Tolman Family

More Yellowstone Pictures

2012-01-26T20:53:00.000-07:00

The last post was mainly pictures from my camera. Now here are pictures from my sister! She was with the kids A LOT and got some pretty cute pics.

Mara & Conli were inseparable

They spent most of the time coloring in these AMAZING binders that Karri made for all 4 of them. With tons of coloring pages, crayons and colored pencils. She's such an awesome aunt.

Xander & Max, always the funny ones.

Mana and the boys.

A traditional family picture!

I can't believe how adorable this little one is!

She looks so blonde!!!

Brent & kids on fishing bridge.

It wouldn't be Yellowstone without a little rain during lunch.

These girls were so cute and ate their lunch under a giant umbrella.

More at Artist Point.

Karri & kids.

My love and I

Xander's first time fishing = no bites :(

Me & my little one. She spent most of the trip in the stroller which was great for me, but she didn't like it too much. She wasn't walking yet so she would have been a dirty mess if she got out.

My mom bought the boys matching shirts and hats! They loved them!!!

While in the park, kids can become Junior Rangers by completing a few learning pages then attending a class put on my a real Ranger. Karri was so great and helped them all complete their pages and went to the class with them. Here they are, waiting for the class to begin.

Measuring their arms against the wingspan of a crow!!

Taking the Junior Ranger oath.

Our little group right after Grand erupted.

Which is better??? Pringles or Cheetos???

I love these pictures. Such great moments to capture when babies just want the camera so badly!

Pat was itching to get in the river and splash around a bit. Too bad we picked the wrong place to do it. There were tons of Mosquitoes around and we all got bit at least 10 times :(

The kids in their matching attire.

Karri & I even got in on the matching and bought shirts and hats too!

Karri and the kids with their Junior Ranger badges :)

This was such a fun trip! I'm so glad we did it!

August - Yellowstone

2012-01-17T15:38:00.000-07:00

In August we took a family vacation with my mom, Karri, Brent and 2 of his kids, Max & Conli.

It was a great trip and we had a really fun time!!!

On the way to the park, we stopped at a waterfall that we had never been to before, and for the life of me I can't think of the name of it. But it was very pretty!!

Mara was super excited about the rainbow.

We stopped in West Yellowstone and ate at the BearTooth Barbecue!

They have amazing loaded cheese fries.

Here are my cuties getting their feet wet for the first time in Yellowstone.

Had to document Jaina in the river too :)

First geyser: Castle!

We saw it as the sun was going down so the light was gorgeous!

Jaina was 'wowed' by it!

Geyser #2: OLD FAITHFUL

Pat doing his thing: climbing

Pat went with the kids on a nature walk.

Artist Point:

On the shore of Yellowstone Lake

Geyser #3: GRAND!!!

This one is my favorite!

We ended up only waiting for about 45 minutes to see it. Karri had all the kids with her and they walked up right as it erupted! It was perfect timing :)

My cutie pie asleep in the stroller.

This is how she was most of the trip:

She wasn't walking yet, so it was okay :)

Conli & Mara in their matching hats

We borrowed a baby backpack from a friend and Jaina really liked it :)

Jaina enjoying an ice cream cone.

I love how she fell asleep holding her sippy cup.

What cute kids!

Pat & Xander took the little hike down to the brink of the falls. While down there it started to hail. They both loved it!

And what's Yellowstone without a 'stink pot'

Dragon's mouth!

It totally made sounds like a dragon

The kids found a fort by our cabins and loved to play by it.

I know I have more pictures to post from the trip, guess it'll have to be another post.

The Rest of July

2011-10-18T15:31:00.000-06:00

During the summer we like to go up to Bridal Veil Falls alot. This time Pat took the kids on the little hike up to the top of the lower falls. It's hard to see them, but they are in the focused part of the picture.

Pat & Mara enjoying the water.

Even though it's cold, Mara LOVES coming to the waterfall.

On our drive back we decided to go up to Squaw Peak. We had never been there before and didn't realize how much you zig zag up the mountain. Once we found a place for a good lookout we took pics and went home. We didn't even make it to the top, but it was still pretty :)

Xander was nervous about getting out of the car. He didn't want to fall off the mountain. We kept telling him that he'd be fine, but he still wouldn't budge. Only after I promised him that we could listen to Phineas & Ferb on the ride home, he got out of the car to enjoy the view.

Jaina discovered how to play peek a boo through her legs :)

I'm so thankful for my iPod and that I can catch these cute moments without having to search the house for the camera.

Every time we would get on the freeway going South, Mara would see Trafalga and beg to go there! So we finally picked a day to go and it was really windy and even started to rain a bit. Also, it smelled horrible outside because of all the freeway construction going on. But we still had a fun time.

Mara insisted on doing the side with the castle :)

A week after the 4th, we went to Lana & JR's to set off some left over fireworks. The kids had a great time with the sparklers. But the mosquito's were horrible that night. Even with bug spray we were all bit a bunch. I think Xander got the most with over 15. Luckily Jaina didn't get any!

Mara & Xander (making the little circles) & Pat (behind them making the big circles)

I told Mara to write her name and was able to get a pic of her M.

Xander going crazy :)

Mara loves to play dress ups and needed to be Tinker Bell. Now that Jaina is bigger, she fit into the baby Tinker Bell that Karri got last year. Jaina didn't really like the dress, but they were sure cute together.

At our Hillam Family Ice Cream Party at Bonneville Park.

This is Jaina & Kairi (my cousin Lindsay's daughter)

They are about 3 weeks apart in age.

Another trip to the Falls, this time with Morri's clan :)

Addi, Mara, Xander, Carter & Alex.

These girls just love each other.

Liza & Morri

For Karri's birthday she wanted to go to a REAL Salt Lake soccer game. Lisa had a friend get us all some cheap tickets and we went! Pat's parents we awesome and watched Jaina for us that night, so we could enjoy the evening.

Karri and the Girls

Conli, Mara & Sawyer.

It was a great game and we ended up winning 4 - 0!!!!

Afterwards, because it was the weekend of Pioneer Day, they did fireworks after the game.

They let everyone onto the field to watch them!!

Our clan!!!

They were the best fireworks! They played a ton of music and they went on for at least 15-20 minutes!

Mara had a birthday Party for her Bear :)

Jaina discovered how to climb on the kids chair :)

What a cutie!

We went to the cabin the last weekend of July with our friends The Schauers.

It was a really quick stay and I took about 5 pictures and not even a group one :( But we had a great time!

They brought up their 4-Wheelers and drove around a bunch.

Here's Pat & Mara.

Jared & Savannah

Xan took his helmet off before I could get a picture.

Thanks again for coming with us!

Jaina loved the banana chairs at the cabin too.

Grandma Ethel stayed in Utah for the whole month of July. It's always so fun to have her around. We made sure to get a family picture with her before she headed home.

She's such an amazing Great Grandma!

4th of July Weekend

2011-10-11T15:54:00.000-06:00

I keep saying I'll do better, but it's so easy to get behind. Now with school in full swing and we have a great routine, I need to make time to catch up on this blog.

The 4th of July weekend we traditionally go swimming as a Ramey Clan at my brother's pool. This summer was no different.

I just absolutely LOVE this little face :)

A fun family pic in the pool.

Jaina was not enjoying her hat one bit :(

Saturday night (the 2nd) was the Stadium of Fire and we watch from a distance on the lawn of the Provo Temple with the Tolman side. We are so lucky right now, we were able to put Jaina to bed and my mom stayed home so we could go out :)

Thanks MOM!!

Morri is so great to always get glow sticks for all the kids. They each had a tube all to themselves!

Mara made a Mickey Mouse out of hers.

Then a Minnie Mouse too.

Me and my boys!

Mara and cousin Addi.

We've been looking at houses since March/April and finally found one that we loved! It was a HUD home and we had to do an electronic bid on it. We did that in the middle of June. We were super excited to find out that we won the bid, so we quickly responded that we wanted the house. We then started the loan process and found out that the government had changed some FHA regulations and we could not get a mortgage loan at that time. Our amazing realtor worked overtime to find a solution for us to be able to keep the home, but to no avail.

We did a lot of praying and fasting for comfort in whatever the outcome would be. We both felt that even though we LOVED that house, it wasn't the right one/time. We felt very comforted by the Lord, and know that the right one will come along at the right time.

This is that house:

Our 4th of July family pic!

I made my dress and was able to make a matching skirt for Mara with the extra fabric!

Finally on the Real 4th of July, we went to Provo for the hot air balloons.

There were Star Wars people all over because there was a Darth Vader Balloon there!!

Family pic with balloons.

Xander with his name on a balloon, just ignore the ale in front of it.

DARTH VADER!!!

Sadly, for the 3rd year in a row, it was too windy for them to lift off.

But they still filled them up :)

It's hard to tell, but they started blowing over on the people below.

Flag Shirts!!

This year I decided not to buy new shirts, so they are all a mix and match from different years. Jaina's is a 2007!

What cute kids!

Me and my blue eyed girl!

Girlies on a swing.

Later that night we went to Gwen's house for a Tolman family BBQ.

Great people and Great food!

Pat, showing off his piano skills with Jaina helping.

It makes me wish we had a piano, so our kids could learn.

I make a calendar for my mother in law every year for her birthday, July 7th. This year I made one on Snapfish and LOVED IT! It was super easy and really worked with my lack of ambition this year.

After the BBQ we came home for Sidewalk of Fire with my family.

Once again, we put Jaina to bed and hung out on the lawn to watch the show.

My sweet niece Finley, me and my mom.

The crazy boys: Xander & Max.

Sweet girls: Mara & Conli.

Hanging on the blanket, under the tree, trying to avoid the rainfall.

I admit, this was a little posed, but super cute!!

Xander attempting to jump over a firework like Pat does.

Brent surprised us and bought an aerial firework! It was so different this year to see the sky light up almost the whole month of July because Utah lifted the ban on aerial fireworks and extended the dates to do them.

What a fun and busy 4th of July weekend!!

Poulton Family Reunion

2011-09-15T11:55:00.000-06:00

Wow! I really am behind in blogging. Here's what happened at the end of June.

We had an awesome Family Reunion with Pat's mom's family.

To kick it off, some of us were able to go to the temple with Grandma Ethel. It was such a great experience to be inside an amazing place with the people that we love.

The first thing the next day:

We had Family Pictures!!!

Here's my little clan

Xander: 7 years old

Mara: 5 years old

Jaina: 1 year old

This is all 16 Tolman Grandkids :)

The Whole Tolman Clan with Grandma Ethel

Then the entire Poulton Clan

We had everyone in the family there (except 1 that is on a mission).

Over 60 people! It was great!

All the Great-Grandkids with Grandma Ethel

And the reason we got together:

Ethel Poulton

She is such an amazing woman and we love her so much.

We're so lucky that she comes to visit every year

Here are some random pics from the weekend.

Liza just loves Jaina and has to squeeze her every chance she gets.

Grandma Ethel with Xander.

This is a good example of how short Grandma is and how tall Xander is.

Before the family pics I got a sweet one of my oldest 2.

Kids with Grandma & Grandpa Tolman

Daddy and Jaina.

After the pictures we went to a park for fun water games and lunch. We were playing for a few hours and almost everyone was drenched. Mara and Xander had a great time on the water slide :)

My mother in law, Tammy, showing off her mad skills with a hula hoop!

Mara was having a great time.

Jaina was walking along the benches watching everyone play.

And as always, on her tip toes.

The next day we went to Cowabunga Bay in Draper.

It was so super fun!!! I can't wait to go back :)

This was Jaina's first time in a pool, so we had to get her all ready.

Mara watching people on the slides.

We stopped for a lunch of all you can eat Pizza and Drinks.

And an ice cream cone with red sprinkles.

They called it 'sunburn'!!!

Jaina loved the ice cream too!

What a busy day :)

I didn't take many pictures, but we had a great time catching up with family we hadn't see in years. We're so grateful for this reunion and all the people that put it together.

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!

Most of June

2011-08-05T15:42:00.000-06:00

I love looking through pictures and realizing how random most of them are.

Like this one:

Mara likes to play with her pretzels before she eats them.

Here is Rapunzel and Flynn Ryder :)

After a long afternoon of looking at houses, Jaina fell asleep in her new car seat. It was just too cute not to take pictures of.

Xander's last day of School was June 3rd. The girls and I went to pick him up so we could get pictures of him with his friends.

Xander & Ellis Peterson

Xander & his teacher Mrs. Brock

Xander & Tanner Hanks

Xan & Weston Schauers

It's been a great school year and we love Bonneville :)

On June 10th, our little family went for an overnighter to the cabin. On the way Xander & Jaina both fell asleep. Pat & I were laughing because Jaina had her foot in Xander's face and neither of them cared one bit.

We stopped off at T-Cee's for dinner :)

That was all the pics I got that trip :(

June 11th was the Orem Summerfest!! We were super excited because Pat was able to be with us the whole time. In the past he's had to work on weekend nights and only been able to see fireworks or not even that, but now that he's a teacher, he's with us nights and weekends :)

Xander caught a shirt from one of the floats. He was super excited because it was Mt. Dew. Only because Pat loves Mt. Dew.

Mara & Sawyer hanging at the carnival waiting for fireworks.

June 19th:

Jaina was trying so hard to help Finley sit up. Finley is 6 months in this picture and already looks like she'll be bigger than Jaina in no time.

They are going to be best friends when they're older :)

The rest of June to come.

The Merry Month Of May

2011-07-03T22:19:00.000-06:00

Life just seems to be going so fast and I forget to sit down and blog about it. So here's to the month of May!!!

It was a rare moment when Pat had all 3 kids sitting on him, so I had to capture it!

We'd noticed that Xander was struggling a bit with seeing distances, so we took him to the Dr. and sure enough, he needed glasses!!!! And it only took a few days for them to arrive. He did a great job at the appointment and was disappointed that we weren't able to take the glasses home with us that moment. He loves his glasses and was saying that when he put them on it was like everything was in 3D!!!

Jaina discovered how to climb onto the dishwasher to 'help' me.

She also had her first experience with an ice cube, and loved it!!

Just a sweet toothy smile :)

She also discovered the cupboard with all the lids.

We have since put rubber bands on the handles to keep her out!

Where's Jaina???

Peek-A-Boo!!!

In an effort to get her to walk, we got out Mara's old walking/push toy. But Jaina had a better idea of what to do: Just 'walk' on her knees instead!

Jaina also loves to leave a wake of chaos wherever she goes!

On May 24th, Mara had her Preschool Graduation from the Itty Bitty Bruin Preschool.

She did such a great job at her program. I can't believe that she'll be in Kindergarten in a few short months!

Mara and her buddy, Miss RyAnn

Another picture, with the balloon arch.

Jaina was so tired that she fell asleep in her high chair.

Little Miss J had her Birthday!!!!

Grandma Tolman had dropped off her gift while she was napping. Mara was super excited to see Jaina open her gift so we had to do it the moment Jaina woke up. She loved the bag :)

And the blocks, clothes, and books.

Thank You Grandma & Grandpa Tolman!!

A picture on her 1st birthday.

May 28th, 2011

On Sunday the 29th, we headed to the cemetery to put flowers on my dad and grandpa's graves for Memorial Day.

Here's my dad's

And Grandpa's

Jaina didn't like the grass too much and was trying to keep her legs in the air!

What a funny girl!

Xander & Mara with the flag representing my Grandpa.

Back at the house we began to celebrate Jaina's birthday.

Karri made this way cute cake for her, complete with her very own smashing cake :)

We even got out the big kid car seat. I was amazed that she was able to stay in her infant seat for so long. Both Xan & Mara were too heavy for the other one by 6 months, so we had to upgrade sooner. Jaina really likes this seat and so do I. She just has to stay backwards for another year because of new regulations.

She did a great job opening her presents.

Her very first purse from Mom & Dad.

Money from Grandma Joan, along with the outfit she was wearing.

Her first Princess Doll from Karri.

She was LOVING the box, like most babies do.

She especially loves to sit on things too.

'Using' her lipstick from her purse :)

Me and my baby girl. I can't believe it's already been a year. I wish time wouldn't go by so fast.

Blowing out the candle.

Diggin' In!!!

She really liked the frosting at first, then all of a sudden, she would just lean over and bite it!

It was a great month!!

Disneyland Trip

2011-06-26T15:01:00.000-06:00

I had entered a contest on the DisneyParksBlog to win a chance to ride the newly revamped Star Tours a whole 2 weeks before the official opening. They picked 1200 people (+ a guest) and I was one of them!! We found out on Friday May 13th and the day we had to be there was Friday May 20th!! We had to wait the weekend to see if Pat could get the day off of work. Once we knew, we scrambled to find hotel and flights for the 2 of us. We flew out on Thursday night and went straight to our hotel. (I found a cheap one that was walking distance to the park) The next morning we had to report to the check in station at the butt-crack of dawn (between 4:00 and 7:30 am). We got there about 5 am and got in line, then Pat went over to the nearest McDonalds to pick up some breakfast.

Here's the sign that awaited us in line:

They even had a fun starfield backdrop to take pictures!!

Here's a view of the crowd in front of us, News crews and all!

We slowly made our way through bag check

(again the crowd in front of us)

Then we lined up in front of the main entrance. This was around 6:30 am, and they weren't going to move us into the park until around 8am!!

So we sat and sat, and waited and waited!

It was really cool to be there at dawn and see the sun lighting up the park :)

There was a 2 man band giving us some really cool Star Wars music and some other fun dancing music to listen to. Notice the keytar!!!!!!!

Finally!!! We made it past the main entrance. Then we walked slowly down main street.

I had to take advantage of a crowd less Walt, Mickey, and Sleeping Beauty's Castle.

Tomorrowland at dawn!!!!

Our first glimpse of the new Star Tours!!!

Once we got into the actual queue, it was still another 30+ minutes of waiting.

Pat and the new Starspeeder 1000,

piloted by none other than R2-D2!

We finally got our 3D glasses and were awaiting our boarding call!

You can see Pat's excitement, we were finally on board!!!!

The ride was awesome!!!!! We were stopped by Stormtroopers, went to Tattooine, were contacted by Princess Leia, then finally ended our tour on Naboo!!

I loved every second of it!!!

They had given us wristbands when we checked in, and on our way off the ride they cut them off then gave us special buttons to commemorate the ride!

Here's Pat in the StarTrader Shop with an amazing X-Wing hanging from the ceiling.

Once we were done it was just after the park opened and the crowds started rolling in.

We immediately ran over to Indiana Jones and got on pretty quick utilizing the Single Rider line :)

While we were in Disneyland, my brother JD was in Walt Disney World!!! He and Chris ended up being in the Magic Kingdom that day and we had been texting all morning. Since both parks have a lot of the same rides we decided to go on one at the same time!! So we all headed over to the Haunted Mansion for simultaneous rides in different parks!!! It was a once in a lifetime opportunity!!!!!!

After a few more rides and lunch, we headed over to Town Hall so I could transfer my Disney Dollars onto a card for the next day and Pat started to fall asleep on a bench while he waited.

Needless to say, by that point in the day we were PRETTY TIRED!!!

We then headed into Downtown Disney and into the store D-Street!

I was super excited to go there because they sell a wide variety of Vinylmations!!!

I wish I could have a sign like this:

They had a giant Vinylmation there too!

I am so utterly obsessed with Vinyls right now.

This trip was great because there were a bunch of stores where in you could trade Vinylmations. I was able to get a bunch from a series that I didn't have :)

I love them and they make little Breanne happy :)

After the shopping, we went to the AMC theater and saw Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides in 3D. I loved the movie but hated the 3D. I was too tired and it gave me a headache and it's too expensive.

After the movie we headed back into the park for dinner and more rides.

We headed over to the Matterhorn, which I haven't been on for quite a long time. It's still as jerky as ever but ya gotta do it!

Then onto Pirates of the Caribbean. It was way fun to ride this right after seeing the new movie. They added Blackbeard in the smoke and the movie even had a scene from the ride in it :)

By the time we were done it was getting dark, so we headed over to the Rivers of America to watch Fantasmic!! We hadn't seen it before and really enjoyed it. Then we picked up gifts for the kids before heading back to our hotel.

Day2:

California Adventure

We got to the park right when they opened and headed over to Toy Story: Midway Mania.

On the way we saw that there were people lining up to go on Little Mermaid, but it was only for Cast Members, I was so bummed :(

This was our first time on Midway Mania,

and we LOVED IT!!!!

Pat is Player 1 & I'm player 2.

Not too bad for the first time, right????

We went on California Screamin' (which is my favorite roller coaster of all time), Soarin', Tower Of Terror, and Monsters Inc. Then watched Muppets 3D!!!

Afterwards we headed back into Downtown Disney and saw Bridesmaids at the AMC.

Once done, we got some dinner and went to the main attraction:

FLYNN'S ARCADE!!!!!

Pat is a huge Tron fan and we were super excited to be able to experience ElecTRONica and Flynn's Arcade!

I love the recognizer on the wall :)

You could even play the original Tron game and they had the arcade set up exactly like Tron: Legacy!

Even with the outline on the wall for the secret room.

I didn't take any pictures of ElecTRONica, but we loved it! Especially LaserMan! It was the coolest thing ever!

We then got some ice cream and walked around the pier during one the the World of Color showings. During our walk we noticed that Midway Mania was open so we ran!!!! It was only a 10 min wait and we were on!

We did much better the 2nd time around.

Once again Pat is player 1 & I'm player 2.

We decided that we want to have the chair and screen in our house because this ride is super awesome!!

Afterwards we headed over to our section for our showing of World of Color.

I love how Mickey's Fun Wheel lights up :)

I loved World of Color! It was a great end to a fantastic trip!

Since the lights were down on the pier we got a good view of the loading zone and mural in the Little Mermaid ride. It's so pretty! It'll be so fun to go back and ride this one with Mara since Ariel is her favorite princess!

It was such a fun yet quick trip, but I loved every minute of it!

Darth Vader Goes to Disneyland

2011-06-09T09:03:00.001-06:00

I promise that I'll post pics from our trip soon, but until then, enjoy this!!!

1 Year Old

2011-05-31T16:49:00.011-06:00

I can't believe that Jaina is 1!!

Her birthday was on May 28th.

Here are her stats:

Height: 30.5 inches (90%)

Weight: 20 lbs 8 oz (50%)

In the past 3 months she has grown 2.5 inches and only gained about 6 ounces!! Which is understandable since she's a pickey eater and loves to be moving all around.

In comparison to Xander and Mara at this age.

Xander:

Height: 31 1/4 inches

Weight: 24 pounds

Mara:

Height: 29 3/4 inches

Weight: 24 lbs 8 oz

So she's about the same height, but alot thinner! It's amazing how each child can be so different! She just gets to wear her clothes longer than Mara did!!

The things that I love about Jaina:

She says 'hi' whenever someone walks into the room.
'Hi' is just about all she'll really say at this point, eventhough she can say 'mama', 'dada', and 'uh-oh'.
She loves her brother and sister and gets super excited when she sees them.
She loves to play 'Peek-a-Boo'
She can walk furniture and will walk if we hold her hands, but nothing on her own yet.
She loves to clap, expecially when we say 'Yay'
She loves noodles, cheerios, rice and pretty much anything I give her off my plate.
Drinks from a sippy cup!!!!!
Has 8 teeth!!! But still no molars.
She has the cutest smile, but it's hard to get a picture of it, because she just stares at the camera.
Loves books and toys that make noise, and she can play alone really well.
Loves to open cupboards, so we have them all 'locked' :)

She is such a fun addition to our family, eventhough she's the loudest one.

I love you Jaina!

Happy Birthday!!!

Getaway!!!

2011-05-18T14:25:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow, Pat and I are leaving for a little getaway to here:

And get to ride this:

2 weeks before it opens to the public!!

WAHOOO!!!!

Easter 2011

2011-05-17T11:29:00.000-06:00

Easter 2011

This was Jaina's first Easter, so she woke up bright and early :)

Xander & Mara with their baskets.

A rare pic of me with my little ones.

They were so happy because I made their Easter gifts this year.

Jaina tasting a Cadbury Egg wrapper!! Yummy!

Xander with the new toys!

I found a tutorial to make your own ANGRY BIRDS!!!!

It was relatively simple, for me at least. It took a lot of time and secrecy, but I got 'em done!

They turned out amazing! I love the white one the best :)

A quick picture before church. Jaina wasn't too happy.

I snapped a quick pic of Jaina using my iPod during sunday school. She was so pretty :)

Traditional Easter family picture. It's always sunny so we all have a hard time keeping our eyes open.

We went and visited Grandma & Grandpa and I found Grandma reading a book to Mara :)

A few days after Easter we had our Ramey family egg hunt! The kids LOVE this and look forward to it each year.

Max & Xander checking out the loot!

Jaina actually kept the bunny ears on long enough for a picture, but wasn't too happy about it.

Jaina getting her first Easter Egg!

Me & my girlie!

My sweet Mara!

Jaina really liked the eggs because they rattled!!

(they are usually filled with money)

Conli, Mara & Sawyer doing an egg swap.

All the eggs have names on them and get picked up by others, but they always find their owner :)

The Main Event: Opening everything!

Look at all the money!

Each child ended up with about $20 each!! It was crazy!

Happy Easter!

Mara's 5th Birthday

2011-05-04T11:01:00.000-06:00

I can't believe that my little girl turned 5 last month!! To celebrate, we had her very first 'Friend Birthday Party'. Since her actual bday was the week of spring break, we managed to get the party done the week before.

My AMAZING sister made the cake and cupcakes for the occasion.

There were so many pictures to sift through, so I'll only post the essentials.

She decided to have a Princess Dress Up Party!!!

Mara & her friends decorated crowns, colored pictures, made necklaces, and played 'Pin the Kiss on the Frog'.

We even had Tangled playing in the background!

Here's the whole group!

Her friend Micah even dressed up as a Prince :)

We even got Jaina dressed up!!!

Aunt Karri & Mara

Karri really is amazing! She made the food, helped with decorations, took pictures and even dressed up! She is the best aunt EVER!!!

We made Jaina dress up as Snow White!

After her party, we gave her OUR present!

Her very own bike!

She was super exicted because it was what she's been asking for for months!!

Oh the JOY!!!!!!

I LOVE THIS PICTURE!

We had to put Jaina on the little trike that Mara's been riding around for awhile.

Her feet barely touch the ground!

Oh how my Xander loves to be silly!!

On her actual Birthday, we went to lunch at a McDonalds with a play place then later met up with some family at Fat Cats for some good ol' bowling!

Jaina was exhausted by the time we got there and ended up sleeping the WHOLE time!!!

Mara & cousin Addi

I don't know what Xander was doing, but here's our family after the fun was over.

Happy Birthday Mara!

We love you!

10 Months Old

2011-03-28T12:35:00.000-06:00

I can't believe Jaina is 10 months old already!!

She now crawls on her knees (most of the time)
She can pull herself up
Has 5 teeth (as of today)
Loves to play with Xander & Mara's things
Likes baby food
Is learning to eat more solid things without gagging.
Says dada, mama, and hi
Loves bathtime
Squeals when she's happy
Makes growling noises
Likes to copy sounds, ie: my mom clearing her throat
She gets very excited, to the point of spazzing, when she sees Xan & Mara unexpectedly.
Learning to wave and clap.

I don't think I posted her 9 month stats so here they are (from Feb 25th):

Weight: 20 pounds 2 ounces (75%)

Length: 28 inches (75%)

We love her so much and are very grateful for her in our lives. Pretty soon she'll be 1 and walking!! It's amazing how fast time goes by.

We love you JET!!!!

The Month Of March

2011-03-28T12:06:00.001-06:00

My cute girls giggling.

I can't remember what they were laughing at.

Grandma Joan brought over a bunch of balloons that had lost their float and Jaina had a blast with them.

It's so fun to see her explore new things :)

Mara had her Spring Program at her Preschool on the 11th. She did a great job!! She is LOVING school!

My cutie pie sleep-eating.

I love when babies are so tired that they fall asleep while drinking their bottle.

Jaina has also started to pull herself up. She is getting SO active, I can't believe how big she is!

She also got her top teeth in around the 10th.

She's much happier now :)

And speaking of teeth: Xander FINALLY lost another one on the 22nd. He doesn't like to wiggle them so it takes FOREVER for them to fall out. This is only the 3rd one that he's lost, and his top 2 are loose also. It'll probably be another few months before those ones come out.

I don't know if you can tell, but he has a missing tooth. The one that's opposite of the lost one never came in as a baby, and x-rays show that there is no adult tooth either. It's not surprising because my dad had a top tooth that never grew in, so it's somewhat genetic. So he has a slight gap in his smile, but it's not too bad at this point.

Some photos from the iPod:

Proof that Jaina has hair.

I can only get it to stand up in the bathtub.

At FYE they have these HUGE Angry Bird. I had to get a comparison pic to show the size of it. Jaina thought it was great.

Sewing Like Crazy

2011-03-18T14:27:00.000-06:00

Something else I've been doing alot of lately is sewing. Surpise, surprise!!!

Project #1: Carseat Cover

(for my cousin Melanie)

Project #2: Minkie Baby Blanket

(for bff Courtney)

Project #3: New Dress for Jaina

Made out of a shirt of mine that had a hole

(Pattern/Instructions found here)

Project #4: Nursing Cover

(also for my cousin Melanie)

Project #5: Car Seat Cover

(for friend Amanda)

Overall is been a very sewing filled month, and I still have projects that I want/need to do.

February

2011-03-15T12:41:00.001-06:00

Wow. It's been over a month since the last post. Boy am I a slacker! Here's all of February in a quick re-cap.

Here's Pat at his desk in his office at the School. He has a really nice setup and is really enjoying his job!

The kids HAD to get out their tents and thought it was hilarious to put Jaina inside one with her toys. Jaina liked it too!

The week before Valentines Day I found this fabric for a project I was making for my cousin, and decided that it would make adorable Valentines dresses for my girls. So I worked as fast as I could and was able to finish them late Saturday night, so they could wear them to church on the 13th. They turned out way cute, and I'm super happy with them.

Also on the 13th we celebrated mine & Pat's birthday's.

I got some shoes and he got some new shirts for work, and we got some fun stuff too.

Karri gave us some Star Wars Vinylmations of Darth Vader and Princess Leia!

I love them!! Vinylmations have become a new love of mine and I'm always happy to get a new one.

If you want to see more Vinylmations, go here!

She also made us our own cakes.

Here's mine with a Vinylmation that looks like part of Cinderella's Castle in WDW.

And Pat's has guys from Tron: Legacy!! So cool!

And to showcase the saddest face of Jaina's. Whenever she hears a kissie noise, it freaks her out and she gets scared and looks like this. It's so sad, but funny at the same time. We keep doing it to see if she'll grow out of it, but so far she hasn't.

Thanks Brent!!!

The kids had Presidents Day off and decided it was a perfect time to get the GeoTrax out!!

They built this all by themselves too!

In the mornings this is Jaina's setup for her bottle!

And of course Mara has to get in on the pictures too :)

She's such a cute one. She has started doing an Army Crawl and is getting to be quite fast too.

And lastly: me & my best friend Stefanie. We went out to dinner with our husbands one last time because she & Scott were moving to San Antino, TX on the 1st of March. I know that we'll still text and talk, but I'm sure going to miss her. Love ya!

January Happenings

2011-02-10T10:56:00.000-07:00

To start out, I got a new iPod Touch for Christmas and it has a camera!!! It's great for those moments that I can't reach the real camera, because I have my iPod in my pocket.

Here is a pic from December:

Mara needed Jaina to wear the TinkerBell wings that came with her costume. I just love the proportion on her. They are the perfect size for her little body :)

Here's another iPod pic. Mara HAD to go outside and make snow angels! She just loves being outside not matter the weather.

My mom with the 2 babies, Finley & Jaina.

Mine & Lisa's kids are all at least a year apart from each other, except these two. It's kind of fun to have them so close in age (6 1/2 months apart)

Jaina has decided that she likes being on the floor, but only as long as someone is there with her or she has fun toys. She rolls really well, but doesn't scoot or crawl yet. Or at least she didn't when this pic was taken :)

Jaina got her first tooth on New Years Day!! It was a big surprise to me because it came in earlier than Xan & Mara's did. Her second one popped through a few weeks later. She just looks so cute with teeth!

We (Mara & Karri) decided to try out the sponge rollers overnight so Mara could have fun hair for church the next morning!

This is a pic from right after I took them out. It looked so great, but by the time we made it to church an hour later it was already pretty flat :( She just has thick hair like me so it's heavy!

Mara just LOVES the story of Peter Pan and can't get enough of it! She watches Disney's Peter Pan, Hook, a live action Peter Pan, Mary Martin's Peter Pan, and all the TinkerBell movies.

My brother JD told us that BYU was performing Peter Pan the musical so we knew we had to go! So on the night of the 25th we (me, Xander & Mara) went to see it with my mom, Karri, JD, Chris and a bunch of my aunts and a few cousins.

It was their first experience seeing a play and they did great! It started at 7:30, so the kids were worn out by the end but it was so fun. Mara was sitting on my lap when Peter asked us all to clap to show that we believed in fairies to save TinkerBell. She clapped so hard and was so happy that we saved her! Then she turned to me and said "Mom, I knew fairies were real!"

I just love her!!!!

And we can't have a month go by without a sewing project.

I made a reversible apron for my sis-in-law Lana for her birthday. It was my first apron and it turned out perfect :)

I just love making flowers :)

Happy January!!!

Now let's see if I can stay current :)

And for the most important thing that happened in January, Pat finally got a teaching job!!!! It happened really fast and he started on February 1st! He's teaching at East Shore High School and is liking it so far. It's an alternative school where the kids come to make-up credits or to do extra credits, so it's a really different experience.

I just know that we are so blessed by our Heavenly Father. I know that he's watching out for us and has a plan for our little family. We're just so excited that we're able to take this next step in our lives. :)

Christmas Extravaganza

2011-02-04T19:11:00.000-07:00

Warning: This post is extra long with tonz of pictures

(just the way Lisa likes 'em!)

Christmas Eve we spent with Pat's family. We did a progressive dinner, and at each house we talked about different things about the holidays. It was such an amazing night with awesome food and wonderful family. I didn't take many pics but here is Jaina with her Uncle Morri.

Before the evening was over we got a quick family pic.

(Thanks Lana)

And a pic of all the Utah grandkids.

We sure miss you Boise Tolmans!!!

We then headed home where there were Christmas Eve presents from Aunt Karri that were waiting to be opened.

A new nightgown for Mara.

Agent P pj's for Xander

Jaina with her first present!!!! Cute pink jammies :)

Mara got a 'pillow pet' from Grandma Tolman

I bought a cute Christmas outfit for Jaina and had to get a pic of it.

Jaina and her Christmas Eve jammies!

Traditional pics with Christmas Stockings:

I love the smiles on thier faces. Just so excited for Christmas!!!!

Christmas Morning!!!!

Jaina with her Cabbage Patch Kid from Santa

Mara with her Tinkerbell Playset from Santa

Xander and his Draganoid Colossus Bakugan from Santa

Cute kids! Xander just loves Jaina so much!

Jaina and the tree

All the kids with the tree.

We gave Xander the newest Magic Treehouse book, he was so excited!!

We gave Mara her own Camera!!!!

We gave the kids the game Guess Who? extra.

I loved this game as a kid!

Mara got the new Tangled game for the Leapster.

Xander wanted the Hot Wheels Criss Cross Crash!

I made this Tag Blankie for Jaina and she loves it!

Jaina got this way cute Seahorse from Grandma & Grandpa that plays music for 5 minutes to help her fall asleep. It's so cute and she loves it!!!

A nice family picture :)

Mara got this cute outfit from Grandma & Grandpa. The skirt is her favorite!

Then the rest of my family came over for presents!!

Jaina got a 'fishtank' that plays music that helps her fall asleep too. You would think that she has a hard time sleeping! But these cute toys have helped her a TON!!

Xander got a new zip up hoodie from Mana and loves it!!

Mara got another nightgown from Karri and a Rapunzel doll from Mana.

Xan just loved his Nerf Guns from Max :)

And his shoebox full of Magic Treehouse books from Karri!!! He now has almost the whole collection!! Over 40 books!!

Karri caught a great moment when Mara opened up her Strawberry Shortcake movie from JD & Chris. She was so happy that she almost cried!

Pat got an awesome Star Wars book from my mom. It catalogues what happened each year since the first movie was made.

All the girls got these and were so happy!!

And traditionally we did the 'Where are all the kids??'

Can you find Jaina??

This is the best picture!! They just love throwing the paper in the air!

And by surprise Brent & Lisa were able to bring baby Finley home from the hospital and we each were able to have a turn holding her!!! She's just the smallest thing ever!

Even Jaina got in on the holding action :)

Just to show how small she is, here she is with her mommy.

And a cute family picture of the whole Ramey clan.

And then Mana with all 7 grandkids :)

It was a great Christmas and I'm just glad it's over.

Christmas Cookies with Grandma

2011-02-04T16:08:00.000-07:00

Oh goodness. I'm so far behind in my blogging. Let's just hope that I can do better in 2011 :)

The Wednesday before Christmas the kids had a Cookie day with all their cousins at Grandma's house. They all got to cut out sugar cookies and decorate them too.

Tammy was so great and let us drop the kids off so we could get some last minute shopping done.

They all had a great time!!

Here are all the grandkids with the finished cookies!

This is a Christmas tradition and the kids love it!

Hillam Family Christmas Party

2010-12-23T15:20:00.000-07:00

The Annual Hillam Family Christmas Party was on Sat. Dec 18th.

It was held in Lehi, so it wasn't too far to travel. My cousins did an excellent job putting it together! They had some really fun games and great food!

Jaina loves anything to suck on, like most babies. She especially loves necklaces.

While waiting for the Man In Red to arrive we sang Christmas Songs. I caught Conli & Mara doing the actions to Frosty The Snowman. This is 'two eye made out of coal'.

Mara was so excited to see Santa. She thought that she was going to be getting her Christmas Wish gift from him that night. It was hard explaining that she would have to wait another week for her 'Tinkerbell playset'. But she was happy nonetheless just to see him and get a surprise gift.

Yippee!! A new pony!!!!

Xander was super excited, Santa gave him 8, count 'em 8, Star Wars books.

Oh how this boy LOVES to read!!!

While waiting for her turn, Jaina started to fall asleep. This is one of the few times she has sucked on her thumb. What a cutie!!!

Jaina got a new quiet book from Santa :)

The girls had to play with their loot :)

I just adore this picture.

These cute girls with their Great Grandma

Karri was able to get a smiley pic of Jaina before she got too tired.

Christmas time is always fun. Thanks for the great party Hillam Family!!

The First Half of December

2010-12-22T16:12:00.000-07:00

Mara decided one day to get out her swimming goggles and thought it was funny to put them on Jaina. I'm not sure if we ever put them over her eyes, but this is the pic I got :)

Jaina started sitting up by herself!! This pic is from Dec. 4th.

She is a much happier baby now that she can sit.

Jaina fell asleep while watching a Jazz game. This is one of the few times that she's fallen asleep without assistance or in her own bed. I guess basketball isn't her thing yet

Mara decorated a hat at preschool and loves putting it on Jaina. I think Jaina likes it too.

We met up with my family at Grandma Joan's house to put up her Christmas Tree.

12-7

Oh how these girls love each other!!

On Dec 8th we took the kids to the Provo Towne Center Mall to see Santa. It's a Christmas tradition and my kids look forward to it every year.

(Jaina was asleep, so no Santa for her)

Since the little one is sitting, it was time to get out the big toys. I'm just glad it keeps her entertained.

I just love sleeping pictures. It always amazes me how much babies move around in their beds. It's a guarantee that she'll end up in a different spot from where I put her.

My mom made these Christmas dresses for the girls and HAD to give them before Christmas. They turned out so cute!! She had taken Lisa & I fabric shopping for them and I'm just glad that we were able to agree so something, because Lisa & I have such different tastes.

I LOVE THEM!!!!!

And here's Jaina in her dress too!

Mara had her Christmas Pre-school program on Dec 13. She did a great job! Her favorite thing was learning the words to Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman. She's been singing them non-stop for weeks!!

During Mara's program we (my mom & I) were getting texts from my brother Brent saying that Lisa was going to have an emergency c-section. She has had placenta previa and was in the hospital for about the 4th time, she was exactly 34 weeks so the docs decided it was time.

At exactly 10 am my new niece Finley Kaye Ramey was born. She weighed only 5 lbs 5 oz. She was on oxygen for awhile but was doing great. She'll stay in the hospital for a few weeks, but she's a trooper!

That night we took the kids on a drive to look at Christmas Lights then has some hot chocolate at home. It was fun to see the lights and talk about Christmas.

I've seen these tag blankets before and never really understood the appeal of them, until I had Jaina. She loves tags and ribbon!!!! So I went through my fabric & ribbon and put this together with the scraps that I had!! It's an 18x18 square made of fleece & minky, which were actually leftovers from a blanket I made Jaina, so they match. I just love how it turned out :)

I also made another tote bag. I love the fabric! This was for Xander's teacher Mrs. Brock, for Christmas. I love being able to craft things for gifts!

Jaina is 6 Months Old!!

2010-12-21T17:07:00.000-07:00

Jaina turned 6 months on Nov. 28th

Here are her stats:

Weight: 17 lbs 13 oz (90%)

Height: 26 3/4 inches (90%)

She is definetly my smallest baby, which seems funny considering that she's in the 90th percentile. Both Xander & Mara were over 20 pounds by 6 months. This just means that she's been able to wear her clothes a little longer than Mara did!

She's starting to sit up, if only for a few seconds at a time.

She still doesn't like baby food, even with caro syrup, sugar, or other things added in.

She still doesn't sleep through the night :( But we're working on it.

Her reflux is gone!!! This makes for a happy mommy!

She loves her siblings and is happy to see them.

She likes to play with/suck on spoons. It's an easy thing to give her to make her happy.

We just love her!!