Christmas 2008

I am not going to color coat this, but Christmas was very hard for me. It didn't feel like Christmas, but I tried really hard. Having to give up most of Christmas day for the girls to spend with their dad was hard for me. I know that is how it has to be and next year will be just as hard, but...... Little Brooklyn doesn't really even know what happened, she kind of just sat there and ate the wrapping paper! That girl...she is the best. Bethanie had so much fun coming down the stairs with the kids and finding out the Santa really did come(after all the adults told her that he didn't). She loved opening her presents and finding out that Santa did get her letter telling him where she was and what she wanted. Seeing how my camera broke a few months ago, we rely on good aunt Nichole. I took some pics with my regular cam, so when I develop those look for the update on the slide show. The girls left at noon and I won't lie, I cried. Here I thought that so far this divorce wasn't bad...well maybe sometimes. But the New Year is approaching and the new things will continue to flow my way. I look back at Christmas and think it isn't about gifts or toys or goodies....It is about the Savior and I am very lucky to have Him and all that he brings to me.

Bethanie and her adult talk!

So.....Bethanie is four going on 24. She is like a little adult. She can carry on a conversation with anybody like she was their age or older. Today she was at a friends house and we were talking about a Brooklyn and how she is a baby....Well Bethiane pipes off and says: "No she is a Human Being!" What four-year-old knows what a human being is....... Bethanie's dad has a aunt and they live in Woods Cross. Well this aunt introduced her to 'coffee creamer', french vanilla to be exact. Well she loves it. Elli(the aunt) adds milk or water to it and Bethanie drinks it up. Well the other day a friend of mine asks Bethanie if she would like some milk with her lunch. Bethanie says "Yes, coffee milk please" My friend Lonni, says 'what!' Well she tells me this and I had to explain to her the whole story. Now we just laugh. I love that kid....she can really brighten up your day. My mom and I have always sung to Bethanie, since she was little, 'You are my Sunshine' and now a days that just sums up that girl. She is my sunshine!!!!

Odds and Ends

Here are some pics~~~odds and ends from cell phone!

Ward Christmas Party!

LOVE ward christmas parties. We had a blast at ours the other night. The kids ran around like the had been given sugar for dinner! The bell people from Bountiful came and did a wonderful job. We had the Nativity done and we had a special guest, SANTA. I truely believe that children's attention span is not very long and by 8:45pm when he arrived...the just ran to him and were so excited. Here are a few pics of our 'eventful' night. I have also added a few of the girls. We just have lots of fun and I can't believe how they are growing. Love you all, thaks for all you do and your support.

Pickles

So we gave Brooklyn a dill pickle on Thanksgiving and she loved it. In fact she got so mad and screamed at me when I took it from her. I gave her another and she dropped it on the floor and that was the end of the story. She screamed for awhile and then realized that she wasn't going to get one back.




We had dinner at my parents house. We haven't done that in a long time. This is the first Thanksgiving together since my dad retired from the military. I am so Thankful that he has retired and that we can be together on the holidays. Family is the best and without mine I am not sure where I would be today.


Dinner, mmmmmmmm it was sure good!!!

I am Thankful for.......

Well I can tell you that mine won't be as long as Nicholes, but here I go.....

I am Thankful for:
~Bethanie
~Brooklyn
~Nichole and allowing me to take over her house
~Danny
~Caitlin
~Emma
~Carter
~Ryleigh
~Heather and her little fam
~Matthew and his little fam
~Paul and his fam
~My AWESOME parents
~Growing up in the Military
~My travels as a kid
~Being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints
~Haveing such great family
~For my Savior
~Great Friends
~Life
~Health and Happiness
~Brooklyn's great smile
~Bethanie's laugh
~Bad days
~Trials
~Having the chance to be a Mom
~My Job


Okay....Tag your it.....Amy, Tiffany, Katie, Ferrol, Jen.....and who ever else.

New Pics!

The song and the pics have no connection, I just like the song!

Crazy!

So call me crazy if you like...it isn't even Thanksgiving and I changed my background to Christmas. Well I decided that while I am online tonight that I better do it before I don't. Besides I have to celebrate with red because of the AWESOME game on Saturday....GO UTES! Things have once again been crazy....I am out of school on Wednesday so I will place a new slide show of the girls so you all can see how big they are getting. Brooklyn was at PCMC again on Friday morning. She has Croup again...lovely for me. Good thing it was on a weekend and school was out for SEPs. She is better, but still has a head cold. That was a crazy night. I got up at 5:30 that morning, went to work, had a little nap, went to Twilight at midnight, and then to PCMC at 3:15am. I was going on 24 hrs of no sleep. Good thing for sisters. I got to sleep when Brooklyn slept and Bethaine was able to run around with kids and Nichole watched over. Thanks A Million Sis! Twilight was awesome and I could see it over and over and over again. I have only read the book once and am almost done with Eclipse. I can't wait to re-read Twilight, I hope I get more out of it this time. Well at least really pay attention to it. I think when you read books for the first time you just read to get through it, so next time I will take my time.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

So I decided that I better blog something before you all think I fell off the face of the earth. I can't beleive how busy I have been lately. I never thought that getting a divorce and having to go back to work would give me no time for myself. I get up, get ready for the day, get the girls ready, take them to the sitter's house(my mom now), head off to work, go get the girls, go home and then try to do the 'motherly' things(laundry, getting dinner, cleaning, spending time with the girls, etc). It may sound like I am complaining, but I am not. I love work and the girls love my mom and being with. It was great for us to go out to Heather's house the last three weeks, Bethanie has loved being with Jackson. Big thanks to Heather for taking them, LOL (to me that is lots of love)!!!! The girls are great! Brooklyn has two teeth coming in. I took a look before I put her to bed and they are almost all the way through. The weekend was horrible, she was in a lot of pain!! I can't even imagine what it feels like, but Nichole can; just ask her!!! Bethanie is great, she loves being with her cousins. She just fits right in here, she takes off her coat and leaves it on the frontroom floor just like the rest of the kids!!!! Since I forgot to put pics in of Halloween take a look at the show:

One thing to say.......

I just have one thing to say today and that is....

GO UTES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We kicked some butt last night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No more camera!

So I took pics yesterday of Bethanie at a Halloween party. She had soo much fun. They had games and a cake walk and even bob for apples. It was a good time. Well we get home and I am taking the stuff in and I dropped my camera! Didn't think anything of it and put it in my purse. Well I went to go take a pic this morning of Brooklyn sleeping and turned on the camera and died. The screen that you face at the thing or item your going to take a pic was completly white with a few black cracks though it! So these are pobably the last few pic you will see from me until I get it fixed or a new one. And I don't have a money tree so that may be a long time!!!

Venting!

So I never wanted this blog to be a place to be rude to someone or to through out all my probs or to gossip or to do whatever but talk about my girls and my life. Yes the is a but. I need to vent my thoughts before I explode! I am having the worst time being alone. I have a hard time thinking that I am going to be alone for the rest of my life. I know that I have fam and all that, but..........Wouldn't it be nice to have someone who totally loves you with all their HEART and has you placed on a silver platter? Now don't get me wrong, I would rather be dead then be with PJ, but that fear of being alone is in my mine. I look at other couples and see the love that they have for their spouse, and I wonder what happened? I don't feel like I ever had that, well maybe the first year or so. And to think I stayed for 6 years after that. I love my girls and would never trade them for anything. They are the best thing I got out of those eight years. I hope that I will learn from this and realize that I will NOT give up myself and my needs. someone once told me "in order to love someone else you must first love your self!" I believe that is true and trust me that is what I am doing. Putting myself first this time!!! I look at all I have had to give up for this divorce; my friends, my great ward, Bethanie's dance and her BF, Nat, the opp to work at home, my health insurance, and I wonder what else is going to go bad..................but then reality hits me. I love my new job, Bethanie has good friends, the ward here is great (besides we don't go to church for friends or socialization) and Bethanie can go to dance anywhere. Life is good and the Lord has made everything just fall into place and I am going to cling onto that forever!!!

Life is just not fair, according to Bethanie!

So tonight, Caitlin had some friends over to hang out. Well they decided to go jump on the tramp and Bethanie wanted to join. Well................that is kind of hard when they are all so big and jump really high. Bethanie doesn't understand that she could get hurt and that is why life isn't fair! Just look at the pics of her patiently waiting for her turn and then finally getting really upset.

That face! Can you believe it. It is so hard to be four!!!!!

Still waiting!!!!

Ok, I give up.

Well, Bethanie decided not to wait anymore. She gave in. It is so difficult for her to understand. She so wants to be 12 and a grown up. Give it time is what I tell her. Don't grow up too fast, life has just begun for you.

Family

Let me jsut say I have the best family. This time last year my sister, Heather, was expecting. I was expecting and my sister-in-law (Kat) found out that they were expecting. Oh my heck! It was great. Three women in the same fam pregnant. Well Addiosn Scoot was born February 28th, Brooklyn was born April 24th, and finally Zoe was born June 29th. So pretty much they are all twomonths apart. Tonight we had dinner at my sister Nichole's house. Addi and Brookie were on the floor playing. Addi now sits by herself and is crawling and Brookie just lays and rolls around.
This is Addison. Eight months old. Ithink she looks like a Cupie(if that is how you spell the word) Doll.
Of course, here is Brooklyn. Six months old. That girl..............what a wonderful baby. We have not had her relfux medicine for a few days and let me tell you she has been very upset. Even without it, she is pretty good to handle. My little sis had some of the med that Brooklyn takes and brought us out some. About a half hour after I gave Brooklyn some, she was as content as could be. Thank goodness for fam. Not having a job that pays every other week is hard. Now I can wait for payday and then fill Brooklyn's rx. Your a lifesaver sis, thanks!


Now Zoe is in this pic, it might be hard to see her, but she is there. She is four months soon and is jsut a doll. She looked so cute in her Boston Red Sox outfit.

I hope that these girls will be close friends and cousins. I love the fact that Bethanie and Jackson were born so close together. I see what good friends they are and am thankful that they have had each other to play with. Watching Jackson, when Heather was working was great for Bethanie. They have and still are great friends. We love you all so much. I know I have said this a thousand times and I will probably say it a thousand times more but..........Thank You all for all that you have done for me and my girls. Going thru a divorce is not as easy as it looks, but I have been blessed by the Lord and it has been pretty easy thus far. We have hit some bumps in the road, but with the help of our Heavenly Father and our Savior we got through them and will be able to get through anything.

She did it!!!

So when we moved into my sister's house and since the day Bethanie got a big bed, we have had big problems with her staying in her own bed. She would come into my room and want to sleep in my bed. Well that really doesn't work for me, I don't sleep and she does! Go figure. So when we moved into Nichole's house I made Bethanie a kiss promise that if she could stay in her own bed for so many days, I would take her to Build -a-Bear and she could make a animal. Well She Did It!!!!!! So yesterday I took her to Build-a-Bear and she got her animal. We had so much fun stuffing, bathing, and dressing her TURTLE. She named her turtle Crush like the turtle off of Finding Nemo, even though crush is a boy in the movie! This Crush is a girl and Bethanie loves the fact that she got Crush and now we all call her a BIG GIRL for sleeping and staying in her own bed!!!! Take a look at the pics! Love you all and thanks for all your help!

The pumpkin patch!

So we deiced to hit the pumpkin patch tonight and boy did we have fun. I thought it was going to be cold, but as the sun set it was actually warm. We went to the Mabey Pumpkin Patch in South Jordan. These people have a great view of the Jordan River Temple. Anyway, we got our pumpkins and took some pics. I thought I would share 'em. Have a great and safe Halloween to all.

Things that you give up!

I was trying to get Bethanie to bed this evening before the Season Premiere of Eli Stone on ABC. We got to bed at 8:25 and Bethanie says to me, "Mom, I am hungry!" So off to the kitchen we went to get some cereal or what Bethaine calls a 'Bedtime Snack' As we ate and then had fam prayer with my sis and her fam, 9:00 came fast. As I went down the stairs to get Bethanie to bed, my sister says "Oh, the things we give up for our kids!" It really mad me think.....Do we as mothers and wives really do give up the things we like for our families. Now some of you may say, 'Well, you chose to be a mom, so there ya go', but I feel differ. Yes I became a mother and a wife, but do I have to loose myself too. Well I say no. I look at the past few years of my life and wonder, Did I let myself and what I want go? Maybe, but now I am going to get that or whatever I feel I lost back. I have started working. Yes it may not be by choice, but I don't think I would change it for nothing. I love doing what I do and no I don't feel bad that my kids have to go to the sitter. I went to college to teach and I feel that this is the closest I may ever get to teaching. I look at my sister, Nichole, (sorry to use u as a example) but I see how she has changed now that her children are a lot older than mine and pray that I can be like her. She has this attitude of What about me and my needs. She is a great mother and she loves her kid to death, but she is right. We put our kids first before ourselves, for whatever the reason, for so long and sometime in life we need to get that back. Good Job sis, way to set the bar!!! Now I am not saying that she doesn't care for her kids or that they are a problem, but she puts herself first too. So the next time you want to buy that shirt or you next 'Sex in the City' outfit, go for it and don't look back!!!

(This is a pic of my sister Nichole in Las Vegas at some Elvis wall. She loves Elvis)

Update

So I decided to give Brooklyn some bangs. I had a hard time deciding to leave her hair or cut it. Well the bangs won!! My niece's and I decided to pull up the middle and this is what we got. Her new nickname is Bebbles. She is getting so big and I can't believe how fast the time is going. She is now on two stage one baby foods a day and is drinking 8oz. bottles, Bethanie never took a 8oz bottle. She now weighs 14 lbs and 11 oz. She is 25 inches long and still growing. She is in the 50 % of her height, weight, and head circumference. I am such a lucky mom. To have two great, beautiful, and wonderful girls. Bethanie is doing so good. She is learning her ABC's and her name. She is a smart kid and I can not believe that she will go to Kindergarten next year. WOW!! I have decided that the girls are so have such close fam. Bethaine and Ryleigh are like sisters and that means a lot to me. The kids love the girls and sometimes if not most of the time get in trouble because they like to be around the girls then do what Nichole and Danny ask... Sorry! I am so blessed to be with my sister and her fam. I thank my Heavenly Father everyday for the sacrifice they have made for me and my fam. My fam has been so supportive and great through the whole process. I am blessed to have such a close fam..."You mess with me, You mess with the whole damn fam." Thank you all for your support and willingness to help me and my girls. I love you all tons. I put up the jumper roo for Brooklyn and she like it but she really didn't know what to do with it so I put it back in the garage. I took pics and a video when she was in it, it was funny for us to see her in it. My little Bebbles! Brooklyn also has this thing with putting a blanket over her head when she wants to go to sleep. So I put her under her gym to play and she fell asleep. Well she pulled the blanket over her head. It really makes me nervous.....I think she might smother herself, but she doesn't. I guess that main thing is that she goes to sleep and when I know she is sound asleep, I go and take it off her face. That silly girl!

Changed My Mind!!!

Ya know lately I can't make up my mind. I am not sure what I want this blog to look like and I finally decided to leave it with one background. So I spent the last 35 minutes looking for one I really liked and here it is................................

Today was ruff and I don't think I will go into details, but Iam so thankful for my fam. and our Heavenly Father. What a great thing it is to be able to get on my knees and talk to him like he is right next to me! I know that whatever I tell him or ask him he listens. I love the poem Footsteps, a lot of the times I feel that way. What a comfort he is and I am blessed to have that!

My Bethanie

So.....today was my first day back to a full day of work since May 2004. The day went great, but Bethanie told me as we were getting ready to go that mom's don't work. Well I told that some moms do and that is okay. Well she then proceeded to tell me that I was a mean mom for going to work.....................Great!!!! How do you tell your four-year-old daughter that you have stayed home all her life that you have to do this, mom doesn't have a choice! I try to explain things to Bethaine as plain and simple as I possibly can, but she is a very smart kid and knows what she knows! I love her to death and really hate to see her upset. Well once we got to her Grandma Marlene's house (she has a daycare in her home and is letting me bring the girls) she was just fine! I cried as I left and got hateful for a few minutes, but after being at work and seeing that someone else may have it worse than I, I got over it! I know that the past few weeks have been hard on the girls, especially Bethanie but I've said it once and I will say it again....I know with all that I have that what PJ and I have done is the right thing. Why live like that? I am happy and very content with the decision I have made...it is all up hill from here!

Tag~five things that u may not know about me!

So my sister Nichole tagged me with this 'five things you don't know about me'! Well this may be very hard for me but I will give it a try.......................


1. I was Freshman Attendant for Homecoming when I went to Mesa State College in Grand Junction Colorado. I was the coolest experience that I ever had in college. I had never been that popular, well so I thought. I think the only reason I was nominated and won was because all the home coming committee was in my institute classes and we were all good Friends and they decided to nominate me and them tell me they did after I won!

2. I love High School Musical!

3. My favorite movie is Last of the Mohican's.

4. I have lived all over the United States and can say that I would not of changed it for nothing. My fav places was probably Iowa. I went from JR. 9th grade to High school 9th grade. Scary! I really remember being in Des Monies and all my friends at high school and church (Katie Helt, Jared Griffen, Jeff Foster, Arianne Chatterly, Kristen Smith, and the Kristen my sister through up against the wall because she said something about me in the bathroom.) I remember the winters and how cold they were and the summers and how humid they were. My high school looked like a prison. I went from Pennsylvania as a majority to Iowa as a minority! I played church ball and loved to watch the Boys play ball (only cause I was in love with my seminary teacher, Janet McCoy's son. Which I never missed seminary because he was there). I got ejected from a b-ball game because I threw a girl into the wall. I visited Nauvoo for the first time. Hit puberty and got contacts(those coke bottle glasses had to go) Tried out for drill team and got turned down even though the girl I tried out with fell and gave up and I had to do it with another person. I lettered academically for the first time and had a big ceremony. Got my drivers license, but could not drive to school (of course I moved right after) TP with a lot of church friends and got caught. I was told I had really big cafe muscles by Jared Griffen........I am sure I could go on, but I won't bore you.

5. My ultimate dream would be to be an interpreter for the Deaf.




Tag your it: Amy, Tiffany, Katie, and whoever else want to share!

Follower

So maybe I am a follower not a leader. I was looking at my fam and friends blog and saw two things on two differ blogs and though y not. I loved the Christmas Countdown off of my friend Tiffany and had to download the widget. I come from a family that was raised on big celebrations when it came time to the holidays. So......I then went to my sister Heather's blog and saw that she changed her background for the season or current month/holiday. So I thought y not. They have all differ kinds of backgrounds for all differ occasions, so y not. I felt like using the witchy one, because one I love the color purple and two I like witches (I think I might of even been called that a time or two). Thanks for all your great ideas and thanks for letting me be the follower in this blogging world.

LOL

Sorry!

Hey Tiff, I just had to have the same countdown.....My fam and I totally love Christmas. Hope u don't mind.

How Many???

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 9 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Brooklyn at five months!

I can not believe that she is 5 months old..............boy time flies by faster than you know.