Teeth Fetish

I could be a dental hygienist. As long as I don't have to see nasty teeth, smell stinky breath, see blood, give shots, or drill teeth.

I love going to the dentist. I always have! Addysin takes after me. She begs to go. Literally. She won't leave me alone once I've told her we need to go get our teeth checked and cleaned. She had a gigantic molar pulled in November and it was a bad experience... And she still loves the dentist. I didn't get any pics of her because I was getting worked on. I didn't worry about being by her side. She has 3 cavities 😒 and she CANNOT wait to get silver on her teeth! I think that she thinks her whole tooth is going to be silver like a couple of her friends. She's going to be sorely disappointed.

Jocelyn is our most mature 2 year old ever. She didn't see anyone get X-rays or a cleaning and she was so amazing and adorable. Caiden saw her do everything and still covered his mouth every chance he could get. He was even shaking at one point. He takes after Chris. Chris hates the dentist.

Worst.Day.Ever

I had to go to Pocatello to meet somebody that had come from Washington. He brought all our tools that Chris was using to remodel a house in Richland. This was the only way for us to get them before we move. I only took Jocelyn and Dillon and I was gonna just pound it out and get it done. Anyways, I was almost to Pocatello and my accelerator started having problems. About every 10 minutes for almost 2 hours I couldn't accelerate all of the sudden and I had to pullover, turn the car off, wait a minute, and then I could go again. I stopped at a mechanic and talked to a Kia service place and found out it wouldn't ruin the car to keep driving it.
We left at 11 am to meet the guy with our tools at 2:30. Trip to Pocatello-awesome until the last hour. Then everything started going wrong. First the van problems.
My van magically stopped doing the wierd thing just as I got onto the busy freeway in northern Utah. Such a blessing!! Why does The Lord bless me so much? Maybe because he knew what was coming and I couldn't handle the car situation anymore.
It started pouring so hard I could hardly see. There was a wreck and it was rush hour. Chris flew back from California and was waiting at the airport for me. He changed his flight so he could come to a lee family dinner (that we missed). Dillon and Jocelyn were not happy anymore. I had to stop and feed him when I was only 20 min from the airport. Then I got on the wrong freeway. I was completely disoriented because of the rain. I could have been going north or east and wouldn't have known I was going in the wrong direction. Then I see that I'm empty but can't find a gas station for miles on this "legacy parkway" freeway that I've never been on! I drive all over, in the wrong directions, trying to find gas. It's amazing I didn't run out! My dumb phone that I rely on too much was not helping me. And all the while, I'm waiting and expecting my car to stop accelerating so I stay away from other cars, and as close to the shoulder as possible. I finally get Chris who has been at the airport for 2 hours and Dillon cries all the way home-still rush hour because of the rain. Sooooo stressful! We finally picked up Addysin and Caiden from their friends who didn't expect to have them so long. We got home at 7:30. So.....
I traveled for 8 hours today. Oh and I stayed up till almost 3:00am baking cookies last night for tonight's Lee party.
Chris and the older three went to the get-together. Me and Dillon stayed home to relax.... After I cleaned up his blowout he had just as we got home.

The Princess Ball

Addysin was so excited for this ball. It was a daddy daughter date at the elementary school. Chris made his flight back from California for the same day as the ball. The plane had problems and they cancelled the flight!! Chris knew how much this date meant to Addysin so he did everything he could to try and get a flight. There was nothing available until Sunday afternoon! He ended up paying a standby passenger on another flight $80 to give his flight to Chris and wait for the next one. Chris was willing to give more! Everyone had heard about Chris' situation and the princess ball. When he got his ticket and started walking down the tunnel to the airplane a group of woman started cheering for him :) so many blessings happened so Chris could make it back.
Addysin wanted her hair like Elsa on the movie frozen. And she wanted makeup, of course. I LOVED getting her ready. We had just bought her baptism dress for this coming December because they were selling them at Costco. It worked out so perfect!!

A new way to post!

I found out that I can post to my blog from my phone! Yes!!! It took me almost 2 hours to figure it out. It wasn't working.... Or I wasn't working. It's 1:30 am now so that's very likely. I'll be able to post pictures and updates so easily now!!!!!!!!!!! My life has just changed.

Sent from my iPhone

Me Growing Dillon

We had to plan this pregnancy so that I wouldn't have a baby during Chris' summer sales season. That was April 15-Sep 15. Yeah, so 5 months were blocked out. We were lucky to be able to get pregnant in February. We found out mid March. We had gone home to Washington to visit. I thought, or maybe just hoped, I was pregnant but didn't want to find out there. We couldn't wait another day and bought a pregnancy test on our road trip back to Utah. Yup, we stopped at a dollar store for a pregnancy test and while we were eating at McDonalds I slipped away to the bathroom. I came back out and I thought Chris knew what I was doing... but he didn't. I told him I was pregnant! Ok, yeah... kinda weird but VERY memorable!!! I started this pregnancy weighing less than ever before in my life as a 5 foot 6-er. And you bet i gained the most of any pregnancy. I always creep my way up to 170 lbs and stay there until delivery, not gaining very much at the end. 

I thought I was 6 weeks when I took these next 3 pictures....

...but I had just found out I was pregnant and I was only 4 weeks.

I went to the Dr for an ultra sound and she told me I was 2 weeks ahead of myself and that my real due date was November 22. I had gained 10 lbs by the time I was 8 weeks.... who does that?! Me. (picture below)

 See that joy written all over my face when I looked in the mirror? :)

 11 weeks (above and below)

 ... and I'm on the move- a week and a half later at 12 1/2 weeks. 

I think I ate too much that day. I'm huge!

 Swim suits dont lie! 

16 weeks.

 17 weeks.

 There's that shirt again that apparently makes me look like I'm carrying twins! 

18 weeks.

 Baby at 22 week ultrasound. 

This is when I would have found out the gender but we decided not to... Chris mostly decided, and I did it for him. 

 22 weeeks

 25 weeks (below)

 27 weeks

 35 weeks (next 2 below)

 36 weeks 

And then I was miserable for 2 more weeks until this little sweetheart came into the world 2 weeks early. Wait... What?!?! Yes, I had him the day after my original due date (calculated by me when I first found out I was pregnant. The Dr. changed my due date based off of measurements that are "extremely accurate" from an ultrasound at 8 weeks). Who knows? I'm just happy I was put out of my misery 2 weeks before expected

Too Long

You know how when you're entering a web address and the server finishes it for you if the address has been entered before? well, I just started typing in my blog address and at no point did it ever finish it for me..... wow, Its been too long since I've been on here. Every time I think of my blog, I get a sick stomach but I dont do anything about it. Here are my thoughts for today:

I hate bedtime
I hate being on my own without chris, which is what I do now. He works in California and I'm almost a single mom. I have money though:)
I feel sickly or starving most days because I dont feed myself properly. French toast and candy are my main food groups. Sick!
I'm supposed to be packing, but all I do each day is feed kids and clean the house.
I'm happy.... but its bedtime so you're getting to hear the worst of me.

There. My first post in almost a year.

Caiden-ism

Caiden is at a really funny age. It might just be me, but I think he is so cute and most of the things he says are worth writing down. I just cant decide which funny sayings to write down, and end up not writing any!

A couple nights ago, him and Jocelyn were playing an intense game of peek-a-boo in and out of his closet. She was screaming and having the best time. Caiden then says, "I think she likes me!" It sounded like he was talking about a puppy he just met. Then a few minutes later we were saying prayers. When it was his turn, his prayer went something like this....

Intro
Thank you for Jocelyn
Thank you that we had fun playing
Thank you that she likes me
Amen

He was a happy brother that night!

Caiden-ism

"Mom, play that song again because its my favorite song in the whole wide world!"
About We Are Never Getting Back Together by Taylor Swift. His other favorite is Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Poor Caiden needs a brother.

We've Moved!

We moved at the beginning of January to Lehi, UT. Our new address is

2754 Shady Hollow Loop

Lehi, UT 84043

So far, we are very happy. I have been so busy unpacking that I haven't had time to establish a schedule and a "normal" life but it seems like we are going to really like it here!

We moved so Chris is close to the corporate office for Vivint. He is managing another sales team this summer. It is much easier to recruit here in Utah, versus Washington. Utah is the capitol of summer sales! There are very good quality, experienced sales guys. The Vivint office is a great place to take recruits. Its really fun to visit Chris at work. There is an awesome cafeteria, free cookies for the kids, and the modern/contemporary style is something different for me and I like it! If we hadn't moved, Chris would have to continue to travel back and forth between WA and UT to recruit, and even with that he may not have been very successful with recruiting. A lot of the meetings he has are impromptu.  It just wouldn't have been as beneficial with this job for us to stay in WA, even though I dearly loved it there. 

Utah is a really fun place with LOTS of families our age, LOTs and shopping, and fun family activities. We live right ON the point of the mountain so Draper is 10 min. north in the Salt Lake Valley and Lehi/American Fork is 10 min. south in Utah county. It takes Chris 25 min to get to Work down by the Riverwoods in Provo/. I love living on Traverse Mountain. We get a little more snow (which I love) and we have a great veiw out our kitchen window. We live next to Cabelas, you'll see a picture below of a green tin roof. Thats taken from our kitchen window, as well as the picture next to it. 

We live 5 minutes from Kara and Adam, 10 minutes from our friends Tyler and McKendra, 15 minutes from Tony and Megan, 20 minutes from all our friends in our old neighborhood, 30 minutes from Jessica and Sara, and about 40 minutes from David and Kira. 

As you can see we have filled the space. There are 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2 car garage, and a fully fenced in back yard! The empty room is going to be an office for Chris and (maybe) craft room for me :) The other bedroom (not pictured) will remain storage or a guest room . The kids say they like their new room better but they definitely miss Washington. I dont like bringing it up though because they just need to like Utah. I tell them all the amazing things about our new house. I'm afraid to visit my parents next month because I dont want them to want to stay.

Accidents happen

We went to Megan's gym on Monday that has THE best daycare ever. Caiden was soooo excited when he walked in. I was only working out for 15 min when they called my name over the intercom. Oh great. I go to the daycare to find Caiden standing in the bathroom stall covered in pee, pee on the toilet, the floor, and his pants still totally on.

Caiden crying: I had an accident!
Me: Its ok!
Caiden explaining: This is the wrong toilet! (pointing to the unusually small toilet, made especially for kids.)
Me: No, thats the right toilet. Its for kids.
Caiden: I'm not a kid! I'm a big boy kid!!

So apparently he waited too long to go, got in there and was totally thrown off by the small toilet, didn't have time to look around for the "big boy toilet" and peed everywhere. Not sure how it got all over the toilet without ever taking his pants off. Thank goodness I had his swimsuit in the locker room for him to change into so i could finish my workout!

2012

This blog is very important to me, but I cannot get it on the top of my priorities. I feel sick thinking about all the cute things my kids have said and done that I never wrote down. Those memories are just gone now :( I actually had a revelation last night when Addysin woke me up in the middle of the night. I layed in bed thinking about my blog. I am going to do better!! So here we go again...

Here is our Christmas letter that sums up 2012.

In January, we started off the cold winter months with a trip to California! We had a lot of fun for a few days, and then missed our return flight! Because of the airline we flew on, we were stuck there for a few more days. It turned out perfect though. We had a ton of fun with my cousin’s family, my sister, and her husband.

Chris decided to sell security systems for the summer months once again. So in February we drove to Utah for Chris to attend a big meeting. That’s when he and his brother Tony decided they wanted to manage their office in Rogers/Bentonville, Arkansas. Home of Walmart! What more could you want? Chris turned 28 that month.

In March, we were enjoying our last month together and at the beginning of April Chris set out for AR. We braved it alone for 5 weeks (well not really since I have my wonderful family a mile away who are always so willing to help).

At the beginning of May, we flew out to the beautiful Midwest and spent the next two months with Chris in Arkansas. We all loved it! It was so fun to have no responsibilities other than keeping my children and husband fed and happy. We spent every day out and about, finding fun things to do.  We loved searching out the best parks, swimming, going on walks, touring the historic downtown areas, playing at the splash pad, visiting the library, going on scenic drives, and best of all, getting to spend time with Chris in the mornings. Chris’ younger sister lives there so we got to spend a lot of time with her and her family. One of the biggest events of the year happened there. Caiden was finally potty-trained three months before his 4^th birthday!!! Hallelujah! It was a lot of work.

We came home at the end of June. It was a painful parting, with lots of tears, but we got to come home to our comfy beds, family, and friends! And of course the giant yard that was getting overtaken with weeds. Our “extended vacation” had felt like a dream. Chris traveled around AR and MO selling during July and stayed in hotels, which was not something I wanted to do with 3 kids. I went to Utah for a fun visit to see friends and family. I brought my friend back with me, who stayed for a month! That was a lot of fun!

In August we had a Lee reunion up at Camp Zarahemla where Chris’ parents are serving a two-year mission. Almost the entire family was there!  Caiden turned four.  I turned 27. This was the first birthday that I felt “old” and I would be happy to not get any older from now on. Chris won a Range Rover in a sales competition! He worked extremely hard that last month and was ready for a break when the summer ended. Addysin lost her first tooth! Then shortly after that lost her second, wh ich the tooth fairy forgot to pick up so she left $2 to make up for it! Addysin had been dreading her kindergarten shots for at least six months and I finally dragged her in to the Doctor the day before school started. To her surprise, the shots didn’t hurt and she didn’t have to die from a disease (which she was also afraid of). Her first day was a BIG day. Addysin LOVES kindergarten. Caiden used to greet her with a hug everyday when she would get off the bus. Those two are so cute together. We got goats. Bad idea. Chris started coaching high school football again. Great idea. He loves it.

Jocelyn started crawling at 11 months. She turned a year In September. She is THE SWEETEST baby anyone could ask for, when she isn’t teething with ear infections. I finally moved her out of our room for her birthday. She probably thought that was the worst birthday present. Chris and I left the kids with my family for our anniversary and went to New York for 5 days. “Wow!” is all I can say. That was so much fun to be out on our own. I felt young, even though I am 27 JAddysin started ballet. I asked Caiden if he wanted to also do ballet because boys are free J and he declined with laughter.

October. Enjoyed warm fall weather. We did a juice fast for 10 days. I’m always looking for a fun new way to boost our health.  Jocelyn is our healthy eater because of my “quest for health”.

In November we went to Utah again for Chris’ year-end banquet for work. He got to drive his new car home! He also went to Ohio to knock doors for Romney the week of the election. They did make a difference, just not enough. L My sister Sara got home from her mission the week of Thanksgiving and we had every single person from my side home that week! First time in 2 ½ years. This month, December, Addysin turned 6 and she got her ears pierced!

After considering moving back to Utah for the past year, Chris and I decided it was time. We made our decision after Thanksgiving and we will be moving the first week in January! We are excited and sad. We love our life here, but we also think Utah is such a great place. I’ve decided I can be happy anywhere as long as I have my family with me. We look forward to what the future holds. We will be living in Lehi and will go with Chris for sales this summer. It hasn’t been decided where we are going yet. Our life is a fun adventure!

We cherish our friends and family that make life so fun.  We are so blessed! We love our Savior. We are so grateful for his birth and for the sacrifices he made for us so that we can live again. We love this time of year! Merry Christmas!

The Lee’s 2012

As seen on TV

Our kids like watching shows On NickJr and apparently love the commercials. Many many times, the kids have told me about products they want.

This morning at breakfast Caiden told me: "Mom for Christmas I want scrubby bubbles because it cleans everything! You just use a sponge to wipe it off!"






















He also told me that I need to get oxyclean for the dishwasher.

Their Christmas present wish lists came straight from NickJr: Dream lights, batman legos, littlest pet shop, and gymnastics dora (which sold out at Christmas time, I'm sure because of NickJr.)

Sometimes we see an "as seen on TV" item at the store and they get so excited! For example: Stompeez. They are slippers that have an animal head. The mouth opens with each step the child takes. Oxyclean. Caiden might be a cleaner at heart. He really wants me to buy that stuff. I should show him we already have it. I will be the coolest mom. It amuzes me that my little kids know about things that I didn't know they knew.

Caiden in a nutshell

 Caiden is a super fun and funny kid. We are so lucky to have him. He is 2 months shy of being 4. He likes to tell people he is 7, and totally serious about it. I'm not sure why he chose that age.

He came running to me one day and super worried saying, "I hurt my pinky promise!" That wasn't the last time he called his pinky that.

 When he is truly tired, he can sleep anywhere. He got that from the Lee side, for sure.

At Waffle House:

Server: How are you?

Caiden (very excitedly): I am Caiden, and this is my friend Addysin!

A couple weeks ago Caiden fell and got a black eye. It wasn't very bad, but before we went to church I told him that people might ask him what happened and he needed to tell them that he fell, just to keep it simple. He doesn't have a huge vocabulary and doesn't speak very clear. I felt like a bad person trying to brainwash my child. I made him practice saying, "I fell." We were at church for an hour before somebody talked to him and says, "How are you?" Caiden explodes (he had been waiting for his big moment), "I fell and hurt my eye." The women couldn't understand him and just smiled. I started laughing.

Every time Jocelyn wakes up from a nap or in the morning, Caiden gasps and replies, "Cuties awake!!!" He really loves her.

Let me tell you what he doesn't love. Spit up. The first time he saw her breast feeding, he literally started gagging. Then a couple minutes later she spit up. He dry heaved. I laughed when I noticed his blood shot eyes and realized he wasn't joking. He has always gagged at her spit up, but never threw up. Thank goodness because he has the WORST gag reflex I have ever seen. I have cleaned up my share of throw up from him and its not because of an upset stomach. I thought Chris was bad. So I was feeding Jocelyn her first baby food, butternut squash. Like all babies trying to figure out how to swallow, the spoonful of food would go in her mouth and then the food would ooze back out and down her chin. Caiden thought it was SOOOO funny! The super funny part was that he was gagging and laughing harder than I have ever heard him. I decided I had to get this on camera because his laugh was so stinkin' cute! With one hand I am feeding Jocelyn, the other hand I am holding my iphone and recording. I would point the camera at Jocelyn while I put food in her mouth, then point it at Caiden to see him rolling laughing. I'm not really paying attention to him because I'm doing like 5 things at once. I go back and forth a couple of times and then the next time I put the camera on him he is vomiting!!! He felt so bad and kept saying "Sorry, Mom! Sorry, Mom!" Poor kid. Jocelyn isn't very interested in eating solid food and honestly I hate feeding babies food because its such a pain. I have only fed her a couple of times since then and Caiden started gagging again so I made him leave the room.

Today I was trying to get Caiden to finish his apple sauce so I'm spooning it into his mouth while I'm holding Jocelyn. I decide to touch the spoon to her lip just so she tastes it. I absolutely did not put it in her mouth and he got so mad. Then I put that spoonful in his mouth. He hadn't thought about it until after he swallowed. I swear he thinks that Jocelyn is a disgusting little person. He swallowed the applesauce and then started gagging. I told him to go stand over the garbage because I knew what was coming. He tried fighting it off for a good 20 seconds, then just couldn't keep it down. Up came all of his applesauce. Awesome.

Caiden loves kisses, hugs, and affection but only when he's up for it (not all the time). He really dislikes it when people try to smother him with love. He likes to do that kind of stuff at "Hi" and "Goodbye". My mom loves when he gives her hugs around her leg. Since we have been gone for a month and a half, she says that is one thing she really misses. One time Addysin's friend, Taryn, was going home and gave Addysin a hug and kiss on the cheek. Addysin was pleasantly surprised. Caiden always has to hug friends as well when they go home. Taryn goes to kiss him on the cheek and Caiden wants it on the lips. He puckers up and she is trying to dodge his lips and get it on his cheek. After they go back and forth and she can see she cant get to his cheek, she just pats his cheek, giggles and leaves.

He really loves puzzles lately. I'm happy about that. Puzzles take a lot of focus and patience, which I didn't know he had.

 He loves technology. Movies, TV shows, computer games, iphone games, youtube, netflix... it drives me nuts. Everytime I cant find him, he is on something. This is at the library during story time. He participated and was being good, then halfway through he asks me, "Is it over? Can I go play on the computer?"

He learns a lot from the games and most of the shows so I'd be lying if I said I hated those things. I just really hate that he will be having fun playing and then all of the sudden he gets his "craving" for TV and he is back on the couch. I've had to unplug the TV.

 He loves making pizza and helping me make juice in our "juicer". He will even leave the TV when I ask him to help! Thats amazing because he doesn't leave the TV willingly very often.

Getting his hair and face blown at the bowling alley. This part was just as fun as the bowling part for him.

After waiting 3 days to use this floatie, it was now time! can you see the excitement?!

In a store one day, I hear him say, "Oh Uncle Tony! I love you Uncle Tony!" so I look to see who he is talking to and he is full on hugging this mannequin!

He is obsessed with hats. I love this because hats are cute and that means I don't have to cut or style his hair. Ever. Well, only on Sundays and that's when I realize I really need to cut it. He has the most adorable curls, especially here in Arkansas where there is some humidity. I have Chris rooting for me to continue to grow his hair out... and my mom is not here. She is the one who likes his hair short. The battle of my mother on one shoulder and husband on the other :) I like his hair long too, especially with his curls coming out of the bottom of his baseball cap. THE BEST PART IS that he sleeps with his hat on almost every night.

 Man, could he be any cuter?! (yes, if he would stop throwing up, drawing on himself, being blatantly disobedient and mean to Addysin, eat something besides bread and treats, stop stealing food from the kitchen, and stop saying "yes" when I ask him if he wants a spanking... just to name a few)