It is SNOWING again. I doubt it will cold enough to make it matter, but my porch is kind of slushy!

It is so windy! We are just going from one extreme to the next. Crazy!

Tree Replacement

Today we took our tree down. We usually wait until after New Years, but I just couldn't. I have had my piano for almost a year now and it has been in the spare bedroom because we just didn't have room for it in the living room. When I rearranged the furniture for our huge tree I started thinking about what I would do after Christmas. Was I going to move things around again since it was going to leave a huge empty wall or keep things like they were and all of the sudden it hit me. My piano would fit there and look fabulous. So I measured things out and sure enough it would fit. So I anxiously awaited the tree to come down. Britt and I had a struggle to move the piano and finally ended up turning it on it's end like the movers did. It was so scary and not as smooth as they did it(we didn't have the piano mover thing)! We folded blankets up and slid it along until it was in the hall and then put it back on its wheels. We did put a little cut in the carpet about an inch long. I glued the carpet back down, but gee we just might have to replace it now. Which of course would break my heart since I love it so much, not. The piano looks so great and I am playing it so much more now that it is out here, my piano teacher will be happy about that.

Melting

The snow is melting. It is bittersweet. I loved how it covers everything up and cleans the world up. Except now all that white snow is brown and ugly on the roads. I loved how it forced my to slow down and relax a bit more. Maybe we will get more this winter. All this melting has all streams and storm drains on flood watch though. Hope everyone got some great deals yesterday, I still haven't hit Fred Meyer and Target for the super discount Christmas stuff, I think I will grab my sister and go do that today.

Our Merry Christmas Evening and Day

Christmas Eve: Bergman family party. We had our party at Amy and Greg's house this year and we had taco soup. It was good, the kids thought it was too spicy so we feed them cookies for dinner!!! Hey it is Christmas eve and the sugar plums dancing will be so much sweeter when they are filled up with sweets. We had a good time visiting and the kids all got to have a part in the Christmas story. Shirley, Britt's mom, has gotten very wise over the years and bought the cutest stuffed doll nativity set and let each kid hold one doll and then stand up when the story was at their part. It worked out really well with so many kids. We then exchanged gifts and did our adult gift game. There were 5 men and we put their presents in the middle and they circled around them while we all sang Here Comes Santa Claus. Then they had to grab a gift, well that turned into gifts being kicked (Britt) and a wrestling match. It is to funny because the gifts are all simple things, except little did they know Grandpa Harold's pocket watch was one of them. They thought maybe they will make it a tradition to pass it to the next brother every Christmas, but who knows. It was nice. After that we stopped at the Koeller's because we had some special packages that were being kept at our house that had to be delivered ;). Alexis went right to bed because we told her that she had to go to sleep so Santa would come and bring her presents....I never thought it would work on a 2 year old but it does!

Christmas Morning starting at 8am! Yea we got to sleep in, probably the last year for that! Our wonderfully white Christmas was great. It snowed all day, not much accumulation though. Alexis went right to opening the presents so I didn't get a picture of her, we did video the whole thing. She had a hand in every present that we unwrapped. Barely even noticed what was under the paper before reaching for the next one, even when the next when was for someone else. She had so much fun and her long patience in not opening a single present before Christmas paid off because Britt and I let her help us open ours too. We hung out at home for a bit and then went to my parents house and had a yummy dinner and opened more presents. We then went over to the Koeller's and had pie and visited until our movie. The adults went and saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button at 10pm. It was a 3 hours movie and held our attention very well and kept us awake. Good show, and we came back to a house full of blissfully sleeping children! When we got home Britt started playing his new game on the Wii and I went to bed. Ok well I did plug my new GPS in to start charging. My parents spoiled us all this year and to top it off my mom bought a Circut, she bought it knowing that both Steph and I want one and so now all we have to do is buy the cartridges. It really benefits all of us and I am so pleased with how generous everyone has been even with a down economy. Alexis will even tell you she got spoiled. Thank you everyone we love you and hope that you all had wonderful Christmas's too!

So these are the only pictures I took!

They are after the gifts were unwrapped!

Merry Christmas

Sleep Study

We are home. Last night was Alexis's sleep study at Children's Hospital at Overlake Hospital. We went to Whole Foods Market and got some goodies and then went to the Hospital. A side note here: Bellevue what is up with not plowing your roads? Alexis was so good and let the tech put all the electrodes on her she had two on each leg, two on her chin, one by each eye, one on her forehead and then seven in her hair. She also had two heart rate monitors on her chest and a belly belt and chest belt. Then she had a monitor under her nose and then a tube under her nose to measure oxygen. Each electrode had paste to stick it to her skin and then tape over it and glue for the oxygen thing and tape over that. I will try to scan the picture they took over her and put it on here because I forgot my camera. She was so cute about it. We bribed her with fruit snacks and cheese to keep her laying down once they were all hooked up. It took her awhile to fall asleep and I had to keep reminding her that if she wanted a toy she needed to go to bed. Then she woke up at 3am and I had to remind her that the toy was on the line so she went back to sleep. I don't know how she slept with all that stuff on her face and head, but surprisingly the pulse monitor on her toe bugged her the most. When she woke up they took all the stuff off her and she got to pick out a toy. She could have had all kinds of stuffed animals and yet she choose the smallest penguin that had a squeaker tummy. She was a wreck though with all that glue and paste. I gave her a bath and I may have to wash her up again once we see if her hair is greasy when it is dry. The guy said she was so cute and did better then most 4 years that come in. We won't know what the results are for a month unless they are serious. It will be a 900-1200 page report, One page for every 30 seconds that she slept. Crazy!

A snowed in Sunday

I think that we have had our fill of snow!!!! It just keeps coming and coming, along with some freezing rain. We have to chip 1/4 of ice off our porch in the morning and I am going to take a picture first thing when I get up. On our side porch we have 8 inches, but that is the North side of the house and the snow goes from South to North so I am sure we have close to a foot. Church was cancelled for us so we settled in and started a 1000 piece puzzle. In the 9 years Britt and I have been married he has never expressed an interest in them. So last night at the party we got a puzzle. It is done except one piece, sad we can't find it. I can't wait to see how much snow we get tonight.

Alexis is getting very excited for Christmas. She just noticed the presents under the tree and keeps bringing me one, of course it isn't for her. She still hasn't opened them yet. She got a Finding Nemo inflatable bed today from Jon and Steph and loves it. It is set up in our living room and will make a great bed for her when Lim and Erin are here in February, which I am so excited for! Ok off to bed still not feeling top notch and I am watching Amy's kids in the morning.

Wow

I tried really hard to take a nap, but Alexis wanted to sit with me and watch Garfield. So about 2:30 it started to snow and it has been snowing ever since. We braved the weather and went to the company Christmas party. We got some great prizes and yummy food. We decided to skip the dancing and get home. We were there for 3 hours and it snowed 4 or 5 inches. We love our car right now. It handles so great in this weather, we hardly knew the roads were bad...all the other cars sliding and skidding reminded us! We made it home and Alexis had fallen asleep at 9:30 so we walked across the street and put her right in bed. THANK YOU SO MUCH JENN for watching Alexis 2 nights in a row. We owe you, so when you need to go somewhere just call. Like this week when you need to go shopping just leave her with me and go have fun fighting crowds. I got a $300 Cole Haan purse. We got other things but that was the cool thing. Well I am going to bed, I doubt there is church tomorrow, but we will see.

A Beautiful Sight!

Her first look at the snow from last night! I thought we should go out and play in it before it went away! It isn't going away anytime soon and we are supposed to get more.

Eating the snowman!!!

Sledding down our driveway.

We decided the driveway might be a bit much for Ashlee so this is into our ditch, it was perfect. I really am so surprised at all the snow. I was sweeping it off my porch so that it doesn't get crazy icy and I was taking an inch off about every 30 minutes. It is cold though 23 degrees and it is supposed to get colder. I love this stuff, except the icy roads and then the closed roads. I have heard the rumor that 410 is closed. For those who don't live here that is a big deal since it is the only major road up here for thousands of people. Britt and Keven Pine took off at 3 to go to Yelm and are still not back yet and probably won't be for at least another hour, if the roads aren't closed. Tomorrow will be another fun day of snow play and then Saturday night it is supposed to start again. There is a small chance that the snow could still be here on that all important holiday that is coming up....I won't say which one so that I don't jinx it! I should go take a picture of what things look like after all day snowing, but it is cold and I am going to curl up with some cider and read since Alexis is already in dreamland! Happy snow filled dreams.

Christmas Card 2008

This year has gone by so quickly. Alexis is very excited for Christmas and the snow we have right now. She is such a amazing little girl and is always making us laugh. We have been very busy this year going to Mexico, camping, Great Wolf Lodge and just spending time with friends and family.

Britt has been experimenting with the mountaineer side of living in Western Washington and is getting closer and closer to hiking Mount Rainier. He would have already climbed if he had the proper gear. So that is his goal right now to gather the gear and get up on top of the world. He has had fun teaching the Sunbeams with me this last year and looks forward to a new class of Sunbeams. This class will be different because we haven't taught them since being moved out of nursery, it should be fun! He is going in for surgery next week and hopefully everything will get us one step closer to a baby.

I have been reading like crazy to Alexis and on my own. I have been painting, tiling and trying to keep the house organized. My piano lessons are going well and things are going much better now that I have my own piano and that we moved the piano into the living room. My garden didn't do so well, but I take comfort in a lot of other people's having the same problems. I have been having so much fun with Alexis and being her mom.

Alexis amazes us all the time. She is talking so much and it is super cute. She has so much energy and can run very fast. We love to cuddle on the couch, talk, laugh and just be silly. She loves to play hide and seek and loves to follow around the big kids. She surprised us by wanting to potty train right about her 2nd birthday, I secretly think it was because she wanted a bigger toy and clothes budget! She has outgrown her biting stage and now plays wonderfully with her friends...a bit bossy still though. She is so animated at everythings she does and uses her hands to talk, it is so girly! Alexis loves rockband so we got her an electric drum and toy guitar so she can rock and roll with daddy. It is the funniest thing ever, to see her shake her bum and get down! She is such a dancer and is finally getting old enough to go to lessons, which we will be putting her in when the next session starts. She twirls, and taps her toes and shakes her hips and gets her self so dizzy she falls.

We are just trying to ride out this economy crisis, not very well though since our Semi-truck engine just died. So we are now dropping $1800 on a new one and Britt has been off work for 2 weeks and will be for another week too. It is painful, but necessary. We hope this year will bring us a bunch of first. We are hoping for a new baby, dance recitals, learning how to ride a bike with training wheels, and a few more. Have a great new year and

Snowman

That is what Alexis calls the snow. She is just loving it and even tried to go out in her underwear. She came right back in the second her toes touched the snow! I got her dressed and sent her out with daddy. I am sure she is having fun. The roads are icy and it is 28 degrees right now. We probably could have made it to church but we decided that we would stay home and not risk someone hitting us. Our church parking lot is always a skating rink, it is in the shade and so will probably remain icy for awhile. It is exciting though to wake up to snow!

Snow Flakes

It is snowing here. I love to watch it snow....now if only a crazy guitar wasn't screaming in my ear it would be magical! This may throw a kink in our plans for tomorrow though. See it rained all day long....poured actually. So since the temps are dropping that just means ice here and living on top of this hill can make getting down treacherous. So if it is gonna get this cold it might as well dump the snow on! I asked Alexis today if she wanted it to snow(thinking she wouldn't know what it is) and she said yes. I then asked her where does snow come from and she pointed out the window at the sky! I love it!

Addicted

Alexis loves swim suits. She would wear them to play in the snow if I let her(provided we had snowotherwise she would play in the rain!)she will go the whole day wearing them, changing them of course every few hours. To curb this I moved them into my room in my dresser, she figured it out and would get them out the same, so I moved them to the closet. She hasn't figured it out but I am sure she would climb something to try and get them. I thought I had won until today. She put on my swim suit and was running around in it. the score is Alexis 3, Mom 2 oh well I guess it could be worse. Oh it is worse when she colors with blue marker all over herself, she even got her back. Funny little girl.

Decked the Halls

We did it! We are officially ready for Christmas! I got the decorations, minus the nativity can't find it, and did the house up really cute. Alexis cracked me up while I was decorating. Everything I pulled out she would say "Wow Mommy." She also kept asking me "What you doing Mommy?" haha she is so cute. We went and bought our tree with the Koeller's...I really love having them as friends. It is the biggest tree we have ever had and the best smelling. My whole living room smells like pine! We had 2 strands of lights that covered our fake tree no problem but not this tree, we bought an extra set tonight and still need one more! I put lights on the outside of the house, only ones that I could reach, and when we got home from getting the tree we turned them on. Alexis was amazed at them and told us it was so pretty. She is just so smart and wonderful. After getting back from the store she was very upset because the lights on the tree were broke, then I plugged them in and she said it was pretty. We may be having the lights on a lot this year for her! Alexis loved decorating the tree and hopefully will love leaving the ornaments on it! Britt is excited because the tree is so big it is going to be hard to put stuff under it and so it is going to look very full. I am realizing something this year, it always bothered me that my parents didn't get that much for Christmas. I now know why it was that way, I just want to see her open gifts and be excited and happy and that is really enough and it was probably the same for my parents! Seriously I want to wrap her gifts up and let her open them everyday until Christmas just to see her get excited. Of course I won't! I think this is the most excited for Christmas I have been since I was a child! Alexis loves taking pictures now so if they look like a child took them well she did. She also has to see every picture I take off her now, good thing I have a quick camera or all of my pictures would be of her running at me!

Unicorn

For Alexis 1st birthday we got her a rocking unicorn. It is really cute except for when she rocks it really hard she tips over....causing her to really not use it much in the last year. Now she has found it to be a fun riding toy; as in she pushes her self along like it is a tricycle. It is really funny, around and around the house she goes even though she has a real tricycle in her room! It is also really funny to hear her talking to her toys, it isn't gibberish anymore! I love this girl so much, it is so fun to be her mom.

p.s. I don't have a pic of the unicorn right now!

New Toys

A new washer and dryer for me! We went out Saturday to get a new dryer, ours is antique and liked to burn fleece. We ended up buying front loaders! This is really good news for me since i wash clothes everyday. I hate dirty laundry sitting around so I wash frequently. They are energy star appliances so will hopefully save us on our power and water bills. I think the dryer will for sure.

Background on our dryer is this: It was in the house when we bought it along with a washer that died a few years ago. We decided since they both worked that we would use them until they died. We were watching tv one night and That 70's Show was on and we saw our dryer as a prop. We think it is older then we are...but one tough machine. I am almost sad to take it to the recyclers, but it will just burn someone else's clothes.

We put our washer on Craig's list yesterday and have 2 offers already and one from someone we know. We probably could get more for it but we are not notorious for cheating ourselves! I will post pictures as soon as we get the dryer in a week.

Flash back picture

I can't even remember her looking like this. Jenn sent this to me this morning so I thought I would post it.

Some pictures to enjoy

We have been so busy that even taking pictures has been hard. We went to the bridge lighting in Sumner last night. We got there right as the fireworks started going off and hurried up and got out of the car. unfortunatley 2 exteremly large trains choose to passby at the same time blocking our view and making it impossible to cross the tracks. Honestly that is the closest i have ever been to a speeding train. If we would have walked 25 feet the train would have hit us. After that the party moved down the street to Windmill Garden and they had Santa come from the bridge in a parade and then light up the gardens, it was fun and the kids loved it. Alexis was a little nervous about Santa, but she still let me take her picture with him. I think I am going to put them on as a slide though so enjoy.

Some of the pictures were taken by Alexis! She has a little photography thing going on right now.

p.s. if the slide show freezes click on the bottom corner and click the album and you can view all the pictures!

Operation in Britt's future

If you want an up date on our on going struggle with having a baby here it is, if you don't want to know just skip this post! In September I went to the doctor and we started with my fertility work up and Britt was told to go see the Urologist. He did that on Wednesday, it took forever to get in since the doctor was out until the beginning of November and then Britt had to change his appointment because he went hunting. So finally he got in and Dr. McClure confirmed our thoughts, Varicocele. Britt has been having pain and discomfort in that region and doctor says the only thing that can stop that is surgery. It is a minor procedure and he should only need a day or two to recover. So on Monday Britt will be scheduling that. It probably won't be until January though due to the doctors schedule. Then after a few months, I think Britt said 5, they will do another sample and see if the surgery has helped. There are no guarantees that this will increase his numbers, but it should take away the pain. In the end that is the important part. I am a bit annoyed though. 3 years ago we went to a doctor, while at group health, seeking the same diagnoses and the doctor said that it wasn't that serious and that he didn't feel surgery was necessary. Whatever, I guess at least this way it is a medical procedure due to the pain and discomfort and not as much fertility. I will be making sure that the doctor puts this surgery in to the insurance as medically necessary. Anyway that is our update....just so everyone knows this does set things back until spring at the earliest. In one small way it does bring some relief for me. I won't be stressing at the end of every month hoping that I am preggers! I think I will still think about it but with the numbers Britt pulled(4 million) at the test it isn't as likely. All though we aren't sure about those numbers since we had spent a lot of time in the hot tub 2 weeks ago, I guess that impacts it more then I thought. The Doctor said that10 million is needed to due any procedure so we have to get his numbers up. It does take the ball out of my court though! Doctor said Britt has had this varicocele since birth though, and I wonder if it is connected to the extra passage ways that he had in his face that had to be removed. We will be praying that this is the fix we need and that maybe things will progress in a more natural way.

I am grateful we live now though. 50 years ago nothing would have been able to fix this problem and we may have never had that hope of getting pregnant. Even 20 years ago it wouldn't have happened. I am happy that technology is on our side now and so relieved that it isn't unexplained infertility...that diagnosed scared me the most. So we all will just have to wait until spring to find out how well things have gone.

Turkey anyone?

We had a good Thanksgiving at Britt's brother's house. Lots of family, plenty of food and Rock band. What? Rock band, yes Britt took it apart and set it back up so that everyone could rock out. Boy did they ever, the only thing we had to tell the kids was to take turns and to please let the adults have a turn. Everybody had so much fun. Alexis loved playing with Bryson, poor Caymon wasn't feeling good. Great day, except bridge traffic. The Narrows toll made traffic terrible...well not for us. Shirley left before we did at 9:45 and it took her 30 minutes to go 10 miles so we stayed for a bit longer....ok 2 more hours. I really couldn't separate Britt and his brothers they just kept talking. I will admit they don't talk like they used to because there are always a million kids running around and so much noise that conversation is hard to keep up. A very good day. I am so thankful for my husband, he is so awesome. I am thankful for my little girl, she is brilliant and beautiful. I am thankful for my home and the my husband has a good job that provides for us so that I can stay home. I am thankful that it wasn't raining this morning when I left at 4am for Walmart madness. I am thankful for our families that live close(and far away) so that we can do things together and watch our kids play and become amazing people. I am so thankful for the gospel and a temple that is close by. I could go on and on but honestly I have only had 2.5 hours sleep and I am not typing very well. Thank you friends and family we love you so much.

Rockband 1

Last night we went to Phil and Josie Schaubs and played rockband for the first time ever. It was fun, I learned why no recording studios ever came knocking at my door. I actually already knew why, but it was great to be reminded. My singing was painful to all in the room, even Alexis tried to take the mic from me. She had fun singing during the free singing time thing. Britt has totally fallen in love with it. He is itching to buy it. He has been warned though if he buys it before Christmas day then he will get nothing under the tree. Every year he always buys what he wants right before Christmas leaving me scrambling to find something to wrap. Last year I wrapped up the air soft gun that he bought a few weeks before Christmas. He didn't think it was that cool, but well he spent $150.00 on it. So we will see if he is unwrapping an empty Rockband box this year, or if it will be NIB Christmas morning. I hope he waits it will just be that much more fun. I am almost done with Alexis for presents just a few more little things and the stocking stuff. I think I am going to go light on the stockings this year and just do the orange some candy and maybe something small. So far she is getting Sleeping Beauty, a computer link system, Dora memory, lace cards, a shake and go car and some puzzles. I really want to get her Don't Spill the Beans and Cooties games and Target has them for $4 this week. I need to get Chad, Kate and Mallori bought for and get that sent off and then our parents and then my side too. Fun can't wait to hit the stores Friday Morning!

My anniversary gift

I went and got my gift today from Britt. I had a coupon(lame I know since it was a gift) for 40% off a pedicure and since I didn't have Alexis I went. I got a mani and a pedi. I have never had the wax treatment before and I liked it. I also got the massage chair part so I think it was a pretty good gift. It only cost $25 too. Thanks hunny, I needed that time away...that is kind of joke since Thursday night I went to the movies leaving the house at 9:30 and not getting home until 2:30am, then Friday I went to the Twilight social for a few hours. So I have had some alone time lately.

Help me dress my girl!!!!

I need some opinions. I bought this skirt for her Christmas outfit and I got a killer deal, I had $10 gap bucks and so I paid nothing for it!!! Anyways my mom and I found a super cute button down shirt at Carter's and thought it would be great, it looks like she is going square dancing though. So I found this shirt at Target and I think it looks ok, the sweater is a no go though. Anyways I bought 2T in the skirt and the girl has gotten so skinny around the waste that it won't stay up. I put a safety pin in it but it put little marks in the material. I need to find a way to make it stay up or just go get the 18 to 24 month size.

So first do you think the skirt and shirt look ok together?

Second do you have any ideas on how to fix the waist without ruining the material?

I may just go get the smaller size but I am not going to the Supermall today and Southhill mall doesn't have a Gap anymore. If the skirt was about 1.5 inches smaller in the waist it would be fine. I don't know if the next size down would be too short though. I think the Christmas outfit is starting to stress me out. On a good shopping note I got this really cute reversible vest at Children's Place for $1.99 and a shirt and dress for the same plus a baseball hat for $.99.

* The shirt is sparkly and you have no idea how hard it was to convince her to leave the tags on during this fashion show. The socks are knee highs, I finally found some and had to get them, but now I wonder if I should have gotten white, what do you think white or cream?

9 Years and counting

I am honestly so surprised that it has been 9 years. It really doesn't feel like it, all day I have been thinking about how different things are today from how they were 9 years ago. We are so different, for the better too. Our family has grown by one, we wish there were a few more, and we live in our own home and have every single need being met. Britt is a hard worker and takes very good care of us. He is a good husband and father, he takes us to church and honors his priesthood. He is always ready to serve those in need which blesses all of us. We have struggled and succeed and done it all together. I am looking forward to the rest of our lives here on earth and beyond with Britt. I bought him new cologne Double Black, he has been wanting it for a year, and I also got him a pair of jeans. I realized as I was shopping for his cologne that he has old man pants and I really can't be walking around with a old man in old man pants! HAHAHA, I told him that I got him something that will make him cool! He told me he hadn't gotten me a gift yet, all I want is a pedicure without a child around. Sweetie offered to give me a pedicure, but then somehow I just don't think we will get around to that this time of year. So I will go get one done. I am cooking us Chicken Fajitas for dinner, yummy, and molten chocolate cake, double yummy. Happy Anniversary Britton, I love you!

Our Family Get Away

Great Wolf Lodge was so much fun! We played in the water for hours on the first day. We also bought a wand for the kiddos to share. They liked it for a little while but the water park definitely had more appeal. We went out to Pizza Hut since it would have been a lot for Steph's family($70 for one meal at the buffet and $40 for us, yikes). When we got back the kids where done swimming for the night and Grandma took them down to story time while Britt, Steph, Jon and I hit the water park for the last hour before closing. There was so few people in that we went down the big slides as fast as we could climb the steps, 92 to the top. I was dying after the 8th or 9th time so I went in the hot tub with Steph for a little while. Then we went and played in the arcade for a bit and then went and put the kids to bed. Alexis went to sleep so fast and Britt and I watched a show and ate popcorn. The next morning we played in the arcade and did the wand game for a bit and then played in the water park for the rest of the day. I put Alexis down the red slide and she fell back and bumped her head...and cried the whole way down spinning around and around. She was done after that, I felt really bad. So we showered and went out in the lobby and had ice cream and pizza and waited with Grandpa for everyone else to get done. It was so fun, but next year we will do things different. We will get a room with a fire place and spend the first day doing everything but the water park and then the second day will be non stop water fun! If you haven't gone yet you should go it is fun! I will post pictures tomorrow.

Silly pictures

Alexis before glasses and After(these are Britt's)

The girls playing on the car seats Yesterday....seriously this really entertained them, Ashlee even ate her goldfish in the baby one!

Notice where Alexis is...she is having serious "I want to be a baby issues!"

Late Halloween pics

These are the only pics I took of her in her costume and she just wanted to swing her bucket around, next year it will be a bag so she can't shake the candy.

She is helping me put laundry away, those are daddy's G's and yes she has the bottoms on too.

Painting and a toddler

I have been doing a lot of painting the last few days and poor little Lou Lou has been doing her own entertainment. I am painting the doors that cover my pantry and laundry, it looks so awesome and I wish I would have done it years ago. While painting them I decided to paint the back door and it looked so great I painted the front door. Tomorrow I will put the second and hopefully last coat on the folding doors and then get to work on the trim in the hall. I am also going to paint all the doors in the hall, since they are dark brown and I have painted the trim white. I am so excited...now if I could just pick out the color for the other wall and the tile for the back splash! Baby steps, but it will get done since we are going to stay in this house for at least another year. While painting Alexis got really quiet so I stood up to see what she was doing and this is what I found.

Later Ashlee and Jen came over and Ashlee was standing by it and Alexis told her no. So she does listen to me because I told her that it is only for babies. I guess that also means that Ashlee isn't a baby as far as Alexis is concerned.

She also must have decided that the bagel with cream cheese and the grilled cheese sandwich I made for her were yucky, so she got out some canned goods for me to make. She got cream of chicken soup, tomato paste and chicken noodle soup. I went to make the soup for her and she insisted I add the tomato paste; good thing all I have to do is say that is yucky and she will agree. I don't think she is feeling 100% yet. She is really having a funny time right now. She wants me to rock her, and put her in the baby glider, and is not wanting to go potty, not having accidents just not wanting to go at all. I am thinking it is because I held Ellis a lot yesterday and she is just wanting the same treatment. I am going to having to start calling her a big girl instead of a baby and do the whole you are big so we get to do fun stuff that babies can't do. Hopefully that will help.

Our Heros

Today has been a very emotional day. I am so proud of the men and women that have and still do serve our country. They are the bravest people and I respect them so much. We are in great debt to them as they have fought and died or been injured to keep us free.

Fremont J. Martin served in WWII, he is my Grandpa. He was stationed in the Philippines and was one of the last people to leave the island before the Japanese invaded. He and a few other soldiers were left with the task of destroying all paperwork and military equipment. As they were throwing things into the sea they found Purple Heart Medals. There was enough for each man to have one and they brought them home to their families to honor them for their sacrifice.

Leo Roy Bleazard served in the Korean War. He was very brave and once he got back to the USA he said that there was no reason for him to ever leave our wonderful country.

Gregory I Martin, my dad, was in the Army. He was only able to serve for a short time due to medical problems but he served the best he could.

Lim Horn is currently in the Army and serving in Iraq on his second tour of duty. I am very proud of him and glad he will be home soon.

Joshua Carter is my cousin and has just graduated as a Marine. He is brave and I am grateful that in these scary times in this world that he is joining the brave to protect us.

These are just a few men that have and still are serving our country and I want to say THANK YOU.

Food Issues

Alexis is on a strike. She won't eat any of the dinners I am making lately. She found a box of raisins and is eating that instead of Taco soup. She is begging me to open fruit snacks and when I ask her to eat her dinner she says I'm done. She will eat anything Britt has on his plate though, even if that means getting done and standing next to daddy and asking for a bite of the same thing. Grrrr, I am not fixing her something else.

Sunday of Rambling Thoughts

I just got done eating rice pudding, yummy. My parents like it with way to many raisins though. I think I will make it again for family home evening after we eat our taco soup and talk about emergency preparedness. The Emergency Preparedness fair Saturday had so much info that it is gonna take some time to sort through. They had a 72 make a kit station set up, it was a good kit. It is in a rubber maid with water, hand warmers and a blanket. I made one up for our car. I also have a back pack one(although that one is not as hearty as the car one I just made), I figure if we are stranded somewhere there is beef jerky and pudding for me since Alexis won't eat it.

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She says the most amazing prayers and it makes me so happy to hear her pray. She loves nursery, even if Porter and her get each other. Today was kind of girl power day in nursery. Porter attacked Ella and so Alexis attacked him...poor guy he picked the wrong day to pick on the girls. I often wonder if Alexis will ever really get along with kids her age. She adores any child who is about 1.5 years older and up. I was always the same way so I wonder if it is an oldest child thing. I start watch the Schaub kids this Wednesday and so I hope that she can learn to be a great friend to Evana(she does good most of the time) because with baby Ellis and 2 toddlers I really don't want the girls to have issues. It helps that Evana is walking and able to express herself better. I am going to be pulling out puzzles and making up games like crazy to keep the two entertained. I figure I can handle 1 to 2 days a week, if not I have no reason trying to have more kids. Could you imagine Alexis being an only child....horror....spoiled beyond brat and many other adjectives that mean really bad idea. She desperately needs someone to have to share mommy and daddy with. Although I am sure she would argue with that!

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The primary program was today. Our Sunbeams did so good, they wiggled of course and bounced up and down while singing, moved their chairs around, but when it was time to speak they did awesome. I was moved to tears often when the kids would sing and the spirit just filled me up to the top and when they spoke their parts I overflowed. Our bishop said a few words and talked about building the strongest and greatest generation ever and I realized how much more important our children are to the future of this world. Of course I always felt that the children I am close to a important to me, but they are so much more then that. I am grateful that I have the true gospel in my life and that I can take my daughter to church and have a whole community of amazing people help me raise her and teacher her. I am really grateful to her nursery leaders that love Alexis and teach her and are helping making her great. Sister Burnside today told me that Alexis is going to be a very strong and important person when she is older. I always have said that the reason it is taking us so long to have children is because our children are going to be very important to the church. I now know that it is true as it is true of all the kids that are being born. Growing up I was taught that we are a royal generation and I believe we are and that our children are born of that generation to be the most choice and most righteous that have ever come forward.

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This is a really long post sorry I have a lot to say, not uncommon for those who know me well! Alexis is the cutest helper ever. I was making dinner tonight and she was pulling herself up to look at what I was doing. I was worried that she would grab the cutting board and pull a very sharp knife and cut up onions on top of her head, so I told her to get the stool. She was stand there while I browned the meat and playing with the cans so I handed her a towel and asked her to wipe the tops off. Smart little cookie didn't even need me to show her how and she wiped them all down while telling daddy: "I helpin me." It was so cute and then she got to pour it all in the crock pot, except the hot meat. She then climbed up and sat on the bar stool and said "I want eat." Cute! I can't wait until she is even more of a help!

Optical Check up

We went and got our eyes checked tonight. I choose an eye doctor down in Sumner at Sumner Family Eye Care. The doctor was great. She told us so much about eyes and took the time to make sure we were really happy. I already knew I needed glasses, but I guess I didn't really need a new prescription, although my glasses are really scratch. So picked out a new pair, they have the sun glasses that clip on with a magnet! Britt has to wear glasses part time. He is far sighted and I am near sighted. Funny thing is she said Britt's eyes have been to the gym and then some. It has to do with how he has learned to focus his eyes when things weren't clear enough. He got to pick out his first pair of glasses, he looks good with them on. I got a fun new pair that have pink on them! I can't wait to get them.

one little pumpkin

We carved our pumpkin last night. Alexis was a crack up, she would stick her hand in and get a few seeds and then get so excited she would shake. She tried to eat the pumpkin stuff and didn't like it too much! She drew the face on it and dad helped her cut it out, that is why it is hard to tell what it is. She didn't want to leave her pumpkin outside, we told her she can say goodnight to it before she went to bed and blow the candle out and so she finally came in the house. Good thing about toddlers is they forget still. Then I forgot to go blow the candle out! Ohwell we aren't gonna be home anyways tonight. I am so excited for her to trick or treat, she is gonna be so cute. She still doesn't say trick or treat very well, but I think she will catch on quick!

A choice

So funny, and sad too. Alexis took the newspaper and put it on the floor and I asked her to pick it up, she started to walk away. I told her that she need to pick it up and she kept walking, so i stood up and told her that if she didn't pick it up she was going to time out and she covered her bum with her two little hands and said no bum. I really don't spank her for everything, I do threaten it though. Sad that she would rather cover her bum to prevent a spanking then picking up the newspaper. This why I think she has hit her teens (the "T" word) early.

Patch Pictures

Pumpkin Patch #3

Saturday we headed to the pumpkin patch for the last time this season. We went to Farm Fresh Produce on Hwy 410. My family and the Koeller family had some fun picking out pumpkins and going on a hayride. We have gone on 3 hayrides this year but nothing compares to this one. We were on a trailer that the back end was touching the ground and was pulled behind a tractor. Then they took us out in the field that they use with the monster trucks or something because it is pour mud. With all of us on this trailer we were scraping bottom half the time. Then we would slide around and it the worry was there that we would get stuck, the driver assured is it wouldn't, but man it was crazy. Don't get me wrong it was fun, butt not the quiet ride around the farm you would expect. We didn't do the corn maze this year, we just didn't have time and decided against spending $5 a person to walk around in corn. I know party poopers but we are all trying harder to save money. The guys and kids then went and did the sling shot. Ben got a free pumpkin, Sam got 2 free pumpkins and Stephanie got a free pumpkin talk about lucky family. While the guys did that Alexis and Blake helped themselves to a apple. It was funny. After the patch we all went back to my parents house for scones and apple cider, yummy. The ward Halloween party was fun, the theme was The Wizard of Oz and everyone was really creative with their costumes. In one room they had a black light and balloons, Alexis loved it and spent most of her time in there with Brooklynn Jones. They played so well together. Alexis found lots of tokens on the floor and kept bring them to me and then I would toss them back in for the kids to find again. The trunk or treat was after that and Alexis filled up on suckers. I think she ate 4 in about 20 minutes. Since then she would get the stool and get her bucket of my dresser and eat suckers. Little girl is too smart because that stool is dragged everywhere. Anyways it was a fun day!

Britt says

I just remember something funny Britt said the other night. Alexis had just got done telling she didn't like her bed so we were talking about getting her a regular bed. I suggested that we get bunk beds and hes said, "bunk beds are for boys." I laughed really hard at that and thought I would share it with everyone. I love my Husband!

Alexis is cracking me up lately with her sentences. I fell like I am raising a teenager already though. Last night She was in her jamas and was drinking something and a little bit spilled on them so she climbed down and ran into her room and shut the door. A few minutes later she is pounding on the door so I go and open it. She has taken all her clothes off and put on pants and a headband. I got new jamas out, since I know that she will not put the wet ones on and it goes like this:

Mom: Here Alexis I got you new jamas out.

Alexis: They wet.

Mom: No I just got these ones out they are dry.

Alexis: No they wet. And she runs over to the door and yells: Get Out a Here. and slams the door shut on me.

Mom: I tell her to put her jamas on and get ready because now she has to go to bed.

So that is why I think she is already a teenager mentally. I was kind of laughing though because she seriously changes clothes 4 times a day and will put on a swim suit any chance she gets(please tell me she is not going to try for Sports Illustrated). She will not put underwear back on if she has gone #2, We go through 20 pairs in a matter of 4 days and they are 90% accident free.

She has been rolling the left over cookie dough out for 30 minutes, it is sticky and gross and she scolds the dog when he eats the bits that fall on the floor. She is just jabbering away and karate chopping it. Playing like it is a baby and singing rock a bye baby to it. Who know cookie dough could be so fun. I am trying really hard to limit how much TV she watches a day because she is obsessed with it, so far she is doing good. Since she broke the DVD Open Season she is really being limited to her movie access. She has figured out the the stool can be moved to anywhere in the house and she is getting into things that once where save. I am lucky with the Halloween candy because all she wants to eat is the suckers so I have been helping her out with the rest. She has cookie dough all over her so I think she will need a bath before bed! We are also going to work on a new bed time. She is trying so hard to just never go to sleep. Last night 11:30 and she was still pitching a fit in her room. I think that we have been so up and down on bed time because Britt is getting home so late and he wants to see her and play with her, but he just won't get up and go to work early so he can see her more. So I am going to be more firm and just put her to bed at 9. Well I am going to go eat some yummy cookies!

Tutu

So I finished her little Tutu for her halloween costume. It has a different ribbon on it then I planned because I couldn't find it. I just bought it too so who knows maybe it is in the car under the seat. It looks ok with this ribbon and I can always take it off if I want a different ribbon. I have actually thought about buying black and orange and making her a witch for halloween now. The ballerina is cute but oh the with idea is really catching on. Our ward is having a party tonight and the theme is the Wizard of Oz. Maybe I could get green and black and she could be the wicked witch. Or I guess I could call her glenda with her pink and pink tutu. Decision and such last minute. I will have to decide quickly!

Gas Prices keep of falling PLEASE

I just thought I would give a little shout at the price of gas. I have the gas tracker widget and it says Albertson's is $2.99!!! So hurray it is under $3! I may just fill my tank up for the first time in in a few months, I stopped it $80 because that is a lot of money to burn. I have been careful about to much frivolous driving and asking myself if it is necessary(the answer is usually yes though, hehe).

OK

Anything that we ask Alexis right now is answered with "OK." It is so darn cute. I shouldn't say anything, if she doesn't want to she still says "NO" very clearly and usually followed with a well planned fit on the floor! She is so cute.

$10.00 and pumpkin patch trip #2

We went on a field trip to Maris Farms yesterday with play-dayz and it was worth it. We got there a bit late but only missed the animal barn, Alexis saw it last week though. They got to feed the goats and then we went on a hay ride. They pulled us down to the corn maze and the kids got to go on a walk reading a story about Vickie the chick. The maze leads to the pumpkin patch for the field trip. We picked out kind of a big one since we are only getting one pumpkin this year{I seem to be the only one who likes to carve them so why get more!}. They told them about how pumpkins and corn grow and then we finished the hay ride. After that we went to the courtyard and they took the kids on a cow train. It was really cute and Alexis loved it!!!! They got to play on tractors and pump the water and then came the corn pit. This was crazy, they had so many corn kernels and the kids liked it. It was very dusty though, and made me itchy. When we left Britt and I both felt it was a good $10 spent.

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Alexis has a cold. Now for most kids a runny nose is no big deal just gross, but not for Alexis. With this asthma she gets bad. The doctor warned us too that fall is a bad time for asthma sufferers. She coughed so much last night that she gooed her pillow in two huge spots and was up asking me to change her pillow case. It is sad, I am really tempted to keep her home from church on Sunday. I know that it is only Thursday, but what her doctor told me is that her lungs will take 1 month to heal from a cold and so she is more susceptible to getting sick over and over. If that happens then we have to start using the steroid inhaler and I want to avoid that. Poor little lady, and I think she is getting her other 2 two year molars. Maybe I will get to sleep though the night again before this season is over.

Frosty Morning

This post was initially going to be about how cold it is here. When I woke up at 7:30 it was 30 degrees and 1 hour later it is only 31. So very cold. Well Britt just called and he was in an accident this morning. At about 4 we was getting a new car to load it on his truck and the window was frosty. He had cleared enough to see where he was going and had just started accelerating and then the air bags deployed and the car was spinning. I guess there is a badly placed fire hydrant with concrete posts around it right in the middle of the driving lane. He says he has some burns on his face and is really sore, but otherwise ok. Inter Rail guy said he hates the hydrant and I am assuming since it is in a blind spot that others have accidents or near misses have happened. The fire department requires that it be right there though. Fortunately Liability insurance is going to cover it, but darn Britt will not get the award for least claims made for the year at the company party. I'm just glad he is ok, I know that this is going to be his reason for not going into work early again. I have harassed him about not going to work until after 8,9, and sometimes 10 so the one time he heads in at normal time he totals a new car, stinky luck is what I say.

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On happier notes Alexis is talking so well. She talked to Great-Gramma Marie on the phone yesterday and gramma was so tickled at being able to understand her. We only live 35 minutes away and just don't get over there as much as we should. I would love to blame it on high gas prices but that is lame when it comes to great-gramma's that are as sweet as pie...no sweeter. We have a busy day today so we better get showered so our hair is dry before going outside. We have Mommy and Me luncheon with the ward, Pumpkin Patch with http://www.play-dayz.com/ , and then I am talking at Standards Night for the youth, then we have a little girls night out for Relief Society at Applebee's. Somewhere in all that I need to fit in a nap for this girl and dinner! We have a few really fun activities planned for this spooky time of year! We are going to make Carmel apples with Blake and dry apples with my mom. The ward is having a carnival and trunk or treat on the 25th and we are going to the pumpkin patch as a family that morning too (the Koeller's are part of that family), then for family home evening on the 27th we are getting together with the Koeller's and making haunted house's out of cookie's and candy. Then for Halloween we are trick or treating the stores up here in Bonney Lake with Zack, Blake and Ashlee, then going over to the Koeller's house for chili, corn bread and treats. Kaitlynn and Kiley are taking Zack, Blake and Alexis to trick or treat their neighbors! I love this time of year except for frozen windshields that cause accidents. So the lesson I learned from Britt's deal is to scrape my whole window, not just right in front of me.

Picture Catch up

Here a bunch from the last two months! I took a picture of Alexis and Mallori before they moved. The baseball game with Payten, Alexis falling asleep on the couch after getting up before dawn and putting on multiple swim suits at once. Blake swimming with Alexis, us tiling our entry way, eating oranges and more fun stuff.

Pumpkin Patch visit #1

Ashlee and Alexis went to the pumpkin patch today. We decided to take the girls during the day when the crowds were small and while it was dry. It was sunny and not too chilly, and hardly anyone was there and so we were able to put the girls in all the cute places to take pictures without waiting. We got to go on a hay ride...for free! There was a group with a bunch of teenage boys (from the hood) and they let us jump on with them. Alexis thought it was fun and bumpy, Ashlee wasn't sure what to think! We timed it just right because it started to rain not too long after we left.

I am using a bread machine for the first time ever! I hope the dough turns out because I am making the yummy cinna-bundt rools for breakfast tomorrow to eat during conference. I am going to laugh though if it doesn't turn out since that is my goal: to laugh more when things aren't going well. I tried really hard at the mall this afternoon though. Alexis is refusing to take naps during the day and then will crash at odd times in the evenings. She will stay in her room and play for 30 minutes. Sometimes she will say she has to go potty and so I take her in to go, she always goes too but when I put her back in her room she throws a huge fit. I think hope she will start taking naps again because she was a bear at the mall. She throw a huge and major fit because I was helping her with pushing the stroller. It took all I had to not get super mad. I found a out of the way alcove and just waited for her to calm down enough to continue. I was super embarrassed. I hope that as she learns to talk better we can cut down on the number of fits she takes, I have my fingers-crossed.

Saturday morning session

I just have to say that I have enjoyed the talks from this mornings session. I am so grateful to be able to hear and watch it. I especially enjoyed hearing about the new temples announced, Erin I bet you are too! Rome, Italy....very interesting. Maybe it will be done before Chris gets done with his mission. Erin if you stay there long enough going to the temple won't take as long! I am pleased that appropriate dress was talked about; I think flip flops at church are just awful and my daughter will not walk out of the house and enter the Lords house in them. My brain is already fussy on who was speaking, but I loved the talk about how grateful the family was for his father joining the church and how he will honor him forever, that really touched me and that his mother was there even in her 90's and how he would honor her always. Well the next session is going to start and Alexis is napping so I will get to hear it really well!

Britt made me miss my show

Ha ha, this really isn't about any TV show but I kept teasing him through out the whole ordeal. He got home from work and starting on a little project that required him to cut the bottom off a plastic bottle(don't ask what that project was though). I cautioned him a few times in the past and more tonight that no matter how skilled he thinks he is, he should never cut towards himself. Well he threw caution to the wind tonight and was cutting towards his hand with a razor blade and it slipped and cut right through his skin between his thumb and first finger. He is funny because I hear him in the bathroom saying "oh no" and other things similar only really calm. I knew he had cut himself I just wasn't sure how bad. Then he says "Crystal grab the girl and lets go up to your parents." I asked him if I could see it and he didn't really want me to see, finally he let me see and I knew it would need stitches. So we called me parents to come and watch the girl(and becaue Britt didn't believe me and/or thought my dad could sew it up). My parents agreed that he need to get it stitched up so we took off. We had to go to South Hill to the same day clinic, the hospital would have really made me a crabby wife. The nurse and Doctor were really nice even though we came in 30 minutes before closing. He got 4 stitches and we were home just 2 hours after he cut himself! Not so bad for an emergency visit to the Docs. Here are the before and after pictures, Britt is making me put them on. In fact he wanted me to take pictures so I could put it on the blog...he is funny considering he never gets on here.

Here it is all sewn up.

ENT

Alexis saw the Ear Nose Throat doctor today. She said that Alexis has huge tonsils. On a scale of 1 to 4 hers are a 4. She doesn't want to do surgery without finding out if she is having sleep apnea. So she wants her to do the sleep study still and after that we will decided if the tonsil need to come out. She is under 3 so she would have to stay the night, the surgery will only be 15 minutes long. The big problem is that 1 in 100 kids have bleeding problems from having their tonsils out so that is why she doesn't want to just take them out if she isn't having problems besides the snoring. We have thought about getting a recorder and recording her sleeping to see if she has pauses in her breathing or gasps and if she does the doctor said that we can reconsider having them out before the sleep study, but I think we won't. I just don't want her to be down and sick during the holidays. She has to be able to trick or treat all the stores here in Bonney Lake and she must stuff herself with turkey, potatoes, jello and more on Thanksgiving! She just has to wake up all bright-eyed and full of excitement Christmas morning and tear through her presents and shriek with delight and then she has to stay up late and ring in the new year with sparkling cider! And she needs to be the happy girl that has no adverse effects from a surgery!

Fall into the Season

Alexis is cracking me, up yesterday she would go up to the fridge and say "how bout oder pop?" I told her no so she says "how bout cheese?" so now she says it for everything. She is just really funny saying sentences. Our food storage would be easy with this girl otter pops and string cheese and she would be good to go!

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I just have to say that even though I have felt cold for the last week, I still love fall. It is really one of my most favorite times of the year. It hasn't really started the constant rain, the air is chilly, the leaves are changing and the excitement for the holiday season starts. I consider Halloween the first holiday of the season. I love seeing all the kids dressed up in their costumes and I love having hot chocalate, and a hearty meal after trick or treating. It is just so much fun and really one of the last times the kids get to run wild through the streets before winter sets in and it is too wet and cold to play outside. I love the way the air smells when people start firing up their wood stoves...not me though because we don't have a fire place or a stove :(. I just love it, fall is here!

Pin Cushion Crystal

Taking my blood is not a very good activity. I have never liked it, never been able to get myself to give blood, the most I have ever had taken was two vials. I had to get my blood taken for a series of fertility tests for cycle day 3 and it was no big deal... or so I thought. I left Alexis with Britt and drove over to Tacoma, much closer then Seattle or Bellevue, I thought they would take a vile or two but when I got back there she had a little basket with six vials in it. I thought no way those are all for me, sure enough they were. I was squeezing this little ball and about the 4th vial I was having a hard time squeezing it. I tried to lift my other arm up and it was hard to do and then my vision started to go blurry. I had to put my head between my knees for about 5 minutes before the passing out feeling left. The nurses where great and started to try and find food for me to eat, I think from their own lunches. I had to sit there for 20 minutes before I stopped shaking and they felt I could go home. I guess I have low blood pressure and so that is why that happened. It was really weird and affected me for the rest of the day. I felt weak and had a head ache my vision kept getting blurring too. I hope that the next blood draw at the end of the month will be less serious, I will bring someone with me though so I don't have to drive home just in case.

Baseball game and more

Britt has been adopted by a baseball team for the Puyallup Parks and Rec. This is a guy that he knows through work and he calls Britt every Tuesday to get him to play and last night I decided to go with. Greg, Amy's husband, plays on another team and just happened to be who they play against last night. Payton came with his dad so Alexis hung out with him. While on the playground there were some other kids and Payton walked up to them and told them they couldn't hurt Alexis or he would tell on them. He made sure each boy had been told about his protection order over Alexis and then they played freeze tag. It was really sweet. Alexis would climb up the slide and then hold her hand out and say "help me" and one of the boys would help her up the rest of the way. She is already charming the boys!

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Blake came and played with Alexis today and boy did they have fun. They ran through the sprinkler, played in the baby pool, swings and slides, and finally they got to go in the big pool. I actually got some reading done because Blake entertained Alexis so well.

I want

Alexis walks up to me just now and this is how she talked to me:

"I wan odr pop"
I look at her
She repeats "I wan odr pop, (shakes her head yes) mmmmhuh, yea"

I just laughed and she grabbed my hand and led me to the freezer to get her an otter pop. She loves them and wants one at least every 15 minutes.

Monday the 15th

Today I finally became a pin cushion and a poking bag! We went to see a fertility doctor, Michael Soules of Seattle Reproductive Medicine to be exact. He asked us questions about our history and did an exam on me and an ultrasound. I have good ovaries with a good egg count, even my left one that is smaller because of the cyst. I was surprised to learn that whenever a person has had a chocolate cyst they are diagnosed with moderate to severe endometriosis. I thought my doctor had put me at a 2, but Dr. Soules say I am either a 3 or 4. He also said my Uterus lining is really thick and that is unusual. So He wants me to have a saline test to see if there is a pulyp or if something else is going on. The nice thing is because of the Endo all tests and exam are billed as medical and so our insurance has to cover them. Dr. Soules is one of the best doctor for infertility and endo so we are really hopeful. Britt also needs to go see the urologist again. Doctor thinks that he might really have varicocele. Kind of frustrating and makes me dislike Group Health even more since he already saw a urologist because we thought he might have this and that doctor said that he did have some thickness there but not to worry about it. Well I guess fertility doctors do worry about it and so maybe we will get that cleared up and things will go more smoothly for us. I am hopeful and feel like we could have another tax deduction for next year. Ha ha ha ok really we just want another baby cause they are so cute, fun and just make getting up everyday more worth it. Thank you Debbie for watching Alexis while we went to this appointment, even though you had 3 kids already to watch, we really appreciate it.

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We had a fun family home evening last night. We spend a lot of time with the Koeller's in our ward. We really enjoy them and their kids and wanted to have them over. We rarely have people over to our house since it is the size of a shoe box so we like to have stuff outside. Our summer days are coming to an end so we decided we need to have a hot dog roast and hang out by a fire. The kids played and played and had so much fun that Blake didn't want to leave... he is going to come over on one of his days out of school to play. He is so cute and says he is going to marry Alexis, I keep thinking I need to take pictures of them playing so one day I can tease them! We ended up having Jenn and Ashlee, my parents and the Koeller's over for a fun evening and hope that we can do it again soon!

Pulmonary Pedaitric doctor

Yesterday we drove up to Bellevue to Overlake Hospital, rode the elevator up to the 4th floor and entered the Children's department. It was decorated like a jungle and they had toys and a playstation. Alexis's room was in the lion section, she thought it was neat. Our Appointment was at 1:20 the Doctor didn't get into our room until 2:05...not so good for a toddler. So she asked us questions and then looked at Alexis. She was very concerned about her tonsils. She said that there was two things going on with her. The first thing is that she says her symptoms sound like asthma. She said that the coughing is the main symptom of asthma and so she gave us 2 inhalers, albuteral and flovent. She said that we should use the albuteral and then add the flovent if the cough is still uncontrolled, but if we start the flovent then we need to keep using it for 1 month or until the cold season is over. The reason is that the tissue in the lungs take longer to heal and so if she is getting cold after cold the lungs are staying swollen so the flovent will help with that. That is good since that is the problem we had last winter.

The second thing is a little bit more scary then the asthma. She said that her tonsils being as large as they are could be causing the snoring and they call that obstructive sleep apnea. So that could be causing her to not sleep well and could be why she can be such a grump. So we are getting a sleep study done, but that appointment isn't until December 23. They only have four sleep rooms and so they are always booked a few months out. She is also going to see an ENT doctor on the 26th. Our doctor said that the ENT may decide without the sleep study that the tonsils are indeed a problem and that they need to be removed. He may also want to want until after the sleep study to get the results. I am not sure which I would prefer; I don't want her to have surgery and I want her to be a happier girl that isn't having her breathing stopped while she sleeps. So that is the results of this visit; not sure how much it will cost since it was a specialist, but so glad we got new insurance. I have my appointment next week so this is the year of high priced health! Oh well you do what you got to do.

I am so glad that Britt went with me, because Alexis lost it half way though the appointment. So he was able to take her out to the lobby with all the toys and I was able to get all the info from the doctor. On appointments like this it really is a good idea to have help.

The Puyallup Thing

The Puyallup Fair opened today and like all the other crazy people here we headed down to get in free. Only on opening day and only from 10 until 12 in the morning. Parking is crazy the streets are so clogged with cars and pedestrians that an aneurysm feels emanate. It is fun though and the price is right. Alexis got to ride a ride this year, even though she was about 3 inches too short. The only ride she wanted to ride was the swings; of course it is the only ride that has no seat belt or buckle of any kind. So we put her on thinking that she would stand up before the ride started and therefore get kicked off, she didn't. She sat there so good and held onto the bar really tight and just looked around. When the ride started she looked a bit nervous and I was sure she was going to try and stand up, but before she got back around to us she was screaming with delight. She has the cutest ride scream and she loved it. We had to prey her out of the seat and distract her with a ride on the train. On the train she tried to scream her ride scream, which had Britt and I both laughing. She waved bye bye to everyone and was just tickled pink at all the fun stuff there was to see. We toyed with the idea of having her do mutton bustin, but decided next year would be better, we still want her to like sheep. She was scared to tears of the cows and wasn't very happy at the dogs during the K9 unit demo. She would scream "No, Mine" at the dogs so we took her away before she caused a problem. Britt had already left to take Zach Koeller to the Mariner's game so I hung out with my parents. We looked at hot tubs and Amerikraft cookware, the paintings, pictures, and art work from all the contests. Then decided to go back and let Alexis use her last 4 ride tickets up. I asked her if she wanted to go on the swings and she said yes and started running....in the wrong direction. She was so giddy about it that her feet said run we can get there faster, it was funny. When we got there no kids were in line and an attendant asked if she was tall enough well lucky for us the attendant that was there earlier said that she was fine and had already been on; otherwise I don't think he would have let her on. So I went in to put her on the swing and they asked if I wanted to go with her. So I hooped in and up we went, and when the ride was done they asked us if we wanted to go again since no kids were waiting. So away we went again, at the end of that turn I went to get her out and they said she could stay and ride again...she was on cloud 9. I had to bribe her out of the seat with cotton candy and the ride attended didn't help any by saying she could keep riding. She called Alexis her little rider, next year Alexis will get a dizzy pass and ride the swings until she is well dizzy. It was a good day and my feet ache and I am worn out, but we did the Puyallup! I have no pictures because I forgot my camera, sad. Oh and my cat is doing much better, he is moving around and eating, still limping though.

A crazy day

It is almost finished, the tile that is. We bought tile for our entry way 1 year ago and it has been sitting it a box ever since. Well today I went to Home Depot to buy some paint and thought what the hay I will get the stuff and get to work. It was a big job for only a 16 square foot area. We had to cut molding, sharpen chisels, cut carpet 4 times, lay the tile out 5 times and then mix the mortar. We didn't start laying tile until 10pm. Just finished the clean up so that nothing sharp was gonna get my girl tomorrow. She was an angel by the way, barely knew she was home, except when she wanted to sit on my lap....a lot. Britt is crashed on the couch and I am blogging.

Sad news though about Jinx our cat. He has been going outside a lot more lately with out his harness and leash and today he got attacked. I already hate the dogs next door because they howl and whine all day and night, they get out and scare us and now they attacked my cat. Britt and my dad think I am silly saying that those dogs are too dangerous because they attacked my cat. They say all dogs are like that, but really I don't like mean dogs living next door. I am really upset and think they may have really hurt his leg maybe broke it. My dad and I heard the dog and my poor de-clawed cat and then heard the neighbor yell at her dog to let the cat go. By the time I got out there Jinx was already in my yard and hissing and growling at Rudy and I. I got him in the house and put him in my room because he was not dealing well with our dog. When I let him out he was limping but walking. I left and he came out and got on the rocking chair and then I moved him on my bed so Alexis wouldn't hurt him. He stayed there for 6 hours and then I moved him to a pillow on the floor so he wouldn't have to jump around. He did move when I vacuumed. He will move it if I touch it and he is purring when I pet him. I did get him to drink some water too. I just don't know what to do, I really don't want him to suffer if it is broken. I also can't pay a $500 vet bill. I am just sitting her crying, over a cat, but he is my baby. We have had him for 5 years and he is the best cat ever. So I am waiting to see how he is tomorrow, I am hoping that he is just really sore and just not wanting to do too much.