Gardner Family

Two Peas In A Pod

2010-12-13T11:37:00.000-08:00

The girls have been enjoying each other so much these days. Here's just a few moments I've captured over the past month or so. They crack me up - so fun!

I hope everyone has an amazing Christmas - we're happy to actually have one this year! Last Christmas was spent unpacking and trying to go into labor! :) Glad to not have to repeat that one...

Another Official Walker!!

2010-11-24T17:43:00.000-08:00

Yay! I thought I'd have to wait a little longer, but Emily has been very determined lately to figure the whole one-foot-in-front-of-the-other thing. She's such a cutie; I love that little girl!

Sorry the quality isn't great...at all. All our lights were on and everything; oh well. :)

Catch-up and Must've

2010-11-04T13:01:00.000-07:00

K, so big apology about not posting for a while, but I'll tell you what: the old adage "No news is good news" is certainly applicable to us. Things have just been incredibly busy, in a very good way! :) Jared is now the Director of Assisted Living at a facility in Phoenix (boo on the drive, but it's worth it!), I am forever chasing around two little monkeys, but also enjoying my down time of reading, writing (set aside book 1 for some editing, working on book 2 now), and improving my housewife skills.

Anna is truly delightful and frequently makes me laugh like a little girl. She is growing fast and learning even faster. Emily has now mastered stairs, can get up and down off the couch, and tries to climb anything she can. She is using so many more consonants than last month and you can hear her language abilities changing almost daily. She even says "Daddy's home!" with the same intonation that Anna uses; it just usually sounds like, "Dah-huh!"

Anyway, all is well with us. I will try to be more consistent about posts, but sorry, no promises! I'm just lovin' life a little too much!

Two very tired Trick-or-Treators. Anna was a ladybug and Emily was a bee. I know that I now like Halloween quite well - best child labor opportunity EVER!

Better Late Than Never

2010-09-19T20:52:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry it has been a while - things have just been hectic, and I feel like my brain has melted a little this summer. This first picture sums a lot of it up for me. :)

We spent a weekend in the big CA in August to see Grandma and Grandpa. I took a bunch of pictures and got so many cute ones, but we are having memory card issues and connection issues and all other issues that might cause me to drag my feet in doing a post. (Thank you for the terrific motivator...made me smile.)

However, this is all I've got for now. After spending five hours in a car, Emily got her payback:

Santa Monica Beach; Anna had a ton of fun running along the water's edge with me and picking up slimy seaweed. This was her first visit to the ocean.

Emily is all over the place now, constantly cruising along furniture, frequently letting go and standing on her own for seconds at a time. She has perfected getting off the couch by rolling onto her belly and scooting off. She has been clapping her hands and saying her version of "Yay!" for a while now, and crawls like the floor is on fire. Anna is using describing words along with her nouns like: "Big black wheels on big blue truck." She is progressing rapidly and I enjoy conversing with her.

Anyway, all is well, despite being a little crazy. I will try to get some more pictures soon!

Motivation?

2010-09-13T17:33:00.000-07:00

Ugh, will somebody please send some motivation my way?? I need to post SOMETHING worthwhile soon!

Pics Galore

2010-08-01T08:48:00.001-07:00

Whew, July was crazy. These pictures will just sum up what has been going on with the Gardner family!

Blacktail Lake, Idaho. Anna was NOT happy, but probably only because her life vest was for an infant; it was a bit snug.

There are the dimples!

Sand much?

Playing at the neighborhood park.

Um, back at Blacktail - Anna's first beach. Obviously these pics won't be in order...

Emily, Grandpa and the polar bear, Andy

Our new car, because 'something' happened with our old one...oops.

Emily swinging at Iona Elementary where I went to school as a kid in Idaho!

Anna helping Grandpa Eddie get ready for mowing up at the ranch.

Such a sweetheart.

Up at the ranch.

Tire swing at the ranch. It's HUGE!

Other swing, not so huge...

Visiting Grandma and Grandpa Birch up in Idaho.

Yay, our lawn is finally complete!

The only news we have is that Anna is doing excellent with potty training, Emily has mastered the army crawl, and is days away from an official crawl, and we are all healthy and happy! Take care!

Summer Pics

2010-07-01T10:10:00.001-07:00

I wish we could have captured Emily's super huge dimpled smile, but she just was so somber in the grass today. Oh well, here are the best pics of our super darling dolls!

P.S. Thank you Jenny for the new (to me) camera!! :)

H-Happy Beedew!

2010-06-22T14:21:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY my little 2 year old! I can't believe it's only been two years - honestly it feels like you have been part of our family for so much longer!

I loved this morning that when I came in to wake you up (thank you for letting me sleep past 5...), you instantly jumped up and ran to give me a hug! I said, "Happy Birthday, Sweetie!" And, since we've been working on letter sounds, you are frequently sounding like a stutterer. You said in reply, "H-Happy Beedew!"

I remember your birth so well; you definitely took your time coming, but we couldn't have been more pleased to have such a healthy happy little girl!

Who would have known what an amazing big sister you would turn out to be?! You are such a sweet spirit, and we love your energy, intelligence, humor and occasional mischievousness!

Here are a few things about you as a two year old, Anna, that we will want to remember for a long time!:

*You are big and strong for your age
*You already got your two year molars, plus all the teeth normally preceding them.
*You have amazing coordination and play on structures that would freak out most mothers.
*You just learned how to do a somersault and do it with pizazz.
*You LOVE to dance and request almost every afternoon that Mama put on her dance music so we can dance around like crazy monkeys.
*You are a very good eater and love fruits and veggies probably the most, then chips.
*You are just starting to play 'pretend' and create such entertaining performances.
*You kiss your sister every chance you get, and sometimes try to ride on her back.
*You are very obedient and love to please your parents.
*Every time you say 'Jesus', you fold your arms.
*You have such a contagious laugh and smile.
*Your favorite songs are: (in order) My Little Ladybug (one Mama made up), 1-2-3-4-5 (one Mama made up), If Your Happy and You Know It, Pat-a-Cake, Rock-a-Bye Baby, Apricot Tree (or whatever it's called...), and Itsy Bitsy Spider.
*You are afraid of flies and hate being tossed up or anytime you feel like someone might drop you.
*Your favorite movie is Mulan, even though you can't say her name.
*You are such a helper around the house, and frequently help make your own meals.

For Anna's birthday, we played it pretty low key, she had a playdate with her cousin, including an hour brunch, an hour at the splash pad, and an hour at the mall. They had a blast together!

We love you, Little Monkey!

(Sorry it's fuzzy.)

Intentions

2010-06-01T21:28:00.000-07:00

Okay, it has been a while. It seems like every day I think to myself, "Oh, that is such a cute picture! I can't wait until I can post it on the blog as soon as I get a way to transfer it onto my computer since Anna's juice dripped into the usb port of my phone!" Yes, I think that exact thing every day. Anyway, finally I stole Jared's high-functioning phone and swapped memory cards. I know. I'm a genious... Here's the update:

Emily just had her 6 month check up today. She is very healthy, 50% for both height and head size and 80% for her weight. She's a chunk, it's so cute. She totally looks like a used car salesman in this picture. Ha ha!

She just started eating rice cereal and veggies this week. She is doing so great, and by day 2, she had stopped with the tongue thrusting. Now she uses her hand to help shove everything in. Very messy to say the least, but its good for her to get that coordination down. :) Speaking of putting things in her mouth, she is officially a thumb-sucker. It is interesting that Anna seems to be VERY much a Gardner, right down to sticking her tongue out as she works hard on something. And Emily seems to be as Birch (or Irish) as they come. I sucked my thumb for quite a while, and Emily had that down pretty early. I watched as she fell asleep the other day after her bath and captured a few cute moments.

Emily is sitting up by herself now. I feel comfortable setting her upright on the floor with some toys and walking away. I'll go switch the laundry downstairs or something, come back up and she's still sitting and playing with her toys. Its a fun stage. She's also really grasping and examining her toys. She's super fast, too. I will dangle a toy in front of her and its like a reflex as she hurries to grab it!

She absolutely adores tummy time. She scoots around in all directions by one method or another, but no crawling yet. It also looks like her eyes will be staying blue. Anna's eyes started having some green in them by this age. Not that you can see color in this crappy quality picture, but it totally represents their relationship. These girls love each other so much. P.S. If anyone has a fantastic camera they are looking to get rid of, um, just send it on over. I am tired of fuzzy colorless pics! :)

Anna is more active now than ever - it's crazy how strong and curious she is! She now helps me make meals, change Emily's diaper, clean house and do yard work. This is how I found her one evening after she helped me do dishes. Luckily the sink was scrubbed clean already!

She LOVES playing outside and requests frequently to go to the park, especially with her new best friend!

Anna's Mommy has made a really awesome new friend and her daughter is just a few months younger than Anna. They love each other and request play dates frequently. Anna loves swimming in the new kiddie pool we got her and especially loves squishing into her boat with her new girlfriend. :)

They are so cute together.

The only other thing that comes to mind about the girls is Anna's new monologue skill. When I was teaching her to say 'please', I would encourage it, and then quickly reply with, "Sure!" when she asked. Now, she will say, "Movie? Please...SURE!" Of course, it is in Anna language, which I think only I understand, but it cracks me up because she does it for just about everything now. At least she has pretty good manners, saying please, thank you, your welcome, covering her mouth when she coughs, and covering her bum when she toots. I love motherhood... ;)

Huh?

2010-05-03T22:26:00.000-07:00

I mostly use this blog for keeping family abreast of how the Gardners are doing, but every once in a while something will excite me enough or bother me enough that I will consider blogging about it. Most of the time I just decide not to and move on, but I've been passing an intersection during a fairly frequent drive that reminds me time and time again why I am not a political person.

First and foremost, I just don't really have an interest in most of the legislation passed, even with the issues that effect me directly. (However, I am the last person to complain about that crap, so at least I am not a hypocrite.) Secondly, I think I most often just take on that attitude that one vote will not make a difference, so I don't bother. Yes, I am a registered voter, and yes, I have actively voted in many elections and whatnot; I just am not very interested and here's why:

Wha? Politics are very confusing to me. I want the public to be safe, so do I vote "yes" or "no"? I know that I could go online and read everyones OPINIONS about the proposition, but in order to develop my own opinion, I feel like I need to go directly to the original source and read the material from beginning to end. However, I know that I probably won't understand half of it, and the other half won't even pertain to me.

So, there I sit at the light, waiting to turn, and I look at these posters. I get really frustrated with society. I want the bad guys to be dressed in black cloaks with dark spots under their eyes. I want the good guys to be clad in white shining armor with slight halos following their perfectly styled head. Otherwise, I know I will mistake that wolf in sheep's clothing and vote for the bad guys just because they misrepresented themselves.

I know some of you (especially some in my family) will be disappointed that I do not make a greater effort in understanding and supporting the right issues, but I just consider that I am trying to create the best world possible within the walls of my home and will let the smarter people out there handle these types of conundrums. Now I'm going to go visit failblog.com to remind myself that I'm more intelligent than at least some of society...

Bzzz and Eww

2010-04-16T10:06:00.001-07:00

So, the other day, Jared and I spotted this fairly good sized bee hive in our tree in the front yard. It is a pretty young tree, so with the weight of the bees and hive, the tree was practically falling over. We watched it for two days as it got noticeably larger each day. We were about to spend a good amount of money to have it removed, but a pest control guy in our neighborhood said to try and give it one more day. He said that sometimes bees will nest for a short while and then realize that their location wasn't the best choice. They will just pick up and leave within a few days.

Thinking that we were going to probably end up losing most of our tree if we tried any other method, we decided to wait it out. The next day, they were gone, hive and all. I really wish I could have seen them complete the feat because this nest was larger than a 2 liter bottle, I can't fathom how they just took it all away in one afternoon! Either way, we are glad they moved and our tree and children are safe! :)

Anna has a little boyfriend in the neighborhood. They hate each other most of the time, but those few times when they get along, they are so cute. Here they are about to head out on the town in his hot new Ford truck. He obviously is excited. I thought it was so funny, he's totally thinking, "Eww..."

Emily is now rolling over, mostly when she's upset. She sits up really well for about 15 seconds as long as there is a toy or a big sister in front of her to focus on. Although taken with my phone camera, and not very good quality, I thought this picture of her was super cute.

Anna's hair is finally long enough to justify it being pulled back each day. She's not very patient with me, but it usually turns out pretty well. Here's a style I got a picture of the other day.

That's it for now. :)

Stuff

2010-03-28T20:04:00.000-07:00

Not a lot has been going on lately; just the same 0l', same ol'. Here are some pictures of the girls.

Anna, Emily and I went hiking one day just for fun. I love being a non-working mama. It lends itself to random opportunities that I appreciate. We didn't go very far, but it was fun.
(I tried to turn the photo, but it wouldn't the first time. I was too lazy to actually go the extra mile to do so.)

Here is Emily singing...

We took our annual trip to the Renaissance Festival. I love that place. Both girls enjoyed themselves. Anna even was tall enough to ride the free flying butterflies this year.

Here was another visit to the Schnepf Farm. That tree to the left of Emily's head is a whitethorn acacia - my new favorite desert tree. Those little yellow round blossoms smell like heaven! We are planting one in our front yard to replace the dead something-or-other that is there now. By the way, Emily is squinting, not scowling. She really does love her mommy.

Happy girl!

Well, so long; we'll post again when more nothing is going on! :)

So Cute

2010-03-17T14:14:00.001-07:00

This little darling has been such an amazing addition to our family! She cracks me up when she smiles SO big during diaper changes, and even giggles when tickled. Anna always has an audience whenever Emily is in the room. That girl never loses sight of her big sister. I am certain she just can't wait until she can keep up with her!

Emily is still spoiling me, too! She sleeps so well and is growing so fast; it's hard to believe she is already 11 weeks old. She and Anna now sleep in the same room since they are basically on the same schedule. I just have to sneak in a little early to feed her before she wakes Anna up. I kind of think it is important for sisters to share a room, especially since it is only the two of them. I know I will envy the connection they will share as they grow.

Anna has always shown constant love toward her little sis. Even when she doesn't think I'm looking, she is so gentle and loving. She sneaks in as many kisses as she can throughout the day, and even gets upset if she doesn't get to say goodbye if one of them leaves.

I love my little girls. They bring so much energy to our home and we feel so blessed having them in our lives!

Favorite Things

2010-03-10T09:11:00.000-08:00

One of my children (and I won't mention which one...) decided that the "shift" key on my laptop wasn't necessary and proceeded to remove it. I can't believe it takes several weeks to fix one key, but it seems my computer will be away for a while. Anyway, in the mean time, I didn't want to download any of my new pictures to our dinosaur desktop. Thus, this post is pictureless. :(
However, I've been thinking lately about all of those little things that make me smile each day and decided to share them!

Here are a few of my favorite things:

*Waking up just because the sun began to light up the room, not because anyone screamed or cried or started shaking their crib really hard or snored extra loud.

*Having a very clean and organized house with all the dishes put away and the floor vacuumed.

*Watching both girls watch their daddy. Especially when Emily quits feeding and tries to talk to him with her mouth full.

*Not that it has happened in a while, but snuggling up in a warm blanket with an awesome book, a glass of cold milk and a few cookies on a rainy day.

*A perfectly made bed with crisp clean sheets.

*Going to the park with my girls, packing a lunch and having a picnic.

*When Anna tries to sing. She's really bad and its so cute.

*That moment you get home from church, change into your grubby sweats and know you have all the rest of the day to spend with your family at home.

*Spontaneously dancing with my girls and occasionally my favorite man!

*Eating fresh fruits and vegetables.

*When Anna trips over something or drops something and says "Whoot!" for "Whoops!".

*Getting that perfect idea for my book and writing it even better.

*Having a newborn fall asleep on my chest and a toddler rest her head on my shoulder when she's tired.

*Seeing both my girls increase in ability and awareness.

*Finding those old beloved jeans actually fit again!

*Catching hubby in an act of secret good-doings!

*Having Anna scream, "Mama!" with a huge smile on her face if she hasn't seen me for a few minutes.

*Having a safe home, a healthy family, a wonderful knowledge of the gospel, financial security, an education, and so many other things that it's too much to list!

I hope you all have favorite things that bring joy to your life each day! Let me know what they are!

Aviation Lesson

2010-02-23T15:38:00.000-08:00

Harold the Helicopter from Thomas the Train books is always a bright smiling happy helicopter. Well, as Anna was learning about her different aviation vehicles, she would always call Harold an airplane. Poor Harold, I'm sure that would have taken away his smile! I certainly couldn't let that go on for very long, so today we dropped by the Gilbert Hospital on our way home. I spoke with the front office person and asked about showing my daughter their helicopter close up. I was kind of expecting either a "no", or being able to maybe look out of a window near the helipad. Little did I know how cool Native Air was! I received a personal tour with the girls right on the helipad with the paramedic that actually goes on each flight. He taught us all about how helicopters work, what they take for each flight, how much it costs to operate one, and all these really neat details about helicopters! Anna had so much fun looking at it, and touching everything. She would have gotten a chance to sit inside had it not been for the mechanic currently working on it. Anyway, the paramedic even took our picture - nicest guy ever!
Harold definitely won't be mistaken for an airplane ever again!

Pics Pics Pics

2010-02-17T14:31:00.000-08:00

Tummy time is a huge favorite...well, maybe not.

It's okay, she survived.

Sorry about the hair - it was right after nap time. Anna's eyes are SO pretty, they are such an amazing color!

Not much to say, just thought some pictures would be fun.

A Day On The Farm Continued

2010-02-04T15:43:00.000-08:00

Okay, this first picture wasn't actually at the farm (see previous post), but out here in Queen Creek, there are some animals that get a little confused; either that, or Target was having a strange sale on REALLY fresh chicken that day...

Here are some of the peach trees we saw during our hay ride. There were more that had bigger blossoms, but apparently I was busy getting Anna a snack during that part...

I loved all the different play areas that kids could enjoy. Anna definitely did as well. That's her bum poking up between the two tunnels.

They even had an area where all the rescued deer gathered to be fed by the hay riders.

Emily missed most of the morning snoozing away. She just doesn't appreciate the things we do for her...

A Day On The Farm

2010-02-04T15:27:00.000-08:00

Today was the start of the Peach Festival at Schnepf Farms, so we took advantage of the gorgeous weather and spent the day at the farm! We had never been before and I would definitely say that besides a little unpreparedness by the farm workers, we were not disappointed! Anna had so much fun! There was a little train for her to ride:

She wasn't too excited about sitting on the train as it was running, but as we were choo-chooing along, she kept clapping her hands and laughing out loud.

It was so cool, they even had a tunnel to go through.

Here is Emily and I waiting to leave the station.

There was also a hay ride where we received a guided tour by Mark Schnepf (the farm owner). It truly was a beautiful day and Anna was SO well behaved, having tons of fun looking around and even getting to pet the animals at the "petting zoo". The cost to enter the park and ride all the rides was only $7.00, so it was really great for us. Plus, the farm is less than 5 miles away from our home; what a great deal! :)

Post Continued

2010-01-25T21:21:00.000-08:00

So here are more pictures for my previous post.
Y'know, I have a hard time catching Jared with a sincere smile in pictures, but put his beautiful baby girl in his arms and suddenly, that sincerity is undeniable. These girls have the best daddy ever!

The dress was amazing; I loved the simple elegance that it held. Emily looked so sweet in it. Thank you Mom for having such amazing talents and sharing them with my family!

Here are the four generations that were in my house at once! I just wish Grandpa Eddie could have made it, too! He is one spunky guy (see the post where he is feeding Anna about a year ago.) So, this is Jared's Dad and Grandma. Grandpa Eddie is Grandma Gardner's Father.

I just love that Anna is slowly becoming more photogenic! She is beginning to understand that poses are appropriate! :)

Check out that massive pony tail! It's like it needs 80 rubber bands just to keep it in place!

Blessing, Family and More

2010-01-25T20:59:00.000-08:00

We were able to bless Emily while Jared's family was in town last week. It was such a great experience. The dress was handmade by my mother and was extremely beautiful. I will do two posts in order to fit all the pictures I wanted. Anyway, Here is the first family picture the Gardners have been able to do for probably a year. I am so pitiful when it comes to setting up family pictures; they just never seem to work out, but here is at least one that shows that we all do exist...

Anna has been having so much fun lately with the house, but sometimes still finds ways to get herself into trouble. I had a candy dish on this small ledge that Anna has never had anything out of before, but lo and behold, she seemed to find a way to get a hold of a treat.

Emily continues to be an amazing baby and seems to fit in with our family perfectly. She still sleeps at least eight hours in a row at night, with another four after a feeding. She has spoiled this mother completely! I still feel like a nap in the afternoon is needed while the girls sleep! One of her little quirks is that she never is silent during her sleep. She always makes a noise with each breath; most often it sounds like a purr, or moan, but the other day she was making almost the exact noise of a squeaky swing set. It was funny. Anyway, this must have been a pleasant dream...

Jared's dad, or Grandpa as he's more commonly known, completely spoiled Emily while they were here. I don't think she ever was put down if he was in the room! Those two were just two peas in a pod. I can't wait until she can ride a snowmobile - oh, the places they'll go!

Then, as the family left, so did the sunshine. Here is Anna's poor little car stuck in the middle of our yard lake. I guess she just didn't see all the road signs saying the area was flooded. Luckily, she was able to get a helicopter in the area to pick her up because that night, the wind blew so hard that the car ran into the wall. We had some dirty dogs that week. I should have taken a picture of the caked mud in our washroom. Yum.

Well, that's about it for now. I'll post more as I can! Thanks again Gardner family for visiting!

Everyday Joys

2010-01-11T19:22:00.000-08:00

Upon recommendation from my in-laws, I got Anna a bunch of little cheap toys to play with during her "Mommy's-currently-attached-to-baby-and-can't-play-right-now" time. They worked for about the first two days, and then she found something significantly more entertaining to do during that time. She reorganizes the pantry! As you can see, she stands on one of the cans so she can reach the second shelf. That is why almost everything is shoved onto the third shelf... I'm just waiting to see when she'll learn to stack two cans on top of each other to get even higher. At least she puts it all back when she's done throwing it out into the kitchen. I love that little kid. She has been so great.

I also love little baby butts. They truly must be the cutest thing on earth (when they are neatly packaged, of course...) Here is the one I get to enjoy each day!

Here is what the front looks like...since some of you may want to see that too...
Different day, similar position. She loves to stare out our bright bedroom window and dream of who knows what. Doesn't she just look like she's contemplating something pretty spectacular? :)

P.S. The bloodshot part of her eye is supposed to go away within another week. She was born with quite a few broken vessels on her face too, but they are pretty much gone now. Apparently delivery can be stressful. (Ya think?)

She's He-e-e-ere!

2010-01-08T11:55:00.000-08:00

Well, first off, this post is a week late. I've felt naked all week without internet and we finally got it set up today. Enough about that, here are all the wonderful and exciting things regarding our newest addition to the Gardner family!

Emily Irish Gardner was born 01/01/10 (cool b-day, huh) at 10:21 am. We were even on the morning news because she was a New Year baby! I won't go into detail about the labor, just because not everyone wants to know that info...but everything went very fast and smoothly! She was 8lbs 3oz, 21 and 1/2 inches long, and was feeding within the first two minutes of birth.

Since then, she has proven to be the easiest baby on earth! She is already on a four-hour schedule, sleeps through the night, and gives us little smiles all the time (probably because she tooted, but still...)

Anna is doing so well with the transition, and loves to give Emily kisses. She's very gentle and likes to also point out all her body parts. :)

Our house finalized just before Christmas, so we were able to have a home for a week before Emily arrived. Thank goodness - everything has worked out beautifully!!

Anyway, now that we have internet, I'm sure you'll hear from us more often! We're no longer off the grid!

The Talented Miss Gardner

2009-12-07T16:26:00.000-08:00

I've been posting a lot lately, and I think it is because I have the sneaky suspicion that I'm about to disappear off the face of the earth for a few months...
Anyway, Anna was cracking me up today. First, while I was reading her a few books this morning, she randomly pointed at my belly and said, "Ball!". Yes, if it weren't for all the moving around taking place inside, I would think that's what it was, too. However, this is the first sign she has shown that she notices something, so I guess that's cool!
Later today, she was quiet for a while playing in her room and I stopped doing dishes to investigate. She was sitting quietly working with some of her "small toys". I have a separate tupperware in her toy box that is just for pretty small pieces of random things. She had pulled it out, and came out to show me after a while what she had been working on:

She put all five fake witch fingernails on by herself! I was impressed; those things aren't easy to get on! She seemed very proud of herself as well:

Anyway, just lovin' this little girl! Can't wait to have her meet her sister and vice verse!

And The Race Is On...

2009-12-04T16:18:00.000-08:00

Which will it be???? Baby or house? Baby or house? Which one will win the race?

I can't believe how long it has been that I've been saying, "Yeah, we are supposed to close next week!" There are just too many individuals involved in purchasing a home - especially when it is a HUD home - this whole process is just taking forever! Of course, I'm sure I'm not being one bit impatient, considering that I'm not sure if I will or will not have a place for our baby to sleep when she comes! It is just frustrating; anything requested on our end has taken less than an hour to deliver to the right hands. We do everything right away, and then it takes "a week or so" to complete whatever stage our title company, or lender, or underwriter, or HUD agent is in. I also hate being in the dark so much. Why is it that the purchasers can't just call up the sellers and ask what stage they are in, or how much longer they expect things to take? Okay, I know the answer to that, but it is still frustrating that we can't talk to certain people without going through the proper channels. Blah Blah Blah - I just want to be home!!

P.S. Yes, that is our actual house, but not our actual baby. In case you were wondering...

A Time for Thanks

2009-11-25T12:57:00.000-08:00

I am so glad that we got married during this season of Thanksgiving! It reminds me every time how thankful I am for such an amazing husband! Jared, you are everything to me, and I had no idea how many wonderful things would come from saying, "Yes" to you 7 years ago! You are the most kind, understanding and giving individual I've ever met, and each day I am surprised to find you still love me despite all my faults and shortcomings!

You have given our family such strength and character with all your determination and dedication to finishing school. You are an idealistic father to Anna, and already one to our little girl on the way - just by taking such good care of me! You have seen us through thick and thin, and I feel so blessed to have you in my life! I love you, sweetie and Happy Anniversary!

Little Angel

2009-11-13T13:32:00.000-08:00

For anyone that knows me pretty well, the title of this post may come as a surprise. Not because Anna isn't a cute little angel or anything like that, but mainly because I'm not one for sissy pet names. However, I just wanted to share that I really did have a little angel on my hands today as I "caught" Anna saying prayer several times. I would walk into her room, and she'd have her chubby little arms folded as best they could be, her head sort of bowed, and she'd be whispering incoherent words for a second before abruptly stopping and clapping for herself! I'll have to admit that I clapped for her when we first learned prayers because she did so good, but now she claps after every one... it's cute enough that I'm not going to curb it. I wish I could get into her head to know what she is thinking, or what she is saying.
Also, as if to further solidify my opinion of my little angel, while writing this post, she came up to me wanting me to read her "I am a Child of God" book. She has all of her books fully accessible, and that is the one she picks, bringing it to me, pointing at the cover art and saying, "Shesus, Shesus."
She must be having a spiritual day...
Here is a recent picture that just makes me smile; I love my little girl. :)

Okay, Here You Go...

2009-11-03T17:08:00.001-08:00

Ugh, for some reason I have really not wanted to post my pregnant picture this go-around. Last time, even though I gained about double the weight, I think I felt more excited about experiencing it all for the first time and thus didn't care what I looked like. This time, for some reason, I haven't been able to make myself post anything. But, Jared made me take a couple pictures just so we'd have a record, and I decided that I may as well indulge the curiosity of blog followers. It has also been fun creating this post because every time Anna runs behind me as she plays, she points and says, "Mama!"

Anyway, in this picture, I am at 33 weeks and explaining to PJ how the birds and the bees work... Of course, he's already had 7 kids, so I'm not really sure why he was asking. Sorry about the completely blank backdrop, we are still planning to close end of November, and thus have mostly everything packed already. Enjoy.

Cock-A-Doodle-BOO!

2009-11-01T08:17:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween everyone! Here are some pictures from our adventures! Jared was working so he missed out on the fun, but the girls had a great night. First, I briefly considered dressing her up as a mad scientist:

But then went with our original plan of a rooster...that plays piano...

Anna had lots of fun running around chasing balloons at the ward's trunk-or-treat. She wasn't very social, but liked the decorations, pumpkins and lights. I kept having to shed her layers underneath her costume as the night progressed - that thing was hot!

I just loved the yellow and orange striped legs!

By the time we made it to Grandma and Grandpa's roost, she was super pooped. We didn't stay for long, and she ended up going to bed before 7! Anyway, we had a great time, and can't wait until next year when she really will understand what is going on! :)

Anna's Moon

2009-10-29T17:17:00.000-07:00

Anna was given a balloon the other day while Jared, she and I were walking the mall. She instantly fell in love with it and has played with it while the helium lasted. The only problem is that she is now confused about the difference between a balloon and a moon. She just officially learned 'moon' the other day, so introducing another round thing that floats in the sky, that happens to sound actually similar to 'moon' is very confusing. Every morning now, when she gets up for breakfast, she sees her 'moon' floating in the dining room and identifies it. I really don't know how to explain it to her. I guess she doesn't care anyway. :) See how much fun she has with it in this video.

Cravings

2009-10-13T21:59:00.001-07:00

Since I have had two pregnancies quite close together, it has made for easy comparisons. For example, with Anna, I didn't ever get any crazy cravings. I only got strange sensations when brushing my teeth. I can't explain it, and I know it sounds weird, but I loved brushing everything in my mouth because it felt so nice! That went away immediately after Anna's birth, but don't worry, I continued brushing anyway...
With this one, I have had just a few cravings, the occasional cheeseburger or whatever, but it seems like I have basically gone through three nutritional phases; one for each trimester. The first trimester was avocados. I think I had one by itself at least once a week. They were delicious. There was even one night that I ate a whole one, but wanted another. It was pretty late, so the grocery stores were closed, but I knew of a Taco Bell that was open 24 hours. Well, to my great disappointment, they didn't actually carry avocados. I got some weird ranch-avocado sauce that was entirely unsatisfying instead. It was like experiencing Disneyland as an adult instead of a child - that kind of disappointment.
The second trimester was milk. MMMMMilk. I chugged milk like there was no tomorrow, and I usually am a 2% kind of gal, but 1% was completely satisfying and much more healthy, I'm sure. Anyway, I think I even made a couple of meals with the appetizer, entree and dessert being milk!
This trimester has been all about carrots. Ask me not if I want avocados or milk, they have had their day, but put some carrots in front of me now, and I will devour them! I finished off two bags of organic baby carrots last week, and am only writing this now because I am in the mood for some tonight, but don't have any! They are just so delicious and cold and crisp and refreshing; just irresistible! My favorite carrots are the type that have that slight mud taste to them, you know what I mean. The type that taste like you just plucked them from the ground, rinsed them off with a hose, and took a bite. Those are my favorite, which reminds me: Since the smell of rain and mud are some of my favorite smells, I've noticed that the monsoon season this year has been quite a let-down. Honestly, I think it has only rained really hard twice since we got pregnant - what the heck!?
With rain comes mud and faster growing grass which leads to my other favorite smell - freshly cut grass! I feel like I got robbed this summer of my favorite scents which could be so much more enjoyed with the intensified senses of pregnancy! :)
Oh well, I'm off to get some carrots...

Update

2009-09-30T19:11:00.000-07:00

Well, a few updates for the Gardner family: Jared passed his NCLEX exam yesterday, so he is officially a licensed LPN - YAY! Anna is being the amazing toddler that she is, even dealing with two canine teeth coming in. She loves to have us read her books over and over again. Right now, her favorite is Jack and the Beanstalk. We have one from I think the 1970's, and it's art is horrible, but she loves it!
Little Sister, as she is called since we don't have a solid name yet, is very strong and growing fast. I don't have any pictures that make me look even remotely cute, so I'm not posting any! :) This pregnancy has gone really well, I'm just pretty tired. Anyway, we're not too tired to hit the splash pad for one last hoorah before the season ends. Here is Anna playing:

And here she is at our house that isn't ours yet. Although you can't tell, she is getting a little more hair every day.

That's it for now!!

Idaho Trip

2009-09-30T18:46:00.000-07:00

I am ashamed to admit that it has been 2 weeks since we got home from Idaho, and I'm just now posting about it. I can't even say life has been too crazy; at least, it hasn't been more crazy than normal, I guess I was just too lazy! :) Anyway, we had tons of fun seeing family again and meeting our nephew for the first time! Here are some pics showing our great time:
Here are the girl cousins hanging out watching The Rescuers Down Under

Anna got to ride the lawn mower with Grandma; she waved at me every time they passed.

This is our makeshift icepack for when Anna took her first spill down the stairs. Not her "first spill" as if she did any more during the trip, just her first spill ever... I kind of wish that I would've taken a picture of the swelling. It went away pretty quickly, but she looked like a Klingon for a while.

Anna was able to spend tons of time outside in the grass and sun; she was in heaven. I can't wait until we get a backyard so she can continue the fun!

This is Jared with neice Emmy and Anna at his sister's new property and house. We are so excited for their new opportunity!

We also went to the zoo and spent a few nights at the family ranch, but for some reason, I don't have any pictures of the camping. At least this time Anna only walked away with one mosquito bite, not 30 on her face.
We had such a great time; thanks Grandma and Grandpa for letting us come up for a while! :)

P.S. We are in the process of closing on a property in Queen Creek, but don't want to jinx anything by posting pictures. We are very excited to say the least and should be moving in around the end of October!! YAY!

Wooohooo!!!

2009-08-20T15:18:00.000-07:00

Jared is done with his LPN program - YAY!!! All he has left to do is take his license test (NCLEX) and he is finished! It has been a long road, but I am SO proud of his perseverance! He already has his career lined up with the hospital he is currently employed with, so the transition should go really smoothly! Then, within a few months, we will hopefully be residing again in the east valley. Anyway, just thought I'd throw out that little HOORAH to my hubby for all his hard work!!

Can't Wait

2009-08-08T12:35:00.001-07:00

So, I don't have any pictures to post for this entry; it's mostly just a chance for me to vent and whine. We have been at our current residence (if you can call it that) for about six months. Granted, we moved here because it would save us a great deal of money while Jared finished up his LPN program, and it was somewhat closer to his school/work at the time. Well, now I have just about had it, and can't wait to buy our house in October. Everything is lining up great so we will be able to, but for the time being, I'm going a little crazy and I'll tell you why. Here is a list of the lovely ambiance-creators in my neighborhood:
*Car alarms - at least 30 times a day
*Yapping dogs - at least 3 times a day
*Ice cream trucks (3) - at least 3 times a day
*Walking, bell-ringing ice cream vendors (2) - at least twice a day
*Extremely loud garbage trucks (with the banging and the beeping) - at least 4 times a week (twice over because the garbage bins for the adjacent complex is less than 50 yards away from my window)
*Revving engines and peeling out - I can't tell you how many ghetto vehicles in this complex are modified to be excruciatingly annoying, but each one has to show it off right in front of my place at least twice a day
*Loud neighbors - I mean, I'm sure Jared and I have our moments of not being quiet little mice, but honestly, I think I have the loudest neighbor on earth. I can hear her talking (term loosely used) on her phone every night around 11pm from the parking lot all the way up the stairs and once she's inside her apartment, it's even louder
*Airplanes - I think some days that one is going to crash through our roof - at least 30 times a day
Y'know, other than that, we have a very lovely peaceful quiet residence for a really great price.
I can't wait to move.

I Sleep With Guns

2009-08-05T21:30:00.000-07:00

Soooo, I was awake the other night, which happens to be a frequent occurrence, and I was thinking about having two girls - whether they would be girly or tom-boyish like I was. I then started thinking about the fact that I definitely have some traits that make me quite girlish, aside from actually being a girl... I mean, I do like to shop, I love pedicures (I've only had one manicure in my life given to me by Michelle Lambson when she was going through beauty school. It was nice, but the nails fell off within a few hours, so I didn't become real hooked.), and I can have pretty emotional days, or weeks, or... well, you get the point.

THEN, I thought about the way I was laying in bed and how nice it was that I had a perfect position to be in while I slept as my belly grew each day. Y'know, slightly on my stomach/side, leg bent, one arm tucked under my chin, the other extended under the pillow with my hand resting on the cold steel barrel of my Mossberg 12 gauge behind my bedstead... at that point I figured that I probably wasn't a normal girl.

First off, now everyone knows where I keep one of my guns, but I don't think that anyone about to rob me is going to check my blog first, and I'm not a paranoid internet person, so there you go. Secondly, I don't have my hand on my gun because I am a paranoid house person, either. It just happens to be there, and the cool touch feels nice at night.

To continue with the strange ramblings of my mind, I had to smile to myself when I realized that the other favorite position of mine to sleep in is exactly the same but on the flip side, this time with my hand on the other set of guns readily accessible to me:

K, so they aren't that big, and they don't usually tote a sledge hammer, but I found it interesting that on one side I'm holding my real gun, and on the other, I hold my hubby's guns. It is nice having such a protected night! :) So, I concluded that although I have many traits that make me a girly girl, I am still unique, and I'm sure that's how my girls will be as well.
P.S. For those who think my post contains a bit too much information, aka: TMI, too bad. It's my blog.

Little SISTER!!

2009-08-04T21:03:00.000-07:00

After our ultrasound on Monday, it was determined that baby #2 is going to be a GIRL! Jared just loves it; he grew up with girls and just adores Anna, so he's definitely stoked. I am thrilled as well, a little wary of the idea that I so far am only raising girls, but I think I've done okay for my first year with my first one. The baby appeared extremely healthy and strong, which I could already attest to with the kicks she's dishing out! Jared has already felt her kicks which is always a neat thing for Daddies. As a big sister, Anna is already a favorite, for every time I hold her, the baby kicks against any part that is touching "her side". I can't wait, it's going to be one intense ride having two girls in the house that close in age.

As far as my pregnancy goes, everything is still really great, just pretty exhausting. I can't believe how frequently I just want to crash in my pillow and not move for hours. Kudos for women who have many children. I'm pooped. The doc did bump up my due date about a week, so now we have a Christmas baby instead of a New Year's. It didn't surprise me since Anna grew so fast as well. She is going to be a great big sister. Here is a sweet pic of her and Dada a few days after returning from Colorado. Her poor mosquito bites - at least they are healing fast; she looks much better now!!

Colorado Camping

2009-07-27T10:02:00.001-07:00

The week began with a successful eight hour drive where there really were few issues despite having three toddlers in the back seat. We arrived at our camping spot in the afternoon with plenty of time to set up. It was a really beautiful area just outside Delores, Colorado with huge mountains all around and a river about fifty yards away. The first night was pretty cold, but Anna slept pretty well.

On Tuesday most of the family went hiking to the hot springs but Anna and I stayed with Grandma and Grandpa in camp (I just wasn't sure how far I could get carrying that sack of potatoes on my back...). It was probably good because I was able to help cover everything up when the hail started coming down. It was a pretty good storm that seemed to completely miss the hikers, thankfully. Then, once everyone got back into camp, the real storm hit. It rained so hard and had quarter-sized hail for about an hour! My tent, Grandma and Grandpa's old one, definitely had to be retired after the storm. You should have seen the way it sagged under the weight of the hail as it piled on top, just pouring water onto my bed and gear. I was able to salvage some of Anna's and my stuff during the storm so we only had to run into Delores with an Armada full of everyone's wet gear. Ugh, it was a challenge, especially not having Jared there to help me, but we survived. I moved into the trailer that we had hauled our gear up in (special thanks to the Lambsons for such a sturdy vehicle that perfectly fit a mattress and crib).

The rest of the week was mostly storm free aside from a few drops here and there, but the worst part was freezing at night. I was forced to create a "family bed" for most of the nights as I tried different tactics to keep Anna and I warm. There is a reason that she hasn't slept with me since she was a day old - I don't sleep. Anyway, we survived, and finally on the last night, Friday, we both had a VERY successful sleep. It just came down to the perfect arrangement of bedding and pajamas so that circulation was maintained and heat contained. She slept all night by herself and all I cared about was that I slept! But, despite the rough nights, we had glorious days. The food was terrific, the scenery breathtaking, the mosquitoes hungry. I think that Anna and I taste especially scrumptious to those evil hovering bugs because she now looks like she has chicken pox (despite the ample amounts of "OFF" I used on her). I will try to get more pictures later, but this is the only one I have - Grandma, Anna and I went for a hike that was mostly straight up the mountain next to camp. It was gorgeous and exhausting; I'm such a tired, out of shape, pregnant mom, it's not even funny! :)

Toy Box Time

2009-07-18T16:56:00.000-07:00

I like to think that Anna really enjoys her toys. Most of them are homemade from fun items around the house (like the Fanta bottle with rice for a noisemaker...) and it seems that she explores them differently each time she comes across one. She certainly decided to do some exploring today as I found her in her toy box digging through her treasures.

I couldn't even get her attention long enough to get a cute picture of her until I started making monkey noises. This was the reaction I then received, I think its a smile...not sure:

Look at all those teeth, though! You can even see her upper molar in the back there! Anyway, it was such a cute face, I had to share it with everyone. I'm so lucky to have such an awesome kid. :)

Walkin' Tall

2009-07-14T19:27:00.000-07:00

Well it's official! She is a walking pro now! She just decided this afternoon that she's known how to walk all along and thought it awfully silly that she was still on her hands and knees. Now, she's walking all over the place like it's no big thing. She bends over, picks up her books, waves her arms in the air like she's a blind woman walking, it's so funny. Anyway, we are sooo excited for her, she's such a champ! Yay! Sorry the video is blurry, short and all over the place; it was hard to catch a great video and your daughter at the same time! :)

Birthday Fun

2009-06-19T22:25:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how quickly it's gone by, but Anna's first year has been amazing! I was thinking originally of doing a seperate post when her birthday actually arrived on Wednesday, but then I remembered that I haven't exactly been religious at posting, so I decided on a two birds with one stone kind of thing.
We had Anna's birthday party yesterday, and she was just such a cutie in her little outfit that Grandma Sue gave her! We stripped her down for the cake part though; I wasn't sure a bib would cut it. In this picture, Daddy is standing behind the fantastic photographer (Grandma Birch) making Anna look so incredibly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

Then, she really got down to business when introduced to her slice of the cake. You don't want to mess with this hungry bear.

This was the cake I made for her. I got the box idea from a paper plate, but then pretty much came up with everything else on my own. Anna's all time favorite thing right now is animal noises, so I thought it was very appropriate!

At one year, here are Anna's top favorites in her little life (in no particular order):

1. Daddy wrestling. She actually tackles him and burrows her head into him as if trying to bull doze him over. She usually ends up with beard rash, but I know she thinks it's totally worth it!
2. Farm animals. As mentioned, she loves the animal noises that Meh (that's Mama's name) makes. We read her farm books every night. She also loves "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?", which has mostly farm animals, but a bear and some children, too. (Sounds like a bad combo...)
3. Peaches and Pears. Her favorite food right now - she will eat enough to make her sick.
4. Splash pad. She especially likes the Tempe Beach one; there are little whales there that she stands up to, plays with the water coming out of it's spout, and stands without holding on to anything! Ooooooh...
5. 5 Little Monkeys. This is her favorite song, usually because I substitute it with, "Anna is a monkey, jumpin' on the bed; she fell off and bonked her head!...and the doctor said, 'No more Annas jumpin' on the bed!'" I replaced the real lyrics when she did fall off the bed last week.
6. Outside. Anywhere, anytime. This girl is an outdoor addict just like her Mama, or "Meh".
7. Eyes. She will poke anyone's at any given moment. Poor PJ just doesn't think to walk away, plus his eyes are so round and bulging, it's hard to blame her.
8. Being upside-down. She has a little game where she sits on our laps facing us and holds our hands while bending backwards so she's upside-down. She particularly likes her exposed neck tickled and ending her game with a flip that she always lands!
9. Family. She loves her cousins, aunts and uncles, and especially her grandparents!
10. Taking us for walks. Although not walking on her own yet, she absolutely loves taking our fingers and walking us around to everywhere she wants to check out, which is EVERYWHERE!

That's our little Anna! Happy Birthday; we love you sweetie and can't wait to share this next year with your bright and shining self!

Baby Names - BabyNamey.com

2009-05-24T12:25:00.000-07:00

Fun in the Sun

2009-05-10T16:43:00.000-07:00

SORRY it's been sooooo long since I posted. I am actually not so excited about blogging anymore. I just have lots to do, and find that blogging is at the bottom of my list. BUT, since I feel so guilty for not keeping distant family up to date with our little one, here goes. We celebrated Evelyn's second birthday yesterday and Anna just loved the splash pad there. Although she's getting pretty tan, she still can burn, so she's wearing a hat and a surf shirt to cover as much up as possible. The pants are because of the flooring on a splash pad; although softer than lava rock, it still tends to rip up her knees. I don't know why I even bothered putting her in swimming attire at all, you can't even see it. :) Anyway, things are going great with us! Jared's working hard at both school and work, and I'm chasing this little one around all day. Hopefully I can post something in the near future out of excitement instead of guilt. Later!

Not For the Faint of Heart

2009-03-12T10:22:00.000-07:00

I just want to give kudos to our amazing daughter who just made an attempt at eating a wasp, and was unsuccessful. We've had a couple of wasps hanging out around our balcony lately, and I kill them as soon as I see them, but apparently, one ducked into our house without me noticing. Anyway, at some point this morning it became "mostly dead" and was laying on our floor - ready for Anna's investigation. I guess it's reflexes kicked in when a chubby hand picked it up and put it in an open mouth. Lo and behold - unhappy wasp - unhappy baby. She only screamed for a second or two while we were trying to figure out where it had gotten her (the culprit was in plain sight at that point...). The swelling showed up a minute or two later.

Anyway, she is doing fine, and the picture actually depicts a very grumpy girl, but she's actually all smiles this morning as usual! KUDOS big girl!!

Children's Museum

2009-01-29T08:49:00.000-08:00

Updated Pics

2009-01-29T08:40:00.000-08:00

Here are just a few more pictures from outings, the Children's Museum, and one more Christmas one.

Life...

2009-01-12T19:45:00.000-08:00

Well, it's happened again...life. I can't believe how the time gets away from me sometimes. Sorry there haven't been any posts as of late, and I don't really have any substantial excuses. Here is the latest: Jared continues to work hard at becoming the best nurse possible through schooling and work. He starts a new program in the summer that should prove exciting. He still works at the Arizona Heart Hospital full time and is a tremendous father. I am keeping busy with Anna and caring for our home and family (along with constant research for and slow development of my book). I love being a mother, more than I would have ever imagined. I attribute so much of my joy to having such a wonderful and enjoyable daughter. Anna will be seven months in a week or so, and I can't believe how big she is getting! She finally got her cranial band to help shape her head. It was just a little wide and slightly flat on the back, despite only spending her sleeping hours on her back. She'll wear the band for a few months, and so far, she doesn't seem to even notice it's there! She spends a great deal of her time these days trying to get her body to move the way she wants, and is quite successful at it! She pretty much can get to wherever she wants now, even though she's not officially crawling. She scoots, rolls, and army crawls around to reach her destination, which is usually one of the dog's tail or paw. Mary and PJ are forever loving toward her, and often curl up into a ball against her back as she plays with her touch and feel puppy book. I don't think that Anna will crawl for very long once she figures it all out. She's already pulling herself up on things in order to stand, but she doesn't know how to fall yet. She has a tendency to just lock her knees and tip over. Luckily, we have always been there to help. She continually makes verbal noises, but they aren't cute little coo's and ah's. It sounds like she is trying to mimic a wookie, vibrating the back of her throat. It's funny. Anyway, that's all we've been up to lately. Here are a couple of pictures:

Expressions of Anna

2008-12-23T16:21:00.000-08:00

This kid gets cuter and cuter every day. Of course that comes from a biased opinion; maybe in all reality she has a mug only a mother could love. Either way, this mother's lovin' it!

Vain Much?

2008-12-12T14:43:00.000-08:00

This video cracks me up. This is Sueann playing with Anna (who is apparently quite pleased with herself):

Generations

2008-12-07T09:33:00.001-08:00

During our Thanksgiving trip to Idaho, we were to be able to make the rounds to some of Anna's "great" relatives that she hadn't met yet! This was very special to me in particular because I only have one memory regarding any of my great grandparents (a funeral). I hope she is able to spend time getting to know them so she can have wonderful memories to cherish!

Here is Eldon Croft, Anna's father's, father's, mother's father - her great great grandfather! Our first son, whenever he comes along will be named after him. He was so cute feeding Anna while he told me faith promoting stories of his experience being called as Elder's Quorum President after years of inactivity.

There were a few times when the bottle would drift away from her mouth, and she would attempt to recover it with her lips, but she never fussed while "Grandpa Eddie" and I talked of the past. :) Grandpa Eddie and my great grandfather, Henry Hill used to work together in the sheep industry. Eddie had the sheep, and Henry sheared them. I think it's so special that Jared's and my history is intertwined with family that served one another.

This is Anna's father's father's mother and father; Grandpa Eddie's daughter and son-in-law, whom he converted to the Gospel. Anna was in love with a little African doll with beaver fur hair that Grandma Gardner played with.

This is Anna's father's mother's mother and father. Anna was greatly entertained by a pair of singing penguins that Grandpa Smith pulled out of his toy stash!

Anna comes from such a wonderful heritage, it was such a blast spending time with all of our family over Thanksgiving!

My Little Reader

2008-11-19T19:38:00.000-08:00

About a month ago, when Anna was 4 months old, I thought, "Okay, it's time to start reading to her because she can now focus on the pages and touch/hold things pretty well." I already had a couple of books for her, but I decided to go to the library to find some of the "touch and feel" books. There wasn't any, but there were some books on baby faces and bodies. I sat with Anna and started to talk to her while holding the pages open. I was shocked at how attentive she was! She sat there helping me hold the pages as I talked about what was on them. I would point, and she would follow my hands with her hands. It was a really fun time with her. Well, since then, I have found that I like the cardboard books, especially the "touch and feel's", but I really love the plastic books! Anna can drool on them, drop them in the dirt, bend them backwards, crinkle the pages, and they are still in prime condition! We both love them! She likes to "read" on our walks in the morning after she's had a good look around.

Kids at Heart

2008-10-27T14:19:00.000-07:00

Saturday we went to the Children's Museum in Phoenix with Grandma, Dallin, Lisa, Hayden, Cody, Christine and Evelyn. It was really fun, and here are some of the highlights: Firstly, Hayden became awestruck when he first walked into the large room full of brightly colored tunnels and domes, and needed some convincing by Lisa and Grandma to come and actually play with everything. Granted, he had just woken up from sleeping in the car...Evelyn needed little convincing as she dove right into playing and climbing all over everything.

Here's Evelyn finishing up at the "car wash"; surprisingly, both came out without a drop of water.

Anna had lots of fun just watching and listening to all the commotion, especially from her perch in Grandma's arms!

More trinkets everywhere we turned!

Then, best of all, we had a little hula hoop competition:

Grandma won, hands down!! It was tons of fun!!

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-27T14:07:00.000-07:00

For Anna's first Halloween, she was a pink leopard. And, for anyone that knows me, that's only because it was given to us for our baby shower. I never would have spent money on such a thing, but, she makes it cute. Our ward has a yearly Fall Festival so we went to that. I was tempted to take her around Friday night just so Jared and I could get lots of free candy, but I decided that might not please our neighbors. Anyway, the little outfit was complete with ears, a face on the hood, and of course, a tail. Wee!

I Have Toes!

2008-10-27T14:01:00.000-07:00

So, a few weeks ago, Anna started grasping her knees when she was on her back, and slowly, she worked her way up until she was able to find her toes. Now, it's her ultimate obsession. Any time she's on her back, particularly when she's naked, she plays with her toes. It's the cutest thing, and it's so helpful when I'm changing her diaper, but not so helpful when I'm trying to get her pants on! :)

Update

2008-10-16T14:35:00.000-07:00

Well, Anna is almost four months old. She is now fairly stable with her sleep pattern: bed at 7, I wake her for a bottle around 10, and then she doesn't usually wake until 7. It's been VERY nice! She sits up on her own for maybe 2-5 seconds before falling over, but with support she does really well. She now giggles and shrieks when we play with her, and likes to talk when her hands are in her mouth (we'll have to fix that before she starts dating...). She rolls over still easily from belly to back and last week she did back to belly, but only once. She's such a big girl when we take her on walks; she doesn't even use the car seat in the stroller any more! Anyway, things are going very well!

Camping

2008-10-04T17:43:00.001-07:00

The family went camping last weekend at Workman's Creek, just above Roosevelt Lake. It was really beautiful and the weather was perfect. It got a little cold the first night (into the 40's), but I couldn't believe how well Anna slept. The day was a little different; Jared wasn't able to go (clinicals and working), so I had my hands full most of the time. Anna didn't seem to feel the need to nap with so much excitement going on, so the day was a little rough. I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted, but here are a few fun ones! Christine playing the perfect Aunt!
Mom playing the perfect chef!
Evelyn and Anna just playing!
The next pictures were taken before we left; Anna went shopping and bought some totally awesome new boots for the camping trip. I loved them, and they were a great price, so I didn't make her take them back... Plus, she just was so happy in them (especially in her ridiculous outfit...). I took them with my phone so the quality isn't as good. Sorry. I also think I was laughing too hard to get a steady picture for the last one. I love that we can do ridiculous things to our children and they have no idea.

Another Tag

2008-09-28T14:51:00.000-07:00

Well, until I get the desire to download our other pictures, I will just follow up with a tag from Emilee, and I'll answer for both Jared and I:

A-attached or single? Attached (at the hip...)/attached...unhappily..hee hee.
B-best friend? My hubby-bubby/Kenna
C-cake or pie? Definitely cake, not a huge fan of pie/ooh, that reminds me, I have some pie in the freezer...so, pie.
D-day of choice? Saturday/ Mondays, that's the day we get to spend together.
E-essential item? There's not really much I can't do without/McKenna
F-favorite color? Blue/Green
G-gummy bears or worms? Worms/worms...they last longer
H-hometown? Don't have one/Idaho Falls
I-indulgence? I'm a chocoholic/cars
J-January or July? Definitely July, even in AZ/January, it's not hot.
K-Kids? Anna-banna-bonanna/Anna
L-Life isn't complete without? Relationships/McKenna
M-marriage date? 11/25/2002/excuse me? no, don't put that. It's 11/25. I thought you said Marriage or Date?
N-number of brothers and sisters? 3 big bro's, and when I say big, I only mean older.../I have 3 sisters, no brothers...well, 3 brothers in law, does that count?
O-oranges or apples? Apples, they are cleaner to eat/Oranges
P-phobias? Bears, bears and more bears/I don't know what I'm afraid of...heights, I'm afraid of heights.
Q-Quotes? "Falling flat on your face is still moving forward."/"I know, right?" (said like Mean Girls...)
R-reasons to smile? Family/McKenna
S-season? Summer/McKenna..haha, okay, Winter.
T-tag...anyone who desires to do this one/no
U-unknown fact about me? I sucked my thumb until 3rd grade/I used to race snowmobiles.
V-vegetables? I love them. Most of them raw, but I love cooked corn./ none, except McKenna's cooked corn.
W-worst habit? Thinking bodily functions are hilarious/bite my nails
X-xray or ultrasound? don't really know the purpose of that question. I suppose ultrasound is more informative in some respects, but I really enjoy bones, so I like xrays too./as far as? xray, no ultrasound cause it doesn't shrink your....are you serious??
Y-your favorite food? I love Italian food. It's so fattening and delicious/gluten-free pizza
Z-zodiac sign- virgo/aries I guess.

Reaching

2008-09-24T13:50:00.000-07:00

Anna has been doing some reaching and grabbing lately. She now likes to kick and swat at her little mobile above her crib. So, the other day I was sitting outside with her (she really likes the sunshine) and the dogs were playing near us. PJ came and stood with his front paws on my lap, sniffing Anna. She had been watching him all along, and as soon as he got close to her, she jabbed him right in the eye with her finger. It kind of reminded me of that Simpson's episode where Homer is trying to find the little girl that Marge's sister adopted in the nursery. The only way he knows it's her is because she squishes his eyeballs. Anyway, it was funny. To celebrate Anna and PJ, I found this picture that we took a few weeks ago. Sorry about the "I stay at home" Mommy look.

6 Unspectacular Quirks

2008-09-21T11:34:00.000-07:00

Okay Angie, this is for you. (p.s. we need another entry "dahling"...)

1. I am quite known for the way I completely butcher phrases and words. I definitely don't do it on purpose, but it just happens. For example, I was having a discussion at a Relief Society gathering with my mother and most of the Lambson Land Ladies. We were talking about how sour cream was such a nice addition to our meals once my family became wealthy enough to afford it, and I said something to the effect, "Yes, it was quite the delicatessen.." Yup, not delicacy like I meant, but it was a deli. I'm retarded.

2. I HATE having my ear folded backwards. It drives me bonkers. Sometimes Jared will tease me by holding me down as he folds them until I scream. It just weirds me out... I can't even have Anna's ears folded, I have to lay them flat.

3. I never had wisdom teeth. Actually, I'm even missing one molar on one side of my jaw.

4. When I swallow pills, I have to take only one at a time, and then I have a little system to get it down the gullet. First I put the pill in my mouth, take a large swig of water, swallow only a portion of it, then I do a little gesture with my hand before swallowing the rest with the pill. If I don't do that little boost-of-confidence gesture, I can't swallow it. Jared laughs at me as he takes his six pills without water...

5. I am afraid of bears. I love to be in the outdoors, and I love to camp, hunt, hike, etc., but if I have to spend the night somewhere, I take some sleep aids along. Heaven knows if I don't, I will just stay wide awake listening to every single noise imagining its a bear out to eat my family alive...

6. I love to organize. Give me tuberware bins, labels, and all your junk, and you could not believe how happy it could make me! There have been times when I felt a large amount of stress and seriously just wanted to go out and buy a whole bucket of beads just so I could organize them by size, shape, color, etc. It calms me in weird ways.

If anyone would also like to share 6 unspectacular quirks abou themselves, be my guest!

Crash

2008-09-20T14:01:00.000-07:00

So, last week our hard drive crashed. Yay. We lost everything, which included all of our pictures (since 2004), all of Jared's school work, and my book (about 70 pages). Luckily, I had printed off a manuscript a few months ago, but unfotunately, all the changes I had made since then are gone. I think we are okay on Jared's school stuff; he didn't need too many of the old papers and whatnot. It would have been nice to keep those around, though. The saddest part is the pictures. I should have been printing them off every once in a while, but it was just so handy keeping them on our computer. I just feel bad that we lost all of Anna's first pictures, and there were a lot of them, but I guess we just move on and take more. I am glad that I started the blog; that was able to save some of our favorites. Anyway, such is life. Now we have a "happenin'" new laptop and I decided, based on some of Aaron's advice, to just restart my book. I think I've been trying too hard and my "voice" isn't coming through, so I'm working on just developing that writing skill. It has been fun. Well, that's really all the news I have for now, and sorry no pictures...

Little Fishy

2008-09-05T09:16:00.000-07:00

Anna has been a little fishy from day one. She loves bathtime and enjoys showering with Mommy. She just sits there and licks her lips the whole time, it's hilarious. Anyway, she finally fit into her bathing suit (thanks SueAnn...), and so we went for a dip at the hotel. We didn't have any diaper covers, so it swelled to astronomic porportions, it was crazy. I think we left with most of the pool in her shorts.

Blessing Weekend

2008-09-05T08:43:00.000-07:00

We blessed Anna on Sunday the 31st. My mother made her dress, which was gorgeous (the pictures don't do it justice). It was made from a vintage pattern based out of Victorian times. Here are a couple of pictures that we snapped while getting her ready. Anna thought it was funny.

But then we had to hurry and go...

She now thinks she's hot stuff for being the center of attention. She's too cool for us...

All in all, it was a very wonderful weekend. Jared's blessing was beautiful and we had such a blast with his family in town. Thanks to everyone who helped out; we couldn't have done it without you!!

Revelations, Epiphanies, and Spit Up

2008-08-25T11:54:00.000-07:00

As a preface, I am currently reading Eckhart Tolle's book, "A New Earth", which was recommended to me by my Iranian chiropractor. It is intended to be a sort of spiritual awakening guide, but I have been enjoying it as a review of my psychology and philosophy classes. It talks a great deal about the "ego" and who we are as people living in this society. Tolle speaks about the inner voice that we all have, which I learned as "self talk" in Psych 101 in college. I probably came to recognize my inner voice when I was around 9 or 10 years old and starting to imagine myself talking to certain friends at school, or perhaps that one cute boy. I would hold conversations in my head, practicing what I would say, as I know you all do as well. The inner voice is unavoidable, but it becomes interesting when we analyze it and recognize when we are thinking or saying things to ourselves that are humorous, off-the-wall, or revealing. Anyway, to get to my point, I have been thinking more about what my voice has been saying as of late, and just the other night, I had a small parent-related idea. It was 4 o'clock in the morning, and I was thrilled because Anna had just slept for 7 1/2 hours straight! She is getting better and better at night, and I was just so happy to think that night-time feedings will probably be eliminated very soon now. I think while I was feeding her, I was imagining telling my mother about how cool that was when all of a sudden, Anna vomited her milk all over me. It was a good two or three ounces down my shirt, but I wasn't discouraged and my mood actually wasn't effected at all. I've gotten pretty used to unexpected explosions from my daughter, so I jokingly said with a melodramatic voice inside my head, "How could you do this to me???" and I think I laughed audibly along with it. At that point I realized that I could really ask the very same question regarding how long she had slept that night. If a parent takes it personally when a child does bad, then they certainly need to take it personally when they perform well or do good things. I have found that already I'm falling into a pattern of parenthood where my child does well because she is an amazing baby, but when she struggles with something, it is my fault. "I should have burped you better", or "You ate too much and that was my fault". I'm sure that I'm overanalyzing all of this, but I am just so interested to see what type of parent I will be, that I'm watching for habits and irrational behavior. Childrens' behavior is most likely a combination of the "nature vs. nurture" idea; in Anna's example, I know it is. She is both a very relaxed baby and I worked hard at creating good sleep habits from early on. She is also going through a spit up phase and I should have burped her earlier. I don't think any parent can completely take credit or completely blame themselves for anything their children do. This idea that popped into my head during Anna's feeding has nothing to do with my parents, or any specific parents that I know (nice little disclaimer, eh?). I only know terrific parents, and I'm just throwing around the thoughts that leaped into my head that night. Now, for the real reason that most of you check this blog, here is a cute picture of Anna...

Professional Wanna Be

2008-08-13T10:56:00.000-07:00

This is the extent of my professional photography. Any family that wants a copy just let me know, or just click on the photo, save it to your computer and then print it on photo paper. It's pretty easy. After about 100 photos, these two were my favorite.

First Smile Caught

2008-08-13T10:50:00.000-07:00

Although Anna has been smiling quite frequently lately, we hadn't caught it on camera yet. This picture is Anna's very first smile at Jared!! It was cute. It also proves that I exist other than online. :)

Tagged

2008-08-12T19:54:00.000-07:00

Okay Michelle, this is for you!

Ten years ago I was...
Oh man, I am not completely sure what I did the summer of '98. I know that for three years ('97-'99) I was a Youth Camp Leader for the 4th year girls (the ones that backpack for 3 days instead of stay at camp). Michelle and I had a routine of getting a dozen doughnuts in the morning before we drove up to find trail with the Bergstrams. That was to make sure we didn't get too skinny, of course. If I remember right, this was the year that we found that huge muddy spot on the bank of a stream. We covered ourselves completely with mud, from head to toe, and took a picture. All you could see were a set of eyes peeking out from the bank, it was great. Otherwise, I'm sure I was working or doing something else useful, but to be honest, I have a horrific long term memory so I'm not sure.

5 Things on my to-do list:
1. Put Anna's newborn clothes in a labeled container.
2. Finish the dishes...that one is kind of on a continual basis.
3. Do some more pike-ups (tough sit-ups).
4. Jot down some of my thoughts that I had today about my book.
5. Find out why I blacked out earlier today. (that one maybe should be at the top, but it's not.)

A snack I enjoy:
Every summer it seems that I become a smoothie junkie. I love fruit smoothies, and I worked for a short while at a Jamba Juice while in college (I still have my hand print on the wall that we all did with paint up at BYU-I), so I go out and buy all the "fixin's" to make my own. I don't have a name for it, or exact measurements since I just throw it all together, but it consists of: strawberries, peaches, frozen apple juice concentrate, plain yogurt, and orange sherbet. It's really good.

Things I would do if I were a millionaire:
If I had a million dollars, well I'd buy you a mink coat, not a real mink coat that's cruel...
Actually, I would take care of the usual (school loans, house, cars, children), and then take my family on trips around the world. I want to go to so many different countries and cities, I just don't have the funding to do so yet. That's all I really want though.

Places I have lived: (are you sure you're ready for this one??)
Rigby, Idaho
San Fransisco, California
Iona, Idaho
Ammon, Idaho
Idaho Falls, Idaho (25th St)
Boaz, Kentucky
St. George, Utah
Chandler, Arizona (Hacienda)
Chandler, Arizona (Saragosa)
Chandler, Arizona (Karen)
Flagstaff, Arizona
Rexburg, Idaho (Barnes)
Rexburg, Idaho (Aspen)
Sugar City, Idaho
Idaho Falls, Idaho (I St)
Idaho Falls, Idaho (J St)
Idaho Falls, Idaho (55th St)
Phoenix, Arizona
Mesa, Arizona

I also moved back into some of those homes twice, so I've actually moved 21 times in my life. Pretty good for only being 25 years old! (Hence the reason I don't hang on to furniture long...)
It will be nice to finally settle somewhere, eventually.

I tag Veronica and Bryndee on this one!

One Word Tag

2008-08-12T18:32:00.000-07:00

Okay, while perusing my sister-in-law's blog, I happened upon the fact that I had been tagged...um, back in June. So, sorry SueAnn. I didn't catch it before, but here it is:

One Word Tag
1. Where is your cell phone?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dunno
2. Your significant other? . . . . . . . .. .. . . . .Affectionate
3. Your hair? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Frustrating
4. Your mother? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Exemplary
5. Your father? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Composed
6. Your favorite thing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Laughs
7. Your dream last night? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ZZZZ
8. Your favorite drink? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Water
9. Your dream/goal? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Knowledge
10. The room you're in? . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . .Kitchen
11. Your hobby? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Writing
12. Your fear? . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Insanity
13. Where do you want to be in six years? . . . . . School
14. Where were you last night? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . FHE (that's one word, right?)
15. What you're not? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shy
16. Muffins? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . Tops
17. One of your wish list items? . . . . . . . . . . . . Truth
18. Where you grew up? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Everywhere
19. The last thing you did? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Blogged
20. What are you wearing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jeans
21. Your tv? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . Silent
22. Your pets? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spoiled
23. Your computer? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Sufficient
24. Your life? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Flowing
25. Your mood? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Aware
26. Missing someone? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . Brothers
27. Your car? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dirty
28. Something your not wearing? . . . . . . . . . . Shirt
29. Favorite store? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . REI
30. Your summer? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Remarkable
31. Like someone? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jarebear
32. Your favorite color? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Blue
33. When was the last time you laughed?. . . . . . . Today
34. Last time you cried? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Friday
35. Who will do this? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tagged

I tag the former and current Meppen ladies.

Milestone

2008-08-07T09:49:00.000-07:00

Only 6 1/2 weeks old and already she rolls over - not only one direction either! She can roll to her right or left, hard surfaces or soft! We're so proud of our little athlete! :)

Gardner Look-alike Meter

2008-08-02T18:13:00.001-07:00

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Family search - Pedigree

Gall Darn Cute

2008-07-27T18:14:00.001-07:00

Can you say, "Ham?"

Princess Anna With Her Wookie

2008-07-27T18:08:00.001-07:00

So, when The Dark Knight first came out, Jared and I decided we couldn't wait to see it on video. We made Anna a little hat with cotton balls over her ears to block out the noise. She seemed to be fine with it, and then Grandma Birch volunteered to take her for the night, so we'll never know if it would've worked or not! Those 3 1/2 hours were the longest that I've been away from Anna in these last 5 weeks. Crazy, but I kind of enjoyed it! :)

Gigantic Garden

2008-07-27T18:03:00.000-07:00

This was what came to fruition from Jared's amazing garden in our backyard!! He raised this great tomato from a small plant - quite the green thumb!
Okay, so it wasn't very big, and it was the only one on the plant, and the jalepeno plant died next to it, but by golly - this was the best tomato in the world!! :)

Found a Photo!

2008-07-27T17:57:00.001-07:00

So, going through some of our old pics on the video camera, we found this fun little memory... I don't think the mohawk lasted too long (church comes every week.)

Daddy's a Tease

2008-07-27T17:48:00.000-07:00

Camera Happy

2008-07-27T17:37:00.000-07:00

Here are some random shots of Anna. Her first experience with a new pacifier.
Taking her nap at Uncle Dallin and Aunt Lisa's house in Tucson.
Cutie Patooty
Cousin Evelyn kissing Baby Anna's rear in Aunt Christine's arms. We'll be saving this one for when they are fighting later on in life...

Camera Happy Cont.

2008-07-27T17:12:00.001-07:00

Here are some additional pics!
Ahh! A dress?!?!?! Eww...
Daddy's little girl.
Grandma and Grandpa Birch over for a visit.
Her new front pack - she's out like a light every time!

Been a While...

2008-07-27T17:09:00.000-07:00

So, it's been almost a month since my last post. Well my one response to that is...

Couple of Firsts

2008-06-30T14:04:00.000-07:00

Here are two of Anna's first "somethings". The first picture is with Daddy at her first doctor's visit on day 5! She passed with flying colors - even gaining 3 ounces since she was born! Her jaundice was considered mild and it seems to be going away quickly now. We had to add extra padding around her little noggin in order to avoid too much "bobble-head". Also, Daddy's eyes aren't that fuzzy in real life - I mean, he's tired and all, but not that tired...
She's such a little sweetie pie!!Here is her first bath; it was warm in the room, so we just got her naked! She loved the bath (just a little scrub here and there - no swimming yet!), but not the flashing camera. Check out that Buddha belly!!
This is after her bath - she loves sleeping all swaddled up and inserted into the Boppy. She's so much fun!

Bada Bing Bada Boom - She's Here!

2008-06-26T14:47:00.000-07:00

Ta Da!!!! Look what we created! So, after 43 hours of labor (honestly it was very very easy - I do like epidurals in case you were wondering...), and 45 minutes of pushing, Anna Elise came with no complications Sunday the 22nd at 11:30am! I must be built for babyin', cause the whole ordeal was a breeze. Anna weighed 7 lbs 8 oz, and was 19 inches long - just perfect if you ask me. :) After 4 days, we've learned that she likes her hair brushed, but her bum left alone. She eats like a champ and belches like her mom, but we think she looks so much like her happy Daddy! Anyway, all is well; the Gardner Family is very excited, and we'll continue to keep all of you posted on new milestones!! Thanks to all for your help in getting Anna here successfully!

Awww, it's Psycho Dog!

2008-06-18T10:18:00.000-07:00

Jared and I were hanging out the other night and playing with the kids as a typical routine. I decided to pull out the camera and lo and behold, I caught the scariest picture of Mary!! I promise they weren't even fighting intensely, but the timing made Mary look like a possessed satanic alien and poor PJ look like he was just trying to avoid getting his face ripped off! After looking at the picture, Jared and I couldn't stop laughing - it was just so crazy how scary she looked!!

Ultra Anna

2008-06-18T10:08:00.000-07:00

At my last OB appointment they decided to get an ultrasound of Anna because I'm measuring about 3 weeks in advance (just say I'm huge, okay...is it really that hard to just come out and say it???). Anyway, it was really fun because I haven't seen her since 18 weeks, and we caught her playing with her foot, or examining it, I'm not sure. Either way, it was SO cute - and I thought I could feel her trying to do a pretzel inside me! Hopefully you can decipher the picture (it is labeled for those that are ultrasound impaired). The tech also informed us that she has a fair amount of hair. All I saw was something light on the screen, but I'll take her word for it. There's nothing worse than a bald woman! :)

Ode to Pregnancy

2008-06-12T19:56:00.000-07:00

Well folks, it has been a little while since I posted anything, so here goes...
I have more or less had an extremely easy pregnancy. I don't have much to compare it to, but all I can say is that it hasn't exactly been much of a stress. The only "occurrence" that interrupted the flow of things was a regrettable trip to Serrano's Mexican Restaurant that ended in over a week of food poisoning; otherwise no real complaints. I did, however, want to include a couple of pics that depict the only two "annoyances" that seem to persist. Luckily, these issues will go away (along with all of the weight, I'm sure...) when Anna finally decides to experience the world. First off: Edema...yay. This is my fat foot the day after helping my sister-in-law Lisa into her new Tucson home. I pushed a hole into the swelling and then snapped a picture. It's cute, I know... Secondly: Heartburn. This other picture is representing how my throat feels every day. Not just after spicy food, or laying down after eating, no no - this is every day. I think I've gone through 3 bottles of Pepcid and certainly 2 gallons of Tums. That, of course, then leads to anemia since antacids block your absorption of iron. Then come the restless legs at night... Anyway, it really has been all fun and games, but I just thought I'd share my two little complaints. You women that have ACTUAL complications - God Bless You!

Thanks Everyone!

2008-05-12T08:46:00.000-07:00

A special thanks to everyone who helped out and attended the Baby Shower/BBQ on Saturday!! I was so nervous, but everything went really well! I got so many cute things and it was so nice seeing friends that I haven't seen for a while! Anna definitely appreciates all the support, and I can't wait to use the presents on her! Thanks Mom for making everything so easy - we are so often on the same page, it's quite convenient! :)

The awesome cook - thanks for taking the time to help out!!

This is the first time we've all been together for a LONG time!! Just missin' a few chicas to complete the high school reunion!! :) (By the way, I didn't get the memo on solid tops, sorry about the stripes - I hear they are slimming when vertical...)

2008-05-09T20:30:00.000-07:00

So, Jared has been working at the Arizona Heart Hospital for almost a year now, and really enjoys it! After he finishes his LPN program, he will wear white scrubs to work. Now, that's something that I just don't quite understand. Who was the genius that decided that it was cool to wear something that stains and shows every little spot in a setting where splatters, gushes, explosions, and oozes happen on a daily basis?? Hmmm, can't wait to wash those every day...

The Kiddies

2008-05-08T11:00:00.000-07:00

These are currently the only kids we have - Mary and PJ. Mary turns 5 in August (can't wait for Kindergarten to start!!!), and PJ just turned 4 in March. We raised them from when they were 8 weeks old, bred them, and gave their children away for money. I'm not sure if they will ever forgive us...

I like doughnuts...

2008-05-08T10:39:00.000-07:00

So, this is what happens when you eat just one too many of those delicious chocolate sprinkled things. This was at about 31 weeks and after working at Christine's salon for only about 12 weeks - hence the shorter (and styled) hair! Can't wait to start not doing my hair again...

Here We Are!!!!

2008-02-17T17:39:00.000-08:00

This site probably will not be officially created until summer, but here we are for now!