Jace is 2 and lots of catch up!

     Clearly I have been a failure at updating the blog. Its been 10 weeks since I last updated and so so much has happened that I hope I can keep everything straight. We have since found out that we will be blessed with baby boy #2. He currently does not have a name, nor are we even close to agreeing on one. So for the time being we just call him Baby Brother. Even Jace can say that. Jace seems to be excited about a brother at times. I think he understands, but I am also not entirely sure that he does. He is so cute and talks to baby brother and pats my belly. But he also gets frustrated that my belly is in the way and I can't hold him on my lap all the time.

Had to show this one big. I seriously love this picture. Out of about 100 that we took we actually got a smile!! Photo credit goes to my talented Sister in Law Jessica Burnett! 

      Jace is 2. Its crazy how fast time has flown. I have been so so horrible at keeping up with his growth. He was a little stinker at his 2 year check up so I don't have any stats to share. He is growing taller, but is still kind of a shrimpy shrimp. I always wanted him to have green eyes, and I think I am getting my wish. His eyes have slowly started changing from blue to what I think will be green. It seems closer and closer to green every time I check, but its not quite there yet. Guess we will see what happens in the next few months. Jace is talking up a storm lately! He used to throw "polite tantrums" where he would throw himself on the floor screaming, "no thank you, no thank you," but has since realized that most kids don't throw polite tantrums and has taken to throwing a regular crazy 2 year old tantrum. We are certainly trying to not feed into it and his tantrums are few and far between, but we still have them, and usually they happen at the store, or in some other public place. Silly kid. I swear that his vocabulary increases by like 10 new words each day. He is always copying what Paul and I say, so sometimes we try to use big words, and sometimes we realize that we need to think about what we say out loud a little more! Just the other day Jace got frustrated and growled before saying, "OH Gosh!" I know that I say gosh some times, but I am pretty sure I don't growl before I say it!

Jace got this AWESOME sandbox from his Grandma and Grandpa (Paul's parents). We tried to show him while they were there, but he was half asleep and super grumpy. So later in the evening we showed him and filmed it so they could see his reaction. He loves this sandbox. We are so grateful for Grandpa's awesome woodworking abilities!

Jace checking out his new bike on his birthday morning

Sitting on the train at the zoo waiting for the conductor to call all aboard!

Jace and Daddy checking out the new playground at the zoo!

Jace insisted on a choo choo cake. He refused to eat any of it, but loved it. 

Jace started crying when we asked him to open this present. He really wanted to open the one Mom and Dad got him, so he cried and cried until he realized that Unlce Tanner and Aunt Sarah got him a cool bus hot wheels!

     Jace loves to play basketball and has started to become a little bit more daring. He isn't much of a climber, or dare devil, but he is slowly learning that climbing can get him things he wants but can't reach. He still has yet to climb out of the crib, (which I am TOTALLY fine with). He has a strider bike that he likes to walk around, and has just recently decided that it might actually be fun to sit on the bike instead of just walk it everywhere. I definitely don't mind him being a little less gutsy, but at the same time, having him learn to ride a bike and not be afraid of everything would be nice too. He is still obsessed with any kind of ball. Soccer, football, basket ball, (which he calls ballhoop), etc. He is also still equally obsessed with cars, trains, and trucks. He loves seeing choo choo trains out the window of the car, and loves to see fire trucks, (which he started calling fireplaces for some odd reason). We are still trying to break him of the habit of calling it a fireplace and get him to say fire truck. Which he can say, he just doesn't.
      Jace has been on lots of adventures already this year. We have been to the zoo multiple times with family and friends. He got to ride the train at the zoo for his birthday and LOVED it! Going to the pool at the rec center is also one of his favorite things to do. Paul will sometimes take him to the pool while I am at young womens and its fun to hear about their father and son time.
     This week is the week I am supposed to be on a backpacking trip with my family. But they wouldn't let me go! Well honestly, my in laws were going to be out of town so I didn't really have anyone to watch Jace, but also, my belly is so big I don't think my pack would have rested correctly on my body. I am a little bummed to not be with them, but I am also trying to spend lots of fun time with Jace while they are away to make up for it. I am 27 weeks and feeling great. My belly is definitely much bigger than I was with Jace at 27 weeks. Everyone I see at the gym tells me I look good, and my belly is tiny, but I don't see it! I have been trying to hit up the gym at least 3 times a week and supplement at home the other two. I have been doing pretty good and feel like my body is keeping in shape the best it can. I can tell when I over do it though, which is hard because I want to push my self to get better, but I am realizing that just maintaining while pregnant is fine. I am learning where my bodies boundaries are am starting to be cautious when I feel like I may have pushed myself a little two hard on that last rep of lifting weights or spinning class or what not.

Here we have 20 weeks. I thought my belly was massive here, and it only gets worse!! 

Here we have 26 weeks! I just keep popping and popping. I am hoping that my belly doesn't get too too much bigger, but oh my, with 14 weeks left I could be an elephant by the time "Baby Brother" comes! 

      Everything is figured out for my home birth delivery. I was a little hesitant to have a home birth in SLC just because it is so much more fast paced up here than in Cedar City. But after switching to a different midwife, (didn't love my first choice), I feel so so much better, and am actually finally starting to feel excited about everything! I am still not super thrilled about being a massive, over heated elephant this summer, but I am excited for our family to grow and expand.
     Paul is still working away at Tanner LLC. Loves his job. Loves the clients, and loves getting to create awesome relationships with his clients and coworkers. His company is taking everyone to Disneyland in November and we are beyond excited! Well, lets be honest, taking a 2 month old to Disneyland isn't going to be super amazing, but Jace is going to be 2 1/2 and it will be so magical for him that its worth all the hassle!
     We took Jace shooting for a family activity over Memorial Weekend. It was actually really fun! We brought Jace's bubble gun which kept him busy for most of the time we were out there. We let him shoot the .22 with Daddy and he really liked it. He was a little intimidated at first, but realized pretty quickly that pulling the trigger is fun, and makes the gun go boom.

Jace is practicing with his bubble gun while Daddy loads the .22 magazine

My lil guy actually smiling with me!!

Paul showing off his awesome shotgun shooting skills

Me trying to look like a bad bum with the shotgun and my big massive belly ;)

The first time Jace shot the .22 he had to have his bubble gun with him. Eventually he got to the point where he would help daddy shoot the gun without his bubble gun in the other hand. 

My guys shooting the .22. Boy do I love them!

     There is still so much to share, but I will just share it with picture captions that way its less writing and more enjoying of pictures! Until next time I sit my bum down and write up a post (which could be after the baby is born, but hopefully not!)

We have had some pretty rainy days this May. Jace got a pair of rain boots from an awesome friend in our ward. They are really big on him, but he loves to put them on and go puddle jumping. He has recently discovered the umbrella. He wanted to puddle jump in the storm today, so we booted up and headed out. 

He seriously had the best time with his boots and umbrella. We live on a hill so we don't get many puddles close to our house. But occasionally we have some water in the gutters that we splash in.

Memorial Day we went out to visit Paul's grandmother's grave with the family. Jace enjoyed running around the cemetery with his cousins while the adults enjoyed a little bit of family bonding. 

Paul and Daddy just being so cute on the way out of the cemetery. 

We have taken several trips to the zoo in May, but this trip I actually remembered to snap some pictures. I tried to convince Jace to get close to the gorilla, but he refused. I don't think I need to worry about my kid falling into the gorilla enclosure! ;)

The bears were SOO close to the glass. Jace was actually not too scared to get close to them. 

There are lots of statues all over at the zoo. Jace wanted to take a picture with them all!

He is totally posing so handsomely.

After the zoo we met up at temple square with our friends to do a mini photo shoot. This was one of the first pictures of Jace I got. Naturally I told him to smile. 

Not taken with a nice camera or anything, but some of these pictures turned out ok. 

Smiling with my little guy!

Jace has been acting like a monkey all day. Ever since he saw monkeys at the zoo he has been ooh ooh ing all day!

Jace and Lyla are pretty much best friends. They are a month apart in age, and have been hanging out since they were about 2 months old. Its been so fun to see them develop a friendship with each other. They fight like siblings, but they also play so well together. Meagan and I had to take this picture of them just in case they get married one day ;)

Pregnant?!? Again?!?

     Yup, thats right, I'm pregnant again. I was hoping to surprise Paul on Christmas morning with the good news, but I couldn't keep it a secret from him for that long. We found out about 5 days before Christmas that we were expecting. Its kind of fun, I think... I still haven't wrapped my head around it all. I am excited, but I'm also like not super excited either. I hope that As the pregnancy continues I will get a little bit more excited about things.
     It was really hard to keep it a secret from my cousins and family while we were in Montana for my Grandpa's funeral. Thankfully I wasn't sick or anything while up there with them, so it was easy to keep it a secret. I really almost spilled the beans several times when I found out that two of my other cousins were also expecting. And when my cousin that I am super close to asked me what our plans were, it was super hard to keep a straight face, but I think I managed it.
     So far the nausea hasn't been too horrible. I had a few weeks where I was nauseous all day long, but it has somewhat mellowed out now to be just in the evenings. I have had some evenings where its been pretty bad, and I have to work really hard to not throw up on the client I am tutoring, or what not. But it has slowly been subsiding and getting better. I am now to the point where I am feeling great for a couple weeks, then I will have a day or two of feeling crumby, then another few weeks of feeling great. So that makes me happy.
     I have been able to feel this cute little baby move since I was about 14 weeks. It was weird for me to feel baby so early, but like most people say, its so much easier to notice with your second than it is with your first. My cravings haven't been anything crazy, mostly pickles, cheeseburgers, fries, chocolate raisins, and fresh fruits and vegetables, oh and bacon! Lots and lots of bacon! I had an aversion to sugar for the first about 10 weeks of pregnancy which was actually kind of nice. I was doing really good at eating healthy for those few weeks.
     I have been working really hard to stay as fit as I can this pregnancy. I have been taking muscle up classes, boot camp classes, and trying to keep my cardio up as well. I feel pretty good about my training so far. My muscles are still pretty strong, and my body still feels really good. I am signed up to run a 5k in June. I will be 26 weeks, so I am hoping I can stay fit enough to feel good about it. My parents also want me to come on the family back packing trip in June when I am 28 weeks. I am hoping to go, but boy, we will see if its actually going to be doable. I am a little nervous because my belly is 3 times the size I was with Jace at this point. I am now 17 weeks and I look like I did at 24 weeks with Jace. My belly seriously popped within a matter of weeks. I took a picture on March 1st, and on March 17th, and there is total belly poppage happening within those 17 days! But I am hopeful if I keep up on my workouts and training I should be okay to do everything that I want to do.
     We find out baby's gender in a little less than two weeks. We are pretty excited to see what kind of munchkin we are going to get this time around. I originally didn't want to find out the gender, but I decided that because of our living circumstances, its much easier this go around to find out the gender. But with my third baby, its going to be a surprise for sure!
     Well thats the latest and greatest from Kylee. Stay tuned for more fun and exciting news about Baby Burnett #2
 

Here is our announcement. We have yet to share with anyone but family and close friends, but I think it turned out pretty cute! 

There you have the comparison of no poppage vs poppage. Thats 2 weeks ladies and gentleman! 

A quick Trip to Montana

     My family planned a fast trip up to Montana for my Grandpa's funeral. We left early on the 27th of December for our drive up there. We took Lena and her boy friend Jason in the car with us so we were packed to the brim. Its a good thing that we had Lena in the back sitting with Jace because a 12 hour car ride is a loooong time for a toddler to be strapped into the car. We did make some stops along the way, but getting Jace back into the car was always a pain, as well as the next 30 minutes it took him to calm down. We did get a couple of naps out of him through the trek, (which was always nice), but he always seemed to wake up when we would stop for gas, (darn it all). We stopped in Havre for dinner around 7:00 pm and bought ourselves and "Ugly Burger." If you haven't had one, you should totally take the time to go to Havre, Montana. Those burgers are amazing! Seriously! We got to Grandmas probably around 8 ish. She had places all farmed out for us to sleep. Tallus wasn't thrilled about having to go to Aunt Heidi's to sleep, but somehow we made everything work. We were shipped off to one of Grandma's cousins, I think. Some sort of relative anyhow. Paul, Jace, Me, and my little sister Kess all went. Lucky for us though, she lives in town and has nice steady water flow so we could take an actual shower vs turning the water on, getting wet, turning water off, soaping up, turning water back on, rinsing, turning water back off, etc. Its really hard to do a Grandma's house shower in the middle of winter. Its really cold. So having a normal shower was actually a treat.
      The next evening was grandpas Viewing. We had a big fun family dinner at Aunt LeAnna's beforehand. It was actually really fun to have all the cousins that were able to come gather and be there for some family time together. We all slowly left LeAnna's and headed into town for the viewing. Seeing Grandpa for the first time since he passed wasn't as hard on me as I thought it would be. Its hard, but I also looked at him, and knew that he wasn't there. Is body was so different without his spirit inside of him. I am so grateful for the knowledge I have of the Plan of Salvation, and to know that Grandpa is still there, he's just not here on earth in the form of a man any more.
     Paul and I made plans to spend the night with Krista and Craig that night. Krista is my cousin who is super close to me in age. We are pretty close. She is seriously so amazing. She had a baby maybe 3 days ago, and we welcomed us into her home with open arms. I just love that girl. We crashed on the floor on a mattress and had Jace in the pack and play in the other room. That morning we got up, cooked some yummy breakfast together, and got ready for the funeral.
     Going to my Grandpa's funeral was actually a really neat experience for me. He lived in Chinook, Montana. Population: not a lot, and most of those people are not LDS or even really religious for that matter. But the effect that he had on his community was truly amazing. They held his funeral in the gym of the high school (mind you this isn't a very big gym), but all the chairs were filled on the floor, and people were sitting in the bleachers above, which also seemed pretty packed. There were people from all walks of life, from child to grandparent that came to the service. We ran into one teenage girl who was covered with tattoos, and sobbing a great deal talking about the amazing impact that my grandpa had had on her. I knew that he was a great man, but I didn't grasp the vastness of it all until that day. I feel so so blessed to have had him in my life not only as passer by, but as my grandfather. As Grumpy as he might've seemed to me as a little kid, he will always hold a tender place in my heart.
     The branch held a family luncheon for us, which was more like a ward party (which is totally okay because most of the branch is family anyway ;) and Grandpa had his heart attack the night of the branch Christmas party so they never got to have their party). And after that most of us split our different directions. We stopped at grandmas house to say goodbye and give her our love, then we left. We traveled a few hours to Helena and stayed in a hotel room that night, then took our journeyings early the next day. It seems like such a waste to only spend a few days up in Chinook when it takes 12 hours each direction to get there, but the few days we had there with family are very precious to me. I know I am going to miss my Grandpa, but I am so so grateful for the legacy that he has left behind.

Just starting out the trip. We are happy because he haven't been in the car that long. Notice Jason in the back, totally passed out. Yeah, he was a little tired :)

I decided I needed Lena to join me for a fun picture too. And there's Jason again, still sleeping. 

Cute little Jace boy is actually happy in this picture. Again though, we had just started the trip, so he really didn't know what he was getting himself into here. 

Great Grandma has a retro Barbie house with lots of Barbies. Jace had a blast playing with them. 

I told my Grandma I wanted to snap a picture of her before I left so that I could have one of just the two of us for memories. 

Good ole' Chinook. Cold, icy, and full of memories. I am so grateful we were able to make the trip to Montana. I know the reasons behind the trip weren't the happiest, but it was really nice to be with family. 

Christmas

     This year Paul and I were really excited about Christmas. Jace has started getting so big, and started understanding so much, that we couldn't wait to see his reaction to things. Our plans for Christmas day were pretty crazy but they all seemed to work out pretty good. We needed to be at the Burnett's by like 8:30 or something crazy early like that. We knew that Jace would wake up pretty early that morning so we could do our little family Christmas before we went to visit the grandparents. Sure enough Jace got up that morning a little earlier than we expected. He was up at 6:45 just bright and early, (he must have known it was Christmas morning)! We had all his presents laid out and ready for him, and it was really so fun to see his reaction. He was a little hesitant at first, but he got into the whole present opening thing pretty quickly. He was enthralled with all the fun little things in his stocking, and his other presents were just as fun. I think the candy was the biggest hit for Jace though, (I tried to not give him a lot, but he made his way into Paul's and my candy as well). Paul and I enjoyed our Christmas, but for us, the most exciting part wasn't the gifts that we gave each other, but watching the magic and excitement that Jace experienced. We can't wait for all the other Christmases to come!!

Christmas Eve PJ presents! Jace was so excited that we let him open up a present. 

He thought his PJs were pretty neat. Cute Paul there with his PJs too. 

I let Jace help me open mine before he went on a rampage and got to the gifts under the tree. 

Ta-da! all dressed in my jam jams. 

All the presents laid out before bed on Christmas Eve. We like to use "recycle-able" wrapping paper, (blankets), for a lot of our wrappings. Especially the gifts that are too huge to use regular paper for. 

All the stocking not hung by the chimney with care, because the hooks aren't strong enough to hold a full stocking, but still looking super cute! 

Jace walking down the hall Christmas morning

Jace's smile of excitement!

Now we are getting to the good stuff! Stocking time!

Candy! He was excited, but also confused because he didn't know exactly what it was.

More presents.

And more presents, 

And snacks! Sorry for the picture overload, but it was too cute to not show the sequence. 

Paul putting on a smile with his stocking

Me pretending to be happy about being up before 7 on Christmas morning

Jace just happy as a clam with all his fun little things

Woah! Slippers! Now Jace can have warm feet in our cold basement apartment. 

Oranges!! Seriously Jace loves oranges! He even knows how to peel them all by himself!

Cars! Jace loves his cars!

Silly Grin

The present from Mom and Dad

He likes regular wrapping paper much better than blankets, but loved the surprise under these blankets!

Mom and Dad's other present. Jace was excited about the actual wrapping paper on this one!

A chair!

A chair and my saw! It doesn't get any better than this!

      After our fun little Christmas, we went to Paul's parents house. It took us just a little bit to get there because it was snowing like crazy, (driving was awful, but it was super magical to have so much snow on Christmas). We opened our family presents, because some of the other siblings needed to leave and go do other things, then we had a super yummy breakfast. We spent the rest of the morning playing games, and helping the kids put their toys together to play with. Paul's mother got us the coolest gift. She bought every person an activity to do with their spouse. Paul got a rock climbing pass for the both of us, and I got a flying trapeze class. We are so excited to go do our activities together. A little bit later into the afternoon we left to go to my parents house.

Jace got his sweet ride from Grandma and Grandpa. By far one of his favorite gifts. He just sits in it and watches TV or chills in it. He is a little too short to scoot himself in it, but it will be fun when he figures that part out too. 

Yeehaw! 

Yup, this is the life I tell you! 

     My family has a tradition of going to a movie on Christmas day, so while Paul and I were at his parents house, my parents and younger siblings went to see the new Star Wars movie. When we got to the parentals house, we opened our presents and played games, then the older kids with babies got to go see Star Wars while Mimi and Papa watched the grandkids. We really enjoyed our little date night at the movies! We had a dinner feast when we got back to my parents.
     Christmas was a crazy busy jam packed day. We had a lot of fun, but it definitely wore us out. This might be one of the last years we drive all over the valley to see both sets of grandparents. We might be just visiting only one. I guess we will have to see how everything plays out these next few years.

This is my quilt this year. Wreck it Ralph. Had fun making this bad boy for Tanner. But he loved it. A lot. So it was worth all the blood, sweat, and tears that went into it! Okay, okay, so it was mostly curses under my breath, broken sewing needles, and unpicking seams sessions that made this quilt what it is today.  

Front and back. clearly far from perfect, but I am still proud of it. 

We got mustaches and had to try them on!

Jace wasn't a fan of keeping it on, but thats ok. We also got matchy matchy BYU shirts from Peter and Jessica. We all wore them all day. It was super fun! 

     Despite all of the crazy happenings, Christmas this year has been very dear to me. My grandpa passed away Christmas Eve, and it was really hard for me. It happened so suddenly. No one expected it at all. But it gave me the opportunity to truly love and cherish the family that I have here with me now. I think that the Christmas season will always hold a special place in my heart because of this. I know a lot of people struggle with enjoying life, or the holidays when someone close to them passes. For me its different. It makes me want to cherish the moments and enjoy life even more. I think there will still be tender moments and thoughts around the holidays, but I think I will have more of a desire to make the most of the moments I have with my family now.