Joy to the World

Regan's origins revealed

2012-01-21T20:10:00.002-07:00

Regan has finally broke the news to us about where she comes from. It is called Wizard Land. It was a planet that she lived on, and before it was shattered to pieces by a tornado, her wizard parents sent her on a small space ship and she flew through space into Jennifer's tummy. She is apparently the only wizard left and can't use her powers all the time or they will disappear.

"Women in Wizard Land have babies everyday. They have a baby one day, then the next day they have another baby." Yipes....glad I'm not in Wizard Land. Sounds a lot like hell to me. We had just gotten home from somewhere and I set the baby down on my bed because she was asleep. A few minutes later, Regan asks me if I have changed Allie's diaper and I said no. She said, "Mom, you should have changed her now. That is wizard language. It means you should have changed her now. It kind of sounds the same."

She could not stop talking about it for two hours. I caught bits and pieces of it because the baby was crying, I was trying to organize dinner, the baby was crying, and then we were eating dinner. I had to tell her about twenty times to be quiet and finish her cereal all gone or it would get soggy. "Mom, did you know that in wizard language 'all gone' is 'cokina'?"
"Oh, really? Well, EAT YOUR CEREAL COKINA FOR HEAVEN SAKES!"
Sophie thought it was pretty funny. Regan, however, gave me a look that said, "how dare you use my wizard language!"

(A piece of her homework. Baby got back! :)

There is no food or water in Wizard Land so I have to conclude that people there are starving and stinky.

This is her wizard mother, Wizard Love. And she was apparently the most beautiful wizard mom in Wizard Land. More beautiful than a peacock. Those are rainbow earrings on her deformed ears. Her wizard dad, Dwang, has dark skin and bluish green ginormous ears. Regan is at the bottom. They named her Regan too, coincidentally.

At the end of our world the wizard world will be put back together and she will return there. We learn new things about wizards and wizard world everyday. What a crazy, smart, imaginative girl I have!

(the t-rex she created out of geometric blocks)

Holiday Time - Arizona

2012-01-16T20:05:00.000-07:00

We left St. George Christmas Eve and went to AZ to spend Christmas with my family.

My dad getting acquainted with Allie. Regan was talking to my dad while he was holding Allie and said, "Grandpa, Allie is the best Christmas present ever!". So sweet :)

One awesome guy and three sweet gals. How lucky am I?!?

Santa, aka Keith Bigler, came and saw the girls. He is so great. He goes around town every Christmas eve and sees a bunch of kids and gives them a candy cane. The girls remember him from last year and were so excited to see him again. He grew a beard just for the occasion.

On Christmas day we went to church then came home and opened presents. My mom got the girls the cutest dresses. Regan is not into pretty fru- fru dresses, but she loved this so much that she said she wanted to wear it every Sunday. Hooray!

Sophie was so concerned about what Kandra would think about her dress. "Do you think Kandra will love my dress? Do you think she'll think I look beautiful? I hope she does." They're precious.

Gavin and Brett didn't want to miss out on picture time. Ok, maybe Brett didn't care, but Gavin wanted in on the action.

I love this gorgeous dress Allie has on. She is such a little beauty. (4 weeks old)

Christmas was great. Not too many pictures of the actual mayhem. I got these from Kandra, but we had a good time anyway. Later that day we went to Pinetop to have Christmas dinner with Wendy and her family since Skyler can't really travel right now because of his surgeries. 21 inch incision on his back!! The poor kid.

Jason, Allie, and yours truly

Sophie and Gavin

Kandra, Brett, Gavin

The next day Jason and Kandra took the kids out sledding. They had a great time!

We had a great time in AZ. It's always nice to go back to my home town and see my family and great friends. I wish we lived closer so it isn't several months in between visits, but we live where we have to and must bloom where we're planted!

Holiday Time - Shrimp and Crab Dinner

2012-01-14T20:59:00.010-07:00

Jason's family has an annual shrimp/crab dinner before Christmas. Lots of good food and good people.

Ty and Jessie holding Allie

Clockwise: Jason, Angela, Greg, Patty, Riley, Tammy, and Bailey

We had a nativity act and the kids were so cute!

Sophie, Jake, Regan, Janie, Peyton

Sophie was an angel and wanted wings, so of course she had to wear the ladybug wings:) Hahaha....cracks me up.

Regan is a shepard with a candy cane staff. Pretty cute little shepard.

Aspen and Allie

Jason's niece, Keia, had a baby one week after me. She was 2 weeks early and I was a week late so you can see a little bit of difference in size. I have me a chubby cheeker:) Aspen is Julie and Karl's first grand baby and Jason's parents first great grand baby. That makes me a great aunt! Aspen sure is cute and sweet with a head full of hair that sticks straight up. She needs to share some of that hair with Allie. She started losing her hair:(

Reflux again?!?

2012-01-14T19:47:00.006-07:00

We are still alive here. The transition to three kids was definitely easier than the transition to two. Probably because I don't have two babies on different schedules to take care of. Now its just two hellions........that can at least take care of themselves......plus a baby.

4 days old

8 days old

Grandma Joy came and helped us for a few days. We sure appreciated her.

12 days old

3 weeks old

At her 2 weeks check up she weighed 8lb 9oz. She has gotten quite fussy and pukes a lot. If there was a contest she would be a medalist. I just kept crossing my fingers that it wouldn't turn into reflux, but no go. All of the symptoms. Crying from 10pm - 1am or 8:30pm to 4am. Yeah, the holidays were filled with noise alright. So that makes me 3 for 3 with reflux babies. How did I get so lucky? Not complaining though. Allie is a sweet heart and we are glad to have her here. I took her to the doctor for the reflux and she weighed 11lbs at 5.5 weeks!! If she didn't puke so much she would probably be 13lbs. He gave her a rx for prevacid and I hope it kicks in soon! She also has a milk protein intolerance like Sophie did, so I've gone off dairy, my favorite thing. I forgot how long it lasted with Sophie. Hopefully not too long:(

So here is the big question: was the feeding tube worth it? Not only yes, but h.e.double hockey sticks yes! She has been smiling at us for a couple weeks now and it is the cutest thing ever! I love to snuggle this sweetie.

Newborn PIctures

2011-12-07T16:40:00.003-07:00

My good friend Angie Gurney took pictures of my sweet, sweet girl as a baby present. These are at 5 days old and they turned out so beautiful!! I wish I could put all of them on here. Allie is wearing my blessing dress in some of them. Regan and Sophie had pictures taken in it as well. I love it!

Introducing...... Allie Rose Joy!!!

2011-12-02T21:32:00.008-07:00

The blessed event finally happened! I was beginning to think she would never come out. Dr. said he would induce me Monday the 28th if I hadn't had her by then, but luckily she came before that. So Saturday at about 5:15 am, I started having some minor contractions. They were pretty steady and I was peeing every 15 minutes. It was all the peeing that made me suspicious. With Sophie I peed every 10 minutes until my water broke. So at 7am I finally turned on the light in the bathroom, dry heaved like crazy, and realized that I was spotting. I thought, "Hooray!! Today is the day!" No one was up yet, but I couldn't lay down anymore because I was antsy and hurting so I did what any normal, in the middle of labor, type of woman would do......I took a shower. I looked hideous with Sophie in after pictures and didn't want that again so my hair was going to look nice by golly! Plus the hot water on my back was excellent pain relief:)
I got out of the shower and found Regan in with my mom on the couch. I told my mom that today was the day. She just smiled and said that the first thing Regan said when she got upstairs was, "I think my mom is going to have her baby today." My mom didn't know what was going on with me and Regan had never really talked about when she thought I would have the baby, just prayed that it would be soon, but she said, "Oh really...why do you think that?" "I don't know, I just do." So funny:)
I woke Jason up and told him today was the day. Contractions were pretty steady, about every 3-8 minutes. It was such a different experience from Sophie. With Sophie I was miserable and having irregular contractions all day til my water broke in the afternoon, then they were non-stop and I was howling. These contractions were painful, but not crazy Sophie contractions so I was wondering if I should wait at home for a while until my water broke or just head up to the hospital. I didn't want to get up there and have them send me home. I tested GBS positive a few weeks before, so I reasoned that I should play it safe and head up to the hospital since it is 20+ minutes away.

Getting in the van to go.

We took Regan and Sophie to a friend in the university housing. Thank you Amy! Jason's sister, Patty was in Lindon for the holiday and came and got them a couple hours later. We had Thanksgiving with Patty and her in-laws on Thursday and Patty was actually going to leave that day to go home, but since I was having the baby she delayed her going to the next day. She had been up for 2 weekends before that, eager to hold a brand new baby and had left disappointed both times, so she didn't want to miss it this time:) We were glad she was here and could help with the girls.

My mom came on November 16th to help out. She unpacked boxes, got the babies room ready, sewed some last minute things, cooked, cleaned, took care of the girls and me. In the picture above she is finishing my hair since I didn't finish it at home. She has been such a great help and I am so grateful for my wonderful mother!!

On Tuesday when I saw my dr. I was 80% effaced and dilated to 2cm. We got to the hospital about 9:15am and when they checked me at the hospital I was fully effaced and dilated to 5cm! They weren't going to send me home.....hooray!! Things just went so smoothly. Steady contractions, but not crazy. I got an epidural and that was awesome. I did have to stay on my right side though, because everytime I laid on my left side, my blood pressure would drop. At one point it was 71/33. They came in around noon and was at 7cm. I needed two doses of antibiotics for the GBS before they would break my water. At 2:30 they broke my water and there was some meconium in it. They never gave me any pitocin, which I didn't mind. I did have 4 bags of i.v. fluid and was pretty dehydrated because I only peed out a little over one bag worth. I got very swollen. So much for nice pictures afterward. I was at 10cm around 4:45pm and started pushing around 5pm. This pushing process was lots easier than Sophie too. With Sophie I couldn't feel anything and they had to tell me when to push. This time I could feel some pressure and they let me lead on when to push. It was hard to breath through it all because of my sinus infection, but it was a great experience and lasted about 40 minutes.

Here's Allie's stats:

Born at 5:42pm

7lb 14 oz

19.5 inches

13.5 head circumference
She was so alert after birth. She just kept looking around and studying everybody. She definitely knows her mommy! She quiets down to my voice and looks so knowingly at me. I am smitten with her! I am in deep smit over this sweet, sweet girl.

Patty brought Regan and Sophie up and they were pretty sweet with her. They sang her songs and took turns holding her.

Regan is particularly taken with Allie. I asked her if she would rather have a baby brother or baby Allie, and she said definately baby Allie. "She is the sweetest and cutest baby in the whole world!!" For an hour, one morning, she sang her all the soft, quiet songs she could think of. She worries about her safety constantly.

We came home Monday afternoon from the hospital. I had recovered our car seat (a process which I will not be repeating) and i think it turned out pretty cute. I also made that beanie that's on her head. She is eating so well. She had an appointment on Wednesday with the pediatrician and had started gaining back some of the weight she had lost. She is probably back up to her birth weight by now.

Allie has brought such a sweet spirit into our home. She is so sweet, special and precious. The way she looks at me sometimes I swear she is trying to smile, but can't quite get it yet. I am so pleased with how Regan and Sophie are handling everything. I have three sweet girls...seriously so blessed:)

2011-11-20T20:28:00.000-07:00

Finally got some internet access so I can update a little. So on Halloween I started having major contractions for a few hours and was ready to go to the hospital, but I wanted the girls to go trick-or-treating since they look forward to Halloween more than Christmas. They ask me the day after when Halloween will be here again. After they got back the contractions had slowed so I just waited it out. Off and on that night and the next day. Then nothing. Saturday the 5th was the big move. It snowed, I had back labor all day, and Sophie had been having 104 degree fevers for 2 days. Then on moving day she complained that her ears were hurting so I took her to insta-care and she had a double ear infection.

We had so many people help us move. We couldn't have done it without them! Jason's family was up here and helped. His parents were here for a few days and did so much for us. The elders quorum helped us move stuff all day. Relief society ladies came in days before and helped me pack boxes, and then came in and cleaned the whole place a couple days after we moved. They even had some ladies come over to our new house and help me unpack a bunch of boxes. We were so blessed. I am going to miss living in cell block 722......well, not the cinder block walls, but I will miss the people, ward, and community we had. All these pregnancy hormones have not been good for me during this. But I'm glad we moved before the baby and not after. The hormone rush after the baby would have put me over the edge and made me have a melt down.

We went to our new ward on Sunday and just like anything else new and different....it will take some getting used to. Our bishop is really nice and there seems to be a good mix of old and young there. We were talking to the bishop and Regan said, "Bishop, let me tell you something." Oh dear, I knew what was coming, but couldn't stop her in time. "Our old bishop gave us candy in his office after church every Sunday!" We had tried to tell/prepare the girls for the fact that our new bishop was likely not going to pass out candy every Sunday like our old one. He said, "Well this bishop doesn't. I only pass out candy on Halloween." Oh my goodness, that mouth of hers. She invites people over for dinner without telling me, tries giving away some of our stuff, and even invited people over to the neighbors for some of their gum.

I have been taking the girls to their same schools and that is wearing me out. I wanted to do it till the Christmas break, but after a week of it, I'm done. They will start at the new schools after Thanksgiving. I visited the school we are in the boundaries for and didn't get a good vibe so I am trying to find an alternative.....pronto, before baby comes and before she needs to start. Seriously. So. Stressfull!!!

I had my membranes stripped on Tuesday.....nothing, except for a head cold. Sophie got over being sick, but now Jason and Regan are sick as well. Lots of sleepless night around here lately with coughing. Not an ideal place to bring a new baby :( My mom drove and got here on Wednesday. She has been a big help. My dad wanted to come, but he got sick with a cold right before and didn't feel good enough to come. Kandra is there with her two boys taking care of him so my mom could be up here with me. It was Kandra's birthday on the 17th so she sacrificed that the help. Thank you Kandra!! Thank you mom!!

Now it's just the waiting game. I thought the babe would be here sooner, but she is hunkered down keeping us all in eager anticipation. Perhaps she is stubborn, just like her sisters, and mother, and grandmother :) She needs to come soon though, cause my mom can't stay here forever as much as I'd like her too. She gets nervous being away from my dad for very long, even if Kandra is doing a great job babysitting. So let's keep our fingers crossed that it will happen tonight :) Next post: baby central!

Changing Times

2011-10-25T17:22:00.004-06:00

Once Jason graduated we had a few things on our minds. Where is Jason going to get a job? Architecture is not a great field to find a job in at the moment. How are we going to start paying off student loans? Where are we going to live, especially if he doesn't find a job by the time we have to be out of student housing? Will I get to keep my doctor (because I will probably cry if I don't)? Can we find a good van in our price range? Umm....stress weighed down my life. Prayers ascended to heaven at a steady pace. Pretty sure, Heavenly Father's inbox was full just from me. I kept thinking, "Well, the Lord led us down this school path, and led us to this point where we are about to have a baby. He can't let us fail now, right? I mean, maybe my pregnancy hasn't been a hard enough trial. Maybe I need bankruptcy and homelessness to really make things hard."

So after a couple weeks of sending out resumes, calling, visiting firms, and emailing, Jason found a job temping at an architecture firm here in SLC. What a great blessing! It was supposed to last at most 2 weeks. They couldn't hire full time. So week after week they keep telling him to come back the next week (which was excellent) and he kept looking around for permanent work.

The week after I got back from AZ, the Lord took pity on my poor soul. Jason's dad called us on a Monday and said he found a van that was really a pretty good deal, really clean, and seemed to run well. We trusted his judgement and had him buy it for us. Hooray!

Then on Tuesday, Jason got a call from a firm that really wanted him and made him an offer after only 1 of usually 3 interviews they do. So Wednesday he tells the firm he's temping for that he was made an offer and would be finishing out the week with them then going over to the other firm. Well, I guess they saw how valuable Jason's experience is and they didn't want to lose him either, so they said they would match the other firm's offer! After some quick praying, Jason felt that he should stay with the firm he's been with. He really likes the atmosphere and the people he works with. Insert a big hosanna shout!!

So now that we know we are going to be in SLC for at least a few years, I started looking for places to move.....that Tuesday night. I figure that it will be a little easier to move a couple weeks before the baby comes rather than a couple weeks after. I made appointments to view a couple places on Thursday night. We really liked and felt good about the first place we saw. I kept thinking about it Friday and Saturday while we were in SG getting our van. So Saturday I called and said that we wanted it.

So in the same week we found a van, got a permanent job, and found a place to live. Words cannot express the gratitude I feel to Heavenly Father for opening the windows of heaven and pouring out His blessing on us.

We can start moving into our duplex/house tomorrow, but have to be out of our current place by Nov.12. We'll start moving boxes and small stuff over, and then on Nov. 5th we'll do all the big stuff. And by we, I mean anybody else but me:) I can pack boxes, but I can't move them. (Insert evil, sadistic laugh here.....jk......but not really;)

***************************

I was hoping that this baby would stay put until after the 12th, but I'm getting more and more uncomfortable and miserable. I'm sick of being sick, and not being able to breathe, and feeling 100 years old every time I get off the couch, and not being able to do much of anything without feeling like I just ran a marathon. In other words, I'm ready if she is. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to sound like a complainer. I'm incredibly thankful to be pregnant and know that a lot of women would trade places with me any time. I've been in their shoes. I just want to document what I'm feeling and going through at this point.

I had Sophie the day I turned 36 weeks and she was nearly 7 pounds.......a month early!! She would have been huge if I went to 40 weeks. I wonder what this one will do. Makes me nervous. Dr. has been saying that I'm measuring just right though. (I get to keep my same doctor. I'm so happy, you don't even know) She moves so much! She also stomps on my bladder a lot, and gets the hiccups constantly:) I can tell she is sideways because my left side gets the hiccups and the right side gets pokey foot jabs. So I wonder when she is going to head south for the winter and drop. It's a crazy, weird, amazing thing to watch my stomach rolling all over the place. For a long time now, every time I think about her I just feel so much sweetness from her spirit. I can't wait to meet her!

Sophie's favorite shirt. She calls it her exercise shirt.

She is pretty picky about her hair and I finally found a new way to do it that she actually likes.

2011-10-23T16:05:00.004-06:00

27 wks

32 wks

I took the girls down to AZ a few weeks ago to spend some time with my parents. My moms yard was gorgeous as usual.....even after Regan and her decimating crew went through and ripped off all the flowers on my mom's plants. Sorry about that mom. Kandra was there with her two boys. Brett is so stinkin' cute and gave me lots more kisses than he even gave Kandra. Gavin is a little ball of energy and is starting to show some attitude.

Since Kandra didn't share this story about sweet Gavin, I feel the need to share. It is pretty dang funny actually. It was almost dinner time and we had set the table. Sophie took a seat at the table and Gavin wasn't happy about the seat she chose. So he took a fork and poked her in the face. Well he got in trouble and went to time out. Kandra made him come out and apologize to Sophie and if you've heard him talk you know he talks about a mile a minute and it can be a little hard to understand.
"I-I-I- sowwy Sophie, (insert mumbling you can't understand), I-I sowwy, (more mumbling), but you jus-pissa-me-off, (more mumbling)."
I look at Kandra, "Did he just say what I think he said?" Her eyes are wide. My mom's eyes are wide. Big confirmation, YES he did! "Hhhhmmmm, I wonder where he learned that Kandra!"
We laughed about that for days. Still makes me laugh.

On Sunday, I was getting ready to leave and it started violently hailing and raining. It was sooo crazy!! The side walks had 2 inches of rain with hail floating on top of it. Looks like a snow storm hit. I couldn't leave for about a half hour because it was so violent out there.
It was a long drive and hard to do with a big belly that doesn't like to sit up for long. But the Lord really blessed me to be able to make it safely, with little fatigue and nausea, and fairly good girls. I couldn't make that trip now. I went to St. George the very next weekend to get our mini van and it was a hard trip. Lots of contractions and I was miserably uncomfortable. Jason is going down with the girls next weekend and I will not be going. I'm done traveling for this pregnancy.

Our pretty princess

2011-10-23T15:33:00.009-06:00

Regan is what you would call a tom boy. Her two favorite books are about bugs and snakes. On a particularly rough Sunday morning she yelled, "I hate dresses! I hate pink! And I hate princesses!!!" Have you seen that Tide commercial about that mom with the girl who likes only cargo shorts and hoodies? That commercial cracks me up cause I can kinda relate. I have these beautiful dresses that collect dust in her closet because she won't wear them. The plainer, the better. She has even turned my prissy, froo-froo luvin' Sophie against them. It vexes me greatly :<

So imagine my surprise/shock/bewilderment when Regan comes up to me and asks me to help her become a pretty princess. She wanted the make-up, the crown, the dress, and the shoes.
So I had to take some pictures to memorialize the event. Who knows when it may happen again.

She has been wearing pink a little more too. Crazy, I know!

Sophie has to do whatever Regan does, so she made her own crown too and put on a dress-up dress.

My pretty princesses

Back to School....

2011-10-23T13:35:00.014-06:00

.....to prove to teacher that I'm not a fool:) Yes, I'm still trying to play catch up before all hell brakes loose around here. Regan started kindergarten this year and is doing so well. She is smart and soaks up everything she's learning.

First day of school. (Sophie had to be in the pictures too.)

After she got on the bus we headed over to the school with another mom to watch them get off. We waited for a few minutes and Sophie and her friend, Jessica, had fun picking "flowers"(weeds), and posing for pictures.

Finally made it.

A few weeks ago, Regan came home and was telling me about her bff, Rowan.

Regan: Mom we are name twins because we both start with R and we are color twins because we both love blue.
Me: Oh, so do you sit by her in class?
Regan: Rowan is a boy, not a girl.....and we love each other SOOOOOOO much!!!

So it begins. She wants a play date with him and we just haven't been able to work it out yet. We went to St. George one weekend to pick up a mini van that we bought, and Regan was hysterical that we were not going to have a play date with Rowan. Even the lure of Grandma Joy was not enough to settle her. That's pretty amazing since G-ma Joy is Regan's most fav-o-rite person in the whole world. This must be true love:)
Regan's hair grows so fast. Just a year before she had chopped it and had a boy cut for a while. It got long again and she whined every time I did it so I had it cut the day before. So much easier!
Miss Mary is her teacher and I love her!! She has been so good for Regan and Regan adores her. I feel so sad that we are moving and she will go to a new school.

Sophie is doing Headstart preschool again this year and has the same teachers as last year. She loves it and is a little social butterfly. I asked her to pose for me and this is what she came up with. What a dork.

So I had to start telling her some jokes to get some smiles....

Much better:)

Sophie's teachers told me a story about her and one of her many bff's, Ella. They were going outside after getting a drink and Ella asked Sophie if she wanted to open the door. Sophie said, "Why don't we do teamwork to open it?" Haha, what a girl.

Both girls go to school in the afternoon and it has been really nice to have my afternoons free. I've been able to take a few naps, pack boxes, and run errands. So nice!

Not Disney Land: Part 4

2011-09-26T15:41:00.015-06:00

On Saturday, we went to the beach before heading home. We only spent about 45 minutes there. I wish we could have had a whole day. The girls LOVED it. Regan was in heaven looking for sea shells. And it was all I could do to keep Sophie from running straight into the waves.

Whenever Aunt Patty or some of the cousins would go to Cali, Regan would always tell them to watch out for sea shells on the side of the road and if they found a pretty one, they should stop and get it for her. Well, now was her turn to look for shells and she could not be distracted from her mission. You can see she has a little baggy to collect them. The little sweetie then gave them all away to her friends when we got home:)

That face just about sums it all up...

I was watching some of the people and saw a group of teenagers with a few adults unloading a truck full of fire wood to have a bon fire on the beach. These are the types of memories they will have of growing up. It made me think about the memories we each have depending on where we lived. Mine include elk bugling/spotlighting, bon fires and camping up the canyon, making forts on the mountain behind our house, lighting wampum savers on fire, ect. (I remember a lot of fire in my teenage years thanks to my bro-in-law, Jared. Thanks for the good times Jear Bear:) Anyway, not sure where I'm going with that tanget, but this is definitely something we need to do again!
Whew! I finally managed to get all the reunion and DL trip photos edited and uploaded. Now we can get on with our regularly unregular scheduled programming....

Disney Land: Part 3

2011-09-24T13:03:00.006-06:00

Last day at the land of perpetual happiness. Grandma Joy, Regan, and Sophie waiting for the bus to take us to DL from our hotel.

Just got off the bus.

On the train that goes around the park.

The past two days we kept seeing kids (mostly girls) with their faces painted so beautifully. Regan and Sophie wanted their faces painted so bad so we found where they did it and the girls picked what they wanted and the colors. It took around 10 minutes and the girls held so still. Regan at first wanted a snake and I put my foot down and said I was not paying to look at a snake on her face all day. So she picked a rainbow butterfly instead. Much better:)

This picture cracks me up! Looks like she's at a spa or something.

So pretty! They were in love with looking at themselves. Little narcissists:) I think it makes them look so grown up, especially Regan.

Regan's favorite ride was the Haunted Mansion. She was obsessed with the ghosts. They fascinated her. Sophie's favorite was Pirate's of the Caribbean. She kept yelling, "You dirty scally-wag!!" Sophie also loved Thunder Mountain Railroad. She went with Jason and he said that when it started she saw all the others around her holding their hands up and screaming, so she did too:) Sophie was into all the fast, adrenaline rides. She was 40.5 inches tall. Just barely over the 40 inches needed to ride them. Regan did not like them. We led her ignorantly to them like a lamb to slaughter. We're meanies, we know.

Funny story.....we had fast passes for Splash Mountain (Regan said that if her daddy was going to do it, she was too) and got about 10 feet from the logs and the ride stopped working. Not the funny part. So one of the workers was next to us and she was talking to the girls about the rides they liked. She asked Regan if she liked the Pirates ride and Regan said, "NO! It went down a hill and I got wet!!" The girl was like.....Um, I don't think you're going to like this one then. I was cracking up. After a half hour of waiting we got out of line cause the girls were getting hungry. Probably for the best anyway since Regan would have freaked out and I'm pregnant.

A good last day in happy land:) Did I mention that the girls were really good?

Disney Land: Part 2

2011-09-23T23:34:00.002-06:00

The second day we went to California Land. Everyone in Greg's family had gotten sick and was throwing up, except Janie. So we took her with us and traveled through Bug's Life territory. Umm....this wheelchair may look humiliating and you would be right, but not as dumb as a feeding tube. Ok, maybe it did look as dumb. Just going from one humiliation to another.

Is this the face of excitement or what?

Grandpa Joy was saying "We are taking pictures of each other taking pictures..."

Waiting in line for the ferris wheel. Sophie is about to cough her lung out:)

That night we stayed for Fantasma. The girls loved it! All three girls were so good. Didn't really hear whining or complaining at all. Made it that much more enjoyable. Day 2 down.....

Disney Land: Part 1

2011-09-22T17:21:00.000-06:00

The day after the reunion ended, Grandma and Grandpa Joy took us to Disneyland. They had been telling the girls that when daddy was all done with school they would take them. For about a year they have kept asking if daddy is all done with school yet. Well the big day finally came and they were so excited! Jason's brother's family came with us too. On Tuesday, after about 10 potty stops, we made it to our hotel, which was only 2 or 3 blocks from DL. We spent Wed.-Fri. at DL and came back on Saturday.

Entrance to the park
Sophie, Regan, and Janie

We met Pluto right off. They were star struck:)

Sophie getting Cruella Deville's autograph

Half the excitement for me was watching the girls excitement. Isn't that what makes Christmas fun too when your grown up? Sophie would especially get worked up. We stayed one night to watch the water show, Fantasma. Sophie was squealing the whole time. I LOVED it!!

Grandpa Joy and Sophie chillin'

The carousel was a favorite

Even big kids like the carousel

Waiting in line

Daddy and Regan on the Dumbo ride

Me with Greg, Peyton, and Gavin

These three were inseparable. They loved small world so much!

The girls were so good the entire day.
Meeting Pooh, Tigger, and Eeyore was so exciting too.

I waited for the girls while they got pictures taken with the Hundred Acre Wood gang. OK, someone caught me....I collapsed.

Sophie came back to tell me about meeting Tigger and Pooh.

I was pretty pooped by the afternoon. I collapsed back at the hotel and had braxton-hicks contractions the rest of the night. I had only been off the feeding tube for a week and felt pretty weak....still do as a matter of fact. The next two days I got a wheelchair and did much better.

Greer Family Reunion 2011

2011-09-21T15:04:00.017-06:00

August 4th-8th the Frank and Dawna Greer family reunioned at Trend West Resort in St. George.

Mom and dad with all the siblings. I'm 24 wks. preg.

All 14 grandkids.

Carson got baptized that weekend.

Annual talent show. Regan, Sophie, and Brinley singin' it up.

Gavin and Brinley

Mom always gives out great prizes for everybody afterward.

Of course, lots and lots of swimming!
Sophie, Hailey, Kayla

One of Gavin's many jumps. The kid is a water dog!

Family Game Night
Porter

Crash and burn

Apples to Apples: Dad is the judge the whole time so you never know what card he's going to pick:)

Kandra even put together a "Minute to Win It" game for us to play. So fun!

Sophie

Regan and Grandpa

Brett the Stud

Sophie, Regan, Grandpa

Gavin, Sophie, Regan

The only thing that would have made this reunion better is if Jason could have been with us most of it. The last day of school, presentation day, his teacher was so nice and gave them another project to do. So he had to stay and finish up this stupid project and got to the reunion Sunday afternoon, just in time for it to be over Monday morning.
We had a great time this year. Thanks to everyone for making it a memorable time!

Freedom!!!

2011-08-25T21:47:00.009-06:00

August has been crazy. I don't even know where to begin. I guess the beginning would be a good place to start;)
July 29th I was officially released from bondage.....aka the ball and chain....aka the yellow worm....aka the nose ring.....aka the %@#$ feeding tube!!!!!! Words cannot articulate my feelings on this subject. (If you missed my thrilling "Life with a feeding tube" post, you don't want to miss it. That holds alot of my feelings on the tube there.) Words also cannot articulate the grossness to which said ball and chain was when it came out. All I can say is that I threw up immediately after it came out. Yeah, it was that gross. This picture is in the hospital after it was taken out. I had to snap it and send it to my fam. I meant to post about it that day, but I got busy. So sue me.
I had been going to the doctor weekly since May, and the last couple weeks I started to gain weight and stop throwing up. So he said if I felt I could live without it we could take it out. A couple weeks before I probably couldn't have. As much as I hated the dang tube, it scared me to take it out because I still couldn't eat very well, or regularly. I did lose a few pounds the first week it was out, but I've gained that back since. I still struggle with eating before noon and nausea most of the day, but it is definitely better than it was. Me and my bff Zofran are still kickin' it in da hood every day, and it's helping more than it used to. I'm back to monthly doctor appointments! Hooray! This did ruin my chances for the Miss Pregnant America Pageant, but it was worth it:)

Jason and I are doin' this freedom thing "Dual Survival" fashion. (Anybody else watch that show besides us?) Jason finally won his long hard battle for freedom on August 6th. His bondage with architecture school.....aka ball and chain....aka first (not second) home.....aka widow-maker....aka the dungeon.....aka hell, has finally come to an end!!!!!!!!!!! It has been a hard road for us these last three years, but we have come out victorious. I'm proud of Jason and his perseverance. He has worked very hard.This picture was taken after the graduation ceremony at the beginning of May.
FYI: The baby-napper security system is such a huge success that we are on back order and can no longer take orders. Thank you.

High flyin'

2011-07-26T14:20:00.012-06:00

There has been a lot of ambition and high aspirations around here. The girls have decided to invent a baby-napper security system from an ingenious entanglement of yarn.

I have been assured from Regan that if anyone tries to come in and steal our baby, they will be immediately caught and unceremoniously thrown out. You can order your baby-napper security system for a one time payment of $19.95. (Installation not included)

Entrepreneur Regan

Entrepreneur Sophie

I, myself am trying out for the Miss Pregnant America pageant and have sent in these photos.

(19 wks)

(22 wks)

I should be a top contestant and I think the nose ring gives me an edge. I am still waiting to hear back from Ambercrombie, American Eagle, and Victoria Secret for modeling consideration.

So, as I said, we're high flyers around here. Don't mean to brag......it's just how we roll.

The unveiling...........

2011-06-24T13:57:00.003-06:00

So here we are. At the point in which planning gets kicked up a notch. Do I start making boy blankets or start finding all my girl supplies? Can I start spending money or do I save some by spending only a little;)? Do I keep the old manual or get a new one?

And the verdict is most positively, unquestionably, with out a doubt......

To say that I wasn't shocked would be a fib. However, I am not disappointed. A healthy baby was what I wanted and that's what I'm getting! She looked great in there and was maybe as active as her big sis was. That is a maybe, cause I don't know if many could beat Sophie. Anyway, I got home court advantage, I don't need a new manual. I know the plumbing and drama girls have. Bring it on!!

I need to squeeze the lemon

2011-06-20T11:26:00.010-06:00

Name that movie:)

My mom came here a week ago to help and enough cannot be said of her goodness to us. We appreciate her so much for this kindness. Jason has felt a huge weight lifted and even seems happier when he comes home:) Thanks to my dad too, who is going without her. We are going to have to move in a month or two and that has been a stress on me because it will pretty much be up to me to pack up. So she has started on some things that we aren't using and that is a huge relief as well.

I got my tube replaced and it seems to be working well. Found out that it doesn't matter how I take my meds. By mouth, or in the tube to my stomach or intestines, I'm going to be sick, sick, sick. So if I take it or not, it's kind of a lose/lose situation really. However, I have an ultrasound on Friday so we get to see if we need to learn a new plumbing system or not:)
I've picked up scrapbooking again since sitting up to the sewing machine isn't working out at the moment. My laptop is on a little table next to the couch and I can lay here and do it easily enough when I feel good. Typing is harder, but oh well.

My girls say the darndest things....

We were talking about the girls clothes sizes and how Regan is growing into size 6. "Does that mean I'm 6 years old?" she asked. Sophie is into size 5, except that she has a small bum and could wear a 4 still. She let out a cry of indignation and Regan consoled her by telling her not to worry, she had a big bum. Hehehe.....only time in your life where a big bum is desirable.

At the dinner table, Regan said, "What if the baby comes out a vegetarian? What would we do then?"
Ummm.....no idea....good question. What if it comes out a democrat?
"What's a democrat?"
Just eat your dinner sis.

Stay tuned for the unveiling of baby joys private materials:) This is suga' tits signin' off......ya'll come back now, ya hear?

4th times a charm?

2011-06-12T17:20:00.004-06:00

Thursday Jason and I "celebrated" our 10th anniversary. Crazy I tell ya. I can't believe it has been that long. Time flies when your having fun. Jason said that we could celebrate it in January. I didn't understand. He said that maybe I would be feeling better by then. In that case, let's make it March just to be sure. We went to Olive Garden with the girls. I had a bread stick and was stuffed. The girls told the waitress their life story and she was a very sweet listener.

I'm sitting on the couch with the girls watching a Donald Duck dvd, which Sophie is in love with. She giggles and thinks it is so funny. Regan will laugh but not at the expense of Donald. She keeps telling me and Sophie to stop laughing at Donald. She feels bad for him. "We need to listen to him and never laugh at him or make fun of him." My little animal rights activist. She may be joining forces with PEETA soon.

In other news, my tube got a clog that would not be unclogged. I worked on it for a couple hours. My doctor worked on it for a half hour. All to no avail. So I had to be scheduled to get it replaced. I went in Friday afternoon for the procedure and talked to the doc about keeping the bridle (nose ring suture) out this time. My nose was SOOOOOO sore from being yanked on about 50 times a day. And it has created a cold sore where it was sitting. My cold sore has now spread to the left top and bottom of my lips. Ouch! They were concerned about the girls pulling it out, but we decided that I could get it put in later if it became a problem. While putting it down, the camera showed that I have gastritis which would explain why I feel so bloated and can't eat more than a few bites of anything without feeling terribly full.

So after I woke up from anesthesia, my throat was irritated and I coughed and part of the tube came up. This made me start vomiting violently and each time more of the tube would come up. So much of it came up that the whole thing had to be taken out because it was clearly out of my intestines. I ended up waiting another couple hours for an available doctor to put it in again. This time they put a dissolvable clamp at the end of the tube and clamped it to my intestine. It only lasts a few hours. Long enough for the nausea and coughing to abate.

That night, I'm sitting on the couch and Regan is acting like a wild animal and falls on the tubing. I'm sure that if I had a bridle in my nose it would have ripped through half my nasal septum. As it was, the tubing pulled out quite a bit. I was able to shove most of it in and just prayed that it hadn't come out of my intestines.

I haven't taken my meds for a couple weeks now because they make me terribly sick. The doctor was concerned about me not taking them and said I could crush most of them up and put it through the tube so it wouldn't sit in my stomach if taken by mouth. So I did that the next morning. After a couple hours I got very sick and started throwing up fluids and my meds. I didn't drink anything that morning, so I knew that my tube had pulled out of my intestines and was now draining in my stomach. I was so bloated that morning and in pain. I couldn't finish my whole feeding. I was sick all day yesterday and because of the gastritis, I've had to slow my feeding down so it goes all day.

I hate to think what my dr is going to say when I call him tomorrow. I'll have to get this dag-blasted thing replaced again. They'll put the bridle in this time for sure :( Maybe 4th times a charm?

Life with a tube....

2011-06-04T17:29:00.014-06:00

How do I put this in words that are adequate enough to describe the full spectrum of emotion one feels when inserted with a 150cm tube? IT SUCKS!!! Not adequate enough? I'll give more detail...

Imagine you have a sore throat. Not just a little tickle, or an irritation that you can ignore most of the time. This sore throat has spawned from the very depths of hell, threatening to choke you and cut you off from the very air that you breath. Strep throat......child's play. The pain reaches to my ear so I can't lay on my right side. I think they scratched my throat on the way down and it swelled and for a few days. It was all I could do not to go screaming in madness...if I could have screamed, which I doubt. I could barely talk above a whisper. Water barely made it down.

Imagine a smell that you have come to associate with nursing homes, being thrust down your nose for 19 hours a day. I have worked in nursing homes. And I do NOT like vanilla Ensure. Then you have to flush the tube every 4 hours with water so it doesn't get plugged and a new wave of nursing home floods the tube once it's reinserted.

Imagine you have a tape adhesive allergy. You wake up from the tube placing procedure and find medical tape strapping the tube to your face. Now when you get home and collect all your senses, you take the tape off and find a nice red patch where the tape had been. Brilliant. And it's still there.....over a week later. Lovely.

Imagine that the doctors don't want this tube to be pulled out, so they tie some string around the tube, pull the string around your nasal septum and come back around to the same spot and tie it off. Great thought all on it's own, but sometimes the tube gets heavy and you cannot strap this tube to your face with tape to keep it in place. If the tubing falls, or you forget how the tube limits your movement, this causes a great pull on your highly sensitive nose ring. You might say $%*&!!! (Don't imagine this part too hard, I don't want your eyes to water.)

Imagine that you still can't tolerate food by mouth and are throwing up several times a day, or in most cases dry heaving since you don't dare attempt even apple sauce, and a few inches of the tube comes up every time you do. This makes you heave more, especially when you have to shove the tube back down, hoping that it is still in your intestine and not in your stomach.

Imagine that this tube has created some gnarly, super stinky, green boogers backed up into your sinus cavity that like to drain down your throat and gag you. It is like swamp thing has checked into a nursing home.

Imagine that after a week long horrific bout of constipation because of all this "nutrition", you find that you have lost more weight (while receiving 1900 calories/day)!! Down 25 lbs and not sure if this thing is working at all!!!!

Then imagine that you go to the doctor for all this hassle and they are showing about as much sympathy as a maimed clown holding a homeless sign. Then they can't find the babies heart beat, which only makes your heart beat race, and they pull out the ultrasound machine and there you see your little baby moving around with heart beat and all. Almost 16 weeks now. Serendipitous.

For those of you who were wondering what it is like to have a feeding tube, I hope this gives a little insight. For those of you who weren't wondering.....why have you read this far?

Not sure if this post had any comic relief properties for you like it didn't for me, but this might help.....

Regan wants a brother and Sophie wants a sister. They just know I am going to have two in my tummy. During the ultrasound I said, "See girls, there is only one baby in there." Sophie replies, "Let's just pretend there are two, ok mama?" Hahaha

Regan asked me if I wanted a girl or a boy. I said it didn't matter, I would love a girl or a boy. Knowing she wanted a brother I asked if she would love the baby if it were a girl. She thought for a minute and said yes. Then I asked Sophie if she would love the baby if it were a boy. She pretty much immediately said no, only a girl. I told Regan that if we were having a boy, she would get ALOT of baby holding time since Sophie wouldn't want to hold a boy. Sophie pipes in, "Umm I think I like girls and boys." Hahahaha.......thought so.

Check out my new accessory...

2011-05-26T22:09:00.006-06:00

This thing is so inconspicuous that I don't think anybody will notice, do you? I know I look super sexy (Jason thinks its hot;) and all you ladies are jealous, but don't be hatin' on me. Just trying to keep it real here. I get to keep this new lucky charm for 4-8 weeks. My body decided it didn't want to be like a druggy shootin' up anymore and really wanted a nose ring instead (it is literally tied around the inside of my nose so it won't come out). I'm a rebel, I know. So....I am officially a pregnancy loser....let the humiliation begin!!!!

Well.......

2011-05-19T12:25:00.003-06:00

That's right...13 1/2 weeks. I've been sick and tired, but I had an ultrasound today and baby Joy is still alive and growing!! That is the most important part. I was just in shock when I heard the heart beat at 10 weeks. The dr. said, "Don't you believe me?" I told him no and could I please have an ultrasound. "No need to. I'm 100% sure that is a healthy heart beat.
He said I could have genetic counseling and it offered an ultrasound so I jumped at it. Glad I did, the little tyke was worth looking at.
I also found out that I am a week farther than we thought from the first ultrasound. Also very encouraging.

Regan was concerned the entire time that the tech was hurting me and the baby. She kept asking me if I was still doing ok. So stinkin' sweet.

I told the girls when we saw the baby holding up "his" hand that "he" (I keep getting a boy vibe so I always think of the baby in masculine terms) was waving at them. They loved that and giggled.

As I've mentioned, I've been pretty sick. I'm down 20 pounds and have already been to the ER to get fluids. Yesterday my dr. came up with a plan. I will go to the infusion center everyday for a week and get i.v. fluids. If I'm doing better, I'll keep going. If not then I'll probably get a feeding tube?!?!! (Guess he doesn't think string cheese and a few crackers a day are cutting it.) How humiliating. Hope it doesn't come to that. I wouldn't want to be seen in public. "Hey look at me, I can't hack pregnancy! I'm a pregnancy loser!" Yeah, sumthin' like that.

I've lost a lot of weight and was concerned I had twins because my stomach didn't really get much smaller......ok lets not pretend....I look like I'm 5 months pregnant. I have PCOS and was found to have a cyst on my ovary last pregnancy. No concern about it really. This ultrasound showed that it has grown to the size of an orange. A little bigger than the baby. So yeah, I kinda am carrying twins.

I'm optimistic now. We're past the point at which my previous babies have died, and I'm hopeful that things will continue progressing normally. Jason and our home teacher gave me a blessing a couple weeks ago which really lifted a weight off me. Prayers are not discouraged:) Please send some our way. Ciao!

P.S. No I didn't make those cookies. I haven't baked, cooked, cleaned, sewed, crafted, or done anything for that matter for 2 months.

P.S.S The post last month where I was kinda out of my mind and sounded a little crazy........well I was super sick and feeling really sassy about it. It was my way of retaliating against it I guess;)

P.S.S.S. The post below is pretty cute with more Regan and Sophieisms:)

Regan and Sophie Babyisms

2011-05-19T12:00:00.003-06:00

Pretty much every day this year R and S have asked if I have a baby in my tummy and have given me their orders. Regan wants a brother and Sophie wants a sister. They just know I am going to have two in my tummy. During the ultrasound I said, "See girls, there is only one baby in there." Sophie replies, "Let's just pretend there are two, ok mama?" Hahaha

The girls came home from preschool with a little plant they planted in a yogurt cup. Regan was going on and on about how much she loved her tomato plant and wanted to keep it forever. When I told the girls later that day that I had a baby in my tummy they were ecstatic. Regan gave me a hug and said, "Oh Mama, a baby is way better than a plant!" Melted my heart. "Mama, I'll do whatever you want me to do. Stop doing the dishes and go rest. I'll do the dishes." Very sweet sentiment, yet it was pretty much a pie crust promise.....easily made, easily broken.

Regan and Sophie are NOT going to be naming the baby. If they did it would be something like Toodally-doo, Dinosaury, Hanky-la-der-de-der, Shootsy-coo, or my personal favorite.....Doodilly-pop-de-dop. These are names they give their dolls, stuffed animals, or bugs they find. Sophie wants a girl to be named Sophie. Guess she likes her name;) So yeah, they're out on giving input.

Watching me throw up has become a spectator sport. One of the girls will hear me pouring out my blessings to the porcelain throne, run in and yell at the other to come see. Although lately I think they are getting bored with it because Sophie was talking to me while I was wretching my guts up and got mad that I wasn't turning to look at her and talk to her. She even got mad in the car, wondering why I wasn't driving. Kids these days....so desensitized. FYI-I keep a ziplock bag in the car for emergencies like the one above.

Nothing to do with the baby, but I had to post it cause it made me laugh. Sophie said family prayer last night and part of it went like this..."And please help us to not look for bugs anymore......except ladybugs because they are my favorite..." Hahahaha.....anytime Regan is outside, her head is down looking for bugs, worms, frogs, you name it.

Hi-Dee-Ho there neighbor!

2011-04-11T21:53:00.009-06:00

Here I am for my regularly unscheduled stop in blog land. My mind is all a twitter, yet vaguely numb at the same time. Does that make any sense? Some of me wants to do and be, but most of me wants to slip quietly away behind my eyelids for a season. I'm tired. Not just "Oh I think I need a power nap" kinda tired. It is like "Stop yanking on my eyelids and fogging my head Mr. Sandman or I'm gonna bust a cap in your...!" Sumthin' like that.

We have had birthdays (I'm 29 now, my dad is 70, and Regan is 5), visitors (Jason's family came for a concert and Regan's birth family came for a lovely visit), a concert (George Strait, Leeann Womack, and Reba McIntire who was my favorite....she can really knock yer knickers off), allergies (My voice has been gone for 3 weeks now. Curse you Perry the Platipus!!!), and things of a certain nature that if I told you I would have to kill you (j/k:) ........but not really).

I keep getting asked if I am on Facebook. Have you not read a couple post down ppl? I hate time suckers and fb is THE worst. It is the little hairy nut sack on the rodent that's in the lions mouth. (Name that movie??) Seriously though, ppl can't go one day without being on it and what happens if they aren't on it for one day.......I don't know.....it has never happened. Maybe they miss the tweet about their cousin's friend's boss's mother giving her dog a bath. What a travesty. Really. You are friends with a bajillion ppl only half of whom you really know and only half of those who you really like. Ok, ok I'm done, but really, I'm gonna hold out as long as I can.

Did I mention that my hubs is a freakin' rock star? He seriously rocks my world. Best thing that ever happened to me. I finally took the plunge and started my ETSY store. I have sold 4 things, which considering the fact that I didn't think I would sell anything, is pretty good.

Well, this is suga' tits signin' off. Ya'll come back now, ya hear?!?

My Girls

2011-03-06T21:36:00.004-07:00

I was taking pictures of some things I made and Sophie was prancing around and begged me to take pictures of her. I'm so glad I did. Just about 20 seconds worth, but I got some beautiful shots that I will treasure forever.

Sophie is the cutest thing ever

I love these pictures of Regan. She looks so beautiful. One of the rare times that she doesn't have a weird smile or something. Isn't her hair growing long? It is at a cute length now and not a boy cut:)

Regan has gone 15/19 nights without peeing the bed! Can I hear a WOOT WOOT! I employed a night time alarm system and it has worked wonders.

They can make me crazy, but I sure do love them.

Regan's Prayer

2011-02-27T20:48:00.004-07:00

Regan is a funny girl. She just barely said family prayers before going to bed and I think I giggled through most of it.
"Please bless mama to not throw away anymore toys. And please bless grandpa Greer that he will stop drinking...(a little pause here and my eyebrows go way up) stop drinking pepsi and start drinking healthy drinks. And please bless grandpa Joy to do the same as grandpa Greer. And please bless grandma Greer and grandma Joy to do the same as grandpa Greer and grandpa Joy."

Really, I don't know where she came up with that. So there you have it dad. Out of the mouth of babes. And you too mom...we all know you love to chug the cola;)

We had fast and testimony meeting today because of stake conference next week, so I asked her if she wanted to bear her testimony and she immediately got up and and ran to the pulpit. I couldn't catch up with her. She grabbed the microphone on tip toes and didn't wait for someone to get her a stool to step on. "And did you know we are all connected when we die?!? It's like we are holding hands!" She really is amazing. She has such faith and believes readily the things taught to her. What a blessing.

2011-01-30T21:38:00.018-07:00

I have a love/hate relationship with the internet. I love keeping up with all of you, reading great craft blogs for new ideas, shopping in my skivvies, posting my journal/blog, finding info on things, yadda yadda yadda. I hate that my precious time drains away like water down a sink and is irretrievable. Precious time that could be spent sleeping, reading, or creating (notice I didn't mention cleaning as that is another waste of my precious time:) I have come to find that although I would love to stay up all night sewing, sleep has it's place among the precious time. I feel a nanometer less tired when I go to bed before midnight. I know that once the computer is on, it is like a magnet pulling me to it and I am powerless against it. So what I'm trying to get at is my blogging absence means that I am employing my time elsewhere than on the computer.

I have been contemplating the talk by Dallin H. Oaks about doing things that are good, better, or best. Is there something better that I could be doing than surfing the net? Sewing seems better. But what is better than that? Should I be spending all my free time engaged in service projects like sewing quilts for the homeless? Or reading the BOM, the Enzign, or other church books like that? Is it selfish to sew things to sell them instead of giving them away to a charity? These are questions that puzzle me exceedingly. I'm still trying to work this out.

Enough with the tangent. I have been doing a lot of reading and sewing lately. My friend Catherine is have a party and invited me to come try to sell some of my things, so I have been making crayon rolls, stuffed animals, and pillow cases and using up a good deal of my stash, which Jason is happy about:)

Of course for Christmas I made most everything that I gave. I want to post pics of more stuff, but the lighting in my apartment is dismal. Maybe later. My favorite by far are these primitive Raggedy Ann dolls. I have wanted to make some for a long time. Last year didn't work out, but I finally mustered up the courage this year.

I found pictures online and showed some faces to the girls and they picked the ones they liked. Regan was adamant that her doll have blue hair. I was worried how it would look, but I think it's adorable. I'm bursting my buttons over here. I LOOOOOOOVE them sooooooo much.

They were pretty easy to do, just took A LOT of time, but I'm sure glad I did it.

The girls love them too.
Anderson Family Christmas Party: Regan was the only kid who hugged Santa. So sweet.
She found my glasses. What a cheeser!
Sophie loves putting on shows, which involve her dancing....

Regan loves my makeup...
Sophie loves to be naked....
I love that they love eachother.
The girls wanted me to make sock puppets and Sophie thought it would be funny to put them on her feet, which it was pretty funny.
The girls and Kandra's new baby Brett. What a cutie he is. They were so sweet with him. Sophie held him so nice and wanted to all day. Regan would sing him Twinkle Twinkle Little Star while she was holding him. They will be good big sisters......someday.
The girls are trying to get used to not calling Gavin, "baby Gavin". We are trying big boy Gavin and baby Brett.......but Gavin just might be baby Gavin forever.
During the holidays we went with my parents to St. Johns to see my Aunt Colleen who is in her 80's. I guess Regan had been watching Kandra feed the baby too much because she went right up to my aunt and said very animatedly, "Did you know that babies drink milk from their mama's boobies?!?" Finger's pointing at her chest.
Colleen: "What?"
Regan: (even louder) "Did you know that babies drink milk from their mama's boobies?!?"
Colleen: "Uhhh yeah"
Oh my goodness, I laughed so hard. Just as good as a 15 minute ab workout.

See any resemblance?

2010-12-30T07:06:00.007-07:00

Jason and I were looking at pictures on my mom's screen saver last night and these two pictures popped up and we got a good laugh. Actually these first two pictures were taken in the same spot on my mom's back patio, just 26 years apart:)

Guess we know where she got that crazy hair...
She loves to try on glasses wherever we go and makes me take pictures of all of them. Here's just a few of them:)

Love that crazy girl.

Bloggers Give Back

2010-12-14T11:11:00.005-07:00

Hey lovely people in blog land. I am participating in this by donating one of my photo mattes. There are some superific things to bid on. You don't want to miss it!! It starts tomorrow!~Kristal CLICK HERE

Alan and Donna Gubler are both school teachers who were hoping to retire soon. On the weekend of November 28 an electrical fire started in the attic of their home. While away for Thanksgiving their furnace stopped working. Alan purchased some space heaters to get them through the weekend until someone could come fix the furnace. On Sunday afternoon while Donna was blow drying her hair a breaker was tripped. After spending some time trying to figure out which outlet was the problem, Alan gave up and decided to try again on Monday. Around 5 that evening Donna was in her bedroom hanging clothes and Alan was in the kitchen making some dinner. Donna could hear popping and crackling and called Alan in to see if he could hear it too. He could not and they both went back to what they were doing. A short time after that some neighbors came to the door and told them to immediately get out of the house because they believed it was on fire. Donna ran and put on her slippers and they left. Smoke was billowing out of the entire roof. They left the house with only the clothes on their backs.

At the time of the fire they did not have insurance on their home. Family and friends in Ely have rallied together to get them the necessities they need right now so that they could return to work. They will have to start from scratch with what savings they have. They have such a deep hole in their hearts right now and are entirely devastated. Their burden is not light and will likely last for quite some time as they try to rebuild what they have lost. We know this holiday season will be a very trying one for them and hope that this site and the donations raised, will ease their burden, even by a little.

Thank you for your interest, concern & donations!
CLICK HERE

Christmas Cards

2010-12-03T11:31:00.008-07:00

It is that time of year again. Pull out the Christmas decorations, put up the tree, make goodies for your neighbors, and send out Christmas cards. This card below is the one I'm sending out this year. I made it and I can make one for you too! I put a preview of some that you can choose from or if these don't suit your fancy, send me the picture(s) that you want on it and I can whip up a cute little ditty that is all your own!

I made this one for Kandra last year and I liked it so much I used it for mine this year, just tweaking the background color a bit. Do you like one of these but want a different color? Just name it! I can do any size you want.

My mom and dad's Christmas card. Aren't they a handsome couple? Love them.

I whipped this one up yesterday and added Kandra's family pictures to get a feel for it with pics. Kandra, you know how to get a hold of me if you want it;)

One design is $6 for a digital JPEG file (picture) that you can then take to the printer of your choice. Easy peasy. Email me joykristal@gmail.com and let me know what design you would like, the greeting you want on it, colors, size, ect. Hope you are enjoying this time of season!

Ducky Shenanigans

2010-11-21T23:07:00.012-07:00

It started out as a peaceful Sunday morning. Then Sophie came in with her finger up inside this porcelain duck's you know what and said she couldn't get it out. I tried some soap and vaseline, but just about ripped her finger off. So Jason was called in and he brought out the big guns....some pliers.

Here she is flippin' the bird...hahahaha

This is Regan's duck and she was in the background crying her eyes out for her poor, mutilated duck. She said she wanted us to cut Sophie's finger off so she could get her duck back. She cried for about a half hour over this. Ahhh...my little animal rights activist.

At last we can see the finger. Jason even cut himself on his thumb with this highly dangerous fowl. I was seriously thinking we were going to have to take her to the hospital, but all's well that ends well.

Just before Halloween, Regan's class was having a party. They don't celebrate any holidays to be sensitive to all the cultures in the class blah blah blah, so they had a "wild thing" party. She had to dress up like any wild thing and she picked an elephant. She was so excited about it and I didn't want to disappoint her so I pulled out some gray fleece and made this little number one night and surprised her with it the morning of the party. She was so excited. Sophie liked sporting it as well.

Fun stuff.

Halloween Costumes and Crap

2010-10-23T10:02:00.009-06:00

Wow, has it really been 5+ weeks since my last post? How time flies when your doing the same things over and over and over again.

Regan's first day of school

I think her hair is starting to grow a little. She had a hard time going to preschool the first few days, but is now getting used to the routine and is getting to know the teachers, so she is doing better. Sophie is loving her preschool.

I made the girls crayon costumes for Halloween. I used some felt I had on hand. They weren't happy at first, because Regan wanted blue and Sophie wanted pink. I almost caved, however my cheapness won out. The whole thing cost $0.35 for embroidery floss, which my mom paid for. Sweeeeeet! They like their costumes now. We had a party in our court with all the moms and little kids. My neighbor is a photographer and she took all the kids pictures. These are a couple of the better shots.

Awww...so cute you could almost draw with them.

Sophie started posing for the camera.

I love home made Halloween costumes. I think they are so much cuter, more thought out, and a lot less commercialized. It just takes me back to my childhood when my mom would make our costumes out of things on hand. I loved that you could trust your neighbors. You knew that the popcorn balls from the Williams' house were going to be safe and not laced with drugs. My parents could let us go out alone door to door, instead of this stupid trunk-or-treat crap. Yes I said CRAP!! I hate it!

I hate buying into the commercialism for a holiday that isn't really about anything important except for how much candy you can score. What kind of holiday is that? Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against Halloween, I just don't like all these people who like to make loads of money off a holiday because we are too brain-dead to use our own ingenuity. So I don't want to pay $20 a costume so my girls can go to the back of someones car and learn how to beg for candy for one night. I WON'T DO IT! So here's a finger to all those companies wanting my money for some silly holiday. Booya! (I really didn't mean to get on my soap box, but it is what it is. And mom, I'm sorry if you thought the finger part was offensive:)

Oh Regan....

2010-09-12T23:59:00.004-06:00

It was a day like any other. The girls being their usual crazy selves. I was getting ready for a girls night out and taking my girls to a babysitter (insert choir music). Sophie fell asleep on the couch, and Regan was just occupying herself with her vivid imagination and telling me all about this party she is going to. "Yeah, ok, that sounds good honey." I'd heard this party gab before. I continue to get ready and don't really recognize that it is kind of quiet....you know....too quiet. (insert creepy, butt-clenching, white-knuckled suspense music here) As I'm putting my make-up on, you know where your face is about two inches from the mirror and you have this weird open mouth thing going on (what's up with that anyway), Regan starts her rambling, about going to her party, and she's going to be late, her imaginary friend, Bill the Rainbow Guy, is going to be there, yadda, yadda, yadda, you have to have short hair to go the party........ What was that last part? I may not have caught all of what she was saying, but I did catch that much. My mouth snapped shut, my head whipped around, and all sorts of images and thoughts go whizzing through my mind. It only took about 3 seconds to figure out that she really had done what thousands of other kids have done before her. She had cut her hair. The shortest piece being above her ear. "WHAT THE HECK DID YOU DO?!?!?!", I said in a slightly raised tone;) "Mama, you have to have short hair to go to my party, and itsonlyapartyformamasandbiggirlsnamedreganandnotlittlegirlsnamedsophiesso I need to cut your hair too. She was talking fast, probably knowing that I would interupt her if she let so much as a millisecond of time lapse between words. She said all this calmly and matter-of-factly. How was I to argue with her logic and imagination. What's done is done. I heaved a great big sigh and called my hair-cutting neighbor upstairs to see if she could do an emergency repair job. She wasn't home and I realized that I only had 45 minutes til I needed to leave so I made a mad dash to change my nice clothes for grubby ones, grabbed the scissors and tried to come up with a solution to this chop job before me. Not being a stylist, it was a difficult task. Regan kept wiggling and complaining because she was itching from the hair. She kept wondering why I was cutting her hair. Can I just have a hosanna shout that Sophie was taking a rare nap!! Otherwise her beautiful curls would be gone too.

My once pretty girl with long hair......

My now pretty girl with short hair.....

Tomorrow is her first day of preschool. I'm excited for her to go. She loves to learn. I just wonder how she'll do the first day. Going to primary today she was, I think, pretty embarrassed about her hair and wouldn't go in for about a half hour. Thus the lack of decent pics to show her hair. What's done is done. Her hair grows pretty fast. BTW, that tomato she's holding is from my garden. It was big, around the size of a softball.

Sweet little Dopher

2010-09-12T23:57:00.002-06:00

Little Dopher started going to Miss Catherine's Shining Star Preschool and she is having a great time. She loves wearing her back pack and feels so grown up.

This is her first day of school. Posing for the camera. What a ham.

She is a funny, sassy girl that loves to drink "chocolate and chocolate milk" ALL day long. The other day she and Regan were fighting and I hear Sophie say, "I'm getting madder! See my eyebrows!" >:(

In other news, I have been canning my guts out. My mom was here a while ago and we found a tree with some cherry-sized plums. The tree was loaded and spilling plums all over the side walk so we relieved the tree of some of it's burden:) I've made 37 pints of plum jam, and 2 pints of plum syrup (super yummy). We have a garden with tomatoes, so I've canned 21 pints of salsa, and 2 quarts of spaghetti sauce. Then I brought back peaches from SG and bottled 17 quarts of those. It is very satisfying to see the food I've been able to can and store, but I'm a little pooped to say the least. I may do a few more cans of diced tomatoes with the rest of the tomatoes from my garden, but not for a couple weeks. We need to be outside as much as possible before it starts getting colder and the snow traps me inside. Ciao for now......

Second Annual AZ, NV, SG Tour

2010-09-01T22:39:00.010-06:00

So during Jason's last two weeks of school I took the girls down to Heber, then on to Las Vegas, and finishing up in St. George.
We had a great time in Heber. It was beautifully green and the temperatures were amazing from the monsoons. Loved it!! I was able to help my parents around the yard with the weed eater and trimming trees. It was nice to be able to help them in some way. It rained every afternoon I was there and after one particular pour down the whole street in front of my parents house was flooded. It was a gully washer!! The girls and I went out there after it had started receding and played. They had a great time. Brought so many memories back to me of when I was younger. We'd go out with the Cheney's after a gully washer and stomp around. Good times. We also got to see Wendy and her kids. The girls love playing with the boys. They roughed Hunter up pretty good.

We went to Las Vegas to see Kandra and her family. Kandra talked me into cutting Sophie's hair. Her first hair cut (sniff sniff).....I love the first two pics. She said, "take this happy face. Now my mad face." What a goof ball. She is a little pink cheeked from swimming all day. She is a fish out of water.

Before

After...ahhhh...much better

Regan let me take a rare picture of her.

Kandra is a crafty girl, well at least she has some crafty ambitions whether or not she follows through. She wanted me to "help" her fix up her 2 bedside tables. Her definition of help was to provide the financial backing for the materials while I did the grunt work. It was a fun project though. I love doing this kind of stuff....seeing a transformation.
The color of them really wasn't anything to look at, but it had some great contours and details that I didn't want them to get lost in the sea of black. So I distressed it to highlight those details. I think they turned out pretty awesome.

Then on to St. George. We hung out for a few days before Jason joined us after he got out of school. The girls had a good time playing in the water, getting messy with moon sand, jumpin' at jumpin' jacks, playing with cousins, and trying to get daddy wet as you can see below.

So after being gone 3 weeks it was good to get back home. Can't wait to do it again next year!!!

2010-07-25T23:19:00.010-06:00

Random pictures....I love all of their expressions.

There was a spot in the grass outside that was just dirt and would fill up with mud every morning after it was watered. The kids would get into it a little, but this day I turned my back for a minute and it got a little crazy. We have this cute black boy in our court that is Regan's age. Regan calls over to me and said, "Look mama, we look like Isaiah"! So funny.
They had so much fun until it was time to clean up. I got the hose out of the laundry room and sprayed them down. They ran away and started stripping down. We were the only ones outside at the time until they got naked. Then all the mom's came back from lunch at the park with their kids and saw me trying to chase two naked girls around the court. HarDy hAr HaR....go ahead and laugh. I haven't been that humiliated in a long time. It gets better. One of the moms called the grounds people to come and put grass in 'cause we are all sick of our kids getting dirty in the mud pit. A week later the girls and I are coming back from a walk and they are just finishing up putting in the grass. I tell them thank you 'cause the kids keep getting into it. He said, "No problem. We heard about a couple of kids getting covered head to toe in it and running around naked." Yup, those would be mine.....they're famous.
Just a few of the many projects I've been working on lately. I got this little cabinet for $5 and painted it a pretty turquoise color. Alot of the things I've been refinishing have really nice detailing and curve so I want to try my hand at glazing but haven't gotten the stuff yet.

My kitchen chairs used to be old office chairs that were really bulky.....comfy, but bulky and they had to go. They were driving me nuts. So one of the chairs showed up by the dumpster and I snagged it. The other two I got at D.I. for $5 each. A little sanding and painting and tadi-freakin'-da. I have a cute set of chairs. I'm on the hunt for one more that I'm going to paint a green color that Jason is going to hate. Pretty sure of it, but that's ok. I needed to jazz up my kitchen a little bit. I'm pulling the colors from an Americana picture I have in the kitchen.
The girls fight over who gets to sit in which chair. Usually the blue one. Jason likes the yellow one for the butt contours on it. (Very ergonomic :) I like the red one.....just because.

Now for the moment you've all been waiting for...

Before.........

.........and after!!

I made the cushions using yummy Amy Butler fabric. The ottoman is done except the cushion. Didn't feel like making it.....still don't.

Unfortunately I don't have room for this in my abode, so I am going to be selling her. If interested let me know:)

Catchin' Up

2010-07-16T01:06:00.001-06:00

I didn't think that I had much to blog about, then I uploaded all the photos that have been on my camera.....since March. Luckily (or un-luckily) I haven't been taking many pictures lately. I'm such a slacker. Oh well. I don't know why, but I like posting the funny pictures of the girls. Maybe it takes a little edge off of the stresses of motherhood. Gotta remember the good times right? We went to Heber for spring break and Sophie had a good time with the yogurt. She really likes to smear things on her face. Kinda cute and yucky at the same time.

Jennifer, Travis and William came for Regan's birthday and we had a really nice visit with them.
Hahahaha....for some reason this picture cracks me up. One of Regan's classic expressions.

I love these two pictures too. Sophie is just sweet, and I love Regan's silly face with Jennifer smiling in the background. Pretty cute.

Easter Time and the many faces of Sophie. No pics of Regan on this occasion as she was screaming the entire day (no joking around).
In May we went to Tuscon for a Greer family reunion and I caught this pic of Regan. I love it. She looks so thoughtful and calm.

More pictures for your viewing pleasure coming soon.....

Caught in the Act

2010-06-14T21:55:00.000-06:00

3 months ago

2 weeks ago

My family had a family reunion over memorial weekend in Tucson and I woke up early one morning and found Regan sucking on the hotel blanket. Yuck!!! Since then I have caught her sucking on the bottom of her pajama shirt during the night and sucking on another fleece blanket. Seriously, I thought we were over the blanket-sucking thing. Hopefully it doesn't get out of control.

Cute things I want to remember:

Regan was talking to my dad the other day and when it was time to hang up my dad said, "Well, I'll talk to you later honey. Bye." Then he hung up. She looked a little dumb struck for a moment. "I'm not his honey. Grandma's his honey."

Hahaha.....man she kills me sometimes.

She is so stinkin' sweet sometimes. Every prayer we include my dad in it and she has asked some questions about him and worries about him. My parents were up here for a few days and when they were going back to their hotel for the night, we were saying our goodbyes and she said to him, "Goodnight grandpa. I'll believe in your heart." So tender. She frequently tells me that she is going to marry him when she gets bigger.

She is pretty preoccupied with death. The ultimate sentiment she can tell someone is, "I love you so much that I do not want you to die." That's true love isn't it?

Sophie loves Regan so much. If I am disciplining Regan, Sophie will put her hands on her hips and say,"Hey! That's my sister!" I know that's your sister, but she can't do blah blah blah so she needs a time out. "But I love Regan sooo much!" Bleeding hearts of the world unite!!
I was going on an errand and Regan had already been out with Jason earlier so I said that Sophie could come with me. She was all excited until she found out Regan wasn't coming. Then she was BAWLING that we couldn't leave Regan! She stayed home to be with Regan instead of coming on an outing with mom. Best friends/worst enemies all wrapped in one package.

Jason: Who's the bubble king?
Sophie: I'm the bubble king!
Jason: Who's the dancin' queen?
Sophie: I'm the dancin' queen!
Jason: Who's the stinker pants?
Sophie: Regan's' the stinker pants!
Regan: Oooooo that makes me so mad when you say that!!

Sophie insists on praying every time we pray. She does a pretty good job, but the ending keeps me smiling. "In the name of Jesus Christ, A.M." (not p.m :)

Tonight Jason was making shapes and animals out of balloons and the girls were lovin' it. Regan said to Jason, "you're good to have around daddy!"

Jason

2010-06-14T21:50:00.000-06:00

In May Jason graduated with his bachelors in architecture. He has put in a lot of work the past two years and I'm so proud of him. He got accepted into the new accelerated masters program at the UofU. Acceleration (aka death) means going summer, fall, spring, summer straight through. He will be finished in August of 2011 instead of May 2012. We are pretty excited to be done a year earlier, but the first week into the summer semester made us wonder if we'd made the right choice. Definitely the hardest week so far in this rat race and this semester may take the top of the hardest list. He has been working so hard and I hope he knows how much I love him and appreciate all he does for me and the kids.

My family came up as well as Jason's parents and 2 nieces. I'm kind of an idiot and forgot my camera so I took these pictures from Kandra's blog. I'm still waiting for pictures from my in-laws of the occasion. It was really special for us to have our family here for the graduation. They have been the greatest support to us and we seriously could not have done this without them. Thank you!
Just some fun pics when everyone was up here. Gavin is stinkin' cute and funny. Love him. Sophie is a fish out of water. Regan is kind of scared of the water unless she has a death grip around your neck.

Jason and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary on June 9th. I am still in shock. It really couldn't have been that long ago that we were married in the big sealing room of the St. George temple. I thought I was in love then, but those feelings pale in comparison to the love I feel for him 9 years later. It almost seems silly. I don't think I really knew what love was. He has taught me about service, unselfishness, honesty, saying sorry, and not taking myself too seriously. He balances me out. Heavenly Father really knew that I needed him, that he is perfect for me. Thank you Jason for being my knight in shining armor, and probably the only one who could put up with me (don't answer that), and thank you Heavenly Father for sending him to me.

Dear Gray Hairs

2010-05-18T10:08:00.005-06:00

Dear gray hairs that have chosen to invade my head,

Why?
I've done nothing to deserve this premature sign of aging. I'm a good girl I am. Ever since Jason started this program, you have thought it okay to drop by at inconvenient times. During dinner, when I'm taking a shower, playing with my girls, without so much as a phone call to warn me. Maybe you thought I wouldn't notice if one or two of you crept in. Well I have!!! Just today I pulled 7 of you nasty critters out. If that wasn't enough you have begun hitting below the belt. I have found you in my eyebrows, my goatee, and even my eyelashes!!!!! What the heck is that all about?!?!? Are my nose hairs next?!? So I am officially writing to tell you I have had enough. If you do not quit this sordid attack, I will have to start coloring over you and I really don't want to do that. So play nice.....on someone elses head!!!

Not yours trully,

Kristal D. Joy, esq.

These are a few of my favorite things

2010-05-01T00:39:00.003-06:00

The primary wanted me to fill out a form on Regan's favorite things so I did one for her and one for Sophie.

Regan's Faves

Animal: elephant

Food: pepperoni pizza

Dessert/Candy: vitamins (what the?), and rice krispy treats

Movie: Blue's Clues

TV show: Go, Diego, Go

Color: blue

Book: Glooglie Eyed Pet Pals

Toy: bunny and "cheeto" (leopard beenie baby)

Primary song: I am like a star shining brightly

Thing to do: pick things (flowers, leaves)

Thing to do with mom: eat dinner

Thing to do with dad: hug him

What does mom say?: You gotta clean up

Is there something special that you do or like that you want us to know about you?

I want to look like a bunny rabbit. :)

(This pic shows their personalities to a T)

Sophie's Faves

Animal: tiger

Food: fish (um...we never eat fish)

Dessert/Candy: ice cream

Movie: Mary Poppins

Color: Pink

Song: Twinkle little star

Toy: clake (?!?!?) and bubbles

TV show: D-D-D-Dora

Thing to do: play outside

The answers after that, (like her favorite thing to do with me (see horses???)) got pretty vague and mumbled. Too much too soon ;)

(One of my favorite things...those puckery lips!!!)

From the Mouths of Babes

2010-03-31T23:59:00.000-06:00

Today it snowed and it wasn't even April Fool's Day. I was kind of grumbling about the snow and Regan turned to me and said, "Mom, why are you mad at Jesus for making the snow?"

Boy did that put me in my place and give me a little eye-opening perspective. Gotta love it.

Odious Spring

2010-03-31T00:18:00.004-06:00

THIS is how I'm doing. Sums up my life right now so I didn't want to have to redo all of that. I have had laryngitis for a couple weeks now too. I think my girls are happy because I can't yell at them to stop being crazy. I swear if my birthday wasn't in March, it would be my least favorite month EEEEVVVVEEEERRRR!!!!

2010-03-17T02:13:00.000-06:00

My birthday was on Saturday and it was a good day even though it snowed and I was suffering horribly from allergies. I swear if it wasn't for my birthday, March would be my least favorite month of the year. Anyway, big thanks to Catherine for sneaking me some Oreo's (my fave) and especially for watching my girls so I could actually spend my birthday money this year instead of putting it in the bank to pay bills.

My birthday is also extra special because I share it with an extraordinary man....my dad. There have only been a handful of times that we have not celebrated together. Growing up, my mom would always bake my dad's favorite cake (carrot cake) and after alot of those I told my mom that it wasn't my favorite so she should make me my own cake along with my dads. She did, bless her heart.

I am the third child in my family and he would call me his favorite #3. He coached my basketball team in high school and it was great having him at everygame to watch us even if he was harder on me and my sister than anyone else. He is kind, generous, has a strong testimony of the gospel, and has taught me principles of the gospel, not by lectures, but by his example. He and my mom have been me and my siblings biggest fans and supporters in all things that we are pursuing.

Any opinion my dad has on things must be right, so that's what my opinion is. To me, my dad has always been that tall mountain that you know is not going anywhere.

(My dad with Regan)

I cannont even write this post without tears. My dad has an incurable, agressive form of blood cancer (multiple myeloma). It was diagnosed a year ago and my mom has kept him healthy this last year with a regimen of natural supplements. Today he started his first round of chemotherapy because the cancer has started to create holes in his spine and hips. The chemo is to hopefully slow the cancer down.

(My dad with Sophie)

It feels like someone has put a choke hold on my heart. I can't bear to think of some of the things he may have to go through. I especially can't bear to think of my life without him in it. He is just always that constant thing that you count on being there, like walls in a home. Like water coming out of a faucet. Like blood in your veins. How can that be taken away......especially so soon? I hope we have many more birthdays to celebrate together, but if not, I know the Lord has a plan....all is well. I love you very much dad.

In Ducky Heaven

2010-03-07T22:06:00.003-07:00

Some of you may remember the beloved (abominable in my opinion) "ducky blanket". She attached herself to it when she was just a baby. I have let this abomination go on too long. It has distorted her teeth and caused her lips to suffer chapiness insufferably. It has probably caused it's share of sickness and it stinks intolerably even after it has been washed. What a bad hygienist I am. Give me a break....I haven't worked steadily in a year and a half. But it has been easier to let her have it than to take it away and have her crying at night, crying in the car, crying when she's disciplined, you get the picture.

Well I decided to bite the bullet. So I made a call to the "Blanket Fairy" and arranged for her to come and get Regan's ducky blanket. I explained all of this a few days leading up to this and she was not happy at first. One time she said she was going to find the Blanket Fairy and kill her. Wow, strong words for a little girl to be speaking.

Anyway, the night she was to come Regan understood what was going to happen. In exchange for her blanket, the fairy brought Regan a pretend doctor kit. She loved and played with that thing all day yesterday. Last night Regan had a more difficult time accepting that her ducky blanket was really gone. Tears were shed(plenty of them). Abominations were directed at the blanket fairy. Why, oh why was the blanket fairy so naughty?!? (sob sob) The ducky blanket wanted to be back in her life!!! (scream scream) She wanted to give it a hug and a kiss right now!! (bawl bawl)

I explained that the blanket fairy comes when the blankets are hurting the kids teeth and lips.
"But mama, my ducky blanket always climbed into my mouth. If it says sorry and gives me a hug and a kiss, can it come back into my life?"
"No, I'm sorry. I don't know where she took your blanket."
"But my ducky blanket wants to say sorry and it won't climb into my mouth ever again!! I can't go to sleep without my ducky blanket!!"

On and on this went. During the night she woke up and cried for her blanket. Today she has been asking for it. If she didn't put it in her mouth it wouldn't really be an issue, but alas so it is and so it must be.

On to other news...Sophie is still crazy as ever. One morning she nabbed Jason's shoes and this is how I found her. So funny. I just love her wild, crazy, untamable hair (gel helps a little). She is very independent and has to do everything "my big-girl self". Regan started saying that when she was smaller and Sophie picked it up. My mom made these cute Sunday clothes for the girls for Christmas and I had to post a picture of them for her. Everyone at church loved them. My mom is very talented.

This is my new love. I was down in St. George and stopped at D.I. and found this beauty. It is solid wood, very sturdy, and very comfortable. I am going to re-finish it and it will look awesome. The only problem is that it's in SG and I'm in SLC. No good.
I really don't have room for this in my apt. So I'm either going to sell it to make some moolah, or keep it and sell my glider. I'm leaning towards the latter.

Hope you guys are having a wonderful March!

2010-02-17T23:01:00.002-07:00

Well, I have been quite busy lately with this humanitarian project I have taken on. I am pleased with how things are going, but could still use some donations. If you haven't helped me then I hope it is because you have helped in other ways.

I took a trip to St. George and had a great time. My sister came up and we hung out for a couple days. (Sorry Kelly, I'm such a slacker loser and didn't email you back.)

We went to a duck pond by my in-laws house and the kids had a great time feeding them and chucking rocks into the water.

This is my first time uploading vidoes, so I hope this works.

Pendants and Photo Mattes

2010-01-25T10:58:00.006-07:00

I had an idea that maybe some of you would be interested in. From now until March 13th, any pendants or photo mattes bought from my shop will have 50% of the proceeds donated to my Haiti Relief Fund. The other 50% will go towards my costs of the pendant/matte and shipping of the pendant/matte to you. So free shipping too! Come on people, can't beat that! Get something totally awesome and help people too! Pendants are $5 each (chain not included), Photo mattes are $10 for and 8x10 and $15 for an 11x14.

Please visit my store for ordering information: Kristal's Digital Creations

Haiti Relief Effort!! You Can Help!!

2010-01-17T18:58:00.014-07:00

I have felt so much sadness over this disaster in Haiti along with other disasters that happen all over the world. I always want to help but never end up doing anything unless it is through a church service project.

Well this time I'm not going to sit idly by and just pray that they get some relief over there. I actually want to be proactive. This is where all you bloggers out there come in! I am going to be putting together some hygiene kits and quilts and really need some donations of either items for the kits or money to buy items. I have a button on my side bar that you can donate money (even just a couple dollars) if you don't have time to get the items and send them to me.

Below is a list of the things needed for the hygiene kits and things needed for the quilts. You can send finished kits/quilts or various items in any amounts. d I want to be able to take these items to the LDS Humanitarian Service Center (where they will ship these items for us) by March 13. My goal is 20 quilts and 200 hygiene kits. I don't want to put my address on here but you can email me for my address. joykristal at gmail dot com

Please refer to THIS link for more instructions on the quilts and humanitarian aid kits.

QUILTS

Material (cotton, cotton/poly blend, or flannel)

6-8oz bonded batting

COMPLETED HYGIENE KIT INCLUDES:

Gallon size ziplock bag

2 unbreakable combs without sharp handles

4 toothbrushes (in an unopened package)

1 tube of toothpaste (6-8oz, no pumps)

2 bars of soap (3.5-5oz each)

2 hand towels (approx. 15x25 inches)

(dish towels and washcloths not acceptable)

Please link this on your blog, facebook, whatever. Tell your friends, family, co-workers, make it a party! Lets spread the word! You can make a difference!

2010-01-12T00:32:00.001-07:00

My first scrapbook page in who knows how long! Kind of feels good to get back into it.

Christmas and New Year happenings

2010-01-04T23:04:00.012-07:00

I needed a change with my hair and so my neighbor chopped it off and also cut Regan's. I LOVE it!! Afterward, the girls wanted some pictures taken with our new doo's so we got our silly on. What cute kids I have.

We had some pictures taken on Sunday. I made these skirts for the girls for Christmas and I loved them so much that I had to make me one.

Sophie loves her 'bootiful' dress.

The girls kept running in circles chasing eachother.

I made this quilt for Jason for Christmas. It is a twin size and a big thanks to my mom for helping me to get it done. I must say that I LOVE it. I love the colors. I love the wonky blocks. I love the quilting And I love the fabric.

This is the back of the quilt. I love it as much as the front. I did mini wonky blocks to kind of tie in with the front.

I had an old sweater that didn't fit anymore, so I took it apart and made it into a sweater dress for Sophie.

But she doesn't like it because it doesn't twirl. She is trying to check it's twirliness in this picture.

My mother-in-law has a bunch of trico and flannel fabric and I got bored after Christmas and made this in my spare time. Regan fell in love with it. Just a nice cuddle blanket.

I made four of these Christmas runners and can't wait to use one of them next year.

I really like the loopy quilting on it. Kind of makes it a little whimsical.

Reasons to Smile

2009-12-16T11:35:00.010-07:00

The things my girls do and say regularly make me smile. So I thought I would share them with you and hopefully they will make you smile too.

Regan loves to dress as silly as possible. Such as putting gloves on her feet and saying she has monkey feet. One day she put on a shirt with one arm in the sleeve and the other out of the neck like a toga. She said she was like Hercules.

Sophie got out of the bathtub and I told her to get daddy to help her get dressed. Jason was in the computer room with the door closed so she knocked on it and said, "Mr. Griii-iiinch! Are you in there?" She likes that movie. Mary Poppins is her favorite movie and wants to watch it daily.

My mom was playing with Regan and Regan put a play construction hat on her head and called her Handy Manny. My mom doesn't know that is a Disney Channel show and said, "Well are you Silly Dilly?" Regan, who frequently likes to de-robe herself and was infact clothing-less from the waist down, said, "No. I'm Naked Bummy!" Hahaha, that girl keeps me in stitches.

Sophie is so wild and crazy she belongs in a circus. She is so physically active and is like a little tom boy. She reminds me alot of my sister, Kandra. She is athletic and skilled physically, but loves to be prissy and dressed up. Everyday she has to wear the "twirliest" dresses she has. Even over her clothes if she has to. She loves to twirl. If the dress doesn't twirl enough for her liking she won't wear it. She has even refused to take them off for bed time and wears them over her pajamas. She wants to wear her "beautiful dress" all day long. Even now in the snowy winter. She lalso loves to wear my lip gloss and have her hair look cute. Regan on the other hand hates to wear dresses and have her hair done.

I have frequently talked about Regan and her awesome singing ability. She continues to amaze me with the songs she learns, makes up, and remembers. Her new favorite songs to sing are from Mama Mia (which happens to be her favorite movie (and I'm not sure how I feel about that)). I love to sing those songs and ones day she started singing along with me. She can belt out those songs so well and I love hearing her. I'll have to try and post a video of it so you can hear it.

If you call Sophie anything from cutie to monkey, she says, "No, I'm just Ella Joy." Ella is her middle name.
Yesterday I went into the girls room it was torn to pieces. I exclaimed that it was a disaster. My ever curious and questioning Regan asked what that meant and I told her that is was a big, huge mess. We cleaned it up and little while later she comes to me yelling that there was a disaster in her room. Me: What?!? We just cleaned your room! Regan: Come see!! There is disaster in my room!! Regan is scared of the green light on the fire alarm so we covered it up with paper. When I get into the room she yells and points at the alarm calling it a disaster because the paper had uncovered the green light.

The girls were watching 101 Dalmations with Jason. Jason said, "Do we have dogs?" Regan replied, "No," then thoughfully, "but we do have a monkey. Sophie's a monkey."

Well, with the pregnancy over, the desire to craft has come back. I haven't done anything for Christmas from being so tired and sick and needed to catch up, so I have been crafting up a storm. My mom helped me while she was here and I am happy to report that all the presents I am giving this year are homeade and I am getting close to finishing. I'm not doing a ton of presents, but what I am doing are pretty hefty projects. I can't wait to post them after Christmas is done.

These are pictures my mom took in August when we were in Az visiting.

Thankful

2009-12-13T02:22:00.002-07:00

I have so much on my mind but don't know what to say. The last two weeks have revealed so many blessings to me that I knew I had, but just didn't appreciate as much as I should. While my heart is still broken, I feel so much peace in my relationship with my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. The other miscarriages left me angry, bitter, and questioning why, why, why. But I wouldn't trade those experiences as hard as they were, because it has left me with stronger faith in Heavenly Father. I know he loves me and is aware of my struggles. I may be sad now but I know he sees the bigger picture and knows what he is doing. There is great comfort in that knowledge. The blessing of friends and especially family has been brought before me and I feel so blessed to have such wonderful people in my life. My mother-in-law came up here the day we found out and stayed with us for a whole week. I was still so sick and throwing up everything until I had my D/C that Friday. She took care of the girls and took so much weight off of my and Jason's shoulders. Then my mom came up here this past week while I was recovering and is has been so great to have her here.

The biggest blessing I have recognized has been my girls. I am so glad to have them. They are the sweetest and most special things in my life. Regan is like Tender-Heart Bear. She is so aware of people and sensitive to things that happen around her. I had the girls with me in the ultrasound room because Jason was at school and I didn't think there would be anything to worry about. When the doctor said that there was no heart beat Regan wanted me to explain to her what was happening. As I did, I started bawling. She grabbed a ton of tissues and started hugging me saying over and over, "It's alright mama. I'm here. I'll help you feel better." Sophie was there giving me hugs too. Sophie is like Fun-Shine Bear. She just bounces off the walls and her cheesy smile can make me smile anytime.

Right now I just feel so much gratitude. Thank you for your kind words and prayers. I have felt them. I'm going to start posting more upbeat posts now because I don't want you to get sick of my sad posts. I hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas season so far!

I Hate This Part

2009-11-30T13:54:00.004-07:00

I hate having to say it out loud...to even type it out loud......sending it out there to the universe, because once it is out there the bad dream is no longer a bad dream. You know that it is not something crazy you just invented. It becomes real. Maybe it really is a bad dream right now. Maybe I'm having an out of body experience. But I know once I type those words and press send that it will become reality. My baby died. There I said it. It really is happening for the 4th time. I can't believe it. I was so positive about this one. I really felt things were going to work out this time.

Well, now I can craft again. Now my feet will quit being cold. Now I will hopefully stop throwing up. Now I will gain some energy back. But even these feeble attempts at making myself feel better doesn't make me feel better. I really wanted that baby. I could really see myself hauling three kids around. You'd think it would get easier after having delt with it 3 other times. I'm not really trying to fish for sympathy right now....I hate to make this kind of stuff public, but I guess I did need to print a retraction from my last blog post. It's like telling people you are going to be the main part in a production and then when you've got everyone's attention you pee your pants and fall on your face when trying to run away. I hate that. I just needed to get my thoughts out of my head before I go mad. It still feels sort of surreal. This day threw me a curve ball and I got blind-sided by it. Sorry to have posted the last post and then this one.

It is sad...

2009-11-27T20:19:00.003-07:00

....that to lose 18 pounds I have to get pregnant. That's right. Got a little Jason Jr. in the oven. I'm 10 weeks along and pretty excited in a sadistic kind of way I guess. Maybe pchologically I really like the torture my girls put me through. Good thing they are cute ;) No really, I'm excited.
So there has been no posting because all I really had energy to do was get my girls food and throw up. No crafts to post, well exept for 2 fixed up shirts and 3 Christmas pillows I made before I got sick (no pics because no energy). I haven't even felt like crafting at all!!!! Can you believe that me, the project queen, has no desire to craft?!?!?!?! It is sickening I tell you. But I found a picture I like and it is on the side of my blog. "I'm so crafty I make people." That about sums it up right now. Jason + Me = Baby #3

Side note: Sophie's hand is doing great. My little nephew got burned really bad with boiling water and spent 5 days in the hospital. He's a special boy and we hope he make a quick recovery. What is up with the burns in our family!?!?

Burn Victim, Super Hero, and Costumes...oh my!

2009-10-31T22:39:00.012-06:00

Burn Victim

So yesterday we got home from Payless and I was putting the shoes away. Regan comes in to calmly tell me that Sophie turned the stove on. At that moment I hear Sophie scream so I run in there and Sophie is on the burner and there are flames around her. I quickly moved her by the sink with cold water and then tried to put ot the flames. There were uncooked pasta noodles and her stuffed dog on fire and the burner was on high. All in the space of 2 minutes.....will I ever learn that I CANNOT LEAVE HER ALONE FOR MORE THAN 2 SECONDS?!?!?!?! (Side note: That morning Jason gave her a banana while he went to brush his teeth. When he came back, she was on the counter with a sharp knife, and the banana was chopped into tiny little bits. She is seriously faster than you can even imagine!)

Her poor little hand and fingers were crispy black/brown. I am actually surprised that she didn't get burned in more places. I couldn't find anymore burn marks on her. It is a miracle I tell you. I gave her a frozen jar of jam to hold and was trying not to freak out as I called Jason at school to come home. When Jason got home we took her to the emergency room. The poor little thing was in so much pain. They got the burn team down, gave her some medicine that made her loopy and scrubbed her burned skin off. It was not really a pretty sight. They then wrapped it up with GLOBS of burn cream. She was freakin' hilarious as the loopy medicine made its' way out of her system.....talking s l o w l y, being dizzy, saying crazy things.

Through all this Regan was with Jason out in the waiting room and just walking around. Jason said she was an angel. Funny story I heard after...she was sitting in a chair and kept bouncing up and down. Then she said, "My bum won't stop singing! My bum won't stop singing!" Oh my goodness, that girl is a freakin' comedian. Watch out Conan O'Brian, 'cause someone that's actually funny may come to run you out of town.

Anyway, I have to change her bandages once a day. They want to see her back on Monday. I unwrapped and cleaned her hand this morning, then wrapped it back up and now it looks like a child size boxing glove.

Second degree burns

You wouldn't even know she is hurt. She is causing trouble at her usual rate today without signs of slowing down. So glad it is not any worse than it is. Love my sweet cheeks.

Super Hero!

A couple weeks ago, Regan was invited to a super hero birthday party and she was so excited to be a super hero. So I got her all dressed up as Super Regan, with her ducky blanket as her cape and swim bottoms for the...uh...bottoms I guess. She was the cutest super hero you've ever seen.

Sophie couldn't stand to be left out so I made her a super hero cape (out of her"ducky" blanket, as she calls it) and put an S on her shirt. They kept saying "SUPER HERO!!!" over and over. That's why their mouths in the picture all have "O" shapes.

Costumes

Sophie and her "broken" hand, as she calls it.

I just love seeing them loving on eachother.

Sweet girls. My mom made their Halloween buckets for them. The girls love them. Thanks mom! Until next time....A Happy Halloween to all and to all a fright night!

Halloween Pics

2009-10-19T14:21:00.007-06:00

We had a village halloween party and a great photographer took pics of all the kids.

Believe it or not, Sophie was trying to smile.

I love this last pic of her. So cute.

Regan wanted to be a dinosaur. When we ask her to smile for a picture, she comes up with these weird smiling faces as seen below. What a goof.

She is so excited about the fact that her costume has a big tail on it.

This one turned out pretty good.

2009-10-07T21:12:00.009-06:00

When school started for Jason in August, I took the girls on a 2 week vacation to see my family. It was great. I got a couple cute shots of Sophie out enjoying my mom's flowers. I may be biased, but I think she is pretty darn cute.

Here is one of my trips to see my sister in Vegas. The girls had a fun time mauling my nephew and playing at the park in the water.

While I was with my sister, we went to D.I. and I found this desk/bookshelf for $15!! I could not be parted with her. It was a process getting it home but well worth it. I sanded for hours and painted and now she is in a lot better shape.

I also took a bunch of old bed sheets with me on my trip. I had collected them and wanted to make a blanket out of it. I got it pretty much done and all I had to do when I got home was sew on the binding. It is a king size quilt that I kind of wanted for a picnic blanket.

My mom came up to stay with us for a week. Lucky for me because I got sick and she took care of the girls and the house. We did manage to fit in a couple projects.

Here is a Halloween table runner I put together.

We went to D.I. and found some great stuff. Below was a run down night stand for $4. Well, you can bet I picked that thing up in a hurry and immediately started to paint it when I got home. I LOVE it!!!!!

This is one of the lamps I got at D.I. a while ago. Painted that thing and decorated the lamp shade to match my almost done bedding.

Good times. I did manage to read 4 books in the middle of all that. You'd think I would be going crazy, but I love every minute of spare time I have!!

Today......

2009-09-22T14:58:00.005-06:00

I am humbled by:

my lack of learning,

my underestimation,

my sheer idiocy,

the talent my girls have at destroying

my house faster than I can clean it.

What made me think that I could

leave them alone for more than 1 minute?!?!

Silence is not golden.......it's deadly.....

It started first with me starting to clean our bathroom. They took that opportunity to make some soup that entailed uncooked rice and pasta, spices and of course butter.......all over the kitchen counter, floor, table, themselves....ect. Bath #1.

So I start cleaning that up. They take that opportunity to go to the bathroom and get my scrubbing brushes filled with Ajax and start scrubbing the sink, floor, rugs, carpet, walls, and couch. Nice. Bath #2.

So I figure that I better finish cleaning the bathroom so they don't get chemical poisoning or something. In the mean time they decide that a picnic in the living room would be a great idea. They get a couple boxes of cereal and dump them on the living room floor. Whatever.

I finish cleaning the bathroom and go back to the kitchen to finish cleaning the "soup". I realize to my horror that it is yet again, very quiet. I go to their bedroom where the door is closed. This is what I found.....

Ajax canister empty, Sophie covered hair to toe, and the rest of the room covered. Great. So much for chemical poisoning prevention. Bath #3 and all before 1 pm.

So now I am holed up in the computer room for a mom break, with the door locked so they can't get in. Am I worried that they will make another big mess? Not really. They are both banging on the door and screaming to let them in.

Look at them.....partners in crime.
Anybody need some good birth control? Come on over.....

3 days + 0 kids =

2009-09-13T22:34:00.004-06:00

Two table top runner thingys.

A pillow cover for my bed.

A king size quilt top.
A new purse for my store.

And 2 painted lamp bases and a recovered lamp shade. Sorry no pics at this time. I just love my free time! Big thanks to Jason for taking the kids camping so I could have some therapeutic R&R.

Reganisms

2009-08-14T23:26:00.001-06:00

We were visiting my brother in SG and eating some lunch with them. There were a couple of us in the conversation with the girls about healthy eating and not eating junk food because it makes you fat. Regan pipes up and says, "It will make you fat like my daddy!" (chuckle chuckle)

She was feeding a horse some grass and turned to me with a disgusted face. "I got horse lick on me!"

To the tune of "London Bridges Falling Down":
"I'm a monster, so I'm dangerous, so I'm dangerous, so I'm dangerous.
I'm a monster, so I'm dangerous. I'm a monster!"

Up at camp Jason's cousin found a snake and she wanted to hold it. When she got it she was saying, "I love this snake. It's my best friend in the whole wide world." (mind you, she says that about alot of things including the vacuum, bugs, and her poo. um......i think we need to find her some better friends) The people around told her to kiss it and she did!

I was canning some beans and Regan says, "Mama I don't like beans."
"They are good and healthy for you."
And then in the meanest and scariest look she could muster she replied, "Mama, I'm going to sing you a song about not liking beans!" (HahahahaHHaha)

We went outside and it was overcast and sprinkling and she said, "Look, the clouds are kissing! That's why it's raining!"

When she goes to bed and we lay with her, we can only lay on a certain side because the other side is for Jesus.

She loves to "cook" in the kitchen making birthday cakes with water and grapes or whatever she can find. She made a concoction (spl?) one day and called it "welcome soup". Alrighty there sista ;)

I just love the funny things kids say.

2009-07-28T23:22:00.000-06:00

So I guess it has been a few days since this thing was updated. I really haven't been on the internet/computer much the last couple of months. Too busy and no desire. So here are some of the happening around our abode.

We got the girls bunk beds. Woopee!! We are just waiting for the first broken arm to result from this.

It has been bloomin' hot and the girls begged me to use this as a bath tub. Why the heck not?!?! So I filled it up in the shower with warm water and took it outside. I have a cell phone pic of both of them in it at the same time and it is pretty funny. Sorry, but I'm to lazy to post it.

Little Miss Sweet Cheeks

Sweet Cheeks had a nose wrestling contest with a sticker, and the sticker won.

Regan giving us a good shot of her boogs while camping.

And the real reason(s) why I don't blog much anymore.......

My new baby

Yup, I did everything including the machine quilting myself

I AM ADDICTED TO SEWING!!!!!

(more projects for your viewing pleasure coming soon)

Photo shoot

2009-06-18T00:39:00.002-06:00

I am lucky enough to have my sister visiting. She wanted me to take some pictures of her and her boy. He sure is a cutie. I got a couple cute shots of the girls too.

I would love this shot even more if Sophie hadn't smeared sand all over her wet face. That's why it's black and white.

I just love his cheesy grin.

A few of my favorite things...

2009-06-09T16:46:00.006-06:00

Jason

Love his hard work and patience. Happy 8th Anniversary!

Regan
Love her silliness.

Sophie

Love her craziness.

The new purse I made.
Love that I made it all by myself.

2009-06-03T23:02:00.002-06:00

Well, time has flown by. We celebrated Sophie's 2nd birthday.

How freakin' cute is she?!?!?!

I made 18 jars of freezer jam.

Then my mom hurt her back so I went to AZ to help her (leaving the girls in SG). I wasn't planning on going back to SLC, but I got a call to have a job interview and drove back up to SLC (all for nothing as it turns out). Then turned back around and drove to SG. Then from there Jason, my dad and I flew to OH to help my sis and fam move to LV. We drove 30 hours through IN, MO, KS, CO, UT. Half way through CO, Jason said to me, "I thought the rocky mountians would be a little rockier than this." I replied, "Yeah, that John Denvers' full of $#!$ man." This is Kandra gettin crazy with the packing tape.

Jared graduated from Law school. It's nice to have a bad a lawyer in the fam.

We got home and it has taken a couple weeks to get back into the swing of things. I made the girls matching nightgowns like the one Regan has on, as well as a couple camera strap covers.

That is it in a nut shell....hope that will do Kandra.

Rainy/Snowy Day Activities

2009-04-19T00:05:00.008-06:00

So it was raining during the week and the trees were blooming. Yuck! Then it started snowing! Crazy stuff. So, first the girls played with play-doh....sorry, no pictures of that. Then if that doesn't get your morning started there is always a mountain of clothes to fold. Did I ever mention that I think my least favorite chore is folding laundry?
Then it was on to finger painting in the bathtub. Their own canvas right there and clean-up was like 3 minutes. How awesome is that? Loooove it!

Then I found the coolest tutorial on how to make "Tie-Dyed" eggs at this site. The tie needs to be 100% silk. You cut the stitching on the back and take out the liner. Wrap the bottom part of the tie around a raw egg and secure with a twist tie. Try to get as much of the tie touching the egg as possible or the pattern won't transfer to the tie.

Wrap the eggs again with a light-colored, light-weight piece of fabric. An old pillowcase or sheet is perfect. If you go to the thrift store to get ties, you may want to grab a pillowcase too. I just used an old pillow case I had. Secure with another twist tie. Put the eggs in a stainless steel pot of water and make sure all the eggs are covered. Add 1/4 cup white vinegar to the water. Bring to a boil. Once boiling turn down and let simmer for 20-25 minutes.

Take them out of the water and let cool before you unwrap. They are very hot! I was so excited to see what mine turned out like. I was kind of disappointed in the green tie, but the flowery tie was AWESOME! I love how they turned out.

I don't think I'll be doing regular old egg-dying ever again. This way is alot cooler!

Side note: I thought the green tie was hideously ugly and one that I had gotten at D.I. a long time ago. Unbeknownst to me, it was Jason's old mission tie that some lady gave him and I guess it held some sentamental value. Sorry Jas....it's all for the cause.

Then it was time for bed. This is how Sophie felt about it....
I just love that face. What a crazy kid.

This is going to be a long one

2009-04-05T23:58:00.003-06:00

I have been quite busy the last couple of weeks. Here's a recap:

There is finally no one sick in our house. Hooray!!

I finally found a temporary job as a hygienist for just Wednesdays although I didn't work last Wednesday and I don't know if I'll work this one...ugg. It was nice to get back into it since I haven't done it since August.

Regan's birthmom and her two boys came into town to visit us. It was a great visit and reaffirmed to both of us that Regan is in the right place. We sure love her and her strength and courage.

I was called in before church to be RS 2nd counselor and set apart after church (on the same weekend Regan's birthmom came).

Regan turned 3!?!?!?! She picked out her own cake and candle. I let her choose the frosting color and decorate it herself. She loved it! The birthday hat she is wearing was given to her by her birthmom and she wouldn't take it off. She even wore it to the zoo.....and this is a girl that doesn't like to wear hats! She is getting so big...where has the time gone?

These shirts were onsale at Target and I thought they were so stinkin' cute. This is the first time they wore them......and the last....at least for Sophie. I caught her with my super sharp quilting scissors and she was shredding her shirt to bits....while wearing it.

We have 2 external hard drives. One for all of our pics, videos, scrapbook, stuff and the other as a backup of all of that. The first one failed in January, luckily no info was lost. We took it back to Costco and they replaced it. Then our second one failed this week. For the past couple of weeks I felt like I needed to backup and just didn't do it. Well, I lost about 2 months worth of pictures and I am heart broken. Luckily I had uploaded some to Costco of Regan so I could print them out for her birth mom, so I have a few of those I can get, but all the ones of Sophie are gone. There were some darling ones of her awesomly sweet curly hair and her silly scrunchy face, and even the princess Laya hat (see a couple posts down), and some of them while they were at my parents house with my dad, Kandra and Gavin. The ones on my blog are GIF files so they won't print out. I just feel like puking. So lesson learned, BACKUP OR THROWUP!!!!

Regan got into my make-up........again. The bathroom was covered in consealer.

I was pushing Sophie in the swing and she was laying back like you see here. When she would start to slow down, without moving, she would say "more swing". So I would push her more. After a while of this she stopped asking me to swing her. She had fallen asleep like this. So cute.

Regan said that she looked like grandpa Joy with a fuzzy face.

I am posting these for my sister. She wanted to see what I was trying to explain to her. I am going to put it in the girls room. Pretty fun to make. Maybe I'll sell them on Etsy.

I had a fun photo shoot with my super cute neices and they turned out pretty good.

Odious Spring

2009-03-21T23:33:00.008-06:00

Ah spring. This beautiful sight provokes warm and happy thoughts in the hearts of many.

Just look at those stupendous colors. The hearts and souls across the country thaw out from a long winters slumber and awake to feelings of joy and renewed life.

Sightings of this kind bring feelings of resurrected hope......

....but to me it means this....

...which leads to this....

...which invarably equals this.....

....and this....

......and this.....for several months.To say that spring was my least favorite season would be totally understating my feelings on the subject. I LOATHE spring. Those nice, springish pictures only mean misery to me . I have year round allergies, but spring comes and every bit of it hits me smack in the middle of the face. I couldn't really find pictures to show how miserable I get but the one below shows how I wish I could spend the next 3 months.

Oh to hibernate in my own personal head bubble.....heaven

Funny girls

2009-03-11T22:36:00.003-06:00

Remember Sophie's hat fetish? Here's another hat. They are baby pantaloons. She looks like a wrestler.

She also has a thing for shoes. I love how she not only got them on the wrong feet but also one is backwards.

Sophie also cannot function without her bears and blanky (not pictured as it was being washed). She sleeps with all of them and if she wakes in the middle of the night all of them are in tow when she comes into our bedroom. Me and my girls have been sick going on 3 weeks now. Sophie always gets high fevers when she is sick so here she is just chillin' with "da poo" and bear. So funny to me that Pooh is as big as she is.

I love this picture of Regan. She looks so beautiful. She is pretty much over being sick. Still has a little cough, but is doing alright. She says the funniest things sometimes!! Yesterday I was laying on the couch while she was playing on the floor with her bucket. She starts "stirring" in her bucket and says, "Mama, I'm gonna make you some yucka, kucka-monkey cookies. It will help you feel so much better!" Hahahahahaha........ When the girls hair isn't done and they don't want me to do it, I tell them that they need to let me do their hair so they don't look like a little orphan. One night in the bathtub Regan says to Sophie, "You have a crazy little orphan bum Sophie!". HHhahHAHhahHAHhah........she kills me!

On Saturday I went to a warehouse full of great deals and got this carpet to cover our living room for $10! Love it. Our floors before were pretty much cement with a couple pink fibers covering it. Having this is like a lush garden of softness...for only $10!! Hooray for me. I also got some freakin' awesome mirrors for $5 each! Still not helping me to get better though. I think my cold has turned into a sinus infection. Peace out!

Think this is Chocolate?

2009-03-11T22:02:00.003-06:00

...thInK aGaIn!!!

YouData

2009-03-11T09:44:00.001-06:00

I found something that I think you will like. The company's name is YouData (youdata.com). They are trying to convince consumers like us that we should be the ones controlling our own data and selling our own attention, not third parties like broadcasters, newspapers, and spammers. By creating a MeFile at YouData.com, I now control what ads I see and when I see them. Best part - I am selling my attention directly to interested advertisers, for real money. That's right, I get paid for giving them my attention. I can use the funds to buy music and video online, donate to charities, give to my favorite blogs and websites, or keep the change myself and do whatever I want with it.
It's real. They pay. I've already been paid over $10 in the last month. You should check it out.
Click this link to sign up. My MeFile ID, rizkid22, in the "Referral Code" will tell them I sent you.
http://www.youdata.com/join/rizkid22

Pay it Forward

2009-03-03T11:01:00.003-07:00

1) The first 5 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a gift from me sometime in the next few months!

2) When and what you receive will be a surprise!

3) Then you have to post this "Pay it Forward" challenge on your blog, then come back and leave a 2nd comment telling me you've done it.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!

2- What I create will be just for you.

3- It'll be done this year.

4- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or an article. I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!

5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog.

The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!}Just a little tidbit of fun for those who love to WIN ANYTHING/better the world through kindness!! Good luck!! Happy commenting!

More Kisses

2009-02-21T01:09:00.011-07:00

Todays post is dedicated to my one and only, highly energetic, super sweet, mostly silly Sopher Dopher. My heart just flutters when I look at her and realize she is mine. Tonight as I was putting the girls to bed I gave her a kiss and sat up. She said, "More kisses. Dere ("there" pointing to her eye)". So I kissed her eye several times and then sat up. "More kisses. Dere". I kissed her several more times and this pattern repeated for about 15 minutes. I would get up and start to go when she just kept saying...more kisses. She wanted me to kiss her to sleep. Of course I had to oblige. How could I not? It melted my heart and made me forget about her tirade through the local thrift store this morning. I laid by her until she finally stumbled off to dream land. What a great night.

I have never seen a girl with more energy. She makes caffeine nervous. She can make a mess faster than I can clean it. I really don't know how I have the energy to keep up with just her, let alone the two partners in crime. This picture is pretty much the way I see her half the time because she is always running as fast as she can with her little egg beater legs away from me. Her walk is not really a walk. It encompasses, running with skipping, galloping, and jumping. I love the way she gets her little arm out in front of her and moves it back and forth when she walks.

She likes to read books upside down and sometimes the right way. Her hair has the cutest little curls in it and I love to get it ready and hope she doesn't decide to "help" and mess it up. She is the most stubborn kid yet very loving and loves to give Regan hugs and kisses. She adores Regan and misses her when she is at pre-school. When she is sleeping next to me, she has to have her arm around my neck and if I try to pull away she grabs me tighter....love that. She is the wildest sleeper and has refused to sleep in her crib since she was 9 months old. (i.e. screamed at the sight of the crib and screamed for hours without stopping if she was in it....hence part of her stubborn streak). When I have a sad looking face she rubs my cheek and says, "Sad".

She has become very possesive of everything, especially me. If she is around me and you ask her any question, she says, "My mama". My sister, Kandra, loves to get in a "possesion war" with her. (Sophie wins of course :) And she loves to smash and rub her face into my face.

I love to hear her talk. Her little voice is like a little chime. Her mouth is so expressive and is frequently puckered out to say words. She is talking so much and just jabbers all the time. Here are some words that I love to hear her say...

fuffin = muffin

fribbitt = ribbitt

munch = lunch

pockiso = popcicle

fend = friend

poopoos

stinky toes

ticky = sticky

openit = open it

whe au you = where are you (in a sing-song tone.....LOVE it!)

Kisso = Kristal

kaka monkeys

naked

ocean = lotion

Wegan = Regan

peese = please

pie corn = popcorn

tubby tubbies = teletubbies

onge = orange

poons= spoons

joosh = juice

hoo ray = hooray (but rather loudly and with emphasis)

shoosh = shoes

cuder = color

wackersh = crackers

raf = giraffe

weezeen code = freezing cold

lub you = love you

hode you = hold you

uh-huh

bye, see ya

yater = later

carsh = cars

da poo = Winnie the Pooh

chocate nilk = chocolate milk

She says sorry every time I change her diaper because that is what I say to her when she has a diaper rash. I think her favorite word is "No way!".

I may add to this list when I remember more.

Sophie loves to sing. Her favorite is "Twinkle Star". In church she has to have her own hymn book and will sing at the top of her lungs. She climbs up to my piano and pounds the keys while singing loudly. She will try to climb anything, anytime, anywhere. She is a better climber than Regan (which is sometimes not a good thing).

Regan has never been that into hats, but Sophie sure is. She can't go out of the house without a hat on. For her, anything can be turned into a hat. Hence the picture below. If you can't figure out what it is, call me. Little princess Leia (Laya?) will get the plastic that the diapers were packaged in and put it on (not over :) her head and even her Halloween bag that I made her turned into her hat. I just made a matching halloween pillow case and when she saw it she said it was a hat.

But even with all the hats, she loves to be naked. I can't leave her without pants on or her diaper will come right off. Even then it's a gamble. After a bath she runs out to me and exclaims, "Naked!!", then runs away so we can't get her. Once she is out of the bath we have about 20 seconds (somtimes less) to get a diaper on her or else she whizzes on the spot. We call her whizzer.

I just can't wait to see how this sweet little tom-boy turns out. And at the same time I wish I could freeze time for a moment. Love you kiddo!

This and That

2009-02-11T16:08:00.005-07:00

January was a good month for me mentally, emotionally, ect. Probably the best month I have had since Regan was born. Jason and I decided to start reading scriptures with the girls before they went to bed and it has made a huge difference. I think there is something the Lord is trying to teach me. Read scriptures=happiness, don't read scriptures=suckiness (maybe not in those specific terms but you get the idea).

Here are some of the highlights:

Making snow angels with styrofoam and yes clean up was not fun (2 hours).

Making "sand" art with salt and food coloring

Spicing up lunch with muffin tins.

Then we made Valentines decorations with crayons and wax paper.

They are very pretty with the sun shining through them.

Regan started preschool with Catherine Reed and she LOVES it. She loves thinking she is so big like daddy cause he goes to school. She loves Catherine and always wants to go there and see her. Today I told her she was going to school today and she said, 'I want to run to Cafrins wight now!" Thanks Catherine, she loves you!

Reganisms

2009-01-18T23:18:00.001-07:00

My friend Angie takes amazing pictures and I want to learn as much as I can so we went on a walk with our kiddos and I got a couple cute shots. Believe it or not, I didn't ask Regan to pose like that. She did it for some random reason of her own. Can you believe those blue eyes?!?!? Gor.ge.ous. Speaking of eyes, Regan is fascinated with the fact that she has blue eyes like daddy and grandma and Sophie has brown eyes like mama and grandpa. She loves telling me that repeatedly. "I love your eyes mama. They're brown like Sophie."

For the last week, every night at dinner Regan stands up in her chair and starts singing "Old MacDonald". Sophie of course cannot be left out so she stands up and joins in too. Tonight here is how the verse went...
"Old MacDonald had a Regan, e-i-e-i-o. With a talk-talk here, and a talk-talk there......ect." Freakin' hilarious!! At least she knows that about herself.
Sophie was standing there and tooted. In a cute little voice she said, " 'cuse me". I thought to myself..."At least she was polite. Dang, I did something right!"

Sophie HATES to have her teeth brushed. But being the diligent hygienist that I am, I don't take no for an answer. So I lay her between my legs with each arm pinned under a leg. A few months ago this would make her howl like a banshee and I could sort of brush them. Then she started closing her mouth super tight so I started plugging her nose so she would have to open it.
But you don't know Sophie if you think she would go down that easy. This is Stubborn #2 we are talking about here (me being #1). Now, even with her arms and head pinned and her nose plugged, she only opens her mouth a fraction of a millimeter....enough to get air and then closes it until she needs more air. What am I to do with her? Does the end justify the means? I think it does. Along with wanting to get rid of her nasty butt-breath, I want to prevent her from getting dental caries....cavities to the laymen, which is much more intense than merely brushing her teeth. I just imagine my daughter coming up to me someday, full of gratitude and appreciation for the torture we put her through to spare her lovely..........wait a sec, this is reality.....probably not going to happen. However we are talking about Reganisms, so every time we do this we ask Sophie....."Do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way?".
Regan belted out a song for Sophie with those same words while Jason was brushing Sophie's teeth. Pretty darn cute. Regan is so good at making up songs or adding new lyrics to old ones. I LOVE it! Could we have a potenial song writer on our hands?

Tonight Regan was building a tower with her blocks but here's the clincher....it was color coordinated! Either pretty smart or OCD. Time will tell.

Can I just say that I love this stage that Regan is at? She is getting out of the terrible two's and onto the smart, helpful, funny, sweet girl that I knew was in there.

TOdaYs RanDom tHouGhtS

2009-01-09T21:00:00.006-07:00

Is it really 5 am? Regan!

I don't want to get up.

I really should take down the Christmas decorations.

Sophie is so stinkin' cute.

Why is the floor crunching?

Stop Regan!

Vacuuming won't help this place

Why is Sophie still crying?

My legs are really hairy.

Will she be 17 and still in diapers?

Stop crying.

My boots are here!

Does human flesh taste something like pork?

It's a good thing you're cute!!

Does my face make me look fat?

Oh great, another boogie.

Where is the rent check?!?!

This dinner rocks! I'm so domesticated!

Stop crying.

Did I just burn enough calories to eat this cookie?

THEY ARE ASLEEP!!!!!!! :)

Epiphany

2008-12-28T23:06:00.003-07:00

Months ago I came to a realization about our holidays. Christmas and Easter are the only holidays that have a magical person/creature that comes and gives us things. We don't have a magical eagle for the 4th of July that comes and brings us Old Navy glory t-shirts. There isn't Trevor the Thanksgiving Turkey to lay some golden eggs in our shoes. Not even a Labor Day ant eater to come wipe out the varment infestation. Christmas and Easter are the only holidays that are supposed to be about Jesus Christ yet are the only ones that have things to distract us from the real meaning behind the celebration. The thought struck me and I haven't felt the same since. This year I made 87% of the few gifts that I gave. I didn't get to go see all the shopping frenzy and see all the crazy deals and fake Santas that drive us further from the celebration of our Savior's birth. It was great!

Next year I am not going to give as many gifts to my children, but just keep things simple. I'm going to do more things for others. I want my children to grow up appreciating the things they have and learning that the greatest happiness comes not in what they get, but what they give. I am grateful for this holiday season and the time it gives me to reflect on the many blessing that I have, the greatest being my Savior and friend Jesus Christ. I hope to do better in the year to come and think less of myself and more about others. Merry CHRISTmas and Happy New Year!

2008-12-21T16:58:00.001-07:00

One day my mother was out and my dad was in charge of me. I was maybe 2 1/2 years old and had just recovered from an accident.

Someone had Given me a little 'tea set' as a get-well gift and it was one of myFavorite toys.

Daddy was in the living room engrossed in the evening news when I brought Daddy a little cup of 'tea' (which was just water).

After several cups of Tea and lots of praise for such yummy tea, my Mom came home.

My Dad made her wait in the living room to watch me bring him a cup of tea, Because it was 'just the cutest thing!'

My Mom waited, and sure enough, here I come down the hall with a cup of Tea for Daddy and she watches him drink it up.

Then she says, (as only a mother would know), 'Did it ever occur to you That the only place she can reach to get water is the toilet?'Hahahahaha....I got this in an email and about peed all over myself. Hope you pee all over yourself too ;)

Tree Lighting Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

2008-12-21T16:57:00.000-07:00

Tree Lighting Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!