211th Aviation Batalion Christmas Party

The party was held at the AASF in West Jordan in the Apache Hangar. The soldiers of First and Second Batalions combined for the event along with their families and the families of the deployed.
The kids got to see Santa, climb a rock wall, get balloon animals from a clown, and play Pin the Nose on Rudolph. We got to spend time with friends and eat food, and have yummy cookies. And someone tried to climb through a vent in the hangar door...

Alphabet Tag

A--Attached or Single: Attached... And wouldn't want it any other way
B--Best Friend: Big J & MJ
C--Cake or Pie: Cake, chocolate cake
D--Day of Choice: Sunday, get to spend it with the fam
E--Essential Item: Shower
F--Favorite Color: Yellow
G--Greatest Accomplishment: Being a wife for the past 11 years and a mom for 10
H--Hometown: Eagle Mountain, UT
I--Indulgences: sweets
J--January or July: July, I prefer the summer
K--Kids: 4... Little J, B, Little S, and Little Miss SJ
L--Life is incomplete without: My husband and I guess the kids too
M--Marriage Date: November 26, 1997
N--Number of Siblings: 1 full brother, 5 half brothers, 1 step brother, and a step sister... plus my adopted family of two sisters and two brothers
O--Oranges or Apples: Apples and oranges with raisins and walnuts
P--Phobias or fears: Losing Big J
Q--Quotes: "Happiness is a cconsequence" -Unknown
R--Reason to Smile: My kids
S--Season: Spring, love to watch all the flowers bloom
T--Tag 5 Friends: C Horne, J San Nicolas, E Bingham, A Smith, M n B Bettilyon
U--Unknown facts about me: All of my kids are named for people who have influenced our lives
V--Very favorite store: Old Navy
W--Worst habit: Being a clutter queen
X--X-ray or Ultra Sound: Ultrasound, I'm not usually in pain when I get one of those
Y--Your favorite food: Italian
Z--Zodiac: Aries

Saying "Good Bye" again...

We got to have two whole weeks with our Soldier and this morning we had to take him to the airport to say farewell for approximately 99 more days. It was really hard to say good bye again, even though the end is in sight. This time the task ahead of me involves 4 children, 2 of which are in diapers. Although it will be tough, I know I have the support of family and friends to help me through.

Introducing Little Miss SJ

Our beautiful little girl was born on Oct 30, 2008 at 1303. She was 7 lbs 5 oz and 19 inches long with auburn colored hair. We are so in love with her.

My labor story… I was to be induced the morning of the 30th, but had been up since 0230 so we went into the hospital on our own. The admitting nurse didn’t seem to be very happy about being there, or maybe that is her normal demeanor, her bedside manner was lacking a lot. When she did my IV her hand was shaking so bad (she wasn’t a new nurse either), and my vein still hurts. Then she had to check my cervix and was extremely NOT NICE. My Doctor came in a little while later to check me again, break my water, and put a scalp lead on the baby to better monitor her heart. I then opted for the epidural because I knew I would be given pitocin soon.

After getting the epidural my memory gets a little sketchy, I was pretty heavily drugged at that point. I do remember being in a lot of pain and the anesthesiologist had to come in a few more times to give me extra shots. My best friend MJ and Big J were there with me and helping me through the pain. I know that I dilated quickly and was soon telling the nurses that I needed to push. The nurses told me not to push, saying I was only dilated to a 9 and needed to be a 10 so that everything would go more smoothly. Finally one of them checked me again and said I was a 10, and then they discussed for a few minutes as to who should call the doctor. All the while I am trying not to push, but my body very much wanted to push.

Once the Doctor got there and I was in position to push, I only pushed four times. Three times to get her head out, and once for her body. Big J got to cut the umbilical cord. I guess I had a little tear and was given a few stitches. Little Miss SJ had some residual fluid in her lungs and had to be taken to the nursery, but not before I got to hold her for a few minutes to get acquainted.

I have to say I have the most wonderful Doctor. He always makes me feel at ease and answers any questions I may have. A few minutes after my delivery he came back after cleaning up to check the c-section scar on my uterus. He wanted to make sure that it was all okay and not in danger of rupturing. The Doctor I had with B didn’t do that and B was my first VBAC.

We are really enjoying having a little girl in the house. Little Miss SJ has everyone but S wrapped around her finger, especially her daddy. He will really miss her when he has to head back overseas. All of us will miss him as well.

We have a new deck

There are some amazing people in my neighborhood, and since Big J is deployed the members of our church decided to help us build a deck. I bought the wood and they did the rest.

It took two nights to build and I was only able to get pictures of one night of work.

Builing the frame for the deck.

This was our old deck

Getting ready to put in the joists.

Putting in the joists.

Little S. wants to help too!

Looks like the joists are done, bring on the planks.

Starting the planks.

Putting in the planks.

Keep them coming.

This is the deck all done.

I am so excited to have a deck. Big J started to build a deck 7 years ago, and I was beginning to think it was never going to be built, but thanks to those in my neighborhood we now have a deck. There are some finishing things that we will do, such as putting up railing and some lattice to keep toys, kids, and animals out from under the deck.

While the men were building the deck the young men were staining my fence the approved HOA color.

Looking down the length of my fence.

Part of the fence that was stained a few months ago by the young men.

The boys and one leader.

Two of the leaders.

Caution wet paint.

Baby Shower

So my bestest friend MJ threw a baby shower for me with the help of some other M friends. There were pink balloons EVERYWHERE. It was so so so much fun.

She made a matching game where you have to match the name of an animal with the name of the mother and the name of the baby. So if the animal was a Alligator the mother was a Cow and the baby was a hatchling.

She also made a baby bottle ring toss. The baby bottles were filled with Reece's Pieces and we used a teething ring to toss on them. We got to keep the bottle and eat the candy if we made it, my friend S took pity and gave me the second bottle she won since they are my favorite candy.

I had lots of family and friends there. It was really great. Thanks MJ!! I received many wonderful and useful gifts, thank you everyone!

Tunnel of Fudge Cake

Growing up this is the cake I would beg to have for my birthday. I don't know if this is a recipe my aunt created or just one that she introduced to us. This is still my most favorite cake, but one of the main ingredients stopped being made by the two companies that made it. I think it has been about 20 years since I have been able to have my Tunnel of Fudge Cake. I found the key ingredient made now by another company, and gave the recipe a whirl.

Here is the recipe:

Tunnel of Fudge Cake from S. Lowe

Beat until fluffy 1 1/2 c. butter

Beat in 1 1/2 c. sugar

Beat in 6 eggs (one at a time)

Then BY HAND stir in:

2 c. flour

2 c. chopped walnuts (pecans are yummy too!)

1 pkg. (dry) Fudge Frosting Mix (Sweet N Low makes one)

Bake at 350 degrees for 55-60 minutes in a greased angel food pan (the middle should be fudge like so the regular method of checking for doneness doesn't work).

Let cool in the pan for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

This is seriously the yummiest cake ever!

Cooling in the pan.....

Look at the yummy fudge in the middle...

Human Slinkey?

So a week ago I was carrying S down the stairs, I know I shouldn't be carrying him, but he was poopy and I didn't have any diapers upstairs and I didn't want him scooting down the stairs and risk a gross mess. I stopped about 3 steps down when B started to ask me a question and next thing I knew I had lost my balance. I felt myself falling forward so I threw my weight backward to steady myself but I guess I threw too much because I ended up with my left leg getting crumpled under me and going down about 6 or 7 stairs still holding S. I was in immediate pain and and crying. S was scared from the fall and from my crying, but he was OK. My knee and ankle were all red and starting to swell.

I somehow managed to change S's diaper and get Little J and B out the door to school. I then called my friend/neighbor over to help me. I was in so much pain I couldn't think straight so I needed her to help me figure out what to do. I sent a quick email to J letting him know, just in case I had to contact him later through the American Red Cross, I didn't want him freaking out.

My friend discovered that one of our other neighbors was heading to the hospital in Provo (this hospital has a really good NICU just in case there was something wrong with the baby). We got to the ER about 10:15 AM and was finally seen about 11:30 AM. They gave me some percocet (sp?) at noon and I got an x-ray about 12:45 PM. They came in and told me nothing was broken and splinted my ankle about 1:30 PM. Somewhere in there they used a Doppler to listen to the baby's heart beat, and pronounced her fine since the heart rate was about 140 per min. I put in a call to my OB to see if he thought I should go to Labor and Delivery to double check. She was moving a lot and I didn't have any cramping or bleeding, but I was having contractions, and I couldn't be 100% sure I didn't bump my belly in the fall. My Dr told me to go to Labor and Delivery after the ER discharged me and he ordered a non-stress test as well as an ultra sound.

I made it to Labor and Delivery at about 2:00 PM and was feeling quite loopy, but could still feel the pain in my ankle. The started the non-stress test and were concerned that she wasn't moving a whole lot and her heart rate was a little lower. I told them that the ER gave me meds so they scheduled my ultra sound and decided to do the non-stress test while we waited for my turn for the ultra sound.

By the time I got to have my ultra sound (about 3:00 PM) the drugs were starting to wear off. The technician said everything looked good and gave me a few pictures from the ultrasound. Then another person came in reviewed what she had done and looked at some other things to determine that there wasn't a big tear or bleeding in or around the uterus. They called my DR and told him what they found. My Dr then ordered a 4 hour non-stress test. This test started about 3:30 PM and I wasn't actually released until about 8:15 PM with my Dr, the nurses and myself confident that all was OK. I didn't get home until almost 9:30 PM and was completely exhausted. I wasn't able to sleep when I was in the hospital because I was in pain the the beds were so uncomfortable.

I don't have any pictures of my ankle, but here are the pictures I received from the ultra sound.

This is a profile shot of her face.

Another profile.

Her sweet little foot!