Mike and Kris

Halloween

2010-11-05T20:44:00.000-07:00

We had a VERY eventful Halloween this year!! Lots of parties and family things going on!! Dallas loved to wear his costume every chance he got, until Halloween day!! He was the cutest dragon there ever was!! He would crouch low while walking and roar!! It's my favorite!! On Saturday we went trick or treating to a few friends houses. He didn't get the whole concept and wanted to eat the candy at every house!! We ended at Grandma and Grandpa Drapers house and hung out there. Dallas loved to help Grandma pass out the candy and see everyone's costumes!
I'm not sure if Dallas loves or hates Ale and vice versa!! This is Dallas roaring at Ale!!
Uncle Ry is so good with Dallas!! Dallas loves playing with him and can say his name so well!!
This is the best picture I got of him holding still in his costume!! He's a VERY busy boy!!
Dallas' first sucker! He thought he was in heaven and so cool too!! He ate it till the paper was coming off then went and threw it in the trash and asked to wash his hands and face!! I love that I'm rubbing off on him!!
These are the treats I made for Mike's work! They were lots of fun to make!!
We got our pumpkins a week early at the Spanish Fork farmer's market!! We got all 3 of them for $6 total!! I love it! We got sick though and never got around to carving them! I just don't know what to do with them now!! Pumpkin is another word in Dallas' vocabulary now!
I just loved this picture so I had to include it!! He is ALL boy!!
Here's our little family!! I just love my boys so so so stinkin' much!! The only way I could get Dallas to hold still was to give him an m&m!! Although it looks like he pouting, he's just enjoying his chocolate!!!:)
The Day of Halloween this sweet little girl was blessed!! She is such a sweetheart and I love her so much!! She was crying before and after her blessing but was a little angel during it!! We are so happy she is here and in our family!! I just LOVE her facial expressions- she has many of them!! Isn't she just so cute!! (this is Staci and Brad's little girl)
And I have to have a pic of this little cutie too!! She is one of the happiest babies there ever was!! She always has a smile for you or an open mouth!! She is in LOVE with Mike!! (she belongs to Celeste and Morgan) and she has the most beautiful eyelashes!!!
Ryan also gave his farewell talk on Halloween!! He did such a great job on his talk! He is going to be an AMAZING missionary!! I'm so proud of him but miss him so much already!! After his talk we had a dinner, and I just have to say my mother in law is amazing!! She wasn't planning on feeding 100+ people but once she found out about everyone coming she didn't complain and just pulled more food out! I want to be like her one day!! This pic is Dallas helping his grandma clean up- but I think he made more of a mess for her!!
The whole Draper family!
I LOVE this guy SO dang much!! He's just so cute!!
This was the night Ryan/Elder Draper got set apart!! It was so neat and he was given such an amazing blessing!! I know I already said this but I miss him so much!!!
Hope you all had a Happy Halloween too!!

Run and Fun!

2010-10-19T21:03:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's fall already!! I love the cool crisp air, leaves crunching under my feet and my house smelling like heritage spice!!! Not a lot has changed since my last post but we have had some fun!! Dallas is growing like crazy and talking up a storm, and it's actual words! I can't believe how quickly he's grown! He doesn't allow me to help him eat anymore so EVERY meal is VERY messy!! He does a pretty good job at the beginning but then wants to eat more quickly and his hands are better utensils than the actual ones!

To say this kid LOVES avocados would be an understatement!! This would be his breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks if I'd allow it!
Occasionally when mom is feeling like a donut we'll go in our jammies to Macey's (they have the BEST donuts!!) Dallas always picks donut holes cause they look like balls!! Anything he can eat off his finger he will!!
My little man has been super cuddly and can fall asleep anywhere when he's tired!! I was cleaning up and walked into my room to find him asleep on my bed with his blankie up over his head!! He's so sweet!!

So, I have some awesome friends if I do say so myself!! I heard about The Dirty Dash months before and REALLY wanted to do it!! I tried to talk Mike into it but he said he'd rather not. So I got Jesse, Kenzie and Susie to sign up for it and run it with me!!! How nice are they?!! This was our before pic, nice and clean!!
And here's an after!! I thought that the mud would just rub right off with the tights but when I took them off....it looked like I was still wearing them!!
This was after I was "cleaned up"- I got dunked in the pig spy, pretty much a pool of mud, and was covered head to toe in every crack and crevise!!
I will definately be doing this race again!! It was THE funnest run I've EVER done!! Well organized, killer course (litterally, I about died on it), great company and tons of mud!!
More pics

Another one in one month!

2010-09-12T16:26:00.000-07:00

I guess now that I started I don't feel so overwhelmed to blog! I'll try to keep it up! My boys are out on a bike ride right now. The house is clean, all my projects are done and dinner is in the oven. It's really nice and quiet! To top it all off, I'm well rested too! Mike sent me to the guest room to sleep and he took care of Dallas all night!! I'm embarrassed to say but I slept for 11 hours straight!! When I woke up and saw Dallas it was like he grew overnight! I realized that he doesn't look like a baby anymore. It made me sad and so happy! He is so dang fun and so cute!! Here's a few pics of our week!!
Dallas working in the garden!

I did a bridal boquet for a old student of mine and these were a few left overs. These are the most beautiful stargazers I've ever seen! They are seriously 6 inces across!! And smell so amazing!!
Artwork by Dallas!!
He LOVES to color!! He would color every moment he was awake if I didn't get bored of it!!

Update

2010-09-06T20:15:00.000-07:00

I decided to update cause I've had a few complaints! So this is for you!! Dallas is now 15.5 months!! I really can not believe he's that old!! He is so much fun and learns so much everyday!! He is starting to talk and understands everything!! He loves to be outside!! As soon as he wakes up he goes downstairs, get his shoes and hands them to me, once they are on he is standing at the door ready to go!! He loves bugs, going out to the garden to pick tomatoes, but he likes the green ones best, riding his bike, and playing with the neighbor kids! He is such a happy kid and so fun to be around!! He loves fruit still! We tried giving him chocolate milk and chocolate but he hates it!! He's not my child!!:) He is such a great helper and always wants to "help" me with whatever I'm doing!! I sure love my little man!!
This is how Dallas currently smiles!! I Love it! I think it's so dang cute!!
A little over a month ago we took a trip to Boise. My grandpa passed away (I wanted to blog about it but I just don't know what to say, It was very difficult for me because we were so close and he was an amazing man but he is much happier and pain free where he is, I miss him). While we were there we went to Big Jud's. We were referred by man vs. food The hamburger was HUGE and was seriously the best burger I've ever had and I normally don't eat hamburger! If you're ever in the area you should check it out!!

Feeding the ducks at the pond on campus. Those ducks have no fear!! Neither does Dallas!! He ran every one of them into the pond and loved it!!

I've been doing some weddings this summer and Dallas was my helper!! He loves to sit on his highchair tray to eat!! He does sign language so here he is asking for more goldfish!! He's such a smarty!!
He loves mud!!! He will get the hose while it's on and take to to the dirt to make mud so he can play in it!! He's a true boy!! I swore I'd never hose down my child, but this day I did!! And he loved it!!

He's my little fruit bat!! He loves berries the most!! Every Saturday morning Mike rides his bike and I run to the farmers market and stock up on fruit, veggies and breads! We all love it!! I think we are all going to starve this winter without our fresh foods!!
Dallas playing "so big"- he sure does crack himself up!!
I just thought this was pretty! We have been having lots of thunderstorms lately and this is a pic of one rolling in!! Dallas loves the thunder! He loves to yell back at it to see who can be the loudest! I'll let you guess on who wins!!
Who needs toys when you've got pots and pans!! He loves playing with them. I usually find pots and pans all throughout the house!!
Not a great pic of me but here is one of us snuggling! When Dallas does slow down he loves to snuggle and give kisses!! He is such a sweetheart!! I can't get enough of his snuggles!
As for Mike and I, not much has changed! We still work at the same jobs, doing the same thing. Our lives revolve around our little Dallas. We couldn't be any happier!

Go Lakers!!

2010-06-06T15:45:00.001-07:00

We have been outside a lot lately. If we go inside Dallas throws the biggest fit you've ever seen a 1 year old throw!! It's nice being outside though, and it wears him out! He goes to bed earlier and sleep better and longer!! Can summer stay forever?!!This picture really does not do it justice. Dallas is SO dark...really! He doesn't even look white anymore-except for that farmers tan!! And then there's me, I will never tan!
Dallas and Daddy watching the Lakers and Celtics game! GO LAKERS!!
Dallas won't watch anything else on tv, just sports!!

Our Sunday

2010-05-30T21:37:00.000-07:00

We went to Salem pond and fed the ducks! Dallas is in love with birds so he had a blast!!

Feeding the ducks and himself!! He'd throw a piece and eat a piece!!
Love this picture!!
The rest of the pics aren't from today but I wanted to share them!
Loves the pantry and loves food!!
So, this one has a story!! We have a mac laptop and the cord for it it relatively expensive. Dallas has an obsession with cords and loves to suck on them. We have bought 3 for the laptop because he is so sneaky!! He has been electrocuted so you'd think he'd learn!! One morning we came downstairs and finished breakfast and I was washing bottles. Dallas will usually play with his toys and is so loud. Well, he was silent and I hadn't heard him for a while so I figured he went upstairs. I walked through the whole house saying his name expecting to turn a corner and find him. While I was upstairs I heard him giggling!! He was downstairs behind the side table trying to get the cord!!! He is such a stinker!!

Dallas is 1!!

2010-05-24T08:26:00.000-07:00

My sweet baby boy is one!! The first year with him has gone by so so fast and I can say I have enjoyed EVERY single minute of it!! It makes me sad to think that I no longer have a baby but I LOVE the things he does at this age!! He's quite the funny kid and knows it!! He may be my destroyer but I love him to pieces!!! We had a fun family party to celebrate. Here are some pics!!

Dallas with his balloon and his Papa!! We got 50 balloons and Dallas was in heaven!!
Eating his cake-and his first sugar ever! He had more fun squishing it in his hand and throwing it on the floor. Not too much made it in his mouth!!
But he sure LOVES strawberries!!!
Getting into the cake!
His jungle themed cupcakes!! They were so much fun to make! Luckily I had help with them from my cousin Beckie!!
I love this picture!! He's such a sweet heart and I love my life and am so blessed to be his mother!!

Califonia

2010-05-08T19:49:00.000-07:00

We are alive! We have been great and enjoying every moment together! We are loving the warmer weather and have been getting our yard and garden cleaned up and ready to plant! We had a fun Easter, but don't know where the pictures went! Dallas has been growing so fast and learning so much! He's so much fun! We recently went to California and had a blast!! The pics are a little out of order though!
On Balboa Island, we found a little bakery with chocolate filled croissants, just like in Vanuatu!!
The ship we were supposed to take to Catalina Island, the port was closed because of wind though so we didn't make it there. We discovered a neat part of town and a gorgeous port because of it though!!
On the ferry to get to the ship to go to Catalina. Dallas LOVED the water!
Dallas loved the San Diego Zoo! He LOVES animals!! This was a 2 week old elephant!! So cute!
On the safari! I love this kid!!
Beautiful pier! There were men fishing, Dallas thought that was great!!
Couldn't be happier as a family on the beach at 8 am!! I love my boys so much!!
Playing on the beach close to the hotel! Dallas loved the sand but the water, not so much! Only from a distance!
This picture makes me speachless and emotional! There's just something about my little boy and the serenity of the beach that make me tear up and bring a smile to my face!
Dallas loves monkeys!
They had a petting area and Dallas was in heaven!!
We make a cute caterpillar and butterfly don't we!!
I love this picture of my boys!!!

Slacker

2010-03-25T21:00:00.000-07:00

Every time I get on my blog to look at everyone else's blog I think about quiting the blogging world. I don't think anyone wastes their time even looking at mine anymore since I NEVER update!! I really have no excuse! Everyone else is just as busy as me if not more!! But...I'll do a quick pictureless post/journal entry!
We are doing well, kind of! We are all sick. We have sinus infections and are pretty much sick of them!! Our noses are raw and we are running out of hot water every night!!
Other than that...I got a new postion at work! I'm the new nail tech! My schedule will be changing and I'll be working more. I'm a little torn about it! It will be a great experience for me but I'm so sad that I'll be away from Dallas more. Luckily we have an AMAZING sitter whom Dallas adores! We seriously lucked out with her!
Dallas is growing so dang fast!! He does new fun things everyday!! He is such a happy happy baby who gets excited about everything!! He loves us to chase him lately!! He'll crawl a little bit and stop, look at us, then crawl away squealing! I love it! It's so much fun!! Then he'll chase us back! He is such a smart boy! And even while he's been SO sick he still has a smile for you! This is one reason I don't want to leave him more!
I never posted about this but I'm doing a half marathon in 3 weeks! YIKES!! I'm not sure I'm ready! When I signed up for it I thought that it would be a piece of cake! I guess I forgot I'm not a teenager anymore!! So, wish me luck!!!
We are going to go to California the week after the race with Mike's family! I haven't been this excited for a trip in a LONG time! Maybe that's cause I haven't gone on a trip in a really long time!! I'm looking forward to relaxing and spending time with my family!!
Well, that's more than anyone wanted to know and if you made it this far in this post kudos to you!!! Maybe I'll do a good post to make up for this lame one!! I said maybe!!

Baby Belt Giveaway

2010-02-14T12:05:00.000-08:00

My very talented friend has just started up a new etsy shop -- One Little Belt -- and it's just amazing and great quality!! Check out her shop...and then leave a comment to be put in the raffle for her giveaway!

"You have three chances to win. I am giving away two girl's fashion belts and one boy's leather belt raffle-style on Valentine's Day. Each belt will be your choice of style and size with free shipping. You can see styles here. To enter leave a comment on the giveaway post here with your e-mail address.

As an added bonus you can get a second entry if you post this giveway on your blog. Leave a extra comment here with the link to your blog.

The giveaway ends on February 14th at 7:00 pm. MST. Results will be e-mailed February 15th.

I really need all of your help getting the word out about our belts. We have them ready to go, now I just need to let people know about them. You can copy any of this post and use it in your's. Whether you need a belt or not, I will just be thrilled to have your support. Thanks everyone!"

Giveaway!!

2010-02-13T21:51:00.000-08:00

My Suga' Baby was first started when a friend of mine decided she wanted to get better at sewing. Within months she had mastered patterns and brought in her creativity to start My Suga' Baby. She now has a very successful business selling just about anything you can imagine. She sells wipes cases, diaper bags, slings, baby shoes, nursing covers, car seat canopy, etc. And takes any custom order for any item found on her blog. You should check it out!!! Everything she makes is so darling!! To enter go to http://www.keepinthecastle.blogspot.com/

Our growing boy

2010-01-28T20:52:00.000-08:00

Dallas is growing up too fast! The days seem to fly by and I don't know where the time goes! He's such a happy boy and we just play and "talk" to each other all day!!! He's become quite mobile with scooting around and is attempting to crawl, he just needs to get up the guts!! He loves bath time and will stick his face in the water and sit up and laugh hysterically at himself! He has quite a fun sense of humor!
We eat with our socks on in our house!:) This was Dallas' first time eating a graham cracker!! He LOVED it! It's the most sugar he's ever had!! He wasn't sure about the mess on his hands but he liked the taste!
My snugly boy!! He loves to snuggle and get his head and back tickled! (oops, I blinked!!)
Like I said, Dallas is quite mobile lately!! I set him down to play while I washed my hands and I heard him yelling and came back to see him stuck under the table!!!
We took Dallas to Cabellas thinking he would LOVE the animals!! Come to find out, they aren't so cool when they are dead and don't move!!
He did LOVE the fish though and we watched them swim for over an hour!! So the trip was a success!!!

Post 1 of 3

2010-01-16T21:10:00.001-08:00

Some of my favorite pictures of Dallas at 7 months!! He is such a little boy now!! He sits up so well and talks non stop!! He is roughly 30 inches and 17 lbs.! He has taken himself off the binki-I haven't decided if it's good or bad!! He is such a curious little guy always wanting to get his hands on everything!! He has no teeth and no hair! He isn't crawling but is using his legs more!! He makes me smile every second of everyday! He loves his baths and loves to eat food!! He will eat anything you give him but peas!! He loves to dance!! Whenever there is an upbeat song or dad's whistling he will go crazy dancing!! He is such a blessing in our lives and we love seeing him learn and grow!!

Post 2 of 3

2010-01-16T21:06:00.000-08:00

I took some pictures for Christmas cards but never got around to printing and sending them out. Here's our Christmas card a month late!!

Post 3 of 3

2010-01-16T20:40:00.000-08:00

We had a good Christmas!! We had 3 of them-one at our house and one at each of the grandparents!! Dallas LOVED the paper, bows and boxes more than anything else!
Dallas and Ale the puppy! He wants a puppy of his own so bad!! He gets a hold of a dog and gets so excited and tries to give them wet slobbery kisses!!

Dallas playing with his toys in the box! He didn't want to get out!!
Christmas at our house, we didn't get too many pictures because we were more focused on recording him!! Christmas at my parents house we didn't get any pictures-I need to get them from my mom! But we had fun! Dallas went sledding for his first time and didn't love it! We went snowmobiling, snowboarding, rock climbing and had a ton of fun!!!
Dallas and mom reading books before bed time!
Our little "atrium"! I'm very ready for spring and can't wait for the snow to be gone!! Dallas and I planted this tree and are having fun watching it grow!!
Chewing on my apple core!! He loves to do big boy things!!!! He is such a happy boy all the time!
I just LOVE this picture!!! He cheeses so much whenever we pull out the camera!!
We went swimming on New Years. Dallas loves his bath so much so I thought he'd love swimming for sure!! He didn't know what to think about it at first but after some time he loved it!!
And this is one of Dallas' favorite "games"- he loves to pull the wipes out one by one and eat them!! Each one he pulls out he giggles!!

The latest

2009-12-14T16:53:00.000-08:00

I don't know how you moms keep up with all the day to day tasks AND blog!! I suck at it all! It used to bug me that you couldn't eat off my floors but now I'm ok with it! So once again here are a few pics of hat we've been up to!
Syudying for finals! Dallas is a huge help, as you can tell!! He does love books and to be read to!
We went to see Santa!! (the university mall lets you take your own pics for free!!) Dallas did great and really wanted to get a hand full of Santa's beard!!
Dallas and his Grammy! He sure does love her!! He gets spoiled when we go to their house! Like eating whip cream!
Dallas with his great grandma and grandpa Anderson! They came for Thanksgiving and the whole extended family celebrated Thanksgiving, great grandma's birthday and their 60th wedding anniversary!
He prefers to drink out of our glass now! I think this picture is hilarious! Usually his tongue is in the glass! He loves doing big boy things!!
How can you NOT love this squash covered face?!!!
He loves to play in the water, any water!! I now get dishes done but ut takes me twice as long with my helper!!

6 months and gratitude

2009-11-24T21:51:00.000-08:00

Before I get into this post I wanted to note his measurements!! He is 16.10 lbs- 50th% and 29 inches-which is off the charts!! I can't believe my baby is 6 months!! I know all moms say that but when it's your own it's so real and crazy how quickly they grow up. I've been thinking a lot about Dallas and our little family and I get overwhelmed with emotion! It's amazing to me how much light and joy one little boy can bring to our lives! I remember about a year ago when we found out I was pregnant, we were very nervous. We didn't think he would survive. He is definitely a fighter and a huge blessing! Now our lives revolve around him! With every babble, smile, cry and squeal we realize how blessed we are. He is a very happy and healthy baby and for that I am very grateful for! I love every second of everyday with our family! I love the sad times and the happy times! I love the huge smile and the pouty lip cry! I love his cackling laugh and seeing him learn and take everything in around him! I love watching him imitate us! I love rocking him to sleep! I love his tantrums he throws and he arches his back to try to get away! I can't imagine anything better than being a mother to my sweet baby boy! He always brings a smile to my face!! He has such a fun personality and a great sense of humor! When we throw a blanket over his face he freezes, when we pull it off and say peekaboo he bursts out laughing!! I love him beyond words!! I love our family!!! I love watching Mike take care of and love Dallas!! They are such good friends! Dallas will sometimes watch the door and wait for Mike to walk in! It's the sweetest thing to see them play together!! I love my husband! He is so good for me and truely amazing!! I am greatful for him!! I love this time of year!! It's so great to really focus on what I have been blessed with in my life! It brings tears to my eyes and joy to my heart! We are all blessed and can blessings in others lives!! I hope we all have a very happy Thanksgiving!!

More of our sweet boy!

2009-11-02T20:26:00.000-08:00

So, here are some more pics! They aren't in any specific order! And they are taken with my phone! This is going to be long!!

Melissa, the boys and I love to meet at IKEA for breakfast (it's so yummy and cheap) and just chat!! We were looking around and found these hats!! This is Viking Dallas!! He seems to not mind hats...yet!

We love to call this face his bitter beer face!! He is so funny! After he does this he lifts up his chin again and laughs!! He's got such a great sense of humor!!

We've started Dallas on a sippy!! He loves it and thinks he's so cool and such a big boy with it!! It keeps him from wanting to drink out of our cups too!!!

I went to the school to be a model for one of my new students and took Dallas with me! This was the only thing that kept him happy and occupied and not grab the foils out of my hair!! He loves to look at himself!!

This is Dallas' way of watching the tv now!! We used to be able to have it on and keep him turned away from it but now he can move himself to watch it! Needless to say we now have DVR so we can watch our shows when he's in bed!!

Dallas LOVES to go on walks!! His day is not complete without them!! We actually went and walked in the mall with all the gramdmas and grandpas when it was too cold!! He loves to sit up in it and put his feet up!! What a cutie!!

This is Dallas' halloween costume (more pics to come)! He was a monkey!! He wanted to chew on the banana so bad but it was so fuzzy!! He's the cutest monkey if I do say so myself!!

Another 5 month pic!! He's so big!!

This is his favorite toy-Mr. Frog! He loves to give him kisses and chew on his hands and feet!!

Trying to keep Dallas holding still while eating is quite the chore these days!! He would rather look around at everything else!!

He likes to "help" with holding the bottle!! Really he just makes it more difficult!! He wants to be so big too fast!!

Another one of him looking at himself in the mirror!! I told you he LOVES it!!

So, this toy actually has an arch that goes over the top with toys that hang down from it. I was trying to use it to distract him so I could work in Christmas presents. He's a little too smart and started to kick the toys, then he got his feet on the arch and pushed it down and just stared at me and waited for me to notice that it wasn't going to work!! I laughed so hard!!

Dallas doesn't like his car seat anymore, when i put him in it he arches his back and throws a fit. I really needed to grab a few groceries but didn't want to deal with him in his car seat...so I sat him in the front and he LOVED it!! He thought it was the BEST thing in the world!! I guess I can go grocery shopping from now on!!

This is an older picture but had to get it off my phone and onto my computer. He's such a peaceful sleeper!! I love to snuggle with him while he's sleeping and can't push off me!!

First time tring rice cereal!! Notice it's all over his face and nothing in his mouth!! It took a few tries!! Now he's a pro at eating and loves everything so far but apple juice!!

Mike really wants Dallas to use his Mavericks binki. He kept it in for about a minute but still loves his hospital binki!!

Dallas is so playful right before bed! I love it!! This is us laughing away!! Sometimes he'll grab my face and try to eat it!! I love it!

Here he is cracking up!! He's such a funny baby!! He loves to laugh!! He's such a happy baby!!

Here's the 1st costume I bought him!! It was a 6 month but he was WAY to big for it!! His monkey costume was a 9-12 month!!

Trying to feed himself. He's got good cordination and all but he sticks it a little too far down his throat and ends up gagging himself!!

So our little guy won't stand on his legs for anything!! I was worried and got this jumper for him! He loves it!! And I love that he's using his legs!! He's so cute in it!!

I love to kiss his cheeks!! They are so soft and squishy and oh so kissable!! He's such a sweety!

He is always wanting what we are eating and screams and makes so much noise about it!! So, I decided he could suck on a slice of my apple!! He LOVED it!! and once again felt like such a big boy!!

This Halloween I was so excited to not have to worry about a costume for Mike!! Instead I got to make a treat!! I was feeling a little crafty and didn't realize what I was getting myself into! (that happens a lot!!) So here is my treat!! Donut holes dipped in colored chocolate, then dipped into cookie and candie crumbs on a stick with a ribbon. They turned out and were yummy too!!

Dallas in his beany!! He got to wear it the day it snowed!! He loved it!! I had a friends mom make it for him and it's perfect!! (if you want one let me know, I'll get you the info)!!

Another hat at IKEA!! This is an airplane hat!! He's such a trooper and loves hats!!
As you can see Dallas is our everything!! We love him to pieces and can't imagine our lives without him!!

Yet another update

2009-10-25T20:20:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am terrible at blogging!! I wish I could just give up but the guilt weighs on me so here I go again!! The past month has gone by so fast and can't believe it's almost Halloween!! We are enjoying the weather and the beautiful leaves that lasted not nearly long enough!! We love Dallas and all he learns and discovers each day!! We just can't get enough of his cuteness!!

We have made a few trips up to Logan and had some fun!! Dallas loves to jump on the trampoline (in moms arms!!), swing all by himself and LOVES his Grammy and Papa!! My dad can get him laughing so hard!! He loves to snuggle and I LOVE it!! He's the perfect baby Here is aunt Jen and Dallas taking a nap! I think Jen was more out than Dallas!! I love this picture!! Thanks for taking him Jen!!

Dallas cracks himself up!! Whenever he gets in front of a mirror he laughs so hard!! He knows where all the mirrors in the house are and makes sure he looks in each one as we pass them!! He is so fun!! He is in love with his toes! They could entertain him for hours!!

Here he is cracking up again!! He always gets a second wind just before bed!! He is sporting his Dallas Mavericks jammies!! He loves bath time and splashes until there is no water left!! Then he kicks and babbles which turns into fun screaming for a while then he crashes and goes to bed!! I love it!! He's so much fun!!
All wrapped up after his bath!! If you can't tell that's a huge grin behind that towel!! He always has to have something in his mouth- usually its his thumb!!! He makes me laugh!!!
He loves to watch me cook so I had him in his bumbo-which is a necessity!! and I was cooking dinner!! He got really quiet and when I looked at him this is what I saw! He got ahold of the flowers my dad gave me and was eating them!! He hated the taste but kept eating them!! He's such a goof!! I love his look like "who me?!"!!!!

Dallas has been eating rice cereal lately! He watches us eat every last bite of our meals and he gets so excited!! He loves when it's his turn to eat! He does really well with it now and we can't seem to get it in his mouth fast enough!! He will nose dive after the spoon if you don't get it there fast enough and screams when it's not fast enough!! We laugh SO hard!!
And here is our little man at 5 months!! He is roughly 27.5 inches-90% and 15.4 lbs.-50% He's pure joy! He couldn't be any more perfect! He's such a happy, easy going baby!! He can talk up a storm and never stops!! He is always so excited about everything!! He helps me realize the small and simple things in life!! He blesses us every day! We couldn't be any happier!!

Park

2009-09-14T22:22:00.000-07:00

My Grandparents were in town for the weekend. Their main reason was for Gramps to go fishing! I didn't get to see Gramps, but we did spend an afternoon at the park with Grams. It was great to see her and for her to love on Dallas. My parents, Jen, my cousin, Brandi and her 2 girls were all there. It was fun to visit with them.

Mike playing at the park with Dylan.

Grams loving Dallas

a father's love

Grams kissing Dallas's foot

GO BYU!!!!!!!!

2009-09-14T22:20:00.000-07:00

Dallas slept throught his first BYU game!

Swimming

2009-09-14T22:18:00.000-07:00

Dallas and I swimming in our new pool!

He wanted to get in.

Update

2009-09-11T16:09:00.000-07:00

I know I've been terrible at updating! There is going to be picture overload!! But they are super cute!!

Dallas is such a snuggle bug!! He loves to snuggle before and after naps!!
Here's a cute smile while he is sleeping!! I could watch him for hours!!!
Proof to my family that he DOES sleep in his crib -on occasion
Kilee and Soren came for a visit and Dallas and Easton met for the first time! They are almost a week apart to the minute!! It was so fun to see all of them!

Dallas loves his baths!! I don't know if it's being in the water or being naked he loves most!!
My sleeping boy!! He loves to snuggle with his blankie!! And suck on it! And suck on everything he can possibly get his hands on, including his hands!!
We went to a baseball game with Tyler and had so much fun!! Dallas was perfect and Tyler was such a good helper! Tyler got to give Hoot a hug and Dallas got his picture taken and was put on the jumbotron!! We had a great night!!
Dallas loves his daddy!!

TJ and Bree came for Labor day!! It was so great to see them!! Dallas loved to watch Hayden play!! Hayden is such a cute kid!! I wanted to take him home with me!!
We are all doing great!! Dallas is such a blessing in our life!! We love him so much!! He is growing so too fast and learning more and more each day!! He's such a smiley boy and so so good!! I don't know how we got so lucky with such a great baby!! He loves to sit up, be outside, swim in his pool, watch football with daddy, loves to talk and make lots of noise and is such a squirmer!! He sleeps through the night and is so happy when he wakes up!! We love him to pieces!!!

Like father like son and more!

2009-06-30T13:50:00.000-07:00

Our internet at our house is so off and on that I'm at the library blogging!! Dallas is being so good but I don't want to risk it so this is all going to be short and sweet!! We are all doing great!! I start work next week and am SUPER nervous-any advice on making it easier would be helpful!!

Watching baseball together!
Twinners on Fathers Day!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture!! I think he's just so darn cute!

p.s. Dallas has hit 8 pounds!!
Dinner at Tepenyaki for Mike's Birthday!! (and our anniversary and my birthday!!) What a week!

4 weeks

2009-06-16T14:55:00.000-07:00

Here's our little guy at 4 weeks old!!! (just when I said he wasn't cross eyed anymore!!) He is getting more and more of a personality! He's just so much fun! He loves reading books with us and taking baths, as long as mom is in there with him! And he loves to be outside!! He's such a happy snuggly guy!!!

3 Weeks

2009-06-15T11:44:00.001-07:00

Here are a few pictures of when Dallas was 3 weeks old!! He's getting so much meat on him!! Which is a good thing!! But he eats a TON!! My dr told me to give him an ounce for every hour- he usually eats every 2 hours but after 2 ounces he still thinks he's starving!! So I give in and give him another half an ounce and he still thinks he's hungry. So sometimes he ends up eating 3 ounces every 2 hours!! He's going to be a big kid!! At his 2 week check up he was 6 lbs. 12 ounces which is in the 10th % so I guess it's ok for him to eat!?! And he was 20 3/4 inches long which is in the 50th %. So he's growing!! And we are loving EVERY minute with him!!

I love when he's awake and happy!! He LOVES to look around and can follow things with his eyes now! He's not longer cross eyed!! YAY!! I think he's so dang cute!!

Here he is with his little legs up again!!! He's starting to relax them a little more every day but I just can't stop laughing at this!!

I just love this picture of him crying- is that bad? I think he's so cute when he cries!! He has a fake cry that is so soft and so cute!! I can't help but laugh when he does it!! P.S. I don't let him cry for long!! This was one of his 'I just ate 3 ounces and still want more' fits!!

And lastly...my favorite is when we get sleep at night!! This night I got 6 hours, not consecutively, but still-6!! Dallas does sleep in my bed with me-am I bad mom cause of this? If so, oh well!! I love sleeping with him!! It means I don't have to get out of bed as much!! I love waking up to his sweet little face every 2 hours!!!

2 weeks

2009-06-12T16:24:00.000-07:00

I know I'm a little behind!!! But here are some of my favorite pictures Melissa took of Dallas.

2009-06-12T15:18:00.000-07:00

Now that I feel like I have a little control and time in my life I decided blog and give some details! I must say that being pregnant for me, luckily, was very pleasant! I didn't have any problems and didn't have to go through the dreaded "last month" of it! Dallas was born 3 weeks early! Since he came out healthy and strong I will say that I'm grateful he came early! At 2am on the 17th my water broke with no contractions. I called the hospital because I didn't know what to do! It wasn't supposed to happen that way- I didn't have makeup on, my house was a mess and I still didn't know what to take to the hospital! When we got to the hospital I still was 80% effaced and dilated to a 2. They let me hang out for a bit to see if I would progress by myself, but I didn't. They gave me pitosin and about 40 min later at 7:30 I got an epidural-p.s. my IV hurt more than the epidural!! Once I got the epidural I progressed very quickly. They thought he would come really fast so we called family and told them that he was coming. They got there and I was still pushing. I pushed for almost 2 hours but Dallas was transverse and not budging, not even the Dr. could get him to turn. They got another Dr opinion and they decided to prep me for a c-section. I was ok with this decision! As soon as I was completely numb and feeling like I weighed 800 pounds they checked Dallas one more time and to our surprise, he turned!! The Dr quickly did an episiodomy and used the forcepts. Five pushes later Dallas was born!! It was an amazing experience! As soon as he was out, there was an instant outpouring of a new kind of love for this addition to our family! I've never felt a love like it before! He is a huge blessing in our lives!

When we got to the hospital. I can't believe he fit in me! And I can't believe I got so big! I will admit that at times I miss feeling him move in me. But he's so much more fun to play with now!

That's our little guy!! I wonder how big he would have been if he came when he was supposed to! He's just perfect though!! I love my tiny baby!!
He is so precious!! He's such a good sleeper!! He loves to lay on our chest and sleep and don't you dare try to move him to his bed because he knows and isn't happy with it!!

I love his little face!! He makes such fun faces!! He has little dimples when he smiles- I have yet to get a picture of it!
He has a cowlick above his right eye! I love it!! It's so cute!! And notice how his forhead wrinkles go up where it is?!
I just love him so so much!! He's such a good baby!! He had jaundice for a week. I hated that he had to be on this bed all the time. He hated it more I think though. We had to take him in to get it checked every other day too so he has a collections of pricks on his little heels. So sad. I'm glad he's done with that though!!!
I don't think Mike will be happy with this picture! But I just have to show you how Dallas sleeps!! He keeps his legs straight up in the air! If they start to fall he quickly gets them back up in the air! He keeps us smiling every second!! We can't even explain how blessed we are and just how much we love our little boy!!

One Week Old

2009-05-24T18:22:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how quickly this week has gone. Every second has been a joy and we feel so completely blessed to have Dallas join our family. We are so in love with him!! He is such a good baby. Always so content and rarely cries. He LOVES his binki and holds it with his hands to keep it in!! He loves to be on his side. You can't get him to be on his back for anything!! He has the longest skinniest little legs and he sticks them straight out all the time! It is so hilarious!! He is such a joy!! We love you little Dallas!!!

Pictures

2009-05-19T21:02:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of Dallas at 2 days old. We are going private with our blog. If you'd like to be invited leave your email address in the comments or email it to me.

He's here!

2009-05-17T16:18:00.001-07:00

Dallas Michael Draper
May 17, 2009
12:45 pm
6 lbs 3 oz
18.5 inches

Cute or not cute?

2009-05-13T15:05:00.000-07:00

I just have to tell you all that first I love birds!!! I love hearing them chirp and seeing them bathe in puddles and get worms and everything!! They are so peaceful to watch!! I used to have a bird in fact- he was a lot of fun!!! My love for birds is beginning to be less and less I'm afraid. The reason is because our neighbors have a birds nest on top of one of their pillars on their house. The eggs hatched not too long ago and all I EVER hear is the annoying squawking of these baby birds. It really is quite annoying!! I just want to tell the mama bird to give them more food to keep them quiet!! They are so super loud and squawk at the worst times of the day (like my nap time!!!). I can't wait for these baby birds to be big birds and can go build a nest of their own somewhere else!! Until then I get to be annoyed!!

Picnic and our scare

2009-05-11T14:54:00.000-07:00

I love Friday's because I don't have to work!! A few weeks ago Melissa and I decided to meet at Thanksgiving point and go to the tulip festival. Things didn't work out so we didn't see the tulips but we went to Provo and ate lunch with uncle Mike at a park! It was so much fun!!!
Mike and Tyler found this drinking fountain that sprayed like 5 feet in the air!! They had a ton of fun with it!! They were rude to Dylan and would turn it on while he was walking past it!! It was pretty fun to watch though! We had a blast!!
Melissa is so good at taking pictures of me to keep record! This was at 34 weeks I believe. I can't believe how big our little guy is getting!! Watching Mike play with Tyler and Dylan it just makes me so excited!! He's going to be such an amazingly wonderful father!!
And for our scare...last night I started to bleed quite a bit so we went to the hospital about midnight. They hooked me up to all the monitors and watched me and Dallas for a little over an hour. I was contracting about every 7 minutes and when they checked everything I am dilated to a 3 and 80% effaced. They sent us home around 3. I went to the Dr this morning and I'm still at a 3 but 85% effaced. He told me to try to keep him in for another week. It's crazy to think it could be really soon, but it could also be 4 weeks too!! Mike said he was so excited and was hoping that we could have had him last night! He can't wait to get his hands on him! We'll see what Dallas has in mind!!

SO grateful!!!!

2009-04-22T21:18:00.000-07:00

Since the weather has been so "nice" I have been more and more grateful!! No, not for the "nice" weather but that I don't have to be pregnant through the WHOLE summer!! Today when it got up to almost 80 degrees (that might be an exaggeration, I don't know) I seriously thought I was going to roast and die!! I am also grateful that it's going to cool down again for the weekend! If it could only stay cooler for another 5 weeks then I would be a very happy mama!! I'm sure many of you are glad that I don't control the weather!!

Lately

2009-04-12T20:29:00.000-07:00

I feel like I put so many pictures of me on here and not many of Mike and always talk about Dallas...so before I get to me and Dallas..I want to talk about Mike!! I am so grateful for him! He is such an amazing husband, worker, friend, and man!! He has been so great to me since I've been pregnant (he always is great to me but he's really looking out for me!!). I get a leg and foot massage every night, he cooks dinner every night, and does everything he can to make sure I'm comfortable! He cleans the house, does the laundry...He even put up with my obsession of organizing and organized the crawl space for me while I told him where to put everything!! He is wonderful to me!! He is still going to BYU and is going to take classes through the summer. I don't know how he does it!! He is also training for a race (the Wasatch back) coming up in June. He constantly amazes me!! I love him so much and feel so blessed every day because I have him in my life!

Now onto me and Dallas!! He definitely is growing as you can see!! I am now 32.5 weeks. I feel like the end is in sight! I love feeling him move and can't imagine how he is fitting inside of me! I am still feeling pretty good!! It could be worse!!:) I can't wait to meet him but want him to stay in there as long as he needs to!!
Mike said the top picture makes me look smaller than I am so I decided to put this one too!! I'm getting so big!!!

These are a few pictures of the shower I had in Logan. Thanks so much Mom, Melissa and Jen for putting it together!! And also to everyone who came and for the wonderful gifts!! It was a lot of fun!! We had a chocolate fountain-yummy!!! We got this pic of Kelly and Jen at the table but really everyone had their moment of 30 min straight just dipping and eating- mine was more like an hour! It was all so good!!
I got some really GREAT gifts!! I can't wait to use them!! Thanks so much everyone!!!

Happy Easter!!!

2009-04-12T19:44:00.000-07:00

We had a fun Easter this year!! On Saturday after we did some "spring" cleaning we went to lunch and I ran into the mall to get Mike's Easter present. I bought him a hat and had it sprayed with the protectant spray stuff. When I got in the car he asked what hat I got him! I was a little bummed but if you know me I can't keep anything secret so he would have gotten it that night anyways!!:)
We colored eggs Saturday evening and had fun doing that!! It's tradition in my family to make an egg for everyone with their name on it so we made one for Dallas too!!

Mike barely made it through coloring 8 eggs thanks to the game he was watching while doing it!
So, I couldn't wait till Sunday to find baskets so we did it Saturday!!!! Dallas got the egg and the stuffed fuzzy chick from his Great Grams and Gramps!! It is the softest chick ever!!! And his Grammy sent him a book!! He'll love them!! Thanks so much!!
Mike gets better and better each year at doing an Easter basket for me! He actually hid it this year too! He gave me money to buy a new book!!! So any suggestions would be great!!!
This is Mike with his hat that doesn't fit and the shaving cream I got him. He doesn't like to shave cause it makes it so sore. Dawn (one of my clients) told me about the shaving cream that Bath and Body sells that makes it so it doesn't hurt. So I got it for him and he loves it!! It works great!!! Thanks Dawn!! We had a great Sunday as well!! We had a great ham dinner and got to spend time with the Drapers! We hope you all had a great Easter!!

Baby Dallas' Room

2009-03-29T21:05:00.000-07:00

I have taken a while to get these pics up but I wanted the crib to be done before I did!! We got the crib from Shelley (my boss) for free and it had a dark stain on it. So, Mike and I spent many many hours sanding it down and getting it ready to paint. I didn't want to use a paint brush because I didn't want to see the marks from it. We were going to pay an insane amount to get paint in aerosol cans and then I remembered my dad has a sprayer!!!!
We took the crib to Logan this past weekend and used my dad's spray gun!! It was so nice!!! Thanks for all your help dad!! You're amazing!! Mike had a good time painting it and it turned out so so great!! I love it!!
We could have bought a new one but it's the feeling of accomplishment and knowing we saved so much money that brings me satisfaction and more appreciation for it!!
Here is the finished product. And isn't my bedding SO cute!! I can't take any credit for it!! All I did was picked out the fabric!! My mom and dad paid for it-thanks!! And Melissa sewed it ALL!! The bumper pads, the bed skirt even the fitted sheet!! Yeah, she's amazing too!! She also sewed the quilt but I just realized there's not a picture of it. I will put on one later because it is gorgeous!! She quilted it by hand even! WOW!! I know!!
This is is little book shelf!! I refinished this WAY back in high school!! Who would have thought I'd use it for my child's room!! It is the perfect size though!!
And this is the glider. Since this picture I recovered the ottoman and it's attached! My mom and I made the curtains and the little pillow!! It was fun!! I'm not a seamstress though so it was nice to have help!! Celeste (my sister in law) redid the cushion covers. They turned out SO great!!! It's so nice to have talented family members who are so generous and willing to help us out!! Mike and I also spent a WHOLE saturday painting the room. I hated the green at first but now that there are things in the room it's growing on me!! It's so much fun!! We also got our stroller and car seat!! I'm feeling a little more prepared and ready for our little guy!

I lied...

2009-03-06T09:51:00.000-08:00

Melissa came to my house on Sunday and insisted that we take some pictures. So I decided it was a good idea. Mike wasn't so happy about the idea but was a great sport. We took some pictures and then Melissa did her magic!! I thought they turned out so great that I decided to put a few of them on here. Thanks Melissa!! We had so much fun with you and your boys!

Update

2009-02-27T09:40:00.000-08:00

I am just so ready to see my little Dallas! I already think he's the cutest thing ever and this might sound crazy but I can already tell a little of what his personality is like!! He's such a fun boy! I only have 99 days!! Double digits-yay!! And I have 13 weeks! I know it's going to go so fast but I am so excited!! I love being pregnant. I have had a great pregnancy so far and I can not complain!! I love feeling him move around and kick! It always puts a smile on my face! Mike has been so helpful and is going to be the BEST daddy!! We love Dallas so much already and are so excited for him to join our family!!! We are so blessed!

No more pictures!

2009-02-24T20:03:00.000-08:00

Lately my feet, ankles and legs have been a little swollen at the end of the day. With a little massage from Mike and elevating them it goes away and I start a new day with skinny ankles again. But the other morning I woke up and was putting my makeup on and I realized...I no longer have cheek bones, just cheeks. I can feel that they are bigger when I smile even. I realize this is normal since I am pregnant. But it's hard to face. It is not going away like my ankles either. I am a little disgusted by this and so I am letting you know to not expect any more pictures the have me in it until a) I get over it or b) have our baby and am not chubby anymore. Sorry if this disappoints anyone, I just don't want the image of chubby Kristin in any of your heads.

24 Weeks

2009-02-15T19:54:00.000-08:00

Here he is at 24 weeks!! He's growing fast and is still healthy! He is very active and loves to play when I'm trying to sleep!! I guess he's just preparing me for what's to come!! We are excited for him to come but still need time to prepare!!

Valentine's Day!

2009-02-15T17:18:00.000-08:00

I love Valentine's Day! I love the colors and hearts and candy and everything about it!! I worked at the flower shop the day before and on Valentine's Day! I have so much fun getting my hands back into arranging even though it is freezing! It is hilarious to me to see all these men completely stressed out about what to get for their wives! I had a lot of fun but was happy to come home and get warm and see my husband on the day of love!! When I got home the house was clean (even according to my standards) laundry done and groceries bought for dinner!! I got off a little sooner than we thought so Mike and I went shopping for gifts for eachother! I bought Mike some cologne. And he bought me a bra that fits. The girl at VS was so funny cause she kept trying to sell us some lingerie and finally I told her that they don't make my size!! We got a good laugh!! When we got home Mike made me dinner!He found the recipes, went grocery shopping for everything and cooked!! He made tropical chicken, lemon rice (so good), rosemary bread and apple crisp for desert made from fresh apples! It was all SO SO good!!
I love good meals like that but am too lazy to make them! He did such a great job!! I couldn't ask for anything else!!! I love my husband so much!! He is amazing and is always amazes me!

Experimenting gone TOTALLY wrong!!

2009-02-15T17:04:00.000-08:00

While I was as the hair show I saw this really attractive guy that had really blonde curly hair and it looked so good!! He looked almost identical to Mike! So I had this GREAT idea!! Lets bleach out Mike's hair!! So we went to it!!

Mike not sure if this is really a great idea like I told him it was! And he was upset that I was taking a picture of him like this!!

This is after 2 times of bleaching it out and toning it....ok, maybe it wasn't a great idea!

He had to go like this for a few days cause I was working. He had fun being a blonde while it lasted!! But he is happy to be back dark-it's still a little golden but give it two weeks!! We both had a good time with it though!!

California

2009-02-05T21:00:00.000-08:00

I went to California last week with the school and forgot my camera:( I will hopefully get pictures from some of the girls so I can post them! I had so much fun!! We went to go to a hair show. We went to Disney Land and even though I was limited on the rides I could go on I still had TONS of fun!! I got tons of pictures with characters- Mickey, Minnie, Buzz, Tink and her friend, Goofy, Pluto- and we ate at the Carnation Cafe, who by the way has THE best soups!! I had so much fun just walking around and seeing everything you miss when you are running from ride to ride! I did my share of people watching too!! The hair show was amazing!! I got a LOT of looks!! I don't think they see many girls my age that are pregnant!! It was quite funny!! There were great vendors and so many fun things to watch!! I love the hair industry!!!! I met Kim Vo from Shear Genius, Nick Arrojo from What not to wear and a few others!! I learned so many new and fun things!! I can't wait to try them all out (hint hint-if you are brave!!!!) It was a great trip!! I haven't walked that much in a LONG time though and I was definately ready to come home!! ps. jet blue is an amazing air line!!

2009-01-15T19:24:00.000-08:00

The Holidays

2009-01-11T11:08:00.000-08:00

I finally got out my camera and downloaded some pictures! I realized that I wasn't very good at taking pictures. I was so happy that we had a white Christmas!! And grateful for Mike that he shoveled the driveway like 5 times!! I love the look of snow on the trees and ground, but I'm not a fan of the cold!
This was on Christmas Eve. We got quite a bit of snow!!
We spent Christmas Eve with Drapers. We had traditional Chinese food and opened a gift. We came home around midnight to sleep at our house. This is our Christmas tree this year!
Our stockings!! Mine, baby's and Mike's. I made them a few years ago and laugh at them every time I pull them out!! I'm a pathetic sewer!! Mike even said we should just buy some new ones!! I agree!!
Mike and I decided to open our gifts Christmas Eve so we didn't have to get up early Christmas day. We just did stockings for each other (cause of the ticket!!) But I think stockings are the funnest!! I was surprised that Mike had any presents left because I have such a hard time waiting until Christmas to open them!
Me and my presents. Mike got me this way cute scarf and some really cute jewelry!! He did a great job!!
We went over to Drapers Christmas morning to open presents. Joel loved the little boy on the box of his toy more than the actual toy, until it was set up! He's so funny! We had a great Christmas!! Mike and I making our ginger bread house!! This is one tradition we started that Mike loves!!

The day after Christmas I decided to go up to Logan to see my family. It was supposed to be a blizzard so I was glad it wasn't so I could go up! I love the mountains around us!! I think they are so beautiful!! This is what the freeway looked like all the way up from Spanish to Logan!! They were terrible!! Luckily there were no accidents, it just took me almost 4 hours to get up there!! When I was there we did some shopping and just hung out!! It was so much fun to be with my family. I didn't take one picture while I was up there. But one day Jen and I came back to spanish and we all went to dinner and color me mine, I love that place!! We had a lot of fun! Then New Years Eve Mike, Jen and I went back up to Logan! We all had a hard time staying up till midnight. We were all in bed by 12:30!! We went snowmobiling at my parents house!! Mike loved it and spent so much time out there!! We had a lot of fun during the holidays spending time with our families and eachother!! When it was time to go back to life and work it was definately time!!

IT'S A....

2008-12-26T09:23:00.001-08:00

Just kidding. We don't know yet! We were supposed to find out Christmas Eve and then I had this cleaver way to tell our families but on Wednesday I called the Dr cause I as nervous about some tests they were going to do and then they said, by the way, the lady who does the sonogram isn't coming in tomorrow so we won't be able to see what you are having. That sucks. But it was Christmas Eve and I don't blame her for not wanting to work. And we will find out Jan. 15th at 10am!! We will let you know then!!! Hope everyone had a Very Merry Christmas!!!

The latest news

2008-12-23T08:17:00.000-08:00

I have been terrible at updating. But, what's new! Things have been very busy as with everyone else!! I am off work for 2 weeks now and don't know what to do with my time!! Before we left for break some of my students who go at night collected $3,000 for another students son to get a bike. He was born with spinobifida and has no use of his legs but wanted a bike so so bad for Christmas. It was an amazing night when we gave him his bike. He is such a cute and polite little boy!! What a great reminder to me what Christmas is all about!! I am so proud of the girls and their hard work. Click here to see the article and some pictures that were in he Daily Herald http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/293115/

It was my moms birthday-42 right?!! and Melissa and I threw her a surprise birthday party! It was a Fancy Nancy party!! We all wore tiaras and boas and had fancy food and tea! It was such a blast!! Thanks for everyone who was there and helped out!! I will have to get pictures up once I get them!! It really was super fun!!

We have been getting so much snow!! First I thought I was going to have a sleepover in Logan and then last night I couldn't even leave my inlaws drive way!! It is so great to have snow! As long as I don't have to go out in it!!! But I love how beautiful everything looks after the snow has fallen! I think Mike is in heaven!!

And last but not least, the baby! Things are going great!! I am no longer sick-hurray!! I am feeling so good and the baby is growing (or at least I am!!) I have a hard little bump that is getting more and more difficult to hide! I have felt our little one move around for about a week now!! It makes it seem so real!! It moves the most when I'm trying to go to sleep!! It is all so much fun and we feel very blessed to be pregnant and we are so so excited!!!

It's a...

2008-11-27T23:54:00.000-08:00

BABY!

Yes, it's true, Mike and I are expecting our first baby! We are so excited to be able to FINALLY share this news with you. As many of you know we have struggled to get this baby and are so grateful it's finally happened. I am 13 weeks and due June 6th! We want to thank everyone for your thoughts and prayers. We will keep you updated.

To add to it all...

2008-11-24T17:10:00.000-08:00

So, I got a text this morning about 8:10am while I was working. It was from Mike and it said "guess who got pulled over again?" I was hoping with everything I had that it wasn't him. We weren't that lucky though. Mike was speeding to work this morning, not because he was going to be late, just because 'if you ain't first you're last'!! So a cop pulled him over. He questioned Mike on the tint on our car and also for speeding. He was going 25 over this time. You'd think he'd learn. Lucky for him though the cop was having a good day and let him go with just a warning. I'm going to have to buy him a pos car that CAN'T speed!!

Merry Christmas to us!!

2008-11-23T17:59:00.000-08:00

So it all began one day Mike and I were on our way to Park City. We wanted to hit up the outlets, dinner, and make it in time to watch The Office. This was all within like 2 hours-pretty impossible, we know!! But we were going through Provo canyon and going too fast. We came up to these two cars and one decided she didn't want us going fast so she cut us off. We tailed her until she got over, then off we went again. When we came up to the tunnel there was a white car at the end of it just waiting for someone like us to come speeding past! It was a sheriff. So, we slowed down and pulled over, the cop was behind us and the dumb lady who didn't want us to pass her was behind the cop. She came and tattled on us and then left. The cop came and had Mike get out of the car to talk to him. Mike got out and the cop was pretty darn rude to him. He told him that nothing mattered and anything he said wouldn't matter then asked him if he had anything to say. Mike just stood there and said nothing. The cop kept asking if there was anything. Mike reminded him that he told him it didn't matter. So, the angry cop made us wait 30 min to write out our ticket. He came and gave it to us, we were going 33 over and also got charged for reckless driving. Mike had to go to court and get a lecture and they told him how much the ticket would be. Mike just plead guilty and the sentence was given. Either 210 days in jail or $1,100. I thought it would be a good lesson for him to go to jail but we opted out on the fine. So, that is our Christmas presents to eachother this year!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Huge Thanks!!!

2008-11-12T11:57:00.000-08:00

I have to tell my sister, Melissa, thank you so much!! She is the reason for the new and much needed face lift on my blog!! She is so creative and so talented!!! She can do yours for you too!!! She does such a great job!!! Thanks so much!

Tagged

2008-11-12T11:18:00.000-08:00

Tagged by Kilee
8 tag

8 t.v. shows I like to watch:
1. Anything on HGTV
2. Anything on the History channel
3. Anything on Discovery
4. The Office
5. Fringe
6. Scrubs
7. House
8. Pushing Daisies

8 things that happened yesterday:
1. Watched David Archelata on the Today show
2. Worked ALL day
3. Went to lunch with my hot hubby
4. Caught a student doing drugs on school campus
5. Made cinnamon rolls (well baked them!!)
6. Watched House
7. Cleaned my house
8. Watched Enchanted-one of my fav movies!!!

8 favorite places to eat:
1. Macaroni Grill
2. Red Lobster
3. Zupas
4. Einsteins
5. Noodles and Co.
6. Shoots
7. Happy Sumo
8. Red Rock

8 things I'm looking forward to:
1. Thanksgiving with my family
2. Eating really good food
3. The Twilight movie
4. Decorating for Christmas
5. Not being sick
6. Starting my yoga class
7. Seeing and playing with my nephews
8. Wrapping Christmas presents

8 people I tag:
anyone who wants to!!!

Halloween

2008-11-03T14:09:00.000-08:00

Mike has to dress up each year for Halloween and he is getting more and more clever each year. He was so excited for me to take pictures so I could put it on the blog!! I think he's excited to hear everyone's reactions!! The tag says To: Women From: God- aka "God's gift to women"! He's such a funny boy!! I think he would wear it everyday if I'd let him!

Park City

2008-11-03T13:58:00.001-08:00

The whole Draper family went to Park City for a week and had tons of fun!!! We stayed in the Marriott and really just relaxed, went shopping and played lots of games!!

Staci, Mom, Erin holding Joel in the room. Just enjoying Sunday afternoon!!
Mike on the 4-wheeler. The guys were out for hours and hours and hours and had so much fun!
Joel, Morgan and Celeste. Joel thought it was pretty cool although he wouldn't smile!!
Morgan and Ryan in the pool. It was "heated" but still cold since it was outdoors.
Mike (being modest for us all) and Ryan in the hot tub. All the boys spent a lot of time in the pools and playing ping pong. I really didn't see much of my husband that week!!! It was lots and lots of fun though!!

Mike and Dylan

2008-11-03T13:32:00.000-08:00

Mike and Dylan (and Tyler) are best buds!! Mike (and I) can't get enough of them!! It is like we are addicted to them, their smiles, laughs, everything about them!! We are in complete love with them!! (note:they are not our children) Mike and I went up to their house one sunday evening to play with them! We went on a little walk and make snowballs and then went to the airport to get my mom and dad. Dylan could not get enough of the escalators and so Mike played with him on them going up and down for about 45 minutes while we waited!! It was so cute! He has some of the cutest facial expressions we have ever seen!! We love you boys!!

The Circus!!!!

2008-11-03T13:12:00.000-08:00

I'm an Alice!

2008-10-14T21:02:00.000-07:00

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

You are intelligent, outgoing & stylish. A true girly girl, you love shopping & makeovers.

Although you are a generous friend, you can be coy, tricky & very persuasive in order to

get your way. You are known to zone out occasionally during conversations, but your

friends forgive you because you are understanding, supportive & know how to throw one

heck of a party!

Who wants a FREE handbag?!!

2008-10-02T18:27:00.000-07:00

Handbag Planet is giving away 24 handbags in 24 hours to celebrate the launch of their website. Which handbag will you choose? So go HERE to enter!

The past month

2008-09-25T20:39:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted because not too much has happened. Life is pretty much the same day in and day out for us! Just a lot of work and football! We got season passes again this year for BYU football games. We haven't gotten any pictures of it yet. Although they have been playing pretty good!!

We bought a new car! Our other car was starting to drive hard so we decided to trade it in. We went to Brent Brown and Mike told them what he was looking for and they had just barely gotten it in off the truck with 0 miles! So we bought it!! Mike was sad to see his car go but LOVES his new car!! It has all the upgrades and my favorite...heated seats!!!

We had lots of company staying with us. I guess that's what happens when you have a house with extra rooms!! It was fun to have everyone. It was fun to play with Soren and Kilee before they moved. We miss them already!! Kilee and I got our gel toes done at the school one day too!! Thanks for hanging out with us guys and for being great friends!! Hopefully we'll make it up to see you soon!!

I found an outlet!!

Just a pretty picture

All the bikes lined up for the bike parade!! That was a long bike ride for them!!

The bride and groom.

Their bikes all decorated!

Me and my mom!
I also had a very 'culture' experience...a granola wedding!! It was at the Boise botanical gardens. It was beautiful!! I didn't get ready before we hit the road thinking I could do my hair at the guest services bathroom and this is what I got!! Thank goodness for my CHI- they have really long cords!! There was a square dance instructor (I felt like I was back in mutual!!) and an open bar, guys rolling their own weed in the corners, a bike parade, need I say more!! It was interesting to say the least!! But fun to see old friends!!

Take me out to the Ballgame!

2008-08-24T21:26:00.000-07:00

We went with the whole Draper family (except Ry-we missed him though) to an Orem Owls baseball game!! The sports trainer for the team was one of David's students-so that was fun for him! The game was good with some fun plays!! The Owl's won which makes it even more fun when the home team wins!! There is this guy there that goes to every game too that hoots twice in a row over everything. It would have been really annoying but Mike knew the guy and I guess he's a little crazy!! Glad he has fun at the games!!!
Erin, Mike, and Joel enjoying a bag of potato chips!! Joel didn't really get into the game too much! But he was fun entertainment when the game was slow!
Celeste and Morgan
Staci and Brad
Joel getting the last drop-and the soggy bread he put in there from earlier on!!
Mike and I. It was a fun game!! The trainer even gave Mike a professional wooden baseball bat!! He was one happy little boy!!!:) Thanks mom and dad!!!

Small town life

2008-08-24T21:02:00.001-07:00

Living in a small town you do things you normally wouldn't do!! I am introducing Mike to a lot of firsts!!! First the rodeo and then the Spanish Fork Fair and Demolition derby!! Yeehaw! He had a lot of fun though!! Although he might not admit it!!!
This is Mike at the fair. We went and looked at the animals! behind Mike are two HUGE steers!! We went around the back so we could see their faces because they were so huge and they got a little friendly and scared us off!! It was funny to watch Mike though!! It was like he had never seen a cow before!!

Then we went to the demolition derby. For those of you who don't know- I grew up in a very small town in way norther Idaho (moscow) and then in Logan. So these derbies and things are second nature to me!! This was a pretty good derby though!! If you can see- that yellow car is stuck on the cement barrier just sitting right on top of it!! Their were some pretty crazy drivers.
But when it came time for the girls turn- watch out!!! There was this one girl who was just a tiny little thing and she did not hold back!! She backed up and ran right into this car a few times until one time she hit her so hard that it rolled her car onto the top of it and then her car stopped right on top of that one. They brought out the fork lift, the jaws of life, a straight board and all. It really scared me but when they turned the car over the girl came out and was fine. It was cool after we found out she was ok!!
You can see this is the car that was on the bottom. It was completely flattened. We had a good time!! They also had an amazing and way long fireworks show afterwards!! We love fireworks!

Family

2008-08-24T20:55:00.000-07:00

So, I just had to post these two pictures! The one is of Mike and Ryan. This is the only way Ryan will come over to our house is to play xbox with Mike!! They are super competitive and are so funny to listen to while they are playing!!!

This one is of Tyler. Melissa was helping me do my cute header and Tyler was just so bored! So we told him to wait on the steps for Uncle Mike to get home!! I don't know who adores who most!! So I put the door stop in and Tyler got out his tools to fix it!! (it wasn't broken!!) but he just loves to be a helper and to fix things!! I love my family!! They are the best!!

Thanks!

2008-08-09T11:53:00.000-07:00

Melissa came to my house with her boys to hang out for the day!! We had lots of fun!! I love playing with Dylan and Tyler!! Tyler spent the night and so far that has been an adventure! More to come on that!! But I wanted to say thanks to Melissa for showing me how to do my own blog header!! I had fun playing! I think it turned out pretty cute!! It took me over an hour to do it...hopefully I will get faster!!! But thanks Melissa for everything!!

Tile

2008-07-26T22:09:00.000-07:00

Here are some before, during and afters of our bathrooms!! When we moved in the bathrooms had carpet in them- stupid! My mom and dad came down for the weekend to help us put tile in!! I am so greatful for the cooked meals, clean house, knowledge and direction on the how-to, we had tons of fun and our bathrooms now look A to the MAZING!! Thank you so much!! We couldn't have done it without you guys!! We love you so much!! And thank you again!!

BEFORE

guest bathroom

master bathroom

DURING

Mike and I in the guest bathroom. Mike did an amazing job!! Good job babe!!

Dad working in the master bathroom.

AFTER

guest bathroom. We did 8x8 tiles and can I just say WOW!! It think it looks great!!

Guest bathroom. We (meaning dad) had to take the toilet out and take the baseboards off and then put them all back!! That was a job!! But it looks so amazing!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!

master bathroom. Here we used 16x16 tiles and I love it! I love how it turned out!! The grout is still a little wet so it won't be quite so dark but I still LOVE it!! I love it on the angle to!! Thanks dad! I know it was a pain but I love it!! GREAT JOB!!

and another picture of the master bathroom!! I go upstairs just to stand in both bathrooms now and stare!! I LOVE them!! They look fabulous!! Way to go us!!!

for jeff

2008-07-26T21:47:00.000-07:00

Jeff is my amazing bro that does amazing things!! Like hiking all the amazingly tallest mountains throughout the world!! His latest he trained for months and is super skinny!! He hiked the Tetons in Idaho this last weekend!! He is either amazing or crazy!! Either way I think he's pretty cool and I love him!! My dad and Liam went to Yellowstone to meet up with Jeff when he got down from the mountain!! Here, check out his picts!!!

Jeff, Liam and Dad.

Jeff climbing up!! He is in China already again and hasn't even seen these picts yet so I don't know the datails about them yet.

WOW!! What a view huh?!!

Fiesta Days!!

2008-07-26T21:29:00.000-07:00

That's right!! Here in good ole' SF they celebrate Fiesta Days with a weeks worth of rodeo, booths, carnival and end it with fire works for the 24th of July!! (that's pioneer day for those of you who don't live in Utah!!) Mike and I started the fun filled week with seeing the new Batman movie!! We liked it!! We thought Joker was awesome!! Then on Tuesday we went to the rodeo!!! You heard it right!! I took my city boy to the rodeo!! He let me wear my cowgirl boots even!! He LOVED the rodeo!! Next time you see him and want to see him get really excited ask him about going to the rodeo!!:) We had a good time!! We went to the carnival and ate a Navajo taco and watched some neighbor boys go on rides!! They think the world of Mike!! My parents came down from Logan to help with our tile. We watched the fire works with my parents in our backyard!! They were pretty dang good!! Especially the finale!! Then we went to the opening night of Step Brothers at midnight!! Then we did more tile and more tile!! It was an eventful week!!!

Mike and his friend Miley!! She has on a George Straight shirt, her pink hat and matching pink boots and a cute belt buckle!!!! She was pretty excited about the rodeo!!! The mut'n'bust was fun to watch too!! The little kids hang on to the neck of a lamb for dear life while they run around!! Miley will do it when she is 6!!

Mike at the rodeo!! He's a babe!!

I don't know what this is called but the cowboy goes after a cow, ropes it, jumps off his horse goes and ties the cows legs together then gets back on his horse and they give the cow 6 seconds to get loose, if they get loose then they are disqualified!! It was amazing how fast this all happened and how smart the horses were!!

If you look close there is a motorcycle jumping over the length of the trailer and truck!! It was so neat to watch!!

This is the bull ride!!! They are some mean bulls too!!! Those cowboys are CRAZY!!!

Fireworks!! Another thing about the rodeo is how they are truly and so deeply grateful to live in this free country and for all those who have made it free. I get chills and tears in my eyes when I see fireworks and hear the music!! I too am grateful to have the freedoms we have and Love living here!! I am grateful for the armed forces and for all they give for our country!!

Family Reunion

2008-07-26T21:19:00.000-07:00

The whole family (but one aunt, uncle, and cousin, and Nate) made it to the reunion this year!! No one on missions or anything!! It was so much fun!! We all stayed at the same hotel and swam in the pool, floated the Boise river, played whiffle ball, ate good food, and the best thing about it was the company!! We had fun playing with ALL our nephews, cutting hair in the hotel bathroom:), quilling till the wee hours of the night (thanks for my new tool Aunt Tami), listening to Gramps years of stardum with high school sports!! and everything else!!! I didn't have my camera out as much as I would have liked to. But here are a few of the day we floated the freezing river. If you want a look at more go to Melissa's blog

While we were waiting to go float the river we saw this lady sit down and this squirrel was trying to get into her bag, that or take it away completely!! It was funny to watch!!!

Mike and I before floating the river!! Mike was thrilled!!

Tyler playing on the springy ducky and...

Mike playing of the springy ducky!!

My dad after floating. He didn't want me to see his face! We all had to sit out in the blazing sun until we warmed up and we could feel all appendages again!!!

Flowers and Motorcycles

2008-07-15T21:01:00.000-07:00

I first want to tell Calvin and Whitney thank you SO much for the darling plant (that's easy to take care of:)!! yay!!) and the way cute chalkboard pot!! It is so dang cute and I love it!! When I got it, it was just this pretty exotic looking plant!! Then one day I woke up and went downstairs and wow!! It had a flower sticking out the side of it!! It has lots of buds now waiting to burst open!! I'll post more picts once they are all bloomed!! But isn't that so neat ans so pretty!!! It does almost seem out of place but it's so cool!! I love it!! And the pot is a huge hit with all the kids!!! Thanks so much again guys!!! It's so fun to watch what's new with it!!

Almost all the family is in town now!! Ali is here from Philly and Jeff, Kathleen, Liam, and Collin are all back in utah for a bit!! They all came down with my mom and dad to see our house and had a very nice visit!!! The kids were getting so bored and we have no toys so Mike started taking them on bike rides!!! Liam thought it was so cool and he "loves to go very very very very very fast!!!!" Ali had a good time on it too but did burn her leg on the exhaust pipe- ouch!! We hope her mom doesn't find out about the danger we are putting her in!!

Garden and Lavendar Days

2008-07-10T21:36:00.000-07:00

This is our first tomato from our garden!!! It was a little deformed but tasted so so good!!! It was fun to go out to the garden and just pick it!! I can't wait until I have more!!!!
This is our garden!! We have about 10 tomato plants, a billion cucumber and a billion yellow squash plants, about 8 watermelon plants and some strawberries!! It's so neat to watch them grow!! I didn't think it would really grow!! It is so exciting!!!
We went on a field trip to Young Living Farms with the school to learn about essential oils!! We had a neat tour and rode on a carriage thing pulled by two HUGE horses that were beautiful!! It was really neat!! They also have a few different animals!! This one is called a zonkey!! It's a zebra and donkey mixed so it is brown and white instead of black and white!! Pretty cool!! They had camels, pigme goats, bison, and some other neat animals!!

Brad and Staci

2008-07-10T21:30:00.000-07:00

Brad and Staci got sealed in the Provo Temple!!! It was a gorgeous day and everything was perfect!! We are so happy for them!!!! There is nothing better than a family member getting sealed for time and eternity!! It was so neat!!

I love the Provo Temple!! It has such a gorgeous view too!!! I love my sweetheart so much!!

Birthdays!!

2008-07-10T21:19:00.001-07:00

I am so far behind!! Mike's birthday was the 25th and mine was the 28th!! We had a fun but busy week!! It was the same week as our anniversary and the bbq!! For Mike's birthday I went to his work with a HUGE bouquet of balloons and a bag of goodies and a cool cake!! I forgot to take picts but it was so neat!! When he got home we went to the batting cages and then had his favorite dinner (tuna tetrazzini- yuck!!) It was fun!! For my birthday Mike got me the pair of chacos I've wanted for months!! I LOVE them!! He took care of a lot of things for the bbq so I wouldn't worry when I got off work!! He is so amazing!! I love him so much!!
This is Mike and I at the bbq (p.s. thanks everyone for coming!! It was fun and so good to see you all!!!) My mom was so sweet and brought a birthday cake for us!! Still can't turn picts!

4th of July Weekend

2008-07-10T20:58:00.000-07:00

Mike and I went to Logan for the 4th of July weekend!! We had lots of fun with everyone there! Kathleen, Liam, Collin, Melissa, Nate, Tyler, Dylan, Mom, Dad, Ali, and us were all there!! The cruise in was going on then too so we all rode bikes down and dad acted like he was back in his college days!!! It was fun! Dad and I ended up going back that night to hear Stix play!! It was awesome!! Dad had a blast!!!
When we first got there dad was making this shed/tree fort!! Liam called papa from China and asked if they could build one when he came!! So we started to work on it!! I helped with a couple of the walls!! The boys are so excited for it to be done!!!
We lit fireworks- well Mike did!!! He's my little pyro!! These are my two cute nephews, Tyler and Liam, plugging their ears!! It didn't seem to matter if the firework made any noise or not their ears were always plugged!! I love them too much!!!
Mike was in charge of all the big fireworks!! I was in charge of all the sparklers!! There were way too many fireworks for 4 teeny tiny boys!!! But not enough for my boy!!!:)
Here is proof that there were too many fireworks- if there's such a thing!!! All the boys and parents were more than ready for bed by the end!!!
The next day mom, Ali, and I all went swimming while the boys went to the car show!! I forgot my camera though!! It was a fun trip!!!

Give it up!!!

2008-07-08T20:10:00.000-07:00

I think my blog looks pretty cute!! I can NOT take the credit for it though!! My wonderful sister did it for me!! She is amazing!! She loves doing those kinds of things and is so great at them!!! If you want a blog lift then she can do it for you!!! Her email is: melissamer@gmail.com! You can also check out her blog to see some others she has done: memyboys.blogspot.com
She charges $10 to create it and $5 to put it on your blog.

GET TOGETHER!!

2008-06-25T16:00:00.001-07:00

Ok. So this is very short notice I know but I just barely got the brilliant idea of posting this on my blog!! Since we got our house we have been wanting to have a "house warming party" but without the house warming gift thing. So we want to invite all of you to our house this Saturday the 28th at 6:30. We will be having a BBQ and we will be providing the meat and stuff. If you could bring a side (salad, chips, drink, dessert) and a lawn chair that would be fabulous!! We would love to see you ALL there!! If you need our address you can email us: mkdraper@gmail.com Hope to see you all very soon!!!

Our Anniversary

2008-06-24T22:06:00.000-07:00

Today was our 3 year anniversary!! It was wonderful!! Mike went to work and I stayed home and thought for a few hours what I could do for him. I thought and thought and finally I decided to make a slideshow for him of the past years together! But of course my computer didn't want to cooperate. So I called apple care and a nice guy helped me get it up and running!! I had 30 minutes to put it all together!! Thank goodness for MACs!!! It only took 30 minutes and it put it to music for me and everything! It was great and even made me cry while we were watching it!! I left a mess because I was running late for work and so after work I ran home really fast to pick it up before Mike got home. When I walked in the door it was clean. I thought uhoh! Mike was in the kitchen making a gourmet dinner for us!! He also bought me one of my FAVORITE movies- Enchanted!! We ate dinner and watched that movie!! What a great movie to watch on your anniversary because it talked about having a happily ever after!! Even though Mike, more than likely, will not read this I am so grateful for such a wonderful man!! It has been 3 amazingly wonderful and as Mike put it "so easy" years!! I fall in love with him more and more each day!! I love you so much babe!

I give up!!

2008-06-24T22:04:00.000-07:00

That's right. I give up trying to do my own background and I was sick at looking at the plain boring white!! So, I went to good old trusty pyzam and got me a free one!! It will do! I got all my side things erased in the process so if I forgot to add you back onto my list PLEASE let me know!! I don't want to forget anyone!!

Work in progress

2008-06-24T08:19:00.000-07:00

Ok. I promise my blog isn't going to be so boring and white forever! I am working on a background and obviously I'm not very good at it.

Ariel

2008-06-12T23:51:00.000-07:00

You Are Ariel!

Headstrong and fiesty. You have a mind of your own that's full of romantic dreams about the world around you. Exploring exotic places is your ultimate dream, and although you can be a little naive you'll realize that there is something to be gained from your family's wisdom.

Which Disney Princess Are You?
That is funny because it is so true!! Just ask Mike and my family!!!

Dylan's One

2008-06-05T22:34:00.000-07:00

Those of you who don't know me very well...I do not have any children of my own!! Although it may seem like I have some dang cute boys, they are not mine. I wish they were but I they are my nephews!! But I love them like they were my own!! Dylan turned one today!! I don't want this little guy to ever grow up!! He is still such a little baby and he enjoys being a baby and is in no hurry to grow up and that makes me happy!! He had a birthday party in Logan and we had so much fun!! There are so many pictures that I had to choose from but I finally chose some of my favorites!! He is so so sweet and loves to be held (most of the time)!! He likes to torment his big brother and then give a smile that melts your heart!! He is so much fun and I love him so much! Happy 1st Birthday Dylan!!

Dylan sure loved his cupcake!! He did not hesitate once with it!! He wanted to touch the fire and ate every last bite!!!

Tyler was such a good helper!! He was not happy that none of the toys were for him though!! Mike had lots of fun playing with Dylan too!!

And I will take this opportunity to put some picts of my other favorite people!! Jen, my dad, and Mike!!! I am so blessed to have great people in my life!!

The Aquarium

2008-06-05T22:16:00.000-07:00

On Wednesdays I don't work until 4 so I called Melissa and we decided to go for a picnic and to the aquarium!! We had a fun picnic with sandwiches and watermelon!! I love this time of year because all the fruit!! We went into the aquarium and Tyler loved showing me everything and explaining everything to me!! This was their second time there so he thought he was pretty
smart!! He loved everything and couldn't get enough of it!! He now wants a pet shark!! We had such a fun day!! Dylan had a blast too!! I don't know if he knew what he was looking at all the time!! He loved the jelly fish!! They change the color of lights on them so it looks like they are changing colors and they move so gracefully!! He thought they were pretty neat!

I love these boys so much!!!!! They are two super cute boys and I love them to pieces!! They make me so happy! I love the enthusiasm they have for everything in life!!

Jeff and Kathleen

2008-05-27T20:19:00.001-07:00

Well, I have been asked how Jeff, Kathleen, Liam, and Collin are doing since the earthquake in China since they are living in Shanghai. I'm sure you have all heard about the earthquake. It measured 7.8 on the Richter scale, the most severe earthquake in over 25 years. It struck the whole Sichuan area of China-that's big!! Map of China. It hit on May 12th. Just a few details and numbers reported on May 14th:

Tens of thousands are still missing.
More than 25,000 people are still buried in the rubble.
Major phone lines and roads are cut off.
Millions of homes have been destroyed leaving residents, of whom are still alive, with severe shortage of water, shelter, food, and fuel.
Thousands of people are still trapped under the rubble and rescuers are using their bare hands to search for survivors.
Rescue efforts are hampered by rains and road blocks due to fallen boulders and landslides.
A middle school in Qingchuan County collapsed and many students have been reported dead while close to 1,000 students are still reported buried.
Death toll tops 70,000.

Also, just a few things about China, they have no architectural laws. You can build anything however you want, as tall as you want, and as unstable as you want. There was tons of flooding caused by the earthquake. So not only was there buildings falling, streets crumbling, but there was major flooding. A earthquake is a very scary thing to be in.
Kathleen said that she could see the tall buildings swaying from her apartment. It was very scary. Liam said that when he dies he doesn't want to live with Jesus, he wants to live with his mom. So cute, but sad to think that death crossed the mind of such a young boy. They are doing fine but still recovering from the scare.
Jeff was traveling when it happened. He was on, I believe it was the 17th floor of a like a 68 story building. It started to move and pictures were flying off the walls and everything going all over the place. He ran down the 17 flights of stairs (running during an earthquake is very very difficult and dangerous because you never know where the ground is going to be once your ready to put another foot down, and many people break legs and bones while trying to run during one) and got to a safe place. He is fine as well and made it back home to his family.
All of China is in mourning and many shops and schools are closed. It will take a while for China and it's people to get back on their feet. Keep them in your prayers. Thank you all for your concern!!

Redken Course

2008-05-16T19:07:00.000-07:00

I am so stoked!!! I get to go to a Redken certification course!!! It is a four day thing-2 days this month and 2 days next month!! This month they are going to go over Redken cutting and tools! Next month they are doing color classes!! It is a hands on course and there are only 20 spaces and I get to go!! The school I work for is paying for it- it's quite expensive- they are so great at helping us continue our education!!! I am just so stinking excited!!!! I will be that much closer to being able to be a Redken educator!! That is my plan if I don't have kids soon!!! I am so excited!!! I can't wait!!

Random

2008-05-16T18:51:00.000-07:00

So it's just been a while since I've posted anything so I thought I'd just put a few things on that are new until I get more picts taken! So...we love our house!! We love that it is ours and that we can do whatever we want to it!! I love walking through it and looking at everything knowing that it is all ours!!
So, I worked last Saturday and I came home to a freshly cut, weed free yard!!! Mike worked so hard and got it looking great!! While he was working in the yard our neighbor came over and told Mike that our sprinklers are getting her sand box wet... we have a fence so I thought "wow!! that is some good pressure to get the water clear over the fence!!!" So today I turned the sprinklers on. Before we moved in we were told that there was a drip system in the garden areas (close to the sand box). But there isn't, there is just a pipe that comes out of the ground that we can hook a drip system onto. This pipe doesn't have a cap on it, so when I turned the sprinklers on there was a fountain of water coming out!!! I flooded our garden area and the neighbors sand box...oops!!! We'll have to get a cap on that!!!!
I worked in the yard today (and got way sunburned) because their is a very large area for planting bushes and flowers...just too big! So we are going to tear up the cheap black plastic thing that separates the grass from the garden and put grass down. I worked on getting everything level and worked on our actual garden. We are growing strawberries, tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini!! I love fresh fruits and veggies!! I hope it can grow in our rock infested soil!!!

We are in!!

2008-04-28T21:54:00.000-07:00

Here we are!! Finally in our new house! And it's a good thing...my patience was wearing out!! I took these at night so I'll put one of the front of the house another day. And some of the bedrooms I am still painting and getting fixed up. And I can't decide the colors for the bathrooms so, when I make some decisions and get things done I'll post more pictures!! But for now here is our house!!! We love it so much!!
This is the entry!!
This is the living room! We don't have our entertainment center yet so I'm not showing that wall. And not all my pictures are hung up because I just barely bought a stud finder!
Here's the kitchen!! It's so nice to have room to walk around! And we have a nice sized pantry which helps with the space!!
Our dining area! And the door to go to the backyard..which is fully fenced and has a full sprinkler system!!:)
The laundry room!! It's nice to just throw it in and shut the door- it's easier to forget about though!!
Ok- this is Mike's room!! He requested that all these pieces of furniture be in his "study"- which includes a tv with his xbox!! Wonder how much studying he'll get done in here?!!:)
This is the master bedroom! The picture doesn't do it justice! It is huge!!
Same with the walk in closet!! Notice that it's full of Mike's stuff! I have a little bit in the end in the corner down there somewhere!!
And here's the two car garage!! It's so great!! It is protecting my projects I'm working on!!
We love it here!! We have great neighbors who we have met already!! It is such a peaceful and comfortable place!! We are so happy!! Thanks to everyone who helped us out!! We really appreciate it so much!! We will let you all know when we are having our "house warming" party!!!

Getting ready!!

2008-04-28T21:51:00.000-07:00

So, I wanted to pack my kitchen but not have to eat out for the next week...so, I pre-made these four meals and froze them!! It worked out fabulously!! It was so nice to have everything ready to go when they said it was time!! I will do this again!!

i LOVE my nephews

2008-04-28T21:46:00.000-07:00

So...I love playing with my nephews!! They make me so happy!! I love hearing them make noises and talk on the phone!! I love shopping with them!! I love hearing them laugh!! I love everything about them!! They are so great!!
This is my nephew Joel- Celeste's baby! We were in Jo-Ann's looking for stuff for our houses and found these festive 4th of July pinwheel headband! Only Joel could pull it off!! (someday I'll figure out how to rotate picts!!)
This is Tyler and Dylan- Melissa's babies!! Dylan want to be next to Tyler every second of everyday and Tyler just wants to be by himself!! Dylan is quite the tease but so so sweet!! I love both of them so much!!!

Random picts

2008-04-16T11:34:00.001-07:00

Mike and his favorite boys!! Tyler and Dylan come to play and they always have so much fun!!
I don't think Dylan could get any cuter than this!!! He was being fussy because he wanted his mom and so Mike started tossing him in the air and he would catch a glimps of himself each time and just started to giggle!! He loves looking at himself!! He's got the cutest smile!!
I have tried forever to get this pict to rotate but it won't cooperate!! I have had some friends get married and I have been able to do their flowers for them!! This is one of the bouquets I made! I have fun doing them!

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

2008-04-10T21:12:00.001-07:00

I LOVE this song!! It is one of my favorites!! I love it with the ukulele!!!! I was so happy when I heard him sing it!!!

Offer Accepted

2008-04-03T13:46:00.000-07:00

On Monday we went to get the paperwork to make an offer on a home in Provo. That night Nancy sent me a few other houses to look at. I didn't want to look but I did anyways. The last one we looked at both Mike and I fell in LOVE with!! It's only 2 years old-meaning no fixing!!! It's bigger than the other one and in a very nice neighborhood!! It is in Spanish Fork only 5 min from my job!! The seller was one of my fellow EFY counselor friends!!! We left and about 10 minutes later we called them and made an offer!! They thought for like 2 seconds and accepted!! The contract has been signed and we are qualified for our loan...now we are waiting for the bank!! We will be moving in in a few weeks!!! We are so excited!! Now if I could just twitch my nose and have everything moved for me!!!! If you go to this website there are a few pictures: http://provo.craigslist.org/rfs/625298765.html

We are moving up!

2008-03-30T21:41:00.000-07:00

So, we have been searching for a house for what seems like forever!!! We finally found one that we love! It's definitely not our dream home but it is so much nicer than living in a 400 square foot apartment in the middle of all the BYU students. So, we are making an offer this week and we hope to be in by May 1st. We are hoping that with Mike working at the bank things will move a bit faster than normal and this will be possible!! Wish us luck!! We'll have all you over once we're in!!!

Do Your Part-Go Green!!

2008-03-19T10:14:00.001-07:00

I feel a little concern for our lovely planet of ours!! So, I have taken action!! I have gone paperless!!! I have paperless bills and statements!!! I also have taken my name off of all the junk mail lists!!! Here are the websites I have used to do this!! If you know of other ones I'd LOVE to know!! This one is for credit card offers: www.optoutprescreen.com
This one if for all that unwanted junk mail: www.secure.proquo.com
That one you can go to stop all and it will cancel the ones you can without having to print out a page, sign it and mail it in!! I know kind of ironic huh?!! But it's worth it!!! They also have catalogs on this site that you can cancel!! They are all online anyway!!! But the best catalog one is: www.catalogchoice.org
Have fun with this!! Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!!! Does this sound green or what!! But we should take care of what we have!!!

Latest Purchase

2008-03-11T21:04:00.000-07:00

Mike and I have been using a dresser that was dropped down the stairs and we were lucky if we could get the drawers pushed in and stay in!! So, we finally found a moment to get something new!! This is it!!!! We love it!!! Now for the head board!!! It might take a couple months to talk Mike into it!!! Guess I better keep working!:)

What have we been up to you ask?

2008-03-11T19:04:00.001-07:00

Besides all the everyday things that keep us all busy...these are some other things we have been doing!!!
Strawberry facials-very moisturizing!!
Taking the boys to McDonalds to play!!
Cleaning under the oven and everywhere else!!!
And doing a little Cirque du Soleil makeup when I can't stand another moment of life!!!

Manti

2008-03-11T19:00:00.000-07:00

Mike and I went to Manti for a friends wedding! We got there right in time to miss the big snow storem!! It was absolutely beautiful with NOTHING in site!! We had a lot of fun there!! And the Temple is amazing!!! We would recommend going there for a weekend!!

Backtrack....

2008-03-11T18:42:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how behind I am. Life has been CRAZY!!!! Here are just a few picts from the past 3-4 months!!
Mike and I at midnight 2008 or is it 2007? I try not to think about the day!! Mike was excited!
The big boys lit off fire works for New Years and even though we could barely hear them inside, cute Liam still plugged his ears!! So cute!!
Uncle Mike holding little Collin!!! He is so much fun!!
The day after New Years we all went up snowmobiling!! It was a lot of fun!! The small boys played outside and had lunch out of the back of the car!! The rest of us rode clear to Bear Lake on the snowmobiles!! It was cold but also a blast!!
Just getting back from Bear Lake!! It was getting dark- so right in time!!
The whole Draper Family!!
The whole Reece Family!! well....the originals at least!!

Be Mine...

2008-02-16T20:33:00.000-08:00

I love to be in love and I love others in love and I just love love in general!! It makes me so happy!!! Although Valentine's Day is not one of my favorite holidays! I worked at the flower shop again this year!! I worked almost 30 hours in 2 days in the cold!! We went through over 2500 roses!! And the record spender this year was $480! It was so nice to get home after a long few days and get warm and get a nice foot rub from Mike!! But the best of all was getting in the warm bed and sleeping for 12 hours!! I hope everyone had a happy Valentine's Day!!

Tag...

2008-02-06T10:37:00.000-08:00

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning. B. Each player answers the questions about themselves. C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

10 years ago... I was a sophomore in High School. I think I was dating Jake Jaggi. I was driving the Red Rocket and probably toilet papering every single house in Logan with Salli and Jen!! I was working at Premium Malt Shoppe and hated every minute of it but loved having my own money to spend on whatever I wanted!! I was foot loose and fancy free and loving life!

5 things on my to do list today...1. Take my car to the shop and get my rental car 2. Go to the Dr. to get more blood drawn. 3. Go to the post office to mail Jen's and Ali's packages. 4. Take Elder Evans (my cuz) shopping!!!! 5. Write up a class schedule for my nail class.

Snacks I enjoy...I love any snacks!!!!! I would rather snack than eat a meal! I love good and plenty, twix, Ritz crips-vegetable flavor, cookie dough ice cream, chocolate milk, apple sauce, snickers, and my list could go on forever!! I love to snack!!

What I would do if I were suddenly a billionaire...pay off our car, buy a house, travel (go to China to see my fam., New Zealand, Africa....) Give some to charity (OSSO, and Vanuatu), give some to my family and then save the rest! I'm sure Mike would buy the car of his dreams and tickets to all and every game he wanted!!

5 bad habits.... 1. Being late! I'm always late to everything no matter how early I get up and start getting ready- I am late!! 2. Cleaning everything all the time. It drives Mike crazy because I clean during movies, conversations, everything. I can't stand anything being dirty or out of place. 3. Changing my hair. Weather it be color, cut, style I'm always changing it and soon I won't have any!!! 4. Not taking my vitamins. I will put them in my pocket as I run out the door thinking once I'm at work I will take them. Then the next time I put that pair of pants I find my vitamins from like 5 days ago-that is if I don't wash them!! 5. Shopping! I have been told that it is a bad obsession that I need to take care of. I don't shop for clothes...I shop for things for my house! I don't even have room for anything else but I keep on shopping on!!!!!

5 jobs that I have had... 1. Hair/nail instructor 2. Floral arranger 3.Missionary Mall
4. Convergys 5. Missionary

5 things people don't know about me... 1. A few of my favorite things are my label maker and totes/tupperware. I love to organize and their is nothing better than an organized space.
2. I am such a bargain shopper!! I can always find a great deal and never pay more than anything is worth!! 3. I like to get what I want. I am actually quite the brat! If someone doesn't give me what I want then I find a way to get it. 4. Although I talk about food a lot and have a whole blog dedicated to food- I hate eating. I think it is a waste of time and a waste of money to eat. When I get hungry it is such a nuisance because then I have to stop what I'm doing, think what sounds good and usually nothing does, then make it and then eat it. It would save so much time if we didn't eat!! 5. I am a hypochondriac. With the help of my own medical books, WebMD and my college biology classes I do my own diagnosing!!! I have a one page, three column, front and back piece of paper with every disease/sickness I've ever had!! It keeps growing but slower than before!!

As for those of you who are tagged, Whitney, Jenny -whenever you have time!! and mother.

Up and Running!

2008-01-23T21:01:00.002-08:00

I always thought it would be so much fun to be married and cook and clean and do all those things you do when you are married!! I love all of it but the deciding what to cook!!! Once I know what to cook it's fun and easy!! I always call my sister up to get some ideas from her and I am always looking in magazines and getting ideas anywhere I can. SO...I had a great idea!!! All the easy and fast recipes I find I will put all in one place!! So I made a blog!! Full of recipes!!! And it is going to be so great!! My sister is helping post some recipes too!! I hope all those in need of an answer of "what should I make tonight" can get some inspiration from this little blog of mine!!
www.kriskankook.blogspot.com

No news....

2008-01-20T17:01:00.000-08:00

No news is good news I guess-right?! I haven't posted for a while and I have no new pictures but I hate when I go on someone else's blog and their isn't anything new to read!! So, I thought I'd let you all know how much I hate house hunting!! We have been looking for a house since November. I know that's really not a long time but it feels much longer!!! We find a house and then it gets sold before I even get to filling out the paperwork to make an offer. So, we've now been looking for a lot to build on. I love the look of an old home but not the old pipes and electrical. So, I feel like I can't just build anywhere...I want to build a new house that looks beautiful like an old home and I don't want to put it right in the middle of a new subdivision because it will be so out of place. So that is my dilemma right now. Sometimes I wish I was magic!!!:)