3 Months

I love my baby!  Here are Daxton's 3 month pictures.  I think this is my favorite baby age.

Give Thanks

I have really been trying to focus on what I am grateful for in my life since Thanksgiving is next week. I have been dedicating more of my personal prayers to telling my Father in Heaven all the things I am grateful for, and it has been humbling.  I have so much to be grateful for.

The following is a list of the top 20 things I am most grateful for in my life.  They aren't necessarily in any type of order, but they are the most important things to me.

20. Devin's job.  Since I quit working his job has supported us entirely, and I am grateful for the steady peace of mind I enjoy when it comes to finances.

19. Where I live.  I love where I live.  I love my home because it provides protection and comfort.  I love the property we have, and how secluded we get to be when we are enjoying the outdoors.

18. Technology.  I am grateful that it is so easy to stay in touch with the people I love, that I can keep a form of journal through this blog, and that I don't have to leave the comfort of my home to buy Christmas gifts ;)

17.  C.J. Miles.  I bet you are confused.  I am grateful that C.J. Miles got traded to Cleveland so that when I sit down to watch a Jazz game I am not filled with anxiety when he comes into the game.

16. Music.  I love listening to music.  I like that Christmas music can put me in a better mood, and that some nice LDS music can calm my heart and fill my home with peace.

15. Books.  When I get into a good series of books, I must finish off the entire series within a week or two.  Reading gets my imagination going, and I love that I can use that as an escape from the world.

14. My bed.  Devin and I have a California King bed with a foam top, and I llllllove it.  We have bought quite a few things since we have been married, but that was, by far, the best purchase of them all.

13.  The mountains.  I think the mountains are just beautiful.  Whenever I go somewhere without mountains I feel a little homesick. I am glad I get to live on a mountain bench.

12.  Coupons.  Need I say more?

11. Politics.  I HATE politics.  There are few things that I truly loath, and politics is at the top of my list.  I am thankful that dang election is over, and would be even more grateful if everyone would stop sharing their political views.  Support the man that won the election!!  It doesn't matter who it is, but we need to support the President of the United freakin' States!  (political rant over...)

10.  Working cars.  Devin and I have been so incredibly blessed with good running cars.  We haven't been hit with any major issues, and his car still runs like a champ (Please, please, please keep running little car!)

9. Free formula.  By this I mean the fact that I don't have to buy formula for my baby because my body makes a nice stash of it.  I hope to keep feeding my baby for 9 more months.  (Yep, that means an entire year of breast feeding.  Here's hoping!)

8. My parents.  I am blessed to live so close to my parents.  I love that Makayla is so close to her grandparents, and that if I ever need anything they are close by and always willing to help.

7.  Only one in diapers.  I am VERY thankful that we were able to potty train Makayla.  I don't know anyone who enjoys changing diapers worn by a toddler.  Potty training is much better and totally worth the effort.

6. My education.  I graduated from college 4 years ago, and even though I am not currently using my degree, it puts my mind at ease knowing I have completed my education (or have I??)

5.  Extended family.  We are blessed to live close to our extended families.  Although we don't see everyone as much as we would like, it is still nice to see them all on a regular basis.

4.  Friends.  I have some amazing friends.  Some friends I have had for 15 years, and will continue to have them through the eternities.  I am grateful for old friends, new friends, and friends that have yet to be made.

3.  The gospel.  I would be lost without my Savior, and my knowledge of His gospel here on the Earth.  I am grateful for a prophet and his inspiration.  He always seems to know what to say to calm my heart.  The church is my rock.

2.  My children.  I can only think about how much I really love my kids for about five seconds before tears come to my eyes.  Daxton is such a great baby, and so, so happy.  Makayla is learning and growing so fast and I just love her to pieces.  It is hard to even express how much I love them, and I look forward to loving more children in the future.

1.  Devin.  Holy Moses, I love Devin dearly.  He is my world.  He is an amazing husband, and a great daddy.  I have loved the last 5 years I have spent in his arms.  He has stuck with me through all the infertility woes that have rocked me, and made me a little crazy at times (those pills are CRAZY pills!). He has loved me unconditionally, made me feel beautiful, and made my life better.  I look forward to hopefully another 60 years with him in this life and through all of eternity in the life to come.  I love you, Devin!

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Work In Progress. . .

So, our house has always been a work in progress.  We bought it knowing it needed some love, and we have indeed loved it.  We are thrilled with our hard work and updates paying off.  I thought I would share some of the fun we've been having.

Ah...the lovely basement.  For those of you who don't know, we rent out our basement.  When we bought the home the basement was just lovely.  Can't you tell?  Here are some before/after pictures of the basement.

Let's begin with the family room.  Don't you love the shine in those curtains?

Notice the difference in carpet.  Look at those stains.  Gross.

Everyone loves a pink floor that isn't level with missing tiles!

Floor leveled and tiled.

No more pink tub!  Wish I would have taken a before picture...it was a sight to see!

This hallway is B E A utiful!  We pulled out some wallpaper (Egyptian tomb wallpaper), and this is what we found.  Lovely.

Ah....fixed.

Remember how I mentioned the Egyptian tomb wallpaper?  This is it.  WHO on Earth would ever use this to decorate their home???

Check out that kitchen.  Glad I wasn't the one cooking in it (Sorry Casandra!)

I HATE cabinets that are old and crusty, but I also don't have millions of dollars to spend on new ones. I had me some fun with a little paint.  New counters, you ask?  Why no, I again, had some fun with paint.

 The old carpet was like something you would find in a church from 1975.  We replaced it with top-of-the-line stuff that I could sleep on every night....if I lived in my own basement.

Now on to my favorite thing we have done.  THE YARD!!  When we bought the home, it came with almost half an acre of property.  I love having a big yard.  It is secluded and gorgeous during the summer, and I greatly enjoy it.  Well, half of our backyard was finished, and the other half (across a rickety old bridge) was just a pile of weeds.  By weeds I mean giant devil plants that were taller than I am.  I looked and looked for some pictures of it, but for the life of me can't find them.  Just imagine it...

 Devin's dad came over to help us take out the old crusty bridge and build a new one.  We had a wind storm a while back that caused a tree to fall on the bridge and it hasn't been that great since.  On to better things!

 Notice that beautiful garden in the background.  They started this project in October, and my garden was still producing stuff like mad!  I miss it.

 The first attempt they worked until it was dark, but didn't get too far.

 Our little helpers had to see what all the fuss was about!  Makayla loves to help Papa Dirt (Grandpa Curt).

 TA-DA! It is finished.  All it needs now is a coat of stain and we will be done.  Heck yes!

 We put down a TON of sod this summer.  Devin hauled an entire truck load by himself (I was massively pregnant when he did) and then we hauled two truck loads together.

 See those garden boxes?  They were completely full a month ago.  I had tons of stuff growing up the trellis things I made, and the garden was a huge success.  Can't wait until next year!

 We thought it would be fun to make a little area with a fire pit.  Can't wait to try that bad boy out!

 I am thrilled with the new bridge!  THRILLED!  Thanks Papa Dirt for the help!

I am so grateful to live in such a pretty area.  I love my home, even if it is old.  I love my yard, especially now that it is twice as big as it was at the beginning of summer.  We truly are blessed. 

Halloween

We had a great Halloween this year.  Makayla just adores Tinkerbell, so she decided she wanted a Tinkerbell costume.  Devin, being the daddy he is, volunteered to be Peter Pan.  I was trying to think of a good costume for the baby when it hit me: Captain Hook!  And, naturally, that would make me Wendy.  Yes, I turned Makayla's costume into a family affair, but it was fun.

Ah, there is my handsome little Captain Hook!

My sister-in-law and I took our kids to the Treehouse for a Halloween thingy they had going on.  Makayla was really excited to get into her costume.

We grew some GREAT pumpkins in our garden this year (even vertically on a trellis!) so we had to carve them for a Family Night.  Makayla got a kick out of it.  She wanted to make a mean pumpkin.

 Helping Makayla make her mean pumpkin.

 Daddy and Makayla displaying the mean pumpkin.  Isn't that thing so mean?  Haha.

 Check out those pumpkins.  We had two more, but didn't end up carving them.  In honor of the Jazz season starting, Dev made a Jazz note.

My brother and his wife have a Halloween party every year.  Look at the fun costumes.

The night before Halloween, I went to a trunk-or-treat with my sister-in-law, Rachel, and her kids.  Makayla refused to take off her pumpkin dress to put on Tinkerbell, so she was a pumpkin.  Don't you love the snow boots she had to wear with it?

Getting all that candy! Yum!

Can you tell she got tired?  She loved the candy, and saying 

"trick-or-treat!", but she was worn out by the end.

This is Makayla in the same dress last year.  She is growing up too fast!

And this brings us to Halloween day!  Our cute nieces came to our house to get some goodies.

That evening, we went to our own ward trunk-or-treat.  Here is Makayla with her crush, Drew.  Aren't they cute?

Captain Hook.  Love that Captain Hook.

Devin's parents swung by our church to see the kiddos in costume.  Here is Grandpa Dirt (Curt) with Daxton.

 After the trunk-or-treat we took Makayla to a few houses in our neighborhood for some extra loot.  She had a blast.

So happy to be home and out of that costume!

My favorite costume this year has to go to my niece, Leah.  I just couldn't stop smirking at her costume!  So clever.

 Happy Halloween!