Howdy Y'all

Why do I ask you all to come to my site after such a long absence? You didn't know this, but in July I had a miscarriage. Amidst the sadness of the situation, I was excited about using herbs to complete the miscarriage rather than have a D&C, but that's another story. Then in August I got a job working - after 8-5 training for a few weeks - 3pm - 7pm. In October, unbeknownst to me until November, I got pregnant again.

Soooo ..... because of intensely irritating slow computer problems, I finally uninstalled McAfee. The computer is still irritating, but much faster. I've been very busy ... and SICK!!! I'm behind on all the things I like to do. I've been spending a lot of my days sitting around until it's time to go to work. From just before Thanksgiving until recently I cried almost every night when I got home from work because I felt so horrible. But I believe I'm starting to feel a little bit better here and there. I'll be 14 weeks on Tuesday.

We had our first doctor appointment on Wednesday and brought the kids so they could (hopefully) hear the heartbeat. I prayed and prayed to be able to hear it. When the time finally came the doctor was very sweet to the kids and let them turn on the Doppler. They have been excited about the baby since we told them on Christmas day. I knew Paige would be excited to hear the heartbeat and was surprised that Preston was excited as well. And in humble gratefulness, we heard our baby's heartbeat. So I decided to make it official, even though both our families and a few friends know.

So I guess over the last several months I've been out of blogging commission. I haven't taken many pictures. I've been working. I haven't even been working on family history, one of my most favorite things. I don't know how much more I'll be able to do, but I'll try to get back with the program again as I start to feel a little better.

So that's the latest news from us. We love you and are so excited for what the future holds for us. And by the way, the baby is due on July 13th, the day before Paige's birthday.

It's been a while

Hello everyone. Many things have changed in our life over the past several months. I haven't done my blog since July and haven't been reading anyone else's blog. I apologize. We are doing well and looking forward to Christmas. I sure wish I could have a new computer for Christmas. I'm actually posting from work ... YES, I have a job!!

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We love you!!

We are official wave runners

On July 3rd we met up with Mark and Carolyn at Deer Creek to play. They have wanted us to go out on their wave runners with them and it finally worked out. This was my first time on a wave runner and the kids' first time too. As soon as we got there Carolyn had just returned from a trip out on the lake so of course the kids immediately hopped on board.

They took their first ride out with dad. Preston got off pretty quickly and Paige went out for a longer ride. Dad reported Paige wanted to go very slow. I'll admit I wanted to go slow too. I went out with Doug after he returned with Paige. I borrowed a full wet suit to go out. Mark said, "You're going to be hot." I said, "No, I won't." Well, I was right. I absolutely do NOT like to be cold, which is why I don't like water sports much. I rode behind Doug screaming almost all the way for him to slow down and, "I don't like it!!" Sorry, Doug. After I felt a little more comfortable I got in front with Doug on back. Then we went a little faster. I felt more comfortable being in control. I didn't trust Doug not to do some tricky maneuver that would make me fall off. He did it anyway. He was telling me to get more comfortable with how the wave runner turns and turned it right and left and then ... over we went. Thanks, Doug!! I wasn't too pleased about that, but I will grant him he was honestly trying to help me and lucky for him (or me I guess) I was wearing a wet suit and wasn't too cold.

On Paige's second turn out she again went with Doug. I only went out once (I know, I'm a wimp). Anyway, Doug said she wanted to go slow again, but he started chasing the wakes of other water craft out there and she started wanting to get to the wakes faster and before long she took control of the speed and was going as fast as she could through the water. Mark said he was alongside Doug and Paige for a while and could hear her laughing and laughing. Mark came back and was there long enough that we began worrying about Doug and Paige. Mark went out looking for them. They returned and Doug said Paige had a blast and loved going fast. I thought that was very cute. I look forward to going out again and being at least as brave as my daughter. I hope someone is there again with a wetsuit.

And here is Mark getting ready to go out. Notice the big booties he has on his feet? The weekend before he went out all day on the wave runners with flip flops and burned his feet very badly. They were covered in blisters and very painful. He took precautions this weekend and is still healing. OUCH!!

My friend Carolyn and moi ... so cute!!

The kids had fun dumping water into the sand and playing in it. M&C have some friends who live nearby and have 4 kids. Two of their kids were there with us also, which is where I got the wetsuit from. They're not exactly kids. One of them has been on a mission. His name is Jessie. I just have to say here that I was so impressed with him. I've met him twice and have noticed both times how kind he is to our kids. Most guys his age barely notice children and don't have a clue how to be with them. They usually treat them as little things getting underfoot and pay little attention to them. He filled his shoe several times with water to dump in the sand for Paige and Preston. He helped them get on and off the wave runners. There are other great things I noticed both at the lake and when we visited their home a while ago, but my point in discussing him is that he is so eligible. If anyone knows of a great girl around the age of 20 ... I'm sure you know what I'm getting at. He's good looking, kind and easy to talk to. He is a great guy!!

Uh, back to the lake. Here are our cute kids enjoying the sand.

It was fun to sit around and enjoy the company and beautiful surroundings.I shouldn't say anything, but what is Carolyn doing? We always laugh and have fun when we're together. I'm sure we were laughing about something here.

Awwww ... my sweetheart. I love you, Doug, even though you dumped me off the wave runner. Thanks for falling off too. I would be lost without you. Not in the water, because I had on a life jacket, but in my life in general I would be lost.And thank you for making me a wife and mother. I love our great little family.

Something to remember me by ...

In the morning as daddy is leaving for work the kids love getting on their bikes and racing him up and down the road a few times before he has to be off. They also like to give him some kind of token to help him remember them. This morning Paige picked a lovely flower, a perfect memento for his sweet daughter. I'm sure he won't be forgetting her today. And in true Preston form, daddy received a nice, big tumbleweed. I'm sure Preston won't be forgotten today ... or EVER!!

There's a spider on me ...

Obviously Preston is extremely excited. Spiders are cool, you know!

Just for kicks, here's a few extra takes I thought were cute ...

Preston asked me in the morning if I ate a boy baby or a girl baby in my tummy. I told him I didn't eat the baby. It grows in a special place in a mommy's tummy, but not the same place our food goes.

Paige's dance recital

Paige had a dance recital last week to celebrate months of work and practice. Isn't that what recitals are for? This is as close as I could get with our camera. I didn't take the camcorder so there's no zoom feature, sorry. Paige is the second girl in from the right.

Unfortunately ... or fortunately, there was a mistake in the program. Paige's class was scheduled to be second on the program and when the lights came on I began recording some other class. Paige's class came on as the fourth number. The fortunate part is that Doug missed her performance because he was out working on our ward activity that began during the time we were at the recital. We weren't informed beforehand when our little princess' number would be. Because of the mix up the two numbers were re-performed at the end of the concert. So Doug got to see Paige perform after all. We were very happy about that. Not only had they mixed up the order, but each whole class performed a dance they hadn't rehearsed to a song they weren't familiar with. I still thought Paige looked so cute. I hadn't seen the dance until the performance. It was fun to see my little girl up on a big stage.

Moving on ... also because of the mix up I was able to get some still shots of the correct dance. And on this one Paige was standing by her cousin, Cortnee, which made the pictures that much better. Cortnee is furthest on the right and Paige is in the center. They both did an excellent job.

In attendance were Delores (Grandma), Kurt, Linda, Kirstie and Austin; Jared, Michelle and Kaislee from Doug's family and Michelle, Christopher, Nicholas, Jonathan and Benjamin from my family. Michelle and Linda had both bought flowers for Cortnee and split the flowers they bought for her with Paige. I thought that was so kind of them. I hadn't thought of giving Paige flowers, but I will next time. I was glad they were so kind to Paige and didn't want her to be left out. She absolutely LOVED her flowers. She cut them and put them in a vase as soon as we got home. It was a fun day.

A Day Out With Thomas, volume 2

I was excited about this day since we hadn't told the kids where we were going. In case you didn't know, we took the kids to this event last year. Every night we ask the kids what their best thing for the day was. Preston always says, "We rode on Thomas." He says it EVERY night. We didn't feel we could pass it up this year. I think you'll enjoy Preston's reaction.

We made it up the mountain and onto the train in the nick of time. I got the tickets from will call while Doug got in line. I ran the tickets to him and he and the kids boarded. Within 5 minutes the train was on it's way. WHEW!! And why wasn't I on the train you might ask? After riding it last year at $18 a pop we decided to save $18 and either Doug or I would take the 20 minute ride with the kids. It ended up being Doug who went because ... well, it was a long ride up there and I drank a lot (I was on my cleanse). I was able to capture this great 'getting off the train' moment. Unfortunately Paige tripped and fell before she got on the train so she was grumpy for the entire ride. After she got off I had a chat with her and told her this was a special day for Preston. I had bought him some sunglasses in the 'Thomas paraphernalia' tent (which the kids somehow missed visiting) and let Paige give them to him. That helped her cheer level improve dramatically. She agreed to let Preston have a great day and stopped being grumpy.I asked the woman I ordered tickets with if we didn't have to pay if we didn't ride the train. She said the fee was for all the attractions. I said, "But all the attractions are for the kids." She didn't have a response so I proceeded to order only 3 tickets. And, of course, I stood around the whole time watching my children have fun. I'm sure Doug had more fun than I did since he paid $18 for 'sitting around watching the kids have fun.'

This tent was set up with all kinds of Thomas sets. Preston found a motorized engine named Ben and another one named Salty that he played with for most of the hour he was in this tent. It was difficult having motorized trains because at some point if you're going to enjoy watching it go around the track you have to let it go. It then becomes susceptible to other little kids grabbing it, usually not knowing another kid is playing with it. I didn't want any screaming or fights so I helped Preston watch over his 2 trains. All the adults were understanding of this and were doing the same thing.Apparently it takes concentration to get the trains moving correctly on the track.There were at least 12 of the motorized trains and 5 other tables set up with non-motorized trains and tracks. I had a small altercation with a lady who decided it was her son's turn to play with the motorized Thomas Paige had been playing with for a short time. Paige was eagerly watching her train come around the bend and this lady's son picked up the train. I told her my daughter had been playing with that train. She asked if it was our train. I told her no, but that there were several motorized trains over on another table that they could pick from. She said her son had been waiting for a turn with Thomas. I told her my daughter also waited and was now taking her turn. I didn't want a big issue so I took the Thomas and told Paige to play on another table. This woman's son LOST IT!!! He screamed and screamed very LOUDLY. Everyone looked. But we were already at another table so I don't think many people knew what had happened. I know you could be thinking I'm mean, but I didn't feel it was right for this woman to let her son take whatever he wanted at my daughter's expense. So here's Preston and Paige at another table joyfully watching their trains go around. If I really wanted to be mean I could have included the woman in this picture because she was glaring in the corner by Preston. And by the way, her son had a motorized Thomas within 5 minutes that he didn't have to take from anyone. So I guess everyone ended up happy. I hope you enjoyed my little rant ...

Back to our day of fun ...

Outside the train tent were bubbles and sidewalk chalk. Aside from seeing my kid's happy faces, one of my favorite experiences here was watching the adults who got too close to the kids wildly flailing their bubble wands. I laughed out loud at one guy who got whacked on the head when Preston and another boy got their wands tangled. They both pulled as hard as they could on their wand. The wands didn't separate and just as this father got close to try separating them the other boy pulled hard enough to pull Preston's wand out of his hand. It whacked the dad in the head and covered him with suds. The dad laughed too because we had both witnessed several other adults get covered with suds as their kids flailed their wands around. There was fun to be had by all. Maybe if I would have paid $18 for this experience I would have laughed harder.
Paige has some great bubble success. Good job, Paige!I had to include this model shot of Paige. She is such a beautiful girl.

Proof I was there. And I'm even wearing a smile.Doug was there too. Paige is eating the only food I had in my bag. I guess you've figured out by now this was a budget trip for us. We didn't want to buy $5 hot dogs, sorry. We got the kids to leave by promising them McDonalds on the way home. YAY!! Don't worry, I had my veggies and lemon drink.I hope you don't mind all the stories. We waited in line for about 45 minutes for these balloons. Look at how happy Preston is with his brown monkey with a 'mee-yana' (his word for banana - even though he knows how to say it correctly). He held my hand all the way to the van and was happy and singing. It started raining just as we were getting to the van. I let his hand go shortly before the van so I could go around to my side. He decided to go throw a rock in a little stream, slipped and fell and popped his monkey. You should have seen the absolute devastation written all over his face as his lip poked out and his shoulders shook with his sobbing. He was heartbroken. I couldn't end the day on this note so Doug drove me back to the entrance where I waited in line again (this time for 10 minutes) and got another brown monkey with a 'mee-yana.' This picture is with the first monkey.It was worth the effort and I'm glad we broke the bank to allow our kids this luxury. Thomas remains Preston's 'best thing' every night.