Riley's 3rd Birthday!!

Yesterday was Riley's 3rd birthday!! I can't believe he is this old already!! Time has gone by so fast! Now I have Lexie too!! I remember the day he was born and everything that happened that day like it was yesterday. I feel sooooo old (even though I have many friends with 3 or 4 kids already and some have kids as old as 7 or 8) it makes me wonder how they must feel lol!! Before I know it Riley will be starting school, then finishing elementary school, then graduating High School and then I will feel old!! Anyways enough of the feeling old business!

So we celebrated Riley's birthday yesterday. It was a Sunday and we have church at 1pm and that time really sucks when you are trying to organize family get togethers and dinners but we decided we better go to church (I won't lie we honestly thought of skipping). Riley decided he wanted Pizza and a Race Car cake with Lightening McQueen and Mater on it. I only make simple cakes and have no creative or cake decorating talents so I decided since I wouldn't have time to make it (we were busy the day before and went swimming for his birthday) we would just take the easy way out and get one from Safeway. I also didn't want to mess up on it and him not like it. I am really sure he would have liked it just as long as Mater and Lightening McQueen were on it I was mostly just trying to save time. So since I teach Primary Jesse took Lexie home during Priesthood/Relief Society and started making the pizza. By the time Riley and I came home from Church his grandma and grandma Atwood were there and so were Nana and Papa McMurray. They were helping Jesse and it was almost ready. Riley was so excited to see them and was happy we were having pizza. He was so excited he started doing his arm flapping thing he does when he is really excited!! He had a lot of fun and Nancy and Eric and their kids came later for cake and the present opening. He was a very spoiled boy this birthday and got A LOT of stuff!! I have always wondered what people do after every one of their kids birthdays when they keep getting more and more stuff and then their siblings get lots of stuff each birthday and Christmas as well. What do you do with it all?? How do you have enough space, especially when you already have lots of toys and things to begin with that are still being played with??? Our basement is just full of toys and Lexie's birthday is in 3 months and then like 5 months after is Christmas!! I guess I just need to go easy and not buy as much or dejunk maybe??

Anyways here are some photos of his fun filled day!!! We forgot to take a big picture with him and all the grandparents!! We kept meaning to but forgot so we don't have proof they were there lol!! So just imagine they were where when you look at these pictures cuz they were there. I wasn't in one either cuz I was taking all the pictures, it looks like it was just Riley, Lexie, Jesse and the Bly kids lol!

Riley's race car cake!! He absolutely loved it!! He couldn't stop staring at it!!
He wasn't sure what to think of the sparkler candle, he was kind of afraid. We got good evidence of this on the video tape as he kind of freaked out a little and didnt want to sit by the cake anymore when it was first lit!!

Our Birthday Boy! He really was happy even though he isn't smiling!

We caught him making some strange faces while eating his cake lol!

He wasn't sure if he liked the red icing!

Lexie was just happy to be there!!

Riley opening his first present!

He loves puzzles!!

He loves Toy Story and was thrilled to get a talking Woody from Nana and Papa

Riley with his cousins Tamryn, Camille, Justin and Nathaniel

Riley with all his birthday loot!! I think his grandparents cousins and mommy and daddy spoiled him!!

It was a great day!!!! Happy 3rd Birthday Riley!!! We love you and are happy to have you as a part of the family!!

Riley is Potty Trained!!

Oh my goodness I never thought this day would come. After two long weeks of cleaning up pee and fighting with him and crying and him crying and him having melt down after melt down, we can finally all enjoy some peace. For most of the month of February Riley was showing interest in using the potty. He is a very strong willed stubborn child, and I thought we would never be able to get him to go potty. We bought 2 potty seats one for downstairs and one for upstairs and we got out the jelly beans, chocolate chips and race car stickers. Jesse got him to go while he was still in diapers. He would get out his ipod and show him little clip shows that had toy story characters or cars and would play the little clip telling him to show woody he could pee or show buzz he could poop and he did!! I couldn't believe how simple that was. Of course only daddy could get him to go by using that trick. I had do some bribing in different ways like get him a treat or a toy from the dollar store. More towards the end of Feb he was going about half of the time. On Feb 28 we made the scary decision to get rid of the diapers and to put him in underwear. A few days before we took him to Walmart and let him pick out some big boy underwear. He picked out some Winnie the Pooh, Cars and Toy Story underwear. He seemed sooo excited he kept saying underwear underwear all the way home. So Day 1 with no diapers he had about 6 accidents and I didn't feel like I could do this anymore. The thing that started to work was that he got really sad when he peed his pants and I had to take them away to wash them. That devastated him and he started telling me he had to go more often. Day 2 he had 3 accidents, Day 3 he had 1 accident and Day 4 he had no accidents. I am sooo proud of him. Of course Jesse and I were so proud of ourselves for training him so fast we thought we were the best lol! A week later he started peeing his pants again and then refusing to go, then we thought were weren't so hot lol! Now we have no problems with him, he even wakes up dry and goes as soon as he wakes up. So I am just happy that we got him trained during the day and even through the night before he is 3.

Way to go Riley!!!

We got him a potty training book to read while he would sit and try. That seemed to be the only thing that would get him to sit there long enough to try and have something happen.

RIP Max

Some of you that I grew up with in Cardston might remember my family's dog Max. He was a bichon Shitzu dog.We got Max when I was only 12 years old, we still lived in Magrath at the time. Now I am pretty old some of you know how old I am and other's don't and I am ok with that lol! For those of you who know how old I am, you know that Max is a pretty old dog. Okay, so I will tell you how how old Max is. He was 16 years old! He started getting sick at the beginning of this month. He wasn't eating, he was losing teeth, he had problems with one of his eyes and he just grew really weak. He couldn't hardly walk and he just sat in his bed all day long and didn't do anything cuz he could hardley move. On Thursday night I got a phone call from my mom telling me that on Friday they were going to be taking Max to the vet to be put to sleep. They said it was the best thing to do for him because he was suffering and unable to eat so he was basically starving himself, they were not sure why he wouldn't eat and they tried many many times to get him to eat. They even tried giving him cheese which he loves and as soon as one of us would get cheese out and start cuttng it, he would come running. It was just better to take his pain away and let him rest I guess. I was so sad and I still am. Max had been in my life for a long time. He was mostly my sister Becky's dog and she was devastated. My parents were even sad and I didn't think they would be. They always thought he was so annoying and couldn't wait to get rid of him after we all left home, but they never did, they held on to him because all us kids loved him so much. Growing up dad would always joke every year and say that this Christmas he was going to be getting Max his coffin. On Friday Dad really did build him a coffin. I didn't think he would but I think it was sweet that he did. After Max was put to sleep he was wrapped in a blanket that was used in his bed. In the coffin were his favorite toys. I wasn't able to be there to bury him but my parents, Becky and Jon buried him close to my Grandma and Grandpa McMurray's house in Beazer. It was a sad sad day and I am kind of grateful I wasn't there to see him so sick and weak just thinking about that was enough to make me burst into tears. He was a good dog, we all grew so attached to him and will really miss him.

Some of my memories of Max were when we always included him at Christmas. He had his own stocking and Becky wanted us to include him as well in the family Christmas draw, and we did every year. Everyone always wanted to get Max's name. One year I didn't know what to get him and dad told me to get him this rubber bone (I was about 13 or 14 years old). This bone cost $9 which was a lot to me then. Max hated it and wouldn't even touch it, and I always would bug dad year after year saying "Nice choice dad!"

I also remember dad giving him funny hair cuts making him look like a buffalo, or a lion, giving him a beard.

I also remember one time when we were camping, Max was about a year old and we were at Beazer swimming in the creek and Becky asked dad if Max could swim and he said 'lets find out' and he threw Max in the water lol! Becky was so scared thinking Max would drown but sure enough he swam right to the edge and was able to get out.

We also taught Max many tricks and Becky was having him jumping throw a hula hoop, she built a bar supported by two pillows for him to jump over, he would shake a paw, dance and roll over.

Sorry if I am boring you guys to death but this write up is mainly for my family to read our memories and for me to have a record of it.

Rest in Peace Max you brought so much joy to our family for 16 years, I will always remember you and you will be missed :(

Lexie eating solid foods

Here is a picture of my cute baby eating solids when I am not giving it to her fast enough she grabs the spoon and shovels it in.

My baby girl is getting so big. She is 6 1/2 months old now. We sure love her. She always has a big smile on her face. Since she is finally better and over her cold and fever we decided it was time to try feeding her solids again. We started them a few weeks ago and she was kind of cranky with being sick and the whole moving thing just kind of ruined her routine. Now we are settled somewhat so we tried giving her some rice cereal which so loved. We always add apple juice to it instead of water to give it more flavor. We also started her on peaches today. She just absolutely loves them. We couldn't get each spoonful to her mouth fast enough. She would grunt or grab the spoon from me when I wasn't going fast enough, it was really cute!!

Riley's fear of flies

So yesterday I was watching something on TV and Riley was playing on the floor with Mr. Potatoe head. There was a paper close by and a fly started to crawl on the paper and he started watching it. Then it started flying around and Riley started freaking out, I meaning literally freaking out. He was running all around screaming ducking down as the fly flew around, layed on the ground and was kicking and screaming for me to get the fly. Then he wanted me to kill the fly and of course I can't find the fly swatter. Finally it landed and I was able to pick it up and I just threw it outside. Anyways for the rest of the day he was just terrified, even if he saw a piece of black fuzz he thought it was a fly and he would start his screaming terrifying fit again. I had to show him that it was fuzz and that there were not any flies. It was ridiculous, it got to the point where he was too afraid to walk on the carpet (cuz that is where the fly was when he first saw it). Our kichen has half tile floor and half carpet (I know, that sucks) and he would stay on the tile, he would want one of us to carry him across the carpet if he needed to go there and once he was at the couch he thought he was safe. We also have this rug that is colorful and we put it under his chair when he eats because where out table is has carpet. The rug has some black in it and he thought the black spots were flies and he was screaming wanting me to kill the flies and he wanted the carpet moved and oh my goodness it was frustrating but hilarious at the same time. This went on for about 8 hours (that was too long). So finally I had a talk with him and told him that flies are nice, that they are our friends lol! I told him he can say hi to the flies and they won't hurt him. I told him they like to fly around like birds or butterflies and those don't hurt us either. Anyways today, as I am busy doing some housework he starts thinking he sees flies again and is screaming and crying "Mommy kill the flies!" I kind of ignored him then I heard him say, "Hi fly!" "Happy Fly." "Nice fly." "Follow the prophet fly!" LOL, not sure why he told the fly to follow the prophet but it was funny. Then he starts singing ABC's, Follow the Prophet, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star etc. I don't know if he actually saw any flies at all but I thought this was cute and funny. Yes he is still afraid of flies when he sees one or if he sees fluff or fuzz that is black. You think he would be afraid of bees or wasps cuz they could actually sting you but no he is afraid of flies. I hope he gets over this quick otherwise we will not be going out much all summer. Jesse was going to take him to a basketball game tonight but we thought maybe Riley should stay home, I am sure Jesse would be quite embarassed if Riley started a screaming fit if he saw a fly. Anyways just thought you would all like to hear about this funny fear of his as it is fun to keep record of these funny things before I forget them.

The second move!!

So for those of you that don't know we have moved again. This is our second move in 5 1/2 months. We moved from Sherwood Park to Stirling (hoping we could live there for longer than 4 1/2 months) and then we moved from Stirling to Lethbridge. We moved January 29. It was a rough week because both of my kids were sick with fevers and colds. Poor Lexie had such a bad cold and wasn't wanting to eat anything. She also didn't ever want to be put down, she wanted me to hold her every second. She would just cry and cry which made it hard to get everything packed. We managed with the help of some ward members and family. My mom took the kids Fri-Sun. Jesse and I with the help of his parents were able to get the whole house packed up in a day and a half. They packed the whole kitchen which I was dreading (that is always the worst thing to pack and unpack). Jesse went to the house in Lethbridge with the truck full of our stuff and I stayed to clean everything with some relief society sisters. When Jesse came back everything as out of the house we just did one final walk thru to make sure we had everything. We packed up the cleaning stuff and as he backed the van out it started leaking transmission fluid AGAIN!! (this is the 3rd time in two months). So we couldn't go anywhere!!! We were stranded in Stirling in an empty house!! I was soooo not impressed!!! I was already not impressed that it was -30 degrees and snowing on and off and to have this happen on top of that just made me angry. We were finally able to reach my dad to came and took us to Lethbridge. That night we went out to Earls to eat, and enjoyed a nice night out without kids which we don't get that often and I think that was the first time getting out without either kid since before Lexie was born (I know sad considering she is 6 1/2 months). We are happy to be in Lethbridge instead of Stirling, it is more convenient and now we will save money on gas. Jesse is so happy to not have to do that drive on the highway in bad weather and I feel better knowing that he doesn't have to. Hopefully we will live in this house longer than a year (Riley has celebrated his birth and each of his birthday's in a different house), unless we magically have enough money to buy a house before then which would be nice but I doubt it. Thanks for reading my rambling, hope you enjoy!

Happy New Year!!!!!

I know this is a bit late but better late than never. I always like to do a recap of the year around Christmas and New Years just to let all my friends and family that I don't see very often to know how we are doing and what is going on in our lives.

This was kind of a crazy year for us. It was busy with Jesse being in school for his last semester, me being pregnant and having lots of doctors appointments, me having gestational diabetes, being blessed with the birth of Lexie, Riley becoming a big brother, and having to deal with him not having all the attention all the time, Jesse getting a new job, moving to Stirling, and then hearing that we have to move again after only living there for 4 1/2 months. There was lots and lots of stress this year so we are very glad to have this year over and to see what exciting things 2011 has in store for us.

Jesse finished his last semester of school at Nait in the Landscape Architecture program. He graduated in May. He worked for Classic Landscapes at the tree farm during the spring and summer while trying to find a job. He wanted to find a job in Edmonton or Sherwood Park because we had just moved to Sherwood Park in the summer of 2009 and we really really loved it there, but things don't always go as planned. Jesse had done a work week in Lethbridge for school in the fall of 2009 at Stantec. Well, the boss there contacted Jesse in June and asked if he was still looking for a job. Jesse went for an interview at Stantec in Lethbridge in July. They offered him a job during the interview. It had full benefits and paid more than any job in his field in Edmonton or Calgary. He took the job and we ended up moving to Stirling in September. We lived with Tammy and Craig for 3 weeks until we found a place since we weren't able to find something earlier (I was very pregnant and ready to have Lexie anyday). We moved into a beautiful house in Stirling only to learn 2 months later that they sold the house and now we have to be out the end of January:( So we are busy now preparing for yet another move. Good thing it is only to Lethbridge and we were able to find a place very quickly. Jesse is happy to be closer to work and not have to make the 25 minute drive or more (in winter) anymore.

I spent half of the year pregnant. It was a good pregnancy. I wasn't sick this time around at all. Riley kept me on my toes!! I had gestational diabetes again but managed it well and had a very good labor and delivery. I had been worried all year about being huge in the hot summer and how uncomfortable that would be but wasn't even really hot all summer. It was probably the coldest summer I can remember with lots of rain. We did do some fun things with Riley before Lexie was born like going to spray parks, taking him swimming, taking him to WestEd on the rides, and to the Edmonton Zoo. On July 26 we were blessed with the birth of our beautiful baby girl Lexie Kaye. We love her sooo much. She is such a good baby!!

Riley has grown us so much this last year. He has had kind of a hard year, becoming a big brother for the first time, moving (and we will be moving again this month). He enjoys playing at the park, swimming, playing with trains, going to Stay and Play and playing with other kids, helping me cook and prepare food, going for walks (he misses our old house for that, there were so many trails around to go for walks and he loved walking around our townhouse complex), reading stories, eating treats, singing songs, giving Lexie hugs and kisses, doing puzzles, and playing Baseball on the Wii! When Lexie was born he was really upset for a few months, having numerous tantrums, and trying to get us to get rid of Lexie (he kept taking her diapers, blankets and carrier seat by the front door). Then we moved so it got even worse. He didn't get to see any of his little friends anymore, or go to any of his favorite places. He is doing MUCH better now and really really loves his little sister. He likes to play with her and make her laugh. He is always giving her kisses and likes to help me pick out her socks and shoes everyday. One awesome thing that has happened at the end of 2010 to Riley is he finally started talking!!! Wahoo!! He said nothing except 'mommy' and 'daddy' until Lexie was born and then he started saying 'baby." He made a few animal sounds when he would see certain animals at the zoo but he never said anything ever until then. I was kind of worried. Then around the middle of October just before Halloween he started saying a few words. Then in November he was saying more and more words and telling us what shapes and colors things were (don't remember teaching him those), then in December he started counting to 10, telling us the name of animals what color they were and what sound they made, as well as naming cars, trucks, etc. So he is doing really well, so I can stop worrying lol!! It makes life a lot easier when he can tell me what he wants to eat and drink and what things are etc.

Lexie is such a sweet little baby. We love her. She has changed so much already in such a short time. She is 5 months old now. She now sleeps 10-12 hours at night. She smiles like crazy and loves to watch her big brother play. He comes and lays beside her while she lays and plays on her playmat, it's so sweet. She takes a bottle no problem which makes life a lot easier (Riley wouldn't take a bottle at all until he was 9 months old). She is just starting to laugh and grab toys to play with and of course everything she grabs goes in the mouth.

We had a good Christmas, we went to my parents house for a yummy steak dinner on Christmas Eve. We spent Christmas at our house with our kids and nobody else. For the first time since we have been married, we haven't had to pack up the van full of Christmas gifts and other luggage. Riley was really excited for Santa to come. He had been asking for about 10 days everyday if Santa was coming that night!! He got a kitchen from Santa and he was also very excited about his train set!! He loves trains and was so exited when he open it. He had a big smile on his face and was jumping up and down. Lexie got a few baby toys, teething rings, baby food (time to start solids soon), and a play table with lots of fun toys on it.

We spent the rest of Christmas at Jesse's sister Tammy's house for Christmas dinner and then headed to Bow Island to see his parents who just got home from their mission (Vancouver Canada Mission). They reported their mission on the 26th and so we went to hear them speak. We also had a little dinner at the church after and they had a little fireside with just the family to tell us all experiences from their mission. It was fun for the whole family (48 of us now) to all get together. It doesn't happen very often. We had a good time and then that night 32 of us stayed at his parents house. It was a little crazy but we all had fun playing games and visiting. We went home to Stirling and then to my parents house for New Years. That pretty much sums up our year!!

Thanks for reading!! Sorry it was soooooo long winded!! It is more for me so I can have it for a record. All the best to you all in 2011!!!!

Here are some fun photos of the year!!

Finally got this boy to eat cheese - January 2010
20 months old

Playing in the pantry - February 2010

Playing in the snow - February 2010


March 2010

Riley's 2nd birthday

He loved this necklace, wouldn't take it off for a few days - May 2010

Riley pretending to make something in the pot - June 2010

Riley playing on the slide - July 2010

Riley and Lexie at the hospital the day after Lexie was born

Lexie 1 week old - August 2010

Lexie on her blessing day Sept 5, 2010

Riley holding his baby sister!

Riley riding his bike at aunt Tammy's house - Sept 2010

Riley and Lexie in their matching skeleton pjs!! Riley loved how they glow in the dark!! Notice hsi mis matched socks?

My cute little ballerina!

My cute little horse!

Riley 2 1/2 years wearing his favorite basketball jersey and his classic non matching socks!!

Lexie almost 4 months old

Lexie 4 months old

My cuties in matching colors!!

Riley with Jon and Becky Christmas eve 2010

Lexie's Blessing Day

Lexie was blessed in Cardston on September 5 in my parents ward. It was a good day and lots of family came. My parents were there as well as my sister Becky and brother Jon. Jesse's brother Doug and family were there as well as Tammy, Leon, Nancy and their families. We didn't have a big dinner with the family to celebrate which I still feel bad for but we couldn't because we just moved down here from Sherwood Park and didn't have a place of our own yet (we are living with Tammy) and couldn't really afford to feed that many people or have a place to feed that many people. We wanted to wait until we found a house and knew what ward we were in before we blessed her but we didn't know how long that would be. We also needed to get it done so that her dress would still fit her as it would only fit as big as 10lbs.

It was a wonderful day and Jesse gave her a beautiful blessing! Thanks to all who came and supported Lexie on her special day!!

Here are a few pictures of Lexie on her special day! She is 6 weeks old!

We found her dress at the Bargain Barn and it had never even been worn!

Marrianne Taylor from my parents ward made her cute little shoes to go with the dress

Mommy and Lexie

Proud Daddy with his little girl!!

Riley and Lexie with Uncle Jon

Me with Riley and Lexie before church

Lexie's crazy hair!

Lexie at 6 weeks old

Summer and Moving

I am so behind on EVERYTHING lately it seems. We moved almost a month ago and so many things happened all summer long before and after Lexie was born and I just haven't had the time or energy due to lack of sleep to keep writing frequent updates. So here is the update of the month.
Way back in July on the 12th, Jesse had a job interview in Lethbridge at Stantec. He did his work week there for school last year. Anyways he went and I was freaking out the whole time in my mind thinking "oh no, now we are going to have to move." I had that feeling over and over in my head before he even had his interview that we were going to have to move and if we did I was hoping it would be in the new future like November or sometime next year like April. Well my feelings were right about him getting offered the job and us eventally moving. I was wrong about when we would move. So Jesse calls me up from Lethbridge and tells me that he was offered the job and that they wanted him to start on August 3. So I was kind freaking out because our baby was due on July 30 and at that point we didn't know what day we would have her. Anyways they sent him the offer and they wanted him to reply and accept the offer my Thurs, they gave him the offer on Monday. Of course my stress level went way up, I was relieved that he would have a job and that we would be closer to family but at the same time I was upset because I didn't want to move and leave all my good friends and community of Sherwood Park, also I didn't want to move that soon after having a baby. Jesse took the job and because of our situation with the baby, they were willing to move his start date back to Sept 7. We were so grateful for that. We really miss our neighborhood and friends in Sherwood Park but are happy to finally have the move over with.
Moving day was great!!! We had lots and lots of people from our ward help load all the stuff into a trailer and a truck (ya we have lots of crap). People also helped us clean, which I am so grateful for, I was wondering how I would get everything done being that I just had Lexie and was still feeding her every 1-2 hours.
Also for those of you that don't know, the move gets even more interesting in that when we gave our notice to move out in Sherwood Park, we didn't know where we were moving to (which house or what area of Lethbridge). We couldn't even go down and look because I was due to have Lexie soon. So we moved all our stuff down and stored some of it in an empty house my my aunt Wendy Nish's house. We stayed with Tammy (Jesse's sister and her family) while we looked for something. There was nothing in Lethbridge. Everything was soooo small, or run down, had no yard, was soooo expensive or was in a scary neighborhood. We didn't know what we were going to do and were getting so annoyed of not having all of our stuff and all 4 of us being squished in one room. We finally found someone renting out their new house in Stirling. At first Jesse and I did not want to be in Stirling. Let me tell you, it is a slower pace of life as compared to the city. I am having a hard time with the change and I am not sure why, maybe just because I lived in Edmonton for 7 years and just appreciated all the conveniences of living in the city, and there is more stuff to do. I also miss my mom and tots group I went to and all the kids for Riley to play with. With time I am sure I will eventually like it out here.

Here are some pictures of our summer before Lexie was born. Time has gone by soo fast!!

Riley and I the day before Lexie was born!

Trying to get a picture of Riley and I at the Spray Park in St. Albert. This was 2 days before Lexie was born. There was FINALLY a nice hot day to do something fun as a family before all the chaos (new baby and moving).

He finally went in the water!

Almost half falling asleep in the swing. It was around 9:30pm here. We were waiting for the fireworks to start!

Happy going down the slide!

We FINALLY found a vegetable Riley likes. He only will eat it on the cob though lol! Here is proof that we have got him to eat one vegetable (he hates all vegetables).

Riley helping make a Salad

He won't eat vegetables but he loves to help cut them lol!

I love his concentrated look while he is helping cut the vegetables.