Maturo's/Family Dinner

We had a very busy Sunday but one we definitely enjoyed.  I had worked the NOC shift so I grabbed a quick 3 hour nap while Raymond attended church meetings then we headed down to Salt Lake.  We met up with some AMAZING people whom we see far to little of.  Roxanna & Mike Maturo, who are from Glendora CA.  Raymond met these 2 while on his mission, baptized them, returned after his mission to see them sealed in the temple and together we have visited them in California on a couple occasions.  They are the type of people that you LOVE to be around, time just flies by because you are having so much fun talking to them.  Once you leave them you feel so happy and at ease, grateful that you could spend time with them.  They were in town for the weekend with friends and met up with us for lunch.  We went to Z'Tejas and it was delicious!  We grabbed a Rocky Mountain Apple afterwards and parted ways.  I could kick myself for not getting a picture of them but they will be coming out for Baby Girl's blessing so we will definitely get one then!

We headed to Morgan for dinner that night with the family to celebrate Jodi's birthday!  The entire group was there and we had a blast!  These kids are CRAZY and LOUD and PLAYFUL and ENERGETIC!  Most of the pictures we tried to get were blurry because they could not hold still for a second!  These are the best we got! Tanner is starting to smile and he happens to think I am hilarious, unless I have my camera on!  It was such a fun night, I don't see these guys nearly enough these days!

Learn To Sew...

You know how when you try and try and try to do something for years with no success you kind of just apply that to every aspect of your life.  Then when that one thing happens it is like the world is full of new possibilities.  Pregnancy is just that for me.  It was something that was unreachable and then completely disastrous once it was achieved. Not this time though.  Things are going great, baby girl is growing and getting stronger each day.  I feel great (other than some pretty typical complaints). And now, I can move mountains.  Or so I think.  I haven't "crafted" in years and now I spend a good chunk of each day working on some "project".  All of which are for le bebe and I am certain once they come together they should be great.  They would however be disastrous if I did not have a team of "do-ers"!

My mom, Jessica and Leslie are AWESOME!  They spent a day with me sewing a bumper set and crib skirt which look fabulous and my mom is making an awesome blanket for baby girl as well!  Leslie and Jess did most all the sewing, I was the runner for when we ran out of stuff, manned the ribbon, ordered the lunch...real important stuff, right! I have so many more projects going on and things I want to do so it was great to have helpers who knew what to do!  Briele was even a good helper...she kept us entertained!  

Fun...

Kinda random but...

1. We went to Dickey's which we love and now have it conveniently located a short jaunt away.  They have delicious BBQ and free soft serve ice cream and free giant pickles.  Really how much better does it get.  They are great, really! See how excited he is!

2. I went to pick out some yarn with my mom and sweet Briele. She is hilarious!  She was grabbing as many as she possibly could and started throwing them into the cart, she was a little bummed when we didn't buy them all!  I also stopped by her house and she proceeded to treat my car like a giant jungle gym and kept saying "bye" and kept trying to buckle her seat-belt so we could go "bye-bye"! Then she would thrust her fist into the air and say "Go"! She is so fun! 

Progress...

Raymond is amazing.  He works so hard all day and then he comes home and keeps it going.  Me and Baby Girl are very lucky to have him in our lives, he is doing everything he can to make things comfortable and ready for her debut. There are still alot of man hours needed on the basement but he has (almost) single handed-ly torn apart our basement, built walls, wired all new lighting, installed duct work to vent the entire basement, insulated and he has now started sheet rocking!  He is amazing!

Mini Cheer...

My mom and I headed to Morgan to go to Halli's dance class.  It was her first tap class and she did awesome! She is lucky to have Madi ahead of her because she already knew how to do all the moves and skips and got to be line leader, she was so excited!  We hung out with Baby Tanner for a bit then went to a football game in which Madi performed the cheers she learned at Mini-Cheer.  She is such a nut and was yawning out on the field just chilling but she did a great job at her cheers! It was fun to watch both the girlies dancing it up!

Ray's New Toy...

Raymond has wanted a trailer forever and ever...and now he has one...it isn't the most beautiful thing but we LOVE it! It was a screaming deal and will be perfect for us for the next couple years!  We have lots of hopes and dreams of remodeling it (because our house isn't enough of a remodel) but we will see about that, life is super busy and is only bound to get busier!  Raymond is very happy to have it, although he has had no time to poke around it but I am happy that he is happy!

State Fair 2012

We love the state fair or more correctly, fairs in general!  It might make us trashy but we don't care!  One of my favorite treats in the world are roasted almonds and the fair and Christmas are the only times of year I get them, so I indulge myself! We headed down to hang out with my dad, Steve & Jodi and their adorable kids.  Madi and Halli were so much fun as usual!  Tanner is just awesome, he has the cutest little mohawk!  As we were leaving my dad wanted some kettle corn and Raymond thought it was a GREAT idea!  My dad got a lot of popcorn but Raymond, of course, wanted so much more! He got the M.O.A.B (Mother of All Bags)! After he laid in bed and ate it for nearly an hour, without making a dent, he realized he probably didn't need that big of a bag!  Oh well, it was fun!

10 Year Reunion!

We were able to attend Raymond's 10 year high school reunion!  Man, we feel old! It was fun to hang out with some of his friends I knew and to meet new ones.  We toured the new and completely different high school which reminds us so much of High School Musical--the movie!  Raymond is such a great guy and it was fun to meet others that knew that about him long before I came around.

We had so much fun with Clint & Tiffany!  We always like hanging out with them! We grabbed a couple cartons of ice cream, tried to drop in on Dallin & Darla but they were unavailable so we returned to our house to hang out and indulge ourselves with a delicious sweet treat!  We are very sad these guys are moving to Sandpoint, ID which happens to be 12-ish hours ago!  On the up side, we have always wanted to go there so it should be fun!

Before the reunion we hit up peach days for a minute, had some delicious cobbler, bought some adorable hair bows for baby girl and our always favorite seasoning, Wild Bill's Garlic Pepper!

The Baby Moves...

We got home from camping in good time so I cleaned up the house, Raymond mowed & edged the lawn, and then we snuggled up to watch a movie.  We decided we are going to only watch movies that are un-opened and this is the stack we ended up with!  We were surprised especially since there are still several opened movies that we have never seen before!

Raymond has felt the baby moving for a couple weeks now and I feel her getting stronger everyday but as we were laying there watching a movie the funniest thing happened...

Raymond had his hand on my stomach and she gave a GREAT BIG KICK!  He hadn't felt her that strong before and it scared him so bad!  He jumped clear up, rolled over, was squirming and squeaming and "wigging out" as he puts it!  It was hilarious! He just kept saying "I have felt her before but not like that, that was weird!", "I don't want to be a bad parent or anything but that was just freaky!"

I admit,dear Raymond, feeling a baby move inside of you is quite amazing but different and kinda creepy at the same time!  So excited for our baby girl!

Labor Day Camping...

Due to work schedules we were only able to spend one night camping but we still had a blast! As usual they little girls were the life of the party and kept us on our toes!

Briele kept kicking her feet up to relax while reading maps, coloring, etc.  She LOVES to go on razr/4-wheeler rides and screams "RIDE!" whenever she wants to go out and whenever you stop she will yell "GO!" while thrusting her fist in the air!  It is hilarious!

We rode over to a lake and had a picnic, it was so pretty!  The girls loved throwing rocks into the lake!

Lexi never stops!  From the moment she opens her eyes she is running, jumping, dancing, singing, talking, and exploring!  She is so fun to be around!  Her big accomplishment this trip was she learned to drive the 4-wheeler all by herself!  She was so excited!  She promised me that she "won't be a crazy driver, ya know!"

We spent the least amount of time there and I was the dirtiest by far.  No matter what I do, I'm a magnet for dirt every time!

There was a river we got to cross and romp through.  Raymond was nervous with me on the 4-wheeler so we just sat in the river and watched everyone else romp around.  It was fun to watch them all and we stayed dry!

My mom & Dayne...they succeeded in making the largest splash!

Briele loved going through the water but also loved watching everyone else make giant splashes!

My dad was romping everywhere not just in the water!  Cody and Lexi made a pretty big splash and she was so proud to do it all on her own!  She also loved that her dad let her push the gas ALL THE WAY DOWN, whereas normally she is reminded to only push it a little!!

While we were up there we were able to see a few moose and dear which was fun and it was beautiful and not too chilly!  It has rained on them for the first several days so we were glad we got there just in time for good weather!

Temple Open House...

We had the opportunity to go the Brigham City Temple open house with the young men and women in our ward.  It was pretty cool to walk through it and see everything, even if we have already been in several temples.  It's very exciting to have a temple opening close by, I just wish the Ogden temple would hurry up!  I think it was cool for the youth to be able to see it as well, they were quite impressed by all the decor and everything past the baptism room that they don't get to see.

Happy Side Note:  We had just gotten to the temple grounds and someone tapped me on the shoulder...it was my best friend Stacie and her family.  It was fun running into them, especially when she lives in Missouri and had gotten to town a few days earlier.  Love that girl!

Girl Time...

I had the chance to see some of my favorite people today.  Briele came and hung out with me in the morning while her mom & dad were busy.  She came straight into the house, marched into the sunroom, handed me the TV remote, cuddled up with her sippy and the giant bear, whom she loves, and said "mouse".  This girl knows exactly what she wants!  Her little morning ritual includes Mickey Mouse and that is what she got! She was playing on the giant bear and collided with my coffee table and got what I believe to be her first fat lip. Yeah, I feel like a jerk.  It was funny to watch her reaction though.  She hit the table, looked at me, the bear and then table and had this expression of "What the heck just happened?" and then she went right back to playing.  She sucked down an otter-pop which helped with the swelling but I still feel like a shmuck!

That night we went to Steve & Jodi's house where we had some delicious french dip subs, the boys headed off golfing and us girls+Tanner went to the splash pad.  We then played and played and played til they were all exhausted!  The picture of me and the girls on the couch is the only time in 4+hours that they all stopped moving for 30 seconds!  I love to sit and snuggle Tanner, he is so content with being held and rocked!  He is so tiny...like I worry I will break him tiny!  It's kinda surreal to think that we will have a new baby, who we are certain will never be THAT tiny, coming soon.  Makes us real nervous yet excited!

Madison was cracking me up, she came sat by me on the couch, crossed her legs, folded her arms and got cozy to enjoy a conversation.  She turned to me and said "So...are your nervous?"  I asked her what I was supposed to be nervous for and she responded "for a new baby, are you ready?".  Haha!  You can tell she heard her mom be asked that question several times in recent months!  She is getting so grown up!  Then she proceeded to tell me that we picked a good name, very cute, and discussed what things needed to be bought for the new baby!  Oh I love these girls, they are so fun!

The boys had a great time golfing, although they reported, "We aren't very good but oh well!'

Kiosk Time...

We had another fun night working at the Newgate Mall installing a newly re-furbished kiosk that Raymond has put lots of time and effort into.  The men, who all look surprisingly busy, got it all set up.  Although I don't have any pictures of the completed kiosk, it looks great.  They did such a good job! It was a long night but I know they are all very happy it is in and done with!

My New Job...

I started a new job at Davis Hospital Behavioral Health Unit. I never, ever, imagined I would work on Psych.

My first week was pretty rough for several reasons...

1. I haven't worked graveyards in over 3 years and really love my sleep.  I am a crappy sleeper at night and turns out I am even worse at sleeping during the day which equals no sleep most of the time.
2. I worked 4-13 hours shifts in one week after not working for nearly 4 months.  I handled quite well, Raymond was surprised, but migraines that have progressively gotten worse with this pregnancy got really bad this week.
3. Every night I was there we had to call security at least once to help restrain a patient that was being abusive to themselves, staff and/or property so that we could give them an injection of "calm the hell down!"
4. Crazy people are just fine.  I don't however like Mean Crazy people.  They make me insanely tense and uneasy.
5. The unit has not used the seclusion room or restraints as much in the last year as they did my first week at work. Yay, go me. They keep telling me it isn't usually like that but we shall see.

On the plus side...

1. I have a job.  A much needed job, you know with a baby coming, bills to pay, house to remodel, food to buy.  I needed a job.
2. I am eligible for insurance!  Hallelujah! Our price for medical & dental insurance for our family will be less than we currently pay for just me to have so-so medical insurance. So happy about this and the main reason I took this job.
3. I seem to interact well with the patients.  I learned that not everyone there is...appropriate for the environment and end up making the already irritable and labile patients more irritable.  I had a patient that did great with me and another nurse would not leave them alone and thus we ended up calling security for assistance to restrain the patient while we could medicate him.  Truth be told, I would have rather medicated the nurse.

My plus side list is smaller but the perks of the job (insurance and money) really are all that I am currently needing but I would like to have a job that I like again but I will keep giving it a try. I like being a nice nurse that really cares about my patients condition and progress but everyone else that works there is ornery and mean and don't like "nice nurses".  I won't let them change me into a mean nurse but it's not the best environment to work in.  Oh well, so goes the grown up life.

Date Night...

Life is busy.  So sometimes you have to improvise.  We were in desperate need of some 1:1 time. The following was what we got.

What you don't notice is that we are sitting on a roof at 9:30 pm eating sticky fingers that I had just picked up from our favorite, Winger's.  We got about 7 minutes of sitting together while we ate. Then we were back to roofing.  Not ideal, but hey that is better than what we had for several days-weeks prior to this.  I am so glad Raymond's parents roof is done.  Raymond and his brother Jim did it pretty much by themselves in 2 weeks, working only after work hours.  Celeste and I were the helpers, which with me nearly 6 months pregnant was not the ideal choice but we worked with what we had.

The first picture was blurry and he was too hungry and short on time to stop eating for a second picture...funny man!