Nothing New Really

Just an update on our lives for the last couple weeks...I am still traveling. After spending two weeks at my mom's house in Lapoint, Utah, we drove to Cedar City for 4 days to visit my brother and his family. Kensley was good at first and then she set in to terrorizing her cousin, Ian, who is 18 months old. She would chase him and push him just to get a reaction. It was very frustrating. We then drove to Las Vegas for a few days to spend some time visiting with my life long friend, Debbie, and with Stephen's parents. Kensley spent her spare time terrorizing Debbie's little girl. We then drove to Lancaster, Calif. (my hometown) for our 2nd family food storage extravaganza. Kensley terrorized whoever crossed her path and we canned lots of food for our food storage. I am well on my way to my year supply and it feels great! The first night we got there, Kensley was eating some oreo cookies, and yep! you guessed it! She puked all over the place. Everyone will thank me for not taking pictures this time. I was told by several people that they didn't appreciate me documenting the last time in photos. So, no pictures, but it was equally gross and no fun. Kensley has always been a good eater and hardly ever chokes or throws up so I don't know what the deal is, but I am not enjoying this new trend. I have had enough throw-up experience to last a lifetime. We are now in Sacramento staying with my sister, Sandi, and her family and will be here for a few more days and then will be heading home, finally. One fun thing that happened in Lancaster, Kensley was throwing a fit because I took a pen away from her. I picked her up and she leaned down and clamped her teeth into my shoulder, breaking the skin and drawing blood! I am ashamed to say that she got a smack on the face for that one. It was a reaction to the pain she caused me and happened before I knew what happened. It is starting to heal, but was all swollen and painful for a few days. Oh, the joys of the terrible twos!

Sensing a Trend?

The young women in my mom's ward called her the other day to say they are washing windows for a service project and wanted to come clean all her outside windows tonight. So, me and my mom think it would be nice for us to make them some chocolate chip cookies for their efforts. I made them earlier in the afternoon, so we were of course snacking on these cookies all day long. I was somehow able to get Kensley to eat a decent lunch and dinner, but in between all these meals she was eating cookies like crazy. I was thinking she had had enough, but I was also thinking that it wasn't very nice for me to deprive her of these little pieces of heaven when I myself was feasting on them at every opportunity. The young women finally arrived and washed windows and left with a plateful of cookies, leaving us with still plenty to eat. Things were winding down for the night and I finally decided that Kensley had had enough. She was yelling "cookie, cookie" all day long, but I told her they were all gone. She then started demanding chips. I said no again and then offered her a piece of string cheese which seemed to pacify her. We settled on the couch with Kensley on my lap eating her cheese and drinking milk from her sippy cup. We were watching the season premiere of The Biggest Loser and there was only 5 minutes left. She suddenly gets a funny look on her face and starts crying. I couldn't figure out what was wrong, but she was obviously in distress. So I turn her towards me to give her a hug and she starts throwing up all over me. It was all in my hair, down my back, creeping down my shorts, and all over the couch. It was quite possibly the most discusting experience of my life. It scared her and she started crying, but I couldn't do much to help her as I was now covered in puke. I drug her off to the bathroom where I stripped and jumped in the shower with her still crying in the bathroom next to me. I had considered putting her in the shower with me, but she is deathly afraid of showers. As I quickly rinsed off, she resumes her puking all over the bathroom floor. I grabbed her as fast as I could to try and get most of it in the toilet, but failed miserably. It was spattered all over the floor, all over the toilet, and some even got on the wall! I put her in the tub and all our clothes in the washer and my saintly mother cleaned up all the throw up. The end.

Naptime??

So, we made another trip to Vernal the other day so my mom could meet my Aunt Carol for a temple session. Rather than drive two cars into town, we went in together and me and Kensley had a few hours to kill before they were done. There isn't a whole lot of things to do in Vernal, but we managed to fill the time for the most part. We made a trip to the D.I. to drop things off, a grocery shopping trip to Wal-mart and a quick stop at Smith's for the dwindling supplies of the case lot sale. We also went to the park where there was a spirited paint ball tournament going on. Kensley had a fun time swinging and going down the slide. The fun ended when another rotten child threw dirt in her face and it was in her eyebrows and down her shirt. After my mom and aunt were done with their temple session, we ate lunch and dropped Aunt Carol off at the Senior bus that would take her back to Rangely. Kensley was worn out and fell asleep immediately on our drive back to Lapoint. She of course woke up upon arrival and refused to go back to sleep. So, she took another 20-min nap and was done. I was trying to get her to lay back down to no avail. Suddenly she decides to go lay in her bed all by herself and goes in the room and shuts the door. All is quiet and I am thinking I should check on her, but and secretly hoping she is falling asleep so I choose not to. I should have known better. A couple minutes later she is knocking on the door for me to let her out of the room and this is what I find. She has gotten into my makeup and has mascara all over her hands and face and all over the tube. The wand is now so mis-shapen and rendered practically useless.

Styrofoam Chairs

I recently bought a sewing machine in a grand endeavor to learn to sew. I decided to take advantage of my time in Lapoint with my Mom and lug it all the way here so she could help me with my latest big project, making a Wonder Woman costume for Kensley for Halloween. So Cute! By the way, we are well underway with this project and it has been a very frustrating process and I am finding I don't have much of a talent for sewing. I am plucking along, however, and it is coming close to being finished. She is going to be the cutest little Wonder Woman ever! I dare anyone to suggest otherwise! My sewing machine was still in the box and Kensley took all the package stuffing and used it as a little chair. She spent the afternoon sitting in it and reading books.

Dinosaur Musuem

Robert and his kids went home this past weekend and Robert wanted to take them for a night on the town before leaving. The logical place to go was the Dinosaur Museum in Vernal followed by a feast at the local Golden Corral. This picture is of Kensley in front of the lovely Wooly Mammoth. She is feeling quite frightened and abandoned during this picture taking, but it had to be documented. Dinosaurs used to frequent the Vernal area during their reign on the earth so it was a fitting end to the kids vacation.

A Day at the Park

We drove into Vernal the other day to give the kids something to do. Kensley was so excited to play at the park, we practically had to drag her away. She dozed off on the drive over and I was all prepared to sit in the car and let her sleep, but the second we drove up, she started yelling "get out! get out" and ran straight for the swing. Her cousin, Kali, was so nice to spend so much time pushing her so that I didn't have to. :o)

Ice Cream! Ice Cream!

We all scream for Ice Cream!

Emergency Pit-Stop

My mom recently returned home from her mission in Nauvoo, so I am taking a last-minute trip to Utah for her homecoming and to spend some time with her. After furiously packing and getting ready all day yesterday, we headed off this afternoon for the 12-hour trek. Kensley started getting fussy because she was sick of being in her car seat so I gave her a little bowl of dark chocolate peanut m&m's. They worked like magic and she was happy and content for several minutes. Next thing I know, she has thrown up all over herself and the carseat. I had to drive like that for another 15 minutes because we were in the middle of nowhere with no place to stop. I am paranoid about pulling over on the side of the road. She was sad and miserable until I pulled out the camera and then she was all smiles.

I used almost an entire package of baby wipes getting her and the car seat clean. It was a very discusting process with throw up in every nook and cranny imaginable. Now there is a faint dark chocolate m&m throw up aroma in my car. Yuck!

Kensley's Two-year old photos

Here are a few highlights from Kensley's 2-year pictures. They turned out so cute, I don't know how to choose a favorite!! If anyone needs pictures taken, check out forgetmenotbyjana.com. She did a great job!



I love this sad face. Kensley was upset because she wanted to get in the water!

Chillin' on the Phone

Stephen called last night and Kensley wanted to talk to him and then refused to give the phone back. This is part of their conversation.