Hello World

Yes, I am still here.  Things have just been really crazy lately.  I have been sick and when I get sick, I get sick quickly.  I have realized that I just need to get to the doctor the second I feel crummy.  I waited three days this time.  Three days, I mean come on right?  I felt bad on a Friday and thought I'd wait through the weekend.  Lol.  Well three days later a sniffle goes to a full blown sinus infection, Pneumonia, strep throat, and kidney infection.  And my doctor thinks my tonsils should be removed.  HA HA.  She asked me if I felt like I just got hit by a truck since I had an infection in two of my vital organs.  Yes, but life goes on.  She said I hide the pain well.  I don't feel like I do.  So I saw a throat doctor but I am going to wait on that surgery right now.  After loads of antibiotics I am feeling much better only to wake up to a cold sore this morning, go figure.  LOL.  But Christmas is coming and my mom will be here in 6 days, so I have a lot to be excited about. And then my dad comes out like 5 days later.  So, fun, fun, and more fun!

Well, besides being sick since I last blogged, here is what we've been up to:

We've had a family reunion in Texas.  Which was a lot of fun.  I'd never been to Texas and it was beautiful.  Thanks Rach, for letting us stay at your place!! 

My friend took pictures of the girls which turned out so cute.  I have blown some up to hang around the house.  I posted a couple below for y'all to see. 

We had Thanksgiving with lots of friends, and I mean lots of friends.  I hosted Thanksgiving here for 18 people.  It was so much fun. 

Black Friday!!  One word...Insanity.  You want to know what the world will be like in an emergency or disaster, go to Walmart on Black Friday!! Which probably means in an actual disaster it will actually be a lot worse.  Scary.  That's why I came home to tell Christian I want a gun and to take a concealed weapon class.  Complete chaos, cars parked everywhere, literally everywhere (Can't find a spot, just stop in the middle of the rode and walk away, why not, everyone else is doing it. TRAPPED!!)  Stabbings, pepper spray, impaled...Yeah, Insanity.

Then we had the Primary Program at church, then I got sick and then we had two of Christian's Christmas parties to go to.  Visited Santa and now getting ready for Christmas and visitors.  So we have been busy.  I am sure other's are busier, especially if you have more kids, but I have felt like my world is spinning and I am just trying to catch up. lol. 

So, hopefully, everyone has a great Christmas because I guarantee you that I won't be blogging until after the holidays.  So Merry Christmas and enjoy the pics of the girls.  Thanks again Sharese, I love them!!

Dreams Do Come True!!

So, for about a year now I have been searching for the Strawberry Shortcake Berry Happy Home Dollhouse that I grew up with.  When I was a little girl my mom had to sell my dollhouse at a garage sale to help pay the bills.  I didn't mind so much then but once Kiley was born I started thinking about all the things I grew up with that I wish I could have kept. I decided to start looking for this dollhouse for my children.  Come to find out because it is vintage the house alone now starts bids at about $135 on eBay.  And all of the furniture and dolls are sold separately usually.  To give you an idea the little grandfather clock was at a starting bid of $19.99.  So you are looking at about $400-$500 now for what I use to have.  I was bummed but thought I would keep checking now and then in hopes that maybe one day I would find it at a price I could pay.

Today Kiley was eating lunch, Rowen was crying and in need of a nap and I was doing dishes when I suddenly felt a strong desire to go immediately to our local Goodwill.  At first I thought I was being crazy and impulsive but decided to go anyway.  It is about a 25 minute drive one way.  Rowen began crying and I started thinking "What am I doing to my children.  It's not going to be there.  I mean honestly what are the chances, especially since it is a collectible.  It would have to be a miracle.......But I believe in miracles so we're going."  We kept driving.  And Rowen began to settle down.  Upon arriving we quickly moved to the back of the store where the kids toys are.  At first I saw nothing.  But then...there in the very back of the store inside some kind of baby barrier contraption was the very top of the Strawberry Shortcake house.  I recognized it immediately.  I was so excited when I saw it.  And ecstatic when I saw the price of only $24.  Kiley knew that I had been looking for this and when she saw it she said, "Mommy, it's your house."  Which I replied, "Yes!! Yes, it is."  I didn't grab a cart or anything when we came in because I didn't think I would find anything, but now that I had I didn't want to leave it and I couldn't find anybody to flag down so...Somehow I managed to pick it up and carry it to the front with Rowen in my arms as well. LOL.  I am sure people thought for a moment that I was a horrible mother, but she wasn't crying anymore and didn't mind sharing my arms with such an interesting new toy. =) 

When I got up to the front and began the checkout process two people tried to buy it off of me, but I wasn't going to give this up ever.  This house will be staying in the family as long as I am alive. 
When I got to the car I called Christian.  He couldn't believe it.  I am still in shock and I keep thinking I am dreaming.

When I had picked up the house I had seen that there was a bag inside, but I didn't bother taking it out and looking.  I just wanted to get it home.  Upon arriving home I opened the trash bag to find that it had almost all of the furniture I grew up with, all of the dolls and their clothes in a vintage box and some of their friends and accessories.  The only things missing are some shutters on two of the windows and the bedroom furniture. 

I decided to take advantage of this experience to teach Kiley about sacrifice, and following promptings.  When we got home we said a prayer thanking Heavenly Father for letting us know when and where we needed to go to find this house and bring it back home.  My mom was so happy to hear that although she had to sell it when I was a child that it had made it's way back to me.

Enjoy the pics.  And dreams do come true!!  Heavenly Father blesses us daily and knows of our sacrifices.  I never expected to be blessed this way but I am extremely grateful and will remember this experience always.

"Bust A Move"

Rowen made her first real move this week.  She is now seven months and can sit up on her own and has been trying to scoot.  This is what I caught on tape.  I think she will be crawling sooner than I originally thought.  Enjoy!

"Summer Time and the Livin is Easy"

This summer we decided we would take a trip to Cali to see both our fams.  Christian was able to come for a week so we all flew out together and spent a week with his parents.  Then he headed back home and I went down to my mom's for another three weeks.  A whole month in Cali.  Yes, it was nice.  Jealous are we? =)

Since we did so much, I will just give you the highlights, I am sure you can figure out the rest from some of the pictures I took.

First, we went with the Towners to Legoland.  That was awesome.  It was our first time there, busy, but a lot of fun.  I was just amazed by the display of legos.  I couldn't stop taking pictures.  That was one of my favorite things to do growing up.  I always wanted legos for Christmas. 

We went to the pool, Kiley took Riley for walks and picked lots of flowers, some even bigger than her. LOL.  We went to see the play Annie at moonlight theater.  Kiley loved it and loves to sing "Tomorrow" LOUDLY everywhere...that includes sacrament meeting. LOL.
 
We went and visited our friends, the Monroes, out in Redondo Beach and had yummy Mexican food at El Burrito Jr., went to the beach and got ice cream on the pier.  It was so good to see them again.  We miss Redondo and I look forward to living there again in seven years or so.  The count down is on Heidi!!

Other things we did: Kiley got to feed the ducks, and she got her driver's license, LOL, barely... this was at legoland, she was great with the gas but the steering needs a lot of work.  We went to IN N OUT.  We got to go to the temple for a session and out for sushi one day at Samurai, my fave. Yum!

Next I went down to my mom's with the girls.  We went to the beach, spent time at the pool, filled my Cali cravings, including: real Mexican food, frozen yogurt, sushi (again), rubios, thrifty's ice cream, yummy horchata at Albertos, and Carl's jr to name a few, fried zucchini, yum!

My favorite thing was taking Kiley to Disneyland with my mom.  Kiley was very excited about this.  When she first found out that we were going to Cali she asked if we could go to Disneyland.  I told her that we wouldn't be able to do that this trip.  But I ended up getting a $200 gift card that covered our tickets, parking, food and then some.  So you can imagine how excited she was when I told her we were going to Disneyland.  The Dawson's watched Rowen for us all day so that I could really pay attention to Kiley.  We both really needed that time together.  Kiley's favorite ride was Splash Mountain...my little dare devil (I wish I would have taken a picture of it).  

Other things we did: we took Kiley to the temple to get her first Book of Mormon.  She was very excited.  My sister came out with her girls from Utah.  We got to catch up with the Dawson's and even have a night out just us kids.  It was a lot of fun catching up and reminiscing about all of Ian's dating experiences. LOL.  You know we all love ya Ian! We celebrated birthdays, tried new recipes and had a lot of fun.
  
When we got back we celebrated Christian's birthday.  Kiley was sad she didn't get to blow out the candles so Christian relighted some to give her a chance. LOL.
Enjoy the pics.