Sara is always right

Adele is Eight!

2011-06-13T09:11:00.000-07:00

Adele is EIGHT!

Just pics today, i'm easing myself back into this BLOGGING thing. :) ;)
Well I might say a little about Adele i guess. But i'm 38 weeks pregnant and very emotional! LOL It took me a bit just to choose these pictures without bawling my eyes out.

I could never tell you everything about Adele, well I could but it'd be more of a book than a blog. She is my sweet special little miracle. And every day i'm more and more proud of the girl she is and the girl she is becoming. She was born after 4 years of us trying to get pregnant. So she is our little miracle baby. Dr. told us I would never get pregnant on my own, oddly enough I was actually pregnant when he told me that. Dumb dr. Anyway on to Adele.
Kind, Friendly, Sweet, Spunky, Spirited, CRAZY, Loving, Happy, Funny, Silly, Theatrical, Brave, Fearless, Smart, Determined, Tender, Gorgeous, Loyal, Stubborn, Hardworking, Stalwart, full of Faith, LOVES Attention. :)

That will give you an IDEA of what my Della is like. She's my crazy child, my hardest so far I think. But worth every single hair pulling episode. She gives me a run for my money but makes up for it 100x's by being this amazing child that has taught me so much.

Paris (and you have to drop the S so it sounds cooler), Louvre, Opera House, shopping, more Louvre

2010-02-24T17:24:00.000-08:00

Setting out on our 2nd day in Paris was fun, we felt more comfortable..more aware of our surroundings. Ready to go drown ourselves in art. Which is impossible NOT to do in Paris. Seriously. We walked across this gorgeous stained glass just walking through the city trying to get the Louvre. It was just on some innocent corner, nothing special than BAM huge gorgeous stained glass window.

Then we hit the Metro...and wow. It smelled...think of those lovely european tourists you accidentally got to close too, or were forced to share a bench with on Splash Mountain at Disneyland. Yeah, you will kind of understand what I smelled as I entered the underground airless halls of thousands of europeans. It was lovely. Deodorant REALLY needs to come into fashion there. But oddly enough I think I got used to it, because as I continued to use the Metro it didnt punch me in the face so much...go figure.

This is the underbelly of the Louvre. Its how you get to all the seperate sections. The place is CRAZY HUGE. We hit as much as we could but man alive there was a lot. It was all surreal and beautiful the french really know how to show off their stuff.

And boy do they have a lot of STUFF! This was a huge ballroom we passed going up to see the Winged Victory statue, just hundreds of things draped with plastic.

Here is a small portion of the Louvre from the inside. This was taken through a window.

One of my favorite paintings. It was massive, not the centerpiece to this huge room we were in but when I saw it I gasped, I knew exactly who it was of. Because I had just seen her in London and it was plain as day. This portrait is of Queen Elizabeth's deathbed. It was really beautiful.

Ah the lovely Mona Lisa. So this picture is deceiving. I look like i'm alone..really I had just smashed myself through a throng of tourists to get to the ropes around the painting. You seriously cannot get CLOSE to her. And even if there was no ropes around it, then there is a wooden partition THEN a bulletproof glass encases it. Seriously overkill people. The crowd wasnt HORRID only about 50 people :P I'm guessing its a really cool painting...but since I didnt get TOO good a look at it i'm going to just have to keep on guessing on that one. lol

The inside of the Pyramid at the Louvre, it was very beautiful, very artistic. We were blessed with a gorgeous day.

Matt fell in love with this confection. He took about 5 pictures of it, trying to get it to look as good on camera as it did in person. He didnt succeed, it was amazing. I got a huge baguette instead...it was also very yummy.

This place was AMAZING. It actually said "no pictures" on the front window there. So we had to control ourselves inside, but it was so so lovely..oh what is it? Its a yarn store! A gorgeous beautiful yarn store. It also had a large part devoted to buttons and things. I wish I had bought some buttons now...it was a very cool place. Even Matthew enjoyed hisself there, and we bought his mom some lovely fabric too.

And some shopping! We had to do some digging to find where "normal" people shopped. We found plenty of boutiques that had 20 pieces of clothes on the racks and asked 200euro for a shirt. But then aha we found Printemps, a shopping district for the lowly middle class. I got a nice warm cardigan/sweater thingy there and a necklace....and some other things. I wanted to get Matt a tie but he didnt want to "waste the money" whatevs!

This is the lovely Opera house, ya know the one in the Phantom of the Opera? This is it baby! It was really really big, and had really cool gargoyles and statues all over it. We hung out and people watched here for a little while, then went into a chocolate shop across the street and splurged on some french chocolate. :) We passed on the tobacco truffles :P

I wish I had a bigger picture but this is all matt took of the french cooking stores we went into. They were really fun and I wanted to snag something french for my kitchen...but the only thing i really fell in love with was these gray enamelled dutch ovens and ...yeah that wouldn't of been very enjoyable dragging in our backpacks.

The Louvre at night is lovely. It doesnt close until 10pm so we headed back there at the end of our day trying to get more of it crammed in our heads. Matt LOVED LOVED this setup. He's all about things lining up, its the City Planner in him. And he took a million pictures of how LINED UP this was. lol

On facebook that night I said that we got escorted out of the Louvre. And left it at that, the next morning I had TONS of comments of people freaking out asking what I HAD DONE! And most were not surprised I had been. (thanks for the high opinion guys!) but really it wasnt a big deal. Turns out the Louvre peeps are VERY punctual. At 9:30 they start shutting doors, herding the patrons out door by door. It was very creepy because they also turned out lights. So imagine the room next to you goes dark then you see 20 people walking out in a line basically arm in arm to ferret us out of the next room. Matt and I were admiring this merman sculpting when BAM 20 scary quiet guards were telling us to scadat. Closing the door behind us. It was very rude! lol Also freaky to walk passed a dark room where marble statues are being exhibited. It looked REALLY freaky. Anyway yeah they had EVERYONE OUT at 10pm on the dot. The french mean business about quiting hour!

Paris! Notre Dame, St. Louis, Musee de Orsay, Champs-Elysee, Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel freaking tower

2010-01-20T10:29:00.000-08:00

Ahh Paris. I'm really glad I was going to Paris from London. Because it made it easier, a little easier to leave London. Paris did not dissapoint. It was amazing. BUT take a look at matt and i's first look at Paris. Yes this graffiti covered wall was our FIRST look. Note to Paris, not a great first sight people.

This is the outside of our hotel. It look like a beautiful area doesn't it. Do not be deceived my young friends. This is the red light district for Paris. We had a brothel on each side of us. But they were very nice and didnt step outside their doorways at all. Matt just kept his eyes forward while I led the way. It was nice during the day though. And the hotel was nice and clean and not a fortune. :) PLUS we were RIGHT by a metro station. So it was a perfect location for us.

This is my first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower. We were walking across the bridge to Notre Dame and as I looked across the Seine saw this lovely beauty.

Lovely Notre Dame, I really enjoyed my time at this place. When we got there, it started to rain rain rain. Which lucky us was the one ONE time we DIDNT bring our raingear and the ONE time we needed it. lol SO Matthew ran back to our hotel (he was gone for like an hour) and got our jackets and umbrellas. I was spoiled and got to sit back and relax in this beautiful building. Listening to the organ and the choir occasionally. And really take it all in. It was wonderful. Very peaceful. Much more peaceful than the English Cathedrals..which were more "showy." Like in England the cathedral has these huge tombs EVERYWHERE of all their rich patrons. In France it wasnt like that. Very simple and lovely.

This delicious concoction was a crepe with chocolate and bananas, and my lovely chantilly (whipped cream) on top. This was really really yummy. Matt had strawberries instead of bananas in his. His was SO GOOD. So i got that from then on whenever we had dessert anywhere. I REALLY need to learn to make crepes.

This is after our lovely lunch at a cafe on St. Louis. I loved the cafe because it was a definate tourist stop and very quaint. The manager/owner was so friendly and was great at explaining everything to us. VERY helpful. lol

So afterwards we walked the isle in the rain. Looking at the beautiful shops lining the small streets (MATT LOVED the small street size hahaha)

the lovely backside of Notre Dame, you can kind of make out the flying buttresses. Notre Dame was one of the first buildings to use these buttresses to support the massive weight of the roof.

This was a picture we took from the Musee De Orsay's balcony. So so beautiful. Its the Basilica in Paris. (more to come on this place later)

This was our favorite Museum. It was not overwhelming, it had beautiful pieces, and a great variety. Plus matthew LOVED the building :)

us being all lovey outside the Museum :) Isnt he adorable.

Matt got very picture happy in Paris. Like insanely picture happy. I was not thrilled about being the main subject of the pictures, but luckily he has some gorgeous buildings to distract him...most of the time. lol

This was in the Tuilleries. A very popular HUGE garden in the middle of Paris. I was suprised that there wasnt much too it. A TON of very well kept up trees..hardly a leaf on the ground to be seen. And some nice fountains. But very different than the colorful gardens i'm used to at home.

we walked down the Champs-Elysee to get to the Arc de Triomphe, and what do ya know. Sephora was there :) HAD to go inside of course and man ALIVE the biggest makeup store i've ever seen! It just kept GOING, and it even curved at the end, so you arent seeing all of it in this picture. PLUS you arent seeing all the perfume section either since i had already walked through it when I took this picture. You can see me in the pink shirt...I was a bit overwhelmed.. lol

The lovely Arch of Triumph. All those bumps are the top are peoples heads. Yep I didnt know you could actually go to the top but yessiree you can. Over 200 steps. And those that went to Yosemite with me in Junior High and did the Mist trail with me...yeah you can imagine the pain i was in. I havent gotten very much more endurance since Junior High. Matthew was a good sport though. :)

At the top! And a little closer to the Eiffel Tower. It was perfect timing for us. We got there just as the sun was setting. it was so so beautiful. Then after the sun had set the lit up the tower. It was gorgeous and sparkling. My girls love watching the video we took of it.

Matt and I went to the Eiffel tower to get a closer look. We settled at the end of one of the massive reflection pools. It was so romantic and beautiful. And I really got a kick out of this naked woman statue watching it. lol

Day 4 - Hyde Park (again), Herrods, Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Hard Rock, Train station cry

2009-12-29T10:20:00.000-08:00

Our last day in London was bittersweet. I was very excited to see Paris and lets not lie...to eat a my weight in crepes and croissants. But I LOVED ADORED London. I'd move there in a second, and if I read any article about it right now I get all teared up because I miss it so much. I'm a traitor to my country. lol The first picture is out of order because blogger did some weird thing. So alas you get to see a picture of Harrods first.

Harrods was pretty cool. It was very fancy, enough were I didn't want to touch ANYTHING, even when we went to the electrical department and they had normal movies. I was afraid they were like lined in gold or something and kept my hands to myself. It was HUGE and we didnt even see half of it i'm sure. If I had millions of dollars i'm sure i'd have a grand ol' time there.

So this is where our day really started. We walked through Hyde park to get to the tube stop that goes to Harrods. Hyde park is HUGE HUGE HUGE. And gorgeous so it was a very nice start to our day. We came upon this lovely statue of Peter Pan. I made Matt pose...because...he's..like Peter?? I have no clue, i just made him pose okay!
At the end of our hike/stroll across the park we came to Prince Alberts Memorial. Holy Moly Victoria LOVED her husband. This thing is MASSIVE. And way fancy, like crazy fancy. I told Matt im putting elephants on his gravestone to show how much I love him.

This was the most impressive of the musical groups we saw performing all over London. There was a musician in every tube tunnel just about. These guys were amazing and were selling CD's.

This was the yarn shop that we took an hour to find..only to see it was CLOSED on Monday. What the heck people! I was not happy. Luckily a petite little french woman was walking by and saw my disgruntled expression. She must know disgruntled very well..she walked over and asked in broken english what I needed, I mimed yarn. (It was interesting) And she pointed me in the direction of a department store where normal people shop (not Harrods) where they sell YARN! HEAR THAT Sears! This DEPARTMENT store sold YARN! Cool right! So it was just a little bit aways and we went there and I found my English Yarn. Happy end to my Yarn story :)

After I had my pretty lavendar yarn in my hot hands we headed over to Big Ben, It was...well it was Big. What else do you want me to say! It was a big ol Ben!

next we went to Westminster Abbey. I was pretty churched out at this point. But we thought hey what the heck we gotsta go in the Abbey! And man alive am I glad I DID! The tombs of Chaucer, William Blake, George Eliot, T.S. Eliot, John Keats, the Bronte Sisters (totally teared up when I saw that one), Jane Austen (memorialized) and just a ton of other literary super stars. I was totally freaking out. It was SO CRAZY COOL. BUT the best had not yet come. I walked into a small side chapel. Where laid Queen FREAKING Elizabeth and her sister Queen Mary!! I was totally biting off my lip so I wasnt the weird tourist crying all over the tombs of these women. It was amazing. I was so excited, it was soo cool. And i'll never forget it.

Then we walked around Parliament and it was really beautiful and magnificent. But really I was just still on a total high from seeing all those tombs and memorials at the Abbey. lol

Then we ran on over to Hard Rock Cafe (the FIRST one) and I got a pin for my friend Lori back in the States. ;)

This is where we had a minor freak out by my dear husband. We went back to the tube to catch it to St Pancras station. WELL that day was the last day of the Notting Hill Carnival (where we had to go and pick up all our luggage because thats where our hotel was) when we arrived at the tube we saw much to our suprise that it was PACKED. like seriously SARDINE packed to get to the train. You couldnt even get CLOSE to the actual train stop. It was atleast a 30 min wait to catch a train. And we had an hour to get our luggage then go to the other side of town and get on the train. So Matt proceeded to freak and say he was goign to RUN the 4 miles to our hotel, grab our luggage which was probably like 25lbs. And RUN back to where I was (making sure I sat and STAYED on the bench where we were) And then we'd try and catch a bus. LOL I was like ummm CALM DOWN CALM DOWN LET ME THINK! ...Okay matt how about we get a taxi?...Matt quickly took a deep breath and was like OH YEAH! Hahahah so we hailed a taxi (that was fun, it was our first time ;) ) and had a lovely drive over to our hotel, our driver was so nice and very talkative, matt ran into the hotel and got our luggage, the driver than took us to the station and we had PLENTY of time to sit and relax. It was much better than matts original plan. hehehe

We took the Chunnel to Paris. Which is to say we got in a long fast train, went through the English countryside then DOWN UNDER the english channel UNDER THE WATER and up into France and its lovely countryside. I'd love to tell you how it was to go under water in a train but I can't. Because the train has a mystic power over me and I passed out within 30 min of the trip. I seriously COULD NOT keep my eyes open. I tried so hard because I was having a hard time saying goodbye to my England. Seriously had to work at not getting all weepy. And I did it! I just fell asleep instead.

Day 3 Hyde Park, British Museum, Tower of London, Globe Theatre, St. Pauls Cathedral

2009-12-07T13:17:00.000-08:00

Day 3 in London. Fatigue had set in. I seriously had to photoshop my eyes in some pics because I had like 5 LINES under them. Not showing that to all my friends and family..sorry folks. This is Hyde Park, directly across from our hotel. They had a really neat art type "row" on Sunday morning lots of lovely...and not so lovely pictures.

See...the English confuse me. They think Americans are over the top...but THIS is a PARK BENCH. A PARK BENCH PEOPLE! A TAD over the top ya think?

I got all excited when I saw this. And if you don't know who this person is, you should be shot...then hanged..then quartered. British style.

The British Museum, also known as "Britain's raping of the world." It was really cool to see all the treasure from around the world. But made me a little nauseous thinking of all the people they took over and stole from. Kinda sucked.

The inside of the Museum, it was pretty cool. Pretty echoey.

The Rosetta stone. It was pretty awesome. Had the same thing written in multiple languages. Really neat to see.

See I need to move to London. They obviously know WHERE to get their news. Very wise people.

This is London's version of a "big box store." Its a small storefront, with tons of catalogs. You look through, pick what you want and go to the counter. They go and get it for you in the back. Matt was geeking out over it.

This is a lovely emperor, He was fascinating. And very cute in his Ceasar cut.

First view of the Tower of London. Its much larger than I thought it would be. First built by a Normandy conqueror. Some of the original tower foundation is still around.

This is where MOST of the people were executed if they stayed in the Tower. Only 5 were beheaded inside the compound. Then of course the little princes that were murdered in their rooms.

this was our Beefeater Dickey. He was pretty funny. To be a Beefeater you have to have 20 years of perfect military service to the Queen. NO screwups. These guys are the cream of the crop. And pretty entertaining. If you go to the Tower you MUST take their tour. Its free.

Anne Boleyn's apartments before they took her head away from her.

The chapel where Anne and others are buried. Unmarked graves. Anne is buried under the alter along with Jane Grey.

I'm right outside the chapel in this pic, I had just seen the inside and was totally crazy excited. lol

Inside the main tower. They had a display of Henry's armor. It was pretty cool. The guy was FULL.OF.HISSELF. though.

These crows were MASSIVE. Like i'm pretty sure it could open its beak and rip my face off. They were the size of large cats.

a pretty shot of the compound.

the main tower, when they were adding stairs to it they were digging around it and found two small bodies buried. They were the little princes that went missing hundreds of years earlier.

Traitors gate. Many reputable noble prisoners were brought in on boat through this gate. usually at night under secrecy.

The "monument" where the beheadings took place. I also love this pic because this dude is sticking his tongue out.

Close up shot :)

I think I was on the Jubilee bridge when Matt took this. Shows some of the other cool bridges in London. They have a ton. Many are purely pedestrian.

We went to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre to see Troilus & Cressida. Probably one of Shakespeare's least performed plays. It was really good though and we enjoyed it. I couldn't stop thinking of how cool it all was. I still remember clearly learning all about it in Mrs. Anger's English class Sophmore year.

We sat in the middle level. VERY glad i paid more and got actual SEATS. There is a big area in the middle that is $5 to get in and no seats. Just a big concrete floor. Its where all the "peasants" would stay when Shakespeare's plays were being originally shown. There is no roof over that area. So some people got wet. Not horrid though, we were lucky to see very VERY little rain.

Matt at St. Pauls Cathedral. It was MASSIVE. Unfortunately it was almost midnight so they were closed :P So we didnt get to go inside.

Instead we went to this cafe right across the street from it and had this AMAZING chocolate torte. It was GOOOD GOOOOD. :) Probably one of my fav desserts on our trip.

This picture I took to show you how freaking scary it was past midnight. It was a Sunday night, it was DESERTED and I was totally freaking out we were going to be murdered in the middle of the business district in London. We made it home alive though. So that was good.

Day 2- Portobello Road, Windsor Castle, Piccadilly Circus

2009-11-11T08:24:00.000-08:00

Okay so i'm kinda slow and forgot to put the pictures in the correct way. So TODAY we are going backwards through day 2 of our trip. :) I'll TRY and remember to do it the other way from now on.

This is our beautiful view of Parliament and Big Ben, I think we were on the Jubilee bridge this time (there are so many bridges!) We heard some fantastic musicians on this bridge. Violinist, keyboard, cello. Very pretty piece and very romantic :)
Piccadilly Circus, probably my least favorite place we visited in London. I mean it was cool and all, GORGEOUS buildings seriously stunning but they were covered withhuge neon flashing signs. And yeah...it was just more cheesy than awesome. This is my fav. part of the area though, the statue of Eros. :)

This beautiful concotion we got at Carluccios in Windsor. It was at the train station, where they had these beautiful restaurants and shops. It was a great design. (ugh matts getting in my brain)

This was called Florentine Chocolate. Its hot choc served in an espresso cup (because its SO rich) and you can drink it but in this picture i'm showing you how THICK it is. And OH MAN DELICIOUS.

In the little town area around Windsor Castle there is this little tea shop. TOTALLY crooked. I was not going inside..mainly because the menu was pure English and made me gag a little.

As we were leaving the castle grounds this was our view. On the left is St. George's cathedral where 15 English Monarchs are buried. Including Henry VIII and his favorite wife Jane Seymour. On the right is just a small part of Windsor castle.

St. George's Cathedral. It was SO SO pretty inside. Wish I could of taken pics inside. Lots of small chapels all over the place FILLED with huge coffins. Lots of statues. It was almost like all the nobles were all trying to outdo eachother. It was a bit much, but beautiful nonetheless. We had to take a picture of our token guard dude. :)

This is the inside court of windsor. Its a huge rectangle, their cars drive though this passage way and then they get out at those big towers there. This was built as a fortress first and foremost. It wasn't a comfortable residence for hundreds of years after William the Conqueror built it.

No reason behind this picture besides its really pretty :)

Our first close up view of the castle. On the ground anyway. Its funny in all my pics it looks like people are on the phone, but thats just the guided tour thingy they give everyone. You had to hold it like a phone to hear it.

Our first look of Windsor, this was taken on the train. It was a GORGEOUS train ride and thank goodness for trains. Its where I caught up on all my sleep.

This was my favorite tube station in London. Its the Notting Hill stop and i thought it was so pretty. Kind of old London meets new.

This is one of the gardens in Notting hill that are strictly private. They are fierce about their privacy at these places. If you don't believe me rent Notting Hill with Hugh Grant.

On of the many huge gates we couldn't jump. Darn our unathleticness!

A gorgeous neighborhood in Notting Hill. Matt took SO MANY PICTURES OF NEIGHBORHOODS. Sheesh. But this was prestine.

This was on Portobello road. Matt and I couldn't stop snickering. We are so immature.

The beginning of Portobello road. We had the Portobello Road song in our head for MONTHS because whenever we looked at our london tourbook we'd see the name and start singing. If I mention the name now Matt groans and gives me a dirty look for putting it in his head again.

The beginning of our VERY full day. I took a pedometer and on this day I walked 26,686 steps.

No "Exit" signs in London. It says "Way out" instead. For some reason we found this pretty funny. Probably sleep deprivation.

a beautiful church by our hotel. I liked the sign that was out front. lol

Day 1- London, Hampton Court

2009-11-07T17:12:00.000-08:00

SO, *rubs hands together* Matt and I went to Europe for 12 days. It was AMAZING, we left the children at home with our wonderful fantastic families and we had an amazing experience. One that in more than one occasion made me actually tear up because I couldn't believe I was actually SEEING something in person instead of dreaming of it in pictures. I pinched myself a lot, it was totally unreal and for a huge British History nerd like me just a trip of a lifetime.

After a looong flight, I want to say it was 12 hours but I'm not sure and matt would probably correct me if I did say it..so i won't. Anyway we left Utah at 3pmish and arrived in London at 12pm the next day. There is a big time difference there but it was I think 3 or 4am Utah time. We were lucky enough to both sleep well on the flight, thank goodness for earplugs,neck pillows, and sleeping pills. When we got their we had so much adrenaline for BEING there that we totally were not jetlagged and ready to GO! :)
First thing we did was hop on a bus at the airport to Hampton Court. It was about an hour bus ride..give or take. We drove through some interesting towns that I would not want to live in.

We arrived at Hampton Court on a beautiful warm sunny day. See that backpack and messenger back i'm carrying? Yeah thats ALL of my luggage that I brought for almost 2 weeks in Europe. I'm hardcore dude. I'd like to see anyone top that.

K this is one of the spots I teared up. Hampton Court is King Henry's VIII's favorite palace. He lived here with Anne Boleyn..other places and wives too but she is his most famous wife I think.

Like I seriously geeked out teared up. I was just imagining Henry and Anne being brought to this palace...just too cool dude. TOO COOL. lol

Here is a ugly fat Henry talking with some dork tourists. When Henry was first married people likened him to King Arthur because he was so handsome and robust. :) Then he got some nasty boils on his thighs, became a little too fond of the drink and the food. And boom, the Henry most people recognize.

This is the ceiling of his great dining hall. This ceiling was INSANE. It was the coolest thing. One neat little tidbit about it. When Henry had Anne's head chopped off he wanted ALL memories of her REMOVED. Her emblem was the Falcon. She had falcon stuff EVERYWHERE. One of the places she put it was on this ceiling. Its the only place there is still a sign of her because no one could get UP there to take it down after she died. So Henry had to live with it. And i guess anyone who was caught looking at her falcon up there would be in trouble with King Henry.

This portrait made me laugh. Its pretty sad actually but still, Henry was a total jerk sometimes. He had this painting done while he was married to his last wife Katherine Parr. BUT the chick in the picture in his wifes spot? THAT is Jane Seymour, the wife who died in birth giving Henry his only Son, Edward (edward is that little dude on Henry's right) On the far left and right are his daughters Mary and Elizabeth. He even put his court Jester Will with his monkey on the very right side. But nope no sign of his wife at the time Katherine Parr.

This crazy huge stairway was made by William & Mary, they built a wing onto Hampton Court when they ruled. This mural was INSANE. I only took a picture of one wall because it had my favorite picture on it. Can you guess what that picture was? Matt and I were DYING it was too weird!

This is the guards room. Henry's throne room and private rooms were just beyond this one. This is where all his guards slept (on the floor) at night. ALL of the walls were decorated like this, weapons all used as art. It was really neat.

King Henry's throne (among others who preceded and followed him), it was cool. Not as fancy as I thought it would be though.

This was the King's private garden. It had a lot of herbs and cool medicinal plants in it. And of course these cool statues.

The backyard. Yeah this backyard was MASSIVE and very very well taken care of. My mom had asked me to get a rock from each country for her (yes I know). And we could not find ONE ROCK that wasn't gravel in this place! The English are SERIOUS about their landscaping yo.

This looked like a big hershey's kiss. ....give me a break I was sleep deprived!

This is the clock tower..its where the coaches would drive up too when anyone important would arrive.

Our picture in front of the Thames. I was rocking a flock of seagulls hairdo because of the lovely wind by the river.

This is the Picadilly line stop at the Tube in London. I love LOVE the Tube. It was so nice, easy to follow, and so fast. I can't say enough good things about it. People watching was one of my fav things to do while using it. Check out these two time travelers from the 80's on the left there. They were ROCKING IT.

Our lovely view from the Hotel room. I wish we had had the other side of the hotel, it faced Hyde Park. MUCH prettier view..probably much more expensive too :P (Possibly one of the "family" rooms...if you can place that reference from one of my fav movies than i'll give you a treat)

After we got back from Hampton Court it was getting pretty late and we were HUUUNGRY luckily right by our hotel was this yummy place called Island. Matt and I both had the Rump steak with mushrooms and augratin potatoes. It was YUM. I had this chocolate pot with lavendar biscuits for dessert. It was really good! And I was surprised the lavendar cookies weren't too bad either.

Here I am walking back to our hotel. I was getting sick of matt taking pictures of me (hahaha little did I know what i'd have to ENDURE in days to come!) And since I was running on fumes and you KNOW how I get when I'm tired...he got this lovely shot of me.

Technical Difficulties

2009-11-07T17:11:00.001-08:00

Okay so all of my pictures from June/July/August are missing off of Picasa. SO until we get those months straightened out i'll go to THE TRIP. :) Keep an eye out for them!

May :)

2009-11-07T11:03:00.001-08:00

May was a FULL month, and it was way fun. Matt and I drove down to CA for a week...well I stayed for a week, Matt flew back to work after the Smith family reunion and then flew back down the next weekend for one of my Best friends wedding. But it was a really fun trip and we did a LOT of things. So get ready for a crazy amount of pictures.

Getting ready for Mother's Day. Matt sat the kids down and had them make their mommy some Mother's day cards. I didn't get to see this until the pictures were added to the computer. And they were so cute!
The farmer's Market started in Provo. Elaine got a heart animal balloon...which i thought was a pretty weak balloon but she loved it so thats all that mattered right :)

We went to HB for the Smith Family reunion. Mother's day was the same weekend so the kids gave me their cards and gifts in CA. They made me adorable cards and sorry folks but they ARE the best children ever created.

At the family reunion. Adele and Elaine cuddling with their papa at dinner after a long day of swimming.

Smith family got together for a softball game. I had never seen a Smith sports game..well I saw it 20 years ago but I blocked it from my memory...for good reason. It was ...interesting :)

My dad got pushed into the pool by a little girl (okay not LITTLE she was like 16) and it was quite hilarious.

Daddy was so good and spent a lot of time in the pool with the babies :)

Went to my friend Elizabeth's wedding. It was GORGEOUS and she looked so so beautiful and very happy. I'm really glad I was able to make it.

We also went to a fun park in Costa Mesa (I THINK it was costa mesa anyway) They had this really awesome miniature train set, all set up and these great older men running it as volunteers. It was adorable and Seth was in heaven. The kids were thrilled to spend time with her cousins.

Grami gave Adele & Elaine massages and they were in heaven. It was so cute. (and i was jealous)

Seth celebrated his 2nd birthday. The candle freaked him out and first but he warmed up to it quickly and LOVED his Thomas cake.

When matt flew back we decided to go on a mini trip to San Juan Capistrano on the amtrak train. The kids were THRILLED and totally loved traveling by train. I REALLY enjoyed it too. No seatbelts, everyone was spread out. It was heaven.

The weather was beautiful and the girls loved putting these pretty pink flowers in their hair.

We went on a family walk around San Juan Capistrano and we just had a great time together.

Elaine was in love with this fountain. And I just loved this picture of her.

Waiting for the train. Matt ditched us and walked around the train depot for a long time. Lets just say I have way too many pictures of train depot halls and roofs. :P

Adele would much rather be balancing on the planter border in this picture.

I visited with my friend Denise in Monrovia where her adorable house is. It was great to see her and Elaine fell in love.

April!

2009-10-15T10:02:00.000-07:00

April was way fun! The weather started to get a little better so we went outside more.

Went to the Zoo up in SLC. Its small and a really good size for taking small kids. The giraffe house SMELLS though. As Elaine illustrates here.

Adele didn't mind as much. lol

Elaine's FAVORITE animal, the Elephant. It was cool to watch them eat their hay.

Adele bonded with this monkey... I believe he thinks he found a kindred spirit. She is a monkey thats for sure!

Adele and Lainey had fun dressing up..hehehe

We took the kids to see how high the river was in Provo. I love this picture!

Elaine wasn't a huge fan of this spot.

We had Easter! And got all fancy for church.

Seth worked on his body building skills. This was the closest thing he could find to a dumbbell.

Matt took the girls to see Uncle Meredith perform. They were SO thrilled to go :)

Elaine LOVES her Grandma

March 2009

2009-10-08T12:25:00.000-07:00

March! March is my little nephew Michaels birthday! And week after that is my Mom's bday! I love having a birthday so close to my mom's. Our birthdays are exactly 2 weeks apart. Its always been fun. I can't wait for next years BIG birthdays :)

Seth...seth seth seth. He found my MAC lipstick. It looked like blood. He's lucky it isn't blood. Very lucky.
Seperate incident...he fell and bashed his forehead. See that big mark at the top of his forehead? My poor little guy. He barely cried though.

We also had a fun little family trip in March. Well really it was Matt going to a work conference in St. George. We decided to tag along. We went with two other families who's dads work with matt too. We had a BLAST it was pretty insane taking 8 LITTLE kids shopping at the outlets though!

The kids LOVED staying at the hotel. This is how they chilled watching T.V. Seth cannot be trusted to sleep with the girls so he had his pack n play.

When we got home we had lovely snow to deal with. The girls LOVED it but I passed and stayed nice and warm inside.

I love this picture. These two adore eachother. You can see it clearly in this picture.

And Elaine...with her sleeping :)

OH and i forgot to add too! The trip to St. George was EXTRA fun because instead of staying our last night in St. George on friday we left right after the conference drove to Southern CA. and went to Disneyland!!! It was so so sooo fun! Matt suprised us and it was just amazing :) I'm a lucky gal :)

February 2009

2009-10-08T09:33:00.000-07:00

February! It was lovely, it was COLD! :)

For Valentine's day I made this cake, Tunnel of Fudge. Matt made this AMAZING dinner and even bbq'd out in the snow for me to make it. He is so wonderful :)
My birthday cake....yeah thanks baskin robbins. I see you really thought out your presentation. Oh well it tasted good. Not as yummy as it would of tasted in CA but still good. (california baskin robbins use this DELICIOUS ice cream frosting that they don't make in Utah because they are lame) OH...and I turned 29. :P

Elaine was enthrawled with President Obama. Seriousy Curious George ended he came on and she ran over yelling OBAMA OBAMA and sat like this. It cracked us up!

Adele continued her practice of becoming the best model. She's getting pretty good at the poses. lol

Elaine discovered she can make a HUGE E on the fridge, even if the Letter E is missing :)

Seth continued his journey into the style of his sisters dress up clothes.

January 2009

2009-10-07T08:24:00.000-07:00

Well, i'm SO SO behind that I figured i'd just do MONTHS. So each post will be a month until we get to October. Let's see if I can atleast do THAT :P SO in January of 2009...

In January..I had long hair! And Matt and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary! 10 YEARS. So in another 8 years i'll actually be with Matthew longer than i've been alive without him. For our anniversary we went to SLC had a nice dinner and went to the symphony. Then we spent the night in this cute little hotel in downtown SLC. It was very lovely :)
Elaine mastered the art of falling asleep. anywhere.

Seth tried out his sisters tutu. He was more of a fan when it was in "cape mode" instead of around his waist.

Adele almost froze to death playing in the snow on the way home from school. (she didn't even button her jacket!!)

But she didn't seem to mind. She was having just a LITTLE bit too much fun to notice :)

Elaine got into some educational computer games.

She also was obsessed with wearing Adele's gloves. (or glubb's if you ask her)

Adele wouldn't take off the scarf i made her for Christmas.

We had a TON of fun when my brother and his wife came to visit Utah! My kids were in HEAVEN. We went as a large group to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving point. My kids never get sick of that place. They LOVE IT!

Having fun with the cousins at the museum

Daddy and Seth had fun...no really Seth did have fun..he was just inbetween smiles when this pic was taken. lol

Adele and her 2 closest cousins. They were all born in a 4 week period. Adele is the youngest. They ADORE eachother and I just LOVE it! :)

2009-04-28T07:41:00.001-07:00

Giveaway!!
The first 3 people...to leave a comment on this blog will receive something made by me.

However there are some limitations:
1. I make no guarantee that you will like what I make :)
2. What I create will be just for you
3. It will be done within a year (might take a while)
4. You have no clue what it is going to be
5. I reserve the right to do something funny/odd/normal/whatever

Here the catch: if you choose to do this, you must post this on your blog and be ready to make something for three people too. This will be fun! When you receive the fabulous item I make you, you must post a picture of it on your blog.

OKAY OKAY Update :)

2009-04-27T16:29:00.000-07:00

We had Easter! The Egg Hunt was a blast in our backyard (we also had a fun hunt at Uncle Charlie & Aunt Christi's house) Kiddos got their baskets full of fun stuff...and we got all dressed up in our Easter Clothes. It was a great holiday and have started a new tradition of doing the "easter bunny" stuff on the saturday before Easter Sunday. Easter Sunday has now "true meaning of Easter only" now. :)

In March we went to a Planning Convention in St. George. It was a BLAST, kids LOVED swimming in the hotels pool and we had some great friends come along for it too. Totally fun. AND last minute we decided to drive to CA for a quick trip to Disneyland. The kids were SO suprised and it was so worth it!

Seth was either getting in touch with his feminine side OR getting prepped for War Games...its your call. (*sob* this was my favorite MAC lipstick...lets have a moment of silence shall we...)

Merry Christmas

2008-12-18T07:55:00.001-08:00

I sort of skipped over our Thanksgiving Vacation. I have some fun pics of that though so i'll come back to it. Wanted to post this before Christmas was OVER though :)

We are doing really well lately. We've ALMOST gotten over our colds, the kids still have coughs but the dr. said those would be around for awhile.

Adele is excited for Santa and has been loving all the fun Holiday activity's we've been doing. I think the Gingerbread house has been her favorite.

Elaine isn't crazy about Santa Claus. She refused to sit on his lap at the ward party and announced that Adele could have all the presents Santa brings because she didn't want his presents. Later after explaining she wasn't going to SEE Santa and that he only snuck into the house and left presents did she agree to accept them. Adele was very dissapointed.

Seth is happily oblivious to anything Christmas related. He's his normal happy stinkery self, although he DOES love to attack the tree atleast 10 times a day. Our tree is in a sorry state.

I'm the class mom for Adele's class so I "get" to throw the Christmas Party, thats today. I also get to throw the Christmas Party for Elaine's preschool class. Also today. I'm keeping it simple and i'm sure will be fun for everyone :) (except whoever cleans it all up :P )

Matt is looking forward to this semester being over in school. (he's getting his MPA at BYU) His last class is today and we are ALL looking forward to a small break from his school. He's gotten over his pneumonia and has finally gotten his energy back.

Thats just a SHORT update on our little family. Merry Christmas and i'll try to blog more often! PROMISE! :)

2008-11-10T21:05:00.000-08:00

Seth is 18 months now. In this picture he was really mad at me because I made him come out of the bathroom since Adele was using it. AND because he has a bad habit of brushing his teeth with the toilet water. When he saw the camera though he went into autopilot and smiled for me. He's getting so big! He's trying to learn how to communicate better, is QUITE stubborn about not using real words but ones he makes up instead. He understands SO SO much but doesn't feel the need to learn english yet. He loves going to Nursery and lately has slowly learned how to play with Elaine and not make her scream so much. His favorite buddy is still Adele and they just "get" eachother so well, its truly fun to watch.

Elaine is almost 3.5 now. In this picture she's modeling her best little buddies hat we got her. She wasn't too happy when I made her take it off so I could give it to her friend. She really loved that hat. She's such a sweet calming (most of the time) influence on our home. She absolutely LOVES preschool that we're doing with 3 other moms in our ward and loves her new friends. She has gotten better at talking to others and isn't as shy as she once was. She can get REALLY silly actually and loves to make us laugh. She does a KILLER cookie monster impersonation. She loves playing with her stuffed animals and building Salt Lake City out of blocks.

Adele is almost 5.5! She loves Kindergarten, loves going to church, and loves playing with her friends. She's pretty social as always and not afraid to make new friends and hates when everyone doesn't get along. She is such a big helper to me and is a great big sister. She's great at sharing with Elaine and always tries to be like Jesus. She bore her testimony in sacrament meeting all by herself this month, Matt and I were SO SO proud. She truly is such a wonderful little spirit and has such a pure love of Christ. In this picture she's getting her hair done for Halloween. She and Elaine were such troopers. I made them sit through long hair sessions atleast 4 times each to have their hair just right for all the different halloween events we went too!

CA meets UT

2008-11-10T20:55:00.000-08:00

Growing up in CA I fell in love with my neighbors Mexican Sage bush. Its a very pretty bush with velvety purple flowers. I've always kept my eye out for one of my own but haven't found one in the last 4 years since buying our house. Last spring I did find one and excitedly planted it in the front of my home. FINALLY it flowered about a month ago, SO excited to finally have my own mexican sage bush that reminds me so much of my home in CA. A couple weeks after the flowers came out it snowed in my new home in UT. Looking out my window it made me smile to see the snow cover my mexican sage bush. It was very symbolic to me of the two coming together. Since they will both always be my "home" now it seemed like a perfect picture for this time in my life.

I love him

2008-09-30T17:56:00.000-07:00

Because he's delicious. Because when he laughs out comes this throaty teenage boy chuckle. Because when he wakes up, he lays his head on my shoulder, wraps his arms around my neck and just hugs me, for a really long time. Because he's very possesive of his Mommy and even his sisters better watch their backs if they are giving me hugs. Because he fits into our family so perfectly. Because he gives the best slobbery kisses of any little baby boy I know.

OH and because he can make a Bat darn right ADORABLE. And get totally into it and chase his laughing sister around the house for WAY too long. :)

3 reasons why I rock this week

2008-09-17T15:15:00.000-07:00

I made Elaine this rockin' button belt for her and her preschool class (that I also TAUGHT this week, oh yes indeed, I do rock)

I cut Seth's hair ALL BY MYSELF. Wellll Matt held him for me, but I still claim all the credit

Well this is kinda how Elaine rocked but I taught her how to make beef stroganoff. She's on her own now. lol

Kindergarten!

2008-08-26T09:41:00.000-07:00

I have been SO excited yet SO dreading this day. And it has come, and I was surprisingly good. I still feel the urge to break down in tears but so far I've been able to hold it in. Adele started Kindergarten today! And I couldn't be MORE proud of her.

I only bit my lip once not to cry on the walk to school, and thats because she didn't want to hold my hand. She wanted to hold onto her backpack straps like she saw the big kids do.

When we got to her class there was a line of kids. I told her that all the kids with backpacks were in her class. She got all excited and ran to EVERY SINGLE KID and said, "Hi! I'm Adele whats your name!" She's completely fearless.

I was happy to see my good friend is the teachers aide for her class, and her teacher is our bishops wife...so I'll definately know whats happening in the class. LOL But she was the only kid I saw that seriously had no use for their Mom. All the other kids were clinging to their moms. But no, not Adele. She bolted into the class, sat down at a crowded table and just started chatting away. Anyway for the important part! Pics!

This is her buddy Skyler she's taking off with. They were SO excited to get to their class!At this point she was OVER me being there and OOOOVER pictures LOL

This is how excited Elaine is about not getting to stay at Kindergarten with Adele.

Virginia Creeper Trail

2008-08-20T09:17:00.000-07:00

my absolute favorite part of the trip (besides seeing all my wonderful family) was our bike ride down White Top Mountain. All of my immediate family (sans parents who were stuck at the airport) who were in VA decided to rent some bikes and take a shuttle up to the top of White Top Mtn then basically coast down it on the Creeper Trail. The Virginia Creeper Trail is a old train track that housed the "Virginia Creeper." Years ago they ripped out the track and made it this gorgeous trail for horses/bikes/runners etc.

It took us about 3 hours to get down the mtn barely pedaling at all. We did stop and have a snack at the Creeper Trail Cafe, to have their "famous" cake. Which trust me is NOT famous, unless they haven't heard of Betty Crocker cake mix and frosting back in VA. Because that was EXACTLY what the cake was made of. We were all very dissapointed. BUT I had some yummy chili fries. And my brother has made a shrine in his home to their tater tots. So it wasn't a wasted stop.

Matt and I stayed mainly ahead of the pack mostly because my brothers think that their singing is enjoyable for all to hear...and I must say...I do love them, but they are mistaken. So we had a peaceful ride down. Well mostly peaceful. Matt biffed it on his bike and cut up his knee pretty bad. Was insisting he didn't need a bandaid even though he had blood running down his leg. And since he's very manly and i'm SURE didn't really need one I INSISTED for the sake of his socks. Because he would of ruined them. And I can't have stained stocks my friends. I just can't.

Later on in the trail I was feeling left out that Matt was getting all the attention from his bloody leg so I figured a good fall off the bike would bring some my way. It did indeed. I didn't hurt my knee though, oh no. I got two palms full of gravel and dirt. Yeah they were quite cut up actually, and thankfully I did not pass out. It was a close call but i pulled myself out of the foggy world and snapped out of it. My forearm got pretty cut up too so it wasn't a very comfortable ride down since I couldn't grip my handlebars right the rest of the way. But even then, I would of done it all over again, even if I knew i'd fall off my bike. It was that fun.

SO here are some lovely pictures of the trail, Matt, Me (please ignore the back fat), and in one of them my adorable neice Mary while I try to wash out the dirt imbedded in my skin :)

2-3 yrs

2008-08-15T15:05:00.000-07:00

2008-08-15T14:58:00.000-07:00

1-2 yrs

2008-08-15T14:49:00.000-07:00

ELAINE through the years :)

2008-08-15T14:40:00.000-07:00

Windy Hill Farm

2008-08-08T16:35:00.000-07:00

Matt and I went to a family reunion last week. Yes, I went to family reunion and did not bring the kids. Sounds kind of strange but seriously it was a very wise decision. The main reason we didn't bring them was $$$$. Then the more we thought of it, we decided to make it our 10 year anniversary trip (10 yr wedding anniversary is in Jan). We were gone for 6 days and had A BLAST! I'll have a couple more posts about this, I took a TON of pictures and did A TON of fun stuff so this is Part 1 of our fantastic vacation.

Windy Hill Farm has been in my mothers family for generations. It was always something I was VERY proud about as a child and still am really. We were there precivil war and my Great Aunt told me we were awarded the land because of our fighting in the revolutionary war. So its been in our family for some time. :) It is the most beautiful piece of land I have ever seen. Before we got there Matt (who had never been there) said he was worried to see it because I had built it up SO much that he had a hard time believing it would live up to his expectations. He said I had made it this "magical place" and he was worried. :)

He didn't have to be worried. Because of course I NEVER exaggerate and it is truly a magical place. He absolutely fell in love with our Windy Hill Farm on Duff Lane. I'm so glad he did, i'm so glad he feels the same way I do, its really hard not too. I have such amazing family out there and its in such a gorgeous place you seriously CANNOT stop yourself from being totally smitten. We had fantastic weather and did a ton of fun stuff (blogs on that fun stuff to follow). We do plan on bringing the kids out when they get older so they can fall in love as we have. Most of the pictures are taken off the farm road, some are taken while we were on the creeper trail which runs on the border of the farm. It is the most beautiful trail ever, and we had some FUN times on it. The river you see if the Holston River, the creeper trail used to be a traintrack but they took out the track and made it this gorgeous trail. WHAT A FANTASTIC IDEA! :) Thanks to whoever thought that up! :)

We also got re-acquainted with some family. What a fun group they are! They are all such beautiful kind people and so fun to be around. I had such a blast and can't wait to see them again. I definately plan on keeping in touch with them much more than I have been. I was so excited to talk to my Great Aunt Margaret too, she is our family historian and what a legacy she has! She is seriously incredible, and I really look up to her. So here is my first post, i have a TON more to show you so keep a lookout! :)

forgot to do "through the years" pics of Adele for her bday

2008-06-26T09:37:00.000-07:00

and YET another one

2008-06-26T09:15:00.001-07:00

I get WORN out in June with birthdays and father's day. Matt's birthday is usually within a couple days of father's day so getting all these presents for Seth, Adele, Matt's bday, AND matts fathers day just tuckers me out. Thank goodness I have a month to recoup before ELAINE's bday. :P

For his birthday present matt wanted me to plan a date for the two of us. He took a thursday off of work (his bday) and I surprised him with a trip to Sundance. We ate lunch at their yummy foundry grill and went horseback riding to Stewart Falls. It was a gorgeous day and we really enjoyed our time together. Here are some pictures of us :)

This isn't a great picture but all these trees were growing sideways because of the avalanche that came down here about 3 years ago? Maybe it was 4 years ago actually...anyway there were HUNDREDS of these sideways trees, it was pretty cool

Other summer fun

2008-06-26T09:06:00.000-07:00

We've had a great start to the summer! Doing lots of fun things together. Here are just some of our pics :)

and another one

2008-06-26T08:54:00.000-07:00

Adele turned FIVE! What an anticipated birthday this was. Through the entire year she kept asking who's birthday was next, And I kept repeating, Mommy's, then Seth's, then YOURS, Daddy's, and then Elaine. She finally memorized it so when it was Seth's birthday she was SO excited she was next. Thank goodness we only had to wait 4 weeks before it really was HER birthday.

We had a total blast, we invited her friends over (I think the total count came to 12 or 13, 2,3,4,5,& 6 yr olds) It was a gorgeous day, perfect for waterguns and water balloons, lots of fruit snacks, teddy grahams, and juice. The kids were all really well behaved, they all had a blast on the swingset and when they were gone I had a stack of presents covering my couch. I REALLY need to go through our old toys and get rid of some to make room for all the new stuff.

Here are some pics of the party and bday girl!

Matt getting attacked by watergun wielding hooligans

We had a birthday

2008-06-03T07:39:00.001-07:00

We had a birthday and I haven't blogged it yet so HERE it is! :)

Seth turned ONE on the 17th. ONE, my baby is one. I'm a little sad that his baby year went so quickly. Like SO SO quickly. Like my other 2 he's just been a great happy sweet baby who loves to eat and sleep. I really am lucky and i'm just waiting until I get the spawn of satan baby cuz i've had it SO good with my other 3.

He was born on the night The Office season finale was happening. LOL I was induced but really all it took was breaking my water and my body went into full labor mode. I wanted to wait to get my epidural until 7:15ish because i wanted it right before the show started, so I could watch it in peace and pain free. Seth had other plans, Adele's labor was 18 hours, Elaine's labor was 12 hours. Seth's was 2.5 hours. And really for 30 of those minutes I was just waiting for my midwife to race over and catch him. So by the time I got my epidural in and working, I was at 10cm and ready to push. I missed my finale, but I watched it later online so all was forgiven of my sweet little boy.

I was also able to have my sister, mom, husband, and awesome friend (who is also an AMAZING doula) there with us when I had him. My friend seriously rocks and I really hope she's around for baby #4 so I can try and go med's free. She is seriously amazing and I know I couldn't of had the wonderful labor I had with Seth if it wasn't for her.

This year has shown us our Sethy's little personality. Or I guess I should say BIG personality. He is a lot like his big sister Adele, enough that it scares the crud out of me. Adele and Seth ADORE eachother, like ADORE. Every morning when she hears him in my room after he's woken up she RUNS upstairs to love and kiss and play with him. He laughs and squeals when he see's her and says "Del" when he wants her attention. Elaine he tortures by crawling after her and grabbing her blanket, or by touching her, or looking like he's thinking about going NEAR her. Lately though she's gotten better with him and will actually wrestle with him OCCASIONALLY if she's in a good mood.

He's SUCH a boy, he gets into EVERYTHING, loves the toilet, stairs, and cords best. He's tried to hang himself a couple times with cords and scares us all to death. He can open most doors and screen doors and his favorite place to be is outside on his own. He loves to get dirty and is the only kid so far that i've had to SCRUB clean when giving him a bath. He's just tough man. He also seems to be a natural wrestler. We're not BIG wrestlers in our family with our 2 girls. We have done it on occasion but really not around Seth. HE for some reason was born with the wrestling instinct. He tackles, pins, blocks...he can bring down both of his sisters, and i'm pretty sure the bigger he gets he'll be taking us down too. He's just a fun mischevious little boy that we all absolutely adore. Really the only thing I could go without is his SCREAM. Seriously he goes from 0 to 100 in less than 2 seconds. Its not pleasant. Oh and while i'm on the topic I could go without the 6:30am bottle too. I'm not a big fan of that one.

He's walking now, well he takes about 4 or 5 steps before biffing it, and has been talking for sometime now. He says:
Del (Adele)

Bye

DaDa

MaMa

Night Night

Doggie

I feel like i'm forgetting one...hmm anyway he also loves to growl and attack people with any stuffed animal in his hands. He's just a full on BOY and it cracks us up.

Happy First Birthday my little man!!

What i'm reading

2008-05-30T08:38:00.001-07:00

I've been on another reading kick lately. So I thought i'd post what i've read in the past month.

The girl with the pearl earring- I really liked this book a lot. It was sweet, clean, interesting, informative, and really a well told story.

Goose Girl- I also liked this one, It was an easy read (which is important for me since I have to put them down a lot with 3 kids at home) It was a fun story that of course had a nice happy ending.

Book of a Thousand Days- This story made you ache for the main character and rejoice in her happiness, it got irritating in parts but quickly rebounded and was a fun read.

Fablehaven- I liked the story, got irritated with one of the main characters...A LOT. Its not a book that makes sense, I mean obviously a fairy world doesn't make sense but some of the choices the characters made didn't make sense. And the climax was very short and easily solved...so ya it kind of wrapped up too quickly but was still fun to read. I do plan on reading the 2nd and 3rd books.

The Host- I really just started this book yesterday, so i'm only on page 69. But so far I like it. I'm usually not a sci fi fan so i'm having a hard time getting "into" it but i'm sure I will soon.

Tag for the Mama's!

2008-05-30T08:08:00.000-07:00

Here you go mommies - a different kind of TAG. For a change it's all about you and your first baby. Anyone who reads this must do this on their next post of their blog. If you don't have a blog I would love for you to email it to me.

1. Were you married at the time? Yes

2. What were your reactions when you found out you were pregnant? Crazy excited and really afraid i'd miscarry. We'd had a miscarriage and had been ttc for almost 4 yrs when we had her.

3. How old were you? 23

4. How did you find out you were pregnant? I was waiting to start my period so I could get a dye test done, frustrated I hadn't started yet because I needed to start for the dye test (a fertility test) I was 4 days late and figured I wasn't going to get AF on my own (I don't when I don't ovulate) I THOUGHT i had ovulated so I was irritated. Then it dawned on me to take a pregnancy test, I did and got those lovely 2 lines.

5. Who did you tell first? My parents, I called them at 6:30am their time, then I called my sister and woke her up too, it was her birthday :)

6. Did you want to find out the sex? OH yes, it took 3 ultrasounds to find out too. She was shy.

7. Due date? July 5th

8.Did you deliver early or late? EARLY on June 13th, I had PIH (Pregnancy induced hypertension)

9. Did you have morning sickness? Not at all

10. What did you crave? Hotdogs and McDonalds Chicken McNuggets

11. Who irritated you the most? I didn't really get irritated, I was a very happy pregnant woman

12. What was your first child's sex? Girl

13. How many pounds did you gain throughout the pregnancy? At week 36 I had gained 15 lbs, when I went in at week 37 I had gained 25 lbs

14.Did you have any complications during your pregnancy? My pregnancy was perfect until I hit 37 weeks and got REALLY high blood pressure. They had to induce me right away and I had to get some yucky drugs during delivery so I wouldn't have a stroke.

15.Where did you give birth? Provo, UT

16. How many hours were you in labor? 18 hours, my body was not ready to be induced at all.

17. Who drove you to the hospital? I walked to the hospital! :) I was at my doctors office by myself when she told me I had to be induced that day, I was going to have an NST at the hospital anyway right after and was supposed to meet my husband there for that, instead I went down the hall to Labor & Delivery and had them send him over when he got there. He was quite surprised!

18. Who watched? Matt watched most of the time, My mom and sister were in the room with us but they stayed by my head the entire time, I think my sister took a peek when everyone commented on how much hair she had.

19. Was it natural or c-section? it was vaginally, ALMOST c-section though, she wasn't ready to come and didn't drop until they broke my water

20..Did you take medicine to ease the pain? OH yes, I got a epidural when I was 4cm dialated

21.How much did your child weigh? 6lbs 10oz

22.Did your child have any complications? she had jaundice and had to have a little tanning bed at home for a day or two

23..What did you name him/her? We had the name Adele picked out for years, after her Mama. We chose her middle name Hannah, because it meant a lot to us, I really related with Hannah from the bible and thought it would be perfect for her.

24. How old is your first born today? She is turning 5 next month :)

Spring has Sprung!

2008-05-10T15:37:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is Mothers Day! Which means one thing in my book (well this and the fact that i'll be spoiled rotten) Its PLANTING time! In Utah you really do not know when its going to snow, and TYPICALLY your safe for no snow after Mothers Day. Its definately not a failsafe, last year we had snow and my friends mom's garden suffered, but I'm prepared with some sheets for my pretty little garden this year!

I went shopping at the nursery this morning with Adele loaded up my cart and came home with my loot. I've never done this all by myself before because my gardening loving husband is usually more than willing to do the "hard stuff" like planting and watering and all that. Well this year said husband is busy studying for the APA test and that leaves the task in MY shoulders if I want a garden. Last year I had a baby the week of Mother's day so the garden did not get planted. And man did I mourn that summer without my very own tomato plants to pick and my jalapeno's and peppers to harvest. Well I have a lot more produce than that but I really missed those last year. In fact I probably scared the farmer's market guys when I stalked them every saturday morning asking when they were gonna bring in the tomatoes!! :)

So anyway this year i'm prepared, herb garden is planted, my little plants are safely in their dirt beds watered and probably going into shock (its okay little guys), heck I EVEN planted a FLOWER garden this year. I was sick of looking at my cemetary mums (don't ask...well actually do ask then I can share a little tip for you...lol). And of course this post has to have pics right!

I couldn't fit all of the garden in the picture this was the best I could get!

oh yes and my FAVORITE PART!

oh yes my friends, that is indeed boysenberry bushes in UTAH. They say it can't be done..but it SHALL IT SHALL!

Here is my flower garden...not really that pretty yet, the other side of the house is prettier but I didn't want to walk over there. lol I'll post more pics of it when its prettier and fuller later.

And lastely my herb garden, it will definately be more filled out in a month or so, but for now here she is as a baby :)

okay okay you've caught me, i'm not TOTALLY done with my planting...I still have 4 planters to deal with.. :P

Elaine, Lainey, Cuddles, Wainey, Stinker Butt, Sunshine Girl.....My Baby

2008-05-06T09:12:00.000-07:00

It has come to my attention that some feel they do not know my middle child very well. Its not surprising really, she's my quiet one. The one that concedes attention to Adele & Seth. WELL let me rephrase that, she concedes attention with OTHER people to Adele & Seth. There is one she will NOT concede attention to. Me. Elaine is our quiet one, our laid back, go with the flow, shy one. Since she was a baby she would very content to just sit on our laps and cuddle with us. Only crying if we took her blanket away or didn't take the time to "chill" with her. She is our calm in the midst of a storm, our eye of the tornado in this home. As a baby I had to put a security camera over her crib so I knew when she woke up. She never would cry when she woke, she'd lay in bed thinking, pretending, whatever until Mommy came and got her. I'm sure she spent WAY too many hours up there hanging out but she never complained.

Lately she hasn't been thrilled with a new baby in the house. Especially since new baby is A LOT like his older sister and absolutely loves to here Elaine scream. For the most part she will stand in the background while I take care of her little brother but as SOON as I put him down she is by my side asking for me to hold her, cuddle her, sing to her. She doesn't jump, or run, or make much noise unless she's playing with her big sister (and in that case they BOTH make a LOT of noise) Her best friend in the world is Adele, she feels every hurt that ones she loves feels, deeply. Cries when Adele has been wronged or disciplined.

She is obedient and kind and is corrected only with a simple "No Elaine, we don't do _____." I've put her in a early education preschool lately because she wasn't talking much. I assumed it was because Adele spoke SO much that Elaine had no need to say anything. Which was basically true, the school has been great for her and she is speaking a TON more, really only at home with us still though since she is shy and likes to play by herself in most cases. There are beautiful moments when she shines brightest, she has a wonderful imagination and will play for hours with her toys pretending adorable stories. I've noticed that she isn't shy when there is a quieter child with her. She is kind and loving and tries to involve them in whatever new adventure she's thought up.

She does have faults though my friends. Yes oh yes she does. LOL She is my #1 Drama Queen. She is SENSITIVE. Which works to Seth's advantage, he loves to hear her scream so he will chase her down just so he can grab HER blanket and hear her scream and cry. If you look at her wrong she will burst into tears, if she is mad at you she won't yell or argue like her big sister does, she simply dissapears. Goes off into a quiet corner of the house and mopes and stews about how mean the world is. She wakes up usually quite grumpy and Adele isn't allowed to talk to her or touch her until she has had breakfast. And she's very sure that Seth is NOT the baby of the house. SHE is the baby, SHE is Mommy's baby, NOT Seth. LOL I always wondered when she would grow out needing to be the baby of the family. But lately i've come to a realization that it may not ever happen. I think its just her personality. I think she will ALWAYS be the baby, no matter how many babies come after her. Mommy is HER Mommy, She is MY baby, and in her world, case CLOSED on that point.

I adore her, she fits so well into our little brood. She's her own person, a perfect piece in the crazy Taylor Puzzle.

My little Sessy

2008-03-17T15:48:00.000-07:00

Hows that for some random pictures!!

Seth is 10 months old today and I figured it was time for an update! He is talking! Well not TALKING but he says some words atleast in the right context anyway :) His first word was either "UhOh" or "Hi" and he said those when he was 8 months old...since then he's added "Dada"..and this weekend he started waving and saying "bye bye" and said "Mama" today! Which is of course the most important word of all. He is such a sweetie! Is so happy and loves to be with his sisters, or any other kid that happens to be at our house.

He's also VERY close to walking. He's been cruising the furniture for almost 2 months and loves to pull up on anything remotely stable. He is starting to let go and stand on his own for a couple seconds at a time and is getting pretty good at that.

He eats like a horse! Anything thats NOT baby food. LOL Well he eats babyfood OKAY, but nothing to what he does with table food. He inhales table food. And yet still has no teeth. Which means a lot of cutting involved for Mommy. :)

The last picture is of him in Easter clothes. I just couldn't wait to put that tie on him. Seriously delicious. And the first picture is of him doing one of his favorite things, watching the clothes get washed. LOL 2nd picture is of his budding artistic skills on our easel...as you can see he's not the ONLY one that hasn't learned to color on PAPER ONLY. Thanks Elaine! :)

He's just our special little man! Happy 10 Month Birthday Seth!

Blanket Love

2008-01-29T09:09:00.000-08:00

When I was a little girl I had this blanket, MY blanket. The most perfect comfy soothing wonderful blanket in the world. It is pink, with a rosebud trim and a rosebud backing, and had a rosebud bear in the middle with my name on it. I looooved it. Had to sleep with it every night, and when I slept with it, it HAD to be laying a certain way. Bear had to have his head facing up like mine, he could NOT be upside down. I just couldn't fall asleep with him being upside down!We slept together every night until I got married. Then my husband put his foot down on having a wife who slept with her blanket. RUDE!

When I was about 13 or 14 my sister decided it was time blankie had a remodel. The rosebud bear was shredded, its name bib hanging by a thread. She took my sweet blankie and with new fabric made a new bear, attaching his old bib in the correct place. Blankie used to have a butterfly but it has long since dissapeared. Ever since my sister remodeled blankie it was even MORE special to me. It now signified her love for me on top of it all. So needless to say blankie is very cherished.

Now the rosebud pattern on the back is completely faded to light light pink, you can KIND of see the rosebud if you look in the crevices of the ruffle on the side. This blanket started my obsession with the rosebud pattern. Adele has a rosebud blanket in pink, just like mine. Elaine has a rosebud pattern in purple. And they both have rosebud patterned nightgowns to match. LOL

As things happen (and husbands hide...) I found blankie last week in my linen closet. Stuffed towards the back behind the old sheets we never use. I took it out and smelled it, put it up against my face and cuddled it...ahhh peace...comfort. My blankie.So I pulled it out and put it by "My" chair. To be used when I was feeling chilly or wanting to cuddle with my baby while I fed him.

Turns out what is special to MOMMY is special to ADELE. She saw me cuddling with my blankie and was intrigued. What was this new blanket Mommy was so attached too? It didn't look like HER blanket, but she could make out a faint rosebud pattern like hers. She asked for it, Mommy refused. I was being selfish, I thought I had the right to be selfish about my blanket. I mean it was MY blanket, she had her own blankets to love and cuddle and dream in. So I put it away and told her to leave it alone.

Later on in the week I was in the toy room talking to some friends online and Adele was unusually quiet. I went into the front room and this is what I found.

Okay FIRST of all, Adele hasn't taken a nap in the middle of the day in like... a year. Second, looks like my blanket worked its magic on my little girl. My heart melted at the sight of this cuteness. Of course I let her cuddle with it, of course I let her feel the warmth and smell that her mother has loved for 27 years (ok ok ALMOST 28 years) But ya when she woke up and pushed the blanket aside to get up. Her mother also snatched up the blanket and put it out of sight. So Mommy could cuddle it later.

8 Months!

2008-01-20T17:12:00.000-08:00

Seth turned 8 months this week. My little man is getting so big! And he's becoming quite independent. LOL He's ALSO learned how to throw a tantrum when he doesn't like how things are goin'. Like when I took the bottle of snacks away from him so I could GET SOME for him. Ya wasn't happy. Or when he pulled himself up with the couch on friday....and he was so wobbly I sat him on his bum...he made sure I knew he was NOT happy with being sat down.

He's doing so great, so happy, so friendly, and definately able to fend for himself. At church there is a one year old who is pretty darn big, especially compared to Seth. He's about twice his size. Well the little boy reached across Seth to get a toy of Seth's. Seth grabbed his sweater and made this deep kind of growl and PULLED the boy to where the poor guy was crying a little. But dude, don't mess with Seth. He has Adele for a big sister. He KNOWS how to defend himself. LOL

***I had to edit to put in some pictures. And I was going to prove you wrong g, so I went through my pics to find one of him crying...ya couldn't find one. SO I went in the front room, and wouldn't let him have my camera...then I got a pictures. LOL Pretty pathetic Mommy huh!

Holding my breath

2007-12-28T19:28:00.000-08:00

Today we had a fun errand day with the kiddos. We decided to have dinner at Mimi's Cafe. Enjoying our meal, we had the manager come over and fill our cups. He was a nice looking man, probably about 6'3ish and a big hulking polynesian. Adele I guess hasn't seen too many men looking like this one. She looks up from her dinner and says "Your, Your...Your" Matt and I stare at one another and hold our breath. I say a silent prayer, PLEASE don't say anything horrible or rude! Please don't embarrass us! She finishes her sentence after what seams like an eternity. "Your Pretty!" LOL

She's NEVER said that to anyone before. She just doesn't really notice. Well now she does...she's beginning to notice. He was a really nice man and smiled and said that she was prettier and thanked her. When he left we told her boys were handsome and girls were pretty. She said "OH! hehehe okay!" When we were leaving we saw him again and she told him he was handsome. He smiled and said I had beautiful children. I agreed.

I think my little one has a thing for the polynesian men. Her best friend in preschool, the boy she's pretends to marry, his name is Leva. Short for Tuileva...yep Polynesian too. :)

Little boy

2007-12-23T14:19:00.000-08:00

Here is a pic of Seth at 7 months in front of our Christmas Tree. Isn't he CUTE! I seriously want to just kiss him to death. This guy is such a sweetheart it kills me. I seriously cannot believe how much I adore him. I mean I LOVE LOVE my girls, but for some reason this little boy has a very special place in his mommy's heart. Maybe its because he can't talk yet...hehehee. I never thought I'd LOVE having a little boy like I do. Its seriously so much fun, such a new adventure.

He has definately shown some boy tendencies too. He's into EVERYTHING. My girls never really were. He is already crawling and trying to figure out how to pull up on things. And oh his laugh, and his cry, and his voice! Its SO Boyish! Its so much deeper than a girls voice! Such a difference. I never thought that there would be such a difference at such a young age but there is! I love his smile, and his chuckle, his talking, the way he crawls after Elaine and grabs her blanket...I really think he's doing it just to get her to scream. Heaven help me. Oh I love him, I love them, I love my children. I love being a Mom. I am so blessed.

2007-12-22T12:44:00.000-08:00

Seth has been crawling for about a month now, he's SO ahead of the curve in our family! Adele was almost 10 months before she learned to crawl. Elaine was about the same. This little man was scooting around at 5 months, and up on his knees at 6. He loves to get over to his sisters, especially Elaine, and tease them. Elaine is pretty easy to tease. Just TOUCH one of her blankets and she flips out. "NO BABY MINE! MY BANKY!"

The girls in their christmas dresses this year. I was excited to actually have matching dresses. I must admit they are stinking adorable.

and the last picture is of Seth trying on his new babylegs I got him. Pants are just too tight on his tummy..ones that are his size anyway. So I bought these babylegs. They are basically leg warmers for babies. I LOVE them, I think he's so stinking adorable in them and it makes diaper changing a breeze and keeps his legs nice and warm.

2007-12-22T12:36:00.000-08:00

Pictures with Santa! Santa came to Adele's preschool this year so all the kids were able to meet him during the Santa "open house."

Adele loved him and made eyes at him. She asked for a little broom so she can help Daddy sweep the kitchen..she also asked for her own kitchen. lol

Elaine wasn't really a fan at all. As you can clearly see. She was happy to get some candy though.

Seth was intrigued, thought his beard was pretty cool :)

Yee haw!

2007-11-20T14:00:00.001-08:00

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

FUNNY

2007-11-20T13:44:00.001-08:00

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

Talented Friends

2007-10-29T12:15:00.000-07:00

What do you do when you have no photo taking skills? You get friends that have them! :) I have an awesome friend "Sunny" who has a great talent and a great "eye" for pictures. We had a photoshoot with Seth and here are some sneak peeks I got. :)

Here is her website also if you are interested. :)

www.elozia.com

Run for the Hills! I've been TAGGED!

2007-10-24T08:13:00.000-07:00

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. I can be an obsessive reader. When I was on bedrest with Seth for a little over a month I read probably 12 books. I just get into a routine of digging in and have a hard time breaking. My kids are used to it, my husband tolerates it. Right now i'm on a reading break because my mind couldn't seperate the storylines anymore. :P

2. I get REALLY silly when i'm tired. When I lived in CA and i'd go to happy hour with my work friends, they would all be drinking shots and i'd have my shirley temples...you would think I was drunk, seriously I get silly drunk when i'm tired and have a few sugar infused shirley temples in me.

3. I LOVE being a mom, and NEVER thought i'd actually want to use birth control. But 3 kids are kicking my butt. Especially 3 YOUNG kids, so I'm taking a baby making BREAK until further notice.

4. When i'm nervous I talk...a lot. And dont' know how to stop. I HATE silence when i'm with people i'm not REALLY close with.

5. I love to cook, but most people know that about me...I love when people love my food, and I love sharing food and making people happy with food.

6. Holidays are SO MUCH better with children. Before we had kids I'd get a little bored with holidays. But now, I seriously plan and get excited with EVERY holiday. I'm already planning on our green breakfast for St. Patricks day.

I tag...Rachelle, Sara, G, Stephanie,Sunny,Jennifer!

More cuteness

2007-10-20T09:49:00.000-07:00

Fun days

2007-10-04T14:16:00.000-07:00

Before I had children I swore i'd NEVER put my kids in "character" clothes, never have "character sheets/bedspreads" and never have "character" dishes, plates etc.

Now I have another thing to add to my list as something I SAID i'd never do and now .......totally do do it. Except the sheets/bedspreads...i'm still putting my foot down on that. AND we only have character dishes because thats all they SELL! I finally found some plain kiddo dishes that didn't have Elmo or Winnie the Pooh plastered all over them. I was stoked and we use those the most. But I did cave in one of my biggest pre-child pet peeves. We ...OK I bought the girls some Little Einstein PJ's. I had to, it was a screaming deal and they absolutely love Little Einsteins. So I bought them...and now i have to hide them when its not time for bed because Elaine will try and put them on over her other clothes....Here are some fun pics of my cute pet peeves ;)

Adele reading a Little Einstein book to Elaine on their makeshift bed they threw together

Elaine practicing for her future in the WWF

3 Months old

2007-09-07T16:22:00.001-07:00

And he really needed a haircut. :) Here are some before/after shots :)

Before:

During:

After:

I love your faces

2007-08-15T20:34:00.001-07:00

Tagabagadingdong

2007-08-11T11:38:00.000-07:00

I've been TAGGED! :)
5 questions from G

1. If you were a season of the year, which would you be?
I'd probably be....Spring. Its my favorite season, I think its one of those seasons where you just want to go OUTSIDE and have fun, be silly, and socialize. Thats all me ;)

2. Which of your children is most like you and what characteristics do you share?
I'd probably say Adele. We do share a lot actually in common. She is incredibley silly, she has a short attention span, and she has a very active imagination. She is also stubborn, loves to talk and has a very tender heart. She's basically my little clone.

3. If you could hire one person, and cost was no object, who would you employ: a chef, a housekeeper, a nanny, a chauffeur, a gardener, a secretary, or a pool boy?
Housekeeper HANDS DOWN. I love cooking, I love being/taking care of my children, I don't drive around enough yet to hate it, Matthew does all the gardening at the moment but I think i'd enjoy it if I had the time, I don't really need a secretary and alas i'd love a pool with a boy but not when you can only swim 4 months out of the year or so in utah. :) I hate cleaning, with a passion. And i'd LOVE LOVE a housekeeper :)

4. What was your most recent embarrassing moment?
Hmm my most recent...I believe it would be Adele announcing to my VERY conservative MIL that her daddy has a penis...and that her Uncle Michael has a penis, and that her brother Seth has a penis....and that she has a gyna...YA I went red with that one.

5. What is your dream vacation?
I've always dreamed about touring Europe. Going to the ruins of Rome and Athens. Visiting my favorite castles and historical places in England. Seeing the beautiful green of my ancestors Scottish homeland. Experiencing all those different cultures that I love to read about.

Here are my 5 questions
1. If you could choose anywhere in the world, where would you live?
2.You’ve won $50,000 – but have to give it all away. To which charity or institution would you donate it?
3.If you could be seven years old again for one whole day, knowing what you know now, how would you spend it?
4.What do you think is the most soothing sound?
5.Of all your favorite foods, which one would you find the most difficult to give up completely for the rest of your life?

I'm tagging Rachelle, Sara H., Sunny, Emily, Amy

OOPS

2007-08-06T12:53:00.000-07:00

I forgot to post my favorite pictures from the 4th of july festival we went too! So without further delay....your pictures ;)

Manly Men

2007-08-06T12:50:00.000-07:00

Matthew went hiking with his brothers and nephew. They all had a blast and got some beautiful views and pictures! I'm just glad they all made it back alive ;)

Seth's Blessing Pics

2007-08-06T12:46:00.000-07:00

Seth was blessed about 3 weeks ago and we had a fantastic time. Thank you family and friends that made it out for the blessing! It meant so much to us to have you all here. :)

Elaine turns 2!

2007-07-28T08:40:00.000-07:00

My miracle medical baby. We meant business when we tried to get pregnant with you my love. I was on 5 different medications at various times and went to the dr. when it was time to conceive. I was shocked when after 4 months (and only one IUI) I got a positive pregnancy test. Matthew was not shocked. He knew it would work and he knew you were coming. You were a wonderful pregnancy, an even better labor. We were so happy so excited to have our Elaine with us. Two precious little girls. What more could we ask for? You and Adele are finally playing together. Two sisters who giggle and scream in the same breath. Who adore one another and seek refuge from one another too. True Sisters. :)

I can't believe my little Mama's girl is two years old. She still my baby in SO many ways. So many annoying ways...hahaha Good thing I absolutely adore her huh.

She got a bike (like Adele) and an Elmo phone ...oh and a June book from Little Einsteins. She's in love with all of them. She's such a baby with me that it surprises me really how much she can do. She just hopped right on that bike and knew exactly what she wanted to do. Still kinda shocks me. Anyway Lainey I LOVE you. You are my sweet baby girl, my cuddles, and my excuse that I can't vacuum when you are awake.

Little Smiles

2007-07-11T14:37:00.000-07:00

Title says it all :) I love this boy.

Our boy

2007-07-02T14:25:00.000-07:00

I had fun yesterday dressing Seth up in his Sunday outfit that daddy bought him while I was still pregnant. One of those outfits that you are excited for your baby to be able to fit into. He looked handsome I decided to post some pics of him :) And our little family ready for church.

My man ROCKS

2007-07-02T14:19:00.000-07:00

My incredible husband has finally finished our fence! Its gorgeous and he's very VERY proud. As he should be because that man has put SO much time into this fence. Seriously worked his rear off. So I thought i'd post some lovely pictures to show off my boys handiwork. :)

First Kisses

2007-06-18T10:06:00.000-07:00

My 4 year old...had and rejected her first kiss. LOL

In primary a little boy named Skylar was sitting next to her and hitting her friend Becca. He looked at her and instead of hitting her, kissed her right on the mouth! I was shocked! LOL SHE was shocked and disgusted. Which is odd considering what an affectionate child she is. She grimaced, wiped it off and pushed him AWAY. He went in for another one, She pulled back and pushed him off his chair. (thats my girl)

Later at the dinner table I asked her if Skylar had kissed her. She said "YES! It was yucky, no boy kisses for me! Only Mama, Daddy, & Elaine can kiss me." So right then we set up the rule that only family members can kiss Adele. It just cracked me up what her natural reaction was! :)

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine

2007-06-13T14:21:00.000-07:00

For those that know me, you know i'm slightly in love with my children. Four years ago today I became a Mama. The best title I will ever have in this world, I've worked hard to become a Mom and i'm darn proud of that. Struggling with infertility for four years really bit. It was not a happy time in my life. It had happy moments (thank you Matthew for those) but I felt like a huge hole was missing in my life. And I needed me some cute babies to fill it!

After an early miscarriage, we became pregnant with our Adele. And after a rushed emergency induction we were finally parents. Parents to ONE (the other is Elaine) of the most perfect beautiful little girls our Heavenly Father has ever created. Happy Birthday Adele, thank you for being our miracle, our happiness, our silly one, our kind hearted friend, our sunshine.

I know a name a glorious name,

a name unlike any other

that name, that wonderful name

is the name of Mother

Our newest edition :)

2007-06-08T15:42:00.000-07:00

May 17th -

I was scheduled to be induced at 1pm, that didn't happen because they were way busy (ended up being the busiest month ever for the hospital actually! :) ) At 4 I called and asked if I could get in, they told me to come in the next hour or so. I got there at 5pm and they gave me an IV with some lovely pitocin. It started giving me little contractions, nothing major. I was already at 3cm walking around so at 6pm my midwife came and broke my water. TONS of water...TONS. In fact I continued to leak/spew water for the entire labor process. I was at 10cm and STILL losing water. :P

Anyway after she broke my water contractions really picked up and were getting nice and strong. My WONDERFUL friend/doula Tisha was there and she was really helping me through each contraction, having me relax my shoulders etc..while she massaged my legs and feet.Helped me SO SO much. I was actually able to get to 6cm before I was begging for my epidural. I actually really wanted to get my epidural before 7:30 because I wanted to watch the Season Finale of "The Office" with no pain. Hehehe. That didn't happen. The Anesth. dr. came in and started putting the epidural in, by the time he was done... around 7:35ish? I was in PAIN and really starting to lose it. Thankfully I also had an incredible nurse/mom/sister/doula & husband there to help me through it. Seriously I need a VILLAGE to birth I guess! :)

The anesth. saw that I was in pain and that the drip IV meds were NOT going to help me in time so he "gave me a syringe of the strong stuff" right into the epidural tube...AHH sweet relief! About 5 minutes later I was feeling some nice ol' pressure. Nurse checked me and I was at 10cm! :) Of course it was also 7:58 and I had missed my show...but I had it on in the background and was able to catch the jist of what happened ;) (I know i'm an addict). The midwife had to be called still (seriously couldn't they have called SOONER) so I got to wait 20 minutes for her to come. The nice on call family dr. decided to come in and chat with us while we waited for my dr. He kept an eye on Seth's heartrate making sure it was stable because if it wasn't I would of delivered much earlier. So FINALLY she got there and I was able to start pushing, I'm not sure how long I pushed for time wise. But I think it was maybe 2 or 3 contractions worth? Under 10 minutes I think. He was delivered SO easily! Came right out and the dr. put him on me...i've never had that done before! Dr. had always held baby while the cord was cut but this time I got to hold my cheesy little boy while DH cut his cord. Everyone assured me right away that it was indeed a boy and we were all just THRILLED to have him out and safe!

His apgars were 9/9 and he weighed 7lbs 2.5oz and was 18 1/2 inches long. I looked it up and he was the same weight as my 2nd daughter and the same length as my first daughter. So it looks like I grow my babies pretty darn closely the same! He nurses REALLY well and sleeps like an angel. I'm SO lucky and he's just the most beautiful little boy i've ever seen. :)

Here are some pics so you can see for yourself ;)

Sisterly Love

2007-04-30T08:42:00.000-07:00

The girls found my stash of Seth's hats and decided to try them out. Adele found a brown plaid sunhat and decided it was the perfect hat to be Basil of Bakerstreet in (The Great Mouse Detective) She went and found her magnifying glass and had a BLAST.

Elaine found an adorable blue crocheted had that JUST fit her (very tightly though) She didn't care what she was pretending. Just loved wearing that hat and chasing Adele around. I believe she was Ratigan (per Adele) But I did get some fun pictures out of it! :)

My hairy son

2007-04-24T12:30:00.000-07:00

Went to get an ultrasound today at 35 weeks. Just to check position and see how well he's growing etc. Well he is Breech at the moment but I have a lot of fluid so they aren't too worried about him turning head down yet. They said they wouldn't worry until about 37 weeks or so.

The fun part was that we got an AMAZING picture of his face! I had to share! All that fuzzy stuff on the right of the picture is hair! So looks like my hairy baby trend is going strong. :)

The time is almost here

2007-04-15T21:02:00.000-07:00

To welcome our little man to our family. :) I'm getting SO excited. I had my baby shower yesterday and had a total blast. I really love my ward and am so happy that we bought here. All the other wards i've been in have been less than stellar to say the least!

Anyway i'm 34 weeks today so I only have about 5 weeks or so left. PLUS I get to do some clothes shopping for Seth which i'm VERY excited about. I never got to shop for the girls because we got SO many things from my showers. With Seth we got a lot of clothes but in older sizes plus I only had one shower compared to the 2 I had for Adele. Anyway i'm blabbing on and on about nothing really. I DO have a belly shot for ya'll and a pic of the girls that came on saturday. :)

The SharkDolphin

2007-03-12T16:18:00.000-07:00

I signed Adele up for swim lessons FINALLY this month. Her first lesson was 2 weeks ago and I had her put into the level one preschool class. As beginner as you can get without me having to haul my big preggo bootie into the pool with her. Not so sure that was a good idea considering how bored she is. LOL I mean she LOVES LOVES "swim school" but I don't think she's really learning much in the lessons dept.

For Instance: Skills you learn in the Level One Preschool Class
(1) being able to get into the pool by yourself.
Adele the first week rushed into the pool with her teacher running after her, She was about 4ft into chest deep water by the time he got to her. Which shocked us all since the only pool experience she's had is our kiddie pool in the backyard and some trips to the splash pool last summer
(2) child will feel comfortable getting face wet
Again first week the teacher was teaching the little kids how to get their hair wet or blow bubbles. He dunked his head under once to show them it wasn't scary. Adele followed suit by also going completely under.......about 20 times.
(3) Child begins to learn how to float on back for 10+ seconds
Ya Adele gets way upset when she has to wait her turn to float on her back with the teacher. She likes to pretend she's a mermaid.
(4) can jump into an adults arms off the side of the pool
Last week Adele jumped into the pool by HERSELF when she got tired of waiting for her turn with the teacher. This is in the deeper section of the pool so i'm VERY glad the teacher noticed when she jumped.

This brings me to another thought. I'm the only parent allowed to sit on the benches right next to the pool. The other parents are instructed to go upstairs to the overlooking balcony to watch their children. But me, no no no i'm just fine sitting by the pool. They know my daughter is insane and needs an extra pair of eyes watching her at all times. I think she's going to give me an ulcer and I pray she learns how to swim SOON!

We're still alive!

2007-02-15T12:23:00.000-08:00

Sorry its been so long! I've seriously been slacking with the blog. I'll blame it on my pregnant brain since i've been doing that a lot lately.

We're all doing great!

Adele is registered for Preschool this coming fall and swim lessons this March.

Elaine is really blossoming with her language skills and gives us a new word atleast once a week.

I'm doing great growing this little man in my tummy. I guess I can post a belly shot for ya'll.

here I am 25 weeks along. :)

2007-01-13T10:42:00.000-08:00

I have been iniated into the Mother club. At 1:30am Adele puked all over me. She had gotten up for the 4th time in an hour and if anyone knows Matthews grumpy disposition when being woken knows .......it ain't pretty. Anyway so he yelled at her (like opened the door before she got to it and scared her half to death) She was so upset that she got into her not breathing thing. I called him some names while grabbing her and trying to calm her down.

I was still laying down....she was sitting up by my side when she went all exorcist on me.I received the main amount with the 2nd blow going IN my mouth (don't say AH! when puke is flying at you), my pillow was lost to the puke gods. The floor got some nice bombs to it. As did the bathroom floor NEXT to the toilet because for some reason (thanks again Matt) her Daddy frantically telling her to "DO IT IN HERE!" Didn't make sense to her. Poor thing, she's never thrown up before.

Anyway when I made it downstairs on their heels and had stopped dry heaving because yes I was dripping in vomit which is a new experience for me. I was able to calm Adele down, calmly told her to "spit it in the potty"(which she understood a bit more) and told her Mommy & Adele were going to take a bath, she cheered up (the girl is obsessed with baths).

So I got to clean her up in the bath while sitting in the water (the shower was making her shake) that had the remains of the battle floating in it. And my friends I can proudly say I kept it all in. For the sake of my little girl because that would of scared the......well maybe MORE puke out of her.

Daddy took her after she was done and I scrubbed the crud out of my body. The stinking hot water ran out too soon I tell you! Yet my skin still smells like it........i'm going to have to go grab some scented lotion because seriously this is nasty. BUT I wanted to give you my novel on why I am now officially a mom. And thank you Daddy for doing all the gross cleanup. (bed, sheets, pillow which is now in the trash, floors etc)

The BIG Ultrasound

2007-01-04T13:02:00.000-08:00

Was it a girl, a boy? Or maybe just poop like Adele excitingly announced she would see inside of mama's tummy?

It is a beautiful little boy! Who seems to be sick of all of our noise already because he had both hands up over his ears. LOL

His name will be Seth Douglas and he's due May 27th :)

Nine years ago today

2006-12-12T15:10:00.000-08:00

I saw my future husband for the first time.

We met at Institute on a friday afternoon. I was home from school (senior in H.S.) sick and felt good enough by then to go to the Institute forum lunch class to flirt with some Missionaries...lol

I walked in, surveyed the room for cute guys. Saw Matthew....kept looking. ROFL Then I noticed him talking to a homeless man and he gave him a Book of Mormon. I thought it was sweet. I was pretending to read a book while watching everyone, he came up to me and introduced himself to me. His pickup line? "Hi, I'm Matt...excuse my accent I just got off my mission a week ago." ROFL He served in LA and had NO accent. Still cracks us up. We talked for about 45 min then he kinda alluded to asking me out again by asking if I was going to the Single Adult Christmas dance. I said that no, I couldn't...I wasn't old enough. LOL He was QUITE shocked to find out I was 17. We talked some more and we both left at the same time.

For 2 days he would not get out of my brain. I kept hearing this little voice..."CALL HIM, CALL HIM!" Well it wasn't so little I guess. I NEVER called boys EVER. Total phone phobia. But this voice would NOT give up, so I went back to institute, spoke to the secretary and described Matt. She knew him (he happened to be in her ward) and gave me his digits. :) I called him and asked him to come to a party my friend was having (it was a single adult party not some lame h.s. party) he did come, we talked all night ignoring everyone else and had a total blast. The rest is history ;)
We had our first "single" date Jan. 2nd, exactly a year later I was endowed in the Temple and a week after that we were Sealed. What a lucky gal I am! :)

This is at my Senior prom 6 months later :)

I did it

2006-12-09T13:06:00.000-08:00

I finally had Elaine's hair cut. The poor thing looked like cousin IT anytime her ponytails broke so, I broke down and we had her get bangs today. We also trimmed around too so its more even in the back etc. But you can't see that in this pic. Anyway it freaked Matt and I out at first because it doesn't look like our Lainey anymore but I'm sure we'll get used to it :) Adele got hers trimmed too, but I can barely notice at all. Adele (And Elaine) were VERY good for the stylist after a couple minutes of her doing Adele's hair, Adele pronounced.."Dis doesn't huwt at all!" :)

Vacation Photos

2006-12-05T09:50:00.000-08:00

I finally got my camera hookups to work again so here are some fun vacation pics! We are so mad we forgot to take our camera to the beach! The girls LOVED it there! Oh well, i'm sure we'll have that opportunity again! :)

Elaine & Daddy in front of Triceratops at the L.A. Natural History Museum. I wish I could get the entire picture, right above it was a huge T-rex skeleton. Adele LOVED this exhibit.

Adele loved this giant sea turtle, we loved the touch & feel section of the museum. They had a ton of great live reptiles, fish, and small rodents there to look at.

Adele and her cousins helping make the family specialty, homemade "noodles."

Adele and her Grami

Adele and her Aunt Shauna

Adele has never been camping before so on our last night there, Matthew set up a tent in my parents backyard. She had a TOTAL blast even though it wasn't "real" camping......a huge airmattress and dvd player....thats my idea of camping in style ;)

You may notice a lack of pictures of Elaine in this post..........that would be because lately she has taken a great dislike to the camera and most pictures of her turn out like this

Finally

2006-12-02T12:51:00.000-08:00

Ok i'll post again! Its been a busy couple weeks! We were out of town for Thanksgiving. Had a fantastic trip to Cali, and I wanted to cry leaving the 80 degree weather and came home to 40 degree. Now its 25 degree........ya not enjoying that so much.

The girls LOVED the ocean, I had to seriously hold Elaine back from jumping headfirst into the water. She absolutely loved it, much different than her sisters past reactions to it. But this trip Adele loved it too. Unfortunately we didn't think it would be 88 degrees in late November so we didn't pack a swimsuit. Wet jeans are so fun for a 3 yr old let me tell ya!

We also went to LA's Natural History Museum and Children's Science Museum. The girls loved those too and Adele LOVED seeing "Sharp Tooth, and Cera's Daddy" posed fighting eachother.

The day after we got back I had my 14 weeks prenatal visit. Everything went great. Baby's heartrate was perfect and high about 160, everyone looked wonderful. 3 days later I was in the ER for horrible kidney pain. My Dr's office ended up taking care of that with a lovely shot in the behind and some nice strong painkillers. My new love......Lortab. We also were able to hear the heartbeat again yesterday, Matt wasn't with me for my appt so he got to hear it this time which was nice.

Lets seee I think that will be it for now. I think my body needs some more painkiller and my head is starting to pound so i'm off for a little break. :)

You really do show quickly with your 3rd!

2006-11-08T10:25:00.000-08:00

Here is a pic taken of my tummy at 6 weeks pregnant.

Below is a pic i took monday at 11 weeks pregnant. Granted i'm 30 lbs lighter starting out this time but I didn't show until like 25 weeks with my other 2! :P

i'm in trouble

2006-11-01T13:02:00.000-08:00

A good friend came to visit last week for 4 days. She has a cute little boy we'll call W, that is a year older than Adele.

Adele and W were friends before my friend moved, but at this age you know how long they remember eachother.

After getting reacquainted they TOTALLY hit it off and Adele kept saying that W was her "fwend." Not sure...they look like more than "fwends" to me. Am I in for it! oh and to top it off Elaine was also making the moves on him. LOL

Halloween!

2006-10-17T09:29:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned before that Adele is a very well rounded child. She really can play with any kid because she loves EVERYTHING. From dinosaurs to ponies, from Darth Vader to Cinderella....she's all over it. So for Halloween I was wondering what we should dress her up as. Then I figured it out. :) A Pirate! And Elaine will be her Pirate Booty. I haven't made Elaine's costume yet but Grandma finished Adele's this weekend. Here is a fun pic. I'm not sure how I'm going to do her hair though. Should I do it in big curls? Two braids? Or should I braid it the night before and have it be crimpy and big?

Stinker

2006-09-29T09:39:00.000-07:00

I think my BABY is a bad influence on my 3 year old. :P

Gross! Adele found my tinted Burt's Bee's chapstick. Went to TOWN. Even dug her finger into it and applied everywhere! Thank goodness she kept it to her face and hands....oh and hair. Its way gross, chapstick hair. Not something I wanted to deal with right now.

She came in to show me and asked me to help her wash her hands up (she doesn't like being dirty). Oh yes and she asked for more...do you think she needs more? :)

Victory!

2006-09-26T10:20:00.000-07:00

When Mommy thinks Daddy has Elaine....and Daddy thinks Mommy has Elaine.....

Elaine will succeed in the thing she's been trying to get for the last 2 months. She finally got mama's baking chocolate out of the box and unwrapped AND had time to go to town before she finally came to find us. See her lovely chocolate handprints?

I wish we had taken a picture before she fell backwards and bumped her head! She had a HUGE grin of satisfaction. Oh well I had to get a pic of her chocolate face anyway :P

Not sued to having a baby that gets inot things....Adele was the kind of kid that wouldn't get into something If I told her no once. Elaine is a little more sneaky...darn it!

2006-09-22T07:32:00.000-07:00

A Word to the Wise

2006-09-21T14:42:00.000-07:00

Adele went upstairs yesterday and told me she was going to sleep. Because she was "Sweepy." I went up to check her about 30 min later because usually her going upstairs by herself usually means all the lights will be turned on and she will probably be reading to all her stuffed animals.

But yesterday she did actually go to sleep. At about 3pm. I went up to check her and she was sound asleep under her covers cuddling her star pillow. Babysitter (MIL) got here at 4, I tried to go wake her up and she woke up and yelled at me and went back to sleep. We took away her naps a month or so ago because she wasn't going to sleep until 10 or 11ish. But seriously she was ticked and I didn't want MIL to have to deal with her wrath, especially with me leaving Elaine, She was gonna have a hard time anyway. I told MIL she'd wake up in 10 min or so and we'd be back at 6.

Got home at 6, she had JUST woken up like 15 MINUTES before we got home. So yes my 3 year old took an almost 3 hour nap. We shrugged and just figured she'd watch a low key movie while I went to the gym and when I got back at 10 we'd put her to sleep.

But when we went to put Elaine to bed (they share a room now) at 8pm she grabbed her blanket and said she wanted to go to sleep too. We were shocked! And happy! .....ahhh such naivety....

She did go to sleep with Elaine. But at midnight she was UP, and when I mean up I mean UP. In our room talking to me, cuddling, bouncing.......I told her it was time to go to sleep. Put her back in her bed. She came back 15 min later. And we did the same routine, this continued for 2 HOURS. She went to sleep finally at about 2:30.

NEVER NEVERRRR Will that child have such a long nap again. I'll do the old cold water on the head trick my parents always threatened me with. hehehe

My family

2006-09-20T09:29:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post of a pic I LOVVEEEE :)

Who's got Talent?

2006-09-11T22:07:00.000-07:00

Adele thats who! Look at this! She AMAZES me! This is a Dinosaur I had the opportunity to see before she erased it. Seriously she's awesome.

My cuddles

2006-09-07T13:15:00.000-07:00

Teddy Bears & Favorite Blankets rock. The Teddy is usually sitting up in the corner of her crib but she moved him so she could cuddle and sleep on him. How ADORABLE is that! :)

Good Intentions

2006-09-07T13:11:00.000-07:00

Last night as I laid in bed and thought about what a slacker I was for not working out, I made up my mind. Bright and early at 6am i'd jump out of bed grab my gym clothes, Mp3 player and Matthews work card and run to the gym for a fast hard 45 min workout. Jet back in time to take a shower before Matthew left to work at 6:55 (IF he was even on time) , read my scriptures, clean up the front room, throw in a load of laundry and make breakfast for the girls before they woke up this morning.....

So why at 5:50 when the alarm went off did I moan, cover my head with my blanket and cuddle into my pillow while Matthew got up and reset the alarm for 6:45? LOL

Imagination

2006-08-27T11:58:00.000-07:00

My Mom could never put me in my room to punish me as a child. Taking away all my toys wouldn't help either. Once my mom came into my room to find me playing with two tissues, they were talking to eachother and I was having a grand time.
I believe Adele has inherited my love for imagination. Lately i've found her playing with certain objects like these cups that she made a "castle" out of. She laid down the blanket, the ring toss, the bottle inside the ring...everything to make her planned community. She even stuck the butterfly on top of the ring toss for added effect. I believe that is a security butterfly if I remember correctly.

Her obsession has been a lot of fun to watch. To see her little gears turning, to find her with a rag on the kitchen floor singing "Cinderwewwy...Cinderwewwy..." over and over. Its been an absolute fun part of being a mother.

I love how she is following in my footsteps. I really didn't think she was until last night I came into my office and she followed me with a boat full of animals. I was wondering what was up until I saw her settle herself down next to two empty CD racks.

Then I KNEW she was my child after my own heart. When I was a girl i'd get all my small Shera dolls, stuffed bears, and My Little Pony's and sit next to our christmas tree. I'd have an entire soap opera story going on for the weeks we had the tree. There would be deaths, marriages, fights, long lost children reunions. All sorts of fun stuff.

Anyway when I saw this my heart melted. I think I actually teared up a little bit. Because I remembered the joy I had doing the same thing she was doing.

Funny what things make you smile. :)

What happens when you take a nap away?

2006-08-22T08:01:00.000-07:00

This!

Adele wasn't going to bed very easily at night so we decided to take away her last nap. Now the girl LOVES her nap. She goes down at about 2pm and usually sleeps until 5ish so it was quite a nice break for both of us. But alas her going to bed before 11pm was more important to mommy.

This picture was actually taken about a week after taking her nap away. She just could not stay awake during dinner time. We finally just decided to force her to eat a banana before putting her to bed. My poor sleepy bear!

what a wonderful morning!

2006-08-16T09:10:00.000-07:00

*side note...this is a REALLY REALLY TMI post. So If you don't want to know about my gross personal problems stop reading now

I woke up thinking I had pee'd my pants. (not a lot of pee just a little bit which is not unusual after having baby #2) I went downstairs to jump in the shower and it wasn't pee! I started my period! Now those who know my history know how huge this is for me. I haven't had a "naturally occurring" period since 1999. I've taken fertility drugs to get good old Aunt Flo to come. So the fact that I weaned a month ago tomorrow and that my period is RIGHT on time is SOOO stinking exciting for me! I'm going to chart this month and see if I will ovulate on my own too...........its a long shot but today has proven long shots happen!

On to my 2nd great news of the day! My Sister in Law (brothers wife) is pregnant with TWINS! I had reason to believe that twins may be on the way and am THRILLED to know I will be the Aunt to two adorable Scott/Stephanie creations. VERY exciting! Now just to make sure they don't use the boys name that I am going to use and all will be well. :)

GOODBYE Split Ends!

2006-08-06T14:31:00.000-07:00

I did it! I chopped off my hair. I decided to do it yesterday morning (I had an afternoon appt) I was so excited to do something drastic and surprise my hubby! I really do love it. Its light and sassy and I feel like a whole new person. Before I felt like old Sara with the same old look even though I had lost almost 30lbs. I craved something new. And since I NEVER cut my hair very short before because I felt i'd look like a big marshmellow I decided I deserved this. I'm definately going to miss my pony tail! But i'm glad its not an easy option anymore because I was being lazy about doing my hair. And now, no easy option. Although I am thinking of investing in some cute headbands and clips.... :) Anyway just wanted to share!

Ground Zero

2006-08-02T11:55:00.000-07:00

Thankfully we made it through one of Provo's worst crazy spastic storms yesterday! There were some winds recorded at 90MPH at certain points. I don't know what they were recorded at by MY house because the weather tower was destroyed. The worst part I guess was at the Provo Airport where 5 planes were tipped over and thats about 4 miles from my house.

These are just some pictures of around my house. The first is my neighbors back yard. She has branches from all the neighbors backyards in hers. LOL Her husband was out there with a chain saw for awhile!

This is the front of my house and a few huge pine branches that broke off our 60ft tree. There are some bigger branches that snapped and are hanging by small pieces of wood that we'll have to get down probably this weekend with a TALL ladder. Wish us luck on that one!

The back of the garage where our window was blown out. Matthew easily fixed that last night.

Our garden, it actually faired pretty well because it has two garages sheltering each side. Our corn needed to be straightened but nothing bad. :)

All in all we are SOOO lucky. Houses a block or 2 from us had big huge tree's uprooted, power lines tipped over etc.. Over 100 power lines were broken and laying over a ton of homes. Some people will be without power for 2-3 days. I feel SO blessed and watched over and am SO thankful my huge tree didn't crush our little home!

July 27, 2005

2006-07-27T14:50:00.000-07:00

Elaine was born. At 4:45am. She was my miracle baby. Not because we got pregnant with her (true that was a miracle too) but how she came, that was a true miracle, a total blessing. With Adele I was induced early for PIH (pregnancy induced hypertension) basically REALLY high blood pressure. SO when I was 31 weeks and showing high blood pressure again my dr. put me on bedrest. And I stayed there for 8 weeks.

Adele was 2 years old, it was spring/summer and we BOTH were going crazy cooped up in that house but we did it. My dr. told me he'd induce at 38 weeks, when 38 weeks came my blood pressure was perfect. No problem at all. So he said he'd continue to wait. Which made me nervous. I REALLY didn't want to be induced for PIH because I knew i'd have to go onto magnesium again and that stuff is EVIL (I couldn't even focus my eyes for almost 48 hours after having Adele because of it). So we prayed and Matthew gave me a fantastic blessing saying that baby would come naturally. Which was.....not possible in my eyes. I'd HAVE to be induced early or i'd get high blood pressure. And dr. had set a date to induce me on Thursday July 28th. I'd be exactly 39 weeks.

So Tuesday July 26th came and I had a dr. appt with Heather the nurse practitioner. She checked me and stripped my membranes and told me I was having that baby that night. She had no doubt, I was ready to go on my own. I rolled my eyes and tried not to get my hopes up. But by the time I was walking to my car after our appt I was getting strong contractions and they were not going away.

Fast forward to 4:45am Wednesday morning. When I pushed out my 2nd daughter. My second miracle. A wonderful labor and delivery, problems whatsoever. She came out crying like a kitten. Soft and squeaky. She never outgrew the squeakiness. And cuddley! She loved to cuddle, and she never outgrew that either. Miracle #2, or I guess its miracle #3. She nursed. She nursed WELL. She didn't need a shield like Adele, she latched on like a total pro and never looked back (except for one horrific night). She nursed as often as she could for 12 months stopping....last week. At the exact time her Mommy was willing to give it up.

The past year has been wonderful, stressful, crazy, and perfect. I wouldn't ask this last year to be anything but it was. I have my little Lainey to show for it. :)

Sad

2006-07-26T14:22:00.000-07:00

When you are SOOO excited when the 10 day forecast says 86....really its just pathetic.

Illness

2006-07-23T19:55:00.000-07:00

Moms really do have it rough. Adele had her first fever this past week. (I do know i'm EXTREMELY lucky in this dept) So anyway she's 3 and has never been sick. She's never thrown up etc.. So she took it pretty hard when she wasn't feeling well. Walked around all day saying how she was sick and needed to sleep and needed her "get better bunny." She curled up in her blanket all day with 2 icepacks and her mommy answering to every whim or whimper. She also had to deal with mommy snapping pictures because she was so darn cute and Mommy wasn't used to having a little girl in this condition. But we made it through the day and she is not addicted to Children's Tylenol. Which she kept insisting to her one year old sister that it was good. "Medicine GOOD Elaine! Have it Have it!" She is my little cheerleader for medication. Good thing I was trying to get Elaine the drugs at the time. I have to make sure I put them WAY WAY out of reach from little grabbing hands. She took 4 naps that day, passed out cold in "Mama's chair" which I willingly gave up when she insisted she have it.

I was happy to do it, she's my sweet little baby and I do worship her...........most of the time.
(read below)

But the next day when I was feverish and dizzy? The next morning when it burned to swallow and my headache felt like 100 chipmunks were running around inside my head? This is what I got.

OH yeah HAPPY and ENERGETIC from her FOUR NAPS. So yes Mommy got shafted ladies and gents. SHAFTED. I didn't get to lay down with my blanket and nice cold drinks. If I laid down from delirium I got ATLEAST one kid jumping on me and if I was lucky the other one would just crawl over to me and play patty cake on my face. Yeah and dear old hubby?!? Where was he you may ask? I have no clue. But I do know this. He asked ME why Adele hadn't been fed dinner and HE'D been home the entire night. (k small rant over) so anyway yes. I love being a Mom. :)

The Great Tomato Massacre of 2006

2006-07-19T13:28:00.000-07:00

I've done it. My hands are covered in blood.......tomato plant blood. So really they are green and black....

Matthew planted 18 tomato plants, watered them......and thats about it. He's WAY busy with school at the moment so he asked if I would take them over. I'm thinking he also knew what had to be done and couldn't bring himself to do it. I had to hack branches off the overgrown beasts that were heavy with lovely green tomatoes. They were so huge that the plant was tipping over (even in cages) and breaking on its own. So I had to go out there with clippers and hack and hack and hack. I even found a nice red one in the middle of one overgrown bush!

Oh and I found an ENTIRE cucumber plant with 5 skinny scrawny cucumbers under another tomato plant. That should clue you into how HUGE these tomato plants were. The poor cucumbers were all skinny and sickly looking. From lack of light and water that the tomato plants sucked up.

And still my job is not yet done. I have 4 roma plants that have NO cages so they are just laying on the ground branches growing every which way.....thanks Matt.....grrrr. Anyway so I felt so bad cutting these plants branches off at first. But then I actually enjoyed it....i'm a morbid serial tomato killer!

Growing up

2006-07-17T09:04:00.000-07:00

Elaine will be one year on the 27th. She is a baby in so many ways still. She still sucks her thumb, she refuses to stand on her own, she is still rear facing. But in other ways she's becoming a little toddler and its really hitting me hard!

We are now on day 2 of a nursing strike. I believe she's done. She just up and stopped nursing yesterday morning. She will have NOTHING to do with it. If she even SEE'S me unlatching my bra she starts screaming like i'm going to torture her.

So odd considering our last nursing session was so wonderful. It was late at night, probably 9pm. It was her normal session before bed. She nursed really well, was way into it and would even look up at me and smile with her eyes. She would pat me and play with my hair. Then on the next side she fell asleep and unlatched, rolled onto her back and laid there asleep blissfully full.

It was so adorable that I went and told Matthew about it after I laid her down. That night she slept all night long not waking for a earlymorning snack. When she woke up at 7am she wanted NOTHING to do with nursing and hasn't since. So after being in extreme pain i'm pumping and giving her milk in her sippy cup which she seems totally happy with.

Its strange how quickly and surely they show their independence. I know i'm being a good mother because she is so confident and sure of her self. She asserts her likes and dislikes and she is loving and affectionate. I love her so much. This last week she's gotten 2 teeth, she's learned to climb stairs (horrors!) and she is climbing into any basket she can find. Hard to imagine that a month ago she refused any type of movement except army crawling. She now pulls up quickly on everything and is cruising around, driving her sister (who used to put all of her special toys on the couch so Elaine couldn't get them) crazy.

But she and Adele are also having a ton of fun together. Yesterday afternoon they spent hours chasing eachother around and playing with the t.v. and with her exersaucer together. Nothing is better than hearing your girls giggle and scream together while you are cooking dinner. I am glad that Elaine is growing up, and I needed to type this all out so I can remember it fully. She's been such a wonderful baby and the highlight of my year. I remember how wonderfully happy I was when we realized she would nurse. How hard I struggled with the new pains of nursing. It was worth it. It was so worth it.

Its a girl thang

2006-07-11T22:26:00.000-07:00

Am I the luckiest woman or what! Nothing is more fun than pretending with your 3 year old, and painting your babies toes. Its just too fun!

You be the judge

2006-07-11T22:20:00.000-07:00

So what do you think? Do you think we look like sisters?? Keep in mind that her skin ALWAYS looks like that. She has gorgeous tan skin. I'm see through in some light. And she's 5'4 and i'm 5'10. FYI. OH and I was blonde blonde up until friggin puberty hit. :)

*please ignore my hunchbacked fat rolls...........thank you

Sisters

2006-07-08T21:18:00.000-07:00

I have had a fanstastic week. My big sister came to visit. I loooooooove my big sister. If you looked at us you'd never think we were sisters (DANG IT I just remembered I didn't get any pics of us together!) But we have been best friends for as long as I can remember. She's 10 years older than me and I shared a room with her (well more like slept in her room, I had my own room) until she moved out when I was 10. She is the best big sister a gal could ask for. She even took me out on some of her dates when I was 7 and she was 17. She would take me to the beach with all of her friends. She took me to get my first makeup, she sat and listened to me bawl about my life in the parking lot of a Bank of America when I was 11, and she saved me from hair disasters by taking me to the best hair stylists she could find when I was a teenager.

She cried for me when she couldn't take away my pain, when she couldn't understand my pain, and when she couldn't take revenge on people who gave me pain. She is there for me when I really need her. She adores me and my family and makes me feel like I am the most beautiful funniest woman she knows. She has a hilarious laugh that makes you want to entertain her as much as possible just so she will laugh. Its this big bellowing hilarious laugh and if you are REALLY funny she'll even snort for you.

I'm a bit sad because tonight she's going home to Cali. And I won't see her again for about 6 months. It rips my heart out when she leaves. I adore her and her children, her children are my sweeties, my first babies, my pride and joy. I dream of someday living near her. Being able to do our monthly manicure/pedicures, going to lunch, even having a babysitter that I know worships my children. I know that dream will probably never happen. But we all have to have our fantasies don't we. :) So I love you sis. You are my inspiration, my hero, my example. I look up to you in all ways except literally (cuz you are a shorty). I love you.

Okay I'll play

2006-07-06T16:05:00.000-07:00

Reply and fill in the blanks for me. Then repost on your blog (um..with YOUR name) and I'll do the same :p

Dear Sara,

I _____ you. You have a nice ______. You make me _______. You should _______. Someday I will ______. You + me = ________. If I saw you now I'd __________. I would build a _______ just for you. If I could sing you any song it would be _________. We could __________ under the stars.

Love, _______________
(P.S. ______________.)

Sharing sucks

2006-07-01T20:29:00.000-07:00

you know, when you go the fairgrounds (or the 4th of July celebrations grounds like today) and they are selling something reallllly yummy. Like say funnelcakes. And the funnelcakes ain't cheap they are $4. So you only buy one cuz...........its $4!

Then you have to sit down and split it with your husband that you love and would usually do just about anything for. And you look across from you and your 3 year old is eyeing your funnel cake and making unnatural noises and pawing you for some. And you look to your right and your 1 year old is squealing and screeching and grabbing at your plate.......and you end up getting less than 1/4 of that cake because you are the Mom.....and unless you hide it first and run away with it, thats just whatcha gotta do.

School Widow

2006-07-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

Yes I am a school widow. Funny since my husband is taking Independent Study courses...Funny since he's has ONE class left. But since he procrastinated guess who gets to go it alone for a month. ME.

So he put off this one class and HAS to finish it by the end of July. Its a Math class, well its Statistics which he insists is not a Math class. But it sounds like Math to me, so its Math. So I get to be a single Mom until then. School Widows out there, do you ever think its totally unfair that because your husband put off school work YOU are the one that has to pay for it? I mean all he has to do is pour over books and that stuff. But you are the one that has to take over all of the hard work that he would of helped out on. The kids 24/7, the house all by yourself, and then on top of that you are all alone. No adult conversation, No sleeping in the same bed with your husband because he gets home at 2am and goes back to work at 7am. Nada. It bites. But I will survive this. Its only a month right? Then he's DONE....until his Masters anyway.