Bring it.

The awhile ago Stewart talked to a resident who is a year ahead of us. He is currently at the University of Arizona, Tucson in radiology (where Stewart will be next year). He told Stewart that he has every weekend off and is off by 5 every weekday. NO CALL for the first half of the year! Oh, that sounds like the best thing ever right now. BRING IT ON. I am so ready. I am more and more excited to move to Tucson all the time....never be cold, hopefully live in a house that was made for a family of six, Stewart will be working in the field he actually wants too, and I'll have my husband back!!! Tucson, we are so ready.

Benjamin's first day of preschool

I cant believe he is in preschool. He was our Medical School baby and look how many years have passed. Time is sure flying. The teacher at the elementary school loves me so she said that I could have Ben start as soon as he turned three even though it was mid-way through the year....well, she told that to everyone with almost three year olds but its true that she loves me. Anyways how AWESOME is that?!?! So he started and is in Angeli's class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Ben was a bit unsure about the whole school thing but Angeli was such a good big sister and took him under her wing. She showed him the ropes and encouraged him. Bridger was also very sweet and encouraging too, he backed up all the advice Angeli gave him. They were both so excited for him.

So when we got there he was pretty overwhelmed with it all. It was all he could do to not cry. Poor little man. :(...But with some time and encouragement he started to warm up and actually ate his lunch and Angeli and Bridger were such good little helpers getting him all comfortable.
By the time we got to the classroom he was beaming. He loved that he got his very own notebook and that it was GREEN! His favorite color. And when I picked him up this is what I was greeted with! LOL Such a happy big Boy!
When we got home he was so excited about his homework he got out a marker and set to work coloring in all the "N"s. And everyone who comes over gets to see it. :O) He is so proud of himself as are Angeli, Bridger and Me.

Grandma's Visit

Grandma/Mom Ras flew up to Reno to be with us over Benjamin's Birthday. It was so kind of her. Having her company was such a nice refresher for me and such a treat for the kids and Stewart. I'm not going to lie, residency is taking it's toll and its sort of wearing Stewart and I out so to have her sweetness in our home and all her help just made us feel so loved and supported. That means the world to us. I think she had a good time too. :) Mom Ras, Thanks for coming. We love you and miss you!

ROAR!

Dinosaurs have taken over our house! :O) Well, just for a day. Benjamin is THREE and to celebrate we threw him a big old Dinosaur Party. Oh, I felt so blessed that everything came together as well as it did. Throwing indoor parties in a tiny house is tricky. But I had special help this year. Mom Ras flew up to celebrate with us and help me out since the Mr. of the house wasn't able to get any time off and we had a ticket we needed to use up before it expired. I didn't realize how much I needed her help until the day of and then I was soooooooo grateful she was there. I felt that the Lord was helping me a lot with this party. I had a week to pull it together and I just felt guided....making the cake I was inspired, how to make the birthday banner, what food to serve, like "oh, how nice that the carrots and chips and ketchup all match the theme",....just a million little things he helped me with. Makes me feel so loved by my Father in Heaven cares enough about my stressing about my son's third birthday party to help me out a bunch. So happy.

I think the party was a great success and I hope Ben felt really special on his big day. This was his first friends birthday party and I think he was a little shy that it was all about him...poor middle child isn't used to that. But I think he could get used to it. :O) I hope he has more opportunities to get spoiled with the spot light. Enjoy the pictures I got of the party.


The kids first came in and used super cute foam dinosaur stickers to make their own dinosaur picture, then we ate lunch, after that they went on a hunt to find the dinosaur eggs that needed help hatching. They followed the dinosaur foot prints to the nest and then each got their own eggs to break open and keep their very own dinosaur.

We had a great turn out. All but one kid I invited was able to come and even two showed up who weren't invited. LOL! The neighbor kids across the street saw we were having a party and invited themselves over. Too funny. I sort of went crazy on Oriental Trading Company website and ordered a ton of inflatable dinosaurs. They turned out to be super fun and the kids have enjoyed playing with them for days. The huge T-REx was their favorite. :O)

She Walks!

Just before Genevieve turned 10 months she started to walk. Oh, she is delighted with herself and loves walking. She is as cute as ever and spreads cuteness wherever she goes. She loves her mommy but isn't too shy of strangers. She likes trying to make silly sounds. She says "mama" and "dada" but I am not sure if she uses them as words or not but nonetheless I love hearing her say "mama". I am adjusting to having her walking around the house and mourning that her baby days are fading away. But I am hopeful that my throbbing hands and wrists will have more of a chance to recover now that she can walk and wants to be held a little less. O q1h, pain or not I still love holding her. I want to hold on to her baby days as much as possible. And as a perk she is my instant pick-me-up. Whenever I am glum she makes me feel all bright and cheery again. We adore her and are so grateful she is our little baby girl.

Thanksgiving In Burbank

I went back and forth so many times about if I was going to go to my parents for Thanksgiving. I felt bad because I would be leaving Stew all by himself but in the end I needed to go back home and get some hugs and yummy cooking from my mom. So I loaded us up and off we went. The drive was so smooth it felt like nothing at all even with four kids, one a baby, and a new puppy in tow - I was blessed!

It was so trippy to be with so many of my siblings again. We were all acting like kids again with a few more tiffs then I would have preferred but it was like "home". LOL! There were six of us kids there plus our families so we had quite the bunch...weird to think that it was still only half of us. We also had Five generations there to celebrate and that was pretty cool.

It is so beautiful there in California. Man, I wish we could live there. The weather was the best thing ever. And my moms the best medicine for me. She is a lot like Stewart in that way. She is calm and kind and not overly emotional and makes me instantly feel relaxed and good. My dad makes me laugh with his quirks and I marvel at how well his planned "retirement" is going....he is so not retired at all. Working as hard as ever at the age of 83. It was great to see my niece and her beautiful little family and my nephew. They lived with us so much while I was growing up they are like my own siblings. love them like crazy. It was likewise great to meet my sister's almost fiance and start seeing him join the family and see how happy he makes her. And then there is the cousin fun. Oh, life would be pretty awesome if we lived close to lots of cousins. There is just something so magical about the relationship kids have with their cousins. So fun!

And the FOOD, nothing beats my mom's cooking.....well, I do adore my mother-in-laws ham and ham gravy. But the assortment my family throws together when we party is ridiculous! We all like cooking too much and so when we bring all our finest together it is a ton of food. I mean we had 14 different desserts at thanksgiving, out of control I tell you! :O)

It was a good change of scenery for me. I think Stewart was able to enjoy his time to himself reading Eragon, doing his wood cutting, and watching movies instead of doing dishes, picking up toys, and putting the kids down each night like normal.

So that was our thanksgiving in a nutshell.

Getting ready to eat....

12 of my parents 42 grandchildren, plus 1 great grandchild...The silly girls...
Half of the buffet of food...

Friday night the girls went to Aunt Anj's house for a girls slumber party and the boys stayed at grandma's for a boys slumber party, I helped them build a major fort out of packaging paper. They loved it. Picture of girl's slumber party coming soon...

Living the Life: week 4 results

Okay its a miracle. I lost weight this week! Serious shock for me. But I am not complaining. :O)

I lost 1/2 around my waist
I didn't lose anything around my hips
I lost 3.2 lbs.

YAY! So glad for the progress. :O)

Ha.

I was searching for something on my computer today and I came across the book I started to write two/three years ago. I was board, lonely, and extremely poor. And so instead of starting expensive projects or going out to do fun things with my friends I started to write a book. I reread my grand 30 pages of cliche fiction and found I liked it. I would be deathly embarrassed if anyone I knew read it besides me but I like it. Maybe I'll finish it someday. Maybe I will submit it to a publisher and they will reject me soundly and then I'll be happy to know I actually followed through with it and had a go at my childhood dream of being a writer. Ha.....and at the very least my kids will get a good laugh reading it after I am dead. :O)

Living the Life: week 3 results

This week was okay. I did my cardio really well but I only did my strength training twice. I am trying out and baking cookies for this thing I have coming up and so I "HAD" to eat cookies. :) So that threw off my week some. Plus now I am really sick.

I lost 1 inch across my waist

I lost 3/4 inch around my hips

I only lost .6 pounds but I think it has to do with me being kind of bloated and retaining water.

I hope next week I can knock it out of the park...but seeing how Thanksgiving is coming and I am traveling out of town....I will try to be happy if I lose anything at all.

Our Family has Grown Again!

Last night while I was at Young Womens Stewart and the kiddos drove out to the breeder's and picked up our newest little family member, Tinkerbell! (Yes, that is the sort of name you get when the mean age of your four children is 2.9! :O)

Oh, she is such a pretty little thing! We picked out another pup Choco but they realized that he had some intestinal problems and the breeder wanted to hold on to him to make sure he was well before she sold him so then we picked out little "sweet pea" now known as Tink. I have been so nervous about getting a puppy. I have never ever had a puppy. I have been reading books and watching the complete Cesar Millan's "Mastering Leadership Series" to get ready - Cesar is the Bomb! and I am proud of myself for coping. :O) You'd think I just gave birth. I am texting Stewart to tell him a play by play of how she is doing..... Her first walk, her first pee, her first poop,.....So it hasn't even been 24 hours but I am smitten and I think we are going to raise one heck of a dog. (Well, crossing my fingers that I can handle everything on my plate)

So the question I get when we tell people we are getting a puppy is, "Why?!?!?! Are you sure this is the right time to get a dog?" and I totally understand. I mean we are selling our house, have a 9 month old who is the busiest baby on the face of the earth and have some other traumatic issues going on that are seriously driving me a little crazy BUT about three months ago I had this spiritual experience where I was basically told that Angeli needed a dog. So that was that. Stewart felt he same way and honestly I am so glad we made that decision three months ago because I am not sure we would have made the decision if we had waited any longer. :)

Tink is really Angie's dog. And is she ecstatic. I couldn't be happier for Angeli. Because of our living situation and that we will be renting until FOREVER (I hope to never buy again!) :O) we opted for a tiny little fluffy thing to be a little companion Dog for Angie. And she is sure tiny and fluffy. She is a designer hybrid. A Chineranian (Japanese Chin + Pomeranian). I think Poms are super cute but a bit snobby and yappy and the Chins are very mellow and smart but a bit funny looking so when we found this breeder close by we were really excited about the Chineranian hybrid.

So without further ado here is Tink!

trying to get her collar off :O)

Live the Life Results: Week 2

Ok this week I was so lame at “Living the Life”. My life killed it. I was wreck this week. I didn’t have my meals ready until Tuesday so Halloween I didn’t have my “diet” food which was a bad day to take off. :O) then I had to feed the missionaries so I ate dinner with them, then I had to bake cookies for something and brilliant me wanted to try a new recipe so then that meant trying them to make sure they were good, they were a little too good, :) then there was fast Sunday so I had an off day on Sunday, and then I started my period which sort of just killed things even more. My days were so busy I kept missing meals and then picking in my kids’ food and I didn’t do things nearly as well as the week before. BUT hopefully that is all behind me. I am really hopeful that this next week will go better. I am just going to go and cook my food for this next week and get it all stocked in my fridge.

So this morning I did my measurements and weighed in. Here are results, then are humble but I am very grateful for any negative at this point.
I lost ½ inch around my waist
I lost ½ inch around my hips
And I lost 1 pound. By next week I will be at my lowest I have been since I had Genevieve. That is really exciting for me. :O)

If...

If I survive this week I will be so grateful. sigh.