Christmas Letter 2008

This is the letter I sent out with our Christmas cards this year. I am sorry if I some how missed you on our list. I sent out so many, my brain turned to mush. But if I did miss you, for which I apologize profusley send me an email so I can make sure I get you next year! We hope you all had a great Christmas and are looking forward to a wonderful New Year!

December 2008
Dear Family and Friends,
2008 has been an amazing year. We started things off with a bang with the birth of our baby girl. Alexandra Catherine White was born on a snowy Monday, January 28th, at 11:27 pm. She weighed in at 8 pounds 12 ounces (for those keeping track that is just shy of DOUBLE her brother’s birth weight) and 21 inches long. Alex was born healthy and happy and has, by the grace of God, mostly remained that way. She is now 10 months old and pretty much crazy. She insists on putting EVERYTHING in her mouth and will climb anything (stairs, toy boxes, laundry baskets) that she sees. She has been crawling for almost 4 months now and is taking more steps everyday. Near as I can tell, She is going to make Nathan look mellow……I am in so much trouble.
Nathan, aside from becoming a big brother, started preschool this fall and amazes me everyday. The preschool he is at starts off with teaching them to write their names right away. So at 4 years old, Nathan can write his first name. He also has mastered his months of the year and days of the week. He is eager to learn to read, and can identify most of his letters by sight and can tell you what sound they make. I am a strong believer that if you teach a child to read, the rest will all come so much more easily. Nathan still has a love of all things trains, and to his Dad’s delight Star Wars. He has his own lightsaber (okay 3 of them) and after many nights on his uncle’s (30 yr old) Star Wars sheets, he got a brand new set of his very own from Pottery Barn Kids.
Greg and I are still making each other crazy after 8 years of marriage and neither of us would change a thing. We are so happy that we can watch our children grow and learn everyday. We have been blessed with fantastic family, amazing friends and so much love. We are truly blessed.
This year brought us the usual challenges, with a few that we never planned on. My mom had her hands full with my Aunt Mary Ann, who, as it turned out needed major heart surgery. We are so glad that she has recovered so well, and that her time in SLC, lead her to an extraordinary relationship with Nathan. She started out in April not being able to hold Alex on her lap and now she bends down and picks her up. Thank you modern medicine. Greg’s Grandpa and Grandma have given us more than one stress filled moment this year……..but all seems to be good now.
The coming year is already full of excitement and wonder. My brother Pete and his wife KeAnne are due with twins in June. Greg has booked his yearly adventure to Alaska for July, and I intend to take a break this fall and will try to escape on a girl’s only trip. I am sure that Nathan and Alex will provide us with a lot of laughs and love, for it seems everyday is more entertaining than the next.
We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Healthy and Happy 2009. We are going to take everyday that we are given and make it wonderful. We hope that you are able to do the same!
Greg, Joey, Nathan and Alexandra White

Happy Thanksgiving!

In honor of this Thanksgiving day, I am now going to list five things that I am thankful for.....I know I will ultimaltey forget something huge, but none the less here I go......

1. fantastic family......I have amazing parents, crazy brothers (Pete and Mike), in-laws who love me as their own (so more craziness) and extended family that never ends.

2. babies, oh babies! I would be remiss if I did not mention (with a giggle) the Hadden babies. May they get here safe and sound and not give their mommy too much grief while in the womb.

3. My husband has a good job that continues to provide for us every day. (at least until Obama screws things up with his socialistic view of medicine)

4. My babies. I have to list them. I grow everyday because of them. Granted that I am usually growing more tired and more frustrated. But in 2 seconds they give me more joy than I ever imagined possible.

5. Those who keep us safe. Undoubtly this means our troops (M & Z) but I (stealing from Amy) also adding those who keep us safe around home....police, UHP, firemen, snowplow drivers (look we need them alot and their hours are just as bad as the other 3)

There it is, ponder your own list. And I hope you all have great things to be thankful for!

Say Thank You to Our Troops!

Hey everybody, I got this in an email, and in honor of our two guy in the Army, I signed in and sent a card. It was super easy and fast, so zip on over and send a card to our troops!

A Cute Little Family Grows (NOT MINE)

So it is out there for the world to know.....my little bother is going to be a daddy! Yahoo! Oh, but does it every get better than that.....He and his adorable wife KeAnne (the good Lord knew what He was doing when He gave her to Pete) are having TWINS! Ha! I know I am so bad, but I have been laughing and giving him crap since the day he called to tell me about their first dr's appt. Pete always loves to tell me how crazy my kids are and laugh at their, shall we say quirks. You know the little things like the fact that Nathan had had stitches 3 times by the time he was 2 years old, the fact that Alex eats EVERYTHING in sight and that Nathan has, on more than one occasion, run smack into a wall he was staring at. So I absolutley cannot wait to see how he deals with TWO little crazies running around at the same time. But there is one thing I know for sure, these two new little ones (whom we are affectionatley refering to as hockey puck and hockey stick) have two amazing parents who will love then and care for them so much. And at least Pete and KeAnne have somewhere to turn.....Max and Zeke are no longer our only set of twins.

Twilight The Movie....

Okay, so I am here to admit that I was not all that excited about Twilight being made into a movie. I truly enjoyed the book and have seen many books slaughtered in the name of making a movie out of it. But I have to tell you that I am pleasantly suprised. I was able, thru some friends to get a ticket (or 2) to an advanced screening of the movie.....I am writing this after having seen the movie at 7pm and it is not in full release until midnight tonight. So I am feeling pretty ahead of the game here. I have to tell you, I was NOT a fan of the guy playing Edward, but after seeing the movie I think he was great. I am speechless over the guy who played James....wholly HOTTIE! too bad he dies.......if you didn't know that, have you been living under a rock? So, it is not a five star work of art, but it was a ggod movie I would be more that willing to see again. Oh, and just let me say that the kid who plays Jacob....again HOTTIE!

Happy Halloween

Braxton (Spiderman), Alyssa (Halloween Minnie Mouse), Nathan (Luke) Skywalker and Mari (scary/sparkley witch) not pictured..Alex as Princess Leia

We had the greatest Halloween ever! I decided since the day was so close to our little trip to Disneyland that we would have the party at our house. It ws great! Mari came and brought her parents, Heather and Loren. Alyssa came and brought her parents, Katie and Jared, and also her friend Braxton. And both Gran and Grandma came over too. Gran even stayed home with Alex while we all went out becasue she was having a lovely reaction to her flu shot. We had sloppy joe's, homemade mac and cheese, dirt cake and homemade root beer that Loren tried to blast all over the kitchen. We tried in vain to get the kids to eat much before we went out knocking on doors, but they gobbled a few bites. They hit about a street and a half in our neighborhood and made the hall. There was LOTS of chocolate and other good stuff. Nathan has something like 15 packs of skittles, he really likes those. So as you can see we have great neighbors. After trick or treating, the kids came back to the house and played mix up the playdoh colors, but had a ball so who cares! I love that we have such great friends. (those of you who came to our little party and those who didn't too) Happy candy eating!

The Cousin's (at least the 4 big ones)

Alex and Max are missing, but here are the Marshall/White clan at their finest! In order from left to right....Jack (with his stunning glasses), Madison (cup in hand and Nate's "twin" they are 27 day apart), Nate, and Riley (the oldest and the bestest)

Hamming It Up....

Okay so I have to admit that my children see a camera and run to be in front of it. Truly they do. And my son doesn't say cheese, after a very unfortunate experience at "Rosie's" he now say cow poop instead.....really there is a story there that will take a bit so you will just have to live with the anticipppppation. (hey, its the season for Rocky Horror). I finally went back to work for my first real shift since Lex was born and I knew the girls at the clinic would want to see a current photo and since I did not have one, I threw them on the stairs real quick and took this one. And by darn if it didn't turn out soooo cute. Aren't they photogenic!?!

Sink Tub

So despite the fact that she is almost 9 months old (I have said that once or twice haven't I) Alex recently had her first "sink tub" or for all you normal folks out there, her first bath in the kitchen sink. Now please understand that I am part fish....that is I LOVE water. I would have a swimming pool or hot tub if I wan't so damn cheap. And apparently Alex got the bug from me. The girl will sit and enjoy a good tub far past the point where all sanity screams at you to get out becasue the water has gotten cold, but since her brother is the same way what, truly, can I say. So here she is in all her sink glory, wet and oh so cute!

Baby Food and Strange Food Allergies...

So since Alex is almost nine months old (where did the time go..really I would like to know) we have certainly been down the path of commercially prepared baby food. And thank God for Gerber and Beech-Nut because without them it would probably have been a rough start if I had to make her food for her in those early solids days, but now I am about at my wits end with the lovely people who make baby food. I know that food allergies are pretty common stuff.....we have a good chunk of them on both my side and Greg's side of the family. We both have family members with severe Celiac's, also a few lactose intolerants, and Greg's dad can't do strawberries or nuts, so this is not entirely a new route for us. This particular food though sure is, and from what I can find....which is not a whole lot, it is not very common. First let me offer you a brief education on food allergies. There are 2 types of reactions, the anaphylactic kind (hives, swelling, trouble breathing) and then there are the GI type reactions (bloating, heartburn, diarrhea) I think most people percieve the anaphylactic reaction to be more severe, but I am here to tell you that either way is nothing but trouble. So back to my poor kid....we have always been careful with nuts and berries because of Dennis, but this one hit me out of the blue. I was not even aware that a person could be allergic to carrots and squash. But Alex sure has shown us the she is. And boy do I feel like crap, for some 6 months I thought the poor kid had a wicked case of reflux. Oops, Mother of the Year! So okay, now that I have figured it out, and also how to treat her when she does get a tasty morsel of orange, I am about to scream at the poor baby food companies, and anyone who lists natural coloring on their labels. First, if you have never read a baby food label for stage 2 or higher jsut know this.....there are very few that do not contain carrots in the savory dishes. Even some companies mac and cheese dishes have carrots in them. It pretty much sucks. Carrots are a great filler food. They are also handy to use as coloring in, oh about anything orange, red or purple (yes, there are purple carrots) especially when a company is trying not to use anything artifical in their products. So here is my new challange...to prepare food for the WHOLE family that everyone likes and can be eaten by all. Seriously, I would possibly have better luck with world peace at this point. I used to sneak a can of V8 into anything possible..chili, spaghetti sauce, stews, whatever, not anymore. I also am really nervous to buy commercially prepared sauces, like marinara or the like. Most types of vegtable soups are out, oh and watch out for fruit snacks. I have to be super careful with the words "natural coloring". It is a good thing I like to cook. Because I have a feeling we are going to be eating in ALOT. So, off I go to figure out what my daughter can eat for dinner tomorrow. Beech-nut has a new salmon and sweet potato flavor out.....I am not sure I can stomach feeding it to her. The one nice thing is that both baby food companies have been more than happy to talk to me and see what they can do to help. So I say thanks for the awesome customer service lines. It was so great to have someone at the company to talk to...a real human voice.

We are going to DISNEYLAND!

All 6 covers

The 4 Marshall's covers

Nathan and Alexandra's covers

So we are now in major count down to DISNEY. Nathan is so excited, the topper being he gets to go with his cousins. So I put on my craft hat and made all SIX kids autographbooks. It took a couple of hours (and to be fair I did this last time we went but not in such a large scale....I did 2 last time) and a couple of $$ but I am done. The covers are ready to go to the laminators and then be hooked back on to the book. Here is how they turned out.....

It's time to IMMUNIZE

Hey, watch me as I jump up on my soapbox.....Please get your kids a FLU SHOT! There are more children under the age of 2 who are hospitalized and die from the flu than elderly people. That is just plain scary. Also if you or any member of your family plan on spending ANY time at all around our dear little MAP, please make sure you get a flu shot. Her recent open heart surgery puts her at a HUGE risk should she get the flu....she will be getting her flu shot soon, ala Greg. Nathan and Alex had their this past Wednesday. I get mine around the 20th and Greg, I am sure will stab himself. I will now step down.

Alexandra at Seven (almost eight) months

does it look like it tasted good?

Two lumps on a log taking a nap....Uncle Jason is good stuff.

too darn cute.

SMILE!

the newpaper doesn't stand a chance with this munch mouth

Our little girl is growing like a weed. She is so funny. Still adores her brother and anything he does, like to crawl like a crazy woman and has recently (like in the past 2 days) discovered the stairs. Good greif. I thought it was drastic when Nate could crawl at 8 months old, but really she was barely seven months old when she up and took off. I knew it was coming because she had started to use the army crawl and was trying so hard to get mobile. The past month has kept her plenty busy. She has done the whole moving thing, broken thru 2 teeth (bottom center), the stairs, in late August she finished up her 2nd ear infection, and now is pulling herself up on any and everything she can grab. And we still have a major case of the "eat its" as in if I see it I eat it. Doesn't seem to matter what it is, she tried to munch an entire Salt Lake Tribune a couple of weeks ago. I am majorly out of practice for this, as Nathan was not an everything in the mouth kind of kid. Oh well, she is healthy and happy and I will not ask for much more than that. The rest I willl endure with a smile and a chuckle.

My Babies.....

I am not sure there will ever be a day when these 2 are not my babies. They are amazing little people who make life all the better and I am sure they will HATE it when they are 20 something and I am still calling them my babies, but as the mother I reserve the right to call them that forever and ever.

School and so much more...

Nathan's first Day of School (ever!)

So Nathan has been in preschool for 2 weeks now and he could not be happier. He enjoys his teacher, loves his class and has a real urge to learn. The class has been working on colors and handwriting and he is very happy to almost be able to write his own name. His teacher was pretty much blown over by the fact that he can hold his pencil so well. I have to say it did not suprise me, seeing that it was one of the first things Greg insisted upon....if he is going to hold a crayon he is going to hold it right. So far I am very happy with Learning Dynamics and their program. Nathan is thriving, which considering his desire to learn is not really suprising. He wanted to write a note to his friend yesterday and has a note all ready for his Uncle Pete that he will write out later today.

Where Does The Time Go?

Seems like just yesterday Greg and I decided it was time to grow our little family, with Nathan. And now he is staring preschool. The boy is so amazingly eagar to learn, I felt it must be time. Nathan will be attending Learning Dynamics Preschool in Riverton this year. It is new to the Salt Lake Valley, but I love that they teach phonics. I firmly believe that if you teach a child to read, the rest is cake. You can learn nearly anything if you can read. My girlfriend Katie had here daughter in their Orem school last year and she will be continuing on this year. She has said they are a great school so I am excited for Nathan to start attending the school. But it is truly still a bit of a slap in the face as to how fast they grow. It is unbelievable to look back at his first photos, such a tiny baby.....4 pounds 7 ounces, all hooked up in the NICU and now people want to know if he is 4 or 5 and I want to scream HE IS 3! Greg and I know that we are so amazingly fortunate that Nathan is healthy. We know how easy it would be for things to have gone the other way and we try our vey best not to take him for granted. So here is to my baby boy.....the world had better watch out, because whether I am ready or not.....You are on your way.

Funny! and yet so sad!

Wal-Mart Cake
It took me a second, but make sure you read the story under the picture.
Keep in mind this actually really did happen.








Okay so this is how I imagine this conversation went:

Walmart Employee: 'Hello 'dis be Walmarts, how can I help you?'

Customer: ' I would like to order a cake for a going away party this week.'
Walmart Employee: 'What you want on the cake?'

Customer: 'Best Wishes Suzanne' and underneath that 'We will miss you'.

STOP LAUGHING! You can't fix stupid


.....As much as I would love to claim this one it came to me in an email and i nearly pee'd I was laughing so hard. So enjoy, and think twice next time you order you kids birthday cake.......some day I will tell you about Katie and the Target bday cake.

Wholly S*#@!

So as many of you are aware my husband is on his yearly jont to Alaska for his fishing expedition. I am here at home with the kids literally counting the days until he is home and some degree of my sanity can return. But last night may take the cake and I tell you now, being a mom is one thing, but I think this one earned me a day at the spa. On Friday. Nate and his Gran took a trip to the Museum of Natural History at the U of U, they had a great time, and I sent him a can of apple juice in case he got thirsy after the adventure. He drank the juice straight, which he NEVER does, but not like my mom had a lot of options. So yesterday we headed to the zoo with Katie and Alyssa, we had a ball but after 2 hours it was beyond hot and as we finished our train ride Nate asked me to refill his sippy cup, which i did but again I gave him straight juice. All was well we had lunch (with A/C thank heavens) and headed for home, we got here, had a good poop (him not me) a nice nap (all 3 of us) and later that evening he started saying him tummy hurt, well you must understand that the boy loves TUMS (I cannot say why) so he ran upstairs. I was on the phone with my mom when he was upstairs and I was just about to go check on him when I heard the loudest and longest fart ever (and if you know my hubby that is saying something) and then the yelling started "get the poop off me" so I told my mom I had to go and ran upstairs to find my son literally dripping poop in his bathroom and the hallway right outside the bathroom door. It was past gross. I had to take care of him, hope Alex was going to be okay (as it was nearing bedtime) and clean things up big time. I got him out of his poopy socks, shorts and unders (seriouly was had a brief moment where I missed pull-ups and diapers), put him of the toilet to let him finish the explosion, and then thru him in the shower. He was so upset, more that his shorts could not be put back on than anything, but still. I got him cleaned up and dressed again, the bathroom cleaned, the hall carpet cleaned and the clothes in the washer in less then an hour. I was impressed with myself. I can safely say I now totally understand the term "blowing it out your ass". My hubby owes me big time because this is his weekend off work so he should have been home to help clean up......next time it is all his. (Who am I kidding, Greg has such a major gag reflex if I had left him to clean it up, I would have been cleaning up throw-up too!) The joys of being a mom!

A Blessing and a Bounce House

So I finally managed to get everyone together and all my ducks in a row and got Alex blessed on Sunday, July 13th. It was a super nice day and we had a great turn out of family and friends, including some we had not seen it quite some time. Grandpa gave Alex a beautiful blessing and from what I understand, she tried to eat the microphone. My mother-in-law (who is the very best, just in case you were wondering) bought all the luncheon goodies, so I had some crazy monies floating around that I had budgeted for the meal. After some consideration, I realized that I had 10 children under the age of 10 to entertain. Talk about madness. So as I pondered this, I had a dream that we had a bouncy slide and that it went over so good. My husband swears I got the idea from TV, but I really didn't. Well, it was no bouncy slide, it was a castle and double slides, and to say it went over well would be a major understatement. The kids (and a few adults) had a fantastic time jumping, fliping and sliding. I would rent one again in a heart beat and the company we rented from was great too. So thank you to allinfun.biz for the great bouncy. Here are some pics from Katie....the photo queen. I will post more when I have a bit more time.

A bunch of the kids on the bouncy.



A very tired Alex in her blessing dress.

Happy Birthday Greg!!

Today is my cute hubby's birthday...the big old 29! This is the first time in 3 or 4 years that he is home with us on his birthday. So Happy Birthday Greg....I Love you.

We must be parents...I could not find a picture of just Greg!

A Rough 72 hours.......

So we had a great adventure this past few days. Alex and I got to spend a few days at PCMC. It all started when she got quite fussy Sunday night at her grandparents house. We didn't think too much of it and came home, she went to bed just fine and slept pretty well. The next day, Monday, she woke up happy as a clam, but got crankier as the day went on, by 3 p.m. she had spiked a fever of 102.7. I was a bit alarmed so I hauled her little hiney in to the docotr's office. Since she had just finished a 10 day course of antibiotics for her ear infection, we figured she would be okay and that it would all pass. The doctor told us to call back or even that night if we had any further problems and sent us on our way, after taking a urine sample just to be safe that she did not have a UTI. By 11:30 when we tried to put her to bed (way past her normal self-imposed bedtime of 8:30) she was absolutley livid and there was no calming her down so after she had cried herself silly for well over an hour, I called the on call doctor, luckily the same doctor that we had seen that afternoon, and presented her with this new develpopment. She was as lost as we were and told us it was probably best to take her up to Primary Childrens. So that is what we did. I got to take her, mostly because she is still nursing, so we packed her up and at 1 am we headed on our way. She cried nearly all the way to the hospital. She had no little voice by this point. It was so sad. So we got there and they got us all checked in, she was still running a fever and we started running tests, they tried the easy stuff first.....ears, nose and throat, but all were clear, so then we moved on to the bigger and yuckier notion of what could be the problem. We got blood work, started and IV (her Blood Pressure was low, but after some fluids it came up nicely) and told me they wanted to do a lumbar puncture to check for bacterial menangitis. Not a lot of fun. She has a stiff head and neck, so we had to rule out all the bad stuff. I thought Greg was going to cry when I told him they were going to do a spinal tap, and to be honest I did not hang out to watch them do that, though they said she did just fine. So with no real answers, 6 and a half hours later the admitted us to the RTU (a unit that is an outpatient service not quite like being admitted to the hospital) and we started our first dose of big gun antibiotics. After about and hour we say the doctor in the RTU and she informed us that she was admiting Alex to the hosptial. SHe has no clue what was going on and wanted to be able to have her have a bit more attention, so we got more doctors. Within about 6 hours of the first dose of antibiotics she was starting to perk up , but still not 100%. Her little head and neck still seemed to be bothering her. So we stayed some more and by Wednesday AM it was decided that she was really getting better despite no real diagnosis, so we were sent home about 2 in the afternoon, but it was a long 36 hours in the hospital. Alex is still very hoarse. Her pediatrician said it may take a week or so to get ther voice back ,but that all looks well. So thank you to all who prayed for us, and sent us good thoughts. Hopefully in a week or so this will all be in our past.

Wrong, Just wrong!!!

Created by OnePlusYou

Nate's Medicine Craziness

I am a total flake, the reason I am chasing Nathan around the house trying to give him medicine is because he has a secondary sinus infection. A result of some fantastic summer allergies given to him by his loving Daddy! I am sure it will not be the least or last of the things we will find that we have shared with him. Poor kid I hope this doesn't become a spring/summer ritual for us. The up side is he is starting to feel better. I can tell and he has his work cut out for him this weekend becasue his cousins are coming for a visit......bring it on Riley, Jack, Madison, and Max. Give me all you got kiddies!!

Craziness!!

I have reached the state where I am not only questioning my sanity, but suffering from major guilt. I nearly laughed myself silly while fighting with Nathan to give him his antibiotic. I have been a pharmacy technician for more than 10 years now, so I totally understand how terrible the medicine tastes, but after I had to chase the child around the kitchen table at my mom's house for 2 doses it was funny to see him give his dad a bad time. Nathan stood there and just started screaming at the sight of the oral syringe with the medicine in it. After I recovered from my giggles, I finally had to hold him in my lap to get him to take it. It is so crazy. It was so funny. I feel terrible guilt for laughing, but what else is a mom to do. On the upside there are only 10 more days of twice a day dosing to go! Yehaa!!

Alex's Ears

My baby has an ear infection. This is ruff stuff for a 4 and 1/2 month old. She has been pretty crabby for about a week, but I contributed it to teething. The drool factor at our house is reaching epic proportions. But today I decided it was time to haul her little hiney in to the peds office after she spent an hour yelling at me. She yelled if I held her, she yeld harder if I laid her down. It was insane, especially when you consider that she is a fairly mellow baby. So after digging the ear wax out the Dr. decided that yes, she did have a nice ear infection....Not a terrible one, just a miserable one. So for the next 10 days we will keep our little bottle of Amoxicillan near by, and the tylenol even closer. Wish me luck.

Summer Round 2

So we are hoping that the nasty weather is gone and in that, we drug the pool out of the garage....the one bought on clearance last year at the end of the season...and blew the sucker up. My cousins's daughter informed me that I had a lot of air in me to get that pool blown up. I neglected to inform her that to most people I am in fact full of hot air.....she is only three I am sure she will figure me out soon enough, but I digress, So it was nice and warm outside and since we had not planned for a pool party and my cousin and her children live some 120 miles away it was not possible to run home and grab swim wear, so we compromised,and I am not about the photos in any sort of public forum...I am not crazy, so you will simply have to take my word for it that there is some serious blackmail available on all 4 of them.

Day Out With Thomas!!

What is a boy to do when his best friend comes to town....why head up for a visit. Nathan was so excited that he got to ride with Thomas the Tank Engine. I think we may have made his year. He LOved the whole adventure. Greg and I took Nathan for an afternoon up to Heber to ride with his friend Thomas. Despite the fact it is the Thursday of Memorial Day Weekend, it was rainy and pretty darn cold. (We left Alex home with my girlfriend Jannda....big thanks to her!) But Nathan did not care at all, he had a great afternoon meeting Sir Toppam Hat (sp???) and having his picture taken with both him and Thomas. But of course the best of all was getting to ride on the train pulled by Thomas himself. Nathan choose to ride in the tanish-orange cars, because he said that they must be Annie and Clarribel (Thomas' coaches, for those not in the know). We enjoyed our ride, purchased a new Thomas shirt and slippers (no more sore toes from the too small pair we had) and a story book full of all the original Thomas stories. And lest we forget the huge Thomas mylar ballon that 9 days later is STILL floating around my house! All in all a wonderful afternoon.....and a little boys dreams made real.

Summer...for a minute

So we finally got some sun for a minute. And since we had sun we had to get out in it. We threw the kids in the car and headed up to Vivian Park and the little 12 and under fishing pond and had a ball. Our friends Jared and Katie and thier little girl Alyssa met us up there and we had lunch, caught a few fish and let the kids run wild. It was so nice and, of course, over too soon. I am proud to say I out fished them all and caught two nasty slimy fish which my sweet hubby de-hooked and threw back for me so I didn't have to touch them. Good Hubby. Yucky Fish.

For all the Mom's out there

Mothers

This is for the mothers who have sat up all night with sick toddlers in their arms, wiping up barf laced with OscarMayer wieners and cherry Kool-Aid saying, 'It's okay honey,Mommy's here.'

Who have sat in rocking chairs for hours on end soothing crying babies who can't be comforted.

This is for all the mothers who show up at work with spit-up in their hair and milk stains on their blouses and diapersin their purse.

For all the mothers who run carpools and make cookies and sew Halloween costumes. And all the mothers who DON'T.

This for the mothers who gave birth to babies they'll never see. And the mothers who took those babies and gave them homes.

This is for the mothers whose priceless art collections are hanging on their refrigerator doors.

And for all the mothers who froze their buns on metal bleachers at football or soccer games instead of watching from the warmth of their cars.

And that when their kids asked, 'Did you see me, Mom?'they could say, 'Of course, I wouldn't have missed it for the world,' and mean it.

This is for all the mothers who yell at their kids in thegrocery store and swat them in despair when they stomp their feet and scream for ice cream before dinner. And for all the mothers who count to ten instead, but realize how child abuse happens.

This is for all the mothers who go hungry, so their children can eat.

For all the mothers who read 'Goodnight, Moon' twice anightfor a year. And then read it again. 'Just one more time.'

This is for all the mothers who taught their children to tietheir shoe laces before they started school. And for all the mothers who opted for Velcro instead.

This is for all the mothers who teach their sons to cook and their daughters to sink a jump shot.

This is for every mother whose head turns automatically when a little voice calls 'Mom?' in a crowd, even though theyknow their own offspring are at home -- or even away atcollege ~or have their own families.

This is for all the mothers who sent their kids to school with stomach aches, assuring them they'd be just FINE oncethey got there, only to get calls from the school nurse an hour later asking them to please pick them up. Right away.

This is for mothers whose children have gone astray, whocan't find the words to reach them.

For all the mothers who bite their lips until they bleedwhen their 14 year olds dye their hair green.

For all the mothers of the victims of recent school shootings, and the mothers of those who did the shooting.

For the mothers of the survivors, and the mothers who sat infront of their TVs in horror, hugging their child who just came home from school, safely.

This is for all the mothers who taught their children to be peaceful, and now pray they come home safely from a war.

What makes a good Mother anyway? Is it patience? Compassion?Broad hips?
The ability to nurse a baby, cook dinner, and sew a buttonon a shirt, all at the same time? Or is it in her heart? Is it the ache you feel when you watch your son or daughter disappear down the street, walking to school alone for thevery first time?

The jolt that takes you from sleep to dread, from bed to crib at 2 A.M. to put your hand on the back of a sleeping baby?

The panic, years later, that comes again at 2 A.M. when you just want to hear their key in the door and know they aresafe again in your home?

Or the need to flee from wherever you are and hug your child when you hear news of a fire, a car accident, a child dying?

The emotions of motherhood are universal and so our thoughtsare for young mothers stumbling through diaper changes andsleep deprivation... And mature mothers learning to let go.

For working mothers and stay-at-home mothers.
Single mothers and married mothers.
Mothers with money, mothers without.
This is for you all. For all of us...
Hang in there. In the end we can only do the best we can. Tell them every day that we love them. And pray and neverstop being a mom..

'Home is what catches you when you fall - and we all fall.'

May Day

So today is May 1st, at least according to my calendar. Because when I woke up this morning and looked out my window, I did not see sunshine and flowers blooming. I saw SNOW!!! Now don't get me wrong, I love winter! Love it, but I am done. I am tired of having a three year old jumping up and down in my house, I am tired of trying to figure out what to dress my baby in...will she be too hot, too cold?.....and I am sick to death of trying to figure out if I am every going to be able to plant a garden. Please oh Weather fairy bring me some nice balmy 70* days.
ANd just so you know when summer does get her and it is 100*+ I will be crying about that too.

Ronald Mcdonald House

So as you may or may not know, I am involved in a "tiny" little fundraiser for the Ronald Mcdonald House, and the time of year has again come upon us. So I have made a couple million phone calls begging for silent auction items, spent a couple dozen hours in meetings and finally dedicated an entire Saturday to the cause. And, it must be said it was a huge success. We had $220,000 made before the silent or live auctions, there were 780 items in the silent auction....we came home with a fishing pole for Nate and a golf club for Greg.....and 16 live auction items including a golden retreiver puppy that went for somewhere around $3000.
I spent all day Saturday setting things up and getting ready for the big event. I spent most of the evening with Mark Kolbel and Shauna Lake from channel 2 news. They are so very nice, I was the time nazi and kept things on schedule for the evening. My sweet husband spent the majority of the night chatting with my brother. I am so glad they are good friends. I am hoping we raised a chunk of change to help the families that have to stay at our houses this year. They are a special group who need RMDH so badly and I am so happy to be able to them. I hope that none of you, my dear friends and family, ever have to know the heartbreak of having a child in the hospital. I have take that path once in my life and with God's good graces I will never have to venture there again. I am involved with this charity, because I am the fortunate one....my son is growing up to be a strong and wonderful little boy. I did not have to go bankrupt from the $100,000 in medical bills we accrued, and I was able to come home to my own bed every night because we were a reasonablae distance from the hospital. I ask that if you do not have a charity you donate to regularly please consider the Ronald Mcdonald House in your area. They always need help, be it money or your time. My second favorite charity to give to is March of Dimes. I have had the premature baby, and if they had not done so much work and helped to create and test the drug given to Nathan for his lungs, I am not even going to consider the outcome. But because of my NICU experience, I met moms and dads who were not close to home and who were not able to be there everyday, like I was. And who's babies stayed a whole lot longer than the 21 days Nate did. They need places like Ronald Mcdonald House and I am happy to save a parent in that postion any stress I can.

http://www.marchofdimes.com

http://www.rmhc.com

I LOVE a deal...

As anyone who knows me will atest, I love a good deal. I clip coupons for the grocery store, I search for coupons before I order online, my credit cards all have rewards attached to them. I enjoy the hunt for a bargin, but one that had alluded me to this point was deals on hair care products. I am pretty finike about my hair....it is naturally curly and I have a TON of it, so taking good care of it is a must. One of my dearest friends has introduced me to a wicked cool website and I am soooooo excited. It is Salonsavings.com and the deals are immense. They carry a bunch of brands and I am nearly giddy at the prices. So please check it out.

The other way I love to save money on the internet is to go to EBATES.COM. They are a rebate site and it is awesome. I got $21 back on Alex's crib bedding. All you have to do is click thru the site to order and then watch the $$ come back to you. It is amazing. They have all the major retailers and the you can't hardly beat getting anywhere from 2-26% back.

Oh, the deals, the deals!

Six Questions

My girlfriend email this to me, so i decided to share my answers.

1) Four places I go over and over: Macey's, Target, My Mom's house, Greg's Mom's house
2) Four people who e-mail me regularly: Amy, my Mom, Katie, Ebates
3) Four of my favorite places to eat: Cheesecake Factory, Kneaders, Cracker Barrel, Tres Hombres
4) Four places I would rather be right now: at home, on a sunny sandy beach, disneyland with my kiddies, a quiet place with my hubby
5) Four people I think will respond: N/A
6) Four TV shows I watch over and over: Good Things Utah, News, One Tree Hill, Dancing with the Stars

St. George, Utah

So we are in St. George for a wok convention. The weather has turned out to be amazing, I can handle the 80's when you consider that when we left home it was snowing. I am a serious lover of winter, but I am so ready for spring. I think it has something to do with a three year old who is tired of being cooped up in the house all winter and just wants to run around outside. But anyway........

We walked over to the Cracker Barrel resturant for lunch today with Greg's technician Josh, his wife Carerra and their little boy Braxton. We are sitting having lunch and it is no big deal, so we are trying to figure out why people keep walking over to the table next to ours and having their picture taken with one of the guys sitting there. Turns out...after we asked our waitress....that he is one of the guys in the Nickeloden show Drake and Josh. None of us knew him, but he seemed like a nice enough kid. He signed a few autographs and had his picture taken with a few people. He was cool about the whole thing, especially since most of those fawning over the poor guy were adults, We did see one young girl approach him with her dad and have her photo taken, she was quite enamored, it was cute. I said we should go get this leftover food and sell it on ebay......but it was just too gross to even think about following thru with.

The land of should be....

So , I should be cleaning my house since we are hosting my husband's staff for a BBQ tonight, but instead I am playing in the computer and trying to do anything but tackle the mess in my kitchen. I was once so organized and could put things away, my down fall seems to be my children (God bless them). I guess since I can hardly finish a sentence I should not expect to be able to get the dishes done or the mail read thru and disposed of properly, but really it is beginning to damage my poor little brain. I just want to start and finish a project, really too much to ask? So, I will go and tackle the disaster that is my countertop........

Finally..........

So after years of waiting, it has finally happened, two of my best friends now live within a half an hour of me!!! Heather now joins Katie in the homes I can get to with out having to stop for gas. I could tell you of my excitement, but the words are just too hard to come by. Now if I should just get my sista-cousin up to my neck of the woods, my little world would be complete.

Heather and Loren and Mari now live in Woods Cross and we are so excited. After much stress and frustration (on Heather's part) the move has been made and Yahooo! So how many boxes are left to unpack, a whole bunch, and now that we have the fridge taken care of....good grief what an ordeal that was! They are left to spend the first of many nights in their new home. May their home be filled with much love.

My 2 Monkeys

Alex is now 10 weeks old, weighs a little over 12 pounds and still is suffering from reflux....so the book that says it should let up after the baby weighs more than 11 pounds is a big fat liar. We took her to the doctor this past friday and I am still just as frustrated as when I walked in the door, maybe even more so. The zantac doesn't last but 6 hours (not the twelve it is supposed to) and the prevacid creates a much larger problem in the lower GI tract that leads to awful bloating and gas for her. So after chatting with her Dr. (I think the world of him) the decision was made that maybe I should remove all dairy from my diet...now this may not seem like much, but one must consider that a good bowl of cereal is the last bit of joy that was left in my life. I have already given up soda-pop (all of it not just the caffinated kind, if it fizzes it is out), coffee, and chocolate, so now no milk, cheese, yogurt, nada nothing..........it will be grand. I know that we make sacrifices for our children, but if I have to give up powedered donuts, I quit. I give up and throw my hands up in the air.
Nathan is a crazy three year old. He doesn't just like things, he is crazy for them. We have only had two obsessions at this point, but they run true and deep. His first love was Thomas the Tank Engine. It started when he was about 18 months old, and is still going strong, with the exception being that it has grown to include all trains. Put the kid where he can watch trains go by and he will watch for hours on end. It doesn't matter if it is along side highway 6 in the canyon, or at Aunt Heather's house sitting on the playground. He is mesmerized. Our second great obsession is STAR WARS, and not just the movies...mind you he has seen all 6 (and really watched them)... he loves the toys, calls his baby sister LEIA and himself Luke. And if it ended there it would be a child who enjoys a movie, but he has sheets for his bed....they are close to thirty years old and were once my cousins and brothers.....and has assigned characters to half my family. He calls me Chewbaca, his dad is Han Solo, his gran switches between OB wan Kanobi and R2D2, Papa in a "nice" general, Uncle Pete is Jaba the Hut (we all laughed so hard at that one) and Aunt KeAnne is Padme. and he will call you by your character instead of your name or title. You should see the looks we get in the grocery store when he yells out "Chewy..can we have (whatever)" and I actually answer. It is so funny and pretty darn cute.

Recipes

Since I am always being asked if people can have my recipes or if I have a recipes for a certain item, I am creating a blog just for the land of cooking and baking. I am going to post my favorites on it, and feel free to pass them on. I will let you know if I have made changes to the original recipe....and if so what they are. So, enjoy and spend some time in the kitchen.

http://whateverrecipes.blogspot.com/

Working Girl (not THAT kind)

Okay, so Amy asked me to list the jobs I have working in my lifetime..........this is going to be soooo pitiful. Alright from the most recent right on down the line.....

1. Mom
2. Pharmacy Tech
3. Eddie Bauer
4. Blimpie Sandwich Maker
5. Mervyn's shoe department and stocker
6. Taco Bell
7. Kitchen staff at a retirement communtiy
8. Joann Fabrics
9. Plant Waterer at a nursery (not kids)

That is the list of real paying jobs I have had in my days. I could live without ever working fast food again, which is ironic seeing how much I enjoy preparing and serving food. I loved working at Eddie Bauer, not so crazy about the politics of the store I worked at. Mervyn's was a short time in college and I was good at it, but I really hated the office politics there.

I am really happy with my jobs I have right now. I am a full time Mom to my 2 children and get the pleasure of being a part time pharmacy tech. It is a really nice mix for me.

My Guys

This picture of Greg and Nathan was taken on Nathan's third birthday. They are so cute. I wish I could even begin to explain the attachment Nate has for his daddy. But there is just no way, it began before Nate was even born......he would get very restless and moving about in my belly from the time Greg got off work until he walked in the door and then Nathan was done and to this day nothing has changed.

10 things about me

So, I again was inspired by my crazy cousin, but i am not about to try to come up with 100 things about myself. I figures that 10 would be plenty for now.......

1. I could really use to sleep for a week. The whole sleep when the baby sleeps thing is only effective for the first child.

2. I love to bake and cook.

3. I am up to my eyeballs in Ronald Mcdonald House Gala stuff.

4. I do believe that my husbands days off go by much too quickly.

5. I have the best little family on the planet.

6. I wish I had more time to read.

7. I am in love with Kool-aid and Cranberry juice (since i can't have soda-pop)

8. I once was organized and could complete a sentence without fading off.

9. Everyone in my little family of four has a name that can be shortened. (even me!)

10. I wear a size 11 shoe.

Alexandra's first "real" pictures

Alex is 2 months Old

Poor Baby Alex......nothing can ruin your day like somebody stabbing your leg a bunch of times. Alex had her 2 month check up today and it was a doozy. She passed with flying colors.....12 pounds and 1 ounce with a diaper on, so she is probably a little under 12 pounds and is 23 and a half inches long. She is going to be one tall cookie. She is in the 90th percent for weight and 95th for height. It is so crazy to have a normal sized baby after how small Nathan was. I am at a loss as to how to describe how different things are, but trust me they are. But the shots, oh the shots, she had managed to fall asleep, because we decided to enroll her in a study for a menengitis vaccine, we had paperwork to do and that gave her time to snuggle down and drift off, so imagine the rude awakening when she got a thermometer shoved in her tushie and then 3 shots and an oral vaccine too. needless to say she was no longer asleep. Nathan went with us to her appointment and was amazingly good. Greg chatted with Dr. Cox as to how frustrated to be with the whole potty training thing and he said that we were just toughing it out and that some day everything will kick in place and he will just be ready...........We are praying for sooner rather than later. My sweet hubby is loosing patience. I hope it happens before he is scheduled to start preschool in the fall. Because I want him to go and also because I don't want to have to fork out another 50 bucks to withdraw him from the program. Only time will tell.

Easter 2008

Easter was this past Sunday, March 23rd, and it was a really nice day. Nathan (now 3) was all about coloring the eggs, which we did on Saturday. I found a PAAS kit that was Star Wars ( his most recent obsession) and we had a great time coloring eggs and shrinky dinking the sleeves on to plastic eggs.....we figured we would be in big trouble if we used real eggs, because he would be devistated when we had to throw them out........so now he can keep them and play with them. The Easter bunny brought us all something. Nate got the best basket with water color paints, a solid chocolate bunny, a Thomas movie and a few other treats, Mommy got clothes, Daddy got new gardening gloves and a set of clippers and Alex got a bright pink rubber ducky. We spent most of the day and Gran and Poppa's house hanging out, munching away and having a nice time. Alex was all dressed up in her cute dress until she pooped thru her onesie and we changed her into a much warmer outfit of jeans and a bunny top (so cute). Nearly everyone had a bunny gift for Nathan. Pete brought him a hockey stick (lord help us!!) Greg's mom and dad got him a basket full of candy he won't eat and some cool tractors, Gran and Poppa gave him a lawn toss game and a set of bubble wands. Talk about spoiled.

Okay, here goes....

Okay, here goes. I am not sure about this, but I will be giving it a go. Amy, this is for you. Wish me luck.