The past couple months

Guess it is about time for an update! I have been meaning to update for months! This winter seemed really long to me. Maybe it's because our normally healthy girls caught every cough/cold/ear infection/etc possible. Before I complain, I should say I am grateful we have had such healthy kids to this point. Neither had ever had an ear infection. Well for some reason, fall hit and Riley got a sinus infection. She has since had one or two others. And I am not even kidding when I say the girls got coughs in December that lasted straight through sometime in January. Then I had them to the doctor AGAIN at the beginning of February...more coughs and colds. And coughs are the worst because they just LINGER FOREVER. And they are worse at night...which keeps ME awake, worrying about my poor kids! I thought it was the last straw when Riley got her first ear infection at the beginning of March and Izzy had yet another cough/cold. I mean, I know it's pretty good that Riley had never had an ear infection in 4 1/2 years. And Izzy hasn't ever had one and she is almost 3 1/2. BUT STILL! I kept them home from preschool a whole week thinking we would get rid of everything once and for all. WRONG.
It's like the first of April hit and Riley has her second ear infection in 5 weeks, both got some type of eye infection, and yet again--COUGHS. Coughs that have kept me up for hours on end night after night and just in case you forgot, I already can't sleep because I'm only 7 weeks away from having a baby! Every time the girls get sick I think, OK, this has got to be it, we need to get rid of this and have time to air out the germs before baby joins us. I am starting to really stress. I almost want to pull them out of preschool for the rest of April and May in hopes of not bringing anything else home. But then I remember preschool is the little shred of sanity I have these days. I don't know what to do, but luckily for the sickies, this week is spring break...so hoping that staying home will finally get everyone better and be the last of it. But if things seem iffy at all when they return to preschool NEXT week...I don't think I will have much of a choice but to pull them out for the rest of this school year. I cannot have sick kids with a tiny newborn! I am a paranoid germaphobe.
Here are a couple recent pics of the girls. They are getting so big and they are so ready (or so they think!) to meet their baby sister.





Hard to believe we cut 6 inches off of Riley's hair at the end of September. It sure has started growing back. Izzy still has NEVER had a haircut because I know all her natural curl at the ends will never come back once we do cut it. She has no desire to get it cut anyway...so it's long hair for now in this house! I'm hoping baby comes with a head full of dark hair like Riley did at birth. However, Travis and I were both REALLY blond babies and kids, we aren't sure how the girls started out darker than us!
The preschool class had a field trip to THE QUARRY in Provo at the end of March. It is a place to climb rock walls.

Riley didn't go much higher than this, but I guess it was a good start and a fun thing to try!

And Izzy seemed all gung-ho...
but once we got her all strapped in the harness, she wanted OUT. :(
Here are the two sickies this week. Laying low. At least they are pretty much best friends. Except what little sister doesn't know how to push her big sister's buttons? Izzy can really get Riley going when Riley wants a little alone time!

And as far as really good news despite all the sickies, I have been a neglectful mom...as in, I have never taken the girls to see a dentist, officially. (No, that isn't the good news, stay with me!) I finally made an appointment and thought it would be the biggest nightmare and they would have a ton of cavities...but nope! Instead, Izzy (who I thought would be a pill) was a total angel and neither girl had a single cavity. CAN I GET A HALLELUJAH?! Riley does have one spot on one of her back lower teeth but it isn't enough to call it a cavity at this point. If it becomes a hole, it will of course need filled...but for now, we are in the clear! *Sigh of relief*

Travis has been busy at work (though really, what's new?!). He just hired two new guys who are currently being trained. I am just hoping and praying they are sufficiently trained in a few weeks so that he will be able to enjoy some paternity leave. (Thank you Adobe for being awesome and giving a guy two weeks paid!) Aside from being busy at work, he fills the rest of his time with his church calling, playing with his adoring girls, and is getting ready to put our yard in over the next several Saturdays. He is getting really excited for baby too. It's cute :) Last night he told me he thinks I better get my hospital bag ready. I was happy to hear it, I had started to think about it but didn't want to seem too eager.

Now for an update on me aka...the baby I guess. The growing of a baby is pretty much consuming me right now. It's hard to think about much else when I am constantly in the bathroom, hungry, achy, exhausted, you get the idea! We painted her room. And so I have been unsure if I wanted to unveil it because her name is on the wall...but I figure why not?
The above picture has really poor lighting, but the two pictures on either side of the window are just cute flowers that match the colors we used.

And now for the dreaded belly shot. I apologize for the weird facial expression...I don't like to have my picture taken anyway but add to it that it's a pic of me alone and it's like, what am I supposed to do? I apparently can't just smile naturally. Still, I feel strongly about having a little photographic proof as a pregnancy memento. 6 1/2 weeks left! And I am starting to swell :(

My doctor put me on his schedule to induce labor May 26th if I don't go into labor before then on my own.

That's all for now! Stay tuned, I suppose. The next time I post maybe there will be a baby...here's hoping I can be more on top of blogging when she comes! I do have that goal. But I am nervous for the transition and adjustment to THREE kids.

Bun in the Oven

So by now, I am sure everyone who reads this blog (you know, all 5 of you...) knows we are expecting our 3rd baby in May. I didn't wait to post this long on purpose, I meant to post about it a couple months ago after announcing it but as anyone can tell, I have been a major posting slacker (again!)

In my attempt to catch up on our lives here is a post about Anderson baby #3 and how it all came about.

By fall of 2009 Travis was pretty much baby hungry. Not overly, but I knew he had a stronger desire for a baby that I did. That was the FARTHEST thing from my mind. I had zero desire and so I told him maybe in the summer of 2010 we could start to try.

Well next thing I know, it's spring and summer is around the corner and I was like no, not this year. I was still not ready and felt we should put off trying until summer 2011. And I was happy with that. Summer came and almost went...and I felt really good about my decision to wait another year. And then BAM! The end of August something changed. No, I didn't feel some intense need to have another baby...but I told Trav we could try this one cycle and if it didn't happen, we would wait until summer 2011. Fast forward a few weeks and the next thing I know...

BAM. That's a positive test. Just to be sure I took a different brand test on the same day and sure enough:

It was apparently "meant to be."

I wasn't surprised, but I didn't know it would happen in one try!
SO...First weekend in October the morning sickness hits with a vengeance. And it was THE WORST EVER. I was SO sick. Sicker than the first two times and it was no fun. I know I shouldn't complain. I do take it to be a good sign, being sick. We had our first ultrasound November 10th and sure enough, there was a baby in there. (Not that I doubted it, seeing just makes it more real!)

October through most of December were pretty miserable months. I'm sure it played a part in my lack of posting and also the complete lack of housework around here. Thankfully I have been feeling much better. No more puking! Still exhausted and achy and uncomfortable, but also manageable (Whew!) Seriously, this month has felt like a tender mercy! Except for the hormonal basket case that is Jenna lately. My hormones are SO out-of-whack and uncontrollable when I am pregnant! Poor Travis!

Anyway, Travis felt like it was another girl. I was "sure" it would be a boy. Turns out it IS another GIRL. So much for motherly instinct. lol.

We couldn't be more thrilled though. Here are some pictures from the 20-week ultrasound. She is on track and all looks well. That is the biggest, most important thing to us!

Cute profile (18 weeks)
Profile at 20 weeks. Her face was right up against the placenta.
There's nothing to see between those legs!

These two are 3-D ultrasounds. And because her face was half resting on the placenta, it was hard to get good pics, but you get the idea, no? Above: her face sort of peeking through...
I know this is scary. She is just a thin little skeleton. But you can totally see her skull! This second half of the pregnancy is when she will fill out and put on some fat. :)

She has been really squirmy which is sort of fun but not always. It is so reassuring to feel all her kicks, punches, and turns though! The movements are becoming stronger and more controlled and the girls are able to feel her now, I think. It's hard to tell, but they are very willing to sit and TRY to feel her kicks. The other night she even kicked enough for me to see my stomach move. That's when it gets really cool, because I think the girls will LOVE to watch my belly move.

And although I HATE pics of myself, (I have very few photos of me from the first two pregnancies) I know I need to try to get a few from this one too...just for memories sake. Here I am, 23 weeks! Definitely past halfway! And since both girls were early...I am hoping this one will be a couple weeks ahead of schedule too!

As for names, we have a few ideas. As in, I know what I like, Trav knows what he likes...but as a couple, we don't really agree. People keep asking but I promise we haven't even discussed it lately. Suggestions are welcome! I know there must be a name out there we both love!

Christmas

Better late than never, I suppose!

I actually took ZERO photos of Christmas. Maybe that's why I have been putting off blogging lately, my crazy photo taking days seem to have passed. I used to take pics of anything and everything we did...not so much lately.

Oh well, even without the pics to prove it, our Christmas this year was fabulous. We stay home and spent the day with our little family plus Maria.

The girls got SPOILED. I swear every year we won't go all out. And then I'm eating my words. It's just so easy to do. It helps that they had piles of gifts that weren't just from us, but also from their grandmas and grandpas.

Their big gift is a new bunk bed which has been awesome to have! The girls love it and they also love sharing a room (for the most part). They each got new movies, lots of new clothes, and some fun toys!
Travis spoiled me as usual too. I seriously hopes he quits it one of these days! My big gift is an amazing new blender that is AWESOME. and he has benefited from having it quite nicely. (He had his wisdom teeth removed two days after Christmas...milkshakes and smoothies were a must!)
I also got $70 worth of iTunes gift cards! Some from Travis, one from Maria, and one from my awesome girl friend Angela! (I had a wish list of songs I wanted...and you would think that amount would cover it, but even after getting new music, there is still more I want! ha ha)
Barb got me some new clothes. I love them all!

Travis got new clothes, a soccer bag, a board game and some other miscellaneous things too.

It was really fun being home and doing our own thing. (We did the same thing two years ago, but this was the first time in our house.) We miss all our family we don't get to see very often but there is also a time when it's good to start your own traditions! We hope maybe next year we might get some family to join us for the holiday. Anyone is more than welcome! And if you join us, there is always sure to be lots of goodies...I go way overboard on the Christmas cookies and candy!

Little Miss Izzy turned THREE in December

Yep. I am not sure where the time has gone...

One day you are giving birth to this:

(Picture taken December 11, 2007 the morning after Isabelle Jane was born)

and the next thing you know, it's three years later... Her birthday was very low key. We didn't have a party or anything, we just had her open some gifts at home, ate some dinner at Texas Roadhouse, and then had cake with Aunt Maria.

Izzy also got a present from her friends Owen and Luke, too! (An adorable fairy book with stickers to dress up the fairies and decorate the scenes around them...it was a HIT!)

She opened presents first thing in the morning. She got a new winter coat that is a bright pink color, some Dr. Seuss books, money from Grandma Debbie (for new clothes), a princess puppet from Grandma Barb and Grandpa John, and a singing princess Rapunzel doll from Aunt Maria.

That week in preschool she also got to be the "Star of the Week" meaning we provided snacks that week and I went into the preschool class to show pictures of Izzy and talk about her. She also got to be the line leader all week. She thought being star of the week was pretty cool!

Some things about Izzy at three years old:

She weighs 33 pounds, her favorite movie is "Despicable Me", her favorite foods are "chickens" (nuggets), as well as candy and snacks. She has such a sweet tooth! She still acts like the baby and anyone would tell you she totally gets away with it where I am concerned. I can't help it! She IS still the baby! She loves, Loves, LOVES her big sister and wants to play with her or terrorize her constantly. She totally knows how to get under Riley's skin. It's so funny. Poor Riley! She finally became fully potty trained not long before her birthday...it was a loonnnggggg time in the making. But she does really, really well and hasn't had any accidents in several weeks and the accidents she has had have been very few. She is becoming more and more independent but still is a HUGE cuddle-bug. Anyone and everyone who knows her comments on it. She is a lot like her dad...the faces she makes, her expressions, the things she says...it's all so Travis. She is solid and I bet she will be a good little athlete someday. Hopefully she likes soccer :) Guess time will tell!

She is a ball of spunk (and sugar and spice and everything nice....you know...) She has brought us so much joy and I'm sure she will continue to do so!

Adobe Holiday Party

Adobe didn't disappoint with this year's holiday party. Not that they ever disappoint! There were tons of fun games, lots of yummy food, and NEON TREES performed. Pretty awesome!



I was so grateful it was a casual event! Omniture had really formal holiday parties and I am not much of a formal wear kind of girl!

*I tried to post a video of Neon Trees singing "Animal" but I guess the file was too large because it wouldn't work...maybe one of these days I will edit it to a more manageable size. yeah right.

I don't even know where to begin!

I am SO behind on updating this thing! And I am so mad at myself for letting it get so out of control.
Things I haven't posted about include:

-Riley's 4th Birthday. WOW. Can't believe she will start kindergarten next year!
-Our family pics that we won! (see a previous post from August)
-Riley getting 6 inches chopped off her hair
-Trav's 29th Birthday
-My sister getting hired at Adobe and moving here! YAY!!
-Halloween
-and probably so much more that I am forgetting about.

So ready for the catching up?!
Friends at Riley's birthday party
Riley's birthday present from Grandma Barb is this cute cowgirl puppet the girls call Freida. Riley got lots of wonderful gifts!

Izzy and Luke
Cam, Owen, Riley, Hailee....I had the kids sit on the floor around this table cloth and decorate their own cupcakes. Can you say MESSY?! We also played some games, opened presents, and handed out treat bags. Not sure I am the right person for throwing kids parties. I don't think I was organized enough or prepared for the craziness of 10 kids. Even with all the help I had!

In September BOTH girls started preschool and I got my hair colored DARK like I have been wanting. We visited Temple Square when Aunt Maria visited...and toured the Conference Center because Maria had never done that. We had family pics taken then Riley got her haircut. SIX whole inches. And for the most part people don't even notice because she still has lots of hair, but when I see pics of her with her long hair, I miss it. It's definitely nice not to have to deal with washing and brushing and styling as much hair as before though!
With Aunt Ria on the roof of the Conference Center
My new dark hair color!
Silly pic, but this was saying good bye to the kids when I took them to preschool
Walking into first day of preschool. Bittersweet. It's lonely without Izzy who was home with me last year...but SO nice to have a little bit of FREE time to do whatever I want with NO KIDS!
Oh! And Travis got called into the Elders Quorum Presidency at church and they asked him to shave his facial hair off. So here I am being sentimental and taking a pic before he shaved. I think he actually looks younger without it and I am used to it now but at first, the girls and I were so sad that he was shaving :( The girls cried! lol.
Our family pics!!! It was a mostly good experience since we had never had any taken...but as you can see...Izzy didn't really cooperate! TWO YEAR OLDS! AH! The photographer took almost 200 pics and I don't think we have single GENUINE smile from Isabelle. Oh well. By the way, photos courtesy of Josh at PVM Photography in Rexburg, ID.


For Halloween the girls were: Peter Pan.... (this is Riley post-haircut. See how much hair she STILL has?!)........and Tinkerbell! SO cute. Costumes courtesy of Grandma Debbie. (Grandmas are the BEST!)

For Adobe's Halloween party Travis decided to make a costume in hopes of winning one of their two $1000 prizes. So he decided to build a Lego Man costume!
This was the work in progress
And this was the final product. Luckily, the hard work MORE THAN paid off....because he won $1000!!!!!!!
Hilarious!

Travis turned 29 on October 28th and so we went on an overnight getaway to Anniversary Inn in Salt Lake. John and Dana kept our girls overnight. We have never had a night away from the kids, just the two of us. In fact, in over 4 years, I had never had a night away from kids. So this was much needed and it was so fun. Can't say thanks enough to an awesome aunt and uncle for being brave enough to accept two extra kids for a night...and two kids who had never not had mom around at that.

I also mentioned that my younger sister interview and was hired on at Adobe. She works in the Order Management department. Congrats to her!! I know coming to Utah from Albuquerque wasn't an easy thing to do, but it's so nice to have her here.

And as for me...I worked a TON in September and have managed to keep fairly busy since. For now, I guess that is enough of an update...but stay tuned for more, soon!

For Time and All Eternity

In August, one of my besties got sealed to her eternal companion in the Salt Lake City LDS Temple. The festivities that week were awesome and I couldn't help but feel SO grateful and blessed to have been able to be there.

I wish Lisa and Scott all the happiness they deserve! They waited to find each other a long time but neither of them could have found a better person to spend eternity with, making the wait well worth it.

Lisa was probably my very first friend...I have known her since the day she was born just weeks after I was born! And I am not evening kidding when I say she was THE MOST STUNNING BRIDE I HAVE EVER SEEN.

We started off with a bridal shower at my house early in the week thrown by Lisa's older sister Megan and myself. It was a hit and there was a massive turnout!

Me with Lisa and Lauren (Aren't Pennsylvania girls so cute??!)
Megan and I. Love this girl! SO happy to live so close to her and be able to raise our kids together!


The night before the wedding, there was a dinner at an Italian restaurant called Buca di Beppo. It was for family and close friends. Travis was supposed to go with me...but Izzy was SO sick that I left him home with the girls and went with Brooke and Lauren. It was awesome!

Then Friday was the wedding and reception!!

Their first appearance as Mr. and Mrs. Scott Johnson!
Gorgeous Lauren with her beatiful little girl, Lylah