What I Learned 2015 and Christmas Too

I always learn a lot of new things every year, but this year I definitely learned more than usual!

Just a few things I learned in 2015 are: 

1. What heartburn feels like
2. It can take 5 months, 30 walk throughs and 4 offers to sell a townhouse.
3. Always cover your mattress in plastic when you move.
4. Antlers are not symmetrical.
5. Sometimes it takes 9 years to get a 4 year degree.
6. Deseret Book DOES have criss cross nursing tops in cotton.
7. Sewing your own baby quilt is not cheaper than just buying one.
8. IHC will not induce first time mothers until 41 weeks.
9. Staying only 24 hours in the hospital after giving birth is not long enough, especially when the meals are so good.
10. Doctors will not let mothers watch a circumcision (even though the the baby is numb), but will have the mother hold her baby while he gets multiple shots, multiple times.
11. Newborns seem to all have the same nose.
12. Kyle is all talk when he says he will not cut the umbilical cord.
13. What a vacuum suction cup will do to a newborn's head.
14. Heartburn is not at all related to how much hair your baby will have.
15. Babies can cry tears from the time they are born.
16. It's not a super good idea to road trip 2 days after taking a baby home.  If you do, make sure to pack a breast pump and LOTS of nursing pads!
17. Nursing will hurt longer than 10 days.
18. A shocking number of people think it is alright to put their hands all over a newborn's face.
19. Apparently Kasen is a hard name to spell.
20. It takes me 3 months to lose 50 pounds of baby weight.
21. It costs us around $4,306.00 out of pocket to bring a baby home.
22. The only way to cut a baby's finger nails is when it is asleep.
23. The car heater can heat a bag of breast milk beautifully.
24. Shark vacuums only last 4 years, but electric hand mixers last 9 and everything breaks right before Christmas.
25. It's a Wonderful Life is not a Christmas movie.

It's been an adjustment for me to be a stay-at-home mom.  I have always worked and gone to school so I was worried I would be bored or feel like I'm not doing anything.  I am enjoying being home with Kasen though!  I still have goals to progress and have felt good being able to reach them!  I've been able to go running, have FHE more regularly and have made 67 of the recipes I have pinned on Pinterest!

Goals for 2016:

Serve in the new Provo Temple

Tonsillectomy

Run a 5K

Maybe buy a house?

License my photography business
Read the Book of Mormon in Portuguese

And now for Christmas! Not just any Christmas, but Kasen's first one!
Tradition #1

 Every year I always get an ornament for something representing that year.  This year my friend Melissa came over and we made salt ornaments of our baby's footprints!  I made one for each of the Grandma's also.  The year Kyle became a Police Officer we couldn't find an ornament we liked, but this year we found one, so this is for 2013.

Tradition #2
Every year my family has a family Christmas party and Santa comes to bring a little gift.
When we stood behind him to take a picture Kasen thought that the ball on his hat was hilarious and would not stop laughing! It was super cute.

Tradition #3
Every year Kyle's family goes to Temple Square and we watch LukeII in the visitors center then go to dinner.

Tradition #4

Every year we get matching Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve to wear together! Kasen doesn't have anyone to match with yet, but he still got some fun Christmas pajamas.  And a Christmas book to read!

 Grandma Tammy came down to spend Christmas with us in Cedar City.  It's a miracle that Kyle had Christmas Day off, but he did have to work Christmas Eve till 11pm.

 We made cookies for Santa and even though they aren't as cute as the frosted sugar cookies that have been popular this year, they taste way better! We even added some toffee pieces to our chocolate chip cookies!
Kyle was able to come home for a yummy shrimp pasta dinner with asparagus, then I took Mom and Kasen to drive around a neighborhood that posted a verse of "Twas the night before Christmas" in each yard with their Christmas lights.  Later we finished watching the last Christmas movie on our list and had some hot chocolate before bed.

 Christmas Day we headed to Utah County to visit our families for the weekend!  The amount of snow that we got that morning was INSANE! But luckily we survived the drive.

And Kyle got to go Snowmobiling.

And I got to meet Naomi Jane and Beckett Juarez on Saturday!
Naomi was born early Christmas morning.  Nothing could remind us more of what Christmas is about than a baby being born!
You forget how small newborns are, especially when your baby never was that small…
I can't believe my little brother is a daddy!  It will be so much fun to have a cousin on my side now :)

Saturday night we had our family sleepover at Dad's house then got up Sunday to go to Marissa and cousin Kayli's Homecomings.  It was a busy weekend, but I loved being able to see everyone.

I usually don't post a ton of the same pictures, but HOLY COW I cannot get over the cuteness.
I. AM. IN. LOVE!!!
Another cute holiday outfit success from Mom Annette :)

Remember seeing isn't believing, believing is seeing.
Santa may not be real, but Jesus Christ is. He IS the light that shines in darkness. Doesn't matter what kind of darkness it is. If you want more light in your life simply turn to the light of the world to find it. He is the prince of PEACE and the SAVIOR of us all. And what does He ask of us? To live like Him.

Kasen had his 6 month appointment last Tuesday and he weighs 18.7 pounds now.  He had to get his finger pricked twice cause his iron is low and didn't even cry!  The vaccines were another story though.   So sad!
Today is the first day he has been able to put himself in a sitting position and he is already a pro!  It's crazy how fast they learn all sorts of new things.
And with him I'm sure I will keep learning more things than I even learned this year! That's what life is about though, progressing and moving forward- Good Luck to all of us with that!

THE END

4 Years and 6 Months!

Yesterday Kyle and I got to celebrate our 4 year anniversary!  We have now been married the same amount of time that we dated.  I love him SO much!  Every day he tells me he loves me, that I'm the best wife, that I'm pretty and also that I'm weird :)  And he ALWAYS kisses me goodbye.  I am so lucky.  Especially since he is so funny! (He makes sure to tell me that too)

We got each other season tickets to Tuacahn this summer and I'm so excited because they are all Disney movie plays!

We watched our wedding video together, but will have to go do sealings at the temple next month because this month's temple trip will be going with Krista to receive her endowment tomorrow!  I'm so excited for her!

Last Sunday Kyle got super ambitious and decided to make us homemade pretzels that he saw on Pinterest.  I was super impressed with how well they turned out! Although I don't know if the mess in the kitchen was worth it…lol

And today Kasen is 6 months old!

He is crawling all over our apartment too.  He comes to find us wherever we go!

He has had to wear size 12M pajamas for a month now! He is so big, but my favorite is how he sleeps with his bum up in the air nearly every night!

 While I run Kasen usually hangs with Kyle, but sometimes he just watches me.  He's started to be super fascinated with shoe laces, hoodie strings and cords.

 He loves chewing on fabric also.  If I am feeding him then he will chew on his bib, if I nurse him he will stop to chew on my shirt and when he takes a bath he loves chewing on his wash cloths.  I just have to make sure I ring the water out first because he tries to suck it out and chokes!

The bad news is that Kasen was sick for a couple weeks.
This is a picture of what you will need for what could be your 2nd most miserable night! (The first being the first nights home from the hospital with a newborn).

First Kasen had a rash from what we thought was trying green vegetables, but we stopped feeding him any green baby food and right after the sores from the first rash were almost gone he got another one!  He had also been super congested, we sucked snot out of him like I couldn't believe!  Where does it get stored!?  Five minutes after an extraction he was blowing snot bubbles again!
For a whole week we could still hear him snoring from outside of his room.
Then last week he had a fever for a couple days so we took him to the Dr. and they gave him antibiotics for an ear infection.
Not pictured is the IceyHot and rice bag I had to use on my neck after "sleeping" on Kasen's floor for a couple hours.

We still made it to a couple work parties, a ward party and a crèche festival though!
By the way, when did people start calling a Nativity a Crèche?  I must have missed that memo.

All our Christmas shopping is done, so now just counting down the days till Kasen's first Christmas!
(8 more!)  Because of all the overtime that Kyle has worked this is the first Christmas that we made it through with a zero balance on our credit card!  Go us!

His First Turkey Day

Mom Annette bought Kasen some of the cutest holiday outfits!  This one is for his first Thanksgiving!

 The BEST part is the turkey butt!!

 On Sunday we had a Thanksgiving dinner, in Brigham City with Mom Tammy since EmmaLee was getting her tonsils out this week.  Kasen loved seeing her cat and laughed every time he heard it meow!

While I was staying in Brigham, Ashley came down from Logan for a lunch date too, which was super great!! Always good times, good talks and good laughs.

Thanksgiving Day we spent with Kyle's family in Elkridge.

 I didn't quite get my Thanksgiving nap, but Kasen got his hanging out next to the fireplace with me!

Once he did go to sleep we had a little midnight snack.  Turkey sandwiches on the leftover rolls! Delish

I love Turkey on Thanksgiving!  It's my most favorite meal.

I also got to go to Provo Temple twice during the week and did a bit of Christmas shopping in between.

I'm very thankful for the blessings, peace and happiness that come from serving in the temple and keeping covenants we make there.  I'm thankful that through the restored power of the priesthood our family is sealed together forever!

I am so thankful that Kyle is such a hard worker.  He's been working lots of overtime to save extra money for Christmas and falling on the ice to help others that slid off the road.

I'm thankful that he is able to come home for dinner most days to eat with us and that he sat with our primary class for the primary program while I was gone!

And I'm thankful for Kasen, that is smiles so easily and laughs with us nearly everyday.

We have a million blessings to be thankful for, all of which come from a loving Heavenly Father.

I don't express my gratitude to Him nearly enough.