Thomas, Jamie, Liberty, Paisley and Jetta Stansfield

Serious Improvement Here!

2012-01-21T18:30:00.000-08:00

Okay so yes Christmas has come and gone and not even one picture up. Not even sure where the camera is right now so still no pictures will come.

But I have to comment on how so far 2012 has been one of if not the very best year yet! Sure it's only the 21st but I would say that most years by this time I have already given up on my 'resolutions' because I missed a day. I have this extreme perfectionist in me that I am slowly trying to destroy in many ways. When I was younger I started a journal but if I didn't write in it every single day then the next time I would go start my journal writing goal I would rip out the previous pages in order to start fresh and new and perfect. How sad and crazy is that?! When i was learning to write I would erase and erase and erase until I had holes in my paper if my letters were not just perfect. So the idea of having a new years resolution that I do not keep 100% of the time is somewhat hmmm...frustrating and debilitating. I feel like such a failure that I couldn't be perfect in that one thing. So then I give up all goals so that I don't have the option to fail. If you don't try you don't fail right? Well obviously that is incredibly wrong considering you fail by not even trying!

This year I will turn 30. Ugh...I shudder to reach that age. Am I really that old? When I drop off Liberty at school I often think that I am way to young to have a kindergartener. There is no way that I can look old enough already! And the choice people I communicate about this agree that I do not look 30! :) Anyways, whether or not I am ready or look the part I will turn 30 this May. And with my new decade of age I feel I have so much more wisdom in me. I can do really well with my resolutions and it is OK if I am not 100% perfect because at least I am trying and I am improving! Admittedly once I miss a day of not accomplishing a daily resolution it is twice as hard for me to accomplish the goal the next day because well there is just added temptation to skip since my perfection ability was just shot the day before. But I continue to plug forward and I think this year really will be the greatest year yet in so many many ways!

The biggest resolution we have made as a family is to take the TV out of the home. Well really it's in the basement on an old dryer but nevertheless it is not able to be watched. I know that this is the right choice for me and my family. Does that mean that everyone should do it? No. Does that mean you are less of a person if you don't? No! It seems that the people I tell about this resolution seem to immediately jump to the defensive on why they are not choosing to do the same. To each there own! If I was a stronger person I could have it and have boundaries that enabled my family and I to be more successful. The bottome line is that I know myself all too well and I know my children. And the TV is a life sucker in our home. Having it gone these last few weeks have been super challenging BUT so rewarding. There is a different spirit in our home. I want to spend more time with my children and am enjoying them more. They are so much happier and more creative! My house is cleaner. We are happier. The spirit is with us and I just feel so good about this decision! It will continue to be a challenge for sure. I admittedly am not the most creative person. I hated babysitting as a child because I simply do not know what to do with children. I am still learning in that regard and thankfully my children are patient with me in this regard. I still am learning what to do with myself in the evening hours when all i seem to want to do is zone out to nothingness on TV. But hey I have read 2 books already this year which is more than I read in all of last year!

Well I just had to share the exciting improvement in my life and in our home! To a great new year for us all!

WE SURVIVED!

2011-12-20T08:38:00.000-08:00

This last week and a half has been rough. We made the decision that instead of buying each other and the kiddos Christmas presents we were going to pay all the tithing we were behind. After all Christmas is about Christ right?! It didn't seem right that we weren't paying him and choosing worldy stuff instead. So with that decision we were broke. We had $50 for a week and a half of food that got cut down to 20 with an accidental charge. I had to take back the girls Christmas eve jammies so that our account wouldn't go negative. I couldn't go to my gmas on Tuesday cuz I didn't have the gas money for it. (Every tuesday my girls and I go and spend the afternoon with my grandma and whatever cousin(s) that may appear!) I would open the fridge and there would be 2 gallons of milk, one thing of sausage, a bag of spinach and a dozen eggs. There were days that I just cried. I wondered how in the world we would make till payday (which is today!). How was I going to feed my family? Early on I made a list of what we would eat at what meals until today to make sure we could indeed survive. It was a rough long week and a half but I am pleased to say we made it! And this last Sunday we were able to go to our tithing settlement and pay the rest of our tithing and declare ourselves as full tithe payers! My mother ended up sending us some money so this week the girls are picking out presents for eachother and for mommy and daddy. I made Thom a present (i'll post a pic post Christmas :) and made Jetta a blanket and the girls super cute little treasure boxes out of old shoe boxes and modpodge and scrapbook paper. Thom and I will still not be able to get each other presents but our hearts are full and we will be okay without. Our vacuum just died last week too. That was another challenge. Pay tithing or get a vacuum. We chose to pay our tithing and I hope to borrow one of my grandmas for a little bit until we can find the money for a new one. It's been rough I won't lie. But I'm glad it's behind us and I feel good that we were able to make it. I feel like we were blessed and that we learned some really good lessons. Lessons that will help us make 2012 NOT SUCK money wise! We will once and for all get a good hold on our finances. We won't be well off by any means but the plan is that next Christmas we won't be completely broke like we were this year and last.

okay okay okay time to be positive! and Merry Christmas!

2011-12-12T10:04:00.001-08:00

Enough with all this downer stuff man! It's time to focus on the positive here!
and
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

First off I have an AMAZING HUSBAND! He works so incredibly hard all the time and often sacrifices much much sleep in order to do so. He is sort of super human! There are days where he works 36 + hours straight. Who in the world can even attempt to do this other than him? There is no way I could that is for sure! He is helpful and happy and loves loves loves his little girls who absolutely adore him! Jetta has become a big daddy's girl lately! Yesterday she wanted nothing to do with me at all. She wanted Daddy for everything! He is so thoughtful and creative and I am SOOOO lucky to have him for my best friend and hubbi!

Liberty is incredible! She is an extreme early bird these days and often encourages her sisters to be so with her! They go downstairs and she takes on the roll of little mommy. Last week she made them all peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches for breakfast (I have never seen her make these before! Impressive!) and even took Jetta a half of one up to her crib! This morning she attempted to make oatmeal but the microwave did not cooperate so instead she poored cereal and milk for all. She is a super helpful happy girl! She LOVES being the biggest sister and cannot wait for baby RJ to come! She is learning so much in school and is really starting to become a great little reader! She says she loves everything about school, especially the learning stuff. Who says that? Isn't recess usually the number one answer?! She is incredible and I honestly look up to her. EArlier this year she stopped sucking her thumb. We encouraged her through earning items and she quit cold turkey and has not looked back! I cannot break a bad habit nearly so quickly! She's my inspiration!

Paisley is so beautiful and so happy. She loves playing with her sisters and is so good to share. She absolutely LOVES preschool and asks for it daily. She is a quick learner and can almsot write her name already! She is only three! She just rocks! She is so quick to apologize when she has done anything wrong and is quick to express her feelings. She tells me when someone has hurt her feelings and we work together to make things better. I just love that at three she can recognize that her feelings were hurt and strives to make the situation better.

Jetta is a little jet pack! Her name so fits her! She is spunky and sporty and full of life! She is a perfectionist in her young age of 2! She insists on all doors being closed and lights being either on or off. She loves to help me out in doing dishes or laundry etc! She is very independent and will not allow help until she gives many good tries on her own. She is often the one to remind us to say prayer at meal times and loves to be the one to say it even though we don't understand a word :) She is a big girl and will make sure everyone knows this fact! She is strong willed and she is a leader. She knows what she likes and what she doesn't and she will not be swayed by others opinions. I marvel at how strong and beautiful of a woman she already is at the tender age of 2!

RJ is growing strong and so far is quite kind to his mommy! he is a little lead butt though! I think boys tend to be carried lower because they are just more dense and sink to the bottom! I am so excited for his coming as are his sisters and especially his Daddy!

Life really is pretty darn good. We have a cute home that is WARM and safe with great neighbors all around. I get to stay home with the kiddos every day and I love it! Of course its super hard sometimes but it's awesome and worth it!

Well I think this can count as my Christmas Card post. I will send actual cards out next year but this year I just was not financially ready for that idea! So Merry Christmas Everybody!

Just Grumpy

2011-12-07T15:19:00.000-08:00

I am just grumpy this afternoon. I think I need to take a break from facebook and other's blogs. I know Christmas isn't about money or the presents but it seems really hard right now to not compare what we don't and cannot have to what others do have. Unless we get a bonus before Christmas I think Thom and I will have to do the idea that counts gifts and just wrap a piece of paper saying what we wish we could have gotten each other. Sigh... Monthly bills have gone up quite a bit these past two months and unfortunately they are the kind that will be that high forever. So we are extra pinchy and this afternoon that has just made me grumpy and feel like a real grinch. I have my favorite Jesus Christmas songs playing to try to help me out of the funk. I'm just tired from a busy morning too. I was helping Liberty's class and then got to highlight her for her class (since her birthday is in the summer we got to do her b-day stuff today). It was a blast but it took a lot out of this prego baygo and I'm just exhausted! Christmas is NOT about the presents....right?!!!!

Storm, Santa, Scrapbooking...

2011-12-06T10:05:00.000-08:00

Last week we had a CRAZY wind storm! I grew up with the Santa Ana winds in Cali but I swear these ones were even stronger! It knocked our power out for the day and blew over a gazillion gigantic trees around town! It was like a hurricane but thankfully dry! School was cancelled, church was cancelled. It actually made for a great 3 day weekend with the family! I love when Liberty is home from school. Life just makes more sense!

Ah Santa. I am not a big stickler on Santa pics. I didn't even bother having Jetta try to be in the picture...she would have been terrified! I see no point in scaring my children over Santa. The idea of him is better than the supposed real thing anyway. This one failed to even ask what the girls wanted for Christmas so now Liberty is pretty determined we must find him again so she can tell him! She wants a polar bear stuffed animal from the zoo, an American doll and apparently some sort of Rapunzel tower? eh...she my get the stuffed bear but there is no way she is getting an american girl doll yet. She is only 5 and they are high maintenance not to mention super pricey! Plus her sisters would want one too and they would probably accidentally destroy the real thing. So I hope she is okay without that stuff. Her christmas was kinda bought many months ago by my mom so hopefully she can be happy with what she does get. I'm a little nervous but hey...Christmas isn't all about the presents!

K so I have been doing digital scrapbooking which I LOVE! But my program is driving me nuts. I am using Scrapbook FActory Delux. Do any of you scrapbook digitally and use a different program? I am interested in a possible change. Plus my sad computers memory is small so it's having a hard time with the program saving. IT wizard hubbi will fix that problem but I am still up for a change. I am hoping to get as much of our lives scrapbooked as possible before RJ comes. I have Libby's life up to Paisley being born and then quite a bit from there to the present but I have much more to go! I love doing it and the book that we printed out of Liberty's life as an only child just simply rocks!

One of those days...

2011-11-30T17:19:00.000-08:00

I know that someday I will look back at these days with lots of little ones and be sad that they are over. At least that is what all the older people tell me. But today is one of those days that I am barely hanging on and can't wait for it to be over. A big headache for most of the day has played a large roll in my feelings as well as Jetta just being in a major grump. I love her. She is adorable when she is happy and even sometimes when she isn't. But man she has so much attitude that most days I would say she is grumpier than she is happy no matter what I do. I have learned to not take it personally which is a big improvement but it is still exhausting having a 2 year old just mad or screaming or crying for most of the day. Lots of little ones at home = lots of laughter sometimes but today it = fighting and crying and grumpiness. Which leaves Mommy utterly exhausted and hopeful that this pregnancy really is my last! So far 5 is a pretty great age. Liberty understands most things. She is no longer trying to find her place in the world through lots of frustration like her sisters are now. She still loves me and wants to give me hugs and cuddles but the frustration of not understanding why things can't be just like she wants them is 90% gone. Sigh...I think I am going to bed by 8pm tonight. I could use a LONG QUIET RESTFUL night's sleep! And then thankfully tomorrow is another new day where hopefully we can all start over on the right happy foot!

FHE for old people!

2011-11-29T16:11:00.001-08:00

Apparently we have a retirement type home in our stake and each ward gets a chance to do their Sacrament meetings and family home evenings. We got called over a month ago from a member of our bishopric asking our family to be in charge of last night's FHE. I of course said yes...I can't say no to the bishopric! But I knew Thom would FREAK OUT! I didn't tell him for weeks! He has a serious phobia of old people whatever that phobia may be officially called! The idea of going to an old folks home was so unnerving to him! Him being so nervous made me pretty nervous and I just hoped that our children wouldn't freak out while we were there.

It turned out the evening was quite pleasant! There were only a couple old people that were somewhat out of it which made Thom a lot less nervous which then rubbed off on me and the kiddos. We did the opening song and prayer and then I read the biblical Christmas story while Thom helped the girls put all the pieces to our nativity out. It turns out I should have timed this event and read MUCH slower because I was done in 10 minutes and we were supposed to take 30 minutes! Thankfully it being the Christmas season we all just sang some hyms together and then one of the men wanted to hear more about our family and how it all began which is always fun to talk about! Then we got popscicles which thrilled the girls and chatted with some of the older ladies who had sat upfront. The girls were great and the evening went much better than planned. And yes I am grateful that it's over!

Thom is planning to drive off a cliff when he turns 70 so that he doesn't get 'too' old! Which I understand. It was sad to see these older people away from their loved ones in this home. There were SO many woman alone. It's just not fair that men die sooner than us girls! I fear Thom will go first and he will be in big trouble if he goes first that is for sure! Thankfully we get to live together forever though so I will somehow survive as a widow if I must. But for now I'm grateful that he is still around and we are living a happy life together! We could use a bit more money but other than that we are quite the happy family!

Christmas is here!

2011-11-28T12:56:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday we christmafied the house! It was a blast! We started out with attempting to put up our fake tree. Ugh. It looked so sad! So we took it apart, and this morning I donated the thing to DI! I love the feeling of not having a fake one to store and be bummed about every year! So we packed up th kiddos and went to Smith's and bought a beautiful REAL tree! I LOVE IT! We also apparently had to buy christmas lights for it. I know last year I was kind of in a bad place after Christmas so my guess is I must have thrown away all our old lights?! I have NO recollection of this but they are no where to be found in the house! It was nice to get new ones and know they will all at least work!
Last year after Christmas I bought a bunch of new ornaments from Target for a massive discount price! It was so fun to get all the new ornaments out and let the kids have at the tree! They did 90% of the decorations which initially was quite obvious due to the bottom area being quite thick with ornaments.

Thom was nice enough to help Jetta get the up high parts of the tree decorated so it wasn't only the first 3ft that had ornaments! I have spent the last month crocheting snowflakes for the tree as well. My mom made a bunch for our tree growing up and I always loved them so I had to make some for our tree. 4 years ago I made a bunch but ended up giving them to my inlaws for a christmas gift since we were, suprise, tight for money! So finally our tree has got some homemade snowflakes! I think it could use more but for now I am happy with what we have.

Christmas is just so magical isn't it? Especially for little ones. We drive around and Jetta especially loves the lights on the houses and the girls love all the Christmas decorations in all the stores. It really isn't about money. It's about Jesus and the amazing world that we live in. Such a time of reflecting on and being so grateful for all our blessings. This Christmas will be tight yet again. Some moments this really bums me out but then I remember that our kids are little still and for now Christmas is all about the surprise and wonder. In the end it really doesn't matter what they get or what Thom and I get. Just like the Grinch said...maybe Christmas isn't about packages, papers, and bows...maybe Christmas perhaps is about something more! I know that isn't an exact quote but you get the idea. I love Christmas I'm thrilled that it's here and I am excited to make this season as magical and special as it can be with the my little ones!

K I think I'll stay around

2011-11-28T12:51:00.000-08:00

I think I have decided that I'll keep the blog. I am going to treat it like a journal but not publish all the posts. Not sure how that will work if I want it printed out one day? I don't know. I don't get to the blog / computer as much as I'd like since my personal laptop is broke so I can only really use the desktop during the day when Thom isn't home and when the kids are happy for a moment! I like sharing life with everyone and I want to be more frequent with it. I will just be more careful of what I actually publish to the world!

Not sure

2011-11-26T05:57:00.000-08:00

I'm just not sure about this blogging world. What is the point of my blog? Out of my family members I know my Grandma who I see every week reads it. My parents don't ever look at it. Don't think any in-laws look at it. A few random friends look at it. So is my blog an update to those few friends or is it a record of our exciting outings or is it a diary? I'm really not sure. I am thinking the blog may just get shut down. I like the idea of a diary type thing but then really does the world need to know that I am struggling again as a mother? I'm a bluntly open person...it makes me feel better to tell of my strengths and weeknesses but maybe that is a flaw of mine and I should just keep to myself? Hmmm....just not sure. I'm just kind of out of it this morning due to little ones waking me at 4:30 am and not being able to get back to sleep. It's now 7 and I'm sure they will be back awake rearing to go soon. There are SOOO many challenges to motherhood that I just never thought about prior to this experience. It is fabulous but oh man it is consistenly exhausting! Especially while Prego! Oh and if for some reason whoever is reading this didn't know...we are having a boy! We are thrilled beyond belief and yet admittedly nervous. We got the girl thing down. Boy's? CLUELESS!

My PVC Storage Organizer!

2011-10-23T07:53:00.000-07:00

I just can't say enough how much I LOVE this thing I made! It is awesome and helped organize our basement so incredibly!!!! I cant get into any box I want without moving all the others. I can see the labels (which none of them are correct right now but that is for another day!). I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! And I highly recommend it to the universe! I got the original idea from Pinterest that led me to a Studio 5 website with all the info. I am guess the info was pretty outdated because they said the project would cost about $50. Although I did make mine larger than their demo it was still way more money that $50. My project total was $113. If I knew to start with that it was going to cost so much I may not have done it but once I got started on the project I could NOT stop till it was done. Thom and I have both concluded that I am already nesting even though I am only 17 weeks pregnant!

Okay I made this to fit 18 gallon bins. My unit can hold 17 of these bins! It is VERY important to know what size bins you are using to start with so you can customize your unit to work with your bin size. The bins I used are right now on sale at Walmart for $5.47. Not a bad price!

I used 3/4 inch pvc pipe. If you go larger your bins can be really heavy but you will go up in price. I don't recommend going smaller but you are welcome to try it! I used 111 feet for 3/4 inch PVC pipe. I went to Lowes and Ace Hardware. The pvc pipe at Ace Hardware was much cheaper, costing $.20 per foot. They even will cut all the measurements you want if they have time / you don't mind waiting. I would recommend buying a pvc pipe cutter and just doing the cutting at home.

I used 52 3/4 inch pvc T connectors. They are cheaper at Lowes but I bought mine at Ace for $.50 a piece totaling $26.
I used 32 3/4 inch pvc X connectors. They are $2 a piece no matter where you buy them. This totaled $64.
I used 34 18inch pieces of pvc pipe, 72 7inch pieces and 18 12inch pieces.

Once it's all cut out it's just a puzzle piece and putting it together goes pretty quickly. The 18inch pieces go horizontal on the top and bottom of the bins. The 7inch pieces go vertically with the bins and 2 connect with a T piece with on each side of the bin. The T piece then connects to the 12 inch piece that connects the front and back of the organizer. This may not make a whole lot of sense. If you want more detailed pics just let me know and I'll insert them but if you just get all the pieces together and start building you will figure it out.

I am super proud of this project! It rocks! Good luck to any who may try it! Let me know how it goes!

Precious Life

2011-10-07T17:39:00.000-07:00

I have a college aquaintance that lost her 22 month old son earlier this year. He was her 4th child. Very healthy. Simply went to sleep one night to not wake up the next. There has been no determined cause of death. It was just his time to go.

I have another friend who's now almost 1 1/2 year old has never been out of the hospital. He has undergone a bone marrow transplant just a few months ago and is struggling to heal. There is still hope due to having a God that is capable of miracles but my heart just breaks knowing that my friend goes to the hospital every single day to be with her very sick, weak child who cannot even be awake much to socialize at all. Her husband and other two children are an 8 hour drive away trying to survive without mommy.

I feel so blessed to have my three beautiful healthy girls! They are so full of life and just as of late have all 3 begun to be the best of buddies! At night we often let them play upstairs for a bit before official bed time. Within the last 2 weeks my older two have begged that Jetta (who will be 2 next month) can get out of her crib and play with them! So of course I have given in to that. There are scurmishes at times but for the most part they just love to play together! This evening I am trying to listen to the sometimes 'noise' that they are chaoticaly making and think of it as music. I could not imagine losing anyone of them. What a hole that would leave in my heart for sure!

I wonder what this next little one will be like. I feel guilty at times when I assume he or she will be healthy like the rest. Why would I be so lucky to have 4 healthy ones when there are so many out there who are not that way. I hope and pray for this 'luck' and that this next one will be as healthy and crazy as the rest! And I hope and pray we may all live a long time together on this earth but thankfully no matter what we will be able to be together for eternity. What a true blessing the knowledge of what happens to us next brings!

Liberty, Paisley, Jetta....mommy loves you a whole bunch! I know I often don't show it or say it especially lately. You have had to deal with a very grumpy mommy who's been sick and tired for months now. You all have been so patient with me and I SOOO appreciate when each of you tell me how great I am and how much you love me especially on those days that I think a monkey could have done a better job with you guys that day. Our future is bright! I love you girls!

PVC Storage Bin Organizer

2011-10-06T14:44:00.000-07:00

http://studio5.ksl.com/?sid=5148165&nid=61

Okay I saw this on pinterest and just HAD to do it in our basement that is overrun by junk and bins that I refuse to even go through because they are stacked so high. Jetta will be 2 next month. I didn't even get out the 18 month clothes because of the bin/basement disaster i'd have to go through! I plan to do a follow up post with all the dimensions and pieces and total price of the unit I made. The one on the link above does NOT give all the info needed to create this properly! The measurements are off and missing an entire other measurement as well as the piece total and price! I have been slaving away on this project all day long and am exhausted! But so excited for the end result with a clean happy basement to go along with it! Wahoo!

Throw it all away!

2011-10-03T11:23:00.001-07:00

This coming weekend as a family we are chucking! We are getting rid of TONS of stuff I just can't wait! We are starting with the girls. They will be allowed 10 toys a piece, 10 movies total, 10 stuffed animals a piece (that is majorly cutting down!) 3 dressups a piece and well that is the start anyway. I am so excited. I go into the play room and I just want to throw it all away! It's such a mess and really it does not get played with all that much!

So if you know anyone who could has little girls that may be in need let us know! Or else majority will go to our church's nursery!

Newest Family Member!

2011-09-29T10:20:00.001-07:00

Meet our newest family member! Not sure it's name yet. That will be Thom's job since it is primarily his new baby!

I am personally claiming the greatest wife ever award for this thing. In searching for a replacement car (Tom got hit a month ago and our little SallieMae is totalled) it was a sad search with the money we had to offer. Thom almost got a Jetta but it was sold 5 min before he got there. After having his heart set on that Jetta nothing else seemed good enough. So I started the motorcycle search. And I found this beauty! Not only is it super shiny but it's orange which happens to be his favorite color! The disturbing part was searching for a bike. There were several listings that stated due to having a baby they have to sell it or because the wife is prego they are in need of selling their bike. And here we are with number 4 on the way and I am looking for a bike for my hubbi?! I'm either awesome or crazy and I am taking the awesome title for now!

Thom is a great driver and I totally trust him on this baby. He's consented to taking the bus into work when it snows so I can still have the van. Thankfully the bus stop is literally right out front of our place! I'm excited to be able to have spoiled my amazing, awesome, supportive, hard working hubbi! On Facebook he claimed to be going through a midlife crisis which is why he's growing his hair out till the baby is born (he has SOOO much hair that this is a somewhat terrifying goal for me but hey I'm supportive :) and just got this motorcycle! What you learn about your spouse through facebook! lol!

Anyway for now we are all thrilled for Thom to have gotten this bright new shiny toy! The girls are wishing they had one and that I had one too! I am skeptical of whether or not I will ever even get on this thing! After the baby comes we will think about it!

30 days of happiness in retrospect

2011-09-25T09:46:00.000-07:00

Ugh...right now I am living life waiting for my golden ticket...which for me is just not feeling so sick all the time! I am so frustrated and so miserable right now. I'm trying to be patient but I am not succeeding much lately. I am 13 weeks prego today. I've now been sick for 7.5 weeks...please please please end soon. I don't know if me or my family can take anymore of this. We are miserable!

Before I got sick we had a month of magic around here. The trick? Getting rid of that darn shiny box that shows color pictures that mesmerize all. The darn Television is such a crutch to me....way to much so. So I asked Thom to take it down for a bit. I can't just have it not on or unplugged....that requires too much self restraint. I needed it gone so that we could try life without it.

Oh man what a difference it made! Having it gone enabled me to fill in TONS of missing pieces in my life and my families. Instead of rushing kids off to bed so I could sit glued to the box of nothingness at night I read books with them, played with them, loved them more! Once they were in bed Thomas and I went down to our usual spot on the couch but instead of just being physically near one another we talked to each other! We hade great conversations and helped one another out. We went to bed earlier. I read my scriptures every night since I wasn't going to bed so darn exhausted. My children played better together and were happier. We have grumpy TV syndrome here where if they watch too much you can so tell because they are just grumpy! I played with them more. We got chores done everyday and the house was in much better condition. We hung out as a family in the evening outside counting dragonflies. Everything I thought I could do better at I did do better at.

I am addicted to that dumb box. When I want to relax I go to it. I watch hours of nothingness hoping that something wonderful will happen in my life while I do. I am then consistently dissapointed that I dont' feel better when I am done I often feel worse.

But then I got pregnant sick. I am tired. I am grumpy. I am barely hanging on to life. We are all alive but that is about it. So I had Thom put the dumb box back up so that it could help entertaing me and kiddos while I feel like death day in and day out. I got Zophran prescribed by the doc to help out. Why is it that heavy duty medicines often have NO effect on me? It does NOTHING for me at all. Nor does oxicotten (however in the world that is spelled). No I'm not taking that now just saying its a strong drug that does nothing for me. I am so scared that this pregnancy will have me be sick the whole time. I have no idea how I would survive that!

I want the TV gone again but I just don't have the strength to do it right now. But I remember a time when it was gone and life was SO much better. I want that back so desperately and I know the TV needs to be gone for things to improve like they did before. Like I said I am no good at just saying 'no' when it's plugged in. It's like an alcholic being able to say 'no' when there is beer in the fridge. It's just easier when its NOT there to be tempting. Well I'm going to throw up now...oh the joys...and try to not cry to much about it. I am way to whiny right now!

Okay i'm back I think!

2011-09-15T12:19:00.000-07:00

Yes my last post was a gazillion years ago I know! I have yet to post pictures of birthdays, haircuts, reunions, and all other aspects of life! Admittedly after the last post I was just busy enjoying life! That darn anti-depressant worked such wonders on my life! I went from wanting to run away from happy happy people and all things that gave me council to do and be better to being one of those darn happy happy people who craved learning all I could about how I can do and be better! I served others more. I wanted to help the world and tried here and there to make a difference. I was in SUCH a good place that yes Jenny called it...I decided to get pregnant again! There were several big deciding factors in this decision. The largest one being that I was in the best place mentally I had been since we moved to Utah and I knew that pregnancy would break me down from this. Anti-depressants aren't hugely favored during pregnancy especially in my mind so I knew I'd have to get off them while pregnant. I want so badly to be in that good place forever and so I figured that if I just had this last baby (I had been planning on #4 being the final addition and now that I am pregnant that is more prevalant than ever!) then I could survive the year of being low again but then after that I could get to my good place and be there forever!

I have been pregnant 6 times in the last 6 years. I broke both my wrists during that time. We have made some major moves and life changing decisions. These last 6 years can mostly be summed up in one word : SURVIVED . There were moments that I felt like I was living but for the most part I just feel like I sort of endured and somehow survived. I am SO looking forward to the future after this bambino is born! I can really start living for the rest of my life! No life will not be 'perfect' and there will be curve balls but I am hoping that those curve balls do not make me feel so crappy phyisically and emotionally like depression and pregnancy do!

I am almost 12 weeks pregnant. I am so super sick. I am the VERY WORST version of myself right now and I just plane hate it! I am mean to my kids. I am whiny to the hubbi. I want to destroy all pets. The house is a disaster. I cry at any given moment and puke at the next. I am miserable and so are my children. My poor hubbi is trying to pick up the pieces where he can but really he is so busy on his own its hard for him to fill in all the gaps that are left. I am completely off the anti-depressant now and the darkness has returned. The joy in living is 95% gone. I am just surviving. Now don't worry I am not nor have ever been suicidal. But I do hope for and look forward to the sunny days that I KNOW will come back in the future. I am hoping the second trimester is sick free like that of my other pregnancies and so some sun can come back into our life. But the greatest sunshine will be my brand new baby (i'm banking on boy :) and anti-depressants happily working within! My doctor said that they were not magic pills but for me they were magic.

I hope to be back up and running in this blogging world but it may wait for a couple weeks until HOPEFULLY the sickness dissipates. Seriously...feeling like I could throw up at any second for WEEKS on end is really getting old!

Improvement Part 2

2011-05-18T14:04:00.000-07:00

Blogger wouldn't post the rest of this at the time so here is the rest. Thanks all for your encouraging words! And Jenny....DON"T WORRY! I am NOT going to try to get pregnant for at least a year is the plan. Being on the meds helps with that since I should not take them while pregnant! Thanks for your concern though! You know me all too well! Lol

The good news is that for me the medication helped bring the joy back into my life! Things still bug me or annoy me but those feelings are no longer debilitating. I can be annoyed and yet still function. When Jetta is screaming and crying in the morning Thom can now know that there will not be a screaming crying mommy to go along with it! I can read self help books, I can be taught in church now. Before I could not handle these things because the simple act of surviving each day was overwhelming and extremely daunting.

The doc doubled my medicing when I met him last in order to try to combat the anxiety I deal with. I wake up every morning with some level of an anxiety attack. I am overwhelmed by the wonder of how I will entertain and take care of my children all day by msyelf and still get something else done in the house. Hence why when a day is completely planned out (like going to Disneyland) the anxiety is gone because that ever infamous concern is solved for that day. Anxiety for me is a shortness of breath, a tightening of the chest, a feeling of internal hyperventilation and a desire to run away. It sucks. I have been on the increased dose for a week now and I think there is some improvment but I hope there will be more as I continue on this path. These anti-depressents often take up to 4 weeks to fully take effect.

So for now I am happy with my improvement. I still am contemplating therapy but recently we learned our insurance does not cover such so the possible cost it what is preventing me. Anyone know how much one session with a therapist may be? I am thinking at least $100 and we jsut cannot afford that at this time. I am reading two self help books and hope taht these may help me get on a better path to more fully successfully function but I do still think speaking with a human who can tell me specifically what I need to do would be even more helpful. Ugh...the frustrating world of fincances! Oh well it is what it is! (sight right there that the medication is working!) :)

IMPROVEMENT!!!

2011-05-15T08:31:00.000-07:00

Okay so I have not posted in a while! Me and the girls DID go to California and were there for 3 1/2 weeks! We went to Disneyland twice and let me just say that it truly is the happiest place on earth! I'll explain more later. Most of our vacation was fabulous. Most of it was sunny and warm. But there was a downside.

As many of you know I have been dealing with depression and anxiety. I was hoping that when I went to California that I would be able to take a vacation from those feelings as well. Much to my dismay the feelings came with me and were just as strong most of the time. EXCEPT on the two days we were at Disneyland. On those days I had NO anxiety or depression issues at all! Part of that is due to leaving Jetta with a babysitter both days. She would have loved parts of the day but she would have been a pill once she got tired. It was SO refreshing to feel so alive again for those two days. The girls and I had a blast and enjoyed every minute we were there!

Due to discovering I could not run away from the depression and anxiety made my decision to get some help when I got home even more strong. I had an appointment with the family doctor the very next day that we got home. I knew all he would be able to do is give me an anti-depressant medication but I have heard that they could work wonders so I thought to give it a try. I am on some sort of medicine called Celexa. No idea if that is its spelling sorry. The second week I was on it I hit this amazing euphoric stage. I felt alive again! I loved spending time with my children and was thrilled with where I was at in life and even went so far as to tell Thom that we could totally have three more children! The third week I hit a low. It was a testament that even with medication I will have bad days. The doctor warned me it was not a magic pill. I think the second week it was just such a new refreshing feeling to feel alive again that I created a magic portion to the pill. But the third week brought me back to reality as I felt blah again for a couple of days. By the time I went for my follow up appointment a full month after starting the medicine I was content with my improvement for the most part. The medicine did NOT help with my anxiety but it definitely helped with my depression. For those of you blessed to not have to deal with depression I will try to explain how one feels when suffering with it. There is emptiness. You know you should be happy at least a little bit but the happiness is not there. There is just this dark emptiness inside. Your children are adorable yes but you can't dwell on that real long before the darkness over takes any possible positive feeling. You want to be alone. You don't feel capable to do much of anything especially anything that would be considered as making progess. You are beyond overwhelmed with life and wish you could escape it all. I think mothers who can just up and leave their children one day deal with dark depression. Depression takes all joy out of your life. It's incredibly debilitating.

goals?

2011-03-10T13:38:00.001-08:00

I had someone ask how my one goal was going. And it went really well the first week. And now I have reached another slump. I had a major anxiety attack last week. The worst one ever. I have suffered off and on with them since Paisley was born so like three years. I think that I could be classified as someone with depression / anxiety. I am a functional case for the most part but I have conluded that I am going to get some help. Me and the girls are going to California this weekend! We will be there for about two weeks. I am SOOO excited to just get away for a bit and regroup. When I come home I plan to look up therapists and get going on that road. I may or may not need meds I have no idea. But I would LOVE someones help to figure out my inner workings and become a more successful individual! I am excited about getting help but nervous too. I feel like I must be crazy if I need help like this but I am not going to be too proud or embarrassed to make this next move in life. And as usual I will be overly open about my journey. I just don't know how to be a closed book to the public. I over share I am sure but I am going to continue just the same! Oh dear sweet sunny California I am coming!!!!!

SWAGBUCKS!

2011-03-06T12:51:00.000-08:00

Okay so many of you may have already discovered Swagbucks but I know some of you have not. So here I am to tell you about one of my favorite things! Swagbucks is a site that gives you points or virtual money called Swagbucks for doing searches, surveys, watching their tv, purchasing groupons, using their coupons etc. Once you earn X amount you can purchase real things. Such as AMAZON gift cards! Amazon lets you use as many gift cards as you want per purchase. I recently made a $20 purchase using four $5 Amazon gift cards that I earned through Swagbucks. I paid NOTHING out of pocket for that purchase! It takes me about a week to earn enough Swagbucks (450 to be exact) to get one $5 Amazon gift card. This is basically my plan of how we will be paying for Christmas! I am so super excited that I just have to share it with you all! In the last 6 weeks I have earned $30 worth of Amazon gift cards spending maybe 30 min max a day on Swagbucks. As you can see I posted the Swagbucks widget above so that any of you interested can find it easily AND if you decide to sign up if you would do it through the above Widget then I will earn a few Swagbucks with you along the way! This is totally legit folks! It's fun easy money!

One Day At A Time

2011-02-19T07:55:00.000-08:00

So I have come to realize I just do better when I am doing. Go figure huh?! I really feel so amazing when I have accomplished a goal! So I plan to do one goal for 21 days. That is how long you need to do something in order for it to become habit. So goal number one? Wake up at 6:30 every day. (except saturdays...thom and I are usually up pretty late on friday for a date!) So far great success and just that one small action has made a world of difference in the rest of my day. I have also decided to NOT care what ANYONE else says. Truth or no truth to what they say I just don't care. I know what needs to be worked on all by myself and I am doing the best I can at any given moment. I am constantly trying to improve. It is in my perfectionist nature. So just making that simple decision in my head makes me feel SO much better about me. And when I feel good about me then all is well in the Stansfield home! :) My goal is to NEVER give unsolicited advice. Seirously does it ever really help anyone? And as my hilarious husband says..."Opinions are like butt holes. Everybody has them and they usually stink" LOL Man I love that guy!
Thankfully I have the MOST AMAZING understanding loving supportive husband who is beside me every step of the way. We know where we are in life and we know where we are trying to go and we are working together to get there. And that is all that matters! Seriously I will NOT let myself get upset again! Of course it may happen here and there but then I'll come back and read this and talk to my hubbi who gives the BEST pep talks and I will move forward again! Life is what we make of it you know?! And I plan to make it pretty darn awesome according to me and my family. NOT TO ANYONE elses standards! Wahoo! I feel so liberated I could fly! Or at least do dishes! Thanks everyone for being my mini psychiatrists! You have all helped a ton over the past few months.

New Family Member!

2011-02-04T08:43:00.001-08:00

Do you see that seriously cute furball my seriously cute Paisley is holding?! She is OURS! A couple weeks ago when my Mother in law was in town we went up to Ogden to the animal shelter to check out the little furs and well fell in love with this little lady! Yes another female! My poor sweet hubbi! There are three females and two female animals in the house now! Talk about outnumbered! Her name is Sweetie Spice Cake! Or just Sweetie for short. Yes our pets are Sugar and Sweetie. That is what we get when our little ladies pick names! Sweetie has been a blast! Liberty is beyond enamored! She just adores Sweetie! Oh and so does Sugar! She is thrilled that we seemingly got her a pet finally! They LOVE playing together and it's been nice to have something else entertain the dog during these long cold months! I have always LOVED cats and don't know why it took us this long to get one!

Emotional Baggage

2011-01-20T12:44:00.000-08:00

I have such emotional baggage right now. It has been a tough month. Quitting the paper route?! FABULOUS! But dealing with the miscarriage stuff still just sucks. I can pretend quite well that all is well. Last week I wasn't thinking about it much at all. This week it lies heavy on my shoulders. I hate feeling defective. And I really feel defective right now. Not just with not creating a healthy new baby but managing my house, feeding my family, disciplining, serving others, being grateful enough, accomplishing enough. I have not felt this low about myself in years. I am just struggling with so many emotions right now. I am trying to push them aside and just push on but the heavy feeling I have never fully gets pushed away.

Now I am thinking...hmmm...well I wasn't ready for another child but now I am really bummed another one isn't coming. Then I start to notice babies around and suddenly I start to want one. Does this mean I am ready now? Who knows!

The girls are all doing well. Paisley seems to be increasing in her social anxiety though. We have seen her cousins SO much lately and yet every time we see them she hides her head completely in either me or Thom for at least 30 minutes before she can go play with them again. Same with our church play group today. She knew everyone there. Usually loves to play and yet hid in me for at least 30 minutes. Liberty was shy too but she was not this shy and then suddenly she snapped out of it. So I am hoping Paisley snaps out of it soon too. Any ideas?

Liberty is going to go to Kindergarten this fall. I wan to really work with her on being academically prepared but haven't figured out when to do so yet. Why is it so hard to get complete and total control over my days? Why am I sleeping more and sleeping in? I need to get out and go running with the dog who has major cabin fever lately. But I just can't seem to bring myself to get up when the alarm goes off at six every morning. I just don't fully understand myself right now. I am so confused and frustrated I don't even no where to begin. I'm nervous to post this cuz I think blogs are meant for the happy bs that we all want everyone to see. No one posts the real life. They post glimpses of perfection for us all to read and wish that our lives were as perfect as that. Well no perfection here. There is an overload of imperfection right now and maybe none of you want / need to know any of this but somehow I think somewhere in the back of my mind maybe somebodies comments will help me feel a tiny better?

Miscarriage...yes you suck!

2011-01-05T12:02:00.000-08:00

Okay so I knew I shouldn't have told the world about our pregnancy but pregnancy even if you aren't expecting is exciting and it's fun to share. The downside? Yep if you didn't already know you guessed it. Now i get to announce to the world that I have just had a miscarriage this past weekend. This is my second miscarriage. I had one in between Libby and Paisley. Does that make it easier? Yes and no. Miscarriages not matter what just suck. Was I ready for a fourth? No. Did I want this baby more than anything? OF COURSE! Do I like being pregnant? Nope! Would I prefer to be pregnant over losing a baby? OF COURSE! No matter how you put it miscarraiges just suck.

So here's the story. We went in last wednesday for the first doctors appointment. Was hoping all was well but truth be told I was questioning due to not puking yet. I had felt crappy and nautious but not to the extreme of the other successful pregancies. I did however feel just like I did with the last miscarriage. But I was hoping that all these signs were going to simply end up pointing to a boy and not a failed pregnancy. So at the docs he did a ultrasound and saw that the pregnancy was not a 9 week pregnancy. The doc said our dates could just be off but I knew our dates were right and I knew no one was alive within. Tears didn't come just then. At first I was just so full of anger and frustration. Why did this have to happen to us again? Why did I get to feel like total crap these last three weeks for nothing?! Why hasn't my body figured out how to get rid of it yet? Why would we have to pay money for a D&C when we don't have money for that. I don't want to pay money for a baby I don't get to have. So my coping mechanism? Yes this is dangerous but it's to shop. We had just bought a pair of skinny jeans and boots the other day as a post Christmas present. The jeans were buy one get one half off but I didn't think I needed another pair since I wouldn't fit them long. So we went back to the store I got them...shaired my pitty story...got another pair of jeans for half off and a pair of shiny silver flats to go with! After the shopping I felt pretty good. Thom's coping mechanism? To eat. His mom just got into town and had been watching the girls for us so she took us out to a stake house for dinner...yum! We both went to bed feeling okay about things.

The next day anger and frustration continued. Not angry at anyone just angry at the situation. But then I started to feel nautious around one. We had some fun plans with family that night and suddenly I didn't feel physically up to go. And then the tears came. They came and came and came and I cried off and on for hours. I was home alone with the girls and just became totally shattered. Paisley and Libby both game me a hug and Libby in all her 4 year old wisdom told me it was okay and that we don't need anymore sisters anyway and that I'll have another baby in my tummy again. She was so calm and collected and so not worried despite her mommy crying like crazy for hours. I so love these girls. Even Jetta crawled over and gave me a sweet hug. I eventually called Thom at work and tears and he came home to give comfort. His parents ended up coming over as well. I eventually got a blessing from Thom and his Dad and have since then felt okay emotionally. And icing on the top! My body figured it out and has been getting rid of the miscarriage on its own! I had to have a D&C with the last one and I prefer this way much more! I feel so thrilled that my body actually knows what to do and is doing it! Plus it's saving us money and it really has not been that horrible. I feel confident that all is going to be well and I am hopeful that another successful pregnancy is in our future. I know we have a baby boy in our future I just do and so does Liberty!

All in all this does just suck. But on the bright side I don't feel nautious anymore. I am less tired. I am still quitting that dumb paper route! I am honestly so not ready for another kid yet so I now have some time to put my life back together for a bit before we decide to have another baby. Me and the girls are going to California in a month for a while! Wahoo get out of this snow and into some sunshine (hopefully!). So in the end I do feel relief. I wish I didn't have to go through this all again but what's done is done so oh well. I am slightly worried I won't have anymore successful pregnancies but like I said before I know a little boy is in our future somehow so only time will tell how things will go. Do any of you know anyone who has had two miscarriages and still been able to get pregnant again for the full term? My mom had two miscarriages after me and never had another child. So with the number 2 I am a bit worried. Anyways thought I'd share our crazy journey with whoever may be interested. And really don't worry about me. I am doing really well right now. Just don't ignore the subject or me do to feeling awkward. I have noticed my superiors with the paper route feel awkward around me now and somewhat ignore me. That doesn't help anyone people. Just tell me that it totally sucks. Ask questions if you want. But don't just ignore me okay?! Thank you!

Jamie

Christmas Card and Updates!

2010-12-12T14:10:00.000-08:00

Okay last year I sent out at least 50 Christmas cards. It was such an eventful year with breaking my wrists, buying a home, getting a dog and a van and the best of all our little Jetta that I just had to tell the world! This year I am tired. Money is tight. I am just not going to put forth the effort of the official Christmas Card so I'll blog one and we will call it good!

This year has been pretty good. We have been working on mastering life of 4 children (having a dog, especially a puppy without an enclosed yard really is like having another child!). We have gotten pretty good at it! I was able to paint 3 rooms (only 3 more to go!), really get into running and 5k races, not get upset when Thom was going to be home late, stress less and enjoy more. I was really on a great roll until recently. Finances got unexpectedly very tight so I thought I'd help out and get a paper route. Ugh! I HATE paper routes! And I really try hard to not use the word hate but that is the best word for this job! lol! Since I started, life has been a lot harder to keep up with. I am just tired! And to top it off we just found out we are unexpectedly expecting number 4 (5 if you count the dog but we don't really)! Yes by the end of next summer we will be a family of 6! This just blows my mind! We were planning on having at least one more child just not this soon. This will make it so all of our children are 20 months almost exactly apart and that is just INSANE! It is not easy sometimes but thankfully Liberty has really been stepping up and growing up where I need her too! I am terrified in many ways with this pregnancy. I have known many sad stories recently of people with their pregnancies. Still births, super premie with lots of problems, water breaking at 20 weeks and losing both twins not to mention miscarriage which we have already had to experience and is SO not fun! We were so blessed with the first 3 I am just scared that our number is up and something will go wrong this time. So for now I am still doing the paper route and will do so for as long as humanely possible or until a hopeful good tax return comes in, whichever may come first! Overall we are very excited to have another cute bundle of joy! Sure life will be crazy but it has been since the time I was pregnant with number two! We will figure things out and we will be SO happy to be an even bigger family! Maybe this one is a boy? Lol...who knows but we both are thinking it's another girl which thankfully we will be totally fine with.

Thom has been working a ton with his job. He is amazing. I don't know how he does as much as he does and for as long as he does! There are weeks where he pulls in over 70 hours of work and somehow still sort of functions! If only he got paid overtime! We are so grateful for his job and LOVE LOVE LOVE the people and the company he is with. He is just starting to rehearse for another Off Broadway Theatre play called "The Phantom of the OBT". It will of course be hilarious and play sometime in January I beleive and we are so looking forward to it! Thom is such a great actor and we just love the OBT! It is so fun to be part of them! Thom is an amazing husband and father. All us girls just adore him! He is the perfect daddy for daughters! They are going to grow up with amazing self confidence because of all of his ooing and awwing at them constantly!

Liberty is 4. She is amazing! This year we worked on quitting sucking her thumb during the day. She can still suck it at night and for naps but other than that there is no more thumb sucking going on! I marvel that she was able to accomplish such an incredible goal! We started small with her not sucking her thumb for just one hour. If she did that then she got a piece to her new princess collection. Then two hours and she'd get another piece. We made it up to 3 days of success before she got the biggest of the presents and since then she has been rock solid! I am not nearly as good at quitting my bad habits! She just amazes me and is such a good example to me in so many ways. She is the BEST big sister ever! She loves loves loves her sisters and is so patient with them as she teaches them new things. Paisley and Jetta both adore her! She is in a princess dress as much as humanely possible. I occasionally can get her out of one for the store or some other event where we go outdoors but the second we are home she is back in a dress! Her favorite is Sleeping Beauty which is pink and now so ragid from all of it's use! She is getting a new one from Santa but shhh don't tell her! She is working on writing her letters and much to my dismay she will be starting Kindergarten next fall. I just am not sure I am ready for that next step! She will be ready for it yes but me? I'm just not so sure!

Paisley is 2 1/2 now. She is absolutely adorable! It is so fun to hear her cute little high pitched voice talk and sing. We love to make her say all sorts of big words because she makes them sound so incredibly cute! She is in total admiration and adoration for her big sister Liberty! They are the best of friends and are constantly up late or skipping naps just so that they can play together. She mastered potty training this year with flying colors in just a few days both day and night! Wahoo only one set of diapers (for a while anyway!) Paisley is our more cautious child. Jumping off of things or going down slides alone is just not her cup of tea quite yet. But despite these few fears she loves to run and twirl and sing her way through each day.

Jetta just turned 1! She is our craziest, most opinionated and outspoken child for sure! She is the least shy of all the girls at this age and is constantly looking for the next way to have fun and be entertained. Thankfully she can entertain herself for hours with the simplest of toys. She has so much spunk to her! It is going to be fun to see her turn into a toddler this next year and yet a little nerve racking since I think she is going to have the most attitude of all the sisters!

Sugar is finally potty training. Holy moly what a process that was! I definitely had NO idea what I was getting myself into with getting a puppy last year but thankfully we all survived and she has turned out to be a really amazing little dog. We are really lucky we got such a great one! We are convinced that the Man above took pitty on us with blessing us with such a good dog at this time. Although being small we got up to running 6 miles together this past summer / fall. Now with the paper route and pregnancy we are not running or even getting out to walk much which thankfully she has dealt fairly well with. I feel bad though. I know she wants some exercise it's just more than I can handle right now so maybe in couple months we can get back into it!

As for me well I'm just taking one day at a time these days! :) Thankfully I have not gotten very sick with this pregnancy so far. We are hoping that this sticks! As mentioned above I really got into running this year. I loved competing in 5k races. My goal was to place in my age group by the end of the year in a race and my last race I did just that but even better! I was the second female to finish the race! Wahoo! But now I am putting up my running shoes for a bit. I am frankly just too tired right now. But I look forward to getting back into it after this baby comes next fall! I have also really gotten into the world of fabric hair flowers! I've collected a bunch of fabric from my grandmother and a neighbor and have been busy creating whenever I have had a spare moment which is of course not as often as I would wish but such is the life a mother of 3, soon to be 4 small children! I'm constantly trying to stay on top of house stuff but that too has been on the back burner with how tired I am. One of my greatest blessings is a husband who is NEVER judgemental or whiny about the house / laundry not being clean. He is the most amazing supportive loving husband a girl could ever have!

We are SO blessed! We have a wonderful healthy family! We have a great home with the most amazing neighbors / friends in the world! We absolutely love where we live. And above all else we are so loved by our Savior Jesus Christ. His great love and amazing forgiveness is always present in our lives and how excited we are to celebrate his life and birth this Christmas season. Merry Christmas Everyone!

Randell Stansfield...one seriously cool guy that I get to call my Father in Law!

2010-11-11T13:28:00.000-08:00

So today is Veterans Day. Which is so perfect because it is actually may father-in-law, Randell Stansfield's 60th Birthday as well. And he just so happens to be a retired Colonel from the US Army and a veteran and he is what I think of when I think of the word Soldier. Happy Birthday Dad! I look forward to keeping even better updated with you through your new blog http://randystansfield.com/!

I have been a Stansfield for just over 7 years. Holy cow it really has been that long hasn't it?! It has been an amazing 7 years for sure. In many ways I know Randell Stansfield best by who his incredibly Amazing son Thomas (my sweet awesome hubbi) is. Randell is Thomas' greatest hero and idle. Thom just absolutly adores and idles his father. Which thankfully has helped mold Thomas into who he is today. A loving, adoring, selfless, hardworking, spiritual, amazing, generous, gracious, accepting, encouraging and just down right incredible man, husband, father, son, brother, and friend. Thank you Dad for teaching Thomas all he knows because I and your sweet granddaughters are who gets to reap the rewards of all your amazingness!

When I first met Randell I was terrified. I was just terrified he wouldn't like me...He met me just days before our wedding! But my fears quickly went away because he quickly embraced me and welcomed me into his heart and into his family whole heartedly! And ever since day one I have not ever felt like an in-law to him. I have felt like his daughter. There is nothing in the world he wouldn't do for me just like for all of his other children (he had six total so it's not like he was lacking in his own children). He has befriended me and I am so grateful for his love and friendship. Our first Christmas married we planned this great trip to Hawaii to get to know Thom's family better. At the time two sibling and their families as well as his parents were living there. It turned out to be a horrible time to come as his parents were inbetween homes and living with one of their children until they found their own place. But Randell never ever let me feel like our presence was an inconvenience in any way. He was so happy to have us there and made special arrangements for us to all stay on the Air Force base for the Christmas Holiday. Kenra (mom) was in Utah at the time so it was left up to him to make this Christmas special and he did an amazing job. Thom and I were supposed to get the Christmas Tree but our car was broken into and our wallets were stolen. So we pulled a palm tree from outside into the house and lit it up with lights and a few ornaments. It was a blast! One of my favorite Christmas'! He took me surfing as one of my Christmas presents and was so encouraging and excited for me to share in this new love of his! It was an amazing trip even though it was such an inconvenient time for us to be there because of Randell. He made sure we were loved and appreciated no matter what.

A few Christmas' later we were back in Hawaii. Thomas and I had both gotten sick on the trip and so instead of having me fly home pregnant and sick the wonderful and generous Mom and Dad Stansfield changed my flight so that I and my daughter Liberty could stay an extra week with them. On one of the days I was blessed to spend there I got to spend a day with just Randall. We were supposed to go hiking but it was raining. So instead Randall took me on a drive up the coast to the North Shore. It was so much fun just getting to know this amazing man better. He is such a family man. He loves his family more than anything in the world and if he could he would have his family all around him all the time. His dream is to have a family business that everyone in the family could take part in and work together in so that we could all live by each other. He has worked hard for his family and his country and is not a man of regrets but rather a man of grattitude. He's so grateful for the life that he has been blessed to have and just simply wants to enjoy the rest of his life with the ones he loves the most, his family.

There have been many times where we have needed Kenra (mom) to come and help us out. With each birth of our children she has come for a month to help out as I heal from my c-sections. There was a time where I broke both of my wrists and she came out for 4 weeks again to help me out. Never once did Randell complain that she was gone or that the trips were too expensive. He is just that kind of man. Not a complainer at all but rather a man full of love and generosity. The only thing he wishes in times like these is that he would be able to be there to help out as well.

Randell has always been one of my biggest fans! Whether it be as a mother or an athlete or a musician or in absolutely anything I may be interested in or worried about he is there to cheer me on! Thanks Dad for your cheers! I really appreciate them! They help motivate me to be even better!

I was never one really for patriotism until I became a Stansfield. Now knowing the amazing legacy that Randell has given his family from his years of being a soldier for the United States Army a simple patriotic song can easily bring me to tears. I have a new love and respect for this nation and for those who serve it and I am honored to be part of a Soldiers Legacy. Thank you Randell Stansfield for all that you are and for all that your children are because of you! You have so much to be proud of. I hope you have an amazing birthday today and look back at the last 60 years with a smile on your face. Because as one of my favorite country songs says...You did it man! That's something to be proud of! That's a lot to hang your hat on! I love you Dad!

Paisley's and Liberty's first dance recital!

2010-09-13T19:38:00.000-07:00

I made the video for my mom's birthday present. But the girls did SO amazing! They both took a little dance class from our neighbors neice this summer. They both had a fabulous time with the class and we are all so sad that it is over! Their teacher was a 13 year old girl and she did an amazing job! I think Liberty may have found her niche in life!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlmvA9Oaf6I

okay the video cuts off Liberty for the most part. She is on the far right so click on the youtube link instead if you want to watch it! It is so fun and rewarding to see my kids succeed in something!

Tea Party and Chucky Cheese...its official I AM a MOM!

2010-07-28T18:26:00.000-07:00

We went all out for our Lib dib's birthday! It was such a crazy long day but it was SOOO much fun! I really want to make sure that each birthday of our children is super special and majorly celebrated. Growing up my birthdays were simple and well I would have loved to have the day be more about me so our birthdays will be fabulous! Hence the reason I took Thom snowboarding as a surprise for his 30th and unfortunately broke both my arms! Anyways back to our Liberty who is now 4!

So for her birthday at noon we had a princess tea party for 11 of her little friends! It was so much fun! The morning of I decided that I wanted everyone to have the same set of cute little plates so I ran to Ikea with Liberty to buy 2 more sets of the super cute sets. The day before I got little teapot tea sets at the dollar store for everyone so that at the party each kid could fill their own cups with their teapots. After Ikea we went to Kid to Kid to let Libby pick out some new princess dresses curtesy of her Grandma Georgeous (thom's mom). We made it back from the crazy morning outings by 11:30 and quickly scrambled to get things set up. We had little heart shapes sandwhiches, pudding, toothpick fruit cabobs and endless non sticky water for their teapots. I was super nervous to throw this party all by myself. Usually my mom is around to help out for Liberty's parties which until now have been pretty simple. But it went SO well. All the kids had a blast and ate at least something. The night before my neighbor and I were up till 10 decorating her cakes. We made the princess castle for the tea party and the dinasour princess one for the evening party.

Jack was the only Prince Pirate at the party! What a stud!

That same night we went to Chuck E Cheese with Liberty's cousins. That was so fun as well! All the kids and the adults had a blast. We got just the right amount of tokens and went home utterly exhausted but feeling so happy about our super fun day! The previous weekend we went on our second family camping trip to Hyrum Dam with my Mom and celebrated Libby's birthday with her there. It was so fun as well and we all actually slept through the whole night in the tent this time and were sad to leave!

Isn't T-rex adorable in her dress?! Liberty LOVED LOVED LOVED the dinasour cake! It was her favorite one by far. She loves dinasours and LOVES princesses....it was the perfect combination!

My Libby Lou is 4 today!

2010-07-22T14:33:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday my dear sweet Liberty! 4 years ago today we were blessed with such an amazing beautiful healthy baby girl! After 42 hours of insane painful labor (the epidural attempts did NOT work it was horrible) the doc had to cut you out of me. It was an intense and scary experience followed with amazing joy and happiness. When I first held you in my arms I was so full of happiness and strength. I was convinced that motherhood was going to be easy and that I was going to be great at it! It has been a great 4 years. Full of many challenges for sure but through it all you have been by my side, at times being my greatest chearleader. When I had the miscarriage it was you that got me through it all. You inspire me and help me to enjoy life to the fullest and stop and smell the flowers...every single one of them! You are the best big sister ever and coolest most polite and respectful little 4 year old that I know. You are so full of this incredible self confidence that I admittedly envy and admire. You know how to make me smile and how to push my buttons :) This day of celebration has been so much fun so far and it's only half over! I am so excited to see what you will become. I am humbled that for some reason Heavenly Father thought that I would be worthy to be your mother. I was wrong to think motherhood was going to be easy and that I would be good at it but thanks to you I know I can keep on going and everything will be okay somehow. I love you Libby Lou! Happy 4th Birthday! Thank you for being you and for taking time to tell me that you love me each and every day and to throw in that wonderful and occasional 'your the best mom ever!'.

Running...no jogging...okay sometimes trotting...

2010-07-12T09:12:00.001-07:00

Okay so lately well since like February I have taken up running. We will call it that...it sounds more athletic than what it sometimes really is! We have this goal to run the Nashville Tennessee Country Music Marathon next April together. Thom and I that is. I am not completely convinced that will happen but for now I am enjoying the challenge of running. I did my first 5K last month. Well first organized one anyway....we did run a marathon when we were engaged so at one point we were running 3 miles without any issue at all. The race was so fun. It bugged me that I was paying money to run but the energy of all the other runners doing something so healthy together was just euphoric in a way and I look forward to doing more. I have 2 more 5K's i'm running this summer and then I am hoping to do a 10k Mud Run in September. I want to do it with Thom though so if he isn't ready for it then I won't run it either.
Anyways lately I have been running with the jogging stroller. I had been leaving the kiddos at home to the TV while I ran but now that Jetta is up by 6:30 am at the latest I figure I can take her at least. Holy cow running with a jogging stroller is SOOOO much more difficult than running without. Especially when I have two kiddos in the stroller! But I enjoy the challenge and figure if I can run 2 miles with the jogging stroller then I can run 4 without! So it's good training. I have a new extreme desire now. I saw this stroller at a July 4th parade recently and have wanted it ever since! Apparently the rest of the world does too since every website is sold out of these babies!

I just love love love the idea of containing all three girls in this thing AND it is pink! Pink pink pink! I made the mistake with Liberty of getting mostly neutral stuff since I may someday have a boy but well now I want everything pink pink pink! I have 3 girls! Bring on the pinkness! I'm hoping worse comes to worse Santa brings me this baby! It's massive! but I just love the challenge of running with this thing! The zoo might not be too shabby in it either! I mean seriosly to be able to train for a marathon with my girls the whole time?! Oh it just sounds incredible! Incredibly difficult no doubt but incredible if I could actually accomplish it! So....we will see! If you ever see one for sale anywhere (must be a pink one!) please let me know! It's a bebelove triple jogging stroller and I think it's heavenly!

Seth Albert Miller Please Help!

2010-06-17T13:36:00.000-07:00

Okay so I know many of you know Jamie (Pinnock) and Andrew Miller from SVU and some from may know them from BYU as well. Anyways, Jamie is one of my closest friends in all the world! She just had their third child 10 weeks early. She had to have an emergency c-section and now little Seth will have to stay in the hospital for an estimated 2 months! I have been dying that I am so far away (me utah them Missori) and that I just didn't know how I could help them from so far. I have been praying for a way I could help them and I got the answer today. I have started a blog http://premiewarrior.blogspot.com/ dedicated to Seth and the Miller family. On there I have a way that you can donate a few dollars to their family (the money goes straight to them not me I promise!) Jamie will be released from the hospital tomorrow and they live 45 minutes away from little Seth! They will want to see him daily but gas is going to be expensive and premie clothes and diapers will be pricey as well! If we all chip in together we can help lift at least their financial burden a little during this difficult time. The Millers are awesome. They some of the most amazing people I know. Jamie can always make me feel better no matter what the situation! And Drew is so loving and full of service. Thom and I had a paper route in Virginia for a while. There were a few times where I was injured and Thom was out of town so we couldn't do the paper route alone. Drew happily volunteered to wake up at the wee morning hours (around 4!) to help me run the paper route. They were always there for me whenever Thom was out of town and they have been some of our closest if not the closest friends we have ever had! Please help me to help them! THANK YOU!!!!

Our 1st and VERY memorable family camping trip! LOL!

2010-06-14T13:05:00.001-07:00

Okay so growing up my family vacations mostly were to go see other family. They were fun and all but we didn't have a whole lot of just us family time. So I have decided that our little family will become a camping family. Funds are tight and will be so elaborate family vacations that consist of hotels and such are just not going to be in the cards any time soon. But camping is so much cheaper and just the idea of sleeping outdoors is exciting to most young children and being away from all technology really excites me and the ever so hard working tech hubbi! So about a month ago I got online to find places to camp. Recently we had neighbors that went to Antelope Island for the day and had a fabulous time. I figured since you have to pay to get on the island we might as well camp so we get the most bang out of our buck! So i booked us for a one night stay on the island. Well we paid for 2 nights but I figured we wouldn't want to stay saturday night as well so I was just planning on a 1 night stay. Mid July we are going to Hyrum Damn for an official 2 night stay. I figured we would start slowly with this whole camping thing. I've only been for girls camp and tom for scout camp except last summer when we went to Lake Powell for a week...ugh...that was for a family reunion and no so enjoyable due to all the sand and no showers! But for the most part we didn't do much camping stuff...my expert cousins set up the tent, cooked for us for the most part and then we ate out a lot too :)

Okay so we borrow a tent from my Aunt and i get us all ready and we get up there Friday night. Liberty is SOO excited even though her and Mommy have quite the cold. The second we step out of the van we are swarmed with tons of mosquitos. We quickly spray us all down and get to work. We try to set up this tent...it is starting to rain...the wind is blowing hard...no directions with the tent...not very many poles with the tent...the tent suddenly inflates as we try to set it up and begins to blow away. Some nice neighbors came running to capture the tent and help set it up...its not going to stay...we don't have 1 stake with the tent...should have checked into the tent more before we left for sure! It's now close to 9 pm...we decided to just pack it up and go back home for the night. We will go to Walmart first thing in the morning to buy our very own tent and try again tomorrow night. Liberty is devestated that we are leaving. She was SO excited to sleep in a tent! We get home to find that we had locked ourselves out of the house and Thom had to break in through an unlocked window! What a night!

The pics are of the insane amount of bugs that we killed while driving on and off the island! Seriously so insane!

So Saturday morning we go to Walmart and buy a tent. Not just any tent. A 10 man tent! I figured we needed some room to grow with :) We bought the Ozark Trail 3-Room XL Vacation Lodge Camping Tent

It is huge! It could easily fit 3 queen size mattresses in it! K so we get back to the island and i was warned about biting gnats online but whoa...they are no joke! There were TONS of them and the love to get into your hair and bite your head as well as anywhere else they can! Bug spray helps some but not nearly enough! But we are determined to camp! We set up our massive tent...so much easier than the night before due to having directions and lots of stakes! We then roast hot dogs and marshmellows. The girls liked the hot dogs ok but were not fans of cookes marshmellows. I bought 3 bags! I was thinking they would LOVE them and only want to eat them all weekend. But then again I should have known. My girls take the frosting off the cake to eat the cake prefer oatmeal over sugary cereal!

We then go driving to look for the buffalo! Our girls LOVE animals! And it was amazing how close we could get to them! We had three that hung out near our campsite and then we found the heard that was full of little babieS!

After oogling over the animals and driving everywhere we could on the island we went back to the campsite to get our swimsuits on. It was on our bucket list...float in the Great Salt Lake. So we needed to do it. Who knew if we would ever come back to this place. Who knows how long we'll live in Utah...we had to cease the day! Lol. It really is gross! We had to hike no joke like a half a mile to the water where we were greeted all along the way with TONS of gnats and they were all over the shore too! Thom and I took turns floating in the lake. And it is true. It is AMAZINGLY easy to float. I can't barely float on my back for 2 seconds in the pool but in that lake it was instand and took no effort at all to stay afloat! But then once you are out you are COVERED with a thick shimmery layer of salt that you can see and feel and taste! We took turns licking each others arms. Ugh! It was DISGUSTING to say the least! lol The girls were not to keen on the water. Liberty had to pee extremely bad and refused to do so in the sand or in the water and the nearest bathroom was very far away! The dog was loving life but shouldn't be...I just got her spayed the previous tuesday and she was not to get dirty or wet or run or jump for 2 weeks and she was doing it all! So we were not at the shore for long. We packed it all up and headed back to the campsite...another half mile walk in bug infested hot rocky sand. Thom was amazing taking care of Liberty and Paisley while I handled the sand toys, towels, baby and dog!

The best part was next. Tin foil dinners that were AMAZING! We had some marinated chicken, potatoes, carrots and asparagus and oh man were they good! But then the mosquitos came out and seemed to find every spot i missed with the darn bug spray! We tried to put the girls to bed after dinner as well but that was a joke...it was light out and we were camping! They were having a blast exploring and going in and out of the tent. Paisley and Jetta are now sick as well...Thom is the only healthy one in the bunch! And poor little Jetta. She just wanted her bed. We didn't even have a pack n play for her...it's at my parents' in California! We tried to let her cry it out in the tent but after 15 mintues she was not sleeping. I tried nursing her to sleep. Nope. I tried singing to her, holding her...nothing. So Thom packed her up in the van to drive around with her and decided while he was out to go to Walmart and buy himself and airmattress since we don't do well sharing one. Our weights are too different...i end up on a bubble he ends up on the floor. Me and the girls read books and sang and looked at the stars while they were gone. Then i remembered that they lock the gate to the island at 9. I was worried they might not be able to get back on! Which they couldn't until by sheer muscle Thom pulled the electric gate open to get back through! Once he got back it was probably 10 :30pm or so. Paisley was out. Liberty was wide awake, Jetta finally asleep in her car seat. We try to buckle down for the night and we all get probably a good 3 to 4 hours of sleep. I woke up on rocks...my air mattress apparently has a hole it it. And when I woke up it was windy and I freaked myself out thinking that the buffalo were surrounding our tent. Thankfully it was just the wind. But soon after I woke Paisley woke up crying...she had peed through her clothes...she woke up Jetta who started to cry and I knew there would be no getting that girl back to sleep. So we called it. At 2:30 am we put everyone in the car and went home. We went back Sunday morning to clean up the rest of the site.

It was a crazy weekend! The cool thing was that Thom and I were able to have a good attitude through it all and laughed a ton all weekend! It was definitely a memorable trip and we look forward to learning from this one and hopefully successfully sleeping through at least one night when we go to Hryum in July! It was great to be a place where we didn't get cell service or the internet. I loved spending the day and night with my girls without anything to do or anywhere to go. I am so excited for our next trip. Thankful that we have time to recover. We all got burned pretty badly thanks to the dumb spray on sunscreen and we all have a ton of bug bites as well! I look forward to the many years of memories to come! I have an awesome little family that thankfully is game to try anything new with me!

Can breathe a little easier now!

2010-05-30T20:44:00.000-07:00

This last month has been quite the mile stone for out little fam! We have 3 potty trained and 5 sleeping through the night! WAHOO! A big reason for going ahead and getting our puppy when we did...speaking of which I don't think i've ever posted a pic...I'll look for one in a minute...is that my life was already so crazy...so why not bring on more crazy and hopefully all at the same time my life will become simplified! Turns out I was so right! We got our puppy as a Christmas present for the girls when Jetta was only 5 weeks old and I was still c-section recovering! It was a crazy time! Within 10 minutes of getting the dog home Thom had to leave for work, all three of my children were crying and the dog was peeing in the corner. I about died that first day! I wasn't expecting it to take nearly 5 months for things to calm down but well things are never really in our perfect time frame are they?!

So within this last month the dog is potty trained! Wahoo! She has finally got it in her head that going potty is NOT ok in the house! This is a fabulous event! She has been such a good dog overall but cleaning up more pee and poop is just not enjoyable! And just fyi Sugar is her name and she is half Scottie and half Yorkie. She is super cute and for the most part we love having a dog!

Little Jetta has definitely been the hardest baby or ours. She did not sleep through the night until she was nearly 6 months old. Now she consistently sleeps through the night which means I get to too! But I mean even not sleeping through the night for so long I just learned to deal. No need for naps anymore...whats the point? For me that is! I just pretended I had slept well and that totally worked until about 8:30 at night when I would just crash hard.

And on to our Paisley girl! She is potty trained! Wahoo! A full 4 months ahead of when Liberty was! She even consistently has a dry diaper after nap and in the morning. I did not expect that much success but hey I'll take it for sure! It took all of 2 days to train her now I can officially buy only 1 set of diapers and wipe only 1 little bum! Soooo nice! I'm so proud of her! She is so determined to be independent in as much as possible which is just such a huge help for mommy!

So life was super crazy for a good 6 months but now I can breath a little easier which makes smiling easier as well as laughing and just simply enjoying life easier! Thanks little ones for getting on board with mommy's big plan :)

Jetta!

2010-05-09T15:27:00.000-07:00

K so she is almost 6 months old? This week she'll be 6 months?! The more kids you have the faster they really do grow up! She is AWESOME in everyway. She is an absolute joy and on most days she makes me want to have another one right away but thankfully logic and the extreme dislike of prenancy and getting cut open helps me to just enjoy what I have now! She is almost sitting up and has been sleeping through the night a lot lately! Isn't she adorable?!!!! Love you Jetta! Thanks for being such a light in my life and being so much fun! When your sisters are screaming or whining or fighting I can always turn to you for a smile and a laugh and a hug!

Service Journal

2010-04-25T14:56:00.001-07:00

I have decided to start recording the acts of service that are done for me. I am not keeping that on here but I will from time to time mention some of the acts. One of my favorites was an older man who was at Ross shopping with his wife. He saw me and the 3 girls in the checkout line and came over. He then blew up two balloons that he just happened to have in his shirt pocket! He made one into a dog and the other was in the shape of a heart. It totally made my girls day! And made the checkout line so much more manageable! Shopping with 3 3 and under is not easy and many times not so fun task and he made it so much better! Thank cute Mr. Oldman! One of my other favorites is when someone holds the door open for me and the girls to come through. It can be tough holding at least one kid in my arms and holding the door open to get all the other kiddos through often to have to need to open another door soon after like when we go to the docs office! Thank you kind strangers who see a mother in major need and help out!

Something we are about to start in our family is a warm fuzzy jar inspired by Pres. Monsons talk "What have I done for someone today?". Each day at dinner we will go around telling one thing of service we did for someone else that day. And as we do we will get to put a warm fuzzy in the jar. And when the jar is full we will have a family reward of some sort! We will put this into action after FHE tomorrow night and I can't wait! I think this is going to be great for our little family!

Painting and Painting and Painting!

2010-03-28T20:51:00.001-07:00

Okay so after doing the girls room I have become sort of obsessed about getting the rest of the house painted. Number one has been the kitchen. So last weekend when my cousin was here for the weekend we got painting the kitchen. Downfall...I really don't like the color! So now I am working on choosing yet another color. But also our walls are OLD! They are bumpy cracked and lumpy. I sand I spackle I sand. And still lumpy and bumpy. So with the girls room I textured. But I'm not in love with the texture so I'm looking for new ways to texture. Any ideas out there? The latest idea is tissue paper texturing but tried it out on an old door...not totally sold either. So yesterday Thom and I began painting our cabinets. I'll post a before and after another time. They are original to the house and therefore lumpy and bumpy as well. We plan to redo the kitchen next year. But they look SO much better than they did. We only had naptime to really do them so we only did the top half of them and plan do the bottom next weekend. We didn't realize how hard it would be to put the doors back up perfectly and put new hardware on straight but it was fun to do together! But now I am TIRED! Paisley's birthday is tomorrow but due to the crazy weekend I am not ready for it yet so we are going to pretend it is on Tuesday instead. She'll never know! Can't beleive its been two years but can't beleive its only been 2 years too!

Everybody video contest

2010-03-22T13:05:00.000-07:00

Okay so those of you who view Tiana's blog...yes I copied her post. She just puts things so great so hey why not copy :) Thanks Tiana! But seriously the song is cool and Melissa is SO talented. Why did I not know she could sing?!

I wanted to post this video for an awesome gal. She is a gal I knew in Virginia and is pretty amazingly talented. She is trying to win this contest.....
Ingrid Michaelson is having a contest for her song Everybody.Now I would not post this video if I didn't love the song and think that it was well done. Melissa Branin is seriously so very talented. She did this awesome video watch it and enjoy. The more views she gets the better her chance is at winning. Enjoy...it really is a great song....Everybody wants to be loved!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xjE4juv76k

The girls bedroom is finished!!!

2010-03-17T09:48:00.000-07:00

Okay last week my mother in law and I attacked the girls room! It was by far the worst room in the house. I should have taken before pics but I always forget to do so! The paint on the ceiling was peeling and chipping in several spots. Cracks all over the walls and ceilings. It was an ugly dull off whitish color. Well with TONS of work and working on it 4 days straight it is finished and awesome! It is the cutest room in the house for sure now! We textured the walls and ceiling by hand, we primed, we painted all the trim and then the walls a pretty yellow. I finished making the curtains. My mom and I made their comforter covers and the flowers are from Stampin Up. They are vinyl flowers that just stick on the walls and they are awesome. I'm going to make Jetta a cute blanket to match the girls blankets and then it'll be offficially done! Super cute though don't you think? Now I just need to do the rest of the house! I can't wait although it is going to b a TON of work!

Hello Again!

2010-03-01T14:57:00.000-08:00

Okay so needless to say I have taken about a 3 month hiatis from this blogging thing. My life has gotten VERY busy with three kids and a puppy and hubbi and house to take care of! I just don't make the time very often to do blogging. But here are a few pictures for updates. We are all doing great! I am handling this increasingly crazy life quite well if I do say so myself! On more days than not I am super thrilled to be a mom of these wonderful girls and I even like the dog on most days! I've gone back to the gym and I LOVE IT! Speaking of which I just forgot to cancel my appt for 30 minutes ago...Paisley threw up last night so I am guessing we aren't well enough to go :( . The girls love Jetta and Sugar (the puppy)! Jetta is a great baby. There was about a month where she was colicky but now she is so pleasant and happy. No she doesn't sleep through the night yet but it'll happen I have no doubt! :) During these past three months me and the girls went to California for two weeks and then to Arizona for one. It was a great break from cooking and cleaning to say the least! We spent time with my parents and my brother and sister in law and cute kiddos in AZ. We are happy to be home and it looks like Utah may actually have an early spring which we are BEYOND thrilled about! Life is genuinely awesome! Oh and having a van is so fabulous! It's so nice to not feel trapped anymore! That is part of the joy for sure! I can't seem to keep up with laundry though but oh well! Maybe someday!

Thom's Play - The Xmas Men

2009-12-18T16:05:00.000-08:00

Okay folks. As many of you know Thom does plays at the Off Broadway Theatre in downtown Salt Lake! He is doing one now called the Xmas Men. SOOO funny! Its a totally family friendly theatre...we take all our kids every time we go. Its Monday, Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30pm except tomorrow they also have a matinee at 2pm! Anyways we highly encourage you to go if you are in the area! Thom gets 2 free comp tickets each night so if you want to go we could possibly get you in for free. Or mention you are with Thom and you will get a ticket discount! Anyways, Thom is just amazing and talented and wonderful and you all are missing out if you have never been to an OBT play! For more info their website is www.theobt.com!

My Girls!

2009-11-29T11:12:00.001-08:00

My mom took Liberty and Paisley to Build a Bear to get them a new critter and to pick out Jetta's bear. My mom has gotten each of my girls a bear when they are infants. Liberty is the only one so far that is OBSESSED with her original bear. We are on bear #4 soon to be #5 because she loves them to their death. Anyways, the girls had a blast and time will tell if Jetta becomes a bearaholic like her oldest sister! So crazy...I have 3 girls! THREE! Seriously so weird but fabulous!

The girls just love their new little sister! Especially Liberty. She is such a little mommy and it is so fun to watch her care for her sisters!

She's coming early!!!!

2009-11-14T17:18:00.000-08:00

Totally unexpectedly my water broke today at 3 so we are now in the hospital waiting for the doc to say he's ready for us! I don't have any contractions really which is nice but just goes to show my body is clueless on how to deliver a baby normally! Hence the reason for the c-sections! We are so excited! I'll post pics soon for sure!

Fall, Our new pet, Halloween and soon to be Jetta!

2009-11-11T07:39:00.000-08:00

Ah the fall in Utah. Our courtyard has many trees that are close to being bare these days. The girls have a blast playing in all the leaves!

Here is our new pet. Thom found a preying mantis on his car at work and caught the bug to bring home to the girls. And the girls are THRILLED with this thing. We do have a new cage for it now and it has been a member of the household for several weeks. The girls love to catch bugs to feed to Charlie. She has now layed eggs in her cage (i think this is repulsive but I am highly outnumbered here!). Luckily the eggs shouldn't hatch until the spring. Hopefully we will have gotten rid of the bug by then!

Ah yes and Halloween. Overall a success! Paisley was a bumblebee. So darn cute! Liberty was a pink Triceratops for the actual day and then wore the giraffe costume for the dinner at Grandmas the following day. Libby is a unique girl in many ways. She LOVES bugs and dinasours just as much if not more than the princessy stuff! And Paisley is trying hard to follow suit in whatever her sister loves! Paisley had 2 bumblebee outfits, they were both so cute I had to get them both! And this year we didn't carve any pumpkins. We got a fun sticker kit and let the girls go at it! They had a blast decorating their pumpkins! And much less clean up!

And now we are down to only 1 week until our new little lady arrives! I have a huge to do list but find myself so exhausted I barely get anything done! I'll post a prego picture soon...I know some have requested such. I feel gigantic but Thom assures me he's seen worse! :)

Silent Auction

2009-11-04T11:58:00.000-08:00

I have a friend from college who is very inspiring to me. She describes herself on her blog as a "Wife to my amazing husband Richard, mother to Evan (4.5), adopted from Ukraine in December 2007; Maren, Lukas and Jacob (4), biological triplets; and Joshua (2), adopted from Uzbekistan in October 2007. We are now working to bring two beautiful little girls from Bulgaria into our family! Join us as we experience all of the ups, downs and in betweens of the roller coaster of raising a family and adopting internationally!"

For the next 2 weeks she is running a silent auction on her blog to raise money to adopt 2 more children. Please go check out her blog, there are amazing items to bid on and all the money goes to help a family adopt some cute kids with special needs!! I bid on a whole bunch of stuff...I couldn't just pick one item. Go check it out! Please help this cute family!!!

A Puppy? but first a house!

2009-10-27T18:52:00.000-07:00

Okay so I suppose I should preface getting a puppy with us buying our first place! We have been renting a 3 bedroom condo in Bountiful Utah since December. We asked the owners if they might be wanting to sell it to us and they said yes! So within the next 3 weeks we will hopefully be closing on this place and then have a new baby! It is an exciting time for us for sure! But our dear sweet daughter Liberty is a smart one! We have been telling her for months that we will someday get a dog but we can't while we live here because we haven't bought it. We will get a dog when we buy a house. Well, the morning we had the offer accepted I told Liberty excitedly..."Guess what Libby? We are buying this house!". She then immediately replies..."Yeah! We are getting a dog!" So the dog hunt has begun. We want to get her and Paisley one for Christmas. Keep in mind I will have a 6 week old baby at this time. I admittedly have NO idea what I am getting myself into. I grew up with retired greyhounds, never puppies. Am I crazy for getting a puppy for Christmas? I want a little dog. I am leaning towards a toy yorkshire terrier or maltese. Or a yorkie poo. Any suggestions? Warnings? Tips? I definitely could use all the help I could get!

The Swine Flu! GRRRR!

2009-10-19T14:24:00.000-07:00

Okay so this swine flu thing is seriously annoying! Apparently the state has quite the wide spread of cases with schools being shut down and nearly half the student body infected. But now they have just made a new rule at the hospitals that no visitors can come in who are under 14. What?! I will be in the hospital for 3 days with my new little lady and her big sisters won't be able to come see me or her at all for those 3 days! That is INSANE! I am very annoyed! Yes I understand their reasonings but I don't really care right now! I am SO excited for Liberty especially to meet her new little sister...she is SO excited about Jetta coming. And now she will have to wait until we come home. The hospital will be so lonely without my girls coming to visit. Paisley is going to struggle having mommy disappear for several days. She is too young to understand why. I am just so sad about this!

My Affair with the Gym

2009-10-07T12:17:00.000-07:00

Okay so this morning I went back to the gym. A month or so ago I was going faithfully every morning before the kiddos woke up and loving every minute of it. Then we went on vacation to Hawaii and it was hard to convince myself to get back. Which is weird cuz once I started going I didn't mind waking up at 5:30 am to go at all! But then the laziness shoots in and convinces me that I am too pregnant to wake up early to go yada yada yada. Well I have 6 weeks from today until Jetta comes. She is tentatively scheduled for November 18th! So I need to make the most out of these six weeks. I really want to recover quickly from this c-section and I want to enjoy my kiddos as much as I can before our world is changed so drastically. And going to the gym first thing in the morning makes SUCH a HUGE difference in my attitude for the day. I am a much happier and nicer mommy for sure. It feels SO good to know that I have already had some me time and done something good for myself in that time. All I am doing is the eliptical for 30 minutes. I go into Gold's cardio cinema (the most amazing place to work out) and watch a bit of a movie before the crazy day begins. It's relaxing and stress free! I was doing light weights too but my back wasn't amused so just cardio for now. Anyways, I just thought I'd share my new love affair!

Halloween AND Christmas?!!!

2009-09-16T11:29:00.001-07:00

Knowing that our little Jetta will be arriving sooo soon (thanksgiving time) I have really gone into pro-active mode. I decided that I would not be up to Christmas shopping after she was born...I do c-sections...the recovery is a drawn out pain! So I sat down a couple weeks ago, made my Christmas shopping list and well for the most part I am DONE! The girls presents are completely bought and I know what I am getting everyone else...for the most part their presents just need to be ordered so no need to shop anymore except for a few odds and ends and stocking stuffers! Wahoo! It feels great to be so ahead of myself! And Halloween?! Done as well! I am LOVING Kid to Kid. If you guys have never been it is a must go for sure! They are all over the country so just look up where your closest one is and go! I got both girls their Halloween costumes there. Liberty is on a real Dinasour kick these days. She LOVES them! So she is a pink dinasour! So cute! And today I successfully found Paisley's costume! She LOVES bugs...that is definitely her thing lately. And her hair fits in these perfect pig tails that look like little antennaes. So after searching far and wide I have found the perfect bug costume. She is going to be the cutest little bumble bee there ever was!!! I am so excited! Thanks Jetta for helping Mommy become so pro-active! I still have much to do to feel like I am ready for this little lady but I am definitly on the right track!

Ah the Mullet

2009-09-06T14:11:00.000-07:00

Recently Thom has really grown out his hair. It was pretty fun to have his long soft thick perfect hair to run my fingers through but it was time to chop it off. So for a week I gave him a Mullet...you know to get back to our roots of Buena Vista Virginia! Lol. It was hideous! We both laughed everytime we looked at it! He kept it for the USA vs El Salvador soccer game last night that he went too and then this morning before church we chopped it off. It is nice to not have the mullet around anymore I admit! I LOVED Buena Vista but the Mullet doo never really grew on me!

Sisters sleeping....together?!

2009-08-11T12:32:00.000-07:00

Okay so last night I went in to check on the girls before I went to bed myself. I was totally surprised when I found this! Since when does Libby choose to sleep in there with Paisley? We just got her a new pink bunk bed and instead of sleeping there she slept with her sister cramped up in the crib! I LOVE that they share a room. They are such good friends because of it. They are often put to bed and stay up for an hour or so giggling and playing together! I LOVE IT! And I love them! We'll see who ends up in the crib when little Jetta comes!

Family Hawaii Photos

2009-08-10T14:22:00.000-07:00

Founders of the Stansfield Family!

Everyone together! This has never happened! Our last reunion Steve was in Iraq...this time he was home on a 2 week leave from Iraq and all kiddos are born with the exception of Jetta who may very well be one of the last to join the family!

All the adults! What's so fun about this family is they really make you feel like an original Stansfield even though you're an in-law! Thanks everyone for giving me the best family ever! I've always wanted to be part of a big family!

All the grandkids!

Super cute Daddy and Libby!

Us gazing out into the beautiful ocean!

Oh so much fun! We miss Hawaii and everyone SO much!

Hawaii

2009-08-07T09:12:00.001-07:00

The view we woke up to every morning! Thom's parents live in Kaaawa and live only 1 house away from the beach itself! The very first morning we were there we took the kayaks out and kayaked out past the reef and back. We were looking for turtles which Thom saw but I didn't actually get to see any.

Me and the girls at Kahana beach our last day there. We went there 2 days, the first day we kayaked over the waves and rode them in. So fun! The second day we kayaked up the Kahana river which is SO beautiful and peaceful. The girls even came with us on that one!

My fabulous mother-in-law who fed us like kings and queens all week! It was the best week of eating! This pic shows her bringing Kalua pork and rice and oragnes and beys (asian pears) to us at the beach for lunch. Man we've been home since tuesday and I am just so hungry...I miss her fabulous cooking!

The girls plaing in the Kayak! Allie is up front, then Mattilyn and Paisley and Libby. They all had a blast together!

Hawaii was FABULOUS! I will only post a few pics today since most of mine are on Thom's computer. But oh wow was it a wonderful vacation! Hawaii is a PERFECT place for in-laws to live! The family reunion was awesome! Everyone got along really well and I don't think anyone was ready to leave after the week and a half of being together non-stop! We went to the beach, we kayaked a river, and the ocean (so hard but SO much fun!). We played games, we snorkeled, we shopped, we watched the family surf...being prego I couldn't surf, Thom tried a couple times but I can't wait to try to do it again! My first time going to Hawaii my father-in-law had me take surfing lessons and it was AWESOME! So I am eager to try it out again...maybe next time we go?! THANK YOU TONS Mom and Dad for the best vacation EVER! That should mean a lot considering we were with tons of family that could have fought a lot and made it not so fun but we all loved every minute of it! THANK YOU!~

Hawaii here we come!

2009-07-21T09:12:00.000-07:00

This week we are getting ready for a FABULOUS family reunion in Hawaii! It really is wonderful to have in-laws that live in Hawaii! This will be our 3rd time going since we've been married, 2nd time for me 5 months pregnant which isn't ideal but it will still be fabulous! We can't wait!

Liberty's 3rd birthday is tomorrow! We have actually celebrated twice already so I am thinking we may not even do anything on her actual day. I have a huge list of things to do before we go so not doing a big birthday again would be nice but we will see! And despite no post about it Paisley has turned one...several months ago! I was just getting super sick when it happened so...we'll update posts later! But for now HAWAII here we come!!! wahoo! We leave Friday and we can't wait!

It's A .......

2009-07-02T19:03:00.000-07:00

GIRL! Yes it is true our 2 little princesses will be joined by another one this November! We just had the Ultrasound today and she is super healthy, a week ahead schedule, extremely active and definitely feminine! Liberty was right. She has been convinced that this baby was a girl from practically day one. Our little baby Jetta! Yes that will be her name, yes just like the car, or if you are a Clifford fan on PBS like the little girl that is named Jetta. We told Liberty awhile ago that if the baby was a girl that we are thinking of naming her Jetta and it has totally stuck with her! She says hi and and is so excited about her baby sister Jetta daily. We are thrilled. This means I can continue painting the world pink! Yay! This does mean however we are not done with 3 little Stansfields running around...we need a prince eventually for our little ladies and for the King to pass on his thrown!

Pictures!

2009-06-24T20:19:00.000-07:00

K so last saturday the girls and I went up to Provo in the morning to get some pictures taken for Father's Day. Our fabulous photographer was my cousin Calista and she did a fabulous job! Here are just a few of her pics. We have TONS more too! Anyone ever need a photographer in Utah I know of a great one! (not bad pricing wise too!) Thanks Calista! I think you captured the girls perfectly!

The Camping Story

2009-06-18T11:26:00.001-07:00

Above is little Paisley who found our role of paper towels and was entertained for quite a bit with them in the car! That was the beginning of the car trip though... Ah camping. It was overall a positive experience but there were definite rough parts for sure! It took us 8 hours to get there mostly due to both girls yes BOTH girls threw up in the car within in seconds of each other. To get to Lake Powell we have to go through a canyon or two. And apparently our girls get car sick. Ewe so gross and the car still smells. Thom was so wonderful to clean it all up with hopes that Mommy wouldn't throw up too which I did before we left that morning. We finally get to the campsite at 10 pm and thankfully our tent was already set up by our favorite camping buddies Calista and Brandon (my cousin and her hubbi). Paisley thought this was all fabulous but Libby wasn't so sure and pretty nervous that night. We brought the pack-n-play for Paisley and that didn't work at all so she ended up sleeping in between us on the surprisingly hard sand.

The next morning Libby had a fever so we packed us all into the car, went to Denny's for breakfast and then to Walmart for some medicine. Technically we brought breakfast for us to eat out in the wild but well...we are new at this whole camping thing and when Denny's was only 10 minutes away! That day we tried out the water...Libby hated it...it was pretty cold...Paisley loved it. She cared not that it was pretty cold. So Libby played on the sand for most of the day while Paisley and I played in the water for a bit. Naps and camping are not possible. The tents are way too hot. I think that day we went to Walmart again for something and that is when they both got a bit of a nap.

After I finally got to get to a real bathroom to get cleaned up and showered I realized how prego I look and felt bad wearing the tankini I did instead of my maternity suit...I just hate prego clothes So that is the excuse for the suit!

That day Thom went out on the boat with some of the other young adults and jumped off a 40 foot cliff...oh wait i mean DOVE off the cliff...entered the water a tad crooked and burst his right ear drum! In the picture below Danny is standing on the cliff thom dove off of. If I was on the boat I hope he would have been a bit smarter but who knows! So he was in a ton of pain for the rest of the trip. We went to the doc when we got home...he now has an infection and is in even more pain. Ah men.

We got to go in the boat too for a bit. Due to pregnancy I got to miss out on all the fun...sigh...but the girls seemed to like the boat...Paisley fell asleep almost immediatley which was exactly what she needed...camping and naps...just not a good combo. And my kids, well Paisley especially depend on naps for survival!

The rest of the trip was pretty fun. Danny, Thom's brother, and his wife and 2 little girls (same age as ours) came down for a day and that was SO much fun! My camera battery died so I don't have pics of them sadly! But that day that Allie was there was the happiest Libby was the whole trip! They stayed in Thom's Uncle's house boat and we all got to go there for an afternoon nap which was fabulous! At night we eventually got our air mattress filled and me and the girls took it over while poor Daddy had to sleep on the floor. He is so wonderful! My brother Nick and his fiance Casey were there and Nick and Paisley discovered a bond over food. Which is the quickest way into our little ladies heart!

The trip was fun overall but it did have it's challenges. We borrowed all the camping stuff so we will see if we do it again. I would say an over nighter would be our limit for a while and preferrable not on sand? Less bugs I am sure but very intrusive and the bathrooms? Well we had glorified porta potties sort of close by and a cold shower spicket thing even further which I never embraced...I would like a tad more civilization next time but hey we did it! We survived and if you ask Libby today she would say that she loved it so that counts for something!

It's Official...By the end of November we will have...

2009-06-16T07:06:00.000-07:00

ANOTHER BABY! Anyone else shocked? I am 16 1/2 weeks and am just barely accepting that this is a reality! It was planned mostly but still...3 kids 3 and under?! Some days I wonder what in the world we were thinking! And then I remember...oh yeah...free baby...but still can I handle all this?! So from breaking my wrists we maxed out all of our medical deductibles...I called the insurance company and asked if hypothetically I got pregnant if that would seriously be all covered. The answer was yes...they would pay for it all as long as there wasn't anything 'not covered'. We won't get any bills until Christmas soooo...we will see how free this one is but it was enough incentive to get prego immediately. PLUS....the baby will be born right before the end of the year and that means an even bigger tax return that will be financing a van for us since all we have is a lil car...3 car seats can fit but it's a tight sqeeze for sure! Overall we are very excited! Now that I know you love your others as much as your first I can't wait to hold this little one in my arms. People say 3 kids is the hardest but I am not really nervous. I think it will bring my girls closer and Paisley will probably do better than Libby did since she has Libby. I didn't announce it until now just to make sure this baby was going to stick around after all. I had an appt yesterday and things are great! I still feel kinda crappy and am worried about feeling this way the whole pregnancy but whatever. It is what it is. I'll update on our camping trip but just imagine being pregnant...camping in the sand...no showers...2 kids...a hubbi in pain the whole trip...

We are going Camping!

2009-06-10T06:18:00.000-07:00

Today we leave for Lake Powell for the weekend. We are camping. Camping? I know nothing about camping. All girls camp every taught me was that it was nice to have cabins. So wish us luck! I'm hoping it's a blast and not TOO much work so that we can do this again and again as a little fam but we shall see!

New TV rules

2009-06-08T12:18:00.000-07:00

Okay so we did 1 week with the TV being broken. It was fabulous! With it being broken Libby never complained because the situation was out of all of our control supposedly. Sunday we let her watch 2 Jesus videos...they are like 20 minutes long. And we saw exactly why we got rid of the TV in the first place. She went from happy peaceful Libby to whiny irritable Libby within minutes of the shows being over. We decided then and there that we needed to decide what to do about TV. So we had a family meeting that night and made a new rule. She can only watch TV right before bed. Then it won't matter that she is awnry because she will be going to bed. She can watch 1 movie or 2 shows before bed and that is it. So far its been pretty good. Knowing that the TV isn't broken however is a struggle for her so throughout the day she asks for it and whines a bit. I'm hoping soon she will just know that TV is a just before bed thing and no long ask for it at other times. Anyways...just thought I'd give an update! It's kinda weird...I feel like a much better mom now! I spend more time with my kids cuz they aren't plugged in front of the TV forever and we now have a good solid rule! Yay!

Day1 of No TV...

2009-05-26T19:54:00.000-07:00

Okay so I have been wanting to do this for a while and finally did it...the TV is unplugged which means the TV is broken. Sadly yes me telling my 2 year old that the TV is broken is a bit of a white lie but man did it really work well. If it was just me saying...no Liberty...we are not going to watch any TV today...she would have not done well. There would be whining for sure. But today instead we just kept saying that maybe when Daddy gets home he could fix it. Then when Daddy got home he took so much excitement that there were no more requests for TV before bed time.

At first it was a little difficult. They usually watch some TV in the morning while I get dressed and do dishes and hopefully put on some makeup and do my hair. But this morning they were there with me the whole time. So I got dressed but that was it. However the day was wonderful. Liberty was much happier. She seems to get snootier and grumpier that longer she watches. But it's just such an easy fix. When she is sad she wants comfort by watching a show. When there seems to be not much else to do she wants TV. It's gotten to the point where almost the second we get in the house or down the stairs in the morning she wants it on. Even when she has little friends over to play they will go play while she demands a show. Yes...I could say no and often do especially when there are buddies to play with but it's a fight. Today was just pleasant. She happily helped me wash dishes. She happily helped me with dinner. So we are going to have one more day at least of the 'broken' TV. After that I hope to be able to chat with her and make some good ground rules of how much TV is aloud per day. I can't decide if I should make a rule about the number of shows are the time frame. This will be hard. It's easier to not have it then have it a little so we will see! Wish us luck and any words of wisdom would be great!

PONIES

2009-05-23T21:04:00.000-07:00

My babies are riding ponies! We went to Wheeler Farm recently and we can never pass up the pony rides. We weren't planning on Paisley riding but the guy assumed and charged us for it so hey who would pass it up? Aren't they adorable?!

Routine...I'd like one...you got one?

2009-05-06T15:14:00.000-07:00

Okay so from watching shows like Super Nanny I have learned that kids really do well with structure. I've been wanting to get a good structured routine but my 'perfectionism' fears failure so I assume I will fail so why even try. Yes...not a healthy mentality for sure! So I really would like to try out a good routine but I would love ideas! Do any of you have a good routine? How do you keep tv time limited? Do your kids ever play on their own? I am itching to learn! I really want my kiddos to be healthy well rounded kids. I know know know that we do way too much TV and I know a good structured day would help us cut down. The warm weather helps too in all honesty but I still desire some structure. Please help me / us!

The ins and the outs...

2009-04-28T09:06:00.000-07:00

I truly admire my friends who have the guts to post what real life is like. Meanwhile I haven't posted in weeks cuz my life is just seriously challenging these days and I don't have much bliss to write about. I am just in total survival mode lately. There is not a lot of joy in my world right now. Liberty seemed to hit a new level lately. Her whining has elevated monumentally. Why? She used to be such a happy go lucky girl. Is it something I did or didn't do? Is she acting out to get my attention? And yet when she acts out I either ignore or try to discipline immediately hoping to solve this whiny problem. I feel like she doesn't like me much these days. We used to be buddies and now we are just co-existing it seems. All of the girls are sick right now. No one is getting much sleep. The house is a disaster and just smells extremely musty these days and yet I just don't have the energy to try to fix it all. The laundry isn't done, the dishes are piling up, every room needs a major clean and I just can't bring myself to tackle much of anything. I'm tired and frustrated and often catch myself wishing for days of old or for days in the future...which I know I will regret. These are supposed to be fabulous days with little ones around right? My hubbi is forced to fend for himself most of the time and so all in all I feel I am missing the boat. I just want to sleep most of the time...which i don't of course. I hope things will get better soon once we feel all healthy again. I have been sick for weeks and I am just done with it already! I want a break...my ideal mothers day present would be a weekend alone...and yet I feel terribly guilty for saying that. And yet this is the life I always wanted. So what is my deal!? I should be the happiest girl in the world. Sigh... Hopefully I will post of bliss next.

What to do with Shy Children

2009-04-02T16:01:00.000-07:00

So my cousins posted this on her blog and it is seriously helpful for me since Libby and I both fall under the shyness category! I thought all mothers out there could benefit from this!

Alright, next item for contemplation.

Our professor has specialized in studying shy children. He's done some great breakthrough research and found some very interesting things.

First, shy kids aren't just "shy," or don't just decide to be "shy." They are physiologically programmed with more cortisol in their bodies. Cortisol is the stress hormone, and most "normal" people have lots of cortisol in stressful situations (scary movies, big papers due, talk in church, sick family, first date, ect), but have only small amounts everyday. Shy kids have the same amount of cortisol in their body when they wake up in the morning (not stressed) that "normal" people have in a scary movie (stressed). Because shy kids have more cortisol, stresses that "normal" people face are incredibly overwhelming for these people.

So telling a shy kid to stop being shy is like telling a tall person to stop being tall. They can't. Their bodies are programmed a certain way, and its not like they can just "snap out of it" and be "normal."

Now, everyone has shy tendencies, but there are a few people who might read this and think, "Hey that explains a lot. It is so hard for me to go on a date or sit by someone new at church or order pizza by myself, and I've always felt different because of that."

Second, there are two types of parenting that are absolutely horrible for shy kids. First is the parent who says, "Just snap out of it!" by arranging situations where their child has to sink or swim. These parents essentially throw their kids into a lake to teach them to swim. I'm pretty sure that everyone can understand why that would be bad. But you can also understand the parent, if they don't know that their child's physiology is that way, they could understandable think that a "rude awakening" is all it'll take to make their shy kid "normal."

The second kind of parenting is even worse than the first one, and its summed up in one word, "Overproctecting." You as a parent see your child struggle and think, "Well, this is obviously bad for them and they're not ready for school/primary/talks so they won't do those things." And then the parent removes the child from school, Primary classes, arranges so they won't have talks or oral presentations at any time. These parents take a child with a physiological problem and exacerbate it. These are the parents of one of our Primary kids. She's shy, but is adjusting to our class, and then the parents poke their head in to the class to say "I'm going to get a drink" and then their daughter gets scared that her parents are leaving her and cries. Because of this I have a huge speil about overprotective parents. Don't do it. I know thats easier said than done since I don't have my own children, but I see what it does. I know what the research says. A two year old child who exhibits shy or reticent tendencies, coupled with an overprotective parent, always always always displays those same tendencies, but stronger, at age 4. And by age 4, the peer group discriminates against the shy child.So you ask, how do you parent a shy child?The answer is with a lot of baby steps and patience. A two year old with reticent tendencies or an inhibited temperament can learn how to manage their shyness with a parent that works with them, not for them. Parents who invite children over to their home to play in their child's comfort setting instead of sending their child to another kids house to play, or who say "I know the slide is scary, but I'll go down it with you" or "I'll hold your hand as you go down." Parenting that establishes a secure base for the child, that the child always knows that their parents are there to help them, not do it for them.As the child gets older, have them do things like give talks in Primary. Practice it with them the week leading up, and then stand with them and whisper it into their ear. If they don't do it, let them know that they can do it, and that you expect them to do it since you know they can. You have to expect them to do it, don't let them back down, but don't let them do it alone. Gradually, stop whispering in their ear and make them read it off a paper with you standing next to them. Then have them read it with you sitting behind them. Then you sit in the middle of the room. Then you stand in the back of the room. Gradually your child will learn how to manage their stress and fear because they know you expect them to, but that you will help them.Also, when you go to a restaurant, have them tell the waiter/waitress their order alone. Don't order for them. Before the waiter comes, practice with the child what they need to say several times. Then let them do it. When you're at the grocery store, have them give the card or money to the check-out clerk. Teach them slowly that they can do these seemingly inconsequential things.So, those are the parenting strategies to think about.The other important thing to remember is that kids are born with this, and it never goes away. A two year old child with high levels of cortisol will grow to be a 23 year old woman with high levels of cortisol. Shy kids who aren't given the parenting they need, or who don't learn to manage their fear and stress are often rejected from the peer group. Even shy kids who do learn how to manage their stress can be rejected from the peer group. Thats one thing that life (and this class) has taught me, that the peer group is the harshest thing in a person's life.Anyway, its another thing to think about.

My Fabulous Husband

2009-03-30T09:42:00.000-07:00

I so often forget to even mention my fabulous husband. Kids are just so easy to put all the focus into. But I just wanted to brag about my hubbi for a second. Here are a few things that make him truly fabulous:

1 So supportive...if i wanted to learn how to scuba dive or fly fish or anything else in the world he would totally tell me to go for it and support me 100%

2 Our girls absolutely adore him. They are total Daddy's girls and Daddy is truly their best friend.

3. Always complimentative...tells me i look great daily as well as making sure he tells our girls how pretty and special they are every day. He is also good at telling strangers that he likes their shoes or dress or whatever...he is very good with girl shoes and lets them know when he likes them...he often points out to me what shoes someone is wearing!

4. Works so hard...and he is loyal and dependable. BaseCamp Franchising is so lucky to have him work for them because of these traits...luckily we feel the same way about him being employed by them.

5. Will go out at midnight to get me something I am really itching for...especially when I am prego but he is good about doing that all the time no matter what...i just try hard not to abuse it!

These are just a few of the things that I love about him. I am SO lucky to have him in my life and I know our girls are the luckiest in the world to have such an amazing Daddy who will help them have such awesome self esteem that all girls need.

Uptown Cheapskate

2009-03-11T12:54:00.000-07:00

http://www.uptowncheapskate.com/

Uptown Cheapskate is more than a fashion exchange concept. It is an attitude, a personality, and an art form. Uptown Cheapskate empowers individuals to express themselves using brand name fashions and modern style without the typical price tag. The concept is simple really: we buy and sell your favorite brands at prices that everyone can get excited about. We’re not trying to change the world; just offer an exciting new way to shop it. (off their website)

The company Thom works for just opened a new and completely awesome store! It's called Uptown Cheapskate and it is high end consignment clothes for teens / young adults. Thoms boss just gave him and I an awesome store credit there as a bit of a bonus and we went there on a date saturday. It was truly fabulous! I got a pair of jeans that fit perfectly (which is hard to do cuz i need longer than average ones), a pair of knee lenght jean shorts, a dress...5 shirts, 2 pairs of shoes, a bracelet and a purse. It was totally amazing and the only way you can tell its 'used' clothing is that there is no 2 things a like there. But other than that it is purely amazing high quality stuff for a small price! I LOVE this place and highly recommend it to you all! It is just around the corner from the Gateway on 200 south and i promise you will not be disappointed! Oh and if you don't live in Utah check their website for other locations around the US!!!

The End and the Beginning!

2009-03-05T15:05:00.000-08:00

So my difficult experience of having broken wrists is over...for the most part anyway! The doc gave me the green light to pick up my precious chubby baby Paisley! Oh what a relief! I missed her SOOO much and I dare say the feeling was mutual! The doc said to not lift anything heavier but well...I'm struggling to obey...although after lifting my keyboard and bench today my wrists are pretty sore so I will work on obeying more. Can I just say again...what a relief! It seemed like such a long dark tunnel at times. It was hard to think that someday I would be able to do as much as I am capable of doing today but thankfully my wrists are doing great and the girls and I are on our own for the first time in 6 weeks. Thank you again to all who have helped us SO much! My mom came out for a week and a half. My mother-in-law came out for 3 1/2 weeks and my fabulous sister-in-law Lindsay came with her girls for a week. My other sister-in-law Kerrilyn babysat me and the girls whenever she was needed at the drop of a hat which was SO appreciated as well! Although feeling frustrated that we had to be babysat it was absolutely fabulous to have so much company for so long! We were sad to see each of them go and miss them all a ton. Here are just a few pics from our fun with our most recent company:

Pay it Forward

2009-03-02T20:32:00.000-08:00

Here's the game. The first three people to comment on this post get a prize from me. Maybe it will be handmade, maybe it will be a treat, but you will receive a package in the mail from me very soon.Now, here's the catch.You must to be willing to "Pay it Forward." You will also need to send a treat to three people who comment on your blog. So comment away!!

Our New Living Room!!!!!

2009-02-23T13:45:00.000-08:00

Okay my mother-in-law is AMAZING! She is in so many ways but especially in designing. She came in December to help my brother-in-law put together his new place....he just bought an awesome condo downtown Salt Lake. She did an incredible job! Way better than most design shows I have scene and I have seen a ton of them! So we asked her to come and help us do our living room. Admittedly I assumed we would do a few pillows...maybe a rug but oh no it was so much more and absolutely awesome!!! Our place is finally our home. For the first time in our married life we really have a home...a place we LOVE to come home too! I tried to take panarama pictures of the place...I just don't think they do it justice so I will probably post some more pictures soon. Thank you SOOO much Mom for your amazing work! We LOVED having you with us and can't wait to see you again! We sure miss you! Click on the panaromas for a better effect! Oh and thank you so much Mom for helping the broken time seem to fly by. You brought something amazing and beautiful and peaceful to me and to our family in a time of hardship which could have been weeks and weeks of depression! I LOVE you mom!!!

Still broken and trying to not cry about it...

2009-02-16T17:17:00.000-08:00

K it will be 5 weeks tomorrow from when I broke both my wrists. Hopefully by 6 weeks the doc will say I am 100% but who knows. I have made a lot of improvement. Such as typing this...going to the bathroom alone...changing my own clothes...doing my own hair and makeup......all of this is not done easily and without pain but it can be accomplished. I still can't pick up my baby though. It is heart wrenching when she cries and all i can do is pat her head and give her a kiss. The statements have come out ... close to $15,000. No idea how much our insurance will cover...I am hoping for half but who knows. Physical Therapy copays alone are killing us. We just moved...we haven't fully unpacked yet...our monthly bills went up hundreds upon hundreds of dollars with our move...our budget was VERY tight and now we will have medical bills to pay on top of it all. I have definitely shed some tears over the subject today. I've been pretty good about not asking the famous question of "Why Me?" but today I simply wonder....why me? And yet I would not wish this on anyone else for sure so then why not me. It is going to be a tough year financially. I was hoping to get pregnant again this year at some point but I don't know if we will be able to afford it...is that wrong? Sorry if this sounds a bit whiny but I do feel better getting it off my chest some.
Thank you Moms for all of your help! And thank you Dads for letting them come. And Thank you Kerrilyn for your help. And thank you Lindsay for coming to help soon! I love you all!

Ouch and Happy Birthhday

2009-01-19T13:30:00.000-08:00

Thoms bday was tuesday. . . the Big 30. I had this fab surprise for us to go skiing or snowboarding and let him pick. So he chose snowboarding and we signed up for lessons. Tuesday morning we dropped the kids off at my aunt's and headed up to Sundance. The first thing Thom says as we get out of the car is, "Let's make a pact that neither one of us go to the hospital today." I commented, "OK, that means you, you're the daring one." Our lessons started at 10:00, and almost immediately they take us up the chair lift. Within 45 minutes and half-way down the mountain the first time, I fall and break both of my wrists. We spent the rest of the day in the hospital in pain. Thom says that he enj0yed spending the day with just me for his birthday, even though it was in the emergency room. Wednesday night I had surgery on both wrists and cannot do anything that requires hands, basically, anything for two weeks. Hopefully after these casts come off I won't need help going to the bathroom. This really bites but with the help of my husband, mom, the ward and hopefully my mother-in-law, I will survive.

Cheap but Yummy Food

2009-01-06T12:06:00.000-08:00

Okay so I will do Christmas pictures eventually but with our new move comes a tightening of the belt and I am just itching to find cheap yummy recipes. I know each of you have at least one you can think of off the top of your head and I am very eager to receive them! So please give me some yummy cheap ideas. And I will even donate one for you all:

Townsend Special
(named after Thom's companion Elder Townsend you introduced Thom to this)

2 packages of ramen (any flavor)
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 can of tuna

Directions: cook the noodles...drain the water out.
Add the mushroom soup and a can of milk to it...cook until soup is warm
Add the can of drained tuna and enjoy! We like to put half of a packet of ramen flavoring in it as well as some pepper

This is super cheap and yummy...adding vegetables of any kid would be a great addition too!

We moved!!!!!!!!!1

2008-12-24T12:21:00.001-08:00

Oh thank goodness moving is over! What a pain and right before Christmas! But it is done with for the most part. Unpacking has started...another few days and it'll be done! My parents come into town tonight! Yay!!!! We can't wait! We have a countdown calendar to Christmas and so each day we count down to Christmas and Grandma and Grandpa Jo coming. Libby is by far more excited for Grandma Jo to come than for Christmas but I know she will LOVE LOVE LOVE Christmas morning. She is at an age that she will really really love the presents. We LOVE our new place. It has it's pros and cons but overall it is just awesome. It is SOOO much bigger than our last home. Libby and I spent an hour running around the new place today since i cleared enough space off the floors to finally do so! Merry Christmas everyone! I am thinking I might send out New Years cards but if not...Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Potty Training Update!

2008-12-16T12:21:00.000-08:00

Okay so the first 3 days of potty training were rough...all accidents...no successes. But I have heard it can be really rough so I just kept with it and day 4 well...wallah! She was dancing around...she had learned the feeling of needing to pee and I told her to go sit on the potty...she did and....success! From that point on she has had 2 accidents and that is all in 6 days! She is SO proud of herself and loves to hear mommy and daddy tell her how proud we are of her! Yay Libby! She even wakes up from her naps dry. Night time is not dry but mommy had issues until she was 4 so I really don't expect her to have complete overnight success for a long time...if she does that would be great but if not well that is only 1 diaper a day...that will save us tons of money and pain! I am down to just one child in a diaper! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Libby being potty trained...us moving into our own place above ground....these are some of the best Christmas presents ever!!!

Pictures with Santa and Temple Square

2008-12-13T18:33:00.001-08:00

Last night we went to Temple Square to see the lights for the first time since we have moved here! It was just as beautiful as I remembered from a kid! Then this morning we got to have breakfast with Santa and Mrs. Claus at the church! I didn't get a Santa picture last year...I just knew he would terrify Libby so much that I just didn't think it was worth the tears. But well...this year we did it anyway. Libby was close to tears...she just fears men and men with facial hair especially! And Paisley is the same way. She was fine with Mrs. Claus but then she took one look at who was next to her and just lost it! So sad but then the pain was over and everyone was happy again. In the other picture is Libby's friend Marzena! We will miss her when we move next saturday. 1 more week and they we will be living above ground! I am SOOO excited!

CAMEL!!!!!!!!!!

2008-12-12T10:23:00.000-08:00

Okay so I forgot to put up the most important pictures of Arizona!!!! We are so proud of Libby and Allie for being SO brave!

Crazy Christmas!

2008-12-10T19:18:00.001-08:00

We are moving!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is seriously such an exciting event despite the fact that we are moving on the 20th of December! I can't set up for Christmas here because we would just have to take it down so its pretty crazy. We found a great townhouse in Bountiful with a great price...no we are not buying we are renting. After going to Arizona for thanksgiving we decided that we are not sure we like Utah enough to buy a house here right away so we are going to test the waters living above ground in Utah and then decide if we want to buy. We have been living in my Grandparents basement apartment since we moved to Utah which has been amazing but it is time to get our own place and as I said before move above ground. I might not mind the snow if I can watch it fall. :) We signed the papers today and I packed my first boxes! Yay! We are so excited but it will be seriously crazy packing everying up and then unpacking as fast as possible to get the place ready for not only Christmas but my parents are coming to town Christmas Eve and I invited my grandparents for Christmas Eve dinner and events as well. In the end this is going to be a great thing for our little family. We'll have more room...there will be a pool for the summer months!...and I'll have bigger windows! Needless to say there will not be Christmas cards going out after all. We did get pictures for them as you can see but I just don't see that I will make the time to send them out...we'll see...anyway...Merry Christmas everyone!

The Best Vacation We Have Ever Had!

2008-12-07T18:56:00.000-08:00

Okay so for Thanksgiving we went to Thom's brother Danny and wife Lindsays house. I am sooooo not lying when I say that this is the best vacation we have ever had as a little family! It was SOOO much fun! And it's not due to doing amazingly expensive exotic things. It's due to who we were with. Libby and Allie had a total blast together. Before Allie moved they often were thrilled to see each other but then they soon began to fight and it just wasn't much fun for anyone anymore. But they were awesome together! They played all day every day and only had 2 to 3 quarrels a day usually over Allie's baby doll for some reason. It was really quite the vacation from parenting. And it was so much fun to see Libby so happy. She just LOVES her favorite cousin and best friend Allie. The adults enjoyed chatting and eating together but most of all Rockband on the Wii was the greatest entertainment! Thom totally rocked the singing. He was seriously AWESOME and I'm not just saying that because he's my hubbi. We all tooked turns on the drums and guitars and singing (I failed out so fast on the singing...so sad!). Rockband is now at the top of Thom's wish list. Below are all of the tons of pictures from the vacation. The highlight for the girls was riding the camel and the Phoenix zoo which is seriously the most awesome zoo! I mean riding a camel? How cool is that? Libby learned a ton from her older cousin. She learned about princess dressup! And brushing your teeth with flouride toothpaste and somehow Libby came home saying 'i don't want to'...Allie...did you teach her this? :) Besides rockband the highlight was by far the food. Thom's parents came from Hawaii and man is his mom a serioulsy great cook! Thank you SO much mom for the pounds we put on! Every bite was SO worth it! :)

This is Paisley and Allies little sister Lily. They had a ton of fun together too! Lily is SO adorable! She is sooo smiley and I don't think I have a picture of her not smiling. I love you Lily Lou and I miss you So much!

Turkey Forks! So creative and so cute Mom!

HELP!!! I'm trying to potty train.

2008-12-05T14:01:00.000-08:00

Okay seriously this is just so not fun. How does one potty train? Please I need all the tips, tricks, and stories that I can get. Its been 3 days of panties...she happily sits on the potty when I ask her too...no successes...4 accidents. So seriously how do I do this?!

2 days until ALLIE

2008-11-25T08:59:00.000-08:00

We are SOOO excited for thanksgiving! We are going to Arizona to be with Tom's brother Danny and wife Lindsay and kids Allie and Lily! They moved from utah in June...so sad! We miss them so much! Allie is Libby's most favorite person in the world! They were the best of friends and it has been so sad when she talks about Allie to have to tell her we cant see her cuz she moved! Well for a week now she has talked about seeing Allie and going to Allie's house and sleeping at Allie's house. We borrowed a Land Before Time movie (not sure what number it is) and one of the new dinasours is named Allie and Libby wants to watch it daily and I'm convinced its because there is an Allie in the movie. 2 more days! Yay! Although I am slightly worried that they will be so happy to see each other for the first little bit and then fight the rest of the time. They are so funny that way. The are so thrilled to see each other until someone has a toy the other one wants and then its fighting time. Either way we can't wait to spend time with this fun family as well as Grandma and Grandpa Stansfield who are coming from Hawaii!!! As well as Uncle Nate and sort of Aunt Elise that are coming from Utah too! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDSAY! It's her birthday today and we can't wait to celebrate with her in 2 days!!! Love you tons Lindsay! Thanks so much for letting us come crash at your house for the HOliday!\

oh and below is (left to right) Libby, Lily, Paisley and Allie (kind of a tongue twister when you say them all together like that!)

Remember When

2008-11-23T13:54:00.000-08:00

Do you remember when?
Here are the rules.

1. As a comment on my blog, leave a memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember! If we're only blogging friends or if you're a blog hopper who happens upon my blog regularly...leave me a comment. There must be reason you keep stopping by! Say something! If you don't have a blog or don't know how to sign in, sign up for an account! You won't regret it!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog (if you have one) and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty fun to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll be sure to write one about you... either on your blog, in my comment box, or I will email you back!

Pictures

2008-11-18T18:20:00.000-08:00

Okay so in my mind I had this seriously cute picture in mind of Libby and Paisley together smiling happily. I thought well to get pictures taken you go to a studio so lets go! We went with a friend and her little girl and well it was the hardest and worst experience of parenting thus far. Libby threw a gigantic kicking and screaming tantrum (which is really not her) and it was just horrible. What do you do when your child has lost it...the other child needs you...and you can't leave cuz you came with someone? Needless to say the dream picture I had did not happen so instead I took a picture of Libby and got a free one of Paisley that was so super cute. So here they are. Libby is 2 and Paisley is 5 1/2 months in the pic. She is now almost 8 months....can you beleive it? Time really starts to fly by when you have 2 kids.

Oh and here is my family picture from our trip to California. I actually did a lot of photoshopping to it. Can you tell? Please be honest!

Thank You

2008-11-12T20:09:00.000-08:00

K so I'm sitting here watching the CMA Awards and well country music is just awesome. It can really peirce your soul. Carrie Underwood sang "This is Just a Dream" and it just brought me to tears and I just wanted to tell every single human being who has ever served in the United States of America's Armed forces...

THANK YOU!

This country truly is the greatest on earth even with all its faults. And I am SO proud to be an american! To be in the military is so not easy. I've heard stories. I've dreamed of the possibilities...and I just want to again say thank you to all who serve and have served. I tell Thom he's not in the Army cuz I couldn't handle it. I go crazy sometimes when he is home 30 minutes late and the girls are screaming and I just need some help. All the men and women who give their spouses to the armed forces are amazing and I truly admire what you do. Especially thank you Dad Stansfield and Steve Koch. It was not until I married into this amazingly patriotic family that I could be choked up by the singing of the National Anthem and cry watching the CMA awards. Thank you for your example and for your love for this amazing place I have the priveledge to call home.

Let it Snow Let it Snow Let it Snow

2008-11-10T13:46:00.000-08:00

Last winter was a long hard winter. It snowed so many many times and I had a little lady who just did not know how or understand how to play in the snow. Well this winter is going to be SO much better! Bring on the snow! It snowed last week and Libby LOVED LOVED LOVED it! She was out there all day pretty much and every day since then she asks if there is snow. We made a snow man and a snow pig!

She loved to dive into it, crawl around in it and most of all eat it! I just love this girl and I am so looking forward for the next snow!

First Kiss

2008-11-06T20:25:00.000-08:00

Is this just not so cute? And disturbing at the same time? But hey they are 2 and 3 so no harm done right? And like many of you parents out there we like to joke that these cute friends are betrothed but we will see what their opinions are of each other later in life. Okay so on actual Halloween we went up to Provo to trick or treat with our buddies at Helaman Halls at BYU. Jamie (Pinnock) Miller, hubbi Andrew and so cute kids Joseph and Grace are some of our most favorite people. They lived across the hall from us in Virginia...we were there when Joseph was born...there when they got the positive pregnancy test of Joseph...and they have been there for us through it all too! Anyway...aren't these guys the cutest? Grace totally stole the show this year in ultimate cuteness and receiving the most oohs and ahhs from the girls in the dorms.

2008-10-29T13:28:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Nate and his nifty nift connections we all got to go to the South Towne Expo Center for Trick Or Tree Street on Saturday. It was way fun and we got literally like 4 pounds of candy which isn't bad considering we only have 2 kiddos and one can't even eat candy! Our family went as characters from 101 Dalmations. I was Cruella Deville, the girls were our dalmations and Thom was Horace one of the dog catchers. We got to go with the cousins which always makes things so much more fun. Libby is overall very very shy but when she is with her cousins she just brightens up and can be much more outgoing. It is awesome! Thanks Matt and Kerrylin for making the treck for us! We are really looking forward to someday living closer to you guys!

Oh and Libby LOVES to feed Paisley. It can be helpful but sometimes not so much as the mess does increase. I just thought this pic was cute with one doggy feeding another! :)

Things to do in Utah

2008-10-23T09:54:00.000-07:00

Okay so I got this idea from a friend...thanks Heather! Okay so we don't plan to live in Utah the rest of our lives but we will be here for at least a couple more years. But I am asking for ideas to add to my list of what I must do before we leave Utah. I know most of you have some sort of attachment to Utah so you must have some sort of thing you love to do in Utah. Okay so far on my list i have:

Hike Mount Timpanogas with Thom!
See the Christmas Lights at Temple Square

Okay so please help me add to my list!

Old Friends

2008-10-15T13:24:00.000-07:00

Okay so within a weeks time frame I was reunited with Tons of my old friends from all different times of my life. First was Tracie Wu Ware and Emily Edmondson Rytting from high school. It was so fun to see them and catch up! I can't beleive we all have kiddos...well Emily will any day now anyway! Thanks a ton girls it was way fun!

Next was a mini SVU reunion! Some of our friends from SVU were coming to town and so I organized a get together for us all to reunite. Thanks Matt and Misty for getting us all together again! It's so weird how we all seem the same yet our numbers have doubled due to kids!

And finally and most recent was the reunion between my best friends from my first semester of college. They were only there for a semester at SVU so we weren't together long but we sure had a blas together! It was just like old times hanging out with them again. They are so totally cute! Ashley is the taller one, Laurelin the other. I sure love you girls! We haven't been all together since that freshman year 8 years ago. How time flys!

California Part 3

2008-10-15T13:15:00.001-07:00

Okay one more quick post on our trip to Cali. We went to Six Flags Magic Mountain on Saturday. It was supposed to be for the adults mainly but Libby ended up LOVING the kiddie land there! We went on all sorts of little rides. Her favorite by far was the charosel and the petting zoo where she got to pet lots of goats. It was so fun to see her having so much fun! It was pretty crowded so the adults didn't go on much. We did go on one ride called Tatsu which was crazy! You are flying facing the ground the whole time. The only thing between you and flying face flat onto the concrete way below is this harness that thankfully kept us snug. It was seriously crazy and terrifying but way fun. We all went on a ride called Log Jammer...even Libby and Paisley went with us. It's a water ride where you sit in a log and well we all had a blast except for Paisley at the end when we all got totally soaked!

7 Random Things About Me

2008-10-07T12:12:00.000-07:00

Okay so I was 'tagged' a while ago to do this and I have been thinking about things often so here we go:

1) I am a chronic whistler. I don't know why but it seems like all of a sudden I am always whistling. In the car, waiting at the doc's office, in the grocery store, on a walk...I am sure I drive people nuts but only half of the time do I catch myself doing it and decide to stop.

2) I am terrified of making phone calls. It's really quite pathetic. Ever since I can remember I have been scared to pretty much anyone with the exception of my mother and now husband. My heart races, my palms sweat and I try to convince myself of reasons NOT to make the call. I am getting better...I call so much more than I ever did...when Libby was born I decided I couldn't get out of making phone calls anymore or at least as much so I am improving. But know that if I do actually call you it is somewhat a big deal so appreciate the rare experience :)

3) With the whistling I have noticed I am an avid counter. For no reason at all I count as I fill up my cup from the sink, brush my teath, feed Paisley or clean up. Who knows why...it's weird but true.

4)I am a lazy perfectionist. If I know I don't have the time to do something PERFECTLY I don't want to do it all. So many things go without being done until I can't stand it anymore and then neglect other duties to spend all my time doing the one thing perfectly. Or I just don't ever do it and let guilt bug me.

5)I love the color pink! In collge Thom bought me a pink 1976 volkswagon beetle. The cutest car on the face of the earth! But car seats didn't fit in it so when Libby was born I sold it to my cousin. My girls and I wear pink daily (almost) and I would buy just about anything if it was pink. Computer, utensils, tv's, shoes, books etc. But I try to tame my obsession due to Tom being a man. I dated a guy in college that got really annoyed by my obsession and told me that when while he was on a mission I should work on getting over it. No thanks pal!

6)I have always wanted a little sibling. I bugged my parents for years. I now finally have one...my brother-in-law Sa Tanuvasa...Thanks for making a dream of mine come true Sa!

7)Growing up all I ever wanted to be was a wife and stay at home mom. In college I was pre-med and planned to do physical therapy in grad school in case I didn't get married but when I got married I was more than happy to not continue on to grad school and now I can honestly say I am living my dream life! Thanks wonderful hubbi for making all of my dreams come true...with the pink bug...a little brother...and a fabulous husband and two awesome little pink girls!

California Part 2!

2008-09-30T09:05:00.000-07:00

Okay so after the zoo we went to a beach called Leo Carrillo. This is a great place find crabs and star fish...not a great place to wade in the water due to the rocks but we thought Libby would enjoy this beach the most since she LOVES to hunt for critters with daddy. Poor Paisley didn't like it much...within 5 minutes of being there she fell face first into the sand...the saddest part was mommy taking the picture before brushing off the sand...sorry Paisley!

The critter hunting was very successful! Daddy and Libby found crabs galore in the crevises of the rock wall. So creepy but so fun!

Then Mommy found (which I am very proud of) a crevise with a pond in it that had a star fish and a sea cucumber! Very cool! After that we found TONS of star fish all over the place but Mommy found the first one!

We just had a ton of fun!

There will have to be another post of our california trip! The rest of the pictures of our third event are on Thom's computer!

Oh and my mom still has my old prom dress and Thom really wanted to see me in it so I tried it on. It is a little tight but not bad after having 2 kids and 8 years later! Libby had to try the 'princess' dress as she called it on as well!

Long lost Friends reunite

2008-09-30T08:55:00.000-07:00

When Thom was in 10th grade in Northern Virginia his best friend was Paul Himle who was in 11th grade. Thom only lived in Northern Virginia for 10 months...now this is almost 15 years ago! They have not seen each other or been in contact since Thom moved so many moons ago. Well somehow Paul found our blog and we all realized we were in the same state! Paul's wife Karlie threw Paul a surprise birthday party this last saturday and she invited us to come to be the big surprise. Which we did and it was so fun. Thom and Paul loved reuniting and catching up while I sure loved getting to know his family especially his super cute wife Karlie. I seem to always make friends with those who aren't close by...frustrating really but we are planning to move closer to them within the next year. Anyway, Paul and Karlie have a 7 year old daughter Abby. She did my hair while I was there...I got pig tails with flowers and leaves with a ton of hairspray...it was super cute! My favorite part was when she put dental floss in my hair so that my hair would smell good! Thanks Paul and Karlie for the fun night and we sooo have to get together again soon!

CALIFORNIA...oh how we miss you...

2008-09-23T20:18:00.001-07:00

This last week we got to go to beautiful California for my mother's 50th birthday / family reunion. The reunion part is pretty easy in a family of only 2 siblings, one of which lives in the same city as our parents. Growing up in California I constantly looked forward to leaving California. I never felt like I belonged there. I didn't tan for one thing and just never felt pretty enough for the state that produces the Hollywood perfection that for some reason the rest of the world measures themselves to. But now I would do almost anything to move back there. The weather is wonderful but most of all my parents are there. My mother truly is my best friend and I would so love love love to live down the street from her. But we belong in Utah for now so here we will stay. Maybe someday but if my girls don't tan well which Libby already doesn't...maybe I wouldn't want them to grow up there after all.

Anyway...we had a ton of fun while we were there. My Dad got a whole new mat and springs for the trampoline just for Libby. And she so loved it! Thank you Dad! My parents have become seriously avid bikers. So much though that they spent a ton of money on this sleek blue tandem bike! They took Libby for a good long ride and she loved it. I thought she would be terrified but she wasn't concerned at all and even fell asleep.

We also went to the LA Zoo. Can't go anywhere without going to the zoo! Libby's favorite place on earth! We got to see some new animals which was a lot of fun. Like a Koala, chimps, Hippo, and even thought the Utah Zoo has a tiger you rarely can ever see him so it was fun to actually get to see one so close up and moving around!

okay and do you see that Orangutan? Lindsay...aren't they your favorites? Anyway...I am a nursing mother but even if I could do what she is doing I don't think I would...I suppose maybe if I was really thirsty and no water was around...but still...so weird and somewhat disturbing! Libby also got to pet a huge snake...no idea of it's kind but I wasn't going to touch it. She amazes me every day! She is by far the bravest when she is with her daddy! Well it took me forever to get all these pictures up and it's late so i'll continue the California trip later. It was a blast though!

A Pony Ride

2008-09-15T19:31:00.000-07:00

Okay so I know I posted about Libby and ponies already but I am just so proud of her! This last time we went to Wheeler Farm she got to ride this pony without mommy or daddy walking with her. Technically I was supposed to be walking with her but since I had Paisley strapped to my front in the front pack the guy let Libby go by herself and she did soooo great! I love watching her overcome her fears! Good job Libby Lou!

Paisley!

2008-09-12T07:22:00.000-07:00

Paisley is sure growing up fast! She is 5 1/2 months old and she can now sit up! She is just so cute and so much fun to have around. She can now roll over too! Libby learned to sit up at 5 months and then just remained sitting for 5 more months! She rolled over once and decided that it just wasn't for her and stopped! So having Paisley roll over already makes me think she is so advanced. I know she is actually just on track but it's fun to think your kid is smart! In the picture Paisley's tongue is sticking out. Well that seems to be her trademark. Her tongue is almost always hanging out. My Aunt was concerned that maybe her tongue was too big for her mouth but I doubt that is the case...I think she just likes to feel the air on her tongue or something!

Libby just loves her little sister. She recently discovered that Paisley fits in her play stroller and she loves to push her around. Paisley is getting a little big for it though so that will probably have to end soon. She is such a little helper too. We recently tried feeding Paisley some classice rice cereal and I don't think I got more than one spoonful in before Liberty insisted on taking over. It seemed to work pretty well. Except for the fact that Paisley didn't seem to really like the cereal. Is it normal to not like rice cereal? Libby loved it! I am slightly concerned that she will be an even pickier eater than Liberty and I don't think I can handle 2 really picky eaters!

Snake!

2008-09-06T20:56:00.000-07:00

Okay so another post about Libby's braveness! She and Thom found a snake the other day, but it got away before they could catch it. Today Thom caught the snake and it really made their day! Once again, mommy just took pictures and captured video of her bravery. I so totally did not want to hold the snake, but our brave little princess loved every minute of it and thought nothing of holding a snake!

Finger Suckers

2008-08-30T13:30:00.000-07:00

When Liberty was a baby we tried and tried a pacifier to help her sleep but it just did not work. By 2 months she found her thumb and has been an amazing sleeper ever since! The down fall is that the doctor told me that we need to work on getting rid of the thumb within this next year. I just laughed. I can't just throw away her thumb or cut it off! This is so not a battle I am choosing for quite some time.

(p.s. I just gave Libby her first real haircut to make it all one length. Or close to anyway. Its harder than I thought. Anyway this is a picture right after the haircut)

With Paisley I waited patiently for 2 months hoping she'd find her thumb too and be an amazing sleeper like her sister. But it didn't happen. So I tried the pacifier. I gave it to her just when she was going to sleep and it seemed to work really well. But then she found her fingers!

Her favorites are the first 2 on her left hand but sometimes it seems like she just can't get enough and has to shove as many fingers in as she can. But never the thumb. She even at this young age is determined to not be the same as her sister. :) So now Paisley is a great sleeper as well. She sleeps 12 hours a night easily and started that at 3 months. The downfall is now I will have to get rid of fingers as well as the thumb! Does anyone have any tips? My goal is potty training first and then we will work on the thumb!

BUGS BUGS BUGS

2008-08-28T19:31:00.001-07:00

Okay Lindsay...if I know someone is actually looking at the blog and interested I promise to post some more. If you feel like me I know you are dying to be updated often with the girls. Man we miss you guys SO much it isn't even funny.

Okay so Libby LOVES bugs. It's creepy to me. I hate all bugs pretty much. But I try really hard not to freak out when I see them if Libby is around. With the exception of bees...i just have to scream and run away when they are around! Every day when Daddy gets home or before he goes to work if there is time Libby and Daddy go bug hunting! They look under all sorts of big rocks to find little creepy creatures.

I often stay in doors happily but I had to get footage of their adventures! Libby loves to bring mommy her bugs though. And then she wants mommy to hold them. Okay polly's and snails i can sometimes muster up the guts to hold but this gigantic beetle? NO WAY! The picture of Libby holding the beetle is the one Thom chose to put in his office. He is so proud of his little bug hunter! She is truly so brave! He told me the other night she held a daddy long leg spider! Yuck! But I do give her props for her braveness!!!!

Loving my Girls!

2008-08-20T18:52:00.000-07:00

I so love that my girls enjoy each other! Paisley will give the most giggles to her sister. I have tried and tried to get her to realy giggle at me but I only get smiles...no one can get Paisley to laugh like her big sister can! Libby loves the attention and the power! They are just so cute!

So a couple weeks ago we went to the Salt Lake County Fair where Libby rode her second pony but this time mommy had her camera! Most of the time she was terrified. The pony shook it's head at the beginning of her ride and that made her very nervous for the rest of the time. Then at the zoo there is a carousal (brand new) and the girls got to ride it thanks to Grandma Jo! This was Paisley's first ride...she just loved it...can't you tell? And Libby loves loves loves animals and so getting to ride one...especially a fake one...is sooo exciting for her. Two year olds are so cute in many ways. Sometimes they are just so easy to please and they get so excited over little things which is fun. But the down side is that they can completely melt over any tiny little thing as well and a tantrum has come. I love love love my little girls!

p.s. isn't my mom cute?!