Blessing Jacket

I've never really tried making clothing other than hats, so I figured since I didn't know if this baby was a boy or girl I'd make a jacket. If it ended up a girl I could add a crochet lacy border, if it was a boy I'd add a simple border. Well...followed the pattern but in the end to me it still looked girly. So this is Version 1.0, if its a girl I will make a long white satin dress to go under it. I'll work on making a boy's  jacket (Version 2.0) in the next few weeks. Then all I'll need to add is a white onesie and white pants. I also have the beautiful white blanket from Kim and some booties that I am making to go with this...so in the end one way or another we'll have a blessing outfit. :)

Adorible Ties

Aren't these ties cute, if only I knew how to make them! Hopefully I'll win one, but if not maybe you will!
Ann

Baby Blanket

I finally finished this blanket last night, it has a cool pillow look on one side but the wrong side is flat. It was supposed to have a greet boarder, but I couldn't find a green that matched well enough. :( But thats ok, this turned out fine!

One blanket down, a few more to go.

Normal Pregnancy?

Good Morning (7 am here!)  I am putting out a blogging question. Whats normal, I'd ask my mom, but honestly as sweet as she is she's not normal when pregnant,  I'd call a sister in Bangkok but can't afford to, and its 5 am in UT  :) 

 

So, here is my question : Braxton Hicks, are theses painful? In my past pregnancies, I don't feel contractions till they are causing a problem, or in Ben's case I never really felt them, and when I did I had what the doctor termed "back labor". Last night I woke up 3 different times with a painful contraction....not normal for me. Talked to a nurse this morning, I'm sure she's  a nice lady and a good nurse, but she didn't help much saying call us back when they are 3-5 minutes apart for over an hour and drink lots of water.  So I'm putting my question out to my blogging mommies...is this normal for others? Can you leave me a comment or email me about whats normal?

 

Other than that I feel great, swim lessons are today and both kids are really excited. We had another round of severe weather last night, making it like the 3rd or 4th severe weather night in the past week. When we lived in UT everyone prayed for rain, out here I think that they pray for the lack of rain. The thunder and lightning (known as Funder and Exciting at our house) was amazing, and we even had some hail around 2 am. Hopefully all these storms will pass and we can have a sunny week.

 

That's it, hope you all have a great day!

Ann

Happy Fathers Day!

I am married to a fabulous fabulous man, and I was excited to surprise him with a cake. I've never done fondant before, but it turned out all right... starts cover all my imperfections wonderfully!

The kids were really excited to pick out a Fathers Day gift with me. We meant to hold off till tomorrow to give it to him, but a project tonight warranted an early gift giving. Jeff received his first tool from me a cordless drill, he was thrilled. Hopefully he gets good use of it, I love seeing him work on projects.

Being a parent doesn't truly come naturally to anyone,, there are constantly learning opportunities that come up that cause us to adjust our parenting styles and adapt to our children. Jeff has worked so hard to be a wonderful father, and adjusts well. The kids and I are both grateful for his loving care that he give to this family!

Thankyou gifts...

I made these for some primary friends, they are filled with Jolly Ranchers.

Emily's Graduation

I was able to make a dessert for my cousin Emily's graduation. No this idea wasn't mine, but even so they turned out well. The cake portion was made of White and Red Velvet cake representing her school colors. :)

...last ones.

Hiking in Kolob Canyon!

Amazing production of Aladdin!

...a few more...

Finally Ben stood in a picture with a smile!

It was a little cold at the beach but even so we had a great time.

Though, after this shot, Ben never went back in the water.

If you can't tell, my children are fully clothed (long story) ...they had a great time!

One of our favorite meals at the Cheese Factory.

More Pictures...

Riding Dumbo.

Ehre and Micky Mouse (Ben would have nothing to do with anyone in costume!)

Ben you are sooo strong!

Princess Ariel.

Belle...

Pics from Utah!

Eating carrots straigt from grandma and grandpa's garden.

Ehre and Ben with Grandma and Grandpa Millett.

We never get tired of visiting tgrandma and grandpa's beautiful property!

Kids riding on the back of grandpa's golf cart.

Hormonal update...

I re-read yesterdays post, I should have waited to blog until today. Yesterday counts as one of my hormonally tearful days, over something that really doesn't matter. So to all the followers out there, please pardon a hormonoally messed up mommy, who really is excited to have this baby, and even more excited that s/he is healthy....Now  please note, since we have double insurance on this kid,  and they both technically should cover one ultrasound each...maybe I can talk my doctor into finding a reason to letting us have another one in a month or so. (Preferably before we move!)

 

 

Ann

Baby's Ultrasound

And its a ..... stubborn baby. Legs are crossed, walked around for a while, legs still crossed.... I guess this will be a suprise baby. :( This so doesn't work with my plan ahead and be fully prepared motto. As disapointed as I am not knowing what we are having, I am grateful for a healthy baby! I am 19 weeks 5 days and the baby measures at 19 weeks and 3 days, so we are right on track!  Here are a few photos from our appointment, it was really cool to see a 3D image!

Utah Trip

Wow this was quite the trip, we felt like we were hopping all over the place! Here's how it all worked....

May 12: Left IN
May 15: Spencer's Farewell Party with all the cousins.
May 16: Spencer's Farewell, Ehre, Christy, Spencer and I sang "I'll go where you want me to go."
May 17: Spencer and I got to go to do temple work together.
May 18: Spencer was called as a full time missionary.
May 19: We said good by to Spencer for 2 years and he entered the MTC.
May 20: Jeff sent me my first bouquet of flowers, so beautiful. Amy and I turned 27, and I picked Jeff up at the airport. I also got a stupid parking ticket...
May 21: Left at 5 am for California, arrived at Grandma and Grandpa Millet's just in time to attend their Church "Over 80" Celebration.
May 22: Had a blast hanging out at the grands house. The 3 acres were an amazing playground for the kids.
May 23: Attended church and then drove to LA. Saw the Disneyland Firework show.
May 24: Disneyland, only had to stand in a line for 1.5 hours to see 3 Disney princesses but Ehre loved it. Rode on Nemo's submarine, drove in Autotopia, raced down Matterhorn mountain and many other rides. Then at the end of the day when the kids were exhausted, we saw the Disneyland parade and then headed to the hotel to sleep.
May 25: Jeff's conference, Ehre, Ben and I had a blast at the pool and in the hospitality suite...
May 26: Same as the 25
May 27: Same as the 26, but then we went to the beach...was cold but the waves were awesome!
May 28: California Adventure land, saw the amazing Aladdin show, Playhouse Disney, Spoke with Crush the turtle, Rode a huge Feriswheel and played in Bug world.......spent 3.5 hours on the freeways of LA, only went 5 miles, apparently a gas truck literally blew up the freeway, and traffic just stood still, 5 lanes going nowhere.....after a 12 hour journey we finally made it to St. George at 4 in the morning.
May 29: Spent a wonderful morning with an Aunt and Uncle, then went hiking in Kolob Canyon.
May 30: Went to Church with the Maas', enjoyed the time with family and looked at stars in Grandpa M's telescope.
May 31: Memorial Day celebrations with the Maas', the kids loved playing in the sprinklers and eating great food.
June 1: Met with high school friends at Fudruckers, had a wonderful time catching up with all the new babies.
June 2: Went to temple square, and enjoyed showing the kids various sites with Aunt C's family.
June 3: Flew back home to UT
June 4: Dr's appointment, heard a great heartbeat and packed up for MI to attend Emily's graduation party. We even got to camp out in their backyard!
June 5: Helped put up a swing set, and watched Emily graduate from HS. Drove home to IN.
June 6: Today, we are home, and resting up from the last few busy weeks. 

I'll now include some posts of pics from the various points of our trip. Now we are headed on to swimming lessons, finalizing a home to move into, packing, Dr. visits, ultrasounds,preparing baby things, camping, BBQ's etc...

Ann
PS. Next post will most likely not be until we notify you of the gender of our 18 week old baby !

Holiday Plans

We've started making our holiday plans (yes a little bit early, I know). But we have only got 25 more weeks and then we're going to be way too busy. So if you want to Halloween, Thanksgiving or even Christmas this year with us, please let us know. We are planning on having a special blessing around Christmas Break for the newest member, and would love anyone who would like to be there to join us for it!

Are you confused yet?
Due Date: Nov 4
Gender to be determined in June.
Current Status: 15 weeks and counting!

PS. We have a new blog that we created for our kids. We've been going through the different weeks, you are welcome to follow it. 2daystospare.blogspot.com

Happy Birthday and Farwell.

Last night we hoasted a farwell and birthday part for the Isaacsons. I made the cake (yes its lopsided, should have let it cooled all the way!) and ricecrispie treats and then we had a pot luck dinner outside on the lawn. We had a really good turnout of friends to send them off. I didn't get pics of the dinner but here is the dessert. :) We'll miss you!

Jeff's LAST day of school.

I don't know if Jeff has a photo of his first day of school, but we did get a picture of his LAST!! Congrats on all the hard work. All course work for his PhD is now complete, all he needs to do now is complete his research (1 1/2 years) and defend!

 

We love you Jeff!

Mother's Day

Its 6:30 am Tuesday morning, and I am finally getting a chance to blog about my wonderful Sunday. I woke up at 6 am, couldn't fall back to sleep (or so I thought) I nuzzled up to Jeff said good morning, and he greeted me with a "Happy Mothers Day. Why are you awake?.....Well we still get to make you breakfast."  :) Ok that's fine with me. I stayed in bed and watched part of "How to still a Million" with Audrey Hepburn... didn't last long, I fell back to sleep. :)

I woke up and the house smelled wonderful. So I got up and got dressed I was almost dressed when I was called to go check out a cut on a friend. But when I got back (little girls ok) Jeff had hot cornbread muffins on the table with OJ. Yummy! Jeff bought me a new book, that I can't wait to start on the plane tomorrow, and some almond chocolate, which is also reserved for the flight too.

I surprised Jeff by letting him know that for Mothers Day I was going to skip choir and enjoy the extra hour before church with the family, instead of rushing out the door. That didn't work, Jeff volunteered to give a neighbor a ride to choir with us, so we went. (Which was a good thing)

Church was beautiful, the kids sang two songs and the YM gave us chocolate. In Primary I taught a lesson on Repentance and then we made Mothers Day cards.

After church the kids were in desperate need for a rest so we all snuggled up on the floor and watched "The Secret Garden" (This is now one of Ehre's favorite movies). Jeff made me Cheese Ravioli and Spaghetti sauce with baguettes for dinner (super yummy) and even better he made me "My cake is better than your cake" for dinner, with a slight modification, he used brownies instead of chocolate cake.

So that was my mothers day, but even if you took out all the wonderful acts of service performed by my family, the most important part was that they were my family. I never appreciated mothers more until I had children of my own. In the past few weeks often I have said to myself " I feel like my mom", I've noticed more physical traits that we share even if they are subtle and more "motherly" things that I do, that I picked up from my mom and dad.  There is a constant voice in my head that goes off often saying "That's what your mom said growing up, or that's what your dad said." at first I was shocked that I used the same phrases, but then I realized they were the best ones for the situation.

I've been blessed with the opportunity to have a wonderful mother, grandmothers and even great grandmothers to shape my life with their examples and instruction. These mothers have served as great mentors, and will continue to as long as they are here with us.

I love being a mom, I love it when Ehre comes with a scrape and asks for some extra TLC, or when Ben (my snuggler) crawls into bed in the morning and says " I just wanted mommy". Or when Ehre volunteers to vacuum or dishes because she thinks that I do them to often. I love it when Jeff comes home with a smile anxious to see his family, or when he sends me a text message.

I have a wonderful life, I am so richly blessed.
Happy Mothers Day!

This week...

This week,.... its been really good. Ehre had a dance recital last Saturday. We are still working on putting the video on our blog, butI will try to post pictures later today. She loved the fact that she got to wear makeup and a pretty costume. She did really well and now is already missing the dance class. We'll have to see if she'll do this again next semester. She's really bonded well with the other girls in the class, and though she's no prima donna, she's learning more about her body and how to move it as well as follow directions.

This is Jeffs final week of class, tomorrow he will turn in his final project and all his course work for the PhD program will be complete! We've been looking forward to this for such a long time. He's maintained an amazing GPA throughout all of this and really has enjoyed his class work even if the homework takes forever to complete. :) Once this is done he will be able to focus more on his research, and what CRANE will be wanting him to work on for the fellowship.

This last week I finished my blanket for Kim, it turned out really well. I also gave way the one I crocheted. So I am probably going to start on another one for fun, I really enjoy keeping my hands busy. :) But who knows maybe I'll just wait till we get back from the UT trip to start this next one.

This week has been especially busy with trying to manage my primary calling. We will be loosing a lot of teachers and need to replace (not optional) a few too, it seems that every axillary is needed lots of callings as well. There is no need that is greater than another, though as a Primary we of course would love to see our callings filled first, but that most likely won't happen. So we are trying to double up our classes to make things work. Our poor teachers some of them will have 12 primary kids in their classes for a little while. This has really been an excellent calling, even if I do miss RS, I really enjoy working wtih the kids.

Two weeks ago one of our Sr. Primary boys was crying in primary. His teacher tried to talk with him but couldn't figure out what was wrong and let the boy be. I later talked with his mom a good friend, and explained that her son had ben upset and we weren't sure why, hoping they would be able to comfort him appropriately. (It is soo rare for a Sr. Primary boy to show any emotion, let alone cry in Primary) The mom called me yesterday to let me know that she had been able to visit with her son and figure out what was going on. She explained to me that her son started crying during singing time, because as he was singing the primary songs he finally realized what the words were meaning. In that quick moment the spirit bore testimony and understanding to him that the songs could teach him more about Christ and build on his own existing testimony. Of course the conversation wtih the mother and son was brief in another minute he was bounding out the door to play, but I was grateful that she was able to speak with him and then share the experience with me. This kid is a great kid and represents many of the kids in our primary. We are really blessed to have such wonderful families doing such a wonderful job raising their children.

Yesterday topped the week, with our little Richfield community pulling together to assist a friend. As the a friend and I worked with her yesterday there were several things that I ether learned or had a spiritual confirmation of knowledge I all ready had. I wanted to quickly share.

1. We as sisters NEED the Relief society and Visiting Teachers.  When I lived in UT I never understood the need for the RS. I had family close by that helped shoulder any troubles that our family had, and that in itself was a wonderful experience. But as I've lived in IN I've realized the purpose of the RS and VT program to reach out and assist and teach those that we have been assigned to care for. This can be a simple or complex job, but either way it is important. I am grateful for the amazing VT's I have, they bring a special spirit and message into my home and I look forward to their monthly visits.

2. We must act on spiritual promptings big or small.  Family members had had promptings that that they needed to reach out but chose to ignore them. In the end, they regretted not doing so.  I am grateful that two women were able to receive the promptings and act on them, and thereby assist where needed.

3. We all need our Heavenly Father, we need to constantly feel of his love. We need to understand the process of forgiveness. I am grateful for the power of forgiveness and repentance, that allows me to feel clean and whole. There is nothing greater than feeling the approval of our Heavenly Father and his forgiveness over our sins.

A week from tomorrow we will be flying into UT and I think Jeff is going crazy with how excited the kids and I are about flying to see family. The biggest challenge about grad school in my opinion is living far from family. I desperately miss visiting face to face with you guys and being able to help out as needed. Hopefully one day we'll live closer.

Noisy dinner...

We've been working hard with Ben to teach him good table manners....its not really working. He will put the utensil in his left hand and use it but always manages to get his right hand into the food as well. (messy!) He also can be a noisy eater chewing with his mouth open and making smacking sounds.

So tonight during dinner,  I said "Ben you need to chew with your lips together, so that its quiet and nice" and he commented back "I'm being like dad!"


This caused a huge laugh. Hmmm I guess we've got more things to work on with everyone. (PS.Jeff is a good eater, unless he is eating ribs.)