Trip to Utah

I know I'm super behind in updating the blog but I was having issues getting our pictures to upload to the blog. Anyway, our 3 week trip to Utah was so fantastic! It was sooooo hard to be away from Rick for such a long time though. After 2 weeks apart, he came up once his Fall Break started and joined in on the fun :) And he TOTALLY surprised me by driving through the night and showing up in Spanish Fork on Saturday morning when I wasn't expecting him until late Saturday night! Best. Surprise. Ever. I was so shocked when he walked in the door and so so so happy to see him! 

My wonderful dad drove all the way down to Arizona to help me and the kids get to Utah. He literally drove to AZ on Saturday and turned around and we drove back on Sunday. I had to speak in church that Sunday so we left after that. Oh, and our church doesn't start until 2pm so we got a late start and didn't get to Utah till super early in the morning! But the kids did AMAZING on the drive. We made one stop partway into the drive to change Kimbri and Garrett's diapers and I nursed Garrett really quick. Then we made one stop just outside of Las Vegas to fill up the tank with gas and that's all! We only had to stope twice. It was great! And a HUGE thank you to my dad for helping us get to Utah!!!!

The reason for going so early is that Dawson, Stacie and their family were in Utah too and so that meant if I were to get there then all 7 of us kids would be together, which doesn't happen too often anymore. So since it was my parents 25th wedding anniversary later that month we decided it would be fun to do a little get together in celebration of them! So that was fun and I'm glad we were able to all be together!

I wish I would've taken more pictures. But oh well, we were having too much fun! 

Here are some of the ones I got on the iPad. I actually did take my real camera but didn't have batteries so we just made do with the trusty iPad. Haha. They aren't the best quality and are often times super blurry but oh well...

Tuxedo Brownies = YUM!

Olivia did Kimbri's hair and the only way she would sit still long enough for her to do it was to let Kimbri watch Curious George :)

New 'used' jumper we got for $5 at a yard sale! 

Garrett loved it!

Kimbri loving the french toast and grapes.

Smiley Garrett :)

Just finished the powdered donuts Grandpa Lyle gave her...

...but sad that they are all gone.

Garrett loved looking at himself in the mirror! He kept leaning forward so far that he kept bonking his face on the mirror.

Happy baby! He was finally getting good at sitting up by himself!

On the road...

...and Kimbri is tired!

I miss those mountains.
Can't believe we saw snow in September! 

Stopped for a diaper change
and to stretch for a while.

Daddy so kindly changing Kimbri's diaper :)

We had a great time! We miss our family like crazy and can't wait to see them all again at Christmas!! 

Potty Training: Days 2 & 3

This was our 3rd day of potty training Kimbri. And it has gone really well! At least I feel like it has. I've never potty trained anybody before so I guess I'm new to the whole thing... but I really do feel like it has gone great so far! 

Day 2 she still had some accidents... maybe 6 or 7 for the whole day. Which I still feel like that was pretty good. Because the first day I was already washing all her underwear while she took her afternoon nap! So by the end of Day 2 she was really starting to catch herself each time she needed to go potty and would run to the bathroom to do her stuff.

And today, Day 3, she only had ONE accident first thing in the morning... and she totally caught herself part way through. So really it was only like half of an accident. Haha :)

But seriously. She has done amazing today! She even did the #2 business all by herself in the potty. Several different times when I was feeding or tending to Garrett, Kimbri would disappear and then reappear before I even realized she was gone. She would come up to me all excited and say, "Mommy! Potty!" And we would walk back to the bathroom together where the little potty is and sure enough, she went potty all by herself without me even prompting it! 

I hope this whole potty training thing keeps going so well. She is still in diapers (although I really need to go by some pull-ups) for nap time and night time. But we're workin' on it. 

Yay for potty training success! Hopefully it stays that way.

Potty Training: Day 1

Well, the potty training has officially started! We've actually had the potty out at our house for quite some time... even when we still lived in Provo because even back just a few months ago, Kimbri would bring me a diaper when she wanted to be changed. And she actually went one on the potty several times, with me prompting her of course. But I didn't want to officially start the whole potty training thing until we got back from our trip to Utah. I guess maybe I was just lazy because I figured having Kimbri still in diapers for our 3 week trip would just be a whole lot easier! 

And it was. But now the diaper time is coming to an end and we made it through our first day of potty training! We even went to the swimming pool again today. I had Kimbri go potty right before we left and then she went again right when we got home. It worked out great!

I can't believe how much progress Kimbri made in one day. Before her nap time (which was around 2pm), we went through 7 pairs of Dora panties. I know that sounds like a lot of accidents but she actually had more success' than accidents so wahoo!  By the 7th pair of underwear, it had gotten to be where she did a few dribbles and then realized that she needed to get to the potty and would run to the bathroom and go the rest in the potty. So like I said, she made quite a lot of progress.

No way am I saying it was easy. It was still really hard constantly asking if she needed to go pee pee in the potty and keeping a close eye on her even while trying to change Garrett's diaper to make sure she wasn't going to squat in the middle of the living room floor! Haha. 

But seriously, by the end of the night I felt like she had it down. She only had 1 accident from the time she woke up from her nap to the time she went to bed. And even after she went to bed she got up about 10 minutes later and came into our bedroom and said, "Mommy, pee pee." So we raced to the bathroom, took off her DRY diaper (I'm starting out using diapers/pull-ups at night) and she sat right down and did her stuff and then we put her diaper back on and she went back to bed! Success! What a champ!

I guess we'll see how day 2 goes tomorrow :)

Photo Dump

Ever since getting and iPad, I think I take more pictures. Probably because my camera takes forever and a day to turn on and warm up or whatever and the iPad is just a lot quicker. Long story short, by the time my camera is finally ready to take a picture, the moment is gone. 

I know iPad pictures aren't as good of quality (so maybe someday I'll get a better camera and then I can take more pictures with that), but for right now I'll probably just use the iPad more often than not.

So here is a fun photo dump of the photos that have been collecting on said iPad:

Check out those thighs! Love 'em.

Aunt Olivia gave Garrett this onesie :)

Kimbri and her friend, Pearl, playing baby dolls.

I finally made round rolls that turned out good!

She loves her sunglasses!

...and she loves the sandals Pearl gave her.

Garrett LoVeS bath time!

He is pulling his sneaky smile.

Kimbri loves holding her baby brother!

I love to kiss those chubby cheeks!

K trying to help feed G the bottle

Whenever they lay next to each other Garrett always reaches over at
Kimbri and she gets all giggly.

Homemade finger paint time!

We sure made a mess but K sure had fun finger painting!

The following picture needs an explanation. I was trying to get dinner cooked and Kimbri disappeared for a few minutes. Not too long after she reappeared in the kitchen totally naked with my old Minnie Mouse ears on her waist!!! Oh my I laughed so hard. That girl!

Then she decided that Garrett should wear them. Oh my. She cracks me up!

We made a fort out of the lawn mower box... yes, we finally
bought a lawn mower!

More bath time!

She insists on reading her block books while sitting
on her toilet, lining them up after she reads each one.

This girl was SOOOO tired but wouldn't get in bed for
a nap, so I put on a Disney sing-along movie and she
was out like a rock before the first song even finished!