Sister and Brother Play Time

Ella and Holden love, love, love each other. Holden gets so excited everytime he sees his sister. She loves playing with him, holding him, poking him in the head, giving him hugs, and lots more. Holden loves playing with Ella, pulling her hair, laughing at her, and eating all of her toys. Now that Holden is getting bigger and mobile they have a lot of fun together. I will cherish this time because I know they will be fighting before we know it!

Being so silly together!
Some more playing going on.

Ella loves being pulled around in the laundry hamper. Holden

didn't mind it either. They had so much fun!

Ella posing and Holden concentrating on how he can get that

belt in his mouth.

Once again Ella posing and Holden opening the mouth ready

to eat something.

Christmas 2010

Mom and Dad's Christmas present!

Holden loving all his toys!

Ella with her Elmo slippers. She looks so pretty.

Ella and Holden in their new Christmas clothes. So stylin'!


Cute little kids!

Our attempt at getting a family picture on Christmas, but Ella

didn't want to do it of course. Oh well.

Finally a post about our Christmas. Santa was very nice to us this year, and the kids loved everything he dropped off for them. Ella wanted "everything" for Christmas this year. Any time you asked her what she wanted she would respond with, "everything." She is so funny! Ella got lots of toys, squinkies, movies, and lots of games. Holden got some new toys, treats, and lots of wrapping paper. He was in heaven! Zach and I just got a few little things since this year we got a new car!!! We sold our Subaru and bought a 2011 GMC Terrain. It is so nice to drive, not to mention all of the interior room we have. It is a great car and fits our little family perfect. We missed our family in St. George, but we are glad that we got to have a second Christmas with them over New Year's. Ella and Holden were definitely spoiled as always, and loved everything they got. Thank you everyone for everything you do for our little family. We love you!

Work

I know it was months ago that I posted about getting a spot on the UHP DUI Squad, but believe it or not it's taken until this last week to get released from Salt Lake County! It's taking some getting used to. The one and only responsibility I have at work now from the time I check on until I check off is to find impaired drivers and take them off the road. I get to work with such a talented group of guys. To say it's motivating is such an understatement. This story is from one who I have the privilege of working alongside each night:

Today (Sept 4th, 2009) is the one year anniversary of my ex-wife’s tragic death. She, Rebecca, was killed traveling home late from Hurricane to St. George, a trip she had made a hundred times before. In an instant, she, her unborn child (9 mos) and her small daughter Bo, age 2, were killed in a flash by an impaired driver who had taken the prescription drug “Ambien” prior to making a quick trip to the store. The driver, now, completely asleep on drugs, crossed over the two way road without slowing and ran head-on into Rebecca and her VW Jetta with his pickup truck, killing her and her unborn child instantly. She was literally crushed. A senseless moment that should have never of happened. Emergency crews arrived 20 minutes later and Bo died at the hospital a short time later. I remember getting the phone call late that night, which my wife Kristyn answered. On the other end of the phone was Rebecca’s Mother. She explained in a matter of fact way, to Kristyn about the incident. I could instantly tell there was something wrong by the look on Kristyn’s face. She turned to me and said in shock “Rebecca and Bo were just killed in a car crash”. I could feel the blood run from my head and drain to my feet. The energy was sucked out of my body in an instant and I sank to the floor in a crumpled mass. Never have I felt that kind of grief or loss in my life. Thank goodness for my understanding and loving wife Kristyn as she tried to give comfort to my shock. She was there helping me as we both had difficulty trying to understand what this meant. The next morning I had to tell my two daughters that their mother and baby sister were no longer with us, and their unborn brother would never see a day of sunshine. I comforted them as best as a father could. We cried together. In a year from now, most people will not give much thought to her death. In 5 years, even less people will remember. However, she should have lived another 50 years or longer, not including the years her children should have lived. I will remember.
I am a Trooper for the Utah Highway Patrol. I take people to jail every night for impaired driving, and yet, I could do nothing to stop this incident. I felt helpless. I still don’t completely understand it all, but, she will be missed by many, including me. May she rest in comfort and happiness in the presence of God.

This is what I get to go out and try to stop from happening. I love my job :)

6 Months Old

Our baby Holden is already 6 months old. I can't believe how much faster it goes by when you have 2 kids. I feel like he was just born and now he is half way to one. Crazy!!! Here are some facts about him right now:

- He rolls every where and scoots.

- He is going to be crawling anyday. He can push up onto his
knees and rocks back and forth.

- He still just has the 2 bottom teeth, but the dr. said the top
ones will be coming anytime.

-Loves playing with his sister. She is the only one that can
get him laughing really hard.

- Loves, loves, loves his mommy. If I'm in the room he keeps
his eyes on me. If I am holding him and then hand him to Zach
he starts crying and gets mad. Sometimes he will hold onto me
tight if Zach comes up to talk to him. Doesn't want Daddy
to take him away. So funny!

- Loves putting everything in his mouth. Anything he grabs or
you give to him goes straight to the mouth.

- He is a catnapper. 20 minutes here, 20 minutes there.
Not a good thing.

- He is eating big boy food. Loves Rice cereal, green beans, applesauce,

mixed fruits, and oatmeal.

- Six month Stats:

Height: 26.8" 65%
Weight: 16.3 lbs 25%

He is following in the steps of Ella-taller then average and underweight. He is such a joy to our family and we love him more and more everyday. Can't wait to make many more memories with him!

He rolled over to our table then got stuck so he decided to take a nap!

Ella thinks the nutcracker is her brother also so he took a nap.

Such an imagination she has.

Not too sure what was going on.

Found mommy! Love these two sweet kids!

I think you can totally tell they are brother and sister.

So cute!!

Christmas Jammies

The other day Ella asked if her and baby brother could have matching jammies. I went to Costco (since I love Costco Jammies) and found these Christmas ones with matching monkeys. Ella was so excited she wanted to wear them as soon as I bought them. We put them on and caught this cute picture of them.

So cute! They look so much alike.

(if you make this larger you can see Holden's 2 teeth)

These bottom pictures I just took last night. I was cleaning the house and walked in to see them both asleep holding hands. I thought it was so cute. It made me kind of tear up because of how precious they both are. I love these two sweet kids, and love that they love each other so much.

So precious!

Big boy food

Holden is slowly starting to eat big boy food. At his four month checkup his doctor said he could start eating rice cereal and baby food. He at first didn't like anything, but now he likes rice cereal, and certain food. We are still trying to introduce different kids of food to him, but so far his favorites are green beans, bananas, apples, and peaches. I can't believe he is already big enough to start eating food. Here are some current things he is doing:

- He is rolling over, and wants so bad to be mobile

- He tries to scoot on the floor. He digs his head into the carpet and pushes his

butt into the air with his legs. He doesn't make it anywhere, but still tries hard.

- He loves to spit and blow bubbles with his tongue.

- He loves his sister. She can make him laugh harder then anyone.

- He loves his mommy and if I'm in the room not holding him, he watches

my every move. He makes sure I don't leave.

- He loves pulling hair, and grabbing everything. He has a very tight grip.

- He is a very busy baby already. He tries hard every day to not go to sleep

so he doesn't miss anything going on.

He is the best boy and we love him so much! Can't wait to make more memories with him!

Halloween 2010

We had a such a fun halloween this year! Ella was a spider and Holden was a little dragon. During the day we went our ward's halloween party, and had fun at the trunk or treat! Then that night I went up to my sister's house with the kids so we could go trick or treating. Ella loved trick or treating this year, and got LOTS of candy (which she had a sugar overload the first day, since we don't have lots of candy around our house.) We missed Zach this year, he had to work this Halloween is a big holiday for them, but luckily he got to take her around the trunk or treat! Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

My little Spider Ella and dragon Holden!

Loved carving pumpkins!!!

These are our pumpkins we carved!

First Day of School and Dance

Ella started Preschool in October she goes two days a week from 9:45 until 12:00. I was going to wait until next year to get her in, but every time she would see a school bus or see someone with a backpack she would tell me she needed to go to school. She would get so sad, so I found a preschool that didn't start until the middle of October. She learned how to write her name the first day. They gave her a piece of paper that she could trace the letters in her name, she sat right down and traced them, then she wrote her name on a paper without tracing. She is definitely too smart! She loves going and loves her teacher Brittney!

Ella also started dance in September. She loves, loves, loves it! She is doing a Ballet/Tap combo class. She is learning so much and can't wait to show us what she learns. For Halloween they did a little performance in class for their families, and she totally loved performing. I can' wait until the big recital. I love watching the little girls, I think they are by far the cutest!



Posing at school after her first day!

She is showing off her first painting!

She is so silly!

This is her class uniform for dance!