The DeVito's Daily Diary (okay, maybe not daily)

Bedtime Stories

2012-01-30T20:05:00.000-08:00

Bella wanted me to tell her "a snowman story not from a book" tonight. I'm not feeling great so not having much of an imagination so I asked her to tell me a story, this is how it went.

"There was a snowman that got into a fight with a wolf and he got eaten. The wolf didn't like that he was cold so he spit him out and he was green. Everyone asked why he was green. Then they got in a fight again, but Frosty had a knife and killed the wolf. Than he wanted to be a man so he said, [singing] God make me a man [singing]. God made him a man RIGHT AWAY. The end."

I love this girl. She's so funny!

Pretend Grandparents and Marriage

2012-01-08T21:00:00.000-08:00

When we were driving to and from UT for Christmas we had a lot of time to talk to Bella. She was asking us all about our lives prior to her.

We got into a discussion about grandparents and so we explained to her (as we have previously, but not in so much detail), that my mom is her grandma, my dad (who's in heaven) is her grandpa, and so on and so forth. Then she couldn't figure out how Grandma Kim and Grandpa Dan (our next door neighbors) are her grandparents. So we explained that we aren't really related, but we just call them Grandma and Grandpa because they mean a lot to us and we don't have any near by. She then went to my mom's house and proceeded to tell her, "you are my mom's mom and that means your my Grandpa. Mommy's dad and Daddy's mom are in Heaven but they are my Grandpa and Grandma, but Grandma and Grandpa Kim are my pretend Grandma."

She also asked us how we met. We told her we met at a work meeting. She thought about it for a minute and then said, "Then you hugged and kissed and got married?" Yep, something like that.

Grayson - 4 Months

2011-09-08T21:23:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to do updates each month for Grayson and it just hasn't happened. If you want to know what happens daily - join me on facebook. So I'm going to not catch up and just do his 4 month update - since we went to the doctor.

At 4 months Grayson weighs 17.3 lbs. He was born 1.5 lbs smaller than Bella but weighs 1.3 more than her at the same age. He is 25" long. He's 75th percentile for weight and 50th percentile for height. He is a VERY happy baby. People will ask me if he ever cries - the answer is mostly no. If he's crying he's tired - which he does a lot of. He sleeps 10-12 hours a night and has since he was born and take 2-4 hour naps during the day. I think we'd all be happy if we got to sleep that much!

He is such a fun addition to our family. Isabella LOVES him and is always wanting to help him and help us with him.

He has found his toes and his voice. He's "talking" and cooing and laughing. BIG belly laughs and squeals of delights. You can see his laughing and squealing here. He is starting to chew and suck on anything within reach. If he can turn his head to it, it goes in his mouth.

Recycling

2011-08-24T22:13:00.000-07:00

I was cleaning out the fridge and putting all the fruits and veggies that were bad into the compost box. Bella asks me what I'm going to do with that.

"I'm going to put it in the compost bins so we the worms can eat it and we can put it on the dirt. That's how we get pretty flowers and big vegetables in the garden."

"That's called recycling," she exclaims.

"Where did you learn that?"

"I don't know, I just knew it"

She never ceases to amaze me!

5-3 is 2 in case you you change your mind

2011-07-22T08:28:00.000-07:00

I came down from changing Grayson's diaper and Bella is in the kitchen "cooking waffles" (all pretend).

"How many would you like Momma?" (I love that she calls me Momma).

"I will have 3."

"Well, I have 5 so you can have that many (showing me her 3 fingers) but if you change your mind there is still 2 left."

I don't know about other 3 year olds, but I think Bella is a genius for knowing that!

A Couple of Whiles

2011-07-13T16:06:00.000-07:00

Bella: "Mom are you going to stay home for some whiles?"

Me: "Yes, I'm going to be home for a while."

Bella: "A couple of whiles or one while?"

Love her!

Conversation with Jesus

2011-07-07T21:57:00.001-07:00

Bella never ceases to entertain and amaze us with the things she says.

Tonight Frank and I were driving with Bella and telling her that it was our anniversary and that we got married today. She says to us, "That was before I was born when Jesus told me, 'Isabella you are a pretty girl and I'm going to send you to live with Frankie and Holly."

This warmed Frank and my hearts. I don't know where she heard this but the way she said it made it sound like she had really had that conversation with Jesus and she remembered it - who knows, maybe she did.

To Isabella on your 3rd Birthday

2011-05-28T20:13:00.000-07:00

Dear Isabella -
I can't believe that you are 3 years old already, when you were born someone told me "the days are long, but the years are short." How true this is! You are no longer a toddler and a baby. Which you remind me of every time I call you baby. You are such a sweet girl. You always want to snuggle with both Dad and me (although you prefer it be Daddy), you love your new brother and want to constantly give him kisses and hugs. All your kisses have to be followed by a very tight hug with everyone. Grandma Meikle used the term exuberant with you and it's the perfect word for you. You love to sing (every thing can be made into a song with you - you must have gotten this from your Great Grandma Kathryn), informed us you already know how to dance so you don't need to take dance lessons, and you love your "Grandma Kim and Grandpa Dan" next door. When you come home from day care, the first thing you want to do is run next door to see them.

You love to dress up and wear crowns, earrings, and your princess dresses. You often sleep in Snow White's dress. You are a great helper and want to help with everything. You help put Grayson's diapers on, you help make German pancakes, and your favorite helping of all is to help make banana bread with Daddy. You have decided that you don't need naps, you just need snuggle time so you can be "refreshed."

You are quite the talker and it's non stop. You keep daddy and I laughing every minute of the day. Recently you've found an imaginary friend called Abby. She does things that you would get in trouble for doing.

We love you so much and are so glad you are part of our family. You keep life around here so exciting and entertaining.

Love, Mom and Dad

At your 3 year check up you were 27 lbs (50th percentile) and 31" tall (37th percentile).

Grayson Frank DeVito

2011-05-15T20:41:00.000-07:00

Warning: It's a LONG post! I wrote this all out for posterity sake, you can just scroll through pictures to keep from falling asleep.

Taken about 16 hours after birth

Grayson Frank DeVito joined our family on April 21, 2011. He was born at 37 week 4 days. He weighed 8 lbs. 15 oz and was 20.5" long.At 28 weeks the midwife started talking about me having a c-section, because of the difficulty of Isabella's birth and the shoulder dystocia. She was very worried that with a 2nd baby and a boy he would be a bigger baby and would get stuck and could suffer permanent damage. I was very against having the c-section and was fighting it. The dr. wasn't excited about doi

ng the c-section either. He told us that we should do an ultra sound at 36 weeks and see how the baby was measuring and then we would decide what to do.

At 35.5 weeks my mom came out for her spring break to help me get ready for the baby. We spent the week organizing baby clothes and stuff and cleaning the garage (wh

at else is new??). I booked my 36 week ultrasound early so that she could go with us.

I was nervous going to the u/s but I fully expected to go there and have the tech tell us - no big deal, it's a baby a little on the small side, but only 6 or 7 lbs. I had the whole thing pictured in my mind. Boy was I wrong!

The tech was doing the u/s and said, "are you expecting a big baby?"

Me: "Yes, that's why we are here, my daughter was 10.8 lbs at 39 weeks."

Tech: "Well, I can't tell you anything, but I can show you - look here at the screen."

We all looked at the screen and it was all I could do to not start to cry. He was measuring 8.14

lbs. AT 35.5 WEEKS! She took a couple more measurements and they were ranging fro

m 8.7 lbs to 9.1 lbs. Needless to say, I was freaking out.

The tech told us the dr. would *hopefully* have the results by the end of the day so we could talk to him tomorrow at my appointment. I think I got a call from the mid-wife less than 2 hours later. She said they got the results from the radiologist and the u/s was reading the baby was almost 10 lbs. I was driving while I talked to her - she should have warned me so I could pull over! The next day we went to the dr. and he did another u/s he was measuring the baby at about 8 lbs (with a 40 week head).

At this point he strongly recommended the u/s so that the baby didn't have the risk

of the shoulder dystocia. I reluctantly agreed and we scheduled the c-section for 39 weeks. The dr. was going to be out of town for the 10 days prior to that date.

Throughout my pregnancy I suffered from SPD - my pelvis was KILLING me and it was gettin

g worse by the minute it seemed like. At my 37 week appointment I was getting very anxious about the c-section, the pain, the doctor leaving out of town and me going into labor while he's gone and another dr. having to do the c-section. He wouldn't reschedule the c-section fo

r before he went on vacation, but he said he was on call on Thursday night. I told him I would be in labor Thursday and I would see him then - he didn't believe me.

I'm a big believer in the law of attraction and now I KNOW that God answers prayers (I knew it before but this was the most specific, desperate prayer I've ever prayed). For 4 days I prayed

that if this baby was healthy that I would go into labor on Thursday so I could have the baby before Dr. Johnson left town.

I also know that God answers prayers, but you have to do what you can to help them alo

ng. I started doing some research on reflexology and starting labor (I didn't want to do anything too drastic that would make me start labor if my body wasn't somewhat ready). Everything said reflexology wouldn't start it unless your body was ready - so I scheduled an appo

intment with my foot zonologist. She came over Wednesday night and zoned me, she g

ave m

e some clary sage essential oil to use. I put some on my feet (in the right spot) and the next morning.

At about 9:30 that morning I started having contractions when I walked (I had be

en having them for about a week) but every time I sat down they would stop. So then I started using the oil heavily and rubbing it on my belly, back and thighs. About 12:30 I started having contractions when I sat down too. I called the dr. to see how far apart I should let them go since I was having the c-section. They told me to start timing them and when they are 10-12 mins apart I should head to the hospital. At 1:00 they were 20 mins apart. I called Fran

k and told him I was in labor. I had stuff I still had to do - I hadn't really expected to go into la

bor - I thought I still had 10 days. I went to get a mani/pedi (you can't have ugly nails when you give birth) and the contractions were about 12-15 mins apart while there - they were about a minute long. I called the dr. office again to tell the dr. that they were getting closer (I tho

ught he might want warning) - it was about 4:00 at this point and the nurse told me I should probably go to the hospital right then. I told her I had some other stuff to do and my husband wouldn't be home until about 5:30 but that I lived 2 mins away so it would be ok.

Frank got home and we headed to the hospital about 6:00. The contractions at this point were about 10 mins apart and 2 mins long - by time we got to the hospital they were 7 mins apart. Once at the hospital I started to get really nervous and the contractions were REALLY strong. Much stronger than they were with Isabella this early in labor. The nurse was just k

ind of puttering around, she checked me and I was only dilated to a 1 but was effaced. She said

she'd go call the dr. but sounded like she thought I would be going home (despite me tellin

g her we had the c-section scheduled). She came back about 6:30 and said, "Good news and bad news, good news is you are having a baby tonight, bad news is it's at 8:00 and you aren't prepped."

(Picture taken while nurse was calling the dr.)

This is when the Larry, Curly, Moe show started. The nurses were scheduled to change shift at 7:30, so they were trying to prep me for the c-section and do a shift change - itwas the comedy of errors (I can say that now that it's over). The nurses were running around like crazy, trying to give me an IV and kept missing - telling me to not flinch despite being mid contraction while they were putting it in - they were trying to tell us what was going to happen, keep track of what drugs they were giving me, making sure I had all mywrist bands, blah, blah, blah. The anesthesiologist came in and pretty much told everybody to calm down and that the surgery wouldn't start without me.

The look of anxiety is because I was freaking out at this point.

They wheeled me into the operating room. On the way, I told the anesthesiologist that I felt like I was going to have a panic attack and I needed some Xanax. He said, "don't worry, the spinal will take care of that." The dr. came into the operating room, said hello, they gave me the spinal and everything after that was incredibly fast and easy! The anethesiologist said, "you'll feel some small tugging and then I'll let you know and you'll feel a big tug and the baby will be born." He turned around and we heard the baby cry he said, "that was fast, I missed it." The total time the dr. was in the hospital including the post op wrap up (whatever they call that when they record what happened) was 28 mins. I has back in recovery 15 mins after the spinal.

Everything went really well, Grayson was completely healthy and beautiful! He was perfect and "only" 8.15 lbs. All the nurses kept commenting how big he was but I felt like he was so little. We are all in love with him. Bella loves him and can't help but touch him and hold him and poke at him (and try to feed him goldfish crackers).

It took us 9 days to find the perfect name for him, but we finally did.

Not ever going to catch up

2011-05-15T20:38:00.001-07:00

I got behind on my blog (obviously) and then I got overwhelmed every time I would try to catch up that I couldn't do it. I've decided that I'm not ever going to catch up so I just need to start up with now.

Next post - the birth of Grayson Frank

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T21:30:00.000-07:00

I wasn't feeling the Halloween spirit this year. I think it's because I'm working a lot and have NO energy left over at the end of the day. We just got down the Halloween decorations yesterday (the day before). We went to the church Trunk or Treat on Saturday night. I dressed up as Cruella, Frank was a rodeo clown and Bella was a devil. It was a lot of fun they had a bouncy house and a "fishing" pond for the kids. Bella was great at the trick or treating and made sure to say it the loudest at every car and said Thank you as well.

Tonight when we got ready to go T or T she said, "I wanna go fishing" so funny!
This was the only picture we got of her and she was mad that I made her put the hat on because she was hot.

We went to three houses before she was tired we hit our next door neighbors and then came home and she answered the door - she loved it!

20 years ago

2010-09-26T21:16:00.000-07:00

20 years ago today this world lost one of the best men ever to grace it. My dad fought a 9 month battle with cancer and finally succumbed on Sept 26, 1990. He was just 42 years old. It is a day I will never forget. I was just 9 years old, but I remember every moment of that day. I went to the hospital with my mom in the morning to tell my dad good-bye, he had died by time we got there. It was the most crushing moment I've ever experienced. Dad was the most caring, patient, loving man I've ever known. He treated my mom the way a husband should treat a woman, with love and respect. He was always firm but loving with us kids. I'm so proud to call Lynn Meikle my dad.

long weekend

2010-07-06T22:41:00.000-07:00

This picture makes me laugh, I look like I'm 10 feet taller than Frankie!

Whew! I'm tired! It's been a long weekend. We started the weekend with a breakfast with some friends from church on Saturday. Hurried home to take naps (Bella and I both need an afternoon nap) and then went to a friend's birthday party. There were about 8 kids there from 1 - 9 years old. Bella was in heaven playing with them all. They did fireworks that night.
Sunday we spent the morning at church. I thought it was fitting that Independence Day was spent worshiping. It's what this country was made for. We came home took naps again and went to another BBQ. Bella was the only kid at this one, but they were very gracious hosts and had coloring books, bubbles, snappers, stuffed animals for her to play with. She had a GREAT time with all the attention of the adults. Needless to say by Monday we were all exhausted!

Monday we just had a relaxing morning, I made a real breakfast (something I never do) and we just hung out. Frankie and I decided to clean up the garage (a never ending project for us). I was rearranging a cupboard and had a glass vase in each hand and dropped one and hit the other and they both came crashing down and broke. Somehow one of them sliced right through two of my fingers on my left hand. When I got the cut cleaned enough I could see the inside of my finger, it was pretty nasty. I decided that I better go to Urgent Care to make sure I hadn't done any damage and it didn't need stitches. I was hoping a nurse could just look at it and see if they could stitch it. An hour and a half later I was finally seen by the doctor. He wanted to put stitches in it, but I didn't want him to have to put a shot inside the wound, been there done that, worst pain ever. I talked him into just putting steri strips on it so he did and put a splint on it so I can't move it. The cut is on the inside of the knuckle on my middle finger if I stretch my finger out it will pull it open again. It makes for a difficult shower and getting ready.

Needless to say it was a busy, exciting weekend. I was ready to get back to "normal" life.

Potty training take 2

2010-05-28T13:24:00.000-07:00

I decided to take advantage of the long weekend and give potty training a shot. Bella is finally ready. She asks to change her diaper first thing every morning and has been telling us when she needs to poop. We've been doing it since 8:00 this morning. She had an accident at 9 and so far that's all she's had for the day! We are up to 40 mins between potty trips. She's doing great! I set a special alarm on my phone and every time it goes off she screams, "TIME TO GO TO THE POTTY." She just went down for a nap - I put a pull-up on over her panties so that she could still feel the wet but not make a mess of her bed. Let's hope it works.

WISH US LUCK!

Bella's Birthday Party

2010-05-23T22:05:00.001-07:00

Bella is obsessed with Blue's Clues. When she's tired she wants to sit and relax to Blue's Clues - no other show, just Blue. When I asked her what kind of birthday she wanted she said Blue's Clues. You can't find any Blue's Clues in stores so I made a cake from a template we found online and the rest of the decorations were just blue. We tried to keep it small with just a few friends that had kids and that are Bella's favorite people. It's so nice that we have good friends around here, especially since we have no family. Stefanie and her cute family were sweet enough to drive down for the party. Bella was SO excited to see Mallory. She ran right up to her and gave her a big hug.

I love Bella's face. She was SO happy when we were singing to her!

Happy Birthday Bella

2010-05-23T21:36:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday, Isabella! It's a cliche that every parent says and some day you will understand, I can't believe you have been with us for 2 years already. You are such a happy little girl. You talk SO well in complete sentences. Every day you make Daddy and I laugh at the things that you come up with. You love to chase Smokey dog around the house (much to his chagrin). You chase after him yelling, "Smokey I'm coming, I'm coming."

You are understanding relationships and ask any two people how they are related. On the phone with Gramma you ask me, "Is that your Mommy? Is that my Gramma?" You ask if Daddy is my husband. Recently you are started calling me Momma instead of Mommy. I love it!

You love all animals and babies and want to hug them and love them, almost too much. You love to help me in the garden and always want to dig - sometimes digging up plants that shouldn't be dug up. You know every day that it's your job to feed the fish. You remind me and clap your hands so they will come to the surface.

You love to read and find anything that has "abc's" on it to have someone read to you. You LOVE to talk on the phone and will dial the phone any time you can get your hands on the phone. You also love to sing. "Pockorn" (Popcorn Popping) is your favorite song but you will sing anything. When I put you down at night you always want me to sing "Hush Little Baby." The other day you told me, "Mommy you have such a pretty voice." I think you need to get your ears checked!

You are definitely exerting your independence. We love having you in our family. You are such a blessing in our lives. Happy Birthday Baby!

Frog Catchin'

2010-05-19T21:53:00.000-07:00

We have had tree frogs move into our pond. I wasn't sure what kind of frogs they were - based on their ribbits I thought that they were great big bull frogs. They start at 7:30 every night and it's so loud you can't sit next to the pond without yelling to each other. They are at least three of them, which ironically is more annoying than if there were a whole bunch of them!

I have been raising baby fish (that I got as eggs) in a separate stock tank. They are little tiny fish - less than 1/2" long - so we've had screens over the tank to keep the critters out. Well, the frogs would push their way past the screens and make a house in there. I'm sure he thought it was a free buffet. Every night we'd hear him in there, so we'd go out with a flash light - Bella tagging right along and we'd see him sitting there with his big throat all puffed out. We'd catch him and put him back in the big pond.

One night we actually got to hold him for a while. Bella thought it was the best thing ever. She kept saying, "I wanna hold the fwog." She'd hold it and then he'd jump and she'd squeal with delight! He jumped onto the glass on the french door and she thought that was the funniest thing - she laughed hysterically.

I love this picture - you can see how amazed she is by it all. Her eyes were SO big in wonderment!

cow or pig?

2010-05-18T21:23:00.001-07:00

Tonight Bella and I were snuggling and watching Olivia (it's a cartoon about a pig family) and she said, "Momma is she a pig?"
"Yes, she's a pig."
"Oink, oink! You're a pig."
"What?! A pig!!??"
"NOOOOO, a cow."
"A cow??!!"
"Yep, MOOO you're a cow."

I think I will be at the gym first thing in the morning.

Easter

2010-05-18T19:35:00.000-07:00

I've finally been able to get my camera to connect to the computer to download the pictures so I'm going to play catch up.
We had a quiet Easter morning. The Easter Bunny bought Bella a basket with lots of goodies. We don't think that Easter should be a holiday where you get a ton of presents so she just got whatever could fit in a basket. She was more than excited with her basket!
After she ate all the candy we colored Easter eggs. She had so much fun and created quite the mess.

In the afternoon we went to our friend Reinita's family party. It was a great time and Bella had quite the time having all the attention, she was the only baby there. They LOVED her!

didn't realize how much it'd hurt

2010-05-08T05:15:00.000-07:00

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable. All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Run Holly Run (oh and bike and swim too)

2010-04-28T14:22:00.000-07:00

I started training for triathlons in February. The training has been slow going. Stephanie has decided to do 10 5ks in 2010. I decided it sounded like a good idea so I will be joining my sisters. I will be doing some triathlons instead of the 5ks. My first one is going to be June 6th and then on the 19th. I think I will do Bay to Breakers on May 19th first though.

Wish me luck! I have to find the other 7 now.

Fish babies

2010-04-22T20:21:00.000-07:00

I've been working on the pond and had ordered some floating plants for the pond as filters. The person that sent them to me said when she pulled them out of her ponds they are covered in Watonai eggs. I was so excited - I've never had baby fish before! The day they came I had Frank stop by the fish store to rent a tub for them. Poor Frank, he always gets dragged into my hair brained ideas!

They've been sitting in there for two weeks and I wasn't sure if anything happened. I looked in today and there are TONS of babies!! I'm SO excited! I can't get a picture of them yet because they are so tiny - I bet only about 1/8". I can't wait! They are beautiful fish when they are big and it will be so fun to raise them.

I'll post pictures soon!

Visit to Stef's

2010-04-21T21:00:00.000-07:00

Stefanie moved up to Rocklin 2 months ago and we were just able to go up and visit last Friday. It was our field trip for the week.

I was REALLY dreading the drive because Bella doesn't usually do well in the car for more than an hour. She did GREAT! We took her baby and she sat and talked to it and sang and play peek-a-boo with it for most of the trip. At one point I heard her say, "It's ok baby, don't cry. You want me to tickle your back?" Then a few minutes later she said, "Baby you are in time out! That is bad behavior!!" It was all I could do to not bust up laughing. We got to Stef's just as Bella was starting to lose it - it was perfect!
We had a great time! It's so fun to see good friends that your kids are friends too! We hung out and talked, and talked and went to Costa Vida - yummy. Is that "SSB" of me??? It was a beautiful day up there - the kids played on the trampoline. Bella LOVED "to bounce" and even managed to learn to climb off the tramp all by herself. I swear she is WAY too brave for her own good! I could get used to the warm sunshine! After lunch we made strawberry jam - strawberries were REALLY cheap so we bought 8 lbs. of strawberries. We ended up with 14 bottles of jam. It's SUPER yummy too. By 3:00 the girls were BEYOND tired and both ready for naps. As you can see by Bella's hair she played hard! Please excuse the horrible picture of me. It was a long day and we tried to convince Mallory to take a picture of us but she wouldn't do it so Stef had to hold her arm out and take it. This was the best we could get. It's been a great month - I have my birthday, and my family's visit for Spring Break to catch up on - I'll do that shortly.

Field Trip Friday

2010-03-16T18:38:00.001-07:00

I have been trying to take off Fridays so I can spend the day with Bella and play with her. It's been a lot of fun. It's nice to have at least part of a day when I'm not trying to work or clean or get other stuf done and just play with her.

Last Friday we went to the Jelly Belly Factory. We met Stefanie and her two kids up there and Kristie drove up with us. Bella didn't stop talking about Mallory for two days after seeing her. All day at church on Sunday she kept asking where "Nawy" was. Poor kid - she needs some new friends! All the kids before the tour - I love the excited Maya has! Bella insisted in either holding Mallory's hand while she rode in the stroller or pushing Mallory in the stroller. It made for an interesting tour!

Potty Training

2010-03-06T19:46:00.000-08:00

We started potty training today. I dont know who's getting trained- me or Bella. She had a bad morning but has done pretty well the rest of the day. I'm not exactly sure what we are going to do at church tomorrow. I guess I should have started on Friday so I had 2 days before we had to go anywhere. Oh well! I guess I will spend most of church in the bathroom. It is family day tomorrow and we were supposed to go to the museum in San Francisco - I guess that won't be happening either. :( I think diapers are easier!

Valentine's Day

2010-02-15T14:40:00.000-08:00

I usually hate Valentine's Day. It's always a day of disappointment. This year I decided to take it into my own hands, so I left Frank off the hooked and booked our Valentine's plans. We had received a gift certificate for our engagement from a friend, to The Purple Orchid Inn and we hadn't used it yet. So I decided we needed to use it. We went up on Saturday I had a couple's massage booked for us, they had a appetizers in the evening and our room was as big as our house and overlooked the Olive Orchard. It was absolutely breath taking! We had a great time just relaxing and having a conversation that didn't involve baby talk. It came complete with breakfast in bed and lunch the next day. It was the first time that we've been able to leave Bella over night since we've been married - I have to admit - I enjoyed it! We were both anxious to get back the next day to see her, but it was nice to be able to have some of our couple time.

Why I hate change

2010-02-12T21:15:00.000-08:00

These are the reasons I hate change. In the last 4 months all these people have either moved or are moving.

These women are women that have all been my rock and my strength while trying to adjust to motherhood. I met Stefanie and Alyson two years ago when I was 8 months pregnant. I didn't know anyone that had children and was kinda worried about what I was going to do when I had a baby. Stefanie emailed me in April and wanted to come visiting teaching. I won't get into the long sordid history but let's say I wasn't real excited about the visit. I decided I would be nice let her come once so she could feel good about doing her job and then she wouldn't come ever again. Funny how things work out . . . Long story short over the past two years we have become very close and because of her I met a great group of women and moms. They have helped and supported me in more ways than I'm sure they don't even know.

Suzanne and Heather moved last fall, Alyson put her house on the market in January, but the breaking point came 3 weeks ago when Stefanie called me and told me that Wesley had been offered a job in the Sacramento area and they were moving in 2 weeks. My heart sank. Not only was one of my best friends moving, but Isabella's best friend was moving. Stefanie's daughter, Mallory is 18 months older than Bella and she's the only friend Bella's known. Stefanie watched Bella from the time she was 4 months old and is MUCH preferred to Mom. She constantly asks to go see "Nawy" and at church she is always wanting to sit on "Wessy" lap. It's only 2 hours away, but it means no more week night family dinners and no stopping by on my way home from running errands. I admit, I was being very selfish about them moving. Yeah, yeah, it's great for their family, they can buy a house, blah, blah, freaking blah. WHAT ABOUT ME?!?!!?

I cried for four days after she told me. I'm crying again. Time to quit thinking about it. Stef when you read this don't be too happy with yourself and I'm coming to visit!

life

2010-02-12T20:59:00.001-08:00

I'm alive. It's been really busy - I have been working nights a lot and so I'm not in the mood to blog when I am done.

Let's see - what's been going on? I have no pictures of anything so it's just a long post! Sorry!

I have joined a mastermind group for business. It's a group of 25 business owners that get together 4 times a year to collaborate on our businesses. Our first meeting was in Palm Springs in January. It had been pouring rain here for the 2 weeks prior so it was nice to get a break from the rain to have some sunshine. It was cool there but at least it wasn't wet. We got a LOT done in a very short 3 days.

I got home from that on Friday and on Saturday morning Stephanie (my sister) came to visit. She came to do her foot zonology for all the people I know. There is only person that does it anywhere near here so she came to share her gift with us. We got to actually play on Saturday. We went to San Francisco to see a musical review called Shopping! It was really good. My friend Josephine had mentioned it and we found the tickets for $6 so we decided to just check it out. It's been running for 4 years if you have a chance to see it check it out. It was right off Union Square so it was entertaining to walk around there.

Of course we had to stop at Cheesecake Factory to bring home a cake. YUMMY! Funny story about that: We were leaving the building with our cake and some strange man said something to Stephanie (we don't know what) so she snuggled closer to me and kind grabbed on. I said, "what do you think I'm going to do? Hit him with my cake?" I wasn't losing my cake to some crazy man!

We also ate sushi twice while Stephanie was here - she loves sushi (as do I) and can't get as good sushi in Utah as she can here.

Stephanie left on Wednesday morning and then on Friday morning my friend Dominee came in to do hair. I can't get as good of services that I like in Utah so I just convince all my people to fly out here! :) Although the funny thing is, Dominee doesn't do my hair here - I have to fly back to Utah to have it done. Dominee has been coming out here every 6 weeks for the last year doing hair. She's getting quite the clientele.

This weekend Frank and I are going to go have a weekend getaway. I'm SO excited! My friend Jane is watching Bella for us and we are spending the night somewhere. I can't tell where cause Frank doesn't know. I'll fill you in when we get back.

change

2010-01-21T11:00:00.000-08:00

I hate change - that is all.

19 months

2010-01-07T12:55:00.001-08:00

I took Bella in for her 18 month check up - 6 weeks late. She didn't want to get on the scale - can't say I blame her - so I had to stand on it with her. AUGH!

She was such a good girl for the shots she only whined didn't even cry and a sticker with "Beaws" on it made it all better.

She's 34" and 24 lbs. 95th percentile for height and 50th for weight. She's built like her momma. Isn't it at 18 months they say you can double the baby's height and that's how tall they will be? If so, she will be a perfect 5'8" :) JUST LIKE ME!

Children's Museum

2010-01-02T13:51:00.000-08:00

In November Frank and I took Bella to the Children's Discovery Museum in San Jose. It's a GREAT place for kids under 10! They can run around and play with all sorts of stuff. Bella's too little for most of it, but she still loves it.

She LOVES the water tables and doesn't mind getting wet - at all!

You have to take a change of clothes because she gets SOAKED! I love her face in this picture.

the last 4 months

2010-01-02T13:08:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to taking the pictures from the last 4 months off of my camera so I picked a few pictures to show you.

Bella was a princess for Halloween. I love this picture - she's so happy despite standing next to that big skeleton. That was on our porch all of October. Every time she saw it she would growl at it.

One day she was being much too quiet. I should have known she was into something. I went into her room and she had found a tube of my lipstick and had it ALL over her hands and face!

Bella is getting very good at feeding herself and always insists on having a "poon" She can't pick up much food with it, but she will put the food on the spoon and then pick it up with her fingers and eat it.

Bella loves to lick the beaters after I make cookies. This was probably post nap - hence the hair.

This picture makes me laugh - Bandit is so good with her and lets her crawl all over him, but the fact that she is lounging out with her pacifier is funny. She never has used a pacifier and I'm not sure where she found this one!
She loves to sit on or in anything she can find. This basket usually holds her toys, she found a better purpose for it.
Frank was asked to be the cub scout assistant while he was laid off. He was quite cute in his uniform.
Random picture of Bella and I from August

Whew!

2009-12-28T08:19:00.000-08:00

The excitement is over and we were finally able to breathe last night!

Frank and I came to Utah to spend Christmas with my family. Isabella was a little overwhelmed when we got to my mom's house. There were all 7 other cousins and 6 aunts and uncles around. If you've ever been around my family you will know they are LOUD!! We walked in and everyone wanted to give Bella hugs and kisses, but she'd have none of it. She sat on my lap and just stared at everyone for about 30 minutes. Then she got on Katie's shoulders and has been loving every minute with her cousin's since!

Every year my mom does a "Grandma Party" with the grandkids. My mom makes sugar cookies with all the grandkids for Santa Claus. Santa then comes and brings everyone an ornament. You have to sit on his lap to get the ornament though, which is pretty funny for the grown men in our family. My brother is almost 6'3" and over 200 lbs - he looks VERY uncomfortable perched on Santa's knee.

Christmas eve Stephanie and her family, and Travis and his wife came to dinner at my mom's house. The older girls put on a live nativity and recruited Doug and Frank to be in it. That's Frank in the blue turban he's being very wise. Isabella refused to be an angel!Alesa's family came to my mom's house about 9:00 that night. My family has a tradition of giving the kids new pajamas every year. This year we got all the kids matching pajamas. They went to bed all in the same room. 8 kids and 5 adults all in my mom's house over night -- it was a lot of fun. We were up until 2:30 helping Santa. It was a fun first year for helping Santa.
We caught Santa in the act! The kids that were questioning if he exists were VERY convinced after seeing this picture!

Christmas day we were very laz letting all the kids play with their toys. Bella didn't even want to open her toys she was overwhelmed with all the activity! She's not used to all this excitement!

On the 26th, Alesa's daughter Savannah got baptized so we drove to Alesa's house and have been here since. We went and saw the lights at Temple Square. It was a balmy 14*. Every time I think we might move back to Utah we come in the Winter and we both change our minds.

The lights were beautiful as always. Sunday morning we got up and went to see Music and the Spoken Word. It's a television program that the LDS Church puts on, it's a non-denominational spiritual message with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing. It was AMAZING to hear them sing live. I've ionly heard them in person once when I was 8. As Frank said, it was like there were angels in the room. The program was being recorded and broadcast live so we had to be VERY quite. Not so easy when you have a cough like 3 of us did! They have been doing the program every week since 1929 - pretty amazing!

Since then we have just been hanging out and relaxing. It's Stephanie's birthday today so we will head back to Logan to celebrate with her.

Frank went home last night so he could go back to work - Isabella and I will be here until Wednesday night. I'm sure we will be EXHAUSTED by time we get back home!

I hope everyone has a VERY happy New Year!

'tis the season

2009-12-02T19:13:00.000-08:00

Happy December!
The house is decorated, the lights are up, now it's just time to enjoy the season! I hope everyone is having a Merry Christmas season. It's definitely my favorite time of year!

Thankful

2009-11-26T13:41:00.000-08:00

I'm thankful that we have one day out of the year to stop and give thanks. I have a friend that is a Jehovah's Witness, because of this, she doesn't celebrate holidays. Today this makes me sad for her, she is never forced to stop and give thanks for everything she has and that God has provided for. I know we shouldn't NEED a day, but it seems like days pass by and we never seem to just stop and say thanks.

I'm thankful for my family - not just for my amazing husband and my daughter but for all my family, both my side and Frank's. I'm thankful for my loving giving husband who is more than I could have ever asked for. He is so generous in his love. I never have to doubt his love and dedication for me (this I am VERY grateful for). He is an amazing father and is always willing to help with Isabella and around the house without me asking.

We decided not to be with family this Thanksgiving at first I thought I would be okay with not having to travel during this crazy travel week. Instead it's made me a little sad and very grateful for all our family. I have an amazing mom and sisters that I have come to really appreciate and love the older I get, the more I love them. I also am blessed to have wonderful in-laws. Frank's brother and sister-in-law and their boys have been a great blessing in our life. I'm so glad that Isabella has a family that loves and cares about her. We don't get to see our family often enough, living so far from all of them. Hopefully that will change soon.

It's been a rough year around here, but I'm SO grateful for the trials we have been through. Frank's lay off allowed him to spend an entire year at home with Isabella and I. We didn't even want to kill each other being with each other all the time. I'm of course grateful he has a job now, but I wouldn't change the last year.

I'm grateful that I have a great team of people that work with me to help me build my business and are supportive of my vision for the company. I'm also grateful that Frank is so supportive of me and my dreams. He never doubts that I can accomplish what I dream of. In fact, he is usually more supportive of my dreams and believes in me more than I believe in myself.

I'm grateful for friends. I have an amazing group of friends. Being away from our families we've had to create a group of friends that are like family. They are always there for us when we need them. They have helped us in the last year, by laughing with us, watching Isabella for free so I could work (thanks Stef and Heather), giving Frank work to support our family, bringing in food. I hope someday I can feel like I have paid them back 1/2 of what they have done for us.

I hope you all have a very happy Thanksgiving and take a minute to stop and think about everything you are grateful for.

World's worst blogger

2009-11-10T19:04:00.000-08:00

Okay, it's official, I'm the World's Worst Blogger. It's been over 6 weeks that I've posted a real post about what's happening in our lives and even longer about Bella. She really does still exist. *WARNING: IF YOU WANT TO KEEP READING IT'S A VERY LONG POST WITH NO PICTURES)*

I will post some pictures later, but my office is all in boxes and piles and so I can't find my card reader. Our lives have been so turned upside down and crazy that I didn't even decorate for Halloween this year. Halloween is my favorite holiday to decorate for (even better than Christmas). This year I managed to get a wreathe on the door and a door mat on the front porch and that's only because I bought it this year.

The biggest news and change around here is Frank HAS A JOB!! It was 2 weeks short of one year that he was unemployed. He is working at a restaurant supply company as the Floor Sales Manager. He came home the other day with both a paycheck and business cards, so it's official. He's really enjoying it. He's never been a manager before and never really wanted to do it, but this job came along and he decided to go for it. He's in a sticky situation there, but is doing a great job and the owners really like him.

My office is FINALLY nearing completion. I've been working in it for the past 2 weeks and it was closer to being put together, but I didn't like the feung shui of the room, so I made Frank move the desk to the other side. I ordered a new desk for me and for now, my assistant gets to sit with the bad feung shui. I think I will end up selling that desk because it's too big for the room. I will post pictures when it's all finished and pretty not the mess that it is right now. My business is going really well. It's growing by leaps and bounds I'm really excited about what's happening with it. I will post more about that later, for now it's Top Secret. I am getting a new assistant starting tomorrow which will take a LOT of stress off of me.

With Frank's job starting it was a tough adjustment for me having him gone and trying to run my business. I was trying to do it all and was doing a not so great job at everything. We made the decision to get a nanny. It was a very hard decision, but one that is the best for everyone. We have found someone that we love and that Isabella loves. I hope she will stick around for the long term.

We decided not to go back to the East Coast for Thanksgiving this year. We are so sad that we aren't going to be there with our family for the holiday, but the tickets were ridiculously expensive and with Frank's new job it's better for him not to take the time off.

I will do a separate post about Halloween when I get the pictures off my camera.

Body after Baby Week 5

2009-10-29T13:35:00.001-07:00

This week was a bad week. I was traveling and in meetings all day so I didn't do the Challenge AT ALL! This week I plan to do a lot better. I'm really busy, but will post more later. BYE!

Body after Baby week 4

2009-10-21T10:15:00.000-07:00

Last week I did ok. It was a bad eating week. According to the rules it was 2 eat two food groups, but I wanted to eat two different veggies.

This week's challenge is crunches. It's to do 50 a day. This will probably be a difficult one as well, considering I have no tummy muscles from having my beautiful 10 lbs. 8 oz baby. :D

I have to exercise in the morning or I don't get it done. Anything after 10:00 am and my day is shot and I'm tired by 2:00. I like exercising in the morning because it gives me a boost of energy for the day.

Body After Baby Week 3

2009-10-13T18:01:00.000-07:00

Body after Baby challenge was an easy one for me this week. I was on vacation almost the full week so we walked, and walked, and walked. I earned the full 28 points allowed.

This week's challenge is to eat healthy meals with at least two different food groups. I'm not sure if she means food groups or vegetables though. I'm assuming it's veggies, because food groups is kinda easy, is there a meal that's only one food group?? The veggies is healthier too.

I'm down 5 lbs. so far! Weigh in day is tomorrow again, hopefully I lost at least a pound, despite being on vacation!

An amazing little girl

2009-10-06T22:45:00.000-07:00

My friend Kylene posted the story of this little girl on her blog. She has cancer. Click on both of the links to see 1) what a kind, generous person Kylene is and 2) most important, to read Taylie's story. I can't even imagine what it would be like to have my daughter go through something like this little girl is going through.

Body After Baby Week 2

2009-10-06T17:12:00.000-07:00

I know I said I was going to post every day about my water, but I got side tracked. I did really well with it this week. Carrying the bottle really helps. I made sure to drink at least 3 of those bottles every day. That's 9 glasses of water a day! MUCH better than I was doing before. I can't say I've noticed a tremendous difference, but I'm hoping I will soon. I got the 56 points available!

This week's challenge for the Body After Baby challenge is to walk. I get 1 point for every 15 minutes of walking/running. I've already been planning on running MWF, but this will be good for me to step it up and walk the other days of the week!

H20 Day 3

2009-10-01T19:15:00.000-07:00

I am getting used to this drinking water thing. Today I drank 10 glasses of water and a cup of milk.

I started wearing a body bugg. It's kinda fun to watch the numbers. I burn a lot more calories in a day of just doing chores around the house than I thought I would! I guess all the stairs in this house help with something!

H2O day 2

2009-09-30T21:30:00.000-07:00

Today I drank 11 glasses of water and a glass of milk. I hope I'm not up all night peeing!

H20

2009-09-30T08:35:00.000-07:00

I drank 8 glasses yesterday.

Body After Baby

2009-09-29T15:31:00.000-07:00

It's been 16 months and I haven't lost one pound, that's right, not ONE pound since 2 weeks after I had Isabella. It's getting a little ridiculous. I went to get dressed for work today, it was cool morning, so I was trying to find pants to wear and I don't have one pair of pants that fit me that aren't maternity. 16 months and I'm still wearing maternity pants! Something's gotta start happening. So I found this Body After Baby challenge on Mama Notes , it starts today and goes for 8 weeks. Each week they give us a challenge to get healthier and we are supposed to blog about it to keep us accountable. So hello friends, random strangers, world, who ever happens to stumble across my blog, here is my quest to get my pre-baby body back!

I'm not posting my beginning weight or measurements. I'm only going to post how many inches and pounds I lose. I'll post my before pictures if the after pictures look good! My goal in the 8 weeks is to lose 16 lbs. That would put be within 15 lbs of my pre-baby weight. Pre-baby weight is probably too thin for me, I could stand to lose about 25 lbs total. That's my goal. I've decided, just now. I love thinking "outloud."

Our challenge this week is to drink water. This is something I've been trying to work on. I'm the worst at drinking anything unless it's Diet Coke, I can drink LOTS of those! Although I try to keep those to one a day and I've been making them even less frequent because I don't think they help my breathing when I run. I'm down to about one a week. I get 1 point for every glass of water I drink, so I'll be posting my points each evening.

See Jane Tri

2009-09-26T16:27:00.000-07:00

Today I competed in my first triathlon. It was a sprint triathlon, but a triathlon none the less.

Alyson had talked me into training for it. I'm not a great swimmer and didn't think I could do the swim. I tried to talk a couple of different friends into doing the swim for me, but they wouldn't do it. So Alyson, graciously said that she would do the swim. I really appreciated this, because I knew that she wanted to do the whole thing, but there was no way I could train for all three portions of it, especially the swim, in the 6 weeks we had to train for it.

So I half-heartedly trained. I was training for my 5k that was last weekend and I rode my bike, I think a total of 5 times, if that. The farthest I went on my bike to train was 9 miles, the triathlon was 11 miles.

I went to bed last night at 9:30 after a warm bath and a chamomile tea to help me relax, and hopefully get a good night's sleep. Instead, I was up every hour starting at 11:30. I was SO nervous! I woke up at 5:00 with a pounding headache wondering what I had gotten myself into!

Alyson picked me up at 5:55 a.m. She didn't tell me that part of the triathlon until the night before. I wouldn't have signed up for that!! I couldn't figure out why we needed to be there so early, the race didn't start until 8! We pulled into the parking lot and it was PACKED! I couldn't believe it. The race last weekend, I got to 45 minutes before it started and I was WAY early. I was getting more nervous now, these people were serious about this!

We got all checked in and waited for the race to start. I was starting to get really nervous and didn't know how I was going to make it. Alyson did the first portion, the swimming, really quick! Much too fast, it didn't give me time to bail out!

She came out of the water and it was my turn to bike. YIKES! We didn't transition very fast, but fast enough.

I took off and got to the start line which was at the bottom of a hill. I didn't have my gears in the lowest gear so it was hard to get up the hill and the gears weren't shifting very well, I finally got them going and made it to the top. About 1/2 mile into the bike ride I was again questioning why I signed up for this. After about the 1st mile I got my groove on and biked along. I kept a fairly good pace, not too fast, not too slow. I just kept telling myself to not push it, I still had the 5k to do. At mile 6 there was a pretty good size hill, I didn't have any way of knowing what mile we were on, so I just kept waiting for that hill. I made it up the hill, no problem, including passing a few people. After the hill it was easy sailing.

When I turned the corner and saw we were almost back to the beginning, I was really excited and decided it wasn't so bad! Coming down the hill to people standing there was a little scary.

I was really excited when I got back and was ready to do the run. I had asked Alyson to bring her running shoes in case I needed her to pace with me so I could finish the run. She asked if I needed her and I told her to meet me at the end.

A quick kiss from Isabella and Frankie and I was ready to go again!

The first 1/2 mile of the 5k was difficult because I couldn't get my legs to move in the right direction. They kept wanting to go up and down and I wanted them to go forward. From .5 miles to 2 miles I was doing okay. Not great, but okay. I had to stop a walk to catch my breath and I had to keep reminding myself to breathe deep and not short little quick breaths. Breathing deep is my biggest problem with running. My legs never tire out, my lungs do. I'm sure it doesn't help that I've had bronchitis and some kind of cough for the last 4 weeks.

Olivia and Isabella waiting for it all to be over. Excuse my messy daughter, Daddy got her ready today and he doesn't know how to fix her hair.

Alyson came and met me at mile 3. It was a good thing she did. I wanted to run into the finish, but I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make it! Having her there next to me helped push me, she was all fresh and full of energy! We didn't mean to wear matching outfits, but we happened to. Finishing the race was very emotional. As soon as I saw Alyson standing there I started to tear up, as I crossed the finish line, I really lost it. It was so much adrenalin and then just a release. It was a great feeling to accomplish it. I can't wait for the next one!

fun on the slide

2009-09-26T16:11:00.000-07:00

Our friend Alyson was getting rid of her kid stuff, so we were lucky enough to get the Little Tikes slide and play house. Bella loves them both. Mallory came over to play last night and they both had so much fun on the slide. Bella is quite the little daredevil. She will stand on the top of the slide and jump in the air and fly down the slide. Twice yesterday she fell off the top of it, once onto her back and once onto her belly and both times when I asked her if she was okay, she said, "Yep" and jumped up and climbed up it again.

Oh, notice the grass? It's the in backyard! FINALLY!

Puppy Love

2009-09-24T10:07:00.000-07:00

As worried as we were with Bandit and Isabella, he has really been a great dog with her. She loves to pet him and climb on him. Of course we always watch her when she's with him and if he gets irritated he'll just stand up and walk away. Smokey on the other hand is NOT her biggest fan. He doesn't like her coming anywhere near him. It could be that he has hair she likes to hang on to!

5k run

2009-09-19T13:49:00.000-07:00

I did it! I can't believe I did! During the race I wasn't sure if I would. There were a lot of hills, I've never run on hills, where I run it's completely flat. The only time I walked was when they were handing out water, I couldn't run and drink at the same time. It was difficult enough to walk and drink.

I finished in 32:22. I was pretty excited about that! I have never run more than 30 minutes all at once.

It was a bitter sweet race. I was glad I did it and I finished, with a good time to boot, but Frank wasn't able to be there and so I didn't have anyone greeting me when I crossed the finish line. I didn't think it would really bother me, but it made me really sad. My neighbor was there supporting his ex-girlfriend that's when it bothered me that Frank wasn't there. Oh well, I did it. I'm VERY happy about that!

C25K

2009-09-16T08:21:00.000-07:00

Stephanie, my sister, recruited my other sister, Alesa and I to run a 5k with her about 10 weeks ago. I didn't really want to do it, but I said ok. I half heartedly started running a couple times a week. I started out barely being able to run 3 minutes. We were doing an interval training program called Couch 2 5K. You would run 3 minutes, walk 90 seconds. Each week the running times would increase. Each week I would think that I was going to die before the podcast would tell me I could stop running and start walking. I've never been a runner, even in middle school when we had to run the mile I jogged/walked it.

Well, this Saturday is the 5k. I'm REALLY excited about it! I haven't yet done a complete 5K in my training. I've been really close, but not yet. I'm off this morning to do it. Wish me luck! I would like to finish the race in 30 minutes, but if I can run the entire thing, I'll be pretty excited.

Because of this, I've been training for a sprint triathlon as well. Although, I'm not much of a swimmer, so Alyson (who asked me to do the triathlon with her) has graciously said she would do the swimming and I will be doing the biking and running. That's next Saturday.

Master Bathroom (this is for you, Alesa)

2009-09-15T16:09:00.001-07:00

As most of you know, we have been working on remodeling our house for about 5 years now. I've only been involved in 4.5 years of it, but it's still been WAY too long!

3 years ago, this month we started on the master bathroom. I'm VERY happy to say, it's FINALLY complete! There is one room in our house that is 100% complete. Oh wait, there still isn't a door, I can live with that though. I can now do everything it takes to get ready in the morning in one room instead of walking between bathrooms and on mornings we are both getting ready, there are now two sinks and two mirrors that we can get ready in and I no longer have to get ready in the closet mirror. I also LOVE all the natural light that comes in the windows next to the mirror!

I met a celebrity

2009-09-10T22:37:00.001-07:00

Okay, maybe not really a celebrity, but I feel like I did!

I've been blog stalking this girl for a very long time. She's a friend of this girl and this girl, who I actually do know and am friends with. I've been reading her blog and definitely feel like I know her. We have a lot in common, mostly the fact that we are both, as she says, lovers of fine foods such as Diet Coke and Oreos.

Stefanie's baby shower was tonight and Ashley was supposed to be coming, I have been quite excited. I've been reading her blog and definitely feel like I know her. We have a lot in common, mostly the fact that we are both, as she says, lovers of fine foods such as Diet Coke and Oreos.

We forgot to get a picture together, so can't prove it, but it was great to meet you Ashley!

P.S. I just went back and reread this and it sounds like I'm a little crazy, but it's not as scary as it sounds!

Arachnoid takeover

2009-09-04T18:15:00.001-07:00

I was sitting at my kitchen table feeding Isabella breakfast yesterday morning. I was looking at the pond and the flowers, all the sudden something moved and caught my eye.

That's right, is a TARANTULA!!!! Excuse me?!!? I thought they only lived in the desserts or South American jungles??!! Are you freaking kidding me?!?! It was on the wall right above our pond. I'm usually not an animal killer and think that even spiders are great in the outside world, but one this big??? NO! It was about 5" across. Frankie took care of it and it's now living in spider heaven!

sick

2009-09-04T16:29:00.000-07:00

It's been a yucky week around here! We went boating last weekend and Sunday we woke up and all felt crappy. We all laid around all day being sick, Monday was a repeat of the day before. Frank and I started feeling better, and Isabella still had a little runny nose. I was feeling better Tuesday and Wednesday. Yesterday my throat started to hurt again and today I'm KNOCKED out! My throat feels like I swallowed glass and every time I cough my lungs burn. BLECH!

Isabella's 15 months

2009-08-31T19:33:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I've given an update on Isabella. She turned 15 months last Sunday. She's walking and starting to run. She climbs everything STILL. She says about 15 words, still gets "doggy" right 100% of the time, but still confused on Mommy and Daddy. She knows who we are but will call us by the wrong name. She will copy anything that you want her to say. She knows the meaning of "ow", don't know how she learned that, we didn't teach her.

Something we did teach her, that she is very good at saying and we are proud of, is "thank you." It's probably the clearest words she says, as well. When someone hands her something she always says "tank ew,"

She is able to answer "yes" or "no" to most questions. It's a little tricky though, "Yes" always means yes, but "no" doesn't always mean no. She has two distinct no's. Either "no" or "uh-uh", but "Nooo" with a head shake means yes. We are working on that one!

She eats everything that we eat. We have yet to find something she won't eat. She didn't like olives the first time, but will eat them now.

First thing in the morning she wants to eat, if we don't get out of bed fast enough she will go down the stairs to the kitchen, open the cupboard, get out the cereal box, and carry it back up the stairs to us. We got a video of it one morning, I'll post it later.

Walk this Way

2009-08-01T14:37:00.000-07:00

Isabella has been a slow starter in the walking department. She's been cruising since 7 months, and started taking steps the beginning of May, but just last week she really started to walk.

Jones Family Reunion

2009-07-28T19:12:00.000-07:00

My mom's cousins have been planning a family reunion for a year now. They haven't had one in 60 years, pretty much. My mom threatened all of us that we had to be there. Grudgingly we all went. We ended up having SUCH a great time! In fact, we decided we would do one again in 3 years.

My pictures from the reunion didn't turn out, so I'll post those later. After the reunion we went to my mom's house and hung out. We took Isabella over to the barn to see the cows. She loved them! She thought they were funny and as soon as she saw them she started to moo at them. She spit at the horses (that's her way of doing the horses sound). She's a genius, I tell you! Travis was out there laying pipe, Frank offered to help him, so he got to drive the 1953 John Deere.

The next day, Isabella, my sister Stephanie, and her kids all went swimming. Frank opted to stay at my mom's house and help the contractor finish up her remodel.

Homemade Pumpkin Spice Cookies

2009-07-18T20:18:00.000-07:00

Last year after Halloween I pureed the pumpkins that we bought. I never carved them, I just used them as decorations and then pureed them. It was quite the process.

First I cut up all the pumpkins and put them on cookie sheets.

Then I baked the pumpkin in the oven for 2 hours.

After the pumpkin has cooled you peel off the skin and put it in the blender. Mine ended up making 6 gallons of pumpkin.

I didn't really know what I was going to do with the pumpkin, but I was pretty proud of myself for doing it. When I went to Stephanie's house for Thanksgiving they made pumpkin spice chocolate chip cookies, they were heaven! And they are only 30 calories! It took me 6 months of looking for spice cake mix to find it, I couldn't ever find it in CA, I had to buy it in UT.

Here they are. They are YUMMY!
Recipe:
32 oz. pumpkin puree
2 boxes spice cake mix
1 bag chocolate chips

bake in the oven for 12-15 at 375*.

Fairyland

2009-07-11T20:22:00.000-07:00

A group of my friends are doing field trips with our kids every Friday. This Friday we went to a place called Fairyland. It was a lot of fun. They have all the fairy tales and their "houses." It's made for little kids, all the rides are for kids under 54". Bella loved the train. She was so excited and pulled her "seizure face" the whole time. It was great to be at a place where you could just let the kids run and not have to worry about them. You could see them from about anywhere and they only let people into the park with children, so it was pretty safe.

Carousel. It only went around, not up and down. Bella really enjoyed it.

Bella just wanted to climb on everything. She wouldn't go back down the slide, just up and down the stairs.

I'm ruining my reputation

2009-07-11T20:16:00.001-07:00

With my mom being here, she's inspired (or forced, depending on who you asked) to try to broaden my domestic skills. Not only did we make apricot jam, but we've also tried pizza on the grill, I made some new cookies (pumpkin spice) and we ever tried our hands at rolls. They were very yummy, especially with the homemade jam on them! I didn't roll them thin enough, so they turned into very large french rolls. They were still yummy though!

Bella has started climbing up on the chairs and getting into the fruit basket on the table. She'll pick anything out of it and eat it, skin and all. She picked up an apricot and took a bite, then she picked up a cherry tomatoe (they are yellow ones) and took a bite. I think she was expecting it to be another apricot. She pulled the funniest face, I missed it with the camera though.

Happy Anniversary!

2009-07-07T08:35:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to say happy anniversary to my amazing husband! The last two years have been interesting to say the least, but I couldn't imagine going through it with anyone else. We have managed to grow as a couple and love each other more every day despite the huge obstacles that have been in the way! Thanks for the last 2 years and here's to many many more!

Apricots already?

2009-07-05T20:24:00.000-07:00

My friend Stefanie lives on a very cool piece of property. She has all kinds of land and trees. Her apricot trees ripened up this week, so we decided not to let them go to waste.

We picked four bags of apricots and ended up making 31 pints of freezer jam with the help of my mom. It was quite the production. Frank was making fun of us, we couldn't remember if we had the sugar in, the pectin in, the day sounded a lot like this:
"Okay, this one's ready"
"Oh, it's tart"
"Oops, I forgot sugar."
"Wait, this one now has twice the sugar."
"This one needs to sit for 10 more minutes."
"No, it's done."

It was very funny to say the least.

Virgina Trip

2009-06-29T20:22:00.000-07:00

I'm finally getting around to blogging. I've been too tired and too much playing to blog lately.

We've had a busy month. The first week in June, Frank, Bella and I flew to VA to see our nephew, Paul graduate from high school. He graduated Cum Laude and has a track scholarship to Georgia Tech. We are VERY proud of him! My mom met us in VA and we took the week to sight see. I won't bore you with all the pictures, just a few.

Butterfly at the exhibit at the Smithsonian. Do you see an owl's eye or a snakes profile?

Inside the butterfly exhibit, my mom, Bella, Me, SIL Renee and Nephew Brian
Mount Vernon. Notice Bella is sleeping (she did a LOT of that in the stroller), excuse the hair, it was HOT and humid!!
Bella with Grandpa Frank
Bella loved all the attention she got. She had a ton of fun with Paul in this box. They were determined to get her to walk while we there, no such luck, she still isn't walking.

Paul receiving his diploma

Panda at the National Zoo

Bella slept in her stroller, A LOT!

Thomas Jefferson's house. I have to admit going there, I wasn't really sure who he was. I knew he had something to do with the starting of this country and he was a president, that was the extent. Seeing his house and learning more about him was VERY interesting. He is definitely someone I would like to have dinner with, if I could.

New growth!

2009-06-02T16:18:00.000-07:00

Everything around here is growing (these are in no particular order, blogger is being a pain)!!
Look Ma, no hands! Bella started standing on her own, over the weekend. She is funny though, she doesn't hang on to something and then let go, she will just stand up from squatting in the middle of the room.

Sweet peas
bog in the pond
Pond and filter. The waterfall should be done this weekend. We have 2 goldfish and 2 koi that we transferred in there. They seem very happy, so far. Hopefully the green will clear up in the next week or so.

Our garden is doing so well. We've had LOTS of lettuce from it, and the tomatoes should be ready in the next week or so. We have about 10 zucchinis that are going to be ready in the next couple of days too.

Bella is getting so big. I love her face in these two pictures!

She's climbing EVERYTHING!!!

Dr. Visits

2009-05-30T09:55:00.001-07:00

I have spent the last two days seeing doctors. It started Thursday morning when I woke up with an incredibly painful, itchy, burning rash on my hands. I'd had it since Wednesday and Frank insisted I go to the doctor, so I went. She told me it's excema. The tree hugger, naturalist in me, knows that excema is a symptom of something bigger going on in your body. So I went to my chiropractor that does NET, he told me I was allergic to the dirt in the pond plants (it was pretty, I wasn't surprised). So he gave me some allergy stuff, along with the doctor's steroid. I was all set to get better.
Then, I meet Frank at the doctor to take Isabella for her check up. She is perfectly healthy. No longer an abnormally large baby. She's 29" tall and 22.4 lbs. She's only gained 2 lbs since she was there at 7.5 months. She's 90th percentile for heights, 75th for weight and still 50th for her head.

We came home and I thought I would scratch my hands off. The rash was spreading, to my feet and my thighs. Friday morning I went back to the doctor. It was now all over my tummy, down my thighs, up my feet to my ankles, up my arms. My throat was sore and my ears were congested. She found an ear infection, and decided it wasn't excema. She ran a bunch of blood tests and a throat culture, found out it wasn't strep or scarlet fever (whew!). So now I wait until the results come back. In the mean time I might lose all my skin!

My baby is no longer a baby

2009-05-23T15:15:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning and thought, Baby Bella is officially no longer an infant, she is now a toddler. We had a big party today for her. Thanks to every for coming and we missed our family that couldn't be there. There were so many great pictures that I made a movie of them, rather than posting all the pictures.

Here's an update on Bella:
She loves: food (as can be seen in the video), the dogs, her friends, Mallory, Walker and Stefanie especially (I'm convinced she likes Stefanie over me), being outside, eating anything she can get her hands on, and climbing EVERYTHING, if it has any sort of a ledge, she'll figure out how to climb it. At 1 year old exactly she finally decided that she liked the swing at the park.

She's crawling still. No signs of walking, she will stand for about 2 seconds and she's done.

The first thing she does when she wakes up in the morning is crawl to the edge of the bed and say "Bam bit" (Bandit). She loves both dogs. They are both VERY good with her. Smokey will just lay there and let her lay on him and pet him (which is really more like hitting, we try to make her be soft). She can crawl off of anything. She learned VERY quickly how to go feet first and slide off the bed, couch, changing table, stairs. She goes up and down the stairs all day long.
She hates to nap, and is not a happy girl when she wakes up from those naps (she gets that from her mom, dad always wakes up chipper, MUCH too chipper for me!)

She is a talker, most of what she says is not understandable, but she has a few words, standard Mom, Dad, Bambit (Bandit), dog, eese (cheese, not the kind you eat, but what you say when you take a picture), eat

She will be going to her one year check up next week, so I will let you know her stats then.

Pond FINALLY!

2009-05-22T17:41:00.000-07:00

After the debaucle with the pond our landscaper built, we have been trying to get a new one built. 7 months ago Frank started it.

The Hole:

It sat like this for 7 months. Finally last weekend, Frank trenched to get the pipes for the pond, the sprinklers, and the office we are building done. Yesterday, Wesley came over and helped him lay the pipe and start getting the pond put together.
Isabella watching the action.

They got the underlayment in:

Then the rubber:

Finally it was ready for water! It is so neat seeing it full of water. The water reflects so nicely on the wall. You can see it from the kitchen, the bedroom upstairs, when you walk in the gate, and soon I'll be able to see it from my office window!

For Renee

2009-05-22T17:35:00.000-07:00

Her outfit look absolutely darling on her!

Water fun take 2

2009-05-22T17:25:00.000-07:00

Since Bella didn't love the sprinkler we got her a pool to try instead. I thought the water would be a little warmer. She liked it as long as she stood outside it. She just stood there and splashed.

Pantry clean out

2009-05-22T17:21:00.000-07:00

I've been needing to reorganize my pantry for a long time. It's been so crazy around here, every time I go grocery shopping the groceries just get left in the bag on the floor in the pantry. Here is the before:

Isabella insisted on helping me, as she does with most things I try to do. She fell down the stairs while trying to reach a bag. Daddy had to take a picture of the bruise (see the swelling above her eye). It left a nice bruise for quite a while.

Here's the after. You can't really tell as big of difference from the picture. I have to say thanks to Ashley Carter for the idea of using Diet Coke boxes as can holders. They work GREAT with the wire shelving!

My birthday (only a month and a half late)

2009-05-14T15:24:00.000-07:00

I'm WAY behind on my blogging, so I'm going through my old pictures (which I am just now uploading from my camera).

I was pouting on my birthday weekend because of Frank not getting that job and wasn't in the mood to celebrate (something that is SO not me, I usually think my birthday should be a national holiday). Frank was going to have a party for me on Saturday night and I put the kabash on it. So my sweet friend Alyson had us over to her house for my birthday. It was also Stefanie "Mormon" husband, Wesley's birthday too. So we got to have a joint birthday party.

By Sunday I was back to feeling like myself. Frank and I got up and were doing some gardening and then headed to Home Depot. On the way back we were going to get something to eat and swing by Paul's house. He started going towards Paul's and I thought he forgot we were going to get something to eat, so I asked him, and he said we would go to Paul's first.
As we passed Paul's neighborhood pool, I saw Stefanie's car and Kristie's (who works for me) car and I was like, "Hey, there's Stef and Kristie! What are they doing here?"
We pulled over and I asked them what they were doing and Stefanie said, "having a party for you!"
"WHAT?"
"Happy Birthday" Stefanie exclaimed!

I was so surprised I didn't get it until then! Thanks to everyone for making it a great day!

Then on my actual birthday, Monday, Alyson brought doughnuts to the park to celebrate after our walk and she and Stefanie gave me a gift certificate to Texas Roadhouse, one of my favorite places, and Stefanie watched Bella for me so Frankie and I could have a date night! Thanks a ton both of you! You are amazing friends!!

Fun with the Sprinkler

2009-05-14T15:10:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we had record breaking temperatures of 90+*. We decided to let Bella play in the sprinklers. She liked it until she picked it up and it sprayed her in the face. Than she just sat on my lap and whined!

No place like home

2009-05-14T08:58:00.000-07:00

We just got back from going back to my hometown to see my family. We had a great trip. Lots of fun with family and old friends. It was nice to go back and see everyone, but it's nice to be home. I'll post all the details after we get the pictures upload. Just wanted to let everyone know we are back safely.

Baby Boy Austin

2009-04-26T20:55:00.000-07:00

It's been a sad week in my family. My sister, Stephanie was 17 weeks pregnant and her baby died on Thursday. She went to the doctor on Thursday morning and they couldn't find a heart beat. I'm so sad for her and her family. Every time I think about it I cry.

It's been no secret that I have had a hard time adjusting to motherhood, since this happened I've become so appreciative of my healthy baby girl. I know that everything happens for a reason. I know this baby didn't die in vain. Maybe it was for all of us (especially me) to appreciate what we have been given. Since Thursday, I've found myself being more patient with Bella and trying so much harder to pay attention to her and enjoy her. Like the saying goes, some people come into your lives and leave footprints on your heart. I never met this beautiful baby, but he changed my life, already. Every time I get frustrated with Bella and the differences that she has made in my life, I will remember how lucky I am to have her.

Stephanie had to deliver the baby instead of being able to have a DNC. She delivered him tonight at 6:30 pm Utah time. I believe they will be doing a graveside service next week where he will be buried with his Grandpa Meikle (I don't know all this for fact, I don't know if final decisions have been made).

I'm not sure where I stand on religious beliefs, but I do know that he must be a very special soul that was too good to have to face life on Earth, he just needed a little body so he could return to his Heavenly Father. It's comforting to know that he is there with both his Grandpas. Something special that the other cousins don't get to experience here on Earth.

Please keep Stephanie and her family in your thoughts. I can't imagine the pain and sadness that they are experiencing.

Rest in Peace Baby Boy.

Frank has a new favorite

2009-04-24T18:31:00.000-07:00

I was okay when I had to share a top spot on Frank's favorite with Isabella (followed closely behind by Judge Judy), but I don't think that I'm okay with this. He has a new favorite, he hasn't admitted it, but I'm sure this is the new number one. I've been replaced by this . . .
Yes, I have been replaced by a hamper. He told me he can't wait to put his clothes in it. It makes him SO happy every time he sees it and every time he gets to put something in there. Our laundry has ALWAYS been an issue. We had a little tiny hamper that would hold one days of clothes and that was about it. The rest of the week the clothes pile up. Then when we get to the laundry the sorted piles take up all the room and it was always a mess. It drove both of us crazy! I found this hamper, it's got three compartments, one for whites, colors, and darks. When one compartment gets full you take the bag to the machine and put it in (as you can see, the darks need to be done).

Garden Fun

2009-04-24T17:56:00.001-07:00

I know you are probably tired of hearing about my garden, but I'm SO excited that I've actually been able to get it to grow.

Yesterday I was able to make a salad big enough, from my lettuce, to feed 2 women and 3 kids. Today while I was out there I found a snow pea that was HEAVEN! There are a lot of little ones that will be ready by tomorrow I bet.

Best thing to see in a garden! I released a whole bunch of these and after the first day they were gone. When I found one today, I was VERY excited
My first snow pea. Isn't it cute?
purple irises
The cutest thing in my garden! She loves to help me. I had to get her her own set of garden tools. She would always grab mine and not only could I not use them, but the rake was rather heavy and sharp. She loves her new tools. She's funny, she'll pretend to dig in the dirt like I do.

First Harvest

2009-04-21T21:03:00.000-07:00

It's a VERY small amount but I officially got to eat something out of my garden!! It has been 95* degrees here for the last two days and the garden has LOVED it. Everything has at least doubled in size. I got to harvest a little bit of lettuce, just enough for one salad (Frank and I shared it). It was YUMMY!!

Warm April??? Nights

2009-04-20T21:16:00.000-07:00

I have lived in California for almost 5 years, and I don't think I have ever been warm here at night, MAYBE once, two years ago it was 115* in August. Tonight is my favorite kind of night, a balmy 75*. I love it. If every night were like this one, it would be the PERFECT place to live!

It reminds me of nights as a kid, gathering at the street corner with all the other kids in my grandparents neighborhood (we had to go to their neighborhood, because we didn't have many kids where we lived), organizing a game of kick the can, or hide and seek, lying under the stars on the trampoline and falling asleep to the crickets.

Ahhh. . . those were the days. . .

remodeled balcony

2009-04-19T09:48:00.000-07:00

Frank and I have been doing a LOT of yard work. This yard has been a thorn in my side. Long story short, it was supposed to be done 2 years ago before we got married by a professional landscaper, and it was only about 50% done. Last summer we tried to work on it, but between me being 8 months pregnant and having a baby, not much got done. Now that Bella is crawling and starting to walk, I'm DETERMIND to get it done early this summer so we can enjoy it.

It's an interesting property and has TONS of potential. For those of you that haven't seen it, it backs up to a HUGE hill. So our yard has a lot of terraces and different levels and potential for lots of "rooms." We plan on doing each area a different part. Below the balcony is the "shade garden," we have the "kitchen garden" and eventually we will have the lawn and pond area. So that we don't get overwhelmed by the whole job, I've decided to concentrate on each area at a time. Yesterday we did the balcony outside our master bedroom. It's a great place to sit in the mornings and in the evenings it's even better.

I'm sitting here now, I can hear the trickle of the fountain, the smell of the jasmine below, I can hear the birds and the frogs. I can see my garden growing, the cows and turkeys on the hill and Bella splashing in the fountain. This might be close to heaven.

Bella's First Easter

2009-04-13T16:13:00.000-07:00

Bella had fun tearing apart her basket and pulling the eggs out. It was a BEAUTIFUL day. We had a yummy turkey dinner and lots of fun with friends and family!

Mystery Spot and Easter Day

2009-04-13T16:11:00.000-07:00

When we went to Santa Cruz we went to the Mystery Spot. I'll post more about this when I get the pictures. If you are in this area and you haven't been there, you HAVE to go! It's CRAZY!

Just ignore the fact that we look like we are two different groups taking one picture. We couldn't get it together.

All the kids before the egg hunt. My mom bought these outfits for all of them. Katie, Bella, Savannah, Maddie and Bevan.

I love Bella's face in this picture. She is SO happy.

San Jose Discovery Museum

2009-04-13T16:04:00.000-07:00

One of the things we did was go to the Discovery Museum in San Jose. It was raining on Friday so we had to find something to do indoors. This was a GREAt place for a rainy day. Bella even loved it.

They had a water area that was for kids 4 and under. Bella had SO much fun playing in the water. She got soaked!

If you look at her face in this picture she looks like she is having an seizure. That's what she does when she's REALLY excited.

Me painting my niece, Savannah's, face

Easter Weekend

2009-04-13T15:57:00.000-07:00

We had a great Easter weekend. My mom, my sister Stephanie, her family, and my niece Savannah came to visit for their spring break. We got to do lots of fun things! I'll have to post in different posts, too many pictures for just one.

Half Moon Bay

Pigeon Point Lighthouse. Bella just crawled around on the pier. We were hoping to see whales, but we only saw a few seals. v

Happy Easter!

2009-04-11T22:59:00.001-07:00

My family came to visit for Easter. I'll give you all the details later with pictures. We've had a great time, busy busy busy! I hope everyone has a great Easter tomorrow!

Bella's Hair Do

2009-04-04T22:34:00.000-07:00

Thanks for all the good wishes! I'm feeling better today. Back to our original plan of making SOAN support our family.

I've been trying to figure out what to do with Bella's hair. She looks like a boy if she doesn't have a bow in, and she will leave a bow in for about two minutes. I tried yesterday to fix it. It looked cute (with a bow still) for about two minutes. I'm going to try tomorrow without the bow and see what it looks like, or else I need to find some kind of clip bow that will actually stay in.

Disappointment

2009-04-03T15:44:00.000-07:00

As you all know, Frank was laid off 5 months ago. He has been selling for my business since and it's been fine. Last week he got a phone call from a company that he had applied for right after he got laid off. He had 2 interviews, and I really tried to not get excited. Then he got called back for a third interview and we got really excited. He felt like the interview went REALLY well and the job was shoe-in. Well, today he got an email that they were "going to peruse someone" (peruse was the word they used, I don't think it was the right word). To say I was disappointed was an understatement.

Frank is such a harder work and such a good salesperson, I'm very proud of him that he got to the third interview. He found out from the recruiter that the reason they went with the other person was because they had medical sales experience.

It's put a big black cloud on my birthday weekend. . .

Growing garden

2009-03-26T14:40:00.000-07:00

I'm SO excited!
My garden is growing. Not much is coming up yet, but there's definitely growth!

Fennel poking it's little leaves out
The lettuce and fennel box (which I might add, this is the bad soil mixed with just veggie mix)
Radishes poking out. Three of these weren't there yesterday! The celery in the background has some new growth as do the peas!I love all the different colors of the lettuce leaves!

more garden pictures

2009-03-16T15:48:00.000-07:00

Here's the little tiny lettuce leaves. So cute!
Here's my little girl! She was having lots of fun helping me in the garden!
I couldn't post all the pictures in the last post, for some reason.

Green Thumb?

2009-03-16T15:36:00.000-07:00

We finally got our act together and got a garden planted this year! I'm very excited about it. Last year we planted a few strawberry plants and a tomato and they did pretty well, for just being stuck in the ground. This year we decided to make boxes and not deal with our nasty soil.

Here is the view of the three boxes that we made. As you can see, we don't have a lot of space. We planted one box in rows and with regular gardening soil and no compost. Then Alesa introduced me to Square Food Gardening. I did some research on it and we did the other two boxes with those theories. I used 50% compost and 50% vegetable soil in one and 25% vegetable soil, 25% gardening soil and 50% compost in the other one. It's going to be an experiment to see which on turns out better.

Here's what the boxes look like before we planted anything in them.

Here are our tomatoes, snow peas, celery. We also planted radish, carrots, and beans (all seeds).

This is the original box we did. It has lettuce and fennel in it. I'm VERY excited, there are little leaves already showing. This morning there were only about 5, then this afternoon there were two complete rows of lettuce!! I could literally watch them grow!

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

2009-03-05T10:44:00.001-08:00

I'm applying for a grant for my business. Please go read my story and vote for it. Voting is 40% of the judging.
Necessity is the Mother of Invention

Posted using ShareThis

2009-03-02T20:37:00.000-08:00

We had a small break in the rain last week and the sunshine came out, so I took Bella outside for a little bit of sunshine.

I set her on the grass and at first she liked it. She wasn't quite sure what to do, so she just sat there. It was the first time I've put her down and she hasn't instantly started to crawl away.

When she did get up the nerve to crawl she didn't like the way the grass felt.

Then she just sat there and cried and screamed until I came to pick her up and saved her from that horrible grass.

2009-03-02T20:20:00.000-08:00

I had Isabella sitting on the table next to a bowl of clementines. She picked one up and stuck it in her mouth and bit it. She seemed to like it, so I peeled it for her and let her have a go at it. I watched her so that she would choke on the skins. She pretty much just sucked the juice out of it. She is getting to be so fun and independent. She likes about everything that I give her to eat. The only thing that she doesn't absolutely love is asparagus and broccoli.

Teething Biscuits

2009-03-02T20:05:00.000-08:00

We gave Isabella a teething biscuit for the first time today (well, really it was the second time, the first time, she almost choked. I guess that's what the age recommendation on the box is for). She LOVED it! I don't usually let her get messy, I can't stand it. I didn't realize this was going to make such a mess. She was in heaven.
I'm also very happy to say that she has finally started to hold a sippy cup and bottle on her own. She has been quite spoiled and would refuse to hold the cup. Yesterday we were shopping and she needed a bottle so I gave her one (another first for me) and with a little help for me to put her hands on it, she held it and drank from it. Tonight she did it with the sippy cup. YIPEE!

Bow Give away

2009-02-23T18:12:00.000-08:00

http://wifetoado.blogspot.com/2009/02/holy-giveaway-batman.html

My favorite bow source is having a big giveaway! I'm VERY excited about it. Check it out here.

Winter Wonderland

2009-02-16T19:22:00.001-08:00

We had a GREAT weekend! We got to go away to a cabin (called the Bella Chalet) up in Gold Country for the weekend. Our friend, Stefanie invited Alyson's family and our family to go up there with her family for the weekend. Since it was President's Day, we took Friday off and made a 4 day weekend out of it.

We got up there Friday afternoon to a LOT of snow! We were warned by the owner's of the cabin that there was about 10" of snow, um, it had snowed that much the night before. It was more like 3' of snow!Stefanie and I trudged our way through the snow with the kids and started making dinner while Wesley and Frank cleared the driveway.
Alyson and her family got up there just as we were sitting down to eat dinner. Saturday morning, they got up and went skiing, while Stefanie, Frank and I stayed at the cabin with Alyson's little boy Grant and our kids. Stefanie took the kids out to build a snowman. Stefanie and Grant had fun, Mallory did not!! It was a great day of just relaxing and hanging out.Sunday we went sledding and even Bella enjoyed it. She loved to watch the people go sledding by her. She thought that was very funny!

It was a great weekend full of lots of laughter, friends and just what we needed!

Ahhhh. . .

2009-02-08T15:22:00.001-08:00

I've had two days of just relaxing and working a little bit. Got my office organized and my house cleaned. I even got to take a nap today!!

Let's see if I can catch everyone up. The last 3 months have been extremely busy. With Frank doing sales, my business has grown by leaps and bounds. We added payroll services and are actively pursuing that avenue of business. I've spent the last 3 days completely revamping my business. I'm VERY excited about it!

Isabella is getting SO big. She has 2 teeth on the bottom, and 4 coming in on top. She hasn't been two cranky with the teething. All four of the top ones are coming in at once. Poor thing! She's crawling ALL over the place and cruising along the furniture. Today she stood by herself for the first time for about 5 seconds.

She's a good baby. She laughs all the time and is definitely a daddy's girl. She's getting better at napping. She sleeps for about an hour at a time now, that I can handle. Last night she slept for 11 hours without needing to eat! We are making serious progress!

These are pictures that Stefanie took while she was watching her on Tuesday.

Happy Birthday Frank!

2009-02-06T18:46:00.001-08:00

Things have been absolutely insane around here. I will try to catch everyone up by the end of the weekend.

Today is Frank's birthday. I have to tell publicly tell him how much I love him and appreciate him. He is so supportive of me and everything that I do. The last month I have been busy working and haven't done much in the way of household things. He has just stepped in and helped with taking care of Bella and taking care of the house AND still working. He works just as hard as I do during the day, but somehow he never gets tired and still has energy to cook and clean.

Frank is an amazing father. I knew he would be a great father, but he is 10 times better than I thought he would be. Of course, Isabella has him right where she wants him. She's starting to figure out if she cry when he leaves the room, he'll come back. She is definitely spoiled by her daddy!

Thanks for being so amazing! I hope that you enjoy your birthday and it's a great year for you.

Baby Giveaway!

2009-01-07T19:33:00.000-08:00

I'm giving away one 7.5 month old baby. She's current on her shots and very healthy. She's a little on the large size, but it's just proof she's healthy. The reason I've got to get rid of her is SHE NEVER SLEEPS!!!!

For some bizarre reason she will sleep at Stefanie's house but not at her own. It's not because she let's her cry (she says she doesn't at least). She's up every 3 hours at night and today she slept for a total of 15 minutes. I put her down for bed and she slept an additional 10 minutes and is now awake. I tried letting her cry after 30 minutes and snot running down her face I gave up. We've tried swaddling (used to do the trick, now she can just sit up and stand up and scream), music, a mobile, pacifier (she won't have anything to do with it). AUGH!

Working and trying to take care of a kid at the same time is NOT working! If anyone has suggestions I would be GLAD to hear them!! We are stuck between not being able to afford to pay a babysitter and not being able to make more money while not having a babysitter!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-04T17:01:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!
We had a great New Year this year. We were glad to see the end of 2008. It was definitely a year of many ups and downs. Obviously our biggest up was the birth of Isabella and the jury is still out on if the lay-off is an up or a down.

My Mom flew in the day after we got home from Virginia. She was going to come out in the middle of January, but her cousin was having a surprise 70th birthday party, so she changed her tickets and came out early.

We all went to the surprise party. They did a great job of surprising him! He was definitely shocked. He's like an uncle to me, so it was great to see him and his family. He has done so much to be supportive of my mom and help her with us kids. When I was 18 and needed a break from my life he let me come and live with him for a few months. He participated in our wedding and again in Isabella's blessing. He has always been there for me when asked.

That party was early on New Year's eve. I wasn't going to have a party here this year because our November and December were WAY too crazy to plan one. It was just going to be Amber, Paul, Mom, Frank and I. Then Heather called the day before and said she had a babysitter, and so did Stefanie and Amy, since Amber and Paul were already coming over I invited them as well. Well, Paul got sick and Amber was jet-lagged from going to England so they both bailed. I was glad that I had invited my other friends as well, or it would have been a VERY boring New Year's Eve. They all came over after we got home from the birthday party. We ate lots of food and played Taboo. Boys against Girls. The girls ended up winning, despite the boys cheating! They were here until 2 in the morning! This was the first time in quite a few years that I managed to make it until New Year's day. There were lots of laughs that night, despite "someone having to invite their MOM!" :)

New Year's day Mom and I went to see Twilight with Stefanie, Heather, and Heather's MIL. It was a good movie. I wasn't expecting much. I tried to read the book and got 75 pages into it and hated it so I never finished it. I had heard good things about the movie, so I went with an open mind. I was quite surprised how much I liked it. Would I see it 6 times like some people? No, but I will probably see the sequel's and I might even read the book. All the hype about the guy in it being gorgeous is ridiculous. He's not at all!!

After we got back from the movie we went to Alyson's for dinner. For 6 months Alyson and I have been saying we would get together and have never managed to make it. She invited Stefanie and Wesley and Frank, Mom and me over for dinner New Year's day. We had a great time and it was fun to get to know her family more. Frank was excited that he would be able to have dinner with some of my friends and drink alcohol (Alyson's husband is not Mormon, either).

Mom was here the rest of the week until Saturday. We didn't do much except shop and take down the Christmas decorations. I should say, Mom and Frank took down the decorations while I finished Bevan's beanie from Christmas.

Christmas adventures

2009-01-04T16:41:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had as great of a holiday season as we did.

We had a great trip to New York and Virginia for Christmas. We spent 4 days in New York, until Christmas eve. It was nice to relax for the first time in a month, when I get my video camera fixed, I'll upload some video of Bella. Isabella got to meet her Grandpa Frank and all her DeVito cousin's, aunts and uncles for the very first time. She loved all the attention. She was such a good girl, she never once cried when someone she didn't know would hold her. She started eating 3 meals a day while we were there. She's a GREAT eater, she's yet to refuse a food. She has two bottom teeth now.

After New York we went to Virginia to see Frank's Brother and his wife and kids. We got there on Christmas eve and went to their friends (might as well be family) house. Again, Isabella was great with everyone! When we came in Renee (SIL) and Paige (Friend) and I all started crying
(they started it, I just followed). The kids wondered what they were crying about and Paige said, "We never thought Frankie would get married, let alone have a kid!" It was fun for me to get to see Frankie with Bella and his family. We we got there Isabella had just started to be able to scoot backwards and was getting up on her hands and knees, by the day after Christmas she was crawling!! (Again, I'll post video when it's working). Christmas day was a day of family and relaxing. We had Christmas Dinner and Vinnie and Renee's house with just the family.

We went into D.C. the day after Christmas to see the Newseum. It was a very cool museum! They had a video of 9/11 from the reporter's point of view. I'm always amazed at how many times I've seen tributes or museums of what happened that tragic day, yet every time I see them I'm brought to tears. I feel like it was the day our country lost it's innocence. They had about 80 papers' front pages from that day and the day after. It was amazing to see how the different countries were affected by the event as well.

In the Newseum they had a 4d movie. It was a 3d movie that seats moved and blew air and water on you. It was VERY cool!

We also went to the Marine Corp. museum. It was a HUGE museum with the history of the marine corp. from when it began. They had artwork that Marine's had done that was very touching.

We had a great time seeing our family. It's hard for us to be so far away from them, but it's great when we do get to see them. Hopefully, now that Frank doesn't have vacation days to contend with we will be able to make trips back East to see them more often.