tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88526686682087360982024-03-13T03:53:42.003-07:00Foster Featuresbeloved30http://www.blogger.com/profile/02665051370327354039noreply@blogger.comBlogger87125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8852668668208736098.post-29377011242352822552011-03-26T22:56:00.000-07:002011-03-26T22:56:17.335-07:00Starting again!Here I am! Sorry about the absence, I lost interest and was focused on other parts of life. It happens. So onto the updates on our lives:<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji8zjOC889fwuoUiG0pbUjboVOZDgYcKQlTiIR4Zq9IN9IPmkgeUrAyNLazj6DEKgbygJBS1BPFHsLkjcc4uo3U2GLpf7cqG1Tg1dibMFCGBhmZvXucdBDHOAuHyXJZLTPeZWoeOclWyOo/s1600/CampgroundAndDogs.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji8zjOC889fwuoUiG0pbUjboVOZDgYcKQlTiIR4Zq9IN9IPmkgeUrAyNLazj6DEKgbygJBS1BPFHsLkjcc4uo3U2GLpf7cqG1Tg1dibMFCGBhmZvXucdBDHOAuHyXJZLTPeZWoeOclWyOo/s400/CampgroundAndDogs.png" width="400" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>A few days after Charlie died we went camping with my mom, sister and grandparents for a whole week. It was a wonderful escape from my sadness. I hadn't been camping in years and I had been wanting to go so badly. We went to Woods Canyon up on the rim between Payson and Heber. Chloe had a ball! She was constantly covered in dirt and was always picking up rocks, pinecones, sticks, handfuls of pine needles, you get the idea. She played from sun up to sun down with a nap in the middle of the day. I chatted with my grandma (Nannie) and played cards till I nearly couldn't stand it anymore but I loved it! I had a giant 10 person tent for just me and Chloe and Preston too once he joined us for the last few days. My mom and Selena spent a lot of time fishing with my Grandad in his little boat on Woods Canyon Lake. Claire and Selena's puppy Scout ran and ran and ran all over the woods. We had them tied up but after the 45th time of untangling them during the first day there we just set them loose. Every once in a while we would call them back just to make sure they didn't get very far. They only didn't come back right away once and it turned out they were sleeping in a tent. Winston (my brother Josh's mini dachshund) was there too and he explored a lot but mostly slept the whole time. All together they were pretty cute and really fun to watch. It was all so relaxing and I cannot wait to go again. I was unplugged from all internets and phones (my blackberry died in the humidity up there anyways). We are going again in July but for 2 weeks this time. I've already got my packing list together and am remembering all the things I wished I had had while I was there last time. I am ready!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkf3hZoINwaNrMqS8unMJO8mWpD-CQaWrKxtrY3Ka4cIopIsyNdm0iSAgDjEb-gK3hobE3RIXl60AGOpbqdANk9t97WSyNKdm3GdjaAKJXtPX3XunPqx-sL1C3RTYDjby1PtsDx301CL4g/s1600/CampingPics.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkf3hZoINwaNrMqS8unMJO8mWpD-CQaWrKxtrY3Ka4cIopIsyNdm0iSAgDjEb-gK3hobE3RIXl60AGOpbqdANk9t97WSyNKdm3GdjaAKJXtPX3XunPqx-sL1C3RTYDjby1PtsDx301CL4g/s400/CampingPics.jpg" width="366" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>My latest "thing" that I've been enjoying the heck out of is cakes! I have been having so much fun with it, exploring my natural talent and expanding it. Turns out I have a knack for it. The funny part is that the part I struggle with is actually assembling the layers of cake. Everything else I've been picking up pretty easy without any previous practice or experience. My mom used to make cakes when I was little and I guess I watched her more than either of us ever thought. She's been helping me and teaching me with the stuff I'm more shaky at but is still always impressed with my final results. </div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>We started with my cousin Adam's wedding cake. My aunt actually asked my mom to do it but I came over to help because I was fascinated and wanted so badly just to touch and play with that fondant stuff. Turned out she hadn't ever worked with it and I had watched enough Food Network to know for the most part what to do. Together we figured it out and it came out decent but still amateur. The wedding colors were black and white and they didn't really care what it looked like so we decided on polka dots and the top layer looked like a small gift. I was HOOKED! I almost immediately found a reason to make another. I made one for one of my best friends who needed some special love on her birthday. It was sea foam green with pink feathers (I made by hand) on top to compliment a running joke between us from our dance class when we were little about an awful costume, and a dance recital gone wrong. Her mom loved it and asked me to make a birthday cake for <i>her</i> mom's birthday, I seem to have lost the picture of the finished cake all together but I have one of the top and one of the bottom. They were orange, white and a burgundy color with flowers and swirls. Selena loved that one so she had me make her and her friends make a cake for their homecoming dance. Their theme was something to do with Vegas so I made little fondant dice and hand piped a pair of aces with pink hearts. Next I made one for another bff Ciera for her birthday with a Dia De Los Muertos theme. Next was Chloe's 2nd birthday and I did a two tier white cake with green vines and pink flowers hand piped all over it. And my last one was my cousin Kyrie's wedding cake. Three pearly white tiers with a crisscross pattern pressed into it for a quilted looks and little hand made candy jewels in each intersection. Pics of each one, I hope you can tell which one is which:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqCewaimDVRWrAsVutjr6VWsckzG68_kzPX4b4GXRlxOy_0w9sLbpBvgEM8uE86mgd1wlSl1JitL-zxozQCfRPjDC-T0c6vHypQWA_pTiYzZaq985IgBVZ_ywr-y40uKNK2TkGHmwGp47o/s1600/CakePics.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqCewaimDVRWrAsVutjr6VWsckzG68_kzPX4b4GXRlxOy_0w9sLbpBvgEM8uE86mgd1wlSl1JitL-zxozQCfRPjDC-T0c6vHypQWA_pTiYzZaq985IgBVZ_ywr-y40uKNK2TkGHmwGp47o/s400/CakePics.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>In sadder news. We had a miscarriage at the end of September. I didn't know I was pregnant until it happened so other than hormones it wasn't too emotional for me. It was still hard because we've been trying since last February. I figured out I was only 4 or 5 weeks along. We are hopeful about continuing to try for our next little sweetheart, but, if not for the miscarriage I would be worried about infertility by now. I've had a lot of time to think about my next pregnancy and delivery and I for sure will be getting a new doctor and trying out some more holistic approaches for a v-bac. I feel robbed after not getting the chance to push out my own kid and Dr. Tutt doesn't do v-bacs and he doesn't believe I can deliver normally. I need some faith from my own doctor darn it!</div><div><br />
</div><div>We do have a new addition to our family, though, she's a little more canine than I had planned... Her name is Lucy. She's a lot like Charlie, part Italian Greyhound, part Chihuahua. Very very cute and has her own perky personality. We love her already. My friend Ciera gave her to us because she didn't have the time or dog friendly space she needed. This was a great option for all of us. She can visit her "baby" anytime she wants, Claire gets a new buddy, and I love the new puppy cuddles. We call Ciera the "bio-ish-mom" and I'm the "Foster-mom" hahahahaha! There's a picture of her on the right side of the page with our family pictures. </div><div><br />
</div><div>Well I'll finish up my novel here. Sorry again for the lengthy dry spell. I won't promise to try harder to keep up with it, but I will try harder to at least post about the bigger stuff. Love you all! </div>beloved30http://www.blogger.com/profile/02665051370327354039noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8852668668208736098.post-17374353566468247932010-07-29T19:58:00.001-07:002010-07-29T20:04:25.749-07:00Goodbye Charlie Dog<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Charlie passed away on July 10th. My sweet little dood.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoxUNddJdlIMMvNwtj7ZF6hslLEfV1ER3j5PAank0QOFCc1bZqTuAUN73DZdbPmMiEKkZYhZuBgNQTIHM5XgCFQNrh-HWNT1y2NqVygaAia1tNJZ1tOvqBb3OdgEAI5ki1DpbdOjVl6j7H/s1600/IMG_1014Charlie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoxUNddJdlIMMvNwtj7ZF6hslLEfV1ER3j5PAank0QOFCc1bZqTuAUN73DZdbPmMiEKkZYhZuBgNQTIHM5XgCFQNrh-HWNT1y2NqVygaAia1tNJZ1tOvqBb3OdgEAI5ki1DpbdOjVl6j7H/s400/IMG_1014Charlie.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
About 2 weeks before, we came home and found vomit all over the house. 4 or 5 spots. I figured he'd eaten something he shouldn't have and didn't think too much about it, though I started paying closer attention to his eating and drinking habits.<br />
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Over the next two weeks he was still eating and drinking and seemed a little more like himself but not that great.We went to Heber for the 4th of July and had a good time. He didn't hardly eat while we were there but I just attributed it to stress from travel, lots of people, and unfamiliar dogs. When we got back, he still wasn't eating very much and started throwing up again, about once a day. He was eating less and less for fear of just throwing it up again and staying in one place for long periods of time and by Thursday we were really worried.<br />
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We took him to the vet on Friday and they did an x-ray. They showed it to us and pointed out the very large mass that was not supposed to be there. They showed us that it was pressing on his organs and making him sick. He also had very bad pneumonia; one lung was completely filled with fluid.<br />
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They took some blood and called me the next day with the results. His liver enzyme count was 6 times the normal level. The large mass that was taking up more than half of his abdominal cavity was his liver. The vet said it was either a really bad infection or cancer. She told me to talk to my family about either hospitalizing him (which would have cost upwards of $1500) or putting him to sleep. We talked and cried and talked some more.We decided that putting him down was the best option all around.<br />
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After thinking about his behavior I noticed a pattern that had developed since January. He had been slowly losing energy. Sleeping more, and running around less. Hiding under the bed more and engaging us in play less. More easily irritated and he had less of that pure doggy joy he of which he always had too much. We didn't notice because we had gotten Claire in December and she had enough energy for both or them. We just figured she was wearing him out all the time. Poor guy. We told the vet this before Charlie was put to sleep and he was almost positive it was in fact liver cancer from the description of his declining energy.<br />
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He would have been 3 years old on the first of August. We are so sad to have lost him so soon. He was my first "baby". I got him about 4 months before I got pregnant because I wanted a baby so much. I needed to have something to take care of. I found him at the pound with the cats because he was so small. He weighed 4 pounds and he was the cutest thing I'd ever seen. I named him after Charlie on LOST, a stuffed monkey I had as a child, Charlie Brown, Charlie the Unicorn and well... he just <i>looked</i> like a Charlie.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtdC5UsTjvTeE3tD5lpwsQzzaEfNwab4wcZ5EVuAFmocZq5-vHXc6e64rgOwajA_mtmm9CHwPDngspevGNmQUmTxySM9kbozmbRfZzj5IpcovSFmF16mJRl0kooZB8Hr44zuF5pUBHqpJ6/s1600/Charlie+dog+pics.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtdC5UsTjvTeE3tD5lpwsQzzaEfNwab4wcZ5EVuAFmocZq5-vHXc6e64rgOwajA_mtmm9CHwPDngspevGNmQUmTxySM9kbozmbRfZzj5IpcovSFmF16mJRl0kooZB8Hr44zuF5pUBHqpJ6/s400/Charlie+dog+pics.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
I had so much fun with him. I dressed him up in sweaters when it got cold and a costume for Halloween. He would get sudden bursts of energy and run around the house as fast as he could, we called it his "nascars". I taught him to chase his tail for treats. He was the worst in his class in puppy training but still "graduated". He barked at everything that moved or made noise. And he hated water only a little less than cats do. He played tug of war like a big dog and never let go unless he was flying through the air and was an absolute riot when there was an air mattress involved. I took too many pictures of him and he quickly learned to hide when the camera came out because he didn't like the flashes.<br />
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My house is empty without him. Claire misses her playmate and I miss my little buddy. I'm so sad to have lost him so soon. He was a great little, too-hyper dog. Waking up without him standing on me to get me to let him outside is hard. Claire has been a wonderful comfort. I'm grateful we got her when we did. She cuddles like Charlie never would after I rolled onto him once or twice. Poor little guy.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiusPGB6BSOabF783d-Dp7NcAaYjRp-6o8Jx2jczPSGqWTazBqn_9nJ1zdPNQtgVxrKssoGMUlsr0wOQhm2ifMSon0RL7i_Oxie6P9ArUhe7Ub9B9LSXgyA4Jx9_9sxZmMtJJonQkMVKV40/s1600/IMG_0993Charlie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="325" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiusPGB6BSOabF783d-Dp7NcAaYjRp-6o8Jx2jczPSGqWTazBqn_9nJ1zdPNQtgVxrKssoGMUlsr0wOQhm2ifMSon0RL7i_Oxie6P9ArUhe7Ub9B9LSXgyA4Jx9_9sxZmMtJJonQkMVKV40/s400/IMG_0993Charlie.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>I love you Charlie. I hope you've found Cassie (my first wonderful dog) in doggie heaven and that she's running nascars with you. See you later.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>beloved30http://www.blogger.com/profile/02665051370327354039noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8852668668208736098.post-17064634243819719722010-05-16T14:00:00.001-07:002010-05-16T14:08:41.858-07:00Are they supposed to know this much, this soon?If any of you saw my facebook update earlier this week, that's just one example. If you didn't let me enlighten you.<br />
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My little newborn baby girl will be 18 months old on the 18th this month. I guess she's not really a newborn anymore. *sigh, lip quiver, tear, sigh* At the same time these last few weeks have been some of the most entertaining EVER! Her personality has been showing since she was pushing my lower right rib up and down with her little toes, but now it's really emerging!<br />
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They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but is it still flattery when all that's imitated is talking on the phone and watching TV?<br />
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Wednesday morning, Chloe decided to watch a little TV. So she walked up to the TV, turned it on and found the bluray remote. Then she climbed up on the couch and turned on the bluray player. Our bluray is a Samsung and has streaming Netflix on it, it's awesome. Once the bluray was on and at it's home screen she selected the Netflix button and when that had loaded she pushed play on the first show available on our queue. When the opening credits started she started fake laughing at it. After a few minutes she somehow found the pause button and climbed off the couch to go play in her room.Two minutes passed and she came back to the couch and started it up again. It was something about Africa so they were showing some zebras and she started howling because they look like striped doggies!<br />
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Three minutes later she changed her mind about the whole thing, as girls often do, and turned it all off and went off to play. I'm grateful she hasn't learned that we should sit in front of the TV for hours at a time. Thank goodness for short attention spans... wait... no. There's a time and a place. <br />
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Preston has a work phone and a personal phone, but no matter the phone he always answers it the same. I guess he's self conscious about being on the phone in front of me when it's business and when it's friends it's probably because he thinks I'll disapprove of the conversation material. When the phone rings he grabs the phone, hits answer, and as he says hello he's walking out the door of the room. After the conversation is over and he's finishing up the call he will be walking back into the room as he says goodbye, hangs up and stuffs the phone into his pocket almost in one motion. Yesterday we were in Chloe's room playing with her and Preston let her play with his phone. She put the phone up to her ear and said "Ah-ra? Ob-di-bara ya. Ha ha ha!", fake laugh and all as she strolled confidently out of the room. About a minute later she came back, "Oh-ru, ba-da-ya. Yah!", took the phone away from her ear as if to hang up, and I swear she would have tried to stuff that phone in a pocket if she had been wearing more than a diaper. I looked at Preston and said "That was you! Not me for once!"<br />
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It's so fun to see the things repeated that she watches us do. We can ask her to fold her arms and she will fold her arms and bow her head with her eyes closed. Sometimes she'll even go all out for us and hunch down as if she's sitting in a chair and bent over, squish her face into her little folded arms and make little whispering noises as if she were saying the prayer. If we ask her where her nose is she will point to it and then get carried away and stuff it up there and then we consider ourselves lucky if it comes back clean. She can use a fork to stab small soft bites of food like ravioli and feed it to herself, though she usually ends up poking herself in the face and I freak out and trade it for a spoon even though she has very little luck with them. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgROJTxJIiB3iy4m42_eRgtHfWkFfyundC7xaHBMGQstXFA-xH0PIKum-HdZ89VT9e9oxSOZ4n6W0IymeMiyE6E-0S50zBWk6c_4FFx2r9H2H9Ea_a-mu1zLaaAoObZoUC9YQ4-DOEwss13/s1600/IMG01074-20100510-1857.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgROJTxJIiB3iy4m42_eRgtHfWkFfyundC7xaHBMGQstXFA-xH0PIKum-HdZ89VT9e9oxSOZ4n6W0IymeMiyE6E-0S50zBWk6c_4FFx2r9H2H9Ea_a-mu1zLaaAoObZoUC9YQ4-DOEwss13/s320/IMG01074-20100510-1857.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>She tried to unlock the bathroom door with my car key once. She <i>almost</i> succeeded except she couldn't turn it all the way and it wasn't locked in the first place. When she can get into the bathroom, she opens my drawer and pulls out my hairbrush and brushes her own hair. She loves to play fetch with the doggies and empty baskets of clothes one article at a time at high speed. And she LOVES to give kisses! Her kisses are usually wide open mouth ones that sometimes encompass half of the rest of your face in drool. Whenever she gives one she always says "ahhhhhhh," while doing it, because it's not a real kiss if you don't. This is one of those things that you really don't want influenced by what they see. You see, short kisses are great and all but, <i>long</i> kisses? Those are better. They must be! Why wouldn't you want your daughter's wide open drooling mouth with a little bit of fishy cracker goop on her lips attached to your lips for at least 8 seconds? *eye roll* I guess the way daddy loves mommy shows and she wants share!<br />
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Chloe is the highlight of my life! I can't get enough of her and at the same time, I still love my breaks from her... like nap time, and date night. She's getting super tall too. I blame Preston. She can reach stuff off my counter tops now. Things that were once far out of reach are brought to me on a daily basis. Like the package that <i>had</i> gum in it from my purse, or a cup of water I filled 30 seconds earlier and set down to let the dogs out and by the time I turn around it's been dumped on herself, or the floor, or both. Sometimes it's a plate of food. Or my computer on which I am blogging, she can somehow highlight half of what I just typed and with a few presses of other buttons replace it with "nmm,/..;;;/..,mmmczcn,//.////". Yeah that's always fun! Most of the time it's just hard not to laugh.beloved30http://www.blogger.com/profile/02665051370327354039noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8852668668208736098.post-62756142965148695422010-05-12T22:53:00.004-07:002010-05-12T22:56:53.875-07:00Comfy Heels and Grown Up Coco Puffs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">'m sorry if I end up sounding like a commercial. I think I should get commissions for the stuff that I obsess over. A few years ago it was those tide pens... cause they are awesome! </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">My current obsession is Crocs....</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL46aTgfi3Xkshn6U2CNKdzTxA14hHUPMVUhYq5RiphkofUlPZw6vqOkhQatn05M6kDcrZX7EFPXtifinQ9Bejmzj_R6CJOFQL1077TyFHMcUI8gtoDxB5iX0ifmtGBgZsXiVENM9QJI0v/s1600/10001_angle_511.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><img border="0" height="122" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL46aTgfi3Xkshn6U2CNKdzTxA14hHUPMVUhYq5RiphkofUlPZw6vqOkhQatn05M6kDcrZX7EFPXtifinQ9Bejmzj_R6CJOFQL1077TyFHMcUI8gtoDxB5iX0ifmtGBgZsXiVENM9QJI0v/s200/10001_angle_511.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">If you're thinking of those ugly nasty clog ones then stop! They actually make cute ones that you can wear in public and not look frumpy. Seriously. These were my present to myself for being me!</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMlcfnVRvDy5JSaLQ5tWm4hfItunxrXJ7rVj3Y9JOeB3iEK9paHAyx0K_DwD2_4GlpEf43RubbiITN3MEbFfOGkhizfTF1NdxlylelqBBgM_XrVKMHFAMXmoeawNhqn9G5vEbW3w2wIRAj/s1600/10776_pair_060.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><img border="0" height="122" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMlcfnVRvDy5JSaLQ5tWm4hfItunxrXJ7rVj3Y9JOeB3iEK9paHAyx0K_DwD2_4GlpEf43RubbiITN3MEbFfOGkhizfTF1NdxlylelqBBgM_XrVKMHFAMXmoeawNhqn9G5vEbW3w2wIRAj/s200/10776_pair_060.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_Ic9WTcv8spRlYfrdt5dlV18Gfb84x2HxsY6hnm4b0oZnPJl_Tydh6eG_jvI6vKeKK-9D8ZaEx4kJQMyl9rvLHCXR6KLtocEwH9YjLn8m4Pm-PX2UF60tokZDQx9rE_ZQB2aQz2Q8Trz7/s1600/11071_angle_23D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><img border="0" height="121" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_Ic9WTcv8spRlYfrdt5dlV18Gfb84x2HxsY6hnm4b0oZnPJl_Tydh6eG_jvI6vKeKK-9D8ZaEx4kJQMyl9rvLHCXR6KLtocEwH9YjLn8m4Pm-PX2UF60tokZDQx9rE_ZQB2aQz2Q8Trz7/s200/11071_angle_23D.jpg" width="200" /></span></a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Aren't they cute? Well I think they are wonderful. They are cute, make me look taller, comfy (the brown ones are like having a foot massage attached to your feet), they go with everything I wear (at least I like to think they do), and they make me </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">feel</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> cute and a little sexyish (which I think is always important to feel that way whether you actually do or not). Chloe thinks they are cool too but she likes to wear them on her hands because they make her fall over if she puts them on her feet. She likes to put them on my feet and take them back off over and over again. I just had to tell you about them!</span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5ED-y3pIaYcleU84zzvGEZhDH7zJHGMDhKFuAFGZlWOTfeC7tw_crnUlbIKsyvyEIcF1S5jcD16dEQAn4bL6wU6u0_-nkbQnlxdOXwlD9HO4AOrax-V_D0MnUic_EBEKRvCmTOIQm-QIr/s1600/chococheerios.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5ED-y3pIaYcleU84zzvGEZhDH7zJHGMDhKFuAFGZlWOTfeC7tw_crnUlbIKsyvyEIcF1S5jcD16dEQAn4bL6wU6u0_-nkbQnlxdOXwlD9HO4AOrax-V_D0MnUic_EBEKRvCmTOIQm-QIr/s200/chococheerios.jpg" width="146" /></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Grown up Coco Puffs... *impish grin* They are good for me </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">AND </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">they are chocolate. Have you tried the Chocolate Cheerios??? They seriously taste like Coco Puffs! I got a giant box (too big for the cupboard) at Costco on Saturday and they are almost all gone already and it's only Wednesday... I've been eating them for just about every meal because they are wonderful shaped like an "O". I figure it's better than eating a bar of Chocolate for every other meal. (I did that for about a week after my last chocolate party, my butt didn't appreciate that very much.) </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I just had to tell you about my recent favorite obsessions/things because a lot of the time other people turn out to like them almost as much as I do. They do make fun of me for being my own commercial but at least I don't irritate you or them about it in the middle of your favorite show, right???</span></span><br />
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</span></span>beloved30http://www.blogger.com/profile/02665051370327354039noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8852668668208736098.post-54654426814325001862010-05-11T17:30:00.000-07:002010-05-11T17:30:45.622-07:00Turtle Man Returns!Yes, he came back! The dummy!<br />
<br />
So, on Friday of the same week of the first encounter, Preston came home to have lunch. When he came in the house he informed me that the red Cadillac was loitering in front of the second gate. (In case you've never been here: The property we live on is a long rectangular shape. There are two gates on either side of the property both facing South. The house is very close to the main gate on the East side of the property. The second gate is on the far end away from the house on the West side. Nearer to the East main gate in front of my house is a little walk though gate leading to "the front door" that we only use to let the dogs in the front yard. All clear? Well, moving on.) The news that he was nearby at all made me nervous but I decided that I'd give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that Grant was on his way over to meet him. It was decided on Monday during his first encounter that if he ever steps foot on the property again, for whatever reason, that he would be escorted by Grant. I later found out that he still has some stuff here that he wants back. <br />
<br />
After Preston finished his lunch and left half an hour later he called me and told me that Turtle <strike>Man</strike> Turd was STILL sitting there and also that he glared at him as he drove by. Of course the wussy would wait till all the men were gone to make his move! After that long of just sitting there I'm thinking he can't be up to any good so I called Grandad, who called Grant, and then he called me back and told me that Grant had told Turtle Man repeatedly that he couldn't come that day because he was on his way out of town for the weekend. Grandad himself was in Prescott at the time too. Lucky me, I'm all alone with Chloe. Fortunately she was taking a nap during all of this. While I was talking to Grandad he asked me to check if the guy was still out there. When I walked out front through my "front door" and looked there was a black SUV sitting next to him. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be a sheriff. Grandad felt better and we got off the phone. I immediately wished I hadn't hung up yet when Turtle Man got out of his car and stared running towards me! <br />
<br />
I started edging towards the door and trying to shoo the dogs back into the house (they were ignoring me because they had noticed the crazy person running towards us as well and were in the midst of barking passionately at him in what I think they see as a valiant attempt at being guard dogs). I was prepared to leave them there and go in by myself if I needed to. During all of this I was wondering to myself "Why, why, why is the sheriff not stopping him???" I almost got all to the door when the sheriff's SUV started to pull away. Again I'm thinking "So that's it??? That's all you're gonna do for me???" and he flipped a U and managed to pull up to my little gate before "it" did and asked if I knew the "gentleman running behind" him.<br />
<br />
I replied as quickly as I could before "it" got to my gate. "Yes, he was escorted off this property by the police the other night." Sudden understanding dawned on the old mans face.<br />
<br />
I then tried to tell him about the original run-in. I kept stumbling over my words and getting flustered because I wanted to be as close to the truth as possible so that "the idiot" standing there would have no reason to correct me or call me a liar. I needn't have tried so hard because he had made up his own bullpoo story anyways to make him look like the martyr he so wished he was. I managed to get out the basics and told the sheriff that everyone had come to the agreement that he could come with Grant to get his stuff. ONLY Grant. His crap was in fact inside of Grant's pod with Grant's other belongings. <br />
<br />
During my rendition I was repeatedly interrupted whenever my own truthful story veered off course with his bullpoo one. Though he never actually spoke to me and I was grateful for that. The sheriff would interrupt him back and say something like "Be quiet, the young lady is speaking, you already had your turn." "I told you to be quiet." "Shut UP!" They got progressively more and more violent. Also, I noticed Turtle Man was wearing a shiny silver and orange hat that said "I ♥ Jerusalem". The heart was dark pink and the silver brim was blinding in the sun. He looked stupid.<br />
<br />
Having had my say (which was obvious that the sheriff believed me miles more over "it") "it" tried to repair the holes in his once shiny and slightly incomplete story which at this point I had heard nothing of. These are his words in my best "stupid person voice" that you can't hear but it's how I tell it in real life: "Well that Grant person makes me uncomfortable because he assaulted me and hit me in the head with a nightstick. I called the cops that night. He harassed me and wouldn't let me get my stuff and was trying to make me leave and so he hit me on the head with a nightstick and I called the police. And I called him today and he wont come." Riii-iiiiiiight...<br />
<br />
The sheriff then told him that he had two options: 1- He could wait and come with Grant ("but I don't like Grant cause he hit me on the head with a nightstick" "I told you to shut up") or 2- he could get a court order to be allowed on the property for 30 min to an hour with a police escort ("how do I get that?" "shut up and I'm gonna tell you"). <br />
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For obvious reasons, I didn't favor option 2. Several things were repeated to "it" and the story was getting it's gaps filled in for the sheriff. At this point, the sheriff got a call on the radio and was trying to sort it out. In the absence of his attention "it" made his first attempt to talk directly to me. I didn't like that very much. "I just need to grab a couple things, it'll take me 10 minutes and I will leave and you'll never see me again." On principle, at this point, I had to decline, as tempting as it was for me to never have to worry about seeing him again. "NO!!!" I shouted, while stomping my foot like an angry 6 year old not getting her way, "You can come with Grant! I don't like you! You make me uncomfortable!" I realized as I said it that it wasn't really the wisest thing to say to a crazy person. "I don't want you on the property without Grant! How many times do you have to be told NO?!?" I almost cried but managed to cling to my keeping it together facade.<br />
<br />
I needed to talk to Grant and KNOW exactly what Grant had said to him and why. We had been having what was becoming a circular conversation for about 15-20 minutes by now, it was getting old and I wanted to confirm with the sheriff the absolute truth. So I called Grandad for Grant's phone number. When he asked why and what was going on my brain shut off and I started crying because it was the logical thing to do. Anyways, me being unable to talk the sheriff offered to explain so I gave him my phone and he started to tell Grandad what was going on. When he got to the part about Grant needing to come with him, "it" interrupted him again, "I'm not comfortable with that Grant person because he hit me on the head with a nightstick." I love this sheriff for his final response to being interrupted yet again. In a loud, intimidating, reminds-you-of-that-bada**-old-man-in-the-movies voice, he stuck a finger in Turtle Man's face and shouted "If you don't SHUT UP I'm gonna SLAP you in the FACE!!!" <br />
<br />
I have to say, that made my day, month, and possibly year.<br />
<br />
I was given back my phone and told Grandad that I would call back in a bit for Grant's number cause I still wanted to talk to him and we hung up. The sheriff told "it" for the last time that there was nothing that could be done today and that he was to get in his car, drive away and not to come back without Grant or a court order. He did and I sighed with relief. Once "it" walked away for his car the sheriff got in his car, didn't say anything to me but instead gave me an out of place cheesy grin with a double thumbs up. Needless to say, I wasn't crying anymore.<br />
<br />
I did talk to Grant and he told me that he had been trying to meet up with Turtle Man all week long and that Turtle Man was the one that had been mysteriously unavailable until the day Grant was going out of town. I had to ask him about the nightstick and he laughed but never actually denied it and said "The guy is delusional" repeatedly. I decided that if he had hit him that Turtle Man deserved it, and if he really hadn't... well, he deserved it anyways.<br />
<br />
Sorry this is being posted so long after the actual incident but the whole thing made me angry and I didn't feel like spending the energy on being angry. I feel better now, so the story is less angry sounding and more funny.<br />
<br />
About a week later I saw him drive away from the property with his stuff followed out by Grant. I guess he wasn't THAT uncomfortable with Grant after all.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">THE END</div>beloved30http://www.blogger.com/profile/02665051370327354039noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8852668668208736098.post-76968935222907420132010-04-13T09:23:00.002-07:002010-04-13T09:26:46.906-07:00Turtle Man...Have you ever met a crazy person??? No, not like a PMSing chick kinda crazy. I'm talkin like real crazy; like <i>crazy</i> crazy! I have! Last night! On my property! Ok let me esplain...<br />
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So like a month ago, the dumb dog started barking at like 1AM and I heard the gate at my driveway open and a car drive in and stop. So I got up and looked out my window and saw a guy going over to the gate to close it behind himself. Fishy right??? So I passed the time until I fell asleep again being irritated and plotting the downfall of the other people with whom I have to share my property.<br />
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The next morning around 10AM the guy left, and I called my Grandpa (who is my landlord) and told him how irked I was at the other tenants on the property who don't actaully live here. I said I thought they need to have hours when they shouldn't be allowed to come down here cause they wake me up and have little respect for us. I told him that there is no reason on earth for any of them to be here at 1AM. That got his attention and he said he wished I had called him and told him about it. I was like "Well, I'm not really accustomed to calling people at 1AM but if that's what you want..." <br />
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A couple nights later he came at midnight, so I called Grandad. He went out to the guy and talked to him and felt bad for him and decided he could stay. I didn't like it and told him so but he was trying to be kind and help the poor guy out. He told me he was odd but seemed harmless enough but if anything happened to let him know or call the cops if needed. Once again, he left the next morning at around 10. The same pattern continued since then. He would come quietly in the late evening and always close the gate behind himself and leave the next mid-morning. I didn't like it but there was nothing I could do but say I was uncomfortable and dream of the day we finally met face to face and hope that afterwards I could have a reason to make him go and stay away.<br />
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Tonight I got my wish! Yay!-ish... Today I had a nice girls day with my good friend Ciera. We ate sushi and watched the Princess and the Frog. After the movie we chatted and then she left. Or she tried to anyways... She called me from my driveway saying there was a guy asking for us to unlock the gate (there's a shiny new deadbolt on it as of two days ago) and demanding to be let in. I went out and he tried to give me the impression that he just needed to pick up some stuff and he was gonna leave. I let him know that I knew what he was doing here and that I wasn't thrilled with the situation. After the truth was out he kinda lost some steam but restarted his story.<br />
<br />
Then he let me know he was crazier than his first impression made him seem. Turns out crazy people can pass as normal for a few minutes at a time. He began to tell me that he was a good christian man and that he didn't have a home and was going through "trials and tribulations" and that once he sold his [nasty crappy red] cadillac that the Lord would provide him with an RV and he would have a home. He started making Ciera nervous so she came over and asked for his name. His response: "My name is, uh, ........................Chris, some people call me Hovah [yeah, like Jehovah? Riiiiight!] or Turtle Man." Turtle Man? Wha? This is when we realized he was maybe not all there.<br />
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I'm thinking "whatever, I need to get out of this situation" and opened the gate and told him he could go get his stuff and reiterated that I preferred him to sleep elsewhere. He got defensive at this point as if I had told him flat out to get lost and the "conversation" escalated as he continued to tell us how he was a good Christian and that everyone was against him except for the angels and God and that someday he would be blessed for being so faithful. He said "The words of Jesus roll through me and out of my mouth." At this point, I'm a little more than freaked and I figure I have more than enough grounds to get Grandad to make him leave. So I told him "Go get your crap," and took Ciera back inside and called Grandad.<br />
<br />
Grandad called the tenants on the property that had initially told him he could stay here and they came to talk to him and to try to get him to leave. Wanna hear the irony??? Turtle Man called the cops on all of us! That was just the proof to add to the pile of crazy I had just gotten. He's trespassing on our property and called the cops because we were "harassing" him!<br />
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When I saw the flashing lights out my kitchen window, my first thought was that there had been some kind of violence and someone got hurt and I was like "Oh, crap!" But once me and Ciera got outside it was difficult to refrain from the giggles. It was almost too obvious to the police who was the crazy and who belonged here. We told our side of the story and got the rest of the blanks for us filled. One of the cops walked up to us laughing really hard and told us the guy had a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costume in his car and asked if we had ever seen him wearing it. I guess that's how he got the name "Turtle Man".<br />
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All in all, it was a really fantastic day for me. I got new shoes (post on those lovelies coming soon), sushi and a fun movie with Ciera, and the bum off my property! I'm pretty happy, and feeling safer than I have in a month!beloved30http://www.blogger.com/profile/02665051370327354039noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8852668668208736098.post-13216849076962010642010-03-31T18:35:00.000-07:002010-03-31T18:35:28.706-07:00Want Vs Need<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Preston and I were having this discussion earlier. I had a moment of wittiness and I liked it enough to share:</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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Preston: I need a second monitor for my new computer.<br />
Amy: You NEED one? How 'bout you WANT one?<br />
Preston: No I need it, because then I can have iTunes open on one screen and do other stuff on the other one. I'll get twice as much done.<br />
Amy: No, you'll be twice as absent from the real world. You don't need it, you want it.<br />
Preston: No, I need it.<br />
Amy: You need your left leg. You want a second computer monitor.beloved30http://www.blogger.com/profile/02665051370327354039noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8852668668208736098.post-13419515285359500182010-02-18T13:43:00.005-07:002010-02-19T00:05:17.138-07:00Gardening, Preston's News, and (of course) Chloe!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>This picture really has nothing to with the rest of my post but I thought it was too cute to be missed!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUSCqqUpk6M-uMo4pUNjdhGZM-yGCdMIYGflE0S4qW6zdqQPZcVbJmQPYASEm_38kwtEtjQlVXqObWAUFxlRcqebBAw_BT6yf7bgxmsGHhi-2de8VIpwScgVn5uYIOa-TUyq09GaEB95PJ/s1600-h/IMG_0130.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUSCqqUpk6M-uMo4pUNjdhGZM-yGCdMIYGflE0S4qW6zdqQPZcVbJmQPYASEm_38kwtEtjQlVXqObWAUFxlRcqebBAw_BT6yf7bgxmsGHhi-2de8VIpwScgVn5uYIOa-TUyq09GaEB95PJ/s320/IMG_0130.JPG" width="212" /></a></div><div>Me and my blackened thumb have once again tried our hand at gardening... So far success! I planted tomatoes, bell peppers, and spaghetti squash. The tomatoes and squash have come up and I'm still waiting for the bell peppers to sprout. I'm starting to wonder if I'm gonna need to go buy seeds or if the seeds I pulled out of the pepper I ate are even gonna grow. I used seeds from a tomato I ate and the same with the squash. It's been fun! I used some old butter tubs I saved as tupperware and drilled some holes in the bottom of them and used their lids as excess water catchers. If the bell peppers don't sprout soon I think I will try planting some strawberries next. They are lined up on my kitchen window seal for now until they are strong enough to survive outside (maybe) and while I attempt to teach Claire that my planter outside is not an appropriate place to dig. We're gonna try chicken wire first. Any other anti-digging-doggie tips? Please? This is my outdoor planter that Meredith and I tilled and pulled weeds out of one day last week: </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6__ANp-sZOwvSyn_8yRCJMX9McjiCCrZioBr54Y81GmNs-KegVJH6pAecsZQUv9Ae44y8nP2tdW_im3E8xDB2TmjqqyhBoLz2DOC7SIb2_Rl0gMjrvdemTrtQD8ywzvMngUz4-q9tmjzi/s1600-h/IMG_0142.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6__ANp-sZOwvSyn_8yRCJMX9McjiCCrZioBr54Y81GmNs-KegVJH6pAecsZQUv9Ae44y8nP2tdW_im3E8xDB2TmjqqyhBoLz2DOC7SIb2_Rl0gMjrvdemTrtQD8ywzvMngUz4-q9tmjzi/s200/IMG_0142.JPG" width="133" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>(there are holes all over in it again courtesy of my anti-plant pup Claire):<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPZCwfl0OusULjdaI4SL_6a5WR26AKJnxSxZLs8HDe2CS22WPFZRJb4-b7zfE-ruDkrebqhCQhFT7YYdlnG998xtbxD1aKryWIePvd-mOmr8oqvAE9utQKJUqdb-EWBpc6XSWBq5NeoG2s/s1600-h/IMG_0151.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPZCwfl0OusULjdaI4SL_6a5WR26AKJnxSxZLs8HDe2CS22WPFZRJb4-b7zfE-ruDkrebqhCQhFT7YYdlnG998xtbxD1aKryWIePvd-mOmr8oqvAE9utQKJUqdb-EWBpc6XSWBq5NeoG2s/s320/IMG_0151.JPG" width="214" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>Here's my tomatoes as of this morning:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE9nwMkmZbiwLhZJER8WsobUyrzWVf0kRRNMVeSrzmdhZMV6cr9EFV8gkuvikVnAhuzZjv0SQbfcRovcWx7y3p-bfMVKYEJ52zBzsOAYOfRLOOokLeFA2i33tNGh8kBR3OKRZuFJ2hlsQJ/s1600-h/IMG_0033.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE9nwMkmZbiwLhZJER8WsobUyrzWVf0kRRNMVeSrzmdhZMV6cr9EFV8gkuvikVnAhuzZjv0SQbfcRovcWx7y3p-bfMVKYEJ52zBzsOAYOfRLOOokLeFA2i33tNGh8kBR3OKRZuFJ2hlsQJ/s400/IMG_0033.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>And these little beauties are my little spaghetti squashes!:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGae2hkr9R5usb_F9PEv3wJ3_edK5eFLEVRsP9fDZe8PARuis01YHtlyGe8ZRgUmgYEdBM6WnYC3rsLR2UEEdhM3HyohqW_EuWBEOGq8wVpJQSjdGJN7DBEO4xdzMhFlRYcEBsqQ5wNah-/s1600-h/IMG_0043.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGae2hkr9R5usb_F9PEv3wJ3_edK5eFLEVRsP9fDZe8PARuis01YHtlyGe8ZRgUmgYEdBM6WnYC3rsLR2UEEdhM3HyohqW_EuWBEOGq8wVpJQSjdGJN7DBEO4xdzMhFlRYcEBsqQ5wNah-/s400/IMG_0043.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>Chloe loves being outside, though I haven't ever let her out to play on the ground. I bring out her highchair and some toys so she doesn't eat the dirt. I don't quite trust her with that yet but I can tell she can't wait to run around outdoors! We'll try a park now that she can walk!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiToVW9rz2TBsKxe2q0MElY_7y0j_5m3stdXLx3mttXTIOZF7ghR11BPyKQWpsOSbEfGiVbVj_0LQqp_dK87B5mD9X3VUNmxLFhCQvDu5AbqVlDF6YBUU7hyrzOYvh8vEECqiXtnrI7VzIj/s1600-h/IMG_0139.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiToVW9rz2TBsKxe2q0MElY_7y0j_5m3stdXLx3mttXTIOZF7ghR11BPyKQWpsOSbEfGiVbVj_0LQqp_dK87B5mD9X3VUNmxLFhCQvDu5AbqVlDF6YBUU7hyrzOYvh8vEECqiXtnrI7VzIj/s320/IMG_0139.JPG" width="212" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div>And now......... The big news you've been waiting for!!!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div>Preston got a promotion!!! (Cheering and applause loudly with much exuberance!) He was promoted to Head Technician/Manager! He also got a raise with the promotion and hints at another raise if he does well in his new position! We are so excited and proud! I know he will do well and continue to grow in his work. He loves his job and all of the new (and sometimes VERY interesting) people he gets to meet everyday! We are so grateful for our blessings and we can't wait to see where life takes us!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9uzmyCiaOeauzRw_e7_5dNV7M-vrjSbMD97fW4zy5iO_lzg3tEXMmxxWFOjlptfi7NUO4uEiWjg_FQYg9DcLF1OP1gpjO47K3R8Rl_Nf2jeDu8XrmdqVS5R2rBGVjc3SISpr21U0O0-T2/s1600-h/Maldanado+Logo+2C+%C3%86%E2%80%9910-08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9uzmyCiaOeauzRw_e7_5dNV7M-vrjSbMD97fW4zy5iO_lzg3tEXMmxxWFOjlptfi7NUO4uEiWjg_FQYg9DcLF1OP1gpjO47K3R8Rl_Nf2jeDu8XrmdqVS5R2rBGVjc3SISpr21U0O0-T2/s320/Maldanado+Logo+2C+%C3%86%E2%80%9910-08.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Chloe picked up walking like a fish learning to swim. She had the balance thing down perfect before we made her go for it. After a solid week she's walking like a pro! She doesn't even fall down! When she does, she's careful about it and makes sure she put her butt to the floor before she goes face first! She's been picking up speed too and now when she's after something (like dog food) and we're hot on her tail she does this funny little laugh and tries to go faster. Here's a video of her perfected walking and that little laugh she does (try to ignore the mess, my face and gross hair, the laundry in the background and of course the mess): </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><object height="315" width="500"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Y33Ekwhhy6g&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x402061&color2=0x9461ca&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Y33Ekwhhy6g&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x402061&color2=0x9461ca&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="500" height="315"></embed></object></div></div>beloved30http://www.blogger.com/profile/02665051370327354039noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8852668668208736098.post-43776188623565639402010-02-09T09:10:00.001-07:002010-02-09T09:10:03.162-07:00Chloe can WALK!!!<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/QESeq-0EeVw' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/QESeq-0EeVw'/></object></p><p>Last night before we all went to bed (it was kinda late) we were practicing with her by passing her back and forth between us because we knew she could do it if she actually tried. All of a sudden she took off while I was filming her! I couldn't believe it when she abruptly turned around and went the other way!!! That was the moment it became official. Between me and Preston was practice but striking out on her own was for real! The noise at the end is me crying and wouldn't you? I just watched my baby girl grow! My baby just became a toddler!!!</p></div>beloved30http://www.blogger.com/profile/02665051370327354039noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8852668668208736098.post-9779504991591886492010-01-27T10:02:00.000-07:002010-01-27T10:02:19.552-07:00Catching up... Part 2On the 2nd... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!! I turned 24! One more year and I'll be a quarter of a century! Eww... The night before we had a little party with Preston's parents. It was mostly cake... mmmm, carrot cake.... But between Christmas and my birthday they gave me about half the money I needed to get a new camera. (More about the camera later) The day of we just kinda hung out and relaxed. It was oddly nice. Sometime in the mid afternoon we went over to my Aunt Therese's house for a game day she was having. We played <a href="http://quelf.com/">Quelf</a>. If you haven't played this game before you have to! And when you do don't be a bum and whimp out on following the instructions given. Just do it! I have never had so much fun playing a board game before! By the end of it my hair was a wreck and my muscles were sore from laughing so hard. Needless to say it's now my FAVORITE game! I need my own now!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiphL0DcAl9vzI8TNEtPKrJr2WOQOZFLyYkgqyFY6DvFMf3sYxDcNrgZxAC8AJjmUxDpD_P8lNOvXBr3PbBU4sugBqn_lP-W1Oc4e-cxFX7nsR_TLUQeEit9WxbgL5UmkMemKBgsxAIRz9P/s1600-h/Vanns-CanonRebelXT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiphL0DcAl9vzI8TNEtPKrJr2WOQOZFLyYkgqyFY6DvFMf3sYxDcNrgZxAC8AJjmUxDpD_P8lNOvXBr3PbBU4sugBqn_lP-W1Oc4e-cxFX7nsR_TLUQeEit9WxbgL5UmkMemKBgsxAIRz9P/s200/Vanns-CanonRebelXT.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
</div> A few days later Preston's friend Matt came to town for a wedding. We had talked to him and worked out that we were going to buy his old SLR camera from him. My current plan is to go into photography. I've been practicing a lot with my little Kodak but it can only do so much. This thing is AWESOME! I've been working with Photoshop a lot too (mostly teaching myself how to use it). I can't wait to get started! Let me know if you want me to practice on you and you'll probably come out of it with some free pictures. I hoping that by the end of the year I'll feel confident enough with my work to start a business. The camera is a digital SLR Rebel XT. I LOVE it!<br />
This year we finally got a later time for church. It was at 8AM when we moved in when I was pregnant, and they kept the 8AM over through the next year. In December they announced that we were moving to 1PM church. I would have preferred like 10 or 11 but hey sleeping in is good too! Yay! On our second Sunday the whole stake had a great big meeting in the evening. Dun-da-dun! They tell us that they are rearranging all of the ward boundaries and adding a new ward to the stake! So we went and ... THEY CHOPPED OUR WARD IN HALF!!! They added a little of another ward to ours and gave us a new name. We were the Lindsay Ward in the Hermosa Vista Stake before and now we are the Lehi Crossing Ward. I like it. It feels right, ya know? It was sad to know I won't be seeing so many of the people I had finally gotten to know every Sunday, but now I get to meet a bunch of new ones! The 3rd Sunday of the year we attended our new ward for the first time and finally got to really see who we knew and didn't know. Guess what time it started? Nope, 8:30! We moved a whole half an hour later.... woo.... woo.... Here's the strange and magical part: Preston only needed an extra half an hour to sleep and then get ready for church so we were actually on time! Amazing! (Let the rolling of the eyes commence.)<br />
And my final topic in my whole catch up series... Drumroll please.... I'm on a new diet! *cricket, cricket*......... Yeah, yeah I know. Hear me out, k? I started this thing on the 12th. Today is 27th. That's 15 days. I have lost 18 pounds!!! Oh. Yeah. Don't freak out, it's safe, I checked. It's called the hCG Diet. The original protocol was developed in the 50's by a Dr. Simeons. He wrote a pamphlet/small book called <a href="http://www.hcg-diet-forums.com/poundsandinches.html">Pounds and Inches</a> (click for the original protocol) that explains in detail what it is and how it works. The terminology and science are outdated but the method is sound and works very well. It has sort of evolved since then too making it a lot easier for an average person to use it. HCG is the hormone that at home pregnancy tests read. I've been taking drops of the hormone and have adjusted my diet to fake out my body to think I am pregnant. In a pregnant woman hCG makes her stored fat available as nutrients for the baby. This is why a baby can survive the first three months of pregnancy when many women can barely keep anything in their stomachs. I have been eating a very strict and semi-complicated diet of 500 calories a day. I feel great! The hormone acts as a appetite suppressant so I haven't felt as hungry as I thought I might. I've been living off my own stored fat instead. One of the big differences between this and other diets is on a regular diet your structural fat generally goes first and people tend to look drawn and haggard. With hCG your structural fat is untouched. One of the really cool parts of it is that it's self restricting. You cannot lose more than what your DNA predetermined you should weigh. Everyone keeps asking about it so I've added a link for the original protocol. If you want more let me know and I can send you an e-mail with everything.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwGNhwECs6n1ye-H1BqOeQ8zwKL9SVSItDQRqbMsJkmcd4aknm_QA_Fs_PomB__SaF06IAMqs8JsOBZ_FeV2uJcnE7plhWyh_-SGN_ICVAI2YY6sl63dJK9ARcLPvs9t9AV5SGLtYmk6zp/s1600-h/teen+Amy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwGNhwECs6n1ye-H1BqOeQ8zwKL9SVSItDQRqbMsJkmcd4aknm_QA_Fs_PomB__SaF06IAMqs8JsOBZ_FeV2uJcnE7plhWyh_-SGN_ICVAI2YY6sl63dJK9ARcLPvs9t9AV5SGLtYmk6zp/s320/teen+Amy.jpg" /></a><br />
</div>This is the picture hanging on my fridge giving me inspiration to not eat what I can't have. I'm like 13-14 in this picture. I'm aiming to have that waistline again!<br />
Wow I didn't mean for that to turn into some kind of sales pitch, it's just that when you tell someone hey I'm taking a hormone, eating only 500 calories, and losing weight ridiculously fast they tend to worry about your mental health. Soon there will be a before and after picture on here to show you my progress. Not right away because while I'm doing good, I still have a lot to go! But 18 pounds!?!? It's just falling off of me! Everyone can already see a difference and I am loving it! My plan is to do two 6 week rounds of the diet with the required 6 week maintenance phase in between and then... we will try for our second baby! This time I won't be a fat blob who through the first 6 months people wonder "Is she pregnant or fat?" Nope, I'm gonna be one of those cute ones with a baby bump! Oh yeah!<br />
Oh my goodness!!! Preston just called me (seriously just NOW) with the most fantastic news!!! It makes the 2 pounds I lost this morning sound like having chocolate ice cram compared to taking a vacation in Hawaii. I'm not allowed to announce it yet as it needs a lid on it for now in case certain people read my blog. But it's sooooo exciting!!! Don't worry I will tell you as soon as I'm allowed! How's that for a little suspense?beloved30http://www.blogger.com/profile/02665051370327354039noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8852668668208736098.post-31896275247288986512010-01-26T20:56:00.004-07:002010-01-27T00:24:17.472-07:00Catching up... Part 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3kSOy7ESOP906q-j5iMzHZ-For5hpN1lFKA_Dbgb31Jk-SLA6QBL-3Z4kCPq7Grmh97xVKm5vvSpL6ZHWwUu2d2klkJ9pAI5_yA94U1HC26XphrOddAE2raqBV4jI18AUrEghSERU2pxM/s1600-h/100_4734.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3kSOy7ESOP906q-j5iMzHZ-For5hpN1lFKA_Dbgb31Jk-SLA6QBL-3Z4kCPq7Grmh97xVKm5vvSpL6ZHWwUu2d2klkJ9pAI5_yA94U1HC26XphrOddAE2raqBV4jI18AUrEghSERU2pxM/s320/100_4734.JPG" /></a><br />
</div> <span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> I know it's nearly February but I haven't gotten the chance to tell you all about Christmas! It was a unique Christmas compared to all the others Preston and I have had since we got married.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> The weekend before Christmas itself, Preston, Chloe, the puppies and I all went to Heber to visit. It was one of the off years when not everyone can make it there to visit so we thought it would be fun to go by ourselves. It was nice to just take the dogs too instead of leaving them here with Preston's parents. For once I knew they wouldn't bug anyone (cept my dad and their evil cat </span><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Satan</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Savannah) and I knew they wouldn't get eaten by Moose (my brother Louis's monster sized dog aka: a mastiff). I got some long tie downs for the dogs to play outside without me having to worry about them. Course I did anyways cause it was so stinkin' cold up there. We really enjoyed ourselves relaxing and enjoying dad's cooking..... Mmmm.... Homemade Pizza!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> On our way back home from Heber we stopped in Payson for the Pitterle Family Christmas Party. There was lots of yummy mexican food (as is our usual tradition) and we played that white elephant gift exchange game everyone always plays (another tradition).</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIRH8gawvwtxnn0kqTqij7U8XkIQ5AAS6zkgz3-ETmqvoBlhNYsmuF5OR6smkyMVqgfWo-PCin54jeEySkiuOpY5clcabQnnR-9avEh512qw3NhEurPlerxGVRzRvyvGL2kJTaZSgkPBV-/s1600-h/100_4717.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIRH8gawvwtxnn0kqTqij7U8XkIQ5AAS6zkgz3-ETmqvoBlhNYsmuF5OR6smkyMVqgfWo-PCin54jeEySkiuOpY5clcabQnnR-9avEh512qw3NhEurPlerxGVRzRvyvGL2kJTaZSgkPBV-/s320/100_4717.JPG" width="320" /></span></a><br />
</div><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">My uncle Brian and his son Mason</span>-->)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We ended up with 2 games: Disney Scene It, and Banana Gram??? </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I guess it's like </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Scrabble, whatever. This time I knew to avoid the rum cake. (One year I had it thinking</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> it was just my Grandma Mum's wonderful (edible) fruit cake, but was told afterwards that it was also soaked in rum, oops! Guess who had a low tolerance and got tipsy?) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Christmas started Christmas Eve for us (kinda on accident?). We decided to hang out with Preston's family that night because we were going to start our day at my mom's house two streets over. My mom called us and told us to come open presents because Selena and Josh couldn't wait any longer (</span><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">spoiled brats</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> goofballs). So we headed on over and opened presents till about 3AM. Chloe was STILL AWAKE! She loved all the toys Grandma Gaye got for her!</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYNxbaxyxeKpBygQBJOhlgTV1Gs4aUdmRVV5JogtKaVQTxrPn6fQK5w8M3A1F4Y7lC1-K1xYOILRLmkaAfjXm66Di-mcI9Re17a7ACKzHuZ_ucyhd5D48GDeNhdwVAd0dKvhjL49WsYSC8/s1600-h/100_4745.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYNxbaxyxeKpBygQBJOhlgTV1Gs4aUdmRVV5JogtKaVQTxrPn6fQK5w8M3A1F4Y7lC1-K1xYOILRLmkaAfjXm66Di-mcI9Re17a7ACKzHuZ_ucyhd5D48GDeNhdwVAd0dKvhjL49WsYSC8/s200/100_4745.JPG" width="150" /></span></a><br />
</div><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> The next </span><span style="text-decoration: line-through;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">morning</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> afternoon we had our own little Christmas under our own tree. We dilly dallied around for a bit then got dressed, and went over to Preston's family. Once again, Chloe was showered in presents! A few hours later we went back to my mom's house for the Cheney Family Christmas Party. That was a lot of fun too. We played 20 questions with my cousins and ate yummy mashed potatoes and gravy! There was other food too but the highlight for me is always the spuds, so everything else is forgotten!</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtGh3yehpap9ysZr8fvVAmBhHEpVZ3DRExAV-Cd4JmtHZefU4nGO3hDVnf8JXXXFR0o_lZklhAUlVveXOtdkwmui25xWJ3OVzJerPYvmBHb_dqhglN6pdPfTwFv5WexoM4UpUFzSQ5JOzz/s1600-h/100_4754.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtGh3yehpap9ysZr8fvVAmBhHEpVZ3DRExAV-Cd4JmtHZefU4nGO3hDVnf8JXXXFR0o_lZklhAUlVveXOtdkwmui25xWJ3OVzJerPYvmBHb_dqhglN6pdPfTwFv5WexoM4UpUFzSQ5JOzz/s200/100_4754.JPG" width="200" /></span></a><br />
</div><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> The next day, we went to my sister Lori's house to have yet another Christmas party (The Pitterle/Hinchey Christmas Party)! There were more potatoes and gravy and Patty burned the green beans. No one was sad to see them go but she scraped off the burnt part and saved them. We exchanged presents and I got a cute new purse! It was so nice to see all my siblings again (I see them about once a year).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Ok, this is getting long so I'm gonna stop here and start on another post. Hope you don't mind but we've had a lot going on!</span>beloved30http://www.blogger.com/profile/02665051370327354039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8852668668208736098.post-37700256071789848702009-12-13T17:47:00.003-07:002009-12-13T17:53:40.755-07:00Meet Claire!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMZD0m3lJ-ZfreewneGgVHrTh0aIptLE5C6m8U1FIrpLaA240UeMe0ltbNl3B6q3mzuUjlC8XviHX6n5MGL6Z-W3rBGt9PK9ro_2tNXkncuKdWCbBEUynsHmu0oaGuENmKVImIOg_CCweM/s1600-h/100_4630.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMZD0m3lJ-ZfreewneGgVHrTh0aIptLE5C6m8U1FIrpLaA240UeMe0ltbNl3B6q3mzuUjlC8XviHX6n5MGL6Z-W3rBGt9PK9ro_2tNXkncuKdWCbBEUynsHmu0oaGuENmKVImIOg_CCweM/s200/100_4630.JPG" /></a><br />
</div>To start off, this had nothing to do with the title yet, so dont get confused. I know it's been a while since Chloe's birthday but I never posted on here about it. The party was a success and Chloe loved her cake and presents! Thank you to everyone that came and everyone that wasn't able to come we missed you! She had a princess cake that I baked and my mom decorated. She did an excellent job on it considering it's been years since she's decorated a cake! Chloe got some clothes that are SUPER cute and warm for winter, a doll that can take a bath with her and a singing purse with all the accessories! We had lots of yummy food and some of Chloe's friends even came! Miles, October, and Breena!<br />
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</div>Last week Chloe and I went Christmas shopping with my mom and Selena. While we were at the mall we got Chloe's ears pierced! I meant to do it when she was only a couple months old but never got to it and figured she would mess with them too much now. I had kinda decided that we would just wait until she was older and she wanted it done. While we were at the mall we went into a Claire's (still nothing to do with the title) and got into a conversation with another lady there about when is a good time to pierce a baby's ears. After a little while my mom offered to pay for it, and well.... why turn that down??? To my surprise she's done VERY well with them and has hardly even noticed them. She's so cute!!! She was beyond cute before but the earrings just add to the cuteness! They are little pink daisies, here's a picture:<br />
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Last night was Preston's work Christmas party. We had a lot of fun! They had valet parking, casino tables, an open bar, hors devours and a dance floor. I wore a little black dress I bought for it and did my hair like a 1930's pin-up. Woo!!! I was hot stuff! Well my hair turned out really good anyways, but I'm fat so it ruined the hot stuff effect. Oh well, I felt cute so, it was enough. There was a $20 buy in for the casino and that got one person $500 in chips. There was no return on the chips and the three people with the highest amount in chips won a cash prize of around $100. We played Black Jack all night and had a blast losing! Well I lost all mine and Preston did pretty decent considering he had never played before. Neither of us won but, it didn't matter. The open bar (free drinks all night) didn't have many non-alcoholic options, so we ended up drinking a half and half mix of Red Bull and cranberry juice. It was surprisingly tasty. As we left we discovered that the music they had blaring until 11:30 had prompted the neighbors to call the police. One of the business owners was out front but too drunk to really have a serious conversation. We couldn't stop laughing once we got in our car! I've never been to a party that got crashed by the police before. It turned out that they forgot to notify the neighbors that there was going to be a party with loud music. They throw the BEST parties!<br />
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And now..... Claire!<br />
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</div>Yesterday afternoon (before the party, yes, it was a very busy but fun day) we went to Pet Smart to show Chloe the dogs up for adoption and accidentally fell in love! I have been considering getting a little playmate for Charlie for a couple months but figured we would start looking sometime in the middle next year. She was curled up in the middle of her cage just like Charlie was when we found him. She's about the same size as Charlie and has the same puppy eyes he does. Her name was Leah but we changed it because I had decided that our second dog would be a little girl named Claire a while ago. If you've seen Lost, you know why. Charlie and Claire are my favorite couple on that show! He's already fallen in love with her. I don't think he's caught on that she's here to stay yet but they are going to be very close friends! She's about 8 months old and Charlie finally has someone with his energy level that can wear him out! They even look a lot alike except she has a few brown markings, and they both weigh 10 1/2 pounds. Our family of 4 has grown to 5!beloved30http://www.blogger.com/profile/02665051370327354039noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8852668668208736098.post-51188582292310302009-11-07T16:48:00.003-07:002009-11-07T18:21:02.189-07:00My In-Laws New Neighbor!Hi-ho!<div><br /></div><div>We've had a busy week around here! We helped my mom move from Prescott to Mesa. Fun, fun fun! First, on Friday the 30th after Preston got off work we headed up to Prescott with the least amount of stuff we could stand to travel with! So basically it consisted of a play pen, a high chair, bunches of toys, baby food, baby clothes, diapers and single changes of clothes for ourselves and like... our toothbrushes. </div><div><br /></div><div>Halloween morning, my mom and Preston went to the U-haul place to get the truck. They rented the biggest one they have available. We spent ALL day loading it and Grandad (my mom's dad) worked the jigsaw puzzle of stacking crap on top of all the other crap. He had to actually take off the sliding glass door, both pieces, to get my mom's ginormous couches out! By the end of the day we had filled the truck completely full and my mom's Ford Escape loaded to the brim (including the fish)! The trunk of my Malibu was full of pantry food and the Volvo Josh borrowed from my dad had a few things and Winston their dog in it. It still wasn't everything! (Monday night they went back for the rest and came back on Tuesday morning.) </div><div><br /></div><div>That night we left Prescott at like 7:30, and I drove all by myself in the dark from Prescott to Mesa for the first time ever and didn't get lost!!!! Yay me! That was the point I was working up to. The rest is all blah blah blah about unpacking and unloading and nothing really interesting happened other than that... so... Yay my mom lives in Mesa now!!! In the same neighborhood that Preston grew up in! Christmas is going to be so convenient! It takes 15 minutes instead of an hour and 45 minutes to drive to see her.</div><div><br /></div><div>Oh and my little baby, my little newborn baby that I just brought home from the hospital a few weeks ago, my sweet baby I JUST gave birth to... is turning ONE in 11 days!!! ELEVEN DAYS!!! WHAT the...??? Who hit fast forward??? She is up down and all around these days! She hasn't started walking but I know she could if she wanted to. We put her in the walker and she stands up in it and goes without leaning on it more than it takes to push it forward to move with her. We hold her hands to let her walk while holding onto us and while she is holding on with the death grip she almost never pulls or starts to fall. She's just unsure of herself. It's ok though, my stuff can live that much longer!</div><div><br /></div><div>We are having her birthday party at my mom's new house. I plan to dress her all up ballerina/princess style! I made a pink and white tutu with the pink as the bottom layer and the while on top with little flowerettes and ribbons. I made a matching bow to clip onto her headband and I'm gonna put her in a white long sleeved onesie. Now I just need little sparkly necklaces and bracelets and maybe some little pink shoes! I'm so excited! My mom is making the cake too, and she makes beautiful cakes!</div><div><br /></div><div>I know it's not much of an update but I'm scraping my brain for something so that everyone can see my new header I made. I made each turkey with our hands and then scanned them into the computer individually. I'm stoked it turned out so cute! In case you're wondering what the words are on the smallest one it's "Chloe Turkey". I know it's kinda small. </div><div><br /></div><div>Anyways... I'm done! Bye!</div>beloved30http://www.blogger.com/profile/02665051370327354039noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8852668668208736098.post-90534906564246149392009-10-17T21:00:00.002-07:002009-10-17T21:06:34.303-07:00Hello! I'm still here!Hello everyone! I'm back!<div><br /></div><div>Sorry I fell off the planet there for a while. Let me esplain... No, there is too much. Let me sum up...</div><div><br /></div><div>To be totally honest, I got depressed. I lost interest in just about everything, cept Chloe. She's been my only link to sanity lately. It's hard to even pretend to write happy just to update a blog. It happens to everyone. I started seeing a therapist and made (and still am making) some changes. I've also discovered a lot about myself too. I've learned that if I don't like something all I have to do is open my mouth and say something. I started exercising and I actually like it! I quit buying junk food and instead have a small out of sight, out of mind, stash of chocolate for those cravings that refuse to leave me in peace and cause me to tear apart my kitchen looking for anything that even resembles chocolate.</div><div><br /></div><div>It all started with stress. I was babysitting October for Brittany for a while and it just got to be too much. I love that baby girl but she's a high maintenance kid at least compared to Chloe who is ridiculously low maintenance. Not only that but taking care of two babies under one is hard. I have no idea how people with twins and more do it! Kudos to you if you have!!!</div><div><br /></div><div>The next blow was my Uncle Frank's funeral. We weren't ever close but I was always close with my Aunt Therese and my cousin Nancy. It was hard for our whole family. He was the Fire Marshal Chief of the Salt River Fire Department. He died from leukemia at 41, and he was diagnosed at the age of 21. I think he had been in remission twice. The funeral was very grand and beautiful, with 27 fire trucks, probably 50 ambulances and hundreds of police vehicles. There was a wall of blue about 50 feet long at the graveside and a final call over the police radio that brought everyone to tears. Someone found a <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/JoannaAllhands/58871"><i>blog entry</i></a> about it for the family and <a href="http://www.srpmic-nsn.gov/government/fire/memorials/"><i>here is the fire department's memorial</i></a> online. Just in case you wanted to know more. </div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju2cro5ezxKehedED6IY1umYZxrI1PUvDgRoFMI38oMinDccMFKMhsrgASPZiSJjKgURyn5b-TiqCKDXNPBNfzM5Jy29uA2ZDAiFa1HdkjdTNtgfCHAAi8LxjQlUKiQiSDYlwOYgW3Y6c1/s1600-h/100_2853.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju2cro5ezxKehedED6IY1umYZxrI1PUvDgRoFMI38oMinDccMFKMhsrgASPZiSJjKgURyn5b-TiqCKDXNPBNfzM5Jy29uA2ZDAiFa1HdkjdTNtgfCHAAi8LxjQlUKiQiSDYlwOYgW3Y6c1/s400/100_2853.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393777609197518450" border="0" /></a></div><div>A month later we had another funeral. This one was for Cory Jenkins. Preston was in the same ward and was good friends with him and his younger brother growing up. I had only met him once or twice before but it was still very emotional. He died in Afghanistan an had a 10 week old daughter Reagan. They had a 21 gun salute and played taps at the graveside and folded two flags for his mother and wife Brooke. <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/community/mesa/articles/2009/08/28/20090828soldier0828.html"><i>Here is an AZ central article about him</i></a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now to bring this thing around to what we've all been waiting for! CHLOE!!! And me! Basically what's been going on around here. We're gonna do this list style (or at least I'm gonna try) because there's so much to get through.</div><div><br /></div><div>Aug 14: I got a blackberry! It has GPS and it's wonderful because I haven't gotten lost since then!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNebfyGYqOEb-YyhXi8b4DnRgEFRAXcqCTmIgaRMtkty_582MeS31pf_8OWCowLkQbqv4-RgtsL9bkHxLPCFBFSzocMvGUn5szeao0c_b-g5jSJn9W73BxZOn6ZqZ98C0Z1RPqQPOsNikj/s1600-h/blackberry.jpeg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 95px; height: 126px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNebfyGYqOEb-YyhXi8b4DnRgEFRAXcqCTmIgaRMtkty_582MeS31pf_8OWCowLkQbqv4-RgtsL9bkHxLPCFBFSzocMvGUn5szeao0c_b-g5jSJn9W73BxZOn6ZqZ98C0Z1RPqQPOsNikj/s400/blackberry.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393778320930741394" border="0" /></a> </div><div>Aug 17th: Preston called me from work and, very much like a kid in high school, asked me out on a date! That night he came home with two roses (one red, one white) and we took Chloe to the in-laws and went to dinner at the Olive Garden. I needed that so bad! </div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaqeCu3KKTf-Z720ZVz9gnUeOYGq6mSansgIQQguAnGCaHUsJ8wClKVt5aGv2WBJBMML4OJuq9xE5ZmSgd6HOQJuwUoZu_cqx_iEQixxDFzbPuoxkPI7Zky7kaKTd9v-2c6yd2uJI9JWB2/s1600-h/flowers+from+preston.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaqeCu3KKTf-Z720ZVz9gnUeOYGq6mSansgIQQguAnGCaHUsJ8wClKVt5aGv2WBJBMML4OJuq9xE5ZmSgd6HOQJuwUoZu_cqx_iEQixxDFzbPuoxkPI7Zky7kaKTd9v-2c6yd2uJI9JWB2/s400/flowers+from+preston.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393778112050925778" border="0" /></a></div><div>Aug 20: Chloe had a doctors appointment. She was 29 inches (90th percentile) and 20lbs 7oz (75th percentile). Tall and skinny!</div><div><br /></div><div>Aug 21st: I was watching her crawl around and she sat herself up all by herself! I couldn't believe it!</div><div><br /></div><div>Aug 27th: I had a smoothie from Tropical Smoothie Cafe (I highly recommend the Pomegranate Plunge with kiwi replacing the bananas!) I was giving Chloe little tastes by getting a little in the straw with my finger over the end of it but that wasn't fast enough for her so I just put the straw in her mouth and she just sucked it right up! I had no idea she was going to be able to to that!</div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div>Sept 13th: Chloe broke her first tooth finally!!! Bottom right. It's a sharp little sucker too! I found it at church (well after church) mid conversation with someone. Yelled out "It broke through!" in the middle of a sentence. As of right now there is a growing bump right next to it on the left. Maybe by her birthday she'll have two!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdVyKogw0FRBDULNSk61rdNYCV-BOIe_Ker2ZMseUMI8BSI0mPJ_U348U_bE9u7KYicnbU4ndjyHfF8UMHks39q_ca7MSWpVrg75l-SPhZcsmZKvrqoWmECXn3w1jQj620QUHT_k_ZtGGZ/s1600-h/tooth.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdVyKogw0FRBDULNSk61rdNYCV-BOIe_Ker2ZMseUMI8BSI0mPJ_U348U_bE9u7KYicnbU4ndjyHfF8UMHks39q_ca7MSWpVrg75l-SPhZcsmZKvrqoWmECXn3w1jQj620QUHT_k_ZtGGZ/s400/tooth.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393778303297237202" border="0" /></a></div><div><div> </div></div><div>Sept 20th: Chloe's first spaghetti dinner. Also the first dinner she fed herself! See pictures:</div><div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigCyRb8knYh2blKhylsp9WqLNRUKuCev2gogcLL7I66Q7dH1yfa9Fl91_CAuH8w-YoXe5weFJ0IZNQfUYfSQg2UFpjH1CCw87QPWL9bsSjJaBjuCQZtMNFyBKxyxMg4nGeX_GhE2uxh2-7/s1600-h/spaghetti+1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigCyRb8knYh2blKhylsp9WqLNRUKuCev2gogcLL7I66Q7dH1yfa9Fl91_CAuH8w-YoXe5weFJ0IZNQfUYfSQg2UFpjH1CCw87QPWL9bsSjJaBjuCQZtMNFyBKxyxMg4nGeX_GhE2uxh2-7/s400/spaghetti+1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393778298870999730" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8-vrKxzo5R8CiSZsVfx5OGn4BinJYTpyJi8-4rs61MsssWcpbUZ3sDlTSdVGKovwccdzamY_S_bonOjxuZu8WgKKsfYCn6GAm46xU38cap49EPBLb-P5ojXFceAoVJILx-EQas0M_PiXa/s1600-h/100_3332.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8-vrKxzo5R8CiSZsVfx5OGn4BinJYTpyJi8-4rs61MsssWcpbUZ3sDlTSdVGKovwccdzamY_S_bonOjxuZu8WgKKsfYCn6GAm46xU38cap49EPBLb-P5ojXFceAoVJILx-EQas0M_PiXa/s400/100_3332.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393777627507263330" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsEDXExMF6W9aWo5sAP0rZwr13Aj7Mjcb6Uf67SQQlgpti5FRSnwscsn7WzMTDvyQFLdOf6en6bJg9LoJoUBmoevwlT1GehJMl_-kx6_8-zxL8cTSVFRfxLt5svc86HyRhfhg9FcjRcaft/s1600-h/100_3356.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsEDXExMF6W9aWo5sAP0rZwr13Aj7Mjcb6Uf67SQQlgpti5FRSnwscsn7WzMTDvyQFLdOf6en6bJg9LoJoUBmoevwlT1GehJMl_-kx6_8-zxL8cTSVFRfxLt5svc86HyRhfhg9FcjRcaft/s400/100_3356.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393777633972746210" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzJTtxrJ-dv3vQMnLx2K9DhEk8nb7u55QFnJvDQWlSIX5Bhg_zWPa-OhSkDM8S227V4Gw-aoCttW0l_b66ajq6VKXDac6S9EgH_K1-4MJlqLA-99vJp_RNYTO4y1a4NDllBaStQA7R46Fk/s1600-h/100_3330.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzJTtxrJ-dv3vQMnLx2K9DhEk8nb7u55QFnJvDQWlSIX5Bhg_zWPa-OhSkDM8S227V4Gw-aoCttW0l_b66ajq6VKXDac6S9EgH_K1-4MJlqLA-99vJp_RNYTO4y1a4NDllBaStQA7R46Fk/s400/100_3330.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393777617126549666" border="0" /></a></div> </div><div>Sept 22nd: Had a boring adventure! Left the house to go get drinking water and to fill the car with gas. I made it .6 miles from my house and put-putted to a stop. If you know where I live, that's not even all the way to Val Vista! Lora Linn and Meredith came to my rescue w ith a gallon of gas! <div> </div></div><div><br /></div><div>Sept 26th: Patty called me to tell me she wasn't going to be able to make it to the valley to see the play she had tickets for and asked if I wanted them. Heck yeah! Meredith and I went to see Legally Blonde at Gammage! Lots of fun! Great play but the intro song WILL get stuck in your head and it feels like the only way to remove it would be to remove your head!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLMc_kiWsr2IjDvF7zmSbePyneLxiHFWBrKfXQHQrvgj9wLk18iWc-gXAt9PrTQY6tOUWKxm4pbtbzGE32XX2YlYVu7SERgY_AiIbGLlpG3fm_8ZYsCr-rCUxP2f9HghG4b3lsQwvpCMSI/s1600-h/legally+blonde.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLMc_kiWsr2IjDvF7zmSbePyneLxiHFWBrKfXQHQrvgj9wLk18iWc-gXAt9PrTQY6tOUWKxm4pbtbzGE32XX2YlYVu7SERgY_AiIbGLlpG3fm_8ZYsCr-rCUxP2f9HghG4b3lsQwvpCMSI/s400/legally+blonde.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393778121196959922" border="0" /></a></div><div>Oct 1st: In celebration of my favorite month and the fact that I could open the door to let the dog out and not deep fry, I went for a walk! (I'm also sick of being fat!) It was wondrous! I walked .3 miles from my house but I count it as .6 total! <div> </div> </div><div> </div><div><br />Oct 7th: Got ambitious and 1.2 miles up the road from my house, 2.4 total! I took Charlie with me that time (he thinks I was trying to kill him or something). I'm very proud of myself!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPDXjrShhDVmRoOWU0fmVdjUfD9bMfg-Oy9VcBo2P6lbZTOMue-IGVEBmEDodzI485-u1ktm7WnLmWqMaXIhOphyphenhyphenq0ZvqNikDwIxh-woXq2WYWCsiJIEf6mwSCOQW0nhxTyn2gYzabHR2r/s1600-h/100_3445.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPDXjrShhDVmRoOWU0fmVdjUfD9bMfg-Oy9VcBo2P6lbZTOMue-IGVEBmEDodzI485-u1ktm7WnLmWqMaXIhOphyphenhyphenq0ZvqNikDwIxh-woXq2WYWCsiJIEf6mwSCOQW0nhxTyn2gYzabHR2r/s400/100_3445.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393777646081688546" border="0" /></a><div> <div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3KzvYagR2RQP3dWVlUaDqG2-fsb3E1VE4nn_AVGxW-d8xZt-7xjlozAil2OfVmBKR7EMrqL93PsDe6rIzdoTgua4izB2hyRsc2_pv3Xn-NG4s94lJxlmEKKTxax2b7_TjNyNIupPG1cZ3/s1600-h/100_3466.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3KzvYagR2RQP3dWVlUaDqG2-fsb3E1VE4nn_AVGxW-d8xZt-7xjlozAil2OfVmBKR7EMrqL93PsDe6rIzdoTgua4izB2hyRsc2_pv3Xn-NG4s94lJxlmEKKTxax2b7_TjNyNIupPG1cZ3/s400/100_3466.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393778091883491346" border="0" /></a></div> </div> </div><div><div> <div> <div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlKt2DJogejb6kQwNfe8gXpTISzwantEzXjx4XyxBCx_Q9sclIZyoU8mNx_B879WPbOrKItMFmza2tuA5U7q9gsDZ01L22Svsp93-HwvB_nG3HkWrTrGyo5nPgRk4_Xa2QFxwHqO-0KpFs/s1600-h/walk+1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlKt2DJogejb6kQwNfe8gXpTISzwantEzXjx4XyxBCx_Q9sclIZyoU8mNx_B879WPbOrKItMFmza2tuA5U7q9gsDZ01L22Svsp93-HwvB_nG3HkWrTrGyo5nPgRk4_Xa2QFxwHqO-0KpFs/s400/walk+1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393778314529573474" border="0" /></a></div> </div> </div></div><div>Oct 6th: Preston stood Chloe up facing away from him and she actually balanced herself using her toes and moving her weight. It kinda freaked her out when she realized she was on her own like that and hasn't done it since, but I did snap a picture with my trusty little Blackberry that night.</div><div><div> <div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijUdV4X_cX6JYlJsXorCQED6YOp2E0mpP9gUWD_5DXdVHmYwijj8-J2uG9rZaI40Bc1pTD0DYkBRifw8g_K3RbSKoy0PdqIAE2BoL0uS84Hkk4JsxnLszS7YHwo_9uPC9HEG_uREGn8Y-W/s1600-h/chloe+standing.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijUdV4X_cX6JYlJsXorCQED6YOp2E0mpP9gUWD_5DXdVHmYwijj8-J2uG9rZaI40Bc1pTD0DYkBRifw8g_K3RbSKoy0PdqIAE2BoL0uS84Hkk4JsxnLszS7YHwo_9uPC9HEG_uREGn8Y-W/s400/chloe+standing.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393778105216610226" border="0" /></a></div> </div></div><div>Oct 12th: Another call from Patty to tell me my brother Adam was in the ICU with what they think was swine flu. The test results take three weeks to get back so we still don't know. He's fine now, by the way! </div><div><br /></div><div>Oct 14th: My mom and Selena found a house they both love. (Back story: My mom needs to move to the valley for work and school. She's been looking for about a month now.) They put in a rental application and got accepted! The house is right around the corner from Preston's parents. Like literally three turns in the neighborhood! Christmas is going to be so much more convenient!!!</div><div><br /></div><div>Oct 16th: Ordered Chloe's Halloween costume on Amazon. Crossing my fingers it doesn't get held up in the mail system. I'll post pictures of her in it when it gets here! (Hint: it's Disney)</div><div><br /></div><div>That's it for my list of everything that's happened since my last post!</div><div><br /></div><div>My little monkey is growing like a weed! She pulls herself up on the couch, in her playpen, in her crib (which she jumped out of the other morning) and on my leg. She will walk along the sides of the couch or playpen and now when she is in her playpen she's started throwing her toys out of it. She can have all the toys out after 10 minutes in the playpen except for the big heavy ones she can't pick up with one hand! </div><div><div> <div> <div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvsxf7U0eswk3kYg3UiwINfRcp4Sr8nSCoDFyzDqhtssezzawq5rC4TNrySazf5nEA9ebhBSP6riFhZyMLFI5Tic2QChaFdW0vr2eMc0HW7L9HnnOEOOEpPr1HjpMFXNtebk_3P9KQGQXR/s1600-h/chloe+and+toys.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 297px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvsxf7U0eswk3kYg3UiwINfRcp4Sr8nSCoDFyzDqhtssezzawq5rC4TNrySazf5nEA9ebhBSP6riFhZyMLFI5Tic2QChaFdW0vr2eMc0HW7L9HnnOEOOEpPr1HjpMFXNtebk_3P9KQGQXR/s400/chloe+and+toys.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393778097966571698" border="0" /></a></div> </div> </div> </div><div>We went to Breena's (Bridget's baby girl) 1st Birthday party last weekend and Chloe saw her walking all over the place and ever since then she'll let go of what she's holding onto, realize what she's done and either grab it again or land on her bum. </div><div><br /></div><div>She's also started imitating my motions in just the last couple days. She always does this thing that I love where she throws her hands up with her palms up and makes a "eh?" or a "huh?" noise like she's asking a question. I always do it when I'm asking her where the doggie is and she repeats the noise and looks for him but never does the hand motion. Last night she did and it was soooo hilarious! I did it like 5 more times after that and have been doing all day today too. I clap and cheer every time she does it and she claps too. I seriously have the cutest kid in the world. Yes, I am biased!</div><div><br /></div><div>Well... I've taken up enough of your time, if anyone even made it to the end. Hopefully, you'll hear from me again in the next couple days. </div><div><br /></div><div>Amy Lynn</div>beloved30http://www.blogger.com/profile/02665051370327354039noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8852668668208736098.post-9272380320007497482009-08-06T21:37:00.001-07:002009-08-06T21:37:46.631-07:00Officially Moving Forward!!!<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/K9beJrqVp2s' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/K9beJrqVp2s'/></object></p><p>Chloe just really started moving around today! I'm in trouble!</p></div>beloved30http://www.blogger.com/profile/02665051370327354039noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8852668668208736098.post-4854315145850337102009-08-04T16:00:00.007-07:002009-08-04T17:17:57.296-07:00If You Could Talk with the Animals<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">Hello all,</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in">I know it's been simply forEVER since I've updated this thing. I've been out of it and not myself lately. I'm starting to get back to my old self again. Thank goodness! We all get like that, I'm sure.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in">Chloe is doing great! Getting bigger and bigger every day. She sits up without falling over at all unless it's on purpose. She's not crawling yet but somehow is all over the place putting everything she can pick up in her mouth: her toys, the dogs toys, my shoes, my phone, October's foot, October's pacifier that's still attached to her sleeve. You know, the usual. She rolls and rolls for the major travel but otherwise scoots backwards and then spins on her belly to reach what she was after. She can go forward but it's pretty slow. She reaches with one hand and rocks on her side and when that's not enough she reaches with the other hand and rocks to the other side all the while pushing on the ground with her little toes. She'll get up on her hands and knees like she's gonna just start crawling but then she just bounces and then throws herself on the floor. Sometimes she goes forward and sometimes she goes backwards. She's so much fun to watch.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in">She's taken a header off my bed three times now. I swear I watch her like a hawk! She's just too quick sometimes. She hasn't gotten hurt falling, yet. I don't let her take naps on my bed anymore unless I'm snuggling with her. I can put every pillow in the house around her on that bed and check on her every 2 minutes and she will still wiggle out of them and jump off the bed. I dragged the playpen into my room for nap time for her during the day. Little stinker!!!</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in">She's discovered how to spit copious amounts of drool and thinks it's hilarious. Preston and I went to BJ's for dinner and we took her with us because she can now use the highchairs in the restaurants. When our food got to the table, little Miss Quick-Hands-with-Long-Arms had her little paws in our food before the waiter had even let go of the dish himself. Poor guy! We had him bring out some oyster crackers for her to eat so she'd stay out of our food. That worked! She loved those things! Anyways, as she's eating and throwing food on the ground and getting the stuff everywhere Preston thinks it would be funny to blow a raspberry at her to get her going. Fortunately, I stopped him before she caught on and made the real mess.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in">We think she's left handed. When she eats stuff like cheerios, with her right hand she'll grab the food into her little fist and with her left make a perfect pincer grasp. She can still eat with both hands but the finer motions are usually with her left. It'll be fun to see how that turns out. If she is left handed I'll have a hard time teaching her how to write.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in">We finally broke down and got a video camera. Now she will not only have more baby pictures than any other kid that ever lived but she will also have her childhood on video. Who needs a memory anymore? But really it's great cause now I can SHOW you things like how she gets stuck under the entertainment center. I don't' actually have that one on video but I do have tons of pictures. She just back up under it till she couldn't got any further and started to cry. I do however have this great video of her talking to Charlie. Not in people or baby talk mind you, but in HIS language. Pay close attention to the noises she makes.</p> <div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: monospace, fantasy; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap; "><div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p><object height="350" width="425"><param value="http://youtube.com/v/wuYdx392E7A" name="movie"><embed height="350" width="425" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://youtube.com/v/wuYdx392E7A"></embed></object></p></div></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: monospace, fantasy; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap; "></span>What's the doggie say? *cough* *cough*</div>beloved30http://www.blogger.com/profile/02665051370327354039noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8852668668208736098.post-84399849583854310262009-06-16T20:00:00.000-07:002009-06-16T20:00:00.285-07:00Going, going... gone.I took these a little while ago and have been meaning to post them here cause they were so cute! We have a new first! Chloe's first time falling asleep while eating:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVJTpbQFldg4mfZYlAZvrkGW91tC7BZkKWy-t0yOw6HBQtFLF3slKXuiYet3UlPNyVNdRUb1whiBMAmtZiPoXCeRrBOP6XmaCAQqhdsg1hJom2vgrYNPFnyV9Is2FBpsIBTzpZnW6fvIxF/s1600-h/102_1671.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVJTpbQFldg4mfZYlAZvrkGW91tC7BZkKWy-t0yOw6HBQtFLF3slKXuiYet3UlPNyVNdRUb1whiBMAmtZiPoXCeRrBOP6XmaCAQqhdsg1hJom2vgrYNPFnyV9Is2FBpsIBTzpZnW6fvIxF/s400/102_1671.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348123004271115682" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsK2vx5Vo_yg5t8q3-PWpYSEb2GeY6Bo1qGxRe9MPhdmnzuYKmTHL_RyKDQWu1mmYZCGGMUKExtCXaknyeQyqeH1K5CDXLpYaCeayniuWeWOK4dybHGazqrGjG79k5dQSbQLFHk7nH7d9T/s1600-h/102_1679.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsK2vx5Vo_yg5t8q3-PWpYSEb2GeY6Bo1qGxRe9MPhdmnzuYKmTHL_RyKDQWu1mmYZCGGMUKExtCXaknyeQyqeH1K5CDXLpYaCeayniuWeWOK4dybHGazqrGjG79k5dQSbQLFHk7nH7d9T/s400/102_1679.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348123001499154274" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjLr1h5fy-pFGzPSNXNhYAeoPfUGx8AgbOfy2eRUOyoPa9o3Ep0XhED8EU7i3JjfHfHN5AnS9fGvslTTa0RMLJ1XEjTeu-vaMWbsKSCJO81wMsYWio21ia7xwSKf_XktdT9lv0jMgQOKek/s1600-h/102_1681.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjLr1h5fy-pFGzPSNXNhYAeoPfUGx8AgbOfy2eRUOyoPa9o3Ep0XhED8EU7i3JjfHfHN5AnS9fGvslTTa0RMLJ1XEjTeu-vaMWbsKSCJO81wMsYWio21ia7xwSKf_XktdT9lv0jMgQOKek/s400/102_1681.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348122990918996562" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj2ZmpaFhRx5jtHg9spDkr4Zt37pXqNuiZ_5SBx88iZcrG9jycxZnSmp2bvKfhxu1A-Gj3xa69ccNQRTbqKUv_z6DKGd5HRAZrsJIj4-d-a2HOjpVAGLVz2yN7T1KGELE0UEEfwzxbEa-t/s1600-h/102_1690.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj2ZmpaFhRx5jtHg9spDkr4Zt37pXqNuiZ_5SBx88iZcrG9jycxZnSmp2bvKfhxu1A-Gj3xa69ccNQRTbqKUv_z6DKGd5HRAZrsJIj4-d-a2HOjpVAGLVz2yN7T1KGELE0UEEfwzxbEa-t/s400/102_1690.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348122985553839858" border="0" /></a>beloved30http://www.blogger.com/profile/02665051370327354039noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8852668668208736098.post-31841326121070282382009-05-30T10:12:00.001-07:002009-05-30T11:32:13.766-07:00A week in the life of the FostersOn the 19th this month Chloe had her 6 month doctors appointment. She weighed in at 18lbs 13oz and she's 27 1/4 inches long. On the growth chart she's a big kid. Still in the 90-95%! She did much better with her shots this time! I didn't even have time to tear up. I was playing with her before they stuck her and she almost didn't notice the first one. The second one, however, is the one that hurts as it goes in. She started screaming right as I received a text. It reminded me that she'll do anything to get my shiny purple phone in her mouth. So I popped it open and instantly she forgot she was in pain! Yay Chloe! Normally I keep a hold of it to prevent the seizure it has whenever it gets wet but this time I figured the spaz attack later was worth the happy baby now. I let her play with it all the way to Grandma and Grandpa Fosters house! I think it also helped that I gave her the baby Tylenol about 10 minutes before the shots instead of waiting for Crabby Chloe to make her usual post shots appearance. I love drugs!!! (Oh you know what I mean!!!)<br /><br />On the 23rd, we went to a reception (it's wedding season again!) for one of Preston's friends from MCC (he also went to high school with one of her brothers and MCC with another one of her brothers). It was a very well done backyard reception. Lime green, black and white with a live band and dance floor, lots of yummy food and a lime green drink that exactly matched the decor. Anyway we were eating some really yummy cake at a small standing table (it's tall without chairs so you can just stand around it) off to the side of the dance floor. There were a bunch of kids running around and dancing on the dance floor and we were having fun feeding Chloe frosting and watching them play. At one point I was looking down at my cake trying to get a little bit of the frosting on fork for Chloe when I heard a woman scream "AMMON!!!" I turned my head to see a little boy standing next to me with his pants around his ankles and his underwear coming down fast! Obviously uncontrollable laughing ensued! His mom, I assume as she was the one that screamed "AMMON!", came running over yanked his pants back up and scooped him up and ran into the house. I guess he had to pee. Who needs a toilet when you're a boy and have a whole backyard at your dispense??? Preston was laughing and said "Oh, I can't wait!" I hope he meant that because he'll be the red faced parent yanking up the pants in a public place (I hope)!<br /><br />Chloe was so tired while we were there. She had refused to take a full nap all day and couldn't hardly keep her eyes open after a while. She held them open as long as she could because there was so much to see with all those kids running around. I got a great picture of Preston and her together, though she looks so tired.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbSsy3LEvSNjFElu9XApBmClKXZtyTP18oeneKSsmpXdfzTN3SMStddL7bWrhSbfPzYULQA5Y7NSXeEOKjrUzt_GVxshJoghqUUuI-iEVtyyMfiyQAtisdwFxwFhx7rHr9f-iNh6_m3SAj/s1600-h/102_1385.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbSsy3LEvSNjFElu9XApBmClKXZtyTP18oeneKSsmpXdfzTN3SMStddL7bWrhSbfPzYULQA5Y7NSXeEOKjrUzt_GVxshJoghqUUuI-iEVtyyMfiyQAtisdwFxwFhx7rHr9f-iNh6_m3SAj/s400/102_1385.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341481526694664706" border="0" /></a>Like 5 minutes after I took that picture though she zonked out. Poor kid. It's clear how tired she was because she never falls asleep sitting up like that. She'll never sleep over my shoulder, only laying down in my arms like a newborn. There's always something to see when she sitting up!<br /><br />We stopped at the Foster's house on the way home to let them see Chloe for a bit since we were already nearby. Chloe had a bottle there and fell asleep on the way home. I didn't even change her clothes and she barely woke up when I put her in the crib. (Sorry, I had to explain why she is wearing the same clothes in two pictures with dates on them that are one right after the other.) I took this the next morning when I went in to get her up for church on Sunday. This is the morning stretch and smile! She's such a morning person!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJQaPeKjV1cwuWdUi2gcMrhfQ-zhyphenhyphenElXPUkc6yyw8Y1a6RYMNf4vPMQJnlanOBqHQQOWASl29eRmXrW9ixGvDl__Ee8urqieQXdrfU7otet_UwK5E20j1-i8rkvDKgGRB-9gs98GXnylMD/s1600-h/102_1396.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJQaPeKjV1cwuWdUi2gcMrhfQ-zhyphenhyphenElXPUkc6yyw8Y1a6RYMNf4vPMQJnlanOBqHQQOWASl29eRmXrW9ixGvDl__Ee8urqieQXdrfU7otet_UwK5E20j1-i8rkvDKgGRB-9gs98GXnylMD/s400/102_1396.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341469764417437794" border="0" /></a>On Memorial day, we had my sister Selena over and Preston had promised her we would go and play laser tag the next time she came down from Prescott. Brittany K and my brother Louis joined us. We had a ton of fun! I have to admit it was the most exercise I've gotten in one go for a while mostly cause we did 3 rounds!<br /><br />Afterwords everyone came over for ice cream and some Mario Kart and Boom Blox (super fun Wii game developed by Spielberg). Meredith came over too to bring Chloe home because she had been babysitting while we played laser tag. Brittany left for a while to spend some time with her family and October but ended up coming back for more fun with the Fosters! She brought Tober with her and we got some cute pictures of them in matching onesies. In this one Chloe is on the left and Tober is on the right.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA0n8Kn4_W3pYv9qjfb1vsjhKVDdjmlBtTURXHP5C87F_csi5vQMMRWZM5ouRnjgbZbTpnSgrydI6aIZnNAwnsEjNPGNFmS9MLShvNGX4ih8UWVqAiXIpFa-M2UpJ4OtKz_Vj91gNj98R_/s1600-h/102_1414.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA0n8Kn4_W3pYv9qjfb1vsjhKVDdjmlBtTURXHP5C87F_csi5vQMMRWZM5ouRnjgbZbTpnSgrydI6aIZnNAwnsEjNPGNFmS9MLShvNGX4ih8UWVqAiXIpFa-M2UpJ4OtKz_Vj91gNj98R_/s400/102_1414.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341469776579661362" border="0" /></a>They looked so cute looking up at us. Well, Chloe was looking up, Tober turned out to be stuck like that cause she couldn't lift her head back up. Poor baby!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqxeD04CBypOO23KAI43GHRt8asGfNPwQlBbQnXK8vUAO3yO-74XwmYQNW_NmQPrzSm4zjqkRtfiunM-SMINIHSGgO28nEOkQ748Cb7dOLE-xyn0FmC4nABnUWOWizuSZZvmi0j6xP73ta/s1600-h/102_1411.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqxeD04CBypOO23KAI43GHRt8asGfNPwQlBbQnXK8vUAO3yO-74XwmYQNW_NmQPrzSm4zjqkRtfiunM-SMINIHSGgO28nEOkQ748Cb7dOLE-xyn0FmC4nABnUWOWizuSZZvmi0j6xP73ta/s400/102_1411.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341469775433893554" border="0" /></a>And this one turned out to be the only on with both of them looking at the camera. Notice the matching onesies!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguafS2l8k43F8QVU-a7Xzj8_0MYH_3eyNybSDYiQF28KjPS66h2ps75wCGOheu-i_yGjRh252Fjo51Zi7EgP4_XAoOMbKqrA4aC8G6lmJLKUbIjlSaZYUfTbVlFx7CLxfmSD1KczZH3svi/s1600-h/102_1431.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguafS2l8k43F8QVU-a7Xzj8_0MYH_3eyNybSDYiQF28KjPS66h2ps75wCGOheu-i_yGjRh252Fjo51Zi7EgP4_XAoOMbKqrA4aC8G6lmJLKUbIjlSaZYUfTbVlFx7CLxfmSD1KczZH3svi/s400/102_1431.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341469788208717378" border="0" /></a>Yesterday Chloe played... (well, I buried her in toys and she gave me this look that kinda says "Mom... really? Why?"<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLWqfw58prGPIV7Nfz8JyVqSmkKmiM4qxlRyEAhe0hTdwyhEgn-nbDKZlzcFJKIqlQNhRW3PDOzqK6V8aSr1BlVu1WDeMgzklyLqvOak18QamFCwxeURsJu5aYCNXnkKg73w9wE5XHZVEi/s1600-h/102_1442.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLWqfw58prGPIV7Nfz8JyVqSmkKmiM4qxlRyEAhe0hTdwyhEgn-nbDKZlzcFJKIqlQNhRW3PDOzqK6V8aSr1BlVu1WDeMgzklyLqvOak18QamFCwxeURsJu5aYCNXnkKg73w9wE5XHZVEi/s400/102_1442.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341470820434345602" border="0" /></a>While I walked on the treadmill (that Preston told my mom he wanted after I had said no because there is nowhere to put it in our cluttered little house) and played Mario Kart. The idea popped into my head as I was falling asleep the night before. I hate walking on treadmills. No! I loathe it! Watching movies doesn't even cut it for me. I can't focus on the movie at all, just how much I hate the treadmill I'm on. And to be honest, it's kinda hot outside now and I'm a wuss that likes to keep my house at arctic temps. Well I was thinking the night before how playing video games kinda require a little more focus than a movie or TV show, so I thought it wouldn't hurt to give it a try. It worked!!! For the most part...<br /><br />See, I'm one of those people that has to lean when I turn a corner while playing a racing game. I learned yesterday that leaning while walking has the tendency to throw your balance off... Yeah. It would have been funny to watch me in the first place walking and playing and even funnier to watch me fall off the treadmill too. This picture is of the display on the treadmill when I finished. I thought 29 minutes was pretty good considering Chloe kept crying and making me stop and I haven't done that much in a long time. Yesterday was the experiment and it was a success! Look out! Here comes the new and improved diet plan!!! Video games!!! Boo-ya!!!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN1uxJqbM0CXke3s8dlIBI7leIQFaJUprWRfsy9jFr_GCYxfmo1hqokMu4UvX1M4he1T7wlWEKuRiNTAd6ouEKfT1Nl28gl6ewkgFbqJHnwW175v9poOEEnpc2JPb-a0rfqw6QJQ-wFYOb/s1600-h/102B1451.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN1uxJqbM0CXke3s8dlIBI7leIQFaJUprWRfsy9jFr_GCYxfmo1hqokMu4UvX1M4he1T7wlWEKuRiNTAd6ouEKfT1Nl28gl6ewkgFbqJHnwW175v9poOEEnpc2JPb-a0rfqw6QJQ-wFYOb/s400/102B1451.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341501817392993602" border="0" /> </a>To celebrate my wonderful discovery on how I, too, can enjoy the treadmill, I made cookies! Yeah, well... Two steps forward, one step back, right? Bite me! I did mean to have leftovers for Preston but, uh, that didn't last long. At least I only made six in the first place right?!? Notice my Burger King Spock cup! Sweet right? Yeah, I'm awesome like that! <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGQwMIcpXvIH1xvsad66WTpcy98VzHsQbxoJnUVunCJlS53Uhw2MPPUFdUmaq_vuTaTL8arLXgHkDKjHVcMbwFtOlJXPbh0uixRCy9M1JxJ-Zu6oLPcO1SClX7c599v03XgR2OJs6YG4Hr/s1600-h/102_1467.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGQwMIcpXvIH1xvsad66WTpcy98VzHsQbxoJnUVunCJlS53Uhw2MPPUFdUmaq_vuTaTL8arLXgHkDKjHVcMbwFtOlJXPbh0uixRCy9M1JxJ-Zu6oLPcO1SClX7c599v03XgR2OJs6YG4Hr/s400/102_1467.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341470828836072786" border="0" /></a><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div>beloved30http://www.blogger.com/profile/02665051370327354039noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8852668668208736098.post-10700566072938790922009-05-18T22:05:00.004-07:002009-05-18T22:58:22.538-07:00Happy 6 Month Birthday Chloe!Today was Chloe's 6 month birthday! I can't believe it's already been 6 months!!! Where did the time go? My baby isn't going to be a baby very much longer huh? I better stop blinking. But the thing is I really do soak in every moment with her, so I don't understand why it's the middle of May and she's 6 months old.<br /><br />I also recently noticed that she's growing a little more hair lately and her little bald spot on the back of her head is starting to fill in! Yay!<br /><br />I took pictures of her today to commemorate her halfway mark and noticed that she's starting to look more and more familiar. I dug through some old pictures and figured out why. So here goes... Like Father Like Daughter:<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnb_Dgm7GhwE0T5VkKZB_DkJuV5GXLenYTYbWG15pBOqMSebft7GUXF2lDdwWQvYqRnvF8MhQXZhP3_-4gdOAAjL_ft4qr94Vbtu_w75fnTCWuoc18euooPxRVGKjl9phHNqvKjktos-4L/s1600-h/Preston+1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 324px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnb_Dgm7GhwE0T5VkKZB_DkJuV5GXLenYTYbWG15pBOqMSebft7GUXF2lDdwWQvYqRnvF8MhQXZhP3_-4gdOAAjL_ft4qr94Vbtu_w75fnTCWuoc18euooPxRVGKjl9phHNqvKjktos-4L/s400/Preston+1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337399694480079650" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHXcxF-Fe7Q9XMRDHpltNC8zXiTMmRkUOOyLlrREZsvIce8B0ylY_WBmN3TPGmdKbvwFkly4Lf7aLpeII4rhFOAWDyTNTGxqqiV-PL8Rl0GPwYqV5geGE2bqDGNknwDuuWZDBahU2i8Peu/s1600-h/102_1213.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHXcxF-Fe7Q9XMRDHpltNC8zXiTMmRkUOOyLlrREZsvIce8B0ylY_WBmN3TPGmdKbvwFkly4Lf7aLpeII4rhFOAWDyTNTGxqqiV-PL8Rl0GPwYqV5geGE2bqDGNknwDuuWZDBahU2i8Peu/s400/102_1213.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337398413578700146" border="0" /></a><br />And here we have... Like Mother Like Daughter:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif-22DMiRkbI_3qXxu92mimrRGq4r66QvDR7xBrItAw_ZmtgceXgwSjn6DuEy2BgVWcCUgv6i65-qK6KF2UAsE5BEqQ0qVVH5eVGmPg3I07c0F00cc_fpFzd19xXhs5ypot2zUFngEJUzC/s1600-h/baby143.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 282px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif-22DMiRkbI_3qXxu92mimrRGq4r66QvDR7xBrItAw_ZmtgceXgwSjn6DuEy2BgVWcCUgv6i65-qK6KF2UAsE5BEqQ0qVVH5eVGmPg3I07c0F00cc_fpFzd19xXhs5ypot2zUFngEJUzC/s400/baby143.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337398419053758818" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIsHIgLp5sqRSll52R8h5yiITV8zMMUuLMSDbLBPN6lpN2YuYixHO7EfXtePpdPx5X2eIyf-0EN-A5BEqS7DrJn9MQ7PCy3E2EhWdmh9bxX5WLYpXYW03yymd-rSop1wkfsex1dLYPS84F/s1600-h/102_1330.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIsHIgLp5sqRSll52R8h5yiITV8zMMUuLMSDbLBPN6lpN2YuYixHO7EfXtePpdPx5X2eIyf-0EN-A5BEqS7DrJn9MQ7PCy3E2EhWdmh9bxX5WLYpXYW03yymd-rSop1wkfsex1dLYPS84F/s400/102_1330.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5337398418865554626" border="0" /></a>I love that she has her father's grin and her mama's crinkle eyes when she smiles. And I got those from my dad. Too bad she didn't get my dimple! Maybe my next kid. I love this baby girl!<br /><br />She's getting more and more coordinated and I swear she reads my e-mails... And what I mean by that is I get these e-mails from BabyCenter.com and they will tell me about another milestone or development that I should look for in the next week or two if I haven't already seen it. For example I got one that said my baby should be able to hold a bottle on her own. The next bottle I gave her, she grabbed and held it in her mouth till it was gone. Oh and as an update on the whole rolling over thing. She finally rolled from her tummy to her back but it was more of an accident that I tricked her into. She definitely has her own agenda or schedule or whatever you want to call it. Little stinker!<br /><br />She's so much fun to play with now too. She will clinch her eyes shut when you blow on her tummy, and laugh when you make a funny noise, or if I just grin at her really big she'll grin really big back at me. We just have too much fun together! I love her so much I just can't stand it sometimes!!! Ha ha! I hugged her so tight today that she barfed on me. I love watching her grow and learn but I wish I could slow down time because it's going too fast!<br /><br />I better go now. It's way past bedtime and Chloe wakes up with the sun now and the sun comes up before God turns on the air in the summer. I need to get some blackout curtains for her room! Goodnight!beloved30http://www.blogger.com/profile/02665051370327354039noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8852668668208736098.post-35766184594199360832009-05-12T11:45:00.000-07:002009-05-12T11:45:01.032-07:00Roll Over Beethoven!This morning I was laying in bed with Chloe. (When Daddy leaves in the morning he brings Chloe into our bed so we can snuggle.) She had woken up and was kicking me in the stomach (I guess she misses the good ole' days) so I moved her a little away from me towards the middle of the bed. I took my phone off my nightstand and was checking to see if I had any messages. Chloe reached for the phone and I was floored when she ended up on her stomach! I couldn't believe it! I thought it had to be the incline from me laying on the bed with her. I was still excited because before she would always catch herself from going all the way over. So we both moved to the middle of the bed and I moved away from her so I couldn't interfere. I grabbed the camera and I put the phone in her little hand. This is what happened!<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dx_3zbzXxbh0Br56FNMSQYJGuS7bxtR1O_qQctmPwP8f2f3tet3RWf_7Z9OUPO4utduTjuFZKYYtiwtXtIVlw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br /></div><span style="display: block;" id="formatbar_Buttons"><span class="down" style="display: block;" id="formatbar_JustifyCenter" title="Align Center" onmouseover="ButtonHoverOn(this);" onmouseout="ButtonHoverOff(this);" onmouseup="" onmousedown="CheckFormatting(event);FormatbarButton('richeditorframe', this, 11);ButtonMouseDown(this);">Just to be sure I flipped her back over and we tried again. This is proof it wasn't just a one time fluke!</span></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwM9OVN79mlLjFNimzTUXYBdmD1QHhyRjABbj6_C5iSjfHUbFyFVYlbuCd94oRb5ytAqLVlCty9pS-gYiaVtw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br />Yay Chloe! My big girl!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">PS. This is the VERY first time she has EVER rolled over. She won't even try to roll from front to back. I tried to use the phone to get her to but she caught herself and wouldn't go nearly as far the next time.<br /></div></div>beloved30http://www.blogger.com/profile/02665051370327354039noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8852668668208736098.post-70593646261483715402009-05-04T13:13:00.002-07:002009-05-04T13:35:27.648-07:00*Sneeze*<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiGYt8fv_wgsUXaoReWiP_iwN_c6FgObPIyQUHbn6MVeMNasMU32sV9ISatTB4Ij-YDh2dXxCPZWhqN7XyW61f9UF01RnMkorOy7F8WkrSpu0rZHzJ9atPT7ZSE42gzoQFlo3RxQfzgOKR/s1600-h/102_1078.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiGYt8fv_wgsUXaoReWiP_iwN_c6FgObPIyQUHbn6MVeMNasMU32sV9ISatTB4Ij-YDh2dXxCPZWhqN7XyW61f9UF01RnMkorOy7F8WkrSpu0rZHzJ9atPT7ZSE42gzoQFlo3RxQfzgOKR/s400/102_1078.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332069053034137490" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms; font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Bless you.</span><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Need I say more?</span><br /></span></div>beloved30http://www.blogger.com/profile/02665051370327354039noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8852668668208736098.post-58692781729467915482009-05-01T15:39:00.000-07:002009-05-01T15:39:00.531-07:00The Morning RainI have a quick funny story to tell:<br /><br />This morning I fed Chloe breakfast. I got her in the Bumbo, put the tray on and prepared some rice cereal and mashed bananas. Yum!<br /><br />I am always surprised when I feed her how much she can pack away before she lets me know she's full. I always make too much so I can save some for later for faster prep. So, we're shoveling food and little miss decides she wants to try out being independent (this isn't the story but it's kinda funny too) and try feeding herself. She's only 5 1/2 months! I cleaned off the spoon, her face, and tray and removed the bowl of food. I gave her the spoon, and she, in a very coordinated way for a 5 month old, took the spoon and scraped it across the tray and put it in her mouth. I was floored! My baby is trying to grow up too fast. The only thing she's behind on right now is that she still hasn't rolled over yet. I know she could if she tried but she won't try. She has the muscle and the ability just not the know how, or curiosity, or whatever it is to try. The funny thing is she can sit up on her own for about 10-20 seconds unsupported now. She'll be walking before she learns to roll over.<br /><br />Back to my funny story... So we're shoveling food into her little mouth and on one particular bite she didn't swallow but opened her mouth for another bite and I put another one in. Little ham. Then she does that pre-sneeze breathing thing and I'm like "Oh No!". And she sneezes.<br /><br />Rice cereal sprays everywhere! I caught about half of it of course being right in front of her. The other half of it landed on the tray. I quickly started to clean it up before she started to play in it. And she sneezed... again. Lovely. More spray. Most of this one landed on me because the bits were smaller. Nice. Just for good measure she sneezed one more time but I was ready with a napkin in front of her mouth. Ha! I win! Too late, but yeah.<br /><br />That's my funny story. It made me laugh, hope you did too!beloved30http://www.blogger.com/profile/02665051370327354039noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8852668668208736098.post-50066632391570157632009-04-25T17:54:00.004-07:002009-04-25T18:44:25.901-07:00Happy Birthday to Preston!!!Preston's birthday was on the 18th of April. He turned 27! He doesn't like how close that is to 30. Poor guy! But we had a good day nevertheless!<br /><br />The night before the big day Preston and I finished something we started on August 25, 2006! That's 2 years and 8 months! Wanna know what it was? Are you sure? You might roll your eyes... Ok, I warned you.<br /><br />We finished watching all of the Star Trek series. Seriously. We started with the Original Series with Kirk, then The Next Generation with Picard, after that we skipped ahead to Enterprise with Archer (it takes place before all of them), we started Deep Space Nine with Sisko while we were still working on Enterprise, and finally we finished with Voyager and Captain Janeway. I am officially a nerd. Thanks Preston. The sad part? I really got into it and enjoyed it! I get all the jokes now too! It's totally awesome when someone makes an obscure reference to Klingons and I get what they are saying!!!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">So for Preston's birthday we went down to the AZ Science Center to the Star Trek Exhibit they have there. It was so sweet! Knowing what everything was and noticing the indiscrepancies in the replicas and examining the details of the real stuff. We weren't allowed to take pictures in it but they had photographers there and I got the one I really really wanted. This:<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCZf83Gn-b_EuEdkH-VxvDKShL-TmwmJt9skjZUTxkGDeTlAFglDuyO9eWzJRCbmafEh-m6pdtkpjeq6Ha6mISEU09h5roIAx2WhvUYrN0O9GTBdAkB0ku_pR5TkdWpb92WMgz1qRWX_wy/s1600-h/amy1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 296px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCZf83Gn-b_EuEdkH-VxvDKShL-TmwmJt9skjZUTxkGDeTlAFglDuyO9eWzJRCbmafEh-m6pdtkpjeq6Ha6mISEU09h5roIAx2WhvUYrN0O9GTBdAkB0ku_pR5TkdWpb92WMgz1qRWX_wy/s400/amy1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328801026940613026" border="0" /></a>Freaking awesome right??? (In my best Crush-from-Finding-Nemo voice (head nodding included)) Chloe in the captain's chair.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJNnTikuze1qQZ6Bx2CbIzWpiBas4BhOY6QT0P1ls4S-3j1dsIGL3F10HLMc4-LsqndqLbpp0rZoAuJkBeZua3EcjVOwdtuJv6Nw3i96SoPish765lmcQ9Pzy0o5iAtVwMeKro1XKckk6m/s1600-h/102_1008.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJNnTikuze1qQZ6Bx2CbIzWpiBas4BhOY6QT0P1ls4S-3j1dsIGL3F10HLMc4-LsqndqLbpp0rZoAuJkBeZua3EcjVOwdtuJv6Nw3i96SoPish765lmcQ9Pzy0o5iAtVwMeKro1XKckk6m/s400/102_1008.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328801034459543170" border="0" /></a>Preston liked his presents. I gave him The Fountain (his favorite movie) and a iTunes gift card. His parents gave him a bunch of stuff too. As well as a nice dinner at B.J.'s, mmmmm...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7vASElUgcUlaVJBAMu65eEtISkqySvbi24zwWNq2pVZDYu7J29Nfvt0jIj8be-KN9Q-DrF1RmPbz3U14kCnPLH7hXr20_BYxnZ_-8cYKXoREGXwFdFK4jiQzO2W-XHbfCo_o_NXtUv5tg/s1600-h/102_1014.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7vASElUgcUlaVJBAMu65eEtISkqySvbi24zwWNq2pVZDYu7J29Nfvt0jIj8be-KN9Q-DrF1RmPbz3U14kCnPLH7hXr20_BYxnZ_-8cYKXoREGXwFdFK4jiQzO2W-XHbfCo_o_NXtUv5tg/s400/102_1014.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328801038563000018" border="0" /></a>The Grandparents and their baby's.<br /><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKoCH_sMvKZvdu12rxfTmaF8dzzw3RjPgF-lUQgz8Ncbp66zc-7-74AkS0IKPufQ_mCsAT4iD2_gN_ARz_ECD3K2EiUR6Ge9Siy1iO-fkPaF_xWcv9CUYEiVP33__3LemnBqKUrONdeOpg/s1600-h/102_1024.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKoCH_sMvKZvdu12rxfTmaF8dzzw3RjPgF-lUQgz8Ncbp66zc-7-74AkS0IKPufQ_mCsAT4iD2_gN_ARz_ECD3K2EiUR6Ge9Siy1iO-fkPaF_xWcv9CUYEiVP33__3LemnBqKUrONdeOpg/s400/102_1024.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328801046125777730" border="0" /></a>Of course no post is complete without a melt-your-heart-super-cute picture of Chloe! I love this kid! She's not rolling over yet but she loves to talk. And sing! She sings to the music I play in the car now! I love it. We sing at the top of our lungs in the car together now! I almost cried the first time she did it and actually was hitting some of the notes. My baby didn't get her singing genes from her father!!! YAY!beloved30http://www.blogger.com/profile/02665051370327354039noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8852668668208736098.post-40287665782011492782009-04-08T14:45:00.001-07:002009-04-08T14:45:00.568-07:00Doin' the Hokey Pokey...Ok, that title sounded kinda bad... or was that just me? Anyways... I was getting a bottle for Chloe this morning while she was sitting in her bumbo on the table waiting for me. I started walking towards her while I was shaking it and it made me think of the hokey pokey, so I started singing it. She laughed when I spun around, clapped my hands and threw my leg up in the air. So I did it again, and again... and like 5 more times after that. She was laughing so hard and it made me laugh and all was wonderful!<br /><br />Meredith came over a few hours later so we made a video... enjoy!<br /><br />WARNING: Chloe's laughter is EXTREMELY contagious!<br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxTS7lfVJ9aQcQqRSFC_h72DRZYoZv6bGktI7sdBK5xPP9Z4R7h8p_m2AaBq2ob_poYk0fc0V9dhZZNm0c_rQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe>beloved30http://www.blogger.com/profile/02665051370327354039noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8852668668208736098.post-81366816163929031632009-04-08T12:05:00.002-07:002009-04-08T12:53:56.821-07:00Getting what I want...After very little agonizing on my part about chopping off my hair, I picked a haircut and called a friend. Every time before now when I thought I might want to cut my hair I would make the decision very slowly. First I had to be absolutely sure I wanted to cut it at all. Then I would agonize over several pictures and ask everyone and their dog which one they thought I should get before finally picking one. Then I would take my time getting around to asking someone to cut it for me.<br /><br />This time I blogged and the next day <s>called</s> texted a friend and she came over a day or two later. Of the few pictures I had selected this was the favorite of the friends that commented and me.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJwexTqm1xmfNlbH1-AXtgaKEj1i7TJtZMgMpFlEKczGRzB7RCcujdYpnNms97IKyBHl5Qe9cyNnOn9itrZuQeu_9EuZPs4VidMwn_y2dMUhF9_4AnhOonjVMaVuBmpp-V6aPCi5KRDuc3/s1600-h/hair7.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 335px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJwexTqm1xmfNlbH1-AXtgaKEj1i7TJtZMgMpFlEKczGRzB7RCcujdYpnNms97IKyBHl5Qe9cyNnOn9itrZuQeu_9EuZPs4VidMwn_y2dMUhF9_4AnhOonjVMaVuBmpp-V6aPCi5KRDuc3/s400/hair7.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322400105147925314" border="0" /></a>My beautiful hair!!! Soon to be someone else's beautiful hair! I hope they like it. I sure did.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR-JibKOtSfMxNQ7ukr1A0tqKoAX5sc7vBx4ujrD-QNZgJU_cv-QYx_KzkHBDQgL0kTz9tfCy_ACZ-3x9lLe0LtaA-guQ5gTI8c2u1zsMUp2l26n8MsbolIboCQqrmF3ivc4IvQEHdkamy/s1600-h/100_0644.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR-JibKOtSfMxNQ7ukr1A0tqKoAX5sc7vBx4ujrD-QNZgJU_cv-QYx_KzkHBDQgL0kTz9tfCy_ACZ-3x9lLe0LtaA-guQ5gTI8c2u1zsMUp2l26n8MsbolIboCQqrmF3ivc4IvQEHdkamy/s400/100_0644.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322400096494689730" border="0" /></a><br />Well anyways I made a discovery... apparently it's hard for a friend to cut off that much hair on someone who has as much thick beautiful hair as me! I asked for that haircut and she said no at first so we compromised. It was cute but not what I wanted. I wanted it really short this time. Not quite a pixie cut but not a bob either. I called another friend... She's amazing! It took awhile to get together to do it but we did yesterday and I love it!!! The night before I went to her house I also colored my hair. I have a favorite color that I LOVE. It's by Garnier and it's called Cherry Chocolate! I was sold on the name alone when I found it the first time. The great color was a perk that came with it!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGi2MmHJE-e__Rz0pbQYpQxYncHvPAsA0tP59isHbatgF9Llt0RA6-AXPSUglRC-W8aEnMvDN-Qk76K0P0vCKDmQHZE_gwtoGciDBqqVr10un0cDmPG0_6ayw09v-bAKhK6QrzHEQHcRSH/s1600-h/before+and+after+hair+color.bmp"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 271px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGi2MmHJE-e__Rz0pbQYpQxYncHvPAsA0tP59isHbatgF9Llt0RA6-AXPSUglRC-W8aEnMvDN-Qk76K0P0vCKDmQHZE_gwtoGciDBqqVr10un0cDmPG0_6ayw09v-bAKhK6QrzHEQHcRSH/s400/before+and+after+hair+color.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322400105808160242" border="0" /></a><br />It turned out great I think. And this is the final product... The first picture is the first haircut, cute but not short enough, and the second is me now...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZt2iNcyqPAqPF4MXwfRabAKbc_xy8-DuTmnb1HhMXiUocrZFJ_M-rr9kFWAuFGagZHilapYpdpxkpfDGtf9AH4ZbSUAKC_zR906SWi8F_vEkCUdI_IR9nmHPVYWbJ5jh5DJALcCBzZcLC/s1600-h/before+and+after+hair+cut.bmp"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 269px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZt2iNcyqPAqPF4MXwfRabAKbc_xy8-DuTmnb1HhMXiUocrZFJ_M-rr9kFWAuFGagZHilapYpdpxkpfDGtf9AH4ZbSUAKC_zR906SWi8F_vEkCUdI_IR9nmHPVYWbJ5jh5DJALcCBzZcLC/s400/before+and+after+hair+cut.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322400108772416962" border="0" /></a>Yay! It's way cuter in person too! I love it!<br />Thanks to both Nici and Lynette for all the hard work they put into my hair! Love you guys!beloved30http://www.blogger.com/profile/02665051370327354039noreply@blogger.com0