Blessed Bountifully

6 months

2011-10-20T13:21:00.001-07:00

I can't believe that my little Matthew is already 6 months old. I don't know where the time has gone. He is such a sweet little man. He's happy and smiley except when he's hungry or tired or lonely. His laugh makes my heart melt. His little smile lights up the room.

He went in this week for his 6 month well check. Matthew is 17lbs. 4oz. which puts him in about the 48th percentile. His head measures 17 3/4 inches around. He is 28 3/4 inches long which is off the charts. He's a full 1/4 of an inch above the highest percentile measurement for his age. So he's a long, skinny thing. He is starting to crawl. He gets up on his hands and knees and rocks until he's ready to push himself forward. When he gets tired of that, he just pushes himself around backwards. He always seems to have something in his mouth and has been that way since he could grab things.

He is just a ray of sunshine in our home. Everyone loves him to pieces. His big brothers probably love him a little too much. :o)

Time to make a change

2011-09-26T13:39:00.002-07:00

I've been talking for years about losing weight. I just never got very serious about it. I've had it now! I'm tired of being tired and lethargic. I'm tired of not wanting to play with my kids because it's too hard. I'm tired of not being able to buy the cute clothes I really want because they don't fit or don't look good on me.

So to be honest with myself and with anyone who reads this blog, here is where I started from last Monday:

Weight: 210.2 lbs. Yikes!

(I'll get some pics and measurements up in the next couple of days)

My goal is to lose 65 lbs and get down to the 145lbs range. I'd like to be down in the 180s by January.

Last week I started the "Run Your Butt Off" program. It's a program to help non-runners like me work up to running a non-stop 30 minutes. I'm working on Stage 3 right now. I was able to skip Stage 1 because I could easily walk 30 minutes non-stop. Last week was 4/1 walk/jog intervals. I completed it 6 days in a row. I'll be taking Sundays off. One thing this program does that is different than most is that it encourages you when you are first starting to jog at the same speed you walk, just picking up your feet. It's made jogging feel so much easier. So this week is 4/2 walk/jog intervals. I didn't think I was really going to be able to do it without feeling like I was going to die. Nope. My legs burned, but I didn't get overly winded.

I also signed up over the weekend for a 5K run in February to benefit Pancreatic Cancer Action Network and support my brother in his battle with pancreatic cancer. So now I have a goal to work toward which will hopefully keep me moving. I also am doing Zumba at least a day or two a week. Hopefully that will increase, but the kids aren't always cooperative. I'm still contemplating joining the YMCA and maybe doing some personal training sessions to work on building my strength. And as soon as the weather cools off, I'll add some biking to my exercise routine also.

I'm gradually changing some of my eating habits, but I didn't want to change everything all at once and then not feel like I wanted or could keep it up. Once I have been exercising for 4 solid weeks, I'll really make an additional effort to change my eating. I am working on eating fewer snacks and when I do eat, eating healthier foods. I'm not going on any kind of diet because I want to make a lifestyle change that will continue after the weight is gone. I don't want something that would be impossible or improbable for me to maintain.

So wish me luck on my journey!

I thought I had problems

2011-09-19T15:16:00.000-07:00

Like many of you, I have become unnaturally addicted to Pinterest. I love that I can bookmark things I love without clogging up my favorites folder. I have seen a saying on there several times that means even more to me now than ever. "If everyone threw their problems into a pile so you could see them, you'd quickly take yours back." Or something to that effect.

Borders Books went out of business in stores so a couple of weeks ago when they were in their final days, we made a trip. I decided to expand my normal book reading horizons and picked out some books that I probably wouldn't normally read. The first one I picked out to read was "Honeymoon in Tehran" by Azeda Moaveni. She is an American-born journalist whose parents moved to the United States from Iran after the revolution in 1979. She lived there for nearly a decade writing pieces that showed what life was like in Iran, often butting heads with the government. She doesn't really truly understand what life is like in Iran until she marries and has a son. To read of the oppression these people suffered just left me feeling so grateful for the life I have. I don't have to worry much about some of the things these people faced every day. Censorship - papers being shut down that reported anything the government didn't like, greatly limiting access to internet sites and blocking nearly all TV channels. Inflation - even the middle and lower-upper class could barely afford to survive. Two bedroom apartments sell for over $1 million and often the fresh fruit that is a staple in the Iranian diet was too expensive to purchase. Being told what to wear - women as stopped on the street and arrested if their dress is not deemed appropriate by the thuggish Basiji (kind of like a national guard) or the police. Harassment - being threatened, imprisoned and beaten for having any vocal opinions that differ from that of the regime. Smog - the pollution in Tehran is far worse than anything we experience here in the US. Most days it's advised for children, elderly and pregnant women to stay home because of the hazardous air. Disrepair - sidewalks are often so uneven that it would be impossible to push a stroller along them. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

It truly makes me grateful to live in a country where I can wear what I want, go where I want, watch what I want, listen to what I want, believe what I want. The people of Iran are so beaten down that even though they will angrily cry foul, they don't dare rise up against the regime for fear of imprisonment in horrible conditions, beatings or even death. It's not unheard of during time when the people do demonstrate for the Basiji and the police to place civilian dressed officers in the crowd to shoot at random. We often view the Iranians as we view the government - harsh, strict, uber conservative, radical. But many of the people in that country hate what has become of their beloved motherland and feel strongly that the current regime is ruining their lives. Unfortunately, because of the brutal tactics used, they are powerless to do anything to change it.

So the next time you think to complain about your lot in life, just remember there are people out there who have it far worse off than you do. At least you have the right to complain openly without fear of harassment, imprisonment or death.

Update on Matthew

2011-08-16T16:23:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my little guy is 4 months old already. Where does the time go? I took him in for his 4 month well-check yesterday. He is 26 1/2 inches long (91st percentile) 14 lbs 15 oz (49th percentile) and his head is 17 inches in circumference (75th percentile). He perfectly healthy. He's already rolling from his back to his front and we can't keep him on his back anymore. He is also reaching out and grabbing things. He had his first solid food yesterday - rice cereal and formula. He wasn't so sure he liked it.

I'll update with some pictures soon.

What a week....

2011-07-29T13:47:00.001-07:00

So I was expecting the first week of school to be a bit of a madhouse, but nothing like it has turned out to be. The first day of school Andrew forgot to bring home his good water bottle from school and we have yet to see it again. The second day of school, he got to ride the bus for the first time and LOVED it! hen he got off the bus the second day, he had to swim upstream back on to the bus because he forgot his backpack. When we got home, we discovered his lunch box wasn't in his backpack. On the third day of school, I get a phone call from the nurse's office telling me that Andrew slipped in the rocks and split his head open and I needed to come and get him. It wasn't too bad and didn't need a bandaid or anything, but he got some pretty good rock burn on his head, face, arm and leg. Still no water bottle or lunch pail. On the fourth day of school, I went to meet his bus about 10 minutes early, only to find the bus had already dropped the kids off. I hurried down to the bus stop. No Andrew! Thinking he has just not gotten off the bus, I called the school who radioed the bus driver. She said he got off on the right stop. Awesome! I thought maybe he had gone the wrong way from the stop and down the wrong street. I got 2/3 of the way down the street north of us...still no Andrew. Asked a couple of girls if they had seen him. No luck. My friend who was with me happened to look behind us and see a woman and three kids. It was him. Thank goodness a mom from a different stop realized that the little boy following her son off the bus wasn't a regular at their stop and decided to help him out. I'm a bit frustrated with the bus driver who said he got off the right stop when he didn't. I realize the first week of school is crazy, but the drivers really should be more aware of where the kindergarteners, who have no idea what they are doing, have all their stuff and get off at the correct stop. On the lighter side, he did bring home his lunch pail so now we are just missing a water bottle and half his sandwich container. So far, so good today. I hope we don't have any more excitement! I don't think this mom to a new school-goer could handle much more!

UPDATE: So today went just fine. He even managed to find the water bottle he lost on the first day of school and brought it home.

Andrew loves his teacher though and has a blast playing with Jacob and Travis, two of his friends from preschool. He also has made friends with a boy from his class who catches the bus with him in the morning. Whew! What a week!

First day of Kindergarten

2011-07-25T16:17:00.002-07:00

I can't believe this day is here. My little boy is now a kindergartener. He's been so excited to start school for over a year now. All of his friends from his first year of preschool started school last year. He has asked probably a thousand times if he was going to kindergarten. And the day is finally here.

I have to admit, I've been looking forward to this day for a while, too. Andrew is an incredibly intelligent little boy who needs near constant entertainment and challenge or he gets in a lot of mischief. And that usually involves making his little brother scream bloody murder. I walked him to his classroom, we got to the door and he said, "Bye, mom." He wasn't even going to let me walk him in. I did anyway. No tears for either of us. Of course, we were running crazy. We had loaded up the car for everyone to go only to find the battery on the mini-van dead. So I had to move him to the car and take off like a shot. When we got to the school, we had to part in a dirt lot because the parking lot was overflowing with parents dropping their kids off for the first day. I was just glad I got him to class on time.

I worried a lot about him starting kindergarten because the kid's really smart. He's been reading for over a year now. He picks up things so quickly. He memorized his Articles of Faith in about 3 months. I know he knows pretty much everything he's learn in kindergarten. Do I test him into 1st grade? He's on the young end since his birthday is in March. I was afraid he'd be ready intellectually, but not emotionally. I went to meet the teacher hoping he'd have a good one. She's new to teaching kindergarten as his school so I knew nothing about her. I told her about Andrew and she said not to worry. She'd make sure he's challenged if that means pulling out 1st grade standards and sending home more challenging homework. I think we got the teacher we needed.

The house is a lot quieter today. Luke pretty well entertains himself. Matthew loves spending time in his jumper. If only I felt better (I've got a little cold) this day would be awesome! I'm so excited for my little guy.

Since I'm so far behind, here are some pics of the kiddos!

Andrew and Luke playing swordfighting on the Wii.

Matthew sleeping...So cute!

Andrew passed off all 13 Articles fo Faith. He got a big chocolate bar and a certificate for it.

Matthew in his jumper.

Luke and Matthew

All my boys.

Andrew and Matthew.

A little bit of tummy time!

Butt-whooping...followed by some whining and worrying

2011-05-10T09:35:00.000-07:00

That's what I feel like I'm in the middle of right now - a butt-whooping. 3 kids is even harder than I thought it would be. I'm sure a lot of it is because Matthew's lack of any kind of consistent schedule makes it hard for me to get in a shower or a meal or sleep, let alone take care of anything else...including the older two kids. And they are masters at waiting until I've got my arms full feeding Matthew to start fighting and misbehaving. I am overwhelmed and can't help but wonder how in the world I'm going to get through summer break when Andrew doesn't even have school a couple of mornings a week to keep him busy and give me a break.

I had an awful Mother's day also. I know it seems selfish, but the whole day revolved around my mom and mother-in-law. I didn't get my favorite breakfast (church is too early) or lunch (we just munched on stuff at my mom's) or dinner (SIL made dinner catered to her mom). I didn't get a card or flowers or even really a thanks for being my mom. And right now, I feel like that's all I am is mom. It was hard to read friends blogs and facebook posts about their wonderful Mother's day. Mine didn't happen this year. Not that I didn't want to spend time with the moms in our lives, but it would have been nice to have my contributions to my family recognized. And this is not meant to be a guilt trip for anyone involved. It's just the way it worked out this year.

And our anniversary and my birthday are pretty well shot, too. Clayton's work is going into a "no-fly" zone starting next Monday (the day after his birthday) and lasting until the 4th of July. Intel is moving one of the factories to a new process. He can't take any time off of work and isn't supposed to go out of town at all in case they need him to come in. This time also takes up almost all of Andrew's summer vacation. So much for hoping we could go somewhere or at least have Clayton take a couple of days off. He is taking this Friday off to take the two older boys on Fathers and Sons campout with his brother's ward since he can't take them to our ward's.

And as if all that weren't enough, my brother has been dealing with severe abdominal pain for the past couple of weeks. He's had ultrasounds and CT scans and finally had an MRI yesterday. The doctor called him at 6:30pm...never a good sign. He's got a spot on his pancreas. They can't (not sure if it's can't or don't want to wait) to do a biopsy and are hoping to get him into surgery in the next week or two. The doctor said he doesn't know what it is and won't until surgery, but if it's cancer and has spread at all, gave my brother 3-6 months to live. I'm trying not to be too pessimistic right now because they don't know what it is or how bad it is, but it's a little scary. I have a half sister than I rarely speak to and have very little relationship with and since my grandma's death will probably never see again and my brother. He is, for all intents and purposes, my only sibling. And to think that he may not live to see his next birthday or even meet his newest nephew ... Let's just say I'm feeling completely helpless. He's terrified. My mom is freaking out. And I can't even keep my head above water with my own family, let alone feel like I can do anything to help them.

So, I just have to put one foot in front of the other and try to do what I can. I just feel like it's not good enough and that there just isn't enough of me to go around. I can't wait for things to mellow out and calm down... And hopefully turn out for the best.

Introducing....

2011-04-29T11:40:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I'm a little slow getting this up. The adjustment to having three kids is kicking me in the behind right now.

Matthew Thomas Myers

Born April 14, 2011 at 5:05pm

8lbs. 12 oz., 21 1/4 inches long

I went in for induction at 9am on the 14th. Started at 3cm dialated so I had a good start. I've always responded well to induction (this is my 3rd). Got me going and things progressed nicely. At 4pm, I was at 6cm. They let my Dr. know it was probably going to be a couple of hours. At 4:45pm, they decided to check me again and I was fully transitioned and ready to push. She had me do one small push to help get the baby down since he was still riding high. Worked great. The nurse was going to hold off and let my Dr. finish his afternoon appointments. No big deal here. I'd hate to be the one with a 4:45pm appointment that had to wait until 6pm to see the Dr. because he ran off to the hospital when he didn't really have to. Around 5pm, the nurse came in and wanted to have me push once to see where I was. When my next contraction started, I took a deep breath to push and just when I was going to start pushing, the nurse yelled, "Stop! Don't push!!" Uh, okay!? There she was with only one glove on and the baby's head halfway out. She was going to hold him in until the Dr. got there, but the baby's heartrate disappeared from the monitor. She called for help. Three other nurses came running in. Kelleigh (my nurse) put on a second glove and let the baby come on out. Yep, that's right. He arrived without me doing any real pushing. Guess he was in a hurry. Good thing they didn't wait either. He was just a tad on the blue side when he arrived. Within 5 minutes, he was perfectly pink and healthy though. The good Dr. arrived about 10-15 minutes after the baby did...flushed and embarassed that he hadn't gotten there in time. Not that any of us could have imagined the baby coming on his own like he did. He was a little embarassed about misjudging the baby's size, too. He didn't figure Matthew was going to be as big as my other two. He missed being the biggest by .5 oz.

From induction start time to delivery was just over 6 1/2 hours. Not too shabby, I'd say. Luke was just over 10 hours and Andrew was just over 12 hours.

The boys are excited for a baby brother, but have been thwarted in their attempts to bond with the baby. Luke had some kind of respiratory infection and Clayton had to take him to the Dr. while I was still in the hospital. Then Andrew developed pink eye. It's probably not a bad thing in the grand scheme of things. They are both awfully rough and this will give Matthew a little more time to gain some strength before he gets mauled. :o)

Matthew had been doing his best sleeping during the day and was up most of the night the first week. Thank goodness Clayton was home to help me out. But he's been sleeping better at night this week...thank goodness. He's a pretty happy baby. He only cries when he's cold, wet, or hungry - of course, he's hungry a LOT! He LOVES having his hair washed under the faucet. And he's got a headfull, let me tell you.

I'll post more pictures...hopefully this weekend while Clayton is home to help wrangle the boys.

Scared....

2011-04-06T09:24:00.000-07:00

I don't often admit out loud when I'm scared, let alone put it in writing so it lasts forever. But I'm scared.

I went to the OB yesterday for my weekly check up. I joked that I was ready to serve an eviction notice to this baby. I'm tired of my back, hips and other things being in constant pain. I'm tired of sleeping on the couch. I'm tired of the swelling and the inability to comfortably reach my feet. I'm tired of being tired and winded all the time. And honestly, I'm tired of sharing my body with another human being. I want to get healthy and having a baby in my body doesn't help that quest any.

I wasn't expecting him to even consider induction since he doesn't think this baby is as big as my other two were. But he offered to schedule me a week from my due date, which is the 22nd. So, he looked at the calendar and said he'd call and see if he could get me in on the 15th. I'll find out for sure at my appointment next week what's going on. I was really excited to finally see the light at the end of this pregnancy...until I talked to Clayton about it. His response, "That's a week from this Friday!" Holy Cow! That's only 9 days from now.

And to make things just a little more freaky...I'm already dialated to 3cm. I've never been this far dialated this early in my pregnancy. When I went in to be induced with Andrew, I wasn't anything...not dialated, not effaced. With Luke I was 2cm dialated and 50% effaced. They both came a week and a half early thanks to induction because they were both measuring on the big side. And they were. 8lbs 13oz for Andrew and 8lbs 9oz for Luke. The Dr. told me that I may go into labor on my own before he can have me induced.

Am I ready? I have the baby's bag packed for the hospital. The car seat is ready to go in the car. I have all the baby's stuff put away and the bed ready. I still need to pack me a bag. I'm a little worried about going into labor on my own. I'm on my 3rd pregnancy and am not sure I'll know when it's time. Even if I do, will I make it to the hospital on time? Andrew was born 12 hours after my water broke. Luke was only 2 1/2 hours. If my water breaks, I'm a solid 45 minutes from the hospital - not including loading up the kids, etc. What if I can't drive myself and Clayton is at work? I know there are people I can call, but it still kind of freaks me out.

I'm terrified that I'm not going to be able to handle three kids. Two already try my patience to its limits. And everyone I talk to tells me how hard the transition from 2 to 3 was. It doesn't help that when I'm stressed out I tend to take it out on my kids. The poor kids probably think I'm some kind of monster right now.

I'm sure it will all work out fine. I'm trying to take a deep breath and just realize that I just have to have faith that it will all work out.

Blessings

2011-03-30T14:30:00.000-07:00

It's amazing when you look back over your life to see the blessings you've been given. This week I've been contemplating the financial blessings that Clayton and I have had in our life together. When we first met and started dating, I was working full-time and had finished my Masters degree just a few months prior. Clayton was in his last semester at ASU. We were still dating when he graduated. He had a hard time finding a full-time job, but was blessed to find a temporary job that wasn't too horrible. He had already decided that he wanted to ask me to marry him, but kept putting it off because he had been raised that the man is to financially provide for the family and he couldn't do that on his temp pay. After a couple of months, he finally took the leap of faith and asked me anyway. About the same time, he received an email from a career advisor at ASU about a job at Intel for recent graduates - the last email sent from the advisor as he was quitting to take a new positon elsewhere. Clayton sent in his resume and didn't hear anything. A month later, he was called for an interview. We were both shocked to hear from Intel as it had been so long. He had a phone interview and then an in-person interview. Then we didn't hear anything for a while again. We were out to dinner with his grandpa and siblings when he got a call offering him the job. At first we were hesitant about him taking the job as it was an unconventional work schedule and would make our time together very limited. But when we heard what the salary was, we couldn't turn it down. It was far more than we both expected him to be able to make in his first "real" job after graduation.

He started at Intel the day we returned from our honeymoon. I was still working, but things at my job had deteriorated. I had a boss who was threatened by me, I guess, and started to pull responsibilities from me. We decided I would quit, take a month or so to put our married life in order, and then I would look for a new job. A week after I quit, I found out I was pregnant with Andrew. We decided I would just stay home since I would quit when the baby was born anyway. With the exception of a month, we have lived on one income our entire married life.

Clayton is smart and hard working and did well at his job. A year ago he received a new position that was a pay grade higher than his current pay grade. It put him in a great position for this year to receive a pay grade promotion, but we didn't count on getting it after what we had heard some areas were getting for pay increases. He met with his manager this week and was given his promotion. She's super impressed with how quickly he picks things up (I think she used the word sponge) and how he's willing to share what he learns with the rest of his group in order to better the group as a whole. So we knew the promotion usually comes with a relatively sizable pay increase, but once again we kept our expectations low if he did get promoted. Let's just say we were both pleasantly SHOCKED! He got a very sizable pay increase. What a blessing with another mouth to feed coming shortly. We are also trying to pay off dept and increase our savings for the future.

Clayton and I have always paid tithing. It's never been a question. We just paid it, no questions asked. We have always been able to pay our bills and put food on the table. And we are continuting to see the blessings of making this a priority. We realize that it may not always be this way, but we know that paying tithing leads to blessings.

Breaking the chains!

2011-03-25T09:49:00.000-07:00

When Clayton and I got married, we both had student loans we were paying on. We both had to put ourselves through college. I also had a car payment. Neither one of us really had any debts that were outside of what the Church has said go be "good" debt - school, a home, a car. We've never really had any credit card debt to speak of. We use them to buy things that we pay off right away just to keep our credit good.

We decided right from the get go, we wanted to get everything paid off as quickly as possible. I've seen what debt can do to a person's life and I wanted nothing to do with it. I hate having it hanging over my head. It stresses me out. It took us a while to develop a plan of action, but after getting a copy of "One for the Money" put out by the Church, we decided that was the program we were going to follow. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it's very, very similar to the plan out there used by Dave Ramsey.

The premise of the program is to pay off the debt with the highest interest rate first. Then you take the money that you were paying on that one and roll it to the next highest interest rate, etc., etc. until you have paid everything off. You are already used to that money going to something else so you don't miss it. It also suggests using a budget. I had already been using one before we got married, so we just adjusted it for our current situation and we still use it to this day.

I used my mad Excel skills and made up a debt repayment calendar as suggested in the program so we could see just how long it would take for us to pay everything off. We paid off my car loan, two student loans. We are extraordinarily close to seeing the fruits of our labors. We have one more payment on our final student loan. It means we will have paid off Clayton's loans more than 4 years early. We had a bit of a hiccup in our plan. That payment was supposed to leave us without any debt other than our mortgage. However, life decided to throw us a bit of a curveball with the car situation. We weren't planning on having a car payment again for a couple of years, but couldn't find a car that met our needs in our cash budget. So we decided to get something a little more expensive that will last us for several years and we have a car payment again. It's nothing too huge. We've formulated a plan that will allow us to pay it off in September. And it will allow us to start putting some of out debt reduction money into savings also. We could pay it off sooner if we didn't put the money in savings, but with the economy the way it is, we decided it would be smart to start using some of that to build our emergency funds up a little more.

One thing that I know has helped us out in our pursuit is that we are neither one of us BIG spenders. We'll buy nice things every once in a while, but we don't have to have the biggest and best the second it comes out. We often wait until something dies before replacing it. I'm not as faithful as I could be, but I discovered the fun and savings of using coupons. Even Clayton gets excited when we are able to save a ton of money on groceries. After this pregnancy is over and I'm back on me feet, my plan is to go full on into it. We have a pretty decent supply of food, etc. but we aren't where we want to be with our year's supply. We are working on it. A lot of our problem is due to lack of storage space in our house. We need to do some rearranging and decluttering to make more room for our long term storage needs and reorganize the shorter term food. I've been working on that the past couple of weeks as well as putting together a supply list of what we need to get to where we want to be.

Over the years, we have seen significant blessings because of our willingness to follow the teachings of the prophets and get out of debt. It has also helped that we always pay our tithing. We still have our burdens, like a house that is so far underwater that I don't know that we'll ever get out from under it, but even through these difficult economic times, we've never had to worry about where our next meal will come from.

I can't wait to enter into the light at the end of the tunnel...the one that will mean we are out of debt other than our mortgage. The one that means more money for savings and retirement. The one that means we will be able to help others more who are in need. The one that means we can finally be free from the chains.

So much for keeping up...

2011-03-02T11:43:00.000-07:00

I'm sure it happens to all of us. We start off with the best of intentions. The life gets in the way. That's what has happened around here with me and my blog. I was so determined to keep up and then life happened. Andrew got sick in January. Then I got sick...more so than I have been in a long time. Then Andrew got sick. Now Luke and I are sick again. I'm not even sure I fully recovered from the last round.

So, here's a quick update on what's going on with the Myers Clan. Sorry for the long, verbose post. A lot can happen in 6 weeks.

Clayton: He's been SUPER busy at work. It's been a change from what it was like for the first 5 years we were married. Most of the time he was sitting at work with nothing to do so we would get online and chat off and on throughout the day. Now he's so busy that I'm lucky if he gets a lunch break to call me during. It makes my days a little more slow and a lot more lonely. He's doing really well though. His boss is happy with the progress he's made in the time he's been in his new position. He's extremely smart and picks things up quickly. He usually only needs to be shown how to do something once, maybe twice. It has been nice with the new M-F, 8-5 schedule. He's been able to carpool with a friend from church. It's helped with gas money, and the last few weeks have been a lifesaver. We lost our car to a seemingly minor accident so we are down to one car. We've been looking for almost 3 weeks now, but with gas prices soaring, now is not a good time to be trying to find an economical commuter car. We will call on a car that's been posted for less than an hour and it will already be sold. And living out in the middle of the sticks doesn't help either. We don't want to drive an hour, just to find out that a car is not a good fit or to find that it's already been sold. Clayton was released from what we thought would be his eternal calling in the Elders Quorum. The Church has been working on keeping families from being overburdened by having both parents in time intensive callings. Now he's one of three men teaching the Valiant 10/11 year old class. Honestly, this is my favorite. We are both in the Primary now. Before, I could rely on him hearing what's going on around the ward and keep me up to date. Now neither one of us knows what's going and it makes me feel even more isolated that I already did. He's one of those that will do whatever and doesn't complain so I think he likes his calling, but I'm not really sure. :o)

Andrew: Andrew will be 5 years old this Saturday. I can't believe how the time flies. He's as...energetic as ever. He loves going to preschool and playing with friends. He's kind of past learning anything new though. He's a super smart kid. He reads exceptionally well for his age. He started really picking it up last summer, really on his own, and has blown us all away with his ability. He is to the point that he can read a column out of the scriptures by himself with minimal, if any, help with words. Most of the time when he does need help, it's because he's come across an unfamiliar, unusual scripture name. He can count to 100 without really much help. He knows all his letter, shapes, colors. I'm a little worried about kindergarten next year. I have had family members who have gotten in trouble in school simply because they were bored and weren't being challenged. I'm positive that's what will happen to Andrew if he's not kept busy and engaged. It is kind of crazy that my oldest is going to Kindergarten. It was a bit surreal when I stopped by the school to pick up the registration packet. Sometimes it seems like it's been forever since he was born. But that day it made me feel like it just couldn't have been that long. He can either be super helpful (clearing and rinsing everyone's dishes without being asked) or can be a bit of a pill, picking on his brother and not listening to anything anyone tells him. You have to love this age.

Luke: My baby isn't so much a baby anymore, turning 2 in January. He's an independent little guy who is a miniature of his brother. He copies everything Andrew does and says. That's not always a good thing. His latest is calling everyone a "coo coo brain". The only other person in this house who has ever used that term is...yep, Andrew. It is kind of funny when Andrew gets mad at Luke for calling him a name that he has called Luke over and over again for months. And Luke doesn't really understand that it's not nice, no matter how often we remind him. Luke has also taken to biting his brother when he doesn't get what he wants. We've had a lot of time outs around here lately.

Baby: The baby is growing nicely. I'm 32 weeks and 5 days along. I can't wait to be done. I feel like there just isn't any more room in me for this little guy to grow. Fortunately, I have the best OB in the world. Because of my history of big babies (Andrew was 8 lbs 13 oz and Luke was 8 lbs 9 oz and were both induced a week and a half early), Dr. is going to do an ultrasound in 3 or 4 weeks to see how big the baby is getting. He won't let the baby get too big. As long as I make it to 38 weeks (considered full term) and because I respond well to induction, he doesn't see any reason to let the baby get to be huge just because. So hopefully, I'll have some baby pics to post in a few weeks. And no matter what, he's already told me he won't let me go past my April 22 due date. Have I said how much I LOVE my OB?!?!

Me: Other than being sick and uncomfortable in the last weeks of my pregnancy, everything is just chugging along. I'm still the 2nd Counselor in the Primary, a calling that is completely out of my comfort zone. Even as a young girl/woman, I was never really interested in watching or interacting with others' kids. I did babysit a little, but not nearly as much as most girls my age did. And I didn't really enjoy it. It was most always as a favor for one of my parents' friends. And now here I am dealing with everyone's kids. I struggle a lot with how to interact with them. I'm not comfortable going up and giving kids hugs and asking how they are doing. I do much better behind the scenes. I guess that's why we are given callings sometimes, to push us to grow. I've definitely gotten into the nesting stage of my pregnancy. It always comes at the end when I'm too big to do anything that I really want to do and have to wait around for Clayton to help me. We did a lot of purging recently and had a very successful garage sale. It was more to get rid of stuff than to make money, but we did make a tidy little sum. Far more than I expected considering we really didn't have much by way of big ticket items. We got to talk to a lot of really fun, and funny people. I think that was my favorite part. Just talking to the people. I did learn a couple of valuable garage sale lessons. 1st off: Don't open your garage door until you are ready to have people going through your stuff. Clayton went out at 6:30am to put up the signs for our sale that started at 7:30am. He had two gentlemen follow him as he put up the signs. I opened the garage door so Clayton could get in. Even though we told them we weren't "open" yet, they were rifling through our stuff at 6:45am. We sold a lot of stuff that I'm sure they made far more money off later just to get them out of our hair. Next time, I'm not letting anyone buy anything until I'm ready. You can come back later or not at all. 2nd: If you have stuff left over at the end of your sale you don't want to have to deal with or haul off, put up a sign saying all remaining stuff is free. I think we had fewer than 10 small items left when all was said and done. People will take stuff they probably wouldn't buy just because it's free. 3rd: Stuff sells better if it doesn't have a price tag on it. The first day we had a lot of stuff left. I decided to take all the tags off of everything. And it started to sell. I expected people to see a price and try to talk us down. Most of them looked at the price and kept walking. But if they have to ask, it starts the bartering process. I'm already planning the next sale in my head for next fall. I didn't really have the time or the energy to go through the kids' toys so those will go. I'm also going to begin purging of baby clothes, etc. This is our last and we don't have room to keep things we don't need.

So, I think that about sums up what's been going on around here. We have a busy couple of months ahead and I'm sure the baby will be here before we all know it.

Kids....

2011-01-14T20:44:00.000-07:00

So, like my other two pregnancies, I've ended up sleeping on the couch. My back, hips and stomach pretty well require it. Because of this, I often get early morning wake up calls from my early morning eldest son. This morning was no exception. Normally, I am woken to "Mom, I need to go poopoo" or something of the like. This morning was a little different.

Andrew comes walking in. "Mom." "What?" "I don't have my pajama top on and I don't know where it is." I look at him and there he is, shirtless. At some point during the night, he had taken it off. We found it later in the day wrapped up in his bedding. I guess instead of a sleep walker, I have a sleep stripper. I'm not sure if that's good or bad.

And today is Luke's 2nd birthday. I can't believe my baby is 2! Where has this time gone? I look at him and see the baby going and the little boy taking over. I'm not sure what I'll do when my youngest makes that change in a couple of years. It's kind of sad.

Happy New Year?

2011-01-02T17:44:00.000-07:00

So our new year didn't start off so great - messed up plans, kids not doing what they were supposed to, raised voices, tears, etc. I hope that isn't a sign of what's to come this next year!

I've always been the kids to set goals. I haven't been so good at keeping them the past few years. This year I am hoping it will be different. I'm not going to overload myself with goals. Just a couple in each of my categories. And I'm going to work on things just a day at a time instead of trying to look ahead to the future and becoming overwhelmed. We have some exciting things to look forward to this year. And at least two of them are going to happen in April. We will be welcoming the newest, and most likely, last member of our family. I'm due on the 24th, but I'm already measuring big so I figure I'm looking at another early induction to deliver a good sized baby.

About the same time we will be finally paying off the last of our student loans. We have worked hard to get our debts paid off. We followed the advice in "One for our Money" put out by the LDS church. It's simlar to other programs out there. You start by paying off the highest interest debt, then you roll that payment into the next highest interest debt, and so on until you pay it all off. The idea is that you are already used to the money being accounted for and you have to pay less interest this way. We started almost as soon as we got married. I had a student loan and Clayton had a couple of them so we consolidated them since mine had a much lower interest rate than his did and it brought the average total interest down a lot. We had a car payment. We had a small credit card debt. So we worked to pay them off. In April, we will make our final payment on the one loan we have left, paying off Clayton's student loans more than 4 years early. This will leave us with only one major debt - our mortgage.

It is going to feel so nice to have these paid off and not feel like I have a ball and chain wrapped around my neck. It will give us money that will go straight into savings and retirement (since we won't be used to having the money to spend we are just going to save it all).

Clayton is also up for a pay grade promotion that, if it comes through, will also begin the in April. So if you see us in April and we can't stop smiling, you'll know it's because we have a lot of great things happening.

In July, I get to look forward to Andrew starting kindergarten. I'm so excited for him. He loves to learn, is already reading at a pretty high level, and needs constant entertainment. All day kindergarten, here we come!

So what about you? Anything exciting coming up this year? I'd love to hear about it!

Maybe yesterday was just a fluke and isn't a sign of things to come. I'm doing to try my hardest to make sure that isn't the case!

Happy New Year everyone!

Busy day...

2010-11-30T20:24:00.000-07:00

Yet another one out of the mouth of Andrew. We were discussing his day at preschool while we were eating dinner tonight. I asked him who his favorite preschool friend right now is. "Abby." Then he leans over and says in a whisper, "You want to know a secret, Mom? I love her!" And so it begins!

Of course, then there is Luke. He needed a diaper change at church on Sunday. We left the diapers in the car and Clayton had the key so I was looking for him. I found him talking to another guy from the ward in a room. So I waited outside. Next door was one of the Young Women's classes and they had the door open. Luke kept going over to the door, peeking around the corner, smiling, waving, saying "hi". Back and forth, flirting like you wouldn't believe. And of course the girls loved it. Though I'm sure their teacher, who was trying to talk to them about the importance of finances, didn't appreciate the distraction and disturbance.

Am I sure I want another boy?! Guess it's a little late now!

Kids say the darndest things!

2010-11-30T17:01:00.000-07:00

Clayton is off work today. I guess he was wandering around the house with his head and shoulders hunched over. Andrew said, "Dad, you shouldn't walk like the guy on Hunchback of Notre Dame. You walk like that and you'll end up living alone in Paris."

I laughed so hard when Clayton told me that I was crying.

Baby Boy #3

2010-11-29T21:32:00.000-07:00

Today was the big day. We had our ultrasound and we also found out the gender of the baby. I was very relieved to find out that everything is okay with the baby. I've been really worried that the baby wasn't growing right because both of my other boys carried way out in front and I was in maternity clothes by 2-2 1/2 months. I'm 19 1/2 weeks pregnant and I've been in maternity clothes for a little over a week. I still have some of my regular clothes that I can wear. It freaked me out. Of course, when I told people that, they all assumed I was having a girl. I have never thought we were having a girl. I just knew it was another boy. I learned when I was pregnant with Luke that you can't base it on how different your pregnancies are. I wasn't sick at all with Andrew and I was nauseous all the time with Luke.

So all is well with the baby.

A couple of pics of our cute little guy:

He's so excited we know he's a boy. We even got video of him pulling his arm down as if to say, "Yes!!!"

Looks like we've got another little button nose!

Two months...really?!

2010-11-12T10:31:00.000-07:00

Where does the time go? I knew it had been a while since I posted last, but had no idea it had been almost three months! Good grief! It's been a little crazy around here, that's for sure. Shortly after my last post, my grandma passed away, somewhat unexpectedly. She was 92 years old and had lived a good life, but hadn't really had any terminal health problems. She went to sleep one night and the next morning the staff at her care center couldn't wake her up. They think she may have had a brain hemmorage or something during the night. She passed away two days later. I know a lot of my family had a hard time with her passing, and I admit I shed a few tears, but it was such a relief to me. She was a farmer and lived a very hard, but active life. She grew beautiful flowers and amazing gardens. I don't remember a time going to her house as a little girl that we didn't find her tending her gardens or out shoveling the snow off her sidewalk. In recent years she had lost nearly all of her sight and hearing and had such bad knees she could barely walk. She had suffered through some depression. I know she must have felt like she was trapped in an old body with a very young spirit. I was relieved to know she no longer had to suffer with those maladies. She was also reunited with my grandpa who died 14 years ago.

We talked back and forth about going to the funeral, which was not scheduled at a very convenient time for my dad or any of his family (the only ones coming from out of town), but decided I would regret not going since I had missed my grandpa's funeral. He died during the middle of finals my freshman year in college. Through some miracle from above, both of my dad's kids who live out of state were able to make it. I was so glad we did. My dad really needed the support of his family because of some ugly drama that was occuring among his siblings. It was fun to get to see my brother and his family for a few days and for him to meet Luke. Living so far apart, me in AZ and him in Washington and now Arkansas, has made getting together hard. My boys loved that their uncle Vance would get down and wrestle with them and play with them.

By the time we got home, I was completely exhausted. It's been nearly 6 weeks and I still don't feel like I've recovered from it all. This pregnancy is wiping me out far worse than my last two. I get winded really quickly and have no energy to do anything. On a happier note though, I'm nearly 17 weeks along and I'm still in my regular clothes. Sometimes I wonder if I'm really still pregnant - I am, no worries.

Halloween was fun for Andrew, not so much for Luke who was sick and missed out on a lot of the festivities.

Luke was Superbaby and Andrew was a pit crew worker for Lightning McQueen. He even corrected some guy at my mom's trunk-or-treat who dared to call him a Nascar driver. That kid is funny!

We also put up a new play area for the kids and they LOVE it!

Now we are preparing for Thanksgiving and I'm finishing up my Christmas shopping. I bottled some pickles, which wasn't smart. The lingering smell made me want to vomit just being in my house. Next time the pickles will wait until I'm not pregnant anymore. :o)

Okay, I think I'm caught up for now. I'm hoping to do a better job of staying caught up. But I'm not making any promises!

Down and out...but hopefully not for the count

2010-09-20T16:44:00.000-07:00

Pregnancy is whooping my behind this time around. I don't remember being this tired and out of it with either of my past two pregnancies. Maybe it's because I'm trying to keep up with more kids. I sleep pretty well at night, even if I do have some very strange dreams (that's not really anything new for me). But I have to just drag myself out of bed by 8am to get Andrew to preschool on the days he goes. By the time I get myself showered and dressed, I'm sick to my stomach and need to eat something. And then I'm pretty well wiped out. Yet, I have to drag myself through until Luke naps in the afternoon. Most of the time, I take a nap when he does, but Andrew always finds a reason to come in and wake me up no matter how well I plan. My house has been a disaster. I finally forced myself to deal with the three weeks worth of clean laundry that needed to be ironed and put away. I feel like I've succeeded when I get me and the kids dressed in clothes and fed three meals a day.

It hasn't helped too much that I'm having a "Luke" pregnancy, rather than an "Andrew" pregnancy. Other than being a little tired, I felt great with Andrew. No morning sickness. Toward the end, I had heartburn every night, but I just kept a bottle of Tums by the bed and I was able to deal. Luke was a different story. I started to get nauseous early on and it lasted at least the first half of my pregnancy. No sacrifices to the porcelain king, but just a general gross feeling all day. It's that way this time also. I start feeling really sick about 2 hours after I eat and it's at its worst right before bed.

And to make matters worse, add to that the fact that I had a bout of vertigo kick in Saturday night that just about took me out for good yesterday and it's been pretty rough going. The vertigo is a little better today, but I have a headache that just won't seem to go away for long.

It's days like I've had lately that make me wonder why it is we women go through all of this to bring kids into the world. I guess it's a good thing our brains block out the "trauma" of it all so we'll do it again.

Kids say the darndest things....

2010-08-11T17:58:00.003-07:00

Here are some of Andrew's latest quips:

After being told to get dressed and brush his teeth to go to preschool: "Mom, I can't handle you telling me what to do anymore!"

After asking to ride his bike to preschool, which is about 3-4 miles away, and being told it's too far: "Mom! It's not that far. It's in Arizona! It's not like it's in Nevada or Idaho!"

In response to being told he needed to rest because he wasn't feeling well and it would help him get better: "That will help me, but Heavenly Father and Jesus can make me better, too. I think I'll just let them make me better. I don't want to rest."

"I shouldn't have to clean up the toys." "Who should? Should I have to pick up your mess?" "No, let's just not clean it up."

"I'm going to have a blue neatbot and a yellow neatbot when I'm a grown up and I live in this house." "When you are a grown up, I think you'll move out and live somewhere else." "But, Mom, I love you!"

And Luke is finally starting to form words:

Last night after Daddy left to go on Elders' Quorum visits, he went to the front door and said, "Dada bye bye!"

After talking to Daddy on the phone at lunch time today, "Dada bye bye! Ome!" waving and then pointing at the garage door where Clayton usually comes home.

Overcoming Fears

2010-07-24T21:18:00.000-07:00

I have been afraid of the water from birth. My mom has told me many times how even as a baby, I hated being in the water. I would fight her just to take a bath. Like any good mom, she signed me up for swimming lessons, hoping that would help me overcome my fears. Unfortunately, that's not how it worked out. I ended up in a class with a swim instructor that didn't work with me on getting my face wet...she just pushed my face in the water. And she did it on a day my mom was there watching. Needless to say my mom, a former swim teacher, yanked me out of lessons so fast I probably got whiplash. I never went back.

My fear of water never receeded and has followed me well into adulthood. I've always wanted to be able to swim, but have always hated getting my face wet. In fact, it wasn't until after giving birth that I was even able to get my face wet in the shower. I guess I figured if I survived labor and delivery, I could handle putting my face in the running water of the shower. Pools are a totally different story.

Andrew seems to have inherited my fear of getting his face wet. I was hoping swimming lessons would help him, but they just let him kick on a kickboard and when he would jump into the pool, catch him before he got his face wet. So, we went to my mom's today to see if we could work with him a little bit. I decided that I couldn't expect him to get his face wet if I wasn't willing to get mine wet. So we would both go underwater. That's quite an accomplishment for me. I'm still not up to proper swim breathing, but it's a start.

Feeling rather confident after a couple of hours in the pool, I decided to do something that I never imagined I would ever do. I jumped into the pool from the side. Now, keep in mind that when I get nervous, I laugh. Yes, I was nervous jumping into the pool. Mid-jump, I started laughing and about drown myself. But I came up and survived. I can't even begin to tell you how scared I was standing on the side of the pool. Clayton was awesome and encouraged me to do it.

So, I did something today that completely terrified me. And I feel GREAT!! I may actually be able to swim laps one of these days. I am capable of swimming...just as long as my face is out of the water and I don't have to swim very far. My goal is to someday have a pool and get up every morning and swim laps. Who knows, if I can get my running up to snuff and my biking up to par, I may just try out a triathalon with Heidi! But probably not for a year or two. ;o)

Mean Mommy...I mean Toy Fairy

2010-07-18T21:24:00.000-07:00

For those who haven't been to our house as of late, we made one of the bedrooms into a play room. I did this thinking it would keep the toys out of my livingroom and give the kids a room of their own to have fun in. Andrew is notorious for getting out a million toys and then complaining when he has to put them away. We have tried everything to get him to pick up...up to and including taking away the toys that are still left out. Nothing has worked. So, I decided to try something pretty drastic. It's either going to work or blow up in my face. Let's hope it's the former and not the latter.

After spending over 30 minutes in the play room "picking up", nothing had been done. In fact, I think it was a bigger mess than when he went to pick it up. So I sent him to bed and we had a visit from the Toy Fairy. The Toy Fairy is much like the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. He, however, is in charge of the welfare of kids' toys. He watches to make sure they are being properly cared for, played with and put away. When he sees that these things aren't happening as they should, he comes and takes away the toys to a safe place for proper keeping. In order for kids to earn back their toys, they must prove they will take care of the toys when asked by their mommies and daddies. This is done by them proving they can listen and follow directions given by said mommies and daddies. When this is done, the toys will slowly find their way back into the playrooms and toyboxes around the world. If this doesn't happen, the toys will find their way to a new, more loving home. The Toy Fairy left a letter for Andrew explaining where his toys went. We had already talked about him starting to do chores this next week. If he does his chores when he's asked, and does the best job he can in doing them, he will get a toy or two back.

I guess I should be thankful this happened during the summer because my back patio is full of black trash bags filled to the brim with toys. I don't know what I would have done with them if it was cool enough for the kids to play outside.

I know it sounds a little harsh, but I didn't know what to do. We'll see if it works. Like I said, it may blow up in my face and I'll be looking for a new home for hundreds of dollars worth of toys. But in the long run, if he's not really going to use them or play with them, there is no point in them taking up an entire room of our house.

So, we'll see what kind of hysterics I awaken to in the morning... But until then, I take some comfort in the fact that the playroom is cleaner than it has been since we moved all the toys in there. :o)

Vacation

2010-06-23T17:22:00.000-07:00

Not that I have been super faithful about posting, but we'll be going on vacation for the next couple of weeks. I doubt I'll have time to post anything. But when I get home, I'll have all kinds of updates and pictures. So stay tuned!

Summer Adventure

2010-06-08T13:22:00.000-07:00

I'm not trying to brag, but I have a very intelligent 4-year old. He was talking in full sentences by the time he was 2 and can remember things that I have completely forgotten about that happened months ago. He's been in Primary for 5 months now and already has the first 5 Articles of Faith memorized. We are using an Ice Cream Party as incentive for him to memorize all 13. He's so excited he may have them all down by the end of the year.

I was looking for something to do that would increase his desire to read scriptures and also help him continue to learn to read. I found the perfect thing! The Summer Scripture Reading Challenge from Scriptures 4 Kids. A bonus is that it's being sponsored by DeseretBook.com and if the kids complete 30 days they get a $5 online gift card and if they read for 60 days, it's $10. We introduced it last night during FHE. As an added incentive, we are going to have a party at the end of the summer if Andrew completes the 60-day challenge. I'm not sure the details, but that got him super excited! So today will be our first day. I'm hoping that it goes well. He doesn't have the longest attention span. But I'm hoping the struggles that will come will be worth it and lead to a love of the scriptures and also a stronger foundation for reading!

Why not join the adventure with your kids? For my friends that live in my area, let me know if you decide to take on the challenge and we'll make sure you're on the invitation list to our party!

End of Preschool

2010-05-27T15:33:00.000-07:00

Andrew finished his first year of preschool today. I can't believe how fast it has gone by. He's kind of sad because most of his classmates will be going on to kindergarten next year and he doesn't really understand why he can't go. But I know he'll have fun again next year. They had their party at a park and had a little program at the beginning where the kids sang a few songs for the mommies and daddies and then they handed out certificates for the kids. While the kids were singing, they were being really quiet. Miss Amber asked them to do it again louder. Another parent said, "Are you even singing? We can't hear you." Andrew responded, "Our mouths are moving, aren't they?!" What a little smarty mouth.

He'll also be finishing up soccer and is looking forward to swimming lessons this summer. He doesn't know it yet, but we'll also be doing the Summer Movie program. What a deal. 10 movies for $7. And he has only seen half of the movies. I'm not sure how Luke's going to do, but I'm sure he'll think it's fun. So much summer fun to look forward to!

Catch up...

2010-04-29T15:05:00.000-07:00

I feel like that's all I've been doing lately...catching up. It's been a pretty crazy month around here. It started with Clayton transitioning to his new job at Intel. He's working Monday-Friday now instead of Thursday-Saturday and every other Wednesday. It's nice to have him home on Saturdays and to get to do things with other people, but I sure do miss having him home that extra day or two a week. In fact I haven't been grocery shopping in nearly three weeks because I hate taking the kids alone and our Saturdays have been super busy.

This is the first time since Clayton and I got married that he was able to watch all of General Conference. It was nice to have him around to help with the kids. I really enjoyed Conference and downloaded all the talks almost immediately. So many things that I needed to hear...over and over again. Easter was a lot of fun. We had the Easter Bunny come Friday night so that we could spend Sunday focusing on the true meaning of Easter. He sure left a mess this year. There were Easter Bunny droppings all over the floor.

Did YOU know that the Easter Bunny poops jelly beans? That's what all of those little dots are all over the carpet. They are kind of hard to see. The kids had a lot of fun with their stuff and it kept them occupied for about the first 15 minutes of the Saturday morning session of Conference. We also had our own little egg hunt in our backyard. Andrew was going so fast that Luke didn't stand a chance. We tried leaving one egg empty and were hoping to explain it to Andrew, but he started opening eggs with my grandma and got the empty one and just tossed it to the side and moved on since I hadn't filled in the grandparents on the plan. Whoops!

Andrew started soccer and has had a great time. It's been good for him to learn how to play with others and that winning isn't everything. He already knew all of the kids on his team except two so he's really had fun with that.

I finally caved in and got Luke's hair cut. I didn't want to cut off all the curls, but his aunt put his hair in pig tails and I decided it was time. He's still cute, but I feel like I left my baby in the salon and brought home someone else's little boy. He did really well. The only things he didn't like were the squirt bottle and the trimmers.

He's still pretty darn cute, don't you think?

I've been preparing for the American Cancer Society Relay for Life in Florence. I'm looking forward to the even tomorrow night, but it's been a little stressful. I thought it was going to be raising a little money and doing my share of the walking. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I'm happy I've done it and next year I'll be better prepared!

And to top it all off, both of the boys have been sick this past week. Luke still isn't feeling great. And all three of my boys have been fighting allergies all month. So we've been pretty busy around here. Hopefully it won't be another month before I post.

Stalled...

2010-04-01T15:11:00.000-07:00

So I thought this early morning thing would be great. What I didn't count on was the fact that the kids would decide they need to get up early, too. So instead of getting in exercise, I'm having to get them ready to go for the day. And for Luke especially, it hasn't been good. He normally sleeps until 8:30am so waking up at 7am, when he's not going to bed any earlier, has made for a very temperamental little boy. And Andrew seems to be crankier than usual, too. Hopefully, in a week or two, we'll all adjust and it will work out the way I want. I think dad used to leave early enough that they were still in a deep sleep. Now he's late enough that they are hearing him and deciding it's time to rise and shine. Oh, well. At least Clayton's alarm isn't waking me up at 4:30am, and 4:37am, and 4:43am....

Engines Revved

2010-03-30T10:47:00.000-07:00

So Clayton's schedule changed this week. Since we got married, he's been working Th, F, S and every other W, 6a-6p. Yesterday he started M-F, 8a-5p. I've decided to start getting up when he gets up to exercise and get my day going. We've been a little later than we planned getting up, but it's been so nice to have some time in the morning before the kids wake up for me. Today, I got in my exercise, sprayed weeds, did the huge pile of dishes we had in the sink, and cleaned the kitchen all before the kids got up. And I feel revved up and ready to tear through the rest of the day. Tomorrow, I'm definitely getting up on time so I can get in my exercise and all again. I think this may just be a good thing. Even if I'm not a morning person!

2010-03-27T21:55:00.000-07:00

“All children need a laptop. Not a computer, but a human laptop. Moms, Dads, Grannies and Grandpas, Aunts, Uncles— someone to hold them, read to them, teach them. Loved ones who will embrace them and pass on the experience, rituals and knowledge of a hundred previous generations. Loved ones who will pass to the next generation their expectations of them, their hopes, and their dreams.”

General Colin L. Powell

A little behind...

2010-03-18T15:52:00.000-07:00

And I'm not talking about what I sit on. ;o) The past few weeks have been just crazy, hectic. Clayton's transitioning into a new position at Intel that will change his schedule to M-F. We have been trying to take full advantage of his few remaining long weekends to get as much done as possible. Here is some of the fun we've been having though....

Nothing like a little family time to really make a day better. We've been enjoying the awesome weather in the evenings and eating on the patio and building a fire in the fire pit to roast marshmallows over.

We've also done the marshmallow roasting in pajamas. The kids love it and we enjoy the time together.

The kiddos decided to dig in the dirt in my planters. They made a huge mess, but had so much fun that I couldn't get mad. Needless to say, they went straight into the bathtub when they were done.

Andrew found a hibernating lizard in the sandbox. He screamed, jumped, then decided it was pretty cool once Grandpa Max washed it off and set it on the blocks to warm up. The poor thing couldn't move for hours so it just had to deal with all of us staring and poking at it.

So we've been having fun and we are looking for a lot more fun to happen in the future! Here's hoping I can stay on top of the posting.

Fit Girls' Challenge

2010-01-22T14:19:00.000-07:00

So some ladies I know from church put together this challenge - exercise 40 hours in 16 weeks. It's basically 30 minutes 5 days a week. Not really that big of a deal. We all put in $10 and the two with the most time get a prize with additional prizes going to pretty much everyone. It started Monday and it had been fabulous. On the days I haven't felt like exercising, I remember that all those women who are doing it and it gives me the added push to get it done.

Now, admittedly, I'm probably at the bottom of the totem pole for physical fitness of the women participating, but that's part of what keeps me going. No offense to you lovely ladies, but I'd love to be able to prove that I can do it, too. And I also have a lot more in the long run to gain that those who are just trying to become more physically fit rather than trying to do that and lose weight.

I think it's a great thing to have a support system to help keep you moving. So I want to thank Laura and Amber for putting this thing together! Can't wait to see us all at the end! I"m sure we'll all be even more fabulous than we already are!

Second Child

2010-01-21T10:31:00.000-07:00

I'm a little frustrated right now. I don't know if this is normal, but it seems like my second child isn't as special as the first and therefore doesn't get half of what the first one did.

When I had my first, I had two baby showers thrown for me. For my second, no one even offered. When my first was born, everyone came to the hospital and family flew in from out of state, bringing flowers, balloons, and a giant Winnie the Pooh that he loves. With my second, half the people came, none from out of state, and he has not one stuffed animal for him to love. When my first turned 1, everyone came to his party. When my second turned 1, there was a quickly planned wedding that could have been scheduled for pretty much anytime, but "had" to be scheduled the weekend after his birthday, pushing off the party...that no one seems to be able to make.

I don't feel like I can scrapbook the first's baby showers because I don't want to have to try to explain to the second why there aren't any pictures because there weren't any baby showers for him. Or even the pictures from the hospital because I'll have to explain why there are no flowers, balloons or anything celebrating his birth. And now it's the 1st birthdays that will have to be left out.

My second, even if he is my second boy, should be treated as if he's just as special as the first was, but for some reason, he's not. It's as if him being the second boy makes him not as unique or special or deserving.

Okay, enough of my rantings.

Luke's 1 year check up

2010-01-20T10:05:00.000-07:00

Luke went in yesterday for his 1 year wellness check. I still can't believe it's been a year and neither can his doctor. He checked out perfectly healthy. His weight is a little low, but we figured that's because he does nothing but go, go, go all day long. I'm so excited to officially move him from formula to whole milk and to be able to put him in a forward-facing car seat...as soon as we get one. :o)

The only part of yesterday that I didn't like was that I had to take him by myself so that Clayton could take Andrew to preschool and meet the delivery guys who were bringing the boys' new beds. So I had the enviable job of holding down Luke while he got a shot in the back of each arm, one shot in one leg and two shots in the other. It is heartbreaking to know that you are causing your child pain, even for something that could keep him from getting sick later on!

I know you are all dying to know how Luke measured! So, without further ado: Height: 31 1/4 inches, Weight: 22lbs, 1 oz., Head 18 1/2 inches in circumference. He's in the 90th percentile for his height, and the 50th or so for weight and head measurements. He's my tall, skinny kid! And he's just cute as can be...except the temper tantrums he's throwing, thanks to big brother showing him how it's done!

Love you kiddo! Here's to another year of health and happiness!

My baby is 1!

2010-01-14T16:34:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it has been a year since Luke was born. It seems like it has just flown by. The first few months after he arrived were hectic with Clayton finishing his Masters degree and gone or busy with school work a lot.

He's such a happy baby...except for when he's not. He has learned from the best (his big brother) how to throw a three-year old size temper tantrum when he doesn't get what he wants. But when he does get it, he's all smiles. His face just lights up a room. Even his eyes smile.

And where he got it, we really don't know, but he's got the curliest hair. Blonde curls all over his head. It's funny to look back at pictures before it turned curly. He doesn't look like the same little man.

He's walking like a crazy man now. Almost running. He started taking steps around Thanksgiving and by Christmas was moving around pretty well. Now he's all over the place. He only crawls to get to something to use to help him stand up, then away he goes. And he's my climber! He climbed into Andrew's rocking chair months ago. A couple of weeks ago, I caught him climbing into the chair and up over the arm of the couch. Man, I'm going to be in trouble. He climbs on anything and everything he can. I'm sure one of these days I'll find him on the fridge or something crazy.

So, Happy Birthday, Little Luke! We love having you in our home and in our family. We are so blessed by you each and every day. We Love You!

Top 10 of 2009

2009-12-31T15:30:00.007-07:00

Here are the top 10 happenings in the Myers family for 2009

1: Luke Ryan Myers joined our family on January 14 (10 days before my due date) at 7:48pm, weighing in at a hefty 8lbs 9oz and measuring 21.5 inches long. He's been a joy in our family and his smile and personality just light up the room! And who doesn't love that curly mop top of his?!

2: Andrew turned 3 years old and started preschool in the fall. I can't believe how fast he's grown up. He speaks like a little grown up and is so smart it's scary sometimes. He's active and loves his little brother...sometimes too much.

3: We were able to spend two weeks in Idaho with my family. It was so much fun to get to spend time with loved ones and get to show my family some of the spectacular sites of Idaho.

4: Over the course of the year, we were able to pay off our car and two of our three student loans. And we aren't too far from paying off the last one. We used the ideas from the LDS Church's guide "One for the Money" and have been able to pay off a lot of debt faster than we might have otherwise.

5: Clayton turned the big 3-0 this year. It was nice to have my honey join me in the 30s. It was a pretty quiet day, but it makes me feel better that we are both in the same decade of age again.

6: 4th of July was a good one for us. Clayton and I hadn't been to a fireworks show since we got married and decided to find one. We ended up in Coolidge and boy was it a fun day. Clayton's brother and nephew joined us and we took the kids to the pool for some free swimming. Then we headed to the park to wait for the fireworks. They had all kinds of bounce houses and water slides to keep the kids busy. And the fireworks display was amazing. It lasted for a full 52 minutes! That's right... 52 minutes! Almost an hour. We will definitely be going back next year.

7: Clayton finished his Masters and graduated with his Masters of Science in Information Management. It was a long year and we have loved having him back full time. It was actually a busy month for the Myers boys. All three of the brothers received a degree within a week of each other.

8: After over three years of staring at a brown back yard, we finally planted grass. It's green...mostly due to some strange fern-like plant that I've never seen that has taken over the backyard. Maybe one of these years, we'll actually have a real grass yard...but at least for now the back yard is green.

9: This year, I decided to get serious about food storage. I bought a wheat grinder and a bosch mixer and have been making my own bread. We have stored up a lot of canned food items as well as dry items. We still have a ways to go before we have a full year supply, but we are well on our way.

10: We tried to grow a garden last year, but we got it in a little too late so everything fried in the hot summer sun before it could fruit. This year, we started a little earlier and were able to enjoy fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, etc. It was so great to eat something that I grew myself. We still were totally successful, but we were one step closer and looking forward to trying again this year.

The Season of Gift Giving

2009-12-26T10:40:00.003-07:00

I'm one of those people who likes to believe that no matter what our circumstances, we always have a chance at a new beginning in our lives. We can start right now to change something or improve ourselves to make our lives happier. Now I don't really go with "New Year's Resolutions", but I do sit down each year and map out a list of goals for me to work on through the year. Then I try to review them every couple of months to see how I've been doing. In the past, those goals have included paying off debt, finishing schooling, reading books, improving my spiritual progress, working on relationships with people and many others.

This year I decided to think of it in a different way. For our Relief Society Enrichment, they had each of the sisters write a gift for our Savior on a piece of paper and put it in a stocking to hang on the tree. As I've thought about this, I've decided to change my perspective on my new beginnings. Instead of setting "goals", I'm going to make a list of gifts I want to offer...to my Savior, my loved ones and myself. For example, a gift to the Savior may be to offer more sincere and diligent prayers. Or to give the gift of time to your children. Or to set aside a little time for yourself to do the things that will rejuvenate you and fill your cup.

I have only started the process of making out my "Gift" list. As I ponder over the things that I need to improve upon, instead of thinking what I am going to get out of each one, I want to look at it as how can I give something. I do have items on my list already to give to others, but I also feel it's important to do things for ourselves. If my cup is empty, I cannot give to those who are most important to me. So I will work on filling my own cup as I fill the cups of those most important to me.

I encourage each of you to think of "Gifts" you can give to those most important in your life. And please remember to put yourself on the list.

Losing Wisdom

2009-12-04T08:57:00.001-07:00

I have a bone to pick with whoever it was that decided we needed to have wisdom teeth. Why would we have teeth come in that more than 90% of the time need to be removed? And why make them so that they become more difficult to remove as we get older? And why make a tooth that will decay even if it hasn't come in and isn't really exposed to anything damaging?

So I had to have a wisdom tooth, my last one, surgically removed last Thursday. It was my last one and the one that hadn't ever broken through. I have been putting it off for years, having been told by a former dentist to wait until it came in. Well, that wasn't the best advice.

So after going through the painful process of being numbed - I hate the shot in the roof of my mouth - it began. Only for the dentist to tell me that he was having problems getting a hold of it because it was the consistency of cookie dough from the decay. After some very uncomfortable pulling, yanking, and pushing, the decision was made to bring out the big guns. He ended up breaking the tooth into pieces to remove it. I kind of wish he'd have done that to start with. It would have been a much quicker process. So one wisdom tooth and the wisdom that came with it later....I got home, the numbness started to wear off, and the pain set in. Even taking prescription painkillers barely took the edge off the pain. I spent all day in bed just trying not to cry. I have a pretty high pain tolerance, but I had already been through a sore jaw from a cleaning and a couple of fillings the week prior. My mouth had taken all it could.

So I'm a few days post surgery, and my mouth is still a little swollen and sore. I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever be able to brush my teeth without my gums bleeding near the extraction site.

But at least I will never have to have another tooth surgically extracted from below the gums ever again. Just don't be surprised if I'm a little slower than I used to be. I just lost my last bit of "wisdom"!

Any girl would be jealous

2009-11-19T15:37:00.002-07:00

I've always wanted curly hair. When I was little, it took a jar of Dippity-Doo and half a can of hairspray to get my hair to hold enough curls for one of my ballet recitals. A perm was gone in about a week. As I got older, my hair started to get curly and when I got married, it was finally starting to look like I'd get the curls I wanted. Then I had a baby. Now it's just a little bit of messy, uncontrollable wave, but nothing like the curls I'd love to have.

Andrew got my strait as a stick hair from my childhood. It used to get a little flip when it would get too long, but not anymore. Straight, straight, straight.

Then there is Luke. I don't know where he got it, but he's got the curliest hair. When he gets out of the bath tub, tight curls cover the top of his head. And they are beginning to spread to the back, too. It's just not fair! I want those curls. :o) And I'm sure he's going to grow to hate them someday. If they stick around, he'll probably want to cut them off.

And here I am, drooling over those curls that any girl would love to have. And did I mention his eyelashes fall in the covet-worthy category, too? He got those from his dad. Thick, long BLACK eyelashes.

I'm going to go repent of coveting my kid's hair and eyelashes now...

Leaving Your Mark

2009-11-12T08:58:00.003-07:00

So, anyone who knew me back in my glory days of high school would tell you I was relatively shy, stuck pretty much to my own little group of friends, and tended to blend in with the wall. I wasn't popular, but I wasn't anything else either. I just was. I got along with pretty well everyone, but didn't really have a huge circle of friends. And to be honest, I didn't think I would have had a lasting impression on anyone. I learned otherwise yesterday.

I got an email from a woman that I went to high school with. It was a simple, short email. The subject heading was "Thank you!" It went on to say how this person was grateful for me doing all the work when we were science lab partners because she didn't and couldn't understand what was going on. And how much she admired my ability to grasp the concepts and help her out with them.

Now, I have to admit, I only vaguely remember her being my lab partner in Chemistry my junior year nearly 16 years and half my lifetime ago. I have no recollection of doing all the work or really of grasping it all that well. Chemistry involves a lot of math and I'm not very good at math. It didn't mean enough to me for me to remember it. But it must have meant something to her. Her thank you made my day. I've been feeling pretty lousy the past week or so. That little thank you shone a bright ray of sunshine into my day.

This just testified to me of how important it is to act as a disciple of Christ at all time and in all things because I never know who may be watching or listening to me. Something that I think is unimportant may leave a lasting impression on someone. So my challenge to myself, and to all of you, is to be the best person you can each and every day. Treat everyone you meet with kindness and respect. Let your light so shine that others will see the image of the Lord in your countenance. And to thank the people in your life who have meant something to you or impacted your life in some way, no matter how long ago it was. We all need to know that what we do makes a difference, even if it was something so simple that we don't remember it.

Halloween Festivities

2009-11-11T09:16:00.006-07:00

So I know I'm a little late posting this and have once again been MIA, but I'm hoping I'm back on the band wagon again.

For Halloween this year, we went to our ward Trunk-or-Treat the night before Halloween. It was a lot of fun and for the first time ever, we actually handed out candy instead of just swiping everyone else's. The only problems I encountered were that the older kids' costumes were a bit overwhelming and scary for the little kids. My 3 year old doesn't understand that it's only fake blood or fake facial piercings or that the boy dressed like a girl is actually a boy. Considering it was a church function, I was a little disappointed in our youth. If you want to be grusome and ghoulish, save it for non-church festivities. Okay, off my high horse. My other problem was that many of the older kids came around for seconds and thirds of candy before most of the other kids had been around once. Come on you guys, you don't really need all that candy. I started to cut them off after the second or third time around.

Halloween night, we went to Clayton's sister's house. She lives in a pretty upscale neighborhood. She had her golf cart on steriods hooked up to a trailer with hay bales. They took the kids Trick-or-Treating on the hay wagon. Andrew had a blast. The only mishap we had was one episode of jumping off the wagon before it had stopped. Crazy enough, he landed on his feet and took off running.

So, what did the kids dress up as, you ask? I had a very handsome fireman and one crazy, cute monkey!

My Little Firefighter

2009-10-01T09:36:00.004-07:00

Recently, the Florence library had a special story time. They invited the local fire department to come and talk to the kids. They learned about firesafety. They got to see a firefighter dressed up in all his gear. They gave all the kids their own fire hat.

And the best part for the kids, they got to tour a real live fire truck. Andrew had such a fantastic time and it has inspired him to be a firefighter for Halloween.

For a little boy, this was a dream come true!

Update

2009-09-22T10:24:00.002-07:00

Man, it seems like time just flies sometimes. I keep meaning to post something and then life gets in the way. So for a quick recap of what's been going on around our neck of the woods:

Luke is growing like a weed. He's 9 months old and crawling and cruising the furniture like a mad man. He's got two teeth and loves to eat anything he can feed himself. He adores his big brother, sometimes to the dismay of his mommy and daddy... This adoration usually leads to mimicking of Andrew's temper tantrums.

Andrew is loving preschool, but really struggling with the concept of rules. He often refuses to help clean up and school and his new favorite phrase is, "I don't want to!" This has led to a lot of time in time out and on more than a few occasions lost privileges. But we love the little stinker, nonetheless.

Clayton and I have decided to finally get our rears in gear and lose the extra weight we've been carrying around for far too long. We started a health challenge and I've been using SparkPeople.com to help me keep track of what I eat. I'm not sure how much weight Clayton has lost, but he's now exercising 5-6 days a week and has cut out the soda. I'm down 9 lbs so far and we're just finishing up week four of our challenge. We've also been working on making our home a place where the Spirit resides instead of occasionally visits. We've been trying really hard to not yell at the kids and to focus more on teaching the gospel. We have some days that are better than others, but it's definitely a marked improvement over a month ago...especially for me.

So there's been a lot going on. I'm hoping to get back on the bandwagon. I still need to get pictures of the kids off of Clayton's computer so I can post them.

The End of My Journey as a Single Woman!

2009-09-15T08:41:00.003-07:00

So, Clayton and I went out for Valentine's Day. He thought it would be fun to dress up. SO I just knew that he was going to propose. The evening was great, but not what I had expected. The next night, Clayton came over and we were just hanging out talking. He turns to me and says, "So, hypothetically speaking, would May be too soon?" "Too soon?" "Yeah, too soon." "For what?" "To get married?" "Uh, no..." The discussion continued and ended with us having set May 28 as our wedding date. Still no ring. Still no official proposal. Because it was a holiday weekend that we had chosen, we decided we had better call the temple ASAP.

In the mean time, I was on my way home from work one night and called Clayton like I usually did. We chatted with some "Hang on a seconds" on his end. He asked me where I was and I told him just a couple of miles from home. I heard a bit of panic in his voice, but couldn't figure out why. When I turned the corner to get home, I saw his car parked in its usual spot. I opened the garage door, but my mom's car was gone. Curious. Just moments later, my mom's car turned the corner and I saw her and Clayton in the car. I wonder what THEY could have been up to. Clayton was acting all weird and when we decided to all go out to dinner together, he wouldn't let me sit in the front seat with my mom. So she chauffered us all over town. Very odd. But I knew deep down what was going on.

On March 1, I called the temple and scheduled our sealing, still with no ring or proposal. Clayton wanted to go out on the 4th, but wasn't feeling good. He called the next day and we planned to go out to dinner. He thought it would be fun to dress up "since we hadn't done that in a while." I knew what was coming...FINALLY! So he picked me up and we went out to Pei Wei for dinner. We were then planning to head up to the Fountain Hills/Scottsdale area to a lookout. But when we left dinner, Clayton headed the wrong direction. We pulled up to the Mesa Temple and he told me we should walk around for a while. He walked me over to the east side of the temple on the walkway and stopped. He got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. He had barely gotten out the question before I jumped on him and said "YES!" I couldn't believe it! I was finally, at 27 (and nearing 28) going to get married!

The next few months were filled with planning and getting everything together.

And on May 28, 2005 at 10:43am at the Mesa, AZ Temple, we were pronounced husband and wife. It's been an awesome and sometimes frustrating journey, but I love Clayton with all my heart and can't imagine spending the rest of my life with anyone else! I love you so so so so so much, Honey! Thanks for putting up with me!

MIA

2009-09-09T10:47:00.001-07:00

Sorry about not posting anything for a while. We went to Idaho for a couple of weeks on vacation and just got back. I'll be posting pics from our trip as well as finishing off Clayton's and my story soon. So check back soon for updates!

Bowling, Our First Date, and Courtship

2009-08-18T14:48:00.002-07:00

The first weekend of every month, a group of us would go bowling so I invited Clayton to come to our outing in October. He agreed. Usually a couple of us would go over early to get our names on the list for open bowling as soon as we could. Since I had offered Clayton a ride and it was my and Bridgette's turn to reserve the lanes, we were going to head out a little early. The Thursday night before bowling, he asked if Bridgette and I were going to get something to eat. Nope. Did I want to grab something before going. Sure. (WOOHOO) Did I want to invite Bridgette. NO! Bridgette is my bestest friend, but I wanted some alone time with Clayton. And she was not offended when I told her the plan.

The night of bowling came and Clayton took me to dinner at Charleston's. I was so stinking nervous. Clayton was super cute and really nice. It didn't help that his plate came with half the food mine did. Talk about making me look like a..well...You know. We laughed about it and still do sometimes. We picked up Bridgette and went to the bowling alley. After everyone got there and we started bowling, I made the mother of all foot-in-mouth statements. Clayton was wearing a pair of cargo shorts. The pockets had zippers and velcro. I went to flip the velcro open, but it was stuck and wouldn't pull easily. I innocently said, "I guess I should have gone for your zipper." I immediately realize what I'd said and turned purple with embarassment and started laughing. Clayton didn't get what was so funny...until later. As he was preparing to bowl a frame, it occurred to him what I had said. I just knew after that incident, I'd scared him off for good.

But to my delight, I was wrong. He asked me out to dinner the next Wednesday, three days before I was leaving for Idaho for a week. We went to Carrabba's and had a nice dinner. Then we got back to my house and sat in the car talking. He got brave and reached for my hand. We decided to go inside and chat and after a while... our first kiss.

It was hard for me to leave for Idaho. I wanted to do something nice for Clayton since I was leaving over midterms. I made him up a little goodie bag and left it on his door. We talked over the week and were so glad to see each other. Things quickly got serious between us. I think we both somewhere deep down realize that what we had wasn't run of the mill romance. It was hard for me because he was finishing his last semester at ASU so was often busy with school projects and studying. I took whatever time he could make for me. Meeting his family was a little intimidating, but they were all nice and seemed to accept me right away. I knew by the beginning of November that Clayton was the man I wanted to marry. It took him a little longer to decide. He told his mom right around graduation from ASU in December that I was the one. Now came the longest wait of my life....

Shopping Trip

2009-08-13T21:28:00.002-07:00

So I promise to get back to Clayton's and my story soon. I just had to share my latest shopping trip to Fry's. This was 5 separate transactions with coupons from the 8/2 Kellogg's insert and 8/2 RP inserts.

16 boxes of Cereal
10 boxes of Snack Packs
10 boxes of Eggos
15 packages of Knorr Sides
10 packages of Keebler Cookies
8 jars of Ragu

Spent $61.77 after coupons, sales and MIR
Saved $195.77 = 76% savings

I'll be going back for more cereal, Nutrigrain bars and Rice Krispie Treats (they were out of the last two). Woo Hoo!!! I LOVE SAVING MONEY!

I'll post a pic of the whole mess tomorrow. I need to clean off my camera first.

Looking and Dancing - The Myers' Story, Part 3

2009-08-06T13:51:00.002-07:00

So after the retreat, I didn't really see Clayton until Institute started a couple of weeks later. The Friday of that week there was a HUGE opening social for all the YSAs in the valley at Castles 'n' Coasters. I asked Clayton if he wanted to come with me and my friends, but he told me he was going to go with some of his friends and he'd see me there. I was a little disappointed, but figured I'd run into him there.

I spent a lot of the night keeping an eye out for Clayton, but never saw him. It probably turned out to be a good thing. The first ride we went on was a water ride. I sat in the front and got SOAKED! I could barely walk with my G's and jeans sticking to my legs to badly. I had fun with my friends, but was a little sad I hadn't seen Clayton. He told me later that his friends bailed out on him so he went alone, spending the whole night looking for me and never finding me. And he hadn't taken my cell number with him so he couldn't call.

We saw each other and Intstitute and at our council meetings and had fun chatting. A few friends had decided to go dancing at a place that held lessons and then open dance. I offered to pick up Clayton and was already giving Bridgette a ride, which made me a little less nervous. Clayton was quite a sport. We were learning salsa dancing which he'd never done before. He did pretty well though, I have to admit. And he can shake his groove thing nicely. When the free dancing started, I was the only one Clayton would dance with. He told me later that he wasn't interested in my other friends so why would he dance with them... Good point.

That night on the way home, I was really tired. And when I get tired I get really goofy. We were driving in the rain and passed a puddle. I said a simple, "Hi, water." Due to my being tired, I started laughing hysterically. I mean can't stop, can't breath, tears rolling down my face laughing. Clayton was looking at me like I was a psychopath. I just knew I'd scared him off. He probably thought I was some crazy girl that he wanted nothing to do with... We dropped him off, far too soon for my taste, and I finally admitted to Bridgette that I liked Clayton, I mean REALLY liked him. It was the first time I had admitted it to myself or anyone. I had been telling everyone, including me, that he was just really cool and fun to hang out with.

(...to be continued...)

The Institute Retreat - The Myers' Story: Part 2

2009-08-04T11:06:00.002-07:00

So Friday rolled around, the day we were heading to Lakeside for our Institute Council retreat. I was frantic. I had worked all day and was running around crazy after work to make sure I had everything ready to go. I even showed up in my work clothes to meet everyone else.

Clayton had asked if it was okay for him to drive himself since he wanted to go spend the rest of the weekend at his grandparents' cabin. No problem. Bro. Carroll, our High Council rep, also had his Suburban. So we got everything loaded up, had an opening prayer and started to pile into cars... well, car. I realized as I was the only one standing in the parking lot that everyone, but Clayton and me had climbed into the suburban. I didn't want Clayton to have to drive the three hours or so by himself so I said I guessed I was riding with him. Hmmm... This sounds familiar. Little did I know at the time that I had completely messed up his plans. He had wanted to drive all by himself so he could listen to whatever he wanted and not have to worry about talking to someone he didn't know for three hours. Guess I kinda messed that one up. :o)

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a nervous talker. I'll talk non-stop about anything and everything I can think of if I am nervous. Let's see. Cute boy, alone in car, three hour drive. I was like a broken record. I did finally settle down a little and we slipped into easy conversation. I came to learn that he had served his mission in Canada, Alberta. And that he had known someone I had dated. In fact, we found out that he had eaten at the same dinner table and that the guy's little sister had written to Clayton while he was on his mission and after. Had quite the little crush on one Elder Myers. What a crazy small world.

When we got to the cabin, we unloaded and settled in for an evening of get to know you games. After learning a little about each other, I talked to them about what I envisioned for the Institute Program. I looked up from reading a scripture and saw Clayton looking at me and smiling. Talk about making me nervous. I was already emotional and that just added to the chaos going through my head. We wrapped up and people started to filter off to bed. I was too wound up to sleep. I had been going non-stop all day and needed a chance to just relax. I headed for the kitchen. A few minutes later, Clayton came over and started to chat with me. Around 2am, we both decided we should get some sleep. As I crawled into bed, the light bulb popped on. Wait...did what I think just happened actually happen? It was exactly as my little girly brain had fantasized a couple of night before. We rode up alone together and stayed up half the night talking. Okay...this is a little creepy. That stuff never happens. I don't know when I finally fell asleep, but I was up by 6am. I found a great little gazebo area with a swing to get in some peaceful scripture study in the fresh mountain air. I have to admit, I spent most of the time secretly hoping Clayton would come out and join me. But to my dismay, it was one of the leaders who found me first. Clayton walked out to his car and saw me, and he says he was looking for me, but when he saw Pres. Rogers, he just kept on walking. We had our morning meetings and started loading up. I really didn't want to see Clayton go, but I decided to push it out of my mind. I didn't want to get involved with that kind of thing right now.

Clayton admitted to me later that he actually played around with the idea of inviting me with him to his grandparents', but decided I'd probably think he was a freak. So as we drove home, I got the third degree from Mandy about what she thought she saw happening between me and Clayton and got all excited about how cute we would be together... It was a long, slightly embarassing ride home.

(to be continued...)

The Myers' Story

2009-08-01T10:59:00.003-07:00

My friend, Heidi, has been telling the story of how she and her husband met and their courtship. I thought it would be fun to do the same with Clayton's and my story.

Before I met Clayton, I had a few not so great experiences with men. I dated two of them for long periods of time, only for them to decide they weren't ready for a committment. Now, if they were 21, I'd understand. One was 30 and the other was 36. And as far as I know, neither one is married yet.

Anyway, I was 26 years old, a great-grandma in the LDS singles' world. I'd been in 5 singles' wards over the 8 previous 8 years. I'd earned a Bachelor's and a Master's degree and was working for a recruiting agency. I had also been serving as the president of one of the LDS Institutes of religion for singles 24-30 for a year. It is normally a one year calling, but they asked me to stay on for another year because there were going to be a lot of changes and they needed someone who knew what was going on. I agreed. I then had a change of heart and asked to be released. It had been a stressful year of no support from our sponsoring Stake, minimal council members and a lot of work. I just couldn't do it again. I called the CES advisor and he pleaded with me to at least stay on for a couple of months. I agreed, but told him I HAD to have support from the stake and they had to help me call council members. He agreed and thanked me for staying on.

As promised, I received the support I had been missing for the previous year. The Stake Presidency rep and the CES advisor both promised to talk to bishops of the University (singles) Stake to have names submitted. I received a list of three names from the University 5th ward...One of them was Clayton Myers. Bro. Dunham told me they hadn't been officially called yet, so to refrain from talking to them until I heard from him. Three weeks later and two days before our scheduled Council Retreat, I called to find out what was going on. Given the go ahead to talk to them, I started making calls. Now, during this three week period, I kept getting the impression I needed to call Clayton as one of my counselors. I didn't know him. I'd never met him. But the impression remained. I submitted his name to the CES Advisor.

So back to the retreat. I made calls and invited everyone. It would be Friday night at the Lakeside cabin of the Stake Pres. rep. It would be one night and one morning of getting to know each other, going over responsibilities and planning out the semester. When I called Clayton, he sounded really nice and was really friendly and fortunately didn't have anything going on that weekend and was going to be able to make the retreat. In that goofy girly way, I thought to myself I could plan it so we rode up to Lakeside to the retreat together and wouldn't it be funny if we stayed up half the night talking... Okay, mind you. I had just broken up with the 36 y/o after over a year of on and off dating. I had decided I didn't want to date for a while and wasn't interested in starting anything else. It was just goofy girl fantasy. (To be continued...)

M.I.A.

2009-07-22T09:15:00.002-07:00

So it's been a crazy few weeks around here. Between shuttling Andrew back and forth to swimming lessons, the never ending bout with pink eye, my being sick and just trying to stay on top of all the other stuff going on around here, I haven't really had a lot of time to sit down and post anything. So here are some quick updates and hopefully I can get back on the blogging band wagon.

Luke: I can't believe he's six months old already. I don't know where the time goes. He's got such a happy disposition. He's babbling and already mimics "ma ma" which of course makes me so happy. He's all over the living room. He doesn't crawl on his hands and knees yet. He does more of an army crawl. But he is up on his hands and knees, rocking. He loves his solid foods and we have started to introduce a sippy cup, which is going quite well. He may be weaned off of a bottle before our trip to Idaho next month.

Andrew: He's thoroughly loved swimming lessons. The kid is a fish. He'd spend his entire day in water if I would let him. We decided to skip the last session because he's had a bout of pink eye that just won't go away. I don't know if it's the pool or just coincidence so I decided to be safe. He starts preschool in two weeks. He'll be going to an in-home program run by a couple of gals I go to church with. He's so excited to finally "go to school", but bummed he doesn't get to ride the bus yet.

Clayton: Busy as ever with work. Seems like we filled up all that time he was spending on school with family activities. He's been super great helping out with the kids and the housework.

Me: Well, other than the strep throat and tonsilitis I've been fighting the past week, I'm doing pretty well. It's been frustrating with the fitness goals. Every time I finally get the "I'm going to do this no matter what" attitude, I get sick or have my period (which has been knocking me for a loop the past few months). When I went into the doctor earlier this week though, I got a script for blood work (told me wait until I was feeling 100%) and when those results come back, will schedule a physical. I'm looking forward to getting it done and hopefully getting the ball rolling with getting off the rest of my baby weight. I want to do a couch to 5K program and am determined to get it off.

So that's about it around here. I'll post some new pictures soon. And hopefully I won't go MIA again!

Hamburger and Fries

2009-06-22T11:27:00.002-07:00

So for Father's Day, Claytons family is having a barbeque this afternoon at his brother's house. I am in charge of the dessert. I like to do fun things and try new recipes out on them because they are a friendly crowd. I originally thought that I would make homemade oreo cookies. Then I found these on Bakerella's website. This was such a cute idea I just had to try it out.
Yep, that's right folks! Cupcake & brownie hamburgers, with sugar cookie french fries. They turned out really cute. I'm so excited! I know. Your blood sugar is probably rising even as you look at it.

I even made double decker for all of the men in the family. I just cut the cupcake in thirds and cut the brownie pattie in half. Hopefully everyone likes them as much as Clayton and I do.

Andrew's Swimming Lessons

2009-06-21T17:10:00.004-07:00

Andrew started swimming lessons for the first time this past week. He loves the water so much we decided this would kill two birds with one stone: allow him to go swimming every day and teach him how to be safe around water. We signed him up in Coolidge and so far I've been super impressed. There is always at least one teacher per child in the Tiny Tots class Andrew is in. The pool is always nice and clean. And it was definitely an awesome deal compared to Florence or the YMCA.

This is Josh, one of Andrew's swim teachers. And boy does Andrew love this guy.

Sometimes there is more than one teacher with Andrew.
Swimming around without the noodle.

Andrew wanted to go off the diving board during free time.

So do you think he actually jumped?

Well, see for yourself.

Luke - 5 months old

2009-06-21T17:02:00.002-07:00

"Like my new do?"

"Roar"
Just hanging out at grandma's house.

"I know I'm cute."

Brothers

2009-06-21T16:49:00.003-07:00

Andrew absolutely adores his little brother...and I think the feeling is mutual.

"Say, Cheese!"

Little feet and littler feet.
Holding hands.

Andrew kisses Luke any chance he can.

Luke's First Game of Candyland

2009-06-21T16:36:00.004-07:00

Luke decided he wanted to join in our family game of Candyland.

"I'll be the yellow one...no red...no yellow...no red..."

"Yep, definitely yellow."

"MMmmm...I'm glad I picked yellow."

"It's pretty yummy!"

"So, this is why they call it CANDYland."

The Robot Dance

2009-06-02T09:17:00.005-07:00

Andrew is hysterical. He's now doing "the robot dance". What, you ask, is the robot dance? See for yourself. Looks to me like whatever robot it is has to go potty.

This kid is such a ham. I don't know where he comes up with these thing either. He's got an imagination, I'll tell you that much.

Our Little Scooter

2009-05-31T19:34:00.006-07:00

Luke is reaching physical development milestones and break neck speed. At 4 1/2 months, he rolls from front to back and back to front. And thanks to his daddy's encouragement, he's starting the beginnings of crawling. Don't believe me? Here's proof.

Before we know it he's going to be running crazy all over this house following his big brother around like a little shadow. I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet.

Four years and counting...

2009-05-30T10:00:00.002-07:00

On Thursday, Clayton and I celebrated our 4th Wedding Anniversary. In some ways I can't believe it's been that long. In others, I can't believe that's all the longer it's been. Clayton has been such a blessing in my life. Loving me even when I was acting unlovable. He's been my rock. He's a wonderful husband. A great dad. An excellent provider. He is the "Love of My Life" and I'm looking forward to many more years together. Happy Anniversary, Honey. I love you so very, very much!

Thoughts on graduation

2009-05-22T10:24:00.003-07:00

I never thought the day would come that Clayton would be done with school. It wasn't even a full year, but it seemed like an eternity. In order to be reimbursed by Intel for his school, he had to apply to Intel in Sept. of 2007. We had been trying to get pregnant for months to no avail. Didn't really think any thing of it. He applied to the MSIM program in January 2008. He was accepted in March to begin in June. Then in May we found out we were expecting Luke. It was a wonderful day. Then reality started to sink in. The baby would be born with a full semester left to go. I knew it would't be easy, but I knew that Clayton couldn't pass up the opportunity to go to school.

June 2, 2008. My birthday. And Clayton's first night of class. Happy birthday to me. And it was non-stop chaos the rest of the time. Being a school widow isn't fun. But hopefully it will be worth it.

Despite having a growing number of things to do at work, a calling in the EQ presidency and full time school, as well as having a growing family, Clayton did very well. Honey, I want you to know how very proud I am of you. I know I wasn't always the most supportive during this whole thing. Your intelligence and drive amazes me. And your willingness to make sacrifices in the short term to hopefully benefit your family in the long term is a trait few have. I love you very much. And I am SOOOO glad to have my hubby back!

Clayton's Convocation

2009-05-22T09:50:00.006-07:00

Andrew loves the bagpipes. He missed them at Scott's graduation going potty. And he didn't go to Jim's graduation with us because it was going to keep him up too late. So I thought I'd get a video of it for him to watch any time he wants. (You, too, Grandma C.)

For those of you who couldn't make it, here's video of Clayton during convocation.

Post graduation

2009-05-22T09:40:00.002-07:00

The new graduate!

Our little family. So glad to have our Daddy back.

The Myers' boys. All three graduated from college in a week's time.

Clayton and his Mom and Dad.

Our future Sun Devil!

Surprisingly Inspired

2009-05-14T11:14:00.002-07:00

Clayton and I decided to watch President Obama's speech last night on TV...see if he had anything to say. I still think it was a circus and quite the spectacle, but I will admit that his speech was truly inspiring. He stayed away from politics and focused on inspiring the graduates. I'm sure they weren't the only ones inspired.

He encouraged graduates to get away from what has become the formulas for success that seem to dominate at this time: fancy cars, big offices, being on some "who's who" list, etc. Instead of seeking out to be popular and recognized, he challenged them to work hard, to make a difference, to change the world even if it is only the world of one person. He spoke of pioneers coming west, a preacher leading a bus boycott for justice, police and firefighters willing to run up the steps of burning towers, people volunteering their time and resources to help flood victims in New Orleans. People who followed their passions and, in so doing, changed the world and the way we view it. He spoke of continuing to build your body of work, which is not complete by accomplishing one task. He told of Thomas Paine who was a failed corset maker, teacher, and tax collector before writing "Common Sense" and igniting a revolution; Julia Child who didn't publish her first cook book until she was almost fifty; Colonel Sanders who didn't open his first KFC until he was in his sixties.

One of the things he spoke of that really stood out to me is how our current national situation was created by selfishness and greed. the "what's in it for me" syndrome. That in order to truly make a mark on our lives, others lives, this country and our world we must put that aside. We must be selfless and focus on others.

His speech made me look at my life. What am I doing to make a difference? I'm raising two boys who will be part of the future of our world. But what else? Really, probaby not much. I'm sure there are plenty of opportunities to make a difference. But I haven't sought them out. Am I volunteering my time to good causes? Am I trying to make a difference in my community? Am I reaching out to my neighbors? Looking at it through the Gospel...am I really doing all I can do? Am I seeking out the sisters I visit teach, to befriend them, to love them? Am I fulfilling my calling to the best of my abilities? Am I trusting in the Lord and His path for me? Am I reaching out to those who may be struggling, whether it be financially, physically, emotionally or spiritually? Am I looking for those who need a friend? Am I trying to be more Christ-like? Am I a true disciple? These are questions that I really need to ponder, taking a hard look at my life and what I'm doing with it.

ASU's Commencement Circus

2009-05-13T10:04:00.003-07:00

Clayton is graduating with his Masters degree this week. He's worked very hard over the past year, spending time studying and doing homework instead of spending time with his family. I'm so proud of him and his accomplishments. He has yet to get lower than an A- in a class. And all while working full time and holding a calling in the EQ presidency. So I should be excited, right!?

I'm not excited. In all honesty, I'm annoyed even though I shouldn't be. And it's all because of our president. I'm not talking politics here. I don't care about his policies or his party. I don't care that it's an honor to have a current president speak at the ceremony. I do care that his accepting an invitation to speak at commencement is turning ASU's ceremony into a full-fledged circus. Commencement was originally planned for tomorrow night. But that didn't fit the president's schedule so ASU moved it, creating chaos for those who had finals scheduled for this afternoon and evening, having to be moved to another time. Instead of being held in Wells Fargo Arena, it's having to be held in ASU's Sun Devil Stadium. Each of the 8,000 graduates was told they would be able to get tickets for up to 6 guests. Normally tickets aren't even needed. It's supposed to be somewhere around 100 degrees today. Attendees were given a time to show up so that all 71,000 people didn't arrive at the same time. Yes, that's right. 71,000 people. The largest ASU commencement in history prior to tonight was 12,000. It's expected to be the largest commencement ceremony in US history. How 8,000 graduates, their potential 48,000 guests and faculty and staff add up to 71,000 is beyond me. Seems like more tickets got out than the graduates were told would be given out.

Then there is the 90 minutes standing in the scorching heat and that's just to get through the Secret Service security checkpoints which will be similar to the airport security. And that's not including the up to four hours of waiting in the blazing heat in the open air stadium. 200+ police officers and who knows how many secret service agents. Purses no larger than 12 inches, no knive or sharp objects of any kind, no weapons among other things. Air space is being restricted. For a college graduation ceremony. There won't be a parking spot available within 20 miles of the campus. Traffic on the nearby freeways will be a mess.

At 4:45pm the "pre-commencement show" will begin with performances by mariachis, gospel choirs and even Alice Cooper. Who has ever heard of a pre-commencement concert? And then there are the fireworks that will take place after the ceremony. What is this the 4th of July? This should be a time for graduates and their family and friends to celebrate graduation, not the full-blown carnival it's turning into. For those graduates who didn't want to deal with the mess, commencement is supposed to be aired on the ASU TV station. The big stations will carry the president's address...not the whole ceremony, just his address.

So why am I annoyed you ask? Clayton's last class and final were supposed to be tonight. As of 10pm tonight he should have been done with his coursework and we should have been celebrating. But his class was pushed off until tomorrow night. Not that one night is a huge deal most of the time, it's a big deal when we've spent most of the last year Clayton-less. All because the president is coming. I know I'm being petty. It's a great opportunity to see the president of the United States. We aren't going. We don't want to deal with the mess. And darn it! Clayton should be home tomorrow night and he won't be. He'll be taking his last final. So we have to wait one more day to have him back. Darn president.

Luke's tummy time

2009-05-10T22:05:00.002-07:00

I was trying to catch Luke rolling over, but he is just not a performing monkey. :o) He's darn cute anyway.

My Big Chatterbox

2009-05-10T21:44:00.002-07:00

Andrew had decided recently that he likes to talk on the phone. He used to listen for maybe 30 seconds then say good bye and take off. This is what he's like now.

We are going to have a path worn into the carpet.

Luke and his Jumper

2009-05-10T21:32:00.003-07:00

Andrew loved the jumper. Luke is following in big brother's footsteps. He loves the jumper. He gets going and seems like he's just going to fly right out of it. It entertains him for quite a while. He's even fallen asleep in it.

Laughing Luke

2009-05-10T21:26:00.003-07:00

Luke has the cutest laugh, don't you think? He's super ticklish, just like his daddy and his big brother. And he ALWAYS gets the hiccups when we make him laugh. Poor kid doesn't stand a chance...

Here comes trouble

2009-05-01T08:14:00.003-07:00

Andrew is a handful. He smart and a bit of a smart mouth, too. Wound up almost every waking hour of the day. I was hoping that Luke would be the more mild-mannered one. Sweet natured. I don't think that's going to happen.

Last night I was getting him undressed for a bath. I was telling Clayton that Luke had pooped while Clayton was gone two days in a row. I looked at Luke and said, "He pooped for mommy two days in a row, huh?!" Luke's response... To laugh out loud. He thought it was funny. He wouldn't laugh if I say anything else, but if I repeated the "he pooped for mommy" thing he would laugh hysterically. So much for being the mild-mannered one who's not a trouble maker.

Love...

2009-04-24T09:14:00.004-07:00

Love comes in many forms - friendship, marriage, children, kitchen appliances. :o) I'm one of those crazy women who loves kitchen appliances. I'm not really talking about refrigerators or dishwashers (though I do love my dishwasher). I'm talking about the smaller, fun stuff. My recent loves come in the form of my wheat grinder, Bosch, and pasta machine. And I can blame most of it on my friend Bridgette.

I tried bread with the wheat grinder and Bosch. Didn't turn out perfect, but it was my fault. When I tried to proof the bread in the oven (get it to raise quicker), I forgot to turn the oven off after heating it up. That lead to bread baking instead of rising. But I'm one step closer to getting wheat bread instead of wheat bricks!

And it's also her fault I have fallen in love with the coolest kitchen store in the world... Shar's Kitchen. She has the coolest stuff, but best of all, she teaches classes most days of the week and shows you how to use them. Her recipes are awesome and she pressure cooks most things to retain flavor and nutrients. Now I just have to talk me and Clayton into investing in a couple of pressure cookers. I've been to two classes so far, but would have gone to more had Andrew and I not been sick the past week. I have my calendar booked for May. It gives me an opportunity to do something I love. I've learned how to make pasta, which is soooo much better than the store bought, dried stuff. I have an ever growing wish list of things I want to get. I'm sure Clayton is horrified, happy that I've found something I enjoy, but horrified. :o)

Jam, Jammin', Jammies

2009-04-16T10:29:00.002-07:00

So I decided I wanted some homemade jam. We used to make strawberry freezer jam all the time when I was younger. I hadn't had it in years so I decided that just had to change. Got the strawberries, pectin, jars, etc. Freezer jam is easy. No cooking involved. Still took me a couple of hours to get it done, but nothing bad. Ended up with 15 yummy pints of freezer jam. Then I decided to make regular cooked jam. That took a little longer, but still wasn't too bad. I did it in three double batches and was able to get it all done in less than three hours. Don't tell my feet that it wasn't bad though. They were not happy. And my knees were protesting, too. But now we have 26 yummy pints of strawberry jam...and I'm happy to report I had a 100% seal-rate on the jars. Of the canning I've done so far, only one or two jars (both pears) didn't seal. That's not too shabby.

I've really been trying to get into a routine for working out. It's not easy with two small children and a hubby who is crazy busy with work and school. The last couple of days have been great though. I'm walking hill intervals on our treadmill. Burning more fat and calories. And I can't run. I sometimes wish I could, but the longest I've ever been able to run without stopping in my life is about 8 minutes. Even in elementary and junior high when I was in pretty good shape, I couldn't run distance. I could outrun most of the boys in the 100 yard dash, but much farther than that and I would get light-headed, dizzy and have problems breathing. High school PE just about did me in. So, I walk. Maybe in a couple of months when I get some pounds off and I'm in a little better shape I will tackle the running thing. But for now...it's walking hills. It's actually good though. Clayton and I would love to do more hiking and we love to go camping so our goal is to get to the point where maybe next summer or fall we can hike the Grand Canyon. I'm up to a max speed of 3.1 and a max incline of 6.0. Not bad considering a few weeks ago, the most exercise I had done in a year was giving birth to my son. :o) I'm down a total of 4.6 pounds since I started two weeks ago. I'll take it!

I have to admit I thought the end of the world was coming last night. Andrew fights us every night when it comes to bed time. We have a pretty good routine, but he still just pitches a major fit. Clayton had class last night so I was on my own. I was preparing for a real rip-snorter! But alas, it was not to be. The only protest he put us was when I told him I had to brush his teeth after he finished to make sure his teeth were really clean. He said his prayers and climbed into bed without so much as a, "Mommy, I don't want to go to bed" or "Mommy, I can't sleep". And on more nights than not, he wanders out at least once. Not last night. Nothing. It was SOOOO nice! I thought for sure I was going to get to bed early. Luke killed that. He decided not to go to sleep until midnight. *sigh* I was tired this morning, that's for sure!

Changes...

2009-04-09T08:40:00.004-07:00

I finally, finally got my tushy on the bandwagon to get off the weight I've gained over the past few years. I've exercised four days in a row and have dropped almost four pounds in the process. I've been watching how much I eat, but not really what. We went out for chinese at lunch yesterday; I just didn't eat as much as I normally would have. I know it's only a small success, but it's something. Every day and every pound gets me one step closer to my goal weight and activity level. Hopefully a year from now, I'll be in good enough shape to hike the Grand Canyon. I want to have the engery to play soccer or basketball with my kids. I want to wake up every morning ready to face the day rather than wanting to climb back in bed and sleep.

I've also been trying to improve my spiritual health lately. I have really slacked off a lot the last couple of years. I've been going through the motions, but not investing myself at all. I'm happy to report that I have studied scriptures and gospel lessons everyday for a week. Sadly, I can't say when the last time that happened was. I still have a long way to go, but every little bit helps. I already have a better outlook on life in general and have more patience with my kids. I'm determined to do my visiting teaching this month. I have lived in my current ward for almost three years and have only seen visiting teachers at my house maybe four times, home teachers three times. I know how it feels to think that no one cares enough to even call me, let alone stop by and spend some time getting to know me. Well, I can't very well complain about others not doing it if I, myself, am slacking off. I have a challenging route - four sisters, zero phone numbers. So I have to guess at when they may be home and hope to catch them. And I've decided this month, I am going to ask my visiting teachers when they are coming. I'll make it easy on them...they won't even have to pick up the phone to call me.

One step at a time. Every little change has helped so I know as I implement more positive changes in my life, my life will be better.

Luke

2009-04-06T19:27:00.003-07:00

He's just so cute!

New pics of Luke

2009-04-06T11:28:00.000-07:00

Luke is one of the happiest babies! It takes very little to get him to smile and laugh. The only time he cries is if he's lonely or hungry. He's a social baby, too. He wants to be where the action is. He likes to see people's faces and hear their voices.

Renewed

2009-04-06T10:54:00.002-07:00

I'm finally feeling better after having a nasty stomach bug. It's hit everyone in my family except my uncle, my mom, Clayton and Luke. Whatever it is, it can hop a space ship for outer space and stay there!

After a relaxing weekend of watching conference, I'm feeling particularly renewed. I'm determined to make some positive changes in my life. I have a lot of work to do in a lot of areas. But it was good to hear the words of the Prophet, Apostles and the rest of the General Authorities who spoke.

I'm back on the fitness bandwagon, too. I've broken down my total weight loss goal into digestable chunks that actually makes it seem pretty easy and I got up and exercised this morning.

The Worst Weightloss Plan EVER!!!

2009-04-02T12:35:00.002-07:00

So I've been trying, pretty unsucessfully so far, to lose weight. I've been unmotivated to do anything. I guess my body decided to take things into its own hands...or stomach. For the first time in probably 16 years or so, I have the stomach flu. Since yesterday afternoon, I've dropped 4 lbs. Yea for loosing weight... YUCK for the way it's happening. Andrew is just getting over it. Keeping my fingers crossed that Clayton and Luke don't get this...especially Luke.

The worst good news

2009-03-27T09:59:00.002-07:00

***WARNING - Men may want to avoid reading this post. Women's personal issues discussed***

Okay, so some of you know that I had problems getting pregnant with Luke. I was diagnosed a year and a half go with Poly-Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). It comes with a lot of unpleasant symptoms, one of which is annovulation.

I didn't realize I had a problem until I went off of birth control two years ago to try and get pregnant. Anyone who has been on BC knows that it will make you have periods. So after I stopped, I had a couple of menstrual cycles that were irregular and then they stopped altogether. I went in to see my OB-GYN and that's when I found out about the PCOS. I started fertility treatments and was fortunate to have the basic treatments work so I didn't have to go to a specialist. I obviously was successful getting pregnant and have been blessed with another beautiful son.

I wasn't sure what would happen after this pregnancy. I decided to hold off on BC until I knew what was happening. Well, I got the worst good news this morning. I started menstruating! I know...goofy thing to be excited about. I feel horrible with the cramping and all, but the last regular cycle I had was the one before I got pregnant with Andrew nearly 4 years ago. Hopefully, I will start having regular cycles on my own without medication of any form. That's part of the reason I want to get some weight off. Unnecessary weight makes it worse. Unfortunately weight gain and trouble losing are part of the problems that come with PCOS. So I may have a long haul ahead of me. I'm going to try my hardest. Now if my little guy would sleep through the night again, I might get somewhere. Once I decided to really get with the workouts, he stopped sleeping through the night so I'm so exhausted I can barely function, let alone safely workout. I'm not giving up though. I'm going to try anew every day!

Body Revolt....

2009-03-25T10:20:00.002-07:00

So I'm determined to get off the weight I've gained since I got married almost 4 years ago. Most of it came from my pregnancy with Andrew. I've been lucky enough to have already lost the pregnancy weight from Luke. It's been hard to get motivated - hard to find uninterrupted time with two kids, hard to take the time for myself, hard to workout when I'm so out of shape, hard to work out when I don't get enough sleep. Yesterday I decided to shut my internal trap and just do it.

Clayton and I bought a treadmill a couple of years ago, hoping we could avoid the excuses of not having time/money to go to the gym. It's collected a lot of dust over those two years. I did exercise and got off about 17 lbs a year ago, but then I got pregnant again. But now's the time.

So I have the equipment. I have no good excuse anymore. I've decided that instead of just walking, I'll do hill intervals to increase the intensity and keep things a little bit interesting. Wow..I'm really out of shape. My body is in full revolt today. I still got up and did my workout, but it didn't take long for all of my leg muscles to scream out in burning pain. I walked through it and feel great now. Tomorrow, I'm expecting an even bigger revolt.

I'm doing it though. My cousin, Amy, has asked me to be Matron-of-Honor in her wedding and I am not going to be the "fat bridesmaid". I have about a year to get down to where I want to be. That means about 50-55lbs and a lot of work. But that's really only a pound a week and a very realistic goal. And I have the help of my friend, Heidi, too. She and I are both trying to get some baby weight off so we check in with each other pretty much every day so we have someone to hold us each accountable. She's been doing much better than I have lately, so I have some serious repenting and catching up to do.

So here's to success ... and less revolt from my body!

Garden Time...

2009-03-23T12:26:00.003-07:00

So, my goal was to get our garden in a month ago, but it didn't happen. Too many other things got in the way. I did manage to get it in before I did last year. But, it's official. We have a garden! We decided to plant only things that we are able to can or freeze. So we put in tomato plants, onions, green beans, beets, carrots, cucumbers and peas. We got a free cabbage plant so we stuck that in to for kicks and giggles. I also decided to get a couple of patio pots and we planted some strawberries in there. Now we are hoping in a couple of months to be able to harvest some of the fruits of our labors! I love spring time.

Look out flower garden...here I come!

Smiley Baby

2009-03-13T11:06:00.003-07:00

In the last week or so, Luke has really gotten down the smiling thing. It doesn't take much to get him to smile.He's even starting to laugh a little bit. I don't think there is anything cuter than a baby smiling. It's hard to fathom that he's already two months old. Where has the time gone? I'm sure a lot of it has been lost in the fuzz and fog of not enough sleep and long days! I've been pretty lucky overall though. He's a really happy baby. The only time he cries is if he's hungry or gets hurt. What a sweet little baby!

Happy Birthday, Andrew! (A Week Late)

2009-03-12T18:15:00.004-07:00

So, my "Baby" turned 3 last week. I can't believe it's been that long. He's changed so much over the past three years.

He was a quiet and really good baby. Very calm. Slept through the night at 2 weeks old.

Super smiley and just really a happy baby.

Always curious about new things and if it was new, he had to touch it.

Then the "terrible twos" kicked in and he got a little attitude...

He's still got a mind of his own. And now he's a big brother, too! Happy Birthday, Andrew! Here's to another year of firsts, fun and family!

Dreams and Reality

2009-03-02T08:42:00.003-07:00

Have you ever had a dream that in some way creeps into reality? The dream feels so real that it's hard to distinguish it from reality? I had one of those last night. And I freaked out Clayton. But first... Anyone who knows me very well knows that I am prone to fits of uncontrolled laughter. I mean belly-rolling, tear-streaming can't stop if I wanted to laughter. Most of the time it happens when I'm super tired. Okay, back to my dream: In it, Clayton handed me his cell phone and asked me to call his sister, Bonnie. I pushed the button to use voice command. "Please say a command."
"Call Bonnie Mobile".
"Did you say Eric Sans?"
Huh? "No."
"Please say a command."
"Call Bonnie Mobile."
"Did you say Eric Mobile?"
"NO! What is wrong with this dumb phone?"
From the phone I hear a woman's voice say, "I'm sorry. Sometimes there is a glitch in the system."
Not expecting to hear a real live person, I closed the phone and started laughing hysterically.

The next thing I remember, Clayton is shaking me awake. "Sweetheart, are you okay?" All he could feel was my body shaking. He thought I was crying. Through the same type of laughter in my dream I respond, "Uh, huh."
"Was that a yes?"
"Uh, huh."
"Are you laughing or crying?"
"Laughing."

I was laughing so hard I couldn't stop. Tears were streaming down my cheeks. Now, mind you, it's 5 o'clock in the morning. I'm still laughing. I flew out of bed and ran to the bathroom to avoid peeing my pants. Clayton is laughing at me. I climbed back into bed and finally pulled myself together. By this time, Clayton is snoring away again.

Life has been kind of stressful adjusting to a new baby and all. I needed a good laugh. But I didn't need it at 5am!

What is "normal"?

2009-02-26T21:02:00.002-07:00

I had my six-week postpartum check up today. I've officially been released to resume normal activity. This got me to thinking about what normal is for me now. I'm not really sure. Adding an additional family member means that my "normal" now is different than what my "normal" was pre-pregnancy. Before my pregnancy, I could pretty much go to bed whenever I wanted and get up whenever I wanted. I could exercise when I felt like it. Now I'm at the mercy of not just one toddler, but a three-year old (well next week anyway) and a newborn. I sleep when I can and have no idea how to fit exercise into my schedule. It won't be hard on the days that Clayton is home, but on the rest of the days... I just have no idea.

It's funny how we talk about being "normal" when it is such a fluid concept. It is always changing because life and our circumstances are always changing. No two days are the same. No two moments are the same. So how do we gauge what normal is?

I guess we'll find out what our family's new "normal" is. Only to have it change again in May when Clayton finishes school and is home every evening.

Potty Training - The Bane of My Existence

2009-02-19T09:04:00.003-07:00

I've decided that Andrew will be in diapers until he's in high school... At least as long as he lives at home. He just doesn't seem to care. He knows he has to go potty, but instead of going to the bathroom, he potties in his pants and then tells me he pottied. When he does go into the bathroom, about half the time he potties in his pull-ups while playing with something in the bathroom. The thing that frustrates me is that he will potty for others. He went to a friends house yesterday and was gone longer than I had figured. I didn't send any extras. I figured he'd come home either in a diaper or else soaking wet. Nope. Bone dry. 7 hours and no accidents. I don't get it. I'm sure a lot of it is his way of acting out his jealousy of Luke and the time we give him. But he's going to be 3 in two weeks. All his friends are completely potty trained. *sigh* We've tried everything. Rewards like pennies or M&Ms. Consequences like losing toys or tv time or throwing out the cool big boy undies he picked out. Nothing works. I guess he doesn't really value anything. He has no problem giving up his toys or throwing out his undies.

I'm hoping that someday he'll get it and do it. Until then... My patience is wearing thin. And so is our supply of pull-ups!

Luke

2009-02-07T13:53:00.002-07:00

Luke is our little miracle. It took us nearly a year of trying, crying, doctor appointments and medication to conceive him. He's only been with us for a few short weeks, but I love him very much. He's a handsome little guy who loves to be held and snuggled. He makes the cutest little faces, of which my favorite is his surprised look - eyebrows raised, wide eyes and his mouth in a small "O" shape. He loves to be rocked and have a song sung to him. He can sleep through anything...seriously...even aunts, uncles, grandparents and parents screaming at the top of their lungs all together. I love his dark hair and inquiring eyes. I hope he keeps both. He's starting to imitate our facial expressions a little bit. I love to hold his little hands and stroke his chubby little cheeks. He's getting so big so fast. I look forward to seeing what kind of a boy and then man he turns into. I just hope it doesn't happen too fast.

Andrew

2009-02-06T16:56:00.003-07:00

So, being a new mother of two, I've been feeling a little bit overwhelmed and frustrated. So as a bit of an attitude adjusment, I decided what better way to appreciate what I have than to talk about it. So I'm going to talk about what I love about my kids to help me remember what I love about them.

Andrew's my little fire ball. He's as smart as they come. When people hear him talk, they think he's four, not two. He started putting three- and four-word sentences together before he was two. He's already telling stories and he can remember things he heard or talked about two or three weeks ago. That also means that we have to be VERY careful what we say around him. He's been very healthy overall. We've had a couple of problems with his teeth, but I've only had him to the doctor a couple of times since he was born because of being sick. He's super social and loves to play with other kids. He loves going to nursery, which is a blessing for me. We don't have to worry about having him crying and wanting to stay with one of us. He ALWAYS says the blessing on the food. He won't let anyone else do it. He also always remembers to say his prayers at night. He's recognized Jesus Christ's picture since he was 9 months old. He's definitely going to be a spiritual giant if I can teach him what he needs to know. Any time I am sad and crying, he'll come up and give me a hug and ask me to not be upset anymore. No matter how many times he gets in trouble, he always tells me he loves me. He loves to sing songs and, for a two-, nearly three-year old, he's got some pretty good rhythm. I also love the fact that he loves to read stories. If someone will read to him, he'll sit there quiet for hours listening to them. He can also remember how a story goes after hearing it once and will call you out if you miss something or mess something up. He has the cutest smile and the goofiest sense of humor and totally cracks me up when I take time to notice him. I love him very much and and blessed to have him in my life.

Pay It Forward

2009-02-04T18:53:00.001-07:00

This is how it works: Pay It Forward Exchange is based on the concept of the movie "Pay It Forward". I will send a hand made gift to the first three people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join the PIF exchange. All the gifts will be made and posted out 'sometime within the next year'. How exciting to not know when your surprise package will arrive! What you need to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. This Exchange is only open to those with active websites or blogs. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS PROMISE TO POST THIS SAME 'PAY IT FORWARD' MESSAGE ONTO YOUR BLOG, WHICH MUST BE ACTIVE IN ORDER TO PLAY. YOU WILL PAY IT FORWARD TO THREE PEOPLE WHO COMMENT ON YOUR BLOG. I'd love for you to join me! Will you? Other comments are welcome, but only the first three will be my Pay It Forward recipients. Come and join me. Who doesn't love a gift or giving gifts???

Super Savings

2009-01-31T17:18:00.004-07:00

So I finally did it. I had an order at Fry's where I saved 93%.

Bought:
6 Wheat Thins: $2/2 Q = $.50 ea.
2 Juicy Juice: $1/1 Q = $1 ea.
2 Frank's Red Hot: $.35/1 Q (tripled to $1/1) = Free
4 Hormel Chili: $.50/2 Q (doubled to $1/2) = Free
2 French's Mustard: $.50/1 Q (doubled to $1/1) = Free Plus Catalina for $1 OYNO
2 Rotel Diced Tomatoes: $.50/1 Q = Free
2 Green Giant Steamers: $.50/1 Q (doubled to $1/1) = Free
2 Suave Deoderant: $.50/1 Q (doubled to $1/1) = Free
4 Suave Lotion: $1/1 Q = Free

Paid $4.34 OOP
Saved $59.54 for a total of 93% savings!

Even the checker, bagger and the next person in line were impressed! If only I could do this all the time! Anyone know how I can get free diapers and formula!?

I'm sure some of my family thought I was nuts for ordering 3 extra copies (for a total of 4) Sunday papers each week. My savings today paid for the extra copies for more than the entire year. I've saved enough already this year to pay for my year's subscription. WOOHOO!!!

Sleep? What's sleep?

2009-01-30T15:06:00.006-07:00

I knew it was going to be hard to adjust to having two kids, but when the baby has his days and nights mixed up.... Wow. I think I've averaged about three hours of sleep a night since we brought Luke home. He sleeps wonderfully during the day, when Andrew is up and wanting some love and attention. Then he sleeps fitfully all night long. And with Clayton starting back to work this week, it's been up to me to get up with the baby.

The only thing that has saved me is that I'm going to bed when Clayton gets home from work (sucks for us, but what can you do) and then after he goes to bed, I'm on baby duty. I know the whole situation is exacerbated by the fact that I'm fighting a cold (probably because of my lack of sleep) and that just makes me grumpier!

I'm still not feeling great postpartum either. My body didn't like the having the baby thing so much. I developed postpartum preeclampsia. That's finally going away, thank goodness. I normally have really low blood pressure so when it spikes to 155/105 it freaks me out a little. And my abdomen still hurts pretty good. Too much use of muscles that hadn't been used in a long time I guess. I'm starting to feel better and it's still better than what I dealt with when I had Andrew, but I'll be glad to get back to normal activity and being able to get some exercise. On a good note, I am within a pound and a half of my pre-pregnancy weight, which is great considering I gained 35lbs and I'm still fighting about 15lbs from when I had Andrew. And I'm determined to get it off. I want to get back to at least what I was when I got married... And I'd like to have that done by fall. So if anyone wants to buddy up and work on it together, I'm all for it! :o)

So here are some new pics of Luke and Andrew...

Luke Sleeping - I love to just watch him while he's sleeping peacefully...

Andrew and Luke - Andrew loves to hold Luke, for about 10 seconds. :o)

Luke - bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (thankfully not in the middle of the night)

Pictures of Luke

2009-01-18T15:24:00.007-07:00

Here are the promised pictures of our little Luke.

This one is right after he was born.

Mommy with Luke after his first bath:

Luke on Friday getting ready to come home:

We are loving having a new little baby... not so much loving the lack of sleep and the adjusting we are dealing with where Andrew is concerned. He's not really sure how to deal with the fact that Luke needs so much attention. We are trying to show him as much attention as we can and having him help out with what he can, but he's decided that he's selectively deaf. :o) I knew we were going to have some challenges. Any advice on what we can do to help Andrew adjust?!

I'm actually feeling pretty good, other than being tired. This recovery should be a lot quicker than with Andrew. It's helped that we really haven't had much company since we got home. Another day or two and maybe a little bit of sleep and I'll feel close to human again.

Thank you to everyone for your well wishes and your thoughts and prayers. They are greatly appreciated.

So, here's to the beginning of a new life together with our two little boys.

Introducing...

2009-01-15T09:39:00.002-07:00

Luke Ryan Myers...
Born: January 14, 2009 at 7:48pm
8lbs, 9oz
21 inches long

We'll have pictures up once we get home from the hospital.

We are excited to welcome this sweet little boy into our family. He's really mellow. The nurses actually had a hard time getting him to cry when he was born. Just doesn't make much noise. Hopefully it stays that way!

Big brother Andrew is coming later today to meet his new little brother and I'm sure is super excited! Thank you to everyone for your love and support. We can't wait for you to meet our new little guy!

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

2009-01-08T20:13:00.004-07:00

I went into the doctor today for my ultrasound and check up. The baby is perfectly healthy. His head is down and covered in peach fuzz so he'll definitely have some kind of hair on his head. He was super cute. He was holding his foot in his hands up by his mouth. Not sure if he was trying to suck on his toes or what, but it was so cute. Here's a pic of the little guy:

The tech said he's really cute. I'm sure she has to be right. I know... I'm probably biased. But I also think Andrew turned out to be a pretty cute little fellow.

According to the measurements, the baby is about 7lbs 13oz (although that could be off by as much as a pound to a pound and a half). Not enough to be induced. I was a little bummed. The doctor came in and looked at the results. Talked about maybe inducing me next week if I really didn't want to wait, but that he for sure wouldn't let me go past my due date because that would put the baby over 9lbs. But that he was going to just let me go for now. *sigh* I was really disappointed. I'm still only dialated to 2cm so the chances of me going into labor on my own any time soon is pretty slim.

Then came the good news and one of the many reasons that I love my doctor so very much. As he was checking out the baby, he said I was just so big and the baby felt bigger than he measured. I looked at him with agreement. He asked if I thought the baby was bigger than that and my answer was a resounding YES! Now thanks to a wonderful doctor who doesn't rely on just one thing, I am scheduled to report at the hospital at 7:30am Wednesday, Jan. 14 to be induced. So I now know that I will only have a few more days to wait. And it'll give me a chance to get a few last minute things done before the baby comes. We are excited to add another little guy to our family.

We'll let everyone know how it goes. And if by some miracle, I go into labor before that, we'll let you know. So, there is a light at the end of the tunnel! Wish us luck!

Still waiting....

2009-01-06T19:58:00.002-07:00

I don't go into the doctor's until Thursday to find out about how big the baby is. I can hardly wait for two reasons. One, I love the fact that I'll get to have a late term ultrasound with this one. I had one with Andrew and it was so neat to see how developed he was and everything. Two, I really want to know if I have any hope of having this baby soon.

I've been having some pretty uncomfortable contractions the last couple of days. I hope they are doing something other than making me miserable. They aren't constant, but I have to stop and just breathe through them - no talking, no doing anything else. I'll have them pretty consistently for an hour or two, and then they'll stop. My back and hips have been a lot more achy lately, too. A good night's sleep is a foreign concept to me right now. Between 3-6 bathroom trips a night, waking up to turn over, and my hips and/or back aching, I'm lucky to piece together enough sleep to keep me functioning.

I am going to go to my appointment prepared for anything. I've got the baby's bag packed and mine started. I just need to finish mine and get a few things together for Andrew so that he can stay with my grandparents while I'm in the hospital. They'll be in the car with us when we go to town. I'd rather be prepared to stay in town and not have to than have to send someone from my family out to get everything.

I'll let everyone know what I find out on Thursday. Until then, the wait continues...

Entering the final countdown

2008-12-31T20:49:00.003-07:00

So it's been a crazy couple of weeks. With the holidays and all I'm beat. I spent more time in a car driving around to family functions than I care to admit. And, Merry Christmas to me, my ankles decided to leave the building on Christmas day. Fortunately, they stop by and visit every day... And to top it all off, I've had the worst head cold this past week (also came in time for Christmas). So I have this wonderful Catch 22: If I prop my feet up to get rid of the swelling, my head plugs up and I can't breathe. If I prop my head up so I can breathe, the swelling doesn't go down nearly as fast. Have I said how excited I am for this pregnancy to be over?!

On that note, I went in for a checkup today. I'm already dialated to 2cm (1 1/2 cm more than I was when I went in to be induced with Andrew at 38 1/2 weeks) and the baby's head is down. I'm also measuring on the big side so I go in for an ultrasound next week to see just how big this baby is. If the baby is as big as the doc thinks he is, the doc wants to induce me probably next weekend or early the next week. So it seems as though my misery will soon end. And there is still a chance that I won't go that long anyway.

I have to admit, I wasn't totally prepared for it to be this soon. I wished and hoped to hard that it would be an early delivery and now that the chances of that happening are probably in the 90% range, I'm not sure I'm ready. I still have baby clothes to wash and put away and bags to get packed and arrangements to make (in case Clayton's not home and I need a ride to the hospital).

I'll keep you updated on what's happening. Keep your fingers crossed that all goes well!

And HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of my friends and loved ones who take the time to read my rantings and ravings!

39 Days...

2008-12-16T10:04:00.002-07:00

Last night Clayton and I went to do the OB Orientation/Tour of the hospital that I will be delivering at. There were probably 10 or more couples during our tour. I'm starting to think that I'm not en vogue with delivering vaginally. I know more than half of the women there had scheduled C-sections. I didn't realize how popular they have become. I am aware some of them may need to have C-sections, but I'm sure of part of them are just doing it to make things "easy". I overheard one woman say she didn't have to worry about all that labor stuff, just had to come it and be cut open. Now, I've never had a C-section, so I don't know for sure, but I'm having a hard time grasping that having major surgery is easier than labor. I know I had a pretty easy labor with Andrew, and like I said, I've never had a C-section so I can't compare. It's just hard for me to fathom.

The hospital is relatively new and really nice...much better than the last hospital I delivered at. I'm really looking forward to having a big room, plasma TV, the option to use the Japanese soaking tub, maybe taking a walk in the serenity garden, and most of all having the baby in the room with me all the time as long as he's healthy. Andrew was in and out of my room. And Clayton is loving the fact he'll have internet (even if it isn't wireless) and having a relatively comfy looking couch to sleep on if needed, rather than one of those horribly uncomfortable sleeper chairs from our last experience.

I'm excited, but a little nervous. I didn't "go into labor" on my own with Andrew. I went in to be induced because he was getting so big and my water broke at the hospital. So I have no idea if I go into labor how long to wait until I should head in and living a good 45 minutes away from the hospital makes me nervous, too. My mom labored for 36 hours with her first and had her second in less than two hours. Less than two hours could mean having the baby on the side of the road. YIKES! I may just go in and stay with family when it looks like the time is emminent since they live 15 minutes from the hospital, rather than chancing an unexpected arrival in an inopportune location.

39 days.... Seems like so long, at yet, I know it's only just a little more than a month...and I think it would be just fine if this one decided to come a little early, too.

WooHoo!

2008-12-10T09:11:00.002-07:00

Clayton is done with school for this semester! He's got three and a half weeks off before he has to start back up. We are all so excited that he's going to be around a little more around the holidays. Especially Andrew. He misses his Daddy a lot. When Clayton's not home, Andrew sometimes sulks around saying how much he misses his Daddy. Clayton's doing really well, but with that comes time away from us for class and for homework. I'm very proud of him though. I can't believe how quickly the first two semesters have gone by. Hopefully the last one goes that fast, too.

On another woohoo note, my wrist is finally starting to feel better. It still hurts a little if I twist it wrong so I've been keeping it wrapped up so that it doesn't get worse, but I'm so happy it's getting better. It's been really annoying not being able to use it.

Woes...

2008-12-08T16:38:00.003-07:00

This past week has been a little rough on our little family. I woke up last Monday with a slightly sore wrist, that I had attributed to sleeping in it funny. By Friday, I could barely move it so I went to the doctor, just to find out that I was doing all the right things and that he didn't think it was broken. It's finally starting to feel better, but imagine trying to deal with a 2 1/2 year-old when you are 7 1/2 months pregnant and can't use your dominant hand... *sigh* And to add to the fun, Andrew had a cold all last week and was extra grumpy. Clayton ended up home most of the week sick, too.

Even more fun than all of that... I'm starting to have contractions. My OB wasn't super concerned about it yet. They are pretty random and aren't painful yet, just uncomfortable. He did tell me that I was probably doing too much and I needed to take it easy. He also told Clayton to do the grocery shopping. :o) The bad thing is that "taking it easy" includes not doing dinner and not much of anything else. If I do much other than walk around the house, I have a contraction. So, I guess my body is deciding to put itself on a little bit of bed rest.

I told Clayton I feel like I'm falling apart... This pregnancy hasn't been much fun. Here's hoping that it gets better, at least so I can enjoy the holidays, and that the baby comes early!! :o)

Family Fun Van

2008-11-26T08:39:00.002-07:00

Yesterday Clayton and I decided to do something a little different with Andrew. I'd heard of this program through a friend's blog and decided to check it out. I had no idea what to expect, but was really surprised when I got there. The program is called Family Fun Van. It's a free program for kids 0-5 years old put on through the Mesa United Way. It was an hour and a half long and they do it four days a week in different locations each day in Mesa. They had open play for the first half hour. Then they provided a snack and story time. They had rec time, which was basically singing and dancing time, and then arts and craft time. They even sent every single child home with a book to read.

The whole object of the program is to provide an opportunity for parent/child interaction and to prepare each child to be kindergarten ready. We are going to start taking Andrew every week if we can. If anyone is interested in going with us, let us know. It runs from 10a-11:30a. Tues it's at a park near Power and Broadway. Wed it's at an elementary school near Ellsworth and Baseline. We'll be going Wed. next week because I've got a doc's appt. that afternoon.

I wish I had gotten pictures, but with my pregnancy brain and all, I left the camera in the car. Next week maybe!

Oy Vey!

2008-11-25T14:09:00.003-07:00

It's been kind of a rough week in the Myers' household. Andrew woke up Wednesday night crying. He came out and found me on the couch. I went to pick him up and there was something sticky all over his pants... I asked him what is was. "I threw up in my bed." So Clayton and I were up at 2am washing sheets and cleaning the carpet in Andrew's room. He seemed fine the next day then Friday, he was acting awfully mellow...only to throw up again. He slept or laid on the couch all day - which is so NOT like him. He seems to be fine now.

Now I'm the problem. I think I'm having morning sickness, part II. I've deserted poor Clayton, having to sleep on the couch. I'm lucky to get 6 hours of sleep at night and nothing seems to be helping. Here's hoping this is a temporary thing and that I don't have two more months of this to look forward to.

Confirmation....

2008-11-20T20:41:00.002-07:00

I've had this nagging feeling the past several months about needing to get our food storage in order. We had a few extras, but not enough to live on for very long. So we've been couponing so we can maximize our dollar and buying in bulk when we can in order to build up our supplies. We still have a ways to go, but we have a rough plan on how to get there and what we need.

Well, tonight I got a bit of confirmation as to why. Not that anything major happened to us personally. We went in for tithing settlement with our Bishop. He very directly asked us how we felt about our food storage and ability to live by our own means and encouraged us, very seriously, to do all we can to get it in order as quickly as possible. He told a story from living in Mexico (where he's from) during a time of financial crisis similar to the one we are now experiencing. It's not that they didn't have money to buy food, the food just wasn't available. The suppliers began hording everything for themselves because they were unsure of what the future would bring. They couldn't buy things like flour or rice or any other commodity.

While we can each only do what we are able, I think it wise advice in times of uncertainty to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Now I will work even harder toward getting our food storage in order and getting money in the bank to tide us over if necessary. I would encourage each of you to do what you can do, even if it's only a little.

Quick Baby Update...

2008-11-11T20:58:00.003-07:00

We went in for our 29 week check up today. I found out that my glucose test came out great. That was a great relief. My weight gain was minimal and my blood pressure was also great (112/68). I've always had pretty low blood pressure so it's usually not a concern anyway, but it's always nice to rest assured. The baby is growing well and his heartbeat was 148...perfect. So we are well on our way to having a healthy and hopefully happy baby and mommy in about 2 1/2 months.