Kayla's "New" Toy

I put new in quotes, because this belonged to Will first, but it has now become Kayla's. She has been using it for the past week or two, and seems to enjoy it. And I enjoy the fact that, #1, I don't have to carry her around everywhere, and #2, I can drag her around the house with me and keep an eye on her.


Here she is checkin' out her new ride for the first time


I love how she only knows how to go one direction


Don't you just love her drool and spit-up stained shirt?

And finally, here are Will and Kayla during one of their friendlier moments

The Church is True

Yesterday Will and I went down to the office of our apartment complex to play in their toy room for a little while. Before going in, we decided to quickly check the mail. Instead of the usual junk mail, ads and bills that usually grace our mailbox, there was something infinitely greater - The Ensign magazine. Glad to have some reading material on hand while Will happily played and Kayla peacefully slept, I embarked on my customary routine of opening and reading from start to finish. As usual, there were countless numbers of uplifting articles, stories, and advice from Church leaders and members alike. However, one particular article caught my eye, and strengthened my testimony of the fact that Heavenly Father knows who we are and answers our prayers. I have had this happen on a number of occasions in the past. I will be struggling with something either personally or within my family, I will ask Heavenly Father for help, and He answers. I am so grateful to know that Heavenly Father is aware of my struggles and is always willing to help. I know He loves me and wants me to be happy. I am grateful to be a member of the Church.

I had a dream...

and 5 years ago it came true. I married one of the most wonderful people in the world. And 5 years and 2 kids later, we're still going strong. We've had good times and bad times, we've had our share of struggles, but through it all we've had each other, and there's no one else I'd rather spend forever with. Thank you, Bill, for being my friend, my confidant, my cheerleader, the father of my childen, and the love of my life. I love you!!

Five Years! -- I love you Sweetie

Wow! I have a hard time believing that it's already been 5 years since Kristin and I got married! Time flies when you're having fun. Sweetie, I love you more and more every day. I can't tell you how grateful I am that you came into my life. You are my sweetheart, my dream, and my best friend. I love having you as my wife and the mother of our family. I can't believe it's already been five years, but at the same time I can't imagine what life could have been like without you any more. I really am so grateful to have the best wife in the world. I love how you work to make everyone feel loved. I love how you keep me going even when I lose all motivation to do so. I love how you work to raise Will into the young man that he needs to be and that you know he can be. I love seeing the love in your eyes when you look at Kayla, and how much she loves you back. I love how you try to make even every day things special. You really are the love of my life, the joy in my heart, my best friend, forever. I love you sweetie. Happy fifth anniversary!

A Day at the Zoo, A Baby Blessing, and Other Adventures

Kristin usually does the posts, but today it's my (Bill's) turn. We've had some trouble getting our most recent pictures off of the camera, so some of this information is a bit late, but here it is.

A Trip to the Zoo
A few weeks ago we took a trip to the Scovill Zoo in Decatur. We had been planning a trip to the zoo in St. Louis for a long time, but we just recently had learned about this one that was a lot closer.


We had a great time at the zoo. Will loved the lion drinking fountain. I think if that was all we could get him to see, he would have gone away satisfied. Fortunately, we were able to get him away long enough to see some real animals -- some quite up close.

Others (fortunately) from a greater distance:

It was a great day for going to the zoo. A lot of the animals were really active.


Others less so

Some people got feeling a little less energetic as well.

(This was Kayla's first time in the umbrella stroller, and she did really well!)
We had a great time seeing all the different animals. I think Will was a little less enthusiastic about the reptile house.

He did enjoy the prairie dogs (but he kept trying to figure out why these "dogs" weren't like his dogs back home),

and he absolutely loved seeing the train at the zoo!

We finished off the trip with snowcones at the concessions stand.

(I really liked the snowcones -- Hey! It's hard to find good snowcones around anymore!)
We also had a great time at the zoo's playground.


All together, it was a lot of fun, and we can't wait to go back.

Baby Blessing

Just last week Kayla was given a name and a blessing during fast and testimony meeting at our church. It was a really wonderful experience. We were really glad to have a lot of friends and family there. Kristin's sister Erika and her dad were able to come out for the blessing, as were my parents. My brother and his family were there, of course, since they live here in town. It was also so much fun being able to share the experience with other members of our family via phone or on the computer.

During the week, we had a lot of fun with the people who came out. My parents took everyone out to Busey Woods. (Sadly, I had to work that day.)

Busey Woods is a park here in town that is a lot like a deep hardwood forest, but right in the middle of town. They have a great boardwalk, so it's not hard to get around. Will and his cousin Alice had a great time playing and looking at all the fun things.



They also got a little silly from time to time.

Everyone had a great time.

Later in the week, we spent a lot of time with my family and then with Kristin's dad and sister. (Sorry, we didn't get too many pictures here.) After church on Sunday we all got together at my brother's house for a nice Sunday dinner. It was a lot of fun getting everyone together like that.




Later, back at our house, Will loved learning how to use Kristin's dad's iPhone.

(Seriously, this kid will be re-programming our computer before 2nd grade!) It was a lot of fun, and it was hard to see everyone head out on Monday. We love you all!

Haircut!
[Cue the scary music here!] Well, Kristin's been cutting Will's hair for the past 3 1/2 years (which is why it's always looked so good). His hair had been getting pretty long, so we wanted to give it another quick trim before the baby blessing. Will, however, was feeling a little extra fussy that day and did not want to let Mommy cut his hair. So, I decided that I would give it a shot. He usually sits a little more still for me, but, as we quickly learned, that did not dramatically help my lack of hair-cutting talent. In the end, it looked ok, but I think next time, we'll plan ahead so Kristin has time to cut his hair and make it look good.
Before:

After:

Well, now you can see why I'm not allowed to use scissors for a while. (Actually it didn't look as bad as the picture made it seem. It really did turn out ok, as you can see from the earlier photos.)

Mommy wow, I'm a big kid now!

You know you're a true mom when you have a post like this. Will is doing AMAZING with potty training! He even managed to let me know at least twice the other day that he needed to go, without me saying anything first. There are still the occasional accidents, and it'll be a while before we get the nighttime stuff down, but I am so excited about his progress.


Please excuse the horribly dark picture. I wanted to get a picture of his "potty chart" to show off all the stars that he got, but somehow Will ended up in the shadows. Oh well.

More Birthday Fun

One cool thing about me and Bill is that our birthdays are only 12 days apart, so we have a lot of fun celebrating our birthdays around the same time. This year we were down in St. Louis for my birthday. And, as always, it was a lot of fun. One unique thing that happened on this trip is that we got our hotel upgraded. Recently we've been using "name your own price" on Priceline, and we've gotten some pretty great deals. This time we were originally supposed to stay at the Marriott. However, when we got there they told us that they had overbooked because of a conference or something, so there were no longer any rooms available. To make it up to us, they got us rooms here:


The Hilton St. Louis Frontenac

It is a beautiful hotel, and we both wished that we could have stayed there more than just one night.

Since that day was my birthday, Bill surprised me with a few great gifts. First he gave me a beautiful card with a sweet message inside. Then he gave me a big box of chocolates that we were able to share together. His last gift was a beautiful ring to temporarily replace my wedding ring, which for some reason I haven't been able to wear.

The next day we were able to go to the temple with Bobby and Susan. Bill, Will and Alice joined up with a Primary group who were doing different activities around the temple while Kayla and I hung out in the ancillary building. We had a wonderful session together, then we joined Bobby and Susan at the Magic House. This is a MASSIVE building with TONS of things to do. Susan and I decided that it would probably take months to get through everything enough that you were bored with it. Will and Alice had a great time. Unfortunately most of the pictures I took didn't turn out that great, but here are a few that are ok.




This is a horrible angle, but Will had a lot of fun pretending to shop at the grocery store.


Please excuse the lady on the left. This place is really crowded, so it was a little difficult to get a good picture without having other people in it.




And to top off the birthday weekend, Bobby and Susan were nice enough to make me a yummy birthday cake that we got to enjoy together today after church. It was an awesome weekend and we all had a lot of fun.

Happy Father's Day

Just a quick note to all the men and fathers out there who have touched my life or my family's life. Specifically my dad, father-in-law, grandfathers, brothers-in-law, uncles, cousins, and of course my wonderful husband. I feel so blessed to be surrounded by so many amazing examples. Thank you all for being in my life and for all you do for your own families. We love you.

Where does the time go?

I was changing Kayla's diaper earlier, and when I was done I put her on her tummy for a minute. As soon as she was down, she tried turning over. I don't remember Will doing this so early!! She didn't quite make it all the way, but it made for a good excuse to take a cute video.

"You've had a birthday, shout hooray"

Who knew silly Primary songs made good blog post titles :-) Anyway, as mentioned previously, yesterday was Bill's birthday. We had fun celebrating yesterday and today.


Sorry for the horribly dark picture. I got up early Sunday morning and decorated part of the kitchen. I made a sign that said "Happy Birthday Daddy", then put a balloon next to where Bill sits.


I made a pancake breakfast for Bill, which has turned into a birthday tradition (the birthday person gets to pick what they want for breakfast). Will helped me pick out Bill's balloon, and has decided that he's the one that gets to play with it, which is why he is holding it.


A side view of Bill's birthday cake. We had Bobby and Susan and Alice over for cake and ice cream. We love getting together with them, and this was a perfect excuse to do so.


For those who don't know, June 14th is Flag Day, so I made a flag cake. I was pretty happy with it, and it tasted pretty good too.


And of course, the birthday boy with his cake. Hope you had a fun birthday honey!