Jared and Heidi

2012-02-15T09:49:00.001-08:00

Friends and family,
If you want to keep up w/ our family and see all the new pictures, please see us on Facebook (just search for my name). I decided not to keep doing both, as Facebook is much faster at downloading all the pics, lets me cut and paste text, allows us to comment back and forth on our pictures, and alerts me to any new comments.

Hope to hear from you all soon!

Playing in the snow

2011-03-09T11:42:00.000-08:00

We recently took a long weekend and stayed in a cabin (well, more of a house, as it sleeps 12) w/ some friends up on Mt. Hood. Micah had so much fun playing around in the snow - he never wanted to stop! We went sledding at Government Camp, sledding down our little driveway/lane, played in the deep snow in a field next to our cabin, and built a big snowman (compared to our little snowmen we've done in our backyard when it snowed a few inches last month). We had so much fun w/ our friends (they have 2 kids about the same age as Micah and Madison), and enjoyed staying up late playing Speed Scrabble after the kiddies went to bed.

Both families forgot to bring our cameras, so these pics are from my phone and Jared's phone (so not the greatest quality).

Here's a pic of the sledding hill, which had an automatic tube tow - sooooo much better than hiking up the hill w/ tube and kid in tow! There's Micah up front, doing a sort of cartwheel/roll, instead of walking out of the tubbing lanes and getting out of the way. He was constantly plopping himself down on any mound of snow, and digging around him w/ his gloves.

Jared and Micah in a double tube - they went all the way down, then up, and landed on the gate (that prevents you from going over the edge). I told Jared to not push off so hard the next time!

Micah rolling down a small hill. He had a blast playing in the snow!

Micah playing in the deep snow field near our cabin. Jared said it went up above his knees. He had a lot of fun running around and falling down in it.

In the front yard of the cabin. Micah's sticking his tongue out in this shot - believe it or not, this was the best out of 3. Madison was trying to squirm out of my arms, and Micah just didn't want to stand still for a minute, when there was so much fun to be had!

Our cute little bundled baby! Her arms were perpetually sticking out, which reminded me of the scene in "The Christmas Story."

Mommy hard at work building the snowman the kids wanted. Micah is in the red hat, using his big, plastic shovel to scoop up the snow, and dig around.

Madison looking up at the snowman. This is the 1st "tall" snowman that she's seen in real life. What do you think Madison?

Madison getting tired of being out in the snow. It's hard work for a little one walking around in the deep snow w/ snow boots.

Micah and his little friend (who were soooo excited to build the big snowman) decided to demolish the snowman soon after completion - oh what fun!

Getting tuckered out after all that demolition?

Madison's 2nd Birthday

2011-03-01T12:30:00.001-08:00

Our little Madison turned 2 on February 18th - 2 years have gone by so fast! We had some of Jared's family, and my dad and stepmom over to help celebrate. Madison was able to enjoy playing with her balloon, until Micah popped it the next morning - ahhh, the joys of having an older brother!

Madison and her little cousin, Evan. Jared's older sister, Sandra, came to visit from Iowa. Both kids enjoyed playing w/ Evan while he was here. Madison called Evan, "Baby!"

"Hey, that's my Daddy!"

Singing to Madison

Time to blow the candle out!

Madison got a little 2 tiered pink cake

Mmmm...yummy!

Time for presents

What's this?

Pretty dress from Gpa and Agux

Of course, Madison got some help from Micah while opening up her presents :)

Settling down at the end of the night by having Agux read a story.

Happy Birthday Madison! We love you!

Micah's 5th Birthday

2011-01-18T12:43:00.000-08:00

Micah asked for a dinosaur cake this year, so we ordered this cake pan off of Amazon. He loves the show "Dinosaur Train" and his favorite character is the T-Rex, Buddy. Buddy is orange and blue, but Micah asked for a green dinosaur, since his favorite color is green (and he has a green stuffed animal T-Rex that is green that he calls Buddy).

Micah helped put his candles on the cake, and he took a couple of breaths to blow them out, because 5 is just too many to blow out at once!

Showing off his cake before we cut into it. When I asked Micah what part of the cake he wanted, he said, "The whole head!" After I told him that the piece would be too big for him to eat all by himself, he settled on the tail.

Micah's favorite part about eating cake is the frosting. He likes the cake too, as you can see by his BIG bite in his mouth, but he asked for more frosting after he ate the top of the cake and frosting off of his piece.

Madison enjoyed the cake too, and ate her piece all gone, and very quickly too!

Having fun opening presents

Happy 5th Birthday Micah! We love you!

Santa visit 2010

2011-01-05T18:32:00.000-08:00

Visit with Santa the week before Christmas

Can you tell that Madison didn't particularly enjoy sitting on Santa's lap? Classic!

Micah was trying hard to calm Madison down, but no such luck.

Micah was so cute talking w/ Santa! It almost made the 45 minute wait (outside in the cold) worthwhile :)

Always a cute smile from Micah!

Christmas photo card 2010

2010-12-16T23:16:00.001-08:00

For those of you whom we don't have current addresses for, here is our Christmas letter that we mailed out. Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Dear Family and Friends,

We have had a wonderful year enjoying our little ones (okay, they are not so little anymore!), and watching them grow. We took a trip to Disneyland this summer (our 1st w/ the kids), and the kids had a fantastic time! It was so precious to see their expression as they looked up and around at all of the different rides and settings. Jared and I both agreed that watching them have fun was the best part of the trip. We celebrated our 10 year Anniversary this year w/ a trip to Sunriver (w/out the kids), where we enjoyed biking, hiking around the lakes and lava lands, and going on a moonlight canoe tour. We also took a few trips to the beach during the summer, where Micah loved to play in the water and dig in the sand. He keeps asking when we are going back to the beach. My answer of, "Next summer, when it's warm outside," only brings on more questions of, "How much longer is that? Is that soon, or far away?" At the same time, he is usually asking me when it will snow (as I had previously explained that we have to wait for winter, spring, and then summer to go back to the beach). It's so cute to hear his reasoning and thought processes when we have a conversation. Here is a little more about Micah.

Micah will turn 5 in January. He loves going to preschool 3 days a week, and I love those 3 mornings of peace and quiet when I don't have to act as referee between Micah and Madison! Despite Micah frequently teasing his little sister, he is very lovable and sweet, and is always asking Madison for hugs and kisses (which she usually gives, except when he has just taken her toy or book away, and she wants it back). He finally discovered that swimming on his own (w/ water wings or his swim vest) is fun, instead of clinging to us and begging us not to let go. He is looking forward to swimming lessons next month. We went to see his preschool Christmas program, where they sang a few songs. For the few weeks leading up to their performance, we got to enjoy hearing him come home and practice singing them. He has a very sweet (and good) singing voice. His church primary teacher said that he has such a delightful little singing voice, that she wished she had recorded it when they did their Sacrament Primary Program. He also likes to make up songs too - very cute!

Madison will turn 2 in February. She is such a good, adorable little toddler, and a joy to have around. Micah can always make her smile and laugh, even after we have tried and failed (especially for pictures, as you can tell from our Christmas photo card). They do have a lot of fun together, even if there are frequent whines or cries from Madison. It is fun to hear her say new words and (animal) sounds. She is turning into a little singer as well, and her current favorite is "Jingle Bells." She loves to "read" her books, push her little pink shopping cart around, and give her stuffed animals and dolls hugs - which is just so adorable!

Jared stays busy running the dental lab. As of December 31st, he will be co-owner. It is a little scary being small business owners, but we trust that the lab will continue to run smoothly. I am still working part-time as an RN on the postpartum floor at Kaiser Sunnyside Hospital, where I enjoy working w/ the newborns. I am lucky to have a schedule that enables the kids to be home w/ Jared, and only go to the sitter 2 days a month. I enjoy my time at home w/ Micah and Madison, and seeing them have so much fun together. There are frequent laughs and giggles when they play together, which brings joy to my heart.

We hope that you and your family are happy and well, and enjoying this wonderful Christmas season.

Noir Stars Christmas

For hundreds of Christmas card designs, click here.

View the entire collection of cards.

2010-12-12T22:40:00.000-08:00

2010 Fall Family Pictures

Apple Orchard

We got all of the images in color, and black and white. Here are some of my favorite shots in black and white.

Here are all of the pics we got in color:

We tried to get Madison to smile for us, but she wouldn't really cooperate most of the time.

I love this picture of Jared and Madison. So precious!

My serious little baby.

Almost caught her smiling!

Awww...what a sweet big brother!

Again, no smile from Madison :(

At least Micah is smiling in every shot!

I think that Micah looks so old in this shot (he is almost 5 - crazy how time flies!)

There's a big smile/laugh!

Another one of my favorites.

Last group shot of the day (in the hour long photo session). It was raining that day, and we were all a little tired of smiling and posing, while trying to get both kids to smile at the same time too!

Beach trips

2010-09-30T16:32:00.000-07:00

We have been to the beach 3 times in the last 2 months. Twice overnight with me and the kids, along with other Moms and their kids. Then we spent 2 nights there as a family (it's so much better having Jared there to help w/ the kids!). We were lucky to have nice weather each time.

One of my friends, who couldn't make it to the beach with us on one of the Moms and kids trips, asked how our little "vacation" was. She was joking, in that, it's not much of a vacation for the Mom, but we do it for our kids. So true! It's a lot of work to get packed up and ready for the beach, drive the almost 2 hours to the beach, then unpack everything in the condo, clean up all the sand after playing on the beach (not to mention running all the way to the bathroom from the beach when your 4 year old says that he has to go to the bathroom right now), baths after swimming in the pool, meals, then pack it all up and drive home...whew! But it is worth it in the end. Micah loves the beach and is always asking, "When are we going back to the beach?"

Here's Micah playing with his friend's toys (which is so much more fun than his own of course; at least he was willing to trade and share his toys as well). You probably can't see it, but that's a dinosaur in the little wagon. Dinosaurs and the beach - what could be better than that?

Micah's favorite thing to do is play in the water. He just giggles and laughs and has such a great time. This particular day, Micah and I played in the water for an hour straight! It was one of those hot days where the water felt nice, and not too cold.

Having fun with friends.

Micah's 2nd favorite thing to do is dig in the sand. He likes to build "volcanoes" and then promptly have them "erupt" and thus, tear it down.

Having fun splashing himself and Mommy.

He's saying, "Yay!!!! Another wave is coming!" as if they would stop somehow. I love hearing what cute things Micah says!

Micah also like to bury his legs, and then see how fast he can un-bury them (I'm sure that's not a real word, but it fits the description!). To my brother and his girlfriend - we are getting lots of use out of the Nemo bucket and shovel! They bought it for Micah at Disneyland when they came to see us while we were there.

It was really sunny and warm earlier this day, but then the fog rolled in. This didn't deter Micah at all. He still wanted to go out in the water...and he did, taking me with him.

You can't really see Madison's expression here, but she is not happy! She really doesn't like the beach right now. She falls off balance in the uneven sand, then gets sand all over her hands, which she then puts up to me and whines until I come and get every single speck of sand off.

Here's a close up of the whine - she still has some sand on her feet, oh no!

Distracted by a seagull - no more whining!

Watching Micah fly his kite.

With tomorrow being the 1st of October, that's probably the last time we'll have nice weather at the beach this year. My friend and I were just enjoying the beautiful weather (the sky looks so blue out over the ocean) and seeing the kids having so much fun playing - it was wonderful!

Fun with water on a hot day

2010-08-24T21:50:00.000-07:00

Today was hot - 95 degrees! At least we live in an area w/ relatively low humidity (I looked it up today - it was only about 30% in the afternoon when we were outside). My twin sister lives on the East coast, where it's very humid, so we're really thankful to live in a milder climate.

Micah, as always, wanted to play outside. He even thought it was a little too hot and only wanted to sit in the shade, instead of running around in the sprinkler. He mainly played in his sandbox, which has a shade umbrella through the middle of it.

There was a nice breeze though, and when Madison woke up from her nap, we played on the front porch for a little, while I (w/ help from Micah and Madison) watered some of my potted plants. They were both being so cute that I took out the camera and snapped a few pics.

Here's Madison w/ her cute sunglasses and little Madison-sized watering can.

She really doesn't like to keep her sunglasses on!

Micah thought it would be fun to pour some water on Madison (it was hot out - maybe he thought she needed to cool off a bit)...she didn't really enjoy it.

Is that a guilty face? It's looks pretty innocent to me! Here's Madison caught in the act of stealing rocks from the water fountain. She was starting a nice collection before I snapped this shot.

I love sitting on our front porch - listening to the water fountain, seeing the tree branches swaying in the breeze, and hearing the rustling leaves...it's so peaceful. I love watching my two little ones play and laugh w/ each other. It's so fun seeing this new phase as Madison is getting old enough to play w/ Micah and run around after him. It's so precious!

Disneyland!

2010-08-12T01:30:00.001-07:00

In July, we took the kids to Disneyland for the 1st time. We had soooo much fun! Micah is 4 1/2, and he was tall enough to go on almost all of the rides (if he had wanted to). We avoided Space Mountain, and such, so that he wouldn't get too scared and not want to go on any other rides. I didn't remember how pitch black and fast that ride was; I'm glad we didn't take him on that one. Madison was able to go on all of the rides in Fantasy Land (except the Matterhorn). She loved looking at everything and was always pointing at something.

This rocketship ride was the 1st ride that Micah went on. The 1st part you enter is Tomorrow Land, and this is the 1st visible ride that he saw, so he asked to go on this one 1st. He loved it so much that he went on it 3 more times while we were there. We got a great deal on passes - 5 days for the price of 3, so we were able to do a lot, and not feel rushed.

Some of Micah's other favorite rides were: Splash Mountain (even though he seemed a little scared the 2nd time - he kept asking Jared when the "big drop" was coming), California Adventures ride Soaring Over California, and Star Wars w/ the "silly robot that was a bad driver." He liked every ride we went on, but these were the ones that he remembered the most.

Unfortunately, I had broken my foot a few weeks before our trip, so I was in a big walking cast/boot, and was only supposed to walk or stand for 3 hrs/day. Bad timing! The good thing was that we were able to go to the front of the line because of it. I rented a motorized scooter, which was great. It was super fast too! Here we are watching one of the many parades. Micah and Madison loved all of the music and dancing, and seeing all of the different Disney characters.

Here's Jared pulling double duty w/ the kids in line. There just isn't much of a view from my lap on the scooter.

Micah and Madison both loved It's a Small World. They both sang along w/ the music. I think that this was Madison's favorite ride because of the music, dancing/moving characters, and so many things to see at once. She was wide-eyed the whole way through, and had such a look of wonder and amazement on her face - too cute! Micah asked to go on it again, so we got to experience that catchy song again the next day too. I didn't mind at all; the best part of the trip was seeing the looks on both kids faces when they saw all of those wonderful, colorful, and creative things on all of the rides.

Micah did pretty well waiting in the lines, but he still had to tease and torment his little sister sometimes. She takes it rather well for a second or two, before letting out a whine of protest.

Micah, as most little boys do, loves cars. He was so excited when we told him that he was going to "drive" a car! Grandpa let him drive at first, but then he needed some help after a little while. It takes a lot of work to keep those cars straight on the track w/o bumping the center track that you're on.

The 2nd time on the car ride, Micah wanted Daddy to drive. He got to steer and do the gas peddle a little bit as well this time.

Madison didn't like to keep her shades on - too bad, because they were just so cute! At least she kept her hat on most of the time. The weather was pretty nice for us. Upper 70's to low 80's.

Another one of Micah's favorite rides was the boat ride through Story Book Land, where you go through Monstro's mouth (the whale from Pinochio).

Jared's family (parents, sister, brother and friend) came w/ us. It was nice having extra adults on hand to help w/ the kids. They watched the kids one night while Jared and I stayed out late. What a fun date night in Disneyland! Especially w/ the scooter, we could go on all of the big rides we wanted in a short period of time (they all have long wait times, or really late Fast Pass times).

We also met up w/ my brother and his girlfriend, who live in San Diego. It was so nice seeing them again. They came for a short visit last Christmas, but it had been a 4 year gap before that (too long!).

(Here's our 2nd time on the boat ride)

We had such a great time! Micah keeps asking when we're going back. "Maybe in 2 years," I say. "How long is that?" he asks in reply. How do you explain to a 4 year old how long 2 years is?

Misc kid pics

2010-08-12T01:08:00.000-07:00

Here are some random (older) pics of the kids - I just thought that they were so cute! I'll catch up some day...maybe :)

Micah loves to make Madison laugh. He can make her laugh by just smiling at her. He's just being silly for the camera here, and she was giggling like crazy!

Madison puts her hands up in the air whenever we say, "Yay!!!"

Jared loves this pic of Madison - it is pretty funny. I don't know what he was doing to get her to make this face. Maybe she was thinking, "If I hold my mouth open long enough, maybe Daddy will eventually feed me."

Easter outfits - so cute! I love shopping for girl clothes; it's so fun! Madison has quite the collection of clothes, and many more shoes than Micah ever had.

2010-06-18T19:50:00.000-07:00

Since I started this blog after Madison was born, I decided to post a few pics of Micah when he was little (and a few favorite pics after Madison was born).

Micah's baby blessing (1 month old) - 1st Sunday in February 2006

You forget how little they used to be!

1st Halloween - 2006

8 months old - Micah was crawling

and walking while holding onto something or someone.

It was such an exciting stage to see him start to walk.

October 2007 - 21 months

Trying on Daddy's shoes.
Micah always wants to do what Daddy is doing.

Nov 2007
I found Micah playing w/ the TP roll in the bathroom.
When I came in, he said, "Mess!" Too cute!

Dec 2007 - Almost 2 yrs
Micah loved looking out the window at the snow,
and was always asking if he could go play in it.

Beach trip - July 2009 (3 1/2 yrs old)
One of those rare days at the Oregon Coast where
it was actually warm enough to go in the water!

Micah loves going to the beach (especially digging in the sand) and is always asking when we'll go again.

April 2010 - 4 yrs old

Micah has loved going to preschool this year.

Here is one craft project they did - can you tell what kind of animal he is?

(Oink, oink!)

Micah's "airplane-boat"

2010-05-19T12:00:00.000-07:00

Here's what we did for fun today, since it's raining outside. Micah calls it his "airplane-boat."

I was taking Madison's empty diaper box to the garage to be recycled and Micah wanted to play w/ it. He sat down and 1st pretended that it was a car, and I asked him if he wanted a steering wheel for his car - and that's how it started. After we found a bunch of toys and things to attach to it, he decided that it was a boat, complete w/ 2 fishing poles. When I started to take video, he flapped the box "wings" and then called it his "airplane-boat." This kept him entertained for 1 1/2 hrs while Madison and I ate breakfast...he didn't even want to stop to eat breakfast!

Jared's dad has a boat that Micah's been on up in the San Juan Islands. They let Micah try fishing off the side of the boat - that's where he got the idea for the fishing rods.

Dashboard - complete w/ ignition key that comes in and out, headlight switch that he can pull in and out, and other knobs he can twist and pull.

2010-03-14T13:24:00.000-07:00

These are our group family pictures (from December) when all of my siblings were in town together for Christmas. The last time that we were all together was over 4 years ago when I was pregnant w/ Micah, so this was the 1st time that my brother, Jai, met Micah and Madison.

It was raining, but it let up just enough for us to get the pictures done. There was a fine drizzle for some of them, but they turned out fine despite the weather. I think that the mist and trees made a nice back drop!

These first 3 pictures of Micah were impromptu shots while we were all taking our coats off to brave the cold.

Did it stop raining?

Brrrr...it's cold out here!

We got good smiles out of both of them!

Group shot w/ my mom (seated). My stepdad was out of town and wasn't able to be there for the pictures.

From left to right:

Jared and I, w/ Madison, and Micah seated on my mom's lap
My sister, Jessica, w/ her husband, Bret
My brother, Jai, w/ his girlfriend, Ana
My twin sister, Holli, w/ her husband, Tashi w/ their baby, Kaitlyn, and Aidan standing next to my mom

Cute grandkids!

Two handsome boys! They are 10 months apart (the baby girls are 6 months apart). They had so much fun playing together during their visit. Micah still asks about when Aidan is coming again.

The babies look a little worried...their parents (we were just steps away) did too.

Grandkids w/ my dad and stepmom, Pat.

Group shot w/ my dad. Micah and Aidan have such cheesy smiles in this one.

Micah's 4th Birthday

2010-03-03T12:14:00.000-08:00

Micah's birthday is in January (Madison's is in February). We went to Red Robin for dinner, then back to our house for cake and presents. Micah really enjoyed having the servers sing to him.

Micah loves Legos, so I made him a Lego man cake. He loved it!

Micah loved the Cars birthday card from his Uncle Jacob. It plays music when you open it - we heard that song many times over the next week or so.

Since Micah has allergies to milk, egg and soy (among others), we have to use different ingredients for the cake an icing. This year, the recipe turned out pretty good! Everyone else enjoyed eating it as well.

Micah loves playing w/ his tool bench and his Duplo Lego train set. Madison loves playing w/ the train too; so much so, that she likes to pull the track off the train table! Poor Micah...he can't play w/ all of his little toys downstairs at all due to Madison (like every baby) putting everything in her mouth. He's being pretty good about keeping his Matchbox cars and little Legos away from her though. I didn't realize how many little parts all of his toys had until Madison came along.

Micah's a good big brother and a good helper. He's better at listening to us now than he was a few months ago - yeah! He's growing up so fast, as he likes to tell me, "Mommy, I'm growing up really fast, but I can't feel it!"

Other cute things that he's said recently are:

"Mommy, I'm going to fly up in a rocket ship to find Heaven and Heavenly Father and Jesus." (so sweet and childlike!)
"I will have to ride on a space shuttle next time we go to the zoo, but only when I'm bigger and then I can be an astronaut. That's what I'm going to tell Grandma." (my mom and stepdad take Micah to the zoo and OMSI a lot - he loves spending time w/ them)
"Is Aidan coming to my birthday party? He can come in an airplane." (Aidan is his cousin and lives across the country)
"I love my cute baby sister!" (He loves to hold her hand and give her hugs and kisses - so cute!)

Madison's 1st Birthday!

2010-02-28T16:35:00.000-08:00

Our little baby is 1 - I can't believe how fast this past year flew by!

I was aiming for a butterfly, but it turned out more like a dragonfly, I think. I cut is out and decorated it while everyone was eating lunch, so it's not perfect. Madison didn't seem to mind; that's all that matters!

This is Madison's first experience w/ cake. At first, she didn't want to dig in w/ her fingers, so I gave her a bite w/ the spoon. After that, she got the hang of it and started eating w/ her hands. She doesn't like to get that messy, so she just sort of picked at it and ate little pieces.

" Mmmmm...do I like it?"

"Still not sure if I like it..."

Taking little bites w/ her fingers.

"Okay, all done. What's next?"

"Presents for me?"

"What am I supposed to do w/ this card? Can I play w/ it?"

"This looks like a fun toy!"

"Hey! Isn't that mine?!"

Micah loves playing w/ Madison's toys (especially when they're new). He did the same thing at Christmas time - it's like getting double the amount of presents!

We had some family over for Madison's birthday for lunch, cake and presents. We're so blessed to have family living close by to come celebrate these special occasions w/ us.

Madison is such a happy baby - she is such a joy! We all love to hear her laugh. Micah gets her to laugh a lot (and sometimes cry when he tries to pick her up or take away her toys!).

Happy 1st Birthday little one!

Fall family pictures

2009-12-30T16:27:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since I've posted anything...life's been busy! Here are our annual family pictures. We did the fall leaves this year, and the weather turned out great for us (considering that we had our session in November). It started to rain heavily as we were driving home, so it was perfect timing. Micah and Madison were pretty good for us. We got them both smiling for most of the pictures.

This is the vintage tone that our photographer likes to use. I like it too! I had fun shopping for our outfits - Jared found those cute baby Uggs for Madison.

We didn't get a good picture of both kids looking forward, but this one is sweet anyways! You can tell that Micah adores his cute baby sister! He did a pretty good job of holding on to her, but Jared was right there in case he lost his grip. Madison loves to arch her back to try to escape your hold on her if she can.

I love this shot of Micah looking up adoringly at Jared. He is such a Daddy's boy!

We had a wonderful Christmas w/ family visiting. My brother Jai and his girlfriend, Ana, came from San Diego. My twin sister, Holli, and her family came from Maryland and stayed w/ us for about a week. We had lots of fun and stayed busy w/ lots of family get togethers. The cousins had so much fun playing together. Holli's boy is 10 months older than Micah, and her little baby girl is 6 months younger than Madison. I'll try to post some of those pictures soon.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas season as well. We just had a surprise snow storm yesterday. Micah had so much fun playing in it, but Jared did NOT have fun trying to get home (it took him 2 1/2 hrs to drive home). Well, it was pretty while it lasted!

Mother's Day

2009-05-19T22:28:00.000-07:00

What could be a better gift than my two little ones? Nothing. But seeing their beautiful smiles warm my heart everyday sure comes close!

Jared got me a digital photo frame for Mother's day. I just love seeing their pictures, old and new, and the great memories that they bring to mind. Some make me laugh, and some are so sweet, that they bring tears to my eyes. Isn't it amazing how much joy our children bring into our lives? I am so thankful to be blessed with our two precious children. It truly was a Happy Mother's Day. I love you Micah and Madison!

Madison is 3 months old now; oh how the time flies! You know it goes quickly...everyone tells you that it goes by quickly, but you're still caught off guard!

Tulip festival

2009-05-19T21:50:00.000-07:00

I'm still trying to play catch up with all of the photos and things that we have done recently, so bear with me as you see things from last month as well as this month.

The Saturday after Easter, we went to the Tulip Festival with my mom and stepdad. It was beautiful! Madison is trying to sleep, as we're trying to get pictures in the tulip fields.

They had lots of fun activities for kids. Micah especially liked the rubber duckie water races. Grandpa Brian helped Micah pump the water to send the duckies on their way down the water slide track.

We took a ride on the cow train. It was pulled by a tractor and they took us all around the tulip fields. Micah rode with Grandma Ruth and Grandpa rode in the cow cart behind them.

Micah loves all sorts of vehicles. They had this tractor out for the kids to play on. He figured out how to shift the gears and turn on the lights and blinkers. Sorry Micah, that still won't make it go!

It actually turned out to be a nice sunny day; it even got a little hot! There's Mt. Hood in the background. Madison had a nice time sleeping in the carrier; getting rocked to sleep as we walked around. Ahhh, the good life! Eat, sleep, be happy.

Hey, aren't these shoes a bit too big?

Easter egg hunt and Having fun with my little sister

2009-05-19T21:32:00.000-07:00

For Easter this year, we got together with some people from our church for an Easter egg hunt on Saturday (the day before Easter). Micah got a little help from one of the older kids and got his basket quite full!

The people who hosted it had some really cute 6 week old puppies that they brought out for the kids to hold. They were so adorable! Micah got to hold the puppies (with help) and he didn't want to let them go.

Micah is such a good big brother. He loves to give his baby sister lots of hugs and kisses. Sometimes it's a bit too much! She seems to tolerate it fairly well though.

He also can't wait for her to be big enough to play with him, but he tries now anyways. It looks like Madison doesn't like to be Micah's pretend patient for some reason. Could it be all of the poking and prodding?

New post "All about Micah"

2009-05-01T07:49:00.000-07:00

There is a new post "All about Micah!" (see 2nd entry below). I had it as a draft for awhile, so when I finally finished it up and posted it, it went below the post about Madison's baby blessing. So check out what Micah's been up to the last few months and why we think he's just so cute and lovable!

Madison's baby blessing

2009-04-08T14:39:00.001-07:00

Jared blessed Madison on Sunday, March 29th. Jared's mom bought her this cute white dress for the occasion. Look at Micah's funny smile ... we know that he can do better than that!

When Jared took Madison up to be blessed, Micah wanted to follow him up there. I convinced him to stay, but he escaped me right after they finished and ran up there to see what was going on with his Daddy and baby sister. The congregation laughed and thought that it was cute.

Here is Grandma and Grandpa posing for a picture after church. Jared's parents and brother came, and Micah's 3rd Grandma, Pat (my stepmom), were all able to make it to the blessing as well. We also had a number of extended family members come to church for the blessing. Both great Grandmas, Uncle Craig and Aunt Edie, and Aunt Linda and Uncle Allan. We feel lucky to be surrounded by family to share in these important events in our lives.

All about Micah!

2009-03-24T15:27:00.001-07:00

So far, our blog has focused on our newest addition, Madison. Now it's Micah's turn! Here is a preview of the last few months.

Micah is such a joy to us. We love his cute smile and contagious laugh. He has so much energy as well. He especially gets wound up when we have people over. Here he is running around and showing off his cute smile!

Jared built this amazing train table for Micah's 3rd birthday (I love having such a handy husband!). Micah absolutely loves it! He spends hours playing on it, going around and around and around . . . and occasionally doing some major "construction" by tearing apart the carefully laid out tracks, and then asking us to help put it back together for him. Ohhh the fun in being a parent!

Micah is a typical 3 year old and loves playing with cars, trains and planes. So, I made him a car cake for his birthday. He was so excited when he saw it coming together. The excitement, however, didn't last long after he tasted it.

"I don't like it," was his comment, after tasting his birthday cake (as you can tell from his expression, pictured below). Due to Micah's food allergies, the cake and frosting had to be dairy and egg free. After we all tasted it as well, we agreed. I will be trying a different recipe next year.

Micah had a lot of fun helping us set out the Christmas decorations and decorating the tree. We even had some breakable ornaments on the lower half of the tree this year. Of course, they were ones we didn't particular care about, so we weren't too upset at the 2-3 mishaps that occurred due to our rambunctious toddler.

Micah called these little decorative stockings "little socks," and tried them on, but they just weren't quite the right fit!

Every Christmas Eve, we go over to Jared's parent's house. Micah helped pass out the presents and was such a good helper. He did a good job of waiting his turn to open up his gifts, except for the one time that he disappeared behind the dining room table to sneakily open up one of his gifts. He just couldn't wait any longer to see what was inside!

We had an unusually large amount of snow this year in December around Christmas time, and it stuck around for awhile, which is really uncommon for our area. Here is Micah (who is always wanting to help Daddy, especially when there is any sort of tools involved) helping Daddy shovel the walkway with his plastic beach sand shovel. He had so much fun playing in the snow; he never wanted to come in. The cold doesn't seem to bother him when he's having fun.

Here's Micah getting a ride on a sled from Mommy. He had fun on the sled, but preferred to be walking and playing in the snow instead.

Micah loves going to the zoo. He loves seeing all of the animals, digging in the big sand box, and riding the zoo train. My mom and step dad take him frequently now that the weather's nicer. We didn't really go in the winter time, except to go to Zoolights. The zoo sets up tons of lights all throughout the zoo, with moving displays and lots of different animal shapes. The highlight of the lights are set up along the train track. Here's a picture of us on the zoo train. We went with a friend (and his adorable family) of Jared's, who were visiting from Chicago.

So that's a summary of Micah in the last few months. Here are some of my favorite things about Micah:

His adorable, round, kissable cheeks!
The cute way he pronounces some things, such as, "pumpkum," instead of pumpkin
He amazes us daily with his ever expanding vocabulary, comprehension and memory. We are ever mindful of what we say around him - he has recently started asking, "What are you talking about?" when Jared and I start discussing anything that doesn't involve talking w/ him too. He likes to be included in our conversations a lot more recently.
His cute smile and adorable giggle
His great hugs
When he says, "Mommy, I missed you," when I go into his room in the morning right after he's woken up. Ahhh, how sweet!
The way that he follows Jared around, and copies what he sees his daddy doing
He is so helpful, and especially likes to help Daddy build things. He gets out his own plastic tool box right along side Jared's tools

Madison is smiling!

2009-03-24T15:09:00.000-07:00

Madison has started smiling (on purpose, it's not just gas!). Of course, by the time I run to go get the camera, she has usually stopped smiling, but I was able to catch her for a few. Here's a cute one of her in her bouncer.

Close up of her baby blue eyes. With her brown hair, we think that her eyes may change. Jared has blue eyes and mine are hazel. Micah has hazel colored eyes. Her hair has become a little bit lighter brown now.

She almost always gets sleepy in her swing, which is a very good thing when I want to eat or get anything done (such as putting new pics on our blog!).

More pics of Madison

2009-02-26T12:41:00.000-08:00

Here are some more pictures of Madison in the hospital. Jared's parents watched Micah for us while we were in the hospital. Thank you guys so much! It was the 1st time that he had been away from us overnight. They brought Micah in to meet her that 1st night and again the next day to visit.

We also had my Dad and Pat to visit, and my Mom and Brian. This is the 1st granddaughter for both sides of our families.

My sister, Jessica, was Madison's 1st visitor. She was 12 hrs old. Here she is showing off her cute baby feet!

Micah meeting Madison for the 1st time. He had a huge smile on his face and wanted to hold her right away! He gave her kisses and was so gentle and sweet w/ her.

Madison looking at Daddy.

My grandma came to visit the next day. Here is Madison doing one of those oh-so-cute yawns.

Madison's 1st bath at home. Nice and happy and warm, now that she's all bundled up in her dry towel. She cried about 1/2 the time while we bathed her. Not too bad. At least it's that cute, somewhat quiet, newborn cry!

Baby Madison is here!

2009-02-26T02:01:00.000-08:00

Picture - 3 days old

We'll start off by sharing the news about our new baby, Madison.

We are happy to announce the arrival of Madison Kara, born early Wednesday morning, February 18th at 2:02 am. She weighed 7 lbs, 12 oz, and measured 20 inches long. She has dark brown hair, and her face looks just like Micah's did when he was a newborn.

It was a very quick labor; only 2 1/2 hrs total from start to finish (quite a contrast when compared w/ my experience w/ Micah of 27 hrs of labor and 3 1/2 hrs of pushing). I know that 2nd babies usually come more quickly, but this progressed way faster than I anticipated. I was already 8 cm when we checked in (I couldn't believe that I was that far dilated when the nurse told me!) and she was born about 30 minutes after we arrived! No chance for an epidural, so now I know what natural childbirth feels like!

She is healthy, and a good baby so far. Micah (he turned 3 in January) loves his new baby sister and is always asking, "Where's baby Madison?" or "Why is Madison crying?" He likes to be near her and likes to show her his toys.

She is just perfect and adorable (of course I'm biased!), and we are thrilled to have this new little addition to our family!

Our 1st Blog (finally!)

2009-02-26T00:59:00.000-08:00

We finally got around to creating a blog so that we can share photos and updates with our family and friends that we don't get to see that often. The birth of Madison, our 2nd child, really prompted me to get one started, as well as promptings from my sister, Holli, who lives across the country and couldn't be here to meet her new niece!

Our family consists of my husband Jared, myself, Micah (our 3 year old), and Madison (our newborn who is 1 week old).

With a busy 3 year old and a newborn, I am a little sleep deprived, so please forgive any ramblings or mistakes that you may see! We are excited to get started sharing our news and photos w/ everyone. Enjoy!