August and September 2013

I do really try to keep this updated, but other things keep getting in the way. Here is a rundown of what has been happening the last two 2 months:
    August 2013:
Chris received a new calling this month. He was called as Webelos leader, which is a scouting program for 10 year old boys.
   The last weekend in the month, we went to Idaho. We visited with my family, saw the remains of the fire,and went to the Eastern Idaho State Fair Blackfoot. We had a great time.
We also used a Community Explorer Card to visit some museums in Salt Lake for free. We visited the Discovery Gateway, Red Butte Gardens, and the Natural History Museum.

aftermath of the fire

Riding his favorite ride at the fair.

Daniel also liked this ride.

Daniel riding the horse at Discovery Gateway.

September:

  This was a busy month for us. Daniel started preschool and loves it. The teacher from last year quit and they finally found one about 2 weeks into preschool starting. They are currently looking for another teacher as she just quit yesterday. Daniel's fear of trees also became obvious this month. If he walks next to one, sometimes he gets so scared he starts screaming. We are trying to read books about trees with him hoping it will help.

    Katina helped in the Primary Program held on the 15th. The kids did such a good job on it. She also started taking a Love and Logic Parenting class on Saturdays. She is learning a lot on how to be a better parent. She was also very excited to attend the Relief Society General Meeting at the Conference Center with some sisters from the ward. It was a wonderful experience being in the same room as the prophet. 

    Our stake conference was held on the 21st and we got a new Stake Presidency. Our own Bishop Keller became President Keller! We are still waiting to see who our new bishop will be.

    Chris is enjoying his new job. He has adjusted well to the work, but is having a tough time dealing with the hours. He works from 6 am till 3 pm. He is in bed most nights by 10:30. 

   Kathryn is getting big so quickly. She loves to get into everything and is attempting to stand. She still has no teeth. She wakes up frequently in the night. If we let her cry it out, she wakes up her brother and dad. I can't put Daniel in the living room because Chris gets up so early. I spend most of my night asleep in the chair with Kathryn asleep on my lap.

Daniel's first day of preschool.

Daniel playing his first day of preschool.

Where I found Kathryn one day.

Loook how cute I am!!

  

Something I Forgot to Mention

I forgot to mention in my last post that my counseling is over and I am feeling much better. After two very tough weeks, I went back into my doctor and he increased my medication by 10 mg. What a difference that made! Within two days, I could feel a big difference. That next week at counseling, they closed my file. Who knew that 10 mg would make such a difference!

June and July 2013

I have many requests that I update the blog, so here goes.
June 2013
Not much happened this month. We did go to Scheels, a sporting goods store that opened last year. We found a Father's Day present for Chris's dad and enjoyed looking at the stuffed animals.Daniel wanted to ride the Ferris Wheel, so he convinced mom to go with him because dad doesn't like Ferris Wheels. It turns out that mom doesn't care much for them. She did survive it and Daniel loved it. Here are a few pictures of it:

Daniel 'driving' the monster truck.

We also visited my sister and her family a couple of times when they were in Sandy. Daniel enjoyed playing with his cousins.

July 2013

We started out this month by going to Yellowstone National Park with Katina's mom. We enjoyed seeing the park; however, we did not enjoy Kathryn screaming the entire time she was in her car seat. We also went to Challlis for the Fourth of July parade and visited with a friend of Katina's. 

Daniel was excited to see his first buffalo.

Elk in Mammoth Hot Springs.

A buffalo that was causing a traffic jam.

Old Faithful.

Bacterial pond

A pretty hot pot that Daniel kept calling 'hot pockets'

Kid on a unicycle in the parade.

Daniel became officially potty-trained this month. He doesn't wear diapers at all anymore and has relatively few accidents. He even learned to pee standing up and will go in places away from home, a big accomplishment. He adores his sister and needs to be reminded constantly that she is not as strong as  him.

Kathryn started crawling, clapping her hands, pulling up on furniture, and loves to eat finger food.She is an extremely busy girl who is very determined in every thing she does. She still gets very fussy when she is tired.

Chris worked for the Church Distribution for a couple of weeks in July before that project ended. He has done a few small projects since, and currently has one lined for the middle of August. Next month will be a year since he has been unemployed. Scary times, but we have faith that things will work out. He also got released from teaching Primary this month. They could not find another male teacher to teach with him. He probably won't be without a calling for too long.

Other noteworthy things happened this month. We got a new couch. Our sweet neighbor who passed away in January finally got her place sold and we took her hide-a-bed couch. We love it, especially having a little bit of Lynette in our home. We also went to Float Preview party and to the 24th of July parade. We were excited that our stake's float won the theme award. We also hiked Ensign Peak with our ward. Quite an accomplishment since we are both out of shape. Daniel did great--he didn't even need to be carried at all.

Kathryn being cute as can be.

Both kids 

Daniel as a tiger from Chris's temp company's picnic in the park.

Our stake float.

The cool guy on stilts.

Chinese Society dragon.

May 2013

This, like every month thus far, has gone by really fast. Can't believe the year will be half over soon.
       Katina took both kids to her parents house in Idaho for a few days. Chris had a to work, so did not go. They traveled pretty well. Kathryn only cried for about 40 minutes and Daniel watched videos the entire trip. They enjoyed themselves in Idaho and had fun at Grandma and Grandpa's.
       The whole family suffered from sickness this month. Katina felt horrible for a few days, then Chris got a cold, and then both kids got sick. In fact, Kathryn was so sick I took her to PCMC to get her horrible cough  checked out. Turns out she had a bad cold that was settling in her lungs. Both kids spent a few days being miserable. Not a fun week at our house!
        Daniel has done really well with his potty training. He only has an accident once in awhile. We are still working on trying to get him to use the bathroom away from home. He continues to say the funniest things. For example, we asked him if mommy was a boy or girl. He said, "She is just my mommy."
       Kathryn has yet to get a tooth, but has been working on it for over a month. She has become a little more cranky than normal and had a week where she would scream when ever she was laid down to sleep. She has mastered rolling and scooting all over the house. She will probably be crawling very soon. She weighs a little over 15 lbs.
     Chris's temp job is going good. It should be done sometime in June. Hopefully, he will have a new job lined up soon as we only have a few weeks left of unemployment.
    Katina had a difficult month. She was diagnosed with postpartum depression. She is hopeful that medication and counseling from LDS Family Services will help.

Daniel trying out his tricycle. We need to get him a new one as this one has a loose wheel.

Kathryn in her jumper.

What a little ham!!

Loving her new rocker!

April 2013

This month was a good month. The first weekend we enjoyed listening to General Conference. Beforehand, I printed a nursery packet for General Conference off of sugardoodle.net for Daniel to use for conference. He loved to color the apostles and insisted I hang the accordion fan on the wall. He memorized the order of the apostles! It was very cute to see him say the order for anyone to watch.
        Chris and I celebrated our 6th anniversary on April 12th. On that Saturday, we went to eat at Brick Oven Pizza, which was so good. Also that weekend, Chris's brother Scott was in Salt Lake for a training. We were able to visit with him for a couple of hours.
   The last weekend in April we went to zoo since it was the last Saturday before summer prices would start. It was crowded!!! A nice lady gave us a voucher to get Daniel in for free. Kathryn slept the entire time. Daniel liked saying hi to all the animals. His favorite animal was the giraffe.
   Chris's work is going well. They extended his job until the end of May, with the possibility of going longer. He didn't have too many interviews this month. It seems that the job hunting has been very slow since March.
    Daniel has become very independent. He wants to do EVERYTHING himself. Sometimes this is very frustrating because it takes a long time or causes more of mess. We also started potty training at the end of the month. That has gone very well.
   Kathryn has become quite a happy baby. She loves to laugh(especially at her brother), smile, roll over, pull hair, scoot along the floor, and coo loudly when eating or tired. She wants to crawl very badly and I think she will accomplish this very soon. She does better with her sleeping. She is sleeping on average around 6 hours a night. She also started eating rice cereal which she loves.

Daniel playing with Uncle Scott.

Kathryn and Uncle Scott.

Daniel hiding underneath the dishwasher.

Kathryn eating cereal.

March 2013

Wow! What a busy month this has been.
    Both kids have been very busy. Daniel turned 3 years old on March 12. We took him to dinner and dessert that night and held a bowling party for him on the Saturday after his birthday. He had a lot of fun. He has gotten so independent, wanting to do everything on his own. In fact,he burnt his hand at the end of the month by trying to do something himself. He wanted to push the buttons on the microwave and burned his wrist on the edge of the crockpot. He had his well-child check up and weighs 30 pounds and 5 ounces. He continues to adore his sister and makes her laugh.
    Kathryn still likes to roll over and smile at her brother. We introduced her to the jumperoo and she loves it. She will try to play with the toys and move her feet around. She has also started to squeal very loudly. At her appointment, she weighed 13 lbs and 7 ozf .
   Chris got called to teach the 10 and 11-year olds in Primary. It is a large class, but he knows most of the kids because him and Katina taught this class when the students were younger.
   Chris's sister, Cynthia, came to visit for a few days. We have not seen her since we got married almost 6 years ago. The kids loved her and Daniel wanted to do everything with her. We dyed eggs with Daniel and took Cynthia to City Creek and Temple Square. She also come over for dinner after church. It was nice to catch up with her and can't wait to see her again.
   We didn't do anything special for Easter. We took Daniel to Smith's for the candy hunt. They had about 14 pounds of candy in each aisle. Daniel got a ton of candy. We also had family pictures that day. On Saturday evening we went to Kearns to a missionary open house for one of our friends whose daughter got called to the San Antonio Texas mission. Daniel discovered what a trampoline is and left in tears when we made him stop jumping to go home.

Kathryn in the jumperoo.

Daniel showing off his muscles.

Aunt Cynthia with the kids.

Dying eggs with Aunt Cynthia.

Daniel getting his bowling ball.

Daniel bowling.

February 2013

  Being a short month, this was an incredibly busy month. The first weekend, Katina received a new calling as Primary secretary. She hates to miss Relief Society,but enjoys working with the children without having to prepare a lesson. At the end of the month, Chris as called as a teacher for the 10 and 11 year olds.
    Daniel has really started liking Mickey Mouse and listening to Train. We have some videos of him singing and dancing along. He has also really been using his manners recently. He likes to say Please, Thank you and excuse me. That kid does something every day to crack me up.
    Kathryn has really grown the last month. At the end of the month,she started to roll over.She loves it! She also has laughed out a couple of times. She is little less cranky at night. If she doesn't get much sleep in the daytime, she tends to get really cranky in the evening. Weekends are the worst because we don't normally follow an exact schedule like on the weekdays.
   We also became semi-famous this month. We appeared on the KSL news at 10pm. They interviewed us about dealing with Department of Workforce Services in getting Medicaid or CHIP.The kids were very cute. Daniel likes to watch himself on TV frequently.
    Chris's job situation is going okay. Currently, he is working a temp job at the LDS Church. It is expected to go until May. He has had a few interviews that we are hoping will turn into jobs. It is nice for him to have some income coming in, no matter how long.

Daniel singing to "Drive By" in the tub.

Kathryn

Daniel telling Kathryn how old he is

Kathryn

Daniel reading with Jennifer Stagg from KSL news.

January 2013

This month went by very quickly. The first weekend we had the wonderful opportunity to attend a sealing of an adopted baby to his parents in the temple. It was a wonderful sealing!! The temple is such a great place to spend a birthday weekend!
     My parents came down on January 7th before they flew down to Mississippi to visit my sister's family. We picked them up some food and visited with them for a little while. They flew back in on Saturday and we spent very little time downtown due to how cold it was. We enjoyed eating at the Red Iguana that Saturday night. On Sunday, we had to get up early to get both kids ready for church as we meet at 9 am this year. Kathryn was blessed that day. It was a great blessing. A lot of friends showed up to support us. We left after sacrament meeting because my parents had to go back to Idaho.
       Chris and Katina were both released from their callings this month. Chris got asked to coordinate service opportunities in the Elder's Quorum. Katina got released at the perfect time as there were 2 babies born, a surgery, and a funeral the week she was released. She did get a new calling, but cannot announce it because she has not been sustained yet (it will happen tomorrow).
        Our dear neighbor, Lynette Fisher (Grandma Nette to Daniel) passed away a couple of weeks ago. Daniel and I would go visit her nearly every day after his nap. She suffered from many health problems, but never complained about them. She shared many stories with us, and taught me so much about loving other people. She will be greatly missed.
         Daniel has very started singing recently. I catch him singing Primary songs and talking about nursery quite a bit. He has also been saying  a lot of prayers. He will repeat what we way and loves to shout "AMEN" very loudly at the end of his prayers.
         Kathryn has become quite the drama queen. She is extremely fussy, especially in the evenings. The doctor prescribed her some antacids thinking she might her reflux. She would either throw the medicine up or spit it out. The doctor doesn't think she has reflux anymore. She is just a fussy baby. We are hoping she grows out of it very soon.At her 2 month appointment, she weighed 11 lbs. 5 oz and was 23 1/2 inches tall. She is bigger than Daniel was at that age. She is very active and loves to be on the floor and kick around. She likes tummy time and is getting really good at holding her head up. She has the most adorable smile when she wants to smile. She is eating less, which is a big relief to Katina.

Kathryn in her blessing dress.

Kathryn at 6 weeks.

Kathryn at 2 months.

December 2012

This month was full of a lot of things, sleep not included! It has been very interesting to see how Daniel has gotten to love his little sister. He always talks to her and lays next to her when she is playing on the floor.
        Kathryn has grown so much in the last month. At her 2 week appointment, she had already gained close to two pounds. When she was about 2 weeks old, she started to become really fussy when she was eating and started throwing up a lot of her food. Just this week, she was diagnosed with acid reflux and has started medication.
        We went to Idaho for Christmas. The kids traveled very well. Kathryn slept the entire time except to be fed. Daniel played on Chris's IPAD a majority of the trip. We enjoyed the time with my family. The drive back was not fun as the roads were very slick and we had to drive slow.
         Daniel keeps getting smarter and smarter. We bought him some flash cards with beginning words on them and he knew 25 out of 35 of them without being prompted. He also started praying more and ending them the proper way. He has learned how to count to 120 with very little help. Luckily, he started feeding himself again, but still eats a limited variety of food.
          Here are some pictures from Christmas of the kids:

Daniel trying out grandpa's bike.

Daniel opening his Santa present.

Where Kathryn spent the majority of her time at her grandparents.