Adjusting

So, I know I haven't posted in forever and a day, but I wanted to write some fun things down somewhere.

Yes, we have a new little baby in our home!
Jaylee Rae Rowley is now one month old. She is pretty much the cutest thing ever. She likes to have her hands by her face, and likes to be held. She's definitely a fan of being outside! But the poor thing has really struggled feeling well in her stomach, so much of her awake time is struggling not to throw up. But she is ALWAYS moving and very alert and strong--lifting her head up from the very beginning. When she's feeling ok, she gives the cutest smiles. We love her to pieces!
My mom and two sisters have come to stay at my house at various times to help me with the whole adjustment to two kids. It has been a HUGE help. But one of the great perks of having a photographer of kids for a sister is that I get great newborn shots :)

Tyson is getting used to the big brother idea. He likes to hold her hand, push her swing, and reassure her whenever he feels she might need it. A total boy, he also wants to try experiments on her, often asking me things like "Can I poke her eye with this hanger?" or "I want to jump over her", etc. This picture makes me smile. Whenever we do tummy with the little one, I put him in front of her because she seems to want to look up at him more than me :) He cheers her on, yelling "Good job Jaylee!" or "Use your arms!"

 

Here's our fun day at the splash park with Daddy

 

 

 

And the reptile man came at the library!

 

 
 

Lately he is talking like crazy. Here are some of the funny things he is saying:

To his crying sister, "Just a minute Jaylee, I'm trying to make you happy!"

During harvest I told him to make sure and give Daddy or Grandpa a kiss when we visited for lunch because they are under a lot of stress. He answered "Yeah, everybody needs a kiss sometimes."

His favorite treat is Popsicles. I can't blame him for being addicted because I am too. But he calls them Kosiples. And if he asks me and I say no, he asks nice and slow "Ko-si-ple!"

He likes jumping off everything lately. When he's trying a new jump he asks, "Wanna see something scary?"

He likes to make up songs, mostly with nonsense words. But he will ask "How bout a ___ song" (insert word of something he can see around the room). Then he will sing lots of crazy things and insert that word periodically, and his song always ends on a loud high note with his face straining to make it emphatic. Cracks me up every time.

We have pretty fun kids, I think. If only we could get some sleep though!

Surprise!

When my parents went on vacation, they asked me if I could stop by their house and feed the bird. Quick and easy, I figured. I figured wrong. You might think they would have told me that they were setting their house alarm. They haven't done it in a long time, so it was not expected. When I entered the house, the beeping started. I knew instantly that I had seconds to put in the code or someone would come over the speaker to warn me that the cops were coming.(They actually did come when my sister had a similar experience previously).  But thinking this was a quick in and out, I had left my phone in the car. I raced out to get it to dial my Dad's number. You have to be inside with all the sirens to fix anything though, the sirens which were even louder now that I had missed my window to enter the code. It's so easy to dial and focus under those circumstances! Luckily Dad answered just as the lady came over the speaker asking who I was. I told them my situation and she asked for a password. Dad told me over the phone just in time and any major catastrophe was averted. But really, who expects their parents to booby trap the house for you before inviting you over?! I almost peed my pants, ha.

November get together

So, we have lost our camera. Again. We actually have two, and have no idea where either one is. So the only pictures I have are from other people (below) or from my phone. I was looking through pictures of the time my family was able to get together in November. I think they just say so much about our family.

 

The whole group

I was retaliating to something, I'm sure. Generally Michael deserves the pestering. But this is why I love getting together. I am laughing most of the time.

Uncle Landon loves tickling and wrestling fights

Dog Pile!

Making cars for the drive-in movie. And I'm just being me...

Making pies for the store. Always love the hairnets. T thinks it's a hat, so he will wear it.

Teaching the little guy how to shoot

Awesome hair in this family, right?! Somehow we have the only straight-haired boy.

Family bottle rockets. We had an Astro Blaster and a Green Phantom (Landon and Angie's), and lots of other legit names for awesome rockets. Tami stocked us up with some awesome decorative duct tape so that they were pretty sweet looking.

 

 

We played fly-up with the rockets and tried to catch them after their launch. This was the ready position. Chris is not one for needless movement...he would get his hands out when they were in the air :)



I just want you to notice Michael's hair. This is what happens when he's either nervous, or has too much sitting time...

Feeding the crazy ducks. They swarm, and are ruthless. You have to watch out. Before she realized, Landon kept throwing bread at Tami's feet so they would surround her. It was hilarious.

Grandpa's drums are always a hit with the toddlers.

Chillaxin'

So we have had some time lately to catch up on life a little bit. We got to take a few days of vacation at the Rowley's cabin, which was really fun. I got some massive bruises on my arm from archery. I thought it was because I had bad form, but Brent and Kaden also had that problem, and I was hitting the target fine (before I got so scared of it getting me that I couldn't hold my arm still long enough, ha). So now I just think that's not my favorite sport. We tried out the zipline again, as you can see on the left. I jumped off a little early and made my knee into hamburger, but it was still fun. We also rode the 4-wheeler back and forth a lot, which is Ty's new favorite thing. He got spoiled for those few days, and now that we are home, I have to take him on rides around the orchards now and then or he is completely crestfallen. He is learning though. Once you put him on the seat he reaches to move the keys, and then puts his hand on the ignition button. And then he gets the biggest grin and just looks up at you like the world couldn't be happier.

He has also taken lately to talking on the "phone". The phone can be a remote, a play phone, a block, or even the power block for the computer. He will sit and have great conversations, but when you give him a real phone with a real relative on the other end, he freezes. Like a deer in the headlights. We're working on it.

The little guy and I also enjoy our popsicle dates. He runs to the freezer and says "popo" and we sit together on the kitchen floor to eat it. It seems he must be sitting in my lap before he can take a bite, so that's what we do--every day after watering the garden or playing outside.

This last week we went into town to the county fair. I love the fair. The rodeo is my favorite, but the food--though completely unhealthy and overpriced--is delicious. And you would never eat it otherwise. We got a good ol' funnel cake for good measure. Landon's little brother came with us. He wasn't too excited about most of the rides, but we talked him into the Spider with Landon. But he wouldn't let them spin much, ha. Our little guy went on the ferris wheel (which is probably the scariest ride in my opinion), and Goliath's slide. And he was pretty interested in seeing all the animals.

 I got a hole-in-one to enter a golf sweepstakes, just sayin'. And we hit up the buckin' broncos at the rodeo. We were there when one of the rodeo girls fell off her horse and got dragged around the ring because her foot was stuck. It was pretty crazy. Luckily she was ok. Whitney even watched Ty so we could go on the ride that drops you out of the sky. Wooh! I have a video but haven't changed the format, so I can't post it yet. Sorry. Let's just say I might have screamed.

 We finally finished our garage. It's all painted and organized and we can even fit the car and truck! I really was skeptical that huge truck would make it in. We have to really squeeze it in, you know, butter the sides even, but we can fit them both :) And, I painted the front door. Unbeknownst to me, it's really hard to get normal paint to stick on doors. So you may not fully appreciate this task unless you've tried it, but I was pretty proud of myself after putting 4 coats on to get it to look good.

And Ty got to go swimming for the first time. He clung to me pretty tight at first, but once we gave him a ball to chase around, he actually tried to paddle and loved it. Good times. I love summer when we actually have time to take advantage. Now we just have to roast some more mallows and watch a meteor shower and my summer is complete :)

I know these are blurry but it's all we have.  Landon says he was shaking because he was cold ;)

Though I must say. This is the first year where school has started and my life hasn't changed a bit. We have no one in school anymore. WEIRD, but AWESOME!

Sunday duds, as Anita calls them :) He likes to look just like Daddy

Aunt Angie came to visit. It was fun to see her and show her the new house! Thanks for making the drive!!

His new way of looking at the world lately. Not sure why, but he does it all the time.

Someone asked me to make their son's brithday cake a few weeks ago. I was really rushed for time the day I did it because Tyson was really not cooperating, so I'm not sure it was quite what I planned. But I made a big angry birds cake, and then these cupcakes, with the blue bird cupcakes as well. Had to pipe feathers on all of them! I think it turned out looking good, but I am definitely learning a lot. It was my first experience making marshmallow fondant, and it turned out pretty great! And they had a delicious raspberry cream cheese filling.

Our little wrangler says "hope your summer has been fun too!"

Summer Lovin'

I love summer. Only when it's HOT outside do you just want to jump into freezing water and not think twice. I love it. Tyson and I have been to a few play groups or parks and he is beginning to love the water activities. I use him as an excuse to play in them myself :) 

He has some hand-me-down water clothes. The shirt is borderline too small and the shorts are pretty long, so he's just a thug. I love it. 

A couple of weeks ago we got to go with Nana and Papa Draney to feed the ducks/geese. Chris and Lisa were in town. It's hilarious to see Tyson with Hannah. He is so excited to see someone his size that he has to give her hugs or pats. 

With the huge geese, at first he was a little nervous.  They are bigger than he is.

But then he decided he was going to chase them. It was awesome, but I had to make sure he didn't get pecked at. He was a little too daring.

Just thought I'd show a pic of him trying on my shoes. He comes all day long saying "Shzz" and trying to have me put them on so we can go outside.

We also got to take a few days and go to our first DRANEY FAMILY REUNION. It was awesome. So fun to see some of my cousins that have moved so far away! Tyson loved the sand, but not so much the water.

It was the Washington coast so Landon and I thought we might try wetsuits for some warmth. It turned out the water was pretty warm anyway, so we had lots of fun trying to boogie board and ride the waves. I think the beach is my favorite place to be of anywhere. I love the waves, playing sports on the beach, the sand castles--or this time it was a huge hole to China--the laid back beach atmosphere, the small-town shops, the kite-flying, it's all great.  We even got to light some fun fireworks. A few of them would shoot off a parachute, so we had races to see who could catch it. It was great. Landon was pretty proud that he won--although he cheated. He is kinda known in my family for cheating, ha. But he's so funny about it they don't get mad.

We also stayed in a house that had air hockey, ping pong and pool, and a hot tub, so we made sure to get in our share. It was a great and relaxing trip before the cherry harvest!

I dun gradiated!

It's true! Landon has finished, Yay. Though we have had a fun time through all of our BYU experience, we are ready to move on, and excited for the next exciting adventure on the farm.

 

 I just thought I would take a minute to say how proud I am of Landon and his ability to keep balance during school. I never had to juggle a family with college life, since I graduated before then. Though it does come with the perks of someone to make dinner after a long day, or a built-in editor of your papers, I know it also came with challenges. He had to deal with the sleepless nights of a newborn while preparing for exams and taking classes.  He had to work so that we had enough money for essentials, rather than take time off when school was busy. It took extra effort and planning to still be a part of the BYU experience with football games, concerts, student programs, or intramurals, and still have time to come home and play with the baby before he had to be in bed. I just wanted to say that I'm glad that family is a priority for Landon, because Tyson and I always felt a part of the process instead of a hindrance.

Here are a few pictures from our graduation weekend. Thanks to the Rowley family for helping us move!!!

So cool!

We saw some of our good friends, the Youngs. Amanda and I had fun
with mother's group, and Adam had some classes with Landon as well.
They are a fun family.  We will miss the great friends we've made in Provo.

Just makes me think of a little leprechaun. :)

 

We played some family tennis that weekend to break things up from the moving and ceremonies. We aren't exactly amazing, but we aren't bad. It made for some funny games.

 

 

 

Tyson was pretty excited Daddy waved to him.