bloopers #2

I posted my first set of bloopers over a year ago, if you'd like to see all my messed up pictures click here

They're pretty awesome!

The sun is way too bright blooper.

wind in my hair blooper.

we don't know how to turn the timer off on the camera blooper.

baby Kyson is mad blooper.

the my feet hurt and I'm not paying any attention to my photographer whatsoever blooper.

blinking in Mexico blooper.

I thought I had way more bloopers than this, but this will have to do! Do you take so many pictures that half of them end up being bloopers? I would love to see yours! Bloopers crack me up!

it's not your season

Are you a Mother to small children?

Do you ever feel like church is a waste of time because all you do is wrestle your little ones?

If you've ever felt this way before then you are not alone. Being a mom to two kids I have often thought what the point was in going to church when all I did was clean up cheerios and try to keep my kids quiet. 

A few weeks ago in Relief Society the lesson was on goals. How we set goals every year but sometimes don't always achieve those goals and how it was ok to not achieve every goal you make as long as you try. Someone brought up the goal of being more patient with their kids. And then we got on the topic of taking small children to church and how hard it is. Since Presley was born four months ago, Dave and I haven't sat next to each other in church, Kyson's always sitting between us or I'm in the Mother's Room feeding Presley or changing her diaper.When we arrive at church we always go straight to the back with all the other families with small kids. Being close to the door makes for a quick escape! I spend almost half of my time at church in the Mother's Room! It's very discouraging! A lot of Sunday's I don't take one thing away from church because I'm so busy with the kids. I'll get home and wonder where the last three hours went? Sometimes I think it would just be easier to stay home than to go to church. Sometimes I think only going to Sacrament would be the easiest thing, and I'll admit I'm guilty of this more often than I'd like to admit. And then the teacher said something that I have never thought of, 

"It's not your season!"

Genius! She then went on to explain that as Mother's our job, right now, is to teach our children the importance of going to church, every week whether we learn something or not. It's our season to be an example to our kids! It may take a few years, it may take ten years but eventually we will get back to being able to have a peaceful church experience. And when that time comes we and our kids will know the importance of going to church regardless of the difficulties it may come with. 

I loved this and it has stuck with me and has been on my mind heavily since hearing it! So Mom's, don't get discouraged about taking the little babes to church when all you do is wrestle them. No one is going to judge you for trying to teach your kids. Chances are most people at your church will have either already raised kids and gone through it or are going through it with their own kids now. In the long run your kids will admire your patience and determination to be a good church going mother. And then they can take it and teach their own children the same thing someday. Be an example!

Shutterfly

A couple of months ago a received an offer from Shutterfly for a free 20 8X8 page book.

 I was all over it!

I used Shutterfly when I had Presley's birth announcements made and I was impressed so I was happy to use them again. I jumped onto their website, typed in the code I was given and got to work picking out the perfect pictures for my book. It was so hard to narrow it down to 20 pages. It was so easy and so fast. I got the email saying that my book was on its way and it would only take a few days! Yay!

When I received my bright orange package I was ecstatic! I opened it up and I couldn't believe how good it looked!

The pictures are so crisp! 

I am so happy with the results of my free book. It was so easy, so fast, and the quality is amazing!

Shutterfly nailed it and I'll be ordering more from them for sure! So if you ever need to order anything picture related I definitely recommend Shutterfly!

Kyson: five years

Because I do monthly updates for Presley, Kyson wanted me to do a five years old update for him! The kid knows what he wants!

-He would like you to know that he's 60 months old.

-When asked what his favorite color is, he just names them all.

-He can count to 200.

-He's officially ready for Kindergarten. He passed all his tests.

-His favorite thing to do is argue with everyone. He's a sassy one! I can't wait to see what he's like as a teenager.. (sarcasm)

-He wants to dress just like Dave. Every day! It's adorable!

-He weighs 37 pounds (27th percentile) and is 3 feet 6 inches (40th percentile).

-He bites his fingernails so bad that he almost doesn't have nails. Its makes me so mad! I need tips on how to get him to stop!

-He has a birth mark right behind his right ear. It's a patch of dark hair! I love it and hope it never goes away.

-Every day when I pick him up from school, the first words out of his mouth is "I missed you today." It melts my heart every time!

We love Kyson more and more each day! I really can't believe he's five. I don't feel like I'm old enough to have a five year old!

Kyson's party!

We had Kyson's party yesterday. He wanted to have his party on his birthday, not on the weekend following. When I asked Kyson what he wanted for his birthday his requests were small. So I made sure that he got everything he asked for.

Here's the conversation we had a few weeks ago.

Me: "Kyson what do you want for your birthday?"

K: "Balloons and a cake."

Me: "What kind of cake?"

K: "A blue, orange, and yellow cake. With a smiley face on it!"

Me: "What kind of presents would you like?"

K: "Ones that look like Christmas presents."

Who can say no to those simple requests?

People without a heart, that's who!

So after I dropped him off at school, I went shopping. I took his class some treats, they sang happy birthday and I came home to decorate. I would like to say that I decorated right away but that would be a lie. Presley and I took a nap. She kept me up all night so we were both exhausted. 

After our much needed three hour nap, (oops, overslept!) I got ready cleaned up the house and by that time I had to go pick up the birthday boy.

We got home and that's when I made the cake and decorated. I blame Presley for putting me so behind! :)

I had just a few decorations that I made that turned out really cute. Once Dave got home we took Kyson birthday shopping. We gave him a budget and let him buy his own presents. We gave him a budget because he's under the impression that we have an unlimited amount of money and well we don't, obviously. So it was a good way for him to learn how money really works. It was a hit with him! We had to teach him how to budget and be smart with money. He loved it and got so excited when he understood it!

 Kyson's cousins have been in town so they came over and partied! It was just us family but it was a lot of fun. And noisy! Ha :)

Check out that cake! 

Haha my cake decorating skills from my high school job definitely did not show on this cake!

At least it was delicious :)

Happy Birthday Kyson, I can't wait to see what your fifth year brings you!

Happy Birthday Kyson

This little stud is five years old today!

Isn't he handsome?

Happy Birthday to my sweet boy.

I love you Kyson!

Kyson's week

 This week is Kyson's birth week!

What better way to celebrate the birth of my first born then by dedicating the whole week of blogging to him. He turns 5 years old this week. 

F I V E!!

I cannot believe how fast five years has gone. I remember every detail of the day he was born. I remember the clothes I wore. I remember what food I ate in the hospital. I remember his first teeny tiny cry. Everything!

So to start off this special week I'm going to post some of the silly things Kyson has said over the past couple years.

As I was tucking him in to bed one night he turned to me and said,

"Mom, take the toaster out of your butt!"

Speechless.

As I was in the bathroom doing my hair (I was bumping it) Kyson walked by and said,

"Mom, your hair is freaking disgusting!"

Again speechless.

I immediately took a bathroom selfie to document what my hair looked like.

After Presley spit up all over the place Kyson said,

"Eww she spit up everywhere. Maybe we should get rid of her."

No my love, it doesn't work like that.

We were driving one day as it was raining outside and Kyson said,

"Why are the clouds crying?"

Kyson was hungry one day and his tummy growled. He looked at me and said,

"My tummy just wiggled, I think I'm hungry."

I adore Kyson! He is the sweetest, silliest, most handsome little boy I've ever met. I love him with every fiber of my being! I can't believe he's five. It's been the happiest five years of my life. 

Here's to the next five years bud!

skin problems

I've never had a problem with my face skin. No acne, no acne scars, just normal skin. If I've lucked out in any category it would be clear face skin. And because I don't know the correct terminology for face skin and because I'm tired of typing out face skin I'm making up my own name for it and calling it "Fin." 

Fin=Face Skin

I don't have perfect skin but I've always taken well care of my Fin. I've followed the same strict facial care regime since high school and I've never had a single problem with it. In fact every time I try using something new is when my face goes nuts! So I always fall back to my normal stuff. I wash my face every day, use a good hydrating lotion and use masks. I drink plenty of water and eat a balanced diet. So when my Fin started going berserk two weeks ago a red flag went up and I started freaking out a little. The last two weeks my Fin has been so dry and flaky! It's gross! And when I wear makeup it magnifies the flakes and makes it look 1,000 times worse. So I've taken a break from makeup so my skin can chill out and heal. So far its not working so good.

I tried using a face mask and got it a little too close to my eyes. Hahaha you guys, if you take one thing from this post let it be this. Do not get a mask too close to your eyes! It will harden causing your skin to feel super tight (it felt like I just got a face lift. Not that I know what a face lift feels like!) which makes it so you can't blink. When you can't blink your eyes dry out and they start to burn like no ones business! I toughed it out for the 20 minutes the mask requires but by the time that 20 minutes was up I was borderline running to the bathroom to wash it off!

So far my skin is not getting any better and I'm getting desperate! Although this makeup strike has been amazing I look like I have a terminal illness without it. No offense to anyone! My skin is so fair and my eyebrows and eyelashes are blonde. I have zero color to my face so makeup is key for me to look normal. And it doesn't help when you're so sleep deprived from being an insomniac that when after you wash your face your husband tells you that you smeared mascara underneath your eye and tried to be sweet and wipe it off for you. Then he tells you that it's not coming off so you look in the mirror only to find that the smeared mascara is actually the dark circles under your eyes from being so sleep deprived. Run-on sentence much? He's sweet and I'm now self conscious about my Fin!

So please blogger friends, help a desperate, sleep deprived, dry Finned, dark circled eyes insomniac! What are your favorite skin care products? Ones that really work but are nice to my bank account?

a very negative post

I've had this post as a draft for over a year! I've had mixed emotions on posting it or not. I'm to the point where I need to post it, to get it off my chest and to just let it all out. This post is very vain, negative, and I've prepared myself to lose some followers and for all the negative responses I'll get from this. I guess I just don't care because if I can't be real on my blog, where can I be? I'm so sorry if I offend anyone, it really is not my intentions. And I hope I'm not the only one that's ever felt this way!! So here goes!

It's no secret that I've loathed living in Texas! I've been here for six very long years and I haven't even begun to enjoy it! See? Negative! I haven't lived near a single family member since Dave and I got married. It's been extremely hard for me to make friends here, which is odd for me because it's always been so easy for me to make friends but here? Nope! Sure I've made friends but none of them have been "best friends" and the ones that I get closer with either move (that happens in the Military :() or they turn out not to be who I thought they were. To say I've been extremely lonely in Texas would be an understatement! Two years ago I got so depressed that I went to counseling for it! Anyways, that's one of the reasons why I started his blog. To vent, to open up even if no one was listening and it turns out? Some people were listening! I started collecting followers which I didn't know could happen on a blog and I started making some online friends.

Things were looking up until Dave and I went through our hard time. Almost every "good" friend I had here turned their back on me and it sent me spiraling downhill fast! So once again I turned to my blog friends to cheer me up and to help me through those times. I started meeting blog friends in real life and making new friends. I wasn't so depressed any more! But it's like the second I lacked on blogging I quit hearing from all those friends. I quickly came to the realization that I was putting way more into these friendships than I was getting in return. And it made me think that people just don't like me. Am I that bad of a person? Am I unfriendable? I started questioning myself as a person. I started being really hard on myself. Was I a bad friend or did I just have a lot of fake friends? I realized that people wanted to be my friend but didn't want anyone to know about it. And guess what? I became depressed again. I'm the type of person that needs friends to be happy. I've put on a brave and happy face these past six years even though friends was the one thing I didn't have. And I still don't. I've thought about deleting Facebook, Instagram and even this blog just so I wasn't constantly reminded of how many friends I didn't have. Sounds harsh but it's reality! I don't know how many times I've tried talking to my "friends" and never got a response. The toll it's taken on me is unreal!

I know this post is childish, pathetic, and it probably sounds like I'm just feeling sorry for myself but the truth is? I am! I'm human. A female human and I'm entitled to feel bad for myself every once in a while. I'm so lonely all the time. Dave works full time and goes to school full time. I can't remember the last time we had a weekend to ourselves. Our weekends are spent doing homework. I don't remember the last time I had an adult conversation. I'm constantly singing nursery rhymes and having baby talk! Which is fine because I adore my kids but I still need to be a 26 year old girl too. I need to have time to myself and I just don't get it. Ever!

I guess all I'm needing to vent about is I'm so tired of people wanting to be in the shadows of my life. To know whats going on in my life but not actually being a part of it! I'm tired of fake friends and fake people. I'm tired of being depressed about it and I'm tired of feeling sorry for myself. I don't complain too often on this blog but I needed to get this out. So consider my negativity to be over! And to those who are my real friends, I love you and you have no idea how much happiness you've given me!! :)

So for 2014 I'm focusing on being friendly. To make good friends and to be a good friend. To filter all the negative influences out of my life so I'm all around a happier me. I guess that's my New Years Resolution!

on having multiple kids

*This post is all over the place. Consider yourself warned!*

When I was pregnant with Kyson I was terrified! It's no secret that he was an unplanned pregnancy. Dave and I were both so excited for our baby to arrive but it didn't change the fact that we were so unprepared mentally and emotionally. We were only 21 years old and far from mature enough to care for a new baby! But we did it, and we thrived! Now Kyson is just a week away from turning F I V E!! The first two years were a breeze. He was such an easy baby. Ate everything we stuck in front of him, only cried when he needed something, slept 12-14 hours a night, and he was so content with playing with toys while I cleaned the house! We had our daily routine down to an art! But then the day Kyson turned 2 everything changed!! He randomly started refusing to eat anything and began his terrible two's overnight! It was so stressful and it left me in tears more times than I'd like to admit! It's so hard having a toddler that won't eat anything yet they cry because they're hungry. Dave and I were so stressed out that we quickly wrote off having anymore kids! We agreed that we would be a one child family. Dramatic much?

About a year later things started looking up. He started eating better, communicating better and things were less stressful. Then, he quit sleeping through the night. He would wake up 5-6 times every. single. night. It was exhausting! We tried everything from no sugars, to no t.v., to putting a nightlight in his room. We even bought him a big new bed. Nothing worked and we were at a loss. We tried talking to his doctor, trying Melatonin and even spent more time playing outside to wear him out. Nothing. Nada. Zip. After an entire year of dealing with it we finally just got used to it. Then he decided to get this outrageous attitude. Our four year old was a mean boy. So mean that I would cry myself to sleep. I would pray every night and plead with the Lord to help me figure out how to help him. I just wanted my sweet boy back. I wanted to sleep and I wanted to not have to fight with my son at every meal! It was hard. Really hard! Have I mentioned how hard it was? Ha!

(can I just point out how long my freaking hair used to be? I think I need to invest in some extensions!)

Dave and I prayed a lot for comfort and answers on how to handle Kyson. We asked advice from friends and family and everyone said the same thing. "Have more kids!" This was definitely not what we wanted to hear because how in the world could we handle another child when Kyson was already such a handful?! We took it to the Lord again and felt that was what we needed to do. So we decided to expand our family! We started trying and thought we'd have to problem getting pregnant. After a month of not getting pregnant we didn't worry about it. Then another month went by. And then another. And another. We were so confused why we weren't getting pregnant! Isn't this what we're supposed to do? After talking to the doctor about why I wasn't pregnant and being reassured that it could take up to a year we decided to just be patient and let nature take its course. The next day I took a pregnancy test and it was positive! Finally!!

(I promise we had more good times than bad with Kyson. We smiled and laughed more than we frowned and cried. We love him more than anything!!) :)

The whole pregnancy was a breeze. I wasn't sick and we spent the next nine months really bonding with Kyson knowing that it was only a matter of time until he was no longer the only child! The second Presley was born Kyson was humbled. I think. Something changed deep inside of him and he became this loving, kind little boy who was so in love with this tiny baby that he barely knew. He understood that he had a baby sister and he was now a big brother. Words cannot describe the love that came over me for my new family of four. He was so protective of her and was always making sure she was ok. It was heartwarming!

Then Dave went back to work and the real challenge started. Taking care of two kids instead of one is hard. Really hard. Between being exhausted from being up all night, to taking and picking up Kyson from school, to feeding Presley to cooking and cleaning. I was a busy momma! I couldn't believe how hard it was to just get through the day. I was so tired all the time but I couldn't just "sleep when the baby sleeps" because I had another child to take care of. I felt a wave of relief every time I saw Dave's car pull up in the driveway. I knew that help was just seconds away and maybe I cold catch a ten minute nap. But then the nightly routine started. Prepare dinner, bathe the kids,clean up the kitchen. It was a never ending cycle that kicked my butt every day. I went weeks without doing my hair and makeup!

It took me three months to get a routine down, to get my energy back and to feel less stressed! Everyone I've talked to said one baby is hard, two babies is really hard and every kids after that is easy. Kyson has been such a big helper to me though. He gets me diapers, wipes, burp clothes when I need them. He cleans up spit up when my hands are full and tries to calm Presley when she's crying. He's such a blessing to me! I'm excited to go through all the same hard times with Presley as we did with Kyson because now that I've been through it and have some experience I think I'll be able to handle it better. (here's to hoping!) Having two kids is hard work. Constant hard work! But 110% worth it!! I love my kids so much it hurts. I'm so happy that our prayers were answered the way they were. I cannot imagine life without Presley or Kyson! And I'm so glad we decided to have a second baby. Kyson and Presley are my entire world, they make up my entire heart! Being their Mom is the greatest blessing I've ever received! I love watching them learn and grow. I love how Kyson gets so excited about showing me his schoolwork and I love how excited Presley gets whenever she sees Kyson. She loves Kyson! She gets the biggest smile on her face when we pick him up from school. She just stares at him, and smiles, and kicks her little legs. It's the sweetest thing! Even thought times as a mom get really hard it's my favorite thing in the world. I love being a wife, daughter, sister, aunt etc.. But being a Mom is my favorite role! I love when my kids want me when they get hurt. I love when they want to snuggle me when they're scared. I love when they grab my leg when they're feeling shy. I have two little besties for life and I'm they're biggest fan. My love for them will do nothing but grow!!

Presley's first word

Here's a cute, funny little story about my Presley girl. It may not mean much to anyone else but it's something that I want to remember forever, so its made it to the blog!

When Presley was only two weeks old I was sitting on my bed with her laying in front of me. Dave was kneeling on the floor next to the bed and we were just ooing and awing over our brand new baby girl. She started getting fussy because it was time for her to eat so I sarcastically asked her if she wanted daddy to feed her instead of mommy. Nonchalantly and without even skipping a beat she said "Yeah!" 

Plain. As. Day. I kid you not!

Dave and I both immediately started laughing and loving on our genius baby!! Because I mean she is a baby prodigy! And then we started taking it too far talking about how weird it would be if she was born talking in full sentences and how she was going to become the CEO of a company by age 3 months. Because we take every joke way. too. far.

It was the sweetest thing and we still joke about it! We love our little genius baby so much! And I'm not biased at all when I say I'm raising the smartest kids alive! It's just a fact! :)

Presley turns three months

Happy three months to my Presley girl! She really needs to stop growing so fast!

-Presley giggled for the first time on New Years Day! What a great way to start off the new year. She thinks it's funny when I'm cheesin' it up for her.

-Her fingers are always in her mouth! She thinks she needs to taste everything in sight.

-She finally started sleeping again. Last month was a sleepless nightmare! Zombie Denise is kind of a buzz kill!

-Presley is always smiling, until I take out the camera. Then she just stares with a blank look on her face. But I promise she's the smiliest baby EVER!

-She's still wearing her 0-3 month clothes.

-She's still eating about 4 ounces every four hours.

-She loves sitting up, but hates her Bumbo.

-She's starting to roll! She almost rolled right off the couch but Dave's quick reflex's stopped her!

-She loves to "talk". She makes so much noise just babblin' on in her baby language! She was very distracting in Sunday School yesterday!

-She's very ticklish on her feet and her ribs. :)