A Hoosier Girl In Reno

Our Snowman

2011-02-20T22:27:00.001-08:00

Wow, we have had a lot of snow this week. I really love making a snowman when there is a lot of snow. The last time snow we had, I felt too tired, but this time I decided it was something I needed to do! So, on Tuesday, we put on all our snow gear and headed outside.

Abby didn't really stay happy very long outside. She was pretty whiny for a while. It took her a bit to get used to the snow all over the ground. I like to keep tracks out of my snow, so I will try to limit where I step in my yard... to make our snowman, I used the snow from the side yard and the driveway.

Abby decided she was done before the snowman was done. I let her go inside while I finished up, but of course she didn't want to be inside if I wasn't there. So she played around a bit on the porch while I put the finishing touches on our friend. We went inside and I grabbed a carrot, the scarf, and two lids from spice jars that made great eyes.

He's the cutest snowman I have ever seen. He has no mouth, which I kinda like... and he only has one arm... I couldn't find another stick. I went back in and grabbed the camera to catch some good photo's. My hubby got me a cool bendy type camera stand, so I was able to place the camera on the mailbox to get a few shots with Abby and I with our snowman.

He is a very contemplative fellow... don't you think? I love his nose, and the scarf really brings out his white complexion. I've thought in the past few years, that it would be awesome to have a reusable snowman kit, with pieces for eyes, mouth, and nose that you can just use over and over every year. I've seen a few online, but have never bought one.

After we went in the house and got comfortable, I went to go take a peek and our snowman friend. When I looked out the window I was disappointed to see that he had fallen over. Upon taking a closer look, I discovered tracks leading from the sidewalk, into the yard, right up to my snowman and then leading away. It was appallling and infuriating to learn that someone had murdered my snowman... and I had just finished him not even 40 min before. Luckily I didn't see the punk who did it!!! And even better... I have the gift of resurrection, so I went outside and put him right back up!

Retraction and Apology

2010-11-02T12:52:00.000-07:00

This past Friday evening, it was brought to my attention that individuals within my family are angry and/or very unhappy with the things I wrote about my father Jack in my previous posting.

It has been a challenge for me to work through the muddled emotions I feel towards Jack and I wrote what I did as an outlet to those confused and hurt feelings. Many people know that I am extremely open and expressive about the things that I feel. There are only a few things in life that I keep to myself or a few select people. I would even say that I enjoy writing about the things that I go through, good or bad, so that others can participate along with me.

In writing the post about Jack, I have caused myself a more immense amount of grief and confusion because of the feelings of my family and it has been an extremely heavy burden. At first I was defensive in my thoughts, thinking that it is unfair to me to be judged on the things that I feel. In the past 3 days, I have spent a lot of time thinking, praying, searching answers from the scriptures, and have sought counsel and understanding from a few loving family members. I will state now, and hope that my family will understand that it was not my intention in any way to cause angry or hurt feelings with the things that I wrote. I sincerely apologize for any ill feelings I have caused to anyone in my family.

With my formal apology said, I will go on further and try to explain a little. This has been a very hard trial... so confusing. I have received both support for my post, and rebuttal, which has added to my frustration and confusion. It has been hard for me to get to a point where I could apologize with sincerity... as you can see, it has taken all weekend. As far as I can discern, here is where I went wrong.

First, this post should not have been written publicly and was more appropriate for my personal journal. At least, many portions of it. I will be taking out what is not appropriate for individuals outside of my family to know. And although the damage is done for those who have already read it, this is the best that I can do in order to make restitution, and will prevent anyone else from being able to read the post in it's entirety.

Next... I was selfish in my thoughts and took no concern for the life and experiences of those mentioned within the post. And though I was not intentionally trying to demonize, defame, or put down, in the eyes of others, that is exactly what took place. I like to think that I do not see myself as better than others because of my choices or others choices... but it has become apparent that my behavior and words may express otherwise.

Also, it was pointed out to me that my post may be seen as disrespecting of the dead. I am unsure how to respond to this other than to express my own feelings on the matter. Jack is gone... but he is only gone physically. He is still living. The things that he and I have to work out, will be worked out when it is my time to return to the spiritual realm. I am positive that we will have many conversations together about the why's and what's about our relationship and together, through the Atonement of our Savior, be able to forgive and understand. But for now, the things that I expressed still stand. That's how I feel and I will make no apology for those feelings other than to say sorry for being a human being and prone to carnal complications such as jealousy, anger, and pride.

With all this said, I believe my greatest offense has been that of a bad example. In our society, it has become common and acceptable to express our negative feelings towards others publicly. So, in a way, this goes back to my first explanation of writing such things in a personal journal rather than a public forum. I have not done what I have covenanted to do, and that is, "Remember Christ." This I am deeply sorry for and is my main motivation for restitution. As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon), I (and other memebers) am often judged more harshly than others in our common Christian based community, because of our high standards. This can often be a frustrating burden. In spite of our desire to live very high standards, we are no less prone to the temptations of the carnal man then the next Tom, Dick, or Harry. I find it rather frustrating that when I make a mistake, individuals will blame my behavior on my membership in the church and henceforth cast a bad view on the LDS religion as a whole. I am a better person because of my membership in the LDS religion, and am only able to overcome my own faults and have the strength to apologize because of it's teachings which are the teachings of a loving and just Savior, Jesus Christ.

Again, I am sorry to cause my family further grief during this time of loss.
Sincerely and with love,
Christy May

It's A Sunny Day on the Farm

2010-10-15T16:35:00.001-07:00

Today Abby and I went with Jenn and Bailey Sadler, and Nicole Anderson (Jenn's sister) to Andelin Family Farm. They have a pumpkin patch as well as some really neat activities.

There were quite a few farm animals. The girls really enjoyed feeding the goats. We also got to see a llama, yak, pigs, and a very large dog.

I thought this was a neat shot of the girls. We were standing around in the pumpkin patch.

Abby decided that this was absolutely the pumpkin she wanted. She was a little frustrated by the fact that it was still attached to a vine.

She carried her pumpkin around for a little bit. She was so adorable.

We went on the hayride. Nicole took a picture of us together... pretty good too. I find it sad that we don't get many good shots of us together.

What a great mug shot... who knew my child was wanted by the law!!

There was a neat maze made out of hay bales. The girls really enjoyed running around and it was fun watching them negotiate their way through.

One of the coolest things was a huge box filled with feed (dried corn). There were buckets, shovels, and dump trucks. The girls loved it so much and Jenn and I thought it would be a great idea to do this at home. There was also a big red barn set up with Halloween costumes for dress up and a large coloring station. What a great day!

Enjoying the Fall

2010-10-12T06:55:00.000-07:00

Last night, after our walk, we hung out in the yard for little while. I figured it was a good time to introduce Abby to the joy a pile of leaves can bring. So, Abby played around in the yard while I raked up a nice pile. At first she wasn't sure what to think... she just stared at me. Then she decided that the leaves needed to be moved to the sidewalk, so she started making her own pile.

Here she is handing me a leaf.

This is her sign for airplane... though she usually uses both arms. She just started this on Sunday.

I pushed her in the pile. I think this is my favorite photo for the evening.

Enjoying the leaves.

We went on a walk around the block and we stopped to smell the roses.

London's 2nd Birthday

2010-10-09T22:30:00.000-07:00

Today, Abby and I went to London's birthday party. We had such a blast. There were lots of kids, lots of balloons, and a very kid friendly cat.

Here is the Birthday girl!

Abby was so excited about a balloon that was flying in the air. She had a lot of fun playing with London's toys, her cat, and the other kids.

It was a really great day for a birthday party. I think my favorite part was the magician... he was so great!

The cake and decorations were amazing too!

Happy Birthday London!

General Conference In Our Home

2010-10-02T21:57:00.001-07:00

This weekend is the 180th Semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I love conference and really look forward to it every six months. The first session today was really amazing. It's such a cozy day. We get to relax in our own home and stream the broadcast through the internet. I love to stay in my jammies and bring down my pillow and blanket and post myself on the couch.

Abby stayed pretty well entertained. She spent a lot of the time scribbling on a conference coloring book I printed out for her. Every once in a while she would come over to hand me pencils or want to sit in my lap.

I love the special feeling of sacredness that comes into our home when we play conference. I've tried very hard today to do things that are worthy of that spirit. There were so many great talks today.

It brings a great satifisfaction to know that my little Abby girl is going to grow up in a home where General Conference is highly valued. It's so important for her to learn righteous behavior through our examples. And the more I hear from our leaders of the importance of teaching our children the gospel, the more dedicated I feel. One of the quotes I wrote down today was, "The world will teach our children if we don't." That is certainly, not what I want for our family.

I feel so grateful that we have a prophet on the earth today and grateful that I have a testimony of the truthfulness of the restored gospel.

All On Her Own

2010-10-01T18:28:00.000-07:00

Abby has some great organization skills! I love it. A few days ago I gave her a cup to play with and today she decided she wanted to put her pencils in it. I was sitting on the couch working on something and I realzied she was making her concentration noise.

She was placing her pencils in the cup one at a time.

At first, she was picking them up one at a time too, but then decided to pick up the rest and then put them in the cup one at a time.

This child amazes me everyday!

Abby... you are so stinkin cute!

Overdue

2010-10-01T17:58:00.000-07:00

Once again, this blog has been the neglected red headed step child. I am going to start fresh from today so that you can see what is going on in our lives now, but I will post some 2010 flashbacks to tell you about the things that have happened since March. This is a picture of Abby and I taken a few weeks ago. Enjoy!

Abby is 9 months old

2010-03-06T02:16:00.001-08:00

This little girl of ours is too stinkin cute for her own good! As Steve likes to say... unauthorized levels of cuteness! Well, Abby is 9 months now... where has the time gone? Our little baby is going to be a year old in 3 quick months. I'm already planning out her birthday party in my head. Here is what Abby is doing now.... She:

Crawls :) (although, she drags one leg underneath)
She walks assisted
Can feed herself small pieces of food
Prefers eating food from my plate rather than jarred food
Enjoys bread, avocado, and strawberries the most
Is proficient at grabbing and dropping things
Doesn't like things to be taken away
Gets angry
Sleeps 6 hours a few nights a week
Occasionally drinks 5-6 oz bottles
Likes to chew on socks
Realized that she can play in the bath water
Understands that she can sit up on her own
Jabbers a lot
Knows when I'm trying to fool her into taking something else

North Carolina

2010-03-04T21:51:00.000-08:00

Abby and I had a very nice visit with Steve last month. We were gone for 2 weeks... did you miss us? There really wasn't much that went on while we were in NC, but we did get to do a couple of cool things.
Here is Abby at the Raleigh Durham Airport. We had to wait an hour before daddy could get there. Traffic was pretty tight and it was very windy that day, so it made his hour and twenty min drive a bit longer.

On the way to Fayetteville, we passed a Cracker Barrell and stopped at the second one to eat. It's one of my favorite dine's, so it was nice of Steve to recommend that for a late dinner. I snapped a couple of picks of Abby and Daddy while we were waiting for our dinner.

Abby has graduated to more solid foods. Daddy is trying his hand at feeding the Abbigator and Alligator Pear (a cool name for avocado). It was amusing to watch how Steve would try to feed her. I think he made more of a mess than Abby.

I don't get to take a lot of pics of Steve... mostly because he loathes taking pictures. Sometimes he's a good sport, like in this photo! This is probably one of the best pics of him I've ever taken. I love that red shirt!

I spent a lot of time watching cable. We don't have it at home, so when I'm around it, I lose control. I especially love the Food Network... I could keep it on that channel all day! In fact, I did more than once.

Abby is really into pulling herself up to a standing position as well as bouncing up and down... this is one of those moments.

And another one of those moments! We spent a 3 or 4 nights gaming at Jane and JT's, friends of Steve. It was a lot of fun! I love this picture.... Abby has a cute little tushie.

We were supposed to go out to the coast for the holiday weekend, but the weather was bad, so we stayed in Fayetteville. We went to Carraba's for our Valentine's Day dinner... a place we both love to eat. The waitress gave Abby a pretty fascinating toy. She was fixated on it for quite a while.

I tried to take as many pictures of Abby and Steve as I could. I think it's becoming pretty obvious that this little baby is a Daddy's girl. She sure brightens up when he is around! Steve worries that she doesn't know or remember him now that he's gone a lot. But I can tell she recognizes him. She definatly behaves differently around him than she does other people she is held by. For now, there is still no one like Momma, but she really enjoys playing with Daddy. Daddy does all the cool stuff with Abby.

I had the opportunity to attend our Heritage Makers Regionals in Raleigh the second weekend we were there. I usually go to Phoenix since that is where my team is, but this saved me a plane ticket! I missed my friends, but I made some new ones. This is a photo with Patti Gardner, our Director of Sales on the left and Hallie Redd, one of our few Executive Consultants.. she is top in Sponsoring. There were only 20 or so people in attendance, so it was very intimate. I learned a lot of great things I will be applying to help my business grow and we got to see all the great new things Heritage Makers is going to be putting out this year! I love my business!

The last Sunday, we took a walk in Fayetteville. This was a really nice activity... and something that I will make a seperate post for in the next couple of days. This picture was taken at the end of our walk.

I wanted to take a few pictures of Steve holding Abby while he was wearing his uniform. I was bummed that I couldn't get the settings on my camera right for the lighting, but if I had taken a moment to mess with it, Steve would decide he was done... so, substandard photo's. :P I liked this one the best though... the two of them looking at each other, so endearing!

Steve spent time teaching Abby to walk with assistance. It's something he has done since she has been interested in standing... which was since 3 months old. When I had gotten back from Regionals the first night, Steve had her run over to me! I laughed so hard... it was one of the greatest moments of my life!

Abby found the butter. Steve said, "She's her mother's daughter". So true!

We visited with Jenn and Kennedi. My cousin John's wife and daughter. Jenn hosted a workshop for me while I was there, and she also had Abby and I over for dinner one night. She made wonderful spaghetti with amazing garlic bread. She was kind enough to lend us a bumbo, a jumperoo, and some toys for Abby.

Abby is such a pro at flying. I get a lot of compliments on how good of a baby she is. It's a lot of work keeping her entertained or trying to put her to sleep on the plane, but we do ok. It makes for a long day though.

We miss Steve, but I'm glad to be home.

Abby - 8 Months Old

2010-02-05T21:08:00.000-08:00

Abby is 8 months old today! Hard to believe that in 4 short months, she will be a year. I'm already starting to think about how I want to celebrate her first birthday. I was just talking to a friend about how fast last year went. I was pregnant for the first half, and had a baby for the second.... I look back and it seems like a blur.

Here's how Abby has grown this past month:
Her bottom two teeth cut thru (right spelling?)
As she sits, she can pivot in a circle
She can scoot to places she wants to go
She gets upset when I take things from her
She does baby talk, mostly dadadada
She will switch and item to the opposite hand to pick up another item
She will place something I hand her behind her back if she doesn't want it
She was weaned
She started sleeping in her crib
She (finally) sleeps 6 hours a night every couple nites
She claps her hands
She gives kisses
When I say more, she knows to open her mouth for me to feed her
She can feed herself her bottle without help
She can pull herself into a standing postion with just about anything
She loves the cat

I love Diapers.com

2010-02-05T08:28:00.000-08:00

I've been seeing ads for this company all over the place since Abby was born. I've been reluctant to purchase... but when I got an email from Pampers late last week giving me $10 off a first time order plus 500 Gifts to Grow points, I figured this might be a good time to try it out.

Well, I did my research while placing my order, trying to make sure I was getting a deal. I calculated how much I normally pay for diapers and how much I would be paying at diapers.com. I decided to go ahead and order a box of wipes as well, since I needed to spend over $49 to get free shipping.

Well, with the $10 off, I was about 5 short, so I figured I buy a toy or something. I decided to hold my order till we got our February 1st pay so that I was spending the February diaper money. So, for a couple of days, I thought about what I should buy extra, then I remembered I had seen these really cool Arm & Hammer Nursery Fresheners from Munchkins in my Parents magazine back in December. I've been wanting them since I saw them, so I checked it out and sure enough, diapers.com had them in stock! They add 5.99 to my order putting me at around $59 and some change (because of tax).

That seemed to much to me, so I went back to see how much I was paying for the wipes. I was really surprised to see that they were $14.99 for a 384 pack versus the $11.98 for 448 that I was paying at walmart. I called diapers.com up and asked about this and found out they price match. Only problem was it had to be listed on a competitors website, not an instore price. Walmart.com didn't have the same package so I looked around and found it at Target.com for $12.69... not as good as walmart, but $2.30 less. I was ready to order!

I called diapers.com back, told them about the Target price, they checked it out and took the price right off my order before checkout. Then I purchased.

I realized later that I never got my 500 Gifts to Grow points and meant to call them yesterday to see if they could help me, but didn't get a second to call.

I ordered on Wednesday around 230pm and got my box last night (thursday).

Well, this morning I was double checking how much I had payed for diaper when I discovered something not so good! They had sent me the wrong box of diapers; Size 4 at 140 count instead of Size 3 at 160 count. I immediately checked my invoice then called diapers.com again. I told the lady about the points first. It was my mistake that I didn't get the points (you have to click directly on the link in the email), but she was so nice about it and gave me a code for the points.... apparently lots of people make the mistake.

Then I told her about the diaper mix up... I was trying to figure out how I was going to ship these bigger diapers back when she told me that I could keep them for free and that she would send me the box I had originally ordered! How cool is that?!! Instead of paying 27cents a diaper, I paid 14cents a diaper!

diapers.com is A+ in my book!

Abby's Room - My Favorite Place On Earth

2010-02-02T22:31:00.000-08:00

I finally got things cleaned up in Abby's room this week.
But to be fair, I will post some of the before pictures as well.

Her room is pretty easy to clean up. The boxes are full of her outgrown clothes.

There are a few things more I would like for her room, particularly stuff for the wall. It would be nice to have some matching shelves as well. Eventually, but not any time too soon. I will have a yard sale this summer, maybe after that. If we had lots of money... I would put in new carpet, get rid of the popcorn ceiling, add new closet doors, and put new trim around the base and add some trim at the ceiling. Wishful thinking.

I am happy that I have the canvas up now though! I'm working on a few posters in my Heritage Makers account that are specifically for her room. I love that I can personalize a poster! One will be an alphabet poster and the other a numbers poster. How cool is that?! When I finish them, I'll post some pics of them here for you to see.

Hello Big Bear!

I still need to vacuum... but it's not of the utmost importance. Meanwhile the rest of the house is a disaster; as per SOP. Notice all the extra's from Abby's room out in the hall. About half of them are still there as we speak.

I even wiped down the window and window sill. I don't think I had cleaned it since we moved in 3 1/2 years ago. It was filthy. It's nice now!

Of course, what's the first thing that Abby does?! Pulls the books off the shelf one by one! Typical.

This is Alice, Abbigator's Alligator.

Hello Alice!

Neglect

2010-01-18T21:38:00.001-08:00

I feel like I've been neglecting this poor blog. Now that I have my CM365 blog, I'm posting every day, which I am really enjoying. But I feel like there is so much more to the stories that I post and that I should be finishing them out over here.

Back in November, Steve and I finally painted Abby's room; Hidden Sea Glass (a very light shade of green). On the 7th, I went to IKEA with my friend Elizabeth Giles to pick out Abby's crib. Thanks to Great Grandma Sally, we didn't have to pay for much of it, and I was able to get a chest of drawers, as well as a small matching table I found in scratch n dent. I've been working on her room since then, and it's coming along nicely. I was finally able to sort through all of her clothes; box up the ones she doesn't fit in, hang up the ones she does fit in, and wash the new ones she got for Christmas. I've managed to find a few cheap things at GoodWill that I wanted; a crib border and some pink curtains.

(Abby sitting in the bunk bed demonstration at IKEA)

Abby and I have been hanging out with some of our friends lately. Especially Jenn and Bailey Sadler. It's fun to watch Abby and Bailey interact. Bailey loves babies, and especially Baby Abby! She goes around saying Abby, Abby, Abby... a lot. She likes to feed Abby her bottle, and help her with her pacifier. She's so helpful that even when Abby cries, she tries to scramble around to figure out what she needs. It's completely and utterly adorable!

Abby cut her first two teeth a week ago... the first (bottom left) on Thursday, Jan 7th, and the 2nd (bottom right) on Sunday, Jan 10th. I have no pictures yet, she will hardly let me look at them.

Abby did pretty well the first few nights in her crib, but the past 5 or so days have been a bit tougher. I've only taken her back into bed with me once, and it was because she seemed to be in some pain and wouldn't relax enough to sleep. That doesn't count yesterday though, when I was trying to catch a nap at the same time and she woke up earlier than I liked, so I brought her in with me and we slept another hour. I've been enjoying her bedtime routine. I read to her, give her a massage, play a little with some toys, give her a bottle, and then sing her to sleep while rocking her in the rocking chair that Steve's Mom gave us with a special little plate on the headboard in remembrance of Abby's big brother Joshua.

On the 1st, I started Weight Watchers... it's been tough, but I've been doing really well. I've already lost 8 pounds. It's interesting how it helps you understand what portion control really is.

I've started focusing on my Heritage Makers Business again. I've got two Workshops scheduled this month and a Digi-Crop this Saturday. I've been working a lot on getting my business blog really functional. My goal is to hire someone to design my blog to make it look professional when I make it in the Presidents Club... I'll let you know when it happens!

Project CM365

2010-01-10T21:17:00.000-08:00

Last year I learned about the photo a day for a year idea from Alicia Corbridge. I thought that it was way cool and really enjoyed following along with her photo blog, so as one of my resolutions I decided that I wanted to start my own. I waited until the first of the year to start mine so that it would be consistent with the days, but it can start on any day. I've been doing it for 10 days now (obviously), and I've been very consistent! (I'm hoping to discover a new found sense of consistency as another one of my resolutions for the year). The blog is separate from this account and is actually linked with my Be A Storyteller business blog account. Go check it out... I will have a link posted on this blog for easy access. It's also accessible from my facebook page if you are one of my friends.

Abby Canvas

2010-01-10T21:08:00.000-08:00

I designed a 20x20 canvas using Heritage Makers the other day. I had put together 3 different designs and had friends and family on facebook vote for their favorite... this is the one that won.
If you would like to make this project or something similar (you could do this as a 12x12 scrap page for $5 instead of a canvas for $100 or if you're really dedicated, you can host a workshop and get your canvas for free!), then visit www.beastoryteller.com and sign up for an account. I will transfer the project to your account!

Abby Is 7 Months Old!

2010-01-03T16:43:00.000-08:00

Things Abby did this past month:

Sitting on her own
Escapes from the Bumbo

Eats Peaches, Pears, Apples, Chicken, Peas, Carrots, Squash, Sweet Potatos
Gets angry if I take something away from her

Can pull herself into a sitting position
Can pull herself into a standing position

Absolutely loves her little rubber duckies
Will play for short periods of time on her own

Began to enjoy bouncing
Can feed herself with her bottle (knows to tilt it back)
Sips water from a cup

Can push herself out of her bumbo
Is ticklish in the same spots as her Momma

Loves to play with paper and anything else that makes crinkly noises
Can push herself across the floor and spin around on her belly

Can get up on her hands and knees

Will turn the pages of a book when you tell her to
Loves to play peek-a-boo with the blanket

Christmas 2009

2010-01-02T18:09:00.001-08:00

This was probably one of the nicest Christmas' we have ever had. Steve got home about 5 days before and his brother Paul flew in on Wednesday night and stayed with us till Saturday. Steve's Mom came on Christmas day. On Christmas Eve morning, we took Abby down to the mall to get her first picture with Santa taken. She didn't smile, but at least she didn't cry!

Later that day, after picking up Steve and Paul from the movie theater, we drove over to Pottery Barn to pick out our new Christmas ornament. A tradition Steve and I started when we first got married.This was our second year for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner (steak!) It turned out pretty good. I found a pretty good recipe for Honey Glazed Carrots last year that I really enjoy. I also started another new tradition; Christmas pajamas.

We got up around 8am Christmas morning (that's about the time Abby wakes up in the morning). We did stockings first and I helped Abby open a few gifts. After two or three presents, she started to cry... she was a little overwhelmed.

Thanks to Paul we had more Christmas photo's than we normally get!!

Abby looked really cute in her Christmas pajamas :D

Steve and Paul went to pick up thier Mom from the airport around 11 and when they all got back we had my Chicken Soup for lunch (along with some pretty good bread Tanya Turner made).

Around 2 we went over to the Kintners (Steve's Grandparents), for Christmas Dinner. We had an enjoyable time sitting around and spending the early evening together.

This was a great Christmas!

Our Growing Abigail

2009-12-06T05:15:00.000-08:00

Abigail was officially 6 months old yesterday! I can hardly believe how fast she is growing up and how quickly she is learning new things. This is a sample of what's been going on in Abby's world for 5 and 6 months.

5 MONTHS
Started grabbing and wanting to hold her bottle
Laughed for the first time
Began taking out her paci and attempting to put it back
Reaching for things intentionally
Able to grab with one hand things she reaches for
Plays on her own for short periods at a time
Began developing a nap time schedule
Loves to look at books
Rolls from her back to her belly
Plays in a jumperoo
Gnaws on fingers furiously
Will stay asleep for naps instead of waking up after being put down
Likes to have her paci when she sleeps
Discovered her feet and sucks on her toes

6 MONTHS
Sits up properly in Bumbo
Discovered coughing
Rolls and Rolls and Rolls around on the floor
Pushes her butt in the air with her feet and legs
Does push ups
Rolls over in the night and sleeps on her belly
Not nursing as much
Started Rice Cereal
Started Oatmeal
Can pull herself into a sitting position then standing with assistance
First Snow
Can feed herself bottle while laying down
Sipped water from a straw
Rolls over purposely to reach for things
Has been cranky because of teething pain
Moved up to size 2 Swaddlers
Now drinking 4oz regularly at feedings
Sucks on paci recreationly during the day
Occasionally falls asleep on her own
Grabs paci from your hand and puts directly into mouth

Tag You're It - 8 Things

2009-11-21T11:16:00.001-08:00

I've been tagged by my BFF Katie on her blog so now i'm going to answer these questions (and then tag some of you)!!!

eight things i did today - not in order:

1. ate two bowls of Reese's Puffs cereal
2. had family pictures taken at the temple
3. played 3 dungeon n dragons encounters
4. showered twice (i tried to fix my hair up nice, it didn't work)
5. pumped milk
6. went to quartet practice
7. slaughtered 33 minions
8. kissed my hubby

eight things i'm looking forward to:

1. steve's christmas leave
2. going to AZ for thanksgiving
3. abby turning 6 months
4. starting abby on food
5. snow
6. new moon
7. abby's first words
8. christmas

eight favorite shows:

1. V
2. LOST
3. ST:DS9
4. ST:TNG
5. Firefly
6. Pushing Daisies
7. Seaquest DSV
8. Rachel Ray's 30 Min Meals
9. Paula Dean
10. The Price is Right

eight favorite restaurants:

1. Cracker Barrell
2. Carrabba's
3. Gray Brothers Cafeteria
4. Steak n Shake
5. Claim Jumpers
6. Johnny's Resturante Italiano
7. Skyline Chili
8. MCL Cafeteria

now i am tagging:

Kari
Katie S.
Laura
Liz W.
and anyone that wants to do this

The Next Chapter Is Here

2009-10-31T08:05:00.001-07:00

Steve has left for Fort Bragg, NC. We got up this morning around 545 and while Steve was getting some last minute things ready, I sat and played with his new phone (I've been bugging him for months to get a new one. His 4 year old Razor can't keep a charge longer than 20 mins). I took some photo's of Abby and I and played with his wallpaper and added a couple of voice recordings with Abby making noises.

After giving Abby a blessing (I got mine last night), saying family prayer, and squishing one another in a cozy family hug (a bit emotional for me and too cramped for Abby), Steve took off at around 730a. Abby and I stood at the door and watched "Daddy" check some last minute things, then get into his X-Terra and drive down the road. As we were standing there, I wondered how much of this Abby was really taking in... I like to think she understands a little, especially as we walked away from the door and she gave a little sigh. I told her, "You have a brave Daddy".

Some of you know, but not many, that we have decided it's best for Abby and I to stay here in NV while Steve goes to NC for his training. There are many different reasons; my great support group here, how much better it is financially to stay, the fact that he will be in the field for weeks on end leaving us to fend for ourselves (going back to that first reason I listed). Frankly, for months, I've been thinking that it would be better to stay and in many ways I'm very happy with this decision. I love my home, it feels safe and comfortable... this is where I want to be with my little girl.

People ask how I do it... for our family, it's just the way it is, and looking forward, it's the way it's going to be. Seriously though, I get through because the Lord blesses me with a greater portion of the spirit, I have amazing friends who are more than happy to help out, a fabulous ward that feels like a family, and to top it all off, incredible Home and Visiting Teachers (should I mention they are husband and wife, let alone the fact that my VT will be here in an hour to visit!).

After sitting Abby on the couch and getting a few things cleaned up, I realized that Steve left without the red pears I bought him last night for his trip. I sent him a text, (yes, as of yesterday, he is officially texting and he's not going to like that I'm announcing it). He said he was down at the donut place and asked if I would like some... of course I would like some, and of course I would like to say goodbye again! So, Steve came back, dropped off some donuts, picked up his pears (and some apples I threw in), the Preach My Gospel manual... and we said our goodbyes again. He kissed our sleeping Abby and walked out the door at 8am. I watched from the living room window, thinking that he wouldn't even look up... but as he pulled away, he did and waved. A moment later he sent a text for Abby, "Listen to your mother, lil' bit". I love you Babes and I'm so proud of you... we are sure going to miss you! You will do amazing! Hopefully we will see you soon!!!!

Visiting with Oma Bonnie

2009-10-29T19:53:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we drove over to Fremont, CA to visit with Steve's Mom Bonnie. We had such a great weekend! She was kind enough to put us up in a hotel a little ways down the road from where she lives. We meet her forlunch on Friday and spent the rest of the day relaxing while she worked.
We meet up on Saturday morning, had breakfast at the hotel and then drove down to Monterey. We checked out the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which is way cool. Though we wouldn't recommend visiting on a Saturday... it's way too packed to really enjoy. We spent the early afternoon walking around the first building and got our hands stamped so we could come back after lunch. One of Steve's goals for the weekend was to get me to eat some seafood. EVERYONE who really knows me, knows that I don't eat seafood, but Steve figured that what I really needed in my life was to try it "fresh". Anyway... I gave in. I tried Coconut Prauns (didn't like), Mahi Mahi (was ok), and Swordfish (was decent but I will never order it as my main course).

After lunch, Abby and I headed back to the car to nurse while Steve and Oma walked down to the knitting store. We met back up at the Rip Squeak and Friends store and then went back over to tour the rest of the museum. I enjoyed the Seahorse exhibit the most.

On Sunday we found a ward to attend Sacrament at and then went to Oma Bonnie's for lunch. When we got there, Oma showed us a chair that she had refinished which was used when by Steve's brother Paul when he was small. Abby is still a little too young to sit in it, but we managed to get a couple of cute pics. Oma Bonnie made a fabulous Meatloaf and a very yummy chocolate cake. We hung out for the rest of the afternoon and later I made my chicken Soup for dinner.

On Monday morning, we went and had a great breakfast at Oma Bonnie's and then started back on the road.... it was such a fabulous weekend!

A Trip to Arizona

2009-10-23T17:11:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago, we traveled to Mesa, AZ to visit with Steve's family (and to buy a new vehicle). We got to spend a lot of time with Steve's Brother Matt his wife Steffi and daughter Ellie (who is only 3 weeks older than Abby). We were able to take some cute pictures of the girls together as well as some good pictures with Abby's Great Grandpa Max and Great Grandma Loraine.

An Abby Update - 4 Months

2009-10-23T16:37:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been so long... I havn't posted pictures ANYWHERE in forever!
It's amazing how when you have a little one, time just gets away from you...
I thought I had no time before. Boy was I ever wrong.

Here are Abby's 4 month old Pictures and this is what Abby did at 4 months:
-She loves to stand and can push herself up with her legs
-She now actually FITS in 3 month clothes
-She moved up from size 1 diapers to size 2
-She moved up to eating 3oz from 2oz (She's a snacker)
-She started grasping at objects, bringing them to her mouth
-She started to entertain herself with her baby toys

A Walk

2009-09-08T17:48:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking that I would like to start going out with Abby for a walk more than a few times a week. I havn't acted on that thought... until today. I buckled Abby in to the stroller, a first. Then we headed out. We stopped at the park and played in the grass and took some pictures. Abby seemed to enjoy our little walk. The weather is wonderful today! I sure love it here in Reno. It was nice to sit and reflect on how nice it is to be home with my little girl every single day.

Abby - 12 Weeks

2009-09-03T11:08:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned that we have categorized Abby's poo diapers according to what gets pooed on! No worries... there are no pictures!! This scale has been in place since she was about 2 weeks old. The categories range from 1 to 5.
Category 1: A regular poo diaper.
Category 2: Poo escapes the diaper but does not contaminate the onesie.
Category 3: Poo escapes the diaper and contaminates the onesie
Category 4: Poo escapes and contaminates the onesie and the blanket. (Often smearing up the back)
Category 5: Poo escapes and contaminates the onesie, the blanket, and anything nearby. Usually meaning YOUR clothes, the car seat, or whatever she happens to be laying in or on at the moment of impact.
Occasionally, a poo diaper may be rated a Category 6. You may ask, what would constitute a Category 6 rating. Believe me, you don't really want to know! This, indeed, is a rare event, and in Abby's case has only happened once. It was a situation where poo was smeared on the OUTSIDE of the car. I will let you ponder on how that happened!

Anyways, Abby is quickly approaching 13 weeks (tomorrow) and it's time I posted All Things Abby - Week 12. This is what Abby has been up to this week.
- She is holding her head up amazingly well
- She can now sit up in her Bumbo (not for a lengthy amount of time though).
- She is getting to the point where she is ok just chillin alone for a little while.
- Abby and I now go to bed around 930 every night (she doesn't fall asleep till 10 or 11)
- She is cooing and smiling even more than before.
- She coos and smiles particularly for her daddy... not sure how he manages that!
- She is definitely a Night Person like her daddy... she takes forever to wake up in the morning. (Great for Momma, I get to read scriptures and write in my journal and occasionally grab a shower all before she is officially wakey).
- She likes to watch TV with us. She is turning into a young Trekker already!
- She now has a cranky time of the day... about 7-9pm.
- She is ferociously gnawing on her fingers; another reason to suspect that she is beginning to teethe. I also think this has something to do with her cranky time.
- She can grab things that are within her grasp and puts them in her mouth.
- She sucked her thumb for a full half-hour while trying to go to sleep.
- She is beginning to fit into a few more 3 Month onesies... but still can wear Newborn.

Of course the pictures with the spoon on her head were Daddy's idea. She is imitating a Spoonhead. I will give a free Heritage Makers Family Fold to the first person to guess what Spoonhead refers to in the Star Trek Universe.

Shades

2009-09-01T09:23:00.000-07:00

Nanny bought these sunglasses for Abby when we were in Indy. This video is from 9 Weeks.

Abby - 11 Weeks

2009-08-26T20:56:00.000-07:00

Abby is just growing and growing and growing! According to our scale, she weighs 11 pounds. I find myself amazed by her every day. She is so much more aware of the things going on around her than even a few weeks ago. She follows things around the room, she is smiling and cooing a lot. I really love how she looks into my eyes with recognition... so strange how happy that makes me! Abby enjoys taking a bath... well, I say enjoys because she doesn't cry at all. Steve and I both noticed that her eyes seem to be turning brown. She also has started turning onto her side from her back and has slept that way a few times during the week. Drooling is another talent she has picked up. This week I did another photo shoot with her rabbit. Strange how you can take almost 200 photo's and get only 10 really great ones. Here are my favorites.

Abby - 10 Weeks

2009-08-26T09:54:00.000-07:00

Oma (German for Grandma) Bonnie came to visit us this weekend. We took a trip to Babies R Us and Oma Bonnie bought Abby a bouncer chair. Abby will sit in her bouncer and watch her Baby Einstien video's. Abby and I did a little photo shoot out in the grass as well... we got a couple of nice photo's out of it. I managed to do a digital scrapbook page of one of the pictures later that week.a> This was also the first time Abby got a piggy back ride with Daddy.

Abby - 9 Weeks

2009-08-18T20:48:00.000-07:00

Abby took her first plane trips during this week. Abby and I flew to Indy for my Mother's surprise 50th birthday party. This was a big week. She got to meet almost all of my family. It was the first time Pepaw (my dad) got to meet her. Nanny (my Mom) and I took Abby to the Children's Museum of Indianapolis... a place where I have many fond memories. She slept most of the time. We Abby did a lot of cooing while we were visiting with my family. She talked a lot with my Aunt Debbie especially. She hasn't really talked as much with anyone since.

Abby - 8 Weeks

2009-08-18T20:18:00.001-07:00

Abby was smiling more and more. During tummy time one day, she rolled over onto her back. I had turned to look just as she was finishing and it was happening as I was getting up. I thought that I might have created a depression that helped her a bit. But two days later at her 2 month pediatric appointment, the Dr. wanted to see what her neck control was like. When the Dr. put Abby on her tummy, Abby rolled right over. Watching Abby get her shots was a little diffucult. I was surprised by how long the needles were, but I was shocked that the nurse stuck them ALL THE WAY in her leg. Abby cried, but she did pretty good. Abby also started cooing this week. The Sadlers bought Abby a Bumbo... I wasn't home when Jenn came over to drop it off. It was quite cute to walk in the door and find Abby sitting in her Bumbo which she didn't quite fit in yet. And to explain the hammer.... that's Steve's way of showing that no matter what you do, Abby is always cute.

Abby - 7 Weeks

2009-08-18T20:07:00.000-07:00

I conducted my own little photo shoot during this week. I captured some of Abby's many amusing looks. We noticed during this week that Abby started to look around at her surroundings more and more. She is preferring to be held so she can watch what is going on all the time. Steve decided that he would introduce Abby to grass. When I first saw this, my mothering insticts almost kicked in and I wanted to scream "What are you doing with my baby?!!!?!!" Luckily, I was able to hold back my mothering urges and choose to get the camera instead. This week, she also started wearing 0-3 month Gerber onsies... she is still in Newborn in some brands. She also started to smile with recoginition in her eyes. Abby and I went to Girls Camp for testimony evening. I told everyone I wanted to get her started early!

Abby - 6 Weeks

2009-08-18T20:01:00.001-07:00

At six weeks, we started putting Abby in the her rocker. My favorite ladies from my temple shift also threw a shower for us... but it was no secret that the whole reason was to meet and visit with little Miss Abigail. Steve and I find it so fascinating that women, especially women who have had children, absolutley love to hold babies.

Abby - 5 Weeks

2009-08-18T19:57:00.001-07:00

Abby has many nicknames... one of her most infamous names around the house is Milkface. I've got this pciture Milkface up on our fridge, makes me crack up every time I look at it. I never ever get tired of looking at cute pictures of my little girl. Abby also started to suck her thumb around this time.

Abby - 4 Weeks

2009-08-18T19:48:00.000-07:00

Abby's first holiday (4th of July). We spent the weekend with Steve's best friend Ryan and his new bride Teresa in Portland and Tillamook, Oregon. Abby's first visit to a museum was the Tillamook Cheese Factory. Abby also got to experience her first campfire. During this week we started giving Abby a pacifier, which was something I postponed because she was not really breastfeeding until she was two weeks old.

So Busy But Not Really

2009-08-18T18:05:00.000-07:00

Motherhood is soooo time consuming! Especially if you are the momma of Abigail May Stephensen who never wants to be left alone. Anyways, I've been struggling with keeping up with everything but Abby. I've been wanting to update this blog so desperately, but every week that passes just adds that much more that I want to post but don't have enough time to. I was talking to Matthew Sadler the other day, telling him that I'm so far behind. He said that he never tries to play catch up.... but, I can't resist, so the following posts will update you all on All Things Abby!

Abby's First Photo Shoot - 3 Weeks

2009-08-02T20:33:00.001-07:00

Abby's Blessing - 3 Weeks Old

2009-08-02T16:53:00.000-07:00

On the last weekend of June, we had the priveledge of having most of Steve's family come visit for Abby's Blessing. It was a great weekend. We took the opportunity to get some rare Stephensen and Kintner family photo's. Thanks Alicia!

Our Family of 3

Aunt Katie with Abby and Ellie

All the kids

Steve's Dad Mont, Brother Matt, Sister Katie, and Brother Paul

Uncle Paul with Abby and EllieGrandpa Mont, Steve, Great Grandpa Max, and Great Grandpa Don with Abby

Grandpa Mont with Ellie and Abby

Abby's 2 Weeks!!

2009-06-19T18:31:00.001-07:00

Here are some more pictures of our little Abby girl!

My Birth Experience - All The Details.. I Mean It!

2009-06-13T21:03:00.000-07:00

On the 30th, I took the last terbutaline pill. I was expecting to have Abby pretty soon after that, but wasn't sure how soon. I'd been hearing story after story of women who were on best rest and medication to keep contractions away for weeks, only to go off and then go on to 40 weeks gestation. On Sunday the 31st, I started having contractions that were coming pretty fast and were a minute long. We left church early thinking that we could be going to the hospital. Turned out to be false labor.

The following Wednesday, I had an appointment with my Midwife. I was having contractions but not real regular. We discovered that I had dialted to a 4 and Lynn (Midwife) figured I would deliver sometime that day or on Thursday. Nothing really happened other than having contractions that were irregular.

Then on Thursday evening, Steve and I went to the movies to watch X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Around 1030 I started having contractions that were 3-4 minutes apart and a minute and a half long... the only difference was that I started to feel some serious back pain along with the contractions. I got up and went to the bathroom and started thinking that we might have to leave the theater to head for the hospital. After coming back to my seat, things slowed down a bit... but I told Steve that I suspected we may be going to the hospital eventually. After the movie, we went home and attempted to get some sleep. I let my Mom know before we went upstairs that we might be heading back out. Of course, I didn't get any sleep because I was busy trying to count my to see if it was the real thing. The contractions kept slowing down for a bit and then going back to fast... so I was feeling really confused.

Around 230am, I finally called my Doula to see what she would suggest. After talking with her for a moment, I decided to go ahead and go to the hospital to see if I had dialated any further. By the time we were ready to leave, the contractions were starting to get strong enough that I had to stop whatever I was working on in order to get through it. We got to the hospital around 330am and was admitted when they found that I was dialated between 5 & 6 cm. I called my Doula to let her know that I was in labor and tried to get comfortable in the bed. I had Steve set up my iPod stereo and turn on the relaxation music I'd been listening to the past several months. It wasn't long before my Doula arrived. Once the nurse finished with her routine questions, she gave me an IV with antibiotics (I had tested positive for strep a few weeks prior) and tried to administer a saline drip as well. The latter I turned down since I felt I was hydrated enough and wanted to drink from my water bottle. It wasn't long after that I vomited up the water I had been drinking and asked the nurse to go ahead with the saline drip. I hadn't eaten since 630 the night before, so there was nothing but water in my stomach and after that, any time I would try to drink or even eat more than 2 or 3 ice chips, it would come back up. A few times I simply got sick because of the pain and only thing coming up was bile.
From this point, I lost all track of time, so I have no idea what happened at what hour. Laying in the bed wasn't working for me at first, so I stood for a while. When a contraction hit, I would wrap my arms around Steve's neck and have him massage my back as I would breath through it. After a while, I was too tired to stand, so I tried sitting on the birth ball my Doula brought. She and Steve stacked pillows on the bed so I could relax... it worked for only a few contractions. Sitting down put too much pressure on my cervix so I felt pretty uncomfortable. For the most part, I was still relaxing pretty well through the contractions. Steve was continuing to massage my back and my Doula would massage my hand once they started. The massaging really helped me to focus on relaxing my body. I moved from the ball to a chair, and when a contraction would hit, I would stand up and put my arms around Steve's neck again. Not long after that, I was much too tired to stand or sit, so I got situated in the bed. By then I was starving, thirsty, and hot! My Mom then suggested that we use a wet washcloth to cool down my face. That felt really wonderful, and from that point on, Steve was wipping my face every time a contraction hit. Steve was enjoying watching the contractions on the monitor and started telling me every time the next one was coming. I snapped at him and told him I knew when they were coming and that I did not want to hear them announced.
Once the contractions started getting a bit too intense, I started to moan through them in order to release energy. The stronger they got, the louder I was. I was still able to maintain my breathing.... taking long deep breaths in and letting them out slowly in a moan, all the while, still trying to maintain relaxation throughout my body. I could tell if I was too tense if I was clenching my fists or if my brow was furrowed... so I used those areas to gage and focus my relaxation. My Doula continued to massage my hand and Steve continued to wipe my face. The hardest part was when Abby started pushing through the birth canal. At first the urges to push would be very slight and in the middle of a contraction. Always involuntary. Later, I had a friend ask if I thought about asking for drugs at any point. The answer to that is no, but I was thinking and wondering at one point if it was too late for a C-Section! Around 645ish, the next shift came on and I was introduced to the nurse who would be taking care of the rest of my labor and delivery. She also had a student nurse with her who requested to attend my birth because I was doing it without medication. The new nurse would periodically check to see how far I was dialted, but was never successful... my water still had not broken and the sac was bulging too much for her to discern how things had progressed. She asked if I wanted her to break the sac, but I wasn't quite ready yet, so she held off. The urges to push kept getting stronger and stronger and I'm pretty sure that I was not relaxing very well any more, though I was still focusing my breathing pretty well.
Around 730, I consented for the nurse to break my water. She had a pretty hard time getting it to pop and after digging around for what seemed like forever, it finally broke. After that, things happened really fast. The preassure from Abby's head really hit and the pain was quite a bit more intense. I still maintained my breathing... but I think relaxation was out the window! By the time her head was appearing, the Doctor showed up. I was surprised by the change in my contractions. When it was time to push Abby out, the contractions were no longer strictly involuntary. I felt as though I could rest a bit, and was really lazy about pushing at first. The Doctor kept urging me to push for a 10 count, but for about 3 tries, I was only pushing for around 3 counts. I think it took 2 - 4 good 10 count pushes to get her head out. The Doctor wanted me to wait for the next contraction before pushing her the rest of the way, but I was so done with being in labor and was still having a contraction, so I went ahead and pushed her out any way. I ended up with a 3rd degree tear because I was over zealous... her shoulders came out at once, which I guess doesn't usually happen? Steve was able to cut the cord and the Doctor threw her in his arms. After she was cleaned up, he put on her first diaper. Some time after that, he brought her to me, but I was a bit wrapped up in the doctor stitching me up, so I had him take her back for a minute. Afterward, he handed her back to me. I actually don't remember much of this part. Later, Steve asked me what I was singing to her when I was holding her... I have no recollection of it.

Preparing For Birth

2009-06-13T18:30:00.000-07:00

Many of you know that I opted for a Natural none medicated birth. It's funny how many looks of, "are you crazy woman!", I've gotten in the past 9 months. To me, giving birth is a sacred right of womanhood and I wanted to experience everything about it without the hinderance of drugs. It's not what everyone would choose... and I had quite a few people tell me that I would want drugs. (Even Steve did not think I would be able to handle giving birth without drugs).

To help me with the pain, I chose to use a method called Hypnobirthing. Hypnobirthing helps you to learn to focus yourself so that you can relax easily. It also places a huge emphasis on understanding how your body works and prepares for the birthing process. In order for it to be effective, it must be practiced. There are relaxation and breathing exercises that you are encouraged to practice every day. There are 3 certified Hypnobirthing Practitioners here in Reno, and we met with one once a week over a 4 week period.

I also hired a Doula, and chose to use a Midwife instead of a doctor. (If you search around on the the OB/GYN website, you will find a photo of me taken with my midwife at the photo shoot from a few weeks ago). Though, due to some strange circumstances, my midwife was not able to attend Abby's birth.

Abigail May Stephensen

2009-06-13T18:20:00.001-07:00

Abigail May Stephensen was born Friday, June 5th at 8:06 am. She was 6lbs 10 oz. and 19.5 in long. Welcome to the World little Abby girl! We are so happy you are here with us!

The Baby Shower

2009-06-01T04:49:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my friends Tanya and Lisa for putting together an incredible shower this weekend!

This is something I have been looking forward to for a very long time! Especially since the last pregnancy was so crazy and there was no shower. It was great to see so many of the people I love at one time. The food was great, the games were fun, and Abby got some amazing gifts!

Thanks Everyone!

(I'm currently having some photo viewing issues... I will upload some more pics later)

Phew.... 36 Weeks!

2009-05-29T08:57:00.000-07:00

Well, we have made it to the magical 36 week mark!!!

Things are going pretty good I would say. We had an appointment with my Dr. on Wednesday and she estimated that I've dialated to a 2.

I've been up and around too much lately, but it's been nice to be able to participate in life again. The past two days, my contractions have been getting more frequent, but I'm still not concerned enough to count them and see how regular they are. I've also been feeling more pressure on my cervix, but Abby hasn't dropped yet. Honestly, I feel like Abby will be coming really soon... like early next week, though, who knows really. I've heard so many stories of women who have been on bed rest and meds then taken off only to make it past the 40 week mark. I have enough medication left to get me through tomorrow evening and then it's game on. My midwife has been on vacation for a week and a half and will be back in town tomorrow night. It's made me a little nervous, but I'm feeling more confident that we will be able to make it till Sunday at least. The only other worry now is hoping that Abby comes either next week or some time after next weekend... Steve will be in Salt Lake from the evening of Friday the 5th to the morning of Monday the 8th for training.

As far as the all the fun stuff goes, these are the things I've been enjoying, doing, or looking forward to:
-Steve reaching out to feel Abby move
-Packing the hospital bag
-Steve making fun of me because I always have my hands on my belly
-Playing with Abby when she is really active
-The Baby Shower (Tomorrow)
-Receiving gifts in the mail from family and friends
-Trying to find a nursing bra (not so fun actually)
-Final meeting with our Doula before Abby's birth (today)
-Getting advice about nursing bra's, breastfeeding, nursing garments...etc
-Learning from my Aunt Patty that there is an Abigail in my direct line... 9 generations back
-Registering more stuff at Babies R Us
-Wondering and worrying about whether I'm ready for giving birth

A Photo Shoot

2009-05-19T06:43:00.001-07:00

Last week my midwife asked if I would mind participating in a photo shoot. The pictures are to be used in some new brochures and on the office website. I thought it was pretty exciting, so I agreed. My mom and I showed up at the office yesterday morning at 730am. I was immediately placed in a black studio type chair so the makeup artist could work his magic. It was interesting having him put all this makeup on my face.... I'm not a fan of makeup (obviously, since no one really sees me wearing it). It was a lot of fun though, and he complimented my eyebrows asking if I had gotten them waxed. Beaming, I told him I do pluck them myself!

The Photo Shoot itself was interesting. The photographer took some pics of Lynn, my Midwife, measuring my belly. After that, he took some pics of Lynn and I just looking at each other. He had us talk to each other to give the perception of a casual atmosphere. It was pretty odd trying to come up with things to talk about while a camera man is constantly taking photo's. After a bit, they had me sit up, and Lynn and I looked down at a chart for the last series of photo's.

The whole thing went extremely fast. It was pretty rushed. There was one other family that they were going to shoot, so while they were getting prepped, Lynn fit in a regular appointment for me. The whole appointment, photo shoot and exam, took only 45 minutes.

When we got home, I had Steve go to the park with me and take some pictures. Afterall, having this much makeup on my face done up so well may never ever happen again. We needed to record this for posterity's sake!

34 Weeks and Counting!!

2009-05-18T14:07:00.001-07:00

Well, we have made it past the 34 weeks mark and are well on our way to 35! At my appointment last Wednesday, I was officially taken off of strict bedrest. I'm still supposed to take it easy... really easy. I am not supposed to be doing chores, cooking, lifting, and very little walking around. I was very happy to be able to go to Stake Conference yesterday. I can drive myself places which is nice.

I'm still only dialted at a 1, but in the past week the contractions have become more frequent. Not really sure that is a sign of anything to come or not. I will be taking Terbutaline until 36 weeks to help the contractions stay away.

Thanks to everyone who has visited, cleaned my house, and brought my Mom and I dinner in the past 4 weeks. We have really appreciated it! There is no way we could have got this far without my amazing Mom and amazing friends!!

Last Friday Steve came home and gratefully will not be returning to Afghanistan anymore (well, at least as far as WE have planned). He will, however, have to travel to Utah at the end of the Month to sign his enlistment contract and then go back for Drill the first weekend in June. We are praying that Abby doesn't come during the times he is gone.

The Ultrasound Pics

2009-05-13T10:30:00.000-07:00

These were the ultrasound pics of Abby when I was in the hospital 4 weeks ago! Man, can you believe it's been 4 weeks already?!

Here she has the Birtcil Joker Smirk!

In this one, she looks like her Daddy!

Pregnancy Update - 30 Weeks and some Change

2009-04-21T16:38:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry I haven't been very good about sending out email updates.
It is now official... we know how we will be spelling our little girls name. Abigail... Abby for short. (Steve says these are the only way to spell the two names... you can ask him about that later!)

Things have been pretty good before we hit about 30 weeks. Before then, I had been having some contractions everyday, but nothing serious. As long as I took it easy, there wouldn't be that many. A few weeks ago I had even asked for help in doing some of the heavier house chores so I wouldn't be overexerting. Abby has been growing and growing and moving around like crazy. Its been a lot of fun to see different parts of my belly moving around. She's been getting the hiccups regularly for several weeks now.

Last week we took a bit of a turn. Wednesday morning I had a regular appointment with my midwife. She had already known about the contractions, but I told her that in the past week or so I'd been feeling some pressure on my cervix. So, just to be safe, she performed a Fetal Fibronectin test (a positive result is an indicator that a woman may go into labor in the next 2 weeks), and checked my cervix. We discovered I had dilated to a 1 and was 80% effaced. So I got hooked up to a machine to monitor contractions and waited for the test results to come back. When the result came back positive, I was sent to the hospital for 24 hour observation and to get some steroid shots in order to help Abby's lungs develop a little faster in case I do go into labor in the next couple of weeks.

Thursday afternoon the on call Dr. came in with the nurse to let me know they were a little concerned because Abby's heart rate was dropping too much, so they decided to keep me overnight again to monitor her. They performed an ultrasound to ensure that she was growing properly and that her heart rate was normal. (I also had the technician double check her gender - definitely a girl!). Early Friday morning, my midwife came to check on me and said they were going to have the Perinatal Dr. take a look at Abby on the high tech ultrasound machine. So, that afternoon, the Perinatal came in and measured her head, heart, lungs, and body size... he said she was in great condition, growing the way she was supposed to be growing, but they wanted to keep me overnight again to continue to monitor her heart rate. At this point, I was having the contractions I'd been having previously, and they were hardly there at all.

Saturday morning I started having some regular contractions but after changing positions, they stopped. I saw the on call Dr and the Perinatal Dr. and they both told me that Abby's heart rate hadn't been dropping like it was before, but that they wanted to keep me overnight again to continue to monitor her and the contractions I had had. On Sunday morning I started having some contractions that were 5-10 min apart and ended up getting a shot of terbutaline in order to stop them. Around 1115, the Perinatal Dr came in to do another ultrasound on Abby... and gave her a clean bill of health. Told me that if the on call Dr. approved, I could go be on bed rest at home. The on call Dr. came in shortly after, gave me a prescription for terbutaline in order to stop contractions while at home and gave me some other instructions; I was home by 130 on Sunday.

So far things are pretty good. My Mom came in Friday afternoon to stay and take care of me. I've been getting more than enough help from my friends, Relief Society (more friends), and Priesthood (more friends). Everyone has gone above and beyond the call of service!

Since being home, the contractions have been off an on and I've had to take the medication to stop them a few times. Early this morning they wouldn't stop with the meds, so we went into Labor and Delivery. They had stopped by the time we got there, but they monitored me for a few hours then released me. So, I'm on bed rest for the next 4 weeks. Steve comes home in 5... hopefully we can wait till then!
I want to thank everyone for being more than generous in your support and help. Thanks to all those who have visited me in the hospital and at home. I feel a deep sense of gratitude for everything everyone had been doing for us; thank you for making me (and Abby) feel so loved! I love you all too! We are grateful for your thoughts and prayers.
Thank you, Thank You, Thank You!!
Love,
Christy Stephensen

Joshie's Legacy

2009-04-10T21:46:00.000-07:00

This will be the 3rd Annual March for Babies for our family team, Joshie's Legacy.For those of you who may not know, two years ago I started this team in our son Joshua's name in order to preserve his memory and bring about good things on his behalf. Joshua was born premature and lived almost 12 hours.

For those of you who live in the Reno area, you may join our team and come to the March; a 2 mile walk around the Sparks Marina. This year it is Saturday April 25th. Registration is at 730am and the walk starts at 9am. There are lots of fun activities for the kids! For those that join our team, I do not ask that you raise money, but you may if you like. You can copy this email, adapt with your own words, and then send it to your friends and family.

For those of you outside of Reno, you may choose to donate to our walk and/or find a walk in your local area and represent out team there!

To join our team and/or donate, click on the link below.
http://www.marchforbabies.org/joshies_legacy

Thanks to all those who have participated and/or donated in the past!Hope to see you at the walk!
Love,
Christy Stephensen

My Great Grandma Christy's Blanket

2009-04-08T20:43:00.000-07:00

I had a very special experience today.

First, a little explanation. I am named after my great grandparents. My name is Christy May and I was named after my great grandpa H. Russell Christy and Mildred May Christy. Great Grandma Christy died when I was 6... but she has always been my favorite grandma. She was an amazing woman. Sometimes I'm not really sure why, I just know it. Whenever she is talked about in our family, it's always with reverance. She was the most kindest person and caring and talented too. My memory of her and the idea of her is part of who I am.

So, today I was getting ready to leave the house when I saw my Mailman pull up and then walk to my front door with a package in hand. I wasn't expecting a package today... but I knew that it must be something for our little baby. I read the return address and learned that it was from my Aunt Patty. She's been really excited (as everyone else has been too) about our little one, so I knew that there would be some great practical stuff for our little girl. I opened the box, everything was wrapped in tissue paper. I unwrapped one thing at a time, admiring what she sent; a 12 mo. creeper shirt, a pink 0-3 month gown, the beanie baby bear Hope who is kneeling in prayer, and some burp clothes that look like she might have sown up herself (she's talented that way!). So far I was most excited about the burp clothes; the pattern of the fabric is so darn cute.

But that wasn't all... oh no, there was still one more thing in the box, and there was a letter on top! I love letters! So, I start reading this letter lovingly typed by my Aunt telling me a little story about a blanket my Great Grandma Christy croched. As I'm reading this letter, thinking about my grandma Christy, tears are falling from my eyes. Aunt Patty proceeds to tell me that Grandma had given her the blanket to give to her second child, which they thought would be a girl. Turns out, the baby, my cousin Nathan, was a boy! Skip to now... in my box, wrapped in white tissue paper is the blanket; a yellow blanket, croched by my Great Grandma Christy. I unwrap the blanket and hold in to my chest and just sob and sob. What a special gift for our little girl. All day long, I've been pulling the blanket out of the box and just holding it and nuzzling it. I can hardly wait to wrap my little girl in it! In the picture below is the blanket... as well as another blanket she made which my mother gave to me from her collection of Grandma Christy blankets... it's home has been my rocker since Steve put it together last time he was home.

Latest Heritage Makers Project

2009-03-17T13:47:00.000-07:00

This is a 12x12 Scrap Page that I put together a few days ago of our trip to Half Moon Bay last September. I've been putting off a lot of projects lately and I'm looking forward to getting started on many of them. Here is what I'm going to be working on in the coming months:

Birtcil Family Cookbook

Stephensen Family Cookbook

Stephensen 2008 Family Yearbook

Harlan Russell Christy (A book about my Great-Grandfather)

Abigail's Pregnancy and Birth Book

Personalized Planner/Agenda

This is a 18x24 poster of the Family: A Proclamation to the world surrounded by our family photo's. It's easy to make, so if you would like one of these, just let me know and I can help you out.

March 13th

2009-03-13T17:47:00.000-07:00

Today is the 10th anniversary of my baptism into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! I've been looking forward to this day for many years... why? No reason other than it's a milestone. I think it's cool to say that I've been a member of the church for a decade... don't you think so too?! Every March Fast Sunday, I get up and share my Testimony... this is how I celebrate.

Being a member of the LDS Church has had a significant impact on my life. I've grown immensely spiritually. I've been married in the Temple to an amazing man. I've gotten to know my Savior personally as I've strived to live His principles and commandments. I've been blessed to have a greater amount of joy and happiness than I ever dreamt was possible.

I want to take a moment and express the Testimony that I've been blessed to gain since becoming a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:

I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. It contains the words of our Savior Jesus Christ. Joseph Smith was/is a prophet and was called of God to restore His church in these latter-days. Joseph Smith did, in fact, see God the Eternal Father and His Son Jesus Christ in the flesh. The priesthood of God has been restored and through this priesthood power, all the ordinaces of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which are necessary for the salvation of souls are performed. I testify that we have a modern day prophet on the earth, Thomas S. Monson, who is guided by Jesus Christ to lead this church. I know that Jesus Christ lives and that He died to atone for all of our sins and that His sacrifice makes it possible to dwell with God again. I know and testify that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true church of God on earth and I testify with all the energy of my soul that you can know all of these things for yourself by the power of the Holy Ghost. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

The Hazards of Church Callings

2009-03-05T18:03:00.001-08:00

Beware being called into the Young Women's Organization in the South Meadows Ward of the Reno Nevada Stake! Turns out that you have about a 90% chance of getting pregnant once you've been set apart...

In the past two years, we have had 5 YW leaders get pregnant and/or have babies while serving in their respective callings (including me). Steve and I were joking about it last night and had a little dialogue going...
Bishop - "Sister SoNSo, we would like to extend the calling of YW _____ in our ward."
Sister SoNSo- "I'm sorry Bishop, I'm going to have to refuse to take this calling."
Bishop - "May I inquire the reason."
Sister SoNSo - "My husband and I just arn't ready to get pregnant right now Bishop."

Can you IMAGINE?!

22 Weeks: Baby Update

2009-02-19T15:49:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow I will be 22 weeks pregnant! Yea!!
Every week for about 2 months now, I've been going to the pernatoligist so they could watch my cervix. Every week it has been the same, everything looks great. Yesterday, the perinatal Dr. said that we can pretty much rule out cervical incompentcy... which is great! He also said that I will not have to come in anymore, unless my OB/GYN recommends it... such great news. I'm still supposed to take it easy and watch out for signs of preterm labor.
Also yesterday, the Dr. took some more measurements of little Peanut... she is growing just the way she is supposed to be growing. It's so exciting to see how big she is getting every week! Yesterday, I saw her little hand open and close a couple of times... it's so darn cute. The Dr. gave me a few ultra sound pictures, including 2 3D images.

So, how I've been feeling....
I feel fabulous. I'm happy to be pregnant. I'm really starting to get that baby bump, which is very exciting. It's something that I didn't get to experience with Joshua's pregnancy, so I'm just eatin up all kinds of attention focused on my belly. I LOVE IT! The question we get all the time now is, "Have you thought of any names?". Yes. Right now, her name is probably going to be either Kathryn May or Abigail May.... which one is most likely may depend on which parent you ask.

Not So Easy This Time

2009-02-11T22:21:00.001-08:00

Steve is leaving very early tomorrow morning.

It feels harder than ever to let Steve go. It's been a bit of an emotional day for me. I don't feel ready for this right now, yet, there is nothing that can be done about it. I've been trying to hold in the tears most of the day, but this evening I finally let them go. Steve went upstairs to record himself reading a relaxtion script and a book I bought for the baby, so I stayed downstairs and began to write in my journal for the evening. And there they were, those darn tears I've been holding back. I don't usually cry so much when he goes. Of course I cry a little the night before, and then a little more after I drop him off at the airport... but this time I can't help but sob and sob. Darn pregnancy hormones! But, really, its more than that. I'm going to miss him terribly. This time home (and most times) was such a sweet experience. Of all the things in my life (the gospel goes without saying and so does this I reckon), our marriage is the greatest blessing I could ever have. I'm so grateful to have such an amazing marriage to an amazing man.

Steve, I love you! I wish you didn't have to go... I know you wish the same. Here's to just 3 more months.

Headaches

2009-02-04T06:47:00.000-08:00

For 3 months or more, I've been suffering through a lot of headaches. Headaches are not something that I have often, and usually I can trace why it's going on; dehydration, cold, sinus, etc. Right now I'm averaging about 1 headache a week... occasionaly two. The biggest problem is that they last 2 to 3 days in most cases. The one I have now started on Monday morning. Usually if I have a headache, I can take a couple of tylenol, go to bed and wake up and it's gone, never to return. But not these ones, tylenol just kills the pain for a while. It's really frustrating. These headaches feel like sinus headaches... right behind my eyes and in the back of my head. Though I'm not really certain, because I've never had sinus headaches last so long and come so often.

I've talked to the perinatal Dr. about it, he suggests that it's all the extra hormones running through my system from the pregnancy. Now, I know that one pregnancy is different from others in ways... I had no headache problems when I was pregnant with Joshua. When I talked to the midwife about it last week, she suggested it could be sinus or even tension headaches. She suggested I use a netti pot and some salt water to flush out my sinus'. The netti pot didn't work at all. Elizabeth Wells suggested I may need to get my eyes checked for glasses; something I have been thinking about for a little while. Who knows! I think I may go see a massage therapist. Anyone have any other suggestions? By the way, motrin, Ibuprofen, and aspirin are not options because I'm allergic.

Youth Book of Mormon Reading Challenge

2009-02-02T05:47:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, Brother Dorny came into Young Women's and announced that he was hosting a Book of Mormon reading challenge for our Youth. It all started with a conversation he had with Lindsey Carducci on the Youth Temple Trip back in early January. Apparently, Lindsey's dad had been persuading her to read the BOM from front to cover since she hadn't done so. In the conversation, Brother Dorny gave her the challenge to start and finish the BOM by the end of February. To keep her motivated, he commited to do the same thing.

When Brother Dorny came in to issue the challenge to the Young Women, I groaned and said, NO WAY. I was just settling into a nice slow reading pace after rushing to finish the BOM and the Old Testament by the end of the year. I was not about to jump on THAT wagon... I'm a slow reader! Well, Sister Keeler, sitting next to me, was all excited and was trying to get me stoked about it too. "You can do it, come on!", and she raises my hand. So, i'm volunteering involuntarily to be apart of this commitment... thinking the whole time, NO WAY! Brother Dorny did say that there would be a surprise for those who finished. None of us know what it is yet, but we all seem to be excited about it.

Well, fast forward 3 weeks. We have quite a few of our YW who are hanging in there! The first week for me was rough... having to read 11 pages a day takes quite awhile and I got behind. But I was resolved. Even though I was behind, I was going to stick to it. On the next Sunday, Brother Dorny came in to YW to see who had done any reading during the first week. He passed out a great little chart to everyone to help keep track of where we are and where we should be and gave snickers bars to the faithful readers.

I will have to admit now, that this has been one of the most enjoyable readings of the BOM I have ever experienced. It takes me an hour to read the 13 pages I need to stay at the goal. At first, it was daunting to think about having to read my scriptures for an hour. But I've gotten to the place in the past few weeks where that hour is the highlight of my day and and never feels like an hour. I love how I can see more clearly the things that are taking place... how they connect, because the reading flows from one chapter to the next. My testimony that the BOM is divine scripture was pretty solid before, but I feel even more passionate about it and even more sure in my knowledge. Thanks Brother Dorny!

19 Weeks :D

2009-01-30T21:33:00.000-08:00

Wow, well... things are amazing. I've had no bleeding or spotting in over a month and my belly is starting to look like a pregnant belly. I feel pretty fantastic.

Even with feeling fantastic, I still have that worry in the back of my mind, "will my water break today?" Especailly the last few weeks. Obviously it's understandable... my water broke at 18 weeks in the first pregnancy... so, nothing irrational really.

Every Wednesday for the past 4 weeks I've had a Perinatal appointment to watch my cervix closely. The Dr's say everything looks great. This past week we were scheduled to take measurements on the baby as well. This was an appointment I had been really anxious for. In my first pregnancy, my water broke before we were able to discover the sex of the baby. I felt robbed... so, this time, the anticipation had been really high.

First, I will tell you that I've felt very strongly that this baby is a girl. I even call the baby her and she when I talk about her. I've been doing it for a while now. So, the appointment on Wednesday was a lot of fun. Steve went with me... so it was the first time he got to see the baby in real time. The ultrasound technician measured everything on the baby; leg bones, arm bones, darks spots in the brain, eye sockets, heart chambers, lungs, kidneys... everything. Discovering the baby's sex was a little difficult. The baby's legs were in a kneeling position, hiding vital parts. The technician was pushing all over my belly trying to get the baby to move. Finally, there was a small glimpse... "see those little white lines, you have a girl". I'm thinking, I don't see it, but ok. So, we are having a girl!
It's a GIRL, It's a GIRL, It's a GIRL!!!

The Next Chapter

2009-01-19T21:49:00.000-08:00

For the past 4 years, Steve has been working as a Private Security Contractor. When we first started out, we thought it would be something that we would be involved in for no more than 2 years. It's strange how things work out some times. The OTHER plan has always been for Steve to get on the Police Department. Here in Reno, it's almost next to impossible... it just takes so long, and they drop people like crazy.

Well, the past few months, we have been praying about what the next career move for Steve should be. It really surprised me, but as we have prayed about it, we have felt the peace of the spirit. Only thing is, I almost don't want to tell anyone because it's one of those things that people have big reactions to.

So, this is what we are planning. The contract that Steve is currently on officially ended in March. To keep him from being unemployed for too long, give us the opportunity to save more money, and enable Steve to be here for the baby when it's born, we have gotten the contract extended till the end of May. That's about 5 weeks before the baby will arrive. At some point between now and June, Steve is going to Re-enlist into the National Guard and attend Special Forces (SF) Training. He will be stationed in a unit in Draper, Utah (no, we are not moving to Utah). SF training is located at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and is any where between 42 weeks to 18 months long, depending on different training requirements. It is a PCS (permanent change of Station) move, so we will be moving to Ft. Bragg for the duration of his training (probably no earlier than August). After he is done, we will be moving back here to Reno.

So, yeah,
that is the plan.

"For my soul delighteth in the scriptures"

2009-01-01T14:18:00.000-08:00

This morning I finished reading the Old Testament through for the second time. I was hoping to finish yesterday, but I don't think one day off really makes that much of a difference. It took me 3 years or so to do it.. mostly because I would go through phases, (like we all do), where I either didn't want to read from the OT any more or even read scriptures at all. The first time I did it, I had read the entire standard works in 1yr and 3mo.
It wasn't until a few weeks ago that I became determined to finish this reading of the OT. I had just finished the challenge my Home Teacher gave me to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year, and I think I just wanted to keep going with something. I love the OT. I can honestly say that it's my favorite book of scripture after the BOM. I find it funny when people say they hate it or don't like it, because I think to myself, you don't know what your missing! There is so much in the OT. I will say that it's a lot of dry reading... and there are a lot of times when I think to myself, "how many more chapters in this book?" I think that is just because there is so much in it that we do not understand. But really, it's eloquent. It's teachings have the same theme as all the other books of scriptures; love, humility, charity, purity. Of all the things I've learned from reading the OT, the thing that stands out most is how much our Heavenly Father and Savior love us and how merciful they are, even when we turn away.
I'm excited that we will be starting the Doctrine & Covenants study in Mormon Doctrine this year. It's funny how when you start something or are about to finish it, you get excited or anxious. But when your in the middle... you just want it to be over with. Why is that? How do you get to the point like Nephi where all of it is a delight? (2 Neph 4:15) I love that scripture in Alma that says... "the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me" (Alma 32:28). I love the scriptures... and sometimes I love to read them. How do you get to the point where you ALWAYS love reading them?

2009 Joshie Bear Calendar

2008-12-29T21:15:00.000-08:00

Picking out the calendar we will use for the next year has always been a big deal to me. I usually wait till a few days after the new year so I can get it cheap. Picking out my calendar is like a ritual... it's very important. I make such a fuss over it that Steve makes fun of me about it... lovingly of course.
This year I decided to make my own calendar. Here is the project view. You can push play or the forward button to turn the pages. I may have to explain who Joshie Bear is in the next post, but that's ok.

The Christmas Traditions I Miss

2008-12-26T09:20:00.001-08:00

Since I've "grown up", Christmas hasn't really felt the same. I've really missed the Christmas Traditions that I grew up with. These are a few that I really miss.

1. Our Christmas Tree: It was the custom in my family to go pick out our Christmas Tree on Thanksgiving weekend. I'm not really sure why it was always that weekend, but it was. The 4 of us would get into the car and drive to a tree lot, usually in Greenwood... about 35 min away. It was always my mom who picked out the tree in the end, and most of the time we would end up with something like a Norway Pine with nice long soft needles.

2. Christmas Lights: Our house always had outside lights. This was something my dad did every year.

3. Christmas Eve Present: It was a tradition in our home, that on Christmas eve, usually after dinner, my parents would have my brother and I each open 1 gift. My mom would usually pick out something from under the tree that we could play with. This was something I always looked forward to, mostly because it was a custom that most other people did not do. I liked that it was a little unique to our family.

4. Mimi & Grandpa's: After opening our gifts at home and hanging out for a while, we would head over to Mimi & Grandpa's, getting there around 1030 or so. Mimi' always fixed hamburger gravy for biscuits and her egg cassarole with sausage and cheese. All the Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins would be there... often, for some, it was the one time in the year we got to see them because they lived out of state. When it was time to open presents, everyone would line up by family starting at the top of the basement stairs, winding through the kitchen into the living room and hall. Then one by one, we would go down the stairs and wave to the camera saying Merry Christmas, with Mimi & Grandpa being last.

14 Weeks... ish

2008-12-24T16:05:00.001-08:00

Well, in a few more days... so, why not!

I got to see the 'other' perinatal Dr in the office today (you can ask me about that later if you like). He took a look at my cervix today and said it looks great, but is going to take a look at it again in two weeks. So, for now, that's really great news. Doesn't really help explain why my water broke at 18 weeks in my first pregnancy... "sigh". I'm still spotting, but only a little. The Dr. reinforced the fact that I need to be "taking it easy".

My regular appointment for the 30th has been rescheduled for the 8th. I'm excited about that one since Steve will be here and he will go with me and see the baby for the first time! (YEA) My next perinatal appointment is the 7th.

Here's the new Peanut Pics from this mornings appointment. Not the greatest, but still pretty cool. The baby's arms are lifted up by it's head. The pics are only slightly different from one another, but I posted both anyway. The Dr. said we can see the pupil in the eye... apparently the ultrasound goes through the eyelids. I don't really see it though, I just take his word for it.

Spaghetti Recipe

2008-12-22T09:08:00.000-08:00

One of my most favorite meals is spaghetti. My mom makes the best spaghetti sauce... it's still my favorite. The past few weeks, I have been craving a spaghetti meal, but I haven't found a place here that comes any where close to the flavor that I love so much. The only place that has sauce resembling my mother's is Carabba's, and that's not in Reno. You would think I would just fix it at home often or something... nope. But it's because I haven't found a recipe I like, and believe me I've tried. I've tried to do what my mom does, but she goes off the hip so much that it's difficult to mimic her sauce. AND, I discovered a few years ago that she uses Ragu Sauce as an ingredient. (I always thought it was completely homemade).

Last night was FHE and my turn to cook dinner. Three or four days ago I went looking for another sauce recipe. The first place I looked was The Pioneer Woman.com. She always has great recipes for food and it never fails to turn out wonderful. She doesn't have a spaghetti sauce recipe though. I usually like to try allrecipes.com, but you can get some wacky stuff on that website and it takes too long to find something decent. The past few weeks, I had been listening to The Splendid Table on NPR while traveling back and forth to choir practice on Sundays. So, I decided to check out their website and see if they had any kind of Italian type red sauce recipe. The website is not real user friendly, but I found one that your supposed to make for penne pasta.

I thought it was a bit strange because it calls for 4 different fresh herbs, a whole minced carrot and a whole minced stalk of celery, and only one clove of garlic. It actually turned out really great! I was so impressed, and everyone else thought it was pretty good too. I didn't add the basil at the end, and I used 4 cloves of garlic (because I love it), I also added a small can of tomato sauce to stretch it out a bit. There was only a tiny bit of sauce left over, and there were 5 of us eating. :(... I want some more spaghetti. By the way, I use Angel Hair.

Here is the recipe:
Soffritto of Tomatoes and Fresh Herbs with Penne

Sleepless Nights

2008-12-21T05:09:00.000-08:00

Ok, so they arn't completely sleepless, just a tiny bit sleepless. Lately, I've been waking up really early in the morning... between 230 and 4. Most of the time I can lay there for a bit, and then go back to sleep. Not this morning. Woke up at 330 and couldn't get back to sleep. I'm blaming it on this cold I have. You know a cold, it makes you miserable early in the morning. This one hasn't been real bad; I'm grateful for that. But this morning, I was so worried about the scratchy throat it's gifted me with, that I was too stressed to go back to sleep. Normally, no big deal, but I'm singing in Sacrament tomorrow in a quartet... so I'm worried it may cause some issues. I think it's going to be fine... I just hope I don't worry it into coming true! So, if you were wondering why I'm posting comments on your blog so early, there you go. I think I'm just about ready to go back to sleep, I know my cat is! She keeps trying to curl up in my lap, but it's not working out for her. Come on Allie, lets go back to bed!

2nd Trimester

2008-12-19T10:41:00.000-08:00

I've been anxiously awaiting this day! It's the first day of the second trimester.... thank goodness! Now, if we could get to 24 weeks, that would really be something!

Thanks everyone for all of your prayers... I know that they are helping. Seems like every person I talk to on the phone, at church, online, in the temple... all of you are praying for us! Thank you sooooooo much. I know your prayers make a difference and it really makes me feel more at peace to know that so many are watching out for us. Thank you!

I've been spotting all week. Not bad. I think I'm beginning to really come to terms with the fact that it's just something that takes place in 'my' pregnancies. Except for being completely emotional about it on Sunday, the rest of the week has been really great. I feel good emotionally and physically, so I think everything is pretty safe for now. I'm starting to get a worry in the back of my mind, though, that my water might break early again. I hope that remains the major difference between this pregnancy and the last. I was talking to Sister Chamberlain the other day and she told me she felt that everything was going to work out fine. I have to admit that I've had that feeling a few times throughout this pregnancy, but sometimes the fears overwhelm the feelings of peace and it can be hard to stay hopeful. This pregnancy has been better than the first, which I'm thankful for. There has been less spotting... so I feel that it's a good sign.

I have two appointments coming up, one on the 24th with the perinatal Dr., and a regular appointment on the 30th. We are going to be looking at my cervix on the 23rd and see if any issues can be detected.

Worry

2008-12-14T09:44:00.000-08:00

I started bleeding again last night.

When you start seeing bright red blood coming from a place you don't want it to come from, things become really scary. Last night I felt scared, frustrated, and maybe even a little angry. I had a hard time getting to sleep last night, thinking that any moment I was going to start cramping. It's been harder this time, trying to hold on to the hope of having this child. I feel some bitterness that we have so many complications with trying to bring a child into this world. Why can't it just work RIGHT!? I know the Lord has his purposes, and that He understands everything that's going on, but it doesn't make it easy for me... because I have no idea what is going on. And I think I want to know. I was thinking this morning that I wished I could just know if this child was going to stay with us or not, but stopped myself before I prayed it out loud, thinking that... no, I really don't want to know, because where is the growth and understanding in having it made so simple.

Last night I was talking with my sister-in-law who is a few months farther ahead in her pregnancy. She struggled with morning sickness and she was expressing how she is glad that part is over. I'm pretty lucky there, because I don't have problems with morning sickness at all. As long as I eat when I'm supposed to, I don't even experience nausea... which is great. No, my problem is much worse.... I bleed all the time. At least every time you get sick, your not thinking, "am I going to miscarry?" Not that I want to have the morning sickness... and I would never wish constant bleeding, spotting, and bloodclot lose on any other pregnant woman. It's just stressful. It sucks.

How do you continue to hope for one of the thing you want more than anything else when the path is so dark? I wish My Katie was here... Girl, I need your shoulder to cry on.

12 Weeks!

2008-12-12T09:27:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I had my second perinatal appointment. This is the first really good picture of our little peanut! I'm so excited. The appointment went pretty well. The Dr took some measurements. At first the baby was just laying there and had his hand up by his face. The Dr was trying to checkout the bones on his nose, but the his hand was blocking the view. So the Dr starting pushing up and down on the baby to try to get him to move. After that, the baby wouldn't sit still! He kept pushing with his legs off the side, jumping around every two seconds. The Dr had a hard time getting this pic.
Everything seems to be going great. I've had no spotting in almost two weeks, which I am very excited about. The heartbeat is average and all the limbs have developed. Steve and I have decided not to have the cervical suture put into place, since it doesn't seem that it's absolutely assured to help. One more week and we will be in the second trimester (phew)!

Book Project

2008-12-02T15:16:00.000-08:00

I've been working on a project for my aunt lately. I finally finished it up today. It's a book for my Nana (grandma) that my aunt is giving her for Christmas.

Peanut's Ultrasound Pics

2008-12-02T08:33:00.000-08:00

The baby's official nickname, for now, is Peanut. There is not much to these pics yet, but it's still exciting to me anyway!

6 Weeks (Oct 29th)

7 Weeks (Nov 10th)

10 Weeks (Dec 1st)

Pregnancy Update: Week 10

2008-12-01T16:48:00.000-08:00

I had two appointments today. My regular appointment with my Midwife was this morning. The main event was to check to see that there was a heartbeat and discuss other issues. We both celebrated this morning as we watched the little fetus jumping around and saw that there was a little pulsating spot right where the heart should be.

This afternoon I met with the perinatal doctor. He confirmed that I do in fact have a Septated Uterus. He measured the baby at being 10 weeks and 3 days old... only 1 day more that what my Dr predicted a few weeks ago. (In case it's confusing, I am seeing a Midwife and a Dr at my regular office, so there are 3 medical people involved altogether). He does not recommend that I have the "wall" surgically removed from my uterus because it could cause other complications and it's not something that needs to be done unless I'm having multiple miscarriages. Which, good thing for me, I've never had a miscarriage. He does not think that I have an incompetent cervix, but is giving me the option to have it sutured if I so desire. He says that it's completely up to me and was not really giving me advice that it would be best with or without it. It's something that Steve and I will discuss, pray about and decide together in the next week or so. While he was monitoring the heartbeat, he chuckled a little bit because the baby wouldn't sit still. When he was able to pinpoint it, he said it was average for what it should be.

As far as the spotting goes, the past week it has become less and less, and I have not spotted at all in the past two days! Things seem to be going great! Thanks everyone for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers! I will post ultrasound pictures when I scan them... though there isn't much to discern yet, but that's ok.

Twilight

2008-11-24T20:09:00.000-08:00

So... I saw the movie on Friday. Loved it! Of course... though I wasn't sure I would. I am often dissapointed with movies that come from a book. I thought they did a great job. I had origninally been really dissapointed in the actor they chose to play Edward. Eck... but, I have to say that he did a great job. I've been watching all weekend how much money the movie would make. I had read on Friday that they wern't considering making New Moon a movie unless Twilight earned 150 million. It made 70 million this opening weekend, and I read on wikipedia that they have already approved the making of New Moon... thank GOODNESS!!! They sure left it open for it at the end!!

Anyway... going to the movie has reopened my Bella Edward obsession, and I'm going through the series again. I'm already through Twilight and will be starting New Moon (my least fav.. I'm thinking about skipping over it) after I'm done with this post. Though, Brother MacDonald asked me yesterday if he could borrow my copy of New Moon. I havn't decided yet it this will be my excuse to skip over it or not!

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

Poll: What do you think we are going to have this time?

2008-11-20T09:20:00.000-08:00

I got this idea from Cathy... I thought it was pretty cool.

Take my poll to the side and let me know what you think we are going to have this time!
Steve and I are leaning heavy in one direction, but I won't tell you what that opinion is... don't want to contaminate the polling process you know! I won't be putting in my answer until a few people have voted.

Sarah McLachlan

2008-11-17T23:26:00.003-08:00

It's no secret that my favorite singer/songwriter is Sarah McLachlan. I fell in love with her music back in 1997, when her Surfacing CD came out.

The hard part about being a SM fan is that she takes soooo long to come out with her next CD. She is often coming out with songs, but not usually related to a CD release of her own, but a soundtrack or some colaboration with another artist. What frustrates me even more is it seems that after an new album is released, she puts out a Greatest Hits CD. Drives me nuts. Not to rip on my favorite artist or anything, but how many times can you release albums with the previous songs with a few others added?!?!!!!! Her lastest album release is a Best Of. I swear, this is like the 5th CD release with previous songs.

I am however consoled for the moment, since there are two FABULOUS new songs on the newest album. Thank goodness! But I swear, I going to start going through withdrawels if I don't get a WHOLE NEW ALBUM sooon!! (I bet you her next NEW album will feature the two new songs... I would put money on it)

Anyway....
I love Sarah's Music

Sooooo Tired

2008-11-12T09:17:00.000-08:00

I am feeling so tired all the time. Normally I'm a morning person. I love being up at 6 and getting started with all my little assingments like laundry, cleaning the house, studying scriptures... stuff like that. But for the past 3 weeks, I cannot seem to get out of bed until about 830, it is seriously hampering my ability to take care of my home. I wake up tired and I'm tired all day. It sucks!! No matter how early I go to bed, even if I wake up at 630 or 7, I will just lay there in bed because I feel SOOOO TIRED!!! Don't get me wrong... I'm extremely grateful to be pregnant right now, but WHY do I HAVE to be so TIRED ALL THE TIME?!!?

The Singing

2008-11-10T12:28:00.000-08:00

Remember how I was frustrated a while back about how the next book to my favorite story was being postponed till March! Ha!! I was so driven to read it, I finally went to Amazon.com and found an Australian printed copy for a pretty good price. I'm really surprised it's paperback. Matthew Sadler and I were discussing that maybe only in the US do books come out in Hardback first. Who knows... anyway... after waiting anxiously every day for the book to arrive in the mail.... it has finally arrived. I'm so excited!

Yes Mandy! It's true... of course... when I'm done, I will hand it over!

Updates

2008-11-10T12:07:00.000-08:00

So, I had a regular appointment this morning. Everything seems to be well... the baby has grown and there is still a heartbeat! Yea!

Finally was able to make the appointment with the Perinatal office. That appointment is not until December 1st, which is the same day of my next regular Dr. office visit. That will be interesting.

Thanks everyone for your continued prayers. Know that they are felt!!

I'm going to go take a nap now.

What This City Needs!!

2008-11-07T11:32:00.000-08:00

I am wanting some Chick-fil-A right now. Steve and I talk all the time about how many good resturants we love that are NOT in this city.... such as:

Chick-Fil-A
Cracker Barrell
Carabba's
Steak-N-Shake
Golden Corral
Ryan's

You know... a Cracker Barrell would fit in so nicely! At least they have put in a Texas Roadhouse... I wonder if it's open yet?

I am Pregnant...

2008-11-04T17:40:00.000-08:00

Yes, it is true! I am six weeks along right now.
There have been many relatives and close friends that we have told, but I was not planning on telling everyone until we made it through the first trimester.... that is, until today.

Today I started to bleed heavily... yes, I know it could mean that I am going to have a miscarriage. But I havn't yet. I also started to lose blood clots; just like the previous pregnancy with Joshua. Today I went to the Dr. to check things out. The ultrasound went well... there is a HEARTBEAT, which is awesome, but... the ultra-sound technician discovered something that no one has ever caught before. Apparently it looks like I have what is called a Septated Uterus, which is sort of a partition down the center of the uterus. This can apparently cause problems with pregnancy. In the next week or so, I will be seeing a Perinatal Dr, and check out what options there are for this kind of issue.

Because of the complications that I am having (again), I've decided to let everyone know... please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. I will update things here when I learn more.

My Voting Experience

2008-11-04T12:15:00.000-08:00

Well... I'm feeling pretty proud that I live in a country where I can vote for my leaders. I was pretty lucky today. I walked in to my polling area at about 1205 and walked out less than 10 min later. No line for me! Love it!! Was anyone else that lucky?

Voting In Washoe County

2008-11-02T08:54:00.000-08:00

There is a cool little website that you can visit where you can find out if you are registered here in Washoe County. Another neat little thing it tells you is what location you are supposed to go vote. I thought that was great. It does not, however, tell you what time the polls open.

www.washoecounty.us/voters/regsearch.php

Fall - My Favorite Time of Year

2008-10-23T18:45:00.001-07:00

I really, really... and I mean, REALLY... love the fall season. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I was raised in Indiana. I love the changing of the leaves, I love the smell of the leaves, and I love the crisp air. Raking leaves is one of my favorite activities in the fall. In fact it was one the first jobs I had as a kid... raking other peoples yards.

A few weeks back, when I was in Indy, my Mom took me to the Covered Bridge Festival. It was a beautiful day and a wonderfully colorful drive.

Bobby's Boys

2008-10-17T10:35:00.000-07:00

Bobby is my brother. The last full day I was in Indy, I meet with Bobby and his family to take some pictures of them. I'm am going to be making some books using the pictures I took to give to them for Christmas this year. I'm really exicted about putting these books together, and I think the boys will appreciate having their own little books with pictures of themselves. I just want to say... I LOVE MY JOB!!!

Zaks 2nd Birthday

2008-10-17T10:24:00.000-07:00

I have two Nephews: Damian, 4 & Zacharey 2. When we went to Indianapolis a few weeks ago, we went to Chucky Cheese to celepbrate Zach's 2nd birthday. We all had a good time. My dad and Steve played with the boys, my mom and grandma hung out at the table and talked and looked at my books, and I walked around taking pictures of the boys.

Zak

Cheater!!!

Damian

Zak opening a gift. Both of the boys love anything to do with trains.

Pelicans near Reno

2008-10-17T10:17:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago, we went out for a morning drive. We drove South on 395 and stopped off an exit at Washoe Lake. On the beach about 100 yards from the lake edge was a booth that looked as though it was from Long John Silvers. I thought it was really random, so I took a few photos of it.

On the way back home, Steve spotted a flock of pelicans hanging out in Washoe Lake. I thought it was pretty cool, so I drove into the park so we could walk up and get some pictures.

This Last Visit

2008-10-17T07:22:00.000-07:00

Well, Steve is gone again. I miss him.... a lot. Yesterday I was thinking about him and missing him so much, I almost started to cry. So many people tell me how strong we are, putting up with being apart so much. Sure, there is strength there, but to be honest, I have a greater portion of the Spirit to help me. Which is nice. Yes, it's dang hard being separated all the time... actually, it just plain sucks. But, like I tell everyone, we are used to it.
A question I get constantly is: When is Steve going to stop contracting? Our decision right now is that this is the last contract. He has 2 more rotations, 1 more leave. When he is done, the plan is for Steve to apply to the Reno Police Academy. Which is something he is worried about, since they are kicking out our good friends left and right before they even get in. We will see.

We had a really great time together this time around. Our schedule was pretty packed; something Steve can't stand. But we got to do a lot of great things, gain some great memories, and take tons of outstanding photo's.

Here's some of the stuff we did while Steve was home this last time:
Went to the temple twice
Saw the Balloon Races
Had Missionaries over for dinner
Visited with Matt & Steffi (Steve's Brother & Sister-in-Law)
Played lots of Dungeons n Dragons
Dinner at the MacDonalds (met the Naylor's!)
Boyscout Spaghetti Dinner
FHE with Sadlers & Andersons
Dinner at the Hills
Hiked in the Plumas National Forest
Swam in Truckee River
Saw DARK KNIGHT in the theater
Visited with Paul (Steve's other Brother)
Visited with Kintner's (Steve's Maternal Grandparents)
Hiked to the top of the Sierra Buttes
Had Family Photo's taken
Watched all 12 hours of INTO THE WEST
Visited Steve's Mom in Fremont, CA
Went on a morning drive & saw a flock of Pelicans in Washoe Lake
Dinner at Johnny's (our favorite resturant)
Went to Indiana & visited my Family
Chucky Cheese for Zaks 2nd Birthday (my nephew)

Oprah's life has been touched by Heritage Makers

2008-09-29T19:41:00.000-07:00

I just got back yesterday from a Heritage Makers convention. It was one of the most awesomest experiences ever. Make sure to visit my website today! Look through the many templates available for free in our template gallery,

Other news: One of our consultants created a small book for Oprah Winfrey in memory of her dog Gracie who died over a year ago. She sent it to Oprah's studios and Oprah loved it so much, she phoned her and left a message on that consultant's voicemail.
Click here to listen!
We are thrilled that Oprah has realized what our company has already known--that our books have the ability to touch lives, and we are preserving stories that would otherwise be forgotten. What stories do you have to tell? Does your child need to know how special they are? Do you know the stories of your parents? Start today telling your stories today!! Visit the template gallery, choose a template and easily create your own storybooks within hours!!
Christy
Your Personal Publishing Consultant
ChristyStephensen@BeAStoryTeller.com

Family Photo's

2008-09-28T20:16:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, we had some photo's taken by Alicia Corbridge. They turned out fabulous, thought I'd share a few with you. Here are a couple of my favorites!
AMC Photography.

Tagged

2008-09-22T09:12:00.000-07:00

What I was doing 10 years ago...
1. I was finishing up Basic Training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
2. Worring if I would be able to make it through the 12 mile road march.
3. Looking forward to getting my weekly letter from my Mimi.
4. Worring that my E-2 pay may not be recognized.
5. Wishing that my Army training was over.

5 things on today's "to do" list.
1. Clean the Kitchen.
2. Have 5 Heritage Conversations.
3. Send out Heritage Makers Promotional Email.
4. Pay Bills.
5. Fold Laundry.

5 things I would do If I were a millionaire.
1. Invest, Invest, Invest.
2. Remodel certain things in my home.
3. Buy property and build my dream home.
4. Travel the world.
5. Travel the world some more.

5 places that I have lived.
1. Newnan, Georgia
2. Indianpolis, Indiana
3. Mooresville, Indiana
4. Columbus, Georgia
5. Reno, Nevada

5 snacks I enjoy.
1. Sweetened Condensed Milk.
2. Whole Cream.
3. Chocolate Malk Milk Shake.
4. Cookie Dough.
5. IBC Root Beer.

5 jobs I have had.
1. Cutting the public grass in the Trailer Park.
2. Sample Lady at Cub Foods.
3. Delievery Window Cashier at Pizza Hut.
4. Video Store.
5. Admin Clerk in the Army.

5 people I tag.
1. Katie P.
2. Heather.
3. Laura.
4. Julie G.
5. Julie M.

Hiking Trip #2: Sierra Buttes

2008-09-21T15:42:00.000-07:00

The Sierra Buttes is a Mountain Peak in the Sierra Nevada's in the Tahoe National Forest. It stands at 8591 Ft. High. You can see this glorious crag of a rock when you are driving down California Highway 49, right before you reach Basset's Station. It's really quite ominous when you first glance at it, and you wonder if any human being has ever been brave enough to scale this crazy mountain that looks like instant death.

When we had gotten home from out trip the Friday before, we had discovered by looking at our trusty map, that the mountain was called the Sierra Buttes. When we got home that night, I looked it up on the internet and found out that there are roads and trails that lead up to the top, where a Ranger Station has been built. We decided that our next day hike would be up that trail to the top of that mountain. One of the website's I visited talked about the crazy set of stairs which lead the last 60 feet to the top of the peak and the Ranger Station. Just reading about it made me have second thoughts. But we went.

Our drive was nice. We decided to go up 395 to Hallelujah Junction and Drive to Graeagle, then take the Gold Lake Highway to the road that lead to the eventual trail. Four wheel drive vehicles can get pretty close, but you really need a truck, and not a Subaru Forester to get all the way up to the parking area for the Buttes. So we had to park our trusty little Forester because after a while, it would not have cleared the crazy bumps and holes in the dirt road.

The road up, till you get right before the parking lot, was really steep. We were stopping for breaks about every 100 yards and chugging down water, or at least I was chugging down water. We passed over the PCT, and saw some really gorgeous views even before getting to the top. It was neat to see, as you went up, how the vegetation would change so slightly and there would be more and more rock. It took us a little over an hour, I think, to get to the top where the bottom of the stairs were.

I never hyperventilated before in my entire life, but there have been a few times where I could feel that I almost could. Starting to go up these crazy stairs was one of those times!! There were 3 sets of stairs, all mounted into poured concrete. Climbing up the stairs, I had both hands gripping the rails and I was not looking to the right, left, or down. Just straight at the rock wall I was facing. The third set of stairs is a bit more scary, since there is about 20 feet of nothing between the stairs and the rock, and nothing but air on the sides. I had to stop for a few minutes to build up the courage to keep going. Steve was behind me saying, "go already", and here I am picturing my foot slipping and me falling through the crack to the rocks below. What was I THINKING????!!

Once we got up, it took me a little while to get a hold of myself and feel comfortable even on the solid ground. It's weird to have that feeling that you may fall off. I remember praying out loud, "Father, please don't choose to let there be an earthquake here right now!"

It was great, I'm really glad we got to go up. We were pretty lucky because we didn't see anyone on the trail or at the tower until right before we got down to the bottom of the stairs again. The trip down the mountain was pretty fast, though a bit hard on the knee's. I got all my pictures going down, since we weren't worried about simply breathing like when we were going up.

Afterwards, we stopped at Basset's Station, a place Steve's grandparents had taken us to for dinner and lunch a few times. We both had Blue Cheese Hamburgers, Steve had a milkshake, and I had some Blackberry Pie. Man were we hungry!!!!

Hiking Trip #1: Plumas National Forest

2008-09-21T15:21:00.001-07:00

A week ago last Friday, we took a drive out to area over by Graeagle, CA. We planned that day to do a day hike, but didn't really "plan" where we were going to do that hike. We got up that morning and discussed a couple of different places we could go. I really wanted to go back to the Plumas National Forest area, which we had visited about 4 years ago.

We headed over to the other side of town first and had breakfast at my favorite breakfast place, Peg's Glorified Ham and Eggs. After getting our fill of yummy breakfast, we headed down I-80 and got started on our drive. We got off the interstate at the Truckee exit and headed North towards Sierraville. Then you get onto hwy 49 and head west. We stopped at Bassett's Station and bought a nice National Geographic map, and then headed up Golden Lake Highway.

We chose to hike around Round Lake. If you haven't been anywhere near that area, it's really worth it. It's such a gorgeous place on the planet. We hiked about 2 1/2 hours, going about 3 miles or so. We saw Round Lake, Silver Lake, Big & Little Bear Lakes, and Long Lake. The area used to be a mining place, and Round Lake has a historical spot with a Marker that tells about a gold press station. You can see remnants of the building, mostly a bunch of scrap metal. We got some pretty good pictures and had a great time.

Uh Oh

2008-09-17T14:08:00.000-07:00

This morning around 1005, Steve and I left the house to go to the Temple. We were at the light on Patriot and Virginia where the In-n-Out Burger is waiting for it to turn green. Once it did, the oncoming traffic started to cross the street... at least until another car hit the lead car. It was sort of strange to see the accident happen. I looked up right as this red car smashed into the front of the oncoming car (who had the right of way). I wasn't sure which direction the red car had come from. Steve said we should stop and help, so we crossed the street and parked at the In-n-Out and Steve walked over to the lady in the silver car to check on her. I called 911. The lady in the red car came out and talked to the lady in the silver car, then everyone walked over to the sidewalk. We waited until the Ambulance, then Fire Truck, then 3 different Police cars came.

The man who was behind the lady in the silver car when she was hit also parked and come over to help and hung out for the policen to show up. He said that the red car had run the red light. The EMT's checked out both of the lady's and waited around for the cops. The first cop on the scene was another lady... she questioned who everyone was, made sure the two car lady's were ok, then headed straight for us witnesses. It was funny when she told the two drivers, I will get to you guys in a minute, it's not often that I get independent witnesses. Thought that was interesting.

No serious harm to the Lady's, but the Silver car had a crashed up axel and the Red car,'s left side front bumper and hood was bent up.

Needless to say, we were late to the Temple. We ended up eating lunch first and then went to a later appointment.

I was thinking afterwards that I wish I had my camera with me so I could post some pics on the blog.

Ballon Races

2008-09-13T16:49:00.001-07:00

Last Friday, Steve & I got up early to check out the Great Reno Balloon Race. We left the house around 530am and headed out towards San Rafael Park. When we got there, we had a hard time trying to find where people who are NOT working at the races park. We finally figured it out and walked in.

I was a little dissapointed to see that there were no balloons up whatsoever when we got there. And the only one that was being filled was the Bald Eagle Balloon. The one that carries the American Flag for the National Anthem. We got some great pictures of it getting blown up and taking off. After the national anthem was sung, the other balloons started getting filled. We were already pretty bored, so we started to leave. When we got to the parking lot, we hung out for a little bit and watched over half of the balloons rise up and take off. It was pretty cool.

Reno Rib Cookoff

2008-09-01T16:04:00.000-07:00

mmmmmmmmm...mmm...
I love ribs. I've been wanting to go to the rib fest for the past few years, but had never had the opportunity to go. Katie R. & I headen out to have some ribs for lunch today. We had a great time, trying out some of the samplers. We tasted 4 different kinds. The third one we had was the best, though I can't remember which one it was. While we were pigging out on their ribs and watching them cook up some more, one of the team members came in hollering that they one the trophy for best sauce!! He had the trophy held high! It sure was some great sauce.

We also enjoyed some fire roasted corn on the cob, fresh squeezed lemonade, baked beans that tasted like they had cinnimon in them, and some frozen chocolate covered strawberries. I think that we are of the consesus that it should be a tradition for the two of us to eat ribs together at the cook off every year!

The Books of Pellinor

2008-08-31T10:11:00.000-07:00

There is this awesome series that I've been reading called The Books of Pellinor. The fourth book, The Singing was supposed to be coming out on September 1st (tomorrow!!!!). But it is not. I just looked it up and learned that it's now coming out in the UK in September (orignally supposed to happen months ago), and won't be coming out here until March......... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAArrrrrrrrrrrgggg.

Not enough time in the day to... Blog

2008-08-30T08:10:00.000-07:00

I really love having a blog. There are things that happen every day where I think to myself, "I'm going to blog that later". But I don't. When I get home, I feel so tired and I don't really want to put the effort in to writing, even though I enjoy it so much. Here's some of the things that I've wanted to blog recently, but did not:

Young Women Lesson about having an open heart

Not realizing that the baby shower I went to was for Sarah Weckerly instead of Sandra Ackroyd

Going through my Mimi (my grandmother) Letters and reading about how her and grandpa would fight for my attention when I was with them

Going to IKEA with Susan and finally purchasing the shelves for my garage

Going up to the cemetary with my Sister-in-Law and Steve's Grandparents to visit Joshua's grave

Meeting a sister at the Carson Market who said, "I've been looking for a Heritage Makers Consultant"

Swimming a mile without stopping

Tagged Again

2008-08-26T15:47:00.000-07:00

Book Tag

1. Pick up the nearest book to you (one of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

"It is a melancholy consideration. Born to the prospect of such affluence! I cannot conceive a situation more deplorable."

This makes me laugh... how I love to laugh! Thank you Katie!

I tag... hmmmmmmmm.... Veronica, Katie P., Dana, cuz I know she will evenutally land at my blog, Danilla, and John

Personal Progress

2008-08-25T03:13:00.000-07:00

Being a convert to the church at the age of 18, I did not have the opportunity to participate in the Young Womens program as a youth. Since joining the church almost 10 years ago, I've had the opportunity to serve in different positions within the organization. I was in Young Womens when the Personal Progress program changed to what it is now. During the previous times that I had a Young Womens calling, I had desired to work on Personal Progress. But I had never really put my heart into it. Earlier this year, when I was called into Young Womens again, I felt a very strong desire to really focus on accomplishing all of the Personal Progress experiences.

Tomorrow I'm meeting with Julie to check off about 8 experiences that I've accomplished and discuss with her my goals of accomplishing more experiences within the next few months. I'm really excited that I am only 2 experiences and 1 project away from finishing the Faith Value requirements.

I can honestly testify that when I was working on the value experiences earlier this year, the Lord was with me a lot more. It had really helped me to focus on my scripture study and helped me to stay in tune with the spirit.

Another Day!!!

2008-08-23T08:12:00.001-07:00

The other day Steve and I were talking about exactly when he was coming in. This whole time, he had been saying that he was going to be getting here on the 1st. He double checked his ticket... turns out, he is getting here on the 2nd! UG.... I'm so anxious for this next week to be over, I really hate that I have to wait just one more day... :(

The Spiderwick Chronicles

2008-08-23T06:30:00.001-07:00

A few weeks back, my Best Friend Katie R. gave me her copies of the Spiderwick Chronicles to read. She said they were really good and a fast read.

I'd have to say that they were very entertaining. It's a great little story that is seperated into 5 small books. There are lots of illustrations and it is written in a unique way.

The other day I rented the movie in order to compare the two. I really enjoyed the movie when I saw it in theaters. As I was reading the books, I was thinking how closely the movie followed them. But when I watched the movie for the second time, there was a lot that had been changed and adjusted to adapt it to the screen. A little dissapointing, but, still good.