ThAnKsGiViNg!!

I love the holidays! This year we spent Thanksgiving on Fort Lewis just south of Seattle. Tyler's sister and her husband live on base and Tyler's parents rented a cabin there for a few days. The drive there and back was not much fun- snow packed and icy roads slowed us way down so it ended up being a 10 hour drive each way. But once we got there we enjoyed a lot of fun with the Pooleys. Tyler and Parker, along with all the other kids, spent quite a bit of time in the hot tub despite the chilly 20 degree weather and snow. They are crazy! We enjoyed a very yummy meal as well!

Dinner time!

Parker ate some turkey and a roll but his favorite was definitely the sparkling cider... I think he had half a bottle by himself :)

Rylan had her first taste of Thanksgiving- I snuck her a little taste of sweet potato. She wasn't quite sure what to think about it. Luckily she has another few months to decide before food enters her life again.

And we were very excited to meet our brand new nephew Jeffferson Lee. He was born the day before Thanksgiving- just in time for the family to meet him! Congratulations to Lacey, Denver and the new big sisters Libby and Miki!

We have so much to be thankful for. I am truly grateful for my wonderful little family. I can testify that family, along with the true gospel of Jesus Christ, is all you need in life! Hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving as well!

Kristen and Some Cougar Football

A couple weekends ago we went down to Provo to see my sister and go to BYU football game!! It was a short trip but we had so much fun! We were really missing Auntie Kristen so we were so glad see her. Parker loved the football game! Every touchdown he sang and danced to the "Ra ra ra ra ra... gooooooo Cougars!" Just like we do at home :) He talked about it for days afterward.

Rylan slept about half the time and the rest she was pretty content on my lap. All the cheering and cannons didn't phase her a bit.

Unfortunately this next picture was terrible of me but so cute of Parker so some cropping was done. He was loving life in Lavell Edwards Statium!

We also got to see lots of great friends who still live around Provo. It was so fun to see them. Love you guys :)

We are a cougar family for sure... Goooo Cougars!

Stop Complaining

Every time I start feeling sorry for myself and feel the urge to complain to Heavenly Father about the hand I've been dealt that week, I am quickly reminded how lucky I am. I admire all the people in my life who endure far more severe trials than my own. And from now on I am going to stop complaining!

I say this every year but I LOVE pumpkin patches. Some of my favorite memories growing up are from this amazing pumpkin patch my family went to every year in Wheatland, California called Bishop's Pumpkin Farm. I have never been to one that was as cool as that one but I have decided pumpkin patches have to be a tradition for our family as well. So we headed out to Farmstead Pumpkin Patch and we had a lot of fun! We saw lots of pumpkins, we ate yummy funnel cake, and we enjoyed the cool Fall air and pretty scenery.

Parker road a pony! He wasn't quite sure what to think of it at first but be the time the ride was over, he didn't want to get off. His pony's name was Sweetie Pie.

We sat in a giant rocking chair....

Parker rode the cow train. Same story as the pony rides, not sure at first but loving it by the end. His cow was named Duke :)

We jumped on the bouncy pillow- that was Parker's favorite part!

And little Rylan did this the whole time. Hopefully next year she'll be in on the fun too!

I can't believe how fast October has flown by. Tomorrow is Halloween and before we know it, Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here. I wish it would slow down a little so I can soak in the holidays a little bit more!

Oh and I got a new double stroller today and I am so excited to try it out and do some walking before it gets too cold. I sure will miss my walking buddies though :(

My Little Pumpkins

I love Fall, cool air, colorful leaves, Halloween, and most of all pumpkins- my little pumpkins!

Go hold your little pumpkins, they are precious and as I was reminded this week, fragile. We are so lucky to have them in our lives.

Rylan's Blessing

This past Sunday we had the opportunity to bless Rylan at church. I love baby blessing days. Both Parker and Rylan's blessing days were so very special. They reminded us of how lucky we are to be members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to have the Priesthood in our home, to have beautiful healthy children, and to be surrounded by amazing family and friends. What more can you ask for in life? Rylan's blessing was beautiful and I love my husband for his sincere words, you could feel the Spirit so strongly. The weather was also gorgeous! It was sunny and warm but felt so much like Fall- so pretty!

After Sacrament meeting we had lunch at our house with all of our wonderful family and friends that joined us. We are so grateful to everyone who made the day so special especially Grandma Pooley for Rylan's beautiful dress and Grandma Milligan for the delicious food and all of the help and life-saving she was for me that day.

I have such a strong testimony of the Plan of Salvation and eternal families, Sunday was another great reminder of what eternity with loved ones will be like.

Photography

Photography

I LOVE pictures! You can ask Tyler- I am one of those annoying wives that makes everyone take family pictures every two months and I am constantly torturing my children with the bright flash of my camera. Need more evidence? I have 35 Facebook albums and over 5,000 pictures on my computer... Yeah I am a little crazy. I have a couple of friends who are really great at photography and they have inspired me to play around with my pictures to try to make them a little more professional looking. I totally lack the skill and creativity to be really good at this photography thing but I have a lot of passion so this week I am seeing what comes from it. Here is what I have so far.

These are a few of my favorites... I want to take some cute pictures of both the kids within the next few days. If you want to see real talent you should check out my friend's blog. I have a bunch more from this photo shoot with Rylan on Facebook.

One Month!

One month goes by so fast!

Parker at one month:

Rylan at one month:

If they were both naked I am not sure I'd be able to tell them apart. And they both made/make that same face- I LOVE that face :)

I love my babies!!!

Life with Two!

Sorry for the lack of blogging, life with two little kiddos is BUSY! But so wonderful. I don't have much to post because we have not done much the last month. But today Rylan is exactly one month old so I thought I would post some pictures of her.

She is growing so fast and her little spirit and personality are becoming more observable everyday. It is so fun to have her in our home. She is healthy and is starting to sleep in good 3-4 hr chunks already. She seems to be a pretty happy baby and she always has her mouth wide open, tongue sticking out, with a cute little grin. We all love her very much!

As for my little man, he continues to make me smile everyday. I wouldn't say he is suffering from "Terrible-Two's" but definitely the "Trying-Two's". We have good days and not so good days but overall he is still my little Sunshine. He is a very good brother. He loves giving "Ry-ry" kisses and his favorite thing to do lately is to put a blanket on her and tell me she is cold. Here are a few fun stories:

The other night at about 6:00, Parker took a bath- baths are Parker's very favorite thing right now. Between getting Parker out of the bath, dried and dressed, making dinner and trying to keep Rylan happy, I forgot to drain the tub. At about 8:00, Parker went into our room, after about 10 minutes of hearing and seeing nothing of him, Tyler went in to see what he was up to and this is what he found.....

My friend Jessica gave Parker this cute costume she made for her son when he was this age. Parker loves it and has been wearing it all day. I think he makes an awfully cute Superman :)

We bought Parker his first bike yesterday. Tyler spent some time today helping him ride it. He is pretty good!

Well, everyone warned me that having 2 kids was going to be hard. It is at times but it is also so wonderful and fulfilling to see your two little kids interact. I am very excited to watch them grow up together!

Rylan

Our little girl is here! Rylan Esther Pooley was born this morning at 10:27 am weighing 6lbs 11oz- our tiny little peanut:) I just sent Tyler home to spend the night with Parker and I am sitting in the hospital with Ry on a pillow next to me, watching her sleep. I figured I better write this all down because I know once I get home and back to reality, life will be too crazy to sit down and blog!

So here are the details for anyone curious. I thought my labor with Parker was pretty darn easy as far as laboring goes but this time around was like a dream come true! I was in labor for a total of 3 hours, I felt about 20 minutes of contractions before getting my epidural, I pushed 1 and 1/2 times and out she came! I literally had to hold her in for about ten minutes making sure the doctor would get there in time! I had my first contraction about 7:30 am. At about 10:15 am I called my mom from the hospital to let her know I was dilated to a 5 1/2 and everything was looking good. FIVE minutes later my nurse said- "I'm going to check you again because she's acting like she's ready to come!" I had gone from a 5 1/2 to an 8 in FIVE minutes! I frantically called my mom (who was trying to get there with my family and Parker for the grand finale) and told her to DRIVE FAST! Not even 10 minutes and 1 and 1/2 pushes later, I was holding my beautiful little girl!

My labor and delivery nurse was amazing! Dr. Lowder didn't tease me too much (he is quite the jokester) And Tyler and I really enjoyed the whole experience. And Tyler was of course a wonderful labor coach through the whole thing. It was fast but flawless. And I am in love!

We were glad Tyler's mom and sisters were able to meet her before they move to Rexburg tomorrow. We will miss having them around to spoil the kids!

Parker was not quite sure what to think when he got there and met his new little sister. He and Grandma watched the nurses weigh and assess her and then he was ready to go back to playing with Kristen and Jake. I am sure he will grow to love her. Tyler is already so wrapped around her tiny little finger! I know he is nervous about having a girl but he is already showing a promising future as her daddy :) I sure am missing my boys tonight though and I am looking forward to being home with our little family of four :) Now I am going to sleep!

Many more pictures to come!

Need some advice...

Ok this is for all of you A+ moms out there who have perfect children on perfect schedules- which seems to be every mom but me :) Parker has never been a good sleeper. He has been sleeping in his "big boy" toddler bed for about two months now and has weeks where he will sleep through the night like a charm and then he'll have weeks where he wakes up 1-3 times a night. Right now, of course right as the baby is about to arrive and keep me up all night anyway, Parker wakes up once a night EVERY night! Then I have to go lay next to him in bed in order to get him back to sleep which can take anywhere from 5 to 30 min. So I am looking for some coaching from all you moms on ways I can get him consistently sleeping through the night. I am not sure I can wake up with two kids every night and still keep my sanity :) Feel free to leave comments!

Water!

Here is what we have been up to since my last post...

1. We moved! Got it all done in 2 1/2 days. Thanks to our families for all of the help packing, cleaning, loading and unloading.

2. My wonderful friends threw a baby shower for me :) It was a ton of fun and I got lots of fun girly stuff! Thanks to everyone who came and especially Valerie, Laura, Mom and Kristen for doing all the work!

3. Water! We have living in the water. In the last week we went to the wate

r park twice, we went boating, we played in the sprinklers, and we went to the primary activity that had swimming, water balloons, a giant inflatable water slide and a slip and slide. In addition, I, mostly by myself, consumed an entire Costco 35 pack of water bottles in one week! What can I say, I am a thirsty pregnant woman :) And we love the water!

4. My Grandma came to visit from California. We enjoyed spending time with her and are so glad she was able to visit! She came along for our boating outing and it was a blast!

Boating!

Wish I could take credit for this awesome picture of Tyler wake boarding but I was driving the boat and my mom was behind the camera. Yep... that's my husband :)

Jake tried wake boarding for the first time and did great! He got up for a few seconds and can't wait to go again!

Parker and his aunt Kristen

Control Freak!

There is something that I have learned about myself, several times through out life... I am a control freak. I don't try to control others, I just hate when I feel like things in my own life are out of my control! I hate being patient enough to wait and see things work out on their own. So as you can imagine, Heavenly Father, quite often, has to teach me how to be patient and have faith that HE is in control, not me. Lately I have been experiencing one of these lessons and it was not a pretty sight :) I was freaking out to the point that I was literally sending myself into labor. But if I would have just calmed down and realized once again that I can't control everything and that He knows exactly what he is doing, I could have saved myself a lot of distress. We now have a new house to move into next week, Tyler is finally getting paid for all the hard work he has been doing this summer, and despite my crazy body stressing itself into labor, our baby is still in there and healthy! I see that Heavenly Father irons out our lives for us- even if it's at the very last minute :) And once again, I am humbled. Thank goodness he is in control and not me!

Good thing I have these guys (and little girl not pictured) to save me from myself :)

And here is the 8 month belly! Only four weeks to go!

PaRkEr'S BiRtHdAy PaRtY!!

Our Birthday Boy!

We decided to throw Parker a birthday party a little early this year because the end of July might be a little crazy for us as we prepare to move and make room for the baby, etc. His actual birthday is July 20 but we celebrated with family and friends on Saturday. We invited everyone to the little park just up the street from our house. It was perfect because the park is small and fenced in so the kids could run around all they wanted and the parents could enjoy visiting while keeping and eye on the kiddos. It was so fun! My mom brought a bunch of fun water toys and squirt guns, needles to say all the kids, both toddlers and the older kids, enjoyed getting wet.

I stayed up until 1:00 am the night before making these lovely soccer ball cupcakes. I thought they were appropriate because Parker loves soccer and he has spent a lot of time watching the World Cup with us lately.

Parker spent a lot of time on the swings! Between swings and any form of water (including the sprinklers that came on later that day) he was in Heaven!

He also insisted that he have one of his balloons at all times that day!

Playing on the playground with another balloon :)

Having so much fun with his daddy!!

Blowing out his 2 candles! He blew them out all by himself... I was impressed.

Yummy! Unfortunately he wasn't that interested in the cupcakes I slaved over, so no fun pictures of him covered in frosting.

Opening presents.... he got lots of great stuff, including a lifetime supply of bubbles- which is awesome because he LOVES bubbles!!

Chillin'... starting to get worn out from all the fun.

And this is where he ended his afternoon, crashed on our bed holding on to... balloons!!

Thank you to all our family and friends who made Parker feel so special at his party. We are so blessed and had so much fun with all of you! Once again I took 135 pictures at the party and we have a bunch of cute ones of all our friends and family. I will put them on Facebook so check them out!