Martin Family Memories

Look what we woke up to!

2010-12-21T08:02:00.000-08:00

WOW! 15 inches of fresh snow to shovel! In front of Cory is our driveway and the little lane behind him is our road. It hasn't stopped snowing in 2 days and it's still coming down. The kids are having a blast! Today is the first snow day Nebo School district has called in 30 years.

Yesterday was "dress up like an elf day" for Halle's kindergarten class. She looked so cute! (even though she wouldn't wear a real elf hat like the one I wanted for her. No, she chose the Santa hat with a princess tiara on top. She got a marriage proposal at school from a boy who dressed up like Santa though and thought it was so funny. He called her Mrs. Claus all day.)

Making gingerbread houses with the kids! We had such a fun time doing this - even though we couldn't get it to stand up straight for very long unless someone was holding it up. So we ended up eating the goods that night instead of letting them go hard and stale. (I forgot to put a picture of the completed house before we ate it, oops.)

Last week it snowed a little bit and I could NOT keep this boy in the house. He would go out back and play all day long. He loves it!

My sweet kids! I love them so much!

Merry Christmas!

Halloween 2010!

2010-10-31T12:31:00.000-07:00

Halloween started off at our house on Thursday when both Halle and Daxton had their school Halloween parties. Daxton went all dressed up to pre-school as Spiderman (minus the mask) and Halle chose to be Alice in Wonderland. Later that day, Daxton and I got to watch Halle's school parade, which was fun to see so many people dressed up in costumes (parents, teachers, and students).

Classic Spiderman pose!

It was a very cold and windy day. Last year the parade was inside, so I didn't expect them to have to walk around outside. I didn't have Halle dressed very warm and she told me later that she froze the whole time. Poor thing.

Halloween morning (well, Saturday Oct. 30th) - We got the kids each a cute Halloween book and a few treats and fixed them a fun breakfast with pumpkin face pancakes. Unfortunately all of the kids got sick the night before and so were suffering from fevers, coughs and runny noses. So we decided to take it easy during the day.

Every time Daxton put on his Spiderman costume, Presley was all over him, giving him lots of loves and kisses. She must have a thing for Spiderman. It was so funny to watch. Thankfully Daxton loves being mauled.

Showing off his muscles is another favorite thing of his.

Sisters! Girls are so much fun to get dressed up. But it sure makes me appreciate being able to throw a mask over my little guy's head!
Getting ready to head out into the rainy/hail-stormy night.

Cory helped the kids carve their own pumpkins last week for FHE. They each chose the face they wanted. Daxton's is the spooky one in the back, Halle's is the happy one on the lower step, and Presley's is the goofy one on the top step.
Daxton getting ready to shoot his webs. Something I am dodging all day long.
We got about 3 houses into trick-or-treating when the rain and hail hit so hard we had to make a run for it. Once safely home, we put our Happy Halloween goody plates together and took a drive in the car, delivering our treats. By the time we got home, the hail had stopped and the rain lightened enough that we could finish out our neighborhood. But we kept it short and fast this year. The kids still had a blast and were good sports, even though they didn't feel well.

2010 Highlights!

2010-10-17T21:01:00.000-07:00

Wow!!! I have a years worth of catching up to do, so even though this is backwords, I'm going to re-cap the highlights of 2010. This isn't all that's kept us busy this year, but many cherished memories have come about from these activities!

October 9th - We drove to Logan on my birthday because my nephew was being blessed the next day in church. So we went to the American West Farm and let the kids spend the day with cousins playing in the straw (not hay, apparently!). We had such a good time and the weather was Perfect for a fall day.

October - General Conference and my birthday!! (The big 32!) My parents came to stay with us and celebrate and we had a gorgeous weekend. Most of it was spent inside, but we enjoyed listening to so many fabulous talks, eating crepes, and visiting with each other. This has to be one of my most favorite weekends of the year!

September - Cory and I got to go to the play "Lion King"! It was wonderful. I was wishing the kids were there to enjoy it too. But thankfully Aunt Chelsea was able to watch them for the long night.

September - Spud break for Grandma Martin, so she came to visit for a few days. The kids LOVE it when grandma gets to have a sleep-over. We went to Trafalga one day and let the kids play on all the rides. The very first one Daxton went on was the Splash Boats. He got caught under a fountain and was completely drenched from head to toe. But what a good sport he was! I felt bad that I couldn't rescue him, but it didn't keep me from laughing the whole time.

September - EISF time!!! We love going home this time of year. Especially this year as the kids were able to ride in grandpa's barrel trains in the parade. My dad had them spiffied up so well, it was the cutest thing ever. The kids got to wear costumes to make it even more fun. Then we were to the fair to get some food and let the kids each do a few activities.

September - First day of pre-school for Daxton. He is with Miss Erica at Brainiacs and has loved it. It's finally HIS turn to go too!!!!

August - Halle's first day of Kindergarten. Oh, what a big girl she is getting. She went right in and was so excited! When she came home, she said "Mom, I'm practically an adult now, right?"

August - Presley turns 1!!!! I didn't get most of her b-day pics on the computer yet, (aauugh), but we had a fun day celebrating with her! She kind of started walking 4 days before her birthday, but still preferred to crawl, and then really took off the first week of September. Now she is the funniest, most playful, sneaky little girl ever. We love her to pieces!

August - Halle played on the Angel's girls soccer team this year and did AWESOME!! Cory and I were pretty much in shock at how well she handled the ball, as she is usually more into dressing up being a princess than an athlete. I think overall, she scored 6 or 7 goals this season. It was so fun to go watch her play games twice a week.

August - The second of 2 camping trips we took as a family this year. (The first one was our ward camp-out, no pics.) This time we went with our friends', the Schaffers, and experienced the scariest weather I have ever experienced being outside with no shelter. The wind and rain hit our tents so hard things were flying everywhere. It was crazy, but made for a very eventful weekend. Thankfully as we hunkered down, the kids didn't get too frightened and Cory and Brent kept most of our stuff safe.

July - Cory surprised me for our anniversary with a trip to our old stomping grounds! We left the kids for a weekend with gr and gr martin and headed to Jackson, Wyoming. In the background is our tree and we stayed at the good ol' Ranch Inn. Loved every minute of it!! This is the place I met my hubby 12 years ago. Now we've been married for 11. What a good man I have!

JuLy - Lilya family trip to Bear Lake and lagoon. It was so fun!!!! Halle also got her ears pierced, which she had been dying to do for a long time. She was so brave and didn't even cry.

June - Father's Day!

June - Halle and Daxton each took a class through the Sp Fk Youth Arts group. Halle loved her dance class and Daxton enjoyed a kinder-arts class each day for 2 weeks.

June - We started off the summer with a great trip to Red Fish Lake with the Martin family.
Even though it rained a lot, we still were able to fish, see some beautiful sights, and play around together. We got to stay in cute cabins, which made the trip very convenient!!! It was awesome to spend time with grandma and grandpa and cousins!

February - We took the most fun vacation ever to Disneyland!!!! We took a zillion pictures, but since I had so many to post of our year's events, I'm just putting 2 on here. We got to see my brother in Cali, too, which was great. We went with our neighbors friends and had a blast for a whole week.

Family Traditions

2009-10-18T11:42:00.001-07:00

One tradition our family enjoys every year is going to South Ridge Farms so we can pick pumpkins from a real pumpkin patch. The kids get very excited to take a hay wagon ride out to the patch and pick their very own one. We went yesterday and had so much fun, mostly because it was so warm outside and because Presley was good as gold and slept the whole time. Halle goes each year with her Pre-school too, so she was our little tour guide, telling us how to get there and what goes on. She was a little disappointed that we didn't get served doughnuts though, like her class.

Getting ready to board the wagon!

My 2 little pumpkin heads.
And ghosts...

This Monday night, for FHE, we'll carve up the pumpkins and set them out. Daxton is determined to have a very "MEAN" face on his pumpkin and Halle wants to color a nice face on hers. Typical of them.

Presley's blessing day

2009-10-18T11:16:00.000-07:00

Cory gave a beautiful blessing to Presley and we had a lot of family there to celebrate with us. Thank you to all of our wonderful family who came and helped make it such a special day. It was neat to also have our nephew be blessed the same day. Chelsea and Eni blessed baby Matini right after our meeting and so we got to be a part of that as well. Wish we could have had more time to visit with everyone - it was a busy, but beautiful day.

These pictures are kind of dark. The morning of her blessing, she was a little fussy and so was not being cooperative for pictures. However, I happened to lay her down on my bed for a minute so I could finish getting ready, and she laid still, so we started snapping away. I couldn't find an angle that allowed for me to get her with her whole dress though. It is a gorgeous blessing gown that a colleague of mine made for me when Halle was born. It is very long. In fact, Halle (who is 4 and tall for her age) tried it on the other day without me knowing and she loved it because it dragged on the ground like a wedding dress. I have had to keep it hidden so she won't play dress up in it.

Grandma and Grandpa Lilya - love the simultaneous wave.

Enjoying the fall in Idaho

2009-10-17T20:20:00.000-07:00

Grandpa Lilya surprised the grandkids with the neatest barrel train I've ever seen. Each little cart was created with a different and distinct look and the kids had a blast riding in each one of them. Grandpa has spent every waking minute of his day (when he's not at work) building and crafting these to perfection. They are so unique and we love them! We probably emptied his 4-wheeler and lawn mower tanks several times going around and around ~ the kids couldn't get enough. (Sorry dad.) In the carts are Daxton, cousin Ellie, Halle, and cousin Taylor. (Second cousins, actually.)

Playing outside at grandma and grandpa Lilya's house. The kids love to have space to run and play. Luckily, we had a nice fall day to enjoy being outside, something we rarely find on our trips to Idaho in the fall.

One Month Old!

2009-09-26T16:43:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to say happy one-month birthday to our little angel. She was officially one month old yesterday and I really can't believe it. It sounds cliche, but I could swear it was yesterday that we brought her home from the hospital. I don't want my new-born to grow up yet, we love her so much!
For some reason, her schedule seems to be much better than our other 2 kids. I don't know if it's because she has a relatively mellow temperament or if it's because I have implemented some good techniques from the book "Babywise". I have loved reading it and have found some very good advice in it. I would recommend it to anybody with a new baby. However, she did come down with a little cold a few days ago, so it has been a little rough on her, but who isn't miserable when they are not feeling well?

And here are a few more pics that we have taken over the last week.

Daxton's thrill of the summer

2009-09-21T22:50:00.001-07:00

All summer, Daxton has been trying to steal Halle's princess bike whenever she is not looking, to ride it. Needless to say, it has caused a few problems and so Cory found this great deal on KSL (he's addicted to it) for $8 and Daxton has not stopped talking about it since. He lives for his "very own bike" and can always be found in the garage just checking on it. He is so cute and has such a passion for life, in every aspect. I'm glad he can be so happy with a used bike that will take him around the block 15 zillion times a day.

First day of Pre-School

2009-09-21T22:41:00.000-07:00

Because I was still recovering from the delivery, I had Cory take Halle to school her first day. I gave him specific instructions to take pictures of her since I forgot my camera last year on her first day and have felt guilty ever since. So, being the good man he is, he did. (Along with all the other moms there. And they were quite impressed that he so willingly followed my instructions.) Thanks, honey.

This is a cool tree house that her teacher had built into her basement. The kids get to go inside it and play during their breaks. Halle LOVES it.

Our Little Girl!!

2009-09-21T21:43:00.000-07:00

WOW! You know it's been too long since you've blogged when you can't remember how to do it. Let's see if I can get this right. It's been quite the crazy summer for our family. We've had a lot of changes to adjust to, most of which were quite challenging. But more recently, we have had a wonderful change that has blessed our lives and one that we have truly enjoyed. We had our third baby (a little girl) on August 25th at 11:24pm. Our little Presley Irene weighed 8 lbs 8 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. She has lots of dark hair and is such a cutie. She is adored by her big brother and sister and they are so happy she is finally here. I think they heard me complain about being big, hot, or miserably uncomfortable for too long!
I was 38 weeks along when she came, but was measuring 6 weeks bigger. I went in for a routine Dr.'s appointment on Tuesday the 25th and my Dr. was nervous with how big I was and how full of fluid I felt. So she sent me right over to the hospital for a Non-Stress test and after learning that my fluid level was 3 times the normal amount, they sent me directly to labor and delivery for an induction. While I was getting my epidural, I remembered I had piano students coming to my house, so I was on the phone cancelling lessons while getting poked all over. Cory was scrambling to get the kids to our neighbors house and anxiously trying to get to the hospital when he realized our car had a flat tire. So he drove it anyway, hoping it would make it. Oh the crazy things that happen when you least expect it.
Anyway, he made it in plenty of time, as well as our parents, who traveled from Idaho. I was so glad they made it to help with my moral support and with the kids. It's so comforting to have good family. So...enough about me - we are happy everything went well and so glad that Presley is healthy. We love her to pieces. She was given the middle name, Irene, after her grandmother and great-grandmother. And later I learned that the name has an even longer history in our family ancestry. I can only hope that she grows up to be like her namesake. Ok, so here is our little girl, although she's not so little anymore, already weighing 10 lbs.

One week old

This one is my fav! I love her little faces she makes.

2 weeks:
Here's a sly little smile.
Dad and his little girl.
A very tired mom too. We have LOVED having family come to visit. We don't get to see them often enough. This is Halle and her cousin, Jada, holding Presley.Grandma and Grandpa Lilya
Grandma Martin (I need one of Grandpa Martin!)

Happy Birthday Hun

2009-03-26T13:15:00.000-07:00

Early in the morning, dad got to open up his presents from the kids and from Grandma and Grandpa Herbst. He loved everything!

Halle made a really cute card for dad that was a picture of a chicken. (A chicken?) All her idea, and very creative. Later that night, we met Grandma Martin, Chelsea and Eni for dinner. It was so fun to spend the night talking and laughing with good company and yummy food. (I hope Uncle Eni got enough to eat. Daxton couldn't keep his fork on his own plate. It always looks better on someone elses plate though, doesn't it?)

An unexpected surprise!

2009-03-26T10:21:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this surprise is kind of old news, but I've been wanting to post it for a while. Most everyone is aware that Cory and I are expecting a new baby around September 1st. For some reason this pregnancy has been really difficult. I have been very sick (which is normal, but this time it has lasted longer) and I have had really bad cramps and pains. When I was 13 weeks along (about 4 weeks ago) Cory and I were home in Idaho visiting family and I started hemorrhaging. By the time we got back to my doctor, we were prepared for the worst. We went in for an untrasound and the tech, luckily, found a strong heart beat. She then looked at us and stated, "it looks like it's a little girl"! We were not prepared to find out the gender and so we were in shock for a minute. I think we were still processing the fact that the baby was ok. Anyway, we were excited for both reasons and felt blessed. We had a lot of family support and prayers in our behalf and we are grateful for that.

Since then I have been feeling well and Halle is extremely excited to have a little sister. She is hoping that the baby comes out 3 years old and ready to play dolls with her. We'll have the regular 20 week ultrasound in a few more weeks to double check, but for right now, we are planning for pink!

My sis!

2009-02-19T08:17:00.000-08:00

I have to admit to something that I have been feeling guilty about. My sweet sister was blessed with the creative flare and so has been unselfishly maintaining my blog so that it is not plain and boring. Who does that for their sister? I am so lucky and feel very grateful for her and her talents. But I didn't want to take credit for it anymore~ so thanks Darci. You are great and I really owe you.

Party #4

2009-02-06T07:05:00.000-08:00

Grandma and Grandpa Lilya got to come down on Sunday to continue the celebration. We ate more cake and ice cream, watched the super bowl, and opened presents. Monday morning was Daxton's 2 year Dr.'s appointment. He was barely in the 5th% for weight and dropped from 60% height to 25%. He is my littly guy, but still he is growing up too fast. We did a little shopping later that day and the kids were not ready to say goodbye to grams and gramps Monday afternoon. They cried and cried~ with constant attention the last week, they were not ready to go back to the old routine with no one but mom to entertain them.

Daxton had a great birthday! Thanks everyone for making it special for him.This is a pic of Daxton from last year - when he turned 1. It's hard to believe another year has gone by since that time.

Party Day #3 (mostly for mom and dad)

2009-02-06T06:48:00.001-08:00

On Saturday, Aunt Chelsea and Uncle Eni came bright and early to watch Halle and Daxton for the whole day. Cory and I went up to Darci and Landon's house and met my parents there so we could go skiing to Beaver Mountain. It's been a long time since we've been able to go as a family and it was an absolute perfect day! The kids had the time of their lives with Aunt Chels and Uncle Eni because they got to go out to eat, go to the pet store, and to rent a farm kids video. What more could any kid ask for. Thanks so much you guys for helping us out!
Eating lunch in the lodge - Cory, Darci, Audrey Nelson's little girl, Landon, and Mom. My dad is not in the picture because most likely he did not stop for lunch. (Just kidding, he is in the back with Kent Nelson and Audrey's husband.)

In the back are Darci, Dad, Mom, Landon and front and center is my handsome hubby, Cory.
Me and my mom!! What a pretty day.

Party Day #2

2009-02-05T14:32:00.000-08:00

On Friday, we had the Martin family over for dinner. Grandma and Grandpa Martin came, Nick, Ashlan and their cute kids (Kennadee and Ryker) and Chelsea and Eni. Daxton got spoiled with lots of fun things and the kids had a great time playing together.
Daxton's favorite things are footballs and baseballs (and we threw in a few super bowl rings too!)

This is the whole, gorgeous Martin family, minus 2 little ones who will be joining our family in August and September!

Dig in, kiddo! He quickly learned how much fun "prebents" are to open. He can't quite say "s" yet.

Daxton turns 2!

2009-02-05T13:51:00.000-08:00

Daxton got to celebrate his birthday for 4 long and exciting days! Last Thursday, he started his big day by opening a present from great grandma and great grandpa Herbst, which he absolutely loves. Later that day, I took the kids to Jumpin' Jacks, a favorite of theirs. It was a little tricky getting a picture that wasn't blurry because they were constantly bouncing, but we had a very fun time and they have not stopped talking about it since.

Not much playing the last week...

2009-01-20T10:14:00.000-08:00

So after the week of playing in the snow everyday, both kids got pretty sick. Daxton more than Halle, he always seems to get the worst of it. So we have done a lot of laying around, cuddling, and watching movies.

Playing in the snow

2009-01-19T12:49:00.001-08:00

We have had so much snow during the first part of January! It's been fun to let the kids get out and play. It was a little tricky trying to shovel thougb. Every time I got it cleared, they would start throwing snowballs or jumping in piles and my driveway was quickly covered in white again. Oh well, good exercise., right?

This one is for you, Darci!

2009-01-07T12:58:00.001-08:00

So I am not very good at scrapbooking or being creative at all. But I do love my beautiful kids and handsome husband and could talk about them for hours. (Babbling brook hasn't changed much.) And we usually always have a wild story to tell about some of the crazy things that happen to us, so hopefully this will be fun.