2013... You have been good to us!

Every year brings challenges and changes.  2013 wasn't any different, but we truly enjoyed almost every bit of it.  This past year has been a year of numbers.

  1   new addition to our family (our car)

 1460  books read to McKae (We usually read close to 10 a day... it is a favorite activity)

  4   Family of  four to be come Feb. 2014 (yes, 4 more weeks)

  2   Apartments lived in. (currently in Houston, Texas)

  30   new words that McKae has added to her vocab. (including "love you" and "thank you"- not prompted)

  10   new projects completed (or started) by Kaitlin

  56   Times (give or take) playing "hide-and-seek" and "ring around the rosies".  McKae always hides in the pantry closet.  You have to open it for her before beginning to count.

  3   years later and Jordan graduated with 2 Masters Degrees landing a job at Goodman Manufacturing.

 11638  Miles traveled. (moving to Texas, going home for an Ellingson wedding, and Jordan's work trip to Japan).

We are so blessed and are excited for the new adventures awaiting us in 2014!

There's No Place Like Home

I figured the day before Thanksgiving I should try to hurry and put up Halloween.  This year McKae had some idea of what was going on, so it was super fun!  We went to our ward trunk-or-treat and then on Halloween hit up some ritzy neighborhoods to get the good stuff, since we all know who would really be eating the candy :)  She loved it and would run from one door to the next, anxious to knock on another door.  She would say "trick-or-treat" and hopefully they would just hand her the candy, because if not, she would willingly take handfuls.  She had a sucker that night from all the loot and was one happy  and exhausted camper.

Here is our little Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz saying "Cheese".

Baby, Oh Baby!

Baby boy is due February 3rd and we couldn't be more excited.  McKae may not completely understand it right now, but she sure knows what a baby is when she sees or hears one crying she signs "baby".  What a great sister she will be to our lil' man!  We are ready to add some blue to our family :)

Her first word was "da da"

Doesn't every little girl hold a special place in their heart for their daddy?  Well our lil' miss sure does.  Actually I am pretty sure those two had a connection while she was still in my tummy.  Before we had found out the gender of the baby, Jordan knew for sure it was a girl through an experience he had.  I on the other hand thought it was a boy.  And boy was I wrong.  Then from the moment she was born she has had her daddy wrapped around her finger.  Every morning she wakes up she says "daddy" and starts looking for him.  ANYTIME we hear a knock on the door, she assumes it is dad getting home from work and runs to the door, all smiles, saying "daddy".  These are just a few pictures I couldn't help but share of the two loves of my life.

Jammin' to some tunes... Just like dad

 Bike shopping with dad

Grocery Shopping with dad (yes she is strapped in for extra comfort with the paper towels)

 Riding the carousel at the zoo

 His face is blurry, but golfing with dad

packing her up

We consider ourselves the luckiest!

I'm not afraid of hard work!

I learned an important lesson last week, or maybe more like 2 or 3.

Sometimes being a mom is HARD.

Up to this point there have been a day here or there that can be hard, but this was incredibly different.  McKae was super sick this week with a fever between 100 and 105.  I felt like each day was a cycle... nap, spiked fever, medicine, lukewarm bath (anything to get the fever down), and then repeat for a week.  Lets just say that I learned a whole new definition to the word hard.  I wouldn't say the week was necessarily hard because of the taking care of a sick child, but mainly because I would have an emotional breakdown when she would scream or cry and an emotional breakdown from worry and the unknown.

I think I have had my eyes opened to the true love a mother has for her children.  It is infinite and when your children are in pain, you too are in pain and would do absolutely anything to make it better.

    

    I also learned that when possible, a family is best when there is a mother and father.  I truly could not have survived this week without the prayers of family, but most importantly Jordan.  He is my rock.  He is the one who can keep me feeling positive and confident.

  I am so grateful for the priesthood in our home.  With a worthy priesthood holder in our home McKae was able to receive a powerful blessing and one that strengthened my faith and the belief in the Savior.  

Luckily McKae's fever disappeared after a week and now we are just getting back to a nap schedule, actually eating food, and venturing out of the house.  Despite the fact that being a mom is hard, I wouldn't trade it for anything and am grateful for the opportunity to be the one to hold baby girl when she is sick and laugh with her when she laughs.

It ate my finger

Yup, It's true.  The sewing machine ate my finger. 

Went in one end and out the other

I still remember junior high school when my friend put her finger through the sewing machine and I always wondered... how do you even do that?!

Well, I still don't know how, but I know it's possible.

If you have a sewing machine...use with caution.

Take me out to the ball game

Cause' its 1,2,3 strikes you're out at the old ball game.

Some of our awesome friends from Utah bought us some baseball tickets to the Houston Astros when they found out we were headed to Houston.  We have been looking forward to this game for a long time.  We had a blast!  McKae was actually one of the stars in the crowd... she caught a fly ball!  Who knew we had a baseball prodigy on our hands.

and we have a walker on our hands. This girl has been walking around non-stop for awhile and she loves it!  She did awesome holding dads hand to walk around the stadium while we went looking for our snacks.  The Astros colors are orange, blue and white, so naturally the biggest BYU fans in Texas decided to wear our BYU shirts to represent both teams.

Our future baseball star... taking after her daddy! 

Thanks Hodges for the tickets!  We just wish you guys were with us at the game.  The Astros ended up losing, but it was just fun to relax and sit in the air conditioned stadium.