home renovation

The main reason my family flew back to North Carolina with me was so they could be there for Kaden's blessing day.  My mom made his blessing outfit, and it was absolutely precious.  It was also the Primary program on Sunday, so I had a very busy day since I am in the Primary presidency.  Thankfully my mom and grandma were there to help get Kaden dressed (we took him to church in a different outfit in case he decided to desecrate whatever he was wearing before Sacrament meeting) and keep him happy.  Chad gave Kaden a beautiful blessing, and it was a very special day.  Thus, the picture overload:

 I am so thankful for my Kaden boy, and I am so thankful that he has a wonderful daddy who could give him a name and a blessing.  

Chad was very disappointed when I brought home a pumpkin costume for Kaden this year.  He was hoping for something a little less generic.  My thoughts were Joy and I scored big time finding a costume for $4.99 at Once Upon a Child that didn't look raggedy.  He was a little fluff ball, and Chad kept telling him, "I'm so sorry; this wasn't my fault."

I spent most of the time with the primary children, trying to entertain them while their parents played Bingo and won giant cakes.  Not to bad for Kaden's first Halloween. 

When we came back from Utah, we were also able to see Meredith and Mackenzie who had been visiting while we were away.  Luckily we caught them at the tail end of their trip.  Mackenzie was so much fun this time.  Her little personality is precious; she is at such a fun age!  Kenzie loved Kaden and was such a good helper.  She wanted to help feed Kaden his bottle, change his diaper (which one night resulted in catastrophe when he peed all over her, I screamed, and she started bawling), rock him to sleep when he was in his car seat, sing him songs, and she would tell him, "It's okay," whenever he was crying.  It was so sweet.  I know they will make great playmates some day when he's a little bigger and she can boss him around.  She was a little confused at first because Kaden sounded a little too much like Katie.  If she wasn't calling him "Bebe," she was calling him Aunt Katie (or Annnn Kayeee in Kenzie language).     

We went to the nature center one day to spend some time together.  Kaden slept through the entire outing in the stroller, but Mackenzie still had a good time (despite the broken train she wanted to ride).

While my family was here visiting, we drove to New Bern for the day so Grandma Joy could see her old stomping grounds (New Bern is where she graduated from high school).  We had a great day window shopping and eating yummy food.  We also drove down to Atlantic Beach so they could see the ocean.  It was a beautiful day!  We still bundled up Mr. Kaden, because of the fall breeze.

After Bryan's wedding weekend, Chad flew home, and Kaden and I stayed behind to spend some more time with my family.  Before the actual wedding, we did drive up the canyon on Sunday afternoon to take a few family pictures.  Aunt Arianne snapped the photos, and Chad added a few post-processing touches when we came home. 

I didn't take very many pictures during the two weeks I was there.  At all.  To me, that is a sign that we were having such fun that there wasn't time to go find the camera.  (OK, we were having fun, but really it's a sign of pure laziness on my part.  Oh, well.)

While in Utah I did a lot of eating.  Food chains I hit up while in Utah include: Cafe Rio, In-N-Out Burger, The Pie, & Panda Express.  It's amazing what you miss when you can't get it where you live.  I also devoured homemade chicken salad (It is a constant battle between Chad and myself how chicken salad should be prepared.  Being from the west coast I grew up eating a completely different variety than my hubby, and I always beg my mom to make some when I go home.), snicker doodles, and probably about five pans of brownies.  Caffeine-free Dr. Pepper was my beverage of choice pretty much the entire time I was home.  By some miracle I actually lost weight while I was there, so maybe I need to adopt a similar eating plan now that I am home . . .

We did go out shopping a few times, but mostly we just lazed about and spent time together.  It was nice.  Below are a few pictures we did capture while I was out west.


Luckily for me, my parents and grandma flew back out to North Carolina with me.  I say luckily because what was supposed to be a two flight trip home from Salt Lake to Denver, and then Denver to Raleigh turned into a trip from Salt Lake to Denver (delayed departure, meaning we missed our connecting flight), Denver to St. Louis, St. Louis to Nashville, Nashville to Raleigh.  We were supposed to get in a little after five in the evening, but didn't get in until after 11:00 instead.  To add interest to the experience, the airline also managed to lose all of our luggage.  It was about 2:00 a.m. by the time we made it home.  That is a long day with an almost three month old.  Kaden was still very good.  We only had one melt down while trying to get him to nurse in the Denver airport, and one blowout on the plane while the fasten seat belt sign was on.  (At that point, I waited for the flight attendant to be otherwise engaged and adopted a philosophy taught to me by my friend Steph:  "It is better to ask for forgiveness than permission.")
  

Wow.  I haven't blogged in a long time.  Such a long time, in fact, that it will probably take me eons of time to catch up.  I just barely got back from a trip to Utah, and my parents and grandma just left from a visit to our house.  It has been so nice spending time with my family, although it is a tad bittersweet.  I get used to being far away from my family and I don't really feel sad about it most of the time.  After a visit with them, things get rough when the trip ends.  I spend about a week wallowing and teary, and then I am fine again.  Sometimes I wonder what is worse, not seeing your family, or saying goodbye after you have seen them.  Anyway, since we are only on day two of wallowing, I figure I should start updating my blog.  Let's start at the very beginning, shall we (a very good place to start . . . I hear a Sound of Music song coming on). 

The entire reason we flew out to Utah in the first place was to witness this:

I can't believe my little brother is now a husband.  Bryan and Lizadel were married on October 11th.  Crazy stuff.  Isn't his wife beautiful?  I cried when I saw her in the dressing room.  Seriously, she looked that gorgeous.  That's why I think it is totally lame that Bryan saw her in her wedding dress before she walked down the aisle.  Way to ruin the dramatic effect by taking pictures before the wedding, guys.  Otherwise, I think even my tough, Marine brother might have found it hard to contain his emotions. 

My cousin, Anya, was the lucky one who got to watch Kaden during the ceremony, since Chad and I were both in the wedding party.  I should have warned her to rethink her heels, because in true Kaden fashion what started as holding him like this:

Chad, Kaden, and I flew out on the Friday morning before the wedding.  Can I just say Kaden was amazing on the plane?  He really was such a good baby the entire time.  I am still terrified to fly with him alone, but I was most impressed with how good he really was.  We had several compliments about his behavior, and instead of giving the polite thank you that was probably expected, I kept saying, "I KNOW, right?!"  (Just an aside, since this was my first time flying with an infant, I learned that being a parent traveling with a child pretty much means you might as well have leprosy in everyone else's eyes.  We flew Southwest, so there were no assigned seats.  It was hysterical some of the comments that were made as people passed us by.  One woman's face lit up when she saw an empty window seat, then said, "Oh!  THEY have a BABY!" in a Cruella-DeVil-esque tone.  Not that I blame people, I mean, I never choose to sit by the couple with the baby, either, but I never vocalized it.  GOSH.) 

For me, one of the most exciting parts of any big event like a wedding in the family is the possibility of seeing extended family that I don't get to see too often.  A lot of my relatives weren't able to make it this time, since the wedding was on a Monday, and most of them could not get the time off work. Still, it was so fun to see my Grandpa Jensen, Grandma Joy, Aunt MalaRee, Uncle Howard, Aunt Arianne, and of course my cousins:  Anya, Alissa, Evan, Brody (Alissa's little boy), and Sterling. 






When I see this shot, of all of us all grown up, I think, "Man, we've come along way from catching pollywogs and walking ditch banks."



The wedding was absolutely beautiful. My parents did the flowers, which were gorgeous. The wedding and reception were held at an indoor garden in Sandy, Utah. It was a great location: lots of fountains, twinkle lights, greenery, and flowers. Lizadel is Filipino, so there was a lot of Filipino food which was very tasty, and all of the groomsmen wore traditional Filipino shirts.




I am very happy for Bryan and Lizadel.  They make a lovely couple, and I know they will be very happy together.  Welcome to the family, Lizadel!