Our Christmas Trip

For Christmas this year we were able to spend it at my sister Erin's house in Idaho. My parents also came and my sister Megan from Texas. We were missing my sister Tory who was at her in-laws but we were happy that she also came to Erin's the day before we left. I love this time of year, the gift giving/receiving is great, but the most wonderful part is that we get to spend time together as a families. I love my family so much and I cherish the time I get to spend with them. We were sad not to spend time with DJ's family but we will travel to see them soon enough!!
MJ seemed to have enjoyed her first Christmas, we have discovered that she absolutely loves stuffed animals. My sister Erin gave her a stuffed bear for Christmas, when she first laid eyes on it she acted as if she couldn't contain her excitement, she wiggled her arms and legs so much and even today we can place it in front of her and she will have a conversation with it!! Christmas is such a joy with children!

A family tradition of acting out the manger scene on Christmas Eve.

A fun train from Nana and Grandaddy.

MJ with Brooke, her only girl cousin. She loves Brooke!!

Cute pic on Sunday morning.

Our Anniversary!!

Sunday was mine and DJ's 2nd Anniversary. And as you all might remember from my previous post, I was planning our anniversary this year. Well I planned to celebrate it on Monday rather than Sunday. What was funny was that on Sunday I had totally forgotten that it was our anniversary, I only remembered after DJ reminded me after Church!! Reason being is that Sundays are usually crazy for me but this last one was exceptionally so!! It started with Ward Council at 7:30, from there went to choir practice, then played my flute with the choir in Sacrament Meeting, during Sunday School fed MJ and put her to sleep, and in Young Women's taught part of the lesson!! DJ always is sweet to remember important dates and such and I am the one to sometimes forget!! Well on Monday DJ got off of work at 11 o'clock so we were able to spend most of the day together. We went to the Melting Pot for dinner and then we watched the newly released Narnia at home. We had always wanted to go to the Melting Pot, but we knew how expensive it was and could never talk ourselves into spending that much. Our anniversary was a good excuse! It was definitely a unique dining experience and the food was great. DJ and I now want to save up to buy the stuff to do fondue on our own!! The Narnia movies are some of our favorites, but of course we didn't make it through the movie without snoozing off due to DJ's crazy work schedule and MJ's crazy sleep habits!! But these 2 years have been some of the best of my life!! I love DJ so much and can't imagine my life without him. He takes such good care of me and is constantly showing me how much he loves me. I am so grateful to be living my life beside such a great man.


This pic was taken on the Oregon coast right after DJ proposed to me!!

Look Ma!! Look what I can make!!

So my new hobby is making headbands for little MJ! There are a couple of things that motivated me to start this hobby. First of all, head bands are pretty cute on babies, so I wanted some for my baby. However, I became disappointed in my search for baby headbands - first of all they are dang expensive (sometimes up to $20 a band!!) and second of all the bow/flower usually overtakes their head due to its size! So this week on the Today program they showed how to make adult headbands. So I modified their idea and KAZAAM - baby headbands!! So, yeah they're probably not the same quality as bought ones, but they are good enough for me!! If anyone is interested in making these headbands for their little one, let me know!! Its a fun hobby, and cheap too!!

Sleep anyone??

Okay, so all of you will first look at this pic of little MJ and think "Oh what a cute picture of her sleeping!!" Well, here is the story - For the past 2 weeks now you could say that we have been struggling a bit with MJ and her new sleep habits. During the night she wakes up about every half hour to every hour! I am not exaggerating on this one!! One would say that its not too bad because usually I just have to go in and put her binky back in her mouth. But after I always have a difficult time going back to sleep. So... right as I find myself asleep again she is up again!!! I can't figure out why this is happening!! Then, during the day she takes wonderful 2-3 hour naps that go without her waking up!! This pic was taken just this morning when she fell asleep on her play mat for her first uninterrupted nap of the day! I hope that this is a phase that she will grow out of soon, not only for my sanity's sake but for her too. I worry that she isn't getting the sleep she needs and I worry something is wrong, that there is something that I could be doing differently to help her. To all of you out there, do you have any advice to a new worried mother who is a bit sleep deprived???

New Christmas Tradition

Our family started a new family tradition this year, being our first Christmas with a child. Each child in our family will receive a new Christmas ornament each Christmas season to place on the tree. The ornament will represent what they did/accomplished that year. So with MJ's first Christmas we bought her her 1st ornament!! We had her place it on our tree (well, with a bit of help from mom)!!

Early Christmas Fun!!!

DJ's mom Kathy paid us a visit this past week!! She came all the way from the Dominican Republic to celebrate Amanda's college graduation. We were able to spend just a little bit of time with her, we wished she could have stayed longer!!


Kathy gave MJ her Christmas present early. It was a book called GALLOP. And boy is this book awesome, I am not sure how it works but the images of the book move as you turn the pages. Pretty neat!! Thanks Grandma!


And speaking of early Christmas presents my parents sent us an early Christmas present which was another addition to our manger scene. This year we got the three wisemen. Thanks Mom and Dad!!!

4 Months!!!

Our little MJ is now a little over 4 months old!!! We love her so much and oh how she has changed our lives! We can't believe how much she has grown over these months. Most recently she has been eating rice cereal and has been loving it!! And just today she let out some good hearty laughs!! The trick to get her to do that was to kiss her multiple times on the cheek, who knew!! She also is now falling asleep by her self in her crib, for both nap and at nighttime. Thank you MJ for being such a joy in our lives!!

Here she is after eating some of that yummy rice cereal!!

"Babies make

days shorter
nights longer
homes happier
and love stronger"

(That is a quote that was given to MJ by her Nana Sibbett that is on a quilt block that is hanging in her room. Thanks Nana!!!)

Gooble, gobble!!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with my family up in Boise!! We had everyone there except for Megan and she was greatly missed. It was a time for firsts for our family, MJ's first Thanksgiving, first long car trip and stay at someone else's house. We think that she handled it all rather well!! It was also the first time we had a 29 lb turkey!! Holy Cow, I mean Holy Turkey!!!


We couldn't let MJ go with out tasting some of the flavors of Thanksgiving. She obviously loved the cookie salad.

MJ Update

I wanted to let everyone know what MJ has been up to lately.
Lots of sleeping.
Plenty of bubble blowing (notice the bubbles on her chin, she loves doing this).
Chillin on the couch.
And swinging like a monkey!!

Any Ideas?

I am incharge of mine and DJ's anniversary this year. It is on December 21st. I am having a hard time coming up with ideas for our special day. I was wondering if I could get some ideas from y'all. We can't go over night, it can't cost too much and we probably would have MJ with us. Now you can see why I am having a hard time coming up with something. Let me know if you have any ideas!! Thanks!!

8 Things

8 TV shows that I love to watch:
1. Extreme Home Makeover
2. Deadliest Catch
3. Design on a Dime
4. Hammerheads
5. Carter Can
6. Jon and Kate Plus 8
7. The Office
8. Seinfeld

8 of my favorite restaurants:
1. Tucano's
2. My Thai
3. Bajio's
4. Red Lobster
5. P.F. Chang's
6. Craigo's
7. Mongolian Grill
8. Arby's

8 things that happened yesterday:
1. Fed MJ her first bottle of formula (She loved it!!)
2. Read to MJ
3. Made a meal of creation at Young Women's
4. Named the creation "Slump"
5. Talked to Erin
6. Made a yummy chicken dinner
7. Wrote some Thank You cards (yeah I know, I'm working on it!!)
8. Watched the Price is Right

8 things that I am looking forward to:
1. Going home for Thanksgiving
2. Playing games with my family at Thanksgiving
3. Christmas
4. Making DJ's Christmas present (its a secret and its going to be awesome!!)
5. Going to the Dominican Republic to visit DJ's fam in March (hooray for buddy passes!!)
6. Going to Florida with my family for vacation in June
7. MJ sleeping through the night
8. DJ being done with school

8 things on my wish list
1. For DJ and MJ to always be happy
2. Go snowboarding once this winter
3. Go back to my mission (Chile)
4. For DJ and I to own our own home
5. Socks without holes
6. To return to Italy
7. Learn Russian
8. MJ to learn Spanish

8 people I tag:
1. Any of the Jackson Boys
2. Mom Sibbett
3. Dad Sibbett
4. Amanda
5. Kathy
6. Sami
7. Amber
8. Jeigh

Picture Tag

This is the 4th picture of my 4th folder on my computer. It is a picture of my adorable nephew taken after opening some presents at my parents house!! I think this is actually a picture that my sister Erin took and sent to me!!

A trip to the mountains

We took a trip to the mountains this last weekend to have a picnic and enjoy the outdoors before winter hits. Sami was home this weekend, so her and Robby joined us. It was MJ's first time in the mountains and her first time around a campfire. She was very good for us and didn't cry or whine at all!! She is truly our daughter loving the outdoors!! She was completely mesmerized by the fire. We wish we could have gotten out more this past summer, but we were occupied with other things like the birth of our little MJ!!!

Bucket O' Slime

MJ got a bucket of slime from her Aunt Megan for Halloween. We thought that her reaction was classic and I wanted to share it with all of you. Thanks Megan for the slime!!

Our Halloween Week

Our family had a great Halloween week. We were actually able to spend quite a bit of time together. Here are some fun things we did this week. First, a trip to the pumpkin patch:


A fun time at our ward's carnival:



And a bit of pumpkin carving:

Happy Halloween!!

First Photo Shoot!

A while back Wendy C. contacted me about doing some photos of little MJ. Wendy wanted to develop her baby portfolio for her new photography business. So MJ and I made the trip to Wendy's house last week and MJ had her first photo shoot. And boy, was it an experience for all that were involved. First of all, I would like to say that Wendy did an amazing job!! MJ was good at first but after a while she became fussy, so we took a break for a while and MJ slept. Well, before this break, we had been doing photos of MJ with just her diaper so I swaddled her little body with out any clothes. Well when we started the photo shoots again we noticed that she had the prints of the thermal blanket she was swaddled in!! So if you look close at some of the photos you can see the waffle print!! Sorry Wendy!! :) Next we were doing some pics with her diaper off. And yes, you guessed it, after a few pics MJ needed that diaper back on, if you know what I mean!! :) Thank you Wendy for your patience with the 2 of us!! I think that the pics turned out great inspite of the difficulties! You can check out Wendy's Photo Site at www.bellaphototreasures.com. Below are a few of my favorites. My background pic is also one from the shoot. (I am pretty proud of myself for figuring that out!!)

Creative Halloween Decor!!

So this week DJ was finally able to cut up his first deer!! He got 3 to cut up from the same guy. His former boss Trav was able to come and teach him and help him for DJ's first time. He was working in the garage for about 7 hours!! Crazy!! He really enjoyed himself though and we were both happy he was able to learn before this hunting season was over so that he can do it in the seasons to come. The day he got the deer I was gone for a while for meetings, when I came home from my meetings I started looking for DJ, who actually wasn't home. In my search I opened the garage simply to find 3 dead deer there to greet me!! AHHH! We also got some strange reactions from our neighbors and ward members who passed by that day!!! I guess it makes for some great Halloween decor!! In fact that gives me an idea!! DJ should cut up his next deer Halloween night so that he could give our trick-or-treaters a warm welcome!! Just kidding! Those of you in our ward, please still come to our house Halloween night, I will make sure it is safe!!

Early Halloween Fun!

Last Friday MJ and I attended a joint birthday party for a few boys in our ward. It was fun to see all of the fun and cute costumes of the kids in our ward. We have a great ward and neighbors who we enjoy doing things with, they are always nice to invite us to fun activities. MJ just doesn't realize yet the fun she is having with all of her ward buddies. MJ looked adorable in her ducky costume that has been passed around in our family.

Oh Blessed Day!!

Our little MJ was blessed this last weekend. We had a great amount of support from our family. My parents came, my sister Erin came with her fam, Amanda and Kade and Sami came, grandparents came, a few cousins and aunts/uncles came, and Aaron Jackman was able to come all the way from Dominican Republic. Aaron was able to come for a longer amount of time so that he could spend time with DJ and I and little MJ. He got some good one on one time with her. Her dress was just beautiful, my cousin Shar made it by hand!! Her little bracelet was given to her by her grandma and grandpa Jackman. The day went pretty well, the morning getting ready was a whirlwind, since we had MJ we have had a hard time getting anywhere on time, and the bishop asked us to be there 30 minutes early!! DJ did an amazing job with the blessing, MJ also had something to say during the blessing, which she expressed through whines, grunts and cries!! DJ and I are amazed at the blessings the gospel brings, and how grateful we are that we are able to raise our children with the gospel starting with our MJ. Thank you to all of you who supported us during this time. A big thanks to Erin for taking the awesome pictures.

The big roll over!!

I put MJ on her belly the other day so that she could have tummy time. She really doesn't like being on her belly and this particular time was throwing a little fit. She started flexing her arms and legs, suddenly she flexed one arm more than the other and rolled right over. That is when her little fit ended, she looked all around in a daze wondering what had just happened, she looked at me as if I did it!! She is so funny. Sad to say she has had many tummy times since then and hasn't repeated the roll over. She has also become quite the social bug. When she cries now it usually because she just wants someone to look at and talk to!!

6 Quirks Tag

So I was tagged by my sister Tory a while back and I chose to do the "6 Quirks Tag." I have been trying to think of some of my quirks for the past couple of days, it wasn't so easy. So, here it goes.

1. I love having my vanity area clean. Every night after I get done washing my face and brushing my teeth I give the whole area a good clean. I can't stand having sticky build-up on the counters or soapy goo in the sink.

2. I have to match, my clothes that is. I am obsessive about this one, down to my shirt, pants, socks, jacket, belt, shoes, etc. When I wore underwear that had to match too. Now that I have MJ, she also has to match, down to even her blanket, burb cloth, and bib, even at night time. DJ knows that I am particular about MJ because he has learned that when he dresses her she must match or mommy changes things later!! I also prefer if MJ and I match!!

3. I love having a fire burning in the fireplace. This one roots back to when my dad would have a fire burning on nights when it was cold and on Christmas morning. Last year when we were having issues with the furnace we had to heat the house with fire in the fireplace. I remember it was Conference time, I absolutely loved it. DJ didn't on the other hand having to prepare the wood and keep it burning, but for me it was a Conference to remember.

4. I love the feeling as I get into bed at night when the sheets are cool and my pillow is cool. I wish they would stay like that all night.

5. I love having my toenails painted. When they are painted I feel pretty, oh so pretty. No but honestly, I think that having them painted boosts my self-esteem!!

6. I can convince myself pretty easily that I am a terrible wife, mother, or example. A while back when I was still working a ton and was prego, DJ came home and he could see that I was upset, after we talked for a while I expressed to him that I thought that I was a terrible wife because I didn't make him treats all the time. Also with MJ we struggled bathing her at first, I thought that I was a terrible mother for that one. I go through those phases every once and a while, DJ is such a great husband to pull me out of those phases.

I tag all those in my family who haven't done this one yet. I also tag Wendy, Brittany, and Kellie.

Our Growing MJ!!

Our little MJ is growing and changing in so many ways!! She now weighs 9 lbs 5 oz!! She is also beginning to smile at us and make cute noises as if she wants to talk to us. She has even laughed out loud a couple of times. We are finding little things that she enjoys, she loves it when we talk to her or sing to her, she loves her baths now, she loves lying on her changing table for some strange reason, and just recently DJ discovered that she loves to watch her mobile in her crib. I love being a mom. She has brought so much joy to my life. I can't imagine life without her. I hope that I am being the mom that she needs.

Weekend with Nana & Granddaddy

We just finished a great weekend with Nana and Granddaddy Sibbett!! They were able to come and spend some quality time with us and little MJ. We had some fun times shopping and we had great food. We think that MJ was going through a growth spurt while they were here because she just couldn't get enough to eat and was pretty cranky for a few days!! She is now over that phase and Nana and Granddaddy were able to see just how sweet she can be. Just today we went to Leatherby's for lunch and I ordered an icecream dish that could have fed a whole family. It was pretty embarrassing, when the waiter brought it to me he automatically gave me a cup to put the excess in to take home. Thanks Nana and Granddaddy for taking the time to visit us!!!

Attack of the Viruses

Earlier this week I was playing around, doing some random searches on our laptop, our only reliable computer. I clicked on one link and the laptop when crazy! All sorts of pop-ups with warnings about a virus. Needless to say, a nasty virus had been placed on our laptop. I spent a while trying to remedy the problem, and when Derrick came home he tried to remedy the problem. As time went on, the virus seemed to spread and get worse. Derrick took the laptop to Best Buy the next day and the Geek Squad informed us that there was no hope unless we were willing to pay quite a bit to fix it!! They informed us that they might not be able to fix it because their anti-viral software didn't even pick up on the virus! So after much consideration Derrick and I decided to get a new laptop. We decided on a Mac because that was going to be the next computer we wanted to get. We weren't going to get one for another year or so for Derrick's grad school but Derrick needed a reliable computer now for school and its nice for me to have it also to keep in contact with family/friends and for Young Women's. A great thing about Macs is that viruses cannot attack them!!! Our families will also be happy to hear that our Mac has a web cam!! That will be great to show off our growing little MJ. We love our Mac! I am just still trying to get over the money we spent!!!

Weekend of Fun!!!

This past weekend was one of the best weekends DJ and I have had in a long time. Tory and her family were able to come in from Nampa on Friday night and they stayed until Monday late afternoon. They were able to meet MJ. We had so much fun going to IKEA, visiting DJ at work, eating yummy icecream, flying fun kites, watching Penelope, going to the games store, eating yummy food, and relaxing. This was the first time that I can remember that Tory and I were able to have a weekend together just her and I. We have many fun memories to carry with us from this weekend. We were sad to see them go.

Cutting of the Ribbon

Last Friday DJ, MJ and I were able to attend the ribbon cutting ceremony of the Spanish Fork Justice Center. The Spanish Fork Justice Center was the project that I was assigned to when I was working for Layton Construction. The building turned out just beautiful, lots of hard work went into this project. It came in under budget and on time, those are sweet words in the construction industry. I was surprised at how rewarding it was for me to be there at the ceremony and see what the team and I had accomplished.

Back to the books!!

Yesterday was DJ's first day back to school. It came with mixed emotions, we are glad that he is progressing in his schooling, but it means less time at home with MJ and I. Life for us as a family has definitely changed recently with the arrival of our beautiful MJ. My new life style as a stay at home mom is definitely busier and rewarding than I thought it would be, which is good being distracted and busy as DJ is away from home. DJ is such a hard worker and such a great husband and dad, both MJ and I are lucky to have him in our lives.

Our New Addition!!

We had our baby girl 2 weeks ago!! She is so amazing! We are in awe every moment. She has such a sweet spirit and adds so much to our family. We love her so much, and the love between Derrick and I has increased amazingly. We hope to be good parents and provide for her what she needs. We have received a great amount of support from our friends and family. My sister Erin and her family were able to come down when we had her (she came 10 days early and surprised us all). We are grateful that her and her family were able to join us in sharing those happy moments. My parents and Megan were able to come down a couple of days later, we were grateful they were able to come and that Megan was able to meet her before going back to Texas. My sister Tory will be coming with her family Labor Day weekend!!! We were blessed to have Derrick's family here when we had her before they went back to Dominican Republic. They have been cherishing their moments with her. Derrick's dad wasn't able to be here when we had her because of his work in Dominican Republic. He is coming in October though to visit. We are so happy that Heavenly Father has blessed us with this sweet spirit.

4th of July Kite Flying

On the 4th of July Derrick had to work from 2-10 pm. So we decided to enjoy the morning together. We decided to go and buy our first kite. The one that we bought was one of the parachute kind, with the colors of red, white, and blue (4th of July)!! It is pretty much the sweetest kite ever! We had a great time and laughed lots at each other as we tried to get the workings of the kite down. We would recommend a parachute kite to anyone!!!

Lava Hot Springs

We had a great time with everyone at our Sibbett family reunion at Lava Hot Springs. We enjoyed spending time at the camp site cooking, playing games and talking. On Saturday we spent lots of time at the big community pool! All of the kids had a great time. I loved being in the pool because I felt weightless and somewhat normal for the first time in many months (due to my growing belly/girl). We also enjoyed the time at the park on Sunday with all of the relatives. At the auction we were able to get some neat things. We got a stained glass window made by Mom, 2 cute baby blankets made by Erin, a taggy blanket made by Tory, and a blessing gown and tux made by my cousin. We missed Megan a lot, we are really excited we get to see her and Annemarie soon.

Boise Trip

We made a trip to Boise end of May/beginning of June. We had a great time. We made a trip with the Jackson boys to the "community" pond and caught 3 frogs/toads and saw tons of huge tadpoles. We also went and ate at the Russian Bear, Derrick loved it and we liked hearing about his mission and experiencing a bit of the food from there. Tory and I also made up a super fun yard game (it was super fun for us) in Mom and Dad's backyard. It was a great weekend!!

It's funny when Marcus gets hurt!!!

This was a trip we took to Tooele to shoot a computer. In this video Kade is shooting and one of the bee-bees ricochets off of the computer and hit Marcus, he wasn't hurt too bad, but boy was it hilarious!!