A few favorites

My favorite quote from today.....

"You are my heart mom."  Pause.  "And Dad is my heart. And Addi my heart."
            ~ Bryce told me this while I was snuggling in bed with him for his 'goodnight' time. Love that boy.

My favorite story of the week began like this.....

"Once there was an angry mom, and a not listening dad, a brother who hits and punches, a whining baby, and a whining girl.... "

            ~ Addison told Brandon this story when she was going to bed, a five year-old's venting.

My favorite moment of the week....

When Brandon walked in the door after completing the his first national boards! We have a husband/father again for a while!

My Favorite Movie of the week..





My few favorite recent pictures .... 

Little things

I can not believe October is almost over. Blows my mind people. I think that with Addison having started school and just being so busy all the time the days are flying by. It makes me so sad too because my little munchkin'lin  is already 6 MonTHs! and what a little cute bunch he is. .. But before I jibber jabber about him, I GUESS should mention a few things about my other children.

Bryce is doing awesome in his speech therapy. I feel like it has just given him more confidence to just try speaking. AND come to find out, I've been trying to get the words out of him all wrong anyway. Screwing up my kid. ;) His is speaking so much more than he was even a few weeks ago. It is so fun too because I am feel like I am finally starting to get to know him. Hearing him put his thoughts into words is helping me understand how that little mind of his is working.. which is difficult with him. We are so opposite. He is shy and bashful. and Quiet. I might have a dash of each of those but they are more like occasional moods, not my personality.

Addi on the other hand I know what she is about to do a day in advance! She is my little mini-me. And she tries to be too, copying the phrases I say putting on my make-up. She has such a little tender heart. She loves her little brothers.I hear these phrases each a few times a day.  "I just can't stop kissing him mom!", " I just want to pinch his bummie" "Crew is just stinkin cute", and "You know what my favorite thing about Crew is mom? His bum."

I can't blame her. We are so in love with this little man. He is a happy-hyper little man for only 6 months. I am kinda nervous to meet the 2 year old Crew!

He Loves looking at himself in the mirror. Just like his pops.

He is so alert and aware of his surroundings. If someone across the room talks he cranks his neck around to see. Addison and Bryce just love to entertain him and make the biggest scene just to get a little smile out of him. They are a sweet little group to watch. Crew just sits there and giggles and smiles at his buddies.

We have our little bedtime routine of cereal, bath and singing songs in bed. His favorite part is the songs. Particularly the birdie song. "Up, up in the sky.. Where the little birdie flys.."

He is sucking his toes, rolling all around and sitting up on his own for a few seconds. And sit just a petite little guy. I love having a small baby. Bryce was such a big baby he seemed to leave that tiny precious stage faster. Crew being small makes it seem to linger a little and he is lighter to carry around. Loving that aspect.

Loving every little aspect of life right now. Busy busy running kids to school and therapy and play dates and groceries! Books, running groups, working, cleaning and all the other small stuff in between. A bunch of busy-ness. All so fun and happy and  at the end of the day, I am wiped out! Its a good life~ but 3 kids and school has officially made me feel like a mom.

Recovery....

... warning... this is a long journally post.. and a little indepth..Since Crew's birth things have gone pretty well. I was stressing like crazy what would happen as none of my family was going to be able to come and help and Brandon was in the heat of finals of the arguably the hardest semester of optometry. I went into things just expecting the worst.. the house to be a disaster, kids to be crazy and un-bathed, and plenty of aches and pains. Which I think expecting the worst made it seem better, hah! So much for positive thinking!!
When I came home from the hospital I was achy and sore but not terribly, I could sit and walk just slowly. The kids were pretty well behaved and Addison was so helpful. I also was blessed to have so many awesome friends that live close. We had plenty of dinners and the kids had multiple playdates.So recovery was going very, very well... infact it was too good to be true, something bad had to happen of course. And maybe I was pushing my luck being too active.About 2 weeks out I went to bed one night just feeling really achy. (I ache alot :/ ) I had a few bodyaches but took some ibprophen and blew it off. Went to bed {whatever that means when you are up every 2 hours nursing} and in the morning felt worse. As the day progress I thought I was going to keel over. I felt so sick, and every nerve in my body was on fire. I had a fever, was breaking out in sweats and chills. I hurt so bad and couldn't figure out why.

I called my OB and he was out of the office. Then I debated going to the ER and the thought of my co-workers checking my ladyness just horrified me so I found an Urgent care. Should have just gone to the ER. It's amazing that Dr. made it through med school. She had no idea what was wrong. She even did a rapid strep test?! I had no sore throat. Then sent me to the lab to check my CBC and didn't order it stat... so it would be processed in 3 days. I would have been dead in three days.

So I went back home and cried to Brandon. He was so distracted with finals I don't think he realized how sick I was. By morning I was all of the above and nauseous and light headed. {I honestly think I was starting to go septic} Anyhow I call the OB office at 9:01 and asked to be seen.. if not my co-workers were in for a surprise :) Of course they told me to come right over.

I still couldn't put my finger on what was wrong, I just hurt everywhere and felt like crap. My OB did a very through assessment.. no mastitis.. no blood clots.. but my episiotomy site had a raging infection. He check my uterus... which just 2 weeks out of birth was not fun. And THANKFULLY it had not traveled up there yet. Who know what would have happened to have a uterine infection. He put me on a strong antibiotic four times a day. It took a few days before they started working but eventually they kicked in and everything subsided. Once all the bodyaches were gone, I could feel the pain in the stitches. They had been masking it all along.

The day after the Drs, my mom came!! She had planned to fly in this day for months and what perfect timing too! I need her more than ever to help now that I had this infection. She was soo good too. So helpful with the kids, cooking all the time, getting me water, letting me take naps and just being there for me. I LOVE you Mom!! Thank you so much! She was able to say and just hangout for 10 days! By the end I was feeling great and still am doing very well.. missing my sleep.. Crew is a hungry boy.

A Wicked 35 Weeks!

Yes this post is 2 fold maybe 3 or 4 depending on how I feel by the end of it :) First... yes, that lovely picture of Wicked. Doesn't it just say so much?! Well I had know idea how much it actually said until after this last weekend!! I had never seen Wicked before or read the book... and truth be told I had never even seen a Broadway before! Shame on me. Until this last weekend when Brandon surprised me with tickets to Wicked!! I have listen to the sound track and belted out a lovely rendition of Defying Gravity for years, so he knew well I would just die to go see it! And I did! It was AMAZING!!! not just the show and the music but what a story! Gregory Mcguire is quite a genius. All that I had expected was completed by intermission, the rest was a complete twist! So awesome! Worth the money for a night our with your Hubby and friends! 

 Some of our buddies, Zak and Krystal!

 Brandon and myself. I didn't bring my camera because I just figured they would do a bag check see the monster and send me back to the car to put it away. But they didn't and I was so bummed it didn't take more pictures of the theatre, it was gorgeous! We went to the Segerstrom Perfroming Arts Center in Costa Mesa. Here are a few pictures from google :)

 We were on the first level towards the left. Great views! Such a fun night. And I am hooked to Broadway. Can't wait to see Phantom... {hint hint Brandon}

Part 2 of this post... the rest of life! Yes we have moved into a new place... Why? To save around $600 dollars a month. Ridiculous I know. I just have to say rent in Orange County is not cheap. I know there is worse, but when I could have a mortgage for a giant house in 80% of the rest of the country for the price we pay in rent, I complain. We are here for school so it is worth it and we enjoy the weather and perks of life in Cali but every time we write that check, a little knot in my stomach would just twist! 

We now are in some student housing, We have been on the waiting list for 2 years and 1 month to be exact and our turn finally came! Along with a load of stress gone! Even though it is 'student housing' it is a beautiful place to live. I'll have to take some picture of the place and pool. Very nice... and we have a blowup mattress for visitors :)

We are finally feeling settled and now I can get back to my projects! hehe. Below is a picture of some fancy ruffled pillows I made.. again super easy and a tutorial is in the works.. after the dress. I needed some throw pillows for the couches and found some silky/satiny materials at a presidents day sale. And these are what come from them!

 And finally I mention a Wicked 35 Weeks.. the wicked was only referring to the play though, pregnancy is going rather well. I have the normal aches and pains of growing and hips popping around, heartburn etc. but as a hole things are going well! 

I can't believe that I am 35 weeks?! With every other pregnancy I just could not wait to have the baby, but this one I feel a little different about. Probably because is it child number 3. I have heard that the third really changes life. I am excited for the baby, but not excited for the challenge that lies ahead! Particularly the first few months.

With how crazy fast my last delivery was, it sounds like I am going to be induced. Primarily to make sure I don't have a kid on the freeway. It will be at 39 weeks, and just simply breaking my water, no drugs. I will turn 26 the day that I turn 39 weeks.. so I might have a birthday baby or maybe an Easter baby! {My due date is the 27th of April.}

  AND LAST!!! (aren't those munchkins cute?! they love the baby already)  while we are on the topic of this baby boy to come.... I AM STRUGGLING!!!! I CAN'T DECIDE on a NAME! I am putting up a poll of a few of our favorites.. let me know what you like.. and if you have any other suggestions please send them my way! {Boy names are hard. } 

Keep tuned in.. a few tutorials to come!

A few other things..

I feel really bad about not up dating my "online journal' because a few fun things have happened in the last month! To be honest I can spend all of about 5 minutes on the computer before I start to get nauseated, therefore no blogging. 

 In other news in my life besides getting pregnant, I have started a new job as an ER RN. I have been there about 1.5 months and so far have really enjoyed myself. If you ever are in need a of crazy, wacky or gory story I already have loads! I have enjoyed the new type of nurse and still have a lot to learn but am adjusting well. I chose to transfer to ER as apposed to any other area because  ER has various shift times because the patients are constantly changing. I work a 'swing' shift (1pm to 1 am) so that I can be home more with the kids during the day when Brando has class. It is working out well so far but I also am starting to dream of the day when we can afford for me to stay home all day with the kids!  

But a quick note I do want to make.. A week ago today I was celebrating with my family about the return of my 2nd brother Andy home from his mission in Australia! Of course on my short trip home I had to forget my camera {but my sister has a post about it on her blog you can go see if you like}. When I was home it was so fun to just sit and chat with Andy about eating kangaroo tail, honey-ants, and the Aussie culture. So interesting. He does have a crocodile Dundee accent and calls us mate with out thinking twice! Fun how quickly things like that rub off on a person! He brought us opals and kangaroo sacks and all sorts of aboriginal paraphernalia. Not to mention the awesome stories of the humble members and converts. Andy has really matured into a man. He has such a great outlook on life, and the mission field really did him well. 

And last but not least a newspaper in Twin Falls, The Times News, published an Article about my sister and her struggle with Lupus as a teen. I think that they did a great job and loved how they included a lot about her faith! She posted in on her blog as well. GO PeEk HERE! 

ANNNDDD I just have to say that there have been some really great recipes posted on the food blog up at the right hand side of your screen.... YOU HAVE to try the Chocolate Muffins and LEMONADE!!!  SOO Delicious and super easy!!! Click HERE !!

AND AND AND .. last one I promise.. is any one as excited for fall as I am? I can't wait to bust out the pumpkins and hot cocoa!

Hum dee dum

This is going to be a long journally post.. just warning. 

First of I need to explain myself... A few weeks ago I posted that I was missing my babies, and a few people asked why. WELL.. Brandon and I took the kids to Idaho for a spur of the moment trip to visit family, but I had to fly home early to work. (Orange County CA rent is not very forgiving). Initially I was going to be flying home on a late flight to work on Monday. Brandon and the kids were to drive home maybe Wednesday. I would only be family-less for a few days. Tolerable. 

(At Aunt Desi's new house sitting down for Sunday dinner before I have to fly home.)

But then Brandon decided he wanted to stay to watch his families annual dance production and play in the 3-on-3 tourney with his brother that weekend. Ugh.. I was very lonely by Friday. So I posted that posted with some cute pictures I had taken on the trip.... then I thought the next day. Hmm.. Maybe it is not the best idea to announce over the internet that I am staying home alone the week. That's why the lack of reply to the questions. Anyhow as Brandon was driving home the next Monday (yes one week with out a family) he made it just past the Border of AZ. 

(Pitt stop for ice cream before the breakdown)

The entire trip including breaks usually takes us 16 hrs. He only had about 3.5 hrs left. SOO close and the engine light goes on. Late at night he has to get towed back to Prim then Vegas the next day. It took two day to get he car fixed. So Brandon got to play in Vegas with the kids driving a brand-new Jetta dealership car around, sleeping in Circus Circus while I was lonely at home. They eventually made it home. And I was happy. 

(Addison in Vegas)

Since then we haven't been up to much. Brandon is out of school for the summer and I am picking up shifts where I can to pay bills. We have been hitting up the beach, Disneyland, and the pool to pass time. Brandon has been relaxing and enjoying his time off. I am trying to get Brandon in to running. We will see if that will ever happen, but he has gone for a few runs in his Jordans. ha! He isn't sure if he is ready to invest in running shoes yet. Goober. 

I have been training for the Spudman Triathlon coming up on the 31st of July. Yikes. I am excited and have felt surprisingly great through the training. I think because I have been fairly consistent and used a training plan that is made to gradually increase with out injury. I just wish I could get more meat on my chicken legs.. that would help my speed in the bike portion. I just haven't been biking long enough to have that muscle. I still love it though.. so much fun to be on a road bike.. if you are thinking about it.. do it. So fun. You won't regret it.

(The kids at Toon Town in Disneyland)

So life is nothing wild right now, but we are very content. Enjoying the warmth and time off together. The kids are growing so fast. Addi and Bryce are just funny little buddies. Love being a mom. Love Life.

As Addi Says "You wanna piece of me?!"

under the weather

Isn't it interesting how getting sick makes you sit down and blog? What I reeeeaally mean is that for me getting sick makes you just slow down and not care. I don't care that the floor has dried noodles all over. I don't care that my makeup isn't done. I don't care that the kids watched tv all day long. And we really aren't even that sick. I have a sinus infection (more annoying than anything) and Addi might have strep.. but does have a really nasty sore throat. So I just say whatever! It is a great excuse to just let go of the stress and focus on recharging for the rest of the week when I decide that I am a lazy bum and Have to get out of pjs for the day.

( a preview of my next post! gorgeous)

 I finally realized what the phrase "Under the weather" means! hah! It is a beautiful sunny 80 deg day outside today and I looked out the window and was kind of wishing that it was a rainy day. Then the weather would match my mood. I am feeling "under the weather."  I attribute my deep lack of understanding of this phrase to growing up in Missouri and Idaho wear most of the illnesses circulate in the colder months of the year. Its not that I am all that blonde. 

ok ok.. I have to share another things that I have come to understand.  Well...After almost FIVE YEARS of marriage we finally purchased our own dinning table. I am years away from owning a home so I get to have joy in a simple dinning table!! BUT after buying this table.. I was a little OCD about everything that was set on it. I did NOT want a single scratch in it. I kept trying to think of ways to protect the table like always having a table cloth for dinner (no way, too much laundry), covering it with plastic (where do you buy plastic for that? nope), find softer plates (walmart has everything right?) no silver ware (how many dinners are just finger food?) .... and then I thought of it... thedreadthingthatIneverunderstoodthepurposeofbecausetheywerejustonemorethingtowipeofforwashandyoumight aswelluseatablecothe..... The PLACE MAT!!! I am a genius! oh wait. Those have been around forever. I just didn't get why use one because I never had to care about a table! All I have to say is thank you target for you amazing selection of fun affordable place mats!

thanks all my lovely friends for your help during these blah days!

Slight adjustments

almost caught up....

Our move to California on Aug 4th.... yes Bryce's one year birthday! So sorry little monster. (I am planning on doing a birthday cake one of these nights.) Anyhow, the move was a long one, but successful. We are now in the LA area paying way too much for a two bedroom apartment. But it is nice, remodeled but the same price as anything else around here. The first bit was hard. I was so grateful that Brock and Blake helped us with the drive and the unloading because we did know but 2 people here and they were out of town! So to thank them we took them all around the area including the beach-- Brock and I rocked Blake and Brandon in some beach volleyball (well not really rocked but beat), Six flags, and an Anaheim angels game. Brock and Blake bought Bryce is pimpin angel hat! It is so cute and he actually leaves it on!

After that week, once I was done packing the rain came out! And just as I predicted once all the hustle and bustle of packing, moving and unpacking stopped that it would really hit that had move over 900 miles away from dear family and friends to a roaring city. Like I said we knew a few people but didn't have numbers and some were out of town. It doesn't seem likely that you can get lonely in an area like this with thousand of people within miles, but I did. And I let Brandon know but suddenly bursting into tears while we were driving around looking for something to do. He was so surprised but I have been holding it all in and being positive like a good little girl until this moment. I bawled in the passengers side and all that he could do was rub my head... which was sweet but annoying. So I called my mom and des and and whined to them. Then I noticed that we had pulled up in front of the Brea mall. (One good thing around here is the shopping...no wonder everyone here is bankrupt along with the state! okay.. that might be slightly over generalized) The Brea mall is very nice, tonz of stores and Brea the city is just gorgeous. We stopped at the mall to look around and Brandon let me splurg on a new dress.. why does that cheer girls up? I don't know but had a renewed determination to look at the positives and keep happy.

I have been happy even though situations are not ideal... but hey, I am not the only one to ever do this, just have to live poor, keeping praying,and be positive! And honestly life isn't so bad. I have very little stress now that I am at home with my kids. I have loved this aspect. I am running with a group of girls in the morning who are training for a 1/2 marathon. I am still not convinced that I can do it too... we shall see. I joined in on the training over half way through their training schedule so am behind and honestly and not the best and running for hours.. its just never been a desire- hence the triathlon this summer. Mixing it up just keeps it interesting. But I am going to keep training and just see. So yes, life is good here in Cali. It took some adjusting, but we are a happy little family here.


Bryces fun hat.. Thanks uncles!




A day at Huntington. Bryce played for hours in the sand, he loves the soft warmth squishing in his toes. He was pretty fearless as well, he charged straight into the water. Which is scary because as you can tell the waves are so strong even if they are up to his knees they will plow him over. And for some reason he thought that the sand was a delectable treat. He stuck his face straight in to the sand and ate big bites, numerous times. He pooped sand littlerally for the next week. That can't be good on the colon?!

Addi loves her floaties and surf (kick) board. She really enjoys the beach as well. We chase the waves down the run back up before they bite our heels! We also look for seashells or 'clams' as she calls them. She loves sponge bob square pants for some odd reason and actually has learn alot about the beach from it. She always asks to see the crabs and clams.








Our little spot on the beach for the day. This beach is huge, very deep away from the surf and forever long.







A whole new world of water, sand, and seaweed to explore! yuck.

Bryce was getting so close to walking at 1 year! So close.. he actually was taking 5-6 steps at a time for about 2 months be was just a little timid to take off!