Yep... the angel turned one today!

Shelby,
How do I begin to tell you how much you mean to me? In my eyes, a year ago today, an angel was born. I can't describe the joy and happiness you bring to my life. Your smile makes my heart leap and your sweet personality makes me melt. You make my life complete. There are so many things that make you happy...
You love your brother, Logan. Every morning when you wake up he yells, "Shelby Belles," and runs and gives you a hug. When you get excited you start kicking your feet; every morning i get you out of bed this is your ritual... always happy, see mommy, lay on your tummy, start kicking like crazy because you can't hold your happiness in. You love any and every food I have ever fed you. Your crooked smile is intoxicating especially because you always have a smile. Everyone that knows you can't help but love you because you are just so stinkin' cute. You have your daddy in the palm of your hand, actually, you have both of your parents in the palm of your hand. I can't imagine my life without you and I will forever be grateful that I am blessed to have such an angel as my daughter.
All my love, mommy

Prayer...

Earlier this week i was out running errands with the kids. I unlocked the car, got the kids in the car and then, like i do many times, couldn't find where i put my keys after i unlocked the car. As I was searching i thought...hmmm... this could be a good teaching opportunity for Logan. In conference this past week i was reminded that i need to be a much better mom and i need to teach my kids about the gospel even more starting today. So... I said, "Logan, Mom can't find her keys, let's say a prayer and ask Heavenly Father to help mom remember where she put her keys." We said a prayer, I looked around and there they were.

A few days later the same situation happened. As I was looking around for my keys Logan said, "mom we need to say a prayer to find them." Yeah!- my child is listening to me.I am sure we would have found them eventually,but I was wanting to teach a gospel principal so we prayed and we found them again. Right after we found them, "Logan said, mom we need to say a prayer to find my keys." This is when I kind of panicked. Logan had some "cars" keys that have been lost for months. I really gave up on finding them because I was sure they were probably stashed somewhere never to be found again. But, we said the prayer. Right after the prayer, "Logan said, mom, it didn't work." I said, "maybe we can go home and look for them and heavenly father can help us remember where you put them last." But, Logan needed to call nana immediately and tell her that he couldn't find his keys anywhere and he prayed and it didn't work. So, we called nana. Logan said to her in a sad tone, "Nana, i can't find my keys they's is lost. I said a prayer and it duhdn't work." Nana, then to my surprise said- Oh, I found your keys at my house this morning. Logan then said, "mom it worked- nana found my keys." Um... ok, these keys were lost people. I had zero faith that we would ever find them and thus, my teaching methods had gone down the drain. But, apparently I was the one that needed to learn a lesson. Logan does understand what I am teaching him and he has way more faith than i do. When i came home and told bry what happened he said, " we need to start having him pray for more things." Seriously, what a great lesson i learned by teaching my amazing child the power of prayer.

Preview...

I got some pictures of my adorable kids taken so we could give some to daddy for Easter and mostly because my sweet angel is turning one this month. Lindsay got some quickly edited for me so I could get these pictures in daddy's Easter basket.

barfing sucks!

A little getaway to St George turned into passing the stomach flu so generously from one family member to the next. Shelby was throwing up a little before we left, but I didn't think it was the stomach flu... babies puke sometimes right? We drove to St. George Wednesday night. Thursday night I was barfing, Friday late afternoon Bry was barfing, and Friday night Logan was barfing. No fun. We went down to relax and hang out with Liv and Jess and we didn't even see them the whole time we were there so as to not pass it on to them. Either way, I still love that my parents and the Nordhoff's have houses down in St George so we can have a little weekend whenever we want. I did find a couple hours to go shopping when I wasn't barfing and found some adorable "prima ballerina" gymmies from gymboree for Shelby for $3.99. So, I considered this trip successful. The morning after Bry was throwing up he got up early to go golfing and I came out to see this on the counter. Seriously, barfing does suck and I have a funny hubby.



I bought St. Patrick's day outfits for my kids this year. Yes, people, it is dangerous having a girl. I didn't want to wait to put them in these outfits so we got dressed up and had a little pictures taking session.





Shelby is growing up as fast. She loves playing peek-a-boo, standing wherever she can, and playing with Logan. She has a little spit fire attitude now, which I love… nothing like her mom right? She is pretty much in charge around here. I am starting to plan her first year birthday party already. Time flies.
Logan is staying busy and asks every morning to call his nana and if she isn’t’ available, then he wants to call papa. He is a funny little guy and thinks it is so fun to make Shelby and I laugh.

sleep talking...

Bry had to go on a scout camp this weekend. I am so proud of my hubby for fulfilling his calling like he does, but I HATE when he is not home at night. I don't sleep. Every sound starts my heart racing and so I stay up doing things like laundry and watching TV. After Logan had fallen asleep I was folding a load of laundry and Shelby was still awake with me. She kept seeing Logan and crawling into his room. I finally gave up on carrying her out and just let her go. She crawled in and talked to him while he was sleeping for like 10 minutes. It was the sweetest thing. Every night when I pray it overwhelms me how grateful I am to be a mom to these amazing kids.





Shelby is all over the place now! I am loving this stage. She is constantly finding little things on the floor to eat which is making me keep my house cleaner. She loves crawling under this stool and hanging out. She is in her happy place when she is standing. And the smiles just keep coming.

Logan is into finding solutions to problems. Example: Today he couldn't reach his fire truck and he said, "I know, I will get the stool and get it." Every solution is proceeded by "I know." So cute. He also likes to do things "all by myself." We are completely potty trained (YEAH!) and he loves to go potty by himself, wash his own hands etc.

Love these kids!

The "holy ghost"

I can't find my phone anywhere... It is somewhere in the house and somehow it turned off so calling it is not helping. This morning I asked Logan if he knew where it was and he said no, but immediately put it upon himself to help me find it. He put on his "spotting scope" to see if he could help me find it and has searched high and low throughout the house. As we were trying to find it he said, "Mom, maybe the holy ghost took it!" I love children!

This is Logan's "spotting scope"

Logan also has a fetish with having things in rows, especially his cars.


Shelby's latest happenings... Playing peek-a-boo, being a little acrobat,(she loves pulling herself into a pike position), and just being so stinkin' cute!

P.P.S

Shelby has an earache now too! Awesome!!!

P.S.

P.S. Shelby has RSV and bronchiolitis. It seems like Logan has been sick the entire winter. Poor kid just can't catch a break. My little Shelby Angel had been a rock star and hadn't gotten anything yet. Logan has had a cold for a few days and so generously shared it with his sister. Shelby got it a whole lot worse though. I have never seen her so miserable and it just breaks my heart that I can't do anything for her. I told the doctor I feel like a bad mom because my kids just keep getting sick. She reassured me that it is everywhere in the air and we have just been extremely unlucky! Yeah! For my close friends... I'll give you a call when my kids won't infect your children. That's why we haven't hung out in awhile.

31!

Yep... that's how old my hubby is today. I just love this great guy I have. He takes such great care of our family and loves us all with his whole heart. When I was single looking for a husband I was looking for a guy that was: spiritually amazing, intelligent, independent, attractive, athletic, kind, outgoing, funny, and fabulous with kids. Triple check on all of the above babe! Happy Birthday! I love you!

a little getaway!

Logan had his "show day" for his last day in his little gym class. He has learned so much this semester and I have loved watching how excited he has been every week. We had daddy come so Logan could show off. He didn't do a whole lot for the show... he pretty much just ran around the whole time- but it was still a special day for him. Daddy came and he got a certificate at the end which he was super excited about!





lets talk about this face for a minute. I told Logan to smile and this is the smile I got! I was laughing so hard- Love this kid!

Bry's birthday is next Friday and he has to go to youth conference (P.S. Bry is now the YM President. Such an awesome guy I have!) So, we went to St. George for a couple days last weekend so he could do a little golfing. He even had a lesson from the Jack Nicklaus Academy of Golf at The Ledges. He was only able to do one of his lessons because the weather was crappy- but he really enjoyed it!

We were able to go to the indoor pool a few times and eat at yummy places. With Bry and I doing weight watchers we had to save up our points so we could eat at one fun place each day we were there.




P.S. Can't get enough of this girl!

The New Year...

So far 2010 has been pretty uneventful which is a welcome relief for us. We are all healthy and we want it to stay that way. Bry and I have started weight watchers and are doing well on it. It's nice having support when you are achieving a goal. When I feel weak for a chocolate chocolate doughnut I just tell Bry and he helps me remember what our end goal is. Just a couple pics to make this post interesting...

Our usual picture taking session...





Logan is growing up too fast. He is so skinny and is starting to get taller. Bry and I hope this will continue because we were both not blessed with grand height-especially me. He loves dinosaurs and is obsessed with watching Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs. He loves playing with his daddy and gets so excited every time he comes home. We are trying to potty train right now and have been for a couple months- kind of a challenge and I have cleaned up way more than my share of messes. He also has quite a sense of humor and loves to make all of us laugh especially Shelby.



Shelby is one little flexible girl. I hope she got my genes and it stays that way becuase I find her stretching in the splits and in straddle all the time... I'm so proud :) This little angel never ceases to amaze me on how perfect she is. She has turned into a little mama's girl at the moment and cries whenever I leave the room, but no one can put her to bed like dad can. She is a little mover and can get from A to B way to fast.