simply living

Grandma & Grandpa Maezato

2012-01-01T20:25:00.002-07:00

I love Grandma & Grandpa so much! I can't wait to see them again.

Topsy Hair

2011-12-20T09:20:00.000-07:00

My awesome cousin has a new blog about Hair/Beauty/and awesomely funny thoughts & stories. Check it out...

http://topsyhair.blogspot.com/

quick video

2011-12-16T14:12:00.001-07:00

That's my Sethy Boy singing Itsy Bitsy Spider.

The End Already

2011-12-06T18:21:00.001-07:00

I can't believe it's already the end of 2011! I really loved this year. I feel I have accomplished more than I have in a long time. I have made goals, reached goals, am still working towards goals, and I am feeling motivated to continue to move myself forward (most of the time). Wow, what a difference from last year. In fact, I don't even remember any memorable moment from 2010. Sad right? No! Just makes this year even better.

2011 at a Glance (or a bit longer than a glance):
JANUARY
-Started a couples weight competition with friends (Thank you Jenna for starting it because it was the turning point to beginning a great year)
-Ran my first mile and a half (at least since high school)
-Adoption is Final. Jon officially adopted Miles! and I did the whole adoption on my own, I might add :)

FEBRUARY
-Jon turned 27
-Lost about 7 lbs. and many inches!

MARCH
-Seth became our "little monster" when he tore up our wet cement curbing. So funny to think of it now, you can read about it here.
-Miles started soccer
-I ran the Spectrum 10k. Record time of 7:31 min/mile

APRIL
-Finished our weight competition! Read and see pictures Here. Unfortunately I don't look like that anymore, but I'm working on it again.
-Sethy turns 3 yrs old.
-Began Web design

MAY
-Got a job making a promo video

JUNE
-Our 4th year anniversary(yikes! I'm the one that forgot)
-Hall family reunion

JULY
-4th of July 17 miler
-2nd annual 4th of July neighborhood party
-Trip with the kids to California

AUGUST
-Top of Utah half marathon with Jenna & Bobbie
-Miles started 1st grade at George Washington Charter school

SEPTEMBER
-Last month training for marathon

OCTOBER
-Ran my 1st Marathon under 4 hours (3:59) :)
-TRIP TO JAPAN WITH SISTERS AND DAD TO MEET OUR FAMILY FOR THE FIRST TIME! Life changing. Read and see picture Here. Updates to that coming soon.

NOVEMBER
-Miles 2nd year wrestling, dominated again.
-Sethy's 1st year wrestling, hilarious.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
(Hopefully I update before the New Year but no promises)

Marathon

2011-10-12T13:30:00.000-06:00


I love this picture because first Leah and I are matching, then our hands are in the exact same position. photo by Todd Ellis

Marathon day came a week and a half ago and I was so glad it was finally hear. Training took a toll and I was burned out from waking up at 3:30am for long runs.

We were lucky that Jenna's (my running partner) parents live right next to the starting line, which meant instead of waking up at 4:00am to catch the buses, we woke up around 5:45-6:00am. After eating we hopped in the back of her dad's truck turned right onto a dirt road and did a little four wheeling through brush and small dirt hills. Unfortunately, our route is directly behind the very long line of porta potties that have hundreds of runners waiting in line. So for those runners that don't want to wait in line, we catch like scared rabbits caught in the headlights scurrying from bushes in all directions. After passing all the embarrassed squatters (or maybe it was just me embarrassed), we came up through an opening of the lines of porta portties, inched our way up, even making a couple of runners move, and descended while onlookers gazed in jealousy and contempt for the bunch of lucky runners. Okay I made that up, people probably didn't even care, but that's how I would feel waiting in line for an hour freezing.

It still baffles me at the number of runners! As the day started to lighten up you could see the winding road that was completely packed solid, every inch of road, with runners. Leah and I would just look at each other once in awhile and smile all cheesy and happy. This was our first time running together and I had sworn to her that I would never do a marathon.

Up until mile 18 I felt great, like I could go on for ever. After 18 my legs started hurting and it was hard not to focus on the aches and pains. Music started to be just background sound to my thoughts of counting down the miles.

It was exciting seeing Miles, my mom, Amie and her kids, at mile 23. This is the stretch into the city. The excitement died in about 2 seconds after passing them and I realized I wanted to die. I would not have been able to do as well as I did if I wasn't running with Leah. Luckily we were about the same pace and stayed together the whole time. It was nice to hear people cheering for us and with Leah next to me some of the cheers were specifically for us as we would pass the yells would be "good jobs girls".

There's my dad in the stands. He doesn't look to impressed but before I found this pic he was telling me how inspirational and fun it was to watch all the finishers.

My fondest memory of the last stretch of misery was the cold soaking wet rags someone was passing out. Man that was heaven. After passing the finish line and throwing up a bit I stood in the shower for a while next to a lady that when asked if she was okay just looked at me incoherently.

Even being miserable toward the end I am constantly thinking about the next marathon I want to do.

Finish time: 3:59:09
Goal time: 4:00:00

Made my goal time with a minute to spare!

Good at being Bad

2011-05-26T11:53:00.000-06:00

So my cousin and her husband's music video is finished! I loved hearing about the making of it and did not envy her one bit with having to stand in front of a camera and act/dance/sing! I love the video and think it is perfect for them and their style. Can not get over John's moves! Hilarious. Behind the scene & bloopers are one of my favorite parts of movies so I was excited to see they added "The Making" of the video. Here are those two awesome videos...
p.s. I feel like a star struck girl. I sing along to this song every time I get into the car.

Sanity Projects

2011-05-05T16:40:00.000-06:00

Every couple of weeks I get an itch for projects. Even though I am completely swamped with other things I have to get my projects done to keep my sanity. So for this sanity project episode I completed two skirts for Livie...

3 year old boy

2011-05-05T16:32:00.000-06:00

Crazy little Sethy boy turned 3 years old on April 20th. Boy is he a character! I don't know how Seth came from me because he is the loudest,wildest, roughest, little boy ever. And that is an understatement! He is our "Little Monster" as he has appropriately named himself (he still mentions how he "scratched like a monster", talking about our newly poured cement curbing). Since the curbing incident he has managed to cut his hair, draw all over his room, and I just realized he pulled out my pepper & tomato plants that were one of the only plants that survived the frost a couple of weeks ago. Wanted to check on the only decent plants and there was no sign that they ever existed. Yes, I immediately new it was him.

Anyway, he loves Thomas the train so that is what he got for his birthday cake. This cake I had to improvise a lot. I didn't have any frosting tips so I was just going to use a ziploc bag. Nope, didn't have that either. Plastic wrap...negative, out of that too. I had to use the empty bag of powdered sugar. It turned out cute though and Sethy loved it.

Before & After

2011-04-17T21:29:00.000-06:00

Three months ago my friend Jenna was saying how her and her hubby wanted to get back into shape but lacked the drive and motivation and I quickly agreed and told her we were in the same boat. She asked Jon and I if we wanted to have a fun couples competition doing the P90X. We were super excited and all agreed to start the new year off with getting back into shape and each couple put $100 on it. We had planned on the boys doing P90X, while the girls did Insanity. I think after a month or so we all strayed from our programs and started doing our own thing. Jenna and I took on running and swimming, Jon & Jason had their workout routine. Unfortunately, work and life got crazy (Jenna and Jason moved) and Jason stopped the workouts and couldn't get back into the routine.

So, here are the final results for Jon and I...WARNING: MY BEFORE'S ARE SO EMBARRASSING! BUT THE AFTER'S MAKE UP FOR IT :)

BEFORE - Back (seriously painful taking the before pics)

AFTER - Back


AFTER - Side

BEFORE - Side

BEFORE - Front (so embarrassing!)

BEFORE - Front (so Awesome!)

I wouldn't have been able to drop those last 6lbs. and tone my core without Amie's new Hot Topic class. I love that class! I have never been so wet with sweat in my life than in that class.

BEFORE - Back

AFTER - Back

BEFORE - Side

AFTER - Side

BEFORE - Front

AFTER - Front

Mom on The Run...

2011-04-03T01:22:00.000-06:00

Yes I am on the run. My friend's husband asked me the other day "so you're a runner now?" I responded with a non committal shrug/nod/smile/sound (very similar to Kristen Heigl in The Ugly Truth). Friend's hubby: "Anyone that wakes up at 5:30 in the morning to run, is a Runner."

It's official, I can classify myself as a runner. I never thought I would say that because I have always hated running. I started running with my marathoner friend Jenna about 2 months ago. My first official 10k race was a couple of weeks ago. The Spectrum run was such a good course and perfect for my first 10k. Running through Snow Canyon State Park, it was mostly downhill or flat. Jenna was out of town so couldn't run with me so I was pretty nervous. Throughout the race I would find someone to pace with and when I felt I could pass them up I would move onto the next. Around mile 3 I found an older man with American flag running shorts on. His calves told me he was definitely a runner and at a good pace to push me and keep my working. So I stuck like glue to him for the rest of the race until we hit Mile 6 and he sprinted the rest of the way. I tried to sprint the .2 for about a second and about died, so I slowed down to just make it across the finish line.

I was so happy to see my time and later talked to the man that I ran with. I thanked him for letting me run with him and that he helped me a lot through the race. He told me I gave him a run for his money and that I had very good breathing and running technique.

What an awesome run! Such a boost and motivator to keep going and stick with running.

What I've learned...

1. If it is a bus ride to the start, be on the first bus so you won't have lines for the bathroom.
*I was on the first bus and went to the bathroom, unfortunately I had to go again before the race started and had to wait in a huge line.

2. If it's cold bring a jacket and drop it off at the start
*I was freezing wearing a t-shirt and running skirt.

3. Organize my play list better
*I made my list the night before and didn't really pay attention to how long and where I wanted each song, so the "pump-me-up" songs were so far down the list that I finish before I reached them.

4. Not be on a sugar free diet so at the end of the race I can eat those yummy, ever so tempting, peanut m&m's they have for the runners.

5. Last, definitely not least, but most important... Smile and look your very best for the professional cameraman taking the photos that will be posted!
*Uhgg!! I was emailed a link to all of the photos taken and was horrified. I didn't even tell Jon about them. I didn't even pay attention to the guy because I thought he was just taking specific pictures to put in an article or something. I didn't know they take a picture of every single runner and post it whether it looks good or not! Goal for next race: Think of something cute, spunky, and awesome to do for the camera so I can be one of those cool runners.

Now for the running results

Overall time

46:38.4

Pace

7:31/M

Overall Place out of 748 runners

Overall by Gender 436 women

Age Group 25-29, 69 women

NEXT UP...

Top of Utah Half Marathon, August 27.
Remembered that my good friend Bobbie ran a half marathon so I called her up. So Bobbie will be running Top of Utah with me and Jenna. I'm so Excited!

Happy 18 month Birthday Olivia(a couple of weeks ago)...What?

2011-03-22T17:50:00.001-06:00

Okay Okay, I know you are like...what the? But here is my reasoning for having an 18 month birthday (really only the cake, no singing or presents) for Olivia. Back on September 11, her real birth date, Jon and I were traveling to Seattle to visit Leah and Jeff. We decided we would have her birthday when we got home from our trip but never did. I have tried to make it a tradition to make a special cake for my kids every year (this tradition started because I remember Amie making this awesome big bird cake for Levi's first b-day). Some of them have been spider-man, the hulk, batman, shrek...

Me being the third child and never having any picture of me when I was younger, I started feeling bad. I couldn't do the same thing that I always complained about, not having any pictures of me. So I decided I would just have a fake birthday and make her a cake. Weeks turned into months, and March 11th came around (18 months old) then I thought "perfect, I'll have an 18 month birthday for her." That didn't turn out real either because two weeks later here I am finally celebrating her birthday.

Yes those little red bumps all over are chicken pox

Oh no...Where's Sethy?

2011-03-07T10:01:00.000-07:00

So Thursday we had a curbing company come put some cement curbing in our back yard in preparation for grass. Hooray! We are finally getting our back yard done so the kids can actually go out there. We were so excited to see the end result and the perfect, good lookin curb. Jon had come home from work to supervise then headed back after they were finish, and I went out with the kids to practice soccer with Miles in the front. Of course I've been pretty excited about Miles starting soccer so I take our practice serious, so when I saw Seth dancing around I told him to go sit on the potty and hoped for the best...Ten minutes later...Wait a second, where is Seth! No where to be found. Oh wait, there he is in the back yard going to every inch of the wet cement curb and scratching/digging like a dog! I wish I were one of those mothers (like my mom) who could just go with the flow and laugh at the obvious funniness of the situation, but no... I freaked. It didn't help that I was already going to lose my mind from a long day with kids. Jon didn't see Seth the whole rest of the night b/c I was running around with the kids to soccer practice then Amie's class so when Seth woke up the next morning he rushed to dad and told him...(in a whisper with hand motions)"Daddy I scratched it" just as innocently as can be. Love that boy!

Livie will be 18 months this week and I can't believe it! She just doesn't seem like it to me. Yesterday we had a sub for nursery so we were able to go to class. I realized that she was actually a Nursery aged child now! and could go to the Nursery without us. I have always just been treating her as my baby that I bring to Nursery, not as one of my nursery kids. I also realized that by this age we were converting Sethy to a big boy bed in preparation of Livia joining the Fam. So I will be checking out this site http://ana-white.com soon to hopefully make a cute little bed for her. Now on to some pictures, here are some of her cute little pony tail.

Yes she looks like an orphan from Annie, but still so dang cute.

As I mentioned before Miles has started soccer. He had his first game on Saturday, unfortunately my video camera was dead when I got there. He did very good! He was faster than anyone on both teams. I don't think he was expecting all the running plus they didn't have any subs so he was very tired. I was pacing down the sideline trying to remind myself this is kindergarten and his first game and trying not to scream to much. I'm having a hard time choosing what to teach him without getting ahead of myself and too serious. He has a game this Saturday so video will be coming soon.

I have started running and will be running a 10k on the 19th. Also, January was the start of our "Getting in Shape Couples Competition" we are having with our friends Jenna and Jason. We are on our last month, so it's on like Donkey Kong (oh how I loved that game). 1st month I lost 5 lbs. 2nd month I only lost 2 lbs, so this last month I have to lose 6 lbs to meet my goal. YIKES! I have been losing inches like crazy though so I'm happy. We will be posting before and afters on Facebook and votes will determine the winners. The losing couple will pay for their own and the winning couples night stay in mesquite. So I am doing the ultimate sacrifice this month and giving up carbs! How on earth am I supposed to eat a meal with out carbs? RECIPES WOULD BE APPRECIATED!

Featuring Laura & John Hendricks

2011-02-01T10:20:00.000-07:00

I wanted everyone to listen to my cousin and her husbands new song they just released on iTunes today. I love it and can't wait for more to come out. I know they have a ton more great songs that I will for sure be buying. Also, check out their Kickstarter video below to help them raise the funds to finish their music video. LOVE IT!!!

CONGRATULATIONS JOHN AND LAURA!

Quick 3 month Review

2011-01-31T15:21:00.000-07:00

Here it goes...

NOVEMBER

Sushi Thanksgiving with my dad. Volcano Roll, Spicy Salmon Roll, Tempura Fried Shrimp California Roll, Crab California Roll, Gyoza, Crab legs, cheese ball and crackers, and more. I think I made more than 30 Roll! It was heaven.

DECEMBER


My favorite decoration this year... Giant Snow Flakes


Our big present from Santa...Wii

RANDOM PICTURES

Playing dress up with cousin Emily

Growling as usual


Miles is growing up and learning so fast

LATEST & MOST EXCITING

January 27th 2011, Jon officially adopted Miles!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-23T16:56:00.000-07:00

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-20T14:20:00.002-07:00

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and New Year!

I will be starting my New Years resolution the day after Christmas. I don't know how long it has been since I have been in a routine of exercise and have just been so depressed with my body. So starting Dec. 26th I will be cutting out all sugar! I will also be TRYING to work out at home. I have never actually done a New Years Resolution before, so I'm making it public (although my blog is not the place to make it public since only a couple of people read this) to make it more real and serious. My goal is to lose 12 lbs. by April, why April you say? My sisters, Dad, and I are planning a trip to Japan!! Not that I want to look good for Japan but I have always wanted to buy (and dress in) a full traditional Kimono.

Well Merry Christmas!

The Champion

2010-11-23T12:29:00.000-07:00

Miles' last tournament was last Friday and he did Awesome of course. This was his last tournament so he received a trophy and t-shirt. He has been asking for weeks when he's going to get a trophy but I wasn't sure if they would get one. They have been giving all the boys the same medal whether they won or lost. The match before last I was some what upset because they decided that we needed to teach the kids that "everyone is a winner" and raise both hands up at the end of a match as if they tied. Lame, maybe I'm just a mean mom but I think that is more hurtful then helpful. I guess I wasn't one of the mom's seeing their son cry, my son was making their sons cry. Anyway, when I heard he would be wrestling a first grader I got butterflies in my stomach and got all nervous. I knew he wanted that trophy so bad. I shouldn't have doubted him, he sits their as calm as can be and dominates. His last match was pretty nerve racking, only because the other kid was like 15 lbs. lighter and I was nervous for the other mother. The little boy gave up a good fight but it was so sad to see him cry, even Miles wasn't quite sure what to do. So anyways, lets just get to the video, I was having problems loading it here on my blog so CLICK HERE to watch.

30 min...Okay, 45 min Wedding gift

2010-11-20T21:54:00.000-07:00

We had a wedding to attend on Friday and had to think up a quick gift. Well it didn't turn out quick, but it sure turned out cute. Jon and I always talk about how we would have liked a bunch of treats, snacks and definitely some Red Bull, for our wedding night. So for all those Oreos, Cheese Whiz & Crackers, chocolates, and lots and lots of Red Bulls, we needed a bag to put it all in. So my mind started racing with ideas. After digging through my stash of fabric (I have a weakness for fabric on sale) I whipped up a quick bag and started on the freezer paper stenciling. It bled a little bit but it turned out pretty cute.

Another Great Match

2010-11-07T17:03:00.000-07:00

Miles' Friday match turned out great. It was so fun to have Grandma and Grandpa come to watch Miles. Amie, the kids, Alies, Robert & Isabelle, Ben, Adriana & McKade (her bf) were all there cheering Miles on too. His first too matches were fast and easy, but his final match was intense (at least for me). Both boys did great and in the end Miles won by points. Good job Miles!

Halloween TwentyTen

2010-11-01T15:30:00.000-06:00

This Halloween was definitely fun! We went all out this year with decorating, costumes, and scaring. We didn't have that many decorations, but we sure made it look good with what we did have. Our porch was covered with spider webs that you had to crouch to get to the door. Our huge harry spider was crawling from the house to the webs. That thing freaks me out everytime I drive into our drive way, I love it. Halloween night we broke glow sticks and splattered it all over and wrote halloween-y things. Then for the grand fanale, Jon rigged a zip line from the dish on our roof to our neighbors basket ball hoop. He then attatched his fishing pole to it so when we let it fly down with its flashing red eyes and loud siren (Jon and our "bomb tech" neighbor rigged that also, it had none of that when we bought it) he was able to reel it back up to the roof. Jon only put it down a couple of times though because he was having to much fun on the ground scaring little kids. Jon sat curled up in the corner of the porch while Amie came around the corner. When kids would knock on the door he would jump out, or grab them. He made quite a few little kids cry that night.

I have become quite a halloween fanatic, well that is with making costumes. Seth was an Ewok again, I just can't get over that costume he is so dang cute and perfect for it. Miles was snake eyes off of G.I. Joe. I made the muscle shirt and head sock and surprised him with his mask. Little Livie girl was a mermaide. I made that costume from scratch, even braided the straps. She looked so dang cute, I just wish she was walking it would have been so much better. Jon was a mummy. Everyone loved his costume, he had this decaying looking skin and coffee dyed sheets. He looked awesome. I was Madusa with snakes in my hair, that was it for me, I was too pooped to do anything more. Our Trunk or Treat was on Wednesday this year so we ~~got~~ had to dress up twice. We all had a blast though and everything turned out great. Now I can start thinking of costumes for next year.

Miles' 6th Birthday

2010-10-31T23:22:00.000-06:00

I'm a little late in posting, but I still wanted to blog about it because it turned out so fun. Miles had a blast and got tons of presents. We decided to have his party at the park and play baseball and dodge ball. For snacks we had Cracker Jacks, licorice, Gatorade, and Nachos.

We started off playing baseball, splitting into two teams and having the boys pick a team name. I was worried they would get tired of it quick but it turned out really good and we played for like 40 minutes. Then we moved to the tennis courts and played dodge ball. I was so happy to find those good rubber balls that we used to have in school, so I bought a few of those and a lot of cheap dollar balls. They had a blast with that too, but started to get frustrated because they opted to stay in the same teams as baseball and the same team won. So we cut that short and went on to the cake. Jon's cousin that I babysit for makes awesome cakes, so this year I decided to have her make Miles'. It's been tradition for me to make a fun cake but I couldn't face it this year, I was too worn out. Anyway, the cake turned out so good! Everyone loved it. The boys loved the Nachos and Cracker Jacks.

This birthday turned out wonderful and I'm so glad. Miles had been wanting to go to Fiesta Fun or Pirate Island Pizza, so I didn't want him to be disappointed. This was so much cheaper and relaxed and as my mother always says "Keep It Simple Stupid".

Wrestling

2010-10-30T13:10:00.000-06:00

Miles started little league wrestling 2 weeks ago and is doing awesome! He has already had 2 tournaments and has won 1st place in both. Here is last nights match. I am excited for next week because he will be wrestling in a singlet. Can't wait to see that cute boy in that!

Team of 83

2010-10-08T21:41:00.000-06:00

Here's my latest freezer paper stenciling project... Made for Levi (my nephew) who is playing football this year. He's such an awesome kid and I love watching him play sports.

Just wanted to add this picture for the fun of it, he's such a character.

Quote of the Day

2010-09-30T13:57:00.000-06:00

"When do we get to 'watch' Grandma? Amie got to 'watch' her for a long time." -Miles

My mom came back from Haiti to visit. Her plan is to visit all of her children and give them each a turn to have her stay. First was Amie for about 3 days. After that she visited the boys in SLC for a couple of days. Then finally she came back to St. George to come stay or as Miles would say, it's our turn to "watch" grandma. I love that boy. Anyway, our turn is up and she will be heading to Texas for the rest of the boys, then on to Seattle for Leah. I hope Leah has a fun time "watching" mom as we did.

The Needed Makeover

2010-09-17T09:07:00.000-06:00

The Makeover is...

From this incredibly ugly outdated fan

Not the exact fan, but you get the gist of it

To this New and Improved Modern(er) looking Fan

My family room is our one room that we haven't updated with paint, patching, drapes... Nada. So I needed something fairly easy and very cheap. With just a little spray paint the fan has made the family room look decent and has filled my need for craftiness, for a couple of days anyway. One down five more to go.

My Kindergartener

2010-08-18T14:34:00.000-06:00

Miles first day of kindergarten was today! He looked so dang cute in his new clothes, shoes, and backpack. I think he was more excited to ride the bus than anything. As soon as he saw the bus he was like "see ya mom". Nope, not even sad about leaving me and I'm so glad. I'm definitely not one of those moms that are so sad and crying because their baby is going off to kindergarten. I'm so excited! Not just because it gets him out of the house so he's not always so bored, but because he's been ready to go to school for so long. He's so smart, writing his name, letters, and writing words when spelled out for him, he's going to do awesome. I just hope he's not as shy as I was :(

By the way, that is not a cigarette in the drivers hand.

Featured Photos

2010-07-31T13:59:00.000-06:00

A week ago I was browsing my many craft blogs I regularly visit, when I came across a fun surprise. On How Does She I sat there staring at a picture of my wooden flag I had made (from a tutorial on their site), and even better, when I clicked into it they had posted two other photos of things I made from their tutorials. I joined their Flickr group and posted some of my projects. You can view it HERE and see the two flags (top and bottom) on the right, and the bottom left sign that says "please knock...the baby is sleeping." NOTE: THE BABY SIGN IS FOR THE FRONT DOOR. MY MOM ASKED WHY YOU WOULD WANT TO KNOCK ON THE BABIES DOOR IF SHE'S SLEEPING :) THEN WHEN I TOLD HER IT WAS FOR THE FRONT DOOR, SHE SAID THE SIGN SHOULD SAY "GO AWAY...THE BABY IS SLEEPING AND SO AM I" :) VERY TRUE MOTHER Anyway, it was a pleasant surprise.

3rd Anniversary

2010-07-23T12:50:00.000-06:00

I'm a little over a month overdue with this post... the story of my busy life.

June 14th was our 3rd year anniversary. Our first was spent apart with Jon at a two week army training. Our Second we were so busy and pinching pennies to go on our Haiti trip. So this was our first real anniversary celebration. It started on Thursday when we dropped the kids of around noon at Jon's parents and we were Free. We rented a hotel in Hurricane and just relaxed. We were especially excited to watch some tv since we haven't had cable for 2 years. Saturday we got an early start and began the Narrows. The water was SO COLD! After you got numb it was very enjoyable. On the way back I lost my footing after having to swim across and smacked my shin on a rock. Ouch! When I looked down I had a golf ball sized goose egg on my shin that even started bleeding. Lucky for me the cold numbness helped.

After 4 1/2 hours of treading through the Narrows we were off to Angels Landing. Starting Angels Landing I was out of breath about a 1/2 mile into it. I was dying! Those switch backs were awful and never ending, but it was all worth it getting to the top, although I was scared out of my mind. We had a blast.

WARNING: Picture may be unsuitable for children...I stopped nursing the day before, hence the porn star look.

Happy 4th

2010-06-30T10:53:00.001-06:00

ere is a project I finished that was from an idea on How Does She. I gave these to my ladies that I visit teach.

Thank Heavens for Little Girls

2010-06-26T17:09:00.001-06:00

Thank heavens for my little livie girl, especially when I find myself itching for something to do, and I can't seem to concentrate on anything until I do something crafty. Lately I have been addicted to the craft blogging world. There are so many things that are on my To Do List, I don't even know where to start. And when it comes to little girls, there is a "Plethora" (Do you know what a Plethora is? name that movie) of fun ideas and crafts. So when I'm feeling the side effects coming on from cD (craftDeficiency), I browse the many craft inspiring blogs and start crafting.

Some of my latest things I've been working on are the T-Shirt Dress from MADE, I baby shower gift from How Does She, and baby jar cheesecake gifts from Yours Truly.

For my T-Shirt dresses I used a puma t-shirt that has been too short for me ever since I've been married but I couldn't get rid of it because I love Puma. The other is a long shirt that you wear with jeans, but my arms where too fat for the sleeves since my last pregnancy.

I didn't have vinyl so I just printed it right

onto my scrapbook paper.

I was dying to do something with my baby food

jars and finally thought of this

For Mother's Day I made and cooked homemade

cheesecake in baby food jars, prettied them up and

gave them as little gifts with a handmade card.

Girls Reunion 2010

2010-06-22T23:37:00.000-06:00

Seattle

We started our new tradition of a yearly Girls Reunion. For our 2010 Reunion, my mom, Amie and I headed up to Seattle to stay with Leah. Luckily Leah had her baby early and was feeling good after a week so we were able to go out and see the city.

Of course we had some good food & of course everything was organic.

We visited the museum...

Where I found this spitting image of Sethy Boy >>

Strolling the Markets

The markets were so much fun. I loved the flower market with the amazing tulips. The spices, pastas and herbs were so pretty and colorful.

And just being with my sisters and mom made me giddy and happy. We only had one full day there, so even though I was running on less than four hours of sleep, I couldn't let a second go to waste. Although, you don't get much done when you have two babies that need to be nursed every couple of hours. Probably half of the day was spent sitting on benches or in the car feeding babies. It just gave us more time to talk.

The last on our list for the day was one of the many amazing parks in Seattle. Leah and Amie stayed in the car with the tired babies, while my mom and I explored this beautiful park.

Aren't these tulips amazing! These were in front of Leah's house

And of course I can't leave without some pictures of this little cutie

Wanna Be

2010-06-03T00:05:00.001-06:00

So I tried...and failed.

I tried to be an adamant blogger, all creative and cute like so many of these other blogs. I tried to be witty and clever with titles and posts. The fact is I am not witty or clever, therefore will never survive in the world of blogging. But... I will keep on posting no matter how dull and boring my posts are, because I will forever be a Wanna Be Blogger.

That said, I just want to post some pictures, because of course I have nothing to say.

Livie cheesing it

Sethy boy ready for church

'P' 'H' Phat

Just another fit

Cheesing it Again

Fishing with Dad

Coming Soon... Girls Reunion Post

Shrek 5X a Day

2010-04-22T13:49:00.002-06:00

Seth loves Shrek! Not the first or the third, only Shrek 2. He always finds the dvd and starts the movie. So for his 2nd Birthday I made him a Shrek cake.

Now for some pictures of Olivia. These were just this morning and I had to take a picture of this beautiful fat girl. I put her in her chair and started to feed her and the whole time she had her legs spread wide straight as can be, it looked so funny! Okay maybe only for me since I love everything she does. I love this girl!

My Favorites...at least for this Week

2010-04-22T13:32:00.000-06:00

We cleaned our attic a couple of weeks ago and found some treasure. Not quite the treasure we were hoping for (as in a big wad of cash from our previous owner who was most likely trying to make and sell meth). One more homemade meth pipe to add to the others that we found (don't worry we didn't keep them), and a set of vintage pot and pans, get this...with lids! hooray, finally I have pans with lids, not more make shift cookie sheet lids.

I love my Free + shipping, Photo Book from Piccaboo.

I had to make meatloaf just to use my pretty baking dish. Love it.

And my last favorite thing... Bountiful Baskets (bountifulbaskets.org). For $15 I got a basket full of fruits and vegetable. What you do is go to the site, if they provide it in your area you can register. On Monday at 4 pm (they have different times for different areas) you sign up for a basket or other bundles that you would like. But it's a race because it is sold out sometimes within the hour. Then on Saturday morning you pick it up at your drop off point. How fun is that!

Easter Campout

2010-04-22T12:54:00.001-06:00

Jon and I started our Easter Camp Out tradition the Easter before we got married and decided this is something we wanted to continue. I definitely rethought that decision after two years of crappy weather, not catching anything, and being pregnant (8 mths 08', 4 mths 09') the two last years, with an added little one last year, windy & cold one year, & blizzard this last year. You could say I was not at all excited about this years Easter Camp out.

We decided on Lake Mead, hoping this would help with our bad weather problems in the past. This is not a meagerly 1 night stay, oh no... We left Thursday afternoon and got home Sunday afternoon!

As much as I was dreading this trip, it turned out pretty good. We had sunshine during the day, a boat for fishing, cousins for the boys to play all day, a camper (not ours :( dang it ) to go to the bathroom in (that was my favorite part), and everyone caught tons of fish...oh, except for me.

Miles cast and caught his own fish, and one of the biggest!

And Seth wanted to be a part of it too.

Livie Girl was just as happy as can be, until night rolled around. Worst nights of my life.

Then we had our Easter Egg Hunt, as we do every year, at our camp site. Kids had a blast!

Truely a Princess

2010-01-28T13:07:00.000-07:00

This was what Olivia wore last sunday. She looked so cute in her little tootoo dress. I made the flower headband that morning. She's losing her hair so I had to disguise it with something.

Just a couple of funny things kids say:

Miles:

(Looking in the dishwasher for a fork) "Mom...why don't you organize these (talking about the silverwear)? that's way I need to do it!"

Seth:

(new word is Crying; he tells us when Olivia is crying) Seth was crying because he wanted food off of dads plate, but dad said no b/c he had already eaten. Seth came crying to me. I let him whine and cry for a bit until he said... "mom, help, crying." Oh my heart melted.

How did I do all that

2010-01-28T12:54:00.001-07:00

The other day I guess I had a lot of energy or drive, because I got a lot done. Days like this don't come along that often, so it was quite miraculous.

I sewed Miles some pajama pants and matching shirt.
I cleaned the kitchen and family room
I went grocery shopping with all three kids!
Then I made homemade pizza

Not the longest list, but I'm sure many of you know that that list is a mile long when you have 3 kids.

This was my first time making pajama pants and they turned out really good. I got the pattern/tutorial from a cute craft blog named Made (I didn't do the knee pads though). I added a little tag so he could see which side was front. Then I cut out pieces to make the dinosaur skull, ironed adhesive to the pieces then the shirt, then sewed the edges.

Then a couple days later I made one for devin, my nephew, for his birthday.

That is a D not an ID. I didn't realize it looked like ID until Sarah asked what ID stood for. Dangit.

More Beanies

2010-01-28T12:10:00.000-07:00

So I'm finally getting back into crocheting. I had to put it aside for a couple of weeks and work on the Foundation website. With the earthquake in Haiti, there were changes and updates I had to fix. I actually still shouldn't be crocheting (or blogging, for that matter) because I'm supposed to be working on Amie's website (Oops! Sorry Amie, hope you don't read this). So, here is a hat and cute little thumbless gloves that I made for Kelli's little niece, Aspen. Of course I had to have a little model. Oh man, can you believe how cute she is! I just want to bite her fat cheeks off.

I love her little eyelashes! Poor girl get her grandpa and mothers eyelashes- straight and pointing down. I don't know how she can see, her eyelashes are in the way.

Holiday Review

2010-01-16T23:26:00.007-07:00

Well I'm a little late, but I still wanted to give a little overview of our holiday's. Christmas was wonderful. Every year we find and cut down our tree. This year we decided to drive a little further and get a spruce, so we drove up Cedar mountain and found ourselves the most beautiful 10 ft. tree. I was in love with our tree, although the ornament were a little sparse since the tree was so big but it still was so pretty. I wish we could have kept it up year round.

No fireplace yet to hang the stockings, I guess the coat rack will have to do for now

It was a mistake opening the stocking first with all the candy in it, Sethy Boy wanted nothing to do with anything else.

Miles with his new bike! Jon and I got bikes too, so we've been having a lot of fun riding our bikes together.

Grandma Becky's present to Olivia. Her doll is a little bigger than she is. I can't wait for her to start playing with dolls and barbies. I will not be happy if she like hunting and guns more than barbies, not happy at all.

New Years Eve 70's themed Guitar Hero Party. Well we were the only ones that dressed up, but it was fun anyway.

Every year we go sledding either the day after Christmas or New Years day. And every year (We forgot last year dang it) we stop in the same place and take a picture on the truck.

New Years day 2007

We were dating

Dec 2007

Skip 2008

and...

December 26th 2009

4th year of our sledding & picture tradition

A Portrait of Haiti

2010-01-16T16:00:00.003-07:00

These are pictures taken by a volunteer on our Dec-Jan 2010 group. My mom, sister & her husband, and the rest of the volunteer group returned home merely a week before the earthquake hit. My mom has been in Miami for a couple of days and is now leaving to the Dominican Republic tonight where she will take a helicopter into Haiti tomorrow.
My heart is breaking for those people. I pray that our dear friend and his family are safe and the families of my brothers.

A Portrait of Haiti from jesse erasmus on Vimeo.

More Hats

2010-01-04T14:23:00.004-07:00

Just some more hats that I have made

Blessings & Hats

2009-12-21T11:36:00.006-07:00

We had Olivia's Blessing a couple of weeks ago. She looked so cute! Jon's mom crocheted this amazing blessing dress. Olivia is growing like crazy. She giggles and tries to sit up. I love having a little girl around. I just can't wait for her to play with barbies and dolls.

I have been very busy lately doing nothing else but crocheting. I started just to make some hats for the kids but have now started selling them. Hats are $12 and Headbands are $8. These are just a few, I will post some really cute new ones I have made.

A day off

2009-11-08T21:18:00.004-07:00

This past Thursday Kelli came down to St. George. Jon watched the two boys and I was able to have a night out with Kell. We stayed at a resort and just talked, ate, and watched tv. It was so nice of Kell to do that for me, and at such perfect timing too. For the past month I haven't had one weekend off, have been alone during the week on and off, and my family has been really sick for the past week. I was at a real breaking point, so I am so thankful to Kelli for giving me this day off.

While Kelli was here, I had a rash all over my body. It first started on my neck and arms on Thursday morning. By Thursday night it was all over my body and face. Friday, they were raised red bumps. I called the doctor and wasn't told much except to take Benadryl. I guess it has worked, it's almost completely gone.

Cute little kiddos

2009-11-08T20:28:00.005-07:00

I just wanted to give some updated pictures of Olivia. I'm having so much fun having a little girl around. She is gaining a lot of weight and starting to smile a lot.

The other day Miles was playing at Amie's house and I guess he was trying to climb on the wall like Spider Man and did a face plant on the cinder block wall. His mouth and nose were pretty beat up.

We shaved the boys hair last week. Poor little Sethy looked like a cancer patient! I was so sad to see his beautiful thick hair gone. I'm getting used to it though, and of course he is cute as ever.

HaLLoWeEn

2009-11-02T15:23:00.006-07:00

I had a little fun this year decorating and making costumes. I saw this big hairy spider and had to buy it, though once we put it up it kind of freaked me out every time I pulled up to the house since one of my real fears are spiders.

I had a fun time making costumes for the kids. Miles had a choice between being Rufio again or batman (we had a batman mask and cape). Since he got to wear his Rufio costume for a Halloween birthday party, he chose to be batman. I found batman gloves at the DI that made fighting sounds, and black sweats and shirt. I made the batman symbol out of felt for his shirt and belt. For Sethy's costume I found a lion and a dog costume at the DI, the lion's head was perfect for an ewok but didn't have the full furry body, so I removed the lion's hood and attached it to the body of the dog costume, replaced the zipper, and put some fabric over the top, and Voila! The cutest costume ever! I had the idea for this costume a couple of weeks ago when he was giving a big old grin with his big cheeks and cute teeth, and I realized,"Oh my gosh, he looks like an Ewok." I've always loved ewoks, they're so dang cute. He was definitely a big hit.

It would have been a great night except for our family being completely sick. Jon has been sick with the flu, Miles and Seth have a cough and runny nose, and Halloween night my body started aching really bad and I was having chills with a temperature. ugh! I hate being sick. Plus the worry over my kids being sick, makes me even sicker. I've been obsessed with checking Olivia's temperature. This whole H1N1 thing kinda has me freaked out, especially having a newborn, an 18 month old, and 5 year old.

Olivia's Sunday Dress

2009-10-26T19:35:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was Olivia's first time at church. We're still going to keep her home for a month or two because of all this H1N1 stuff, but Miles had a primary program so I brought her to Sacrament only. This was the first time really dressing her up and I was so excited! I even painted her toenails.

Miles did very good on his part in the program, and of course Seth was a hellion because he was so tired. Our church is at one and our sacrament is last. Horrible! I've made it through maybe two sacrament sessions this whole year. Maybe I can become active next year.

Best Husband Ever!

2009-10-24T20:02:00.003-06:00

This past week and a half has been pretty hard for me. Having the deer hunt last weekend, Jon was gone for the weekend and Monday, then went back to work on Tuesday. By Sunday I was frazzled! Okay I was more then frazzled, I was falling apart. Then came a new week, no weekend break when my husband is home during the days, and to top that off, my mom is gone for two weeks. Then comes Friday... Jon tells me he has to work (he usually works 4-10 hour shifts) and he has to work late. Friday we had decided to put a bug fogger in our house so yesterday and last night I stayed at Amie's house because we couldn't go in there for 24 hours. Saturday morning Jon went to check on the house and found that the fogger had messed up the paint! Now take everything I said about Friday and Saturday and forget about it because it was a lie! Yes I went to Amie's and stayed over, but when I went home to find my house ruined, I found my new kitchen table painted and cabinets painted (I had picked out the colors but wasn't expecting to get it done for awhile). The whole bug fogger was a hoax to get me out of the house so he could surprise me with my new kitchen! It was so wonderful. He felt pretty bad for missing my birthday last Sunday while on the hunt, and this definitely made up for it. You did good hubby.

So here is my New and Improved Kitchen

BEFORE PICTURE

I love my husband!

WARNING! Do not read if...

2009-10-21T11:32:00.005-06:00

1. You have a weak stomach
2. You are an animal activist

HUNTING

Well it is hunting season for all those that are hunters, and yes, I am a hunters wife now. Friday morning Jon and Miles headed out to set up camp and get ready for opening morning on Saturday. I was worried about Miles because they do some pretty hard hiking, but Jon said he was awesome, didn't complain, and even carried his own camelbak full of water. On that first morning hunt they saw tons of deer and found a small 3 point buck (3 points on the antlers). Jon usually wouldn't go for a small 3 point but Miles was so excited and kept say "shoot it daddy, shoot it," so he couldn't say no. Miles was only staying for one day and Jon wanted him there when he shot his buck.

You won't see any hunting pictures because the only ones Jon got were after he gutted the deer and him and Miles were holding the esophagus with guts attached. Yuck! Last night we went to Jon's grandma's house where they had their 3 bucks hanging up to dry in a workshop in the back. I'll try not to be too graphic. I wasn't there for most of the "butchering" but Jon thought it imperative to show me the brains! But the worst part of it all was looking at all three of those bucks and all three had their tongues hanging out the side of their mouths, like the cartoons you see. Nasty! Now we have a freezer full of deer meat, anyone need some meat? I even ate deer heart last night! Thankfully the liver looked kind of funny so we didn't chance it. Sorry for this blog, it wasn't too enjoyable. But I guess this will be a yearly post for me now. Since I don't have any pictures to go with the post, I just added some random ones.

Sethy loves to eat

Miles is awesome on his bike

I have been really bad at taking picture of Olivia, so I will get on that and post some more pictures.

Miles 5th Birthday

2009-10-17T21:24:00.006-06:00

I can't believe I have a 5 year old! He had such a wonderful time. We had his birthday at Pirate Island Pizza. The inside of Pirate Island is like Disney Land, it's all decorated with caves, talking parrets, talking skeletons, a pirate ship with cannons going off, and an arcade.

I made Miles a Batman cake

Rufio Rufio Rufi-ohhhhhhhh!

2009-10-06T20:26:00.009-06:00

Growing up I always knew my mom could do pretty much anything she set her mind to. She was the mechanic, the plumber, the gardener, the fix-it lady, the cook, the maid, the driver, the provider, the mother, the father, okay I could go on and on. It wasn't until she became "the seamstress" that for the first time in my life that I really did realize my mom could do anything and how amazing she is. It was my sophomore year and I was going to Junior Prom. I was going to wear one of Leah's dance dresses but it had spaghetti straps so I wanted to add cap sleeves. I decided to have this old lady in the ward do it for me, but as soon as I tried to explain what a cap sleeve was I was a little nervous in letting her do it. When I got my dress back the day before the dance, IT HAD WINGS! It looked like she got some shoulder pads and sewed them onto the straps. Well you can imagine how a distraught teenager would react. Oh it was the end of my life! Mother to the rescue. She reassured me she would fix it, and I admit I was extremely skeptical, but she worked all night long and when I woke up the next morning and saw the master piece I will never forget the feeling. It was this amazing realization that my mom can do ANYTHING!

Well this might be my moment...

In June we had a family reunion with Jon's family. They had a pirate theme for the reunion and wanted the kids to dress up. Well I've always loved the movie Hook so we decided Miles would be Rufio. I went to the DI to find the costume. I found a leather purse that would be perfect for the vest. The handle spot was perfect for his neck. I made the vest, earring, necklace, shirt, belt, and red pants to go under his pants. I must say I'm pretty proud.

Alies came home from his mission on October 1st. He was the last missionary of 5. He is doing great and it is so great to have him home. We love him so much.

God made me that way

2009-09-28T19:14:00.005-06:00

Awhile ago Miles was hanging out with his uncles Levi and Ben (Levi my nephew and Ben, Jon's Brother) and a couple of their friends. One of their friends asked Miles why his skin was black and his mom and dad were white. Miles answer?

Because that's the way God made me

What an amazing little boy!

Adjusting to life

2009-09-24T21:55:00.009-06:00

Well, I'm starting to get back into old routine and getting used to have three little kids. I had forgotten how nights were with a newborn, feeding every 3 hours. The worst is when she wakes up around 5:30-6 am to eat... nurse and burp for 30-45 minutes, lay down for 15 minutes, wake up to take care of Miles and Seth. Ugh!

Sethy is starting to get used to not being the baby of the family now. He doesn't hate me anymore and will actually come to me and let me hold him. He is now constantly giving Olivia kisses. I always have to have her in my sight because Seth will lay or put all his weight on her just to give her a kiss.

At Olivia's 5 day check up last week she weighed 5lbs 12oz. She has these long skinny arms, long fingers, and long skinny feet. She has the cutest little orangutan arms that I know she'll grow into soon. I'm not being mean, I think it's the cutest thing ever! She also has the funniest little tongue. She came out whippin' that tongue all over the place, ready to eat. She looked like a lizard, her tongue was so long and skinny. Now you really think I'm awful.

We went to a parade on Saturday. We bought Seth one of those backpack leash things. Oh man was that the cutest thing ever. Although it felt very awkward walking around that way, especially when I had to tug at him like a dog. He finally started to get fed up with not being able to go where he wanted to that he began trying to tug the leash away from us. Anyway, it was fun to go out on our first outing with the new baby.

I just added these pictures because I have the cutest kids ever! Miles playing in the sprinklers and Seth sleeping with his horsey that he absolutely loves.

9.11.09

2009-09-14T16:25:00.004-06:00

Olivia Ann Hall was born on September 11, 2009, at 9:00 pm.

She weighed 6 lbs. and was 19 in. long.

By Wednesday last week we were getting pretty anxious and nervous to have the baby. Anxious, because our doctor told us we would have her by Wednesday. Nervous, because if we didn't have her by Friday Jon would have to go up to SLC for 3 days and would miss the delivery if I went into labor (The army told Jon the only way he could stay is if I was in labor that day).

On my Wednesday appointment nothing had changed, I was still at a three, but my belly was measuring smaller. So we did an ultrasound and found the fluid was low. The doctor decided to do one more ultrasound on Friday to see if the fluid went down at all and this would determine if they would induce me. They checked Friday and it had gone down so we were put on the list to be induced. The hospital was very busy so we were put "on call" and told probably tonight or in the morning, they'll call. So we went home to get ready for the baby. We ended up watching Grey's Anatomy on the computer because we figured they would be calling that night. At 2:30 we got the call to be at the hospital at 3:00. I was not happy because for the past two weeks I have been getting ready (doing my hair and makeup) "just in case" she came. The other two deliveries I went in to labor in the middle of the night and looked so awful, so this one I wanted to look somewhat decent. Of course this was the only day I hadn't taken a shower or gotten ready.

After they induced me it was still taking awhile so the doctor came and broke my water. Right after that I started getting very painful contractions and soon after that I got the epidural. Ouch, I hate getting that especially while having a contraction. After a few minutes I was still having sharp pain on one side and they were getting harder. After 15 minutes they started putting the catheter in. They were letting a student do it for the first time and she was very nervous. It looked like this was her first day shadowing too. Anyway, she couldn't get it in so the nurse took over and said no wonder she couldn't get it in, the babies head is in the way and we were going to have a baby any minute. They called the doctor and started to get everyone and everything ready. The nurse kept asking where the doctor was and he has about 30 seconds, after that 30 seconds she said okay she's coming take a deep breath and push. I took the deep breath and exhaled (barely pushed) and she slid right out. The doctor came in right after that. It was a great birth! I didn't rip or need stitches.

I can't believe I have 3 kids! I can see already that it will be a challenge especially because Seth is still just a baby himself. He is having a hard time not being the baby and is pretty mad at me. Hopefully he will return to his happy self soon. Miles is a big help and so wonderful like he was with Seth, but I can see he is needing some extra attention as well. I know somehow I will be able to juggle everything but I don't know how. We sure do have a cute family though, I love them so much.

4 Weeks or Less to Go!

2009-08-26T18:42:00.003-06:00

Hooray!! I went to the doctor today and I am already 3cm dilated. I am due on Sept 28th so I still want to wait at least 10 days, which I'm sure I will. I am so ready to be done with this pregnancy! But I can't believe I will have another little baby. I'm curious to see what she looks like and to see the difference between girls and boys. Today I realized how much we still have to do to get ready for the baby. We have to move Seth into Miles room (We'll see how that works), and figure out what to do for a crib. We had planned to use the playpen for the baby for awhile then get bunkbeds for the boys and change to the crib, but Miles and Seth broke the crib the other day. I think we can still use it though. We still have to buy some clothes, and I am making a girlie carseat cover to replace the other one. Most of the things we have to do is cleaning and organizing the house.

I designed a webpage for our Foundation so check it out at www.foundation4children.net or click on the link to the right. Please support us in any way you can! Check out the Web page or simply put our link on your blog by adding a "link list" from your "add a gadget". Thank you for your support and help.

A day at the Lake

2009-08-24T11:40:00.006-06:00

Just a saturday morning at the Lake with the Hubby and kids.

My Cute Family

The Cutest Boys Ever!

The Beginning of our Haiti Trip

2009-07-21T21:46:00.000-06:00

Post 1 of Haiti

After getting home from our family reunion on Saturday the 20th around noon, we rushed to clean our camping gear, our house, wash our clothes from camping, and pack to leave for Haiti at 5 pm that night.

Jon and I were going to be the first to arrive in Haiti, so we were supposed to rent the truck, pick up Amie and Todd (Amie’s Boyfriend) who were arriving a couple of hours after us then drive ourselves to the guest house we would be staying at (The guest house is a large house that houses different groups or individuals. It fits as many beds to a room with boys in one room and girls in the other. You share the bathrooms, and are provided two meals a day, breakfast and dinner, served buffet style).

While in Miami on our layover, my mom called from the Dominican Republic. She had been there for two weeks with volunteers and was now traveling to Haiti by bus to spend a week in Haiti as well. Anyway, she called to tell us the busses weren’t traveling today because of senator elections in Haiti. Usually with elections there are riots, so just in case she called the guest house and had them send someone to meet us at the airport.

Stepping off the plane onto the tarmac, we were greeted with the suffocating humidity. As we entered the airport, there was a band of men playing the drums and other cultural instruments. Although there have been improvements to the airport, the smell was distinctly the same. We waited 45 minutes to an hour for our bags, which of course were the very last bags to come out. Then we were ready to exit the airport. I was ready for what was to come but I don’t think I even mentioned to Jon what to expect. Leaving the airport doors there are about fifty men with gray or yellow shirts on to come and help you with your bags. This job is their livelihood, so you can imagine they are very persistent. Jon and I both had a cart with three huge duffle bags each, so as we come out about five men to each cart come to claim their territory. Some place their hand on your bag and expect to be paid, while two others are trying to take your whole cart from you. I immediately recognize the deaf baggage guy that loved me when we previously lived in Haiti and he recognized me. So I was trying to fend of other helper guys and let the deaf guy help me. Jon saw the “one armed man” (That we also new previously) holding a sign with the guest house name on it, so he pointed to him and immediately alerted the “one armed man” that we were “His Job”. He started yelling and letting the other men know who was boss. Luckily there was someone there from the guest house with a car because when I went to rent the truck that I had reserved, of course they didn’t have it there. So I decided I would try again for the truck when I came back a couple hours later for Amie and Todd.

After picking Amie and Todd up at the airport we were able to rent a SUV type car until their truck was returned. We went home to the guest house and settled into our separate rooms, boys and girls. There’s only so long you can stay in the non-air conditioned house until you want to pass out and die. When this happened we went on a short walk around the block. By that time my feet were so swollen it looked like I had elephantitis.

Waiting at the Airport

Roosters were crowing it seemed like at 4 am, and was light by five. I started the third book of Twilight for our trip to Haiti, so I didn’t mind waking up early and reading a little bit before it got too hot. We ate our breakfast of fresh mango, bananas, and pineapple, and then headed off for another trip to the airport. I was the driver, which I have been looking forward to showing my husband my crazy but very good, driving skills. After picking Leah up we went straight to the Mission Office to find our old assistant/translator/driver, but mostly good friend, who was now the first counselor in the mission presidency. When we turned off the main road named Delmas to the dirt road to get to the Mission Office you could definitely tell which gate was the Mission Office (Houses are surrounded with tall walls and gates with broken glass and barbed wire on top). The walls and gate were painted white and were very clean, along with the area in front of the gate. We were greeted with an armed guard who let us in to use the phone to call Harry, who was at home. So we proceeded on with our little adventure to Harry’s house. Harry’s house is on a very busy and skinny road that winds up the mountain. On the passenger side you have a cement ditch about two inches from your tire, and on the driver’s side you have the oncoming traffic about a foot away. Driving up a mountain with many curves and traffic gives your clutch foot a very good workout. Anyway, we find the house which is on the left, so I turn in and block traffic and honk my horn to have someone open the gate.

Pulling into the orphanage

Sharing their candies we gave them

It was so wonderful to see our good friend Harry. Although it is hard to see the conditions he is living in and the hardship he is facing. The house Harry was living in is one of his brother’s orphanages. I know this house well, because for almost a year this was the main orphanage we were visiting daily. It seemed cleaner, but that might be the lack of furniture or anything for that matter. Upstairs was empty and quite compared. There was no crying babies, no lines of plastic chairs with babies sitting lifeless and sitting in the own feces. There were no flies in swarms on the floors or a helpless little baby. Although it was good not to see all these things, but it still was the sad and depressing house I remembered, especially walking out onto the porch where we spent most of our time. There we found a line of 8 little babies with no expressions on their faces, no emotions, not making a sound. Some may say, “that sounds better than crying babies,” but this is the stage after the crying when they realize no one cares, when they lose emotion, when they begin dying, not from lack of food, but from lack of love. For me that is worse to see than the starving baby.

To be continued...

Bunk beds

"We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty"

~ Mother Teresa

Orphanages

2009-07-20T08:39:00.000-06:00

Continued... Post 2 of Haiti

After visiting Harry, we headed even further up the mountain to a place called The Baptist Mission. On top of the mountain is a haven from Port-au-Prince. The temperature drops drastically and you see how the rest of Haiti should look had it not been deforested. The Baptist Mission has done wonderful things, including teaching the local farmers agricultural. When you look on the mountain side you can see all the beautiful crops. They have established a little bakery, gift shop, museum, small restaurant, and what we call “The Zoo”. The first things you see are the Chinese gold fish in the dirty water. Are they swimming or floating? I’m not quite sure. Next, is the empty cage where a monkey named Charlie used to live. My brothers used to love him and even asked about him when we came home. Apparently, someone gave him a cigarette and he died. In a small 5x10 cement box lived a crocodile. You step up two steps to look over the caged top at the non moving croc. Then you can go around and look at the iguana, rabbits, guinea pigs, snake, peacocks, and their new female monkey to replace the one they killed. This was probably one of Miles highlights of the trip.

Mom arrived later that afternoon. This was a special trip because, not only did all three of us girls get to come with our mom, but Jon, Miles, Kathy (my mom’s sister), Mary (Kathy’s sister in law), and Janna (our very first volunteer to stay with us) came on this trip. Kathy, Mary, Janna, and two other volunteers, Miles (who we referred to as Big Miles) and Galen arrived with Mom. They had been in the Dominican Republic for a 1-2 week trip and were finishing their last week in Haiti.

The first day going to the orphanages were going to be short stops to see where the orphanages were and what needed to be done. Days never go as planned. Something always comes up and it just takes longer than you would have ever imagined. I knew this from my years of living in Haiti, yet it was still frustrating even though I was prepared for it to happen. After hours of waiting and driving from one area to another to meet our friend to show us the way to the orphanages, we finally made it. We were met by about 10-15 cute little kids. It was obvious they had been cleaned, dressed up, and hair done, for our benefit. The director had also taken most of the kids (we were told there were 60 kids) to her other orphanage, we suspect in another attempt to impress. I picked up a cute little girl, sat down on the floor and began singing to her. Literally 2 seconds after I started Patty Cake, she was dead asleep. I was even doing the clapping motion with her hands and I felt them go limp. So I just rocked her and let her sleep. The room we were in was so unbelievably hot, me being pregnant didn’t help. There were beads of sweat on my little girls face that told me I was not the only one dying of heat. Pretty soon we were off to the other orphanage. The drive to this orphanage was amazing. We went a back way that I recognized but was not that familiar with because it was a very dangerous area. We weren’t able to take any photos of this area because of the dangers. After driving up impossible roads, we arrived at the next orphanage.

Traffic

Little girl that fell asleep in my arms

When we came in the gates the rush of kids came. This again was a short visit, so we were able to pick up some kids and walk around while my mom talked to the director of what was needed. We also gave little snack bags to each child that we had made. Each had a couple of candies and some crackers. We made a game plan for the next day of what we would be doing. Bathing, Diapers, applying ointments if needed, and of course just playing. We also bought food and water, from donated money, that we took to the orphanage.

We each brought 2 duffle bags full of donations, so we spent the next morning sorting through all of them and figuring out how to distribute them. Mom stressed to us that while donations are a great need, our main focus is to bring love to the kids. It’s hard for people to understand this. Many people want to give “things”, but don’t realize that kids can do without clothes, shoes, diapers, and for a little while, even food and water. What they can’t live without and many die from is the lack of stimulation, love, and touch. Of course it is a wonderful feeling to see the kids’ happy faces when you give them new flip flops, or even a little sucker. One of my favorite things we gave was the hair bows. My aunt, her 7 year old daughter, and a friend, made a box of hair bows for the little girls. Along with that we brought some mirrors so they could look at themselves. It was an amazing sight to see them looking into that mirror. Some I don’t think had ever seen themselves in a mirror. They giggled and awed, they looked behind the mirror to figure it out, and they kissed their own reflection.

New flip flops for each child

Hair bows and Mirrors

A special thanks to those that donated…diapers, flip flops, toys, hair bows, hygiene supplies, school supplies, time, money (well spent on food and water for the orphanage), and much much more.

Thank you.

To be continued…

Meal Time

2009-07-19T09:43:00.000-06:00

Continued... Post 3 of Haiti

Meal time at the orphanage was an amazing and sad sight. The kitchen had two little tables for the kids and the rest sat on plastic chairs or the floor. On the counter were the rows of adult sized metal plates, piled high with rice and beans. Not knowing when the next meal will be, they gave portions that the adult men in our group didn’t think they would be able to eat. Some got a spoon, some did not. It didn’t matter to them. Waiting for the food to be distributed onto the plates, I held two little boys and sang songs to the kids. I sang one of the Creole songs that I knew, but to my surprise they acted as if they didn’t know it. So I began to sing some English songs and they started to sing with broken English. Again this verified to me that these kids are trained to impress when needed.

When plates were dished out, I started passing out plates to kids around me. I sat down on the dirty urine smelling floor and began to feed a little boy in a plastic chair. One little boy beside me ate his rice with a formula scoop that he pulled out from the band of his pants where he kept it. Plates began to empty and every little grain of rice was picked off with little fingers. Even with hungry little babies, there are always those picky ones. One put aside all the beans and ate all the rice, while another picked out all the beans and ate them. Some were neat and clean; making sure the rice was packed tight and taking precise bites. The little boy that Leah was holding was so weak he couldn’t even lift his head to eat. He was given a bottle that he couldn’t even suck for lack of strength. He was the same age as her son, 18 months. Another in the same condition would not drink the bottle so after a while we tried a cup which she gulped down. We realized this little girl was probably 2 or 3 years old.

As we brought out the milk we were overwhelmed with the swarm of kids grabbing and crying for milk. We handed out cups of milk as fast as we could, but as soon as one cup was given, there was tripled the hands grabbing for more. As milk dripped from the carton to the floor, there were kids catching the drops or on the floor wiping and licking. Not only are the kids deathly thirsty, but milk is rarely served mostly because the fact of diarrhea. The next day we brought water and were met with the same reaction.

If you can't feed a hundred people...

then feed just one ~ Mother Teresa

Tribute to Good ol' Michael

2009-07-09T19:09:00.006-06:00

We were in Haiti the day Michael Jackson died. The internet wasn't working most of the time, so all ten volunteers were using Todd's (Amie's Boyfriend) iphone. That was the one way we could keep in touch with the outside world. It was a shock reading that MJ was dead, and for a minute we all questioned its validity. The morning after he died we saw this drawing on the wall.

So this goes out to you... MJ

More Christmas

2009-01-30T11:40:00.000-07:00

Christmas Day

2009-01-27T20:59:00.000-07:00

Leah, Jeff, and Mick spent Christmas with us so we had so much fun.

Miles isn't old enough to be so excited that he wakes up at 5 in the morning, so that was nice. I think we all woke up at about 7 or 7:30. It was a pretty small christmas this year considering we just moved a month before, but it was a really nice christmas.

Snow Day!

2009-01-27T20:46:00.000-07:00

A week before Christmas we had a couple of snow storms here in St. George. One morning we woke up to a couple of inches of snow. It was so much fun! The schools even had a snow day. I thought that was pretty funny, coming from Logan and only having one snow day in my 17 years of living there. That day it was -30F and snowed like 4 feet.

Driving down the street, I think every single house had one or two snowmen up. I've never seen so many snowmen.

Our First Home

2009-01-23T21:37:00.000-07:00

On November 27 2008, Thanksgiving Day, we were handed over the keys to our first home. That morning Jon and I went early to the house to see what kind of condition it was left in. The previous owner was not to cooperative and we were afraid he was going to purposely trash the place. Well it wasn't trashed, but it wasn't clean by any means. We started that day to frantically clean and prepare the walls for painting. I spent the whole weekend removing wallpaper. It was the worst job. We had to be out of our apartment by the end of the month, so we had the weekend to clean, paint, move, and clean our apartment.

Thursday as we were cleaning we discovered some odd things in the detached garage to have us think that it may have been a Meth Lab. Yeah! Our very own meth lab. Please, lets add on to the stress of moving. We had the police come and check it out. They then took pictures and sent it on to the Drug Task Force (or something like that). They came to check it out a couple weeks later with their white suits on and gas masks, it was quite the scene. It was obvious that meth had been smoked, but they couldn't prove that it was a lab. We gutted the garage to be safe.

After cleaning and painting day and night, we moved in on Saturday. I love our new home. It has three bedrooms, 2 baths, living room and family room, a good size backyard, and garage. I loved picking out new paint colors and decorating. We are also in a very good neighborhood with quite a few kids that are Miles age. Miles learned how to ride his bike 2 weeks ago, so he has been out everyday for hours riding and playing with the neighbors.

The family room and the master bathroom are the only rooms that we haven't redone yet. I haven't taken the after picture of the babies room yet, but we painted it a light green color. The before picture looks similar to the before of Miles room. It of course had wallpaper border that I had to rip down.

FAMILY ROOM BEFORE

FAMILY ROOM AFTER

KITCHEN BEFORE

KITCHEN AFTER

LIVING ROOM BEFORE

LIVING ROOM AFTER

MASTER BEDROOM BEFORE

MASTER BEDROOM AFTER

BATHROOM BEFORE

BATHROOM AFTER

MILES ROOM BEFORE

MILES ROOM AFTER

Halloween

2009-01-23T10:09:00.000-07:00

I am the worst blogger ever! I will have to re-cap everything starting from Halloween.

Halloween was so much fun, as you can see. Miles was The Incredible Hulk, Seth was an Elephant, Jon was Joe Dirt, and I was some kind of skeleton or something like that. I wasn't going to dress up, but my wonderful husband brought home this costume for me that night. Jon had to prepare for his costume a month in advance, growing out his mustache and beard. Leah, Jeff and Mick came down for the boys homecomings, so they were here for Halloween also. Oh, and yes, that is Amie as Kiss. Scary!

The Whole Fam

Swimming with Kelli

2008-08-19T18:49:00.000-06:00

Kelli, Stacey, and Abbey came to St. George this past weekend so I was able to go see them. I took Miles and Seth to swim at the pool where they were staying. This was the first time swimming for Seth and he actually did very well and like the water. It was so good to see them. I even got to go out with them on Saturday just the four of us, without kids! At first I felt kind of funny, like the old married mom, but after awhile it was like old times. I loved it!

Sethie's first time being dunked!

Kell Bell with Seth

Miles is quite the little swimmer

The Manti Temple

2008-08-05T16:32:00.000-06:00

Jon and I went to the Manti temple for

my friend Michelle's wedding.

It was a really nice sealling,

and a beautiful temple.

Jon's brother's wedding

2008-07-29T20:49:00.000-06:00

Will & Krystal

Seth's Baby Blessing

2008-07-27T19:18:00.000-06:00

Today was Seth's baby blessing. He was such a cute little man in his white tux. He is getting extremely fat now and a lot more active he loves to smile now and he has started giggling.