Lauren 3 Months Old

On Dec. 21 Lauren turned 3 months old. I can not believe how quickly time is passing us by. She is still the sweetest and happiest baby. Every time she sees me or hears my voice she gives the biggest grin. I could just squeeze all the cute right out of her! On Sunday she was having a little floor time on a blanket and Cody yelled "V, she is about to roll over!" I said "Okay sure". But when I saw her she was almost completely on her tummy, except she couldn't get around her arm enough to fully roll. She is only 3 months! I know she will be rolling within the month. That seems so early to me! No, STOP! She is growing up too fast!

Cameron's Wedding Dec. 21

Thursday night we drove up and stayed in a hotel because Cody's brother, Cameron, was getting married on Friday. Things got a little screwed up and our "babysitters" didn't make it in time so I had to stay back and watch kids, rather than go inside to the sealing. I was pretty bummed. But the luncheon was so nice and the food was delicious. The couple was smart and decided to just do an intimate luncheon for close family and friends, and skip the reception. So instead they are taking the money and doing something fun with it. Congrats Cam and Bree! We love you!

My Imaginary Friend

Tonight I got to meet an old friend for the first time. Sound weird? Kim and I met almost 2 years ago on an LDS message board and have corresponded back and forth ever since then. She lives about 3 hours from me and has come to town many times during our friendship, but our paths always seem to just miss each other and we have never gotten to meet face to face...until tonight. Kim gave birth to her 15th baby here in town yesterday. That's right, you read that correctly. Her 15th baby. So finally after all this time, I got to meet my "imaginary friend" (as Cody calls her). I love her just as much in real life as I have in the zillions of emails and messages we have exchanged. She is an incredible woman. Her oldest child is on a mission and is almost 21, and the youngest of the crew is obviously a newborn. What a family she and her husband have. I got to sit and pick her brain for 2 hours about life and motherhood and we had a great time! She has this enormous testimony of the gospel and I really admire her. Now we have no excuse to get together each time she comes into town! By the way, she is "Mamahen" on my friends link on the sidebar. I just love reading her blog!

Lauren's Blessing Pictures

I took Lauren to have her pictures done today and I love how they turned out! She is such a sweetie!

It's Beginning To "Feel" A Lot Like Christmas

Lauren is doing much better and that has made for a much better day. We stayed home from church anyway just to be safe. I did NOT want any new germs in this house just as we were getting rid of old ones. But all that will go out the window when Ethan goes to school this week. We were all going sooooo cabin crazy today so we decided to go out in the backyard and play in the snow. I am not a fan of snow and I absolutely hate winter. I would live perpetually in June of I could. But today it was pretty fun playing in the snow. I dragged the kids all over on the sled and let me just say that it was a major work out. After an hour we were getting cold and we went inside and had baked potatoes for dinner. So yummy and warm! Too bad these pictures didn't turn out well. The flash was off.

A few years ago Cody and I decided to forgo buying Christmas gifts for each other, and instead we "adopt" two needy kids from the angel tree at his office. We have so much fun buying for the new kids each year and we always go overboard. But hey, when the kid has "underwear and socks" listed on his wish list, you know his family is in serious financial trouble and he would have a skimpy Christmas otherwise. This year Cody picked a boy and girl from the tree and on Saturday we bought all of their Christmas gifts. Tonight Cody and I were wrapping gifts until after midnight, but we had so much fun doing it while we watched "A Christmas Story". Cody has such a big heart and it's times like this that I am reminded why I married him.

We always wrap everything individually and then put it in one big U-Haul box and then wrap that.

No Comment

This is what my blog would say if it could talk. I don't know what has happened to make the comment link disappear. I wish I could fix it!

Poor Little Sicky

Lauren is so sick and I feel so bad for her. She is such a good natured and easy going baby, so for her to cry means that something is very wrong. And she has done a LOT of crying over the last 3 days. A friend of mine has a baby with RSV, and I was around her a ton over the last 2 weeks (before we knew she was infected). So of course I started worrying that Lauren had contracted it. She has been coughing like crazy and has trouble breathing when she gets into a coughing fit. So on Thursday I took her into the doctor, but he ruled out RSV because her oxygen level was great and her lungs sounded normal. I guess those are big symptoms of the virus. He said she just had a bug and we would have to wait it out. In the meantime we are miserable. Last night I was in tears at about 2 a.m. because she was so sick and I couldn't do a thing for her except love on her. Her little cry sounds like a sick kitten now. Cody gave her a blessing and we managed to get a little sleep last night, but not much. I have never had a baby be sick this young before. Ethan and Hailey both had their first illnesses at about 8 months and by then they were old enough so more could be done for them. I just feel so terrible so my poor, defenseless baby.

Silly Brilliant Babies

Last night after baths Ethan and Hailey were acting so silly. Ethan kept asking me to take pictures of his feet. The little weirdo.

Tonight after we read books the following took place:


Ethan: Mom do you know what Santa is going to bring me?


Mom: What?


Ethan: R-O-C-K-E-T. A rocket!


Mom: Ethan, you just spelled rocket!


Ethan: Yes, I know.


I was totally shocked! I about wet my pants from shock. No, it was sheer flabergastion!

Christmas Enrichment Program

Wow, what a night. What a week for that matter. We had our Christmas Enrichment night tonight and can proudly say that we pulled it off! Emma and I have been stressing over everything for weeks now. She is the Enrichment counselor in Relief Society and she has her hands full. I've been helping her as much as I could. I'm one of those people who is always the first to raise their hand and offer help whenever asked. Sometimes I take on way too much. This ordeal has been no exception. I don't know how to delegate. Well that's not true. I do know how, but I'm so afraid of someone screwing something up and I want things done RIGHT, so I do it myself. Oh well, I've always been that way and it's not necessarily a good thing. Missy put together this awesome musical program and we raked together some musical talent among the sisters and I think it turned out so well. Thanks to everyone who participated and helped out. At the very end of the program we wrapped it up with this slide show about Christ. Boy, that was a head ache to make but it was so powerful and worth the effort.

The food was great, the company was great, and I had such a fun night. I absolutely cherish the friends I've made in this ward. I'm really among some incredible women and I'm always in awe of them. I grow so much from their strength and examples.

(P.S.- Photobucket accidentally cut the very end off of the slide show. Bummer, it was the best part!)

Christmas Tree

We got our tree last Saturday, but getting it all put together has been a week long ordeal. And I've had to put almost all the ornaments back on so many times because little hands keep taking them off. I gave Ethan the choice between doing colored lights or white lights on the tree this year, and of course he chose colored. He said they looked like candy.

This terrible thing is Cody's pride and joy. Ever since I've known him he's wanted a leg lamp, just like the one from "A Christmas Story". Well a few years ago he set out on a quest to find one, and what do you know he actually succeeded. For the last three years our house has been known as "the leg lamp house". This awful thing sits right in the front window beside the tree. Oh, my heart is bursting with pride. My dad says he wants one and mom mom says over her dead body.

Pretty In Pink

Today is one of those nasty days where I wish I could stay cuddled under a blanket with my kids all day and lock the world outside. It is rainy/snowy and very cold...usual for this time of year. Lauren is dressed in a soft pink sweat suit and when I looked over at her in the swing she looked so comfy cozy. That's how I wish I could always stay! She looks like a big, pink, cream puff.

Heidi Klum Should Be Slapped

Tonight Cody and I were watching TV and I saw something that made me cry. No, it wasn't a Hallmark commercial...it was a Victoria Secret commercial. Heidi Klum just had her THIRD baby a few months ago and is back modeling underwear on the runway. Seriously, I was in tears. I am soooooo very grateful for my ultra fertile body and all that provides me with. I love my babies and would sacrifice my body all over again for them, but come on. It just doesn't seem fair that people like me gain such an enormous amount of weight from having a baby (70 pounds each time) and I have a very hard time getting it off. And then there is Miss Heidi. I don't really have a mean bone in my body, but I could slap her. I have never ever been a heavy person. I have never struggled with me weight. This is all so new to me. Believe it or not I was once a very thin and toned person. I was looking back over old pictures and found some of me when I was about 20 and at the peak of my work out days. I was a swimmer and was busy doing lifeguard competitions. I literally exercised for a living. And I thought I was fat then!!! And the inevitable cycle is this: You get pregnant, you get fat, you have the baby, you work like crazy to get the weight off, you start looking hot again, and then BAM!! You are pregnant and get to do it all over again. Am I right?

The 22 year old bride who thought she looked like a cow!

Nov 26-30

Dad and Philip flew back home on Monday morning. I really hated to see them go. They were leaving so early in the morning, before I would be up, so we said our goodbyes the night before. That was very hard for me. I cried myself to sleep and was so depressed the next morning. Mom and I were sitting in the living room and I said that I kept expecting to see Dad and Philip come through the door. Leighann also drove back down to school that morning so the house seemed pretty empty.

Lauren had her 2 month check-up Monday morning so it was a good distraction from my Daddy leaving. She is right on target for everything. She is in the 50% for height and 40% for weight...so just perfect. She got 4 immunizations so that didn't make her too happy. The rest of the week was spent doing chores around the house...all the stuff that I can't seem to get done. We cleaned and organized our basement and crawl space and I feel so good about life now. When my house is organized I function so much better.


Then the dreaded time for Mom to leave came all to soon. She left on Friday and she and I did a lot of crying on Thursday night and Friday morning. I know I am an adult and I have my own life and family, but somewhere deep down inside of me is that little girl who still wants to cling to her mommy's pants leg and never wants her to go away. I love my mom so much and I ache to be near her...to all of my family. When Cody and I were first married he put his foot down and said "We will NEVER live in Texas!" I was dumb and so in love and I smiled and went along with it. Now that we have kids though I see how important it is that they know MY family...the people who made me who I am today. I wish so badly to be closer to them. Maybe one day. The only thing that keeps me going some days is the thought that I am so fortunate to live in a day when airplanes are so easily accessible. I think of the poor pioneers who left everything, even their families, knowing they would never see them again in this lifetime. And I'm so grateful that no matter what happens, I bound to my family forever. I am so blessed.

After I dropped Mom off at the airport I lost it. I didn't want to go back to our house because I would be even more sad. So I called Leighann and told her I was coming down to see her. I drove down there and we went to lunch. At least I have her close by (well 45 minutes away, but that's nothing!) I am so grateful that she is just a quick drive away. I get to see her so much and it makes me feel less homesick. She is leaving for a mission at the end of next semester and I feel I will be lost with out her!

Leighann is such a dork. This is her signature pose for every picture (this was back in Aug. 2005)

Lauren's Blessing Day- Nov 25

Lauren was blessed on Nov. 25th while family was in town for the holiday. Mom and I had fun shopping for her "ensemble" and she looked so beautiful! Kind of like a miniature bride. She used the beautiful satin blanket that my great grandmother made for my oldest brother when he was a baby. So far that blanket has been used to bless 7 kids and 6 grandkids! Lots of family came out for the event. We had a brunch afterwards at our house and the food was so yummy! Thanks, Mom, for pulling all of it together. You are the best!

Lauren was all tuckered out after her big day! She was ready to get that frilly dress off. She was so sweet during the blessing and didn't make a peep.

That night we went to Temple Square to see the lights. Mom and Dad had never seen them so it was a real treat for them!

Catching Up (Nov 12-24)

Wow! Lots of catching up to do! WARNING...this will be a very long post with lots of pictures!! My mom came into town on November 12 and we immediately went to work getting stuff done. It's so hard to get much done around the house with little ones under my feet all the time, so Mom was a lifesaver. The first thing we did was paint the whole front living room which proved to be a HUGE task because of the 15 foot ceiling and the almost unreachable part by the stairs. But we got it all done (thanks Brandi for watching the kids!) and I'm so pleased with how it turned out. I wish I had more pictures, but this is a little hint anyway. The color is called "peanut shell".

Mom and I cleaned closets, organized the basement, and tackled the crawl space! Wow, it looks awesome now. On Saturday my Dad flew in. On Monday after all the pain touch-ups were complete we went to the zoo. We have a pass and haven't used it since the baby was born. We practically had the place to ourselves.

Then it was off to dinner at Chilis.

On Tuesday Leighann got finished with classes and came into town. Boy, the house was getting crowded with so many people, but it was so fun. Then on Wednesday my brother Philip flew in and the day was spent getting ready for Thanksgiving. On that day Lauren turned 2 months. I can't believe how quickly time is passing us by! She will be starting kindergarten before long.

Cody and I hosted our first TG at our own house. We've always gone out of town for the holiday. It was a lot of work, but everything turned out great.

On Friday night we drove out to "This is the Place" monument park for their Candle Light Christmas event. It was pretty neat, and VERY VERY cold. Holy cow, how did those pioneers do it?

Saturday morning we went to the aerospace museum. Dad has always said he wanted to tour it when they came up here, but we never have until now. It was dang cool and much bigger than I thought it would be.

If you haven't figured it out, my Dad only wears tan jump suits. That has been his favorite thing to wear for as long as I've known him. Oh, that and Hawaiian shirts and Bermuda shorts. Crazy character!