Three Plus One

The Blog has Moved

Hi Everyone,

It's been a while since I've posted on this blog. I decided to consolidate blogs and now have a new family blog here. Feel free to check it out!

Happy New Year

Hi everyone! The girls are growing up fast as you can see. Lexi is talking up a storm and starting walking on Halloween of this last year. She is quite the funny little thing and constantly keeps us on our toes. Sydney enjoys being the big sister and reminds her of that often.

Well to catch you up on a few things, our home in Minnesota sold in November and we have been trying to find a home. We made an offer on one home that an investor stole out from under us and then we recently made an offer on a 2nd home but later rescinded our offer and decided that we didn't like the location. Therefore, we are still homeless but hope to find a home relatively soon.

My dissertation, or the big D as I affectionately call it, is going well. I have all of my data collection done (with the exception of a couple interviews) and have been spending the last several weeks analyzing data. I hope to start writing in February and defend in May.

Mallory is enjoying being at home with her family and with the girls. She is looking forward to having a home again but is enjoying the time with her sister and parents.

I enjoy my job very much and have the opportunity to visit with Chinese students everyday which is great for my Mandarin skills. Mallory and I had the opportunity to go to Hawaii in November with my office co-workers for a conference. We had a great time.

Here are the girls at Halloween!

Happy Easter Events

The girls started off their Easter Festivities this year with an Easter Egg Hunt at our city park a couple of weeks ago. It was somewhat cold but the sun was out and Sydney was taking in the newness of the whole experience. She managed to get a handful of eggs and see the Easter Bunny. At the end, she was more interested in playing on the swings and slides in the park after it was over.

EASTER EGG HUNT AT CHURCH
The Saturday before Easter Sunday we had another egg hunt at the church. Syd was able to get a bunch of eggs and this one was not as competitive with kids running all over. Even Lexi enjoyed chewing on one of the plastic eggs.

EASTER MORNING

Easter morning was extremely fun this year. Lexi wasted no time in diving into her sister's basket and even sneaking a chocolate egg when mom and dad were not looking. She had the whole thing in her mouth, including the foil.

Sydney was so surprised that the Easter Bunny was able to get into the house and hide those eggs. Sydney received a couple of her favorite books, an easel in which you can use as a white board, chalkboard and magnet board, and of course lots of chocolate eggs.

Sydney's Third Birthday!

Sydney just had her 3rd birthday this last week. She was very excited to hear from all of her family and friends. She can now hold up three fingers to indicate her age and tells us how she is a 'big girl' now. She requested another Sesame Street theme this year for the cake. She enjoys all of the characters on Sesame Street. In fact, we recently took she and Lexi in January to the Target Center for the Supergrover show with Sesame Street friends. They loved it!

Some of her friends that came over for cake and ice cream!

Ms. Hollywood

New Crayons from Jared & Stacy

Pictures from the Fall Holidays

Sydney got to wear a puppy dog costume that her uncle wore when he was a young boy. Sydney's grandma let her borrow it when we were out in Salt Lake City for her Aunt's wedding. This picture was at our church Fall Fest in October.

The girls just hanging out!

Our Christmas Card picture this year! Our two beautiful girls!

Lexi's Blessing

It's been a while since I've posted to the girls blog and a colleague reminded me that I had not put up any new pictures of Lexi. So...I've added a few pictures of Lexi on the day we blessed her in church over the 4th of July weekend. Looking at these pictures, she seems so small. She's really grown since then. I'll need to post some more recent ones soon.

Grandma Liz knitted the blessing dress, grandma Judy quilted the blanket, and grandma Suzette made the bracelet. Everyone got to participate!

Flower Girl

Sydney had the opportunity of serving as a flower girl in her "favorite aunt's" wedding this past week. Her Aunt Kenz and uncle "JJ" (actually TJ but she can't pronounce the T) were married on Friday in Ogden, Utah. They had an outdoor wedding. Sydney calls her work as flower girl, "flowers drop" because she had to drop them on the ground during the rehearsal. She was so cute but of course I'm not biased.

Enjoying Her Lovely Dress

Fun with Cousins

Sydney has had a lot of fun with her cousins this summer. She is especially enamoured with her cousin Conner. He is about 6 months younger than her but they have a great time together. Here are few pics from this June in Utah...

Dangerous Creatures?!

School Time!

Adventures in Utah

Lexi and Sydney just returned from a long trip to Utah. They spent two weeks with grandma, papa, and several cousins. Sydney enjoyed going to the dinosaur park, viewing the fireworks (which she so darlingly said were pretty stars), and petting the neighbor cat "Pookers." Lexi did a lot of sleeping during the day and generally kept her mother up at night with a lot of crying.

I went out to Salt Lake City this last weekend and we all flew home together. We had some family birthdays and performed a baby blessing for Lexi in my mom's congregation in South Jordan. Several of our friends and family attended and we had a luncheon at my mom's following the blessing. My mom knitted Lexi's blessing dress and it was absolutely gorgeous.

Sydney began asking to go home this weekend and we realized that she had had enough of all of the family visits. She was ready to go home to her own bed and her own toys. When we drove up in the driveway last night, the first thing she said was, "yeah...my house." She's excited to be home but now asks where everyone is such as, "where's papa, where's grandma?"

Hefty Eater!

Well the newest little one in the family is eating great. When we brought her home she weighed about 7 lbs 8 oz and was quickly back to her birth weight of 8 lbs by her second week. Well we took her to the lactation consultant on Tuesday and they weighed her at 9 lbs 4.5 oz. This girl is growing in leaps and bounds. She finally let us sleep a good 5 1/2 hour stretch last night. It's amazing how an extra hour of sleep can do so much.

Sleeping Beauty

Ahhh...slumber

My Lil' Angel

Isn't She Lovely!?

Two Weeks Old

Alexis is two weeks old today. She is doing well. Sydney has transitioned from calling her "it" to referring to her as "he" such as "I see him" or "he funny". She likes to kiss her and hold her and when Lexi is crying Sydney will say "you fine, you fine" or "its ok kiddo".

Alexis likes to sleep but especially likes to sleep on dad's chest or upright and enjoys looking around from midnight to 2 A.M. She is eating well but Mom describes her as a "picky" eater and has difficulty latching on and off before beginning her feeding. Her doctor appointment went well last week and the doctor said she is doing great.