Curtis Family 2012

2012-02-10T11:12:00.000-08:00

At least the flat tire waited until after the concert. We walked to Fiesta mall from our hotel and got an air compressor, filled the tire, then drove to a Discount Tire where they found the nail and fixed it for FREE!

2012-02-10T11:04:00.000-08:00

After a surprise day of pampering (massage, hair cut & style, and pedicure) we went to the George Strait/Martina McBride concert. We sat on the 12th row, and it was amazing. We were kind of in a party section, and we're not exactly partiers. We stood up a lot so we could see. The pictures are horrible because of lighting, movement, taken on my phone, etc. But who cares?

Jay's Leg

2012-02-10T10:58:00.000-08:00

Jay wrecked on his dirt bike almost 2 weeks ago. This is what it looks like now.

Doosy

2012-02-10T08:24:00.001-08:00

We live in a small house. I wonder why I even bother cleaning the floors sometimes, because with so many people walking the same path all day long, they're bound to be dirty within an hour of cleaning. And yesterday? Yesterday was a doosy. I guess that's how you spell doosy. I made pancakes for breakfast, and between Brook and me, a plate shattered on the floor. I rushed to sweep and vacuum the millions of glass pieces all over the floor so the kids could proceed with their school-prep routine. There's no way to avoid the path of destruction in a small house. The day was fairly mellow with only a few messes including a pen that leaked black ink all over my fingers while I was trying to sort out birthday money, Christmas money, and tithing for the kids, a 2-year-old with poop running down her legs, and John throwing up down my side. It was almost dinner at that point, which means almost bedtime, which means no more going out in public. So I didn't change my dirty clothes. Lilly and I decided on Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner. Suzee tried to join in the food preparing fun by climbing on the counter. Another terrible noise- a shattered bowl. This time, it landed a foot away from a sleeping John in his car seat, and pieces landed on and around him inside his seat. As well as on the piano, under both couches, under the table, on the kitchen floor, and around the baby play area. Dinner was put on hold because Jay was feeding a baby, the older girls (who usually help with dinner) were at basketball practice, and I got to sweep and vacuum again. Before I made it to bed, I spied more glass shards. Darn them. I laid in bed with Joseph, and asked him a very serious question, then he threw up all over the front of me. This time I had to change. It soaked through everything. I had thought the throwing up had slowed down, but today proved me wrong. Yesterday was a doosy. For real. I'm glad it's not like that every day.
But times like these make it all worth it.

Catch Up

2012-01-20T12:48:00.001-08:00

From December 12 until now in pictures, and a few words. In no particular order because I don't have time to put everything in chronological order... WARNING! There are a few gory-ish pictures of recent mishaps and injuries. James with Santa at our ward party

Joseph (on left) and John with Santa

Brook with Santa

Lilly with Santa

Our tree, which has evolved into a tree full of homemade ornaments rather than the matching set I used to own.

Janna and I made gingerbread men and gingerbread houses to decorate for Brook's birthday.

Janna's domino Christmas tree

The boys and Jay sitting by the fire on Christmas

A note I found on the counter that Bob printed from one of the iPod Touches we got for Christmas. LOVE it.

Minor electrical fire under the front porch at Sean and Cindy's house the day after Christmas when we all got together to do the Nativity. Jay smelled like a nasty electrical fire for a long time.

It snowed! A few days before Christmas. Nothing stuck, but the kids loved it anyway.

Jospeh's first motorcycle ride- on a very small motorcycle that Bob got to replace the one that was stolen before Thanksgiving.

Brook tried to warm her buns next to a heater after she got out of the shower. She got a little too close!

Sam (nephew, Sean and Cindy's) wrecked on a bike and had to get stitches. He was okay with the injury until he found out he had to go to the doctor.

Boys

Bob watched the girls with their crochet projects, and taught himself how to do it. His yarn got tangled, so we wrapped it around some cardboard, and I laughed when I saw him sitting here holding it with his feet.

Lilly got her cast off. Love when both of the babies sleep at the same time. Problem is, I couldn't get anything done because they wake up if I move them.

We took an overnight trip to Mesa since we didn't get away during the Christmas break. We got pizza, ate and played at the park, swam at the hotel, went to Bass Pro Shop, and visited my family.

The fish tank at Bass Pro Shop

Joseph

Brook wrecked on a bike too big for her, and the handle bars jammed into her stomach. It's been 5 days and it's still swollen and sore.

Sam got bounced off a horse, and injured his spleen. He was flown to Tucson. We met them at the helicopter pad to see him off. He stayed 3 nights in the hospital, and is home recovering- will be a LONG recovery for him.

Some of the cousins lined up to watch the helicopter take off. Abbey had a wart, so Jay froze it off and it made a huge blister.

We graduated from the lay down bouncers to the saucer! (Yesterday)

This morning in the bath. Joseph on top.

I caught James and Suzee in a big mud puddle out back. It was cold that day, and I made them wait there (not like they cared) so I could get the camera.

Brook's 6th birthday

Emma snuck around the front of the building to get a picture of Bob finding his motorcycle.

Our nativity production with the Curtis family. Same night the front porch tried to burn down.

Love babies with sunglasses.

Another shot of Sam before they took off. He even waved to Patty.

Lilly's Hand Part 2

2011-12-12T12:49:00.000-08:00

Lilly's Hand

2011-12-09T16:06:00.001-08:00

I feel really bad. Last night I was busy getting kids ready and cleaning up so we could go to pack meeting at 6:30. Jay was going to stay home with the babies so they wouldn't be out in the cold, and I was taking the 8 older kids. They were having a talent show at pack meeting, so all 5 taking piano lessons had a song prepared to perform. Just before 6:00, Emma came down the stairs and told me James almost broke Lilly's hand because he pushed Lilly off Emma's back, and she landed on her hand. Lilly said she wasn't going to play the piano because her hand hurt. I never looked at it, and we rushed to get out the door by 6:15. When we got to pack meeting, we had to get out another row of chairs because they didn't have enough set up. I noticed Lilly didn't pick up a chair and just sat on the floor. I sighed, and got a chair for her. When she sat in the chair she started crying, and said her hand was hurting. I pulled up the sweater sleeve she had pulled over it so I could see if it was bruised or anything. I think I gasped, loudly. And I know my eyes got big. I couldn't believe how swollen it was, and she couldn't move her thumb and pointer finger. She also had less feeling in those 2 fingers because of the swelling. I speed-walked out to the foyer and called Jay. He thought I was overreacting, but reminded me our doctor's office was open until 8. I called the doctor's office and asked if we could come in. She told me to come as soon as we could since they close at 8, or else I could go straight to the ER since they would have to send us there for x-rays anyway. I thought the ER was a little over the top, so I told her we would get there as soon as we could. I told all the girls they wouldn't be able to participate in the talent show (I'm sure they were crushed), and that we'd have to do a program with the family later to fulfill a requirement for the medallion they work towards. I told Bob to go first as soon as they called his age group so we could leave right after that. He flat out refused, so several people went up, and he still wouldn't go up. I decided we shouldn't wait any longer. Several people could have brought him home later, but he would not go up there anyway. We headed to the doctor's office, and once again the TV in the car saved me. The other 7 kids stayed in the car with minimal disagreement between them while I took Lilly in. The doc on call was kind of rough with her and I felt bad. He sent us to the hospital for x-rays. It took a while at both places. By the time x-rays were done it was about 8:30. The doctor came over to the hospital to read the x-rays. I looked at them with him and was able to see where her hand had an obvious fracture. I didn't know, however, that it was on a growth plate. He was able to round up some supplies there at the hospital to make a splint for her hand. We called the orthopaedic doctor and scheduled an appointment for Monday. He'll review the x-rays and decide if anything can or needs to be done to line up the bones. Hopefully the swelling will have gone down enough by then, and he will be able to put a cast on. Lilly was very concerned about the fact that we're having family pictures this next week. I told her she could just hide her arm. She said she'll get a cast to match the colors we're wearing. So thoughtful.

The bone going to the thumb is broken just above where the arrow is.

She was not happy that I put a wash cloth around the arm strap so it wouldn't rub on her neck.

3 Months Old!

2011-12-08T11:40:00.001-08:00

Babies turned 3 months old on November 30th!

Bob's 9th Birthday

2011-12-08T11:11:00.000-08:00

Shooting at targets and balloons with an air soft gun

He asked for Xploders- little beads that swell when you soak them in water, then explode when you shoot them.

Birthday morning (James wrapped the box)

First day he got to use the gun after counting down the minutes for the battery to charge- it took 5 hours.

Sam, Bob and Jacob- their reaction to me telling them to hug for the picture

Brook in the bounce house

Suzee

Sam going through the tires as part of the obstacle course

Jacob shooting at the balloons

Martindale Thanksgiving

2011-12-08T10:33:00.000-08:00

Jay, Abbey, Emma, and Janna were in New York for Thanksgiving, and they were the only ones not there with us at my parents house this year.

Real life Angry Birds. My dad set up a sling shot/catapault that the kids (and some of the adults) used to shoot pinecones, balls, or whatever they could find at the boxes stacked up. Lilly did lots of climbing

Rachel holding Ellis

Lilly again

James ate his candy turkey before I could get a picture Gwen and Brook
Suzee and Lilly the day after Thanksgiving at Jump Street
Jared watching the guys play "pong" using warm seltzer water, Clamato, and prune juice.

Brent and Justin enjoying Angry Birds

Loren holding Ellis, and Shauna

Brook with her turkey

Suzee with hers

And Lilly with her turkey

And at the end of Thanksgiving night, a random fire with flames burning behind the ice box in the freezer.

Janna's Soccer Party

2011-12-08T10:20:00.000-08:00

Janna's end of the regular season soccer party was fun for the girls. Their coach brought pizza and made a cake, and they played on the playground and the bounce house.

New York 2011 Part 1

2011-12-07T10:59:00.000-08:00

Central Park

Janna's shoes. So interesting what you get when you give the camera to the kids.

Central Park

Abbey, Janna, Emma

Carlo's Bake Shop in Hoboken, New Jersey

Shopping

Abbey

The Freedom Tower, from a distance

Abbey, Emma

New York 2011 Part 2

2011-12-07T10:05:00.001-08:00

The beach by Coney Island- Emma, Abbey, Janna

Not sure

Abbey, Emma

Abbey, Janna, Emma

On the train- front to back- Emma, Janna, Abbey

Coney Island

Abbey, Emma, Janna

Waiting for the subway

The Freedom Tower- in the process of being built

United States Court House

Junior's Restaurant with the BEST cheesecake

Elmo!

I think this is Times Square

All these poses Janna did crack me up. She said Emma MADE her do them. Just so you know, Janna doesn't do anything she doesn't want to do.

Another pose

Macy's

Self explanatory

New York 2011 Part 3

2011-12-06T15:27:00.001-08:00

Janna

Emma

The ferry

Statue of Liberty

On the ferry to Liberty Island

The Liberty Bike- made using copper from the Statue of Liberty when they did renovations

Abbey

Manhattan Temple

Night time view from the Empire State Building

Another shot

Empire State Building

Statue of Liberty- Left to right Abbey, Janna, Emma

Emma in Central Park

Emma, Abbey

White Castle Hamburgers

Central Park, view of the city

Abbey, Janna, Emma

Jay, of course

Janna

Abbey

Emma, Jay, Janna

The look

Janna, Emma, Abbey in Central Park

Junior's Restaurant. They had cheesecake here 3 different times.

Emma, Janna, Abbey in front of Macy's

More Baking

2011-11-30T16:53:00.000-08:00

Bob's birthday cupcakes
Barbara's lemon meringue pie

Recap

2011-11-15T09:44:00.000-08:00

Babies are smiling a lot now, but I have yet to catch a good one on camera.This is John, and it's the best I've gotten so far. The flash on my phone camera takes the smiles right off their faces.

For those of you who don't get my family letter, my last few weeks have been crazy. Kids getting hurt, things breaking, schedules to keep up with. Crazy. Here's last week in a nutshell:

Monday- Bob discovered his dirt bike had been stolen. Ham and potato soup I made for dinner got dumped into my diaper bag.

Tuesday- Woke up to find the load of laundry I started the night before with the dirty diaper bag was covered in red lipstick spots from a sample size lipstick that missed the removal process before I put it into the washer. Sprayed and scrubbed dirty clothes. Some spots came out, some didn't. Dryer repair man came. Piano lessons, soccer trophy presentation, sign up for girls basketball, and back home to find dryer man there again to finish up.

Wednesday- Smoked, basted, then deboned 2 turkeys for the ward dinner that night. Cleaned up most of the dead pecan branches that fell during the storm. Went to yummy Thanksgiving dinner.

Thursday- Lilly accidentally kicked Brook's finger in the bounce house and it swelled up. Loaded all the kids up at 5:00 to take Bob to scouts, and as we were passing Jay as he pulled in and we pulled out, he sent me a text to say the scout leader had called and cancelled scouts for that day.

Friday- No school for Veteran's Day. Took Brook and the twins (both sets) to a late afternoon doctor's appointment. Pinky finger is sprained, and the babies got immunizations. Jay's mom took the 3 oldest for a sleep over and to help her with some Christmas ornaments. Cindy offered to take the other 5 over night so Jay and I could have a break. We fed the babies then went to dinner where they were very upset because of the shots. They finally fell asleep and we ate while holding them.

Saturday- Made pecan pies before the kids got home. Hung around the house all day until Jay got home, then went to the Temple. Wondered why it was so empty there. Got pizza for the kids on the way home.

Sunday- Emma asked if we still had church at 1:00, which is when I realized it was stake conference that day. Which explains why the Temple was so empty. I was supposed to have been at the adult meeting of stake conference the night before. And there I was, glad that I had finally gotten to the Temple. Played Cashflow with the oldest 4 after church, which took almost 5 hours.

Cupcakes and Pies

2011-11-15T09:36:00.001-08:00

Janna made cupcakes for Sparky and James who both had birthdays. A few months ago, she went around the office and asked everybody what their favorite color and cake was, and the date of their birthday. She's made a treat for every one of them ever since. I have to say the German chocolate frosting is amazing.

And Saturday I made pecan pies. I'm doing more pies for Thanksgiving.

Wind/Rain Storm

2011-11-14T20:45:00.000-08:00

Lots of broken branches, roof tiles and gutters/drains from the wind storm 2 weeks ago.

Dryer

2011-11-14T20:33:00.001-08:00

My dryer is repaired now, thank goodness. Two days without it working was rough. Less than impressed with the dryer repair man who is "one of the top 10 in the country."

Halloween 2011

2011-11-02T16:00:00.000-07:00

Halloween was consumptuous this year. We went to:
1. Ward chili cook-off and halloween carnival
2. Trunk-or-treat at another church building
3. Cousin Sam's spooky birthday party
4. Aunt Amy's mom's haunted house

This night Brook was a witch. Another night she was Rapunzel.
Lilly was an angel.
The boys were cute.

This night Suzee was a bee.

James was Robin.

Cami stopped by.

We, meaning the kids, decorated our "trunk" for the first time ever. Jay had Fear Factor: Halloween Edition playing on the TV.

Bob the pirate at the ward party.

Suzee was a lady bug ballerina until she took off the lady bug wings and skirt, and turned into a barefoot ballerina for the rest of the night.

8 Weeks/ 2 Months

2011-11-02T15:52:00.000-07:00

This was 8 weeks old up here

And these are at 2 months old

Messy Boy

2011-11-01T10:19:00.000-07:00

There was something behind the dresser that James wanted, so he pushed it over. Completely logical.

And he's a hoarder. He has collections of cars, ties, stuffed animals and clothes. I find piles in the most random places.

Abscess

2011-11-01T10:14:00.000-07:00

Brook had an abscessed tooth, and the one next to it was starting to get bad too. I took her to the dentist, and they took both front teeth out. She was so tough, and was glad to have that big bump go away.

Western Wear

2011-11-01T10:08:00.000-07:00

I got my first pair of Wrangler's and boots EVER! Jay took me shopping after me wearing the same 2 pairs of pants for the last 6 weeks.

Stuffed Animals

2011-10-20T17:31:00.000-07:00

Messy Girl

2011-10-14T14:37:00.001-07:00

Elections

2011-10-14T14:14:00.000-07:00

All 3 girls made their own posters, and I helped with speeches.

Here's Janna's:

My names is Janna

And I'm here to say

I want to win

Your vote today.

J is for juliblant

Which is what I'll be

If you take the time

To vote for me.

A is for Awesome

We'll have a great time

I'll keep you informed

If your vote is mine.

N is for nice

Which is what I am

I'll share your ideas

To help make a plan.

N is for neat

I keep things straight

Vote for me

And this year will be great.

A is for amazing

For this school year

Just give me your vote

It all starts here.

Graham County Fair 2011

2011-10-14T13:42:00.000-07:00

We set up some painting stations for kids to try to paint the Dunn-Edwards logo. Janna did a sample.

Josh and Kelly own Lucky Dog Animal Boarding right next to our store. They both work with us also.

I took no pictures of the kids on rides. I was babysitting. So, here's a few pictures of our booth.

Bob's Tooth

2011-10-14T13:29:00.000-07:00

Bob's teeth collided with Janna's knee and chipped a top tooth, and broke this bottom (permanent) one. It slants from the back to the front. He got a temporary filling put on until the rest of his permanent teeth grow in. Then he'll get a cap put on.

School Pictures 2011

2011-10-14T13:03:00.000-07:00

Brook- Kindergarten
Lilly- 2nd Grade

Bob- 3rd Grade

Janna- 5th Grade

Emma- 6th Grade

Abbey- 6th Grade

Quick Update

2011-10-12T15:12:00.000-07:00

My life is crazy right now. If it's not one thing it's another.
-Kids started piano lessons again (5 of them!)
-Laundry is out of control. I have to wash my sheets on a regular basis due to frequent throwing up courtesy of babies.
-The fair was a success. I went, but didn't help much. I paired the kids with a younger buddy and sent them on their way.
-Abbey won for student body vice-president, and Emma and Janna won for class representative. They are all excited about student council this year.
-Soccer is fun. Just Janna and Lilly played this year, and Janna's team is undefeated.
-Lilly dropped a wooden chair on her foot, then hours later was "pushed" down the stairs and face planted on the tile floor. She bruised her nose and forehead.
-Suzee makes constant messes. So not fun. Especially when they're sticky or poopy messes.
-James is going to work sometimes now. Still doesn't love it like Bob always has.
-Brook took her own cast off. But then asked if she could put it back on. I had to hide it so she wouldn't keep wearing it and using it as a weapon.
-Joseph and John are 6 weeks old!!!!!!! Time flies when you have no time to sit still.
-Jay is recovering from his nerve relocation surgery. Had a little post-op mishap when some of the stiches fell out and he had to go to Mesa to get the incision cleaned and re-stitched. Might be an ugly scar. He spent 2 days in Reno for a trade show, then 2 days doing a booth at the fair. I'm so glad he's home from Reno, and we're back to a regular schedule.

Working Girl

2011-09-26T17:14:00.000-07:00

While James has been wanting to stay home with me, Suzee has been loving work with dad every day.

Blessing Day September 25, 2011

2011-09-26T13:39:00.000-07:00

Such a good day.

Joseph, Rachel, Brook, John

Kids helping frost the cupcakes

John, Joseph

Joseph

John

Candace, Joseph

Grandma M, John

Carlsbad Beach 9/17/11

2011-09-22T09:50:00.000-07:00

Soccer 2011

2011-09-22T09:40:00.001-07:00

Janna's team is the Tangerines- for obvious reasons

A rare on-camera smile for Bob

Lilly and Lia are on Team Flower Power. They are fun to watch.

Despite my dislike of early mornings, I enjoy the games at 7 and 8 am. The weather is so nice that time of day.

James Turned 4

2011-09-21T10:30:00.000-07:00

Two days after we got home from the hospital, James turned 4. I felt bad that I couldn't do a whole lot, but we swam and grilled pork chops with family. James was just happy to have a Cars cake. He didn't care that it was a cake I got and stuck cars on it. So easy to please.

A Few Baby Pics

2011-09-20T16:39:00.001-07:00

Lilly feeding Joseph

Brook feeding John (with her broken arm even)
Jospeh, John Just before we left the hospital

Baby Pictures

2011-08-31T16:03:00.000-07:00

Joseph William Curtis
8/30/11
9:48 pm
6 lbs 1 oz
Head Down

John Henry Curtis
8/30/11
9:50 pm
5 lbs 5 oz
Breech

We delivered in the OR in case of emergency c-section since baby B was breech.

Joseph on the left, John on the right

Me with Joseph

Jay with John

Jay with Joseph

Rachel holding John

Me holding Joseph, Jay with John

John on the left, Joseph on the right

Once they gave me the epidural and started pitocin, everything went really fast.

At 7:30 I was dilated to 4

At 9:00 I felt some movement, so nurse checked and I was at 6

At 9:25 I felt more movement, but was going to wait to call the nurse. Jay pushed the button anyway, and when she checked me she said my bag of water was bulging, I was 9.5, and it was time to go to the OR NOW!

We rushed over to the OR and babies were born at 9:48 and 9:50!

The Last Few Days

2011-08-29T21:15:00.000-07:00

My mom, my brother Jason, Suzee and I went to Olive Garden today per my request. One of my last non-stress tests I had to do.

Off to the hospital tomorrow!

Baby Update

2011-08-17T22:46:00.000-07:00

-I am still in Mesa and still pregnant. 34 1/2 weeks along.
-I had a growth ultrasound this past Monday which showed babies to be approximately 4 lbs 12 oz and 4 lbs 13 oz.
-Baby B has also flipped again, so he is breech. A hasn't moved and is still head down.
- The ultrasound tech and doctors are SURE that these babies are mono-di, meaning they are identical with one placenta but two separate amniotic sacs. The only indication they gave me of why they think this is the case is because the membrane between them is very thin. Not sure what else they can go by.
-After the ultrasound I met with the doctor. I told him that since I left the hospital over 2 weeks ago, I have not been taking the meds they gave me to stop contractions- reason being that I didn't think they doing anything. Obviously they weren't, so why take extra medication?
-The day I left the hospital (Aug. 2) they did the fetal fibronectin test which came back positive. That's supposed to mean you have a 90% chance of delivering within 2 weeks. I guess I'm in the 10% who doesn't go into labor in that time frame.
-The doctor asked me if we had discussed dates. I didn't dare get my hopes up. I thought he must be talking about for my next appointment. He said no, for delivery. I said I would like to deliver around 36 weeks because I didn't know if I could go much longer than that, and know the babies will be fine. He said since the babies are mono-di (a higher risk of twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome), they prefer to deliver by 36 weeks. I think relief is the word that would describe me best at that point since I knew that if it doesn't happen by then, at least there's an end in sight. We discussed dates around my 36 week mark, and I told him that if I got to choose, I would prefer an even date. So, considering it's difficult to schedule on a weekend, we're looking at either August 26 or 30- a Friday or Tuesday.
-The possibility of a c-section is still there, but a few of the doctors in the practice said they have no problem delivering a second twin breech. Also, hopefully we have enough time for Baby B to flip over again, and we won't have to make that decision.
-I am still not convinced about the whole identical twins thing. Fraternal twins are more common by far, so what are the odds of having 2 sets of identical twins? I've researched and can't find an answer for that one. I guess we'll find out soon enough.
-Since this is the most baby I've ever carried (already over 9 1/2 lbs) plus the extra fluid, my body is taking a beating. I'm thrilled we've gotten this far, but will be glad when I'm back to "normal".

Trouble Maker

2011-08-17T22:39:00.001-07:00

Suzee goes from hugging my belly and saying "my babies, my babies" over and over again

to tearing apart my makeup bag

and my diaper bag. By the way, she calls these things jump ropes. Apparently they look like handles???

Before James Left

2011-08-17T22:23:00.000-07:00

Sorry- all the pictures were taken with my phone so they're not great quality.

Jay came this last weekend, and took James back with him when he left. Here's a couple pictures from when he was still here.

I only buy baby carrots, so James and Suzee thought these were huge.

When Suzee drinks a sippy cup, she always plays with her ears. This time James was close enough that she played with his instead.

Heads Down

2011-08-10T20:47:00.000-07:00

I had a quick ultrasound today to check heart rates and fluid levels. I asked the tech if baby B was still breech and she looked at me funny and said "No. Both heads are right here." After 4 weeks, he finally decided to flip back over!

A Few Random Pictures

2011-08-08T21:24:00.000-07:00

Karen trimmed Suzee's hair today.

Blackberry vines growing from outside, through the walls right by the kitchen sink (at my parents house).

Suzee playing peek-a-boo with her favorite purple purse.

Me at my home away from home.

Me just before I left the hospital last Tuesday.

Home-ish

2011-08-02T21:40:00.000-07:00

After 5 days in the hospital I hadn't dilated any more, so they let me leave.
I am at my parents house most likely until real labor happens.
They did a fetal fibronectin test this morning that came back positive, which (depending who you talk to) means I have a high risk of delivery within the next two weeks.
Just glad to be free again. Not attached to tubes and monitors.

Another Update

2011-07-31T15:51:00.000-07:00

-Thursday I went in for my weekly appointment and my doctor admitted me to the hospital because I had dilated to almost 4 cm. Last check I was 2 cm.
-Doc. checked me later that evening and said we were losing the battle, and he called for a helicopter to get me to a hospital in Mesa with a NICU.
-Got put on magnesium and flew to Mesa (very uncomfortable flight) and have been here since.
-Hit 32 weeks yesterday, and have slowly been taken off the magnesium.
-Got another round of steroids shots for babies lungs.
-Had a sonogram that estimated babies to weigh 4 lbs 4 oz and 4 lbs 1 oz.
-Baby A is still head down, and B is still breech.
-Jay drove here yesterday with kids and Cindy and Sean's family. They finished up school shopping and had fun swimming at the hotel.
-They brought me all kinds of lotions and potions, and some clothes for the babies.
-Kim brought me a cherry limeade, Derek brought me gum (I had bad breath), Candace painted my toe nails, Chelsey brought me stuff to take a real shower then braided my hair, Derek brought me a taste of his Maggiano's (sp?) lasagne. I am feeling very spoiled.
-Still not sure if they'll keep me here until I deliver, or if they'll let me go to my parents house. My history of fast labors makes everyone a little nervous.
-As much as I want to be home, I know this is a safer place to be.
-And I like visitors. Hint, hint.

Baby Update

2011-07-27T07:25:00.000-07:00

-As of last Thursday, babies were estimated at 3 lbs 9 oz and 3 lbs 10 oz
-I am 31 1/2 weeks, which is 3 days past when Abbey and Emma were born
-I am now officially bigger than I've been with any of my other pregnancies
-If I want to have the babies in Safford, I have to last another 4 1/2 weeks

Cousins

2011-07-27T07:15:00.000-07:00

This face Hayden is making reminds me of the Grinch.

Lia

Camilla

Emma

24th Celebration

2011-07-27T06:36:00.000-07:00

My mind still hasn't figured out that my body can't keep up. We attended the 24th of July festivities on Saturday. I thought I would be fine. Most of the kids rode on the float in the parade, but I didn't get any pictures because Jay and I watched from the van. We set up our camp chairs on the EAC football field and had an awesome BBQ beef dinner. I didn't even make it through dinner and had to lay down. I forgot to bring a blanket, but Jay's and my camp chairs came with small pillows. I put one under my head and one under my stomach, and spent the rest of the night laying in the grass.The weather was wonderful, which is a miracle. Traditionally it rains on every 24th of July celebration. We were very lightly sprinkled on as we walked into the stadium, but that was the end of it.

Suzee chewed on this pop top forever.

Ryan Innes did a small concert before the fireworks show, which was really nice.

Papa and Patty finished their duties serving food and sat with us to watch the fireworks. Suzee was so fun to listen to during the fireworks show. She would see one shooting up and yell "Color, color, color" until everyone around her guessed what color it was going to be. James covered his ears and asked me a thousand times if it was over yet.

Even though it was harder than I thought it would be, it felt good to get out in that awesome weather.

See You Later

2011-07-27T06:26:00.000-07:00

We had a party for Jace (he reports to the MTC today) last week, and these are the only 2 decent pictures I got. Suzee eating Papa's homemade chocolate ice cream.

And Jonathan and Bob messing around. I don't get smiles out of Bob very often.

It was fun having family in town for the weekend, and I was glad to make it through Sacrament Meeting for the first time in over a month. His farewell and setting apart were very nice.

Cakes

2011-07-27T06:17:00.000-07:00

Janna's been baking. One girl at the office was going away to school,

and another had a birthday.

She asked them both their favorite color, then went to work. She did both cakes by herself.

Swimming Again

2011-07-17T14:50:00.001-07:00

Suzee has always loved the water, but both she and James are getting really brave.

Emma and Suzee

Abbey, James (with his black eye) and Brook

Suzee floating on her back. Love the puddle jumpers.

I got permission to swim, so we swam Friday morning and Saturday night. It was wonderful.

Accidents

2011-07-13T14:19:00.000-07:00

2 Accidents 5 days apart. Both involving the 4-wheeler with Bob driving. The first one got James a bloody nose. The second one was a swollen eye that James said looked like a marble. It has since turned into a black eye.

Suzee's Faces

2011-07-13T14:11:00.000-07:00

Suzee thought James was getting too much camera time, so she started making faces so I would take pictures of her.

Baby Update

2011-07-07T14:39:00.000-07:00

Babies are 2 lbs 12 oz each, and for the first time they're both breech. Explains a lot about the pain I had Monday night.

Birthday/4th of July

2011-07-06T16:37:00.000-07:00

Help!

2011-07-06T15:25:00.001-07:00

My mom and Aunt Sherri put all the baby clothes in the closet that used to not be a closet. It was an empty cupboard where the stove pipe used to go up to the roof. My dad built shelves and put some flooring in, and it's wonderful.

My parents came last week and got a BUNCH of items done on my "To Do" list:

-Re-hung a shelf that Suzee had pulled out of the wall.

-Re-hung cupboard doors downstairs that Bob had taken down because he likes using tools, but he couldn't figure out how to put them back up.

-Fixed drawers on 3 dressers that kids had "accidentally" broken.

-Built shelves and a closet rod for the babies.

-Boxed up winter stuff (I'm a little behind).

-Cleaned out the crib.

-Cooked and cleaned and got ready for a birthday celebration.

-Kept kids entertained.

-Got groceries.

-Stocked baby clothes and supplies on new shelves.

-Folded laundry.

-Got the golf cart un-stuck from a utility cable Janna backed into.

I feel like we're almost ready for babies now!

Haircuts

2011-07-06T15:12:00.000-07:00

Karen gave Lilly

and Brook new haircuts. So cute.

Gila Box- Bonita Creek

2011-06-25T11:41:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we took an afternoon trip to the Gila River.

The water was only about a foot deep in most places, but the kids loved it.

After they swam, we had a picnic with sandwiches, chips and frog-eye salad.

They've been begging to go back ever since.

Especially James who said "Thank you, mom, for my surprise of taking me to the lake."

Suzee would rather have been in the pool where the water is warmer.

I am on strict bed rest now, so next time we go, it will be with 2 more little boys.

12th Anniversary

2011-06-17T07:33:00.000-07:00

Saturday, June 4th was our 12th anniversary. Jay didn't get home until 10, so we didn't go to dinner, but he came by the house for lunch and brought me beautiful flowers and some black jelly bellies.

That same day marked 24 weeks of pregnancy. Every day that passes, I feel a little less anxious about delivering early. Only problem is, I am now 26 weeks along, which means I am 1 week away from the time I went into labor and was hospitalized with Abbey and Emma. I think once I get past that point, I will not worry as much. Maybe not.

Oops!

2011-06-17T06:06:00.001-07:00

The garbage man had a little accident. I'm not sure how he hit the neighbor's mailbox, then our garbage can without hitting the telephone pole in between.And he didn't stop to tell us something had happened. I was wondering if it had just been someone driving down the road. After a few hours, I called the city utilities department, and they told me that one of their drivers had had an accident.

Wednesday they came and gave me a shiny new garbage can, but they haven't fixed the mailbox yet.

Update

2011-05-11T21:42:00.000-07:00

The Saturday before Easter we did a small egg hunt, and the little kids especially had a good time.

We had Abbey and Emma's friend birthday party on Easter Saturday. Emma had invited 5 friends and 4 of them came. Abbey had invited 6 friends, and not one of them showed up. 2 of them had confirmed they would be coming, but they were no-shows. Emma's friends had all brought gifts for both of the girls, but Abbey was still pretty bummed. Last week she invited a friend over for swimming and hot dogs. We had a family dinner on their birthday over at Dad and Patty's house, and I think they really enjoyed it.

We spent 3 days in Mesa with both of our families for Jason and Candace's wedding on April 29, then Josh and Errin's wedding on April 30. We were going to drive home on Saturday night, but Jay fell asleep just driving from the reception to my parents house. We were in 2 separate cars, so we would both have to stay awake for the drive home. Richard and Chelsey were blessing baby Carmen on Sunday, so we attended their ward and lunch with family before we drove home Sunday afternoon.

While we were in Mesa, we took my ring in to get two stones replaced that had fallen out. We decided to take a chance and replace the June stone with another August stone in hopes that I will be able to keep these babies in until August. Also, Jay surprised me with a ruby pendant which is Jeremiah's birthstone. I was so happy and in shock. We got back so late from our little outing that my mom and sisters had dressed and fixed all my childrens' hair, and driven to the reception for Jason and Candace. Jay and I got there just in time for family pictures (which turned out very cute). Thank you mom and sisters. That was a lot of extra work.

For now, I have a sonogram every Thursday. One week they do a growth ultrasound to make sure the babies are staying the same size as each other. Both my doctor and the ultrasound technician are sure that the placentas fused at some point, so now they are functioning as one. The alternating week they check cervical length to make sure my cervix isn't shortening. I think they said if it gets shorter than 3 cm, that's a sign of pre-term labor. So far it has been at 4.5 cm and hasn't changed. I thought it would be really annoying to have to go to the doctor every week, but it has actually been very reassuring to me to see the babies every week. Another reassurance is feeling these boys move frequently. Sometimes I will start to worry, then feel a little kick, and I just smile.

One of the most frustrating things is that I am still nauseous. Mostly, I have really sensitive gag reflexes. 4 rotten milk sippy cups in one day can really push me over the edge. I have an anti-nausea medication I've been taking the last 3 weeks or so, and it helps with the nausea, but has a side effect of causing tiredness. As if I wasn't tired enough already.

Probably the most annoying thing to deal with is people who make rude or rather insensitive comments. I realize I am bigger than most people at 20 weeks along. I also know there are reasons I am bigger. I get asked at least 4 times a day when I am due, and get all kinds of off-the-wall comments about having so many kids. A lady 2 days ago told me I was huge and that she was as big as me when she was full-term. Thank you.

The store has been incredibly busy through the spring, and we're happy to be able to, for the most part, keep up with things.

Easter 2011

2011-04-26T12:45:00.001-07:00

Happy Easter!

Ultrasounds

2011-04-15T20:36:00.000-07:00

Because I am high risk with this pregnancy, for more than one reason, I get to have frequent ultrasounds. This week I was scheduled for 3. That many kind of got me nervous, and I was really worried something was wrong and nobody was telling me. My first sonogram was at my doctor's office to measure cervical length (which I go in for every two weeks for now). The second one was at the cancer center where they do the in-depth ultrasounds to measure babies and look for any abnormalities. The lady doing the ultrasound didn't talk for the first 5 minutes and I got really nervous again. Eventually she got chatty and said everything looked good. And she said it's definitely 2 BOYS! I had one girl name and one boy name picked. Now I have to come up with another boy name. Both babies were exactly the same size, which is good. She said it looks like if there were 2 placentas (my doctor was pretty sure there were 2 separate placentas 2 weeks ago), that now it looks like they're fused. I wasn't sure how that would affect the babies, but after some research, it's possible it won't affect them at all. Definitely my doctor is being extremely cautious and watching for signs of early labor. 10 weeks from now (at 27 weeks along) is when I was admitted to the hospital with Abbey and Emma. Way too early. The third ultrasound was back at my doctor's office just as a follow up. He also showed me how to do my daily Lovenox injections. They are not fun. The needle doesn't hurt, but the medication burns, and each time it leaves a bruise on my stomach. So attractive. For about the last 2 weeks I've been getting headaches every day. Some are worse than others. I am also tired all the time. I feel exhausted just going up or down the stairs. I am not allowed to lift anything heavy, so I am getting good at asking everyone to do things for me. That's so hard for me to do. I just keep hoping I don't get put on bed rest because I think I would go crazy.

Versailles Pictures

2011-04-05T08:49:00.000-07:00

I finally added pictures of Versailles. Scroll down to my post about Versailles to view.

Suzee is Sick

2011-03-29T19:45:00.000-07:00

Suzee is sick. Strep throat, swollen tonsils. Fun stuff.

-Friday I made an appointment for her for 5:40 pm, and forgot about it until 8 pm, at which time it was too late to go in.

-Saturday morning I called to tell them I had forgotten and reschedule, but they don't open until 11 on Saturdays. The day got busy and I forgot to call again.

-Monday morning I called and got no answer.

-Monday afternoon I called and left a message asking for another appointment. Nobody called me back.

-Tuesday Jay is sick of waiting for me to not get her in, so he calls and gets an appointment at 2:45.

-Jay takes her in for her appointment, and sends me a text around 3:15 saying "Very bad strep and very inflamed tonsils. Needed to be in sooner. Dr. said don't delay next time or she could easily suffocate in her sleep. Need to keep a close eye on her tonight and steroids should kick in by tomorrow."

-I, once again, win Mother of the Year Award. I knew she was sick, but didn't think it was that serious. She hasn't been sleeping because she can't breathe. Jay had to take her out of Sunday school because she was making too much noise "snoring." Hopefully she'll be feeling better soon.

Babies

2011-03-22T20:06:00.000-07:00

So I know I haven't even finished my posts about Paris , but I've been exhausted. Work has been crazy because it's SPRING! We swam, but the the chlorine was really high, so that's on hold. I got released from nursery and called into scouts. We had pack meeting and the amount of effort put into that by others is incredible. I don't know if I'm cut out for it. Janna had a school play. And I had my first doctor's appointment with this pregnancy.

That would be two babies. At the same time. Twins. Again. One is a side view the other is head-on. I don't even know what to think or say. The first time around I felt like I could conquer the world. This time I am slightly less confident. Or a lot less. When I thought I was having one baby, I could have probably guessed within 2 days when the baby would have been born. Now, who knows??? It could be weeks or months before my due date of Sep. 24. Abbey and Emma were born 9 weeks early after I spent a month in the hospital on heavy medication. I don't feel like that's even an option this time. So I'm going to behave. I think. I mean I'll try my best. No heavy lifting. No stocking shelves. No major house cleaning. Fun.

It was too early to tell what they are, but I am looking forward to sonograms every 2 weeks, so I'm sure we'll know soon enough. The 19 vials of blood I had drawn yesterday wasn't fun, but we'll see how things go from here.

Day 9

2011-03-12T13:09:00.000-08:00

-We finally made it to Versailles- after ham sandwiches of course. -It was beautiful there. By far the most tourist-filled place we went. We waited in line for about 20 minutes to get our tickets to go inside. -There was so much to look at and so much to listen to. They had audio guides in several languages. -We walked a lot outside through the gardens and got down to the "bottom" where the grand canal was. Jay looked back up toward the castle, and didn't want to walk that far. We rented a little electric cart and drove around to Grand Trianon and Petit Trianon, and around the rest of the gardens that we hadn't walked through. So much history here. -We went back to the hotel for a potty break, then out to Pizza Pino again. I had spaghetti and the best lemon meringue pie I've ever had. Jay had a different pizza and chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. -We went back to the hotel to pack and try to get some sleep. We had to leave early in the morning to get to the airport.

Day 8

2011-03-12T13:01:00.000-08:00

-We did a little more shopping, and I found a pair of boots. Grey boots. Very cute.
-We got a few things for the kids, and had a pretty relaxed day.
-We found a shopping center like a mall, and got lost there a few times.
-For dinner, I had had enough. I wanted Italian food. We went to Pizza Pino, and in my mind, it was incredible. I had lasagna and got my own creme brulee for dessert. Jay ate pizza and some cream puff dessert.
-I was exhausted. I had a hard time staying awake at night (and getting up in the morning).

Day 7

2011-03-02T01:34:00.000-08:00

-Hotel courtyard.

-For breakfast: crepe with apples and carameland an amazing Spanish omelet. No, I did not eat the tomatoes. Jay took them for me.

-We had our traditional ham sandwiches, then headed to Musee d'Orsay. After a couple wrong turns, we got there, and took one look at the line, and decided against going inside. At least on that day. Jay doesn't love museums (big shocker), so we moved on.
-We got back on the metro and went to Champs-Elysees to do some shopping. We walked all the way up and down the avenue, and Jay is the only one who bought something- a new suit. It's true. I'm not a shopper. I have a hard time spending money on clothes, shoes, or anything other than groceries really.
-We went back to the hotel so Jay could drop off his suit and work on a few work-related items.
-We looked online for a restaurant for dinner and found Chez Jenny just 2 blocks from our hotel.
-Despite the sort of French name, the restaurant seemed very German.
-Our appetizer was what I would describe as a "pizza au gratin". It was a very thin crust, no sauce, layered with potatoes, onions and cheese. And yes I liked it despite the onions. Jay really liked it with some dijon mustard on top.
-We both ordered chicken this time. We are afraid of "beef". The chicken was really strange. Weird cuts of meat, and I don't do skin. It was served in a really small casserole-type dish in a sauce with onions. On the side was a small bowl of really thick spaghetti noodles that didn't taste like spaghetti. Overall, when I picked through it, it was okay.
-Dessert was amazing. I ordered raspberry sorbet, and Jay had creme brulee. He wouldn't share.

Day 6

2011-03-02T01:07:00.001-08:00

-We slept in (trying to stay on that schedule), then walked down the street for un sandwich du jambon- a ham sandwich. We've already had about 10 of these since we've been here. Some are better than others. You have to be really specific about what you want on it, otherwise you get ham and butter.
-We started on my list of places to go and things to see. First was the Louvre. This is the outside.

This was a view from inside looking out.

They have the Mona Lisa (sorry no flash photography allowed) and Venus de Milo at this museum, along with lots of other sculptures, paintings, artifacts, etc. It would be easy to get lost here, except they have "sortie" (exit) signs everywhere you turn. This is a dessert we ate at the "mall" connected to the Louvre. Jay fell asleep while I ate some of it. It didn't taste like it looks...
-After the Louvre, we walked outside (it's cold here this time of year), and followed the Seine (river) for a few blocks, then crossed over at Pont Neuf. We walked along the Seine for several miles (I'm going to figure out exactly how many miles it was) and got our first view of the Eiffel Tower. We stopped at several attractions along the way, including l'hotel des Invalides, Musee de l'armee and Centre de Paris. We saw from a distance several others, but didn't want to stop, or walk over to them. Notre Dame Cathedral was one of those.
-They have boat tours on the Seine, but it was too cold.
-We took a few side streets to get to our final destination of that long walk, and stopped for a ham sandwich and some kind of apricot custard pastry/pie. We carried the pie with us and sat on a bench in the shadow of la Tour Eiffel and had our dessert.
-We got tickets for the elevator ride up, and we went all the way up. At level 2 you have to get off the elevator and transfer to another elevator to go to the top. Level 2 made me nervous, but the top was nothing because it's all enclosed. No wind, no scary ledges.
-We got to the bottom, and those little peddlers work hard. No matter how many languages you say it in, they still stare at you when you say you have 8 children. We tried English, Spanish and twice in French before the guy understood we needed 8 for our children.
-We (I) couldn't walk anymore, so we found a metro stop and after 2 train changes we made it back to the hotel.
-We cleaned up then asked the concierge for a good restaurant. She sent us to Julien. It was okay.
-Jay had onion soup and I got a salad with cheese for our starter. The cheese smelled and tasted like stinky feet. I'm told good cheeses do. I'll stick with provolone, thank you. I had chicken served with a row of long hollow noodles with melted cheese on top, and Jay tried to find beef. It was called a beef filetto, but neither of us is conviced it was actually beef. His pan fried potatoes were good, along with the asparagus and green beans.

Day 5

2011-03-02T01:02:00.001-08:00

-We exchange some money at the airport so we would have euros. Only a few places here won't take a VISA. Some even take American money.
-We were exhausted, and headed to the hotel (after some confusion on how to get there we eventually took a tram, then the metro, which let us off right across from our hotel).
-We dropped our luggage in our room, then went out for brunch- crepes with nutella and bananas. Delicious! I can't believe I've never tried nutella before.
-We went back to the hotel and slept until late afternoon.
-Got up and had lunch/dinner, with a pecan tart and coconut creme pie for dessert. Some places don't serve your drinks with ice, but we haven't had a warm drink yet. We then walked up and down Champs-Elysees, stopping at the end for pictures in front of l'Arc de Triomphe.
-We stayed up late trying to stay close to our schedule back home so it wouldn't be a huge adjustment when we go home.

By the way- pictures will have to wait until I get home. I didn't bring a card reader with me.

Day 4/5

2011-03-02T00:48:00.000-08:00

-Our flight from Orlando to Washington DC was uneventful. Just the way I like it.
-Our flight from DC to Paris, not so much.
-A completely full flight on a 777 where there are 2 seats next to the windows on each side, then 5 across the middle. We were in the second to last row.
-A guy across from us started losing consciousness right about the time the attendants were serving dinner.
-The attendant tried to get him to focus and answer her, which he couldn't.
-Jay comments to me on how the oxygen level in the plane was really low.
-I freak out because I thought it was just me, but it wasn't.
-I start getting light-headed and my arms get all tingly.
-Jay tells me to breathe slowly.
-Meanwhile, over the loud speaker they request that any physicians on board make themselves known.
-2 very nice 50-60 ish gentlemen come to the back of the plane, remove this guy across from my from his seat, and pull him to the back of the plane where they give him oxygen, check his stats, get him juice and water, etc.
-He eventually came to, and returned to his seat for the remainder of the flight, and saw a doctor when we landed.
-I took lots of deep breaths and the tingling finally went away.
-The flight attendant noticed that the last 2 rows hadn't gotten our dinner. She was on her second round of drinks.
-We get our food (nothing to get excited about, but it's amazing how good chicken caccitore tastes when you're starving).
-Not long after, we got "breakfast" consisting of banana bread and blueberry yogurt.
-We land in Paris at 6:30 am, and we were wasted. Neither of us slept on the flight (about 7 hours).

Day 4 So Far

2011-02-26T09:20:00.000-08:00

-Jay got me out of bed by telling me it was 9:30 and we only had an hour to get ready and get to the airport.
-I got ready fast, finished packing, didn't fix my hair (complete frizz ball with all this humidity) and we checked out.
-Took a cab to the convention center, and Jay checks in to go back into the trade show. I was confused because I thought we were in a hurry to get to the airport. When I asked him what time it was he said "9:30".
-What?
-"How else was I going to get you out of bed?" I AM ON VACATION!
-We stopped at a couple booths, then our rep told us Orlando airport security was at least 1.5 hours.
-We rush to find the shuttle to the airport, and make it by about 2 minutes.
-Sit down on the bus and pull out our flight plan and find out the flight doesn't leave until 2:22. I thought it was 12:22. Oops!
-Better early than late.
-Check in took about 15 minutes, and so did security.
-So now we're here waiting for our flight. Another 2 hours. Paris here we come!

Day 3

2011-02-26T09:10:00.000-08:00

-We went to the trade show in the morning and finished up right after lunch, so we decided to venture over to DisneyWorld.
-Not sure if it was Jay's knee, or the fact that we expected something completely different than Disneyland, but it was kind of...lame. Jay says he never wants to go to Disneyland again unless it's raining. The lines are just horrendous.
-The fun part was that we met Sheri (my cousin), Nick and little Leyla there, and went on a few rides with them.
-We were so glad Nick and Sheri were willing to give us a ride back to our hotel so we could avoid another cab fee (outrageous pricing here).
-They came in and had dinner with us at the hotel restaurant, which was so good. My first time eating gnocci (sp?). Jay had a much better steak. I had chicken. Sheri had steak, and Nick had lobster ravioli.
-Leyla was adorable, and we had a nice visit with them.
-Went back to our room to finish packing, and got a box ready to ship home with stuff we didn't want to lug around France.

Day 2

2011-02-25T04:23:00.000-08:00

-We stayed up late the first night, so we slept in the next morning (kind of still on west coast time).
-Attended the trade show all day until 6 pm.
-Got asked if this was my first pregnancy a couple of times.
-Laughed about it even though nobody should even be able to tell I'm pregnant since I'm only 2 months along.
-Laughed again and said it was my 10th. Nobody believed me (I guess that could be a compliment).
- Had dinner with our sales rep and another buyer at a steak restaurant.
-Our rep ordered gator tail as an appetizer and we both tried it. It was hard for me to get down, but only because I knew what it was.
-Jay was very disappointed with his steak. Really fatty and tough. Mine was great.
-I laughed when the menu read "smashed potatoes" rather than "mashed potatoes". We call them smashed potatoes at home too.
-My feet hurt and it's only day 2.

First Leg

2011-02-23T21:06:00.000-08:00

Notables from the first leg of our trip:

-Drove from Safford to Phoenix.
-Flew from Phoenix to Houston.
-Sat by a stinky guy who liked to chat. I'm not very chatty.
-Got my complimentary drink on the 2 hr 10 min flight, but Continental doesn't even give you peanuts.
-Ran from flight into Houston to catch flight to Orlando.
-Both flights were FULL, and coincidentally, we had assigned seats on the very last row on both flights.
-Got complimentary drink and pretzels on 1 hr 44 min flight into Orlando.
-Arrived in Orlando and paid an outrageous amount for a cab to the hotel since there was no shuttle service.
-Checked in at hotel and they were out of "standard" rooms so we were upgraded to a suite.
-Had fabulous feta cheese pizza, a hot shower, and now headed to bed!

Valentine's Day 2011

2011-02-17T09:06:00.000-08:00

I should preface this by saying Jay is anti-Valentine's Day, so I was shocked when I asked him around 6 pm if he was going to go on a date with me he said "Sure."

For Valentine's Day, I usually make the traditional heart-shaped meatloaf. I didn't want that this year beacuse I made meatloaf a week ago, and ate it 3 times as leftovers. I made mac n cheese for the kids, and called a steak restaurant to see how busy they were. Of course it was packed, but they said if we came around 8 they would be able to seat us then. We got there about 8:15, and waited 10 minutes (not too bad). Dinner was fabulous, except since we were eating late, they had run out of mashed potatoes. I think our only mistake of the evening was leaving the kids home alone for that hour and a half. We came home to:

- Purple food coloring (from Abbey's ongoing science project) all over the counters and floor
- Black aerosol hair color sprayed all over the bathroom counter
- Crackers shoved into holes in the TV where buttons USED to be, and a non-functioning television
- 2 packages of sliced cheese torn into pieces and spread across the floor
- And numerous other food items scattered throughout the house

It could have been worse: nobody got hurt! I guess that's what I get for trying to have a romantic evening with my husband, but not planning ahead.

Jury Duty

2011-02-03T08:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I got chosen for jury duty. Supposed to last only 3 days, but it's kicking my booty.

OCD

2011-01-25T19:25:00.000-08:00

I have a daughter who is OCD about some things. She won't eat her waffles until she pulls them apart and arranges them just so on her plate.

Brook's Eczema

2011-01-25T19:19:00.001-08:00

This time of year, Brook's eczema is the worst it gets. She scratches in her sleep, she scratches when she's awake. She can't control the scratching. I took her to the doctor today, and hopefully it will look much better soon. At least she's old enough now to understand that if she puts her cream on, it helps.

James is Trouble

2011-01-25T19:13:00.000-08:00

James has been puking for 3 days, but he feels fine, if that make sense. So in between the puke messes he's been making, he makes other messes. He started messing around with Bob's 4-wheeler, and besides his face, his hands were covered in black grease.

Freezer

2011-01-18T11:38:00.001-08:00

My cousin Lindsay wrote a post about the easiest way to clean your fridge. Today I will write about the most-not-funnest-hardest way to HAVE to clean your freezer.

Saturday night we played games and had a delicious steak dinner. We went home around 10 pm and I found a bag of chocolate chips on the counter- opened and half gone. I put them in the freezer above the fridge, cleaned up and went to bed.

Sunday morning I was lazy. We don't have church until 1 now, so I slept in, took a shower, laid around some more, and didn't go downstairs until I was starving (around 11 I think). Jay started making some breakfast burritos (yes I know it's already lunchtime by now) and I walked back to the pantry to look for some food item. I got distracted by the gooey mess on the floor in front of the freezer. The chocolate chip thief from the night before had not completely closed the freezer. Meats were all still semi-frozen, so we rushed them into the other freezer. Peaches, mangoes, bananas and orange dreamsicle bars were melted all over everything else. My freezer is now clean (and very empty).

#10

2011-01-18T11:09:00.000-08:00

So, I'm pregnant. I was hoping to GET pregnant in Paris. Turns out, I'll already BE pregnant when we go to Paris. Hope the nausea isn't too bad then.

2011-01-18T11:02:00.000-08:00

Bob's Baptism 12/18/10

Bob was being goofy, we were runinng late (what's new) and Suzee had a poopy diaper in the car and I had no extra diapers to change her into. Thank goodness Amy had one a couple sizes smaller. It worked. So, this is the best picture I got.

Lilly's Stitches

2011-01-11T20:48:00.000-08:00

On Monday, December 27, Lilly's heel became the 3rd casualty of the side door at our store. One wasn't too bad, but just over 2 years ago, the same thing happened to Emma. I wasn't even in town when it happened to Emma, but Lilly's freaked me out because when I looked to see how bad the cut was, I saw her tendon. Then I scooped her up and practically ran to Jay's truck since my van wasn't there.

5 stitches and almost 2 hours later, she was feeling a little better. This was the worst stiches experience I've ever had since neither of the 2 methods of numbing medication worked, and she could feel the needle doing the sewing. A male nurse and I both held her leg down because she was rather jumpy. I don't blame her.

I waited 2 days longer than they told me, then took her stitches out. Within an hour she went outside, did a cartwheel, hit her foot on the ground, and broke the cut open again. The inside was mostly healed, but the outer wound was open and bleeding. We re-bandaged her, and thought it would heal fine. Today she couldn't wear shoes to school because we took a bandaid off, and it pulled the scab off with it. I put those non-slip socks on her bad foot and sent her on her way. After school she told me her friends were fighting over her when she told them what happened- meaning they were fighting over helping her.

Surprise!

2011-01-10T11:57:00.000-08:00

And if that wasn't enough posts for one day,

Jay surprised me with a trip to PARIS! We're going the end of February/first week of March- sans enfants. I am beyond excited. I took 3 years of French, but I am scared to use it in real life.

2011-01-10T11:26:00.000-08:00

Although we are not cold-loving people, we braved the snow on Mt. Graham for our annual (almost) snow outing. The kids had fun (except Brook who stayed in the car the whole time), and we lasted an hour and a half. I think that's a record for us.

Abbey on a snow pile.

Lia

Bob in rare form.

Janna during

and after a face full of snow.

Emma

Cindy helping James through the deep snow.

Lilly after she hit a tree sliding on the tube.

You can almost see the imprint of James' snow angel. The lighting was bad.

Lia tubing.

Suzee not so sure about this stuff.

Jay and Suzee headed down the hill.

Suzee with a face full of snow.

Jay after his ride.

Sam at the end of the run.

Janna going down.

James went by himself after watching the big kids do it.

Suzee wouldn't sit on the snow, so Cindy held her most of the time while I was trying to get some pictures.

Jay and Sean building a ramp.

James and I rode down together.

Lia and her snow spray.

Janna got sick of waiting for a turn with the tube, so she started rolling down the first slope we were going down (until we moved because of the tree incident I mentioned).

I think Lilly went down the most times. I guess she had the most energy to keep climbing the hill so she could slide down again.

We had made some Kool-aid concentrate at home, and brought cups to have snow cones. Watermelon-Cherry, Kiwi-Strawberry, and Grape, of course. Only problem was that the snow was so dry it wouldn't stick together. When Jay poured the concentrate over it, it kind of melted. The kids didn't care, and ate/drank them anyway.

I think at this point Sean was DONE!

Snow 2010

2011-01-10T11:24:00.000-08:00

We got our once-in-a-blue-moon snow on December 30. Nothing stuck, but it was so pretty whirling around most of the day.

Gingerbread

2011-01-10T11:21:00.000-08:00

After Christmas I bought these kits on clearance. The kids had fun, but I should have gotten one for each of them. Their decorating ideas do not mesh. My children who are perfectionists were frustrated with the ones who aren't, and the ones who aren't got rather impatient waiting for the slow pokes to get their sections done. Wow!

New Year's Eve

2011-01-10T10:26:00.000-08:00

New Year's Eve day I left the office to go to the house to start some rice in my now destroyed rice cooker. I looked over to where CJ (our dog) stays next to our rental house, which is next door to us. I saw water seeping out from under the door, so I ran over and opened the door and the water gushed out. The whole house except the bedroom was flooded. We had just put in a new water heater about a month ago, and it froze. Luckily the house was empty, so I think the carpet will have to be replaced (small area), but everything else was extracted as quickly as possible. Thank goodness for janitorial equipment so close.

That night we ate and played games. And danced to the Michael Jackson Wii game, and Just Dance. And played lots of Scrabble. Patty and Abbey can never team up again. They killed us all!

The only picture I got was of Sean and his "party" earring. Don't worry, he didn't wear it for long.

Christmas 2010

2011-01-10T10:03:00.001-08:00

Christmas Eve we opened pajamas from Papa and Patty.

Christmas Day was nothing huge since we did Disneyland, but the kids had a few small gifts from Santa. I was excited about this solar oven, especially after last night when this

happened to my rice cooker. Someone turned the stove on underneath it, and it completely melted.

Everyone got soccer balls, and they've loved having them. It's something they've all been asking for since soccer season.

Wrist Surgery

2011-01-06T19:43:00.000-08:00

So, as I mentioned, we rushed back from Disneyland for Jay to make it in time for his surgery. He had some torn cartilage in his wrist, and was having it cleaned up. The same day, Josh, our lead landscape foreman, was having surgery on his right wrist too. He was scheduled for right after Jay, but his surgery was for an undetermined cause of pain especially when he rotated his wrist. We were supposed to get there at 6 am for check-in, but we got there at 6:20. Not too bad considering the car troubles we had. Jay called ahead to let them know we were almost there.

After surgery, he was SO entertaining. Rambling about nonsense, and wouldn't stop talking, except when he would fall asleep mid-sentence. I had fun laughing at him. He was a good sport and agreed to do extended family pictures just hours after surgery. We both had to borrow clothes for pictures since it was a last minute decision, and we hadn't packed anything but matching work shirts for us and the kids. After pictures we drove home, and he spent the next 2 days in hibernation. The day after we got home (Christmas Eve) I went to our store to see how things were going, and it was crazy busy. I stayed and helped out, and we were planning on closing early. Kelly was ready to leave, and people were still coming. I turned the closed sign on, and people still came in. I ended up staying until about 4:30 (we were going to close at 2:00). We had a quiet pizza dinner and Papa and Patty brought pajamas by for everyone. Jay decided at the last minute that the kids couldn't get nothing on Christmas morning, so I braved the crowds, and picked up a few things at Walgreen's (the only store open) and was there until they closed. I still don't know if it was the medication, or if he felt bad that Disneyland wasn't as grand as it could have been, but I can't believe I had to do last minute shopping. Again.

Jay's wrist is healing well. He went for his follow up appointment Friday, and they took his stitches out. They also said he can use it as much as he's comfortable with.

Next up: Christmas 2010

Disneyland 2010

2011-01-05T18:38:00.000-08:00

For my sake, because I can't figure out how to move pictures, please scroll to the bottom first and read my story, then find the corresponding pictures so you'll understand what's going on. And, since I can't move the pictures, they are not in chronological order. Sorry.

James not caring about being wet.

Our one and only picture with a character, and you can't even see it. Taken with my phone.

Splash mountain. Taken with my phone again. Love the green.

California Screamin! Peace, Janna.

We started out dry! Day one heading into the park on the tram.

Suzee attempting the dumb bells in Toon Town.

Even a poncho over the stroller couldn't keep her dry.

Pooh Corner. Soaking wet.

The end of the first half of day one. Soaking wet in the parking garage waiting for Jay to get back from returning his scooter.

Bob and James playing slip 'n slide on the wet tile.

What we do to entertain ourselves while waiting in the car for 3 hours.

Rain, rain. Go away!

Bored in the car hoping Jay is finding rain gear.

Still bored waiting.

And some more waiting.

More.

A Minnie Mouse caramel apple I got just in case we didn't make it back.

Waiting for the nice workers at Guest Relations to sort out our ticket mess and print new ones for us. In the rain, of course.

Bug's Land on the Chew Chew train.

Suzee on the carousel. I spent lots of time here and on the one at California Adventure since the little kids could ride it.

Brook on the carousel.

Suzee and me.

Brook on the rocking ferris wheel before she told me she didn't want this ride.

Brook closing her eyes and telling me that she was still going to smile even though the rocking ferris wheel freaked her out.

Eating chocolate chip cookies at the WRONG hotel.

Lilly waiting on the couch at the WRONG hotel, wishing she was in bed.

Suzee enjoying her cookie too.

Christmas Tree in Mickey's Toon Town.

Bob on a pumpkin in Goofy's back yard.

Janna and Suzee playing Goofy's piano .

Do you know how many people were staring at us while we took this picture over in Pooh's Corner?

Suzee getting a rare ride. She was in the stroller most of the time.

This is everyone after the Christmas parade in front of the castle. Can you see it?

See the row of green in the back? Matching jackets came in handy except when you're looking at everyone from the back and don't know whose name to call out. Love Tower of Terror.

In front of the "C".

Sisters (minus Karen who had already left) at Riverview Park where we took family pictures.

The front section of my van. 8 batteries here, plus the one in the front seat and the one under the hood for a total of 10. Hey, we made it home in time for Jay's surgery. That's all that matters.

A car in Toon Town.

Bug's Life 3D show. Suzee watched it 3 times with Jay.

We did Disneyland for Christmas this year. Let's just say the trip didn't go as planned.

Day 1:
We drove and drove and drove. I drove the whole way to Anaheim- approx. 9 hours plus stops. It could have been worse, but most of the drive was through rain and wind storms. I was happy to get to the hotel and we were greeted with warm chocolate chip cookies all the way around.

Day 2:
We got up late, had breakfast and headed to a nearby sports store to look for rain jackets. They were sold out, so we got waterproofing spray and coated all our jackets and shoes, and smeared our shoes with beeswax. We finally headed to the happiest place on earth. It was wet and rainy, but not too cold. None of us had rain gear so we got ponchos to try to stay dry. Fat chance. After a couple of hours, and only 3 rides, we left the park. I was done. Ready to call it quits. I bought caramel apples, not knowing if we would come back, and we headed to the parking garage. I got out the camera since we were finally under cover, and took a bunch of pictures of wet, cold kids slipping and sliding across the tiles. I was ready to either find something else to do for 2 days, or head home and attempt Disneyland during more favorable weather conditions. Jay, on the other hand, didn't give up. We got lunch, then drove all over the greater Anaheim area checking sports stores for gear to help us out. After 5 stores and several hours of me sitting in the car with the little kids, we finally found pants, jackets and boots for all but Suzee and James. While waiting in the car, I felt a hole in my ring and realized the peridot stone had fallen out. Good thing I don't have a baby in August yet. It was after 7 pm, but we decided to head back and try it again. With few people left at the park, we went on lots of rides in a little amount of time, and stayed relatively dry. We stayed late and had fun.

Day 3:
Sleep! We slept in and it was heavenly. It was still raining, and nothing was dry from the day before. When there's so much moisture in the air, nothing drys on it's own. We got dressed in full rain gear and stopped by Walmart to see if they had any pants to fit Suzee since every time we set her in the stroller she got soaked. While Jay was in there, I drove farther into the plaza to get sandwiches for lunch. I got Subway and got back to the car and tried to pull out and the car died. I got all the kids out except James because he was asleep. We walked to the outside tables and chairs to eat, and Jay walked over from Walmart. He went straight to the van to jump start it (we had brought an extra battery and jumper cables since the battery had died before we left). He found a nearly hysterical James outside the van in the parking lot with a lady who had her cell phone in hand and had already dialed 911. When Jay walked up, she hung up the phone and said "I hope they don't show up anyway." Oops. We finished eating, Jay got the van started, and James chewed me out for leaving him in the car. We knew the alternator wasbad, but hoped it would last until we got home. Off to the happiest place on earth. We got to the parking garage, and Jay realized that he had separated all the tickets on the table at the hotel so they could dry, and left them there. We had Kyla forward the e-mail with our ticket confirmation from the office to my phone, and headed to guest services for some assistance. We thought they could reprint them and we'd be on our way. Over an hour later, waiting in the drizzling rain, them thinking we had already used 2 days on our 3-day passes, and finding out the kind old gentleman who first admitted us to Disneyland the day before only gave us 8 of the 9 tickets we gave him, we were on our way.

Day 3: Once we actually got there.
We spent day 3 (our 2nd day there) at California Adventure. Lots of rides, lots of rain, brief moments of dryness, and hot soup in sourdough bread bowls. Yum! Most of the time we split with me taking the little kids and Jay taking the bigger kids so they'd all be able to go on rides they liked and were tall enough for. With so few people there, comparitively speaking, it was common for us to run into each other, and even end up in the same lines without knowing it. I got very few pictures because of the rain, but we were too busy to stop for pictures anyway. James needed to go to the bathroom, so I took him in. He got into the restroom, and I was out holding Suzee. He came out soaking wet. He couldn't reach the toilet. Dang it. It was getting late, so I took Lilly, Brook, James and Suzee and headed for the buses to get back to our hotel. Jay was staying with the older 4 to go on more rides. I was carrying Suzee and holding James' hand, with the other 2 dragging behind. I asked a nice young man working at Disneyland which bus to get to the Doubletree. He told me number 3. So we waited and waited and waited. The bus finally came so we rushed in to get a seat. When we got to the Doubletree I woke up 3 of the 4 who were asleep and we got out. As soon as we walked into the lobby of the hotel I knew something was wrong. I asked the concierge if there were 2 Doubletree hotels, and indeed, there were. I asked if there was another shuttle that would come by, then go to the other hotel, and they said they would call my correct hotel and find out what we could do. They contaced the shuttle who promised to come up into the hotel driveway to pick us up, since it was still raining. They weren't going to make us wait outside. We settled in for our 45 minute wait on their comfy couches in front of the huge Chrismas tree in the lobby. We might have done okay if the nice front desk worker hadn't handed out warm gooey chocolate chip cookies to 4 young, tired children. They smeared those melted chocolate chips everywhere. Then tried to unwrap gifts under the tree. Then climbed like monkeys all over the furniture. Then took ornaments off the tree and threw them into the tree. How we didn't get thrown out, I'll never know. I saw that 45 minutes had come and gone, so gathered up the now sleepy again kids and went to the front entryway to wait for our bus. The front desk guy saw us waiting outside and came to tell me the shuttle should have been there by now, and he was going to contact the other hotel to find out where they were. Brook was bored waiting, and decided to turn the automatic doors into manual doors that you have to force open. Still can't figure out how she did that. Every time someone walked up to the doors and stared at them because they weren't opening, I had to tell them the doors were broken and you had to push them apart with your hands. By the time the maintenance man got there to fix them, they were working again. Just like magic. The front desk man came to give me the bad news. He apologized profusely for the misunderstanding, but the shuttle had come to the street bus stop, didn't see us, and continued on. We were stuck again. I asked him to call me a taxi. A fast one. 5 minutes later a taxi mini-van showed up and the nice driver rushed us to our correct destination. I gave him a big tip. 50%. I was happy to be at the place I was going to lay my head for the night. 20 minutes later, Jay and the rest of the kids got to the hotel. Fun. Slight sarcasm there. Could you tell? Guess it would have been worse if they beat us there.

Day 4:
Our last day on vacation. We slept in again, and got to the park around lunch. We had a few brief periods of dryness, and enjoyed more rides with short lines or no lines at all. I got a few pictures and was happy that the kids had endured the rain as well as they did. The little kids, especially, didn't cry about being wet and never drying out. We stayed late enough to watch part of the World of Color water/lights/music show, then headed out and saw some of the fireworks from the main entrance. We had timed everything to leave with enough time to drive back to Mesa and get to the hospital there just in time for Jay to check in for wrist surgery. I thought he was crazy for wanting to drive through the night, especially since he couldn't eat or drink anything after midnight to help him stay awake. We got to the van, stripped off all the wet clothes, and headed to a gas station. We got gas, and got on the road. A few minutes later, alarms went off, and the van was shutting down. Jay yelled at me to grab the wires he had running to the battery, and apparently I pulled something I shouldn't have. The van died again. Jay was able to manuever to the side of the road, and once again, jump start the van with the extra battery we had with us. It was 11 pm and no auto stores were open. We were short on time, and what's open 24 hours? Walmart. Jay went in while we froze in the car. Well, everyone but me was asleep. I started texting my family and had my sister check for flights from LAX to Sky Harbor because I was sure there was no way we would get back in time for Jay's surgery. There were no red-eye flights, and the earliest morning flight wouldn't have gotten him there in time. That option was out. Shauna asked what they could do and I said "Say a prayer." I prayed too, and soon after, I got a text from Jay telling me to clear out the front of the van. He came running out pushing a cart full of batteries. 8 to be exact. He cut the clamps off the jumper cables and ran the wires through the door hinges. He made it so there was always one battery connected- a "constant" then ran another set of cables to another battery that we would move from battery to battery as the power got low. With the back up battery going, we could continue driving while we switched to a new battery with more power. It took us 3 batteries to get home. We drove home through rain and fog, and made it to the hospital just 20 minutes after Jay's original check-in time. He had called ahead and let them know we were running a little behind. Because of the wind and fog, I didn't sleep on the drive home either. We dropped Jay off and headed to my parents house. I had hoped the kids would go back to sleep, but they were too excited to be there. I crashed on my brother's bed with Suzee for about an hour, then the hospital called to tell me Jay was out of surgery. I picked him up and he was SO funny on anesthesia. All kinds of comments came out of his mouth. We got his prescription, and went back to my parents house so he could rest. We had semi-surprised my mom with getting ALL of my family together for pictures. We had tried at Thanksgiving, and things didn't work out. This time all 8 of us with our whole families, plus our parents, were in the presence of each other for a total of about 15 minutes. Just long enough to take the pictures, then we went our separate ways.

More on Christmas and New Year's to come... I'll add pictures and correct any grammatical errors tomorrow. It's late.

Catch Up

2010-12-14T09:25:00.001-08:00

Abbey ran for student council class representative and won!

James got into yellow spray paint at the yard

I drove by Jeremiah's grave site and found that someone had place a single flower there.

With the help of Sean and Cindy, I canned lots of apple pie filling.

We fit in a few more swimming days before it got too cold.

I made my traditional pies for Thanksgiving.

James and Jared raced on these forever.

Bob turned 8 on November 28, and he didn't want pictures taken. I only got a few.

I canned 120 pounds of chicken, and most of them popped because I didn't cook them long enough (I think). I won't be doing that again for a while.

We did a "booth" for Merry Main Street and this picture of Jay and Bob roasting marshmallows for s'mores over the firepit they built was in the newspaper.

Brook picks wild and crazy outfits to wear.

Josh and Kelly did a float for the light parade. They have a dog boarding business, so they put a kennel up in the back of the truck and all the kids rode in the parade with them.

After the light parade.

The kids played in a small Christmas recital at Richard's music. Janna

Emma

Abbey

Bob with Aunt Sherri. I tried to get picture of them taking a bow, but they were too fast. In a hurry to be done.

We had our ward Christmas party with a nativity, special number, and Santa visiting the kids.

KristaSuzee with some static hair.

Ashley

We celebrated Brook's birthday early with Ashley and Krista because.....

We're going to Disneyland on her Birthday! We haven't been in almost 5 years. I can't wait!

And this was the weapon with Busy Body James in the lavatory. Our downstairs toilet has been clogged with these 2 items for the last several months.

But after some blood and sweat last night, we have 2 functioning toilets again. This probably doesn't make anyone more happy than me.

Halloween 2010

2010-11-20T10:56:00.001-08:00

This year we hosted a ward Halloween Carnival that turned out much better than I expected. I'll try to remember all the games/booths. We had rubber band guns to shoot ghosts.

A fishing pond.

Toss the hula hoop around the pumpkin.

Toilet paper toss.

Bob the soccer player drinking homemade root beer.

Aunt Debbie and cousin Traci at the toilet paper toss.

Darts to throw at balloons.

Lilly the fairy princess.

James (Robin) and me.

Abbey the bee.

Bat Girl Janna.

Not pictured are: Brook the princess and Jay the landscaper.

Other games we had were:

Pumpkin Hop

Haunted House

Candy Walk

Candy Corn Catch

Ping Pong Bounce-in-the-Bucket

Skeleton Race

Nerf Darts

Ping Pong Toss

Halloween Coloring Station

Picture Day 2010

2010-09-17T15:05:00.000-07:00

It was picture day, and I won't say which ones, but I hope some of the professional pictures don't turn out like the ones I took at home. We were trying to practice smiling, and some weren't in the mood at 7:45 am.

Angle Orchard- Labor Day- 09/06/10

2010-09-09T13:13:00.000-07:00

We picked lots of peaches and lots of apples. Now I just have to decide what to do with them.

James Turns 3

2010-09-09T13:05:00.000-07:00

We swam and grilled to celebrate James' third birthday. James came to the party late because he needed a nap, but he had a good time once he got there. This child is so entertaining. I love his energy and enthusiasm. And he has great facial expressions. I remember his birth, I think, more vividly than the others because just hours after he was born, Alice (Karen and Jared's baby) came along. She would have been 3 today too. I think about her often, and maybe even more now that we lost Jeremiah. Happy Birthday James and Alice!

Zeus

2010-09-09T13:02:00.000-07:00

This is Zeus. He's a big horse. A clydesdale. If you want a bouncy ride, he's your ticket.