Polar Express!

Visiting with Santa in our PJ's

Ryan playing with a toy train while waiting to ride the real one

Bryan and his older brother Troy

Headed to the North Pole

A-bear enjoying a chocolate chip cookie on the train

If I had to describe Bryan's parents in one word, it would be generous. This year they decided that it would be fun to take all of the grandkids (and their parents) who were here in Arizona on a trip on the Polar Express. We drove up to Williams where we took the Grand Canyon Railway to the North Pole. There we saw Santa's workshop and his elves, and he boarded the train and proceeded to give all of the kids their own big jingle bell. During the train ride we also had hot chocolate and chocolate chip cookies and sang Christmas carols. At the train station we took pictures with Santa and visited with Mrs. Claus. It was a really fun experience, and Ryan had a ball with his cousins. Our kids were a little young to really get what it was all about, so we figure when Annie is four, we'll probably take them back again.

In any case, it was a wonderful trip and we had a great time with Bryan's family (though we did miss Teri, Alex and Maddie). Thanks Grandma & Grandpa for a fun and memorable experience!

Phoenix Zoo

Earlier this month we decided to start utilizing our zoo passes since it has finally cooled down. My friend Rachel and her kids Noelle and Sidney joined us, and the kids had a great time. Ryan and Noelle loved the goats in the petting zoo, and Ryan loved the giraffes. The day we went it was really empty, so Ryan and Noelle got to run around and completely enjoy themselves. We're looking forward to lots more zoo fun this winter!

Salt Lake Temple

Earlier this summer we decided it would be a fun tradition to start going somewhere to see temple Christmas lights every December. This year we chose Salt Lake. I was super excited--I have a hard time getting into the holiday spirit when it's 70 degrees out. We didn't have to worry about warm weather--we got in Friday night and it was cold and crisp. It snowed for the majority of Saturday, and Sunday before we went home it was frosty cold. We had fun visiting the temple grounds, shopping, riding the light rail and generally taking everything in. The kids weren't big fans of the hats and gloves and general bundling up, but once they started getting cold, they didn't seem to mind. It was a wonderful weekend and a good reminder that as much as I don't always love the warm weather of Arizona, you never have to shovel sunshine!

Happy Birthday, Annie!

It doesn't seem possible, but our Annie turned 1 on Wednesday. We had a low key dinner with both sets of grandparents and our friends the Kastanis', followed by cake and ice cream. Annie had an absolute blast and she and Ryan both loved all the new toys.

As an added bonus, Annie got to have her Grammy and Papa here from Monday night until this morning.

Some things Annie can do at age 1:

~take 2 steps

~climb on and off of the couches

~NOT climb out of her crib! (a victory for me since Ryan was already climbing out of his before this point.)

Happy Birthday, Annie! We love you so much!

Happy Halloween!

The kids had a great Halloween. On the night before we went to our friends, the Hicken's, for a fun Halloween party. Ryan loved running around with all of the other kids--he is such a little social butterfly. On Halloween night we went to a few houses in our neighborhood then over to Grandma & Grandpa's. We couldn't get Little Miss Annie's Minnie ears to stay on, but she was cute nonetheless.

Hope everyone else had a great Halloween, too!

Pumpkin Patch!

Last night for Family Home Evening we took the kiddos to the Pumpkin Patch. Last year we went to Schnepf Farms, but it was a little much for kids as little as ours. This time we went to a patch really close to our house, and Ryan had a great time! He got to decorate his own little pumpkin, go on a hay ride and of course play with all of the pumpkins. This year Ryan is obsessed with pumpkins, so he thoroughly enjoyed himself.

Annie Update

First of all, Annie is doing great.

On the 14th, she went in for an endoscopy and a sigmoidoscopy. From our very first appointment with the GI doctor, I had been very pro-endoscopy, so we were very glad to finally be getting something done.

A week and a half before the procedures, I stopped nursing because I felt like I needed to know how much Annie was actually eating. It was a little scary to discover that she was only eating 14 ounces of formula a day, but at least I had a baseline so I could see if and when we started making any progress.

Anyway, on the day of the procedure, Annie ate 20 ounces of formula. Initially I thought it was a fluke, because the day before she could only eat juice and jello and I figured she was starving. However over the next few days see continued to eat 20 ounces a day, and after a few days, worked her way up to 32 ounces a day, which is where she should be.

The biopsy results showed that she has acid reflux and she is on medication to help heal her esophogus. We haven't been back to see the GI doctor yet, but Annie's pediatrician thinks that she may have had some kind of blockage that got cleared out with the endoscopy.

Regardless of what happened, she is definitely on the mend. Yesterday I took her to get weighed and in 7 days she gained 8 ounces!

She has always been a happy, active baby but I have been amazed at the increase of energy she's had in the last week or so. Thanks to all of our friends and family for their concern and prayers for our little Annie bear.

Where We've Been

So I realize I haven't posted in a couple of months, but it's been crazy. After San Diego we had a couple of average weeks, then Bryan got sick. If you don't know Bryan, he rarely gets sick, and even when he's sick, he never misses work. Well, on more than one occasion he went in late and came home early. On his third doctor's visit within two weeks, he got tested for everything from swine flu to Valley Fever. Luckily, all of the tests came back negative. Everything pointed toward a virus, and after about 6 weeks, he got back to feeling like normal.

In the midst of that, Annie went from falling further down the growth chart at every well visit to loosing weight. Her doctor sent us back to the GI doctor, and we are currently trying to figure out what is going on. We are both currently off of all milk, dairy, egg and soy products because they think she may have an allergic condition in her esophogus and those are the most common allergens. Two weeks after her initial GI visit she has only gained 1 ounce, and we are eagerly awaiting her next visit to see what they are going to do. It's very unsettling, and I worry about it way more than I should, but we're going through the process and doing a lot of praying in the mean time.

Last week we did get to go on our annual vacation, a week in Newport Beach which was wonderful as usual. Pictures to come shortly :)

San Diego

When Ryan saw Bob, he ran right up and gave him a hug!

Getting ready to ride the train at Balboa Park

Ryan and Rachel playing soccer in the park

Miss Annie, being her sweet self

A couple of weeks ago we did our annual long weekend in San Diego. It was absolutely wonderful to get out of the 115 degree heat and enjoy some time outside! So here's the Cliff Notes version of our trip:

Drive to San Diego. Go to Legoland. Go to Sea Life. Go to Rockin' Baja Lobster. Go to bed. Do a session at the San Diego temple. Go to Balboa Park. Ride the train in Balboa Park. Watch Ryan and Rachel play soccer in Balboa Park. Relax at the hotel. Eat super delicious pasta at Bella Pizza. Buy San Diego t-shirts. Buy salt water taffy. Walk around Old Towne. Pack. Drive home.

Ryan is Two!

I can hardly believe it, but this past week Ryan turned two! We had a super fun day that started when Ryan woke up to a ceiling full of helium balloons. He loves balloons and just kept saying, "Wow! Wow!" That afternoon we went to McDonald's for lunch and he got to play in the Toddler Zone for over an hour until he brought me his shoes and was ready to go. That night we went to Amazing Jake's with Bryan's parents and Sabrina. We had dinner and cake, and Ryan and Bryan rode some rides and we all played some games. All in all it was a pretty perfect day, and if I were two, I think I would have been pretty happy.

Happy Birthday, Ryan. We love you so much, little buddy!

Crafty, Crafty

Anyone who knew me before I had kids knows I was domestically challenged. I think it's funny, though, how things can change. Sunday at church the people behind us had this cool little tote bag for their kids' coloring books and crayons. I decided to look online and see if I could find instructions to make something similar, and this is what I came up with. Ryan is currently obsessed with Cars, so I was excited to find this cute fabric. It's lined in bright yellow and I have to say I was pretty impressed with the final product. It just goes to show that you really can do anything you set out to.

So Cute!

So this picture may not seem worthy of a blog post, but I think the story is too cute. Annie was on the floor playing with her little stuffed cow (thanks, Aunt Sabrina) while Bryan and Ryan were watching TV. Next thing you know, she had gotten the cow under her head and was facing the TV, so it totally looked like she was completely comfy, watching whatever show was on at the time. And don't you just love that smile and those eyes? I'm so glad I have a little girl :)

Under Construction

So I've had a few people ask for pictures of the construction. I didn't think to take before pictures, but it was just a single car garage bay with a normal old garage door before.

Today we have the house painters here, and the wallboard for the interior is supposed to go up by this weekend. Last night we went and looked at carpet and paint colors, and we're pretty close on those things. The other big thing we're waiting on is our bid for the new A/C units and the accompanying work. Overall I'm really pleased with the progress and am very much looking forward to the extra space!

Looking at the new room from the front of the house.

Looking from the laundry room toward the window.

Looking from the window toward the laundry room (the laundry room door will be coming off, and there is a new entryway built that you can't see through the insulation. That's where the door to the garage will go.).

Update

Ryan loves his baby sister!

Apparently it's cool to wear sunglasses in the bathtub!

You can definitely tell they're related!

Trying out squash for the first time


I just realized that it's been a while since I've blogged, so I thought I'd post some new pics and let you know what we're up to. Annie turned 6 months last week, which I still can't believe. She is sleeping awesome and continues to be our little angel baby. She is so good natured and mellow, and such a calming presence in our home. I took her in for her shots on Thursday and even though she is continuing to grow, she is now only in the 5th percentile for her weight! We just tried out solid food for the first time yesterday, and she is pretty unsure about that at this point.

Ryan is doing great. While Annie is allowing us to have nice quiet nights, Ryan definitely is not. Hopefully it's just a stage, but he is up every single night, at least once and often more. It's tiring, but chalk it up to parenthood, right? He is talking like crazy and coming up with new words every day. It's so fun to watch, and he is quite entertaining.

We recently began converting part of our garage into another room. No, we're not having another baby, but we need more room! We have it framed out and the window has been installed and the stucco done on the outside. It will be nice to have some storage and a place to put my sewing maching and scrapbooking stuff so I don't have to pack it up everytime I use it. We're hoping to have it completely done in about a month or so.

That's about all that's new here. It's been crazy hot, and keeping Ryan entertained indoors is proving to be quite a challenge. It should be an interesting summer!

Ryan's First Trip to the Firehouse

A couple of weeks ago we went to Tehachapi for my step-sister's baby shower. While we were there, Ryan got to visit the fire station with Papa. He had a great time pushing all the buttons and checking out the lights. Thanks, Papa, for the fun time!

Happy Earth Day!

I've never been a big "Save the Planet" kind of girl--I drive a Suburban and am a registered Republican. However, since having kids, I have become more environmentally aware and try to do my part. I haven't adopted anything earthshattering--just the little things that if everyone does will combine to make a big difference. Our efforts include:

~Recycling everything we can

~Using canvas shopping bags

~Using cloth napkins instead of paper

~Switching to energy efficient lightbulbs

~Using Nalgene bottles for water instead of disposable water bottles

~Washing clothes in cold water and using the quick wash cycle when appropriate

~Getting our windows UV coated to keep it cooler (and use the A/C less)

I'd love to hear what others are doing to help save the planet!

Mad Skills

So I just started taking a cake decorating class, and this is the first cake I did. I'm definitely no Duff Goldman, but hopefully I'll be able to make cute cakes for my kid's birthdays. This whole domestic thing is turning out to be pretty fun...

Happy Easter!

Disney Fun!

Two weekends ago we decided to pack up the crew and head to Disneyland. Ryan absolutely loved going on the rocketships, Dumbo and the Autotopia, as well as lots of other rides. Annie was her usual angel self, and we made some great memories.