Potty Congratulations!

Guess who is potty trained? Yes Olivia Janet Jones and proud of it. I was just explaining to my children today how you have no shame when you're potty training you give rewards, high fives, hugs and big praise to every little accomplishment. Olivia thinks that she is pretty much the coolest kid around and why not. About two weeks ago at age 3 1/2 Olivia was not showing any signs of readiness. I decided to give it a try anyway. After a grueling week, in which I dreaded every day, it seemed like it was only by chance that she did anything. So, by Saturday I just decided that she may not be ready and hoped that her primary teachers were OK with it. So we took a break on Sunday. Then Monday I just decided to have her wear her diaper and let me know when she wanted to go with a fruit snack as a reward. After one or two more weeks (I must have blocked it out because I can't remember) she is completely done and I mean through the night. I am not getting too excited because recurrences do happen, so I've been told, but I don't care. I almost can't believe it. Olivia wants to go to the potty. Then I give her a rock for her jar, and say "Olivia you are so awesome!" Then she says, "Thanks Mom." like she knows how amazing she is. Oh and she is!  By the way the shirt she is wearing is from when I was little.

The Invitation

In our last Relief Society Meeting the Young Women President mentioned that any woman could do Personal Progress, not just the Young Women or YW leaders. We also have a goal as a Relief Society to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. I decided that I would like to work on Virtue for my Young Womens Value. The Virtue Value Project is to read the Book of Mormon and record your thoughts regularly in your journal as you read. Kate and Anna have not finished this value, so they are going to do it. Our neighbor MaKadee is new in Young Women and wants to do it. Kyle and Kristen agreed to do the reading part as well. Jeff of course is game. So, this is our plan. We are reading 15 pages a week or 2-3 pages a day. If we are faithful we will be done by September 26th and we are going to have a party. We wanted to invite any family and friends to join in. I figure most of you have your own plans for goals this year, but if you'd like to join with us, the more the merrier. Happy Reading!

Cutting Down the Tree

The first time we cut down a Christmas tree was when Jeff and I were coeds at BYU. We had sort of been dating for a few months as friends and we both lived in Park Plaza. His roommate Garon had two tags to cut down Christmas trees in Star Valley Wyoming. They gave one tag to my apartment and were getting the other tree for their apartment. Jeff and I drove up in his car all alone for all those hours and he did not hold my hand. I don't know if he was too scared or what. He still can't explain it. We ended up having some nice long talks and a total blast hiking through the mountains for a tree. 

This year the kids, Jeff and Kate's friend Megan went up to Palisades. Livvy and I waited at home. Because of the chilly weather, they pretty much picked one of the first trees that looked OK. We have had some crazy trees over the years. This one was right up there with the best of them. It was the biggest and widest right in the middle. We were tempted to shave it like they do in the Tree lots, but decided to go O-na-tur-al. It became beautiful after we decorated it. It ended up taking up half of our living room.

 

Santa Suit!

When we had our first child, Katelyn on December first, we were so excited to finally have Christmas with a baby. Many of our friends and family were almost as thrilled as we were. Our friend Ann Larson gave us many gifts over the years, but the one that became a tradition was the baby wearing the Santa suit. I think we ended up with 3 or 4 different sizes of Santa suits from Ann. Here are a few. Guess which Santa is which kid.
 

 

Happy Bithday to You!

Happy Birthday Kate! Yes our little 5'9" girl is now 15. When I was pregnant with Katelyn, I was teaching first grade at Hannah Holbrook in Bountiful. The pregnancy went pretty fast as I spent my first trimester teaching as well. People would comment on how green I looked and I felt it. Katelyn was due on the 23rd of November. On the 30th of November I was sitting at home talking to my sister Laurie, who had just had a baby. I told her that I was feeling like I had very mild cramps here and there. She informed me that I was in labor. I was like, " Are you sure?" as if she wouldn't know. I just expected it to be more sharp pains, like in the movies. Little did I know the sharp pains were for later. Jeff was on his way to study for a test on campus. I was a little worried that he was leaving, but the mild cramps were almost not worth mentioning. I finally had someone go find him in the Manwaring Center about 3 1/2 hours later. This was before everyone had cell phones. As soon as he got home we went to the hospital at 10:10 pm. I was in labor all night with cramps in between my labor pains. Needless to say I didn't sleep. At 8:10 am December 1st Katelyn was born weighing 10 lbs. and 5 oz. and 21 inches long. Everyone that we talked to except 2 thought we were having a boy, so we didn't even have a girls name. We had to think a little to come up with the one name that we liked at the time. I always wanted a Katie, so we made it Katelyn, so she would have options. We call her all three, Kate, Katie and Katelyn. Since she was born in December we got to use another favorite name Noel. Even as a baby she was full of personality, very striking with her white blond hair and bright eyes. Besides the colic and constant spitting up in her first 3 months, she has been a complete joy. She is an excellent example and is such a good girl. We love her personality and feel blessed by her presence, except when she talks about cell phones. ha. Happy Birthday Sweet Katelyn Noel!