Year 1 in Texas = great experiences

Here are wayyyyy too many pictures but I think they are the best way to remember the what we have been up to the past month. Really, some days it feels like all I do is spin in circles feeding and diapering/toileting children but looking back at these pictures I realize we did actually do a few things.

 I have also been reminded this past week of how precious every moment I have with my little girls and husband are. I know that being a mother to two angels and a wife to a wonderful husband is an eternal calling and I am so grateful for everything that comes along with it. Our friends here in San Angelo just lost their 18 month old little boy in a tragic accident two days ago and I am sad to say this has made me realize how precious every moment is here on earth with our loved ones. I think Mallory wonders why I have hugged her and told her I love her so much these past few days. I just can't imagine facing such a tragedy.

It has been exactly 1 year since we moved here to Texas. We have truly been blessed this past year and have felt our Savior looking out for us along the way. Porter has successfully completed his first year of PT school! (so proud of him!), we have met wonderful people and made great friends, and we have added a new bundle of joy to our family. I can tell this year has helped us to grow and stretch in many ways and I feel we have truly been sent her for a reason. We are excited for 2 more years here and for a fun 2 month visit to Snowflake in a few weeks to see our families who we have missed sooooo much!

After the Lone Wolf 5 mile race. I think I got 4th. Can't remember... 1st in my age (I think). ha.. but it was so much fun. (afterward anyway :) )

Made these fun baby sandals for Kaisley

4 months old

4 months old. She is growing like a weed!

 We have regular "laundry parties" Mallory thinks they are great... I am just trying to talk myself into believing they are great fun too! :) Kaisley has been teething for what seems like forever! (can you tell!)

 Last minute we decided to run in a 3 mile race at the college. Porter and I brought home some goods! ha. We had our best race time yet I think and came home with an ipod, watch, water bottles, and a t-shirt! We could not believe the prizes for a little 3 mile run! ha. It was a blast running together.

 Us girls. Porter is a lucky man to have so many ladies :)

Mallory eating her flower cookie pop we made. These turned out so cute and were really easy.

The girls in their matching tutus.

 Mallory getting all set up for her tea party she had the other day. She had a few friends from the ward come over and dress up in princess dresses and have snacks. She was so excited. She totally reminded me of myself getting things all set up on the table just how she liked it before the guests arrived.

 This past Sunday one of the girls from Porter's PT class got married in Abilene so we went to that. Then we decided to stay the night and go to the zoo and chuck e cheese the next day to make a bit of a trip out of it. Here are the girls on the hotel bed. The sure do love each other. Mallory is in LOVE with hotels. haha. She was so excited!

 At the Abilene zoo with daddy.

 Kaisley hanging out at the zoo. (5 months now and the same size Mallory was at 1 year old! )

The Lion

 Eating cheetos and talking to the spider monkey. This was Mallory's favorite exhibit.

And oh.... the grass! She was rolling around on the grass like it was Christmas (or maybe she thought she was Rapunzel). I think she was just loving having some sticker free grass for once.... the grass here in San Angelo is awful!

Look at their faces! On the jet ride at ChuckECheeses.

 The ducks at the zoo.

The girls with Chuck E Cheese.

The end.

Easter

We had a really good Easter. Mallory can tell us the whole resurrection story and is quite amazed by it. She asks to watch the youtube video I found about Christ and his resurrection multiple times a day and loves it. She also enjoyed the part of Easter that brought sweets, gifts, bunny's, and egg hunts.

Kaisley is 4 months old now and 15.5 pounds. She is growing way too fast despite being so sick all the time. About 5 days ago she started with her 4th sickness (2 of the previous were tested as RSV and I am thinking this might be RSV again but the dr. did not test this time.) My poor baby has been sick most of her life. It breaks my heart. We took her to the doc and he said she is wheezing really bad and that this is the 3rd sickness she has had with wheezing which means she has asthma. So, he diagnosed her with asthma. I hope he is wrong but listening to her breathe right now makes me think he is probably right. I just hope it won't be too severe or limit her much. We love that girl to death and just want her to be able to enjoy life.

Anyway, here are a few pics of our Easter events.

 Making bird nests and eggs. She is quite proud :)

 At the park. Malli took this quite seriously.

Just before the egg hunt we had with some friends. Malli had a good time playing at the park and then hunting of the eggs in the dark with her flashlight.

At the park just before the egg hunt.

 Ready to get hunting!

 Kaisley had these pants with a little bunny tail on them and Mallory needed a tail too. I pinned a cotton ball to her rear and she loved it! ha. Kids love the craziest things.

Mallory was so excited that the bunny made it!

 Headed out the door for church on Easter morning. Here is our attempt at a few quick family pictures. (neither of which worked with us all looking).

Fun pics of the girls in their matching Easter clothes. Kaisley was 4 months old on Easter. (and just starting sickness number 4 too!) urg....

I love them laughing at each other in this one. Fun girls!

San Antonio Trip/Seaworld

This weekend we had a blast meeting my parents in San Antonio. Mallory was sooooo excited to see Grandma and Papa and so were we. We got to stay in a beautiful hotel right on the river walk and go to Sea World, the Alamo, and the San Antonio Temple. For being our first real vacation with 2 kids I would consider it a success. We were exhausted from time to time dragging all of our junk around for the kids and carrying tired kiddos around but it was so worth it. Thanks Mom and Dad for coming to Texas on your spring break! We had a blast!!!!

 Mallory ready to hit the road.

Splash pad at Sea World. The weather was perfect.

 4D Sesame street show at Sea World

 Swimming at the hotel. Kaisley's first swim.

The Azul show was our favorite.

 Kaisley being soooooo good!

 Cute girl.

Porter, Malli, Mom, and Lorri on the rides :)

She loved all of the Sesame street characters and snuggled right in for hugs.

RSV again! and St. Patricks Day!

Our big and not so fun update for the week is that my biggest worry became a reality. After calling my Dr. for 5 days concerned about my baby and them messing up her first RSV test and accidentally testing it for flu they finally re-tested her and she sure enough she has RSV again! That means Malli has had it too. These poor girls don't deserve to be sick so much. Not to mention how exhausted their parents are! Mallory is doing really well, just lots of boogies but Kaisley seems to be improving more slowly than last time. It has been nearly 2 weeks already and she still sounds pretty yucky. I think we have seen a slight improvement in her the past day or so though so I am hoping we are on the downhill. She is still sweet as ever though. The Dr. couldn't believe she got it twice in one season and thought I was crazy for telling them that I needed her to be seen because I thought that was the problem. Maybe they will listen to me from now on! Anyway, we are slowly starting to recover I think. Porter has been on Spring Break which has been a blessing to he could help out but a bit of a bummer too since we didn't get to go anywhere fun. We did enjoy each other this week though and got quite a few little projects done around here so that was nice.

Happy St. Patty's day! Mallory loved her rainbow pancakes (and no, she did not eat all of these!), green eggs and ham, and green juice. I think I will make her eggs green all the time. She loved them so much that she ate the leftovers for lunch too! They looked pretty unappetizing to us.

 These two are the best of friends. I promise they are, even though every time I get the camera to snap a picture of the two of them playing Kaisley starts to scream. She usually is a a pretty good sport and lets Mallory smother her most of the day. Notice they are not too different in size already!

 Mallory showing her rainbow she had made at home evening with our lesson and left up for the leprechaun and her trap and the pot of gold he left her at the end of the rainbow. He even left his hat behind and we found footprints! She was sooooo thrilled with it all! (Her mouth is full of chocolate in the picture as it was most of the day!) She told Porter the other day that her Mom is a little bit weird because she won't let her eat all the chocolate she wants. She says some pretty comical things.

The girls on St. Patty's Day.

My sick baby. RSV for the 2nd time in 6 weeks. Sorry baby girl! You don't deserve to go through this again!!! Get better soon!

Me sporting my sweet 3rd place medal. Ha. I ran in the Shamrock 5k here in San Angelo. I was not feeling the greatest during the run and didn't even get that great of a time but at least I placed. I can definitely tell that I am not back to my old self again yet in the running department. I blame it on having both kids sick with RSV twice since I was able to start exercising again. I guess you could say I have been a bit tired lately and not as good about getting myself out of bed to exercise in the mornings. Oh well, the babies are more important. It sure was fun to get back to a race though. I love doing them (for some weird reason).

3 months old!

Look who is 3 months old today! She is getting so big so quick and has been such a good baby. She really brightens my day with her happy personality. Sad to say she is a little under the weather right now. I am just sick thinking of the possibility of it being RSV again. We are praying it is not that again and are hoping for a speedy recovery for this sweet girl of ours. Poor thing does not deserve another sickness!!! Here are a few pictures of her. She is now 13.5 pounds! She loves to smile and coo and has started giggling.

Sorry this next pic is upsidedown and wont rotate ????

 Mallory making a "grinch" craft in February. Ha. She just loves him though.... kinda creepy

For our FHE we did the "tangled" FHE. We all dressed in our dress up clothes like rapunzel and flynn and had a royal crab dinner to start of the night, followed by a fun lesson and game and a royal ball with dancing at the end of the night. Mallory absolutely loved it!!!!

Malli with her clover snacks we made after watching "Horton Hears a Who" (cottage cheese dyed with food coloring and celery) So easy and healthy and she gobbled them right up.