Christmas time is here...

This year has flown by- they seem to go faster and faster. It is Christmas time and we are so excited for the month of December. First things first, Auklin turns 3!!~ He is going to start primary in January! They started taking him into primary half way through and so he can get used to it, I peeked in there the first week they did it and just watched him looking all around in total shock. I cant believe how big he is! Then the next weekend is our Anniversary, 4 years! We were talking the other day and Kasey said does it ever hit you that we are our own little family making our own memories with our kids and stuff? We are putting up our own tree in our own house... Sometimes we are just on cruse control going about 90 mph and forget to realize and enjoy what we have. Then the next weekend is Christmas! Auklin is old enough to realize now that SAnta is coming if he is good and it is so fun~ He is old enough to realize what Christmas is and it is fun to talk to him about Jesus and what what he did for us- I love to watch his face get all serious and he LOVES his little baby jesus from the manger scene Grandma Great gave him. he plays with him all day long. We love December and are sad to say it will go by way too fast. But another year awaits and next December will be here before we know it! Happy Holidays!

YW modesty fashion show

I would recommend this activity for all to try!!!

So for Young Womens this week I decided to really hit them hard with modesty. In today’s world it seems to be hard for the girls to be modest when they want to be fashionable. They also seem to be afraid of wearing certain clothes because by themselves they are not modest but they don’t realize you can make them modest- SO I planned a Modesty fashion show but the twist was I collected tons of clothes from tons of people who are awesome and over a few weeks I was able to get a huge selection. I was also able to clear with our budget to buy them all new under shirts from down east so they could stay modest. We spoke to them before hand about how to be modest in all different ways and had the bishop take a few moments as well. Then we set all the clothes out on tables and told the girls they were there to make a cute outfit and they would walk the runway and show them to us- we had tables lined on the ground to look like a runway with lights around both sides and a big sign that said “Modest is hottest fashion show”. The fun thing was they didn’t know they could keep the clothes until the very end- It was fun because we kept hearing things like “oh I wish I had this” “I want this outfit now” and “whos are these cause they just lost them!” J It made more and more excited to tell them that they could have them- I had 6 categories they needed to make an outfit for (first day of school, sportie, spunkie/edgy, night out with the girls, date night and formal) they were judged on each category on if it was modest, fashionable, and how well it matched the category- (We had the bishop join us for one of our judges) these points came into play at the end… Well during the show we were able to help them pick out clothes that looked good together and tell the to pick a new shirt cause the one they picked was too small or didn’t look good- (we were fun about it) hehehe. We wanted them to learn how to dress good and appropriately. They got better and better as the night went on. They had so much fun with it and didn’t want it to end. The best part of all is when we told them they could keep the clothes- their faces light up better than if it were Christmas and all gasped and shouted “really” and as they were about to run over to the clothes we told them to be respectful and help each other out so everyone gets clothes that they want. They were actually very good at sharing and picking things out for each other and their were no fights about anything- we thought there would be more girls wanting the same thing and that why we did points for judging so they could bid on the item with their points but it only happened one time and it went smoothly! The best part for me is when one girl came to me with pools in her eyes and said “like I appreciate this sooo much, you have no idea, I just feel so grateful” her dad had lost his job this summer and she never got the chance to go school shopping- That made everything worth it! We had so much help and contributions and it was such a fun activity- I will probably make this an annual thing!

piles of clothes collected all clothes on the left are smalls then the next row is Medium then large and then Xlarge... we also got shoes and jewelry and other accessories!

My Hubby

So this is my husband Kasey Reed Craven, sometimes you just want to shout from the roof tops how amazing someone is and I did that already but I am still just full of energy just wanting to spill out to tell the world how much I love my favorite person EVER! You are all probably waiting to here some fantastic reason or story behind this but nothing out of the ordinary- My new favorite quote is "It's best when you make the ordinary- Extraordinary!" (I wont reveal where I heard but I am sure some of you know ; ) ) Anyway, Kasey is just like the greatest person ever- he loves me, all of me even the bad parts- and he is the best dad- I love watching Auklin look up to him and run to the door when he gets home and chase him down the sidewalk when he leaves. He works so hard to provide for us- and goes to school to support us for the future- Everything he does is for his family and I just want to thank him for making my ordinary life with him Extraordinary! xoxoxo- Love Love Love you babe!

St George..... Disaster?

So St George was a blast as usual! We loved everything we did and everything about it... except :) all the injuries and accidents. hehehe this trip caused more accidents than any other I have been on. to start....

this week has been Auklin and mines accident week and I am glad our injuries were not too serious although Auklin had us all scared- I will start with Auklins horror story of the week- we were all swimming out in the pool don’t worry he did not drown… he was going down the slide and loving it so much well he ended up slipping and falling and hitting his head on the cement- it swelled up pretty fast and look so horrible and this was right after his other bump on his head was just going away- in the exact same spot a tennis ball appeared on his head- he actually didn’t cry as long and hard as we thought he would. The bump went hay down and he was himself, we called a know and asked if we should take him in and he told us some signs to look for and if he was acting normal he would be ok- he was right back to himself in no time. And the bump has gone down a ton! Although all the little scrapes and scuffs got worse and now scabbed over and he just looks so sad! Then the next day we went shopping and when Kasey went into the dressing room Auklin followed him, well Auklin shut the door and got his finger pretty good- we are going to probably have to drill it because it is filling up quite a bit- poor thing! I think it hurt worse than his head- It looks like we are the worst parents in the world and we abuse out child. He posed pretty good for the picture I must say.

Well then the next day we were playing ultimate spoons in the pool and as I was diving for a spoon I hit into Kyron either an elbow, a knee, or a fist but I sure got a black eye- It swelled up pretty good but went right down, it just stayed purple. Then we came into make dinner and I was cutting lettuce and on the last cut I sliced my finger and I must say it was pretty deep- I saw purple… : / probably needed stitches but I opted for some super glue and a band aid. I am just waiting for the next major accident to happen. . . Besides the accident when Kyron backed into an expedition in the golfing parking lot! He can join our sad week of accidents! J

(So i wrote this while still in St. George and I am sad to say I spoke too soon...)

But to our dismay this was not even the worst of our trip- on our way home our little Luke had a tumble out of a shopping cart when we stopped at Ikea and at first he was fine and nothing seemed to be terribly wrong- for the next few hours he was doing fine and acting normal, well after a few hours his head swelled up more and more and he started to throw up and we all had learned thats not a good sign so he was taken right in to an instacare and form there he was sent to the hospital and it was there that we heard life changing news, our little Luke stopped breathing and was put on an inhabiter to breath for him and was given a CAT scan and was life flighted to primary children's. On his way there Davis hospital called PC and told them to get ready for Emergency surgery, Luke had a fractured skull and a ruptured artery in his brain. The minute he got there the team was ready and he was rushed in for surgery to fix the artery to prevent more swelling. Well with much prayer and a special blessing his few hour long, life threatening surgery lasted about 45 min and went perfectly. He is recovering good- he is breathing on his own and now we need him to eat on his own so we can get him out of ICU. He is such a trooper and we are so thankful he is ok! Thank heavens for the priesthood and for strong family and friends!

Getting there

So Kanyin is making up for when Auklin was born and I never felt like I had a newborn cause he was pretty strong and a good size from the get go- he rolled over at 3 weeks and I felt he grew too fast. Well Kanyin barely reached his birth weight at 6 weeks and now is still only 9 pounds at 7 weeks and tiny as ever. he still fits into his newborn clothes and I am kinda loving it! He is perfectly healthy so no worries... So here he is almost 2 months old and cute as ever! He is such a good baby- I really lucked out! Auklin loves him so much and always wants to hold him. I can tell they are going to be such good friends- at least I can hope for now :) Being a paretn is the best thing ever! It really keeps you in check and you learn so much- I just love my kids!!!

Kanyins blessing day

So Kanyin was blessed a bit early, my brother was from England and I wanted to do while he was here- it was such a special day! The only sunday he was here we had other obligations at the same time as our sacrament meeting so we decided to do the blessing in our home- well we didnt have enough room in our home so we did it in the chapel just at 5:30 and i actually really liked it. I was sad not to be able to do it in church with the songs and spirit there and our ward family so to still have it in the church was awesome- it felt just like we were in church. We sang and the bishop conducted and had it feel just like a meeting. I was so thankful for that! It was such a great day and thanks to everyone that helped make it special!

hahaha i love his eyes!!!

Sweet Big brother

So Auklin is loving having his brother home- he loves him so much. He is always exciteted to see him when we have him. He wants to hold him all the time. He is so soft with him and always whispering to himself... hold his head :) He freaked out yesterday when my sister was getting all her kids ready to leave my house and she was also holding Kanyin and Auklin said "NO! not taking the baby home" he thought they were going to take him home.. it was so cute. and as we were sitting in the front room the other day he went up to Kanyin and did this all by himself... I had just been taking pictures of Kanyin so I had my camera out. He is my sweet little boy- and he is growing up so fast! :(

Similarities but oh so different...

So here is a comparison... They look so much alike but so different at the same time!

Kanyin Johnston Craven

Kanyin was born June 2nd at 7:28 am weighing in at 8 lbs 9 oz and 20.5 inches long. He was born C-section and on his way out inhaled some amniotic fluid and struggled with his breathing for a little while after he was born. I was actually not able to hold him for about 6 hours because he was in recovery. It was so hard not to hold him but he is doing so good now! He is a great little baby- he sleeps good and eats good and only cries when he is poopy :) I realize this will all change when we get home but we are enjoying it right now! :) Auklin is loving having a baby brother actually outside my tummy- he did not want to stop holding him. He kept saying "nana, I get to take this home" :) so cute! and he kept telling us he is going to hold his head up. He is going to be such a good brother- We are so excited to be a family of 4 and Auklin and Kanyin are going to be best buddies. They look a lot alike and we are excited to see them grow together...

First time I got to hold him- this was all I got to hold...

GARDENING

We are so excited for our garden this year! Auklin loves to garden with his daddy- they are the best of pals! They could both be out there all day everyday! They are just so dang cute- Here is to home made Salsa!!! WOOT WOOT!

Pictures

So the time has come- we are taking pictures of Matt and Brielle for their engagements and we started round one yesterday... they did so good- lots of cute ones! They are just perfect together we really like Matt, he is a nice addition to the fam- but sorry you two I am now going to focus on my cute little guy. Auklin came along to watch and he was catching on to the posing and with Kasey and Jillisa's help he took over the photo shoot with all his cute poses and he was enjoying it quite a bit. ...


hey Ladies!



Serious Face...




Cheese!

For Brielle...

So just taking a look back...

Week 8...

Week 18...

Week 32...

also had to cut my hair 6 inches- it was so dead...

Sorry its a little late Brielle, now that your home :) So anyway... only 8 weeks left and the last weeks go so slow- everything is perfect! I love being pregnant! I dont get nauseous or sick or anything so its been great. The only issue I have when pregnant is my bad back- when I get big and there is more weight it tends to hurt worse... imagine that... :) This baby moves a ton more than Auklin ever did- and he seems to be more in my back and up higher too- there are days where I look as big as I did with Auklin but for the most part I am smaller- the Dr says I am a couple weeks ahead of my due date if we were going by just size of the baby- he is already pretty big- just under 5 lbs. but they dont go by that so thats to bad! We still have no names for this little guy but at least we are talking more about it than we ever have. This pregnancy went so fast we havnt really talked names. .. wish us luck! I will update again soon!

There's sNOw family like a snowman family!

Well last I heard Kasey was taking Auklin out to make a snowman... well when I looked out the window I saw this...

Well I was excited to see how he was going to get this snowman stacked... its huge!

Well he tried a couple times and needless to say he could not lift it up- so he formed a ball on top piece by piece...

It was starting to look pretty good. HIm and Auklin were having so much fun- well needless to say they were having a little TOO much fun because slowly this snowman turned into this...

...

...

Yes I am now a pregnant snowman with lopsided boobs... LOL oh Kasey was having fun and he is so cute- He did a pretty good job and Auklin loved them!

Growing Up

So Auklin is learning to ride his bike- Yes, HIS bike, I see that it is pink and purple but you cant get too picky when it comes to getting free things... : ) We are planning to paint it- but he actually really likes pink and he loves this bike! his legs are just a tad bit to short when he turns he cant quite peddle all the way so he has to start over but he has gotten the hang of if pretty darn fast.

Just ignore my annoying voice and the fact that I fall!

Baby brother

So- its been a while since I have updated and this seemed like a cute story to tell. So we went to the dr. yesterday and it was just me and Auklin- Well we were getting an ultra sound and Auklin was doing so good sitting in the chair next to me commenting and saying things like " my brother" and "mom its baby brother" just being so cute- Well, the dr. turned the picture on the screen to the 3D and so its a more yellow antique looking picture and just then auklin says very excitedly... MOM!!! ITS JESUS!!! with a huge smile on his face! hehehe the dr. looked at me and said "did he just say Jesus?" And while laughing uncontrollably I told her yes and she was laughing so hard we couldn't see anything in focus on the screen and we just laughed for a minute and then she said "I have heard a LOT of things but that is the best I have heard yet!" It was so dang cute- I am thinking it reminded him of baby Jesus, over the holidays he loved baby Jesus. It was a precious moment. He already loves his baby brother so much- he got his own copy of an ultra sound picture and he took so good care of it. he accidently dropped it in the car and he said "mom, wheres my baby brother?" and when we got out of the car and he found it he said oh there's my baby brother. : ) He is excited but still doesnt really know whats going to happen... We are excited to find out how our little family will be with 4! Just 16 more weeks and counting...