The Colinator

CEEELEBRATE GOOD TIMES, COME ON!

Today is a day to celebrate yet another important soul in my life.That would be my amazing little bro, Colin... AKA, Colon, the colinator, Q-Tip head, and most recently, Uncle Colon.

This boy, is like 8 feet 11 inches tall, wears contacts and has killer abs.

This year I am especially thankful to be celebrating his day of birth. Read more on that here

He is also very talented.

He is very good at making gingerbread houses... and then not smiling about it.

The picture below is him singing a solo at a high school concert. He has always been musically talented, playing several different instruments when he was younger. Then he discovered that he can sing, and he's good at it too!

You know how sometimes you hang on to things that remind you of good times... Well, I don't have any idea why he still had that shirt, but we were matching one time! Oh, and he's even taller now.

Always wanting to have a good time!

One night, me and my bro's went out on the town (AKA, Ross and World Marketplace. We probably stopped by Wal-Mart too) Anyway, Colin has a great sense of humor and this so called 'dream topping' looked like poop. Not many people would have posed for me for the picture below, but that's the kind of brother that Colin is!

Below is my parents 12 foot tree. If he stood up straight and the top of the tree were on it, you can see that he is half the size of it... So awesome, and he could always get the best ornament hanging spots.

At our wedding reception in Missouri, Colin came in and surprised everyone in his Hot dog suit! Seriously made the whole night perfect. Not only was he a 'hot dog' he was one 'hott dawg!'

When my mom started her photography business several years ago, Colin jumped on board helping her at photo shoots. He has since developed a real talent for taking pictures! These are just a few I stole from his FaceBook page but I am amazed at his talent to capture a moment and make it look beautiful!

He has also dabbled in water colors. This is also stolen from FaceBook but I absolutely love it!

It seems like a simple painting but if you look at details, there are beaks on the birds and even the teeny birds have details!

Colin, I know we haven't always gotten along well and I am sorry for those times. But I am so impressed with who you have become. I know things haven't been easy for you but you have only become stronger and learned more from those trials.

I admire your passion for the things that you do in your life. I admire your willingness to not give up.

In my eyes, you have always been self-assured. Always confident in what you were saying or doing. Not letting people push you around.

You have a creative mind and it's fun to see what you think of... like building a giant Zen Garden/Bed Frame! Or your brief belief that nothing is ever random!

I'm so blessed to be your sister and honored to call you my brother. I can't wait to see what new things you can accomplish in your life!

I love you so much and hope your birthday is the best!

One of my very favorite wedding pictures!

Love,
Kayla

Lucky Stars

You know those times that make you stop and think? 

My family had one of those.

 My brother Colin was driving alone back from Flagstaff and rolled his truck. As you can see from the picture below, he is OK. He was able to climb out on his own and was checked out at the hospital. (Also, He was not texting.)

Taken on the way home after being released from the hospital

When my mom told me he rolled his truck, my heart beat faster and my mind raced.

She had already told me he was ok but usually when you hear of rolling vehicles in the mountains, people aren't ok.

It is an absolute miracle that he walked away with a sore body and a few scratches. 

But it really makes you realize how you feel about someone. I have obviously always loved my brother and my family. I've always loved them a lot! But the fact that it came so close to losing one of them made me much more appreciative of our Heavenly Father's plan.

In the July 2012 Ensign, President Deiter F. Uchtdorf said this:

Always In The Middle

“Yes, there will be moments of beginnings and moments of endings throughout our lives, but these are only markers along the way of the great middle of our eternal lives…Being always in the middle means that the game is never over, hope is never lost, defeat is never final. For no matter where we are or what our circumstances, an eternity of beginnings and an eternity of endings stretch out before us.”

In this case, Colin is lucky that his 'ending' is only that of the life of his truck. But that doesn't make it easier to realize that you now have no vehicle and that all of your moving away plans have drastically changed. The thing that makes it easier is knowing that Heavenly Father has a 'beginning' set in place for him.

It completely sucks that his vehicle is gone and I don't know what this new beginning will be for him. And I'm not saying it's going to be easy to have to ride his bike everywhere. (Although it will give him some nice buns!)

But life is a gift that we have received. And if we truly believe in the plan, than "the game is never over, hope is never lost, defeat is never final."

And that is a wondrous promise to have.

In a talk about Missionary work Jeffrey R. Holland makes a really good point about why our lives can be so difficult.

Missionary Work and the Atonement

“Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. Why would we believe, why would we think it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? ....

If He could come forward in the night, kneel down, fall on His face, bleed from every pore, and cry, “Abba, Father (Papa), if this cup can pass, let it pass,” then little wonder that salvation is not a whimsical or easy thing for us. If you wonder if there isn’t an easier way, you should remember you are not the first one to ask that.

Someone a lot greater and a lot grander asked a long time ago if there wasn’t an easier way.”

I have nothing but the deepest of gratitude to my Heavenly Father for saving my brothers life. It reassures me that Heavenly Father watches us and protects us and that he does have a plan for each of our lives.

We sometimes look at a situation and think "Why does God hate me?" But what we sometimes forget is that we are the human, we are the ones that sometimes make mistakes. Heavenly Father is the one who comes to share our burdens. He is the one who loves us, he is the one who created the plan.

I am so thankful that Colin is ok. I pray for my families safety and I know that Heavenly Father will not allow anything to happen to those I love unless it is part of His plan. And if something were to happen, as hard as it would be, I would know without a doubt that I could see them again.

And I end with the testimony of President Thomas S. Monson, October 2011 conference:

Until We Meet Again

"I bear testimony to you that this work is true, that our Savior lives, and that He guides and directs His Church here upon the earth. I leave with you my witness and my testimony that God our Eternal Father lives and loves us. He is indeed our Father, and He is personal and real. May we realize and understand how close to us He is willing to come, how far He is willing to go to help us, how much He loves us and how much He does and is willing to do for us.

May He bless you. May His promised peace be with you now and always."

Adult Pacifiers

Dear Kacie,

You are 2 months old now!

I can hardly believe it's been that long... and yet 2 months isn't long at all! (I think all of my blog posts to you are going to start out this way.)

We had your 2 month check up appointment.

They said that you are a healthy growing baby!

You now weigh 11 pounds 10 ounces!! (57%) You have gained almost 4 pounds since birth!! You are 23 inches long! (74%)

You got 6 vaccinations at the appointment. One orally and 5 shots in your legs. You obviously didn't like that!!

I guess that you have had a viral infection. You've been having diarrhea and throwing up a little. The doctor said it should go away in the next couple of days... I sure hope so cause it's messy!! But you haven't had a fever or been fussy so at least it's not too bad!

You are growing out of your 0-3 month clothes and have grown out of your newborn stuff. The other day, I thought that I could get a newborn onsie on you but it was a little tight to get it over your head! Since we see you everyday, we still feel like you are the same size.

You absolutely love your pacifier! It makes dad and I very happy because if you are upset, we can just give it to you and it will calm you down. Plus, it is the cutest thing for me to watch!

I've got to be honest though, you love that thing so much that it got me to thinking, "What is it about a pacifier that is so appealing to babies and why don't we, as adults, have pacifiers" So, I was able to hold off a month and a half of your life, but I just had to know what it was like. So, realizing that they are much much smaller in my mouth than in yours, I sucked on your pacifier.

I don't know hun. I feel like if I had an adult sized pacifier, I might enjoy it too! 

We got your hair into a ponytail! You have so much hair, almost as much as Daddy, except yours is a lot longer than his! I love it and am so excited for it to get a little bit thicker so we can put bows in it without the headband.

You love to grab on to things. if we are holding you, you will grab at everything, our necks, our mouths, our clothes...

I think the best thing about being a parent is that we feel like we already know you. when you were about 3 weeks old some friends came to meet you. One of them has a baby too and she asked me if I felt like I knew you and I thought I did feel like that. But then one day when you were about 5 weeks old, I was holding you and you were just staring at me. All the sudden it was like I really have known you forever.

It's not really something I can describe. It's a feeling that you wouldn't know until it happened. But Kacie, I know that the gospel is true. I know that The Plan of Happiness, Heavenly Fathers plan, is real! We will be a family forever and that just makes everything better!

You still love to talk to your dad more than me. You will sometimes talk to me but when dad gets home, or before he leaves for work, you just love to talk to him. It's the cutest thing ever!

Well Kacie, we love you so much!

Love,

Mom and Dad

Mini Me, Daddy Love, and Unwanted Advice!

Dear Kacie,

You are 6 weeks and 5 days old today!

I was looking through some pictures from the past year of our life. As I was thinking back on everything that happened and that your dad and I experienced I was a little saddened. Don't get me wrong, we have LOVED having you here but when I think about how exciting it was to find out I was pregnant and then tell people and watch my belly grow and go to our first appointment and be so anxious for you to arrive and all those firsts, I am reminded that I am never going to experience those same feelings again! Sure we want other siblings for you and it will still be so exciting but it will never be the same as the first time!

You are growing up so fast. You can basically hold your head up now. I say 'basically' because you get tired quickly but you just take a rest and then you keep trying to hold it up! When I hold you against my chest you won't lay your head down. You look like a little bobble head because you just want to look at everything but you don't have much control. You were an adorable new born baby but you are even more adorable when you can look around on your own.

The picture below tells three different stories:

1) It makes us look like terrible parents because dad is balancing you in a Bumbo, with one hand, on the edge of the computer desk. I am slightly embarrassed (don't judge!) that this is happening, BUT he was only doing this for a couple of seconds because he was skyping with his family and telling them this story, which happens to be story number 2!

2) One night you were lying in your bouncer peacefully. All of the sudden you started screaming, like loud and very sadly. Your dad picked you up and I noticed that your hand was gripping the back of your head! (this is what your dad is demonstrating in the picture). You had, for some reason, grabbed your hair and were pulling it, therefore causing you to cry! It was hilariously sad! I guess that is the downside to having a baby with so much hair!

3) You love to stare at lights. That's what you are staring at in the picture. I'm sure this is totally normal for newborns, but it is still cute. Whenever we go to the store, you just turn your head back and forth while staring up at the lights! It probably looks like we aren't supporting your head much but in reality, you are holding your head up like that! And if we push your head towards our chest, you just push it right back out and continue to stare!

You are starting to make little noises at random things. This morning you were just 'talking' to dad. For probably like 10 minutes you just laid there talking and talking. I like to imagine you're telling dad all about our exciting days while he is at work! And by 'exciting' I mean you're telling him how boring I am!

You laugh sometimes, mostly in your sleep, and you smile at us occasionally. Your smile is so beautiful! It's becoming a lot more frequent and it's dad's and my favorite thing in the whole wide world! You absolutely love your Bumbo seat! Without fail, every time we put you in it you smile so big! I think you just love to be able to look around on your own.

The hair on the crown of your head is soooo long! It is literally longer than dads hair when dad get's his cut! And your eyes are basically the same blue as mine. This is a picture of me at 2 months (top) and you are 6 weeks.

When you were born and then just a few days old I think you looked a lot like your daddy but now you do look more like me. I can't wait until you are older and you look even more like me! Then it will be like having a twin and I can send you to do things I don't want to do and you can just pretend you are me... whats that? It doesn't work like that?

Oh.

I thought it was a great idea since I never got to be a twin, I would just give birth to one...

This shirt says "Daddy's little Cardinal's girl" and this is your 'Go Cards!' Outfit... all red! It's a good thing red is my favorite color. You look cuuuute in it!

I think know one of the most annoying things is when other people give me advice I did not ask for. I was warned it would happen before I even got pregnant and then throughout my whole pregnancy but I  still find it annoying. It happens so often, like 4 times this week! I know that doesn't seem like much but for someone who gets out of her house about 2 times a week, it's a 200% chance that if I see someone, they will give me advice I didn't ask for.

I know that sounds harsh and I know that they are just trying to help, but really guys, I got this. And if I don't 'got this' then I will call my mom. Because there are a lot of things that I don't know how to do. There are a lot of things that I do need help with. But before I do something, or purchase something, or say something, I do as much research as I can about it because I don't know everything about how to raise a baby.

There are a lot of resources out there to help me. I can call my OBGYN, my pediatrician, my mom, my dad, my in-laws, my aunts, my family doctor, my insurance nurse, or the number in the magazine and books I received. I can Google any questions I have and receive advice from the millions of sights out there. I can read the 2 inch thick, 892 page book the pediatrician gave me or the 100 page magazine the hospital gave me.

Sometimes it is necessary to receive advice that you didn't ask for. And sometimes it is helpful advice. But (for example) when my daughter, - that I've been feeding every two hours for the past 5 and a half weeks - cries for 1 minute after she wakes up from a nap, it does not automatically mean that she is hungry. You don't need to ask me if she is hungry because I know that she gets hungry every two hours and if it's been longer than that, (or even a little less than that) than I probably would have already gotten up to feed her. And yes, occasionally she will eat after it's been only an hour, but I have also spent basically every hour of her life with her since she was born, so I kind of have a good idea of her 'hunger' signs. Plus, it had barely been a minute and she wasn't even really crying, just fussing.

And usually the people giving 'advice' are people you wouldn't ever go to for advice anyway! Because the people you would go to for advice, know that it's not their place to give you advice, unless you ask them for it, and that is the reason you would ask them for advice anyway!

Now when I say 'advice' I don't mean like recommending a website or asking about how I do things, or telling me how you might have raised your child. It's the statements that suggest I didn't research or that make it seem like I am a bad mom. I'm not going to starve her, or let her head flop around, or drop her off the table, or feed her bad food, etc.

Anyway, this is my blog and I can complain about whatever I want to on it. If you were offended by my little out burst then don't read my blog...

Geeze, Kayla, that was mean!

Dad is absolutely loving that you are responding more now. You will follow us (with your eyes) as we walk in or out of a room. He gives you rides on his shoulders and I think they scare you a little so you end up super gripping on to his hair so tight and it's hilarious!

You are growing out of your newborn clothes and have started wearing your 0-3 month outfits. You even fit in to some of your 3 month clothes but some of them are a little loose.

You are so scared of the vacuum! Every time we turn it on you freak out!

All the people at dad's work (mostly the girls) think you are the cutest thing ever, which is obvious. So I dress you up real cute, take some pictures, text them to everyone and then we have to put on a bib to cover it up. Even then you manage to get spit up on everything. It's kind of sad because then your outfits just get covered up by the bib! but it's the pictures that matter anyway, right?

You are seriously the best baby in the world! You only cry when you are hungry or have the hiccups. I know what everyone is thinking, that I am lying, but I am being serious. It is a wonderful thing!

You have developed quite a strong grip! You really don't grab my hair that much but the other day you did and you were holding it soooo tightly! If you look close, your fingers are turning white because you were holding it so hard!

I love watching your dad with you. It makes me fall in love with him over and over again! He tries to act tough but you just make him giddy! He loves you so much and will do anything for you. I know it makes him sad to leave you all day and go to work but I hope you know as you read this that he does it for us. That all he wants is our happiness and if it means sitting at a desk making phone calls all day, he will do it. He is a wonderful father!

You love him a lot too. You recognize his voice when he gets home from work and you love to just hang out on his shoulder. You snuggle right up to his chest and just love it. You won't snuggle up to mine because my boobs just get in the way, and then they call to you and you just want to eat! So I love to watch your daddy hold you on his shoulder. It is so precious!!

During the day, I have the hardest time not holding you and cuddling you. It was pretty bad for a while and so you weren't really sleeping at night. I thought that you were just tired and so I was letting you sleep! But we have been working on keeping you awake during the day so that you actually sleep at night. It is working! You still don't sleep as long as mommy and daddy would like to be sleeping but in a few weeks dad starts school and will have to be up early anyway... It's going to be dark when we wake up and dark by the time he gets home from work!

Anyway, you are spoiled because when you get fussy at night, we have a special pillow that we can put between us on our bed for you to sleep on. Unfortunately, 90% of the time you sleep better in our bed than you do in yours! We will be breaking that habit soon. I know it's not something we are going to want to continue doing but you're only going to be this small for a little bit longer and we are trying to soak it up while we can!

Last Sunday we went to our friends the Staples, new home. First of all, we are totally jealous of it! We can not wait to have a house of our own. Second, you got to hang out with your friend Oakley. She loved poking you! Her mom and dad kept telling her to 'be soft' or 'be nice' and to her that meant just touching you with one finger! It was the cutest thing ever and made your dad and I excited to give you a younger sibling some day. Are we ready to have another baby now? Heavens no! But when it happens, I know we are going to be soo happy and excited to see you interact with your sibling!

But until then, just keep being the cutest little thing ever! You make our lives complete and we love you so much!

Love,
Mom and Dad

My Other Best Frister!

I know, I know... Another one?

As a matter of fact, yes!

This day, 15 years ago, my sweet younger sister Aubree was born!

And I will be celebrating with cookies and ice cream even though I am in Utah!

I'm guessing this is her 10th birthday because there are 10 candles!

The awesome cake we made... it's a rainbow inside!

This pretty much describes our relationship...

This is me Aunt Aubree and baby Kacie is hiding in my stomach!

Dear Aubree,

Now I know I just posted about Angela and that I called her my 'best frister.' You may or may not have thought to yourself 'What about me??' But I don't want you to think that at all! You are just as much my 'Best Frister' as she is... it's just in a different way!

I don't really remember much about you being born except that we got to leave school early to meet you! So thanks for that!

But as years have come and gone, you have become an amazing young woman! You are always so sweet and caring. You have always been one in our family to simply want everyone to be happy. You are always making sure to give hugs when life is bad, good or just, well, life! Your hugs are so wonderful and comforting and a great reminder of your love for me.

I miss living so close because I love to hang out with you. It was so wonderful to always have you around to take out. We so enjoyed going on a drive to the store (probably Wal-Mart) and telling stories (mostly you did the talking) and listening to music (definitely Hannah Montana).

And for me to be able to take you and Jordan places was awesome. It made me feel like the 'cool older sister' and I love that! I am so proud to have you as a sister and even though you are not older than me, I can still look up to you. Actually, you are probably going to be taller than me soon anyway!

I look to you as a beacon of hope and joy. I see you as a person who enjoys life and wants everyone else to enjoy it as well. That spirit in you is contagious and I strive to have that as well.

I know you had a wonderful birthday weekend (because how could you not have enjoyed a One Direction concert) (side note: I probably wouldn't have enjoyed a One Direction concert...) But I wish I could have been with you to celebrate this day.

Even though it took you 15 years to learn how to make orang juice, I am so proud to call you my sister! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR!

Love,

Kayla