Cute Kids!

It is so much fun to watch kids grow and develop personalities. Both my kids have had very distinct and very different personalities from birth. McKinley is my crazy fun kid. She has so much energy and enthusiasm. Now that she can talk and is starting to figure things out, its funny to hear what she has to say about things. I decided to share some of my favorite recent McKinley Moments.

*McKinley loves to ride elevators. However, she calls them Alligators. A couple of weeks ago we were staying at a hotel in Washington. When we got off the elevator McKinley asked if we could ride again. I told her we would ride again later. So she turned to the elevator and said "See ya later Alligator."
*Potty training McKinley was difficult because pooping scared her. Once she finally figured it out she would get really excited when she went poopy. She would make me come into the bathroom to flush the toilet for her so that she could wave goodbye to her poopies. Then she would say "See you later poppies. Thanks for coming out of my Bum-Bum."
*The other day Brett burped at the table. He quickly said excuse me, but apparently that wasn't enough. McKinley looked at him and said "Daddy first you say Sorry, then you say excuse me." She has such good manners that now she corrects me and Brett. :)
*The other day we were driving in the car and I told McKinley that we needed to stop and get gas for the car. She gave me a concerned look and said "Yeah, the car has gas, I think he needs to go poopy."
*I took McKinley to the grocery store with me. I grabbed a carton of ice cream and McKinley wanted to hold it while she was sitting in the cart. She kept telling me she wanted to share it with me. I thought she was telling me that because she wanted me to open it for her. I kept telling her we couldn't have it until later. Finally McKinley said "Mommy I want to share it with you because you are my best friend." What a sweetheart!

While we were in Washington McKinley's fish Dory died. I think this is like Dory the fifth. Normally we would just hurry and replace the fish before she noticed, but this time she noticed before us. So we decided maybe she was old enough that we shouldn't just tell her that Dory went to 42 Wallaby Way. We explained that Dory got sick and that she was going to go live with Heavenly Father. When we told her that Heavenly Father was going to take care of Dory she seemed to be pretty satisfied with that idea. Then I flushed Dory down the toilet, and I had McKinley come help me so that she could tell Dory "Goodbye".
The next day McKinley was very eager to tell every person that we saw that Dory died and then we flushed Dory down the toilet so that she could go live with Heavenly Father. I tried to explain everything that died wasn't flushed down the toilet, only fish. I also tried to explain to her that being flushed down the toilet wasn't how we went to see Heavenly Father.
The next day McKinleys stuffed animals were dying. I was worried she was going to start flushing them down the toilet, so I took her to Walmart and got her a doctors kit. When we got home we fixed all of her stuffed animals.

...and anyone else who would sit still long enough for a Dr. McKinley check-up

Everytime Dr McKinley checked me she would tell me that my problem was that I had bees in my ears. Apparently, I need to clean my ears.


Our little Annabelle isn't near as busy and wild. She is such a pleasant and easy going kid. This past weekend Annabelle and I took a trip to Montana to visit Great Falls and look for houses. Annabelle was so good on the plane. We were flying first class and I could tell the other people in first class weren't thrilled about sitting near someone with a baby. After each flight I had multiple people comment on how well she did. She didn't ever cry. When she wasn't sleeping she was looking around smiling at everyone.
We recently started Annabelle on rice cereal. I know she isn't 6 months yet, but we decided to start introducing her to the idea of eating. We are mainly just trying to help her become familiar with spoons, bowls, and cups.

Her first feeding went as I expected. She was much more interested in the spoon then the food.

As you can see from the picture, rice cereal isn't her favorite food. After a few bites she refused to open her mouth, and then she would push the spoon away with her hand. However, I can't eat with her in my arms because when it comes to my food this kid has cat-like reflexes. Her hands are always in my food.
Annabelle turned 5 months this weekend ...where does the time go. She is rolling over and she'll sit up by herself for a little while. She is becoming so much fun as she is getting older and starting to interact and play.

Washington Trip

We spent this past weekend in Washington. One of the hospitals there was interviewing Brett for a job and they told him that the whole family could come. For anyone who knows me very well, as you might guess I was really excited. I love Washington! My favorite place to go for an escape/vacation is Seattle. I was so excited to spend the weekend as a family in my favorite place.
Brett was interviewing for a job in a city called Centralia, but we were staying in Olympia which is about 25 minutes away. I've decided that Olympia is the most beautiful city. I couldn't get over how pretty and clean it was.
While we were in Washington we were able to do some fun things together as a family. The hotel had a pool, so of course we spent some time in there. This was Annabelle's first time in a pool, but I don't know if it counts because only her feet got wet. We also went and visited a really neat childrens museum. It's like the Flint childrens museum on steroids. McKinley loved it! I'm sure she could have spent hours there. After that we went to the Point Defiance Zoo. This is my all time favorite zoo. It was really fun zoo with a lot of shade and it was really clean. (You might be noticing a pattern here- I like things to be clean) The zoo also has an aquarium in it, which is really neat. They have a really fun kids play area in the zoo that has fun toys and even has a little splash pad. We have a zoo pass that we got in Idaho and it got us into this zoo for free, which makes it even better.

The trip was so much fun. I really enjoyed getting to spend the weekend as a family. The girls did so well, especially on the plane. They are becoming quite the flyers since we moved away. This was McKinley's 9th flight and Annabelles 2nd... Yeah, they are really racking up the frequent flyer miles. This was the first time in the past 2 years that I wasn't flying alone with the kids, and it was great.
As of right now we haven't made any decision about which job we are going to take. We have 2 really good options, one in Washington and one in Montana. Both will put us closer to family, which we are all excited about.

Happy Mothers Day

This past weekend Brett went to Montana for a job interview. Brett met with all the Anesthetists and Administrators at the hospital, and on Saturday a realtor took him around town (Great Falls) to look at the sites. Everything went really well and we're really excited about the possibility of working there. However, we are trying to keep an open mind because we are all flying to Washington this week for a job interview in place called Centralia. This city is an hour and half from Seattle and Portland. I'm excited that we all get to go together. It will be a fun trip. We're staying in a nice hotel with a pool, and we're hoping to make it to a really fun zoo thats nearby.

On Sunday McKinley was able to go up and sing a Mothers Day song with the rest of the Primary kids. She was recently moved up to Sunbeams because she was the oldest kid in nursery and was struggeling being in their with all the little kids. She has done so well in Sunbeams. It was so sweet to see McKinley up on the stage singing with the other the kids. I almost started crying seeing my cute little girl up there. I can't believe how fast she is growing up.

Brett got home from Montana Sunday night and brought me the best Mothers Day present (besides him) ever! He got me a cricut.

I am so excited! I have wanted one for so long, but didn't think I would get one for a while. My friend Valerie has one and is so sweet to always let me use it, but I'm so excited to have my own now. I have the best husband ever... and yes I would still think that even if he hadn't given me a cricut for Mothers Day. It was a wonderful Mothers Day.

My Baby is Growing Up

Annabelle is now 4 months old. Where does the time go? I can't believe how much she has grown and changed. She is such a sweet baby and so easy going. Its been nice having a baby that is willing to be set down every once in awhile. However, she started thinking she was getting ignored and developed this screech. She doesn't do it very often, but if she starts feeling neglected she will let us all know.
She is such a smart baby. When you look at her you can tell she is figuring things out. She's been grabbing toys for a month now, and of course everything she gets ahold of goes right in her mouth.

She has discovered her feet and I am always amazed at how she can get both of them in her mouth at the same time. Yes, she got my big mouth, but the talent of sticking her foot in her mouth... well, that she gets from her daddy! :)
Annabelle is so strong and has been holding her head up since she was born. She sits up so well that we recently moved her into the big kid tub.

She loves being able to take a bath with her big sister. Plus now she gets to sit up and play with toys. She use to hate bath time, but now she loves it.

We've recently introduced Annabelle to the outdoors, and we've been recieving mixed reviews from her. She's gone to the park a few times and she took her first trip to the zoo last week.
We sure love our Anna"Baby", and her big sister McKinley is crazy about her. Annabelle gets hugged and kissed all day by her big sis.

I can't wait to watch Annabelle as she continues to grow and develop. She is such a sweet baby with such a cute personality. I love to see her smile. She has the cutest little dimple that appears when she is smiling big. What a blessing she has been to our family. We love you our sweet little Annabelle.

This weekend we got McKinley's kite out. The Easter Bunny had brought her a kite and Saturday was the first nice and windy day.


McKinley wanted to use the kite tails to fly the kite, so the kite never really got very far off of the ground. We had a lot of fun and McKinley can't wait for another windy day.

Having 2 girls is so much fun. I know I may not be saying that in 14 years when they are both teenagers, but so far I have loved having little girls. I don't know what I would do with out them. Being a mother has been better than I could have ever imagined. They are so much fun!

Weekend Escape

We recently informed everyone that Bretts job out here fell through. When we found out we quickly listed our house with a realtor and started looking for jobs. Brett has applied for jobs all over the Northwest, but the ones we're most interested in are in Montana and Washington. He has interviews scheduled and will be flying out to visit some of these hospitals in the next month. On Monday we got a job offer from a hospital in Michigan. They made us an offer that would be very difficult to refuse, but Brett has already agreed to interview with some other hospitals, so we are going to try and keep an open mind going into those interviews. It is really nice to know we already have an offer, and its a really good one.
We listed our house a week and a half ago. The realtors came over and gave us the unfortunate news of how much we could get for our house. Before the realtors left we gutted our house of any family or religious pictures, unwanted furniture, or items they felt added clutter. Our house looks so empty now, but atleast we got a jump start on packing. They also left me a 3 page list of things to clean, fix, remove, rearrange, etc. I'd always thought I was a fairly clean person, but by the time they left I felt like the worlds biggest slob. I have been working on their list for the past week and finally yesterday we were able to have them come back to take pictures for the MLS. Its weird how taking down family pictures can make your home feel like its just a house.
The past week has been very stressful as we've been trying to get our house ready. Last Friday was our 5 year anniversary. For our anniversary we spent the weekend in Battlecreek, MI. We stayed at a hotel with a pool. McKinley loved swimming in the pool with her dad. I debated letting Annabelle get in, and I even brought her suit, but I changed my mind once we got there. The next day we went to the Binder Zoo for opening weekend. We had a lot of fun. Its not near as big as the Detroit Zoo, but its clean and has a lot of shade. It was a great weekend, and it was nice to get away from all the stress for a little while.
I can't believe Brett and I have been married for 5 years. I feel like the luckiest women in the world. Brett is such an amazing husband. He is so good to me. The past 5 years have been wonderful. I have a lot to be grateful for. I have 2 cute kids and an amazing husband. I would claim that I have the best husband in the world, but I don't know how I would prove that. So what I will say is that I have the very best husband for me. Nobody could love me and appreciate me the way he does. He makes me feel special and happy every day. In my book he is husband of the year every day. Love ya Babe!
It was such a beautiful weekend. The weather was perfect. We tried to spend as much time outside as possible.


On Sunday we were outside trying to soak up some sun. Brett and McKinley decided to see if they could bury each other in the grass. Meanwhile, Annabelle was hiding in the shade under a hat and layers of sunscreen.

Annabelle was able to discover sunshine, fresh air and grass. Usually when we are outside she is covered in her carseat. I think she enjoyed being outside, but its hard to tell by her confused expression.
I love having relaxing weekends together as a family. Especially when it's so pretty and warm outside. We'll keep you all updated on the job situation.

Easter and Family Fun

We were able to celebrate Annabelles first Easter on Sunday. Since we have 9am church we told McKinley the Easter Bunny wasn't coming until after church. McKinley was so excited about having the Easter Bunny come.


McKinley loved everything the Easter Bunny brought her. Afterward she kept telling me "That Easter Bunny is so Nice."

Annabelle didn't get near as excited as McKinley, so McKinley went through Annabelles basket for her. Annabelle got one of those Bumbo chairs for Easter and she loves it.
We had some of our friends come over for dinner and then we had an Easter Egg hunt for all the kids.


McKinley made a haul. As you can see from the picture, she was picking up the eggs 4 at a time. We are going to have Easter candy until next easter, Oh well! :)

McKinley recently decided she is a beautician. If you sit still for to long she'll plant herself behind you and start putting bows in your hair. She is always fixing my hair. Yesterday Brett came home from work and had to do some work on the computer, so McKinley decided to give him a makeover.

He's such a good sport. Secretly I think he enjoys it. Afterward McKinley told him that he looked "Bootiful".

Aren't they cute?!! McKinley sure does enjoy her Daddy time.

I've been desperately trying to get a picture of Annabelle smiling. She actually smiles a lot, but whenever I pull out the camera she get shy.

Then she gives me her "Are you kidding me?" look.
Finally we caught a glimpse of a smile with the camera. It's not one of her big beautiful smiles, but beggers can't be choosers.

My girls are so stinkin cute!... if I do say so myself.

Farewell Michigan

Over a year ago we signed a contract with one of the local hospitals. They offered us a sign on bonus if Brett would commit to work for them for the next 2 years. Brett will be graduating this August and then we were going to stay another 2 years working. There was a couple of times in the past year that we debated leaving and going to work somewhere closer to home, but we didn't feel right about backing out of our contract. We had become comfortable with the idea of staying for a few years since we had a home, friends, and a life out here in Michigan. About 2 weeks ago we heard that the hospital was going to hold interviews for their job openings. Bretts job was one of the jobs they were hiring for. On Monday we found out that they ended up hiring another person from Brett's program to take Brett's job.
When we first found out we were really irritated. I think I was more upset about how he lost his job than that he lost his job. By the end of the evening we were both starting to feel okay about the situation. We know that things will work out the way they are supposed to, and we've decided that maybe Michigan isn't were we are supposed to be. Brett has been applying for other jobs, most of which are in Washington and Montana. We have another 4 months before Brett graduates to find another job, and to hopefully sell our house. We are a little nervous about how we are going to sell our house that fast. We will keep you all updated on when and where we are going. Keep us in your prayers.