So many things ... so little time

I'm so glad all the holiday hustle and bustle is over. I'm pooped. Between, family, church, and friend functions, I'm done. I have a year to recoup! Hurray.

I hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas. We did. We did the normal Christmas Eve program with my family. After that we drove around "ooh"-ing and "aaah"-ing over Christmas lights. (Danny Angie's neighborhood - still a favorite). After that we headed home and the girls went off to bed.

That morning Santa left some TMNT slippers for Elle and High School Musical slippers for Ashlee and a note that said that all their gifts were at Granny and Grandpas. So, we loaded up and headed over there. It was really fun. Elle got all things TMNT and an MP3 Player. Ashlee got all things High School Musical and a diary thing that you whisper your password into. Tiffany got diapers, a rattle, and a crab toy that will help with her tactile sensitivity. (And since my favorite show is Deadliest Catch - I couldn't refuse!!) Aaron got a tool box and Tranformers Chess set, and some other things. I finally got my Garth Brooks CD (it isn't Christmas unless I get something that is Garth Brooks) and a food processor. My favorite gift, was from my brother Michael - growing up my mother had this orange Betty Crocker cookbook. I loved cooking from it and a few months ago, I stole hers. Well, I had mentioned that I wanted one of my own a few months ago. Well, Michael and my mom remembered, and the got me one off of ebay. Hurray!! I quickly returned my mother's and put my on my counter next to my Kitchen Aid!!

I also got to talk to Stephen on the phone. It is going to be so much fun when he gets home in 3 1/2 months - YIKES!!! I can't wait to introduce him to Tiffany and show him our new house!! Hopefully by then I will have lost 20 more pounds!!





Aaron's work gave him from 12/21 - 1/2 off. We originally were going to head up to the mountains after Christmas, but when we found out how many people were going up, and the worries with Tiffany and her health - we changed our minds. Instead, we went shopping at Wal-Mart and decided that it would be fun to paint our kitchen. So we painted it and decided to paint our bedroom, so I ran to Wal-mart again and got more paint. I am pretty sure that by tomorrow, my bathroom will be a new color, and so will my laundry room. We are painting fools!!

Well, I must return to cleaning and cooking (got to put that cookbook to good use).

We hope you have a happy and safe New Years!!!

HAPPY BERFDAY BUBBA!

(The Stephen is the one in the suit - Jake is the nerd in the BYpew shirt)

Okay, so it's my baby brother Stephen's 21st Birthday! HAPPY BERFDAY BUBBA! He is currently serving a mission in Washington DC and won't be home until April 16, 2008! I can't believe he has been gone almost 2 whole years! YIKES! Stephen and I are really close and I would consider him one of my best friends. He loves my kids and loves to play with them. My mom has been telling Tiffany that when her uncle Stephen gets home that he is going to place her in a laundry basket, place the basket on a blanket, and then pull her around the house. It's so true. He did that with the other girls. My favorite Stephen story is that the spring break of his senior year he and his friends wanted to go to San Diego for spring break. They first told my mom they wanted to go to Rocky Point. Their plan was that Rocky Point would be scary and horrible and my mom would say no, so they then would ask to go to San Diego. The plan kinda back fired and my mom said it would be okay to go to Rocky Point. After a few days, he told my mom that they would rather go to San Diego - this made my mom happy and she let them go - she even paid for their hotel room.

During spring break, I ended up in Texas welcoming home Aaron from Iraq. I am not joking when I had just reunited with Aaron when my mother called. She informed me that Stephen took my van to San Diego and that she made them promise they wouldn't take it to Mexico. I made her promise that we would never tell Aaron.

Fast forward a few weeks, so I'm back home in Arizona. Aaron is in Texas, and I'm talking with Stephen one night. He begins to tell me about their trip and I asked him where he got all the fireworks. Thus the truth came out. Not only did he take my van to San Diego, but they took it into Mexico. They then took off the speakers and crammed it full of fireworks. Then then brought it back over the border and returned home. He was so lucky they didn't get caught. We have kept this a secret from Aaron until just a few months ago, when he was wondering why everyone was laughing about Stephen's San Diego trip.

I would love to share the many other funny stories - but I know someone would end up in jail!

So - my brother is a total cheese head. I can't remember why we were taking pictures, I just remember that it was funny. (And that my friends is why you should write in your journal every night).

Sky Diving on Aaron's 30th

(Daniel, Pedro, and Stephen)

(Wicked cool Shepherd )

Happy Birthday Stephen, I sure am proud of you and I sure do love and miss you!!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow.

Sorry for all the pictures - but really, how often can you post snow pictures in Arizona?

So we headed up to the White Mountains on Friday and stayed at my in-law's cabin just outside of Show Low. The whole drive up, Aaron would look at the temperature gauge in our car and would freak out if it was getting warmer. (When I say warmer, I mean, it was 27* instead of 24* four miles back).

When my in-laws told us that they had 5-7 inches of snow - they were not joking!! It was amazing and absolutely beautiful! The girls had a blast. The best part was that my dorky husband Aaron decided that shorts were appropriate snow attire (see above picture). So he went inside for something, and the girls and I made a bunch of snowballs. Our plan was that when he came outside we would attack his legs. It worked. We won and he froze! That night I must have caught the stupid bug and I ran outside with no shoes on across their deck. It was my feet thawing that hurt the worse! (Side note - totally beat Aaron on that - I went farther and was out longer - American Gladiators - watch out!!)

The next day we got to ride the Arctic Cat four wheeler around in the snow. It was so much fun. I didn't get a picture, but, once again my dorky husband, decided he wanted to be pulled by the four wheeler in their plastic sled. Since we couldn't find rope, he used a coax cable. Nerd. I made sure to hit every bump, dip, and deep area of snow. It was great.

After a few hours of playing in the snow we headed up to Eager to my cousin's wedding reception. There was snow there too and once again the girls enjoyed frolicking in the snow.

That night we went to the reception and it was beautiful. The girls had a blast and it was fun to see my family. Elle dashed off before I could nab a picture of her, but here is Ashlee and Tiffany in their Christmas Dresses. (Thank you Granny for buying them).

Fast Forward to Sunday Night, a few hours after we got home, I noticed Tiffany wasn't acting normal and was really fussy. Her little belly button was poking out and was hard, and she hadn't pooped once again in over a week. I called her doctor and she said to take her to the ER. I loaded up her diaper bag and headed out to the ER. They took us back rather quickly and that's when they started asking me if I had heard of RSV. I told them that I had, but I was here for her belly button. The next thing I knew is that they were taking X-rays, and IV, and blood work and she was getting a breathing treatment. (Seriously, we were there less than 15 minutes).

After I was able to clear my head and speak to the doctor, they said that her oxygen level was at 60% and that she was wheezing. After the tests and x-rays came back, they diagnosed her with pneumonia. She has an elevated white blood count and both her lungs have fluid. They went back and forth on admitting her. I promised them that if they send her home I would mind all the instructions and be a good mom. Hurray - I won. So, we have breathing treatments every 3 hours (no sleep for me) and I give her antibiotics twice a day. As for her belly button, it was just a side effect of the elevated white blood count. I feel like such a loser mom for not noticing my child had pneumonia. Yeah, she had a stuffy nose and cough, but don't all kids during the winter?

Tiffany hates the medication and she hates the breathing treatments when she is awake. I hate waking up every 3 hours to give them to her, so I sleep on the couch and my alarm wakes me when to do them. It's not fun, but it's better than the hospital. Any extra shout-outs for Tiffany in your prayers would be greatly appreciated. They are worried that this is just the beginning of a long sick winter for her. Joy.

So that's our weekend in a nut shell. Sorry it's so long. Have a wonderful day, and hurry and get your Christmas Shopping done - you have LESS THAN A WEEK!!!!!

I'm horrible at Christmas Cards

Okay, so I'm still working on getting the Christmas cards out, and I'm still working on getting family pictures - we're just crazy - so, in case I don't send out cards, and I don't get pictures, here is a video to show our year in review. Hope you like it. (And yes, it's the Pee Wee's Big Adventure song - would you expect anything less?!)

Oh -and a little update I guess (sheesh, this blog is so demanding). Tiffany is a whopping 13 lbs 2oz!! She is growing like a weed and unfortunately is now in infant physical therapy. She doesn't like to push up using her hands, I guess they are sensitive, so we have to do special tummy time therapy with a nice lady named Julia that comes to our home.

Ashlee and Elle are still loving school and are counting down the days until Christmas. They still think they should be able to open their gifts everyday after school, but of course, they don't get to.

Aaron still likes his job and really deserves a massive pay raise - like six figures (hint hint Ira) okay, not really, but I thought I would throw it out there. His company party is this Friday, and I'm actually going to leave all three girls with a babysitter that isn't mine or Aaron's mother - of course I will leave every emergency contact this side of the Mississippi!! YIKES!!

Okay now my confession - gulp - I'm going to Weight Watchers! There I've said it. Sheesh - that wasn't so bad! I've been going for 9 weeks and I've lost 11.4 pounds. Hurray me! I'm trying to hit my goal weight by the 4th of July. So - if you see me avoiding the yummy food you've made or bought - don't take it personal - I'm just trying to be skinnier than you!

Okay - that's all - carry on and have a wonderful day!!

I've seen it all

Wow - I don't even know where to start.......

The Past Few Days

Okay, here is a quick synopsis of the past few days.

On Tuesday we went with my family to the Zoo Lights at the Phoenix Zoo. It was totally fun and the girls had a blast. Even Tiffany. She loved looking up at the trees at the different colors. They had a giraffe at the zoo named Jango that you could tell him what you wanted for Christmas. Elle asked for TMNT (surprise surprise) and Ashlee asked for Roller skates (the first we have heard her mention these). Afterwards, we went to my parents and ate Pie from Village Inn. Yum Yum!!

Aaron really loved this tree!

On Wednesday, I pulled Aaron away from putting up Christmas lights to join Ashlee at school for her Thanksgiving Feast. It was really fun to see Ashlee show us off.

On Thursday we ate, and ate, and ate. And then Aaron went with the men to the ASU game. That's enough on that topic - it's too painful to talk about it.

On Friday, Aaron, Tiffany, and I went to JCPenny's at 3am to purchase a Christmas tree for our new home. We were the 8th in line and we were able to get everything we needed there, at Sears, at Target, at Harbor Freight, and many other stores. We were done shopping by 8am and joined my parents and Michael at Village Inn for breakfast.

Friday night we went out to Aaron's brother's home and had a Johnson family get together. His two brothers Rod and Kevin and their families were visiting from out of state. It was really fun to see everyone again.

Saturday we kept putting up Christmas decorations and tried to clean the house.

Sunday, went to church and then we went to the Temple lights that night. It was really nice to wear a jacket and feel a little cold. It is so sad that here in the valley, anything under 70* is the dead of winter.

So that leaves us to today. Nothing going on today except more cleaning and decorating. Gotta love the holidays!!!

Here is our home - only a quarter of the way done. YIKES!!! More pictures to follow!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIFFANY BROWNE!!

So it's my bestest friend's birthday today, and I would tell you how old she it, however, I can not count that high!!! I met Tiffany just a little over five years ago when she moved into our ward in Texas. Her husband Steve and Aaron were ward missionaries and had meetings together on Sunday. I was prego with Ashlee and Steve had asked us if we had someone to watch Elle while I was having Ashlee. We told him no and he volunteered Tiffany to watch her. So after having dinner with their family, and doing my own background check and finger print clearance, I decided that it would be okay. To be honest, my first impression of her was that she was a goody -two shooed molly mormon.

After I had Ashlee, she invited me over to hang out while Elle played with her kids. We were in her kitchen and she was drinking a Vanilla Coke. That's when I decided that we could be real friends. We were so much alike, and since I got a discount on tithing for being her friend, I decided it would be okay to be best friends.

I love Tiffany for many things, not just because she makes the worlds best Sushi,

Or because she would cook my family dinner while I cleaned her house (I hate to cook, she hates to clean, perfect match), or because we have a mutual understanding that it is okay to purchase gifts for each other and not mail them for at least a year. (Yeah her gift from last year is still in my room - maybe by Christmas).

Or even for the fact that she is such an animal lover. Mostly of cross eyed cats!

I love her because she has wicked Bedazzler skills.

The woman can bling bling up anything and make it look smokin white trash hot!! She really should start her own line of clothing, from picture frames, to underwear, to even black tight shirts, you name it she can do it. Like I said, wicked mad skills!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SISTA FRIEND!!

Little Tiffybeth

Okay - so Aaron and I went out Saturday and Aaron's folks watched Tiffany for us. Here are a few pictures they took of her. She is soo funny. She loves her grandpa's (well, men in general she loves). She is such a butter ball!!

That time of the year

Okay, I love my husband. He may be a little strange, but I still love him. However, this week, every year, he leaves me behind, and starts romancing his two other loves. Black Friday Ads, and Christmas lights. You read correctly.
My husband loves Black Friday - loves loves loves it! So much in fact that when he was in Iraq, I had to mail him the ads just so he could get the rush of looking at them. (This was before the wonderful website of www.bfads.net) He is one of those crazy people who eats on Thursday and then goes and camps out all night at the store, and yes, he always gets what he wants. He has managed to pull my uncle and my brother along as company, but they got smart after the first year, and never went out again. I imagine he gets the same high drug users get when they do their thing.
His second love is Christmas lights. If I had a penny for every Christmas Light bulb we have - I would be a multi-millionaire!! The Griswold family in National Lampoon's Christmas has nothing on us. One of the selling points for us moving into a bigger house earlier this year, was that he would have more space to display Christmas lights. He only buys the lights after Christmas, then he can get them for 25 cents a box and then he plots and plans all year how he will display them. It's nuts. Well, like I said, this is our first holiday season in this house, and so he has already taken off this Wednesday so he can get a head start on his light display show thingy. Unknown to us, our neighbor is a big Christmas light person too. He has been putting up lights all week. Yesterday, after church, when he was out front working on his lights, I asked if he was almost finished (there were so many lights and trees and reindeer, and really no other room for more lights) he then replied that he was only a quarter of the way done. Aaron's jaw dropped, and I could see in his eyes that this was going to be war. Great. In fact, as we drove by last night on my way to my parents, he muttered "damn" under his breath on seeing how much this neighbor is doing. I have this really bad feeling that Aaron will give up his Black Friday shopping just to put lights on the house. If he purchases more lights or displays prior to Christmas - I'll know he has a problem and I'll then check him into rehab.
P.S. The lights are nice he puts up - the bad part is that they stay up - pass my birthday.

Prematurity Awareness Day

The month of November is Prematurity Awareness Month, and today is Prematurity Awareness Day. In case you care. Over the next few months, I'm going to be bugging everyone to help donate or join our March of Dimes team. Tubular Team Tiff (get it - all the tubes she had at birth - okay corny, maybe I'll change it now that I think about it). The walk will be in March and we are hoping to raise a boat load to thank them for everything that the did for our family. They are a total blessing!!

Little Miss Tiffany is amazing! She has developed quite a personality. She also has discovered her voice. She loves to talk, especially at 6am when she knows that at anytime Papa will be getting up to get ready for work. I guess she feels he needs a wake up call. She also loves my dad. Just the sound of his voice, even if she doesn't have him in sight, makes her smile. Yesterday we were at my parents and my brother Michael took her downstairs to see my dad, when Michael started to bring her back up stairs, she started to cry, I mean, full on cry, so Michael took her back downstairs, when she saw grandpa she stopped. It was rather funny.

Aaron and her have a little trick, I need to have Aaron load the video of it to the computer so you can see it - he balances her. She sits in his palm and he holds her up and she sits up and balances and laughs. She loves it - it is really amazing to me that someone who was sooo small, and I could never picture getting big, has grown sooo much!!


Side note - my friend emailed me this video - you really need to take 6 minutes and shut out the outside world and watch it. It is amazing. It really has made me appreciate my kiddos!

http://www.ignitermedia.com/products/iv/singles/570/99-Balloons

Happy Veteran's Day

So today is Veteran's Day. I thought that since I am a wife of a Vet, that I should pay tribute to him and let him know how appreciated he is for the service and sacrifices he gave for our country. I know, totally cheesy!
When we were engaged Aaron wanted to join the Navy. I told him that it would be too hard on our marriage for him to be gone so quickly after the wedding. I put my foot down and told him no. He always knew he would someday serve in the military.
When our home teachers came over to our house just after Elle was born and one of them told us that he was joining the Army because of all the benefits they offer. Since we were poor starving students, we looked into it as well. Four months later he was in Georgia at boot camp. (Side note - that home teacher never joined - brat). We ended up being stationed in Texas, and I absolutely loved it there. It was so beautiful, and the people really are friendly. Even though it was tough having him gone a lot for training, having to put up with retarded commanders and serving a year in Iraq, it was the best thing for our family. Without him joining, we would have never met all of our friends, including our best friends the Brownes and Throckmortons and we would have never experienced all the neat things we did.

THANKS HONEY FOR ALL THAT YOU DO!!!
(I think I just threw up in my mouth for being so cheesy - nope, it must be the food poisoning that our family is experiencing - another blog for another time)

My Halloween Blog

Monkey Monkey

Sleeping Beauty

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle

Flavor Flav

We had a great Halloween - the girls only wanted to trick or treat for about a half an hour - much to Aaron and Michael's (Flavor Flav - aka - my bro) dismay - they wanted a ton of candy. I spent the evening out in my parents front yard with monkey girl roasting marshmallows over their fire pit. It was nice - a tad warm - but nice. Is it me or has the number of trick or treaters gone down? Maybe they all just have moved out to Johnson Ranch. I hope you all had a happy halloweenie!!!

Five Months Ago

Who would have thought that five months after this:



We would have this:



Dang she is cute!! She is getting bigger and bigger. Last Wednesday she weighed 10 pounds 8oz - that sure is a far cry from 2 pounds 12oz!!

Side note - Rueben is the proud papa of a new baby boy as of this morning. Chance came in weighing 9 pounds 5 ounces - - WAY TO GO DAVINA!! She is a trooper. I'm going to go try to visit later today - I'll post the pics when I get them!!

The Family Star

Gabe was followed around a few weeks ago by ABC's Nightline. They were doing a story on illegal immigrants and since he works for MCSO and is part of the ICE program, he was featured. Here a few pics, and if you click the link above - you can read the story. I'm hoping to find video of the story and post it on here. Ahhh - ain't he cute?!

Love Letter

Okay, so when I was young I promised myself that I wouldn't be the type of mother that snoops around. So technically, I wasn't snooping last night when I found this letter in Elle's pocket of her pants. I was doing laundry and saw it sticking out. I about died when I read it. Totally cracked me up!! What a first love letter to receive. It's from a boy named Devan in her class that totally has a crush on her (according to her teacher) and when Elle and he get around each other they tend to get into trouble.

For those of you who can't read 2nd grader spelling this is what the letter says:

Dear Barbara (side note - they call her Barbara at school - she prefers it over Elle) okay back to the letter:

Dear Barbara

Do you want to catch Dragon Flies tomorrow It will be a big one. We will hit them with a stick. From Devan For a fun time.

Then it's a picture of them at the bottom hitting dragon flies.

I totally thought this was cute, and plan on keeping it for a long time!!

Love them legs!!

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

I Know - It's been a while

My Friend Tiffany Browne sent me this poem. I thought it was moving and decided to share it with all!!

A Fart

A fart it is a pleasant thing,
It gives the belly ease,
It warms the bed in winter,
And suffocates the fleas.

A fart can be quiet,
A fart can be loud,
And some leave a powerful,
Poisonous cloud.

A fart can be short,
Or a fart can be long,
Some farts have been known
To sound like a song.

A fart can create
A most curious medley,
A fart can be harmless,
Or silent, and deadly.


A fart might not smell,
While others are vile,
A fart may pass quickly,
Or linger a while......


A fart can occur
In a number of places,
And leave everyone there,
With strange looks on their faces.


From wide-open prairie,
To small elevators,
A fart will find all of us
Sooner or later.


But farts are not all bad,
It simply is true--
We must never forget...
Sweet old farts like you.


Here are some pictures from our little trip up to Aaron's parent's cabin. Ashlee was at Disneyland with my parents - their gift to her for her fifth birthday. Elle, Tiffany, Aaron, and I really enjoyed the weekend away!

On the Quad
Pinedale, Arizona
Juniper Ridge Lookout Tower
Monkey face!

As soon as I steal my parent's camera, I'll post some pictures of Ashlee's Disneyland trip!