4 Years!

Today is our Anniversary. We have been married 4 years! It has been a wonderful 4 years full of lots of fun and a few challenges. I feel very lucky to have married Geoff, he is perfect for me. He is very kind, patient, loyal, aware and funny. I appreciate him more and more as time goes by. As you can see by the pictures below, he is my soul mate. I found someone that loves to dress up just as much as I do.

I am thankful that we have had a wonderful 4 years and I am looking forward to many years that we will have together. I love you Geoff!

Happy Birthday Grandma Joeen

Happy Birthday Grandma Joeen! We are missing you and wish we were there with you to celebrate.

We love love you!

Jingle Bells Batman Smells?

"Jingle Bells" has been Aria's favorite Christmas song to sing. The other day I asked her what song she wanted to sing and she said, "Jingle Bells". I started to sing and she said,"No, Batman smells". Earlier that day she had spent some time with her cousins and the result was the elementary school version of "Jingle Bells". Here she is singing her favorite Christmas song!

Even though the screen is black, press play and it will work.

The Saga Continues...

Thank you to all those that commented and gave advice on Aria's sleep drama. I thought you might like an update on what has been happening.

After the initial night that I posted about, things have gotten better little by little. Because Aria will not be told what to do, for two nights she slept on the floor just inside her room but she still woke up a few times in the night. We finally decided that she couldn't sleep on the floor forever and that was contributing to her waking up at night. So we went back to the fight and made sure that she slept in her bed.

How did we do this you ask? Aria sleeps on the bottom bed of a bunk bed, and it has been since she has been sleeping there that she keeps waking up at night. We decided to just take the mattress off and put it on the floor to see how she would do. We also bought her a brighter night light. That night she did much better. I woke up to feed Laila around 4:00am and Aria was on the floor in her room, but she never came into our room.

The next night we added a heater blowing in her face (thanks Renee) she fell asleep after having to be put in bed 3 times, woke up once during the night but only had to be put in bed 2 times. This is a huge improvement.

Thank you for all posting encouraging comments. The day that we will all be able to sleep through the night is much closer then I would have imagined a week ago.

As an added bonus, since Aria has been sleeping better so has Laila. Laila was waking up every 2 hours to eat during the night, the last 2 nights she has only woken up once to eat! Hurray! I think I can do this. It is amazing how much more I get done in the day because I don't feel like a zombie anymore!

Outnumbered

Today I did a little babysitting. I realized when these 3 boys walked into my house asking for cars and "guys" that I was in trouble. I have 2 girls. I don't need "guys", I need babies and barbies.

I really should get some boy toys. I have noticed that everyone Aria plays with is a boy. All of her cousins that live by us are boys and all of her friends from nursery are boys. Poor thing is outnumbered. Good thing she has a little sister.

Next challenge was that 3 of the 5 kids are 2-years-old. As you can imagine this proved for a lot of fighting and crying. I took this picture within 10 minutes of the kids coming over. I really should have taken an "after" picture.

Overall it was an interesting morning. I learned that the key to a boys heart is food. Thank goodness for granola bars and pretzels.

Iron Will

This post is for the soul purpose of looking back a long time in the future and maybe laughing about this situation.

Since Aria decided to sleep in a "big girl" bed, sleeping has been a nightmare. It takes 1 hour to get her to go to sleep and then she wakes up 4-6 times during the night, which requires 15-45 minutes to get her back to sleep.

I decided I have had enough! I was headed straight to the hadware store buy a lock for her door. Well Geoff and my mom said I had to try absolutly everything before I resorted to locking her in her room. I found a book called "Healthy Sleep Habbits, Happy Child"and I decided to implement its ideas.

The first idea was to make a poster of sleep rules and have her help me make it and make sure she understood the rules.

Next idea was to do the usual bedtime routine give her a kiss and leave the room. If she got out of bed we needed to put her back to bed without talking to her. Putting her back in bed as many times as she got out of bed.

BAD IDEA! We left her in her room and she immediatly got out. At first she was sad about it then it became a fun game. She would come into our room and stand there with a big smile on her face. Back to bed. Come into our room. Smile and dance around. Back to bed. This went on for a while before Geoff and I had had enough. Time for spanking!

It was a sad, very stressful couple of hours of putting Aria to bed. This girl has a will of iron. She will not be controled. Are you wondering how many times we put her back to bed? I lost count at 150 times, yes 150 times. She finally stoped leaving her room. She would get out of her bed then open the door and lay on the floor just inside her room.

At least she relized we were not going to let her get out of her room. We let her fall asleep on the floor then transfered her to her bed.

The story does not end there. She woke up around 2:30 am and it was another test of wills. It was Geoff's night for the fight and I am sad to say that he never really got to go back to sleep.

I know my parents will be reading this laughing and thinking that I am getting what I deserve, a child with a will similar to my own.

The book recomends trying this for 4 nights. If she isn't sleeping in her bed after 4 nights, I am sorry mom and Geoff, she will be locked in her room!

A Cactus Wonderland

Tonight was a wonderful night with the McGiven family. We started the night off with dinner at our house. It was pretty crazy with Aria freaking out anytime one of the twins touched any of her stuff, so basically she was freaking out the entire time. Then we went to Henderson's version of Temple Square. It is the Cactus Gardens at the Ethel M. Chocolate Factory. It was awesome. There were so many lights all over the Cactus, Cholla, Yucca and more. The weather also felt like Temple Square, we bundled up for the chilly 50 degrees :)

Then for the gourmet hot chocolate. We couldn't leave a chocolate factory without getting any hot chocolate. Funny thing was that Geoff didn't even like the gourmet $4 hot chocolate. Luckily Aria loved it.

Delicious!

The girls chit chatting over hot chocolate.

We are so glad that the McGiven's invited us to go. It made the Holidays seem a little more real.

Laila's Stocking

Did anyone know that Geoff is a seamstress, wait, maybe a semester? Yes he is! When Aria was brand new, he was out of school for the semester so he made her a stocking. Little did he know that he would start a tradition.

This is Santa Geoff sewing Laila's stocking. He actually enjoys doing this. I think he likes to shock people when he tells them that he sews.

Here is the finished product. I think he did a fabulous job!

A Night in Bethlehem

For our ward party this year we did "A Night in Bethlehem". We dressed in biblical outfits and headed to the ward party where we would be taxed with a food donation then feast. The feast was a bunch of booths that sold different parts of the feast, a butcher, fruit stand, farmers market etc. The night ended with a wonderful depiction of the birth of our Savior.

The sad part was that we spent a 30 minutes dressing up and didn't even where our costumes. When we drove up to the Stake Center we didn't see anyone enter in biblical costume. Geoff refused to be the only one dressed up so we took everything off. There were actually plenty of people dressed up we would have fit right in. Oh well.

This party was a wonderful way to kick off the Christmas season. I get so caught up in buying presents, decorating, baking that I hardly put any thought or energy in what the season is really about. The birth of Jesus Christ, our Savior. What are some spiritual based traditions that you have?

Mary and Joseph

Laila was too big for her swaddling clothes.

3 months old

My sweet darling baby is already 3 months old. Laila is so wonderful. She is always happy, she laughs and smiles all of the time. She rarely makes any unhappy sound. She is such a joy to have around. Her Auntie Sarah often says that she is so good that you forget that she is here. She is, in fact, so good that she often gets over shadowed by her sister. So this post is only about Laila and how happy that we are to have her in our family.

Laila is so fun to make smile, she will smile at anything. I can often get her to smile while she is crying. The last 3 weeks she has started to laugh, it is the sweetest sound I have ever heard. Laila loves her big sister. When Aria is around Laila will intently follow all of her movements and loves to smile and laugh at her.

I love you!

A broken arm

Aria has broken her arm. The day before Thanksgiving all the furniture at Grandma's house was moved into one room. SO FUN! Aria was jumping from couch to couch, all the kids were playing when Aria started crying. Aria crying is an hourly occurrence so I wasn't too concerned, but it wasn't a normal cry. Anyway we took her to the emergency room, had X-rays, and got it splinted. We have to get it X-rayed again and casted when we get back to Vegas. So today we are thankful for working limbs.

getting fixed up.

So Sad

Aria loves her sling!

A normal day!

Today we had a very normal day. We ran some errands, cleaned, watched Disney Princess Tea Party, read books, and danced. It was a wonderful day!

Laila is always so happy and loves to smile.

Aria eating breakfast with her morning Mohawk

It was such a good day she fell asleep at dinner!

Twilight

Have you read the Twilight series? I read it this summer and I really liked it. It is a book that I love to discuss with others because their are so many takes on it. Anyway, someone emailed me this link to see which Twilight character you most fit. Here are my results:

Which Twilight novel character are you?

You're" Carlisle Cullen - You are very intelligent and have high moral standards. You truly care about people and helping them. Your knack for solving problems and pleasing two warring sides makes you unique and a desirable friend to have, even if sometimes you have to tell people what they might not like hearing.
Take this quiz!http://quizilla.com/redirect.php?statsid=17&url=http://www.quizilla.com/users/twilightnexus/quizzes/Which+Twilight+novel+character+are+you%3F">quiz!

What do you think? I always liked Carlisle and I have to say that if I didn't have a crush on Edward, I would on Carlisle. So I guess I am flattered that I am most like Carlisle. For all you Twilight fans take the test and let me know who you are!

Thankful

As Geoff is preparing to go out of town for the week, I am feeling a little bit of anxiety. I always do when he leaves. I really try not to let him know, so I can be a "supportive" wife. This morning I have been in a bad mood. My dad might say I have been "eating worms" (nobody likes me, everybody hates me, I gonna eat some worms). Trying to get my game face on for when Geoff leaves I realized that I don't have it so bad. Geoff will be home again on Friday. I know too many women that their husbands are in the military and haven't seen them in a year! I decided to be thankful. The moment I switched to gratitude I was overcome. I have so much! I am the most blessed person I know! So I am thankful for hard stuff so I can remember to be grateful!

Today I want to show gratitude to those that make having Geoff gone really fun!

Sarah McGiven

Monica Johansen

I am so thankful to have family around me. The decision to move to Las Vegas was hard, but everyday I am thankful we made that decision because of these women. I want them to know how much I appreciate their kindness to my girls and I. You two have gone beyond the call of duty to make sure I have something to look forward to everyday.

Today I am thankful for Sisters!

Irresponsible Parenting

I always leave Aria and Laila downstairs while I run upstairs for a moment. Today was the last time I will do that. I had just finished feeding Laila and Aria was playing with her puzzles. I needed to brush my teeth and get my shoes so I put Laila in her swing while I ran upstairs. I was up there for only a minute when I hear Laila screaming! I knew something was wrong so I ran with lightning speed down the stairs to see Laila on the floor about 15 feet away from her swing. Aria is yelling, "Laila sad, Laila sad". I start freaking out because I realize that my two-year-old not only had gotten Laila out of her swing, but carried her quite a ways before dropping her on the floor. She did this all under a minute.

My days of assuming that Aria couldn't possibly do something are over. I will now be a more vigilant parent, for the sake of preserving the life of my second child.

The wedding we have been waiting for!

My beautiful sister Sarah was married this last weekend in the Salt Lake Temple. I just wanted to pay tribute to her and her new husband Bryce Lindsey. They are so wonderful together and I am glad that Sarah held out for Bryce. We wondered for a while if there was anyone on this earth that would measure up to Sarah's standards. Bryce measures up and more. I am so happy for them and I am excited that Sarah is finally married! :)

I love you guys!

Halloween

Hi! I have been in Utah for the last 10 days so I have been slow on posting. These are some pictures of our Halloween.



Aria loved painting the pumpkin soooo much!

Our finished pumpkin

Minnie Mouse

A mouse, a bear and a witch, oh my!