Our Family Journal

That little rascal

2011-11-13T20:21:00.001-08:00

So Mazie likes

to throw stuff away, so far we have found a flashlight and Abby's Android phone that would only be like 600 bucks to replace. Apple remote still missing.

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Eliza's quote of the day

2011-11-12T09:48:00.001-08:00

"We finally bought something off TV"

I didn't know that was so important

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Grandpa Thomas and me

2011-11-06T16:38:00.001-08:00

I love this picture and miss grandpa

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Mazie loves shoes

2011-09-21T17:08:00.001-07:00

Really. So much so she wears shoes on her shoes.

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Team Dave in the cloud

2011-08-06T10:45:00.001-07:00

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1st solo backyard campout

2011-08-01T23:40:00.001-07:00

Look at them snuggling up there

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Eliza's magic show

2011-07-16T10:44:00.001-07:00

YouTube Video

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YouTube Video

She's a monkey now

2011-07-16T10:20:00.001-07:00

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All the girls got Pillow Pets

2011-06-25T10:27:00.001-07:00

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They all play together now!

2011-06-24T09:23:00.001-07:00

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Libby a watercolor by Eliza

2011-06-22T23:50:00.001-07:00

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Eliza a watercolor by Abby

2011-06-22T23:46:00.001-07:00

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Maize likes her black beans

2011-06-22T20:08:00.001-07:00

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Here is the alligator lizard we found in our back yard. Rob told me after I tried to catch it that it can have a painful bite.

2011-06-20T20:27:00.001-07:00

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Libby unloads and reloads my toolbox

2011-06-19T09:39:00.001-07:00

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Mazie is 1 years old!

2011-06-07T21:41:00.000-07:00

BIRTHDAY:
On Mazie's actual birthday, daddy was out of town in Utah and Idaho so we promised Daddy we would have the birthday party when he got back. Due to this we kept it a pretty low key day. But definitely a day all about you. We tried to play with you a lot and paid special attention to you on this special day.
We couldn't help but let you open one present. You couldn't quite figure it out how to open presents, but not to worry, Eliza and Liberty were very willing to help!
We got pizza for dinner and now that you are 1 your doctor said you could have anything so we let you try a piece.

Just kidding, just some really tiny pieces. You really liked it!

BIRTHDAY PARTY DAY:

We got you dressed up for the big event. We were just going to have a small family party but then our friend from church needed his two girls (Sita and Sariah) watched, so we decided to have them come to the party and then our neighbors (Miwa, Aili, and Lina) stopped by to see if we wanted to have a play date and we invited them too. It turned out to be mucho kids, but made it seem more like a party. Mom made you your very own birthday cake (chocolate raspberry filled with amateur frosting skills) and bought another from the store for the rest of the guests.

And look how smart you are, you even held up a number one to tell us how old you are! (Or maybe the photographer just happened to catch you in that pose. I'm not sure.)

You dove into the cake with your face, not willing to get your hands messy and after a few bites decided you didn't like it too much.

Then as we were just about to get you out of the highchair since the cake wasn't doing it for you, we remembered how much you had previously loved your snitches of icecream. At first I tried it on your tray but you didn't like that very much (too cold on the hands) then Daddy geniously suggested a cone. Duh! The birthday girl was finally in full delight! You ate the entire ice cream cone.

Happy Birthday Mazie! We love you.

Abby and her new Mother's day piano!

2011-05-07T19:56:00.001-07:00

YouTube Video

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Dirk and I Did Breakfast

2011-05-06T23:03:00.001-07:00

After the Mav's second win in LA, Dirk and I sat down for breakfast to discuss his game. I took the opportunity to congratulate him on the Mav's 2-0 lead.

Ok, not really but I did catch him coming out of the Ritz Carlton in LA the morning after the game and got this sweet picture.

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She's Big Folks

2011-05-01T20:59:00.001-07:00

Eliza pulls her first tooth.

YouTube Video

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Mazie at 11 months

2011-04-28T22:00:00.000-07:00

She is now crawling. She still prefers the roll around the the room method but can crawl. She definitely does the army crawl and every once and while gets that tummy off the floor. She likes to get in crawling position and just kinda rock there. She now can also stand up while holding onto the couch. She can't quite pull herself up to that position yet, but is sure trying. About a week ago I had her try standing by herself. She stood for a few seconds and then fell and I caught her. She thought that was the funniest thing. We did it again and she just belly laughed. So did Liberty and I because we thought it was funny that she thought it was so funny. Unfortunately because she thinks the falling part is so funny she is standing up for less than a second now because she just wants to do the falling part.
She now eats lots of stuff. She loves crackers and I love that she can eat them since I felt like she was eating more than her share of Cheerios. Sometimes it is hard to get creative on baby food, especially when you are feeding two other rascally kids. ;)
I really feel like in the last week she has just changed so much. She definitely gets that Rob is "Dada" and I am "MaMa". Often when I bring her in bed in the morning to nurse. She will turn over to Rob and start pulling on him and say "DaDaDaDa". I haven't heard yet her saying any other words that really sound like anything. But she is always having some kind of conversation that it seems is really important. It usually goes like this "nananNANANANANA" "NAna" "BAbaBAba" She loves when you speak her language back to her and usually ends with a big smile.
I may have mentioned this before but in her mind Eliza and Liberty's room is a royal palace and her room is the dungeon. If she is in their room she is automatically happy. If she lays in Liberty's bed (to snuggle Liberty before nap time) she giggles in glee. I am wondering if it is the larger toy selection or that it is more colorful but she just loves it. But as soon as we walk into her room she gets that worried look like what are we doing in here. "Are you going to put me to bed? Are you going to change my diaper?" And if you take a few more steps in, it is auto crying. I need to add some positive stimulus to that room apparently.
She is starting to get into stuff but she luckily is not too fast yet and usually stays in a general area. Oh how my delightfully tranquil life is about to change. I got to start baby proofing. I love you Mazie and I am glad you are developing those large motor skills!
Last, she did put her feet in the ocean for the first time this month. Her reaction was the same as the others. Not happy. She kept trying to get her feet out of it and then ended in a frightened scream. Hmmm. Maybe someday the beach will be your thing Mazie.

Mazie 10 months

2011-04-28T21:39:00.000-07:00

I am a big slacker for this month. I did not take a picture. This is the closest I could come but is about a week after 10 months.
Mazie had her two bottom teeth finally come through. I kept thinking they were going to push through and finally they did.
She also officially waved good bye. And we think even said "hi". Some word starting with an H when she waves anyways.
She is still rolling around but no official crawling yet. Rob has been doing his best at night when he gets home to do "crawl training". What a good Dad! He is so proactive. I just hope she'll do it some day but I am enjoying it while it lasts.

Mazie at 9 months

2011-03-11T14:23:00.000-08:00

(When I started trying to take a picture for every month of Mazie's first year I wanted the pictures to be raw (I think that is some artsy word that I used, but it works). I wanted them to be in a onesie without her hair done. So you could see the change her chubby legs made and hair made. But I just couldn't help to include these few "cutesie" ones on the bottom. She just looks so adorable!)
Mazie sits up great now. It is her favorite way to hang out, with toys surrounding her. She isn't crawling yet but rolls all around to get to the thing she wants.
She loves to clap her hands. She likes to bounce her body when the girls dance to music (Rob swears she is in rhythm with the beat, but I can't quite decide if it is just coincidence.) She loves to eat cheerios and baby food. If you walk away when she is still wanting you to spoon in another bite, she screams loudly! Screaming and yelling seem to be her newest development. I have no idea where she gets it from ;) Liberty and Eliza. Besides screaming, she also says Dadadadada and mamamama, but I am not sure if she knows what it means. Just still babbling, but sometimes I wonder if she is starting to figure it out. She is also starting to get a little bit of attachment issues. If she sees me walk out of the room she usually starts crying, or if I hand her off and walk away she usually cries. But if she doesn't see me leave she usually is OK. It hasn't affected her having babysitters, but it makes me crazy when I am cleaning the house and either I have to hear her cry or carry her every time I move. But I guess she can't be a perfect baby.
I am really enjoying this stage and keep telling myself to get done as much little projects as I can right now, because the horrible stage is about to arrive. I really dislike 12-24 months. It is exhausting as a parent. They get into everything and don't understand any type of discipline. And somehow my children always seem to be tyrants, pulling hair, riding little babies like horses, biting, spitting, you name it! We'll see. I keep hoping that maybe just maybe Mazie will be a delightful little 1 year old. But being such a good baby, I guess it just wouldn't be fare. Anyways, in summary I am loving this age of 9 months when she is so independent but not quite on the move yet. Oh how I love those brown eyes! None of the other girls have ever had brown eyes. I love her light complexion with those dark eyes! I keep wondering if they will change because Rob tells me he had brown eyes when he was young, so we will have to see.I love your smiles Mazie, and when you wiggle in excitement. I love snuggling you to sleep. I love you!

Family Trip to Disneyland

2011-02-22T21:48:00.000-08:00

On the weekend of Libby's 3rd Birthday we went to Disneyland. Nate and Des's family was already going and so kindly invited us to join them. It was so much fun! Nate and Des knew all the tricks and it was like having tour guides for Disneyland. I don't think we really ever stood in any lines, at least not for long. I enjoyed myself quite a bit since last time we went I was super pregnant with Mazie. The kids all seemed to have a really good time together as well. Its fun to see how much they like being around each other. I think living together really grew a bond that would be hard to to break.
We got there late Thursday night and then went to Disneyland on Friday. Liberty seemed to enjoy it the most. Driving the cars was such a highlight for her. They gave a fake driver's license and she just thought she was the coolest thing. It was so hilarious to watch. She just ran around so excited the whole time. I think it is the age and the fact that she really didn't get to enjoy it last time since she was so sick. That night, Nate and Des so kindly let us stay at the park to go on rides while they took the kids home. (I don't think I would have ever offered to do this, they are so nice.) We spent the first 20 minutes finding out that the ticket we had bought on craigslist wasn't really a valid ticket, but they finally let us back in. We went on a few rides. Space mountain was definitely my favorite and it was fun when Rob and I joked around and did a funny face when the camara takes your picture.
The next day, Rob went to the store to buy Libby's scooter for her birthday. (To this day she thinks this scooter is just from Daddy, and not from me too.) With a bit of a late start we decided to still go over to California Adventure theme park. We had a lot of fun. With so many adults we were able to split the kids up and go on lots of rides. Liberty went on a lot of kiddie rides and said it was a great birthday. Eliza had a great time too and even tried the "Tower of Terror" I went with her for her first time. She was very nervous and I was so worried about her the whole time it did not seem that enjoyable to me. She did decide to go again with Rob, which I was really surprised she did.
Just before dinner Nate's family had to go. We stayed a few more hours but didn't get too many more rides in. We did go on the Ferris Wheel and thinking it was going to be a low key ride, tried feeding Mazie. Holy Cow it was scary. The cage you sit in starts sliding and swinging when you hit a certain point. It was freaking Mazie and me out. We also revisited this ride that simulates paragliding over California with different smells and stuff. It is awesome, but makes Eliza a little motion sick, but the second time she said it was better.
It was a great time and I loved being with my family!

Mazie at 8 months

2011-01-18T20:55:00.002-08:00

Mazie is turning into a little person now instead of a newborn. She sits up by herself now. She is eating solids. She has tried rice cereal, bananas, peas babyfood, peach babyfood, sweet potatoes baby food, Gerbers disolving stars, rice crackers for babies, cheerios from daddy (that she choked on), crackers from daddy (that she choked on), whip cream from daddy, pudding from daddy, and he even let her suck on some fries (he didn't want her to feel left out at McDonalds). I must admit I let her try frozen yoghurt though at about 5 months. She just looked liked she wanted it so bad. She is definitely not our first child; getting a little more 'lax with number 3.

One thing that makes Mazie seem so old is that she is babbling a lot now and it sound like a conversation. She has the tones correctly but no words. Sometimes in the car I'll think Libby is talking to me for a minute and look back and it will just be Mazie. She says dadadada a lot but just making the sound, not connecting it with dad.

She also definitely knows who mom is now and what mom does (pick her up all the time). If she is on the ground or in her saucer, she will see me walk by and start crying. But if she doesn't see me she is totally content. I think she is even starting to have attachment issues. I handed her to a friend today and she started crying, and staring at me. It was pretty cute the other day though when she was on the changing table and crying she even reached her arms out for me. Usually she just cries and gives me that look, but the arms reaching out made it so much sadder.

She continues to be in the move, she rolls all over the place to get where she wants to be. I think there might even be a few sneaky army crawls involved but I have yet to really catch her in the act.
She is quite the smiler still. I love when she laughs. She is very ticklish by her collar bone. Her new favorite thing is to always have that tongue hanging out, just a bit, and especially when she is happy and smiling.
She brings me so much happiness and continues to be a super mellow baby. My friend Michelle and all the mom's at Eliza's school are always saying she is just the best baby they have ever met, never crying, always content, and it is true she really is such a good baby.

(Libby was playing doctor and Mazie was the patient. That is why she has a fake bandaid on her wrist.)

Mazie at 7 months

2011-01-18T20:55:00.001-08:00

I am so horrible this is really the only pictures I have of Mazie at this age. She is getting so cute though. Her hair is now starting to come in. Just like the other girls, a bunch of it fell out around I think 4 months and now it is starting to grow in a little thicker. However, her hair has a mind of its own. It always sticks strait up on top. I will comb it down after a bath and it is sticking strait up as soon as it dries. Almost static electricity looking. I'm not sure these pictures are showing it off the best, but trust me. It is pretty funny. Even a lady at airport security said to me, "I can tell she is going to be a stubborn one" and I think I looked at her a little confused and she said, "well it looks like her hair is pretty stubborn and goes where it wants too, I am sure her personality will follow." I laughed and was surprised that someone else had noticed too.

She has been doing the most adorable thing lately. She loves to give kisses. Rob used to hold her and have her facing him and ask for kisses by making kissing sounds. She would usually give a kiss by holding her mouth open and leaning in. But now when she is sitting on your lap facing outward, she will lean back and look up to see who is holding her and then try to give a kiss. It is really adorable.

Mazie at 6 months

2011-01-18T20:51:00.000-08:00

I once again have not been good at taking pictures. This is about when she is 6 months. We got this Bumbo from Nicole and she really likes it. She is always chewing on something so I think her teeth are going to start coming through but they don't. We finally gave her solid food. Eliza has been begging me to do so for so long. I think because she is excited to help feed Mazie. So her and Libby helped me pick out some baby food. They picked peaches and peas and we bought some Rice cereal. I tried the rice cereal and was amazed at how well she ate it. On Liberty and Eliza's first feeding the pretty much just spit it all out it seemed, but Mazie did great eating it. She gobbled it right up and I thought actually got quite a bit of it down into her tummy. We have video of it that I hope to add to the blog later. We tried peas and bananas too and she like them as well.
On her 6 month appointment (which was a little late, was actually on Dec. 8th) her height was 27 inches, 17lb 12oz, and her head circumference was 45. I don't remember the percentiles, but she continues to be quite tall.
I put this picture in because can you believe the boogers on this girl? I'm not sure if you can see it but it is like booger glue closing off both these nostrils. She woke up in the morning this way. Poor girl. I swear she has had about a million colds since we moved to California. I would be worried in was allergies or something but each cold seems like it goes through a cycle. She gets stuffy, then a nasty cough, then chest congestion, then finally gets over it just for a new cold to start. I have asked the doctor about it a few times but he thinks it is just fine. Seems strange to me though. I thought Eliza would be sick often with going to school but she has probably been the healthiest.
Luckily, Mazie usually continues to be pretty happy. Her grumpy is like a normal baby's happy. So it hasn't been bad for me, I just feel bad for her and that poor little nose.

Libby is juicing

2011-01-16T09:26:00.003-08:00

Mazie at 5 months

2010-11-08T20:24:00.000-08:00

These pics were taken a little before she was 5 months (about a week earlier) but I am running out of time and soon she will be 6 months, so I just decided to go with it.

Mazie is all smiles these days. If you are close to her face and smiling she always answers back with a big smile and wriggles her little body in excitement.

The most exciting thing is that she now rolls over. She rolls all the time from her back to her stomach, but I have only seen her roll from her stomach to her back like once. So she often gets stuck on her stomach and then starts to cry. She also spits up all over because she is pushing on her full little tummy. It is a little frustrating but I remember Liberty doing the same thing. This is my favorite stage though because they are so responsive but not too mobile that they are getting into everything. I will enjoy it while it lasts.

She is also drooling a lot. She has found her hands and loves to suck on them. She now will take a binky, but only try to give it to her to fall asleep. And I am even hesitant about that since Eliza never took one and Libby did and she now sucks her thumb. Hmm what to do?

This is another of my favorite things she does. She will suck on her tongue. It always looks like she had something in her mouth and in fact made Rob and my mom nervous on two seperate occasions.
She sure brings me happiness. I am so glad that I have to take time out to feed her. During a busy day it makes me sit down and enjoy her. It seems so busy right now that otherwise I'm not sure I would make time just to sit and hold her and rock her. Her smile always makes me happy and when the other two are testing my patience, she always makes me feel better. I'm sure her turn will come too but I am enjoying this stage quite a bit right now. What a blessing you are in our family Mazie.

Mazie at 4 months

2010-10-08T22:24:00.001-07:00

Mazie is now 4 months (pics taken at 4 months). Her smile just melts your heart and can turn any bad day into a good one. I love going to get her in the morning and she is just so excited. When you pick her up she just flexes and squirms her body with excitement. She is rolling over onto her tummy, but can't quite get her arm out from under her and stays stuck on her tummy laying on her arm, so I'm not sure if it is official yet. It's pretty funny because when she does it we all get close to her on the ground and cheer her one and (if you can imagine) Liberty like to get really close and yell really loud that it often starts scaring Mazie. Often Liberty just can't take it any longer and helps her roll over. We try to explain that we want her to do it herself but it just doesn't make sense to a 2 year old.

Love that smile

She is starting to lose her hair but still so beautiful.

It was just killing Liberty to have all the pictures taken of Mazie and not her. She even had to bring her baby to the photo shoot.

Mazie is growing more and more and already the 3-6 month clothes are getting too small. However it doesn't seem to be in chubbyness just in heighth. Yes, we too are confused how this could possibly be happening with us as parents. I can't find my papers but she was like 98% in heighth and about 60% in weight. I don't think she will be living up the Liberty's legacy of rolls.I love you Mazie!

Liberty Chipmunk

2010-09-22T21:58:00.000-07:00

Does anyone else think that the artists of Alvin and the Chipmunks 2 might have had Liberty in mind when they created the Chippette in green? We think they look exactly alike.
I am happy to report that Liberty is doing better these days. Still testing my patience and continuing to lock me out, but I learned an important lesson that Liberty might always act like she doesn't care when getting punished but deep down she does. After only one day of having diapers she decided she wanted her panties back. I told her she had to go a whole day without wetting her diaper. She conquered the goal and was back in panties the next day. I love you Liberty.

Eliza's 5th birthday

2010-09-12T21:38:00.000-07:00

Eliza turned 5 this last thursday. We had a birthday party for her a few weeks ago while we were still in SLC so she could invite all of her friends and cousins there. It was a fun water party. Nate and Desiree let us borrow their blow up water slide, thank goodness, and it was a hit. Also each child got their own squirt bottle. We had pizza, cake, a pinata, and at the end opened presents which Eliza got way too many. It was a fun day.
Then on her actual birthday she woke up and opened her one and only present from us. It was a pillow pet. She has been wanting this for like the past 5 months, so she was very excited! Libby was a also excited until she found out that she didn't get one and then tried to still it from Eliza. Eliza was very nice about it and did let her hold it for a little while but apparantly not long enough for Libby. Eliza and the pillow pet have pretty much been inseperable. She has to bring it in the car to school and it has to be there on the way home from school. Although she does let Libby play with it when she is gone at school. She got a birthday crown and a new book at school from her teacher. Then that evening we went out to eat at Mimi's Cafe and they sang happy birthday to her. Then we went to the Jungle. It is a place here that has a huge indoor playground and video games. It reminds me of a smaller version of Boondocks back home. She loved it and I think had a great day. Thanks to all those who called and sent cards. It made it a special day for her.
I love you Eliza. You are such a caring person. Almost always willing to share with Libby and help her out with what she needs. You are a great helper to me with the baby. I love lately watching you act out little plays that you put together. You definitely have a natural talent for theater and sometime remind me of your cousin Hannah because of this. You are fun to be around and I defintely consider you one of my best friends. Happy Birthday. You are so old!

Terrible Twos

2010-09-12T21:19:00.000-07:00

Does anyone else ever feel like their 2 year old is punishing them. Oh wow. Well Libby has been experiencing terrible twos like no other this last week. I think it might be due to the move but whatever it is I hope it gets back to normal soon.
She has now returned to diapers. The first weekend we got here she got what seemed to be a UTI. But then it got better. But since then she has been having all kinds of accidents. I thought at first due to the UTI but then this week. She had an accident and just laughed about it. When I asked her why she went on the floor she says, "because she wanted to." Oh my. She is so defient. After peeing on the floor every day for the last week I decided she had to return to diapers. I took away all her panties thinking this would make her want to go on the potty but instead she started helping me pack them up with delight. Don't you just hate it when your genius plan backfires. I feel like that always happens with her. I felt like I just gave her what she wanted it, but I had already said that was what I was going to do.
She has also figured out how to lock the door (the car door, the bedroom door, and the house door). How fortunite for me that all the bedrooms and bathrooms in this house have locks ;) She will run in the room/car and lock the door and start giggling with delight. In the car as soon as I power unlock it she hurries and slams down the lock. (As I am writing this down it does sound a little funny, but at the time it sure doesn't.) The thing that is so different from Eliza is that no punishment phases her. She just laughs as she is being punished as if she is saying, "Yeah right mom, like I care."
Phew. Now that I am done ranting and raving, I must admit I do love that little rascal and she can also be so loving. She always wants to snuggle and always has a smile to brighten the day...even when she's in trouble. I love you Libs.

The Beach

2010-09-12T16:28:00.000-07:00

We prioritized and decided it was more important to go to the beach then unpack. Ha Ha. So off we went last Saturday. The girls had the time of their lives. They played for hours in the sand. Libby loved running toward the water and then running away all scared screaming. Eliza loved digging in the dirt and building castles (unfortunately Liberty liked destroying them). Rob spent some of his time (it felt like forever to me) finding a "sweet deal" on a surfboard and wet suit. We are official owners now. When he finally got back, him and the girls went looking for seashells. They found some amazing ones. They found a whole sand dollar. It is awesome! Mazie, however, was not enjoying her stay at the beach quite as much. She cried almost the entire time. I'm not sure if it was the wind or her cold that was bothering her but it was quite exhausting for me and I hope the next beach experience to be a little more relaxing. If not, the surfboard/wet suit "sweet deal" might have been a bad investment. ;)

California. We have arrived!

2010-09-04T17:35:00.000-07:00

Ok I need to do some catching up of the summer and I will do a post of that later. But I wanted to do the latest news before it gets too late. We moved to Campbell, CA last Saturday. This is in the bay area near San Jose and for those who don't know anything about CA that is about an hour from San Francisco. We are sad to leave family and friends but are trying to focus on the good things about coming here. #1Rob gets to go to work and work in the same office with co-workers. #2 The fresh fruit in the back yard. We have 4 mature fruit trees in our back yard and it has been awesome. There's a orange tree (Funny story, we thought it was a lime tree and picked one and split it open and the fruit inside did not taste like limes. We were confused. So we went back out and up at the top there was orange fruit. A ha.), lime tree, grapefruit tree, pear tree (boy do they make a mess on the patio, it is Eliza's job to clean up the fruit every day, she is a little scared of the bees and I am scared of the cockroaches), and parsiman tree (I know nothing about this fruit, including the spelling). It has been delicious eating the pears and making juice with the citruses. #3 The nice weather (but I must admit it has been a little warm this week without a/c) #4 The beach. Can't wait to go.
We hope all who can will visit. Mom came out to visit this week and wow am I glad, especially with Eliza starting Kindergarten. She was a life saver with getting unpacked too.

(Eliza at first day of Kindergarten)

We will keep you all posted on the CA living. Like Rob likes to tell the girls "They wish they all could be California girls!" Who sings that song? I think the Beach boys.

Mazie at 3 months

2010-09-04T17:04:00.000-07:00

She continues to grow bigger and bigger. It started in her face and then to her tummy and now the legs are getting the cottage cheese rolls. We'll see if she surpasses her sister Liberty Michilen Man.She is now on the move. We had set her on the floor asleep. Then later when I came back she had scooted herself all the way over by the baby car seat. Also one time I laid her on a blanket on the floor in the living room and she would wake up a little and fuss and move and kept doing this until she had done a 360. Her head in the same place with those little feet just a pushin.

Mazie at 2 months

2010-09-04T16:54:00.000-07:00

Mazie is now smiling at us and acts like she can actually see us and doesn't just have gas. It just makes your heart melt.

She is so funny though because sometimes she will start screaming bloody murder and I'll think Liberty is hurting her or something. But when I run in it is that she is pulling her own hair. The more it hurts the harder she pulls because she is tensing up her muscles. Then when I try to pull her hand away it just makes it worst because she clenches tighter. It is pretty silly. I now find it best to just let her work it out. Crazy Mazie.

Mazie's Blessing Day

2010-07-17T08:33:00.000-07:00

It was a really great day. I started out feeling a little anxious because I felt there was so much to get done with having family come after church to eat. But after about an hour of this I prayed that I could feel calm and focus on the most important part--Mazie's blessing. After that I felt very calm and was able to really enjoy such a special day.

Aunt Peggy made Mazie's beautiful blessing dress. I wanted her to be able to have this from Aunt Peggy because I think it is a special dress for a girl to have and wanted it to be from someone special. Sewing is such a great talent that Aunt Peggy has.

Rob blessed Mazie and the spirit was very strong. I am so grateful to have the gospel in our lives to help guide us, especially on how to raise our children.
After the blessing we had great food. (Thanks to all of you who helped!) My mom joked that it is kind of cruel to have dinner at the new mothers house. I lauged and thought that was pretty funny. Luckily everyone was so willing to help out that it was easy! A special thanks to my mom who saved me a few days before when i was feeling so stressed. My land-lord had called early in the morning and said that I needed to show the house and cleaning is hard to keep up with a new-born. So to have it super-duper clean seemed a little daunting. She saved the day and helped me deep clean the house. Thanks so much mom! I'm lucky to have you. (Sorry for the tangent, back to the blessing day!)

Dear friends from Provo, Patti and Pablo Hernandez came to the blessing. They sadly missed an exit and arrived just a few minutes too late for the blessing. I felt bad that they had missed it but thought it was super sweet they would drive to far to come to the blessing.

Liberty loved the new drinking pitcher. Later in the evening she, Taiton, and Drew would be found mixing root beer and lemon water and making a big mess by the back door. :) Those rascals. They were having the time of their lives.

These 3 girls were playing hard in the back room and soon Kate would join them for some dress up (Kate would be Snow White of course).
After the stomachs had settled, Rob and Miller started an intense tournament of Bad mitten (or "good" mitten as Rob liked to call it). It was fun because most everyone got involved. The Stevenson girls lived up to their reputation. Thank goodness we have recruited Chelsea who held her own.

Happy by standers waiting their turn.

The winners of the tournament were Rob and Miller. Hmm...fishy.

It was a great day and I am so grateful to have such supportive family and a husband with the priesthood.

Mazie at 1 month

2010-07-17T07:58:00.001-07:00

She is already plumping up quite nicely! The chubbiness has begun.

She goes cross-eyed a lot and I think it is so funny. You can tell she is just trying so hard to focus in on my face when I am talking to her and then those eyes start going crossed and finally she can't take it anymore and they uncross. It always makes me laugh.

I sure love having her around. She is a really good baby (like all my kids have been). She really only cries when she is hungry (sometimes around 9 pm she gets a little fussy but that's it). She slept through the night from 11 pm to 6 am already and she usually sleeps a good 6 hour chunk but it just depends when she goes down to bed whether I will be waking up in the middle of the night. I already have such a bond to her (I think because I have felt so good and have really been able to enjoy her rather than feeling so delirious and tired.) I feel really lucky how easy having number 3 has been. I love being a mother!

Mazie at 2 weeks

2010-07-16T16:20:00.000-07:00

She is so adorable!

Thanks Chelsea for taking the photos!

Mazie's cute pics

2010-06-14T17:48:00.000-07:00

If any of you are interested in viewing some super cute photos of Mazie at the hospital. Go to www.bellababyphotography.com and login with 0526maziemcmillen. They will be up for two more weeks. Enjoy!

Bilibed

2010-06-06T11:56:00.000-07:00

Unbelievable...I feel like this little girl is the shining example of health, but as we left the hospital they said her bilirubin levels were high and they wanted to have her tested the next day. So after driving to the hospital 4 days in a row to have her little heel poked and the levels not going down, they decided she needed a bilibed. I was really surprised that this was the case since my milk had come in the day I got home from the hospital, she was eating great, and pooping like crazy. I felt like my other girls were much more jaundiced, especially Eliza, but I guess the tests don't lie. So we ordered a bilibed and biliblanket.
It was very conveniently delivered to my house (I'm grateful for that). And the other bit of good news was that she loved her little tanning bed! She slept like a log (I was going to say "baby" instead of "log" but she is a baby...funny) on it. We got her tested 2 more times and it looked like the bed was helping. So she got to get off the bed. One last heel prick on Thursday showed that her levels had gone up just a little but they thought that she was on her way to getting better. Mazie has been missing her tanning bed but I am happy that I can put cute girl clothes on her now instead of just a diaper.

Time to go home!

2010-06-06T11:25:00.000-07:00

Bundled at the hospital...

Mazie in her "take home clothes"...

They always look so ridiculously small in their car seats for the first time...

Libby and Daddy made us a welcome home sign (you can kind of see it in the background by the mailbox), Eliza made me a card, and Daddy got me flowers.

It felt really nice to be home. Rob had even cleaned the house up real nice.

The girls just can't get enough of little Mazie. They have been really soft with her and really good helpers. There has been a little bit of change in their behavior (I think they miss the amount of mommy time they used to have) but I am happy that it hasn't been towards Mazie at all. So far so good!

She Finally Arrived!!!

2010-06-03T20:55:00.000-07:00

Mazie Celeste McMillen
Wednesday, May 26 2010 2:57 pm
9 lb 6 oz
22 inches (Yes we have no idea how 2 midgets produced such a tall baby)

The day of her birth:
So I went in for my doctors appointment that morning around 10:00. My doctor had mentioned the week before that he might be willing to start me so I was really hoping he would do it that day and with that hope Rob came to the appointment with me. During the appointment the doctor said that he was so surprised I hadn't gone into labor and that my "cervix was very favorable". Rob and I thought that was funny. Then at the end the doctor said, "Well we can set up an appointment to have you started for tomorrow or Friday." My heart sunk. I really wanted to get this baby out that day. Fortunately Rob spoke up (at the time I was a little embarrased but now am so relieved he did). He said, "Well from previous conversations we were under the impression that we might be able to do it today." The doctor said, "Well usually you can't get in the same day but I will call down and see if we can." Fortunately, they were not busy and I was able to go down. We stopped and got a snack. Rob apparently was hungrier than he thought because I had finished my snack by the time he arrived with a big plate of breakfast (eggs, hashbrowns, toast, etc.). We laughed and I told him I would meet him downstairs and went down stairs to check in. Rob met me soon after and then we went into the labor and delivery room and they started me on potosin around 11:30. About 12:30 I started feeling contractions and then stood up to go the bathroom. Just a few minutes later I started feeling really hard contractions. It was funny because a few minutes earlier I had just told the nurse I didn't want an epidural yet and then suddenly I had changed my mind. I told her to send him in asap. The contractions hurt worse than any contractions I have felt in the past. On my other 2 the contractions were painful but most of all I just couldn't handle them because they had been going on for so long. These were so much more intense but easier to handle because I had only been having them for a short time. The anesthesiologist came in within the next 5 minutes (luckily)! After the epidural I felt so much better but was still having contractions painful enough that I had to breath through them. My doctor came in and checked me and I was at a 6. But since I was still feeling the contractions pretty strong the anesthesiologist gave me another dose. Finally I was feeling so much better. It was the perfect feeling, I could still feel the contractions but they weren't painful. (With Liberty I felt too numb.) Around 2:00 the nurse checked me and said I was a 10 with a lip (whatever that means). She came back a little while later and said that I was completely ready and got the room prepped. The room was ready and the nurses were standing by and the intern, we were just waiting for the doctor. The intern mentioned to us that some doctors let the husbands help deliver the babies. We thought this sounded like a great idea so when Dr. Lloyd arrived Rob asked and he was happy to have him help. Rob put gloves and a gown on and sat in position to catch the baby. I pushed 4 times and the baby was out at 2:57 pm. (Holy cow what a fast and easy delivery!) Rob cut the embilical chord, she was coughing a bit and not crying very hard. It was making me nervouse. I kept asking if she was OK and they kept reassuring me that she was. They let me see her for a minute and then they took her over to check her out. My mom had walked in right around now. (I had told her she could come to the delivery but it happened all a little too fast.) I was glad she at least made it for this part and she seemed happy taking pictures of the new baby. When the scale said 9lb 6 oz I was so surprised because she didn't look that chubby. I remember Libby looking chubbier but Mazie was 22 inches long so maybe that chub got spread out a bit compared to Libby. I was also relieved because I was afraid that maybe I was being crazy by getting started rather than having nature run its course. But a 9 lb 6 oz baby made me feel justified. She was fully baked. And I also felt justified for feeling so miserably large. After checking her out and cleaning her up a little they brought her over and let me and her have skin to skin contact. I got to hold her for a really long time. Rob, my mom, and my dad got to hold her too. She still had the vernix on her, but still seemed so beautiful to me. (She did smell a little stinky though with that vernix still on her.) She has Rob's recessed chin but then a little knob on the end that makes it protrude a little. I thought maybe she had a bigger mouth than the other two but now it is small and peirced like Eliza and Libby's when they were a baby. She (like all my babies) has a round chubby face with black fuzzy hair.
I heald her for a long time. I was surprised that she was still awake and that she hadn't gone to sleep. Usually newborns are so sleepy it is hard to keep them awake. I decided to try to feed her and wow that girl knows how to suck. I couldn't believe how great she did at latching on and sucking. I did both sides for quite a while and she just kept sucking. It was starting to hurt too much that I just had to take her off. (Quite different from my breast feeding experience with Eliza.) During this time Rob called the girls to tell them. He got a little emotional doing this because he said he just loves our family so much. The girls were so excited!

Finally the nurses came in and tranferred me up to the recovery floor. Mom, Dad, and Rob stayed. We ate dinner and then visitors started coming. Dave and Jenn stopped by. (Then she finally got a bath and then you could see the bruising on her nose and around her mouth, it made her look like she couldn't breath. It was sad. The nurses said it just probably happened during birth because she came out so fast.) Then Sarah came and had picked up a birthday cake for us. Adam and Chelsea had kindly babysat the kids all day for us and brought the kids to the hospital with them. We continued the tradition of having a birthday party at the hospital and broke out the birthday cake. The kids were so excited to see the new baby! Libby touched her face so gently and Eliza wanted to hold her. Libby climbed into bed with me and wanted to snuggle and kept saying, "I missed you mommy!" It was really sweet. Then everyone decided to leave. It seemed kinda lonely to go from a full house to nobody but that feeling didn't last for long. I was really tired and needed to sleep. It had been a great day! I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father that he would bless me with such an easy delivery with no complications and such a healthy baby. I feel so blessed to be able to be a mother!

Still waiting for the baby

2010-05-24T21:44:00.001-07:00

I want to preface this post that I am not writing this and the last couple of posts for everyone else but for me, since this is my journal. I want to remember these details. Every night Liberty asks that for her bedtime story that we tell her about when she was "borney". It's interesting to hear Rob tell it because there are a few details that we think differently. Hopefully this way we can be more accurate.
So on Saturday morning I thought that my water had broken, but it was just my mucus plug. However since that I kept wondering if maybe I was slowly leaking. Finally Sunday during church I really felt like I was leaking so I went to the hospital to get checked. After answering a million questions they finally checked and said that they didn't think my water was broken. They said that sometimes after the mucus plug comes out that watery fluids can continue from the mucus plug. Or maybe they just wanted to make me feel better since perhaps the reality was that I was just peeing my pants. I swear I have that under control though. While there though I was having contractions every 3 minutes, but I only felt one of them. (So weird.) I am now dilated to a 3 + and 70% effaced. Not really much of a change. Then on the way out I thanked the nurse and said, "Well maybe I'll see you later this week." And she said, "Or maybe tonight." Why do they taunt me like that? I swear my body is ready to have this baby but she just doesn't want to come out.
So I have an appointment on Wednesday morning and my doctor mentioned that he might start me on potosin that afternoon if I hadn't had the baby and I am pretty sure I won't have the baby by then. I actually (which I should be grateful for) feel better than I did last week. My legs feel unconnected to my body because my hips are so loose, and reflux is the constant complaint. But I don't feel like last week where I was having strong contractions and felt like the baby was going to fall out because it was so low. So I am trying to be grateful. I went and visited Amy today and took her kids to McDonalds. It was so amazing to see their new little baby. It got me very excited! But it also was a reality check about all the things that happen after delivery. I forgot about the cramping while your uterus is contracting and worrying about jaundice and how bad it hurts just to stand and do the day to day things. She was amazing and totally with it. I am delirious at this point. I don't know how she is doing it. Anyways, so I am trying to be glad that I am just uncomfortable, not in pain right now.

My doctor's appointment

2010-05-20T14:09:00.000-07:00

I wanted to write down what happened today at my doctor's appointment because I wish I had done better at documenting this stuff with the other two kids.
I was dilated to a 3 and 70% effaced. (Last week I was at a 2-3 and 60-70% efffaced so not that much progress has been made.) But the doctor asked me if I wanted my membranes stripped and I said yes.
I have been just so uncomfortable these last couple weeks. I can't sleep good. I'm so tired but it is too uncomfortable to lay down. I get really bad reflux and it wakes me up and I feel like I'm going to throw up. Last night was not as bad but Eliza for some reason woke up at 4 am. The night before that I woke up at 4 and was having contractions so decided to get up and clean to see if they went away. They kept on strong until 6 and then died off. The night before that I was up from 1-3 cleaning because I was so uncomfortable. So I feel like I am sleeping like I have a newborn.
My doctor also asked if I wanted to be started on potosin friday if stripping my membranes didn't work. I decided not to, even though I am so desperate. I usually want to let the baby come when it is ready, but I think if it is not here by Wednesday I will get started.
Also wanted to put down how much I have gained on this pregnancy. I started at 120 lb and have now reached a grand total of 167 lb. I think I only gained 30 lb on Liberty but on Eliza I gained about 60 lbs. I can only imagine if I hadn't gone 2 weeks early with Eliza how big and miserable I would have been. Hopefully tonight is the night!
My friend Amy Teemant just got started on potosin today so it is exciting to talk with each other when we are experiencing such similar things. She is such a kind friend.

Baby #3 Details

2010-05-17T02:03:00.000-07:00

So it's 3 in the morning and I am just too uncomfortable to sleep so I thought I'd write about this pregnancy with baby #3. I keep trying to think back when I was pregnant with Eliza and Liberty and I just can't remember anything, so I wanted to write down a few things about this pregnancy. I feel uncomfortably large. I think I started feeling this way a little too soon. I feel like I have been ready to have this baby since about a month ago. I kept thinking, I can't get any bigger and then I do. I have reached the peak of uncomfortable largeness. My hips ache a lot. I think that is my biggest complaint. My feet and hands have started to swell a little but nothing like my pregnancy with Eliza. I wish (like I always do) that I had exercised more and eaten healthier but it really is a vicious cycle. By the time I feel good enough to exercise (no more nausia) I start feeling large and off balance, but this is a reminder for next time...You are not that big, start exercising!
Fortunately I think the end is in sight. My due date is not until June 2nd (according to ultra-sound) or May 28th (original due date) but I the doctor told my at my last visit (last Wednesday) that he wouldn't be surprised if I didn't make it to my next appointment. I am dialated to a 3 and 60-70% effaced. I was so excited to hear this news because I am so hoping to go early. However, until tonight I really haven't had any contractions. So I am starting to lose hope. Even tonight it's not really contractions, just mostly uncomfortable.
I feel ready but no ready to have this baby. I suddenly realize that I feel like I have forgotten everything about having a newborn and the birth. With the 3rd baby you just go in feeling like you are a pro. So I haven't done any reading or things like that and now I am thinking do I really know what the heck I am doing? It's been a while. Hopefully it's like riding a bike and it will all come back. Hope she arrives this week. I think I prefer the sleepless nights while holding the baby rather than not being able to roll over in the bed because my stomachs too big. (Might regret ever saying that sentence in a couple of weeks.)

Family Vacation 2010

2010-04-04T21:15:00.000-07:00

I think it is very important that our family take a trip every year with just our little family. Whether it be a small trip or big trip. (I think it builds lots of good memories and I think it is important to do it with just our small family so that Rob and I can really focus on the kids and not be distracted.) This year we were very fortunate to take a big trip to California.

We decided to drive when we found out that Rob's family was taking a trip to Las Vegas just before out trip to CA. I was a little nervous about the drive with kids and being to pregnant but it went actually really good. Thank goodness for modern day technology (we used the laptop to watch many movies and it worked better than ever because Rob figured out how to hook up the sound so that it ran through the car's stereo system and the kids could actually hear).

Las Vegas was lots of fun! We were so lucky the weather was perfect. The high 70's the whole time we were there. We went swimming everyday, sometimes twice a day. Eliza was so excited about having a swimming pool at the hotel and being able to swim. She told me before we left, "Every morning I am going to go swimming." And sure enough the first morning we got there she wanted to go swimming. Unfortunately the kids woke up at 6 am that morning. She wanted to go swimming right then. I could only hold her off until 9:00 am and it was a bit of a chilly dip that morning. They didn't last very long. But the days to come it was very warm and we swam in the later morning or afternoon. Rob unfortunately had to work most of the time, but would come hang out at night and go to dinner with us. We went to a buffet (of course, its LV) and Lucey's (Ted's favorite BBQ place), and tried Phu. (Rob's all the rave right now about this Vietnamese noodle dish. Everytime we talk about going out he want to go to a Phu restaurant. He is such a funny guy, so extremem. Don't get me wrong it is good but it is all the man can talk about.) It was a good time in LV. Eliza said it best though when she was telling Sarah about Las Vegas, "But you know what made Las Vegas so fun? My Grandma and Grandpa Coco where there too."
After three days in Vegas we drove on to CA. We arrived late Wed. night. Liberty had gotten sick on day one of the trip (Monday) with a cold. She was seeming a little miserable in Las Vegas. She had a fever and whenever the tylenol and ibuprofen wore off she got really tired and grumpy. Poor girl. This night she was especially sad and miserable. It was the worst she had been. I had tried up to this point to have a positive attitude and not let it worry me to much but it had seemed to have been so long and she seemed to be getting worse that I was starting to get stressed out and down. Fortunately for me, I have pediatrician brothers. I got a hold of David and told him about Libby, he told me usually with a virus the 3rd day is the worse and then the next day you will see improvements. This was a good to hear. We post-poned Disneyland for Friday and decided to do Sea-World the next day, Thursday. (I hoped that Sea-World would be more watching and less crazy for her. Plus, I just couldn't take her to a the "Happiest Place on Earth" feeling so miserable.)

Sea World was lots of fun (but I must admit I feel it is overpriced). I think Eliza's favorite part was getting her face painted. We watched a sea lion show, but we loved the killer whale show. The anticipation of whether we would get wet or not, just adds to the excitement. Eliza was so nervous she was going to get wet.
The next day we headed off to Disneyland and thankfully our plan had worked and Liberty was feeling much better. Not 100% but her fever broke by late morning and she seemed to be enjoying herself much more and not sleeping in the stroller so much. Disneyland I thought was amazing. The people are so nice there, even people on the clean up crew are nice. Liberty spilled osme cough syrup on the ground right in front of a guy cleanning the sidewalk and he just smiled and cleaned it up. We started by watching a parade, while Rob went and got fast passes, then we went on a few kiddie rides. We ate lunch mid day. Rob and Eliza got a Turkey leg. It was so funny to watch them eat this huge leg. It was like watching a cartoon as they knawed on this hunk of meat. Liberty fell asleep in the stroller so Rob and Eliza went crazy and went all over the park trying out all kinds of rides. This is when I love having a Rob as a husband. He loves to plan and make things fun and his energy level is like the energizer bunny. When I saw other parents looking exhausted and yelling at their whining kids, I'd look over and see Rob with a big smile, planning with Eliza the next ride they were going to go on. Eliza went on lots of big kid rides. Rob even convinced her to go on "Splash Mountain". She was so funny, she kept saying, "I don't want to get wet." Who cares about scary fast roller coaster (she had already been on thunder mountain twice), the girl just doesn't want to get wet. Well I think she had the scare of her life when she went down the last big hill. We bought the photo they take because her face of horror was just way to funny. Not just a little scared people, a face of serious terror.

After Liberty woke up, we went on some more kid rides. Liberty loved it. She especially loved the ones that you get to look around at things i.e. the Winnie Pooh ride and Small World. We also stopped in at a toy store (Liberty and Eliza had been saving their money for the last 3 months to buy a toy at disneyland. They get a penny every morning if they stay in their bed until morning. This is all Eliza could talk about on the ride to CA. She said to me, "What are we going to do with all of our toys in our room?" I was a little confused with what she was talking about but after talking more it came out that because she had saved (what she thought) was so much money she was going to be buy lots and lots of toys. I didn't want to make her feel bad and tell her that really all that hard work of saving pennies wouldn't even be enough to buy one toy, so we explained that the toys at Disneyland are really expensive so she would probably only be able to one and that mom and dad might even have to help pay a little to get the toy she wanted. She took the news well. After much searching she finally decided to buy a stuffed baby Simba lion that she calls "Tarzan". Her and Rob counted out all of her money at the desk with the very patient teller. It is amazing how when you work to earn something yourself you treat it so differently. That stuffed toy is admired more than any other toy she has and she was so concerned when it got a little tear and reminded me again and again to sew it up until the job was done.

After the big purchase, we watched another Disney parade. They are so much fun to watch and the girls even got to go dance with the characters. We did a few more rides and then Liberty fell asleep again. I was completely exhausted. I kept thinking I as going to have my baby because my stomach muscles hurt so bad. I really wanted to see the firework show though so I told Eliza and Rob to go on some more rides and I would save us a seat. They arrived just in time and we watched an awesome firework show (totally worth the wait). A real person dressed as Tinker Bell whizzed back and forth over the castle during the show which I thought looked so scary to do but was a pretty cool effect. We left the park satisfied and exhausted.
The last day in CA we went to the beach. We parked by a farmer's market so stopped in to grab some food. We bought delicious fresh raspberries and some homemade tamales. They had some corn and cheese tamales that were the best thing I have ever had. It had fresh pieces of corn mixed into the cornmeal tamale mixture. It was so good. It reminded me of cachapas from Venezuala. I hope to find someone again who makes this kind of tamale. Then we headed to the beach. Liberty of course fell asleep again on the walk there. We set up camp right next to the basketball courts so that Rob could do his favorite thing, play basketball right at the edge of the beach. Eliza played for hours in the sand and made some friends while Rob played so it was actually really relaxing. Soon Libby woke up though and it became a little less relaxing so Rob went to grab a boogie board and came back to help with the kids. He and the girls built a sand castle, collected shells, chased the waves, and boogie boarded (Libby got a face full of water on the first try and was pretty mad at Rob and did not want to try again). It was a perfect day! We left around 6:00 and went and ate at a nearby restaurant where Rob we watched the first part of the BYU basketball game.
Then started on our way back to Las Vegas.
We ate breakfast at the Starley's and went to church with them then started again on our way back to Salt Lake City. The girls slept a good part of the way which I was surprised since it was so early but I think they were just exhausted from the vacation. They finally wok up around 8 and the only place open at our pit stop was a Maverik gas station. We scrounged up all that sounded good and somewhat dinner worthy and ate at a table there in the gas station. It seemed really funny to me since it was completely unhealthy. Finally we arrived home and ah doesn't just feel good to be home. Even when you have been on vacation!

I passed the test!!!

2010-03-03T13:26:00.000-08:00

I am sooooo excited!!! The nurse called today and after playing phone tag she informed me that I had passed the glucose test. It is a miracle! (Quick flashback, I had gestational diabetes with Liberty and it was the most painful dieting of my life! Probably because my kind of a diet is just exercise more not cut back on carbs! I can't go without treats it is impossible for me.) I can't believe this news! On both Eliza and Libby I didn't pass the first glucose test, so I can't believe I passed it this time. I keep waiting for them to call me back and tell me that they have made a mistake. I really was just waiting to find out when I would make the appointment for the second (most nausiating) test. It is a miracle people! I feel like a free woman, I can eat all the treats I want now. Well that's how I felt at first but then I did tell myself that I should still try to eat healthy and exercise so I hope I can keep it under control so I am not too miserably big at the end (It might be too late though). But I think I will stick with my nightly treat of a few cookies with milk :)
They did inform me that I was anemic and that I had to get on iron pills asap but that is easy peasy compared to pricking myself and dieting. I can handle the iron pills anyday. Is everyone as excited as I am?!

Our first furniture purchase!

2010-01-29T08:01:00.000-08:00

Can you believe that our first piece of furniture that we have bought since we have been married is bunk beds?! Wow we have been blessed. We have been using hand-me downs from parents and grandparents and finding stuff on freecycle.com for the last 5 years. I feel really lucky that people have been so generous. With baby number 3 coming, Rob having a steady income, and the fact that we live in a small house we decided it was time to make the purchase.Bunkbeds...what more could a kid ask for? Seriously the girls love it! We have yet to put the mattresses on. But they love it none the less. (For playing of course, not sleeping yet.)
If my face seems to be lacking excitement in the pics it is due to the fact that Rob and I put it together all afternoon. Rob of course did most the work but it took out a lot of mental energy ;) Aren't I so ridiculous! I'm not a good pregnant lady.
Woo Hoo for bunk beds. I'll keep you updated about how Libby does moving into a big kid bed. She's pretty excited about it but hopefully not for the fact that she is going to be sneaking out of it all night long.

Breakfast in bed

2010-01-29T07:52:00.000-08:00

The other night we read a Berenstain Book where the kids brought the mom breakfast in bed. Eliza got in her mind that she was going to do this for me. The next morning when Rob had to rush off to work and she couldn't do this she got really sad, so I said, "How about you have breakfast in bed and you can do it for me another day." She was ecstatic about the idea and ran back to her bed. I was happy the solution was so easy since I wasn't expecting her to be so easily consoled. It ended up being a really fun event. She thought it was so great. (As you can tell by the picture.) Libby saw Eliza and decided she wanted it to. However she got bored of the idea quickly and wanted to get out of her "cage". Perhaps breakfast in bed in a crib feels a little too much like having food in jail.

It was a fun though and a good reminder that I need to loosen up sometimes. I'm always trying to avoid messes and ironically neither of them spilled at all except me. It started out the day in a good mood which continued through out the whole day. I hope to make more effort in the future to do small little fun things like this since it means so much to the kids.

"My mungee birday!"

2010-01-28T13:55:00.000-08:00

For the whole week before Libby's birthday she would say, "My mungee birday!" (Translation: My monkey birthday) This all started when I asked if she wanted a monkey or Elmo cake. She quickly replied, "Mungee!" She loves monkeys for some reason. (I think it began when she learned Monkeys jumping on the bed.) After that question if anything was mentioned about birthdays she would quickly say, "My mungee birday!" with excitement. So the day before I attempted a monkey birthday cake. It's ears got a little large which started making it look cowish but I thought it worked out pretty good for an amateur. Libby wasn't quite as excited as I thought she would be about the cake but she could at least tell it was a monkey.

We got ready to go play at Boondocks with Tyler and Maya Teemant.

I also told her that Drew was coming later that night all she could think about was "Babay Boo" so she kept looking out the window and saying, "Airwa" (Sarah) and "Boo". I kept telling her they weren't coming until that night but that just doesn't compute for a 2 year old. (Sadly she got a fever that evening and they couldn't come. Fortunately she has a short memory and didn't remember by then.)

We went and played at Boondocks and then decided that Ikea food sounded better than Boondocks so headed over there, ate and did a little shopping. After that we came home and Libby took a nap. When she woke up she had a little fever :(
She still was quite a trooper, just wanted a lot of snuggles.

When daddy got home we ate a Pizza dinner and then opened presents...

...blew out the candles..

...and then ate cake.

She's 2 people!

(Even though she needs a little help to show it.)
She was so excited when she finally got it!
We love you Libby!

"Go Daddy"

2010-01-28T13:41:00.000-08:00

E We love going to watch play all the different sports that he likes and it has been a while since we left BYU. So here we are enjoying it during church ball!

Eliza likes to cheer on her dad! "Go daddy!" And then when that gets boring she runs around with the kids.Libby does a little cheering but mostly just enjoys running around on the stage! Mommy likes coming to watch Rob play (as long as he doesn't get to intenso) and talking with the other moms. Family fun comes in all forms and we just love doing stuff together!

Our snowman family

2010-01-28T13:32:00.000-08:00

Rob and Eliza spent a few hours in the snow after a big snow storm a while back. They built the entire family in snowman form. Eliza also added some color to the snowmen with her pink water spray bottle. It was a fun time for Eliza and Daddy. And really relaxing for mommy!

They even put baby girl #3 in my tummy. (Thought the side view showed it better.)
The snowmen welcomed guests for about 4 weeks now. And finally the last bit of it melted and fell down. It lasted forever!

You just can't get enough of them...

2010-01-06T22:25:00.000-08:00

...That is girls of course. We are having another little girl on (supposedly) June 2.

This is the photo that supposedly solidified that it was a girl. Unless you are a radiologist you probably think this looks like an abstract painting but the tech did point it out and I will do my best to do it for you. Look at about the middle of the picture and you will see a dark moon shape, at the bottom of the moon shape there are two little white lines. That's the labia. The tech said she was 100% sure it was a girl. Sounds pretty sure to me.
I am so excited to get back out the cute little infant girl clothes. The always look so little. And the name game begins. Hope Rob and I will be able to find one we agree on quickly this time.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-06T22:20:00.001-08:00

(Does it get cuter than that?)

We brought 2010 in with a bang (kinda). We had some of our friends over (Buswells and Gunns), ate some food, threw a 9:00pm New Years celebration with the kids (Eliza loved the silly string), made a big mess, put the kids to bed, played some games, laughed a lot, celebrated midnight New Years and stayed up way to late. It was one of my most favorite New Years I've ever had!

Abby's birthday

2010-01-06T22:12:00.000-08:00

I can't ever keep it strait how old I am and then when it changes it just confuses me more. I can't wait for the year that I turn 30. That should be easy to remember.
It was a great birthday! Once again Rob treated me right. He and the girls made me breakfast in the morning (crepes - my favorite!). Then we went swimming at Fairmont pool where Sarah and Jenn surprised me that they came. We swam in the somewhat chilly water, Rob scared Eliza to death on the water slide, and we had cake and candles to end the awesome party! I felt like a kid again! It was awesome. Then we went home and I opened my present. Some new snowboarding boots. I think I am going to be a ten times better snowboarder now (and a warmer one). It was an awesome gift and the girls like pretending to snowboard with me.
Then the whole fam helped clean up the house. That night we had Hannah come over and went on a date to Koyo's restaurant. Rob let me know that he had also signed me up for a photography class that I wanted. I want to be able to take my kids pictures and have them look good. We'll see. It was a great birthday and definitely one to remember.

Merry Christmas

2010-01-06T21:39:00.001-08:00

The Saturday before Christmas we saw Santa at the ward Christmas breakfast. Then we hurried up to Twins Falls for the McMillen Christmas Party...

We had a big party at Pat and Tina's house where we were able to see Santa again. Then we went to a rest home and sang carols to the elderly and handed out presents. It was a great activity. The elderly just loved Liberty and Eliza. Libby just couldn't dance enough for them either. Unfortunately a couple days after that Liberty got sick with we think the 24 hour stomack flu. Then I didn't feel very good for a couple of days. We went back home thinking Eliza and Rob were out of the woods. Went to Adam and Chelsea's delicious Christmas Eve brunch (which I still dream of all the delicious food) and then later that night Rob was sick in bed. It made for a little bit of a lonely Christmas Eve nigh but still fun and at least a little less crazy. The girls and I had (by request of Eliza) bread, cheese, and salami for dinner. Then we made Cookies for Santa...

Then went to bed early so Santa could come. (The whole night Eliza kept saying, "we better hurry and get in bed, so Santa can come" this was of course starting at like 6 pm.) So she was eager to go to bed. We woke up that morning with Rob feeling a little bit better. There were so many fun gifts to exchange. Liberty for some reason never wanted to play with what she had been given but just wanted everything that Eliza had recieved. It was a little frustrating but at the same time pretty funny and ironic. (Apparantly she didn't like Elmo as much as she had put on the months before.)

(Rob displaying my new back pack carrier, couldn't quite do it with a child in while being pregnant but sooooo excited to hike with it this summer.)

(Eliza with Baby Alive. It really poops and pees, not quite sure if I will like that.)

(Libby with her new high chair. She loves to feed her babies)

After opening presents with in the morning with our small family. We got all Stevensons on board to let us come up for the family party even with our germs. I was so glad everybody was so willing because I really wanted to be with the whole family for Christmas. We put Rob in quarantine in the basement which I am not so sure he was sad about since he got to watch a lot of TV and relax. We opened presents (everyone was so generous and thoughtful in their gift giving) and ate some delicious food. It was a really great Christmas, even with the stomach flu.

Thanksgiving

2010-01-06T21:34:00.001-08:00

Eliza made these super cute costumes of Indian and Pilgrim in preschool and I just loved them! For actual Thanksgiving day we were up in Boise, Idaho at Aunt Chris's house. It was a super delicious dinner even with the "Christmas Vacation" turkey. Eliza was inseparable from Kennedy and Libby found every chance she could to harass either Krew or Taiton. It's so much fun to hang out with the McMillen family.

Happy Anniversary

2010-01-06T21:25:00.001-08:00

We had our 6th anniversary on Nov. 22. Rob planned an awesome little anniversary weekend. We first went to Michelangelo's (an Italian restaurant and I love Italian) then we went and checked in at the Little America Hotel in downtown. Then the next morning had a delicious breakfast. Went to the temple and did sealings (where I passed out, totally embarassing). My blood sugar was a little low and I was feeling woozey due to the pregnancy. Luckily it subsided because next we went to the 3D "Christmas Carol" movie. By then I totally couldn't wait to see my kids and we went to pick them up. It was all around just totally relaxing. It was great! Plus it's always fun to have these kind of trips because it makes me realize how much fun we have together. Love you Rob.

Halloween

2010-01-06T21:09:00.000-08:00

(We lit our pumpkins like a week after Halloween because we weren't home the night of Halloween but the kids still wanted to see them glow)

(Eliza at her Preschool Halloween Parade, singing a Halloween song)

So I did not realize how far behind I am. I hope to do a quick update. For Halloween we were characters from Snow White. Eliza was snow white, Rob was Prince Charming, Libby was a Dwarf (Happy or Grumpy or Dopey depending on her mood), and I was the Queen/old lady that gave Snow White the poisonous apple. We had a fun day at Grandma and Grandpa Stevenson's Halloween party. In fact we had so much fun we stayed to late to go trick or treating in our own neighborhood and just went around Grandma and Grandpa's neigborhood. The kids loved trick or treating. Liberty learned quickly what to say if she wanted "canny".

Family Christmas Letter

2009-12-26T15:52:00.000-08:00

This year we decided to do our "Christmas Card" via email. If any did not receive it I thought I ought to put it on the blog and apologize that it did not get to you for some reason.

This year has been a rather crazy year. Here are some of the highlights.Rob worked hard through the spring juggling both work and school but finally graduated BYU with a JD/MBA and continued working for vSpring capital. After graduation we were very fortunate and were able to take a cruise to the Caribbean, just Rob and I as a 5th anniversary/graduation present. We moved from Provo and lived in the condos by the Gateway in Salt Lake City where we house sat and took care of some cats. It was fun to live in downtown and experience a little taste of the city life. Eliza loved living right next to the Gateway Children's Museum which we visited regularly.

At the end of the summer Rob and I took a trip down to Monterrey, Mexico and considered moving down there but soon after felt that it was not the time to make such a move and found a home in Millcreek. Mexico is always on our mind and we'll see what the future holds.

While living in our quaint home in Millcreek Liberty has decided she wants to be independent. She wants to do everything herself. Going potty in the toilet is one of them (Yeah!) and pouring her own milk is another (boo). She is a lover and a hater. She has pulled out many a child's hair, loves to ride on babies like they are horses, and will bring out the teeth if she must. (Fortunately I think she is starting to catch on that these things are not OK. At least this is what I tell myself to keep sane.) But she is also the most loving little girl. She loves to snuggle and give hugs. She always is saying hi to everyone at the grocery store and her smile can light up anyone's face. Just a couple of days ago we went and visited a rest home and she went around and shook every person's hand and said "hi" and "merry christmas". They all loved it.

Eliza started going to a preschool this year and when we moved to Millcreek started attending a preschool called "Grandma's Garden". It is the best school I could have ever asked for. Her teacher is great and she has just taken off on learning her letters. She thinks it is the coolest thing that she can write letters and everyday she surprises me with the things she has learned. But she also loves the television. Brady Bunches is her favorite show and when she misses it she's pretty disapointed. We are happy to report though that while delivering Christmas gifts to our neighbors this year she yelled out with delight, "This is better than watching T.V.!" She is an amazing little girl, an awesome big sister, and a great example to me.

Soon after the move to Millcreek we were happy to find out that our third child is on its way and due to arrive the end of May. Eliza and Rob are sure its a boy! We'll find out in January.

We feel so unbelievably grateful for the blessings that God has given us this year and we are most grateful for Heavenly Father's most precious blessing, his son. For without him there would be no atonement. We are grateful for this Christmas season where we are able to focus even more on this gift. Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Love,

Rob, Abby, Eliza, and Liberty McMillen

Hunting

2009-10-17T20:18:00.001-07:00

Rob went hunting this year for a week up in Idaho with his Dad and Miller.

We joined them for the first couple of days. We didn't last too long because it rained most of the time we were there. But the time we spent there was pretty adventurous!

We found a snake down by the river and tried to catch it!

We had delicious fire roasted corn on the cob! (Libby's favorite)
Kaiden even hunted himself a squirrel! We feel strongly about eating what you kill. So Rob seasoned it up real nice with cayenne pepper and garlic salt. We all took a nibble. It actually was pretty good. Eliza really liked it. (Yes we may be considered W.T. now, but that's OK.) Rob also cooked some of the grouse that they brought back from the hunt (yes they were hunting elk but hadn't had any luck yet) and it was delicious!

Eliza got to get a little ride on the horse! And best of all we got to hang out up in the mountains. There is just something so peaceful about being up there. I love it!

Happy Birthday Rob!!!

2009-10-14T14:07:00.000-07:00

It was Rob's 29th birthday yesterday! He is getting old. :)I feel so lucky to have such a great guy for a husband. When I introduced myself in Relief Society yesterday, a lady raised her hand and commented, "I just had to tell you all that I was sitting behind Abby and her husband in Sunday School and the nursery leader came in because there was some kind of problem with their daughter like a dirty diaper, and Abby went to stand up and her husband had her sit back down and went out instead. I just thought that was so impressive." All of the ladies were like, "oh wow." I said, "Yeah, he's a pretty good guy!" He really is.

He was a little tired for his birthday since he had been up really late the last 4 nights one night until 4:00 am, so the girls and I let him sleep in and didn't do anything exciting in the morning. During the day I sent him an email with some tickets to the BYU vs. TCU game. (I am always nervous to make these kind of purchases because while in DC I bought some NBA tickets that were really good seats but he didn't really think they were the greatest gift because of the price. Plus I'm not really an avid football fan so I wasn't really sure what the best game was, but I think it worked out this time!) Then when he got off work we went to eat at Market Street Grill and the girl gave him their gifts. When we got home we had some Cherry Pie. Rob kept asking if I had made it and I just moved on with out answering. Then a little later he asked again and Eliza gave me away and said, "Mommy didn't make this, we bought it at the store." How could she throw me under the bus like that! ;) We all laughed! Pies are just not my thing. But I did buy it with love and care.

Happy birthday Rob!

Eliza's crazy day!

2009-10-14T13:40:00.000-07:00

So the other day, Eliza fell off the ladder going to our attic and hit her head (I think on a book case at the bottom). She knew she wasn't suppose to be up there so when I came running down she said, "I'm OK mom," but then started bawling. It was so sad. She had a dent in her head that I was worried about. She didn't have any signs of neorological damage though so I kept watching her. I kept just worrying about that dent though so finally in the afternoon I talked with Dave and decided to take her up to Primary Children's Hospital. We were so lucky because Uncle Adam was there to help us through the whole thing. I feel so lucky to have pediatrician brothers. Luckily everything turned out OK. All the x-rays turned out good. She was supposed to go on a football game date with her daddy that night so she was very happy that everything was OK.

So we rushed home, she put on her pink cougar shirt that her Maya friend gave her and some warm clothes and she was ready to go. Then her and Rob rushed to the BYU football game in Provo. She thinks this is so cool to do with her dad. And I think it is so cool that her dad is willing to do this and makes it so much fun for her.

While at the game she got some hot chocolate (her favorite) and was overly excited that she got to keep the mug...

... and then at the end of the game was able to get a photo with BYU player Harvey Unga!!!

Eliza is 4 years old!

2009-10-02T21:04:00.001-07:00

There were lots of celebrations for this birthday. First we had a joint party with Kennedy up in Twin Falls the Saturday before her birthday.

Then we had a birthday party with the Stevenson family on Sunday.

Then on the actual day, we celebrated her birthday at Chuck E. Cheese in Orem. We thought this would be a good idea since with all the moving most of her friends were still in Provo. It was a lot of fun! Chuck E. even sang to Eliza. She seemed very happy and was glad to see some of her friends from Provo.

After Chuck E. Cheese's we went to Build a Bear where you were able to pick out a stuffed animal and some clothes. You picked a pink unicorn and a Tinker Bell costume for her. After that we dropped daddy off at a conference and drove up to Grandma Stevenson house. Eliza was so happy because she got to play with her other friends Emma and Alex Thomas. Then we had "breakfast" for dinner. It was a fun filled day. I love you Eliza. You are a such a loving and excited girl. I love that about you!

We moved! Yes again.

2009-10-02T20:40:00.000-07:00

Yes we have moved again. I was counting the other day with some friends how many times it has been and I think it is at 13 times since Rob and I got married (5 years). Way too many.
We are really missing having Grandma and Grandpa Stevenson around to always help out and play with us, but it has also been nice to be in our own place and get back into a routine. We love our new little house here in Millcreek (still UT). It is very close to Rob's work which I love because it makes it seem like he doesn't work so long and the best part of the whole house is the yard. It is huge and gated and the girls love it.
There were a few surprises about this place though. When I was finding a place to live I was sure to ask my top 5 questions: "Does the place have a gated yard, disposal, dishwasher, washer/dryer hookups, and air conditioning?" I made sure I narrowed down my search really good. Well I found this house while driving to check out another place I had seen on Craig's List. I fell in love with it when I found out it was in our renting price range. I soon found out that someone else was interested in the place so I frantically bargained to get the house. I succeeded and the house was mine. On the first day while moving in, the place was getting pretty hot. I went to turn on the a/c and found out that there was a just a swamp cooler. Not a big deal, I could handle that especially since it was cooler months up ahead. Then later that day when I went to load the dirty dishes into the dishwasher, I couldn't find it! I swear I had seen one when I looked at the place before. But to my dismay there was NO DISHWASHER! Ahhhh! What had I done to myself. (If you know me at all you will find this pretty comical, I am that person that puts everything in the dishwasher--pots, pans, knives, wood items. For me it is worth the risk that it might get ruined because I hate hand washing so bad.) I called and told Rob and he just laughed and said, "You think you rented the house a little too quick." We both laughed. He has been quite a trooper since and has really helped me out with dishes and I have to admit it really hasn't been that bad handwashing.
I hope to add a picture on soon.

Liberty's fishy face

2009-09-18T20:57:00.000-07:00

I am very far behind and hope to get caught up soon. But real quick just wanted to post this picture of Liberty and remember this moment. She loves to do this fishy face. She often does it when we ask for kisses and it is pretty hilarious!

Eliza's without training wheels

2009-08-10T20:32:00.001-07:00

Last Sunday Rob took off Eliza's training wheels. She was so excited and has been wanting to do it for quite some time now. However, I think some of the excitement wore off pretty quickly after she realized how difficult it was (and painful). We kept encouraging her and told her not to give up. When we went out for the second session of bike training a couple of days later she was begging us to put the training wheels back on. We told her she could have them back on once she was able to ride really well without them (gambling that she wouldn't want them back on after this, hope I'm right). She started off a little unconfident and kept wrecking on purpose onto the grass. Then Rob told her she could get an ice cream cone if she rode to a certain destination (like a post or a garbage can). This gave her the motivation and after several tries she did it. She then had to go even further to get a dollar. She ended on a good note and was excited about doing it more. Her and Rob went out a third time but I wasn't there, but he said she did great. I am so proud of her for not giving up! It's a hard and painful thing to learn how to do. I'm sure Aunt Sarah can relate.

Food Faces

2009-08-10T20:21:00.000-07:00

Often when Eliza goes to visit her grandma Pigeons (Stevenson) she gets to have Food Faces for lunch/dinner. It is one of her favorite things and she thinks this is something special that only grandma can do. Well I decided for lunch one afternoon I would do them at our house. When I told Eliza that we were going to make them she said, "You know how to make them too?" As if we were going to be constructing a master wedding cake. She's so funny and I assured her I did. I made her lunch, she wanted me to make a face of myself, and she made a face of Liberty for Liberty's lunch. Lunch was a hit and I just wanted to give this idea out for any moms looking to make things a little more exciting around lunch time. It really wasn't any more effort, I just grabbed what I had from the fridge and it was almost easier because Eliza helped. Thanks Grandma for the fun idea.

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-22T14:03:00.000-07:00

Since yesterday was Father's Day I wanted to write a little bit about why I think Rob is so great and the things I admire about him.
-His intelligence. He is such a great provider for our family and I'm so grateful to have a husband who values academics like I do. He also has the most amazing memory with numbers. He can remember numbers from a long time ago and it just baffles me.
-That he thinks he could wrestle anyone and win :) He's got me fooled and it makes me feel pretty safe.
-His testimony of the gospel. I have learned so much from him. He can recall so many scriptures and really tries to apply them to his life. He is firm in his belief and will bend for no one.
-He is a truth seeker. It doesn't matter what everyone else thinks he just wants to know if it is right or wrong.
-He's close to the spirit. He always says, "wise as a serpent, and harmless as a dove". On many occasions he has realized way before I have that someone was trying to deceive us.
-His humility. Rob doesn't have the usual humble guy attitude, he definitely believes in himself. But if he realizes he needs to change something he takes every effort to change. When I tell him something I wish he would change he is so humble in his answer and says sorry, then asks for examples of how he did it wrong, and then truly does try to change. I am always defensive when someone tells me I have done something wrong. I love this about him and I feel like he grows closer to being a perfect person much faster than I do.
-His confidence.
-He is a hard worker. The hardest worker I have ever known. In wrestling he learned that your mind gives up way before your body. You have to take control of your mind. He always pushes himself so hard until he has accomplished what he wants.
-He is optimistic, always wanting everyone to focus on the positive and never on the negative. -His friendliness. Rob loves to make others happy. He wants everyone to feel loved.
-He loves his kids and makes his family a top priority.

I told Rob the other day that if a person wants life to be relaxing than they should marry someone just like them but if they want to learn a lot then they should marry someone opposite of them. I chose the latter and have learned so much. It is never a boring day. I love you Rob, thanks for your example!

Details of the Caribbean Cruise

2009-05-28T11:01:00.001-07:00

CAYMAN ISLAND

Our first stop was Cayman Island. I think this was probably my favorite stop. Cayman Island is so beautiful and the people there are exceptionally nice. The place is a more well to do than many of the other islands so maybe this is why, but when we asked many of the people that lived there why people were so exceptionally kind they told us that it was because the island is so religious. There are all kinds of religions and we were even told that there were quite a few LDS people there. I like to think it was due to belief in God rather than the wealth.

We rented a scooter to ride around the island. We did this on the last cruise and loved it. It really is so much fun having the freedom to go wherever you want and stop whenever you see something cool. Like this beautiful beach.

However, it was a little bit more tricky driving in Cayman Island compared to Mexico. They drive on the opposite side of the road. (Yielding to oncoming traffic while making a right hand turn seemed totally crazy.) But we made it safe with my husbands expert driving and a great back seat driver.

Rob just got a kick out of the wild chickens that ran around on almost every place we visited. He would of course always ask one of the natives if they ever killed one and ate it for dinner. They would always answer no and laugh.

We drove up to a turtle farm. It was very exciting since I love wild life. You can't tell really in this picture but these are huge adult sea turtles about 2-3 feet big.

The turtle farm was just like the trout farm back home in North Ogden. They had many different pools and each pool they had different sizes. This was the pool with the baby turtles. We were able to hold the turtles in this pool if you could catch 'em.

The tour guide said that if you rub under their chin in calmes them down. So here I am of course, the next "Turtle whisperer."

Well there's nothing like holding the beautiful creatures and then eating them.(Kidding) After the guided tour we headed over to the restaurant in the park to have Turtle Soup. We also got some smoothies since we were thirsty.

Here's a close up of the turtle meat. Rob is pointing to the green fat. This being the biggest reason why I couldn't gobble down the Turtle soup. The meat itself is actually really good and had the taste and consistancy of beef. But the peices of green fat were really hard for me to eat. (I'm not sure if your computer is doing this picture justice, I'm talkin' it was green.)

After the turtle farm we went swimming with the dolphins.

I was so excited about this because I have always wanted to touch a dolphin to see what it feels like. It reminded me of a rain jacket or like those pictures that if you move it, it changes. It was smooth but had a little rough texture to it. Nothing like a fish, not slimy at all, but also not as smooth as a snake either. Anyways it was awesome.

Each person got to hold its fins like you were dancing, swim with it by holding on to its pectoral fins, and then pushed you through the water on a boogie board (it did this by pushing on your feet). It was totally worth it for me.

With only a small amount of time to spare we hurried and grabbed some food at a local restaurant that had been recommended by some locals. Rob had been craving fresh fried fish so it was a must on the list. He ate it with pure delight. I got chicken and it was great as well. Love the food in the caribean.

ISLE OF ROATAN, HONDURAS

We rented another scooter (the 2nd scooter is not mine it was someone elses taking the photo). I am not brave enough to do it. I just hold on and boss Rob around.

Rob found out about this great place where you can interact with monkeys. It only cost $2 and was totally worth it. He loves finding a great deal and I love that he finds them.

These monkeys were crazy. They were such scavengers. They would take everything. They undid my pockets and took my keys, undid my swimming suit ties, took Rob's hat and glasses. but fortunately if it is not food they just throw it back. They couldn't decide about the camera back since it was like leather. They chewed on it a while and finally threw it back. It was awesome and another activity at the top of my list.

At this area they had Cashew nut trees. Who knew that cashews grow at the end of a little yellow fruit? I didn't. This little guy is holding one of them. We asked the owner if we could try one and we did. The fruit was very juicy but afterwards would make your mouth feel really dry.(An astringent our friend informed us.) It reminded me of some plums I have had.

They had some other animals at the park. Including this baby monkey. It was pretty funny since Rob and I had a debate about the gender of this MOTHER. Yes I was right. No male carries around their child for days. There was also some deer, lizards, and cows.

After the monkeys we raced to our only cruise booked activity.(Which I would never do for those who hope to cruise in the future. At every stop there are all the same tours and you can get them cheaper.) We went Snuba diving. In case you don't know Snuba is snorkeling combined with scuba diving. You have a scuba mask that is connected to a small raft like boat. It was stormy that day and our tour guide didn't want to take us out on the big boat, so we just walked out from the beach. There really wasn't too much to see. A few fish but the water was pretty murky. Rob did feel some fire coral. It's red and looks like a bunch of bee stings. OUCH!

We also got pretty tangled with other snuba divers. Poor Rob, we did this because I was adimit about doing it.

With again just minutes to spare, we speed towards the dock and found this great restaurant. Rob just had to get some fresh fish again. We pulled in and there was no one there so Rob started honking. I was embarrassed, but sure enough some women came hurredly from their house next door. Rob asked, "Do you have fried fresh fish with rice, beans and plaintains?" and the woman responded, "You know I got it mon." In her thick Caribean accent. It was delicious. I had chicken again and loved it just as much. Loved the fried plantains too.

Here's me and our great cook!

What a great place! I think it was Rob's favorite place.

BELIZE

We rode 4 wheelers through the jungle and then went cave tubing. This was our only disagreement on the cruise. Rob wanted to wander and our guide wanted Rob to stay in line with the group on the tubes. It was a little odd though that everyone else was kind of relaxing down the river. Went with a couple from our table, Angel and Bill. Super nice couple from Florida. Then we went and did some bargain shopping.

KEY WEST

We took a moped (of course) and went to the Southernmost point of the USA. Then we hurried back to our Booze Cruise. Just kidding, kind of.
We thought we were going snorkeling but for the first 20 minutes all they talked about was the free beer. Too bad we don't drink. I was getting a little nervous that the snorkeling was going to suck. Just before they stopped they gave us the run down of how to snorkel. It was seriously the greatest snorkeling. It was on a live reef. There were so many fish. Big blue fish that were the size of dinner plates. Small bright yellow ones. Big schools of fish. The scariest moment was when I saw this group of 4 or so fish, but they were BIG. About half the size of my body. I don't know what they were, but I was scared and swam away fast. The snorkeling was SOOOOO awesome! I couldn't believe how many there were. I really wish we had saved the water camera for this instead of Snuba.

CARNIVAL VALOR (THE BOAT)

There were a few days spent on the boat during the cruise. Most of the time it just meant "relax day". We would sleep in and then I would lay out and read while Rob went and played basketball. We'd then watch a movie or something and then get ready for dinner. It might sound boring to some but I really thought it was enjoyable to just have nothing to do.

Here we are posing after one of the formal nights . Isn't the sunset beautiful.

Our dining room friends was one of the things I looked forward to every night, along with the delicious 6-10 course meal. We really had the best table. It was just made up of a bunch of easy-going fun people. We laughed a lot and everyone had great stories to tell. We loved chatting and always stayed later than any of the other tables. I man that sat next to us even came over and said, "Wow, you really have a good bunch of people here. You can tell you're always having a great time." It was really fun to get to know everyone at this table and I feel a bit of a special connection to them. I hope to bump into them again sometime in life.

We also met some other friends on the boat. Leiren,Chandler and two other couples who I can't remember their names now. We enjoyed many nights in the sports bar watching the NBA playoff games, and late nights playing cards. I also wanted to add the memory of singing Karioke, Rob totally out-did me. He was a much better singer. But I did out-do him on "Who wants to be a millionaire" game show. Yes me. It was rather amazing since common sense doesn't always seem to be my strength. But perhaps it is a hidden talent. There were also many opportunities to share about the gospel. It made for many interesting conversations. It also helped me realize how many good God believing people are really out there. One guy we talked to was so faithful to God, prayed and read the bible every day. When Rob started talking to him about the gospel it made so much sense to him. It made me realize that there are many people prepared to hear the gospel and I need to open my mouth more. I am greatful for Rob's example.And who's not to love the cute towel animals they always leave for you. It always made me think of Eliza.

It was a great trip and I hope Rob and I stick to our commitment of doing a trip as a couple once a year. I think it really helps nurture our relationship. I realized I really still am a fun layed back person, it just is a little bit harder when your a mom and have little kids always depending on you. Thanks for keeping me motivated about this trip Rob and reminding me our kids would be Ok, I Love you! And thank you to those who helped babysit. They had a great time!

Rob JDMBA officially

2009-05-28T10:20:00.000-07:00

(I apologize this is out of order, we obviously took the cruise after graduation, but we did move before graduation. It was crazy.)

Congrats Rob! You have worked so hard and I feel so lucky to have a husband who would keep education as a top priority.

So Rob's parents came with us to the general graduation. We sat up in the nose bleeds but had back rests since it was the very top seat. Rob sat with the MBA students which was a little funny because when they asked for the Doctorate students to stand the rest were all on the front on the floor and Rob stood up in the back all alone. It was a really great graduation. It was nice attending BYU graduation because it was gospel centered.President Uchtdorf was the speaker. It seemed like I was just sitting through general conference. I really felt the spirit and it was very motivating.

The second day was the individual schools graduation. First was the Law School Graduation at the Tabernacle. Elder Oaks was there but did not speak. A Judge spoke and talked about how some of the greatest judges in history came from those who graduated just prior or during the depression. It was in comparison to graduating during these difficult times. It was interesting.
Then we went to the Marriot school of Business Graduation. One of the retiring professors spoke and talked about keeping a balance in life. It was also good and motivating. Rob got a special hug from one of his favorite professors from USU undergrad who is now a Professor at BYU, Cassy Budd.Thanks to all those who came and supported us! And a special congratulations to Sawyer for making it through 2 graduations!

After graduation we had a late dinner at Tucano's Brazilian grill.
Couldn't resist this photo!

Thanks to Stephanie and Taiton for watching the girls during graduation in the Cat House!

I hope everyone knows how greatful we are to have such a supportive family. Graduate school can really make you live frugal and we appreciate all those who helped with this effort and those who gave their love and support! We feel so lucky to have such a great family. We love you all.

Cruisen without the kids

2009-05-21T17:23:00.000-07:00

I am on Carnival Valor the boat, right now! We planned a little trip for just the two of us for graduation/late 5 yr. anniversary celebration. It has been really great so far. Very relaxing and full of food, food, and more food. We've enjoyed the trips to the Islands and will post pictures later. We sure to miss our two little girls though. Love you Eliza and Liberty and thanks to all that are helping!

We moved!

2009-04-25T06:55:00.000-07:00

We now are city slickers! We moved to Salt Lake City last week and live in the PARC Gateway Apartments. It has its pluses and minuses. We are babysitting our two lovely furry friends again (Wojtek and Rudy) in exchange for some discounted rent. The first little while has been an adjustement. Cleaning and unpacking has taken longer than expected and I have allergies like crazy. I'm not sure if its the cats or the pollen but it is making me miserable. But it has been fun living right here in downtown. Eliza loves the waterfountains in the mall area. Liberty got squirted in the face so now she just enjoys dancing by the side. We also enjoyed some free Ben and Jerry's Icecream during their celebration and we can't wait to try out the Children's museum, all within our backyard.
We hope all of our good friends will visit us. We are excited to live closer to family but just like Eliza told her grandma and papa Coco, "I miss my Provo friends."
This is the garden area on the 5th floor where Eliza loves to ride her bike. You can see it out her bedroom window.

This is our new backyard!

Happy April Fools Day!

2009-04-01T19:59:00.000-07:00

I love this day. And every April Fools Day I try to come up with something really good to trick Rob. Last year, I pretended his old girl friend emailed him and invited to meet with him and go to lunch. I made up a whole new email address and he was totally falling for it. It was a pretty proud moment for me.
This year however I was not as successful. But I did trick Eliza (watch the video). I tried to trick Rob by pretending to fall and then having Eliza run and get him. When he arrived I of course was using perfect acting skills of acting "unconcious." However, Eliza was laughing and when Rob sarcastically said lets call 911, Eliza said, "No Dad, she's just pretending." Rule #1 never trust a 3 year old to help you with your April Fools Jokes. It was still a fun day and Eliza kept kind of lying to me and then would just say, "Just kiddin' mom, you know its that special day."

P.S. I would love to hear if anyone has any great prank ideas that I could use for next years big day. I love a good trick. My problem is I can only think of mean ones that I'm not sure the victim would laugh at in the end. So clean ones would be prefered. ;)

Burned on the Snowboard

2009-04-01T19:54:00.000-07:00

Oh wow! Rob and I went snowboarding (using our Christmas gift passes, thanks Dave and Jen) and I really loved spring skiing. Its nice and warm and sunny! Yes very sunny, very very sunny. Did I say sunny? Well with that sun of course you've got to wear your goggles because its so bright. And you must wear sun screen.

We of course brought ours but never put it on and left it in the car. And this is what the math adds up to be...

Yikes. We look ridiculous!

St. Patrick's Day

2009-03-23T22:00:00.000-07:00

A Leprechan came to our house this morning and made a mess. He even made it so Eliza's coat ended clear up on the fan.In the mess he left us a note saying that he had come looking for gold but couldn't find any. So all day Eliza tried to look for some gold so the Leprechan would come back. She set out some pennies for him and indeed he did sneak back during the day to get them. He left another note saying that he would bring her a treat later on.
We kept trying to have Liberty tell us where the Leprechan was hiding but she would not divulge the secret. Eliza wondered if he lived in the heater vent. Hm? Seems a little small to me.

She kept waiting in her green clothes and all, but he didn't come back until late that night after she had gone to bed. He left her some green snacks to munch on.

P.S. Thanks Desiree for telling the Leprechans about our house. We hope they come back next year. It made it a really fun day and something for Eliza to smile about.

Eliza gets her first major haircut

2009-03-23T21:39:00.000-07:00

Eliza got her haircut once before when she was about 18months old to cut off her horrible mullet. But it was given by mom so this was her first time at a hair salon.

She was a little nervous about it as she first climbed into the chair. She was very explicite earlier in the day that she only wanted a trim and she was afraid that Don would "cut it short like mom's hair, and make it look like a boy."Eliza loved the cook sink that you got to wash your hair in. She thought it was pretty funny that you would wash your hair in a sink instead of a bath tub.

Don suggested that we take a little more off than a trim to get most of the hair the same length. We talked to Eliza about it and explained that it would make her look like Snow White. (Snow White is her favorite princess so she was convinced.) She thought it was funny that she had so many clips in her hair.

Another happy customer.

From Behind

Before

After

From the Front

Before

Hooray!

After

(Don let her pick her own special new clip to keep. She picked purple of course one of her favorite colors, pink being the other. She felt like a princess.)

She was a very good girl the whole time during the hair cut and Don was very impressed.

Libby is movin' now!

2009-03-12T11:02:00.001-07:00

Liberty is walking like crazy now! I think I can even say it is her preferred way of getting around. She took her first step when she was about 10 months old. She took here first walking steps when whe was about 11 months. It was getting so frustrating because she would take a few steps and then loved to throw herself to the ground. She thought it was so funny. So I kept feeling like she had the ability to walk but just didn't want to. Then suddenly one day it clicked and she decided she liked walking. She has been a walking fool since. (This actually happened a couple of weeks ago and I kept waiting to post it because I wanted to have a video but I guess a picture will have to do! This is Eliza's photo work.)

My dream Twin Falls Trip

2009-03-12T10:28:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we went up to Twin Falls for the weekend. It was one of my favorite trips (minus that Steph, Brandi, and their kids weren't there). We drove out to see the steel head fish farm. Rob wanted us to see these big fish so bad. He even tried throwing rocks into the pond. You could kind of see them from up top and they looked huge, but it was also just fun to look at the huge trout they had. Then we went to "Balanced Rock". It was a short fun little hike and perfect for Bob and the kids. ;) Just kidding Bob. It was pretty interesting to see and sad that someone had tried to destroy it. A chunk at the base of the rock had been blown out and then repaired. Interesting I thought. Now we'll never know when it would have naturally eroded and fallen. Anyways it was a really great time. Then later Rob got to go hunting with the brothers. I felt like it was a perfect combination of hanging out with the family and also letting Rob have some guy time. (I'll have to find out if Rob agrees.) I hope to do more outdoors things in Twin Falls because it really is such a beautiful place, especially that canyon.

Eliza's Lip Job

2009-03-11T21:41:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, just as our two friends we had set up were arriving, Eliza split open her lip. Rob and I were both out of the room but later Eliza told us that she jumped from her feet to her bum on the couch and then went flying forward and hit her chin on the coffee table. After calling our expert brother Nate for advice we decided the cut (shown) should heal ok. So we decided to eat dinner. At the end of dinner Rob was concerned at how weird and swollen Eliza's chin looked so he looked more at Eliza's lip and found that she had a another cut right were the lip meets the jaw bone (like where you store chew, that is if you are a tobacco fan). It was more of a gaping cut so we called Nate again and he said he wanted to see it. So we ruined Nate's date night (sorry Des) and drove up to South Jordan.
After examining and discussing different options we decided we wanted to have Nate stitch it up. So we got Eliza mezmorized with a movie and then Nate gave her some laughing gas. I felt so bad because Eliza was just so scared you could tell. I could see that she was trying to be so brave but just at the verge of breaking into hysterical crying. She did pretty good just during the shots to numb her lip did she really scream and cry. She ended the event with some great kids prizes and a smile.

The next day her lip was so swollen. It looked like she had gotten a lip job and Rob thought it was so funny. He kept getting her to say that she had gotten a lip job to other people. Her stitches did not survive too long (I think they were bothering her and she bit some of them so much that they came out.) but it did seem to help with letting it heal closed. She still has one left on the bottom cut. Bost most importantly she is on some anti-biotics so that she won't get an infection. It was an adventurous night and I just thought wow am I glad to have brothers who are doctors.

Right after it happened, before we discovered the second cut.

Zoning out with laughing gas and the TV. Wearing her "elephant nose" and feeling a little nervous.Her "Princess Shoelaces" aka stitches
The finale of the lip job.
Doesn't it look extra pouty now?
GRRRRR

Day at the Park teaches a great lesson

2009-03-03T20:31:00.000-08:00

So today we went to the park with the Teemants. It was such a beautiful day. (We even got kind of sunburned.)
While playing a city worker came by to dump some wood chips into the park play area. He backed into the area and dumped the wood chips. During this he had tried to move forward and the wheels just sunk into the ground. Long story short he got himself completely stuck in woodchips/mud. There were like four other families there (including 2 men) and we all just stood and watched as this man kept trying to get himself unstuck. I felt so laim just standing there watching, but I thought there are men here who will probably help, this guy doesn't want some girl to help, and I have kids to watch. I kept thinkin' "man I wish Rob was here, he would definitely go help this guy and most likely get him unstuck. I started talking to Amy about this and she agreed that her husband would do the same and that we were surprised these guys weren't helping. The man continued his attempt to get unstuck and finally we decided to approach him and see if he wanted help. He was more than happy to have some help. On the first try I thought we were going to get him out, but we didn't and it seemed to get worse after that. Another guy came over to help after a few tries but then said he didn't think the pushing was helping. So we abandoned the pushing. The truck was making slow progress, but progress.
Then these two guys dressed in all black with big chains and many peircings came by and asked if the truck driver wanted help. Again the driver was happy to have some help. It was so impressive these guys were the ones to assert themselves and offer to help. (They had walked by earlier before the truck had gotten stuck and I remember double checking to make sure I knew were Eliza was.) With their help the truck still couldn't get out. Finally a guy dressed in army clothes stopped by and had a big truck to tow the dump truck out. Everyone shouted hooray. There was a quite a large hole now in the playground and Eliza had brought her gardening tools, so the kids went to work repairing the playground. (see pictures)
Me and Amy chatted about what a good lesson this was on judging. The two guys who I would have thought to be the least likely to help were actually the ones who did and seemed so kind. After learning that I thought I probably shouldn't have judged the men who didn't help, maybe they had health problems or something and couldn't help.
It also was a good lesson about not waiting around to help and being sexist about it. I should have offered help much earlier and not have left it up to someone else, thinking they should offer. It was a great day. (I wish I could have described this in a more interesting way with less rambling, but I'm not that good of a writer. I just want to be able to remember this great moment of learning.)

Our Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-22T13:10:00.000-08:00

It was a great day! The night before Rob surprised me and brought home a new bike for me that I had wanted. We stayed up late that night putting it together. Eliza really enjoyed it. The next day, Eliza got to go to her friend Araia's Birthday party. Eliza loves birthday parties so this was extra exciting for her. That afternoon the girls and I delivered cupcakes we had made to a few special people. Eliza got a fancy chocolate rose from her daddy as a surprise! We also got lots of Valentine's cards from our extended family. Eliza loves getting things in the mail so this was a definite highlight. Then that night Rob and I went on a date. It was a crazy crowd as usual for dinner. We waited 2 hours. But during the wait we went a looked at cars which was fun. We ended up going with our friends the Gustins to dinner and laughed a lot. It was a great day. I love my family and friends and am so greatful to be surrounded by such great people.
P.S. My pictures somehow got deleted off my computer. I am so sad because I wanted to put the picture of my bike on :(

How lucky I am to be a stay at home mom!

2009-02-19T16:43:00.000-08:00

Today I was trying to clean up the house and feeling busy and Eliza said, "Mom come to my restaurant!" I really didn't want to play then but I have been working on taking time for my kids and husband rather than the unimportant things. Anyways I sat down and boy was I glad I did. She would bring me pretend food and then skip away in total delight with a big smile on her face. (I wish I could explain this little dancing skip she would do but if you know Eliza I am sure you can imagine.) This moment brought a smile to my face and I could tell that this moment was one of joy for her. It just reminded me how lucky I feel to be able to be a stay at home mom and be there for the fun moments like this.

Green Eggs and Ham

2009-02-05T10:40:00.001-08:00

So we were at the Library on Wednesday and I saw the book "Green Eggs and Ham" by Dr. Seuss and I remembered how much I liked it when we read the book in preschool and made it. So I decided thats what we would do. When I told Eliza she said "Yuck, no way!" But after we read the book and discovered that the character also didn't want to eat them and then when he finally did that he like them, she decided to try it out. And yes she liked it. Libby wasn't too sure even though she gave an encouraging hooray with green eggs on her face. It was a fun morning especially since daddy was able to join us!

The Zoo

2009-02-05T10:28:00.000-08:00

Last week we went to the zoo with our friends the Sandersons and the Teemants. Rebecca and Maya are some of Eliza's best friends so she was very excited. It was kind of a cold day but we went because the zoo has a free day the last Wednesday of every winter month. We spent a lot of time in the humid dome where there were lots of tropical birds and turles. We were able to see lots of animals and we really enjoyed ourselves. Even Liberty really liked it!

Eliza's Noodle Nose

2009-01-26T17:13:00.000-08:00

We have been going through our old home videos and burning them to CD. When I saw this one I bust out laughing and thought all should enjoy in this hilarious moment. Watch the nose closely.

Eliza's Firs t Talk in Primary

2009-01-26T16:52:00.000-08:00

3 Sundays ago Eliza gave her first prayer in Primary. She was very excited about it, but we were a little worried she might get nervous once she got in front of all the kids. She proved us wrong. She marched right up there and bowed her head and said her prayer. She blessed Liberty, all the kids, and her mom. It was a little quiet but she did a great job.
Then the next week she was asked to give a talk. We practiced 3 times at our house, even in front of all her dolls and Grandma Pigeons) and she seemed ready. She was just as confident as she had been for her prayer. She talked about being a child of God. She showed a picture of herself and then her mom and dad and then said, "Did you know we have a mother and father in Heaven too?" She then gave a scripture (with a little help from her dad) talking about this.
She is doing great a great job at going to "Nursery with the big kids" (aka Primary).

Liberty's 1st Birthday

2009-01-25T20:49:00.000-08:00

Liberty turned one this last Thursday. We started out with going in singing Happy Birthday and acting really happy and excited. She new something was up. We then took her out to the kitchen and gave her the first birthday gift of the day...bananas (what else?) her favorite food. She was very excited about it and even tried to eat the peel. The rest of the day was pretty low key. Eliza and I made her a cake during her first nap. We went to Costa Vida for lunch and she got to play on the kids toys a little. Then while she was taking her afternoon nap Eliza and I frosted the cakes. Eliza got to decorate her own cake and I decorated Libby's. Eliza also decorated the house. Eliza was so excited the whole day. I'm not sure Libby knew what was going on. Then when Daddy came home we had a party! We ate dinner (rice and peas of course were on the menu, favorites of Liberty's) and then played games with the balloons. Then we sang Happy Birthday to Liberty and let her blow out the candles with a little help from Eliza. Then my favorite part...she got to eat her own cake at will. She was actually pretty neat though and didn't even get very messy. She tried a little frosting and liked that and then ate some more but she didn't eat too much, since her tummy was probably filled with rice and peas. Then off to the bath we went. After getting all the frosting out of her hair and getting some yummy pajamas on we opened presents. (Eliza was dying for this moment and had been waiting all day.) Eliza gave her gold fish, a princess plate, and one of her dolls. Mom and Dad got her a book and a doll (it was a the doll she chose at the store the night before, it was the doll that received the most snuggles and hugs from her during the choosing process, it was a tough choice). It was a great party!
I can't believe Liberty is already one. Time really does fly. I am so happy she is a part of our family. She makes me so happy. She is such a loving girl, always giving hugs and kisses. I sure do love you Liberty and I am so glad that Heavenly Father sent you to our family.

Libby's love for Desitin

2009-01-15T11:20:00.000-08:00

Ok I don't know why she likes it so much but if she is ever gets a hold of the Desitin, she opens it up and tries to eat it.

We keep it up high away from her but Eliza stores her jewelry there and sometimes she takes it out and sets it on the floor. Anyways it is definitely an issue. We called poison control as instructed on the tube, but they said it was fine. That was a relief.

Anyways, why she loves it remains a mystery but when you take it away from her she screams bloody murder and you can tell that Desitin tube is something she treasures. You silly Libby!

New Year's Eve

2009-01-14T13:35:00.000-08:00

...and the rest of Christmas vacation was spent in Ogden at Grandma and Grandpa Pigeons (Stevenson). We had a relaxed New Years Eve with Sarah, Ted, Drew, Grandma, and Grandpa. We started out the night right with some yummy pasta (what else!). A tortellini recipe I got from Uncle Ryan that we just love. Then we opened Christmas presents which probably made the night extra special for Eliza (I kind of like this tradition). Then we celebrated the New York New Years with Eliza. Our kids went to bed and we played games. (Yes everyone, including Grandma and Grandpa, it was like a miracle!) And we loved it. It was kind of a long game and during it midnight passed. I think we heard some fireworks and said, "What was that?" and after thinking for a bit we realized, oh it must be midnight. We were all really into the game and tired so I think we maybe kissed and that was it. Dad ended up winning the game and it was a great night!
The next morning we woke up and were supposed to go shopping without the kids while the boys watched the kids (and a football game) I was worried which would get watched more. We stopped in at Grandma Brunetti's first and while at lunch she had an accident. We spent a while there showering her and cleaning her up. Then we went shopping. Ironically, the shopping was a little dull and actually helping Grandma was the highlight of the day. It was nice to have all of us helping out a woman who we love so much. Everytime I visit her it humbles me and makes me greatful for all that I have. It also just puts life into perspective so much. Most of us will reach this same path someday and what a humbling phase it is.
The rest of the days were low key. We hung out with Chelsea, Adam, Jenn, and Dave at the "Rager" (this is what Rob called it) party at Adam's one night. Yes another football game. Another night we went to dinner with Ted and Sarah. Yes another football game was supposed to be viewed. And the rest was spent with Grandma and Grandpa just playing with the kid. We feel so lucky to have family who we love just spending time with doing the simple things.

Sledding with Dad

2009-01-14T13:24:00.000-08:00

After Christmas week up in Twin, we came back to Provo for a couple of days. Although visiting family was lots of fun, it was nice to be back in our regular environment. It was like a vacation away from a vacation. During this we did a little bit of sledding. We spent one afternoon sledding in our front yard (who needs a hill when you've got a buff dad?). Another day we went to Rock Canyon park. Eliza was so much more into sledding this year. She went down some really big hills and loved it, even when she fell off and scratched her nose. What a trooper! We did some slow sledding with Liberty and she seemed to like it and let out a few laughs. It was nice to have some time with Rob when he was not so busy.

Sitting on Santa's lap

2009-01-14T13:10:00.000-08:00

Here are a few shots of Eliza and Liberty with Santa at our ward Christmas party this year. Eliza was so nervous to meet Santa and kept trying to remember what she wanted for Christmas. We finally got her to remember that she wanted a doll. She jumped right up on his lap and indeed told him she wanted a doll. Liberty on the other hand...well the pictures can tell the story.
(So this obviously happened before Christmas, sorry about the order mix up.)

Christmas 2008

2009-01-10T12:15:00.000-08:00

Christmas this year was at the McMillens. We first went to the McMillen Christmas party at Aunt Chris' house. It is always so much fun to see everyone. Miller and Rob always turn into teenagers again when they get together with all the cousins. It is definitely one of the highlights of the Christmas season for him. While we there a big snow storm hit. We decided to go to church there in Boise because traffic was so slow. Unfortunately, by the time we got out of church, the roads were even worse. Rob drove very carefully and got us to Twin Falls safely, but it had taken us 5 hours to do so. We decided not to drive back to UT for his work and Stevenson family party. So we hung out up in Twin for the rest of the week and play (and a little work since Rob still had to do his job.) Eliza was in heaven. I think her and Kennedy played dress up about a million times and didn't go to bed before 10:30 I don't think once. Liberty found a new best friend as well, Kaiden. Wow is he going to be a good big brother!
Well actual Christmas day was crazy and fun. (Photos aren't the best, still working out the kinks of our new video recorder.) The excitement just shined through Eliza's face. She loved the doll that Santa gave to her. It cries and makes sucking sounds when it has its bottle and binki in its mouth. (Later in the day Eliza decided it wanted real water in its bottle...Well it worked it didn't cry anymore. When I told Eliza it was broken, she said "that's OK, mom". I think I was more heart broken then she was. Luckily it revived after a couple of days; I think the water finally dried up.)
Liberty enjoyed herself by ripping paper off her presents, but I'm not sure she really enjoyed many of the gifts until she got home and now she loves to play with them often.
Santa gave Rob a hunting knife which cam in handy for the duck and goose hunting he did while we were there. (How did Santa know that a knife is a gift that all men love?)
Sawyer also got a special gift...A PUPPY! and said, "This is the best Christmas ever!" He is a cute little puppy. Stephanie however, is not sure he will be surviving due to his large tummy. But Bob is sure he will make it. And Rob said later, "Do you understand now the love my family has for those kind of dogs?" Yes honey I do. He was super cute and I like him most of all because he lives outside (there will be no more inside animals for me after those cats peed on my carpet, except maybe a fish since Eliza has saved up her money to buy one, what a push over I am).
Anyways the night finished off with an excellent prime rib dinner at Alicia's and Eric's house. It was a great Christmas and I am so greatful for the McMillen family. They are such loving people and know how to make each other laugh!

Making Ginger Bread Houses

2009-01-09T10:12:00.000-08:00

So I am way behind so I am just catching up on all the fun things we've done this holiday season. During Thanksgiving break we went up to Twin Falls and Eliza made Ginger Bread Houses with Kaiden and Kennedy. It was so much fun and so much mess (I'm not sure how much Grandma appreciated us doing it at her house), but it was fun to have an activity for the kids to do (thanks Grandma for being understanding). The kids needed some help building the houses (which even with our help were still a little unsteady) but they decorated them all by themselves (can anyone say sprinkles!). It was fun.

We also found out that Aunt Brandi is having a baby!

The Champ

2008-12-04T20:35:00.000-08:00

I am happy to announce that after 8 years of higher education Rob has finally brought home an intramural championship...in the 3rd Division of BYU's Men Flag Football league. Rob assures me that this is still quite the accomplishment because the two leagues above him were "basically professionals".
I know that the champion shirt that he received will be worn with pride and will never go to the DI. In fact I even said, "Oh, well you'll have to wear that tomorrow!" and he said "No, not tomorrow, Tuesday. All of us are wearing it on Tuesday." I burst out in laughter at these ridiculous boys.
But seriously I am really excited for Rob. We've been going to all the games and cheering him on. I'm sad I had to miss the championship game (due to a Relief Society fireside).
Congrats Rob. I love ya!

Gratitude for Electricity

2008-11-25T13:26:00.000-08:00

Last night for family night we turned of the electricity to our house to help us have gratitude towards some of the many blessing the Lord gives us such as electricity. This is a long time family tradition in the Stevenson family and I think it is one that we will continue in ours.
I was planning on just not using the lights but when we got home Rob had turned off the power. It was actually a better experience because it kind of got a little colder and it made me even more grateful to have electricity and have a warm home. As a kid I remember having this night and thinking it was really fun, and at the beginning I was thinking this is not quite as fun as a parent. It was rather inconvenient while trying to cook dinner.
But Eliza thought it was the coolest thing ever. She was so excited to have her own flashlight and you could just see the glow of happiness on her face. Liberty wasn't so sure whenever we enetered a darker room she would start to cry. I think she thought she was going to bed. It was a little bit funny.
We had a family home evening lesson on the brother Jared when he goes and has the stones touched by the lord to light up the boats. Then played Uno and had fruit snacks for desert. It really ended up being such a fun night. It was nice to kind of slow down. It felt like camping. I swear too that Eliza has had a better attitude since it. She has kind of been going through a difficult phase of testing out her independence and she was so pleasant last night and this morning. It was a great time and I felt like it brought our family closer. Thanks mom and dad for the great idea.

Family Photos

2008-11-01T17:00:00.000-07:00

So I've been talking about these great photos we got taken a while ago by JTS Photography. I keep wanting to show the fam but keep forgetting to bring them with me, so here you go!
We had a really great time getting them taken. It was so great because his wife came so she totally got the kids to smile while he took great photos. I was so happy because I've been wanting good family photos but feel like everytime we get them taken they don't look good and we can never get one where everybody is looking. I loved that we also got some great candids as well. I hope to blow up the one of Rob and Eliza kissing Liberty and I, really big and hang it in the living room. I'd love to hear what ones are your favorite. There are like 150 so I narrrowed it down to a few of my favorites.

Happy Halloween

2008-11-01T16:20:00.000-07:00

We started out the day by going to Corn Belly's with our good friends the Teemants. Although none of the pictures really show it, Eliza and Maya had the time of their life and we stayed there a little longer than expected. They just played and played and played! Eliza was a little worn out for trick or treating.

Twinners!

The Pumpkin Princess.

Does it get cuter than this?
Eliza was a little sad that she couldn't go trick or treating yet. We were waiting for dad.
But she did take an excellent photo of me while waiting.

The big bad wolf is eating the little pig!

Finally some candy!

The big bad wolf and the three little pigs, at last united!

After Trunk-or-Treating at the church (we by the way are in charge of the activities for the ward right now and think it is a great calling!) we went to one other house, went and grabbed some Wendy's, and then went to Rob's flag football game where he got to play "underneath the lights"!

It was a great Halloween!

Stevenson Halloween Party

2008-11-01T16:03:00.000-07:00

Striped pumpkin and crazy camera guy? Nope just Ted and Sarah without there costumes yet.

Annual Pumpkin Carving. We never revealed the winner, but I'm sure Hannah won.

Lots of Bacon? We're missing the Big Bad Wolf.

Stevenson Star Wars

McCain, Joe the Plumber , and Davey Crocket?

Bacon and Eggs.

Chelsea, you look hot!

P.S. Does anyone know how to fix my pictures? They are looking really grainy and I can't see a way to change the resolution on the pictures.