Logan-Heidi-Afton

Christmas Card Pictures

2012-02-12T20:06:00.000-08:00

This year I really wanted to e-mail out Christmas cards but it never happened. Too many other priorities. We did make it out to OSJ to take a few family pictures though. Here is what was supposed to be this years christmas card. :)

Not a huge fan of taking pictures

This was my attempt to show Afton how to run through the water fountain and not get very wet.... it didn't go well.

Piraguas= shaved ice

I wouldn't want to be in a wheel chair in OSJ. It's hard enough getting the stroller up and down the handicap ramps.

After pictures lunch at a place the Butlers showed us, Sam's patio. It was so so delicious and affordable. The mofongo and tostones were great.

Out with Mom

2012-02-12T19:19:00.000-08:00

On Saturday Logan really needed to study so we decided to head out on our own to give him a quite house. It was quite the day. With our car once again broken down, Afton, Emery and I took the ferry to the OSJ to go to the childrens musuem. Of course Afton mentioned to me on the ferry ride over that she needed to go to the bathroom. Finding bathrooms here in PR isn't the easiest task so I decided I would try and hurry to the childrens museum. We got there a little early and then in true Puerto Rican form the musuem opened 20 minutes late. I realized getting her to a bathroom just wasn't going to happen so we got to practice her outside behind a bush squating skills that she leanred this summer camping. I decided that with the waiting and squating and stressing, we deserved a parcha icecream. When the museum finally opened we were so ready to get out of the heat and Emery was ready to nurse. We found the play area and I sat down in the comfy chair to nurse Emery. It was only 10 minutes before Afton had to go to the bathroom again, then again, then again. Before we left the museum 2 hours later, I got to help Afton go to the bathroom 4 times while holding Emery in one arm. Emery decided she also didn't want to make the trip an easy task for me and threw up on me 4 times and all over the ground once. I don't think the museum workers were very happy about that. After 2 hours I was ready to go home. We walked in the heat back to the ferry and of course, it didn't show up and we were stranded. Just as I was ready to find a taxi to take us home a bus showed up. It was the craziest/scariest bus ride I have ever been on. He was swerving in and out of traffic, flying past everyone, cutting people off, looking back at me and asking me questions, texting and answering his phone. I was so grateful when we were finally able to get off that bus and walk the rest of the way home! What a day, what an exhausting but memorable day.

Decorating for Christmas

2012-01-19T22:24:00.000-08:00

The girls and I flew out Nov. 30th so we wanted to get in as much Christmas spirit as we could before we left. The day after Thanksgiving we pulled out and put up all our Christmas decorations.... One box. :) It may not be a lot but we still love it.

Emery slept through most of it.

Thanksgiving

2012-01-19T22:12:00.000-08:00

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. It was pretty easy going. I didn't have to make the turkey this year, which was a relief. I did however, somehow managed to ruin mashed potatoes. I think my potatoes could have been used as weapons if molded correctly. Needless to say, not many people ate them. ha ha. We didn't get many pictures. Emery spent most of the time throwing up everywhere and pooping through her clothes and spare clothes, so we spent all of our time cleaning up after her.

The Turkey bowl

Picture on the beach next to the game

Our only picture together as a family on thanksgiving

It's been a pretty hectic year but we know we have so much to be grateful for. The crazier life gets the more I notice and appreciate the simple and little blessings. We have been blessed immensely and are so grateful for all the blessings that Heavenly Father sends our way. Especially grateful to be together and loving life here in Puerto Rico.

San Juan Feria

2012-01-19T21:48:00.000-08:00

This year we decided going to the fair was an absolute must. We felt we owed it to Afton after last years fiasco...
Last year we decided that we were going to the fair. We talked with the Boss's and decided we would all go together. For a week straight we drove by the fair and told Afton "were going to the fair in a couple of days with tyler and tiffy." She was so excited. Finally the weekend came and we all headed to the fair together... we didn't get far before we hit awful, and I mean AWFUL traffic. The fair was really only about a mile from our house but there we were gridlocked and stuck for about an hour right infront of it. Poor Afton could see the lights and just kept crying that she wanted out of her carseat, wanted to go to the fair, was hungry and we were stuck and couldn't move. All the flashing lights were just taunting her! Finally we made it into the parking lot all got out and got up the ticket office and realized it was 30 dollars a person!!! What!!! So we couldn't afford it and turned around and left. We had to explain to Afton that we just didn't have enough money. Instead we decided we would take her to a movie. So we started to getting her excited about seeing a movie. We stopped at Burger King to get some food. While in line Afton fell off some railing and hit the floor. Luckily she was fine but not very happy about the fall. After eating we walked over to the theatre meanwhile pumping her up for how cool the movie was going to be. We got there and started to order our tickets when we realized it was the Spanish version and the english was not until 10:00 p.m. We decided to call it a night a head back to our place. It was clear the stars were just not aligned for us that night.

We felt bad about that night ever since and vowed we would take Afton to the Fair to make up for her terrible night the year before. We figured out that tickets were about half price during the weekdays and planned to go on one of those nights. This year it turned out much better. She loved going on all the rides and was running from ride to ride.

She obviously didn't not like the free fall ride. ha ha.

Loved the carousel
great view from the top!

So glad we finally made it to the fair!

Volleyball Game

2012-01-19T21:41:00.000-08:00

We went to a friend from churchs volleyball game. Hopefully next year when Logan isn't as busy we can go to more games. Poor Emery kept waking up everytime they would blow the horn, scream, and whistle. Regardless, we all had a great time together.

Louster the Pukester

2012-01-19T21:21:00.000-08:00

Just a little loving nickname we have for our Emery girl. Can you guess why?

I've seen better days.

regardless of how much she throws up on all of us, we still love her all the same.

Friday Night Dinner with Friends

2012-01-19T20:51:00.000-08:00

Another Friday, another place to eat. We tried going to a Taco shop that is supposed to be amazing but after driving 40 minutes we got there and they were closed for the night.... no way, not in Puerto Rico! (sarcasm) We tried convincing them to open up for us but failed and so we went to the next place we could find and it all worked out just fine. We filled up the whole restuarant with our little group.

drinking her jarritos

Cheers!

4 month comparison

2012-01-16T22:33:00.001-08:00

Look a likes?

4 Months

2012-01-16T22:20:00.000-08:00

4 Months sure went by so fast. What a sweet heart and good baby Emery is. Now if we could only get her to sleep through the night and to stop throwing up all the time, she would be the easiest baby! She looks so much like her big sister Afton and they love each other to death. Lets hope that lasts! :)

Sleep Away

2012-01-16T22:18:00.000-08:00

I love it when babies sleep with their bums in the air.

Park with Friends

2012-01-16T22:07:00.001-08:00

We went to a new park for Sweet Sawyers birthday party. Erin went over and above to make it a cute celebration. We had a great time! Happy #1 Sawyer!

The girls.... Emery, Elsa, Mia. I don't know how they could possibly sleep in that heat and humidity!

First Bug Bite

2012-01-16T22:04:00.000-08:00

It was only a matter of time here in PR!

Dance Class

2012-01-16T21:55:00.000-08:00

She loves her dance class with Miss Amy!

3 years and 3 months old

2012-01-16T21:44:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty sure I have the cutest and sweetest girls in the world! Love them!

No Emery... No picking your nose!

Make Yourself Comfortable

2012-01-16T21:39:00.000-08:00

Halloween

2011-11-08T16:55:00.000-08:00

We had a lot of fun on Halloween with everyone. We invited our friends Tiff and Tyler over to go trick or treating and hang out with us. It's always a fun time when they're around. Then we met up with the Butlers and Affy's best buddy Carson. Our complex has a mini party and then all the kids go around the whole complex together... we figured that out a little late but made it in time to finish with the group and have pizza and soda.

Carving the pumpkin the Riggs gave Afton. They're pretty hard to come by on the island.

Tyler, Logan, and the Louster

Super Girl

Lou slept through most of it.

Affy and Carson

The Whole Group

the loot

Happy Halloween

Ward Halloween Party

2011-11-08T11:58:00.000-08:00

We had a good time at the ward Halloween party. I was asked to plan it with the help of a few other people in the ward. It was more work than I had anticipated. But it turned out to be an easy going and fun activity. There were a lot of people that showed up.

Afton decided that she wanted to be a "Super Affy". We went to wal-mart and I had her pick out the colors and fabric she wanted. She had a lot fun picking it out and was so excited for me to make her costume. She asked me everyday up until the party if I had made it. Everyday I said no and she would then ask me all day to make it. She was very persistent. She even got desperate enough and started asking Logan to make it. ha ha. I think next time I won't mention what the fabric is for! She loved wearing her costume and she loved that her sister was a "Super Emery" and matched her.

Logan and I were The Price is Right contestants. It was by far the easiest costume I have had to make. :)

Super Affy
She loved pretending she could fly!
Super Emery

Marbles

2011-11-08T11:41:00.000-08:00

Logans parents sent Afton a gift card to toys r us for her birthday. We went to the store and she wanted everything. She couldn't decided on just one item. So with a little help from me, we came home with this marble race. She loves it. I wish I could post some of the videos of her and her buddy Carson playing with it. They were screaming and laughing. And it's fun for us adults to help her build new ones. Thanks Nana and Papa.

Mites

2011-11-07T19:04:00.000-08:00

This was the worst infestation I have ever experienced in my life. I hope I never have to do this again!! Growing up in California I was pretty used to lots of bugs. And yes, I have had my fair share of weevils, moths, ants etc in the food and pantry but never have I ever heard of FLOUR MITES. And never have I experienced infestations of bugs like we have here in PR! I started noticing white specks around our pancake mix but just thought it was spilt flour or sugar. It wasn't for a while until I realized they were multiplying and everywhere, no longer just around the mix. I stopped and stared at the specks for a while and realized they were moving. I had to google and research things out to finally figure out what it was and how to get rid of them. They are so hard to get rid of. I immediatley threw out all the food in all of my cabinets. They had spread so fast and there was nothing that they did not get through. Literally I had noodles in a plastic bag that was in a sealed plastic container and they were in them. I spent all day working and bleaching my cabinets out. I carried loads of heavy trash down the 5 flights of stairs. Poor Afton and Emery had to watch tv and entertain themselves the whole day. After hours I was done and felt better.

I got up the next day to wipe and bleach out the cabinets again and noticed that there were little white specks all over the utensils in the drawers, then I looked underneath and sure enough they were in all the dishes, pans, in all the ziploc baggies, on the picture frames and letters above the cabinets, all over my cookbooks, in all our medicine and first aid stuff. They didn't just stick to the food. They were in the drawers and all the underneath cabinets as well. It was a disaster and Logan couldn't help at all because of school and some big exams. Luckily Krissy and Heather saved the day. Krissy came over to help clean and Heather watched Afton. I couldn't have done it without them. I was already exhausted from the day before. It took us hours and like 5 bathtubs full of hot bleach water to clean everything out. We had to deep freeze anything that could not be washed and throw out all the rest. Then for 5 days I repeated the process of wiping out the cabinets with bleach water. Just now I'm starting to put things back but I jut can't bring myself to put any food back in there. I'm way too afraid that they will come back. I never ever ever want to have to do that again!!

There was a lot of crying those 2 days. No i did not leave Emery on the floor next to all those choking hazards... But yes I did have to let her cry a little bit so that I could get some things done. I may have shed a few tears myself... it was that aweful!

We had to lay out towels to put all the bleached items on. We still haven't fully recovered from our house being so torn apart for that whole week.

All the cabinets bleached out.

Swimming

2011-11-07T18:59:00.001-08:00

Like usual... just having fun swimming. It's been unusually hot and humid this year. I love that we can go swimming year around, but I am still missing fall.

Emerys been getting in on the swimming fun. She likes it and kicks like crazy when we put her in the water.

It just doesn't quite fit!

Number 3!

2011-11-07T17:09:00.000-08:00

Afton at three years old:
27.8 pds..... still haven't hit 30!
Can count to 10 in spanish.... most days.
Can count to 20 in english.
Knows all her letters and their sounds.
Can write her name and some of her letters.
Loves having mommy and daddy make up stories for her in bed... prefers dada's stories. :)
Loves having family home evening and knows the prophets: Adam, Noah, David, Jonah, Moses, Joshua, and Thomas S. Monson.
Loves singing all the time and making up her own songs!
Favorite songs: book of mormon stories, popcorn popping, slippery fish, shake my sillies out.
Loves reading books.
Loves playing kitchen, Candyland, and Go Fish.
Loves painting and preschool.
Loves her best friend Carson.
Is a total daddys girl but sometimes still just wants mommy.
Favorite activities: swimming, riding her bike, playing outside, dancing, and pretending.
Loves doing puzzles and drawing on her magna doodle.
Loves singing all of the Mary Poppins songs over and over again in the car.
Favorite animal: giraffe (not sure why she said that, but ok.)
Loves all animals but especially dogs.
Loves the movie Tangled.
Favorite colors: orange, pink, yellow.
And we love having her in our family. Such a sweetheart and a little spitfire all at the same time. we couldn't be prouder of our little 3 year old. We love you Affy girl!

Decorating for the big day. I'm glad he likes to put up streamers because I don't.

Birthday morning I asked her what she wanted for breakfast. Even offered to make her mickey mouse pancakes with chocolate chips and all she wanted was yogurt. Well that was easy!

Whipping around her little piggy tails!

Mickey Mouse club house was on in the background so I couldn't get her to look at me. :( On her way to preschool.

After preschool we had invited some of Aftons friends to come and go swimming with us at our complex. I had a lot to carry down and somehow forgot the camera. So no pictures. She had a lot of fun swimming with her friends!

Later that night we invited some freinds to come over for hotdogs, cake, and icecream. She had a lot of fun opening her presents.

Decorating her own cupcake. I had decided to not even attempt decorating a cake after last years epic fail. To humid!

Singing happy birthday... she loved it.

Emery and dad just chillin

Krissy brought over 2 of her dogs for Afton to play with. She was in Heaven!
In the kitchen... always in the kitchen.

Playing one of her new games with dada.... WAY past her bedtime!

With all of her birthday presents the next day.

She had some belated presents show up and some that still haven't made it. My mom shipped her birthday packages priority on 10/5 and 10/7. We didn't get the first one until 11/1 and still haven't recieved the second... the mail has been HORRIBLE lately. Literally... everything shipped has been getting her a month late! But getting late presents only means the excitment lasts longer.

Mornings 10-1-11

2011-11-07T16:55:00.001-08:00

I decided to pop on my portrait lens and take some pictures of the girls. This is how things really are... no posing, dolling up, just a lazy morning at our house.

Aftons so sweet to share her favorite thing in the world, baby alligator, with emery.

This guy gets dragged everywhere. We've finally made the rule that baby alligator has to stay at home.

"See Emmy, you shake shake shake."

"Yay, Good job." I love listening to her talk to her baby sister. She loves having a sister, even though she doesn't talk back.

Justines Birthday

2011-11-07T16:40:00.000-08:00

We met up with some of Logans classmates for a very late dinner. You forget how late single people without kids like to do everything. What has happened to us!!?? 8:00 p.m. feels like midnight these days! It was Justines birthday; the only other "grengo" in Logans class. We had a lot of fun with everybody and the food was amazing!

I love how you kiss their cheeks and they immediately try and latch on

look a likes

2011-11-07T16:37:00.000-08:00

There is definitely a similarity between the two of them.

Dada Time

2011-10-31T13:47:00.000-07:00

All of us girls sure love him a lot.

Napping

2011-10-31T13:44:00.001-07:00

She's getting so big so fast!

Beach Weekend

2011-10-31T13:04:00.000-07:00

Because of a holiday and a strike at school, Logan had a 4 day weekend in September. We decided to try for the 3rd time to make it out to Culebra. We had everything planned and ready to go. We thought for sure we would make it out there this time since we were going on a Thursday and not a busy weekend. We got up early and got to the ferry only to find that they had cancelled all the morning ferrys out to Culebra. Just like that, cancelled. Attempt number three: failed! After a very long scenic drive home we decided to try something new and went to the Hilton by our house. They have their own beach and a lot of nice pools. We didn't even have to worry about having chairs because they had some already set out with shade. Afton loved all the fish we found. We brought some goggles for her and she spent the whole time trying to touch them. When we were done on the beach we went over to the pool for a swim and to get all the salt water and sand off. Definitely something we will have to do again. A good ending to a disappointing start.

Making thier best pirate faces

The rest of the weekend Logan spent studying. We took one break to go to the park. We were only there 3 seconds before Afton got attacked by the monster ants we have here in PR. Poor girl. She stepped out of the car and right onto an ant hill.

Our typical day

2011-10-17T19:46:00.000-07:00

She loves playing kitchen. Everyday when Logan gets home..."Dada, you want to play kitchen with me?" Logan plays so good with her. No wonder she's such a daddy's girl.

Emery just being sweet little Emery. She is the drooliest baby ever. I have to keep a bib on her or else her onesie will get soaked all the way down the front!

Why does this happen at the most inconvenient times!? Right as your rushing out the door to get somewhere ontime!

Swimming

2011-10-17T19:39:00.001-07:00

Afton's favorite thing to do is go swimming! She's a fish! She can dive down and get things off the bottom of the pool all by herself and can swim from one side of the pool to the other. She is also starting to dive in head first. She's a little too cocky however when it comes to her swimming abilities! She makes me nervous! Emery hanging out while we swim. Just happy to be there!

2 Months Old

2011-10-17T19:19:00.000-07:00

Head: 15 inches (16th percentile)
Length: 23 inches (55th percentile)
Weight: 11lbs 12 oz. (56th percentile)

At 2 months she's really started to smile a lot and respond to us. She's a happy happy girl and a good baby. Still throws up and spits up all the time!!!

Family Night

2011-10-17T19:13:00.000-07:00

We've been much better this year about having Family Home Evening. Probably because Afton actually gets it this year and loves it! We decided to go down to the tunnel for a little play time.

Emery 2 months old today!

Caught! I accidentally kicked the ball to Afton right as she ran towards me. This is right before it smacked her in the face. ha ha. She just laughed it off.

Afton

2011-10-17T19:09:00.001-07:00

I love this fun girl! So full of energy! Look closely and you can see where she wrote her name before she scribbled.. I mean drew all over it.
And it's a good thing I noticed something was just not quite right before giving this to Emery. Afton thought it would be fun to make a playdoh binky.

Babysitting

2011-10-17T19:07:00.000-07:00

Why is it that she always sleeps for him?!

Taking pictures

2011-10-17T19:05:00.001-07:00

"Say cheese Emery."

Loves helping to feed baby sister every once in a while when she gets a bottle.

#27

2011-10-17T18:55:00.001-07:00

Lucky for me, my birthday was on labor day this year and Logan had the day off from school. That was probably the best birthday gift I could have asked for. He made breakfast that morning; German pancakes, my favorite.

It was nice having an extra hand through out the day.

Afton pretty much took over the present opening. She was more excited for me than I was.

That's getting to be a lot of candles!

Out to dinner at Macaroni Grill.

Emery was sleeping in the stroller for this pic. There was no way we were waking her up for it!

First trip to the Beach

2011-10-17T18:40:00.001-07:00

We made it to the beach. It's definitely not an easy task with a little baby. But, we had a good time. The older Emery gets, the easier it gets to take her. I did however get repremanded for having her there. A woman can up to me and said "she's to little to be here. You need to leave right now." Ummmm Let me think about that.. No. We had her in the shade the whole time, with a hat and brought a baby beach tent that we kept her in... I think she's going to be ok! Logan did a little snorkeling, and I got to nurse... how fair is that!

2011-10-17T18:10:00.000-07:00

The day my mom left and the following week, we just took it easy. No plans, no place to be, no errands to run, just stress free. I wish it could have lasted that way!

I love all her dark hair!
Afton in her PJ's all day

She is such a great big sister!
Laughing saying, "baby sister kiss me!"

"what a cute lil chin sister!"

First week back in PR

2011-10-17T17:38:00.000-07:00

Our first week back in PR went like this: clean, attempt to run errands, spend hours in the car to get 1 thing done, go home and clean more, then run errands again. We really didn't get any pictures and my poor mom didn't get to do anything fun! These are the only pictures I got with her in them.

Have I mentioned how much I hate hate hate our white couch!!! Impossible to keep clean and then hard to clean. It took my mom and I hours to clean the couch.

An example of the before and after.

driving around in style... I hate this van! Always something breaking on it and costing a fortune to fix. Not worth the repairs!

Dropping Mom off at the airport at 4a.m.
And those are the only pics we took the whole week she was here. So sad.

6 weeks old

2011-10-02T20:53:00.000-07:00

Finally home in PR and in her own crib. Such a sweet baby girl. She loves her AVENT binkies... I'm loving it. I wish Afton would have taken a binky better!

Our Journey Home

2011-10-02T20:10:00.000-07:00

I didn't take any pics of our trip home. We were just glad to finally get there.

We start the morning off running a little late. I started to panic and was told by everyone it would be fine and to calm down. I was worried because our flights were going through Miami and Orlando, right where the hurricane was supposed to hit. On the early morning flight we were going to be getting in just before the hurricane hit but if we missed our flights we might get stuck in an airport somewhere with cancelled flights. We got to the airport started unloading everything and then I see my dad just leave. We're already in a crunch for time and we really needed his help getting the baggage to the counter so I'm baffled by why he just left. Then my sister tells me that the tailgate of the truck was accidentally never put up and my moms suitcase had fallen off the back somewhere! So we move on and expect him back any minute with the found luggage. My mom gets in line and we start bringing all the luggage to the line. After waiting for about 10 minutes I notice that the line says United. I turn to her and say "I didn't know United and American Airlines were affiliated." Right as I say that I realize they are not! We were in the wrong line! My heart sinks! Now I really start to panic. I run over to the American line and start telling the lady that were on the next flight and getting close to missing it and need help and she yells at me to get in line. They are so lovely. We are the last people they halp from that flight and we have A LOT of luggage. She of course makes sure to tell us that we need to arrive earlier blah blah blah. I KNOW!! She gets both my mom and I on the flight and then can't get Afton on. After what feels like an eternity of her trying to get afton into her seat, she can't and lets us know we have missed our flight! Unbelievable! After awhile she figures out that it was because they overbooked the flight and the seat they overbooked was Aftons. It takes another 45 minutes at the airport for her to figure it out and get us on the next flight which just so happens to be the dreaded RED EYE!! My mom's luggage is never found or returned. And yes is was very clearly tagged with her name, address, phone etc. There are very FEW honest and good people these days.

We head to the airport at 4 in the afternoon leaving plenty of time for everything to go absolutley wrong like it did that morning... and nothing goes wrong. We get on the plane and arrive in LA. Our flight there is running on time then gets bumped back 30 minutes, then another 30 minutes, then 45 minutes, then another 30 until it is no longer leaving at 10:00 p.m. but leaves after midnight. Not fun when you have a 2 year old that you just want to get on the plane so that she can sleep!

We finally get on the plane, get to Miami and we've missed our connecting flight. We are then put on the next one out in a couple of hours. In all we got to the airport in Fresno at 4:00 and didn't get to PR until 2:30 the next day! A 14 hour flight turned into 23 hours.

Now, on the upside. Afton was AWESOME and a total champ. Emery slept almost the whole way. I had my mom to go back with me and help. We still made it to Miami before the hurricane hit and the airport was shut down. Emery didn't get sick from the travel. And, We recieved a 450 dollar voucher for having such a terrible flying experience! Looks like our return flight is covered.

Last Dr. Visit

2011-10-02T19:40:00.000-07:00

Our Dr. had recommended that I wait until Emery was 2 months old before taking her on a plane back to PR. That would have mean't waiting another 3 weeks and us being away from Logan for 6 weeks total! I know some of you military people out there are thinking that's not bad at all, however I decided it was just to long. I really felt good about leaving before 8 weeks so we made our last visit to the Dr. at 4 weeks and then headed home that next week.

This Dr. visit was pretty embarressing. I don't know what got into Afton but she went ballistic on the Dr. She started getting pretty crazy after being away from Logan for so long. She would tell me all the time, "Can we go back with dada? I really miss dada." Normally when she's misbehaving I can reason with her and get her to listen. Not this time! She had crazy eyes! She wouldn't even let us weigh her. She was screaming holding onto my leg for dear life. When we got home I was telling my mom about it and how naughty she was and Afton said, "Damnma(what she calls my mom) I kick the Dr." We both had to try so hard to not laugh and make sure she knew that behavior was not ok. Hopefully our next visit will go better. If not, they might make me find a new Dr!

After the Dr. we came home and started getting things packed. It's a pretty big job, especially with how strict the airlines have become regarding the luggage weight.

Don't be fooled by this sweet face. She packs a mean kick! ;)

Sheep

2011-10-02T19:28:00.000-07:00

Our neighbors participate in 4h so on their way back from one of their events they brought one of their sheep by for Afton to see. She loved it and loves all their animals that they let her play with.

With Uncle John. He was a lifesaver and so helpful with Afton this summer. With Logan gone she was really needing a little attention from a male figure. It was so good having him home from his mission!

4 weeks Old

2011-10-02T19:20:00.001-07:00

With Nana

With (As Afton calls him) Damnpa

Watching T.v. with Aunt Ashlee. I took full advantage of having so many people around to take turns holding Emery. It was so nice to have breaks!

Emery and Jack

And, I spent most of my time looking like this... the frump master. I would like to say that things have inproved as Emery has gotten older but they really haven't. I have become THAT woman! ha ha.

Playing with cousins

2011-10-02T19:17:00.001-07:00

Afton loves having so many girl cousins to play with. They're all so cute and sassy; I love it!

3 weeks old

2011-10-02T19:05:00.000-07:00

Like usual, scowling at the camera.

After church we came home and took a few pictures. Once again Afton was making a silly face or a super cheesy face in all the pictures... I tried.

2 Weeks Old

2011-10-02T18:52:00.000-07:00

A little smile

I spent so much time nursing!!! So, poor Affy spent a lot of time playing by herself. She's pretty good at that.
And during that week I attempted to get pictures of Afton but she was feeling a little silly that day. This is the best I could do. She thought she was so funny because she kept making that face. ha ha. Oh 2 year olds!

Emery looks like she could be Ashlee's in the this pic!

Goodbye Dinner

2011-10-01T18:52:00.000-07:00

Before Logan left to go back to PR we had a dinner together with the Henderson side. Emery was not quite 2 weeks old.
Our new family of 4.

Cute little Mia. She's a doll.

The whole group.

We also had dinner with my family at Me-n-Ed's, THE BEST PIZZA IN THE WORLD! I had to throw that in for Ashlee who hates Me-n-Eds. She's crazy.

The next day we took Logan to the airport. It was a very sad day. I woke up dreading that day. We got him there and walked in with him then we sat and looked at the airplanes. Finally when it was getting time for him to go through security, he walked us back out to the car and we said our goodbyes. As soon as he walked away from the car Afton started screaming. It was heartbreaking for me. She knew exactly what was happening and she's such a daddys girl. I felt so bad for her. She cried "That makes me sad! I want Dada!" for about 15 minutes. We stopped and got slushies to cheer us both up.

Last Day of Swim Lessons

2011-10-01T12:44:00.000-07:00

We decided to put Afton in a few swim lessons this summer. With a new baby coming, we thought it might be good to do something just for her. She loved it and still talks about "her Tori". (aka her teacher.) Now, a few months later since I'm really behind on blogging, she is a FISH and loves swimming!

Logan took a video on his phone of her "medal ceremony" and Afton loves to watch it over and over again. She has all the words memorized.

Sisters

2011-09-08T20:29:00.000-07:00

Blessing Day

2011-09-08T20:11:00.001-07:00

We blessed Emery at 1 week old. Logan had to leave us and go back to school the following Saturday, so it really was the only time for us to do it.

Hanging out with dad at 1 week old.

It was a pretty and special blessing. Everyone came but most people had to leave right after the blessing so we opted to just take a pic of our little family after sacrament meeting. We thought it would be fun to put her in a bonnet for her blessing because it was pioneer day.

Starting to get fussy and hungry!

Our little fuzzy wuzzy girl!

We didn't get many pictures of just Emery so I decided to take more pictures in her blessing outfit a little later. Making her usual scowl! I swear she's making this face in all of her pictures!

And poor Logan's birthday got a little lost this year in all the excitement of Emery birth and blessing. Sunday night we did have a little party for him which included icecream, texas sheet cake (his favorite), presents, and videos from his childhood.... the New Kids On The Block dance routine is by far the favorite! We love you Logan! Happy Birthday to the best guy around!

Pioneer Day Celebration

2011-09-08T19:50:00.001-07:00

We headed out to the Stake Pioneer Day celebration on July 23. Emery was 6 days old. It's hard just hanging around home when you have another kid that just wants to get out of the house and play. It also happened to be Logans 29th Birthday! I'm almost married to a 30 year old!! How did that happen! We got to the party and Afton said "Is this dada's birthday party?" I told her yes. She thought it was pretty cool!

It was quite the party. We were in Heaven! They had all our favorite things: Homemade lemonade, cotton candy, snowcone, kettle corn. As you can see Afton was pretty excited for all the treats and ate way to much sugar!

Pretty sticky!

After the pioneer day/ dada birthday party, we headed to the Christensens to do some swimming and hang out. They treated us to some pizza and ribs.

Jack and Emery. They are 6 weeks apart.

After all the fun we headed home. We heard a cry from Emery and headed in to see what was up. Somehow these stickers had ended up on her face... hmmm. I guess Afton thinks pretty highly of her. (Awesome!)

GIANTS

2011-09-08T19:46:00.001-07:00

Logan ditched us and headed to San Fran with the boys for the day to see a Giants game.

4 days old

2011-09-08T19:43:00.001-07:00

Afton loved holding her little sister. She would run in first thing in the morning and ask, "Can I hold her!? I want to hold her!" That was until Emery pooped while Afton was holding her and then she said, "She stinks! Get her off me!"

First bath at home

First Trip to the Park

2011-09-08T18:53:00.000-07:00

At 3 days old we took Emery to her first Dr. appt and then headed to the park so Afton could get a little attention from her parents who were missing for a couple days in the hospital. She sure loves spending time with her dada... such a daddy's girl. I can see why!

3 days old

She still had jaundice and so we headed to the hospital to get a billi count blood test done... one of many! We felt so bad for her bruised and cut up little heals!

Sleeping the afternoon away at the park

A little static! ha ha

Introducing...

2011-09-08T18:47:00.000-07:00

She's Finally Here!

2011-08-16T22:02:00.000-07:00

On July 17th or little girl was born. I was ready for her to be here after weeks and weeks of contractions! This labor and delivery went much slower and smoother than last time. I was grateful to have had such and easy delivery/recovery and even more grateful to have a beautiful, healthy baby girl. We love her to pieces!

Saturday I wasn't feeling very good and was having lots of contractions but they were very irregular. I had been dilated to a 4 and 80 percent effaced for 5 days... not comfortable! I didn't know what to expect because the contractions had been happening for weeks. I would get a lot of irregualr contractions for a couple of hours or a day and then it would stop. Well around 1 a.m. the contractions changed and started coming every 2 minutes. Whoo hoo! Around 3 a.m. we decided to go to the hospital.

Around 2 p.m. our little girl was born. Pushing was much easier this time. Only a few pushes and she was here!

Having her first little bath. It's so crazy how much she looks like Afton as a newborn.

All clean and ready to hold!

About the name: 2 and half years ago when Afton was born we had a really hard time deciding on her name. Both Afton and Emery felt good. We wrote both names on the white board in our room so that we could see them and contemplate them the whole time we were there. Finally right before leaving we decided that Afton was her name. So why did Emery feel so good and so right too? After talking about it, Logan and I both had a feeling in the hospital that we would have another girl next... our Emery. We've been waiting 2 and half years for Emery girl to arrive!

Sisters! Afton love love loves her. She's been so good and affectionate with her.... lets hope it stays that way!

Visitors. We loved having visitors. The hospital can get a little boring and we had to stay an extra day because of Emery's billi count. Somehow we missed getting a pic of Grandpa and Neal... oops.

John

Ashlee

Mike and Sarah

Marc and Jen

Nana

Papa

Katie and Kristi

Sharon

Peanut.... aka Lori

Grandma

2 days old and ready to go home!

38 Weeks

2011-08-16T18:39:00.001-07:00

Little did I know I was almost done! We took this pic right before going to the airport to get John.

Welcome Home!!

2011-08-16T18:15:00.000-07:00

John came home after serving two years in the Northeastern US. We're so excited to have him back!! We really missed him!
Anxiously awaiting him to walk through those doors!

Afton got to be the first to greet him!

The whole group... well almost.

Johns flight ended up being delayed about 2 hours so he came in just 30 minutes ahead of Michael. We waited and gave Mike a warm welcome back also!

Once again the first to greet him!

After leaving the airport we picked up some Wingstop, went home, and all stayed up late talking. It was a great night!

July was a very busy month!!

2011-08-16T15:20:00.000-07:00

This is a little of what our month of July looked like.

4th of July- 4th
Nana's B-day- 8th
Dad called to be bishop- 10th
John home from mission- 13th
Our 6th anniversary- 15th
Baby Emery born- 17th
Johns homecoming talk- 17th (yes we missed it)
Logan's b-day- 23rd
Emery's blessing- 24th
Logan left for PR- 29th

A very busy and exciting month!

Swimming

2011-08-16T15:18:00.001-07:00

What would summer be without lots of swimming!

What can I say, I'm a lucky girl! ;)

Farmers

2011-08-16T15:13:00.000-07:00

On our first trip to the farmers market Afton saw the horses and wanted to ride them. I told her she could ride them when Logan made it to Fresno and could go to the market with us. She never forgot that I told her that! How do kids remember everything! So after a reminder from Afton, we went to the farmers market and this time she got to ride the ponies.

Circus

2011-08-16T15:07:00.000-07:00

Logans parents took the whole family to the circus for Nana's birthday. Unfortunatley Nana didn't get to go because she wasn't feeling well. Some birthday! But we had a lot of fun. Afton loved it and was pretty good for the whole thing, even when it didn't end until 10:00 pm.

Before we left to go, Afton was talking to my mom and sister about how she was going to the circus and all the animals she would see. She told them she was going to see zebras and they told her that she wouldn't see zebras there.... she showed them. Sure enough, there were zebras at the circus!

July 5th

2011-08-15T21:54:00.000-07:00

The day after the 4th we had a late morning and a lazy day. We've had a lot of lazy days this summer! Afton spent most of the morning playing with the puppies. Later we headed to the Christensens house for some swimming and food. We truly are spoiled here!

It's not hard to see why she smells like puppies all the time.

4th of July

2011-08-05T16:05:00.000-07:00

We had a good 4th of July this year. For the second time since being married, Logan and I have gotten to spend it together. Of course right before we were getting ready to go, I got called out to work in Manteca... 2 hours away. Lucky for us my mom volunteered to go for me so that we could keep our plans. We headed out to Buchanan stadium for the fireworks show and then on to Logans parents house for more fireworks. We (especially me) were exhausted by the time we got home!

We bought this gun from the REI used gear sale for 80 cents. It has been a huge hit!

Chasing down the disc

As you can see Afton moved around a lot during the show. The excitement lasted for about 10 minutes and then she got bored of the fireworks.

And doing sparklers at her Nan and Papa's with all the cousins.

We are grateful for this country that we live in and for all those who willingly fight for it!

36 Weeks Pregnant

2011-08-05T16:02:00.000-07:00

36 weeks pregnant and just about done!

Family Camp

2011-08-04T15:52:00.000-07:00

A week after coming home from our trip to Utah, we headed up to family camp at Shaver Lake. I love, love, love family camp. So much of my childhood was spent up there. We had a fun week together as a family: hiking, exploring, kayaking, boating, swimming, relaxing, firebuilding, catching snakes, lizards and bugs, fishing, and enjoying the scenery.

Monday- 6/20
My brother Marc brought his 2 kayaks up... they were endless fun for the adults and kids.

Exploring the cove. Logan got the job of towing the blow up row boat and affy.

I would say of the favorite assignments for the boys is getting the firewood, chopping it, and building fires.

Tuesday- 6/21

Ready to get out on the water.

Paddling around with Aunt Ashlee

Mike, Afton and I decided to kayak out to an island.

This is the life!

Innertubing with DADA.... thumbs up!

The boys taking off after dinner to go fish the good spot "tunnel creek." They caught a ton of fish!

The girls taking off after dinner to go watch the fish spawn and hunt for snakes... well some of us. Don't count on Ashlee catching any snakes!

The beautiful Sierra Nevadas

Caught a little garder snake. Afton loved it.

Wednesday- 6/22

Missed a spot!

Logan on the wake skate. Doing a 360.

This time he wasn't so successful! :)

The water was freezing!!!! But I got in anyway. We've been spoiled with our warm carribean water in PR!

Logan thought that I needed a picture where I spent most my time. Gotta love being 36 weeks pregnant and camping. I had to walk up to this bathroom probably 10 times a day! The walks helped work off all the junk I ate the entire week! I think I gained 5 pounds during this little camping trip. ha ha

Hiking up to the water tower for some good cold water!

The bear cave... not really, that's just what they told Affy.

And the second snake I caught that week. I was really excited about this find. On one of my many trips up to the bathroom I noticed a shiny stick in the road. I stopped and got down to examen it and sure enough it was a rubber boa. These are hard to find because they're nocturnal. I've also never seen one get this big. I picked it up and carried it back to camp for all the little and big kids to hold. Afton, once again, loved it. We let it go that night in a safer spot.

Thursday- 6/23
Water fight

Logan and I decided to float out on this boat together. We got about a mile out before they brought the ski boat to come pick us up.

While we were floating, everyone else was catching and playing with lizards.

Tunnel creek. One last fishing trip. We weren't so lucky this time. We couldn't get in close enough to where the fish bite because of the other boats that were there fishing also.

And this is Logans embarressed face. As we were leaving our fishing spot we drove past another boat where a girls was changing her clothes and in her bra. I whistled and she turned and saw Logan just before he could get out of sight. I love giving him a hard time!

Friday- 6/24

She spent a lot of time in this hammock. As soon as anyone else sat down in it, she thought she needed to be in it. "My turn, get down on the ground."

Lounging

Logan giving me a hard time.

Did I mention how cold the water was!?

Afton decided she wanted to go on the innertube all by herself. She loved it.

Our last campfire. Logan made it a big one.

Can't wait to go to family camp next summer!

Utah Trip

2011-08-02T23:06:00.001-07:00

We took off the second weekend in June to meet up with some friends for our annual wakeboarding trip. Of course I didn't get to wakeboard this year... maybe next time. It's always a blast and so good to see our friends that we've missed. We wish we lived closer to them all but for now we'll just have to drive to Utah to see them!

Day one: We spent all day on the lake! It was awesome.

Me and Em (the fatties aka pregnant).... this is the only picture she allowed to be taken of her the whole week! ha ha...

And there was still snow in the mountains! Winter lasted really long this year!
Out to eat. The food here is always great!

Sitting in "our spot"

And whats a reunion without playing scum and 21.

The whole group... except Emily. ha ha

the guys.... looking very sexy. jk

We missed our Affy girl. We were gone 5 days. On our drive back we made sure to pick up little surprises for her from quarter machines at all the gas stations..... she loved the mustache.

Dada Here

2011-06-29T21:44:00.000-07:00

Afton was pretty excited for her "dada" to finally get here. It was a long 3 and a half weeks without him! We're so happy to have him home for the summer to spend time with us before we start round 2 of dental school.

5/4 the night before we left. Logan had to be at school early the next morning so we knew we wouldn't see him the next day. We had to say our goodbye the night before. Giving Afton's "baby alligator" a goodnight kiss.

5/29 Finally back together!

Farmers Market

2011-06-29T21:41:00.000-07:00

Every Friday there is a fun little farmers market in Old Town Clovis. I love the farmers market bc they always have a big snow cone stand.... I think I could live on snow cones! Before Logan got here, Afton and I met up with my friends Ashley and Holly and their little girls one friday for a little fun. Afton liked dancing to the music on the sidewalks with cute Charlotte.

Sleeping habits

2011-06-29T21:38:00.000-07:00

Lately keeping Afton on the bed has been a little bit of a battle. She never comes out of the room, just climbs done to sleep on the floor in tight spaces. Weird girl.

She's in the green and white checkered dress in this pic.... can you find her?

Sleeping under the chairs in "the storage room". She did this a bunch of times. One night we moved her back into bed 3 times. Each time we had to wake her up because she gets so tight in there that we can't lift her out without her standing up. So weird.

We must be Home!

2011-06-29T21:37:00.000-07:00

Dinners went from mac and cheese to this! A sure sign that I'm not the one doing the cooking. We must be home! We're enjoying the good cooking!

Mothers Day

2011-06-29T21:20:00.000-07:00

Mothers day this year was spent without Logan. Lucky for him a few people stepped up in his absense and made it a fun weekend. Saturday my mom took my sister and I out to get pedicures. It felt fantastic and was a really needed Mothers Day gift! After pedicures Afton and I met up with the Henderson side of the family. Louise, Logans mom, took the girls in town out to lunch for Mothers Day. We had a lot of fun seeing everyone. All the little girls got to come a long too. Sunday I got up and had a little gift waiting for me on the kitchen table from my dad. See's chocolate caramel patties.... I ate them all within a week.:(... and a giftcard to sephora. I am pretty spoiled!

I didn't end up taking any pics with Afton on Mothers Day but we did take pictures at the Lunch on Saturday.

The Proposal

2011-05-24T16:36:00.000-07:00

My younger brother Michael just got engaged to his girlfriend Sarah Elledge. She is such a sweetheart! We love her!... maybe more than we love Mike. Just kidding. But we are so excited for the two of them and to add another person to our family! It's about time someone else in my family got married! (no offense to my other unmarried siblings!)

I was lucky enough to get to go with them for the proposal. Mike told Sarah that a friend in my parents ward (true) offered to take some members from our family on an airplane ride(not true... he asked him to do it). An airplane ride would normally be a dead giveaway to a proposal except Mike told her, "My sister Heidi is going." (True. He knew she wouldn't think he was going to propose if I was taging along.) The thing about 4 seater airplanes is that the people in the front seat wear headsets and really can't hear/see the people in the back. So it really still is personal. So I went with them, took pictures for mike, and helped Nick(the pilot) find "the spot". We took a little tour of fresno and then before landing found "the spot". She was surprised!... but also starting to feel a little sick! ha ha. We landed just shortly after that.... I mean I landed just shortly after that. Since I sat in the front seat, Nick(a pilot instructor) let me fly the airplane and land it (of course with his help!) It was pretty exciting. I'm not sure I like having that much control!

Congrats to Mike and Sarah! I'm glad we could all be a part of making it a memorable proposal!

Making the sign with 50 pounds of flour. Whitney took a tractor and smoothed out a field by where he lives.

Even Afton got to help... or more we made her think she was helping!

I climbed on the top of a car to get this pic.

Mike and Sarah in the airlplane ready to take off.

The Fresno Temple. Where they will be sealed!
And this picture I took for Logan. His old employer Childrens Hospital.

Millerton Lake

Last stop- "the spot"!

I forgot to take a picture of the ring! Michael had it made to be exactly what he knew she would want. It is BEAUTIFUL!

Update- Finally took a pic of the ring!

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

2011-05-24T15:36:00.000-07:00

Mazurs birthday was in April and my parents decided to take him somewhere as a present. We were happy they decided to wait a month so that we could go.

Arriving at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

We went to a lot of shows and stopped by a lot of exhibits. The stingrays were our first stop.

Penguins
The lady at the penguin exhibit told the crowd that if they had any questions they could ask her. Afton yelled, "Hey! What are their names?!" It's cute what little kids care about. Unfortunately they don't have names... too many to remember.

The Sea Lion Show. I loved that there were so many shows... it mean't fatty me could sit a lot!

How we rolled. Afton felt so cool sitting with Mae Mae. She loves him!

This was the money shot that turned out blurry. Bummer. They were so up close to the Killer Whale.

Dancing on Grandmas' lap at the Killer Whale show.

She loved loved the Shark exhibit.

The tiger show and exhibit.

"Afton, do you need to go potty?" me
"nope!" afton
She lied... luckily I had just decided to put pull-ups on her for the day.

We took a break from the animals and shows to go on some rides. Afton loved the rides but wouldn't go on any of the small ones by herself. We stood in line twice because she said she wanted to ride them but when it got time to, she wouldn't. I was shocked. I know she would have loved. She just barely reached the height requirement line so maybe next time when she's a little taller and older she will want to go on the rides by herself.

Aunt Ashlee was her designated riding buddy. I couldn't go, and the rest of the adults can't handle the spinning!

Of course she insisted on riding the zebra. Why always the zebra? Kids are so random.

We were first in line so she got to ride in the front of the train. She felt pretty cool!

Afton insisted that Ashlee not help her spin the center.

After rides it was back to animals and a few last shows.

As close as possible.

My favorite part of the day was the blue slushie. JK But I really did enjoy it, maybe even a little too much. Little mother like daughter.... blue lip buds.

Jacko the Walrus. He liked having staring contests with everyone. We found out that he's the walrus in 50 First Dates and that part of the movie was filmed there.

A long but fun day. I was happy to not have been sent into labor with all the walking we did!

Spring in Fresno

2011-05-16T21:54:00.000-07:00

We're happy to be back here in Cali. I've been fortunate enough to be able to work a couple weeks before the baby comes. Afton has been loving all the attention she's been getting! So many people the play with! Quite the difference from PR where she gets to hang out with just me most of the time. I walked into her room this morning as she was just waking up. She said, "I want grandma." I told her grandma was already at work. Then she said,"I want Ashee." I told her Ashlee was already at work. Then she said, "I want papa." It feels good knowing I'm the last on the list of people she'd like to get her up in the morning. So as you can see she's loving having more than me to play with.

Here are a few other things that we have been up to here in Fresno:

Lot's of bubble blowing,

swinging.

Lot's and lots of playing with baby animals!

Water fights with Mae Mae.

We're both having a great time here. Can't wait for Logan to finish school in 9 days and come join us!

This girls in Heaven!!

2011-05-06T13:44:00.000-07:00

Can you see why?! I can hardly get her to come inside.

Last Weekend in PR

2011-05-01T12:06:00.000-07:00

What a week! It started with noticing our car leaking on Easter Sunday. That Monday I took it into the dealership to try and find out what was wrong with it and of course, after 3 hours they said they could not even diagnose the problem for another week. So still having no idea what was wrong, I drove around trying to find some mechanic that could help me. I found a shop that one of Logan's classmates had recommended to us and luckily they immediately checked it out. They tried the best they could to explain to me in half English/half Spanish what was wrong. I understood that it was the manifold (not a good thing) but he didn't know what to call the gasket in English. He just kept telling me it was a seal. They also said they could not fix it because they were to full and only taking small jobs. I once again had no one to help me.

Tuesday I spent all day calling around trying to find someone to fix our car. Half of that time was spent struggling through spanish, finding translators, or finding someone that knew good enough english to help me. It was a long day! All the while Logan really could not be any help to me. He had an exam on Wednesday that decided whether he could be in Fresno with us this summer and there for the baby to be born. Pretty stressful! Luckily Logan got a minute and found a number to another dealership in PR. I called them and was told to bring it in on Wednesday at 7:00 a.m. if I wanted for them to be able to help me that day. I got there at 7:05 and already there were a few people ahead of me.

Thursday afternoon they had an estimate for me... about 800.00 dollars. Ouch, but really what else can we do. They also said they didn't have the parts needed to fix it so they would have to order them which would make it take longer. I knew the odds of me getting the car back before I left were slim. That means my last week and a half in PR would be spent without a car. I thought to myself, well it looks like we'll be swimming everyday! Nope, it decided to be a rainy schedule for the last week and a half that we're here.

Friday Logan got home from school early so we caught the ferry out to Old San Juan in the afternoon. Not much else we could do without a car! We ended up having a great time together. Of course our kite that we had was in the car at the dealer, along with our stroller. We ended up paying 2.00 dollars for this one. Well worth the couple bucks.

Flying kites at El Morro... the wind here was sooo strong. We thought it just might snap the kite.

This made me laugh so hard. I'm really glad I caught this moment. Logan about to be hammered by the kite. Luckily it just missed him. After this we made sure to stand in a safe spots. The kite was dive bombing at killer speeds!

Having a great time.

Another good laugh. The wind pulled the string right out of Afton's hands. I don't blame her. I was holding it once and almost lost it too! I'm not very fast these days so it was up to Logan to chase it down.

27 weeks

Our little jumpy girl. She could jump off of things for hours.

Logan had a little too much fun taking pictures this day. I gave him the death (stop taking pictures of me) look right after this one!

Her little hiding spots. They were just her size.

Saturday we headed out early with some friends to try and catch the ferry in Fajardo to Culebra, a beautiful island off of Puerto Rico. We got there an hour and ten mins before the ferry left. Last time they told us they don't sell tickets until an hour before. When we got there they were already announcing over the intercom that the tickets were sold out. Things here can be pretty undependable. Next time I think we'll just have to go really early. We had a back-up plan.... always a good idea here in PR. Instead we went to the close by Luquillo beach. It was beautiful and we ended up having a great time.
Tyler and Tiff(our friends) have a blow up dinghy that they store in the back of their truck. They blew up the boat and took it out to tour the area (I stayed behind and watched the stuff). Here is a little coral/seashell island that Logan got to check out.

Easter

2011-04-27T10:56:00.000-07:00

The easter bunny stopped by our house Sunday morning. He almost slept in and would of had to come after church. He brought lots a little goodies and toys for our good girl Afton.

I finally appliqued Afton's name onto her basket liner this year. It something I had been planning to do since her first Easter. I'm really on top of things here!

He left a trail of Easter eggs with 2 M&M's in each all the way from her bed to her basket (or in her case, plastic bin.)

I checked on her just before heading to make breakfast... still sleeping.

Then I heard her talking and playing from her bed. After a little bit I heard her yell with excitement, "there's a easter egg on my bed" and "mmmm, M&M's! I like M&M's in my tummy."

Things got even more exciting when she realized there was a whole trail of them.

Finally made it to the basket. It's so fun to see how exciting Easter is for little kids. We headed to church and changed our focus from the easter bunny to a more important Savior. It was a great day at church.

On our way home we stopped in the parking lot to try and take a few Easter pictures of Afton. She wasn't really cooperating as you can tell. Feeling a little too silly from all the sugar. It's a good thing my camera takes a million pictures a second or I never would have gotten the 2 decent ones that I did. So most the pictures look like this...

But 2 out of 100 turned out like this... not too bad. We'll take what we can get.

And for somewhat cooperating, but not really, she got to drive the car into our parking spot.

After church she disappeared and was very quiet. I knew that could only mean one thing...trouble. I found her hiding under the table sneaking a chocolate bunny.

Spring Break

2011-04-26T15:28:00.000-07:00

Oh how I was looking forward to spring break! Logan still had a lot to do and to study but had a little time to get out with us. It was a much needed break for all of us!

Saturday Logan studied all morning while Afton and I went to enrichment. We came home around noon and took the ferry out to Old San Juan for the afternoon. Logan still hadn't been to the childrens museum with us and we thought it was a good chance to take Afton one last time before we Afton and I head back to Fresno for the summer.

Blue Steel

"ummm excuse me."

Playing dress up. Here firemen are Bomberos.

We thought this outfit was a good choice considering not even a week earlier we were at San Jorge ER getting stitches in Aftons head.

This wall entertained us for a long time.

I'm not sure who had more fun at the water current table. Probably Logan.

Mon, Tues, and Wed Logan was at school all day studying, working in lab, doing projects, going to tutoring sessions etc. so Afton and I did our own thing.

Tuesday she came with me to my last Dr.'s appt here in PR. My Dr. did a short ultrasound and right when the baby popped up on the screen she started yelling, "that's my baby sister!" It totally caught me off guard. I didn't realize she knew what was going on. It was really fun to see her so excited about it. Totally cute. I'm so grateful that my girls will have each other to love and play with.

Afterwards we met up with some friends at the movies and saw Rio. First we walked into the wrong theatre. It was all in Spanish and we couldn't find any of our friends. Then when we got the the right one I realized it was in 3D. I felt bad for Afton because she had a hard time keeping the glasses on. She had to hold them up with her hands and then would get tired of it and take them off. I think she'll have to be a little older before we go to another 3D movie.

Lucky for us, Tuesday night we took Afton's stitches out so Wed we were able to meet up with some friends for a goodbye party and swimming. Afton loves all the attention the older girls in the ward give her.

Thursday we took the whole day off with Logan and went to the beach with a bunch of our student friends. We BBQ'd, played in the water, and Logan once again got sea urchin spines in his foot. Poor guy.... his one day off.

Afton insisted on wearing what she call's " my dada affin hat." We had a friend bring a cute girl hat for her but she would not take Logans off. Ever since then she has worn it everyday.

Friday it was a ghost town here in PR. Afton and I took off friday morning to see if we could get some groceries for Sunday but everything, and I mean everything, was closed. No stores were open, no restaurants, even about half the gas stations were closed. No one was out driving... it was kind of creepy. Friday night we didn't have any groceries and decided to head out and try and find someone that was open for some dinner.... and we did! The only place we found was a little Japanese restaurant. It reminded us of a Christmas Story. We did not order duck.

Saturday morning our ward had an Easter egg hunt. Afton loved it. She knew exactly what to do this year and took off running for those eggs.

Checking out what she got.

Her friend Ike came over and tried to take some eggs out of her bag. She was not having that! As you can see she's got her eggs covered!

Saturday night after a little study time we decorated eggs and all had a good time together.

Thank goodness for Spring Break!

Baby Shower

2011-04-26T13:10:00.000-07:00

It was a great time with good friends. I really love the friends we have made here! It just so happens that my friend Heather is due only 4 days ahead of me and is also having a girl. So they did a combined dinner/baby shower at Macaroni Grill. So layed back and simple, I loved it. Thanks Julia for planning it and everyone that came!

It was pretty hard for the waitor to take this picture. He didn't get that your supposed to look through the camera not just at the screen. ha ha. It was pretty funny.
And I just about gave up on my drive there. I left an hour and a half before it started (should be about a 15 min drive) and was still an hour late to my own baby shower. I love sitting at green lights/ getting cut off/ never being able to find parking/ and wanting to ram people with my car! Lucky for me everyone else was fighting the same traffic and got there late.

First set of Stitches

2011-04-17T12:26:00.000-07:00

Turns out Afton's head isn't as hard as we thought it was. While at the park with Logan, Afton was playing on the swing on her tummy. In an attempt to make herself go higher she lost her balance and fell off head first. Logan picked her up and saw blood gushing from her head(you know how much heads bleed!) He called me to have me head over to meet them. I met them at the bottom of the stairs and immediately thought "oh thank goodness it's not her face." ha ha. Is that shallow of me? I would much rather stitches on her scalf than a big scar across her face. I loved what Logans first words to me were..."did you bring the keys." Obviously a very concerned Dada. I was thinking more about getting her up the stairs, stopping the bleeding, cleaning up the mess, and seeing just what the damage was. When I suggested that i think he realized that was a more logical solution. I can't blame the guy for feeling a little panic. He was the one there when all the gushing started. Cleaning things up.

We tried running to an urgent care close by thinking that would be an easier and faster place to go. For anyone that lives here in PR, you know how unreliable things can be. So of course the urgent care was closed. The big sign on the window said it was open until 8:00 p.m. (why does everything here close early!) but another tiny little paper stuck by the handle said they now closed at 6:00. Lame. So we had no other choice but to head to the ER. There are 2 Childrens hospitals close by. We opted for the one in the tourist area that had a Ronald McDonald house... we figured those might help the chances of it being a better hospital and it was.

We got in and were sent to Triage right away. The nurse scrubbed Afton's head and I thought she would start screaming... it really looked like it would hurt. But, she didn't even flinch.

They wrapped her head and Afton thought they gave her a hat as a present. ha ha

When we got in to get it stitched the Dr. asked if we needed to strap her down. We told her no that if she freaked out we would just hold her down. I then told Afton that the dr. had to put a stitch in her owie to make it better and that it might sting for just a second. She was ok with that. The Dr. kept saying how amazing she was, that she was the best patient she's ever had. Afton just laid there calmly, not even flinching or moving or crying.

Afton thought it was really silly that the Dr. covered her face. I completely expected her to cry when she gave her the shot in her head to numb it but she didn't. I asked her if it tickled and she said, "no it hurt." But she did say the stitches tickled.

All stitched up and happy to have her "hat" back on.

She was pretty excited about Superman being there and we were pretty excited that she was such a super girl and that the whole thing took only about an hour and fifteen minutes. Amazing!

Since it all happened in the middle of me making dinner, we stopped by Burger King on the way to get her antibiotics and got some food. Logan decided that any kid that gets stitches and doesn't cry about deserves a chocolate milkshake. Don't worry she didn't get the whole thing to herself... she had to share with us.

When we got her home and started getting her ready for bed she did not want to take her hat off. I had to tell her that it needed to go in the trash because there was blood all over it. She was a little disappointed about having to throw away her present. The whole event was so untramatic for her and us. We didn't know what to execpt her in PR. Sometimes things are smooth but most of the time you just count on everything being the worst case scenario. Now we know what hospital to go to when she needs to get her next set of stitches.

25 weeks

2011-04-13T21:17:00.001-07:00

Originally we attempted taking this picture with Afton...

It turned out she wasn't taking is very seriously. Speaking of bad habits... this is not one she has learned from me!

And now her turn to show off her "big belly". We love our little goof ball.

Bad habits

2011-04-13T21:08:00.000-07:00

In this house we are pretty good at teaching bad habits. This is one that I would have to say her dad is most responsible for.

General Confercence Entertainment

2011-04-13T20:56:00.001-07:00

It's a little hard to watch general conference when there is a 2 year old in the house and wants to be entertained. This time we were ready. My friend Julia (who is moving) conveniently gave us a few new toys that Afton was entertained with. We pulled out our craft box and colored and covered in stickers a nursery general conference packet that I found online. It was great. She loved the pages with hidden things to find. I helped her draw a self portrait... I hope it looks nothing like her and that she doesn't get mine or Logans poor drawing abilities. We made glasses, bracelets, and crowns from pipe cleaners... another freebie from Julia. It turned out to be an excellent conference... I actually got to listen. Next conference I'll have to be prepared again so that it continues to be an enjoyable experience for all of us.

Flu

2011-04-13T20:31:00.000-07:00

After going to a birthday get together at a friends house on saturday a few weeks ago, I came home and started not feeling great. I thought it was just heart burn and nausea from the 3 pieces of pizza, full plate of fruits and veggies with dip, orange soda and 2 cupcakes that I managed to stuff down my throat.... yah I know, pretty disgusting. Things progressively got worse and ended in a night of puking and no sleep. By Sunday morning I had all the symptoms of a 24 hour flu bug so Logan and Afton got ready and went to church without me. I had to take a picture of the two of them as they left together. They coincidentally matched and looked so sweet going to church, just the two of them.

Little did we know that miss Afton would come home from church and a couple hours later wake up from her nap puking all over her bed. She continued to throw up 4 seperate times... once in bed(thank goodness for mattress protectors), then on the floor by the bathroom(thank goodness we have tile floors), once in the toilet(we were very impressed that she felt it coming and knew where to go), and once all over the front of me(thank goodness for great pregnant cleavage and bra's to catch it all). Why is it that anytime kids throw up there is hot dog in it? Whatever the case, we washed about 9 loads of laundry that day. It's a good thing I felt better the next morning because I had A LOT of laundry to put away and A LOT of cleaning to do!

Finally sleeping sound and like a little baby with her little bum in the air and "baby alligator" underneath her.

Kite Flying

2011-04-13T20:15:00.000-07:00

We were just waiting for a windy day like this. Logan saw this kite at Walgreens for 1.99 and got it for a day of fun with Afton.... I know, big spenders. She had a lot of fun and so did we. Typically I don't think flying kites is that exciting but when you see the excitement in a little kid who is flying a kite "all by myself" for the first time, the excitement is pretty contagious.

It turned out to be great practice for a friends kite flying birthday party the following week. She was a pro by then.

Bits of March

2011-04-02T19:24:00.001-07:00

We've been trying to keep ourselves busy. Second semester has been a beast! Poor Logan is studying and in the lab all the time. We hardly see the guy! I've been trying to find projects and activities to mix up our routine a bit. She gets bored of me a lot. I'm not as fun or as exciting as her dada that she misses a lot.

Afton painting while sporting the kid classic punch mustache.

We've gotten to babysit Aftons friend Carson a couple of times. She looks forward to these days!

Sad day for Logan. I heard a crash and ran back to his study room to find him and Afton with a broken chair. I took just one lean with Afton on his lap and one of the legs snapped right off. He's been demoted to a wooden kitchen chair to study in... no leaning in that chair.

Afton got to ride on another carousel and she insisted that she ride the Zebra. Kids are so funny. Just some of the things we've been up to this March. It's starting to get really hot. Oh here we go again!

Things have gotten a little hairy around here

2011-04-02T19:07:00.000-07:00

I think it's time for another haircut. I'm not sure I want to continue brushing this out 3 times a day!

Bump

2011-03-15T05:08:00.001-07:00

Showing off our baby bumps. Afton's convinced that she has a baby in her belly too. 19 weeks.

20 Weeks

We make quite the Sunday lounging team.

Park 3/5/11

2011-03-15T04:54:00.000-07:00

Lately Logan has been needing to go to school every Saturday to study. We look forward to Saturday afternoons when he comes home and we can go do something. This time we went to the park down the street from our house. Have I mentioned before how bad/poorly planned the roads are here! jk.... I know I have. We decided to drive there since it was later, problem is we've always taken the trail to get there and had the hardest time figuring out how to get there in our car! Even with google maps and GPS we kept running into: freeways, one way streets, roads with big medians that we couldn't cross. We even stopped and asked directions. At one point I wanted to give up and just go home to a park in our complex. But Logan persisted and 40 mins later we made it to the park that is only about 5 mins away. Atleast we know how to drive there from now on.

Traveling Puerto Rico Style

2011-03-15T04:46:00.001-07:00

Traffic is awful here 90% of the time. That might be a little bit of an over exaggeration but really it is bad a lot of the time!

School work

2011-03-15T04:40:00.000-07:00

I love periodically finding teeth in bottles of bleach all over my house.

Studying for practicals.

Nights

2011-03-15T04:18:00.000-07:00

Logan doesn't get home some nights until around 7:30-8. On most days he usually takes Afton for a little bike ride or on a quick trip to the park. Just a little way he can spend time with her before she heads to bed.

These are the types of things that they do... Now I know where she gets her crazy ideas from.

And then a little study time for both of them. Like father, like daughter. She loves this little laptop my brother Marc and Jen got her for Christmas.

And she has mastered riding this thing. She cruises on it!

Mar Chiquita Beach

2011-03-15T03:59:00.000-07:00

For Valentines day my friend Heather and I took ourselves and our kids to the beach. It's about an hour from our house but a beach we had heard about and really wanted to see. It was beautiful... as I'm sure you'll see. We had a great time. And, a little bonus, it was somewhat close to the outlets in Barceloneta so after the beach we stopped there. We finished off the day with some ICEE's for the drive home. That's my kind of day. Now if only we had money so that I could actually buy stuff at the outlets! :)

That little speck on the left side is us. Not very crowded!

Pineapple

2011-03-14T12:57:00.000-07:00

We love our fresh puerto rican pineapple. It's kind of a funny story but when Logan and I were registering for our wedding Logan put a pineapple cutter on the list. I thought it was ridiculous and something we would never ever use and it would just be one of those obnoxious kitchen gadgets that just clutter everything up. Being the brat that I was I even took it off our registery once I got home. Logan found out and it became a funny fued between us. Well David and Debbie Termeer bought us that pineapple cutter for our wedding, they loved to tease me. It became a lesson learned for me. I don't know everything, and what would you know, that pineapple cutter is awesome!!! We use it all the time. Thank goodness for a patient husband and good friends that love a good laugh.

Loves the fresh pineapple juice.

I swear I can't relax for one minute without someone coming in to harass me!

Valentines Party with Friends 2/11/11

2011-03-14T12:17:00.000-07:00

The Friday before Valentines day we went to a Valentine party with some of Afton friends here in PR. Afton loved helping make her valentines the night before. She did all the coloring and stickers, and I cut and stapled. Can you tell she's excited!

At the party with mouth stuffed full of candy already. My friend Julia once again planned some really cute games and activities for the kids. They loved it!

She didn't quite get that she was supposed to throw it from a distance. Good enough.

Handing out her valentines. Afton loved giving out her valentines just as much as she loved receiving them.

With her bag full of treats and love notes.

We had the little party at a gated community here that has a little waterpark in it. It was awesome. This whole pool was shallow enough for Afton to touch.

And this splash pad gave me nightmares!!! Maybe because I'm a wife of a dental student, or maybe just because I'm a mom.... but I see sharp corners in area's like this and all I picture are knocked out teeth! One slip in this water and her teeth could be toast!

Only part of the park area.

The zipline that we didn't get to go on. It was out of order at the time.
We are so lucky to have friends here in PR to do fun stuff like this with. We'll be sad when some of them finish school and leave this year!

Childrens Museum 2/1/11

2011-03-14T12:05:00.001-07:00

We got back into the swing of things fast here. We headed to a play group that following week at the Childrens Museum. Afton had a blast and was so excited to see her friends again.

drinking the water from the water current table... kinda gross. ha ha

On the way home we picked up some suckers for the Ferry ride. Sugar sure sweetens her up.

Oh I love her dark eyes.

Big Girl Bed

2011-03-14T11:59:00.000-07:00

I love Costco. I don't think I would survive living in PR without it. Ok, I probably would but it sure makes living here easier. During our visit to Fresno, Afton decided she no longer wanted to sleep in a crib. I mean huge tantrums over it! So when we got back we had no choice but to get her a bed. Lucky for us, and I mean lucky, Costco had the mattress size we wanted on sale for a 100.00 dollars off, the exact week we got back! Awesome. She now has a big girl bed and does great in it!