The Tale of The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew

This was the first year that we have had Christmas all by ourselves. Justin has been dying to have Christmas morning at home. It was fun, but we did miss having our family for Christmas Dinner. We had a great dinner, but I had to make it all alone. The one thing that turned out great was our Pecan Pie. Justin loves Pecan Pie. Of course, it is the most fattening pie that you can make, but once a year it should be OK. This is what Jayden did while I cooked. He loves to hang out in his bouncy chair. He is pretty good at hanging out. I run out of arms and so it seems that he has to spend a lot of time in his chair.

Dallin loved the Ham. He is so much like his Daddy. He loves Meat. Dallin always says that if he were a dinosaur that he would be a carnivore.
Elise and her olives. Olives on the fingers are a big hit at our house for Christmas Dinner as well as Thanksgiving Dinner.

I know that I am a little behind, but I am going to set a New Year's Resolution to keep up on my posts. This Week is crazy because it is Christmas, then Dallin's Birthday and then New Year's. But, I think it is over and now I can go on with a New Year.

We finally got Elise to smile.
Jayden has such blue eyes and is smiling so much lately. He is so cute.
Dallin loves to do goofy things. That is why we love him.

It has been a long time since I have posted, but we have been busy traveling to Utah. We went for Thanksgiving and saw Nany and Papa and our cousins and aunts. It was a great time. To top it all off we went to see the lights at Thanksgiving Point and rode on a carriage. The kids loved the horse. I love Christmas lights and this time of the year.

Dallin was Buzz Lightyear for Halloween and Elise was Tinkerbell. For some reason Dallin really wanted to be Buzz Lightyear, so I looked all over for this costume and found it on sale at the Disney Store. He had so much fun. Elise did not want to be Tinkerbell, she wanted to be Spiderman or Buzz Lightyear. Finally, I convinced her to be Tinkerbell. She looked so cute. Halloween was tons of fn. We got plenty of candy.

It's so crazy how fast 6 weeks can fly. Time has really gone by fast. I have been thinking that I need to get more pictures of Jayden before he goes through a growth spurt. He is already getting so big, and is really cute. He has such funny things that he does with his mouth, and he has even smiled a few times. We sure love him a lot. Here are some pictures of our little boy.

Many people think that when we say that we live in Nevada that it is hot. But here is proof that it's not, our first snow of the year in October. We even made a witch snowman for Halloween. Of course the snow melted within one hour; not like Iowa where we had snow that didn't melt for four months. We had fun in the snow and Dallin and Elise were so excited to break into our winter clothes and have some hot chocolate. It was a great day!!

Our witch snowman.

Snow angel
Elise tasting the snow.
Dallin Snowboarding (or so he thought).

Justin comes home every day and asks us what we did that day. I sometimes don't have much to say even though I know we did a lot. Justin will just never understand what we do all day, but here are some pictures some things that we do during our long adventurous days at home.Dallin and Elise having a snack.
Dallin and Elise watching a show on Elise's little couch.
Elise dressed up as a doctor.
Elise dressed as a princess with goggles.
Dallin and Elise love riding around in Dallin's tractor. It is kind of scary for Mom if they get going too fast. Here they had just gotten done painting with pudding. (so fun!!!)

Post by Justin:

Well, I just lost than 15 pound wait I felt I had as a lump in my chest the last couple of days. The bar exam results are out, and somebody at the Nevada State Bar will probably get fired because somehow, I slipped through the cracks.

Anyways, I was at a Special Master meeting with 8 attorneys and a mediator, and the partner from our firm that I was attending with actually called his secretary during the meeting, and then announced to everybody that I had passed the bar. He had been messing with me for weeks about it, but since he announced like that, I figured he had to be telling me the truth. (I still checked the list myself to make sure). Anyways, I can relax now for the first time in 2 1/2 months.

Baby Jayden is really cute. Elise says, "baby Jayden cute". Dallin always wants to hold baby Jayden. They both love him a lot. Life definately is a little more tiring for
mommy, but it is so wonderful when she looks into these little faces. It is crazy how fast time goes by.
I look at newborn pictures of Elise and Dallin and I can barely remember those days. I try to remember this during the middle of the night. It is so fun to look at his face and hear his noises. Sometimes our house is a little crazy and I wonder if Jayden is thinking what have I been born into?

Post by Justin:
So at 10:30 last night, Jocelyn says she thinks her water has broken. I tell her to make sure she hasn't just pee'd her pants, because we were getting all ready for bed, and who wants to go to the hospital in the middle of the night when you are all ready scheduled to do it during the day on Monday?
So we decide to go in, but Jocelyn thinks she needs to clean first! Yeah, no kidding. So she's running around cleaning the counter, picking stuff up off the floor, etc... Finally, I ask her if I should just throw a tarp on the floor and we can have the baby at the house, or if she actually wanted to get to the hospital. She finally decided we could go to the hospital.
Baby Jaden was born at 6:57 a.m. He had the cord wrapped twice around his neck, which the doctor did a good job or unraveling as he was coming out. Jocelyn was a trooper, and did a fantastic job. Jayden is 9 pounds even, and 20.5 inches long.
The whole time prior to the birth, I'm just thinking, "Holy cow... another kid, what are we going to do? I'm just fine with two!" I did not expect to get emotional again. I just figured I've been through it twice already, and it was no big deal. But I couldn't help it. Every time, it is just so amazing, and the moment I see the new baby, my capacity to love just grows. It really helps me to understand how much our Heavenly Father loves us, and it is hard to believe that he is willing to entrust us with such precious bundles to take care of so that we can teach them and help them to one day make their way back to him. Knowing how much I love my children, I can't imagine the love our Heavenly Father must have for us.
Anyways, here are some pictures. Dallin and Elise are thrilled. Elise can't stop saying, "Baby Jayden" over and over again, and when I put her to bed tonight she didn't want her doll, she wanted to sleep with baby Jayden. Fortunately, I convinced her that she could see him again tomorrow, and she went to sleep. Speaking of sleep, that sounds really good right now. The only sleep I've gotten in the last 36 hours was a three hour nap this afternoon. So here are some pics, and then I'm hitting the sack. I'm sure that plenty of updates will follow.

So, we finally decided to put Dallin in preschool. I was really worried because I didn't want him to ever leave my sight. Dallin really wanted to try it out and I want him to have fun and meet new kids from this area. Justin and I figured that this would be good for him. Thie first day though Dallin said he felt like he had to throw up because he was so nervous. He is having so much fun now and learning a lot. I am glad that he is in it now. Elise is a little sad though. Every time we drop Dallin off she says "Dalla preschool". She is so funny she says "Dallin preschool, Daddy work, Elise home". It is like she is saying "what about me?", But, I do enjoy the little time I get alone with her before this new baby comes.

It has been one month that we have not had internet of TV. No connection with the outside world. It was kind of interesting, but so nice to have internet again. It is crazy how you come to rely on it so much. I just wanted to post a little bit about us since we have moved to Sparks, Nevada. Dallin actually loves it here. He said "Mommy can we stay in Reno, Sparks forever." I was really worried about him making new friends, but we found a great area and a great ward where the members of our church have been so nice to us and Dallin has already made some new friends. Of course, he still misses his Iowa friends, but I am happy that he is making new friends. He has already been invited to two birthday parties and we have only been here for one month. Dallin is really excited about birthday parties and plans his party all of the time. But, I do feel very blessed that the Lord has sent us to a good place where we feel safe and happy.

I know that it has been a long time since we last posted on our blog. Moving has been so crazy and it seems like this move has been harder than any other move. It has taken us a month to get internet and we still don't have it (I am using somebody else's signal right now). Also, it was so hard to find a doctor who would deliver this baby since I was 8 months pregnant and they were all full (that was a little crazy). Insurance has been hard to figure out and I still don't know where the hospital is where I am supposed to deliver because our insurance will only cover a certain hospital. It is crazy, but I have decided that we must go through hard times in order to recognize the good and the blessings when they come. Justin is loving his job and I am trying to get used to being without him all day every day. We are getting used to it slowly but surely. I hope to be able to post pictures soon, and maybe even of a new baby.

Let me tell you . We have been having a lot of fun this Summer. So much fun that we haven't been putting the kids in bed until almost 9:30p.m. every night this Summer. We have really enjoyed Utah and being with Nanny and Papa this Summer. I am going to post a long line of Photos that shows everything that the kids have been up to this Summer. As for our poor Justin, he hasn't been having so much fun. He has been studying hard. He is really nervous about the Bar Exam next week.

So I decided that I wanted to do something fun this Summer. I have always wanted to learn how to decorate cakes so I signed myself up for a class at Michaels. It is lots of fun. My first cake was a disaster with crumbs everywhere. But I fixed it up and made a green Incredible Hulk cake for Dallin. He loved it. He loves green and The Incredible Hulk. So here is my first masterpiece.