Kate is here!!!

Here is our beautiful girl, Kate Lyn Jesperson. She was born today, Friday, March 30, 2007 at 10:40 a.m. We tried so hard to get a picture with her eyes open, but she just wanted to sleep.


Our first family picture!! Tanner is so proud of his new sister and really taking to her well.


This is why Tanner is taking so well to Kate. She brought him a huge stuffed Clifford for her welcoming gift and Tanner went nuts! He loves, loves, loves the Big Red Dog. He has to have it in his bed when he goes to sleep and would take it everywhere if mommy didn't tell him that Clifford needs his naps too, and he takes them when we go run errands.

Getting ready for Kate...

A couple of weeks ago, we had a photo shoot with Matt where Tanner cuddled with sister Kate. We are so excited to welcome her into our family. We are less than a week and counting. (Or at least I'm counting!)












This was me at about 37 weeks! See how far I poke out! (No one has ever seen me at full term b/c we've always been in AZ). The funny thing is that now, I swear I'm twice the size! I'll post another picture soon, I try to get one right before the baby is born.

So...everyone is doing it!

I just love reading all your blogs, and looking at all your cute pictures, so I decided that I needed to jump on the "blog-wagon" and start one for our family too. A friend of mine said it was a great way to showcase your kids, which all parents want to do, so I just couldn't help myself. Especially with a new baby on the way. In fact, that was my goal...to get this up and running before Kate was born. Andrea told me it was really easy, and she was right, doesn't take long at all.

A Day with Grandma and Grandpa...

Many of you know this, but a few weeks ago, we moved back here to AZ so Matt could finish a work project. he was traveling down here 5 days a week and I was so concerned that he would miss Kate's birth, so we decided that we would move to AZ where we could be together. Matt's company had a furnished apartment down here, so we moved in! Since Tanner was born here, I had a doctor here, whom I loved, so everything couldn't have worked out more perfectly. We were thrilled to remember that my parents already had a trip down here planned during their spring break, so we were so excited to get to see them as well. And boy were they excited to see Tanner. It was great for me, they spent time with him while I rested. Here's them at the zoo.


With Grandma, getting ready for the fun day!


Checking out the squirrel monkeies, it's hard to tell who's having more fun!!


Climbing up to get a better look at the giraffes.


Petting the Sting-rays. The Phoenix Zoo has this awesome exhibit where you can actually touch the sting rays. I have never heard Tanner giggle so hard. He LOVED it!!

Tanner turns 2!!!

Tanner woke up and we had ballons tied on things all over the house. He immediately wanted to hold them all. He loved letting them all go up into the air.


I stayed up all night making a choo-choo cake for Tanner. It didn't turn out so bad. Luckily, Tanner was super impressed and kept trying to snitch some before we blew out the candles. We had some close calls, but we made it.


A close-up of the cake!


We went to Chuck E' Cheese for Tanner's birthday with Matt's family. We got such a kick out of watching Tanner play Skee-Ball. He would walk right up to the end of the track and throw the ball into the slots. He LOVED it!! It was impossible to get him to do anything else (until he discovered the slide).


Tanner saying "Hi" to Chuck E.


Singing Happy Birthday and blowing out the candles. He did pretty good, and you could not wipe the smile off his face!


Yum, this is good!! Can I have some more!


Uncle Cole showed Tanner the slide and he thought it was so fun! He probably did it about 4-5 times before he was tuckered out and ready to go home. What a fun birthday party!!

The All-Star Football Player!!

Matt and I were out of town, so Uncle Jonny, Aunt Lauren, Uncle Nick, and Uncle Cole had fun dressing him up like a football star. Tanner loved it too. Weeks after the fact, he was still asking for the football helmets daily!

Tanner tries out sledding...

Tanner's first run down with Daddy! He has so much fun. The snow was kind of icey, so we had to make sure not to go too high up, otherwise he got going pretty fast.


Unlce Jonny's turn.


Ryan takes a turn with Tanner, he's still loving it.


Posing for a picture with Mommy. I love how our eyes look metallic in the sun.


Everyone finally convinced me to have a turn with Tanner. I wasn't going to at first becuase I was 6 months pregnant, but they assured me that we weren't going to go high enough where it would be a concern. So, it was the mommy and Tanner show, and I think I was having more fun than Tanner on this run. Needless to say, it sure made for some great pictures! Waaaa-hooooo!


Tanner discovers snowballs. I have to say thank you to Nana for letting us use this classic snowsuit. i don't know how many of the Jesperson boys wore it, but we were thrilled to use it for Tanner. He never gets lost in the crowd when he wears it, that is for sure!!

Merry Christmas!!

This was our family Christmas picture. A lot of people have asked us how we got Tanner to smile so well. Here's the secret...We put a piece of chocolate above the camera and told Tanner to say "treat." Once we finished snapping a few photos, we would let him have some chocolate. If you say the word treat, you can see how it is the perfect word to make them appear to be smiling. And if you really give them a treat after, you know they will gladly give you a real smile for that!