Wedding!!

January 23rd my baby sister go married!! We are so blessed that she found Bobby. He is an amazing addition to our family. And their day was amazing!

They chose The Pinery for their big day. SUCH a great choice! Highly recommend them to anyone wanting to get married in Colorado Springs. The coordinator and her assistant made the day so stress and wrinkle free. They have their own florist/decorator in house and she was fabulous! It was so much fun to work with her and dream up the perfect Winter Wonderland theme. And the DJ kept the reception jumping and fun but on track (and our track was tight!). He was amazing!

The big day started with all of us bridesmaides at the hairdresser. We love The Edge! They did such a good job and it was such a fun and relaxing way to get te day started!










After getting pampered I finished up the cake and left to go set it up while the girls got ready, got Starbucks and got down to The Pinery for the wedding!!





The brides and grooms rooms are amazing! They are such nice places to hang out, get ready and try to relax. They gave us some yummy fruit, cheese, and deli plates, water, and champagne. I think I was the last one dressed as I helped Shanna with her dress, then got Mika dressed, lol.











Finally it was Wedding Time!!

Mika did such a good job of walking with me and throwing her petals out! I did let her keep her binky so she would have a "comfort" measure, but it worked! (She had been starting to freak out in the brides room, so I was worried!) We had a "backup" of Grandma, who of course was sitting up front as Mother of the Bride, who had snacks and toys, just in case. However, the ring bearer ended up standing with us instead of the groomsman (his mom and dad were both in the wedding) so he kept her plenty occupied. (They're the same age. I think Logan's like 2 weeks older than Mika)

Shanna was so beautiful walking in! I was wishing I'd stuffed a tissue down my dress! The ceremonly was short, but gorgeous, just like Shanna wanted. And a good thing too! Mika and Logan were having TOO much fun. Everyone said they were great entertainment, but Kaidi (Logan's mom) and I were scared they were going to knock something over. And they almost did knock a big pillar of flowers over, so our fears were justified!!

After the ceremony, all the guests went to the banquet room for finger foods while we got some pictures done. Again, short and sweet, which was nice. Then Shanna and Bobby had a few more done while the rest of us got qued up and the family went into the banquet room. Next was the "grand entrance" and let the reception begin!! The food was AMAZING. I've been trying to recreate their sauteed vegi's ever since. Prime rib cooked perfectly. Ok, now I want to go back in time!

The DJ kept us hopping with things to do. I was in the reception the whole time with my "maid of honor duties" while some of the other bridesmaides and groomsman got the limo all packed up. I got to dance, give the toast, help with the money dance, and try to give my poor husband a break from our antsy son! We were all exhausted afterwards, but it was amazing! Shanna and Bobby left amid a ton of bubbles, and then cleanup time. Many hands make light work, though, and we had all the cars packed with everything in no time. (Notice I didn't say it was ORGANIZED in our cars, lol)

Congratulations, Shanna and Bobby!!!

For more pictures, you can click here, or go to my facebook page and I have it linked from my profile. Enjoy!

Do Dogs Sleepwalk?

We are quite used to things that go bump in the night. After all, we have 2 Huskies, 3 cats, and 2 toddlers in the house. If the kids aren't fussing, then our outdoor-sleeping husky (her choice) is howling at the moon or barking at a fox or bear, or the cats are coming and sleeping on us, or one cat will jump on another causing a big hissing/jumping/running fest that wakes our indoor-sleeping husky up so he chases the cats down the stairs, or some other "bump".

Here is Juneau, our indoor-sleeping, puppy-like, incredibly loyal, sweet Daddy's boy of a husky


Now, think back to the last scenario I gave. The cats hissing and running and dog chasing one.

At 2 am this morning, Zarik and I were suddenly awaken by what we believed was the above scenario. After a minute though, we realized Juneau was going crazy! I flipped on a light and we watched him as he flung himself around the room like a fish out of water flopping about. Zarik tried gently to stop him until he almost flung himself down the stairs and then Zarik jumped over and grabbed him. Juneau yelped as his paws went over the edge of the stairs and Zarik realized at that point that Juneau was sleepwalking! He was being so violent Zarik picked him up and shook him awake, which took a minute or so. After that Juneau just lay next to the bed for a few minutes, ears back, tail between his legs, looking SO scared. We checked to make sure he wasn't hurt anywhere and then brought him up on our bed to pet and snuggle him for a few minutes while he calmed down.

He's always done the whole "running in his sleep" thing, but this was brand new. Maybe we've been watching Eight Below too much and a Leapard Seal was chasing him. Poor boy.

Our New (To Us) Dave Ramsey Car

Well, with baby #3 on the way, we had to start looking for a new (to us) car. (We will NEVER buy a NEW car. It's really not a good investment) Zarik, in true Zarik fashion, had to go out and start looking at cars, putting ours on craigslist, and just generally sniffing around. That boy gets obsessed when it comes to buying/selling cars. I didn't even realize he'd listed our cars until I started getting offers for them in our email! Well, we talked and decided that since I was only like 6 weeks pregnant, maybe we should slow this train down a little bit. We have time to look, pray, and find the right car for us and buyer for whatever car we wanted to sell.

Yeah right.

About 5 days before we were to leave for California for Christmas, Zarik gets a call from someone who wants to drive about 2 hours to come look at our WRX. And here I though we were selling the Outback Sport! We both LOVE the WRX! I didn't want it to go anymore than Zarik did! But Zarik said he'd been feeling since the car we were leaning towards would be almost $10,000, that the WRX was the only way to get it "The Dave Ramsey Way" IE: CASH. Cold, hard, CASH. No car loans, no borrowing from parents. CASH. Now Zarik HAD agreed to wait until January to actually sell the car. And he told this girl that. But she wanted to come look anyways. But she'd wait to actually buy until January.

Yeah right.

About 30 minutes after they got here, Zarik comes sheepishly up the stairs. "Honey, we need to talk. They want it now. And I think this is the right person for the car." So we prayed right there. And we sold them the car. Now we only have one car. And 2 different places to be the next day. So the kids and I got up at 4am to drive him to the airport. That was fun.

Zarik starts feverishly looking at cars online. We decide by the time we get out to California that we are looking for something VERY specific: a 2004 AWD Toyota Sienna with under 100,000 miles for under $10K. Ok God. There you go. Zarik is literally looking all over the country for one. There's a couple possibilities in New Jersey and New York. And then, BINGO: An hour away from our parents gated community, the perfect car. So Zarik and I go to see it. I think it's PERFECT. But I defer to my husband. There were a few things he wasn't happy about: it was salvaged, the ac wasn't charged, some clips were missing, etc. And he wanted it for $8,500 and the guy wouldn't go below $9.

So we went back to our parents houses. Zarik left on his trip. And we prayed. The more we talked, the more we realized it was the right car, and Zarik agreed to the $9. So we called the guy back. Well, he didn't have the title yet. That would be the final deal breaker. So we said call us the SECOND you get it. Zarik had a very small window to come and get us and the car to drive back to Colorado. Then Skywest calls. They added a day to Zarik's schedule. Not good. Now the window was down to nothing. So he threw the day on the swap boards and we prayed. And prayed. And prayed. And as Zarik was sitting at home about to call off coming back to California to get us, Skywest called again. To say the trip had been picked up. Then the car guy called. He had the title. So it was a GO!!! At the 11th hour!

So Zarik flies out. We go buy the car. I drive it back to my parent's house. We start loading up all our presents and stuff. Dad gives us a BBQ. We fit that in. Mom gives us stuff for Shanna's wedding in January. We fit that in. We sleep. We wake up. We say goodbye to everyone. We leave. ROAD TRIP!! It was actually pretty fun. I only drove about 3 hours a day, and Zarik did the rest. We did it in 2 days. Stopped in Salt Lake City to sleep for 8 hours, then hit the road again. The kids did FABULOUS. And now, I am the proud driver of a minivan.

I'm still kinda in shock.

Christmas!

For Christmas we went back to California again this year. Lots of fun! The kids and I got to be there 2 weeks and Zarik was there a week, then flew back out for 2 days to pick us up (watch for the post on that!).

We had lots of fun hanging out with our families! Flene is pregnant again and was looking so cute with her baby belly! Jonathan's fiance Brittany was pregnant for Christmas (popped about a week later!). The kids loved seeing all their different aunts, uncles, grandparents, grandmother's dogs, cousins, etc. We were bad about getting pictures, but here are some from Christmas. Be sure to look through them all as I have pictures of my new nephew, Kayden at the bottom!

The Christmas Tree


Mika brought an Ariel with her, and got another one for Christmas! TWO Ariel's!


Grandma Minnie, Urijah, Jon, and Brittany


Shanna and Bobby - Brandon got them cool shirts that light up when they're close to each other, and go out when they're separated!


Papa played Santa


G-ma made sure she got it all on video


Mika had fun opening all her presents!


Kayden Scott! 12-30-09 7lbs1oz, 19"


Here's a cool montage of Kayden's first photoshoot!

Kayden Parsons from LivingStone Photography on Vimeo.

And baby makes three FIVE!

So I know this is really late coming out. But here you go!

We're pregnant! Again! And if this baby comes on it's due date, We will have 3 under 3 for 2 days. And the crazy thing is, this baby was planned. I know. We must be nuts, haha. But we definitly felt that it was time.

So, as most of the women I know know, I am very in tune with my body. And as I joke, I know too much about fertility. I knew over a week before I could test that I was pregnant. And a few days after I knew, I had my first scare. I was spotting. I know most women would just say "oh my period's coming", but like I said - I'm very in tune with my body and knew I was pregnant already. I suspected that I had a progesterone deficiency, so I anxiously waited until I saw the proof the dr's would need:



(BTW, isn't that ClearBlue test cool? It actually tells you how far along you are! The tests aren't available in the US yet, but I found them on EBay. I'm a nerd.)

I called my Certified Nurse Midwife immediately and they sent me for bloodwork that day. The next morning I got the confirmation and they called in a prescription for synthetic progesterone for me that day.

About two weeks later I went in for my first appointment and got an ultrasound! We could barely see the baby, but it had a heartbeat!!



During the weeks before my appointment, Zarik and I had been talking and praying about the care provider and place of birth we wanted for this birth. Our insurance changed as of January (locked in as of October) which opened up different options to us. After much consideration we decided on going with a midwife and a homebirth. So when we came back from California after Christmas, we met with our new midwife. She had a bit of a hard time finding li'l bean's heartbeat (li'l bean is my nickname for this one) with the doppler so she did an ultrasound too!



So far this has been a decent pregnancy. I have had morning *ahem* all-day sickness since about 5 1/2 weeks along. However, it's been better than with Mika and Urijah. I haven't lost any weight this time. I've been able to eat more than cheese and crackers. And at 13 weeks (where I am now) I'm starting to get my appetite back even though my gag reflex is still sensitive. We'll be seeing the midwife every three weeks for our appointments and I'm getting chiropractic care weekly like with Mika and Urijah.

So there you are! As crazy as we may be, at least they'll all be out of the house early, haha!!

Better late than never!

So, my muddled brain thought that I had no Halloween pictures from this year. I was right that I didn't get any from Boo at the Zoo, Treat Street or the Harvest Fest. BUT - when I turned on my camera to take a couple pictures this last weekend (I know, I really need to step up the pictre taking, lol) I found a bunch of cute pictures of the kids at Shanna's work! They had a little "trick or treat" time the friday before Halloween for their workers kids, and Shanna invited us. So here are my "better late than never" Halloween Pictures!

A General Update

So it was pointed out to me that it's been a while - again. I guess when there's not a lot going on I find it hard to find "exciting" things to blog about. I should probably get over that, huh? :-) So, what has been going on with us lately?

Mika can now count to 10 and do most of her ABC's! Such a smart girl. :-) She still is completely in love with animals. We haven't started potty training yet because she is just not ready. We may do a "crash course" to see if we can get going on that before Christmas, though.

Urijah is now 1!! Big guy! As Halloween was his birthday, and Zarik was gone, we didn't to a traditional party. We just did all the "Halloween-y" things like going to Treat Street at the High School and the Harvest Festival at a local church. (Can I say how grateful I am for indoor Halloween activities here in Colorado? I can? Good. I am very grateful for them.) I don't know if I ever mentioned, but he started crawling about 2 and a half months ago and is now all over the place, up the stairs, and into the dog food. He also cruises along furniture VERY well and we are encouraging his walking skills. His favorite thing in the world is DOORS. Yes, you read that right. DOORS. He could open and close doors all day long. We don't usually have to worry about him going into a room we don't want him because he stops at the entrance and plays with the door!

Zarik has been working a lot. Last month I saw him a total of 6 days, and the 6th he wasn't actually supposed to be here, so it was a blessing! Some of that was other trips, but it was really hard. He's going to be here a lot more this month, and I'm grateful for that. The kids and I have been busy with MOPS, Bible Study, and just general day to day living. I also had Munchkin Market though my MOPS group last month, which is a HUGE consignment sale/kids rummage sale. As a steering member, I am there the entire time, so my mom came out to watch the kids for me. A million thanks, again, Mom! You Rock!!

That's pretty much it for now. I've been really bad about taking pictures, but I'll try to put some up soon.