The Best Christmas Present EVER!

This year all I asked Santa for was not to be pregnant anymore! And that's exactly what I got just a week before Christmas! Our newest little angel arrived on Monday, December 20th at 4:30pm. She was sooooo beautiful and the perfect size...7 lbs 6 oz and 19 in. long. And believe it or not her hair is brown. We named her Briley Ann Heaton, with her middle name taking after mom! It was the best delivery I've ever had since we were the only people there on the Labor and Delivery floor and we got all the attention from the nurses, who were all so very nice. The rooms were absolutly HUGE and everything went perfectly, even though it was another 10 hr labor. Grandma and Grandpa Woods were there since they had come all the way up from St. George to see her as soon as she arrived, and then they stayed to play with her and the two older kids all the way until Christmas. It was the very best Christmas ever, and they were such an enormous help. Hope Briley knows how very loved she is! All of us were excited to have her finally here and her big brother and sister couldn't wait to take her home. They absolutly ADORE her to death, and are such big helpers. So far things have been going just fine at home. Briley is now exactly 2 weeks old and she's a really good eater and pooper, although she's still trying to figure out the whole sleeping at night instead of playing thing. She loves to be held and really loves her daddy. The minuet she was born he spoke to her and she was hooked....can't blame her though. He's pretty great!  I swear she can already smile, and does it quite often. But mostly she is just a calm, happy baby, and brings a lot of joy into our home! Here are just a few photos I shot with her in her special Christmas dress. Thank you to everyone who sent us all the warm wishes and gifts for our new little princess!

Highlights from the past 7 months!

Well since my blog has been down at LOT of things have happend in our little familys' life. We've had tons of good fun and lots of new adventures. The kids have grown so big and are doing lots of new and exciting things; plus our family has grown by one more sweet little spirit. (she'll have her own spotlight later on)! So here are just a few pic's and short stories about the going on's since May!

Capriece turned 2 in June! She is such a big girl now and as prissy as any princess there ever was. She had a great time at her birthday party and got lots of girly fun things! Can't believe she's two already!

Brandon turned 26 in June as well. Two birthdays in the same week..wow! We had a small family party for him, and the kids helped mommy bake him a cake. Then I took him out on a birthday date and got him a big buffalo burger. Yummm. Afterwards we all went out to a movie together and had really fun time.

 

Brogen started preschool back in September! He loves his class and does really well. He's like a little sponge and always surprises us with what he knows and can do. He even likes doing his homework.

We're so proud of him!

My inspiration for the New Year!

I TAKE JOY....

"And the gentle voice of the Lord called out to me. “I am here. Look for me today. Look for my presence in the midst of your messes, moments of relationship positioning and the life of your family. I am responsible for each of these precious ones–you are not. You walk with me, extend my love and be my servant.
All will be well.”

"My family is His responsibility. I am responsible to keep my heart and body as healthy as possible to be an anchor of His presence in the midst, but He is at work. All families are a work in process and one day or one hour of conflict is not the measure of the overall family."

"As wives and mothers, we give gifts of our true selves to our families each day–or at least we should. When the milk is spilled, do we give the gift of acceptance and patience? When our husband comes home tired after an extremely long day, do we give the gift of listening and looking into his eyes, so he knows we truly care? Do we give our children the gift of a quick hug as they walk by? Or a butterfly kiss? Or a backrub?"
"When you are not overworked and your emotional cup is filled and you feel happy in your home and are appreciated and affirmed–you tend to be a much better person–and so with your children. But when you are exhausted, spent and have neglected your own personal well-being, you may tend to be harsher, and shorter of temper. You have to maintain your own peace at home for them to find you peaceful."


-Sally Clarkson-

FINALLY UP AND RUNNING AGAIN!

So here we are....back online...FINALLY! I haven't been able to access my blog for almost 7 months now since my old email address got hacked and a virus blocked all google accounts on my computer. So thats the story for the huge gap in updates. A LOT has happend since my last post as well and it will take me a while to get all caught up. Hope everyone stays tuned for lots of new pictures and posts. Now that things are working again (thanks to my lil bro sam who's awesome at fixing computers) I will be keeping up to date with the going-on's of our family life! Hope everyones having a happy and wonderful holiday season!

Heaton update

So things have been crazy for us lately. These past few months we all have been so busy with work and family and other new pressing matters that I haven't had a chance to update our blog...until now. The kids are doing great and getting bigger and bigger every day. Capriece is now fully potty trained and I'm loving not having to change diapers any more...although we found out not too long ago that that wont last past December. Our third little munchkin is on the way and I have been so exhausted that i feel narcoleptic. Brogen and Capriece are so excited for the new baby that they keep asking me when it will come and (brogen being the very smart and curious boy he his) how it will get here! I have also been working on getting my admissions letter done for the nursing program at Eagle Gate College for this coming fall. Hopefully by the end of this week I'll have it all done and I'll find out at the end of June if I've been accepted. I can't wait to get done with my college since its been a long time coming.  Brandon has been working really hard and getting lots of good compliments at his job. They really seem to like him there and think that he's a great asset to their company. We're hopeful that when his 90 days are up he'll be getting a raise. The next big thing we are looking forward to is our trip down to St. George for my little brothers graduation in just a couple of days. We're all so proud of him and are planning on making a big trip out of it.....6 days long. Brandon and I haven't taken that much time off since Capriece was born...2 yrs ago so we are really, REALLY looking forward to it and seeing all our family and friends. We are also going to be hitting up a birthday party and possibly a family reunion. Hopefully we get to relax along the way too. Well that's it for now. Be prepared for lots of pictures when we come back.

Our Aquarium Adventure!

The Living Planet Aquarium

This weekend we took the kids on a little family adventure to the Living Planet Aquarium down in Sandy! The kids were so excited to see all of the different kinds of fishies and animals. It was a really neat place which surprised us. They had just opened a brand new penguin exhibit and they even had an open sting ray tank where you can actually pet them. Not only did they have all kinds of ocean life, but they also had an amazon jungle section where we got to see everything from alligators to poisonous tree frogs, to gigantic anaconda snakes. The kids had so much fun running from one colorful tank to the next and they got to see some really neat things they'd never seen before. Petting the sting rays was so weird. They felt like slimy, rubbery sponges. It was really cool, and they were really friendly. Capriece petted them right away without a single moment of hesitation, but Brogen was a little bit wary. He didn't want to pet them at first, but after he saw mommy and daddy touch them he finally let mommy hold his hand and help him touch one. After that he wanted to go back and do it again.

Kids 1st Trip to Chuckie Cheese

Last weekend we got to help out our sister-in law on Brandon's side of the family during a family crisis. One of our nieces, who is only 4 months old, had to be taken down to Primary Children's Hospital because of some complications with her heart and RSV! So we went down and picked up our oldest niece Ashley to take back home and spend the weekend with us. It was so good to see them since it had been a little while since we had and we decided to stop at Chuckie Cheese on the way home. Brogen and Capriece had never been before and neither had Brandon. We had a blast and spent 2 hours playing the games and eating some good pizza. The kids had so much fun they were completely wiped out and slept all the way home; and Brandon & I learned why my mom and dad had taken us kids only a few times to Chuckie Cheese in my life! (we were exhausted). But it is nice living near a bigger city which allows us to do fun things like that. The rest of the weekend was