More cute pictures:)

With her cousin Casen. He is Paul's cousin Anna's baby and is about a month younger.

So sweet! When I saw this picture, I thought she looks so much like my sister Erin.

She was Eeyore for Halloween.

She loves bath time!

She can even rock her dad to sleep:)

....3 months later.....

I am such a slacker! I've been told that there are frequent visits to our blog to see if I have posted about the baby and such, but here I am Facebooking, and emailing, but not blogging. But I am finally buckling down and doing it. I have over 500 pictures of Jessie on my camera, so it will be hard to choose what to post.

Since I haven't yet told my story, here goes. The morning of August 14 (3 days past due), Paul had gone to work bright and early, and I made plans to organize Jessie's room some more that day. As I laid there in bed trying to talk myself into getting up, subtle pains would come and go, but not in my stomach...in my legs. I thought that was weird, but didn't worry too much about it. I finally got up and going on my day. As it went on the pains were getting stronger in my thighs so I thought what the heck, I'll time them. They were getting around 7 minutes apart and pretty painful. I was kinda getting tired of 'false alarms' already being 3 days past my due date, so having pain in my legs bad enough that I couldn't sit, stand, or lay comfortably and pretty consistently was pretty frustrating to say the least. I found myself praying every time they came asking the Lord to stop messing with me. I ended up calling Paul around 1:00 and told him what was going on. So he came home and after calling both our moms, and the nurses station at the hospital, we decided it wouldn't hurt to go in and get checked.

So I was dilated, but only to a 1, so the plan was to wait an hour, see if there was any change, then decide what to do after that. After an hour I was to a 1 1/2, so not much was happening. At first they were just going to let me go, then my doctor charges in and while gowning up says, "actually we are going to break your water and just have her today". After a mild panic attack, phone calls, and some prayers, I was officially in labor. I want to stop here and just say wow. Contractions hurt! This was about 4:30, and around 5:30 I got my epidural. Want to stop again here and say hallelujah! Pretty sure I heard angels sing when that kicked in! I started progressing pretty fast after that, then before we knew it at 10:49 pm weighing in at 7 lbs 14 oz and 19 inches long Jessie June was born.

Mom and Dad Kennington

Since Paul and I moved into our townhome at the end of January, we've been itchin to have people come visit. Paul's parents have been wanting to, but they have had so much going on that they haven't had a chance...until now. Last Friday the 23rd, they got on the road way early (well, to me it's early) and were here by 10:00. We had breakfast cooking, but when they got here, we were so excited and distracted we burnt the French Toast, so we tried again and after their VIP tour of our place we sat down to eat.

After that we took them up to see Cedar Breaks.



When we got back to town we went to a matinee showing of Toy Story 3. Way cute show if you haven't seen it. Then we went to eat at the Pizza Factory. YUM!

Paul wanted to take advantage of Kirk's help installing some smoke detectors in our house while he was here. So we went to work doing that. We also got a carbon monoxide detector that you are supposed to be able to just plug in, but apparently this one is a tad more complicated because it went off and those things are loud! So we unplugged it, took the battery out, put in back in, took it out did the hokey poky...well after the process we went through to try to get it to work we were desperate. After reading the instructions, we finally realized it was picking up levels of carbon monoxide. Duh!! We had the swamp cooler on and our neighbors were grilling, so it was pulling in the fumes from that. Who knew? It was actually working!

Once we got that figured out, we played some games, then they were off to their motel for the night. The next morning they took us to IHOP for breakfast (Kirk's favorite) Then they were "on the road again"....headed back home.

It was so much fun having them here and for the chance to play host and hostess for a day. We are so grateful for them and for all they do to support us. We love you!!!

The Baby's Room!!!

Ok so I've been wanting to share this for awhile. I am not much of a crafty person, as most of you know, but when there are projects that involve real tools and a big change, I really get into those. So here are the results of the baby room transformation:)

These were the colors the room used to be. Green and ....pink...ew! Haha they actually weren't too bad of colors by themselves, but together it looked really weird. This isn't the best 'before' picture, but you get the idea. Just green and pink walls in the room.

We got to work making the room our own and one that will hopefully be a happy room that our little girl will enjoy being in.

We started painting with a nice basic yellow...

And I do mean 'WE'. I didn't just take pictures the whole time:)

After we got the walls painted, we put up a white bead board....

And finally the finished room!!...

stay tuned....

So I know this shouldn't count as a post, but I just wanted your ears (or eyes) to perk up for there will be an official post coming soon. We have been hard at work getting the house, more specifically the baby's room, ready. We have a day off tomorrow so Paul and I will be sharing with you our experience with plenty of pictures for proof:)

Spoke Too Soon

So in our last post, we mentioned how great the pregnancy is going. Well I guess we might have spoke a little too soon.

Friday night I (Kaylene) got home from work around 7:00, a 9 hour shift that included bagging for 3 hours, and visited with Paul and ate some lazagna that he brought home from his job (the kitchen at the hospital). We visited and ate dinner, and watched some TV, our nightly routine. Then about 11:00 I decided I wasn't feeling too good. So I went downstairs to our bedroom, got in my pajamas and laid down on the bed for a little while. Finally Paul came downstairs to see what was up and helped comfort me. After laying there for awhile I started feeling like I might throw up. So I went to set up camp in the bathroom. There I sat for maybe a half hour or so when I decided I would take a bath. After laying in the warm water for a bit, I started to get relaxed and actually started to fall asleep. I figured maybe the feeling had passed and that maybe I could sleep. I got up, got back in my p.j.s and went to bed. After about an hour of nodding off and waking back up the feeling to upchuck returned. I grabbed the bucket that has found its home on my side of the bed for the night, and commenced to loose my lasagna. Well I soon realized this was no ordinary sour stomach upchucking when I started coming out both ends (sorry if that's TMI, but I have to tell the story right?). This continued for the next 4 hours and after Paul made a trip to Walmart for the sick essentials (Gatorade, crackers, and Sprite) and when those weren't staying down, he made a call to both June AND Karren (both our moms) and a call to the labor and delivery desk at the hospital for advice. By then we decided all of the women we talked to were right-go to the ER.

So we packed up some things (a change of clothes-incase I didn't make it in time- and some of the sick essentials) and headed to the hospital about 4am. I've always been one to put off going to the hospital for as long as possible, worrying that it might not be worth it ar anything serious. But I guess this time was different when my growing baby was involved and could be affected. So off we went and got checked in and right away they took some blood, urine, and 'other' samples, then hooked me up to the IV. By the end of the night, I had 3 bags of IV put in me to replace what fluids I had lost. From the ER doctor we learned that I had some sort of virus, most likely the stomach flu, but they had also found blood in my 'other' sample...ok my poop. I didn't want to say that, but I think it's pretty scary. But that indicates some kind of internal bleeding-maybe an ulcer or something. So that is to be watched.

After the ER doctor had done all he could (including hooking me up with some zofran to help with the throwing up) I was wheeled over to labor and delivery at about 6. There I was hooked up to the monitor to watch for contractions and monitor the baby's heartbeat and I was given more Zofran and a painkiller. We found out that I was having contractions every minute, due to all the throwing up, and that could lead to preterm labor. So they started with a series of shots that would last 15 minutes each that was to calm down the contractions. Well the side effect of the shot was that I would get really shaky and my heartrate would soar. Well that caused me to throw up again (after the second shot of Zofran I mentioned before). So they hesitated giving me the second shot, but after I expressed my trust in the nurse who we worked with and that I would be ok, she gave me the second. That one lasted a lot longer, but did the trick. My contractions had stopped so they didn't have to give me anymore of those. From that point I was to get some sleep and then I would walk around after a couple hours, then get hooked back up to see if that set off any contractions again. Sure enough, it didn't so I was good to go home...finally around 10:30am.

So there ya have it. Our most recent adventure. We came home and slept and I was to wake up every 15 minutes to take a drink because I was so dehydrated still. But now, a full day later, I'm feeling so much better. I'm so grateful I went to the ER (after some coaxing from Paul) and that the doctors and nurses were able to help so much. I love my little baby and am excited to meet her, but NOT YET! She needs to finish getting ready and come to us as healthy as possible:)

Preparing for Baby

Well I am now 29 weeks and getting bigger everyday..and more uncomfortable! (I know all you mothers reading are thinking to yourself...'oh you just wait!' I've heard that a lot) But nonetheless, I am loving every minute especially as she is moving more and more. It looks like she is going to follow in her dads footsteps and be a soccer player with as much as she's kicking! Everything is growing normally and healthy. Mom, baby, and even dad are doing great. I am experiencing some braxton hicks contractions and averaging about 2-3 trips to the potty a night.

As our nesting instincts are kicking in, Paul and I are getting anxious to prepare for her to come. We started on her room with just a pint of sample paint which actually went pretty far. The walls in her room were a weird pink and green which reflected oddly off each other. So we have in mind a nice yellow with a white panelling.

This is the pink and green combo. For some reason every time I went in the room, I got the biggest craving for some pink lemonade and sherbet. I'm not sure why... ;).

So I can't take that much longer, so here are the beginning stages of the transformation:

Had to throw one in of us:)

So there ya have it. Soon we will have it finished and hopefully will improve on how it looks now. With the yellow walls and white paneling, we want to accent the room with daisies somehow, so any ideas would be appreciated:)

We are SOOO stinkin excited for our baby to come and join our family and hope we get everything done in time!

Paul's Birthday

Now that Paul is 25, I don't feel quite so old now that it looks like I'm only 2 years older, instead of the three it looked like when he was 24. (we don't need to share exactly how much older I am;) ) But I'm so grateful that we are together and I will be able to share every birthday with him.

I hope he had a good birthday as I put a little more planning into this one. I felt that with school and the baby on the way, he wasn't getting much attention or praise. So I did a little something for him to boost his morale. I've been wanting to do this for him for awhile now so I finally did! What is it I did?? Well...you just wait...it was good! I'm talking good! No really it was awesome! Ha Ha ok so it wasn't that amazing, but good nonetheless. Ok, Ok, Here's what I did. I asked every member of our family (the Kelly's and Kennington's) to jot down a story or attribute they like in Paul. So over the course of a few weeks, I collected these stories and laughed and cried (but mostly laughed) and was in awe at how amazing he is and has always been.

After I got all these letters via email, I printed them up and printed off some of my favorite pictures of him such as:

Well, I didn't print this one, but I should have!

So I put all these together in a binder and gave him for his birthday. I planned a little hot dog roast up the canyon (one of his favorite things to do) and we had a picnic and read through all the letters. See! I told you it was awesome! :)

It really was a neat thing for him. Half of the stories that were told, he didn't even remember or know about. I was glad I could help him know how much he is loved and admired.

I love you babe and I hope you had a great birthday!!

A Quiet House, Me, and My Thoughts

I sit at home alone on a Friday afternoon thinking. Thinking about things I should be doing. Thinking about things I want to do. Thinking about who I am, what I've done, and what I will do. Thinking about people in my life now and people that have been in my life who are no longer. You know those people who seem to have it all together and are so sure of who they are and what they want in life. Well, I am not one of those people. I've been thinking a lot lately, and for me that's never good. I've been accused of thinking too much and I know that is true. But as I sit here, I want to actually get those thoughts out and just maybe I will stop thinking.....maybe.

What does the future hold for someone like me? What will I accomplish? Who will I help? Who will help me? Will I ever stop living life paycheck to paycheck? Will I reach those goals I have set for myself? Will I ever do those things with my family I have always wanted to do? Will I ever be again the person I used to be? What happened to that person? Where did she go?

As you can see, sitting at home alone on a Friday afternoon is very dangerous for me. Do you ever have afternoons like this? This is me. This is what goes through my head periodically throughout the day, the week, my life. This might be me asking for help. This might just be me being me. I'm not really sure. Why do we face things like this in life? I'm very blessed and I know that. I honestly have not gone through anything traumatic in my life. But still, how does one put on a smile when they don't feel like smiling? How does one laugh when they don't feel like laughing?

These are just some thoughts I've been having and don't know what I really want to accomplish by posting them out there for you to see. Maybe someday I will get a little break from thinking.

SMILE! Baby's First Pictures:)

So by now I'm sure the news is out we are having a girl, but as I promised we would post the ultrasound pictures. Paul and I have been wanting to do this together, but with our crazy schedules, we don't get much time at home together. The time we do get we just want to be lazy and just be together. So here goes. On March 11 at 3:30 in the afternoon Paul, my full bladder, and I headed to the doctors for the most exciting appointment we would have throughout the pregnancy. It was torture while we watched nurse after nurse walk into the waiting room and call back other patients (for more reasons than the full bladder). So Finally our turn came and I all but ran to the room.
I got up on the bed and after I was all prepped for the ultrasound, up on the screen came these pictures:
The nurse obviously enjoyed her job, and the fact that she had the power to continue the torture because she waited til the very end to reveal what Paul and I were so anxious to find out. But finally she put up this picture and asked what our guess was:



I had never paid much attention to ultrasounds I've seen before, so I had no clue. Finally she typed in 'GIRL' and I was so excited! I looked over to Paul and he had the biggest smile I have ever seen across his face. He knew from the very beginning it would be a girl. Looks like she is already wrapped around his little finger:)
After all the business was taken care of, the nurse showed us these incredible 3D pictures:

Already I can see she looks a lot like her dad:)

Funny story about this one. As I looked up at her, I noticed how she was laying and I realized I was laying the exact same. Right hand up under my head and my right leg crossed over my left. Awwww....so precious!

Last but not least...This one is by far my favorite! Notice right behind her ear. What does that look like? ....see it yet? I am convinced it is a thumb and 'someone' is up there watching out for her before she gets to us:)

So there ya have it...finally. I am so excited to bring this little girl into the world and pray that I'm up to the challenge. As the news has gotten out I've had some fun responses such as "now you're going to have to learn how to do hair!" and "what will you do if she is a little 'princess'?" But whatever she brings to our family and whatever I have to learn, I am up for it and thank my Heavenly Father for this amazing responsibility He is trusting Paul and I with and I pray I won't let Him down.

I just want to say one more thing. We have some friends and family members who are struggling at this time with their desire to add to and bring more members to their own families. I just want you to know that my thoughts and prayers are with you and I hope that you know I look up to your great faith and your strength. I hope you also know that as I am so excited and look forward to this baby we will be bringing into our family, know that I feel a bit guilty and saddened for what you are going through. I have found that being pregnant, I have begun to think about things differently, and I am able to feel deeper. I hope this came out the way I intended it to. I am surrounded by amazing men and women who I can't explain why they go through the things they do, but know that I love you and count myself so very blessed for knowing you:)

New Post Coming....

So we found out on Thursday what we are having, but with our crazy schedules, we haven't had a chance to tell you about it. So soon we will be putting a post up about our experience with some pictures....so keep checkin in:)

What Will Be Your Guess?

Tomorrow afternoon, Paul and I will be going in to find out if we are having a boy or girl. Tomorrow night we will be posting the news here on our blog. But first I thought it would be interesting to see what your guesses are. So guess away:)

A Dog's "Tail"

So we've gone through a mixture of emotions this week concerning pets. Here is a little background. In the fall of 2008 we found this amazing dog we call Duke at an animal shelter in Pleasant Grove.

Duke is mostly a Red Healer breed. When we first saw him, Paul immediately grew attached. I think it's because of the red hair:). At the time we were renting from Paul's Uncle Aaron living in their basement in Provo. He and Amy gracefully consented to our plea to bring him home. We are still grateful to them.

In July of 2009 however, we decided to make the move to Cedar City for Paul to attend SUU. Despite our efforts to find a place that allowed dogs, we were unable to find one. So we painfully decided to leave him in Fillmore for my Uncle Gary to adopt until we found a place. Well as you know we were able to buy a condo here in Cedar in January so we made the arrangements to bring Duke down. Here is where the mixed emotions come in...

As we packed up Duke and all his belongings, Uncle Gary sat back reminiscing about the good times with Duke and expressed how much he would be missed. Here is a man who very seldom shows emotion, or gets sentimental. We got everything in the truck and we set off down the road. As we drove, we discussed the attachment we saw had formed between Uncle Gary and Duke. After about a mile, and some debate, we decided Duke would be good for Uncle Gary, and that Uncle Gary would be good for Duke. So we turned around and returned Duke back to his true home in the old fields of Fillmore. Paul misses him greatly!!!

Duke had shown us that our family cannot be complete without a four footed member. Well, now there are eight little paws in our family. Duke was such a great dog, it took two to replace him. Everyone meet...




Curly and....





Lucy



We are so excited to add them to our growing family and look forward to the adventures we will all have together.

If you're ever in Cedar, please stop by to say hello to the Kennington Funny Farm;)

Time To Get Cookin!

Ok I guess I have procrastinated enough. Time to get to my list. First off I'd like to be a better cook (or at least learn how to make something besides mac and cheese). So I am going to learn five new recipes and add them to my box. I am leaving it up to you what those five are. Leave a comment with a recipe that is popular in your home and I will try them and choose the five favorites for our family.

Here are the requirements: 1-must be easy! (my cooking skills are to the extent of boiling water) 2- can't have onions, celary, mushrooms, tomatoes, squash, brocolli, dog, cat(just checkin;)), most fish, coconut, or peppers. Have I mentioned I am the pickiest eater on the planet? That explains the mac and cheese right?

So anyway, submit what you think would be a good addition to our collection of easy dinners and I will let you know what I choose. If I had any money, or anything cool, I would put a prize on the winning recipe, but the best I can do is offer service. Paul and I like to trade payments for service where we can. If you need any spring cleaning, yard work, babysitters, or anything at all let us know and we will oblige for your yummy dinner!:) So... LET'S GET COOKIN!!

My "Night" In Shining Armor

So here I sit at 3:20 AM just finishing off a bowl of Ramen Noodles that my amazing chef of a husband whipped up for me in under 4 minutes. Why am I eating Ramen Noodles at 3:20 in the morning? Well it started at about 2:00 when I flew out of bed (grabing a hair tie off my nightstand as I ran) dashing for the bathroom toilet (not to be confused with the kitchen toilet, or even the closet toilet). Luckily I made it in time, but not in time to get my hair tied back. So as I held my hair, I sent what little food was in my stomach into that porcelin pit I have grown so used to in the last three months. Paul sat near by rubbing my back as I tried in my shaky voice to convince him to go back to bed and get rested for his 8:00 class. But of course, Superman doesn't rest when a damsel is in distress-especially HIS damsel. So he proceeded to get a package of Ramen out of the pantry, fill a pot with water, and fix me up a small meal to re-nourish me and our growing baby. So as I slowly ate, he sat near (finding all the spanish channels on our new subscription of cable) and staying by my side.
I am so grateful for him and the amazing husband he is and the great dad he will soon be. I try not to let myself realize that I don't deserve him, but will always know I married way above myself. I love you babe!

Moved in with a FEW problems!

Hey everyone! This is Paul and I thought I'd give this blogging thing a try since my wife thinks I should be a part of it. So here it goes.
Well we did it! We signed the papers for our condo and moved in. Of course that was after waiting an extra month for the government to get off of their vacations!! What an amazing feeling it is to own your own place. But after signing the papers Kaylene and I said to each other,"what did we just do?"
After moving in we have run in to a few snags. As my mom puts it, "welcome to being a homeowner." Let me give you a list of things that has been eventful since being a home owner. Our dryer broke the day after the move, the washer flooded the basement, the neighbors car is broke down in our parking spot, can't turn on the vacuum without flipping the breaker, can't turn on the light in the master bedroom without the fan coming on and at a high speed, (Kaylene is cold enough as is), having problems with the dishwasher, and to end this exciting list the fridge is falling apart.
On the upside of things that we enjoy about our new place is that we now wake up in the mornings listening to birds chirping in the tree instead of semi's going 75 mph down the freeway. I can now put as many holes in the wall as I want to and don't have to worry about filling them in to get a deposit back. I love that one. We live next to a good friend of ours and we now have regular visitors. We also get a nice tax return. But the best thing above all is that IT IS OURS!!!!
We will be fixing up quite a few things, as you can tell from the list above, so if we don't update real soon you know why. We want to thank all the help we have received and for the support many of you have given us. Thank You!

The Beginning

In October Paul and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary and later that month decided it would be a good time to start trying to have a baby. But anyone who knows me knows I grew up such tomboy that I didn't take the time or the chances to learn how baby making is possible. I obviously got the idea, but when the best times to try are and so on, I had no idea. So I found a book here at the Cedar City D.I. that I bought to educate myself. Well, apparently I'm a fast learner because it didn't take long. I guess I'm what you call "fertile myrtle". At first I couldn't believe it, but 4 tests later, and I guess I had to.

So yesterday was my first appointment with the doctor. I'm seeing Dr. Gatherum here at Valley View Medical Center where Paul works. Paul has seen him around and said he is such a nice guy, and I agree. He was awesome yesterday. The highlight of the appointment was to hear the baby's heartbeat. It was amazing! If I feel like this after just the heartbeat, I can't imagine what the ultrasound and actually holding the baby will feel like. Paul had the biggest smile I've ever seen on his face! This morning I woke up to him mimmicking the sound of the heartbeat. He is going to be such and amazing dad!:)

Welp, that's all I have for now. I'll start working on my "to-do-in-the-next-6-months" list. Stay tuned....

Julia & ......Kaylene??

Paul and I recently watched the move "Julie & Julia" and we were inspired to start a blog. If you haven't seen the movie, this is how it goes: Julie is a hard working girl living in New York who hates her job. She decides to start a blog and cook her way through Julia Child's cookbook in order to add some interest to her life. She sets the deadline of 1 year to cook over 500 recipes and writes about her experiences in her blog. So... In August we will be having a baby and we thought it would be fun to start a blog about things we would like to do or goals to accomplish before the baby arrives. We are so excited to be parents, but we know that life will never be the same once we have a child. So this will be a good chance to do those things we've been talking about doing for the past two years of marriage that may be a little more difficult with a baby.

We will also include news and updates about us and the pregnancy of course. So we hope you visit us often and see what projects or goals we accomplish.