The Kinneys

New Blog!

2011-05-10T13:34:00.000-06:00

Does anyone still read this?

I hope so because I'm proud to announce my new blog that I just started yesterday called

Three Point Perspective.

It's meant as more of a lifestyle blog where I talk about my three passions: Interior Design, Writing, and Gaming.

It's kind of a big deal for me to admit that to the world, but it's too late now. The template has been designed!

Anyway, feel free to head on over and follow me and grab a button and keep reading!

I'll be talking about my progress with Noah's, the process I'm going through of trying to get published ( I wrote a YA Fantasy novel...Surprise!), and post reviews and share tips about gaming, specifically for the Sims.

I'd love for everyone to take a look and support me in this new endeavor! I'm scared, but hopefully it'll be good.

Thanks and I'll see you over there!

Three Point Perspective

I've been busy

2010-09-16T14:17:00.005-06:00

So I haven't posted in...well...months. But in my defense a lot has been going on! First of all, with summer here there's been a slew of visitors hopping in and out of our area, so we've been making time to visit with all of them. Second of all, Eisley turned 1 and we had to combine her party with Jake's since their b-days are only 4 days apart, and third WE REMODELED OUR KITCHEN.

I posted some pics on facebook, but there's no direct before and after transition there. I like to show the remodeling being done. But here, I wanted to show side by side how the transformation when from beginning to end. Trust me, a lot went in to getting them this way. Thank you homebuyers credit for making it possible!

Before

After

WAY before. Like before we moved in.

After

World's worst kitchen layout. Oh, I mean...Before....

After!

I wish I had a better camera. Or a video. Or something to truly convey how DRAMATIC it is. It's so much warmer and cleaner and sleeker and a million more -ers that I can't even list. It's the first kitchen I've ever had where I look FORWARD to loading the dishwasher. The first time I've don't really mind cooking dinner. The first time I've been able to decorate a space like this in my own taste. Not to mention, the first time I can say that I selected ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING in this space. The floor, the cabinets, the appliances, the countertops, the sink, the hardware, even down to the dishtowel hanging on the stove, it was ALL me. And to see it come together like I envisioned it in my head is even more rewarding.

I've told several people that the reason I do commercial design for a living is because homeowners are so picky and indecisive. Now I can add myself to that list of annoying home owners. I had the HARDEST time making final decisions and trust me, this went through several re-designs. But I'm so happy with it. Some of my favorite features include:

-raised upper cabinets to allow for 22" above the countertop instead of the standard 18". It makes it feel so much bigger.

-silent-close drawers. They're amazing. Except now I slam the drawers at my mom's house and expect them to do the same; they do not.

- A fridge with an ice-maker. Maybe this is old hat to some people, but I'm an ice FANATIC and have never had an ice-maker before. Makes me want to weep with joy daily.

-The tile floor. Again, old news to some people, but after having a double-layered carpeted kitchen, I feel like I could kiss that tile every day.

-The dishwasher. Didn't have one, now we do. Enough said.

-The chandelier. We changed it from a big 2x4 fluorescent and the difference is phenomenal. It encourages me that we might actually get rid of the ship-wheel light fixture we have downstairs. One day...

Anyway, that's a look at how it really went down. 3 weeks of a different contractor in your house every day can get tiring, but at least I didn't have to do it all myself, and the end result makes it well worth it. And now we're down to the two bathrooms that need to be remodeled! Let me just give you a hint: toothpaste green plastic tile and pink wallpaper. This'll be one for the books, ladies and gentlemen. Trust me. :)

Eisley Crawling!

2010-05-09T14:22:00.002-06:00

9 Months

2010-05-03T13:22:00.002-06:00

Eisley is 9 months old. I don't know where the time has gone. That sounds so cliche, but really. I feel like I just had her. We just had her 9 month check up and she's 17 lbs. 13 oz. (30th percentile) 28 in. tall (65th percentile) and I don't know her head measurements, but don't worry, because it was in the 90th percentile. I think they add her hair into the measurement.

I don't know if every doctor is like this, but they give me a questionnaire to fill out every time she comes for a well-child checkup and it's a series of yes or no questions about what your child can do. You stop once you've answered "no" three times. Well that happened within the first 5 questions this time, so naturally I became worried. The questions were like: "Can your baby get to sitting position if lying on her back or tummy?" ummm...no. Then "Does your baby pull herself up to standing when near furniture?" yeah, not really. "Can your baby crawl?" Does scooting count? So the doctor tells me not to worry, that she might even walk before she crawls because she's hated being on her tummy since day one.

So I go home and, of course, I worry. But I think Eisley just likes to see me sweat because I kid you not, the VERY NEXT DAY she did all three of those things. Suddenly she can crawl normally (not for long distances yet, but she's got it). Suddenly when I lay her on her back, she flips over, gets up on her hands and knees, and pushes herself back until she's sitting up. And it's definitely time to lower her crib mattress because more often than not, now I find her holding on to the sides and trying to stand up.

In other developmental news, she plays peek-a-boo like a champ, calls me "mama" (and sometimes when I make her mad she says "ba mama" so it sounds like she's calling me a bad mama, but I'm going to pretend that's not the case), holds her own bottle (FINALLY), and pretends to be scared when I say "boo!" to her. She does a fake scream and everything. And she makes her toys talk in a different voice than her real one. Is that normal? Doctors don't tell you about that stuff.

Anyway, we're so glad to have her and she really makes every day so fun and different. I can't imagine a life without her now. I love being her mom and I love watching her grow. I can't believe she'll be a year in three months. I'd better start planning the party...

(I'll post pictures soon. My desktop computer is still packed, but by the end of this week, we should have the office up and running again, and I'll post some then!)

The Life of a Remodeler

2010-04-15T14:11:00.003-06:00

I never thought I'd be this person. I never thought I'd pick an old fixer-upper to be my first house. When I dreamed of buying our first home, it was a vision full of clean, white walls, wonderfully neutral carpet, and a new kitchen with a dishwasher. A blank slate, ready and willing to offer me my first chance to truly design a space entirely my own.

So what am I doing holed up in a wood-paneled basement room of a house that looks like a tornado ripped through the entire upstairs, leaving tack-strip and wallpaper scraps in its wake?

I'd be lying if I said I hated every minute of this process so far. And truthfully, we've made a LOT of progress in the short week we've held the house keys in our hand. The ceilings are now beautifully white and popcorn-free. The walls are all painted the exact colors I wanted, with very little of the said paint actually covering wallpaper (I swore I wouldn't paint over wallpaper, but in the bedrooms, where there were three layers to peel off, the first one had BECOME part of the drywall. So we primed it and painted it and you'd never know).

And the floors...Ahhh the floors. The once famed shag-fest that was our entire first floor is no more. And I, always the pessimist, thought that we'd DEFINITELY have to sand and re-stain what we found underneath. But I couldn't be happier with what was unveiled. The narrow-planked original hardwood floors are in BEAUTIFUL condition. When we pulled the carpet back and saw what was underneath, I felt like I was on an old episode of Trading Spaces, and Jacob was my proverbial Vern Yip telling me we didn't have to do any more work on the floors. (It makes you wonder why people were always living with their nasty old carpets, when that was just waiting underneath). The stain is a little more orange than I would've picked, but when all they need is a once-over with the pliers to pull out the carpet staples and a little sprinkling of orange-glo, I am not going to complain about the color. Not when everything else in this house needs to be re-done.

But not everything has been so easy. The windows are all painted shut. Which we knew going in, but we didn't count on them being painted shut with literally 10 layers of paint from the past 50 years. We had to physically pry the entire bottom casing off of one window, just to access it to push up. And even then it took two people to push the thing so that a mere 3 inches worth of fresh air could come in and break up the paint fumes that were permeating the space. The furnace...don't get me started on the furnace. It didn't work the night we moved in. Someone, between the inspection and closing and cut the power to it. We had an electrician come out and fix it, yet here we are a week later, and it's not working again. That's the short story. I will not go further into detail. And I still can't decide if I want to gut my kitchen and completely re-do it (therefore completely using up the $8,000 tax credit we get for buying this "project" of a house), or if I want to live with it and spend the money on real grown-up furniture for once in my life.

The list is a mile and a half long; new carpet for the basement, new windows, a new toilet, new tile for the kitchen and bathroom (which by the way had mint green PLASTIC TILE on every wall AND in the shower surround. I've never even HEARD of plastic tiles.) etc. etc. etc.

But at the end of the day, there is a certain sense of pride that it all belongs to us. That we're allowed to paint the walls, replace the carpet and rip up whatever we want. I can put nail holes in the wall wherever I want and nobody can punish me for it. So, yes, I'm grateful. And I know I'll look back in a few months, or a year, or whenever we get everything done (does that ever happen? Anyone?) and be happy we did it. But right now, it's a little more than overwhelming. And I'm a lot more of a true remodeler than I ever dreamt I'd be.

I'll post pictures soon. Like when I actually get my desktop computer unpacked. :)

Time to Move

2010-04-02T07:44:00.004-06:00

I hate moving. I hate packing up every tiny little thing in every closet and trying to find a label for it. I hate that I have totes and boxes that I haven't even looked at in years, yet I can't bear to throw it away so we move it along with us to not be looked at somewhere else.

But as much as I hate moving, I love change. I really do. I'm a change-aholic. And even more than change, I love progression. So the fact that Jacob and I were blessed enough to be able to finally buy our own home, which presents us with change AND progression, is enough to make me smile through the packing.

And then I remember what the NEW house looks like, and my smile falters slightly. On paper, this place sounds amazing. Here's the actual description from our actual agent:

immaculate home on tree lined street. Covered Patio, spacious living room, large family room in basement. New oven/range, Nice, fully fenced yard. Solid brick home. Workbench stays, space for RV, convenient to bus lines, shopping, schools, churches.

Then you look at the stats: 3 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath, 2044 square feet, one car garage, corner lot, upstairs living room, downstairs family room, and probably about 8 storage closets. It sounds amazing right?

They don't tell you that every single one of those 2044 square feet is plastered with wallpaper, or crowned with a popcorn ceiling, or adorned with lovely shag carpet from the 1970's that matches to a T what my great-grandmother had in her home. We always joked about how she was so protective of spills, because it was so mottled with shades of chartreuse, day-glo orange, tomato red, and mustard yellow, that we knew you'd never even notice a spill. And here I am, about to own that carpet.

Yet for some reason, I can't feel bad about it. We got a great deal, and when we walked through it Jacob was like a kid in a candy store talking excitedly about all the improvements he could make. And I have to admit, it's been kind of fun designing my very own kitchen.

So we'll tear out the old and come in sanding and painting and repairing to find the new. And hopefully soon, I'll have some killer before and after photos.

Wish me luck! As of Monday, we'll be homeowners!

An Ode to Cousins

2010-03-14T06:43:00.006-06:00

Thick as thieves.

Isn’t that what they say,

About two people who are the closest of friends?

If so, than these two girls should be charged

With grand larceny.

They’re more than two peas in a pod,

They’re two grapes on a vine; two kernels on an ear; two seeds on a berry.

(Why has no one ever thought of those analogies?)

Two beautiful little girls, made of much the same stuff,

yet, evidently unique.

Curly dark hair and deep, gray eyes,

Straight blonde hair and bright, blue eyes;

Toothy grin,

Gummy smile;

Dances and runs,

Sits and shakes;

(I mean it. She just sits and shakes with excitement

about EVERYTHING)

Despite the differences, there is obvious camaraderie;

Eisley tolerates advances from Elaina she would NEVER accept from me

(Think forced hugs, body-smashing kisses, and poked eyes;

I think she’s still trying to figure out what color they are. I am.).

And Elaina abides Eisley’s innocent-yet-painful interactions,

Far more patiently than she would coming from anyone else

(i.e. merciless hair tugging, endless face scratching, and gallons of slobber

From unrelenting kisses).

And through it all,

They stand up for each other,

(Even if Eisley cannot yet stand).

They each have the other’s back.

They fight,

They forgive,

They scream,

They laugh,

They share,

They grab,

They imitate,

They lead,

They laugh at each other,

They cry together,

And above all,

They love.

Even at this young age,

They love.

And I count my blessings that I am allowed

the privilege

To watch.

I hope they always remain this close.

No, THIS close…

First Word...?

2010-02-28T19:45:00.003-07:00

I'm totally counting this for her first word (And not JUST because it's mama):

makes me smile.

(and how about that hair? Cracks me up.)

Betrothed

2010-02-21T07:12:00.005-07:00

Eisley had her first real date this weekend. Sure she's met other boys; there was Kaleb from Kentucky who was super cute but a little shy around her and Bentley from Boise who was sick when she met him, so she couldn't be sure what he was really like. But for this weekend, it was lunch at a Chinese restaurant to meet my good friend Brooke's son, Jett for the first time. A REAL date. I was glad she let me tag along and take pictures. Something I'm SURE she won't let me do when she's a teenager. But I was there this time and it was priceless.

I think it went well...

Jett nervously munching his appetizer until Eisley arrived.

Neither of them were sure what to think.

Play it cool, play it cool. Don't seem too eager.Jett tried his hardest to share with Eisley, but she was playing hard to get.He got a little discouraged, and Eisley kept looking to me for comfort.Finally, she reached out to accept his offer.Oh yeah! Jett is very satisfied with himself."Mom! I think he likes me!"
Finally dropping all pretenses, (and realizing Eisley can't eat crackers) he just went for her hand. What a stud.It was time to say goodbye all too soon.Eisley didn't get the memo on "you go 90, let them come the last 10"
She went straight in for the kiss.
That is one happy couple!

Okay, okay, so I realize it's crazy to plan your daughter's marriage and put her on fake dates. But after seeing these pictures, I'm not so sure it was fake.

At any rate, we had a blast seeing Brooke and Jett and are so glad they made the long journey down from Canada and that Dev and I could make it up from Utah to see the Interior Design art show and have some much-needed girls time. Thanks for the memories! And who knows, maybe these two will live happily ever after?

The Pigtail Saga

2010-02-01T08:06:00.008-07:00

Eisley's hair has been unmanageable lately, so I finally plucked up my courage, picked up a comb and attempted pigtails. I'm happy to say it was a success. See for yourself:

Front View

Back View

So I was all proud of myself and kept looking at her funny all day, because I'm not used to her hair being pulled back. She didn't seem to mind, thankfully. Well, little did I know I had made a BIG mistake. I put pigtails in her hair on a non-bath day. See, we only bathe her every other day because we don't want to dry out her already sensitive skin. I did not think of what would happen that night when we took the pigtails out. Or the next morning...

THIS is what happened:
...that night......the next morning...
(P.S. This is TOTALLY my desktop background picture right now. Cracks me up)So the only logical thing to do, was to put her hair in pigtails yet again. And yet again, she looked adorable (even if she IS chewing on her shoe):

So that night we were at my mom's and she said she'd give Eisley a bath with her cousin Elaina. I brought Eisley in to my mom and this was our conversation:
me:"Okay she's ready!"
mom: "Yes, dear, but you have to take out her hair ties."
me: "I already did!"

Can you see why she was confused?
That hair is doing it on its own!

So we finally got the perma-piggies out of her hair and she slept wonderfully knowing she was clean and probably free of the headache induced by such tight little pigtails. And I thought we were finally done with the drama resulting from my self-perceived successful attempt at doing hair.

I was wrong...WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH THIS GRANDMA FRO?!?

The poor girl had worn her hair pulled back for two days straight and it gave me a headache just LOOKING at how tight those little pony tails were. I didn't want to inflict that upon her again! So this time I resorted to using product. I swore I'd never do it, but it cannot be helped. I used some spray gel in her hair.

Still, not great.

But after a little drying, a little tousling and a little hairbow, we finally ended up with something I could live with. And in fact, I love this picture of her. (Yes I changed her outfit. It was too cold for shorts, I just wanted to try them on her.)

So there it is. I'm learning slowly how to deal with her beautiful curly hair. I've never had curly hair. I've never had a baby. This is a HUGE learning curve for me. But at least I'm able to laugh at the process. And I wouldn't trade her for anything, OR her luxurious locks.

Mond-uary

2010-01-05T06:47:00.012-07:00

Is it just me, or does January feel like one big long Monday? I mean, in November we were able to take a long weekend and go up to Boise for Thanksgiving. Then in December we took another long weekend and traveled to Kentucky for an early Christmas with Jake's family. Then during Christmas week, and New Year's week, Jacob only had 3-day work weeks. So we're having all this fun all month long, like it's a never-ending Friday.

Then January comes, complete with depressing snow, 5-day work weeks, and a whole heck of a lot of CLEANING that needs to be done. Just like Monday.

Anyway, at least our long Friday was a lot of fun. It was so nice to go visit our KY family. They all just ate Eisley up (not literally, thank goodness) and she basked in the glow of never-ending attention and affection (very literally). She was SO good both on the plane ride, and with the mass of family swarming around her. She was so happy and content, and that made it a lot easier for ME to be happy and content. We had tons of fun having Christmas, eating Missy's biscuits and gravy (something I never understood the appeal of until I had hers. Now I crave them, and I just can't do it the same way), going shopping, re-visiting old haunts, and catching up with old friends.

Eisley and her cousin Kyleigh

...with Granddad Kinney

4 generations! E, Jake, Missy (Jake's mom) and Granny Carlisle
Can you see the family resemblance or what?Eisley and her Auntie Clinton! So cute! There was a picture where you can see Tamara's face too, but this one's so cute with her laughing, that I had to use it instead. Sorry girl. We came back and very soon after we were celebrating Christmas with my family. It's not as big of a deal, since we pretty much all live here and see each other pretty often, but it was still fun. We decided to spread out the presents on Christmas day this year instead of opening them all at 6am and being done and tired by 8. This year, Jacob and I stayed at our house (instead of sleeping over at my mom's as we'd done in previous years) and opened our presents to each other after Eisley finished her morning bottle. Then when she woke up, we went over to my mom's for brunch (attempted biscuits and gravy. Not nearly as good) then most of the family went to see a movie, which is a long-standing tradition for the Dick family. We saw Avatar and LOVED it. Then we came back, Nate and Libbie joined the ranks and we stopped by our house to have everyone open their presents from us. Then back to mom's for the rest of the family presents. When all was said and done, the last present wasn't torn open until 4pm. If you ask me, THAT'S how you do Christmas!

Eisley trying to open her presents early

E and her cousin Elaina Christmas morning

I got Elaina a wooden pizza set. She loved it!Everyone at my house. The kids bought mom and dad a new microwaveNew Year's Eve came quickly too, and we spent it at our house playing games on the Wii, then Guitar Hero and DDR on the Playstation, eating hoagie sandwiches and just being loud and having fun. Now that there are 5 young kids, however, we did not make it till midnight. We decided to go ahead and celebrate with our friends in the Eastern Time Zone and blew our horns and popped our confetti at 10pm. Don't judge us. I was EXHAUSTED, and my living room floor was littered with confetti bits, but I went to bed at 10:30.

Probably one of my favorite pictures EVER.

Or this one. I love it. I think they were canoeing

Me and my girl

Jared and Ben in their special hats. Jacob and I in their special hats.

All in all, it was a wonderful Holiday season, and it makes me a little sad that now I have to live through a month of Monday's. But at least February will be here soon, with promise of another Holiday to look forward too. Now if only someone could remind Jacob that Valentine's Day IS a real Holiday...

Giggles

2009-12-02T22:14:00.002-07:00

The video quality from my camera is horrible, but at least you can hear my little girl's laugh. I've been trying to get it on camera forever, but usually when she sees me recording she stops. Nobody can make her laugh like aunt Hannah though, and she barely noticed I was there.

Makes my heart happy.

We Call Him "The Crusher"

2009-11-09T22:01:00.005-07:00

Tonight something happened that could have easily turned tragic, yet fortunately ended up humorous. Let me set the scene: we just got home from picking up Jacob at the Trax station, we dump the diaper bag, the laptop bag, the carseat and the groceries in their respective homes. Some of the groceries didn't fit on the table, so we put them on the floor until we had time to put them away. We're laughing and talking about our days, Eisley's squeaking happily as daddy gets her out of her carseat, and all is well.

Then, my ever-graceful husband, tries to stand up and walk from the couch to the dining room table. Big mistake. He does not notice his laptop bag propped carelessly against the foot of the couch, with its dangerous strap creeping into his path like a snake ready to pounce. It catches his foot in its grasp, and he starts to wobble. I see panic on his face as he tries to steady himself and keep from falling. Then I see defeat in his eyes as he trips and, holding as tightly as he can to our baby, he falls forward, straight onto the bags of groceries. The canned goods, to be precise. I was forced to watch and in those seconds wonder what I'd do if Eisley's head struck the corner of the table that was only inches from her as she fell with her dad.

Oddly enough, I didn't have to do anything. Somehow, Jacob kept her upright in his arm and caught himself on his elbow, keeping her safe from harm. The same can not be said for the chili can he landed on. See what I mean?

Eisley didn't seem to notice that she was in perilous danger. She didn't so much as breathe in sharply, so after making sure Jacob was okay (he has a slight cut on his knee, but we couldn't get a good picture of it) I held her close and rocked her in case she was scared, but not showing it.

Then I smelled something that affirmed to me, she had, in fact been scared. The fall had quite literally (and pardon the expression) scared the poop out of her. I should've made dad change the diaper that was a direct result of his clumsiness, but it wasn't his fault and no one was hurt, so instead we laughed and thanked our lucky stars nothing worse had happened. Just another night at the Kinney household. At least he didn't fall down the stairs...again.

Here are more shots of the damage:

The World is Safe Yet Again, Thanks to...

2009-11-02T11:40:00.003-07:00

SUPER GIRL!

I have to admit, I hadn't been this excited for Halloween since I was little. The past couple years, it's kind of turned into an overlooked holiday for us. But this year, I found this costume for Eisley and I was stoked. Plus we had reasons to dress up. First was Danielle and Devanie's trailer trash party (different costumes than I have pictured, but it was fun), then we had our ward party, then Beckie hosted a big family Halloween Blowout all day Saturday. So We had Eisley all ready and I kept looking for superman and super woman costumes, but they were all expensive (yet looked really cheap) and I didn't like them.

So in a stroke of genius I thought "Lois and Clark!" Okay maybe not GENIUS, but I thought it was a pretty good idea. All we had to do was iron a big superman "S" onto one of Jacob's T-shirts and put it under a work outfit. For me, I just made a Press Pass to go around my neck and, again, wore a work outfit. It was really fun. I know Eisley probably didn't appreciate it as much as I did, but she will once she looks back.

Anyway, here are some pictures of us as a super family (even more so than usual. ;) )

Cutest Baby? Duh.

2009-10-17T07:44:00.003-06:00

Okay so last weekend there was a Baby Expo that I went to with my sister Beckie and my boss / bff Bri (since she's expecting and Beckie and I both have kids). Well it was pretty cute. There were lots of headbands with HUGE flowers (not a fan. I think our kids are going to look back at pictures of themselves with flowers as big as their heads and say "what were you THINKING?") , lots of nursery stuff, and some photographers. Well one studio was having a cute baby contest with all these prizes for different age groups. You pay 10 bucks and you get a mini photo session, as well as entry into the contest. So we don't know the winners yet, but I wanted to share the link to Eisley's pictures. I think I want to order prints, but I'm not sure of which ones. Input would be appreciated!
To me, she's already won. But I'm sure every mom thinks that.
So here's the link:
http://studiocloud.org/1?a=14202&e=1255096800000
The gallery's only up for 2 weeks, so I need input quickly.
And as a sidenote, they did not pose her hands. That's just how she has them a lot of the time.
Thanks!

Dinner Conversation

2009-10-03T06:22:00.003-06:00

Here's another video. Nevermind the dinner table in the background; we were just finishing dinner and Eisley had just finished her bottle and was talking so sweet to her aunt Rachael, that I had to record it. Wait till you hear her lungs at the end!

Oh Blessed Day

2009-09-13T08:05:00.005-06:00

Last Sunday was nuts. But in the best way possible. It was a double blessing day in my family. My brother and sister-in-law blessed their newest baby Ryan (he was born in April, don't ask me what took so long) and we blessed little Eisley. So we went to Nate's ward at 12:45 for Ryan's blessing, got done at 2, and drove like demons back to my ward to bless Eisley at 2:45.

It was fun too, because the Olson's (our besties from Bozeman) drove all the way down here so Dave could be a part of the blessing circle. That was really special. Jacob was in Scarlett's blessing circle 2 years ago, so it was nice that he was able to join us for Eisley's. Also my cousin Alecia drove all the way down from Boise just to meet our little girl.

It was a nice day, and a nice blessing. My sister kept notes for me and wrote a letter to Eisley detailing what was said. It was so nice of her to do that, because it's hard to remember after the fact, and now every time I read it I cry. Here are some of my favorite, most comforting statements he made to Eisley:

-You will have the strength to go through life and be happy
-You will will be provided with opportunities to show your faithfulness, and know when it will be your turn to shine.
-You will have the ability to know the past and understand your family, and to grow from it.

It was a really special day and I'm so grateful to have such a wonderful husband who lives his life worthy of being able to bless our little girl, and for such an amazing supportive family who help me every day.

Here are some pictures of our little girl on her special day.

One Month Progress Report

2009-08-24T21:08:00.006-06:00

Holy crap it's been a month since Eisley was born. Why does it feel like forever?
I've decided to not write the birth story on my blog. It's too graphic and too painful to relive. Everyone who told me childbirth was a breeze: you are now on my list. :) Okay not really, but it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. And don't get me started on the recovery!

Basically, this whole month has been a lot harder than I thought it would be. I didn't think I'd get the baby blues. I did. Hard. I had to hand her to Jacob several times and just walk away because I couldn't take it anymore. I didn't think I'd be hormonal. I was. I cried every day for the first week for no particular reason. Just cried. I thought I'd breastfeed for longer than a week. I didn't. I physically couldn't. Formula has saved my sanity and keeps my baby fed, and I won't feel bad about that. So this month has been full of surprises.

But I think the biggest surprise is how much I love this girl. I mean, I look at her face and my heart melts. It wasn't like that at first, I won't lie. But now, at a month old, I can't be anything but happy when I see my little girl. And she's really the BEST baby. She already smiles at me and her dad. She has an internal timeclock like I've never seen and knows when it's time to eat, time to play, and time to sleep. Thankfully, she's already skipping her first middle of the night feeding, so we can sleep from 9 or 10 to about 3 or 4 most nights. Hallelujah for that. Sleep = Sanity. And she's just an all around chilled out, calm, happy baby. One thing I will mention from her birthday is that right after she was born, they put her on my chest, and I kept asking what was wrong with her because she wasn't crying. She was just lying there, looking up at me, not making a sound. I thought for sure something was wrong with her lungs. Turns out, she's just calm. She was just soaking up life.

So a month later I'm feeling pretty good. I still worry about the little things. Why are her eyes goopy? Why hasn't she pooped? What did that squawk mean? But mostly, I'm enjoying her. And I took this video of our morning talk to show people how cute she is. This is our daily routine. I lie her down and put my head next to hers and she tells me about her day. I love it. I love her. And I'm learning to love this new thing called motherhood. Give me a break, it's only been a month! :)

Eisley Diana Kinney

2009-07-26T22:15:00.003-06:00

I'm tired and the birth story is still too raw for me to recount, but here's a few pictures of the newest little Kinney. She's so calm, and so cute. We love her so much. I'll update more as I feel better, but for now Mom and Baby are doing well!

Ready or not...

2009-07-20T10:19:00.002-06:00

Alright, this is a big week. I'm not due until August 2nd, but at my last few doctor's visits I've had slightly higher blood pressure than normal. Due to this, and the fear that it could turn into pre-eclampsia, I'm being induced on Thursday the 23rd.

There are a few reasons this is a felicitous date for my little girl to come. First of all, it's exactly 2 weeks before the Kentucky family flies out for their visit. That gives me 2 weeks to get her home, and get us used to having a newborn around before we have company. That is a HUGE relief to me. I was so afraid she'd come late and they'd miss her entirely. Second, and this is a bit superstitious, but it's the 23rd. That's totally my lucky number, and it totally follows suit with the last few babies that have been born in the family. My niece Elaina was born on the 13th of August, while her mom's birthday is the 13th of March. My nephew Ryan was born on the 7th of April, and his dad's birthday is the 7th of December. So Beckie predicted my baby would be born on the 23rd of July, as my birthday is the 23rd of March. Oddly enough, my doctor scheduled the induction date for the 23rd without me even asking. (Of course there's still a chance she'll be born on the 24th, depending on when I get in there on Thursday and how fast things progress, but I thought that was a cool little coincidence. )

At any rate, by this time next week I'll be a mom.

Weird.

But we're as ready as I think we can be. We took a labor and delivery class, we took 2 parenting classes, the bags are packed, the nursery's ready, and now all we have to do is wait. We're so excited to welcome our little girl into the world and I'm still praying every night for her to be happy and healthy. Of course for as much as she kicks the crap out of me every day, I'm not too worried about her physical state. But you never know.

Stay tuned for pictures of the little bundle of joy!

Baby Shower

2009-06-28T10:14:00.008-06:00

The room we had it in at Noah's. It was so perfect I could vomit. (In a good way).

Okay So I don't have very many pictures of WHO was at my baby shower, but I did get some pictures of what it looked like. And I have to give props to Bri, my former/current boss/friend. :) She planned the thing and I only helped a little. It was based on my decor for E's room (Will post those too later) and it was so elegant! I'm not big into the baby-ish decor.

But enough about what it looked like, you can obviously see that. Now about who was there. I felt SO BLESSED to have so many good friends drive from far away places to be there. My group of college roommates (minus 2) came from Boise, Idaho Falls, and Vegas. My cousins came from Boise. My childhood friend came from Pocatello! I was just so touched that so many people would sacrifice part of their weekend to be there. And it was so fun to see them all! So thank you to all of you who can read this! I loved seeing you and I love you all!!

So here are the pictures I have. Hopefully I'll get more later, I'm waiting for other people to email them to me. You know, because I'm an idiot and didn't take any myself. Oh well. But it was so fun and I feel more ready than ever for this little girl to come! 5 more weeks (feel free to join me in praying for her to come a couple weeks early. I'm so ready to be done)! :)

Me in all my pregnant glory. (Meaning hugeness.)

One of the cookies Bri made. That's right...made. She's freaking amazing. Everyone got one.

You can kind of see some of the people in this one. At least their backs. Sigh.

These were in front of my "super-special princess seat" as Bri dubbed it.

Kind of a dark picture, but this was the gift table. Bri and I both did the chandeliers above the table. Foam core and spray paint can work wonders.

Don't worry, we had a sign-in book. :)

The DELICIOUS and beautiful cake my sister Beckie made. It was a huge hit and I really appreciated it. I loved it!

You can tell I have a sweet tooth with this baby. We had cake, AND trifle, AND...

...a candy buffet. Mmmmm.

And last but not least, my mom's chicken salad. So good!

Thanksgiving in May?

2009-05-06T06:31:00.005-06:00

Yesterday was our three-year wedding anniversary, and those of you who know me, know that our anniversaries thus far have been FAR from ideal. The first one we were so broke we went to wal-mart and set a $5 limit for our gifts. I got Jacob a ninja turtle (which might have been the best gift ever, he sits on Jacob's desk like a mascot). Our second anniversary was the day we moved from Montana to Utah. AKA, Jacob in the truck for 8 hours, me in the car following behind him, and crashing at my brother and sister-in-laws that night. Fun.

But this year we FINALLY had a chance to do something fun. Jacob had arranged to work an extra day last week so he could take Tuesday off without using a sick day (we need all of those when the baby comes). So we decided no gifts, we just wanted to find something fun to do. Jacob's suggestion? Dinner and a movie. Bless him, he tries. Not to be outdone, I jumped online and found the website for Thanksgiving Point. DING!

We drove down to Lehi to visit the gardens at Thanksgiving Point and it was BEAUTIFUL! The tulips were blooming (which was appropriate for the anniversary since those were our wedding flowers), the sun was shining, the breeze was blowing; it was the perfect day. We walked around the gardens, went to the top of the waterfalls, ate lunch at their little outdoor cafe, and just sat on a bench under a big shady tree for half an hour while Jacob made me laugh at nothing, which he usually does. It was an excellent day.

Here are some examples of how pretty this place is. We didn't even make it through the whole thing, my back hurt too bad to keep walking for too long. But we definitely have plans to go back.
I highly recommend it to anyone who's in the area but has never been.

This is my new desktop background. It makes me so happy!

My shirt matched the flowers, so we took a belly shot.

Jacob. Need I say more?

This picture is terrible but it makes me laugh so hard. We were facing the sun, and Jacob couldn't take it. (Not posed, btw.)

Okay, okay

2009-04-03T17:34:00.000-06:00

Since I keep getting the "Where's a picture of your baby bump?" question, here it is. I don't feel cute, but I guess it's for posterity right?
So here I am at almost 23 weeks. :)

Time Flies

2009-03-31T13:31:00.000-06:00

Jacob, on the very day I met him, 2001

March 30th, 2009. I woke up, got ready, worked on my computer, helped my co-worker with CAD, and finally went to my design meeting. At the meeting I wrote down the date on my notepad: 3-30-09. Suddenly I realized what that day meant: 8 years ago on March 30th is when Jacob and I started dating! EIGHT YEARS AGO!

This realization put me in a very sappy, nostalgic mood, so be warned. If you don't want to hear gushy stories of young love, skip this post. But I wanted to write it down for me. We're starting a family now and I felt like looking back at how it all started.

We met when we were 16 at my friend's birthday party. It was one of those movie moments when someone walks into the room, your eyes meet, and you know they're going to be a part of your life. A lot of people don't believe in love at first sight, I can't believe in anything but. He flirted shamelessly, and I felt like he'd been my friend for years.

A week or so later, that same friend (Kim, if you're reading this, yes we know we owe you eternally), gave him my phone number. He called me every day for a week, and I was never ever home. He said he got to know the rest of my family very well during that week. Finally, on Sunday he called one more time. My mom has this rule, where on Sunday's we can't talk on the phone with friends, because it's a family day. I don't know what inspired her to let me break the rule that one time, but we ended up talking for like 4 hours. Again, I felt like I'd known him for years.

The next Tuesday at our youth activity, Kim told me that the boy's rifle team was having practice that very minute at their school which was 5 minutes away. We left the activity early, ran to the gym and I immediately spotted Jacob marching in the line with all the other members of the rifle team. He saw me and broke out the biggest smile I'd ever seen, but bless him, he didn't break formation. We had to leave, but it was reassuring to see him again and have it reaffirmed to me that he wasn't a figment of my imagination.

Our first date was exactly one week after I turned 17, on March 30th, 2001. He picked me up from a tennis match in his mom's Ford Explorer. I was sweaty and red-faced, but he was sweet and told me I looked cute. He took me home, I changed, and we sat in my room talking. And before I knew what was happening, he kissed me. This is only the third time we've seen each other in person, mind you. I pulled away from him, being the innocent, naive girl that I was at the time and said "Well this isn't what I was planning on doing tonight." And with a look that was genuine surprise, and sheer misunderstanding he said, "It isn't?" Like there was no other purpose for us meeting that evening. I couldn't help but laugh. He did officially ask me to be his girlfriend later that night, and he's been the best part of my life ever since.

In these 8 years we've shared countless experiences. He was baptized as a member of the church, we went to prom(s), we graduated high school, I left for college, he went on a mission, we became best friends through our weekly emails, he gave me relationship advice, he came back and proposed, we got married, we've moved 4 times, we've bought new cars, built a life together, and now we're starting a family. 8 years later.

I'm so excited to see where life takes us from here. I'm so grateful to know that no matter what happens, he's there for me. Anyone who knows me, knows I worry about everything. But with him, I never worry. I know we're in this together. And if he hasn't given up on me by now, I don't think he's planning on it.

So thanks for sharing my stroll down memory lane. Here are some pictures of us through the years. Again, this is mostly for me, but enjoy. Laugh at how young we look. And sometime, take a look back at how you got where you are today. It's good to remember the past, when the future's coming at you like a freight train.

Jake and me at my Senior Prom, 2002

Meeting me at the airport after my trip to Florida with Ashley, 2001

At his high school graduation, 2002

One of our engagement pictures, 2005

On our wedding day, 05-05-06

Pink!

2009-03-04T21:00:00.001-07:00

Jacob and I went to my 18 week ultrasound today and it was reaffirmed to me what I've felt all along; we're having a little girl! I'm so excited and relieved that my instincts weren't completely off. I had 4 dreams when I first got pregnant that I was holding my little girl. Anyone who knows me knows that my baby dreams are like 95% accurate. I had a dream my mom had a girl before we even knew she was pregnant with Hannah. I had a dream my sister had a girl before I even knew SHE was pregnant. So I thought "If I have THIS many dreams that it's a girl, and it's a boy, my whole psyche will be thrown off." Luckily that didn't happen, and little E. is on her way. (I don't want to tell her name to the world until she's born, but we'll just say I've got a name selected!) The doc said she looks just right size-wise and all her major organs are functioning as they should be, which is always good to hear. And her heartbeat was 160bpm, which they said was right on track.

I just have to say, that it's one of the most amazing things to see your baby in an ultrasound. She kept covering her face with her hands, and squirming around so we didn't really get a good profile shot, but I had tears in my eyes when we saw her little arms and legs moving, and her little heart beating. I'm so happy that the Lord has blessed us with this little girl, and I already love her more than I ever thought possible. Here's to the next 5 months! (We'll see how much I love her when she's kicking me in the ribs and I can FEEL it. :) )

Big News!

2009-01-30T17:57:00.000-07:00

Jacob and I are expecting our first child!!! That's right, after way too many months of trying to get pregnant, it finally happened! I'm officially in my second trimester and due August 2nd. We're so excited and can't wait to find out what we're having! We feel very humbled and blessed by this coming change, and summer can't come soon enough!

Buckle up, it's the law.

2008-12-12T10:08:00.000-07:00

This has been a crazy week. For more reasons than I can write. But one BIG reason is that on Tuesday night we were heading to Salt Lake to see the lights on Temple Square. My mom, Beckie, Rachael, and Elayna were in my parent's car, and Hannah (my 10 year old sister) came with me. I got onto the I-15 going north into really slow traffic, like stop-and-go. I managed to merge into the 2nd lane from the right and started to slow down to a stop. I was probably going 5 miles an hour with my foot on the brake when the car behind me was hit, causing it to run into me, pushing me to the right. It proceeded to scrape the entire driver's side of my car, and ran into me again on the front driver's side. I think I bumped the car in front of me on the initial impact, but the car that came around me hit the same car I did. After pulling off into the emergency lane and talking to the police officer I learned that there were 4 cars involved and the people who caused it were some teenagers in Daddy's Audi. After a minor freak-out I was able to get the car towed to a collision lot and the Audi's insurance is paying for my rental car until we figure out what to do with our car. It makes me sad to see these pictures, but at the end of the day, Hannah and I are fine. I have minor whiplash because I tensed up when I saw it coming, but Hannah was blissfully unaware and is completely fine, which I am INFINITELY grateful for. I couldn't live with myself if something had happened to her.
So anyway, I went and emptied the car out yesterday and took some pictures for my records. I thought I'd share them with the blogging world as well. I'm so grateful we were being watched over and are safe. Cars are replaceable, little sisters are not.
So everyone buckle up and pay attention on the roads today. :)

Spa-aaah

2008-11-20T21:47:00.000-07:00

Okay so after three weeks of hard manual labor at work (a mixture of scaffolding, staple guns and scissor lifts, I'd rather not think about) I finally got the chance to unwind at a Noah's sponsered spa day. Bri and I went to Cameo beauty school for four hours of pure relaxation. I'd never been to a spa, never had a facial, never even had a PEDICURE and today I got it all. I can barely keep my eyes open typing this, I'm so tired and relaxed. So for all you who haven't been, or if it's been awhile I HIGHLY recommend going and getting your cares peeled away along with your top layer of dead skin! :)

My Noah's

2008-10-26T07:59:00.000-06:00

Here are some not-professional-caliber photos of the Noah's building I've been working on for so long (and others have been working on for MUCH longer than I). I was a tour guide for most of the week so I was able to take lots of people through and show off our work, as well as my family (which is who you'll see in some of the pics). Bear with me, there's a lot of pictures, but I think it turned out to be a GORGEOUS building. Good job Jessica and Bri and TONS of others!

View down from the balcony

Main Hall

Balcony

Room 202

Room 200

2nd Floor Hall

Rooftop Seating area and the bar I "designed"

Rooftop Seating (Cushions not included)

Rooftop Patio where the ice-skating rink will be

3rd Floor Restroom

Room 300

Room 300 seating

Bridal Vanity I designed

Room 301

3rd floor Hall

Theater room

Game room

Board Room

Quick Trip to B-town

2008-10-26T07:00:00.001-06:00

We've been meaning to make it up to Bozeman for a LONG time now, and with the threat of snow looming over us, and an emergency from my brother Adam (long story, but he basically got jumped and ended up with 1 1/2 of his front teeth knocked out and needing stitches in his lip) we finally made time to go up there and we are SO glad we did! I didn't get any pics of Adam's hurt teeth (he wouldn't let me if I asked) but I did get a lot of Dave and Kansas and our pseudo-neice and nephew Scarlett and Griffin. Thanks for letting us stay with you guys and putting up with Jacob and his craziness for 2 days!

Jacob and Dave waiting to get in to Ted's

Kansas and I waiting outside the restaurant. $70 dinner anyone?

The beginning of Jacob's "4 games of croquet, 4 games of victory."

Yes, Jacob IS that much fun to laugh at! :)

Me and Jakey

Jake pretending to be a scary guy giving Griff a pumpkin. He wasn't falling for it.

Kansas' brother Stetson, Griff and Scarlett

Scarlett dancing. So stinkin cute!

She wanted to play croquet with the big boys.

Scarlett in the morning. I love the muffin stuffed
in her face!

Random

2008-10-03T10:14:00.000-06:00

Do you ever feel like you have so much to do that you just sit there staring at the computer screen, not doing any of it? Yeah that's today.

I'm mostly anxious because everything I need to do today is in the afternoon, so I'm just waiting for that to roll around.

Meanwhile, I have no exciting news. Work's going well, it's a nail-biter as to whether or not we'll finish up in time, but isn't that always how it is? I'm already excited for the next building, and just want to get this one done. It'll be interesting to see an entire building from beginning to end, and I'm ready to go.

I'm ready for a lot of things.

Like this afternoon...

Dinner Drama

2008-08-20T09:34:00.000-06:00

My nephew Ben loves food more than anyone I know. He will literally SCREAM if you take away his meal of choice. I got the opportunity to document the drama as it was happening and will show this to ALL of his girlfriends when he starts dating, warning them that dinner could take some time so they might want to catch a later movie.
So thus begins, The Dinner Drama: Ben and the Corn:

Here he looks peaceful enough. He knew dinner was coming, even if it wasn't his.

Sure enough, he spots Dad's dinner and the tempting corn on the cob. With a point and a polite "Mm?" he asks dad for a bite. After getting permission, he dives in.

Between the two of them, the corn is finished pretty rapidly. This is not good news for Ben, who IMMEDIATELY bursts into tears when his precious food is taken away. Not fake tears, either. He was seriously upset!

He tries to calm the hunger by turning to his own hand to see if any remnants of corn could be found:

Tired of his merciless wailing Dad does what any dad would do and gives him what he wants. Though devoid of actual corn kernels, Ben's finally happy again and all is well.

The End...?

Elayna's Born!

2008-08-20T09:25:00.000-06:00

My sister Beckie finally had her baby little Elayna Faith Dick. She was 10 LBS 3 OZ! I felt so bad for Beckie, but she apparently had a fairly easy delivery and only 20 min. of actual pushing, so that was good. She loved the epidural but hated the hospital stay because they kept testing her and Elayna for any types of infection since they both ran fevers during delivery. This just made Beckie nervous and upset, which made me and my mom upset, but all is well that ends well right? Elayna and mom are both at home and doing well. Thank goodness. We all love the new addition to our ever-growing family.

Here's what we call the Praying Manis:

Jacob pretending to be Mufasa:

What happens in Vegas...

2008-07-18T07:10:00.000-06:00

So Jacob and I went to Las Vegas for my best friend's wedding. No it wasn't a shotgun wedding at a drive-through chapel. It was Jana and Bobby in the LV temple and it was beautiful. Besides getting to be there for her and Bobby's first time through the temple, we had a D25 reunion and we got to go to the sealing as well. Plus I reunited with my Pseudo-family, the Stecks! It was a lot of fun (and VERY hot)! Of course we didn't get away before causing some drama cuz Jacob accidentally rolled his ankle on the 4th of July (don't ask what he was doing before-hand), but it turned out fine and we had a good time. There are a lot more pictures where these came from, but these are just some of the highlights.

Jared's Birthday!

2008-06-04T22:56:00.000-06:00

So, one of the great things about living in Utah is that I'm really close to most of my family now. My brother and sister-in-law are about 15 minutes away and my mom and dad and sisters are literally like 6 minutes away.
The greatest part about this is that I get to see my nephews more often and we just celebrated Jared's third birthday at our new apartment. How did we show a 3-year-old a good time? The same way we do with anyone who comes over: Guitar hero. Even though his "kintar" (he can't say guitar so that's what he called it) was off the whole time, he still had a blast. It was fun to have the family together.

Blog? What's a blog?

2008-06-04T22:39:00.000-06:00

Okay, so everyone and their mom has a blog, so Jacob and I are jumping on the bandwagon. Of course, Facebook and MySpace make sense to me. This blogging stuff is still a work in progress. But here we are ready to blog it up. Can I say blog one more time in the paragraph? Probably...but I won't.