January 2009

On our IN date!

Well I have been getting hounded to put a new post up for quite some time now. I just haven't felt like much new has happened since my last post so therefore didn't have anything to report! I even stated to one of my hounding friends, "what do you want me to do, take a picture of my messy house and blog about it!" She laughed, but for some reason I feel like I am just lying around and getting nothing accomplished. I am very fortunate that I do not get naseous during my first trimester. I do feel yucky, but no puking! I really am so thankful for that! I don't know how all you moms do it out there. I would have been done already if I had to go through that! Im not even joking!


Lauren had a fever for a few days. She threw up once, but threatened many many times!

Nolan loves tv!

After looking through the pictures for the month I did find a few that were post worthy. We took a short trip to IN a couple weeks ago. For those of you that don't know, my dad had open heart surgery. He went to get a heart scan just because he was curious how it was doing and the doctors found it that he had already suffered a minor heart attack and that he could not wait any longer to get bypass surgery. Within a week he was on the operating table. We were so glad that they found it in time, but it did put a damper on our prearranged cruise. My parents were our babysitters. eek! My sister and her husband were going with us, so they were out on the fun as well! When the week came around for us to go it was tough! We were in - degree weather when we should have been on an island with 80 degree weather. A bit diappointing, but we realize what is more important! Gosh we are so selfless! Im just kidding. All joking aside we are so blessed to have found out about his condition in time before it became worse. He had 6 bypasses which is the max he could have gotten. I am not quite sure how you can mess you heart up that bad, but my dad does like his red meat! He is just lucky that he isn't overweight on top of it. He just has to be more health concious. He is recovering perfectly. His whole recovery was simply perfect from what the nurses and doctors said.

On the way to IN

And another on the way!

So getting back to why we went to IN. We went to visit my dad after he got home and was feeling a little better. He looked great! I wouldnt have even been able to tell if I just looked at him. He had lost some weight, but that will come back on as soon as he starts eating more. Our trip out the IN was so nice. We enjoyed a couple nights with my sister and her husband as well as a few with my mom and dad. The kids love being at Grandma and Grandpas! Grandma and Grandpa love it too! They too enjoyed out surprise visit!

These two are so funny to watch. Zach and Lauren are inseparable when they are together

Happy 26th Birthday Shawna! Love you!

Also me and Joe are classes. We are both in just 1 each actually. I am so glad I chose to only take one, espcially since I haven't been feeling well. It's math too so that's almost like taking 2 anyways! I have to work so hard in math classes! Im ready to be done with it! I should be doing that now actually! Joe is taking a class online called American/National Government. I just took it last semester so I knew it would be pretty easy for him. He was going to use my book as well, but when the class started it disappeared! I have no idea where it is! We have searched everywhere! Oh well, I never cracked it when I took the class so he can get by without it too! The instructor puts notes online and thats why he tests on. It worked out. Well I need to catch up on all the things I slacked on this week. There is lots too! It's bad! But no you are not getting a picture of my messy house!...it's too embarrassing!

Expecting Again!

Not my favorite picture, but it serves it's purpose! Oh and you can barely read it, but that my friends reads "pregnant!"

Okay well I was debating on whether or not to post this, but then I decided this would just get the news out a lot faster! We found out last night that we are expecting baby number 3! Yes I am extremely fertile I suppose! I am very grateful to have this gift (if that's what you wanna call it)! According to my dates the baby will be due Sept. 14th! So now we will have an Aug., Sept, and Oct. baby! I am 4 weeks along even though I know I haven't been pregnant that long! That's just how they determine your weeks is by the first day of your last period! I was sure to write that date down so that when they ask me 20 million times at my appointments, I will know! I didn't know my date with Lauren and they treated me like I was a fool! We are very excited for this baby! Joe wants a girl and I want a boy! Maybe we'll get both! Haha! Joe nor I really care what it is actually...we are just excited!

Christmas 2008

Us all in our new pajamas!

Reading from Luke about the birth of our Savior

Lauren putting out the reindeer food!

After Santa came!

Lauren and Nolan love Daddy's new pull-up bar!

The first picture of the morning!

Nolans eyes lit up when he saw the football!

The scroll inside the tree is for me! It was tickets to see The Phantom of the Opera this spring!

Grandma and Grandpa send the kids matching ornaments each year with their names on them

Okay so yes this is so long overdue, but I am just now getting around to blogging. I go through moods where I love to blog and then some like I just went through where I just put it off! We had an excellent Christmas. We got the tree put up a little later than most years, but I held out until Joe got home on the 5th of December. On Christmas Eve we just stayed home as a family and read the Christmas story in Luke by candlelight (there were actually lights on, but the candles were lit!...it counts!) and then enjoyed some wonderful fat free hors d'oeurves (yeah right!). We opened our pajamas so we could wear them to bed and have them on for Christmas morning. Nolan stayed up later than normal, but couldn't hold on any longer before he crashed around 9:30. Lauren, Joe and I went outside to put the reindeer food out in the yard. Our reindeer food consisted of old carrots I was going to throw away anyways mixed with glitter! They loved it. Every piece was gone when we checked in the morning! I guess we decided Santa was on a diet this year because we all went to bed and forgot to leave him cookies! I think he will survive! We also stayed home alone as a family for Christmas Day. We were just so happy to all be together for the holidays. It was so nice to sit around my our pajamas all day long and do whatever we felt like. I cooked most of the morning and into the afternoon and I actually dont know what anyone else did because I didn't leave the kitchen but maybe one time to use the restroom! I do know that Joe took care of the kids for those few hours! Things were fun! I love the warm feeling of Christmas. I spent a lot of time this year thinking of those less fortunate than us, that don't have a warm home to spend the holidays in. We are so truely blessed to have the simple things in life! I am so grateful!

Go Colts!

Mischief and fun!

Nolan got caught red handed! It was time for dinner and Nolan was nowhere to be found. Usually when he is quiet, he's into something! Joe found him as he was passing the basement stairs. He told me to come look quickly! Up Nolan came crawling with and empty case of bubble tape and a mouth full of gum he had no idea what to do with!....He just knew it was yummy! This kid makes me laugh so much with all his mischief! What will he do next?

I made Lauren a shirt I guess you could call it with a paper bag. After placing it over her head she said, "Mommy make me pants!" She settled for a skirt! Here she is posing for the camera!

I have some good little helpers in the kitchen!

Our Christmas Tree

Finally we got our tree up. I was putting the project off because of Nolan and because Joe wasn't here. It's not very fun to put up decorations without help to make it fun. We actually put the tree up without any type of argument this year. What a miracle! Our arugument usually comes about when we can't get the tree to sit just how I want it! (Not lopsided!) It is a little slanted this year still, but I just don't care as much this year. I have realized we have a nice tree and that I need to quit complaining that I want a bigger and better tree. I really am grateful for what I have. I think sometimes me and I'm sure others out there get so wrapped up into what everyone else has vs. the things we already have. I sometimes have a big problem with this. I am learning that there are probably a lot of things that I have the other people want. I don't need to mention any of them, but I know that it's true. Not just material things, but more important things as well. I will say it again. I am grateful for what I have and am very blessed at this time of year to have a healthy and eternal family that loves me.

I put the tree skirt on and turned around to see that Lauren had the stockings on her feet!

Joe shaping the branches

Our darlings!

They had fun in the Christmas tree tote!

Mommy and Lauren

Not sure where Nolan was



One of our outtakes!

Happy in love!

Our First Haircuts!

Yesterday the kids both got their first haircuts! Lauren was so excited to go! She was a little concerned when she heard the word, "cut," but was fine once she was told it wouldn't hurt! She sat in the chair that mommy always gets to sit in when she gets her hair done. I think she was maybe most excited about that!

Nolan was a champ! He did little sqirming and absolutely no crying! Jenny (our hair dresser) told me during his haircut, "he's doing great by the way!" That made me feel good that he was easy for her. I guess most kids cry and throw fits during haircuts! Not my baby boy! He is so passive I love it!

Here are a few before, during, and after shots:

Lauren

Before

During

During

After

Nolan

Before

Before

During

During

After

Santa!

We also made a trip to see Santa last weekend. I don't think Lauren really knew quite what to say to him, but she sat on his lap and gladly accepted the candy cane afterwards! Nolan was very intrigued with Santa's beard! He kept turning to look at him! Though Lauren is aware that he wasn't the "real" Santa, she seemed to enjoy her visit with him! Nolan always just goes with the flow of everything so his reaction was not a surprise.

Lauren's 1st Dance Recital!

I think it's very clear she was ready to go to McDonalds for her ice cream!

We rewarded her with ice cream with mom and dad afterwards

Lauren and her neighbor buddy Jordyn


Lauren in action doing her balancing! She is 3rd in from the right

Before her turn to dance

Lauren had her first dance recital last Saturday! The recital was a lot of fun! We were able to enjoy it even more since Nolan got to go to the CDC (child development center or daycare) during it! I couldn't see it being very enjoyable had Nolan been there! He is way to squirmy and energetic! Lauren was so excited to dance for everyone. I thought she would be really nervous, but she danced her little heart out. She did better than I had ever seen her do during practice! She usually would stick her tongue out (Im guessing that's what she does when she is concentrating or is nervous ....she gets it from her daddy!) and do a few dance moves here and there, but never as good as she did for us at the recital. Thanks to her friend Mary's mom and dad, she got a rose after her dance. It was so thoughtful of them to give out a rose to all the parents in the class who didn't buy flowers for their dancer. Thanks Amber! Now we know it's a must to bring flowers for recitals! After she got off stage, Lauren was so excited to come back and sit with us in the audience. She was so proud of herself! All the dancers in the other age groups did a really nice job as well. They have a really good instructor. Lauren will be enrolling again in January. There will be 2 recitals for the spring session. How fun!


What a doll!

Finally Together Again!

It was a long wait, but we are finally back together again! Joe got home last Friday from a 6 month deployment in Qatar. We were able to talk on the phone everyday while he was there and then every Thursday on his day off, do video chat on the internet. This helped relieve the distance, but was of course not the same. The kids liked talking to their daddy on the phone. Nolan especially loved it when the computer and phone would talk to him directly! His smile would be ear to ear when his daddy would talk to him!

The week before Joe got home I ran around like crazy getting last minute things done around the house. I did some deep cleaning and found some pretty scary things! I wanted to be sure the house looked nice so that Joe didn't want to leave as soon as he walked in the door! I'm just kidding. Im sure it could have been a complete disaster and he would still want to stay. I guess it was part of my process to prepare for his return. I didn't want him to think I lived like a slob! ...haha! He soon learned and even mentioned something about how he had observed that it's impossible to keep things picked up with the kids constantly making messes! Whew! Now I am off the hook when things aren't always in order! We (me and Lauren) also made welcome home signs! Nolan is much too young to help with such an already messy project! ...we put him to bed and then did the project! We made a sign out of posterboard to welcome him off the plane, and then a few others for when he got home. We also hung a large vinyl sign outside the house to welcome him when we pulled into the driveway. It was so windy though that day that the sign got blown off the house and was dangling to where he couldn't see it! Bummer! Oh well, I tried!....nothing ever works out perfectly! He kindly reached his long arms up and fixed it for me! Before, I needed a ladder to hang it. I now have my built in ladder back! It's great!

Moving back to the airport. We were running a little behind as always. I strapped the kids in the stroller and walked as fast as I could to the terminal. I didn't want to miss him coming off his plane. Im sure there is no worse feeling than coming off the plane from a long deployment to have nobody there to greet you! Luckily his plane was running about 15 min. behind. That gave us time to take a potty break and to get to the correct gate. It seemed like forever for him to get off the plane. Me and Lauren both held his sign together while Nolan chilled in the stroller. When he walked out, Lauren hesitated for about 2 seconds and then ran to him yelling, "Daddy!" It was so precious! Nolan really didn't know what to think. He wasn't feeling well that day (teething), but he warmed up quickly.

We stopped for lunch on the way home and then spent the rest of the day taking it easy and playing games together. I could not get a second alone with my husband! Lauren wanted to be right in the middle of us the whole time! Luckily for us, she likes the computer! Daddy lured her in with a movie he brought up on netflix instant play! Lauren did have her dress rehearsal for her dance recital that evening, but daddy and Nolan took naps while me and Lauren went. Joe has done a really good job getting back into the U.S. sleep routine! He gets tired about the same time everyday (2pmish), but always sticks it out so he will be tired when it's time for bed at 10.

We really have gotten along pretty well since he got home. Some minor misunderstandings, but nothing that wasn't resolved quickly. I probably caused the most tension last night when we were trying to get a family picture for our Christmas cards! Lets just say I was less than patient while trying to get the "perfect shot!" I learned there is no such thing! Joe was very tolerant with my moodiness! I did not deserve it! I love the extra hands and the companionship with him being back. The kids you can tell love having both their parents together. They are already really happy kids, but with Joe home, we are complete!

My hot wife!!

Camara sent me these pics a little while ago. I think she looks so amazing!! I'm sure you can agree. My time here is real short. I can't wait to be at home. I really miss Camara and the kids and they miss me. Every time I go away I am reminded of what we have together.

Camara, I LOVE YOU!! You are amazing! Thank you for being such an awesome wife/friend/mother/person. I am so blessed to have you. You have made my life so awesome. I know you don't get alot of thanks for supporting me while I am deployed, but I hope you know how much I appreciate you.

-Joe