20 Birthday Questions...

1. What is your favorite color? purple and pink
2. What is your favorite toy? my lala lopsy house
3. What is your favorite fruit? I like nananas.
4. What is your favorite tv show? Scooby Doo and my show (?)
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? cheese crips
6. What is your favorite outfit? princess dresses
7. What is your favorite game? I like to dance.
8. What is your favorite snack? granola bar
9. What is your favorite animal? Curious George 
10. What is your favorite song? ABC's
11. What is your favorite book? Mermaid Book, no actually No David!!
12. Who is your best friend? Daddy's my best friend 
13. What is your favorite cereal? Pink cereal ( shredded wheat with strawberry frosting)
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? make houses
15. What is your favorite drink? mout aka milk
16. What is your favorite holiday? Halloween
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? My pink bear
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? milk
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? macaroni and cheese
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? Just like Bode.

The toilet is not a stadium...

This is a beyblade.

This is a beyblade stadium.

This is a toilet. Not a beyblade stadium.

The other day Bode was going to the bathroom. He had been in there for a while finishing his business. Then all I hear is screaming and crying over his beyblade in the toilet. So I go in and sure enough there is his favorite beyblade a the bottom of the toilet swimming in his #1 and sitting close to his #2. Y.U.C.K. I first tried a pair of tongs. That only pushed it down further. So I had to do it. I told Bode he was so luck I was going to to this. I stuck my hand in there and got it out. GAG. I tossed the tongs and washed my hands over and over again. Then that favorite beyblade got a 24 hour bleach bath. Bode felt bad. He made me a butterfly, gave me a hug and told me thank you for saving it. There is now a very strict no toys in the bathroom rule.

Really...

3 months!?!?!

I feel the same way Piper. How has 3 months gone by so quickly?

This picture makes me laugh. It is a full on pooping face. You can't see it but her eyebrows are all red and she is working so hard to get that out. She also looks so BIG! And really she is. She is starting to get into a good sleeping routine. A nap in the morning, afternoon then a small cat nap in the evening. She then sleeps from about 8:30 to 6:00 occasionally getting up once to each in the night. She is finding her little voice cooing, screaming and talking to herself. Her newest trick is this...

She was working so hard all morning long to roll over. Later in the afternoon Jer walked down stairs and asked me if I roller her over. Nope, I didn't and Laine didn't. She did it all by herself! We was just 3 days shy of 3 months old. She has gotten even better in the few days since then. She can now get her arm around and unstuck and hold her head up much better. She is such a sweet a baby. I just love her!

3 years old...

Laine Jo turned 3 years old last week.

She woke up earlier than normal and crawled into bed with us. We never let our kids sleep in our bed but this morning I made an exception. As we laid there I thought back to the day she was born. I remember it like it was yesterday. Then I thought of the past 3 years. She is such a blessing in my life and I am grateful for her sweet little spirit. 

I had preschool in the morning and Laine had plans for a date with Grandma Rena and Grandpa Steve, so we choose to not open presents until after dinner. I was getting ready, Jer was taking Bode to school and I thought Laine was watching Curious George. I heard a big thud and went down stairs. Laine had got the bathroom stool from the bathroom, put it in front of the entertainment center and had pulled down a few of her presents to open. She had only opened one before I stopped her. I think it held her over all day until she got to open the rest.

She then got pick up by Grandma Rena to go out to lunch, pick out a present and play at the park. She choose to eat chips and salsa and a cheese crisp for lunch. She pick out a wagon that blows bubbles and a little doll to pull in the wagon. I think we have used more then half of the big bottle of bubbles pulling the wagon around. She loves pulling it fast then stopping to pop all the bubbles. 

I picked up Bode after school. He walked though the gates and said, "now the party can begin!!". He was so excited to have Laine open her presents and have cake. Laine wanted her "boys and Keeeya", our neighbors, to come over to celebrate. I accidentally put 4 candles in her cake...

 Make a wish!

They had so much fun jumping with balloons on the trampoline.

Her birthday didn't end that day. She got a zhu-zhu  pet from Grandma Trish and Grandpa Dave. She loves it. The kids put it on the tile and just laugh and laugh at it. She also got some birthday money from Grandpa Alex, Grandpa Dave, Grandma Trish and Great-grandma Joncas. She can't wait to go shopping.

Laine you are such a sweet and stubborn girl. 

You amaze me everyday with the things you say and the things you do. 

We love you little Laine Bug!

One Tough Mudder...

Jeremiah is now one Tough Mudder. It is one crazy race. It was a 12 mile race with 29 obstacles. He has been working out and running pretty consistently for the last 6 months. So he, Nathan and the Davis boys drove across the valley to compete. They look pretty happy in this picture. That didn't last long.

This is a picture of the people getting one of the obstacles ready. That is a whole thing is full of ice about to be dumped into a pool of water. This one was called an "Arctic Enema". Burrrr.

Coming out of the pool.

Feeling pretty good.

This is "Electro Shock Therapy".

Those wire's randomly have an electric current running through it.

Je'sr shirt is the semi white one.

This is the one that made everyone fall to the mud. Jeremiah's calf was cramping and then it got shocked. He couldn't even move. I think it was Nathan that drug him out of the mud.

They finished!

They finished but they don't look as happy as before.

Way to go guy! Same time next year?

Resolution...

I have horrible posture. It started for me around the 7th grade. I had always been one of the taller people in my class but that year I grew a few inches and became very self-conscious about it. I was always confident and, I guess proud of my height on the court or on the track. But at school I hated it. I was tall with an athletic frame. It seemed like everyone around me was small and dainty. I so was not or will ever be a dainty person. So I started to slouch. My Dad would always tell me to stand up straight or I would be and old lady with a hump on her back. I should have listened. It isn't a big deal to slouch when you are young and have a tight body. Now I am older with a soft body and it is very important to stand up straight. Now I just look frumpy and rounded. So this year I resolve to stand up straight. And you know what... it ain't easy. I have to constantly remind myself or I just naturally slump over.  So if you see me, tell me to stand up straight!

I also, like 90% of the rest of the world, need to loose some weight. Baby weight to be more specific. I gained 70 pounds with Bode, 45 with Laine and 35 with Piper. No matter what the weight gain, I still have to loose 20 pounds. My body would just love to be fat and happy at 175 pounds. For me to be happy with my body I need to be 155 pounds. I know that the HCG diet worked for me. I lost 15 pounds quick. But I really do not want to do it again. So I have set a deadline for myself so loose 20 pounds before I turn back to that diet. By April 21st I will be down to 155 pounds. Piper will be 6 months old and that is plenty of time to get there. I am breastfeeding for as long a s possible so that hinders me a tiny bit. But I have already started doing a modified version of the South Beach Diet. Basically I have cut out sugar and carbs. The SBD doesn't allow fruit, I am letting myself have natural sugars though. I am also letting myself have a carb meal once a week. By that I mean noodles, rice or bread and just a serving.  I started doing this almost 2 weeks ago. The first week I did the diet as close to SBD as I could and I calculated that I wasn't eating enough calories. I really don't want this to effect my milk so that it when I decided to have fruits, one carb meal and have a more calories than they suggest. It has worked! I have lost 6.6 pounds. My goal is to loose .5 to 1 pound a week. Slow and steady wins the race, right? I have also been going to the gym and when I don't get to the gym I work out at home. Pineterst has some awesome at home work outs that really make you sore.

This time around I didn't want to wait and be unhappy with my weight. I want to get it off and not have to worry about it. Be able to go swiming with the kids the summer, wear shorts, and just be comfortable with my body. I can do it. Anybody want to join me?

Laine's 2012 interview...

In years past I have done a blog where I reflect on the past year. This year I thought it was more fun to interview the kids instead. I tried the best I could to get exactly what they said. They are great.


What is your name? Pretty good.

How old are you? Pretty old.

When is your birthday? Bode doesn't like a birthday.

What is your favorite color? Pink

What is your favorite toy? My kitchen.

What is your favorite food? Pizza

How do you like to spend your time? Play with you (mom).

What is your favorite holiday? I go with you.

Who is your teacher? My dance class mommy.

Who is you best friend? My Kerra.

What is your favorite song? My ABC's. That my song. LMNNNNNOP!!! You help me right mom!

What is your favorite book? I said NO David!

What did you love about last year? M&M's

What are you looking forward to this year? Ride pinkolicious bike.

Bode's 2012 interview...

What is your name? B-O-D-E, Bode

How old are you? 5 years old

When is your birthday? March on the 1 and the 4.

What is your favorite color? Red and blue

What is your favorite toy? A doggy toy, Little Stat.

What is your favorite food? uuuuu...cereal.

How do you like to spend your time? uuuu... play with my friends.

What is your favorite holiday? Halloween and Christmas.

Who is your teacher? Mrs. Sullivan. She show us how to do my work.

Who is you best friend? Jalen. Cause he lives close to me.

What is your favorite song? Old MacDonald had a farm.

What is your favorite book? Scooby Doo Book.

What did you love about last year? That I got a new sister.

What are you looking forward to this year? Getting somehting for Laine Jo for her birthday.

Happy New Year...

We party it up real crazy at our house! We had actually planned on going to a friends house for a New Years party. But Jeremiah got an off duty job so we had to change our plans. I picked up JustDance 3 for the wii and the kids and I danced the evening away. It is actually pretty fun. I do not have a dancing bone in my whole body but we just danced and laughed anyway. The kids got to play with some sparklers and crashed in Bode's bed around 9:00. I am excited to see what this new year brings for our little family.

Sneaky, sneaky...

This girl. What in the world do I do with her. She is quite the sneaky little thing. This was Christmas Eve in the afternoon. I had just come upstairs to check on her and go to the restroom. I peaked in her room and asked her what she was doing. She said nothing and had her back to me, but I could see was playing with her fake scissors, blow dryer and brushes. About 5 min later Jeremiah asked me I knew what Laine was up to. I said yes, that I had just check on her and she was in her room playing. He said guess again and brought me this girl from around the corner. She was covered in my makeup. He said he walked around the corner and did the same thing I did. But he noticed she moved her hands really fast to shove something under a bag when he walked in. So he turned her around and there she was, all beautiful covered in concealer. Oh Laine, you are o beautiful and don't need makeup.

10 weeks...

Piper is now 10 weeks old.

She is now 23 inches long and 11 pounds 10 oz.

She is a sweet little thing. When she is awake she is wide eyed, taking in everything.

She sleeps from about 9:30-4:00 eats a little snack then get up around 8:00.

She as almost caught onto the whole binky thing. The first picture is her just around 2 or 3 weeks. The other is 2 days ago. She has changed so much and is filling up those cheeks quite nicely.

I just love her so much. 

She is my little baby and I loved everything about her.

Maybe it is because she could be my last baby or because I now know how fast they grow. 

I am just soaking in every second I have with her. 

Wasn't that just yesterday...

Jeremiah and I got engaged on Christmas Eve 8 years ago.

2004

He drove up from the valley late on the 23rd. I remember him knocking on the door and me being so excited for him to be there. He was wearing jean shorts and there was snow on the ground.

He woke me up early on Christmas Eve. We went and got hot cocoa, drove to Porter Mountain and watched the sunrise. He got down on one knee and asked me if I would spent the rest of my mornings with him and marry him. I said yes, with all my heart! I have no idea why we have no pictures to document that first Christmas together. 

2005

I know very well why there are no picture of this year. We had just moved from Thatcher to Pinetop and I was pregnant. I really try to take no pictures when I am pregnant. But looking back now I wish I had at least one. We also didn't even have our own computer at our house. That is crazy. Now I basically carry a computer in my pocket.

2006

Bode's first Christmas. We were in our house in Lakeside.

2007

We were still in Lakeside. I think this is around the time Jeremiah told me he was going to apply for the police department. I was not to happy about it at the time. But I know that it was what were supposed to do. It was hard to do but I love my life here in the valley. At the time I didn't think I would. 

2008

Living in our first rental. I was 8 1/2 months pregnant with Delaine. This was a great Christmas. It was the first one where Bode got excited about things.

2009

Same rental house, different year. This year we had family over for Christmas Eve. Jeremiah and I hardly slept because we were so excited to have the kids open presents.

2010

This is in our current home. I absolutely love Bode's face in this picture. He was trying to keep his eyes open. I am missing that hair cut. I loved that I could put it in a pony tail. 

 2011

Here we are in the same house. I like us. We have grown so much in our 8 Christmas's together.

Christmas 2011...

We had a great Christmas this year. I think every year gets better and better as the kids get older. 

Our beautiful tree all decked out for the holiday.

The kids were to happy to get and email from Santa Clause.

This years video was awesome! Santa knew their names and what toy they wanted.

Laine's reaction was priceless. She kept nodding her head, waving, and talking back to Santa.

We spent the morning at Grandma Davis for breakfast then headed home to finish up things before Rena, Steve, Heather, Lee, Aaron and Daisy came over for dinner. We had a yummy dinner and of course, Jeremiah torched the ham. It was good.

Then it was on to opening Christmas jammies and the traditional Christmas Eve in front of the tree family picture. 

Later in the evening all the kids and girls loaded up in the car to check out the Christmas lights.
They loved it. There were actually some really good houses in our neck of the woods.
The men stayed behind to put together the big gift :)
They all conked out in the car and went straight to bed after looking at the lights. You might have thought we had planned it that way ;)

I set my alarm for 6:30 so that I could get all ready for church before the kids woke up. Jeremiah laughed because he thought that was silly and that they would be up before then. Nope! I was able to get all showered with hair and make up on before they got up. They woke up at 7.  We put up the child gate at the top of the stairs so they couldn't go down with out us. Bode saw everything by the fireplace and screamed at Laine, "Santa came!! He brought you a big dolly!!!".

Even though she loved the doll, she loved all the character band aids Santa put in the stocking even more.

Bode finally got his Bey-blades. He has barely stopped playing with them since.

Laine was super happy to have her own "lips" aka lip smackers lip gloss and sparkly face powder. She loves my makeup and now she has some of her own. 

Then it was on to opening presents. Obviously it was all he hoped it would be.

Pure joy.

Jeremiah knows the way to his girls' heart...shoes.

Laine got 2 pair of boots and new Sunday shoes.

I got new converse and an awesome pair of running shoes. All picked out by Jeremiah.

Every little girl needs a pair of pink fuzzy boots.

After we opened all the presents Jeremiah told the kids there were a few more surprises from Dad and Mom outside. Our family gift was a new trampoline, thank you walmart black Friday sale. Bode got a power wheel, thank you craigslist. Laine got a new pinkolicious bike, thank you 40% off Toys-r-Us coupon.

They were so excited about the trampoline they didn't even see the other gifts.

They have played so, so much with the trampoline and power wheel. They go back and forth and back and forth between the two. I love it!

After the opening of the presents it was on to 9:00 church. We all hurried to get to church on time and actually made it despite only having about 25 minutes to do so.

I loved having church on Sunday. It was wonderful to go sing hymns and be reminded of the birth of Christ.

 We came home from church and relaxed a bit. Then it was off to spend the afternoon with the Brooks family until my parents came down for the evening. We ate yummy Mexican food and my kids showed off their loot to their grandparents.

I am grateful to have such a wonderful life. I am especially grateful to have a husband who works so hard for us so that we could have such a fun Christmas. So until next year...

Merry Christmas!