Time Flies...

Wow...

Time sure flies when you are having fun! And we have been! Life has been great this past few years! Busy, but great, and left little time for blogging. Maybe I will make some sort of goal to update my blog more regularly but it might be a little bit unrealistic judging by past experience. Oh well. Once every 4 years is better than never right? Lol!

Well, some very major things have happened in the past few years so I will just get started with a few and see where it goes!

Ryan and I have been married for 8 years now! We are still extremely happy and he is still my very best friend! We now have 3 amazing children who keep us very busy and our hearts very full! We are expecting our 4th (along with all the joy and craziness) near the end of February!

About 3 years ago we bought our first house. We love the little town we live in and have made some amazing friends here. We hope to be here for a long time.

Ryan is working for Provo Housing Authority and loving it. He enjoys the people he is around and the job he does. He is such a great dad and loves spending time with his kids. He takes such great care of us and loves us so much! We are sooo blessed to have him!

I am blessed to stay at home and care for my wonderful kiddos! I do not love all of the cooking and cleaning (lets just be honest here, cleaning has never been my thing... lol) but I would not trade it for the world! I love watching my kids learn and grow everyday! They are absolutely my world!

Emma is going to be 7 next month!! Sooo crazy! She is in first grade and learning to read. She loves animals of all kinds and has to know everything about them! We spend a lot of time googling facts about obscure animals and dinosaurs because I have no idea. She wants to know EVERYTHING! :D She is still a little social butterfly and sometimes has a hard time understanding why other kids are sometimes shy. She is sometimes overly excited and still does not quite understand the point of personal space. ;) Lol But she has such a kind heart and can never understand why someone would be mean to someone else on purpose... we have had a hard time helping her understand a few of the kids at school and sadly even in primary... She is my little worrier. She worries about everything! We once saw a kid walking along the side of the road and she was worried that he didn't tell his mom where he was or that he was lost. Funny girl. :)

Daxton has been such a joy to watch grow! He will be 4 in November. He is definately a lover but he also has a fighting side when he is pushed. The exact opposite of Emma who just cries. Lol He is a very smart kid. He loves words and learning new ones. I often hear him repeat words he hears and then he will ask me what it means. I have come to realize that it is hard to come up with definitions for some words that will make sense to a 3 year old. He also loves to tease! He is always teasing me. Such a silly boy! He loves cars, airplanes, trains, and tractors. He can tell you the name of any tractor he sees and what its job is.

Caysen joined our family 1 year ago in August and we could not imagine our lives without him! He loves to be the center of attention. If he catches you watching him he will giggle and start putting on a little show. He loves to make people laugh already. He had such a big personality for such a little guy! Although he really is not that little! Lol He completely adores his big brother and wants to play whatever he is playing. His face absolutely lights up when he sees his Daddy come home from work and will follow him around. He will stand at the door and cry if Ryan shuts the door to the bedroom to change his clothes and does not take him.

West Coast Adventures!

In May we were headed to Oregon for Kyle and Michelle's wedding reception. Well we decided that we might as well make a vacation of it!!!
On Wednesday May 15th we left our home in Utah and headed for our first stop, Boise Idaho. We got in late at night so we headed straight for the hotel and got some rest.
The next morning we got up and after breakfast we went to the discovery center of Idaho. It is a sort of hands of center for kids. It was a lot of fun not only for Emma but for us as well!

 Playing some unique musical instruments! 

Air Brake Experiment!

 A light experiment!

 Giant bubbles!!

Green screen. The shark ate us!! :)

The next day we drove to Kennewick Washington and stayed the night. Early the next morning we started our drive to Keizer Oregon. We stayed in Keizer for a few days for the reception.
Thursday evening we had a bridal shower for Michelle while the men went on a hike to a waterfall.
Friday we went to the air museum. It was pretty cool!

Saturday Morning we watched the Iris Festival Parade. It was fun and Emma loved it!

    Watching the Parade! :)

Saturday Evening was the Reception. We visited with Michelle's family and friends and the kids played in the yard.

Sunday after church we went to Michelle's parents house to have a birthday party for Kyle and Michelle's mom. We had some dinner and ate dessert. After the party everyone said goodbye and we headed on our way down the coast!
Sunday evening we arrived in Crescent City California. These next pictures were from the drive there!

Monday morning we took highway 101 along the coast through the redwood forest on our way to San Francisco. It took us most of the day to get there so there was not a lot of time to tour anything when we got there.
Here are some pictures of the drive from Crescent City to San Francisco.

Tuesday morning we went and saw the golden gate bridge and took a drive through San Francisco. It is a very interesting city!

That evening we drove to Anaheim. When we stopped to have lunch we stopped at a little burger joint in the middle of nowhere. They had really good burgers, fries and shakes!
We got into Anaheim really late but the next morning we got up and headed for Sea World!

I would love to share some wonderful pictures of our family having a good time at Sea World, however, I was lame and forgot my camera battery so there are no pictures... I am really disappointed but we had a wonderful time anyways! :)

Thursday morning we went to Long Beach and played on the beach! It was a ton of fun to play on a beach where it was warm for a change!

 Emma loved building sand castles!

Daxton was unsure what to think about the sand! ;)

Friday morning we packed up and headed for Vegas. We stayed at Circus Circus and enjoyed the shows and games. We had dinner with an old friend of Ryan's and they enjoyed catching up. We were planning to stay another night but by this time we were just ready to go home so Saturday morning we packed up and headed home!

We had an amazing time and really enjoyed the time together!

Daxton Ryan Herring!

November 19th 2011 was a very special day for  us! That is the day that my baby boy decided to make his appearance in this world! We were staying with my parents at the time because we had just moved back from Washington and hadn't found our own place yet so we were up in Heber. The day was pretty much like any other until about 11:00 that night when I woke up to my water having broken! We had to drive all the way down to Provo to the hospital because that is where my doctor delivers so I was not looking forward to the trip. However, even though my water had broken my labor did not start.

We made it to UVRMC and checked in and they came in to check things and discovered that I was not having ANY contractions... They decided to let me wait for a bit and see if my labor started on it's own before inducing me. Well a little while later they came back and still nothing... so they decided I needed to have some pitocin to start my labor. They started me at about 12:30 and then came back and took it off hoping that my body would take over. No such luck... so they started it again. They did this three times before they finally decided at about 4:00 that they were just going to have to leave me on it.

Well after about 9 or so hours my baby boy was not moving down like he was supposed to. The doctor came in to see what was going on and decided that he was sideways and they needed to get him turned so that he would keep moving.... OUCH... That hurt like crazy.. but it did the trick. After only another 30 minutes or so my baby boy was born!

His Stats:
Daxton Ryan Herring
Born: 11/19/2011 at 1:30 P.M.
Weight: 8 lbs. 2 oz.

Now here is the fun part... Pictures! :)

Yeah I know... He's pretty cute! ;)

Well over the past few months here is how he has grown! :)

November

January

February

March

April

Blessing Day!

Easter

June

July

August

He is getting so big! I just can't believe it! We love him soo much! He is such a happy kid! Always making everyone smile! We are sooo lucky to have him as a part of our family!!!

                                                      WE LOVE YOU DAXTON!!! :)

Yearly Update!

Oh wow I have a lot to update on! I am really bad at this blogging thing! ha ha ha! This post will  be a short update for the last year. Only a few things will get their own posts so I guess I will have to try to decide what is most important! He he he :) Enjoy!

Well here is what happened in the last year! :)

October 2011
-Emma turned 3! She had a party with some friends and then with family in Utah the next week!

-Shortly after Emma's party we packed up and moved our family back to Utah! (Although that was almost a year ago we are still searching for a permanent residence...)

November 2011
- November 19th was a very important day! Our baby boy Daxton was born! (This will get its own post!)

-Thanksgiving with family was wonderful!

December 2011

-Obviously lots of Christmas celebrations but nothing too out of the ordinary! :)

May 2012

-My brother in law Kyle got married and gave me one of the most awesome sister in laws anyone could ask for! :) Love you Michelle!

-We took a trip down the west coast! (This will also get its own post!)

June 2012

-We bought bikes and biked a ways up Provo canyon from our house! It was awesome and the kids loved it!

July 2012

- We had an awesome 4th of July! On the 3rd we did fireworks with Kyle and Michelle and then the next morning we went and watched the parade with the Herring family and my parents. After the parade we went and played mini-golf. During which i began to not feel good and discovered i had a fever. That evening Ryan and the kids went to a BBQ and i stayed home and rested!

August-

-Daxton (who turned 9 months old on the 19th) has decided that it is time for him to learn to walk... he does not crawl anymore. I keep trying to tell him that he is too little but he wont listen! Crazy little boy!

-The 25th was Ryans birthday! He is now 28 years old! wow! I like to tease him that he is getting old! ;) For his birthday we went to his parents house and had cake and ice cream with the family!

-For the last week of August my brother and sister in law were here from Alabama with their two kids! (This will get a post too!)

-While we were staying with my mom Daxton got a really bad cold and we had to take him to the ER because he was wheezing really bad. We ended up having to give him breathing treatments every 4 hours for a few days. It was a long tiring process but he seems to be back to his old self again!

September-

- The 7th of this month was our 5 year anniversary! I can't believe how time flies! I love being married to this man! We had planned to go away for the weekend but with Daxton being sick it just wasn't a good time so we went out to dinner at Red Robin and then went and saw Madagascar 3 in the dollar theater. It was nice to spend some time alone! :) And then my wonderful sister in law offered to take the kids overnight at her house Saturday night. We dropped them off and spent some time with friends. It was good not to have to worry about getting the kids home at a decent hour and we slept in till noon on sunday! :) Thanks Michelle!!


I think that pretty much brings you up to date!!! There will be a few more posts to come for those things that deserved a little more than a mention! :)

Gratitude

I am sooo grateful today for sooo much! I cannot even express the joy in my heart! I may not have much in the way of worldly possessions but I have what is most important in life!

My family-
My husband and my wonderful kids are what make me want to keep going from day to day! They are everything to me! Seeing their smiling faces is what makes my world go round!

A relationship with my savior-
The gratitude that I have for the atonement in my life cannot be expressed fully in writing. It is amazing to me that he cares so much for me that he was willing to suffer for my sins. Something that only he could do! I thank him each and every day for that sacrifice!

My health-
Our bodies are so amazing but there are so many things that can go wrong! I am so grateful that my body functions normally!

There are so many more things that I could go on and on about but then you wouldn't want to read anymore would you! ;)

Kiddos!

My babies are getting so big I thought I should probably sit down and write a few memories! I know I have a lot of catching up to do here on the blog but it will have to wait till I have access to my pictures and a real keyboard! (this post will be published from my phone!)

Emma

Well Emma turned 3 in October and she is getting so smart! Some of her favorite things right now are riding her bike and watching Strawberry Shortcake! Here are just a few funny things that have happened lately.

- I was eating a salad and she reached over and pulled out a piece of purple cabbage. I asked what it was and she said something slightly resembling the word "cabbage". So I said "that's right! Cabbage!" to which she replied in a very matter of fact kind of way "yeah, I'm smart."
And getting smarter everyday!
- Ryan was moving a family in our ward and Emma went to "help". He picked up a box and Emma said "that's tricky!"
Oh that kiddo!
- Emma's grandpa Herring always tells her "I'm impressed" when she does something well. So when I told her she was getting good at riding her bike she said "yeah, that's impressed!"
Yes it is sweetheart!
- At Sea World in the gift shop she wanted a huge Shamu toy. I explained to her that this one was too much money. Just then Ryan walked over and she looked at him and said "Daddy, I want the too much money one!"
Daddy caved... Lol
- It's funny when you have kids because they start saying things that you say a lot... When we pick things out now if I say "let's get this one" she says "that one it is!" lol
Just glad I don't swear!

Daxton

Well my baby boy is almost 7 month old now! He is proficient at the Army crawl (figures! Lol). He is working on his second tooth. The first appeared just about a week or so ago. We feel so luck to have him in our family! He has such a sweet little personality! He loves his sister so much and always has a special smile just for daddy! When he thinks someone (mostly just emma) is hurt or sad he gets really upset! He is starting to babble and it is sooo cute! I can't wait to find out more about this special little guy! Love you little man!


And now.... Pictures!!!

One Great Week!

Tonight my feet are so swollen that I have no choice but to be in bed with them up on a stack of pillows so I figured there was no excuse for me not to update the blog! ;) lol

OUCH! No ankles! boo hoo! :(

This last week (since labor day weekend) has been amazing! So many good things happened that this post may get a little long but I will try not to go on and on about it and I will try to keep it lively with a few pictures! :)

- Last Thursday (Sept. 1) we had tickets to go see the Tacoma Rainier's. It is the minor league baseball team here! It was a lot of fun! Emma enjoyed it and even got a foam finger and giant baseball and bat!

Emma with her ball and bat! (Ryan and Chad goofing off int he background!)

- Friday night we left to spend Labor day weekend crabbing in Oregon with Ryan's sister DebiLynn and her husband Wyatt. We had a great time and caught a TON on crab! It is sooo delicious! (Try not to be too jealous!) ;) However, I did not take many pictures so you will all have to stay tuned for the rest those when I get them from DebiLynn! But here are the few that I do have!

On our way there we found a really cool diner! It was yummy! :)

Gettin' ready to eat yummy burgers!

 The Bridge into Coos Bay!

 We took some time out  to watch the BYU game and Emma wore her lucky shirt for grandpa! :)

-Wednesday was our 4 year wedding Anniversary! Wow! Time really flies! I love being married and could not ask for a better husband! He would do anything for me and has proven that on several occasions. I love him sooo much! I can't wait to spend the rest of my life and eternity with him! :) To celebrate (because we did SO much the rest of the week) we went to Walmart and bought Emma's outfit for her first day of school and stuff! Afterwards we went to Arby's and then home to watch a movie. Not to exciting but it was good to spend time together and just relax!

-Thursday Emma started preschool!!!! AAAHHHH!!!! I have to admit that I did really good dropping her off but when I got home and it was all quiet I had a little bit of a freak out moment. I can't believe my baby girl is getting so big! She absolutely loves school and actually cried when I went to pick her up because she did not want to go home! Her teacher is a sister in my ward and she is amazing with kids! As she was explaining all of the fun and exciting things they will by doing this year it almost made me wish I was back in preschool! ;) Emma is going to learn sooo much this year!

Getting Ready to Go!

 In Front of School (Teachers House)!

-Thursday afternoon Ryan let me go and relax with a pedicure and I also got my hair dyed! It was nice to have a little bit of time for myself! :) 

-Friday after Emma got done with School we packed up and headed off to the Puyallup Fair! By the time we got there we had no time to walk around and see anything because we had tickets to the Rodeo and concert that was starting! It was so fun! Emma loved all of the horses, cows, and even the bulls! She even begged Ryan and I to let her ride the sheep when she saw all those little kids doing it! ;) After the rodeo was the Joe Nichols concert! It was awesome! We had so much fun!

Concert!

Emma and I!

 Ryan and I!

So that is all about my exciting and amazing week! It is going to be a hard one to beat! :)