Katie is 3!!!!

Katie is 3! Last month to be exact. I was pressured to post by the fact that in a few short days it will be Christmas and I am sure there will be lots to write about that.

Katie has had such a great year! She has done a lot of growing and Chris and I just can't believe how smart and big she is. She is so happy all of the time and very outgoing and social. She LOVES preschool and playing with all of her friends. Her imagination has completely bloomed and she has all of us being different Disney or Princess characters all day long. We love Katie so much and can't hardly imagine life before she was here with us.

Below are pictures of Katie this past year.

Halloween in December

This is so typical at our house. One cooperative...and one not so willing. It makes me laugh and makes pictures so cute.

Lauren was a kitty cat and Brooklyn was a pumpkin. However, we were in FL for Chris' iron man this year which was the day after Halloween and the girls didn't even get to wear their costumes. So I put them on after the fact to get a cute picture, remember their first Halloween and act like they loved it to. :)

Some Moments to be Thankful for in 2008

WHETHER IT WAS SPENDING TIME ON THE BEACH WITH MY LITTLE PRINCESS.....

TAKING KATIE TO SCHOOL.... MAN SHE IS GROWING TO FAST!

GOING TO CALIFORNIA WITH MY AUNT TERRY AND UNCLE EVAN AND SEEING ALL THE FUN SITES LIKE SEA WORLD AND THE BEACH.........

GOING TO HAWAII WITH THE LOVE OF MY LIFE AND WATCHING HER FACE LIGHT UP DURRING ALL THE FUN ACTIVITIES...... SNORKELING WAS THE BEST, BUT JUST BEING KIDS AGAIN WAS FUN TOO:)

TAKING MY WIFE OUT TO DINNER AND HAVING THE FEELING THAT YOU MISS YOUR KIDS WAS TO DIE FOR :)

SEEING MY KIDS GROW UP AND WATCH ALL THE FUN THINGS THEY SAY AND DO.... LOOK HOW PRECIOUS THEY ARE:)

OF COURSE NOTHING CAN TOP CONDO ON THE BEACH:)

TRAINNING FOR THE IRONMAN WITH MY BUDDY BLAKE AND ALL OUR FRIENDS DW, DARIN, STEVE, KIM, DOUG, GREG, IT WAS CRAZY HOW MANY HOURS WE PUT IN...

HAVING MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS TO CHEER BLAKE AND I ON DURRING THE MOST ENDURRING RACE OF MY LIFE:)

There is so many more to list... I am just happy to have the best wife and the most beautiful girls in the world. I am also thankful for my friends and thankful for the free country we live in. Not to mention for the gospel, my job and for my new nose which I can now breathe with:) This year has been amazing.... CAN'T WAIT FOR 2009

"It's raining women"

Mr.hotstuff himself surrounded by all the girls he could handle:) Remember no dating until your 25 years old:)

How does she do it?

She cooks and she cleans so much that even the girls have caught on:) Man am I spoiled or what?

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN SUCH A HOT GIRL? Man am I a lucky guy or what? I love my wife:) What a hottie! How she can manage all that she does and still have time to take care of these stinkers?

Salvation Army Stocking Stuffer Party

This past Friday night we had the wonderful experience of filling 400 stockings for the Salvation Army and needy children in Nashville. My friend Holly has done this for the past 3 years and it just keeps growing. She is also my gym "rat" buddy and one day we were talking and decided that I could get my church involved and between the both groups we could definitely get 400 filled....and we did! It was such a great way to get the entire family involved. Her Sunday school and our 2 wards donated many items and we all met to fill each stocking. We ate great food (organized by my other friend Kristi Johnson) and made new friends while doing something great for someone else.

Kristi wrote a long "ODE TO HOLLY" post on her blog at http://www.weloveourlucy.blogspot.com/ and I would just like to mimic EVERYTHING Kristi said. It is all true and then some! Holly is one of my closest friends and does so much personally for me and my family. Plus, it is a good thing because her little boy, Ben, and Katie are crazy about each other so we might be related someday. :)

I also need to add a HUGE thank-you to Stacey and to Christine. They did so much to help with all of this and they had to sweat over getting it all together just as much as I did and I appreciated their help more than I could ever tell them.....so hopefully they will read this, and they will know again that I LOVE them!

What a GREAT start to feeling the holiday spirit!

Christine with Lauren & Brooklyn

A gym full of people and stocking stuffers. :)

Thanks to Kristi......look at all the great food!

Thanks again to EVERYONE that helped donate, stuff stockings and help with such a wonderful cause!

My MAN the IRONMAN!

This time last year I had no idea what an ironman was. Well, I had a vague idea....but did not really know what it involved. These past few months I quickly learned that it means a lot of things. HARD work, early mornings, late nights, time away from babies (and hot wife,) no relaxing Saturdays and mental toughness.....just to name a few. :)

Then the weekend of Halloween, November 1st, all this hard work paid off when Chris became one at the Panama City, FL Ironman. It was one of the most remarkable events I have ever witnessed and was truly inspiring. It starts off with a 2.4 mile swim (in the ocean,) 112 mile bike and a 26.2 (marathon) run. INSANE! They start at 7:00 in the morning and it goes until midnight. There were so many people there supporting over 2200 athletes. Every spectator quickly became like family and we all cheered for everyone. What made it really fun was that there were 4 other friends from our own church ward who did it too and we had a great support system. Isn't this sign fabulous? This was either Danielle or Annita's doing but either way so clever!!! The girls and I made our signs the day before and had them put out on the course so he could see them.

Here is our group. Steve and Kim Gawrys, Chris, Blake Haines and Darin Long
Annnnnnd there off. Watching all the swimmers run into the water and swim out past buoy's you can barely see....twice...was intense. For most people I think this is the hardest part. They are nervous, it is cold, a bit dangerous and a complete mosh pit in water. As a swimmer I would hate to do 2 laps, but as a spectator it was great. I saw Chris after 1 lap (32 minutes) and coming out of the ocean (1:12.)

They then run up the beach, get their wet suits pulled off and they go to the transition point to change into bike gear. I then got to see him head out on the bike. At that point Chris' Dad, Blakes Dad, Danielle and Dave Watson all rented Mopeds and went out on the course. This was great for me as I knew right where he was and knew when to go back down to the course! He finished in 6 hours 24 seconds!

Clearly he isn't running in this picture. He is changing his socks. Up until this point, every time I saw him he looked GREAT. I couldn't believe it. He was smiling and happy. The marathon is 2 laps as well. This is after the first lap and starting the second. This was where he looked like a normal person who would have been hating life at this point. :)

His marathon time was 4:12. He really hates that time but HELLO! That time after all that he had done before is pretty great if you ask me. He finished in 11:40:31.

CHRIS: Katie, Lauren, Brooklyn and I are so proud of you! What an accomplishment. Soooo glad it's over, but really amazed at what you were able to do. You make us so proud!

A SHOUT to T-Y-E

If I were to list off Katie's favorite things....Uncle Tye would be in the top 3 for sure. She LOVES him! He has been able to spend a lot of time with her since he goes to school fairly close and spends time with us in the summers.

The song featured on our blog at the moment (for those of you with your speakers on) is our tribute to Tye. This summer there was a new Nike commercial featuring it and apparently it is a great get-pumped-up song and we are so PUMPED to have Tye in our family!

GRUMPYGOOFY
SILLY

HAPPY

A Great weekend

What a great weekend! Tye, Kara and their friend Pres all came down from Virginia to spend some time with us. Besides the Franklin Fall Festival, Chuck E Cheese and the gym, we took them to one of our local favorites....McDougal's. They have the BEST chicken and homemade sauces known to man!
Pres, Kara & Katie. Katie had Pres wrapped around her finger 10 minutes after he got there. (I think she knows she is cute!)
Tye is trying to teach the babies to say "favorite." So far they just say mama and dada.

A great way to travel!

Growin like weeds! 9 MONTHS OLD

Have you seen anything cuter? All you moms out there will secretly think ("of course I have! My kids!) But honestly these babies are just so stinkin sweet I could just eat'em up! And of course my Mom and Grandma Jones will completely agree with me. :)Brooklyn is 17 pounds, 9 ounces and 27 inches long. She finally outweighs her sissy. Both girls are only in the 25% which appears crazy if you have seen their cheeks. She LOVES to eat! She yells in between each bite of food she gets and granted there is a longer pause in between each bite because Lauren gets every other one and I switch spoons each time too. Very tricky!

She ALWAYS wakes up first in the morning and at each nap. She just requires a little less sleep than Lu. She is very independent and will play and explore in the play room for long periods of time. From 3-6 months she was the "high maintenance" baby. From 6-9 months she was SOOOOO easy going. But this past week she is proving that she wants to be "the one" again and Lauren has just mellowed out. It is so funny how that works.


Lauren is 17 pounds, 27 inches long. She may not eat as much as Brookie but she sleeps like a teenager! The girls always wakes up last, always sleeps longer, and will sleep anywhere (for the most part.) She has just stolen the "high maintenance" baby title from her sister but is SOOOO cuddly that sometimes I don't mind that she wants to be held more.
Lauren is just so happy! She smiles all the time and babbles non-stop. She is so sweet and not as bossy/dominant (for as dominant as 9 month olds get) as Brooklyn.
Oh and she HAS TO HAVE her binky! This girl cannot live without her binky. In fact most the time she has hers in her mouth and her sisters binky in her hand......so Brooklyn now sucks her thumb.


This past week the girls have discovered this drawer. I remember when Katie did and I thought it was so cute. It still is cute but all of the sudden they are like tornadoes. In to EVERYTHING!

"Raggery Ann"

This past weekend we went to Ghouls at Grassmere which is a fun Halloween event where our zoo transforms into a fun Halloween extravaganza. Katie is Raggedy Ann this year but if you ask her, she will tell you she is "Raggery Ann"

Our friends Steve and Kelsi invitied us to this wonderful event and their twin girls, Adyson and Savannah went as "Pink Lady's." They were so cute!

There was a big jumpy toy as Katie calls it and you came out by going down the slide. Her Dad has her loving these kind of toys!

The girls had so much fun and were so happy to be filling thier buckets with candy!

I think we wore her out! Raggery Ann slept great that night. :)

Little Dare Devils

Our little babies are getting so big and their little personalities are so fun. Here is Lauren climbing in to one of our toy boxes. She quickly gets in to things and can't figure out how to get out. So she will cry until she is rescued.

Literally as I was getting Lauren out of the toy box I turn around and Brooklyn was on the dishwasher. Now she is a Dare Devil!!!! She climbs up on everything and just lets go. She thinks she is bigger than she is, and definitely braver than I want her to be!

We have moved!

Yes, the crazies have moved.....again! However, I for one am SO happy that we did. We now live quite a bit closer to everything we need and it has made a very busy life, a little bit easier in a few ways. Unpacking has been a nightmare but I have almost found a place for all of our stuff.

Above is Lauren and Brooklyn (6 months) in a box before it was packed. Below is Katie at (almost 4 months old) when we very first moved to Nashville, in a box I was trying to unpack. Wow things have changed in the last 3 years. 3 kids, and 3 Nashville area moves.

Aunt "Pawa" and Ryan come to visit

We were so excited to have Kara and her basketball teammate Ryan here at our house this past weekend. It was way too short but super fun and we love that Kara is close enough now to have these short, but sweet, visits.
On a side note, this is Lauren's new way of sleeping. The girl LOVES pillows. When (if) she is in our bed she totally hogs the pillow and sleeps so well. Ever since she was really little she loved them.
And here is my "big helper." Katie is the best at getting me diapers and wet wipes. She also takes 5 more wet wipes for herself and her babies which I have to wrestle her for, but I love her help! Today after I got her lunch she said, "Mom, you are my big helper!" I love the things she says each day, they totally crack me up. :)

Crawling, sitting, pulling-up and stairs...and all in that order

The girls are all over the place. Within the past month they have starting crawling (Brooklyn 7 months, September 9)
and crawling (Lauren, September 11)
and sitting (Brooklyn)
and standing (Brooklyn left, Lauren right)
and going up stairs. It has been a busy month at our house!