Happy Birthday Ben!!!

We just want you to know how much we love and appreciate you. You are such an incredible daddy, husband, best friend, priesthood holder, and provider. You bring so much happiness to all of our lives and we don't know what we would do without you. Thank you so much for all that you do, which is A LOT!!! We love you so much and are so thankful that we are an eternal family. We love you so much Ben! HAPPY BIRTHDAY old man!!!
Love,
Jess, Logan, and Daners

There's a Dragon In My Room!

This past week Ampa came down from Utah to see Jen's new baby girl. While he was here he stayed at our house. Since Dane is now in the crib and Logan is in his big boy bed, we no longer have a guest bedroom. That did not deter Ampa, he was so excited to have a sleepover with Logan. He kept talking about how he peed on his grandpa when they had a sleepover when he was a little boy, and was hoping to have an equally memorable sleepover with his own Grandson.

Luckily Logan didn't pee on him, but at about 2:30 in the morning, Logan came walking into our room and climbed in bed with Ben and I. Out of habit, Ben immediately escorted Logan back to his room. On the way, he told Ben that he was scared and that there was a Dragon in his room! When they walked into Logan's room, Ampa was snoring so loud that it must have awakened Logan, and Logan was certain that it was a Dragon! Once Ben showed Logan that it was just Ampa, he immediately laid back down and went back to sleep. Hopefully this is memorable enough for you Ampa!

Mesa Temple Lights

Presenting...Baby Rylee Roper!!!

"Is it a girl?" YES!!! That is the first question Jen asked the doctor right after she delivered her sweet baby Rylee. After having 3 boys, you can't blame her for being paranoid that another boy was going to pop out!

Rylee Joyce (the middle name is after our mom) Roper was born December 5th, 2009 at 9:27 am. She weighs 8 lbs 3 oz and is 21 & 1/2 inches long. She has the most adorable strawberry blonde hair and is so beautiful!

Jen had a more complicated delivery than she was used to with her past 3, but everything went very smoothly. I am happy that I was able to be there with Jen and Matt at the hospital to witness this monumental event...she really is a girl! Jen and her little princess are home now and are doing great.

Matt's family is in town and have been a lot of help with the boys. We are thankful that we can be here to help as needed also and are so excited that the little princess has finally arrived! Congrats Matt and Jen! She is such an angel:)

PS: Within the next few days, I will post pictures of her all cleaned up and sporting one of her million adorable outfits with matching bow:)

Turkey Day

Our Thanksgiving was full of

food, family, and fun!!!

December 1st was my dad's birthday and I thought that these two pictures showcased his personality perfectly! We love you so much dad and you are the best Ampa in the world! Happy Birthday!!!
















The picture of "the sisters" is blury, but I wanted all to see Jen's perfectly shaped and ready to explode any day belly! She has been having serious contractions and baby Rylee may be showing up early!

Our Daners is 9 Months!!!

I can't believe that he is already 9 months! He is growing up so fast...I can hardly keep up! Here are the stats from his 9 month appointment:

• Weight: 19 1/2 lbs. (38%)


• Length: 28 1/2 in. (59%)


• Head: 18 in. (63%)

Dane is such a little angel and makes you feel like the funniest person alive with his never ending smiles and giggles. He is so, so smiley and it makes my heart melt every time his smiley eyes twinkle!

Right now Dane loves:

• To play with his big brother


• To mimic everyone especially Logan


• Rice cereal


• To play Patty Cake


• To watch Yo Gabba Gabba


• To listen to music and stories


• Tubby Time


• To be out and about around town


• Balloons


• His sailboat mobile


• To explore new things with his little "probing" pointer finger


• To blow raspberries


• His blankie


• To roll around to get to his desired location


• To take naps (how did I get so lucky!)


• To tease his brother (so funny to watch...I'm so mean)

Dane dislikes:

• Green beans


• Being cold


• Getting his face wiped


• When Logan sits on him:(

We feel lucky to have such a happy and healthy baby! We love our little Daners sooooo much!

It's Potty Time!!!

After some inspiration from a friend (thanks Shandra) and some captivating reading material (Toilet Training In Less Than A Day), I decided that it was time to throw Logan a "Potty Party" and get this potty thing taken care of once and for all.

Training day, Logan woke up bright and early to a decorated bathroom, potty presents, candy, and drinks galore. He was so excited...it was like Christmas morning! Then the training began. We started by opening some presents that had big boy underwear, which he immediately put on.

Instead of using a doll that pees (recommended by the book) we used Logan's Teddy (another one of Shandra's fabulous ideas) to show him how to use the potty. Teddy had underwear on too and went through the entire process: peeing via a squirt bottle full of yellow water and pooing via pitted prunes plopped into the toilet. Logan seemed pretty impressed with Teddy's skills and was eager for his turn, but the fun of the whole thing seemed to dwindle pretty fast once he realized that we meant business.

After some time of drinking and snacking on anything his little heart desired, he peed on the floor, which sounded like a broken pipe! We showed him our disapproval, but reassured that it was an accident and that he needs to try really hard to not let it happen again.

So after setting the alarm, putting him on the potty every 15 minutes, and 3 more pee accidents later, we finally got some potty action. He pooped, which was shocking because we were expecting that to be a more difficult milestone to tackle. So, we'll take it! He was soooooo proud of himself and we actually gave him a movie (which, again, we thought that the "poo present" would be one that he would have to work a little harder for) for his reward.

Many pee on the potty episodes soon followed and he was given a gumball and sucker for trying to go potty and got to pick a Hot Wheel when he actually peed. He was LOVING this and all of the extra attention and praise.

We trained all day (we really did nothing else) and we feel like it was a success! For naps and bedtime he is wearing a Pull-up, but other than that, he is diaper free all day! So far, he is averaging about one accident a day (one being at the doctor's office where I forgot to bring extra pants so the doctor gave him these weird lost-and-found trousers to wear...they were really nice about it), but we are optimistic that he will get better each day. He is really in to it and feels like such a big boy like Wade and Seth!

We are so proud of him and cannot believe how fast he is growing up! We will keep working on it and hopefully soon he will be accident and Pull-up free!

Halloween In Vegas

After a fun week full of birthday celebrations (mine the 27th, Seth's the 28th, and Matt's the 29th), we headed to Vegas for baby Jaxon's blessing mixed with Halloween and a little b-day celebrating for me!

On Halloween, we went to Springs Preserve with Julie and Jaxon for a very little kid targeted Halloween festival. There were many trick-or-treating stations, games, 100% recycled kid friendly spooky displays, and a yummy Wolfgang Puck cafe!

Daners was the cutest little pumpkin with his sweet, chunky, round face:)

Logi was Brobee from Yo Gabba Gabba and his costume was a hit among many of the kids and parents! He was LOVING all of the attention:)

Jaxon had a couple wardrobe changes due to the many costumes that his mommy received when he was born. Here he is as a scared little giraffe...soooo cute!

No surprise, Logan LOVES candy!

By the end of the night we were all beat. Logan passed out in a matter of seconds! His hair is hilarious!
My dad and Paula were in town for the blessing and were able to squeeze some park time with the boys into their Vegas Vacation.
What a cute little pumpkin!


Dane looks a little out of it in this pic, but I love the three of them together:)
For a b-day celebration for me, we (me, Ben, Ju, John, dad, and Paula) went to my favorite Vegas restaurant: Mon Ami Gabi in the Paris hotel. It is sooooo good! A must try the next time you visit!

After dinner we went and saw "This Is It" (MJ movie), which of course, Ju and I LOVED! However, our hubbies probably slept through the 2 full hours. I think that you have to be a BIG MJ fan to love this movie.

Ju's mother-in-law stayed home with the boys while we went out. Thank you so much Kathy!

John did a wonderful job and the blessing was beautiful. Jaxon is such a little angel. We were happy to be there to support the Wrights along with many other family and friends including mine and Ju's grandparents!

We love you guys and thanks for having us this past weekend! We are looking forward to Thanksgiving!