I have a question....do you have an answer???

So I am wanting to publish my blog. Has anyone ever done that before? I have heard of a couple different websites, blurb.com and blog2print.com, but I 'm wondering which one is the best or if neither are the best and there is something better. The things I am looking at when defining "the best" are price, easy to use, quality of binding and printing, etc... Please let me know what you have used in the past and your thoughts on what you received once it was finished.

A Quick Trip to Mesquite

This weekend my little brother, Adam, was playing in a baseball tournament in Mesquite. My mom flew in to see him play. I decided to pack the kids up and drive down to surprise her. We got to the field just as they had finished their 2nd game for the day and were walking to their car. It was a great surprise.

We didn't get to spend quite 24 hours with her, but it was still worth the drive down. After we surprised her we went back to her hotel room at the Virgin River and hung out for a little bit, then we went to the Casablanca Hotel for their seafood buffet, which was delicious, then back to the Virgin River for some bowling. We had fun bowling. I beat my mom and Mikkele both games, but Mikkele hit her highest score ever of 105. She is a pretty good little bowler. Adam was on the lane next to us bowling with some of his team mates. At one point in his game he bowled a TURKEY! He then proceeded to do the turkey dance. It was pretty funny.

The next morning Adam had two more games. He has been on the injured list for the last month or so. He has been doing some rehab with his elbow and was feeling pretty good, so he started the 2nd of the 2 games. Unfortunately, my mom had to leave after his first game to drive back to Las Vegas to catch a plane, so she didn't get to see him play. He only pitched 2 innings, but did a good job.
The first inning they had a 3 up 3 down inning, and the second inning the other team scored one run on them. He called it quits after those innings, he didn't want to push it too hard since he was just coming back. They ended up winning all of their games that weekend, except for their last game. (The pitcher that came in after Adam gave up like 7 runs.) I got FRIED! I have major rudolph nose, farmer tan, and flip flop lines. It hurts, but still nice to get a little sun. I just hope I don't peel too bad. Grant also got a little sun as well, despite trying to keep him covered up. Mikkele stayed in the shade most of the time, so she didn't get too much sun. She must take after her Papa, always seeking out the shade. :)
After the game we drove to Panaca, NV to see my Great Grandma Jones. She just turned 90 this last fall and is in a nursing home since her memory/health has been declining over the last few years. It was good to see her, but at the same time it was a little hard to see her since she is not the same grandma that I remember. She didn't remember me or the kids and she didn't have too much to say, but I'm glad we made the visit to see her. This will probably be the last time I see her before she passes. A big thanks to Margartet Ann and Steve for letting us crash at their house while we were passing through. They were both out of town, but were still gracious enough to still let us stay. It was fun driving through Panaca and seeing the favorite spots from when we were kids. It's been 4 1/2 years since I've been down there. It was definitely different, but still in a lot of ways the same. It was a fast, fun, tiring trip but I'm so glad that I made it, for multiple reasons.

Fifth's Diseas Update

Quick update...I got my lab results back today. They showed that I am immune to Fifth's Disease, which means that some time in my life I have had it. It also means that since I'm immune, so is the baby. Whew! Maybe I freaked out a little bit more than necessary, but I think I have a little bit of an excuse. And this is the first freak out/crying/emotional/hormonal episode I have had my whole pregnancy, so I think that's pretty good. On another side note, he also said that my glucose test came back normal as well, so that's great news also. Good day today!

Is 8 to early too teach emotional eating and shopping???

Friday Mikkele had a big book report due, so I went to the school to watch her give her presentation. While at school I found out that there had been an outbreak of Fifth's Disease. After asking some questions about this disease I found out that if a pregnant woman contracts this disease then there can be harm to the unborn baby especially if the woman is in their 2nd trimester. I also found out that the confirmed case was a student in our close friend's 1st grade class, and there were other kids in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade that were suspected of having the same thing. The 3rd grader happened to be in Mikkele's class. I was told to call my doctor and see what he wanted to do about this. I called and left a message for my doctor, and this is about the time I started freaking out. I had all sorts of thoughts running through my head. Mostly all reverting back to something like "I can't have another child with complications". Mikkele at this point is wondering why I'm crying and so I try to explain to her my concerns. Then she starts to freak out as well. My doctor called back and tried to calm me down by explaining that more than likely there's nothing to worry about, but he did want me to go get a blood test done. I had already done my glucose test that morning so I asked if they could just use that blood, but he said no. So I had to go back to the hospital and have my blood drawn again. He told me that the test would take about a week to come back. So basically I get to sit and worry for a whole week. The more I hear and read about this disease I find that the chances are really slim that I will contract it, and if I do I'm far enough along that there shouldn't be any complications. But there is already that worry in the back of my mind that wonders if I'm going to have another "preemie" or child with complications, this just gives my mind more of a reason to go crazy freaking out. This is where the lesson in emotional eating and shopping begins....After getting my blood drawn at the hospital for the second time that day I told Mikkele we were going to get Oreo Shakes to make us feel better...they really helped. :) We stopped at the shop after also to talk to Jeremy. He informed me that he had called Alisha and told her that I was freaking out and needed a mini vaca this weekend. So Alisha and I talked and decided on getting a hotel in Heber for the night and then going to the outlets in Park City on Saturday. We ended up staying at the Holiday Inn Express in Heber. It was really nice. And I now know the meaning of the comercials that say "I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night." I definitely feel much smarter. The hotel had an indoor pool which Mikkele was most excited about. We had a good time swimming, even though it seemed like the rest of the guests were swimming with us also. I didn't get any pictures of Grant and I swimming, but Granty had such a good time. It apparently we tired him out really good, because he slept in until almost 9 the next morning.

Alisha and Mikkele playing the color game.


Mikkele surfing on Aunt Lisha.

And Mikkele falling off the surfboard.

Aren't those the cutest comb-over hairdo's you've ever seen?

Saturday morning sleepy heads. Mikkele eventually slid off the bed and I had to pick her up and put her back on the bed. Anyone who has ever had the pleasure of sharing a bed with this girl knows what a wild sleeper she is. I feel sorry for her future husband.

Ready for a day of shopping.

So we got to the outlets at 10:30 and started our day of shopping. We didn't finish shopping until almost 5:00 that evening. Needless to say I was one tired pregnant mommy by the time we got finished. The funniest shopping moment was while we were in Motherhood Maternity. I had been trying on a bunch of clothes and then Mikkele disappeared into a dressing room and closed the curtain. I asked her what she was doing and she kept avoiding the question. Then finally she came out looking like this....

She had found one of the little pillow's that you can try on under your clothes if you aren't very far along with your pregnancy to see what you're going to look like and how the clothes will fit. It was too funny. A ltitle scary too, but I threatened her life a little. Hopefully I have at least 12 more years at the very least before I have to think about being a grandma.
So then Alisha went in and put it on also.

We took a picture with her phone and sent it out to a lot of the people in her address book. We only tricked one of her friends, the rest thought it was funny, but said nice try. One day it'll happen, we're keeping our fingers crossed. We had a really fun day shopping and found a lot of fun things. I spent a ton of money and it made me feel really good and forget about my stress the day before. So there you have the emotional shopping experience.
Thanks Alisha for the fun weekend. It really helped to get my mind off of things.

Pinewood Derby

For Activity Days this month, the girls joined the Cub Scout boys in a Pinewood Derby. Each of the girls were given a Young Women's Value to base their car on. Mikkele was given Choice and Accountability which has the color orange associated with it. This was a project meant for the dad's and the daughters to work together on. If you ask Mikkele, her dad did most of the work and she didn't get to help too much. She's just a little bitter about it. We kind of took the easy way out and bought a pre-cut car kit. So basically all we really had to do was paint it and place the decals. Mikkele picked out a bright florescent orange for her car. It ended up looking really nice...too bad the speed didn't turn out as nice. :(Mikkele helping Jeremy put the decals on.

What happened to her arm you ask??? It's called I'm 8 1/2 and I'm a drama queen. Apparently her wrist hurt so she felt that she needed it wrapped. Whatever. I'm picking my battles at this point with this child.

The finished product. The car kit came with the windows and a few other decals, but we still needed the car number and of course racing stripes. So I got out my vinyl and cricut machine and cut out the number 14 and then cut some thin strips for the racing stripes. The vinyl that Mikkele picked out was black, shimmery, glittery stuff. Jeremy pitched a fit about putting that on this "awesome car" that he worked so hard on to make look "cool". He didn't think that glittery, shimmery vinyl belonged on this awesome car. He lost. Mikkele reminded him that it was HER car and that she was going to put what ever kind of vinyl on it that she wanted, plus I had already cut out the numbers and I wasn't going to cut out any more. Really you can't even tell it's that shimmery unless it's in the right light. It still turned out awesome. He got over it, eventually. He's just happy there wasn't any flowers or hearts on it like she originally wanted.

Mikkele and Jeremy before the race.

Mikkele and her car before the race.

Each of the kids got pit passes with their names on it. It gave them access to be down by the track. Everyone else had to sit behind the checkered flags. Each car had to be weighed before beinning. The car couldn't weigh more than 5 oz. A lot of people ended up taping coins to the tops of their cars to add extra weight because their cars were way under the weight limit and wouldn't have a chance. The girls ended up racing against the boys. The poor girls lost every time. It was kinda sad. But the girls still had fun cheering each other on. The girls did get to race against each other once they got into the loser's bracket. Mikkele's car still didn't win. :( Oh well, at least it looked good going down the track, right. You could always pick out her car too. Florescent orange is hard to miss.

Mikkele and Shelby's cars racing each other. Shelby's boat car won. The pictures are a little blury, but you get the picture. It was close, just not close enough.

Shelby, Mikkele, and Amber waiting for thier turn on the sidelines. Shelby's looked like a boat and Amber's looked like a lady bug.

Shelby, Alexa, Mikkele, Ezra, Amber, and Brayden with their cars and certificates. Alexa's car did the best out of all the girls. Ezra's car took 2nd overall. Why is she doing this face in almost all the pictures I have of her? Again, just like the ace bandage...whatever.

The whole group of kids that participated.

Each kid left with a certificate of participation. I think they all had fun, even if all the girls stunk it up. They're all looking forward to next year's Pinewod Derby already and planning what they can do to make their cars go faster.

Double Digits

Today marks the day of 99 days left to go. And Jeremy reminded me that the doctor said that he was gonna take me a week early, so really that leaves 92 days to go. Yippie! I had an appointment yesterday and as far as the doctor is concerned everything is going great. My blood pressure looks great, I've only gained 4 pounds so far, I'm measuring where I'm supposed to be...etc. He gave me my prescription to go drink the yummy orange soda next week. I think I look forward to labor more than that orange soda. He also said that in the next month the baby will double in size and weight. Good thing she's only at about a pound and a half right now, but that's still a lot of growing in the next month...for her and me. This is where I am getting nervous and this is also where the whining begins. (Feel free to quit reading) I'm already having a lot of lower back problems and they are accompanied by other pains "down there". I always have problems with my sciatica while I'm pregnant, but this time has been a lot worse. I have been trying to visit my chiropractor on a weekly basis to help take the edge off. I love my chiropractor! But I'm waddling already. The worse my back feels the more I waddle. Add a full bladder and a baby using it as a punching bag and the waddle is even better. It's pretty good entertainment watching me walk at this point. You should see the looks that I'm getting while I'm at the grocery store, or other places. These looks are even better if I have extra kids that I'm watching that day. I asked my doctor about all the pain and pressure that I've been having "down there" because I feel like I did with Mikkele the 3 weeks before I delivered. He pretty much just said to get over it and that it's just going to get a lot worse. He said that since I'm on my 3rd kid that my muscles just aren't what they used to be so the baby is just lower putting more pressure and pain on things that usually don't get the pain and pressure until towards the end. How do some people have 6-8-10 kids. I just don't get it. He also said that lifting makes it worse, but sense I really can't avoid lifing Grant, so there's nothing to do but watch it get worse as the baby and I continue to grow. Yeah! I wish I could fast forward just a little bit and have spring get here a little sooner. But then that opens a whole other can of worms that I'm not sure I'm quite ready for, just yet. So I will continue to try to be patient and cut the whining to a minimum even though this kid is try to kill me from the inside. Sorry for all the whining in this post. I guess I'll have it to look back on when this kid is older and tell her what problems she caused me.I thought this picture was funny. Good depiction of the baby trying to kill me from the inside out.

Kids Say the Damnest Things

So Grant has been cracking us up lately. He has really been trying hard to say new words. He has been doing really well. He's been experimenting with different mouth movements and shapes that help to form new words. They are really doing amazing things with him at school.
One word that he's been saying for a while now is "Dada". It has been very clear and recognizable until the last few months. Towards the end of last year he started to say "dim" which has now changed to "damn". At first Jeremy thought he was trying to say something else, but when we ask him to say "dada" he now says "damn". Mikkele has been a little upset that her little brother has picked up swearing. We have just had to tell her that he doesn't know better, and she understands that it's still not ok for her to do it just because her little brother is doing it. We also keep repeating back the "dada" to him and hope that it will one day return to that instead of having a potty mouth 4 year old.

Grant's 4th Birthday

Monday, February 2nd was Grant's 4th birthday. He knew that it was his big day, and he was all smiles because of it. He started out his day with a present of this cute crown from Grandma Roberts. He wore it to school to let all of his friends know that he was King Grant for the day. We took in some sugar cookies to share with his classmates also. All of the kids at school really like Grant. They call him their class mascot. They all had fun wishing him a happy birthday. After school we spent the day shopping with Grandma Roberts and Aunt 'Lisha. What 4 year old wouldn't want to do that on his birthday??? That night we had a fun Spiderman birthday party.

Grant, Connor, and Dillon showing off their Spiderman masks.

We had some slightly unexpected visitors come to the party, which we were really excited about. My Grandma and Grandpa Jones were in town from NY, where they have been in the temple presidency for the last 2 1/2 years. We don't get to see them very often, so it was great that they were able to come and join in on the fun. Jeremy's Grandma and Grandpa Decker were also in town from Page, AZ and were able to come. We get to see them a little bit more often, but still not as much as we would like. So it was great to have these extra guests come that aren't able to attend usually.

Jeremy's cousin and his wife have opened up a cute bake shop in Provo, so we decided to have them make the cake this year. Let's face it, I have no creativity left in my mushy pregnant brain. It turned out really cute, and tasted really yummy, I might add.


We couldn't get the sugar into him fast enough. This kid has really turned into a sugar freak since his last birthday. Ice cream is his all around favorite, but anything with sugar will do.

Check out that big smile while we're singing Happy Birthday.


Grant got a lot of fun presents. Jeremy was put in charge of the picture taking at that point, so we don't have too many pictures. :( He got lots of new clothes, which was great! He has grown quite a bit in the last couple months and isn't fitting into his 2T stuff anymore. So it was great to get some clothes that fit. (At least in length. I don't think anything will ever fit around his tiny little hiney.) He also got a cute and cuddly dog and number book from Grandma and Grandpa Gallier, (who weren't able to attend because of sickness) some awesome sunglasses, an MP3 player (see the Texas post to know why), and some money.

We had a fun day celebrating this great little kid that we are so lucky to be able call ours. He is such a sweet little boy, and we wouldn't trade him for anything in the world.

Free Photo Session

My cute friend Haylee, from high school is an amazing photographer. Check out her blog! I love the way she captures little kids. She has such a fun, unique style. She having a contest right now for a free photography package. Anyone can enter, so check it out!

The Ultrasound

We had our ultrasound today! We were a little shocked when the tech showed us this.

TWINS!

OK...just kidding. Leave it to the tech to try to pull a fast one and try to be funny. I told him I would have dropped off the table onto the floor if it was really twins. Then after I was picked up off the floor, I would have to be checked in to the mental institute. But it's not twins, whew!

But everything looks good. Nothing is there that isn't supposed to be, and everything's there that is supposed to be. The only thing that's missing is a little tallywacker. That's right, IT'S A GIRL! The baby is measuring right on to where we had predicted, so the due date remains the same, May 31st for me, June 1st for my doctor. She wouldn't let us get very many shots of her face because she kept putting her hands in front of her face, but she was not shy in showing us that she was a girl. She was very active while we were doing the ultrasound. Every time the tech would get into a position of where he needed to do some measuring, she would move. She went from head down to butt down a few times during the appointment. While Jeremy is starting to feel a little outnumbered, we are all very excited for the new little girl that is going to be coming to us.

You might have to click on the pics to see a little better, but I'll try to narrate. I'll go from left to right. The first picture is the gender shot. Notice how spread eagle she is. The next one is both hands/arms and her face is in the background. The next one is her waving hello. The next one is another shot of her right arm, face in the background. The next one is her buff little bicep. The tech was funny stating that she has my buff arms, but then the next shot he pokes fun and says that she has dad's big nose. You can hardly even see her little face behind her arm.


The next one is her head to the left and faced down with her spine. Followed by her right foot trying to kick herself in the head. Next is really the only real face shot we got. But you can see her Eye sockets and her nose. Next is her left leg and foot. Skipping the twin shot, and lastly another picture of her spine. This time it's a shot of her whole back.


So there you have it. It's a girl! Sorry it took me so long to get it posted. You've got to give me a little bit of a break though, we share a computer, so really I only have it in the morning and late at night. And let's face it, at night I'm too tired so it just didn't happen. Now we'll just see if this little one cooperates over the next few months and comes when she's supposed to and not early like her brother.