The Bassett's

Lauren's Surgery

2011-07-28T23:21:00.000-06:00

It was decided that Lauren was to get her tonsils out, and so the time had finally come. (7.27.11)We planned to meet Grandma Debbie, Hillary, and Marcus in Billings the day before and eat at Chuck-E-Cheese and try to relax and have as much fun as we could (for Lauren) before her surgery.

After Chuck-E-Cheese we ran a few errands and then headed to the motel that was convienetly right next to the Yellowstone Surgery Center. Lauren had to check everything out in the room we were staying in! She thought the fridge was pretty neat!

So the day of the surgery fnally came.(7.28.11) I slept pretty good that night, but I was up early. My mom had loaned us her Ipad so I was able to occupy my time with that and getting myself ready for the day as well. I woke up everyone else when at about 8:30 (because I didn't want Lauren up too early because she wasn't supposed to eat or drink). My mom had come up that morning so she could be with Sawyer while we were with Lauren. Our arrival time was 9:00 and we got checked in with no problems. The nurse that came and got Lauren was so sweet and talked to Lauren a little in the waiting room before she took her back. They weighed Lauren and she was 18.1 kg (I thought it was weird they weighed them in kg, but I guess it is more precise). Then they took us into a little room and we put Lauren in a gown. The doc came in and said hi, and then the nurses gave Lauren some medicine that made her loopy, relaxed, and all sorts of fun! Erik thought it was hillarious! She was talking really slow and she would rub her thumb and pointer finger together while she talked! haha! Anyway they strolled her away (happy as could be) in a wagon and we went to the waiting room! About 40 minutes later the doc came and said all was well and what to expect and said we would have to wait for about 20 more minutes while she woke up. A nurse came and got us and took us to a crying Lauren. The thing that seemed to be bothering her the most was the IV, but we were able to rock her and she feel asleep. The poor thing couldn't talk really well and would cry unconsolubly and we would try to take her mind off things asking do you want a trampoline for your birthday, did you know we didn't tell Aimee happy birthday (she loves birthdays), should we have Grandma Jolley come here... and on and on and on. We were able to talk her into eating some pudding and taking some medicine and then she was able to get her IV out. After the IV was out she was doing pretty good, she was drinking and eating a little bit. The nursing staff was great and gave Lauren lots of little things to take home including a little stuffed sheep named Ramsy! We decided Lauren was ready to leave and so we checked her out and her nurse wheeled her in the wheel chair all the way to our hotel! I was impressed with Lauren because she wanted to get off the wheel chair herself and walked (wobbling) to the bed! So at this point things were looking up and I was grateful that it wasn't the horrible recovery I thought it was going to be (I shall be proved wrong later in the story). So Lauren was happy to watch Caillou (a PBS show) on Grandma's Ipad and we tried to relax! My mom had stayed a while at the hotel with us only because she had locked her keys in her car and my sister Lila so graciously brought them to Billings for her!

Grandma and Lauren watching Caillou..

Sawyer relaxing :)

This was later on in the evening, Lauren was up and moving and playing with the water! I was again gratefull that she wanted to play with anything!

You can tell she doesn't feel well, look at those eyes.

Erik and Lauren playing with the FILM camera they gave her at the Surgery Center! Haha! I haven't used a disposable camera for a long time!

Me and the Lady!

Lauren watching more Caillou.

That night of her surgery we were talking about what we should eat for dinner and so Erik and I decided that we would go for some Taco Bell, and Lauren said she wanted a taco. Ok, so we got her the taco thinking she wouldn't eat it. Well she ate it! I was surprised, but glad she was eating! We later went to sleep, Lauren and Erik in one bed - and Sawyer and I in the other! It was a good night and Lauren slept all the way through with no problems! The next day we slowly got on our way, did a few more errands in Billings and then headed to Laurel to grab some lunch at McDonalds. Lauren requested a hamburger, and to my surprise again, she ate the hamburger with no problems. We made it home and settled in.

That afternoon my mom was at the Byron park with my nefews so we walked over to the park and played with them for a little while! (When you don't have a double stroller, you just have to get creative!) Again at this point I am still a little shocked that she was doing so good. The only reason I knew she had just got her tonsils out was because she talked so funny! We got everyone in bed and it was another successful night of sleep for Lauren. The next day was Thursday (Day 2 after surgery) Erik had to work that night, so us girls made our selfs sparce and went to my moms house so we could make noise! Lauren was doing ok, but wasn't interested in eating or drinking as much as she had been. But this day was still a good day. The night came and it was just me and the girls because Erik was at work. This night was not a good night, Lauren woke up and was crying and was unconsolable. I tried to be as patient as possible and be sympathetic, but at the same time I didn't want her to wake up Sawyer. So after a while all I could sadly do was put her in another room and let her cry :( Friday (Day 3) was an ok kind of day for Lauren, but medicine was harder to give to her because she didn't want it to hurt her throat, and she didn't want to drink much either. (note. she wouldn't eat icecream, popsicles, anything cold, soft, or sweet, along with all other yummy foods you think kids would love to eat) We had family picutres for the whole Jolley family set for that evening and I was hoping we could have a happy Lauren that evening for pictures, and they went ok! Friday night was a repeat of Thursday night but a little worse.. Lauren woke up a couple times crying and I couldn't sooth her... Small house + everyone in one room + no Erik to help = unhappy Lacey. Anyways we made it through the night, and the next day was her birthday (Day 4). We didn't do much this day because we were going to have her birthday party on Monday the 4th. We let her open a few presents to give her something else to think about other than her mouth hurting. We went out to Horseshoe Bend with my mom, Lila, Kandace and her kids. The night came and Lauren woke up crying a few times and to top it off Sawyer puked! Yes, what a good night! It was one of those pukes that come every 20 minutes, so after a couple rounds of pukes we all got back to bed. Day 5, Sunday- I called my mom that morning to see if she could come and get Lauren because I could tell Sawyer was going to want to cuddle and sleep most of the day because she was still running a fever. At this point I knew that Ibuprofen was the only thing that made Lauren feel better and it would only work for about 2 hours, then Lauren would be misserable.. and you are only supposed to give them ibuprofen every 6 hours :( When I called to check on Lauren that afternoon my mom said she wasn't doing so good.. very lathargic and had been sleeping most of the day and NOT drinking. Not peeing. ugh. So I worried and thought she was most likely dehidrated or pretty darn close. We tried and tried to convince her to drink water every chance we got, and made it through another not fun night - Erik got to experience this night with us because he was done with the night shifts. The next day (Monday, Day 6) was her birthday party, so I tried to occupy her thoughts with that! She was ok during the days, but I never knew what would set her off.. and once she started to cry about something it was VERY hard to get her to stop. Oh yeah.. I don't know the last time Lauren had taken a bath, or when the last time it was she washed her hair, combed her hair... I hadn't been to the store in a long time so I depended on my mom and Debbie to bring most of the party supplies and food (Thanks!) I also talked my mom into coming early to help me get things ready because I was close to crazy and Sawyer was needy, as was Lauren! Lauren had a few melt downs at her party, but it was nothing we couldn't handle. The pattern continued and the recovery seemed to be never ending. My mom graciously took Lauren on Tuesday night (Day 7) and when I went to get Lauren that morning for swimming lessons she willingly (after a dose of ibuprofen) drank water and ate some coco puffs. YES! THERE IS HOPE! When she was willing to drink, we took advantage of that precious time and had drinking contests and tried to make drinking as fun as could be! But our sweet Lady Lauren just did not feel good, her eyes didn't sparkle and it was so hard to see her like that.

I think it was Day 10 or 11 when I finally started to see the sparkle back in her eyes. This picture is so comforting to me because this is the day that she started to come back around!

We made it through the tonsil surgery and are extremely happy that the recovery is over with! I waited to write this post because I would have been much more bitter about the whole situation, but now I can just sigh a big sigh of releif and be glad that is over! I am gratefull that Lauren doesn't have any hard feelings about the doctor and she seems to have forgotten the whole recovery!

Happy Birthday Lauren

2011-07-20T08:32:00.001-06:00

Wow! Lauren is 3 years old! I cannot believe how fast time fly's! Most people already think Lauren is 3 and sometimes she has be mistaken as a 4 year old! She is so tall and is such a talker that it's sometimes hard to believe that she is just only 3! Lauren is such a sweetheart (when she wants to be!) She has started to say (out of the blue) "I love you mom" or "I love Sawyer so much", "You're the best!" and sweet little comments like that! She also says things like "I'm a good mommy helper" (if she is helping me) or if I am using her brush she says "mom it's ok if you use my brush" (well thanks Lauren!) then her newest thing is "mom when I say I want more juice then more" I think she gets that from when I tell her, Lauren when mom says it's time to go you say ok mom.. She loves anyones birthday, and birthday parties, but she is especially excited for hers! She just had her tonsil's taken out the Tuesday before her birthday (Saturday), so she wasn't fully feeling well but we partied anyway :)

At 3 years old Lauren loves clothes, but mostly loves to change clothes! She will change her clothes every hour of the day if I would let her. She has her opinion of what clothes she likes and what clothes she doens't (those choices are usually the opposite of mine and I have to pick my battles!) Lauren likes to change into anything different, at any time or any where! Grandma Jolley always has extra panties that where left overs from Kynlee and Kaya and Lauren always sneaks in and changes her panties! Grandma Debbie has a few different outfits that Lauren always has to check out and change into! I put exclamation marks at the end of those sentences, but sometimes it is quite anoying, like I said... I pick my battles.

Lauren loves to talk on the phone if it is pretend or for real and sometimes she calls and talks to people without my knowledge!

Lauren has a pretty sharp memory, and it is amazing at the things she can remember! She remembers what clothes she wore for certain events, like the shirt she wore to chuck-e-cheese and the shirt she wore for family pictures! It was about a year an a half ago when I was looking for my keys one Sunday morning and could not find them.. I was a little irritated and finally decided we needed to walk to church and Lauren went in the stroller. Why I told you that little story was because I was with my sister and Lauren just recently and I think I had misplaced my keys and Lauren out of the blue said when you lost your keys we had to walk to church (or something to that effect). Sometimes she remembers the silliest things!

I could go on and on about my Lady Lauren, she is such a sweet girl, a wonderful sister to Sawyer and the perfect daughter! I love her so much and am so glad she is part of my family!

Now for the birthday party! We had her party on Monday July 4th and poor Lauren had just had her tonsils out the Tuesday before (6.28.11). At this point she wasn't as chipper as I would have hoped but we made it through!
Lauren got a tramp for her birthday :) (After last nights wind 7.19.11 it is now a goner, I.am.so.irritated.)

Lauren with her Dora!

The Bassett clan!

Some of the Jolley clan..

Lauren with her sing-a-ma-jig!

The ditch is always a hit! Notice my nefew Triffen with the cowboy boots... here is pants are on

His pants are off (we are lucky he has anything on really! I think it was made clear he could not go naked!)

Kennedy and Lauren with Dora. Kennedy was so sweet and asked me if I would take a picture of them with Dora at the table!

Lila and sweet Sawyer

That changing thing I was talking about, this is her in action! She got new clothes from Grandma Debbie and just couldn't resist!

Hillary and Marcus, even though they live in Texas Lauren has been lucky enough to have them at two of her birthday parties!

Aww, Benson!

More time enjoying the ditch! It is truley fun for all :)

Lauren and her cake made by Grandma Debbie!

The Dora cupcakes that Grandma Debbie made. Is it clear that Lauren likes Dora!

Dad helping Lauren blow out the candles! There are 3 candles this year and it was pretty tough to blow them all out I guess!

And we ended the night with some fireworks!

Sawyer @ 8 (and a half) months!

2011-07-19T16:19:00.000-06:00

I love the summer time, but most of the time it equals crazy busy time! Our sweet Sawyer is growing like a weed and is gaining her own personality more and more! She has yet to crawl and has no teeth! She is close to crawling though.. when she is sitting she will bend over her belly and get to her knee's and then just stretches out to her belly, so it's coming. I don't know why I am so anxious for her to crawl, because I know when she does start to crawl I will wish she would stop!! She is already starting, and has sucessfully pulled her self up to standing position a few times! I was looking back at Lauren's baby book and this is the time when she started to crawl and broke out her first tooth. I have been saying for the past two months that Sawyer is teething (and we even went to the doc a month or so ago for him to tell us that "oh yeah she is teething") but NO teeth! I guess she is grouchy sometimes because she wants to be grouchy.. nothing wrong with that I guess, I fall into that trap sometimes myself! I really have thought today that she is teething because she has been sleeping alot and has a fever, and threw up a little bit, but again.. what do i know! And believe me when I say this, I am not trying to brag.. I am her favorite person! She has been a momma's girl from the start and now she has the lungs to prove it when she would like to be held by me and not by dad, grandma's, grandpa's, aunt's, and uncles (aside for Uncle H.B. who feeds her icecream! They are great buddies!) I try to enjoy it, but sometimes I want someone else to be able to enjoy her :) She loves to babble, and still just knows the bababa, or to Erik it is dadada! She is at the stage where if she is sitting on my lap facing me she wants to turn around, and when I turn her around she wants to face me, then she wants to dive off my lap, and so on and so forth! She sometimes gets bored with her toys so I have to get creative with giving her wrappers, straws, and those things that she shouldn't probably play with.. but hey, it buys me a few extra minutes!! (just being honest here people!) Sawyer is not lacking in the hair department, and it is still full of curls! She definitely gets peoples attention, and people always say "look at all that hair!" She is a show stopper :) My mom had her in Costco and she commented on how many people stopped to comment on Sawyer's hair! I love your hair too Sawyer! Sawyer is a good 20 pounds, and maybe more! She is not missing any meals! She is healthy, and happy (to be with mom) and we love our Sawyer so much!!

Silly Sawyer

2011-06-01T17:32:00.000-06:00

Sawyer is changing more and more every day! Sadens me a little bit, but it is so fun all at the same time! She has just figured out the b sound and some times it sounds like a d. Erik will tell you she say's da da da da! Anyways, she thinks she is pretty cool! I have a video of her showing off her new sounds, it is pretty long and she doesn't really do much but i give her some pea's about a minute into the video that is pretty funny to watch!
The video is mostly for Aunt Lila (watch her hands Lila, she moves her hands like Benson used to do!)

Artist

2011-05-30T17:23:00.001-06:00

While we were across the mountian visiting Kysar was playing some serious soccer and the girls were drawing! The always amaze me at what good drawers they are for being almost 10! I am a horrible drawer and can draw only stick figures, and am easily amazed with anyone who can draw :) Kynlee drew a picture of Sawyer that was SO cute and she had ever little detail right with the bangs curled hanging down almost in her eyes!

This is a picture of Lauren and Sawyer that Kynlee drew!

It is a little blurry because I wanted it to be bigger so you could see it, but it very detailed!

I will have to have Kaya draw a picture for me to "feature" because she is a good little artist herself!

Around and About!

2011-05-28T15:21:00.001-06:00

On Thursday Lauren had an appointment with an Ear Nose and Throat specialist in Billings to look at her overly large tonsils. About a month ago I noticed Lauren's tonsil's while she was crying and noticed that there wasn't a lot of room for her to swallow. I was so worried when I first saw it because I thought that she wouldn't be able to breath because they were so huge. So I took her to the doc the next day and they gave her some antibiotics and 10 days later her tonsils were the same size. It doesn't effect her eating habits, and she doesn't complain that there is a problem.. So after some searching for a doc who removes tonsil's we decided to go with the same doc that my dad uses for his sinus problems. It was about a month wait to get into the doc and that day finally came. I really liked Dr. P. and he was so informative, very friendly and was really good with Lauren. His reaction was the same as mine when I first saw Lauren's tonsil's.. wow! Tonsils are scaled in size from 1 to 4 and Lauren's left tonsil is a 4 because it is touching that thing that hangs down in the middle of your throat and her right tonsil is a 3. He also was saying that he could tell Lauren was a mouth breather because of the roof of her mouth because it was high. He said that when your a mouth breather it causes the roof of your mouth to get higher and higher causing your top teeth to grow narrower causing the top teeth to not match up with the bottom teeth. This all leading to very painful orthodonture problems in the future. I was very happy that we chose to see Dr. P and was glad that we can get Lauren taken care of and hope that it helps her feel better! I was so worried that we would go in there and her would be like, so what she has big tonsils.. deal with it! But he was very nice and said that it was good that I brought her in, and that this needed to be taken care of. So we have about another month to wait and then it is surgery time. I am a little nervous about Lauren's recovery and how whinny she will be (I am a little selfish, I know) but they say children handle it better than adults, so we shall see!

My mom made the trip with us, and we thought that since we were in Billings we would make the round trip through Dayton/Sheridan to see my brother Spencer and his family. The road to Sheridan had just opened up the night before due to flooding and we only had to trudge through some water over the road in one spot. It was crazy to see all the flooding throughout that area. We made it to Dayton safely and had some happy kids waiting our arrival!

The sleeping araingments!

Our lovely host! This was the first time that I got to see Spencer and Aimee's new house.. and I approve! I have some problem with the location (meaning it would be much better on the other side of the mountian) but it is a beautiful house!

The next day Aimee and the kids had already had plans to go roller skating and they invited us to come along! It was the perfect activity for our day! I have not been roller skating for SO long, and it brought back memories of roller skating at Skate-a-way!! It even looked like Skate-a-way inside and they did all the same games, 4 corners, limbo, when the wistle blows you squat down.. and more!!

Lauren and I getting ready to skate!

Lauren wasn't really diggin' the whole skating thing, and I was a little wobbly my self.. so the next best thing was stroller/roller skating! They let you take strollers out on the skating rink and it is the BEST idea ever!! It also made the time go by faster because no one had to sit out and stay with the baby, everyone could enjoy! We had Sawyer's stroller, but Lauren thought that she needed a stroller too. They had some extra stollers and we were able to get one for Lauren! She is such a Diva and loves to be carted around!

The best thing about taking the stroller on the rink is that it was a security for me insureing me that I didn't fall!

Everyone enjoyed pushing the strollers around (I am so mad.. I didn't get pictures of Aimee and my mom on stroller duty) Even Kynlee and Kaya had fun pushing the strollers around! Kysar, a.k.a. RED RACER was to fast and to busy to push the strollers. He did have a blast though!!

Here is her highness in her stroller "Lady Lauren"

And Sawyer also enjoyed the skating as well!

We had such a fun time with Aimee, Kynlee, Kaya, and Kysar!! Spencer didn't get to make the trip because he was working, Aimee assure's me that they go skating often so Spencer will get his skate on later! After skating we ate some pizza then made the journy back over the mountain to end our round trip!

Rumble Park

2011-05-22T15:53:00.001-06:00

This last Friday (5.20.11) it was a windy/rainy day and I thought the kids and I were homebound. Our neighbor Serena surprised us with an invitation to the Rumble Park! We gladly excepted and were on our way! I have been wanting to try out the Rumble Park because I have heard wonderful things about it, and we just never have. Lauren had a BLAST! I wish we would have gone more during the winter to let her blow off some steam! It was the perfect event for our day! We ended our day with a date with Lauren, Erik and I to the movie Reo (which was an OK movie, and was almost more like church trying to get lauren to stay in her seat! But she loved the popcorn, pop and treats!)

Here are some pictures of Lauren rumblin' and bumblin'

I was honestly a little nervous to go down this slide at first, but after Lauren got the hang of it she was happy to be on her own! There were a lot of kids there and some impatient ones at that, so sometimes Lauren would get shoved to the side while trying to get up the slide, but then there were some really sweet girls who would help the little kids too!

p.s. Marcus, Hailey, Kennedy and Jonathan be ready for Rumble Park when you guys are here!! Lauren has a trip planned for all of us to come together :)

This, That, and the Other

2011-05-19T09:46:00.000-06:00

We have celebrated a few birthdays this month, my mom's (May 8th), and the ones that I have pictures of are my nefew Triffens (May 17th) and mine (May 18th).

Triffen turned 3 and had his birthday at the Deaver park. His mom thought up the CUTEST way to serve the dessert! Triffen asked for John Deere tractors.. and that is what he got!

I don't think there was a better was to serve dirt!

The Birthday boy!

Triffen had his own tractor with his own dirt in it to eat. I didn't get a closer picture, but you can sort of see it!

The next birthday was mine! The morning of my birthday Erik was trying to get Lauren to tell me happy birthday, and she was acting all shy and wouldn't tell me! My sister had called me to wish me a happy birthday and Lauren asked "who was that, what did she want..." I told her it was Lila and that she told me happy birthday. Erik again said, Lauren tell mom happy birthday, and Lauren without skipping a beat said "Lila already did!" Lauren finally by the end of the day was able to tell me happy birthday (only once) without feeling so shy! My mom always makes our favorite meal, and this year I chose chip beef gravy on toast (I think I choose that every year)! It is one of my Grandma Asay's specialty's, and I absolutely love it! Lauren loves birthday parties and was so excited for the cake and candles!

Lauren and I, she is keeping her eye on the prize!

Lila and Sawyer!

Serving up the cake and ice cream! Don't ask me what H.B. is doing with Sawyer!! Haha!

After the party we went to the living room to talk, and we had the door open and my mom's "pets" came to the door! She has had chickens for over a year now, and just got these 3 chicks from a neighbor who hatched them for school and didn't want them anymore. My mom has a chicken book that she has been reading and read that chickens make good pets! She is trying it out on these 3 because they don't mingle with the other chickens and keep to themselves. Every night the chickens come to the front door and my mom carries them one by one to the back breeze way were they sleep for the night!

My mom trying to catch her pets!

Here's the girls and "Hawk" my mom says she thinks this one looks like a hawk, so he shall be names Hawk!

That same night my brother Jacob came with his new truck to show off his skills! Jacob just recently started this new job, and I don't know much about it. I know it's a big vaccuum and he can clean up ditches, graineries, and he does a lot of clean up for oil companies, and I am sure much much more! It was kind of neat to see this big vaccuum work!

Jake has a remote around his neck and controls just about everything on the truck from that!

My dad "Farmer Dave" watching!

Getting ready to clean!

This pressure washer is also controlled by his remote on his neck! With the pressure washer he is breaking things up so that it can be sucked up.

Lila and Sawyer watching the action!

The ditch is clean! Atleast that part of the ditch was clean!

My mom working, while my dad stands and watches!! He is a slave driver I tell ya!

Sawyer @ 7 months

2011-05-18T23:09:00.001-06:00

Yesterday (5.17.11) marked the day that Sawyer is now 7 months old! HOLY COW! At 7 months old Sawyer knows what she wants and... that would be mom! I am not saying this to brag, I am saying it because it is true! She is a little turkey and knows what she wants and knows how to get it! You want to know how I know this.. When I come to pick her up after I have been at dance practice she sometimes starts crying in the arms of my mom or dad right when she see's me, then when they give her to me, amoungst the tears and the crying she starts to smile. Rotten I tell you, she is rotten! Like I said in one of my last posts, I am going to take advantage of her likeness to me and go with it! Sawyer has attained quite a temper! At this age I am going to blame it on teeth, because she isn't her normal self lately, but then again maybe this is what my little monster is turning into!! sigh

Sawyer's likes:

*Mom

*to growl

*ice cream, Grandpa Jolley introduced her to that!

*Lauren, she is always happy to see Lauren in the morning when she wakes up even if Lauren is still asleep

*patty-cake, and being sung to

*veggies, fruit must be too sweet or sour becuase she always does a full body shiver when she tries it!

*outside

*Lauren's toy car seat, the box of wet wipes, a little bin that once held files. She likes hard things lately and can entertain herself for quite a while with them!

Sawyer's Dislikes

*Riding in the car

*bottles

*sippy cups

*naps during the day! This little one does not need to nap longer than about 30 minutes 3 to 4 times a day! She is for the most part pretty good about playing on the floor so i can manage to get the things done around the house, but sometimes I wish she would be sleeping at those times so I didn't feel so bad about just leaving her on the floor!
*her nose being wiped. She has had a cold for about a week and her nose is a constnt run. When ever I get a kleenex to wipe her nose she turns her head away from me as far as she can. Then we I get to her nose she shakes her head as fast as she can!

She is such a smiley girl, and Erik seems to think that she smiles more than Lauren did at this age. I think it is her chubby checks that make her smile so memerable and CUTE! I am sure Lauren smiled this much but we sadly start to forget.

Some pictures of our ~~monster~~ precious baby Sawyer!

I think it is so sweet when she rubs her eyes :)

"tummy time"

Baby it's warm outside!!

2011-05-13T23:21:00.000-06:00

Finally, some warm weather! It has been so nice to get the girls outside! A little sunshine can make the day go by alot smoother! It is so nice to get out and get some fresh air, it is times like these I wish I would have bought that double stroller last year at the garage sale, or I wish I had a bike with a wagon attachment for the back!

(The first pictures that uploaded were the inside pictures, so we will start with those!)
Sawyer has taken a liking to Lauren's toys, and Lauren is a little concerned! Lauren try's to play with her but can get defensive at times! Oh the joys of being a big sister! As for now Sawyer doesn't really mind Lauren taking things away from her... but I see a change coming soon!

Here Lauren is holding her "little people" away from Sawyer so she can't get them!

Poor picked on little Sawyer..

And the older sister who can't seem to share! And check out her fancy shoes! haha, Lauren is a shoe gal! She loves, loves, loves shoes! When her cousins from Casper where here, she was excited to see them and right after hugs were exchanged she went for their shoes to try them on!

Lauren's got a lot of learning to do in the sharing area. However, today when I was trying to get my last paper of the semester written Lauren was a very big help with her little sister! Sawyer has been kind of crabby lately, at this age I blame everything on teething, but she can be quite the little monster when she wants to be. Anyways, today she didn't want to sleep, be put on the floor or anywhere else than in my arms. Lauren tried to entertain her every once in a while, and would sing, dance, and play peek-a-boo with her so I could focus for a few minutes!

Now onto our adventure to the warm outside world! My two precious daughters enjoying some sun!

These pictures were taken quickly so that I could ensure that Sawyer was not going to fall off of the little bike! She did have a good grip on the handle, so she wasn't going anywhere!

In the words of aunt Lila, "what a cheese ball!"

Lauren was looking for flowers, a.k.a. dandelions! While she was doing this she was singing a little song, "flowers, flowers, where can they be. flowers, flowers,, where can they be." You get the point! Erik was really happy to see all of these "flowers" pop up, and I am sure he will be heartbroken to know that Lauren was picking them ;)

Lauren with a handful of "flowers"

I hope everyone has been enjoying the sun as much as we have!

Mother's

2011-05-08T22:16:00.000-06:00

My dear Sawyer has thrown me for a complete loop, she is a total momma's girl. When I say that I mean she can be completely happy with me and then I pass her on to someone else and she starts to cry like they just pinched her, they hand her back and she instantly stops. She won't take a bottle, but sometimes she will after some protesting. She won't take a pacifier. She is just the complete opposite of Lauren. Once you think you have a child figured out, we go and have another and they are nothing the same! Well, I have been stuggling with this (Sawyer being a momma only girl) and it is sometimes can be of an inconveinance. But as I was getting ready this morning the thought came to me, you're going to miss this Lacey. Today as I was talking to a mother who had teenagers she said, "oh but isn't it great to be needed like that." Yes, yes it is! I just get a little selfish at times I guess, like when I want to go to Billings to go shopping or even Cody I decide not to because Sawyer does not like to travel and it isn't always the easiest to cart her around from store to store. It would be so much easier to just leave her with one of her Grandma's who adore her as much as I, but she just won't stand for that! So I guess in the mean time I will save money by not going shopping whenever I feel the need to! I will try to enjoy this while it last's. I remember when Sawyer was first born and we were still in the hospital, the thought came to me that Sawyer was going to be her Daddy's little buddy and that she might be a tom-boy. So maybe this is her way of getting all her loving in on me before she's Daddy's little girl! Being a mother is so rewarding, but it has its times of trials. There are days that I want to kick myself, and know that I should probably be the one sitting in time-out, but somehow we make it through! I love that children are so forgiving. Lauren can forgive me with in seconds, and I am grateful for that quality!

I am so grateful for the women that I have in my life to be examples for me. I am so grateful for my mom and her willingness to serve! I have had many people, older and young, tell me of what a great 5th grade teacher she was, and some even said she was their favorite! I think singing folk songs in her class is what a lot of people remember! I happen to know that she was a great teacher, because she taught me! When I was up at Girls Camp lots of people talked about my mom and how fun she was, and how she made Camp fun for everyone. My mom doesn't ever like a dull moment and so she is always trying to lighten the mood and make things fun! My mom is a very kind and thoughtful person, with a touch of sarcasm! She is so supportive and wants nothing but the best for children! She is so active, and I love to be around her because it makes me want to be more like her. She can watch her grandchildren, rake the lawn, cook lunch, do an activity with the kids and still have more idea's up her sleaves all in one day! She loves to go on "adventure walks" and we as kids loved it and now our kids love to do it with her too! What can I say, she's my mom!

The last 4 years I have been blessed with having Debbie, my mother-in-law in my life. She is the most giving person I have ever known. She let's me go "shopping" in her food storage room and has saved me 1000's of dollars by letting me do that. She is an amazing cook, and feeds my family every Sunday evening a wonderful meal, and then usually sends us home with somethings delecious for the next day! Enough can not be said about her willingness to give. She loves her children and grandchildren and wants nothing more then for them to be happy! She is always willing to watch my children, and takes great care of them! She can also sew anything! My family has benifited from her making us blankets, curtains, mending jeans, christmas stockings, and many more things! I really should be watching her every step and learning as much as I can from her, but I dont', I just sit back and enjoy it. She really has given my family so much and I can not thank her enough!

Oh, and another thing about Debbie... she doesn't like to have her pictures taken! I had to search hard to find these pictures, and even had to steal one from Kimberly's blog!
Again I am grateful for the women in my life and the joy that they bring into my life! Happy Mother's Day!

Easter and more..

2011-04-25T18:55:00.000-06:00

This is mostly a picture update of our Easter weekend! We had a great Easter weekend and got to see some family and enjoyed a few Easter egg hunts and birthday parties!

We started off dying the eggs. This sounded much more fun than it really was, but we did it any ways! Lauren didn't last very long, and I had some brown eggs that didn't dye very well.. like I said, we did it anyways! And that dang easter bunny even forgot to put the eggs out that we dyed!

Then on Saturday morning 4.22.11 we went over to the Byron park for the Easter Egg Hunt. She didn't want to get a picture with the easter bunny she was a little afraid of him! She was so funny, when they said "go" she just started running aimlessly around the field! We found a wopping 3 egg's!

Then after the park we loaded the girls and Triffen up in the car to this cuties birthday party

Lilli :) She really likes baby Sawyer and always likes to hold her!

Lilli's mom Amanda is possibly the most creative person and made these cute little chicks.

These cute little chicks are eatable!! and so so YUMMY!! Their cake pops, and most definitly enjoyable!

The kids did an egg hunt at the party and Triffen is quite the egg finder! When I told his mom she said " that's my little chicken chaser!" haha!

After the birthday party we went home, and decided we didn't want to be cooped up in the house anymore so we went to the park!

We also got to see our family across the mountain who we LOVE LOVE LOVE!

We had a great weekend full of family and fun, and most of all we were reminded of our Savior and all of the things he has done for us and the blessings that we recieve from his sacrafice.

I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend!

Sawyer, Six months and Sittin' Pretty!

2011-04-21T15:40:00.000-06:00

Sawyer was 6 months on Sunday 4.17.11, and on 4.11.11 she descovered she could sit! When I showed Erik he wasn't too impressed and said "she sits just like that on my lap".... Well anyway I thought it was quite the acomplishment!
She is an amazing little girl, and is very much a momma's girl. In ways I like it and in ways I don't! For example she will be sitting on someones lap and I walk through the door - she starts to fuss and make lots of noise; and at church when someone else is holding her while I teach she fusses and acts likes she is hungry and as soon as they give her back to me... she is fine! But we roll with it and it all works out!

She still has all that fabulous curly hair, and everyday it turns lighter and lighter!

She still does not enjoy car rides!

She gets more rolls on her legs and belly daily! Erik told me today "why don't you drink more water so she can have some skim milk." haha.. can do dear! What would we do without husbands!

Sawyer loves her sister and Lauren loves her back! There is nothing that makes me feel happier when I see Sawyer's eyes light up when she see's Lauren and laughs at everything Lauren does! It is such a great blessing to have these two girls in my life, and they make me think about the simple things and how blessed we are as a family to have each other!

It is so much fun doing her hair!

Sitting outside on the bumbo :)

Getting some sugars from Grandpa Steve!

My Grandma Jolley

2011-03-29T13:03:00.000-06:00

On Sunday I had a feeling that I should go see my Grandma Jolley, I thought it was just because it was fast Sunday and that if I didn't get out of the house I might eat everything in sight! But I am glad I listened to that promting because when I got there, I saw a bunch of peope by her room. Sigh. That is never a good sign. My Aunt Barbara was walking down the hall and I asked her how Grandma was doing. She said she was on a lot of morphine because she was in so much pain, and was having trouble breathing. Her pain had been getting worse and worse and they were having to give her more and more medication which made her more and more loopy. (on a positive note, it gave us something to laugh about!)

I was grateful for the family that was there because they were able to make us laugh, and laughter is the best medicine! They were telling me of how my Grandma told my Aunt Cindy to go find her dad (my Grandpa Jolley has been gone for quite a few years) and also told her to come back in 10 minutes and to not talk to anyone because she talks to much! Well my Aunt Cindy left the room and came back to report that she sent my Uncle Don to go find my Grandpa!

As I was thinking about ways I could explain my Grandma and to help me remember her a lot of thoughts have run through my head. My Grandma was about tough love! She would say what she thought, but you always new she loved you! My Grandma loved company and would let you (or your mom and dad) know when you hadn't been to see her in a while! My dad would always tease us and say you better go see Grandma Jolley, she is sitting up at the Care Center feeling sorry for herself! However; when anyone would come to visit her, it truley made her day and you couldn't help but feel good knowing that she was so happy to see you!

Some fun memories of my Grandma Jolley

Her chocolate chip cookies! YUM! When we were growing up she was sure to have chocolate chip cookies, and they were AMAZING! And if she didn't have any her excuse was "well no body was here to eat them so I just had to get rid of them!" Once again one of those, why haven't you been to see me!

Going to see her almost every Sunday evening when I was younger, and most of the time seeing other Aunts, Uncles, and cousins there!

Playing ghost in the graveyard, and hide and seek with all my cousins!

Divinity! Oh. my. goodness. My grandma's divinity was DIVINE! I looked forward to divinity more than I did Santa Clause! I remember she would keep it in her store room and it was cold in there and I would have no shoes on and freezing feet, but it didn't stop me from finding the divinity!

My Grandma does not like unique or origional baby names. Luckily for her, my family provided her with plenty of unique, origional, and different names! Whenever some one would have a baby I would always ask "what does grandma think of that!" Most of the time she would say something along the lines of "where the hell did they come up with that!" So you can imagine when she heard Saywer's name! She told me that she would not like her name growing up, and were did you come up with a name like that! I would say oh Grandma it's not that bad (and then I would sometimes blame it on Lila because she suggested the name! It got me off the hook for a minute!) So my Grandma said she was going to call her Faye! My Grandma has never really liked her name (Alma), so it's her way of sticking up for these poor kids with wierd names!

I can still hear my grandma yelling at my grandpa "GERALD".

As I said my Grandma loved her family, and loved their company. I remember my Grandma would always try to make it to sport events, piano recitals, dance recitals, talks at church, baby blessings and more.

Her laugh! I can't explain it, but it was always fun to see my Grandma laugh!

My cousin Max likes loud trucks, and my Grandma does not! So he would make it a point to go as fast as he could and rev up his engine while passing Grandma's house! And Grandma would always have something to say about that Max!

She was the Grandma with the blocks!

She had a green thumb, and loved her flowers and garden! But hated the dogs and cats that got into them! She made the best homemade pickles.

She was an amazing cook!

I am sure I there are many other things that I am forgeting, but thats all I can think of right now. They have taken her oxygen off and she probably will not be with us much longer. I hope that she doesn't have to suffer much longer because the poor thing has been in lots of pain. She will be greated by my Grandpa Jolley, her son Barry and his wife Brenda, her great granddaughter Kristin and many more people who will be excited to see her. I know that my Grandma has fulfilled her life here and is ready to go! I will miss her dearly, but know that she is in a better place.

I am so grateful for the family that she raised and all of the good times I have had with her.

Sawyer @ 5 months

2011-03-18T13:58:00.001-06:00

Yesterday 3.17.11 Sawyer hit her 5 month mark, and also rolled over for the first time! It only took her 5 months, but she did it! Lately Sawyer has been quite a talker. She really must like the way she sounds because she will coo, ohh and gurgle for sometimes a half an hour at a time! She will probably be a talker like her sister, I dont' know if this household can handle another chatter like Lady Lauren but bring it on!

Some things about our Sawyer:

She weighs about 15-16 pounds

She likes to watch Lauren jump ( I can see how the tramp will be a friend to us all this summer!) Sawyer just starts to giggle whenever she see's kiddos jump! I don't know what is so funny, but we love to hear her laugh!

She likes talking, and being talked too!

She is a fairly good sleeper waking up 1 to 2 times a night to eat and goes right back to bed.

She is happy to just lay on the floor or in her bouncer! Last night I had to take her to dance with me, which is 2 1/2 hours long and full of crazy kiddos surrounding her at.all.times. but she was happy to just chill and didn't make a peep!

It's not that she never cry's, because she does; but she is very laid back and goes with the flow. I am so grateful that!

She still doesn't care much for strangers, and is kind of a momma's girl!

Her hair is getting lighter and is growing and growing! Erik keeps threatening that he is going to trim her side burns but I hate to cut a babies hair!
She is starting to grab for things more and more. If I have some food in my hand or if I am taking a drink she likes to help me get it to my mouth! It is so cute because when she see's something she wants to touch she gets very still and slowly reaches for it! It is crazy how they can go from not caring about what is in front of them to all the sudden wanting to hold it! I love watching kids grow and watching them reach new milestones!

These are just some pictures of the little miss!

Our precious Sawyer, 5 months old and showing off her stuff!

I'm Ready

2011-03-15T15:26:00.002-06:00

I'm ready for spring! Just when you think that winter is going to last forever, a glimps of spring shines down on us! I love the change in seasons. I love it when the leaves start to turn to beautiful colors of orange, red, and yellow; the first snowfall, and my most favorite when the sun starts to shine, the snow is melting and our play area extends as far as we want it too because WE CAN PLAY OUTSIDE! I love that feeling that you get when the seasons are changing because it is new, and exciting! I even like the smell of kids who have been playing outside (except when they stink)! Anyways I just love when the season changes to Spring! Sunshine can do so much for me!

We were over at my mom's and in this warm weather we couldn't help but jump on the tramp. Lauren absolutly LOVES to jump on the tramp. It has been a long winter with her asking to jump on the tramp and me saying sorry it's too cold. Not any more though!

These guys and gals were with us joining our tramp party!

This season also is a fun one for Erik too. Erik actually found all these shed horns in the snow and freezing cold, but I don't doubt that he will continue to look for more horns in this nice weather.

Lauren always request's that dad finds her a "wittle horn"

Lauren is such a goof ball! But oh, how I love her :) I just have to write down some of the funny things she says.

Honey Bunches of Boats (with a lisp)

Morngin - Morning

cuburds - covers

bitem - vitamin

wast night - last night, for some reason everything that happens, happens last night. Even if it was just a few minutes ago she will say "did you fall wast night" or whatever has happend in the past!

Like I said she is a goof ball and says lots of silly things, but I will think of them later!

These next few pictures were just too funny not to post!

This next picture is Lauren's hair, yes her hair. It was before her nap and I was sitting on the couch with Sawyer trying to get her to take a nap and Lauren was on the other couch. She was telling me she was going to take out her bow, and I said that was ok. I got Sawyer to sleep and was relaxing, and after Lauren woke up from her nap this is what I found! She didn't say or act like she had just ripped a chunk of hair out of her head, but she sure did!

Last but not least, our baby Sawyer! She will be 5 months soon and I can't believe it! She is such a good little girl and I am so grateful to have her! More to come on Sawyer when I post her 5 month post!

Sawyer @ 4 months

2011-02-23T19:10:00.001-07:00

Our Sawyer Faye was 4 months old last Thursday! She has been such a fun little girl to get to know! Some things we have learned about our baby Sawyer.

Weight: 14 lbs. 14 oz.

She does NOT like to ride in the car any more. She can sit in her carseat in the house or where ever for as long as you need her too, but once I put her in the car and start to move, she starts to cry. It makes for long, long trips but we do it anyway.

She is a pretty good sleeper, she takes a cat nap in the morning around 9 and a cat nap at about 7 and then gives me a long break taking a nap from about 1 to about 4 (on a good day!) She sleeps good at night too, getting up about once a night.

She likes to talk, but it's more like a gurgle and sometimes sounds like a plane taking off!

She doesn't like basketball games, wrestling meets, or places w/ lots of noise.

She is not a fan of strangers, and is very much a momma's girl.

She likes her bouncy chair and will sit and bounce when mom needs to get stuff done!

She gets compliments on her hair where ever we go!

She will not take a bottle with formula. I am grateful that she is still nursing and is doing well with that because Lauren didn't nurse for only about 3 or 4 months. It makes me happy because I know she is getting everything she needs, and it is SO much cheaper too. It does make me nervous because I am camp director for the Young Womens this year and thought that I would put her on formula after 6 months or so, but I might have to re-evaluate the situation.

She is an all natural girl. Prefers nursing over a bottle, her fingers over a pacifer (she will take a pacifer once in a while) and she likes my fingers to suck on too.

She likes tummy time and I think she is thinking about rolling over her soon!

She likes to look at herself in the mirror!

Her smiles can make my heart melt.

It is such a blessing to have this girl in our family!

Here are a few pictures of our Sawyer over the last month!

Dancin' Girl

2011-02-16T14:09:00.000-07:00

Lauren has a new found love, DANCE! She has always been a dancin' girl, but lately she has been taken over by the power of dance! When I brought my DVD home of the recital of my "dancing girls" that I teach she could not get enough of it. She wanted to have all the props like they did, i.e. dancin' shoes, tu-tu, gloves, umbrella, football, wands, towels and much more. Luckily we had some of the stuff, and luckily she had her moves to add in with it! I am so excited that this September Lauren will be able to be in dance!! All we have to decide is whether it is going to be tap, or jazz? Both teachers are awesome, so maybe Lauren will have to decide!

This is Lauren's interpretation of gloves, and an umbrella (the hat is what she came up with to be her umbrella)

Lauren also loves to dance with ties! Grandpa Jolley had them hanging on his closet door and Lauren found them and thought they were pretty cool! Lauren's version of "Thia Dancing" (Thia sounds like tie)! My mom was able to travel pretty much around the world with my grandparents and one of the things my mom learn to do was Thia Dance. It is a special dance done in Thialand, and my mom taught us girls and would want us to do it at family parties (and I would be so shy and not want too.) But Lauren came up with her own "Thia Dancing" and grandma didn't even have to teach her!

Lauren just dancing away!!

Lauren has many styles of dance! She does this silly little shoulder shrug, and she can really wiggle her hips! In this video she looks like she is river dancing!

For Kynlee, Kaya and Kysar

2011-02-02T20:45:00.000-07:00

I know Valentines Day isn't for a couple weeks, but we decided to start making our valentines early so that we could make a valentine for everyone that we love! We started with Kynlee, Kaya and Kysar who have moved over the mountain and who we miss VERY much! Lauren was thinking that we were going to see the KKK's and give them their valentine but I told her the mail man would have to give it to them. She wanted to give them a sneak peak of the valentine!

Sawyer wanted to say something too...

Sawyer: 3 months

2011-01-20T09:05:00.000-07:00

I can't believe our Sawyer is 3 months old! She giggled yesterday for the first time (1.19.11) It was a different day yesterday because she didn't take her nap in the morning like she usually does, and everytime I would get her to sleep and lay her down she would wake up in like 10 minutes. I was started to get a little frustrated, and I was talking to her telling her that she should probably take a nap and thats when she giggled at me! She was letting me know that she was the boss around here I guess! It was funny because she got the hiccups right after that, and that is what happens to Lauren and I when we laugh unexpectedly!
Sawyer has the sweetest little voice and loves to use it! She is full of smiles and loves to show them off! She really likes her bouncy chair, and can bounce for hours if I let her! She is starting to kick when she is excited, if I don't buckle her in her bouncy chair she almost bounces her self right out. Sawyer is a pretty good sleeper at night and has given me a few full nights of sleep, but if not a full nights sleep she usually only wakes up once!
Sawyer's hair is growing, and she almost looks like she needs her bangs trimmed, it took me about a year to buckle down and trim Lauren's bangs, so I don't know what I will do! Her hair is also growing in blonde :( So we will see if she turns blondish brown like her big sister. Also I am interested to see if her curly hair will stick, Lauren had curl in her hair (not as much as Sawyer) and as it grew the curl just pulled right out of it. I dont' know why they have to tease me like this!
Everyone's comment to baby Sawyer is "wow, look at all that hair!" I totally agree! Her Uncle Steven can't get enough of her hair and just holds her to play with her hair because it is so soft!
Sawyer likes to be held so that she can see what is going on! She likes to sit in my lap and see what everyone is doing around her! If she is not happy with her position she can go from happy to mad in no seconds flat! She is starting to get some strength in her legs, and can hold her self for a few minutes. I had to make the transition to her 3-6 month clothes, but was still so sad to see the 0-3 go!
Sawyer is a quick eater, it only takes her maybe 5 to 10 minutes to eat and she is satisfied. Lauren was kind of a lolly gagger when it came to eating and would eat sometimes for 20 or 30 minutes all together. I am also grateful to still be nursing her because Lauren quit nursing around 3 or 4 months. She would start to cry about 5 minutes into feeding her, and feeding time became a very stressfull time. I was worried that maybe something was wrong with my milk, but it seems to suit Sawyer so I pray we can keep this up! It is so nice to nurse and not have to worry about formula, so I will just keep my fingers crossed!
We love our baby Sawyer and don't know what we did without her! Lauren is such a great sister, and I am grateful that she transitioned well with our new addition.

Lauren's Prayer

2011-01-16T16:58:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when Lauren say's her prayer's it makes me think that I am doing something right.. but what surprises me the most is that half the time I don't know where she comes up with the stuff she say's but I am glad she understands how to pray. She say's some of the sweetest things in her prayers and I am grateful that she is so thoughtful! Her normal prayers start out with gratsful (that is how gratefull sounds) for Grandma Jolley and papa and Grandma Debbie and Grandmpa Steve, and then whatever she is feeling up to saying that day. She honestly came up with that on her own

So we were sitting down to eat lunch and I asked her if she wanted me to pray or if she would like to. She wanted me too (and then she usually wants to say one after me) So I said the prayer and then she wanted to say one, and it went like this.

"Heavenly Father, gratsful for this day, gratsful for the opportunity (it didn't quiet come out that clear) to go to church, gratsful for my body (I am guessing that came from the Nursery lesson, because it was on her paper that she colored), gratsful that dad can go to work, gratsful for the food, name of Jesus Christ Amen.

Oh Lady Lauren how I love you!

Sawyer's Photo Shoot

2011-01-13T12:53:00.000-07:00

Sawyer's Aunt Kimberly was so awesome and took some pictures of our precious Sawyer! They turned out so good, we are so lucky to have her and her talent in our family!
This one is my ABSOLUTE favorite!

Sawyer doesn't look all that impressed with what we are doing, and a little concerend.. But we were having a good time!

Thanks again Kimberly!

All Smiles..

2011-01-11T09:41:00.000-07:00

Our Sawyer is such a happy baby! Her first smile was given to Uncle Spencer on 11.19.10 and she hasn't stopped since! I never have my camera at the right moment, but this morning I was able to catch a few smiles!

Sawyer also enjoys her bath. This is something very different from Lauren at this age. When Lauren was a baby she HATED baths and she let me know it. She would scream the entire time! But little Sawyer has always been very pleasant at bath time! I was really shocked the first time I gave her a bath because I was ready for a fight, but she proved me wrong. Another fun thing about Sawyer's bath is her hair.. It gets super curly! It keeps a little bit of a wave after it is dry, but nothing like it is when it's wet! I am excited to see if she will keep the curl or if it will straighten up as it grows..

Our Friday Night

2011-01-09T15:25:00.000-07:00

Lauren and I have been having some major dissagreements (thanks to the terrible two's) and I knew that we needed to get out of the house. So what better place to go than my Aunt and Uncles house on a Friday night and let Lauren play while I get some adult interaction! My cousin Amanda is there with her 3 kids and that is just the excitment we needed for the night! My sister Lila was headed over there that night too, and Lila + Amanda + the Asay crew= tons of fun!

This is Lauren and Luke. Luke just turned 4 and him and Lauren play really well together, he is just what the doctor ordered for my Lady Lauren!

The kiddos had a lot of fun playing dress up..

This is Lily, and she is a crack up :) She is pretty dang cute if I do say so my self!

Hannah and Lauren

and Lila couldn't help but dress up herself! I think is suits her :)

and Lily wanted to dress up in baby Sawyer's shirt, but it didn't work out to well!

Hannah painted all of our nails, and she did a very good job for a 5 year old! (maybe she's 6 I dont' know)

Amanda put Sawyer's hair in pigtails! I didn't think it would work so I havn't tried it, but Amanda is the master with fine hair! Sawyer looks less than impressed but I had to get a picture of her!

We played Kinect (the X-Box game) were you are the controller, and it is all this it is cracked up to be! We did a dancing game and it was lots of fun :) I passed on taking pictures becuase if I were to take pictures of everyone else they would have taken pictures of me doing it and that would be such a sight to see!

Most of all we had lots of fun and now I think Lauren and I can make it through another week!

Having Fun

2011-01-07T15:30:00.000-07:00

I like to imagine that I am a great photographer, and that when I picture something in my mind I can make it happen.. but saddly I try and then I realize without a much much nicer camera and some knowledge of photography I just can't make it happen! The girls got tu-tu's for Christmas and I got them out today and as Lauren was playing around I thought it would be fun to take some pictures. Well grumpy mom came out and I decided that wasn't a good idea so I just took a few pictures to capture the moment and called it good!

My Sweet Sawyer

Lady Lauren

Holiday Happenings

2011-01-01T12:15:00.001-07:00

This holiday season has been a fun one :) We have had the opportunity to do a lot of fun activities with our family! Christmas was great and everyone on my side of the family was able to be her in the Big Horn Basin for Christmas. Since Aimee and Spencer have moved across the mountain we miss being able to see them all the time. So we took every opportunity we had to be with them!!
Grandma took all of the Grandkids swimming, and Uncle Spencer was nice enough to get in the water with them so I could hang on the side of the pool with Sawyer..

Spencer only got in I think to terrorize Triffen and Lauren! But that's what Uncle Spencer is all about I guess :)

Lauren is still pretty shy when she is in the water and clings to whoever she can, she did get brave this time and went out on her own a little bit!

Here she is on her own! This is a really big step for her, but I am glad she likes the water now.. it only took her 2 1/2 years!

The next activity we did was ice skating (and in some cases boot skating)! We went out to Moncur's Skating Corral. I have never been ice skating out there before now and they have a pretty nice set up. And the best part is that they have a heater in the little hut with all the ice skates. That's were Kandace and I shacked for the most part because we had the little ones, and there was a nice big window we could look out to see everyone out on the ice.

Triffen and Lauren had the most fun with the shovel! Lauren was more than happy to be pushed around on the shovel the whole time! Like a little princess on her throne!

Jake was the only adult who tried out the skates! He did pretty good on them too :)

And thanks to a break in my parents water pipe and having to dig up some dirt and replace the hole with sand, there was a nice pile of dirt to sled on! And once again her majesty was more than happy to be pulled around on the sled! Good thing her cousins kind of like her :)

And I didn't have my camera to capture our bowling party. Every year we have always had a big Jolley Family Christmas party with all my dad's brother's and sister's and it is usually the highlight of Christmas. But as our family's are expanding it is harder and harder to get everyone together on the same day. So my parents have kept the tradition going with our immidiate family, and they take us bowling (on them!). It is always so much fun getting together and having the competitive side come out in us! Of course the boy's usaully win every time.. I think Jake was the winner overall this year! I mostly go for the pizza, and after a while the boy's finish up the game for everyone, but they love it and the girls end up talking the whole time, but we have a blast!

That is a wrap up on our Christmas Vacation Happenings. New Years was not so fun for our family because we were all sick :( But everyone is starting to feel a little better now and I am so thankful. It was the weirdest flu I have ever had before, I had the worst stomach ache with no other simptoms for (going on) 6 days. I am still not in tip top shape but feeling much better. The only thing that would releve my pain was a hot shower and 3 hot showers a day kind of dry's your skin out so I am glad I don't have to do that any more!

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

What we have been up to..

2010-12-15T07:47:00.000-07:00

Some happenings at the Bassett house that I am pretty excited about is that we got the internet!! Yes, yes I know it seems like everyone has it these days.. but we have been living in the dark ages for the past three years and now we are moving on up! Santa also gave me my christmas present early because without this fancy computer that I am typing on we would have any reason for the internet! Thanks Santa :) Other happenings are:

Trying to catch up on sleep.. where ever we can get some!

Hunting with dad..

Holding, loving, and just being with baby Sawyer :)

Spending time with cousins. When it comes to Triffin and Lauren you never know if it will be a good day or a bad day :) They love each other and they also love to torment each other!! It is quite comical because they know each other buttons and push them quite often!

We have done a lot of singing and dancing! Lauren informed me that for christmas she would like a guitar, the sunshine one. My mom has a guitar for the little kids and Laurens favorite song right now is You are my Sunshine and she likes to play the guitar and sing You are my Sunshine. So hopefully Lauren will be a good girl and Santa might bring her a guitar!

I didn't know if a picture could show how independent Lauren is, but she is Miss Independent. Right now she is sitting on my lap and asked for her juice. I gave her the juice and she said no, I want to do it and she set the juice back down and picked it up herself! Miss Independent..

Lauren has really blossomed after Sawyer was born and is now not shy AT ALL. She is very outgoing and says hi to anyone and everyone and tells them all about her baby sister, and sometimes tells them "you can't look at my baby sister" and so on and so forth! She is talking like crazy and uses words like rediculous! I need to start writing down all the silly things she says because she is a little ham!

We have been to Chuck-E-Cheese twice in the last month, once with dad just for fun and mostly for dad to play games..

And again for my nefew Kysar's Birthday party!

Uncle Spencer really had Lauren's card at Chuck-E-Cheese, and he helped her with the games.. It was pretty cute!

Here is the kids crew a Kysars party!

Lauren has some of the funniest faces

but she can have some of the sweetest faces too!

We have been so grateful for our baby Sawyer and are so thankful for her. She is such a sweet baby, and we just can't get enough of her. (more to come on her when I post her 2 month post.. I can't believe she is almost 2 months!)

Lauren had a chance to play with Kimberly's kids, and also Hillary made a surprize trip down and so Lauren got to play with Hailey, Kennedy, Jonathan, and Marcus :)

Sawyer also had a photo shoot with Aunt Kimberly, and Hailey is a photagrapher in training! (sorry the pic is so blurry, but I have a better one Kimberly!)

Sawyer was blessed on December 5th by her Grandpa Jolley and he did a great job! She wasn't in the best mood after church so I didn't really get any good pictures, and she was ready to get out of that dress!

Lauren got her first official hair cut by my sisters old roommate Mallory! Lauren did a great job and I am wondering why she can't be that good for me when I do her hair! But Mallory gave Lauren a little trim and strait bangs! I have been trimming Lauren's bangs and I can't cut them strait for the life of me!

Last but not least Lauren got to see Santa and boy did she like him! I didn't know what she would think of him, but she wasn't scarred at all! And yes, she told Santa that she would like a guitar for christmas!

Our new addition!

2010-11-10T14:18:00.001-07:00

Well I guess it is time agian to start blogging :) I just got really busy with life, work, and lauren that the blog took the back seat. Now that I am a stay at home mom again I think we will try this one more time! Just a quick catch up, we had our Sawyer Faye Oct 17 at 7:12 pm. She was 8 lbs. 12 oz. and 20 inches long. She wasn't an easy one to convince into coming to this world I will tell ya! I started having mild contractions about 4:30 am on the 17th and they were coming about 7-8 min. apart. I was nervous because w/ Lauren I was already at the hospital so this time it was up to me to make the call of when to get to the hospital. I laid in bed for about an hour timing my conctractions, then I got up and started to some things around the house because I could clearly not sleep.. i was a little anxious! at about 6:30 I woke up Erik and told him I was having contractions about 7 minutes apart and he went right back to sleep... So I just walked around the house and tried to keep myself busy. About 7:30 everyone was up and Erik was getting ready and then I started to get nervous thinking that we would get to the hospital and they would just send me home. We slowly got on our way and after dropping Lauren off with aunt Lila and chatting with her we got to the hospitla about 11:00 am. The nurse checked me and I was only 3 cm dialated and so she wanted me to walk around for an hour.. I walked and walked, got checked again and walked some more.. I took a bath and then finally was officially checked into the hospital at about 2:30 and the doc was on his way to check on me. My doctor was on vacation hunting, so I had the on call doc, Dr. Christiansen who I really ended up liking. Dr. C got there and broke my water and they called the anethesiologist and thank goodness they did, because 10 minutes later I was dialated to a 9 and was having the urge to push. They gave me the Spinal block because I was to late for an epidural and to my dismay the pain did NOT go away. Our little Sawyer was face up, and for some reason that makes things a lot more painful, I now understand what "back labor" is. Ok so this was not anything like I remember with Lauren, because after I got the Spinal Block the pain was gone and it was painless from then on, I had felt nothing and now I am feeling everything but my legs. The nurse suggested some pain releif that ment giving me 4 more shots in my back - yes please! It took the edge off put sadly the pain was still there and when I pushed it was there x10. It hurt so bad when I would try to push and I tried to convince the doctor that I was a wimp, but they said I was doing great (yeah right) another 4 shots in my back to help with the pain, an hour later and still no Sawyer. They had me try a new position, and with numb legs that isn't easy. After that didn't work I asked if I could lay on my side, and in my mind I was thinking this baby might not come out on it's own and I could see the doctor pacing back and forth and I knew he was thinking about a C-Section. Turns out that laying on my side turned Sawyer enough to make her way out a little smoother (for me anyways) and I built up some strength (from out of nowhere) and after a few pushes she was here! When the nurses were talking about "all that hair" as she was coming out I knew it was probably a girl because that is my recipe for little girls! I had thought this baby was going to be a boy because my pregnancy was so different but she fooled me! When I first saw Sawyer my first thought was that she looked exactly like Lauren did! I don't remember her crying to much, I just remember her laying on my chest and the nurses scrubbing her clean, and scrubbing and scrubbing! Erik looked at me and said what are you going to name her (because we didn't have anything picked out officially) then he continued to say "I named the first one, so you can name this one" I was a tad bit shocked but I didn't let the offer go! I said my picks are Brooklyn or Sawyer, and he said I don't like Brooklyn, and Sawyer she became! After a while we had our first visitors and then eating my first meal of the day at 11 pm I was in need for some sleep!

The next day was my favorite part because Lauren came to see baby Sawyer! I was just getting out of the shower so I heard her come in and she was saying "this is my baby sister, baby Sawyer" and she was so happy to hold her baby sister (keep in mind Lauren has a little lisp so it makes it even cuter)! I was alittle worried as to how Lauren might react to her baby sister, but she didn't have any problem with it at all! Lauren got to hang out with us for a while and I had some special presents for her, but I think that she felt special enough with having a baby sister!

Now that we have been home for 4 weeks and getting the hang of our baby Sawyer we are learning that she is a pretty good baby! I don't want to say too much, because if I brag then she might flip a switch on me! As for now she sleeps most of the time but is awake in the mornings around 8 or 9 am for an hour or two and awake in the evenings around 7-8 for an hour or two. She sleeps good at night waking up about 2 to eat and then again at around 5 (so grateful for my sleep!) She isn't too fussy, she mostly grunts when she wants something and takes her a while to work the grunts up to a cry. She had a hematoma (don't know the spelling, but it means she had a bump on her head from the way she was positioned at birth) on the left side of her head, and the doctors thought it would take a few months to go down, but it has already gone down and we are thankful for that!

Lauren loves to hold her baby sister and always informs me if she is crying. I know Sawyer will be well taken care of when her big sister is around! Lauren likes to tell everyone we see that "this is my baby sister" and then on an off day she will tell people "no, you can't see my baby sister" haha!! Life with Lauren is never dull :) Lauren also likes to tell people that she helps pull the straps off the babies diaper, it is so interesting the things she remembers and shares with others! After Sawyer was born I felt like Lauren matured over night and she wasn't a baby anymore. She is talking in full sentances, and making excuses to get out of church, using words like ridiculous, and coming up with phrases that Erik or I use. She is like a sponge and absorbs everything that passes her by, and I don't know if I can even keep up with her. When I read her a book she can look through the book when I am done and read parts fo the book back to me, and she comes close to saying all the words on the page. She isn't potty trained yet, but we are working on it. She goes poop in the potty, but still is carless about peeing in the potty. If I am prepared and ask her every 30 min. she does a good job, but I am not always on track! Lauren is definitely in the terrible 2 stage, and has been testing my patients as far as is it will go. I sometimes think I just tell her no all day long, but at the end of the day she still wants me to lay with her while she goes to sleep so she must still love me! Glad our Sawyer is finally here!

Such a Slacker!!

2010-02-09T14:36:00.000-07:00

Since I am such a slacker, I thought I should update my blog atleast once a month!! HAHA sounds silly, but that will probably be the case :)

Life is good, and very busy. I have been thinking about doing this excersize class called Zumba, but when I think about my day it just doesn't seem to fit in. I drop off Lauren at the baby sitters and get to work by 8, get off work at 5 sometimes 5:30 get Lauren go home make dinner play w/ Lauren, chat with Erik then it's off to bed. And fitting in Zumba just doesn't seem to work when it starts at 5:30 p.m. (i believe). But if I had more time in my day i would love to do it, becasue i have no motivation to work out at my house! And they have the Zumba class on Thursday's at 8, but I have already been teaching dance for 3 hours and don't know if I can make myself stay in that studio for another hour.
(so that paragraph didn't turn out how i thought!! I was just trying to explain that i feel busy and not explain so much about the Zumba class.. just work with me here!)

So anyways... I was just thinking about how much Lauren is growing and how much she is learning and thought i should write some of these things down so I won't forget them!

Lauren is starting to sing!! She likes to sing twinkle twinkle little star. Let me tell you how it goes
(twinkle sounds more like cirlce) cirlce, circle ......... star ............................ upa bova...... s-high!! I fill in all of the spaces!! She also like to help me sing the primary song "Jesus wants me for a sunbeam" the only part she says is the sunbeam part, she says "beep" (instead of beam) and jumps when she says it too!!

She also likes me to sing to her (so on the way to work if any of you see me singing in my car.. you will know why!) She is very particular about the songs that I sing. If she does not like the song that I am singing she will let me know by screaming and starting to cry! So I follow orders and quickly switch songs!! The ones I have found she approves of (and it really depends on the day) are: twinkle twinkle, I'm a little tea pot(she really likes this one), and Jesus wants me for a sunbeam.

Lauren loves to talk on the phone. The other night Erik called his mom, and lauren demanded to have the phone, and she sat there and chatted with Grandma for a good 5 or 10 minutes! Even if no one is on the other line she is still chatty!! The newest cutest thing she has done while talking on the phone is say "hi" pause for a second "bye" and then start talking!

Lauren has all of her molars in THANK GOODNESS, she showed signs of serious teething :) The nights were the worst, when the sun went down she turned into a monster! But she is coming back around and the night time monster is slowly passing!

Lauren loves to be outside and even if her nose, cheeks, and hands are freezing she still throws a fit when I try to get her to come inside! I usually bribe her with cheese and she skips the fit throwing part!! But I am glad she likes to be outside, and I can't wait for summer to come and we can be outside more often! Every time we go outside she always says "soo" (translation: snow) And when we are out side we always have to go see the "puppies" she is really good at saying puppies!

The bottom line is she is an awesome little girl and makes every day a whole lot better for me and Erik!! She makes us laugh, and even when she is trying to make herself cry we still have to giggle at her! Every day is a new adventure and the ride is AWESOME!

Love you lady Lauren :)

Update and a look at Lauren's World

2010-01-06T12:55:00.000-07:00

I am such a slacker at this blogging business.. but I love to read everyone elses so I thank all of you who keep up with your blog!

Christmas was good, we spent a lot of time with family and Santa was good to us all! Lauren got spoiled and she was a little overwhelmed by all of the present opening but she got through it! I got a new phone and a columbia jacket that is purple and I LOVE (from Erik) from his parents I got a jewlery box and we got an Amish made heater- heat surge, which is so nice! Erik got a variety of warm clothes, warm socks, tools and things, and many more I can't remember, Lauren got a play area that has tunnels and a ball pit (that was from dad), books, books, and books, clothes, and the cutest little interactive puppy named Violet, a Dora couch that folds into a bed, puzzles, and toys.

New Years was fun.. we didn't do anything special, Debbie and I watched Halmark Christmas movies and pretty sure I wasn't awake to bring in the New Year, but it came in fine w/out me awake! I had a nice two week vacation from work and enjoyed being home with Lauren! It was nice to just relax, but still seemed like we were doing something every single day!

I have no pictures because my diaper bag has gotten to my camera, and I am pretty sure the camera is done for. So until I find my old camera or buy a new one we will be pictureless.

In Lauren's world...
She is growing so fast and starting to talk a lot more. She is trying to repeat words that we say and her dad has gotten caught because she tried to repeat a very naughty word that sharts with sh...! But he knew he was caught and laughed about it but he better be carefull!
Some of her new words are
wee - Willie (Steve and Debbies Jack Russell Terrior)
ree- ready (like when the timer goes off for the oven or microwave)
mok - milk
ah dah - all done
baaboo's - bubbles
book - book (she doesn't say much of the oo so it's more like b-k)
She has a few certain books that she really likes and she picks them from the book shelf and there are a few that might say something about giving a kiss goodnight, or one says something about a bunny falling down.. and I tell her to give them a kiss and the sweet thing is that she remembers the page were i told her to kiss and she kisses the page w/out me telling her to!
bawls - balls (once again she doesn't really say the l sound!)
dowa - dora
dee - deer
yas -yes
NO - she means NO!!
shhhh - when dad is sleeping she not and points to her nose and says shhh.. because she see's me putting my finger to my mouth, but she points to her nose!
zzzzzzz - zip (when we are zipping up her coat)
sesus - jesus
men - amen
wass - wash (she likes to wash up after eating and really anytime!)
The other night she had a wash cloth and was walking around the house saying wass wass she was happy with that wash cloth for about 20 minutes! It is really her new favorite toy!
ouse - house
caut -coat

This is really for me so I can remember because she has the sweetest little voice and she is trying so hard to say new words! It is so fun to she her learning and exploring new things! She just amazes me everyday and I know all kids go through this and they do just the same but it is so neat to see it happening first hand!

On the other hand.. Lauren is learning how to throw fits, and she is VERY good at them! So we are working through that and trying to figure out how to handle that! I see the terrible two's coming on sooner than I would have hoped! But she does make up for it when she giggles or smiles or surprises me with a new word! So I guess I will keep her!

Thanks for reading and hope you all had a Wonderfull Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Confession

2009-12-17T16:20:00.000-07:00

Lauren still has a pacifier (at 17 months I know thats wrong) she only uses it at nap and bed time, and when it is really needed throughout the day (excuses i know!). And I KNOW she doesn't need it because she doesn't use it at the babysitters, but I think I am more attached than she is, so I am the problem it looks like :) We call the pacifier a sas, not sure why we do.. Amiee's kids have always called it that and it just works. And lauren knows how to say sas and she shrugs her shoulders when she say's it (like where is my sas). Needless to say it is adorable! Any ways, we were on our way home and the first thing she ALWAYS says when she gets in my car is CHEESE (because she loves string cheese and I try to have a snack for her when we drive home, because when I get off at 5 she is hungry and the 10 minute drive home is a lot easier when she is happy!) so as we were driving (and she was done with her cheese) she says "sas go peas" (let me interperet that for you... Where did my sas go, can I have it please) First of all that was THREE words she said together and her little voice is SO cute, so I couldn't take it and I gave her the sas. I have no backbone when it comes to this child.
Any suggestions on how to get rid of the sas? I keep thinking when she is 18 months I will take it away, and now that she is almost 18 months I am a little worried so I am trying to talk myself into taking it away when she is 2! CRAP
In other news..

Lauren is doing fantastic, and she is growing so fast and talking more and more each day! She is trying to repeat some things that we say (and sometimes her dad gets caught when Lady Lauren try's to repeat some words he says.. so dad is working on that!)

Lauren really likes Dora the Explorer and we watch her in the morning before we go (mostly so I can have some time to get ready without her at my feet)

She takes a long time to warm up to people. It is halarious when she is around someone she doesn't know, she won't look at them.. Even if the are right in her face she will try her hardest to look around them! Her face is priceless though when she is being shy, she almost has the eye roll down (which scares me) but she is a very shy girl at first!

She has an attitude with a capital A! Starting to throw herself on the floor when things don't go her way! It is awesome expecially when we are in a crowd of people.. like the ward christmas party!

Promise to post pictures soon.. work keeps me busy busy, but we get 2 weeks of for Christmas and I am SO SO HAPPY!

Exciting!!

2009-11-17T16:00:00.000-07:00

I don't want to cloud my post with information about Fortune High Tech Marketing.. but I just had to share one thing!! I got my first check from the company for my one person (Lila) I have signed up under me, I got $94.00 dollars!! It just gets me so excited, that the money is there and there is a chance to get more :) It's not an overnight millionar deal, but it's extra money! Then on the 20th I will have a check coming for the percentage of the bills I pay online through my website, and from what Lila pays through her website! It's a slow moving business with great possibilities! Thanks for listening!!

Fortune High Tech Marketing

2009-11-11T16:22:00.000-07:00

I have recently joined a company called Fortune High Tech Marketing, and I just thought I would put a blog out in the blogging world to see if anyone was interested in what it had to offer. check out this website and it will give you a basic idea of what it is all about, http://www.invest299.com/ I think that this company has a lot of potential and my thought is why not give it a chance! This company is easier explained by showing instead of telling, so if you are interested look at the website.

Take a look at my personal website and go into the mall link and see what stores are involved in this company, and go shopping if you want! www.fhtmus.com/laceyb

Another way to learn about this company is to call this 5 minute RECORDED call 1-646-222-0196.

This isn't for everyone but if you are interested and want to know more let me know, because it wouldn't hurt to earn some extra money!

Lauren's World..

2009-11-11T12:45:00.000-07:00

Lauren is getting so big, and growing up right in front of my eyes. She is starting to talk more and more each day. I just wanted to right it down before I forgot.
ma or mamma (mom)
daddy (daddy)
gama (grandma)
papa (grandpa)
bye bye
bye guys
mo (more)
peez (please)
dowa (Dora the Explorer)
ba pa (back back from Dora the Explorer)
up (up)
dow (down)
aw (off)
sa (socks)
shoo (shoes)
Kaya (my niece)
Ky (Kysar)
when I try to get her to say Kynlee's name (Kaya's twin) she just looks at me like I am crazy!
ya-ya (Lila) she doesn't have the L sound but she trys really hard, but it still comes out ya-ya
Oh Tool (Oh Toodle of of the Mickey Mouse Club House) She really only gets the pitches right but she does try to copy me!
That is all the words I can think of that she says for now!

Lauren loves to put on shoes, and even if the shoes are mine she still loves to put them on and walk around in them!

She likes to take off her clothes, she says aw (off) and when I take off her clothes she then proceeds to take of her diaper and run from me!

She has figured out how to climb and thinks that it is the coolest thing ever. She will climb on anything that is climbable and then check to make sure someone is looking!

She has a tendency to make things disappear. I will mention one thing that has gone missing.. my wedding band (not the main engagement band) It has to be in my house somewhere but I am at a loss as to were I should look.

She still LOVES books and would rather sit around reading then playing with toys. When she has a book she will point to a picture and just babble something. She makes up her own stories and tells them to me! When she brings a book to me or her dad she will sit on our lap for a minute then she wants down and goes to sit in her chair and finishes the book!

Lauren is the queen of the house and she knows it. She gets away with almost everything, and knows she can. She does know when she is into something she shouldn't be because when I catch her she gives me a look like, oh crap!

She is so much fun and I am so excited to see what comes next :)

A Morning Unlike the Rest!

2009-10-29T13:59:00.000-06:00

This morning I was getting ready like usual and Lauren was watching the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and I went to go start my car to get it warmed up. When I turned the key the lights came on like normal and then the car just shutoff. Nothing would happen when I turned the key, so I called Erik and he said it sounded like the battery was dead.. The head lights weren't left on or anything so I am still not sure why it died. I wasn't to concerned because we have 18 hundred vehicles. I then went to find the keys for the Grand Prix and it was a success! I went out to start the Grand Prix (that hasn't been moved for a couple months, and started like a charm) and moved Lauren's car seat from the purple car to this one and ran back to the house and when I went to turn the handle of the door to the house it was locked... I looked through the window and there was Lauren by the door (she had been playing with the handled because she can reach it now and locked it on accident). AHH my keys to the purple car (the one I always drive were in the house with Lauren) so I try really hard to use my super powers and open the door, but it didn't work. Then I was trying to get Lauren to play with the handle somemore and maybe twist it back to unlock and that didn't work. I went to the back door hoping that it was unlocked and it wasn't. I called Erik and said very firmly "How do you open doors with a credit card because Ineed you to tell me how or you have to come home now and unlock the door because Lauren locked the door to the house while I was outside." He was surprisingly very calm and said just chill out and you can't open these doors with credit cards but go to the garage and get a screw driver and go to the back and pry the door open. So I am thinking "yeah right, I am really going to pry the door open" So I run to the garage and find a screwdriver and go to the back door. I start doing what I think is the right thing to do and it was not working! Then Lauren came to the back door because she could hear me russeling around and she started crying. So I was even more frantic and starting prying (come to find out the wrong way) Erik finally said just stop what you are doing and listen to me. So he told me how to pry it open and it opened finally! When I went in the livingroom Lauren was sitting on her chair with a worried look on her face watching T.V. We hugged and chilled for a minute then we had to be on our way! If anyone was watching me they were probably falling over laughing, because I am laughing as I am writing about this:) But we made it through the morning and all is well!

Simple Things..

2009-09-29T15:23:00.000-06:00

So I just wanted to write this down so I wouldn't forget (because I do VERY easily)..

The other day I was over at my parents house and My brother Jakes family was over there, he has a little boy Triffin is about a month older than Lauren. They really played together for the first time!! My mom has a play room that is right off of the kitchen and they were in the play room together just having fun all by themselves, and they would come check out what we were doing every once in a while. But it was so nice for them to be content with each other.. Then we went into the computer room because I was on the computer and they were running in and out of the closet laughing at each other. After that Triffin taught Lauren how to climb up on the patio chairs :( bad idea!! j/k.

It was just so sweat to see those two little toddlers playing together. It is so fun to see Lauren growing up, but so sad as well.

Another thing I don't want to forget is when I went to pick up Lauren from day care yesterday, I opened the door and could see her in the livingroom and she was dancing with the other older kids. They were watching a kids movie that encourages them to dance and move around, but it was so funny to see Lauren look at the older kids and then try to do what they were doing! It is crazy how much she is growing up.

Ok.. So I just remembered one more thing... This morning when I dropped Lauren off at daycare her usuall routine is to cling on the me when I try to put her down, so I usually give her to the Joann and she is fine then. But today I tried to put her down and told her to go play with the other girl who was there and she did willingly and when I said goodbye she was still walking away from me and all she did was put her hand up to wave (and still was walking away like "see ya later mom, get out of here finally") I love it that she is happy at daycare, and wants to be there. It is so comforting to me, to have such a good daycare provider and know that my little girl is loved over there! Joann tells me when her husband comes home for lunch Lauren wants his undivided attention and likes when he is there!

This post was more for me, so I won't forget these little moments but I hope you enjoyed them too!

Has it really been that long?

2009-09-20T13:33:00.000-06:00

Yes, I am still blogging but no I haven't done it for a long time. Blogging just took the back seat for a while. I recently got a new job as a receptionist, so working full time and taking care of Lauren has got me busy, busy. Now that things have settled down and I have gotten into a good routine I should be blogging more! I really enjoy my new job, and really like the people I am working with! It is nice to get out of the house, even though I would love to be with Lauren 24/7. I love Lauren's day care and feel so comfortable with her being there all day!

I am just going to make this blog short and sweet because the only thing I really wanted to blog about is Lauren says PLEASE!! She can sign please and say please now!! It is the sweetest thing.. she says it more like peeze, but it melts my heart every time!

Lauren also says bye bye! She can say lots of things just babbling, but when she says them at the right time (more than just one time) it is so fun! It makes me think she is a genious!

Lauren has been teething lately and I can now say that Lauren is definitely grouchy when she is teething (and I don't blame her, but sheesh sometimes it gets a little old darling!!) She now has 3 teeth on the top and on the bottom. It is cute because she has the two front teeth (top, and bottom) then the 3rd top tooth is to the left and the 3rd bottom tooth is the right so she is a little lop sided:)

A few things we been doing..

boating with Michael and Maddy...

I have been water skiing before, but that was when I was like 12. So I gave it another shot... maybe 3 shots! This was my 3rd and final time, because my landings on all 3 times were not ones I wish to remember:)

Michael and Maddy were really paitent with me, and made me feel like I was doing a good job! So I thank them for that!

And might I add that they don't crash after they are done water skiing the just sign who is ever driving to slow down and they slowly fall into the water. I have yet to figure out how they do that!

Playing at the park...

Lauren loves to play at the park! She loves to ride the swings and climb all around the play ground!

Play with the dogs...

Everytime we go outside she heads over the the puppies:) She loves to watch them play around and giggles when they give her kisses.

I'm sure I have left a lot out, but I just wanted to get a post in before you all thought that I quit blogging. So hopefully you will hear from me in a week or two!

BIG TIMBER!!

2009-07-25T19:56:00.000-06:00

On Sunday July 19th my twin neices Kynlee and Kaya turned 8 years old. I still can't believe it! To celebrate their birthday they decided to keep the tradition alive and go to Big Timber water slides (like they have done in the previous years). I was so lucky to go along with them, and SO SO glad I did!

Here are the Birthday girls. Kynlee is standing and Kaya is chowing down on the pizza :)

I cannot explain how much FUN I had! I have been to Big Splash before, but don't remember it being this fun. For every slide for an adult there is a matching one (that is not as steap) for the younger kids. And then the other two slides holds more than one person so you can go with the younger kids :)

The kids had a blast :) We didn't hardly see them they were going up to get on the slide and sliding down and they did that until lunch, and then when lunch was over they were back at it again!

This next picture.. Kynlee got turned around so she was going head first and you can see that she is a little panicked :) but she got her self turned around!

This one is the tube slide (we called it)! You had to walk up a BUNCH of stairs and the slide on the left was for the little kids and the slide on the right was for us! All of the kids had a great time on this slide and the stairs didn't seem to slow them down a bit!

This is Kynlee coming down the slide, All smiles!

Kysar got flipped around on his stomach, but he thought that was pretty cool !

Triffin even had a slide to go down! He would start on his bum but didn't stay there long :) Lauren was not diggin the water business so she just chilled with Grandma and Grandpa Jolley!

The kids coming off of the slide that you can fit 4 people on (and it goes underground in two places!!) I wish I would have gotten a picture of the whole slide because it was pretty neat!

haha!! You might laugh at this picture because we have two adults and two kids, but the more weight you have... the FASTER you go and it is SO fun!!

This was the other slide you could ride with more than one person. You had to carry a raft up with you, and then you would ride it down (obviously!) This one was short.. but it was fast!

This is what Lauren did all day.. just hanging by the pool!
It was such a fun day :) I hope they are going to have their birthday party there next year because I will definitly be going!

In other news.. Lauren and I went to the Powell fair and she was loving the animals!!

Here are some pictures..

I would like to expand on our week, but I am too tired. I played volleyball for Cowley's days and our team took 2nd! But we had to play 3 full games for the championship because the other team wanted to play like they do in the NBA playoffs were you play best out of 3 GAMES not just best out of 3 single matches. But we had lots of fun, we only lost our last game by one point (that was kind of a bummer) but we had fun!

Camping!

2009-07-20T12:17:00.000-06:00

This last weekend Erik, Lauren and I were able to go camping up on the Big Horns! I hadn't been up on the mountain this WHOLE year and so I was really excited! This was Lauren's first trip up to the Mountains and I think that she enjoyed herself :) EXCEPT for the fact that she had diaria. We left our house and had to make a few stops before heading up the mountain and she managed to poop out of 3 outfits before we got to the mountain. I was glad that I packed 7 outfits, because by the end of our camping trip we had only 1 outfit left. But we made it!

We camped with the Mickelson's, they were nice enough to let us camp at their camp spot! And nice enough to cook us food! Nicole was the preparer of the meals and she did a FABULOUS job. We had shishcabobs (I just sounded that one out so excuse the spelling) one night and they were SO good! my camping meal would have been hamburgers and hotdogs, so we are REALLY glad she was the cook!

Saturday we wanted to do something fun, so someone suggested going to Porcupine Falls (now I would have some choice words to say to that someone!!) So we all thought it sounded like a good idea so we went. First we went to meet Erik's brother Steven on the Highway so he could join in our Mountain fun! On our way to get Steven, Lauren feel asleep on the 4-wheeler! So when we got Steven, him and Erik road the 4-wheeler and Lauren and I followed in the truck.

The walk down (of course) wasn't that bad. This is what we saw when we came around the 50th corner! How beautiful! I have never been down here, and I am so glad I came!

Lauren has always like Uncle Steven :) Probably because he looks so much like her dad! Uncle Steven is always more than happy to hold her.

Here is a family picture by the falls...

Then came the walk out of the Falls. I didn't have the strength to even take a picture! Haha it was such a LONG way back. Steven and Erik so kindly took turns holding Lauren, and I was having a hard enough time with the diaper bag. As Nicole said "I am glad I saw it today, because I will NEVER do that again!" I was tired before we made it 1/8 of the way up! Erik, Steven, Lauren and I started about 5 minutes before the rest of our party and about half way Jeff, and Danielle passed us. I was NOT happy to see them because Jeff came running past us, I didn't even have the strength to think about running and I didn't want him to have that either! haha but we FINALLY made it to the top and Lauren and I got to sit in the air conditioned truck and it was wonderfull!

We got back to camp and we all agreed it was time to rest!

Lauren was so happy to be able to play in the dirt all day! She really loves to be outside, and so she had a ball!

This picture doesn't do her justice, but her face was filthy! I tried to keep it clean, but then after a while it was just no use! She was having to much fun!

Then we went fishing. Lauren is bringing me the worms.

Lauren didn't know what to think about the fish this time around. We have gone fishing before, and she didn't mind them but Erik just plopped it over to her pretty fast and she didn't think that was very fun.

Then it was time to pack up and come home. It is always sad to leave the mountain, but fun because I know I will be getting a shower!

And that was it for Lauren too!

Byron Day's and more!

2009-07-16T17:12:00.000-06:00

I am surprising my self... Two blogs in one week, it is usually two blogs in one month!!

This past weekend was Byron Day's! On Saturday they started off with a parade, Lauren wasn't too sure about it at first but once she got the hang of things she thought it was pretty cool:)

Hillary and Marcus were here visiting so Lauren had a buddy at the parade :)

Lauren was having a good time picking up the candy, and she wasn't in the mood to give it up.. If she only knew that if I took the candy from here she could just get more. But she was satisfied with the handfulls she allready had!

Look at that handfull :)
Grandpa Steve was happy to set down on the side walk with the kiddos and help them get candy! Thanks Grandpa :)

It was a pretty fun parade.. Pretty short, but pretty fun!

It was a hot, hot day and Lauren had already drank her sippy, and grandpa re-assured me that this was caffine free diet pepsi!

Lauren is always happy to drink someone elses drink!

We went home after the parade and had some hambergers with Erik's parents and sister Hillary. Then after lunch it was time for the Volleyball Tourny. Erik was asked to be on a team, so I had to build my own. My team was Jake, Kandace, Lila, her friend Ashley, and Kale Marchant (we saw him at the park and recruted him!) We lost both of our matches, but we had fun and we all got a t-shirt out of it:) Now Erik's team on the otherhand wasn't so unfortunate as us.. they ended up winning the toury, yeah they won it! TURDS anyway! Haha just kidding! So my team will be coming back for more at the Cowely Day's volleyball tourny (and hopefully Erik's team won't, we want to have a chance!)

We ended off our day with the AWESOME Byron fireworks! We watched them from our yard becasue we live a block away from the park and I am glad we did because Lauren was a little scarred of them. So Lauren and I watched them through our livingroom window which worked out great.

The next thing that I am excited about is Lauren's little play area..

This is what it usually looks like.

And my handy father has now made it look like this..

I was telling my dad that I was wanted a book shelf for Lauren and kind of explained to him what I was thinking. Lauren LOVES books and her books have been taking over the toy tub, so that was why I wanted a shelf. Then he left and about 30 minutes later (not joking) he came up with this!! He is such a handy dad to have around!

Thanks Dad!

Happy Birthday Lauren!

2009-07-13T15:27:00.000-06:00

I am taking everyone back with pictures to when Lauren was born, and bringing you up to the now! Sorry about the picture OVERLOAD, I wanted to choose every picture so this is what I ended up with!

July 2, 2008 our precous baby was born!

Lauren Frances Bassett

born at 6:07 am

7lbs. 14oz. 20 inches long

Learning to sit up with a laundry basket! She loved to play in it!

Can't forget the bald spot! It was so stylish :)

The laundry basket worked!! She is sitting up better now :)
She was so small :( I miss it so much..
Starting to push herself backwards.

Learned to pull herself up!

Crawling lady!

Getting ready to walk!
Our baby is ONE!

We didn't have her pary on the day of her birthday, but I couldn't let her go her whole birthday without some sort of treat.

So we treated ourselfs to a banana split from Minchows!

We celebrated Lauren's birthday Saturday July, 4 2009

Lots of people came to celebrate with us and we had such a great time!

The party was at our house, and we partied outside on the lawn (I was worried the weather was going to turn bad, but it was perfect)

The birthday girl and her very own cake!

This is the cake for everyone else. Grandma Debbie made it, and mom got to decorate it!

Lauren wasn't really into opening her presents. We opened a few together, then I finished for her! Lauren got a lot of cute stuff! Thanks Grandma Debbie for the new carseat!! And thanks to everyone else:)

Lauren was trying to eat Great Grandma Frans cake!

The kids had a GREAT time, with the personal swimming pool, Erik gave rides on the lawn mower, there dogs were a big hit, and there was food and cake!!

Happy Birthday Lady Lauren! I love you so much! I can't believe you are one already.

You love to dance when you hear music.

You LOVE to babble. something that you say all the time is "it's a boy" dad says that it sounds like "eat subway" but I think that it is "it's a boy" you don't know what it means but you say it all the time. Another phrase you say all the time is "who is that" or "whats that" agian you don't know what you are saying but you babble that quite a bit :) And in you constant babble you sometimes sound like you are speaking chinese! I love to hear you talk!

Words that your know are mom, dad, and hi!

You can sign "more" and "all done"

You love to be outside, and every time we open the door you head for it! You like to play in the dirt!

You like to play with my phone, and know that it goes by your ear. You turn your wrist funny so the back of the phone is to your ear! It is so funny :)

You like to push anything that you can make move. You are always rearanging the chairs in the Kitchen, and we have fun playing together.

I am sure there are many other things that I am forgeting but all I know is you are an amazing daughter and I wouldn't ask for anything else!

Love you sweets :)

Look who's walking!

2009-06-30T18:44:00.000-06:00

Thats right my baby is not a baby anymore.. she is a toddler! A couple weeks ago I was outside weeding my flower garden and she started to bear crawl because she didn't like the feel of the grass or cement on her knee's and then all the sudden she stood up. She thought that was pretty neat, and kept on standing up on her own. The next day we were out side again on the lawn (because she LOVES to be outside, she is like a dog when you open the door she gets over there as fast as she can) she started to stand up again on her own and took her very first steps all by herself. She practiced and practiced all week long then on Tuesday (6/23/09) she walked half way across the living room and then Sunday(6/28/09) she was walking across the living room and back! She walks with her arms stretched out in front of her and a big smile on her face :)
In this next picture if you look closely there is a bird wing connected to a fishing pole line inbetween the puppy and Lauren. This is used to train puppies how to "point" when they see a pheasent or whatever. Erik got it out to show his dad how advanced he thinks his puppy is and come to find out, Lauren is just as advanced as the puppy! So this is a picture of Lauren and Ginger on Point!

Two Saturday's ago (6/20/09) Erik wanted to go fishing, so he took Lauren and I to Sunshine Resevoir (what a happy name!) in Meeteese. Lauren and I didn't do much fishing, but we still had a good time!

When we got their Lauren had to check the place out with her new walker (it's an early birthday present, I couldn't wait!)

She thought that was pretty fun, however was a little mad becasue the ground was not flat and was kind of hard to get over the bumps with the walker.

She did find one thing that she loved... playing in a bucket of water! She was really fasinated with that and would cry if I tried to take her away!

Erik couldn't help but to get Lauren a...

She had fun playing with it. We never tried it out, but she still had fun with it! Here she is checking everything out making sure it all works!

Then back to the water bucket but this time she was trying to lick the water off her hands (yuck) but I couldn't get her to stop and she was having a ball!

Then the first catch of the day came and Erik had to show Lauren.

she even got to touch it! She was in awe most of the time, but she didn't not like it and I think that made her dad proud!

Then it was time to pack up and go home because it started to rain. Lauren wasn't happy about leaving the bucket even though she spilled the whole bucket of water on her!

Lauren found out she loves to be in the drivers seat and knows how to turn on the windsheild wipers!

That is our last couple of weeks in a nutshell! Lauren's birthday is coming up on Thursday July 2nd! I have all the party plans ready and we will be celebrating it on the 4th! I am obiously more excited than her, but it is really fun to plan it for her! So hopefully I will post that a couple days after it happens and not a couple weeks!!

Just and update!

2009-05-26T10:47:00.000-06:00

First of all I am so excited because this is going to bloom into a beautiful flower (not sure of the name haha) so stay tuned and I will show the final product :)

Nothing to exciting has been going on, just getting ready for summer! Erik has been working on our lawn every chance he gets, and loves every minute of it. I am glad he enjoys doing the lawn work because it isn't my favorite thing to do.

I am excited that it is warmer out so that Lauren and I can get out of the house and get some vitamin D. She really likes to swing, I didn't know what she would think of the grass but it doesn't bother her to much.

I see walking in her future! I was a little worried that she might crawl for the rest of her life, but she is showing signs of wanting to walk. She is getting brave and is standing on her own. When I put her down by her toy box she can stand there for a few seconds before she grabs on to the box! I really don't know if I am ready for her to walk yet. I know I said the same thing about crawling and we figured it out somehow! So we will just take it as it comes :)

This is also what Erik has been doing for the past month with his dad and brother...

Starting her young, so she knows what to look for!

I am so excited that Lauren's hair is starting to fill in around the sides and back. It is coming in blonde blonde, and curly curly! It flips out right above her ears, it looks like wings!
Here is my new hair-do. I have had it for about 3 weeks now and have just forgot to blog about it. But this isn't the best picture, I didn't do much with it today. dun duh duh dun....
There are shorter layers in the back and I like it because it is easier to make it look poofy and stay poofy :)

So that is the buzz for now!

2009-05-15T15:50:00.000-06:00

First off.. I love spring! I love to see the flowers on the tree's bloom and it always makes me smile to see the beautiful tree's at this time of year :) It is getting warmer and we can get outside more and go for walks and just hang out in our yard! Here are some pictures of what I get to see when I look in my yard!

We are down to two dogs now. I won't go into detail, but they are a lot easier to take care of now.

This is a very fitting sign for out house. Debbie gave it to us for Christmas a couple years ago!

This is the time of year for shed horn hunting and yes, Erik has gone out every chance he gets! This is only one of the MANY horns that we have, this one just happened to be where are flower garden should be!!

The fun thing about living in byron, is that you never know what kind of wildlife we will have in our yard. These are pictures of bunnies which aren't that unusuall, but come fall and we will have deer in our yard when we get home in the evening, and when we wake up in the morning!

I am sure there are plenty of things for me to blog about, but at the moment I can't think of them. Lauren is starting to cry now when I drop her off at the babysitters, and it breaks my heart to leave her. The babystitter assures me that it only lasts for about a minute, but it is still hard to leave.

Lauren's newest first is... Getting her bangs CUT!! Her bangs were always in her eyes and I was always swooping them to the side. I put it off and put it off and Erik said either you cut her bangs or I will.

Here is the before...

And After...

Haha they look a little croocked and probably are, but who are we trying to impress :)

That is about all the Bassett fun I can think of, so I hope you have a nice day!

10 Months and my Test of Motherhood

2009-05-07T18:30:00.000-06:00

I can not believe that my little Lauren is 10 months. She has grown so much and is the best part of my day :) Her 10 month accomplishments are, waving (she really waves for goodbye), patty cake, fake cough, and laughing in her car seat for no reason :) She is crawling like a pro and kicks into high speed when she see's somthing she wants! She is starting to climb over and under things, it is so fun to watch her! Her new thing is crawling under the chair, and like most chairs the bottom bars are uneven, but she tries to crawl over them and gets high centered! I eventually help her out but it is so funny :) She is learning new sounds and says bah, tah, mama, dada, seh, and more jibberish! She likes to pound on things with her hands.

She is such a sweet baby, and couldn't ask for anything better. I remember when she was first born and was fussy (we thought it was collic), and was a little bit high mantainance. Now she is (somewhat) laid back and plays so good by herself, and hardly fusses at all! I am helping with the middle school play and they were able to practice all morning from 8-11:30 and Lauren didn't make a sound the whole time. She was so well behaived and then around 10 I gave her a bottle and she fell right asleep and I laid her on the lunchroom floor and she slept with all the noise and everything (if it's noisy at home she is usually awake and seeing what she missed ) But she was an angel!

Now my test of Motherhood..

p.s. if you have a weak stomache just skip this part :)

So last night I put Lauren to bed with no trouble at all, then about 1 o'clock she was really moving around and so I went to pick her up. I got into my bed with her and she was still really squirmy and then it happend... she threw up, and I was able to catch it in the blanket (now I was not fully awake at this point) so I wasn't sure what the damage was so I laid her on my cheast to comfort her and then I heard her stomach rumble and then she threw up again right on my shoulder and down my back. Still not very aware of what was going on I laid her down, and sure enough she threw up some more (and of course I turned her to her side, I finally started to wake up) So I took of her clothes, changed my shirt and went to get a wash cloth to clean us up.

So we settled back down and she cuddle right into me, and not 2 minutes later it happend again. Yes on my newly changed shirt and on the new blanket I had for her, so we started clean up again. At the POwell Hospital they have a nurse 24/7 that you can call and ask questions, so it sounds silly but I called her. She told me it was probably just viral and signs to look for and that it would happen a couple more times that night. She was right, about 20 minutes later it happened agian; however this time I was prepared I had a "puke" bowl and a wet wash cloth. We didn't get out of that one clean (but much better than before). So intead of putting clothes on Lauren she just went with a diaper. Then we settled down with our supplies for just in case and about 20 minutes past by and it came again. This one was the last one and every one came out clean! What a night, the whole time antisipating her to throw up I was hoping that I wouldn't have to, and when she did I didn't even think about me I just thought about how sorry I felt for her. I was proud of my self! But the thing that surprised me is after she would throw up she would act like nothing happened and crawl around chatting and wanting to play, she never cried throughout the whole ordeal. At about 2 she feel asleep and stayed asleep the whole night, so whatever it was got out of her system and that was that ( I hope).

So that was my test :)

The last couple weeks Lauren's cousin Marcus and Aunt Hillary were here and we got to spend a lot of time with them!

And this is a little delayed, but I just wanted to recogonise my big brother Spencer. He has been deployed and has to be away from his family for 1 year to serve his country. We went down to Worland were they had a ceremony for the soilders in the Big Horn Basin before he left.
Thank you Spencer!

I am a slacker!

2009-04-17T10:43:00.000-06:00

I have no excuse for lack of blogging, just that I simply never got around to doing it. Every time I thought I would blog something else came up.. So to get you back it tuned with the Bassett family, keep on reading!

Not to much has been going on. Lauren is 9 1/2 months (I can't believe it) and has two teeth :) She is crawling around like a crazy women, and pulling herself up onto anything that will hold her! She sometimes will let go and stand for a couple seconds, but is still pretty wobbly. That is perfectly fine with me because I don't know if I am ready for a walking baby. The poor thing has been sick for the last couple day though :( Monday night she woke up with a terrible fever, I took her to doc and he said she checked out great, and she just needs to let the fever fight whatever infection it is fighting and sent me home. She was so tired that day I bet she was only awake for like 4 hours of the day. Every time I would hold her she would just cuddle with me and fall asleep. We kept medicine in her and by the end of the night the fever was still a little high but it had gone down! I think she must have the flu because she acts like body aches and she threw up alittle. But she is still my happy little girl even though she doesn't feel well.

For easter we went to the Byron easter egg hunt at the park. We got a picture with the easter bunny and he gave lauren a pink bear! We went out on a hunt, but I wasn't prepared for what was happening. I was taking my sweet time, and everyone else was seriously hunting.. so thanks to Shannon we found 1 egg!! That was really all Lauren needed and she had fun with her egg!

In my attempt to try to find new hairstyles for little Lauren here is one that I snaggned from someone at the Easter egg hunt!! I didn't even think about braiding her hair, but when I saw this little girl with hair about like Lauren's I had to give it a try!! The only trick to this was doing it while she was napping! I tried to braid it while she was awake and that was a joke!

Here is another hair-do, a topsy tail (or whatever you call them!)

Lila was feeling crafty and wanted me do something crafty with her, so I decided that we should make birthday invitations for Laruen ( I know it's a ways away but when I feel crafty it doesn't stay long so we had to do them now or NEVER!! ) So Lila and I had a fun night of card making, towards the end of the night, we lost our crafty bug so good thing we did it then!

I am sure there are plenty of things I have left out because I waited so long to blog. So if I think of them I will be sure to write about them!!

These are just a few fun pictures of Lauren! She is so much fun :) Everyday is a new adventure with her and I can't wait for tommorow!

This is what my dad did...

So long for now!

What a Star!!

2009-03-21T11:47:00.000-06:00

I don't even know where to begin. Lauren has figured out so many things in the past two weeks it blows my mind. I know every child goes through the same stages, and learns how to crawl, walk and talk but when your child does it you just think they are genious! Really quick I am going to write down all of the things Lauren has learned in the past couple weeks, then I will expand on it later. She can pull herself up on things all by herself, she can clap (haha it is so cute), she can CRAWL, She has a tooth :), she reaches for people when she wants to go to them, and she says mama (I don't think she knows that she is saying it, but every once in a while she says ama ma ma)!! And I am not kidding when I say she has done all of this stuff all within the last 2 weeks.

Here is a picture of Lauren standing by the elephant that she first pulled herself up with! My mom had watched her while I taught dance and when I came to pick her up we were talking and when we look over Lauren was all the sudden standing! So we didn't even see her pulling her self up we just saw the ending results!

Now she thinks she needs to stand up all the time! Here she is peeking at me, after she had pulled herself up on the exersaucer!

Yes, yes my little girl is CRAWLING!! I was almost worried that she wouldn't because I held her to much. But she figured it out! She really started to try on the March 16, and then it after that she was really getting the hang of things! She still doesn't crawl long distances because everything in our house is two crawls and a belly stretch away. But she is getting braver and is starting to realize her freedom! Scarry for me, but fun for her :)

She is so funny because the only things she will crawl to, are things that she isn't supposed to have! Like this wrapper..

I was trying and trying to get her to crawl to a toy, and was sitting there encouraging her.. Then she started for the couch and found this wrapper underneith the couch. So to my enjoyment I took the wrapper and set it on the other side of the room, and sure enough she headed that way!

Even now she is still really only crawling to things like keys, cords, and other things she shouldn't be playing with. I feel so bad sometimes having to turn her away from those things because I love to watch her crawl, but I have to be strong!

Lauren got her first tooth on March 21. I didn't notice her being to unpleasant, so the tooth must have not bothered her that much. She has still been a little more cranky than usual so I wonder if there are more teeth trying to find their way up.

Like I said she is a Star.. she is my star! I can't beleive it, but I love her more everyday! She makes my day so much fun, and I get a kick out of watch her figure out new things! I laugh at myself as I try to figure out parenting :) It is a tough job, but a rewarding job! I guess it isn't to tough right now, I really can't complain in that area.. but it is definitley challenging and life changing!

Swimming!

2009-03-06T19:49:00.000-07:00

Today Lauren got to experience her first time swimming :) She seemed to really like it, and we were at the Cody Rec Center and they have a kids pool so it was also nice and warm and shallow to! Lauren seemed to enjoy her self at the pool, she didn't kick or splash as much as I thought she would, but she had a fun time!

This was also Triffin's first time swimming, and he really enjoyed it too! He is crawling now, and it was so funny because he would crawl around in the shallow water and follow a ball and when he got up next to it he would hit it with he nose, and go after it again! He is the sweetest little boy, and a cute one too!

After swimming we had to treat our selves to a nice treat, so we chose DQ! I didn't realize it was open at this time of year in Cody, but dun duh duh DUN... it was :)

This is Triffin, and I have some pictures with his eyes open.. but i couldn't resist this one because you will see how cute it is even if his eyes are shut!!

I think that these two could be twins.. to me they look so much alike. This picture doesn't show how much they look alike, it's just a fun one!

I tried to get pictures of the other kids eating their ice cream, but you take what you can get with this crew!

Now while we were up in Cody we had to stop at Walmart. I have been looking for a coat for Lauren, because before she didn't need one because when we were outside she was always in her carseat tucked under blankets. Now that she has her big girl carseat I really wanted her to have a coat. So I had been looking on the internet, and everyone is trying to get rid of winter stuff. So I thought I would just see if Walmart had any better deals than what I had found on the internet. Sure enough!! I found this coat that you will shortly see for 5 dollars!! Yes, yes it was 5 dollars marked down from 22 dollars!

It is a 24 month size, so she has plenty of room to grow. We rolled up the sleeves and the arms fit perfectly. It is a little long, but I LOVE IT! I would have gotten an 18 month size but they didn't have it, so this will do FINE!

Moms I am sure you know this, but now is the time to by winter clothes for this next winter. Everything is marked down quite a bit! I love getting good deals, it makes me feel so good! Hope you enjoyed!

8 Months

2009-03-03T13:35:00.000-07:00

I can not believe that my little girl is 8 MONTHS! It literally feels like only a few months ago we had her, but then I can't remember my life without her! She has been such a joy, and I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world! She is getting so big I can't believe it, she thought since she was 8 months she would have to go up a size in diapers and up a size in clothes. I was in denile for about a week because Lauren would go through about 3 outfits a day due to blow outs of her diaper. I didn't want to move up to size four yet because they seemed so big. I finally made the move and we are back down to one outfit a day! On the clothes end Lauren is fitting into 12 month clothes.

Lauren makes me laugh every day, she has just aquired a fake cry. At times it can be frusterating, but most of the time it makes me laugh :) She has just started to jump in her little excersaucer and she thinks that is pretty cool! She still isn't crawling but I can tell she wants to SO bad. When she sits on her bottom she leans over her legs and gets on her stomach and isn't quite sure what to do after that! Sometimes when she is on her stomach gets up on her hands and feet (like a bear crawl) but doesn't move, she just thinks she is pretty cool! I don't know if I am ready for her to be moble yet, I am so used to setting her down and leaving the room and finding her in that exact same place! It is so fun to watching her figure out how to crawl, and she is getting better each day!

Lauren also loves to look at herself in the mirror. I don't know how this began.. but everytime we pass by the bathroom she leans toward the bathroom and then when I take her to the mirror she smiles and leans towards the mirror. So this is her new favorite place, standing in the sink looking at herself in the mirror...

And stay tuned because we are going swimming this weekend at the Cody Rec. Center with my mom, two sister-in-laws and their children and we are SO excited! I recieved a few swimming suits from hand-me-downs and we just had to try them on.. so here is a preview! Lauren was in a good mood so she was willing to do a few wardrobe changes!

The latest and greatest!

2009-02-28T12:47:00.000-07:00

So I have been a real slacker when it comes to blogging. So I am here to catch up! Nothing to exciting has been going on. Last night we went to the Lovell vs. Worland game, and at half time the Mickleson family was given Bradley's jersey in honor of him. It was a really nice ceremony for him, and wonderful of the school to honor Bradley that way. The game wasn't to bad either, I haven't been to a basketball game in a long time and I am really glad we went!
Now I just have to vent for a minute!! A couple days ago Lauren started to get sick, she had a cough and was all stuffed up. So yesterday I took her to the doctor and he said she had an ear infection (first one for Lauren). He said he would send the perscription to Lovell Drug and then we were on our way out the door. I waited for about an hour before I went to get the perscription and so it was a little after 5. When I got to Lovell Drug they looked around for her perscription and said they never recieved it, and that the Clinic was closed so I would have to wait untill tommorow. Ok, so there wasn't anything I could do.. so we went home and that was that. So today I called the hospital and asked them if they could send the perscription agian. The receptionist said she would tell the nurse and then asked for my phone number. I waited about an hour (because i thought they might call and tell me they sent it) and I called the hostpital agian to see if it had been sent, the receptionist said she gave the message to the nurse but didn't know if she sent it and that i should call the lovell drug to see if it got there. I called the Lovell Drug and the line was busy, i tried a few more times, and it was always busy. So I decided to go down there and see if her medicine was ready. Again they said they had not recieved it, and to try the hospital agian. I called them and they put me on the phone with the nurse. It was almost frusterating because the nurse said, I don't know what the doctor perscribed Lauren (I was confused because I thought she could just look on her file) the nurse was quiet for a minute and then she said well right here under treatment it say's (the name of the medicine, I suck with names!) and i said that was it, I thought thats were she should have looked in the first place, but I don't know, and she said she would call it in. I waited about 10 minutes then went to Lovell Drug to see if he had got it, and he STILL hadn't recieved it. He told me to wait like a 20 min. to see if it would come in, Lauren was not liking all the moving around so I took her to my parents house, and my brother H.B. went and got the perscrition. It wouldn't have been such a problem if Erik had Lauren and I was just running the errands, but I could tell Lauren just didn't feel good, and she didn't want to be in her car seat.
Anyway!! I just had to share that, sorry if it was a little wild!
Lately Laurens hair had been just brushed to to side, because the only place her hair is growing is right on top of her head! The sides and middle don't seem to want to grow, and her hair in front it almost past her eyes.

I don't even like to think of trimming it because some babbies don't have hair until they are 3. So the other day I was blog snooping, and came across a hair-do blog. Most of the styles were for older children (with longer hair!) but there was one for a baby that I just loved!! It was called the two and a half pony (I think it was something like that!) All it is, is pigtails, but not your ordinary pigtails!!

(Also notice in this picture, Lauren is in a big girl carseat :( She is getting to big too fast. This carseat was handed down to Lauren for her cousins Kynlee, Kaya and Kysar. So it has seen many children but it is in really good shape. And nothing beats a free carseat!) I miss the carier carseat because times like these (when she is sleeping) it is not fun to wake her up when getting her out of her seat.)

Here is the close up of her hair! It's nothing to fancy, but it is fun to have a new style!

Now I have been inspired to try things with Lauren's hair, I should actually say DO something with Lauren's hair! It is so easy, and a habit for me to just brush lauren's hair out of her eyes and call it good!

This style isn't fancy at all, I just clipped all her hair to one side. But again for me it was a big deal because I don't do much with her hair!

In this picture she was playing with the zipper, I just thought it was funny :)

What a happy girl!

In this next picture you will see that her passifier has more that one purpose!

She acts like she is teething because she is chewing on everthing, but still no sign of them.

She is definitely thinking about crawling, and is no longer a lap sitter. If you have her on your lap she is trying to find a way off. She really wants to be mobile but can't figure out how to make her legs work. She can scoot backwards on the floor, but still no forward progress.

This is her new favorite way to sleep, on her side! Whenever I lay her down she just turns over to her side. I can tell if she doesn't turn over to her side, she is going to wake up any minute! So I like it when she turns to her side!

Now...

We have had this puppy for about a month now, and I was waiting to blog about her until we found a name for her... but we STILL do not have a name for this dumb dog! My suggestions to Erik are Lady, Daisy, or Ariel!! Ha ha but he hasn't budged for anyone of those names. I like the nameLady because he has the same breed of dog named Grizz, and so her name could be Lady Grizz!! So this is our nameless dog, she is a Brittney (dont' know if thats the right spelling) But all your really need to know is she is a hunting dog.

I am usually a puppy person, but with a baby around it just isn't the same. She is a puppy and likes to chew on everthing, and with baby toys around, it's hard to keep them all away for her.

This is when I like the puppy the most, when she is sleeping!

Last but not least her is Lauren's message to you!!

Just kidding.. but it is the cutest thing because she found her tougne the other night and couldn't stop using it!

Sorry so long.. hope you enjoyed!

Picture Day #2

2009-02-08T17:17:00.000-07:00

It was time again to get pictures of Lauren done at Kiddie Kandids! They have a offer called Milestones, and you get a free something if you take you child as a newborn, 6 months, 9 months and a year. Then every year after that you get a free 8x10. Once again it was my mom, Lila and I who made the trip, and Lauren of course.. and I am glad we all got to go!

Lauren's smile cracks me up because as you will see it isn't a smile, it's just her mouth open as WIDE as she can get it! These pictures are just the proofs, so in some you will see my hand, and my leg! Hope you enjoy :)

She almost feel over a couple of times trying to stand, so we decided that the knee's were a better choice!

These next ones are just cute up close ones!

We had a great day, and finished off with Texas Road House! Sorry the post is so short but I have to run.. Hope you enjoyed!

Baby Tag

2009-01-23T16:05:00.000-07:00

This is my only picture that I have while I was pregnant. This was taken on my birthday May 18 and I still had about 6 weeks to go. So my face got fatter, my hands got fatter my legs and feet DEFINITELY got fatter.. so you can just imagine how cute I looked! All for a good cause though :)

Here we are putting together my birthday present.. a bassinet for Lauren!! I was warned that I will never get a present just for me agian.. they will all be for my children! Thats ok with me :)

Our little miricle has arrived!

What a miracle she is :) Haha I just had to add this picture because it is so funny! Hope you like it, she is thinking.. "Why did I get stuck with these guys, a bunch of goof balls is all they are!"

1- Where were you when you first found out you were pregnant? At our house

2- Who was with you? Erik

3- How did you find out that you were pregnant? Took a test, and Erik made me pee on it and leave because he wanted to be the first to know!

4- What was your first reaction to finding out you were pregnant? Yah! We had planned it so, we were kind of expecting it.. but definitely fun to know FOR SURE!

5- Your Husbands reaction? He was so excited :) He was excited before we found out, because I had stopped taking birth control and everyday he would ask me, did you take your birth control.. and I would say no and he woud just get a big smile on his face! (what a nerd I know!)

6- Who was the first person you told? technically Erik told me, but he says he told his dad first, but I thought he told Kimberly first.. so who knows!

7-Did you plan to get pregnant? Yes

8-Was everybody happy for you? Well I think so :)

9- Did you go out and celebrate? I don't think we did.

10- Did you want to find out the sex? YES I could have died to find out the sex of Lauren, but Erik wanted it to be a surprize. I even asked if my Uncle who did the ultra sound could tell my mom and then my mom could get us a little prepared.. but NO! Although it was a little fun I have to admit! When I had her and the doc put her on my stomach I said what is it and the doc and nurses were like oh, I don't know and then the lifted her up and said a girl!

11- What was the sex? Sweet baby girl :)

12-Did anyone throw you a baby shower? Yes

13- If yes, who? Aimee, Kandace, and Lila

14- Did you get any outfits at the baby shower that you just knew you weren't going to put on your baby?Yes, but it is the thought that counts :)

15- How much weight did you gain? like 35 or 40 (I know, I know!)

16- Did you loose all of the weight that you gained? Yes! I was worried I wouldn't but I think breastfeeding had a lot to do with it!

17- Did you get a lot of stretch marks? No, thankfully! I got a few AFTER Lauren was born, which was weird and they were all in one spot, but you can't even see them today!!

18- What did you crave the most? When I was first pregnant, it was orange juice I could have drank a whole gallon in a day if I wanted to. Then as I got farther along I don't recall anything specific.

19- Did you crave anything craxy? Nope

20- Who or what got on your nerves the most? Hmm I don't know. I just know that I was super tired at the beggining of my pregnancy, and I probably got on Erik's nerves the most!

21- Were you married at the time?Yes

22- Did you have any complications during your pregnancy? Well my blood type was A- and so I had to get a shot so it didn't complicate the next pregnancy. Then my last couple weeks I started to swell up like a balloon and my blood pressure was really high so they had to monitor me the WHOLE night while I was in labor.

23- Where were you when you went into labor? hospital, Dr. Ellis wanted to monitor me and he knew I would be having the baby in the next 24 hours so in the hospital bed is were I spent my time!

24- Did your water break?Nope

26- Did you go early or late? Dr. said my due date was June 30th and Ultra sound said my due date was July 5th so right in the middle I guess! I had her on July 2nd :)

27- Who was in the room with you when you gave birth? Erik, and the Dr. and nurses. They were wonderful, they made me feel like a champ!

28- Was it video taped? No, I can imagine how I looked when I was pushing... I didn't want to capture that on tape!

29- Did you have any drugs for the pain? YES!! I got the IV meds which didn't work at ALL.. when I got the IV meds I was expecting some relief and got NONE it was kind of dissapointing.. Then the nurse checked me and I was dialated to 8 and I wanted something strong! She said that the doc would be here in 30 min to give me medicine, and all I could think about was 30 min means 15 more contractions... when he got there I was at a 10 but told him I wanted something and they gave me a spinal tap and let me take a break for about an hour before I started to push!

30-Did you go vaginal or have a c-section?Vaginally

31- What was your first reaction after giving birth? It still wasn't very real to me, to be honest I was so tired and really wanted to sleep.

32- How big was the baby(s)? 7lb 14oz 21 inches long

33- Did your Husband cry? I am not sure.. I didn't even cry, it was so hard for me to believe

34- What did you name the baby(s)? Lauren Frances

35-Did the name have any significance to you? Lauren was just a name Erik really liked, and Frances is Erik's grandma's name!

36-Does the baby's name fit? Of course!

37- Did the baby(s) have any complications? Nope she was perfect! She did have a heart murmer, but it went away.

38- How old is your baby today? about 6 1/2 months!

39- When is the next one(s) coming? Erik would like it to be baking right now... but I am trying to hold him off for a little while longer!

40- If you could would you do it all over again? Oh yes! I love to be pregnant, and sometimes miss having her is my belly :)

Erik's new Toy!

2009-01-17T14:22:00.000-07:00

Erik had contacted Thomas Croft who works at Midway in Cody, and asked him to look out for an old pickup that he could fix up and ...... To his surprize they had a pickup at midway that fit that description a few weeks later! a sarcastic YAH for me :) Erik told me about it and so Lauren, Erik and I made the trip up to Cody to see if this was the truck Erik had been looking for. We got to Cody and Erik took it for a test drive and was in love, so he bought it. After he bought it I asked him why he wanted another truck because he has a little Ford Ranger that is his beater truck that he drives to work, and he has BIG BLUE Dodge AND he also has his old purple chevy cavolier and my car! So you could see why I would be puzzled!! Our drive way already looks like a used car sale lot! His answer was that he needed a project.. my answer A PROJECT? Our house is shuting down wall by wall, and things are falling apart.. but he needs a project! He can't stand to be in the house for to long, so that is why he needs an outside project! Haha our house isn't that bad, but Erik is more of an outside kind of guy so I guess I can KIND OF see where he is coming from! To make things a little better he did sell (or either gave) the Ford Ranger to his little brother Steven. But we are back where we started with 4 cars, however we are never without transportation (to look on the brightside).

So here is Erik's "project" it is quite the looker! To tell you the truth I havn't even seen the inside of this truck! Here it is the multi colored goodness..

He took the two bucket seats out and put a bench seat in (which also came with the truck) I am assuming he put the bench seat in, so that Lauren and I could ride along with him! Haha probably not, but I can wish :)

He is really excited about the truck, and really enjoys working on it.. so I am happy if he is happy!

Have you smiled today?

2009-01-15T23:09:00.000-07:00

I hope you have now!!

We were getting ready to eat, and she usually eats with clothes on but I was changing her diaper and I knew I was going to give her a bath so I just undressed her right then! Her hair was in a pony the day before.. so that explains the crazyness of it! I don't really like the saying "hottie" for my sweet little girl, but it was the bib that I pulled out of the drawer and I just think the look she is giving me is so cute.. like give me a break mom! I just couldn't help but laugh when I saw how the picture turned out, and I hope you can have a laugh too!

We have dialed in on a permenant babysitter and are hoping that it works out! I am very comfortable with who we have chosen, and feel that she will be very reliable. I have to say thanks to my sister-in-law Aimee and the girls at CRC for thinking of me and helping me find a babysitter!

We got our bathroom stuff in from cabela's (of course, were else would Erik shop!) and it looks pretty good I think! It is amazing what a little color can do for such a small bathroom. Erik already had a shower curtain when I moved in and it was just tan, and he had a tan bath mat and tan seat cover for the toilet. So you can imagine how DULL it was! I guess I just got so used to it and it didn't really bother me, but now I am glad that he got it :)

It isn't much, but I don't know much else you can do with a bathroom this small! It obviously goes with the rest of the decor in the house! You can't really see it, but the top strip is of tree's and the bottom strip is of deer by a creek or something, you guessed it the bath mat is also of the deer by the creek!

Our next project is to fix what ever is the matter with our breaker box, we have no electricity in our backroom where the washer and dryer are. You can't see it but there is an extention cord that is plugged into the bathroom outlet by the sink going into the backroom were is plugs into the washer.. then when we are done with the washer I unplug it and plug in the dryer! I can't complain because I do have a washer and dryer, but I can't use them at the same time or we might blow the breaker that is attached to the bathroom! Oh the joys of living in an old house!! So I have invited my mom and dad over for dinner on Friday so that my dad can look at the breaker box and see if he can fix it!

What does a sheep say?

2009-01-14T15:52:00.000-07:00

Lauren knows!! Baa baa or it's more like abuu buu buu in Lauren's world! She has figured out the B sound and is LOVING it! It is the first thing she does in the morning! She is such a sweet baby and I love watching her grow and learn new things! She is sitting up like a pro now, and loves to reach for everything! She also loves to put everything in her mouth. She has finally figured out how to hold her own bottle, and will hardly let me help her with it anymore! She is growing way to fast. I have pictures to share but they are not with me so I will try to post them ASAP because there are some good ones!
I don't want to jinx anything but Lauren is my favorite little girl right now. I have just lately figured out that she likes music. For example when I am trying to get her to sleep, sometimes she fights it and then right when I start to sing she automatically calms down and cuddles with me. I have been wanting to try to train her to sooth herself to sleep but couldn't get myself to let her cry, so I thought if I turned on the music while I was bouncing her to sleep she would let the music sooth her and then when I got ready to just lay her down awake in her bed she would hear the music and that would help her go to sleep. So last night as I am trying to wien myself as well (because I love to cuddle with her while she sleeps) I just laid her in my bed and laid down with her with the music on of course. She started moving her head from side to side and then she started not to as much and within 5 or 6 minutes she was out, WITHOUT crying at all! I could have cried I was so excited! Tonight I am going to try it in her bed without me laying right next to her, haha I will be in their holding her hand though, becuase that is my favorite part of the night! So we will see what happens! And the little angel slept all night long, which she hasn't done in about 2 months! I was the one who was getting up every two hours, and I couldn't go back to sleep around 5am so I got her out of her bed and cuddled with her! I am just so proud of Lauren, she is a star!
I am in search for a babysitter while I sub, so if anyone has any ideas please let me know! I have a few people in mind, but it is so hard to find babysitters sometimes. School has started up agian, so I should really be doing something productive, rather than blogging.. So until I post agian I hope everyone has a good day:)

A (late) Merry Christmas and (late) Happy New Year!

2009-01-05T15:02:00.000-07:00

I know it is a little late to be talking about Christmas, but I just havn't had any time until now to write about it! Before Christmas we had our annual Jolley and Asay Christmas parties which are always fun. Both parties were held at the Armory thanks to my brother Spencer! At the Jolley party the tradition is to have the little kids do the nativity scene and then someone reads the Christmas story. For the Asay party we play games and exchange white elephant gifts! While I am still talking about parties, my parents also have a family party and we went bowling (After Christmas!) I didn't do so well but I gave it my all!
Christmas Eve is Erik's birthday, so for his birthday his mom had a birthday dinner, and this year all of the family was able to be there!For his birthday I got him a gift card to Cabela's because he wanted a coat and some floor mats for his truck, and I didn't trust myself ordering those, so I let him! Come to find out he found a good sale on the coat, and with the rest of the money bought a new bathroom curtain and matching accessories! It is of a deer and outdoor setting of course, but I will take it!!
Our Christmas day begins! I can finally get Lauren hair into a good pony tail, it's not a unicorn pony anymore! Thanks to Kimberly for making these cute hairbows, Laurens outfit was complete!

Lauren had a good Christmas! It was a long Christmas day for her but she was a good sport, but was ready to go home! It started at Erik's parents house at about 8..

then we went to my parents around 10 for pancakes, strawberries and whip cream. Next stop was Erik's Grandma Allred for more breakfast, and last but not least grandma Fran's.

It was definitely a long day, but it was a fun day!
Lauren got a lot of fun stuff for Christmas! Grandma Debbie tends to spoil her! This is her saucer, that she loves! She hasn't figured out how to jump in it yet but I am sure she will!

Lauren is growing up so fast, she is already 6 months. As you can see in the pictures she is getting BIG! She is sitting up on her own, and loving it. She is starting to scoot backwards on her tummy, I don't know if I a quite ready for her to crawl!

I will brag on her more later, because she is getting fussy!

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

A Pretty Good Day...

2008-12-22T17:37:00.001-07:00

Today I was finishing up my Christmas shopping in Lovell, because now a days Lovell has a wide variety to chose from. I had just stopped at Lovell Drug to pick up some stuff, and then I wanted to go to the Hen House to find a present for my mom. There wasn't a parking space close to the Hen House so I had to park up by the Box Office, and I saw the store "This is That Place" (or something along those lines) and I decided I would look around in there because it looked crafty and I had never been in there before. So I was walking around and Peggy Rohrer asked me how I was doing and then said did I ever give your gift certificate to your mom to give to you. I said no, and asked if I was even deserving a gift certificate. She said I wanted to give you one for you wedding and forgot all about it, so look around and find something worth about 50 dollars. I about fell over, because that is quite a lot of money; she insisted so I did, and this was my findings...

Lauren doesn't really have a room, but in the back room with the laundry is were her dresser is. So that is were I plan to put this! It is hard to tell in the picture but were the flowers and butterfly's are is like a coat hanger.

Next I found..

This cute heart, I though we could put it in our kitchen and maybe put the mail in! Our kitchen is painted red on the bottom half, so I think it will match perfectly!

I thought that was so kind of Peggy, and I am sure happy I went in there! I didn't even realize that it was a crafty store. This just shows how thoughtful and caring our communtity really is. Now I just hope I can be that giving for someone else.

After that I did go the The Hen House and found the PERFECT gift for my mom, which I am really excited about and I wish she would just except it now! She likes the surprise so she is making me wait until Christmas for her to open it.

I am also excited because Erik has NO idea what I am getting him. In years past he has been able to guess all of his presents ( He probably peeks, but I just think he reads minds!) Maybe Erik thinks he knows what he is getting this year, but I am pretty sure I will surprise him!

So I hope I can make someone feel as special as Peggy has made me feel today!

Now for Lauren's world...
She is starting to sit up on her own, and this is how it all began!

The laundy basket! And the bib she is wearing is for the drool, because she is an amazing drooler. If there were a contest to see who could drool the most I think she would win!

Lauren likes her laundry basket time, and is even sitting up good without the laundry basket! When she is sitting up on her own sometimes she will start to fall back, and she is getting better but she doesn't always catch herself she just leans back harder, and really hits the pillow!

Her next new favorite thing is buzzing her lips, or somepeople call it blowing raspberries (I think!) But she really fills her cheeks up with air and gives it all she has! It is so fun to watch her discover and learn new things! Not a day goes by when she doesn't make me smile! (Maybe a night, but not a day!! Just kidding)

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

1+1=3

2008-12-19T21:08:00.000-07:00

I hope Madison and Michael don't mind me telling everyone, but I am just so EXCITED for them! Yesterday night around 10pm Madison delivered a BEATIFUL baby girl, Halie Grandalen :) She weighed in at a very healthy 9lbs. and some and a woping 22 inches long! I will let her fill in the rest when she feels up to posting! I could hardly stand it this morning I wanted to go see her at 7am, but I kept myself busy until 10 and then I rushed up to Powell to see the new addition! In my opinion she looks like her daddy! They are very proud parents and are doing a great job!

Maddy is a champ and is getting around great! I was proud of her, because I just stayed in the bed most of the time, but she is up and moving and looks fantastic!

Congrats Michael and Maddy, Halie is beautiful :) Enjoy every minute because it goes by so fast. (I never really believed it when people said it, but Lauren is almost 6 months and I can't believe it!)

My Dear Grandma

2008-12-09T15:49:00.001-07:00

I don't know if there are any words that can explain how great of a wife, mother, grandmother, greatgrandmother, or friend my Grandma Delsa Asay was. She was the sweetest person I have ever met, and as her nurses said at the Lovell Hospital "even if the devil himself walked in, she would find something good to say about him."

Grandma Asay was sent home to be with her Hevenly Father Sunday December 7. For the past week she has been getting weaker and weaker and was in a lot of pain. She fainted Friday afternoon, and was put in the hospital. They had thought she had a stroke but she only fainted because her heart was pumping 170 beats per min. and couldnt' get enough oxgyn. Friday when we went to see her my mom asked her if she wanted to get up and move around, being the sweet person she said "Isn't it just to bad, I am so weak and it is so hard for me." Saturday my sister and I went to see my Grandma again and that is when we noticed that she was becoming confused. She would start to tell us a story and would repeat it a couple of times and then she would change the subject. I am glad we went to see her because the next day she just got worse and worse. Sunday is when they found she had amonnia. When I went to the hospital Sunday at about 5 she was not able to communicate. She was still trying to talk but she couldn't tell us what she wanted. They gave her medicine to ease the pain because she was so tense and as a family we waited with her while she went. They gave her a blessing to let her got, and they gave my grandpa a blessing to help him as he deals with the loss of his sweetheart. I am so thankful for my loving family, we were able to laugh and cry and remember all of the good times we had with Grandma.

The sweetest thing I have ever heard was that night as we sat with my grandma, my grandpa said "She was the only girl I ever had."

When my grandma and grandpa first met, they had some interesting encounters! They were at a dance one time, dancing of course! My grandpa told my grandma Ms. Harris you dance a lot like me, and I am not a very good dancer!

That is my grandpa's humor for you, but my grandma can sure keep up with him!

When they were over sea's (where at I am not sure) but this little boy loved my grandma and one time at church my grandma and her family walked in late and this little boy in a loud whisper said "Hey Delsa got any gum?" My grandma always carried gum and of course in embaressment she gave him a peice! Then when they were outside the church this same little boy was talking to my grandma. They had a really fancy car called and LTD and this little boy was amazed with it, when he saw LTD he asked what it meant and with no hesitation my grandma said "Lets Take Delsa!"

She was an amazing women and she will be deeply missed.

I love you Grandma!

Her funeral will be Saturday December 13, 2008 at 12.

Carrie Underwood!

2008-11-23T11:58:00.000-07:00

This Thursday my sister called me and told me that they had an extra Carrie Underwook ticket for this weekend, and asked me if I wanted to go. Of course I said YES because I have never been to a country concert, and my sister and cousins are always a good time so I knew it would be fun! We ended up riding to Billings with Brittney, Brandee, and Mallory (I am just going to go out on a limb and call them all) Bassett, and then my cousins Mandie, Maggie and Amanda met us in Billings and took us to the concert. Before the concert we did a little shopping and went to eat at Jonny Corino's.

Here is Lila with her fancy water bottle she bought at World Market. You can't see her hair because of her awsome jacket (that I might steel) but she cut her hair super short and in the back it has a bunch of layers. I think the shortest layer is like an inch long, and it is SO cute! She lives with Mallory Bassett who cuts hair for a living, so she kind of has it made!
This is the gang at Jonny Corino's. It was my first time there, it is an italian restraunt.

Amanda, Maggie, and Mandie on the left and Lacey and Lila on the right!

I also had a little surprise when I got the the concert, my old roommate Rayann was there waiting for us! It was so fun because we havn't seen each other in a while and it was fun to catch up with her! She had gone up to Billings earlier that day to watch her friend from high school Nikki Mills play basketball so that is why she met us there.
Here we are all EXCITED to see Carrie Underwood!!

Befor the show waiting for Carrie or as Amanda would call her C-Dawg!

When we got the the Metra we saw a lot of people that we knew, including my sister-in-law Aimee. Lila and I didn't even know she was going and they were just a few rows down from us!

To our surprise the opening act was Little Big Town. They were amazing, and I was surprized how many of their songs I knew, and how many of their songs I LOVED!

Then it was time for CARRIE UNDERWOOD! She was amazing, and she put on a really good show! It was so sweet because she asked someone from the audience to come up and sing All American girl with her, and it was a 5 year old girl named Hailey. I would have loved to be that girl!!

We were probably the most obnoxious people in our section, so we didn't have any problems in that area! Maybe people had problems with us, but we had fun!

In other news.. Lauren has been sick with the croop the last 3 days. It started on Wednesday I noticed that she wasn't eating normal. She would eat only 2 oz when she usually would eat 4 or sometimes 6 oz. Then that night she woke up about 12 and was really raspy, I didn't know what to do so I went in the bathroom and turned on the hot shower and we hung out in there for a little while. She feel back asleep and woke up about 3 with a fever of 101. I gave her some tylonol for the fever and we stripped her down to her diaper. Then Thursday her voice was still raspy but she acted like she was feeling better until the night came. I have learned thats when the sick monster comes alive! So we made it through the night ok, but I knew she needed to go to the Doc. I had to sub that morning so I couldn't get her into the Doc as fast as I wanted to but we got her in at 4. The nurse did her thing and then she said she would go get the Doc. While we were waiting Lauren feel asleep on my chest. So when the doc. came in he said she could just stay right there, and he would listen to her breath. he said her really couldn't hear anything. I was feeling a little discouraged because I knew something was wrong with her, and then Lauren woke up and started crying. It wasn't much of a cry because she didn't have any voice to cry with. I could then see how concerned the doctor was and he said we needed to get her some medicine right away. They gave her a breathing treatment in the hospital and then Lauren got her first sugar free chocolate ice cream with mashed up pills in it! She is also on some sort of medicine for 7 days ( I am horible with medicine names). She is acting like she feels a lot better, thank goodness for medicine.

Fun with Lauren

2008-11-18T16:18:00.000-07:00

I just recently noticed that it has been 3 weeks since I last posted.. So I thought I should probably get posting! Nothing to exciting has happend lately, Erik and I have been able to enjoy a few dates for the first time in a LONG time! We went to Billings for my dad to get some parts, and then we went on a date with JT and Nicole! It was really fun to do something together for a change!

In other news (like Lauren)... Lauren got her 4 month shots yesterday. FOUR months, I can't believe she is four months, she is really 4 1/2 months. Of course she cried, but it didn't take much to calm her down! I was proud of my little girl! So after the four shots she got I decided she needed a treat! Last week at dance Jill Marchant was telling me were she bought bows for her Lauryn's hair, and said they were really cheap at the Hen House. So I thought I would go see what it was all about and see if I could find something for my Lauren! Well if you havn't been the the Hen House, I would suggest you go! It is a really cute store and I did find some cute headbands with bows for Lauren!

I know this flower is about the size of her head, but I just couldn't help but get it!! I think it is absolutly adorable! Erik thought it was a little much, but for special occasions I think it is perfect!

Her new favorite thing is to suck on her bottom lip. I don't really know why, but whatever keeps her happy :)

I was trying to be a photographer, but I am not as good as I want to be. It was fun playing around though!

This was the other bow I got her (2 came in the pack and it was only like 3 dollars!) It is really handy because all of her bows can clip on to a headband, so you only need one head band and any bow you want! Unless of course you want different colored headbands!

I am also excited because my sister-in-law Kimberly made some fancy bows for Lauren as well and they are sitting at Erik's mom's house right now so I need to go get those and doll my baby up! Thanks Kimberly :)

As you can see Lauren is starting to chub up a little! This picture makes her checks look super cubby because she is TOTALLY relaxed! She had a little fever after her shots so she wasn't feeling her best I don't think. But her fever went down this morning and she is back to her normal self.

This is were Lauren sits at Grandma Jolley's house! It is so sweet to see her and my mom cooking and doing the dishes! My mom just sings and talks to her while she does her normal routine, you can tell she has been in the Grandma business for a while!

Lauren is growing so fast! She has found a new pitch that only dogs can hear, and she is starting to giggle. She won't giggle much for me, but my dad and Erik can get her laughing pretty good!

I am debating whether or not to start Lauren on cereal yet. Some people say to wait until they are 6 months and some start at 3. So we will see how that turns out! I know it's not a big deal, but it is for Lauren :)

I have been asked to sub for the other 5th grade teacher at Cowley Friday through Wednesday afternoon, so I will get to work with my mom this coming week! I enjoy subbing, but Lauren doesn't always enjoy the babysitter which makes it harder for me to sub. I don't know if it is the different environment that she doesn't like or if she misses me, but my babysitter says that she is fussy most of the time. So we will see how she does!

Lauren is on a Roll!

2008-10-24T21:00:00.000-06:00

Last Saturday I was getting Lauren ready for bed, and I had read about baby massage so I was giving it a try. I rolled her over on her stomach so I could massage her back and usually she isn't one to want to lay on her stomach, she usaully cry's the second I put her on her belly! This time she thought it was pretty cool being on her stomach (maybe because I was giving her a massage!) but she laid there nicely and didn't cry I just propped her up on her arms so her face wouldn't plop into the bed. After I was done rubbing her back she all of the sudden started to roll to the right!! I didn't think she was going to roll but after her head started the proccess her hips just followed! I was so excited, and I put her right back on her stomach and she did it again! So I called Erik and told him to bring me the camera, but he didn't understand why it was so cool that she was rolling over. So once agian I put her on her stomach and she rolled again; but this time to the left! So I do have it on camera, but I can't figure out how to put it on here yet. Then she got sick of it so we stopped for the night. Then Sunday morning I was back at it agian, I put her on her stomach and she rolled :) Her head plays a large part in the rolling over process, because once the head hits the floor everything kindof follows! Lauren hasn't rolled over much since then so maybe I over did it for her, but still... SHE CAN ROLL! When I showed Erik's little brother Steven that she could roll over he was like so! HAHA boys just don't understand what a big milestone it is!!

Here are some pictures of my happy girl on her belly!

Tuesday night my sister-in-law Aimee asked me if I would take Kynlee and Kaya to the Spooky Story Night at Cowley Elementary because she had a Silpada Jewlery Party. So I said of course I would take them! All of the kids were supposed to wear the pajama's, so Lauren wore her pj's too! It was really fun taking the girls, there were a bunch of different stations and you stayed at the station for 15 minutes.

I can't wait for Lauren to be in school so I can take her to all the fun family night activties, because the kids love it and you get to interact with adults as well!

These are pictues before we went to the school. Kaya is feeding Lauren and Kynlee is posing beside her!

The girls are doing tummy time with Lauren!
Last but not least.. Tuesday night Erik called me and said find someone to watch Lauren in the morning and we will go hunting. I asked what time we would leave and he said around 6. So I am racking my brain of people I could call and ask if they would want to even wake up at 6 to watch Lauren! Of course Shannon said she would love to (because she is the best cousin EVER) and I got everything ready to go hunting. I didn't have a clue where we were going, and Erik told me we wouldn't be walking much and we wouldn't get cold. So I got two layers of clothing for my legs and 3 for the top.
Wednesday I woke up and got myself ready and got Lauren ready to go to Shannon's (by getting ready I mean put her in her car seat!) Steven came over and we were out the door. We dropped Lauren off and we were headed to the Mountains. So when we got to the foot of the mountians it was still dark but we could see that it snowed. When we got farther up the mountains we could see that it snowed A LOT! But the dedicated hunters we are, we kept plowing through! We were half way up the mountain and saw a truck stuck on the side of the road. We stopped, but couldn't help him because Erik didn't have a rope. The guy had been sitting there since 10 pm the night before, and the snow plows that had gone by that morning didn't have ropes either. But they man was very positive about the situation and wished us luck as we left. As our journey continued we had no luck of seeing any bucks, we saw a lot of doe's. So Erik thought he saw some big bucks up on this hill and so we started up the hill. Now from the truck it didn't look like a very long hike, but when you start walking through the tree's and Erik keeps saying when we get out of the tree's the buck's will be right there. Yeah we walked, and walked, and walked in knee high snow and when we got out of the tree's the bucks were not there!! But it was still fun, I was completely out of shape, the boys kept stopping and asking me if I was ok, and after I caught my breath I would say yes, and we would move on!
We didn't come home with our record book pig, but we did have a good time!
When we got home and went to get Lauren this is what we found!!
Shannon takes such good care of my baby, and dolls her up every time she watches her! I LOVE IT! Shannon has had a little more practice with fine baby hair so she was brave enough to do the pig tails! Lauren got a manicure AND a pedicure as well while she was at Shannon's!

A little bit of this, and a little bit of that!

2008-10-17T16:11:00.001-06:00

Once agian there is nothing to exciting that has happened lately but I wanted to post something so I will just make something up!

Erik still hasn't shot the prince of the forest so he is hunting, sleeping, eating, working and hunting! He is now scoping out a place for me to hunt since rifle season has opened up in lovell! So he is pretty busy!

As for me I am doing a little subing here and there. I have mostly been in the preschool at Cowley which is really fun, and not to hard! The kids are so funny, they were calling me Mrs. Basket so we decided Mrs. Lacey would work better!

Lauren is becoming more interacitve with us and it is so fun to play with her now! She really knows how to use her voice, and it is so sweet when I am driving she just talks and talks and talks!

Here are some pictures of my little Lauren..

This is her first ever pony tail! It is kind of hard to see, but I think you get the point! Her hair isn't to long so the pony tail sits high on her head, so she looks more like a unicorn (but a very cute unicorn!)

I just thought she looked so sweet, she feel asleep while she was eating! If you notice her finger nails, they are painted!! Shannon watched her one afternoon for me while I subbed for the preschool and she painted Laurens finger nails!!
This one is just a close up :)
Here is Lauren playing with Erik! She is ticklish and she is trying to laugh, but she can't get it out yet!
Her new love is her fist! She can't harldy keep it out of her mouth !

Well Tags are sure Popular... so here is mine!

2008-10-02T19:52:00.000-06:00

Thanks to Shannon her is my tag!
8 TV shows I like to watch:
1. Private Practice
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. Everybody loves Raymond
4. Friends
5. Live with Regis and Kelly
6. A Baby Story
7.
8.

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1.Olive Garden
2. Switchback Grill
3.Mongolian Grill
4.Texas Road House
5. Subway
6. Pizza on the Run
7. Hansels and Grettles
8. Stanfords (Kara Beth if you are reading this remember thanford thirloin!!)

8 Things that happened yesterday:
1. Woke Up
2. Feed Lauren
3. Took a Shower
4. Went to Powell
5. Went Shopping for groceries
6. Ate lunch at McDonalds
7. Did Homework
8. Watched season premeir of private practice!

8 Things I'm looking forward to:
1. Watching Lauren grow!
2. Getting a house!!
3. Getting my degree to be a teacher
4. Having more children
5. Going shopping!
6. Getting my hair done
7. Christmas
8. My birthday (haha i couldn't think of anything else!!)

8 people I tag
if you are reading this I tag you!! haha I don't know, it seams like everyone has had some sort of tag or another. So if you feel like doing it go right ahead!

So.. It's been a while!

2008-09-30T19:01:00.000-06:00

I haven't posted anything in a while so I thought I would just do a little catch up.. with no pictures (I appolgise.. it's my favorite part too!)

It has been pretty quiet at the Bassett house, nothing too exciting has happened. Erik is working, and hunting every chance he can get! So no luck with the RECORD book pig (only a few of you might know what a pig REALLY is.. in Erik's world a pig is a HUGE deer! Don't ask me why pig means the coolest, biggest buck you have ever seen, but it does!!)

I recently got my substite certificate, and had my first subbing experience today in the Preschool at Cowley! I was real nervous but there was an aid that SAVED me, Susan Peck and she did most of the work.. so all in all it was a good first day, and a good way to start me off. Now I am just worried about having to do it all on my own in the older classes! It was really fun working with the Preschoolers they are such sweet kids, and they mostly get to play, so who wouldn't have fun? In a couple weeks they already have me set up to teach P.E. ha!! That should be interesting:) Maybe it will inspire me to follow in Ms. Hubbles footsteps (just a joke for Lovell High) But.. I am really excited to start subbing, and getting out of the house a few days a week or so, the only NOT so fun part is leaving my baby Lauren.. She got to stay with her dad today, and he said she managed to handle the day without me!! haha I don't know how that could be possible because I had a hard time handling my day without her, but we will figure it out!

I am also excited and nervous because I found a stay at home mom to watch Lauren while I sub, and I met her and spent about an hour at her house, and she seems GREAT so I hope it will all work out! I have just heard horror stories about people trying to find/and stick with a baby sitter.. so I hope I can skip the bad part. But she has two little girls, and Lauren loves little kids, she loves to just watch them play, so hopefully it will work out!

Lauren is getting so big so fast! She is probably about 12 pounds now, and is super long! We think she has acid reflux, and we just recently put her on some medicine to see if that will stop the fussyness while she eats! She is a pretty happy baby most of the time, so we will see if this medicine will help so she can be a happy baby all of the time!! I know ALL of the time isn't possible, but I can wish!! It is so fun to see her smile, she is slowly but surely making me a morning person because when she wakes up in the morning she gives me a HUGE smile, and even though I dont' want to be up, it's makes me happy to get up for her!

Erik and I have been living without a dryer for about 3 months, and yes it SUCKED.. But we finally got one, and I am SOO excited :) If any of you have lived w/out a washer or dryer you know what I mean. So I am pretty excited to be able to do my laundry at home:)

So now this post is getting alittle long, and it doesn't even have any pictures.. so I am going to stop! Have a good day :)

One Year Down

2008-09-15T11:59:00.000-06:00

This post is a little late, but better late than never! Last Monday September 8th Erik and I celebrated our FIRST ANNIVERSARY! I still can't believe that we have been married for one whole year(and one week today)! We didn't do anything particularly special because Erik had to go to work Monday night from 7pm to 7am. So we stayed home and ate the top of our year old wedding cake. It had been frozen of course so we didn't have to pick through the mold.. haha just kidding! But the cake was delicious(thanks to Vicky Croft), and we are still working on eating it all because you can't let a good thing go to waist!

Now let me take you back to September 8th 2007 the day of our wedding. The bridesmaids and I are getting our hair done (thanks to Lindi and Jamie who did a WONDERFUL job) and putting on makeup and making sure everything was perfect like all girls do. Rayann and Maddy drive me to the church, and I get bridal pictures done while everyone else is still decorating.

Now you might be wondering where this is going so let me tell you what Erik is doing....

HE IS HUNTING ON OUR WEDDING DAY!! yes he is, and he shot his antelope on our wedding day as well, AND he was almost late for our wedding because he was gutting his deer and all that jazz! It makes a good story, and nothing is better than good memories!

I am horrible at taking pictures and I don't have any of us on our anniversary but her are the latest and greatest pictures of the family!

You may be wondering what this next picture is all about.. I know it might be hard to tell but Erik and Lauren are wearing camo. So it may be tough to see, but if you look really hard you might see two heads!!

Some people say Lauren looks more and more like her dad.. what do you think?

Lunch with Grandma Asay

2008-09-01T19:50:00.000-06:00

This last Saturday my Grandma Asay wanted to have lunch with all of her granddaughters (in the area). She wanted to tell us about all of her jewlery that she has had for all these years that we played with when we were younger. She also gave each of us one of her rings. It was so fun to get together with her and just talk, because my sister and I practically lived over there when we were younger because she was always right across the street, and ALWAYS had pepsi, oreo's and string cheese on hand! We all know when mom says no go to Grandma (and that is just what we did). Even though it was so fun being with my Grandma it was sad all at the same time. She has not been feeling very well, and the doctors have told her that they cannot do anything for her but make her feel comfortable. Her heart isn't as strong as it once was and it is slowly giving out. So at lunch she gave us each a ring and said that we could have any picture in the house we wanted. If anyone knows my grandma you will know that she has been practically EVERYWHERE in the world, I am not kidding, and she has the souveniers to prove it! She has lived an amazing life and has touched lots of peoples hearts. Some people have told me I look like my Grandma Asay... maybe I will turn out like her too!!
This is my Grandma and cousin Mandie getting some of the food ready!

The drinks may look questionable, but it is quarana.. some sort of drink they used to have in tialand or something!

"CHING CHING"
there is a story behind this but I am not sure what it is, but when my family gets together we all do a toast(haha is that the right spelling) and we say ching ching because that is the sound the glasses make when they hit!! Just a weird asay family tradition! Grandma Asay made fried rice for our lunch together :) This is Azelyn (she is not a granddaughter, but she should be one!) playing the piano after we stuffed ourselves full!

Setting up the jewlery

Got to love cream puffs!!
This is a corn cob pipe that Hannah took a liking to!
Here is my beautiful Grandma Asay showing off her jewlery!
Amanda with Lauren, she can never stay awake for the good stuff!