The One...the Only....Dallin

Yes, my post this week is 1 day late, but it has been a terribly busy week. Early in the week, we went out with friends several times and enjoyed ourselves tremendously. Here is Dallin and Kate after a day of fun with friends, Emma Luke and Jenna Higginson. They were so tired. Dallin fell asleep sitting up!
We also got to go out with Uncle Willie and Aunt Tammy to McDonalds. Dallin has now associated Uncle with McDonalds, and regularly calls him on the phone when he wants to go there. It is really funny!
As I said I would, I enrolled Dallin in an activity. And the winner is......AirTime Gymnastics Mom and Tot class! Yeah! Unfortunately, earlier that day Dallin tripped and fell (while throwing a tantrum) and found the window sill with his face. His teeth (we aren't sure whether it was top or bottom, went clean through his bottom lip and we found ourselves making phone calls and on our way to the emergency room. He was a trooper and ended up with 3 stitches...2 on the outside and 1 on the inside. (And yes, we ended up back at McDonalds afterwards....it was a bribe). Mom also did really good. I am always proud of myself for not passing out or throwing up in the ER with Dallin (for those who don't know this is his second set of stitches in the past 7 months). I do not do well with blood, but my desire to be there for my baby wins out and I try to act like it is no big deal. I don't think he notices that I look away every once in a while while they are stitching him up. I always feel really sick and dizzy. LOL Here is a picture of his stitches. You can barely see them. They are under his lip. Tomorrow we will go and get them taken out.
And...we STILL MADE GYMNASTICS!

It was fun and I think Dallin really enjoyed it. He had a hard time sitting still and listening during the explanations, but he really took to the actual activities. And I know I am biased, but he was WAY better than most of the little girls there who had been coming for months. He did awesome on the tramp, especially when he got to do straight jumps "rocket jumps". He also has really good balance on the balance beam, and some amazing airplane arms. He popped right up into a headstand too. What talent! Those little girls got nothin on my guy! Here he is at the gym. The pictures are a little blurry because he was moving.
Finally, here is Dallin playing with his special get well soon gift from his Grandpa and Grandma Kellogg.

He got it in the mail (very exciting stuff) and was so excited to open it. It was a cookie set with food coloring pens to decorate the cookies. They also sent him a little wooden rolling pin. He has been rolling everything ever since. LOL We HAD to use it right away. So here he is decorating his cookies. He had a blast and even called and thanked his grandparents. What a cutie. Poor Kate got stuck with the packaging. She made a grab for the roller once, but Dallin hit her in the head with it....sigh....well not a perfect day, but hey. LOL
We hope you all have a wonderful week!
P.S. A little news on Kate the Great. She is standing alone more and more now, and this week officially said her first word (MOM!...Yes!) and her second word(Dada!). She also has three top teeth that are through...where oh where could those bottom ones be? LOL

The Tooth the Whole Tooth and Nothing But the Tooth

Yes, I know this picture is blurry. Yes, I know you can't even see the tooth very well, but there it is! Perhaps someday in the future I will be able to get a picture of Kate, proving that she has teeth once and for all, without feeling like I am in a rodeo or trying to torture my poor daughter. I couldn't get her to lay there and smile while I was also holding the camera trying to take the picture so I had to wrangle her and hold her lips...yeah...she LOVED that. Note: Yes, my daughter is some kind of hillbilly freak because her only tooth is on top. Hmmmm...I have never seen this before..usually bottom ones come in first. And in all our wrestling, I did notice that the other front tooth is dropping and the tooth next to this one is almost through. (Still all top teeth, but improvement nonetheless).
Here are some pictures of Kate proving that she is indeed happy and not being tortured all of the time.


This week Kate has been sick and we had to go to the doctor. Lots of decongestant later...here she is with only a few traces of crusty boogers and a VERY sore nose. At one point after I cleaned it she started bleeding all over the place. She must have super glue boogeys or something. She has really enjoyed being a big girl this week and loves eating her table food...especially at snack time. She has stood a few times on her own now (just letting go of what she holds onto) and she can really cruise with her push toy. She also tags along after her brother wherever he goes. She thinks he is the best! I love these pictures because you can really see her blue eyes. I know I am biased, but isn't she georgeous! Look how blue those eyes are! Man...can I make em good or what!? LOL


These random pictures of Dallin are courtesy of the fact that every single time I pull out the camera to take a picture of Kate's first tooth (or anything Kate for that matter), he jumps in front of me and yells "CHEESE CHEESE!" until I take his picture. He really likes seeing them on the LCD screen after they are taken. This week has been a big one with Dallin. We were all very sick and he really really pushed things. We have purchased a parenting book called "Parenting the StrongWilled Child" by Drs. Foreman and Long. We are hoping that it will help. So far it is almost creepy because it is like someone has been in our house watching us and now they are writing a book about it. Hopefully, our parenting skills will get the CPR they so desperately require. It has a five week program for us to go through. Wish us good luck! Dallin is becoming more and more verbal. New words and sentences are escaping his lips daily. Some of my favorites are "McDondalds!", "God" (yes, grandma...used IN context and appropriately),and "I cooking". Dallin helps me cook many meals now. He also seems to be very into describing when we all do things together. I guess it probably doesn't happen enough. With our current work schedules, someone is always home with the children, but we tend to tag team it. I am glad that he enjoys it when we are all together.
Finally, we are all getting better again and are looking forward to a better week. Here is my final picture. It may look like a normal pizza box except for the inscription which Pizza Hut provided. I was having a REALLY REALLY hard day and being very hard on myself. I managed to get both children down (or at least sent to his room) for naps and spent the next 3 hours sobbing. I called my mom and she ordered me my very favorite deep dish cheesy pizza and Pepsi from Pizza Hut (which I don't normally order because everyone else wants toppings). She must have told them I was having a hard day because this is what they wrote on the box.

Yes, I spent at least another 10 minutes bawling over that when I saw it. PIZZA HUT IS THE BEST!
This week I am going to enroll Dallin in some kind of mom n me classes so that he can get some one on one time, get out of the house, and make some nice new friends. Any suggestions? Also, I am looking for a cheap class or something for me. I need some me time now and again. I am thinking about maybe doing the rec center aerobics class or something...again...suggestions? Hope you all have a great week. See ya next week!

New Year New Post

As many of you out there, I am resolving to post more regularly. My plan is to have a new post every week on Sundays. I hope all of you had a fun Christmas. We had a great time in Coalville (haven't gotten our pictures back yet...sorry). The kids were totally spoiled. Dallin loves his moon bounce and train and Kate got cute clothes and girly stuff.
In other news. It is the beginning of the end. We bought Dallin his last case of diapers...then we officially begin potty training. Here he is sitting on them looking very proud. He always tells me when he is pooping now and really wants Thomas the Train underpants.
Kate has 1 tooth now. It is a top tooth so she looks a little funny. I am hoping to get a picture of her tooth on here next week now that you can see it really good.
Dallin and Kate are starting to play together (and also fight sometimes). They will just start giggling with each other and it is so cute. Here they are looking out at the snow. Dallin kept telling Kate all about it and she kept looking up at him like he was the wisest person on the planet. Every once in a while he would lean down and love on her. So sweet! What a good brother.
Here are some pictures of our recent family home evening (or daytime in this case). We had a great time out in the snow. Dallin gets such a kick out of it. We pulled them around in the sled out in the parking lot. Both kids seemed to really like it.




Note: 2 days later Dallin got really sick....we are on 4 medications now.

Professional Pictures

Our Family Picture 2007

Daddy and Dallin Picture 2007

Mommy and Kate Picture 2007

Dallin 2 year Pictures September 2007


Kate 6 Month Picture October 2007


For those new to our blog, welcome! I try to update our blog somewhat frequently with happenings and pictures of what we are up to. These are our recent professional pictures. There is another picture of Kate and me, but I have misplaced it. Hopefully, I will get it on soon! Enjoy.

Visit With Santa

After much planning, we finally managed to get to the mall to see Santa today. The whole way there, Dallin kept saying "Santa! I want to see Santa!" We explained to him that he would be able to see Santa and tell him what he wanted for Christmas (or as Dallin says "miss miss"). We expected him to cry, but to our surprise, he tentatively climbed on Santa's lap and played peek-a-boo with the ladies taking the picture. (Kate on the other hand looked a little unsure and frankly bored to tears...LOL)
After the picture Dallin had a conversation with Santa that went something like this:
S: What do you want for Christmas?
D: Choo Choo!i
S: Oh, do you want a Thomas?
D: Yep!
S: Have you been a good boy this year?
D: (no response....mom said most days)
S: Are you going to leave me some cookies and some carrots for the reindeer?
D: No
S: Well, I know Daddy might eat the cookies, but you can still try.
D: No (shakes head emphatically)
S: (laughs)
D: Bye Bye Santa (jumps off lap)
That was it. What a funny boy! After he visited Santa, he got to ride the big train they have there....he enjoyed it for all of 2 minutes. They let me ride for free since Dallin wouldn't sit down. I had to keep reminding him that Santa could see if he was being good on the train. It seemed to work. :)

Halloween & More

Well, we did it! We made it through the first holiday of the season! Yipee! It was a super busy week for us. On Monday, Kate went in for her MRI. She did great, but I was a wreck. She wasn't allowed to eat before it (and it was at 2pm) so she was STARVING!
Then they had to put in IVs and sedate her and she just looked so pale and helpless. I wasn't allowed in with her so I had to wait in by her little hospital crib and try not to cry (I am such a weenie sometimes).
The test went well, and her MRI and EEG have come back normal! Yeah! They are not happy with her blood results and we are supposed to take her in for more bloodwork this week (this will be round 3). On Tuesday, Kate had her 6 mo checkup. She is healthy and progressing ahead of schedule. We are expecting her to start crawling any day now! She weighs 14lb 6 oz (12%) and is 26.5 in tall (58%). She is a tiny little thing, but is following her growth curve so the doctor assures us she is fine.


Tuesday night and Wednesday brought Halloween fun for the kids. This year they were matching clowns. Their costumes were absolutely adorable. Fortunately, my cousin Jenn had made matching clown costumes for her children last year and this year my kids were the perfect sizes!
We made an appearance at the ward Halloween party in costume with Aunt Tammy, but Dallin tired quickly and we returned home. On Wednesday, Dallin and Kate dressed up and went to Smith's to Trick or Treat Daddy at work (also because he likes to show them off).
Then Dallin had his first REAL trick or treat at Uncle Willie's and Aunt Tammy's house. He knocked on the door and when they opened it, he went right in. LOL (He actually did this at the first few houses. It took some convincing for him to stand at the door, hold out his bucket, and say "Trick or Treat!" He did say "Tick Teat!" for Uncle Willie and got LOTS of candy! On his way out, the lightbulb turned on and he ran to the downstairs apartment and knocked, said "Tick Teat", and got candy! Man! This Halloween thing is great. It took a great deal of coaxing to get him back into the car so he would be able to go out that night with his cousins, Emma and Luke. He stopped on our way into our house to trick or treat our neighbors, his nursery teachers. Again, he marched right inside. LOL "Tick Teat!"
At home, he opened about 10 tootsie roll pops we were handing out, licked them, and left them about. GROSS! That night, he had a great time. He actually WALKED (with a leash of course) and trick or treated for 2 HOURS!!! He was loving it! It was really cute to see him get all excited going from house to house..marching along saying "tick teat tick teat tick teat" Of course, I need to train him to pick the good candies when he is allowed to pick his own....why whoppers!?
On Thursday, Christopher got his 2 wisdom teeth out, a root canal and a crown. He looked like a chipmunk, but felt better than he has in months. He has had so much pain with his teeth lately...that even after all that work it felt better. He still has quite a bit of work to do, but that is the biggest/most expensive part of it. Just one deep cleaning and 5 fillings to go!
CUTE THINGS CUTE THINGS CUTE THINGS CUTE THINGS CUTE THINGS CUTE THINGS
Kate has started giving kisses! So adorable. Her mouth is wide open and sometimes there is some licking involved, but she will actually lean forward and lay one on you! Then she backs up and gives you this look like she is so proud of herself and she loves you so much! What a cutie. Kate is also a food eatin machine these days. She started solids about a month or so ago. First cereals, then veggies, and the past couple of weeks she has tried fruits. We have found she is allergic to peas, LOVES squash and other veggies, and thinks that fruit is the grossest thing ever! We have tried bananas, pears, prunes, peaches....they are all GROSS! She will pucker up, gag, wretch, even shudder. If you keep trying she will start to cry and even purse her lips so you can't get anymore in. This is fine except that with her 4-5 jars of veggies a day plus bottles, she is getting constipated so we have started sneaking prune/apple juice in her formula...she won't drink straight juice either. LOL That's my girl. She is so close to crawling...we have even seen her take a crawl? or 2.
Dallin is talking up a storm. He has started noticing and pointing out trains recently. Maybe it is because we live by a railroad now. Unfortunately, his pronunciation isn't the best...and well....they aren't trains or choo choos...they are "Poo Poos!' Yes, ladies and gentlemen, our son runs about pulling the pretend train whistle yelling "Poo Poo!" as well as pointing out every "poo poo" he can see...big or small. LOL He can pronounce it correctly if you correct him, but he hasn't started doing it regularly on his own yet. He has also started being even MORE DRAMATIC! Where does he get that from? LOL It's definitely a mystery. Dallin has starte clapping his hand over his eyes and crying (at times throwing himself on the ground) any time his feelings are hurt or he is upset (which is an awful lot). Oh...2 years old!