Sneaking up...

Everything has been sneaking up on me this year. I've turned thirty, which is totally crazy and I have three unruly kids. Really they are great kids, but I find myself struggling to remain the boss most days. They are all growing up so fast.
***
Christmas is just around the corner and I have nothing for Koa, yet. Greg and I went to Target the other night and walked around for about an hour and a half coming out of the store with one $5 Strawberry Shortcake movie for Brin. We just don't know what we are going to get Koa. I wanted to get him a train table and trains, but they are out of our budget this year. He will be happy with anything, but Greg and I just haven't found that right present yet, nor have we been in the mood to shop. I know, terrible. We finally got the girls a few things. I ordered most of them online, which was nice not having to shop around the stores.
I'm going shopping today, while Scottee watches my kids for me. Gotta get it done.
***
Even the baby is sneaking up on me. I feel like I've been pregnant forever, but we have a c-section scheduled for Jan 14th. Crazy fast!!!
I will be 37 weeks on the 13th and we will do an amnio to check and see if her lungs are ready and if they are, we will have her the next day; Jan 14th.
The doctor said that we are going to have her as soon as she's ready to prevent mother nature from throwing any curve balls our way. The longer we wait, the more the complications seeing as how this is my fifth c-section. The doctors wanted me to be done last time and they REALLY want me to be done this time. We're not doing anything permanent yet.
***
I realized that I forgot to post what we are having.
Can you guess? Do you see anything between those wide open legs?

Neither did we. Although, Greg did ask the doc, "are you sure?" :)

Waylon's home!

Waylon Bleak is home from his mission!
He's been gone for two years in Mexico serving the Lord for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and preaching the gospel.
It really doesn't seem like two years have passed, but it has.
Waylon was Greg's only priest for a little while while Greg worked in the young mens in our ward in Camp Verde. He and Greg grew a great friendship and brotherhood through the service that they rendered each other. Greg made (and I mean Made) Waylon come to church, attend seminary, and young mens. Waylon parents did, too, but there was just a difference when Greg would call and say "hey, where are you, get down here." Greg even went with Waylon to seminary a few times to get him going again.
And in return Waylon helped us with many of our backyard projects. Actually as I write this it sounds like Waylon had to help us AND do the things he should be doing, like the church stuff. If you were a teen, you may think you got the short end of the stick. ;)
Waylon and Greg went hunting quite a bit, too.
Waylon's family became our family, too, while he was away. They sort of adopted us while we were living in Camp Verde and didn't have any other family right there.
We are glad to have Waylon home. Greg's already got plans for the javelina hunt with Waylon, Joe and dad Bleak.

Greg, of course, welcomed Waylon home with lei's.

This is all of Waylon's family. (below) We all went out to eat together at Islands. It was so funny because he didn't really change. You hear about how mission change lives, but Waylon was still the goofy kid that I remember.


This is Greg and Koa making Waylon's lei the night before. Greg is really getting good at it!

Temple lights

We have several Christmas traditions that we enjoy doing this time of year and one is to go see the temple lights. Growing up, I remember always going to see the temple lights on Temple Square in SLC. It was one of my favorite things. I'm so glad that the Mesa Temple has a beautiful display for us to enjoy here.
We went with Randee, Kenzee and the Barry's. It was a fun evening.

Cousins are so much fun!

My stud and I!

The girls with Aunt Kenzee

This one is the best one that we got out of about ten pictures that we took.

Gotta love the digital cameras.

Just me and my girls!

They are growing up so fast. They keep me on my toes and laughing with the silly things that they say and do.

Just last night I was watching baby Andee, Scottee's niece, and I was feeding her a bottle. Afton asked how come she doesn't get her milk from boobs. I told her that some babies get formula which is like moms milk. She asked if Emery was going to get milk from my boobs and I told her yes, but that she might get a bottle sometimes, too.

Afton:

"How do your boobs make milk?"

me:

"Well, when you have a baby, your body tells itself to make milk; like when you have a cold, your body tells itself to cough."

(I thought that was a pretty good answer.)

Afton:

"No, HOW does it make milk? Is there like a tube that goes up there or something?"

Me:

(not really knowing WHAT to say) "Yeah, something like that Afton."

Afton is really starting to catch me of guard with all the things that she's learning and so curious about.

***
After the temple lights we came back to the house to eat up our first big cupcake that we decorated to look like a tree.

Santa
...and no one cried. That was a first!

Decorating the tree...

Here are some fun pictures of us decorating the Christmas tree. This is a rather small tree for us, we usually get ones that are too big, but I think it's beautiful and it fits perfectly. The kids had fun decorating. The bottom half has most of the ornaments on it, and it gets redecorated daily.

Makoa thought it was fun to drive his tractor on the branches.

Brinlee fits just so nicely in Greg's stocking. She is such a goof. She thinks it's so funny to get in it and hop around.

Annual Christmas Tree Hunt

Every year since Greg can remember, he's gone up north and cut down a Christmas tree. Since Greg and I've been married, we've carried on the tradition. The kids love it and we all have a good time.
Grandma Randee came with us this year and she did a great job at downsizing. She's used to getting 20 foot trees. Her tree was still quite big, but it was downsizing for her. :)
(We love you Randee and we will always get a big tree for you!
It just wouldn't be the same if we didn't.)
**
Our annual Cutting the Christmas tree in the woods picture.



Koa drove as we looked out the windows for the perfect Griswald tree.
Randee found Greg a shirt that said "It's all part of the experience" with a huge tree on top of a station wagon from National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. He wore it to Thanksgiving dinner.
sidenote:
Greg watches that movie everyday in December to get him in the Christmas spirit. We had to get it on DVD so that we could just go to the good parts.


Grandma Randee with the girls.

Looking for that perfect tree to fullfill it's Christmas Destiny.

We even found some snow by this log. It was just a little bit, but enough for the kids to say, "snow" and pick some up and put it in their mouths only to spit it out because it had dirt and bark in it. "mmm"

Makoa always seems to end up on Greg's shoulders.

It's the best seat in the house or woods.

Brinlee was such a big helper!

Grandma Randee's downsized tree! What do you think?

I have to tell you it looks great in her house. She decorates fabulously.

Greg's making sure to cut the stump low to the ground. I guess there is some rule of low the stumps should be cut. I don't remember what Greg said, but he knew the rule.

My good looking, rugged chainsaw stud!

**

It's funny, really, because we give Randee such a hard time about taking forever to find the perfect tree, but Greg is just as bad, if not more so. He likes to have the perfect tree which are usually way too big, too. They are always beautiful, though. And OUR Christmas trees do fullfill their Christmas destiny and fill our home with the spirit of Christmas.

Thirty, Flitry, and Thriving!

That's Right, I'm 30!

I had my birthday on Nov. 28th.

However, it's more like...

Pudgy, and grouchy, and prego!!!

Hahaha, no seriously!

It was a great day. The kids made me cards and breakfast in bed. And it's so cute because they sit up on my bed with me and want to eat it for me, expecially Koa.

The big rival ASU and UofA was in the afternoon, so Greg and I spent the afternoon at the game. The weather was great and it even started raining on us on the way home. The bonus, too, was Randee babysat so we didn't have to pay a babysitter. Thanks Randee!!!

When we got back to the house, Randee had a party awaiting with the Nuttall's, some good friends of ours. And then the Barry's came over, too.

I have to say thanks to Audra for coming and REALLY making it a

P-A-R-T-A-Y!
(No offense to family! :))

My crew with the cake!

Me and Audra! She's the kind of friend that every girl needs!!!

I had to post this picture because it really shows how much Afton loves me!

The kids got me a Big Top Cupcake pan (As seen on TV), so that I can make a big cupcake for them. They were very excited about it. They also, got me a couple of butterfly necklaces. I love it when they pick out stuff for me. It's not usually stuff I would pick, but It's always fun!

Here's my girl-Afton! I love her so much!!

Greg, also made me a lei to wear to church the next day! He's so cute!

I had a great 30th! Thanks to everyone!!!

Presents to myself

...a good friend of mine from Camp Verde has a vinyl machine and she made me some stuff for my house that I wanted.

... on the kitchen wall by the sink.

It works really well when we eat on paper products,

but other times, it's just a decoration. :) wink!

"Ohana" is Hawaiian for Family.

This picture is of Greg's great grandpa Nelson who lived in Hawaii for a time and helped in building the Hawaiian Temple, giving us a reason to think we have some Hawaiian heritage.

...front...

This is an old window pane that I purchased a few months before we moved to Phoenix. I had this vision for it with pictures and our family scripture in it even while living in Camp Verde. Michelle printed the vinyl for me and Greg hung it for me for my birthday! I love it!!

...back...

It hangs down between the living room and the open hallway. Even before we moved in, I said to Greg, "this would be perfect for my window pane." (That was top priority on his mind, too. hehe)

This is a picture of it all decorated up for the holidays.

Small Family Thanksgiving

We had a nice small family Thanksgiving with Randee, Kenzee and the Barry's. During the morning, Greg went to play in the ward turkey bowl and the kids and I made pies and rolls. The rolls didn't quite turn out. Let's just say they didn't make it to the table or any bellies for that matter. The pies on the other hand I was quite proud of and my mom would be, too. We made apple, chocolate cream and pumpkin. Although I used one big can of pumpkin topping for one pie and it took forever to cook, burning the crust. I guess one big can makes two pies, but it fit in my crust. I didn't know. It wasn't eaten, either. :)
The kids turned the flour into snow for their cars and were a huge help. Greg reminded me that it's about the "experience." He's right. It WAS fun- even the cleaning up as the kids really enjoy using the broom. Now, if only they put it all in ONE pile. :)
We went over to Randee's and ate until our tummies couldn't eat anymore. Then we went to the neighborhood park, which was just across the street from Randee's house. We played boochie balls and visited while the kids played on the swingset and ran around. It was very nice weather and just a great afternoon. After a while we headed back to the house for pie and some card games.
I have to say that even though it was small and not everyone was there, it was still a nice, calm day.
This was the first year of Grandma Randee hosting Thanksgiving, as her mother passed away this year. We were missing Brock (Greg's dad), and Montana and Mel's family, too. So if you are reading this, know that you were thought of and missed.

When Greg read my last post about him, he reminded me that I forgot to mention that...
when I got to Scouts I looked like I fit in and wasn't just someone new who didn't know what they were doing.
So, thank you for keeping me in the know, Greg. :)
I really do love you!!

The wrath of Greg...

So, I don't know if it's appropriate to put Scout Natzi on my blog, but that was totally Greg on Tuesday.
I was getting ready for scouts and I put on Greg's shirt (I'm not buying me one while I'm prego) and I was wearing capri pants. Greg told me that I had to put on Jeans or slacks because that's what scouts wear. So, I did. I was wearing his shirt, jeans and my flip flops. I thought I looked good, but oh no.....
You can't wear flipflops to scouts.
Greg:
"I am an Eagle Scout and that is disrespect to the uniform."
me:
"What? It's just shoes?"
Greg:
"You are a scout leader now and you are representing the scouts. You need to show respect and wear the proper attire."
...
I just laughed and said ok, I grabbed my keens (because I don't have to wear socks with them) and I said to Greg are my keens ok.
Greg said "with socks"
...
Are you kidding me?
Oh my goodness! I am just laughing because he was so serious about this.
More things to learn, I guess :)

Relief Society

A few months ago, I got the calling to teach in relief society. I was excited about it at first and I didn't have to teach for the first two months because of stake and general conferences. That was a relief, but the time came and today was my first lesson. I stressed over it all week and read the manual a dozen times.
Since I've been married, I've been in young womens or primary, so this was totally new to me. I was very much a fish out of water.
I read the lesson and it covers so much and has so many good quotes and such, I just wasn't sure about how to teach a lesson from quotes. I was so nervous. These are ladies, I was teaching to, not little kids that forget or don't notice or care if you say something dumb.
I prayed that I would know what to say and I hope that I did. I got really nervous when we had a new member in the ward that was baptised and we talked alot about the temple and the importance of it. I hope that it was ok.
A couple of ladies told me that I did a good job. One of them was my mother-in-law who likes me, but I'm glad that she said I did good and she helped make comments and such, so thanks Randee! I love you!
We have a pretty talkative ward, but sometimes I say stuff that later I'm like why did I say that. I guess I'll just have to set my mind at ease that I prayed and asked for help and He will take care of the rest.
I also wanted to make handout for the ladies, but I was having dumb computer and printer issues that I didn't get anything made. Oh, well right. :)
....
I've also been called to be the assistant in the cub scouts to the Bear den. I'm so excited about this one! Greg likes to tease me because of my 4-H background and me wanted to do all this 4-H stuff with my kids. Scouts is close. I'm only the assistant, and I have so much to learn like during the flag ceremony, if you are wearing your scout shirt you put your fingers up to your forehead, but if you are not in uniform, you just put your hand on your heart. I didn't know that. The boys are full of energy and don't sit still for more than a minute. (how do teachers do it?!) They love to do cheers and are just so fun. I can't wait for Koa to be in scouts. Well, maybe I can :)

Halloween costumes!

Don't worry! This is not their costumes. There was an ASU game in the afternoon and because we've had a croup household of kids, I stayed home and Greg took Afton to the game. ( Afton bought cotton candy at the game with $5 of her unbirthday money from Papa Page.)Makoa and Brin have both been sick and we are just praying that Afton doesn't get it. So far so good.

There is a story behind the costumes this year! It's called a CHaLLeNGe!

I was talking to Greg about getting the kids costumes and he so cunningly said, "my mom used to always make our costumes." Then Makoa said that he wanted to be a tractor and Greg said, "Oh mom could make him a real cool tractor."

So what am I? Chop Liver?

I totally took it as a challenge, whether it was or not. I was out to prove my creativity!

And If I say so myself I did a dang good job.

There was a little drama because I spent way too much time on it and I put so much effort into all their costumes that the house fell behind as did dinners for a few nights. :) (I was involved!)

I made Brinlee's skirt so cute and was so proud of it, but when I was in the shower Brinlee tried to help and she cut it from the bottom to almost the top and she had the thread all pulled out of the sewing machine. I was so upset. I called my mom and she reminded me that Brin was just trying to help. I calmed down and we patched it up as if it never even happened. I would say her's is favorite, but they are all just so cute it's hard to pick.

I had fun making them and seeing how excited they were to wear them! I want to do it every year.

We have Strawberry Shortcake, Tinkerbell, and a Tractor boy. Makoa's tractor is further down. And I have to give credit were credit is due. Greg cut out the tractor, I made it cute and of course, Randee came up with the great idea to put a shovel on the front of it. It was awesome!

Tinkerbell is flying!

So cute!!!! I painted the stripes on her tights with green paint. And I made the yarn curly by spraying it with water and hairspray and baking it in the oven.

What a Stud! He loved his tractor and he says "Tractor" in a real deep loud voice. While we were trick-or-treating, he was even making "vroom" sounds.

And here are the winners of the adult costumes, although the bishop and his wife should have won, they were the couple from the Matrix and they looked awesome. I know we won because of Greg. Just look at him! Let's suck that gut in honey, not push it out.

Hey Hurst's, can you say "Uncle Vance?"

This is the ward trunk or treat party. It was fun. Greg made a chilli for the cookoff and he of course, put Javelnia in it. It wasn't bad though. And I hate Javelnia.

With their cousins!

Brin and Oaklee. So cute!!

This was Halloween night! We went over to Scottee and Brain's to walk around with them.

I pigged out on Buffalo wings! I love them! Really, it's the only thing that I've craved this pregnancy. So yummy, I think I want to go get some now.

Look at that Loot!

We got back to our house at about 8pm and the kids put their pumpkins out and lit them up, then they waited at the door for more trick-or-treaters. Afton made a list of all the trick-or-treaters, but we only had one.

We had a great Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween!

This year we didn't do pumpkins until the morning of Halloween, but it was a fun morning. The kids were so funny. They really didn't want to touch the seeds because it was "ichy."
Coming from my kids, that is funny, weird funny. They make soup out of rocks and leaves and water and flowers and all kids of things. But, after some talking, they decided that it wasn't so bad. Really Afton is the ring leader and if we can get her to do it, the others will follow. They had fun and the pumpkins turned out cute. The pumpkins came from our garden, too.

Makoa- what a stud!

Brinlee helped cut the triangles.

Afton's so proud of hers.

I'm glad the kids reminded us that we needed to do this.

It is TRADITION!

Papa Page

Papa Page came into town a few weeks ago and we got to have a nice visit.

We miss you Papa Page!

This is just a picture of binky boy! He LOVES his binkies! I'm in so much trouble!

Afton's 2nd Birthday this year!

Papa Page came into town a few weeks ago. All the kids were over at Brian and Scottee's house, while we were at the ASU game. Papa went over to the house to see the kids and Afton told him that tommorrow was her birthday. So, papa went to the store and bought her a card and put $10 in it and gave it to her the next day when he came to our house to visit. The funny thing is, she lied! Her birthday was in June. She had to tell papa that it wasn't really her birthday, but he let her keep the money because he said that he missed it in June. What a little stinker. :) Lessons to be taught and learned, though. Afton was very good, too. She put her money in her piggy bank right away and even remembered to pay tithing.

WOOHOO! Best Savings, yet!

Albertson's was having a General Mills Promotional sale and it was AWESOME!!!
I did my best shopping; my best saving yet!
I had to do three different transactions because I had so many coupons and I learned that it's coupon etiquette to only use three coupons for a same item at a time.
In one transaction I . . . wait for it . . .
Spent $2 and saved $33.28!

Ok! Here's what I got:

10 boxes of fruit snacks
5 boxes Fiber One granola bars
6 pillsbury crescent rolls
6 pillsbury cinnamon rolls
2 pillsbury cookie dough
5 boxes yoplait go-gurts
12 Tony's party pizzas- .38 ea.
7 Totino pizza rolls- FREE
5 Progressive broth- FREE
11 Green Giant Steamers-FREE

I would have gotten Betty Crocker warm delights for free, too, but they didn't have any more, so I got a rain check. I'll still get them for .50 ea. which is pretty good.

My total for all three transactions was
$51.99 SPENT and
$169.93 SAVED!!!!
WOOHOO!!
I love the feeling of knowing I got great deals on great products!