Photo Shoot

So, this weekend we made the trek to Delaware for a long weekend visit. Kenna travels very well and loves car rides. She slept almost the entire way up and back, snoring all the while. She is so cute. The house was baby central and Nancy was loving every minute of it. She even got to practice her "twin hold" with Kenna and Jenna. She said it was the first time she had done that since her twins and had a bout deja vu.

Nancy's "twin hold"

While we were there, Grandma wanted to get newborn pictures of Kenna and the other new grandbabies, Luke and Jenna. On Saturday morning we went to Babies R Us and the fun began. The little babies had their individual pictures first. This went okay. Kenna fussed a little bit, but we managed to get some great pitures of her.


Next we tried to get a picture of the three little babies together. To do this I had to change Kenna's outfit, which made her fuss even more. Then she had to be posed and started to give her "I mean business cry." Jenna was feeling the same way about this picture. Baby Luke was the only one who didn't seem to mind being man handled. This is what we ended up with...

Overall we had a great trip and got to see some of Nate's friends from high school. We also managed passed the baby itch on to Mike Wooden's wife, Laura (sorry Mike). Kenna seemed to enjoy Delaware and cried when we got home. It was while she was crying that we discovered something interesting. Not only does she love car rides, but she loves the hair dryer. She was having a hard time falling asleep, so Nate took her upstairs and turned on the hair dryer. She was asleep within 5 minutes and stayed asleep for about 4 1/2 hours. We now have the power to make her sleep...

Here are some more pictures we took this weekend.

"Stop taking pictures of me, mom!"

Crashing after a long week!

Spoons

Before you read this and laugh, it is important that you understand that this is actually my life. I live here with these people and deal with these things everyday. The following is based on a true story.....

Once upon a time (about 6 months ago) Kenzie and I graduated from grad school. Kenzie's mom, dad, and crazy Uncle Will came to help us celebrate our scholastic achievements. And that is how it started. We had some Ben and Jerries in the fridge and Kenzie's mom goes toward ice cream like a Mormon to Utah so of course she claimed a small pint and grabbed a spoon from the drawer to aid her in her quest of eating the ice cream. As she grabbed the spoon Uncle Will asked her if she wanted to go to check out something in the town and she agreed. She took the spoon and the ice cream and started toward the door. Rookie mistake. Seriously. Kenzie stopped her dead in her tracks and asked her what she was doing. Dawnene explained that she was just going to take the ice cream in the car with her. I told her that was ok, as long as she promised to bring my spoon back. Of course I didn't really care if she brought my spoon back but it was something that I could give her a hard time about so Dawnene offered to leave it in the house, but finally left with it after I told her it was ok if she took it as long as she brought it back.

The next morning as we were all pouring bowls of cereal, I asked Dawnene if she remembered to bring my spoon in. Busted. She had forgotten. I was doing this all in jest and started giving her a hard time for losing my expensive wedding flatware (we actually bought the whole set for 20 bucks cause we found it in the discontinued isle at Bed Bath and Beyond). She started getting red as Kenzie chimed in about how I had told Dawnene to bring it in and yadda yadda. Dawnene headed out to the car to do a search and rescue to bring the spoon safely home. However, Uncle Will had decided to clean out the car the night before and tossed the pint of Ben & Jerries ice cream in the trash which he then took to the dumpster. And that is when it happened. I discovered McKenzie's OCD about spoons and having a complete set of silverware. She went off on her mom for losing the spoon and ranted and raved about now we had to buy a completely new set because we were missing a single spoon. I wasn't really sure if she was totally serious but it was obvious that she had a really deep relationship with the spoons.

Kenzies mom felt awful, graciously volunteered Brigham Young to go diving through the dumpster to find the lost spoon, and then Uncle Will demanded an inventory. Kenzie began counting the spoons in the sink, drawer, and then the dishwasher and came to the grand total of 12. All spoons present and accounted for. Kenzie looked a bit sheepish and said, "Well you are still not allowed to leave the house with my silverware anymore."

From this experience Uncle Will and I learned two things.

1. Do NOT take McKenzie's silverware outside the home.
2. Kenzie is kinda crazy sometimes.

Will came with his family to visit last weekend. They went to Virginia Beach after our house. After their visit we received the following pictures.....

Kenzie now has a bounty out on Uncle Will. 500 dollars - Dead or Alive. He is a strikingly good looking man with dark hair, dark skin, and a darker personality. He will most often answer to the name "Hill Billy Willy" and has often been seen seeking refuge in nudest colonies. Reward will be paid in cash.

More Pics

These are so Nate can see pictures of our day while he is hard at work.

After her bath...no cries!

She spit up on this jacket about two minutes after I took the pictures. Luckily there was a matching onesie underneath so I didn't have to change her.

Three Weeks Old

Our little bug is three weeks old today. She has grown so much I can hardly believe it! We went to the doctor for a weight check and she now weighs 7 lbs 10 oz. She is still a wonderful baby and has even started sleeping for longer stretches at night.

We had a some family here this weekend. My parents, brother, sister, and aunt and uncle and their kiddos came to visit. It was a short visit, but we had a lot of fun. We got to do a little shopping and Kenna got spoiled, of course. She got some new clothes and toys. Thanks Grandma and Aunt Cristen! Everyone headed out to VA Beach after a few very stimulating days. Poor Kenna didn't know what to do with so many people around and has spent all day sleeping to try to recover. It was fun to hang out and see everyone.

It'll Be Fine

I have heard a lot of women express concerns throughout their life that they are becoming just like their moms. Guys don't worry about stuff like that nearly as much, but we do a little. I never really worried about becoming like my dad - it just was never that big of a fear of mine because he is such an upstanding guy (shotout to dad!). Well, to be honest, there are actually a few things that I try not to be like my dad on. I try not to pick my nails like him, not to turn the steering wheel in the car with as much umph as he does, not to spaz out during BYU football games, and try not to lose my hair. I was so focused on avoiding these things that I never even saw this one coming.....

I am becoming like my father-in-law.

I say this because my trees in the backyard needed some trimming. My own father pointed this out when he came to see his granddaughter. He said that my trees were super droopy and scolded me for not taking care of them. That inspired me to go to Lowes and got a Dewalt Sawzall. It is the mother of all power tools. I got it to trim the trees. I figured I could get it done in a timely manner with the power tool. I climbed up the recently purchased ladder with one hand, the powerful power tool in the other, grabbed a branch with my teeth and pulled it down to cut it.... and Kenzie comes out on the deck. It is only as she comes out on the porch that I realize how utterly absurd my predicament really is. I am about 15 feet up reaching for high branches and she says, "Are you sure that is safe?" And my reply comes out just like good old father-in-law Young as I told her "It'll be fine".

That is Mr. Young's all-time favorite quote. Any one of his children can attest that the man will be working on something and do something very dangerous while citing "It'll be fine". I guess that is what happens when you grow up on a ranch when they haven't invented eye protection or anything safety related. So kudos to you Mr. Young. Your influence carries over to another generation. It really will be fine.

And fine it was. I escaped without severing any of my limbs and now my trees no longer look like weeping willows. A couple of the branches turned out to be a little too high for me so I attempted the tarzan approach. It didn't work.
Here is another tarzan approach. Dewalt is much better.



Life is great! We love having our little girl around and the house is fantastic. Work is going well and we are really blessed to have such a great life. Kenzies family comes in to town today. Then on Sunday Kenzie's aunt and uncle arrive with their two kiddos. It should be lots of fun.

Two Week Check-up

One Tuesday Kenna had her 2 week check-up. She is now 7 lbs 1 oz. She lost a little weight in the hospital and was at 6 lbs 1 oz at her first visit. That means she has gained an entire pound since July 3! Mom, dad and the doctor were all very impressed. She is still a great baby, but had kind of a fussy weekend. I brought that up with the doctor who suggested I cut back my dairy consumption because it could be upsetting her tummy. I did this and she is now back to her happy, normal self...and she is spitting up a lot less, which is nice. I love this little baby and I can't believe how fast she is growing up. She is very strong and loves to lift her head up and look around. Sometimes it comes crashing back down but she just lifts it right back up. We love her so much. We're enjoying being parents...life is fabulous!

Tummy Time

Warrior II Pose

Oh Baby

So we have tried to document some of the cute things that Kenna does...

Here is her "I need my Prin tablets" pose(for those who have seen The Birdcage)
or
her "Don't look at me" pose (for the twins)

This one is the best of them all, and closest to her Prin Tablets pose.

Here we got her dressed up in her very first non-jammies outfit. From the pictures you can tell why...everything we have for her is WAY too big. We went out to eat with our friends Jared and Carlie and their kiddos, so we thought it would be a good time to dress her up. Even though she was swimming, she was still adorable.

Big yawn...

Daddy time....

Confusing, but whatever.

It's Black, It's White, You Know It

Home improvement project number 2 went off without a hitch. As much as we love the house, we decided that the upstairs master bedroom (our room) was too dark. I guess the people who lived here before had extra paint when they redid the kitchen and just used the red paint on the upstairs bedroom. When we put the newly acquired bedroom furniture in, the room just looked dark. We were going to leave it, but then Michael Jackson died.

As I watched the news mourn Mr. Jackson for several weeks, I had an epiphany. He was black (a dark color) and then he changed into a white dude (a light eggshell if you will). Granted the white dude he turned into was an emaciated “little-kid-lover”….but whatever. He inspired me. If Michael Jackson could change then so could my bedroom. I went to Walmart, armed myself with paints, rollers, drop-cloths, brushes, and finally bought some chip clips too while I was there. I came home and went to work. I sang Jackson tunes to get me through the work and when I finished I had successfully transformed the darkness into light. I had become light.

Now our bedroom is a happy place. All we need is a functioning door and our bedroom is complete. We have installed a new fan, painted, and filled it with Kenzie’s birthday furniture. Now if we get a door that can actually open and close we will be in business.

Rest in peace Mr. Jackson. You have inspired so many people like me….

BEFORE

AFTER

More Pictures

You Betrayed Me!

We gave Kenna her first bath this morning. It was not a hit. We used the little duck and got the water to the right temperature, but she still started screaming the second we put her in the water. We washed her as fast as we could while listening to her wail, "You betrayed me!" It was sad, but now she is clean and smells like Johnson & Johnson's baby wash. We got her out as fast as we could and wrapped her up and she was fine after that. Nate and I decided she has an irritated cry and and "I mean business" cry. She only used her irritated cry during the bath and we have only heard the "I mean business" cry once or twice, so maybe she will warm up to the idea of being clean and eventually enjoy bath time.