It Takes Two Makes It to Two Years!

2 years ago today Rod and I were sealed for all eternity in the St George Temple.
In that time we...
Got jobs
Lived in a sick apartment for a little over a month.
Bought a house
"Worked on the house" (This is still going on and will be a forever project)
Found out the school we both worked for was closing, so we both got second jobs at different schools, and found out we were pregnant simultaneously.
Worked and worked and worked.
Moved into the upstairs of our house.
Had a baby!
And the last 6 months have been a little bit of everything while juggling taking care of our little boy. We have been so blessed.


These are just some of the main events, that don't include any of the fun stuff. Like having family come to town for Van's baby shower that Rod's mom and sister threw for me, or my mom coming for Van's birth, our families coming for Van's blessing, Aunt Maurie and her family living with us, and now Timber, Angel and Tracen moving in.

The last two years have been a lot of hard work. I don't think Falling in Love really prepared us for the marriage that we entered. It is the work that we have been doing throughout that creates a foundation of love that  our marriage continues to build on. We still have tons to learn about patience, respect, and communication but it is coming, slowly but surely.

I am grateful that I have a husband who works so hard. He works hard at everything, including us. He sometimes confuses that with working on the house, but his priority is our little family.

He gave me the greatest gift I could ask for, an eternal family.

Happy Six Months (Almost)

I am 24 today...and Van is 3 days away from being 6 months old!!

He is getting too big.

He weighs about 18 pounds.

He has scooted across the floor a couple times but is more comfortable rocking.

He is back to blowing raspberries.

He sleeps in his crib for most of the night.

He is getting to be so much fun and more of his personality is showing.

He is a pretty mellow kid and he thinks he is funny.

We love him so much. 

Van sleeping on dad. I love this picture.

 I did a photo shoot with Van. I had to take them myself, if you can't tell.

 Curious Eyes! I love him!

 Yesterday we went skim boarding. Van is pretty good, don't you think?

 He looks confused here "Mommy, what is daddy doing?"

 :)

 Van wouldn't smile here, he was done after about 45 minutes.

 But he smiled for daddy!

 These are some extras, Rod and I did an 8x10 portrait of Tom Petty for the Kayenta Street Art Festival back in April. It turned out pretty sweet and Rod was on the news!

A semi-failed photo shoot, but Van is always adorable.

Ahhh! Look at that smile!

Showing off the first vegetables of out garden!!! We are super excited.

5 months old!

Van turned 5 months old on my dad's birthday! Happy Birthday dad! Love you!

Van is growing up!

He know loves peas, green beans, squash, and sweet potatoes mixed into his rice cereal. 

So far he has cried each time I gave him carrots.

He can do the mini-push up!

He can roll over to his belly!!! So much fun!

He loves to babble on and on and on.

He loves music and loves when you sing to him...I might turn up the radio loud when he is crying in the car, then I sing obnoxiously along and he goes to sleep.

He still sleeps in mommy's arms at night (BAD MOMMY!) but she loves cuddling :)

He is getting taller and bigger so very few of his clothes fit.

He has perfected the whine...O NO

He is really at the stage where he wants to go places and he can't, one of the reasons he cries.

 Cute, rather big feet.

Trying to feed himself.

 What up?

Push up!

Peas Please!

Van enjoys eating peas. So much so that every time he ate a bite he had to accompany the peas with his hand. I am glad he likes his veggies!
He is getting so much better at sitting up! My baby isn't a newborn anymore!

4 months old!

Van is 4 months old and enjoying his very first Easter.

He LOVES to laugh!

He can hold his bottle all by himself (unless he does not want to).

He wants to go places but he can't, so he tries to leap out of our arms.

He ate rice cereal for the first time.

He loves Jazz games with his Daddy!

He is getting used to tummy time.

He loves his hands and feet.

He likes his cousin Tracen's number and walker, he gets really excited.

He loves hanging out with his Aunt Timber, Uncle Angel and Cousin Tracen.

He loves his Mommy and Daddy! He is starting to get a little separation anxiety.

His favorite toy are plastic rings that he can hold and chew on.

Van was falling asleep in this photo :).
Tummy time and his favorite toy!

Easter duck from Grandma Marcie!
Look Ma! I can use my hands!
Playing at the park...I chose this one because Van is always cute and his mom looked dumb in all the others!
Watching basketball with daddy!

Reading :)
Being a cool bunny with Tracen's shades.
I just love these pictures!



Zoning out eating cereal.

3 months old!

Van is 3 months old!

He laughed for the first time!

He grabbed at a toy and was almost sincerely interested in a book (he mostly wanted to eat it)

He is getting a little chubby but only in his face.

We think he is double jointed, his arms make us nervous.

He pushes his weight up, what a strong little man!

I took these pictures a couple of weeks ago, trying to get him in his blessing outfit.

He was not happy until I took the outfit off.

Then he was a happy little stink.

Lately, he has been rocking out.

He takes relaxing to the next level.

This is what my son looks like when dad babysits. I received text messages from Rod that said things like "He hates me" and "When are you coming to save me" and then finally "He finally stopped and went to sleep."

When I came home Rod was asleep on the couch and I woke him to ask why Van was down to a diaper and Rod's basketball shorts were a blanket. He said "He was mad", so my husband took his clothes off and the shorts were the closest thing he could reach.

I feel validated as a mother. Van is a mama's boy. Rod does a great job with him but he misses his mommy :). That makes me happy.

Little Boy!

Van used to be so little...in fact he is still little but it is so weird to me to look back at pictures and see how tiny he was. Here he is at a month old. He was so tiny in his bed!

This photo reminds me of ET.

Here is my beautiful boy nowadays. He has so much more personality while awake but there really is something about a sleeping baby that is so heart-melting you have to take a picture.

I love his pouty lips!