Guess who finally has a new camera.....

I do and couldn't be more excited! It's not the nicest camera in the world but will do exactly what I need it to do. Here are a few pictures that I took before the other one died.... oh and for those that asked, I found my other camera at my mom's and have no idea how it got there!

For sale....

or free! husband and three year old.... any takers? Must be willing to return at a later date!

I know I know....

I'm WAY overdue for a post. First I found my camera but it's caputs. The batteries go dead after one picture so it's pretty much gone. What that means is that the camera that I bought Kyle for Christmas, is officially now mine. However, it's at my aunts house so I have no pictures to post right now. I tried to get them off of the SD card last night but I did something wrong and they didn't save. Oh well... they're still on there so I'll post them later! However, that means I need to find something else for Kyle for Christmas and have no idea what to get him or really any extra moola either but I'll come up with something. He might just get a homemade card and a picture colored by Ava. That will probably be the best gift anyway.

Ava is doing so good and is so excited for Christmas this year. I can't put any presents under the tree because she keeps opening them. It's pretty funny. We put lights up on our house and every time we leave the house, she tells the lights "by Christmas lights, I love you" and then blows them a kiss... so dang cute. She also does the same thing with the tree and everything else in the house for that matter.

Kyle is still looking for a job and we are still just plugging along and hoping for the best. We really never thought that I'd be the bread winner of the home but that's okay. I deal with it better then he does. He's become a pretty good "stay at home daddy" in the mornings. Ava has only been going to daycare for a few hours each day so she can still have the interaction with the other children and so we don't loose her spot at daycare... and Ava LOVES daycare and we really like Marcia, our daycare provider.

Well that pretty much sums up what's going on a my house right now... not much and I know, boring! Hope all is well with everyone. I promise I will post again very soon! Loves....

Weekend Update...

So we had a pretty good weekend at my house. My dad came down on Friday and took me and Ava to lunch for Ava's birthday. On Saturday, I went to SLC to see all of my old friends that I used to work with; it was so nice to see and visit with all of them. We are all now married and have children. Santa was at the party and by protest, Ava sat on his lap. She didn't scream though so that was good. We had a little birthday party with Kyle's family for Ava yesterday and she had so much fun. We're going to have one with my family tonight. I'd love to post some pictures right now but it's just not possible since my camera is missing! I've looked everywhere for it and can't find it. I'm sure it will turn up sooner or later. I have Kyle a "Christmas" present that I could open now that is for him that might become mine but I won't do that just yet.. wink wink!!!

I'm going to have my mom take some pictures tonight of Ava's little party so I will get those from her and post them soon. Hope everyone had a great weekend. I will post again very soon. Loves....

Happy Birthday Princess Ava....

Three years ago today I was laying on the couch looking at my toes wondering if the "vienna sausage" toes would ever go away. The week prior, I was diagnosed with Toxemia so my feet were pretty swelled. Little did I know that night while looking at my toes that in less then 24 hours my life would change forever! I woke up the next morning thinking to myself just how good I felt that day and got ready for my doctor's appointment. When I got into the exam room, the nurse took my blood pressure twice and then immediately left the room. She came back with my ob/gyn and my family doctor who both also took my blood pressure. I laughed at them that it was wrong because I felt great. Within several minutes, I was on the table getting a stress test. However, I was apparently already having some contractions. The nurse kept asking me if I could feel any contractions and I couldn't feel anything (lucky me I guess). They then took me in for an ultrasound and once it was over, decided they weren't going to wait until my due date which was December 23rd, they were going to induce labor that day. The doctor told me to call Kyle to let him know. However, he didn't think she'd come before 2:00am the next day so I figured I'd tell him that he didn't need to hurry since he hates hospitals. I told him to just finish what he was doing at work, go home and grab the bag and just be there by 5:00pm so he would know what it was like for me to be in labor but he was there long before 5:00pm. The next thing was the epidural which I was so excited for however, within 30 minutes of the epidural, I went in for an emergency c-section. They think that I was allergic to something that was in the epidural. All I can remember from the delivery room was her little cry and the doctor that said look at those cheeks and look at that hair. I only vaguely remember seeing Ava.

Ava was born on December 5, 2005 at 5:38pm she weighed 6 pounds, 2 ounces and was 19 inches long. She didn't need any medical attention and was a healthy baby. Ava had very unique hair, it was platinum blond and she had TONS of it. During my hospital stay, I had tons of hospital staff that just "came" to my room to see this baby with hair they'd never seen on a newborn before. I graciously welcomed the company to show off my new little bundle of joy, for the most part.

Happy Birthday Ava Diane... you're mommy's sunshine and daddy's princess. We love you!!

Happy December..

Happy December!!! Yes, it's in fact December already. We had a pretty good holiday weekend. Went to my grandma's house for Thanksgiving dinner and it was a disaster LOL.... It didn't matter what grandma touched, it went to crap. It was so funny and at least we can laugh about it. It started with she used the wrong yeast for the rolls, then she almost burned down the house... yes, the turkey started on fire in the oven (it was salvageable). It just went downhill from there but we did have a good dinner though.

The day after, I went with my sister and her husband on our annual "Black Friday" shopping extravaganza. We always go to American Fork because Walmart, Target and Kohl's are in the same shopping area. We started at Walmart at 3:45 am and there were 3xs as many people there this year as there was in past years. We found what we needed and each of us waited patiently by our items for 5:00am. By about 4:50am, people went completely NUTS and started grabbing their items, some out of other peoples carts! We looked down towards the toys and could see them flying up in the air and people trying to grab them so I grab my two items went to the front of the store and was checked out in record breaking time, 4:54am. I checked out before the sale was even supposed to start! We then made our way over to Kohl's and then onto Target. We did get all of the items that we went for and had a lot of fun shopping. Even though Kyle is not working, I had saved some money special for Christmas.... and let me tell you, we got some great deals! and I only made one "want" purchase.

We put up our tree on Saturday night and I'll be honest with you, I'm not much into the Christmas spirit. I don't know if I'll do much more decorating then the tree and the lights on the house. Last week, I was so excited to put up the tree but now that it's up, it just doesn't seem like it should be up already. Did I maybe put it up too soon??? Who knows! Ava was very excited though. She wanted blue ornaments so blue ornaments it was. She loves the lights. She just looks at them and tells people how beautiful they are. After we put up the tree, me and Ava then went to the town lighting ceremony. They had a bunch of activities for the kids and Mr. & Mrs. Claus were there. However, you couldn't get to them. Ava played some games and we put her name into a toy drawing and guess what? Ava won a toy! There were like 400 kids there and maybe 50 names were drawn and she was one of them. She won a Dora toy and she LOVES Dora. It was fun!

I'm still battling a cold or something like a cold. It's horrible and Kyle has it as well. Ava hasn't gotten it yet and we're just crossing her fingers that she doesn't get it. I think I might suck it up and finally go to the doctor today.

I hope everyone is doing well. I will post again soon. Loves....

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I know the wife bought a turkey but where on earth did she put the bird?

Happy Thanskgiving to everyone. I hope you all have a great day!

Uneventful Weekend....

So we had a very uneventful weekend at my house. Friday I had a bit of a cold so I took some medicine and went to bed WAY early. I told Kyle we were just like an old married couple falling asleep on separate couches LOL! It was pretty funny to see when I woke up a midnight and went to bed. Saturday was also very mellow, just did a little housework and not much else. Yesterday we got the Christmas lights up on the house.... and I am so excited to turn them on! However, Kyle told me I can't turn them on until next weekend SUCK! We did turn them on for Ava for a minute last night and she just looked at them and said "my Christmas lights on my house are so beautiful". It was so cute. We've been talking with her about Christmas and why we have Christmas. She is understanding the gift thing but nothing else but that will come when she gets a little bit older. Grandma Janet asked her yesterday what Santa Claus was going to bring her. She told her pink lips, purple lips, orange lips, more pink lips and a puppy! Ok the "lips" are lipstick but I had no idea that she was throwing in a puppy too. So grandma asks her what kind of puppy she wants since she already has two. She tells her one that can swim with her. Ok so I now realize that she wants the puppy from TV that swims and walks. Thank goodness... the last thing I need right now is another dog!

I am pretty much done Christmas shopping. I'm going on Friday with my sister and can't wait! and yes, I know I'm crazy for going on Black Friday but I LOVE IT! However, I will officially be done shopping on Friday as well. Hope all is well with everyone. Loves.....

Thankful....

I'm going to jump on the "thankful" bandwagon! I don't have any fun pictures to post but I'm going to tell you ten things that I am thankful for right now.

1. My family & friends... especially Kyle and Ava. I would be nothing without them!
2. The dishwasher... when I first moved into my home, there wasn't one and Kyle gave me one for Christmas two years ago. It was the greatest gift ever, it just keeps on giving!
3. My job... I may not like it at times but they are really good to me and it's a very stable job.
4. My dogs... they give us all unconditional love.
5. The roof over my head and food on our table. We might not have steak & lobster for dinner every night... wait who am I kidding we never have lobster, I'm allergic to it! but we always have something good to eat.
6. My 1997 Volkswagen Jetta... even with 200k miles on it, it just keeps on ticking and hopefully will for another year or maybe even two!
7. The Internet... where would we be without it?
8. My blogging friends.
9. Satellite television... the Nogin channel can be my best friend at times!
10. Water... yes, water! Any kind of water especially drinking water and the water in Lake Powell for boating!

Shots!!!

So Ava got her very first flu shot this morning. Mommy tried very hard to prepare her for it before we got to the health department. I'm a firm believer that you should tell your kids before they get one to prepare them. So I tell Ava that she is getting a shot so she doesn't get sick this winter. Ava looks at me and says.... you only get shots when you get sick mommy! I again tell her that his is a different kind of shot. Kyle was supposed to take Ava but I ended up taking her since my car broke down on my way to work... this is two days in a row now that I blew a radiator hose on my way to work. Ava tells me that if she has to get a shot, she's going to wear her pajamas and take her Dora doll. I told her that was fine so off we went. I fill out all of the paperwork and she's telling the lady that she's getting a shot today so she won't get sick. The lady in disbelief asks me why I would ever tell my child they were getting a shot? I then have to explain my logic to her. So the nurse takes us back and I give Ava a sucker. The nurse looks at me and asks me why I would give her a sucker before the shot as the sucker is usually used as a reward for being so brave. I tell her just to give her the shot and she'll see why. Ava sucks on her sucker the entire time and only took it out to say "it's not nice to poke people"! She did great! She didn't even let out a whimper. The nurse then tells me that was the greatest idea she's ever heard or seen... and asks if it's ok to use it on other kids throughout the day!! I kind of laughed when she asked me.

Things at my house are a little bit better this week. We've figured out some things with the insurance companies and needless to say, Kyle's old insurance company is finally paying out on a few claims. There are more bills in collections right now then are being paid but we'll just work through it. I'm pretty frustrated with one though... so it got paid but they won't write off what they call "additional charges". I can't seem to get a straight answer on what these charges are though. I'm currently working on those and hoping for the best. This pretty much sums up my week. My sister and I are going "window" Christmas shopping tomorrow and I am pretty excited for that... probably because we don't have to take our kids! Hope all is well with everyone.... Loves!

"8's" tag....

My sister in law Emmalee tagged me to do this.

8 shows I love to watch... (when I have time)
1. CSI - Las Vegas & Miami
2. The Biggest Looser (this show really motivates me)
3. Without a Trace
4. The Amazing Race
5. Cold Case
6. Two and a half men
7. ??
8. ??
Em... I think we really like a lot of the same shows :)

8 favorite restaurants
1. PF Changs
2. Olive Garden
3. Los Amigo's
4. Mimi's
5. Subway
6. Gandolfo's
7. Cafe Rio
8. Macaroni Grill

8 things that happened yesterday
1. I had the day off of work (Veteran's Day)
2. Went to the grocery store
3. Got in the shower and got ready for the day
4. Did a little homework
5. Went to my sister's house
6. Cleaned out part of my China Hutch... it's a bigger job then what I thought it would be.
7. Did a couple loads of laundry
8. Watched the movie "Juno".... it was really a good movie!

8 things I look forward to....
1. Having "one" more child... after the next one, we are totally done!
2. Being done with school
3. Living my life and experiencing new things with Kyle
4. Having a new car someday
5. Being debt free... lol like that will ever happen!!
6. Watching Ava... she's growing up so fast!
7. Being able to spend more time with my dad... we don't get to see him very often :(
8. Kyle finding a job!

8 things I love about fall
1. The leaves!
2. Thanksgiving dinner... mmm turkey!
3. Fresh baked rolls... I don't do much baking in the summer.
4. Grandma's house cause she always has goodies
5. Making home maid soups
6. Black Friday Shopping!!!!!
7. Spending time with family and friends
8. Hot Chocolate.... with peppermint schnapps (you can't drink the stuff straight).

8 things on my wish list
1. Kyle finding a job!
2. Buying a new car... I want a new one that's never been driven by ANYONE else before!
3. Going back to somewhere warm: Hawaii, Mexico, Grand Cayman's, ANYWHERE!!!!
4. Loosing weight! We've finally figured out what is wrong with me so I can actually start to loose weight now.
5. Taking Ava somewhere fun when she gets a little bit older.
6. Going back to Lake Powell... I can't wait till next summer!
7. Building onto our house... we only have 2 bedrooms and need one more so we can have another child.
8. Being filthy rich or lets just say debt free!!! I'm either going to win the World Series of Poker next year or the Megabucks. I think I have a better chance at the Poker table. I'm a pretty good player!

I'm supposed to tag 8 people now. However, I'm just going to tag anyone who wants to do this fun tag!!!

Well....

I don't think that I'm officially the worlds worst blogger but I sure haven't been a very good one for a couple of weeks. Not much is new with me same crap; different week. Kyle found out last week that the coal mine that was supposed to be hiring 20 people this month wasn't going to hire until April of next year SUCK! I sure hope that something comes up pretty soon, more for his sake then anyone else's. The lovely economy hit home again with my sister getting laid off from her job. She and I have a joke that we are all going to end up bankrupt and living in one house with me taking care of everyone since my job is very stable. Oh and I don't make that much money so that would totally SUCK! I seriously hope that people don't take us serious about that... I know we shouldn't joke around about things like that but we still need to smile once in a while and try to make light of a bad situation. This is actually something that reminds us that things can always be a lot worse. Her husbands shop also isn't doing very well. So we're really hoping that he is not the next to loose his job. Misty has a strong medical background so we think she'll find something very soon. I'm really trying to talk her into going back to school and finishing her RN. Hopefully she'll agree with me on that :)...

So I officially feel old! I went to the liquor store in Ephraim this week and it was the first time I've never been carded when someone is working that doesn't know me! I usually get the look from the sales clerk like are you sure you're that old... not to toot my own horn but I have good genes!! I really don't look as old as I am. You wouldn't know by looking at my mom that she's 50 and my dad's 58. They both look very good for their age too.

We had a lot of fun at our adult Halloween Party. I had a hard time coming up with a costume. I knew I should have kept all of those jelly shoes! I decided to make something. I think it was a cross between Cindy Lauper and Madonna. It actually looked really cute. We found Kyle a flowing mullet (LOL). I really think that he had one of those years ago when I didn't know him yet. This isn't a very good picture but it's the only one that we got.

Hope all is well with everyone I will post again very soon! Loves to all....

Happy Halloween....

Ava and her cousin, Kyden went trick or treating last night and had a blast! They were both so cute... they'd say trick-or-treat and then thank you every time they were given something. Ava's costume originally started as a bumble bee. She thought it was a butterfly and then decided that it was a fairy princess instead. If you asked her what she was, she'd tell you something different every time you asked her. Mommy didn't really want to put the flower on the costume but what princess Ava wanted for Halloween, she got it! My sister and I had so much fun making the girl's costumes this year and it was such a nice night for trick or treating. Mommy and Daddy's adult Halloween party is tonight and I'm still trying to come up with a costume to wear. The theme is "80's prom" however, I'm struggling. I will find something though and post pictures tomorrow. If anyone has any ideas on a fun 80's prom costume, let me know!

We have a diagnosis...

it wasn't a spider or anything like that after all. I have Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA, often pronounced "mersa") also known as the "superbug". My sister who's a nurse explained it to me as a strain of Staph infection that is immune to any antibiotic that has a penicillin base. I had a follow up appointment today and the doctor told me that it was a very good thing that I went to the ER when I did. He said that if I had waited even another day, I probably would have been admitted to the hospital. He said that I am taking the right meds and need bi-daily follow up for about a week. They drained the wound and it feels and looks much better now.

Things are still pretty much the same at my house this week (other then the infection). We are just plugging along. I can't wait to post pictures of Ava in her Halloween costume. She is going to be a bumble bee this year. She will be so cute! Hope all is well for everyone. Loves....

Mommy's been bitten by ummm....

SOMETHING... ok so all of the things that I wanted to get done this weekend, none of them got done! We think that I got bit sometime Friday night. Whatever it was that bit me, put me in the ER and on two HEAVY antibiotics for infection. The doctor's aren't even sure exactly what bit me. By the time I finally sucked it up and went to the hospital (I thought I would just take care of it on my own), it was so inflamed, swollen and infected the doctor just had to take a biopsy of it to find to exactly what it was that bit me. So I have to go back to the doctor later to find out what it was. Needless to say, I didn't get any before pictures but my entire eye was swollen shut and black, blue and red in color. We took this picture about 8 hours after I got home from the doctor and it looks great compared to what it looked like before. I'm still pretty swollen and it's getting red again as I type but nothing like early this morning.