WAY to long!

I've decided that it's time to update my blog. It's been almost two months. It's not like I've been busy at all though. Moving, birthdays, vacations, visitors, swim lessons, etc., etc., etc. I guess I should just start from the last time I posted.

First of all we bought our first home. The move was a lot of hard work but it was definitely worth it. Now that I've got everything unpacked and put away I've started to paint and decorate. I'll post pictures of the rooms as I finish them. The only room that I've finished so far is the playroom. We chose to paint it Mystical Sea. It's a light mint green color. You might need to click on the picture and make it bigger to be able to see the color. I finished painting Aly's room too but I haven't gotten any decorations put up yet.


Kayla and Aly both had birthdays. For some reason I can't find the pictures from Kayla's birthday. We bought a new camera and with all the switching around with memory cards and what not I don't remember where I saved them. Anyway, we let the girls decide what we do for their birthdays.

For Kayla's birthday she decided that she wanted to go practice riding her bike at the park. Then we went and saw 'How to Train Your Dragon." We all loved it. It will definitely be one to buy. After the movie we went to PF Changs. Kayla loves Chinese food. We came home and she opened her gifts and then she spent the afternoon playing with her new things.

For Aly's birthday she decided she wanted to sleep in a tent in the playroom. So the night before we set up our small tent and the girls had a slumber party.


The next day we went and saw Toy Story 3 in 3D. The movie was good, but paying for the 3D was a waste. Aly didn't keep her glasses on, Joe can't see in 3D, and I just got a head ache from it.



Aly got a Woody doll from Grandma Stradling. She's been talking about wanting one for her birthday for a really long time and she finally got it!




Her birthday cupcake with pink cake and yellow frosting. Just as she ordered.




All tuckered out at the end of the day. Yes, she insisted on sleeping in her sleeping bag again.

What's up with Kayla

Kayla has been a pretty busy girl these last few weeks. First, her class has been learning about life cycles. They learned all about eggs and they even hatched some. They started out with 12 eggs, but only 4 ended up hatching.

To finish up their study of eggs they had an egg drop. The assignment was to create a container that could keep an egg from breaking when dropped off of the school roof. It could be made of any material, but it could only be 7" X 7". I think Joe had more fun with this assignment than Kayla did. After drawing up and trying to create a few different elaborate devises, Joe and Kayla decided to just try popcorn. They put the egg inside of a small plastic bag and then put the small plastic bag inside of a large one filled with popcorn. Then they took some plastic wrap and wrapped it around the large one so that it was ball shaped. Then Kayla decorated it.

Kayla decorating her giant popcorn ball.

Mrs. McMillan dropping all of the containers off of the roof.

After Kayla's landed.

And........

IT WORKED!!!!!!

These are the kids who had success. I should say that 3 of them have Dad's who are engineers of some sort. I thought that was pretty funny.

Someone tried to use Jello. Obviously it didn't work.

Kayla and her good friend Isaac. They are in different classes at school, but they are in primary together. We have play dates with them at least 2 times a month. Kayla is sure going to miss getting to see him all the time.

The chicks that they hatched. They were about a week and 1/2 old by this point. Once they got too big for the box they went to live at the farm.

The kindergarten classes all went to the farm to see all the different animals that they had learned about during their life cycle unit. They also got to plant pumpkin seeds to bring home. Kayla is excited to put the plant into our new garden at our house.

And finally.....

So, I've always been pretty strict about keeping the scissors out of the kids reach and only letting them use them when I am supervising. I had the goal as a mother to never let my kids have the oppurtunity to give themselves a hair cut. Well, the other day I was getting ready to excercise and Kayla asked if she could use the scissors for a project she was working on. I figured she is almost 6 and she would be okay using them while I excercised. Guess what! I was wrong. When I came back down stairs to help Kayla get ready for school I saw that she had decided to cut herself some bangs. She said she wanted short hair like her friend Paola. And she got it because I had to take her to get her hair fixed.

I'll have a bunch more to post in the next few weeks. We are going to be busy busy. Kayla has a lot more things going on before the end of school. Plus she will be turning 6 next week! We are also closing on our house this Friday! And yes, I should be working right now and not blogging. I better get back to work! :-)

Horse Back Riding

When we were down in Farmington in February for Justin's funeral the girls got a chance to go see their Aunt Deena and Uncle Dale's new horse, Cricket. We didn't tell them that we were going and they were really excited when they saw the horse. It was nice to have something to cheer the girls up a little since it had been such a hard week for them. Kayla didn't want to stop riding, but Aly wouldn't go near him at first. Once we were back at their house and the horse was put away Aly changed her mind and Uncle Dale was nice enough to take her back out to have another chance. Thanks for letting us ride Cricket Deena and Dale!

Putting Cricket back in the trailer to go home.

Aly getting used to the idea of being near the horse.

Uncle Dale actually convinced her to get on!

Feeding Cricket.

The day after we got home from our trip our friend Alli came and decorated our door with messages from our ward. It was really sweet and it really meant a lot to us.

I can't believe that it has already been over 2 months since we lost our sweet little Justin. People keep asking us how we are doing and I don't really know what to say. We'll never get over losing Justin so I don't know what anyone is expecting us to say.

Not long after we got back from the funeral Joe had to go back to work and we had to go on with life whether we wanted to or not. That included searching for a new house to live in. Our lease at our rental is ending and we decided that now was the time to buy. After looking at a ton of houses and having offers refused, we finally found a house that we love. It has just about everything that we want in a house and we are really excited about moving the end of May. The girls are excited to get their own rooms and choose what colors they want to paint. Getting a new house has given us something to look forward to.

Our Son

Justin Wayne Stradling was born Monday February 15, 2010 at 7:56 am. I was 36 weeks pregnant. The labor lasted only 4 hours and was without complications. When Justin was born he cried, opened his eyes for just a moment, and grasped onto my finger. His big sisters, Kayla and Alyssa, were able to come and spend a little bit of time with him while he was still with us. Justin slowly slipped away at 9:53 am, after a short life of just under 2 hours. He passed away from a birth defect known as Bilateral Renal Agenesis. (He was born without kidneys.) A viewing was held in Farmington, New Mexico on Friday February 19, 2010 followed by a graveside service at Greenlawn Cemetery. We appreciate all of the love, support, and prayers on our behalf during this difficult time. We are very blessed to have had Justin in our lives and we look forward to when we will get to be with him again.

More pretty girls!

A while ago my friend Valerie took some pictures of the girls while they were playing at her house. (A couple are from our ward Halloween party.) They turned out really cute and I've been meaning to post them for a while. These are small because I just downloaded them from facebook. For Christmas she enlarged, printed and framed some for us.