In the life of the Suchers

Sisters TRIP!!!

2012-01-15T19:36:00.000-08:00

So, the boys in my family seem to get together once a year or so for a boys trip (typically around a BYU football game). This year the girls decided we needed a break, not just wanted one, NEEDED. :) We were able to use Jeff's Aunt and Uncles cabin up in Heber Utah. We went shopping in Park City, went to dinner, watched a movie, talked, ate, talked some more. It was wonderful. WONDERFUL. Really I have been super blessed when it comes to in-laws (on BOTH sides). They are all so great and I really truly love them like my own flesh and blood. It was so nice to be able to get to know them all just a little better. I can't wait to do it again!!!

On the shuttle headed to the airport.

Baby Tanner and baby Dax come with us and they were PERFECT seriously I don't think I heard a peep all weekend!

Sisters, sisters... (sorry I didn't remember to flip it)

My beautiful sister and sister in law.

Waiting to eat dinner.

My cute Mom and sweet baby Dax.

Our shopping damage.

Enjoying. :)

Halloween

2012-01-15T18:58:00.000-08:00

There wasn't anything to exciting about Halloween this year mostly because we were focused on BASEBALL! (More on that later) We went to our ward trick-or-treat and then around our neighborhood. Of course the girls loved it. Whitney was especially cute because she got it this year. She was RUNNING from house to house (for the first block anyway). We only snapped one picture and here it is:


Nicole - butterfly, Morgan - Rapunzel, Whitney - Sleeping Beauty and yes I still had stuff not unpacked....I have a fear of commitment when it comes to hanging pictures.

Thanksgiving

2012-01-15T18:36:00.000-08:00

Our Thanksgiving was....quite eventful. I was super excited/stressed we had invited Jeff's family to come. We ended up with his parents, his older sister and her family, and his brother and his family. So total there were 16 people including us, it started off really well for the first 12 hours or so and then it was a puke fest. Seriously, 14 out of 16 of us got sick. It was not pleasant, it is not something I ever want to experience again.

I had never made a Thanksgiving dinner before I was so excited I had planned and prepared and was READY, it was even going to be on nice plates with chargers, cloth napkins, etc. the whole nine yards. I was the one who ended up sick on Thanksgiving day. So that didn't happen but thank goodness I have great in-laws who prepared the entire dinner...that we invited them too. Oh well.

After that everyone took their own turn being sick with only Paul, our brother-in-law, and Whitney not getting sick.

Needless to say I had OODLES of food leftover and zero pictures to show. I should have grabbed a few with everyone sick on the couches but the thought didn't occur to me. SO, I don't think that anyone will want to come to our house anytime soon. Next time guys I promise it will be better!

Morgans Birthday

2011-10-22T20:26:00.000-07:00

Morgan at five:

1. What is your favorite color?     White, just like Princess Celiestia, (from My Little Ponies) and blue, and the colors at sunset
2. What is your favorite toy?     Dolphi (a stuffed animal dolphin)
3. What is your favorite fruit?     Grapes
4. What is your favorite tv show? My Little Ponies

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? cereal

6. What is your favorite outfit?     My pink flower dress
7. What is your favorite game?      Littlest Pet Shop (I have no idea what she is talking about!)
8. What is your favorite snack?     String Cheese

9. What is your favorite animal? Horse

10. What is your favorite song? My little pet shop song (one she made up)
11. What is your favorite book? My Little Ponies

12. Who is your best friend? Malorie

13. What is your favorite cereal? Marshmallow Maties

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Playing in the pool

15. What is your favorite drink? Pink Lemonade

16. What is your favorite holiday? My Birthday

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Dolphi

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Daddy's waffles

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Spaghetti

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A ballerina

Birthday loot

Loving the attention

Don't you love the tucked in shirt? It is her new thing...

She is obsessed with horses and unicorns and pegasus'

Whitney loves her sprinkles

Morgan got a makeup kit for her birthday and it had these awesome stick on nails, they are awesome. :)

Morgan told me they were "magnificent!"

We woke up on her birthday morning and made her favorite breakfast of german pancakes and opened presents. She went to school and took a special treat. I asked her what she wanted to do after school for her birthday and she just wanted to play with all her toys. That night for dinner we had pizza and a mint chocolate chip cake (from Safeway, bad mom moment, I really wanted to make her a cake but we were all sick with a cold). The next day we had her friend party and played kiss the frog (pin the tail on the donkey), freeze dance, opened presents, decorated cupcakes, had a pinata. I think it turned out ok.

I can't believe I am old enough to have a five year old. Those first few weeks with her in our lives I didn't ever think they would pass by so quick! She is so funny with the things she says and she is a marketers DREAM...seriously, she asked me today if it was fast to buy car insurance...then later tonight she saw the tag on Whitney's pj's (Gerber brand). She said, "that is the gerber life baby mom." Awesome. :) She is VERY observant of everything and remembers it forever. She is a great secret keeper unless Jeff bribes her with money to tell him something like...what he got for his birthday. :) We LOVE you Morgan and thank you for making us your parents!

Jeff's Birthday!

2011-10-19T19:50:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Jeff's Birthday last month. Jeff worked and then I made him steak and vanilla bean cheesecake, super exciting. Sorry Babe. :) Although he did get a new t.v. so hopefully that makes up for the lack of excitement. I filled up balloons and put little questions that the girls answered in each. I was going to have as many balloons as he is old but I started getting to lightheaded! :)

What makes Daddy happy?
      ~Whitney: This, as she sticks her tongue out

What makes Daddy happy?
   ~Morgan: His girls

What is Daddy's favorite sport?
     ~Whitney: Mickey Mouse

What is Daddy's favorite sport?
     ~Morgan: Football (let's be honest, sometimes it is hard to tell because he loves them all!)

What does Daddy do for a job?
     ~Whitney: Play with us

What does Daddy do for a job?
     ~Morgan: Work

What is Daddy really good at?
     ~Whitney: Watching t.v.

What is Daddy really good at?
     ~Morgan: Taking care of us

How does Daddy make you laugh?
     ~Whitney: Like this, hahahahahaha

How does Daddy make you laugh?
     ~Morgan: When he pretends to whine like Whitney

What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy?
     ~Whitney: Doughnut store

What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy?
     ~Morgan: Buy toys with him

What should we get Daddy for his birthday next year?
     ~Whitney: We should get him a big bird one (we got him a small angry bird so I am thinking she wants to get him a bigger one?)

What should we get Daddy for his birthday next year?
     ~Morgan: A new computer with football players all over it.

What does Daddy do when we are not around?
     ~Whitney: He steps in the mud

What does Daddy do when we are not around?
     ~Morgan: Work

Morgan

2011-10-17T19:02:00.000-07:00

We finally got Morgan in preschool the last couple of months we were in Washington. Her teacher was awesome the school was wonderful. I wish I could transport it here. While she was there she did a Mother's Day Program, talk about melt your heart. I loved it! I can't wait for more programs, they are so dang cute! I am sure they will get old one day...maybe but I loved watching her. (sorry for sideways pictures I forgot to rotate them)

We also had our friend start teaching her piano for a month or two before she left. It was so cute. It didn't hurt that my friend was SUCH a fun teacher. She but on a little show and share day with some other kids on the street, it was cute to see all the kids preform. I was so impressed with Morgan, she went up there and followed all the instructions and even wanted to play two songs...we only practiced one! I was surprised she remembered everything. She did great and I can't wait to get her started on lessons here!

Happy Birthday Nikki!

2011-09-06T18:35:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my baby is one. This year has been CrAzY, but fun. The first few months of her life I didn't know if I would survive or not. It was a little rough but since then she has been nothing but a peach. She really only cries if she is tired, hungry or is being beaten up by her sisters! :) Morgan and Whitney love her to pieces and I am pretty sure the feeling is mutual. She gets so excited to see them in the morning and screams at me when she wants to be doing what they are doing. Yes. She is a screamer, I am a little worried, any advice on this would be much appreciated. This little girl definitely seems to know what she wants.

She can say mama, dada, uh oh, and baby. I swear the other day she said bye Dad. She has been waving and clapping for about six months. She loves to blow kisses and give kisses, my personal favorite. :) She only started crawling since the beginning of July. She isn't walking yet but she walks along furniture and goes from squatting to standing. She likes this trick so much that she tries to do it in the shopping cart, all the time. It is super frustrating. Even when I have her buckled in she does it, the little stinker. I don't want her to fall out and break her neck!

She has no teeth yet but I can see two trying to poke through. She loves baths and yells at me when I take her out. She doesn't like getting dressed, and doesn't like getting her diaper changed she tries to roll and get away from me, none of my other kids have done this, it is super annoying!

She is such a fun baby and we are so grateful to have her in our little family! We love Love LOVE you Nicole!

One year stats:
      Height - 2'4" - 17.6%
      Weight - 15 lb 15.5 oz - .47%
      Head - 16.61" - 1.07%

She wasn't sure what to expect.

Excited for the party.

Ice cream cake...mmmm

Uncle Benson and Baby Tanner helping us celebrate.

Aunt 'Tia' and Dallin ready for the party!

Jeff having balloon wars with Peyton

Not sure what is going on.

She seemed to like the birthday song

Daddy trying to help her blow out the candle.

She was not a fan. Daddy tried to get her to eat the cupcake. I think she was overwhelmed with all the attention.

Get me OUT of here!

She seemed to like the presents a little better.

Are they going to make me eat this too???

Yay! We finally got a smile!

After a while we were able to get her to calm down and try a cupcake. She had no intention of eating it just tearing it apart.

Grandma and Grandpa Sucher called to sing her happy birthday, I think she liked it.

Happy Birthday sweet girl!

Utah

2011-09-05T20:18:00.000-07:00

We took a quick trip to Utah to spend some time with Jeff's family last weekend. We squished a lot into two days, next time I hope we have a few more days to do some things and see some more people.

We went to the BYU bookstore, Jeff went four wheeling, I went to see my sister, I also went to see the new Provo Beach Resort. That was neat, they had a ropes course, bowling, croquet, golf, SURFING, arcade games, and a kids play area. We only did the kids play area but I want to try to surf next time. We had a big family fiesta with all the Sucher family that is in Utah. It was so fun to see everyone, I LOVE Jeff's family! Later that night Jeff's sister and her husband and I went to The Help. I was so excited I had read the book about a year ago and they did a great job with it I thought, I may be adding that to our collection!

The next day we went to Deer Creek reservoir and went tubing and had a picnic with some of Jeff's family. After that we went back to his uncles house and got ready to go to Tucano's! We hadn't been for a long time I LOVE their pineapple and the buffet was great, but I don't think I need to go again. :) We then went back to his uncle's house to play games and talk.

We headed home the next morning and Jeff had to stop in and check on some the places they take care of so that ended up taking a couple extra hours. After that was over we headed home again and we heard a funny noise. Our tailpipe had fallen off. Awesome. After a while we got it jimmy rigged back on and made it home safely, thank goodness.

It was a great weekend I just wish we could have done everything and seen everyone we wanted to, but it is so nice not being so far from family that we can make it over more often! I just wish I would have unpacked my camera!!!

Bear Tooths

2011-09-05T20:17:00.000-07:00

This July we up to Cooke City Montana. To go camping in the Bear Tooth mountains. My Dad and brothers have been going there for years and this was the first year Jeff and I were able to go, and it was BEAUTIFUL!

We drove through Utah up to Idaho and stayed a day or two and then drove up through Yellowstone. In Yellowstone they gave us a paper with all the animals you could see and Morgan was obsessed. I think I read that paper to her 100 times. We saw almost all of the animals too. It was so fun. It was the first time I have ever seen a bear in Yellowstone. We saw two Grizzly's and a Black bear.

We had lots of fun and made lots of great memories. We did lots of eating, four wheeling, and playing. To bad we forgot to take more pictures! I don't know what we were thinking!!!

Getting Ready for her long ride.

Excited

The group

We went through a bit a snow and some of us had troubles making it through.

Morgan rode with Jeff all the way up the mountain and did a great job. It was about a two hour ride, I was impressed that she enjoyed it that long.

The view

Hey good lookin'

One more, because I can. :)

Somehow I was the only one who ended up coverd in mud. This picture doesn't do it justice. I had it all over my face and arms. Everywhere, but it was fun!

The whole group except Whitney (she was sleeping in the car).

The views were incredible. These pictures don't capture it.

On our way back from a drive we saw these Mountain Goats so we thought we would go see them up close.

Cute little baby goat.

It was so pretty but cold and hard to walk to those goats. I was surprised that they didn't seem to car that twenty or so people were so close to them.

We also stopped at Old Faithful. I am always surprised by how many people come to watch this. I guess growing up so close to Yellowstone it just wasn't as exciting. :)

Waiting for Old Faithful. (Yes, I know their hair is a mess. Don't judge, it was a ten day camping trip and it was windy! :) )

There she goes!

Morgan at the Paint Pots

It was a fun trip, I am glad we were able to go and spend time with my family. I don't know if it will be a yearly tradition for us but I think we will definitely go back!

So, we moved.

2011-09-04T21:42:00.000-07:00

We moved. It was super quick. It was super crazy. I don't think I want to move ever again. Ever. :) We knew we were not in Puyallup forever and that it would be a temporary thing but I thought we would at least be there through the summer. One day I was at Salvation Army grabbing some books (they were having a killer sale, I think it was like six for a dollar!) Anyway, I grabbed a few...like 18...but it didn't matter because I was just going to read them and send them back. Right before I was checking out Jeff called and said someone offered to buy our office in Washington and we will probably move back to Denver...next week. Um, ok. So I checked out, went home, and put those books right in a box. Nice.

It was a crazy week, we weren't sure if the sale would go through or not so we didn't want to tell a lot of people just in case things didn't go through. That was rough not telling friends about it. But, the move was just kind of like ripping a band aid off. Quick and relatively painless. There isn't a lot we miss except for friends, our neighborhood, and a few stores. Beside that we were pretty excited to be coming back to Denver. It was a great experience and I thought Washington was beautiful and there seemed to be fun stuff to do but it was always rainy and gray...ALWAYS gray.

So now we are back in Denver and are enjoying our SUNSHINE. :) We moved to a new area than we were in before. I like the town the and neighbor hood is fine. (minus a few doorbell ditchers one who left a bad of dog poo...gross, at least it wasn't on fire right?) I just wish we had our Washington neighborhood, it was perfect. We just haven't connected with anyone yet and Morgan is in need of play dates...lots of play dates. But we are so grateful to see the sun again!


Our next door neighbors and the only little boy (the girls age) on the street.

My sweet neighbor Maria

Us and our girls

I can't believe I didn't grab more photos of all our fun friends and neighbors but I guess that is what you get when you only have a week to pack and get everything taken care of. :) But again, what a great experience and fun times, but we are grateful to see the sun again!

Picture Update

2011-05-02T23:08:00.000-07:00

Slobbery princess in training.

Guess what we made? Homemade, from scratch St. Louis style toasted ravioli! That's right. Jeff saw Chef Robert Irvine make some on the food network. Robert said it was a fast easy ravioli. Robert was wrong. It took probably a good two hours. I think if we used a different dough recipe it COULD be quick(er) and easier. It probably would have helped if we had a pasta maker. BUT they turned out ok. I give them a 6.5 out of 10. We MAY try again with a different dough recipe one day.

In the making. Can you believe we didn't get a picture of the final product?!

Sunday picture (sometime in April? Maybe I should have them hold up the date?)

My sis-in-law and her mom made these awesome hair wraps and I was planning on making some of my own until I saw these in the dollar spot at Target...ON CLEARANCE!
(My girls love to wrestle, is that normal?)

That's better. :)

Cutie pie.

Morgan has been into making funny faces lately and into my make-up, obviously.

We have been collecting VHS movies lately, the girls think it is great (I can't believe we had to wait so long for a video to rewind!)

Nice.

Sunday picture, again with the faces.

Morgan started preschool (I know a little late, but better late than never right?)

Whitney wanted in on the action.

Sunday picture (April 17th)

April (and September, October, November, December, January, February, and March) showers bring May sunshine? They better anyway, I don't know how much longer I can handle these gray skies! :)

First taste of a ritz cracker, I would say it was a success!

Our friend brought over some doughnuts for us for Easter. I think Whitney enjoyed it a little.

Whitney is very good about sharing with her little sister. I came into the kitchen and found three pieces of bread she had given Nicole. Nice.

Morgan also likes to share. She is likes putting these stickers on her ears as earrings and thought Nikki should have some.

Whitney also enjoys making a face or two. :)

This weekend we went up north to Jeff's sisters house. While Jeff and her husband were doing this....

We were doing this. They had a joint birthday party for their boys. It was a Peter Pan theme and it was so cute. She is so creative.

Peter Pan

Tepee

The other birthday boy.

Princess Tiger Lilly (aka, the creative mom)

Captain Hook (aka, the willing Dad)

Enjoying her kiwi flavored frosting!

Tinkerbell, Morgan thought that this was the most beautiful outfit ever...

Reading her treasure map.

Following Hook, trying to find the treasure.

Sunday picture - May 1st

Morgan came out the other day in this outfit. Can you guess what it is? It was Whitney's blessing dress!!! I couldn't stop laughing. Silly girl.

The sun has finally showed it's face a few times this last week and we have tried to enjoy every minute. This is Morgan holding a slug! I never thought that she would do that since she is so girly but it doesn't phase her at all. Me? NO WAY! Yuck!

Throwing rocks into the pond.

Sweet patient girl. :)

She is learning how to clap and how to wave, it has been fun to watch.

Cinderella

2011-05-02T22:27:00.000-07:00

Morgan and I had a chance to go out on a mommy - daughter date a month or two ago to the play Cinderella. We met up with a few of our friends, we had such a fun time. Morgan enjoyed it for the most part...it got a little long and it wasn't the same story as the movie so I think she was a little confused. Afterwords we were able to take pictures with the cast and they were very sweet.

Morgan and all the princesses.

Morgan and Mommy.

The stepsisters, stepmother and fairy godmother.

The prince helping Morgan with her shoe, this was not staged! I thought it was pretty funny.

The prince and Cinderella with all the princesses.

Another Sunday picture. :) Whitney isn't a fan of the Sunday picture...yet.

Do you know this guy???

2011-04-03T20:53:00.000-07:00

I forgot to tell you we met this guy at the LA airport on our way home!!! I was freaking out, we LOVE Guy!

He was incredibly nice while I was gushing all over him and telling him how much we love him and his shows.

Jeff was star struck.

Jeff couldn't even remember where we lived when he asked us! haha

Super impressed Guy, thanks for a perfect ending to a perfect trip!

HAWAII!!!

2011-03-22T20:18:00.000-07:00

Jeff and I had been planning on going on a trip this summer, but our summer is starting to look pretty busy. So the way everything worked out we decided about a week before we went that we were going to Hawaii! It was SO SO SO nice! Jeff's sister said she would take our kids (BLESS HER HEART!!!) so here are our adventures in Hawaii:

I thought I would go get a spray tan before we left. (I didn't want to be pasty white on the beach! :) ) The nice gal that showed me to my booth wasn't the most helpful so I wasn't sure what I was doing and I ended up with a lovely line across my forehead. Love it! This is me in all my glory the next morning bed head and all, but it was to funny not to remember. I guess that is what I get for trying to be cool.

Here is me same day after a hair cut. It was a little shorter than I expected but it is kind of a fun change. I know it grows so I am ok with it. After much exfoliating the nice 'tan' line faded. :)

Jeff and I in our rental car.

Oh yes we did! :) We got talked into a convertible and I LOVED it. (Jeff this does not mean we can get one!) Ever since I was little I always wanted a convertible, a red mustang convertible to be exact, blue came pretty close.

Jeff's excited face.

Welcome to HAWAII!!! (picture taken while driving!)

We arrived Thursday evening and made it to our friends house (Thanks guys!) got dressed, went and grabbed some food then headed to the temple (BEAUTIFUL by the way!). After we got out we hoped in the car and on the radio we heard a weather alert saying that there was a tsunami warning in place. Thirty seconds later we heard all the tsunami sirens going! It was CRAZY! About a year earlier my Brother and his family were there and they had the same thing happen. I guess we make for exciting vacations! SO, we went back to where we were staying and packed up our stuff and waited and tried to sleep and waited some more. We just watched the news and made a game plan.

I am SO grateful we were staying with friends because we headed to the store to try and get some 'supplies' and they were closed! Thank goodness we are counseled to get food storage and 72 hour kits!!! We took their 72 our kit and went to 'higher ground' which was pretty much across the street and up a little hill to the BYU Hawaii campus. We spent the night in our car listening on and off to news reports.

Pretty awesome way to start a vacation. This picture is of us in our car 'sleeping'. Thank goodness nothing exciting happened. The next morning no one was allowed to go to the beaches because they were still expecting some large waves. SO, we slept in (after heading back to the house around 6:30 a.m.) and it was great! It threw off our plans a little but it could have been a lot worse!!! So after sleeping in we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center.

The PCC was great (a little pricey but since I know it is going to a good cause it makes me feel a little better :) ). It was a fun day. We were a little tired, I got a little slap happy but it was a fun day. We sat by some guys at the Luau that served their mission in Alaska (where Jeff served) and they were there with a guy they baptized who had gotten his endowments our there in Hawaii a few days before. Pretty small world.

This guys was HILARIOUS! I believe he was a previous student at BYU Hawaii and then came back and works at the PCC full time.

I have never seen someone climb a tree like this guy, it was pretty crazy.

This was in the Figi area, Jeff and I thought these looked like senior pictures from way back in the day! :)

Jeff's favorite....Tahiti! :) These girls could really shake their hips!

This is for you hun! ;)

The pig at the Luau.

Saturday we headed down to Pearl Harbor, the swap meet and Waikiki. This is on our boat to Pearl Harbor. (By the way for those of you going you can not take bags, purses or large camera bags in. There is an area where you can 'check' your bags for $3 a bag)

Flag at half staff for those in suffering from the earthquake and Tsunami in Japan.

Pearl Harbor was nice I am sure we could have spent a lot more time there but we were trying to make the most of every minute. The swap meet was not quite what I expected, a lot of the same stuff over and over again, but it was fun. Waikiki (at least the part of the beach we were at) was over rated. A lot of reef but it was still FUN!

We were planning on going night snorkeling at Hanama Bay, the book we had said it was supposed to be open. It wasn't. We think it was because of the Tsunami??? Either way, here is the view. We also found our favorite spot to eat just down the road called Teddy's Bigger Burgers. Yes. A hamburger place. I don't even like hamburgers, I had the chicken teriyaki I did try Jeff's burger and I kinda liked it! :) BUT, their malts are AWESOME! SO SO GOOD! Maybe it just hit the spot but we ended up going there twice!

'Was it a Titleist?' :) Name that show!

The next day (our 7th anniversary!) we went golfing. It was beautiful! Perfect weather, great scenery, and I kicked Jeff's booty! :) haha, ok, well the first two were true. It was really fun!

Hole number four was CRAZY! You had to go up these stairs and then hit it over a walkway and down a hill.

Do you see that green way down there?

Pretty great view!

The view at the bottom of green four! :) Did I mention it was only $10 for nine holes?

To prove I actually do 'golf' if that is what you want to call what I do!

The pro shop...a little shady :) As were were going to tee off one of the guys came running out to make sure we took all of our valuables out of the car!

We headed to Ted's to get a slice of their famous haupia pie. It is a chocolate coconut pie. I love coconut, but it was good, not great. :)

Then we headed to go to Motsumoto's to get their famous shaved ice but the line was forever long so the book we had said the place next door was just as good. The line was still long but it was tasty! Nothing different than your normal shaved ice but since I haven't had one in a LONG LONG time it was SO good!

Next we went to the Dole Plantation. We were so tired and were sick of treats but we HAD to get the famous Dole whip. I loved it, Jeff did not. Yes, we did have three treats right in a row but this was the only time we were going to be around those areas so we made the most of it! :)

Baby pineapple. Did you know they take 18 - 22 months for one to mature?!

And some start out looking like this?!

Fish at the Dole Plantation.

Happy Anniversary Love! :)

The next morning we woke up bright and earlier to go snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. It was SO fun! I haven't ever been before, I think I probably could have done it the entire trip and been just fine! We bought a waterproof disposable camera so maybe one day we will get it developed and post the pictures. I was hoping to see a sea turtle, but no such luck.

Instead we went to a beach where they hang out, not quite as exciting but still fun to see!

Then we went swimming at Waimea Bay on the North Shore. The waves were HUGE! The lifeguards kept announcing to people to be careful and only experienced swimmers. It was so fun to play in the waves! That salt water is something nasty though! Jeff and I got swept away a few times, and have a few bumps and bruises but it was really fun.

We ended our trip taking pictures of/at the temple, we tried to get to the visitors center but it closed a few minutes before we got there. The temple is incredibly pretty, I don't think any picture I have seen does it justice.

A sweet missionary couple tried taking our picture... :) It's ok. (the humidity does awesome things to my hair...)

It was a great way to end an amazing trip. It was SO nice to just be with Jeff. No kids, not to much work, just us. I think EVERYONE needs to go somewhere sans kids every once in a while to regroup!

This trip wasn't planned because it was our anniversary, it just ended up that way and it was perfect! I am so happy that Jeff is stuck with me forever! Seven down, eternity to go! Love you!

What happened to February?

2011-03-03T22:17:00.000-08:00

Well, my goal of blogging more often has failed. I figure it is ok, I am doing more important things right now but I still need to post to document this time for my sake! Nothing much happened in February that I can remember. I just hate that life seems to be going way to fast.

I have seen a lot of people taking pictures of their kids dressed up every Sunday and I thought it is such a great idea that I decided to try to do it too. :) I can capture them growing up weekly this way.

Whitney loves her sunglasses. She is so independent and has to do EVERYTHING herself which is completely different from Morgan. (bless her heart I think I brought that one on myself :) )

Morgan wanted in on the picture too. Here she is in her FAVORITE dress...she would wear it for days if I let her. She wanted to make sure woody was in the picture.

Ok, this picture may seem a little silly but it has been a long time since I have had a good couponing trip. They don't double coupons here which makes a big difference. Our Albertson's was closing so they were marking down everything so I made sure to get in on the action! I bought 131 things for $131! The original total was $632!!! I was pretty excited!!!

I was on facebook and Jeff's aunt mentioned eating some cinnamon cupcakes and I couldn't stop thinking about how good that sounded until I made some. And they were SO good (in my opinion, but I LOVE cinnamon) I got the recipe here. I sent them off with Jeff to take to a teachers quorum activity, only to learn that they don't like cinnamon. (maybe they weren't as good as I thought they were?!) I should have kept them all to myself. Oh well, better for my hips this way.

This picture is for my mom. She made me the cutest blanket when Whitney was born. She brought me some written instructions but I just didn't get it. I finally figured it out and I was SO excited! I won't use that minky material again though it made it difficult to sew and the corners weren't perfect but at least I got the idea.

Whitney strutting her stuff.

Me and my girls in their cute skirts from Aunty Steph!

Our Valentines day FHE activity.

Yum!

Bedtime on Valentines Day. I bought the girls those flowers for Valentines, and Jeff brought some home for them too not knowing I had bought the same ones! We also each bought them some sweethearts!!! I guess great minds think alike. :)

Morgan saw that McDonald's had My Little Ponies in their happy meals, that is all she would talk about. So I told her if she did some special jobs for me she could earn some money and buy one. So she had to mop the floor for one of her jobs. It was pretty funny to watch. She had to floor SOAKED and she would get up and show me every once in a while and sometimes get going to fast and biff it. I wish I had it on video. I must say that when she sets her mind on something she wont stop talking about it. She also tries to negotiate EVERYTHING right now. Hopefully this will be a good trait one day, right now it gets a little frustrating.

It snowed again and the girls loved playing outside, but Nicole was a little lost without them so I put her in front of the window. They loved it and so did she.

Cute!

This is our sad attempt at a family picture. This was the best one. We couldn't get everyone to look at the camera at the same time. I guess that is what you get when you try to do it by yourselves (and with a self timer!) Maybe I will plan ahead next time and get an actual photographer to take them. I just don't think about it and when I want the picture I want it now!

This little cutie is now six months old! I can't believe it. She has gotten so much better. She is pretty content and loves to watch her sisters. She still isn't rolling but her sister's weren't big rollers either so I keep telling myself it is ok. She loves to talk and is starting to sleep through the night! Knock on wood! We love her so much and are excited to see her little personality grow. Right now I just want to freeze life and enjoy! (She was not a happy camper during these pictures it was WELL past her naptime so this is the best show we got).

Here are her six month stats:

Weight: 18%
Length: They couldn't get her measurement right but eventually they figured it out she was 25.5 inches - but I don't know what that makes percentage wise.
Head: 11%

Happy Birthday Whit!

2011-02-07T19:43:00.000-08:00

Whitney's birthday was a few weeks ago. We didn't do anything to exciting...and right now I can't even think about what we did! Sad!!! Pretty sure we went to the park...maybe to target! That is what I get for not blogging sooner. Jeff did bring pizza home (it was a long day...that I remember!)

Whitney "helping" with her birthday cake!

She is very into seeing the pictures AS SOON as I take them. Seriously, we take one picture and she gets up and HAS to see it or else she throws a fit. The little stink! :)

I wish half of our stuff wasn't in Colorado! I have a picture of me in college with half an orange in my mouth...like Mother like daughter? :)

Ok, so Whitney was having a really rough day on her birthday and it did not stop when Daddy got home with dinner. He brought pizza and I LOVE crushed red peppers on my pizza so I brought them out and Whitney would NOT stop whining until she was able to put some on her pizza....we told her no...a few times. She was not going to have that, so finally we broke down and let her put SOME on her pizza. She was happy...that is until she took a bite!

She was not a happy camper! It was so funny but I felt SO bad. We finally were able to get her to drink a little milk to help her poor tongue to cool down.

(the cake did not look good, but it was so tasty! It is a knock off of one that they serve at Olive Garden. YUMMY! Thanks Shelly for the recipe!)

She has FINALLY started talking more, a week or two before Christmas it finally happened. Morgan was SUCH a talker that I was starting to worry! She has used the potty quite a few times, but isn't to interested in taking it on full time...yet. She is such a little trouble maker, into EVERYTHING, my stuff, Daddy's stuff, Morgan's stuff, Cole's stuff, cooking stuff, EVERYTHING. This girl!!! BUT, she loves her sister's SO much it is to cute. For example tonight Morgan was in her room in time-out crying and Whitney would NOT stay out of her room, she just kept telling me Morgan sad, Morgan sad. Finally I just let her go hang out with her in time-out (kind of beside the point I know) but she was so concerned. She wants to be so independent and do everything on her own. This is nice and hard all at the same time. We love her So SO much and are so grateful for her and her fun personality in our home! Love you Whitters!!!

Her stats:

Height: 2'9.5", 42%
Weight: 24 Ib, 16%
Head: 48 cm, 50%

Her two year old pictures:

Morgan had to get in on the action as well. So I figured we may as well get all the girls together.

So, I know that this picture is all fuzzy but I love it because it completely captures how much my girls really like each other...right now. ;) Don't get me wrong they definitely get on each others nerves, but for the most part they can't get enough of each other.

Nikki seriously LOVES her sisters. Even our pediatrician said something.

Whitney loves to sneak into Nikki's room while she is sleeping...one day this was how I found her...the little stinker!

She was SO proud of herself!

When we went to check her on her one night and this is how we found her, how can you sleep like that?!?

I am working on a project right now, we will see if it works out but here are some pictures of Morgan that I took for it.

And finally, Nicole had a four month check up and for my sake here are her stats:

Head: 39.5 cm, 10%
Weight: 12 Ib 14 oz, 10%
Height: 2' .75", 50%

Holidays '10

2011-01-15T14:00:00.000-08:00

Well, no excuses. I just didn't want to blog. :) It isn't the writing that I mind but the pictures take so long to upload...does this bother anyone else or is this me just being ADD??? SO, to document our 2010 Holiday season here goes:

~THANKSGIVING: For Thanksgiving this year we went up to Jeff's sister Shelly's house to celebrate. We had a good time eating and talking. I was just happy not to be by ourselves on Thanksgiving.

The BEST part was at 10:00 p.m on Thanksgiving though. On our way home from his sisters house we decided to drive by a few stores to see if anyone was lining up for Black Friday...and they were! I have never been a part of the early morning craziness but it always fascinates me, you hear all these insane stories. SO, long story short, we saw people lining up. It got me all excited. I had seen a few things in the ads and had been contemplating if it was really worth it...were the deals really THAT great? SO, when I saw everyone lining up I knew I HAD to do it!!!

BEST. DAY. EVER! haha ok, maybe that is an exaggeration. We went home, put the girls to bed and I headed over to Wal-Mart at about 10:00. I think why I had such a good time is because this is the first time I had been alone...all alone....no kids, not even the baby! All you mom's know that this is a GREAT feeling! (not that we don't love them, but a Momma just needs some space sometimes!) ANYWAY, it was INSANE! But oh so fun! I just kept walking around the store watching everything, it was so fun! It was CRAZY though! You were literally cart to bum throughout the entire store. I got everything that I wanted on my list (and some :) ). After Wal-Mart I headed to Target...Target wasn't as crazy inside as Wal-Mart but the line to the doors went ALL THE WAY AROUND the building! Anyway, it was SO fun to do something all by myself and to watch all these people going nuts.

I don't know why Black Friday shoppers get such a bad rap. I was really impressed with how kind everyone was trying to help everyone get what they wanted. I only heard one person yelling and that was as she was walking out of the store and she looked like a real classy lady in the first place. ;) So THANK YOU Black Friday for helping me finish Christmas shopping...I may just enjoy it again next year!

(NOTE: Thanksgiving is one of my absolute favorite holidays! I start my Christmas decorating Nov. 1st because it reminds me of the things I am most grateful for, so all you haters of decorating before Thanksgiving is over, sorry, I LOVE IT! Also, I realize I wrote mostly about Black Friday but this year I was SO THANKFUL for it! Momma needed a BREAK! :) )

~CHRISTMAS: For Christmas this year we really lucked out. Jeff's sister lives up north (only about an hour or so away) SO, all of his family but one sibling was able to come! It was SO fun! I think my favorite part about the holidays is all the family. (The food doesn't hurt either!) We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at her house eating, talking, playing games, eating....etc....typical Christmas WONDERFULNESS. The day after Christmas Jeff had to talk in church so we had his brother and his family and his parents come and listen and hang out. The next day we went downtown to Pike's Place Market with everyone and shopped and ate and enjoyed. I was a really nice, fun, laid back Christmas.

~NEW YEAR'S: We were invited to a friends house for fondue (yum!) but Whitney wanted to be sick with a fever and cold. Blah, poor thing. SO, we partied at home instead...ok, by party I mean I fell asleep on the floor and woke up for a few minutes to watch the ball drop and I went to bed. Nicole has NOT been sleeping well and I was exhausted! I am sad the holidays are over but I am excited to see what fun things happen this new year!

Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure (by your, I mean for Grandma because beside me I am sure she is probably the only other one that really cares! :)...not in particular order either...sorry! I was just lucky to get the all on here!)

Nikki (almost 4 months old)

What is considered child labor? :) (this little vacuum was $8 Black Friday...BEST PURCHASE EVER! We have carpet in our dining area and I HATE vacuuming under there, we have to do it almost every day SO now it is one of Morgan's chores with this little vacuum!)

Whitney likes it too!

Since Nicole hasn't been sleeping well (I am talking like 6-7 times a night the last two weeks) I wondered if she was ready for rice cereal...no...not so much. I will try again soon though if she keeps her sleeping habits up!

Enjoying her new chair she got for Christmas. She also got that bib. It is AWESOME, there is plastic inside it so it doesn't soak her clothes. She is SUCH a slobbery baby!

This is what happens when Daddy watches her. Why doesn't she sit contently like that for me???

Morgan enjoying her Christmas loot.

For the past few months Morgan has been talking about getting thousands of Barbies from Santa for Christmas...these will have to do. Silly girl!

Do I need to explain? :)

Nikki (Cole as Whitney says) and Grandma Sucher

SO, every time we go to Costco Jeff always wants to get this cheese. He then decides it would go bad to quickly. :) I was there one day and they were sampling it and I was telling the lady this and she told me you could freeze it! So MERRY CHRISTMAS Hun, Love you!

Morgan got a bike from her Grandparents for Christmas and she was not HALF as excited as Whitney was. She did NOT want to get off if it!

We forgot to get a picture of the tree and all the gifts but let's just say we were all very blessed! :) (by the way, that BBQ that Whitney's cousins got from Santa was a HUGE hit! That is what ALL the kids wanted to play with!)

Christmas Eve PJ's (Whitney is holding a glow stick, Grandma Sucher put on a 'midnight parade', before all the kids went to sleep everyone got a few light sticks. We turned out the lights and marched around the house singing Christmas songs...it was SO cute!)

Christmas Eve dinner!

Morgan (playing Mary) riding the 'donkey' aka Grandpa Sucher

Trying to do the nativity....trying...

This is cousin Devin...I think he and Whitney have a similar look...is that weird?

Whitney carrying baby Jesus

The cutest little angel I have ever seen...baby Molly

Morgan being Mary

Do I need to say more?

Shepherd Whitney

Santa showed up to our ward Christmas party!

Don't let this picture fool you, she was not thrilled...she did try sneeking the candy canes away from him, that stinker!

There you go Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and HAPPY NEW YEAR! :)

Oh Whitney...

2010-12-02T22:45:00.000-08:00

You my dear are into EVERYTHING! I just wanted to take a minute to document a few things you were into in one day...in about two hours...

You found some zucchini bread that our neighbor Anna brought to us and took it into your room, shut the door and started chowing down.

You then found the container of Nesquik (that I should have put away) never-the-less, you were hiding in a corner and stirring it with a spoon...no mess though...thank goodness.

You then found the milk that was left on the table from breakfast and poured the rest into your bowl...you made it all in thank goodness (there wasn't much left...but enough to have made a mess if you did)

You decided to pour the dish detergent into the dishwasher all by yourself....I caught you soon enough that you didn't make a huge mess.

I think there was one or two more things you did I can't remember. But lately you have thought it was fun to poop in the tub. REALLY...every once in a while I understand but it has been about the last three or four baths that you have done it....not pleasant child...not pleasant. One day you peed on the floor and THEN pooped in the tub...I had even sat you down on the potty minutes before. This isn't everything (there was the time you pooped on the carpet, not once but twice...you poured your cheerios in the dining area...toy room...and down the hall....but I thought I would just document a FEW of your crazy things this post!) but my goodness, you are sure trying to test my patience!!!

* I really do watch after my child but with three now it is A LOT harder to stay on top of everything! :)

Nicole's Blessing

2010-11-03T23:36:00.000-07:00

We were able to bless Nicole on Sunday (Happy Halloween to us :) ). It was really a perfect weekend. Jeff's parents came in Friday morning and we hung out all day, we went to dinner, talked and just enjoyed each others company. Saturday we waited for my SIL's family to come down then we went to Cabela's...we were planning on going to Mt. Rainer but the weather was rainy and cold. Cabela's (sp?) was actually perfect. The kids LOVED the stuffed animals and the fish tank. It was great. When we came home we started dinner my parents showed up. It was great. We ate our paella and we all just talked. It was just nice and laid back. Sunday was the blessing and everything went great. The blessing was beautiful and Nicole didn't cry, hooray! After the meeting we came home and had french dip sandwich's and lots of other food. It was a perfect weekend. I am so grateful to be blessed with such wonderful loving supporting families!

She started out happy...

Not to sure...

Not happy... :) This is the dress I made this summer, it fit pretty good but was a little large around the waist so I put a ribbon around it and I should have stitched it into place because it kept hiking up...oh well. At least she had all the right accessories! My sweet sister Nat made the head band and the bracelet, to cute!

Whitney did not want anything to do with pictures.

For Halloween we went to our ward trunk or treat and our ward is GINORMOUS. There are two primaries and four councilors in the RS and I don't even know about the other auxiliaries. The party was huge and SO busy that we ended up leaving early but the kids looked cute.

Morgan was a unicorn (thanks Alecia for the awesome costume!) Whitney was a butterfly and Nicole was a bunny. Our cute nephews joined us and they were members of Super Why.

Nicole's view, this is the only spot I can leave her for more than a few minutes without her crying.

After I took this picture Whitney thought that these colors looked tasty but for some reason I can't find that picture!

We went to the pumpkin patch with my friend Anna and the girls had a blast. We haven't ever done this before but I will definitely do it again! I LOVED it!
Don't you love Morgan's outfit...seriously this girl wants to wear a dress everyday still even if it is a little chilly outside...oh well.

Whitney never wants to cooperate for pictures anymore!

They had GINORMOUS pumpkins there I couldn't believe it! I think this one was 1,200 pounds!

These are our cute little neighbors and I couldn't help it I had to get a picture of them together it was just so cute. They are adorable and SO nice.

This is our street, the last few days our weather has been AWESOME and the neighborhood kids are all outside playing. I LOVE IT! It reminds me of when I was little and we were always outside playing.

This is just a few of the kids that were outside with us the other day...LOVE IT!

So life has still been crazy busy with three but I can honestly say that being a mom is the best thing ever. BUSY. HARD. EXHAUSTING. And some days I tell Morgan I quit and I am not mom anymore and my name is Gertrude, and then she gets teary eyed and says, "but I just love you mom!" That makes me feel loved and like an awful parent at the same time! haha I love my kids and I wouldn't trade this life for anything!!!

Happy Birthday Morgan!

2010-10-25T20:38:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I have a four year old! How did that happen? I mean high school is four years long and you think that is never going to end. And now four years goes by in a blink! Morgan is all girl. ALL GIRL. I don't know where she got it from but I think we are in trouble when the teen years roll around! Oh well, we wouldn't have her any other way!

Here are some pictures of her birthday. We had a tea party with chocolate and strawberry milk. Some of the girls wanted to mix the flavors...yuck. By the way, I think I may pay her not to have birthday parties in the future! haha

Morgan after her party showing me how old she is.

Whitney copying mommy. :)

Opening her gifts. She got a lot of art stuff which was SO nice! She has been drawing and coloring a lot! She has never been interested in it until a month or two ago and it has been so nice!

We were grasping for straws here. Why does an hour and a half seem so long when you are entertaining little kids? :)

Everyone singing happy birthday.

Morgan loving the attention.

Make a wish! (Note to self: kids don't care how good things taste, don't waste your time making yummy things. Just serve pre-made things, much easier and faster....and you won't eat the leftovers!)
I can make some pretty tasty things, but I can't make them cute. I tried last year to make a fun cake...it looked horrible and tasted like pure sugar, so this year we just went for taste...strawberry buttercream frosting mmmm.

Party favors. We had a bunch of different candies that the girls got to choose from and we filled their tea cups with what they wanted.

My awesome decorating skills. :) haha Lets face it I can plan and delegate things pretty well but when it comes to me doing them by myself...not so good. Oh well at least she got decorations right? :)

She says funny things all the time. I need to write more of them down, but here are some things:

~She dances a lot and one day she was dancing and says, "Mom, these are my moves."
~I don't remember why she said this but she was talking to me and said, "I'm just freaking out."
~When she answered Jeff the other day she said, "sure thing Dad"
~"Strawberry milk comes from cows that eat strawberries huh Mom."
~"Mom, you're a cow." - nice huh

We love you so much Morgan and can't believe how big and smart you are. I can't wait for all the fun things to come but for now, can't I just push pause and enjoy this a little longer? :)

Life

2010-10-11T19:18:00.000-07:00

Life keeps going to fast! Does anyone else feel this way? Some days I just wish that there were a pause button because I don't want anything to change and .... other days I wish there were a fast forward button! :)

Adjusting to three kids has been better than I expected. The girls have done great. We just move A LOT slower than we used to. When I had Whitney I didn't feel like I skipped a beat, but now I can't seem to get much done. Usually the house is picked up and dinner is done by the time Jeff gets home but it takes me ALL DAY to get it done! Some days I get a little more done. Don't get me wrong we are so blessed to have three little kiddos but I just wish I could get a little more done some days. :) I guess this is us just simplifying right?Here are a few pictures from the last little while:

When Nicole was a couple of weeks old we went up to Deception Pass which is a beautiful drive.

We woke up early so we could make it up and back in time for the BYU football game. Nice huh :) We are determined to see the sights while we are here, unfortunately we have to plan around the football/baseball schedule right now. In Jeff's words, "you knew what I was when you picked me up!" I love him for that...most of the time. :) Really I can't complain because he has to put up with a lot.

Nicole's first real bath...she didn't like it and still doesn't!

First Sunday back at church.

Morgan entertaining herself. It was so cute she set the whole tea party up herself and even picked the 'flowers'. I love this girl!

We went to the famous Puyallup fair, unfortunately this is the only picture we got. It was fun, pretty much all we did was eat food and run through a few booths. This was the first outing/walking around doing thing we did since Nicole was born. It was fun, but I was tired by the end of the night.

I love these wax lips...Jeff and I seem to buy them every year and this year the girls got in on the fun. Cute!

I realized we don't have many pictures up of our little family since we left most of our decorations and things in Colorado. So I was trying to take some pictures of the girls and Whitney would NOT smile for me. Little stinker.

Morgan on the other hand was hamming it up for the camera doing all sorts of funny poses, she is a really funny stage right now...most of the time I love it.

The little stink would not cooperate at all.

This is how Nicole spends a lot of her time. (I think all of my kids have those bug eyes for the first few weeks) She likes to be held...ALL.THE.TIME. I am a little concerned, she has been a little rough. Not going to lie. Hopefully it gets better.

This little girls is into EVERYTHING! Seriously, who is this child! Morgan loves playing with rice in a tupperware container and she had it out one day and Whitney got a hold of it and put it EVERYWHERE. At first I was annoyed then I thought, not a big deal, pick and choose your battles Kim. As I was vacuuming it up, it was ALL OVER THE HOUSE...not fun. Note to self, no more rice!

Just some of the evidence, I thought that this was it, nope. It was on the couches, in the couches, under the couches...everywhere.

Morgan and Whitney like to chase each other around the coffee table and one day Whitney biffed it into the corner and got herself a pretty good black eye, poor thing. This is the first black eye that we have suffered, hopefully the last.

This is Whitney who crashed on the floor one afternoon for her nap, she never does that so I just had to get a quick picture.

Second Sunday back at church...this week was not as successful...we were home after sacrament meeting was over.

We made caramel apples for our FHE treat one night (oh my goodness, SO YUMMY) and Whitney seemed to enjoy them... :) Ok, she only ate the chocolate and caramel and a tiny bit of the apple, but it was tasty.

Big sister, little sister. I promise I get my kids dressed and ready for the day, it seems like an hour or two after this is what we look like. (Morgan changes clothes about ten times a day lately...drives me nuts). Any tips on how to keep little kids hair in place?

We went to a little town called Ocean Shores on conference weekend. It is about two hours away so we listened to conference on the way up and on the way back. Best two hours ever. The girls were quiet and I was able to pay attention!

This was just a fun little store front, Morgan was amazed and Whitney was terrified of the teeth.

When we were on the beach they had some pretty crazy kites flying.

Jeff and the girls collection sea shells.

Notice Morgan's left hand full of sea shells.

See that little wave coming up towards Whiney...keep watching...

Uh oh! Whitney saw it too!

Oh dear...haha the sad thing is that I saw this coming and all I could do was take pictures! Mind you I had Nicole in the Bijorn and the camera around my neck, I laughed but I felt bad...mostly because I didn't have a second set of clothes. We had to take everything off and wrap her in a blanket.

Nicole, 5 weeks.

Mom, what the heck is this thing on my head?! :)

Cute girl!

Life is good, and while I don't have the cleanest house, am not enjoying my post baby body, and am sleep deprived I feel incredibly blessed. For the last few weeks I find myself just watching the girls (and Jeff :) Just because this post is all about our kids, don't forget I loved him first!) and I am in awe of how much one can really love someone so much and no matter how much they drive me nuts during the day, they make my heart melt that much too...most days. :)

Life is good, we are SO blessed, I just wanted to take a second to count my blessings.

Nicole Loretta Sucher

2010-09-11T15:09:00.000-07:00

After a long (LONG) summer we finally moved to Puyallup Washington on August 5th (a little less than a month until my due date!) Jeff found us a great place on a fun street that has five members on it and a lot of kids. We were really really blessed to move here one of the girls that I first met here is SO nice and has introduced us to most of the street and at least half of the ward (ok, not that many people in the ward because it is HUGE...I am talking two primaries and four councilors in the Relief Society and two secretaries!) She is great and so knowing that she was down the street if I went into labor I at least knew ONE person to help!

Our doctor in Denver said she would induce us because I have really short labors. SO, I just assumed that the doctors here would do the same, but that was not the case. I met with two doctors and they both had said that was not a good enough reason to induce (I get not inducing for silly things but I was really worried that I would deliver along side the road because our hospital was in downtown Tacoma) and the second appointment I had found out I tested positive for group B strep which could be dangerous for the baby if I wasn't on antibiotics for a least four hours before I delivered (with my last pregnancy I was only in labor for three hours!) so at that point I REALLY thought they would induce be but the doctor wasn't concerned. Honestly I don't think she knew much about it because I asked her a few times what would happen to the baby if I didn't get any medicine and she said not to worry the pediatrician would take care of it. Nice. Anyway a week before I was due I met with another doctor and had brought Jeff along and we told her our concerns and thank goodness she was sympathetic and said she would induce us that Sunday (it was Thursday when we met with her.)

SO, I called my mom and told her the plans and she went out and bought a ticket and we picked her up on Saturday. It was so nice to know that I wouldn't need to call a neighbor I barely knew! (My sweet sister in law lives up north about and hour away and would come pick up my girls so they wouldn't be with neighbors all day long!)

We went in Sunday morning at 6:30 a.m. and got checked in and then we just hung out in our room until about 9:00 a.m. when they FINALLY hooked me up to the antibiotics. Two hours later they started the pitocin and gave me a balloon catheter to dilate my cervix quicker - not pleasant....at all... About thirty minutes after that I started feeling some painful contractions so I figured I may as well get my epidural, why sit through anything more uncomfortable if I don't have to. :) It. Was. Great. The anesthesiologist was so nice and talked us through everything (and more) he, the nurse, Jeff and I just talked and hung out for a while, it was nice to not feel so rushed and just enjoy the experience. With Morgan and Whitney everything was so fast so it was a good change.

Nothing really happened until about 4 p.m. I was starting to get worried because I had never just waited like that during labor and I started getting concerned that I was going to be in labor for days and maybe we shouldn't have gotten induced but then they came in and broke my water and I went from a 4 (I think) to a 10 in and hour and a half. I was just sitting there watching a show with Jeff and all of the sudden I felt her just slide into the birth canal (if that was even possible) I told my nurse I was ready and she checked me, sure enough I was ready. She called the doctor and the doctor wanted the nurse to have me do a practice push, so I pushed and she told me to stop and that the doctor needed to come now. SO, the doctor took her sweet time getting there (not new, we spent a lot of time waiting for this lady). She took her time getting ready (seriously she was slow, I am not exaggerating!) Finally she was ready, meanwhile I am trying as hard as I can not to push. She sat down and said push...I pushed and Nicole was here! One push, it was crazy!

She was here a perfectly healthy baby girl! Jeff was still holding out hope for a boy, the first thing he said before anyone said anything was "it's a GIRL!" Don't get me wrong Jeff loves our girls, but I am sure it would be nice for him to not be so out numbered!

Everything has gone so well (knock on wood), she eats great, she has slept better than my other two, and the girls have been great big sisters. I was nervous especially that Whitney would struggle with it but she has been a peach, I think maybe Morgan has had a harder time, she loves Nicole but I think she is struggling with not having all her friends here and the 'social life' we had in Denver. We will figure out something to keep her occupied though.

My mom was here Saturday until the following Sunday and my sister came the Thursday until Tuesday the week she was born. It was SO fun to have them both here. I was spoiled rotten. I got naps and didn't have to cook and they played with the girls. It was great, I could get used to that! While they were here we took a quick trip to Portland to see my Grandma and Aunt and Uncle. I don't know if it was a great idea to take a newborn on a road trip, but my sister hadn't seen her in years and we thought it was a good idea at the time. :)

Here she is, 6 Ibs 11 ozs and 20 inches long

The view from our room

I look awesome I know :) Oh well, she was worth it!

Whitney LOVES to hold Nicole and talks in a high sqeaky voice whenever she talks to her, CUTE!

My girls!

My sister and Nicole, but I completely forgot to get a picture with Nicole and my mom!

Four generations

My cute Grandma

Here is the scoop.

2010-07-14T20:51:00.000-07:00

Hello! Long time no post! :) Well, since the last time I posted a lot has been going on! I will just highlight a few more for my sake so feel free to skim. :)

~My little brother went on his mission for the LDS church to Winnipeg Canada so we drove to Idaho for a quick trip to see him speak in church. He is awesome (don't ever tell him I said that) he really has been an inspiration for me for a long time now and I am really proud of him. Unfortunately I didn't take ANY pictures! WHAT! I know I don't know what I was thinking, obviously I wasn't.

~Easter was great, Morgan and Whit loved looking for eggs. We had a great dinner at our friends house..mmm

Dying eggs

Morgan showing off her loot

Whitney searching for eggs

~May started off with Jeff being gone for two weeks to Washington to open a new office up there. That was fun...not really. It was long. BUT, one of my best friends came to visit for a few days which was a BLAST! Lawanda you are great and I miss your face. Again, I forgot to take any pictures! I am pretty sure I am losing it this pregnancy! My girls LOVE LOVE LOVE her, so we played and ate and talked and shopped. It was pretty great!

~When Jeff got home he was here for four days then we ALL took off to Washington for about six weeks. The first week and a half we were there we stayed with my cute sister in law at her house. Bless her heart, she was already housing her brother in law and then we show up PLUS her family AND she is staging her house to get it sold! She is a saint. After that time we went to my grandparents home on Whidby Island. Their house isn't to far from Shelly's but you have to cross part of the Puget Sound to get there on the ferry which the girls loved, but it takes about 45 minutes to an hour extra to get there. SO Jeff stayed at his sisters house during the week and came over on the weekends (from his office it is about two hours). SO when he was there we had a great time! Farmers markets, touring the island, eating good food. But when he wasn't there it was a little lonely. Then the last week we headed back to my SIL's house (my grandparents rent their home out and it happened to be rented that week) and after that I decided to drive to Idaho to spend some time with my parents.

This is a picture I remember from when I was little, I THINK my grandma put it all together it is sea shells and things from the beach. It was the only thing left at my grandparents house of theirs.

The view when you first walk in the house

My grandparents house

The girls taking a bath, beautiful view but a little awkward because their were no blinds. :)

Every Friday all the cruise ships would pass by the house, it was fun watching all the ships go by

While I was there I was going a little stir crazy so I got some fabric and made a blessing dress. It turned out ok, I don't think I am in love, but at this point I am to busy to fix it so it will have to work.

I also made a baby blanket (thanks Shelly for letting me use your sewing machine!)

There were deer in the yard all the time, we also saw a raccoon, hummingbirds, chipmunks, quails (and baby quails, so cute!) and bunnies.

One of the awesome sunsets from my grandparents yard.

~We drove from Seattle to Rexburg (14 hours) and the girls were great. We celebrated the 4th with my parents and my brother and his wife and their kids. We went to the Rexburg parade and had a BBQ with lots of friends and family. It was great, but I was pooped! SO Sunday morning we headed off to Denver...(12 hours) and Morgan was great...Whitney, not so much. It was a long drive and I wanted to cry when I got home! :)

The girls were so done, this is us at the picnic on the 4th. Pretty much sums up how we were all feeling at that point! :)

Grandma was so nice to help Morgan go get candy during the parade while I held onry Whitney :)

~NOW, we are officially moving to Washington for who knows how long! :) It could be anywhere from 4 months to a year, who knows! So for the last two weeks I have been packing, blah. All I have to say is I have amazing friends and family who keep calling asking what they can do...everyday, I am not kidding. They (you) are GREAT!!! I want to cry every time someone calls (I am pregnant and super hormonal :) ) We are VERY VERY VERY sad to leave but excited for the new adventure at the same time!

~OH! We are still pregnant :) I am 33 weeks and we are having a GIRL!!! Surprise! :) Ok, I wasn't to surprised. We actually went to our ultrasound and they were not able to tell. The tech said if she HAD to say one or the other she was say MAYBE 60% a girl. I was a little disappointed that they weren't able to say for sure, and JEFF was so funny, he was just pacing the floor the whole time. He finally after a few weeks got me to go to a fetal photo type place and find out for sure. SO, it IS a girl. I am really excited but really nervous at the same time. Three girls! DRAMA! haha I don't know how I will handle it! My pregnancy has gone great (beside the first 23 weeks of throwing up and nausea!) I really am grateful, but I am STRESSED with everything going on, I am excited to get settled and really get ready for this baby girl!

~One more shout out to my husband who is still in Washington poor guys has only been home for four days since May! :( He is doing so well up there AND because of all of this craziness he was not able to walk for his Masters degree. I think (ok I know) I was more upset about this than he was. He worked so hard and then didn't get to get the pictures and the memories of walking. :( I may rent him an outfit just so I can take pictures! Or maybe I will convince him to get his doctorates! haha I think he will have to convince me before I convince him. BUT again, good work hun I am so proud!

These are just some random pictures:

Whit was so tired one day she just crashed on the couch like this.

Morgan just sharing the whippers with Whitney...mmm

Morgan was in the bathtub with her swim suit on and it started raining really hard so I got her out and got her umbrella and rain boots and she was LOVING playing in the rain.

Sporting her new headband that I made from a tie.

Diddo

I LOVE these shoes!

Morgan was jumping on the couch and fell and knocked a tooth loose. SO she had her first trip to the dentist, everything was just fine and Morgan did great.

Morgan got this set of beads and hair things which she loved playing with...

Until she thought the hair clips should be earrings! :)

Morgan flying her first kite in Washington at the beach.

This is Whitney actually flying the kite. This is the best picture I could get of her since I was holding her, but she LOVED it.

Sorry for any misprints, it is late and I am tired. It has been a little crazy the last few months, but fun times. Hopefully I keep up a little better from here on out...we will see. :)

Yes, We Are Still Here

2010-07-04T13:08:00.001-07:00

While my dear, pregnant wife is driving home this July 4th afternoon, I realize it is time to update the blog. We have had a great time up in Washington and will be up here for another few months as I get my new warehouse/office going. So here is a pictorial of our time thus far in WA and the good times we have had. On a side note, my wife is the best. She is a true trooper following me all over the place and never complaining. I am not sure what I did right to deserve such a marvelous spouse, but something was certainly on my side helping me when I managed to swoop her from the BYU-I dating pool. Now on to the show:

Morgan and Whitney pray like their Aunt Stephanie when we get ready for prayers.

Morgan was intent on watching for whales out of Grandma's window. The home we stayed in was Kim's grandparents on Whidbey Island and it looked out on to the Puget Sound. What a beautiful view and a blessing to be able to stay there.

Whitney loves the water. She was ready to go and dive right in. She loves to play in the dirt and sand and yet once she is done, hates to have anything dirty on her hands. Something is going to have to give because Kim and I are getting tired of always having to keep her hands clean.

Morgan on the other hand can't stand to be on the beach at all with flip flops on because she does not like sand on her feet. I had to carry her over all the driftwood to get her back to the van and wash off her feet. But overall, a good time was had by all.

This was the sunset off the back porch at Grandma's house.

Parker and Whitney having a good time in the stroller.

Morgan and Grandma Sucher

Grandpa and Grandpa Sucher with the grandkids.

My parents

A Lighthouse in Langley

We went to a park last weekend for a picnic and they had a perfect climbing tree. We were able to get all the kids in there and Morgan was loving it.

Despite the less than desirable weather, Washington has been good. I love all the green grass and tall trees. It reminds me of the spring I had in Juneau in 1999 on my mission. Anyway, there a little snap shot of what we have been up to.

Lots going on!

2010-03-17T11:51:00.000-07:00

Jeff and I just celebrated our sixth anniversary! We went to our wards chili cookoff! haha I know it doesn't sound that exciting, but it is so fun! No kids...adult conversation, good food. :) This year Jeff entered a chili, I think it had about seven pounds of meat...no joke. The original recipe called for 22 pounds!!! I made him cut it down. :) He wasn't in the top three for chili but he won for the name PETA Chili...People Eating Tasty Animals chili. Nice huh. :) BUT, he had a lot of people come up to him and tell him they voted for his chili. So I would say it was a hit! To bad I forgot to bring my camera! (We are planning on going away for the weekend to celebrate as well we just have to figure out where we are are going and when would be ok for work!)

Not only did we have our anniversary this week but Jeff finished his MBA!!! YAY! He literally works 50 hours a week (at a minimum), does his calling, takes care of me and his 2.5 kids. He has a lot on his plate I am so proud that he did so well while taking care of his other responsibilities. Good job Hun, we love you and are so proud of the hard worker you are!

Look what we got!

2010-03-07T19:03:00.000-08:00

Ok, this one isn't ours but it looks the same. I feel old....is that normal? I remember when my friends parents got mini vans did anyone else feel this way when they got a van/SUV? Don't get me wrong this is what I wanted because it seems to have more storage space than any of the SUV's we looked at. Oh well either way I love it and it will be great to be able to fit all three kids in. Oh yeah, we are pregnant! :) We are only about 14 ish weeks along. I feel like a trash monkey but I think I am slowly getting better....slowly. I have one or two decent days then a rough one. That being said I am grateful we are pregnant...shocked and nervous, but excited. I knew as soon as we had Whitney that there was another baby ready and waiting to come. I was just surprised since it seems to take us a while to get pregnant, this was a little faster than expected but that is ok. Somehow I will be able to handle three kids...right?

Whitney is ONE!

2010-02-24T19:34:00.000-08:00

Well this post is a little late...but for documentations sake. Whitney is:

2 ft. 4.5 in long - 29%
16 Ib 3.9 oz - 1%
17.52" head - 32%

So I took her to the doctor again today to check her weight and she had gone up a pound...she is healthy...don't worry this girl eats like a horse (most of the time). :)

She isn't walking yet, she says Dad ALL THE TIME...really? Is that fair, I mean I get it I am a fan of him too but really?!? I am the one at home with her ALL DAY EVERYDAY, is it to much to ask for Mom? :) That is the only word that anyone else would really recognize but she says cheese, please and thanks (sometimes). Mostly she is just going around babbling all day. She loves playing in the bathroom and in the trash...love it...not really, how do I get her to stop that? She had eight teeth as of her birthday but now she has ten with two more coming through.

Getting ready to eat some birthday cake!

She was a little confused.

Not to interested...

Still not sure....

What the heck is this???

Yeah, she likes her hands clean when she eats, she would rather be fed with a fork or spoon...silly girl! (In all honesty the cake was really rich and to much frosting...bleh...but the colors were fun!)

She really did like the sherbet (despite the look on her face).

This is one of her new favorite places to hide, it is in under our end table.

Happy birthday sweet girl! We love you so so so much!

Christmas

2010-01-13T18:45:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas was great this year. We had it at our house and Jeff's parents came. It was a quick trip which is sad but we are just glad we had family! We had lots of fun, food, games!

Jeff's Grandma started a tradition of making everyone's stockings and that tradition has carried down. So this year I finally got my act together and made these. When I say 'made' all I did was add the fabric on the top and the felt characters. I bought the stockings at a Pottery Barn outlet in Utah for fifty cents and had to cover the tops because they were embroidered.

I think I may add some stick arms...maybe next year.

Our ward party brings Santa Clause and he is amazing! I love the look on Whitney's face!

We saw Santa again at the library with our cousins, so fun!

Whitney playing with some Christmas presents.

Jeff loving his new pajamas. :) I saw these and HAD to get them for him, I mean come on he looks good! :)

Jeff got a 'free' I-touch when he got his Mac for school. At first I told him to sell it I won't use it because well, I am usually listening to my kids not the radio. :) BUT this last year it has come in VERY handy. Plug in those headphones and Morgan will sit and watch a movie anywhere! LOVE IT! :) We take it to church and it helps us get through Sacrament (she plays games during church she isn't watching movies!) This is her sporting one of her new princess dresses she got for Christmas...she wears it everyday and swaps it out with other dresses...multiple time a day.

I know I am prejudiced but these girls are just cute!

Christmas dresses...

Jeff was in charge of his Christmas work party and we did a white elephant and his poor secretary got a pretty 'awesome' gift. She was trying to bribe someone into swapping gifts with her. Smart lady.

Best Christmas gifts I could ever ask for. :)

She is getting to big to fast. :(

Enjoying some chicken nuggets.

We went bowling a week or two ago and Morgan really enjoyed it. She kicked my bum.

I don't know what it is but I feel like every time there is a treat in our living room Whitney finds it. This time it was fudge that was SO good (thanks Mel!) Oh well, I guess this way I didn't eat it all!

She found some more treats...seriously this girl!

Last but not least this guy. :) I don't think I ever posted this picture at Halloween. Who couldn't love this face! He really is such a wonderful Husband and Dad and Friend. Just thought I would remind him how much I love him and am so grateful he is stuck with me for eternity! :) Love you!

We really had a great Christmas and so far we are off to a great new year!

Thanksgiving

2009-12-15T18:19:00.000-08:00

It is about time I posted about our Thanksgiving! We got together with my ENTIRE family for Thanksgiving! We haven't all been together in almost five years!!! We had SOOO much fun! We went to Riverton Wyoming and stayed at my brothers house. We played games (the newlywed game...so fun but it was kind of sad that the newest married couple won!) we ate A LOT, talked, went on a hike, toured the town, went swimming, had a talent show, watched the BYU/UTAH game, played with beads, exchanged Christmas gifts and just enjoyed being together. The only thing I didn't do was take enough pictures, but here are a few:

All the grandkids! (17)

We hiked to this crazy river that goes through those caves and ends up on the other side of the road!

The whole family. :)

Family love.

Grandma and Grandpa with all the grand kids

The three two year olds.

Three things I am SO thankful for!!

Aw, tender moment with Uncle Bart!

Watching the BYU/Utah Game!!!

Grandma and Grandpa handing out Christmas gifts to the grand kids.

For the last three years my Mom (and Dad) have been working on a history book of my Mom side of the family and they finished it right in time for Christmas!!! It is over 500 pages! I am so proud of them for doing this! What an amazing gift! I am so grateful for their hard work, what an amazing thing to have my families life stories all right at my fingertips!
Thanks Mom and Dad!

On the way home we stopped at Martin's Cove. It was so neat to be there. It had an amazing spirit there. We weren't able to walk to the actual cove but we stopped in at the visitors center. The missionary that was there spoke of the sacredness of the cove. What a special experience.

There are so many things I am thankful for this year I could go on and on but I am so thankful for the gospel in my life, my wonderful husband, my sweet kids, all of my family, a good job, and great friends. :)

We are truly blessed.

Halloween

2009-11-08T11:58:00.000-08:00

I enjoy Halloween more now that I have kids than I EVER have. It is so fun to watch Morgan pretend and watch her get so excited. She was Cinderella this year and for months before I swear any one she talked to she would tell them that she was going to be Cinderella and they she would ask them what they were going to be and if they didn't know she would give them suggestions. Such a funny girl.

Morgan got this kit from her Grandma for her birthday, she had a great time decorating her spooky crispy house.

Morgan pretending to be Princess Cinderella. I made her dress and it is a little big but I guess that gives her room to grow right?

She walked around all night at our ward trunk or treat in these shoes...she is definitely a girl!

Whitney on the other hand wasn't very excited to dress up this year!

Jeff and I went to a Halloween party this year and well, I got so excited putting everyone else's costume together that I forgot about mine. So I ran to Old Navy and grabbed this sweater. (all Halloween stuff was $2!)

Jeff's costume was great, although when we were walking around people we didn't know probably thought he wasn't dressed up! In fact when we went to pick up our girls from my brothers house my little nephew asked my Sister in law who "he" was! :)

A few days before Halloween we got dumped on! I think we got almost two feet of snow! This was just the first day of the snow! (a week later though most of it was melted! I LOVE Colorado snow storms!)

Whitney didn't love playing in the snow but whenever we did go outside she would stick her tongue out to try and catch some snowflakes.

Morgan LOVED playing in the snow (despite the look on her face) and making snow angels. It was a fun week!

Happy Birthday Morgan!

2009-10-26T19:28:00.000-07:00

I can't believe Morgan has turned three! I am sure every parent goes through this but it is CRAZY, it happened so fast! She has been SO funny lately...a little pill...but funny!

~ She was going upstairs to our room the other day and Whitney was sleeping on our bed so Jeff was trying to get her attention to stop and she turned around and says, "Easy tiger!"

~ We were driving the other day and Jeff and I were talking and Morgan was just jabbering in the back then she stops and says, "Do you understand Daddy?"

~ She was eating a snack the other day and I asked her if she liked it and she looks at me and says, "This is scrumptious Mommy!"

~ Sometimes she just starts talking and I have no idea what she is saying so I usually say something like I don't understand or what you talkin' about Willis. Anyway, now Morgan when she doesn't get it she usually says, "What cho talkin' bout Willis?"

Anyway, she wanted a castle cake for her birthday and well this is the outcome...

I don't know if I would call it a castle, maybe I could call it the leaning tower of sugar! I am afraid my cake decorating skills are lacking!

Look at that lean! I am surprised it stayed up! haha

Birthday Princess!

She got a new tricycle....we bought this at the beginning of the year on a toy clearance and now I am wondering if I should have just gotten her a small bike instead.

For playgroup we went to a place called Hudson Gardens and it was really pretty especially with all of the fall colors (oh how I LOVE fall!) This is a shot of Whitney and her future husband Aiden :) He is three months younger than Whitney but you would never guess it, just look at those CHEEKS! I love it!

Morgan loved the hay maze!

They had a pretty pathetic pumpkin patch, most of the pumpkins were rotting, but they did have some big ones!

Morgan hanging out with the girls, it doesn't matter how old the kids are she thinks she is just their size. She always goes up to new kids and says, "Hi! I am Morgan, what's your name?" She is our little social butterfly. Lately she is very concerned that everyone has a Halloween costume. Morgan has known what she was going to be for months. So every time we stop and chat with someone including random people at the grocery store or anything she asks them what they are going to be and if they don't know she comes up with a bunch of ideas of what they should be.

She was so funny, she was trying to cross her legs and she just couldn't get them to stay.

Whitney just hanging out, she loves to be in the stroller.

Mommy and the birthday girl. :) She is really a sweet girl and we are so blessed to have her in our lives. We LOVE LOVE LOVE you Morgan!

The Rest of September :)

2009-10-21T20:28:00.000-07:00

At the end of September we drove over to Utah. Jeff went to see the BYU football game and came back home the next day and while I went to Idaho for the rest of the week. Here are a few pictures:

Morgan was so excited to wear her "BYU dress"

Whitney would not take her eye off my brothers dog.

We were gone during Jeff's birthday (I know I am an awful wife, I still feel bad) Anyway, I got him beatles rockband for his x-box a few days before his birthday. I did try to celebrate before we left with his favorite meal and I took cupcakes to his softball game. I don't think I want to miss his birthday again.

Morgan rocking out!

Jeff telling his girls thanks for the gift.

While I was in Idaho I got to see a lot of old friends, too bad I forgot to take pictures with all of them!!! This is my good friend Noelle who is an AMAZING mom and expecting baby number FOUR! :)

This is mine and Jeff's good friend Nicole. We were all friends in college and without her there may have been no Jeff and Kim :) Thanks Nicole! ;)

My sweet Mom and Dad.

Morgan was in heaven, Grandma let her have all the popsicles she could eat!

My mom makes the best wheat bread! So we watched her make it in hopes that I could recreate the goodness!!!

Whit just watching us make bread.

I went and took a tour of the student center at BYU-I that they are re-doing...it is AMAZING!

Morgan, Whitney, and I went to school with Grandma, and Morgan was IN HEAVEN! It was so cute to watch her! When we first went in Grandma's room she ran up to the front of the classroom where Grandma was and wasn't shy at all. After a big fit she finally came to the back of the class with me. :) I love this picture because all the kids were lining up for lunch and Morgan just went with them and did it without being told. The sweet girl, almost every night she prays that she can go to school...it is going to be a long three years!

Grandma and Morgan at lunch. School lunches where I grew up were awesome, I was SO excited to go to get school lunch with my mom! Is that pathetic?

Go Cardinals! They made the playoff's, unfortunately they didn't make it far, there is always next year right? ( I forgot I put that flower in my hair, does anyone else do that? When I clean up I tend to put thing in my hair and pockets. It happens a lot, so if any of you see me walking around with a random flower or bow on my head, please let me know : ) )

There were four girls from our ward that had birthdays right in a row, so we decided to go celebrate by going to a karaoke bar! haha, it was SO fun! We all want to go back for date night! Thanks for the fun time ladies!!!
(Jule, Alecia, Mel)

(Tiffany, Julie)

(Steph, Wylie, Tiffany)

Lindsey showing a sign of her old age, rubbing some bengay on her poor legs! :) haha, ok, she is pregnant, but I had to make sure we got a picture of that! We love you Lindsey!

Steph and Wylie breaking it down to Womanizer. :)

We sang, Girls Just Want to Have Fun....this song went on...and on...and on...

Whitney is teething, she isn't a great teether, so one day I had it and I found a piece of black licorice for her to chew on it and she was loving it! (Does that make me a bad mom?)

Whitney's first meal of spaghetti

The best day EVER!

2009-09-14T10:50:00.000-07:00

We have been busy lately but the most exciting thing that we have been doing is playing in DISNEY LAND! :) Jeff and I were going to go on a cruise or do something a little more adult but nothing ever seemed to work out. So we found ourselves booking a trip to Disneyland. It. Was. So. Worth. It!!! Not that is wasn't a lot of work, but we had a great time!

We left on the second at 5:00 a.m., I was a little worried how the girls would react to that so I had put them to bed at 6:00 p.m. and they were champs!

We got to the Orange County airport and got our rental car and headed straight for Disney to meet our good friends (and cousins)...(thank you guys SOOOO much for 1. letting us bum in on your trip, and 2. for the GREAT discounts!) We spent three days in Disney...it was in the 90's those three days and humid! BLAH, we were all a sweaty mess. We were able to see all the princesses and a lot of the other characters. We went to the Aladdin show which was AWESOME and we saw the Playhouse Disney show. I think that was where we knew we had made the right decision by going on this trip. Morgan was dancing and singing and loving every minute of the show. I think everything was so magical for her! We couldn't decide what we would get her from Disneyland, if anything at all. But we found seven little princess figurines and she held on to the box of them the entire last day. (we wouldn't let her open it until we were in the car, we are mean, I know. :) ) The last day after we got in the car she said "this was the BEST DAY EVER!" SO cute! (these pictures are not in order and I was to lazy to fix them! :) )

Us on the rocket ride in California Adventure.

All of us at the front of Disney!

Daddy and Morgan on Dumbo!

I love the look on Morgan's face, this is during the first parade we saw. All the characters were in it, she loved it!

Getting ready to watch A Bug's Life in 4D...Morgan DID NOT LIKE IT!

Morgan meeting Ariel. She went right up to her and held her hands and just started talking.

Whitney was so happy the whole time. Sweet girl.

Our little family at Disneyland. :)

Meeting Snow White.

The first parade we saw had all the characters and Morgan was loving it.

Morgan before the Bugs Life ride...little did she know. :)

Morgan driving her little race car. Jeff said she loved it, like father like daughter.

On our way to the park on the tram our first day.

Morgan on our way home :) Yes, this picture will be used as blackmail! :)

"Where all your dreams come true!" :) Morgan was so excited...I think maybe I was a little more excited for her to meet Cinderella!

It was so nice, the first day we walked in and there was Mickey and Goofy and a tiny line! Perfect timing!!!

While we were there we stayed with Jeff's Aunt Lisa and Uncle Vaughn - they were in Texas watching the BYU game, I think Jeff was a little jealous! :) (Thanks guys for letting us stay at your house!) We took one of their girls with us one day and I think we wore her out because she was to tired to come the next day!

On Saturday we went to Sea World with our same friends of some of our other great friends, Danny and Erin, who used to live in Utah. It was fun but we were SO TIRED that we left after only half a day. Morgan just kept asking to go home! haha So we went to Danny and Erin's house and Jeff and Danny dropped us off as fast as they could and went to start watching the BYU game (via Tivo :) ). Erin and I hung out with the kids (I got to meet their new son for the first time! He is 1 1/2 and ADORABLE and I COMPLETELY forgot to take pictures of all of us!) It was so much fun to catch up.

We went to church with them the next day and ate a delicious dinner and played CANASTA! We used to get together with these guys every Sunday and play for hours. We had such a fun time!!! Then we headed back to L.A. We got to visit with Jeff's Aunt and Uncle and talked all about the game. They are so much fun to talk to. The next morning we headed back to the airport and Morgan just kept saying she didn't want to go home she wanted to go to Disneyland. :)

It was such a fun trip and we weren't ready to come home but we are SO glad we were able to go. The girls did great there were only two meltdowns. Whitney did awesome. It was so nice to spend so much time with Jeff and with all of our friends. We hope we get to see everyone again soon!

I asked Morgan what her favorite part was she said, her princess dolls. :)

I asked her what her favorite ride was, Dumbo

I asked her who her favorite princess was, Cinderella....surprise! :) haha

Jeff on the phone with someone talking BYU football.

Whitney loved riding in the stroller and puling Morgan's hair! :)

At Sea World they had this great kids area that Morgan loved.

I have to give a big shout out to Jeff. It was my birthday a few weeks ago and he did a GREAT job! He bought me a chocolate fountain and set it up and bought a bunch of stuff to put in the chocolate and invited a bunch of people over for cake and chocolate fountain! :) He worked so hard to put it all together and it was a big surprise for me :) Thanks Love! I LOVE YOU SOOOO much!

We just found this picture and I had to post it, I don't remember which birthday this was for Jeff but he always said he wanted a cake made of big mac's. :)

Pictures

2009-08-14T18:32:00.000-07:00

This has been a very busy past few weeks, here are some fun pictures:

I had to take this picture she was just chilling, she loves her baths.

Morgan being a good sister and TRYING to help

The girls all dressed up ready to celebrate the fourth! Sad that I forgot my camera the rest of the day! IT POURED, but regardless we still had a great bbq at our friends house and watched the 'men' (I think they are more like little boys when they get around fire! :) ) shoot off fireworks. So much fun!

We have gone swimming quite a bit this summer, here are the girls sporting their swimwear. Morgan has since gotten a new suite. It was supposed to be for next year but she just had to try it on and it fits! Hopefully it streches for next year! haha, she loves it though, she may not enjoy swimming very much but she loves that suit. In fact she loves it so much I can bribe her to do almost anything if she gets to wear it!

We were able to watch my brothers five kids for a week while they went to New York. While I am not sure I want to have five kids right now it was fun to see what it will be like to have my kids play together, work together, and well lets face it fight 'together'. :)

These guys were best buddies all week.

Here is Kramer, a.k.a Whitney. Her hair is crazy and I can't get enough of it!

We also had a visit for a week from this cute family! This is Jeff's sister Steph and her husband Jon and their cute cute cute baby Lucy!

We had a lot of fun playing, crafting, shopping, laughing and talking. She is great (pretty much I have the greatest sister in laws on the planet on both sides. I get blessed with one GREAT sister and seven wonderful sister in laws, how did I get so lucky?)

Anyway, we took their cute family pictues and tried to get some of the girls, and well, out of almost a hundred shots there was not ONE where they were all looking so I just posted a few of my favorites.

(I think this is my favorite, that blurry thing is Whitney's binki, I am not quite sure if she threw it or if Morgan did but I thought it was pretty funny!)

Best buddies

Don't you just want to pinch those cute cheeks!

We turned the t.v. on and there was not a peep from any of the girls!

Jeff has been wanting an old school Cardinals jersey for a while now and he found one on e-bay for cheap. He would call me every day to see if the mail had come yet, which got a little annoying. ;) It was a long week and a half for that boy, but he was GIDDY when he tried it on. So it was all worth it in the end.

I have been sewing quite a bit lately and have a few more pictures coming soon but I made this little dress last night and finished it this morning. I think I may add sleeves but I am not sure, maybe I will just get her a new shirt. I made it out of one of Jeff's old church shirts. There are oodles of tutorials out there for the general idea of how to make these.

*I PROMISE Morgan doesn't ALWAYS look like a vagabond! I am trying to grow her bangs out right now and it is a pain! So I am trying to find ways to deal with her flighty little bangs!

Look what I got!

2009-08-14T18:18:00.000-07:00

For a while now I have wanted a wheat grinder. I am not really sure why I had this huge urge to get one. But after about a year my wonderful husband got it for me for Mother's day! YAY FOR ME! :) Here she is....I didn't take a picture before I used it because, well, I was just to excited!

It is the one the church recommends. They have a special promo code if you want to order one but I went to Bed Bath and Beyond and they price matched it and also let me use a 20% coupon...so if you are in the market for a wheat grinder do that! It will save you quite a bit of money.

Here is Morgan helping me make my first batch of whole wheat bread.....she had a lot of fun playing in the flour and shaping the dough.

(again, NEVER a normal smile)

And here is my beautiful 'disasterpiece' as the pioneerwoman would say, how sad, but they still tasted great! (Jeff said they weren't a disaster they just had character :) )

Six Months Old!

2009-08-12T19:48:00.000-07:00

I still can't believe Whitney is six months old! (now 6 1/2!) Anyway, she is such a happy baby, I lover her to death. Lately she has started actually eating solids, not just spitting them out. She sits up by herself, and she is babbling like crazy. She LOVES LOVES LOVES Morgan. It is cute watching them interact together. My favorite is when we are driving and Morgan plays with Whit and Whitney thinks it is the best thing ever she just laughs and laughs. I wish I could get it on video. Maybe when Jeff is driving with us next time. She is starting to get some teeth and I wish they would just break through already, she has been fussy and very clingy. Morgan was a GREAT teether, in fact I didn't even know she was teething then one day she smiled and there were her teeth! :) Anyway, here are Whitney's stats:

Head: 16 1/2" (30%)
Weight: 13 Ibs 10 oz (7%)
Height: 26 1/2 " (35%)

Here are some pictures: (sorry there are so many I couldn't just choose a few!)

Of course Morgan wanted in on the fun too! :) This girl will not give me a normal smile...EVER!

These two are the closest to NORMAL that she would give me:

Morganism's

2009-07-02T20:53:00.000-07:00

Morgan is so funny lately and every time she says something funny I think I will remember...and I don't SO I need to remember to write it down or blog it. Here are some that I did remember:

- Lately she has been watching The Backyardagains, on one of the episodes they were telling a joke. The other day we were driving in the car and she say's
'knock knock',
me, "who's there?"
Morgan, "banana"
me, "banana who?"
and this goes on for a few more but she never finished her joke and then she just kept doing it and making up different things to answer.

- I DVR'd a show and while I was making dinner Morgan was watching it and when it ended the Disney channel came on and it was one of the teeny bopper shows on and they were talking about being the prom queen. Later that day Morgan comes up to me and says "Mommy I need to find my other shoe so I can be the prom queen!" haha So the next few days all she would talk about is being the prom queen.

What a funny little girl. :)

Family Pictures

2009-06-28T20:01:00.001-07:00

We finally got around to taking new family pictures. Not the greatest, but they will work until I lose 20 pounds :)

I love this one of Morgan we can never get her to smile normal for pictures (I think she got this from the Sucher side :) )

By the time we got to taking pictures of Whitney she was not a happy camper so I will have to take some this week of her but for now here you go!

Here she is

2009-06-10T20:33:00.001-07:00

BEFORE:

AFTER:

(Isn't my model cute! Yes, she is still obsessed with wearing dresses, silly girl!)

I am pretty happy with how it has turned out, I am going to try to make the legs a little less BRIGHT white and add some upholstery tacks to the corners to hide some of the staples. But, she is good enough for now.