The Riddle Family

November 2011

2012-01-03T10:13:00.011-07:00

November was filled with lots of fun. We started the month out with a preschool field trip to the Fire Station. This is where Eli began his obsession with fire trucks. Eli smiling in the sun. Even though it's silly, he's still the cutest boy ever.
Eli sprayin' the fire hose. He thought that was the coolest! Water, hoses and a truck! What could be better?

"Ears. Loud."
And the obsession begins!

In November we had to say goodbye to our good friends and neighbors The Colwells. Sariah misses her friend Tabitha. Come back guys!

In November we also visited family and friends in Salt Lake. We got to witness two seasons, Fall and Winter.

Building a snowman the first day we were there

Pouring ceramics at Gammy's house

Sariah helped me make a new nativity set for my collection.

Bowling at Olympus Bowling Lanes

Sariah and Daddy got a higher score than Eli and Mommy

We went to Gardner Village to do the scavenger hunt of elves with Kirk and the boys. After that we went back to the house and had some yummy hot chocolate. Heather, Tim and Ben found all of the elves!

A view of what Thanksgiving dinner was like

33 place settings- I'm extremely glad (as I'm sure was the rest of the family) that we decided to use disposable plates and cups. There was still plenty of dishes to do with the 2 platters of turkey, two big bowls of mashed potatoes, 2 pans of stuffing, 1 gallon of gravy, 8 dozen rolls, 2 pans of Jello, bean casserole, peas and 7 pies.

Eating one of Grandma's apples
A little bruised as it was found on the ground, but still delicious!

What a great sharer!

See....... Fall!

Cleaning up leaves

Glazing the nativity set Sariah and I poured

We also visited the Temple lights with my family. The lights are extremely breathtaking!

Sariah and Uncle Taylor at the Ludwig family reunion

We had an enjoyable month, especially our trip to Utah. We are so grateful we were able to see those we did. We are extremely blessed to be surrounded with such great friends and family.

October

2011-12-13T08:58:00.007-07:00

So, these past few months have flown right by! It's probably because of all the things we have been doing. Here's an update for October and stay tuned for November and December!

We have been wanting to have Sariah's hair trimmed for a very long time but just never got the guts to do it (she's never had it cut or even trimmed). Well, after much hassle with her hair being damaged from swimming so much, we decided to trim it. She wanted to be Rapunzel for Halloween so we decided to wait until after Halloween to do it. We asked her how short she wanted it and she said to her shoulders. We double, triple and quadruple checked that answer with her quite a few times and she ensured us that she did want it cut that short. Well Halloween day came and she couldn't wait. I also needed my hair cut so we decided to make it a girls day out. She came home with this cute cut and need I say that we absolutely love it! It's so much easier. We miss her long hair and the many things we could do with it but we definately don't miss the 30 minute brushing and screaming.

Sariah's 4th birthday came and went. We didn't have a big shindig for her this year because she has had a birthday party for every year before this. I let her pick out her cake and we had her favorite for dinner, pizza. She opened presents and that was that.

My cute girl with her long hair

My cute boy with the cutest dimples

Enjoying the awesome fall weather in Arizona by pulling Eli in the bike trailer

Sariah's preschool class went to Tolmachoff farms for a field trip. They played in the corn kernal, went through a corn maze, rode on a train, picked fresh vegetables and picked out a pumpkin. All the kids had a great time, including Eli!

Sariah and some of her preschool friends

Riding in the train

Waiting for the train

Eli and daddy picking radishes

Sariah's preschool class

In October we also took a trip to the Phoenix Zoo. We all had a blast!

Riding the tractor

Feeding the turtles Cheetos

Sariah in her Rapunzel dress I made her

She doesn't look too happy in this picture but she was just star-struck by Rapunzel and Flynn Rider that were at the Rose Valley Ward Trunk or Treat. She followed them around all night and I could tell she had a giant crush on Flynn.

Riding the train at the Trunk or Treat

Eli was Thomas the Train and I feel real bad I didn't get a better picture of him in his costume.

Tune in soon for the update on November and December!

The past two months!

2011-09-24T10:58:00.004-07:00

It has been a while since I've updated this but these past two months have been a whirlwind of events. We have been doing lots of yardwork and lots of swimming. Sariah and I both started back at school. She is loving her school. Me, not so much. I've learned a lot this past month in school but it has been so much information that I feel like they just throw it at you and see what sticks. I had my first exam and did a lot better than I thought I would.

I passed my IV and blood draw check off which means I can now do it in my clinicals. I inserted my first IV and foley last weekend in the ER at Del Webb Hospital and it was a big deal for me!!!

Also, Sariah got her tonsils out about two weeks ago and it has been a rough recovery. She is finally starting to act more like herself and occasionally complains that her ear hurts (a common side effect to the healing of a tonsillectomy) but she's been going back to preschool and is such a trooper. I got mine out about 5 years ago and it was honestly the worst pain I have been in and it stinks when you can't eat what you want.

The night before her surgery, we went to the library to pick out some movies and then we went to the grocery store to let her pick out some juices, ice cream, popsicles and soup for her to eat. In preparation for her surgery, we rented this book at the library called, "Good-bye Tonsils". It was the best idea! It is all about a little girl who is going to get her tonsils out and it goes through all the things that happen. We felt like it had prepared her for everything, including the sore throat. When I tried to take the book back to the library, Sariah burst into tears. I think she's a little sentimental about, especially since she is still healing, so I checked it out again for her. Anyway, in the book, the little girls mom got her a cake the night before the surgery that said "Goodbye Tonsils" on it. So I did the same for Sariah and she loved it. It was an ice cream cake so she could still eat it after her surgery. Sariah and Daddy right before surgeryGiving a thumbs up!

Her and her silly socks

Her tonsils (it's hard to see, but you can tell that they are inflammed and red)

No, somebody at the bakery did not write the words. I only had the food coloring gel here so that was the best I could do. Sorry, Amy Nelson! You are probably really embarassed for me.

I think she liked it!

All in all, the surgery went great. She was in the OR for about 20 minutes, took about 30 minutes to recover and we were out of there in a total of 3 hours (the rest was the signing papers, talking to the doctors, getting vital signs, etc.) They said she did great and that she started crying when they put the mask on her (I would be scared too with a huge mask going over my nose and mouth and whole bunch of scary faces looking down on me). They had also commented on how mature she is. The recovery nurse said, "If it wasn't for her size, I would think she was 5 or 6 because she is so mature." Makes me a proud mama.

This is exactly what Sariah said verbatim "I did the balloon and the mask on me. I was scared but that's ok. It smells like bubble gum. My mommy and daddy camed to see me and bringed me a pillow pet. I had a purple bandaid on my hand and a clippy on my toe so I could have all of my blood. And I getted to wheel in the wheelchair. I feel sick and sleepy. Today it's raining with lots of lightning."

As a family, we always try to go to a Diamondbacks game every year. This year our tickets were free because the kids participated in the library's Summer Reading Program. We had a great night out as a family and they had an awesome fireworks show after the game. It's always nice to go to a game and your team wins!

Well that's all I can think of right now. The kids are growing big. We are excited to go to Utah for Thanksgiving to see all of our family and friends. We love you all and hope you are enjoying the Fall weather wherever you are (it's not here yet).

First day of school!

2011-09-24T09:52:00.004-07:00

First day of preschool

"Hmmm."

Pouting face

Such a pretty, grown up little girl!

COOKIE MONSTER! RAARR!

The many poses of playing with cars!

2011-09-24T09:35:00.005-07:00

THIS BOY MAKES ME SMILE!

Summer Family Vacation, Part 2

2011-07-21T20:45:00.006-07:00

So, for part 2, we went camping up near Sedona, Arizona around Slide Rock National Park. We left on Wendesday and intended to stay until Saturday but we were all "camped" out and our air mattress had a leak so it made for 2 really long nights. We ended up leaving on Friday. We went "real" camping. We had no amenities, not even a picnic table. Spence built us a potty and the kids took a bath in a wash basin.

When I was looking on the internet on fun things to do while camping, I came across Geocaching. Geocaching is like a treasure hunt. You get GPS coordinates of where someone has hidden a box. You use the GPS to find the box and you can take something out of the box (usually small treasures) and you put your own "treasure" back in. This sounded like a blast so I borrowed our friends' GPS, took some things to replace what we took out, and we tried it. The first one said it was only a .5 mile hike from our campground but because we were still trying to figure out the best way to read the GPS, we ended up not finding it and our .5 mile hike ended up being around 5 miles, circling the top of a mountain. We weren't prepared with sunscreen on the kids or ourselves, so we were all fried. This was also another reason we ended up leaving early.

On our way down into Sedona, we decided to try the geocaching again. There were a few right off the road that we were "off-roading" in our van. The first one, I found all by myself. Those who know me know that I am not a great hiker but I do try. Well, I was so excited to find this geocache that I booked it and it was exhiliarating. Spence even commented that this is a way to get me to hike. Spence found 3 others with the dogs' help as I sat in the car and waited with the kids. There was nothing all that great in the geocaches but it was still a blast and we will try it again with some around here.

After the geocaching, we went to Slide Rock. It's a fun park where there are rock formations that are really slippery with a river going over them. So it's just a nature made water park but I think it's more for older kids.The water was really cold but Sariah jumped off a 10 foot cliff with Spencer. Good thing we brought their life jackets! Spence and I couldn't both be down at the water together because the dogs weren't allowed near the water so one of us had to wait at the top of the stairs with the dogs. After about 2 hours, we had had enough and wanted to get home.

Overall, this trip was fabulous and we were able to see things in our home state that we haven't seen the four years we have been here. The kids had fun and that's all that matters.

Our family at Slide Rock

Spencer giving the dogs kisses for a job well done.

I'm so happy that I found it!

Our toilet

The dogs loved camping. It was fun to put a glow stick on their collar and see two different floating lights in the middle of the woods. They loved playing fetch and there were no rules to break while camping. They even got to lay next to us in the tent!

DIRT MONSTER!

I think he was trying to roll his eyes at me on this one.

This was the first night after only being at the camping spot for about an hour. It's gonna be fun!

Daddy made this rope swing. Brilliant!

Summer Family Vacation, Part 1

2011-07-21T19:19:00.010-07:00

Spence got July 9th-17th off from work because we had originally planned to go to Yellowstone for the Riddle family reunion. After much deliberation, we decided that it wouldn't be wise to drive that far (about an 18 hour drive) for 4 days at Yellowstone and then have to make the trip back. With gas prices being as they are, they cost of plane tickets would run at least $800 dollars for our family, plus trying to figure out what to do with the dogs. This would make the trip over $1000 dollars. And driving that far would also cost lots of moola and would not be very fun with two kids. So Spence and I decided to do a "staycation". We used some of the money we would've used on Yellowstone for some camping gear and some Phoenix fun.

My mom wanted to come down to see the kids (it's been about 4 months and she misses them) and so it ended up being great because she was able to watch the kids while I studied for my Microbiology test (which I passed, yeah!) and so that Spence and I could start off the staycation with a trip to the temple on Saturday the 9th. It was a great experience for us both and a great way to start a great week. We went to church on Sunday and had yummy shishkabobs for dinner and got ready for our next fun filled day at.........

Sunsplash!

My mom and brother Nathan went with us to Sunsplash and they watched the kids while Spence and I went on some of the bigger slides. However, they did have quite a few big slides that both of the kids could go on and we had a blast taking them down! Sariah was done going down the slides when they tipped over in the pitch black slide and Spencer landed on her head. What's a summer vacation without watermelon?At the arcade Sariah just wanted to ride on the motorcycles and I got to play Guitar Hero.

We quit after 3 holes of minature golf. The kids were exhausted and it was so humid and hot, even at 8 p.m. We had so much fun and I think my mom and brother did too!

The next day we decided to go to the Phoenix Children's Museum. We have never been and we hear it is so much fun for every age, and it was! Spence enjoyed himself too. It brought out the kid in him (which isn't too hard to find)

Sariah making icecream cones
This marketplace was unbelievable. The food looked so real and Sariah spent a good portion of the day here. She loved going through and picking what she wanted then taking it to the cash register where some of the older kids liked to play cashier. I'm just glad she doesn't have a whole lot of junk food in her cart. She loves her fruits and vegetables!
Eli playing with the split peas. He loved it! And the best thing about this place, you don't have to clean up the mess!!!!!!

This is Spencer being a kid!

The kids also loved the noodle forest........

and the tricycle carwash.

Sariah painting the big castle

This treehouse was amazing. Spencer wants to make one for us someday. And the great thing about it, there's no tree!!! Just a huge contraption of wood, medal and fun things like a real boat and a bathtub. It is definately a work of art.

The kids had so much fun in Part 1 of our family vacation but stay tuned for part 2 coming soon!

Dance, swim and summer!

2011-06-17T11:04:00.008-07:00

This past month has been filled with dance, swimming and fun summer adventures. Here is a layout of what we've been up to. Sariah really wants a big girl bike so instead of just buying it for her, we are teaching her a lesson about work and she is earning it. She has a chore list of 25 chores to do before she gets her bike, helmet and doll chair. She picked it out already and we have a picture of it on the top of her list. Some of the chores are really easy like helping mommy make dinner and cleaning the bases of the windows. Some of them are really difficult like cleaning up dog poop and cleaning the toilets. She's only got seven more chores left and then she'll get her bike! She'll probably have it by the end of this week.
Sariah just finished up swim lessons for the summer. We've been going since May and it's just getting too hot. She's really loved every teacher she had but she especially liked Mr. Justin. He was great with her and we'll miss it but there always next year. She can't move up to a higher level anyway because the next level up is for 5 year olds and she's only 3! She's a great swimmer and has learned a lot. She needs to learn to "swim with more independence" and "without her nose plugged" (what her report card said).

We wanted to try out ice skating instead of dance. Sariah enjoyed it but I think it's too much for her right now. She went there thinking she was going to do spins and skate backwards and she could barely stand up on the skates. Maybe in a couple years we'll try it again. I think dance is more for her.
This is Sariah's dance recital costume. They did a tap dance to "Patch of Heaven" and it was adorable. I did get it on video but right now, Blogger is having issues. I will make sure to post it soon!

Mr. Eli just loves his Rice Krispies! This was all his doing. He wanted to dress up like Spidey Girl.

Mr. Eli watering the lawn..... and himself!

Spence went with his friend Pat to hike the Grand Canyon. He was very sore when he came home but he said it was all-in-all a good trip and one to cross of his list of things to accomplish.

I haven't done anything really exciting. I've done some sewing in between being a mom and a part-time student. I've taken up doing piano lessons again but only for one family (because I've had them forever) Other than that, nothing to extreme.

Overall, our family is doing great. We just got over a bought of the stomach flu but we are back on our feet and loving life in Arizona!

Easter, among other things!

2011-05-17T21:55:00.005-07:00

So, I know, it's been a while. About a month and a half but I have a good excuse this time. I had finals and I guess all my studying and procrastinating the blogging was successful as I........ PASSED BLOCK ONE! Phew! I'm doing a couple of online courses for my Bachelor's program (just Microbiology and a College Math class) that aren't too difficult and then I start Block two the end of August. Here's what's been happening while I've been studying and during my Easter break. "SIT"- one of their commands. Buddy knows sit, stand, high five, shake, lay down, crawl, roll over, stay, spin, up, down, say "yes", crate, hurry up, heel and come. Brody knows sit, stay, shake, stand, up, down, crate and lay down.
Yes, Brody's paws are dyed. We decided to have some fun with him while we were dying eggs. Hey, we can't do it to Buddy so, of course, he gets the short end of the stick on this one.

I made this for Spencer!

I took Sariah and her friend Payton to see Beauty and the Beast at the local high school. They had a "Tea Party with Belle" with they played musical chairs, signed autographs and took pictures with all the characters from the show. Sariah was one of the last four left (out of about 20) in musical chairs. She really can move!Sariah's preschool class. This week is their last week of classes. She really has learned a lot this year and we are going to miss this group of kids.

Sariah's reading up on her upcoming job of potty training Eli.

Summer is here! (well not really but it certainly feels like it)

We are enjoying swimming in our pool. We made the great investment in getting a solar cover for our pool and even though those pools in our neighborhood are sitting in 70 degrees, our's is a nice 85-90 degrees. Perfect for swimming!

Sariah enjoying her watermelon maybe a little too much!

Eli just can't let his corn down, even to eat some watermelon.

Eli and daddy at Midwestern's Easter Egg hunt

After the egg hunt, we did host our 3rd Annual Bunny Bash at the park. Pictures will come. We were so busy hosting, we didn't take any pictures.

Easter morning. Sariah was so excited for her Rapunzel barbie doll. She got one for Christmas and only a few days before Easter, Buddy got a hold of it and chewed it to pieces. She also got Tangled DVD, markers, diving toys, dresses and candy. Eli got some clothes, a car, a Buzz figure, Floaties and candy. Mom and dad got a new garage door opener and some candy.

Can't get enough of these kids!

Happy Easter!

Dance and a wedding.

2011-04-05T21:22:00.006-07:00

We went up to Utah for my sister Natalie's wedding. I went up about a week early to help with wedding things and to throw a bridal shower AND bachelorette party for her. The bridal shower was a blast. We had a great turn out. It was on St. Patrick's day so we did tied it into that theme (which was also perfect because her colors were green and brown). I played Irish music and we had soup, salad and rolls. We played a few games and she got a lot of presents. Natalie with the "blushing bride" my grandma makes for all brides in the family (yes, that is a toilet plunger) The wedding was beautiful. I conducted the luncheon after the ceremony and my brother Justin did a great job on the DJing (DJ JJ is his name, music is his game)

The newlyweds

The flower girl (and might I say she's adorable)

Eli after getting a hold of 3 eclairs

The Ludwig siblings

The car after Spence decorated it

Sariah in her robot box (pretty blue eyes)

Sariah bowing as she recieves her dance certificate

Outside the house

2011-04-05T21:05:00.003-07:00

Inside the house

2011-04-05T20:36:00.005-07:00

Here are some long awaited pictures of our house for those of you who still read this blog. Master bathroom Kids' toy room

Kids' bathroom

Family room

Eli's bedroom

Sariah's bedroom

Dining area

Kitchen

Kitchen/Dining area

Guest bedroom/Office

Guest bathroom

Piano/toy room (suppose to be a living room but there's not any furniture)

Piano (notice the new piano bench- thanks Amy and Craiglist)

Entry

Our quick trip to Utah!

2011-02-27T16:13:00.002-07:00

Spence's brother and his wife got sealed in the Mt. Timpanogos temple on Saturday the 12th so we planned to make a quick trip up to Utah to see that. I had clinicals the day before and Spence had to return to work on Monday so we flew in Saturday morning and came back Monday morning. It was a very quick trip but well worth it. The sealing was beautiful and it was so nice to have every one of the Riddle siblings in the temple all at once (a first!) They asked Spence to take pictures outside and I must say, he did a great job. Here are just a few.

It's a dog-ee dog world!

2011-02-27T15:52:00.003-07:00

In our household, one dog does not suffice. We decided to get another one. With Buddy growing up (he's almost a year) and being well-trained (except the excitedness when new people come along- he is still a puppy) we thought that getting him a little "buddy" would be fun and that he would expire some of his energy to the new friend. And boy, were we right. This new puppy has been the best idea for us. We had some people asking if we're going to the "looney bin" for getting another one but we trusted our instincts and (so-far) it's been great (given it's been a week).

We named him Brody. The way we came up with his name is Spence and I used to teach Nursery together and we had a little boy in our class named Brody who loved playing on his own. He was kind of shy around the other kids. So when Spence went to go look at this litter of pups he had told himself to get the calmest of the pack because we did the exact opposite last time and got Buddy- a ball full of energy! So this little guy was wandering around by himself, doing his own thing and it reminded us of this little boy we had in Nursery. Hence the name, Brody. He's a golden retriever/yellow lab mix. Plus, Brody and Buddy sound so cute together. And they play together really well. Our family is definately a "dog" family.

Say "eese"!

2011-01-31T21:12:00.009-07:00

(Sorry- Blogger wouldn't let me move the photos down to the right journaling so please see journaling at bottom of post)

The Riddle Boys

The Riddle Ladies

Sorry it's been about a month since the last post. With a trip to Utah, still moving in, and starting school, things have been crazy. That's my story all the time but it seriously feels like nothing slows down here. We are always in the middle of some sort of change whether it's a new job, a new house, new sicknesses, trips.......well you get the picture. This last month has been full of fun times and I will try and sum them up.

The last week of December we went up to Utah to celebrate Spencer's dad's 70th birthday. It was a complete surprise for him. The whole family (we are talking 15 kids and 15 grandkids) met up at the State Capitol and took family pictures, then we went to his brother Jared's house and had cake and watch a dvd of his life and gave him presents. Then all us adults went out to eat at Olive Garden. That was the first time all the adults together had a dinner without any kids. We saw a lot of old friends and spent New Year's eve at Cameron and Rachel Bailey's playing Settlers and watching Despicable Me. We are so lucky to have so many good friends and such a great family!

Last week I started nursing school and boy is it tough. Everyone asks me how it is and I always say "It's not the material itself it's just so much material". Spence says I have a glow everytime I come home. He can just tell them I am enjoying it (which I am). I do, however, miss the kids a great deal but they seem to adjust just fine. They like having daddy all to themselves. He's a great dad and does stuff with them that I don't do a lot (like reading books, taking them on walks).

We struggled finding a babysitter that we trusted. We interview 10 or so people but we walked away from the interviews feeling totally insecure about each one of them. Spence had the thought (or maybe, inspiration) to rely on our friends (who we trust just like family) to help watch the kids until we can (hopefully) find someone suitable for us. Our friends were more than willing to help and we have our dear friends Christina and Christine watching them for us. We also have a few backups when we need it. We are so blessed to have such great friends that are willing to help whenever needed.

I have my first test on Wednesday (eek!) and my first clinical on Friday (big eek!). I am learning a lot (given I've only had class for a week) and in those 36 hours I have been in class, I still love it and look forward to the other knowledge I will gain.

We got a huge bare wall in our front room so we decided that since it's so hard for us to take a REALLY great picture by ourselves, we'd hire a photographer to do it for us. We found this lady through Craigslist. Her name is Joanna with Tenderlook Photography. She charged us $75 for the session and gave us the CD with the copyrights. I think she did a fabulous job. And on top of the great pictures, she also gave Spence tips on using his camera and starting a photography business.

Sariah started dance class on my first day of nursing school. Spence took her and said she did a great job. She's in a ballet/tap/tumbling class and is learning a song from "Ariel" (The Little Mermaid). I will post a video of her last dance lesson so you can see how cute she is. Heck! I need to see how cute she is too because I have to miss everyone of her classes.

Eli's is getting to be so big. He's climbing on everything and has finally mastered the stairs. He also likes to push buttons especially on the computer (when mom's doing homework) and on the phone. Last night he had a little toy camera and was holding it up to his eyes and said "eese". It was so cute! It's amazing what he picks up especially since he doesn't communicate by talking but he definately understands what you are saying and telling him.

Everyday we feel so blessed with all that our Heavenly Father has blessed us with. We try, but mostly fail, to not take our blessings for granted. We love each one of you and hope the best for your families. Thank you!

A very busy two weeks

2010-12-26T10:45:00.005-07:00

Now that Christmas is over and things are beginning to wind down (well, sort of) I was reflecting back on this year's "Christmas season" and realized how much actually happened in a two week time span. Our adventures are only about to get crazier with a trip to Utah next week and my start of nursing school in 3 weeks. I just wanted to sum it all up for you so here goes:

Thursday, December 9th- I sang "O Holy Night" at our Relief Society Christmas dinner while Spence finally moved all our stuff into the house- with the help of some fabulous friends. It took about 4 hours and our boxes along with our grandma's piano made it safely into our new home. Thanks guys!

Saturday December 11th-Elijah's first birthday (celebration to follow). Sariah picked out a remote control puppy (don't know if it was more for her than for him but he likes it). Went to a birthday party and the Ward christmas party on this night also. And after seeing Santa and talking with friends we headed to go pick out our Christmas tree. We brought it home (along with some lights from Walgreens) and trimmed the tree and put up our Christmas decorations.

Sunday December 12th- I broke my thumb by slipping on laundry on the tile.

Wednesday December 15th- Elijah's one year checkup-is 80% in weight, 75% in height and had to get 3 shots in which we had to wait to make sure he didn't have an allergic reaction.

Friday December 17th- Our Six year anniversary! We went to Ah-So tepanyaki (without kids). It was a great night and we met some new friends at our table.

Saturday December 18th- hosted our (my friend Amy and mine) piano recital at our new house while Spence took Sariah to a birthday party. My family arrived in town from Salt Lake City and we opened presents with them. The kids got some fun stuff including a new Ferrari of a wagon called the Little Tykes Deluxe Ride-n-Relax Wagon, a Tinkerbell mushroom chair, clothes, cars and many other cool toys. Spence and I got some fun outdoor christmas decorations that I had my dad set up the next day for our Christmas party.

Sunday December 19th- Sang "Breath of Heaven" in church with my friend Christina. Hosted a birthday party for Eli/ Christmas Dinner/ Housewarming party here. We ate ham, cheese potatoes, rolls and salad with some yummy appetizers and jello. We had a great time with great company. Thanks for all who came!

Eli and his awesome cake my friend, Amy, made for him. She's amazing!!!

Monday December 20th- made gingerbread houses

Tuesday December 21st- took family pictures, went to temple lights and Organ stop pizza

Wednesday December 22nd- went to zoo lights

Thursday December 23rd- finally got our king size bed we ordered

Friday December 24th- Christmas eve- attended CCV service and searched everywhere for somewhere to eat at around 8:30. Everybody closed at 8:00 or 9:00 so we had to resort to Denny's. Did some good there.

Saturday December 25th- Christmas- had lots of fun with our little family- made cinnamon rolls, read Luke 2 and watched the Nativity movie, Nora's Christmas gift and the Other Wise Man. I stepped on a Christmas light and half of it went into my foot. It still hurts really bad.

I got a house from Spence and a new laptop for school. Spence got a new house and some socks (that's all he wanted).

Sariah got a big wheel, a rapunzel doll (both are things she really wanted). She also got some dress up clothes and a Snap-n-Style doll.

Buddy got a huge bone and some treats.

Elijah got Tonka trucks, Mr. Potato Head, a train set and a car mat with 8 toy cars.

We are just barely sending out our Christmas cards (better late than never right?) and some traditions went to the wayside (like picking an ornament for our tree and our Gingerbread contest) but this year will be one to remember. We are in a new house- our first house and Christmas is so magical for our 3 year old. We also have a lot to be thankful for this year. Our kids are relatively healthy, Spence has a job that supports our family, I am able to attend school, we have friends and family that care and love us- and we do to them. We have everything we could possibly need. Most of all, we have a Savior that gave his life for us and a Heavenly Father who sacrificed his Son so that we can return to live with them both again. I hope this season was great for your family as it was for ours and may this new year bring new adventures, new trials to overcome and plenty of happiness for you! We love you.

Oh my goodness......so sorry!

2010-12-01T11:18:00.005-07:00

I'm really sorry it's been a month since my last post. We have had a whirlwind of events happen. I'll try to sum them up as best as I can. First of all, I have had a ton of doctor's appointments to go to with the kids. Sariah and Eli have both had a bought of the sniffles and after 4 months of coughing and some wheezing I finally decided to take Eli into the doctor. Along with his food allergies, his pediatrician decided to send us to an allergist to see if it could be seasonal allergies. Well they did some testing and it came up that he is very allergic to milk and eggs and feathers (feathers? who would've know?). He also has asthma just like his sister and allergy season has really done them no good. Both are on Singulair everyday and Eli has 3 breathing treatments to try to get his cough to go away. He's doing much better and goes in for a check-up in the next couple of weeks.

At Sariah's 3 year old check-up, the doctor voiced a concern for her protruding belly button (it's been like that since she was a baby) and sent us to see a pediatric surgeon. We had to go all the way to Phoenix Children's Hospital for the appointment and after a consulation with the doctor, we decided that it was small enough to not worry about right now and that we'll keep an eye out for it. But in the exam he noticed that her lymphnodes are enlarged so today we are going to the pediatrician to evaluate that some more.

I have to get go in for routine doctor appointments to get all up to date on my shots for nursing school. I don't know if I have mentioned that in a previous post but I start nursing school at Mesa Community College at Boswell hospital in January. It wasn't the program option I was looking for (I wanted the weekend day program or the weekday night program). I got the full time, 4 semester traditional programs. I will graduate in December 2012. We are a little worried about the timing and how we'll work it out with the kids but I have faith that everything will work out, even if we need to find them a part time sitter for a few hours each day.

Spencer had to work on Thanksgiving (we thought it was better than working on Christmas) so I decided to not make dinner. We went to see Disney's Tangled in the morning (very cute show that we'll definately add to our library). Our friends, the Cavalari's (the girls that I watch), invited us over to join them on Thanksgiving. It was a fabulous dinner with wonderful company. We had a deep fried turkey (best turkey I've ever had), mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes (Eli absolutely loved these), stuffing, 6 cup salad, green bean casserole and peanut butter and pumpkin pie for dessert. We even got to take home leftovers for Spence which he was extremely grateful. It was a fabulous Thanksgiving. Thanks Cavalari family!

Spence then was offered to work in Flagstaff over the weekend so we decided to make a family trip out of it so Sariah could see some snow. We stayed there from Friday afternoon to Sunday night. We went to a lights festival, saw Santa, and just had a good time together as a family. Me and the kids went and saw Megamind to pass time while daddy was working. I enjoyed drinking hot chocolate (because hot chocolate in Phoenix is just not the same) and we had a great time but were ready to come home to the warmer weather and cleared roadways.

Sariah loved the snow. She was so excited to make a snowman with daddy.

I can't put my arms down!

Mommy and Daddy snowman

The big thing that happened is that we bought a house!!!! Wahoo! Finally! It's a 2 level, 2835 square foot, 5 bedroom/3 bath house with a pool. We are in the process of getting it ready to move into. We plan to move in next Thursday. We are spending this entire weekend that Spence has off, painting and getting things ready. We will post pictures of the inside once it is finished.

We hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving. We are so thankful for everything in our lives that our Heavenly Father has blessed us with. Thank you all for the support and love you show our family.

Parties, Fun and a house......oh my!

2010-10-28T10:37:00.011-07:00

Sariah wanted to be Tinkerbell this year so we decided that our family would be Peter Pan themed and I of course took it upon myself to make the costumes. Man, what an endeavor. I wouldn't have been able to finish them if I hadn't of had the help of my mom. She came down here a couple of weekends ago and bless her heart, she sewed her little brains out! But they all turned out fabulous if I do say so myself. We have entered our family into a few contests and are hoping to win a few things for our new house.

Spence costume was made using a Simplicity pattern. I made everything including the hat, boots, ruffles and the coat. This was, by far, the hardest sewing endeavor I've had to tackle. Even with my two years sewing Lagoon costumes! The hardest part was getting the top part of the coat to fit Spence just right. As many of you know, he's an extremely tall man with little "pudge" (especially since he's lost 20 lbs this year!) so I had to use the XL size for his "lengthiness" but he's definately not an XL in the "wide" area. It was fun to find the braid and the buttons that totally made the costume work all together. And I do say, he makes a very sexy, Captain Hook!

The approximate cost of his costume was about $75 for the whole thing-a-ma-jigger. Not to bad, especially since it's tailored to him (I probably would find one that had too short of arms....well, too short of everything) and I couldn't find just the coat for less than $50 on the internet. Plus, I have had the fun and craziness of constructing it and the pride in seeing the finish product.

For Sariah's Tinkerbell I used an adult small size green dress, took it in, cut off the bottom, put sequins and rhinestones on it and called it good. My grandma gave Sariah the slippers for her birthday so I just put elastic on them to keep them from slipping off her feet. The wings I picked up from Savers for $2.50. She has the perfect blonde hair for it! Total cost of the costume- $12.50.
Eli's Peter Pan costume was the easiest. I got a shirt from Saver's for $1.00 and cut it up and made a collar. The belt came with some corduroy pants he has had for a while. The leggings are Sariah's (size 2T) and the hat was made from cheap felt sheets and a red feather. Total cost for Eli's costume... a whopping $2!
My Wendy costume was made using a Simplicity women's nightgown pattern. It was for a shorter style so I just lengthened it and instead of buttons on the fron (like they had it) I converted it to a zipper on the back. I then added a thick ribbon to the waist and it was done! Total cost for my costume was about $17.00 (mainly for the pattern and lots of the pretty fabric).

So all in all, our costumes turned out great and thanks to Joann's coupons it ended up being a pretty reasonably priced Halloween this year. If anybody wants to borrow them for next year (given you are roughly the same sizes as us), let us know. We'd love for them to get good use!

I had to finish these costumes for a Halloween party we were invited to. We had an enjoyable night. Thanks for inviting us, Nielson's! You guys throw a "spook"tacular event!

The day of the Halloween party was also Sariah's birthday so earlier in the day we had a party at the park. I had everything planned out that I would get there an hour early (it was at 10:30), get a ramada (it's Thunderbird park-they have tons of them) set up and things would go smoothly from there. Boy, did I have it wrong.

Well we left an hour early but I had to pick up a few things from Walmart and blow up some balloons. Before I started to do my "quick paced" shopping, I dropped off the balloons at the customer service to have them work on them while I was shopping. I came to the check with groceries in hand and the manager was just handing them off for someone else to do them. She said it would just be a few minutes so I took my groceries out to the car-where Spence was waiting with the kids- went back in and waited, and waited, and waited........and waited. For 25 minutes!!!!!!! I kept saying to myself, "How long does it take to blow up 8 balloons?", "Should I just leave?", "I'm going to be late!" but I kept a smile on my face. I think they could tell I was a little peeved because they kept saying "I'll go check and see how your balloons are going".

Well, we didn't get to the park until 5 minutes before the party was supposed to start and as we pulled up I could just tell that it was going to be packed and we weren't going to even get a table. They had this baptist church that took half of the ramadas. By that point I was in tears and so frustrated that things didn't work how I had planned. I had such great support from the parents and my husband and it turned out to be a great party. We found a nice spot under a tree, given we didn't have any tables and chairs, and we had the party there. The kids didn't care. Sariah didn't care. She had fun. And that's what matters, right?

The kids played on the playground, sat in a circle and painted pumpkins, and hit a pinata full of fun surprises. We had some of Sariah's favorite foods like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, veggies and dip, raisins, goldfish crackers and pretzels. We also had Capri Suns. After the pinata we cut the cake (which was absolutely perfect-made by my friend Amy) and opened presents. Like I said, Sariah had a really great time. She didn't understand why I was crying and now I look back and don't know why I did. I just wanted it to be perfect for her and it turned out to be.

Eli's past time was playing with the balloons. Eventually all seven ended up flying away.Eli playing with the pumpkins

The beautiful cake my friend Amy made. It was Funfetti cake with vanilla frosting and was absolutely delicious and very perfect for Sariah. Thank you Amy!

Eli eating bread mixed with grass and leaves. Yum!

Left to right: Back-Gianna, Jessie, Bella, Sariah, Josh, McKay, Gabe, Eva

Front- Eli, Lydia, Eva, Audrey, Jay, Hailey

Sariah and her friend Lydia

So another form of news is that I have been accepted into Maricopa Community College's nursing program and will be starting in January. Hurray! I am so excited! The only downfall is that it's not the program I was hoping for (either the weekend or weeknight part time program). Instead it's the full time day program for four semesters. When I called to ask the school what my schedule was going to be they said to plan on Monday through Friday 8-4 but when asking current students their schedules they said it varies and sometimes you only have classes two days a week. Pretty much, I have to be flexible. With that schedule, it looks like Spence might have to be Mr. Mom sometimes. He asked for all closing shifts starting in January and there might be a few nights where I'll need to get a sitter for a few hours but I'm not too worried about it. I'm sure it will all work out. At least I hope it does! But since Spence will be Mr. Mom during the days, it means he will have to take my place teaching Sariah's preschool class. Here's what we did the first week. He got a little on the job training and taught the kids how to make icecream (for our lesson about dairy products) It went really well, the kids really enjoyed him.....and the icecream.

I love this picture because it shows how beautiful and long Sariah's hair is. After 3 years we still haven't cut it. Don't know if we ever will :)!

Middle of October and still playing in the water. Gotta love this weather!

One more thing to note, our offer on our house was approved. We did the inspection and all went well- a few minor bumps and bruises on the house but nothing major (it's to be expected for a nine year old house). We are finishing up the final paperwork and our closing date is set for the 15th. Wish us well. Please pray for us. We think and are almost for certain that this house is the one for us. After six years, it's about time!

Hope you all are doing well! Have a fun and safe Halloween holiday! We love you all!

Staying cool!

2010-10-05T10:18:00.005-07:00

So this summer feels like it's been a long one and now that it's starting to cool down (hopefully) I just wanted to give a shout out and say "Goodbye Summer....until next year!" Here are some things we've been doing to stay cool and stay busy while we patiently wait for the approval for our house. Spence made an awesome quilt. He's been working on it for quite sometime and finally finished. I'm pretty proud of him. He designed it himself with no help from me whatsoever. It's made out of his old t-shirts and jeans. What do you think?
Pretty impressive, eh?

I've been keeping myself busy by making our halloween costumes this year. Probably not the most frugal way of doing costumes but it will definately be the most fun and rewarding Halloween yet. I will also be entering them in a few contest so hopefully something will come out of that. Stay tuned for pictures of those pieces of work.

Eli is just like his older sister. He loves, loves, loves watermelon. He get frustrated because it slips out of his hands so he goes for the "doggie way" with no hands!

The kids and I went to the AZ Kids Expo one day while Spence was working to get out of the house and have some fun. Sariah saw lots of her favorite characters there.

Sariah and Strawberry Shortcake

Sariah and Dora the Explorer

Sariah got to sit on a police motorcycle. She was so excited and this made Daddy a little jealous.

Sariah and Clifford

Sariah was so excited to see Spongebob but with him being so big, she got a little "shy" (that is what she said she was). I think she probably scared but posed in a picture with him anyway.

They had this neat petting zoo and Sariah loved the little baby goats, the cow, and the sheep.

She also rode on a pony

I think her favorite part of the day was getting her face painted by Ariel. She's a big fan, just like her Mommy.

Sariah shaving her face

Sariah broke our video camera and I have lots of videos I want to take. Eli is a walker and should I say a "toddler" but he's still just my little man. It's crazy and sad to think how fast time has flown by. Sariah is loving preschool and has learned to say the Pledge of Allegiance- which is another video I will take as soon as I get a new video camera (hopefully soon). We are in the process of buying a house. It's a short sale and is waiting for the bank approval which we should hopefully have soon.

Until next time everybody!

Food, Friends, Fun and a Funky Rash!

2010-09-17T14:44:00.002-07:00

On Sunday we decided to have some friends over to celebrate the start of another school semester (except for Spence) and everyone coming back from the summer away. Believe it or not, we had 11 adults and six kids fit into our tiny two bedroom apartment. It was a fun night of food and conversation. Spence and I made chicken, rolls, potatoes and gravy, vegetables and jello. Along with a beautiful and yummy cake and some delicious cookies, the night was so fun! Thanks, guys, for coming!

So, I'm journaling this so I can remember the sequence of events that has brought us to this day. Back before our trip about a month ago, Eli was coming down with a cough and was scratching his ear so I figured he had another ear infection (only his 2nd one). I thought to take him to the doctor to make sure that if it was an EI that he would get the antibiotics he would need and he could be a happy camper in Florida. Well we took him to a doctor (not his normal doc) who said he just a Upper Respiratory infection and that he was okay.

Well, he continued to have his cough for the next couple of weeks. Well last week it turned into a pretty major cough (sometimes gagging and throwing up) and a high fever. I took him to the children's urgent care and that doc told me it was sinusitis with a hint of ear infection (from what I learned, babies don't have sinuses- correct me if I'm wrong). She prescribed him Amoxicillin (which Eli absolutely.....hates!)

Well he's been on that for about a week, no help whatsoever. We took him into the hot tub (not very hot) on Monday night and that night we noticed he had a rash. The next day he was going in for his 9 month checkup so I waited and asked his doctor. He said that the rash could be an allergy to the chlorine or bromine in the hot tub. He listened to his chest really well and heard his lungs rattling a bit. He believed he had a viral infection but wanting us to try and see if it was allergies. He told us to bring him in if it didn't get better. Well, it got worse! Not only was he throwing up a ton last night but his rash got a ton worse! When he woke up this morning it was all over his body from the top of his head, his fingertips and his toes. Poor guy!

I took him in today and a different doctor confirmed Eli's real doctor's diagnosis. A viral infection called Roseola. It should be gone in a few days but boy, does it look bad! Anyways, this is how this past month has been with Eli. Even though he's had it rough, he has been such a trooper and still continues to make us smile.

He is no longer a cruiser now, we consider him a walker. He took 15 steps in a row today. Sometimes he gets lazy or gives up and then he sits and crawls but we have a 9 month old walker on our hands. Life is about to get a little more crazy!

Buddy giving Eli kisses

His face got the worse of it. It's okay though 'cuz he's still the cutest little boy around!

Fun videos from our trip

2010-09-10T15:22:00.003-07:00

OUR REAL LAST DAY!

2010-09-02T13:01:00.005-07:00

So after a suprisingly restful night we all woke up at about 10:00 a.m., packed up our belongings (what we had of them) and took a taxi to the nearest subway station to do some sight seeing. We only had a few hours before we had to be back to the airport so we went to Central Park (the "That's How You Know" place), found a yummy deli to eat at (with delicious cheesecake) and strolled around Times Square. We then took the subway back to the airtrain where the boys left to go get the luggage at the hotel. We then met them at the airport, got all checked in, and had a pretty uneventful flight home. Luckily the kids slept pretty good on the airplane and we all got a few hours of "shut eye". It was a very fun, exhiliarating trip with a few mishaps but we had a blast and afterall who better to share it with than my awesome family and some pretty awesome friends!

OUR LAST DAY....or so I thought!

2010-09-02T10:47:00.002-07:00

We returned the cars at around 12:00, plenty of time to get to the airport for our 3:42 flight. When we got to the ticket counter to check-in, the lady told us that there were only 2 open seats and that we probably wouldn't be on this flight going out. We told her we still wanted to check in, knowing that if we did, our priority would still stay and we would be bumped to the next flight. She proceeded to check in our bags and said that they would be waiting for us in Phoenix. Not thinking twice about it, we left for security. Well, we didn't get onto a flight until 3 hours later which in the meantime, we had missed our connecting flight in JFK. This meant that we had to stay overnight in JFK and get a flight home the next day. We had no luggage!!!!!

In the past, they would wait to see what stand-by passengers got on and then hurry and put their baggage on the plane with them. Well, I guess, policies have changed and they now don't take your baggage off the plane for anything. Weird, I know. Anyways, we didn't have our baggage. No change of clothes for any of us (luckily I packed pajamas for the kids and all of our toothbrushes into our carry-ons), no clean underwear, no cell phone chargers.

Because hotel rooms are so pathetically expensive in the Big Apple, we decided to share a room with the Dahlins. We undressed in the bathroom, showered, washed our clothes, and dried them at the laundry facility. It was difficult to keep our modesty as we didn't have any clothes to change into but we succesfully washed our clothes and were ready for a fun day in NYC.

SEAWORLD AND MORE DISNEY!

2010-09-02T09:53:00.005-07:00

Wednesday was a day I was extremely excited about.....SEAWORLD. I told Spence that the only thing I really wanted to do was to feed the dolphins. And we did! We also got to pet the sting rays. Sariah was scared of petting both of them and she was hesitant to pick up the slimy fish to feed it to the dolphins but of course, on the last one, she decided to do it and then she wanted more! It was a blast. We also had fun riding the Manta and Kraken (doing baby swap with the Dahlins) and Sariah had fun riding the kid rides in the play area.

Sariah petting the rays

Sariah talking to the dolphin

The next day we split ways with the Dahlins. They went to Epcot and we went for another day at the Magic Kingdom. There were a few must-dos that we didn't do the first day like Peter Pan's flight, Snow White's Scary Adventure and the Haunted Mansion. And Sariah kept begging us to go on Pirates again. So we headed for a low key day just hitting the rides we wanted to go on. We went to the Monsters Inc. show again and Pirates a few times.

We retired Magic Kingdom at around 4:00 and made our way to Downtown Disney to eat at Rainforest Cafe. Spence had never been there and I've been there about a half a dozen times. We made sure to get the Volcano cake. Even between the four of us, we couldn't finish it. Eli got a really bad allergic reaction to something we fed him so we headed to first aid where they gave us some Benadryll. He was fine an hour later and slept really good that night!

The kids playing with the "Cars" we got them as souvenirs

The next day was Animal Kingdom. We saw a really good Lion King show, a Nemo musical (so cute and very good acting) and went on a Safari and the River Rapids. I was excited to find out that Sariah could go on the River Rapids so she went once with us and once with the Dahlins. She had a blast. I wish I would've taken pictures. That day was fun and I was sad to realize that it was our last day at Disney. We went to a really yummy Cuban bistro called Padrino's (highly recommend) for dinner and started packing for our trip home the next day.

HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS!

2010-09-02T09:43:00.003-07:00

On Tuesday we went to Hollywood Studios. We saw lots of shows and rode the Tower of Terror a few times. The day went pretty smooth with the kids napping every few hours in the stroller. Here's a few pictures of that day.

Eli and Mommy in Radiator Springs with McQueen and Mater

Sariah next to a huge tub of Play-Doh in "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" play ground

Eli on a huge Tonka truck at the playground

Sariah with Mr. Incredible and Fro-Zone. She was really tired by this time and just wanted to curl up in the stroller and............

take a nap!

MAGIC KINGDOM!

2010-08-31T22:44:00.007-07:00

Reader Beware! There are a lot of photos. We took almost 600 of the trip alone and it was hard to sort out and put up only a "few" but here are the highlights of our day at the happiest place on Earth, or is it in the world? Anyways, to start the day we woke up at around 10:00 to catch our hotel shuttle at 11:00. I was so stoked as was, I believe, everyone else. I couldn't get to sleep that night. Almost like Christmas.

Anywho, we got to Epcot (where our shuttle dropped us off) and took the monorail to the transportation station where we took the ferry to the Magic Kingdom. As soon as we got there, it started pouring rain. We forgot our tickets back at the hotel and so it took us about an hour to figure out what we could do about that. Luckily, the Guest Services at Disney were so understanding that they had us buy passes but assured us that we could get a refund. By the time we were done figuring all that out, it stopped pouring and just drizzled. We hadn't thought to buy any ponchos. Stupid us because we needed them for the rest of the trip. It was hard to get dry because of the humidity but we tried our best.

Sariah playing in the rain outside the gates. Nothing dampered her spirits.

When we got into the park we headed for Tomorrowland. We went to this fun show called Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor and Eli was part of the show. We also saw Buzz Lightyear.Sariah driving the International Speedway. She was such a crazy driver that they let her go again. No really, her car kept going back and forth on the track (it was broken) so they let them go again.

Our family riding the Tea Cups

The most magical part of the day was Sariah meeting the Princesses and the Fairies. It was well worth the hour we waited in line. Not only did they take pictures with the kids but they got a little one-on-one with each of the princess to talk to them. Almost like Santa, but even better! She was so excited as you can tell by the smile on her face. Aw, to be a kid again!

Sariah with CinderellaSariah with Belle

Sariah with Sleeping Beauty. She even got to touch her crown!

Sariah and Iridessa

Sariah didn't want to take a picture with Terrence even though she likes him, a lot. Maybe that's why, she was just a little shy.

Sariah was speechless at the first meeting with Tinkerbell. Tinkerbell is her very, very favorite and I think she was a little shocked.
Eli giving Tinkerbell kisses

Anyway, the day was a whole lot of fun filled with magical memories. That is until it was time to go home and our shuttle driver left early and we were stranded at the Epcot center. The kids were tired and cranky as we tried to figure out how to get home. We ended up taking a taxi that drove around in circles just to rack up the price. That is one memory I would not care to forget. We learned, after that, to be really early for the shuttle.

Sariah wouldn't pose for the pictures because she wanted to watch the castle change colors. Oh well. We got enough pictures of her cute mug!

STAY TUNED......MORE TO COME!

Florida

2010-08-31T21:49:00.004-07:00

We just got home from our trip to Florida that helped in celebrating Spence's graduation licensure and we always take one big trip a year. 2009 was D.C., 2008 was Palm Springs and Canada for me and Sariah, 2007 was Chicago and Can Cun, 2006 was a big road trip that stretched four states and in 2005 (our first year of marriage) it was San Francisco and Florida.

We went with our good friends Jodi and Aaron Dahlin. We had originally talked about going to Disneyland and California because Aaron recieves a great deal on military Disney tickets. After looking at time share resorts, there were not a whole lot of them in California but there were a lot of them in Florida. So I spoke to my mom and she got us buddy passes on JetBlue and an awesome deal on a resort ($460 for a 2 bedroom villa for the whole week).

We left on Friday night (red-eye flight) and got into Florida on Saturday the 21st, picked up our rental cars, found a Wal-Mart and went grocery shopping, checked into the hotel, made dinner and just chilled at the resort. We decided to keep the kids on Phoenix time the entire trip making it easy for us to adjust when we got home and we were able to stay at the parks later.

Sunday we went to Sacrament meeting at a Spanish branch because the English branch was at 9:00 (6:00 Phoenix time). We got lost and so we just barely missed the passing of the sacrament. We stayed for the rest of the meeting and were able to take the sacrament before the priesthood put it away. We then drove an hour to Cocoa Beach. It was a beautiful day and the kids enjoyed playing in the water and in the sand (Eli liked the taste of it too!). The seagulls loved to hover around our area because the kids kept dropping Goldfish crakers and chips and I had to "shew" them away with a towel. The waves were awesome and the adults got some awesome body surfing in.

Eli's first few minutes of the beach and lovin' every minute of it!

Sariah chasing the seagulls away. I put her on seagull duty. Sometimes she'd chase them so far away that I'd have to yell for her to come back.
Eli bravin' the water. He loved that part the most. Once he got out into the water, he couldn't stop and I had to keep a close eye on him the rest of the time. People kept looking at me like I was a bad parent for not catching him before he got to the water but I knew he'd just keep going back for more.Sariah catchin' some waves.

By the end of the day we had sand in every crook and cranny of our bodies, especially Eli. He still has sand in his ears.

Our footprints in the sand. Oh how cute!

Our adorable family. How cute are we?

Because Cocoa Beach is only 10 miles away, we decided to go to Cape Canaveral just to see the NASA space center, even if we couldn't go inside. I stayed in the car with the sleeping kids while the rest went and took pictures. It was really cool to drive pass the shuttles and rockets and see how big they really are.

COMING TOMORROW.....MAGIC KINGDOM AND HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS! STAY TUNED!

My big "ouchie"

2010-08-31T20:29:00.003-07:00

I will, hopefully soon, post some stories and pictures of our extremely fun trip to Florida but while you wait, here's an interesting thing that happened.

Last night while loading groceries into my car at Walmart I got a big time "boo-boo". I ran over my big toe with a very heavy (8 gallons of milk, 4 liters of juice, 24 pack of soda, a case of water and other groceries) shopping cart. I thought it was broken but I think my toe was in shock for a bit because it couldn't move. I will definately be losing my toenail here in a little bit. It still hurts quite a bit and I'm extremely careful to not let the kids, the dog or Spence get close to it. If your stomach isn't sensitive, here's a pic.

If your stomach is sensitive, you might not want to look.

Monsoons and family fun!

2010-08-13T07:32:00.004-07:00

Sariah doing a sommersault
Our beautiful blue eyed boy. He has definately master crawling and is now cruising like none other. He also pulls himself up and then will let go, keeping himself balanced on his feet for 20 seconds at a time. He will be walking in no time! He just turned 8 months old yesterday. Boy how time has flown by!

The crazy monsoon

This looks like it could be a lake but it is actually just the park behind our apartment. We had a huge monsoon a couple of weeks ago. Buddy was very excited because he had somewhere to practice his swimming skills.

So yesterday after teaching piano Sariah got into my treat basket and asked if she could have a candy bar. I told her "no" and that it was almost time for dinner and that maybe she could have some after dinner. She then proceeded to go ask daddy and of course, he agreed with mommy, and told her "no". So then Spence and I were chatting about the day and had realized we hadn't seen Sariah for a little bit. Spence looked around the house and finally found this........

Sariah was in the closet, had the door shut, sitting on top of the fire safe, eating the candy bar. It was about 3/4 of the way gone by the time we found her. It was hard not to laugh. Spence came out and bursted in laughter but then put on the "mean" face to punish her. She ended up having to clean the toilets and go without dessert as punishment. It was just such a cute and naughty moment that we had to get a picture. As Spence took her picture he said "Don't you smile. You are in big trouble." She's still cute as can be and keeps us on our toes.

For family night on Monday we decided to go bowling. It was really fun. We just played one game and Sariah bowled for both of us. The Sariah and Daddy team beat the Sariah and Mommy team, 72 to 46. By the end of the 4th frame, Sariah was pretty much done and wanted to go play games. We had hamburgers and fries from the concession stand which actually were pretty good. We then went to JuJu Berri for dessert.

Spence's first day of his career. He is an official licensed pharmacist! Yah for Dr. Riddle! We are so excited for the paychecks and no more school. We will begin to look more seriously for houses again in October. Our lease in this apartment is up the end of December and hope to be in a house by then. That's a little update on our family. Thanks for stopping by!

Scare-dy Hair-dy

2010-07-27T08:55:00.002-07:00

So, Sariah and her friend Jay were watching Monsters Inc. when I came in and saw this.....covering their eyes on the "scary part" (when the monster comes out of the closet) Funny thing is, Sariah usually has me skip this part but I guess she wanted to try and brave it with Jay there. Another funny thing, she gets scared at this movie but has no problem watching Lord of the Rings (with ugly Orcs and Gollum) or Spiderman (with Green Goblin or Octavius) with Daddy. The innocence of children!
We dyed Sariah's hair dark. We thought because everyone says she looks like her mom, we thought it would be cool to have her share the same hair color.
Just kidding.
We would never get rid of her pretty, long blonde hair. In fact, she's never had a hair cut or trim. But here's a guy who has......
He has those pesky little long hairs in the back and Daddy wanted him to have a shave. He didn't know what to think of it at first but I think he liked looking at himself in the mirror. Don't blame him, huh? He is a cutie pie.

My boys

Videos of Eli

2010-07-16T17:13:00.004-07:00

For those, especially my kids grandmas, who are missing out on the stepping stones, here is a video of Eli crawling. Yes, crawling!!!! He was six months when he started and he is now going everywhere with no fear! He is starting to pull himself up onto things like chairs, couches and anything at his height! He is so fun.

While Sariah and I were making blueberry muffins this is what Eli was doing. He fussed for a little bit and I thought it was because he was sick of being in the Bumbo but then I realized it was probably because he was tired. Silly kid.

Fourth of July and our growing kids!

2010-07-10T17:31:00.005-07:00

Kisses from the puppyThis is a sight I see everyday. Yes, that's Eli's hand in Buddy's mouth. We are teaching him not to bite. Do you think it's working?

Sariah trying to get attention too.

Blowing bubbles- one of Eli's frequent tricks along with his awesome crawling

We've had Buddy for 3 weeks now and he's doubled in size- at least. He's getting so big. We are going to need to get a house just so we can house him. He's been a pretty good puppy minus the toilet paper eating, nipping the kids and I and a couple of accidents in the house. He's learning though. He's learned sit, stay and lay down. He loves to play tug a war and just loves to follow us around the house. We love him very much!

Buddies- sometimes

HELP, WE'RE TRAPPED!

Sariah has done an awesome job in swimming. She is in the Preschool B class and loves her teacher Ms. Laura. She's learning how to float on her back and learning the back stroke and how to retrieve objects under water. She's doing great!

Miss Laura helping Sariah float on her back.

It's hot! Get us outta here!

Momma's boy

Happy Independence Day!

Update pt. 2

2010-06-23T09:03:00.005-07:00

So my family has been here for a week. We have had lots of fun with them playing games, swimming and golf ball hunting at the resort. We are sad to see them leave but are so glad they came and stayed for a while.

Sariah with cousin Brett"Look how many I found!"

So another thing that happened just recently is that our kitty Phoenix died. He got really sick with some sort of virus. We noticed he didn't eat much while we were on our trip up to Utah. He got really skinny so when got home we talked to our friend who's father is a vet. He encouraged us to try and make him eat and to try different foods, to get him the most calories and nutrients as possible. He started getting better but then a week and half later he got really sick again and didn't make it through. We are still really upset over the whole ordeal. We loved Phoenix and know that he is in a better place for kitties.

On a more happier note, we decided to see how good of dog people we are and got a puppy.
Here's a picture of him.

His name is Buddy and is pure black lab. We know he will be a big dog (that's what everyone keeps telling us- not like we didn't research how big he'd grow to be) but we both love big dogs and with us getting a house soon, we will have a backyard for him to roam in. Right now he is in our apartment currently being crate trained and is doing awesome. He's only had a few pee accidents in our house. Sariah loves him a lot although she's afraid of him because he likes to nip. We are training him to not nip or bite and it seems to be working somewhat. He's only six weeks old so naturally he wants to nip and chew at something.
Taking a nap on the cool grass

Sariah and her little "Buddy"

Cute bums

Looks like Sariah got put in the dog house

Graduation!!!

2010-06-22T09:45:00.009-07:00

We have waited for this moment for a very long time and it finally came! Spence's graduation! Hurray! I can not tell you how proud I am of my husband. He has worked so hard to do well in school and he has gone through the ringer many times throughout his school career. In addition to going to school, he has somehow managed to be a great father and a wonderful husband. We are very lucky that he has his priorities straight and he would rather spend his time with his family. With that said, he still did well in school and we recognize that we had a higher authority watching over us on those sleepless nights before tests.

Thanks to all who came to support us including my parents, Natalie, Nathan, Grandma Walton, Corey, Brett, Spence's parents and Uncle Wally. Thanks to those who have supported us from afar. Thank you to all the classmates and friendships we made throughout this journey. You have made this experience bearable. Thanks to all the faculty and staff who Spence looked up to and who helped him through his education. Thank you Spence for hanging in there when the going got tough. I knew you could do it! And finally, thank you Heavenly Father for helping us through this experience, teaching us, guiding us through it. We couldn't have done it without you. Waiting for the ceremony to start

Spence recieving Doctorate hood

Shaking hands with the Dean of PharmacySpence's dad, mom and Uncle WallyProud parentsProud kids- it was funny to see in the yearbook that out of 4 kids born to students in Spence's class, Spence had two of them. They joke that, "Man, Spence sure got busy during school." It helps the fact that I was 7 months pregnant when he first started.At the graduation banquet with Spence's friends Lance and James and their wives.

An awesome cake our friend Amy made for Spence. She is so talented. Thank you so much Amy! We loved it, the decoration and the yummyness.

Sariah enjoyed it too. She at all the gum paste and extra fondant.

Update part 1

2010-06-22T08:36:00.004-07:00

So this update is going to be quite long because I haven't posted a real update post in about month and a lot has happened this last month so bear with me. First, an update on the kids. We have all been sick here at our house. The kids got some sort of upper respiratory infection and along with that came the ear infections and hard core asthma. I had a sinus infection and bronchitis. Spence is starting his round of sickness. Just perfect for starting a new job!

Anyways, Eli had his six month checkup and he's in the 95th percentile weighing in at a whopping 20 lbs 14 oz.- exactly 12 lbs more than birth. He's also in the 85th percentile in his height so he is a big kid. He's just mastered sitting up (although because he is top heavy, he will lose his balance and fallover) and rolling over and is just starting to crawl. He is starting to babble and loves to suck on his hands or anything else he can get in his mouth, especially mommy's face. He is still such a happy baby and bring so much to joy to our home!

Sariah is little Miss Smarty Pants. She cracks us up everyday. The things she says are so hilarious and sometime she's telling us off but we can't help but to laugh because her tone is so funny. She is still loving being the big sister (I think). She is taking swim lessons and just advanced to the next level- Preschool B. She was used as the example student on the last day of class to help the teacher review the skills they learned. She has also hit the terrible "three"'s a little early. She has learned to throw tantrums where she will cry for 45 minutes to an hour and then go put herself to bed because she's tired. She's thrown tantrums about wanting to leave the movie then not wanting to leave, getting her own fountain drink at Panda, Eli smiling when he shouldn't be. Pretty much anything under the sun. We still love her though and just say to ourselves, "This, too, will pass." The days she isn't throwing a tantrum are mostly pleasant and I enjoy her spunkiness and smiles.

Another Giveaway!

2010-06-11T20:56:00.003-07:00

I love this giveaway because you get a gift card to buy anything from any CSN store. They have lots of stuff. Go to this blog and enter. Good luck!

A fun idea!

2010-06-04T15:30:00.002-07:00

My friend is having a Summer Time swap on her blog. Read about it. It's really fun and it's better than a giveaway. Everyone gets something.

Goodbye McCann Family! We miss you.

2010-06-03T08:26:00.001-07:00

Click here to view these pictures larger

The Past Month

2010-06-03T00:33:00.005-07:00

This past month has been full of new adventures. Here is a summary of what has happened with us lately.

We took a trip up to Utah last week for Memorial Day. Spence met two of his high school buddies in Escalante and they hiked Coyote Gulch. They spent 2 night and 3 days hiking over 20 miles of terrain. It was some good "manly time" and a much needed vacation away from rotation. Now it's back to the grind stone for one and a half more weeks and then WE are officially done with Pharmacy school! Hurray!

While Spence was hiking, I drove another 5 hours to hang out in Salt Lake with family and friends. It was so nice to see a lot of people in the short time we were there.

Spence's high school friends and their families. We had a barbeque with them on Memorial Day. It was so fun to see the 4 girls playing together and it was nice to get caught up with them.

Sariah and her cousin Hayden playing in Grammy's water "mountain" (fountain)

Sariah made a bird feeder out of a pine cone she found on a nature walk with Daddy. It really does work- I felt like Snow White or some magical princess with all the birds on our patio.

Eli is getting so big. He is almost six months old now. He is starting to crawl and scooting himself, on his belly, around in a circle. He is eating baby food as is growing like a weed! He is definately over 20 pounds and brings many smiles and giggles. He loves to watch his sister dance and belly laughs everytime she dances in front of him. He is such a great baby. Always happy and always makes mommy so happy too.

Sariah is just as silly as can be. She is really learning how to push mommy's buttons. She has learned to say that she has to go potty in order to get out of doing something or if she wants to get out of the car. I have learned not to believe her most of the time. She is still a great helper when it comes to Eli but she is learning how to be a tease. Sometimes while Eli is asleep in the car she'll say "Good morning Eli. Time to wake up" and will say that persistently until he wakes up. Needless to say, that doesn't make mommy very happy. Also, when I tell her that we'll go somewhere (like to the store or something) after Eli wakes up, she'll go in and get in his crib and turn on his mobile or sing so he'll wake up. She's such a sneaky little character but she still brings so much love and joy in our home.

Also, another reason it's been a crazy month is because we've been house hunting. We put an offer on a beautiful house in Sun City- just about 5 miles west of us. It's a short sale so we might be waiting for a while for an answer from the bank. Here's a picture of the outside. We absolutely love this house and keep our fingers crossed that everything works out.

Sorry!

2010-05-26T18:08:00.001-07:00

Sorry it's been a while guys! We are in the process of house hunting right now and have almost settled down from that. I will give you an update in a few days, maybe even tomorrow! Stay tuned.....

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T13:35:00.005-07:00

So, we had to buy Eli a new rear facing carseat. He is no longer in the infant carseat because he's busting out of it and it weighs 25 pounds or more with him in it. I don't need any more weight to carry!! He loves to eat his hands and he is getting really good at sitting up without assistance and bringing things to his mouth. He is such a happy baby. I couldn't really ask for a better kid.

Sariah is a great kid too. She is a very big helper with Eli and likes to sing and dance to make him smile. She's been getting up with the sun so that means our day starts around 6:00 a.m. We have been able to take her to the splash park a few times already and she's loved it. We will be enrolling her in swimming lessons within the next couple of weeks. A few weeks ago while I was teaching piano lessons, she was out playing with daddy and she tripped and fell on the concrete. She scraped up her nose pretty bad but it is getting better. She was a really good sport despite the pain and bleeding.

These are the things I got for Mother's Day. Spence bought some flowers and had Sariah give them to me. The roses are from Spence, the others from the kids. Spence also took Sariah to the dollar store to have her pick some things out for me.

Close up on what she got for me- an Ariel doll, Princess crayons, a silly pair of glasses and Butterfinger (my favorite). She also picked out the card and Daddy helped her sign her name. My favorite gift- from Spencer. I asked for this for Christmas and I didn't get it then because he didn't know how to order it so he told me to order what I wanted. My friends Lynsee and Heidi do some really cute stuff with silver. Check out their etsy shop here.

I also have a very talented friend Shannon. She just won the So You Think You're Crafty competition. She can make pretty much anything out of nothing. She's also very talented with vinyl. Check out her craft blog here.

Speaking of talented friends, I have this really cute friend who made me a cake for Mother's Day. She is really talented in cake decorating. She made a really cute cake for our friends' little girl's first birthday. Check out her cake blog here.

My friends Shawn, Tricia and Jodi are all very talented in sewing. Check out their blogs too. They do some really cute stuff for babies and kids.

I have some really awesomely talented friends.

The pretty cake I recieved from my friend and the pretty noodle necklace Sariah made for me today in Nursery.

I am one lucky woman!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL YOU MOTHERS OUT THERE!

Awesome Giveaway!

2010-05-03T14:07:00.003-07:00

My friend Shannon is having an awesome giveaway on her blog. Check it out here. I really want some board games for Spence and I to have friends come over. CSN has pretty much anything you are looking for. GOOD LUCK!

The New Me

2010-04-30T20:08:00.004-07:00

So a few things. No I haven't lost a lot of weight. A little bit but not a lot but I'm on my way....hopefully. I've entered into a Biggest Loser contest with my friend, Shawn. The buy-in was $20 and the money goes to the winners of 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. I try to do Jillian Michaels 30 day shred videos every week day. So far, in two weeks, I've lost almost 4 lbs. Not quite was I was hoping for but it is pounds lost and I've been having some bad back pain lately so it's been hard to work out. I've been mainly focusing on watching my calorie intake.

Another thing that contributes to the new me is that I've prohibited from doing one of my worst and hardest to crack habits.......biting my nails. My nails are long and pretty and I'm pretty proud. It's been a hard habit to break. I mean, I've probably been biting them since at least five years old so that's like 22 years of nail biting hopefully, permanently out the window.

Also, I'm really excited because I've started taking piano lessons again. I know. A big surprise for being a piano teacher. With my new year's resolution of learning new songs each month and after trying that for a couple of months to no avail, I have resulted to hiring a piano teacher to help me be motivated to practice. With someone to report to every week, I will definately get in some much needed practice time. I am also lacking in my more advanced skills because I teach mainly beginners. I don't get to review advanced theory and technic and I'm losing some of those abilities. I also struggle, when I actually do get to practice, to learn a whole song. I usually skip over the hard parts and I don't ever pay attention to detail like fingering, dynamics (louds and softs) and the mechanics of the piece. I'm hoping that my teacher will be able to help me with that some. I had my first lesson on Wendesday and so far so good. I like the lteacher I have. She's only a year or so older than me but seems really nice, really good, and someone I can relate to. I have three songs and some scales and arpeggios to work on and so far I have practiced every night since then. I'm excited for my next lesson and for this new endeavor. Hopefully I'll have some songs to show for it soon.

Easter and the like

2010-04-15T23:14:00.013-07:00

Our Family Easter Pictures

Trip to the Zoo

We went to the Phoenix Zoo last Friday. In the 3 years we have lived down here, we have never been there so we figured we should probably go before it gets too hot. It was a beautiful day.

This is one of the most awesomest pictures we have gotten with our camera. Spence has a very creative eye. We sat waiting for a while for the lions to wake up and then on came the sprinklers so we got this picture of it yawning before it moved to a drier spot.

Sariah brushing a goat at the petting zoo

Eli, just chillin' in his stroller

Dying Easter Eggs

We invited our friends, The Dahlin's, over to dye Easter eggs for FHE the Monday after Easter. We had a blast.

Good thing it didn't stay stained for very long.

Sariah had fun dying Easter eggs. She cracked a couple of them while "placing" them in the dye.

The Easter bunny brought the kids their Easter basket on Saturday because we wanted Sunday to be reserved for Conference and our focus on the Savior. Eli got a swimming suit, a Sunday outfit, rice cereal, pacifiers, and two small Tonka trucks. Sariah got 2 swimming suits, two dresses, Tinkerbell and Princess and the Frog movies and candy. A lot of the things in their Easter baskets were stuff they needed or that we wanted to buy for them anyways but saved them for Easter.

Eli loved his Easter basket!

Sariah's favorite candy- No literally she said, "It's my favorite candy."

After looking at our Easter baskets we headed to Midwestern University's Annual Easter Party. This is what we found on the grass outside our apartment. Good thing we got our Easter baskets on Saturday. It looks like the Easter bunny is out of commission!

Midwestern University's Annual Easter Party

Midwestern puts on great events for the kids. They are a family friendly school and do big events for Easter and Halloween, all FREE for everyone. They had egg hunts for 3 age groups with some eggs containing bigger prizes. They had inflatable bouncies and slides for the kids to play on, face painting, crafts, food, and the Easter bunny. It was actually someone who Spence went to Guatemala with.

This is about the closest she would get to the Easter bunny.

Sariah's face painting- a rainbow and a flower.

After Midwestern, we went home and put the kids down for a nap and then got stuff ready for our Annual Bunny Bash. We held it at the park along with tons of food (pulled pork sandwiches and pot luck) and an Easter Egg Hunt for the kids. We had an awesome turn out and look forward to doing it next year.

That was our fun celebration of Easter. Now back to real world stuff. Elijah had his 4 month check-up today and yep.... he's still in the 95th percentile. He weighs 18 lbs 3 oz. and is 26 inches tall. He has gained almost 10 pounds and 5 inches in 4 months!!!! Crazy. When finding how much he weighed the doctor jokingly said, "Well no solid food for you buddy. Strictly breast milk" and then smiled. He then gave us the go-ahead to give him cereal and baby food.

He knows he's just the cutest little boy!
I came in to check on the kids and this is how I found Sariah. With her arm around her little brother watching a movie. How sweet!

Sariah dancing again- this time in her full "get-up". This is her favorite song currently.

These past few months have definitely flown by and I keep telling Spence that I don't ever remember Eli being a "newborn" newborn but it might be because he was so big starting out. He is a pro at rolling from his belly to his back, although he like to sleep on his belly and loves tummy time. Sariah loves being a big sister and she's always helping where she can. She gets mommy diapers, wipes, blankets, binkies. Now that he's eating food, she gets to help with that too.

Eli's first encounter with rice cereal

Sariah video taping daddy

Updates pictures

2010-04-02T08:11:00.005-07:00

I am so surprised how fast these past few months have flown by, especially since Eli was born. Our kids are growing up way to fast. At Eli's two month appointment he was 14 lbs 4 oz (95th percentile) and 23 1/2 inches (75th percentile). Don't get me wrong, he will be having his 4 month appointment here in a couple of weeks but I forgot to post the stats before and wanted you to know just how big of a kid he is. He is so much fun! He has been playing with his hands alot lately and has been pulling his blankets to his mouth and then eats them. He has an awesome belly laugh when I tickle him under his chin and when I act silly. He has slept through the night (7-8 hours) ever since we were up in Utah. Oh yeah and he rolled over on Sunday!!!!!! He loves tummy time (most of the time) and sleeps on his belly. We love him alot!

Sariah has also grown up so quickly. She is a potty trained, independent and loving little girl. She likes to push my buttons sometimes by raising her eyebrows as she goes to do something she's not suppose to as if saying, "I'm gonna do it". She loves to play with her babies and barbies and puts them to bed using all the blankets and pillows in the house. She loves to dance, currently to anything that is Disney- "I'll make a Man Out of You" from Mulan is her favorite. She puts on her tutu, princess shoes and crown, and boogies. She loves her little brother and loves when he smiles at her. She is a wonderful big sister and we love her alot. Sariah feeding the ducks. She kept lifting up her legs and it looked like many times she was about to fall in.Sariah making silly facesOUR ADORABLE KIDSWe are so blessed to have these sweet spirits come into our home. I am blessed to have such a great husband who goes to school all day, every day to allow me to stay home with our cuties.

Finally Done!!!

2010-04-02T08:03:00.004-07:00

Sorry it's been a while since I last posted but life is just back to the same ol' since returning from Utah. For the past few weeks I've been working on the project I have been working on for the past year and I finally completed it.....the kids' room. I've had the drapes and Sariah's quilt done for quite a while but I wanted to get some wall decorations made. We also painted the crib and changing table to match the decor. When we move to a house, all of the decor (Except Eli's name and handprints) will go into Sariah's room and we'll do new stuff for the "boys" room. I'm pretty proud of it. My first major craft project and I'm finally done. Now onto my photo books.

Sariah insisted on being in all the pictures

Our Vacations

2010-03-11T10:37:00.009-07:00

Just be warned that this is quite a long post but is full of pictures of the past month. I'll try to tell everything that happened in a nutshell.

Spence had the opportunity to go to Guatemala on a medical mission with some students from his school and some other physicians, nurses and pharmacists to provide health care to those less fortunate. It was really awesome that he was able to use his Spanish to help translate from physician to patient and vice versa. Here's some pictures of his trip. If you'd like to see more, check out the mission blog here

Some kids that recieved gummy-vites and thought they were candy. They do kind of taste like it. Spence had to tell them that if they ate them all in one day then they would have extreme intestinal problems. They gave him a look of horror for they did not want any stomach problems yet he caught a few of the kids sneaking them into their mouths after that.

Spence at the Mayan Ruins in Tikal

Mayans burning crude oil as part of a ritual

The main church in Antigua

"The birthday cake building"

Spence with the nuns he stayed with during the first week. At the convent, they fed the volunteers 3 square meals a day. Needless to say, Spence did not lose weight on this trip like he did on his mission.

Spence with a little girl who had eczema like him

Spence flushed this man's ear out and he was amazed by how well he could hear after that.

While Spence was in Guatemala, the kids and I stayed in Salt Lake to be with family and friends. It snowed a few times while we were there which was a nice change of pace from the warmer weather down here in Phoenix. Sariah got to play in the snow for her very first time. Pretty sad for a 2 1/2 year old!

Sariah making a snow angel

"Help, I've fallen and I can't get up!"

Sariah making a snowman with Grandma

She kept eating the carrots and blueberries they used for the eyes and nose.

Sariah giving her frosty friend a kiss

FUN WITH FAMILY

Playing at the park with mommy

Chuck-e-Cheese with mommy and her family

Royce (Spence's brother) and all the grandkids on Spence's side. There are 14 of them.

Our adorable cousin, Bridget, and Annika (Royce's wife) with Eli

Sariah and Uncle Gavin (Spence's brother)

Sariah with her cousins Katelyn, Ammon and Kylie

Sariah and her cousin Hayden

FUN WITH FRIENDS

Sariah pulling Rob's nose

"I got your nose!"

Sariah with her friends Ava and Jordan

Eli and his second cousin, Aiden

They are one month apart.

While we up in Salt Lake, we were able to attend Gavin's wedding reception. It was a lot of fun and we wish Spence could've been there.

Sariah with the groom

Spence's whole family except for him and his sister-in-law, Heidi The bride and groom with the 14 nieces and nephews

Aunt Chantell (Spence's sister) with Eli

SILLINESS WITH DADDY

This picture was taken the day Spence got back from his trip. Sariah missed him so much and was so glad her jungle gym was back to play.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

2010-02-14T21:40:00.002-07:00

Happy Valentines Day from our family to you!

Here's our gift- an adorable 2 year old singing "I've Got a Feeling" by Black Eyed Peas. Enjoy!

February Fun in the Sun

2010-02-14T17:26:00.004-07:00

One of the best things about living in Phoenix is the wonderful weather during the "winter" months. Yesterday we went to Anthem Park and rode on the Daisy Mountain train. We also enjoyed a wonderful picnic of Uncrustables, chips, grapes, string cheese and carrots. The weather was absolutely perfect. Sariah and her friend, Payton, fed the ducks, played in a "jumpy" and ran around the playground for hours. It was so much fun. Thanks, Sara and Dusten for inviting us to join you!

We found out that ducks don't really like Fritos. They'd rather have bread.

Eli just chillin' in the shade. He enjoyed being outside.

The Daisy Mountain Railroad

We have tried to take Sariah to different places that Phoenix has to offer. We took to a amusement park, Enchanted Island, where they have children rides like a carousel, cars, bumper boats and a mini roller coaster. It's like Lagoon but for smaller kids and way cheaper. We had a blast!

Sariah on the bumper boats

Resolutions.....a month late.

2010-02-02T08:12:00.004-07:00

Because my life has been so busy with a newborn and being a mom of two, I haven't had the time to even think about what I'd like to accomplish this year. I want to make this year and this new decade full of accomplishments and goal setting and achieving. Here's a short list of things I want to accomplish this year and some to be accomplished by 2020.

THIS YEAR

1. Read one new book a month. I'm not that great of a reader but have heard of many really good books. I will start with finishing the Twilight series this month (I've got 1 1/2 books left) but does anyone have any suggestions on really good books?

2. Learn one new piano song a month. I have regretably let my piano practicing go to the back burner. I get to "practice" at church but there are many songs that I would love to learn to play. So I'm sending this out there- everyone comment on my post with a song they want me to learn to play. ANYTHING, any genre, any composer, any skill level, and I will learn it by the end of the year.

3. I hate the cliche of setting weight loss goals because I don't want to set myself up for failure. I would like to become more healthy and exercise more. Starting tomorrow, I will be taking a Boot Camp class at Spence's school. I'll let you know how that goes. So I guess my goal is to get myself to a class or a gym at least once a week. That may seem like not that much but I'm setting a goal that is reachable and then if I go more, it will just make myself even prouder. It wouldn't hurt though if I were to lose maybe 20 pounds during this adventure :0)

4. Learn a new craft or hobby. Any suggestions? I know how to sew, quilt (somewhat), make bows and flower barrettes and digital scrapbook. That's about it.

5. Finish Sariah's 2nd year scrapbook and start (maybe finish) Eli's 1st year.

THIS DECADE

I don't have a whole lot that I can think of to accomplish this decade but one big one is to finish nursing school. I want to have my Bachelors of Science in Nursing by 2020 and hopefully some work experience under my belt. I am extremely excited for this goal. I have really wanted to be a nurse for a long time and it would mean a lot to help and serve people through being a nurse. I know I'm going to achieve this goal, I have to. It is extremely important to me and to Spence. I am just waiting for my name to come up on Maricopa Community College's database to assign me to a school. Hopefully this next fall semester will be my turn. If not then it will definately be next Spring. I will then go to Arizona State University for a year and a half to get my BSN.

Another good goal is to be a good wife and mom. It might sound a little cheesy but I want to set this as a goal so I remember how important it is to live life to the fullest. To spend more time with the kids while they are still young. It is amazing how fast they have already grown and it seems that pretty soon I will be watching Sariah get baptized, then go into Young Women's, then she'll learn to drive, or even worse, go on her first date. SCARY!!!!!

Also, I want to do more stuff with my husband. He has shown so much interest in my interests that I would love to do the same for him. He takes Sariah on hikes because he knows I won't go with him.

This new year and decade has given me some things to think about. I hope that I can accomplish all that I have set my mind to. Thanks for listening.

Eli's Blessing and an update

2010-01-28T10:01:00.007-07:00

Per request of my mother, I am posting an update on our family and the illness that loomed in our home. Sariah is over her croup- thank goodness. It was not fun. We have never seen her so sick. She suffered from a fever for four days. We dosed her up on Tylenol, Benadryll, Delsym and amoxicillin. Just as a precaution our doctor prescribed us a Z-pak so that we could prevent getting worse or spreading it to Eli. Spence had an ear infection for a couple of days- it was nice to have him home even though he was sick.

My new hair color. I went really dark this time. No more highlights.

We are all healthy again, most of our noses aren't runny anymore, and now onto our next task, POTTY TRAINING!!!!! Ugh. It is really hard. We started hard core on Tuesday night and as of today, Thursday, we have had 5 wet accidents and 1 poop accident. I think that's pretty much all of what she's done. This morning though, she made it to the toilet! I am soooo proud of her. I was on the verge of tears yesterday because I know she wants to learn but she's having a hard time knowing when she needs to go. Hopefully we can keep this up. I'm not giving up. There's no point in trying this hard and then giving up. Wish me luck!

Our chunky monkey. At his 5 week check up he was 12 lbs. 8 oz. and was in the 95th percentile in weight. That means he's gained almost 4 lbs. in 5 weeks! He's also grown 1 1/2 inches since birth. He doesn't fit in any newborn or 0-3 month clothing anymore. He is onto 3-6 months and he's almost only 7 weeks old! It's crazy how fast they grow and how incredibly fast he's grown.

Our family had a great time last weekend. Spence's parents came in on Thursday and stayed until Monday. My mom came in Saturday and stayed until Monday. They came for Eli's baby blessing on Sunday. It was so nice to have family share that special event with us. The blessing was really nice, Eli was a really good baby, but no blessing would be complete without a diaper blowout. Eli originally had a onesie underneath his church outfit but he went onesie-less for most of church. Here are some pictures of Eli's blessing cuteness and our family who came down.

Eli's First Smiles and more!

2010-01-18T09:50:00.005-07:00

ELI
It's amazing how much Eli looks like Sariah when she was a baby. Just add a little more chub on Sariah and they are identical. I see a lot of Spencer's dad in Eli and Sariah looks like me when I was younger but you can definately tell they are siblings.

SARIAH

Eli's First Smiles

We went to Good Night Pediatrics on Saturday night because Sariah had/has this nasty cough, a horrible runny nose, watery eyes and a fever. Come to find out, she has croup. I had promised her that she wouldn't get a shot at this doctor and that she'd just need to open her mouth and let the doctor look at her ears, eyes and nose. We went in and she let them weigh her, take her temperature, check her O2 sats and heart rate- all this she wouldn't let happen at the other doctor. When we got in the room, the doctor examined her and confirmed that it was croup. Well, because she had been throwing up when she coughed, the doctor didn't want to give her an oral medication and asked if she could have a shot. I hesitated- because I had told Sariah that she wouldn't have one- but I let her give Sariah a shot. When the nurse came in, Sariah was out cold, so I laid her down on the bed and told her she would be getting a shot and that it would only be "owie" for a second. She said "Okay, mommy". I held her arms down. The nurse went to go prick her skin and Sariah jolted. She tried again and she jolted again. The nurse asked me if I wanted her to grab a coworker to help hold her and I said that "We'll be fine. I'll just lay on her." So I pretty much laid on top of her and the nurse tried to prick her again. This happened about 5 times, each time with the nurse pricking her but not getting the medicine in. Then finally on the sixth try, she got it. At this point, Sariah was so upset. She was screaming- as much her harsh little voice could. I felt so bad for her. She kept saying, "I want to go home, mommy" and "I don't want anymore shot." They gave her a Pedialyte popsicle and we left.

She is still pretty sick. She had a high fever. We've been dosing her with Tylenol, Benadryl and Delsym. In fact, we are taking her back to the doctor because she has an ear infection. Spence and I have doctor's appointments today too because we also feel sick. Both probably with Strep. Not good! Especially since we have a newborn and we have family coming this weekend for Eli's blessing.

Sariah feeding baby brother

We went to Disney on Ice. Sariah loved it. They had Tinkerbell- her new favorite Disney character. They also had Lightning McQueen and Mater from Cars and characters from the Little Mermaid and Lion King. It was so fun. I can't wait to take her Disneyland/world in the future.

Sariah on New Year's Day

Christmas 2009

2009-12-28T13:42:00.005-07:00

Eli with Santa at our ward Christmas party

Sariah with Santa

Sariah in her new dress up clothes- Thanks, Bridget

Sariah helping Baby Brother enjoy his new toy

"Gook what I got!"

Sariah tried to put all her loot into her new shopping cart but to no avail.

Sariah has become more and more interested in Barbies. This set came from a lady, Bridget, from Journey Church who wanted to give our kids Christmas this year. She also gave Sariah the dress up stuff, blocks and a Little People Dance and Twirl castle set. I think Sariah liked those presents the best. Thanks Bridget!

Sariah riding on the back of a Power Wheel quad with her friend Payton. She held on tight and had so much fun riding and driving. Now we want to get her one but where would she drive it in our small apartment?

We hope you had a very Merry Christmas and have a happy New Year!

Random Pictures

2009-12-28T12:51:00.004-07:00

Sariah giving Buzz Lightyear a piggy back ride.

Baby Eli loves his baths in the sink

Our adorable children- Sariah is such a good big sister

Mommy and Sariah at a cottage gift shop at Glendale Glitters. Yes, it is snowing but just fake snow. It was still fun to pretend.

Family Photo Shoot/ Journey Church Celebration

2009-12-27T19:32:00.003-07:00

Here are some of my favorite poses from our Christmas card photo shoot. Enjoy!

Every year Journey Church does Christmas for the kids in our apartment buildings. Sariah got a new barbie and Eli got a nerf football. Given he won't be able to play with it for a while but it was still fun for him to receive something.

Sariah's last day at Little Gym

2009-12-27T19:17:00.002-07:00

Sariah thouroughly enjoyed spending time at the Little Gym each week. She learned how to sommersault, cartwheel, log roll, walk on the beam, swing on the bar and many other gymnastic skills. She has become very confident and independent since we started there in June. She has made lots of friends, especially the teachers, and we will miss going every week. Thanks, Little Gym, for so much fun.

Sariah catching bubbles on her finger

Sariah walking all by herself on the low beam

Sariah walking all by herself on the high beam

Sariah with her teacher, Miss Andrea

Our Glowing Children

2009-12-27T18:47:00.002-07:00

Sariah being Rudolph at the ward Christmas party

Baby Eli had very bad jaundice and had to have a bili blanket. He was our little blue glowing baby for a while but his jaundice is pretty much gone now.

Happy Anniversary!

2009-12-17T11:20:00.006-07:00

The wedding proposal

Today Spence and I celebrate our 5 year anniversary. Our life so far together has definitely been one to remember with some ups and downs, but mostly ups. We have been on vacations to Florida, Chicago, Denver, Lake Powell, Arches National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Washington D.C., San Francisco, New York, Disneyland and Can Cun. We moved away from our families in Utah (something we thought would never happen) to establish a life of our own and to help achieve our dreams of further education for Spence and I. We have had two beautiful children in the past 5 years and look forward to welcoming more into our family. We have learned a lot about each other, our hopes and dreams- both individual and shared, quirks, weaknesses and more importantly, each others' strengths.

Spencer is a very dedicated husband and father. He goes through the stress and hardships of going to school because he is doing what he needs to support our family and to allow me to stay home. He is very understanding, patient, loving and kind. He has a great sense of humor and is always willing to help out when and wherever he can- both at home and in the community. He is also very knowledgeable in many areas, excelling in two of his loves- pharmacy and the Gospel.

We have had a great past 5 years and I look forward to many, many more with my sweetheart, Spence.
Happy 5 year anniversary, babe! I love you!

Here are some pictures of the most memorable moments of the past 5 years.

Our engagement photo

Married in the Salt Lake Temple on December 17th, 2004

Spence and I in our first apartment on the day we moved to Arizona.

The birth of our first child, Sariah Ann Riddle.

Spencer's White Coat Ceremony
(shows his dedication to the study of pharmacy and the reason for us moving)

The birth of our second child, Elijah Spencer Riddle.

Update on Baby Boy Riddle

2009-12-15T13:00:00.003-07:00

K, guys. We've decided on a name. Baby Boy Riddle is now known as Elijah Spencer Riddle. We decided on his name Saturday night when we had to fill out the birth record. We call him Eli for short. Eli and mommy came home Sunday afternoon and all is well here at the Riddle home, just trying to get adjusted. Here are some more pictures of our cute little guy and his adorable big sister.

Daddy and big sister giving him his first bath

Our cute little man

Sariah giving baby brother his binky

Proud papa

2009-12-12T12:49:00.001-07:00

First Time With Mom after being checked

Nice set of lungs!

Baby Boy Riddle

2009-12-12T12:13:00.005-07:00

Baby Boy Riddle

Born: December 11, 2009 6:07 pm

Weight: 8 lbs 14 oz
Height: 21 inches

Name: Undecided (Elijah, Jeremiah, Mosiah, Noah and middle names Spencer, Ron, Ronald, Adam, Seth, Michael or something else)

The Story: Heather went in for an appointment on Thursday and was showing signs of pre-eclampsia so she was scheduled to be induced Friday morning. All went very well. Spencer went out to the vending machines to get some M&M's and when he came back she was at a 9 1/2 and needing to push. There was another woman that was going into labor at the same time next door and it was a race to see who got the doctor first. Heather couldn't wait and they called Dr. Erickson out from the other room. He and Spencer gowned up and Heather ended up pushing through only 5 contractions. Dr. Erickson coached Spencer through the birth and Daddy got to deliver his little boy! Baby is wonderful and a little bigger than most of the other babes in the nursery. Heather noted that "The birth wasn't that hard or painful, it's afterwards in recovery."
Although the hospital now keeps the babies in with the parents, baby Eli (maybe) spent most of the night in the nursery because "his lungs were wet" according to one nurse, which actually allowed Spencer and Heather to get a few winks in -thank goodness. Blood work was drawn to check for any infections and looks all clear. He is now in the room with Mommy and nursing great. No big problems thus far. Here is our awesome little boy.

First Look at Mommy

Calling BIG SISTER SARIAH who is so excited. She said, "Oh my gosh!"

Happy Mother

In Daddy's Arms

Under the heating lamp-he first opened his eyes at Daddy

Maternity Pictures

2009-11-13T17:53:00.004-07:00

Here's some pictures from our maternity photo shoot. These are just a few of them.

My finished project

2009-11-13T17:27:00.002-07:00

So about 4 months, 50 hours and lots of sweat and tears later and my first quilt is finally done. I'm pretty proud of it since it is my first quilt and I didn't end up just tying it or giving it to someone else to finish. With a little help with pinning from my friend Sara and sewing from Spence, I did the rest by myself. So proud!It's Sariah's two year old quilt because I had the goal to have it finished by her two year birthday. I was only a week late which I thought wasn't too bad. So proud!

Our New Addition

2009-11-13T16:57:00.003-07:00

No, unfortunately we have not had our baby yet but we've have added another member to the Riddle family. We are pleased to announce............

Phoenix

Sariah's mad photography skills- pretty good, huh?

We thought we would never get a pet while we were in an apartment but Sariah just loves, loves her friend Payton's cat. We've had a stray cat come up to our door a couple of times and we've fed it milk and tuna but we were really skeptical about adopting a stray because of all the diseases it could have. We mentioned to our friends that we were thinking about getting a cat because it will give Sariah something to keep her busy while we are getting ready for the baby and because we've always wanted a pet but didn't want a dog until we had a backyard. Anyways, they have a friend who is a vet tech at an animal hospital that had a 3 month old kitten that had been neutered and had all of its shots and he said we could have it....for free. We went to go and look at him and we couldn't turn away. He was so friendly and the vets and workers at the hospital were crying because they were so happy he found a good home and because he was such a good cat for them.

He is such a good kitty cat. He lets Sariah play with him and pick him up and is very lovable and likes to be held. I think Sariah is still in a "pinch me" mode because she wakes up in the morning and then remembers that we have a kitty. She'll give kisses to the kitty before we leave the house and tries so hard to be gentle. We are still trying to instill in her brain that pulling its tail and dragging it by it paws is not nice, but all in all, they get along fine.

We love our little Phoenix and are so happy we've added him to our family.

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-01T09:47:00.005-07:00

This Halloween was so much fun! Sariah was old enough to go trick-or-treating but she didn't know what to think about taking candy from strangers. She wouldn't say "trick-or-treat" or "thank you" but if I told her to say "bye-bye", she would, by just waving her hand. I guess any gesture is better than nothing, right? Here's a few pictures of our fun week.

Since we had so little time this last week, we carved our pumpkins this morning. Hey, it's still the Day of the Dead so we're not too late.

Sariah, so proud of her pumpkin.

Last night Sariah went trick-or-treating with her best friend, Payton.

Sariah and mommyPayton with her mom, Sara, and good friend, Emily.
Sariah's 'loot'

On Friday, we went to a Halloween party put on by Spencer's school. It was a blast! We went my good friend, Karen, and her 3 kids.

Sariah playing 'Pin the Smile on the Pumpkin'. She got a new Shrek toothbrush and toothpaste from the Tooth Fairy (one of the dental students)

Sariah and Renee

As you can see, we had an awesome Halloween.

We hope you did too!

Our 2 Year Old!

2009-10-24T19:22:00.004-07:00

This post is dedicated to the cutest, most lovable, independent little person I know. Happy Birthday Sariah! You bring so much joy to our lives. Today Mommy cried because you counted to ten by yourself and can sing most of your ABC's. We can't believe how fast time has flown by since we first met you and your beautiful smile. You were such a great baby. You only cried when you were hungry or needed a clean diaper. You were always so happy to be alive. You started walking when you were 10 months old and haven't stopped scaring Mommy and Daddy since. In fact, the other day at the park, you climbed an 8 foot rock climbing wall all by yourself, much to Mommy's dismay. You have no fear. If we don't have the ladder up for your bunk bed, you will find other ways to get to the top. You discipline yourself. If you know you are in trouble, you will put yourself in time-out. You are a great friend to those around you. You usually always share with your friends, sometimes with a little needed persuasion, and your face is just so cute that Mommy has a hard time saying "no". We love you Sariah and look forward to many more years being your parents and learning from you.

(Ignore the date on the bottom of the picture)

Sariah on her birthday. See, she really was the cutest baby ever.

Sariah on her 1st year birthday. Still cute as ever!

Sariah at 18 months. Again, the cutest girl in the world.

Sariah on her 2 year birthday. Can one be so cute for so long? ;)

We love you, Sariah Ann!

New video of baby brother

2009-10-12T08:49:00.002-07:00

This morning we went to my 30 week OB Checkup and we got a 3D ultrasound of baby brother. He was extremely uncooperative and they were going to let us have a retry but then we got this awesome video. It shows how uncooperative he really was. Hope you enjoy!

A New Post

2009-09-19T20:02:00.005-07:00

Okay, so it's been a while since I've posted anything but videos so I thought I'd give you an update on how we've been doing. Nothing out of the norm, actually. Baby brother is due in about 14 weeks on Christmas day. We are so excited to have him join our family. My pregnancy has been okay so far minus the swelling, sciatica and braxton hicks. Sariah is starting to get that she's going to have a little brother. Lately we've been toying with a few names and think we might have settled on one. Only because it's the one that sticks with Sariah and she keeps calling him it. We will let you know when we have decided for sure.

Sariah loves to color. She'll sit up on the table and color for 15 minutes or so. Hey, that's pretty long for an active little toddler!

"Mommy, gook!" (look)

Sariah giving herself a hernia trying to pick up a rock on one of her nature walks with dad. Sometimes we stay inside all day because it's so hot so when daddy comes home from school, he'll take her for a walk when the sun is going down just to get her out of the house for a while.

Sariah decided that she really likes to play with cars lately. She makes a "voom, voom" sound and drives cars up and down mommy's ginormous belly.

This past month has been filled with day care, Little Gym, quilting and preparing for baby brother. Spencer has 3 more days of lectures, a presentation and 4 finals and he will be done with his didactic part of school. In fact, his last final is on my birthday so needless to say, we will be celebrating heavily that night! He then moves onto 9 months of rotations and he will be done! We are so excited. Can you blame us?

In one of our attempts to get out of the house, we decided to go bowling as a family- a first with a toddler. It actually was really fun. Sariah was done playing after the fifth frame or so but we all still had a really good time.

I have been working on a quilt for Sariah's second birthday. I will be so excited when it is finished. We have also been trying to prepare for this second child by researching beds and redecorating the kids' room. We will post pictures of our latest projects when they are finished. Sariah and I have been going to help out at a friend's day care. She enjoys going and playing with her friend, Payton and all the other kids. It's nice to be able to get out and do something with the weather still being in the 100's or high 90's. As you can see, nothing all that new but we've had a fun summer. We hope all is well with you and your families. Thanks for coming! Sariah really enjoying her fudgsicle.

Simply Sweet Marriage

2009-09-14T19:06:00.002-07:00

One of my favorite websites/blogs is having a free giveaway. You should check it out! They have some awesome products for couples looking to "spice" up their lives.

http://simplysweetmarriage.blogspot.com/

2009-08-18T20:57:00.002-07:00

So cute!

2009-08-18T20:38:00.003-07:00

Notice how the dog walks her most of the time. She's so dang cute!