Eagar Update

So, it has been at least 6 weeks since my last post. I figure it is about time to write on the happenings of the Eagar household.

Thanksgiving: We had a great Thanksgiving this year! My brother-in-law Brighton made his first trip down to see us since we moved to Arizona. He and Jabon have a lot in common and had a great time together. It was wonderful, since Jabon was able to have the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving off so he got to actually hang out with all our guests. My parents flew in from Montana and my littlest brother Peter and his wife Genica drove down from Utah. We went to many places and did a lot of things! On Black Friday, mom, me, Shelly, and Genica went shopping at Wal-Mart. We didn't go too crazy. We got there at 5am, so we were late. I wasn't getting much for myself but I did help Shelly score BIG TIME on her girls' Christmas gifts. That story I can not expound on since I was more of 'Santa's helper', if you catch my drift. Later that day, we went and walked around a bird preserve in Gilbert and then ended the day going through the Gilbert Museum. Saturday we all headed up to the Phoenix Zoo. With Sunday came church and Peter, Genica, and Brighton all heading back home. Monday, me, Jabon, Brett, Ashton, and my parents went up to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum to the east of Phoenix. It is a really cool place to see a ton of different plants. The main trail is about 1-1/2 miles long. Off this trail were many different areas: tropical, desert, herb garden, etc. We didn't see much of it (since it is so vast) but Jabon and I hope to return at another time and see other areas. Mom and Dad got to hang out until the Thursday after Thanksgiving. It was so great to spend so much time with our family. One of our funnest activities to do together was play Guitar Hero. We were all selfish adults and made the children go to bed before we pulled the game out. One night we had a competition between the guys and the gals. Needless to say, girls won 4 out of 5 times. Yes, we truly do rock. Beatles style.

Kids: Cody had his first band concert last night. He plays trumpet and has really picked up the instrument quite well. He is doing great in school and is enjoying his classes. His football team finished the season in 2nd place. Somehow, they got to go all the way. I say 'somehow' because it wasn't the best year of playing. Brett has been confused lately. My sister Shelly and her family have been living with us since Aug/Sept and Brett is now under the impression that he has two moms. One that goes to work and school and is home only an hour before his bedtime (me) and one who is with him 24 hours of each day, cleaning up his throw up, playing games with him, making his meals (Shelly). Oh, I am sorry! Did I sound a little bit jealous? Guess what, I am. That is okay. I love my sister and am so glad she is here to help us out! I have also seen Brett grow into what I call the 'Second Child Syndrome'. If you have children, see if this fits yours: He is bossy. He likes to tell all the kids, including the ones that are older than him (oh, wait-that is all the kids except for the two babies) what to do and what they just did. It is exasperating! I am the second child, so I can relate. You need to be in control over something, and being bossy accomplishes that. Ashton is getting closer and closer to walking. Yes, my baby is now almost 14 months old. He likes to take each new phase as slowly as he can. He feels no rush to develop. If you want more on that subject, just look in my history for the Lazy Gene post. He will stand up, but only while holding onto someone/thing. He is barely walking along the end of the couch. That is okay by us, though. It is helping extend the baby phase, and I kinda like that!

My sister: So, as mentioned before, my sister Shelly, her husband Josh, and their four kids (Emma, 8, Abby, 7, Matthew, 5, Millie, 1) have been living with us. Josh came down in August and Shelly and the kids came down late September. This has been an adventure for all of us, I think! We have an 1800 sq ft home and own a lot of stuff. A wonderful thing about our tiny home is the fact that there are 5 bedrooms. So we have had one room with it's private bath for Shelly, Josh and Millie, Cody, Brett and Matt shared one room with all the toys, Emma and Abby shared one room that was halfway filled with my junk, and we moved Ashton into the master bedroom with Jabon and I, leaving one room to be used as our office. It is tight quarters and with 7 crazy kids, it was a challenge to keep the peace. I think we did alright. As I am typing this, Shelly and Josh are moving into their rental house. It's a definite mixture of emotions. I love their family so much and will miss seeing them at any time but I am also glad to be able to get our house back to 'normal'. Before Josh moved down, my mother-in-law was staying with us, so we have had someone living here since July. But, we are very glad that we have been able to help Shelly and Josh make their transition to Arizona easier.

My new job: I was offered a Front Office Manager position with a new dental office. This office is located in Gilbert and is about a 30 minute drive into town for me. It opened in March and has had a few people through its doors as manager. However, none of them really knew what they were doing. I started here on November 16th and quickly realized that I have some major organizing that needs to take place. I have been super busy getting the patients accounts fixed, insurance payments in, and the office finances resolved. This economy is hard, but it is even harder if you have people working for you that are idiots and they are in charge of making y0ur business succeed. I have accomplished a lot of things so far, but have much more to do before it is not so shaky. I enjoy the doctor, the assistant, and the hygienist. They are all wonderful people and together I think we can make his office a great place.

My surgery: Since I was probably about 9 yrs old or so, I have had pain in both my knees. Around age 11 I saw a doctor, who thought it was Osgood Schlater's Disease (where the ligaments in your knee pull away from your bones. It happens a lot in young boys because they are too active during their major growth times) and was told it would go away when I quite growing, about 18 yrs old. Well, I am 29 now and still have knee pain. I went into the hospital yesterday for surgery. My doctor thought there might be some damage behind my kneecaps (or so the MRI seemed to say) but when he got in there, everything looked very healthy. There was a little inflammation, which he removed, but no damage. It turns out that the tendon coming down from my kneecap is not positioned right. It should hook to the tibia directly below the kneecap, but mine are attached to the outsides of me tibia. This must be were the pain is coming from. However, the only way to fix it is by breaking my tibias right below the attachment (since it is like this in both knees) and repositioning it. Major surgery, major recoup time. I say, "No, thanks". I do not think I want to try that. I don't know. Maybe I do. Right now I am sitting on the couch, both knees wrapped up propped on pillows. It's a sight. It will be a bigger sight in a few days. I cannot shower until Sunday when I get to remove my wraps. Yay.

If you made it through my post, pat yourself on the back. Since I suck at routinely posting, I have to do incredibly long posts every so often just to catch up. Good job getting through it.

Happy Halloween!

I made pumpkin cookies this morning. After they were cooled, each child got one to decorate. All together we decorated 9 cookies (starting from the top: Abby, Cody, Shelly, Matt, Millie, Ashton, Brett, me, Emma). I should throw in a disclaimer saying that Shelly decorated Millie's and I decorated Ashton's.

Here's the majority of the crew (Ashton was sleeping). They were having fun, but were so ready to eat their creations!

Ashton's First Birthday!!

My little guy Ashton turned ONE on Thursday, the 22nd. We celebrated his birthday on Sunday. My grandma Pearl came over, bringing along with her my cousins Hunter and Hadyn. And of course my sister Shelly, her husband Josh, and their kids Emma, Abby, Matt, and Millie were with us. The kids had a lot of fun together.

I wanted Ashton to have his own birthday cake, so I made some miniature cakes and one big cake. Each of the kids got their own cake. Ashton really enjoyed his!




Left to right: Cody, Hunter, Abby, Ashton, Emma, Matt, Hadyn, Brett

Today Ashton had his 1 year check up. He is 32" long and weighs 21 lbs, 1 oz.

What do you call me?

My house is a zoo this week. Besides the usual for us (full time jobs; school for Cody, Jabon, and I; football practice 2 x week and a game every Saturday; and physical therapy for my knees) we have had guests with us. Jabon's mom has been here since July watching the kids for us and about 2 weeks ago his dad drove down from Colorado to pick her up and spend some time with us. Plus, my brother-in-law has been here since August while he has been working at a local hospital and waiting for his family (my sister Shelly and their 4 kiddos) to move down. They arrived Wednesday night with my dad in-tow. SO we have 14 people in my little 1800 sq ft house.

Kids get easily confused. And yes, these two subjects are related. This afternoon Cody, Brett, and I were leaving the house to go to football practice. Brett was saying goodbye to each person individually. When he got to my dad and sister he said, "Goodbye, Aunt Shewy" and did not say anything to my dad. So, my dad asked him, "Brett, if she's Aunt Shelly, what do you call me?" Brett shrugged and, thoroughly confused because of all the family around-including 2 grandpas, said, "Um, Spiderman?" So my dad is Grandpa Spiderman from now on.

The Lazy Gene

Jabon says I have a lazy gene. I love to sleep in and would do it every single morning if I could. Waking up at 9:30 or 10:00 puts me in a great mood for my day. The only problem is that I married a man who believes that the day must begin before the sun comes up. We've had numerous 'discussions' about which is best: me sleeping as late as my body needs and having a grumpy husband because I've just wasted half of the day (and usually the cooler half of our days now that we live in Arizona) OR having a slightly grumpy me, a happier hubby, and time to go out and play.

I am not the only one of my family members with this lazy gene. My brother Jared was pretty lazy when he lived with us, Cody is lazy and would prefer to spend every waking moment sitting on the couch watching t.v. or playing a video game, and Ashton is lazy. I bet your asking yourself how I could deduce that a 10 month old is lazy. Isn't that a little young to be able to categorize him with the lazy gene? Let me explain...

My healthy, strong 10 month old baby boy does not walk. Nor is he crawling. He can't even stand up straight, let alone stand by himself. When we hold him up so he can practice standing, he is bent much in the same fashion as a boomerang.

Ashton is, however, extremely good at rolling. He can find his target spot, roll towards it, twist himself around, and get to where he wants to be. So to him, he is mobile enough.

Knowing this, you can imagine my extreme delight when I got to see him sort-of crawl for the first time this afternoon! It reminded me more of an army crawl, but by golly! He is actually using his legs for a change!!

I recorded him doing this crawl. He is going toward a light saber. Boys will be boys no matter their age! (It's funny I say that regarding a light saber. Just the other day the adults in the house (me, Jabon, Josh, and my mother-in-law Lee Ann) were watching 17 Again and during the light saber fight scene, both Jabon and Josh yelled out that they wanted one so they could play, too. Like I said: no matter their age.)

Yes, Nice Cops Do Exist...

Today I got the pleasure of meeting a very nice cop that works so diligently for our county. He lit up my morning by being nice enough to pull me over. He ever so kindly reminded me that my vehicle's tags had expired. Here's how it went down:

Cop: "Good morning, do you know why I pulled you over?"
Me: "Yes, I do." Oh, crap! I thought.
Cop: "And why is that?"
Me: "My tags are expired." I have no problem getting right to the point.
Cop: "Why haven't you renewed them?"
Me: "I haven't been able to afford it yet." I gave him no excuses, 'cuz he doesn't really care anyway.
Cop: "Did you know you can get a 30 day temporary tag for $15 online?"
Me: "No." Stunned, with my mouth a little wider than normal.
Cop: "Did you know I can give you a $600 ticket for expired tags?"
Me: "No, but I figured it would be a high fine." Why lie? The government wants as much money from you as they can get.Why wouldn't the fine for expired tags cost more than the tags themselves??

At this point he took my license and insurance and went back to his car and partner (who showed up in his own vehicle. I guess a blonde driving a Jetta with expired tags can certainly be threatening, right?) This whole time I'm praying, "Please don't give me a ticket, please don't give me a ticket!"

Thankfully, this wonderful officer gave me a warning and sent me on my way. I promptly got on Arizona's website as soon as I got into work and ordered, paid for, printed, and posted in my rear window the temporary tag. I am NOT getting pulled over for that again!

I believe that was the first time I have been pulled over since I got married. 9 years. Maybe that, along with my honesty and forthrightness, helped me avoid a ticket.

So I give a big shout out to cool cops who give a break to people now and then. Hears to you!

My life in the month of July

Things have been uber crazy for me this past month. Let's see if I can remember most things and enlighten you on them.

First, school. Summer semester is pretty difficult. Especially when you are taking 3 classes. I started with 2 for the Summer I session. This lasted until July 23rd. However, on July 6th I started Summer II, adding on one more class. Summer II goes to August 6th. What this meant was that every spare second at home was occupied with any one of my three courses. And they were College Algebra, General Business, and Managerial Accounting.

Finals week for Summer I was a little brutal. We had just come home from Colorado (more on that below). In 3 days I had 6 exams. I went into finals week feeling very unprepared. I had very little time to study for my exams and just went into them with a prayer that I at least get a passing grade. Thankfully, I did. So now I am down to just one class, my accounting. I will then have a wonderful two week long rest from school before Fall semester starts. Oy!

This month was filled with a lot of traveling. Jabon's grandma died on our anniversary and her funeral was on July 3rd up in Heber City, UT. We were able to drive up to UT for her funeral and spend time with his family. His grandma was being buried in a little town in Idaho called Geneva, so we also drove up to be a part of that. Jabon and Cody were pallbearers. It was really beautiful. Jabon's cousin Beth got to ride up from Utah to Idaho with us. They haven't seen each other for about 15 years, so it was great for them to catch up on things. Cody talked his grandparents Eagar into taking him back to Colorado with them, so he was on his own 'vacation' until we showed up two weeks later.

We went to Colorado for my little brother's temple sealing and reception. Peter and Genica married last year when he got home from his mission and were able to get sealed the 18th. They also found out two weeks beforehand that she is pregnant! So another niece or nephew is on the way!!

Jabon was asked to be their wedding photographer. So he took their pictures while I posed everyone. We had a lot of fun doing it and even joked about the idea of doing it professionally. We also took engagement photos for our friends Ben and Amanda, who are getting married in March. Here is a pic of my brother and his wife at the Denver temple:

Thankfully, Ashton and the other boys were great travelers.

We brought Jabon's mom down to AZ with us. Our sitter is having a baby soon and we needed someone to watch the kids. So, she came down to stay until October, giving our sitter enough time to recover from her scheduled C-section.

My sister Shelly, her husband Josh, and their 4 kids came down a day after we got back from CO. He interview and scored a job with a hospital in Scottsdale. He starts Aug 10th. I am extremely excited! My big sis is moving down from Montana to live by me! I am stoked to have our kids grow up together! While they were here we went to our grandma Pearl's house. Here she is holding two of her newest great-grandbabies:
Ashton is on the left and his cousin Millie, who is exactly 2 months younger, is on the right. They are pretty identical in a lot of ways. It will be a lot of fun watching them get older together.

While Shelly and her family were here, it was as hot as usual. So Jabon and the kids hooked up the sprinkler contraption and had fun in the back yard:
This was a long post, I realize. Sorry for that but it has been so busy that I can't seem to blog any sooner that every 3-4 weeks! Plus, I am working full time and Cody's football season begins in a little more than a week.

I really need a vacation at a spa. No phones, tv, school, or worries. Just me, hot stones, mud, and relaxation. I think I'm going to start a fund. Wanna pitch in?

9 Years of Wedded Bliss

Jabon and I are celebrating our 9th anniversary today. We both are pretty proud of our accomplishment! We've had some rough patches and some awesome times. I think I can say for the both of us that we feel truly blessed to be each others partner in crime, I mean, partner in life. :)

I love my husband so much! He is a wonderful man, so strong, dependable, smart, handsome, and a great dad. I am really excited to see where our lives and love go from here. I look forward to the day when we can make our marriage everlasting and our family eternal.

Here are a few pictures of our wedding day. They are not the best, but you get the idea. We took about 3 whole days to plan for our wedding and Jabon's mom did the best she could, given the situation, to make our wedding day nice. Jabon's dad and brother took our pictures, we married in the Black Forest ward church house and had our reception in the gym right after. Jabon's mom bought me a prom dress off the clearance racks, we picked out some flowers, got cheesecake from Sam's Club and were all set! Unfortunately, none of my family were able to make my wedding due to them living so far away and me giving so little warning. But, when love beckoned I ran to it!

My 3 Sons

As all you fellow mothers know, the hardest thing about summers is finding something besides t.v. and video games to keep your child's mind active. Today, I decided to teach Cody to bake. So, we took our very ripe bananas and he created banana bread. I supervised, but he measured and mixed everything.

Here is his 'thumbs-up' for a recipe well done! And of course, he is sitting in front of some form of Monopoly. This is the game Cody would play every day of his life if he could! It drives me insane.
And here is Brett, giving his own 'thumbs-up.' He has no clue why Cody is doing it, but if one thing is for sure. it's that Brett will copy Cody on everything.


Ashton is sitting up by himself now. He turned 7 months old a little over a week ago. He still doesn't like to eat baby food much, but he likes the puffs snacks. No teeth yet, so he just gums it to death.

Yard Work

Yesterday, Jabon came home from work early because he wasn't feeling well. Soon after that, we decided to go to Home Depot and get some pavers to create a walkway in our backyard in between our grass and the garden we wanted to plant.

Cody took a picture of us. It was well over 90-something degrees outside. And I am sure you all want to know: I was sweating profusely! Pay no mind to the extremely white legs. They rarely see the sun.



We are working on our yard a little at a time. It's a big chore, but something I think both Jabon and I enjoy working on. It was nice to have Jabon home on a Saturday, even though he wasn't feeling well.

California Adventures

Sunday morning we packed up and left bright and early to go to Monterey, CA. Jabon and I had a few days off work and decided to take the kids to the beach. After we checked into our hotel, we drove south down the coastline and stopped at a ton of beaches. It was the first time the kids saw the ocean; I have rarely seen it myself.

Monday morning we went on the 17 Mile Drive. For those of you that don't know, it is a drive through an exclusive neighborhood along the California coast and features a well known icon, the Lone Cypress. Jabon got some pictures of it, but since he hasn't been able to get through his pictures yet, here is one I snagged off the internet:

After that, we went to Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was really awesome and was exciting to see. Cody's favorite thing was the sharks and Brett swears that was his as well (but I think that's because he wants to be like Cody). We ate dinner at a local joint and then drove out to Hollister, a small town Jabon grew up in. We had some trouble getting onto the right highway but we eventually made it up there. He had a great time down Memory Lane!

Tuesday we got up early and headed to Big Basin Redwood State Park to check out the big trees. I have always wanted to see them and I was not disappointed! They are incredible! We went on a small hike and saw the Mother and Father of the Forest, two of the largest trees there. I think the Mother was about 320 ft tall, she was the biggest. She was 70 ft in diameter, while the Father was 66 ft. I asked Cody why he thought the momma was bigger. He didn't know, so I gave him my conclusion: after the momma has all her babies, she's usually fat. I was feeling bloated and crappy since I hadn't exercised in a few days and I guess that came out in my comments! We also went on another hike to see a waterfall. It was pretty, but the short hike we took was a killer: Straight up the hillside at about a 70 degree angle!

After the redwoods, we drove to Santa Cruz and started hitting the northern beaches all the way back to our hotel (we were staying in Marina). It was such a beautiful day! Sunday and Monday were both pretty foggy, but we could see the ocean for many miles on Tuesday. For dinner, we decided to go eat on Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey. We stopped at a small restaurant on the pier and Jabon finally got his seafood he has been craving since we decided to go to California! I actually tasted the lobster and was quite surprised by how good it tasted. That said, I would never order one for myself. I have too strong of a mental block about eating seafood. It was garnished with caviar, and Jabon and I both sampled it. It was really salty. Not too bad, but definitely not too good, either. After dinner, we walked the pier a bit and got cotton candy at a local candy shop.

This was Ashton's first trip, and overall he did pretty well. Of course he cried while we drove and I so badly wanted to just get him out of his car seat and set him on my lap! Normally, Ashton goes to sleep really easily at home: I just get him ready for bed, feed him a bottle, then lay him in his crib and turn on his music. Unfortunately, this did not happen at the hotel. I had to rock him to sleep the first 2 nights we were in CA. He got better the 3rd night, but I turned on the radio in the room to help him sleep. I read The Host, by Stephenie Meyer to Jabon during the drive. He enjoyed the story, but Ashton must not have. Anytime I started to speak, Ashton would talk back. If I stopped, so would he. When he got really grumpy and loud, we turned on a CD for him and he would fall asleep to Tom Petty.

Sadly, we had to return to reality and came home Wednesday so Jabon and I could get back to work on Thursday. Jabon's first day back to work he was going to be told if he would be affected by Intel's lay-offs. Thankfully, when he had his meeting with his boss today, he was told his job was safe and he would not be laid off. It's unfortunate that we had to go on vacation with the dread of possibly being laid off on our minds, but we are so grateful that he still has his job!

Below is a short slideshow of some of the pictures I took. Like I said, Jabon took some pictures (okay MANY pictures). When he's gone through them, he'll post them onto his blog, so check them out when you've got a chance. He does a great job!

Video Clips

Here's a few videos I've taken over the last few days. I decided to nix the video of the screaming baby as mentioned earlier and show you one of him rolling over. I finally witnessed it for myself the other day!




This is a video of Brett riding the used 'mini' quad Jabon just picked up the other day. He and Jabon rode it together and then Jabon decided to let him ride it by himself. Jabon is running behind him because he's got a string attached to the kill switch that he could pull out if he needed to stop Brett quickly. A note of interest: the quad did not currently have any safety features (aka brakes) on at the time.



Here's one of Cody right afterward. He's a natural on it and rode quite well. Still no brakes on the quad in this video. Jabon just got the brake pads in the mail today.

Ashton rolled over!!

I got a text from the sitter today letting me know that Ashton rolled over (from his belly to back) 3 times this afternoon! I was so excited to hear that, because he's been taking his sweet time learning new things.

When I got home from work, I put him back on his tummy, which he hates with a passion, in an attempt to see him roll. I was video taping it so I could post it on the blog, but all I got was a baby yelling at the top of his lungs. He rolled halfway. He twisted enough to get his shoulders to touch the floor, but his big butt stayed planted where it was. I might still decide to post it, because it is kinda funny to see.

Wean

Pray for me---I am attempting to wean Ashton and he's not appreciating it!

Garage Sale-ing

This morning my grandma came over and stayed with the three boys so I could go with my babysitter Lori and check out some garage sales. I was in the hunt for a bumbo seat for Ashton and a high chair. Unfortunately, we only saw 2 highchairs. They were both really dirty and the lady wanted $35 each. That's more than I wanted to pay, since they were both used. And I never saw a seat for him.

The whole trip was not a bust, though. Lori got a double stroller (she is pregnant with her 2nd and has a 14 mo old) for $15. I picked up a table saw and stand with a pack of new blades, a hand-cranked ice cream maker, and a smoker-grill for $27. I am so psyched about the ice cream maker! I bought an electric one a while back and it has never worked properly. Jabon and I have talked about getting a wooden barreled hand-cranked one, but they were selling for over $100 online. I can't wait to make ice cream now!!

New things with me

It's been a little over a week, so I guess I should let you all know what's going on.

Cody has been sick this whole week. He only went to school on Friday. He was suffering from a fever, up to 102, and a slightly sore throat. The nice thing was Jabon has every Monday and Tuesday off, so he was home with him then. I took of Wednesday so Jabon could get into work. I took Cody into the doctor that day and had him checked for strep. The in-office test came back negative, but the doctor sent another swab out for a more thorough test. By Friday, Cody was feeling better, but that evening the doctor called and said that the other strep test came back positive. I told him it seemed like that was a late April Fools, since Cody was feeling better. So even though he's feeling fine, he's taking antibiotics. I'm just glad his fever is gone!

While we were at the doctor's office for Cody, Jabon texted me and said he was at Intel's nurses office, because he was not feeling well. They diagnosed him with a bronchial virus. We guess Ashton passed it onto him. Jabon was stubborn and went back to work Wednesday, but his boss sent him home and told him not to return until at least Friday. Jabon was given the same treatments that Ashton had to have.

Speaking of Ashton, he was using the nebulizer every day from Friday until Tuesday. It made a vast improvement on his breathing and I think by Wednesday he had finally kicked that virus. He's doing much better. He's been growing very big and was last weighed in at 18 lbs and 8 ounces. He is getting so tall that his feet are starting to hang over the edge of his car seat. He is finally willing to spend some time on the floor, but hates being on his belly, so he's not very interested in rolling over yet. He is interested in sticking his tongue out frequently, though. It's pretty cute, because he's got a very skinny tongue.

Brett has been having a hard time this last week. He is so jealous of the fact that all the other boys in the family have been sick and have gotten to go to the doctor and get medicine. He kept telling me, "Don't worry, Mom. I'll get sick soon!" He's a crazy one, I tell ya. I was watching General Conference the last few days and at one point Brett was watching with me when President Monson was speaking. I told Brett that this man was the prophet of our church and his name is Thomas S. Monson. His eyes got very big and he said, "Like my Thomas train!!" Later on, when President Monson was back on the screen, I asked Brett if he remembered this man's name. He said, "It's Thomas!" It was incredibly cute!

Gotta go. I've got a grumpy baby I need to care for.

Doesn't it looks so sad?!

As you may remember from previous posts, Ashton has been taking albuterol for bronchiolitis. It's been 5 weeks now and he's still having breathing issues, so I called the doctor this morning to see if this was typical. They wanted to see him, so I left work and picked him up from the sitter's. The doctor still heard the bronchiolitis in his lungs and noticed that he also has an ear infection in his right ear. So, since the liquid albuterol wasn't being effective enough, he gave us a breathing machine and a prescription for nebulizer-specific albuterol and an antibiotic for the ear infection. But he also wanted a chest x-ray done on Ashton to verify that it was bronchiolitis and not something more like pneumonia.

I took him to the imaging center and he had his x-ray. I knew it would be hard to describe without a visual, so I asked the technicians if I could take picture. They didn't mind. Here are the two pics I took of him:





It was kinda sad but at the same time kinda cute! My poor little baby! And by the way, it looks more uncomfortable than it really is. Anyway, the doctor called and said his x-rays showed no pneumonia and it's a positive diagnosis for bronchiolitis.Hopefully the machine works well and he doesn't develope asthma from this.

Wow!

Has anyone of you tried the Bender Ball workout yet? I bought it a week ago and just now tried it. Jabon is at school, the boys are in bed, and I desperately needed to workout and now seemed like the perfect time. I don't think my abs have worked so hard in their life! I was shaking like a leaf in a wind storm! I'm gonna try to stick with this workout for a few weeks and I'll keep you all posted on how it's working.

For the record, I didn't buy it through the website. I got it at Walmart. Shelly should be happy. ;)

No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth...

I guess it's been a while since I've blogged since my husband asked me when I was going to do a new post. I just got lazy. I was enjoying my Spring Break, even though we didn't go anywhere and I still had to work. But it was nice not having to do homework every single night of the week!

Ashton is 5 months now. He's talking a lot. And by that I mean he's doing the baby talk where he screeches and just makes noises. He is still recovering from the stinkin' bronchial virus he got, but he just has a little bit of a cough left and is doing better. Saturday I learned that a family in our church lost their 5th child, an 8 month old baby boy, to SIDS. He was totally and perfectly healthy and passed away this last Thursday morning. This news really hit me and I had a hard time getting over this even though I don't know the family. Every time I looked at Ashton for the next 48 hours I would get all teary eyed and want to cry. I kept thinking that Ashton could go that easily and that he lost what could have been his little buddy. (I'm obviously still emotional from being pregnant). The Relief Society sent out on email with the family's blog because it had the funeral information on it. There was a picture of the mom holding her son, with dad next to her, just before the coroner took him away. Okay, it's obviously still affecting me, because I gotta switch subjects before I cry.

Here is a picture of my 3 baby boys. See how nicely Cody tans? Just like Peter. Lucky kid.
Brett and Cody are doing good, too. Cody is registered for the next season of football already, even though it doesn't start until August. Brett has been learning new things and having preschool time with the lady who watches the kids for me, 'Babysitter' Lori. He's really enjoying that.

Jabon still has a job, thank goodness. I guess his group's layoffs start in 2 weeks. One good thing is one of the general managers knows him by name (which is nice considering it's all for poitive things and there are 1000's of people who work at his location). This GM told him the other day that he has great things in store for Jabon. So, as long as this GM doesn't get fired, Jabon's job should be okay, too!

As for me, I am re-pledging to exercise. I have only done it once in about 4 weeks--and I was doing so good, too!! But I have been trying to focus on school and studying more than I have earlier in the semester. The nice thing is, my weight hasn't changed, so at least it has not gone up. Hey, I gotta look on the bright side of things.

A Sunday Full of Blessings

Today our family got to partake in two blessings. Ashton received a blessing for healing. He's been fighting bronchiolitis for a few weeks now and has been on albuterol since then. I always enjoy listening to blessings and appreciate the gentlemen who administered his today.

The other blessing our family received today was Jabon being ordained a Priest. We are both really happy about his advancement in the Priesthood and I am especially proud. He's such a good man and his blessing/ordination was very touching and full of wonderful things.

We have a goal to attend the temple together and be sealed as a couple and as a family and this was a very big step for us.

We are all excited and wanted to share that with our friends and family.

Derby Days

Cody has his Pinewood Derby last night. Out of about 16 boys, his vehicle came in 7th. He built a truck this year, painted it green and named it the Green Blob. Each boy got an award, and his was 'Heaviest Payload'. That was kinda funny, because we had glued coins to his truck bed for additional weight.

Jabon actually got to attend the Derby this year. Last year it was on a Saturday morning, and it was too difficult for him to get off work. This year, our races started at 6pm, and Jabon was able to leave work a little early. Cody had a lot of fun and was pretty happy about his individual races. There were a total of 4. He took 1st place in two races, and 2nd place in the other two races.

Update on Ashton

Ashton went in for his 4 month checkup today. He is weighing in at 17 lbs, 7 oz, and is measuring 27 1/2 inches tall. He's only gained about 2 lbs, 6 oz since his 2 month check up. I think that's because I have gone back to work and he really doesn't care for the bottle at all.

I was thankful that he had this appointment scheduled today. Thursday he developed chest congestion. Last time he saw the doc he had it as well, and the doctor thought it was because of his excessive saliva (he's been ssslllooowwwlllyyy teething for the last 2 months, but no progress as of yet). Saturday Ashton was running a small fever. He started getting better Sunday afternoon after a menthol bath, vapor rub on his chest, and 2 days on the humidifier. However, Sunday night he went downhill. He was feeling so miserable he could not get comfortable and stay asleep. The only way to comfort him was to hold him in my arms. Eventually, I was able to lay down on the couch, still holding him, and we both fell asleep. I think I got about 5 hours of sleep total last night. That sucks, because I need at least 10 in order not to be a big, huge bear.

At the doctors office today Ashton had a dose of Albuterol through a breathing machine. It helped a little bit, but we were given Albuterol in a liquid form to give to him for the next few weeks. He's got a form of bronchiolitis, so it's all viral. He's doing good, but why don't you ask me that question at 2:30 in the morning. I just hope he sleeps better tonight because I have work tomorrow, an accounting test tomorrow evening, and a math test on Wednesday. I don't function all that well with little sleep, so wish me luck.

Recipe Exchange Update

As you know, I tried to set up an exchange for recipes starting last month, but only one wonderful person actually posted a recipe. Thanks, Cindy. My friend Staci just created a community blog for recipe exchanges, so I decided to do that instead. If you want to, check it out. It's the one labeled 'Somethintoeat'. If you want to join it, let Staci know. I bet she'd add you on.

Happiness is a measuring tape

So reading Shelly's post this morning inspired me to take my measurements again. For those of you that read Jabon's blog, I posted my resolutions earlier this year. One major one for me is getting back into shape. It has been a long time since I was in a shape I preferred. And squishy ain't it.

So I measured myself back in November. Ashton was a month old and I was gearing up for exercising. I was really pretty consistent with working out until I started work 2 weeks ago. With school, work, and family, I haven't given myself any time to exercise. I hope to change that. I vow to actually wake up early enough to exercise, get ready for work, and feed Ashton before I leave every morning. Think I can do it? Yeah, me neither, but I am going to try to train myself to.

Now, as my title eludes, I am pretty happy with my measurements today. I was singing it inside my head to the tune of "Happiness is a Warm Gun' by The Beatles. I think that's on the white album. Anyway, I have lost a total of...get ready for it...9.5 inches and 13 lbs in a little less than 3 months!! (Though Cody says that's not very much) My thighs are actually smaller now by a whole inch each than they were before I got pregnant with Ashton. Months before we decided to have another baby, I was actually exercising a lot at the Y, but I could never lose any weight. I really think nursing Ashton has helped my body kick off it's weight loss. I saw the same thing after I had Brett. Hopefully, this time I can actually keep it off. That's the key word here.

I hope to be able to post next week that I have been able to get up earlier at least 3 times and exercised. I'll let you know.

Valentine's Day a.k.a. Brett's Birthday

My little buggy Brett turned 4 today. First thing in the morning, his Dad and big brother Cody took him fishing. Brett is always asking to go fishing and Gilbert, a town close to where we live, has a few man-made lakes they stock for urban fishing. Here is their catch.

What you don't see is the price tag Jabon removed. Seems the boys didn't have any luck at the lake, so Jabon took them to the store and purchased 3 fish for them to try. Cody hated it, but Brett was a little more open to try them! Good thing Jabon loves fish. He had to eat all that was left.



The next thing we did for Brett's birthday was take him to Chuck E. Cheese. He's also been asking for that for a while. This was his favorite ride. He loves monster trucks. Jabon was really tempted to build Brett one just like this!








Here is Brett opening his gift. He was pretty excited. It's remote controlled and he was getting a kick out of it. He sure loves his trucks!!



I let him pick out his own cake and frosting. I think every year he ends up picking a pink cake with pink frosting. He says it's his favorite color and we can't seem to convince him to go for a more masculine color. So I had to 'boy' it up by giving it a Spongebob and Patrick theme.

We ended his day with giving him hot dogs for dinner (I was out of mac 'n cheese) and a bath, which is one of his most favorite activities!

Sunday Dinner

Sunday we had some friends over for dinner. We met the Gould's in our old ward in Colorado. Unfortunately for them, they moved to Arizona too! :) Our children played great together.

They 'hunted' monsters and played on the computer.















It was wonderful seeing our friends again and we really hope we can keep it up!

Little tid bits

That picture was taken 11/17/07. That's country singer Tracy Lawrence. I got to meet him because of a school project I was working on. I just saw that picture on my camera, so I thought I'd post it. BTW, I have also received a high-five from Dana Carvey since moving to AZ.

This next picture is of me and my friend, Amanda. We are riding our mini-bikes on the street in front of the house. I really have fun when I ride the bikes. Amanda used to live here while she was going to school, but once she graduated this last summer, she moved back to Colorado Springs. She came down to visit us this weekend. We had a lot of fun together. We had a pedicure and saw the movie "New In Town". That was really funny!
Jabon kept Ashton with him and tried to feed him. So, remember how Ashton took the bottle with no problems the other night? Well, we decided it was a fluke, because he would not take it from Jabon at all. I am working with him today and feeding him directly from the bottle. He's not doing too well with it, but I hope by this afternoon, that will change. I really don't want to have t worry about him while I am at work.

Nice Arizona Evenings

Elin is visiting us for a few days this week before she heads off to Washington state for a 3 year deployment. Some of that time she'll actually be on an aircraft carrier out in the middle of the ocean. We decided to let Cody stay home from school today so he could spend more time with his aunt. We went to the zoo during the day and then thought it would be great to enjoy the cool Arizona evening, so we lit a fire in our chiminea and roasted some marshmellows.


We will miss seeing our Aunt Elin but hope that we can go visit her up in Washington inbetween one of her voyages.

Easily Replaced

I go back to work full time next week. It's something I am looking forward to. I like to be busy and work certainly does that. Also, I like to be able to pay bills and therefore need work. It's also something that I am a little sad about. For any of you mothers who work outside of the home know, it's not only a drastic change for the baby, but also for the mommy, who has been tightly bound by her little one, and I mean by the breast and heart-strings. Thankfully, I have only had 1 night when I laid awake worrying about my baby at the sitter's once I get back to work. I don't worry anymore (ok, not as much as I had) since Jabon's mom is coming down to watch the kids and a great lady from the ward is going to watch them until she gets here.

So, in preparation of my return to work, I wanted to test Ashton on his acceptance (or reluctance) of the bottle. He will NOT take a pacifier for anything, so I was concerned that he would also not take the bottle. I had heard that the breastfed babies get confused when Mommy gives a bottle, but I decided I wanted to try it out myself anyway. Well, as soon as that little booger felt the milk on his mouth, he drank from the bottle without any problems at all. I had to keep telling myself, "Oh, Ashton! I'm so proud of you!" and "What a good boy, Ashton!" so I wouldn't think about how easily he replaced me and cry.

Another Brett-ism

I forgot to mention something else Brett says that is really cute. To him, everything is a race. And he loves to say who wins and who doesn't, but he says, "I win, you miss!"

Also, I wanted to post this picture of Ashton to emphasize how big he is growing. You can tell that he is almost too big for the bassinet, it's to the crib soon!

Where has the time gone?

Today Ashton is exactly 3 months old. That's 1/4 of a year old! It seems like not too long ago when I was still pregnant with him.




He is getting so big and showing little signs of his personality, which at times is very sweet! Ashton loves to talk to us, be tickled, and wrestle with his daddy. He is already a tough little guy and is just starting to reach out towards things. One of his favorite things seems to be sticking his tongue out at us! He's a funny, sweet boy.

Brett is a character. He tends to have catch phrases and uses them often. He interchanges 'Thank you" with the word "Yay." For example, he just asked me if I can make his birthday at Chuck E. Cheese's. I said yes, so he said "Yay." He says it at normal volume, just as if he was saying okay, or thanks, or anything like that. It's pretty funny. He also likes to end all of his stories with the words "Right now." So he'll tell me all about how he is going to go to football practice when he gets bigger, right now. Recently he's picked up the word 'seriously', but it sounds more like 'sicily'. So, he sicily needs a drink Mom, right now. I can't believe he is about to turn 4!



Cody has his little quirks as well. He likes to start conversations off by saying, "Okay, I'm going to talk about football right now." or whatever it may be. He has been banned from his video games until I feel so inclined as to hook them back up (yeah, right), so he's actually spent time reading books for recreation. And-gasp!-playing outside with his friends! At first, I had to get smart, though. He wanted to go over to a particular boy's house to play and I soon figured out it was only because they could play x-box over there. I personally think our children's generation is set to doom because of all the electronic devices allotted to them. What in the world does a 10 yr old need with a cell phone? Give me a break. Why, when I was a kid...Sorry. I had to stop myself from sounding too old there. In this picture he's unloading a pile of brick we bought for the back yard. He's roped a couple of friends into helping him. I took a couple pictures of them, but couldn't get a real nice one. The boy in the yellow shirt loves to talk and I couldn't get a shot without him talking! Cody is getting to be such a big boy. I took him shoe shopping the other day and had to buy shoes out of the men's department. Yes, he's a size 7 men's shoe! Where did my little baby go??



This post could not be complete without also including my husband. It's amazing to me when I think of how long we have been married. It's been 8 1/2 years and I cannot get enough! I am so thankful to have him in my life. He helps me make sure I don't take myself too seriously. Yes, I know it's hard to think it, but I do tend to get uptight. He makes me laugh and is the most interesting person I have ever known. I have to thank Heavenly Father for sending my family to Arizona. I truly believe this state has been a blessing to our relationship. Since we have moved here, we both have grown so much as a couple and have been able to strengthen our relationship and make it something we can be proud of. I am really excited for the day we get to go to the temple and be sealed for all time and eternity together (it's getting closer every day!). He's my absolute best friend and I do not want to be without him! I love him with all my heart, mind, and soul.

In this picture, he's just goofing off after a hard afternoon working on the sprinkler system for our backyard.

MLK Day Activities II

Here is another picture from the Botanical Gardens. See my post below for more info on that.

MLK Day Activities

For President's Day we decided to go to the Desert Botanical Gardens in Tempe. It's got a few miles of trails leading through the desert where you can learn of the different types of plants that are so abundant out here. The Gardens also are displaying some blown glass works from an artist named Dale Chihuly. He's got some pretty amazing stuff, so I thought I'd share some of it with you.



Here's a picture of the boys. Brett is pounding Mesquite beans into flour like the Indians used to.

I also wanted to point out the fact that today is January 19th and it was about 75 degrees today. We had to drive with the a/c on. Two words come to mind that I want to tell all of you in CO or MT or anywhere else that is snowy. And these two words are "Ha, ha!"

Problems solved?

Guess I was having problems accepting comments on my posts. Please post a comment so I know if it is working or not.

Things you can only experience with boys...

Brett was going through his baby book, looking at his pictures. On the first page is a picture of him as a 1-minute old on the table getting cleaned up. It must have reminded him of when Ashton was just born and was healing from his circumcision. Brett held this whole conversation with me about how his pee pee was 'broken' and the doctor had to fix it, just like Ashton's. It was pretty funny.

I guess when you live in a house full of boys, you need get used to things like farting and burping contests resulting in laughing fits, wrestling competitions, and pee pee talk. Boys can be so crude! But, you gotta love 'em.

Recipe exchange, anyone?

I was thinking. Wouldn't it be cool to have a recipe exchange? I am always looking for new recipes and ideas for cookies and dinner and everything in between. I'd love to exchange one recipe a month with everyone, try each recipe, then comment on it. I'm not too sure how to make this work, though. Let's just try it out and see how it goes.

This month, let's exchange desserts. And since it's a month before Valentine's Day, let's focus on desserts that can be used for V-Day. I will post my recipe below, then you all can post your recipe in the comments. Next month, I will create a post per recipe so we can all add our comments to the corresponding recipe.

Fruit Dream Cookies
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup sugar-sweetened cherry drink mix
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips
Colored or coarse sugar

Preheat oven to 375 deg. In a large mixing bowl beat butter and shortening with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar, drink mix, baking powder, and baking soda. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour and the white chocolate chips. Cover and chill dough about 30 minutes or until easy to handle.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Dip balls in colored or coarse sugar. Place balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet, sugar side up. bake for 9-11 minutes or until edges are just set (centers will be soft). Let stand for 2 minutes on cookie sheet. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.

I made about 4 batches of this recipe this past Christmas season. The guys at Jabon's work loved them! I hope you do, too. You can use any flavor of drink mix you want, as long as it's sugared. Cherry just works well for Valentine's day, as well as Christmas.

New job means new clothes

I start my new job the first of February. I am really excited about it and feel like it will be a great place to work. The dress code is business casual. I had this same dress code at my last job but since I have been nursing Ashton, none of my tops fit me. So, Jabon and I loaded all the kids up and went to the mall in search of some new work clothes for me.

I absolutely hate shopping for clothes. It seems like nothing fits me, or it's too expensive. So, I said a little prayer that I could find some clothes and only spend close to $100. I ended up having a great shopping experience! I got a new pair of black slacks and 6 different tops, and everything was on sale. The original prices would have been $255.99 plus taxes, but I scored everything for $113.72 including taxes! And, I shopped at Macy's and Dillard's. I am totally thrilled!

Maiden Voyage

To simplify things, hopefully, Jabon has his blog on the website and I now have my own. We'll see if I can keep to my resolution and blog often and make it somewhat interesting!

I usually let Jabon take all our pictures, but have discovered that if I want pictures on my blog, I should start using the camera he got me for my birthday a few years ago. He takes awesome pictures, but he purposefully does not capture people head-on. He seems to like a side-approach, but I don't think they are as interesting to look at for my purposes.

I've got a grumpy baby today, so I will add more later!