the black family

we've moved!

2009-07-07T17:43:00.000-07:00

Our family blog is now at:

www.notwodays.blogspot.com

when candy lip stick almost wins!

2009-04-01T14:40:00.000-07:00

Meal times are a battle. It's not a battle so much of getting Katey to eat, as much as HOW STINKING LONG it takes her to eat.

Today at lunch I told her she could have peaches and a piece of candy if she ate her mac'n'cheese. After telling her about ~~a thousand~~ ten times, I finally told her that if I needed to tell her one more time, she wasn't getting any candy.

Several minutes later with not a bite taken, I informed her, "Sorry, you don't get any candy." Of course I explained to her why but the look that came to her face made me start desperately thinking of a way I could still give her the candy without completely going back on what I said. And then I realized that wasn't possible. Not only was it not possible, it wouldn't be in her best interest anyway.

And you know what? She survived. She even finished her mac'n'cheese so she could eat her peaches. And she did it all with a good attitude and not a whine or tear about not getting her candy lip stick. Now she knows she has a second chance at dinner to get her candy. We'll see how it goes!

But for now, the candy lip stick didn't win over this mama's heart!

the crazies!

2009-03-20T16:19:00.000-07:00

umm, how did she do that?

2009-02-16T10:36:00.000-08:00

This is how she started....

And this is how she ended up, all by herself...

the girlie wirlies!

2009-02-16T10:29:00.000-08:00

Katey getting ready for church...nice shoes!

Aaaahh!

The goof ball laying in Kate's big girl bed...isn't she adorable?!

she's so cute!

2009-01-29T15:17:00.000-08:00

the girlie wirlies!

2009-01-28T17:03:00.000-08:00

So I was getting lunch for Katey and I one day. I gave Kate her's in her high chair and then went and got mine and sat down in the chair. Then I looked up and this is what I saw:

She wasn't crying or anything. She was just sitting there, falling out of her chair. Little crazy head!

Big smiles! Such a happy baby!

Julia was sucking on Jason's finger so Kate decided she wanted to too!

ummm...it's snowing in vegas...!

2008-12-17T14:23:00.000-08:00

This is crazy! It's not just snowing, it's sticking!

i love these pictures!

2008-12-16T16:08:00.000-08:00

Julia is such a big smiler! Jason can make her smile so easy! It's so cute!

christmas tree shopping!

2008-12-16T16:04:00.000-08:00

This was from when we went Christmas tree shopping. Katey is a little freaked out sometimes on Jason's shoulders (if he's not holding her hands) so that's why she's on top of his head, holding on for dear life! Crazy head!

Here we are in front of the perfect tree--the first one we looked at! How crazy is that?!

Katey holding on for dear life again. She'll hold onto anything, in this case, Jason's face!
Unfortunately I don't have very many pics of us decorating the tree. Me and Jas were really sick so it took us a few days to get everything decorated. Oh well!

$20 starbucks card giveaway!

2008-12-12T15:14:00.001-08:00

Yep, I'm giving away another Starbucks card on my other blog. Just leave a comment and you'll be entered to win! How easy is that?!

Go here to enter.

fun in new mexico!

2008-12-04T16:26:00.001-08:00

We went to Las Cruces for Thanksgiving and enjoyed our time with Jason's parents. Katey especially had fun!

Crazy heads!

Nana patiently let Kate "help" her cook. Here she is cutting up some tomatoes. She obviously loved this!

Baby Julia's first smile caught on camera. She's super easy to make smile--it's so fun!

Katey and Tata playing their harmonicas. Kate loved that thing once she learned how to do it!

fun with the girlies!

2008-11-14T12:46:00.000-08:00

Baby Julia is another crazy sleeper, though not as crazy as Katey was. Here's here in her little bassinet, NOT using the sleep bumpers!

Isn't she huge?! She's already almost 11 1/2 lbs. SO much bigger than Kate was and such a relief!

Me and Kate made this really yummy pie for when my parents were here. It's Turtle Pumpkin Pie. You can see the recipe on my other blog here.

family comes to visit!

2008-11-14T12:42:00.000-08:00

My mom, dad, grandma, aunt and uncle came to visit last week. Kate had such a good time with them. We went to this outlet mall here in town and Katey loved playing on all the little cars and stuff, plus she just got new light up shoes from grandma and papa and she loved those!

My mom, grandma, Kate and Julia.

halloween, better late than never!

2008-11-14T12:36:00.000-08:00

Here's our Halloween pics finally! Kate was a bumble bee princess and Juls was a lamb. So cute! We went to this outdoor mall we have here, called Town Square, where they had a Safestreet with trick-or-treating and stuff. It was pretty fun but there were TONS of people there.

check it out!

2008-11-02T19:32:00.001-08:00

Check out my new blog: www.tosaveapenny.blogspot.com

I'm posting ways that I've been saving money the last few years and then stuff I've been learning recently. It's been super fun so check it out if you're interested and tell anyone else who might be interested!

the girls!

2008-10-23T14:31:00.000-07:00

Katey in her Charger's hat (GO CHARGERS!) and Julia completely bored out of her mind!

Before church on Sunday. Julia's already getting huge!

Katey helping Mama vacuum. She loves to help out with stuff like that. So sweet!

Kate laying next to Juls. She's been a really good big sister (minus when she tipped Julia out of her swing trying to pick her up...)

Julia in her swing (the one Katey tipped her out of, good thing it's close to the ground!).

my cool cvs week!

2008-10-07T15:42:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know, a cool CVS week? What the heck does that mean?! Well, let me tell you. I already told everyone a few posts ago how my favorite blog is www.moneysavingmom.com. Well, I have been learning how to "CVS" and was actually quite successful at it this week. I went last night and got several items (Colgate toothpaste, BIC Soleil razor, 4 razor refills, Lady Speed Stick deoderant and Always Infinity pads) and paid only $1.70 for all of that. Plus, now I have $16 to spend next week that the store gave me for free. "How is that possible?" you ask...well, you have to go to the blog above to find out because it's pretty complicated and since someone else has already explained it in detail I see no need to. There are also some really great deals at Target this week that she outlines on her blog. Who doesn't like getting stuff for free?! I sure do and this has been so fun!

some great pics by danielle!

2008-10-06T10:38:00.000-07:00

So one of my good friends, Danielle, took some pictures of baby Julia when she was six days old. Here are some of them. She did a great job! There would be some with Kate too but she wouldn't cooperate at all! Oh well!

Julia Paige!

2008-09-18T09:55:00.000-07:00

Well, she's FINALLY here! The doctor's decided I needed to be induced on Friday because baby's heart rate was dropping whenever I would have a contraction. So we went to the hospital and Julia Paige was born on Saturday morning at 10:38 am. She was 6 lbs 12 oz and 19 in long. She is so precious!

The new big sister!
We took that picture of Katey when she was 5 days old. They look identical!

and still waiting...

2008-09-11T09:29:00.001-07:00

Yes I know, the ticker up above says I'm 41 days pregnant. No baby yet. Today is officially the latest due date I have gotten. Last Wednesday was the first so that's what I was going by. I guess it was just wishful thinking! Apparently she's not ready to come out yet, though I'm pretty much ready! Pray for me because I'm a little freaked out about the delivery part. Knowing what to expect has made this second one worse than the first! I just can't wait for it to be over and for Julia to be here! I know Jason is really excited and anxious for her to be here too! Hopefully she'll come soon....

a really cool website!

2008-09-11T09:24:00.000-07:00

So on Tuesday at MOPS one of the other moms at my table and I were talking about couponing and price matching at Walmart and budgets and all that good stuff. She gave me this website www.moneysavingmom.com and it is SO cool! If your family has any kind of budget, if you like saving money, this website is totally for you! One part that I'm particularly excited about is CVS. I had no idea CVS could be so cool! She explains all about how to get stuff for free there and I just can't wait! Another way we save money in our family is to shop at Wal-Mart for our groceries (Super Wal-Mart or Neighborhood Markets) because they price match other grocery store's prices. We have saved SO much money by shopping there, mainly on produce and meats! I'm a big fan!

just one of those days!

2008-08-27T09:06:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday was just one of those days. I'm sure those of you with two-year-olds will understand. Every thing was a battle or caused a meltdown of some sort. Part of it I'm sure was my own mood and the fact that I was really hurting yesterday (I feel like I did after I had Kate, really sore, it's wierd). Katey has this thing where she loves to put her baby (and herself sometimes) into the carseat that we're storing in our room or into a bouncer seat that is also in our room and buckle either baby or herself in. That's great, except she can't do the bottom part of the buckle on the carseat so she needs help with it because everything has to be perfect and she can't undo the buckle once it's done. She wanted this done over and over and over yesterday and bending over was not on the top of my list of things to do! So we had some issues. I finally just made her take baby out and leave her out. This caused another meltdown. Anyway, that was our day! Oh and then she woke up an hour early from her nap, just when I was about to take a nap myself. She's done that maybe once before. Oh well! Needless to say, I was really really really happy when Jason got home. That seemed to cure her (and me) of her bad mood! I am so thankful for a hubby who loves his daughter and loves to play with her! What a blessing!

umm...can somebody say "brush?"

2008-08-25T15:23:00.000-07:00

So this is what happens when we put Katey to bed without putting her hair in a braid, ponytail, bun, etc. Complete chaos in the morning! I bought her some kid detangler spray for wet or dry hair and decided to see what would happen if I didn't put her hair up before bed. It worked great! I'm pretty excited about that!

mom!

2008-08-25T09:46:00.000-07:00

Well, the last couple of days Katey has gone to calling me "mom." It sounds really wierd coming out of a two-year-old's mouth. She used to, and still does sometimes, call me "mama." It just sounds so grown-up for her to call me "mom." Really precious though!

baby wipes!

2008-08-22T15:00:00.000-07:00

So one of Katey's favorite things is playing with baby wipes. She loves to get them and clean her baby. Jason cleaned off baby once with a wipe so now that's the thing to do. Also, we sometimes will clean her feet with a wipe before putting her in bed so now she cleans her own feet AND our feet. She just loves wipes! So today at Target, I bought her the little Kandoo container for toddlers. Now she can have her own special little wipe dispenser. The new rule though is that she has to ask before she gets any wipes so we don't use the whole container in one day! It's nice right now while her likes are fairly inexpensive. We'll enjoy these fleeting times!

nesting syndrome!

2008-08-22T14:52:00.000-07:00

So, this pregnancy has been pretty different than the first. Because of that, I was pretty sure we were having a boy, until the ultrasound technician assured us it was a girl (I sure hope she was right, we have nothing boy!). Anyway, some of the differences have been stuff like I was way more sick this time at the beginning (I got the sickest I have ever been in my life one night when we were driving to New Mexico, migraine headache, nausea, it was aweful, and great timing I know, in the car!). The only thing that helped me feel better with the morning (haha, morning! yeah right!) sickness was orange juice (which I was told usually makes your stomach more unsettled...) and mint gum, thank goodness for those two things. Also, I have been WAY more hot this time even though they're birthdays are both in the summer. My sleeping has been way more uncomfortable, etc, etc. Another difference is this thing called nesting syndrome. I'm not sure if that's the technical name for it but that's what I'm calling it. I have this great desire to make things organized and clean (hence the new vacuum maybe???). This is not my normal tendency! I like things to be organized and clean but getting motivated to do it is another thing (as my parents will tell you from growing up, and my husband too). I actually like this symptom of pregnancy though. Somehow I missed it with Katey but I'll take it this time! Our home is becoming cleaner by the day!

ahhh...the weekend!

2008-08-11T09:48:00.001-07:00

I love weekends. A lot. And it's always sad when they're over. For some reason they seem to go much quicker than the rest of the week. Weekends are my favorite because Jason doesn't have to go to work so we get to spend two whole days together! We also get to stay up later than usual which we both love! Lately we've been doing a lot of shopping for the new baby. I love shopping! Yesterday we bought a new vacuum after church. For some strange reason this was really exciting to me! Our last vacuum was, shall we say...cheap and didn't work very well anymore. So I'm really excited to have one that actually picks the dirt up! Pretty exciting, I know!

crazy thunderstorm!

2008-08-08T09:53:00.000-07:00

This is monsoon season in Vegas...I didn't know until we moved here that the U.S. even had monsoons...apparently we do! Anyway, yesterday this huge thunderstorm rolled in to our neighborhood. It POURED for a good 15-20 minutes. This is very very unusual for here. Rain was gushing off of everything. It was pretty awesome. Me and Kate watched some of it out our patio window. There was also thunder and lightning. Kate wasn't so sure about the thunder (especially once I put her down for her nap). I called Jason at work just to make sure he wasn't driving or didn't have to drive anytime soon and while I was talking to him I saw lightning strike the ground, or at least it looked that way. It was accompanied by a huge boom so I'm pretty sure that's what I saw. Then later on the news that night they said a mom and her child had been struck by lightning in our area...I'm wondering if that's what I saw? Pretty creepy. This thunderstorm just reminded me of the awesomeness and power of our God. He's the One that commands the rain, thunder and lightning...pretty amazing!

hmm...obama?

2008-08-01T15:34:00.001-07:00

The other day we had the tv on and a McCain commercial came on attacking Obama. When they showed a picture of Obama Katey said, "Obam." No idea how she knows that! I'm not sure if she's putting in her vote or what but I think we have some work to do!

katey's actual 2nd birthday!

2008-07-31T15:29:00.000-07:00

For Katey's actual 2nd birthday we took her to Chuck E. Cheese and to ice cream. She loves all the games at Chuck E. Cheese and pizza's her favorite!

Enjoying the pizza!
Some yummy ice cream afterwards!
We got her her first little storybook Bible. It's a really good version that is actually the Bible, just shortened. We read a story every night before bed!
I think Dada's tickling her or something!

one of my favorite places to shop!

2008-07-28T15:37:00.000-07:00

So, a couple months ago I discovered Children's Orchard. It's a used kids store that has just tons and tons of stuff. I used to be a little anti used anything, but now, well, it just makes sense to me with some stuff. For one, onesies for the baby. With Katey my favorite onesies by far were the Carter's 5 packs, actually any Carter's onesies were good. They just fit better. Some of the other ones have wierd shapes (such as short and fat) or wierd material. Anyway, those Carter's 5 packs are usually around $15. At Children's Orchard I can get those exact same onesies for $1 or less. Yes, they're used, but the ones I bought looked brand new. That just makes more sense to me. With Kate, we went through clothes pretty quickly, lots of stains from blowouts and spit-up, etc. I am just so excited for places like this that help us spend our money with more wisdom! Oh, and the other really great thing to buy there...shoes! Baby/kids shoes are so expensive to buy new. But you can get them for a few dollars at used places. And newborn/baby shoes are practically unused since the babies don't walk. That was an exciting find! PLUS, they have awesome sales and promotions. Just thought I'd share my thoughts on used clothing stores for kids...I'm pretty thankful and I know they have Children's Orchard stores all over the US. Maybe someone else will be just as blessed as we were!

potty training!

2008-07-17T15:15:00.000-07:00

Oh the joys of potty training! Yep, we've embarked on that new adventure. Actually, Katey's been doing really well. The second day we really tried, she peed (?) in the potty. I was pretty surprised and very happy! She still forgets sometimes and goes wherever she is but she always comes and shows me where the accident happened at least! Potty training has been one of those things I've been dreading for a long time but the prospect of another baby in diapers in 7 weeks has motivated me to try my hardest to get her potty trained. So far so good!

katey's 2nd birthday party!

2008-07-17T15:04:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we celebrated Katey's 2nd birthday with some friends and family. I can't believe she's already two! Crazy! Time goes so fast. What a joy she's been these past two years though. I never knew what a blessing motherhood could be.

Getting into the chips!

I made a chocolate/mint chocolate chip ice cream cake for the party. She loves ice cream!
This year's cake was much better than last year because last year we still thought she was allergic to egg. Ever made a cake with no egg? Yeah, well, it doesn't turn out quite like normal cake, even when you use a supposed egg substitute. Thank goodness she grew out of that allergy (or maybe never was allergic?...who knows?!...obviously not the doctors!).

baby shower!

2008-07-16T17:54:00.000-07:00

Last Friday night, two of my best friends here in Vegas, Danielle and Abby, threw me a baby shower. They put a lot of work into it and it turned out really special! Thank you guys!

At the shower, several of the ladies had gotten together and bought us the double stroller with matching carseat that we wanted. That was such a huge blessing for us because as most of you know that is one of the more expensive items to purchase for a baby. We are so thankful for the generosity of everyone at our church, they have just showered us with love and gifts. It helps make this time so special to share it with friends and family.

Abby, me and Danielle

4th of july

2008-07-15T17:25:00.000-07:00

For the 4th of July we went to Nellis Air Force Base with some friends who are in the Air Force. They had a Freedom Festival with fireworks afterward. It was a lot of fun. They have two little girls that are a little older than Kate but she loves to play with them! Here she is getting disciplined by Jason for running off and not stopping when we told her to!

Ok, so she likes Dr. Thunder...
Here's our friends that we went with, the Jones Family-Becky, Madeleine, Olivia, Chris and Tuff (and another kid that they know but I don't).

five years!

2008-07-15T17:12:00.000-07:00

We celebrated our fifth anniversary a couple weekends ago. We went to San Diego for four days and three nights. It was SO nice! We left Katey with Nana and Tata (thanks mom and dad!). We stayed in a hostel hotel that was right downtown so we were able to walk just about everywhere. The rooms were tiny (as you can see in this picture) and the bathrooms were down the hall, but it was super affordable and in a perfect location! After we got used to the smallness, it was rather cozy!

We went to a Padres game at the new stadium on Saturday night. I think that was the highlight of the trip for Jason. It was really fun to go, we haven't been to a major league game in a long time! The stadium was beautiful, right in the heart of downtown. Pretty cool!
Here we are, exactly five years from our wedding! What an incredible five years it's been! Can't wait for the next five!
Enjoying a little Starbucks! We sat at the counter for probably a half hour so I could rest my tired feet! We walked a LOT, which was really nice to be able to do, but being seven months pregnant, my feet got extra tired!
Our last dinner at a restaurant on the beach. We miss the beach a lot so it was nice to go back for a while. Also, we had come from 110+ weather in Vegas to 72 in San Diego. That was a nice break!

st. george, utah

2008-07-15T16:54:00.000-07:00

Towards the end of June we went up to St. George, UT to spend the weekend with some of my family. We went to Zion National Park on Saturday.

Katey and Jason enjoyed some time in the pool with the cousins. Kate was really brave and was jumping off the edge to Jason.

The resort we stayed at had a really nice game room. Here's my mom and 90-year-old grandma playing air hockey!

Katey didn't really get regular naps while we were there. In fact, the first night there she didn't go to sleep until 2:30ish in the morning (which means neither did we!). So this is what happened when Jason was holding her at the table. She konked out! This doesn't happen very often!

It was a nice weekend to spend with family. Thanks mom and dad for the great room and food!

Happy Dada's Day!

2008-06-20T10:30:00.001-07:00

We didn't do a whole lot for Father's Day but we did get Jason a couple cd's he's been wanting. Kate helped him open his present! Then after church we went to Wing Stop for lunch. Yum, yum!

finally....tumbling class pics!

2008-06-20T10:22:00.000-07:00

Yes, we remembered the camera for Katey's last tumbling class! She loved her little class! They always had us start out by singing little songs.

Practicing somersaults!

Walking the balance beam!

And her favorite, the slide!

We also had a time of playing with one of those big parachutes. She didn't like that very much though. She was kinda scared of it!

She did like snack time though! She's the one at the end, eagerly waiting for it to be her turn!

51s baseball game

2008-06-20T10:12:00.000-07:00

A week or so ago, we went to a Minor League baseball game with Jason's work. It was a lot of fun, though Katey was a little craze!

I think the wierd look on her face is because she's eating a cracker...

Yummy Recipe

2008-06-20T10:03:00.000-07:00

I found this recipe the other day in one of my Taste of Home Simple and Delicious magazines (this is a really great cooking magazine) and decided to give it a try. It actually turned out pretty good. So here it is for any of you who want to try it.

Herbed Artichoke Cheese Tortellini
1 can Italian diced tomatoes
1 jar (6 1/2 oz) marinated artichoke hearts
1 package (9 oz) cheese tortellini
1 c chopped onion
1/4 c minced fresh parsley
1-2 T minced fresh basil
1 t minced garlic
1/4 t dried oregano
dash of crushed red pepper
1/4 c olive oil
1 can sliced black olives
1/4 t salt
parmesan cheese

Drain tomatoes, reserve 1/3 cup of juice; set aside. Drain artichokes, reserve 1/2 cup juice; chop and set aside.

Cook tortellini according to package directions. Meanwhile, saute onions, parsley, garlic, oregano and pepper flakes in oil for 4-5 minutes. Add tomatoes, tomatoe juice and artichoke liquid.

Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 10-12 minutes or until slightly thickened. Drain tortellini; add to tomato mixture. Stir in olives, salt and artichokes; heat through. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Our little Bible study!

2008-06-20T10:00:00.000-07:00

Well, we started our own little home Bible study this Tuesday. It's something that we've talked about for a long time now and finally just decided to do it. We're going through the book Holiness by J.C. Ryle. Jason's leading the discussion (he did a really great job on Tuesday night too!). So far it's pretty little but we just really miss our time of fellowship that we used to have from our Bible study back in Cali, SCV. Our desire is to encourage one another in reading this book on how to live holier lives. So many times we start books and then never finish them. Hopefully this will help us finish the book!

Smarter than we think!

2008-06-04T15:47:00.001-07:00

The other day Jason was in the card aisle at Walmart with Katey picking out a Congrats card. He was holding Kate and she kept saying something like "'Anna'" over and over. I walked up in time to hear her saying this. Then I looked at where she was looking. Behind Jason there was a row of Hannah Montana cards. She was saying "Hannah." I must confess to Hannah Montana being one of our favorite tv shows, however, we haven't watched it in several weeks and we own no Hannah Montana products. She never ceases to amaze us with how much she knows. Most of the time we don't even know she knows it!

Pray for the Laird family!

2008-06-02T12:27:00.001-07:00

On Saturday night I got this email from Bret Laird (his wife is one of my good friends from college, Katey Laird, used to be Wycoff).

Dear Prayer Team,

Sorry I was unable to get this e-mail out sooner, but we have been traveling and making funeral arrangements non-stop over the past couple days. Most of you have probably already heard by now that my younger brother Drew was called home to be with the Lord on May 27, 2008. He was swimming in a lap pool at a fitness center in Denver, which was a daily routine for him as he prepared for some strenuous military qualification tests. He was found unconscious, and attempts to revive him were not successful. He will be deeply, deeply missed.

Please pray for his wife Natalie, who is 7 months pregnant with their second child, and for his 2 and 1/2 year old son Caeden.

We rejoice that from a very young age, Drew walked with God and was an incredible evangelist. He would share Christ with people wherever he went, and there will be many souls who will follow him to heaven. I truly believe he witnessed to more people in his short 25 years than most Christians do in 75. He finished the work which His Lord had given to him to do, and is now at rest in the presence of His Savior.

Please be in fervent prayer for the memorial service, which will be held tomorrow (Sunday, June 1) at 3:00pm at Riverside Baptist Church in Denver. We expect between 1,000 and 2,500 people, many of whom will be unsaved friends and military personnel. My brother Chad, my father Alden, and I will all be sharing briefly from Scripture as part of the service, and a gospel tract with Drew's picture and favorite verse on it will be given to all who come.

Our prayer is that God would use Drew's death to bring many other souls from death to life.

Mourning with Hope,
Bret

Please remember this family in your prayers, especially Natalie and their two babies. My heart is so heavy for them. It has been such a blessing to see how the family has responded to this tragedy. What a difference it makes to have the hope of Christ and heaven. Still, we can only imagine the pain and heartache that Natalie is suffering right now.

Dumb batteries!

2008-06-02T12:23:00.000-07:00

So this Saturday we had Katey's next to last tumbling class. I've been meaning to bring the camera for some pics but I keep forgetting. Well, I finally remembered it this Saturday because after her class we were going to meet some friends out at Lake Mead and I wanted the camera for there too. Wouldn't you know, I took one picture at her class (it wasn't even a good one) and then the batteries died. And yes, the extra batteries were at home, dead. *sigh*. I know this is my fault but what a bummer! Oh well, I still have one more Saturday to take some tumbling pictures. Hopefully I can remember, what with my pregnancy fogged mind!

Last MOPS meeting today!

2008-05-27T13:55:00.001-07:00

So sad! The last MOPS meeting was today. We won't meet again until September. Even though I've only been going for a short time, it has been such a time of refreshing and blessing for me. I'm definitely going to miss it over the summer. The nice thing though is that they started a ladies' Bible study a couple weeks ago that just goes through the summer so me and my friend Becky (who introduced me to MOPS) have been going. We are studying the fruits of the Spirit. These times of fellowship with other godly women have been really special times!

Memorial Day Weekend!

2008-05-27T13:51:00.001-07:00

What a blessing three day weekends are! It was so so so nice to have Jason home for an extra day. We didn't really do anything super spectacular but that's kinda nice too. We went to some friends' house on Sunday night and played Scattergories until midnight. Then Monday we went to some other friends' house for some BBQ. It was nice to just hang out. We also went to two different used kid's stores. My new favorite thing! We got such great deals at these places on clothes and shoes for Kate and Julia. And they even have stuff like puzzles and books for Kate. Fun! And way cheaper than buying them new. What a blessing!

Mother's Day!

2008-05-12T15:37:00.000-07:00

Jason and Kate made my Mother's Day really special! I got a few really thoughtful, sweet little gifts. We also went out to lunch after church at this BBQ place we had never tried. I love BBQ and this place was pretty yummy! It was nice to just spend the day with Jas and Kate!

Tagged!

2008-05-06T17:31:00.001-07:00

Thanks for tagging me Sara!

Five things on my To-Do list:
1. Finish cleaning our room after our semi-remodel.
2. Do the dishes.
3. Read a MacArthur sermon from Luke.
4. Finish a parenting book.
5. Redecorate Katey's (and soon Julia's) room.

Five favorite snacks:
1. Chocolate (ice cream, brownies, cookies, pretty much any form of chocolate is fine with me!)
2. Cantaloupe.
3. Chips and guacamole.
4. Cheddar cheese.
5. Arnold Palmer from Trader Joe's.

Five things I would do if I was a billionaire:
1. Support missionaries (especially friends that we know that are serving the Lord in that way)
2. Buy a house on some tropical island somewhere (not to mention one in California).
3. Send my kids to a good Christian private school.
4. Buy a second car.
5. Give money to TMC and TMS to support the work they do.

Five places I've lived:
1. The mountains in Central California.
2. Hotchkiss at TMC.
3. With siblings in Santa Clarita.
4. At Northglen on Magic Mountain Parkway in Valencia, CA (our favorite apartment so far).
5. Five different places in Las Vegas, ending up in our condo in Henderson.

Five jobs I've had:
1. Afterschool counselor at Sunshine Day Camp.
2. Catering at Corner Bakery in Valencia.
3. Cracker Barrel in Las Cruces, NM for six weeks.
4. Ghirardelli on the Strip in Vegas.
5. Red Robin in Vegas.
6. The most important, most fun, most fulfilling job is now being a mom (corny I know but it's true!)

Five people I'm tagging:
1. Amanda Taylor
2. Emily Taylor
3. Kim Archer
4. Mariejte Van Straaten
5. Alisha Renfro

Not much happening!

2008-05-06T17:23:00.001-07:00

Well, not much has been happening lately which accounts for my lack of blogging. I guess nothing exciting that is. Katey took some swim lessons and is now finished with them. I took no pictures because it was a "Parent and Me" class, meaning I was in the water with her, attempting to get her to do what the teacher was saying. She likes the water, she was just too busy watching the other kids to really be interested in doing anything. Besides that, not much! We've been doing some interesting studies lately. We've been studying tithing and whether or not it's applicable for the church today. That's been interesting and really informative. And now, our pastor is about to get into Mark 13 where Jesus talks about things to come. We are at a Reformed church so our pastor believes that Israel is done away with (is actually now the church), is amill, etc. Of course, this is very different then the way we believe and have been taught, so we've had to do a lot of studying to find out why we believe biblically what we believe. It's been good for us to get into God's Word ourselves and to be able to somewhat formulate our beliefs on these issues. I'm sure we will be challenged to study even more over the next several weeks. So pray for us!

Clark County Fair!

2008-04-21T15:22:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to the Clark County Fair. It was a dinky little fair (nothing like the LA County Fair or CA State Fair) but it was still fun. Me and Jason love to go on the Zipper but since I'm pregnant that was pretty much out of the question! Anyway, here are some pictures!

Katey being the little crack up that she is!

Mom and Kate!

Jas took Katey on the Merry-Go-Round.

We couldn't tell if she was enjoying it or not because her face was so blank the whole time. It wasn't until after she got off the ride that we found out if she had enjoyed it....

Yep, she cried when they got off. Guess she liked it after all!

More from the Fair!

2008-04-21T15:11:00.000-07:00

We went to see the animals and when we got to the pigs, there were a bunch of little piglets! Cute, cute, cute!

As we were looking for somewhere to eat our picnic lunch that we had brought we happened to look in one of the big tents and the hypnotist was about to start so we decided to check it out. It turned out to be really funny and pretty entertaining (though I'm a little creeped out by the fact that people pretty much have no control over their bodies who are being hypnotized, weird, and I don't really get how it works). Anyway, Katey really wasn't interested so this is the picture of her entertaining herself in her stroller. She climbed up there by herself and loves playing with the buckles.

It's a Girl!

2008-04-15T15:54:00.001-07:00

Well, we found out today, we're having a girl! I'm excited for Katey to have a little friend! Fun times!

A Goal!

2008-04-11T15:55:00.001-07:00

Ok, so, I have a new goal. And I figure the only way I'll actually carry through with this one is to put it on here for the world to see (ok, maybe not the world, but at least a few people who know me pretty well and have my phone number and email to call or write me if I fail). My goal is to work out for the next two weeks, every day. You see, I usually will make some goal to work out and then tell myself if I just do it 4-5 times a week, I'll be good. That means that I have 2-3 days off. And that means I take too many days off, finally winding up in the cessation of my work out attempt. So, no more days off for me. What has motivated me this time is a new prenatal workout DVD that I got. I did it yesterday and it was actually FUN. Yes, I know, work out, fun? The first 20 min segment is a salsa dancing routine and to me that's fun. So I figure I should get my money's worth and at least do it for two weeks. My goal is to gain as little weight as possible for this pregnancy, versus 45 pounds like with Katey. Jason's in the process of losing some weight and getting healthier so I don't want to be a big blimp when this baby's born and him be all skinny!

So please, any of you who read this, if you notice me slacking off (I'm going to be posting in the right column my progress) PLEASE yell at me, send me a note, encourage me, whatever you think might help! I'm hoping to not need it but hey, I know my aversion to working out! Thank you in advance for your thoughts and prayers! And if any of you want to join me in my goal, just let me know and we'll keep each other accountable!

Phobia!

2008-04-09T16:50:00.000-07:00

Ok, so today me and Kate were enjoying some time out on the patio. I was reading and she was playing, some inside and some out. Well, she comes outside holding a piece of bread leftover from her sandwich at lunch and sits down next to me. A minute later I look down at her and tell her to eat the piece of bread she's still holding in her hand. A second later I happen to look at her face. There is a HUGE spider on her cheek! As my parents and my husband can tell you, I do NOT like spiders. And today confirmed the fact that I am actually terrified of them. Growing up, we lived in a log cabin style house in the mountains, so of course there was an abundance of spiders. Most of these spiders seemed to wind up in my shower. I eventually got to the point where I could get a really long piece of toilet paper, let the spider crawl onto it and then flush it down the toilet. Although I detest insects and spiders of any kind, I can't bring myself to smash them. That's disgusting! So that's just a little background about me and my history with spiders. Now back to today. Did I mention I was terrified? However, because Kate's life was in danger (I don't know what kind of spider it was but it was big and brown and any big, brown spider has the potential to be deadly in my mind) I smacked it off her face and onto the ground. I was tempted to just let it go from there (remember? I hate smashing spiders) but then I knew I would probably never go on the patio again because I wouldn't know where it was or if it had had babies. So, I took the towel that we've been using as a doormat and dropped it on the spider and stomped on it. Katey in the meantime is just watching me like "what the heck are you doing mom?". She didn't seem the least bit concerned that I had just slapped at her face and then acted like a crazy woman. I must confess, however, that my bravery ended there. I called Jason to tell him about the incident and then told him he needs to move the towel with the dead spider under it when he gets home. There's no way I'm going near that thing!

All this to say, having kids makes you do crazy things. Only my child's life being in danger =) would make me ever touch a spider or smash one!

Urgent Prayer Request!

2008-04-08T15:51:00.000-07:00

I got a phone call today from a friend that another friend went into labor and had her baby today. She was only 25 weeks and the baby is only 1 lb, 11 oz. The doctors said that the baby has about a 60% chance of survival. Please be praying for this family as they go through these next few days. Pray that God would draw them closer to Him through this trial and comfort them in the midst of it. The baby girls' name is Olivia.

MOPS

2008-04-08T15:46:00.000-07:00

Today was my first MOPS meeting! It's a program designed for Mothers Of Preschoolers. It is Christian based and is a time to come together and encourage each other in our roles as moms. It's also used as an outreach program to bring unsaved friends and their kids into a Christian environment. A friend of mine from church, Becky, is really involved and so I finally went with her today. It was really nice. We talked about the exciting topic of potty training! And also how we are to be training ourselves to be more godly so we can then teach our children how to be too. Anyway, I'm pretty excited. It's nice to have some time out of the house with other moms!

Our New Luxurious Patio!

2008-04-04T16:04:00.001-07:00

We finally got patio furniture last weekend! I'm pretty excited about it because the view from our patio is really nice. You can see the "resort style pool" and waterfall and that is just a really relaxing atmosphere! Anyway, we decided we needed to get it now so that we can enjoy the nice weather while it lasts (70s and 80s). Before too long we're not going to want to be outside at all, except maybe IN the pool. Here's the view (the trees are blocking the waterfall, but it's there!):

Katey enjoying her little miniature chair that's just her size! (I just happened to look at the doll in the picture....looks like she belongs to an almost two year old! I wonder what her toys will look like in another few months.....)

Found it!

2008-04-04T15:39:00.000-07:00

Well, the remote turned up behind the couch. As Katey's never put anything BEHIND the couch before, I didn't think to look there at first. But it's found now! Thanks for the tip Melissa, I'll keep that in mind for next time!

Missing in Action!

2008-04-03T15:57:00.000-07:00

Well, for those of you who have kids, I'm sure you'll understand this. Katey took the TV remote and put it somewhere that I'm sure is really special to her. Too bad she's only 20 months old and can't communicate to me where that really special place is! So...to other moms (or dads)...any ideas for me to look next? When you lose something like a remote you realize how nice those little conveniences are!

Our New Favorite Thing to Do

2008-03-28T16:34:00.000-07:00

So. We finally got a Wii! Yep! I know! Exciting! We've been wanting one since Christmas when we played the Hollands' Wii but as some of you might know, they're pretty much impossible to find right now if you live in a big city unless you're willing to pay extra for them on Ebay. Which we weren't willing to do, even though we wanted one really bad. Besides that, they're expensive enough already! Well, for Jason's 30th I told him we could go ahead and spend the money for one if we could find one. While we were in Las Cruces the following weekend, we found one at Best Buy. Yes, they were locked away in the back and it felt like we had a security detail leading us to the front to pay, but nontheless, they had one and we bought it! (They actually had five....who knew?!). We are pretty excited and for the last 2-3 weeks we've been playing a lot. If you haven't played, you really should. It's become our excercise system as well (those of you who've played tennis or boxing on it know what I mean). Anyway, it's brought many bonding moments for me and Jas and we're happy that we finally got one!

More Easter pics!

2008-03-26T15:40:00.000-07:00

All the cousins! (Katey and Reagan look thrilled!)

Easter fun!

2008-03-26T14:52:00.000-07:00

Me and Kate baking a coffee cake for our Easter breakfast at church. She was a big helper!

She tried to eat some of the flour. Gross!

Dada and Kate coloring Easter eggs. Katey's favorite was putting on the stickers (and throwing the eggs into the dye...!)

Pretty Easter dress!

Easter egg hunt after church and lunch with the cousins.

Jason's 30th!

2008-03-26T14:47:00.000-07:00

For Jason's 30th birthday I threw him a surprise party. It was actually a joint party because one of our good friends was also turning 30. His wife and I thought it would be fun to surprise them! Well, we tried. They both wound up finding out about it before party. But that's ok. It was still fun. Quincy (our friend from LA) flew out and suprised Jason so at least that was a surprise. Anyway, this is us at the party. We had a big BBQ at a park and ate lots of food!

Getting into Mischief!

2008-03-25T15:56:00.000-07:00

More great "Katey doing things she probably shouldn't be doing!" pictures:

I was in the kitchen, I think washing dishes, and yep, I turned around and she had climbed onto the table. I didn't know she could do that at the time! Notice her face....."mom???, am I in trouble?!"

This was when I left her dirty clothes basket too close to her crib. I know, what was I thinking?!

And this was when she discovered how to take her clothes off by herself. *sigh*. The next day I went in and she had taken all of her clothes off and was just sitting there in her diaper. (This is during nap time by the way). Oh, and she also discovered that sometimes when she puts her hand in her diaper there's something in there. Yep, that's right. Twice now we've come in to find her playing with her poop. All I have to say is thank goodness for my wonderful husband who is also a great dad and did the majority of the clean up both times. The second time was really bad and the smell was aweful and I was still in the morning sickness stage of my pregnancy, not a good combo. Needless to say, thank you Jas!

Christmas & New Years 2007

2008-03-24T15:34:00.001-07:00

We spent Christmas weekend in LA at Kim and Rick's with the family. So here we are during the sunny California Christmas!

Back home opening presents on Christmas morning. Katey was able to enjoy it a lot more this year. So fun!

For New Years we went to LA with some friends of ours from Las Vegas. We took them to a lot of our favorite places. They have a son who's almost a year younger than Kate. After church Sunday we went to IKEA and the Burbank mall. The kids both konked out in their strollers (which is super unusual for Kate who usually stays awake if anything is going on at all)!

Katey got hungry so we bought some tortillas from Chevy's. Yum!

Here we are at Hollywood and Highland. Kate didn't like the fountains. I think they scared her.

Thanksgiving!

2008-02-12T12:19:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Christmas at Thanksgiving in New Mexico at Jason's mom and dad's house. This is Jason with Kate and niece Reagan.

Here are the other two cousins, Madison and Grant.

Jason making Reagan laugh! Pretty cute!

A Day at the Park

2007-11-05T17:06:00.000-08:00

Well, we decided to go to the park now that the weather is so great! It's been in the 80s for the past few weeks! Nice compared to the 100s or 110s. It was a beautiful day! We discovered though, that Katey is afraid of the grass. Yeah, I know, wierd. She would cry as soon as we put her down and then we'd make her walk after us and she'd just cry the whole way and jump on the blanket as soon as we put it down. It took her quite a while to finally get used to it. I think having her older cousins there playing probably helped a lot!

Here's Katey helping Dada feed the newest cousin, Reagan.

Madison is a great helper with Kate and took her down the slide a bunch of times. Katey loves playing with the cousins, Madison and Grant.

Kate and Dada!

Miss Brave Independent. Oh boy!

The Fairy Princess!

2007-11-05T16:06:00.000-08:00

Katey was a fairy for Halloween. The wings were supposed to be for a much bigger person but oh well, she was still adorable. We went to Jason's sister's church's Harvest Festival. It was huge with a lot of people from the community too. It was a really great outreach.

Kate and Mama!

Kate and Dada and her new thing of sticking her tongue out!

And the breakdown on the way to the Harvest Festival (pulled out pig tails and all). There was really bad traffic that night and it took us an hour to get to the church so she was NOT very happy!

Dad and Kate playing some games. Dad's pretty into it!

Naturally Curious!

2007-11-05T12:35:00.000-08:00

Look at all those teeth!

"Mom, can I have that?"

"What're you doin' Mom?" Actually, this is Katey coming to give the camera kisses. She'll kiss anything!

Uh Oh!

2007-11-05T12:32:00.000-08:00

I came in to get Katey this morning and somehow she had taken her pajama shirt off and tossed it on the floor. Nice Kate!

What a little joy!

2007-11-05T12:17:00.000-08:00

Katey got a new big girl carseat! Yay! Now we can see her from the front seats which is really nice!

Dada and Kate dancing!

Just having fun!

Cute, I know!

And not so cute. This is what happens to her hair when she pulls her pony tails out. Not a good look! By the way, "Does this skirt make my butt look big?!"

2007-09-21T16:17:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of August, Jason and I went to Cabo San Lucas for a week long vacation with my birth dad and his wife. What an amazing time we had! To make it even more special, Katey got to stay with Nana and Tata, good for her and good for us! Here are some pics from our little adventure!

Mama getting ready to miss Kate before we left! We sure did miss her but it was really nice to have some time away.

Here is the resort that we stayed at, called Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach. It's on the Pacific side of Cabo and is huge. This is only half of it. The rest goes around to the left of the picture.

Here we are with Dan and Sandy. It was so nice to get to spend more time with them. They are really special people to us. Their granddaugther also came with us. She's taking the picture.

Oh well, we have to have at least one sideways picture per entry. This is us waiting at McDonald's. We went on a bunch of time share presentations the first couple days we were there and wound up making more money from those then we took with us. Nice! Who knew that they give cash to go see their little presentation and also a free meal?! We were hooked when we heard the first one was going to pay us $300 plus breakfast. What's a couple of hours for $300?!

We went on a snorkeling Pirate ship too (compliments of one of the time shares Dan and Sandy went on). Right here it looks like we're having fun and that's because at this moment we were. However, just a few short minutes later, the fun dissipated. They took us on this long boat ride to get to this snorkeling area, all fine so far. Well, once we got to the snorkeling area and in the water, people started realizing that the water was pretty rough. Then not too long after we realized that we start hearing people yell. Turns out we swam right into a group of jelly fish, just waiting to sting all of us poor snorkelers. Jason got stung a couple of times, as did Dan. I, however, managed to escape being stung which is a good thing because I probably would have FREAKED out. I'm already afraid of the ocean because of sharks, so having other creatures coming to get us is NOT a good thing! Anyway, it turned out everyone was fine and made it "safely" back on board the pirate ship where they administered some cream to half the people to stop the stinging. Then we started our journey back. *sigh* And half of the people on the boat got sea sick, me and Jason included. Turns out it was a pretty rough day out on the water and they didn't let any more boats go out later that day. Too bad that hadn't happened BEFORE ours left! Needless to say, we've both decided we really don't like boats that much.

2007-09-21T16:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know....beautiful! This was on the beach by our resort. You can't go in the water though because it's too dangerous. That was kind of a bummer but it sure is pretty!

Here we are just enjoying the huuuuuge pool. Not only was it huge, but it was also about 85 degrees....not super refreshing when you're hot. But hey, it's better than nothing!

Here we are enjoying poolside service!

And just another beautiful shot. We actually laid out under those one of the afternoons. Very relaxing! What a view! This is where we ate dinner one night.

Katey's ONE!

2007-08-03T10:33:00.000-07:00

We had a big birthday party for Katey! Lots of friends and family came and it was a really good time to celebrate her little life!

Here's her little birthday cupcake (with no egg so it's not very pretty!).

She didn't really eat much, she just played with it!

And got it ALL over! Nana had to give her a bath afterwards because she was covered!

Our precious family!

Here's the first gift that she got! This thing was great! It helped her learn to walk by herself so much quicker!

Here she is looking at the rest of her gifts, and getting into them!

Of course she has to be the center of attention, playing with the cousins and friends!
Haha! Another sideways picture! It's just Dada holding Kate while Pastor Jeff prayed for her!
And finally! Opening gifts! She was so blessed with so many toys and clothes! We are definitely set for another year! Thanks everyone!

Our 4th Anniversary!

2007-08-03T09:12:00.000-07:00

Great sideways picture I know. I'm not very good with this stuff and I couldn't figure out how to rotate it or delete it. Oh well! It's just us on our anniversary!

We went bowling! Fun Fun!

Still enjoying each other's company after four years of marriage!

We took Katey on the bowling part of our anniversary. Here she is eating her grapes!

The next day after bowling we had some of our good friends watch Katey ALL day and went out on the town! Going out on the town for us consisted of going to the Adventure Dome (eh, not all that great), going to a movie (we saw Ocean's 13) and then going to dinner at The Melting Pot. That was quite an experience, the dessert of course being my favorite, what girl wouldn't love a bowl of warm chocolate to dip fruit, brownies and cheesecake in?! That dinner lasted three hours! It was really a great experience. And it's the first time we've been away from Kate for more than a couple hours. It was nice!

2007-06-22T14:25:00.000-07:00

Here's some more catch-ups!

Mom and Kate! It's wonderful being a mom isn't it?!

Here is Katey getting into trouble. This is under the desk where I work on the computer, where's she's not supposed to be, chewing on the chair. Nice!

And here she is trying to escape out of her chair. We don't even use that chair anymore.

She's in her little bouncer seat that hangs from the doorway and she fell sound asleep. For some reason the thing tends to put her to sleep.

Katey and Nana! Sweet!

Catch-Up!

2007-06-21T09:25:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures to catch everyone up.

This is Katey when she was only a few weeks old.
Sound asleep! They can sleep anywhere at that age hah?! And not too happy!
Here we all are at a friend's wedding. The wedding coordinator (it was at her house) was super nice and brought us one of her quilted blankets to keep Kate warm since it was really cold and at night. We thought that was really sweet!

2007-06-20T11:08:00.001-07:00

Well, we finally decided to start a blog. We love looking at everyone else's (like the James' and the Archer's) so we thought this might be a good way for people to see what we're all up to!

Here's our little fam in sunny San Diego!