Family Pictures

In July, our super talented sister-in-law took some family pictures for us that turned out amazing. Just because they are all so good, I will limit the writing and let you enjoy the shots. Thank You so much Amber! These are beautiful.

Lots of good family shots.

Graysen and his adorable eyes.

Really just loved Kyri's shots on the rocks. She had this model pose down.

Families are Forever

A few of our favorites of the kids.

Tanzi, can you be any cuter?

Teaching moment!

Tanzi in her blessing dress, so precious.

I don't think Mauri and I have had a shot of just us two since we were married. We really liked this one.

Thanks again so much Amber for these wonderful, priceless pictures of our family.

Anniversary

Gary and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary on July 22nd (yes, I am VERY behind on updating our blog) This was the most perfect day! Instead of taking time out for ourselves we decided to do something super fun with all our kids. And it was SUPER fun!

We started the day at Hogle Zoo

Right now it is "Zoorassic Park" and the kids loved all the dinosaurs. Well, Kyri liked the ones that didn't move, but the moving ones were a little frightening. They not only moved, but also made dinosaur noises. Kyri asked to not go by those ones, but we were lucky that she sat on this one with us. And we were pleasantly surprised to run into my good friend, Jenn...she's the one who took this picture for us, not Tanzi, as I'm sure some of you were wondering :)

Cute baby elephant

Probably my very favorite part of the zoo

We always go to the bird show when we're at the zoo. We LOVE it...every time.

3 sleepy tigers

What a FUN day at the zoo!!

After having a nice lunch in SLC we came home and played on the slip-n-slide

And we ended the evening with a bang. Literally. Fireworks were going off all around us. Kyri and Graysen cried. We tried to make them watch the fireworks, but they just wanted to go to bed. But FIRST we roasted marshmallows and had s'mores.

Delicious!!

It really was the most perfect day. I just love Gary SO much and am so grateful to have spent these last amazing 5 years with him!

Happy Anniversary!

Food for Thought

Back in June Mauri and I went to her brother's house in Evanston for a Saturday afternoon barbecue. After we finished eating some delicious food, we were complaining that we ate too much and needed to go on a diet. It just so happened that a couple of her brothers and sister-in-law were thinking the same thing we were. As a result, all five of us entered into a weight loss competition with each of us contributing $20 to the pot. It was just the motivation Mauri and I needed. After brainstorming how we should lose weight, we decided we needed to exercise regularly and change what we were cooking and eating. Mauri stated her friend Allison had lost a lot of weight cooking meals from http://www.skinnytaste.com/. We figured we would try it out and do Jillian Michals 30-day shred. As we started making recipe's from the blog, we realized that they were easy to make and really tasty. Soon enough, we started shredding the pounds.

We started taking pictures of our meals to document what we ate. Here is what we came up with along with a link to the recipe.

Chicken Rollatini with Spinach alla Parmigiana

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/04/chicken-rollatini-with-spinach-alla.html#more

Broiled Tilapia with Thai Coconut Curry Sauce

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2010/04/broiled-tilapia-with-thai-coconut-curry.html#more

We have made this with chicken as well and it was delicious.

Ricotta Cheese Chocolate Chip Muffins

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/06/ricotta-cheese-chocolate-chip-muffins.html

Yes, there are even some delicious dessert recipes that are pretty good for when you have a craving for sweets. These are Mauri's specialties.

Pork Chops with Dijon Herb Sauce

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2008/06/pork-chops-with-dijon-herb-sauce-525-ww.html

Thai Chicken and Pineapple Stir Fry

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/06/thai-chicken-and-pineapple-stir-fry.html

Thai Coconut Curry Shrimp

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2010/03/thai-coconut-curry-shrimp.html

Chicken and White Bean Enchiladas with Creamy Green Chile Sauce

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2010/06/chicken-and-white-bean-enchiladas-with.html

Asian Turkey Meatballs With Lime Sesame Dipping Sauce

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2010/01/asian-turkey-meatballs-with-lime-sesame.html

Chicken Rollatini

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/04/chicken-rollatini-with-prosciutto-and.html

Coconut Chicken Salad with Warm Honey Mustard Vinaigrette

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/03/coconut-chicken-salad-with-warm-honey.html

Broiled Fish with Summer Grape Tomato Sauce

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/07/broiled-fish-with-summer-grape-tomato.html#more

There are quite a few other dishes we have made, but simply didn't take pictures. We have truly liked each one we have made.

In case you were wondering how Mauri and I did, we won! We had our weigh-in at her family reunion a couple of weeks ago. I lost 20 lbs and Mauri lost 18 lbs in about 5 weeks. We were happy with the results and we came away with a little extra cash. We are still working on getting down to our goal weight, but have enjoying going through this together.

4 Months

Tanzi is just growing SO fast! We can't believe how time has been flying by this summer!

Here's the info from Tanzi's 4 month appointment:

11.4 lbs (between 5th & 10th percentile)

I don't remember her length & can't find the paper with the stats on it, but her length was about 50%-60%

Her weight for length wasn't even on the charts :( BUT she IS growing. It just means she's "long and lean" (as the Dr says about ALL our kids)

Tanzi's head circumference was also about 10% (she doesn't have a ginormous head like her brother....yet)

I will post actual numbers when I find my paper, but for now just enjoy the cute pictures of our growing babe!!

Chillin' at the park

Tanzi's face isn't really in focus, but I LOVE her huge smile. She is a very smiley baby and sticks her tongue out a lot when she smiles.

Tanzi loved all the attention she got from cousins, aunts, and grandparents last week. As long as she was being held she was happy.

Here she is with my sister, Andrea.

SISTERS!!

Let's hope they grow up to be as good of friends as these sisters :)

Tanzi is such a happy, smiley baby. And even though we say she is by far our hardest baby she still brings us just as much joy!! And, actually, we feel like she is on her way to being a REALLY good baby (but we won't keep our fingers crossed).

We think Tanzi still has reflux, but only slightly. We don't give her any medicine for it. However, we think she still has a big problem with gas. She just always seems to have a toot or a burp in her that she can't quite get out. So, every night we give her gripe water and that really seems to help.

On Saturday night we started letting Tanzi cry herself to sleep. This has ALWAYS been a hard time for me with my kids. I HATE listening to them cry. And I was really worried about it with Tanzi because she is super attached to her binky. However, so far Tanzi has been the best at this out of all the kids. Saturday night she cried for about 20 minutes (and not even that hard)....and that's the longest she's cried since then. Every night and for every nap I put Tanzi down awake and without her binky...the last few nights she has slept better than ever!! I'm sort of thinking that this is what she was wishing we would do all along, instead of rock her, snuggle her and give her a binky...after all, she was used to just going to sleep on her own in the NICU. Or maybe she finally just decided she has given me enough heartache that she'd like to give me a break for a while. :) Either way I'm pleased as punch!!

Since Tanzi was about 2 months old she has been trying to sit up. She LOVES sitting up and seeing what's going on. A true girl....needing to be up into everybody's business :)

So, the bumbo is perfect!! She also loves her swing now that it's not lying down and she has an exersaucer she loves to be in too. None of them are quite as good as being held, though. :)

We love our little growing family and can't wait to see what the next few months will bring us!

These 2 pictures are to show the difference in Tanzi's scar.

(This is mostly for McKell...sorry I forgot to show you her scar at her blessing!!)

This was the day we left the hospital

(click on picture to enlarge)

And this was just a few days ago

Gotta love the deer in the headlights look and the double chin!!

stay tuned for many more blog updates...hopefully