Once Upon a Time

Welcome

2011-10-25T13:30:00.000-07:00

. . . to my home!

Entryway.

I missed my Chilean pictures. My wreath should be outside, but the other day the wind was blowing so badly it trashed our spiderwebs and I was afraid my wreath would be destroyed, so I flipped it over the door so it was inside. It was easy thanks to a cool Martha Stewart tip to use ribbon thumb tacked on the top of the door to hang wreaths. So pretty and so convenient for me to switch inside when the weather acts up. Plus, this way I get to see my creation and enjoy it too!

The easiest wreath I've ever made: black tool, a wreath form, and a ribbon. I just bought the orange ribbon at Michaels for like $1.50 and had the plaid already that I wove into the orange. Looks like the wind moved it around - it should be formed along the bottom of the wreath and not just hanging down (the perfectionist in me apparently went to lunch and hasn't fixed that yet). I suppose a black bird would look cool in there too somewhere, but I'm on a strict budget at the moment so we're going plain. Maybe I'll get some clearance stuff next week.

I adore my baby pumpkins. They make me smile. Thank you, Pinterest world (my new obsession and another reason I have neglected blogging) for the idea.

I had to remember that I share this house with Nate so I compromised and we hung his elk picture above the couch. He says it reminds him of Arizona elk. The bobcat is over in the corner, and the jury's out on that. He thinks it'd look great in the corner but I have never wanted animals on the wall in my main rooms. I tell him it can go in our bedroom because I want to eventually put an antiqued desk back there for me to use during the day because currently our only computer is upstairs in our room and I'd love to have my own downstairs I can get on without leaving the babies alone if I have to print something. Or, you know, do some important pinning :) I do have bins of toys back behind the couch currently so I need to figure something out.

As you can tell, we're not fighters so the bobcat stays on the floor and the subject has been forgotten for now -- until I have money to get a desk and set up the corner, then game on! Just kidding, I'm a lover, not a fighter. But I will get my way :)

Now, turn around and you see this:

My cute bookcases, Arizona temple, and my awesome blanket basket JoDee brought me for my birhtday! She rocks. This is my favorite corner - oh how I missed my books when they were in storage the past two years! I love having my stuff back again and having my own house. I finally feel at home!

My favorite corner - I love my Tai-Pan deals - the American flag liberty picture and the Abraham Lincoln religion quote:
When I do good,
I feel good.
When I do bad,
I feel bad.
And that is my
religion.
Amen. Love it. I also love my "sister's craft" we made a few years ago. So cute and they remind me of my sisters. I lost my "Boo" letters but hand-made cutouts worked fine.

Turn to your left and you have the entrance to the kitchen and this beauty. I love this table and mirror b/c it was in my house growing up and somehow I ended up with it and I love it!

kitchen

I really want a red garbage can..

can you spot the compromise? I am such a good wife.
(antlers)

Actually, I couldn't say no because he was so excited and thought it was such good "Montana decorating." It may be "Montana decorating," but not quite "Mandi decorating."
Oh well, what can I say, I love him!

I missed my table too. I asked JoDee what to do with these windows and she suggested wreaths. She's so clever - I didn't quite see the vision until I saw this on Pinterest:

Yes, I see how that would be cute with two wreaths to add red accent. I'll update you on that project if I ever get to it. Relief Society, friends, and kids are keeping me pretty busy. For the first time in my life, I'm really having a hard time keeping up on cleaning - and that's absolutely crazy for ME! I've gotta get organized in that part of my life.

Now, wanna go upstairs?

At the entryway are our stairs. Head up and you see this:

More bookcases and the laundry closet with my Chile sign hanging to remind of how hard laundry was to do in Chile (by hand) and that I'm grateful for my machines that do all the work and that starting the machines and folding/putting away really aren't that bad. Can't say I feel grateful everytime, but that's the goal with hanging it there - oh how quickly we forget!

Our bedroom -- always the last thing to be decorated and organized. We do like our new bed though.

Upstairs landing. London & Reagan's room on the left and Savy's room on the right. Then they have a large, nice bathroom. I am on the lookout for some kind of chest or dresser for up here to keep linens and towels. I'll be scouring Craigslist, garage sales and thrift stores because Pinterest has somehow made me think that I can remake anything to be cute. Any ideas? I have no linen closets at all so I really need something here.

London and Reagan's room. My sister-in-law let us borrow that crazy Sesame Street thing. It keeps crazy Reagan in the bed so it stays. She sleeps really well in there which surprised us since she's pretty much slept in our bedroom or bed since she was a baby. Such a big girl....makes me sad...

Savannah's bedroom set has yet to be painted due to our sudden state of joblessness after we moved up here.

But we are so grateful, though, that the Lord has been looking out for us and we were able to have work while Nate was looking and I was able to babysit Ethan and Morgan and that Nate found a "real" job so quickly (which he's in Texas training for this week). We really feel like Montana is the right place for our family and the Lord made it possible to for us to get here and has looked out for us ever since.

Thanks for visiting! We hope you liked our house as much as we do!

Keepin' Busy

2011-10-24T21:10:00.000-07:00

I told Amy today that I would (finally) post again. Pictures of the house. So I faithfully got on the computer tonight and uploaded my pictures only to discover that when I took pictures when we first moved in I didn't have any of the main room. So I'll snap some tomorrow and post - and you'll all be lucky enough to see my awesome Halloween decorating skills (ha!ha!).

We have just been busy with life -- soccer, babysitting, callings, funerals, weddings, and fun things like JoDee visiting and the fall festival in Belgrade (not to be missed).

London loves her soccer team. "Blue Lightning" lights it up every Saturday. I am grateful this weekend is her last game because (a) I am starting to get cold at practices and games and (b) I'm tired of lugging 5 children to soccer practice twice a week -- a baby, 2 toddlers, Savy and London.

Let me introduce you to my new children, Morgan and Ethan. Well,they are mine Mon-Thursday from 8-5 at least.

These two toddlers keep me busy all day!London adores Morgan and always spends time with her after school which really helps me out. She can't wait to be a mom. Reagan has begged and begged me to have another baby. I just tell her to talk to daddy about it.

A few weeks ago, we went to the Fall Festival. Nate was gone and so I went with the girlies alone, but luckily met up with a friend from church and we hung out all day together. I was amused as she complained about the heat because it must have been in the 70's, maybe low 80's that day. I thought it was perfect!

Me and Tracey, with her daughter, Eliza.
Waiting for the parade to start (which, by the way, made the Cedar parades seem super awesome and dare I say, professional? Yeah, it was that bad. Nothing compares to Cedar), Reagan wanted to show her favorite place in Belgrade (besides the old run-down church she thinks is a castle) -- the doughnut shop! I like it because (a) it's a log cabin (b) not open on Sundays and (c) I went there once and didn't have cash, not knowing they didn't take debit and the guy just said I could come back later and pay him -- only in a small town! I happened to have my checkbook so it worked out, but still, such a cute old man!

I just think Reags looks old here -- of course she pulled her pony out so she's wild woman as usual -- I can't keep clothes or ponies on this girl! I don't know what she'll do when it's freezing outside!
She so wanted to pose next to this Halloween-decorated poodle.
Everyone in Montana has a dog (except us!). Savannah loved this one that was as big as her!

So each of the girls got to choose one thing they wanted. The two things chosen were:

1. Bungee jumping/flipping on trampolines
2. Getting a feather in your hair

Gosh, can you guess who chose what? Not hard if you know my girls.

London literally waited in this line for about an hour and a half. She was hilarious trying to flip. I'll see if I can upload a video.

Savannah chose the feather in her hair, which, incidentally, is still in there and doesn't want to come out despite the fact that the lady said it would last two weeks. Will it ever fall out???

Oh, this was the tasty meat cooking outside the firehouse where we had lunch. The meat was so darn tasty!

I have to edit my pictures from JoDee's visit so I'll work on that tomorrow too and bring those and house pictures. and.....possibly pics of my first snow in Montana - if it gets cold enough tonight, our rain may just turn to snow. We'll see. Poor Nate will miss our first snow as he's in hot, humid Dallas, TX this week.

Hiyalite Canyon for Labor Day

2011-09-06T09:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we decided to get out and see some of our beautiful surroundings that are so close. So we headed to Hiyalite Canyon and within about 30 minutes we were here and it was gorgeous! We actually drove up to this beautiful reservoir but it was warmer up there and very crowded so we headed down where it was a little cooler and not as populated.

I am definitely the wimp of the family when it comes to weather. I even put on a coat after this and the girls were calling me crazy. I wasn't cold, I just like to be comfortable... The coat did come off as did the long-sleeve shirt eventually when the sun came out.

The girls had gotten up early and made lunches for each of us. We all had our own decorated lunch bag and while the girls got pickles in theirs, Nate and I both got apples along with our sandwiches and granola bars.

Then it was time to play in the creek and boy did these girls have fun while Nate and I sat back on our camp chairs and enjoyed the beautiful scenery, weather, and the happy squeals of our three little girls. It was a great day.

Pookie loved splashing.

This is one daddy's girl if I ever saw one. She is constantly asking where he is and I know it's going to be hard for her when he goes to the academy next week and will only be home on the weekends. We were spoiled when we moved up here and had him to ourselves for three whole weeks. But now it's down to business and he had his last week was his first week full of fun. It started with two grueling days at the shooting range - yes, grueling - holding up a pistol and shooting literally ALL day can make someone's arm mighty tired. Not to mention, you have to be accurate in various situations and stances they put you through.

Then on Thursday he got tasered - not something he ever wants to do again. I thought taser guns just shocked you, but there are actually needles that go into your skin with a barb at the end and then you can shock them from there. Two of them went into his back and he said it felt like he was dying (mind you, he's never had a baby naturally). He and another guy did it in front of a group of firefighters who watched as part of their training and were there to catch them when they fell. I suppose now he'll be responsible with his taser gun now that he knows what it does. I wasn't too happy about the holes in his shirt and blood on his undershirt (you know).

Back to School!

2011-09-01T08:21:00.000-07:00

Last week the girls started school. Savannah 3rd grade and London 2nd grade.
They were excited to get back to school and meet new friends.

London was sure that everyone would know how much she liked monkeys due to her monkey shirt and space-monkey backpack (plus she wore another monkey shirt the next day just to make sure). Savannah was thrilled to have a purse-bag instead of a backpack.

This is the oldest part of their school and other buildings have been built-on over the years. I love it! It's hard to see, but there's a school bell on the top and that's what rings! So classic and historical -- in fact, Nate and I were at the bank and saw an old picture of our town in 1908 and there, amongst the farms and Main Street, was this building, standing tall. Very cool. The girls were also thrilled to have their own lockers although I'm not so sure they'll think it's a good trade-off when they realize they're for snow pants & boots when it's FREEZING. I'm interested to see how the whole weather thing goes with them.

Savy's teacher - I think she'll be great for Savannah because she seems more old-school (no groupings of desks - yeah!). Savannah seems to really like her so far.

London's teacher is the one with blonde hair and the light blue sweater. She is the sweetest lady from Kansas and the best word to describe her is "cozy." I think London will love her.

Is that a metal slide I see?

London was afraid to go down it because she thought it'd burn her, but I assured her it wasn't that hot in Montana at 8:15 in the morning. I laughed but it did bring back childhood memories of me burning my little bum on a slide like this and literally having to stay at home because the peeling was so bad I could even wear undies! Oh the memories. And who could forget my lovely brother, Tyler, telling the whole school that it was me who burned my bum after the principal made a warning over the announcements about the slide being hot.

Anyway, Reagan and I have been busy still getting the finishing touches on the house and garage done. She and I both have missed the girls a ton! She's lonely and I miss my little babysitters. I swear, you don't see her for two minutes and she comes back like this. . . notice anything different? (not her band-aid from the ER trip)

Let me give you a hint:

She wanted to be like London who just got her hair cut for school. It looked really bad that day, but once it was washed, it curled right back up again and just looks like a cute ringlet bang.

She's the first child of mine to do that, the first to go to the ER --- I wonder how many other parenting firsts she has up her sleeve for us....

Tomorrow I hope to have pictures of the house because I know everyone's dying but my room is still a mess so we'll see what I get done today.

Montana!!!! Lewis & Clark Caverns

2011-08-29T09:45:00.000-07:00

We are finally (after 2 years of waiting on various options) in Montana!

This is one of the first days we arrived with some excited but worn out girlies!

Nate started his first day of work today. He's excited because instead of sitting at a desk he'll be at the shooting range and being tasered. Well, he's not so excited about that last one. I suppose they figure you'll be more careful with a taser gun if you know what it really feels like...

The girls started school last Wednesday and are loving it. Tomorrow I'll post about their first day and then I'll work on getting pictures of our house. There was so much stuff (junk) to go through that's been in storage for two years. We had a huge garage sale the second weekend we were here and did pretty well. The leftovers went to the Salvation Army. We still have organizing to go through in the garage, but I figure it'll get done eventually and I just need my house in order.

Last Tuesday - the last day of summer for the girls - we decided to do something fun so we went to the Lewis & Clark State Park Caverns. They were awesome!

We took our nephew, Ethan, and if you didn't know better, you'd probably assume he was our fourth child since he and Savy look a lot alike.

It was a 2-hour 2-mile tour and the kids did great. We actually had quite the hike up to the entrance. It was about 15 minutes of switchbacks and it was quite warm that day (maybe 90), but the kids did great. Can you tell the girls were a bit scared to stand on the edge of the trail up that high?

The entrance to the cave after our hike.

This is my favorite picture. Reagan did really well in the cave and even walked most of the way except the wet, slippery parts where Nate held her. She was so cute holding onto the rails and going down the stairs with me in front and dad in back. She kept asking, "Daddy, you ok?" At one point, deep in the cave, she asked me if we were in outer space.

Oh, and if you are wondering about that band-aid on her forehead - we took a little ER trip on Sunday night. She tried to walk down the stairs with a princess dress, shoes and sunglasses. Didn't work. She went tumbling down and had a nasty gash in her forehead. In a small town, all the Urgent Cares closed at 5:00 and it was 5:30 (of course) so we headed to the ER. Gee, I can't wait for that bill.... The nurse kept saying she'd need stitches, but the doctor came in and super-glued her head back together. What excitement. I told Nate that's pretty good -- 8 years of parenting and that was our first trip to the ER.

They are standing on the "mile-high step." They are a mile-high but inside a cave. Pretty cool.

The blasted out exit tunnel which was very cool.

Did I ever mention that Montana is gorgeous?

The Gilbert Arizona Tempe

2010-11-18T19:47:00.000-08:00

This weekend was the groundbreaking for the Gilbert Arizona Temple. I am so excited to be here for this! We have had the Mesa temple since the 1920's and this will be a second one right here in the valley. I am mostly excited to take my girls through it once it's finished. That is honestly my biggest excitement - to see their faces and they look upon the beauty of the celestial room and the bride's room. I can't wait. We opted out of going to the actual site and went to the stake center instead to see a broadcast. I just didn't want to battle thousands of people with a 2 1/2 year old for hours -- because I'm sure people were there very very early!

Our stake presidency has prepared for this for a while and had a stake theme all ready for us. A few months ago they asked us to go the the site and take a family picture so that we can go back once it's built and take another picture with the temple there and compare the two and see how much we've grown spiritually during that time. At the time, it was vague, but after stake conference this weekend, it all makes sense and I'm excited about it!

We haven't gone back to get another picture and we need to before they get started too much! We took this when Nate was in Texas. But we need another with him! And it was windy and the girls weren't happy and this picture isn't framed too well with the equipment in the back. Just to the right of us are some beautiful mountains - much prettier than equipment. I'll have to post an updated version with Nate in it when we get out there again.

The adult session Saturday night was great. I felt so uplifted and ready to do better in my life. Here's the blueprint that will take us "from groundbreaking to dedication" so that we can see how far we've come on our own temple (ourselves).

They are all very basic gospel principles, but there are some specific things as well. For example, we are to pray daily as families and individuals, but they don't stop there. We are to pray "that our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ will increase, that He will bless each person and family living within the boundaries of our ward and stake, and that we will reach out in love and service to each other."

On "attend the temple" we are instructed to not only go frequently but to pray for those things mentioned above when we are in the temple and we are to make a goal to attend and be accountable for that goal.

For studying the scriptures individually and as a family, they gave us numerous scriptures to read/discuss as a family (the border of the paper). I will say that we have only recently (since Nate got home) started consistently reading the scriptures as a family and it has been wonderful. Even Reagan gets to read and she looks forward to it -- Nate or I will say one or two words and she'll repeat them until her verse is over. It's funny because if she's doing something else and doesn't have her BOM open (which is almost the whole time), then she insists on opening it before she'll repeat what we tell her. She loves being a part of the reading. And the girls are doing great learning the lingo as they read. Plus, I love hearing Nate teach the girls.

Under service they talked a lot about serving not just our families or ward member, but also our neighbors. I need to reach out more to neighbors. Here in the valley, I think members have a reputation of keeping to ourselves and helping each other. I think the goal here is to change that perception so that more missionary experiences will open as this temple is built over the next few years.

So here we go on a quest to become better. . .

2010-11-15T10:51:00.000-08:00

Reagan and Ryder played together today. They have so much fun. I get to watch Chancho every Monday from 7 to noon while Tyler and Gina go to school together (how romantic!). It is so easy to watch this boy and it keeps Reagan busy while I get the girlies off to school, do yoga (or whatever exercise for the day, most often yoga), shower and get ready. My morning flies by with someone to help me keep Reagan busy -- I should thank Tyler and Gina because today is the first day in a long time that my yoga hasn't been interrupted once by Reags. They even came in during the last five minutes and did stretches with me.

Speaking of Tyler, his birthday was on the 6th. Amy had planned on making these darling cookies and invited me over to help. I love going over and learning her tricks of the trade. It was even better because these cookies were only for Tyler and Nate so I got to do a lot more hands on learning than if she'd been doing it for someone else. She's a good teacher and I am surprised at how fun and easy it is to do these! I was especially impressed with my little deer -- yes, I actually made all those tiny deer! I was more impressed that I impressed Amy with them! They turned out cute and left me wanting to make more although I have no reason to and I can only eat sugar once a week (Happy Holiday Habits). For better pictures of the cookies, go here - Amy is amazing and it made me really miss living by her.

I can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving!!!!! Seriously. The other day Reagan found this pilgrim hat and insisted on wearing it so she could be a "cowboy." I don't know where she got that but she was thrilled to be a cowboy and wore the hat most of the morning.

This weekend was the groundbreaking for the Gilbert AZ Temple as well as Stake Conference. Both were uplifting and I will work on blogging that tomorrow or Wed.

Halloween

2010-11-01T18:45:00.000-07:00

I never got a good picture of the girls so this is all I have -- after the school party and Savy's hair was all messed up instead of slicked back in her vampire bun. Oh well. I get so sick of dressing them up five times in a week! Last weekend we had our ward carnival so this weekend we ended up going to Jill's ward carnival/trunk-or-treat Friday night. So after the exciting school parade and party, we came home and got ready for the trunk-or-treat.

Savannah has had that costume since last year when we saw it on clearance at Target. She loved it and I loved that it was only $6! She's been excited for a year to wear it for Halloween. Then London fell in love with Savannah's snow princess dress from about two years ago (weird - very weird for London). She got the glasses at her school party and they definitely made the costume more "London."

London just cracks me up!

They thought I was crazy making them pose like this.

Trunk-or-treat

Personally, I think London should have been the vampire!
Check out those teeth!

Jill had a couple streets in her ward that had lots of members and they sent out fliers about trick-or-treating on Saturday night. So we headed over there and the girls got to go around with dad. Here they are with their Archibald cousins - Dallin, Ryan, Luke and Paige.

Sunday we had a little party. I like doing fun stuff for holidays and I love Halloween. Plus, I felt bad that the girls didn't get to go out on Halloween so I planned this fun food. They were actually fine with not going out since we'd had such a non-stop busy weekend and they already had tons of candy.

Mummy hot dogs, bones 'n blood, pumpkin bread bows with soup, and apples with caramel dip. Tasty spread. I especially liked our skeletons hanging from Grandma Norma's lamp!

Vote!

2010-10-27T15:29:00.000-07:00

I now have one less thing on my to-do list.

I voted today.

Have you voted yet?

I hope you do - Tuesday is the day!

Reagan and her Cousins

2010-10-25T11:42:00.000-07:00

Reagan's best friends are her cousins.

Her cousin, Paige. It's funny because it you ask Reagan who her favorite person is, she will always answer "Paigey" even though almost every time she plays with Paige, her face gets scratched up! Paige is cute, but she's a spitfire having to defend herself in a household of boys!

Reagan has seen her sisters play a lot of Barbies lately so that's her latest thing. She always wants to do what they do. She's come up to me many times very excited to tell me that her tooth came out. She so wants to be big like them.

Ryder is her other cousin and best friend. We are so glad that Tyler and Gina moved down here because it's been very fun for the kids to play together. Ryder, otherwise known as Chancho, loves Reagan and they play so well together. He is so sweet with her.

Caleb is her other buddy, but we are sad because they moved to Tucson after living nearby for the past year. These two really got to know each other as Megan and I hung out. They are actually more like brother and sister than best friends. He always seemed to be thinking of some devilishly evil thing to do to her - like run at full speed and then push her down. But there were a few tender moments as well. She loves him and I know she misses him a ton!

Family Zoo Trip

2010-10-24T15:06:00.000-07:00

We decided to go to the zoo yesterday. Apparently half of the valley decided to do so also because I have never seen it so dang crowded in my entire life! They had traffic signs saying the zoo parking lot was full and people were parking and walking almost a half a mile to a mile just to get there! We luckily found someone leaving and were able to park in the parking lot though.

I guess that's what you get in Arizona when the weather finally starts to cool off - people want to do things outside for a change!!

The weather was lovely.

This is where Reagan spent most of the day - with her daddy!
(her favorite person in the world)

She actually never even got in her stroller until we left the gates. That girl kept up and ran around like a maniac when she wasn't on dad's shoulders.

Maybe my girls (Savannah in particular) are getting too old for this seashell. I must have about 50 pictures of this same shot with them at various ages. It'll be fun to go back and compare.

Savs

London

Reagan - she loved this statue.

The petting zoo which I despise so Nate took them in. I have been forced to take them in there many, many times when I've come without him. His turn. He's more of an animal lover than me, but who loves goats - seriously?

Miracle of all miracles - we saw the cheetah!
We usually barely see him stalking in the high grasses or laying under brush, but he apparently liked the nice weather too.

Fun Family Saturday.

We also had our ward Halloween carnival last night. It's a huge ward tradition and even adults dress up. Nate and I dress up as hunters (no pictures, sorry) and gathered our vampire, snow princess and lion to head to the party.

An older couple in our ward has a lot of land with a barn which conveniently turns into a pretty darn good (scary) haunted house every year. Nate took the girls and their little friend, Anna, and ended up with three girls hanging on all parts of his body! They refused to go through the upper level of the barn. They also had a bounce house, carnival games and all kinds of good food (that I couldn't eat). Very fun. I wish I had taken pictures and I'm cursing that I didn't. I'll be sure and get some this weekend.

I'm Back!

2010-10-20T13:43:00.001-07:00

This time I'm serious. I have a few good reasons why I'm going to be consistent this time.

1. My cute niece, Emma, emailed me last week asking for my blog address. She lives in Montana and we never get to see her because before that it was Denver and then Boston and then England. We hardly ever see her and she wants to keep up with the girls.

2. Happy Holiday Habits. I really like this idea because all 10 things are things that I should be doing everyday anyway. And I really, really want a family picture shoot for free! Like really. One of the 10 things is to journal/blog everyday. So I've decided that between this family blog, my personal journal and my gratitude journal I can do that one every day easily.

3. I haven't been taking pictures lately. Something about blogging makes me think to take more and more pictures.

4. I have a horrible memory. And I don't want to forget all the funny little stories and things my girls say. For example, Reagan talks in her sleep. She usually cries "no sissies, no!" over and over again. Last night, however, she cried "No sissy! No London! No London, no!" Her biggest tormentor (London) torments her during the day and apparently during the night!

5. I have a lot of things to be grateful for and blogging is a good way to remember those things!

Sedona

2010-05-02T22:20:00.000-07:00

Before Nate left to work in Texas for four months, he and I went on an overnight trip to Sedona. This month it will have been 9 years since we went to Sedona on our honeymoon. It was fabulous to get away from the kids and just be together. You don't realize how much life/kids interfere in your relationship until you actually have that time absolutely alone for two days. So here are all the pictures of our trip. It's funny because most are single shots of either me or Nate (just like honeymoon pictures) unless we asked someone to snap a picture.

Above (and below) is the B&B we stayed in: Casa Sedona.

The mountain behind me is called Thunder Mountain. It is said that Walt Disney traveled through Sedona once and they believe that is where he got the name for the ride.

Imagine a cool spring morning eating a three-course breakfast here. Lovely.

Our room: Serena Vista. We loved it and although the walls look very yellow in the picture, I didn't notice them as that bright. Nate got me a massage and it was so nice because she came and set up right there in our room. It was 10:00 with our patio door and windows open with a nice cool breeze and just the sounds of nature outside. . . perfect for a massage. Even Nate, who was reading a magazine on the bed, snoozed a while. Sedona is one of the most peaceful places. I love it!

As we were driving up the road from our B&B we saw Alma de Sedona Inn -- the first place we stayed on our honeymoon (we stayed in a few different placed in Sedona - it was fun switching around). It was fun to see it and remember being there the first time.

There's a huge shopping complex with an Indian name I can't
say/pronounce/remember that is fun to wander around window shopping. They had a lot of statues too so Nate and I had some fun.

Before going, Nate looked up restaurants and found Dahl & DiLuca.
It looked fabulous, romantic and cozy. Besides we love Italian food.

We got there and the man at the front gave us this little "nook" that was cozy, dark and just perfect. Throw some rose petals on the table and there you have a romantic nook. It's funny because in the pictures the flash lights it up so much that it doesn't look that cool, but it was -- I love dark nooks!

They were fancy but not too expensive. They didn't even have soda (only wines) so we stuck with our water. And the food, well see for yourself . . . . (with the privacy of our nook we felt at liberty to snap pictures)

Nate's chicken was seriously, hands down the best I have EVER eaten.
I would drive to Sedona again just to eat this chicken!!!
It's that good.

My shrimp was perfect and the homemade noodles fabulous.

Creme Brulee - our favorite!

You hate all the pictures of yourself, but you have such good memories, so here's one we took holding the camera out.

We decided to head home leisurely through Oak Creek Canyon which takes you to Flag, then we went across the Rim and through Payson to come home.

Indian Gardens is on the road up through Oak Creek Canyon. This is where one of the first white settlers came and started farming. There was a historical marker Nate and I stopped to read about his cabin. We are total suckers for historical markers.

Below are some pictures of us in the canyon. Nate loved this hat and swore it was made for me so we got it. I must say, I don't look too bad in a cowgirl hat! ha! ha! ha!

What a great escape.

I don't know why we don't do this more often.

Art Show

2010-04-29T22:17:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we went to the Arizona State Elementary Art Show where Savannah had a piece of artwork entered. She was so dang proud of herself. Isn't she cute? She must have gotten some of those artistic genes from Grandma Cyndee and Aunt Megan and Aunt Amy (who I know has those talents, but doesn't do it).

I thought she did great. The teacher spray-painted their hands and then they got to choose an animal to trace over their hands. After that they were on their own - she chose how to segment it and the coloring. Do you see the peace signs on all four corners? She is super-obsessed with peace signs lately, must be a 1st-grade thing!

Friday with the Waldies

2010-04-28T20:08:00.000-07:00

I spent seven months of my mission in a small Chilean town called Peumo -- no doubt you have eaten fruit from the region as most of the townspeople worked in the fields harvesting fruit to send to the U.S. But I am telling you right now that what you get in the store from Chile looks nothing like the amazing fruit I saw and ate there in Peumo. Huge, juicy, and absolutely amazing avocados, grapes, peaches, and the list goes on and on! I was blessed to be there not only for seven months, but also to be with these people: Gary and Joanne Waldie.

They lived in town and helped us with our work and we had to attempt to teach them Spanish for our weekly service. I say attempt because no matter how many time you taught him, Gary would NEVER conjugate. He'd just say a pronoun followed by the verb and the Chileans understood -- "yo hablar" "ella comer" Gotta love him! Joanne did a little better - she at least attempted to conjugate. (Sara I know you're laughing as you read this and remember the frustration...)

Anyway, I am lucky enough to live in the same city as the Waldies. We haven't seen them for a while so last Friday Nate was home from work and we decided to call and drop in on them. We ended up going to lunch and then spending the whole afternoon over there.

I must say that I think they love Nate as much as me (and they really like me -- hee! hee!). In fact, standing in their kitchen talking, I noticed they have a picture of Nate with his bobcat on the wall! It cracked me up that they had a picture of Nate in their kitchen.

I left for a few minutes to get the girls from school because they haven't seen our girls in a while. They were amazed at how much they've grown (as am I).

Reagan would not come to me when we were ready to go which is amazing because anyone who knows Reags knows she's an absolute and total momma's girl. She just held on to Joanne and shook her head no to me. She also calls them grandma and grandpa, as do Savy and London.

What a great way to spend a Friday afternoon!

Have YOU ever worn a zucchini?

2010-04-28T16:24:00.001-07:00

Saturday the girls went to a birthday party and oh the stories I heard after the party! Stories about how Savannah nearly had to wear a zucchini swimming! I quickly figured out that she meant "bikini" and had a good laugh. Just try to imagine the drama that a seven year old puts into a story about how she had to wear her friend's swimsuit and she got stuck with the bikini . . . a.k.a. the most immodest thing in the world! She told me how she convinced one of the girls to trade with her - oh the relief of not having to wear a zucchini!!! I was just beaming with pride inside that she was freaking out about the modestly rather than relishing the fact that mom would never know that she wore a bikini (and believe me, I could see my Savs doing just that). My girls definitely have modesty ingrained in their little brains and I hope it's there to stay.

On another note, I was thinking about how mother/daughter relationships erode as young girls grow older and was trying to figure out how to keep them telling me things and realized that often I am listening as I'm doing something else. So I recently started asking each of them to tell me one good thing and one bad thing about their day. I sit at the kitchen table and totally focus and look at them. They love it. London's eyes get so big with each story. And to tell you the truth, I love it. I love all the things they think are so darn important and there have been good conversations that have ensued - some funny and some just good teaching opportunities.

Late Thanksgiving

2009-12-10T07:36:00.000-08:00

I didn't take my camera to Thanksgiving dinner so this is the only picture I have from the holiday, curtesy of Amy. Reagan, as you can tell, quite enjoyed having all that food AND a big girl cup!

Dear Santa

2009-12-01T18:20:00.001-08:00

While I went out shopping Friday morning with my mom and sisters, Nate helped the girls make Christmas lists and it turned out quite interesting. . .

Savannah's Christmas List
(in her exact words)

1. hair fixing doll with head and neck (you can fix her hair and spray it and put all kinds of sparkles on it).
2. Furry coat that's warm.
3. Webkin that's a lion.
4. Candy necklace-making kit.
5. Barbie that comes w/ clothes.
6. Lots of Barbie clothes.
7. Lipstick (all kinds and colors).
8. Make-up set with lots of make-up.
9. Disney Princess Barbies (Sleeping Beauty doll. She is comfy.)
10. Hula Hoop.

London's Christmas List
(in her exact words).

1. Gooey eyeball like Savy's.
2. Wall-e and Eve stuffed animals.
3. Candy maker that makes every candy.
4. Harry Potter setup (stuff that Harry Potter has). Note: she's especially excited to get the cloak that makes you invisible -- I hear about that all the time.
5. Wall-e blanket and bedspread.
6. Orange wig.
7. An E.T. that if you pull it's cord it walks around.
8. Wall-e bike.
9. Clouds of Meatballs -- the movie (whatever that is!)
10. Hula Hoop.

You can really see their personalities! I don't know where London came from, but she's definitely an interesting child! I hope she's not too disappointed on Christmas morning!

just a thought. . .

2009-11-18T07:48:00.000-08:00

White House reports billions of improper payments in 2009

The CNN article above claims $98 billion in improper payments were made in 2009.

Do we really want these people running our health care?

I don't.

p.s. another thought:

How many pages is the Constitution? Compare that to the health care bill which is about 2000+ pages. Do we really need 2000+ pages for health care when the Constitution -- which changed the world forever by creating the most prosperous country ever before seen through it's limited government and free market system -- is only about 20 pages (depending on your font size)?

Finally - Savy lost a tooth!

2009-11-06T14:37:00.000-08:00

I last posted about London's lost tooth and how upsetting this was to Savannah that her younger sister lost one before her. Well, yesterday Savannah comes home with a kleenex and a very loose tooth which decided to come out in the middle of Target. Lovely. After searching Target's floor for a while, we finally found the tooth and Savy was ecstatic.

BUT London is not to be outdone. . . .
her second tooth fell out only two hours later.
Curse little sisters!
and, for the life of me, I could not get a normal picture of these two weirdos!

London's first lost tooth

2009-11-05T08:35:00.000-08:00

On Sunday London lost her first tooth
(thank you, Halloween candy).

It turned out to be a rather dramatic experience between London's excitement and Savannah's despair (she, 15 months older, has yet to lose a tooth). I think Savy's the only first grader with all her baby teeth still . . . and it really bothers her. She even has one growing in behind a baby tooth, but that little tooth is happy where it is and doesn't want to dislodge! The last two times we've been to the dentist she's asked why she hasn't lost any teeth yet.

And now London beat her to it.

Sometimes having little sisters just isn't fun.

The whole experience has made me ponder about all the little competitions and issues we may have while having two girlies growing up so close in age. Should be fun. . .

Halloween!

2009-11-03T19:11:00.000-08:00

The "Pirate-Girl"

The Witch

and the sweet little lion

In the afternoon, we headed over to Grandma Cyndee and Aunt Megan's house for our big Halloween Party.Can't you just feel their excitement?

Then we changed into the costumes . . .

Pirate-girl, Prince Caspian, the Hulk and Batman

Caleb and Reagan are quite the buddies now -- well, it's more of a love-hate relationship.

The group ready to go trick-or-treating!

Their neighborhood was quite festive and for the first time ever, I was tempted to take pictures of people and their displays. So here we go with more picture overload!

The very independent trick-or-treater!

Tom fit into their creepy display quite nicely, don't you think?

and finally, checking out the loot . . . .

I hope you had as fun a holiday as we did!

REWIND: Savannah's Kindergarten Graduation

2009-09-21T20:30:00.000-07:00

Wow!
It's only been four months and I swear she looks so young in these pictures! Time flies too fast (and it scares me a little).

Receiving her perfect attendance award from the principal, Mr. McCloud. She also received a medallion which she wore for two weeks after school ended. Really hard for me to put a picture of myself up, but here it is out there for posterity's sake. Savy can never do normal smiles for cameras, but she's so cute that it really doesn't matter.

Mrs. Cammack.Mrs. Christiansen, the teacher's aide.

1st GRADE!!!??!!

This picture turned out blurry but I just love it because of the way Reagan's looking at Aidan. These two definitely have a bond and love eachother! my chicas

Updates

2009-09-12T21:11:00.001-07:00

Savannah

She loves first grade, but can't seem to remember any of her friends' names (she's a blond through and through). Still jabbering constantly and just as crafty as ever. I went shopping today in her bedroom where she and London had set up a whole store full of home-made books (I love seeing how she's trying to spell things) and cherry pies (a paper plate colored and then the sides folded up - very clever). I even gave her real pennies and she was thrilled beyond belief.

London

London, on the other hand, will name off about six names of her "best friends" in two seconds. She is quite the popular girl and I can just see her thriving in kindergarten. Everyday is something new and exciting. She is still just as obsessed with Wall-e and Eve as ever and claims she will name her children after them someday. Her vast array of stuffed animals that she insists on sleeping with have suddenly been hung from the bunk bed above her which makes the ordeal of making her bed much easier as the animals are now hanging instead of falling between the wall and bed. She's a funny girl with her hanging stuffed animals over her head. Her number one bedfellow is still Aslan - her stuffed lion from Santa a few years back when she was a baby.

Pres. Obama Speech at School

One funny thing that happened this week was when I asked them about Pres. Obama's speech to the children. The only thing they had to say about it was that "he said bad words, mom." My girls have taken me very literally and very serious about what not to say. In our house we never say words like "hate" or "stupid." NEVER. So, to them, they are super-bad words and I guess Pres. Obama said stupid a few times. I read the speech beforehand, but failed to notice that. I thought it was pretty funny that they were appalled. After clearing that up, they then told me that he told them to do good in school. Good.

Reagan

I still can't leave the house without people commenting on her! Seriously, it's every time I go out. Today Nate took her to Sportsman's Warehouse where they fawned all over her then I was stopped twice in Wal-mart. One time was a lady telling me she should be in a Swiss Miss commercial. People are funny.

Reagan has a mouth full of teeth now. She refuses to even attempt to talk, but she'll laugh her head off at you (London especially). I can't figure out if the lack of talking is due to her love of binkies or laziness or something else. The girl has also discovered dancing and will dance to anything with a beat -- the other day she danced and wiggled in the cart at Fry's to the background music in the store. Funny girl.

Kindergarten

2009-08-11T14:03:00.000-07:00

I have another kindergartner!

It is London's turn.

Is she not the cutest??

Here she is with her teacher, Mrs. Ctibor (who, coincidentally is the mom of a girl I knew in Junior High - how cool is that? And yes, for anyone wondering, her husband is Mr. Ctibor that taught at Poston years and years ago.) I think she'll be great and London will love her.

I am super-excited that despite the fact that we moved (yes, we moved), I got my girls into the Franklin school here in Mesa. I loved the curriculumn last year and felt like Savy thrived so much. Today we met the teachers and I felt so good about my choice despite the fact that our local public school is very good and in a good school district. For me, the academics at Franklin rule out everything else. I am so excited for my girlies! Tomorrow is the first day.

coming back soon. . .

2009-08-06T14:01:00.000-07:00

I am working on getting back into blogging -- heaven knows school is starting next week and I haven't even posted Savy's kindergarten graduation from May!!! I'm coming back, but in the meantime, here's a quick conversation not to be forgotten with the ever-intriguing London:

We were discussing what the girls would name their babies some day and London says,

"I am going to name my baby Lover."

Me: "Where did you hear that name?" Mind you, I do not call Nate lover.

London, innocently: "from 'loving.'"

construction and conversations

2009-05-18T15:41:00.000-07:00

Under Construction.

I'm tired of my blog look so I am in the process of changing, but have a screaming baby and can't do it all right now, so I'll just leave you all with our conversations of late. . . .very interesting.

The way to church:

London: I am going to ask Santa for a Wall-e dress for church.
(my kids think Santa can do absolutely anything and it's getting scary).

Savannah: I don't even know if Jesus likes Wall-e.

This morning during breakfast:

London: Savannah you ate without a prayer, don't you know that tells Heavenly Father that you don't care about him or respect him? You should be ashamed of yourself.

Wow -- London is our little prayer-nazi. But I have no idea where she got the "ashamed of yourself" part because that's definitely not words I use - must be those lovely cartoons. . .

Joyschool Graduation

2009-05-11T15:07:00.000-07:00

Porter, Talmage, Sydnie, Davyn, Mackenzie and London.

I don't know what's funnier, Mackenzie's crazy dancing or London's dancing where she distorts her body without really moving. Preschoolers are so funny!

London had her Joyschool Graduation at Amy's house (2 weeks ago? or was it last week? I don't remember). Amy is so good at putting things together and it turned out so cute. They made graduation hats, wrote thank-you notes to all the moms/teachers, sang an ABC song, sang the days of the week and put on a play -- Billy Goat's Gruff. London used Nate's favorite Halloween mask to be the grumpy old troll under the bridge. She loved it, but it turns out Talmage was afraid of the mask and wouldn't participate, but other than that, it all turned out so cute.

Talmage is our next-door neighbor who London and Savs love to play with. He also plans on marrying London. His mom told me he was asking once about the families and babies, etc. She explained about Adam and Eve and then how he would have children some day too to which he replied, "no, London will." London stole his heart by liking to play with "boy toys."

Finished!

2009-05-04T20:31:00.000-07:00

I finished my 90 days of P90X a week ago.

Then I took a week off -- well, not off from exercising. I did some of my old videos -- Biggest Loser Body Sculpt, 30 Day Shred, Winsor Pilates Accelerated, and Pilates Buns & Thighs.

I must say that I am quite impressed with how much strength I built up doing P90X. I didn't lose all the inches I wanted, but I figure that will come when I finally decide to stop munching on tasty things and start eating better. I was just surprised at how well I did my old videos that used to be hard.

For example, I decided to try out the third level of 30 Day Shred and, guess what, it wasn't that bad! In fact, a lot of the moves can be found in P90X.

Then with Pilates I actually did every move! And let me tell you that I used to just laugh at some of those moves on the accelerated video because they seemed so crazy-hard, but thanks to some hard-core P90X Yoga, I was able to do the whole video without a problem!

All that made me super-pumped for today. . . the day I started the Classic program.

Here's to the next 90 days!

We'll see if I can't trim a few inches (especially in the belly and thighs -- buns wouldn't hurt either). Actually, I'm just happy that Nate can't squish my muscles into oblivion now when I make him feel them -- they actually stay there now!!

Tyler and Gina's Whirlwind Visit

2009-04-27T08:02:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Tyler and Gina came down for just the weekend. Despite the short time spent together, all the cousins thoroughly enjoyed each other's company -- especially these two!

Ryder and Reagan fascinated eachother. I don't know who enjoyed the interaction more -- the babies or the adults!

As for Miss Reagan walking, don't even ask. She will stand and balance, even clap standing up, but when it comes to taking a step, forget it. She has absolutely NO interest in walking. She'll cruise the furniture or walk around the house holding my hand, but the minute I let go, she automatically collapses. No interest whatsoever.

Reag's first introduction to the classic Hendrix camping favorite: chocolate/peanut butter rice krispie treats. I think she liked them.

London was miss snuggler the whole time -- either with Nate or Grandma Cyndee.

I was just messing around with my camera, but I love this picture of Reagan!

Easter

2009-04-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

This Easter I ditched the light, frilly pinks and pastels that represent Spring and Easter in all their glory and went for black.

Well, black with some bright Springy accents.

It was love at first sight with these dresses and, lucky for me, they were at Wal-mart (which means cheap).
So this is the only picture taken on Easter (and we're lucky we have this one). I took it after a long day at church and I never took another picture of the day. No Reagan's 1st Easter picture (and her outfit was super-cute), no egg hunt, no basket pictures, nada. Nada, nada, nada. Sorry. It just didn't happen. But our dinner was very tasty -- prepared by Nate and mom. It turned into a nice, tasty, quiet holiday -- perfect for reflecting on the true meaning of the day, my Savior and his sacrifice and resurrection for me (and you).

JoDee's Visit

2009-04-23T13:01:00.000-07:00

Megan asked me today if I'd ever blog again.

I have just been flat-out lazy when it comes to blogging lately. I feel like I go in cycles -- one week I'll post four times and then I'll go two weeks with nothing. I really need to work on some consistency here!

A couple weeks ago -- the week of Reagan's birthday -- JoDee came to visit for a whole week. Andersyn was the only kid to stayed home =(

One thing I always love about Andee and Madee is that they always write cute little notes/pictures for people. Here's one that came for Savy this trip:

We had a fun week, but don't take my word for it, see for yourself . . .

Visiting Grandma's school - Heritage Academy

Reagan loved looking at everything on the walls

The Make-Over Sleep-Over

I had nothing to do with these make-overs!

The Phoenix Zoo

I brought my own, personal (hot!) stroller pusher which made me super-happy!I always feel bad/spoiled when JoDee comes and we go somewhere with all our kids because Madee gravitates to my kids and I'm sure JoDee would like the help herself. But I love it -- everytime I'd do a "kid check," I'd see one or the other of my girls with Madalyn. No wonder my girls are obsessed with the girl! Sometimes I wonder if London's on the right side of the cage. . .

I think giraffes are my favorite.

I think this picture actually catches Reagan seeing something. She spent most of the day sleeping or looking absolutely exhausted in her stroller. I think the poor chica got some heat stroke because she was flushed at the zoo and just didn't seem well all day then ran a fever that night and into the next day. Poor girl - I had hoped the zoo would be a blast for her.

Crew - JoDee's mischievous little devil! He gets away with a lot thanks to that cute, irresistible smile!

The group (minus Cyndee and myself). I felt clever getting this picture -- all I had to do was excitedly call for them to look "over there" and, like magic, they all looked the same way and I got the (almost) perfect photo!

The Birthday Party!

2009-04-09T12:39:00.000-07:00

After a weekend of General Conference, the family came over for Reagan's birthday party Sunday night. We were even lucky enough to have JoDee and her kids here (minus the beautiful Andersyn).

I took a ton of pictures so be prepared although it isn't as many as her birth-story post.

This was my first attempt at making a "fancy" cake and I was quite pleased that it all stayed together because I was honestly worried I would go out to the fridge in the garage and it would be toppled over or caving in. It was a yellow cake with oreo filling and buttercream frosting with fondant flowers that Amy taught me how to make (super easy).

It was time to go when she started throwing cake on the floor. Nate cleaned up the mess while I gave her a quick bath so she'd be clean and naked for her present (which were mostly all clothes).

This was what Nate and I got her. My neighbor told me how great it has been for her daughter and when Reagan tried it out at the park Saturday night I knew we needed it. She totally recognized it on Sunday and definitely loved it! She felt true ownership for the bike and kept going over to it.

Luke

Sharing with Paige

London lovin' on Grandma Cyndee

The birthday girl who constantly gets into cupboards. She even crawls into them to hang out, but her favorite hang out is the drawer under the stove. She's constantly opening it and climbing in there -- she thinks she's hot stuff in there and just giggles!

Food Storage Website

2009-04-07T12:57:00.000-07:00

I am a super-freak about organizing things and that's why I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this website. It's so user-friendly and everything they have is neatly put together in Excel spreadsheets that even auto populate for your convenience. The site is full of useful information regarding 3-month supply, year supply, emergency preparedness, and more. There are also two other sites connected/related to this one: one about cooking with food storage and the other is about bargain shopping in order to afford buying a little extra for your food supply. So, if you are even a little tiny bit interested in food storage then click above and I promise you will be A LOT EXCITED. Just be forewarned that you may be sucked into the website and not come up for air for an hour or more (unless your kids set your house on fire or something dramatic like that).

One Year Ago

2009-04-04T08:00:00.000-07:00

Reagan Waller

April 4, 2008

Induction scheduled for 5:00 AM

I woke up at 4:00 AM to call the hospital and see if they were ready for me to come in, but only got an answering machine. So I leave a message and jump in the shower (too excited, anxious and nervous to go back to sleep -- yes, nervous -- because no matter how many times you do this birth thing, it's still unnerving).

I call a couple other times and get only the answering machine. Another message left and, finally, Nate and I get back into bed.

At 6:30, just as I've fallen asleep again, the hospital calls:

“Mrs. Waller? Were you planning on coming in for your induction today?”

I was a bit put out as you can imagine but I got over it and we headed out the door. Savannah and London went to Amy’s house and then Amy later on took them to Jill’s house to await seeing their new baby sister.

Driving to the hospital, checking in, and getting iv’s set up took time until 8:30 when the Pitocin started it’s job. Just around 9:00, Dr. D came to check up on me and said he’d break my water which made me ecstatic. I had discussed with him a few weeks before how nothing happens until my water breaks. He said I’d have to be contracting first, but he would do it as soon as possible. So when he came in, I half expected him to say I’d have to wait since I’d only had Pit for a half an hour.

But no – halleluiah, the doctor listened to me!

I really like Dr. D.

So, painful as it was, my water was broken – or so we thought. We weren’t sure since there was no gush and Dr. D. said, “I think I broke it, but her head is right there so she must be blocking it.” Okay. He said he’d be back at noon to check up on me.

We spent some time looking over Nate’s list of names (2 columns worth) and I narrowed them down to 4: Sydney, Addison, Berlyn and Reagan. We threw Berlyn out quickly because Berlyn WALLer just didn’t seem right even though my mother assured me that kids nowadays don’t really know what the Berlin Wall is/was, but I remember it coming down and just couldn’t do it.

Then we waited to see you to make the final decision.

Nate left to get some magazines and licorice for me (for after you were born).

My contractions started getting closer together around 10:00.

By 10:45, they were getting really painful and I remember looking at the clock and thinking “I can’t deal with this for two more hours until noon when he’ll really break my water.” With no gush, I was really thinking it wasn’t broken.

Nate came back around then and the contractions really picked up. Soon I was writhing in pain and asking for Stadol. I was planning on no epidural, so the nurse told me that I could get 3 doses of Stadol and that they take about 10-15 minutes to take effect and then that effect doesn’t last too long. I was trying to “save” up my doses for the bad part of labor (if only I’d known how quickly it would be over).

It’s funny how everyone tries to convince you to get an epidural even though you’ve expressed your choice. The nurse even went so far as to tell me that some women want it just for the post-birth pain. For the record, any pain felt afterward paled in comparison to birth. Besides, the main pain came from nursing and my uterus contracting which actually made me happy knowing that my stomach was trying to become semi-normal again.

Back to your story. As I said, a little after 11:00, I asked, no, begged for some medication as I declared to anyone willing to listen that I didn’t want to be there.

The nurse checked me and I was at a five.

I remember thinking that I’d rather be anywhere else but it was too late and there was nowhere to hide – all of a sudden, I felt like you were pushing your way down without permission and I told the nurse that you were coming and I wanted to push (desperately). Gina and I were talking and decided that it’s not necessarily that you want to push, but that your body is already pushing and so you just can’t help but go along with it because there’s no stopping it if that baby’s coming.

The nurses checked me and I was at a 7 and they went to call the doctor, telling me not to push yet. That was not what I wanted to hear. The intense pain and wanting to push seemed to go on forever and then, suddenly Dr. D showed up and I hazily remember yelling “I love you” because I was so relieved that I could finally push.

What birthing mother doesn’t love the sight of her doctor??? (because you know it’s almost over – they always wait until the last minute to call in the doctor.)

But it wasn’t over and the hard part was just beginning. I think I progressed so fast that they didn’t have much time to set up the bed right and there were no stirrups which confused the heck out of me -- and trying to put my feet on Dr. D’s shoulders didn’t help the situation. The combination of the pain and no stirrups was too much for me to handle and I had no idea what to do even though there were people surrounding my bed telling me to hold my thighs and bear down to push. I just wanted to hold onto the hospital bed for dear life (it just felt safer than my thighs) and I kept saying (probably yelling) “no” to everyone -- “I just want to hold onto the bed” I would say. Finally they convinced me to get in the right position and then I apparently started hyperventilating and so they were trying to help me pant-breathe, but that only annoyed the heck out of me having all these people blowing in my face so I yelled at them to get away.

I think in the midst of it all I may have apologized for all the yelling, but it was really out of my control and I felt pretty embarrassed afterward because in the age of epidurals you just don’t hear the intense moaning, screaming and yelling in the labor and delivery area (well, not as often I guess). Besides, anyone who knows me, knows it’s totally not in my nature to be outspoken and – heaven forbid – yell at people. But I really didn’t feel in control of my body so that’s my excuse.

When they wheeled me to my recovery room in the afternoon, I felt so embarrassed going past the nurses station. I felt like they were all looking at me – the loud one. Oh well. I know I’m not exaggerating because after the birth and things settled down, I realized that my throat really hurt.

So I pushed and pushed (for not very long) and out came your head and then apparently you decided not to just slide out like other babies, but I had to push for your shoulders as well. No cry made me worried, but everyone assured me you were fine and I watched Nate cut the cord and then they swooped you off to do whatever they do while I finished up my job. Then I got my hands on you and you were darling as I knew you would be.

And it was all over by 11:21.

I think around that time was when the Stadol started taking effect because I was starting to feel really tunnelly (that’s the only way to describe it) and hazy. Apparently my water did break at 9:00, but there just wasn’t much fluid to come out because Cyndee said that even when you were born, there wasn’t much gushing. That must be why my stomach was hard as a rock the whole time – it was all baby!

8.9 pounds and 21 inches of baby!

So that’s the story of when you were born. Soon after, Jill brought the girlies to meet you. Grandma Norma and Papa Pat came over to meet you and then came again that evening as well as Grandma Cyndee with Savy and London again.

It took us most of the afternoon to finalize your name. You just didn’t look like an Addison or a Sydney and Nate really loved Reagan so we chose Reagan and it fits you to a tee.

Then later that evening, Gary and Joanne Waldie (from my mission) came over to meet you. Then we slept and daddy slept on the couch-bed next to us. We really enjoyed that time alone with you in the hospital, but we also wanted to get back home to Savy and London and to watch conference – ha! Like I caught any of that between tiredness and tending to my three babies. Cyndee was a great help though with your sisters. The one talk I did catch was the young mothers talk which was fabulous for me and then Pres. Monson’s last one.

I love this picture because you can tell Dr. D. loves his job.

London insisted on bringing birthday cupcakes to the hospital!

Happy Birthday Reagan!!!

I can't believe that one year has passed. Looking at these pictures blows me away at how much all three of my girls have grown and changed. It makes me more aware of how I need to treasure every moment because they will be gone fast and you will be a big girl sooner than I realize. I love you!

the birthday party update coming

and, yes, the cake turned out pretty darn cute!

My morning . . .

2009-04-02T13:16:00.000-07:00

. . . began with a wonderful fondant lesson from Amy. Lucky me. I was amazed at how easy it really is to work with and after grilling her about "assembling," I am now prepared to put Reagan's birthday cake together this weekend. Sadly, Amy and Jim are escaping for a weekend away and I am left to do it myself. Despite a little fear of failure I am in a small way excited to experiment and put it together -- so everyone pray that it all goes well and my cake can turn out half as amazing as any of Amy's creations. By the looks of these (not done yet) flowers, I'd say we're off to a good start.

Thanks Amy.

Amidst the fondant lesson, picking up preschoolers and picking up kindergartners, my neighbor Megan comes over and informs me that an undercover cop has just gone into the house across the street. So, you know, we're just housewives with nothing better to do than watch our neighbor get arrested while taking pictures through the blinds for our blog. Pathetic, but fun. I am convinced this proves my curse to be true.
The undercover cop truck.
(the pictures are fuzzy because the screen in my window, darn it!)

Don't ask me why they have to go get the "suspect" a jacket when it's nice and warm here.

One of the three back-up coppers that came to assist in a non-violent arrest.
I guess you have to be prepared, right?

After the arrest, the guy sat in the cop car for over an hour while the cops did this -- sat around and talked. I hope it was necessary because all I kept thinking was about how our tax money is paying them to take an hour and a half to arrest my neighbor. Really, is that amount of time necessary? I think not.

We're not sure why he was arrested but Megan overheard the cop ask if they could talk about "his property." However, for a long time, Nate and I (and others) have been convinced he's dealing drugs due to the frequently strong marijuana smell and the fact that people are always driving up and leaving quickly in clandestine fashion.

What a lovely Thursday morning - cake making with a little spice.

A Whole New World

2009-04-01T07:31:00.000-07:00

One day during Spring Break, Reagan experienced the play place at the mall for the first time since she's been mobile. It was a whole new world that positively delighted the girl!

So many moms to look at...
and so many children running around. . .

And now, the Where's Waldo picture of the play place, except it's --

Where are Mandi's children?

can you find all three of them in this picture?

You might be a Mormon if . . .

2009-03-31T17:24:00.000-07:00

Your husband comes home after you've spent the day canning
(3 hours of shaking) butter and he calls the deed . . . .

wait for it . . . .

he calls it . . . .

"SEXY"

??!!!???!!

I never knew canning was a turn-on.
Maybe I'll start canning more. . .

Sunday Art

2009-03-31T09:28:00.000-07:00

London's artwork from primary this past Sunday.

They learned about baptism so this is a drawing of her daddy baptizing her.

I love that she is covered in water -- I guess she understood the immersion concept.

Track and Field Day

2009-03-30T09:11:00.000-07:00

I totally forgot to post about helping our little kinders with track and field day, the last day before Spring Break . It was really fun to see my own child (and my nephew) in their little school world.

I loved it.

We started with the Parachute.

Savy wouldn't come stand by her mom, but Aidan quickly rearranged to be next to me. My Savs

Savannah and her cute little friend, Brooke. I love the way little girls always have to hold hands.

FrisbeeThe boys - - - classic!
(doesn't Aidan look so cool?)
Boys vs. GirlsTug-a-warboys vs. girls againThis was Aidan's all-time favorite event of the day. Go figure, he likes brute strength (and let me tell you the boy has plenty of it!)

down, but not beaten.

Freeze tag - this is where I learned Savannah's a wimp like her mother, staying on the outskirts of the game rather than venturing into the masses.

Snacks and a break on the playground where Savy caught up with her "boyfriend," Kyle. I hear a lot about this boy and just cracked up at their little conversation on the swings.

It was a fun day, but at the end of the whole thing, I couldn't help but wonder what happened to relay races, hurdles, long jump and the high jump. Isn't that track and field? Or are we really turning into a society of no competition and everyone's a winner so we can't do things like that? Just curious. Maybe for the older kids in the afternoon it was real track and field.

How to. . .

2009-03-24T19:35:00.000-07:00

Here's how to ask someone to watch your children through an email entitled, "Tomorrow."

Hey Mandi...

Can you watch my two while I go on a visit tomorrow at 11:30? It's just one visit, so it shouldn't take too long. Gracias if your answer is yes. And if your answer is no, curses to you.

I loved, loved, loved this email.

It made me laugh. Many times over.

And, no, I will not get cursed tomorrow.

Resemblance?

2009-03-24T13:18:00.000-07:00

Savy's Sixth Birthday

2009-03-22T20:46:00.000-07:00

This little six year old is into anything make-up or jewelry. Hence, the purse cake spilling out bracelets, hair bands, and eye shadow. Savs wanted to have a party at the park so we grilled and invited the fam along with her "best friend" Kaylee. Papa Pat with Paige.Grandma Cyndee made the rockin' cake!
Thank you for doing it so last minute!
Amy and Savy had planned a purse/lipstick cake for months, but Amy suddenly came down super-sick and couldn't so Cyndee (like the great mother she is) came to the rescue!

She's been wanting a real watch because she's learned how to tell time in kindergarten.

Below are just some cute bugs I found at the park:

Aunt JoDee sent this cute flip-flop card with $6.00! Savannah was beyond excited and used some of the money to buy lipsticks (of course). So here's our thank-you picture for JoDee to show that her money was well-spent! (don't you love London in the background)

The real day (Sunday)

Well, the real day I was super-tired and slept in until 10 (which I NEVER do) while Nate decided to make Savy yet another birthday cake. He even decorated it with purple and yellow sugar crystals to appease his girly-girl. What a good dad!

Someone enjoyed preparing for her big day which is coming up in two weeks!

Randomness

2009-03-20T15:08:00.000-07:00

I still need to post about Savy's birthday and that's coming. I still can't believe she's six.

As for Spring Break, it's almost over and I was barely aware that it had begun. The girlies have had fun playing with friends and cousins.

Wednesday night Nate and I went on the best date EVER (yes, even better than doing P90X together). We went and saw Les Miserables. I thought Nate's life was seriously lacking in having never seen a production of Les Mis so I bought us tickets and it was his Christmas present -- I love those kind of presents that are also for you. . .
He loved it, but I must admit that I am a theater snob. I heard this production received a 5-star review, but I disagree. Maybe London just does it better than anyone and I just can't beat the two times I saw it there.

I did, however, love the music and even though I disagreed with how some of the main characters chose to sing their parts, I still loved hearing it again. I will say that the innkeeper and his wife were the best pair I've seen play the part! They were hilarious.

It made me laugh and it made me cry and it was a perfect date.

Cyndee had the girls spend the night since it was Spring Break (thank you, thank you).

She even kept Reagan! Her first sleepover!

When I went over there yesterday she wouldn't let me put her down, afraid I'd disappear again no doubt. However, that feeling has quickly dissipated seeing as this morning my neighbor, Megan, came to the door and Reagan rushed over to her and then wouldn't come back to me. Instead, she just laid her sweet little head on Megan's shoulder, looking up to check on who was holding her every couple seconds and then laying down again.

I put my arms out and she flat out refused to come back!!!!!

Another first. It made me kind of sad and I think she knew because she eventually came back to me.

(Megan and Reagan at Christmas-time)

I don't know, there's some kind of bond there -- Reagan really likes Megan. Perhaps it's all those 5:45 workouts that Reagan likes to join us on. She's always crawling over to Megan's mat, not mine - well, that could also be because I accidentally kicked her once during Kenpo (don't worry, it wasn't hard and she was fine). She just really really likes Megan. . . . and so do I for that matter.

Enough rattling.

Birthday post to come.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2009-03-17T11:10:00.001-07:00

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Happy Birthday!

2009-03-15T21:10:00.000-07:00

My Sweet Little Six-Year Old.

Got Curl?

2009-03-11T10:00:00.000-07:00

Grandma's Birthday at the Park

2009-03-10T15:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Amy and I picked up the kinders and headed to a park by G&G Jones' house. I love doing things with G&G because my kids absolutely adore them!

We invited the Jones' boy's wives and kids which always makes for fun times and conversation (especially since we don't get to see them as much as we should). The cousins all had a blast and Amy (of course) made a delicious cake called a hummingbird cake. Scott and Stephanie's latest edition - Emmit (but I don't know how to spell his name)Amberlee was quarantined because of an undiagnosed sickness. Poor girl, she really didn't feel well and by the end was begging Emily to go home and go to bed.

The big hit of the day with my chicas was the baby swings.

Did I ever mention my London has some major personality??? These pics speak for themselves!

This last one makes me go into fits of laughter every time I look for it. Her arms look tiny and it looks like her head is on backwards -- I'm telling you that if you haven't been around London lately, these pictures are her to a tee, she's wild and crazy. And yet there is also a sweet and tender side to my psycho child. I love her to death! And I'm quite interested to see if she and Collin get along and how they will act together when Megan moves here because I know Collin is just as crazy in his own right.

Someone else enjoyed the swings just as much!

See her two front teeth that are popping out?

Someone who didn't enjoy the baby swing as much was Aidan. He climbed himself into one and then got STUCK! I tried to lift him out, but the boy is seriously too heavy for me. So I called Stephanie to come help me. The mother of two boys herself claimed she could do it with her big muscles. Yeah right. She tried to no avail and we both just laughed as I lifted and she pushed his legs up through the holes. Free at last. I told A never to climb into one of those again because Aunt Mandi would not get him out again.

beautiful enough for a museum!

2009-03-05T08:00:00.000-08:00

www.dumpr.net

I ♥ U2

2009-03-04T08:15:00.000-08:00

I ♥ U2.

If you didn't know, they just released this new album: No Line on the Horizon. So if you have nothing better to do today, go to Target and get it! I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

Also, here are some of my favorite quotes from an interview given to the band by CNN. Some are funny, some are serious, but all of them just give you a sense of what an awesome band they are! Did I mention that I like U2 (but not to the obsessive point)?

*****

Bono: It's very hard to imagine anyone else being in the Beatles. It's very hard to imagine anyone else being in U2. People tell me that if you go to a U2 show, when we walk out on stage, everybody has the hairs going up in the back of their neck. What we don't tell everyone is that happens to us, too. And I don't know why that is. I think it's chemistry.

Bono: If we're going to make an album, it's very important to us that every song on the album is a "10." I think the reason people aren't buying albums is a lot of times they only get one or two good songs. For us, every song had to be extraordinary, and special, and unique, and the whole had to be better than the sum of its parts. You'll have to decide if we achieved that, but that's what we were attempting.

Edge: No album of ours is ever made in a vacuum. There's always a huge amount of what's going on in the culture that informs our work. But when it comes out in the end, it always sounds like U2.

Clayton: We see each other a lot -- just to figure out what music we're listening to, what movies people are seeing, just to know where their heads are at. And if we don't have too much to talk about, we just swap knitting tips.

Mullen: It's not an easy record, and it's complex. "[Get on Your] Boots" is one of those things where our audience is kind of divided on whether they think it's a good or bad thing. I'm very pleased with it. I think it shakes it up a bit, and we need to do that. We've had two albums -- "All That You Can't Leave Behind" and "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" -- and they were very U2 as U2. This album is a lot more experimental.

*****

But if you want to read the whole article yourself, go here (there's also a cool video link - and see if you notice Bono unconsciously flipping you off - pretty funny).

If you want to sample the music go here and click on "listen to samples."

Reagan's favorite sample is "Get Your Boots On" -- the song evoked clapping and dancing from the girl.

happy listening.

I know I'll be happy.

p.s.

Bono, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen and The Edge appeared on the southwest corner of 53rd Street and Broadway (yesterday) -- along with NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg -- to unveil the street sign "U2 Way."

West 53rd Street west of Broadway will keep the name for one week while the band is in town to appear each night on CBS' "The Late Show with David Letterman."

Valentine's Day

2009-03-03T07:38:00.000-08:00

Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE England. I always have ever since I was a little girl. Maybe it stemmed from my mother's interest in the British monarchy and history or maybe it stemmed from me watching my sisters read Victoria Holt books which I automatically read as well once I hit about fifth grade (Victorian light romances - very clean). At BYU, I went to London for a semester (Fall '98) and fell in love all over again with England, only this time it was tangible and even better than I had imagined!

Here in Arizona, not much resembles England except on thing, albeit a bit trashy: the Renaissance Festival. Nate and I went when we were first married and then we went about two years ago with Amy and Jim. So this year for Valentine's Day, we packed up the kids, picked up Cyndee and headed out to the Renaissance Festival.
Savannah and London got so excited and remembered that you can dress up like princesses. They love it because everyone there addresses them as "princess." What girly wouldn't like that?

The day was fun, but we determined that we probably won't be heading back because it really is flat out trashy and our girls are getting old enough to notice immodesty and there's A LOT of cleavage there!

Here are a few of the little pictures I took:

Highlights of the day included:
1. turkey legs - my girls LOVE meat on a bone because they seem to think it funny and entertaining to eat like a "barbarian" - can you tell they're Nate's children?
2. the fire-jugglers
3. The dragon-slide wrapped around a turret - you climb up the tower and then slide down the slide which is the dragon's body.
4. the joust
5. the petting zoo
6. and finally, Savannah getting her hair done. Grandma Cyndee insisted and Savs was super-excited although you would never guess from her seriousness in the pictures. So cute.

We were all quite taken back when she chose green flowers.

The girls had a great day and that's all that matters, but we won't tell them that that was their last time going there. I just love going places as a family.

Saturday

2009-03-02T10:00:00.000-08:00

This Saturday gave me three things that I am passionate about:

1. Nathan
2. Books, books, books
3. American Patriotism/History

A huge thanks to Cyndee for playing mother to my three girlies all (8:00 - 5:00) day long while Nate and I attended a seminar about American History and the Constitution -- the miraculous way it came about as well as it's content. Just the fact that Nate devoted his whole Saturday to something so near and dear to my heart without complaint melts my heart. He is totally interested in history and govt, but just isn't the type to choose to sit all day in a classroom setting (it may be a slight ADD-thing) and yet he did so willingly -- to be with me -- to make me happy. Thank you! Both he and I loved it and learned a ton of things we'd never been taught before.

my passions were included in the following ways:

1. I got to spend all day learning while sitting next to Nate. Lunch was spent in discussion after which we explored downtown Mesa which brings me to the books.

2. We discovered an awesome bookshop that smelled of old books. I love that smell. It reminded me of an old bookstore Megan and I used to frequent in Denver where this painting hung. From that time on, I swore that one day I would have a library and this picture (by Fragonard) would be the focal point amongst all the books. Don't you just love it?

Anyway, Nate and I spent most of lunch looking at all the books. That's one of the things I love about Nate - he wants to learn about anything and everything. If he hears something he's never heard of then I can be assured he will be searching it on the internet the minute we get home. Always learning; I like that. Plus, we could both spend hours perusing a book store together (and we've had many a date doing so).

I also went away from the seminar with a list of books I need to eventually get for my "I love America bookshelf" the instructer kept referring to. Some of those include: The Real George Washington, The Real Benjamin Franklin, The Real Thomas Jefferson, The Making of America: The Substance and Meaning of the Constitution, and The Federalist Papers. Those are just for starters to go along with my 5,000 Year Leap.

I will just add that my comments on the 5,000 Year Leap a couple posts ago should be edited, thanks to a friend for reminding me that the leap could never have taken place without the restoration of the gospel. In my mind, nothing is secular therefore it's all just one chain of spiritual events and the making of America was a step that Heavenly Father played a huge part in so that He could establish the gospel once again on the earth. We needed freedom of religion in order for Joseph Smith to restore the gospel in it's fullness. But don't take my word for it, just go read 1 Nephi 13, which chronicles everything from Columbus' discovery of America through inspiration to divine help in the Revolutionary War.

3. As a former history major (turned humanities), I LOVE LOVE LOVE history. It intrigues me and so the whole day spent learning about the forming of America and it's founding documents entertained me to no end while others probably think I'm psycho. The seminar was put on by the National Center for Constitutional Studies. There were many stories about divine help received during the war as well as during the constitutional convention. And then just learning what the constitution actually says was refreshing considering how government has gotten so out of control over the past decades. I am just so grateful that we have this document and I hope that more people will read it and encourage our government leaders to follow it more.

I 100% agree with James Madison when he said the following:

"A well instructed people alone can permanently be a free people." and

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."

The only way to figure out solutions to our country's problems is to look back into history and learn from other people's mistakes. We must be educated so that we can know if this or that has been tried before and whether or not it succeeded or failed. That is exactly what the Founding Fathers did: they studied other civilizations and governments to see which worked and which didn't. They learned from the Greeks and Romans what not to do and from the Israelites (Moses) and the Anglo-Saxons what to do.

And don't get me wrong when I talk about America's current situation, I'm not bashing on the current president because our last one started the whole ball rolling. I'm not for democrat or republican - I'm for whoever will do what is in line with our Founding Fathers and things that make sense -- I just wish there were more leaders out there to fit that description

Plus, I'm calmer over the whole thing when I remind myself that when all is said and done, Heavenly Father is in charge and He knows what needs to happen so I'll just have faith and do what his prophets have asked -- stay out of debt, have some money saved, and have a year supply to sustain my family in case of job-loss or anything else that might come our way.

What a great Saturday!!!!

94

2009-02-27T12:12:00.000-08:00

That's how old my Grandpa Jones turned yesterday.

Amy and I packed up the baby, two preschoolers, picked up the kinders and headed over for a "pizza party." The kids were super-thrilled; they always are when we visit G&G Jones.
This was their "happy birthday song/dance." As they were setting up, we told them to all stand in a line so Grandpa could see all of them but they quickly informed us that it was all part of the dance. Pardon us. The younger two popped out during the song and it turned out great. I have no doubt Savannah orchestrated the whole thing.

We arrived and G&G were still out running errands so we took advantage of the green grass and beautiful Arizona weather and took some pictures.

heads on a wall.

Reagan LOVES Aidan and Aidan LOVES Reagan.
They have a bond -- every time she sees him, she laughs.

Reagan spent her whole time doing this -- crawling away from me.

p.s. for those of you who want to know who Dr. Bates is, don't worry, he's not my thereapist or anything (I don't have one), but only a random commenter on my "Breathe in, Breath out" post.

p.p.s. if you didn't notice, I'm going private next week so leave your email address if you would like to be invited.

Sooner or later

2009-02-26T09:53:00.000-08:00

. . . it was bound to happen.

I am going private next week. Nate and I have discussed the issue numerous times, but I always put it off. Dr. Robert B. Bates helped to finally push me over the line. So if you want to still check in on the family, then just leave your email address and I'll invite you to continue viewing the blog.

The Best Date EVER!

2009-02-25T11:54:00.001-08:00

So Nate and I had a date last night.

I looked forward to it ALL day.

It was a P90X Date!

I am on my fifth week of the lean program and love it, but yesterday morning my P90X partner , who is also my awesome next-door neighbor, texted me at 5:30 and this is what it said:

"sick.sorry."

I am just impressed that she still keeps coming even though she's expecting, she rocks.

I had just gotten up with a cranky Reagan and Nate was up getting ready for work. He suggested I snuggle Reagan and sleep a little longer and he'd work out with me that evening.

Cardio? I asked.

Sure he replied.

And so the date was made.

And I looked forward to it all day.

Well, the date didn't occur until 8:30, but it was the best date ever!

Nothing against Megan or anything, but I so enjoyed sneaking glances at my honey during the workout. We've never worked out together and so this was a first and super-fun. Plus, I think he has a new appreciation for how hard this program really is that I've been getting up at 5:30 to do for the past month!

Breath In, Breath Out. . .

2009-02-19T11:55:00.000-08:00

I get a lot of emails. Some of it is spam like the "Do you want a hot wife? Get a Russian Wife!" Yeah, that one has been coming in nearly every day and it makes me laugh every time. Some of them are legitimate things I signed up for at one time and don't read/need anymore like Flylady (who sends hundreds of emails) or my old Pampered Chef lady. One that I don't recall ever signing up for comes about once a week nevertheless and it's some sort of beauty tips email. Usually I delete, but today I read with interest. The title read:

Simple Deep Breathing Exercise: Techniques That Can Reduce the Effects of Stress on the Body

I had to stop watching the news everyday because it stressed me out so badly.

So then I turned to reading which hasn't turned out well either because I'm currently reading The 5,000 Year Leap. It's an AMAZING book, don't get me wrong. It's written by a man who was frustrated that most people don't have a grasp on what the Constitution actually says let alone what the Founding Fathers believed in and how those beliefs helped them form this great nation.

For 5,000 years, life had remained pretty much the same on the earth until these Founding Fathers created an environment of "free-market economics that allowed science to thrive in an explosion of inventions and technical discoveries which, in merely 200 years, gave the world the gigantic new power resources of harnessed electricity, the internal combustion engine, jet propulsion, exotic space vehicles, and all the wonders of nuclear energy."

Basically, in 200 years, the human race had made a 5,000-year leap.

Why and how?

Through the amazing structure of our American government that the Founding Fathers created from numerous philosophies and principles. This book goes through those ideals and the philosophies of the Founding Fathers. I love it. It's easy reading and yet I feel I understand our country so much better.

And that's where the problem with reading begins for me. I turn off the news to not get frustrated and then I go read this amazing book that basically shows me that everything government has turned into contradicts everything that the Founding Fathers held sacred. I bet they are all rolling over in their graves right now - in fact, I know they are from some of their specific quotes I've read.

A few months ago I read a ton of talks from President Benson that amazed me and cemented my beliefs in government's role and the Constitution and now this book is just the icing on the cake from the Founding Fathers themselves. It feels good to be in good company.

hello - that was a tangent!!!!

Wasn't I talking about my emails and the deep breathing/stress email?

Well, I thought it had some good points and I need to relax and take deep breaths more (especially on my non-kenpo days -- kenpo is great for getting out frustration).

So here's what she said - if you feel stress, then I think you'll like it. If you don't feel stress then you must live in fairytale land and I would like to join you, let me know the directions!

"I know you hear all sorts of things about the negative effects of stress on your body and overall health. Even Oprah Winfrey had a guest on her show about how deep breathing could help you look and feel younger since it can reduces stress levels.

They've been researching stress reduction for decades, and the evidence comes back again and again that the most effective, easiest way to counteract stress is through deep breathing exercises. As we grow tense, the tendency is to take shallower breaths.

Understanding Common Breathing Problems:

Shallow breathing means less oxygen getting to the brain and muscles, which increases your physical tension as your body tries to adjust to the new demands you place on it. Ordinarily, we don't notice that we aren't using our lungs fully until something causes us to take a deep breath.

Hyperventilation is the most recognizable extreme of shallow breathing. Brought on by anxiety, breathing becomes so shallow that the sufferer experiences the feeling of not being able to catch her breath: she tries to compensate by breathing faster, and winds up gasping uncontrollably. Hyperventilation has traditionally been treated by having the person breathe into a paper bag: I don't know the chemical reason this would work, but I would surmise that having the distraction of breathing into a bag may be enough to calm the person and turn the mind away from the anxiety that brought on the attack in the first place.

Benefits of Practicing Daily Deep Breathing:

Taking a few minutes once or twice a day to practice deep breathing techniques can lower your blood pressure, aid your digestion, increase alertness and decrease fatigue, reduce tension headaches and migraines, and generally increase your quality of life (these are just a few of the benefits). People tend not to try deep breathing for a couple of reasons. They're afraid it sounds too simple to work. They feel like they can't make time for it in their already over-committed
lives.

It is simply a way of resetting the body's stress levels. You don't have to take a particular pose or
chant anything, if you don't want to. For a busy, worried mind, it may help to count each breath in and out ("one" on the inhale, "one" on the exhale, then "two" and so on). Counting your breaths is a simple exercise technique that helps keep the mind from wandering off to more distracting and more upsetting ideas. Ideally, the time you spend in deep breathing is not spent ruminating, planning, agonizing, or scheduling. You should just be breathing.

Deep Breathing Exercise Technique to Try:

To practice deep breathing, you will need ten minutes of uninterrupted time and a kitchen timer.

1. The first step is to give yourself permission to practice deep breathing, forgetting any ideas of multi-tasking. Promise yourself 5-10 minutes, twice a day, every day.

2. Turn off the cell phone, shut the office door (or go sit in your car) and make sure you can give your full attention to doing nothing.

3. Get yourself in a comfortable position. You may be sitting or lying down: it doesn't matter.

4. Loosen tight clothes, and take off your shoes if they aren't comfortable.

5. Set your timer for 10 minutes (or 5 if you're just starting and fear that 10 minutes of sitting quietly may drive you mad. It won't, though, and you can work your way up to it gradually.)

6. Relax your body. Those muscles you usually suck in, let go of. Let your face droop, too (many of us hold lots of tension in our jaws and foreheads. Especially if you're prone to headaches, relaxing your face will be most helpful.

7. Close your eyes, and focus on your breathing. Usually, the chest rises when you breathe. In deep breathing, your stomach will rise. Feel your stomach rising and falling. If your mind
is racing, count your breaths. Otherwise, just concentrate on your breathing. Usually, your mind will wander, so when it does, gently remind it that you are just breathing now and will think of other things later. Don't get mad at yourself, and don't give up after only a few tries.

And that's all there is to it. When your time is up, the timer will ring. If you've managed to fall asleep, it may be because you've been so tightly keyed up that releasing your anxiety for
a few minutes gave you some much-needed rest. Don't feel bad about that!"

I know I won't do it 10 minutes twice a day (my over-active brain would never settle down that long), but I can start out with just a few minutes and maybe then I can handle the news again.

Puppets

2009-02-17T10:49:00.000-08:00

On Friday Amy invited us over to make sock puppets from a kit Aidan got for Christmas. Everyone chose what they wanted and we set off with good intentions of making them with the kids' help. Upon realizing only a hot glue gun would do the job, we sent the kids out back and made the puppets ourselves. So they had a blast outside while Amy and I had fun making puppets. Savannah (my artist, remember) was the only child disappointed that the craft wasn't more "hands-on" for the kids. She is the craft queen.

Davyn's snake. Savy's butterfly.

London's superhero -- with an "L" on her cape for London. The hair is super cute although it took me forever to make. I never got a close-up picture of Aidan's alien, but you can see it below.

Super-puppets! Reagan wasn't big on getting attacked by the super-London puppet.

She did, however, love being out back watching the kids play. This is what she looks like when I don't fix her hair in the morning! Crazy! Aidan came running and in asked to put on his soccer clothes. Then Savy came in and told me she was being a "soccer mom", watching Aidan. They are so cute when they all get along and play well together.

First Tooth - finally!

2009-02-13T16:03:00.000-08:00

Crusty nose, dirty face, unkempt hair -- and she's still a cutie!

The latest on the chicas

2009-02-09T08:43:00.000-08:00

Call me biased, but I just can't resist this girly. In these pictures her hair looks a little crazy, but it really is curly-curly in the back (almost tight riglets). Dark hair, blue eyes and I've decided she inherited Nate's nice olive skin. That makes two olives and one whitey like me (poor London). I love taking her to the store because every time I take her out, people comment. Saturday just she and I went grocery shopping and I was stopped three times to hear how cute she is -- one couple even kept me talking a few minutes about her. And then there were about four other people that cooed to others about her as they passed by me. I just love it that other people think she's darling too and not just her biased mother. Just look for yourself - how could you resist her????

Reagan's still giving out the besitos.

Enough oozing about my baby. Her latest is her new tooth (yes, only one). She constantly wants her binky in her mouth, but when I take it away she just babbles and giggles at nothing in the air. She uses anything she can to stand up and the other day she let go for the first time and balanced a few seconds before falling to the floor. I've seen her do it a couple times since. She's also figured out how to crawl up the stairs although she's still not good yet and that's scary. She's curious and more and more difficult to watch. Everything goes in her mouth and hence the binky obsession - I prefer that in her mouth so that I know I won't find her sucking on some clippy or rubber band, which has happened a couple times and I'm grateful I got there in time. Mostly she likes to just suck things in her mouth though and not swallow, which has been a life-saver more than once for this girly who has two older sisters who don't quite understand the concept of picking up little things (no matter how much their mom threatens them). Cupboards are no longer safe and my kitchen constantly has bowls and various things on the floor - just follow the wake of destruction and you'll find Reagan. It's great fun.

London is still obsessed with cleanliness (as much as I wish this phase would pass). Almost every night I see the bathroom light switch on in the dark hours and hear her washing her hands. The nights that I do get up to help her back to bed, she's like a little half-asleep zombie. And yet she still concerns herself with cleanliness in her zombie-state. Crazy.

In fact, as I'm writing this, she came in and asked me to help put on her panties after using the bathroom. I helped her put her legs in and then told her to pull them up and she refused because she didn't want to get her hands dirty and wash again. . . should I start thinking about counseling? I'm not joking.

And she's full of more spunk than ever.

I think we're going through a middle-child-syndrome stage at the moment. She goes from tantrums to super-sweet-baby-talker. The baby talking drives me absolutely insane! I think I'm ready for her to be in kindergarten next year because everyday she asks me if it's her preschool and the majority of the time it isn't since she only goes Tues/Thurs.

Savannah is Savannah. Still obsessed with her looks and fashion more than school. I get so frustrated doing homework with the girl, but we're making it -- and she's improving (and I'm improving my patience). I just keep reminding myself that she's in an advanced school and will be done with k and 1st grade curriculumn by May. So I try to not get so frustrated. Although I've noticed that if she has a good incentive, she'll do it fast (and right) on her own without my help. Math is our biggest problem. BUT, she did get an award 2 weeks ago for not missing a single day -- 100 days of school. She was so proud to get an "award."
Savy is also the best big sister ever. She always gives up toys for peace-keeping sake with London or helps her do things and I can always trust her with Reagan (unlike Miss London). Reagan lights up and giggles just looking at Savannah. She does with London too, but there's just a touch of fear because London does end up making Reagan cry every time they're together.

Serendipity

2009-02-04T08:25:00.000-08:00

"A state of mind wherein a person,
through awareness and sensitivity,
frequently finds something that is better
than the thing he was seeking."

I have always like this word (and the movie). The other day I was reading an essay by Richard M. Eyre, author of Teaching Your Children Values, and I loved his section on Serendipity and thought I'd share a little to 1. give you something to think about like it has me and 2. for my own memory sake.

This essay was written to summarize and introduce the reader to his new book, The Three Deceivers which actually looks quite interesting and I may have to read (I sensed some eternal principles in there).

The three deceivers are control, ownership and independence. Those don't create happiness, but rather unhappiness and the concepts we should replace those with are: serendipity, stewardship and synergicity ( a combo of synergy and synchronicity).

He writes:

"The alternative to the deceiver of Control is Serendipity, an attitude that pursues pro-active goals but stays open to surprises and looks for the spontaneous, the unexpected, and the adventure in life and welcomes them all. Let me tell you a story:

. . . That summer, I had an internship in Hawaii, with an airline. I would fly to one of the outer islands each weekend and hitchhike. One Saturday, on the big island, I got a ride with a bona fide Hawaiian couple. They picked me up in Hilo and off we went for Kona, on the other side of the island. They kept stopping to show me a waterfall, or some big lilies, or an old volcano. All day they delightedly showed me their island, and at sunset, we pulled into Kona. I thanked them and said how lucky I felt that they had been going all the way to Kona. "Oh no," the man said in his pigeon English, "We were not going to Kona, we were going grocery store."

I stared at him in amazement and he explained, "We can go grocery store tomorrow--cannot take you to Kona tomorrow!"

The Serendipity alternative to the Control deceiver simply means that as we pursue our goals and check off our lists, we take off our blinders and see other people and their needs and the opportunities that come up unexpectedly. We relish rather than resent surprises and we look for chances to meet new people or go in new directions that we couldn't have predicted or planned. We accept the fact that we don't (and can't and wouldn't want to) control everything, and thus each day becomes an adventure.

I just love that story and the last paragraph because, as you know -- I am a list maker (and checker-off-er). I need more Serendepity in my life and I'm looking to "bring it on" in 2009!

London's Art from Primary

2009-02-02T08:27:00.001-08:00

London's version of the First Vision.

I love this drawing because:

1. the topic.

2. London does not usually draw actual things - she's more of a scribbler even though I know she's quite capable (proven here) of more. So this is a rarity for her.

3. I know she really put a lot of thought into this drawing -- the tree, three people (Joseph Smith is the large one on the right, smiling), the grass, and even some "glow" coming off Heavenly Father. Love it.

4. It shows me that she really does listen intently and learn in Primary. Every Sunday she tells me details of the lesson and I am so impressed that she's learning the gospel so well and loves it.

5. Her name started and interrupted (by the tree) 3 times. The back has two full names to make up for those on the front.

Noah T.

2009-01-29T08:58:00.000-08:00

Usually when Tyler and Gina come for Christmas, they have a b-day party for Noah at Chuck-e-Cheese because it's easy with all the cousins (plus it's the one time a year we take our kids there so they love it). I just found these random pictures and thought I'd post them.

Tyler and Ryder

The girlies on tv

Regina and Reagan -- Gina actually held Reagan like this almost the whole time.

Then Reagan went to Uncle Jim -- I think he secretly likes her.

The cute birthday boy who is an exact replica of Tyler.

Economic Stimulus?

2009-01-28T07:30:00.000-08:00

So I'm just a little -- no, I won't lie -- I'm a lot - frustrated with this whole "stimulus" thing.

I've put some facts below about the stimulus and, honestly, I mostly see it as an excuse for Obama/dems in Congress to get what they've always wanted done and for Obama to achieve some of his campaign promises. I mean, I really don't think that part of this stimulus bill should be to "prepare us for universal healthcare," but it is convenient for Obama who promised universal healthcare to the people. He just has a good way of getting the money to do it now -- just call it stimulus and it's all good. Right? Uhm, NO!

I don't care if people are Democrats or Republicans (I don't think I'm either at this point), but I do care if you're informed. If you're going to support something, at least know what's in it for the most part. Do your research, be informed and then CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES. They work for you, after all. Or they should...that's supposed to be the idea of government officials. . .

Below is a graph showing recessions in the U.S. in correlation to how much money was printed at that time. Quite interesting that we're doing something that's never been done before. We've always gotten out of recessions without this large amount of spending, why are we allowing them to convince us that we have no other options now? Sorry, I forewarned that I'm keyed up over this whole thing. I'll just shut up and let the facts speak for themselves now.

Total Cost of Stimulus Legislation: $825 billion

How does this compare?

• In 1993, the unemployment was virtually the same as the rate today (around 7%). Yet, President Clinton’s proposed stimulus legislation *only* contained $16 billion in spending

• The total cost of this one piece of legislation is almost as much as the annual discretionary budget for the entire federal government.

• This legislation nears a trillion dollars. President Reagan said the best way to understand a trillion dollars is to imagine a crisp, new stack of $1000 bills.

• If you had a stack four inches high, you’d be a millionaire. A trillion-dollar stack of $1000 bills would measure just over 63 miles high.

• In $20 bills, a trillion dollar stack would be 3150 miles high. That’s about the distance between DC and Trujillo, Peru.

• President Obama has said that his proposed stimulus legislation will create or save 3 million jobs. This means that this legislation will spend about $275,000 per job. The average household income in the U.S. is $42,000 a year.

• This bill provides enough spending to give every man, woman, and child in America $2,700.

• This bill will cost each and every household $6,700 in additional debt, paid for by our children and grandchildren.

• Although this legislation has been billed and described as a transportation and infrastructure investment package, but only three percent ($30 billion) of this package is for road and highway spending.

• Much of the funding within the proposed stimulus package will go to programs which already have large, unexpended balances.

• For example, the draft bill provides $1 billion for Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), which already has $16 billion on hand.

• And, this year, Congress has plans to rescind $9 billion in highway funding that the states have not yet used.

• Deficit spending will not expand the economy. If that were true, then the current $1.2 trillion deficit -- the largest in history -- would already be rescuing the economy.

• $800 billion more will not change that.

• Trade groups state that every $1 billion in highway “stimulus” can be spent creating 34,779 new construction jobs.

• But Congress must first borrow that $1 billion out of the private sector.

• The private sector then loses or forgoes roughly the same number of jobs.

• Japan responded to a 1990 recession by passing 10 “stimulus” bills over 8 years (building the largest national debt in the industrialized world). Their economy remained stagnant and their per capita income went from the second highest in the world to the tenth highest.

To see the source of this info, go here.

I think I'm with Glenn Beck on this one --- "I'd rather go through a tough period and cleanse ourselves from these bad companies and all the mistakes. I'd rather learn the lesson and still have a little bit of capitalism left."

Let's just suck it up and let people learn to be responsible and learn the hard way - because they're not going to learn anything by being bailed out all the time. It's good to fail. It's even better to get yourself back up again after failing -- but we're taking that option off the table at the moment.

So decide where you stand and call your representatives because the House may be voting on this thing TODAY!

...and have a happy Wed! I'm off to help Amy tape/caulk her upstairs in preparation for painting before the big birthday/Super Bowl party on Sunday.

p.s. if you live in Mesa/Q.C. - Jeff Flake is your representative and he's NOT voting for the stimulus -- I just called Washington.

p.p.s. I know if I read this, I would get excited and then never call, so I'll make it easy for you. Go here and you can type in your state and find your representative and his/her contact information.

p.p.p.s. 4:35 PM - I just found out that it passed in the House.

How to take a shower . . . and other things

2009-01-21T14:44:00.000-08:00

When you have a baby who crawls and puts everything in her mouth and is super-curious about everything - it takes some creativity for a mom to get a shower in the morning.

This is my latest solution to the what-to-do-with-the-children-while-I-shower dilemma. London plays PBS kids while Reag watches with snacks, a sippy and her beloved binky. Needless to say, my showers are mighty quick.

This is Regan's Christmas present from G&G Jones. It's the only baby doll (and believe me, we have many in this household) that she will pick up, giggle at, chatter to, and then attack with "besitos." When I saw her giving it loves, I just had to document it so I ran to get the camera and when I returned, the love fest was not over as you can see.

Reagan's "besitos" (Spanish for kisses) are full on slobber fests that usually involve her grabbing your face and grunting or growling. I get them all the time and love it! Just a cute girly who is cutting her first -- yes first (at 10 months) tooth this week! And here is her high-chair the girls made for her in their room.
She'll sit in it and joyfully eat plastic food.

She definitely loves her older sisters and usually goes into fits of laughter just by looking at them or even walking into their room - it's like her own Reagan-Disneyland.

"The Good Part"

2009-01-19T09:09:00.000-08:00

"and I have chosen the good part," (2 Nephi 2:30)

I read those words Sunday during my scripture study and they really struck me. It's funny how it's probably my 100th time reading the BOM, but here I am still seeing new things every time (yes, even in my awesome new scriptures I got for Christmas!).

Lehi is speaking to his son, Jacob, as kind of a last speech before he dies and those are his last words. As I pondered over those words, I wondered if, at the end of my life, I will be able to say "and I have chosen the good part."

What is the good part?

I suppose it's basically the same and yet different for each person. That's up to you to ponder and decide on your own.

As for me, I've decided that the good part includes numerous things, but number one being that I have chosen to live the gospel to the fullest. This does not mean I merely go to church on Sundays and look like I live the gospel. Rather, it means that I feel the gospel and it's part of my being and I am constantly striving to strengthen my relationship with the Savior and understand His role better in my life as well as in the lives of those around me (because until we do, we'll never realize how much we really don't understand).

For me, the good part also includes my choice to have an eternal marriage and family -- and to work hard to make sure we all make it in the end.

It all sounds grand, but here's what my "good part" includes on a daily basis:
and I wouldn't trade anything in the world for it!

One thing we have started this week is something I should have done a long time ago and that is to read a little of the BOM every night with the girlies.

Remember that scripture that talks about the children leading the way?

Monday I was reading my scriptures and London came up and asked me, "Mom, why don't we read the scriptures together as a family?" I told her that we would start that night. So I got a blue BOM out and put it on their shelf while they both made bookmarks for the occasion. Now every night before family prayer, we read a little and it has been so fabulous that I wonder why we didn't start this earlier. Even last night Nate and I were in a hurry because we were getting them to bed later than usual, but good old faithful London wouldn't let us leave until we'd read. Yes, we can learn from our children. This has become a small portion of "the good part" for my little family.

And the amazing thing is that life is great/better when we choose "the good part," so why do we sometimes balk at it? The blessing far outweigh the work. Like did you ever notice how much better you deal with life/your children when you do your scripture study everyday? It's like my magic ingredient for making the day go smoothly and works so well that I wonder why I ever miss a day (and yet, imperfect me always seems to slip a missed day in here and there).

So over the next week or so I'll be pondering what else my "good part" includes because this is just the tip of the iceberg, I am sure. . .

Cousins Pictures - catch-up

2009-01-19T08:59:00.000-08:00

Cousins at the Park.
They're not the best pics, but it's the memories, right?

This was the last night before they left - snuggling on the couch, watching tv.

Thinking of Megan. . .

2009-01-16T07:33:00.000-08:00

This morning as I read my CNN Newsletter, one headliner caught my eye and made me think of Megan. It read:

Iowan: Cold hurts, makes 'skin burn.'

Ouch! Poor Megan out there in good old Iowa. I'll be thinking of you as my house heats up to about 76 by the end of the day with no heater or air conditioner running. Maybe this picture will help you, Megs ---
I love you!!!

On another note, I am feeling dang crappy right now with major congestion/headache/cough. Reagan and London are stuffed up too, but are acting fine so far. Lucky for me, it's Cyndee's day off and she didn't get to see the girls last week so she's going to come and get them for the day. Lovely. As a mom you get so used to just sucking it up when you're sick so this should be super nice to just lay down and not have to worry about anything - or better yet, anyone. Hopefully the rest will help me knock it and we can go to the zoo like we'd planned to this weekend.

The Plan (to get what I want)

2009-01-15T05:00:00.000-08:00

I am a smoothie girl.

I had a roommate in college who worked for JambaJuice (she also went home at Christmas break and never came back, thinking she was pregnant -- but that's a whole other story). I used to bask in the joy of her making me homemade Jambas. I was shocked to learn that you had to sign a contract before working there promising not to disclose their "secret jamba recipes."

Didn't they ever learn to SHARE???

I was also shocked to learn that my roommate had no morals (this was before Christmas break, obviously). She shared recipes right and left.

Curses.

Curses.

Why did I not have the foresight to type and save those dang recipes?

I suppose it was fate because I lacked the main ingredient -- one of these babies:

I covet this little machine (maybe I should secretly steal Amy's).

If you've never heard of vita-mix then I'm sorry for you. Go here to learn more, but beware of the temptation to covet that will inevitably overcome you.

I have wanted one for years and the other day I remembered that fact. I made smoothies for our breakfast and realized it mostly tasted like strawberry/blueberry milk. Milk - that's mostly all I could taste. Then my mind wandered over to vita-mix land where you don't need to add liquid because the thing pulverizes your food so much that liquid results immediately. So you just throw in a bunch of fruit (even whole apples) and voila, you have a smoothie that doesn't taste like milk.

I will get a vita-mix someday -- if I had just saved a little every month instead of just plain pining away for it then I would definitely have the $500+ to buy the dang thing.

So my new plan is to make an envelope labeled "Vita-Mix Fund."

Every month I shall contribute to it until someday (hopefully soon), I will be able to make all the smoothies I want with my shiny new vita-mix.

Or I could just write the government for a $700 bailout (and get the deluxe package).

And maybe then I'll consider getting a job at Jamba Juice and work there a month - okay a week - only to get the recipes (for my own personal home use, of course, not to be shared).

Sounds like a plan . . . I'll keep you updated on my quest.

A Trillion

2009-01-14T09:31:00.000-08:00

I am sick of ALL politicians -- and I mean ALL -- no matter what party they are affiliated with.
ALL.
period.

This week Barack Obama -- whom I give my support 100% as my new president until he does something I disagree with and then my approval rating may begin dropping, but we'll see. I'm willing to give him a fair chance. I am not a sore loser - well, unless we're talking about croquet (but I would never lose at that because I ROCK at croquet!). Besides, I really disliked McCain anyway, as did mostly all conservatives -- anyway, tangent over -- Obama announced his $1.2 trillion plan this week. He says trillion dollar deficits are going to be many years to come, but we must "spend our way out of this recession."

I humbly ask: what about capitalism?

Why can't we just let companies who are failing fail and then let others rise in their place instead of the government picking and choosing who wins . . . that is not capitalism despite what Congress and Pres. Bush think. Government should never have that kind of power - at least not in America because that's not what made us great. Capitalism is what made us a great and wealthy country.

I am aghast.

Or at least why not spend the money on something useful like we did after WWII when we invested in things that made us money like the Jet Engine? Not zoos, BMX dirt bike trails, gigantic water slides, museums, taverns and waterfalls (which are all included in this new $1.2 trillion plan). I don't think any of those will bring us enough money back to pay that debt off -- nobody in the world will come clamoring for our water slide and waterfall technology like they did with the Jet Engine after WWII.

By the way, if you were counting right now, one, two, three, four, five, six -- it would take you 32 days to get to a million. It would take you 32 years to count to a billion. It would take you 32,000 years to count to a trillion.

Wow. And we hear them talking about it like it's pocket change.

Food

2009-01-13T13:58:00.000-08:00

I totally forgot how nice it is to go through a day full of being a mom (which is quite exhausting) and then have this dropped off at your house right at dinner-time.

Amy and I decided to get out of slacker mode and pick up again on our dinner exchange. I couldn't be happier. I am the first to admit that when we kind of stopped in late Spring last year, my family suffered all summer and into fall and the holidays. Real dinners were had about 3 times a week (which isn't a lot when there's 7 days to account for in a week). PB&J became a staple, as long as Nate had his Nacho flavored Doritos.

But it's a new year and my family will be getting regular meals once again. Hallelujah!

Amy even started with a bang - dessert.

This was Reagan's first pudding experience and the reactions were priceless. With the first bite being vanilla she merely smiled, but with the second bite being chocolate she immediately giggled and clapped her hands, hungrily looking at me for more. She continued clapping and giggling every time she got a chocolate bite. I think she likes chocolate.

On another food note, I made super good tacos the other night.

For the recipe, go here.

And just for fun, if you want to wow your hubby with a fabulous sandwich one Saturday or Sunday afternoon, try this - it's my favorite!

Wow, now I'm hungry. I think I'll go eat lunch.

Before I forget. . .

2009-01-09T12:19:00.001-08:00

I have a couple things I need to remember AND they're good for some laughs.

Savannah

...has a bad habit. Let me preface this story with the fact that Savy bites her fingernails and it drives me CRAZY (it's Megan all over again!) So the other day I was helping her with homework and she asks me (in all seriousness, mind you): "Can I bite your fingernails?"

Now, I understand that biting nails is a bad habit/obsession, but how much worse is it if you covet other people's nails because you've already bitten yours to the quick?????

London

...is still obsessed with cleanliness and washing of hands. You know how kids always have to inform you when they go to the bathroom? Well, the other day she tells me, "Mom, I'm going into the bathroom to pick my booger and then put it in a kleenex and then wash my hands." So precise and clean . . . and dare I say, too much information?

Also, the other day she asked me if she could have a Henry Kiss (Hershey). I love it when they mix up words - I think it's so cute.

Reagan

...is perfect. She's growing fast and I shocked myself into reality when I realized the other day that in 2 1/2 months, she will be one!!!! Hello! Where did that time go? She is the ever-curious crawler, getting into everything and pulling herself up to stand like a big girl. Although I must say I am shocked that she still has no teeth and I've been claiming teething since she was two months old! She freely hands out slobbery besitos (kisses) and giggles. What joy she brings into our family!

3 1/2 Hours

2009-01-08T13:59:00.000-08:00

I've been working on "redecorating" my blog (check out my cool buttons - some take you to other pages or links while others are just for labeling purposes).

Maybe next time it'll be faster (because hopefully I'll remember what I'm doing).

I am, however, very happy with the results.

Nice and clean and fresh for a new year.

A bit girly, but that's my life . . . with a little splash of Nate - who's definitely not girly in the least.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I may be able to salvage the day and get a couple things done before Nate comes home. Perhaps.

blog list

2009-01-08T12:35:00.001-08:00

La Navidad

2009-01-05T15:45:00.000-08:00

I've been a slacker at posting these because JoDee was here and we stayed up too late every night -- mostly playing rock band until we all felt like we had carpal tunnel (Amy and Andee at least). One night was devoted to my new favorite movie though. And I'm so not used to staying up past midnight anymore so the 2:30 bedtime on New Years about did me in the next day. . . week (more on that later as I steal pictures from Amy).

So now today has been devoted to deep cleaning and laundry. Seriously, it's 3:32 and this is the first time I've sat down today -- and I'm far from done.

So here we go!

Christmas was fast, chaotic and fun. Isn't it always? Seeing Tyler's family is always fun and then as soon as they were ready to go, JoDee came down with the girls for a "cousins Christmas party" and a weeks worth of fun.

(picture overload, as usual)

Reagan was just excited to have the whole family in "her world" (the floor).

I about died at the difference in these two girls Christmas morning. Every present evoked a squeal of delight from Savannah while London appeared rather stoic while opening hers. I was a bit worried that she was unhappy with her loot until Nate informed me that she whispered to him that this was the best Christmas ever. I guess that's just the difference in their personalities.London with her presents from Savannah. I was so excited that Savs got to go to "Santa's Workshop" at school because I remembered going as a child. Yeah for Mr. C. - the P.E. teacher who instilled a love of hula hooping in my little girl! If you haven't had a good laugh lately, you should watch this girl hula-hoop! It's the best thing in the world! I'll have to see if I can figure out how to put a video of it on here.

I must say that it was one of the best meals EVER!. Amy made the same (amazing) turkey I made for Thanksgiving and I made the same stuffing and then mom's rolls were fabulous, as usual. . . I could go on and on, but I already have.

Davyn, Wyatt, London and Noah

Ryder was excited to have another little person. Here he is trying to blow on her tummy -- like everyone always does to him.

And here he is just flat out pestering the poor girl. It was quite entertaining to watch and Reagan didn't get upset at all. Cyn and Noah. London and Ryder with D's new "Wall-e computer." London's always attaching herself to a little one - she likes being older and tending them.
Noah - the boy is seriously an exact replica of Tyler at that age. Cutie Ryder.

Wesley

Savster

Reagan's Christmas bottle with Grandma Jones.Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

2008-12-29T11:22:00.000-08:00

We spent Christmas Eve at Nate's parents' house. Pat is the favorite amongst the grandchildren - they're all borderline obsessed with "Papa." Here he is with Paige and Reagan. Reagan immediately decided she loved Paige and started in on the besitos (kisses in Spanish). If Reagan really likes you, you're likely to randomly be attacked and slimed with numerous besitos. Paige's head was nice and slobbery by the time Reagan finished with her (I'm sure Jill appreciated that).After a fabulous dinner, we retired to the living room for a great evening planned by Aunt Jill. First up was Grandpa reading from Luke about the birth of the Savior while Jill had a book of illustrations to go along with the story. Then each child received a present to open -- pajamas, of course. London, Dallin, Ryan, Luke and Savannah.

London LOVED those pajamas when we went to the store. We saw girl Wall-e jammies, but she insisted that she preferred the boy ones. Grandma Norma ended up getting her the girl ones also and she adores both and is so excited that she can wear one pair when the other is dirty.

Then Nate was assigned to read them "The Night Before Christmas."
After that, we gave Pat and Norma a dvd that Marc made with tons of pictures of all the grandkids -- from here and Denver and Paris. It was fun to sit and see how much the cousins we don't see much have grown and changed. Marc really did a fabulous job on the dvd.

Reagan and Grandma.

Doesn't she look delicious?
I could just eat her up!

Pat and Paige (in her new jammies)

The whole evening the children would run back into Papa's study to check the internet. Papa found a website that tracked Santa (you could even zoom in and it google-earthed where he was down to the neighborhood). Pretty darn neat. Soon we couldn't keep them any longer and they were all begging to go home and get to bed, fearful of missing Santa. So we headed home and there were no problems getting to bed . . . no extra drinks, no getting up to blow a nose, no extra "things" to tell me, etc. No problems, not a peep.

Now that's what I call "Magic."

Jones Christmas Party

2008-12-28T11:23:00.000-08:00

I never posted this and yet I wrote it like two or three weeks ago.

Sunday night the girls and I attended the Jones Christmas party while Nate stayed home sick (as well as Monday,but was back to work yesterday). Above are Corey and Reagan -- Corey took over father duties for the absentee Nate. I kept waiting for Reagan to complain, but she really liked him (and his antlers he won). The girls loved the craft table set up for the kids and it wouldn't be a Jones party without the Suns on or a football game (for Grandpa).

When we were little, Grandpa would always call us "boys" despite the fact that Tyler was the only boy in the family. We just got used to it and now I have to tell my girls that story so they don't get so offended when he calls them boys. Anyway -- Grandpa and all his brothers are sports fanatics so I think it's rather funny that of all his boy grandchildren, only one has gotten a basketball scholarship to college . . . and it's a GIRL!!! Go Cassi! The other day I asked how he felt about that and he said he'd take it -- he's totally proud of her.

Sorry about the tangent - back to the party.

Scott, Chris and Corey. Okay, these boys will never be grown-up men in my mind because I will always have fond memories of growing up with them. So when I see them with families, I have to remind myself that it's been a long time and I'm old now too. These are three great men.

Reagan got Corey's antlers for her own and then headed to Grandma Cyndee.