yet again

Yet again....

Tuesday

July 30th, 2013

 

See all the mess in the background of this cutsey picture, you guess it, were moving...once again. Story of our life = we cant make it financially and we have to move. I was joking that we are like military families with how we never stay in one place, then Ian pointed out that we are worse because at least they get to stay places for 2 or so years...then the joke became not so funny. My goal in life is to be able to 1. visit the place we move to before we move there and pick where we move based off if we like it or not and 2. stay somewhere PERMANENTLY, or at least semi-permanently. I don't think that's too much to ask. I'm not going to lie, the life of a teachers wife is a hard one. literally everything we talk about comes back to money and wither or not we can afford it. While living in Prescott we had it bad, really bad. It was to the point where I couldn't even go anywhere because we couldn't afford the gas money to get me there (not to mention cost of living was insanely high). As you can imagine that kind of living gets really old really really fast, so we knew we had to do something.

We toyed around with buying our own business but ultimately came back to teaching. Ian is awesome at teaching, and he truly cares about the kids and wants to make a difference. He one of the good teachers :). Since we cant make it, at least not a comfortable life, on a teachers salary we knew we had to go a step further. So we set our goals on a college professor. Ian's Brother is also a teacher, and has been trying to talk Ian into moving closer to his family or a while now. His school pays more, they have SUPER cheap housing, and there is a very high possibility for college level teaching experience (night classes). We had tossed the idea around a few times but decided against it every time...here's the catch...it's on a reservation. Just the word "reservation" scared me to death. There were reservations relatively close to my town while I was growing up, and my Dad manages a grocery store on one, so I had a pretty good idea what a reservation was like and I didn't want anything to do with living on one. Ian was going to be making a tiny bit more this year at the Prescott school since he would be there all year, which was just enough to put us over the limit for our government aid...yes it was that bad that we qualified for aid, pretty sad being that we worked for the freakin government...but let's not even get started with that. Anyways we were going to be in a very bad situation losing all of our help so once again knew we had to do something. We talked about it a lot and of course prayed a lot and finally made the SUPER SCARY decision to move to the Fort Defiance, keeping in mind that this was going to be as temporary of a move as possible. It was kind of sad making another move knowing before hand that we were going to be moving yet again. Ian will be making a significant more working here, we pay $225 a month for an awesome 2bed/2bath house (I was excited about this because we've never had a house!), and there is great potential for getting night jobs at the college. So our goal for this move is 1. Save money and 2. Get college experience to hopefully someday get a job at a college we want to be at.

 

 Even Miss Kinsley is sad to go. We will miss our cute and humble little condo.

 Moving to Prescott I really wanted a house, and was bummed we were in a condo once again. But I must admit for a condo I loved it! It was so cute and had lots or storage, a very important thing for us.

 

Just had to throw this picture in here, to remind me how much it rained here during the monsoon season!! This bush was perfectly pruned just a couple days ago!

 

Brody was SO excited to go in the big truck with Daddy!

 

And we're on our way, the boys in the truck the girls in the van :)

 

August 13, 2013

After being here for a couple weeks now we are actually quiet happy. A lot happier then  I could have ever imagined. I LOVE our house, it is so much bigger then anything we have lived in, and feels great being in it with as family. You can't imagine how nice it is having our own house. We live in teacher housing, literally right next to the high school which is nice because Ian gets to walk to school every day. The housing complex has a fence around it and security who drives around at night, which makes us feel safe. We are also close to the Hospital and the hospital housing so there are plenty of white people around us. Ian's Brother will be moving into the house right next to us, we are excited to be their neighbors...Bro is especially thrilled about this since Boas is his favorite cousin! It is a little strange being one of a few white people when you go into town, but I think living in a heavily Hispanic populated area while growing up helped with this because I'm not as uncomfortable as I thought I would be. I still haven't gone anywhere alone though so we will see how I feel about that. The ward has been very friendly for the most part, there are a few other white couples between the teachers and dentists. We have gone to another white couples house for game night/BBQ twice now and have had a blast. The natives are a lot nicer and more friendly then what we were told to expect. Really it's just like any other place, you get nice and a few not friendly people. A few things that are going to take some getting used to 1. People always ask for money, seriously they have no shame when it comes to this 2. People hitch hick like CRAZY 3. There are stray dogs everywhere you look 4. Animals are allowed to roam free, including horses and cows, our housing complex has cattle guards so they can't get in 5. It's not uncommon for me to be the only blond person in a store, which as you can imagine causes some starring 6. The relaxation of things, for example people wear jeans to church like its nothing, or one of the bishopric members wears a huge tribal necklace which is kind of funny. It's kind of a fun interesting experience, but It will also be fun to leave and get back into our society. Overall we are happy here and excited to see what this move will bring.

 

7 Months

7 Months

Sunday

July 21st, 2013

 This “monthday” was a specially one…It was during our vacation spent with my family, which means it was her first time meeting Grandpa and NaNa Jensen! It was so fun spending time with them, and even more fun seeing their love for our children and of course the love my children have for them. These pictures are so much better than mine I usually take, thanks to Nana, so enjoy!

 

  

Weight

Really not sure on her weight, I would guess she’s gained around a pound or less though, that seems to be her normal pattern.

 

Health
Again her health is awesome, no more sick baby around here!

 

Sleep
We have been on vacation for the past 3 weeks, so her sleeping habits are all off schedule. I’m ok with it though because it’s not her fault and we’re all having tons of fun. When you’re traveling and out doing fun things it’s hard to keep set nap times, so I have been trying to give her at least one good nap in her bed a day…other small ones in her car seat seem to be getting her by. She has been waking up a lot more often at night to eat, I’d say 3 times a night, and sleeping in bed with us for at least half the night. I have to be honest about this part though, I really don’t mind her sleeping in our bed. I know when we get home and back into our routine she will be in her room so it makes it so easy to just snuggle and love her all night in the mean time!

 Clothes
She’s pretty much right on track still. Mostly 6 month clothing, some 6-9.

 

 

 Diet
Boy has her eating habit drastically changed this month!! She is now eating jarred baby food, mostly consisting of fruit. She hates the veggies, really only giving sweet potatoes any kind of a chance. We even started out with veggies hoping she would really like them, but our plan failed miserably. She is also eating those baby puff things and yogurt bits, which come in handy while traveling! She still won’t take a bottle but we have experimented with a Sippy cup of water at my Aunts house and she seemed to really like it. I’m not sure if it’s all the traveling and people or what but she is losing more and more interest in nursing. She never wants to stop looking around to take the time to nurse, and I literally have to be in a quiet room for her to focus enough to get much of anything. Sometimes it’s so bad I have to nurse her while she is sitting up so that she doesn’t feel left out of what’s going on, she’s a crazy one! It makes me kind of sad, I love the tender moments we have while nursing…I’m not ready for them to be over. So I am praying that once things calm down she will enjoy nursing again.

 Crying
One thing traveling has done for her is improved her crying. She has been such an awesome baby the past month!! She hardly ever cries, and when she does it’s almost always because she’s either tired or hungry. I guess that’s what happens when you do lots of fun things with lots of family!

 

 

 Milestones

She is now great at sitting up! She does it by herself all the time now, and for long periods of time. She can even catch herself from falling while in the sitting up position and re-steady herself. She is also getting pretty good at self-feeding, not everything she grabs makes it to her mouth but she at least gets some. She for sure recognizes her name, which is so fun! Thankfully she is not crawling yet...but she is showing signs of it being in the near future, she holds herself up with her hands really well and has very briefly tried to get on her knees a few times. Early this month, around the 2^nd or 3^rd of July we discovered a tooth coming through on the bottom, and it’s a sharp little bugger!!

 

Products I'm loving

We really haven’t had any new product we are loving. We still love all of the ones previously mentioned, but no new ones that I can think of.

 

 

 

Fun Facts

This one is Ian’s favorite; she is now getting to the point where she enjoys when someone plays peekaboo with her! She is becoming more and more fun to play with; her heartwarming laugh makes it so enjoyable. She also has become very fond of her two uncles Gabriel and Evan, Evan totally and completely adores her!!

When she was a newborn I was in love with that stage, and I still totally LOVE it…I mean they are these sweet precious babies who hardly do anything so you get to snuggle cuddle and love on them ALL you want. Heck I could just spend all day snuggling and looking at my beautiful baby and be good. I was honestly a little intimidated by her getting older, after all it had been 4 years since I had a baby. I was nervous about the change of attention she would need, that I wouldn’t be good at playing with her, that I’m a better mom when it comes to loving and adoring by not so much at playing and entertaining. Ian always said that he couldn’t wait till her personality came out and he could play with her, I thought he was crazy, what’s not to love about the newborn stage. Well although I still completely and utterly adore the newborn stage I really love this stage as well. I would say that other than newborn this has been my favorite. She is SO FUN! She can “talk”, laugh, smile, play, sit up, roll over and be just about as cute as possible!

Our Special Day :)

Our Special Day

Tuesday

July 16th, 2013

 

There is a lot that leads up to this special day of ours, but I want to start off with saying that once I finally get to the actual event it will be a mixture of excitement, joy, pure happiness....frustration, and (looking back on) pretty hilarious stuff.

 

So here goes the back story...Ian has been such an awesome Dad to Bro Bro, really more then I could have ever hoped for. Once we were married he started talking about wanting to adopt Brody, one day he called around trying to find a lawyer, and one day he himself actually started the process. I did not push it at all. In May we drove to St George and became a compete "legal" family, but there was still something missing...we wanted more then legal. The next step for us was of course to become not only a legal family, but more importantly an eternal one. Words cannot even begin to describe how much my little family means to me, how much love I have for them. Sometimes I feel like my heart will literally burst from the love and joy my husband and children bring into my life. I cannot imagine my life without them in it, nor do I want to. When Ian and I were sealed in the temple it was a beautiful thing, to know I will always have him with me..for all eternity. But something was still missing, it was happiness, but not complete happiness...we were missing part of our family. All that being said I'm sure you can imagine what we did next...you guessed it, planned for our temple sealing, our family temple sealing.
I had not seen my parents and brother since January of 2012, and they had never met Ian or Kinsley, so I was THRILLED that they wanted to come share this amazing experience with us! They purchased their tickets to fly into Phoenix and stay with us in Prescott. We called the Mesa temple to schedule our sealing only to find out they would be closed for their annual cleaning...seriously!!! The next closest temple was in Snow Flake, which is 3 1/2 hours away, and quiet frankly didn't seem all that pretty for pictures afterwards...and if you know me you know we WILL be taking pictures afterwards :) After lots of trying to figure things out we all decided we would do it in St George, our favorite town and favorite Temple. Everything ended up working out perfectly! My parents switched their flight to Las Vegas and some of their friends had an awesome house on the golf course we all stayed in.

 

I was so glad we were able to do the sealing in the St George Temple, the same Temple Ian and I were married in. What a special memory to add to this special place for us.

 
Ok so here goes the story...I scheduled us to have an all white sealing, something I wish I would have done for our wedding but didn't know what it was at the time. Before the sealing Brody was So Excited!! He kept telling me how he was so excited to see Jesus, and the first thing he was going to do was give him a big hug!! I didn't have the heart to tell him that probably wasn't going to happen. It was at 5:20, so earlier that day we showed my family a little bit of St George, I remember towards the end wondering what was wrong with Brody, I chocked up it to him seeming really tired. We didn't have time for a nap though so we headed to the temple. As soon as we walked in the front doors Brody seemed a little uneasy. I had previously talked to him about having to go to the nursery while Ian and I got ready. I walked him over to the nursery, he was sooo not into it, then I told him I had to leave and he completely LOST IT!!! I'm talking hysterically crying, screaming, holding onto me with a death grip! If I remember right I think he even pushed the ladies away who were trying to get him to stay...he was not a nice Brody at this point. Kinsley, whom I thought would be the nightmare, was perfectly fine. I had no choice but to leave and hope for the best. The  imagine I had in my mind of how this day would be was quickly fading and reality was setting in. I tried to forget everything and focus on where we were and the blessing we were about to receive. I was so excited to be able to use the bridal suit again, but a little bummed no one was in there with me. I had hoped my Mom could be there, since she wasn't there the first time, but she was busy trying to tame Brody. I was also excited to wear my temple dress I was married in...once again my bubble was burst when we couldn't get it zipped up (keep in mind it is an x-small...ugh just the reminder I needed at this point). I stood in front of the mirror looking at myself with this dress I couldn't zip and thinking about the nightmare that was most likely still going on in the nursery, I had to fight with everything I had to hold the tears back. The sweet ladies helping me managed to find my same exact dress in a small, it wasn't my dress but it was good enough. Ian and I made our way to the room off our sealing room and waited for everyone. We had quiet some time to ourselves, I am sooo grateful for that. I still was at the point of possible tears at any given moment so it was crucial I had that time to sit, take in the beauty of this wonderful place we were, hold my husbands hand and let the spirit calm me down. The last time we were in the temple I had NO idea what to expect and NO idea what to do, this time I was much more prepared and was really able to sit in peace and truly feel the spirit. We made our way into the sealing room with all of our guests and were told the children would be up shortly. At this point I was at such peace that I didn't even think about the kids being crazy. I was so excited to see them, all dressed in white so pure and beautiful/handsome....the door opened....Ian and I see a man...then some legs...we realize the man in holding Brody, dead asleep. My heart sank. Brody does not wake up well. Kinsley was as sweet as can be, at least we had that! The man hands me Brody and I try my hardest to calmly wake him up. He is completely delirious. He keeps saying "I want my Mom" over and over again, once he finally realizes I have him  he saying "I want to go home" over and over and over again, in the most whinny cryish voice ever...and pretty loudly too. I said everything I could to try and calm him down but NOTHING would work. At one point I told him if he calmed down he could get ice cream, he then proceeded to loudly say "I don't want ice cream!" I could have died. He wouldn't even stand up, he was clinging to me for dear life, I literally did not know that to do. It felt like a lifetime, but it was more like 5 minutes passed...all full of what I just described, before we finally pretty much man handled him to the alter, my mom forcefully held his hand on ours and our sealer performed the ordinance...all the while Brody was crying and saying something...I don't even remember what. I couldn't even hear what our sealing was saying.
Sadly, or maybe luckily is a more fitting word, it was over. Everyone left except for my In laws, Ian and I. It wasn't until then that it hit me. I couldn't hold back the tears any longer, and this time they were tears of joy. Everything was calm, I was able to think straight again and it sank in what just happened. No matter how it happened, we were a family, an eternal family, all of us. That moment will forever been one of the happiest moments of my life.       

 

Our family after the sealing. Ariel and Keith were also there, as well as our good friends Gary and Megan, And our old Bishop Brother Rhodes with Brother Kinsey...both the men Ian worked with in the bishopric while we lived there.

One of our favorite wedding pictures was taken by this tree, I thought it was the perfect spot for us to capture this special day.

 



 

 

This was the same dress Kinsley was blessed in, yes it still fit!! I wasn't able to get any pictures of just her on her blessing day so I had my mom take some...what a cutie!!

 

 

Aside from the major melt down of Brody's, today was perfect. We had our family and friends with us and we now know we will always be together..that alone makes it a pretty good day in my book. Afterwards we went to Brick Oven for some dinner and enjoyed each others company! After everything was done my Mom was able to tell me her story from the nursery. Remember how Brody was acting...well it gets worse. There were two women in there watching the children, Brody starting saying "I hate those stinkin ladies", meaning the helpers, right in front of them! Then they had to get them dressed in his white clothes. I didn't realize he had blue underwear on, so they had to change him into white, he was not and I mean WAS NOT ok with that. He kept saying he didn't want anyone seeing his privates, not even my mom! At least we have taught him well with that right!? He completely refused to change his underwear so finally the helper just shoved the white underwear over his! He then proceeded again to tell my mom how much he "hates those stinkin ladies". I can't help but laugh now that it's over. Later that night we asked him about it, and he said that Ian looked like a chef and I looked like a lady chef! He then went on to describe in detail what Ian was wearing, even down to the design on things, I could hardly believe he saw anything through his massive fit throwing!! This will be quiet a funny story to tell him someday :)  

Disneyland!!

Vacation - Disneyland!!!
Wednesday
July 3rd, 2013

Today was the day we were all so excited about!! Ian and I spent a day at Disneyland last year for our honeymoon, but Brody had never been so I was so excited to be able to have the whole family go!! Brody took the shuttle over with Ian's Brothers family so by the time we got there he had already been inside for a little bit. I was a little bummed about this, I wanted to capture his first reactions but it was still fun to see him with Mickey Mouse. He thought it was way cool to be meeting Mickey Mouse!!

 

I don't have a picture of it but Kinsley was adorable with him, she wanted to touch his face and just had this mesmerized look on her face.

 

 

We picked an awesome day to be there!! We planned on getting there right when it opened but stayed up late the night before with Ian's cousin so we got there around 10. As you can see the park was still pretty empty at this point.

 

Bro was his slow poke usual self so he hitched a ride with uncle Tyrell :P

 

Since the lines were so short we thought we would get some of the big (long line) rides over with first. Splash mountain was our first stop, we literally walked to the front of the line and waited maybe 2 minutes. Here's Brody ready to go...a little nervous!

 

 

After the big splash!!! He was freaked out but did great. The first time we went with Uncle Tyrell and his family, we used the stroller passes so I was able to go again with Ian...Brody made it very clear he did not want to go again haha.

First time on the Pirates of the Caribbean, again a very short line for us. This first time Brody got a little freaked out, he thought it was kind of scary.

 

Next I believe we went to Space Mountain...now this one FREAKED Brody OUT. He literally screamed like a little girl the ENTIRE time. After that we thought we would head over to a ride Brody would enjoy...The Toy Story one!! Which ended up being his absolute favorite! Not a surprise to me being that you have guns you shot targets with, he loved it!

 

This is totally Brody's thing!

 

I was a little worried about Kinsley since she is so young, but she ended up doing beyond awesome. She had such a great time! She loved going on the rides and looking at everything, taking It all in. Now that we have gone I think she might just be the perfect age for a younger child...she was old enough to look around and enjoy it but young enough to still nap in the stroller and be ok with that. We didn't have to go back to the hotel for a nap, which would have been kind of a pain. She was seriously an Angel!

 

Her first nap was timed perfectly. There was a Star Wars show going on, and Brody loves some good ol Star Wars so she got to nap while we enjoyed that.

I could be wrong but I swear I remember playing with this as a child, I thought it was the coolest thing ever!

 

Brody's cousin Boaz really liked Space Mountain (he is 2 years older then Bro), so we thought we would give it another try with the boys....the second time didn't go any better for Bro!

 

 

He is not thrilled to be on the ride again haha, but he's giving it a try.

 

While we eat lunch the Star wars show was going on again...Bro is the red shirt and blue baseball cap weaving his arms around :) Once it was time to pick volunteers he stopped waving though haha, he's still a little apprehensive when it comes to the stop light.

 

 

They picked children out of the audience to be Jedi's in training. Here's cousin Boaz fighting Darth Vader!

 

Just about the cutest Mini Mouse I've ever seen!!

 

Brody thought it would be fun to try some Mini Mouse ears on Kins :)

 

Autotopia!

 

Bro didn't want to drive, but he still had a great time.

 

 

 

Ice cream with cousins at Disneyland...does it get any better.

 

 

Waiting in line for It's a Small World.

 

 

 

Kinsley loved everything to look at on this ride.

 

Just waiting in line with the babies :)

 

Bro got to ride Peter Pan with Uncle Tyrell...here's us 3. I don't remember many of the kids rides from when I was younger, this is one of my new favorites though!

 

Happy baby just enjoying her Brother and cousin.

 

 

Brody absolutely loves Boaz...he is definitely his favorite cousin!

 

Back on his favorite ride! In the middle with Daddy.

 

Can that be comfortable...??

 

He tried with all of his might!!

 

We had so much Fun with these guys!!

 

Ready to hit the Tea Cups!

Sleeping Beauty :)

 

 

I sat this ride out since the baby was asleep. As you can see by his big smile Brody had a blast with Dad and his Uncle!

 

 

Alice in Wonderland

 

Another new favorite of mine.

These kids were such troopers while waiting in all the lines. Brody asked a few times when we were going to get on the rides, but other then that they were great.

 

I cant remember the name of this ride, its the one with the Mole.

 

Mommy and Kinsley on Pinocchio.

 

Once it got dark we finally made it over to the Tarzan tree house, and Brody absolutely loved it!

 

He could have spent all night in here!

 

While everyone was watching the water show we went on the Pirates of the Caribbean again, this time the lines were ever shorter. We walked right in and on our boat there were only 2 other people. The shows are totally the times to do rides. Brody really liked it the second time around, he thought it was really cool...especially the smoke coming down with the pirate face on It and the skeletons on the beach with the crab. He also really liked the part where the ships are in the storm and shooting canons at each other.

 

Watching the fireworks.

 

We did not plan this day very well....at least as far as binky's go. Somehow we got there and realized we only had one binkey...yes ONE. What were we thinking! I think since I always have at least 3 shoved in my bag somewhere I wasn't worried about it. Well we didn't have a binky clip or anything either. I kid you not while waiting in line for a one ride we lost that stinkin thing 3 different times, and on the last it being gone for good. It was still light out at this point so we had a lot of time without the lifesaver. She managed just fine but there were some times where it would have come in handy. At night we improvised and she sucked on this marker instead :P

 

We waited all day to get a treat...we were go go go and never seemed to stop to get something. So at night, when everyone else was leaving we went to the ice cream shop and treated ourselves.

 

Brody wanted cotton candy, can you tell he was thrilled to get it!

 

Brody and I went on the Matahorn together. Bro was a little nervous for two reasons, one there are no side by side seats so he had to be in front of me and two he could just tell it was a scary ride. But he was a trooper and went on went for it! He only screamed a few times, not none stop like Space Mountain. During slower times in the ride I would lean up and tell him I was here and It was ok so I think that helped. I think the man in front of Bro could hear both his screaming and my soothing because after he kept trying to look back and see who was there. Finally he saw it was little Brody..way down there and looked pretty shocked haha. He told Brody how brave he was! I was surprised by how many rides he was able to go on, really the only one he didn't meet the height requirement was Indiana Jones. Here he is after waiting to get out, happy but a bit freaked! 

 

We stayed until 11:30 to squeeze in all we could. We had waited all day to go on the Nemo ride since the lines were so long. Even at 11pm we still waited 30 minutes.

 

Waiting in line for our last ride.

 

Kinsley loved the Nemo ride! You go down in a submarine and get to see all kinds of things.

 

The kids ready to head out.

 

It didn't take long for both of them to crash! What a long day filled with loads of fun!!!

 

Brody was out like a rock for the rest of the night, now that's what I call having a good day!

 

Kinsley on the other hand thought it was play time when we got back to the hotel...silly babies.

 

We all had such a great time!! We are so glad we were able to go with family, it made it that much more enjoyable. I'm ready to go back already! The only thing I would do differently next time is go for more then one day. There were quiet a few things I wanted to do that we weren't able to. You think you can get a lot done in one full day but there is just so much to do there. Cant wait to plan our next trip!!