Christmas Quotes of the Day:

So.. we got up at a little before 7 am to open christmas presents.. .which made for a good time.. and some funny quotes...

Lynda decided to wrap the rest of Emily's underwear that was still in a package... She was so excited when she opened it .. she exclaimed, "A new package of opened underwear!!!"

Lynda also decided to wrap Hannah's diapers.. She was bored or something.. Hannah came to Lynda, laid on the floor and exclaimed, "Change me!" She was so excited for her diaper present.. weirdo!

Emily was so excited to try on her new undies, that she stripped right infront of everyone in order to try them on.. Which was a huge surprise for everyone who wasn't paying attention.. and really hilarious!

Life is going good for us on this Christmas day.. I'll probably follow up in a few days with pictures...

But it's almost time for dinner.. We decided dutch style pork chops and dutch style meatballs with potatoes in helping Mom get into the Holland mood.. She's leaving for there at 2 in the morning tomorrow :-D!

Well.. food is calling me! Hope everyone is having an amazing Christmas day.

Christmas Eve.

It's Christmas Eve..

I'm so excited.. Since it's snowy we decided it wasn't safe to head to my parents house to early christmas morning.. So I convinced bryan to let us go sleep over there. I know that all us kids are grown-up now and stuff... But my sister's still wake up early in the morning and get way excited... and this year I get to join them! It's one of my favorite things about Christmas! The waking up early and all excited! .. makes me feel like a kid again..

The girls are so excited already! They got to open two presents today... Since I was just so excited for them... he he eh.. And they can't wait till tomorrow to open the other ones.. It's sooooooooo cute. Hannah keeps saying, "I want santa to come." And we are using it to our benefit... "santa won't come to girls who don't listen to their parents.." and etc.. and it's working so well!!

Okay.. well better get the girls all pack and stuff.. and figure a way to get our car out.. hopefully it won't get stuck again.. it's so embarrasing...

Happy Birthday MOM!!

Today is my mom's like 100th birthday... he he eh.. okay maybe i'm a little off :-D.. He he he!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM/OMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hopefully we can make it out and share some cake today!!


In other news.. I'm 9 weeks pregnant today! (or as the ultrasound would say 9 weeks 1 day.. but will go by my date)
The baby is a size of a grape! In honor of the size.. i think i'm going to feed my kids and me some grapes this morning!!

Bad Boy bad boy....... whatcha gonna do?

So.. Funny story time!

I've been cutting Bryan's hair for a year now (he got the shaver for christmas last year). We decided it's way more affordable, since he needs a hair cut like monthly.. $16 for a hair cut x 12 months... in a year we've saved $192.00, Niccccee. Anyways. Tonight I cut it like normaly. And then trimmed around his neck.. i love a clean neck line.. :-D. Then bryan went to do his touch-ups, he's a perfectionist. OOPS he forgot that I took the guide comb and started doing a touch up in the front of his hair. He turned and said "you forgot to put the piece back on." I looked at him and busted out in laughter..... Like I couldn't breath, I sounded funny, almost died laughter. After about 5 minutes, I tried to fix his hair... BUT I COULDN'T STOP LAUGHING!!! After like 10 more minutes, and a trip to the toilet (yeah i almost peed myself i was laughing so freakin hard), I finally was able to stop laughing long enough to recut his hair.. This time.. very short. Yes I did have to take a ton of breaks... I don't know why it was so freakin funny to me.. But it was. Don't get me wrong... He still looks hot. It's shorter then normal.. More like a ganster/bad boy type of hair cut.. which i'm very much okay with. But yes.. When you see him.. You'll notice it's very much shorter then normal.. AND IT'S NOT MY FAULT!

Just a little more information..

Emily was 6lbs 10oz.. which isn't bad.. but she was born at 36weeks... If she would have come to term.. she would have been like 9 lbs or something...

Hannah was 9lbs 5 oz. She was born right on time (well three days early). We tried and tried to get her out of me.. I got gelled three times. And then finally pitocin.

So yeah.. I can't do another 9 pounder. I am/was really bummed because this was going to be my "natural" baby. I was going to not get a epidural and I was all excited. But.. That is ABSOUTLEY not going to happen this time. Even if by some miracle of a chance I am able to deliver vaginally, I'm going to have to get an epidural for the just in case emergency c-section.

As Daniel pointed out, I am so grateful that I live in a time where c-sections are preformed fairly safely. I am grateful for a doctor who really knows what he is doing. I am glad that we got pregnant here in washington where I could have such a great doctor, again. The doctor really is a great doctor. And I know that he really is thinking about the baby above everything. And I love that about him..

Looking at the glass half full... Maybe I'll be able to schedule it early.. Like at 37 weeks :-D Plus! Then I'll be able to know for sures when the baby is coming :0D

"I got a piece of your hair"

So my kids have quite good imaginations. And they really use their imaginations together... and sometimes they fight...
Example:
E: "I got a piece of your pants"
H: "SHE HAS A PIECE OF MY PANTS!"
--two kids run around, Hannah trying to get her piece of pants back.. and Emily teasing her----
Me: Hannah she doesn't have a piece of your pants she's just pretending...
---Quiet for a whole second----
E:I have a piece of your hair and I'm going to put it in Mommy's hair.
H: OH NO! MY HAIR!
Mom: Here you go Hannah, your piece of hair....
E: I have a piece of your hair and I'm going to put it in Mommy's hair....
H: OH NO! MY HAIR!
Mom: Here you go Hannah, your piece of hair..
--continued until they got bored of it... Once Emily realized I could quickly calm Hannah down about it, she stopped bugging Hannah. And they started playing "going to the mailbox"
(if you didn't get it.. no pants pieces or hair was involved in the above conversations)
I do love my kids soooo much. They really amaze me by their imaginations. Earlier today they were having a "sleepover." And 90% of the time they play really nice together and it's soo cute!

NO TWINS! :-D

Yes I know. Today I am ADDICTED with short posts. But.. so?!

So good news and bad news today. Nope, we aren't having twins (that's the good news by the way). Bad news? I am pretty sure I'm going to end up having a C-Section. Yep. It's like a 90% chance. See.. My babies are big.. and the hole they come out is tiny. It's not worth them getting stuck like Hannah did and having to pull him out by his arm.. and paralyze it. So if it starts weighing close to 8 lbs to soon...... He's coming out through the top. (I'm refering to the baby as a HE because I'm really hopeful! Not because I know) And Dr. Cook says with each pregnancy the baby gets bigger.. and this is my third...
Yeah.. I'm pretty sure that's what's going to happen.. So time to start googling info on it.

That's about it... Except we got to see it's heart beat, and get three pictures of him :-D I love Dr. Cook and his Ultrasound Machine!

Side note. Emily and Hannah are fighting.. Hannah keeps stealing Emily's green beans because hers are all done.. How did I get so lucky with veggie loving kids?!

Yes my third post.

So this morning I woke up and remembered the dream I had previously had that night. It's kind of funny.

I dreamt that I was late for church.. Like two hours late for church. I had to go because I had to put the mail in the mailbox for the kids. I also had to do the other normal stuff I normally do in primary.

I get there and the primary president is kind of ticked off at me for being so late. ANd then it gets worse. I forgot to assign the talks and stuff. So i'm sitting there trying to figure out who's turn it is, and i realize that I forgot my binder at home so I couldn't remember who had just given them recently and stuff. I was sitting in the back of the primary and for some reason all the 12-14 year old kids were there. And I was having a hard time figuring out which ones were suppose to be there and which ones weren't in primary. And then I couldn't remember ANYONES names. So I finally give out only ONE talk assignment after asking the Primary President what the kids name was. And the younger kids leave to go to their classes and we have sharing time. So I go out into the hallway to say how sorry i was, by then I was in tears. And the Primary President replied rudely "you should be." and walked away. She then continued to talk to people and say rude things about me. It was not so cool.

Why is this so funny? Because the Primary President is this INCREDIBLE sweet and nice person. I don't think i've ever seen her mad EVER. The dream was COMPLETELY not at all her. So it was funny.

HECK YEAH!

So the doctor's office called.. I get to come in later this afternoon!

Sorry.. I have had dreams of twins.. And I want to make sure that it was JUST dreams of twins. :-D

DISAPPOINTED.

So you know how I expressed that one of my quirks was getting way over excited. About silly things.. Like the taking the test in Haggens because I just can't wait....

Well. My doctor's appointment got canceled. It's snowy and all night I was sad about how that might make us not be able to go to the appointment... And silly me I prayed really hard. Well. The snow melted a bunch and the roads are pretty okay. So we all got ready to go. As Bryan was going to start the car (like 5 minutes before we had to leave.. it's really cold outside...) the doctor's office called. "I have to cancel your appointment for today, Dr Cook has to go deliver a baby. I don't know when I'm going to be able to reschedule you in." Yeah. I'm bummed.

I was just so excited to get to see my baby and stuff. I've had the appointment planned since the day after I found out I was pregnant. So I waited. and waited. and waited. and waited. :-(
Plus I keep having dreams about twin boys.. and i want to make sure i'm not having twins.

The end.

Snow Day

So we woke up to snow this morning. Though we knew we would since we watched it fall last night. BUT! It was a big surprise for the girls. They came into our room and said "it's morning, the sky's light is on." And I replied, "go look out mom's window, there's a surprise." I heard this big happy gasp and Emily exclaimed, "IT SNOWED!!!" So we got a towel out, opened the door, got some snow, and let the girls play with it on the towel. Then we got a call saying church was canceled. So we did what any smart parent would do.. We turned on some cartoons for the girls and fell back to sleep!

Then we finally decided it was time to get up. We had planned on having a huge breakfast a few days ago.. but it never happened. So we had all the stuff for it and decided today would be the perfect day. I made pancakes, bacon, toast, eggs, and juice. We got some of our homemade applesauce out and had this huge breakfast. We learned though, we need to have smaller huge breakfasts.. Since we have a bunch of leftovers :-D.

After breakfast (more like brunch) we bundled the girls up and opened the door to the balcony in our room. They got to go out and freeze while we relaxed in our bed nice and warm!

Emily was so happy.. and Yes they did have like three layers of clothing on.. IT WAS FREEZING!!!!

And now we are just having some down time.. maybe we'll make cookies or something later :-D

Hope everyone else is having a fun snow day!! I hate the snow.. but today it's turning out to be an okay snow day!!

Hannah's Stats

So.. Today we had Hannah's Dr. Appointment.. and the verdict?! she's an extremely Health and extremely smart little girl.. The doctor was impressed with her non-stop talking... He he eh..
But she's 31 1/2 pounds (92%) and 37 1/2 inches tall (well over 100% .. )



She really is an amazing little girl. It makes me so proud of her, two years ago she was struggling with so much. Only one of her four limbs worked correctly. If you look at her today.. You couldn't tell that she was in a leg brace for more then 5 months, and that for a long time her arm just sat paralized. Not only has she overcome all those obstacles so far, but she's surpassed the normal expectations. She started walking early, talking early, and her motor skills are also normal or advanced. She is such a fighter! And she doesn't even know it! Okay.. she probably does know it.. she's just that smart :-D.

We love Hannah so much!! Even when her Evil Twin shows up :-D

My Baby Blueberry!

How your baby's growing:The big news this week: Hands and feet are emerging from developing arms and legs — although they look more like paddles at this point than the tiny, pudgy extremities you're daydreaming about holding and tickling. Technically, your baby is still considered an embryo and has something of a small tail, which is an extension of her tailbone. The tail will disappear within a few weeks, but that's the only thing getting smaller. Your baby has doubled in size since last week and now measures half an inch long, about the size of a blueberry.If you could see inside your womb, you'd spot eyelid folds partially covering her peepers, which already have some color, as well as the tip of her nose and tiny veins beneath parchment-thin skin. Both hemispheres of your baby's brain are growing, and her liver is churning out red blood cells until her bone marrow forms and takes over this role. She also has an appendix and a pancreas, which will eventually produce the hormone insulin to aid in digestion. A loop in your baby's growing intestines is bulging into her umbilical cord, which now has distinct blood vessels to carry oxygen and nutrients to and from her tiny body.

He is the size of a blueberry! About half an inch.. supposively

Silly Emily quote of the night...

So Bryan and I were sitting in bed watching "Elf." And Emily comes in.. This is the conversation..

Emily: Mommy, could you watch my dog. I have to run to the church for a quick meeting.

Mommy: what?

Emily: I have a quick meeting at the church. I have to go outside, past Oma's house, and then I'll be at the church. I will get a BIG candy.

Mommy: Are you going to drive the car?

Emily: No, I'm going to run.

Mommy: It's to late, you need to go to bed.. You're a silly face..

Emily: (makes a silly face) See my funny face.

The End

I love the personality she has.. It was so funny because we were just sitting in bed hoping that the kids would fall asleep.. And she had this Important meeting at the church that made her need to get out of bed and let us babysit her doggie... He he eh!

I lied.

Okay.. so a while ago i posted how Egg nog was my favorite food/drink during the holidays. Well.. It's ruined. For some reason (pregnancy i suspect) I don't like it this year. I liked it when I posted about it.. but then... it lost all it's goodness.

So i have changed it.. Lemon Merigune Pies! Yummy! Now there's a keeper!

My Lentil Bean.

I know it's a day early.. But i'm having another thanksgiving celebration tomorrow... So probably won't be online much!

6 weeks
How your baby's growing: This week's major developments: The nose, mouth, and ears that you'll spend so much time kissing in eight months are beginning to take shape. If you could see into your uterus, you'd find an oversize head and dark spots where your baby's eyes and nostrils are starting to form. His emerging ears are marked by small depressions on the sides of the head, and his arms and legs by protruding buds. His heart is beating about 100 to 160 times a minute — almost twice as fast as yours — and blood is beginning to course through his body. His intestines are developing, and the bud of tissue that will give rise to his lungs has appeared. His pituitary gland is forming, as are the rest of his brain, muscles, and bones. Right now, your baby is a quarter of an inch long, about the size of a lentil bean.

Sad.

So today one of my good friends from High School called. She called me about two weeks ago... She found out she was pregnant, the baby was going to be her first! I was going to call her but missed placed her number, to tell her I going to have a baby a week after her.
When she called I was all excited to tell her. Though she told me that she miscarried on Tuesday. She had spent the night in the hospital and was now having to call her close friends and tell them the horrible news. That's how strong she is. I would just hid away from the world for a long time.

Misscarriage is one of my worst fears.. What do you say to someone who is going through this loss? Any advice?

I think we might plan a trip in january to visit her.. She's only a few hours away and we haven't seen her in forever..

If you wouldn't mind keeping her in your prayers.. She's been through A TON.

Organization.

So after a long time of being mad at the girls' room. I finally had the motivation to do something about it. I was talking about it.. .and bryan was like "why don't we do it another night.." thanks to my crazy pregnancy hormones.. i got mad.. and cleaned it all out. I also made bryan help (don't worry it was actually not that bad and we had fun remembering some of the toys and stuff... Bryan enjoyed wearing different dress up accessories) and it went a lot faster then I expected. We sat the kids in front of the t.v. (so much for the no more t.v. watching ) and cleaned cleaned cleaned. We took all their toys out and sorted them. We threw away A HUGE box of odds and ends. (by huge I mean like a small refridgerater box) Then we got the toys from downstairs and organized them into the other toys. So now all the toys are together and easier to play with. AND all in their room!!!!

I'm so happy. A week or so ago I got mad at our room and laundry and took care of it. Now the girls room is done....

I also did a bunch of the closet underneath the stairs..

My goal.. Have the house whipped into shape and all the extra junk gone before Christmas. THEN we'll have places to put and ENJOY our Christmas gifts this year.. Instead of Bryan stressing about the lack of room. OH! I also got the craft/linen closet all re-organized.. yes. my house got pretty badly unorganized... Summer came.. we had fun and slacked off.. Now RAIN is here.. So we have some boring times to get the house organized.

My Rain To Do List:

I want to reorganize my room again.. It's going to be like a once a month think, i have a feeling..

I want to finish the closet under the stairs..

I want to clean out all the cupboards in the kitchen.

Borrow my mom's carpet cleaner.. and clean carpets.

Wash Bathtub out.. and probably toilet.. They aren't too bad but I am getting annoyed at them. .. eh.. let's just say whole bathroom.

Get Laundry caught up again. This one happens for a day.. and then we're back to not having it caught up. I hate it :-/



Okay so I know you all are bored. Sorry.. you could have stopped reading a while ago :-D

Bryan and I are going to have a movie night at home.. Bryan went to Albertson's to get popcorn and drinks.. And then we're going to just relax. I'm excited. I bought a movie a while ago at Blockbusters. It was the 4 for 20... We've watched all but this one. So it's a new one that we haven't seem yet. I love it!
Christmas ideas... More movies. We love all sorts..
OH! He's home! Time to go!

5 Weeks.

Your pregnancy: 5 weeks
See the big picture
How your baby's growing:Deep in your uterus your embryo is growing at a furious pace. At this point, he's about the size of a sesame seed, and he looks more like a tiny tadpole than a human. He's now made up of three layers — the ectoderm, the mesoderm, and the endoderm — which will later form all of his organs and tissues.The neural tube — from which your baby's brain, spinal cord, nerves, and backbone will sprout — is starting to develop in the top layer, called the ectoderm. This layer will also give rise to his skin, hair, nails, mammary and sweat glands, and tooth enamel.His heart and circulatory system begin to form in the middle layer, or mesoderm. (This week, in fact, his tiny heart begins to divide into chambers and beat and pump blood.) The mesoderm will also form your baby's muscles, cartilage, bone, and subcutaneous (under skin) tissue.The third layer, or endoderm, will house his lungs, intestines, and rudimentary urinary system, as well as his thyroid, liver, and pancreas. In the meantime, the primitive placenta and umbilical cord, which deliver nourishment and oxygen to your baby, are already on the job. **copied from babycenter.com**

So I probably won't be good at keeping up weekly on what my baby is like.. but i figured I'd try. I'm 5 weeks. AND TIRED! Luckily (knock on something) I'm no longer feeling sick. Hopefully this will continue throughout the rest of the pregnancy.
This pregnancy is already different from my last two. I had morning sickness for at least the first trimester with the other two. I also had to have Caeser salad all the time.. What do I want right now? Meat. Steak. OH! and Cheesecake. But I figure out.. I don't really like the cheesecake all that much, but I really like the crust on the cheesecake!

Let's see. What else is going on in our life? I get to do sharing time in Primary next Sunday, and I'm kind of excited about it. I have a good idea.. So hopefully next Sunday I'll be telling everyone how good it went :-D.

Well I think I'm going to go take a little nap. I really love how independent my girls can be sometimes. It's nice that they can play together without to much interference from me. Makes sneaking a nap in so much easier!

To Daniel, From Wikipedia.

Carne asada is a roasted beef dish, literally meaning "roasted meat"[1][2]. The dish mainly consists of pieces or thin cuts of beef (e.g. flank steak, skirt steak), sometimes marinated, sometimes lightly salted or rubbed with salt, pepper and/or spices, and then grilled. It can be eaten alone, with side dishes, chopped and eaten as tacos, or chopped and used as filler for tortas, burritos, etc. It is commonly accompanied with guacamole, salsa, beans, and grilled scallions and tortillas.


Melissa's thoughts.. Aka.. It's also the name of the dish. So I guess we were both right!

Carne Asada

One of my favorite things to do is try to make the dinners i've tried at resturants...
Tonight's Special Carne Asada. Bryan's Grandpa taught me how to make it.. though i forgot and tried to recreate it tonight. It was okay. Sadly our meat was to thick...

Does anyone know a good place to find good meat for Carne Asada?!!?!? I might have to run down to Utah just to pick some up!

Lisa.. Lisa... Lisa...

(No i didn't take a picture of it silly! You can find a picture of EVERYTHING on the internet!)

So after I told Lisa I was pregnant.. I explained that I wasn't sure at first.. Because it didn't show up and then it barely showed up, on the home pregnancy test, that I indeed was pregnant. She was like "wait, how long did you wait?" and it was just like a minute... And the line was soooo light.. So it got me thinking and worring the tiniest bit. So I waited it out a few days.. Wondering.. Maybe I wanted to be so bad that I saw the faint line and decided it must be true...

SO! Instead of waiting until my first Prenatal Appointment, I decided that I should take another test. Wouldn't that have been bad.. Showing up to the appointment and not actually being pregnant.. And then I would be in even worse shape because after being sick for so long and not treating it the right way... Yes that would have been HORRIBLE. So I took another test. This time it showed up VERY dark and RIGHT away...

So... Yes.. I really am pregnant. Yes, I've already started morning sickness.. Though, I've decided I'm having twins.. WHY? because I feel nauseous if I don't eat... and I feel nauseous if I do (though a lot worse if I do) Maybe I'll just not eat the whole first trimester... I'll get the lesser of the two nauseousnesses. I keep reading how morning sickness normally doesn't start till like week 8 or something. But that has NEVER been the case with me. The day I took the test.. I went to my parents house.. and before I had even boughten the test I exclaimed: "i'm pregnant." 3 days of feeling icky. Yes. I knew what that meant.

How many SO's did I use in this blog? He he eh.

Pregnancy quote of the day: "You ate the baby and now it's in your tummy?" -Emily trying to understand how the baby got in my tummy.

6 quirky things

I was tagged by Kaitlyn. It's my very first tag on blogspot.. (though i've been tagged a million times on my other site)I am suppose to write 6 quirky things about me...
It's taken me a while.. because.. I have to narrow it down to 6 things.. I'm very quirky..

1. I HATE fancy or mixed food. My philosophy with food: keep things simple. I love fruit.. but gosh put it in a fruit salad and i can't eat it. When I go to nice resturants I have a problem because they over do themselves with spices and such.. I just want it simple! I decided this was the reason I would have died on a mission.. I am soo picky about food.

2. I never think of anything the way an y of my friends do.. Like one time in Young Womens the teacher asked us to tell her what we thought the Celestrial Kingdom looked like... Everyone answered the same thing.. but me. That's when I knew I thought different..

3. My best friend and I have almost nothing in common. It's weird but it works for us. We are just completely different. She's tiny skinny, i'm.. not. She's like a genius.. I'm just average, I love egg nog. She doesn't like it.. Though our husbands are remarkable the same.

4. I make up my own words. Bryan calls them Melissa-isums. I think my words usually describe things better :-D.

5. I get way to excited for things. Like on my third pregnancy I was so excited to find out if i was pregnany, right after buying the test at Haggens.. I went it the bathroom there and had to take the test.. I just can't handle suspense. I can't buy people's presents to far in advance because I get so excited that I either give it to them or tell them. (each year for christmas bryan usually gets a bunch of extra gifts because I buy them and give them to him right away because I'm so excited.)

6. I'm a visionary. I have tons of creative ideas.. And normally they are difficult. Like I started sewing.. and for my third project I decided to do a tie, and then a pair of jeans. Or like for church activities I like having fun announcements.. and bryan is always saying "why do you always think of things that take so much effort." I just have so many thoughts in my head... It's kind of fun!

Okay so i have to take some people...
Andrea B., Michelle J., Sarah Y., April L., Lisa L., and anyone else who wants to!

The best part about the Holidays..

So a lot of people are talking about their favorite foods and such from this time of the year. Mine? Egg nog. I hope this year to try making it from scratch! I honestly go through a ton of Eggnog, due to the fact it's not sold all year long. I love egg nog with sprite, egg nog by itself, eggnog shakes, eggnog icecream. I just love egg nog! We normally always have egg nog while we put up the Christmas tree. I just love the taste and all the memories.
What's your favorite holiday food or drink?

(i was tagged.. i haven't forgot.. i'm still thinking :-D)

The good stuff....

(stole this picture.. not actually mine.. but thinking about making something cute like this)

So.. We pretty much suck at having FHE weekly.. Mostly because Bryan works the 1-9pm shift at work.. And doing it will out him is not nearly as fun... BUT! He has had a few more day time shifts (hopefully this continues for like ever), and it's been really nice. So yesterday we talked about it, and decided he would come up with something for FHE. So we were saying opening prayer.. And we decided to first have a lesson in being reverent during prayer due to Emily and Hannah being a little silly during prayer. So we had the lesson.. .And Emily really caught on... Hannah understands it mostly too! Anyways after the lesson we played a game bryan kinda made up. We each took a turn acting like an animal and then the rest of the family had to guess it. It turned out to be HILARIOUSLY funny.. At first Hannah was pretty nervous, she isn't use to doing things without Emily and she had to stand infront of all of us (the three of us) and act out an animal. After a few stage fright tries I told her that she need to at least get up infront of us and then she could sit down.. Well.. It started becoming really fun.. And Hannah couldn't help but start acting like the animals she could think of.. She went back and forth from a dog and a cat.. and then decided to also try being a seagull.. It was the cutest thing... I just love my family.. And I'm learning more and more how much I love them... and truly enjoy being a part of our family! So.. I think we need to do FHE more often.. I wouldn't doubt that Emily and Hannah ask to do it tomorrow night again.. it was just soo much fun!!

My Blog.

***EDIT**** I want to emphasis that I don't mind at all if you have an opinion that is not the same as mine, i will still post. But calling names and making rude comments toward me and other people who comment will not be added. So feel free to disagree with me. And I will still post your comments unless there is something negative directed at me or someone else!

Just to give everyone a heads up... I've started monitoring the comments.. so it might take a little extra while for them to get posted to my site. I don't like doing this but have decided it is best.
I know (at least I hope) sometimes I have some thought provoking stuff put on our site.. And I plan to keep doing this, because that's the kind of person I am. I know (and have know this for a long time) I have opinions that everyone doesn't agree with. Comments are welcomed. Even if you don't agree with me. But name calling/being rude will not happen on my blog. If you wish to have your opinion voiced on my blog go for it.. comment.. but if you want to degrade other people and their opinions please do it on your own blog.

Thanks!

When is it Enough?

So today I was watching Dr. Phil...... umm yeah.

8 year olds transgenders....

Okay.. Maybe I'm a little "old fashion." But as an 8 year old kid... that wasn't even a word or idea I knew about. And I plan on raising my kids that way. I am disturbed at this whole idea. Sometimes parents need to say "no." Let's get things back on track here... Sometimes "change" isn't the answer.. Sometimes we need to try to go back to the foundations.. Life is getting way to complicated for kids.. Come on!

Sorry. This makes me mad thinking about all the stupid stuff my kids are going to have to go through because we needed "change."

The End.

****EDIT****** ... don't worry I watched this show while my girls were having "quiet time" in their room with the door closed... Don't worry.. I don't want to expose them to that crap earlier then they need to be :-D! End edit!

Potty Trained?

So Emily has been doing really good at going to the potty all on her own. Infact the last time she had an accident was sunday morning, due to the fact daddy forgot to get her to go before he put her to bed. And i was so excited. So today we were at a friend's house and I was telling her all about it, being a proud mommy... Little did I know Emily was making a HUGE mess in her panties/pants/down her legs...etc. Yeah. I looked stupid.

But I promise! Emily is almost completely potty trained. A whole week of HER telling US that she needed to go potty.. I think she might have it down. Yes she had an accident today but she's doing EXTREMELY well..

So we have this froggie that the kids were both AFRAID of at some point.. like MAJORLY afraid. But now they are best friends with the frog. Here is a video of Hannah getting her grove on with the "froggie"

And of course Emily wanted to join in and have herself video taped...

A Halloween Funny.

This made me .. laugh?

Halloween this year...

I can't arrange the pictures how I want them on blogspot.. SO.. I decided to post on my other blog... http://weblog.xanga.com/Mevliysszak

I posted pictures of Emily's Birthday.. Keep in mind.. I completely procrastinated her cake.. and only was left with less then a half an hour to decorate it.. (closer to 15 minutes)

Happy Birthday Emily!!!!

***PICTURES TO COME******

So, Emily had her birthday party...

BUT first we went out to IHOP with my family... minus my sick mom... and had breakfast and a special birthday pancake..

Then we had Emily's kids party.. It went really well.. I think.. I might have had to much planned.. We made crowns, Princess cakes (the cookies broke to much when i tried making them wands), we made photo frames and took the pictures of each kid, we had cupcakes and opened presents..

I got a bunch of pictures... I'll add them at the end of the birthday.. We are probably going to head out to chucky cheeses.. and then have a family party with our extended family at 6... and then the birthday is over :-( So.. Time to go have some funnnnnnn..

2 Days to go.... and other stuff..

So, I got the gift bags packed.. Thanks to my mom, I didn't have to buy ANYTHING for them.. She spoils me/emily/hannah/bryan. Thanks mom!!! I have all the stuff I need to make the cake and cupcakes. I still have to make the cookies for the wands (but I have the skewers...or whatever they called). I'need to make one more run to the dollar store Monday morning.. to get something important, but sadly I didn't write it down in time and can't remember what I had to get!! OH YEAH! Foam sheets for the picture frames!! phew!

Then tomorrow after the girls go to sleep, we're going to decorate the house.. And get it all ready for the morning (since the party is at 10am..) I'm excited.. If only I could figure out a few last details, I would almost be stress-free...


*****Okay A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT NOTE!!********

How do I make new layouts for my site? Everyone has these really cute layouts and backgrounds and stuff.. And I've yet to figure out how!!!! So I would love a hint.. Like a very detailed hint :-)

5 days and counting...

(This is the cake that I am going to ATTEMPT to kind of make)

October 1st means that there are only 5 more days until october 6th!!!!!

Emily's BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

I'm really excited... I am pretty sure almost all the kids we invited are coming. Emily loved it. She gave out all her invitations two weeks ago at church (and then at someones door since they aren't in our ward!!!) We started handing them out before sacrament (we actually got there BEFORE it started) and she would take the invitation to her friends all by herself. She loved it! And I've been hearing that some of the friends we invited loved that they got an invitation (she gave it to the kid not the parent). So.. Like I said I'm pretty sure that almost all the people we invited are coming. I over invited a little.. Last year not much of the people we invited showed up. And so far all but 4 haven't yet rsvp. But i'm pretty sure that they are coming.. So it's going to be a little more packed then I thought.. AKA.. including my two kids, 14 kids.. I only had 8 invitations but a few families had two kids around her age that she just loves. There is two kids that i'm not to sure if they are coming. and Three kids that i'm pretty sure just haven't rsvp-ed. But I really have some fun ideas!! I really was planning on a bunch of people not being able to come.. But I think it will be really great that all Emily's friends are going to be there!!!

This is what I have planned so far.. They are going to come in.. After walking up the "red carpet" to our door (i found a long roll of red wrapping paper at the dollar store.. SCORE!!) They are going to come in and make their crowns. I bought some wall borders (you know the stuff for bulletin boards) and they are perfect size/shape for the crowns.. of course i bought them at the dollar store. And the girls get to decorate the crowns with princess and the boys with cars since I couldn't find princes. I am also going to take their pictures, because hopefully a bunch of them will dress up.. And I'll print the picture with my special photo printer.. Also it will be the time emily can "Show them her room" (she's really into that lately) time.. and playing time. Then Lynda dress up as the fairy godmother and she is going to read Cinderella. And we are going to decorate cookie wands that the kids will be able to take home, incase they need to change any pumpkins into carriages. Then we are going to play a freeze type game. The evil step-mother freezes the kingdom and the kids have to freeze (aka the music stops and they have to freeze) Then we will maybe make picture frames for the pictures or something.... I don't know.. That's kind of where my creativity has stopped! SOOO!!

IDEAS!?!?!?!???????????????????????????????? anyone have any good princess themed ideas for kids 2-4? I WOULD LOVE!!!!! IDEAS!! I think I need another running game or something......

My real loves..

So I'm down stairs.. and I hear three people upstairs singing "row row your boat." I love it!! I am so blessed to have a husband that loves his kids so much.. And so blessed to have kids that are so incredible... I think i'm going to go join in on the fun!!!

I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints..

I was talking with my little sister today. We were talking and talking.. Just having a good conversation and we started discussing "Utah Mormons." It was a short discussion but it has pushed me over the edge! (don't worry in a good way!!) I can no longer keep this thought/idea in my head. So I'm going to share it..

Elder M. Russell Ballard gave a talk (click here for entire talk) in December 2007... I am going to obey. He says, "There are conversations going on about the Church constantly. Those conversations will continue whether or not we choose to participate in them. But we cannot stand on the sidelines while others, including our critics, attempt to define what the Church teaches. While some conversations have audiences in the thousands or even millions, most are much, much smaller. But all conversations have an impact on those who participate in them. Perceptions of the Church are established one conversation at a time."
He then asks the Members of the Church to join the conversation..

So... Here I am joining the conversation. Lately I've been thinking about some stuff.. And the last line that I quoted (the red words) have really been on my mind.

In the past few years I have heard the comment, "Utah Mormons." It has ALWAYS bugged me.
When I was in high school I had a good friend that moved to Utah and he became more inactive and started doing a lot of things against what the church teaches. Due to the fact he moved we grew apart. I wasn't that into email and such neither was he.. I then moved to Utah myself. A few weeks before I moved back to Washington he happened to walk into the Denny's I was at. He had to wait for his to-go order so he sat down and we talked. We decided we needed to keep in touch more often and began emailing each other. In one of the emails he wrote (along the lines of) "if I hadn't moved to Utah I would be active." This really started a fire in me that has continued to burn.

In these last few months I've had more experience with this comment and cannot be silent anymore.

What comes to your mind when you hear, "Utah Mormons." I know a lot of the people whom read my sites are mormons. And yes, there is an inside stereotype of "Utah Mormons." It's fun to joke about to most people and so on. But have you ever stopped to think about what the term "Utah Mormons" means to none members. Have you ever thought about the confusion we as members are sending with people whom we don't think are listening. Lets stop it! Why? When people associate our church many associate it with Utah. If we, as members, are saying bad things about "Utah Mormons," we are teaching others that our church that our church is bad.

I have known to many people that have used the excuse of living in Utah and being around "Utah Mormons" to leave the church. Let's stop it. Let's kill that phrase. Let's come together as a Church and show that we are united. Put aside the jokes, the negative comments, and anything that will give a negative feeling about the church.

I just am tired of hearing it as an excuse to be inactive or leave the church. I know, people are going to be inactive or leave either way. But why assist them in leaving? The other night at a Girl's Night Out, I was talking with some women in my ward who love going out and doing their visiting teaching. I however suck at doing mine. The women their gave me all the excuses I needed to get out of visiting teaching.. "you have two little kids" "your husband works weird hours".. etc. etc. etc. Honestly I almost felt justified in not doing my visiting teaching. I could have gotten away with never doing my V.T. again. :-) But I was fast to respond with the truth.. "I just am not perfect at it. I have no excuses I'm just not perfected in that aspect of my life now."
I bring up this story because if we put aside the excuses we might actually find ourselves helping others to realize why they are really leaving the church. Things like "well i started smoking and drinking and I'm not ready to give those things up." or "i've never actually tried to find out for myself what really is true.." The reasons that are the truth. And once we know the complete truth we will be able to assist members and non-members better in helping them learn more about the gospel.

Soo.. After I have written this.. Hopefully it is understandable.. If you're still reading this.. I urge you, I plead with you, I beg you, whatever it takes... Please stop using the term "Utah Mormon" and other terms that will help make excuses and limit the truth. Honestly I feel EXTREMELY passionate about this. Let's drop the missinforming and unite and strengthen the church and strengthen the missionary effort.

Okay.. Thanks for letting me vent. Truly, it's been something on my mind a lot lately and I was about to burst!

Newest Treasure

Last week Bryan calls me from work and tells me he has the perfect thing for our dvds.. I thought to myself, "sounds expensive." After he told me what it was. And to my amazing surprise he tells me that they were going to throw it out and he thought he would take it off their hands.. So we got it for free! It's not the same as the picture, but pretty close. It has a few dings in the paint (they used it to display the movies they had for sale and it's old). But overall it's in great shape! We got our DVD's all put in it, and our videos. The only problem is it's pretty much filled up. So if we get really lucky they will need to throw away another one, or we'll find one from a video store going out of business!

But I honestly think it's the COOLEST thing in the world! And the girls love it too! They have been surprisingly obedient when we tell them they can't play with it, which is so nice. I even but the dvds in alphabetical order! It makes it so much easier to find dvds, before they all were in a huge box.

Emotions

(a picture from back in march on my birthday.. she was the "birthday bunny"... )

I am so grateful for my kids. I love that they are getting older and getting to be such amazing little people. Today I was having a rough morning. And I guess Emily could sense that.. We had a LATE shower this morning. And I went upstairs to get my clothes Emily decided to turn on the Church music. She knows how happy I am when there is music on. I am just amazed at how compassionate and aware of feelings she is. Yes, she does have temper tantrums and stuff like that. But she really is becoming such an amazing girl. I think this is one of her talents. Even when she was younger she was very compassionate. Just a few weeks after Hannah was born, one day I was having an EXTREMELY hard day. I finally just sat in the hall and cried. And Emily walked up to me, gave me her binky and a hug. She has just always been in-tune to emotions.

And Hannah is following in her footsteps. Whenever she can sense that I'm not happy, she comes up to me and kisses me. I've had fun making it a game. I'll frown or say I'm sad, then she runs up and gives me a kiss to make me happy! He he eh! I can do this for like 10 straight times, but then she has enough.

Even in hard times, I feel so blessed that I have my two little girls. They really are mine and Bryan's bites of Heaven.

And no. I'm not sad all the time. That's not what this post is about, it's about my amazing little girls.

Baked True Cod with Sour Cream & Dill

(not the best picture..it really looked a lot better in person!!)

I've been trying to have more fun cooking. When I was raised we always had some sort of beef, potatoes, and green beans for dinner (or at least 90% of the time). Bryan doesn't like potatoes that much, and he hates green beans. So I've been trying to make different things for dinner. Tonight I made baked true cod with sour cream and dill. I have cooked fish only one other time that I can remember (not a huge seafood fan). I think I did a pretty darn good job! It was inspired by a recent trip to Anthony's. I was eatting my food and decided I could make it. Though I need a little more practice, I believe It came out almost perfect! I steamed some green beans and made some garlic mashed potatoes to go with it.. Man, it was good!

Commitment Problems..

So I haven't updated this site in a while. I just don't know if I can commit to another blog site. I'm still trying to decided what to do.. Do I give up my Xanga site, the one I've had for like 5 YEARS!! OR do I give up this site.. and just stick with the Xanga. OR do I use both. It's just to hard to decide.. So I'm going to have to go back and forth until I've decided!

What's going on with the Bingham Clan, you might be asking yourself..



Well nothing to interesting. Tomorrow is Bryan's Birthday! Which is pretty exciting! Haven't figured everything out for his birthday yet.

The girls are doing so well and beings so FREAKIN cute!

This is from earlier this morning.. One of their new favorite things to do is "sleep" on the bookshelf! They are such a HUGE blessing!
And completely funny.. Here is Emily (and a little bit of Hannah) playing the guitar.. They play just like Mommy.. And at about the same skill level as her too!

Oops.. nevermind.. there was an "error."

Anyways that is what's going on with us!

Fourth of July, Celebration?

I really love the fourth of July. I love celebration, I love remembering, I love fireworks. But then I had kids. Last year Emily and Hannah hung out inside with Auntie Pammy, while Bryan and I got to let off fireworks and have a great time. Yesterday, as we were getting in the car, Emily heard a firework go off and has been COMPLETELY afraid of fireworks since then. Everytime one goes off she yells, "mommy!!" And hides under her blanket. So I'm not sure how much of a celebration we are going to get this year. I hope she starts to get use to them. But am really sad that she is SO terrified of them already.
Hopefully I can convince her that fireworks are fun, or else I'm going to be spending the night in house. Wish me luck!

Beginning Life on Blogspot.

So, after TONS of people we know have started a site on Blogspot, we decided it's our time. Now instead of just reading everyone's updates, we'll also be able to post comments.. Yay for us!! Okay. That's the beginning of our blogspot life.