Merry Christmas to All!

So I am posting a ton of pictures of Christmas Eve and Christmas. I know Jared's family wants to see them since they were not here. These pictures are of christmas eve. FYI my children are not naked. They had a bath and then got to open their christmas eve present which is Pj's. We had dinner at my house with my family and Lindsay's in-laws the Whitezells. We ordered Olive Garden take out and a cake from Smith's bakery (bakersfield natives might be drooling about now Smith's is the best). I think I want to order take out for every holiday dinner. It was so nice not to have to cook or clean up all the cooking. It was also really good!

So these pictures are of Christmas day. It was so hectic to keep up with giving the kids their gifts and taking pictures I really don't have to many. My mom and dad came over to watch kids open gifts and the headed over to Lindsay's to do the same. Luckily my kids get up early and hers get up late so it works. It was a good Christmas for all, and as you can see Mackenzie wasted no time in using her gifts. She could have cared less about any other gift after opening her princess shoes and dresses.

We are having a......

So we think we are having a boy. I had an ultrasound on Thurs. I was about 16 weeks so still kind of early. This baby would not cooperate at all. First the tech thought that it was the umbilical cord. Then the baby would not move its hand. So after 20 mins the tech said she was about 70% sure that it was a boy but told me not to go out and buy anything. I left kind of frustrated. I wait for the day to find out what I am having with as much excitement as I do my due date. I am not patient when it comes to finding out whether or not we are adding a boy or girl to our family. On all three of my other Ultrasounds I could tell before the tech even told me what we were having but this one had me totally stumped. I got out my other kids US pics and it looks nothing like my boys or mackenzie's. The only thing that makes me a little iffy on it is that what she is pointing to as "boy tools" is so high up and away from the baby's bum. Who knows as of right now I am just saying we are having a boy. I have another ultrasound on the 10th of Jan and they said they would be able to tell for sure then. We'll see. If any of you residents that we know can tell me for sure I would really appreciate it since this is the best picture, I am sure you are not at all busy, and since none of you except one is an Ob/Gyn resident. I am pretty sure that most of the moms would probably be able to tell me best. Actually Kristin and Lisa since you guys are the expert in boys I think you need to weigh in on this one.

Sacrament

So I am sure most of our Sacraments all go the same way. Multiple trips to the hall, dragging kids out by their arms, lots of bribing, and many many explanations (at least to Landon) as to why we are still at church and when we will be leaving. This is the explanation I got from Ethan yesterday:

Me: Ethan only take one piece of bread when they pass the tray
Ethan: But I am hungry
Me: Ethan two pieces of bread will not make you full and you need to leave some for everyone else
Ethan: If I take two pieces of bread I will think about Jesus twice

I am not sure how to argue that explanation I was pretty impressed he came up with that. Now I must think of a really really good argument for why we only take one piece of bread during the Sacrament. I am guessing I should just be happy that he knows what he should be doing when he takes the Sacrament.

So you think you can dance? No actually I do not!

So we finally saw the show and it was worth the wait. It was so so good. They did all of the great dances from the season and then a bunch of new ones. Honestly the show lasted over 2 hours. 2 fun filled screaming, clapping hours. We went down with almost all of jared's family and then my family. We were all kind of split up except for us die hard fans, jared and I, marc and lindsay, and my parents who for some reason didn't look over for the picture. We went all out for the more expensive tickets. Ironically I think jared's family had better seats sitting up higher rather than being down closer. This picture was taken during intermission. Obviously jared is really feeling the music playing since he is striking some gangsta pose.

Nigel and Mary were there that night too. We did happen to catch this picture. My dad was sitting right on the end but there was no way he was going to stop nigel and ask for a picture, so this is what I got. We were waiting for mary to come by jared and marc said they would let out a scream and tell her she was on the hot tamale train but they didn't get their chance. For those that don't watch the show nigel and mary are two of the judges. Again the show was so so good, and watching all these people do these crazy dances that were so good made me realize how much I can not dance, but I am so glad they can since it provides such great entertainment.

Happy Birthday to Ethan!

So yes my two boys have birthdays within days of each other which sure makes it nice for planning parties right now. Anyway, Ethan turns 6 today so we can't leave him out on the pictures.

I don't have any pictures of Ethan as a baby readily available since we still had the camera that used film then. This picture is of ethan at almost a year old. Ethan was born right on his due date. He was 8 lbs 8 oz. I think he was so big because I gained 60+ lbs when I was pregnant with him. Most people don't believe me and if I could get the picture scanned I would post it. He was in a hurry to get here though. My labor was only about 6 hours. I went from a 1 to an 8 in about an hour. Thankfully they still let me have my epidural. He was born head and shoulder at the same time so as soon as I had him the rushed him for xrays and exam since they thought he had a broken collar bone. When the broke my water it had meconium in it so he had to spend about 3 days in the NICU just to make sure he would eat well since I guess the meconium can cause problems. So here Ethan was this 8 1/2 lb baby laying next to all these 1-3 lb babies. Everyone would ask why in the world he was in there.

He was my easiest baby by far. He really spoiled us. We could take him anywhere, he was the best eater, and he was sleeping through the night by 8 weeks. He has been on the go and running since he was 9 months old. Honestly the kid never slows down. He definitely keeps us on our toes. We are hoping one day all the energy and the mischievous ways will be put to good use. Happy Birthday Ethan we love you lots!

Happy Birthday To Landon!!

So yesterday Landon turned 4 years old. They grow up so fast. I figured I would post a couple of pictures of him in his honor. Even when he was a baby his hair naturally went into a mohawk. Landon was my most difficult labor by far. He was breech at 37 weeks and my Dr. ( Dr. Wen one of the best OB's around) said they would try and flip him. I agreed to it only if they would give me an epidural before they did it, and if it worked that they induce me since I had been in and out of the hospital since 28 weeks with pre-term labor. I was so ready to be done.

They agreed so on the 14th we went to the hospital. They gave me my little piece of heaven (the epidural) and Landon just flipped on his own. So they turned the epidural off and put something on my cervix to soften it and see if just that would put me into labor. They said if it doesn't work in 12 hours we start a drip. Well 10 hours later it worked. I told the nurse I need them to turn the epidural back on. She said oh we have to wait for the Dr. ( I am pretty sure and an anesthesiologist went to lots of medical school and would qualify as a Dr. but apparently the Ob was the only one to give the Ok). That is when I entered the 9th circle of Hell. Landon was not waiting for anyone. His head broke my water and anyone standing within 5 feet of me got wet. I say that is what they get for not listening to me. Then I started scaling the bed trying to go where I don't know away from the pain I guess. Then I started screaming for the Dr. and for someone to help me since I thought I was dying. Finally the Anesthesiologist comes in and says "Why is she like this she already has the epidural?" Then he gives me what he calls the atomic bombs of epidurals. Jared was relieved at this point since I don't think his neck could take any more scratches in it. My OB walks in says push, out comes landon, then I went to sleep. The oh so lovely picture is a little while later and even then I still wasn't able to hold landon very long since I kept falling asleep. I am not sure what the dr. put in the epidural but somedays I wish I had acess to it.

So that is Landon's arrival into this world. Eventful just like every day with him. Landon is our funniest most honest kid. He is not one to sugar coat anything, he tells it like it is. This last picture is him on his first day of preschool. He dressed himself, hence the beanie. Of course we can't forget his pillow so that he can cover up the fingers he is sucking. So happy birthday to landon, we love you.

7 Random Things

So I got tagged and am finally sitting down to do this. This was a hard one, I was having a hard time coming up with 7 things that I think are random. So here goes.

1. I recently made a 6 hour trip to St. George just to go to Tai-Pan with my mom. 1 drive up, 2 Christmas trees, 4 shopping carts full, and 1 drive back was all accomplished in 23 hours. crazy and random I think.

2. I have a shower routine, not like emily's when she gets out of the shower, but in the shower. I wash, shave, wash my hair, wash my face, then I am done. Everyday same thing and I don't know what to do with myself if for some odd reason it gets out of order.

3. I already have my Christmas stuff and tree up. Thanksgiving is just an excuse to travel and have dinner.

4. I can fold a fitted sheet so that you wouldn't be able to tell it is a fitted sheet. You know how they always end up looking like some weird shape when you fold them, I know the secret thanks to my Grandma Hacker.

5. I love the snow, driving, scraping, shoveling, playing.. all of it.

6. I love frosting. Not the whipped kind. The good stuff, the lard full, stick to the roof of your mouth, full of sugar kind. I can eat it all by itself by the spoonful, and I prefer to have the big flower or decoration made of frosting when eating cake. Disgusting to some I know, except my sister in frosting love Amy.

7. I grew up in California about an hour from the beach and I have been to the beach 3 or 4 times in my life. I think that is weird.

I tag anyone reading this who would like to share some new insight on themselves with those of us wanting to know!!!

Sleepwalking

So around 4:45 this morning I wake up to Mackenzie crying, I lay there and think please go back to sleep, my kids have gotten so messed up with daylight savings. All of a sudden I think I hear a door open, and mackenzie is screaming don't leave, don't leave. Of course Jared is sleeping through the entire thing, but I leap out of bed almost killing myself on the pillows on our floor. I am in a complete panic thinking someone has broken into our house and is taking her. I watch way to many law and order type shows so my mind is always thinking the worst most crazy thing is going to happen. Anyway, I run to the front door which is open to find mackenzie running down our driveway. Totally asleep still screaming. Our neighbors probably think we are crazy. We do have a lock at the top of our door which was up but somehow wasn't working, so jared will be fixing that when he gets home from work tonight. Mackenzie finally went back to sleep and of course I was wide awake until around 6 when I fell back asleep for about 20 mins before the kids got up for the day, and jared was still sound asleep.

Halloween 2007

So I am finally posting Halloween Pictures. I have to say as much as I love Halloween, I was ready to be done with this holiday and move onto the next ones. It is so stressful when you have kids and everything to get ready. It is not like I can say "Hey kids go get your costumes on and lets go." No it seriously takes an act of God to get everything together on time. We did 2 trunk or treats this year plus going around my parents neighborhood on Halloween. Needless to say we did take in a good haul which jared and I are enjoying most of.












Okay I know you are thinking what in the world is Ethan. He was supposed to be a ghost. Although I couldn't get it together on Halloween to remember the white shirt underneath. I am going to try harder to make it up to him next year. He seemed pretty pleased with it though, after all he was just dying to be a ghost this year. I also wish I could have got a picture of each of the kids individually in their costumes, but Mackenzie is the only one who would take one. So here it is.







We went with a pretty big group of people. There were at one point about 11 kids so it was a little crazy. One of the people we went with Cami (refer to picture of Wicked for her picture) her kids were all the wizard of oz people. Since she doesn't have a girl, we just let mackenzie join her group for a picture. Only the scarecrow(parker) and mackenzie were interested in stopping long enough to take pictures. So there you have it our Halloween 2007. Now onto Thanksgiving!!

In 2 seconds

So one night while I was getting the kids ready for bed Mackenzie gave me a nice (well not so nice) surprise. I got them all bathed, jammies on, and was in the process of brushing their teeth when this happened. Landon put himself to bed without brushing his teeth so I went into his bedroom to brush. Honestly I was not in there that long. He doesn't have that many teeth. Mackenzie got out of bed went into my bedroom got some of my favorite bath and body works lotion and used it as hair gel. I walk in let out a scream and she says "Surprise." So we started her bedtime routine all over again. It took a few washes to get all of the lotion out but her hair did smell very nice the next day. Oh the sweet joys.

I want to be POPULAR

So this is the group of us that went down to see Wicked. It was so much fun and the musical was beyond great. I highly recommend it to anyone one who has a chance to see it. Popular was one of the songs from the show and it was so funny. I was thinking while I was watching that Ethan would have absolutely loved it. He calls my mom all the time and if she is not home he will sing her whatever message he is wanting to give to her. He would love his life to be a musical. Anyway, we went down and stopped in valencia first to eat, where I for one ate way way way too much. Then we went down to the Pantages Theater. On the way to the theater some mustang almost sideswiped us (I hate LA drivers), then that caused us to miss our exit and then some girl in the parking lot got mad at us because she was driving the wrong way and didn't get what she wanted. So after the few mishaps we made it and loved every minute of it. From left to right these are the people that went since most of you don't know who they are.

Jamie, Cami, Lisa, Lindsay (my sister), Me, Laura, and Tawana (Laura's sister)

Here is the big question though:

3 out of these 7 people are pregnant and one is pregnant with twins can you guess which ones?

Answer: Me, Cami, and Lindsay

My sister Lindsay is the one pregnant with twins.

Amy you always said you thought I would have twins, you were close.

Cami and I are due May 29th, and my sister is due May 12th

The Princess

Okay so we officially have one. This morning I took Mackenzie over to my neighbor Laura's house. We swap babysitting so we can work in kids classrooms. She has a little girl not too much older than Mackenzie. When I came to pick her up she was wearing this. Laura was nice enough to let Mackezie wear it home. The only problem. She refuses and I mean refuses to take it off. She wore it when we went to pick Landon up from preschool and as you can see she is wearing it for her nap as well. I could just hold her down and get it off of her but then would have to endure the melt down of all melt downs. Do I really want to do that? No and here is why. I am leaving in about an hour to go down to LA with a bunch of friends for a girls night out to see the musical Wicked. I am so looking forward to it. Jared will come home while Mackenzie is still asleep and I figure good luck to him on getting her to take it off for a bath and not put it right back on. I won't get home until about midnight and the problem should be taken care of and all the kiddies asleep. I just hope I don't come home to find her in it. Sorry in advance to Jared.

P.S. To our wonderful grandma simpson with wonderful sewing abilities. If you find any cheap tulle and want to sew a simple frilly skit/tutu it would make for a really really loved Christmas gift.

Pumpkin Patch

This past weekend we took the kids to the pumpkin patch. They went through the corn maze which they thought was the best thing ever. Although Tanner was ready to get out of there he said. This pumpkin patch was about 5 min. from our house which made it really nice.









The kids had a great time and it didn't cost us an arm and a leg to get pumpkins either.























I still can't believe we got all the kids to hold still and that they are all actually looking at the camera!

Disneyland

This year we got season passes to disneyland. We got the really cheap ones which means we can only go on the days no one else really goes. I say is there any other day you would want to go besides those ones? So my mom, my sister and I decided one day we wanted to take the kids. Jared had the next day off and had a pretty long list of things to do around the house so he stayed home to get ethan to school ( a well kept secret and a pretty nice pirate toy cured any problem he might have had being left behind to go to school.



So we pricelined a hotel room for really really cheap drove down the night before and went to disneyland the next day. We made it to disneyland in under 2 hours. The beauty of no traffic in LA helped us make it there so fast. It was a little crazy trying to get 3 adults and 4 kids into one hotel room and asleep. Chloe ended up in the bathroom in a playpen which made for some creative moves for the middle of the night bathroom trips. Also the blow dryers in the hotel room were horrible hence my bad hair. All in all it wasn't to bad though. Landon was his usual happy self when we got to the room. He takes after his mom, don't touch, lay by, or bother him while trying to go to sleep. He wasn't too happy chloe was laying there.

The kids had a great time riding the rides and all the fun that goes along with that. It was nice for them since it was just little kids we didn't go on any of the rides that they couldn't go on. This is my favorite thing about the season pass. I don't have to cram every single ride into one day. I can always go back again some other time. There was no one there, we walked on everything which was nice since small children don't have any idea what waiting is. Mackenzie also got to meet her new favorite person Princess Arial. They were playing all the music from the movie where they had Arial sitting so Mackenzie kept putting her hand up to her ear and telling Arial she could hear her song. She was in heaven. The boys were happy to ride buzz lightyear while we went and saw Arial. Which by the way I scored another high score for my self on buzz lightyear making it all the way to level 3! I love that ride.

Tanner and Mackenzie dancing at the Princess Show

My mom and Mackenzie on the pink dumbo. It had to be pink.

Tonsils and Adenoids.......Gone

On Monday Landon had to have his tonsils and adenoids removed. We always thought that him asking what did you say all the time was just him being stubborn. Apparently we are bad parents (with a bad pediatrician who never looked into it when we asked about it) but the kid really couldn't hear all that well. It all happened pretty quick too. We went to a new pediatrician who did an actual hearing test and thought that his tonsils and adenoids should be removed. They gave us the referral for an ENT and while I was waiting for the nurse I called them They said if you can be here in ten minutes we can get you in otherwise it will be Nov. before we can see you. So of course I ran out of there and made it to the ENT's office. They said yeah the tonsils and adenoids need to come out. We will call you to schedule. This was on a Tues. and Landon got them out on Mon. So it was not a fun week of Dr and Lab appointments but it is all done now.


So these are Landon's tonsils. Honestly Jared and I both think that this has to be some sort of bio hazard but they let Landon take his tonsils home. They were disgusting but he really wanted to show Ethan. He also kept asking if they could put them back in. I made sure to throw them away after he showed Ethan since I did not want to find those tonsils anywhere besides inside of that cup. They were pretty good size though. I am not totally sure what normal size is but the ENT thought they were most definitely large.

On a side note here was what happened to me while Landon was getting his labs done. Mackenzie had been to one too many Dr's offices that day and decided to show me by having a complete and total melt down. She was screaming so loud in the waiting room full of people of course that no one could hear their name being called. So when they opened the door to call peoples names I covered her mouth so everyone could hear and then proceeded to let her scream until the next name was called. Well this lady who was wobbling all over the place (apparently on some type of medication) comes over to me and says "As a member of the court I need your name address and phone number so I can report you" I said "For what?" She then tells me that it is illegal to cover a child's mouth and that she has to report me and for me to write down my info. I said" I am not giving you any of my information" Then the guy that was with her says "Stop it, now lets go" she says she is not leaving and that she will now have to call the cops on me. She asks the receptionist if she can use the phone and then tells her what for the receptionist says "Your gonna do what?" About 5 seconds later they call be back, draw Landon's blood and all that good stuff and we are headed out. All the while Mackenzie is still screaming her head off. The lady is still waiting when I get out and lets me know that the police are on their way for me. I told her to tell them we are sorry we missed them and left. Although I am pretty sure I wasn't doing anything illegal it did get me wondering if it really is against
the law to cover a child's mouth. Anyone know?

So after a really rough first day (I was hoping the Demerol and liquid Vicodin would last a bit longer) Landon is doing much better. He survived on pumpkin pie no crust and a little bit of jello. Weird kid I know. I was hoping also that this procedure might be my cure for the finger sucking. I did lie to my child and tell him that if he sucked his fingers the tonsils would grow back and he would have to have them taken out again, but as you can see it did not work. Hopefully Heavenly Father understands that I was trying to do some good for Landon by lying. I think it was a necessary evil I was doing but that is what I get for lying, nothing.

We are rednecks no more!

Well I promised before and after pictures for all of you who were waiting on pins and needles. So here they are. This is what our media niche looked like when we started. We truly were rednecks with our TV on a plastic costco table. I mean to us it wasn't that big of a deal at first, I mean I think all the medical, dental, and law students we met in San Antonio had at least one or more pieces of plastic furniture right? We knew though that we needed to do something so we called on my very handy mechanical engineer brother in law Marc to help. He built an entertainment center into their media niche which happen to be about 3 times the size of ours. It turned out beautifully so we figured ours should be easier since it was a lot smaller.

Honestly it really didn't take marc and jared that long. It took them about 2 nights of working for about 3-4 hours to get the bulk of it done. After that it just needed all the trim work. Marc graciously helped jared through almost all of it so it did make it go by a little faster, and my nagging I am sure helped a ton.

And now we are done. Almost. We have painted and distressed all of it although in the picture it is hard to see the distressing. Now we just have to stain the distressed parts a slightly darker color which should not take long at all and then load it up with some lacquer. So wonders never cease we actually have a real piece of furniture that was not given to us nor is it plastic. I am hoping that I will now be able to go purchase the things I need in order to fill it up and make it cute. I am thinking another trip to Thai-Pan (the best decorating store known to man in Sandy Utah) to load up on some goods.

Oh Happy Day!

So today is the big day. The day I have been waiting for for months now. My glorious fall TV starts. I know a few good show (heroes and house) have already started but tonight is the big night. Jim and Pam, Mcdreamy and Meredith, Izzy and George. My kids are going to bed early, mostly because they are tired and dad is out of town and I am going to pull my hair out, but also so I can watch my Tivo'd shows in peace. I know I am pretty pathetic that I anticipate this night so much but I know most of you love these shows too ( maybe you secretly love them). I was completely disappointed in my summer show Big Brother- honestly could two less deserving people who almost made me vomit have won! Although I was impressed by The Closer on TNT. I started watching this summer and loved it. Anyway I just had to share my excitement since it is going to bubble over. Any theories on new seasons? I don't think Izzy and George should be together although I want them to be. What they did was wrong and it can't be rewarded! Jim and Pam are made for each other. I always wanted Shepherd and Grey to be together but it does make for good TV to see how they figure it out. Besides The Office and Grey's Anatomy we also watch Survivor, My Name is Earl, CSI, and ER. Don't judge, I know I am a TV junkie but no one gets ignored or harmed in all my TV watching.

P.S. I missed the Bachelor on Mon. night. Anything good happen?

William Tell Overture for Moms

I know most of you might have already seen this, but for those of you that haven't get ready to hear you life or childhood described in a few short minutes. Don't forget to stop the music on the side before you start the video!

Tanner's Birthday!

So at the end of august it was my nephew tanner's birthday. I know I am only a month late. His birthday was at a place here called pump it up. A bunch of inflatable jumping things and then a party room. Great place to have a party. They do everything from setting up the party room to cutting the cake and dishing up the ice cream. Also what could be better than letting your kids run around like crazy for an hour then taking them home to bed. I think I will let the boys have their birthday's there in Nov. The adults had a pretty good time too. All of us including my parents took a turn racing on the obstacle course they have there. There was some cheating going on mostly by the men, but all in all it was a good time. Here are a few pictures. some didn't turn out as well as I would have liked but what do ya do. I also have to give myself a pat on the back for tanners cake. Although we just got a frosted white cake from Costco ( that week was crazy busy and I didn't have time to make the cake too) I did do the decorating on it. It could have looked a little better. There is so much detail on spider man it was hard to do on a small scale. Oh well practice makes perfect right?

Each of the boys took a turn on the throne. They all had everyone bowing to them. It was pretty entertaining to watch.

My niece Chloe

This was before they let the kid go back into the room with all the inflatables. They had to tell the kids the rules. How many of you think the kids really listened to any part of this. My vote is for none.