I wasn't joking...

When I told you in my last post that my siblings are incredibly talented and amazing, it's because they really are.

These are just a few of the newest items my sister is selling on her Etsy sites.

**She has 2 sites: #1- Plumage Design (www.kimkendell.etsy.com) #2- Peek a boo Monkey (www.peekaboomonkey.etsy.com) **

~First up, Plumage Design site. This is her site where she sells all of her handmade jewelry. If you live in Utah you can also purchase her jewelry at the Soel Boutique located in The Shops at Riverwoods.

These jeweled hair elastics for women. Fancy up your hair without using a hair accessory from your 12 year olds stash.


~Secondly, her Peek a Boo Monkey site. This is her site where she sells all of her hand crafted items, hand sewn items, and my favorite... her hand made baby items!

In the category of hand crafted... she has these beautiful easels made from forks. You can use them to hold your recipe cards, photos, or anything else you desire.



In the category of hand sewn... she has these fabulous purses that she calls her Mary Poppins' Purses. They are durable, reversible, absolutely beautiful, and large enough to hold anything you would like! They even are large enough to be stylish diaper bags.

The purse above is a floral brocade that reverses into a brown corduroy. And the purse below is a herringbone and corduroy.




When it comes to the category of hand made baby items... she has these ADORABLE tie onesies that leave the competitors tie onesies in the dust. She uses actual ties and the bottom half is not sewn to the fabric so if worn with pants the bottom of the tie isn't covered.

Although the tie onesies are adorable, my favorite baby items of hers by far are her BABY BOOTIES!!
She doesn't have any for sale right now, but when she does they go fast, and they are fabulous!!!! Here are just two examples of the fabulousness that are her baby booties...




So there you have it people. The second blog post of why my siblings make me feel inferior. Ha ha! Hope you enjoy. Now go to Etsy and buy my sister's stuff!!! Really, go. Why are you still reading this? Get shopping already!!

True Talent

You've all heard me rave about my talented sister and how she can do and make just about anything. Well, the truth is.... ALL my siblings are incredibly talented and amazing. The other thing they all have in common... they are all amazing artists. In fact, out of the six children of my parents I'm the only one who has no artistic ability. Give me a makeup brush and I can give you artistry, give me a pencil and paper and I can give you....a stick figure.
Well, enough about me. Today I'm going to rave about my amazingly talented little brother Cameron.
Not only can Cameron pick up just about any musical instrument and begin playing it (very well I might add), he's a fantastic artist to boot!! I have been blown away by his recent drawings and wanted to share a few of my favorites!!

These are his visual twists on some old fairy tales.

Little Red Riding Hood...


The Princess and the Frog...



These are some drawings done on varying materials:

The Catfish (I believe this one was done on wood slats)...


This piece was just a doodle he was drawing on some cardboard. But as soon as it was seen, was sold to a guy from San Antonio, TX. (who realized great talent when he saw it). This is Piece 1 of a 2 part series called Goresloth Attacks. I can't wait to see Piece 2 of the series....



This last drawing is by far one of my favorites! I absolutely LOVE it! I believe it's titled Swamp Encounter...

I just love how bold the little boy and his teddy bear are in the face of imminent danger.

So those are just a few of Cameron's amazing pieces. To see more, or to commission a cardboard painting of your own, check out his blog at... www.camkendell.blogspot.com. or just click on the Cam's awesomeness link on the right hand side of our blog.
Love you Cameron! Keep up the great work!!

Been a little busy....

It's been a while since the last post (something has been keeping me busy), so I decided I'd better get some new stuff up A.S.A.P.
First things first....
The story of Kendell.



After keeping us on our toes for weeks, and two false alarm trips to the E.R.(I was having contractions but my cervix was not cooperating), Kendell finally decided she wanted to make her debut. After hours of continuous contractions and pain getting worse and worse, we dropped the boys off for an early 4am sleepover party with our friends The Hassels, and headed over to the hospital.
* Thank you Mary and Martin!!*
While in the E.R. we were given the news that we had already heard 2 times before...
"Sorry, you're not dilated enough." This time we were stuck at 3 1/2 cent. So we went walking for an hour around the hospital because I was not leaving that day without a baby. Kendell was definitely trying to prove to us that she was only going to do things when she wanted, and on her time frame, but I was ready to show her I could be just as stubborn as she could. We got back into the E.R. and were finally given the news that we had been longing for: we were at 4 cent. and we would be staying till we had our baby girl in our hands! A few hours later and enduring pain that I was glad to have never felt with my boys (otherwise we may have stopped at just one) out came our beautiful little girl and we were now a family of 5.


We were blessed to have great friends who were willing to watch the boys as long as needed, and to have wonderful parents ready and willing to come help us adjust to life with three kiddos. Zach's parents came for three days, and then my parents were able to stay for a glorious 2 1/2 weeks. Thank you so much to our fabulous "Nanna's and Pappa's"!!! It had been about 8 months since I had last seen my family so to have my parents here was pure heaven. They really made life easy-peasy those first few weeks. They got up early with our "eager to get up at the crack of dawn" boys, played with and entertained said boys, helped make food, helped clean, were wonderful examples of good parenting, and helped keep us sane. Can you tell how much I love my parents?

*Kendell with her Nana Beck*

*The boys with their Papa Beck*

*Kendell with her Nana Kendell*

*Kendell with her Nana and Papa Kendell*

*Xander with his "robot self" Nana Kendell helped him make*

Before my parents left we decided it would be best to bless Kendell while they were still here. Zach's parents, Lindsey, Aleshia, Elliott and their kids were all kind enough to drive up from Texas to join us for the blessing.
Zach gave a beautiful blessing that brought me to tears and Kendell was a good girl throughout the entire blessing. Being only two weeks old the dress I was blessed in was too big for Kendell, but my mom's blessing dress was just the right size for her and she looked beautiful. It was perfect and made it so special to have her in the dress my mom was blessed in.

*The boys love their new little sister*


*Proof that they love her... Xander let her borrow his blankie and hippo when she was crying. Until she started eating hippo, then he was quick to take them both back*

It's been an interesting eight weeks, full of excitement and much to get used to... but definitely worth it!!
We love our little girl and are so excited to have her in our family!


Love you Kendell!!

Only Two Weeks Post-Partum-Seriously??

Well It really does not matter what I write on our blog because I dont think people look at it anymore. So this ones for Codi. This is a picture that I took of the two best ladies in my life. (Sorry mom and mom in law, but both of you have officially been lowered in ranking since the newbie arrived.) This was 2 weeks after Kendell was born, on the day that we blessed her.

Can I say how hot my wife looks?? Seriously two weeks??

4 weeks

4 WEEKS?!? How is my newborn 4 weeks already?!? Time is just flying by! She is a wonderful, sweet baby and we love her to pieces!! Sometimes I have to be referee to make sure the boys aren't loving her too much, but I'm just glad they are so thrilled to have her here. Xander, especially, just can't get enough of her! He is constantly telling me "Ohh.... mommy, our baby girl is soo cute!" He loves her, and loves being near her. He's a great helper and very gentle. The other day she started to cry and when Blayne said "Mommy, baby need you." Xander said "No, she need me." He jumped up, ran over, and said to her "It's okay baby, Xander's here." He then began singing our lullaby to her and placing a pacifier in her mouth. She immediately calmed down and just smiled back at him. It was such a precious moment. Blayne doesn't invade her space as much as Xander but he does think she's "sooo cute!" and loves her.
She, as you can tell from the picture above, she seems to be another Daddy fan. I thought I might get lucky with her and have one child who is a Mommy's girl, but just like her brothers.... it's all about daddy. I've caught her grinning while he holds her more than a few times and often when he speaks she quickly turns her head his way. Oh well, I guess I can't blame them I'm a Daddy fan too! She loves her brothers and Daddy, and LOVES to be held. I'm guessing that having 2 1/2 weeks of adults continually taking turns, and anxious over who gets to hold you next, will do that to you. But why wouldn't we want to hold this sweetheart?!?



So far the only thing she seems to dislike is tummy time and rolls herself to her back almost immediately after I place her on her belly. She has a remarkably strong neck so I'm not too worried about enforcing tummy time.
Things so far have been going quite well, besides the lack of sleep, and I just can't wait to see how things progress as we take on the challenge of being a family of five. However... with the help of my other nuggets and their fabulous daddy I have a feeling things will go quite smoothly.

Day 1

So today is my first official day all alone with the kids..... let's see if I survive. (Especially after getting only 3 hours of sleep)

It's currently 12:20pm and earlier I was successful in getting all four of us (myself included) fed, bathed, and dressed before 11:00am. I'm going to consider that success #1, and breathe a big sigh of relief.
At this moment Kendell is laying quietly in her pack and play checking out her surroundings, after being fed and having awake time, hopefully she'll dose off when the boys take their naps and we can all take an afternoon nap together. The boys and I are finishing up our own lunches and then it's off to read stories, sing songs, and **cross those fingers for me** then nap time. Other than Kendell having a hard time realizing the difference between day and night and occasionally having crying fits that cut into my sleepy time, things have gone well so far. The boys are really being good listeners and good helpers, of course... this could just be the calm before the storm, but I'm hoping it's behavior that is here to stay. After all, they really are good boys most of the time.
We have had a few moments of tears (both the boys and me) with the realization that Popa and Nana Kendell really are gone. You would think that 2 1/2 weeks would have lasted longer instead of flying by the way that it did.
We really were spoiled while they were here, and loved every minute we were able to spend with them. I'm sure they were happy to get home and no longer have the jobs of "Nanny" and "Manny" but they were gracious enough not to let it show while they were here. Hopefully within the 2 1/2 weeks they spent with us here my subconscious picked up on what to do to be a good parent because they are definitely two of the best! I don't know how I got lucky enough to have them as my parents but I'm forever grateful for that blessing.
Thankfully, our kids got the wonderful blessing of having Zach as a dad and I was lucky enough to snag him as a husband, I don't think another man could do all that Zach does half as well. Well, lunch time is over. Time to see if a nap is in our near future. **Cross the fingers, cross the fingers....**


Until the next post giving the details and pictures of the last few weeks, enjoy this adorable photo of Xander and Kendell (he absolutely adores her).

SHE'S HERE!!!!!

KENDELL GRACE BECK




has finally arrived!!!!

She came June 15, 2011 at 12:13 pm. She weighed 9 lbs 3 oz. and measured 21 inches. She looks like her daddy and brother Xander, and has a good amount of dark hair. Zachary is keeping his fingers crossed that his wish will come true and her dark hair is here to stay.
She is the sweetest little girl and FYI.... she is not chubby, fat, chunky, or rolled..... she's just healthy. Her brother's already adore her, and her parents are thrilled to have her here.
Although it took forever for her to decide to make her entrance (you've read my posts the last few weeks), when she did, mommy only had to push three times and out she came. Right now we're just adjusting to our new life and enjoying our sweet little girl.