School's Back in Session!

School started on August 12th. This year I have 2 school bound kids. I can't believe that Emmalee is in kindergarten. She loves her teacher and class.
I took the normal first ay of school pics.

Here is Emm last year and this year:


She has grown alot!

Emm wouldn't smile for me. If she looks mad it is because I kept asking her to smile. If you know Emmalee, she is very stubborn. If she doesn't want to do something, usually she won't, lol. I think she still looks cute though! Ofcourse Peyton has to be involved too, lol.


Here are some pics from school!

























Here is Dawson last year/ this year:



Dawson wouldn't let me get any pics of him at school. As sson as we were at the 3rd grade gate he was gone..you'd think he was a teenager already, lol.



I

Everything is fine

For those of you who don't know, I miscarried this last week. I have been on a roller coaster of emotions, but no worries I am so much better now (atleast emotionally). This has been a hard trial, but I have been blessed to see so many blessings through it.

Almost 2 weeks ago I went in to my first OB appt. I was 10 weeks along and still feeling tired, but not nauseous. I wasn't too concerned. When my Dr did the ultrasound it was obvious right away that something as wrong. There was no heartbeat and the baby was measuring at almost 7 weeks. Not good. I was heartbroken.

I cried a lot that day, took a nap and woke up feeling better. I thought I was okay. Then the next night it hit me really bad. I cried through the night. Finally I couldn't take it anymore and I woke Mike up. I cried in his arms for a long time.

He offered to give me a blessing. I am so glad that he did. In Febuary we had been given a very strong impression that it was time for another little one. Wel the blessing assured me that we did exactly what we were supposed to. This baby was meant to be. I was given some beautiful promises that bring me so much comfort.

I am so thankful for the gospel. I am so thankful that I am sealed to my family and ALL of my children. These two blessings are the most precious possesions that I have been blessed with.

It took almost 2 weeks for it to finally happen. As luck would have it Mike had Scout Camp this week. I kept praying that it would happen before he left so that he could go. Friday it was obvious it wasn't going to happen soon enough. I asked him if he could find a way to stay home. He made some calls, but nothing was arranged. So with faith in my heart I sent him to Scout Camp, praying that he could get back soon.

Thanks to some wonderful Ladies in my ward, Mike left Saturday Morning and was back Sunday night. We had sent the older 2 kids to my mom's forthe week so I could rest and mend. So it was just Mike, Peyton and I from Monday-Friday. Heavenly Father is so perfect and blessed me that Mike would already have time off and be home for me. I am so thankful for that.

He helped me around the hosue and with Peyton. He took me out and really helped to get my mind off things. I think that this trial also happened to help Mike and I have time together. We have always had an awesome marriage, but life gets busy and we can't always make time for "us". This week gave us that time to get to bond, get to know eachother again (does that sound wierd or do you know what I mean?) and bond spiritually. I really enjoyed that part of this week.

Through the last few months I have seen how Heavenly Father prepared me for this. I was able to make changes and habits that helped me grow spiritually before this happened. I needed that added stregnth.

I am so thankful for the Gospel and I know without a doubt that the church is true. I am so thankful for all the blessings that I have been blessed with throughout my life. I know that Heavenly father loves us all and knows what is best. I also know that when times seem toughest he carries us. I have seen this in my life so many times, but especially now and when my Dad died. I am so thankful for that.

Well..................................

We are at that 2 year mark (well a bit over 2 year)and so some might be wondering if we are having any more kiddos. The answer is YES!! I am not sure of my due date yet because I don't ovulate like a normal person. If I did, I would be due 1/21/10 but since the test was faint a week after I should have technichally tested, and I finally got a dark result line today, I am guessing I am due somewhere around the end of January or the begining of Febuary.

I wasn't at all worried about anything until I went to my OB to do a test there (for our insurance)and the result line was super faint after 5 minutes. My nurse scared me and mentioned that I could be miscarrying. She said I should be 6 weeks pregnant and the line should be darker.

After talking with my Dr, they decided to do a blood draw and see my levels. He said I could just ovulate later than normal because my cycle is longer. It would make sense because the ultrasound due date is always a week after the standard due date. My levels came in on Thurs at 179, which would put me at 3-4 weeks pregnant. I go back in on Monday for another draw. I have a lot of faith that the numbers are going up because yesterday I started noticing that I felt pregnant. I took a test today and the line showed up in less than a minute and it was dark. So I feel comfortable letting ya'll know that we are excitedly expecting!!

I promise now that school is out I will get crackin' and update the blog. I can stay up late and catch up finally!!

More February

Also in February I was able to chaperone Dawson's fieldtrip to the Bodiology musical. It was at The Orpheum. That is such a cool theater. It has to be close to 100 years old and they updated it and still kept the beautiful victorian look to it. Dawson had a blast and for a few days I kept hearing him sing "Down...Down...Down....Down" whenenver he ate. If you ahve seen Bodiology, you know what I am talking about. Here are few pics from the trip:

The kids with Mr Slim Body (I think that was his name???)



Dawson and our group right before it started:

Procrastination is my middle name.....

when it comes to blogging lately. Honestly I have been so busy with carpooling (I feel like I am always driving someone, somewhere), birthdays, field trips and well, life! So in no particular order, here is what we have been up to:



February:

We celebrated Peyton's 2nd birthday at Red Mountain Park with our family. If you know me well, you know that I am obsessed with throwing a birthday party every year for every one of my kids. I think it stems from being a December baby and having one or two real birthday parties...everyone was so busy at Christmas time and it just never happened. So every year I plan the parties out about 2 mos in advance. Well every year until this year.

About 5 days before Peyton's party I realized I hadn't planned a thing. So I quickly started putting it together. Luckily it isn't hard when it's a 2 yr old: no games and only family!!

Mike was gone alot that week for Scouts and basketball, so I wasn't able to make the cake until the day of the party. The theme was Elmo. I knew Peyton would LOVE an Elmo cake. I bought the pan, the frosting dye, made the cake and frosting. When it was time to frost, my homeade buttercream frosting wasn't stiff enough so the cake turned out looking EXTREMELY homeade. So please don't laugh, I did my best. It was perfect in Peyton's eyes and that is all that matters, right?!?!

So here are some pics from his party!

Here is my attempt at an Elmo cake:



The men!



Peyton is finally loving the swing! He used to scream and throw a fit if you went near the baby swing, but he loves the big kid swing..who woulda thought??


Here's Mommy and her Birthday Guy!



I didn't get pics of him opening gifts because we filmed it on the camcorder.

He had a blasta ndmade out good. His fave gifts were his little people tractor from Uncle Billy and Aunt Teanne and His Mac Truck (from cars) and lightening McQueen racetrack.

If you don't agree with where the stimulus money is going.....

I thought this was pretty important and I had to share. If you agree with me and would rather have stimulus money go where it needs to, instead of for signs in Las Vegas, please visit this site:

HERE


I hope that Ashby doesn't mind if I qoute her message on this. It helps to see why this petition is so important:

"For those who may not know, contacting your senators and congressmen really doesn't do anything. Usually a secretary takes the call and writes your name or opinion on a list. SO....if you are opposed to the new Stimulus Bill which is aimed at stimulating the government and it's entitlement programs, then PLEASE go here and sign the petition as well as call your senators. We still have time to make our voices heard!!!"

Been a long time...Lots of pictures I will fix the pics in the morning. oops!

Okay so it has been just shy of a month since I have posted. The holidays are always so crazy busy. I really hope that my slacking doesn"t keep me from remembering all the Dec happenin's.

The first thing that comes to mind is our ward Christmas party. I felt like this one had such a nice family feel and it really brought to the true spirit of Christmas to the party. Our ward did a Nativity play. It began with an angel choir which consisted of Rebecca Squires, Erin Parrot, Ashley Stone and me. Then there was a narration by Bonnie Solheim and the Nativity began. Andrew and Kristin Briggs were Mary and Joseph and Dawson and his friends Bo Tenney, Andrew Hudson and another boy were shepards and the ward missionaries and another ward member were the 3 wisemen. It was really cool. Here are some pics:

Here is our Angel Choir (totally awful pic, but all Mike could get with Peyton in his arms):



Here is Mary and Joseph, The Shepards and The wisemen:



Next on the list is our family pictures. These will be special since they are the last ones my brother Billy will be doing for a loooonggg time. He is quitting the photography buiz to focus on school in hopes of entering Medical School. It sucks but he needs to follow his heart. I will add more once I get the disc from him or an email with the rest of the pics HINT....HINT BILLY!!!

Here is what we have so far:




We also got to go to Mike's company party. It was at the Hyatt Regency in Scottsdale. I found a really nice dress and actually pulled off something semi fancy on a low budget..SCORE! We jad so much fun. We had such a fancy gourmet meal, dance a lot, and Kareoked (sp??). We also had fun watching people go crazy drunk. I am so glad I don't drink. Oh and Mike was runner up on a dance contest and he wasn't even drunk! It was a great time!

Next ofcourse was my 27th ;) Bday. Okay, Okay I am actually 31 now. Wow that sounds so weird. I do not feel one bit of 31. I still feel young and I don't know it all yet like I imagined I would by 30. My Mother in law was in town and she got us a Cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory it was soooo dang good. Mike made pot roast and it was sooo yummy. He had taken the kids out the day before to buy my gifts. Emmalee got me a super cute necklace, Dawson got me a nice watch and Mike did great and got me 2 Michael Buble CD's. He is one of my new faves! My mother in law gave me moolah which went to Bath and Body Works Semi annual sale! My mom gave me some voice lesson CD's with lots of vocal warm-ups..much needed and wanted! It was a GREAT BDAY!

Since my bday was on a Sunday, Mike had his parent's watch the monkey and he took me out. We went to Serrano's and then he took me to see Twilight for the 2nd time(his first). He like dit but thought it could have been made better (which I sooo agree). It actually perked his interest and he is thinking of reading it. We shall see. We also went shopping while we were out. I found Emmalee the cutest Christmas dress at Mervyn's closing sale. It was $50 dress and I got it for under $20!! It was nice to get out.


Christmas was a lot of fun. On Christmas Eve we got together at our house iwth my family. We had a pot luck dinner, sang some carols, opened gifts and the kids decorated sugar cookies. They had so much fun doing that. We wanted to just do gifts for the kids this year and focus more on the real meaning of Christmas. It was great. Here are some pics..I added the kids in their Christmas Eve PJ's and setting cookies out for Santa!



Christmas morning was a lot of fun. Mike and I or should I say santa had a lot of things to put together and it was fun!

This is the living room Christmas morning:



Peyton got a Big Wheel, TMX Elmo, Farmer Elmos set, playskool cars and legos! He was pretty excited to tear the wrapping paper open, though he thought his Big wheel was for Elmo at first!







Emmalee got a rose petal cottage, the sansa kid mp3 play, some barbies, little tykes camera, a boy cabbage patch she named Ethan (she reminded me for months that her CP Emma needed a brother) and ofcourse play baby stroller, carier and highchair and a bunch of stocking stuffers.










Dawson got Wall E, an MP3 player, little tykes camera, magnetix, Lego Star wars set, wii games (Lego star wars and a cra racing game) and he got his dog Bella for an early gift in Sept.







I was so prud of myself. Usually when I get Mike a big gift, I ended up blabbing i before his bday or christmas. Well not this year. I got him a new car stereo and he didn't find out till Christmas! His old one wasn't working so well anymore. He loves it! I also got him mechanic gloves and All the superman movies.








Mike got me a jewelry Armoire which is so nice. You can see it in sme of the old pics. My necklaces don't tangle anymore! He also got me a super nice sewing machine travel case! I love both gifts so much!



After Christmas we headed to St Johns to see Mike's family. We had a lot of fun sicne there was snow everywhere! The kids were constantly outside. Peyton was in love with the snow. He didn't want to go back in. The kids had slumber parties nad lots of play dates with their cousins. We also went down to Showlow to see Bedtime Stories. I highly reccomend seeing it. It was really funny and cute! I enjoyed Sandler humor in a clean movie.

Here are some pics of the snow!

Emmalee making snow angels! She wasn't happy about wearing Dawson's old snow coat!


Emm and I helping Peyton make a snow angel!



Don't you love my snow baby!!! Reminds me of a Christmas story!



Dawson making a snow angel!






Well it is late and sadly I took so long to post that I may have forgot some things. Hopefully i will remember later! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!