Shane * Jena * Anabelle

Eleven Months

2012-01-25T22:50:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe that in one month Anabelle will turn one year. What!?! Where did my little baby go. I guess time really does fly when you are having fun. These days really are too few to not cherish every second. Have I ever said how lucky I am?

I feel like Anabelle has changed in so many ways this past month. It seems as though something inside clicked. She understands quite a bit of what we are saying and what is going on around her. She really is so observant at this age. I can see her wheels constantly turning.

Right now Anabelle can say two words: "Ma ma" for me (yay!), and "Ba!" for ball. She will chase her little golf ball and tennis balls around all day. Little Miss busy body is so playful and ticklish too. Her giggle makes me melt. Her Daddy makes her laugh the most. Anabelle does absolutely everything possible to not let me change her diaper. (Oh it's frustrating, especially with the poopies!)

Anabelle is cruising everywhere now on her two little feet. She LOVES walking, and loves to grab our fingers and try to take us somewhere. It's kinda funny though because she hasn't figured out how to stand up by herself yet by leaning forward on her hands. Since she is always playing on her knees, she will put one leg up (like in Tebow position) and try to stand up without using her hands for help. Great effort and good balance, however, not very successful.

We are entering a new stage of "I can do it by myself," and I'm sure this is just the beginning, with many years to come. Anabelle has almost no interest in me feeding her, but she loves to feed herself. As long as her food is cut in little pieces and put in front of her, those pintchers are good to go. This has actually made it nice for me because I can actually enjoy my food rather than lapping it up real fast at the end of dinner. Anabelle still loves the piano, but she won't let us play at the same time. If we put my hands on the keys when she is playing she will grab our fingers and move them off the keys, then continue on with her tunes. She knows what she wants. Silly girl.

Baby girl likes to rest her head. She does it over and over because of the great reaction we give her. So precious.

You know your baby is growing up when she stands up and takes off when trying to get her picture.

Out getting some fresh air.

Look at that tongue hanging out... like Daddy, like daughter.

Baby Food

2012-01-15T14:16:00.000-08:00

I started this post about 4 months ago when Anabelle started solids, and I never posted it.

I love hearing things that "work" nicely for other families and mom's. So I'll share something that I am so happy that I am doing. I decided to make all (well, most) of Anabelle's baby food. I am so happy that I did. To be honest is has saved us a lot of money, not to mention the fresh food health benefits that Anabelle gets with it. So, if you are thinking about doing it, do it. It's really quite simple. Here is what I do.

For veggies, steam them just enough to get them semi soft, not mushy. I like to make sure they still have the bright color that they started with. I don't want to loose all of those precious nutrients. Then, all I do is whip them up in the blender with a little water. When Anabelle was first starting solids I pureed them, now I leave them bumpy and mashed-like.

Then, I spoon the food into my trays and freeze it. ( I am happy I bought the trays with lids)

After it is frozen I take them out and put the baby food cubes into bags and label them with what it is and the date. Then you can do it all over again with another food. The yellow puree is spaghetti squash. I love having a variety of food cubes in the freezer so the baby can have a variety of foods in her diet each day. I really like the size of the cubes too because I don't waste the food. I can take as many out at a time as Anabelle will eat. It seems like whenever I feed her the store bought jars, half of the food is wasted. Each morning I take out a few cubes and put them in a bowl for the baby and then they defrost. Then the food is not reheated and nuked in the microwave loosing the vitamins and nutrients. Although, sometimes I forget to take it out in the morning, so I end up having to heat it a little.

Making baby food on my own has made me more aware of what is in the foods we give our little ones. Now that Anabelle is older and mostly interested in feeding herself I always put out chopped up fruits and veggies on her tray and then try and spoon feed her as well.

I've done lots of different foods, some being... brown rice, quinoa, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, green beans, peas, broccoli, berry blends.

All in all, I am happy that making our baby food from fresh fruits and veggies and whole grains. It has made me more aware of what I am feeding Shane and myself too. As I said before, it saves money too. Rather than buying a 4 oz jar or bananas for $.60, I'll buy regular bananas for $.50 a pound and mash them up. And instead of buying a box of baby rice cereal for $5, I buy the big bag of brown rice from Costco for $13 and cook the rice, then blend it up and cube it. Think about how many little baby servings come in that big bag. Also, then it is more affordable to feed the baby organic. The little organic baby food jars are at least $1.00 each. A huge bag of organic carrots are about $2.00.

I took a few pictures on my phone at the store, and I guess a little research fully convinced me.

Okay I am OBVIOUSLY not an expert at this, but it is something I am learning, and trying to become better at. This could be the thing that is saving our grocery budget!!!

One more thing...

It seems to be getting harder to feed good foods especially on the go because there are so many easy things to give her. I try to stay away from the baby junk foods, cause most are loaded with sugar and other additives and preservatives. Don't get me wrong, I do have a jar of peach puffs in my purse. Some days I have to break them out. They seem to be an instant cure-all for screaming babies, like in sacrament. With only two babies in our ward it is pretty noticeable when Anabelle is going crazy.

I love these baby foods for on the go, because Anabelle can eat it all by herself.

However... they are pretty spendy. So when I can, I take this spoon and fill it with our homemade pureed goods and feed her with this. It works pretty well too :)

Shane's 25th

2012-01-07T15:34:00.000-08:00

One year older and wiser too, Happy Birthday to you, my love! This week we celebrated Shane's big twenty fifth. I made him an angry bird cake (minus the cake.) I guess it was just a pan of brownies and a small candy creation. We went to the Jazz game and had a lot of fun. We took Anabelle too. I was kind of nervous about it, but she did quite well. There were a couple uproars that scared her, other than that, I think she had a great time. There were so many things for her to look at.

10 Months Old on Christmas Day

2011-12-29T21:45:00.000-08:00

Yep that's right, every post is about Anabelle :) Anabelle is at a really fun stage right now. She is blabbing like crazy and it makes us laugh so hard. We are so lucky to have such a pleasant girl. Christmas was pretty exciting with a little one in the mix. Not that she had a clue what was going on, but it was fun to buy her a few things and wrap it all up. On Christmas Eve Anabelle was so darling she just wanted to walk everywhere! Of course every time she took more than a couple steps we didn't catch it on the camera, but in the end we caught a pretty good one. I'm sure it will still be a while until she is walking everywhere, but she is definitely trying. She is growing up too fast.

Thank you Shane for picking out the darling Christmas outfit

On Christmas we woke up and opened presents with just our little family. Anabelle wasn't too interested in the whole thing, but she loved the food that Santa left in her stocking (Santa knew what would get her excited :) Oh she also loved the box that her new shoes came in, and my nail polish. We went to sacrament and listened to testimonies and sang Christmas songs. I loved the spirit that it added to our day! Anabelle liked it too, she didn't stop singing and blabbing the whole hour.

Our stockings and nutcrackers - traditions that we are carrying on from two of our grandmothers.

After church we headed down to Utah County and started the Christmas festivities and visited all of our family. Here are a few pictures at the Mink's house. Unfortunately, I only used the video camera at the Worley's and the Rowley's later that day.

Baby girl was so excited about the shiny bows on this gift

Coleson sporting the hat we gave him

The day after Christmas we went to my Uncle Brett's house for the Heninger party. It is always crazy and wild! Anabelle trying to get down on the candy, and Shane busy being the best Daddy ever.

My cute sister, me, and cute cousin Shaylee (No I do not have a lazy eye, I was laughing so hard because we couldn't get one picture without a kid jumping in front.)

A piñata in the house - the kids went crazy!

Thank you to all of our family for the fun memories and the overly generous gifts. We are blessed to be surrounded with so much love and support. Hope you have a safe and happy New Years!

It's the Most Wonderful Time...

2011-12-24T13:18:00.000-08:00

(This post is ridiculously long, random and chaotic... Oh well.)

Something about hats, gloves, coats and babies makes me smile.

I want to give a quick recap of this month so far.

We started off the month by going to the Utah Symphony Messiah Sing-in with my Mom & John, and Jesse & Dave. I liked going to it at the beginning of the month to help get me in the Christmas mood.

Next on the calendar we hosted a white elephant Christmas party with all or Shane's Orem High Friends. True to form and forgot to take pictures. There were some funny gifts and some crazy laughs!

Then we went to Temple Square with Rogan & Kim and their kids but I didn't have a camera so here are a few phone pics. So pretty but freezing cold! The little one was all bundled up.

A few other fun things... We also went to the Jon Schmidt and Mannheim Steamroller concerts. Both were really good and festive. We went to The Desert Star Playhouse and saw It's a Wonderful Life for Shane's work party. It was cooky and crazy, but pretty fun! Thanks to all of our babysitters.For the Rowley family Christmas party we got Chinese and all went bowling. Congratulations Kathryne for the high score 172! Shane came in second with 160, and I did terrible... we will leave it at that :)

Daddy and Anabelle played on Tuesday and I went with all of the Rowley girls to dinner. It's always a good time when just the girls get together ; ) We exchanged gifts and then visited Uncle Dale.

(sorry Kathryne I don't have the picture with you in it)

Baby Update

As far as the little one goes Anabelle turns 10 months on Christmas. Most of the time I feel as though I have a little girl, not a baby. She loves trying new foods. She loves her fruits and veggies too. She now has two little teeth. She takes about 3-4 steps on her own then crashes. She loves bouncing and dancing to music too. She also claps now and waves goodbye. The other day I was baking sweet potato fries in the oven and she was so excited and going crazy over them. It made me laugh.

She also loves when she can see her reflection in the oven... it's somebody to play with that is just her size :)

We put our tree up after Halloween, but until recently Anabelle didn't really care for it. It's like one day she realized it, and now I cannot keep her away from it. She will play with the ornaments and bells all day long, whipping them around by the string, chasing after them and eating them... And of course it's too cute to make her stop. That's why the bottom of the tree is looking pretty empty.

Hope you have a very special Merry Christmas. What a blessing it is to remember the Savior's birth, life and ministry at this time of year. I am truly grateful, I know that we have been given the greatest gift of all - the sacrifice of our Savior Jesus Christ.

9 Months Old & November Recap

2011-12-04T23:35:00.000-08:00

It's official, it's been 9 months and Anabelle is now out, as long as she was in! When Anabelle was born I was amazed that she grew from a single cell to a beautiful almost 7lb baby in 9 months. And now I am amazed that she went from a small helpless infant to a playful crawler and wannabe walker in the past 9 months. What a miracle life is. Seriously.

This little boo is not so little any more. Wow she is growing up. She is my very best friend in the whole wide world (not including Shane of course :) We do everything together! She is pretty much my mini me, except that she looks like Shane. I don't know how I could love her any more than I do. Anabelle is a pretty lucky girl, because her daddy loves her so so much. I love seeing how happy Shane is to come home and see his little girl everyday.When Anabelle hears the door open and Shane says, "daddy's home!" Anabelle crawls as fast as she can with a huge smile and peeks around the corner to see Shane. Oh how I love my little family. This is what life is all about.

Anabelle is in the 40th percentile for her weight at 18 lbs 2 oz, and she is in the 72nd percentile for height at 28 inches. I don't remember what her head circumference was but it was the 45th percentile. At this point Anabelle loves walking around the furniture and is constantly trying to walk. She Absolutely loves being outside (even in the freezing cold) She cries when we come back inside. She loves getting into the drawers and is one curiously little bug. Unfortunately bumps and bonks are a quite common.

I finally finished Anabelle's stocking... boo ya! Thank you Tanner (Shane's Accounting Firm) for occupying Shane for tons of hours so I could continually have a date with this project night after night. It took for ever, but the end result made it worth it.

Anabelle LOVES helping with the dishes!

Our ward had a Fall Carnival and Anabelle got in on the action...

the fishing pond...

the blow-up slide...

cotton candy...

and bobbing for apples.

I did some Thanksgiving flowers... Happy late Thanksgiving.

Lucky us, we had 3 turkey dinners this year. Here are a few pics at the Worley's.

Colesaw

Great Grandma and Grandpa Worley

At the Rowley's... Aunt Kristee with the big three :)

This month Anabelle discovered the piano, and Oh my gosh I love it! She stands on her tippy toes and moves her little fingers up and down. P.R.E.C.I.O.U.S.

Family Pictures

2011-11-16T14:18:00.000-08:00

Here are some of our family pictures that we took last month. Anabelle wasn't very exited about the whole thing. Luckily we got her to cheer up a little after we let her get down and play in the leaves. Thank you Sherry from S.W. Portraits!

Halloween

2011-11-08T20:00:00.000-08:00

Happy LATE Halloween from our little pumpkin face to yours :)

On Halloween I took the little kitty and spent the day visiting some of Anabelle's Grandparents. We didn't make it to all of them because, I am an idiot and locked my keys in the car. So unfortunately, we spent a few hours of the day waiting for a locksmith and trying to get them out : (

Grandpa Worley

Great Grandma & Grandpa Rowley

and Grandma & Grandpa Rowley

Aunt Kristee

Anabelle was so happy to get a bag of crinkly candy all to herself... (That is until Shane and I got a hold of it after she went to bed.) Thank you for the candy!

We also saw Stacee & Tyler and their cute kitty too. They were so cute together, we couldn't stop laughing.

(if you didn't notice... I am holding London & Stacee is holding Anabelle)

They had so much fun looking at each other. Anabelle was going crazy trying to grab her fellow kitten :)

Random Photos

2011-11-06T12:26:00.000-08:00

A random recap of things I wanted to post, but didn't...

In the summer we went to Sound of Music at Sundance. What a fun setting! It was also fun remember back to the last time we went to a play there... 3 years before, where we had our first kiss ;)

I love this picture. We had dinner at the Rowley's with all the family, and Robert was holding the three girls at the same time so we could eat in peace. PRECIOUS!!!
(Kaylee, London, Anabelle)

Watching the BYU football game with friends - Owen, Brandon, Shane, Anabelle, Angie, Trevor

Ashley, Rob, Zach, Rachael, Rob, Kim, Owen

Nicole holding little Maxwell (Zach & Rachael's baby)

Anabelle found the garbage and went to town!!! Fortunately it wasn't a messy garbage. She loved it, it was crinkle heaven!

Congratulations Sam & Tasha!

2011-11-05T22:29:00.000-07:00

I am super behind on blogging so hopefully I can pump a few post out of things I've been wanting to put up.

Sam and Tasha's wedding was October 15th. We are very happy for them, and excited to have Tasha in the family. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, so most of these pictures are blurry because they were taken on my phone and I can't hold it very still.

cutting the cake

Mr. & Mrs. Worley and the Rowley's

Cousin Friends (Colt, Shaylee, Koalby, & Sam)

Jesse & Landon

Me & Shay

Tricia & Greg

Grace, Bret, Yvette, Bre, Colette

Grandma & Grandpa Worley, Sam & Tasha, Dad

River, Rylee, Charley, Azia

Mom, Sam & Tasha

Anabelle & Daddy showing off

The Belle

The Belle entertaining the old men :)

Grandpa Heninger, Shane, Grandpa Worley

Atlanta

2011-10-31T21:40:00.000-07:00

As mentioned before Shane was out of town a couple weeks ago. He went to Atlanta for a training.

NOTE: I have always wanted to go to Atlanta... I don't even know why, but it just sounds fun to me. Weird I know, but it is what it is.

So, I told Shane to go have fun and document it for me with some pictures.

This is what he came back with... one picture...

... such a Shane thing to do, gotta love him! At least he ate well :)

8 Crazy-Fun Months and Birthdays

2011-10-27T12:12:00.000-07:00

Anabelle is more fun every week!!! She has a lot of new tricks in her bag now :) Seriously, she is growing up faster than I ever thought possible, and she makes me laugh much. This month she started pulling herself to her feet, and she also started crawling! And crawling everywhere now... Under the desk, into the laundry basket, under the table, and out the front door. I know it is going to get even crazier too :) My favorite thing is when she sees Shane or me and smiles real big and crawls right to us as fast as her little arms and legs will go. Here are her 8 month pics... and as you can see, she HATES keeping her shoes on, but loves playing with them.

This is the first time that Anabelle stood up on her own a few weeks ago.

I was so surprised when I went to get Anabelle after her morning nap... she was standing up, and SO proud of herself :) We had to lower the crib so she wouldn't take a dive!

And in her bassinet, she loved dropping toys on the ground, but when she started leaning over, we new it was time to lower that too!

Anabelle stood up on the side of her car seat and fell right in. She didn't know what to do, she was kicking her little legs in the air, until finally she realized to push up with her arms.

I had a fun birthday last week even though my hubby was out of town. Anabelle and I went to Gardner Village and met Grandma Sherrie, Aunt Jesse and the cousins. We had a fun time walking around and shopping at the spooky little village :)

Landon & Anabelle observing the festivities from their strollers- good babies!

The kids did a scavenger hunt for all of the witches.

Here are a few random pics from dinner on Sam's birthday too.

Jesse and Coleson boxing

Seven Months

2011-09-28T07:07:00.000-07:00

"The Belle" (Anabelle's newly acquired nick-name, and don't forget the "The") is seven months now! Holy cow that is weird. She is the funniest little thing. Multiple times a week I break out in true laughter because of something she does. She absolutely loves sitting up and playing. She can go from sitting position to her hands and knees now, but then she just plops to her tummy. She rolls all over and plays with her toys. When she has toys directly in front of her she tries really hard to reach them, if she cannot then she ends up just rocking on her hands and knees and scooting herself backwards, and she gets super mad. Think about it, wouldn't it be frustrating if when you wanted to go forward, and the harder you tried, the farther you became :) She loves when I put on primary songs, and she loves when we play the piano - especially when her Dad plays for her.

She loves to hang out on her side (yes, in model position that is) and it is super funny. {Yeah girl... show us those bones :) We are all looking forward to Halloween!}

crazy carrot face

Anabelle loves going on stroller walks, especially now that she can sit in the big kid seat rather than laying back in the car seat.

I am so so grateful for this little one. We've had some quality bonding time this past month while Shane was a workin' fool. (Before the Sept.15th tax deadline he was putting in about 80 hrs of work a week!) I am glad I had a little friend to play with while he was gone! Thank you hunny for working AROUND THE CLOCK to provide for our little family! I am one lucky wife and mommy.

Here is a video from last month that I never got around to posting...

Take Time to Smell the Roses

2011-09-04T13:30:00.000-07:00

I made some bouquets and thought it would be fun to take some pictures of Anabelle with them. She is so curious these days! She had fun playing with the flowers, attacking them, and tasting them :) She was so entertained by everything outside, luckily Daddy joined us at the end to help me catch a few smiles.

Six Months

2011-08-31T20:31:00.000-07:00

Anabelle is now six months old... and wow, my kiddo is growing up! This month she learned to sit up by her self. She LOVES to sit up and play with her toys now. Occasionally she will still tip over, but it has been fun watching her try so hard to balance, and now bend over and reach really far for her toys. She is getting pretty fast at grabbing things out of my hands too. I have to be careful with what I am holding because she will attack it :) Shane said that this past month he thinks that she has grown up the most. She is a lot more playful than ever, and she loves to laugh. She loves the bouncy rides that Daddy gives her on his tummy.

6 month Check-Up

Height: 27 3/8 inches (95%)

Weight: 16 lbs (52%)

Head circumference: 16 3/4 inches (50%)

Another new thing: We started her on some solid foods, and yes... she loves it. No surprise. She's a little eater. As of late, her favorite seems to be Avocado... That's my girl! (for those that don't know, avocado is my all-time favorite food!)

Landon's 1st B-Day Bash

2011-08-27T21:57:00.000-07:00

Anabelle's cousin Landon turned one. Happy Birthday, thanks for the fun party!

Shane, Anabelle, Sam, Tasha, Collin, Coleson, Land-O, Casen

Coleson, Anabelle, Sam, Tasha, Landon (I think Anabelle gets her funny faces from her uncles!)

Jesse & Landon, and all the fun and tasty food!

Cake time

The Mink Brothers

Me, Grandma & Grandpa Heninger, Crazy Face Collin, & Sherrie... with the beautiful backyard and golf course in the back.

Our little Fam Fam

Doll Face :)

Daddy and Anabelle showing off their favorite trick! She love's it, just look at that smile. Although, it does freak me out a little bit ;)

Any Resemblance?

2011-08-24T20:45:00.000-07:00

We always get the question, "Who do you think Anabelle looks like?" So we decided to pull out the scrapbooks and take a look. Here are the three of us, all at six months old. What do you think? Any resemblance? Like father, like daughter? Or, like mother, like daughter?

Rowley Shindig

2011-08-13T19:31:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Stef & Brent, and Grandpa Albert & Grandma Billie for putting together the Rowley Shindig. Everyone had a great time... good food, nice weather, and lots of family fun! Alway love a good game of volleyball and bocci ball too.

The three little girls... apparently I didn't get the memo for the matching outfit... bummer

London, Anabelle & Kaylee

Kimberlee, Kristee, Stacee, Kathryne, Grandma Billie, Robert, Sharlyn, Carson, Linsey, Tanya, John & Babies (in the middle), and Mitch & Grandpa Albert (in the background)

Playing Vollyball with the BEAUTIFUL scenic background

(And here are a few more pics that I stole from Stacee. Remember, I'm not a photographer and I usually don't capture/document the moment too well)

Can't get enough of these babies!

My handsome guy serving

Me enjoying the little ones & Sharlyn snuggling cute Hailey

and... Pirate Anabelle

We're finally growing some hair...

2011-08-12T16:20:00.000-07:00

In one spot!!!!

Cowabunga

2011-08-10T20:53:00.000-07:00

For Jesse's birthday we went to Cowabunga Bay (the place with all the brightly colored water slides in Draper) We had a really fun time, it was perfect for the kids. Obviously Anabelle was a little too young for the slides, but she had a good time too. She loved splashing in the water and took a good nap in the shade.

Anabelle playing with the little rubber duckies

I made homemade non-dairy cupcakes for the birthday girl... they were really quite good. I was pretty proud of them, considering I make everything from the box.

Collin & Casen with chocolate frosting faces

Jess & the Boys (Landon, Coleson, Collin & Casen)

Anabelle & me

Grandma Sherrie, Jess & Landon

Casen and Coleson hiding from the sun

My cute baby with those chunky thighs... Oh I just love them, I wanna squeeze em!

Pioneer Day = 5 Months & Bees Game

2011-07-27T07:00:00.000-07:00

Our little babe is growing up so fast. (pretty sure I say that every month) It is amazing how much these little ones learn in such a short amount of time. Anabelle is a wiggle worm! As you will see below, I had a hard time getting a decent picture this time because she was so happy and excited, and going crazy :) I'm sure it will only get harder as she gets older too. She grabs everything in her reach, and reaches for just about everything in her sight. And then just wants to eat it all,of course. She has the cutest laugh ever, and now rolls around with a purpose and as a small form of transportation ;) When she is on her tummy she tries to get up on her knees and feet and push. She gets pretty frustrated because she is stuck and can't move forward because her face is planted in the ground and she doesn't use her arms. I am really enjoying her facial expressions and emotions. Anabelle gets excited, and does the cutest surprised face with her "O" mouth. I love it so much! I am one lucky Mommy!!!

(teasing Mommy and grabbing the sign)

(Anabelle looking up at Shane. She loves her Daddy! When he's around, she won't take her eyes off him.)

(laughing face)

(surprised face)

(sticking her cute little bum in the air, trying to move somewhere... she'll be scooting in no time)

Bee's Game on Pioneer Day

It started raining, so we headed up to the seats for some shelter. There was a pretty rainbow too!

The game was so fun, and it was nice to catch up with friends. We went to the game with Kevin and Kelli. We love the Spencer's. What a fun way to spend the 24th. We had one little scare though... A foul ball was hit directly at us. I was feeding Anabelle a bottle and thereby not paying too much attention to the game. When I heard people yelling. I looked (pretty dumb of me), and I saw a ball flying right at me. I turned my back to it as fast as I could, trying to hide the baby. Luckily it hit the seat in front of us and went right over us. If I was an inch taller it, probably would have knocked me out! Everyone around us couldn't believe how close it was to hitting Anabelle. SCARY! We were lucky. Note to self...When at a baseball game watch for baseballs flying at rocket speeds towards my baby.

Fireworks after the game (super loud fireworks)... And believe it or not Anabelle fell asleep during the firework show! It was way past her bed time :)

Red, White & Blue Day

2011-07-06T21:11:00.000-07:00

We had a fun 4th of July holiday weekend. Anabelle was so cute in her red, white and blue dress. Look how well she smiles for her Daddy. She started laughing for him when he comes home from work. It is SO cute! She also learned to roll from her back to her tummy yesterday, and she has not stopped since. Little Rowley is rollin like crazy.

Once Shane finished with work we headed over to the Sugarhouse festivities.

There was a fun concert going on

and hillsides packed with people

Anabelle was fascinated by her glowing bracelet! She looks mad at it in the picture, but she loved it and couldn't stop staring at it.

My handsome hunny and baby dancing away to the music

and the fireworks, of course, they were fabulous

Anabelle's cousin London was blessed and we went to her blessing. She was darling in her blessing dress! Wow they grow so fast.

Cute Stacee and London

A few weeks ago my sister and I got the cousins together to take grandkid pictures for my mom and dad. It was so funny the kids were looking at everything but the camera. We took a million pictures and there was probably only two with everyone looking forward.

4 Months

2011-06-27T19:56:00.000-07:00

Look who just turned four... four months that is! There are so many things that I am learning with this bundle of joy. Each day I am shocked by how smart she is. She is so pleasant and curious. She is always listening and looking at every little thing around her. She knows exactly what she wants and when she wants it. It's my job to just figure it out. I feel like it has only gotten so much easier with time. We are now on somewhat of a schedule and it is pretty nice. The golden question that everybody asks is "Does she sleep through the night?" The answer is "Ha Ha Ha, No" This little one loves that milk all night long :) She sleeps from 7:30pm to 7:30am and usually eats 3 times within the 12 hours but goes right back to sleep. I guess it works out pretty well. I've enjoyed a little quiet time in the evenings lately.

We are so lucky to have such a happy baby. She smiles all day long. Lately she has starting to roll from her tummy to her back, and she is more active than ever! Shane and I decided that if we kicked and rolled around in the floor as much as she does, we would have abs of steel!

We went to the Doctor today... Here are Anabelle's stats

25 1/2 inches tall (90%)

13 lbs 9 oz (50%)

and her head is 16 in (45%)

Here she is cheese'n it. Shane says she has a little bashful smile, when she gets happy as we talk to her...Oh I love those chubby cheeks.

Anabelle loves playing, kicking, hitting, grabbing, pulling, and eating her animal friends.

One of the 261 old ladies in our Relief Society told me on Sunday that little babies are the flowers in our lives. So true! Babies make everybody smile. I take her with me, and everybody just smiles at us all day long. It's great! Here's our growing flower. She loves playing with her hands and clapping those feet.

And last but not least... Here is Daddy... our workin' fool :) Shane recently started his new job at Tanner. I have always called him the candy man, but now he is the tax man. He is so busy working and studying for the CPA Exams. He has a CPA class every Saturday from 8-5 until November. This past Saturday we went to have lunch with him on his lunch break. He is doing so much, and I'm not sure how. Amidst all the business and busy-ness, he always finds time for his girls. Anabelle and I are so lucky to have such and good man in our lives. I am overwhelmed with gratitude and love for my beautiful little family!

Back Before Our Time

2011-06-20T12:15:00.000-07:00

I recently saw this picture for the first time and I love it!... It is a picture of our parents, before we were born. They went on a river rafting trip in the Grand Canyon. Shane's parents are on the left and my parents are on the right. I think it is so awesome to see them in a picture together at our age. Look at all that leg! ha ha

Cousin Time

2011-06-06T21:28:00.000-07:00

We had a birthday BBQ for Grandma Ruby this week. It was so fun to see all the family and spend some time visiting. I took my camera because I wanted to get some pictures, but unfortunately I left the battery at home charging in the wall. It was a lot of fun to see Anabelle's cousins. Here are the three little girls. Anabelle (in the blue, if you can't tell) is 3 1/2 months, Kaylee (in the pink) is 3 months, and London (in the yellow) is 3 weeks. Unfortunately it is not the best photo (taken from the i touch) but aren't they so cute... It is crazy how they grow so fast, Anabelle is a giant next to little London.

3 Months

2011-05-26T10:48:00.000-07:00

Happy three months Anabelle! As Daddy would say... "holler little girl, it's your birthday!"

Our little girl is growing up SO fast. She definitely has her own little personality that is starting to show. She is such a happy little baby, she is smiling and gooing more than ever. This past week she started doing the cutest thing... she sings back to me when I make high pitch "Ohhs" she copies me. I love it! Anabelle is a little wiggle worm. She is always kicking like crazy, especially in the bathtub. I think we might have a little fishy this summer.

She loves sticking that tongue out

Oops... Mommy, I spit up

Look how big she's getting (please excuse my greasy face)

For some reason Anabelle is sporting the popped collar look

Play time... she's starting to grab her blankets and toys, and reach for things (like the camera)

Quality daddy daughter bonding time watching TV... oh great : /

We love our little girl more and more each day!

Tulip Time

2011-05-13T12:30:00.000-07:00

We decided to take a little time for some fun in the sun and we headed down to the tulip festival at Thanksgiving Point. It was so great to spend a little family time together after Shane finished school. I really wonder how many bulbs they planted... the garden was filled with tulips everywhere! I LOVE tulips, they are one of my favorite flowers because they are such a simple and happy flower. I loved seeing the variety they had. It was such a nice day too! It finally felt like Spring :)

Our little flower

It was so fun we even ran into Mom and Dad Rowley and Grandma Ruby. This was Anabelle's first time meeting her great grandma Ruby!

Master Shane

2011-05-08T16:17:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Shane! This week he graduated with his Masters Degree in Accounting. We are so proud of him, he worked hard this year. I'm happy he is done, because now I don't have to stress about his homework! To be honest, I think I stressed over his school a lot more than he did.Shane loved his hood

I surprised Shane and made this onsie for Anabelle to wear to the graduation. It actually turned out really cute. So many people kept commenting about it. It was pretty fun. (Anabelle is cheering "hooray!")

We also went to the MAcc reception last week and where they hand out awards. All of Shane's best friends received academic awards and best team-member awards... Let's just say that Shane picked up a couple of the joke awards. His class members voted him as "class clown" I'm not really sure what to think of it. But if you think that's bad, I'm not even going to tell you what his second award was...

Above are members of the tax track, below are some of Shane's best school buddies!

And Shane's two awards!

We are all so Proud of him!

2 Months and Easter

2011-04-29T10:01:00.000-07:00

Time flies when you're having fun! Anabelle is 2 months old now. She is such a delight. I am fascinated by how much she is learning and growing each day. We took her to her 2 month appointment and Doc said she is a happy and healthy baby. She is in the 90th percentile for her height at 23 1/2 inches, and 50th percentile for her weight at 10 lbs 14 oz. She must be taking after daddy's height, because I sure don't have that.

Easter Sunday with just our little family

Daddy and Anabelle getting home from church.

Our cute pink bunny... sound asleep after church. Thankfully we all got a few zzz's in. I love family nap time!

We tried to put her in her Easter basket, it didn't really work. Fun thought though. After nap time we went on a family stroller walk! So fun, I think it was Dad's first stroller walk.

After our stroller walk we colored eggs. I think Anabelle liked it :) I love this picture. look at her face.

Anabelle's Blessing and More

2011-04-26T14:49:00.000-07:00

Wow it has already been another month since I have posted, and since Anabelle was born. There is so much to post. I have a bunch of random things crammed into this one post. Anabelle is growing up so fast. It is so much fun, but kind of sad at the same time.

Anabelle's Baby Blessing

What a special day it was. It was really neat to have Shane bless her. We are so blessed to have Anabelle in our lives, and we are lucky to be her parents. Clearly I am not a photographer, my mind doesn't think about getting good pictures until the moment is past. The only pictures I have of her is when she was waking up and kinda mad, but she was so precious! (I think my sister took some that I might round up and post later.)

Grandpa Worley

Dave, Tasha, Landon, Sam

Stefenee, Brent, Tyler

JesseAnn, Anabelle

Kim, Stacee, Kristee

Anabelle's Beautiful Grandmas

Grandma & Grandpa Rowley

Kim, Rogan, Anabelle

Pictures
Here are a few pictures of when she first started smiling a little more. She is in her cute church clothes too. Now she is smiling all the time I love it! Of course when I would take the picture she would close her eyes, but still, so cute! I swear she was doing it to tease us, it was so funny!

Anabelle's Bedroom

I love these two things... The swing helps me get a few things done in the day:) And the stroller helps me get some fresh air, if only the weather would become a little more spring-like. I'm ready to put some miles on that thing.

Who is babysitting Who?

I came home from the grocery store to find this. NOTICE: Shane sound asleep and Anabelle wide awake.

More Pictures
I had to get some pictures of Anabelle when she was sleeping, and matching her cute blanket.

I'm working on getting the Easter pictures up. Hopefully I'll post them by tomorrow.

One Month

2011-03-28T15:00:00.000-07:00

It is so hard to believe that Anabelle is one month old already! One of our cousins gave us this cute teddy bear and 12 signs to take her picture by every month, to see how she grows. So here's our first... Anabelle is seriously a taste of heaven. We are so lucky and blessed! I love when she smiles in her sleep!

Our happy family

Daddy and Anabelle after some intense March Madness!

Here she is... Anabelle Rowley

2011-03-12T11:00:00.000-08:00

Born on Feb 25th at 6:03 pm

6 lbs 13 oz

19 inches long

Finally I am feeling good enough to post a few pictures of our beautiful little girl. She is such a joy and blessing. Here she is right after birth. She was so awake and alert... What a special moment!

Anabelle was in the NICU for 8 days on oxygen. It is so nice to have her home and healthy now. Shane has been the best daddy and husband ever!

It is crazy to think that Anabelle is two weeks old! And she is growing so much. She has already gained 1 lb since she left the NICU.

Bath time :) She LOVES the bath

Ready or Not, Here She Comes

2011-02-21T13:30:00.000-08:00

39 weeks and counting

I haven't put any profile pics up throughout this pregnancy, but I figured what the heck. So here i am, one (ish) week left.
There are a few things I'm going to miss about this big belly. As weird as that is...

-The conversations it starts with complete strangers

-The way it rests on the bathroom sink when I'm getting ready

-The spilled crumbs that it saves as I eat treats

-The way it moves and dances around as I tickle it

-The front-of-the-line treatment it gets me at stores

-The magic eight ball it's been for us as we ask it questions

I've tried to enjoy this belly while there is a baby in it, because as soon as she's out, I know I'm going to be hating the belly!

--------------------------------------------------------------

Ready or not, here she comes

I feel like a ticking time bomb that could go off at any time. The weirdest part about that is not knowing when the "tick tick boom" will come.

We finally finished moving to our new place and we are really enjoying it. I really like sugarhouse, everything you ever need is conveniently located down the street or around the corner. Now that we are moved in, and somewhat organized, we have started working on baby stuff. Yes we're in a time crunch, but oh well, we'll take her whenever she comes!

The first thing we did was run out and buy a car seat. We figured if she came early, we needed at least that to get her home:)

Carseat - Check

This week our crib was delivered. Daddy did a great job at setting it up. Thank you hunny. I am very happy with the black.

Crib - Check

As for our dresser, the wrong one was delivered, so we are working with the shipping company to find out who they delivered ours to, and whose armoire we have. Apparently the shipping labels got mixed up and ours is somewhere in California. So who knows when we'll get that. As for now her clothes are everywhere. But think about it, at least she has clothes, darling clothes at that.

Dresser - No check

We just got the swing, bassinet/play yard, and stroller set up. yay!

Swing - Check

Bassinet - Check

Stroller - Check

This week we finished our birthing class. I really am so happy we took that class. There were so many things I learned. Shane was a good sport and learned a lot too!

Birthing Class - Check

I still need to pack a hospital bag, and finish the birth plan though.

Bags packed - No check

Birth plan - Almost check

It is so nice to have two bedrooms. Now we can have a nursery. Nursery decor is far from happening. But it will happen, just probably not before our sweetie gets here. She does have beautiful bedding though.

Decor - No check

Bedding - Check

We are deciding between three names. It is a lot harder than I thought. Because we are so close to the birth, and because the magic eight ball won't tell us what she wants her name to be, we are going to wait till we see her, then we'll make the final decision.

Lil' girl's name - No check

So as you can see I have a lot to do. I'm not sure if I'll post again before she comes, because who knows when that will happen. Hopefully I get around to posting pics of her not too long after she is born. Wish me luck :)

U of U Gymnastics

2011-02-19T16:53:00.000-08:00

I had one stipulation for Shane going to the U.... He had to take me to a gymnastics meet. The U of U gymnastics team is always ranked in the top 3 in the nation. So, I told Shane we had to take pride in being students there and go cheer on the gymnastics team.

For the past 4 years I have been teaching gymnastics at My Mom's school. I stopped last month, and I kinda miss it. The little kids were so cute and full of energy. I can't wait for our little girl to be flipping around in a few short years ;)

We had a really great time. I couldn't believe how many people were there. The team was really good and came out on top. I can't believe how ripped those girls are.

I love gymnastics. Going to the meet brought back so many memories of growing up in the gym.

Shower Shower Shower

2011-02-19T07:00:00.000-08:00

THANK YOU to everyone for all of the support and love we received with the baby showers. They were all so much fun! Everyone is way too generous. I can't wait to see our little girl wearing all of these cute flowers , fancys, and frills. Sooner or later she'll be here.

Lately I've been having conflicting thoughts... hear me out...

I feel like I have a really big baby in me... which I know I do, however when I look at her newborn clothes it is crazy to think that she will be that small. strange.

Anyways, here's some pics from the showers. (please excuse my heftiness in the majority of these pictures)

My Besties all met at La Jolla Groves and we celebrated Paige's little girl and my little girl. What a fun time it was catching up with everyone and eating a delicious meal. Love you gals!

The Rowley's threw a shower for My little girl, Kimberlee's little girl, and Stacee's little girl. I felt like we were having triplets. I can't wait to see all of the little girls running around together. Mischief already! Thank you Kathryne, Stefenee, and Kristee for all the delightful food and fun.

Look close and you'll see Robert attending his first shower. He wanted to get in on the fun too!

I also had a family shower on my side that my Mom and Jesse put together. I loved seeing everyone, and playing fun games. For those of you who lost the string game because you thought I was bigger than I was, well if we were playing it right now, you would probably win the prize :) I'm definitely feeling large and in charge these days!

Mairin's pretty pink cake... The most delicious chocolate cake EVER!

January Highlights

2011-02-14T19:40:00.000-08:00

New Year's Eve at Stef & Brent's house- A super fun (and funny) night to remember! Stefenee made the most delicious dinner ever, then we played a combination of Minute-to-win-it and Bean Boozled. For those of you that don't know what Bean Boozled is, get acquainted! All of the nasty flavored Jelly Bellies such as, canned dog food, booger, vomit, diaper wipes, etc. you get the point. Spin the dial and see what color you end up with. It could taste good, but it could taste awful... be prepared!

Jan 3rd 2011 - My handsome hubby's Birthday! Shane had a super busy day at work, so I took him lunch, then when he was done at the office we went to the Jazz Game with Mom & Dad Rowley. What a fun night!

Unfortunately this was Shane's only surprise. Let me tell you... this kid is addicted to sweets and I'm not helping : /

On the Road Again

2011-02-13T11:30:00.000-08:00

We're moving... for the third time in 20 months. It's been pretty crazy around here!!! Hopefully we'll last at this place a little longer than the past. Updates to come...

Playing Catch Up

2011-02-01T22:23:00.000-08:00

It has been a super long time since I have posted. The baby countdown is on and I'm trying to play catch up and finish up all these little projects before she decides to join us. The blog is on the list. It's been neglected for quite some time.

Here goes a "quick" update through the end of the year...

Halloween... party at Matt & Laura's. Fun times.

Matt & Laura

Rob & Kim

Sydney & Owen

Matt & Matt

Shane (at home showing off my banner)

Craig & Rachelle

Brandon & Nicole & baby Naomi

Zack & Rachael

Thanksgiving... great, we had three turkey dinners. All three were mighty tasty, but you know what that means, we were moving mighty slow that week because of it. Fine with me... turkey time is once a year for us, we all know that I could never cook a turkey. Unfortunately, with my skills we are limited to veggie burgers, burritos, salads, and rice krispies.

Shane & Me

Mom & Coleson

Sam & Tasha

The Mink's minus Casen

December... Although we didn't ever really take pictures, we had an eventful Christmas season! Family parties, friends gatherings, work parties, ward parties, concerts... and more I'm sure, but I'm drawing a blank at the moment. It seems my preggo-ness is causing me some short term memory loss.

After Kurt Bestor Christmas... oh yeah and we went to David Lanz and John Schmidt

Us with Santa (me with a belly like Santa) at the Rowley Family Christmas Party

Playing crazy Christmas Minute - to- Win - it games, with the super intense and wild Heninger crew

I won the game for my team with my mad candy cane skills
My hand made stocking... Another huge project that I finally crossed off the list. Of course not in time for Christmas, but at least it's done now. I wish you could see the detail. It took me hours, days, months, and over a year to finally get around to starting and completing it. Shane's Great Grandma made one for everyone in her family... now I guess I'll carry that tradition on for my kids. Hopefully the next won't take me nearly as long as this one did!

Rowley Family Photo

Landon's Baby Blessing

Casen, Shane & Collin

Mon & Cole-Slaw

Sam & Casen

Grandma Worley, Landon, me, & Shane in the back

Shane & me

The Minks

Landon, Jesse, Grandma Heninger, Mom

So that finishes off 2o1o. 2011 will be coming soon. One thing at a time:) Hopefully I'll get to it this week. I have massive ankles that I'm supposed to keep elevated, so I should get some computer time in. However, we are trying to move, so it's kinda crazy around here.

Birthday Week

2010-10-30T20:37:00.000-07:00

Hooray for birthday week...
I did so many fun things for my birthday last week!
Thank you everyone for celebrating with me and making it such a special week.

Mom had the family over for a Birthday dinner for Sam and me. YUMMY yummy!

Shane took me to lunch and shopping shopping shopping!I tried on and bought my first maternity clothes... Uh, that was a new experience! When I put on the baby bump Shane laughed at me, so I made him try it on! This picture makes me laugh!
We went to La Caille and had a fabulous dinner with Mom and Dad Rowley and Rogan and Kim! It was so beautiful, I loved it! Unfortunately it was too dark to see how pretty by the time we took the camera out.

I went to dinner at P.F. Changs with all of the Rowley girls. We had a great time trying all the food and deserts, using chop sticks and reading fortunes.Kristee, Stefenee, Grandma Ruby, Kathryne, Me, Grandma Billie, Kimberlee, Kim & Stacee

And Jesse took me to Blue Lemon for dinner and to get pedicures!!! :) What a party week.

Thanks everyone for the Birthday wishes and fun times!

Fall Break Scores a 10

2010-10-24T17:20:00.000-07:00

I am a huge fan of Fall Break!!! While I was at BYU we never had a fall break. So I was loving it last week when Shane had no school for a whole week. We took a super fun and last minute trip to the happiest place on earth. We left on Tuesday and stayed the night in Overton at my grandparent's house. We hung out and went four wheeling in the morning before we left for California.

On our way we drove through the Valley of Fire state park and saw some beautiful views!

On Wednesday we met up with Robert, Kathryne and Kristee and went to Disneyland and California Adventures on Thursday and Friday. We had a blast! It was so much fun, I had never been to California Adventures before so it was exciting. At night we watched their new show World of Colors and it was amazing!

I loved walking through Disneyland because the whole place was completely decorated for Halloween Time, and I LOVE Halloween!

Donald

Kristee

Going on Toy Story... Shane's Favorite Ride!

Waiting for the Bug's Life show

"R" is for Rowley's

On Saturday we went up to Universal Studios. We really enjoyed it. I went there once when I was young so everything was new and exciting to me. I liked the Jurasik Park ride... I pretty much lost my stomach because the drop was so high.

I always wanted to be Wilma

Tennis Star

2010-10-18T17:41:00.000-07:00

Shane's little sister is a tennis star! She is a sophomore and placed 2nd at state! We went and watched her at Liberty Park in the semi-finals and finals, and we were literally blown away by how good she was! We had a great time, even though some of the calls and line judges were frustrating. Orem High took 2nd as a team as well. Great Job!

Darling Kristee

Here's the tennis family

I had to post this one because Robert won the Gold at a tournament in St. George and he wore his medal for at lease two days straight. We are very proud of him too :)

Just Found Out...

2010-10-04T18:14:00.000-07:00

What exciting news! I think finding out whether our baby was a girl or boy, was almost as exciting as finding out that we were pregnant. To be honest, we really were happy either way, I'm just glad to find out. It seems more real now, now that we can envision a little girl, rather than mystery baby. I kinda thought it was going to be a boy because I had this funny dream about birthing a red-haired, crazy-shaped-headed boy. Anyways, I should have know that my dreams ARE crazy and cannot predict the future very well :) We are so happy to have a beautiful baby girl join our family in February. Shane keeps saying how excited he is to have a little Jena running around. He's going to be the best daddy.

It's Been A While

2010-09-22T20:06:00.000-07:00

So here's a little update. Life has been crazy-busy, and for some reason, whenever I have free time the last thing I want to do is blog. So finally, I am getting to it. And there is a a lot...

We are now living in Salt Lake City, and thoroughly loving it. We live in a little one-bedroom apartment that Shane calls "Our Cottage." Not exactly sure why, but it sounds nice :)

Shane is super busy trying to get used to managing school and work again. I don't know how he is getting it all done. He is up till wee hours of the night, and with my onset of pregnancy Zzz's, I'm not much help keeping him going. I am so proud of my little grad student. I am blown away at how expensive his school is. For this semester his books alone were $1,100. They didn't look too exciting either! I swear they were all tax code in minuscule font sizes. Oh well I guess if he likes it :) Here he is going to his first day of school.

As for me, I have about 4 part-time jobs. Ha. Literally. I'm not sure why, but it has kept me super busy and I like it too. We are very happy to be cooking up our little muffin still. It is a relief every time we go to the doctor's and are reassured that the little one is growing and healthy. We can't wait to learn the gender in less than two weeks.

Here's a little August overview.

We enjoyed a weekend with friends at a cabin in Midway. It was beautiful! We went boating, did the alpine slide, went golfing, and of course had milkshakes. Good times. Unfortunately no pics.

We have an adorable new nephew. Landon Michael Mink. We are so happy that he is home from the hospital, and getting better. That little guy gave us a scare, but we are delighted that he is here.

(Wondering how Jesse looks so great after just having a baby... yeah, me too?!)

Collin and Casen had a sleep over with us at our house and we went swimming and to the Zoo.

We went to the Toby Kieth concert.

Shane and I went bowling for the first time ever together.

Not sure what else, besides creating good memories with new friends, old friends, and family.

One last note...

I am really happy that fall is here! This is my favorite season of all! I love when the air starts to get crisp and the leaves change colors. And when conference is around the corner. There is something so fascinating about this time of year. While growing up, I looked forward to this season, because my birthday is in October, but that it not the reason anymore. The fall colors, the decorations, the pumpkins, the gourds, the corn. Fall has some of the best holidays. Halloween, which I love. Carmel Apples. The costumes, the treats and the parties. Then comes Thanksgiving. The family, the food, the love. The full hearts, full tummies and memories. I could go on and on. What a beautiful time of year. Take time to ENJOY.

{I wish you could see how amazingly bright this rainbow was!}

It's Official

2010-08-14T11:32:00.000-07:00

...we're scoring two lines on the preggers test!

Pretty much our initial faces :)

We are so so happy and {excited} to have a new little addition to our family. Right now we are about 3 months along. It's been pretty hard trying to hold in the exciting news, especially while feeling sick every day. Baby Rowley is on the way, and we couldn't be happier.

Tennis

2010-08-11T21:13:00.000-07:00

One year ago I joined a family that has pretty much mastered the game of tennis.
As for me, I have never played.
Until now...
I just finished a month of tennis lessons and after feeling quite uncoordinated, and missing the ball too many times too count, i think I could really like tennis. Well that is, if I could learn to return the ball a little better.
I actually really like it, but I have to say that it is a lot harder than everyone makes it look.
To be honest my favorite part about our lessons was laughing my way through them with my sister in law Kim. We had a lot of fun. Kim is so darling and fun. I think she realized what a SPAZ I am when I drove us to tennis, got out and started walking to the courts, not even realizing that I left my racket at home. Really Jena?! Anyways...Tennis... my new hobbie (in the making).
Kim thanks for the pic, and for your encouragement :)... your the best!

Nonuplets

2010-07-22T16:41:00.000-07:00

We have nonuplets - that's right, nine kids at one time... nine {boys} nine {wolves}

We've really enjoyed the past year with our cub scouts. They have SO much energy, and are really quite funny. We took the boys to Camp Jeremiah Johnson on Friday. They had a blast!

Seven of our nine

making model airplanes - unfortunately they kept falling apart : (

Shane & Matt trying to keep them together, but really feeling hopeless

Rock climbing

Learning how to fold the flag

Me, freezing in the early morning hours

Stilt races

BB Guns - probably the boys favorite activity

Lunch time - Matt & Shelly Staheli joined us for the adventure at Camp Jermiah Johnson
They are the Bear Den Leaders. We love them and they always make us laugh. Making us a total of 17 people!

Archery

Water Games

And Rockets

We are sure going to miss our NINE boys when we move! Being a Den Leader is such a FUN calling!

Only Homemade

2010-07-18T16:53:00.000-07:00

There are somethings in life that are only worth eating if they are {homemade}

JAM being one of them

I made jam this week and we are loving it

Strawberry Peach

well worth it

The Best Two Weeks (Week 2)

2010-07-11T11:36:00.000-07:00

WEEK 2:
Straight from California to Lake Mead with Shane's family-

Boating * Skiing * Wake-boarding * Tubing * Air chair-ing * Wave Runners * Food * Poker * Dominoes * Backgammon* and much more...

A Few Top Highlights

-Shane doing a back flip on the wake-board;
-The motivation of Justin Beiber on early morning ski runs :)
-Learning to play poker, and losing all of my chips {twice}
-Afternoon nap time
-Kristee learning to ski like a pro
-Shane, Rogan, Robert, Doug & Sue really skiing like pros
-The kids playing on the fabulously homemade water slide
-Trying for {quite} a while to get one big family picture
-The glassy water
-Yummy meals
-Lighting a MASSIVE tumble weed on fire
-The {beached} house boat at the end of the week
-The unreal amount of chips, salsa, and water that everyone consumed at Poncho & Lefty's in St. George :)

Shane on the Air-Chair and attempting a backflip

The Rowley Family Lake Mead Fun and the Slide Stef & Brent Created

Wake-Boarding Shane's pretty good... me, I just laugh and have fun. We didn't get any pics of Shane doing a back-flip though.

Knee-Boarding

Skiing... again, I just laugh and have fun

and Shane {amazing}

Thanks Rogan & Kim for all of the phenomenal photos!

Wow that was a long post... thanks for enduring. As you can see we had a fun and adventurous time. Thanks Robert and Kathryne for a fantastic week!

So we had a crazy fun two weeks of vay cay, now we're back to reality ha.

Happy 1st Year to My Hunny!

2010-07-08T13:45:00.000-07:00

Hooray let's celebrate
Always so thoughtful of me
Play hard, work hard
Proud to be a Rowley
Y aprendo español

Fun(ner) than I ever thought
I learn something new from you every day
Ready for another great year
So many ruined dinners : /
Three hundred and sixty five good night kisses

Adventures shared together
Never ending car repairs
Now I love him even more
It's all about working together
Very important communication
Extraordinarily funny moments
Really learning to budget
Special memories made
Always feeling safe and secure
Relaxing and quiet moments together
Years and years of love to come

I love you!

The Best Two Weeks (week 1)

2010-07-07T20:34:00.000-07:00

LIFE IS GOOD... especially when you are on {vacation}

WEEK 1:

Ventura Beach House with my family-

Long boarding * Surfing * Boogie boarding * Water Frisbee * Skim boarding * Marshmallow roasting on the beach * Shopping * Eating * Biking * Late-night games * BBQs * and much more...

A Few Top Highlights:

-Sunny days, after the first two super cloudy days

-The best BBQ chicken pizza ever

-Learning to "Go faster!" (in Shane's words) on a longboard

-Dave daring Coleson to go around town in his tight swim
underwear

-Sam learning to surf

-Shane dominating us in Dalmuty

-Mom loving the water as long as she had her full body
wetsuit

-Jesse not realizing that a marshmallow skewer was stuck to
her butt

-Dave revealing his crazy {mustached} self portrait

-Endless amounts of scalding hot water, despite the number
of people that showered before me

-Shane being actively involved in shopping with me

-The 5lb bag of peanut M&Ms that we downed

(now I'm paying for it)

-Connect Four being the main ingredient in our down time

Thanks Mom for making the vacation happen! What a blast!

Kathryne's Birthday and Celtic Woman

2010-05-26T22:36:00.000-07:00

Kathryne had a birthday!!! All the girls had a fun birthday dinner with her at Blue Lemon {so fresh & tasty} What an exciting and FUNNY night it was. Doesn't Kathryne look great, just like one of the daughters, and Grandma Ruby too {all dressed up}.

Shane and I went with Rogan and Kim to Celtic Woman. They are an Irish vocal group, and they are truly phenomenal! Their voices are so pure and beautiful. We were so entertained and impressed the whole night. If you don't know who they are, look them up... you'll fall in love!

Mom's Birthday Getaway

2010-05-22T14:32:00.000-07:00

We had a fun and relaxing weekend in St. George... hiking, swimming, eating, playing tennis, playing cards, and going to Brian Regan {SUPER FUNNY}

My mom {die-hard hiker} made us go to that tree

There's the tree at the top!

I love the Tuacon Theater, the outside atmosphere is so fun.

Been Busy with Flowers

2010-05-13T14:21:00.000-07:00

So whenever I have a wedding my kitchen turns into a floral shop. It's crazy, but fun. Shane loves to sit and watch and keep me company. I love asking his opinion for some reason {even though I know he doesn't care too much} He decided to take pictures of me in addition to the pictures of the flowers {so please excuse the mess and the frazzled-end-of-the-day-look that I have going on}

The "shabby chic" wedding turned out pretty cute see more flower pics at www.thebloomingoccasions.com

Props to Our Mom!

2010-05-13T14:15:00.000-07:00

Look at my beautiful mother... It's been a HUGE month for her!

I am so so proud of my cute mom. Last weekend she graduated with her Masters degree. Hooray!!! She worked so hard the last two years. She truly is a Super Star :)

Grandma & Grandpa Heninger

Dad and the boys... well minus Dave, Shane & Casen

Congrats Mom we love you!

Also, on Mother's Day my Mom turned 50!!! Shhh I'm not supposed to tell because she is SO upset about it, but I think she looks great {even in that goofy hat} We had a fun party for her at my Grandma's house.

My mom is reading her birthday card that says all the girls are taking a trip to St. George to hike at Zions and see Brian Regan at Tuacon.

Jesse and I made my mom a scrapbook with the 50 things that we love most about her.

In this picture we are all looking over at my aunts because they all started crying when my mom did...

(as usual :)

{not a great picture, but the only one I had}

Sam & Mom

Mom & Coleson

Super cute Casen (& cute Shane in the background) I feel bad this is the only picture of my sweetie. To my defense... my aunt took the pictures on my camera.

Other fun family

And me getting caught eating my Reeses brownie : /

There he is... love you hun!

GO JAZZ!!!

2010-04-24T17:48:00.000-07:00

How 'bout them Utah Jazz!!!

Thanks to these two wonderful people, we attended the Jazz vs. Thuggets on Friday night. And boy was it exciting. Shane was labeled drunk because he was so out of control!

So here's a little recap of the game from our point of view...

Shane sporting his D-Will LOVE. I was in love with the clappers the whole night.

Rogan and Kim

Stacee and Tyler

Getting ready for tip off

So the game was super exciting and the crowd was so loud. Shane, Rogan and Tyler kept taunting Carmelo Anthony, and JR Smith the WHOLE game. For the first three quarters, Carmelo would always look over at Shane right after he made a basket. Luckily he missed more than he made, thus hearing more taunting from Shane and the brothers.

But in the 4th quarter, when they were so behind Carmelo would look over and smile and laugh at our comments. He's a lot more "classy" than we thought. Shane still hates him though. I kinda like him after last night.

These are the camera-men that got Shane and Rogan on ESPN. That was Shane's claim to fame for the night, mine was getting us on the Jumbo-Tron five different times!

This lady hated Shane. He screamed constantly over the ESPN announcers. She was freaking out, and asked Shane not to flash and gang signs. (You know Shane and his gang-signs) :)

The lady made them put the screen up to block Shane from being in the background. The ESPN crew guy LOVED us... just look at his face!

If you've been to a Jazz game this season, you'll recognize this guy! He has come up with some off-the-wall dance moves this season... "Go Malone!"

Smiles for such a fun night!

Shane's favorite part of Jazz wins is going to McDonald's the next day for his free Big Macs.
(Oh and by the way Shane truly thinks he was the X factor in the Jazz win) HAHA

Thanks again Robert and Kathryne for the fun Jazz season.

Rain

2010-04-22T21:03:00.000-07:00

Rain, rain go away,

Come again another day,

Little Jena wants to play,

Rain rain go to Spain

Never show your face again

We're really looking forward to the May flowers, rather than the April showers!!!

...But I do like how the mountains are turning green...

A new take on decorating Easter eggs...

2010-04-04T13:31:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter!!!

Shane and I thought these were hilarious.

Oh Hawaii Where Have You Gone?

2010-03-16T18:57:00.000-07:00

(I forgot to publish this post on Saturday oops...)

Things I'm missing about last year with all this wintery weather...

The orchid fields

The Hula Pie

The sweet sweet tropic smell

The amazing hikes and views

The To-Die-For Shaved Ice

The hot sun and warm beaches

And seeing new things like the Chocolate Plant

Kauai...Until next time...

And for now...

U of U...What?!!

2010-03-14T21:04:00.000-07:00

That right! Shane just got accepted to the University of Utah's Master's of Tax Accounting program. Congrats to the Mr.!

Our upcoming household battle...

Shane VS Jena

Our Valentine's Get Away

2010-03-06T07:52:00.000-08:00

I'm so bad at blogging but I wanted to report about the super fun Valentine's weekend that we had...

We went to up to Eden and stayed in a condo with Jesse and Dave. We had so much fun. It was absolutely gorgeous up there with all the snow! We had such a relaxing and adventurous stay. On Saturday we went snowboarding at Powder Mountain, and let me tell you there was a ton of powder! Powder is Shane's favorite so we hit up some back trails, and unfortunately Shane had to wait for me twice for about 8 minutes each cause I was literally stuck and sinking :) [The smiley face because Shane was such a good sport about it.] We also saw "Valentine's Day" to kick of the weekend, and ended the weekend with "When in Rome." We ate some tasty food, and enjoyed a Valentine's Breakfast in a big white barn. What a great time hanging out at the condo and hot-tubbing. If only those scoundrels hadn't run off with Dave's North Face jacket, I think we could have had a perfect weekend.

Sports

2010-02-20T14:48:00.000-08:00

I have learned a lot in the past 8ish months of being married... AM talk radio, pregame, postgame, highlights, ESPN, ESPN.com... and the list goes on. There is a whole world of sports talk that goes beyond the world of sports. Nine moths ago I had no idea. Ha ha I've learned that what I call the "fluff" is just as important as the actual game, or even more important. I like sports, I just can't really get into the sports talk world. As I have been to more sporting events and watched more on tv I think being a sports spectator is growing on me. Obviously actually being at the events are more entertaining and exciting, but I figured that the more I understand about the details and rules of the games, the more I will like them. Shane has taught me a lot... I ask questions all the time during a game. Hopefully it's not too annoying. We have attended some super exciting Jazz games this year too! So I have to say that sports are growing on me.

Happy Birthday Shane

2010-01-04T21:14:00.000-08:00

My handsome husband turned 23...Yay! We're finally the same age again. The past two months when I was older seemed like a lifetime...ha ha. Anyways Happy Birthday Mr! I am so grateful for the wonderful husband and person that Shane is. He truly impresses me every day with his happy personality and energy. These past six months together have been so great! I love you so so much! Here are some pictures of a little birthday brownie party that we hosted. Thanks everyone for coming.

Our Very Merry 1st Christmas!

2010-01-04T20:16:00.000-08:00

We had a fun Christmas this year. There were so many exciting and festive things going on. We were really bad at taking pictures though. The only day that we took some pictures was on Christmas day.

The Christmas parties started with the Rowley extended family party in Spanish Fork. We had a fun time celebrating with all the family, Santa, and especially Great Grandma Rowley.

A couple of days before Christmas we got together with the Shane's parents and all the siblings and spouses. We started the evening with a fabulous dinner at Chef's Table, then we did a little surprise caroling to some friends and Grandma Ruby. We went back to Rowley's for dessert and to exchange presents... A very fun and festive night together.

On Chrismas morning Shane and I slept in, then went to my mom's for some yummy Christmas breakfast. We visited Jesse and Dave and the little ones, then went to Grandma Worley's for lunch. It was a fun and relaxing day. Shane and I ended the day by going to see "Did You Hear About the Morgans?"

Shane and Slaw playing a new wrestling game.

My Mom made aprons for all of the girls in her family and all of her employees. They are all so different and cute.

Two cute boys
Dad and Collin

Santa brought Sam, Cole and Mom some fancy mountain bikes, and of course Sam was pulling some sweet tricks even with those massive tire. Our darling mom
Merry Christmas My Love

Halloween Fun

2009-11-16T20:53:00.000-08:00

Kimberlee and Spencer hosted a murder mystery. They went all out too, with their house decorated as the island that we were on. I hadn't ever been to one before and we had so much fun. My favorite part were the funny costumes that everyone had. I was a pirate and Shane was a fighting Spaniard

Kathryne was the indian chief and Robert was Captain Jack

We also went to a Halloween party at Stefenee and Brent's. We ate a yummy dinner and had a pumpkin carving contest. Then we went and rode the Haunted Heber Creper... really cold, but really fun! Thanks guys!

The Boys

The Girls

Our Pumpkin Show... Take a look!

October Birthdays

2009-11-16T20:22:00.000-08:00

We have so many birthdays in October. Birthdays=parties... yay!

Happy Birthday to everyone in October!!!

Casen turned 2 on the 12th and we celebrated at the Mink's house.

Mom threw a birthday for me and we had delicious food! Thanks mom!

We celebrated Sam's birthday on the 23rd at Pirates Island pizza

And Grandma Heninger's Birthday party at Suzette's House. (I did the flowers for her and she was so in love with them that we had to take pictures by them:)) LOVE YOU GRAM

Summer Happenings

2009-10-29T19:53:00.000-07:00

What a fun and memorable summer. Here are a few of the highlights (besides getting married). Shane Graduated for UVU with his Bachelor's in accounting!

Happy Birthday Jesse!!!

I graduated from BYU in Family Science

While I was graduating Shane had the opportunity to go to NYC to meet with the big 4 accounting firms and network with some of the LDS members out there. What a great experience!

My Grandma and Grandpa Heninger celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary! Congratulations! We love you! Thanks for a fun 50's party.

This is Shane's Sister Stacee's "serious" Boyfriend Tyler. We asked him what he could do to impress the family... He told us he had a really big mouth. So the mean brothers made him show us really how big. 42 grapes later we believed him. What a sport :)

We went to the Keith Urban concert and had a blast!

Lake Mead

2009-10-29T18:39:00.000-07:00

After being married for just two short weeks we took a vacation to lake mead with the Rowley Clan. The water was beautiful and looked like glass the entire week. It was about 110 degrees, so we played in the water constantly. I learned to ski too... thank you Shane and Robert for the coaching :) And thank you Kim for the fun pictures. We had so much fun in the sun!

Playing Backgammon on Grandpa and Grandma's Boat

Shane getting ready to show off for the brothers :)

Me trying to get the hang of it.

And both of us skiing together, and holding hands... romantic right?!

Making crepes for dinner for the party of 21