So Happy I cried

I just wanted the world to know that my daughter Adelyn made me cry from joy this morning. This is the second time in her life I've cried tears of joy because of her, first the day she was born and second this morning. After months after month of trying and giving up and then one straight month of failure (or should I say good practice), of pooping in her underwear she finally pooped on the potty this morning without any help.
She came up to me with her pants up and everything and announced she'd gone poop, usually this means at least ten minutes of cleaning and personally blowing off steam (inside). I was reluctant to ask, "Where did you go poop?" AND then my "Joy was full" or should I say the potty was full of... well you get the rest of the picture!
The following moments were full of shouts, screams, jumping, singing, and crying for Mom. I will have to say and I'm sure some of you moms would agree, that potty training has probably been one of the most stressful and straining things that I've ever had to do. We've been trying on and off with Addy since she was 20months so this is a welcome achievement.
Well if you are still reading, thank you for celebrating this success with me and sticking around to read the whole post, just imagine how it was sticking around for the whole 16+ months of training.

Merry Christmas Everyone

I just wanted to send everyone a Merry Christmas Hello, and tell you why I've been so absent from Blogging.

Things have been crazy fun and busy. I haven't taken pictures like I use to and really have nothing fun to show. The girls are ever the same, yet kicked their little personality traits up about 10 notches. Addy whine and boob, Arya scream, tackle, and army grab on Mommy's leg. Blake is ever working 6 days a week with stuff he's either got to do for church or is down right tired at night when he comes home. Blah, blah, blah...

The fun stuff, well I got to go to Chicago for three days!!! I was invited to be on a new Strategic Planning Committee for the Alliance of the American Dental Association (AADA). I got to reacquaint myself with some former acquaintances and meet some new ladies from all over the country. We met to discuss the needs of our association and wanted my opinion as a new Dentist Spouse and former student spouse. We had a wonderful conference and some fun going out to dinner and wandering around Michigan Avenue.

The next big thing, which is the main reason I haven't been blogging is that I'm writing a book!!! I started in early October when I got the inspiration from going on one of my morning walks. I thought of a story one morning and came home and told Blake, he liked it and I couldn't stop thinking about it so I started to write my ideas down and the rest is history. I've got 25 chapters written and ideas for sequels. The book is titled, The Other World and is a fantasy romance novel. I write every spare moment I can get (which lately hasn't been many) and started drawing some of the characters and buildings, etc. I have a playlist for my book which I listen to everyday to keep it fresh in my mind and the creative juices flowing. Blake can vouch for this and is SICK if the songs, sorry Honey!

I just got the Christmas Decorations up last week, so we are feeling a little more Chirstmasy here, and we are still searching for our stockings, the only thing we can't find since the move. Hopefully will be able to make some goodies tonight as planned. We unfortunately weren't able to send our cards this year, the first, so sorry, but thanks to all those who sent us cards we truly do appreciate it and love to see your beautiful families grow.

Hope you all have a Very Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!
LOVE, Blake, Kaleena, Adelyn, Arya

My favorite new pic

Halloween

I know I promised to put these up days ago, sorry! This is a quick recap of our Halloween. We had a trunk or treat at teh church. Addy is with her friend Trey a.k.a. Black Spider Man. We carved a pumpkin, went to a fun FHE Monday night at a friends house, and of course trick or treating on Halloween. Addy had a blast and was stoked that she got candy, of course. (Which of course is death to the 'Mommy weight loss plan'!)

Addy of course was Cinderella and even had glass slippers which fell off at the end of Halloween night. Blake said when she lost her slipper walking she was overjoyed and said, "Ding, ding, ding. Daddy, I'm just like Cinderella!" (Ding, for the clock striking midnight.)

Arya was a fairy and Addy liked to call her Tinker Bell. She loved her wings too!

Happy 1st Birthday Arya

October 13th!!!
We have enjoyed everyday since the first with our little Sunshine!

Arya brings life and light to every place she is in. She is almost always cheerful and happy and makes us laugh everyday. She started walking last week and now insists on walking everywhere. It's so fun to see her wobbling around a corner or slapping herself on the tummy in excitement as she gets to her destination without falling. One of our favorite things Arya does is come up to you out of the blue, rest her head on your shoulder and give you a hug, then off she'll go. Some of her favorite things to do is climb on the stairs, play with balls, hug dolls, play with Addy, hold your hand and walk, get into cabinets, pound on the door until you let her in, and eat!

-We love you BABY!

Good morning Breakfast. Serving your favorite: Cream of Wheat

Dinner: Spinach soup, Toast, & Peaches

Lets open some gifts!

Time for the CAKE! (Notice that Addy is now happy)

"Mmmm, ThIs iS FuN!"

"I think I'm bout' done..."

Good Night!

...The End

Birthday trip to Nature's Farm

The girls and I decided to head out this past Saturday in celebration of Arya's Birthday. We went to a place called Nature's Farm where they had farm animals, pumpkin decorating, hayrides, and a traveling reptile petting zoo. It was sooo fun. You could touch and hold all sorts of animals. Blake met us there and then we ate lunch at Chick-fil-A and went birthday shopping for Arya.
Lets go for a ride!

Yeah that an alligator! MoNiTor LiZArD!!!

Arya's a...

Plum lovin'
Chair pushin' Pool swimmin'
Beautiful girl!

Why the wait...

Well, I haven't added pictures for a while because I picture-took myself out! AND sadly our external hard drive died along with all our pictures!!!! AND the external is suppose to be the back up in case your computer dies!
Well the good news is, Blake backed up all our photos before we moved out here so we just lost the ones from May on, and all the darling wedding ones I wanted to use are saved on Blake's brother's computer, but they are in Utah so.... enough of that though.

Thanks to every looker at my blog and for the comments, I'm glad you like us!

Family news: Brooke, my sister-in-law had a baby boy this month, Jake Tyler! Congrats Gibsons! Arya is almost walking. Blake got one day off this week and I got to go to the temple! I survived Joy School at my house this week and even liked it. Addy is still the Princess and I the Step-mother. (Because she loves Cinderella and Cinderella's mom is... the Step-mother. She hasn't quite figured out that the step-mother is mean, yet and it's embarrassing when she calls me step-mother is public!!! Blake is almost done reading Brisinger and loves reading it every moment he has (and doesn't have for that matter).

Portraits

We got some pictures taken of the girls at Target last month. I think they did a great job this time and I thought I'd share them!