Sidney, Jaida, and Hannah

Kayla

Ready for my food.

Kayla loves to take baths!

I'm the Best Cook Ever!

Jaida was saying the funniest things yesterday. I guess it's just what kids do. I cooked one of those little Totino pizza's for dinner and when I cut it up into triangles they were really little. Jaida wouldn't eat them because it was little pizza and she wanted big pizza. Two of her friends were over and ate two slices each. So I told Jaida, if you'll eat one piece of pizza everyone can have ice cream. So then she got all excited and started eating. With a mouth full of pizza she says,"Mommy this pizza is really good, you're the best cook ever mommy!" Yeah, I like to think I'm pretty handy in the kitchen. ;)

Earlier she kept screaming, crying, yelling, and talking really loud. I said to her, "Jaida if you scream one more time I'm going to take your voice box out." She gives me this really sad look, starts tugging on her bottom lip, and whimpering,"It won't come out see mommy?"

Again, the same day she was telling me how much she loved my heart. Then I yelled at her and made her heart sad. She loves to eat kretzels (pretzels). Yesterday she was trying to ask Rocky (the dog) questions and he bit her on the chin. She told me that she was holding his face and trying to ask him questions.

Kayla just out of the bath. 11 months old.

Mommy and Kayla

Mommy and Jaida

Jaida wants a kitty so bad, but I told her we can only have one when the dogs are gone.

During Cedar City's first annual Sky Fest we went and flew a kite. The longest the kite would ever stay up was 30 seconds, but Jaida had fun.

Grandpa Shay came to visit us in his big truck. Jaida got to ride down the rode with him and honk the horn.

One of the few times on the canyon trail - glad I had my camera.

I'm 30!

Monday was my birthday, but we had a birthday party on Saturday. I am glad we had the party, because all I did Monday was work. At the party we played Do You Love Your Neighbor - Tara and my mom were going for the same chair and broke it. There were a few other struggles for chairs but that was one of the funnier ones. We also played a game that you had to spin around a bat 10 times, pick up a cup of water, and walk to pour it into a bucket. That was also pretty funny. We decided to have Mexican food for lunch and we had a TON! It was yummy!!!

Hopefully I'll be posting more pictures soon so stay posted!

Kayla at six-months

Memory Loss

Yesterday I was all excited and said to Monty, "Today is Kayla's 11 month birthday!" Monty calmly replies, "Tanya, Kayla was born on the 20th." Lately that happens a couple of times a week. I have to write things down or I forget to do them, I have to schedule things into my phone so it will beep when it's time. Usually, I have no idea what my phone is reminding me of and am glad I've given myself a hint with the title. So today I took a memory quiz. I scored a five so I guess I'm okay. But, what if I am just answering the questions right because I can't remember if I've forgotten something. :) Guess I'll never know.

Happy 11 months Kayla! You are the sweetest baby! Right now you love to cuddle with me. You are walking like a pro, and love to eat table food with us - your favorites: chicken nuggets and ramen noodles. You babble quite a bit, love to be tickled, and no one can make you laugh like Jaida can.

Jaida is now three and a half. She has her moments of being very sweet and loving and then very mean and terrorizing. Out of the blue she'll say, "I love you mommy(daddy)." She loves to play with Sydney and Hannah, and when they get together I'll occasionally hear them all saying, "I love you guys...I love you too." Jaida loves to pull, carry, and push Kayla, but can also be very sweet and playful with her. Likes to take toys away from everyone. Has gotten taken out of Nursery three times for making kids cry. Loves to help mom, watch Disney movies, pick red tomatoes with dad, and LOVES chocolate milk.

Crazy Week And No Pictures

I have been so lazy with my camera. My boss bought me a new computer to work on, so now I've got my other computer downstairs. That computer has all my pictures and camera software so now I have to go all the way downstairs to upload the pictures and then save them onto my jump drive if I want to email or upload them here. I'm so lazy. :)

My card is full, so no pictures of girls camp, no pictures of the Fielding family reunion up at Fish Lake, no pictures of Las Vegas, and no pictures of Kayla starting to walk, turning around to get off the bed, or her first tooth.

Last Thursday I went up in the mountains for girls camp. Friday we drove to Fish Lake for Monty's family reunion. We got there almost at dark. We ate a little food, set up the tent and tried to go to sleep. Kayla threw up baby food and milk all over me and my sleeping bag. Since it was all I had I unzipped it and slept all night with wet slimy on my feet and zipper and strings on my face. Kayla woke up a million times during the night and it rained quite a bit. By morning I was ready to go home. It was the first time we took Jaida camping relived. I cannot believe the exact thing happened with Jaida (Jaida's experience was a little worse). As it got to be nighttime we decided to stay another night. The day had gone great and it was so nice up in the mountains...I borrowed a sleeping bag and had a great night's sleep. Kayla only woke up once and that was because I had to move her.

We got to my parents house on Sunday, left the kids there and traveled back to Cedar. Monday we left for Vegas.
Monday's schedule:
work
Cozymel's for dinner
Shark reef
Wynn Casino
Downtown Vegas
bed

Tuesday:
work
Tour of Creel printing
Lunch compliments of Creel
45 minutes of shopping
drive home through torrential rain storm
Young Women's activity
drive to mom and dad's to get kids

Today we are heading to Yuba for my family reunion. I will try to empty my card to my camera and take some pictures.

Girls Camp

Wow, picture going back to girls camp ten years later, when you are an adult and have a different perspective on life. That was me yesterday. It's so funny how some things never change. Girls getting hurt right away, girls feeling left out right away, and oh yes, secret sisters starting right away. It was quite a fun, and sometimes eye-rolling couple of hours. We of course had to start out with a skit. If I can get a hold of someone's camera I'll maybe post pictures. We leaders came onto our elaborate stage wearing our swimming suits over our clothes complete with goggles and swim caps. We were supposed to be doing a synchronized water ballet. However to the audience members laughing we probably looked more like mountain women gone wild dancing around what they thought was water but ended up being green paper with blue painted sprays.

The few hours I was up there I was able to get to know some of the girls a little better. For most of the girls I was able to picture a completely different face, probably knowing how that person is in school, how they are treated, and possibly what might happen as they grow up. It's sad really, you want them to see that they are important and loved and that a dirty look doesn't mean anything in the big picture (and was it actually a dirty look, or was the person squinting into the sun...?). But I was once their age and realize that they will only learn this on their own and realize for themselves that sometimes life isn't fair but its not the end of life.

Kayla's First Tooth and First Steps

Kayla got her first tooth about a week ago! Last night she also took four steps. I guess her walker toy is paying off. She LOVES pushing it around the house and gets so mad when she runs into something and can't go anymore. It's funny how much I can see her emotions starting to build. Usually when Jaida would push her away from a toy she would just get distracted with something else or keep going back for the toy - no crying. Last night Jaida was pushing her away from a toy and Kayla would start bawling. She would crawl over to me with the saddest face and you could tell that her feelings were hurt. This happened several times because Kayla still wanted to touch the toy Jaida had. The last couple of shoves had Kayla screaming (literally) and in tears. With her bottom lip shoved out and huge alligator tears she would slowly come crawling to me and just want to be held for a minute. Jaida is usually very nice and let's her play but sometimes just wants the toy for herself.

Thanks For Checking

Wow, for those of you reading this post, thanks for checking back. I have not posted in a really long time. Starting July 1st I cut back my hours at my primary job so that I wouldn't have to take my kids to daycare. This has been both good and bad.
PROS:
- It's great that I don't have to pay $300 a month on babysitting
- Hopefully my kids won't get sick as often
- I'm not embarassed when I pick up Jaida and find out that she's been in time-out three times for not listening
- My kids are happier in the morning
- I spend more time with my kids
- I structure their day

CONS:
- I structure their day (kids never slow down)
- Neighbor girl over at 8:30AM
- Kids get sick of seeing the same walls 24/7

I also have been working another job. This one I do from home, and it's a lot harder working from home! There are SO MANY distractions. Food breaks, drink breaks, tv breaks, laundry, dirty diapers, getting band-aids, filling water balloons, cleaning up popped water balloons, finding toys, crying baby, dishes...I could go on. I also recieved a calling in my church to teach the 14 and 15-year old girls. I teach almost every Sunday, and also have an activity once a week. So, add lesson prep and activity prep to my distractions.

I love being at home more and I love leaving for work. I'll just have to schedule in a time to post.

Seven Year Anniversary

After being at work for about an hour my bosses boss came in to see how we were doing. Somehow we got on the subject of he and his wife's ages. I asked him how much older than his wife he was, "I'm not older. She is 10 months older than me." So when they got married it had to be when they were the same age. They were married on her birthday. "So if I miss her birthday I also miss our annivesary." As soon as he said 'anniversary' I thought, "Hmm, it's about the end of June, and that's when I got married..." I turned around and looked at the date on the computer and said, "Hey, today is my anniversary!"

Usually it's Monty reminding me about our anniversary so this was a first. After work I called Monty and told him I was going to the store for some food. I bought steak, crab legs, fruit, chocolate dip, and ingrediants for an amazing artichoke dip - yum. I also got Monty a Hershey's Almond candy bar. I walked in the house with the candy bar and said, "Happy Anniversary!" Monty was kind of laughing until I said, anniversary. He got a puzzled look on his face and then, "Oh, it is! I can't believe I didn't remember. I thought you were gonna say, 'Happy Father's Day.'"

Later that day he snuck off to the store and got me some mint chocolates, my favorite drink - Fresh Lime, and roses.

Dinner was great since I got to eat all the crab. :) Monty was barbequing his steaks when it ran out of propane. He tried cooking them on the stove but it was only working to make him madder. Finally he put them in the oven and they were done in about five minutes.

Happy Anniversary!

Skateboarding Going To The Dogs

This is a video clip of a dog named Tyson(?) and he is skateboarding. He will even try to stop before running into a curb. It also appears that he knows how to maneuver the board. Maybe I should get a skateboard for Sammo - he is smart enough that we could probably teach him.
- Watch Tyson skateboard

This was in the morning after the HUGE rain storm.

...This was in the afternoon

Memorial Day 2005

On Memorial Day we went and put flowers on my little brother's grave. He would be 15 years old, a freshman in highschool. We couldn't decide if he would be playing sports or sitting in front of the computer like his dad. Probably both. Love ya Danny!

Satisfied Homeowners

We turned on our sprinklers for the first time since we moved in. I'm surprised they worked. Actually, there was something really satisfying knowing that they were our sprinklers to our home.

Good Neighbors

Yesterday when I got the kids home from daycare I took Kayla in the house, let the dogs out back and then went back outside to get Jaida. Well of course she was no where to be seen. I went down the driveway and looked over at the neighbors house and there she was. She was trying to open their door. I told her to come home and she yells back, "No, I want to play with Sydney and Hannah. Let me in! Let me in!" The closer I got to getting her the louder she yelled and then started pounding on the door. "Let me in, let me in..." When the door opened I could hear Bobbi saying, "Hi Jaida, did you want to come in?" I finally got to the door and after talking for awhile Bobbi said that she would feed Jaida lunch and let her play with the girls for awhile. Do I have awesome neighbors or what?

This morning Monty called me at work and said, "Why didn't you wake me up when you left this morning?" I immediatley asked, "Why? What did Jaida do?" He said that he got a call, waking him up. It was Bobbi, "I don't know if you know this, but Jaida is over at our house..."

Thank goodness for good neighbors!

Grandma Visits

Grandma at her visit to my house. Can you see Rocky in the window?

Kayla At The Zoo

Kayla slept most of the time we were at the zoo, but she had fun when she was awake.

Jaida At The Zoo

I'm finally posting pictures from our trip to the zoo. This giraffe got really close to us.

Stinker

The other day Monty's brother Dusty, came up from St. George to get some stuff that he had left at our house. He stayed for about 15 minutes and then decided to head back down. Monty and Jaida went out to say good-bye and this is how it went.
Monty: Jaida say good-bye.
Jaida: Good-bye Dusty(softly)
Monty: Louder
Jaida: GOOD-BYE DUSTY(yelling)
Monty: Tell him to drive safely
Jaida: Drive safely(quietly)
Monty: Louder
Jaida: DRIVE SAFELY(yelling)
Monty: Say, I'm a stinker
Jaida: I'N A (pause), I'N NOT A STINKER!

National Provider Appreciation Day

Friday, May 6 was National Provider Appreciation Day. Honestly I think people in that line of work deserve an appreciation week. They probably have one of the toughest jobs. Imagine dealing with four infants at one time. Diaper changes, spit ups, messes after eating, bottle feedings - and they don't just prop the bottle. Then it's the older kids - eight kids to one teacher? I'm not sure on that number. There is of course laughing, playing, singing, and fun. However there is also crying, hitting, pinching, biting, screaming, and pure defiance. I cannot imagine doing that for eight hours a day - well, I guess I do it almost 24 hours a day but I only have two kids to worry about.

We gave each teacher a jar of Burt's Bees Hand Salve, a small bottle of smelly lotion, and a thank you card.

My thanks go out to all daycare providers!!

"Don't Argue With Me"

This morning while Jaida and I were eating breakfast I was watching her take really big bites of cereal.
"Wow, you are taking huge bites of cereal," I commented.
"No I'm not!" Jaida says as she furrows her eyebrows and gives me a look of death.
I calmly reply, "Jaida, you don't have to act like that. I wasn't being mean I was just making a comment."
With the same look of death and furrowed eyebrows she curtly replies, "Don't argue with me!"

I ducked my head and hid my smile.

BYU and Hogle Zoo

Friday we went to my sister's graduation at BYU. Suzanne recieved a BA in Music, Dance, Theatre. After the ceremony we went outside to take pictures - it was so pretty and guess who was only able to take a few pictures before the batteries died? I was so mad, but before we left I could not find our extra batteries anywhere. After leaving BYU we went to Tara's house to feed and change Kayla. On our way to Arie's house, where we would be staying, we stopped by Pier 49 Pizza to get dinner. I can't believe how much has changed in Sugar House. While waiting for the pizza we ran into Mark and Carolyn who were in our singles branch years and years ago. Mark is a geologist working in Ogden and they have three kids. It was strange running into them - what a small world.

We get to Arie's, eat dinner and then take our stuff downstairs. Immediately Jaida runs to this marble looking toy that I'm thinking looks really familiar but I can't place where I've seen it. Arie says, "Remember that 3-d marble bingo we used to play at Uncle Ray's house? He gave it to me." Wow, that was more than 20 years ago that we used to play with that thing. We were so careful not to lose any of the marbles. I would have taken a picture of that if I had batteries in my camera.

The next morning we ate at The Original Pancake House. It was so good!! I got the Coconut Waffle with Tropical Syrup, yummm. However after thinking about we really got ripped off. $6.75 for a waffle that I could make for .25 cents? But, I will probably go back for breakfast if I get the chance :).

After breakfast it was off to the zoo. Jaida and Monty had a really good time. I mostly wheeled Kayla around in the wagon we rented thinking to myself, "Those poor animals," and ,"I would hate to be locked up in THAT cage with people staring at me. Also for some strange reason I was really looking forward to the hippos but the hippo had been moved to Albuquerque. I'm glad Jaida had fun. She really like the monkeys, and penguins. After the zoo we made a quick stop to one of my old friends, Jerry. This is his 20th year at Hertz, I'm surprized I lasted two years there and he's been there twenty. He was of course working in his backyard and it looked so pretty! He can do amazing things with plants.

Well, congratulations Suzanne, and good luck with law school in the fall.

Glom's family, Grandma, and his new van.

From R to L: Alysa, Diana, Chris, Glom, Praa

Glom's Family

This past weekend was spent with my Grandma and my Uncle's family from Thailand. They arrived in the United States on Wednesday and came down to my parents house for Friday and Saturday. The kids were a little shy at first because they don't speak any English, but there were five other grandkids there that all wanted to play with them - language was not a requirement. It's great that kids who can't really speak to each other can still play and not feel uncomfortable. I'm not even sure some of the kids knew that they didn't understand what they were saying. I didn't go, but my uncle to his kids up to Fish Lake to play in the snow. They came home soaking wet but I guess had so much fun that they didn't want to leave. There is a "Dreamworld" park in Thailand where they have fake snow, but the kids have never seen real snow - they had a blast.

1 Year Anniversary with Blogger

For my one year anniversary with blogger I thought I would give future postings on my site a new look. I would love to do one of my own designs, but Blogger's templates are so much easier to switch to and they look better than anything I would come up with. :)

I can't believe I've had this going for a year. I've probably had more posts in this year than my journal entries. Thanks to Jill and Neil for talking me into it!

Spring snow.
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Snowy Spring Saturday

The picture above is what we woke up to Saturday morning. It is now the afternoon and the snow is still coming down. Two days ago I work capris and sandals to work because it was such a nice day and now it's all snowy. I guess if it lasts a few days my cousins will be able to see snow in real life for the first time.

Jeep is in the graduation gown and Praa is standing next to her. Praa will be moving here - I couldn't find pictures of Alysa or Chris.
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Visa's approved

My three cousins from Thailand just had their visa's approved on Monday! They will be arriving with their mom and my grandma on April 13. That is only seven days from now. I am so excited!! I don't think the kids speak any English, so I can put to use all the Thai I've learned. To bad they will be living up in Salt Lake. I'll probably never get to see them.

Daylight Savings

Sunday morning at 5:00am our phone started ringing. Monty was in the shower so I got up thinking it HAD to be an emergency because who else would be calling that early? The following conversation took place:
Me: Hello?
Caller: Tanya, is Monty there?
Me: He's in the shower.
Caller: Did you know it's daylight savings?
Me: Oh, so is he late?
Caller: Yes.
Me: Is anyone else late?
Caller: No.
Me: Oops! I'll tell him to hurry.

So anyway, I now know someone who was late on daylight savings day.

Kayla is crawling

Here is a small clip of Jaida crawling thanks to Jill!

Blog Slacker

What a slacker I've been. You'd think that staying home from work for three days I would be able to post at least once. However staying home with a sick baby was a lot harder than it seemed it would be. I took Kayla to the doctor Wednesday morning when her cold was almost at it's worst. She had started coughing and it wasn't just a cough every now and then. Her coughing would go on and on and sometimes she would end up throwing up. She tested positive for RSV which basically is a really, really bad cold. Adults can also get it, but at least we can blow our noses and get rid of the flem. Luckily Kayla's oxygen level was good or they would have had to put her in the hospital. You know those night's you hear about where the parent(s) didn't get any sleep because of sick kids? Well I had about four of them last week. If it wasn't Kayla waking up coughing or crying, it was Jaida waking up from a bad dream or talking in her sleep.

The week was made harder because Monty was gone to Salt Lake all week for a defensive tactics training. The same day I took Kayla to the doctor Monty also went to the doctor for a separated shoulder.

Well, Monty's okay, and Kayla seems a little better. Maybe this week will be a little quieter.

Jaida the Bully

I had to sign an incident report for Jaida at Daycare on Friday. She punched one of the boys and gave him a bloody nose. Miss Sam said she watched the whole thing and couldn't believe it. Jaida took a toy from the boy and the boy went and told Sam. Sam asked Jaida to give the toy back so Jaida gave the toy back, balled up her fist, and punched him in the nose. Not only is my little girl the trouble maker of the class, but she's also the bully.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Yesterday Jaida and I colored some St. Patrick's Day pictures that I printed off the internet, but that was the extent of our celebration. Everyone but me was asleep by 9pm so I got to install my video capture card and do a little video editing. Honestly it was so exciting and I was having a blast. First of all it worked, and second, I will finally be able to put my home videos on DVD - and add music, transitions, menus....whatever I want.

Kayla loves to smile.
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Kayla's legs are a lot stronger than the rest of her body.
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Kayla up on her hands and knees. Yep, time is flying by!!
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Time Flies

Why is it that the older you get the faster time goes? When I was little I remember some days just couldn't get over fast enough. Now I'm thinking, "I already have a three-year old, and my baby is almost five-months old!! Where did all that time go?

I fed Kayla some rice cereal the other night. She acts like she's ready to sit down and eat dinner with us if she could. She is also getting ready to crawl. She gets up on her hands and knees and will move her knees forward but doesn't move her hands. So then she'll stumble forward onto her head. The last few weeks she has started to laugh a little. Jaida can make her laugh really good almost just by looking at her.

Jaida is having some issues at daycare. Yesterday when I picked her up she was sitting in time-out. I think she probably gets that a lot. One of the ladies said she was being mean to the kids. Which I can totally picture since this weekend she clobbered Nyah on the nose with a moraca. She also would not listen to the teachers and was doing everything in her power to be rebellious. At home she would rather go to time-out or even have a spanking than eat dinner.

Jaida still says some funny words:
Keekaboo..........Peekaboo
Over..............Oval
Cramra............Camera
I'm teaching her some songs, "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly," and the bear song. She loves the old 4-H camp songs we used to sing.

I'm thankful for...

Jaida has started to say her prayers. One night at dinner I started to pray and she said, "No, I want to." I said okay and she began. "Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for mommy and daddy and Kayla." I'm thinking to myself, oh, that's so cute! "Thank you for the toys, and my horses, and the table, and the food, and the cupboards, and..." At that point I looked up and she was looking around the room pointing at stuff and saying that she was thankful for it. It was pretty funny and I had to laugh a little bit. So now after quite a few thankful-fors I help her end her prayer. Sheesh, I never thought I'd have a child this old.

Happy 3rd Birthday

Jaida turns three today. We celebrated her birthday on Saturday and had quite the party. One of her presents was a karaoke machine from Grandpa Fielding. She loved it, dancing around and singing for quite awhile. She had a Clifford birthday cake and we played pin the nose on Clifford. Jaida only had to sit on the stairs once that day.

You Have What In Your Nose?

Monday night we were eating dinner and Jaida kept sticking her finger up her nose. Monty says to her, "Jaida, what are you doing?" Her reply, "Try'n a get the band-aid out." Band-aid? I told Monty that before I took the kids to daycare I put a band-aid on Jaida's foot. When we got home she took her shoes and socks off and asked me where her band-aid was. She didn't say anything about it being in her nose. After dinner we tried to get it out, but Jaida wouldn't hold still and it was pretty far up there. We also couldn't really tell if it was a band-aid (they were white with Disney characters on them) or something that's supposed to be there. The next day when I got home from work Jaida's nose kept bleeding just a little bit and her breath was horrible. So we called the doctor and Monty took her in. Sure enough, it was the band-aid and there was also an infection. Hopefully that's the last thing she sticks up there.

Suzanne as 'Yum Yum' in The Mikado
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Happy Valentine's Day

This morning I dropped off both Jaida and Kayla at daycare. Dropping off Jaida is one thing - I know she can handle herself, tell them what's wrong, play with the other kids, and have fun. It's a whole different thing taking Kayla in. It's comforting to know that they have a whole separate room for babies and even siblings aren't allowed in there. I hope things will be okay and that Kayla will be good for them. Yesterday driving home from Salt Lake I saw a tiny white spot on her gum - it was a tooth coming through...I can't believe she's teething already. Jaida didn't start until she was about seven months.

In honor of Valentines Day I dressed everyone in pink. That isn't hard for the kids since practically everything they own is pink. I saw four other girls on my way to work wearing some type of pink and then felt kind of embarrassed to giving in to such a thing.

I had the best weekend! Friday I drove through the rain and snow in the dark (I hate driving in the dark) to my parents house. Me, Jaida, and Kayla slept there Friday night and Saturday I took Jaida to Fielding's. Jaida was going to stay with them while Kayla and I went to Provo. We went to my sister Suzanne's apartment to pick her up and then headed for the mall. We did some shopping, met up with Julie, Emmett, and their kids, and then went to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner. It was so delicious! I haven't had that much seafood forever since Monty doesn't like it. I think everyone finished everything on their plates - I know I did. After dinner we headed to Springville to watch a play that Suzanne was in. It was called "The Mikado," and she played the lead girl, Yum Yum. It was really funny and everyone did a great job! However my sister was the best. :)

After the play ended we drove to Riverton to stay at my twin sister's house. The next morning Arie, my oldest sister, and my aunt and uncle came by to visit. My aunt brought cupcakes and we stuffed ourselves with those. We left around one, got to Richfield, packed up Jaida, and got to Cedar about seven. It was a great, relaxing, and fun weekend!

See more pictures of my Great Weekend.

Last Of The Puppies

My sister-in-law came over last night and was telling about her rottweiler puppies. The mom had 11 puppies. The runt died a few days after birth, and they sold all but three of the puppies. About two weeks after Christmas, someone stole one of the puppies. They thought for sure it was someone who would always visit the house next door. Maybe two weeks later someone in the trailer park up the street from them called animal control about roaming dogs. The lady knew the puppy belonged to Tim and Misty. The puppy was sick when the got it back, she was throwing up everywhere. They took her to the vet and and found out she had parvo - they had to put her to sleep. This puppy had been with all the other dogs for at least two days, so they were watching the other puppies to see if they would also get it. Well, they did. Misty said they were so miserable - pooping and throwing up everywhere. The last day they had the puppies they came home from work and found them laying in their throw up because they had no energy to move anywhere else. Misty said that she and Tim talked about taking the two puppies to the vet to be put to sleep. It was either that or take them up to the mountains and take care of it themselves. Well, because of the outrageous cost of euthanizing Tim decided to do it himself. He took a friend to help him, but when they stopped the truck the friend told Tim he wasn't getting out of the truck. So Tim had to do it himself. The story wouldn't have been bad except that she went into a little more detail than I wanted to hear. I started crying, I couldn't help it. Misty said that it took more than one shot, and that the boy puppy tried to run away - this is still less detail than she gave. Actually, I didn't cry, I was bawling. Yes, I am a big, huge baby. Tim said that if he could do the whole thing over he would have taken them to the vet - it's worth the money. They have also decided to get Macie fixed. The parvo bacteria or virus stays in the ground for years after a dog has it, and dealing with puppies once was enough.

All smiles!
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Jaida loves playing with Kayla.
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What A Night!

Last night Jaida fell asleep going to get a pizza with Monty. This was about 6:30 pm. We were able to watch an exciting episode of "24" without any interruptions. Monty went to bed after that, and I was awake with Kayla until 10:40 pm. Around 1:30 am Kayla woke up crying. I kept giving her a binky so that I wouldn't have to feed her. After a few tries of this I picked her up and went and fed her. Luckily she fell right back to sleep. At 4:00 am Jaida woke up wanting to eat. I went and made her some toast and we laid on the living room floor. She ate while I slept. The floor sure isn't as soft as it used to be, my hip was killing me when I woke up a little while later. By that time Monty had woken up and gotten in the shower, so I put Jaida in bed with me. I had just laid down when Kayla woke up again - hungry! I sat in bed this time to feed her. About 5:30 I lay Kayla down on the other side of Jaida and tried to fall asleep. I hear someone pull into our driveway and it's Monty - he forgot a bunch of stuff. It was probably 5:45 before I got back to sleep and 6:20 when I awoke to the alarm clock. I hate alarm clocks.

My Superbowl Sunday

I don't think I've actually watched the Superbowl since the Denver Broncos won and Elway retired. What year that was...? Instead of watching the Superbowl yesterday I watched Anne of Green Gables. A couple of years ago I ran a 5k and came in second in my age division. We got to choose from a variety of prizes, and I chose the "Anne of Green Gables" movie set.

Monty got home a little before six. He walks in the door and says, "How can you be watching Anne of Green Gables! It's the Superbowl!" His family can't understand my lack of interest for sporting events on TV. I didn't even want to watch it for the commercials. I came into work this morning and was able to watch them all over the web - without Superbowl interruptions.

Kayla rolled over onto her stomach, then her back, and then her stomach again. I think she did this a couple of times but I only saw her do it once.

The Apartment

We are officially out of the apartment. Yesterday I went and turned in our keys. After living there for four years and having two kids it was bitter sweet. Linda, the lady who rented us the apartment said that we would probably get our whole deposit back. That would be great, however should we put it toward bills, or toward fixing things around the house...? Bills. Our mail hasn't started to forward so I was thinking of asking the new renters to hold anything that comes in our name. I showed them the apartment, so I kind of know them.

Three Months Old

Kayla is three months old today. The time has flown by!! Wednesday night I put her in the play pen while we moved our bed to the upstairs bedroom. When I laid her down she was horizontal and on her back. When I came back to get her she was vertical and on her stomach - asleep. It must have worn her out getting all the way over. We missed her first roll over, but I'm sure there will be more.

We are still living out of boxes. Many, many boxes. I cannot get motivated to unpack. By the time I get the kids home from work and daycare I am worn out. I'm not sure why this wears me out so easily, but I will lay down with the kids and read, watch tv, or just sit and stare at the wall. Anything but unpack... I think that I need to start running again. Easier said than done.

Jaida has been so sick this week. For two days she completely lost her voice and was whispering. It was actually pretty nice and quiet. When she would breathe she sounded like a motorcycle or something with a big rumbling engine. She has also had a fever, sore throat, stuffy nose, and chest congestion. We feel so bad for her, but boy has she been snottier than usual! Now the coughing has started. It's not just little coughs, they are big and go on forever. When I try to get her to blow her nose she sucks in. The other night she was blowing her nose herself - holding the tissue to her nose and sucking in. I said to her, "Blow the other way." So she twisted her hand around, still holding the tissue to her nose and sucked in again.

I Hate Painting

When we started looking to buy a house I wanted something new so we woudn't have to do any painting or anything. After looking around at the market for a few months and getting desparate to get out of the apartment, we lowered our house standards quite a bit. I shouldn't be complaining, we were able to buy a house! A nice house with a garage and a big backyard. All the rooms are finished, and everything appears to be working nicely. We did have to buy a fridge, and are still looking for a stove.

Everything is so new to me. I've never had to paint by myself, fix doorknobs, texture walls...I've never even had to light a pilot light. Well, I am learning everything the hard way! Yesterday I wanted to start painting the ceiling. My brother-in-law said to use semi-gloss paint and there were two full cans in the laundry room. So I opened one up, stirred it really good and started painting. It wasn't sticking well to the ceiling, and in some places was taking off the texture. I had to push really hard on the roller to get the paint on and it seemed to be taking a lot more paint then I would have thought. I also had to keep stopping to feed Kayla or put on a movie for Jaida. It took me two hours to do the top coat of a small bedroom and the hallway. It looked really crappy, I was tired, and getting discouraged that I still had the whole living room.
We got about home 10:30 pm and Tim called me asking if I had painted a layer of primer. "Primer? Isn't texturing the ceiling basically the primer?" So anyway, that was probably my whole problem. I hate painting. I hate painting. I hate painting. I hate painting.

So Far This Year

What a crazy year I've already had. Last Friday we went and signed the papers for our house and learned that we needed $1,177.00 to close. Those weren't closing costs they were pre-paid taxes and insurance and whatever else they could think of. Anyway, we got that taken care of but still wouldn't be able to move in until Monday. I've had my niece and nephew Thursday night, Friday, and Saturday morning. Maia loves to torture the dogs - which drives Sammo into his psycho fits - and she loves to torture the other kids. You can even see the smirk of satisfaction when one of the kids starts crying. Tara and Eric got back on Saturday. We cleaned the apartment, went and looked at the new house, went and ate lunch, and then they left for SL. A couple of hours later Julie, Emmett and their kids got to my apartment, and then about 2o minutes later Shay and Judy show up. We started packing boxes, and Emmett started cooking. Emmett and Julie stayed the night, they and the kids all sacked out in the living room. ET and Nyah slept in sleeping bags and Jaida slept by Julie and Emmett on the futon. Me, Monty, Jaida, and Kayla got up and were about 30 minutes late to church. Emmett also cooked lunch for us when we got home. We packed a little more and that was about it. Emmett and Julie left, but Judy was staying until Tuesday. Monday we packed a little more and cleaned the bathrooms, blinds, and windows. We also went and looked at fridges and stoves. Monday we didn't get the keys to the house.

Tuesday I got home from work and Monty and I went and got a Uhaul. Nobody wanted to get one - they wanted to use trucks and tarps to cover everything up. Well, I'm glad I was pushy and got my way because it ended up snowing on and off all day. At 3:30pm we got the okay to go into the house. Monty and Tim went and scraped the ceiling. I took the kids over and you couldn't even see the carpet! It was covered with snowy, 70's ceiling crap. I took my camera to take a picture and never took one. Jaida was tired and hungry and screamed her guts out for a good 45 minutes. So I took the kids home and put them to bed.

Sunday Monty gets ordained to an Elder and then about an hour after that he will bless Kayla. So this weekend we'll have even more people at our house. It's okay though, it will be fun.

Kayla's blessing invitation.

Kayla is so cute!! She loves it when you talk or sing to her and gives big smiles all the time! She rarely cries, and sits quietly in her swing or car seat to people watch.

2004 Holidays

I had a fun and crazy Holiday season! Wednesday the 22^nd, I came home from work and Jaida had cut her hair right down the middle of her head. Then our realtor told us that the seller wouldn’t pay for the roof to be fixed. Monty got so mad, he said that if they wouldn’t fix the roof then we were walking – I was totally bummed, but I didn’t want to get stuck paying thousands to fix the roof either. That very next morning Monty woke up with double vision. His right eye was really slow to focus and he was seeing double of everything. We drove up to Richfield that afternoon because his brother, wife and daughter would be there from Oregon. That night we had a big turkey dinner and then Shay and Judy gave all the kids a ping pong table for Christmas. We had a ping pong tournament, I lost and Monty won, even with his bad eye. The next morning Jaida and Nizhoni (Jared and Cyndi’s baby) opened presents. In the afternoon Jared and Cyndi left for Blanding, and Tim and Misty left for Cedar – they had a bunch of Rotweiler puppies to give out before Christmas. Monty, the kids, and I headed over to my parents house. We tried to have the kids act out the Christmas story, but they were tired and didn’t want to cooperate. I don’t even think we read the whole thing – it just got too frustrating! The next morning we all got dressed, ate breakfast, and then went in to open presents. I got everything that I asked for. Waffle iron, tripod, food saver…Everything I asked for was practical stuff, and I am enjoying using all of it! We went to Fielding’s to open even more presents, and then drove back to my parents for dinner – it was so good! I love turkey dinners! Monty’s eye was still bothering him, so he went to an eye doctor that was a friend of the family. Dr. Luekenga told him it could be his blood sugar, and to go and get blood work done on Monday. That night we watched Return of The King. I started getting a sore throat and was feeling achy, so I went to bed.

Sunday. I woke up with a burning fever, but was freezing! I definitely had the flu. On and off all day I would be freezing so I’d take some ibuprofen, then the fever would break and I would sweat! I felt awful, and my throat hurt so bad! I drank tea all day and my mom and sister’s were doing everything they could for me – it was great. My aunt and uncle came down that day, so I was trying to act like I felt okay; it worked for awhile until I had to start piling on the clothes and blankets. They only stayed a few hours and then I went back to bed.

Monday. Monty got up early to get blood work done. I was still sick! I laid around all day and we decided to stay over another night. Natalie, our realtor called us and said that the seller would pay for the roof! Yea! So we were back on. My mom and sister’s again helped out all day making me tea and taking care of Kayla and Jaida. We finally left for home about 7pm.

Tuesday. I went to the doctor and found out I had strep throat. I called everyone to tell them if they start getting a sore throat, just go the doctor. I wanted to clean the house, but still felt awful, so I just laid around some more. Monty’s blood results came back and were normal, so now he had to schedule an MRI. He also looked on the internet for double vision and was coming up with things like, stroke, diabetes, tumor…There was nothing good on the list.

Well, to sum things up. The MRI was normal - thank goodness and we spent New Year's Eve with Dave, Kirsten, Faith, and James Anderson, and spent New Year's Day at Zion. It was all fun and good! We should be closing on our house on January 7th!