Welcoming...

Melanie to the "Soccer Mom's of America"!! That's right...Shad & I are now proud owners of a new (to us) Toyota Sienna. We got it through the auction for a steal of a deal. We had such a great experience I will never buy a car any other way!! The car was a little dirty on the inside and had a few scratches on the outside but once we paid to get it detailed (buffed, waxed, clay coated, shampoo carpets and seats...the works) it felt brand new! The picture is right after we got it back from being detailed. Keep in mind we just got done watching Shad play in a softball tourney in Mesquite so we are all looking hot! Just last week we got a DVD system put in and Kyson absolutely loves it! Every time we get in the van he points at it and says please. He's so dang cute!

P.S. I know I said I would do better about updating this blog...but who was I kidding. I'm right in the middle of my busy season so the posts will eventually come! I still need to post about my awesome Valentines! We'll see if I get to it.

XOXO Melanie

Priceless

Price of a gallon of milk $3.09.

Price of one loaf of wheat bread $3.29.

Seeing your child for the very first time in the car in the front of a shopping cart at Smith's ... PRICELESS!!!

XOXO Melanie

P.S. The picture was taken with my camera phone so it's not great quality but I had to share!

Kyson's BIG Announcement

Check out my shirt!! I'm going to be a BIG BROTHER!!! My Mommy is going to have a little baby in September. I am really excited because today is my Mommy's last day of her first trimester so hopefully she can play with me more instead of throwing up all of the time. I can't wait for my little baby brother or sister to come!! I'm going to teach it how to throw the football and to shoot the gasketball (basketball) in the hoop. We are going to have so much fun together!!

XOXO KYSON - BIG BROTHER IN TRAINING

Evan Gets His Mission Call!!!

I can't believe my little brother Evan is old enough to go on a mission! Our family of course had to have a competition of where he would be called. So we all submitted one foreign guess and one stateside guess to my Mom. The Prize ... whoever got the closest my Mom was going to give an Olive Garden gift card to the lucky winner. I got the call this morning that Evan had received his letter...my family were all conference in on three different cell phones and.... Evan Brian Whipple is going to .... FIJI!!!! Can you believe it? What an awesome place to be called on a mission. I know Evan is going to be the best missionary Fiji has ever seen. He has been such a great example to our family of hard work, compassion, and patience ...all qualities of a great missionary. I am so proud of you Evan. Shad & I will start saving our pennies for the next two years so we can come and pick you up!!





P.S. The tentative winner is Dustin (Kenzie's boyfriend).

XOXO Melanie - A Proud Sister

Fun Pics of Kyson

Kyson's new thing is playing with all of Daddy's hats. He walks around with them on all of the time. He plays peek-a-boo with them and loves wearing the hat backwards like his Daddy. Doesn't he looks so big in these pictures. I have to tell you all that I had "the moment" a couple of weeks ago when I looked at Kyson and it hit me that he isn't my little baby anymore...he's my little boy!! And YES... a few tears were shed! The last picture is one of Kyson's new favorite toys from Christmas. His Aunt Cami gave it to him and loves putting the alphabet in the yellow sun and he starts dancing to the music...I don't know where he gets that from?

How cute is this little boy with Kyson? My family and I were at a clothing store that is right by my house and this adorable little boy would not stop following Kyson around. He loved giving him hugs. His Mom and my family could not stop laughing! The first picture is a little blurry but you can kind of make out what he looks like. So cute!

XOXO Melanie

Catch Up Time

I know I am so slow...but I have been so busy. I wanted to post of few pictures of our Christmas Eve this year. Shad had to work all through Christmas week but it was our turn to have Shad's parents (they rotate through the children each year). We were so excited to have Christmas at our own home and to have Shad's parents with us. We also invited Shad's sister and her family over for the party since they live in Henderson. It was a rough start (my oven broke right before I went to cook the turkey and our heat went out in our house)...but it ended up being a great night!!!

My little nephews thinks it's funny to rub their Utah shirts in my face because you all know I'm a BYU fan....GO COUGARS!! Surprising even with their minds being brainwashed into liking the Utes...they are the cutest kids you'll ever meet! :)

Grandpa and Grandma Rollo...this is such a great picture of them!

Grandma and Cami (Shad's sister). They are both so fun!

Grandpa was such a good sport about reading the Christmas Story for me. My mom always read us the Christmas Story from all of the different scriptural accounts. I got a copy for me because I knew I would not be home this Christmas. He did such a great job and it made me feel like I was back at home. Thanks Grandpa!!!

Then we played games...can you tell we had to improvise on our pinata? The kids still had a lot of fun because Grandma had filled the pinata with a lot of fun treats!!

And of course all Kyson wanted to do was play with his basketball and football he got from his Aunt Natalie and Uncle Olin.

My favorite part of the night (and I didn't get a picture of it) was playing Shad's parents metal pipes with knives to Christmas songs. We had so many pipes that most of us had to have 2 or 3 pipes and it was pretty entertaining trying to keep up and play on beat.

Thanks again to The Higbee's and to Grandma and Grandpa Rollo! You helped make Christmas memories I will never forget!! Love you tons!

XOXO Melanie

Best Christmas Gift Ever!

My Grandma Baugh has a very unique talent of braiding rugs out of wool blankets. The instruments she uses are no longer made...so I guess you can say it is a trait that is becoming "extinct". My mom has 5 beautiful rugs in her home that my Grandma has made. As I've moved out of the house those rugs remind me of my home and all of the great memories I've had growing up in my family. My Grandma says her fingers do not work the same as they once did so now she makes just one rug a year and pulls a grandchild's name out of a hat at our annual Christmas party (see previous post) to win the rug. Of course, this is the highlight of the party! My little sister McKenzie won the rug this year. I was so jealous!! My older sister Natalie got a rug from my Grandma for her wedding and she has never done that before for another grandchild (picture me green with envy). When Natalie told me she got a rug at her shower I of course acted so excited for her and then I called my sister Stephanie and we cried together because we wanted a rug so bad. So after that Christmas party when Kenzie had won the rug, I was literally depressed...Natalie and McKenzie both had rugs and I would probably have to wait until my Mom died to get one of her rugs (he he he). Shad had to work all through the Christmas week so we had to leave Ephraim on Sunday the 21st. My mom decided we should open up presents that morning before we left to Vegas. You know what they say.... A picture is worth a thousand words.My Mom surprised me with one of my Grandma's rugs!! I guess she asked my Grandma to teach her how to make the rugs in the summer and my Grandma said she did it all by herself...but my Mom told me the "real" story was she would try to braid the rugs but my Grandma would end up re-doing all she had done...so my Mom would clean her house while my Grandma fixed my Mom's mistakes. LOL. My cousin was married a week later in the Las Vegas temple so I brought my rug to get a picture with my Grandma Baugh. Isn't she the cutest thing you've ever seen!!

I cry just thinking about the rug that I finally have in my home! Thanks Mom and Grandma...you guys are the best!!!

XOXO Melanie