Brian and Clara +2

July 2011

2011-10-27T13:12:00.002-06:00

Grace is so happy all the time
look all those teeth- 4 on top, 2 1/2 on bottom (11 months)

She was loving the hose

yes the hose is still on!

We have the 'hole' on the hill in front of our house that Will
loves to play in, especially on Saturday morning in pj's with Daddy

Happy 4th of July! We spent the afternoon with Lori and her girls at the pool and a fun bbq

Will is so funny

Amazingly he didn't fall out of the bed

Every Friday and Saturday night there are free concerts in Daybreak (the community where we live) and there is a splash pad right there for the kids to enjoy. Grace slowly got into, but by the end was soaked.

Will is getting so big, he loves loves loves the water.

She is the best

She loves her food.

Will being a good helper feeding Grace

Happy 30th Birthday to me.
All I really wanted for my birthday was to go boating, I mean I would have gladly taken other things but what I really wanted to do was be on a boat in the sunshine. So Brian being Brian played it off pretty good for about a month before my birthday (July 14th). On Monday the 11th he came home and rang the door bell, who does that?, but was in his swim suit and sad let's go boating. I was a little confused, with who? where? kids? no kids? good thing I shaved this morning. He had arranged for a babysitter and we were off to go boating with 3 other couples! It was the best afternoon in the sunshine on a boat with no kids. It was a perfect afternoon on the lake with the Smiths, Alldredges, and Oehlers. By about 4 the wind picked up and out came the tube, the boys screamed like little school girls and were hilarious to watch.  

the boys out on the tube, seriously so funny to listen to them

Brenda, me, Kathy, Brad

Brian got a lot better on the wake-board this trip

Seriously I love boating, I've said since we got married (almost 9 years ago now) that I wanted a boat for my 30th birthday, but that was the dreaming 21 year in me thinking we would have money by now, ha! So I'm just as happy going with others who have boats that love to play!

I thought that boating for my birthday was the best surprise and that we would just go to dinner on my real birthday. My friend Kathy offered to watch the kids (which was a little off, she doesn't usually offer that) and he would never really tell me where we were going to dinner. He was late getting home from 'work' which was weird, especially in the summer! But we were off to drop the kids off then Kathy txt and said she had lost track of time and was at the splash pool and to drop the kids off there then she would take them back to her house, another weird thing but whatever (Kathy never forgets anything). We drove up and another surprise party! Brian is sneaky and a lot of fibbing was going on at our house for about a month! He is the best, I really couldn't ask for a better husband. Love him. He even printed off the big banners at work. (He was late getting home because we setting everything up!)

Matt and Lori

Heather (minus Addy and Brent) but glad she came!

Aren't I special, we didn't have any matches.

Natalie and Dylan drove forever to come down for this! They are so much fun

Grace loved the balloons!

Amber and Natalie- cute girlfriends from high school

I did it! My first 1/2 marathon! July 16, 2011 Bryce Canyon
Well I'm not sure I really want to claim this as my first but I still finished at about 3 hours. Lindsay, Katie, and I had been training together and signed up for the race and made a long weekend of it. The race started out fine, gorgeous scenery, fun girlfriends, but then there was a photographer and we decided to jump up for the picture (it really is an awesome picture but I'm to cheap to pay for it) well after having a 10 pounder baby I can't jump all the time :) So first port-o-potty I needed to stop and so did Katie, Lindsay kept going (she is amazing!) Ok I was good. But Katie, I think everything that could have gone wrong went wrong for her that day. There really wasn't anyone around so I wasn't going to leave her alone so I kept with her and we walked, but then ended up walking until mile 8. At mile 8 she was feeling better so we ran the rest of it, I wanted to finis in under 3 hours but barely missed it and Katie finished! (which really was what was worth it, she came over the finish line) The last 5 miles were going great, my knee was bothering me earlier when we were going down the canyon but I was doing good but then I landed wrong. Oh seriously killed. I was only maybe 1/2 mile from the the finish line and really could run on it. One of the old policemen was even saying you are so close. I know! And I had the best song on my ipod to finish with, oh well. I had to walk the last humiliating part, where everyone is watching, but I hobbled over the finished line. I will do another one and really run the entire race. It was a fun time.

Lindsay, me, Katie

Gracie girl is getting to blonde!

We went for a fun easy hike to a water fall.

Brian and Grace


The water felt great on my knee

The Nielson's joined us for the hiking and the food part of camping!

(grace is hiding) Brian, me, Will, Kennedy, Bridger, Jeremy, Charlotte (Lindsay is taking the picture) 

The night before the race we stayed at the most ghetto motel I have ever seen or stayed in. Really I think it was a double wide. A little concerned about walking around barefoot. And I think I would have slept better camping, which we did the next night!

Charlotte was getting into the dirt!

Grace aka pig pen loved the dirt

She is still a little wobbly when she walks but that didn't stop her from being everywhere and eating everything

She may or may not have had dirt in her mouth then in her diapers for the next couple days!

Will was happy Bridger brought some monster trucks to play with in the dirt.

"Don't make me spit the dirt out!"

They were all so patient to roast their marshmallows! As you can see it wasn't dark yet, but they couldn't wait any longer.

Pure joy, right there

Cute Lindsay, really she looked amazing after running 13 miles and while camping!

Couldn't get the ice cream in fast enough!

Ride em' cowboy

LET ME OUT!

Lookin' good

Yeehaw (I think that horse might buckle under that kind of weight)

Bryce Canyon is so beautiful, I wish my knee wasn't hurting so bad so we could have hiked more, but going to the look outs was pretty good.

Oh I love her cheeks!

My little man

June 2011

2011-06-30T16:37:00.001-06:00

Will got to play soccer in a little neighborhood group this year, I thought he would just love it! Well it went for about 8 weeks and we had 2 or 3 good days. The day of pictures just describes what soccer was like for us this year. (we will try again in a year or two)

Really, getting pictures is torture

(if you are stubborn and don't want them taken)

Will's fun soccer friends. I wanted him to be in the picture and he just laid there and bawled, not crying- bawling. I feel kind of bad for the other moms and having to have this picture for their kids but I really just love it!

"Will, soccer is so fun. Let's run and kick the ball. I'll even go with you"
There was some bribing going on but really nothing worked. It really just was when he wanted to start playing is when he went and played.

On one of the good days. He is so coordinated and
good at running with the ball and kicking goals.

He even played good with the other kids. Kicking the ball back and forth.

Finally a Will face!

He got so excited when he made a goal!

Grace swimming at the pool! I love her swimsuit, size 2t for my 10 month old

One night I noticed the yard looked a little funny! oh we had a sinking problem when a pipe broke. Love spending our money on sprinkle parts. Thankfully Brian is handy and could fix it himself and so we only had to pay for parts.

Triathlon! Brian and I both did the triathlon in Daybreak this year. It was so fun training for it with Brian. I did the sprint distance and Bri did the olympic. I love that it is in our neighborhood, we swam in Oquirrh Lake, rode bikes to the copper mine and ran around the lake.

Brian coming around the lake, second time around.

He did awesome for his first race. And his knees have been doing great with the running! He's into it now and wants to do one every year! I'm right there with him.

Will loved the snacks for the racers.

Brad and Kathy, Brad Davis, Brian and Clara
All the boys did the olympic distance, Kathy and I had nothing to prove so sprint for us.

For the tri they mark your legs with what distance you are racing and your age. I was so mad they put 30 on my leg. I wasn't 30 yet but they wanted your age of this year. Dumb.

Starkey family reunion in Paris, Idaho (for the second and last time, in Paris that is) We went hiking. Watch out for the poops. (horses had gone by earlier)

Will, Thomas, and Eleanor eating snacks.

Those 3 played so good together.

Over the broken bridge. The water was running really high this year.

My fun family.

Grace was a little tired and just gave in.

We got a little bored and it was to cold to go to Bear Lake and
swim so we drove up to Lava Hot Springs. I had never been there,
it was a good time and the kids loved swimming in the warm water!

Grace just lookin' cute in the car after a long drive.

Brian raced/participated in the MS 150 this year. Harmon's is one of the biggest sponsors for the race and Prescott Muir (who Brian works for) does the architecture for Harmon's so he was able to ride for 'free'. He had never done a 100 mile rice before and had a good time!

Is Daddy done yet?
We met him at the rest stops and to cheer him on.

Grace passed out in the car.

Go Brian!

That's some awesome hair.

He made it, and no flats. (only 'crashed' once, well really just fell over while stopped)

Will was excited for his Daddy.
It was an awesome race. I might join Brian next year,but only the 40/70 miles! The kids were done and tired so we headed out pretty quick, got the car loaded up and we on the road. Got home. Where is your tire? In our kind of hurry to load the car and bike the tire got left on the grass right by where our car was parked! Thankfully it was in the community pool parking lot and the girl working was so nice to go out and get it for us. And then Brian's aunt that lives in Logan went and got it from the nice girl and brought it down the next week. So glad that all worked out.

I think we need to mow our lawn!

Oh this girl

Grace getting so big!

Grace likes to have one toy in each hand, then if she see something that wants also she just bends over and gets it with her teeth!

I love it!

Extreme Home Makeover came to our neighborhood, well actually right across the street from our good friends! I got to volunteer the day before it was finished and saw the inside and all that fun stuff. I also got to paint some of the bed. It was fun because it was for a family that really needed it. But it is a tv show, it is all staged. And Ty really doesn't do anything but show up. And the designers well they don't do much either. Oh well we had fun any ways.

Cute Will, not really knowing what is going on.

Brook and Kathy, we ended up on Kat's roof because there were so many people.

Will and I on the roof enjoying watching the madness.

Move that Bus

Our garden this year!

We had a really wet and mild June which went a great garden.

Broccoli almost ready to eat.

Onions, I'd never grown onions before but they're easy to grow and taste so yummy.

in the front, carrots, lettuce, beets. In the back are the artichokes.

Will got to go to swimming lessons. He is such a good fish!

He and Chloe had fun swimming.

One Grace's awesome faces. This wasn't just the picture taken late, this is one of her funny faces!

My crazy 9 1/2 month old walking around

Grace 9 months!

2011-05-31T17:38:00.000-06:00

Grace at 9 months!
25 lbs! 100%
30 inches 98%

My favorite

May 2011

2011-05-31T16:48:00.001-06:00

It was a cold wet May but we still made it outside. Grace loves the swings

Will loves under-dog and going high enough to touch the clouds

I just like this picture. Her cute chubby feet, ready for bed.

We did the Komen Breast Cancer Walk again this year. This year meant a little more with my mom. She is amazing for having surgery 6 weeks earlier and walking a 5k. (she was a little tired after we were finished)

Charles, the kids in the stroller (which fit in the trunk of my Altima!) Unlce Lars, and Mom

All of 'regulars' for the cancer walk. We have a good time. This year we got pink bandanas.

Doesn't she look just cute and innocent and clean. Oh that can is full of dirt.

And it begins. Will isn't so into it. Grace was loving the freedom of it.

Then she started to eat it, not so good.

She was covered in dirt. But she had fun and it was bath time any ways.

I want more to eat!

Blake Steven Oldham 9 lbs. 12 oz. (almost Grace) 21 inches! The newest nephew.

There was a father and sons camp out in late May, usually warm enough but it was still COLD! They were originally going to a place by Thistle but it was still snowed in! Sam and Will had a blast camping together.

These two have a good time. (especially with no one else around)

Following the leader

Wahoo

Grandpa Denney had made this crane a while ago for Will and he is finally playing with it!

Grace loves food. Especially when she can fed herself.

Grace started this new face and I can't get enough of it.

What's up.

Almost there.

Oh that's it!

We had a Boggess (my mom's side of the family) reunion at the Scandinavian Days Festival in Ephraim, Ut. I went to Snow College which is in Ephraim in 99-01 and hadn't been down there in years. It was fun to see the college and where I use to live and the new buildings.
Brian and I ran in the 10k that morning. Brian's first race ever!

Brian's hair is great here!

Grandpa Denney and Aunt Catherine

Grandpa and Grandma (Dad and Mom, Will gets confused and a little mad if I call them mom and dad)

The festival had a fun area that had old fashioned games and stilts. A few of the cousins were actually pretty good at them. I was not.

Daddy and Will up in a tree.

Will loved going on bike rides in this and we just hadn't done it with Grace yet. But she sure loved it too. Will had to get use to the idea that he didn't fit in it any more and that Grace got to ride in it and he had his big bike.

Will in the swings again. Our garden is over there to the left. So any time we are up there we swing.

He looks so grown up in this picture.

April 2011

2011-04-30T17:03:00.000-06:00

She left the goggles on for about 15 minutes!
We were all laughing pretty hard

This girl loves to eat (as you can tell by her size) and loves eating things on her own even more! Strawberries were a hit with her.

Will with his superhero on
(he ties his blanket around his neck to be a super hero)
Lately he has been going to sleep with his arms up under his head, which I think it adorable and need to take a picture of.
It just makes all the frustrating times of being a mom go away when Will says "Mama I need a kiss" or just a random hug and kiss and
"I love you"

Oh those rolls are the best!

Daddy and Will-
can't wait until Daddy gets home to play basketball hoop.
This month Will went to the dentist for the first time and did great! I'm sure others had heard of this but it was a first for me- to get him to floss you just have to find the sugar bugs in there and get them! Brilliant. So now we find sugar bugs at night.
Will still can't stand having his hands get sticky. It is crazy how different Will and Grace are. Will never put things in his mouth and if he did get something in there he would freak out and stick his tongue out until I got whatever it was off. Now Grace, well she puts EVERYTHING in her mouth.

her bottom teeth are darling, but the top are a little vampireish! The two side teeth are coming instead of the front middle.

Can't get enough bath time pictures

Does this outfit make me look chubby?

I think she might be storing something in her cheeks for winter

She might come squish you

Practicing standing, the blocks are the perfect height for her

She always goes up on her tippy toes

Cankle

Serious rolls

Happy Easter! Will loves to jump on the tramp at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Denney Grandkids. Grandma make the girls dresses and boys bow ties (Will got his new outfit and the bow tie didn't match)

Grandma with all her grandbabies. Sam's face is the best here!

Finding all the easter eggs.

Grace was loving it.

Our cute kids

She's going to be walking soon. Standing up all the time

Brian and Will went to the motor cross on a cold night and had a blast!
Will asked to go see the motorcycles for weeks after

Happy 3rd Birthday to Will!

2011-03-31T19:20:00.000-06:00

Will is 3 years old!
It's hard to believe that my baby boy is already 3 years old. He is such a happy little guy. I love to hear him sing and pretend and make up stories. Will is a great older brother to Grace and is learning to share with her. He has loved dinosaurs lately so we headed to the Dinosaur Museum with the grandparents and cousins. Will loved seeing all the dinosaurs and playing with Sam and the girls.

Will and Sam are great buddies. (I love the reflection of Will's face!)

Megan, Hannah, and Sam. Will didn't want to go in the cave. It's scary.

Amy due in a couple months!

Clara, Aunt Catherine (who came all the way from California just for the party :)

The museum has a great sand exhibit that the kids can dig and play in. Will is a little o.c.d. when it comes to getting his hands wet and dirty but once he got into, he loved it.

Cute Grace hanging out (almost ready to be out of the small car seat!)

There were small dinosaurs hidden in the sand and plastic trees.

Riding a dinosaur!

Daddy, birthday boy, Grandpa Starkey, Grace, Grandpa Denney, and Sam

Watch out! Will, Megan, Sam, and Hannah almost eaten by the shark

Kind of an odd picture but this boy can't stand things between his toes, he would stop and clean out his toes every once in a while. He gladly helps anyone if you would like your toes clean. (Gross I know but he does it)

Fun cake of the year for Will (I love that they have candy rocks!)

All the cousins in a 'boat'

We got Will a scooter, he is a coordinated little guy.

Grace is sitting up pretty good now. Does an awesome down ward dog up on her tippy toes, and puckers her lips, and do plank longer than I can!

"Happy Birthday to me..." He lead everyone in singing Happy Birthday. And blow each candle out one by one. He got a soccer ball, shin guards, car, pjs, play food, and a book.

Will and Sam are great friends.

It was a cold March but that didn't stop him from playing on the scooter.

March 2011

2011-03-31T15:53:00.001-06:00

We started March right by going to the cabin for a fun weekend with the Oehler's and Sorensens. So fun staying up late laughing at Matt trying to do a one handed push up!
The kids had fun playing in the snow and sledding.
Will and Parker 'driving' the four wheeler. 

Oh these boys, so funny! Brian, Matt, and Lew

I didn't get a good picture with the girls... Lori, me and Becky

Cute Gracie with her piggy tails! Her hair is coming in so light.

Oh that graham cracker is good

We went to the Real soccer game on a freezing cold night. Will loved it! He didn't complain about being cold at all, just watched the game the whole time.

We love all the dresses Aunt Michelle gets in Europe or NYC, it's nice to has a personal shopper.

Daddy and Grace eating my wheat grass!

Will being cute like always. A few conversations from the month-
After church- "Mama I love you. Jesus loves me"

"Mama, I make music in my mouth. (mmmmm) it hurts my mouth?"
"Does it tickle?"
"..Yeah, it tickles my mouth"
He discovered humming and now 'makes music in my mouth'

At dinner Will got very serious and looked at me, "Mama, I have a wiener."
"Yes you do."
"Daddy, you got a BIG wiener" (said very matter of factly)
"Mama, you have a wiener"
"No"
Then he comes over to me and try's to lift my shirt and find it!
(One of the funniest conversations yet to come from Will. I think what was the best was he was asking and talking in pure innocence. And really didn't know what we were laughing about!)

We have a crawler! She had been scooting for a week or so and rolling all over but no real crawling until the zhu zhu pet thing! She wanted it bad enough that she hefted herself up and crawled to get it!

February 2011

2011-02-28T14:58:00.000-07:00

In February we put Will in Swim lessons, he is a little fish who has a hard time listening! He had a lot of fun with Chloe, Josh, and Rebecca, our friends from the neighborhood. It was good for the little guys to get in the water during the cold winter to remember what it is like and get ready for the summer, which is taking to long to get here.

I can't really remember why we got him out of the car still attached to his car seat but it was hilarious. He was loving running around with it still on his back. I thought it kind of looked like the jump seats in the fight jets. He is my funny funny boy.
Every night Will request me or Brian to sing Twinkle Star. I have probably sung that song over a million times. Will likes to pretend he doesn't know the words but one night he was laying in his new big bed and sang the entire song to me and he was on tune!
I love that he loves to sing.
And he is now officially potty trained. He did so good. We were a little worried (Brian a lot) about how it would all work but he must have been ready cause we just took the diapers away and that was it. Easy.

I love this picture! We have one of Will about the same age in a box. Helps them sit up.

Grace enjoyed her first 'real' food, polenta. We had dinner over at  Grandma and Grandpa's and we thought it would be fun to see what she  would do with the texture, she loved it!

This picture may look like she isn't enjoying it but she ate a lot of it, Will wouldn't try it.

Grace is big. She has been from the beginning. But when we bought the bumbo I really didn't think it would be an issue of her size to fit in it. Well we have to spread it open to get her legs to go in! Love that chunk.

Nichole came into town and all the fun high school friends got together  for a fun night at Natalie's. Cole's twin, Eliza and Hailey are darling! I was hoping that combined they would equal Grace's 10 lbs. 1 oz. I think they were only a couple ounces off but they are catching up.

I love seeing all these girls, we have a good time!

Alicia and John got to come to Utah! They hadn't been able to see Grace yet so it was very exciting that they got to come. We headed up to the cabin for some sledding and fun in the snow. Will loves playing in the snow and would stay outside all day long if he could. 
John was in Utah for interviews at the U and Y for PhD programs, we are hoping they get in here so they will be closer.

I took up my really old skies from high school and Will and I went down the bunny hill in the back. Will loved it and we went down a few times but the skis needed to be waxed so it was a really slow ride down.

We loved spending time with Uncle John and Aunt Alicia.

Uncle John with Gracie girl. And Uncle John so nicely taught Will to say "Rock On" which he does a lot now.

This chuck is just to cute!

6 Months!

2011-02-28T14:47:00.000-07:00

I think I have written this before, Grace is growing to fast!! She isn't my 'little' new born any more. I really do love each new thing she does, but it is going so fast. She is sitting up now, scooting backwards, smiles all the time, loves to 'talk', rolling everywhere, has her two bottom teeth, and loves food but it needs texture. (polenta, sweet potato, squash). Gets the biggest smile when Will is around and when Daddy gets home from work.

She is really the happiest baby, she ended up having another ear infection at her 6 month 'well' appointment that I didn't even know about! She has had a cold for I think the whole winter but really has been a great baby, still eating and sleeping great, just doesn't love the binki cause she can't breath with it in, which is totally fine because Will was a binki addict! I really need to get Grace into their room (her and Will are going to share, we don't have any other bedrooms) because right now her room is the bathroom! She was to big for the cradle so we moved her into the port-a-crib but I didn't want her in our room any more, she was learning that I was right there and would wake up for every little cry. So the port-a-crib fit into the extra bathroom upstairs and that's where she has slept for the last two and half months! It really has worked great, she has her own music, the humidifier works great in there, and turn the fan on for white noise and to drown out the cries.

As always she is off the charts for her growth!

Weight 22.38 lbs.

Height 28.15 inches

Head 17.7 inches

My friend Heather is starting her photography business and was so nice to take Grace's pictures! I think they turned out great! (she moved to Texas so I won't be able to have her take more as she gets older)

This is just so, Grace! Love her little personality and those thighs!!

No doubt they are siblings!

4 months and off the charts

2011-02-02T21:24:00.007-07:00

I really still can't believe I have a little girl, who is just darling and already 4 months old on December 27th. I seriously just love her so much. She is smiling all the time, has figured out how to ttthhhhuuuuupppp (stick tongue out and blow) and is so proud of herself that she can do that, loves to grab things, puts everything in her mouth, loves to watch her big brother and laugh at him, a great sleeper and eater, can roll over tummy to back and back to tummy, 'talks' a lot, and smiles so big when her daddy gets home from work.
Her stats for her 4 month check up
Weight: 18.74 lbs, way above the 100%
Length: 27 inches, again way above the 100%

(just a fyi average in USA for 4 month old baby girl, 13.6 lbs and 24.2 inches, I think we may made the average go up!)

Christmas 2010

2010-12-30T14:12:00.001-07:00

Christmas was great as usual for us this year. I think kids make Christmas so much more exciting. Will loved all the parties and presents. Grace loved being held by everyone everywhere we went.

Top left: Sam and Will pantless riding the sheep, they are good little buddies Top middle: Clara, Catherine, Amy- I love being with my sisters Top right: Brian with his new brain bucket (aka helmet) Bottom left: Grace with the cowboy hat that only fit her! Bottom middle: Sam got a 'horse' and he gave Will a ride Bottom right: Grace with her new hat with cousin Emmy

Every year we act out the Nativity, this year we did it at my Great-Grandma's assisted living center. Will and Sam were great shepherds, Charles a star! Grandpa read the story, Grandma played the piano, and the rest of us had our parts but not very good pictures. Amy was the pregnant Mary, I was the Mary after the birth, Grace was Jesus, the girls angels and wise men. I think that covers everything.
We had fun acting it out and singing.

The Denney Family on Christmas day 2010

After all the presents were opened and breakfast eaten we played cowboys and Indians. Shot down with rubber bands. I even hit a couple!

A couple days before Christmas we headed downtown to see the lights at Temple Square. It is always so pretty and I love how many people go to see them. All the different nativity scenes are fun. Will loved the lights and water, he wanted to touch the water so bad. Grace was with us, bundled up in her car seat on the stroller. I don't even think she got a peek.

My 16 week old rollie pollie smiley girl!

These two are just to cute. They both have a little dimple, dark hair, and blue eyes. Definitely brother and sister.

I love this boy. He is just so fun and crazy! We did have Christmas on the Starkey side, I just didn't take many pictures. Michelle was in town for a couple days and we were able to celebrate while she was her. We missed Alicia and John.

Catching up

2010-12-12T11:14:00.008-07:00

She is smiling so much now! 12 weeks

Aunt Catherine and Grace up at the cabin over Thanksgiving weekend. We had a great time even without power for the night! Thankfully we have the wood burning stove that gets it nice and toasty up in the loft.  (13 weeks)

Will loves to sled. he will go for hours and hours

Will is ready for a four-wheeler ride with Grandpa

My boy is getting so big! (and see my piano!)

14 weeks, sleeping in her swing

Oh check out those rolls!

Grace is starting to laugh a lot now. Will can make her laugh the longest! 15 weeks old

I love this boy

By the end of the day I'm exhausted. Good thing I have good sleepers.

Storm of the century

2010-11-21T10:35:00.000-07:00

well this was the storm a couple days before the storm of the century that didn't do anything!
We got 10 inches! So Will and Brian went sledding out our front door! We have a big hill right out our front door that is a great hill for sledding.
It's a workout hauling Will up that hill,
I make Brian do it more than I do.

Grace's Blessing

2010-11-17T15:20:00.016-07:00

November 7th, Grace was given a special blessing and name by her Daddy. Brian gave her an amazing blessing, the spirit was so strong. I feel so privileged to have a husband who honors his priesthood and has the spirit with him, who loves his children and me, and shows the light of Christ in the way he lives. We are so blessed to have so many family members close to us and that come to support us. I am so lucky to have two darling babies now. Grace is my little girl and I still can't believe I am a mom to two beautiful kids.

Blaine, Val, Steve, Grandpa Starkey, Great-Grandpa Starkey, Daddy, Grace, Dan, Lars, Joe, Grandpa Denney
(Uncle Jay was also in the circle but he somehow got out of being in the picture)

Are you really still taking pictures of me?

Grandma Denney, Grace, and Great-Grandma Denney

I love her blessing dress, she looked so pretty!

Great Grandma and Grandpa Starkey

Oh my happy happy girl!

Great Uncle Lars, Great-Grandma Boggess, and Grandpa Denney

After the fun afternoon with a house full of people this is how we all felt,
kind of crazy!
Grace was so happy all day, but was getting tired.

Family Pictures 2010

2010-11-14T11:21:00.004-07:00

I just love how these turned out! Kelly is amazing, check out here photography at Bubba-loo.

Oh Baby baby

2010-11-01T21:42:00.003-06:00

We had family pictures done a couple weeks ago, I will post all of them next.

We make BIG babies. They start big and stay big. My beautiful girl has kept this going no doubt about it.

Grace had her 2 months appointment today. Here are the stats.

Weight- 16 lbs. 2 oz.
Length- 25 inches
both are off the charts big.

The average weight for a baby girl at two months is 11 lbs. Oh yeah we had that at 2 weeks!

I love love love this girl of mine. She is the best baby. Sleeps on average 7 hours. One night 10 hours!
She started to smile and 'talk' to us about a week and half ago. Will gets so excited when sister smiles at him. He is so cute with her. And she has the cutest little dimple on her left cheek.

Happy Halloween

2010-11-01T21:28:00.008-06:00

Starkey Super Hero's!

We had fun cold and rainy Halloween. Will loved getting candy in his pumpkin patch. He couldn't just say pumpkin. Pumpkin patch cookie, pumpkin patch (candy holder), patch for some reason always follows pumpkin. He is just to cute.
In Daybreak (where we live) there was trick-or-treating in the shopping area, which turned out to be great cause we could get warmed up then go get more candy. We then had a great dinner over at the Alldredge's and more trick-or-treating.

Black Diamond Gym opened up for everyone for free.
Will had fun running around going crazy.

So Will's personality right now. Just a goof ball.

We had two pictures with the superheros weapon right in front of Will's face!

Special undercover agent G.S. (Grace Starkey)

Superheros

2010-10-26T14:03:00.011-06:00

This year we decided that for Halloween we would dress up as superheros. Will is so into superheros right now, running around with his batman cape on or a blanket tied around his neck. We went all out! Every year my aunt and uncle have a great Halloween party, this year was even better with a spook ally.

My aunt has this really cool old scale, according to that scale Grace is 15 pounds!

Super Grace

Will wasn't in the mood to have pictures taken, we will get some on Halloween night!

More pictures of my cute little girl!

birth announcement

2010-10-19T15:05:00.002-06:00

The birth

2010-09-20T14:54:00.011-06:00

(we somehow didn't get a picture with Will and us at the hospital)

This might be a little much for some, so please don't read on if you don't want to know some things about the birth of Grace. For those of you that this interest, here we go.

First of all I was huge, well not really all of me, my belly mainly. Seriously big. Some even said it didn't look real, it was surrealy round. (yep just made that word up, surrealy)  But I was measuring right on schedule. I had an ultra sound done at 34 weeks to make sure the placenta was out of the way, all good. The doctor that read the ultra sound said that he would put the due date at the 13th instead of the 27th. Doctors should never do that. It just messes with your mind and makes those last oh so comfortable weeks of pregnancy even longer. So each week I went into my appointment and each week my mid-wife would say this baby could come any time. The baby was really low and I was at a 3 and 40%. (if you don't know what that means ask and I'll tell) But I stayed that way for the first 3 weeks of August. So what did I do, everything! BBQs, swimming (to actually be a normal temperature!) parties, concerts and I even went camping at 9 months pregnant! Bring it on. But nothing was making this baby come early.
What was my 'last appointment' before my due date I went in and told the mid-wife I want this baby to be born. And considering the size of Will I was getting a little nervous about the size of the baby.
So she striped my membranes (told you not to read if you didn't want to know everything!) and told me to go walking in the mall (it was in the high 90's that day) and see if that would get any contractions going. Will was home with grandma. Off I went to the mall. Only spent $15 on a shirt and earrings and didn't have one contraction! Nothing. Went swimming. Nothing.
Went to bed. Nothing. The plan was for me to go into the hospital the next day and have her break my water for me and see if that would put me in labor. She said the babies head was so low as soon as the water broke it would makes things move along.
3:29 am That was the biggest kick/punch I have ever felt from this baby. Serious strength in it.

3:30 am Whoosh. Hum Bri I need a towel. Proud to say I didn't get anything on the clean sheets I had put on 6 hours earlier. I was really amazed at how much 'water' comes out. Then I took a shower. Contractions FINALLY started. and they were consistent.

3:45 am Called my mom, we need to go to the hospital. See you in a few.

3:55 am We left. Will was sound asleep, key under the mat, Grandma on her way. It is so nice the hospital is so close. Called the mid-wife or really the call center place to call her. Made every green, and went the speed limit. Contractions still every 2-3 minutes apart and to the point that I couldn't talk through them. Not to the crying point yet.

4:05 am (these times are approximate, I really didn't keep this good of track!) Got to the hospital. I thought I was done with all the water, oh no there is more in there. Gross feeling of peeing my pants. And as I was walking to the elevator I thought, I hope the security guard doesn't notice. Why would I think that? He can clearly see I was in labor and that's what happens.

4:07 am Check in. Between contractions I was able to talk to the nurses who recognized my name because I was coming in later that day to be 'induced'.

4:15 am In the room, have the cute hospital gown on, pee in a cup, have an IV put in (one that blow my vein, then another that worked) call the anesthesiologist for the epidural.

4:18 wow these contractions hurt but relief is coming

4:25 wahoo for epidurals. He gave me a extra boost that made it so I couldn't feel my legs at all. But I thought it was kind of funny. I could kind of feel that my toe was touching something so I asked Brian what it was. Well your other leg!

4:30 Mid-wife gets there. She said that she thought she would have heard from me earlier but glad that I went into labor on my own. (ok enough with the time until the baby arrives) I really like my mid-wife she is just the nicest person and just great. We tried a lot of different positions to get me dilated to a 10 all around. Switching from side to side. Brian and she would push on certain pressure points during contractions and seriously helped so much.
It was so great this time around, I was able to focus more on what was happening. Concentrating on what was really happening to me to be able to get this baby out. When the epidural wore off a little, well a lot because I could move my legs on my own, I went on all fours. I guess the way my pelvis is tilted it really helped to get it opened up to be in that position. And honestly it was easier to get through the contractions being that way. I think I stayed that way until it was time to push.

6:30 Pushing time. Now for those of you who don't remember my first experience with pushing let me remind you. I pushed. Then I pushed some more. 3 and half hours later and help from a vacuum William came out.
So with this one I was ready. The mid-wife promised I wouldn't push that long and we would get this baby out with out any help. Ok, I'm good with that. Let the pushing being.
I was really amazed at how different positions for pushing helped relieve pressure. At one point she  said to let go of the side of the bed. I didn't realize that I was basically going to pull off the side of the hospital bed. She told me because I was tensing up so much it wasn't allowing the baby to come. It really helped! Brian was so good and being there and letting me squeeze his hand off. He knew how to help in the right way for me. I wouldn't be able to do it without him.
Shift changed for then nursed happened right in the middle of me pushing. During one contraction the nursed were talking to each other, and while I was letting my breath out I was trying to ssshhh them. But to everyone it just sound like I was breathing. So after the contraction, surprisingly, I told them to be quiet! I really couldn't concentrate with them talking during the contraction. I was proud of myself for telling them to be quiet.
The baby was crowning, with lots of dark hair just like Wills.
Head is out. The shoulders got a little stuck and she had to work on them a little to get them out. 7:35 am Then out came our baby. and we have a GIRL! I was shocked. Really I thought we were having a boy. But as Brian thought, there's no weenie! It's a girl!
Brian cut the umbilical cord.
When she came the mid-wife said, this is a big baby!
Then my baby girl gave me the first shock of her life. 10 lbs. 1 oz.
Seriously I couldn't believe it. I had just given birth to a 10 lbs 1 oz baby. And in an hour. And I still have energy. And I want to hold her and kiss her. And she looks so much like her brother.

Really I still can not believe that I birthed a 10 lbs baby. And only had 2 stitches, which she said were more out of being nice than really needing them. Somehow I'm made for having huge babies. But I'd have to say darn cute ones, that come out with cute chubby cheeks and legs.

Then off to recovery to love this cute baby girl!
I really loved this birthing experience. Maybe it was because it was so different than with Will. Maybe it was because it was my second and I was a little more prepared. Who knows.

So the outfits I had bought, one for a girl and other for a boy, needed to be taken back. No way was this girlie fitting into a newborn size. Brian took the outfits back and came back with 0-3 month size and a darling dress that he couldn't not buy. I loved that he is already tied around that girls finger!

At Grace's two week appointment she is keeping with the tradition of my babies and staying in the high 90th percentile. This girl already knows how to eat and put on the weight!
2 week appointment-
11 lbs., 99%
23 inches long, 99%
15.2 inches head circumference, 94%


Big Brother William, looked at her for about a minute then was more interest in the snacks I had and the cool bed that went up and down


First bath

Oh that feels nice

Sleeping with Daddy

I love this girls hair! So much of it and dark.

Our beautiful Girl!

2010-09-09T08:09:00.009-06:00

It is still unreal that we have a baby girl. We really thought all along it was going to be a boy, but nope she is one cute girl! She is such a good baby already. Has not acted like a new born from the minute she was born, she is cooing and looking around, smiling, and so alert. Will is an awesome big brother and so curious about what is happening with Grace.
I will write more about the birth later, here are some fun pictures we took with our friends awesome camera.

she is so excited to see the world!

Will loves his little sister

we get this smile almost everyday,
like I said she acts more like a one/two month old than a new born. 

It's a Girl!!

2010-08-29T15:12:00.003-06:00

Grace Clara Starkey
August 27th, 7:35 am
21.5 inches
10 lbs. 1 oz.

we are home and doing great!

We went to the hospital

2010-08-16T22:29:00.004-06:00

So yesterday, Sunday August 15th we went to the hospital.

But for this.

Not that.

3 stitches. Hit that chair just right and split his eye brow. The worst part was having to be held down while they put the stitches in. I was hoping he would last until he was at least 3 years old for stitches but thankfully it was only 3. Unlike his dad who had 22 at that age.

8 Years Baby!

2010-08-16T22:14:00.004-06:00

August 1st was our 8 year anniversary. Crazy. 8 years. I really can't get my head around it. We have done so many fun things together. I love him more every day. He is the best husband and Dad. Love you!

July 30th was Tim McGraw so we celebrated my birthday and our anniversary going to dinner and the concert. Probably the best concert we have been to. Lady Antebellum opened, which was so good, I love their music. McGraw sang for almost 2 hours. The songs were a great mix of newer songs and old ones that Brian and I both remember when they came out. I was so excited when he sang BBQ stain on my white t-shirt, that song always makes me think of my brother. And so many songs that Brian and I danced to when we were dating and would go country dancing. Oh I loved it! Thanks babe.

Really? 29

2010-07-30T21:33:00.008-06:00

Yep I'm 29. My last year in my twenties. And what did I do for the my birthday, I sent my hot hubby off for a weekend of 4-wheeling with the boys. He deserved it, and had a blast.
Will and I went to play with Aunt Amy and the cousins, which is always fun! While we were there Amy did a little photo shot with the kids. So I joined in the fun. Here are some fun pictures of my belly at 34 weeks.

I love my little man. He is understanding a little of what is going to happen.

34 weeks with Baby #2

Doesn't he just look cute!

Uncle Jay, Joe, Mike, Dad, Brian

-------
Brian gave me an awesome present this year, 4 concerts! He was sneaky about the first, our neighbors 'got free tickets from work' and they don't like country music and couldn't go so they gave them to us! I really didn't think it was a set up at the time but a fun concert. The line up was pretty good, I was the most excited for Little Big Town. Others were Montgomery Gentry, Jack Ingram, Eli Young Band, Eric Church, and some others that I haven't hear of. It was a fun rainy outdoor concert.
Then on my birthday he gave me the rest of the tickets. Tim McGraw!!! Toby Keith and Brad Paisley!!!

Super man

2010-07-29T13:48:00.012-06:00

This summer has been a busy one. We had something going every weekend in June and July. During the weeks Will and I go swimming at least 3 times, to the park, work on the garden (Will is very good 'waterin' the lettuce'), baby appointments, family reunions, playing with cousins, and then going swimming again. It's a good thing Will loves the water because I would not survive this summer without going to the pool. It is the best thing! Really the only thing that will cool me off to a 'normal' temperature. Brian freezes at night now days. I keep it at a perfect 68 or 70 degrees at night. I wake up to many times to roll over or pee that I don't want to wake up from being to hot.

Here is my Superman (this was in June)

Why does Will not have pants on? Well he went down the slide and there was a big puddle so naturally he wouldn't want his pants on but he has to keep the cape.

Superman!!

he can even sing you the theme song

To the Zoo! We went to the zoo with Amy and her kids at the beginning of July. The hottest day of the year. I think I might have died. But we had fun and the animals were all pretty active.

Classic Hogle Zoo picture.

Sam is just so darn cute

Oh look at the monkeys

Giraffe

Aunt Catherine came for a visit, all the kids love her!

It's tiring sitting in a stroller watching animals in the sun

DisneyLand May 2010

2010-07-29T09:14:00.017-06:00

After our fun in San Diego we headed up to Disney Land for a day. It was the first time for all the kids and they loved it! We were only going for a day so we pushed the kids hard but they all did awesome and everyone loved it. We also somehow went on the perfect day. The longest line we stood in was maybe 20 minutes, it was perfect temperature, and we got to go on almost all the rides we wanted to go on.

Will wanted to go see Buzz so bad, then we got up there and well he wanted nothing to do with him!

Grandma and Hannah Driving around

It's a Small World After All

Hannah, Uncle Brian, and Emmy- they got going around fast.

Will took an awesome nap while everyone went on the tea cups!

A little later when Will woke up we went on the tea cups again. Doesn't Will look sick already!

Aaarrgggg I'm going to get the sword

Will loved the Merry Go Round

Megan and Brian (love Megs shades)

Grandpa and Sam

Playing on the tracks, Sam left something behind

The whole group (we missed Charles and Catherine)

Sam just had so much fun

Will describing the day

Sam and Will patiently waiting for us the be ready to leave. Oh if they only knew what was coming with 12 hours of driving!

San Diego and Sea World May 2010

2010-07-21T17:17:00.017-06:00

In May we went to San Diego for a fun filled vacation. Amy and I started a day early with the kids and drove to St. George, which helped a ton to break up the drive for the kids and me :) We stayed at a fun condo in Mission Beach just across the street for the beach. It was a little cool but we were still at the beach so we survived! Brian and Joe were the brave ones that got all the way in the water to play on the boogie board. Will loved the water this year and couldn't get enough of it. We went to Sea World for a day and as always had a blast.

Cute HUGE whales- to bad the trainers can't swim with them any more

After Shamu got us wet. My mom got the drenched. 

Grandpa and Hannah petting the manta rays

Special, I know

Will and Sam are so cute!

Sam's rear- Will and Megan. Enjoying watching the walrus' "eat"

My little family at the beach

Will and Brian looking for anything moving

The Oldham Family

Grandpa and Grandma

Will finally to cold to stay in the water

I love my boys

Will body surfing 2 year old style

Sam was hilarious- he HATED the sand. Even with sandals he just didn't like walking or sitting on it. 

Sitting on a towel he was fine and would dig in the sand

Grandma and Grandpa playing baseball

updates

2010-05-05T09:44:00.019-06:00

Not sure why the blog has gotten neglected, but here I am with a few updates.
Baby #2 is 24 weeks along in the cooking process, over half way! This little baby is active, gets the hiccups all the time, and growing right on schedule. Can't wait to meet him or her at the end of August! Here are the ultra sound pictures at 20 weeks. Brian was strong and we are holding out until this baby arrives to know if we have a boy or girl.

(we couldn't get a good profile picture,

so the scary straight on picture will have to do)

Will is cute as ever. Loves the park, balls, bike rides, stroller rides, gives the best hugs and kisses. We watched Prince and the Frog the other day and we now have frogy kisses :)
His favorite songs lately are 'Row row row da boat' 'Twinkle twinkle dar' other favorites have been 'bunny' (little bunny foo foo) 'follow frapet' (follow the prophet) And a mix of 'Row da twinkle dar'
He always plays fare (ha ha ha) when playing swords, he'll always find one for you and ask you to 'get me'.
He turns into a camel the second he gets into a car. For some reason it makes him really thirsty to be in his car seat. 'Water Mama?' Oh and he loves dried mangos (spoiled little guy)
Loves when Daddy gets home from work.
He remembers things that I wouldn't think he would. His uncle Joe broke his nose and we told him about it. The next day, 'Joe, nose, awwweie, hurt' and would pretend to cry. Seriously cute. When he sees a big truck, 'big truck, papa?' 'uncle Joe' (they both have trucks)

Oh Bee! (all bugs are bees or ladybugs and he squishes them all!)

I love those duck lips, has had them since he was a baby.
Smelling the tulips (knows what tulips are!)

My tulips actually came up. But then we had a big storm and the wind took all the petals and left me with beautiful green stems and leaves.

A dark picture but just so cute. He got into the jam on his toast.

2 years old! (shhhh don't tell penny's I scanned the pics)

Jelly beans make him smile :)

The start of our garden this year.

I'm excited for the garden this year,
and check out the view we have from there.

Mr. & Mrs. Duck come every night and
eat on the hill in front of our house

Just thought this was a cute picture of my little guy.

Happy 30th to Brian!!

2010-03-28T09:43:00.007-06:00

This last weekend was a crazy one! But I made it that way.
Probably in January I was talking with Brian about what he wanted to do for his birthday, he said he didn't really want anything big and nobody to make fun of him. Well that of course meant I needed to plan something. He is always dishing it out!
So my brilliant plan was a surprise party in his behalf. Friday I got everything ready- house, food, making a cake (with the help of Brook!), and getting Will over to Grandma/pa before I went to take him out to dinner. I definitely made things harder than they should have been but it was fun! And it turned out how I wanted. Everything would have went a lot faster and smoother if my boy had taken a nap longer than 30 minutes! Seriously the day before, 3 hours.
The plan as Brian knew it was we were going to Rodizio Grill (oh yummy, we haven't been there in almost 5 years!) and I was picking him up from work. But we needed to be home around 8 to get 'our babysitter' home for a party. We had time to do a little shopping. We found him new jeans and I found a skirt that will work for this growing belly. But they didn't have my size at that store but the one right by our house did.
Off we went home, but conveniently we needed to get Brian's car from the park and ride and being the wonderful husband he is, he went to get the skirt from the store while I went home to take the babysitter home!
Amy had come over early to let everyone in and finish setting up, thanks Amy Sue!!
When he got home everyone was there and, SURPRISE!!!
Honestly I thought he knew about it and was just being nice to me and my pregnant brain. But somehow I was able to tell all the right 'fibs' and pull it off. It was fun to see his face, cause he really had no idea! So fun.
I was so worried about everything else we didn't get any good pictures.

He really needed all the air he could to get all those candles out!

Kathy, Sara, Brian, and Jon
(there was a lot of other people there, but no pics)

And my master piece. Yep I'm proud of it. Thank you Brook!

After the party we went to get the party at Grandma/pa's. Somehow they got Will and Amy's 4 to sleep! So transport from car to home to bed! It was perfect.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABE
I love you more everyday! even if you are dirty thirty now :)

Happy Birthday to William

2010-03-16T08:21:00.007-06:00

Happy Birthday to Will

I can't believe he is already 2 years old. And just so darn cute.
We had a fun birthday party for him on Saturday with the grandparents, cousins, and aunts and uncles that were in town.
I made everyone else take pictures so all of the pictures are on Amy and Gloria's cameras. Here are the few we got on ours. Not the best but will have to do for now.

He got so many presents, what a spoiled 2 year old! Thanks to everyone.
We (the parents) gave him a tricycle. We'll get a good picture of him on it in the next couple of days, it's actually warming up outside.

And here is my creation for this years cake. Will loves loves loves fish! So I thought it would only be appropriate for a fish bowl cake! It was fun making and it turn out how I wanted it to.

....until more picture's make it to our computer...

Bean #2

2010-02-18T10:02:00.004-07:00

For those who didn't get my super sneaky encryption, here is a picture of the baby at 11 weeks. We are at week 13 now. Due August 27th.
We are all super excited for baby #2. We'll find out what we are having in August. :)

Hired Help

2010-02-11T22:01:00.004-07:00

I meant to post this a while ago (it was pre hair cut) I just love this boy!
He is a very good helper.

The Recovery

2010-02-10T08:34:00.004-07:00

Brian's surgery went great. The doc was able to do what was needed and didn't need to do the 'extra' clipping that would have put Brian on crutches for 6 weeks. So we are thankful it's only for a couple. He went back to work today, we'll see how that goes. It's been a little different having to take care of a almost 2 year old and a big husband that can't get around!
And the entertainment I was hoping for after the surgery didn't happen! Talk about boring. He just really wanted Dr. Pepper, which he got from the nurse. He doesn't really remember anything when he got to me but come on, say something funny! Nothing.

Brian was just sick of being so white this winter he decided to use a self tanner!
Seriously, all the way to the ankle and pretty far up the thigh, it was knee surgery :)

Brian and Will. Will was very good at being soft the Daddy's hurt knee.
See the tan difference between his two legs? Maybe we should even that out.

And for your entertainment here is Will,
being the awesome toddler he is!

Did you get the encryption? :)

Scope this

2010-01-28T09:19:00.016-07:00

We demand a refund! Oh wait there isn't such a thing for bad knees.
Brian gets to have his meniscal repaired/clipped next Thursday, and he is so so excited! Playing basketball way to hard when he was younger ruined his knees. His knee has been bugging him for a while now so he went in to have it looked at. Yep, he had torn the cartilage again. He had the left knee worked on in 1999 and the right one in 2002. So here we go for round #2 (but this time he/we get to pay for it!) I hope he bounces back like he did for the last one but reality is that he is in his late late late twenties now.
I think 3 or 4 days after the 2002 surgery he took me to a concert. This wasn't a sit down nice relaxing concert. It was 311. We were on the floor. Oh the thoughts of the invincible young.

Wish him luck.
Oh and I'm excited to hear what he has to say when he in 'under'. He makes fun of me all the time for talking in my sleep so this is my time to get back at him :)

December recap

2010-01-12T07:45:00.021-07:00

I've been slacking in the blogging area. Sorry. The holidays were busy busy busy. We were able to spend a lot of time with our families and going to different parties and such. Here's some picture's of what happened. (for some reason I don't have any pictures with the Denney family! I probably used Amy's camera and forgot about it so until I get those picture's from her... here's some of the happenings)

We bought a our first real Christmas tree this year. Brian went crazy with the lights.

We purchased a few plastic ornaments that I thought were pretty, so did Will. Everyday we rearranged the tree. Will thought it was so much fun.

Our Christmas card picture.

(Sorry if you didn't get a card, we still love you!)

Gingerbread Houses with our neighbors.

I love the trees the best.

Temple Square to see all the lights! It had been really cold but the night we went it was a snowing, which meant it was a little warmer.

Will loves his Uncle John.

The Starkey family (minus Michelle who was still in NYC)

I thought this picture was really pretty with the snow and temple.

Oh so excited for his Christmas pj's and ALL the attention!

Here is where a lot of picture's would be inserted from Christmas with the Denney's. And before Christmas we had a blast up at the cabin with the Caldwell's sledding.

Helping take down the very very dead tree. He sat on it multiple times, having fun attacking the tree and not getting told to 'not touch the tree'. Later that night found A LOT of pine needles in his diaper!

The tree weighed nothing by this time. Look how sad the tree is. It was pretty for the couple weeks we had it. Next year we will water it a little more

Serious fire hazard!

Will going crazy on the coach cushions.

Arrggggg

I love him!

Alicia and John have started a new tradition in their house which, while here in Utah was carried on. We MADE a pinata! Didn't it turn out awesome! This years choice of animals was the elephant. There are better picture's of the creation on someone else's camera. Wow I didn't take good picture's this year. It was a blast making and destroying.

I haven't done a pinata in a long long time. We had so much fun! Thanks Alicia and John.

Will was confused why we were hitting something with a stick but when the candy went flying! Oh he was loving it!

Reindeer

2009-12-07T10:54:00.007-07:00

At the local Tree Lot finding over priced Christmas trees and reindeer.

Who is this guy? Oooohh he has candy!

Free picture with Santa, to bad none of them are the best

Will is saying more and more everyday. Reindeer is favorite right now.

Fun at the Cabin

2009-12-02T08:51:00.010-07:00

After a very relaxing and fun Thanksgiving dinner at my cousin Natalie's we headed up to the cabin for a couple days. There was just enough snow for sledding. Will loved it!

Eskimo Will. He definitely stayed warm with all the layers.

He has the best blue eyes!
Will is saying new words everyday. He knows what cold is
and snow ('no') and 'burrrzers'

Hannah, Emmy, Brian, Will, and Megan
We love hanging out with the cousins!

Megan, Hannah, and Will trying to ice skate

Yes this is Sam. A boy. He has 3 older sisters and so he is stuck with PINK everything. Pink hat, pink glove, pink snow pants, pink boots, and the green jacket is a thank you to his BOY cousin Will. Poor boy. He was fun to watch walking in the snow.

Toothless Hannah! She looks even more homeless than Sam.

Megan, cute as ever. Will's buddy.

It's a seal! oh wait no it's Emmy Lu

Charles 'ice skating' with Megan.
(Megan is our die hard, wanting to go more and crazier!)

Tillamook

2009-11-04T10:01:00.003-07:00

Last night we went to Winco. What's so exciting about Winco? Well it is a grocery store that I would go to in Oregon and they really have awesome prices on food and bulk items. When we were in the store I was seriously missing Oregon. Kind of funny that a grocery store would do that to me but I was. I loved it in Eugene. But the thing that really got me was the Tillamook yogurt. I love this yogurt. I probably bought to many but I was really excited to be able to have Tillamook yogurt again. As we were checking out the cashier said that they also have the Tillamook ice cream!! I almost made Brian go run and grab some but the yogurt will have to do for now. I felt like I was going back in time, but Will would have been 20 lbs lighter and cozy in a carrier instead of wanting to run and scream and pull everything off the shelf. After the time travel I half expected it to be overcast and rainy when we got outside. Oh the fun we had in Eugene.

Gryffindor

2009-11-01T10:15:00.014-07:00

Happy Halloween!

The Starkey family went as Gryffindor members.

Can you guess who was who?

Harry getting a bath
(we had to pin him down to get the 'glasses' on him! but well worth the screams)

Will is ready for carving his pumpkin!

Paul and Gloria grew these awesome pumpkins in their garden and shared with us then joined the fun of carving!

Being the creative person he is, Brian came up with this carving.
If you know what building this is, you are as much of a geek as he is!
(but I actually knew what architect designed this building)

Apples Galore

2009-11-01T09:28:00.016-07:00

I think deep down I really want to be a migrant worker. In my sub-conscious I must really really love working with different kinds of fruits. Cherries, peaches, pears, and now apples.
Really I just have connections to free fruit that is fun to pick and bottle!
Apples were the fruit of choice this last month. Will and I and Evan (I tend him every Wednesday for a friend) went with grandpa and grandma to pick apples and meet up with Amy and her kids.
It was a very eventful evening in the apple orchard- we got to ride in Grandpa's truck, pet several horses, got rained on, saw a rainbow, train, helicopter, and play in the mud! We also brought home more apples than we knew what to do with, so we shared with friends.


"HORSE!"

"This is a horse, Will" said Megan

Rainbow! (try to ignore the lovely pole)

Sam, Amy (actually a normal picture of her) and Grandma

Will was very helpful picking the apples.

Evan sat in the mud puddle!

Sam put it 4 teeth to good work!

Meggie Ru

Grandpa

the end of my favorite time

2009-10-07T10:30:00.011-06:00

I am sad and slightly depressed that summer is gone. I hate having to turn on the heater, wearing socks, and sweatshirts. I will miss going to the pool every week, wearing shorts, going outside without shoes, being warm... I could go on and on. (I keep bugging Brian to plan on taking me on a cruise in February so I can survive!) On September 26th the last day the pool was open for the year, we went for a dip. It felt so good after working in the yard. Will is a little fish with no fear of the water.

Blowing bubbles

Break time, and he has to have his own chair no. He doesn't like to share with me any more.

My new fun thing is Bountiful Baskets, it's a food co-op that is now in South Jordan. I got all of this produce for $16. And it was all tasty!

One of the many benefits of having a mom with fruit trees. Pears! I made the jam without calling my mom once! I think it looks beautiful. (I almost cried when I dropped one in the basement, delicious jam all over the cement)

Peaches! peaches! peaches! and more peaches. I will never go without peaches. My mom has a big tree and my in-laws have one big tree and then an orchard! I froze enough to last the entire winter and then bottled even more! (and with the 'new' deep freeze I can freeze as many things as I want)

I did it! and I'll do it again

2009-09-20T14:39:00.012-06:00

I finished my first Triathlon yesterday! It was awesome. I've had so much fun training for it over the summer. I will be doing another one soon. The only bad thing about yesterday's triathlon was that we weren't able to do the swim portion in the lake. The lake was recently, as in Thursday, shut down. No one allowed in the lake because of round worm, GROSS!! No thanks, I think everyone was fine not swimming in the contaminated water. The solution was all the athletes swam 75m in the small community pool. The original distance was 750m which I was totally ready for, and was my strong leg of the race. But oh well I had so much fun. Because of the swim change we had to run an extra 1.5 miles. So many people from our neighborhood were in the race. it was fun to see everyone and cheer them on. Amy did a relay with some friends, next time she is doing the whole thing. (she did the swimming portion so she was really really quick for her portion:)
My time was 1:41:02 which I am totally happy with for my first tri. I'm doing another mini one next month!

Amy and I getting ready for the mini mini swim

T1 (transition 1)

The extra 1.5 miles

Here I go for the 14 mile bike ride

It was fun! I got up to 36 mph on the downhill!

now for the 5k run around the contaminated lake

I finished!!

My coach Will! I didn't get a picture of my other coach Brian

Sprint distance and yep I'm 28 (everyone at church saw this today, permanent marker doesn't come off, imagine that)

Amy has more defined muscles than I do, but I did the whole thing, ha

he's got something to say....

2009-09-13T15:32:00.004-06:00

Ball, dog, please, thank you, bird, duck, daddy, mom, car, light, plane, grandpa, cheese, cracker, water, no, mine, ah oh, cookie, bubbles, flower, bye bye,........

A vocabulary that is growing everyday, I do love the chant I hear when I get home from work. "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, as he tries to tackle me. He has become much more vocal and is picking up things very fast. He has got his warble laugh back and Yes we are very excited, I have a full time job again! I had been doing contract work for my old firm Prescott Muir Architects until Thursday when they told me they wanted me full time!! We are very grateful for the job and happy not to be unemployed .

Will loves to help me (Clara) with the laundry- putting clothes into the washer and dryer. As I was getting the next load for the washer, about 30 seconds, Will had climbed into the dryer! What a crazy boy!!

Denney Family Picture's

2009-09-08T11:53:00.006-06:00

My sister Catherine was in town for the weekend, she hasn't been home since Christmas!! She is living in Lodi, CA. The whole family went up to the cabin for a night and we needed to have a new family picture done so we used the trusty tripod and did it ourselves. Not bad for a timer and Brian running into the picture!

The Denney Family- Clara, Brian, Will, Charles, Joe, Amy
Catherine, Mom/Sue, Megan, Dad/Brad, Sam, Hannah, Emmy

Denney Grandkids- Emmy, Will, Megan, Sam, Hannah

My cute little family

Hard Days Work

2009-09-08T11:36:00.003-06:00

Yellowstone!

2009-08-26T13:56:00.014-06:00

Yellowstone is the coolest place! When we were there I thought, how weird would it be to be the first person to find this place. You're going along in what you think is a normal forest but no here's a huge geyser and some hot bubbling paint pot things and just crazy weird things everywhere. Random thought for the day.
We had a blast with my Mom and Dad, Amy, Joe, Hannah, Emmy, Megan, and Sam. I was a little nervous because our last camping experience was not the greatest but I came prepared for the cold. Hats, gloves, coats, and warm socks. The first night wasn't bad, the second wasn't either, but the third, buuuuuurrrrrrr. Will stayed nice and cozy with his many layers and hat. But his fourth molar decided to make its way up and give him a fever and make him very cranky. Other than that it was a blast.

Swimming at Firehole.

Grandpa and Sam. (Grandpa/Dad actually got in the water a little)

Amy and Megan- obviously having fun

Grandma coming down for the crazy rapids
I remember the rapids that you can swim in being a lot bigger...

Me, Megan, and my special sister Amy

Will is ready to go caving when he wakes up from his nap
(He really wouldn't let me take it off)

Emmy Lou

Meg eating breakfast in a bowl because we forgot the plates!

Hannah, Emmy, Amy, Megan, Grandma
Old (not so) Faithful

Will and Megan getting way to close to the buffalo

Grandpa, Grandma, Will, Brian, Clara,
Megan, Hannah, Joe, Emmy, Amy, Sam
(we missed Catherine, and Charles)

The buffalo was huge!
We all do a great impression of what he sounds like.
And that's Joe in the side mirror.

To hold you over

2009-08-18T13:13:00.005-06:00

Hair Nets and Gloves

2009-08-02T15:43:00.030-06:00

It seems like it has been months since I lasted blogged. We have had some exciting events. I wish I had pictures of everything but I don't so here is what I have. These are in order going backwards for a couple weeks. (and for some reason I like this font lately)

We went to the cabin Friday night for our Anniversary, 7 years! Will got to come with us because we hadn't been together as a family for a couple weeks and we just wanted him to be with us. It was nice to relax and just be away, I love the mountains and the trees. (more to come on the being away in the next couple of pictures)

Will was clapping for himself for some reason. He does this a lot lately. Most of the time when he goes down the stairs the right way!

My cute husband of 7 years!!

Smelling the flowers aka licking the flowers

Getting a drink. I think we have picture of every grandkid on the Denney side doing this.

He will only hold your hand if he needs help.

He got caught!
(climbed into the car, opened the bag of brownies and was loving it!)

---

Will got to have a sleep over at Grandpa and Grandma Starkey's over the 24th of July. Aunt Alicia and Uncle John were there to play also. While he was there they all went to batting cages. Will even was 'saying' Uncle John's name! (He is talking more and more)

I think this is the cutest picture. Thanks for watching Will everyone.

Batter up (uncle John)

Will and Uncle John have fun together. He's going to miss them when they move in a couple of weeks.

---

Here is the best part of the month of July. And the reason for the title of the blog. I was an employee of Payson Fruit Growers for 2 weeks. What did I do? Well I worked in a cherry factory, wore a hair net, gloves, and worked from 7 pm to 5 am. Yep. I sat or stood there for 10 hours, night shift, doing one of the following- picking out the bad cherries off of a conveyor belt, putting bags into buckets, putting the buckets under the conveyor belt, or twisting the bags after the buckets were filled. I will never eat another cherry pie or pastry again. I know I didn't get all the bad cherries, yuck. Anyways, I had originally signed up to get some extra cash to go on a trip sometime, but since Brian lost his job the money was needed a little more, so I was off to work. Will and I lived with Amy, Joe, and the kids for those 2 weeks. Thank you Amy so much for taking care of Will. It was an adventure that honestly I will never do again. But it was an experience that is funny to talk about. Oh how could I not include my co-workers. The average age of the employees that work the cherry days is about 17. All the kids in the area work there before school and for that age make good money in those weeks. Me, I haven't gotten paid that little since well I was 17. Kind of insulting but what was even worse was being called 17 by multiple people. Yes I was wearing a hair net, no make-up because it was the middle of the night, and glasses but really. 17? I know I don't look my age and I will love it when I'm 40, but now. Gross little 18 year old boy do not hit on me, I am 10 years older, have a little boy and have been happily married for 7 years! It made me laugh. So that was my adventure with the Cherry Days in Payson, Utah. (I now have a part time job at a cute little home decor shop in Draper that is 10 minutes away and I'm not required to wear a hair net!)
Oh I do wish I had a picture of me with the hair net, I was HOT

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Camping!! We hadn't been camping for a long time and Will had never gone so we went for my birthday, on a Tuesday. When you are unemployed you make your own schedule! We went up Big Cottonwood Canyon with our good friends for our ward, Kathy and Brad.

Will, Clara, Chloe, and Kathy

Ready for a little hike

Happy Birthday to me with a Zinger :)

Will loved getting dirty

Collecting worms for fishing

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Amy, my mom, and I decided we needed a good adventure and decided to take all of the kids downtown, on the train and go to the church history museum.

All of us waiting for the train. Emmy and Hannah lookin' cool.

Hannah, Emmy, Megan, and Grandma

Everyone dressed up. The museum had a great kids hand-on section.

After dinner on the way to the free outdoor concert.

Love this picture. He is so curious about everything.

Are we all related?

I love taking picture's of flower. Temple Square has beautiful flowers all the time.

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A surprise visit from my good friend Ashlee. I worked with her in Eugene. She had a long lay-over in Salt Lake and we got to see her a couple hours. It was so good to see her again, it's been to long.

gDiapers

2009-07-13T12:15:00.004-06:00

Tree huger, hippie, granola, earth friendly, green, environmental, blah blah blah yes we are tree hugers now. We lived in Eugene, Oregon. How can anyone NOT be when they have lived there. The recycle bins are bigger than the garbage cans! When I was pregnant with Will I decided I would give gDiapers a try. Kristine and Tara were the ones that got me on board. Kristine has used them with her boys and Tara with her little girl(s). They gave me all the details of how everything worked and we went for it. It took me a lot longer to really use them since we were living with people for so long (thank you Jake and Annie and Mom and Dad!) Anyways I use them all the time now. The exceptions are when we are out away from home.
Yes it is more work but besides saving the environment it pays off after a month! We use the cloth inserts and it works great. (If you want Kristine's great cleaning method let me know, it has worked great for me)
So why all the rambling about cloth diapers, gDiapers is having a great deal right now on the everyday g's 6-pack. The regular price is $70 but using the code below brings it to $40!!

g533Starkey

To use the coupon code, add one or more everyday g's six-pack(s) to your gDiapers.com cart, enter your code and click the "redeem" button. The price will automatically drop from $70 (regular price) to $40.

4th of July

2009-07-12T15:45:00.014-06:00

Happy 4th of July 2009

Fireworks, BBQ, the pool, lake, sunshine, snow cones, my boys- All my favorite things of the summer!! We had a great 4th of July weekend. Friday night we were going to go camping with Steve and Staci but we had a change of plans and BBQ'd at our place, they are having a baby boy next month. They are going to be great parents! And Staci is an adorable pregnant lady :)

Then Saturday we hung out in Daybreak (home) most of the day. We went for a bike ride to the lake, went out on the double kayak and chased the four big black crane looking birds around the lake. Then off to the pool, which wasn't crowded at all for a Saturday and the 4th! We all had a blast. Then home for a nap and off to a great BBQ at grandpa/ma Starkeys. Alicia and John were down for Logan along with John's brother David. They staked out a great spot for watching fireworks. And of course I got a snow cone to share with Will. He loved it! I wasn't sure how Will was going to react to the fireworks, with the loud noise and being very tired. But he just wanted to be close and watched for a little while but just ended up falling asleep!

Will felt pretty cool sitting in a big kid chair and the big kid table eating a whole piece of watermelon getting juice everywhere!

Aunt Alicia and Will- he got a taste I think of everyone's snow cone!

One of the best things about summer

Will likes sugar in any form

My cute boys and me

Uncle John and Aunt Alicia who will soon be Kentuckians

Shiner

2009-07-06T14:35:00.010-06:00

Will's first shiner! He was playing on our bed and hit the foot board with is cheek. It really didn't hurt him that bad but it drained up under his eye. I think it is pretty cute! He is a crazy boy.

He ate 2 bananas for dinner then the next morning ate 2 more!
They were small but still that boy can eat!

He's a little fish in the water, we go to the pool at least 3 times a week

No cavitities yet, but 3 molars now!

Happenings

2009-06-29T15:21:00.019-06:00

Last week was awesome! We started with a long weekend in Sand Hollow/ St. George with my family. It was a blast. The beaches around the lake are perfect for the kids. Will has no fear of the water and just loved being outside with his cousins.

Will loved the water!

Megan and Will are best of buds

First knee board ride!

Grandma, Megan, Grandpa, and Emmy- in charge of the flag

Joe and Sam- he is waving now!

Grandma and the girls ready for a wild tubing ride

Megan and Will at the pool

Emmy, Megan, Clara, Will, Charles, and Hannah

Later that week we had visitors! Our good friend Shay and her kids were in town. Emily and Shay and all the kids made there way down here for a fun morning.

Shay is so special

Emily, Owen, Shay, Tessa, Clara
Carlee, Kate, Kaden, Porter, Will

Right before that whole crew got here in the morning, I got a call from one of my 'oldest' friend from Pleasanton days. Camille! I haven't seen Camille for about 3 years. She was in town and got a car for the day so she came to see me and Will. It was so fun to see her. I miss you! While she was here we went to the garden for some lettuce. And she took some awesome picture's of what is growing so far. This is our first attempt at a garden and so far so good. Our lettuce has been awesome, and there is hope for a least one good pepper. Hopefully our green beans and zucchini do something. We also have tomatoes, strawberries, raspberries, basil, beats, and a butternut squash that will hopefully be delicious!

One of the two peppers going strong!

We love fresh lettuce.

That is going to be one good zucchini!

Will helping someone's garden! (we have our garden in the community gardens they have in DayBreak, it's raised beds with good soil and water right there!)

Me and Camille

We had so much fun. Don't we both look so good in our glasses :)

Is it to much to ask?

2009-06-15T14:20:00.008-06:00

When we moved back to Utah last August I was excited to get the last of the hot summer days and nights and knew that the next year would bring another summer where I would have to go swimming. Brian didn't really understand what I meant by 'I have to go swimming'. In Oregon it just really never got hot enough for me to 'have to go swimming'. I love the summer time. I love the sun. I love the water. But I don't love it when it's cold in the water or out. So last summer we didn't get to go swimming much because I'm a wimp. (and I had just had a baby and didn't exactly love the bod) Anyways I live in Utah where the summers are hot but it is COLD! Well not really it just has been rainy and thunder storms for the last 2 weeks. This isn't Oregon rain, this is mountain rain that down pours and makes little lakes everywhere. It has done this everyday. One of the days it even hailed. Seriously, June! I want to go to the pool! So does Will! and Brian!

San Diego

2009-05-24T15:20:00.014-06:00

This last week we had a great vacation in San Diego. We rented a house for the week across the street from Mission Beach. It was nice to have a place big enough for everyone and a room for Will to sleep in. It was a fun relaxing vacation. One of the great things- Brian's parents took Will on the plane! So only 2 hours instead of 12 in a car. Brian, Alicia, John, and I drove in the grandparents van and meet up with Michelle, Paul, Gloria, and Will in sunny California. The drive there wasn't to bad, but isn't that how it always is? And then the drive back, way to long! But Will was lucky again and got to fly. That boy is spoiled, that makes 8 flights now.

I love the ocean! I love the ocean even more when it is warm enough to play in. Oregon just wasn't warm enough. I don't think I even got in while living there. Anyways, I thought for sure Will would love the water but he was a little afraid of the big waves but loved playing in the sand. On the bay side he got in and love the kayaks we rented. The next day we all had sore arms.

Sea World! Brian and I love Sea World. We went about 5 years ago and have wanted to go back ever since. We found a discount price and got Alicia and John in for Free! (Military discounts are awesome!) Will loved all the animals. He could have watched the Shamu and dolphin show all day.

Knott's Berry Farm was a blast. And lucky for us Gloria doesn't love roller coasters and she loves Will so we got to go on the rides and she went with Will on the Merry-go-round! There is a crazy roller coaster there that goes straight up then straight down and around and goes really really fast, I can't remember the name of it but I was glad John was there to go on it with Brian.

One of my goals for the week was to make sure my boys didn't get burnt. And it worked! Will, thankfully, got my skin and can tan. We did great until the last day and lost track of time and I'm the one that got a little crispy on my back :) Oh well. We had a blast!

It's been a while

2009-05-05T18:55:00.009-06:00

So happy playing in the shower (with Dad)

Peek a boo I see you!

I'm back. I wish I had fun things to write about but I don't really. The house is awesome, we are loving being here, we are getting to know more neighbors and people in the ward. Brian went to Lake Powell for a fun fishing trip with Joe, Charles and one of Joe's friends. I got to hang out with Amy and the kids all weekend. I had so much fun going through all of her old clothes and making her donate things that are way to big for her and really really really out of style! Now she has room in her closet for new clothes :)

I had these taken about a month ago now but thought I would share Will's pictures we had done.

Helping in the kitchen!

Playing in our yard

2009-04-07T08:59:00.011-06:00

Will is a crazy boy. He has a good on arm on him already and throws everything. We are working on just balls and soon only outside. Last night when Brian got home they went outside in the yard to play. Oh and our 'yard' is dirt, I wouldn't even go that far, it's really sand with a little dirt and rocks :)

Yes he does have a white onesie on but he was happy...

Do you want a rock?

He does this face all the time. It makes us laugh.

Pure happiness.

What?

He threw that rock!

What we call home

2009-04-03T12:04:00.013-06:00

We've finally settled in and I feel organized! And I can take pictures for everyone to see. I still have a lot of thing I want to do but I happy with what we have done so far. Here are the long awaited pictures. I don't have any of the outside cause it's snowed everyday and has been freezing (I'm sick of it and want summer, not spring, summer!)
The yard should be done in the next month or so.

Entry

Check out those pj's

Kitchen

Family Room (We can't decide on the color for that wall!)

Office

He looks so grown up

Will's Room

Anyone have a spare lamp shade?

Will has his own bathroom

Our room, I don't have a picture of the bathroom...
And our blinds should be coming next week and we won't have to have paper on the windows!