Easter egg dive and other fun festivities

We had a fun Easter this year, though I didn't really get to take many pictures, mostly because I forgot to do it, but hey I will work with what I got.
We went up to Haramen Utah where Travis sister lives and we went to an easter egg hunt with her, her husband and her three kids, although I wouldn't really call it a hunt but rather a free for all for the parents. It was freezing and we had to bundle up in winter attire to brave through the cold. The kids were of course excited despite the cold, but since there was snow on the ground at the park, they had the easter egg dive as I will call it, under the pavillion. The 0-2 year olds went first which was nice because McKenna is in that category. They had candy strewn out all over the floor and had a fire engine there that would put the siren on when it was time to go.
On the sound of the siren, the kids went out onto the floor to collect the candy, although at this age it was the parents pushing their kids into the center and diving in grabbing all the candy for them; if I didn't know any better I would think the parents were the ones needing an Easter egg hunt.
McKenna was kind of frozen in place because of the siren, so I picked up a few eggs and showed her how to put them in her basket so she would get the idea. She finally caught on and started picking up all the candy around her. I wish the parents would have let their kids do it themselves, but what can you do. Travis couldn't even take a picture because there were so many people scrambling all over that he couldn't even see us picking up the candy. In about 1 minute or less the floor was cleared of all the Easter goodies and the kids whose parents helped them had overflowing Easter baskets while some kids had only one or two things. It was a crazy mess, I am not sure if I will be attending one of those again. I think I will just take my chances at a nice Easter egg hunt at home where it is safe from crazed parents and the cold.
The rest of the day we just spent up at Travis sisters while the cousins played together and ate Easter candy.
Easter morning, the Easter bunny came to visit McKenna. Lindsay had spent the night so it was fun to have her there in the morning. She covered her eyes while we brought it out to her.

Her face was priceless and she pulled her old man face (those of you who have seen her know what I am talking about). She loved all the candy and toys she got and was glad the Easter bunny came.

We went back over to Travis sister's house and watched conference, or more like tried to watch it while all of the kids were playing and screaming. It was nice for McKenna to play with her cousins though and we at least were able to be uplifted by conference even if it was only a little bit.
We had a big dinner after conference with Melanie and her husband and kids, and some of Melanie's husbands family. The food was delicious and it was so fun being around family and enjoying time and good food with them.
All in all it was a pretty good Easter even if it was full of crazed people, screaming kids and candy I shouldn't be eating in the first place.

Big Changes

We have some pretty exciting news to share and since I haven't blogged for a while a lot to catch up on.
Travis got accepted to Willamette law school in Oregon, so we are moving there in August....wohoo! Travis got a scholarship there which we were really shocked about but very glad. It is a big blessing to us. I am so excited to be able to go back to Oregon and get out of Provo Utah. It will be so nice to be close to some family opposed to no one if we went somewhere else for law school. I will miss my sisters like crazy though since they are both here with their hubbies.
The second bit of exciting news is that yay, we are having a boy! We were really shocked when we had the ultra sound and you could tell 100% that is was a boy. We both thought it was going to be another girl, so we were really surprised but super excited. Now that I will have one of each, I don't care what I have after this one. McKenna is so cute and is already saying "hi baby brother" to my stomach and is ready to have him come. I babysat my friend's kids the other day and she has a 4 month old and McKenna just wanted to hold him and kiss him and give him his pacifier the whole time. She is going to be a great big sister, maybe kind of annoying because she will love him to death, but hey it is cute.
Here is a prego picture of me at 20 weeks. It is not a great picture but hey it's a picture. I know mostly just my boobs have grown, but hey, what can you do.

We are also moving yet again out of our apartment at the end of April because my grandpa who is 100 had to be put in a nursing home so we are going to be living at his house until we move to Oregon in August. It will save us a lot of money so we feel very blessed. I am very sad though that I won't be able to be in YW anymore, it is so fun! I have really enjoyed this calling and I love my ward so it will be very hard. I can't wait till Travis is out of law school so that we can settle down for longer than a few years in one place.


McKenna is getting so big! She talks so well I find it hard to believe she is almost 3. She seems so much older than she is but maybe that also has to do with her height since she looks like she is 4. She is so polite though and says please and thank you for everything and is such a big helper. I am so glad I am having another baby because she is all grown up now and is no longer my little baby anymore.
Some of the funny things she says now are "oh great" whenever she is happy about something, "don't do it" if she doesn't want you to do something, and "don't touch mommy's boobies" because she started doing that and I had to tell her we don't do that and so she will just say it to people randomly which is pretty hilarious. She sings songs all the time and knows all the words to "I love to see the Temple, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Itsy Bitsy Spider, The Alphabet song, Pat a cake, and so many more. It is so fun and precious to see her sing songs. She is such a joy and I love being able to see what she will do next and how much she is growing.


All in all we are great, just waiting for those big changes to come this summer.

Slacker

So I have been a really big slacker when it comes to blogging, but I am going to blame it on my dumb computer and lack of good internet connection. We have and will be going through a lot of changes this year which we are really excited about although somewhat stressful. Our most exciting news is that we are expecting our 2nd child this August and are really excited to welcome the new little one into our family. We feel so blessed and I know this new little one will be such a joy to our lives. McKenna is already excited about it and constantly touches my tummy and says "hi baby, I wuv you." She also says it is mommy's baby when anyone asks her about it. We find out next month what we are having so we are counting down to that. I don't really care what I have, I will be happy with whatever angel is sent to us. McKenna has been going through hormonal changes it would seem as she screams and throws tantrums on the slightest whim and is very strong willed and has a hard time listening with certain things. Thankfully they don't last long and then she is totally fine and goes on being her happy self. I think we will have a bi-polar child for a while. She is so smart though and has gotten to that stage where she asks what everything is and such. She is such a joy to our lives though, I don't know what I would do without her. I love being able to spend time with her although sometimes it does get a little overwhelming. Travis still has a job as a regional manager at a company called Western Watts which is a translation company and is heading up a big project for the FBI which he is really enjoying. We feel very blessed that he has done so well and that he will have a job until we go to law school. Speaking of law school, that is one of the other big changes we have coming up. We are still waiting to hear from one school on whether he got in or not, but as soon as we get that we will be making the big decesion on where to go. He has already been accepted to a school in New York and one in Florida so we are happy to have a few choices right now. We will be moving in August since that is when he starts school, so it will be really stressful since the baby is being born in August and I don't even know if Travis will be able to be here for the birth. Keeep your fingers crossed the baby comes early! As for me, besides various parts that keep expanding I am doing quite well. Travis got me a gymn membership with a kids club membership so I can go work out and take McKenna with me. It is such a nice thing to be able to get away and just work out and do something for myself. I am the 1st counselor in the YW presidency and I absolutely love it! It is so much fun to be around all the yw and their sweet spirits.
We are all doing great though but miss all our family and friends and hope you are all well too. I wish I could have posted pictures and some cute videos of McKenna but alas my computer is way to slow so maybe next time.

Potty training

It has been a long time coming, but McKenna is almost potty trained....yay! I introduced her to the little potty a long time ago, but she didn't ever go in it, and didn't really show much interest other than that she just liked to sit on it while I went to the bathroom. I didn't know if I should start her because I thought she was ready but wasn't sure so I decided I would just hold off until she told me she needed to go or whatever.
My waiting paid off because a few weeks ago she told me she needed to go potty so I put her on the potty and she went. I was so excited so I cheered for her and gave her chocolate and made a potty chart where she could put a sticker everytime she went in the potty. She was really excited about this method, and actually kept it up. I kept in her diapers for a week to make sure she was ready, but she would always tell me when she went poopoo, but I would kind of have to monitor her going peepee. Once she got ten stickers on the potty chart, I took her to get a toy which she loved! I told her that if she kept going in the potty good she could wear big girl panties. She has gone on the potty lots of times now, so we decided she was ready for big girl panties.
We went to the store and she picked out some panties and I put her in them yesterday for the first day. She did really good, she only had two accidents, but absolutely loves her panties. She has gotten the hang of going poopoo in the toilet, but is still working on the whole wetness thing. I am sure she will catch on though, but until then there is a lot of wetness around here.
I never really knew what people meant when they said to wait until they are ready, but now I do, cause they really will tell you when it is time, and you will know.

I am going crazy, and McKenna is driving me there

sometime way too early in the morning for me to be coherent: (door to my bedroom flies open) "mommy"(crying) (McKenna stumbles over everything in my room to get to my side of the bed and throws her bunny,frog and two blankets on me and climbs onto the bed.) I lay her down in the middle of us and cover her up and try to go back to sleep. about 5 min later I have hands slapping me in the face and a hand turning my face to be right next to hers so I can feel her breathing on me. She falls asleep and I think "yes I can go to sleep now".....snoring begins and more hands hitting me in the face. I return McKenna to her bed and 10 min later the process starts over again so I lay there and drift in and out of sleep.
7am rolls around: "mom!" "watch a movie mom!" (Kenna slips off the bed and climbs up on the desk to get a movie.) meanwhile I groan and tell McKenna to come lay down for a few more minutes...."c'mon mom,watch princess kay?" (she comes and takes my fingers and pulls me out of bed.) Already I am starting the day off tired.
I lay on the couch with her thinking I can get a little sleep while she watches the movie, but 5 min later...."i hungy mom" I think I can just give her some cereal but no..."pancakes mom"
The rest of the day is me saying a lot of "stop that, get down, stay out of that, I told you not to play with that, do you want to go to timeout, 1..2..3...okay timeout! clean up your toys please, put that back, do you want to go in your room, please stop whining, why did you take your diaper off, don't throw things, don't say that word its not nice, stay by mommy please, don't jump on the couch, we dont play with the toilet paper, (at the store) sit down please... Kenna sit down please...if you dont stay sitting down you won't get a treat,Kenna you need to eat a few bites of this or (filled in with some type of threat such as you wont get a treat or watch a movie), don't throw food on the floor, leave your bib on please or you will get your clothes dirty, Mckenna that is not a toy...you get the point.
I try to get a little cleaning done among other things but McKenna says a lot of "play blocks mom, watch a movie mom, I hungy mom(about 20 times a day), stop it mom, i dont want mom, listen moosic, mommy, c'mon mom, play toys mom, color k, sutup mom (thanks all the children's movies that say that), park okay, sing song, chockit (chocolate)pease,no, mom!...mom!....mom!
I really cant do anything with out her getting into mischief so that is my day basically playing with her and following her around to keep her out of things. It is a wonder I actually get anything done. As soon as Travis is home I say I am done.
Two is definately a challenging age, but even though these things drive me crazy sometimes, I cant help but love them, laugh at them and think they are adorable!
She really is so sweet, it is just that by the end of the week I feel like I am going to lose my mind.

Halloween

I cant believe that this was the third halloween for McKenna, time just flies. This one was by far the best so far! She had so much fun this year.
McKenna was a witch, and I couldn't decide what Hat I liked best so I just put her in one for the church festival, and then the other one for trick or treating.
The Halloween festival at the church was fun, and Kenna got lots of prizes and loved playing the games.

Her favorite was the cake walk because of course she got a cupcake which she got to enjoy at home where she wouldn't make a mess.It was fun, but not a lot of people were there. I let her have a little taste of the cupcake before I realized it was a bad idea to let her eat it there.


We went up to Travis' sister's house in Heramen, Utah to go trick or treating with her family. McKenna loved being with her cousins.

McKenna was so excited for trick or treating she started running to the houses the moment we got outside. I had to keep reminding her to stay by mommy or she would have to ride in the stroller instead of walk.


She would run up to the door and try to grab handfuls of candy, I had to keep reminding her to only take one unless they said otherwise. She kept trying to take the candy out and eat it as she got it, but of course I told her she would have to wait till we got home.

She could have gone all night, but it was getting cold so we went back inside. She enjoyed looking at all her candy, but not as much as eating it.


We bobbed for apples which was pretty funny. McKenna stuck her face in there to get the apple or so I thought, but it turns out she was just drinking the water.
We had a lot of fun with them and we had a great Halloween!

what is happening with the harris's

It has been a while since I posted anything so I guess I will fill everyone in on what is going on with our family.
Travis is working a lot and applying to Law schools and other things so most of the time it is just me and Kenns. We have a lot of fun together though, and I love her little personality.
She is starting to sing songs all the time and actually knows all the words. When she goes down for an afternoon nap I always rock her in her chair and sing to her. Once day I was singing "what heaven sees in you" and she started singing the words to it before I got to them. It was the most adorable thing I have ever heard! Her favorite songs to sing are the ABC's and Itsy Bitsy Spider and Ring around the Rosies. She loves listening to music and dancing around the living room.
She recently has gotten on this kick where she says "love you so much" to everything. She was taking a bath the other day and when she was done we let the water out and she says "bye water, I love you so much!"
Everytime Daddy leaves for work she says "daddy kisses pease," and when she kisses you she grabs your face and gives you a nice big kiss. She always wants hugs and kisses, she is just so sweet!
As for me, I am just enjoying being around McKenna even when she gets into things and makes messes for me to clean up. She is into stuff more now then she ever has been, but I love her!
We are just waiting to see where we will end up for law school so besides that there is not much going on that is too exciting, but give me a couple months and I will hopefully have more exciting things to share with you all.