Mikkele's 9th Birthday

For Mikkele's 9th Birthday she decided what she wanted to do and she planned the whole thing. All I had to do was show up to provide transportation and foot the bill. Not too shabby for this pregnant brain. For her family party, she wanted to go out to eat. She loves orange chicken, so she chose a local Chinese food restaurant. The poor owners of the restaurant probably thought we were going to burn down the place when Jeremy was lighting the candles on her cake. I bought a lighter to use, but that was getting too hot and burning his finger. So he took a chopstick and light it on fire and used that to light the rest of the candles. Needless to say our waiter was a little edgy and probaby really glad when we finally left.

For her friend party she wanted to go to the new Hannah Montana Movie that came out the day after her birthday. So she made some invitations out of her Hannah Montana stationary that she has and handed them out to the few friends she was able to invite. We headed to the movie Friday evening a little early to make sure we got a good seat. While in line, the girls played Uno, and talked really fast and all at the same time. The girls loved the movie. They totally got into it like they were at her concert instead of the movie. They were clapping and cheering and dancing along. When the movie was over and the credits were rolling they really started dancing. It was too funny. We got home from the movie, opened presents, had cake and ice cream, and then the girls that were able to stay went to bed. We had our ward Easter egg hunt early the next morning so there was no staying up late and sleeping in.

She had a really fun, exciting, awesome birthday (all her adjectives about her birthday). She got a lot of fun presents and a TON of money from family that she is still trying to decide what she is going to spend it on. Thanks to everyone that came out to celebrate with us. It helped add to the fun.

DISCLAIMER...I don't know why, but the slide show cut her head off in some of the pictures. I couldn't figure out how to fix it. I'm really not that bad of an aim when it comes to taking pictures. :)

Billy Mays...Eat Your Heart Out!

I have been slowly getting things ready for the new baby. The other day I got my 0-6 month stuff out of storage to wash and get ready. I was so excited for all the cute things that I can remember from when Mikkele was a baby. Then I started to pull the clothes out of the box and was reminded of how bad she had reflux. That kid puked so much until she was like 6 1/2 months old. All of the clothes had horrible yellow stains on them. I know that I didn't put them away like that, but over the last 9 years of sitting in storage the spots darkened. I was really upset about it. I was thinking that I was going to have to buy all new clothes, and then I remembered a recipe I got a few years ago, but have never used, for a wonder stain remover. I thought I would give it a try before I completely gave up and threw everything away. So I bought the stuff yesterday and put it all together and let the clothes soak overnight and washed and dried them today. I was AMAZED with the results. Everything either came out all the way or lightened enough that it's hardly noticeable. I really wish I would have taken before and after pictures, but let's face it...I'm pregnant and don't think that far ahead right now. So I know at this point the suspense has grown so much that you're like "Give me the recipe already!" So here you go....
1 C. Clorox 2 Powder
1 C. Cascade dish washing powder
Fill sink w/ hot water. Stack clothes in and soak over night. Ring out and wash in washing machine without soap. And Ta-Da! stains are gone.

Take that Billy Mays. Your cleaning products have nothing on this. Thanks Bonnie for the recipe!

Decades Day

This last week at school Mikkele has had school spirit week. Each day they got to dress up in a different way. Monday was crazy hat day, Tuesday was crazy sock day, Wednesday was crazy hair day, Thursday was sports day, and Friday was decades day. We had fun dressing her up each of these days, but I have to say the funnest day for me was decades day. We had originally wanted to do the 50's and have her wear a poodle skirt, but we couldn't find one. We ended up going with the 80's and I'm so glad that we did! I had so much fun reliving my childhood. We borrowed a shirt from Jeremy's aunt/cousin (Thanks Linda and Angie for your help!) , and then I let my memory take me back to the hideous decade of the 80's to accomplish the rest. I think it turned out great. She looked like a total 80's child.

Dont' you love the hair. Crimped hair, side ponytail, and the wave bangs...what more could you ask for. I tried to stack them and make them really tall, but she doesn't have enough bangs and they were a little long. I still think they turned out great.

The whole package. Did you ever make a spin paint shirt like this one? I remember having a book bag in the 6th grade that was similar. We didn't have one of those thingys that we used to put our shirts into, so we improvised with a hair elastic. I think it gives the same look. The skinny jeans that are coming back into style worked perfectly, although we could have just pegged her pants and it would have worked also. Yes, I know the socks don't even come close to matching, but that's the only pair of socks that we could find that weren't black or white. We had to have some color. Her skechers even look a little bit like the LA Gear shoes we used to have. We bought her some jelly bracelets at Wal-mart, but forgot to put them on for the picture. They really added quite a bit. The only thing we forgot was some big hoop earrings. That would have really been the finishing touch. But overall I think it turned out great.

The best thing is that Mikkele kept asking why we did the things that we did. "You really used to dress like this?" "You used to do your hair like this?" "You wore your socks like this?" "What is pegging your pants?" The questions went on and on. And the looks she gave me were priceless also. What a fun day to relive my childhood. Let's just not bring back the 80's. We really weren't cute.

Scrapbook Weekend

Last weekend was our semi-annual Scrapbook Expo weekend. The expo is something that we all look forward to for many reasons. 1) It's a chance to have a girls weekend. 2) Kids are not invited, at least for long periods of time. 3) My mom comes up to help with the kids and we get to spend some time with her. (Thanks mom you're the best!) 4) At this point in my life I am only scrapbooking at the expo's, so I actually get to scrapbook and get some pages done. I am so far behind (2005-pathetic, I know) but it is really hard to scrapbook with Grant on your lap.

The expo was a lot of fun. This year we decided that since 3 of us are 6-8 months pregnant we needed to devise a plan of how to win prizes without having to do a lot of running up to the center stage. So we had some t-shirts made. A big thanks to Amber and Cal for getting them done so quickly. They turned out great! We had SO many people come up to us and comment on how funny it was. I have to say that I don't think any of us were prepared for that kind of attention. The shirts said, "My husband said it was scrapbooking or him....So I took some pictures of him packing and made the cutest pages ever!"Me, Alisha, Tina, and Michelle-and the 3 baby bumps.

So they finally did they did the t-shirt contest on Saturday afternoon. Let me tell you it was so hard to wait patiently for the contest when we just knew we were going to win. Well the contest was pretty easy. The other people that had matching shirts just didn't have a chance, it was kinda sad. Yes we ended up in first place, but we won the LAMEST prize EVER! Anyway...our prize was a dozen assortment of mini cupcakes. We also go a gift certificate for another dozen. Whaoo :( Are you kidding me, cupcakes! We're at a scrapbook expo, give us scrapbooking stuff! And to top it all off they were giving out these same cupcakes outside the doors as you came in. So basically everyone got to have a cupcake that wanted one. That's just not a prize. Can you tell I'm still a little bitter about it a whole week later? And can you tell that my competative nature is a little dependant on cool prizes? Can you tell I'm almost 30? NO-not at all. Anyway we did at least walk away as the t-shirt contest winners and I guess knowing that we won should be good enough. Alisha did win a couple other prizes; one for the number game (you stand on a number and if your number is called you win a prize) and the other one was for a celebrity look alike contest. She claims that people have told her that she looks like Terri Hatcher. You decide.Alisha showing off her pearls that we got with our ticket into the expo.

Terri Hatcher showing off her Tanzanite ring.

My mom and the kids came over Friday evening to say goodnight, and while they were there they had a dance contest for the kids. The prize for winning this contest was a princess party. We thought that sounded cool, especially since Mikkele's birthday is coming up soon. So Mikkele decided to participate. She didn't win, but we decided it was ok, because the princess who was gonna come and do the princess party was some made up, cheesy looking princess. Mikkele still had fun dancing though.

We had a really good time at the expo. It was a little tough being 10 weeks from my due date and trying to cart around all my stuff, but it was definitely worth it. We're just trying to figure out how we can work out the expo in September with newborns. I'm sure we'll work it out.

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.