California Girl at Heart

November 2009 Events

2010-03-10T20:49:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

I had lots of help making the turkey this year.

Savannah helped me wash the turkey.

Holly mixed the stuffing.

Then they each took turns stuffing the turkey.

We baked the turkey at Nana and Papa's and then Doug carved it up!

Savannah, my little crafty girl, made somefestive table decorations out of toilet paper rolls.

Savannah and Papa always get the drumsticks. It's tradition!

Holly isn't real big on the turkey, but she sure loves to eat corn on the cob!!!

Jeffrey even had a bite of our Thanksgiving dinner...if rolls count.

Savannah and I pulled the wishbone...she won. =)

Nana turned 71 this year!

For her gift, I made a photo book including pictures and main events from the past 7 years with her and Papa and the grandkids. It took many hours to put together...and she loved it. =)

Halloween

2009-11-04T15:32:00.000-08:00

Pumpkin Carving Fun!

Doug always does the pumpkin carving with the kids. We bought tons of pumpkins this year so Daddy did LOTS of carving. The middle pumpkin is a Dodge Challenger...of course!

The second one from the left (below) is Holly's name, then the pumpkin Savannah carved, and then the small one has a binky carved into it to represent little baby Jeffrey!

Every year, Doug's work has an office Trick or Treat activity. It's nice because we get to do most of our trick or treating indoors away from the cold. We got lucky this year because it warmed up about 20 degrees from the week before Halloween so it wasn't too bad.
When I asked Holly what she wanted to be for Halloween this year (a week before Halloween), she said, "I wanna be RED!" I suggested Little RED Riding Hood. She said, "YEAH!" She didn't know who Little Red Riding Hood was, but it had the word RED in it and she could wear RED and that's all she cared about. SO...I went to the fabric store, found a simplicity pattern, bought the material ($30!), and sewed like crazy the week before Halloween. The pattern was a bit confusing, but I had help from Nani (my brother-in-laws Grandma) and together, we figured it out!
Here is the dress without the cape. I was so thrilled that it turned out and actually fit her! It was a little long on her (she measured between the 1/2 size and size 1), so we didn't bother with the cute bloomers on the pattern because you wouldn't have been able to see them anyway.

I got Jeffrey's costume at Kid to Kid for $5, three days before Halloween after a last minute decision to dress him up. I love that he held up his candy bar for this picture like, "Hey, I got one too!"

Savannah wanted to be a "pretty" witch instead of the green faced witch with warts, but she did want me to draw a spiderweb and spider on her face.

I drove the girls to a few friends houses in other neighborhoods and then we did a little house to house trick or treating in Nana's neighborhood and ours. Holly kept warm with her cape/hood since I lined it with warm fleece. Savannah was in 3/4 sleeves and managed to stay fairly warm until the sun set and the chill set in. The house next door to Nana and Papa's was giving out cups of Stephen's Mint Chocolate Truffle hot chocolate. It was the perfect temperature to warm our bones and so incredibly delicious! I don't think Holly has ever had hot chocolate before, but she didn't waste any time drinking it down. I thought the hot chocolate was a great idea and luckily we got there before it was gone!

Three of my most cherished blessings

2009-09-20T14:47:00.000-07:00

Savannah is 6 1/2 and is in first grade. She just lost her first tooth! She love math, PE and art. She is constantly doing art projects. She loves to make and eat zucchini bread. She is very loving and sweet to her siblings. She is such a big helper around the house and is often done with her chores before I even wake up in the morning!

Holly is almost 3 years old, going on 13. She is very petite...just now getting into 24 month size clothes! She loves to sing and say prayers and her favorite color is black. (Note the color shirt she picked out for her pictures.) She is very athletic and lights up the room with her smile and charm.

Jeffrey is 4 months old and also pint sized, weighing in at a whopping 12.3 lbs.. He is still in 0-3 month clothes and they are finally fitting just right. He is always smiling and rarely cries. He loves to talk and coo and loves all things that squeak. He loves when I sign to him. He just started grabbing his feet with his hands and thinks he is somethin' else when he does it. =)

I LOVE MY PRECIOUS BABIES!

Jeffrey is ThReE MoNtHs oLd!

2009-08-09T19:52:00.000-07:00

Mom: "Jeffrey, you're three months old!"

Jeffrey: "Yipeeeee!"

SMILE!

2009-07-09T13:39:00.000-07:00

3rd day post surgery. I think he's feeling pretty good!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE THIS...

Jeffrey's surgery

2009-07-09T13:16:00.000-07:00

Jeffrey had hernia repair surgery on Tuesday. He was allowed to eat until 3:30am so I set my alarm to wake him up and feed him just before that for one last time before surgery. We had to leave at 5am to drive to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake to check in at 6am. Luckily, Jeffrey went right back to sleep once I put him in his carseat and slept until we had to take him out of the carseat to weigh him, which was around 6:45am. His surgery was scheduled for 7:30am. I dreaded the hours before surgery when he would be hungry and not know why I wasn't feeding him. But, he did great and took his binky like a champ! I was so proud of him!

This was the first time I saw him after his surgery in first recovery. Poor little guy. The doctor said everything went great though and he did well. *Big Sigh* I was happy to hear that.

They moved him to second recovery pretty quickly since he was doing so well.
Doug was able to come back and see him in second recovery and he and little Jeffrey had a quick nap together. He did great the rest of the day and even the next day. He wants to eat a little more frequently, and be held a little more than usual, as do most kids when they don't feel good. I am happy to oblige. He's a sweet boy and we are happy to have the surgery over with. On to recovery!

Miscellaneous pics

2009-06-24T13:29:00.000-07:00

This is what the kitchen looked like when we bought our house. Wood floor and laminate counter tops.

Doug ripped out thetile (with help from our friend Garth!) and our Bishop put in tile for us.

Here is what our kitchen looks like now. We replaced the 6ft island with a black distressed 5ft one and replaced the laminate counters with granite. We LOVE it!

Cute picture of Holly...

Random pics of us with Jeffrey

This one cracks me up...

Yes...that is baby puke down my shirt. =}

A visit to GG's.

One Month Old...ALREADY!

2009-06-09T15:00:00.001-07:00

We call this his "cinnamon roll". =)

Growing Jeffrey

2009-05-25T14:56:00.000-07:00

I wonder what he's thinking...

Coming Home!

2009-05-14T14:52:00.000-07:00

Jeffrey is finally ready to come home. Daddy came to the hospital to pick us up and he finally felt healthy enough to hold his son for the first time.

Luckily, Jeffrey passed his carseat test so he was able to ride home with us. But, I had to sit in the back with him to hold his head up. I hate when their heads fall forward!

The girls were so excited to have their baby brother home. They each took turns holding him and Holly could hardly contain her excitment. She would just sit at the side of his carseat with her hands clasped and just shake with excitement.

They loved his tiny hands and feet. So sweet.
I for one, am so happy to be home, but will miss having those NICU nurses watch him during his awake hours. I've been spoiled with good nights of sleep the past 5 nights and it's been comforting knowing he's been watched over so well. I've loved the nurses in the NICU and we've had a lot of fun. (Not looking forward to the medical bill, though. =} Good thing we have insurance!) We were sent home with an apnea monitor that he is hooked up to that will go off (it's REALLY loud) if Jeffrey stops breathing. We get to keep it for a month, so that will help me sleep peacefully now that we are at home.
Welcome Home Baby Jeffrey!

Happy Mother's Day to Me!

2009-05-10T15:07:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day!

I got a call this morning on the hospital room phone from the nurse asking me if I wanted to hold my son. I said, "YES!" I jumped out of bed and hurried down to the NICU. I was so happy to finally hold him again. It was the best Mother's Day gift ever! I just sat there holding him and staring at him for over an hour. The nurses kept asking me if I needed anything and I just shook my head and smiled. I had all I needed right there in my arms. =)

The pediatrician said he was ready to start nursing so we'll be tackling that in the next little bit. Meanwhile, I've been pumping (YOUCH!) to help my milk come in on time. Wish us luck!

Family Visitors

I called the family and told them to come visit since Jeffrey was looking more "normal" now without all that stuff on his head. I wasn't sure how Holly would react to her new baby brother when she saw him. She was so stinkin' cute! She instantly wanted to hold him and kept putting her arms out. SO CUTE!

Savannah was surprisingly more timid than her little sister. When I asked her if she wanted to hold Jeffrey, she shook her head and said, "He's too heavy for me!" She commented on his dark hair and how small he was. Nana, of course, was in awe at her new grandson and so happy to be able to hold him.

We are so happy that he is off the oxygen. Now if he can get the nursing thing down, we are hopeful he'll be coming home soon!
Thank you for all the prayers in our behalf. We know they help so much!

Jeffrey Douglas Moller is here!

2009-05-09T15:23:00.000-07:00

Welcome Jeffrey Douglas Moller!!!

Yep! He's here...ALREADY! I gave birth to our son Friday night at 10:51pm. He was measuring small at my routine OB appt. (37 wks 2 dys) on Friday so they did an ultrasound and found that the placenta was failing to give him proper nutrients so he was not growing. My OB said, "We might have to deliver him today so you can start feeding him!" WHAT?!? Before I completely freaked out, I told the doc that I had plans to go to the temple after my appt. so he told me to go and come back after to talk with him once he ran the ultrasound by the perinatologist. In the temple, I prayed about having the baby today and felt complete peace. I knew Heavenly Father would take care of me and the baby. So, I went back to the OB office to get the official word and my doc said, "You're having your baby today!" I was SO glad I had time to go to the temple and pray about it and feel peace.

He told me the hospital would be calling any time so I needed to hurry and get home to pack my suitcase. I called Doug and filled him in on everything on my way home and just as I pulled into my garage, the hospital called and told me to come ASAP. I've never packed so fast in my life! I told my doc a few months back that I wanted to try going into labor on my own if possible, just to experience the whole spontaneous labor thing since I've been induced the last two times. He kinda laughed at me (I guess most women would prefer to have it planned out). When this happened, I told him, "Well, I guess this is as close as I can get to feeling the rush of spontaneous/unexpected labor! Thanks for that!" =)

Our little guy weighed in at just barely 5lbs. (9oz less than the ultrasound had estimated) and he measured 17 1/2 inches long. Just a bit larger than a peanut! For being "officially" full term (37+weeks), he sure didn't measure full term! Poor little dude. The doctor said he was glad we got him out now!

Being so small, his little lungs didn't work as well as we hoped. So, they took him down to the NICU and put him on oxygen and ran some tests. He had some air between his lungs and ribcage that was causing his left lung to slightly collapse and it was pushing his heart over. So, Saturday morning, they extracted about an ounce of air out of that area and it opened up his lungs to full capacity and his heart moved into the right spot. I don't know how long he'll have to be on the oxygen, but until he comes off, I won't be able to hold him. I told the nurse, "I'd really love to hold him on Mother's Day!" She said, "That's the goal!"

Pretty Hair

2009-04-21T13:52:00.000-07:00

Since I was sick on Easter Sunday, I decided that this past Sunday I would have the girls wear their Easter dresses again and do a better job on their hair. I did Savannah's first, and as luck would have it, Holly wanted hers done just the same. I was so impressed that she sat long enough for me to do it! They both felt very "pretty" and loved all the compliments they got on their hair at church. I, of course, was a very proud mom of my two beautiful girls!

Pregnancy Update

2009-04-21T13:46:00.001-07:00

Okay, so the update is, I'm 35 weeks pregnant tomorrow and being induced in 30 days! May 21st is D day and we are countin' down! The jeans I'm wearing in this picture are the only pants I have left that fit comfortably. Everything else just slides below my ever growing belly and causes major discomfort. I've been having more and more braxton hicks and they get harder everyday so I know my body is preparing for delivery. I have my next OB appointment on Friday and I'm hoping for good news...ie. head down, no strep B, progression, etc. I know, it's early, but I still hope things are moving along already. Though, we still don't have a name for our baby boy. We have a working list, but nothing has really jumped out at me. I'm hoping for some serious inspiration come D day or the poor kid's gonna be nameless. DOH!

Discovery Museum

2009-04-21T13:36:00.001-07:00

The kids and I went to the Discovery Museum at Gateway Mall with Lara and her kids over Spring Break. It was the first and only outing I took the girls on that week and it was at the tail end b/c I was finally feeling well enough to go out. They had a blast and the best part was, Lara got 2 for 1 tickets for all of us with her military discount! WAHOO!

This water play area was a hit!

Unfortunately, it wasn't until after Avery douced herself in water that we realized they had water aprons you could put on your kids. Poor girl was soaked the rest of the day!

Holly played a while in the kitchen and playhouse and claimed her toys. Those cows were hers and she made everyone else aware of that!

I didn't see Savannah most of the time we were there because her and Ian were off playing together and I had to stay with Holly. So, I didn't get very many pictures of her, but she sure had fun!

They had a real stationary helicopter on the deck so the girls climbed in and took their first ever helicopter "ride". =)

I think these were the cutest pictures I got the entire day. I watch the news every morning so Holly knows all about it. As she held the mic, I asked her to tell me about the weather. She said it was sunny...and it was! =)

Easter Sunday

2009-04-12T13:08:00.000-07:00

I was sick in bed with bronchitis and a sinus infection on Easter Sunday so the girls went to church with Nana and Papa. I managed to work up enough energy to curl their hair, but wished I could have spent more time beautifying them for Easter Sunday.

They sure looked pretty in their dresses!

Short But Sweet

2009-04-08T13:11:00.000-07:00

My sister and her family came to up to Utah for a quick stay for her husband's grandpa's funeral. Though the circumstances weren't the best and it was only a few short days, their visit was perfect timing since I was considering going to Cali to see her and the family during Spring Break (which I ended up being sick for anyway). Unfortunately, her little girl ended up throwing up the first morning they were here. UGH! Nothing worse than traveling and having sick kiddos. Fortunately, she was feeling much better by that afternoon and none of the other kids caught whatever it was she had!

Uncle Dan brought his guitar and serenaded us everyday. He got his guitar for Christmas and has dedicated himself to practicing everyday. I was quite impressed with how much he's learned in the past 4 months being tutored by various internet websites. But, his biggest fan, by far, was little Holly. She plopped herself right in front of him and danced to his music. So cute!

The girls had to join the band with their guitars. =)

Holly and Cole got a long great. They grow up so fast that it's hard living far apart from each other so it was fun to get the cousins together again.

Lucky for my sister, they came during 4 of the warmest days we'd had in a few weeks, so we were able to make a stop at the Farm Country. My sister had never been there, even though she lived right up the street from it for 2 years. Cole and Holly had fun feeding the animals and riding the horses. Ali decided it wasn't her thing. But, we still had a great time in the sunshine!

Savannah is SIX!

2009-03-25T13:34:00.000-07:00

Savannah turned 6 on March 21st. I can't believe my little baby is six years old already. How time flies. We had quite the busy day. Birthday party at 10am, Toys R Us for a surprise gift, dinner at CPK, and Chuck E Cheese until 9:30pm! She had a fun filled birthday!

Here are all the girls she invited (minus about 2 or 3) to her bday party. It was one hour of non-stop pixie dust fun!
(Thank you to Nana for letting us have the party at her house since ours was still half packed in boxes!)

On our way in to Toys R Us with Nana and Papa.

The surprise!
Too bad it's been rainy/snowy so many of the days since she got it. We keep telling her she'll have plenty of time to ride soon enough!

This was a gift from Grandma that as soon as Savannah opened, she stopped what she was doing and began working on it. She loves stuff like this.
I love the concentration...(note the tongue out). =)

Thanks Grandma!

Chuck E Cheese actually came out this time. How fun! They haven't stopped talking about it since!

Happy 6th Birthday my sweet Savannah!

I'm so proud of you!!!

We've Moved!

2009-03-24T08:37:00.000-07:00

Well, we are all moved in, but there is still a lot of work to be done. For now, here are some pictures of the before, during and after of our "new" house. =)

Here is the view from the kitchen window.

Here is the view out the Master bedroom window. (It was a hazy day. I'll take better ones later.)

This is Doug putting up the beadboard in Holly and Savannah's room. We (yes, I did help..some)painted a very light purple on the top half of the room.

My parents came to visit the week before we moved in, just in time to help clean and paint. =)Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!

Mom and I cleaned walls and baseboards. They were pretty nasty dirty.

Here's mom cleaning the walls and baseboards in the Master bedroom. I was SO grateful for the help!

Yet, another faithful helper...Lara came with me to wipe down the kitchen cabinets the night before we moved in. Let's just say, it took TWELVE new white rags to get them all cleaned inside and out. Lara was a trooper and we both exercised our gag reflexes together. My friend Kelly also came and washed all the wood floors the night before. I am blessed with such great friends!

Well, it still needs some final touches, but here is the girls' room, painted, beadboarded and to top it off, we all chipped in (my siblings and Doug and I) and got a pink chandelier for Savannah's birthday to replace the light fixture. She loved it! The bed on the right was at Nana's house in Savannah's room over there. But, we bought the set 3 years ago knowing we would eventually put them in the same room for the girls to share. Nana will be getting a new set for her house.

As far as decor, I eventually want to get matching bedspreads, decorate wood letters of their name to go over their beds, hang pictures, etc., but that will take some time. This will have to do for now. Holly is not yet in a big girl bed, but we hope by the time the baby is sleeping through the night that she will be ready for the transition so we can put the baby upstairs in the nursery and get him out of our closet where he will be sleeping in a packnplay for the first few months. (We gave up our retreat at the other house, so our closet is the next best thing. Good thing it's huge!)

Savannah knows she'll have a roommate in a few months. For now, she is enjoying hopping from one bed to the other depending on her mood. =)

Here is the kitchen before we renovated. Why renovate an already beautiful kitchen, you ask? Well, to begin with, the island was so big that our fridge would not open all the way. The kitchen counters are laminate, not even solid surface. We will be doing granite. (Am I a snob b/c I have to have granite? It's just so much nicer and easier to maintain. I can't even put hot stuff on my current counters. How lame is that?) Anyway, the wood flooring in the kitchen was all scratched up and we thought it was laminate wood floor that could not be refinished. So, Doug moved the island (he actually just took it out) and removed all the kitchen flooring. As he began doing so, he realized it was solid mahogany wood floor. Doh! Oh well, once he moved the island, the floor underneath needed replacing anyway, so we went ahead with our original plan and had the kitchen tiled. We left the wood floor in all the other walkways and in the family room. We'll have to refinish it eventually because it is scratched up pretty bad from the previous renter's dog. GRRR! ={

Here is the kitchen without flooring. We also ordered a new island that is about a foot smaller than the original one with black cabinets to contrast with the rest of the kitchen that will have a granite top! =) Guess we'll just HAVE to replace the rest of the kitchen with granite now! Hee hee. We've decided with light tile flooring and light cabinets, we oughta do dark granite counters to add contrast.

Here is our current family room...in progress. We are waiting for the blinds to come, so meanwhile we have taped brown paper up in the windows to avoid being blinded by the sun and being exposed to neighbors! =) I still feel like it needs more furniture in it, but Doug likes having the open space. I think the lovesac needs to be moved out from the corner just a little. And, of course, the saw horses to the left of the TV give it just the right touch, don't you think? =} Douger just hasn't moved them yet.

Here is the rod iron set we bought from the previous renters. We figured it took up the wall space nicely and if they took it down, it would have just left huge gaping holes for us to fill and then we'd have to paint that entire wall b/c the touch up paint we got is just slightly off of the original color. Don't you love that?!? We found the art pieces at Kohl's (love that place) for 50% off. They were a steal! Now I need to make curtains and throw pillows to match our new color scheme. I'm excited!

You'll have to wait for pics of the rest of the house since there are still picture frames all over the place and they just aren't picture worthy yet. =) More to come as we get settled!

Savannah - Post Dentist

2009-01-08T14:11:00.000-08:00

Savannah has had 4 cavities at the last 2 check ups she's had this year. So, today was filling day. They had to do a mini-root canal on her upper right back molar (yowza!) so they had to numb her up really good. She was so brave and didn't even move during the numbing procedure and hardly squirmed a bit during the entire filling process. The dentist and hygienist were so impressed. I HATE the dentist, and I have to say, she was a lot more brave than I would have been. She still has to have 4 more fillings done, but after an hour and a half of work, they figured she'd had enough for one day. The picture below is of her smiling as much as she could when we left the dentist because she was so numb. When she got home from school, she had chewed her right cheek (since she couldn't feel it) to the point where the right top of her lip was swollen all the way to the middle of her mouth. The numbing did not go away until the next morning. Poor thing.

Feeling Blue

2009-01-08T13:40:00.000-08:00

IT'S A BOY!!!

We found out yesterday that we are finally going to have a little boy Moller to carry on the family name. YEAH! We are thrilled that everything looks good and that he is healthy. What a blessing! Guess it's time to start buying clothes for this little guy. And, we don't have a name so we would love suggestions! =)

Visit to San Diego (it's a long one)

2009-01-05T12:53:00.000-08:00

Visiting Grandma and Grandpa

Seaport Village

Seal Beach in La Jolla

These are the pillows I made for each of my siblings and my parents. I personalized each one with their name, year they were married and a picture of the temple they were married in. It was my first time making this sort of pillow but I think they turned out pretty good. Everyone seemed to like them and that was the goal!

This one was for my parents.

This is the one I did for Krystal and Dan, and James and Leah.

This one was for Chad and Tricia.

Christmas Eve Traditions:

Luminaries

This is a new tradition we just started with our family to do the Nativity with the grandkids. They did so good and it was fun to watch them act their parts out and really get into it.
Caroling

The Bells!

Christmas Day
Grandma and Grandpa Humberstone

Our Family

Dobrons (minus Allison who was already in bed)

James and Family

Hangin' with the Dobrons

I went with my sister to her 12 week prenatal appointment. It was a little emotional b/c my sister hadn't been feeling pregnancy symptoms for a few weeks and had a feeling things weren't going well. When the OB came in and tried to find the heartbeat, she couldn't. So, she said she'd do an ultrasound. As my sister and I waited for the ultrasound, she pretty much figured it was over and was talking about who she would need to tell that she wasn't pregnant anymore before news spread that she was. There was a bowl of hershey kisses in the room, so we ate a few to make us feel better about the potential bad news. When the ultrasound began, we saw the baby, which was expected since she hadn't miscarried. Then, we saw the heartbeat...and it was strong! Krystal gave a sigh of relief, as did I. I'm so glad I was there with her! After the OB left, we had another piece of chocolate, this time, to celebrate!

This is my nephew, Cole (who is 6 weeks younger than Holly) and Holly side by side. We have the two extremes here...Cole is on the tall side of average and Holly is on the very petite side of average. I think she measured in at just below the 3rd percentile at her 2 year appointment. Pretty crazy difference in height, eh!?!

"Unkie Dough" and Allison

Playin' Rock Band! The kids had a blast.

We did manage to get to the beach to actually play in the sand one day while we were there, but it was in the evening near sunset and got cold pretty quick. But, we had to take the girls at least once. They had so much fun in the sand. =)

Baby Weston's Blessing Day

My mom has started a tradition of making all her grandkids blessing outfits. Every baby has their own. She does a really nice job making every one unique and it's a sweet labor of love from grandma. =) Here she is putting on Weston's blessing outfit.

Kind of funny, my Mom and Aunt Merrilee showed up to church in nearly the same outfit. HA!

I had to get a picture of them together.

Merrilee was sporting her new short hairdo, way cute!

We had a wonderful lunch at the Eddington's and afterward, Uncle James took all the kids on a golf cart ride around their property. They all got quite a kick out of that!

Out with the Humberstones

Cameron would not leave Savannah's side any time they were together. It was so cute to watch him follow her around and want to be right where she was at all times. Cute cousins!

Savannah's Piano recital

2008-12-17T14:02:00.000-08:00

Savannah has been taking piano lessons for a few months now and had her first recital this week. She did a fantastic job on her song, "We Three Kings" and just beamed when she came around the piano after playing it (the first picture below).

Way to go, Savannah!

Savannah with her teacher and the other students.

Martineaus visit

2008-11-26T20:53:00.000-08:00

The Martineaus squeezed in a visit during their stay in Utah for Thanksgiving. It was soooo good to see them all! My, how all the kids have grown! Jeffrey was taller than me!

So happy together!!!

Disney on Ice

2008-11-14T20:42:00.000-08:00

Nana took us to Disney on Ice for the 2nd time. Well, last time it was a little different. It was "Princesses on Ice" and we all loved it.

This time, Nana got us front row seats so we could be right up by the ice. Unfortunately, Savannah felt a little too close to the action and wanted to move up a few rows during the first half. But, we made it through and she enjoyed the 2nd half much better (the first half had the beast from Beauty and the Beast and the sharks from Nemo and they all got too close for her comfort). All in all, it was another fun outing with just the girls. Next year, we'll have to bring Holly too!

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T10:22:00.000-07:00

Carving the Pumpkins

Holly is picking out shapes for her jack-o-lantern's eyes and nose from this Halloween book we've read all month long. She has learned "triangle", "crescent", "spiral", "octagon", and "diamond" from reading this book. She will now use them in context. The other day, she saw a rainbow marshmallow on the table (from her lucky charms cereal) and said, "I want the crescent!" Amazing!

Daddy's work has trick or treating at the office...GREAT for staying warm while getting stashed up on the goods!

Savannah won "cutest costume" at our Ward Halloween Party (which made me so proud since this is the first costume I've ever made!). She's holding her trophy!

Here's Holly at Doug's work trick-or-treating. There were smarties mixed in with all this candy and she dug for every one! They are her favorite.

"I got 'em!"

She insisted on carrying her pumpkin full of treats, even when she could barely lift it off the ground. Then, to make it even more difficult for herself, she asked if she could hold Toto in her other hand.

We made our last stop at Nana and Papa's after Daddy took Savannah (in the car) to a few houses in the rain.

When Papa opened the front door, he didn't recognize Savannah with her wig on, so he offered her his candy bowl instead of inviting her in. Then he saw Doug and realized who she was.

Pumpkin Patch...

2008-10-11T12:00:00.000-07:00

...in our own backyard!

We grew our own pumpkins this year and it was so much fun to watch them grow in our own backyard. When the weather turned cold super early this year (mid October) we knew we'd better pick the pumpkins before they froze.

Wouldn't you know it, as soon as we walked outside to pick our pumpkins, it started snowing on us! That made it super fun, but a wee bit cold!

As luck would have it, our pumpkin plant produced 3 perfect pumpkins in 3 perfect sizes, Large (for daddy to carve), medium for Savannah and just the right size for our little Holly. (I just observe the pumpkin carving and take pictures, so I didn't need my own pumpkin. =) )

Happy Harvest!

I'm 33!

2008-10-06T14:18:00.000-07:00

When I woke up this morning, my kids and hubby had made letters/cards for me and had them all ready. Doug gave me a beautiful silver locket, the center filled with "mother of pearl" and it had pictures of my two sweet girls in it. I love it!

Two of my favorite places opened up in American Fork ON my birthday! So, for breakfast, I took the girls (Daddy was out of commission and unable to eat =( ) with me to Paradise Bakery (Favorite place #1) and split a breakfast croissant and belgian waffle with strawberries. SO YUMMY!

For dinner, the girls and I went to Olive Garden (opened at 4pm on my birthday -favorite place #2) and had a delicious dinner!

I brought home a piece of white chocolate raspberry cheesecake from Olive Garden and used that as my cake to blow out my 3+3 birthday candles, cause you gotta blow out candles on your birthday! =)

This picture is to prove that Doug was there...just not feeling the best.

Happy Birthday to me...I am thirty-three!

Picture Day

2008-09-25T14:14:00.000-07:00

Savannah wanted her hair flipped out for picture day at school, so here is her "practice smile" for picture day.

CHEESE!

Where is/are your....?

2008-09-24T14:03:00.000-07:00

Nose?

Eyes?

Tongue?

Ears?

Mouth?

Teeth?

Bedtime story

2008-09-23T19:37:00.001-07:00

Tonight for Savannah's bedtime book, she wanted to read "Green Eggs and Ham" to us. She had read the first few pages to me once before, but got burnt out after that. Well, tonight she read the entire book, cover to cover! (I only helped her with 5 words through the entire book.) It took her about 20 minutes to read the whole thing, but she was SO proud when she finished that she had to call all the aunts and uncles to tell them what she had done. Way to go, Savannah!!!

Savannah's first day of Kindergarten!

2008-09-03T20:24:00.000-07:00

Savannah is LOVING Kindergarten! She especially loves riding the bus with all her friends. I was going to drive her on the first day, but she was too excited to ride the bus. So, I just met her at school.

Can you see her on the bus? (I tried to get a better picture but she wasn't sitting by the window.)

Here she is after just getting off the bus on her first day. I was a little nervous that she wouldn't know where to go, but I soon found out that the supervisors walk them from the bus to the Kindergarten playground. When she saw me at the school, she was like, "Hey, mom," all cool and collected. That's my girl! (I must admit, I was a lot more nervous than she was. =})

Here she is with her teacher, Mrs. Earl, who was hired the WEEK before school started. It's her first year teaching too. Talk about being overwhelmed. Anyway, I know she'll be great, and Savannah already loves her!

I met her at the bus stop after school but she didn't want to ride with me. She preferred walking home with the next door neighbor, hand in hand. So cute.

Holly watched out the window for "Gi gi" (as she calls her) to come home.

I'm not sure Savannah was happy with her decision to walk home on such a hot day. But, she finally made it. =)

Happy first day of Kindergarten, Savannah!

HolLy Guacamole!

2008-09-02T14:02:00.001-07:00

Doug and I sat down to eat some chips and guacamole the other day, and Holly climbed up on a chair and started stealing chips from my plate and dipping them into the guacamole. I thought after her first bite she'd realize it wasn't something she really wanted and leave us alone to eat the rest. Boy, was I wrong.
By the time we were down to the last little bit, Holly was wiping the bowl clean with her fingers so as to not waste a single scoop.
Daddy offered her a lemon to go with her "hand scoops" of guacamole...
Gotcha! =)

Texas Trip

2008-08-18T12:26:00.000-07:00

This is long overdue, but I wanted to post a few of my favorite photos from our trip to Texas to visit my brother, Chad, and his family and new baby boy Asher. He's so cute!

Preying Mantis

2008-08-16T12:18:00.000-07:00

I keep saying, Holly is preparing me to have boys...she's fearless! I saw something green in her hands and I didn't know what it was. All of a sudden she put it down and it started running. I thought, "Oh my, it's a bug!" Then I looked closer and saw that it was a beautiful green preying mantis. Ah, no worries. We all took turns holding it.

Holly put it on her tummy at one point but quickly realized, as it began crawling, that that was a little too personal and she grabbed it off. I guess her confidents does have its limits after all. =)

Finland Trip Slideshow

2008-08-15T21:58:00.000-07:00

Coming out our ears!

2008-08-15T19:45:00.000-07:00

Zucchini that is!

Our garden is just going crazy this season. We've had to give away so much of it because we can't eat it fast enough! I hate to admit it, but I'm sort of getting sick of zucchini bread. I know, how do you get sick of that? Especially my recipe. It's like cake! But, too much of a good thing tends to get a little nauseating. But, we've loved sharing our veggies with our neighbors. =)

This shot was taken about a month ago from an upstairs window. It's even bigger now! We have two HUGE pumpkins growing (good thing we only have 2 kids) and our cucumber plant now has about 5 cucumbers that will be ready tomorrow. I picked one today, along with 3 zucchinis, 4 squash, 10 cherry tomatoes and 1 strawberry. (Yes, only one strawberry. The dang squirrels keep getting to them first. ARG!) The onions look about ready and I used some fresh basil last weekend for a girl's night for that fresh mozzarella, tomato and basil salad with baquette pieces. So yummy! It was so nice to have fresh basil in my garden and not have to go the store and try to find a decent batch of it. Gardening has never been more fun!!!

While we were sleeping

2008-08-15T19:34:00.001-07:00

Yes, it's true. Someone had the gall to come into our house while we were asleep upstairs, and steal my wallet, my Canon SD 800 camera and Doug's cell phone off the pony wall in our entry way. Crazy, huh! The thing is, we didn't even notice anything was missing until Fraud Detection called us with some fraudulent activity on our credit card. I then remembered how strange it was that my car door was open, as was Doug's passenger door, when I went to church that morning. I just figured Doug had gone out to the garage in the middle of the night looking for something. I went to church and forgot all about it. It all made sense when we got that call from the Fraud detection agency. (LOVE THEM!)
We are just so thankful that they didn't hurt the girls or us and that there was so little taken. It could have been a lot worse. We are thinking maybe they got scared off by a noise. Whatever the case, we've definitely become more thorough in our lock down, day and night, and Doug has installed several more locks on each door of the house. I thought I'd be more creeped out and have trouble sleeping after the incident, but Heavenly Father has blessed us all with peace and we have prayed for those who broke in that they might have a softened heart and desire to change. We know how blessed we are. Thank you to all of you who have offered support, and concern for our well being. We are lucky to have you as our friends! NOW GO LOCK YOUR DOORS! =)

I love my Savannah

2008-07-30T18:54:00.000-07:00

I was going to try and post a bunch of pictures of Finland, Lake Powell and the garden to try and catch up, but I just don't feel like spending that much time on the computer tonight. I'm so beat.

But, I did want to share how grateful I am for my sweet Savannah. Lately, we've had a struggle with her getting out of bed, several times, each night after saying good night. Fortunately, for us, she never had this problem when she transitioned from a crib to a bed. Anyway, I've told her to say a prayer if she's scared and she says that doesn't work. I told her that her prayers will only work if she has faith. We've also tried letting her read a book for a little while in bed before going to sleep but I can tell she's been staying up too late doing that because she's taken two naps this week. So, last night, I let her stay up an hour later (b/c she'd taken a nap) hoping that she would just go right to sleep. About 10 mintues after I closed her door, I heard her come down stairs and say, "Mom, there's something I need to tell you!" She started to tell me about the noises by her bed, but I ignored her, picked her up and carried her back to her bed and was about to loose it when I heard my mother in my head saying, "ACTIVE LISTEN". So, I took a long, deep breath and said, "You're scared of the noises by your bed." She nodded. I suggested we turn her sound machine on louder so she couldn't hear the noises. She said that was a good idea. I was so glad I used active listening to validate her fears instead of just yelling at her because it worked. I told her that I loved her, but I didn't want her to come out again. She promised she wouldn't...and she didn't.
Tonight as we were reading books, she told me she said a prayer "the other day" and it worked. I smiled. Then, as she said her bedtime prayers, she prayed that she would sleep good and not be scared and that she wouldn't come out of her room. I had a smile on my face through her entire prayer, and I think she opened her eyes and saw me smiling...I could tell in the tone of her voice. I love her. She pushes back a lot, but in the end, she wants to please us and do what's right. I'm so grateful that she has a desire to choose the right. I pray that that desire stays with her throughout her life. She teaches me a lot about myself and about being a parent. I know she is so much like me (and like I was as a child) and it's scary. There's nothing like a clone to show you your weaknesses and rub them in your face in order to make your realize what you need to work on. =} On that note, I'm going to bed early. Sweet dreams...

We're back!

2008-07-15T11:52:00.000-07:00

Well, we're back from our 3 week adventure and it was so much fun! The girls did AMAZING and were such great travelers. They blew my expectations away with how good they were. Since all the trip pictures are on Doug's laptop, I will have to wait to blog about the trip. So, for now, I just wanted to share the enormous garden we came back to!

On May 28th we planted our garden (first two pictures are just of the first box we planted), with crossed fingers that the huge windstorms we had the following 2 weeks would not decimate all the plants. Well...

(this is the garden on the night we planted)
...we came home from a 3 week vacation to find this... (sorry it's not a closer picture)

WAHOO!!! Thanks to Connor and Jody, our garden is thriving and...

...we came back just in time to pick the very first of our harvest! (It will be going to Connor and Jody, of course, as a thank you for taking such good care of our garden for us!) I LOVE harvest time. It makes all the preparation worth it when you finally get to start shopping in your own backyard! =)

Well, Savannah and I are off to Lake Powell to meet up with my parents, sister and brother and their families! (Yes, we've just now adjusted back to Utah time and now we're off to play again! Good thing this time it's only a 1 hour time change. =})

A quick "Hey Hey" from Finland

2008-06-28T04:10:00.000-07:00

Ever been inside a real military bunker, or castle? Well, now we can say we have...well, at least in the remains of them. =)

These militar bunkers were built to protect Finland in the attack by the Russians in WWII.

This is the Raseborg Castle Ruin in Ekenas (Tammissari), Finland. It used to be surrounded by water back in the 1370's. It was quite an experience to be able to go inside and imagine what might have taken place back then and try to figure out what each of the different rooms were used for. Very cool!

Every restaurant we've eaten at so far as been right at the edge of the ocean. It is so beautiful everywhere. Green lush trees, beautiful ocean. Lovin' it'!

Grandma and Grandpa have been here!

2008-06-19T10:59:00.001-07:00

(sing the following phrases to the opening song to "Signing Time")

There's playing time...

...and reading time...

...and laughing time...

...and now it is our favorite time, HUG TIME!

Lemonade for Sale

2008-06-15T10:43:00.000-07:00

Savannah had her first lemonade stand yesterday! We sat on the corner of the entrance to our subdivision on the main road and sold $.10 glasses of lemonade for one hour and made $9.20!! (sorry, I only had my cell phone with me and I don't know how to get the pictures off of it)

The most fun part was watching people drive by and then turn around and come back for lemonade. Savannah probably only really sold 15 glasses of lemonade, but after many generous tips, she was able to make a lot more than $1.50!

Here is Savannah counting her loot!

This was her first time making money, so she was able to pay tithing for the first time. She was so tickled to be able to pay tithing.
She filled out the form (with help), put the slip and money in the envelope and...
...gave it to a member of the Bishopric. Good for you, Savannah!

Father's Day

2008-06-15T10:36:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day Doug and Papa!

Product Malfunction

2008-06-05T10:39:00.000-07:00

I found Holly running around with only the velcro straps of her diaper still intact. Not sure what happened, exactly.

Catching Up

2008-06-03T12:38:00.000-07:00

My cousin Connor and his wife Jody told us about this gardening method and how it was supposed to do wonders for your fruits and veggies. So, we decided to give it a shot this year. Here's hoping!

The first plant...yellow squash.

Savannah planted her own pumpkins!

Basil, oh sweet basil!

From left to right (back row): cherry tomatoes (2), honeydew (3),

(front row): grape tomatoe (2), cantelope (2), watermelon

Left to right back row: chives (which you can't see), Cilantro, white onions, yellow onions, cucumber, 2 crooked neck squash

Left to right front row: 2 Basil, 2 eggplant, 3 squash

We planted the back box too (no pictures yet), mostly with tomatoes, and strawberries, and of course, zucchini! The wind has really mangled many of the plants so far, so we're not sure how well they will do. We figure, the hardest part (the grow boxes and soil mix) is done, so next year we can focus on wind blocks. =} Keep your fingers crossed!

Mother's Day

More often than not, I get pictures of silly faces from Savannah rather than smiles, but this time she cooperated for one of the pictures...for mother's day. =)

Holly was eating bread in her highchair and being so silly. This is one of the videos I caught of her... (the singing at the end is a line from Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Can you guess which line she's singing?)

Long time no blog

2008-06-02T10:49:00.000-07:00

It's been over a month since I blogged last. Our computer got a huge virus and Doug has been backing stuff up onto new hard drives, and I've been taking WAY too much video on my powershot camera and those have taken up a ton of room on our hard drive as well. So, I haven't been able to download any more pictures or videos until recently (good thing my camera has an 8G card and can hold TONS of pics). Anyway, we now have 2 Terabytes of hard drive but the computer still has a virus so Doug will have to wipe out the entire hard drive and reload everything. Not a fun project.

On a more positive note, I just had to take a second and post this picture Savannah just drew. She is such a sweetheart...and quite artistic too!She handed me this picture and said, "I drew a picture of Jesus!" I love her!

NOT HAPPY, BOB! NOT HAPPY!!!

2008-05-01T06:14:00.000-07:00

So, my tulips bloomed super late this year due to our cold spring but they finally bloomed today (May 1st)...

...only to have it SNOW on them and have the WIND blow them over. ARG!

Why do I even bother? I'm not liking Utah very much today. Not one bit!

Visitors from Heaven

2008-04-30T06:30:00.000-07:00

My Dad and sister and her two kids came to visit last weekend and it was so much fun! We wanted to get the cousins together because they are growing so fast and we don't want too much time to pass in between visits. To see highlights of the weekend go to my sisters blog. Thanks for braving yucky, cold Utah guys!. At least we had a few nice warm days!

Cleaning up is so much fun!

2008-04-06T19:30:00.000-07:00

I LOVE her smile in this picture!

Splish-Splash Holly's takin' a bath!

All clean!

Self-feeding BLISS

2008-04-06T19:23:00.000-07:00

I left Holly with a bowl of yogurt and a spoon to let her feed herself while I ran to check my email. Five minutes later, Savannah ran into the computer room to tell me that Holly was making a huge mess. I found her covered from head to chin in yogurt. Nice. All I cared was that she was occupied and quiet, and I think some of the yogurt actually made it into her mouth. =)

She did have a spoon, but obviously preferred using her fingers.

What is with my family and pink eye???

2008-04-06T09:35:00.001-07:00

Yep, Doug came home with a red eye on Tuesday night and on Wednesday morning, he had full blown conjunctivitis. That makes Savannah, Holly and Doug who have all had pink eye in the last 2 months. Ugh!

Savannah's 5th Birthday party

2008-04-06T07:58:00.001-07:00

Savannah got a "Savannah" doll house (which she was not expecting) from Nana, Papa, Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, Dad, Krystal and Dan. She was so excited! Her and Holly have played in it a lot. We just need to get more dolls for them to play with now. =)

Savannah invited 11 girls to her party. We had 8 show up, which was great! Doug watched Holly while I ran the party...by myself. I was a little worried that 9 girls would be too much for me to handle on my own but they were all so well behaved. The party went smoothly and they all had so much fun. Especially the birthday girl!

When Savannah asked for a "Pink Poodle Party" she insisted that she needed a poodle skirt as well. So, I bought a pattern and put in an elastic wasteband instead of the zipper so it would fit her for a few years. I also made it extra long. Here is my second attempt at a poodle cake. This one turned out better than the first because I frosted the cake pink instead of white and I outlined the poodle in brown. Fun fun fun!

Five Years Ago...

2008-03-22T19:12:00.001-07:00

...Our Little Savannah Was Born

First Birthday

Second Birthday

Third Birthday

Fourth Birthday

FIFTH BIRTHDAY!

We can't believe we have a five year old girl! We love our Savannah so much and we are so proud of how much she is learning and what a sweet, helpful, smart, beautiful girl she is.

Happy Birthday "Miss Lulu"!

Holly Supposes Her Toeses are Roses!

2008-03-18T10:45:00.000-07:00

I'm grateful for...

2008-03-17T19:35:00.000-07:00

- my almost 5 year old who is the best playmate for her 14 month old sister and makes her smile

- my 14 month old who insisted today on giving me snotty nose slobbery kisses all over my face

- my husband who is a very dedicated and loyal employee (and father) (who spent another 10 hour day at the office and is now home, but STILL working...almost 9pm) so that I can stay home with the children.

- Monday Mom Movies where I can take both my kids for FREE (Mom's are $5 and kids 5 and under are free) and not worry about bothering someone with a crying child. (We saw "Horton Hears a Who" today. Cute.)

- New neighbors...a family of about 8 adopted kids...all different backgrounds...who welcomed my green tinted shamrock rice crispy treats with wide eyes and ear to ear smiles.

- The sound of silence once both kids are asleep in their beds.

- The hot tub (on the deck my husband labored for 4 months to build) of which I'm about to retreat to after a very long day of wiping noses and calming fussy sickypoo kids.

- my bed and the softest most welcoming set of sheets I've ever slept in...maybe I'll skip the hot tub and just go to bed.

- sleep (goodnight)

My little composer

2008-03-05T20:31:00.000-08:00

When I was 17, I composed a song for one of my Young Women Laurel projects. I had never composed a song before nor did I posses any music theory whatsoever. I had taken piano lessons since I was 10, but I wouldn't have considered myself advanced enough to compose music. Nevertheless, I felt that there was something in me that needed to be expressed and so, after about 3 months of tinkering around on the piano one summer (being particularly inspired by the pioneers who suffered much while crossing the plains), "Kacy's Theme" for lack of a better name, was born. For 15 years, my mom urged me to get it printed on paper, but I didn't have the resources to do so. Well, a year ago Christmas, I was able to surprise my mom with the sheet music for my very own copyrighted one hit wonder...now titled "All Is Well". She was so surprised and SO happy to have a copy that she could now learn to play after being able to only listen to it for 15 years! Well, I now keep my sheet music proudly displayed on the piano...knowing it will most likely be the only thing I ever compose.

Seeing my sheet music on the piano must have sparked some interest in Savannah as she all of a sudden felt the need to compose her own song (with no help or assistance from me or any other resource). This was the result... ...needless to say, I was very impressed, knowing she had not copied from any music. She just sat at the table and wrote it. It was her original. =)

Now both of our songs sit displayed on the piano for all to see.

Here she is in her musical debut, playing "Savannah's Theme"

(love the playing posture).
I think it's safe to say, she's ready for piano lessons!

Poor Sick Baby

2008-03-04T08:01:00.000-08:00

Our poor little Holly has been sick...last week with pink eye, and now a yucky ear infection. She had a horrible night last night and was up whimpering on and off from 2:30am-6:30am. I checked her at 4:30am and she was burning up and had pee all over her clothes from drinking nearly 15 ounces of fluids before bed. Bless her heart. So, I changed her and gave her lots of drugs. I rocked her to sleep but it took a while and then she woke up about 5 minutes later so I just put her in her crib and let her cry back to sleep. She only slept like 10-15 minute intervals for the next 2 hours, which meant that Doug and I didn't get much sleep those two hours either. But at least we felt good. =}Her eye was swollen shut when she woke up the second day of her pink eye. I managed to get it unstuck after a few minutes but it stayed pretty swollen till later that day.
Here's yesterday...fever and ear infection = not happy. =(
I've had a hard time getting Holly to eat while she's been sick. In one sitting, I tried string cheese, puffs, baby cereal (which she usually scarfs down), peanut butter (usually her favorite), fruit...nothing really interested her beyond 2 bites. So, I gave up. A few minutes later, I opened up the remains of my Valentine's Day chocolate to have a piece and immediate Holly started whining and signing "want". Of course, she's my daughter!
Besides, chocolate makes everything better! =)
She ate almost an entire caramel patty. Hey, it made her happy and that's all I cared about!

Weekend getaway to warmer weather!

2008-02-26T12:54:00.000-08:00

Fun in the SUN!

Trampoline playin'

The girls' shirts say "Little Shredder" on them compliments of "littleshredder.com", a business my brother and his wife started. Feel free to take a peek!

At the park

Poolside playin'

Holly is signing "turtle" in the picture above.

Walkin' barefoot in February in the warm grass! =)

Baby playtime

We drove Jeffrey to the Youth dance Saturday night and it brought back so many memories of when I was a youth. I LOVED the youth dances!

Here's one of the few pictures I got of Glen since he was upstairs on "bed rest" nearly the entire weekend after putting a hole in his leg trying to kickstart his dirt bike in sandals. DOH! (If you want to see the pictures...link over to the Martineaus blog on my friends/family links.)

So, I'm not usually much of a gamer, but I have to admit, the wii is totally addicting! I bowled a ton, and whooped Jen's butt at boxing. I was SO sore after boxing. It was quite a bit more fun than just kick boxing the air...I got to punch Jen in the face a bunch WHILE working out! Hee hee =)

We ate at Paradise THREE times while I was there. It was SO yummy!

Thanks for sharing your warm sun with us, Martineaus!

We're off...

2008-02-21T12:18:00.001-08:00

....to warm Arizona!!!

Snow Fun!

2008-02-21T11:20:00.000-08:00

We've had a disgusting amount of snow this season so we thought we'd better suck it up and enjoy the winter season while it's here. There was quite a bit of snow on the deck which made for perfect snowman building snow. It was a whole family affair!

Life's like a box of chocolates...

2008-02-15T07:31:00.000-08:00

...ya never know what yer gonna get.

Well, Doug is not all that big on Hallmark holidays...aka Valentine's Day. But, he did manage to bring me a box of chocolates from See's candy...a very personalized box of chocolates. See, I love See's chocolate and about 5 months ago one opened about 10 minutes up the freeway. I was SO excited. The only other See's near us was all the way in Orem at the mall that I almost never go to. So, yes, I was excited. ANYWAY, the first time I went to the new See's, I filled out one of their "You pick what goes in the box" forms that has every piece of chocolate they make on it (with pictures of each). Doug managed to find that form on the side of the fridge, make a copy, and bring it to See's last night. When he gave me the box, all wrapped in red valentine paper, he also handed me a small See's bag with more chocolates in it. I asked, "What's the extra bag for?" and he replied, "they couldn't fit all the pieces you chose on the form in one box!" HA! Doug said, "You know how much I hate Valentine's Day and I don't ever want anything for Valentine's Day, but I had to get you something so that when your girlfriends call and say, 'So what did your hubby give you for Valentine's Day,' you can say, 'I got a SWEET box of See's chocolates!'"

Here are some pictures of Holly trying to raid my box of chocolates. She didn't get very far before finally giving up. (Lucky for me!)

She finally gave up on my box and tried raid Nana's can of Almond Royal. A girl after my own heart. =)
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Depression and Addiction (don't worry, it's not what you think)

2008-02-09T08:38:00.000-08:00

I've been in a slight depression over Romney's campaign suspension...and the 4 feet of snow surrounding my driveway/house. However, the sun beamed bright yesterday and shined through my windows as a peace offering to lift me up and help keep me going. And, to help with my depression, I have a new addiction that was so rudely introduced to me by my sister-in-law's sister, Missy. Mint Milk Chocolate covered Oreos.I had to look at three different stores before I found them. It only took one bite to know...this was the new favorite. As if I need another chocolate indulgence added to my already overkill intake per day (Kit kat, twix...take a seat!) They are sinfully delicious. Dare I say, better than Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies! I did a taste test yesterday and I honestly think they are better. There is just more to them. AND, the oreos are around ALL YEAR, whereas Thin Mints only come around once a year and then I'm forced to rade my freezer should the craving arrise outside the months of March and April. The one bummer (which actually may be a good thing, having little control these days for resisting my sweet tooth), there are only 12 cookies in a box! HOW RUDE! No, it's probably a good thing, though, I've tried to think of an excuse all morning to go to Smith's while they are on sale 2 for $4 since I only bought one box the other day to "try". (What was I thinking!?!) Needless to say, I'm feeling a bit better. I've the sunshine and my oreos. I'm good. =)

Thanks for the introduction, Missy. If I die from Mint Milk Chocolate Covered Oreo overdose...I bequeath the rest of my boxes (soon to be purchased and hidden in my closet) to you!

(Sorry Lara, I know you are a chocolate lover, but not a fan of mint, so you're outa luck on this one!) =)

No matter what the outcome tonight...

2008-02-05T16:10:00.000-08:00

...this is exactly the kind of person I was praying for this week. This is taken from the Fox News website:

"On the GOP side, Arizona Sen. John McCain, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Texas Congressman Ron Paul were vying for the nod and at least one voter said she sought divine intervention before casting a ballot.
'I just had to pray and pray. I said, ‘OK, Lord, you know what’s going to happen,”‘ said Margaret Trussell, a 74-year-old white, retired office worker from McDonough, who ended up voting for Romney.'"

Wahoo!!! As my Grandaddy used to say-Prayers Pay Pretty Good =)

Go Mitt!

Crossing fingers...and toes

2008-02-05T06:36:00.000-08:00

Well, today is the big day. Super Tuesday. I can't even tell you how many times I've prayed over the outcome of today. I've been earnestly pleading for softened hearts throughout the nation, that people will go into the poles with a change of heart (if they were planning to vote for McCain) and vote for Romney. I've prayed for those who are on the fence, that they will recognize Romney as the one true Republican in this race and the only one who can clean up the mess in the White House. Every vote is essential today, and I can't wait to put mine in for ROMNEY!

GO MITT!

Surprise!

2008-02-03T11:31:00.000-08:00

I threw a suprise party for Doug's 33rd birthday at his parent's house. Here's how the night went down...

We go on a date every Friday night and Doug's parents watch the girls. Savannah usually spends the night and we just pick up Holly after our date. We always call before we come to pick up Holly after our date so his parents can get Savannah in the bath or upstairs where she won't see us. (Otherwise she'll want to come home.) So, I arranged for everyone to get to Doug's parents' house at 7pm and told them we'd be there at about 7:20pm. Timing it was the hardest part, but it worked out perfectly. We went to CPK in Orem for dinner at 5pm and we both ordered salads so we were done with dinner at 5:45pm. I knew we had to kill at least an hour so when we saw the Men's Warehouse across the street and Doug asked if he could go try on some suits (for his upcoming interview with the church for a job) I was all for it. We were there for about an hour which put us in the car on our way home at the perfect time. As we were driving up to our house, Doug said it was my turn to go get Holly since he had done it the past several weeks. He had his dad's truck to take back too but said he would do it in the morning. I had to think fast to get him to go with me without giving away the surprise. So, I said, as we pulled into our culdesac, "It's only 7 o'clock. We should at least go do something, like play pool in your parent's basement. We can just sneak in so the girls don't see us and then grab Holly on our way out." Thankfully, he agreed. I made "the call" saying we were on our way to "get Holly" and that meant "light the cake and turn off all the lights in the basement." Doug decided to take the truck back since we were going there anyway, so we drove seperate and I was able to give more instructions over the phone as we drove over. It was a little early - 7:15pm but there were enough people there to yell "Surprise". I was so nervous as we drove up to his parents house, hoping the cars wouldn't give it away. But, to my delight, everyone did such a great job at parking their cars away from the house. =) We snuck in the garage door and Doug told his dad we were going downstairs to play pool. I could hear Savannah as we started down the stairs (she was in on the surprise), but it was silent and dark when we got down there. I turned on the pool table room lights and Doug started pulling the cover off the pool table, totally unsuspecting. All of a sudden, the HONK of a party blower made him jump, the movie theater lights came on and everyone yelled "Surprise" and started singing Happy Birthday. My cousin Connor caught Doug's shock on the video camera (wish I had it in still shots too). It was perfect! I was so nervous about everything going as planned that I was shaking once we finished singing. He never suspected a thing...Whew!

Below are some pictures of the party...and Doug's new toys!

It's a playstation II... ...and the toys to go with it =)'

(He asked for Guitar Hero but I had heard such rave

reviews about Rock Band that I had to get it instead!)

I think I made a good choice! We had a blast breaking in his birthday gift! =)
Happy 33rd Birthday Doug!

Praying for a Miracle

2008-01-30T07:01:00.000-08:00

I'm not usually one to talk politics (mostly because I don't feel I know enough about politics to hold my own in a discussion), or to express my feelings about such things on my blog, but after last nights primary in Florida, I'm really concerned. I know Mitt Romney has been ahead in total number of delegate votes, but after McCain took all Florida delegates last night, I'm starting to really worry. Romeny says in his campaign letters to us that he is the only Republican that stands a chance against the Democratic Party in November. Of course he would say that, but, I have to agree. I don't think McCain stands a chance against Hillary. Ooohh, I just cringe everytime I even mention her name. I told Doug that if she becomes our President, I probably will turn the TV off anytime she comes on to give a State of the Union, or any other kind of address to America. I can't stand listening to her. I fear, deeply, for our nation if Hillary becomes our leader in the White House. I prayed this morning for a miracle in the next Super Tuesday 21 state vote. I'm really hoping, and praying, that Romney can pull through. I feel he is the right man for the job. I'm not completely convinced that he would win if put up against Hillary, but again, at this point in the game, I'm praying for a miracle.

We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet!

2008-01-27T21:42:00.000-08:00

President Hinckley passed away tonight. I was talking to my family on a conference call around 8pm and saw the text message on my phone that he had passed. I was shocked! However, I felt that just 2 days ago I had my moment of personal goodbyes with him as I sat studying this picture and expressing my love for President Hinckley and my testimony of him in my journal. It was as if the Lord was preparing me for today. I am so happy for him as I know he was waiting for this day to come when he could be reunited with his sweet wife and "girl of his dreams" as he said in her passing almost 2 years ago. What a marvelous legacy he has left for us and his posterity. As my last journal entry from two days ago states, "I KNOW President Hinckley is (was) a true prophet of God. I know it!" I'm so grateful for his wonderful example of pure love, dedication and honor to his God and his family. I hope to always remember the advice his father gave him, "Forget yourself and go to work." Though the world is in mourning, I know there is much rejoicing in Heaven! President Gordon B. Hinckley will always hold a very special place in my heart.

P for Personality

2008-01-24T20:31:00.000-08:00

Just some captured moments from this week...

"Cheeeeese!"

"I'm singing!"

Showing off her ONE tooth!

Afraid of heights?

"Duh, as if!"
"Look, I finally have more teeth coming in!"

Holly practicing her acting skills by reinacting a part from the movie "Somewhere in Time":

"Richard! RICHARD!"

(Miss McKenna, aka:Jane Seymore to Richard Collier, aka:Christopher Reeve when he finds the penny in his suit pocket with the current year instead of the year he went back in time to.)

Stylin' Baby

2008-01-21T15:59:00.000-08:00

This is Holly in her gift/hand-me-downs clothes. The jacket is from Aunt Tricia (SO CUTE) and the skirt is from Shannon Dixon. I have to say, I think the hand-me-downs I received are far cuter than what I buy (not to mention they are all from Gap, Gymboree, Old Navy and all the places I can't afford to shop.) Thanks to all those who have contributed to Holly's wardrobe and made her look so cute!

It's officially official =)

2008-01-21T13:58:00.000-08:00

Well, she's finally officially walking. We knew all she just needed was a confidence booster. It was late Thursday night, we had just put Savannah to bed and Holly was wired! Daddy was chillin' on the couch and I was laying on the floor with Holly. I told her to go tickle her daddy's toes so she crawled over to the recliner, puller herself up and tickled his toes "Geegle, geegle, geegle." All of a sudden, Holly let go of the recliner and took off toward me...FIVE STEPS! We were so excited. She took 7 steps twice after that and could tell she had done something wonderful because she would crawl around in circles going ,"Aaahhh, aaahhhh, aahhhh, aaaahhh." (I'm not sure what was in the juice we gave her at dinner.) Anyway, we weren't sure if the confidence would last through to the next morning, but sure enough, I stood her up and she walked across the room. Yeah Holly! She's still quite unstable, but she's getting the hang of it. I think my favorite part is the "plop" when they all of a sudden lose their balance. Makes me giggle everytime. Hee hee hee.

Holly's various methods for getting around

2008-01-09T10:27:00.000-08:00

In order to get around this week, Holly has used the following methods:

and FINALLY...(drum roll please)

Yeah Holly!

Christmas in San Diego

2008-01-08T18:47:00.000-08:00

Cousins

(Allison, Cole, Savannah, Holly, Cameron)

One of the highlights at Christmas...the TRAIN!
Holly fell on the tracks more than once. =}

CHRISTMAS EVE TRADITIONS

Luminaries:
Every Christmas Eve the community of Westwood puts out luminaries along the front of their house and all along the main streets. My siblings and I used to fill the white bags up with sand and put the candles in, then at 6pm we lit the candle and then drove around the neighborhoods to see all the glowing luminaries lining the streets. It's so cool. It was neat to have our kids carrying on the tradition!

Candy Trains: If you ever visit Grandma Humberstone's, Krystal's, or our house on Christmas Eve, chances are you'll receive a sweet choo choo treat! We've made these candy trains at Christmas time for as long as I can remember. It's great for the kiddos!
And of course, the Caroling, oh the caroling, while Grandma plays piano.
(Cousin Tanner, Aunt Merrilee and Uncle Steve Boyack)

Parker Boyack and our one and only "Singin' Daddy-o". You can tell he really gets into it! =)

James, Leah and Cameron (well, his backside anyway). =)

Krystal and Allison

Christmas Traditions

Stockings:

The first thing a kid wants to do on Christmas morning is check the milk and cookies and their stockings to see if Santa really came. So, of course, we always have Savannah wake us up before going into the family room so we can see her reaction. Since we were staying at my parent's house, Savannah was upstairs in the new bedroom and Doug and I were downstairs, so I told her to softly talk into the monitor in her room and say, "Mommy, I'm ready." So, at around 7am, I heard her say softly in the monitor "MOmmeeee. I'm reeeeaaaaady". So we woke up Grandma and Grandpa and ran up stairs to get Savannah.

It looks like she's flying down the stairs. She was pretty anxious!

Savannah asked for a scooter for Christmas, but since we were at Grandma's in San Diego, Santa left her a letter on her stocking telling her the scooter was waiting for her at Nana's (who lives two blocks from our house) because he knew we wouldn't have room for it in our car to take back to Utah with us. That Santa is so clever!

We couldn't tell if she was excited about the scooter...

...or about getting a letter from Santa.

She had to call Nana immediately to make sure the scooter was really there waiting for her. And of course, it was.

Stocking time!
Santa always leaves a HUGE apple and orange in our stockings. They are the best apples and oranges you'll ever taste!

Holly got a candy cane in her stocking...

...and she was pretty excited about it. =)

Opening Gifts:

Savannah is into dressing up, and doing hair. So, we added a few things to her collection.

Doug really spoiled me this year. He got me this camera (Cannon SD 800 Power Shot) with an 8GB card to go with it! WAHOOO! But that wasn't all. Sitting next to me are two more wrapped gifts...the small one being a 2 GB card which I opened with a bit of confusion thinking, "I just got an 8GB card for my camera...what could this be for?" I opened the last gift only to pull out a professional grade Cannon digital camera! My hands were shaking as I pulled it out of the box and I kept saying, "Are you KIDDING ME!?!" I couldn't believe it. I was in tears and completely ecstatic! (Now I just need to take some classes to learn how to use it!) Thanks Duger for an awesome Christmas! XOXO

Doug's comment when he opened this gift from Savannah was, "I'm officially a dad" having received a tie for Christmas from one of his kids. Too cute. Grandpa and Grandma with the kids.

James and Leah did gifts for our family this year (they rotate families each year) and these are the gifts we got from them!
Leah makes these purses and sells them. I was so glad she gave me one. I love it!

This Christmas for my parents and siblings, I wanted to make something meaningful, so I did a 4 generation project. The one for my parents was a quilt with a family tree on it that said, "Our Family" at the bottom. (I was planning on making it myself, but when I found this one, it was so perfect and so much better than what I would have done, so I just had to get it.)
The project I did for my siblings was a 12x12 scrapbook page with the 4 generations.

They all seemed to like it as much as I hoped they would. Yeah!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

December 21st - Holly turns ONE!

2008-01-08T15:35:00.000-08:00

Where has the time gone?
Love this.

Birthday girl opening her presents

"It's my party and I'll cry if I want too!"

Okay, so we're two for two on kids that don't like to get their hands dirty. =)

Happy Birthday Holly Grace

Christmas at Nana and Papa's

2008-01-01T11:34:00.000-08:00

We had Christmas with Nana and Papa before we left for San Diego. The kids were spoiled with gifts (no surprise there!) and we had a very nice Christmas dinner with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, peas, corn, rolls, jello and pecan pie (made from scratch for the first time by yours truly)! Everything was so delicious!

Nana has this small reindeer and sleigh that Savannah loves to ride. "To the top of the roof, to the top of the wall, now dash away, dash away, dash away ALL!"

Hey look! Another deer to ride. =)

It was all her idea...promise!

2007-12-14T21:50:00.000-08:00

I told Savannah I was going to get my hair cut on Tuesday and from that moment, she started begging to get hers cut too. Actually, the begging started about 6 months ago when her friend got her hair cut in a bob. She thought it was really cute and wanted her hair like that too. Doug and I tried to avoid the subject because we loved her long hair. Well, the day came for my hair cut and she was sick and she ended up not going to school that day. So she came with me to get MY hair cut.

And, hers too!
I made sure to explain how it takes a LONG time for hair to grow and that her hair would not be long enough for braids, buns or ponytails once it was cut. She was fine with that. She said, "I don't like braids. They hurt my head when I sleep." I know she loves her hair in braids, she just really wanted her hair cut. =)
I was a little worried when we took her into the bathroom to look at her short hair for the first time. To my relief, she LOVED it! She told me the next day that while I was downstairs, she was standing in front of the mirror in her bathroom looking at her hair and saying, "I love my hair, I love my hair." Whew!

Where's the other gate?

2007-12-11T21:17:00.000-08:00

I was sitting on the bottom stair of our house the other morning talking to Doug and Holly was standing on the step above me. Next thing I know, she's climbing the stairs. Ugh. Until that day, she would just sit at the bottom of the stairs and pat the bottom stair with her hands, but never attempted to climb them. Well, those days are history.

All the way up! She can climb to the top fairly quickly now. Anytime we let her down, she makes a beeline for the stairs. "Doug, where's the other gate?"

Teach them while it's fun!

2007-12-11T21:02:00.001-08:00

Savannah helped me sort the dirty laundry yesterday for her extra chore and had so much fun doing it that she wanted to do more! So, I took advantage of her enthusiasm for doing house work and had her switch loads from the washer to the dryer. I've never seen anyone have more fun doing chores!

She practically climbed into the dryer to empty the clothes out.

Still smiling! =)
Transering wet clothes to the dryer...without dropping them on the dirty floor. That was a little tougher.

She did it!
Loading washer with load #3. "Mom, are you sure this will all fit?" I think Mondays, aka "Laundry day" won't be so bad in the future. *wink*

First Dance Recital

2007-12-11T20:42:00.000-08:00

Savannah had her first dance recital with her company "Dancin' Darlins last Saturday. She performed in front of about 200 people at the Lehi Legacy Center. I was worried that she would be too shy or nervous to really perform (that's what happens when I come to watch her at the end of class) but to my utmost surprise, she did GREAT! She was the most animated dancer up there and was right on cue. Doug and I just beamed with pride as we watched her steal the show!

Posing with her Nana. =)

Here she is with her class, waiting to perform.

Those hips shook like I've never seen!

She just couldn't have done any better. She was so fun to watch! Go Savannah!

Here she is watching the other performances. She wanted so badly to stay the entire 3 hours and watch all the other companies perform but it was snowing heavily outside and getting dark so we had to go.

Milestone

2007-12-04T21:46:00.000-08:00

Until today, Holly hadn't really pulled herself up to a stand, which I didn't mind because it's a lot easier when they are less mobile. Well, this morning I was doing Savannah's hair in the bathroom and I turned around to see Holly standing at the bathtub. I asked Savannah, "Did she pull up by herself?", thinking maybe Savannah had helped her when I was looking. But, she had done it on her own. Well, one time was all it took to build up her confidence. She pulled to a stand about 10 more times today. I had my doubts about her walking by Christmas, but maybe she'll surprise me.

What's wrong with this picture? Little sis rocking big sis in infant carseat. Hmmmm...

She's up again!
And again! Way to go, Holly!

Silver Bells

2007-12-04T21:33:00.000-08:00

Doug had these silver bells before we were married and man, have they been the highlight of our Christmas since 2003 when Savannah got ahold of them for the first time. Then, in 2004 when we were in our apartment in Utah, Savannah ran around in circles and up and down the hallway ringing the bells and singing her 18 month old version of "Jingle bells". It was hilarious! Well, we got them out on Sunday to put on the tree and gave them to Holly to see what she would do. It was quite entertaining!

" Hmmm...what do I do with these?"
"Maybe this will work...."
" Oh! Now I got it!" Ring, ring, ring!
Here is Savannah trying to figure them out in 2003.
We had the bows pulled out so the ribbon attached to the bell was nice and long for her to hold and ring away!
Oh what fun!

Attack of the Kleenex Box

2007-12-04T21:11:00.000-08:00

Every baby has to experience the sheer satisfaction of pulling kleenex out of the box one, by one...by one. It's impossible to resist once they've discovered it. Holly had her go this week. We were sitting on the couch watching tv and since Doug and Holly have had constant runny noses, the kleenex was sitting on the couch next to us. Holly got ahold of one, pulled it out of the box, and that was the all it took. She couldn't help herself.

"Hi!"
"Just look at this mess!"

Here is a comparison, as close as I could get, of Holly (above) and Savannah (below) each covered in kleenex.

IT'S FINISHED!

2007-11-29T22:49:00.001-08:00

It's tradition in my family to make each child a Bucilla stocking (at least that's what my mom did for us so my sister and I are carrying on the tradition). Of course, my mom kept ours when we moved out because she wanted them for her mantle at Christmas time.

Okay, fine!

Anyway, I finished Savannah's stocking before her first Christmas and I was so proud of myself for getting it done (unlike the cross stitch I've been working on for 5 years...=}) but since Holly was 4 days old for her first Christmas, I figured I could wait a year to make hers. I bought it about 3 weeks ago, but just opened it this past Monday and started on it. It probably took me 6 or 7 hours, but I finally finished it about 10 minutes ago! I'm so excited that it is done! I stayed up pretty late last night working on it, and tonight too (now that it's 11:52pm Ugh.). Holly was such an angel today while I worked on it. She ate cheerios and bananas in her high chair for a half hour, and then crawled around on the floor going from the family room to the kitchen and livingroom, just exploring for an HOUR AND A HALF! Not kidding. She didn't fuss at all until she got hungry. I looked at the clock and saw that I had been sitting at the kitchen table for 2 1/2 hours. I was so amazed and STOKED! I got so much done on her stocking. Anyway, here is the finished product! It's poinsettias and "holly", of course! This stocking pattern wasn't too labor intensive since it didn't have a TON of sequins to put on, and I didn't have to stuff any of the parts with batting. That can take more time. I just hope Holly likes it when she is older. It's kind of a more sophisticated stocking instead of a little kid pattern. But, I think it turned out pretty nice, if I do say so myself. =)

"Surprise" visit from Jen

2007-11-25T13:07:00.000-08:00

Well, it was supposed to be a surprise, but when Jen got here and realized that I was NOT here, it kind of threw a wrench in her plans to show up on my doorstep. I got a message on my phone from her when I was in NC saying, "What are you doing in the woods, I'm at your house!" I was so bummed. Luckily, we flew in Friday afternoon and they were scheduled to leave Saturday morning so I told her she was out of the dog house as long as she came to see me before she left. So, that Friday night, she came by for a quick visit. It was SO great to see her. When she was here she said, "I'm home!" I wish. I miss my Jen. :-(

She often calls me from Arizona to tell me she needs a "Kacy's chocolate chip cookie fix". So, I knew I couldn't send her home without them. When she arrived, I had whipped up nearly an entire batch of my chocolate chip cookies for her to take home. She said she was going to stick them in her freezer and take one out any time she needed her fix and she wasn't going to share them. =)
We were comparing heights here. Look how tall Sam is! He isn't quite 6 months old but his height would make you think otherwise. Holly is twice his age. He is a growing boy...following after his Daddy who is 6'5", or something close to that. I think he looks a lot like his daddy too. He's such a happy boy and loves to smile for the camera! The mommy in the middle is Jen's sister Sarah and her 2 week old baby Savannah. What a beautiful baby girl! Say cheese! =) Brooklyn had to get her Holly fix too. Then, she changed baby Savannah's diaper like a good cousin. *wink* I need Brooklyn to live close to me!!!
Of course we had to get a picture of Savannah holding Savannah. ;-)

North Carolina Trip

2007-11-25T07:36:00.001-08:00

We went to North Carolina for Thanksgiving to visit Charlotte's side of the family. Savannah and Holly were FANTASTIC travelers and hardly cried/complained at all. Even with our split flight and long layovers! We all managed to stay healthy throughout the entire trip (which was my biggest "worry"...having sick kids on the flight). We had a great time and have never seen such amazing/beautiful colors! Just breathtaking. I've posted quite a few pictures (just be glad I picked the best of the 177 I took)! =)

It was tight quarters on the plane so when Nana got up to stretch her legs, Holly immediately stole her seat. She felt like such a big girl in a seat of her own next to Papa.
Papa orders a complimentary drink and Holly tugs at his sleeve, "Hey Papa, I want a drink too!"

"I got me a seat!"
Blowing kisses
Holly: "I'm flyin'!" Holly did great on the flights. She cried a little on the first leg of our flight as we decended but I think she was just tired. Other than that, she was happy! Savannah colored the entire 2 1/2 hours on the plane. WOW!
Killing time in the airport...4 hour layover. Ugh. We arrived in Charlotte, NC at around 11pm. We got to our hotel at midnight (we drove around for nearly 45 minutes trying to find it because the hotel people were numnuts and gave awful directions). We got to bed about 1am. It was a very long day of traveling.
This is a squirrel that I caught in a dead run across the street. I thought it was funny so I had to include it. =)
We stayed at Charlotte's neices house in Raleigh for the first 2 days. The drive from the hotel in Charlotte to Raleigh was absolutely stunning! The colors of the trees were so incredibly breathtaking that I couldn't stop saying "Look at that!" Unfortunately, I only took video of the trees and didn't get any still shots. But, you'll see a little bit of the color in the next several pictures.
We found a Ward meeting at 1:30pm at the church just 3 minutes up the road from where we were staying. Doug and I had attended that Ward 7 years ago when we came. After church, I took lots of pictures of the girls and the family outside (the family picture will be on our Christmas card so I didn't include it). Savannah LOVED picking up pretty colored leaves and making bouquets out of them.

"I got a leaf!"
These doggie statues were Holly's favorite thing at Barbara's (Charlotte's Neice). She could not stay away from them.
More playing in the leaves. This is now in Morganton, NC behind Uncle Kenneth's house.
Savannah made piles of leaves and picked them up and threw them above her head about a million times.

Daddy's girls
The house in the background is Charlotte's sister Jean's house. Jean and James built this house nearly 50 years ago!

Monkey in the tree!
Nana and Mommy holding monkeys in the trees
Making "leaf" angels with cousin Kaylee. Kaylee is Doug's brother Dean's daughter.
"Unkie Dough" with Kara
Holly with Uncle Dean

Cute Cousins
Cute cousins...again
Doug and his brothers Dean and Shane
Brotherly Love
Mollers and Redwines

(check out all those beautiful girls!)

Happy Thanksgiving!

7 Weird/Random Things About Me

2007-11-25T06:42:00.001-08:00

Hmmmm...my sister tagged me with this one on the 9th of November. I've been avoiding it because I've had too much going on to have to think of 7 things but I'll give it a shot on the spot! =)

1. I love learning new skills and how to do different crafty projects but my problem is that once I learn the skill, I go out and buy everything you need to do LOTS of those projects and then don't have time to do them so all the materials just sit in boxes in my house. (Hair bow supplies, crochet thread/needles, beaded sock supplies, holiday felt kits, cake decorating materail, fabric plate material, etc. etc.) Maybe when my kids are all in school, I'll have time to go back to them.

2. It drives me nuts to have "stuff" on the counters, floors, etc.. Especially papers in the office. I HATE IT! I am constantly picking stuff up and putting it away or moving it to a room where it's not in the main living area. If there is stuff all over the family room floor and couches, I feel like my house is a disaster. Doug always tells me "It's not dirty, it's just stuff that takes 5 minutes to clean up." I still hate it.

3. I HAVE to get 8 hours of good sleep or I'm a cranky zombie. I rarely stay up past 10:30pm. I was always the first one to fall asleep at slumber parties and the first one to wake up. (Funny story: I was at a slumber party once and they put my bra in the freezer. When I woke up before anyone else and noticed my bra missing, I looked in the freezer and found my bra, took it out of the freezer and warmed it up (aren't you supposed to get it wet so it freezes? They didn't.) and had it back in my bag by the time everyone else woke up. I acted like nothing had happened. They were all so confused.)

4. I have receeded gums on many of my teeth because I brush too hard. They tell you to brush with light pressure for a long period of time. I've tried, and tried, but I almost always end up pushing hard and brushing fast. I feel like my teeth just aren't clean enough if I don't push hard. Well, I'm paying for it now on some of my teeth where the nerve is exposed. Doh!

5. I love scrapbook paper. My friend, Carli, once asked on her blog if there is such a thing as a paperaholic. I think I'm one for sure. I have more scrapbook paper than I could ever get through. The funny thing is, I buy it and then I don't want to use it or cut it up because then I won't have it anymore. So, my goal this year was to USE what I have and not buy anymore paper. Well, it's November and I've done really well. (I've just moved on to ribbon!) AAAHHHH!

6. I am a "WW" as my grandma used to call me. A Worry Wart. I worry about a lot of stuff, much of which I have no control over. I think I create a lot of anxiety in my life from worrying. Especially when it comes to my kids.

7. When I was about 10 years old, there was some kind of boxing show on the tv and the looser of the match was getting his long hair shaved off and shouting "No!" as they were shaving his head. I remember watching that and getting so sick to my stomach that I almost threw up. From that point on, I was never able to get my hair cut any more than a 1-2 inch trim at a time. I would have nightmares about someone shaving my head or cutting my hair really short. I've loosened up quite a bit since then, and I was finally able to get 7-8 inches cut off my hair when I was in college. But it really disturbed me as a child.

Well, I don't know if those are really random enough, but it's done. =) And, I don't like making people feel obligated to do anything, so I'm not tagging anyone else, but I hope you enjoy my random querks! =)

Nana turns 39...AGAIN! =)

2007-11-14T22:24:00.000-08:00

We treated Nana to a manicure/pedicure for her birthday and Savannah and I got one too! Savannah got the full pedicure treatment...hot wax (well, not too hot), hot towels...
...and a great leg massage. (I didn't get my first pedicure until I was in my late teens!) She wasn't sure what to think of it all, but I think she enjoyed herself. We were at the nail salon for TWO hours! Savannah was such a trooper. Holly was there too, but slept most of the time. What great kids!
For dinner, we went to Nana and Papa's new favorite place for ribs...Texas Roadhouse. Yum! For birthday guests, they have them "saddle up" and they yell out a big "Yeehaw!" Nana was such a great sport and didn't even ride side saddle! Go NANA!
"Happy birthday dear Nana.... "

(please excuse the mess in the background.)
She did it in one breath! YEAH!

(Good thing there weren't "39" candles) *wink*

Gratitude Dinner

2007-11-14T22:17:00.000-08:00

For the past two years, Andrea (my aunt) has invited us to a "Gratitude" dinner. This year, however, she moved into the basement of her home so we squeezed into the tiny living room and had a very nice, cozy dinner.

As always, Lauralee didn't let Savannah out of her site. They played together the entire time. So cute!
Holly, on the other hand, made her rounds (not really by choice) and everyone got their baby fill...
...even the newest Mrs. Boyack (aka Jody) =)
Here they are looking at the fishies.
Holly is blowing you a kiss...
Did you catch it? =)

Basket of Toys

2007-11-14T22:01:00.000-08:00

I often ask Savannah to get a toy for Holly, but today she decided to just dump the entire basket of toys in Holly's lap.
Of course, Holly didn't seem to mind. It just became a treasure hunt to see what fun things she could find in her pile.
" I got a bell!"

Trick or Treat?

2007-11-06T19:51:00.001-08:00

Every year, Doug's work invites all the employee's kids to come and trick or treat on all three floors of their building. I guess they get somewhere around 300 kids each year. Last Halloween, Doug was at Sema doing the car show so we missed the "Altiris" trick or treating. But, this year, even though they were acquired by Symantec, they still held the tradition...lucky for us!

Savannah decided that her tigger costume wasn't "pretty" so we dolled her up in the Snow White dress Nana had purchased for her to use for a dress up. She felt SO pretty after we curled her hair and did her make up.
In Daddy's office
Yikes! What a knock out! We better keep her locked up till she's 39...at least!
Holly says, "I got one! He he he!"
Me and my cute girls!
While Savannah and daddy made their second round (we had to come back to his office to empty her pumpkin b/c it was full!!), Holly and I held down the fort at Daddy's office and handed out candy. Holly found her way to a cord and metal shelf and sat their for a good 20 minutes banging away!
This is Doug's boss, Steve. =) (He wasn't the only one handing out full size candy bars!)
Halloween tradition dinner...Halloweenies (hot dogs), Goblin Goo (pudding) and Spider Cider (Apple cider). YEAH!

Waiting for trick or treaters...
"Here they come, mom!"
Savannah LOVED handing out candy to the kids that came to the door. She handed out her "ghosts" she had made out of tootsie pops. So cute.

Daddy, Nana and Papa took Savannah down the block and back in the cold. Nana lasted half way and turned around to come back and get warm. Savannah made out with about 5 lbs of candy at the end of the day! (4 lbs of that came from the office trick or treating!)

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Carving

2007-11-06T19:36:00.000-08:00

(Check out the mohawk! =) )

Holly got a kick out of the seed bowl. Slimy, yet satisfying!

Holly got a little too carried away with the pumpkin seed bowl and dumped it all out on the table. Hey, she had to be involved in the fun some how!
We figured since she really wanted the pumpkin seed "bowl", we'd just give her an empty bowl to play with. She had a blast! It was a chew toy...
...a drum...
...and a forhead banging instrument! (She actually "accidentally" knocked herself between the eyes with the bowl and was shocked for a second and then repeated it in slow motion, bringing the bowl to her head to figure out just what the heck had happened. Then she looked up at me like, "Yep, that's what hit me!")

Ahhh, Savannah's favorite part...cleaning the seeds!
Yum!
Our finished Jack-o-lanterns!

Holly Self Feeding...Finally!

2007-11-01T13:34:00.000-07:00

The look of sheer delight

Pick it up...
...make sure I got it...
...and put it in my mouth...almost ( it's on her nose)!
Way to go Holly!

Ward Halloween Party

2007-11-01T13:26:00.000-07:00

We had a Ward Halloween Party/Chili Cookoff. I think my chili (mom's recipe) should have won, but no such luck. I voted for mine! =)

Here is Holly and Savannah doing the cake walk. Holly normally wears black/orange tights and a black turtleneck under her pumpkin costume but it was way too hot in the church to wear them. I wore my convenient and "true to self" 50's costume. Unfortunately, there was no dancing to be had. =(

The little girl on the right is our friend Sylvi. She is the dog gone cutest little girl! Her mom made her costume! Just Beautiful.

Baby on the Loose!

2007-11-01T12:54:00.001-07:00

Holly has really mastered her crawling skills. These videos were taken about a week or so ago so you can imagine she is much more stable and quick to get where ever and what ever she wants! She also likes to say "uh oh". It's her favorite word...of the three she knows. =)

Driver's Ed 101

2007-10-27T21:09:00.000-07:00

It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon and Doug was working on the platform for the hot tub outside so I put Holly out on the deck in her walker to watch him. She had such a blast having so much room to walk around and explore. I watched her cover that entire 600 square foot deck with such smooth walker maneuvering. I couldn't believe her ability to "drive" her walker all over the place. She got herself into a corner (first video below) and was able to back right out of it with ease (second video below). I was truly impressed!

Happy girl!

BIG Steps!

Check my brother's blog for fire updates

2007-10-25T20:25:00.001-07:00

Hey there! My brother, James, did a post of some pictures from when he went to my parents house today before they opened it up for repopulation. Click on the link to James&Leah in my "Friends/Family Links" to see it.

No coincidence

2007-10-25T11:11:00.000-07:00

I just had to share this email from my mom with you...

"Humberstone Home is still standing!> James and Leah have been in it (he still has our address on his license). They said the hill BEHIND our home burned.....why we stand was a mystery, well, not really: read on:> I must share something that many of you will identify with. We are staying at my sister's home in Poway. Merrilee is the deputy Mayor of Poway and ran the shelter for Poway when the Cedar Fire Hit. Little did she know that last time it was south Poway, this time it is North Poway -- $1,000,000 homes lost.> She finally dragged in last night. We began talking and she stopped and grabbed her scriptures to remain true to her committment to read everyday. So literally in the middle of her sentence, she stopped, grabbed them, opened them randomly and began reading -- we said--"read to us so we can count it" ---> Alma 14:13: "And Alma said: Be it according to the will of the Lord. But, behold, our work is not finished; therefore they burn us not.">>>

Heavenly Father certainly has a sense of humor!

Our house shown on the news...untouched!

2007-10-24T18:06:00.000-07:00

I was over at my mother-in-laws today and we hadn't watched the news all day. She decided to turn it on and within 5 minutes they showed a video of our street and our house! I literally jumped off the couch when I saw it and said, "That's our house!" So, we rewinded the tv and hit record (LOVING Dish DVR!) and then I took video of the tv on my camera. The first house shown that is burnt down is across the street from our house. Our house is the last one shown in the second video. Sorry, my camera does not have any sound but as luck would have it, the captions were on!

San Diego Fire Update

2007-10-23T11:29:00.001-07:00

As many of you know, San Diego is on fire. My parents were evacuated Monday morning at about 4:30am and went to my Aunt Merrilee's in Poway for the day. They had about 5 minutes to grab stuff which ended up being their hard drive, laptop and two family portraits on the wall. The fires burned all over Rancho Bernardo. Last night we found out that the two homes directly across the street from my parents house were completely burned down. My dad tried to drive to our house to check on it, but the roads were all blocked and the police would not check for him. So, it was a long night of prayers and hope that is was okay. This morning I got a call from my sister saying her friend had snuck in during the late night and saw our home...still standing! I just received another confirmation from my mom that they talked to some people who took pictures of the burned house/lot across from ours and said our home was okay. We are SO relieved that it survived the inferno. We just hope it doesn't spark up again in their area. Here is a link my brother sent me to show you just how many homes around my parents burned just yesterday. < http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&ie=UTF8&msa=0&ll=33.04281,-117.077866&spn=0.024714,0.040555&z=15&om=1&msid=112544462747410301023.00043d20082275ecf00c2

This is a picture of our home...still standing!!! Hooray!

This is a picture of a home just off the freeway that burned.

There are still many fires and many homes burning as we speak. All prayers are appreciated in the victims behalf. My sister lives 5 miles north of the Rainbow Canyon fire near Temecula, my brother's in-laws have been evacuated from their home just north of Rancho Santa Fe which is currently burning, and my aunt Merrilee could be evacuated from her Poway home today as well. So, it's not over, but we are hopeful that all of our families homes will remain untouched as the fires make their way to the coast. We know your prayers worked for us! Thank you for all your calls, concerns and good wishes. We feel so touched by the love and support we have received in these last 2 days. Keep those prayers comin'!

Humberstone's Visit

2007-10-21T12:36:00.001-07:00