Valentines Day

I haven't ever really loved Valentines day but this year we started a couple of really fun traditions I hope to always do with our kids. We woke the boys up before Mo went to work and ate pink waffles with pink syrup and pink milk on pink plates together as a family. And while the boys were eating Mo went out and left their valentines on the porch. I don't really think that Jackson remembered valentines day from last year and I know that Benton didn't have any idea what valentines day was all about and so they were both really excited. I had to work but when I got home Mo had such a special surprise for me. He had made a gourmet dinner- it was so cute... he said that he had been cooking for a couple of hours. He made ham fried rice, salmon, fillet mingon, chocolate covered strawberries with white chocolate swirls, and tempura vegetables(peas, spinach leaves, and sweet potatoes) with a special dipping sauce. It was one of the best meals that I have eaten. He is such a great husband and I am so thankful everyday that I made the choice to marry him... I love him so much and I couldn't have a better mate. After dinner we took the boys to deliver Krispy Kreme donuts to their grandparents. It was such a great day and next year I will be excited that we get to do it again.

Rylan at 6 months

I can't believe that Rylan is already 6 months old- We absolutely have the most perfect baby in the whole world... I didn't realize that babies as good as her were even real :) There are 2 words to describe her and they are perfectly content. She is always happy and loves to play. At 6 months I finally moved her from her bassinet in my room to the crib in her room... I didn't want to do it but she just didn't fit in her bassinet anymore. She is so cute in her crib though, when I go to get her after she wakes up she is always snuggled next to one of the sides. She must have liked touching the sides of her bassinet while she slept. We also started feeding her food officially- she had had rice cereal a few times but now she is eating sweet potatoes, squash, peaches, bananas, applesauce, and she loves it. She especially loves when we give her a little yogurt or ice cream. Rylan is now rolling both ways. She loves having something in her hands to play with and if I don't hand her something she can now roll to it herself. I am sure that it won't be too long before she is crawling- her only struggle will be her weight. She is a pretty chubby little baby... very healthy... and so cute. Rylan has also found her voice- she lets out the cutest squeals and grunts. It is funny that grunts can be so cute. At 6 months she has settled in on a schedule- 2 naps morning and afternoon and a little cat nap at night a couple of hours before her bedtime. She is such a wonderful addition to our family- we are so blessed to have such a healthy, and happy baby girl.

5 and 5

The new year has started off just as busy as the last. It seems like I never have time to get on top of anything- I feel like I am on cruise control in survival mode. I had lots of warning about the business of having 3 children... I don't think I have met anyone that has said that 3 is easy. I am just so very lucky that Rylan is such a good baby or else I would not even be making it in survival mode.
Jackson and Rylan both had their well child check-ups last friday.

Rylan is 5 months old now and just as sweet as can be. She is a big girl like Benton always was. She was in the 75% for weight and the 80% for height. The doctor said that she is as healthy as can be. She has always been a good eater and sleeper right from the start. She was actually sleeping through the night at just 6 weeks. She has also beemed of happiness really early- she smiled her first smile at only 4 weeks and now at 5 months we can actually make her giggle. She gets so happy that she can't smile wide enough and her body tenses all up... it is so stinking cute :). She loves playing on the floor with her toys, and with her brothers. I keep telling her brothers to not get so close to her face but she doesn't seem to mind. She is a really good distraction for Benton- at least when he is playing with Rylan he is not doing something to get himself into trouble. She also started rolling this past week- the only problem is that she will roll over to her belly and then she is not sure how to get back to her back. She is so funny when she makes it to her belly she lifts up on her little arms so proud of herself. We are so blessed to have her in our family. She makes our home a happier place.

Jackson was a little on the small side for his age (which we already knew). He was only in the 5% for height and the 15% for weight. I guess he is going to take after his dad who was always small growing up. In fact, Mo didn't grow until he was on his mission. Jackson is starting to realize that he is small but it doesn't seem to bother him... in fact his primary teacher told me that during their lesson she had the kids put their hands up to each others and Logan said look at Jackson's hands they are so small and Jackson said," that just means that I can climb through caves better than you." I am not sure when he has been cave climbing :)? Small is okay though- we tell Jackson that he is not going to be big but that doesn't mean that he can't be really nice, smart, funny, athletic, size doesn't really matter... it is the person you are on the inside that counts. And anyone that has met Jackson knows that he overflows with character and personality... he is definitely one of a kind. During his appointment he had to pee in a cup (which he thought was so funny because the cup was overflowing and getting on his daddy). He also had to get his finger pricked and 2 shots. He was really nervous about the shots. In fact he cried until the nurse gave him the first shot and then he stopped because he realized that it wasn't as bad as what he had thought.

Can't start the new years goal without finishing the old year...

September

September was a very busy month for us. We had Rylans blessing, and my little sister Shalee got married which meant a wedding shower, a wedding luncheon, a wedding, and two wedding receptions. Jackson started soccer and preschool. And, Benton started sleeping in a big boy bed.

Mo did a really great job with Rylans blessing... blessing days are always really special days. I am so grateful that Mo is a worthy priesthood holder and that he is able to give our children blessings whenever they need one. As a mom it is so comforting to know that we have access to Heavently Fathers power in our home. We are so thankful for all of our family and friends that love and support us and came to our new home to celebrate Rylan. We named her Rylan Ann- it took us some time to decide whether or not we wanted to give Rylan a middle name but in the end we decided that we didn't want her to grow up and feel bad that she didn't have one- especially since Jackson and Benton are named after their father and grandfather. Ann is my middle name and it is also Rylans grandmother Kathy's middle name which is special because now she is named after her mother and grandmother. She looked so beautiful in her blessing dress. She is such a sweet baby- every morning that I wake up to her smiling face I can't believe how blessed we are to have this little special spirit in our home. She just beams with happiness and love.


Besides Rylan we had another addition to our family when my sister married Eric this past month. We are really excited that Shalee and Eric were able to meet and start their life together as a couple. Eric is a really nice guy and Jackson and Benton love having another uncle to beat up on. They got married up at Snowbasin and it was beautiful.

It was fun participating in soccer saturday this year. Jackson played for his first time and we loved going to watch his games. Jackson was quite the little defender (not exactly what his mom had in mind for him but he was really proud when he stopped a goal). We just hope that he had fun...

Jacksons preschool class is called Dots and Doodles and he goes to the elementary school right by our house. He really loves school this year and he is learning so much.

We are so proud of Benton for sleeping in a big boy bed. He was really excited to be able to share a big boy bed in a room with his big brother. They both love having someone to sleep with.

October
The 2 big events in October were Halloween (Of course) and my dads 60th Birthday. And, we had such good fall weather that we were able to go on a family hike up to green pond.

November

December

Jackson at 5

Wow! I can hardly believe that Jackson has turned 5 years old. It literally seems like just yesterday that he was a little toddler busying himself around the house all day long. Here are some of the things that he has learned to do at 5...he dresses himself(totally- even chooses his own clothes), brushes his teeth, puts his shoes and socks on, picks up his room, helps set the table, puts away laundry, rides his two wheel bike, drives his 4 wheeler by himself, does front flips and bumsies on the tramp, skiis without an edgie wedgie, goes to preschool, knows all of letters by site and their sound and he can also write them, can count to 100, plays soccer, cand do a headstand, can bat the ball from a pitcher, rides his scooter, gets himself a drink, showers himself, chooses healthy snacks from the pantry, uses pens pencils and markers responsibly, can cut with scissors in a straight line on a line... I know this isn't everything but I think it is a pretty big list and I am so proud of him everyday. He has such a great imagination... he loves building things with his legos and playing with them all day long. He can keep himself entertained for hours with just a couple of lego guys. It is so fun to hear him play. He also loves Harry Potter- and he made a really cute Harry Potter for Halloween...His costume suited him perfectly. He is also a great older brother to Rylan- he can help me hold her and he feeds her a bottle or gets her binky for her when we are riding in the car. He is really inquisitive- he is always asking me questions that seem to be way beyond what a 5 year old should be thinking about. And of course I cannot forget funny- he makes us laugh all of the time. He is so kind and caring- especially when any of us are hurt or sad. We are so thankful for him and the love that he gives to us everyday. To celebrate his birthday with friends we let him take some of his best buddies swimming at the clearfield aquatic center then out to eat at artic circle. They had so much fun. I am glad that he has such good friends. His birthday began with Mo taking him out to breakfast... which is still his very favorite meal of the day. In the afternoon he got to go birthday shopping with his grandpa Vogt... whom he absolutely adors and I know that the feeling is mutual. Then at night we went to eat at Mcgraths fish house because Jackson wanted to go eat seafood... yes he loves seafood... he ate his whole plate of shrimp...he even loves sushi if you can imagine that. He is actually a really good eater- he always eats whatever is on his plate as long as he is hungry- even his vegetables and he usually eats them first. After dinner he wanted to go to the Syracuse Fun Center bouncy house which is so fun...they also have an area with 6 trampolines hooked together. Jackson and Benton had so much fun there. Then it was home for cake and ice cream. We hope that Jackson had a great day- I know that we did... love ya Jacks

Rylan Ann Palmer

This post about Rylans birth is very long overdue seeing as how she is already 3 1/2 months old but better late than never right... After much contemplation I decided that getting started was the lesser of two evils. Having the doctor that gave me my epidurals for both Jackson and Benton really scared me. With Benton my right leg didn't have any feeling until 24 hours after I had had him and I can't imagine anything worse than having 3 kids and being paralyzed in one of my legs. When I talked to my doctor about my concern, he told me that the only way to get around not having Dr. Patel give me my epidral was to schedule my labor for a day that he was not on call. But, I was also very nervous to get started. Part of me always worried that maybe Rylan wouldnt be ready to come yet and that there could be some complications caused because of my decision. At my last appointment my doctor said that Rylan was ready to come and that I was already starting the labor process on my own and so we chose a date to have our baby. Mo and I dropped the boys off at my parents on Sunday night to go to our 9 o'clock PM appointment. It was kindof crazy just showing up to have our baby. I was actually really nervous- when you are already having contractions the pain counteracts the fear but because there was no pain for me there was lots of fear. For the most part everything went fine. The only scary part was that when they gave me my epidural my heart rate dropped and Rylans heart rate took a big dive which was a major concern to the labor and delivery nurses. Three of them ran in and one of them gave me a big shot in the arm to immediately stop the labor. I had a moment of panic that maybe there had been a reason for my hesitation to get started but very quickly Rylans heart rate was under control. I had to wait about an hour until they hooked me back up to the pitocin to help my contractions along. The only bad part about that was itching like crazy from the epidural. But, I would taked itching and being able to feel my legs any day over being scared that I wasnt going to be able to walk. The epidural was actually really cool- I could feel that I was having a contraction but there wasnt any pain until the very last couple of pushes as Rylans head came out. She was born at 3:09 AM... she was exactly 7 lbs and 20 inches long. She was a beautiful baby right from the beginning. We both thought that she looked just like Jackson but we are not so sure anymore. She was definitely really alert like he was where as Benton preffered to sleep. Mo was such a proud husband and daddy. After they hooked me back up to the pitocin she came so fast that my mom didnt have a chance to make it down before she was born. She was pretty shocked to come into the room to see that we had already had her. After about 10 minutes I started to feel really sick... I had to throw up a few times and I guess that is not uncommon? When they took me to my room all I wanted to do was sleep. And, they had actually changed a few things since I had had Benton- one of them being the skin to skin right after they are born which I chose not to do. And the other was that they gave Rylan her first bath right in my room. I feel really bad because I was so sick and so tired that all I wanted to do was sleep it off and I wasn't paying much attention to bath. Kathi and Gary came down at about 6? I think and my mom and dad brought the boys down about 9 or 10 after I had a chance to get a little rest... I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story as you can see from them how wonderful we all thought it was to finally have Rylan as a part of our family.

Benton at 2

Benton turned 2 on May 31 and we had a lot of fun for his birthday. We went to the fish farm in North Ogden and Benton was so excited to go fishing. When we got there he picked out a pole and grabbed his cup of fish food just like he was a big boy. He loved seeing all of the fish in the water. He dropped his line in and caught a fish within a couple of seconds. Having a fish on his line really freaked him out and he didnt want to fish anymore. It was really quite funny. Jackson loved it and he caught 3 fish before we had to stop him as you have to pay for what you catch. Benton did like looking at the fish in the bucket and he liked Jackson to hold them but he didnt want to get close.

We also had a family birthday party for him at the park at trappers pointe. He was so cute. He had so much fun opening his gifts and celebrating his birthday with his family, singing, and his own birthday cake.

At 2 Benton couldnt be funner- He is a great little talker and he says the funniest things. He is also very nice...he has good manners, he always says please and thank you without being prompted. He also loves music and dancing... he has some great moves :) His favorite foods are milk and cucumbers... we can't figure out why he likes cucumbers so much but give him a choice between candy and cucumbers and he will take the cucumbers every time. He loves his brother and he is always trying to be just like him. He also loves teasing him. He also really loves Rylan and he is a great helper. He always gets whatever I need for her as soon as I ask him. When Benton is tired he wants milk and he drinks his milk and pulls on his ear... I am surprised that his ear has not fallen off because he actually pulls on it really hard. Benton got a bike and a scooter for his birthday and he can ride them both but his favorite thing to ride is a motorcycle or four wheeler. He just can't get enough of that. Benton also really likes jumping on the tramp- he has even learned to do a bumsy :) He is big for his age- I wouldn't be surprised if he has outgrown Jackson by next summer. He is as cute and funny as can be and we are so thankful to have him in our family. We love you Benton Boo.