Miller Family Memories

Park Days

2011-11-04T16:20:00.000-07:00

We had to utilize the beautiful weather!

Jocelynn is just now understanding

much fun the park can be....

Especially because mommy goes

down the slides with her.

This new park in Clovis is very nice, but all the slides

are pretty big for a one year old.

We had a good time together though.

I went with some friends,

and while at the park, another friend

from church was there.

Her daughter was sweet enough to take

Jocelynn on the slide a couple

times while I took some pictures.

Jocelynn was in LOVE with this tunnel...

too cute!

Not to mention it was a 90 degree day

on October 14th... lol.

We enjoyed the extended summer!

Jocelynn got some rosey cheeks,

which takes after her momma!

And I took the pictures to show

how dirty her little hand was! eww!

And then this week on Wednesday,

while the weather was still nice,

I met up with some friends

at a different park, which was well suited

for all ages!

Jocelynn loved the swing...

She was little miss dare devil,

leaning forward in it,

just about freaked me out

because she looked like she could fall out!

And the bike racks were

pretty fun to play around too...

silly girl!

I enjoy my days off with this girly.

Don't tell dad...but we really don't get much

done around the house.

I love playing and laughing with

our silly little bundle of joy!

Words!

2011-11-02T20:53:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the poor lighting....

but the other night,

when dressed up for halloween,

we managed to capture a little bit

of Jocelynn's "words" :)

Enjoy!

More cheesy smiles!

2011-10-28T11:17:00.000-07:00

I love her cute teeth in these pictures!

She now has all four front teeth on top,

and three teeth on bottom with the

fourth front one just popping through.

Jocelynn is starting to speak more...

she says parts of words,

most recently "sh" for shoes,

"nana" for bananas,

"puh" for puppies,

"bah" for ball,

"ba"-ish for birds,

and of course, mama and dada.

Her walking has turned into

attempted running at times.

She goes as fast as her chunky legs

will take her.

Hopefully some more videos coming soon...

Silly girl!

2011-10-22T15:47:00.000-07:00

These are some favorite pictures

because they capture that pure sillyness

of Jocelynn.

We love her dimple, and her

cheesy smiley faces she makes.

ONE year picture surprise!

2011-10-18T21:47:00.001-07:00

For Jocelynn's birthday,

Meghann and Emy surprised us with a gift as well.

They had Kilean take some adoreable pictures!

I am so excited they did this for us,

and I am glad Kilean was able to catch her cuteness.

So many favorites....

so I thought each day I would post a few.

I love this pictures because...

you can see all of her cute teeth so far!

You can also see her cute chubby fingers,

with the adoreable little nuckle dimples.

I love her little flippy curls around her ears,

and that face is just one of my favorites!

Jocelynn makes me smile every day.

She is such a happy girl!

Happy baby=Happy mommy!

I feel so lucky to get to snuggle and play

with her everyday.

She is such a joy!!!

1 year old!

2011-10-14T15:35:00.000-07:00

Our baby girl is ONE!!!

Yes.... last week on the 4th.

So exciting!

Here she is 1 year ago....

Here she is a day after turning one....

(our little girlie girl loves her purse around her neck...)

Jocelynn's ONE year stats:

25 lbs

30 inches

This girl is definitely up there in the percentiles...

She is seriously such a joy to have!

Jocelynn is happy, chatty,

silly, makes cheesy faces,

gives great kisses,

loves making loud noises,

loves walking around with her dolls,

loves all her family so much,

waves so cute, loves wearing shoes,

loves being outdoors,

loves eating,

and is just all around adoreable!

For her birthday we celebrated

by having family come over to join us in some fun!

We had lunch, and some treats of course,

This was my attempt at cake balls...

they turned out decent enough.

and cupcakes were a must have....

The Freeman family tradition of streamers on

your bedroom door birthday morning

Jocelynn figured out the gift unwrapping pretty well

Lots of new clothes to wear,

toys to play with and books to read!

Lots of fun is very exhausting....

then we had to enjoy some birthday cake, right?!

Someone loved being the center of attention.... :)

silly girl tried picking up her cake.

Daddy helped her dig in

all in all, she was not a fan of getting

the frosting on her fingers.

We did give her a bite though to try

out some cake for the first time.

Then some bubbles....

It was quite a fun day! Thank you

great grandmas, grandparents,

aunts and uncles for joining the fun!

Here is a quick video of her new walking skills.

She became a completely independent walker

about 2 weeks before she turned ONE.

Now she's a pro!

she has another little trick too... check out the video.

9 months old!

2011-07-06T20:08:00.000-07:00

Jocelynn turned 9 months old

on the 4th of July!

WOW!

She now weighs in at 22lbs 1 oz

26 3/4 inches tall

She is our SUNSHINE!

She is a doll to have around,

so happy and smiley all the time!

Here she is at 9 months old!

8 months old!

2011-06-03T17:27:00.000-07:00

Our cutie pie is almost 8 months old!

wow!

She has reached many milestones.

She eats everything we've given her so far,

makes faces still when eating green beans.

She claps her hands very well,

waves a lot,

and we're workin' on the high five.

Jocelynn is very happy and content.

She is pretty chill, and shares lots of smiles.

Jocelynn loves all her family very much.

She is a little monkey too.

Crawling like crazy,

pulling up on everything,

getting down after pulling up

(glad she learned that quickly),

likes kicking her feet in the air,

I think she's preparing for swim season.

She gets quite excited when she sees the dogs,

and my parents cat.

She loves saying "bah-bah",

and whistles with her little "o" face.

Jocelynn is still a chunky little thing,

and we love kissin' all over her rolls!

We feel so blessed to have her in our lives.

Here's to my own little photoshoot today...

lol. Obviously not a professional.

(mom are you still taking pictures??)

6 months!

2011-04-05T21:59:00.000-07:00

Well, it's already that time!

Jocelynn is 6 months old.

On the exact day- April 4th,

Jocelynn made her first crawling moves.

Usually she pushes backwards,

but now she has figured out

how to move her arms

and go forward!

It's so amazing to watch her grow,

everyday I think she gets more cute!

Tomorrow is her Doctors appointment

for 6 month shots,

so I will update the stats then...

There's a good chance this girl is

almost 20 lbs, she is just growing

growing and growing!

For now...

some pictures from the last month

At the 5 month mark,

Jocelynn perfected sitting up.

She rarely falls over,

and is very content sitting and playing.

I loved this in between pictures

face that I happened to capture...

too funny.

Playing with my friend Leighann's son, Adam.

He is 8 months older than she is.

yup...flirting already by pulling that hair.

or just cause she loves hair...lol.

Happy St. Patty's day...

Hello spring time...

Smiles with mom and dad!

This face really shows off those cheeks...

lol, so kissable!

Still adoreable when sleeping...

love the rollie arms!

Now that she's 6 months,

the eating solids fun begins!

More pictures or her

being 6 months old to come....

Our Smiley Girl

2011-02-23T09:27:00.000-08:00

Jocelynn is full of giggles!

I am lovin' each day more and more!

I think the gramma's are too.

It's been harder to go to work,

because she is doing so much now,

but I'm glad it gives the grammas

something to enjoy in between them working.

The other day I finally started putting

some nails in the wall.

I keep waiting for Alex to help me,

so they can be perfectly hung,

and then I thought, who cares.

No one but me will notice the imperfections...

so I just went for it!

My cousin Felicity,

painted this specially for

Jocelynn.

I love how she incorporated the colors,

and butterfly!

It looks so good above her crib!

Here are some recent smiles...

This is her talking to me...

She can already roll her tongue...

impressive!

almost sitting up all by herself...

she was kind of tipping when I took the pic.

Loves the toesies!

I love those BIG cheeks!

So fun!

Growing Growing!

2011-02-07T15:06:00.000-08:00

Last month was quite an adventure.

Jocelynn and I were sick from

Christmas until about mid-january.

That was no fun for either of us,

and Alex who ended up sick too.

We went to the doctor and thankfully

just a virus to fight off, no infections.

Finally all the runny noses

and coughing went away.

I started reading a book called,

"On Becoming Babywise".

People had recommended it,

and I wish I would have listened sooner.

Donna ordered me the book,

since Jocelynn still wasn't

sleeping through the night at 3 months.

Of course, now she is 4 months,

and still not sleeping through the night,

but we are much improved with our

bedtime, and daily routine.

So I am happy.

Eventually we will get that

full 8+ hoursof sleep all in a row,

as for now,

I'm surviving on my 5 hour increments.

Jocelynn has such a cute personality developing.

When she is well rested,

she is quite the happy girl.

I love finding ways to make her laugh,

especially kissing all over her!

She is rolling over more,

but at times forget she knows how,

so I have to practice showing her.

The Grandma's are loving their days

of watching her, and the aunts too.

Its been a huge help having them take care

of Jocelynn now that I'm back at work.

The ladies I work with have helped

make going back to work enjoyable.

Since I work with all ladies,

I feel like all day we talk about babies,

when we're not talking dental stuff.

I also am allowed time to pump at work,

so Jocelynn can have the best food for her body.

I hope I can keep it up,

pumping gets very old,

but I know its good for our girl.

Recently I have been trying to go for more walks.

The poor puppies have been quite neglected

the last few months.

It's crazy trying to push a stroller

and walk 2 out of control dogs,

so I end up taking 1 at a time.

Jocelynn seems to enjoy the walks too,

even when it turns into a little jog.

I can't wait for it to warm up some more

so we can really enjoy the walks!

Last week we had our check up

so heres the growing stats:

4 months

15 lbs. 4 oz.

25 1/2 inches

now for pictures of this cutie!!!

enjoying a magazine with dad. lol.

Grandma Miller has been at work

with her yarn this winter...

some adoreable bathtime,

tough cleaning all those rolls...lol.

I love my rollie pollie!

One of Jocelynn's favorite toys...

the elephant that sings!

You can do it over 20 times in a row

and she coos and "sings" with it

EVERYTIME!

an outfit from Great Grandpa Henriksen...

so we had to do a little photoshot

to send him some pictures of her.

Getting bundled and ready for the sunshine

on our walks!

Our big girl yesterday before church

with her daddy.

and of course a picture with mommy too!

At church yesterday,

the most adoreable moment.

During the closing hymn of relief society,

sweet little Jocelynn started

singing along with us.

It was so cute!

She was just cooing with

all us singing sisters.

At bedtime I sing Jocelynn

a goodnight song,

and recently she has been

"singing" along with me.

Its so precious.

I think someday she is really

going to enjoy singing.

So there is our update more January....

hopefully I stay more on top of it this year...

but isn't that what we always say? lol.

yeah...i know...

2011-01-08T14:32:00.000-08:00

Believe me, I am taking tons of pictures...

There is no point in trying

to catch up on the last few months,

so lets just start with today.

I can't believe our little

Jocelynn is already

3 months old!

wow!

Yesterday I decided to do

my own photoshoot,

so here's our cutie pie!

Our Precious Jocelynn!

2010-10-30T17:09:00.000-07:00

Be ready for a picture overload!

With Jocelynn being our first little baby,

we have taken pictures almost everyday!

So here we go!

I did some maternity pics with my friend Kresta.

This was one of my favs...

This is me the day before she was born...

I was ready to pop!

Here we are at the hospital...

still smiling between contractions!

So I was due Wed, Sept. 29th...

started having contractions on Friday the 1st,

I thought for sure she would come on Saturday...

but nope.

I was originally scheduled to be induced

Sunday the 3rd, if she hadn't already come.

On Friday, the Dr. called and informed me

the main water line broke

at Clovis Community Hospital, and they

cancelled inductions for the weekend...

So we had to change the induction

Monday the 4th at 6:30 AM

Well,

Monday the 4th at 3:30 AM,

I woke up to use the restroom,

and thought possibly my water had broken...

but didn't know for sure.

As I got back in bed I noticed my contractions

were a little more uncomfortable

than they had been Friday.

Of course I couldn't fall back to sleep

because of the discomfort.

So around 5, I took my shower and started

getting ready to go.

At 6:30, Alex and I headed to the hospital.

My mom met us there.

When I checked in,

I said I was there for an induction...

but I was probably in labor already.

So we got settled in our room,

my Dr. came and checked me.

Sure enough my water was broken,

so he suggested some walking and seeing if we

could get things moving on their own.

I liked this idea very much!

I was progressing...

about 1/2cm each hour...

it felt like it was taking way too long though!

I had a lot of back labor,

and decided if it was moving so slowly,

I'd rather be comfortable.

Around 11:30 I got an epidural.

Thank goodness for that!

By 2:00 I was dilated 6cm,

and thought to myself-

will I ever reach 10?!

Around 4, I was really

getting uncomfortable again,

and had the nurse check me,

all of a sudden she says,

lets call the Dr., you are ready to go!

So that last couple cm's really flew by!

My mom, mom-in-law Donna, and Alex

were all there to support me

until our baby arrived.

At 5:40 PM, 8 lbs 5 oz,

Jocelynn Erin Miller

came into the world!

Now for all the fun pictures...

Daddy has already fallen in love

with our precious little girl!

Uncle Matt and Aunt Terra

were some of the first to meet her!

Grandma Miller is pretty excited!

Aunt Wendy...

Grandma Freeman.... also VERY excited!

Here she is on the 8th right before we brought

her home. She had to stay a couple extra days,

which made me sad, but glad she was taken care of.

The wonderful ladies in the nursery took good care of her,

they stuck a little bow on her head for her homecoming too!

She looks so tiny in the carseat...

I love holding this girl!

She is so content

and very sweet!

Aunt Emily

Aunt Meghann and Uncle Emy

Great Grandma Findlay

Aunt Katy

Uncle Tyson

Uncle Tyson's girlfriend Suzi

We were so excited for the opportunity to have

five generations in one room!

Here is Great Great Grandma Henriksen

she held Jocelynn for almost 2 hours!

What a special moment it was!

Also pictured is Jocelynn's Great Grandpa Henriksen

With Grandpa Miller...aka Sir.

First little nap in her crib...

First Bathtime!

Our little rollie pollie...

We are so in love with Jocelynn!

We feel blessed that she is healthy and strong!

It was been more than we ever could have asked for!

This coming Monday she will already be 4 weeks old!

Wow! I can't wait for all the coming months

and watching her grow!

She is a precious daughter of Heavenly Father,

and we feel so so blessed!!!

Baby has arrived!

2010-10-08T06:56:00.000-07:00

Jocelynn Erin Miller has arrived!

Monday 10/4/10

5:40 PM

8 lbs 5 oz

Absolutely adoreable and sweet as can be!

Today I am bringing her home from the hospital!

During delievery I spiked a fever,

therefore the Dr. put us both on IV- antibiotics,

which mean't staying in the hospital a little longer

than we expected. Fever went away,

and Jocelynn never actually presented

with a fever herself,

but they had to culture some blood

samples to make sure neither of us had an infection.

We had to patiently wait at least 48 hours,

obviously its been longer than that,

and no infection has shown.

It's good to be precautious, so I was okay

with her staying in the hospital just a little longer.

I am glad everything turned out for the best!

Now this morning I am bringing her home!

Pictures and more to come!...

Pregnancy Updates

2010-09-15T22:34:00.001-07:00

So far things are still going well.

As of today, I have less than 2 weeks to go.

The 28th will be here before we know it,

give or take some days until our baby

is ready to come!

We are officially ready now,

whenever she is!

So here's the latest pictures....

First of all,

Alex and I with Jason

before he left for his mission.

North Carolina is loving this boy already!

I am bummed he won't see our little girl

until she is almost 2 years old,

but hopefully we have many more kids to come!

34 weeks....

35 weeks...

36 weeks....

37 weeks....

just as of yesterday I am at 38 weeks!

No picture of that yet...

Today though, with the help of Donna,

the baby room definitely looks more like a baby room!

The dark wall, it's hard to tell in the picture,

but it's purple.

This is our crib and adoreable bedding set!

(Thank you craigslist for the great deals...)

The wonderful glider that I got at a yardsale,

in excellent condition!

Our cute basket holder, that Donna

put together for all those

baby items!

The lovely dresser that the Brunsviks gave me,

we painted it white, and put new knobs on it,

looks brand new! Love it!

The cute bench that we are "baby sitting"

since the Miller's don't currently have a spot

for it in their house.

Also notice the cute bows hanging on the door...

looking forward to dressing her up!

As well as the lovely swing

my cousin is letting me borrow.

I'm sure it will end up in the living room getting

used very often!

All I need to do now is finish some things up!

I have a cute lightswitch cover and some wall

stickers to add that will finish off

the cute look of the room!

I can hardly wait now!

Belly growing still!

2010-08-13T10:49:00.000-07:00

Here I am at 31 weeks...

32 weeks....

today at 33 weeks...

All is still well!

Getting a little more on the tired side,

but I think that is normal in the 8th month.

It is so fun feeling

our baby girl move around.

I am absolutely enjoying

the experience of being pregnant!

Home Projects- Fence

2010-07-29T18:26:00.001-07:00

Suprisingly, I have yet to post much about our home.

Perhaps this is because all the projects we have

started are incomplete...!

Sad, but true!

Now, we have finished a few, so I shouldn't

exaggerate too much... Just sometimes it feels

like there is still sooo much to do!

So randomly, here is one project we have done.

Its technically not finished,

but almost, so I'm posting anyways...

We have a lovely RV gate access side yard,

which hopefully will get some good

use over the years.

The only problem was the fence to the side yard...

was not much of a fence.

Every time we opened it,

it seemed to be getting worse and worse.

A few times we thought the wind

would blow it down for sure!

Since we got the puppies,

and for peace of mind... we knew

it was a fence that needed replacing.

I am glad to have married a man

who is willing to save some dollars

and try a new project!

Now, there is no way this could have been

done without the help of his dad.

I got to escape for the day and go

shopping with Donna, while the men

did all the work!

It was nice!

So here we go...

I wish the before pictures could truely grasp

how bad this fence was...

It was caving in pretty bad...

not to mention the miss matched wood,

as someone tried to patch it up over the years...

yikes, right?

The men hard at work....

we bought these metal,

do it yourself type framing work...

which seems to be doing pretty well so far.

The beautiful results!...

The part I did get to help with...

staining the wood.

This is still where the project is left at.

Eventually I will get around to staining the rest of the fence.

From the street it looks done,

so thats all that matters for now!

Like I said...each project has some minor

details for finish it up...

As for now though, I absolutely love our fence!

Now it feels more secure,

looks 100 times better,

and shows what an awesome husband I have...;)

Belly Show!

2010-07-22T17:40:00.000-07:00

Well....

Here I am at 30 weeks,

and finally posting some belly pictures!

It is quite obvious that I am pregnant,

and it's been fun looking back at the pictures

watching as I grow!

I have been taking a picture

each week to watch the progress.

As a background,

I took my first pregnancy test on Feb. 26th,

after my second missed cycle.

Alex's Birthday morning surprise was a positive test!

I called within the next few days to make an

appointment with the doctor,

they could get me in on April 23rd.

It seemed like quite some time to wait,

but I figured that would be fine.

Alex preferred that we waited until after

we had seen the doctor to tell our family.

Come, April 23rd, we got to hear the heartbeat.

We were so excited!

Then the Doctor let us know how far along we were...

to our surprise we were 17 weeks along!

I didn't realize we were that far already,

which mean't I was already done with one trimester!

Then on the 24th of April is when we had

the get together at our house and announced it

to our families.

Each day has been tons of fun since then.

I feel so blessed to have such a great pregnancy so far!

Now the slideshow can begin...

First of all, this picture is from April 16th,

at Dan and Candice's Wedding.

No one knew we were pregnant yet...

When we were taking some pictures,

Wendy was being silly and wrapped her arm around

my tummy so it would look funny in the picture.

Little did she know there was a baby in there!

Here was go starting at 18 weeks...

19 weeks

21 weeks

22 weeks

23 weeks

24 weeks

25 weeks

26 weeks

27 weeks

wearing my Eclipse shirt....:)

28 weeks

29 weeks

And here I am today at 30 weeks!

To me, these last two weeks have been the biggest change.

I am definitely feeling this belly popping out!

Like I said, i feel so blessed that things have gone well.

It is tons of fun feeling a baby move

inside, nothing like I've experienced before!

I hope things continue on this well!

PUPPIES!

2010-06-02T17:50:00.000-07:00

Yup...finally getting around to posting about our puppy adventure.

My apologizes in advance...there were 6 of them,

they grow a lot....which means lots of pictures!

So the search began by looking for ONE puppy.

We came home with...SIX!

Long story, because seriously, who does that?

Well...we were at the SPCA, looking around,

feeling sad for all the dogs and puppies without homes.

Its really depressing going there.

Well, we came across a kennel that had 6 puppies in it.

When we inquired,we found out

the puppies weren't old enough to be adopted,

they were only 6-7 weeks old.

Also, the SPCA is so full, they are really limited on space.

Well, these puppies needed to be fostered for 2 weeks,

or else they would have to be put down...

Well come on, look how cute they were!

Not to mention...they were very sleepy when we saw them.

So Alex and I talked it over,

and decided how hard could 2 weeks be?

Little did we know...

What an experience!

Words can't describe what it was like.

We both feel it was definitely worth it though!

So here are tons of pictures of our fun puppies!

In the end, we ended up adopting 2 to keep,

and they have a blast together.

It was a hard decision because we really fell in love

with most of them!

So watch them grow in these pictures...its been fun!

So this is all the puppies when we first

brought them home...very smelly I must say...

so first thing we did was bathe them all!

Also...the SPCA says they are probably a shepherd mix...

Wendy came over lots, as did all the family

to enjoy cuddle time and play time with the pups.

This is me with "Cracker"...

the lovely name Alex picked out...

As you can see...it looks like they had never eaten in their life!

Feeding time was, and still is...NUTS!

This is Bella...so cute!!!

There's cute little Cracker again...

This is all of them drinking...

which was also funny.

If one got up to drink water, no matter what,

the rest of them all the need to gather round as well.

( they were all found together....

as you can see, there must have been many different daddies,

or something...)

These 2 weeks we got probably the least amount of sleep

we've ever had...It was about 5:30 AM in this picture

if I recall it right.

They loved running around and making noise,

and then when we would come out because we couldn't

sleep...they would all love to cuddle up on us.

This is Han...like Han Solo from Star Wars...

he loved playing the most...

even if he was by himself.

(Obviously Alex named him too)

This is Snickers...

probably the prettiest of them all,

great colors of fur...but she was also

the noisest...yapping at night.

One reason we didn't choose her.

Bella again...

Can't get enough of that puppy face! She was always

so adoreable looking!

Little Cracker again...

This is BOO... all black, with a little white chin and nose.

Probably our favorite from day 1...

loves to cuddle, play, and is pretty chill.

My favorite thing about having all 6 puppies was when

they would all just pile on to cuddle....

Boo and Cracker little buddies....

He still puts his arm on him like that.

They were so tiny!!!...Boo was about 4 lbs...one of the smallest.

Seriously a precious face, right?!

They all just loved being all over eachother all the time...

Snickers again...

One of my favorite pictures...

Bella, Jenna, Cracker, Snickers, and Boo...

All squished together again...

Han...always photogenic...

Bella and Jenna...

They would seriously cuddle all together on and

where ever they could...

One time...we weren't sure if they were eating enough,

because they devoured it in minutes....and looked starved,

wanting more! So we fed them a bit more...

which ended up being too much!

They looked like they could barely curl up they were so full!

Snickers again...

Cracker when he was a little fluff ball!

Han...

Snickers...

Jenna...

Shows you how tiny they were...so fun!

Also a favorite picture....

Sweet little Boo again...

he has this real cute curl to his tail too,

in the above pic you can see it behind cracker...

So after 2 weeks,

we ended up having Bella, Boo and Cracker

for one more week

until we could officially decide.

We thought keeping 2 would be nice

3 being too much to handle,

but still easier than 6...

So we chose Cracker and Boo,

they were both well behaved and played really good together.

We are very happy with our decision!

Alex said we had to keep those names....

having known that I don't think I would have

agreed to calling them those names in the first place...

but oh well, it's fun I suppose...

I wish the pictures showed more the gradual change...

but it's been nuts to see how fast they have grown these past

few weeks and months....

Cracker must be part dalmation because each week

these spots are becoming more and more dominant.

He is no longer that little white fluff ball!

He is so adoreable now too though.

So now they are about 17-18 weeks old....

and I will have to continue to post more recent pictures of them.

They are so fun to have around!

I am glad we kept two...and highly suggest that to others.

They run around together a lot and love playing with eachother.

It has been quite an adventure so far!

Great news!

2010-04-26T18:25:00.001-07:00

As a minor interuption to all the other things I need to blog about...

Something else has taken the lead as WAY more important!

Alex and I are PREGNANT!

We announced it to the family on Saturday,

and as you can see...

the family is very excited!

My mom and dad brought over flowers,

and our first baby toy

with a card that sings, "I'm so excited".

We are very excited about this fun journey.

It's been a hard secret to keep,

we've known for 2 months...

but wanted to wait until after the first doctors appointment

to let everyone know.

My first appointment was Friday,

we got to hear the heartbeat!

So awesome!

We are surprisingly 17 weeks along,

due Sept. 29th.

I have felt great so far!

We feel truely blessed.

A few mood swings, and being more on the tired side,

is nothing to complain about!

Now I really need to stay up to date on my blogging!

Blogging oh Blogging...

2010-04-21T20:53:00.000-07:00

Here I come.

As I take more and more pictures,

more and more going on...

the longer I put off sharing it all because it becomes so much!

Who would have known life could be so exciting?

Oh wait, we all know that!

Life is great and thats why we all blog about it!

So here comes some blogging overload.

I will try to ease into it....

but do know that you've been warned.

Miracles do happen!

2010-01-15T19:42:00.001-08:00

YUP!

IT'S OFFICIAL!

ALEX AND I HAVE A KEY

TO OUR VERY OWN HOME!

EVERYTHING CLOSED TODAY,

WHICH TURNED OUT TO BE A MIRACLE.

AND WE ARE SUPER EXCITED!

MANY, MANY MORE BLOG POSTS

EXPECTED TO COME FOR SURE!

Happy New Year and then some...

2010-01-03T17:44:00.000-08:00

So I feel like each time I update my blog, it is full with random events.

Once again, that is what it consists of.

Fun stuff though.

Starting awhile back...

some awesome pictures when we

had the beautiful double rainbow

I know everyone who knew about it

pulled out their cameras,

because we don't see that often.

So here's Terra, Wendy and I having some fun.

(I cut off Terra's thumbs up...oops)

This was Jason's creative thinking...
grabbing a pot from the kitchen...

Thanksgiving was a very fun day. Tyson returned from his mission the night before, so we basically lived at my parents the next few days,
enjoying stories, slide shows, and tons of hugs!

After a big Thanksgiving day, we had to enjoy some time at the Millers house. By the time we got there, it was about 9 PM. The girls were spiked on some energy drinks that they decided to try, and boy did we get a kick out of that. Thankfully Alex and I had plenty of energy without caffeine, not knowing how long of a night it would end up being. We played a fun game, can't remember it off the top of my head now, but it involved some challenges. I will spare Katy from the videos we took of that fun night, but I will throw in one random picture of Alex's challenge. Holding a spoon in his mouth for the next two peoples turns. haha.

After playing that game, the girls wanted to do some ROCKBAND.
We headed to our house and had some fun with that. Realizing that it was already 1am, we decided to just stay up and do some black friday shopping since that started around 3am.

This was Alex and Emy's first time coming black friday shopping with us,
and I think both the boys opted out for next year, or ever again.
Alex said it would be more fun to buy something big! Probably because after waiting for hours in line, we just bought a few cheap movies. That was the fun part though, hanging out.

(everyone bundled up)
That was some fun times. Lots of laughs.

Since Tyson is home, we needed a new family picture...

(I had to upload the silly one of Jason...zoolander face)

With Tysons homecoming, we had some family in town. Our cousins, Eric and Harmony came and stayed with us, it was tons of fun. We played lots of Rock Band, and even their daughter Skye joined in. She was too cute!

Tyson has played a lot of Rock Band with us, since that time.

He is unbelieveably good at the drums, but I guess thats what happens when you have really good rhythm to begin with.

I don't have pictures on my camera, but both my mom and dad

joined in on RockBand over our Christmas break.

My mom did some singing,

and Dad tried the guitar and drums,

but ended up preferring the guitar (or bass).

Some other fun happenings around this time,

Terra petting a bird... which she hates!

I love how Wendy is just cool with whatever kind of pet!

She has a good touch with animals.
(gotta love Terra's expression in this picture..)
The month of December was grand as usual.
This year I participated in our Stake's Relief Society Christmas Concert.
It was a wonderful experience!
Challenging music, weeks of preparation,
and a wonderful turn out!
The program was really enjoyable, from the side of being in it.
The audience enjoyed it too, so I hear.
It was great to start the Christmas season off more Christ oriented.
I am very grateful for the birth of our Savior
and the wonderful life he lived as an example to us.
Most of all his sacrifice, to atone for our sins,
and the beauty of the resurrection.
We are so blessed because of Jesus Christ.

December also involved, some work parties,
some days off, and too many treats!

The office I work at in Sanger had our dinner party
in Selma, at Cattlemen's. It was my first time there,
and they are well known for the yummy meat.
Sorry to all the vegetarians and vegans,
just scroll quickly here...

Alex and I both ordered baby back pork ribs.
They come very close in competition to Famous Daves' ribs,
but still not quite as delicious!
I don't eat ribs often, so its always a treat!

Alex pulling up his sleeves to dig in...

That was a lot of ribs!
So we enjoyed it warmed up the next day too.

Next order of business for December...
Like I mentioned previously, we moved out of Grandma's house,
since it sold. And we are crashing at the Millers for the time being.
December is a crazy month to move,
especially the day we picked, it rained ALL day long.
We didn't really get a break.
It all worked out good though, and we got all our things
in storage, and in spaces at our parents' houses,
they are so nice for all they do!
We are enjoying time at the Millers,
its worked out well, since we spend a lot of time here
anyways with the holidays, not to mention
my family is not far from here either.

Donna mentioned on her blog that we are in escrow on a house,
so I suppose we should confirm that it's true!

We were trying to keep it on the down low as long as possible,
but each day we end up telling more people!
Once we officially have a key,
I will share the details of our house!
We are very excited to become homeowners,
especially since we weren't planning on it 6 months ago.
Things just work out in wonderous ways sometimes.
We feel very blessed for this opportunity,
and look forward to having our own home soon!

Ending for the month of December,
Alex and I both had some time off from work,
Matt and Terra did as well.
Spontaneously, we decided to take a day trip
and head to San Simeon to do a tour of Hearst Castle.
Tyson was headed to the coast also to hang with some friends,
so it turned out to be a fun little road trip.

(I can't tell you how many times we tried taking that picture to get everyones face in it....it was funny)

Alex hasn't been to Hearst Castle in a really long time.
He was pretty stoked.
It was probably the most beautiful day to be there.
Sometimes it overcast and cloudy when we've gone in the past,
but this day was just awesome!

I promised Alex I wouldn't take too many pictures...

This time of year they decorated a few of the rooms with poinsetta's, and Christmas trees, it was very pretty!

Hard to get a clear picture when you can't use the flash...

but you get the idea.

Fun times!

Like I said, it was a beautiful afternoon in San Simeon!

Since Matt is starting the CHP training now,

it was fun to enjoy those last couple of days together.

Also fun to get to do something with those days off!

Happy New Year too!

Alex and I managed to stay up past midnight again,

too much of that these last few weeks...

Time to get back on that good sleeping schedule.

Our Christmas gift to Perry, and from Katy too,

was a firepit. So for New Years Eve,

we got to roast some marshmellows!

YUM!

We have been very blessed this past year,

not too much sickness, a little towards the end,

but we feel very lucky for our good health.

We have enjoyed another year of marriage,

surrounded by wonderful family.

We were so blessed to be particularly close to Grandma Miller

the last 2 years of her life.

Alex has had more school under his belt,

and I have gained more work experience in Dental Hygiene.

We look forward to what the new year brings!

I will definitely keep everyone updated on our house adventure,

and hopefully everything works out!

I wish you all a very happy new year too!

the happenings...

2009-11-20T09:40:00.000-08:00

So the latest scoop on the Millers....

As of Monday, Grandma's house that we have been living in

has been bought, and started in escrow.

Now with the SOLD sign on it... it is all for-REAL! wow.

I have loved living in this gated community, and glad I got to see all the beautiful trees turn into their fall colors one last time. Nov. 26th will be our 2 1/2 year anniversary. Funny to think we ended up here this long, when we orignially thought it would be short term.

It has truly been a blessing though. We loved all the time we got to enjoy with Grandma, the quietness of the neighborhood, and being in the wonderful Clovis 3rd Ward.

I am very much the "worry" type of person... but as of this moment,

I don't feel to worried that on the 17th of December we will be homeless.

We know things are going to work out...

we have been hunting for houses, and hope that

things will work out these next couple of weeks.

Lots to stay posted on that subject...

So moving on to some highlights of this weeks events...

A couple of late nights, but OH SO MUCH fun!!!

Tuesday night, Season 5...SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE...

came to FRESNO! Grandma Linda took us ladies to see it.

LOVED IT!!! Very exciting to see such awesome dancers

in person. I loved Season 5! Thanks for taking us Grandma!

Waiting for the show to start...

Hard to really get pictures with all the movement and bright lights...

IT WAS AWESOME!!!

Another highlight of this week...of course...

Thursday night, the midnight showing of NEW MOON!

Definitely worth the wait outside and inside the theater!

I didn't take pictures at the theater...

hoping for copies from someone else...

I did have to show off the awesome shirts we made though. Cute!

(having fun with the web cam on our computer...cool effects...)

Yay for NEW MOON!

I enjoyed it much more than Twilight,

and I believe I will be watching this one over and over.

Thats about it for the main highlights.

Next week will be overflowin' with good stuff.

Tyson comes home is just a couple of days!!!!

Family Pictures!

2009-11-07T16:38:00.000-08:00

(looks like a Levi's ad, right?!)

The Miller family has grown,

so Perry and Donna decided to have us take new pictures.

I was so happy to be part of this fun day!

Being a Miller is pretty cool!

This must mean they like that Alex married me,

and that Meghann married Emy.

Meg & Emy's sister in law took the pictures for us.

She did an awesome job!

Me and Alex!

Emily

Katy

Perry and Donna

I love how the argyle sweaters turned out.

Awesome idea Meghann!

As many of the pictures show... it was a fun afternoon!

My favorites are the jumping ones! So cool!

Free Giveaway!

2009-11-06T11:55:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine is having a giveaway.

I wanted to share this with my friends,

for whoever is interested.

Here is a link to her super cute blog.

http://santasgiftshoppe.blogspot.com/

She does a Santa's Workshop each year

with many cute crafts and treats you can buy.

Check out her blog!

This giveaway is for an awesome

12x12 Italian stone with vinyl lettering.

A rockin' new recipe!

2009-10-30T10:21:00.000-07:00

Thursday's are our fabulous Miller evenings.

We meet up at Perry & Donna's house,

and take turns bringing parts of dinner,

and then spend the rest of the night

watching good shows...

Survivor, The Office, & Community.

Yesterday it was our assignment to bring the main dish.

We all have been trying new recipes.

This one sounded healthy, and good,

and supposedly a quick meal.

A forewarning, it takes more than 30 minutes...

Maybe just because it was my first time trying it...

next time, I am sure it will be quicker.

Everyone loved it, so it is a must share!

I found it on myrecipes.com

It's a recipe from Cooking Light Magazine.

It's a site that offers healthier recipe ideas.

It even throws in the nutrional facts, which is cool.

I will add some side notes of things I changed on the recipe,

that turned out well. For one thing I added chicken,

so it would be more filling and more protein.

(LOOKS GOOD ALREADY, RIGHT?!)

Here's the website address if you want to print your own recipe card off the website:

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1898541

Pair flavorful pasta with olive tapenade breadsticks for a superfast and delicious meal in minutes.

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tablespoons minced shallots
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon sugar
5 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 (9-ounce) package refrigerated linguine
(I used boxed lunguine noodles, it worked the same)
1 1/2 teaspoons bottled minced garlic
3 cups chopped zucchini (about 1 pound) (I quarted them in size)
(I did about 2 cups zucchini, and 2 cups yellow squash to add more for a larger serving)
3/4 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint, divided
1/3 cup (1 1/2 ounces) grated fresh pecorino Romano cheese
(I served it with the option of grated Parmesan cheese, if people wanted it)
3 tablespoons sliced almonds, toasted

Preparation

1. Combine first 7 ingredients in a medium bowl. Add 2 teaspoons oil, tossing to coat.

2. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain well.

3. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to pan, swirling to coat. Add garlic to pan; sauté 30 seconds. Add zucchini; sauté 3 minutes or until crisp-tender.(This is where I added the chicken I previously cooked, and cut into cubes) Add broth; bring to a simmer. Stir in pasta and 1 1/2 tablespoons mint; toss well. Remove from heat; stir in tomato mixture. Place 1 1/2 cups pasta mixture in each of 4 bowls; top evenly with remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons mint. Sprinkle each serving with 4 teaspoons cheese and 2 teaspoons almonds.

Olive tapenade breadsticks: Combine 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic, 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, and 15 finely chopped pitted kalamata olives in a small bowl. Spread olive mixture over 1 (11-ounce) can refrigerated breadsticks dough. Twist each breadstick; bake at 375° for 15 minutes or until browned.

Nutritional Information

Calories:: 344
Fat:: 12.7g (sat 3.1g,mono 6.6g,poly 2g)
Protein:: 14g
Carbohydrate:: 45.5g
Fiber:: 5.3g
Cholesterol:: 58mg
Iron:: 3.4mg
Sodium:: 601mg
Calcium:: 163mg

I just put all the ingredients in a big bowl at the end, rather than each bowl individually, and left the option of people putting cheese on top, almonds, and/or mint. It was great with the chicken cooked in, I used a Mrs. Dash lemon marinade to cook the chicken in, just to give it a little flavor. To accomodate 7 servings instead of 4, I used zucchini and yellow squash, added chicken, and of course more noodles. Also, this time around, we did not make the breadsticks, but I think it would have been a great addition to the meal, so next time I am going to try that part of the recipe.

It was definitely a fun night.

Meghann & Emy brought a salad,

we all thought it tasted like the salad

at The Olive Garden.

Donna made some cute pumpkin, peanut butter treats,

and some delicious Chocolate Mousse.

Meet Jenna!

2009-10-12T20:37:00.000-07:00

Monday Alex got to go to the Big Fresno Fair

with the special needs kids he works with.

On my way home from work,

I recieved a text message saying,

"I have a surprise for you when you get home."

I knew he had won something at the fair.

I shouldn't have been so surprised,

Alex always talks about getting a fish or some sort of animal.

So he did it, he won a goldfish!

We officially have our first pet!

Now I feel like one of those couples

that gets a pet to fill the void of no kids yet.

I think it's fairly common... haha.

So if this fish can survive, that is a good sign.

Here's the happy boy with the fish he won!

Of course we had to hurry and go get

a bowl and some food right away.

I said, as long as you let me take pictures!

We flipped a coin to find out if it was a boy or girl,

because we didn't know which we'd want.

We flipped boy, but ended up deciding we wanted a girl name.

We picked the name Jenna.

One of the girls in Alex's class

named her stuffed animal Alex,

so we decided to name our fish after her.

Love it!

I guess it would be weird now to name

a future child of ours, Jenna, and now I am

really starting to like it. oh well.

So that is our newest excitement!

That was Monday that Alex won Jenna,

and here it is wednesday

and the water already is pretty merky...

I am glad he agreed to clean the bowl.

Childhood home!

2009-10-10T20:59:00.000-07:00

MY CHILDHOOD HOME IS FOR SALE!!!

Less than $100,000.... but Alex just won't let me get it. Just kidding...I wouldn't really want to live there. I did only live there until I was 5 years old, so you would think my memories were pretty little. It was a very special house though, I remember lots about it! Terra probably remembers even more about it. Loved it!

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/166-West-National-Ave_Clovis_CA_93612_1112553583?source=hp

Here are some pictures of us in front of the house on National Ave.

Terra and I in front of the door for our "First Day of the School Year Picture"

There we are in front of the fireplace!

There I am in the backyard...

Terra and I in the kitchen! (The cabinets are different now)

Those are all the pictures I have off hand, but I know my mom has tons more of us in that house. It was a very special house to us!

wow!

2009-10-05T22:09:00.000-07:00

I am back!

I was waiting until I had some fun pics to show what we've been up to.

I didn't come up with much, but here's the latest....

In late September I headed to Visalia to meet up with some of my girlies from Dental Hygiene School. It was a blast! We went out to dinner, talked about work, laughed really hard, and had tons of fun! So here we are....

Random... one day, I needed to make some cookies for visiting teaching, and a survivor party we were having at the Millers. I so kindly asked my wonderful hubby to help me out. He asked if I mixed the dough, he would bake the cookies. Well, late morning start for me, and I didn't get time.... Thankfully I came home and he had at least started the job for me. haha. I had to take a picture because this is what I found in the fridge when I came home from work.

I am so glad he tried to be helpful. I just laugh because he tried mixing it with a wooden spoon I guess, and the dough just didn't gather very well... it was very chunky. I was able to work it though, and make some decent sugar cookies. It just made me smile!

In September we got a much needed new computer! That was exciting! I love having a labtop, but we were in much need of a fast desk top with lots of room on the hard drive. Since our computer desk looks so neat and tidy now, I had to of course organize the desk drawer. Look at all the beautiful and color coordinated files! LOVE IT!

Another highlight. The dentist I work for, one day a week in Sanger, is pregnant. She's due this month. Well, our combined offices had a shower for her. I should have taken the picture with her, but I didn't, and the cake covers her cute pregnant belly. This cake was pretty cute that one of the girls made.

This summer Alex decided he wanted to grow his hair out. I wasn't too excited, because I love his clean cut look. Well, he went for it anyways with the encouragement of his sisters.

This is as far as he got though before he was ready to cut it...

Maybe he will try that another time...

Can you tell he loves that I love taking pictures...haha.

Meghann cutting his hair!

We had to have some fun of course making some funny hair do's before cutting it off.

I was very pleased though with the outcome. He just looks so good with shorter hair!

So for some reason I was really into baking this month...

I tried a new recipe I found online, I will have to post that later.... but here's a picture of how yummy they turned out. Hard to tell, but they tasted great!

I am bad...

I gave into an infommercial....yikes!

It was a great deal though!!!

It's called 'Fix-it'. I have yet to try it...but I will.

When you go to purchase it online they try an get you to buy all this other stuff too... I only fell for part of it...haha.

So I have a handy tire repair kit to keep in my car, and a cordless vacuum, which will come in very handy!

On to October....

I enjoyed this wonderful conference weekend! It was great! Very uplifting, and inspiring! We also celebrated my dad's birthday. Very cool! Enjoyed yummy cake! It was pretty fun. We had a delicious breakfast at the Miller's and watched the Sunday morning session, and then went to Grandma Clinton's house for the afternoon session. I almost got away with no make, and pjs all day, but then I had to go to choir practice that night. I am going to sing in our stake women's Christmas concert. It is pretty fun so far, and should turn into a great performance! Fun stuff to look forward too.

So saturday a friend from elementary school got married. It was fun to see some friends that I haven't seen in awhile. Here are some pictures from the night.

Me and my friend Shelly. She's a blast! It was great catching up.

Stephanie and her hubby Shamus dancing...

Us girlies...

Stephanie's the one who caught the bouquet at our wedding. I was hoping Michelle would catch hers... but she didn't. I am happy for Stephanie and her hubby, they look like they know how to have fun together!

So that basically sums up September and the beginning of October...maybe I will be better about my posting this month. Who knows!

Oh, also... from August. I found this picture that Alex took on his phone that I forgot about. It is me holding my cousins (Felicity & Rob's) baby, Beckham. He is too cute!

Lastly....

Best of all about this month, is that we can say...

NEXT MONTH TYSON COMES HOME!!!

Santa Maria Trip- Justin's homecoming

2009-08-29T20:22:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was very exciting.

My cousin Justin returned home from his mission.

He served in Croatia for two years.

We were super excited to go see lots of family!

It got me really excited thinking

that my brother will be coming home in November!

Here's some pictures of the wonderful time we had.

This is everyone that got to be there.

This is Justin and his family (minus Uncle Tom,

who's working hard in Africa right now.)

Gracey was being pretty cute during the pictures

and lifting her skirt to show off her tummy.

This is Justin with Grandma Betty.

Stud muffin Jason shootin' a pose!

Matt and Terra looking good

Alex and Jason looking hot...

Our family -Tyson +Justin

Our cousin Jay, with Justin and Aunt Brenda and Skip

Justin and Jeff smiling for pictures

Me holding Maddy, only 1 of the 5 kids my cousins have.

They are all adorable, but I only could snatch a picture with this one.

In the picture, you can see Grandma Betty with her hand out. She was tickling Maddy's arm with her long fingernails. This must have gone on for like 15 minutes. After she tickled one arm, Maddy would stick out her next arm, and then lift her shirt for a belly rub, and then her back, and then go back to the other arm. Over and over. She loved it!

It was so much fun being able to visit with Justin about his experiences. He gave such a great talk on sunday, talking about his opportunity to become closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ over the past 2 years. It truly inspires me to strive harder for focus on those important things. It was fun to talk with aunts, uncles and cousins. We had such a nice time. I am so grateful to have such wonderful family!

It's been a month since...

2009-08-20T22:31:00.000-07:00

...some very important things have been done.

Yeah... it's sad to confess, but I must.

#1-

It's been a month since I've been to the gym.

WOAH!

Thankfully, I have lost weight, not gained... how weird is that?

I really have no excuse at this point,

but I just keep telling myself it's okay to wait

another day, and so on.

#2-

It's been a month since I've actually cooked a real meal,

from scratch and good ingredients.

We have not been starving, but I have

definitely not been cooking.

Part of the reason is because Grandma passed,

one less person to cook for,

and Alex hasn't been around for dinner because of work.

Then there were many weekends of being gone.

And honestly, I don't think we've been eating out a bunch.

I just do quick meals to take less than 10 minutes.

Pizza, pancakes, quesadillas, taquitos, corn dogs.

That all sounds really healthy right? haha.

So come Monday, I am thawing out some chicken,

busting out some salad, and mixing up veggies or something.

If it weren't for our wonderful mothers and inviting

us for Sunday meals, we probably didn't

really get much nutrition like we needed this month.

#3-

It's been a month (as of the 21st), since Grandma Miller

passed away.

Honestly, it amazes me its been a month.

Its been pretty quiet with her gone,

not that she was loud, but I really just miss her company.

I kind of miss knowing I needed to come home

to make a nice meal for us, and spend time with her.

Like I said, I just can't believe its been a month.

Well, now that I have made 2 big confessions,

I guess it's time to fix that!

But I will wait until Monday for that...haha.

Some highlights from recent that I should mention....

My youngest Brother JASON,

turned 18 on the 17th of this month.

Totally weird thinking he's 18,

and will be starting college soon. wow!

Super exciting though!

Jason, amongst many things,

absolutely love JELLO.

That boy eats a lot of jello.

For his birthday dinner,

I attempted a 7-layer Jello salad.

It ended up being 6 layers, basically rainbowed together.

It tasted delicious,

but didn't look like a picture perfect sort of thing.

Either way, I must say that I was

pretty proud of the finished product.

I even got Alex to take a picture for me!

Also, last weekend,

My friend Kresta invited me to go see

The Time Traveler's Wife

with her.

I personally enjoyed it.

I was surprised at first by the naked backside of a man,

but I guess his clothes don't travel with him.

So you have now been warned.

Overall, a sweet movie.

Let's see...

other exciting stuff.

Alex started another exciting semester of college.

Some pre-reqs for a business major.

Accounting, Statistics, Macroeconomics, and online golf.

I know he's not really super excited,

but he's not completely dreading it either.

He actually came home yesterday excited

to share something with me from his econ class.

YAY! I was pretty happy.

Let's hope it's a successful semester.

Although I have been slacking in the

cooking and exercising department,

I have been blooming in the cleaning department.

We live day to day having the house clean enough

for potential buyers to come look at.

I have new records for the number of times

I have vacummed and mopped in one month.

I enjoy living in a clean home though.

Oh, a crazy story I should have shared sooner!

We had a crazy incidence with Alex's car.

On a Monday I took the car in to

get the oil changed for him, and then

he drove up to camp tuesday morning.

He didn't drive it until Saturday

when he was coming home.

He called and mentioned that his car was not good.

It wouldn't shift past 4th gear(automatic transmission),

and the check engine light was on.

Thankfully it could at least drive.

We discovered, after popping the hood,

a unique problem involving a rodent.

Alex believes it was a squirrel.

So while parked up at camp all week long,

a squirrel decided to take some insulation

and make a nice little nest

under the hood of his car

and enjoy some yummy wires while at it.

Fortunately we caught it fast enough,

unfortunately it was Saturday.

Monday morning though,

we were able to arrange having it worked on.

We were lucky the wires

could be soldered back together,

and didn't need to be replaced.

Thankfully pretty inexpensive.

It all worked out, but still,

kinda crazy!

Well, I think that brings us up to date.

Lots going on.

This weekend we are headed to Santa Maria

for my cousin Justin's homecoming.

He had finished his mission in Croatia,

and is now home!

We are so excited to see him,

and hear many wonderful stories!

Just a couple more months until Tyson is home!

WOW!

Movie Flashback

2009-08-11T22:02:00.000-07:00

This summer, I thought it'd be fun to rent netflix. I had the intention of lots of movie watching. Surprisingly I really haven't utilized it like I thought I would. Needless to say I will we stopping our membership soon and just try out the Red Box for $1 a movie at the grocery store, since we really don't watch that many movies.

So I thought it'd be fun to go back and watch some movies that I recall enjoying in my young days. So I put Freaky Friday, and The Parent Trap on my list. The Freaky Friday I liked, was not the one with Lindsay Lohan, I recall one made previously that I liked. Well, I put the other one of my list, just quickly glancing. It came, and today I watched it. I guess I should have looked closer because it was one from 1976, which was not the one from my childhood that I remember. As I was looking for the one I remember, apparently it doesn't exist. So just maybe it was the one with Lindsay Lohan that I remember liking and I just didn't want to admit it to myself. I dunno... The newer one was made in 2003, and I felt pretty confident there was one made in like the 80s or 90s, but not that one from 1976. Perhaps I made a movie up in my head...haha.

I did enjoy the one from 1976 though. It was funny. I look forward to getting The Parent Trap next. For some reason that was one of my favorites to watch. haha. Again, not the one with Lindsay Lohan, but the older one. Although I enjoy the newer one, I look forward to watching the older one, its been a long time since I've seen it. Kind of weird that both those older movies were redone years later with Lindsay Lohan. haha.

So that's my randomness of relaxation. Watching a movie on a Tuesday Night, very nice!

Catch up time

2009-08-02T20:52:00.001-07:00

Well, here we are in August already. This past month has flown by, but I did manage to squeeze a lot into it. So much that I didn't even have a minute to really sit down and blog. I kept telling myself that I needed to upload pictures and really make it a nice blog, but sometimes, those things have to wait and the writing must be down first. I might never get to it if I don't just stop and write it down. So I am just going to write it all down and post pictures at a litte more convenient time.

It is kind of long, so I don't mind if you just skim, or bypass. I just wanted to share all my feelings and give an update on things.

Many are already aware of the passing of my dear grandmother (in law) Charlene Miller. She is so much like my own grandmother that I will just refer to her as Grandma Miller, forget the inlaw part.

This morning I read two posts that Jill Shelley had on her blog, she was one of grandma's best friends after moving to Clovis 6 years ago. She does have many friends, but Jill and her husband Dennis are some her closest. I will just add the links if someone is interested in her sweet comments on the day that grandma passed, and the day of her funeral.

http://adventuresofgrandmahoney.blogspot.com/2009/07/oh-how-i-will-miss-her.html
http://adventuresofgrandmahoney.blogspot.com/2009/07/charlenes-funeral.html

I am going to take you back to a couple days before we went to Huntington Beach to visit my friend Rachel.

The Friday before we had left (the 10th) Alex's dad, Perry, took grandma to the doctor because she was just not doing well. She was very tired and weaker than usual. It doesn't help when most of the pills she took caused drowsiness. I felt bad leaving on the trip, but it was a perfect opportunity to see my friend without flying to Texas. Grandma was always excited when we got home, I know she missed our company a lot. I know she appreciated us living with her very much. So that Friday we had found out that she had a bladder infection and water around her lungs. That would explain why her feet were swelling a lot. So they increased her water pill, and gave her a prescription for the bladder infection. When we got back in town Sunday evening, I could tell that the swelling in her feet had gone down a little bit, and she said she felt alright, but not back to herself yet.

As the week of the 12th continued, she didn't seem to be improving much. Tuesday the 14th, Perry and I went over to the pharmasist to perhaps get some answers. She is a great lady, and knows Charlene pretty well as often as she was there picking up prescriptions. She explained to us how older people are affected differently with bladder infections than younger people. It messes with their heads more, and perhaps that is one reason she was more sleepy than usual. It was pretty bad from my perspective. Tuesday night she just wanted to go to bed early, because she could barely keep her eyes open when you were talking with her.

Wednesday the 15th, she seemed to be doing a little better. We always watched "So you think you can dance" on Wednesday's, it wasn't her favorite dancing show, but she grew to like it, besides some of the choreography which just didn't seem like dancing to her. For someone born in the 20's and growing up in the 30's, 40's and 50's, I'm sure hip hop just doesn't seem like 'dance'. She was always kind enough to watch it with me though, knowing that I enjoyed it. She always said they were all good dancers besides some weird routines here and there. She seemed less sleepy that evening, and had her eyes open most of the show. I figured she was doing much better.

So Thursday she seemed okay, but by Friday she really wasn't doing much better. Perry was coming over almost everynight to check on her because she just kept saying she was tired of being tired. There wasn't much we could do about it though, she was getting plenty of sleep. Friday I was gone most of the morning with Visiting Teaching, having lunch with some girl friends and going to the gym. Monday thru Friday she had a lady from church, Sandy, come watch her from about 8-12 each morning while Alex and I were away at work. I was glad she was there, so I could get my errands done Friday morning. After coming home on Friday, Grandma was just not doing well. She could only walk so far without getting really tired and having to sit down for a break. Her breathing was extremely labored from what I saw.

Friday night, my sisters, Terra and Wendy came over to watch a movie with me. Grandma decided she would stay in the room and watch the movie with us too, even though she slept most of the time. I was so grateful for my sisters coming over that night. I had been feeling a lot of responsibility watching over grandma by myself with Alex gone at camp a lot. And of course its always nice to have company. After the movie finished that night, Grandma struggled to walk to her room. She was getting really exhausted just from walking a few feet. As I helped lift her into bed that night, I realized it probably was necessary that she go to the hospital or the doctor. It had been a week since she had been to the doctor, and she really was just getting worse, not better.

Saturday, the 18th, was not a good day. Donna came over and decided that she really did need to go to the hospital, she was too tired and weak. Later on in the evening after she was in a room at the hospital we found out that she had pneumonia. The x-rays showed her right lung completely opaque, which isn't good. They said she would probably be there at least 3 days. So they put her on some high dose of antibiotics and had some respiratory therapists working with her, hoping for good results.

Sunday the 19th, Alex and I went to see her before church. She said she was doing okay. She also told us she would be home in another day or two. We just nodded, knowing she was probably too weak for that. As I read Jill Shelley's blog this morning, she mentioned something that kind of opened my eyes. When she said she would be home soon, perhaps she mean't to her real home, in heaven, not the one on earth. I know she wasn't doing well, but it just seemed like perhaps this was just another down turn. She seemed positive with hopes of getting better.

Monday, the 20th, I got off work at 3. I love getting out a little early on Mondays! My work is just right across from the hospital she was at, so that was nice. I went over after work, and Meghann and Donna were there visiting with her. She now had an oxygen mask on her face, and they told me that she wasn't responding well to the treatment, in fact, it was spreading to her left lung. At this point I realized perhaps this was not one of those times where she turns around. I just sat there with her for about 1/2 hour and she mostly rested her eyes. Looking at her was sad to see the mask on her face, and the labored breathing. She said she felt fine though, not really in pain. I kissed her on the forehead and said see you later. I thought I would see her the following day, but that was not the case.

Tuesday, the 21st, I was at work when I recieved a call 10 minutes before my lunch break. The lady up front came back and said, "you're husband is on the phone, he never calls here." She seemed concern. My heart stopped for a moment and then beat really fast and I knew that was the phone call telling me she had passed. I know she wasn't responding to the treatment, but I was somewhat surprised that it took her life so quickly. I know she was prepared to die, and wasn't afraid. I know she was excited to be reunited with all of her family. She lived a great life. She went peacefully, and our relief society president and friend was present when she passed. I am glad her mind outlived her physical body, and she was able to live in her own home these last years. My dear mother met me at work when I finished and was there to offer love. Thankfully I felt very at peace and comforted.

Grandma Miller played a huge role in our life. She was so sweet to let us live with her these past 2 years. I am glad we've been able to stay here for so long and be of help to her as she has been a help to us. Alex and I both expressed similiar feelings that night when we were visiting with eachother. I was so glad he was able to come home and comfort me. In talking, we realized that one of Grandma's purposes these last couple of years was to be here for us. Now that she has passed, we are ready to take the next step in our lives. Her mission is fulfilled and she could return home. She really influenced us, and helped us out so much. I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to get so close to her.

Monday the 27th, we were able to have a lovely memorial service and reflect on the righteous life she lead. It was nice spending time with Alex's uncle Rod, and cousin Denise and her family. It's hard being in her home sometimes, I have my moments where certain memories just hit me and make me cry. Like the small white board in the kitchen where I used to write the date and day of the week just sent me in tears one night. I really feel at peace though that she is happy.

Amongst sorting through important papers, pictures and things, we have been very busy. My friend Kresta and I had been planning a girls trip for a couple months from Thursday, the 23rd through the 25th, to San Francisco. I decided it would probably be good to get away and have some fun. It worked out great. It helped lift my spirits, and gave me some relaxation from the chaos around the house. We had lots of fun shopping, probably too much fun infact. I also learned lots of fun things about the girls. There were 4 of us, some of you have probably read Kresta's blog already and heard about all the fun. Saturday evening when we got back, I went over to my cousins house to celebrate my Aunt Brenda's recent marriage to Skip Miller (and no we're not related...haha, but that'd be funny). That was nice being around such wonderful family.

After the memorial service there was lots of work to be done. Alex's dad and uncle were over everyday going through things, plus all of the things they had to get done. The house was a mess, I'm not gonna lie, it was kinda scary. Each evening after work I spent time going through different rooms to help them out with sorting through things.

Friday, the 31st, Donna treated us girls (Alex's sisters and I), to go see WICKED in San Francisco. Kind of funny that I would go there 2 weekends in a row...haha. It was so fun. We went up Friday and came home after the show finished, so we left there around 11, got home around 2 ish AM. The show was AMAZING! As someone who did a little bit in the drama/music department, there is nothing like a broadway show! The singing left me in AWE! It was such a fun show. Thank you so much for taking us! I will cherish those memories.

Saturday, Aug 1st, after sleeping in a little... it was time to get to work again. Everyone came over and we just went to town on going through things and moving things to the Millers house. By the end of the day the house was 10 times cleaner! It was great!

So tomorrow the house is going to go up for sale. It looks presentable, but I still need to do some scrubing before people actually come look at it. We will hope for the best in this process. As far as where we will be living once it sells, we have no idea as of right now. Well, maybe some ideas, but nothing official. Needless to say that will be a busy project. As for now, we are staying here and will see what happens.

Sorry there was so much to read. I don't mind if you didn't really read it all the way through, it was mostly for me to just put it all out there. The calendar for this month is pretty busy already, but I will definitely try to keep things updated. Thanks for all those who have been such sweet friends at this time. I appreciate all the emails, and letters I have recieved. I feel very loved. I hope things are well with everyone else!

Huntington Beach!

2009-07-13T19:47:00.000-07:00

This weekend Alex and I made a quick trip to Huntington Beach. He was so sweet to go with me. My friend Rachel, (we went to Dental Hygiene School together) moved to Texas in January. Well, her father-in-law passed away a few weeks ago, so she is taking care of everything that needs to be done before she heads back to Texas. I figured taking a 5 hour trip was much better than a flight to Texas. I am so glad we got to go see her, her baby, and her mom. We left Saturday, got back Sunday, so it really was a quick trip.

So we haven't seen eachother since January. Her little baby Urijah is almost 7 months old now, and oh my goodness, he is so stinkin' cute! Rachel and I had lots of visiting to do, so it was tons of fun!

Here's some roadtrip pictures.

Of course we had to walk on the pier.

Me, Rachel and Urijah

I wish I could capture his cuteness in the pictures. He is such a happy kid. Loves making noises, he's very strong and just has fun playing!

I am so glad we got to spend time with them. Thanks Alex for driving me the whole way there and back. He only has Saturday & Sundays off and yet he was willing to sacrifice so that I didn't have to go alone. I love Alex!

I already miss you Rachel, it was so fun catching up!

Such a great weekend!

4th of July Weekend!

2009-07-06T16:59:00.000-07:00

The FUN started on Friday.

My friend Kresta invited me to go see "My Sister's Keeper" with her.

Good movie. Totally a tear jerker though, especially if someone you are close to has cancer. Even though my sister had leukemia as a kid, it didn't hit too close to home because I was only a newborn when my sister got cancer. Also, she is a survivor, which is a blessing.

Anyways, so it was fun to have some girly time.

Kresta and I also went swimming at my parents house. So that was way cool! Friday was great. Alex had to stay up at camp for work, so I went and hung out with Terra and Matt and some of their friends. We went swimming some more, and then watched a movie. It was great fun. Fortunately I have been so busy that I haven't gotten the chance to be bored without Alex around.

Here's a picture of some yummy pasta salad I made the other night for dinner. My moms recipe, except I used different noodles. It was yummy and fun! Great leftovers for lunch too.

So the 4th of July was super fun this year. Board games with my family, swimming, bbq with the miller family, and some fun fireworks with the Millers and the Hernandez family.

Last year, after we discovered the coolest setting on our camera, we have had too much fun with the sparklers.

Here's one of the best pictures! Awesome!!!

Here are some outtakes.... very cool, right?

Here's what my speedometer said on Sunday after I parked the car. haha. Funny!

So that pretty much sums up the fun weekend we had.

Sunday was cool. I love my calling right now. I am the primary teacher for the Valient 12 class. They are great kids. We have a good time in that class. Well, they have all but one graduated from primary. So the 3rd hour I get to go to Relief Society if my one girl doesn't come who goes to Primary. Its been great to go to Relief Society again. I am bummed though that this girl doesn't come as often as the rest. It's been good to sit with my Relief Society sisters though. Well, Alex is also in Primary, with the CTR 7 class. This past sunday, his companion teacher had some family in town because their new baby was blessed, so they left. Long story short... I got to sit in Alex's class the 3rd hour with him. It was so fun! I love watching Alex in action. I got to see how he teaches his kids, and runs his class. It was sweet. My heart just melted because he did such an awesome job, and was so cute! It was fun.

Well, on to this new week. I'm sure I will have much more to share!

A good laugh

2009-07-02T17:16:00.000-07:00

One of my good friends Veronica sent me the best birthday card. I just have to share! I loved it. I know this isn't the card itself, but this is what it said....haha.

So, anyway, I'm standing in line

to buy you a freakin' birthday

card and the line is like

seventeen billion people long

'cause the only thing the dumb

teenage boy at the register is

thinking about is the dumb

teenage girl at the other

register, and some dumb lady is

turning her purse inside out to

come up with "exact change",

like she's gonna win some kind

of "exact change trophy" or

something, and some idiot

starts up with his "This item

was marked with the sale price"

crap, and I just really hope you like this card...

Then when you open the card it says...

'Cause I stole it.

Happy

Birthday

That's funny, right? I just had to share. It just gave me good laughs. Of course the card wasn't really stolen for anyone who was unsure. Thanks Veronica and thanks American Greetings!

First swim of the summer!

2009-07-01T20:51:00.000-07:00

It's about time, right?

July 1st and I finally dipped in the pool for a minute. I am so excited that both my parents, and my inlaws have a pool. Hopefully we will get more swimming in than last year. It makes for such a fun cooling activity.

(silly Tyson...)

I remember as a kid how much fun we always had running through the sprinkles. We had the best ones too because the backyard was huge, and they were like the best sprinklers. That's all I can say. My siblings will definitely agree with me.

So sometimes it stinks being an adult and being all "responsible". I miss those summer days of going to grandparents houses to swim, and running through the sprinklers and being totally oblivious to how hot it was and just being outside all day long. Those were the days. I look forward to being a kid again someday when we have kids. I really can't complain though, because these days are pretty good too. Working inside the air conditioning, visiting with patients, and of course making money so that we can do fun things. I guess there's a time and place for everything in life. Now's just that time to crack down on saving up for more fun times.

Anyways, yay for swimming pools! Hopefully more swimming days are ahead for me!

(Alex as a kid, that was not recently...haha...)

I love that picture of the miller kids. They weren't big on going to the beach as kids. Thats what makes the picture great....well, and Katy running away. haha! What fun summer days!

True Blogger!

2009-06-30T21:57:00.000-07:00

It's been over one year now since I posted my first blog. Yay! I am glad that I have stuck it out through those weeks of nothing to post...haha... and glad for those who still continue to read or look at our blog. I enjoy reading other peoples blogs. It's inspiring the thoughts people share, and always great to see as people continue on in their lives.

So I have decided to change up my blogging a little bit. I've just decided that I would try to blog more, and share more about my week to week life. We will see how this goes... it may or may not last very long. I am trying harder to work on some things that are really important to me. So perhaps I will share more about that. We'll see, I don't want to get too personal. haha.

So yay for the one year of bloggin!

YUM

2009-06-27T16:21:00.000-07:00

I just thought I would take a moment to make a dedication to these awesome snacks.

They make Alex and I very happy on a regular basis. We should probably pick the fruit snacks with real fruit... but you know what, oh well. So thank you Betty Crocker! We love your many other fruit snacks as well.

Happy Father's week!

2009-06-22T18:40:00.000-07:00

Well, since I'm a day late, I decided I would just make it a whole week celebration! That's how the Freeman's do it anyways...haha!

I have always loved my dad. I can't recall a day that I was truly mad at my dad, because he is just too nice. He rarely raised his voice to us kids, and always loved us, even on our terrible days. Of course we were rarely bad kids...haha. right?

This is one of my favorite pictures... here's my sweet, gentle dad, not even pulling yet, and I'm already making a face. haha. He is truly loving!

My father is a hard worker, and always provided for us kids. I love looking at pictures from when we were kids. They are such cute parents right?!

This is a great one! Lovely mustache!

I like this one, because our beloved dog Heidi is in the picture. What a cute puppy she was, and a sweet dog she still is.

I just can't say enough how happy I am to be blessed with such a wonderful father! Anyone who knows my father, knows that he's willing to serve in a heartbeat. That is one of my favorite things about him. You never feel like you are burdening him, because he is always happy to serve people! He's taught me a lot about helping others.

And here's my dad with his sisters. He has always been very respectful of women, and you can tell my the way he treats the women in his life.

I also must say, I have been blessed with wonderful inlaws! My father in law is a great leader of his home. He is very smart, and always makes us feel safe. He raised an awesome son too!

I love this picture because it's another mustache one...haha.

I had to get one with me in it too! What a fun tradition! We love that spot!

So HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to both of these wonderful Fathers. Alex and I appreciate both of you very much, and the wonderful examples that you are to us!

Happy Graduation Jason!

2009-06-10T21:48:00.000-07:00

What a silly face! Yup... that's Jason! Happy high school Graduation!!!

Here's the family...we are so pleased with Jason's accomplishments!

Here's the kiddos....

I must note... I have my "tall shoes" on, and I am still not as tall as the rest of the kids.

Some pictures during that fun hour of waiting for our grads to come out.
Awesome seats mom and dad!

Matt and Terra

Me and the parents...

Sister power!!!

Can you spot him???

Front row, 4th from the left, or 5th from the right... he's smiling!!!

Great job Jason!!! You did great. All that hard work will definitely pay off. Yay for Valedictorian and then some... ;) watch out Cal Poly... here's comes an awesome kid!!!

When they announced the 7th graduating class at Clovis East High School, I was like woah! Crazy to think it's been 5 years since I graduated!!! Wow! 7 years for Alex... thats just amazing!

Fun with No Sun

2009-06-03T20:59:00.000-07:00

Friday, Alex and I headed to Long Beach (one of our new favorite places...we don't really need the GPS anymore to get there). This time we headed there to board The Paradise- Carnival Cruise Line!

Yup! Cruise time!!!

The dentist I work for in Sanger, and her husband who's a dentist in Reedley decided that they would take their staff and our spouses on a 3-day cruise to Ensenada. Very nice! I only work there one day a week, but they were nice enough to include me.

Obviously with the swine flu stuff, regulations were made in going to Mexico... so they re-routed our cruise to Catalina Island. Which was fine by us.

We were excited to see what Carnival cruises were like compared to royal caribbean.

So here we are at the end of May... weather is warming up, right? Not so much this last weekend. Matter of fact, we did not see any sun until we came back over the grapevine on Monday.

Oh well... no tanning, or swimsuit wearing, but we still had a great time! It was a nice vacation!

notice the overcast clouds in the background... not sure why we are squinting when there was no sun out....

Had to get a pic with the carnival "symbol"

Our favorite part about Carnival that we were excited about was the endless soft serve ice cream! And we made sure to get plenty of it!

Here we are on Catalina. Nice t-shirt weather, still no sun though.

It was the "flying fish festival" weekend... and no we did not see any. But here is a cool sandcastle they made... took them 2 days.

cool detail...

We decided to be wild and do parasailing... yeah right, too cold, maybe our next trip...

We did a golf cart tour instead... it was enjoyable.

Our ship had miniture golf on it.... very cool!

This was our last day... after doing my hair, we headed outside to golf again one last time.... and within seconds my hair was everywhere in the wind! I don't think we were even moving!

That's Ensenada in the background. Nice of them to take us there, but then just park it in the ocean so we could only look at it. haha.

And of course the beloved towel animals...

(That looks like Gidget right Donna?)

And here are some videos to show how windy it was and how silly I am...

It really was a joke trying to golf on that last day... way too windy!

Notice that my red ball is in the whole already... oh yeah... the wind didn't slow me down too much!

So I don't have any pictures on here with our group... I know, I failed in that department... oops. But we did have a nice time with everyone.

The best part of the cruise was when we saw DOLPHINS!!!! I was super excited. On Sunday we were eating lunch by a window and I kept looking out, hoping to see Dolphins... Alex said there was a good chance I wouldn't see any because we were moving at a decent speed. Well, afterwards we were chillin' in our room playing cards, Alex randomly looked out the window and was like, "Look...DOLPHINS!"... and to my amazement we saw some!!! It was super cool. They couldn't keep up with our ship, but we enjoyed the minute or so that we saw they diving around while we passed by. It was pretty cool. I'm glad he looked out the window at the perfect time he did, otherwise we wouldn't have seen them!

We definitely had a great time. It was a perfect little get away. We enjoyed our trip very much! It was the weekend after our anniversary too, so that worked out pretty nice!

Happy Anniversary "2" us!

2009-05-27T22:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, the 26th, was our 2 year wedding anniversary!

WOW! Very exciting!

In all sillyness, I asked Alex to take a picture with me on our anniversary, what a sport!

It's pretty unbelievable to me that we've already been married that long! Things are going great I must say! We had a blast celebrating our anniversary, even though it was a Tuesday night. After I got off work, Alex was all set to take me out to dinner. He said it was a surprise, which is fun, because I love surprises! We didn't go very far. We tried a newer restaurant in Clovis called Rio Grill-Brazilian Steakhouse. It was great! If you love meat, it's a very yummy place. It's buffet style, and then all evening long they walk around with skewers of meat and you can eat as much as you can. It is on the expensive side...for us...but it was fun to spoil ourselves. I thought that's where the evening ended, but Alex had much more instore. We then went and watched Night at the Museum 2- I loved it! I really enjoyed the first one too. It really just turned out to be a wonderful evening, especially not having to make dinner, or plan out the evening! We then spent the rest of the evening hanging out at my parents, that's always fun! I love that we live close to both of our parents, it's such a treat!

I am so grateful for my wonderful husband, Alex. He has brought much joy and excitement to my life. He always makes me feel better and brings much peace to my life. I am glad he is a faithful priesthood holder, who righteously holds a calling, guides our family, and serves diligently. He takes good care of me, and I only hope that I do the same for him. I look forward to many more fun years as we continue to grow closer to one another! I love you Alex!

My mother in law, Donna, decided to start a cute tradition this year, of making us a miniture wedding cake for our anniversary. Too cute, right? I was so tickled that she was thinking of us on our anniversary. Thanks Donna!

Now the celebration continues this weekend... yay! More fun bloggin on that Monday, or Tuesday when we get back in town...

Randomness!

2009-05-16T21:21:00.000-07:00

I found some pictures that I mean't to blog awhile back...but forgot about. So this blog will just be all those random pictures together!

First, here are some the art projects Alex did at work. He brought them home, and after a month or so of displaying them I decided it was time to just take a picture and then throw them out. At work they call him Mr. Alex. I got to go visit the special needs class that he is a teachers aid for. It was fun to meet all the staff and students he works with. Now when he comes home and tells me funny stories I'll know who he's talking about...haha. When I was introduced to one girl in the class, they said that I was Mr. Alex's wife...and she then leaned into me and said "You better watch your back." Oh my goodness, right?! haha. I guess she has a fat crush on all the male teachers aids there. haha. I am glad Alex has a fun job that he enjoys. He loves the people he works with, and always looks forward to going. Anyways, so here's his artwork.

He's very talented!

So I kinda neglected to post pictures of church basketball this year. We were busy every Thursday night with games for a few weeks. Our ward has seen better years in basketball... but hey Alex is still a champ to me!

There's Alex, chillin' waiting for his turn to go in.

In this next picture he's kind of in the corner with the ball ready to make a 3 pointer. I can't remember now if he made it or not... but I'm pretty sure he did.

This was kind of a cool shot... he got the rebound, and I like how everyone is looking at him as he snatched it. Getting good pictures during the game was hard with all the movement!

Here are a few pictures from Easter. Yes, grown kids can always do easter egg hunts! We don't need candy or money in our eggs anymore...we just do it out of pure competition!

So first the boys, Alex, Matt, Jason and Jeff Bennett hid the eggs for us girls...Terra, myself, Wendy and Mom. Matt suggested they hide them out front for us, so that if people drove by there wouldn't be all these grown men hunting for eggs...it was cool though, I don't mind making a fool of myself. I should have known we were in for the hardest hunt yet. I think about 8 eggs got thrown into the highest part of the pine tree, because we came up short when we thought we found them all. There were definitely some hard spots they found, and no assistance on the tall spots. Too bad I didn't get pictures of any of that....

So then us girls hid the eggs in the backyard for the boys. We thought we had some pretty tricky spots, but the boys still managed to get them all, and somehow one extra. So I did get some pictures of them...

It was hard to catch a picture before they all went running.

In the picture above, you can kind of see Grandma Findlay to the right. She was pretty funny, she had us hide one under her shoe, and one right inside her leg pant at her ankle (she was wearing leggins)

Below is Jason looking in the bush. Behind him you can see we have a barrel. My dad used it to smoke chicken and tri tip for our easter feast. They also used it at our family reunion we had a couple months ago, and everyone loved the meat! You can also see mom, dad and terra wrapped in a blanket in the background.

There's one of those tricky spots we found to hide an egg in.

It was so fun times! Alex won the hunt (even with all the cheating those boys did, stealing eachothers eggs when they could). Afterwards, Grandma Clinton, Uncle Todd, Aunt Tammy, Cameron and Addison Parker joined us for some dessert and dad's spiritual easter message. It was fun times! I am glad I came across these pictures again to post. It was a fun day to reflect on.

Tagged once again

2009-05-15T18:18:00.000-07:00

I actually got tagged a little while back, and neglected to post quickly... oh well, better late than never. I figured I didn't really have much to post about, so I might as well play this tagging game. So the rules of this tag are to name 6 seemingly unimportant things that make you happy. Then tag 6 more people.

This is actually kind of hard to think of... because there are lots of things that make me happy, but I think most of them are pretty important. I will try though to think of 6 things...

#1- Having the closet doors all the way shut at night. No, I'm not still afraid of monsters. It's just one of those things that distracts me sometimes when I am trying to fall asleep, so when they are shut I don't think about it, which in turn makes me happy! haha. Alex can tell you that I am getting a little more used to the fact that they don't always need to be completely closed.

#2-Having a clean car. I know it's not life or death if my car isn't clean, but when it is clean, it just makes me happy! I used to wash it all the time!

#3- Having a partner to do things with. I like having someone to go to the grocery store with me, running other errands, someone to work out with, I just like doing things with people more than by myself. I do enjoy a little alone time. Being around people makes me more happy though.

#4- When my toes are perfectly painted. It just bugs when the paint is chipped, it makes my feet not so cute... So a fresh coat of paint always makes me happy, even though it's not that important.

#5- A full bottle of honey always makes me happy. I know it's not hard, but refilling the honey bear is no fun, and I can't just buy new bears because Grandma Clinton hooks me up with bulk of the good stuff.

#6- Coupons! Even when it's only like 25 cents off, it makes me happy to think I am not paying full price for something...haha. I think we all like saving money, even if we end up spending more to use a coupon...haha, those buy 1 get one half off always gets me, especially when I only needed one!

Well, I managed to think of 6 things that aren't really that important, but hey, they make me happy. I think that's it, because everything else that makes me happy is super important!

If you feel so inclined to challenge yourself to thinking of 6 things that make you happy, and are seemingly unimportant...then do it!

Grandma is home!

2009-05-07T16:32:00.000-07:00

Well, the late night rock band parties and mini corndogs for dinner are out now. Grandma is back, and I think she's glad to be back in her home. She's doing pretty good. She can do a lot more for herself again, even with a cast on her arm. Thankfully it's her left arm.

Alex and I had a blast with the house to ourselves for a few weeks... even though I kind of broke the oven (after of week of not using it, dad came over to look at it, and everything was actually fine. Thank goodness.) We felt like newly weds again after a few weeks of our own space. We are glad though that Grandma is back and looking good.

Well, that's about all the excitement for now...

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

A First

2009-04-28T18:25:00.000-07:00

So Alex and I have officially been gym members since Jan. This is the part where I post an amazing picture of me -20 lbs right? Unfortunately it doesn't work that way unless you are on The Biggest Loser. But at least I haven't gained weight since then, right? haha...trying to be optimistic!

I have decided that I will be a little more faithful in going to the gym, and also cutting back on the foods I shouldn't be snacking on. We will see how it goes.

Yesterday I took my first class at the gym. I've been wanting to...but was kind of nervous about it. I decided that before jumping into the cycle class I would start with something a little more easy. I thought kickboxing would be in that category...haha. So within 15 minutes (basically the warmup) I thought I was going to die. It was rough! It did feel great at the end though. I'm pretty sure I lost about 1000 calories in that one hour class.

It was fun to have such an intense workout! So now I am beginning this new adventure of trying different classes. We will see how that goes...

SpRiNg cLEaNinG & Grandma

2009-04-24T18:21:00.000-07:00

Have I ever said how much I love cleaning and organzing!?!

It's probably the best feeling in the world when you get rid of clutter, and have everything nice and tidy!

I know there has to be balance in life between cleaning and having fun with other things.

But, taking a day every now and then to just
get organized feels so good!

Also... I feel so blessed to have Fridays off.

I am glad that I don't need to work that 5th day during the week.

And I am grateful for a profession that gives me the flexibility to chose that.

Today has just been a great day!

On to less happy terms.

I haven't shared on here yet about Grandma Miller.

I think most everyone knows that Alex and I have been living with grandma for almost 2 years now. She has been so kind in letting us be here with her. She must love us, because she's never threatened to kick us out....even after some of the meals I have made.

Anyways, so not this last monday, but the week before that... the 13th, the day after easter, grandma was out at lunch with her good friend in old town clovis and after lunch grandma fell on the sidewalk. She only had her cane with her, and she walks much better with the walker. Anyone who has elderly people around knows that when they get hurt, it takes a little longer to heal. So she had to go to the hospital, turns out she dislocated her wrist, and broke it...left wrist. So they had to relocate it...yikes...and of course now she is on the road to recovery. Her left side is very sore, and now walking is even harder than it was before. Alex's parents felt it would be best is she stayed with them until she can do more for herself. They have made arrangements so that someone is always there with her. Alex and I now have the house to ourselves until she can come back home.

I feel very bad that grandma had a fall. I think it's going to be very difficult for her to get back to walking better, she was already struggling before. We will hope that she finds the strength she needs though.

I hope that when she gets to come back to her home she will be happy to see that we took good care of it, and see that we kept it nice and tidy too!

I am glad that Perry and Donna are allowing her to be in their home and taking care of her at this time. It's a lot of work, and with our schedules we just wouldn't be here at the times she needs us. We sure do miss her though. So our prayers are that she will strive hard to get back to walking and get that wrist healed so she can come back home.

Just wanted to let everyone know, because she is a big part of our life.

The birds are out to get me!

2009-04-22T21:24:00.000-07:00

So I am trying to figure out what I did because the birds hit me hard this week.

So lets see... Friday, I washed my car!

I knew we had some hot weather coming, no more rain, so it deserved a cleaning.

Well... we all know a clean car doesn't last long.

I would like to think that it could last just at least a few days.

By Saturday I already had one bird dropping on my car...

bummer.

Well then Monday, at work, I had to park under a tree,

it was inevitable I suppose.

So then I got 2 more drops.

So it was only Monday, and I already had a dirty car...yikes!

Well, it gets better.

Tuesday, I spotted this!

How a bird manages to get that stuff on the side panel, I don't know?!

It was my week I guess.

But it doesn't end there...

Today, Wednesday, I got the ultimate shot on my car.

Unbelieveable right?

Nope...it all happened and the car hasn't even been clean for a whole week.

We will see what is to come tomorrow...

Spring Break part 2

2009-04-20T17:03:00.000-07:00

Well...I know we've been back for over a week now... I have just been a slacker though on posting the rest of our vacation!

So here it is!

Thursday we headed to Murrieta... our first time to that cute town... Bryce and Tiffany were so kind to let us come hang out with them for a little bit. I always wish we were closer to our cousins and their cute kids. We just had a blast visiting, and still got to watch one of our favotire shows, The Office. Thanks for letting us stay with you guys. So then Friday morning we took our time getting ready, played around a little bit with Kaden and Maddy, and then headed to Long Beach.

Friday we just had a couple of hours watching the drivers practice and qualify for Saturdays drifting event. Alex loves drifting, and I must admit, it is REALLY cool to watch. I have posted a video at the bottom, for those of you who still don't understand what drifting is...haha. It's not the best quality, but it gives you a good idea.

So they had the streets of Long Beach near the convention center blocked off for the Grand Prix, which was a few days after this drifting event.

Here's some cars in action...

It must be exhilarating to take a car going 80-90 mph sideways!

One of the drivers who is still a rookie, with not many sponsors yet, had a really great fan section...notice the two guys with the mullet wigs on...haha.

I know it's hard to tell with all the stickers and stuff done to the body of this car...but Alex is pointing to himself because that is the car that we have! Wouldn't he just love to do all that to it... I don't think so though.

A Rasta car!

One of Alex's favorite drifters...Tanner Foust.

He signed that hat for Alex! wow!

And finally a drift video we took during the practice runs.

It was a very fun event! And I am sure there will be many more to come that we will be going too. Alex just loves it! I am always up for a little vacation time too.