The Stepros

New Year, New Adventures

2011-12-23T16:50:00.000-08:00

We will be moving back to Henderson Jan. 1st.

We told everyone over a yr ago that Don was applying for jobs to transfer within the State. About Thanksgiving the State finally got around to offering a job on an app he submitted last Feb.

So while it does seem sudden it really isn't that sudden.

SOOO if you are interested in my new address please email me at ejstepro@yahoo.com and I will email it to you.

ALSO -- If you are in Vegas we welcome you to help us unload and unpack! :)

And if you are in Vegas to visit email me and we will catch up!

it's back

2011-04-26T23:46:00.001-07:00

My GAD that is. I can't seem to shake this feeling of funk and anxiety. My normal tricks haven't worked, immersed in service last week and still having the anxiety attack stuff.
I need to make time for the gym. that's it. I need it. My ass needs it.
Sources of anxiety are quite irrelevant, school is a big one, the fact that I gained 3 lbs this semester has me freakin-the-eff-out! I need to make time for myself.
Our finances are stressing me more than normal. Everything basically is stressing me out.

Anywho - if you have chatted w/ me in the last 7 weeks or so - or intend to anytime soon - just know that I am not myself. I will be fine - just need to get my head right. Only 3 more weeks of school that should help.

a whole lotta this or that

2011-02-03T13:58:00.000-08:00

We are busy. No shock.
Don is starting his same job new location new boss in Sparks in 2 weeks, cuts the drive from 63+ miles each way (to Fallon) to 29 miles each way. Only 7 1/2 more yrs w/ the State. He is still in the Masters program to get his MFT. He is pretty busy all the time w/ work and school. I hope being closer to home will free up some free time. Don still is looking for other jobs that may fit our family better. He has a few applications open still some in Vegas and some here, we shall see. If we are going to move to Vegas it needs to happen this summer to give Brooklyn a chance to make friends before high school. Neither choice has a solid winner, staying here in Carson has many plusses but moving to Vegas has many plusses also.

I am enrolled in 7 1/2 credits this semester, filling my final pre-req to apply to nursing school, and I will have my AA at the end of this semester also. IF I want to only get my Associates of Nursing right now I can apply this March, but if I want to go to UNR to get my BSN I have to wait to apply. I need to have my BSN - for my long term goals but don't know if it is better for me to just finish and start generating some income in the mean time. I will re-take my TEAS (nursing admission test) in March, I great in the math section scoring 100 and english and reading I did avg, but I bombed the science so I need to retake it. I honestly don't think I will have a hard time this time around. I had all of our laundry caught up last week...not so much this week.
I try to get to the gym 4 times a week sometimes I get there more sometimes not.

Brooklyn is insanely busy. She is a straight A student - her lowest grade has been 97% all year, she is taking 2 online classes in addition to the 7 at school so she can take choir and band, which means she isn't taking health and computers at school, so she has to take them online.
She is in the Honor Band for this area and ranked 3rd chair from all the jr high kids that tried out from 5 schools. She is in the marching band and the choir. Of course her plays, she just got cast as Kim in Bye Bye Birdie! It is her first big lead role. She juggles so much and still manages to stay social and pull straight A's. She still loves to read. She finished the Hunger Game series in less than 3 weeks and is not so patiently waiting for the new Maximum Ride book to come out on Valentines day.

Ava is a toot. She is so funny, she loves to sing. She has such an imagination! She loves to play pretend w/ anyone who will sit long enough to play with her. She is really starting to mellow out a bit. She is still Ava, but she is more enjoyable then she used to be.

We spent our Christmas break in Disneyland and it was soo awesome to see how magical it was for Ava. She loved it. We are thinking this summer we are going to head to Salt Lake for a few days, hit Lagoon and then head south to visit my folks and Grandma.

Should be fun.

before and after pics

2010-11-14T12:02:00.000-08:00

So the pictures below are my latest before and afters! The top is our SF trip June 2008, then Nov. 2008, then May 2009.... then TODAY!! NOV. 14, 2010

fat update

2010-09-13T11:35:00.000-07:00

I haven't done a fat update in a while. The reason is, because there hasn't been much of a change. I need to do some more pics so I can compare myself.
If you see me and say, "you look great" and I say "oh gee...thanks" I am not digging for more compliments. I really don't know how to feel yet in this body. I still feel fat - the fat I have left is still proportioned the same as it was before - so my stomach is still flabb-a-licious, my thighs still cheesey.

I am not going to knock my success either - I look HOT with clothes on! haha

So here are some numbers for you - effective this morning.

Since I started this journey Jan. 2009 - I have lost 117 lbs. only 10 since March buuut I have been dealing w/ my back too.

I have lost 18 inches around my belly button.
17 in my bust - I love that I can see the bones of my upper sternum/ribcage area. (yeah I am a nursing student and I can't remember what it's called)
7 inches - per thigh
4 per arm
15 inches in my hips - i wish they would go down another 15! : )
and at least 15 across my muffin top - that was a measurement that i didn't start from the beginning.

I am excited to fly to Chicago Friday, I am flying there to drive back with Stacie. She is coming here for Don's birthday. But the last time I flew to Chicago I was at my fattest and was wearing compression pantyhose underneath my spanx just to get my hips skinny enough that I wouldn't be over flowing into the seats next to me.
When, already when I flew to Vegas last August(09) to be with Linda I didn't have that problem.

About my Chicago trip. It should be fun. I will be there Friday night, we are leaving early Sat. am, driving to North Platte, NE. Sunday we will arrive in Salt Lake City, and Monday back here! Should be pretty awesome! Stacie will get to see me all kinds of medicated sitting for that long! : )

recipes!

2010-08-24T09:15:00.001-07:00

So Saturday we drove to Vegas and it was Hecka HOT! We left Sunday afternoon and it was 109 according to Kelly's (Jennifer's sister)outdoor thermometer. So imagine our shock by the time we got to Hawthorne that we had wished we brought a sweater to wear!

Yesterday was like the perfect fall day! It was breezy and cool mid70's most of the day. I love the fall. I love the crispness in the air! There isn't much about the fall that I don't love, the smells, the tastes...all of it! And I look great in fall clothes! So paying no mind to that we were supposed to be back into the 90's by Wednesday, I decided to try a recipe I had never made before and I kinda toyed w/ 2 recipes and made my own combination of Butternut Squash Soup! Yum! Who knew squash could be soooo yummy!! I have never had it before and neither have my kids and Don doesn't remember having it. We rang in the unofficial start to fall with a delicious hearty soup! It was soo yummy that I am going to share the recipe!

Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients:
1- 2or3 lb butternut squash (peeled, cleaned and diced)
1- granny smith apple (peeled and diced)
3- stalks celery - chopped
2- carrots - chopped
1 - medium onion chopped

you don't have to chop them pretty - they will be blended at the end so don't waste too much time chopping!!

2 - tablespoons butter
4- cups chicken broth
1- 8oz heavy cream
Nutmeg & Cinnamon
Brown Sugar
olive oil
and Salt and Pepper

I found and easy way to peel the squash was just to use my veggie peeler I went over it about 3 times until it was all clean. Then cut the bottom off and clean out the guts (kinda like a pumpkin). Dice the squash into cubes and put into a casserole dish.
add the granny smith apple
add 1/2 the chopped onion
drizzle w/ olive oil
season w/ salt and pepper
sprinkle w/ nutmeg
sprinkle w/ brown sugar (about 1/4 cup)

Place this in your oven at 350 stir once or twice during the roasting process. Roast until squash is soft.

In a large pot melt butter w/ the remaining onion, celery and carrots. Add the soft roasted squash, apple onion combo to the pot.

Pour the chicken broth in the pot along w/ the heavy cream. I started w/
1/4 tsp cayenne but did add more towards the end when I thought it needed it.
Season again with salt and pepper, nutmeg and cinnamon.

Let this simmer until all the veggies are super soft.

This soup gave me a good excuse to by a handheld immersion blender from Walmart it was less the $20.00 but if you don't have one -
you will need to scoop the soup out into a blender and puree. Continue this until all veggies have been pulverized!
If you have an immersion blender just let it do it's magic!
Blend until soup is velvety smooth.

We served this with a spinach salad, roasted chicken (store bought), and dutch crunch crusty bread (the soup needs a hearty bread). Although it is a meal on it's own.

Happy Autumn Everyone!!!!

I will share another super easy recipe

Slow Cooker Cranberry Chicken

2 - 3 lbs chicken thighs, drumsticks or chicken breasts (we use frozen chicken breasts)
1 - 16oz can whole cranberry sauce
2 - tablespoons dry onion soup mix
2 - tablespoons quick cook tapioca

Put your chicken in the crock pot. In a bowl mix everything else together and pour over the chicken.

Cook on LOW for 4-5 hours or High for 2-3.
Serve the chicken w/ Brown Rice and the sauce is super YUMMY!!

don't let the cranberry part scare you.... I almost did....and we would be missing out! try it....you'll like it!!!!!

Want one more new one I tried this summer that we love?

Summer Chicken and Mushroom Pasta

1 box Penne or ziti pasta (I use the Barilla plus b/c it is not made from white flour)
12 oz chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces
Italian seasoning
salt
pepper
olive oil
4 garlic cloves - minced or sliced
3 cups fresh sliced white mushroom
1 - med onion diced
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup dry white wine (i bought whatever was white and less then $5.00 as I won't be drinking it)
1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
1/4 cup fresh basil - shredded
3 tbsp fresh oregano (i couldn't find this and used dried)
1/2 cup shaved parm cheese
(i also added) 1/2 grated romano
more pepper

Cook pasta to Al dente - leave in pot

meanwhile:
season chicken w/ Italian seasoning, salt and pepper, In a skillet heat about 1 tbl olive oil - add chicken and garlic to skillet. cook and stir until chicken is no longer pink. remove from skillet

Add another tblspoon olive oil to skillet - add mushrooms and onions to the skillet. Cook until they are tender. Carefully add chicken broth and wine to skillet, bring to boil, reduce heat. boil uncovered about 2 minutes or until liquid has reduced by half. (i had to run an errand during this phase and when I got back my sauce had reduced too much so I just brought the heat back up - added another 1/2 cup broth and 1/4 cup wine -basically started over)
Remove skillet from heat it has reduced by 1/2
Add chicken to the pasta followed by the mushroom sauce, add the cherry tomatoes, basil and oregano. Toss to coat.
Add 1/2 the cheese and toss.
Top w/ remaining 1/2 cheese and more pepper to taste. Yummy yummy!!

good news bad news

2010-08-04T22:58:00.000-07:00

So last Friday I met with my Neurosurgeon. It was not without a fight. His office called at noon and wanted to cancel to my 2 o'clock appt. and reschedule me for 2 weeks later. I cried. I am not going to lie. I eventually called back and told them I didn't think I should be punished because the doctor was running over an hour behind and I scheduled my appt 2 months ago, and I can't get my back surgery scheduled until the doc reads my newest MRI and I didn't want to have to wait an additional two weeks for that. So I went in for my 2 o'clock appt at 3:30 and was seen.

So the Doc asked if I had received a copy of the MRI and of course I had not. He went to make me a copy. He asked what had brought me back in since my last appt was in Oct and he STRONGLY recommended me for a Lumbar Discectomy ASAP, which I was going to postpone until Christmas break and have never gotten around to doing it....
so I told him. blah blah blah...I am having another flare up....yadda yadda yadda I need to get this operated on stat....
He asked what I had been doing since he last saw me to moderate my disc herniations - I said Yoga and losing weight. He said, " The disc herniation between l4-5 has improved 90% since August 2009" and therefore he can not justify surgery - however - the herniation between l5s1 has gotten a little worse and he can definately see where it is pressing directly back on my sciatic nerve and would cause me a great deal of nerve pain in my legs.
So.....groovy!!! I don't NEED surgery!! but shit....I don't need surgery!
I should be so thrilled that I don't have to have back surgery - but my leg hurts sooo flippin bad it is unreal! So I have a new anti-inflamitory to take and looks like I will be doing more epidural cortisone injections.

The Doc was super impressed with me though - so I should be impressed w/ me too. He said that he didn't think I would be walking on my own w/o surgery because my previous herniations were so bad and if I got those to chill out then I should be able to get this new one to chill out too.

He asked if he could use my MRIs in a speech and case study he was doing about if it is possible for people to heal themselves.
He did say I needed new shoes and new inserts mine are pretty broken down. So yay me! I wonder if my yoga can be a tax write off if it for medical purposes?

updates

2010-07-13T21:07:00.000-07:00

So I am employed - as of right now - I am not sure how long that will last.

I am a grave yard cage cashier at the Carson Nugget. It pays not very well, I haven't made this little since I was pregnant with Brooklyn but it is a job. I am not sure they are going to want me when I tell them about my back.

I am going to have my back surgery. I thought I was going to wait until December and Christmas break and do it then - but my docs all say I need to do it NOW - and by now they mean - eh, when they can do it. So it will be like Sept. or Oct. I will know more like the end of July? I am very nervous about it. I wish I would have done it last December because I am in soo much pain - like Becky said, there will never be a good or convient time for back surgery, I will be outta commission for so long after this surgery and let's face it - it's not a c-section or gall bladder surgery. It is freaking me out!

argh!

2010-07-07T17:05:00.000-07:00

Do you ever feel like you can't catch a freaking break?

I swear! My next surgery 2 surgeries ago was supposed to be for new boobs, slimmer thighs and a tummy tuck....not that I can afford it, but my personal theory is that being put general anesthesia can't be good for ones body - so I wanted to limit my time spent under for something awesome like having my boobs put back to where God wanted them originally.

I got more bad news today about my back. As you may remember - I was supposed to have back surgery last December but bailed on it because of money and I wasn't currently having a terrible flare up. I am back "on" with the terrible flare up.
A flare up happens when my already severely herniated disc gets squished more between the vertebrae and presses even more on my nerve which in this case is my sciatic nerve. It is being pressed between L4-L5 and L5-S1. before it was mostly my left side - this summer my right side has been added to the party.

So now during a flare up from my butt to my calf I have a burning charlie horse. It is not fun! Certain life style choices I have made increase my risk of flare ups, they are:

Wearing flip flops...who wants to wear their orthopedic tennis shoes in the summer? Me I guess

Gardening....I should be allowed to use a shovel to dig out weeds and plant flowers with out pain.

Walking, lifting, bending, sitting - sitting has become so bad because your sciatic nerve exits your pelvis into your buttocks - so when I sit it immediately puts more pressure on that nerve and I lose sensation in my legs and feet - they immediately fall asleep.

So, on a normal day my toes are always tingley - on a bad day I am not sure how many toes I have.

So I have continue my drug therapy for the moment. I have been on:
Flexaril, Ultram, Vicodin, Loratab, Lyrica and now I am on Topomax - Lyrica made me gain 3 lbs and I can't be having that! I freaked out w/ the Dr. today. He said a lot of people lose weight on Topomax. I am eager! I hope it helps dull the nerve pain!

So the bad news is: The nerve is being pressed harder on both sides now. My pain management Dr. agreed that the cortisone epidurals are no longer effective in treating the pain. He said I need to do whatever it takes to get my surgery asap. He re-refered me to the Neurologist. It is sad when your pain mgmt Dr. says you need surgery. BLAH.... he said that I likely have permanent nerve damage and that my toes may always be tingley even after they fix my back. That is so scary because I am only 32!! So anyways I will prepare myself for yet ANOTHER surgery that I can't afford. I owe so many frickin people money - it is not even funny! I don't know what I am going to do! Have to spend our Spain money on back surgery?

mustard seeds

2010-07-07T00:30:00.001-07:00

Mustard seeds are really small. And if one little one gets in your shoe over a period of time it will eventually wear you down and annoy you. Now add several other equally small mustard seeds to that shoe over a period of time and you have the recipe for a delicious family stew.

It is amazing that we let little small indiscrections/ hurt feelings jeopardize family relations threatening them for generations. Are you going to allow hurt feelings to compile one on top of another for decades? Do you even know where it all began? If they were dealt with one at a time would it be such a big deal now? Were they such a big deal then? I have had a ton of mustard seeds that I have discarded because, well it is what you do with family. Forgive the retarded stuff. Recently I have decided to hang on to a few...just a few, I like the color of mustard....and I have heard when I am angry my face is a beautiful shade of red.

Rather then dealing with that mustard seed when it was first bothering us by taking our shoe off and shaking it out we left it in there to fester, almost like we want to be annoyed by something. But what good has come of it?

It is time that we all take our shoes off and shake out those mustard seeds.

Kinda, I am done

2010-07-05T14:52:00.000-07:00

Every family has their baggage. I have first cousins on my Dad's side of the family I never met until my Grandma died in 2001. As a matter of fact one of the cousins I had never met had never even met his own brother until that same time - it had been nearly 40 yrs. So I know what a little mustard seed of hurt feelings can do to a family.
I have tried to keep my family relationships tight. I always wanted my kids to know their cousins like best friends and to have relationships with their extended cousins as well.
But now it seems that we are at a cross roads of sorts. I am kinda done doing the leg work. I understand now, that I am an adult, the reason I didn't have as close of relationships with my family from Alabama and most of my cousins is because my family didn't think it was important while I was growing up. We never traveled to visit my Alabama family, I have as an adult. And for the most part most of my cousins despite all living in the Las Vegas/ Henderson area were Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter family. It is sad. I know. I didn't want that for my kids. Even being so far away I have tried very hard to be more then that.
Frustrated in May by my own family I decided to impose a break - I haven't talked to anyone in my family since May 28th, 2010. My frustration didn't all arise from me being butt hurt about my feelings but I also thought that people weren't being as supportive of other changes as I thought, so ok - I took a break, I didn't intend on it to last this long originally, but it has. And the funny thing is I am not sure anyone but my sister knows I am ignoring them! haha My brother probably hasn't even realized that I am not talking to them. Awesome! I mean, I deleted every one's numbers from my cell phone as not to accidentally text them in a moment of weakness! haha Although, I miss my sister, I am still not sure I am over being over looked. I know it is that mustard seed. Starts out so small.

That moment of weakness nearly came this weekend. I almost had to call Holly. She would have been the first person that I called in this situation normally.
Don's family doesn't escape the crazy family drama loop. Nope, not at all! He has family who live in the area. We haven't seen them since Christmas. I have invited them to school functions and dinners and such and I used to just think it was their busy and opposite work schedules which kept them from coming by. But alas, I have had an eye opening weekend! Apparently, I have done something so criminal that they will not return phone calls, texts or emails which I have inquired if there has been a problem between them and me, since I have noticed things to be stale. They didn't respond, so I didn't think of it. Well, this weekend Don had other family in town an the CC area family had a big cookout w/ their entire family (who are all locals) and then the out of town family and then invited Don's step daughter and her family....and not us! Could we get a bigger F-U! What a slap in the face. If you are going to be upset at me for something that I have said or done, real or imaginary - shouldn't you give me the courtesy of telling me what it was so I could at least defend myself. Perhaps, they are pissed at Don...perhaps. I really wished we could all clear the air! I want to be able to apologize or defend myself - but I don't know what or who or why I would be apologizing at this point.
So we have a mustard seed growing among Don's family. They are offended by something and need to distance their selves from us - and at this point, I actually think they owe me an apology for being so rude~ fine don't invite me to your shin dig ~ it is your house and you don't have to invite anyone you don't want to. But I am not making excuses for you anymore either, so when Brooklyn asked me, "Why didn't we go to their house to have homemade ice cream sandwiches?" I said, "I am not sure - we weren't invited - why don't you call them and ask". I can't even tell her why we weren't invited. What a load of shit, honestly. So my kids won't know you and you won't know my kids? Is that what we want from this? The line has clearly been drawn in the sand. And at this point without a meeting of the minds, which doesn't seem like it will happen - my kids are in Carson City with NO Stepro Family. It is hard to say, but I feel like that is the way they want it. Be pissed off at me or Don all you want - but why are you taking it out on my kids? So needless to say, I have deleted phone numbers from my phone - don't want to text people who don't like me. and the same w/ Facebook - not going to be facebook friends with people who don't want to be friends in real life.

Ok, so any ways... I guess I am just kinda done for now - I am done investing more into people then I am seeing returned. The peacemaker side of me wants everyone to just be happy an to get along and I want to be able to call my sister again. But the other part of me thinks, I am too busy, I have my own family to worry about - and if I can go over a month not talking to my own family I can surely go years not talking to my husbands. My Aunt on my Dad's side got offended back in the 70's and I didn't meet my cousin until 2001. It sucks. I never thought my family would splinter - I know my family will be fine - we will start talking again as if nothing happened - but I don't know about Don's. This seems pretty final.

I guess even Job would have to raise the white flag eventually. No one can be that patient and long suffering for ever...right? I guess it is time for me to foster a relationship of family within my own kids and pray they are better at it then my own family and Don's have been. It doesn't matter what happens you are family, right?

how do I?

2010-06-29T18:55:00.000-07:00

How do I make my friends list do the thing where it tells me which people have posted new blogs?

dang

2010-06-29T18:20:00.000-07:00

Dang! Facebook really has killed my blog!

Sorry!

A little update on what we have been doing.

I am at a weightloss plateau. I am only 19lbs away from being my half. Half of what I was when I started to lose weight. I hope to get back to the gym this summer. Have again been sidelined due to my crappy back and my crappy galbladder!

I finished w/ school in May - another 4.0 semester. Nervously anticipating the fall, my good friend and study buddy Laura had to succome to the economy and get a job. And my other study partner Robert is taking the class in Fallon. So I don't have a study partner at this time. I am nervous because last semester I was totally having an "off" semester and they literally carried me.

My computer crashed in May and I lost all of my pictures. The only pictures I have are what I have posted on Facebook and my blog. That is a little sad.
I have friends from Bosnia who are going to be in NYC in Sept I was really hoping to be able to go visit them - but it doesn't look promising. I will be flying to Chicago in Sept to drive back to Carson w/ Stacie. She is coming out to help me for a week or so to help w/ Don's 40th birthday party. Then she is embarking on a drive from Carson to Vegas, to Phoenix, to San Antonio and then back to Chicago! Kinda glad I am only doing one leg of that!!

Don is still in school. He is getting his masters in Marriage and Family Therapy. He could make a fortune just off of friends and family! haha He works for Rural Regional Center in Fallon. We are hopeful and prayerful that he will get to transfer to Carson City soon. He has been making that 70mile drive since Oct. But at least now he has the weekends and holidays off! That is so awesome! But the Carson office is only 5 minutes and 3 miles from our house! He is turning 40 in September and due to budget concerns I have had to downsize the sit down dinner party w/ bounce house to probably a lunch or appetizer party at a local park so I don't have to rent a bounce house. Like us most of Don's family who is coming have young kiddos so I need to make sure they are entertained. Is a park party for a 40 yr old man ghetto??

Brooklyn is kicking butt and taking names!! She is awesome! A great kid! She is still doing plays through the Brewery Arts Center. They just finished A Midsummer Night's Dream. After taking the year off of soccer she is going to play in a rec league in the fall. Competitive just is too much of a time commitment for her.
She tried track and field last spring and hated it cause of the running...so I laughed my butt off when she said she wanted to try cross country in the fall! I said, you know it's all running right? No shot put in cross country. I think she changed her mind. She just scored a perfect 500/500 on the English/Reading CRT (standardized testing) and 432 on math (still above avg). We are in the process of filling out the paper work to apply to the Davidson Academy. It is a charter school for academically superior kids, they meets at the UNR campus, and once they have completed all of the required stuff for high school they go on to take college classes until their graduation date. It is an amazing school! We are prayerful that she gets in!

Ava is Ava. She is fiesty. My friend Laura said that she was like babysitting twins. Nice. She is super cute and has an amazing vocabulary. The least of which is, "WhAT??" "Because I said why not!" and she sings everything! I think that is the coolest thing about her. She sings songs that she learned at school or church or saw on Nick Jr. She will sing for hours. She love to swim and has little fear of anything!

Don and I are trying to plan a getaway this summer for the 2 of us - we need a break. but finding someone who is willing to watch Ava or close enough to watch the girls is hard to find. So we are hoping Don's mom will be able to watch the girls for a weekend in July. She is nice to have around...
As far as summer vacations go I have instituted another ban of travelling to visit families (his and mine). It's no vacation! I am tired of doing all of the traveling to see people who don't care enough to come visit us. It is a waste of a vacation day. Our next vacation will be a vacation. I do this every few years or so. I know times are tough all around but we are not exempt from that either and we still manage to make our families a priority to see. Which usually means I don't grocery shop for 2-3 weeks before and we just scrape by with what we have in the house.

The weather here has been very nice! It was a long wet winter and therefore a mild summer. Today was the hottest day so far and I don't think we broke 100. It is funny cause Don had the opportunity to transfer to Vegas, which we declined at this time until we see if Brooklyn gets into Davidson, but he was soo whiney about the heat yesterday! haha it was 96! I was dying! And he was the one that wanted to move down to Vegas! He wouldn't last a summer there!!

So find me on Facebook - I have lot of pics posted there! And if you miss us - come and visit! Where our house is small we would rearrange to accomodate you!

Follow up

2010-01-07T07:13:00.001-08:00

Thanks for your comments, I am fine. I wrote that last post in a heated moment, and mostly meant it to be funny. I would not retaliate and make up some great rumor about my accusers.

All is well, thank you all for keeping me grouned!

double jeopardy

2010-01-05T10:57:00.000-08:00

So recently it was brought to my attention in a very Jr. High fashion that certain people think that I have been talking badly about them. This infuriates me to NO END!
Cause the people who are closest to me and this situation know that I have stayed above the fray the entire time! I MEAN ENTIRE TIME!!! These people have yet to fill me in on anything that I may have said -

SO - my question is this: Do the laws of double jeopardy apply to B*S and gossip?? Cause I got NONE of the joy or satisfaction of gossipping!

Since I have already been: ACCUSED, CONVICTED AND PUNISHED for this crap - shouldn't I at least get the joy or satisfaction of spreading some juicy rumors?

Soooo as I ponder this for a few more days the pros versus the cons - I may be able to come up with something really really juicy. hahaha

Actually, I have been trying to get over my butt hurt and just let it go - but if I can't check back in a few days...I may have some really great gossip!

**** DISCLAMER: THE VIEWS OR OPINIONS EXPRESSED HERE ON MY BLOG DO NOT REFLECT THE VIEWS OR OPINIONS HELD BY ANY OF MY FAMILY OR FRIENDS ****

SERIOUSLY??? WHAT THE EFF!??!

2009-10-14T17:14:00.000-07:00

WHO IS THAT?

Yeah that's me! In a nine west brand jeans - size 12! (I had some help in the lycra dept getting these zipped up)

Yep and that's my behind too! Brooklyn said I still have "pointy things" on my thighs. yes dear, thank Grandma Chrissy for those saddle bags.

Still have a ways to go. I haven't been able to get to the gym since the end of July because of this back thing. So I am frustrated with my weight loss - but I haven't gained any weight. I am at just above 90lbs. And know that if I was able to do any cardio or weights I could be down at least 100 - but oh well. About the back I am going to have to have the discectomy - I have a disc that it herniated so badly between my l4 -l5 that it is pressing the peripheral nerve against the spinal column above. So it feels like I have a charlie horse from my left buttock to my calf - on a good day. So the Dr. will be cutting that part of the disc off and then clearing the disc between l5-s1 out as it is pressing on my sciatic. Fun stuff - don't be jealous! On a bad day it feels like a charlie horse on fire. I am going to try to wait until Christmas break, I can't afford to miss my chemistry class. Cholesterol update - it went up again. The only reason that makes sense as to why it goes up is that my parents passed down some crappy cholesterol gene. It is still in the 170's so nothing to worry about. And I just resized my wedding rings down to a 6.

So luckily I had a friend who was between a size 8 -14 in the year after she had twins give me a bunch of handmedowns- see the entire outfit above - so these levis can rest peacefully in the goodwill bag!facebook officially killed my blog. sorry - i post pictures of the girls there - I will post some of the kids - eventually to my blog

Not flattering at all - comic relief only

2009-10-14T17:08:00.001-07:00

So I held on to this pair of Levi's from when I wasn't so fat. I put them on last Saturday. And they are hideous! Super high waisted! And Super tapered at the legs! So tapered in the ankle that they bunch around my shoes. And super baggy through the hips. Sick sick sick.

Not very flattering at all! I know! Thankfully for my friend Nina - I have a bunch of clothes ranging from size 8-14 so I can officially retire these lesbian mom jeans to the good will

Fat Facts - July Edition

2009-07-15T11:46:00.000-07:00

Me Now

Me last June

Lets not forget November

May 2009

July 2009

Here are the fat facts for July 2009. Since my journey began in January 2009 and as of yesterday's date - 7/14/2009 I have lost 71 lbs! Despite no fewer then 4 plateaus i have still lost 9 inches around my belly button, 7 1/2 around my bust, 10 inches in my hips, 8 inches on the muffin top (not the same measurement as the belly button) I keep a bunch of random measurements totalling 43inches over all!!! I am down at least 3 pants sizes, could be 4 I wouldn't buy new clothes at my heaviest. I am still flabby and very cheesey - I can't seem to tone my utters up or my arm flab or the cheese on my thighs. I spoke w/ a plastic surgeon he said that I would be a good candidate for surgery after I have lost 100lbs for at least 1 year. (for every 100lbs you lose you have aprox 10lbs excess skin) It will be costly but I think worth it - not too far away from that 100 lb mark, I may get there by September after all. I don't want to stop at 100lbs though just my first goal. To be at the low end of what Mr. BMI says is "normal" I would need to get down to 107lbs, that's less then what Holly weighed when she was anorexic! I said I am going to get there just to say I was there since Jr. High. If my body won't let me I will get down as low as my body will let me go. And go from there.

RIDDLE ME THIS

2009-07-07T15:08:00.001-07:00

I have a riddle that I can't seem to figure out. I need help understanding.

I had my blood work done a year ago - before I started to lose ANY weight at all
and this was my results as far as cholesterol goes:

Cholesterol: 173

Triglycerides: 134

HDL: 36

LDL: 110

Normal is

Cholesterol: 100-199

Tri: 0-149

HDL (good cholesterol): 40-59

LDL (bad cholesterol): 0-99

So I was a little high in the LDL and a little low in the HDL. SOOO I work out, I lose 60+ pounds (more now) but 60 when I had my labs re-done, and here are my results.

Cholesterol: 179

Tri: 89

HDL: 35

LDL: 126

So my question is how can this be? How can my over all cholesterol go up, my good cholesterol get lower and my bad cholesterol get higher? I am doing EXACTLY what I am supposed to do! My numbers were better when I was sitting on my butt eating Bon Bons. Why? Why? Why? Pray tell! I know that my current numbers aren't that bad - but I am stressed. I am re-doing the labs in a few months so I am hoping that there is an improvement, but in the mean time why did they get worse?

more to come

2009-06-28T15:59:00.001-07:00

i have more pictures to post from May - Brooklyn's birthday etc

Stay tuned

Mother's Day Pictures

2009-06-28T15:41:00.001-07:00

For Mother's Day Don took the girls to get their pictures taken in their beautiful Easter Dresses. I guess they went a little too close to nap time - Ava was not 100% cooperative!
Pretty girls

Beautiful!!! She looks so graceful

Ava - refusing to participate! I love this picture! Such a personality!

Graduation Party!

2009-06-28T15:03:00.001-07:00

Let me preface this post by saying without Aunt Kathy and Naliea we would have very few pictures! I was just enjoying visiting with everyone so much - I didn't take many pictures.
We had a great time! We had the party at a Q's a bbq joint here in Carson. It was awesome! Lots of food and lots of family. I thank everyone who came to help put a dent in all of the food. The cake with the party theme

Ava eating cake

Rick, Gma Abbie and Deidra (taken by Naliea)

Naliea

Uncle Carl and Ava

Don and Ava

The original picture Don's graduation party 1988
Uncle Carl, Don and Aunt Kathy

The remake 2009 Don, Ava, Uncle Carl and Aunt Kathy

The original 1988 Don being an older brother

The remake Don, Jeff and Ella

Me cutting the cake - also on the table was a collage of Don's high school graduation pictures

Jase being a cutie

Lorelei and Jase

Ava and Evan

Me - taken by Naliea

Grandma Abbie and Deidra - by Aunt Kathy

Steve - by Aunt Kathy

Steve and Sean - by Aunt Kathy

Sean and Amanda - by Aunt Kathy

Lori, Ryan and Jase - Aunt Kathy

Ella, Jeff, Evan and Julie - Aunt Kathy

Don, Ava, Brooklyn and Me - again - taken by Aunt Kathy

Don's Graduation 5-9-09

2009-06-28T14:45:00.000-07:00

Terrible picture! This is him I promise - he was moving fast and we were in the nose bleeds

Don again

Pam modeling her new dress

Brooklyn took these in the hallway while we were waiting for him to come out

Jase and Lorelei

Kevin, Penelope, Rach and Abbie

Don and the girls

Doesn't he look cute!

The professional picture! I am so proud of him! It took 21 years to complete but he did it. He had a great turn out to cheer him on he is so thankful to have such awesome family.

Brooklyn - Pudding Face, Suessical the Musical and Crazy Hair Day

2009-05-22T09:54:00.000-07:00

So, about a week ago I made banana pudding and chocolate pudding and mixed them, Brooklyn thought it was so gross - I told her just to try it - she wouldn't so I had her by the arm and was trying to get her to taste it - she wouldn't - so I tackled her to the ground and made her eat it.

It was in her hair - everywhere! She ended up liking it though

She was in Suessical the Musical last Friday for her school. She LOVES a reason to dress up - she dressed up like Dr. Suess. She looked very cute!

There were 3 different plays - her group were the more advanced and she did so good! They all did really - i loved all the singing and dancing

AND FINALLY !!!!

CRAZY HAIR DAY 5-22-09

Brooklyn loves any reason to dress up. She is a crazy hair day freak! Always wanting to perfect last year's masterpiece. I braided her hair last night in 25 braids -

Looks pretty like this

Alas it won't last long
I teased the crap out of it - It took an hour and twenty minutes to tease and hair spray it.

Then comes the color..... Blue with orange polka dots!!

She loved it!! She was 5 minutes late for school, so she had to check in at the office to get a tardy pass - the office ladies loved it!! She got her picture taken again for the end of the year slide show. They all asked me if it was a wig. That is her favorite compliment on crazy hair day - is to ask her if it's a wig.

She had to slouch it was rubbing the ceiling of the car

will be posting pics of Don's graduation next

Turlock x 2

2009-05-09T19:04:00.000-07:00

So 3 weekends ago, I guess it would be the 24th? Don and Ava went to Turlock Friday night, Brooklyn, Snoopy and I came up Saturday after Brooklyn's soccer game. Evan was having his 4th birthday and Shannon just got a house - and we haven't been up there for a few months. It was a good excuse. We had a lot of fun just hanging out. I love Shannon's house - the prices in Newman are so cheap - makes me jealous! then last weekend Don, Ava and I woke up at 5am and were on the road by 6am drove back down there to pick up Pam, Don's mom. She moved up here to live with Sean and Amanda for a while. We drove the same day - LONG DAY!!! I drove her 78 Buick Regal home - SO glad it had stopped raining by then - multiple reasons. But we are all alive and well! Evan getting excited about opening up presents

Unloading his loot - this 4 year old made out!!!

Cake~

PaPa Steve, Ella and Brooklyn

Ava being a dork

Mario's storm trooper helmet was a big success

Ava trying to look inside

Mario - being funny - me being a good Aunt and giving him a Sees's peanut butter egg - and being a bad example making him do silly stuff

Shannon is going to kill me

Ava and Mario taking their own picture

Me and Mario

Ella and Shannon

Shannon's house

It is so pretty

I love these rose trees, I don't think I had ever seen rose trees before

Mario and Evan at the park

Walking down the stairs

Ava mid blink

Papa Steve - we got a lot of use from Mario's strom trooper helmet

Brooklyn and Eddie, Shannon's brother in law were playing a game of soccer in the front yard, Brooklyn got kicked in the shin, to know truly if she was faking I tried to take her picture - she wan't faking as she didn't even look up to cheese it - But Eddie did!

He looks a little to happy about it all ??? He actually felt really bad

Weight Loss Update!

2009-05-06T21:16:00.000-07:00

So since Jan 12, 2009 I have lost 47lbs- (I haven't weighed yet this week)!

Roxi asked how I was doing it, I eat 1200 cal or less a day and I work out at least 3 times a week - I try for 5 but don't kick myself in the butt if I miss as long as I get there at least 3 times a week.

While we were on vacation I didn't lose any weight but I didn't gain either. My dad and his damn black bean/queso nachos! I am sure I would have lost 3 lbs if I hadn't eaten them!

So in November when my folks were here we walked around the capital building while waiting for the Nevada Day Parade to begin, Brooklyn was following me around taking pictures of my substancial behind - annoyed then - thankful now. I still have a substancial behind but I I can see the difference and in the face too.

Before picturesSan Fran. June 2008Capital Building Nov. 2008Nevada Day Parade 2008

After May 6, 2008May 6, 2009 - Still aways to go - but making progress

I am staying very busy with school. I am taking my US/NV Constitution class over the summer as well as a 3 day a week yoga class, it's good for 1 credit so w/ yoga 3 days a week plus the gym I should be svelt by the end of July. .... hahaha.

My fall semester will be awesomely hard too - looking forward to it. I am going to pursue the nursing program, they make a ton more money then social workers - and they are always in need. So this fall I am knocking off my chemistry as well as a few other core classes. I have 3 biologies to take before I can apply to the nursing program - so I won't be able to apply for that until Jan. 11, for admittance in the fall of 11. I need to ace the chem and bios to get in. So i will be busy busy for a while. I have always wanted to do nursing, but thought it was going to be too hard, but after acing my math class this semester I am feeling a bit more secure with my intellectual abilities. I will graduate with my AA the fall of 10, prior to applying to the nursing program so there is a lot going on. I am very excited about all of it though. I finally feel like I am secure enough and smart enough to pull it off.

I am thinking I either want to be a school nurse so I get the summers off, however the State starts their psych nurses out at 60k a year - and a lady in my ward is a psych nurse at a hospital here in Reno, she has been the driving force in talking me out of social work, she insists that they make no money, her son told me (he is in my math class) that she wants me to consider nursing and told me how much she makes, as a pysch nurse she makes over 120k a year - as opposed to a psych social worker 55k year. woowzah - I am still leaving myself open to bail on it if I don't get an A in chem in the fall. Hopefully it will be a piece of cake.

Should I be worried?

2009-05-06T20:52:00.000-07:00

So, Brooklyn likes to dress up like boy from time to time - here she is modelling her new goatee

The ride down and softball w/ the Hutchings

2009-05-06T10:21:00.000-07:00

Potty Break in Tonopah - Ava dumped water all over herself so we had to strip her down, but then it was too cold for her outside so she got to stretch in the car.

Jaren getting ready to play ball

Kyle taking a picture of me taking a picture of him

Ava playing softball

Kyle

Don and Nathan pitching

Jaren really pissed that he couldn't catch Brooklyn

Jaren still really pissed off

Nathan pitching

Kyle riding the skate board
So while we were down there I like to play a little game with my nephews, all of them really, of torturing them until they confess that I am their favorite aunt. Kyle was adumant that he didn't have a favorite aunt. So I started to name some of his aunts, Jamie, NO - Wendy - NO - Sue - NO - Tara - NO - Me - NO, so I ask him why? Why don't you have a favorite aunt? He says," I don't have a favorite aunt because they are all GIRLS!" hahahaha guess that makes sense

Brooklyn batting and I don't know what Holly is doing - I know I waited for this shot though

Holly rounding the bases

The Browns and the Hardest Goodbye!

2009-05-06T10:00:00.000-07:00

We had such a fun time - as always at the Browns. We ate wonderful dinner and played games, karoke and Don's favorite - 4 tv's set up playing Halo!
This is Megan, Carrie's oldest (natural child) and Brooklyn karokeing

I wouldn't let Rachel get off easy - so I kept taking pictures until she smiled!

Tara and her BEAUTIFUL baby girl, Kayleigh - look at those blue eyes!

The boys playing Halo and 2 of the 4 tv's going

Roger's oldest son, Steven and Don

Rachel and Jana singing is one of my favorite things, well when any of the Brown girls sing it is so beautiful, Laura joined in and Ava was totally mesmerized by their voices

This is Anna Ware, she was Brooklyn's all time FAVORITE babysitter, next to the Browns, until she graduated highschool. So sad.

This is why it was so sad and hard to leave their house, they were crying, I was crying. I don't get to see them enough, to be welcomed in as if we hadn't been gone for 4 years and then to have Don just sit down and start playing games with people he has only met a handful of times, the warmth this family has it is just so hard to leave. It was by far the hardest goodbye we had. I miss them so much.

Thank goodness for Rachel and a bit of comic relief - at least we left laughing. If it wasn't Sat night before Easter and nearly 11 at night we would have stayed for ever.

Easter and Bellagio

2009-04-29T15:20:00.000-07:00

My naked child loving the sunglasses from the Easter Bunny

Nathan trying to pop the bubbles

After the ring pop

The boys tackling Brooklyn

Jaren taking Uncle Don to the 20th level of pain, it's a game they play, Jaren makes new attacks everytime we come down.

After Don and Jaren had wrapped it up the kids were jumping from bed to bed, what are hotel rooms for anyway? Well, right after this picture, Brooklyn over shot the bed and flipped, literally flipped feet over head and smacked against the wall and slid to the floor, it was a very scary sound - but she jumped up really quickly, probably afraid she would get in trouble if she were hurt, "I am OK"! Ha Ha Ava and Don at the Bellagio Fountains, Ava hated it, we had to go inside

Getting ready to watch the fountains

Watching the fountains

The boys were so cute to watch their faces as the fountains were going off.

Then we walked through the conservatory - my other favorite free thing!

Ava meets sunscreen before a day at the pool

I have so much to say

2009-04-26T23:32:00.000-07:00

I have so much I want to say, yell or scream. I have all this bitterness and resentment about things that I can't control or that are in the past- That being said - I can say none of it here because I am very concscious of who my readers are - even those that don't comment.

Anyway - that is enough.

I have still one section of vegas pictures to post and then we just, and I mean just got home from Turlock, went to visit Don's family so I have pictures from there too.

More Vegas Pictures - find the lie post

2009-04-24T22:21:00.000-07:00

Almost done with pictures about 1/3 of the way through still have the day we went swimming, the night with the Browns by far my most emotional night and arguably Don's fav since they had 4 tvs plugged into halo

Ava playing peak-a- boo in the sheers

For some reason Ava loved putting the m&m bags on her head and walking around with them on there

Ava loves pizza

Becky's (Bedier-Medsker) kids 2 of them, don't think I got one of the baby

Zach and Brayden and the M&M race car

Brayden, Zach and Brooklyn

The kids at the Brooklyn Bridge, NY,NY -- Riley said the real one is better - Then the girls went on the roller coaster there - had a great time - then off to Circus Circus adventure dome, I left my camera in the car - dang it! But they had a great time there we stayed 3 1/2 hours. I found a bench after half an hour told them to check in with me ever 2 rides and I played tetris. I am so LAME - day too was much more low key. Pizza at the hotel, a trip to M&M and Coke world we rode the class bottle elevavator, then back to the hotel and the let the crazys unleashed

4/8 of the Bidwell Cousins ....... some ones expecting ...and it's not me

Going a bit stir crazy in the hotel room

Speak No Evil, See No Evil, Hear No Evil --- love lex and riley's eyes

Don't make me SlAP YOU! Go get my money! Hahaha Seriously though - he is one good lookin kid

Riley and his "B* Slap Pimp Ring" I didn't call it that to him - I edited my self -

I think that Ava looks like Jordyn Barber (as a baby) in these pictures

Pictures from the last 3 days of vacation

2009-04-20T19:14:00.000-07:00

We had a great time on our vacation and because of that I have too many pictures that I want to post - these are just a small selection of them - I will post more

We were lucky - between the Monte Carlo and Ethel M's we got to do be drive by participants in the Tea Party at Sunset Park. I was snapping pictures from the car - not to many that were usable. I missed the woman in a business suit and her sign read, "YOU ARE NOT ENTILED TO GET WHAT I HAVE WORKED MY LIFE FOR." I really liked that too many people need to get off their butts and get a job!!

this lady stopped and posed for me

Love this one

Catcus flowers at Ethel M. I love that place - the cactus garden is so pretty

SO cute

At Grandma and Grandpa's house - Ava wore herself out and just crashed on the floor - believe me when I say this is the first and probably only time this will happen

Ava's tantrums are out of control as witnessed in these pictures from Grandma Carol's house.

On the way to Zion we stopped in an old ghost town called Grafton - I had never heard of it. It was a bit off the road - very picturesque - Ava wanted to touch this cow.

They had a stare down for a while and then the cow just walked away

an old house

the school house / church

Ava's tantrum continued

I love this one - even though it is out of focus - you can just see that pout

This one is awesome - as well

The 10 hour ride home sucked more then usual. I got a speeding ticket by a jerk NHP officer who gave me a ticket for going 10 over the speed limit near Indian Springs - I was in the right lane and getting passed on the left. Don't get it.

Ava HATES being in the car - so we bought a bag of M&M's and just kept giving them to her to passify her - I know we are horrible - but we needed to get home Saturday.

Brooklyn being too cool for me

Ava making faces at me

Smiling at me getting her foot

While in Vegas I bought these cheap sunglasses and the frame wouldn't stay in them - I think the lense got dropped somewhere in Tonopah never to be seen from again.

This is her whistling at me and trying to wink at herself in the mirror

She is getting the wink down

Peak-A-Booo

She is such a pretty girl

Need to know -- if you are coming

2009-04-19T13:52:00.000-07:00

So we had a wonderful spring vacation! We got to see friends and family - I missed some friends though - Linda - Sorry I flaked on you!

I will post pictures soon - I have one more essay to write and a test to study for.

I just need to get a head count - if you are planning to come to Don's graduation and lunch in.

You do not need a ticket to get in to the graduation, so come if you can. But I am catering the food so I need an idea of how many people we are feeding. We will be having the lunch in at the C-Hill church, not that I don't love all of those coming - I just don't know that I want you all in my house! : )

So please let me know! Text me or comment. Thanks

NEWEST GUILTY PLEASURE

2009-04-05T21:07:00.000-07:00

Don and I have stumbled upon our newest guilty pleasure ....

it is MTV's Bully Beatdown.

The idea is they get picked on people to nominate their Bully and then the host "Mayhem" a mixed martial arts fighter pairs the bully up with a MMA fighter and then we watch the bully get the crap beat out of them for 6 minutes - if it ever lasts that long.

Seriously, hysterical - and awesome.

pictures and update

2009-04-05T17:15:00.000-07:00

Ava eating cake

After basketball ice cream cone

Ava loves the mcd's ice cream

I think this is chocolate pudding

She is a chocoholic

A little bit relaxing with Dad and reading a book

Brooklyn at band a rama

Naliea w/ her friend at her birthday party

Naliea opening presents

Jase at Naliea's party

Ava loves to climb into Snoopy's bed and then they just jocky for position

She is a future wrestler, she crawls under him to move him

This is him trying to take up as much space as possible

Now he is trying to push her out

He usually gives up

Auntie Shannon gave her this dress for Christmas - I love it - it is soo Jacque O - too bad these were the only good pictures I could get of her.

Brooklyn on St Patty's Day

Piggy back ride to bed

Don finally fighting back

First game of the spring season was yesterday - still pretty cold outside at 10am - she played wonderfully!

This line caller kept blocking my view so I figured he must want a picture of his butt eating his pants

Ava playing a little soccer

She's already good at ignoring me

pre tantrum

So cute she threw everything outside the crib but this pillow and we snuck in on her sleeping on it - how cute!

So what has been going on the last few months or so?

Don is still working at a job we hate - but hey - he is employed and bringing home a paycheck. He gets to graduate in less than a month - May 9th. We just got the announcements so I need to get them sent out. He will officially be done with his Bachellors in July but in May he can start applying for new jobs.

I am still in school taking 9 credits almost done with this semester. I am making good grades - I am actually getting an A in math, which I never thought would happen. Other then that I am just the chef and taxi.

Brooklyn's year is finally winding down. Yearbook, math club and basketball are all over, she played indoor soccer until the spring season started, the indoor soccer is funny to watch - I didn't take any pictures. She is also still in the 5th grade band, and drama club, she is taking sign language from the Office Admin at her school, a deaf girl started school about 2 months ago, the office admin used to be a sign interpreter, she started teaching a sign club, the club got cut do to budget reasons but teh OA told us that Brooklyn was her star student and offered to teach her at our home. She is already to a conversation level. She is able to communicate w/ the little deaf girl and I am so impressed that she can pick up these new things so easily. She has talked about going on an ASL mission when she is older. I can't believe how many talents she has already found and is developing!
Ava is very determined! She has started throwing these Holy Royal Tantrums we have to leave church early, the grocery store ect. She is climbing on everything, she counts 1,2,3,4 and tries to sing the alphabet and do the signs with Brooklyn, it's funny she just moves her hand around.
We will be in Vegas Easter Sunday, however we are only making time to make a few visits - most of our time in Vegas will be spent doing touristy stuff and the time in Hurricane will be spent with my Grandma and Mom and Dad, both Gma and Mom are recovering from medical stuff of their own. We are looking forward to the visit and just relaxing.

Don't forget MAY 9TH, Don's graduation!

Celebrating my successes

2009-03-21T11:51:00.000-07:00

So I have been really buckling down on my diet and weight loss regime for the last few months.
I have been through my Dr to a nutritionist and to a weight loss clinic. I have stayed on a 1200 calorie a day diet for a while, it starts that you feel like you are starving, but then you get used to it. Then I was on the next phase of liquid meal replacement for several weeks, although I did allow myself to eat dinner with my family, now I am back to 6 small meals through out the day, and one or two is a meal replacement shake. Our meals have become less fattening through this process so it's better for the family.

I have been losing weight but not at the speed that I was hoping for, now that I have my thyroid in check, I thought that the pounds would just fly off.
So I was complaining to my Dr and his nurse about it the slow progress and they told me that I am too uptight. I need to celebrate my successes and not worry so much about the scale.
Before my hernia surgery I was burning at least 600 calories 4 days a week at the gym plus weights, I gave myself 6 days to recover from surgery and have been back to the gym since Monday, although I am taking it much slower then normal and am not permitted to do the weights just yet, I am burning avg 300-500 calories a day, just depends on my endurance for the day.

So - my successes to date:
I finally weigh what I did when Ava was conceived (still a lot to weigh)
Since Jan. 16, 09 I have lost 27 pounds
This week I wore pants that I haven't worn since 2006, before Ava was conceived, they are still muffin toppy but that's ok. I still have a muffin top
I have lost 10 inches over my body - from Jan. 12 - Feb. 28th - I haven't measured for March yet.
People who see me say my face looks thinner, Rita said it is starting to look like I crapped my pants, it is a compliment from her, trust me.

My doc says I am too neurotic, I have to allow myself to be happy for what I have done so far you can't keep your goal constantly out of reach. I guess that is why Weight Watchers must work for so many people because they get the constant raw raw raw stuff from each other. I find it annoying personally.

I want to be down 20 more pounds by the time we go to Vegas, I am not sure that my family will notice a 27 lb weight loss, I guess it depends on when they saw me last and how fat I was then. But I am pretty sure they would notice a 47lb weight loss. They will all notice now - since I am posting this! Ha Ha

So this is my RAW RAW RAW moment for myself! I think that I will do these from time to time to buoy myself up.

Just did my March measurements: 8 1/2 down for March which is 18 1/2 inches total since Jan. 16th

SORRY

2009-03-21T11:50:00.000-07:00

I need to throw some pictures up here. I haven't been so Johnny on the spot with the camera lately.

I will update soon

PICTURES TO FOLLOW TOMORROW

2009-02-15T23:23:00.000-08:00

Just an overview of what we have been up to.
School started back for me after MLK day. I have a full load of classes. I enjoy school. I like feeling like I am doing something productive. All of my classes are Tuesday and Thursday. I have homework hours Monday and Wednesday, I didn't have enough daycare hours with just the 2 days of school. I actually have been using my homework hours A LOT! I only have to take 1 math for my major and I am doing good in it so far I have a 93% but we are only 1/4 of the way through. I am also in Eng 1o2 - my teacher is out there and I have a Core Humanities class.
Back to my math teacher - he is tall and handsome and young oh yeah....and a math genius. I wish I had any friends I could set him up with! ahhaha sucks for the friends I don't have here.

Ava is doing great! She is talking and talking and talking. She has figured out that she can get on top of any surface she wants to if she pushes a dining chair to that surface she can get on top of the counters and the table. I have begun to put the chairs upside down when we aren't using them. She is just getting the cutest and funnest personality. When it's nigh nigh time she has to say goodnight to all of the pictures on our entertainment center, Grandma and Grandpa, Lexa and Riley and Baby Jase and Naliea, Mario and Evan. I mean everyone. It is funny. I am so thankful for her. When I threw out my back last wednesday I was just bending over to give her some snacks and I fell instantly to the floor. As I was crying out for help she brought me the phone, my cell phone, the remote control, she even was able to move the dowel in the kitchen sliding glass door, she was moving it to bang it on the floor - but made it possible for someone to get into the house!

Brooklyn's schedule is keeping me busy as usual! I made the mistake of telling her if it is a school activity she could do it! So Monday she has band and then sign language club after school, then indoor soccer practice after school. Tuesday she has basketball games, (soccer and basketball only overlap for one more month) Wednesday she has yearbook at 7:30am then the same schedule as Monday. Thursday she has math club after school. Friday she has Thinking Cap at 7:15am, they are an academic debate team. The math club and academic were programs that she had to get invited to participate in. I am thrilled that she is so active - I just wish she had her own car! ahahaha maybe in Jr. High her activities will slow down a bit as she figures out what her passions are.

Don is still busy! His schedule doesn't change much. He is getting closer and closer to graduation and I can't wait! He will start applying for jobs in May. We are praying that our house sells by then. We would rather rent for a few months and be out from underneath this house so we have no ties that bind us here. He is actually the one pressing hard for Vegas. I love him so much.
I am not one to gush. I am so thankful for him. He is determined and caring and thoughtful. He really is the perfect man and you all should be jealous! haha

So i will be posting pictures soon --hopefully by tomorrow

SERIOUSLY

2009-02-15T01:42:00.000-08:00

So, seriously, I am selling our house. I have listed it on Zillow and on Craigslist. We may consider doing a lease to buy type situation with the right person. We aren't asking a lot for the house. I am asking $199,000. Please --- if you know anyone who is interested and can qualify please have them contact me. We have completely remodeled the kitchen, custom cherry wood cabinets and pergo flooring. Bathrooms have been completely remodeled also, sure we have projects that we are still working on but will not have time to finish.

Next Sunday, Feb 22nd we will be having a family fast and prayer meeting that we will be able to get out from under our house so that when Don gets the job offer in May we won't have the house worry then. Please alert the presses!!

Pray it works out!

2009-02-14T21:55:00.001-08:00

Last Wednesday I had a horrible back spasm. It knocked me to the floor, I couldn't move. I cried and cried and Ava cried with me. I texted everyone I know here in this God forsaken town and heard from no one. I could not feel my right leg and my toes were increasingly numb. I seriously thought I would have suffered major nerve damage and loose feeling in my feet (yes dramatic - but I was scared!) I have a long history of sciatica, but this was by far the worst it has ever been. Don came rushing home from work to find me almost 2 hours lying in the same spot. Every move or twitch I would make would make my back spasm even more and I would cry more. Ava was so sweet, she brought me my cell phone, the home phone and even the remote control. I was in the middle of the kitchen floor so the remote did me no good. Don was able to get a hold of Amanda (Sean's wife) and she came to take Ava for a ride and pick Brooklyn up from school. We called an ambulance, as I could not even stand. The ER here sucks. They just kept giving me Demerol and all kinds of narcotics. I just wanted a muscle relaxer to stop the spasms in my lower back. I was permanently stuck on my left side. It was horrible. I am more mobile today, and feeling slightly better. My "AHA" moment came as I lie crying to myself and to Ava that I could honestly lie her until 8:30 when Don was supposed to get home from work. No one had answered my pleas for help. I need to be home. I need to be back in Vegas. Where I can count on people. For crying out loud I was on the floor for 2 hours! My Mom and Dad could have made it to Vegas from Hurricane in that amount of time. So we are house shopping for Vegas right now. Hoping that by the time Don graduates College in May we should have a job offer by June and be out of this town in June. We are prequalled for 200k which, right now buys you a hell of a lot in Vegas !!! We need to come up w/ 3% and closing costs by then. And we need to figure out what we are going to do with this house. I put it up on Craigslist, trying to sell it only for what we owe on it - we are also willing to rent to buy to the right person. If you know anyone who wants to rent or buy in Carson please send them our way, we have done a ton of work to this house, there are a few projects that need to be done, but we are working on them - nah...not really! I am done with Projects on this house! hahaha Great first time home - great investment property!!! Please pray that our plans work out. I need my family and friends again!

# 257

2009-02-09T19:23:00.000-08:00

This week I have encountered reason # 257 why I hate Carson City, oh but well, who's counting anymore.
It really sucks when your "best friends" and even some family know what your vocation is and how you make a living and still choose to employ others to list their homes and take them to see new homes. Oh, well C'este la vie. Makes it easier to leave this place.

Hero

2009-02-06T18:06:00.000-08:00

Since this has been so fun to read for everyone else – I followed the rules and some of my answers are HYSTERICAL – You can’t make this stuff up!

1. Put Your iTunes on Shuffle.2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.3. You must write down the name of the song no matter how silly it sounds!
.
If someone says "Is this ok?" you say? When I See You Smile – Bad English
How would you describe yourself? Lose Yourself – Eminem
What do you like in a guy/girl? Smooth Criminal – Alien Ant Farm – That’s why I love him!
How do you feel today? Sweet Home Alabama – Lynyrd Skynrd - I must be missing family?What is your life’s purpose? Gold Digger – Kayne West – Hahahahahahaa True Nuf True Nuf
What is your motto? Doin’ Just Fine – Boyz II Men – See I am a glass half full kinda girl
What do your friends think of you? Da Butt – EU --hahahahahahhahaha Yes, Yes this is nothing new!
What do you think of your parents? Beyond the Sea – Bobby Darin - They live to far away!
What do you think about very often? Sunny Day – Deana Carter – I actually like the rain we have been getting – but I would love a tan!
What is 2 + 2? – Imagine _ John Lennon – I must be feeling pretty introspective
What do you think of your best friend? Defying Gravity – Wicked – MAY WE NEVER SAG!!!
What do you think of the person you like? Rock Me Tonite – Billy Squier – He will be glad to hear this!
What is your life story? I Can’t Believe That You’re in Love With Me – Billie Holiday – Ah, how sweet.
What do you want to be when you grow up? God Only Know- Beach Boys – Aint that the truth?!?!? My Ipod is like the stinking magic 8 ball!
What do you think of when you see the person you like? My Immortal - Evanescence
What will you dance to at your wedding? Girls, Girls, Girls – Jay Z – HAHAHAHAHA Can you imagine dancing to Jay – Z in the church ?
What will they play at your funeral? Black Man’s Struggle – Ludacris – Hahahaahaaa no comment
What is your hobby/interest? I wanna Talk About Me - Toby Keith - - hahaaha aha You can't make this up! This is again, true
What is your biggest fear? Knockin Boots – Candyman - no comment
What is your biggest secret? Centerfold – The J. Geils Band - Umm, Yeah…about that….
What do you think of your friends? Evolution – Korn - Always changing
What will you post this as? Hero – Enrique Iglesias

25 Random Things about me

2009-02-04T15:49:00.000-08:00

I posted these on Facebook, but this is for those of you who still don't have a Facebook! I tag anyone who wants to do it

1. I have never eaten a McDonalds Hamburger, Hot Dog or bologna

2. My bedroom growing up was "pepto pink” Pink is still one of my favorite colors

3. Mauve is my least favorite color - it makes me want to gag

4. I am not afraid of needles, shots, giving blood - good thing since I had to do fsh shots in the stomach!

5. Girls Camp 1995 5th year hike we went on a 30 mile back pack - on one leg of the hike we swam in a stream and then hung our bras in the tent to dry - well when I woke up there was a BAT hanging in my bra. The men with us had to inspect my bra and then cut the bats teeth out of the lace! I think it was Kristy Kleinman’s Dad and Heather Clove’s Dad?

I broke my arm in the 1st grade having a jump out of the swing contest w/ my brother….I lost …but that’s when I met Greta we both had broken arms – I think hers may have been a wrist

My top 10 things on my ‘bucket list’ are sporting events – I celebrate Super Bowl, Stanley Cup Playoffs and The World Series like holidays!

The remaining 90 have to do with traveling. After Ava’s in college I want to buy a big RV and just drive all over Country.

I used to think my Dad made us go to Disneyland to torture us. We went 1-2 times a year and we wanted to go to Magic Mountain…no such luck.

I like Disneyland now – it’s different when you have kids and you don’t go all of the time.

I broke my leg while volunteering for the Special Olympics Winter Games near Tahoe – WALKING! Then called myself a retard multiple times before I realized where I was.

I had to have said leg operated on – but made the Dr. wait a week because we had a Disneyland Vacation to get to. I spent Disneyland in a wheel chair – not a bad deal through fantasy land.

I sometimes pretend that I don’t speak English to avoid talking to people.

I had crazy anger issues from the ages of , oh….9-17 and I am totally embarrassed to talk to people who knew me then – so yeah this facebook thing is good for me!

I am a good cook and baker – a crappy house keeper

I love helping people who appreciate your time and effort

I love and miss my family – all the immediate and extended and wish for a big holiday dinner

I am deathly afraid of moths and I don’t like butterflies – pretty much anything that jumps or flies I hate.

I wish all of my friends and family would realize that living in Las Vegas stinks and move up to the Greater Carson City, Reno, Sparks area!

I am allergic to Oxy pimple cream – I used it once in high school and I woke up with a swollen face.

Stephanie Englestead and I pierced our belly buttons using ice cubes and diaper pins – then my mom ripped it out New Years Eve 1994! OUCH!

I am so thankful that my horrible taste in men wore off right before I met Don. He is just the perfect Yin to my Yang

I dig old people – I love listening to stories about the good old days

I have donated my hair twice to Locks of Love

I like to sing and wish I could do it better

APPOLOGIES ALL AROUND

2009-01-30T11:23:00.000-08:00

Sorry I flipped and verbally assaulted my friends. I came down with the flu today and I don't think I was of sound mind yesterday. As for my music selection I am still looking for tunes. However, normally I listen to the Wicked sound track or phantom or grease, I have eclectic taste. Just for the gym I need something more motivating.

I think I am over the party ....my pity party anyway. I know it will be fun. sorry for the verbal abuse and pity party!

ps thanks for the comments! hahaha

No love??

2009-01-29T20:56:00.001-08:00

First of all ----you all suck!! I asked for some help! I need some tunes! If you are just passing through comment! GEEZ! All the crap I get from you people when I don't post and then when I do no one comments! Geez - no love

In a nut shell - I am always conflicted as to my feelings about Carson City. I love the area, no lie. I love the trees, the snow, the mountains, the seasons, the leaves in the fall, that people here think we live in a desert, and that Lake Tahoe is a stones throw from my house (assuming you can throw pretty hard). I love that Brooklyn has been able to be a part of so many fabulous opportunities - the big fish or even medium fish in a small pond is very much in effect here.
I however, still struggle with the people. I have found it very hard to make friends, now that I am going to school I have become friends with a woman who has a similar demographic, married, kids 30+ and a freshman in college. Outside of her I don't have many friends, although I try the people I have come across are flaky at best. So now I am in a position where I was asked to throw a baby shower for a friend from church. Flash back 17 months or so to my baby shower that was given to me by some friends from church and the 5 people that showed up. I am not bitter over the people that came it is all the fake people who kiss your ass to your face and act all phony to your face and then don't even bother making an appearance at your baby shower and it isn't like I am the girl who is on her 4th and having ANOTHER baby shower from the same ward. - it was my first in 10 years - pretty much I was in need. So I am fighting this bitter feeling throwing a shower for on of the throwers of mine. I am more organized and plan things better, my shower I feel was kinda thrown together, not many people knew about it. So I am fighting feeling bitter, that people will be there, more people will be there then were there for mine. She is going to get gifts that I had to pay for out of my own pocket etc etc etc. And I know this is her first kid in 5 years but still, I am planning like I am going to have fun - but I know I am going to get there and just get my feelings hurt. I know that will be my choice to get hurt feelings but I may not be able to help it. I told Holly, I am going to have to buy myself that $80.00 stroller I want as my late baby shower gift, after this shower!

Don always mentions moving back to Vegas. He wants to. I am the one digging in my heels. We moved here to be close to his kids. Brooklyn has opportunities here that I am not sure she would have down there. I am making friends, just not church people, is this one of those things that parents sacrifice for their kids? Brooklyn has great friends and is involved with everything. Not to mention I don't know what we would do with this house if we moved? I guess after Don's graduation if he gets a job offer in Vegas we will move - ???? I am hoping the Lord knows what he is doing with all of this.

Help!

2009-01-28T14:08:00.000-08:00

I need to reorganize my 'gym mix' on my Ipod. Not 50's In da club and Em's Shake That, can ever get old - I just need a little something more.

So this is an all points bulletin what's in your gym mix? I need some up tempo stuff - stuff that makes you want to dance and shake your butt --- which actually today at the gym I was on the elliptical and I caught myself dancing? funny.

Vegas Baby!!

2009-01-22T19:06:00.000-08:00

WOOT TEE WOOOT!!!!

So we are coming to Vegas in April! Sweet!! Don't get your hopes up for a lot of door to door visits though. Haha

My poor has endured Vegas with me many times over the passed 4 years - however he has never done anything Vegas has to offer. When we are there it is always all about who we have to visit. So this time we are renting a room just off the Strip on Paradise (discounted by the condom hotel) and I promised him that we could do "touristy" things. The things I always over look doing because I have already. We actually will be driving down Saturday the 11th and staying at Holly's house Saturday. We check into our hotel Sunday and doing the Vegas stuff until Wednesday when we will be going to Utah to visit my Grandma and Parents.

Now, I am not saying that we won't see anyone --- but you know this is supposed to be a vacation! So plan on hanging out with us on the Strip if you want to see us! : )

Jan. 20, 2009

2009-01-20T15:16:00.000-08:00

I am finally getting to watch the Inauguration. ( I had class all day)

I am so proud right now. I am proud that I am a citizen of this country. I am proud that I got to witness history. I loved Obama's speech. It almost made me want to change my vote. I feel hopeful. I hope that he is able to live up to what he says.
I loved the look on his wife's face while he was being sworn in, she was so proud and it has rubbed off on me. I want to believe him - I want to believe in him.

Anyway regardless of how the next 4 years go - I am proud to have been witness to this day.

trying to live without pretense!

2009-01-17T19:34:00.000-08:00

About 3 weeks ago Holly told me about a book she was reading.
Dave Ramsey, "Total Money Makeover". She told me a bit of Dave Ramsey's story and I wanted to know more. We bought the book (using an Xmas gift card)

I read the book in a day. I stayed up until 3am planning out our financial future applying the simplest principals, that I admittedly have known about and have talked about doing, before. If we stick with this plan we could be debt free including our house and have a ton socked away for retirement in about 21 years. Out of debt in less than 1 and our house in about 15, student loans paid off too!

The concepts aren't rocket science. They are simple. The life style changes are what is hard. When you are so used to getting whatever you want and when you want it you never have to save! Well that is a thing of the passed.

Dave Ramsey's first step is to get $1,000.00 saved. He gives all kinds of ways to get that done.
I began taking a look around at all of our EXCESS!! 3 laptops and 1 computer, 3 cars, nordic track elliptical...etc etc etc. Well, they are all paid for, I say to myself. We DESERVE them, I also say. Then I have the memory of a friend of mine and a quote in the book that keep ringing in my head.
My friend Lindsey (my marathon runner friend), she had a great job, she made great money, she bought herself her dream car, a Lexus. Her husband lost his job, she was pregnant and not going back to work, she sold Lexus and bought a Jetta (or other VW). Still a respectable car. Was it easy? Hell no, she didn't know how to drive a stick for one and for 2 she had to give up her brand new car. I will always admire that. Then the quote from the book, " You can't afford to be pretentious!"

So with that resonating in my head, " We can't afford to be pretentious, we can't afford to put on airs". Don and I talked about selling a car. We chose the Kia, it's the older car and it has had a good run. I listed it on Craigslist Tuesday night. We had a guy call that night to come by Thursday and check it out. He paid cash for it Thursday morning he didn't even try to haggle the price! Now we have our savings and are well on our way to paying off the credit card!

I listed the Nordic Track Elliptical coat rack on Craigslist this afternoon after being unable to sell it at the yard sale and I have someone coming by tomorrow to check it out.

It has been hard to let go of our "extra" car and these other things. (I have listed a ton of stuff on craigslist). I know it's just a Kia yadda yadda yadda however the more crap that you have that you don't need is a sign of success these days. And it's hard to redefine yourself.

We want to live like no one else now, so we can live like no one else later! (another Ramsey quote)

Any way I am excited about our progress that we have made to date and I am excited about our future.

I recommend that everyone read the book, the first few chapters are snoozers - but it does get exciting and motivating!

Just because....

2009-01-17T19:29:00.000-08:00

Just because it is sunny outside doesn't mean it is warm!

We have had a very depressing winter. Very little snow or rain. The days warm up to 50ish.

Our neighbor Bill, decided to take advantage of the sunshine and have a yard sale. We thought we could afford to get rid of some things too. We started at 8am. I was up at 7 getting stuff together and organized outside. By 7:14 I couldn't feel the tips of my fingers. It looks so delightfully sunny! Pay no attention to the fact that the thermostat reads 17 degrees.

Ugh. So, pretty much we spent the morning out side and freezing. We did get in a couple of games of Horse w/ Brooklyn during the slow times.

All in all we had a successful yard sale. We made almost $100.00 and were able to go to Target and buy a second car seat. We have been moving this big honkin monster back and forth for 5 months now. It will definitely make our lives easier!

SAVE THE DATE!!!!

2009-01-14T16:24:00.001-08:00

SAVE THE DATE!!!

Don's graduation date is: Saturday May 9th, 2009!!!!

The exact time is unknown, probably about 2pm?

A few questions

2009-01-11T20:19:00.000-08:00

For the friends and family who read my blog. I am having a graduation party for Don in May. Bachelors degree 21 years in the making! Please let me know if you would like to come. I am renting tables and chairs and catering the food. So please come and celebrate with him! I should know tomorrow when the day is exactly. Please reply to this. I know there are family and friends who generally don't comment. I will send out save the dates this week and then real invites as it gets closer.

Next, Bloggers - How do I have my friends list sorted by people's posts? Then I can only read those people who updated.... HELP!!

Brooklyn

2009-01-11T19:36:00.001-08:00

About Brooklyn, she is 10 years old and 8 months. She is 4' 6'' tall. She is passable without effort at anything she does. She is excellent at whatever she chooses to put her mind and effort to. She is an over achiever, stresses about tests, wants to be in the top 3 of everything. She read all 4 of the Maximum Ride books during Christmas Break, staying up until 2am to finish the 2nd one. She tested highest in her class in Math and near top in reading and writing. She is an awesome big sister and an awesome daughter. She has such a strong sense of values and an equally strong testimony. She loves to dress up - school spirit days ROCK HER SOCKS! She is in the Math Club, Super Scholar, Band, Year Book, and Thinking Cap team (they play like academic jeopardy with other schools) Playing with Ava at the dog park

Still thinks that she looks like Elvis

This is her whimsy pose

This is the "Tyra Fierce" pose

Some of her friends came to see her play. She has so many friends!

Got the speaking role of Nanny her first try out!

Loved the 80's & 90's pizza party her class won

Can entertain Ava for hours with one box!

Ava

2009-01-11T19:06:00.000-08:00

This is her wink - It's blurry because I had to take it quickly

In the drawer

Ava had her well check Friday. She is 30 inches tall and 20 pounds. Her hemangioma is almost flat to her head now. It is remarkable how small it has gotten. I know that the 1o months on the steriods were pretty sucky but they did their job inhibiting the growth of the hemangioma and even reduced in size. Now that she is off of them she is a lot friendlier to be around. She is thinning out her cheeks no longer rest on her shoulders, she sleeps better (whew!)

She is 15 months old now and has quite the extensive vocabullary. Most of which even strangers know what she is saying. Some of the words she says are:

Baby (her first word reading a baby face book Lorelei gave her)

Mommy

Daddy

Puppy

Brooby (Brookie)

DOOOOGY _DOG (I call Snoopy 'Snoop Doggy Dog')

Uh-oh - when lauching things she no longer has an interest for

Out

Hi der (Hi there - a talking bear my folks gave her says "Hi THERE!")

bye-bye

num num

NANA (banana - when I had 22lbs of bananas in the kitchen making bread for everyone, everytime we came in the kitchen she thought that she needed another banana)

biiiiiite

bah- bah

T-AHHH (after she drinks something refreshing, she also does it especially loud in church after she drinks the water)

Nigh- nigh

Tank-ewe (usually handing me one pen at a time from the pen drawer)

other funny things she does are:
She likes to scream along to songs ---again mostly during church, she needs to be the loudest one there.

Blows kisses

Makes a kiss sound

Says " SHHHH" w her pointer finger either up her nose or as near to her mouth as possible

Makes a fish face

Tries to wink but hasn't quite figured out how to close her eyes

fakes a cough and covers her mouth - but won't cover her mouth for a real cough

Tries to feed herself

Likes to dump the rag and towel drawer to crawl in and play

And she has the BEST big sister ever! Brooklyn is a great sister.

She will walk around the house with the phone between her ear and her shoulder and say "HI" and then just scream into it.....I wonder if that is how she sees me?

I think that is about it on my Ava update

Christmas

2009-01-11T18:16:00.000-08:00

Brooklyn made us this storage unit from the box my parents shipped their Christmas presents in.

Doing the " I got it dance"

It was Raving Rabbids

Comfy blankie from Grandma Caro Hmm....puzzled...why did she get me a mouth guard?

And ...cleats????

Finding out that I signed him up for grown man flag football! SWEET! He is excited about it. They begin in March and they play no matter what type of weather we are having. I can't wait!

Brooklyn had an "American Girl" Christmas. She got Nikki when we were in Chicago and she got Kit for Christmas along w/ 2 outfits and Kit's dog

Brooklyn introducing them to each other

Snoop

Ava's Lady Bug rocker - she gets some serious momentum on this thing!

Kissing her baby doll

Our first White Christmas here! This is what we woke up to! It was gorgeous!

New chairs. She is redecorating her room and wants it to be "funky"

As for my Christmas - Don got me 2 Calphalon pans! Woo Hoo --- I do seriously love them! And it was the best gift. He also bought us tickets to see Joel McHale (from the Soup). We went Dec. 27th. The picture above is Brooklyn's attempt at taking it before our date. The one below is the one I ended up taking of us. We had such a great night! It was our first 2 event date since Ava has been born. Usually we can get out for dinner or a movie never both. Mandy babysat so we could enjoy dinner (Outback) and then the show. We had a great time! It was so awesome.

Pre - Christmas

2009-01-11T17:24:00.000-08:00

Don hanging lights on the house

Our beautiful Christmas Tree with our leather ottomans serving as a baby and puppy barrier
My folks do an early Christmas Eve so that everyone can go to their house and still be at their own homes for Christmas. We weren't able to make it this year. But they called and let us know when we could open our Christmas Eve Jammies.

Brooklyn the headband Queen!!

She was excited because her jammies came w the matching headband

I am noticeablyabsent from these pictures - I am behind the camera usually and the one that was taken of me opening my jammies is horrendous!!! But I loved them! Thanks Mom and Dad for the awesome gifts!

Tonsilectomy Pictures

2009-01-11T16:49:00.000-08:00

Brooklyn trying to prep herself for the IV

After the IV - she didnt' want to look at it. Just wanted me to take a picture of it so she could see it later.

Being Goofy Getting ready for surgery!

Feeling anxious and giddy. The nurse came in right after this picture to put her in a wheel chair and told her they were going to give her medicine to calm her nerves and that we would wheelchair race through the hallway on the way to surgery. The medicine they put in her IV was a sedative and we didn't race through the hallways but Brooklyn thought we were going pretty fast. When we got to the OR they lifted her onto the operating bed and the anesthesiologist began to talk to her...she liked him because he was wearing a Looney Toon hat and a NY Yankee lanyard with his name tag on it, so they were friends, any way he began talking to her and asked her how she was feeling...and she with her eyes half shut, half glazed over answered, " I FEEL GREAT!!!" (you have to say it like a stoner though cause that is how she was sounding) She could barely tell me good-bye. He gave her the meds to make her fall asleep and asked her to count to ten and I think she made it to 3.

This was her post op. Believe it or not she wanted me to take these pictures. She was so out of it and kept saying the funniest things. She kept trying to grab her straw with her mouth and kept missing it. It was pretty funny.

These next 2 pictures were a special request from Brooklyn. She asked the Dr. if he would save her tonsils and maybe take them home. He said in the old days he would have let her take them home but he can't allow that any more. He did however keep them in a ziplock bag for her to inspect. As soon as she came to - she wanted to see them. Then she wanted to make sure that there were plenty of pictures of them - since she was pretty sure she wouldn't remember them.

Our Dr. said that he tonsils were deceiving large that the bulk of them was below what he could see. I hope that her strep throat cases will diminish if not go away!

Snoop Dog

2009-01-11T16:41:00.000-08:00

This is the # 2 reason why it is so hard for me to get anything done. He had more fun in the piles of leaves I was racking then Ava did.

He is such a spaz sometimes. He would burrow himself into the piles and then jump around in them. It was very funny.

Snoopy is 7 months old and is a Dachshund / Lab Mix. He is getting bigger then we thought. We have already had to buy him a new collar and harness, as we bought the "small dog" set and he is obviously heading towards the "medium" dog size.

A girl and her dog....Double Trouble

2009-01-11T16:28:00.000-08:00

Ava and Snoopy have a very special bond. She torments him and he takes it. He likes to be where ever she and I are. This scene below happens whenever I am in her room. She has this cute little chenille chair that he loves so she just crawls up there with him and gives him kisses. When he is on the couch she will lean into him and make kiss noises until he licks her face and she giggles.
It isn't always cute with these two. They are truly partners in crime. She gives him her toys to chew up. She reaches onto the table or counter or whatever she can reach and pull down whatever she can pull down and if it doesn't interest her she gives it to him to annihilate. They both are hours worth of fun and giggles though.

Pictures

2008-12-21T18:44:00.000-08:00

Brooklyn's 5th grade Fall Picture

Ava's 1 yr picture

Naliea's Christmas Picture

Ava's Day Care Christmas card picture

Happy Hanukkah

2008-12-15T18:15:00.000-08:00

Last Friday night Brooklyn helped one of her best friends, Dagen, with his Hanukkah project. The last 2 years instead of getting presents for Hanukkah, he donates time and services to worthy causes. This year he needed a little help packing up hygiene kits. Brooklyn was more then willing to help. The good deeds also graced the cover of the Sunday paper. I have attached that article. http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20081214/NEWS/812129952&parentprofile=search

I admit it!!

2008-12-13T17:46:00.000-08:00

I am guilty of sometimes pretending that I don't speak English to avoid talking to people!

I guess the dark hair and eyes and everyone always asking me if I am mexican or something more exotic then just plain white has started to pay off.

Example of how this plays out:
Scenario #1: The other day, ok a month or so ago, I was at Walmart and the checker had asked me to hang the "closed" sign on the back of my cart and then tell anyone who lines up behind me that she is closed. I didn't want to do that - - that makes me feel uncomfortable, so I didn't answer her, she handed me the sign and repeated herself --so I got the "I am not sure what you are saying look" on my face and shrugged my shoulders. I hung the sign up on my cart but didn't tell anyone who came behind me to go away - she can tell them if they can't read my sign.

Scenario #2: The parking lot solicitors that chase you down and want to sell you a magazine subscription or something. I just pretend I don't hear them and when that doesn't work I again stare at them blankly and then they repeat and I shrug my shoulders and shake my head and turn around and when I have to I will say, "No Habla" I only bust out the "No Habla" when I am pretty sure the other party doesn't speak Spanish!

Also, I can only do this when I am not with my whitey Husband and Kids!

Technical difficulties

2008-12-13T17:42:00.000-08:00

I know I promised more pictures from November and they are coming!

My computer crashed! I had a boatload of viruses on there most-likely from Myspace, good thing that I converted to Facebook! Don is in the process of trying to salvage all of my pictures and music and then he has to earse everything. So anywho -- as soon as I start getting some disks with relevant pictures on them I will post them.

2008-12-03T23:05:00.001-08:00

I am very tired. I still have an entire month of pictures to post and 3 finals to cram for - check back in a day or 2 for more pictures

2008-12-03T23:05:00.000-08:00

I am very tired. I still have an entire month of pictures to post and 3 finals to cram for - check back in a day or 2 for more pictures

101 Dalmatians

2008-12-03T22:39:00.000-08:00

Anita, Nanny, Spot Opening song

Opening conga

Enter Cruella De'vil

Cruella trying to buy puppies and Nanny protectin them

This was my favorite part of Brooklyn's at the end they sing a song about how happy they will be and they will snuggle up by the fire and Brooklyn cuddles with her duster

Naliea and Rick came the last day and so did Brooklyn's best friend Dagen

Both posing

In case of emergency press this button

2008-12-03T21:57:00.000-08:00

So for those of you with in home security systems this is for you.

We have an alarm system for the house and it came with a key fob that allows me to set and unset the alarm from the front door or the car. It also has a blue emergency button that sets off a silent alarm you know in case you are getting attacked or something, and in case you have ever wondered if it works....it does.

2 weeks ago, of course on a Tuesday night when Don isn't home I get a phone call at about 10 o'clock pm from the Carson City Sheriff Dept. telling me that I have an officer on my front door and they are responding to a silent alarm call from my house. I ask for 5 minutes to get dressed - I was not permitted that time. I was told to throw a rob on and open the door. That's what I did.
Ava my very very active 1 year old had been playing with my keys that night and had evidently pressed the silent alarm button.
The officer wanted to walk through the house and make sure that no one was here holding me against my will. It is nice to know that they system works - but I it was rather embarrassing!

Random pictures from Oct.

2008-12-03T00:30:00.000-08:00

Freezing at the soccer game

Look how bundled up she is

Pam's Birthday

Pam on her birthday

Ava giving Mario kisses

Evan playing cars

Evan, Mario and Brooklyn

Mario

Brooklyn

Auntie Shannon trying to win the favorite Mom/Aunt award and carving pumpkins

Brooklyn for Halloween

I hated Ava's costume - but I waited till the week before Halloween so this is what I was stuck with

She was a mime - not a bank robber or burglar

November update

2008-12-02T23:10:00.000-08:00

November has been an incredibly busy month.
Lets start with well....my birthday of course! My birthday is the first of November and I had told Don that all I wanted to do for my birthday weekend was clean the yard, we have 13 trees in the back yard that all shed and then several more in the front so by the first of Nov we had boat loads of leaves that needed to be cleaned up. He agreed.
We were just planning on trick or treating with Brooklyn and her friends and then yard work for the weekend. So I thought. Don has class Thursday night and doesn't get home until after 10 usually and usually he doesn't care what I do on Thursdays, this particular Thursday Brooklyn had her play practice until 5:30 and then soccer practice immediately afterwards, she changes in the car, then after soccer I had a few errands to run. During this time Don kept calling me ,"Where are you at? What time do you think you will be home?" etc etc. I was beginning to get annoyed. "Why do you care? It's a Thursday evening! I will be home way before you! Don't worry about it!" We get home. I get Ava's diaper changed and I go to change my clothes, I had been pooped on, and then the doorbell is ringing. HOLY CRAP, who the heck is here it's nearly 8:00!? I have Brooklyn go and see who it is, she comes back to my bedroom and tells me that it's trick or treaters. WHAT!? That's not until TOMORROW. I through on whatever is handy, not matching and no bra - it's a great look. I stomp to the door preparing to tell some punk ass kids to come back tomorrow. I through the door open - scowl plastered firmly on my face so that whoever it was on the other side of this door will know I am in no mood to be toyed with. I hear Trick or treat! It's my Mom and Dad! They had come up to surprise me for my birthday! And of course they weren't empty handed. If you are a blog reader of my sister or sister in law you know that my parents gave us Wii Fit and Guitar Hero for our birthdays.
I was shocked! It was all making sense at that point, that's why Don was so crazy with the nonstop phone calls! Evidently he had been planning it for some time.
We had a great weekend, they got to sit through a bit of the Nevada Day Parade. Then we went to breakfast, haha Don had the group over and had brought home Olive Garden for everyone. Isn't he sweet?
About those games though - I suck royally at Guitar Hero, you have to have hand eye coordination. I lack. Here is my impression of the WII fit lady, it is better if you heard me do it, just imagine. You stand on the table thing and it weighs you. Then it blasts your BMI across the TV screen then it says, "Erica you are ...." the options are obese, overweight etc you get it-
but mine says, "Erica you are a lard ass" Now why in the world do I want a TOY to tell me I am fat every time I play it? Except it is super duper fun and I ROCK at the ski jump!
This game is the future cause anorexia among little girls, that thing says that Brooklyn needs to loose like 6 pounds!
Then the next weekend I went to Chicago to visit Stacie and to use my free ticket that none of you losers wanted to use to come and visit me. :) I am disappointed to report that I didn't take any real pictures, just a few of her apartment. I wish I could go back and take tons of us doing nothing. We shopped and ate and shopped and ate. It was so nice that we were able to shop at one store and try everything on and on again, we stayed in one store for like 2 hours! It was awesome! All in all it was a great trip. Minus the drunk kid who decided to sit next to me and kept getting up to throw up.
While I was gone Brooklyn had the All star soccer tournament, that all went off without a hitch even without me here to make sure.
The following two weekends Brooklyn was in the children's production of 101 Dalmatians. She was GREAT! I am so proud of her! We went to all six shows and Ava loved the music and dancing. Then last Monday, 1 day after her final play, she had her tonsils removed. She stayed home from school last week and seems to be healing well. She was bummed because she could not eat Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday, even though we did our Thanksgiving Sunday night so she could eat with us. Thursday all we did was go to a buffet so she could load up on pudding and mashed potatoes. She has requested pizza, tacos, hamburgers, chips and salsa and apples when she can eat hard food again.
What we have going on now is: Brooklyn is playing basketball this season we are only into the practices, games don't start until after Christmas. She is going to try out for Annie this weekend. And then yesterday she received an invitation from PEOPLE to PEOPLE organization to be a Youth Sports Ambassador to play in the Youth Friendship Games this July in AUSTRIA!
I am looking into the organization and they seem legit. Roxi said she went to DC with them in high school. I just don't know if this is once in a lifetime opportunity or will she get these invitations every year? I am going to the parent meeting in January to learn more then we will decide.
I have finals next week. I can't believe that my first semester back to school (again)is finished!
We got a little economic stimulus package from my parents before Thanksgiving and I am proud to say that I have all of my Christmas shopping done and shipped off. All except our old folks - we are adopting grandparents this year from the senior center.
Ava is walking and running. She is into EVERYTHING!!! I don't know how we are going to put up our Christmas tree. She and the puppy are double trouble they buddy up to wreak havoc! She pulls stuff down from tables and he takes off with it.
As for Don, he is still working that we are grateful for. We are in another budget cut scenario and are hoping that he doesn't get laid off. I am not particularly thrilled with all of the government bailouts that have been happening. HOWEVER - if the President is going to be giving trillions of dollars away bail out the States! Bail out Nevada so Don doesn't lose his job!
Hmm I think that's about it for November?

After the cake and ice cream

2008-12-02T23:01:00.000-08:00

Brooklyn was feeling a little in need of attention. Don had to teach her how to "walk"

Brooklyn gave Naliea and Evan piggy back rides.

Sorry

2008-12-02T22:37:00.000-08:00

I am too tired! I posted all of these pictures backwards and don't want to fix it! The hand prints across the floor! I loved these prints!

So we moved the cake to the mat on the ground - that lasted only a second. She doesn't like being dirty

Still hating the cake!

REALLY hating the cake, all the people standing around singing to her, watching her ect Not sure what to do with this cake

Tossing the hat off

Not thrilled with the birthday girl hat

Ava and her little cake. I had to hold it because she kept trying to grab the candle.

Ava's First Birthday ... OCT 3rd! I am a slacker! Ava had a great first birthday. Pam, Don's mom, came up for the week she stayed with us. It was nice having her. Don's brother Jeff and his wife Julie and their 2 kids also came up for the weekend of her birthday. That was the most awesome considering that their baby was like 10 days old! Lets see who else came? It was 2 months ago....Sean and Mandy, Lori and Ryan and Jase, Rick and Deidra and Naliea, oh and our friends the Heaths. I think that was it! She made out!

I am going to close this post out so that I can start fresh. And maybe post the next batch of pictures in the right order!

To: The Brown Town Gang

2008-11-18T17:23:00.000-08:00

To all of the BrownTown Family:
Our family's thoughts and prayers are with right now. Connie, I am sorry to hear that you have lost your dad and to all the kids I am sorry that you lost your Grandpa. I wish I could be there with you all. Please let me know if there is anything that I can do from here for you all.

NEWS FLASH!!! YOU ARE NOT A MAN!!

2008-11-17T23:01:00.000-08:00

This is what I scream at the TV every time I hear about Thomas Beattie being pregnant or having given birth and the pregnant again.
I know what I am saying may not sound the most socially acceptable. He has all the parts of a woman - that is not a damn freak of nature thing that someone who has ovaries and a uterus gets pregnant!! I refuse to call him a man until Thomas has undergone the gender reassignment surgery!
For crying out loud - I could shave my damn head and grow a full on mustache and beard without taking hormones (just stop waxing)!! And then get knocked up and call myself a pregnant man! Does that make me a man!?!?!? HELL NO!!!! Thomas is still functionally a freaking woman!! Or at least has all woman parts. When Thomas gets a penis and has his uterus taken out and then "miraculously" gets pregnant then I will be OK with all the hype.
Listen, I am pretty liberal in a lot of my views about things - but this - I just can't hang with! Please!
Am I alone?

The most insulting thing anyone has ever said to me!

2008-10-24T22:43:00.000-07:00

There is this woman who attends our ward and is also a reading specialist at the school that Brooklyn goes to.

About 1 month ago she was talking to me after church about how she felt Brooklyn had been disrespectful to her teacher by asking her teacher if a book that she wanted her to read was "up to her level." church lady says " I don't know why she thinks she is so 'above average' but to tell you the truth she is just AVERAGE. She must hear a lot of that stuff at home."
I pretty much just heard her say ... blah blah blah after the average comment! She is so not average!
This woman must not know me and my parenting style - like she thought she did. To tell me that Brooklyn had been disrespectful to an authority figure had my blood boiling and Don's too.
Like seriously - down play down play down play unless you really want me to beat the snot our of my child in the church parking lot! But what she was telling me just didn't seem like Brooklyn. But I wanted to drag her out by her hair and beat her senseless. We talked about it - well I talked about it - Don backed me up- - - all the way home from church. I made her write and essay on being conceited and pride.....yeah it was still better then beating her. I talked to the teacher the following week - church lady was wrong - teacher doesn't feel that Brooklyn had ever disrespected her and as a matter of fact Brooklyn is one of the top 3 students in her class, scored at a 10th grade reading level and 10th grade math level on their standardized MAPS testing last week.

TAKE THAT MEAN CHURCH LADY!!!!!!!!! MY CHILD IS NOT AVERAGE!!!

Just an update

2008-10-24T22:06:00.000-07:00

CONGRATULATIONS! BAILEY PATTERSON!!! Linda's daughter made the cheer leading team at her school! She is a total cutie and a soccer star - totally happy for her! I told her that I may have to break my ban on hating cheerleaders now....except she is jock still too - and Alexa is my niece so I don't hate her either.

2 weeks until Chicago! Yeah. I am getting more nervous, not for no good reason but Don had originally thought that he was going to have a leisurely weekend where he and the girls just hung out. Since soccer was officially over 1 week ago. Monday while we were eating dinner and we get a call from Brooklyn's coach that she had made the all star team!! Yeah for her! She was voted in by 4 of the 6 coaches on her overall performance. Anyway the games go all weekend the weekend that I am gone! HAHA Don will have to feel the pain of taking the baby to a cold soccer game all by himself - he hasn't had to do it yet - alone. She also has her play practice every day that week. It will be interesting to see how he handles it! She already keeps me busy everyday after school. I am so glad I only have one kid old enough to participate in activities!

Monday was our 3 year anniversary, I can't believe that it has only been three years, in the best possible way it feels longer. I always stutter telling people how long we have been married I always want to say 5 years - 7 years? Weird huh? I love him so much! I am so happy that I found him...actually he found me....so I am so happy that he found me.

Ava has been sick all week - that's never fun. She had double ear infections on Tuesday pink eye by Friday! That's GREAT!! Stacie said it best when I was describing how it sucks to try and give her any sort of medicine. She said, " Sounds like trying to give eye drops to a wolverine." Essentially, yes, yes it is. Oh yes - and she will only sleep in MY arms and only if I am rocking her in the rocking chair. Not so bad when you can watch TV all night long - oh yeah except our 2 year old POS projection screen TV bulb burned out! So I am in the rocking chair at all hours and they seem to drag on and on and on. The repair man says the bulb won't be in until next Friday. Don called Sony finally and ordered one and it should be here tomorrow! YEAH!

At Ava's ear infection appt this week our pediatrician was trying to listen to her heart and lungs and Ava kept ripping the stethoscope from her neck and off of Ava's chest. I had to restrain her like bear hug style so that the Dr could look in her ears and throat. Then Ava was screaming at herself and laughing because it makes an echo sound in there. She does that anywhere that is quiet and has great acoustics...like oh...Church and libraries. Our Dr. said "Oh wait until she learns a phrase like 'go to hell' or 'shut up' and begins to scream it at church, but I am sure you remember that from when Brooklyn was a baby." and I say, "no actually. I think I remember Brooklyn still being a pretty mild tempered child for the most part." "Oh well not this one, let me just warn you that you guys are really going to have your hands full with this one the next several years!" say the Dr. What a resounding vote of confidence! She scares me! She isn't 'offically' walking yet. She can. She just won't. She will when she wants to but for the most part she gets to where she wants to go by speed crawling.

So I think I am done. I will post pictures - maybe tonight. Maybe not.

A Mother's Struggle

2008-10-22T21:02:00.000-07:00

http://www.lvrj.com/news/31247194.html

I have an old friend Tiffany Barney, she and I used to work together at Cumorah Credit Union.
She started dating a guy, Sonny Kaufusi, from the Foothills Singles Ward before I had Brooklyn. I never did like that guy, and frankly he didn't like me because...well I was ornery even then I would tell him he was full of it!
Any way he is a complete looser and scum bag. They got married, I remember that Tiffany had moved out of his place within 6 months or something and their daughter was born in like 10 months, their divorce was one of the ugliest that I have ever seen.
With Tiffany's permission I am posting an article that recently ran in the Las Vegas Review Journal. I encourage you to also watch the video clip, it is shocking to think that this sort of injustice went on for so long and then when the legal system had finally caught up to him he did what any "innocent" man would do...he took off to his native land of Tonga.
Any way read it - watch the video - draw your own conclusion. http://www.lvrj.com/news/31247194.html
http://www.lvrj.com/news/31247194.html

Interesting

2008-10-21T16:50:00.001-07:00

Stacie emailed this to me. It's quite interesting -- long, but at least it is set to a good music!

Burning Down the House - Our Economic Crisis | Funny Jokes at JibJab

Should I stay or Should I go?

2008-10-14T11:42:00.000-07:00

So I have this one way free Southwest ticket it expires Nov. 9
I haven't been able to give it away all summer - of course maybe I could have if the contingency wasn't that they had to use it to come and see me,

Don has been telling me to use it since August, "Go see Brian, Amber, Becky or Stacie." So after much consideration, and some intimidation from Holly - I can't use it to go see Amber she is in Savannah and SWA doesn't fly there the closest airport is 3 hours away, and that would make for a LONG weekend.
Brian lives in Nashville and I would really like to take Brooklyn and Don with me if I went there.
I could use it to go to Vegas, but that's kinda lame tickets to Vegas are half the price and I just saw everyone there not long ago. I could always go to Chicago again and see Stacie and her new house. Since I have already done all of the touristy stuff in Chicago we could just hang out in the suburbs and relax. So I priced the return flight home and it is only $115.00, and we have a $50.00 gift card still - so apply that and after taxes and fees it's only like $86.00! Don wants me to do it, probably so that I stop whining about not having any friends. But I am nervous about flying Southwest that far? I actually have already booked my flight there using the free ticket ( so that way I have a seat Nov. 6)....but it isn't too late to change....what should I do?
I want to go!! BUT I am afraid to go??? It's silly - I know

She won!

2008-10-03T14:39:00.000-07:00

Forgot to update that Brooklyn won the race for class president.
Yeah! I am so happy for her! What a little go getter!

Holy LOTS OF PICTURES!! Pictures from August and Sept

2008-10-02T19:47:00.000-07:00

So lets start with that I haven't posted any pictures in a very long time! Sorry.... so I am posting a ton of pictures from August and September. My battery died at some point and I forgot to reset the date so towards the bottom the dates are way wrong. I tried to post them in a sort of date order Ava dumping out her toy box, and then crawling inside of it...and then rolling it.

She is so crazy

Ava getting the happy gas before the MRI/MRA

OK we went to brunch after Ava's procedure and I saw this...I had Don kinda pose so I could take this picture.... Can you even count the number of scrunchies and barretts?

Ava's first time on the beach, this is at Muir Beach
Daddy and Ava walking on the beach
Brooklyn getting chased, this was so much fun watching her run in and out of the waves.
I love this picture - like a post card
I like this one too
So much I guess i posted it twice....

Muir WoodsInside a Redwood

This tree fell down in the 1930's and it is thought to have began to grow in 909 AD,

These trees have such an impress life span and life cycle

The crazy small elevator in our SF hotel. Brooklyn playing on the luggage cart in our Sacramento Hotel...the condom hotel
The condom is actually under this garbage can, have pictures of the real deal but won't post them. Lucky you!
Ah...my hero! This is the crib box!

Brooklyn a little less then happy about the crib box

Doesn't this mean....??? Haha I laugh every time we pass this sign - so this time I got a picture
Lorelei's Cupcake tower
Naliea at Lori's shower

The woman of the hour

Brooklyn's first day of school

Peach Days! Waiting for the Parade

Holly getting ready to fly away
Jaren very upset having just lost his balloon

Kyle's balloon kept attacking grandpa

OK this ride is so stinking scary. A bunch of metal welded together in the shape of an octagon and then trampoline material attached - a few seat belt and there you have it - totally safe to let your kids go on...and flip upside down
The big girls LOVED this ride

Alexa and Brooklyn at the FREE Home Depot station. It was so much fun we had enough adults to kids so things moved pretty smoothly
My builder buddy!

Kyle's finished project

Kyle testing out Nathan's stool

Grandpa and Jaren

With their completed birdhouse!

What a great team

Don and Brooklyn and their accomplishment
The scary trampoline pentagon upside down ride thing..

Jaren still liking it here
Alexa going upside down

Jaren...not so much liking it anymore

Ava playing with the keys the Hutchings gave her

Ava loving on the bear my folks gave her for her early birthday Grandma Carol and Ava

I love this picture! It is the Mountain Meadow Masacre Monument

Don and Brooklyn walking to the Monument
Coming back
We were here! The ET highway. AKA dead cow highway
The ONLY thing in Rachel, NV

Snoopy taking a nap This was 5 days before Jase!
Don and Lori
Grand Pops, Mommy and Jase
So fresh! 9-19-08
Mommy and Baby Jase

The Lamb Family leaving the hospital
On the way out of the hospital....this woman just HAD A BABY!!
Ryan and Snoop

The cake that Brooklyn had to decorate since I had the flu.
Ava and I got the flu really bad last week (Brooklyn and Don got it too, just not as bad)

She couldn't keep anything down, and it eventually led to this.

It was so horrible!

Snoopy

His full name is

Snoopy Dog Sir Licks a Lot Stepro

Isn't he cute?

Jase Steven Lamb (10/2/08...his due date!)

So Sweet!! His eyes seem to be a more "true" blue....not as

baby blue gray....we will see!
Jase's Bedroom
That's the infamous crib...we will forever remember that trip!

Sarsaparilla Skirt & Vest GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

2008-09-23T16:42:00.000-07:00

Sarsaparilla Skirt & Vest GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

I love love love this one!!

I hope that I win!!

Where have I been?

2008-09-23T11:57:00.000-07:00

This one is going to have LOTS of WORDS!! Just a warning for you non-readers out there.

The last I posted we were getting ready for Ava's appt in SF. That was an EVENTFUL trip to say the very least! Her appts were Thursday so we got there Wednesday. We stayed in a hotel near Union Square. We walked around Wed. night and went to a restaurant for dinner where we saw Dick Vitale eating dinner. I had no IDEA who he was, but Don did and so did the table of rude New Jerseyians who interrupted his dinner to ask for autographs and take pictures.
Ava had her MRI and MRA first thing the next morning. They put her under by putting the gas mask on her face and she only cried for 10-20 seconds. Then she went peacefully to sleep then Brooklyn begs the question to the nurses and anesthesiologist, "What is that and can we take some home? She never sleeps at home...at least for the car ride?" Everyone got a good laugh out of that.
The nurses came back to get us to tell us that they are getting ready to take her off of the gas, about 2 hours later, I get back by her side and the nurse starts to tell me to "stimulate her a bit- rub her, talk to her" to start waking her up. But warns that the process may take up to 20 -30 minutes and she was in no rush to take the IV's out of her arm and foot. I start seeing to her one of her favorite songs and rubbing her face. She struggles to open her eyes and then POP her eyes are open and she is trying to roll over, trying to rip the iv's out of her arm. The nurse comes in yelling "Stop stimulating her! I haven't taken the IV's out! They usually don't come out of anesthesia that quickly being so young. She is a feisty one" To which I have to agree.
After about the umteenth warning about not letting her crawl or try to hold her head up all day because she will be wobbly and almost new born again. We leave. Didn't the nurse just tell me that my baby was feisty? Does she really think that we can keep her still for too long?
After we grabbed breakfast and walked around downtown SF a bit and then off to Ava's Dr. appt. Ava's hemangioma has grown back slightly since being weened of the steroids. Not much and not enough to get back on the roids. We still have to go to Dr. appts in SF just not as frequently only a few times a year now. YES!!! They start to hit the wallet a bit hard - although it's a writeoff you still have to pay upfront!
Once we were through with that appt we went across the Bay to the Muir Beach and Muir Woods National forest. They are about 6 miles away from each other and only 16 miles away from the city but while we were there I almost forgot where we were. The beach was a ton of fun running in the waves on a cool SF afternoon. Muir Woods was awesome though! It is a Redwood forest, I can't believe that we haven't ever been there before. All of our trip to the bay area. It was breathtaking. The paths through the forest were boardwalk type things so completely cool for the stroller.
We checked out of our hotel the next morning. Lorelei and Ryan had bought their nursery furniture from Ikea in Sacramento, everything but the crib and the only Ikea that had the crib in stock was a store just outside SF they asked if we could pick it up for them. Not a problem I say...hee hee....we had to drive to our hotel 2 hrs to unload the luggage from the car to be able to get the crib in. We get to our FAVORITE hotel in Sacramento. We have stayed there before on our trips home, to break up the drive. We were making this weekend our final horrah to summer weekend as school for both Brooklyn and me was to start the following Monday.
This is what I have been dying to blog about and haven't due to the sensitive and perhaps litigious nature of it all, however if I bury several paragraphs down maybe you won't catch it.
To make the long story short and less nauseating as we were getting ready to leave the hotel, which by the way is a solid 3 star nationwide chain with an outstanding reputation Don was on the phone with our Dr. from SF who was giving him the results from Ava's MRI/MRA which came back great, no vascular anomalies within the head. I see Brooklyn carrying something to the garbage can - I begin to scream, a series of 3 phrases over and over and over as she stands in complete shock not knowing what's going on, I was saying "Drop it! Drop it! DOOOON!!!! Wash your hands!! Drop it!!" She had taken a used condom away from the baby who had been chewing on it - yes that's right - I just said my baby was chewing on someone else's used condom! EWW She had found it somewhere underneath the false bed thing at the hotel...again a solid 3 star joint. We have stayed in hotels with not so prominent names and that wouldn't have surprised me one bit. I can say that they were "johnny on the spot" comped our room, got us an insurance claim number and directions to the closest hospital right away. Ava was tested for and treated for Gonnereah and Chlamydia, the treatments were just to air on the side of caution. Brooklyn was told just to follow up with our pediatrician once we got home. Our at home pediatrician says we need to do STD test every 6 months for the next year. That was a chore it took 4 of us to hold Ava down for the blood draw and Brooklyn had to sit with Don and hold his hand, she was so scared for it. Of course I am not making light of it, but I am not stressed out either, their first round of tests came back all clear only 12 months left! Yeah!
Lorelei had her baby shower that Sunday when we got home. Brooklyn started the 5th grade that Monday. Her schedule keeps me running! I already can't wait for her to turn 16 so she can drive herself! She plays soccer, as usual. Then she wanted to be in the band, so she borrowed Holly's old clarinet and taught herself how to play it before her first band practice, she is so talented! She joined the yearbook committee at the school and has to be dropped of every Wednesday AM and she tried out for 101 Dalmatians play at the Brewery Arts Center Children's Theatre and got the role of Nanny. Not bad for her first time trying out getting a speaking role! She is so excited! And I am so busy! I also went back to school and I am taking 9 credit hours. Ava needs to learn to be without me and the College's childcare is sadly, the best here, and it's easier to get a spot if you are a student. Plus I would like to finish college before Brooklyn!
We drove to Hurricane for Labor Day weekend. It's Peach Days in Hurricane! I have missed the last two because the first was during an insemination cycle and I had to stay close to home to run to the Docs office and the last was because I was WAAAY to pregnant! I missed it so much! Holly brought up her kids plus a surprise, she brought Alexa up with her also! We were so excited to see her. Brooklyn really misses her cousins and it was so awesome that all but Riley were there. They went on some creepy scary rides at the home made fair. I will post pictures later. The parade is always a hit the kids all come home with WalMart bags of candy. I love small town parades. On the way to Hurricane we decided to drive different routes this time instead of the Tonopah to Vegas to Hurricane. We drove through central NV, Fallon, Eureka to Ely that is as far as we got the first day. Ava doesn't travel well - that's why we stay in Sac. The ride was very pretty. More boring though then the normal way. We got to see antelope! That was awesome! I had never seen them in real life - come to think of it none of us did. Then we drove through Pioche and saw where my grandma was raised. Lots of cute stuff. I wish we would have not had a screaming kid and could have checked more stuff out. The ride home was also interesting because we drove through St. George to Enterprise and stopped of at the Mountain Meadow Massacre Monument. Every time we are down in that area I tell Don about it and he has always wanted to go. It is so humbling and sacred, it makes me a bit sad that we will never know the whole truth about what went down there that day. The Monument itself has changed a bunch since I last remember seeing it - so it was nice. The ride home was so stinking uneventful! We drove at night through Rachel, NV we looked for aliens - found none. We saw a heard of cows though and managed not to hit them. That part of the ride was about the time Brooklyn came to and saw that we were passing a herd of cows (oh yeah -it's open range) and a bull was shaking his head probably swatting flies or something - but Brooklyn thought he was "getting ready to charge the car!" Hahaha so funny. We ended up staying in Tonopah at the Ramada - we would have expected a condom from this hotel - it was disgusting!!! beyond gross! There was hair that didn't belong to me all over the bathroom. Yucka Yucka.
Since Labor Day we have been hanging here waiting for Lorelei to have her baby. I didn't want to be anywhere else when she went into labor. About 10 days ago we got a puppy. His name is Snoopy. We rescued him from Dog Town Canine Rescue. He is a sweet boy. He is a Lab/Dachshund mix. His is our Weiner-Dor. He is a bit skeptical of our family still it is taking him a bit to warm up to us. He is an awesome dog though - outside he is so happy and playful so long as one of us it out there with him. School for me is going well at the moment I have a lot of studying to do for tests the next two weeks.
So a few weeks ago I had asked Lorelei what the one thing she wants to have after she gives birth, because she has been SOOO good and not had any caffeine through her pregnancy. It took her a while and she said "Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper" so I bought a 12 pack and kept it in the fridge. Friday when I got home from school the house phone rang and it was Lorelei - calling from the hospital. She said, "Hey, do you have any of that DP on ice?" Holy crap she was in labor! Her water broke! I had to get some Aquafina water, since that is what Ryan prefers and some flowers and cookies and stuff and then we went to the hospital and waited and waited. It actually wasn't that long. We were there from about 2 to 9. She had the baby at 7:45pm? He is 7lb 3oz and 19 inches long. The name game was over too - we were able to find out his name. He is Jase Steven Lamb. Jase from a movie they saw and Steven from Lorelei's Dad. She looked unblemished from labor, it's sick actually! They are such a cute family and I am so blessed to have them in my life.
So now this week Brooklyn is running for her class president. As if she isn't doing enough! The teacher said we could pass out treats or make posters and stuff like that. So we made a 5 pack of the mini poster board - like 16x20 or so and a normal sized poster board of Vote for Brooklyn signs. We brain stormed candy slogans and came up with 3 that she really liked so we printed slogans on labels and got it all ready to pass out Mon, Wed & Fri. She passed raisins out Monday that said,"Raisin the Roof! Raisin the Standard! Vote for Brooklyn" Wednesday will be "Don't be nuts! Vote for Brooklyn" on bags of Corn Nuts. Friday we bought a 3 pack box of candy bars "It's Crunch time! Vote for Brooklyn" on a crunch obviously. "Don't let the votes slip! Vote for Brooklyn" on Butterfingers and "Hit the vote out of the park! Vote for Brooklyn" on a Babe Ruth. Votes will be held on Friday. I can't wait to see how she does. She said that the teacher wouldn't hang all of her signs until other people brought some in too, I guess she was the only one ready on Monday morning. And I asked her "Don't you think that this gives you an unfair advantage? Bringing candy and stickers and stuff?" she said,"NOPE! It's not my fault other people aren't prepared or organized" Hahaha she is my kid!
Anyway Kudos to you if you read all of this!!! It has taken me all of 2 days to write this so if I missed something- sorry. I will post a slew of pictures to go along with the post in the next 2 days or something. I must go study for my biology exam that I have tomorrow.

Olympic thoughts and observations

2008-08-26T11:54:00.000-07:00

Until we went to San Fransisco this week for Ava's Dr. appt our family has been glued to the TV watching the Olympics. OK maybe not GLUED but they were on A LOT!!

I started watching opening ceremonies trying to decide which countries and races I wanted my girls to marry into. I am medium/light olive complexion. My girls ....mmmm not so much. So we need to increase the Brown factor. I have a special place in my heart for brown people...tee hee ok enough of that. So I have decided that Brooklyn needs to marry someone of Armenian, Italian, Greek, Spanish (from Spain folks), Middle Eastern, Thai, any island really. She thinks that I am crazy. She thinks she likes blonde hair and blue eyes. I keep telling her that she's wrong! We only have 15 more years! As far as Ava goes we will need to wait to see what her complexion turns out like, but most likely she will need to marry someone of a more exotic backround so the brown gets turned back up in our blood line.

* Observation * Does Crest not export their Crest White Strips over seas? Why are we the only country with pretty white teeth? I wanted to hurl every time I saw a toothy smile that looked like they just took a bite out of a block of butter.

* Did you know power walking was an Olympic sport!?? And the trampoline too? Actually the trampoline was pretty fun to watch.

I feel so badly for the loosers of hostile countries. You know if and American, Canadian or Britain lost their event they would go home disappointed and maybe beat themselves up over it the rest of their lives, but they would go on to live a happy and productive life other wise. I feel so badly for some of the other countries like, China & N Korea just to name a few, who you know once they got home would be given the Uday and Qusay treatment. * that was a reference to the torture that the Hussein brothers used to bestow on losing teams.* Any way it makes me sorry for them.

Ava's Pictures!

2008-08-19T16:04:00.000-07:00

Poor Ava! I finally got around to doing her 6 and 9 month pictures ....just she is 10 months old! I love her teeth in this one * I ordered this one
Look at how cute she is!
* ordered this one

I LOVE this one! Didn't order it though

* ordered this one too

I had to keep putting the head band back on her after every picture. And we went without shoes because then she would only have one thing to rip off during the pictures!

Nantucket Weekend GIVEAWAY!!!!

2008-08-12T08:48:00.000-07:00

Nantucket Weekend GIVEAWAY!!!!

I love this blog! Check it out! She makes clothes for her girls and then raffels one of the outfits off.
I want to win!! : )

SO??

2008-08-10T22:15:00.000-07:00

Shortly after I finished posting today I talked to My Realtor who I work with all the time....She deals in higher end stuff - ya know?

Yeah - Ok just talked to Holly, who is a Realtor in Vegas, any way she sent me a ton of listings down there....and it could very well be a big possibility us moving back down there.
We can get a newer house with a pool!! We have chosen a few that we wouldn't mind taking a closer look at!!

SO WE ARE THINKING ABOUT SELLING OUR CARSON CITY HOUSE!!!!!! ANY TAKERS??? We are thinking about listing it for a bargain price of 225,000!!!! Come on you know you want it?!?!
And then we will just have to find a job transfer for the Man and we are good to go!

32 weeks never looked so good

2008-08-10T17:17:00.000-07:00

Zoolander
This one is just funny

Looks cumfy doesn't it?

Lori is 32 weeks pregnant in these pictures. I am putting these up for Shannon!