The Montoya's

New Years Eve & a New Tradition

2012-01-03T15:18:00.000-07:00

Every New Years we are scrambling to find something to do. This year my father wanted to take us kids out for the weekend to a hotel and spend it doing all sorts of fun stuff. I of course was elated! Finally we had something planned. It was such a fun weekend and of course since it was the first year doing this it was more spare of the moment activities. The place we stayed at was more than just a hotel, had a indoor water park, theater room and it just was so fancy, I just didnt want to check out after the 3 days. We had a fun filled weekend of bowling, movie time, lots and lots of water time and some down time watching bowl games and eating. We missed my younger brother Rich who wasnt able to make it :(. But hopefully they will come next year. Im glad that we were able to find a time that works for our Letterman side to have a get together. Its always nice when you can spend a few days with each other and make our bonds stronger. Our New Years Eve was fun, my dad went out and bought fireworks and we let them off in the parking lot at the hotel, kinda strange at first, but it was fun to see everyone looking out their windows at us. They were smart and watched from the comfort of their nice cozy rooms. All in all our weekend was a blast and like ALWAYS I kick myself for not carrying around my camera more and taking more pictures, the ones I took just didnt do justice and I missed alot of the activities we did.. :( Oh well!!

Christmas

2011-12-27T16:54:00.001-07:00

I love Christmas Eve and Christmas, I mean who wouldnt right?? We have had such a fun weekend. We always have a great time when we get together with family. Although its been a rough few mornings though after getting the kids home well after 1am each night. Now I need a few days to recoop and start it all over this weekend for New Years!!

Our kids were pooped Christmas Morning when we got home, that Mike had to come wake us all up at 1030 to open the presents, Mikey popped right up, the rest of us took our own sweet time getting out of bed. Mikey of course was only interested in the gifts that had Halo, but over all was happy with all he got and he was so excited to head over to his cousins house to see the biggest Halo set ever being built. Mikey ran to the room and told me ' hey, you are not allowed in here, we are building Halo and its only Tim, Damon and ME.' Alright then... I was shocked to see that it literally took ALL day to build that and Mikey sat in there watching. Guess I know what sparks his interests ;)

Alivia giggled at everything she got, she would hug it and give a big grin when she seen what it was. I just love the excitement of little kids, I wish Mikey had more of that time :)

Ike was the EASIEST!! He enjoyed playing with the wrapping paper more than opening anything!!

Mike and I are so thankful for our family and all that they did, done and do for us each year! We are so blessed to have a family that loves us and loves our children. They mean so much to us and each year at this time I am especially thankful for our and their health! It means more than any present we could give or receive. I can't help but get emotional and remember to be thankful for the small things and enjoy our time with family.

Wintery Elf came for a visit...

2011-12-27T16:28:00.000-07:00

This year I decided to do the Elf on the Shelf, but I was NOT about to pay the $30 for the Elf and the Book, I knew I could be creative enough to make it our own :) Mikey was more excited than anything to know that the Elf was going to watch over us all day long and at night... well have a little fun for himself. We had fun with it and Im sure it will be a fun tradition that we do every year. First things first, We had the Elf at the front door, knocked and told Mikey to answer it, he came with a letter from Santa, * who remember isnt real as Mikey would say. We had to give it a name. Mikey blurts out Wintery and there you have it, Welcome Wintery the Elf....

Making Sno Angels out of Powered Sugar! Dang this Weather!

Doing some painting...

The Halo Guys came to life too... and they cornered Wintery!

Halo-1 Wintery-0

Wintery Trying to help with the laundry, but just made a mess then got stuck!

Wintery climbing to the top of the tree

Wintery had a sweet tooth

Wintery was sick of no snow, that he decided to keep cool in the freezer with some ice cubes

Wintery making breakfast for the kids, waffles it is :)

5 Years!! What??

2011-12-16T14:05:00.000-07:00

Mikey is 5 years old! Its crazy to think that this little guy was once a baby. It just seems like his is so much older than 5 and that we have just had him forever. I know he has been so excited about his birthday cause he knew that meant, what else? Presents! He wanted me to make sure to tell everyone what he wanted, so I did the unthinkable and did a wish list at Toys R Us for him. Sounds weird but no point in having presents he wont play with right?? He literally counted down the big ol birthday weeks ago and woke up at 4am birthday morning to ask if he could open his presents! He was excited when he got exactly what he had been asking for. Thats not going to happen every time!! Luckily this year with his birthday and Christmas he is only asking for small priced toys! Yes we can handle that! We decided to keep the tradition of a Sunday Birthday Party, that way we could accomodate everyone who wanted to be there. Thanks to everyone who took time out of their day to come and support and help celebrate my little man's birthday. I love that he has so many that love and care for him. We have great friends who support us as well and Im so thankful for their friendships!

This year's theme was Super Mario!! Half way through my planning it he wanted to switch it to a Halo/Lego/Mega Bloks and whatever else he could think of but Super Mario! But I insisted it was too late, luckily it turned out great and he had a fun time! WELL, Sorta, those who were there probably seen the multi meltdowns he had. He just didnt want to wait to open his presents. It all made sense when later that night he started to run a fever and now has been sleeping all day, so he was just cranky from starting to feel sick. Poor Kid!
I just have to say I love Mikey with all my heart, he truly has such an amazing, unique and funny spirit. He has always been able to put a smile on my face. I love that he still wants to cuddle with me and spend time with me. We always watch movies together and I love the time I get to spend with him. He is my handy grocery shopping buddy and sometimes things get added to the cart without me noticing until we are unloading at the register and I just have to chuckle at him. He is such a smart kid! I have always known that he was, but now that he is growing up he just amazes me with his vocubulary and his questions, they are always so deep and not easy to answer. He has one heck of a memory too! I am blown away when he will bring up something that even I had forgotten. Its incredible! I use to have that sharp memory, 3 kids later well you can guess what has happened, along with the WEIGHT! Ha ha! Oh well, they are worth it and I wouldn't change a thing. He is such a big helper and I feel bad that sometimes he gets treated as he is much older, and I have to check myself for that on numerous occasions. Although right now he is in the phase of 'not liking to play with girls' mode and is all about Ike, I will find him on occasion in Livi's room playing with her, But I cant let him know that ;) He is becoming a young man already and Im just not sure Im ready for that!! Love you Mikey Pixton!!

Letters to Santa

2011-12-13T12:03:00.003-07:00

This year was fun to start the tradition of sending letters to Santa, Mikey is at that age were he fully understand its (ALTHOUGH HE CLAIMS SANTA ISNT REAL!) Kinda of a bummer since he really never got to get into the whole Santa thing, especially since TV shows now make it known that he isnt real. Arg! But I told him if he wanted any presents for Christmas then a letter is a must do, that way who ever is getting him present will be told through a dream on what to get him ( Ya I know, we wondered away from the truth a bit.. all in the spirit of christmas right!) Anyways, it was fun for Mikey to write down his list on his own. Alivia of course just wanted to draw and not let me write down, thank goodness I was able to get a little out of her when I would say something and get her expression, most of the time it would be a huge smile or giggle. So it was written down.

My first HOMEMADE Christmas Gift

2011-11-29T10:48:00.001-07:00

So since we just dont have room in our little home and I cant be that sneaky with 3 kids around, I needed to let Mike know my gift for him this year, I wanted to make him a softball T-shirt from some of his old shirts. So the first task was getting him to go through all of his shirts and let me have 36 of them. That was hard enough right there, he has well over 200 shirts and getting him to give me 15% of them was HARD! Finally I was able to get them and from there the project began. I started not really prepared and didnt want to go track down all of my quilting stuff, so I made do with a cardboard box, a crayon and some sissors, that only last for maybe 8 shirts and I had to take the time to get all I needed. Once I started this project it was too hard to not think about it, dream about it and just want to get it done, so I asked Linda to help me over Thanksgiving Weekend. I know that the holiday is usually one to relax and eat and eat, but I was determined to get this done. It was nice for the help and the use of all the things I needed. For some reason I thought this was going to be a somewhat easy project... Ha Ha Ha. Not to mention the FIASCO at Joann's on Black Friday! It was well worth it though and the end project turned out great! Im excited to take it to our tournaments and show it off!! :)

1/2 a year old!

2011-11-10T15:24:00.001-07:00

Ike is 6 months old!! What?! Goodness sakes these kids just grow up too darn fast. Isaac is so ready to walk, talk, eat table food! He tries so hard to crawl, but his poor little arms give way due to his big head wobbling around. He has been the best baby! I just love his little laugh and his smile. ahhh. I knew we named him right when I looked up his meaning and chuckled when I read what it was, Isaac- Hebrew Origin and means HE WILL LAUGH - How appropriate considering this kid laughs all the time. Then of course I wanted to do his middle name which is Asher, also Hebrew and meaning Blessed and Happy. Again, Loved the meaning and fit him to a T.

We decided to start our little guy slowly on baby food, oh that was a funny experience! He isn't showing signs of teething, trying to get on all 4's to crawl and almost sitting up unassisted, almost. He just gets to excited and starts wobbling and then gravity takes over from there. He gabs so much and I just watch in admiration that he is trying to say something to me, I just know it.

Blessing our little man...

2011-11-10T15:05:00.001-07:00

You know I have been so horrible with taking pictures, I swear I got this fancy camera to do just that and enjoy taking pictures of my kids growing up, but then always forget it, forget to pull out the camera or just don't feel like it at the moment, then the next day I am KICKING myself for not taking pictures, more picture or better pictures. Ahh! With Mikey I took well over 200 pictures, Alivia almost the same with Ike I took a whopping 25 pictures and NONE were of him alone in his duck tail suit and or with family that much. The lighting was horrible there and I didn't have my flash on, blah blah blah! Makes me livid at myself!!!! So, hoping others took pictures that they can send my way.

Ike was blessed today and it was a neat day for us. Its always so comforting to know that he has a blessing and his name goes in the church records. I really hate to get mushy and religious on the blog but I felt the spirit there and was overcome with emotion. I am so thankful for my family and their support and their standings in the church. I know that to each their own and I respect those who religious views are different, I am in no place to tell someone how to live their life. I just know what I believe to be true and I'm thankful that I have a place to go to and have the support I need.

Thank you to ALL who come and support our little family. It means more than you know. My kids have the best family and friends anyone can ask for!! Truly!!

Halloween Activities

2011-11-01T14:58:00.000-06:00

Fun time of year for everyone!! Love seeing all the costumes that people come up with and of course the excitement on my kids face when they get to have fun, let loose and of course get some candy! Nothing like going door to door begging for candy and hey! its FREE! Love it. We had a good month, it was filled with making lots of pumpkin items, decorating the house, carving pumpkins, reading halloween stories and of course telling ghost stories! Mikey had a field trip on Friday to the Pumpkin Patch and it was fun to see all the little kids run around the maze, play with the animals and the best part picking out pumpkins. Mikey seemed to search and search for the biggest one. Had fun at my parents for the annual halloween trick or treat party! Missed family who didnt come.. hint hint!! :)

Now on to one of the best holidays in my mind. I love Thanksgiving! A time to sit back and think of all that you are thankful for, the family that love and support you, the friends who are always there to put a smile on your face and to reflect on the last year and all that we have received! Plus what better way to celebrate the holiday than to have a huge Turkey Feast! Cant wait!!

Customize your own photo slideshow

Finding Time

2011-10-20T15:52:00.001-06:00

I tell myself all the time when something funny, good, weird, heck anything happens in our family that I should blog about it and I kept setting it aside waiting for the TIME to do it. Its been so hard to blog, let alone get on the computer every day and be able to think of what to blog about. My 3 kids are keeping me quite busy, a good busy, but busy. I feel like when the clock strikes 5:30 and Mike walks through the door, I am half asleep on the couch wanting to take a power nap. He is so great that he always suggests I go lay down or take a bath or just get away for an hour or two and he spends time with the kids. Mikey usually has an agenda for dad every day. Luckily Livi and Ike go along with it, but soon they all will want to have dad do what they want too, its going to be tricky. Anyhoo, I always have good intentions of blogging because one day would love to print this out to a book and have it as a keepsake for the kids. I cant believe that I have been blogging since 2007! That right there blows my mind that I have kept with it for so long, gives me motivation to keep at it for sure.

On to whats been going on in our Do-Jo.

Ike is almost 6 months old, arguably the BEST baby ever! He is just so quite and keeps to himself. When he cries its one of 3 things, needs a bottle, needs a diaper change or needs to be put to sleep. I love it. He gabs like crazy and I swear he is already saying Da-Da. I wouldn't have it any other way. He is rolling over and trying to pull himself up to sit up, its funny cause he gets frustrated and lets out a big sigh, but he is working at it.

Livi is a DIVA through and through, everything she does is girly and so over the top. She screams at everything and has to be center of attention. I love this princess so much though, she is entertaining. I love that she plays with her dolls and Mikey's cars at the same time, she will pretend play and its the funniest thing to watch. She sure talks alot but what she is saying we just don't understand, Mike and I have come to the conclusion it is Native American talk. She obviously knows to say Daddy and Mommy and Hot Dogs, other than that she speaks Chippewa.You can hear her talk in the video above to understand what we are talking about. So her speech is slow but man she is sharp minded. She understands everything and is quick at lending a hand when doing housework. She is finally getting more hair and its getting easier to do, that's something I am excited about because she use to rip out anything I did with her hair, so now that she is becoming more girly it will be fun to do more things with her. Her potty training will happen sooner than later, every day she takes off the diaper when she pees, although its a good sign she is on her way to being potty trained, I know need to work on WHERE she pees when her diaper is off. I know she is getting to that point when she hates the feeling of a dirty diaper, but she will take it off and do her business just about anywhere but the toilet. ARG! We haven't had too many accidents because I am usually quick at catching her. But I just was not ready to potty train!! But I guess once its done and she has learned it will be nice that we only have one child in diapers.

Love her bed head!

Mikey is loving preschool (his 2nd year) He is such a smart kid. Not much I can say more about him. He loves to learn, asks questions when he doesn't know something. I love that he always wants to read books or do 'homework' (I have a Kindergarten Learning Book). Mikey loves to play games and HALO has been his favorite for some time now, thanks to family members who will remain nameless cause they know who they are and boy oh boy do they hear it from me ALL the time. Don't get me wrong I don't mind he plays, but this kid of mine has become OBSESSED about Halo. Of course I don't let him play it night and day, but its not just playing the video game, its now Halo figures and Lego Halo guys and halo movies... OH MY! He actually doesn't play the video games but once or twice a week, but its his obsession with the Lego Halo guys, he sleeps with them, takes them when we leave anywhere, cries when he breaks or is missing a part and goes crazy when above mentioned sister plays with his toys. I'm truly hoping its a phase and he will go on to having something else occupy his time, but for now is all about Halo!

Mikey sent me a picture in the mail... it was an awesome day!

Both Mikey & Livi recently went to the dentist to have some work done, Mikey had 2 cavities (dang it, he has my teeth...blah) and Livi had to have her Fermula removed. Both were sedated and both were at the same time. WHAT WAS I THINKING?? They both woke up from sedation confused, in pain and plain ole ORNERY! It was a very long day to say the least and it wont happen again! Poor Livi just didn't know what hit her, her mouth was numb, stitched and so painful to even touch, she would point to her nose throughout the day and I think she was just confused as to how it happened. As much as sedation is an easy way to get things done without the fiasco of kids screaming and kicking and what not, I feel bad that they almost feel like they just were tricked into something and woke up in pain. Hopefully it doesn't have to happen to often. I do love their dentist though, he calls at night to make sure the kids are alright, sends free ice cream cone coupons to us and treats us like he truly cares about their welfare.

She kept getting a bloody nose, and of course she wouldn't let me near her mouth to take a pic

I'm enjoying this time of the year! I love the smell of fall, the leaves changing colors and a little crisp air, makes me so excited for the upcoming holiday season. Halloween is a favorite of mine and now that we got the kids costumes it makes we want the day to come all that more! We have already whipped out pumpkin cookies, pumpkin muffins and bread. I love it. Mikes softball season is slowing down and even though he's played every weekend this past month, soon we will have weekends off and we will enjoy doing other things through the winter.. who knows maybe a bowling league, ha ha.

Ikers is 5 months old!

2011-10-05T18:34:00.001-06:00

Our little chuckers is 5 months old today! I swear the months just fly by! I wish I could keep him this size forever, especially seeing that he is my last baby to have :(

His personality is at such a fun stage, giggling so much, smiling from ear to ear and his little wiggle he does when he gets excited. He has been such a great baby! I am amazed at the differences between Livi and him, polar opposites, guess its the gender thing.

I know that he has almost passed up his sister in weight, last month he was 2.5 pounds shy of her weight and he has been growing so much that he hardly feels like a baby anymore. His development has been trucking along, he loves to play on the floor, rolls over and back again. He is getting more stable and hopefully in the next month or so he will sit up unassisted. His eating habits have been more rapid than his motor skills. He wants real food and he wants it now. He eyes our food and opens his mouth when we come near him with it. I have started him on rice cereal a month early, I think he is ready for that. He hasnt gotten the whole spoon thing quite yet, so we will stick to the mixing of the formula for now.

The Dentist

2011-09-28T10:31:00.000-06:00

So after Livi's 18 month check up with the pediatrician, he was a little concerned with her frenulum labii superioris that he wanted her dentist to see if it was something that needed to be removed. Her poor little two front teeth are spaced due to the gums being so prominent. So we took her in and low and behold our little one has to go through yet another sedation and minor surgery to remove her Fernulum. She just cant catch a break! Luckily we got to while it was her baby teeth, so we wont have to correct it when her adult teeth come in. I just hope my kids dont get the dreaded dentist curse like I did. No matter what I do my teeth & gums just cant stay healthy. Even with prescriptions my poor enamel and gums are just so dang sensitive. I truly hope they all get their daddys hard healthy teeth!!

On a lighter note, I truly love their dentist. It helps when their office is very kid oriented and can distract them from the real reason they are there. Mikey and Livi both got to pick out their movie to watch while being seen. I just love the atmosphere here and they didnt want to leave... that is a plus!!

Mikey Preschool Pics

2011-09-28T10:11:00.000-06:00

Mikey had his class pictures the other day and I love how they turned out. Its amazing to see how in just a few months he has changed so much, to me anyways!! Love this little guy and all that he is learning. He is growing up so fast. He is so excited that he gets to go to another year of preschool, since his birthday is mid school year he has to wait until next year to start Kindergarten.

Our Car ride Convo..

2011-09-18T19:14:00.000-06:00

I have to tell a funny story. So Thursday after picking him up from school we are on our way home and we had this conversation.

Mikey: Mom, Do you like surprises?
Me: Yes I sure do
Mikey: Me too, I am so excited that I have a surprise for you.
Me: You do? I cant wait then..
Mikey: Okay..... I mailed you a letter today.
Me: What?
Mikey: That's my surprise I wasn't suppose to tell you. But you said you couldn't wait. It wont be here for 2 days, the mailman has to deliver it to you first. Its a rainbow mom.

Man, I love this little guy. His interpretation of me saying I can't wait then, and he spits it right out. Totally my son, it\s so hard for me to keep surprises too, I always get so eager and impatient!

Ready for Year 2 of preschool!!

2011-09-07T10:07:00.005-06:00

Mikey starts preschool tomorrow and its been a LONG, let me repeat LONG Summer for him! He has asked so many times when he is going back to school and the time is finally here! So excited to have him go back to Brilliant Beginnings! Miss Morgan is his favorite he says! Im kinda nervous about this year though, we are going to the morning class since she has done away with an afternoon one. Mikey is NOT a morning person at all. Its rare to see him up any time before 10am. So getting him up, dressed, fed and out of the house by 9am is going to be a challenge!!

He was so excited about another year that when we went shopping for school clothes he asked for a new back pack. Guess his cars one is OLD MOM!! Oh dear!! So this year he is sporting a new back pack with his favorite characters- Super Mario! He has already asked that his birthday party be a Super Mario-Lego party, not sure how we are going to pull that one off but I am already on it! Just can't believe my little man is going to be 5!! The time goes by so fast and I have a hard time accepting that.

4 Months old!!

2011-09-05T11:39:00.000-06:00

Here is a little video of my little guy rolling around

Ike is 4 months old. Its gone by so fast. He is quite the happy baby! He always has a huge grin on his face. His development is doing amazing as well. He is quite the chuckster! Almost at 15 pounds, he is going to be passing up Alivia here shortly! Ike is quite the wiggly little one, he likes to kick his legs and fling his arms all over the place. He is not yet rolling over, but moves side to side like a maniac! In no time he will be making the full turn... He loves to sit in the little chair and play with his toys, he sure gets mad when he cant reach something or something falls though. Ha! We just love our little caboose!!

Subway Art.. yes please!

2011-08-29T12:10:00.001-06:00

I've seen these subway arts alot on crafting website and decided to make my own.. I wanted to do so much more, but thought I didnt want to go overboard on the subject, so this is what I came up with....
I like!

A whole lotta catching up!

2011-08-29T11:46:00.000-06:00

Looking at my blog and realizing I haven't posted anything for over a month got me a little overwhelmed on how much I need to catch up on. I had to sit and write down what has gone on for the last 6 weeks so that I could make it all organized chaos on this post. I ain't (Ya, I know ain't ain't a word and I ain't suppose to say it!) going to lie, I have been so busy with these two little ones that at the end of each day I think wait, did I go to the bathroom, did I shower, did I eat? and forget getting dressed for the day if I know I have no where to go. Its to much work! Ya I am lazy!!! I decided that having twins would have been easier for me. Having Livi be already at the terrible 2's and shes only 16mo has me worried what the next few years are going to be like. YES MOM YOUR WISH CAME TO, I AM RAISING MY OWN SELF! Alivia is a self proclaimed princess, Love her to pieces, but she is a DIVA! She still wants to be the baby and I find myself holding two kids most of the day, she just doesn't like it when I am giving the cuddle time to Ike and not her. Then there are the times when I step out of the room to visit my first born.. Mikey that's right, he is currently living in a different world (his room) He tries to stay out of the chaos that goes on in the rest of the home. Anyway back to the princess I find her walking up to Ike in his chair and just smacking him for no reason... I have started an IOU chart for Ike to redeem to his older sister at his discretion. Poor little kid! So things with the girl in the house have been a little rough, she is showing her personality and making her presence known. Back to the kid that moved away, My Mikey! He has been such a big help in our home, I tend to ask him to help out alot more than I should, I think he feels like he is just his siblings slave. Do this Mikey, get this Mikey, go entertain them Mikey... He helps out more than he should, but man I just feel like I neglect this little guy, he doesn't get that much attention anymore and although he is taking it well ( at least we think he is) I still feel like a bad mom! Its sad when I go into his room and he asks to have me play or read books to him or what not and I say yes, not more than 3-4 minutes in to it, the other two are needing my assistance and I am forced to leave Mikey once again. Man it breaks my heart! Its also really sad that since we live in a college complex, NO KIDS are in sight for him to play with. He begs every day to go play with his cousin Damon and I feel bad that I have to make up all these excuses cause Damon is older and just had friends of his own and most of the time isn't around to play. So, I guess after all of this writing I am wishing Ike grows up fast so Mikey had a live in playing partner to play with. ( Cause Livi is a girl mom and I just want to play with boys right now.. is what he always says to me)
Now that I got that off my chest....

We have had a busy summer and believe it or not it hasn't revolved around softball this year! WHAT, ya I know.. its been a shock! Don't get me wrong he still plays, just not every single weekend and this fall he took off softball, he plays on Tuesdays, but only like an on-call player, so I am proud of him to sacrifice something he loves so much, heck I love so much.

Pioneer weekend we spent in Ogden. Mike played softball, Jenny had her 40th birthday party celebration so we all spent it at Mom's house and enjoyed lots of good food and company.

....the following weekend Mike played in Richfield.

August 5th, My little man turned 3 months! Growing like a weed! Gaining more weight that I know what to do with, he has been the biggest of our babies, we love our little chubs.. Also, Happy Birthday to the most wonderful woman I know. My momma!! :)

That weekend we decided to use the cabin and have Mike's family come up and spend a few days there, it was nice to get away and relax, we had a chill time and even spent Saturday afternoon at the Tanger Outlets shopping for the back to school clothing, while the guys went fishing, then turned to crawdad catching. Which they later sauteed up for dinner. All in all it was a great weekend and so glad my parents weren't up at their 2nd home to let us use it.. (wink wink Mom)

Next came our Anniversary! I just Love this man I am married too! So lucky to have the life we do. We have it made!! We were back and forth on what to do and just decided that maybe we would use our anniversary vacation later in the year and take off to a KC game.

So our summer has been filled with alot of good stuff, not to mention the impromptu BBQ's, those I just love! I'm ready for a slow down though!

Pictures will follow... eventually!

Ike is 3 months old!

2011-08-05T16:29:00.000-06:00

Little Ike, or not so little anymore is 3 months old! It has been going by so fast, I cant believe this is my last baby. I am trying to cherish the cuddle time, but with Livi so demanding its hard, I just love his little personality. Ike is never unhappy, smiling from ear to ear. I love that he is now constantly watching his older siblings and whaling around in excitement. He is weighing in at 12lbs and 8oz. Just a little chunkster!

Ike is 2 months old!

2011-07-19T15:45:00.000-06:00

MY FAVORITE ONE!!

My little caboose is 2 months old now! It sure has gone by fast, he is growing quite a bit and has gained 3 pounds from his first month check-up. Still a little bean at 11 pounds, but he sure is adorable! He is smiling a ton and coo and caa'n. Here are some pictures Auntie Anita did. :)

Balloon Festival

2011-07-07T13:42:00.000-06:00

This year my mom and I took Mikey to the balloon festival. We had to wake at 5am and head out, but once we got there and seen all of the balloons getting ready to be blown up, we both woke right up. We had a yummy pancake breakfast and then watched as all of the hot air balloons took off.

Daddy's Day

2011-07-06T14:56:00.001-06:00

Mikey and Livi made a tape measure for daddy that said.. You RULE

A candy bouquet for Father's Day

I just realized I never posted this!! Better late than never!

I wanted to do a post from Mikey and Alivia, and of course Alivia cant talk, so I told Mikey he just needed to talk about his daddy for the both of them, he asked what he needed to talk about and with little coaching, he went on and on. So this is going to be all over the place but almost word for word so excuse the grammar...

We love our daddy. He likes to play Halo for 10 minutes, clean my room when I can't get down from my bed, get me drinks and tells me to drink water more. Will buy me a treat at the gas station and sometimes gets exactly what I wanted. He lets me ride on his back, but he quits too soon and I want to keep riding more. BUT he always tells me I need to eat hamburgers and chicken and I just dont like it, so mom will you tell him I dont like them. I only like pancakes and pizza. He hits homeruns when we go to the ballpark, mom when we go to the ballpark when I'm older will I get to hit homeruns to? Ok Mikey, what about Alivia, why do you think Livi loves daddy...

well................. I dont know............. she never gets yelled at by daddy, you tell her No though. He always says she is pretty. Does dad ever tell me Im pretty? Dad carries Livi out to the car when we go places cause she will fall on the road and she cant run fast like me to the car. Dad shares his food with Livi cause she eats everytthing, she is a munchie baby.

Alright, thats good I tell him and he goes ya, I think he knows all of this already...

I know they love their daddy so much! I see it every time he comes home, Alivia gets a huge grin will stop whatever she is doing and run to her dad. Mikey loves him, he always asks where he is at when he will be home and when hes going to play with him. I love that Mikey wants to play ball like his dad. Isaac is just a lucky baby! He gets well taken care of and loved by Mike. I NEVER knew any dad who gets up with all of their kids during the night, so that I can be well rested with them all day. He never complains and does so much for his kids! They truly are so blessed to have the father they do!

Happy Daddy's Day

My little Caboose is ONE MONTH!

2011-06-13T13:13:00.000-06:00

I can't believe how fast time goes by with little ones. Isaac is already a month old, still a little bean! We had his one month check up and he is weighing a whopping 8lbs 2oz. Just a little guy, but gaining weight fairly well considering he was 6lbs. Isaac has been such a great addition to our family, our little caboose is what I call him cause we are DONE with having any more kids. Our home is complete with Mikey the Engine ( Thinking he is already grown up and able to do whatever he wants, as he puts it) Alivia our Tank, She eats everything!! She doesn't gain a pound either. (Man I miss those days) and then of course our little caboose, Ike. He has changed the dynamic of our home and boy has it been a challenge with two little ones. I swear I'm going from changing one diaper, to the other. Then it seems they all want something at the same time. Its manageable and easier than I thought. Isaac is such a blessing to our home. I love watching Mikey and Livi interact with him and take care of him, its too cute. I'm so glad we are done though, I'm not sure my body is able to recover as quickly as the first two kids. I have been dealing with Post Dural Headaches, which causes so much pain in the spine. I had to be treated for it by having an epidural blood patch. I was hoping it would be fixed with the first shot, thanks to my amazing mother and sister in law Kris, I was able to get a few days to be on bedrest and try and heal, however, I think that after being down for 2 days, I tried to over compensate on housework and doing too much that the pain is returning.. BLAH!! I just hope its not too severe this time around.

Mikey's Year End Celebration

2011-05-26T15:39:00.000-06:00

Mikey's year of preschool is over, he had a great year, he learned so much and I can't believe how fast he has grown up. Sadly since Mikey's birthday falls in the middle of the school year, he will have to attend another year of preschool before going to kintergarten. But, thankfully he LOVED his preschool and of course his teacher Miss Morgan.

Singing his song..

Introducing Isaac Asher

2011-05-09T23:31:00.000-06:00

Cinco De Mayo was a great holiday.. for us anyways. Isaac Asher was born at 830am. Weighing in at a whopping 6lbs 8oz and 18in. He came into this world FULL of black hair!! He is healthy, alert and adorable. Couldnt be happier. Mikey and Alivia are excited older siblings, for the most part. Livi just wants to hold him and pat his hair. Mikey on the other hand is very protective of Isaac, but still is unsure as to what changes are going to be made at home with another baby. He is a very helpful older brother and is already talking about all the things he's going to teach Isaac. We are so happy that our home is now complete!!

Mikey in the SPOTLIGHT

2011-04-18T11:29:00.001-06:00

This month Mikey has his spotlight, where he gets to tell everyone in his class all about him! We (Ok, mom mostly) made a poster. ( Let me start off by saying he bugged me for days on end to do it himself, when I finally got all the stuff and idea ready, he BAILED on me the night before it was due and left me to do it.. most of it- already preparing myself for homework and projects in the future :)) Anyhoo, He told me everything he wanted on his board and thought the end result was the coolest thing, He was too excited to take it to school. Unfortunantly the very next morning he woke up with some severe allergy symptoms... (DREADED ALLERGIES!) and was quite clingy, lethargic and DID NOT want to go to school, show his poster or take his spring class pictures. It was a challenge, but after some TLC from Miss Morgan, I think he finally was able to function.

Alivia's 1st Birthday!!

2011-04-14T16:41:00.000-06:00

My princess is a YEAR OLD!! What!! Time has flown by so fast, it's crazy!! We had a low-key birthday for her, well low-key for me... :) We had family and friends over to celebrate her big day. She loved her cake and was so excited for her presents, each doll she got she would just hug and give a big smile, it was adorable. This past year she has been through so much with her surgery and its such a milestone to be 1! I have enjoyed watching her crawl, to take her first steps, to now walking! I love it! She shows such spunk and is a total DIVA! She knows what she wants and she knows how to get it. A total daddys girl :) Her face lights up whenever Daddy walks in the room, it's too cute. She is so opposite of Mikey, she is a dare devil, loves to get dirty and will eat literally ANYTHING! Which for Mike and I is great, its been a challenge for us with Mikey's dietary likes. She is getting teeth in like crazy now, we counted 4, yes 4 growing in at the same time on her top, she's been taking it like a pro though. I am just so in love with my little girl!! Im glad she's the only one too, I get to give her the mommy-daughter time and we get to share a special bond like my mother and I do. :) Happy Birthday Livi-Lou! I Love YOU so much!!

An Overdue Congrats!

2011-03-29T11:23:00.000-06:00

It's been busy here at the Montoya Residence, that I completely forgot to write about Mike's promotion! I have one of the most hard working hubsters! He has worked so hard to provide for us and let us live the life we do, which is AMAZING!! Having to work with 2 older guys and one being your boss who literally did NOTHING was hard for him and just gave him more of a motivation to prove he was a hard worker. His company FINALLY offered him the Manager position :) I could not be more happy for him! He deserves it. Not that he gets to slack any, but now he gets to see things done right, heck just done. He already has a new staff, improved moral and comes home happy and I have yet to hear a complaint :) WAHOO! Not to mention the pay is an added bonus and our rent discount... it just cant be beat!! It's been a few years coming and we are excited. We really struggled with deciding on whether to relocate to Arizona or Nevada and the timing just never seemed right for us (Me being prego almost 2 years now... ha) So, to have this promotion, it made it clear that we will stay here... for the time being. We talked about buying a house, we just are so unsure if this is the place we want to settle down, I know I know, I have 3 kids now and really should be more decisive, yet I feel like we are suppose to make a break from Utah. We will see what the future brings. Anyhoo, really proud of Mike!!

All she wants for her birthday is her two front teeth..

2011-03-24T09:51:00.000-06:00

Every time she's fussy, we think ok, yep she's getting her teeth in, fever?.... yep she is getting teeth in. That went on for about 4-5 months. We finally gave up and just realized it's going to happen when it happens. BUT Finally! we noticed the gums white and I swabbed her mouth and YEP two front (bottom) teeth have cut through :) It makes me happy, because this girl, unlike Mikey LOVES to eat everything and try everything and without those darn teeth, some things just aren't possible to give her. Luckily, her cutting teeth hasn't fazed her and she hasn't been fussy, feverish or rashed out. LUCK.. keep on my side :)

I can't believe that a year has flown by and my baby girl is going to be ONE in 2 weeks! It's nuts!! She is growing up so fast and as much as I want her to stay little and enjoy watching her take it slow, I know that she is helping me out! With Isaac 6 weeks out, I am going to have my hands full. It's going to be a challenge, but I wouldn't have it any other way. These kids are incredible and I'm so thankful Mike and I have them in our lives!!

Just an update...

2011-02-24T17:37:00.000-07:00

So it seems like this pregnancy has been flying by. I am at 30 weeks and can't believe I only have 10 more weeks. Its crazy to think that this is going to be my last pregnancy, you'd think with having such easy ones, I would want more, but I think Mike and I concluded we are satisfied with 3 children! As much as everyone says you have to give Livi a sister, my thinking is... NO I DON'T! One girl is plenty and plus she can be spoiled :) I feel like I never talk about my pregnancy and I guess that's what happens when you have kids so close together. Mikey is getting prepared to have a little brother, already talking about playing games and cars with him. I'm just so thankful for a pleasant pregnancy. Its been weird always reminding myself that I am indeed pregnant and having another infant around the house. eeek!

Alivia has been growing like a weed, still just a little one, but man she is showing personality... too much of it! :) She has been walking for the most part, she will get lazy though and realize since she can't run quite yet that crawling is faster. Still not a tooth, but man on man she eats so much. She tries everything we eat. I love it. Mikey is a picky eater and Alivia seems to try anything. Her head seems to be doing well. She has alot of hair, so its making the scars completely invisible. We go for a follow-up in a few weeks to see her progress. Hoping for good news :)

We are ready for spring/summer, heck any warm weather. Ready to hit the softball fields, parks, camping, bbq's and vacations!! I'm done with hibernation mode.

V-Day LOVE

2011-02-15T16:00:00.001-07:00

We had a great V-Day! Mike spoiled me of course! I'm lucky!! This year we both thought alike as far as a v-day gift..

Her's & His... :)

Mikey LOVED going to preschool on Valentine Exchange Day... He was too excited to come home and show me all of his goodies..

His Goodies...

His Valentines he exchanged....

& Livi and her treat... Ice Cream- Man she LOVES it!

Hoop-La! The Circus is in town

2011-01-31T11:31:00.006-07:00

We spent the weekend up in Ogden with Mike's family. It was fun. It was relaxing. It was just what we needed!! We decided to take the kids to the Circus! The smell of elephant poop overwhelmed us, the vendors torturted us with cotton candy, snow-cones, peanuts, pretzels, hot dogs, you name it- we bought it. The toys were over-priced, but we got them anyways. We watched as performers balanced on ropes, spun on wheels, played with knives, tamed the kittys, rode the elephants, bossed the bears, swung through the sky. Crashed on wheels! All in all it was an eventful Circus experience.

Videos to follow- Hopefully sooner than later :)

New Years Party

2011-01-14T11:37:00.000-07:00

We had a fun weekend during New Years. We spent it with my side of the family and went Laser Tagging. It was Mike & Mikey's first time. It was alot of fun to get 20+ family members together to go do something. Livi and I sat out at the arcade and waited, bummed I couldn't play, but not worth the risk of getting hurt.

Then we headed to my parents house were we played games ALL NIGHT LONG! The boys (well most of them with the exception of Mike and Rob) had a Halo tourney, hooking up 3 TV's and all the Halo Action you could handle. (So thankful Mike isnt into those games!!! :)) While the ladies & Mike and Rob (yes with the exception of Mom- who was playing Halo!) played board games, card games and trivia games. We again had a BLAST with my new game Tip of the Tongue. It was a great time, in fact I think we missed the actual New Years Countdown, thank goodness for Las Vegas time who celebrated an hour later.

Wish I would have taken my camera, but I didn't! :( I'm sure my mom took pics I can get, but until then use your imagination and picture a house full of laughter, food and FUN! :)

2010 in review...

2011-01-01T15:26:00.000-07:00

Our 2010 was quite the eventful one!

January

Birthday! :) Turned the BIG 30! Family & Friends surprised me with a birthday dinner! My honey is the best! :)

February

Lost a great man. Grandpa Weiss!!
Completed Alivia's room
Love Day ♥

March

Nesting- Only one month left for Alivia's arrival
First Golf outting for the year, a little cold- but well worth it.

April

Winner of a MamaRoo!! :)
The arrival of Alivia Adele

May

Mom's Day with my princess
First outting to the park
Many softball games.. already :)

June

Alivia's Diganosis of Saggital Craniosysnostsis

July

Family reunion at Blue Mt. Ridge
Softball Tourneys
More Doctor visits and preparing Livi for Cranio- Surgery

August

Alivia's Baby Blessing :)
Our Anniversary
Mike's Softball team winning State and Nationals :)
Starting our fundraiser's for Livi :)

September

Hit it for Livi Tourney- Great Success!! :)
Going to Denver, CO for World's- Took 4th place
Mikey started Preschool

October

Alivia's Surgery- Pre Surgery
Alivia's Updates - Day 1, Day 2, Day 3
Found out we are expecting # 3!! May 5, 2011

November

Came down with Iritis- Odd immune disease that affects the Iris of the eye. After 4 straight weeks of going to the doctors and hospitals it finally cleared up!
Found out we are having a BOY

December

Mikey turns 4!
Christmas Parties, Parties and more Parties!!
Sponsored a Sub 4 Santa family! So rewarding!!

I spent alot of December pondering on how much I have to be thankful for! We have been truly blessed and have been able to overcome so much in 2010! I am so thankful for the many family and friends who supported us during Alivia's surgery and the fundraising! It means so much to our little family that we have so many people who care about us and were so willing to be there for us. It came as a huge shock to find out we were expecting again and although now the shock has worn off, I am thrilled and can't wait to have Isaac! We truly are so blessed to have the children we do. They enrich us with their spunk, love and laughter. I can't say enough about them :) I look forward to what 2011 has to bring us.

My Little man Isaac Asher...

2010-12-29T15:11:00.001-07:00

I just love getting ultra sounds! They make me so giddy that I get to see my little one growing and be in awe of how technology allows us to make sure everything is alright. Our little Isaac is a wiggly one. He was not camera shy at all and was willing to entertain us. My pregnancies have always been a breeze, which I am so thankful for, however, with having Livi still a baby... this pregnancy has been flying by, which is nice!! Here are a few pics of our little man :)

Christmas 2010

2010-12-27T13:51:00.000-07:00

We got home around 12:20am Christmas Morning and tried to put the kids to sleep.. of course Livi was more than willing, Mikey on the other hand was a little more difficult. We tried to brib him, tell him Santa wasn't going to come, etc. Nothing was working. So we gave in and watched Christmas cartoons until 2am. During that time we snuck in and out and did our "Santa Job". Needless to say, it was a long morning, but a great one when we finally got to sleep for a few hours before our busy Christmas day. We are so grateful for this holiday! A time to reflect on all the many blessings we have in our lives, the trials and tribulations we have had to endure this year and we successfully overcame them with flying colors. I love my family with all of my heart, they truly give me so much to be thankful for. Mike is such an incredible husband, father and best friend. I am truly amazed at his zest for life! My children are so lucky to have the father that is ONE IN A MILLION-- HECK TRILLION!

Eve Party...

2010-12-27T13:31:00.002-07:00

Our Annual Christmas Eve Game Night was a HILARIOUS one. We had a TON of fun playing more Minute To Win It Games. Linda planned a great night of fun games. As noted by the pictures!! Then we played a fun new game called Tip of the Tongue. I found it on Amazon for $5 and figured it would be fun to try... little did I know, it was a blast and it will be a hit at many game nights to come... We ended our fun night around Midnight and rushed home to get the kids in bed, so Santa could do his work....

Way to go Anita!

Too funny!!!!

Mikey's Christmas Performance

2010-12-21T11:57:00.000-07:00

On Mikey's last day of school for Christmas break, we got the pleasure of going and watching his class sing some christmas carols! I just love the enthusiasm these kids have. Mikey was so excited all morning to go to school and get his nose painted red! I of course had his song recorded, but of course I accidently deleted it... Darn it! Luckily I had Grandma there to take some pictures! :)

Our Holiday~ Minute to Win it Version

2010-12-19T10:58:00.020-07:00

I love this picture of the girls!

Take all of the Jingle Bells out of the Kleenex box...

Try and get the cookie from your forehead to your mouth with NO hands...

Try to get a red nose to stick on your nose with vasoline...

Who's got the best Santa Beard??

Our Family Christmas party last Sunday was such a fun one. My parents planned a fun version of Holiday Minute to win it.. They both were so excited to watch everyone try and get it done first.. It was a fun new tradition!

Arrg! A Pirate turns 4!

2010-12-15T15:26:00.000-07:00

For Mikey's 4th Birthday, he insisted on a Pirate Birthday.. Where he got that idea from, I have no idea! Anyhoo, we rolled with it. It turned out to be a fun one! He enjoyed all of the family and friends that came to support him and celebrate his big day!! The kids had fun making pirate ship necklaces and of course the LOOT! :) I wanted to do so much more for his birthday, but with this dang Iritis, I have been pretty much limited to what I could do. So, luckily I had a great and amazing husband who did the cake.. YES Mike did the cake! Hes amazing and creative!! Mikey was spoiled once again with toys and clothes GALORE!! His creative and oh so talented Auntie J, made him a Closet Monster. IT IS INCREDIBLE! I HAVE A HARD TIME SAYING ITS MIKEY'S- I WANT IT :) She worked so hard to create such an amazing gift for him and I so appreciate it! Mikey has been such a blessing in our lives. I am incredibly honored to be his mother.

New Christmas Tree

2010-12-15T13:16:00.000-07:00

So Mike and I talked around Thanksgiving about putting up our ol' tree and it hit us both, we wanted something different and new and quite frank.. simple. With a crawler, a puppy and a 4 year old who likes to take ornaments on and off, we decided that it would be cool to find a new tree, we were so lucky to find a screaming deal on a Fiber Optic White Tree.. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! Simple, beautiful and something different. We turn it on every night and just gaze at the tree in awe... it really is so calming to watch the lights change ( I know.. funny about a tree, right)

I of course should have turned the video camera sideways... but at least you get to see what we get to stare at everynight.. its magical! :)

Knuffle Bunny Play

2010-12-15T11:32:00.000-07:00

I was one lucky mom to take Mikey to a play, just the two of us. We had a great night. He was so excited to go see Knuffle Bunny. Especially after reading the book. It was like the book came to life... he said :) We were also luckly enough to sit front row.. it was fun. Unfortunantly they would not let us take pictures, video of the film :( So all I got was one picture of Mikey before the play started.

Did we have a holiday?

2010-11-29T10:43:00.002-07:00

I was looking forward to our Thanksgiving weekend. Mike had Wed,Thurs and Friday off and we had planned a split family holiday. All my excitement ended Monday when I was still dealing with a dang eye infection that just wouldn't not go away, so Tuesday I called my Optometrist and made an appointment to go in and see what was going on. He diagnosed me with Iritis. Inflamed Iris and of course pretty much my whole eye, back of the eye, even the dang eye lid was swollen and in pain. I was given some steroids to help get rid of the pain. Wednesday we headed up to the cabin and of course had a fiasco getting up there. Mike seemed to think we would be fine without 4 Wheel Drive, but the Trench thought otherwise, we got stuck and sat there for roughly 3 hours before giving up and getting a ride to the cabin and trying again in the morning. Luckily we have some strong men in our family who dreamt all night on how to get us out of the trench without calling a wrecking crew. First try Thanksgiving morning and we were unstuck and back to enjoying the Thanksgiving Day... I slept most of the time, or sat there in pain. So we decided we had to cut our trip short of the cabin and head to the hospital, by this time it was hard for me to even open my eye. Once we got out of the canyon I noticed a decrease in pain, must have been the elevation and the pressure causing more pain. Even so, I was still feeling like I needed to get checked out. So we went to the McKay Dee Hospital in Ogden while traveling to Mikes side. They did in fact tell me it is Iritis, but this time I got some pain medication and an antibiotic to get rid of the infection. Of course pain meds made me extremely tired and the ointment was just a pain to put in my eye, but I started to see an improvement by Saturday. I was super bummed that my thanksgiving weekend turned into be a bed ridden holiday. I wanted to go shopping, play games and spend time with family and instead I couldn't seem to get up and out of bed. I have an incredible husband who does SO much for our family and he really became Super Dad and Mom for the matter. He always comes to my rescue and does anything and everything for me. I truly am so blessed to have this husband of mine and to be able to have children with him. He makes me so happy and I just fall in love with him so much more every day! I am so grateful for his tender heart and what a great role model that is for our kids!!

Now I just hope that our Christmas holiday will be a little more enjoyable! :)

It's a....

2010-11-21T13:43:00.000-07:00

We found out last week we are having another boy. We are so excited! We have a name already.. well sorta, the middle name we are still working on. But May 5th is my due date, most likely it will be a week earlier or so. But in late April or early May we will welcome Isaac to our home!

Alivia- One Month Post Surgery

2010-11-04T16:38:00.000-06:00

Alivia is doing amazing. Back to her cute little self. Here is a picture of her now. You could hardly tell she even went through such a major surgery! Her head is perfectly shaped, no issues! Thank goodnes

Introducing Juno...

2010-11-04T10:02:00.000-06:00

Our cute Minature American Eskimo Puppy... She is a joy to have around, very fluffy and easy to love. Mikey loves to chase her around the house. Livi loves her kisses (sometimes)

Mikey's Halloween Party at Preschool

2010-10-29T10:41:00.000-06:00

Smiles, Lillian

Alivia picture update

2010-10-29T09:48:00.000-06:00

I don't have my nice camera handy, so this update picture will have to do. Alivia has been doing remarkable. She is growing her hair back and the scars are starting to disappear...

Sorry for the quality.. she is just doing amazing and looks so dang beautiful!!

SERIOUSLY.. It has FINALLY hit me!

2010-10-26T16:20:00.000-06:00

So after much disbelief and SHOCK.... I have finally grasped reality and can finally tell one and all....

I'M EXPECTING!!

Yes, I know.. Alivia is just 7 months old. Yes, they will be 13 months apart.. Yes we are CRAZY! We were unsure about having more after Alivia and especially after all of her medical needs the last few months, but it was out of our hands, yeah of course we could have been more cautious, but that my folks is the shock in itself... Anyhoo, I made a subtle hint last week by posting a countdown on my blog, I got a few texts, emails asking if it was old or could it be.. I was prego again. Yes Yes Yes.. I am pregnant again. I think this is the LONGEST I have waited to tell everyone. Both with Mikey and Alivia I think everyone knew around 6 weeks.

Feeling great.. as always, I got the lucky gene on pregnancy! In fact since its been hard for me to believe I am in fact pregnant, It doesn't help that I don't really feel any different besides a little tired.

Anyhoo, cats out of the bag- you don't have to wonder anymore. Due date is May 5th. I should know by Thanksgiving what we are having. Mike and I both are fine with whatever, although I think Mike secretly wants another girl... :)

Alivia is doing AMAZING

2010-10-13T13:29:00.000-06:00

So today is a week post-surgery and she is doing great! She has been recovering at an alarming speed. She was back to crawling/scooting around the day we got home (Friday) She is still a little sensitive to her head being touched- but for the most part she is fully healed. Her stitches are starting to disappear and her swelling is all but gone. They shaved her head for the surgery and now she is sporting the 5 o'clock shadow. It's cute. She has been off medication since Sunday. We feel confident that she is not in any pain, so we didnt want to over medicate her. Thanks for all the visits and dinners brought over. It means so much that we have great family and friends who care about us and take good care of us!! So a huge thank you!!

I will post some pictures of her soon!!

3rd Day 10/08/10

2010-10-08T23:10:00.000-06:00

Taking the Turban off-- What a relief

Taking the drain out of her head. OUCH

Her scars

A little sedated...

Friday Friday Friday.. Oh how I love Friday! Today we got told early in the morning that since she was off all of her IV's, eating normal and pretty much a happy baby that we would be able to go home today. That was such a shock, since they told us 5-7 days. We are so happy!! She is doing amazing. They came in took off her Turban, and the drain to her head. Then we got all the stuff together, unhooked all the monitors and got ready to take Livi home. Her eyes were still swollen shut in the morning and when I put her in her car seat, I couldnt believe my eyes, she had one eye open.. IT WAS THE BEST DAY! She just looked around, gave a huge smile and I just laughed. I was waiting for her to open her pretty green eyes. When we got home and settled, she started to open her other eye. As of right now, 9pm. She has both eyes open, is being held by her daddy and is trying to be mobile again. I was nervous about putting her on her tummy on the floor, but she started scooting around as soon as I let go. She was ready to move around and get back to herself. She has been cooped up for 3 days she literally stayed awake until her eyes were so red and starting to swell again before she called it a night. The pain as been fairly good. We thought we would have to give it to her on a strict schedule, but yet again Livi is proving she is strong!! Yay! So glad to be home, be able to sleep in our own bed, heaven knows the hospital chair, couch whatever they call it was the most uncomfortable thing!! I had slept there for 2 nights and I was so glad to know we were going home.

2nd Day 10/07/10

2010-10-07T22:35:00.001-06:00

Getting to hold my princess.. ahh, I have missed that :)

Giving Livi a bath, a much needed one

Taking off some of her bandages- what a relief

Calming her after her ordeal

Very few moments of her unhappy- had to capture it

Thursday was a good day. She seemed to be healing great. Eating her formula and doing all the things she needs to do to get released. The Doc came in and told us that its amazing the strides she is taking to get better. He said that he has NEVER seen a cranio-baby heal this quickly. I tell him she's a Montoya, strong and brave.. ha ha. No, I know its all the support, prayers from our family and friends. Her eyes are still swollen shut :( but she is often found playing with her binkie and its almost like she is trying to see the shadow through her eyelids, its pretty funny. Today, I got to hold my princess, it was a great moment, I was so nervous of hurting her head, but they assured me she would be fine. I really did not want to put her down!! Then we got to bath her and take some of the old bandages, IV's out that she no longer neeed, it was a great ordeal and one of the few times she was unhappy.She is just doing amazing. We have a great staff of nurses and doctors that are taking great care of her.

Day 1 Post Surgery-10/06/10

2010-10-06T21:59:00.002-06:00

Post Surgery-Wednesday 10/06 at 5pm

Post Surgery-Wednesday 10/06 at Noon

Pre-surgery 10/05 at 6am

Post Surgery- Tuesday 10/05 at 1pm

Alivia has had a great 2nd day. She is recovering well. Although her swelling is getting worse or should I say IS WORSE. She is such a trooper. Just cries a little and is back to sleep. The doctors say its unusal for a cranio-baby to be so calm. Thank goodness she is. Its hard enough for me to see her all bandaged, swollen, hurting and to have her cry and be irritable on top of that, would be heartbreaking. She has slept most of the day. During the morning her left eye was swollen shut and her right eye was still able to see out of it, that lasted until about 4pm and then the right swelled up as well. She is now not able to see, but she again is such a trooper. Doing well. Wish I would of brought the cord to upload pics, but of course in the rush of getting out of the house on Monday, I forgot ALOT of stuff. So updates will have to do with no pics. I will however update as soon as I get home with some pictures of our sweet little princess's journey.

Thanks so much for all the love, support, prayers, visits! We appreciate it so much!!

Lots of Love

Mike & Lillian

UPDATE #1

2010-10-05T10:34:00.000-06:00

We woke early to get Alivia to the hospital, bright and early at 6am. It was a rough night for all of us. We tossed and turned and hoping that everything would go good today. Alivia received a blessing from my brothers and father, thanks! It definantly eased some fears and gave us some calmness we needed.

Alivia met with the nurses, the surgeon. After about an 90 minutes, the anesthesiologist walked with us down the hall and we said our goodbyes to our little princess as she was taken back. Of course emotional and relieved at the same time that we are able to have fantastic doctors to take care of our baby girl. We are so thankful we have the amazing technology to catch her defect early and get it taken care of.

We sat in the waiting room after grabbing a quick bite at the cafeteria. At roughly 850am. We got our first update that the anesthesiologist had completed all the IV and lines for our baby girl. She was put to sleep fairly quickly and without any issues. THANK GOODNESS!! They told us they have her draped for surgery and are preparing the first incision. At 1005am, we got our #2 update. They have successfully removed the skull from the derma skin and scalp. She had no complications and they said that she is actually doing better than expected, with very little blood loss. Now the plastic surgeon is doing the reconstruction on her skull and they will replace it when he is complete. They told me roughly 2 hours and we will have another update and hopefully she will be on her way back to recovering.

10:32am
Mike just got up to get the #3 update on how the reconstruction is going. She is doing great, all vital signs are good and she is a strong and brave little girl!! I hope she is having sweet dreams!! Love you little one.

Change in plans

2010-10-04T16:11:00.002-06:00

Her surgery is back to as scheduled! I guess it was too complicated to try and reschedule the hospital, neuosurgeon and the plastic surgeons schedule. Please keep Alivia in your prayers!! We appreciate all the LOVE and SUPPORT from our family and friends.

Since we are going to be in the NICU for 2 days and no cell service. I will update the blog as much as possible with information, status and of course updates on our little girls progress!

Lots of Love,

Mike & Lillian Montoya

Postponed- ARG

2010-10-01T11:59:00.000-06:00

Alivia surgery is postponed for another 5-6 weeks. They feel that she isnt quite at the weight they are comfortable with and want her to be at her healthiest state. So, its frustrating to have to get the run around and another surgery date, but as long as she is doing good right now and will be able to be ok during the surgery, I have to be happy with the decision. We will find out Mon-Tuesday the new surgery date. It will most likely be the first week of Nov.

An update

2010-09-27T11:31:00.001-06:00

So, we have had quite the busy few weeks with fundraisers for Alivia, Mikey in preschool, Mike's World Series and just life.

Our tourney was a HUGE success! We had so many come out and support us. 21 teams played in our tourney, many came to eat the amazing delicious polynesian bbq and bake sale and we had a great response for the raffle. I truly have amazing family and friends who give their shirts off their backs to support us and do ALL they can. Its amazing to see the service and love everyone has given. Alivia is so blessed to have so many care for her and her wellbeing. I will update this post with pictures of the tourney later. She had her last appointment at Primary's on Wednesday and they are a little discouraged that she isnt at the weight they wanted her at. They are discussing postponing the surgery one more month, but we will know more this week of what they are going to do exactly. If all goes planned she will go in for surgery on October 5th.

Mikey LOVES preschool. He wakes up every Tues-Wednesday excited to go to school with his backpack on, do his show-n-tell and learn. I know it was the right move putting him in a year early. He had his school pictures last week and man-o-man I have a handsome boy!! His eyes kill me. Gorgeous.

Create your own free slideshow

Mikey is in Preschool!

2010-09-08T13:18:00.000-06:00

Finally!!! The day has come that Mikey gets to go to school. He was excited all morning, asking me over and over, is it time yet. When it finally was, he got dressed with no complaints, no throwing of the clothes around the room, no doing flips on the couch so it would be hard for me to dress him. He did it pretty much on his own. Horray!

We went to school and he walked right in, sat down and started playing with the kids. Pretty painless on his part. He even said Mom, you can come back in 5 hours- this is after I told him I would only be gone a few hours. Great! He's excited to get rid of mom.

Picking him up was just as eventful, he was so excited to tell me all that he did at school. They played with the bears, read a book called Mama Bear goes away. Gosh darn it! He is a smarty pants!! So glad he enjoys school.

Stratus Softball

2010-08-31T10:28:00.001-06:00

Mike's softball team is on a roll! We have been winning every tourney we are going to. Including NIT, State and now Nationals. This past weekend we took a trip up to Heber, spent the night at the cabin, enjoyed the rainstorm we had Friday night. Then went to the ballfield all day Saturday. It was very Windy, but a great day for some ball. They won the tourney and have a berth to the World Series in Aurora, CO. It will be exciting to see how they do at World's this year. Last year they went to Seattle, and with it being their first year as a team last year, they had some great chemistry. This year I think its better, we lost a few guys, but picked up some other great guys. I enjoy going to watch this team play. They just are a great group of guys! Good job Stratus!! Now on to World's.

Alivia's 4 month Check-up

2010-08-31T10:24:00.000-06:00

We had Alivia's 4 month check-up with her pediatrician on the 20th. Wow, our little girl plumped up in the last two months. She is weighing in at 13 pounds and 6 oz. She also grew 2 inches to 24 inches now.. 2 feet tall.. :) The pediatrician examined her head and said that he has noticed it has been getting worse, but since one of the two "soft spots" are still open that we should be ok going the next 5 weeks waiting for the scheduled surgery date. If at any time that soft spot closes, we will have to take her in to get a CT Scan and make sure that she is ok. Of course I think we will know if she is pain. It causes alot of pressure, headaches, sleepyness and irritability. So we are hopeful that she will make it to the surgery date with no more complications other than the deformity of her skull. She is just an extrememly happy baby! In fact I dont know if she has ever let out a full cry. She does a little whine and then of course she starts smiling when she see someone look at her. Her motor skills are improving, she is rolling over and doing a little army scoot. Its quite adorable. She is now in that stage where she loves to grab everything, hair, necklaces, heck the face, she will latch on and shes got a strong grip. I am so thankful for her in our lives. She is just a DOLL!!

August 17th- Our Anniversary

2010-08-31T10:14:00.001-06:00

Mike & I had our anniversary on the 17th of August! Its amazing how fast time goes by. I am still so much in love with him. He is my rock! I am so thankful for him in our lives and being able to raise two beautiful, amazing children. I am so lucky that he is all I have dreamed of. He amazes me every day with his kindness, respect, honesty and his love for his children! I love that we are so in sync with one another and we rarely ever have disagreements. Its an attribute many would love in a marriage.

Happy Anniversary Sweet Thang! 143!!

A Giveaway -ENDED

2010-08-16T13:46:00.003-06:00

THANK YOU TO ALL THAT SUPPORTED THIS GIVEAWAY AND DONATED! IT IS APPRECIATED!!!

Ever since I found out I was having Alivia, I have bought hair accessories through Kyla's Kreations. A lady makes them out of her home and sells on Etsy and her blog. They are so adorable and cheap. She does an amazing job and ships them very quickly (She lives in Orem) Anyhoo, when she found out about Alivia's Medical needs, she offered to have a HUGE giveaway on her giveaway blog (www.kylaskreationsgiveaway.blogspot.com) She is only asking you make a small donation of $5.00. This will enter you into the drawing of a LOT FULL OF HAIR ACCESSORIES (Over $50 value) All donations will then go to the Alivia Charitable Fund. Please tell all the ladies you know who has little girls. (not just newborns,infants) to come enter as well.

Some of the hair accessories I have gotten through Kyla's Kreations

If you want to purchase from her, go to her website. The Giveaway website is just to enter drawings.

http://kylaskreations.blogspot.com/

Alivia's Blessing

2010-08-10T10:55:00.000-06:00

Sunday we blessed our little pretty girl. It was such a nice blessing and we are so thankful for all the family and friends that attended. It means alot to have your support. I about died when I went to go get her dress earlier in the week. My mother and I went to a ladies house that makes dresses and of course your are skeptical at first because you never know the style they like to make. BUT when I laid my eyes on the first dress, I FELL IN LOVE!! We tried it on her and I got the tickle in the nose, you know the one that starts the waterfall of tears. I could not wait to take it home and show Mike. He of course teared up as well when I showed him the dress, but nothing prepared us for when Mike and I were dressing her Sunday. We sat alone in the mothers room at our chapel. Dressing our little girl. The moment was priceless and seeing Alivia smile and giggle as we goo and gaa over her in her dress put tears to both of us and like my mom said, this is the first white dress of 3. I'm so thankful for Alivia, her smile brightens my day. She has the funniest personality. Every time she awakes, its with a huge smile on her face, no groggy-ness. I love that! She loves to be held and she is trying to grow up too fast, she grunts as she tries to sit up from her chair, floor, anywhere actually. She just wants her legs to work so bad, so that she can go run and play with Mikey. I am so thankful for my little family and so blessed to have an amazing husband who adores all three of us. We have it made!!

Grandma & Livi

cute braclets- made by G-ma Unck

Family Reunion 2010- Blue Mt. Lodge

2010-08-05T14:07:00.000-06:00

We had our annual Mitchell reunion. It was such a fun weekend and so nice to getaway and camp for a few days. Since I am so busy with putting things together for Alivia's fundraisers, I am going to bypass posting all the details of our reunion on my blog. I have already posted the fun reunion memories on our family blog. I will post a slide show of the pics soon. Instead head over to Mitchell Clan Reunion to hear about our exciting trip. :)

Also, just want to let everyone know that we are SO thankful for those who have donated to our Alivia Medical Fund. We know that so many have contacted us with offers to help anyway they can and we appreciate all that have done so and have concern for her wellbeing. It's so great to know Mike & I have such supportive Family & Friends and to those friends we haven't seen in YEARS that have donated to us, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. It's great how far the word has been spread about our daughters health and your eagerness to help! We are so thankful for each and every one of you!!

I have made a blog for fundraisers coming up to benefit Alivia. We are so fortunant to have so many people have connections and be able to do some wonderful things for her cause. To learn more about them go to http://www.answerforalivia.blogspot.com/

Smiles

An Active Summer

2010-07-15T16:55:00.001-06:00

CABIN FEVER

June 18-20th

Me and the kids spend the weekend up at my parents cabin. It was a relaxing and fun getaway for us. Mike played in a tourney in Heber, so we went down and spent some time at the ballfield. We ventured on over to Park City and did a little shopping. Man they had some dang good sales. Went a little overboard on the clothes shopping for the kiddos, but hey, they are worth it. :) It was also father' day weekend, so we went and had a great night with the family at my mom's house. We played some golf with glow-in-the-dark balls.

VERNAL HIT-RUN-SCORE/CAMPING

June 25-27th

Our camping/tournament was such a fun one. Mike and I had a blast camping for the first time this summer! We got a new tent and sleeping bags and I now want to go camping every weekend. Its amazing what a little camping equipment will do for you. ;) Although it was really hot during the day, we spent most of our time under the canopy and taking naps, man it was relaxing!!

4TH OF JULY

July 2-5th

Our 4th was a busy busy weekend! We started it off Friday by heading to Park City for a little shopping (YES, again) and then watching fireworks from the Owlz game- then Saturday we had a BBQ at Rob's house. It was also my Dad's 60th Birthday! It was a hot day, but alot of fun. Sunday was a fun day, we had a huge bbq with Mike's family (Walt & Andrew's) Good food and good convo's. Then we headed over to Rich & Ash's house for a Fondue party along with fireworks. It was AWESOME! It was such a fun filled weekend with family. I think Monday we spent most of the day recovering from the long weekend.

SOFTBALL, SOFTBALL, SOFTBALL

We have had softball literally every weekend except for the 4th of July. This weekend will be the last one for 2 weekends. Next weekend we are getting away for 4 days and heading down south to a family reunion. So excited!!

ALIVIA- 3 MONTHS OLD

Alivia is now 3 months old! Time has flown by so fast for us with her! She is rolling from side to side, loves being on her tummy, talks up a storm!! Smiles at everything and everyone. I just love her personality.She got her first pedicure from her auntie Kris. Soo cute!! As far as her surgery, it is officially scheduled for Oct 4th. We are finally starting to relax a little and let the anxiety settle, but I think that's just because we have to wait so long for the surgery. I'm sure the rollercoaster of emotions will be back the end of Sept.

The news we didn't want to get!

2010-06-20T21:38:00.000-06:00

BE PREPARED- THIS IS A LONG POST!! ALOT OF INFORMATION!!

We took Alivia in for her 2 month appointment and the week before then we were up at the cabin with my family. My mother was playing with Alivia's hair (what she has) and noticed a bump on the top of her head- we decided to ask the doctor at her appointment and he quickly examined her and told us he feared her skull had fused too early. He sent us over to UVRMC to get x-rays and we waited while they were read by a radiologist up at Primary Children's. We waited half the day before getting the call from the doctor confirming what he told us. Her Sagittal Suture had closed. The next step was a CT Scan at Primary Children's and to meet with the Plastic Surgeon as a second opinion. We spent all day up at PC and got the news that we didn't want to hear. She was diagnosed with Sagittal Synostosis. She will now have to undergo Surgery on the skull to correct the closure and to allow her brain to grow in a healthy/normal way. Here is a little information on her diagnosis:

It is a condition in which there is premature closure of one or more of the normally present bony gaps between the different bones of the skull. Closure of a suture prematurely will stop growth of the skull in the direction perpendicular to that suture; However, growth of the brain will continue in the direction parallel to the affected suture. The result of abnormal early suture fusion is an alternation of the shape of the skull in a predictable manner with recognizable patterns. Approx. one in every 1,000 births will have a premature closure of a cranial suture associated with skull deformity . Premature closure of the Sagittal Suture, the longitudinal suture on the top of the head, stops growth laterally, producing a narrow head. There is a compensatory growth in the anteroposterior direction resulting in an elongated head with bulging of the forehead and the back of the head.

The Treatment

We have a scheduled surgery for October 4th. We are waiting a few months for Alivia to gain a little more weight, with her being so small still, the doctor wants her to have a little more weight to be able to sustain the anesthesia and the medication after the surgery and forego other complications from surgery. The surgery will be performed at Primary Childrens Hospital by 3 different doctors, the plastic surgeon, the neurosurgeon and a pediatrican. They say she will be in surgery for 4-5 hours and they will cut her scalp from ear to ear in a zig-zag/wavy pattern. This allows her hair to grow normal and over the scars so it will essentially be unnoticable, unless she plans on going bald. They will remove a section of the skull that is fused and will put in a dissolvable plate to allow the skull to grow back in a normal shape. After her surgery she will be admitted in the NICU for a day. As long as her status is in good standing the day after the surgery, she will be moved to a room for 3-4 days for observation.

We are so relieved that we were able to catch this so early and that she hasn't shown any signs of major problems, other than the bump on her head, the doctor said she shouldnt be in any pain and most signals usually start around 6 months in most cases. I'm so thankful my mom recognized something that didn't seem right and was quick to let me know. We are glad we have Primary Childrens Hospital that is close to us and have one of the best Doctors/Care in the West. Its been an emotional rollercoaster, cause one day I am fine and am coping with it, while other days I just look at her and break down. I hate to see my little baby have to go under the knife and I'm so nervous of the surgery itself and having my baby be in pain. I wish I could take the pain away from her. The anxiety of not knowing what's to come has me dreaming about it at night. We have a great family/friend support and I'm so thankful for those of you that have reached out to us in support and help and offered to do whatever is needed. I will keep an update on her status as it comes. As for now we are just trying to plump up our little girl and prepare ourselves for the surgery. We meet with the doctors again in August, if anything changes I will post about it.

Outting with his Buddy

2010-06-14T13:11:00.000-06:00

So Friday was a VERY -HECKTIC & EMOTIONAL DAY!! But during that day being one of a rollercoaster ride, we took Mikey to The Living Aquarium with his friend Kaden. It was cute to see them have so much fun running from fish tank to fish tank looking at all the fish. Even though that place is a little small, it was fun for the kids to get out and do something since this so-called summer weather is on hiatis. Here are a few pictures of the kids..

I 'Heart'...

2010-06-03T16:28:00.004-06:00

...That I have a husband who tells me "I got this feeding at 3am" and he does it happily. He never pulls the 'its a mother's job' card. I love that he lets me sleep while he wakes up sometimes for both feedings and all while having to still wake up earlier than the rest of us to go to work. He is amazing and I know that he has always wanted to be a father- I'm just so glad he is the BEST!

...When Mikey comes up to me and says " Mom, I love you and gives me a big hug" He is truly the light of my life. I adore him more than words can say.. and yes that's why he is SPOILED ROTTEN!

....When I get a glimpse of Alivia's Smile. She will be alseep and I will look down at her and she will let out a giggle and a smile. I always wonder what she is dreaming about. I sure hope it's about playing nice with her brother.. a mom can dream right.

.....cool evenings, when we can sit out on our patio and bbq as a family.

.....leaving the T.V. off all day and listening to my Itunes. I love listening to music!!

....cuddling on the couch with my hubby and watching a movie together.

....my memory, it allows me to remember things from the past, both good and bad and thankful for where it has gotten me today.

♥ my kids!!!

I ♥ that she is starting to smile!

Mikey decided to get soaked in the water, so he took his clothes off!! Yes at the ballfield

A day at the park

2010-05-26T13:02:00.000-06:00

I love when we have a chance to get out in the warm weather. Go figure that Monday it was a snow storm in the morning and afternoon it cleared out and was blue skies.. I swear Utah weather is so sporatic! Anyhoo, Tuesday afternoon we decided to head to the park and take a walk, feed the ducks, play at the playground. It was beautiful weather and a perfect family outting. I can't wait for more outtings together this spring/summer.

A little of this & A little of that

2010-05-17T15:21:00.000-06:00

MAMAROO WIN!!

Today I got the BIG PRIZE!! The MamaRoo for Alivia. I was so excited to see the FedEx truck pull up and deliver it. I couldn't wait one second to open it and put Alivia in it. She was asleep and still is, but she did let out a giggle and a huge smile, so it's a hit! This was an awesome prize to win.

ALIVIA'S FIRST BATH

We had to document her first Bath, she did great, I think she is going to be opposite of Mikey and ♥ the water, at least I hope anyways.

MOTHER'S DAY PROJECT

So for Mother's Day, I wanted to do something creative for my mother, It's always so hard to think of something thoughtful and unique to show my love and appreciation for her. So before Alivia was born I thought I would make a few homemade cards and give them to her as a stationary gift, well since I was pretty much homebound for the first 2 weeks after Livi was born due to the recovery of the C- Section I got to work on a few cards- ha ha. I say a few because what I was thinking 5-10 cards would be a nice gift, well every day I worked on a little at a time and before I knew it my card box was chuck-full of cards, I ended up making roughly 130 cards for my mom and her stationary set. I was proud of my homemade gift. I had to take a few pictures of my project because now that I have 2 kids, who knows if I am going to be able to accomplish something like this again for awhile.

Mum's Day

2010-05-09T22:19:00.001-06:00

Happy Mother's Day! To all the great women in my life who inspire me to be a better person, set a great example, show unconditional love and taught me all the ins-n-outs of motherhood! I Hope your day was one of relaxing, pampering and a day of reflection to all of those women in your life who are so important to you. The best gift ever given and continues to give the whole year through are my two kids. I adore them, so thankful for them and am so fortunant that I get to experience this awesome and rewarding gift! Anita was so thoughtful and took some pictures of Alivia for her newborn announcements and even though I wanted to hold off from showing them, I JUST CAN'T RESIST. They are so adorable!! She is perfect in every way. So here are a few of them. Don't be surprised if some of you get the announcement in the mail- Yes I'm one of those mothers!

I had to save the one I ADORE for the annoucements :)

Mikey-Random pics, falling asleep. Thank goodness Mike got them with his camera phone.

This was from our car- He has a 36" TV in his room,

but insisted on watching his movie on this little 10"! It was classic.

Playing Baseball!

He never seizes to AMAZE me ♥

2010-04-24T20:04:00.000-06:00

I just love my Hubster! He is such a thoughtful and great husband and father. It's been such a blessing to have Alivia in our family and Mike has been amazing at helping out. I have been down sick with a bad case of Hayfever. Its been horrible. Luckily I have a great companion who will do ANYTHING and is always taking care of me and the kids. He gets up for the midnight-3am feedings and doesn't make one complaint! Most men "think" its a womans/mothers job for that, but Mike sees it differently and I'm so grateful for that. I have been hoping that this sickness will finally seize and dismiss, but its still lingering around. UG! I have to admit I loved the rainy few days we had, it helped me get better. But with this warmer weather we have been able to get back to the ballfield and enjoy this great weather, so I will take the sickness!!

Anyhoo back to my hubsters. We had a tourney today and this was my first mini trip with 2 kids while Mike left earlier, WOW can I just say I need to get up earlier if I plan on leaving the house within an hours times. It literally took me forever to get one kid fed, dressed and packed- then on to the next kid- all awhile the first said kid took of his clothes to go to the bathroom ( he has to be naked to go potty- ya I know) so back to square one and getting the kid ready. Although I think I have ALOT of patience, it did make me think- Do I want more than 2?? I know crazy to think about right now about having more kids. We finally get out of the house and on the road to Payson- not more than 3 miles on the freeway and I hear Mikey- "Mom, Alivia won't give me high 5- Mom, Alivia won't hold my hand- Mom, Alivia won't say Hi to me... I just love Mikey and I had to chuckle. Poor Alivia already getting tattled on. Sad thing is, she was asleep. HA HA!

After watching Mike play 7 games and losing a very close game in the championship, we headed home. Mike had to run a few errands and came back with a nice treat for me. I swear hes a girl!! Hes so thoughtful and thinks of little things that would brighten my day! He was on state street and passed a little house that is a store called The Chocolate. Of course seeing that it was a Dessert Cafe, he stopped in and grabbed a few treats for us. AHHHHHHH, DELISH! I haven't been much of a sugar person (insert a ya right, thats when pigs fly) since having Alivia, I guess I'm trying to get my cravings in check and lose this weight. But since he was so awesome and did something so sweet, I had to cave in and man oh man am I glad! This is what was brought home. (A SUGAR COMA IN THE MAKING)

I ♥ the bite!!

DIVINE MINT BROWNIES!!

Thanks Sweetie, I ♥ you so much. You are an amazing husband & father.

Announcing Alivia Adele

2010-04-11T22:59:00.001-06:00

So excited to announce the arrival of our sweet pea!! I was having some contractions on Friday- decided to go to the hospital to be checked out and wasnt dilated to even a (1).. ya I know. I had 3 more days until the due date and nothing. Even though I was contracting, they werent too painful, so they decided to send me home and on bedrest for the next couple of days until my scheduled C- Section on Monday. That didnt pan out too well cause later after I got released and after the Morphine shot wore off, the contractions started up again and started getting more intense. I was able to fall asleep and go a few hours blocking out the contractions- until about 2am. I have never experienced contractions- labor pains with Mikey and until just Saturday I never had any pains with Alivia either. Although still lucky to have it be only a short time of being in pain. I now know how most of you mothers out there feel when you say you have horrible contractions. WOWIE!! I timed my contractions for about 2 hours and they were progressivly getting closer together and lasting longer, So at 430 I woke Mike up and said "Lets go to the hospital again and get checked out". He said are you sure.... ahhhh yeah! We were only there at the hospital for roughly an hour before they said, yeah we are going to keep you here and have this baby today! I was so excited. Everything went so smoothly after that and I couldnt believe how quickly she came into our lives. I am sure I will post a ton about her, but for now since I am still in the hospital, I just wanted to post some pics we have. Cant wait to do some more..

Alivia Adele

April 10, 2010 @ 9:26am

5lbs 10oz 18 in

Winner, Winner & Easter Day

2010-04-05T13:00:00.000-06:00

I am so excited to post about this!! I have been entering this contest for the Mamaroo!! Its not even out in stores yet and after reading reviews about it a few months ago- I was wanting one...... until I seen the price, then I was like ya- nevermind. So when they announced they were having a contest to giveaway a Mamaroo every-day for 60 days, I was diligent in entering daily! Day after day I would get an email with the new winner and everyday I wished I was me. Well my wish came true, TODAY I WAS ANNOUNCED THE WINNER OF A NEW MAMAROO!! So happy, I was working at the ballfield when my phone went off with a new message and I could hardly control myself ! Alivia will love the new mamaroo :)

If you are interested- enter their giveaway, there is still 3 weeks of entering.. Good Luck :) Click on the 4moms to go to their website. Although my name isn't on the website yet-- it will be here in a few days!! Check it out.

4moms

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Our Easter was a busy one. We had a late night the night before from the softball tourney. So Easter morning I woke up in a rush to get desserts made for our family dinner/party. We had fun blowing bubbles, finding eggs at Anita's house. Then we had a massive Easter Egg Hunt at my Mom's house followed by a DELICIOUS Easter dinner!! It was so yummy. We did cut the night a little shorter than we usually do and didn't stay to play games with the fam. Mikey crashed on the way home and slept from 8pm to 10am today.. Crazy!! Wish I was able to sleep that much.

I only have 7 more days until my scheduled due date and my scheduled C-section. I know most of you thought I was crazy to go the full 40 weeks to schedule my C-section, but luckily I have had a great pregnancy and only a few aches that are manageable. So the final countdown has begun. Don't know if I am really ready for another child in our home, alot of anxiety and excitement. So hopefully my next post will be to welcome our sweet Alivia to our family. That is of course unless I am addicted to post something before then :)

Mikey's ABC's

2010-04-01T16:15:00.001-06:00

So even though Mikey knows his ABC's- I made him a ABC Book for him. He loves to read books and what better way to do an ABC book with pictures. It was a fun little project and he loves to show everyone it.

After creating the pics- I printed them out at Kodak.com and put them in a little photo album. He loves it.

Now I am working on a numbers book to add to the back of this.. Should be fun!

Nesting

2010-03-25T16:38:00.001-06:00

I only have 2 1/2 weeks left until the due date- I'm nervously waiting to see if Alivia is going to come early or if I am going to go in on my due date to have her. Although I would opt for no labor pains, I guess its not that easy. Luckily, I have had no pains so far, no braxton hicks, no false alarms, just a big ol' belly and a ton of movements from my little princess. I wake up every morning stressed out that my house is not ready for a newborn, not clean enough, not organized enough, not what I want it to be. It's so bad that I find myself rearraging my own closet. I organized my shoes by color, then style- its pathetic. I know I know, that has nothing to do with getting ready for Alivia, but it's keeping me busy and when something bugs me to get it done, I just have to do it! Its pretty sad that after I organized my closet, I still had (2) yes (2) storage boxes full of shoes. Why do I need 100+ shoes?? It's an addiction! I then move on to our DVD collection and I have to put them in Alpha order and category. Again pathetic I know. Along with rearranging the utensil drawers, bathroom drawers, scrapbook bins- I am nesting, it's a fact. Will she save me from doing more useless organizing? I sure hope so!!

I have now moved on to crafting- well sorta, I was in the mood to make a homemade gift for my neice for her baptism, I think it turned out cute, now just to think of what to put inside the basket. I'm now thinking of all of the fun Easter things I can do for everyone..

While organizing the bathroom, I had to get vinyl names of Mikey & Alivia and get hooks for their towels and robes. I like the outcome. Of course I also had to put their names on their doors with some fun things.

St. Patty's Day

2010-03-18T13:47:00.001-06:00

Our St. Patricks Day was a fun one! Woke up to a scavenger hunt from an old wise Leprechaun named Stinky O' Farrell- His name was Stingy, but Mikey kept saying Stinky, so we changed it. Mikey was able to read a note from his friend Stinky and try and find his "Pot O Gold". Mikey was too quick for me, literally that I wasn't fast enough to grab the camera and follow him around to his clues. I tried to reenact some, but I was too late and Mikey was already playing with his bubble machine and candy he got. Luckily I was able to take the clues and take a pic of them. It was fun to watch Mikey though.

After the hunt, we cut out some 4 leaf clovers and wrote what we were lucky for... Mostly mom telling him what he was lucky for. We colored rainbows with 3D paint and then headed out for a treat at Sweet Tooth Fairy. Later that day we thought we would spend some time on the "Green" and we went golfing. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed going out and golfing. We had a great day!!

Alivia's Luncheon

2010-03-14T22:20:00.001-06:00

I am so thankful for great Family & Friends! Erica my best friend, threw me a luncheon for Alivia. It was so nice of her to do something so sweet for me!! We didn't want to make a big deal about having another "shower-type", but this was perfect! Thanks so much for those who came and supported me! It really means alot that you were there and celebrated the upcoming arrival of Alivia. Mike & I are so excited for her to come and its getting so close. Although I'm in the same stages with her as I was with Mikey- NO progress, I do know that it can change at any moment. Mikey has been cute about the whole thing and we are hoping he transitions nicely when she is here. Thanks again Family & Friends!! Lots of Love ♥

Janae & Mom

Me & Laura

Me, Brooke, Erica & Chelsey ♥

Linda, Brianna, Me, Kelsey, Kris ♥

Alivia's Blanket- From Linda ♥ it!!!

Blanket from Aunt Laura :)

How could you not love this!

2010-03-01T13:04:00.000-07:00

I just love capturing these moments!! My two boys- So dang cute!!

Passing of a great man

2010-02-25T11:52:00.000-07:00

GILBERT JOSEPH WEISS
1934 ~ 2010

Our beloved husband, father, grandfather, and friend, Gilbert Joseph Weiss passed away peacefully Tuesday, February 23, 2010. He was born September 30, 1934 to Karl and Theresia Weiss. He was the eighth of 10 children in a hard-working family filled with love and laughter. He married his high-school sweetheart, the love of his life, Sharon Wood, on October 30, 1953 in the Salt Lake City Temple. He was the proud and loving father of five children: Debra (Robert) Hansen of Murray, Christopher (Janene) Weiss of Lehi, Cheryl Weiss of Murray, Terri (Pete) Corack of South Salt Lake, and Amy (Brian) Erickson of Grantsville. Gil was raised in Salt Lake City, graduated from South High School and attended BYU on an art scholarship. He painted for Lagoon for several years but worked as a jeweler for most of his career. He enjoyed hunting and fishing with his family and loved the mountains. He was a gifted artist and poet, sharing both gifts with all he met. Gilbert was a member of the LDS Church, served as Bishop for seven years, on the high council, and many other positions in the church. He loved teaching gospel doctrine and serving as ward mission leader. He was preceded in death by his parents; brother, Karl; sister, Daisy Murphy; and father-in-law, Theron Wood. He is survived by his sweetheart of 56 years; his children; 18 grandchildren; 23 great-grand-children; and many beloved family members and friends. His family will remember his strong testimony, tender heart, love of learning, sense of humor and his love of family.

He was a great influence and strong role-model over me and my family. He will be forever missed. My heart and prayers go out to everyone whos lives were touched by him. Although I only knew him for 1/2 of my life, he raised a great son who I call Dad. He loves and respects my mother with all of his heart and I adore the relationship they share. I am so thankful for all that he has done to make our family be as one. Grandpa weiss was always so friendly to everyone, he would quickly give you a handful of candy while you sit and be amazed at his love for poetry. He wrote the most amazing stories and you would be in awe of how many stories/poems he could remember and receit on cue. They were always so detailed, if you closed your eyes you would drift away into his stories and be apart of it. It truly was an amazing gift he had. As hard as it is to say to goodbye to him and how deeply he will be missed, knowing he is no longer in pain and having to deal with the many health problems is a blessing and he can now rest in peace.

Love to surf the web??

2010-02-20T11:13:00.000-07:00

If you like to surf the web and "window shop?" Well then this is the website for you to do that AND earn some extra cash as well. I got this idea from a friend and I must say I was skeptical at first and thought really?? This isnt going to work and or its going to be a LOOOONG process of signing up and having to browse a website for a period of time that I'm not even interested in. But to my surprise, it was so easy to sign-up and you get a 5-stack of websites you can look at and collect money just for going to their website, browsing around and hey you might just find something you want/need! Soooo... here is the low-down.

The company's name is YouData (http://www.youdata.com/). They are trying to convince consumers like us that we should be the ones controlling our own data and selling our own attention, not third parties like broadcasters, newspapers, and spammers. By creating a MeFile at YouData.com, I now control what ads I see and when I see them. Best part - I am selling my attention directly to interested advertisers, for real money. That's right, I get paid for giving them my attention. It's real. They pay. You should check it out.

Each month I get the money I made directly deposited into my paypal account. My goal is to not touch the money and have a little extra for Christmas!
YouData is simple. They send you a link that you click and viola! cash earned. Plus it is fun because you get to discover new companies and websites. You'll notice that you can collect .05 to .20 cent per website, to some this may be piddily money, but after time it grows to a nice little chunk of change!

Click HERE to sign up. No personal information is needed! You just tell them you gender and birth date. Your zip code is optional. You will, however, need to enter a cell phone number. They will send you a text message to verify that you are a real person. In the text message you will get a code to enter in online. I haven’t ever received any texts or further contact on my cell phone, so no worries!

Happy Web Surfing!

What a MAN, What a mighty good man.... YES HE IS

2010-02-17T16:52:00.000-07:00

My Honey is the BEST! He knows how I have been struggling with our dinky little digital camera lately and how I wanted a nice camera that would take amazing photos! He got his quarterly bonus at work and went and got me the camera! The sad thing is this is the first bonus he has had in over a year due to the economy and lack of increases on salaries and bonuses. Finally, they start doing it again and he spends it ALL on me. It was such a surprise and I have been grinning from ear to ear! I can't put the camera down and have been tinkering with it any chance I get. I know that he works so hard to get his bonuses and I feel bad he used it on me, he deserved to go out and have a little shopping spree!! But thanks sweetie. You are so thoughtful and you always amaze me with your kindness.

Love you TONS!

My Sweet Valentine

2010-02-14T23:10:00.003-07:00

I just wanted to take a quick minute and tell my sweet valentine how much he means to me. I can never say it enough of how much I love and adore him. He is an amazing man, father, husband & best friend! I am truly amazed how lucky I am! I love that we are so in love and have such a great time together ♥, we always want to be with each other, some may say that's too much, but I adore it. I never have to worry about where his heart is. I know it's at home with me! We are so lucky to have a family and be able to share our love with Mikey and soon to be Alivia. There were so many songs that sum up my words for this man of mine. But I always have loved this song by Patti La Belle- simple but sweet. If you haven't heard it, get it on Itunes! It will be a favorite with the first listen.

We spent our holiday just relaxing! Ordered Take-out last night and had a fun time watching the Olympics, All-Star game and some rented movies. I love that we don't have to do anything expensive or over the top. I think the quality time we have together is perfect! And even a bonus Mike gets Monday off to continue the relaxing weekend! Wahoo!

Love you Mike! Always and Forever More

♥ Your Wifey

Hallmark has nothing on us

2010-02-12T17:38:00.002-07:00

Since Valentines Day is coming soon. Mikey and I decided to spend a few hours and make a few cards for Daddy- of course! Although I did most of the work, he had to have his input on color, animal shape and helping glue on the lovely hearts. What a big helper- HA! It kinda sucks that V-Day is on a Sunday cause that means Mikey and I can't decorate the house and surprise daddy with a-lot of love decorations! However, we are planning a yummy breakfast with Pink Pancakes. We will see how it goes and I will update with pics. Make sure to spend a little time telling the person you love how much they mean to you! (Even though it doesn't need a designated day)

Alivia's Room~

2010-02-01T07:31:00.001-07:00

So it's almost complete and I couldn't be happier with the outcome!! My hubby is such a hard worker and has done so much to make the nursery what I want it to be! Thanks Babe!! You always put Mikey & my needs and wants in front of your own :)

It was a busy weekend cleaning our home and getting it all organized! Mikey got to do some painting with daddy and he enjoyed it too much- he wanted to start making hand prints on the wall with the paint. Good thing it was only white and just touch-up painting.

Sad to say we had to get rid of Zoe, although she was a WONDERFUL cat and we really liked her, we just felt like having her in the home with a newborn was an issue. She loves to play with Mikey and we fear she wouldnt know the difference between Mikey and Livi and I can't chance her scratching Livi!! I also have caught her in Livi's crib sleeping- So sad to say she is gone. I hope that she went to a good home though. It's always sad to lose a family pet!! The minute she was gone Mike annouced we are getting a puppy! Well, we are waiting for Livi and a few months after before that happens :)

I am almost prepared for her arrival now! Although I still have 7-9 weeks, It'll be here before I know it! I'm just thankful for an easy pregnancy.

Kids say the Darnest things!

2010-01-26T17:15:00.000-07:00

I just had to blog about this today, it was too funny not too. Mikey was an early riser this morning and was up when Mike was getting ready for work (something that rarely happens) Anyhoo, Mike was brushing his teeth and for some reason Mike feels like he has to gag himself every time he brushes his tongue (no lie) he jams that toothbrush so far down his throat he makes these gagging sounds that just make you cringe. Mikey today heard Mike gagging and he jumped off the couch and ran in there and said this: " Daddy- Do you have a hairball? " It gave me a good chuckle.

First Purchase for Livi

2010-01-15T14:32:00.001-07:00

Now that the final countdown has finally begun and I'm in my 3rd Trimester, I realized I need to get on the ball and get things prepared for Alivia. It's so hard to explain to Mike that we are having a girl and we can't use all of the "BOYISH" things we used for Mikey.(Geez- Mike) That's the only downer of having the opposite sex!! It's like you are starting all over again. However, we will be fully prepared for our 3rd when the time comes. I have been racking my brain on what colors I want her room to be and I was initially wanting to stay away from the traditional "pink", but I just couldn't help myself when I went in search for new bedding for the crib. I feel in love with it and so it's official her room will be Pink! We purchased the new crib set and I had to have the wall hangings, curtains and the lamp as well.(Picture below) Now her room is well on its way to being done. I am the type that doesn't like to do a little here - a little there. I am let's get it done and finished all at once, this drives Mike crazy, but I can't stand procrastination. I guess you could say I am already in the "Nesting" stage. So needless to say our Friday Night and all day Saturday will be painting and getting her room done. After it's complete I will feel so much better about the rest of my pregnancy and not have to stress about not being prepared.

Kimberly Grant's- Dance, Laugh and Sing Collection! I fell in love at first sight!

2009 in Review

2010-01-08T11:36:00.000-07:00

WOW! Its 2010 already and a new decade! Time sure does fly by.Our 2009 was an awesome one! I had to take a few days and sit and think about all of the things we did in '09 that made it so memorable. Here is a quick breakdown;

* Many softball tournaments
* Rich & Ashleigh getting married
* Camping trips with the Montoya's
* Lake Powell Trip- it had been (5) years since I had gone
* Found out I was expecting Alivia!!!
* Anniversary trip to Vegas Baby Vegas
* Many holidays spent with family
* Mike CUT his hair
* Mikey turned 3- Holy Hannah
* Mike received job offers in Nevada, Arizona and Florida- all of which we declined after much consideration. Maybe this year will be the year we take the leap and go for it.

There is just so much more to list- I just feel like we have been so blessed. Mike has a secure job that I am so thankful for. I cant imagine how I would be able to handle the stress of not knowing of how we would make it without it. My heart goes out to those family members who have had a difficult year with their jobs and home situations. I hope that 2010 brings opportunity and resolvement to their problems. We are so thankful for our families and friends!

Our Christmas 2009

2009-12-31T11:48:00.001-07:00

What a Christmas this year was! We had such a fun time this year with Mikey. Now that he is older and understands everything. He couldn't wait until Christmas Morning- well he could cause he is my blessed late sleeper! We woke up around 10. I love it! Mike and I had a rough job of putting together his big toy the night before and I think waiting until 1am to do it was a mistake, we got done about 230am and ready to hit the sack. All in all it was so worth it when Mikey awoke the next morning to see all of his toys. He kept saying "Did Santa bring me my toys?- Did Santa go home to sleep?" It was cute and gave Mike and I a chuckle. With every gift Mikey opened he would say "WOW, this is my new toy" He enjoyed everything and would carry more than one toy at a time around the house not knowing which one to play with first. Luckily he had help from us because there were some games we wanted to play with him. In fact Mike was so excited to play the game console more than Mikey was. All in all we had a good Christmas morning and then it was off to visit family and enjoy the rest of the holiday. I'm so thankful for my family! I have the best!! This year Mike and I decided to not get each other gifts and put the money towards getting stuff for Alivia, although I was totally fine with it because we really didnt need anything anyways and its always just the basics we get each other ( Socks, Underware, Shirts, etc) Mike didnt listen and got me a new laptop! Im in heaven. I am a total eletronic nut! Im still holding out for my new camera, but Im thinking that will be a must have purchase when Livi comes. So I can be patient and wait.

I was so excited to get to my parents house on Christmas day. I knew what my mom had purchased Mike and I knew he was going to be estatic!! What is it you ask.. Well I'll let the pictures do the talking. You may think man, what a goofy gift to get and most of all want. But if you knew how much Mike played softball and how competitive it is and the injuries lately of other players, you would understand. Although Mike's gear takes the cake, I have never seen someone wear the one he wanted. It will be a convo piece for sure. My parents of course thought it would be funny to add another item to the gift, pictures to explain.

Anyhoo, hope you had a great holiday with you and your loved ones. I cant wait for New Years and all the exciting things that 2010 will bring.

Best Present Ever

2009-12-21T20:28:00.001-07:00

It's not sold in stores, it's on every one's wish list.. Yep, it's my son Mikey! He's too cute. He wanted to get wrapped up today and be a present for someone.. Who's the lucky recipient you ask... Mom of course!

Mikey begged me to open up "JUST ONE MOM" presents. Since we were going to let him open his Monkey Pj's and Slippers early anyways, What's 2 days early?? I just couldn't say no anyways. So here he is in his Pj's.

Alivia's First Pictures

2009-12-14T15:53:00.000-07:00

So going through my pictures. I ALMOST forgot to post pictures of my Ultra Sound. Silly me. Luckily Alivia was great for pictures and we have quite a few good ones. Here are my favorite 3.

I love that her feet are together for the pic.

Her profile

Gettting ready to suck her thumb. Too cute!

Testing out the snow

2009-12-13T15:56:00.000-07:00

Mikey playing in the snow. Yes, no shoes on! He was only out for a few seconds when he realized that the "snow" is COOOOOLD! I love watching my little guy be adventurous. Can't wait to go build a snowman,take him sledding and do all the fun "snow" activities.

Happy Happy Birthday Mikey

2009-12-09T10:57:00.000-07:00

Mikey turns the BIG 3 today!! So many emotions are running through me right now, like I cant believe the time has flown by and I already have a 3 year old. He is soon going to be a big brother to Alivia. Im excited to see his interaction with our new addition. He will soon have a play buddy-- well soon enough. I have always been so blessed with Mikey. I know that every mother gloats about how smart their kids are and how they are advancing quicker than expected, but Mikey AMAZES me!! He is so eager to learn, his vocabulary is incredible and so advance for even some 5-6 year olds. He loves to count to 20 and loves counting the sides of shapes. I love that he doesn't just want to play with toys- he actually would rather read books, play educational games on his electronics (of course). Ever since he was little he was always on the go. Its always hard for me to get him to sit still without wanting to explore something when we are out and about. I love that about him. I am getting ready to enroll him in preschool in January and I know he can't wait. He has been wanting to go to school for some time now. He wakes up- says hes ready for school and wants to go get on the bus. It will be great for him to get out and meet some friends and spend time with kids his age for a few hours a day. Ill miss him like crazy, but I soon will have a great distraction!!!

We had an awesome birthday party for him on Sunday. SO many friends and family came!! Thanks to all who came and supported Mikey. I know sometimes its hard to comprehend on why its a big deal to have a birthday party for a 3 year old. But he knows, he fully understands what his birthday means and it would crush his heart if he didnt get to have a day to himself and celebrate. So I really thank all of you who came and all the gifts. He gets so much and has so much who love him. Its a great thing to see your kid so happy and talk about it for days and days after. He got a bike this birthday and even though is winter and harder to ride- that hasnt stopped him from riding it ALL over the house. He loves his new bike and cant wait until he can take it outside and ride all over and of course at the ballpark!!

On another note, I really wish there was a Santa!! I am in need of a new camera so dang bad. I really get so frustrated with mine and the sad thing is its not even a year old and fairly nice. It just doesnt work like I want it too and my pictures come out horribly. So for that reason, I only have a few pictures that actually made the cut from Mikeys birthday party. Hopefully others were able to get better shots and can send some my way.. hint-hint!! :)

Well now that his birthday is almost over, its on to Christmas time. 16 more days!! Eek and I have alot of stuff to do still and alot of Christmas Parties coming up. Its going to be busy busy for us. But I love this time of year!!

This is what happens.....

2009-12-07T15:38:00.001-07:00

When you leave your camera at the cabin.. Nice shots!

It was a good laugh when I was uploading my pictures.

Be Thankful

2009-11-25T11:10:00.001-07:00

Be thankful that you don't already have everything you desire.
If you did, what would there be to look forward to
Be thankful when you don't know something,
for it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times.
During those times you grow.
Be thankful for your limitations,
because they give you opportunities for improvement.

Be thankful for each new challenge,
because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes.
They will teach you valuable lessons.

Be thankful when you're tired and weary,
because it means you've made a difference.

It's easy to be thankful for the good things.
A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who
are also thankful for the setbacks.
Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive.
Find a way to be thankful for your troubles,
and they can become your blessings

Its only fitting to list all of the things I am thankful for.

First and foremoremost is Life & Health. I have been so blessed to have good health, to be able to do all of the things I want to do. I am thankful for a sharp memory, I hardly forget a thing- even while prego.

I am so thankful for my wonderful Husband! He has shown me so much love, laughter, support & understanding. He has given me the best gift- 2 children. I cant imagine where I would be today if it wasnt for my son Mikey. I am blessed!! He has been the best gift I have ever received and the love I have for him is unmeasurable. I am so thankful for his health and his smart mind. He learns things so quickly and amazes me daily with his knowledge. I am also thankful for our 2nd child on its way. For someone who never thought they could or would have kids, its an incredible feeling to know that it does happen and all I had to do was find the right person and have patience. I am thankful for easy pregnancies. Luckily I have only been sick a handful of time with both kids- I truly dont know what pregnancy pain is.

I am thankful for my mother. I cant express enough how much she has been there for me and how much she sacrificed for me and my brothers growing up. She has always shown unconditional love and amazes me daily with her generosity and giving heart. For most of my preteen-teen it was just me and her and I got to really have a good relationship and friendship with her. I was so proud to have her as a mother and so many of my friends agreed. I am thankful that she has found someone that makes her happy and completes her. She deserves nothing but the best. She has struggled to be a single mother for so long and works so hard to provide, that its her turn to be taken care of. She has been married for almost 15 years and still acts like a newlywed, more so than most of her children- some who just got married. I love to see the Love Chris has for her. It makes me happy that she will never have to worry about the way he feels. My mom really goes above and beyond and tries to bring the family together, she is so concerned with every family member and wants us to be united. I truly admire the giving spirit my mother has. She got it from her parents!!!

I am thankful for my family- I have an incredible family!! So full of spunk. I love that I can rely on them and they will be there in a heartbeat. I love that they can accept me for who I am. Pain in the butt & all.

I am so thankful for shelter, food and comfort. I DONT live beyond my means. I live comfortably, Im thankful that Mike has employment in this rough economy and that I never have to worry how the bills are going to get paid and if we have to go without. He is such a hardworker and a great asset to the company, they'd be fools to ever lose him!!

I truly am thankful for so much, even the little things such as massages, a soak in the tub after a long day, a dishwasher- I mean really I load it at least 2 times a day. My hands would be prunes if I had to wash by hand. Music, I love it. I love listening to music,even when Mike or Mikey has the TV on, I will have Itunes on in the other room blasting away while I do work, crafts or just playing on the computer.

Hope you have a memorable Thanksgiving!!

Smiles, Lillian

Mikey is a BIG Brother to....

2009-11-18T11:16:00.004-07:00

Alivia Adele

Now just the countdown to her arrival!

Because its never too early

2009-11-12T11:51:00.003-07:00

Here are some cute, quick and fairly cheap christmas ideas for your neighbors, friends, family and co-workers. With being in a recession and feeling the buckle of the "financial belt". No one wants to be a scrooge and forego getting gifts, so here is a few of my favorite little gift ideas. Ok, more than a few, but I just couldnt stop finding more.

• Set of measuring spoons/cups — Wishing you joy beyond "measure" this holiday season.

• Bag of pistachios — Don't go "nuts" this Christmas! From your "nutty" neighbors.
• Christmas paper plates, napkins, cups and plastic utensils — A bit of "disposable" Christmas cheer! What could be better? No dishes, my dear!
• Christmas ornament — Twinkle, twinkle, sparkled, shine, this ornament comes just in time

• Jolly Rancher soft chews — We "chews" to wish you a "jolly" holiday season!
• Mittens (fill with tape, scissors, tags and pen) — Let us "lend" you a "hand" this Christmas season!
• Cheese Nips — We're going to "nip" it in the bud and wish you "cheesy" holiday season!
• Animal Crackers or Teddy Grahams — This neighborhood would be a "zoo" without you!

• Big candy bar or candy cane —"Enormous" Christmas wishes to you!
• 7UP — There's "seven" reasons why you are "up" on our list of favorites! Merry Christmas (list seven reasons).
• Christmas plates — Hoping you'll "arrange" to have a wonderful Christmas this year with a "plateful" of fun!
• Snowman — There's "snow" better folks than you! Merry Christmas!
• Christmas potholders — "Hot" holiday wishes for you! Happy holidays!
• Magic Markers — Friends are the "magic" of Christmas!
• Christmas cookie cutter — "Cutting" out a perfect Christmas wish for you!
• Christmas towel — Sending "clean" and "sparkling" Christmas wishes your way!
• Snack mix — Here is a "mix" of holiday wishes for you! (or) May your holidays be "Chextra" special!
• Package of pens — Whenever you need them, they're never around, so here is a supply ... 'cuz you're Christmas bound!
• Starbursts — We are "bursting" with wishes for you to have a "starry" bright Christmas!
• Baked item — It's a Christmas miracle ... I baked! Warm Christmas wishes to you and yours!
• Pepperidge Farm cookies — Homemade cookies would be so fine, but these are so much better than mine!
• Package of Milky Way reindeer — For won-"deer"-full friends from the whole herd!
• Scented pinecones or candle — Have a "scent"-sational Christmas.
• Roll of wrapping paper — "Wrap" yourself up in a wonderful holiday season!
• Mint M&M's — These are "mint" to wish you a "magical" and "merry" Christmas.
• Ritz snowflake crackers and a can of cheese — Have a "ritzy" Christmas season and "spread" around the joy!
• Jello Mousse Mix — Merry "Chris-mousse" to you!
• Bounty paper towels — This season may the "absorbing" spirit of Christ "blot" out your problems, "soak up" your sorrows, and "wipe" away your difficulties and may the new year bring you "bounteous" blessings all the year through!
• Soup mix — We wish you a wonderful holiday "simmering" gently with love!
• Bean soup mix — You've "bean" such good neighbors!
• Christmas taffy — We're "pulling" for you to have a very merry Christmas!
• Christmas Rolos — "Rolo-long" with a holiday song, spreading good cheer at the time of year!
• Werthers Original Butter Candies — "Original" Christmas greeting for no "butter" friends around.
• Reeses Peanut Butter Cups — There are so many "Reeses" why we like you!
• Fritos Scoops and bean dip — Here is the "scoop" for "bean" so nice. "Dip" into a fun holiday!
• Flashlight — We love how you "light up" our lives. We've come to depend on your "glow." Here's a "flashlight" to store, so you'll always be sure to create "light" wherever you go!
• Batteries — "'Twas the night before Christmas and Santa was worried, he had an emergnecy. Boy was he flurried! The power was off, and his flashlight was dead. He didn't buy "batteries" when Mrs. Santa said. We don't want you in a similiar plight, so we give you "batteries" to "lighten" your night! Merry Christmas to you. May you walk in the "light"!
• Townhouse crackers and cheeseball — From "our house" to "your house" with love. We hope have a "ball" this Christmas!

Smiles, Lillian

Where in the world have I been??

2009-11-10T15:00:00.008-07:00

So here we go again- Yet another long vacation from blogging. Too bad I cant tell all of you that I was on a trip around the world and wasn't able to get a break from all the sightseeing. Yeah--I'm still wishing that was true. So here is a quick update on whats been going on in our neck of the woods the last 6 weeks.

October came and went in a blink of an eye. We had a fun trip to St. George early in October for a tourney and the last one of the year. It was great, the team took 2nd place. Thank goodness I have great friends who take pictures!!! After our trip, we got to get ready for Halloween. I honestly think I waited to long to celebrate. Mikey and I made a few treats here and there and of course watched Monster House over and over. He was Brobee from Yo Gabba Gabba. That was a last minute choice. All month long he wanted to be a princess, a pink one. I just couldn't bring myself to let him dress up as that- EVEN if it was for Halloween. So Brobee was a last minute decision that he was unhappy about. Our annual Halloween party at the parents house was fun. Getting to see all of the cousins dressed up and go trick-or-treating all together is always fun.

Now that its November, I'm excited for Thanksgiving. Its one of my favorite holidays. All the good food and relaxing, not to mention Football. We have plans to meet up with both sides of the family. Due to some family coming from out of state on Mike's side. Then of course the day after Thanksgiving is the best day. Shopping for the mad sales for Christmas. I also have to get Mikey's Birthday put together and I'm excited for that too. Mikey is going to be the BIG 3!! Time sure has flown by. Hes so excited for his birthday this year. Now that he knows its HIS day and he gets to have a themed party with friends and family.

As for the baby #2. We are great!! I had a few days of being sick here and there. But they are all gone! I am thankful for an easy pregnancy. I don't know how I could manage if I was sick all the time with Mikey in tow. We were suppose to find out the sex yesterday and I was bummed when I got to the appt and he said " Oh we don't do the ultra sounds here, you have to call the outpatient center and make an appt with them" WHAT???? Why didn't I know this 4 weeks ago at my last appt. So bummed! What's even more depressing is when I called to make an appointment, they were backed up to... DECEMBER 1st!! So needless to say, I doubt I'll be waiting that long to find out. Mikey is antsy, I am now antsy and so is my family. Hopefully the cancellation list is small and I can get a spot earlier than later. Other than that, we are excited and hope the next 1/2 of the pregnancy goes by fast. Luckily for me the holidays are a great distraction from counting down the days.

Now that I have given that quick update, ha. I will make sure to keep it updated more often.

Fall is here

2009-09-22T14:56:00.003-06:00

Another two weeks have went by and I have been so lackadaisical in updating my blog. Not that a whole lot has gone on, but I usually find some "useless" information to share with everyone. I guess I after having my blog for over 2 years, I have started to get bored with it. So the updates may be more sparse.

Mike just got back from going to Seattle, WA for Worlds. His team didn't win it, but they did do fairly well seeing that there was 110 teams and they took somewhere around 30th. They just couldn't get it started. Mike is really excited to be on this team. They are a group of great guys who play well together. We are looking forward to a few tourney in the next few months. It feels like its been forever since I have traveled for a tourney.

While Mike was gone, Mikey & I had Cabin Fever and ran to the hills to getaway. We enjoyed spending 3 days up at my parents cabin with them. Mikey just loves it up there and he doesn't settle down for a second. We love to get out the binoculars and spot deer, birds and bugs. I of course am a horrible mother and don't take my camera anymore. Blah! There were some candid moments for sure. We had a few thunderstorms and it was nice to sit out on the balcony and watch while all bundled up with our blankets. It is such a beautiful place to spend a getaway - I can see why mom goes up there literally every weekend.

As for my pregnancy, its going!! I am 13 weeks. Excited to find out if its a boy/girl. We have our names all picked out, which was a breeze this time. Seeing that we had the same girl name from before. But its always nice to agree quickly on a name, so I can talk to them.

I am so ready for Fall. I love the new smell in the air, the cool breeze that makes you run for a hoodie or jacket. I just love it. I cant wait until Halloween. I truly am a sucker for all of the fun things to do during Halloween. Mikey cant wait to carve pumpkins and do all of the fun crafts. NOT to mention Football season. There is nothing better than sitting around the tube and watching your favorite teams play ball.

Happy Fall!

Smiles, Lillian