Oregon Coast

For Memorial Day we usually go camping, but with Waylon working in Spokane, it was a long haul for the camper and the 4-wheeler needs some maintenence, so we decided to take a family trip to the Oregon Coast. We booked our hotel room 2 weeks in advance (which is not much notice for me, I like to have things planned). We stayed at the Shiloh Inn in Newport and it was really great, the rooms were nothig special but they were really big and the bed was comfy, plus there was a fridge to keep Kenzie's milk in and a microwave to warm up my coffee. It had a great view of the ocean and we could walk right down to the beach. I knew it was going to be cold so I packed warm clothes for Kenzie and I, my dear husband however thought that shorts and t-shirts would be good for him. Needless to say, we ended up buying him a coat (the warmest it got over there was about 50). We also bought new underpants for my hubby since it seems he forgot what he needs to pack when we go places.

We spent some time on the beach by our hotel, but it was VERY windy and Kenzie was not really into it, so we took a drive and looked at the lighthouses and checked out the super cool tide pools. We visited the aquarium, which was awesome (Kenzie was in love with the puffins, should would have taken them home if we let her), and did some shopping in Lincoln City. The total drive was about 8 hours, on the way over I figured that Kenzie would sleep since we did not leave until about 4, but no, she hung out with us until about 10:30 then she finally dozed off. We got to Newport about 1 a.m., when she promptly woke up but we got her back to sleep, (even if she did spend the night taking up the majority of the king size bed in the hotel). The trip back was not too bad, she slept for the first 2 hours, had a snack, stoped at the outlet mall outside of Portland, hung out, ate lunch, got a little crabby, took another nap, got crabby again, played at a park along the way, and then hung out some more until we got home. I felt a little bad since she was in the car pretty much all day Monday, but she was fine as soon as we got home. I have a zillion pictures to post, and more about what is going on with us too, I just dont have the time to do it right now. Kenzie is getting baptized Sunday, so I will post pictures of that too.

Lets see, while I was looking at my blog to see if anyone had updated their's recently I realized that it has been a month, yes A MONTH, since I wrote anything.  So here is an update...

Waylon started working for my uncle's company Inland Crane, he is working out of town which kind of sucks, but with the crappy hours he usually had with Albright's we hardly notice the difference, plus the house stays cleaner and the laundry stays done longer.  He is currently on a job in Spokane and only works half days every other Friday.  He really likes the people that he works with and the company treats him good.  The best part is that he finally has direct deposit,  this may not seem like a big deal, but to me, not having to put a paycheck in the mail every other week is great, it is just there (like mine has been since the beginning of time) and its wonderful.  

My job is pretty much the same, my coworker who I share an office with was found to have breast cancer recently, she has had surgery and is now on medication, but it has been a little stressful there.  

Easter weekend was really great, my cousin's family came up to Cottonwood and Kenzie played with her little girls a lot.  However, she is getting very clingy to me.  I am not used to it because ever since she was born she wanted to be away, down, anythign but held, and lately she not only wants to be held, but wants to be held only by me.  The upside of that is that she will run to me and give me a hug, or cuddle with me a little and I love that.

Two weeks ago we had scrapbook camp at Christels' mom's house, it was really fun and I got 50+ pages done, I only had about 15 more pictures to scrap but decieded to go home to spend time with Waylon while he was home for the weekend.  

The Tuesday after scrapbook camp I headed to Nashville for a work conference, my mom was able to come with me so I could take Kenzie along.  She did really good on the plane, it was not nearly as horrible as I imagined it would be.  Our hotel was awesome (the room not so much), but we spent a lot of time walking around the gardens in the hotel and in the mall next door.  Kenzie spent a lot of time in shorts and dresses since it was so warm there, she got her first real "owie" on her knee Wednesday and kept re-injuring it throughout the week (it is mostly healed now).  We ate at a cool resturant with a huge fish tank with sharks and Kenzie got clam chowder in her hair (don't ask).  We discovered that she really hates colsaw, we went to the Country Music Hall of Fame, The Hermitage (Andrew Jackson's home), The Parthenon (replica of the one in Greece), and we attended the Grande Ole Opry.  The classes were good too and I learned a ton *which is good since it was the whole reason that I went*  Next year the conference is is Anaheim, so hopefully I get to go again.

Other things going on with Kenzie...

She now has 10 teeth, 4 front top, 4 front bottom, 1 bottom back and 1 top back

She is starting to climb, and it is so funny, she thinks that she can climb up onto anything but her little legs wont let her and she gets pretty upset

She is finally getting a little cubbiness to her, she eats all the time and her tummy and her little cheecks are starting to show it

She loves to dance, she will push the button on my clock radio so the music turns on and she can dance to it

More much too, but I think this post is long enough, I am going to add pics too so check them out!

   

Blevins Update

It has been a while since I have “blogged” but I really don’t have to much to talk about, and I have not taken any pictures of Kenzie since her birthday. We are working on taking her binkie away from her, and it is going pretty well if you don’t count the half hour before and after she is sleeping. Without her binkie she is jabbering a lot more, she says “cheese” when we take her picture and sometimes I can get her to say “done,” “more” “bird” and “book” and last night she said “thank you” twice. She has 8 teeth now, 4 on top and 4 on bottom, the last two on the bottom came in without any problems, and I was so thankful. We dealt with fevers and puking and runny noses and drool forever with the last teeth. Hopefully, all the rest will come in without issues as well.

Waylon started his new job this week in Spokane so Kenzie and I are on our own for the weeks to come. He will be working every other Saturday, but on the off weeks he gets Friday off so that way he will be able to spend sometime with Kenzie.

I finally got him to sell some of his horns last week. He has been horn hunting for about 3 years now and our little house could not take any more. He got rid of most of his good deer horns, so the ones that remain all fit into the trunk that they belong in. The elk horns are another story….he has 3 sets on top of the armoire in our room and a couple behind it.

I started my free trial at Gold’s Gym last week and I liked it so much that we joined for the year. I also get unlimited tanning so I am pretty excited about that. I have been to the gym everyday for the past week and I have been pretty sore, but it’s worth it if I am able to wear a swimsuit this summer without making everyone puke. Tonight will be the first time that I will go and put Kenzie in the daycare there, it makes me feel a little guilty that she is at daycare all day and then for a while in the evening, but she really gets bored at home, she likes to play with other little kids.

I have my last day of CASA training tomorrow, for those of you who don’t know CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocate. I will be assigned a case and work with the social worker for a child or children that have been removed from their homes. The purpose is for someone to meet with the child and all of their influences including their parents, foster parents, teachers, counselors, etc. to make a recommendation to the court for the child’s well being. Eventually the court decides if they child can go home or if they need to find another permanent home away from their parents, and this decision is somewhat based on my reports of the child’s’ wishes, how the parents are doing following their case plan (drug treatment, parenting classes, etc), and if the child is in a foster/adopt relationship with the foster parents. I am looking forward to getting started with it, check out the website www.nationalcasa.org if you want more information.

For not having much to say this was pretty long…..

Birthday Pics

So here are some pictures of Kenzie's birthday party and her on her birthay. I took about 250, but since my computer is so slow I'm only going to upload a few. Hope you enjoy!

My little girl is one today....

One year ago right now, we were in the hospital waiting (as we already had been for the past 28 hours) and Kenzington Grace eventually did grace us with her presence at 6:13 p.m. only 39 hours after the first contraction. It has been quite the year for us, I honestly cannot believe how much she has changed in just one year and at the same time its crazy how fast that all went. She had her first holiday the day she was born *(St. Patty’s Day of course). And her second holiday less than one week later as Easter was very early last year. She started out with waking up every 2-3 hours in the middle of night, then her getting up at 5 and not taking a nap for quite a few hours. At 2 weeks she started coming to work with me (I was going crazy staying at home). When she was about 2 months old we took a trip to San Antonio, and then the first week in June she started daycare with Tiffany Gilmore. Throughout the summer we went camping and swimming, she had her first rodeo, parade, and Mariner’s game. We went to a few weddings and had many, many friends be born (Layla, Brit, Jaxon, Ava, just to name a few). She stared to sit up a little before six months and got her bottom two teeth around then too. She moved from her bassinet/playpen in our room to her own crib on my birthday in September. By October she was crawling a little and by the end of October she was into everything. In November she could walk with a push toy and around Christmas (at nine months) she was able to take a few steps. By the middle of January she could walk well, and in February she could officially run. She now has 6 teeth, 2 bottom and 4 top. She can dance, wave, and clap. She is done with formula, feeds herself with a spoon (very messily), loves whole wheat bagels, and likes to play peek-a-boo. She loves to “find” us from around the corner when we are hiding from her and she thinks is hilarious when we jump out and scare her. She is very attached to her blankies, and unfortunately also to her binkies. We are working on getting her off the bottle completely and she only has one per day. She likes to walk around holding onto her spoon after she is done eating. She can throw one heck of a fit if she doesn’t get her way. She says mama, dada, yeah, and a few other things that I am not sure what they mean. She now weights about 20 pounds (up from the 7 lbs 2 oz when she was born). There is so much more to it, but the important thing is, we love her to death!!!

Her birthday party was great, thank you to everyone that came I think that she had a really good time. I have a ton of pictures that I will post sometime soon. We are having a family birthday tonight so I will have pictures of that too.

Oh, and I can finally get pigtails in her hair...

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