Grandma Pam visits!!

Adjusting to life as a family of 5...
Everything they do revolves around Arilyn.

She has my fingers and toes!

Sponge bath time.

Decorating the house Halloween style.

Tons of love for grandma.

We took my mom to the local waterfalls.

Fall surrounds us.Don't judge me please, I was only a week or 2 postpartum.

(Kyler's purposely making a goofy face, ha ha)

So beautiful.

Thanks to uncle Joey for this adorable outfit!

Fall in our front yard.

At the river across the street. I love the splashes of gold on the trees in the background.

Picking out rocks to paint for Winky's grave.

Jack o lantern time!

Lexi loved the pumpkin 'guts' this year.

How Arilyn participated. :)

Kyler's!

Lexi's!

Helping grandma with hers.

Thanks to Erica for this adorable outfit!!

Little blonde girl.

Happy birthday to my mom! We were lucky enough to have her here to celebrate her special day. I made her her favorite lemon cake and the kids decorated it solo. I hope her day was as memorable for her as it was for us! Here's to the best year yet, mom!

Thanks to the Endo family for this wonderful basket, 'with sympathy' for Winky's passing. Your thoughtfulness and compassion mean a lot.

Saying goodbye...

They love grandma so much!

My beautiful mom. She is such a wonderful mom and grandma and we are honored to have you. Thank you for everything. We miss you already!

I love my mom!

Grandma with her granddaughters.

Thanks to grandma and grandpa for this cute outfit and to aunt Marissa for the pretty bow and wrap.

Kyler's cubscout Halloween party. They were playing pass the pumpkin, musical chairs style.

Kyler was one of the last few remaining, then he started goofing off and lost, ha ha.

Bobbing for apples.

TP mummy races.

Alexia the cheerleader.

Eating with his friends.

The troop in costume. Kyler is on our right.

The troop in uniform. Kyler is on our far left.

Kyler getting his new badges and belt loops.

Kyler earned 15 badges and belt loops!

Grandpa Bob came to visit. He adores Arilyn so much, such an awesome grandpa!

Notice how her hand is always in her face, that's how every ultrasound photo turned out as well. Her first full submersion bath. She loved it. She didn't fuss a bit, such a good baby.

It was great having my mom here. She spoiled us all with her fabulous cooking and of course, shopping too much for us! We miss her already. I hope her next visit isn't far away. I couldn't have asked for a better mom, friend and grandmother to my kids, thanks mom for everything! I am forever grateful to you. Thanks for being here for the support with Winky's passing.

The last few weeks have been filled with a lot of high highs (Arilyn's arrival, my mom's visit, etc) and low lows (Winky's passing, my mom's departure, postpartum emotions, etc). But all has worked out. I am so happy with our new family; Arilyn has blended in so well with daily life. We all love and adore her so much. She is such a content, calm baby. She has begun baby talking and smiling in reaction to our voices. It's hard to believe she's 3 weeks already. She now weighs 9 lbs!! Wow...the time is flying.

RIP Winky

February 24, 1996-October 21, 2010

Yesterday Winky was acting strange and having a hard time breathing. This morning, we awoke to hearing his heavy breathing. By the time we went to let him outside, his breathing had stopped.
Obviously, this left me devastated, he's been my sidekick since I was 13...the best birthday present I've ever received-Thanks Dad! To those who think "he's just a dog" please don't bother reading on...this couldn't be farther from the truth. He was there for me through every tough stage of my life: leaving life as I knew it behind in California and moving to Utah, he was there when I moved into my first place, he was there during every pregnancy (he even sat on the bathroom floor with me every time I had a bout of morning sickness), he always cheered me up through every tough situation. He was one of, if not THE, most consistent aspects of my life for a long time. I couldn't have asked for a better companion, he showed me more devotion than I've ever known in this life. Everywhere I went, he followed, even in his old age when he steps required a lot more from him than he had to offer. No words can describe how much he meant to me.
I'm happy he went peacefully in his sleep. I'm happy I was able to share his life. For as long as we have the memories, he will never truly be gone. His timing seemed to work out as best as it could as my mom is here and he seemed to wait until Arilyn was born before leaving us. It was obvious he knew his time was up yesterday, he kept wandering off to be alone. He will be missed much more than he could imagine. RIP Winky, thank you for the 14 years of love, devotion, joy and comfort. You were an incredible friend and we love you.