures on Monday night (THANKS Jenni and Mason!!!), but I don't know where to have them taken. Any ideas? We want to be outside, but don't know where to go. I've heard the Japanese Tea Gardens are really pretty (by Brackenridge park), but have no other ideas. Any suggestions will be great! Thanks!!!

Dear Jenni,

I am sorry we can no longer be friends. I do try very hard to remember to take pictures, but when you are having so much fun it is easy to forget (especially when you take the camera out of the diaper bag and stick it in the suitcase). I will be better, I promise! Hopefully soon you will forgive me and we can be friends again :-)

Mckenna hopes so too!!

See you Monday,

Cara

Something I am Not…

Spontaneous: arising from impulse, rather than from planning

 

Those who know me well know that I am 100 percent a planner, probably to a fault. I am actually quite obsessive with being planned and feeling organized- my husband calls me OCD sometimes!!! BUT… this weekend I WAS spontaneous. We got an e-mail late on Friday afternoon from Jeff's brother, Marty. The e-mail said that they had two Southwest vouchers that would be expiring on Tuesday the 28^th. We joked around for a little about all the places we could visit. Minnesota, Utah, Colorado, Arizona- you know places with family so that we didn't have to pay for a hotel…I know we are cheap!!! In our minds it sounded nice, but not probable. Then I remembered that my GREAT friend Brittany was having her baby shower in Arizona on the 25^th. We called my sister to find out details, talked to Marty and then decided TO GO TO ARIZONA THE NEXT MORNING!!! Yikes!! I stopped making my grocery list, started a load of laundry, called Jana to cancel our Halloween party and then made a quick trip to Target for some things that we needed. It was a whirlwind!!! We had our plane tickets printed off around 9pm and were leaving Texas within 12 hours. It was insane!

 

We hopped onto a plane on Saturday morning and arrived in Phoenix at 9:40am- AZ time of course! Brittany's shower started at 10:00am, so we rented our car and drove to Chandler. Before we made it to the shower we made two VERY important stops- stop number one was at Elmer's Tacos for some buttered tortillas with sauce…I wish you all knew how DELICIOUS Elmer's is because you would all be so jealous!!! Then we made our way quickly to QuickTrip, a local gas station, and got some delicious drinks with all of their fun mix-ins! When I got to Brittany's shower she was shocked. She had no idea that I was coming and it was AMAZING to see her!!! I got to see some many other old friends and got to catch up with them. Brittany got some adorable stuff. I can't wait to meet her beautiful baby girl, Hallie Pearl Hutchison- adorable name huh?

 

The rest of the weekend was filled with family, FOOD, and fun!!! We ate at some many great places. The first on my list was Serrano's- you just can't get a tasty enchilada anywhere in San Antonio. We also ate El Sol breakfast burritos, NYPD pizza and garlic knots, In-n-Out, and Basha's donuts!!! YUM, YUM, YUM!!!! Other than eating we got to spend tons of time with Marty and family and Cassi and family. Mckenna got to hang out with 6 girl cousins this weekend!!! I love Arizona so much and always want to move back so bad after our visits.

 

Our second spontaneous thing….we bought a new truck! Holy cow, I know that sounds so crazy, but this is something that has been in the works for months! Jeff has been watching truck prices and finding out how much our Corolla is worth. Because of gas prices through the summer trucks have been extremely cheap. Now that gas prices have gone down so much in San Antonio we decided it was a great time. ALSO- and this is the biggest reason- we are going to have to put money in to the Corolla soon. It will need new tires and other little repairs done in the next year, so we decided that instead of paying for that stuff we should put that money into a new car that has a warrantee that will last until we are out of school. We are so excited that we got such an amazing deal. The truck is an F-150 super Crew. It is black- I know two black cars…crazy… and it has some cool features that we didn't think we would be getting! Again, I didn't take a picture- but when we drive it out to San Antonio in November I will take pictures and post them!!!

 

We got home last night. It is nice being here! And Mckenna did wonderful on the flights again! Yahoo! She doesn't like to travel very much, but we have learned from our last two trips what we need to do to keep her happy, especially on the first day! Thanks again to Marty and Heidi for the tickets, we REALLY appreciated getting them!!!!

We hope everyone is doing well!!!

 

 

PS… I took the camera, but never pulled it out of the suitcase- oops! So no pictures this time, but I will take plenty when we go to Arizona for Thanksgiving!

No comments? NOOOOOOOOOOO!

Cara told me that our comments haven’t been working since blogger did some updating to their software yesterday. I did find a work around until they fix the new style. I’m going to post it since Cara told me some other blogs she reads were having the same problem. To fix the no comment problem:

Log in to blogger with the primary account for the blog.

Click customize at the very top of your blog.

This will take you to a page where the layout tab is selected; you need to click the settings tab.

From the settings tab click the link to comments, then scroll down to "comment form placement."

Change the option to either “Full Page” or “Pop-up Window” – the embedded option is what was causing the problem for us and others.

Scroll down and click “Save Settings.”

That’s it!

Now all you blogaholics can return to commenting as usual!

--Jeff

Before Mckenna turned 3 months old she got....

A passport....


because we get to go here....
and here

BUT, best of all....

MCKENNA GETS TO MEET GRANDMA AND GRANDPA JONES!!!!!


If you haven't figured out by now we get to go to Spain and France from December 11th-23rd. We have been very fortunate for things to work out for us to go. We were able to use our credit card points to buy plane tickets. We are also able to use a time share (THANKS again Mom and Dad Jones!!) for our hotel in France. It even has a kitchen, which will be so nice in helping us save money on food! The hotel is located next to Disneyland Paris and is about a 30 minute train ride to Paris. We are so excited for that, but are even more excited for the time we get to spend in Spain! It will be great seeing Jeff's parents and I can't wait for Mckenna to meet them!!

If you have any good travel tips with a 5 month old (that is how old she will be at the time we go) we are all ears. Also, if you have any favorite spots in Paris for us to visit, let us know! We have also heard it is cold and rainy in both places during that time of the year (we are excited anyway)- What kind of things do you use in that weather with a baby?

After this I will have two stamps in my passport now- WOOOHOOO!

Mckenna's Trick: A wide mouth kiss

This is mostly for Mckenna's two Grandmas, it's a video of Mckenna giving Cara a kiss. I just figured out how to post videos from our camera, so we'll probably have more later.

--Jeff

Cakes!

My Mom has started making really cool cakes as a great hobby! She took a couple classes and then has learned a lot from books and the internet. She has made some awesome cakes- I wish I had pictures of them all ( you can see some pictures on her blog)!!! When we were in Utah she roughly "taught" me how to do fondant on cakes and then shared some of her cake secrets!!! I decided I would try to make a cake (and continue to make a cake so that next July I can make a spectacular 1^st birthday party cake for Mckenna… haha) Anyway, here is my finished project! It was fun, but a great learning process. I know exactly what I can do next time to make it better and EASIER! The cake tasted delicious, we shared it with my sister-in-law and her family!!!

The "blue" is ACTUALLY dark purple! I am sad that the picture looks blue because the purple makes much more sense for Halloween!

A side view!!

 

Also, posting from Microsoft Word is easy, but to do pictures you have to do something different. I don't really know how to explain it, but if you are interested in learning you can call me!!

Nicknames

I think I am queen of giving people shortened names or nicknames. At 3 months old Mckenna probably has 20 different names that we use!! Some of my favorites include Mck Grace, Squawks, Squawk Box, Toot-Toot, Kenna Wenna, Chubs, and the list goes on! I do have to laugh at myself though because I am anti-people calling her by dumb names, BUT I can give her all the ridiculous names that I can think of! Mostly, I just don't want her to be known only as a nickname and not as Mckenna- anyway, not important! Well, Ms. Mcken is doing VERY well. She is growing so much! I know I haven't posted pictures in FOREVER (and thanks again Jana and Chad for letting us borrow your camera until our camera issues are resolved), but you guys would not believe how huge she is getting. She goes into the Doctor in November, but I am sure she has gained a pound or two and grown an inch. She is right between sizes right now. 0-3 months fit her, but some (mostly pants) are getting too tight. I put her in a 3-6 month outfit today! It makes you feel a little sad, but it is also SO exciting to watch her grow. She is getting to be more fun! She "plays" with you and is startin to entertain herself more. She also gives "kisses" which I love! She has found her toes and could watch hem ALL day long! It is adorable! I wish you all could see her everyday :-) haha! Anyway, there are tons of pictures again. So, have fun!!!
She loves the Jump-a-Roo from Cousin Jax!! Thanks again, Jana!!! She likes to lick the seat and watch the lights. I like that it keeps her entertained!!!! Wooohoo!
DROOL FACE!!! She is drooling ALL the time now! I hope those teeth come soon!
Trying to suck her thumb!!! This adorable Polo outfit was given to her from Brittany Hutchison. She was only able to wear it twice before she was too big for it :-( sad! It was one of my favorite outfits on her! I wish I had a better picture of her in it, but she looks dang cute in it!
She is starting to be such a wiggle-worm at night. She un-swaddled herself and moved from the head of the bed down to the foot of the bed. She usually doesn't ever come close to the extra blanket or bear at the end of them bed, but this night she was trying to snuggle them I guess! She must have been freezing because her bottom half was totally hanging out of the jammies!
She is such a good carseat sleeper- yippy! I attribute that to the fact that I was stir crazy from the moment she was born, so she went tons of places with us! Notice that she is only wearing one sock- that is a normal thing in our house!!!!
Mckenna's favorite past-time LICKING!!! She loves licking this blanket!!

More to come!

Trying Something New!

Well, I decided that I would try to do new posts using Microsoft Word 2007. I will let you know how it goes once I post this J. For now, if it is all jumbled, etc don't worry I WILL FIX IT!!!

 

Conference weekend we went to Utah to visit my family and to attend Conference. It was SOOO fun and the weather fantastic! We also got to see our great friends Cody and Amber and their new little baby, Chandler!!! We ate TONS. We had Brick Oven, Spaghetti Factory and Tucanos (Brazilian Rodizio)…YUM! Seeing my parents, siblings and some extended family was really fun too!!!

 

Here are some pictures!!

 

This is in front of my parents house. Mckenna was asleep and she started waking up in this picture- I think it is adorable!

Great-Grandpa Charlesworth and Mckenna! I know you can't tell in this picture but they have VERY similar eyes! I think Mckenna's eyes look like my Dad's eye (of course, I only think that from the pictures I have seen of my Dad)

Aunt Rylie and Mckenna wearing their "footie" PJs together! I think my older sister has a picture like this of her three girls with Rylie in her PJs. I think at Thanksgiving we will have to get a picture of Rylie with all four nieces in their snuggly PJs.

I have some other pictures, but they are on the film camera. And, I haven't developed them film yet! So, look for more soon!!!

It's About Time!!!!

It is SUPER, SUPER late and I really should be in bed, but I haven't felt good all day- but now I do AND Mckenna is asleep (plus, the fact that I took Excedrin- which contains caffeine- a little too late) so now I am up for awhile!

The good news is that I FINALLY have pictures and something new to post about--- the last part of Sept. until now (all through pictures)


First, Jeff had his 24th birthday. We had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory with his sister and fam. Then we enjoyed some ice cream birthday cake that I MADE! I thought it was delicious (and I think he did too). I even stuck 24 candles in the tiny cake. Here are some pictures from that night. We got some adorable ones of Mckenna. She was stinking out her tongue SO much









More to follow- blogger is being too slow to finish tonight!!!

Backgrounds

I just learned how to put my own blog backgrounds up. It is kind of fun! I made this one in Photoshop with lots of little scrapblog things that I found free online. Aren't the birds adorable? Now, I have to try to create a cute Thanksgiving one---any ideas?

Update...

I know I have been awful at updating our blog!!! We have been busy, but I haven't had anything great to blog about. BUT this last week we ventured to Utah to visit my parents and to attend General Conference (which was AMAZING!!) We decided that we would attempt flying with Mckenna for the first time and she did really well. Jeff rates her trip to Salt Lake (with a stop in Denver) as a "C". She cried herself to sleep on the first flight and then only at the landing on the second flight. However, she doesn't do well after the flight! We had dinner with my mom's side of the family the night we landed. I was excited for my aunts and uncles to meet her and she only cried for them! I think the stress of traveling and being in a strange place, plus having a messed up sleep schedule, gave her a tummy ache! Other than that first day we all enjoyed our trip. Mckenna was continiously passed around and got lots of snuggles (especially from Aunt Rylie and Grandma). On our trip home they let us use her car seat (because the plane was very empty). She slept the ENTIRE trip home (minus the 20 minutes she woke up in the Denver airport to eat). It was amazing! I think it would be worth it to pay for a ticket for her EVERY time (of course we would have to be able to afford that, haha) because she did so well!

Conference was so great. I have never attended a "live" session, so it was an extra special conference for me! We were able to go to the Saturday afternoon session and the Sunday morning session. Sunday morning was awesome because we got to be there for Music and the Spoken word. I love MoTab and in that Conference center they sound beautiful and so powerful! I loved Elder Worthlin's talk- we all could use a little mor laughter in our lives! I also really enjoyed Pres. Monson's Sunday morning talk on Enjoying the Journey! I was totally reminded again that we need to enjoy everyday and every small thing. What a great weekend!

In other news- Mckenna turned 3 months old yesterday (typed while wiping a tear from my eye, haha). She is getting SO big! She has to weigh over 13 pounds and is around 23-24 inches!!! She is growing out of her clothes. The 0-3 month onesies still fit, but she is starting to wear 3-6 months too (which drown her, but still "fit"). We also think (and are pretty positive) that she is teething--- I know she is too young for that, but I read it is not UNcommon in 3 month olds and my nephew Jaxon got his first teeth around this time. She has been extra whiny and clingy and DROOLING like a mad woman, not to mention showing a lot of the classic signs of teething (diarhea, low grade fever, etc). She also has the white gums and she hates when I touch it! We hope that this all gets over with soon and when she does finally cut the teeth I will definitely post pictures!!

Well, I think that is all for now! My sister-in-law is letting us borrow a camera until everything with ours is taken care of (and that has been a HUGE headache), so I will try puling the pictures off of it tomorrow and posting some!!

PS---Congrats to the Phillips Family and the Kimball family on the arrival of their baby boys last week! We got to meet baby Chandler (Phillips) and look forward to meeting baby Cason (Kimball) sometime!

I am still in shock...

Read this article to find out why....

If that link didn't work than copy and paste this address into your browser.
(http://www.ksat.com/foodnews/17539627/detail.html?rss=ant&psp=news)

Believe me it is worth you time!


Now that you have read this absurd article you can understand why I am in shock. WHO THINKS OF THESE THINGS? I am sorry if someone is like totally for PETA, I don't mean to offend you, BUT the idea of using human breast milk in other peoples food is absolutely disgusting! Personally, I would NEVER eat a product that was ever made with breast milk from another woman!! I don't think that animals should be treated inhumanly, but wouldn't using breast milk in products create the need for "woman farms"--- how degrading is that! Anyway, I will get off my little soap box now, but I am truly grossed out that any one would even think that breast milk would make good ice cream!! Ben and Jerry's is amazing JUST the way it is!!!!

Kids say funny things...

Again, this weekend we have been babysitting Jana and Chad's kiddos! It has been so much fun. So much fun that we thought we would share some of our shining moments with all of you!


We taught our two nieces and nephew how to play croquet. As we were playing this afternoon Tyler started falling far behind and began complaining about all of the rules, etc.

He asked....

Tyler: "Who came up with this game?"
Jeff: "I think the British"
Tyler: "Man, the British came up with some lousy rules"


haha, what 8 year old says LOUSY :-)

Later, when asked to clean his room he begrudgingly walked to his room saying "I hate that we have to have order."

But, eventually he did do a great job of clean :-)


LASTLY-

Jaci (the first grader) and I had a conversation about showering...

Cara: "Jaci, when is the last time you showered?"
Jaci: "Last Saturday"
Cara: "Last Saturday? Why haven't you showered since then?"
Jaci: "Because I'm too busy!"
Cara: "Too busy?" (thinking to myself- you are only in 1st grade)

Ashley interjects "I shower every single night during my reading time"

Jaci: "I don't want to miss my reading time" (with a look of disdain- who would EVER want to miss their reading time?)




Aren't they GREAT? I love these kiddos SOOO much and am super glad we've had to chance to spend so much time with them!!!

Baby Mckenna!

Ms. Mckenna is getting SUPER big! She has been extra crabby lately (because she is changing schedules a little...sleeping less, eating more!) But, she has started sucking her thumb a little. Whenever she sleeps she puts her hand on her face and holds her pacifer. Well, she has decided that she likes to suck on her fingers now that she can control them a little better! I think it is stinkin' cute!!!! Also, we have made huge improvements in going to bed at night (naps are still rough, though) she does cry very long at all any more- which makes me feel way better (hearing her cry makes me so sad!!!).

Anyway, our camera is broken- SO no pictures for awhile. I usually hate posts without pictures because it is so much more fun for family far away, but I am sure that you all (especially the Grandmas) will like reading about her :-)

We are babysitting our nieces and nephew this weekend, while their parents are out of town, and it has been SO fun! I will have to write about it more later. The kiddos are all asleep and we get to play "tooth fairy" tonight! It is kind of fun being the "parents". We played croquet tonight and hide-n-go-seek in the semi-dark house! Aren't we the coolest aunt and uncle ever- we let them run around in their parents brand new, beautiful house (shhhh...don't tell Jana and Jana if you are reading this pretend you didn't....haha).

Well that is enough for now! Everyone have an AMAZING weekend! And thanks to everyone who voted for Mckenna- voting continues until Monday night and then I think we should find out who won on Monday... cross your fingers!!!


Love you all!!!

VoTe!!!

The voting begins TOMORROW (Sept. 16th, 2008) at 12am! Again Mckenna is number 558 and you can vote with EVERY e-mail address ONCE every 24 hours- so if you have more than one e-mail address you can vote more than once (haha!). We appreciate every vote! Thank you!!!!

VOTE HERE

For information on what you are voting for read the post below :-)

#558

Well...

The other day Jeff heard of a contest that a local radio station is hosting "San Antonio's Most Beautiful Baby". We decided we might as well try to win something by submitting a cute picture of Mckenna (don't worry we are not obsessive parents that thinks their child needs the title of most beautiful...). Anyway, click here for the contest website. The voting starts on September 16th at 12pm Central Time. We would REALLY APPRECIATE your votes. I believe you can vote once a day with every e-mail address and the voting ends on September 22nd at 10am Central time! You DO NOT have to be from San Antonio to vote- so EVERYONE vote!!! Oh yeah, Mckenna is number 558- so find her number and vote!!!! Thanks!!!

1st Place Prize:

Bloom Maternity Bob Stroller pimped out with a car seat adaptor, handlebar console & stroll-a-tune MP3 docking station $500
Baby Bjorn Carrier $159
Britax - Car Seat $329
mdmoms.com - Welcome Home Baby Set $110
Babies 'R Us - Gift Cards $500
Teen Special Event Expo -Birthday Party for 12 include: pizza, drinks, 1 game of bowling, shoes, cake, tokens, and a visit from your favorite characters " $500
Moxie Photo Studio - Photography package: On-location or studio session (not good in the month of Dec.) Session: $250. 1-20x24 canvas, 10-4x6 gift prints, 4 - 5x7, 4 - 8x10, 1 Soft Cover coffee Table Book $1675 MOxie Photo Studio Total: $1925
Kodak - Kodak Printer Easyshare All In One $100

Awesome, huh? Vote :-)

Ouchy!

Yesterday Mckenna went to the doctor. She is getting so big. She weighs 11 lbs 5 oz and is 22 inches long!!! The doctor said she is REALLY healthy and it doing well! Then she was due for 5 shots. The office was out of two of the vaccines, so she only had to have 3 shots and 1 oral vaccines (she will have to go back sometime next week for the other two). She did amazingly well. She cried through the shots, but after the nurse took the last one out she stopped crying! I thought she would cry for a really long time, but she wasn't (yippy!) She has been really crabby since though:-) Her legs are really sore, so we have had to give her lots of Tylenol. She is doing better tonight though. She also started sitting in her bumbo seat! She really likes it....for about 3 minutes! I think it will get easier for her soon! She is so strong and it getting stronger by the day. I have lots of other pictures to post, but not enough time right now- hopefully soon!!!

On another note- Can you believe that 7 years ago today is when the twin towers where hit? I am sure all of you remember, just as I do, what you were doing the moment you heard and that all day long we watch CNN at school... What a crazy time!

I can't resist

Isn't she absolutely ADORABLE? Again, I have been playing around with Photoshop, but I think it turned out so cute with the flower! She has a little duck tail of hair in the back, which makes me laugh and Jeff sing the Duck Tales theme song! Eventually we will have some more interesting news to blog about, but for now MCKENNA and PHOTOSHOP take up my time- and I am fine with that!!!

*M*G*J*

This was from Mckenna's latest "photo shoot". I think I have used 6 rolls of film (I know no one has used FILM in forever, but you can do so much more with film...) trying to get a couple good pictures of her for her birth announcements. This one is one of my favorites. I then have been trying to learn how to use Photoshop. I am not good at all, but this picture is kind of fun!

We are all doing really well. Jeff started some of his masters classes on Thursday night (he is doing a joint degree program- Law school and Masters in International Relations). I think he will really enjoy these classes, although they are all at night :-( Mckenna will be two months old in a week. She is growing so much and is SO fun! She is also becoming a much better sleeper- hooray! I am doing great! Being a mom is wonderful and I am finally in some what of a routine. I can get things done and still enjoy all of my time with my little snug bug! Woohoo!

Baby Hog...I mean Aunt Rylie

Any one who knows my little sister, Rylie, knows that she LOVES babies. When I was in Arizona in April Rylie, my mom and I stayed at my sisters house. If you were ever looking for Cassi's then 6 month old, Anndi, all you had to do was find Aunt Rylie. Also, when Cassi was visiting my family in Utah Rylie insisted that all three of Cassi's daughters (INCLUDING the 9 month old) sleep in her room! Those are just some examples of what a great aunt Rylie is to her 4 beautiful nieces, but it is ALMOST impossible to get a baby away from Rylie with out a fight :-) So, while they were here in San Antonio Rylie hovered where ever Mckenna happened to be.
On Sunday morning (the Sunday we bless Mckenna) I fed Mckenna and then laid her on the floor to go back to sleep while I got myself ready. Rylie was getting ready with me for awhile and then once she finished she disappeared from the bathroom. When I was finally ready I walked back into our room and this is what I saw........

Rylie layed next to Mckenna and they fell asleep together!!!! It was the cutest picture!!!

It was so great having Rylie ( AND MY PARENTS) around because I always knew Mckenna was getting enough attention- maybe even too much attention!!! Although, my parents and Tyler may say they didn't get to hold her enough :-)!!

Our big baby!!!

Scary eyes!!!

On Tuesday Mckenna turned SIX weeks old!!! I can't believe how big she is getting. Time flies!! We weighed her today and she weighs 10 lbs 12 oz. SHE IS HUGE!!!! She is starting to develop a little personality. She is starting to smile at us all the time and really recognizes our voices and faces. It is SO fun!!! We love having her around all the time! Anyway, I thought I would post some more pictures of her!! Enjoy!