Round and Round we go

Well as promised I'm filling everyone in on what has been going on with us lately. Let's just get this out of the way first...yes we moved AGAIN! Back to Cedar City! I can't believe how sick I am of packing and unpacking. I'm so sick of it that I still have boxes sitting around and I just don't care about. Most of my clothes are still in the 5th Wheel and I have no desire to go get them out, even though I only have a few choice things to wear right now. Don't get me wrong, I am really happy to be back in MY house (not a rental) and back in Enoch where I love everyone here. But moving is a drag and I am sick of it. Literally! I now have a horrible sinus cold, just hit me Monday night. I'm sure its from the constant change in weather (it was 100 in Riverside and then cold and rainy here). I will miss walking out my back door onto the golf course but I did miss Utah.
James has a promising opportunity here in Cedar City. A friend of ours owns a business and wants to get going on some government contracts. Since James has experience in this sort of thing they have offered to bring him on to get the jobs. He is really excited about it. We also have some other ideas in the works with my dad, but those are top secret and I can't spill the beans just yet, don't want someone stealing our idea (well really my dads idea!).
I don't know if I told everyone, but my dad and stepmom own an RV Park in Panguitch, UT. My dad has been going back and forth about selling the place. But he also wants to get some things going in the town to bring in business (in case he keeps it!) He asked me to help him (and the City of Panguitch) put together an Off-Road Rally. Its going to be a lot of fun, if you have any kind of 4X4 vehicle make sure you sign up (when I get the website up and running) and attend it. I have a lot of great things planned for it, I am meeting with the city tomorrow to go over these things, which reminds me I should be working on that instead of updating my blog, hehe!
I'll be back to update some more.

Catch up

Well I'm gonna try and play catch up right now. It's been a very long time since I posted so here I go...

We moved to California! We packed up the moving truck Friday the 20th of March (our 5th anniversary) and drove to Vegas, we stayed with our good friends The Gunnies (according to Bailey even though their last name is Roberts). We got up Saturday morning and I had to take Bailey to the airport (see the next paragraph for that explanation). James, his parents and Kasey (our nephew) drove straight through to Riverside. We were lucky enough to have my dad, my cousin Jeff and my cousin-in-law Mark come help us unload the truck. And my step mom Kimmie was nice enough to plan dinner for all of us so that we didn't have to worry about it. She made us steak, baked potatoes and a salad...yum-o!

So, yes, Bailey moved to his dad's house :( :( :( :( <~~~lots of sad faces! I had to take him to the airport in Las Vegas. We were running a little late (according to Bailey we are always running late). We got to the ticket counter with 1 hour and 15 minutes before his plane left and the line was HUGE!!! I tried to get us up there faster by pleading my case, after all I did have a 10 year old moving to his dads, a 9 month old who was hungry and sleepy, and I was an emotional reck! But no one seemed to care. Luckily we made it to the front of the line quicker than I thought we would. Security was pretty easy to get through also, thank goodness. The real mess came when we got to the gate and had to check in there. Since Bailey is under 12 he is considered and "UM" Unaccompanied Minor. So we have to check in at the gate to get his pass to travel alone. The flight was full, but we had a ticket so we were ok...or so we thought. I get to the front, hand the guy the ticket and he gives me this weird look and tells me to hold on. He then gets on the microphone and announces that he is looking for someone to give up their seat on this flight for compensation. I freak...are you telling me that Bailey doesn't have a seat on this flight even though we purchased it already??? Aparently! The plane began to load, they loaded sections A, B and part of C before someone finally decided to give up their seat. They gave the guy $200, plus the cost of his ticket, plus he flew on a later flight for free! How come I'm never in that position?? So Bailey was pretty close to the last one on the flight, he made it there safe and sound...but his bagage didn't. I guess he didn't get his bags until a day and a half later. Poor guy. So he seems to be excited to start school there. It kills me, but I hope he is happy. I understand that a 10 year old needs to have his dad around, I just hope he still needs his mom!

Asher had to go to the dentist Friday before we left Utah. He has his 9 month check up and while I was there I asked about his teeth, the tips are yellow. Its actually really weird. My doctor thought that they might have been rotten so he sent me to the dentist. The dentist told me that 6 of his 8 teeth have cavaities on them. Now he has to have fillings or they will become painful soon. Since he is so little they have to put him to sleep in order to do this whole process. He is scheduled to have it done the 30th of April. I guess his teeth came in so early that they didn't have time to become as strong as most kids teeth are. I'll keep everyone posted on this crazy situation as it goes.

I'm loving California! The weather is wonderful, our house is perfect size. We have started a garden in the backyard and we've painted the kitchen. I'll post some pictures in a few days (probably in the form of a scrapbook page). However, ask me if I'm still loving it in 3 months when everything is brown and ugly and its very hot! But for now I'll take 75 degrees over snow! :) Stay tuned for some scrapbook pages I have done but am too exhausted to post right now...

OH I ALMOST FORGOT...I was picked for the a CT at Brownie Scraps. That's the one I was competeing for. I'm so excited. I'll be a CT for Scrappin Daisies, she is one of the designers over there. Anyway...you can check out the site here.

Losing Family

It's the end of a very long weekend for me finally. Tuesday the 27th of January my dad let me know that my Uncle Ron was in the hospital and probably only had about a week left to live. I made plans to pack up and head to California as soon as Bailey's Pinewood Derby was over Thursday evening, but then I got the dreaded call Wednesday morning that Ron didn't even make it through the night and had passed away right around midnight. I quickly packed and was on the road headed to California by 2pm. Asher has never really enjoyed being in the car, all the over trips we have ever taken have always been with me and James so it was easy to sit in the back with him and keep him happy, but this time it was just me and Asher and it made for a very long 7 hour car ride to California. The services were Saturday but my family is Irish and the wake started sometime Friday afternoon. The services went very well and my heart goes out to my cousin Jennifer who not only had to plan her father's funeral but also had to deal with certain family members who only wanted Ron's belongings and had no remorse for what she was going through. My Uncle Ron is my dad's twin brother, and at 54, was way too young to have passed away already. The last time I saw him was in California around New Year's Eve, actually it was on their 54th birthday, everyone had gathered at my dad's house for a little celebration and Ron's homemade clam chowder. Even though Ron was a grumpy man most of the time, he was very giving and always made you laugh. I will miss him, but mostly my heart breaks for his daughter who is currently pregnant with his first grandchild and my dad who has now lost the only two brothers he had. My uncle loved fishing, I am in the process of making a scrapbook page in honor of him...but for now here are some pictures of my uncle, my dad's twin brother, a father, and soon to be grandfather!...may he rest in peace!

New Years GOALS...not resolutions!

Ok so now that we are well into the first month of the year I thought I'd come up with some GOALS for this year. I hate resolutions so I am doing goals.

Family Goals:
1. Only move once! HA! if you know us you'll know that's a tough goal for us!
2. Family dinners every Sunday, I like this goal, it keeps our family together and helps us to stay in touch with what is happening with all our kids.
3. Save $$$!

Creative Goals:
1. 200 Digital Scrapbook pages by Dec 31! I think I have 9 done already...woohoo
2. Project 365. Take a picture a day for 2009, I started a little late so I'm actually doing Project 360 hehe.

Personal Goals:
1. Lose the baby weight, get to 145 lbs before our Family Vacation (I think we are shooting for May)
2. Read 10 books this year...almost a book a month, that shouldn't be to hard for me.

So these are my goals so far, I might add more as the year goes on. I think I am forgetting one already that I was thinking about last night, I knew I should've written them down! Anyway, here are a couple more layouts I have completed.

Just had to post it!

I just completed another scrapbook page and I just had to post it. I LOVE IT! I am very proud of it!

Post-Thanksgiving

Well Thanksgiving has come and gone, thank goodness. I had a great time with family but I'm glad its over. Now I'm just in shock that its only 24 days until Christmas. Who's idea was it to put these holidays so close together anyway??
While we had all the family together for Thanksgiving we took some family pictures. We had planned on taking them at a park in Cedar City but the weather did not cooperate, so we had to take them in the house. They didn't turn out as well as I would have liked but they work for now. Here are a few.

James, me and Asher (it was almost impossible to get a picture of him without his hand in his mouth!)

Asher and his mommy, would you just look at that smile...is he not the cutest little boy you have ever seen!

The whole family from left to right - Whitnee (and Jade), Jadeth, Jared, Josten, Me, James, Sabelle, Bailey and Asher.

All of us again!

And all of the kids. Its a pretty cute family! :) The picture below was of us a year ago on the cruise for Thanksgiving, crazy how life changes in only 365 days!

After the long weekend!

So, I was planning on keeping this going even through the weekends, but that means getting Bailey off my computer long enough to type something and that just didn't seem possible!

The weekend was quiet for our family. Saturday I spent cleaning the kitchen and living room while James and the boys went to play basketball at the church. After that James and I made a quick run to St George to go to Costco, I love Costco! Later that evening we had friends over from church, we had dinner and played Apples to Apples (our new favorite game). Sunday we went to church, watched part of the Green Bay-Giants game (can you believe the Giants won in over time???), and then ate the yummy dinner I made-homemade chili with homemade bread bowls, I'm very proud of myself! I was actually planning on coming to work on Monday, but with so little to do and everyone else hanging out at home I decided to do the same. James' truck batteries (yes he has two of them) both stopped working so we ran into town to get him some new ones, luckily they were under warranty! Other than that we didn't do too much. I had a headache off and on all day, so I spent most of the day laying on the couch or napping in the bedroom. Dad was on his way back to Panguitch from Riverside and stopped by for dinner, that was fun. We were all watching Deal or No Deal...who else is addicted to that show? I want to be on it, who doesn't?

So we have this cat, Cubby. For those of you who don't know, we found her in our 5th wheel when she was probably about 3 weeks old, her eyes weren't even open yet. We (by we, I mean ME!) had to feed her with a bottle for a few weeks before she finally learned to eat out of a bowl. Anyway, we've had her now for almost 3 years I think, I think we found her in May of 2005. Cubby is my husbands cat. Even though I fed her and kept her alive she loves James way more then anyone else in the house. Here are some pictures of her, she is true to her name, she loves to hide in small little "cubby holes". We actually named her Cubby because of where we found her in the 5th wheel, in the little hole where the plumbing is at! My issue with this cat is this, at nights she wants to go outside. The only problem with this is that I'm the one who has to let her out, she scratches at the sliding door in our bedroom and cries until I open it for her. Do you think she'd stay out all night? Of course not! Instead she wants in and out all night long, usually about 3 times a night. I've threatened to wake James up every time she wants out but he sleeps so soundly that an earthquake wouldn't wake him up. Plus I sleep on the side of the bed with the slider...of course! This has been going on for almost a year now, if not more. I finally told James to go buy one of those cat/dog doors that you can insert into the slider, no cutting holes in doors required, it just slides in and then the slider closes up against it. It was perfect! Cubby learned to use it within one night, she was going in and out all she wanted and I was sleeping...YEAH FOR ME! Then Sunday night happened...you see, the slider didn't seal up very well against the cat door insert. James said he had the perfect stuff to use to seal it up on one of his jobs and was going to bring it home the next time he was out there. Which was fine, it was a little chilly at nights but we have a electric blanket that kept us very warm. But not Sunday night...Sunday night it was really really windy so the very cold air was blowing in through all the little cracks that weren't sealed yet plus through the cat door itself! Now, until James can get out to that job and get the stuff to seal the door, I'm back to letting the cat in and out 3 times a night and not sleeping! UGH. And last night was the biggest pain ever! She'd scratch at the door, then when I'd finally climb out of bed to let her out she'd just stand there and look out, then decide she didn't want out and walk into the living room. Anyway, hopefully James makes it out to that job today so I can go back to sleeping through the night!

This is a first!

Well welcome to our family blog! For those of you who are not family or a very close friend let me give you a little background on this family.

My husband and I met through mutual friends the summer 2003. We were engaged Christmas Eve of 2003 and married March of 2004. When we met James had 4 kids (Jadeth, Josten, Jared & Sabelle) and I had 1 (Bailey). At the time the kids ranged in age from 15 to 5, now they range in age from 20 to 9. Crazy how time flies! We've had our ups and downs through the few years we've been a family but so far they've only made us stronger! We've also moved a few times. We started in Spanish Fork, Utah, then moved to Riverside (Perris), California, now we live in Cedar City (Enoch), Utah. I love it here. It's a small town with great people and beautiful scenery. Currently James is in the construction industry with his own business and I work for a local home builder, all of that could change with the way the economy is going, time will tell.



This picture is, as you can tell, our wedding. The kids look really small then, now they look and act very grown up! Like I said, time flies!

Through the years the kids living with us has changed. When we first got married Jadeth and Bailey were the only ones living with us. Josten moved in when we moved to California and then Jadeth moved back with his mom shortly after that. Jared also lived with us for a while in CA, until we moved back to UT. I can't count how many times Jared had moved back and forth with us! Sabelle lived with us for a year, 2006/2007, but moved back with her mom this past summer. Right now we have Josten, Jared and Bailey living with us. Jadeth lives on his own in Cedar City. He works with James and its awesome to have him close by, he visits whenever we have something good for dinner (HA!). Just kidding Jadeth!


Our biggest news of 2007 was finding out we were expecting another addition to this family. We found out the beginning of August. Surprised and excited, we started to plan for this new addition. We had our first doctor's appointment at 8 weeks along, heard the heartbeat and the excitement began to build. Sadly, when I was suppose to be 10 weeks along (Sept 9th) I miscarried. It was a difficult time for the whole family. But the happiness of adding to our family did not diminish so now we are expecting again. Now, at 17 1/2 weeks along, we are excited for the ultra sound scheduled for January 28th...will it be a boy or a GIRL (pray for a girl!!!) Our due date is June 24th. This picture was taken at 7 1/2 weeks along, we are really excited for new picture!

So that's our family for now. I'm hoping to keep with this blog thing, it seems like a great way to keep everyone updated. I might even have the kids add things to it every once in a while. Feel free to leave us comments!