OKLAHOMA!

My little brother Garrett, after months and months of waiting has finally gotten his mission call! He is going to serve in the Tulsa, Oklahoma mission....WAHOO! :)

Yesterday he called us and told us it had arrived...he is living with my aunt and uncle in Sacramento right now so after work we (dan, bella, myself and some of our friends) piled into the car and drove out there. It was SO much fun! :)

Poor garrett was on pins and needles the whole time. Yesterday afternoon he was starting to open it cuz he couldnt stand it anymore. He threw it across the room and ran out of the house and had my uncle go inside and hide it from him so he wouldnt open it. LOL poor kid. I think he was a little disappointed when he opened it, but Garrett, dont worry, that is where you are suppose to go! He is serving in 4 states, so that is WAY awesome. Plus, hello! it will be way easier to send packages and letters to you. :)

Love your guts gar!

Picture courtesy of Justin and Jill....thanks! :)

MY NIECE HAS ARRIVED!!!!

YAY! She is as cute as a button! Its just hitting me right now that my little brother is a father. How wierd! He and Jill are going to be GREAT parents. Here are a few pix...

Oh so peaceful

Not so peaceful

Super mom!

Coma.
This is my fav pix of her! She just looks so cozy!

She was born @ 5:25 AM this morning. She weighed 8lbs, 2oz and was 20" long. She has blue eyes and light brown hair. They are still deciding on a name...here are the options....Elizabeth, Sarah, Rachel, Laura, Kaitlyn, Madaline. Personally i think she looks like a Kaitlyn or a Madaline. Oh i just cant wait to spoil this kid!

Where do i even start?

I've been SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO busy lately i just have no idea where to begin.... how about a time line of crazy events? Yes?

September:
Justin and Jill come to visit...our camera "breaks" in San Fransisco
"Fam reunion" (my dad got re-married) bad move retard!
Lots and lots and lots and lots of planning for the super activity

October:
Super activity postponed until after the election
1 week later, its back on and we did "craft nights" in 2 segments
Brother moves to cali
Mom starts "dating"
bella gets new back yard toys!
Friends find out about adoption
Halloween!

November:
prop 8 campaigning, prop 8 campaigning, prop 8 campaigning
Shopping at the outlets and almost broke bellas leg
Bella starts talking more
Time to vote! YAY!
Former roomie goes into labor....2 more friends/fam members about to pop any day as well
Dan fixes the camera...the light meter was jacked up on the manual setting...thats what i get for putting it in my purse without a case!
Today: working in the office and still sick...2 weeks and going strong! Cant wait to go home

Obviously i have a lot to catch up on! Sorry if i'm kind of negative, it's the end of the day and i'm wasted!

peace out

Super Saturday

Ok. Kill me please! Enrichment leader...not so much fun! Just kidding. It is great, its just a lot of work. I've been working on a super saturday for a few months now. It was suppose to take place tomorrow. Due to the work we all need to put into prop 8 we decided to move it to Nov 8th after the election...fine by me i'll just be in the corner in a fetal position until then. Seriously it's crazy.

Some people even commented that my crafts werent super enough...well guess what? dont sign up! Plus i figured with the economy totally sucking right now people might appreciate easier cheaper things to create. Ok so be honest and tell me if they suck because i really want to know.

If you could give me ideas of what you've seen or what you've done at your activites or on your own, i'd really appreciate it for future activities. Muchos Gracias!

1. Treat Buckets.
These are really popular in the scrapbooking world right now.
You can use them for gift boxes, for treats or trick-or-treat buckets...really versitle and fun!

2. Cookie in a Jar...Pretty basic, and a cheap gift!

3. Holiday Cards...Easy peasy and fun to make

4. Frankenstein Head...only the face a mother could love!

5. Pumpkin Cubes

6. Scrapbook Calendars.
This could not be more easy. Its a 14 month calendar, all you have to do is select the layouts you want.
I am pre-making kits for everyone so all they have to do is bring pictures and adhesive and go to town!

7.Quilt Panel.

Ok don't freak out! You can do a simple wall hanging, or you can go all out and make a quilt.
All we are doing the day of the activity is the front pannel...straight stitching only so it will be pretty easy!

8. Latex Lettering, we did custom orders for everyone

We had wreaths and mini albums but we decided not to do them...well thats all! Let me know what you think....ps...sorry for the crappy pix! I was in a hurry when i took them!

FORECLOSURE ALERT!

I never thought this could happen to me. Yah right! That is ridiculous to think something like that in times such as these. I called our landlord to inform her of general maintenance that needed to be done on the house...oh yeah and that the heater was blowing out cold air. lol minor problem...I also wanted to talk to her about extending our lease that is ending mid December....

She responded saying: Oh! I've been meaning to talk to you about that! and proceeded to give me this ginormous sob story about their financial situation and that her husband has been out of work and bla bla bla....not my problem. Bottom line is: they might be losing the house we are in. They are 1 month behind on their mortgage and will soon be in the beginning of the foreclosure process.

Awesome huh? I'm so glad we found out now instead of when the sherrif came a knockin on our door! :) So we have 6 weeks to pack up and go. I'm pretty stoked because that is the longest amount of time we have ever had to get ready for a move, so as of this week i have already contacted 2 realtors, viewed several properties and have started to de-craptify my house.

OOOOOOOOO Yeah! Ahead of the game! Hopefully we'll be able to find something that we can get into...i'd like to have a yard, bella's favorite thing to do is run around like a crazy head so that would really help me out! :)

We have been checking craigs list, 6 weeks from our moving date gives us time, but not really the option as things are going fast in this market. It seems like every day we hear about someone new losing their home. Any advice would be spectacular! :)

So Happy Together

Hooray for Jim and Pam FINALLY getting engaged! We were all so elated watching the office last week. We were literally on pins and needles the entire time wondering what was going to happen. Despite the crazy long and kind of montage-y episode i thought the proposal was well executed! :) So romantic! :) Not necessarily the location, but the fact that he couldnt wait a second longer to propose to her. GO JIM! WOO WOO!

The Tale of the Inefficient Pediatrician

Everyone I spoke with regarding a pediatrician when we first moved to Concord recommended the same guy, who will remain nameless. Lets just call him Dr. X. Dr. X has been upgrading his system and carries a laptop with him instead of paperwork room to room. I get not wanting to have files everywhere but really all this guy does is stare at the computer and has no interaction with us whatsoever. Meanwhile Bella gets fussy and starts playing with the otoscope or spygmomonometer or whatever she can get her hands on. Kind of crazy. So I'll be talking to him about her symptoms or whatever I'm there to talk with him about and Dr. X keeps shushing me because he hasn't gotten to the link he is looking for or he will enter something in the computer and it wont have the exact phrasing or symptom so he contradicts me. Oh and by the way...it has been nearly a year and they STILL don't have her medical records from her former doctor.

My latest qualm with this mo-fo occurred last Friday. I took Bella in because she started to get some kind of a rash. She had small red bumps form on her arms and chest and shoulders on Thursday afternoon but it looked like she was having an allergic reaction to something and didn't have any other symptoms so I dismissed it. 24 hours later the spots were absolutely everywhere and starting to surface. My first thought was that it was chicken pox, she hasn't been immunized and is constantly around little kids. So to prevent panic among the masses I took her in.

Dr. X was SO blahs e about the entire situation. He walked in and set up his precious little computer and without making eye contact started asking questions and inputing info. DIDN'T EVEN LOOK AT HER OR TAKE HER VITAL SIGNS----NOTHING!!! He glanced at her from across the room and I had to basically thrust Bella in his direction before he would look at her. I was totally appalled! He diagnosed her with: Non-Specific Viral Exantham; which basically means she has a virus and rash and has no idea what it is or how she got it. (more specific "exanthams" are chicken pox or measles) Shouldn't he have done some tests? Am I just not being pushy enough? Do doctors just do that when their office is full of a million screaming children?

My experiences in the past have been so different, they at least show some interest in my child. Is it the type of insurance we have? Anyway I asked him if it was contagious and if I should warn the mothers of all Bella's friends and he was like..."what are you going to say? To watch out for a rash? Don't even bother!" Personally I would be SO PISSED if someone exposed Bella to something ESPECIALLY without a warning.

It seems that you don't need any kind of a degree or interpersonal skills to be a doctor now. Maybe I should try that! At $180.00 for a check up, it doesn't sound half bad! Needless to say, I am shopping for a new pediatrician. Bye-Bye Dr. X!

Brace your Face!

For the last 7 week days I've been working in Dan's office, everything has been going really well, Bella has been great! Not really destroying everything in her path this time, but helping out and being an excellent greeter and mascot for the practice!

Today is our last day working with daddy and she hasn't really been a happy camper. She is still dealing with being sick and cant go play next door in the day care so she is couped up in here. Dan put her on a chair next to mine at the desk. She was standing up and leaning against the back of the chair, which toppled over and she hit face first on the arm of my chair! Her mouth of course hit the edge so the inside of her mouth is all bloody as it was impaled by her daggers for teeth.

Right now she has calmed down and is laying on my lap, she looks like she has just gotten braces! Poor thing! Her mouth is really swollen and red and blood oozes out now and then....I hope she heals fast! She isn't too happy about this!

Bella Monster Now Comes With a Leash

Saturday was our ward activity, The CVIII (Clayton Valley 3rd) Olympic Games! It was a lot of fun, we had a lot of great games to play...relays, water balloon volleyball, 3 legged races and a bunch of other games. Well we were hanging out at the park, someone was playing "soccer" with Bella monster and Dan and I were cleaning up well we were standing around talking and some lady was like...hey do you guys have a kid missing? There is a little girl wandering around over there....WAY ACROSS THE PARK!!! She was over a hill and in a little valley, completely out of sight. I feel so horrible that I had absolutely no idea where she was! She is so freaking fast! Plus there are a million things that could have happened to her, we couldn't see her at all and she could have easily disappeared, or run into the street or out of the park....it freaks me out thinking about it, which is why I've decided to get the baby leash!

She has a few style options....

I know what you're thinking...there is NO WAY any child will actually wear that thing! I'm sure it's going to be a crazy battle, but at least I'll have peace of mind when we are out and about. I t sounds incredibly cruel, but I think its very necessary when you have a toddler who without a second thought will run from you at light speed. I've found a not so horrible looking harness at rightstart.com this is the best store ever! Albeit a little on the pricey side for some things, but quite handy things that relieve stress for busy moms.

Sunday's Report:

Bella Monster woke up from her nap with a 100.6 fever, not very high, but still a little fever and had a runny nose so we called everyone in nursery and are crossing our fingers that they dont get sick. For petes sake!

Attack of the Insomniac

For the past weekish I havent been able to sleep. Its super crazy, I'm up later and later every night. Last night...almost 4am and then I had to get up and to to work (@ Dan's office) at 7. NO FUN! The sucky thing is there is absolutely no reason for it, its not like I've got a project to work on or take care of a baby or something, I'm just WIDE awake! UGH!

So Meet the Robinsons, is one of my new favorite movies, meet the fam...

Its a totally cute movie and makes me cry every time. I'm totally reduced to watching kid movies all the time, which isnt a problem, bella is happy! But really? Over and over and over again...kinda makes me want to swallow my own head. I think the only musical I've seen in forever is Backyardigans. Thats right folks, your back yard friends!
Usually when i'm majorly sleep deprived I'm like Dr. Krunklehorn, one of my favorite characters in Meet the Robinsons. She is an inventor from Inventco Labs and one of the judges at Lewis’ school science fair. Her latest invention is the caffeine patch, which is like drinking twelve cups of coffee at once. She hasn’t slept 8 in days.

So here is Lucille Krunklehorn at her best!

Seriously, this is how I am when I havent gotten any sleep. Anyone that knew me in college could confirm that! This is without caffeine! Today however, I feel like Goob...Lewis' roomie who is always up at night because Lewis is inventing things. Hes pretty monotone and rambles on and pessimistic...basically how i'm feeling right now. Goob trades in his juice box for a cup of coffee...totally how i feel right now.

If I dont get to sleep tonight I'm totally gonna drink a bottle of Nyquil to "help me get my zzzz!"

FHE Group

We started a Family Home Evening group for the young couples in our ward either without children, with babies, or with toddlers in nursery. We figured that if fhe empty nesters can have an FHE group we could too and we rock it so much more than they ever will! :) Besides, it is much more fun to have an intelligent conversation with a big group of people instead of trying to ask our toddler to share her thoughts on the book of mormon. lol.

For the past few months it has been basically 3 other couples & our family but tonight we have approximately 20 people coming PLUS their kids....I dont know how we are going to fit everyone in our house but hopefully it all works out! Our friends are usually over until midnight, so hopefully we can get everyone else to think that FHE is over an hour or so later & then get the after party started with our friends!

Enrichment Activities

So I was called as the Enrichment Leader in our ward a few months ago & its been pretty fun...well it's been summer so we havent done much! lol but they split the calling so that there are 2 co-chairs now so the other lady is in charge of the quarterly activities and I'm in charge of the monthly activities...SO FUN! :) So I've been trying to come up with a lot of fun good activities that will get people involved...What are you guys doing in your wards?

So far we have:

2 Book Clubs
2 Quilting Clubs
Scrapbooking
Maybe a Bowling Team
Maybe a Volleyball Team
Crochet
Mothers Group
Park Day
Walking Groups
Humanitarian Aid
GNO (Girls Night Out)
and basic crap

I just think it's not very fun ya know, i think we can jazz it up and make it awesome and appealing to everyone...i'm all for the group thing, but i'm just bored with what we have going on. PLEASE HELP! What would get you to go to a R.S. activity?

Little Swimmer

Bella & I have gone swimming so much this summer, at least a couple times a week until recently when it was way to chilly to take a dip! We started out with just a normal swimsuit for her which of course didn't really work out since she is such a live wire but was a little bit affraid of the water and clung to us like crazy.

We got a suit with a life vest in it, which totally rocks!

She learned how to swim really fast & gained a lot of confidence in the water. She has convinced herself that she is the next female Michael Phelps! :) She isn't half bad really, the only down side is that she is SO confident that she doesn't know that she still cant swim solo yet, as soon as we get to the pool she runs over to it and tries to get in, she has enough buoyancy to stay afloat, but not quite enough to keep her head above water without treading water, a task which she has yet to learn. She is doing really well and I think that if she had been doing this well at the beginning of the summer, she would be swimming completely on her own by now. GO BELLA GO!!!!

Here are a couple of the boy's suits available at right start they are awesome! Totally love them!

I"M GOING TO BE AN AUNT!

So a few months ago Justin & Jill (my bro & sis in law) announced that they are having a baby! Hooray! I cant wait to be an aunt! Your kid is going to be so spoiled Justin! I cant wait! The only sucky thing is that they are all the way in Idaho...that's a way long way!

According to MapQuest its: 848.78 miles between Concord, CA & Rexburg, ID. A little too far really! How the heck can I be the favorite aunt if i'm way far away??? Well we'll see, I have 12 other aunts and uncles to compete with...chances are I'll come in like 5th or 6th...but you better believe I'm gonna fight for first!!!

One thing I can never get over is how fast babies grow while they are in your tummy. Really it feels like for-freaking-ever while you're pregnant, but on the outside looking in, it's so fast & so amazing!

cute little peanut!

She is super cute already! OK, she kinda freaks me out with the "laser beams" coming out of her eye balls! But guess what justin? I think she has your lips!!!! :) $5 says she is a toe head!

Slackerville

Ok so I have gotten really used to our home computers being busted. They have been down since April. Thats right! April. Almost 4 months so I'm sorry for the slacker blog, i totally have to get used to doing this again. We got a new computer but there is something going on with it, my last computer was totally invaded by worms and viruses and absolutely everything was corrupt so our friend is going to set up a restart point for our new computer in case it happens again. Hooray! Hopefully I'll get back into this soon. Sorry for being a slacker!

Communicating

So Bella is talking up a storm now. Its incredible how much she picks up on, we are really having to watch what we say...ACHOO-KIRSTEN! :) We have been wanting to teach her Spanish and Italian but it is too confusing so we have been sticking with English and sign language which she is picking up on way fast!

Amidst the endless array of baby babel, her is what we have deciphered thus far:

Her words so far are:
Dad / Dada
Mom / Mama...we are working on Mommy
Hi
Hewo = Hello
GO GO GO!!!!
OK
Bye / Bye-Bye
Ciao
E Ya = See Ya
Peese = Please
Ha = Hot
Codie Codie = Cold
Wa = Warm
Wa = Water
Baba
Ippy = Sippy
Q = Thank you
UUUUMMMM
Why
You
NO
Owie
Tubby
Yes
Dal = Uncle Dallan
Ti K = Auntie Kirsten (who teaches her bad words...you're on my list)
Baby
Cat and she meows
Dog/God...She might be a little dyslexic? She woofs also
Ball
Book
Yuv You = Love you
Yay
ish = fish
Shoe
Woah
Ree-Ree = Pretty
Yummy
Yuk & she either makes a guttural sound in her throat or blows raspberries in the air
Ew & She pinches her nose
Adder = Heavenly Father, when we pray
Yeah = Amen
Hey
Wow
Boop = Poop
potty
Nose & points to it
Eyes, " "
Ears, " "
mouth, she doesn't say it, she just points
Button = Belly button...this is her biggest fetish, she is always playing with her belly button, especially when she is tired or drinking her bottle...when i check on her at night she is asleep with her finger in her button, it cracks me up!

Today she was like MOM! MOM! All Done Mom! :) love it!

Daddy's Fav: Nuggle = Snuggle
My new fav: UH-OH! Which she always says in her loudest voice.

Her favorite phrase that one day came out of no where is:

Why'd you do that??!!

Her signs are:
I = I love you
more
please
thirsty
no
fish
yes
cheese
poop
bread
milk
play
folds her arms for prayer
High fives & says, Yeah!
and she blows kisses & says MWAH!

Its great that she is talking more, its not all the time, she is totally random, but what comes out is like perfect timing and pure comedy. She thinks she is really funny & totally fake laughs any time someone else is laughing. TOTAL HAM!

Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog

Ok so one of my most favorite recent discoveries is: Dr. Horribles Sing Along Blog!

Heres a description of the show according to Wikipedia:

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is a 43-minute musical film produced exclusively for Internet distribution. It tells the story of Dr. Horrible, the aspiring supervillain alter ego of Billy (Neil Patrick Harris); Captain Hammer, his nemesis (Nathan Fillion); and Penny (Felicia Day), their mutual love interest. The movie was written by writer/director Joss Whedon, his brothers Zack Whedon (a television writer) and Jed Whedon (a composer), and Jed's fiancée, actress Maurissa Tancharoen. The writing team penned the musical during the WGA writers' strike. The idea was to create something small and inexpensive, yet professionally done, in a way that would circumvent the issues that were being protested during the strike.[1][2]

It's been the hottest thing on itunes for the past 3 weeks. It's fun to have silly stuff like this around! Its pretty cheezy, but I'm a cornball, so I love it!

Heres one of my fav. songs so far:

Humpty Dumpty

About 3 weeks ago we were enjoying a Bella free day at church...this meant we actually got to focus on our lessons that we taught...everything was going really well, it was her first time alone in nursery & she could have cared less that we werent there! I was sitting in primary and the nursery leader's mom came and got me...totally casual saying that bella bumped her head. So i was thinking, "whatever! She always hits her head!" So the nursery leader meets me in the hall freaking out because bella bumped her head and then "went limp" & now had a goose egg right between her eyes. Very attractive! So I was like no biggie she is fine....not really.

A few minutes after the bump she went from crying and upset to confused and lethargic so I started testing her and looking for signs of a concussion. I took her to the bathroon and put a cold paper towel on her head and started asking her to sign things and say things...the only thing she showed a reaction to was when I mentioned "Daddy". At this point I knew something was really wrong & it was more than just a bump.

So the nursery leaders came out to the foyer where we were and started explaining what really happened. They said that she hit her head a few times before the big bang, BLACKED OUT and STOPPED BREATHING for a few seconds until they picked her up & took her out of the room & she started breathing again. She was totally limp & then started crying. Then I got really concerned because they didnt tell me the whole story until a half an hour later. HELLO!!!!!!!!! So the guys gave her a blessing & we left for the hospital.

We had a hard time keeping her awake for a while, it was also nap time, but we finally got her into the ER & she was swaying & almost fell out of my arms. They were really great, they got her in ASAP and checked her out and we stayed there for a while until she started acting like normal. About 2.5 hours later she was a lot better and probably just had a headache. She hadnt thrown up & was doing well so they didnt want to do any X-Rays or a CAT scan but we had to wake her up every two hours until midnight to make sure she didnt get worse or slip into a coma.

We decided since she was feeling better to just keep her up until 11pm or so which she was happy to do! So she played dress up & pushed her stroller around & danced to west side story until it was time for bed!

The next day she was kind of cranky & had a headache but was totally fine otherwise. The Dr. from the hospital even called to check on her, it was great! I was so happy with everything that happened there! :) Even happier that our little Bella Monster is ok!

4th of July 2008

Wow! I totally forgot about this. We finally got to take a mini vacation this 4th. Oh oh wait! I totally forgot my camera-HELLO! so we got some disposable cameras but i didn't take nearly as many as i would have if I'd had my digital camera. What the heck was I thinking??? So until i get them developed lol I'm going to fill in with stuff i find on the internet. enjoy.

It's so hard owning your own business, you never get time off! (and health benefits aren't included...we're shopping right now...any suggestions?) Anyway so this year we went down to Monterrey Bay, we were so missing the beach. We drove down Friday and cruised around the area for a while and did the 17 mile drive which I have never done before, it was so awesome! We got out a few times and checked out some of the lookout points and tide pools....Bella totally loved them...by the time we got to Carmel (at the end of the drive) we were so tired! We went back to the hotel and got settled and then decided to go watch the fireworks on the beach...so we got some dinner and had a little picnic, it was great!

We were up on some cliffs overlooking the water and watching the sunset when everyone started running to the edge of the cliffs....some guys pulled a scuba diver out of the water...he was totally unconscious so the guys started taking his gear off and doing CPR, he looked like he was going to be OK...everyone around us was on their cell phone so a few minutes later we were surrounded by cops and paramedics...great way to start the night! lol So we watched the fireworks and totally froze on the beach and then took off about 10 minutes before the show ended so we didn't get stuck in traffic. score.

The next day we went to the Aquarium. I LOVE IT SO MUCH! When I was a kid I wanted to be a Marine Biologist so bad, we went on a field trip to the aquarium when i was in 3rd grade and i about died, i loved it so much...it has changed a lot since i was there last but it was still awesome. Bella really liked it. AND they had a play area for toddlers. We were all SOOOOO happy! Bella was a total space case. She LOVES to scream now. crazy head. So she was all over the place. These people know what they are doing. They were very accommodating for strollers and babies and everything. Word to the wise. NEVER GO ON A HOLIDAY WEEKEND! it was so freaking packed I felt like a sardine. I totally belonged in the aquarium.

This room was awesome, there were tons of sharks, the wierdo fish that you'll see below a bunch of monster sized tuna that were totally eyeing bella...it was really awesome. the tank was huge and the glass was wall to wall and floor to cieling. i got a really cute pix of bella leaning up against it and staring at the fish.

lots and lots of sharks...we still got excited about the hammerhead shark. Remember about the time when the ninja turtles were popular hammerhead sharks were all the rage?

And the award for the wierdest fish ever goes to...

This little guy is the star fish...he was ginormous.

awww-ters. When we got there, they were feeding the otters so they were really happy and doing a lot of tricks, bella really liked it!

This guy was really cool, I really hope my pictures turn out well, he was huge and really cool to watch. When we got there he was hiding across the tank but we walked up and he came right up next to us. Its cuz we rock.

Ok the penguins were really cute. I think they need a bigger tank tho, there were like a bajillion of them in a really small area...they were eating when we got there - we seriously had perfect timing wherever we went. They were really cute. Just as cute as the penguin in 50 First Dates

I was really sad that this part of the jelly fish exhibit wasnt there anymore....maybe we totally missed it or it was closed? The remainder of what is there is totally awesome...see below...and they are closing the jelly fish exhibit in September of this year to make way for bigger and better things.
Over all: Great weekend!