Fall 2011

Wow it has been awhile since I have posted anything, but I have lots of good excuses... ;) Really though our lives have been extremely busy. We moved into our house about 4 months ago and so have been trying to get settled-it takes forever it seems, even now I am still decorating and trying to do home improvement projects- and all moved in. Jake and I both started school again this Fall. I am still working on my Exercise Science degree at UVU and Jake started his Masters degree at USU (he goes through a branch at Thanksgiving Point) so we are both busy with taking classes and homework. Jake is still working at Vivint and he still enjoys it for the most part. However they have been making them stay late a lot of times so during the beginning of the month and end I don't see him hardly at all. Jake also got a calling in the ward so he is over varsity scouts and is loving it. Campouts, activities and meetings take up a decent amount of his time too, but I can't complain too much because I know it is such a good thing that he is doing. Besides school I am staying busy taking care of Leah and trying to take care of myself too :) This pregnancy thus far has been pretty relaxed and now that I am going with a midwife that I LOVE everything is great! I can't believe that in less than a month we are going to have a new addition to our family-I am SO, SO, SO excited! It is still crazy to me that we don't know what it is yet, but it is kind of fun too, I think it makes me that much more excited, haha.

And now for a Leah update: Tomorrow she will be 19 months old! Time has flown by so quickly, she defiantly is not a baby anymore and everyday she is learning and growing and just getting bigger. She is talking so much now, mostly just one word at a time, but once in awhile she will say two in a row. She also loves to sing and do the actions to different songs. Her favorite is "A peanut sat on a railroad track", she also likes the "3 little monkeys" song and when she wants to sing it she will say "nap da mooney (pause) tree" (snap that monkey right out of that tree) it really is sooo cute! She still wakes up at night around 2 times, but goes back to sleep easily if we just go in and cover her up. I am not sure what is going to happen when the baby comes, but I have a feeling it might be a big family bedroom. Which is okay with me as long as they both sleep!

Anyway that is our life for now, I will try and post again soon, but with baby coming we will see if that happens :) Here are a few pictures from the past months.

                                    Leah painting a pumpkin for the first time

                              Jake's birthday. Stef made such a yummy cake!

Leah at the pumpkin patch

Playdate with friends-Leah, Claire, Emma

Our little hiker-she did such a great job keeping up :)

Made it to the top-some hike in Zions Park...cant remember which one.

Papa, Marmie and Leah having a snack break

Our pumpkins that we carved

Jake and Leah's pumpkin

My friend Amber and I on a walk with our girls. Went down the river trail in SF.

Dressed up as a princess for Halloween, that face doesn't look very princess like though, haha

Leah the princess and me a witch

Halloween night-Uncle Matthew, Aunt Hannah and Leah (I decided not to dress her up again because she had already worn her costume twice and I was tired of getting her dressed)

Poor Cedar, Leah thinks she can ride him whenever she wants.

At the park on a cool November day, playing in the wood chips

Back from gathering eggs at Marmie and Papa's

She is such a good helper-putting the eggs in the carton for us :)

Summer fun

Summer time is so much fun! I love it, Jake loves it, Leah loves it-who doesn't? We have done some fun things and are planning on more. We have been busy house hunting though which has taken up a lot of time, but that is at an end because we finally found one and we are just waiting for our financing to go through and then we have got it! We have been living at my parents while we look for houses, it has its challanges, but really it has been wonderful. I have an endless supply of babysitters that I don't have to pay, Leah is entertained with all there is to do around the Newren household (trampoline, bunnies, chickens, dog, cat, turtles, a yard she can play in, lots of toys and books-my mom kept everything from when we were kids and it is wonderful) too. So really I can't complain and I think I will actually miss it when we move. Good thing we are not too far away :) Anyway here are some fun pictures of our summer activities...

Playing with the bunnies in the yard

Jake and I got to see Les Miserable-so cool!

The not so great picture I took of the stage...it was amazing though.

Riding the carousel at Provo Beach Resort

Playing with cousins at Grandma and Grandpa Maughan's house. I love Leah's face, it is so funny :)

Leah got into the dirt, see? She is showing you.

We went fishing on Free Fishing Day! I was fun we caught 3 and the rest in our group each caught about the same. We ate them the next day, yum!

Trying my hand at fishing

Leah playing on the tramp with the sprinkler, she loved it.

Went to dinner with Jake's work in Park City at the Foundry Grill, it was way fun!

Eating popsicles-sooo good :) There will be many more of these to come this summer.

Leah's 1st birthday

Leah turned 1 year old on April 20th! It is absolutally crazy that she is so big! It was not the best birthday though...a few days before we gave her some wheat (which we thought she might be allergic too, but was not for sure) turns out she is. She got really sick on Monday and Tuesday, then Wednesday she was still feeling yucky, but getting a little better. She was still not herself though and I felt so bad :( These are a some pictures of my poor little girl.

Watching Spot, it was the only thing that would make her kind of happy besides nursing.

She had hives all over her face, back and tummy

Even when we gave her a present she was not too thrilled.

That evening she was a little better so we celebrated with Jake's family-pizza and cupcakes. She had fun, but I could tell she still was under the weather. That Saturday she was better though so we had some friends over to play. Leah had fun and she got some fun little presents from her playmates.

Leah opening a present

Pax, Leah and Claire

Cute little kids!

Eating her gluten free birthday cake, she seemed to like it :)

Paxon and Quinlee

Mini Vacations

Jake, Leah and I dont take a lot of vacations. There are lots of reasons, trying to save money for other things, too busy (school, work), not able to get off work at either jobs etc. However we like to go on little trips and outings with our families and friends and that is good enough for us :) (at least for now). Anyway last weekend was Springbreak for both families so we took advantage and did some fun stuff. Here are some pictures of course of our adventures. Enjoy!

Newren family at the zoo

Matthew, Emily, Leah and Papa

Leah and I by watching the elephants.

She loved her first time to the zoo! They had a cute baby elephant too that kept doing funny things, it was cool to watch them interact.

Jake and Leah by the monkey cage, the monkeys were her favorite.

So wierd...

Leah gave everyone a break from holding her and rode in the stroller.

Jake kept making peacock noises and the peacock would turn around for us. It happened several times, it was kind of funny. Net time you see Jake ask him to make the sound for you, sounds pretty acurate ;)

The gang!

The next bunch of pictures is of the Maughans and our trip up to Salt Lake City last weekend. We had a great time and did some fun stuff!

Stef, Olive, Miles, and James eating dinner at the Mayan

Us

Grandma and Grandpa,thanks for taking us out for a fun night!

Getting ready to go swimming, Jake decided that he would try nursing Leah. It was so funny, she would go for it and then laugh when his hair tickled her, haha

After swimming

Drinking her Bolt House Green Goodness in a bottle, yum!

The next day we went to the Boondocks, Here is Jake at the batting cages.

Leah is getting better at walking, race car track in the background that we went on later.

James, Josh and Olive went in the bumper boats and got WET, we did too, but just a little bit :)

The guys playing basketball, shootin' some hoops.

Later that night we went back to grandma and grandpas for a cookout and games.

Leah had fun in the swing too!

Leah, Stefanie and Olive played in the dirt too, it was a very fun weekend!