Engagement pics

We really were that young!

Picking out our reception center

This was night before the SLC Marathon (I ran it) we went out to eat with my friend Caz at Olive Garden and got the never ending pasta bowl.

San Clemente before we ever even thought we would live there. Such a magical trip, I think my favorite part was having a sand mud war with James and getting caught in the rip tide while wake boarding.

James and his Grand Geri

James and his cousin Wes, Aunt Suzie and G- Geri

He must have really loved me if he caught me lookin like this!

airplane ride home from Ca

In Hollywood being tourists

Dating Pics

In Las Vegas on our way home from James secretly asking my dad for my hand in marriage. I bought him that pink shirt and insisted he wear it.

Happy Valentines day baby. Our first Valentines

James hanging out at my work. The Crest by BYU

Beautiful view. This is on our way down to Az. when James met my Dad

Church Today

This is a picture Luke drew in Primary today. Luke handed it to me after church and I couldn't really tell what it was until his primary teacher came up to me. She said that Luke drew a picture of Jesus, and that he chose to draw it in yellow because (like a yellow crayon on white paper) you can't see Jesus. When she told me this it almost made me cry, it just touched my heart. He is such a sweet good boy trying to what he thinks is right. He has such a strong sense of justice and right n wrong that sometimes it is hard for him to understand why people are mean or do naughty things. I love this boy!

Bella gave the scripture and prayer today in primary. Unfortunately they didn't have the microphone so you can't really hear her but I was just so glad that she was brave enough to do it! When I was a little girl I was to shy to go to primary (I usually went to class with my mom) so I am always amazed at what my kids are willing to do (even if it does scare them a little).

Baby Wrap

Hey Whats that?

Oh its little baby Royce

My girlfriend Kathryn got one these and I thought it was so cool I wanted one too. Then I remembered my cousin Jessie made one so I stole her idea and did the same. Its super easy just buy 5 yards of fabric (t-shirt like) and cut it so its about 25inches wide (I just cut mine in half so I have two wraps). Then I just looked up some tutorials on Youtube on how to tie it. Most comfy baby carrier I have tried. The only problem with mine is I got a stiffer fabric which I read was better for babies as they get heavier (which Royce is doing), it is sturdy but I wanted to be able to nurse him while he was in it and its hard to get him in position so I think the stretchier fabric works better for that.

Complete Insanity

So I am pretty sure when people see me coming with my three kids they run and hide. I get a lot of "wow you have three kids" or "Oh you want to have more". I never thought having three kids was a lot but I guess it is. When James and I got married we said we wanted 4-6 and I still stand by that and to be honest 3 kids doesn't seem like much more work than 2. I love my babies so much, they are the greatest joys in my life! and I say the more the merrier!



I love this outfit! We have an awesome thrift store in Denton and I got this outfit there for 75cents!

So Royce doesn't love bath time as much as I would like. This is the second real bath I gave him (usually I shower with him) the first time the poor kid must have thought he was drowning cause I have never seen him freak out so bad! His face was bright red and he stopped breathing for like a minute from fear, to say the least it was a really short bath!before bathduring bathafter bath

Bella Bella

How could you not love a face like that! She is such a ham, she totally started poses for these pictures completely unprompted

First of all I want to say I love my girl.... but she is driving me nuts! The child is incredibly creative and that tends to get her in a lot of trouble (for example when she colors all over my night stand). I think she is taking advantage of the fact that I am a little scatter brained recently because she has been extra mischievous.

I was so impressed the other night because Bella ate all her dinner. Then I was cleaning up and found this. She likes to make works of art with her food!

I walked into the den the other day and found this (well this is about half of what I found, I already started cleaning when I thought to take a picture) Bella (and Luke by omission) Took out ever toy, book, shoe, blanket, sock, ect. That they could find and threw them into a huge pile. So me wanting to teach them a lesson said clean it up guys, that resulted in a lot of "I can'ts" or "I don't know how" and since it was fastly approaching bed time I said "Okay go get in bed". The next day all the toys and book were gone! I boxed them up and told them they had to earn them back. We now have what is called "THE BOX" if they do something nice, unprompted, they get to pick a toy from THE BOX, if they do something naughty I get to take something away. It was working really well until I realized that my entire storage closet was take up by all there toys.... so we had a One for you and One for me party. I got out two boxes. One for the toys they were going to keep and One for the toys they were getting rid of. For each toy they put in the get rid of box they got to pick one to keep. This was very successful and they were just excited about getting back their stuff. We now have two huge boxes of toys and a large stuffed frog to get rid.

On a gross kinda funny note the other day we were outside and Luke came up to me very excited saying " Look at this pretty gray and yellow feather I found" I was looking at it when Bella yells "look I found more" I looked over and she was holding a decapitated bird! (A present from good ole' Jasper). I totally freaked and we went inside and washed our hands 4X.

He is still sleeping

I dont know what to do with myself. I fed Royce at 10 last night and I woke up this morning (its now 7 am) and thought oh my gosh he still sleeping. He just slept through the night! I cant hardly believe it he is only 5 weeks, Bella slept through the night the first time at 7 weeks and Luke didnt start sleeping through the night till 3 months. This baby is being so good to me.

I can't take the credit we use the Baby Wise (its a book) schedule and it works! I know some people are against it but I have to tell you that it has saved my sanity on several occasions. Anyways I better go wake him up and feed him. Yay!

Pizza de Luca

Luke helped me cook Pizza today while Bella was napping. One burned arm and messy kitchen later we had a yummy meal. The cutest thing was when we were making the sauce he was eating it like cookie batter. He couldn't get enough!evidence of the sauce on his face

Date Night

So we just got home from our first post baby date and guess what my husband is doing... Homework. lol. I'm glad he is such a devoted student (sarcastic).
Our friend Kathryn watch Luke and Bella tonight.Thanks Kathryn! Her son was born two weeks before Royce.Can you tell the baby I am holding is not mine.

Royce week 4 & cloth diapers

Royce finally had his 2 week check-up yesterday (he is actually 4 wks). Here were his stats.

13.6lb
25in tall
16in head

The kids a totally chunk completely off the charts in all categories. I shouldn't be surprised Luke was the same but it still amazes me that my babies are so big. Its those Mortensen genetics. He definitely isn't a rolly polly baby but he is solid just like Daddy.
Now I am going to brag a little (so stop reading if that will annoy you) Royce has by far been my most alert smiley baby, the Dr. was amazed and she said he is up to par developmentally with a 2 month old. He can follow an item back and forth, picks up his head and turns it when on his tummy and is just super aware and alert. The other day I stuck my tongue out at him and he stuck his out right back at me. Part of me thinks it is because he was late so he was still developing while those last three weeks but who know. We have been following the baby wise program and it works great and makes it so easy to figure out what he needs when he get fussy. He is generally a happy fun little baby.
Here is a picute of our little cave man right before his check-up. We started using the cloth diapers this week and it is working out well. My favorite brand is the Kawaii. They are a little more bulking but are more absorbent and are super cute and soft to the touch. I think they cost about $7 (that came with one diaper and 2 inserts) each which is a good price for the pocket style diaper.

Cleaning new born diapers is easy its when they start eating solids that it gets complicated (you have to rinse the poop then). I just pull out the inserts and throw them in a wet pail (Bucket 1/2 full of water with some baking soda in it) then when it gets full (usually ever 2-3 days) I dump it in the washer and do three cycles

1. cold rinse with 1/4 C baking soda
2. Hot regular cycle with chlorine free detergent (I make my own or I use Tide free n clear)
3. cold rinse with 1/4 C white vinegar

If you dont wash them this way they will start stinking dont try it just believe me. DO NOT use chlorine detergent they build up and smell so bad when urinated in!

I dry the inserts in the drier and hang dry the covers.

All Grown Up

Sat Feb 26 2011 at age 4 Luke wrote his name all by himself on the kitchen white board. I was shock and amazed because I knew he had been practicing writing but I had no idea he could do that. Good job Luke!

Luke also got a hair cut. I realize while down in San Antonio that the kid was getting hot with all that hair. Also he has had cradle cap which I thought was only for babies but apparently kids get it too. SO yucky!

I could not get this kid to make a serious face. At least its a cute one.Bella got a hair cut too! I have been nervous to cut her hair because at 3years I gave Luke a hair cute and all his baby blond was gone. I finally got sick of fighting with her about brushing her hair and constantly finding all kinds of nasty in it so off it went. I love it and so does she (after the initial shock that her hair was not going to be long like Rapunzel)

Valentines Day, Sushi, Pots

I decided to do an herb garden on my kitchen table right next to the widow where we get good sunlight. The only problem was my the pots I had were ugly and I didn't think I could stand looking at them every day. So the kids helped me out and we painted them a metallic brown. Now we just need to plant... More to come later.

Yummy Sushi I made with steamed cabbage instead of rice. James isnt huge on cabbage but he liked this after I made him try it with his eyes shut. Its cruchy goodness. I got the recipe off of fatfreevegan.com

Happy Valentines Day to myself from James. James got me the best present ever (well I actually picked it out and ordered it but he let me) a treadmill. It was just irrational to spend the money on a triple jogger so I opted for this instead. Can I tell you how awesome it is to be able work out at home whenever I want while watching a movie. If I would have known how much I would love it I would have bought one a long time ago. Also we got it at Costco because the return policy is awesome (Return it whenever without a receipt or original packaging) so if we ever have issues with it back to the store it goes.

Disney Family Fun magazine has quickly become one of my favorite reading materials. They have tons of fun stuff for kids. Not just random weird stuff. Ideas I would actually do.
Thats where we got this idea for Lukes Valentines. Go to there web site for instructions