Merrill Memories

Happy 12th Birthday to Cierra

2012-01-09T11:04:00.000-08:00

Cierra turned 12 on the 27th of December. We had a party at our house on January 7th. It was a lot of fun.
These are pictures from her party. She did get to open presents from us and Grandma and Grandpa Merrill the day before her birthday.

Some of the set up:

Pinata Time! This was hilarious. It got moved from the basketball hoop to the pine treeand then back to the basketball hoop. The string it came with kept breaking on the pine tree so we finally resorted to using an extension cord on tghe basketball hoop. The little kids didn't have to be blind-folded, the middle size kids did and we were able to control it and move it with the big kids so they did not have to be blindfolded either. Jadyn knocked the head off with one of her swings so you will see Cierra trying to hit a headless dog. Here is a shot of each of the kids taking a hit at the pinata. Daisha did not want to hit it so there is not one of her here.

Present Time:

I-Spy 3-D Game from Amber and Jon

Cool Pottery Wheel from Grandma and Grandpa Bair

Wolf Puzzle she got from her friend Daisha

Birthday Cake Time

Christmas 2011

2012-01-09T10:54:00.001-08:00

We had Christmas in our new home in San Diego. Mark's parents and brother came out from AZ to bring the girls and celebrate the holiday with us. It was a nice holiday.

When the kids arrived the day before Christmas Eve they found this present in the backyard.

We love our Aunt RaNae!:

The kids with their stockings

Our train lover got a train engineer hat (has it on backwards) and cool lego train set.

Our popcorn lover got her very own popcorn machine. Yummy!

Fall 2011

2012-01-09T10:31:00.001-08:00

It has been awhile since I have updated my blog. That is because life has been hectic lately. Our worlds were turned upside down in October when I was laid off from my full-time position as a Dental Hygienist/New PatientCcoordinator. This was completely unexpected and scary. However, miracles happen and despite the turmoil things are getting back on track. By the grace of God, I was able to find a full-time Dental Hygienist position in San Diego, CA. Within 2 weeks of getting laid off, I had found a new job and started the relocation process of getting my family moved to San Diego. In 1 weekend, we were able to find a rental home in Rancho Penasquitos, the town I went to Middle School and High School in. We found a home with a HUGE backyard but did have to downsize by 1000 square feet. It is okay though, because the backyard makes up for it. Mark, myself and Chase moved here the beginning of November while Cierra and Jadyn stayed in AZ with grandma and grandpa Merrill to finish the semester. They moved out here over Christmas weekend. Chase is going to a new daycare with a wonderful lady who is one of my mom's best friends. There was a rough adjustment period for Chase, but he really likes it now. The girls started at their new schools the first week in January. Jadyn is in 7th heaven with her new school and new BFFL (Best Friend For Life). She loves the school and her teachers. We are so happy for her. Cierra has had a rough time adjusting to Middle School life. It is completely different than the K-8 school she was going to. Everyday gets better but she misses her school and friends in AZ. Mark was able to transfer his job and works 100% remotely from home. That was such a blessing. I am working out of 3 different dental offices with Pacific Dental Services. PDS is a great company that offers many great benefits. In February, I will just be in 2 offices that are owned by the same Dentist. I will stay at 4 days/week with the prospect of going to 5 days/week soon. I am loving my job and new career. Looking back on how fast this all happened and how everything fell into place, I feel so blessed and as if it was meant to be for us to be back home in San Diego. Of course we are sad that we had to leave Mark's parents and brother behind in AZ, but we have faith that they will be able to follow us out here after Tim retires in a few years. I will be e-mailing our new contact info to those e-mail addresses I have. If I don't get to you, please leave a comment and I will send you the info. Here is a shot of our backyard from Cierra's birthday party which I will post about soon. We were able to set up a full-size volleyball court and still had plenty of room for our trampoline. We also have a half-size cement basketball court, patio and large shed. We literally have our own park for a backyard. The kids absolutely love to play in the backyard and are enjoying the San Diego weather. The other picture is of the kids making a gingerbread house under one of the many pine trees we have also.

Halloween 2011

2012-01-09T10:28:00.000-08:00

This year Cierra was a wolf, Jadyn a cop and Chase an astronaut. Fun costumes.

Softball Injuries

2011-09-25T14:10:00.000-07:00

We started a new softball season on September 15th. We play double headers on Thursday evenings. So far we are 4-0. Awesome! Our first game, however, Mark and I obtained a few injuries.

Mark tried to slide into home plate: was called out and got this nice owie on his leg. Totally regrets it.

Biggest guy on the team hits a line drive down 3rd base line while I am standing on 3rd base and nails my left butt cheek. Holding an ice pack on my butt was really funny.

Labor Day Birthdays in San Diego

2011-09-25T13:46:00.000-07:00

We were able to visit san Diego over the Labor Day weekend. Mark was finally able to go with us. It had been a year since he had gone to San Diegos so it was really nice to be all together as a family. We celebrated Jadyn's and Mark's birthdays while we were there. The weather was amazing, we even got some rain on Labor Day. Here are some pix from our great weekend!

Birthday Party at my parent's house. We also celebrated my Uncle Jimmy's Birthday:

Mark talking with Jamar

Cierra, Daisha and Jadyn. Such cute girls!

Tiff and Jeff

Mark and me

The middle-aged table: Dylan & Michelle, Jamar & Brenda; Mark & me

Chase was ready for some cake

The birthday crew: Uncle Jimmy, Jadyn and Mark

My nephew Zander and Chase loved to swing together

Labor Day Pool Party at Aunt RaNae's:

Chase swimming. We finaly found the perfect combination of floaties and swim vest to keep his head above water

Cierra being silly like always

Jadyn swimming

My Grandpa Bair and Betty Rue.

My mom and dad. Don't they look great.

My sister Tiffany
My cutie pie niece Alli with Jeff

Dylan giving the kids a Shamu ride; All at the same time!

Mark and my dad laughing at Dylan and the crew on his back.

Sleeping Snugglers

2011-08-28T13:05:00.000-07:00

Payson is a cuddle bug when he wants to be. I guess his new thing is to jump into bed with Jadyn in the morning and snuggle with her. Chase had woken up early and always likes to try and wake up his sisters. This is what I found one morning. I thought it was sooooo cute!

Chase is a Big Boy Now!

2011-08-28T12:34:00.001-07:00

Chase is finally potty-trained!!!! Thanks to the most amazing day-care provider ever! I did not think this boy would ever be trained, but he is fully trained now, even at night time when sleeping. It does mean me having to get up in the middle of the night to take him potty when he needs to go, but I will do that any day over changing poopy diapers! He gets to wear big boy underpants and is so proud of himself.

Chase has also transitioned into a big boy bed. Here are some before and after pictures of his room.

So proud of his new bed and room.

First night to sleep in his bed.

I wanted to write down a few funny comments that Chase has said recently that I want to remember. He is talking so well now and in complete sentences too. Some of the things he says and does are very funny.

One thing he does that cracks me up. He totally takes after me: After he goes poop in the toilet, if he looks into the toilet and sees the poop he totally gags. He is a gagger just like me! So now he will pull his t-shirt down to the toilet seat to hide from seeing into the toilet.

Comments:

--We like to call him Chasey Boy, but now he says: "I am not Chasey boy, I am Chase."

--He loves to watch the movie "Monster House." One day he was playing with his dump truck and yelled: "Get off my lawn!"

--The movie "Monster House" must have had a fingerprint on it or something because it stopped playing correctly. He ran into the room where Mark was and said: "Daddy, help me! Monster House isn't happening."

--Sometimes when you ask him if he wants to do something he'll answer by saying: "Not today."

--I was helping him put on his underwear and he said: "Momma, you are a dork." What can I say, he's right!

Funny Cat

2011-08-28T12:32:00.001-07:00

Payson has the most interesting way of chilling. We think it is hilarious. What do you think?

The Plate is Here!

2011-08-28T12:29:00.000-07:00

So here is my personalized plate. So fun!

Somebody Pinch Me Please!

2011-07-31T18:07:00.000-07:00

I can't believe she's mine. I never in a million years thought I would own one, but here is my new baby!

She is a 2011 Chevy Camaro! She had all of 7 miles on her when I drove her off the lot. I am hoping to get a personalized plate but won't tell you what it is until it gets approved and put on her. So excited!!!

San Diego Trip July 2011

2011-07-13T15:19:00.000-07:00

The office I work in on Fridays was closed the week of Independence Day, so I had the chance to take the kids to San Diego for the week. It was so nice to get away from the heat as it hit 118 degress while I was gone. We had a great time and I realized how much I took San Diego for granted and how much I miss it!!!

Cousins:

Jadyn, Ali and Chase.

Jadyn and Ali.

Poway Park. We rode the steam engine train. There was a family there selling Schnauzer puppies and the kids just had to go see and hold them. They were really cute.

Saturday night fireworks at the church:

The kids ready for the fireworks.

My mom and dad with Zander.

Tiff and Jeff

Kids watching fireworks.

Sunday night dinner at my parents house:

Chase loved the swing.

Jadyn, Cierra and Zackery playing with the car.

Jadyn and Cierra being silly with the car.

My remaining grandparents.

4th of July breakfast at the church:

The kids ready to ride their cars in the parade.

Face Painting done by the Young Women:

Chase got a firework.

Jadyn got a Bald Eagle. Doesn't it look just like one?

Cierra got the American Flag.

4th of July pool party at Aunt RaNae's:

Chase and Zander eatin chips.

Tiff and Ali

My dad bought these megaphones for the grandkids, but he had it the whole time and had way too much fun with it. Sure, for the grankids, right!

Chase in his floaties. He did really well for the first time in those things.

Kids at Webb Park in Rancho Bernardo. We fed the turtles there.

Bon fire at the bay the last night I was there:

Chase with grandpa and great-grandpa.

Chase with bon fire.

Chase watching the kyacks go by.
Me and Chase roasting marshmallows.

Jadyn and I roasting marshmallows.

New Addition

2011-07-13T15:10:00.000-07:00

The first week in June we added a new pet to our family. His name is Payson and he is a two-year old male cat. He is very sweet like Buddy and great with the kids, even Chase. I wasn't sure how Buddy was going to react, so I wanted to wait to post this news until we were sure they would get along. At first, Buddy was VERY UPSET and didn't want anything to do with Payson. He would growl and hiss at Payson any time he was near him. Over time though, the growling and hissing has decreased dramatically and sometimes they even play together. Buddy makes sure that Payson knows he is still king and always will be, but has accepted that he lives here now. Both cats are very vocal, so there is a lot of meowing going on in this house. Drives me crazy but the kids love their cats.

Payson. Really pretty coloring.

Jadyn with Payson

Cierra with Payson

This was pretty early on. You can see that Buddy has let Payson be in the same room with him.

Chase is 3!

2011-05-31T17:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Chase's 3rd birthday. We had BBQ ribs and cupcakes (Chase's request) and ice cream and lots of presents!

Happy Birthday Big Boy!

The cheese!

Chase with all of his gifts.

Chase with his gift from Grandma Bair

Grandma gave him some chocolate. All present unwrapping ceased until he ate it all! Good thing she only gave him 3 pieces! This boy LOVES chocolate!

He got a Buzz Lightyear gun that makes noise and shoots foam darts. His favorite gift!

Chase blowing out his candles. He started a little early. We weren't done singing in first picture!

Chase playing the drum from his Suzuki music collection he received. It came with a drum, tambourine, castanets, wrist bells and a sound stick with mallet. Already broke it by punching a hole in it! Bummer!

Orlando, Florida Vacation May 2011

2011-05-31T16:37:00.001-07:00

We just got back on Saturday from a week long vacation in Orlando, FL. We stayed at the Orange Lake Holiday Inn Resort in a 2 bedroom fully stocked condo. It was really nice. We did 3 days of Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure (Harry Potter World) and 1 day of Epcot. It was a very fun trip but very exhausting. Here are some of my favorite pix.

Us on the plane

Chase holding onto pole in tram at Orlando airport.

Our resort

We did a day at the resort pool. Here are the kids ready to swim. Cierra is such a ham!

Univeral Studios

Universal Globe

Monster Nascar

Fast 5 cars. Oh yeah! Awesome movie, by the way.

You know if there is a firetruck around, I am going to get a picture in front of it!

Chase waiting for the Barney show to start.

Universal Islands of Adventure

There was a Feival Village that was a water playground. This by far was Chase's favorite part of the trip. He LOVES playing in water. Here are the kids getting all wet!

Chase in car

Chase playing in water park

Chase all wet

Chase getting splashed on by a huge bucket of water that spills onto the roof and falls onto the kids below.

Girls all wet

Poser

Island of Jurassic Park

Kids with the Grinch (Chase's favorite!)

Chase with Cat in the Hat

Chase with Dr. Suess character
Day at Epcot

Harry Potter World (Islands of Adventure)

Upset Chase with foam mustache from butterbeer. Yum!

Hogwarts Express

Family shots with Hogwarts in background

Hogsmeade

Hogwarts

Pinning Ceremony/Graduation

2011-05-05T16:19:00.000-07:00

My pinning ceremony and graduation were yesterday, May 4, 2011. What a great day! Here are some pictures from my VERY SPECIAL DAY!

My dad gave me my graduation present from him the night before. It was a clock that I have always wanted. Every hour it plays a tune and the face opens up to reveal a carousel that turns. My parents have one too, but I have the newer model that plays 6 Beatles tunes in addition to 6 folk tunes and 6 Christmas songs. Coolest thing ever! I absolutely love it!! Thanks dad! (My mom had gotten me a throw rug for graduation several months ago, so I wasn't expecting anything else. But my dad wanted to get me a present just from him.)

Pinning Ceremony at Rio Salado Conference Center 2pm:

Me and my honey

Me with two of my best buds from school: Kat White and Leslie McFall

My biggest fans! (Mark was taking the picture.)

Me with my 1st year clinic coordinator Mr. Cenerini and my 2nd year clinic coordinator Ms. Harper right after receiving my pin.

Partial group shot after the ceremony:

Me and my carpool buddy Kelsey Jansen

Graduation at the Orpheum Theatre 7pm:

Me in all my honors garb. I feel so accomplished. Graduated with highest distinction honors and Phi Theta Kappa. Those shoes KILLED my feet. Price of bling!

Me and my dad.

Me and my honey.

My grad cap I decorated.

Me with my parents, Mark and his mom.

My mom attempting to hide my BIG ears with my cap. Mission Failed!!

Me and some of my hygiene buddies after the ceremony:Kat, Me, Leslie, Shalyn, and Kate

Easter 2011

2011-05-05T16:11:00.000-07:00

Easter was very different this year. For the first time ever, we did not have an Easter dinner with family. I was furiously studying for my National Board exam and just didn't have the time or energy to prepare an Easter dinner. The Easter Bunny did visit, but that was about all this year. No colored eggs, no egg hunt, nada. What a terrible mother I am! At least I am finally done now and my kids will have a mom back! Here are some pictures from the morning before I started studying for 8 hours straight.

The kids coming down to see what the Easter Bunny brought. No peeking!

The kids with their Easter baskets.

The kids with their stuffed animals. Jadyn had traded Chase his blue bunny for her pink and green caterpillar, but now Jadyn has her caterpillar back and Chase the blue bunny.

San Diego Trip

2011-01-20T10:59:00.000-08:00

I finished my 3rd semster of Dental Hygiene School. It was the semester from hell. Excuse my French, but I am not kidding! I didn't think I was going to survive. Luckily I only have one more semester to go! Yee haw! I have a two week break between semesters so I took the kids to San Diego for a long weekend. We left on Friday morning and came home on Wednesday. I visited my friend Brenda on Friday night and then stayed at my parents house for the rest of the time. We had a picnic at Hilltop Park and went to Balboa Park and the Natural History Museum. It was great to get away and visit with friends and family.

Chase absolutely adored my niece Ali. He always wanted to hold her and play with her.

The gorgeous sunset view from my parent's backyard. Oh how I miss SD!!!!!

Picnic at Hilltop Park.

Ocean view from park.

View of PQ from park.

Tiffany and my niece Ali.

Zander and Chase playing with a spinner launcher.

All of the cousins. (I love Zander's arm around Chase.)

My nephews konked out afterwards.
Chase and Cierra by a tree in Balboa Park.
The Natural History Museum

Cierra and Jadyn with a Rhinoceros Iguana:Chase with a Burmese Python:Chase ready to watch the 3-D Turtle Movie. Too bad he didn't make it all the way through!Grandma Bair and girls ready for movie.

My Poor Sick Little Boy

2011-01-20T10:50:00.000-08:00

The first week in January Chase woke up at 3am on Wednesday morning complaining and crying about "face" pain. (It was actually inner ear pain.) We took him to the ER that morning and he was diagnosed with a pretty bad ear infection in his left ear. He was put on antibiotics and given some ear drops for the pain. Up to that point he had not had any fever. The next evening he came down with a fever and by Friday morning he had a high fever over 103 degees and was miserable. I took him to his primary care doctor and he now had two very bad ear infections. The antibiotic was changed and he was put on a regimen of Tylenol/Ibuprofen to keep his fever down. We really had a hard time keeping his fever down and he ended up with diarrea and vomiting as well. We thought for sure we were going to end up in the ER again, but luckily after cool water baths and control of his vomiting, we were able to make Chase comfortable until he finally recovered by Monday. This was the sickest any of my children have been. (Knock on wood!) Here are some pictures of my little sickie.

Happy New Year 2011!

2011-01-20T10:36:00.001-08:00

We had a New Year's Eve Party with a small group of special friends and family. You would think we were feeing an army though with all of the food we had! We played Pictionary on Wii which was a blast and then did fireworks in the street which are legally sold in Arizona but illegal to set off in Goodyear. Luckily we didn't get caught! I only got 2 pictures of the evening (boo!) and I stole the videos from my dad.

A shot of Tony and Mark with Chase.

Some of the amazing food. (This is just from the table, my counter was also full of food!)

Christmas With Grandma and Grandpa Bair and The Polar Express

2011-01-20T10:05:00.000-08:00

My parents came in on December 29th to have Christmas with us and go to the Polar Express in Williams, AZ on the 30th. It was a fun time. Williams had received over 2 feet of snow a few days before so we almost didn't think we were going to make it there because of all of the road cloasures. Luckily all the roads opened with the last one opening only minutes before we got to it. Driving in snow is so scary and I did lose control of the SUV for a moment, but we got there safely. Whew! The snow was beautiful, all powdery and glistening. A great time.

A couple shots of Christmas with the Bairs.

Views we saw on the way to Williams. So beautiful!

Views from our hotel window:

All bundled up and ready to go outside into the snow!

Walking to the Polar Express. Our hotel was only a few blocks away.

All of us on the train to the North Pole!

The magic and wonder of Santa:

I loved the icicles hanging from our hotel.

The overnight snow drifts covered Linda's car.

Our SUV with icicles. This is what it looked like just before we left to go home.

Happy Birthday Cierra!

2010-12-28T12:31:00.000-08:00

Cierra turned 11 years old yesterday. She decided she wanted to go bowling for her birthday like we did for Jadyn's birthday. My neighbor watched Chase for us and we had a fun day. We went to a pet store, Cabela's, Del Taco for lunch and then bowling. That evening we ordered Papa John's Pizza and Linda and Alex came over for dinner, presents, and cake and ice cream. Cierra had a great day!

The girls ready to bowl!

Mark and I having fun bowling.

Bowling shots and then party shots:

My Dancin' Fool

2010-12-26T09:27:00.001-08:00

Chase loves to dance. I caught him one day watching TV and rockin out and singing with the music video they were playing.

Christmas 2010

2010-12-26T08:28:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas 2010! We had a great, yet unforgettable Christmas. On Christmas Eve, Mark's family came over for our traditional reading/singing of the Christmas story and wathcing of The Polar Express with hot chocolate. The CD player wouldn't work so I played the songs on the piano for the Christmas story. I haven't played in a long while so that was very interesting. We then watched The Polar Express. Chase had eaten junk food all day, mostly chocolate (he takes after me with his sweet tooth), and was drinking a Capri Sun on Mark's lap when he starting throwing up all over Mark. I can not handle throw up at all and neither can Cierra, Jadyn or Mark's brother Alex so we all run from the room gagging ourselves. Poor Mark was left to take Chase to the tub by himself. He later tells how he was looking to get some help but only saw people fleeing from the room. LOL! I tried to help Mark when he got Chase into the bath but I ended up throwing up myself! I am so glad my kids really have never had the flu (knock on wood), because I could not handle it!

Christmas Day was really nice and the kids got all that they wanted. Santa was really good to them this year and so was Grandma Merrill! Chase loved unwrapping presents and we had to keep fending him off from everyone else's gifts. My parents are coming in on the 29th to celebrate Christmas and New Year's and go to The Polar Express in Williams. So there is a bunch of gifts still under the tree that I have to defend until they get here! Lovely! Here are some pix from Christmas Day.

The kids with their stockings.

Before Chase even got through his stocking he had the chocolate open ready to eat it. This kid!

Chase got some Tonka Trucks from Santa.

Our horse lover got several horse themed gifts. So fun.

Cierra's favorite gift from Grandma Merrill. A fire-breathing Night Fury from her favorite movie "How to Train Your Dragon."

Jadyn's favorite gift. A FurReal Friends Go-Go dog from Grandma Merrill. Grandma held off until near the end to give it to her, so Jadyn did have a little attitude when she didn't think she was getting it. My kids are SO SPOILED!!!

Cierra got a U-draw for Wii.

Chase got a stuffed elephant from Grandma Merrill. He loves elephants.

Cierra's favorite gift of the day. Santa brought a bearded dragon!

Christmas Pictures

2010-12-26T08:25:00.000-08:00

These are some of the shots I took of the kids in front of the Christmas Tree.

All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth!

2010-12-26T08:21:00.000-08:00

But before it finally came out, we would call her Nanny McJadyn because she could manipulate it and stick it out of her lips and look like Nanny McPhie!

Dental Hygiene Students on Maricopa Now!

2010-12-10T16:40:00.000-08:00

This is my 10 seconds of fame. I am at the end of the clip. It was pretty cool and I have never been on TV before so this was cool. There are clips from my school as well but I did not appear in any of those, but my classmates did. You get an idea of my clinic life. Although dental hygiene school is the hardest thing I have ever done, it has been very rewarding too.

http://blog.riosalado.edu/2010/12/dental-students-featured-on-maricopa.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rionews+%28Rio+Salado+College+-+News+%26+Events%29

Expanding Our Cultural Horizons

2010-11-16T12:28:00.001-08:00

We had the pleasure of attending a play at the Tempe Center for the Arts on Sunday. It was called "Junie B. Jones in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells!" Junie B. Jones is a series of children's books about a kindergarten-1st grade girl who has a very interesting take on life. It was a very funny play that we all really enjoyed. The theatre is right on Tempe Town Lake, so Mark and the girls enjoyd seeing the huge fish hanging out by the dam that was just repaired after exploding a few months ago and spilling millions of gallons of water. Here are some pictures from before the play.

Grandma Merrill insisted on a picture of the crane! Look Grandpa Merrill, a crane!!!

Picture near dam

Picture of some of the fish

Chase Loves Pancakes!

2010-11-07T15:01:00.000-08:00

I discovered that Chase loves pancakes with syrup. Here are a couple of pictures of Chase eating pancakes.

Halloween 2010

2010-11-07T14:51:00.000-08:00

This year for Halloween Cierra was Neytiri from Avatar, Jadyn was a 50's dancer and Chase was a bumblebee. Here are some pix from our ward trunk-or-treat and Halloween night.

Trunk-or-treat:

Halloween night:

Our pumpkins

Chase anxious to go trick-or-treating

Another Tooth Lost and Fishing Loot

2010-11-07T14:45:00.000-08:00

Jadyn lost her 2nd tooth. It was an upper front tooth which is out of order of normal shedding. Usually kids loose their 2 front bottom teeth and then the top two, but Jadyn's mouth is doin its own thing!

Mark took the girls catfish fishing to Surprise Lake awhile ago. Here is their loot.

San Diego Trip September 2010

2010-09-20T20:51:00.000-07:00

We went to San Diego for a week vacation. I had 2 weeks off from school and so we took the girls out of school and enjoyed a packed week of fun in San Diego. Everyday we did something fun. The weather was perfect. The kids had a great time with their cousins: Zackery, Zane, Zander and new baby Ali. It was so hard to come home! Here are a couple of pictures of the cousins. One day we went to feed the ducks at Lake Miramar. The rest of the week is broken down by days with corresponding pictures.

Saturday swapmeet and then PQI ward beach party on the 11th: Never miss the swapmeet when we go to SD! Then beach party at Mission Beach. The Nielsens were in town too so it was good to see them. We even got to see some dolphins just beyond the surf. So cool!

Sunday visit with Lillie Kleinman and then the Calloways on the 12th: The girls had to play with the snails in the Calloways backyard the next morning. There are no snails in Arizona!

Chase's fashion statement: Mark's socks with Chase's sandals over them. So funny.

Monday Night Football at Dylan and Michelle's on the 13th: Had to see the Chargers play on TV while we were there. Too bad it was a very disappointing game!
Mark with my niece Ali

Disneyland/California Adventure on Tuesday the 14th. (with Grandma and Grandpa Bair) Camera was left in car back at hotel so we have no pictures of this. SOOOOOO sad as this was Chase's 1st Disneyland adventure. It was a lot of fun and not too crowded. The "World of Color" show at California Adventure was AMAZING! We stayed at the Sheraton Hotel compliments of my mom and dad and then we cruised the coastline home the next day stopping in Laguna Beach to see the tide pools. So beautiful there.

Laguna Beach Tide Pools on Wednesday the 15th:

Knott's Berry Farm just Mark and I on Thursday the 16th. It was AWESOME! No lines for any ride. (Forgot camera again!)

Horseback riding in Ramona on Friday the 17th:

There were these dogs that loved to be in between your legs. They also had a stump that they loved to fetch and chew on. Here is my dad with the French Bulldog chewing on the stump between his legs. The dogs included a German Shepard puppy, a brown Lab, a black Lab, a Mastiff and and Bulldog. So funny.

Pool Party at Aunt Ranae's on Saturday the 18th. Chase loved the Slip n' Slide!

1/2 Way There!

2010-09-20T20:42:00.001-07:00

I finished my 2nd semester of Dental Hygiene School on September 9th. I am officially at my halfway point. It has gone by so fast, but I have learned so much. It has been challenging, exhausting, exhilirating, exhausting, fun and did I say exhausting, all at the same time. Next semester is supposed to be the hardest. I am already psyching myself out about it! We learn anesthesia and start on the harder cases in clinic. Wish me luck and send prayers my way because I will need them. I start back on Monday September 27th!

On Friday September 10th we did a "Give Kids a Smile" event at our school. We had 60 children ages 5-12 come through our clinic and we did xrays, cleaned their teeth and taught them oral hygiene home care. It was a neat experience. Here is a picture of the group of girls and some faculty that volunteered that day.

Happy 8th Birthday to Jadyn

2010-09-20T20:20:00.001-07:00

Jadyn turned 8 on September 5th. We had a small family party on her birthday as we were going to San Diego and Disneyland in a few weeks. She had a good day though as we went to McDonald's for dinner (her choice), bowling and then Sonic for ice cream sundaes on Saturday. Here are some pix from her day. (I made her cake, which ended up being a disaster! It is TOO HOT in Goodyear, AZ to make cakes in the summer! She wanted a

" How to Train Your Dragon" cake. Since I was still in school, I was not going to go all out. I made a basic sheet cake, frosted it and decided to do flames up the side with icing and put a couple dragon figurines on top. Cierra lost hers so it only had one figurine with a little guy and sword. With it being so warm before I could even get halfway around the cake, the sides began falling off. I wasn't even going to post any pictures of it as I was DISGUSTED with how it turned out, but I guess it will be a good laugh for the future. It tasted AMAZING though!)

Chase's Budddy & Lil' Poser

2010-09-20T20:12:00.000-07:00

Chase and Buddy have a cute relationship. Through all the torture, Buddy still loves Chase.

Chase decided to pose for me for a couple of snapshots. It was so cute. Unfotunately, he only has done it this one day and now will not help out when I want to take pictures. Cute while it lasted.

Chase and Mommy's Mascara

2010-08-13T07:11:00.000-07:00

Chase loves to get into my stuff. Whether it is foot cream in his hair or expensive face cream on his legs, he just loves to open whatever he can find and dispense it onto his body. He puts it where he thinks it should go, most of the time he is incorrect. However, when he got a hold of my mascara, he knew exactly where to put it!

This shot cracks me up. He did this expression all on his own!

Jadyn Looses Her 1st Tooth!

2010-08-13T07:08:00.001-07:00

FINALLY! Jadyn has lost her first tooth. She is almost 8 years old and she finally worked it out! The tooth had started growing behind this loose tooth because she wouldn't touch it. One morning she was determined to get it out and after playing with it for awhile, it finally came out!

First day of School

2010-08-13T07:03:00.000-07:00

Monday the girls started school. Cierra started 5th grade with Ms. Mlsek and Jadyn started 2nd grade with Ms. McCoy. They both really like their teachers and their new grade! Cierra was very nervous about 5th grade but both of her best friends are in her class and she likes her teacher a lot more than she thought she would. Jadyn thinks her teacher is really nice. This should be a good year for them both.

Brother and Sister Love

2010-07-30T12:55:00.000-07:00

Chase just ADORES his sisters. He loves to ride his little car up and down the downstairs hallway with Jadyn and Cierra and he just loves when they play with him. I caught a cute picture of Jadyn and Chase lying on the ground just looking at each other and another picture of the two of them "riding horses." Notice the messy room. This has been a constant battle with me and the girls.

Chase and the Trash Trucks

2010-07-30T12:50:00.000-07:00

Chase just loves trucks. Anytime he hears a loud vehicle driving by outside he says: "Truck! Truck!" He also loves to watch the trash trucks when they come on Thursday mornings. He will go in the den and look outside the window to watch. Thought it was too cute and snapped a few pictures.

4th of July 2010

2010-07-30T12:44:00.001-07:00

We had a quiet 4th of July at home this year. Mark's parents and brother came over for dinner. We had a water balloon toss, played some games, set off a few of our own fireworks that a friend brought me from Florida a few years back and went and watched the Goodyear fireworks. Was a fun day..

Bigger, Better Pool

2010-07-30T12:37:00.000-07:00

So the pool I had originally bought was a little small for the kids so I slightly upgraded. Still a kiddie pool but fun nonetheless and Mark and I fit in it too. Chase loves to fill it with the hose. Too bad it has a hole in it now. But summer is almost over for the kids, so I guess we'll manage!

Memorial Weekend in San Diego

2010-07-30T11:28:00.000-07:00

We were in San Diego for the Memorial Day weekend. It was a lot of fun. Besides having Chase's birthday party we went to the beach. The kids also loved playing in grandma and grandpa's backyard with their cousins.

Backyard fun:

Some beach pictures. I wanted to put a video too, but after an hour of uploading, I cancelled it. We went with my friend Erin and her 3 kids. They were visiting San Diego also from Arizona. Chase absolutely loved the water!

Chase is Two!

2010-07-30T11:06:00.001-07:00

So updating my blog is LONG overdue! I needed to take a break from anatomy studying though this morning so I thought I would do a few updates. The first is that Chase turned 2 on May 30th. We were in San Diego for the Memorial Day weekend so we celebrated his birthday there with his cousin Zackery who turned 5 on June 1st. Here are some pictures from the day.

The theme was Handy Manny, so I made a Handy Manny cake. I think it turned out pretty cute.

The birthday boys.

Chef Jeff (my sister's husband who always seems to get stuck with cooking!)

The guests eating dinner of chicken kabobs, hot dogs, El Torito salad, rice and fruit.

One of Chase's favorite gifts.

Attempting to get Chase to blow out his candle. It didn't work and I ended up blowing it out.

My two grandpas. There are both over 90 and healthy and spry as ever! I love this picture!

Girls School Pictures

2010-05-17T14:05:00.001-07:00

I LOVE the girls school pictures this year! They turned out so cute! I had to share.

Cierra

Cierra's 4th Grade Class

Jadyn

Jadyn's 1st Grade Class

Warm Enough for the Pool

2010-05-16T16:53:00.000-07:00

I bought a little giraffe pool for Chase to play in this summer. I knew the girls would love it too. It is very small, but the kids had a blast in it. I sure wish we had a real pool!

The 3 kids (That is Cierra's "Bolt" expression)

Chase and Jadyn

Chase loved trying to drink the water that the giraffe head squirted out!

Mark Survived His 2nd Knee Surgery and I Survived My 1st Semester!

2010-05-16T16:42:00.000-07:00

Mark's knee surgery went very well on May 3rd. In fact he has had little to no pain since his surgery. The doctor can only chalk it up to "Divine Intervention." So thanks for all of the prayers, they worked!

Mark several hours after surgery

Mark's knee a few days after surgery...the wrap made indentations....sorry if it grosses you out!

I survived my 1st Semester of Dental Hygiene School....barely! Wow, what a CRAZY few months. Lots of hard work, but it payed off. Mark was my first non-student patient this past Thursday. It was a great experience. I start seeing "real" patients on June 1st! Very nervous, but I am doing well, so I just need to show confidence and get in there and do my thing. Here are some pictures from what was called "Integration Day." We are now considered integrated and able to see patients.

Mark ready to get started.

Mark and I

The students in Bay A

Adult Boat Day!

2010-05-02T14:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had an adults only boat day. Mark, Me, Brenda, Jamar, Dave and Charlotte took the boat out for an adult tubing day. We figured this would be our last chance to do this before Mark's surgery tomorrow and the Calloways move back to Murrieta, CA in July. It was SO MUCH FUN!!! Mark and Jamar wouldn't tube because the water was too cold but Brenda, Charlotte, Dave and I took on the choppy water and had a great time. It was super windy so the water was very choppy but it made for a more fun, bumpier ride. Here are some pix from the day and a short video of us tubing.

Lunch Time!! Subway, fresh fruit, chips and pasta salad. Some cookies and brownies for dessert. YUM!

The life jacket is a wee bit too small for Dave, but he was a good sport. It did hold him up well though when he got tossed from the tube.

Brenda, Dave and Charlotte on the tube.

Brenda and Jamar sharing an eggnog log. (A yummy cookie that Brenda makes)

My sexy honey enjoying the beautiful day.

Tubing is done, we are all bundled up and ready to just cruise and enjoy the sunset.

Here are Brenda, Me and Charlotte on the tube while Jamar is filming with our camera. It is a bumpy film, but you get the idea. So fun!

Vacuum Boy

2010-04-22T20:32:00.000-07:00

Chase has always been terrified of the vacuum. He usually starts crying and begs to be held whenever it is on. (which is rare these days! I never have time to vacuum anymore!) Mark decided to vacuum the other day and convinced Chase to help him. That was it. Chase then wanted to vacuum for the next hour. He now loves to help vaccuum.

Hello Kitty Cake

2010-04-22T20:29:00.000-07:00

I had to share how this cake turned out. I (with the help of Brenda, of course) made this cake for the girl I carpool with from school. It was for her daughter's 2nd birthday. I thought it turned out so cute.

Easter 2010

2010-04-22T20:22:00.000-07:00

Just a few pix from Easter Sunday.

Easter Baskets

Easter Egg Hunt

Chase Loves Bubbles!

Day on the Water

2010-04-21T20:04:00.001-07:00

We took the boat out for the first time in 2 years last Saturday! We finally got it running again after sitting for too long in the garage. It was a beautiful day at Lake Pleasant. Brenda, Jamar and Daisha Calloway joined us for the day. The girls went tubing and then the boys fished that night (no luck). Jadyn got bounced off the tube once and was done tubing for the day and who knows how long....she says she hates tubing now. This was Chase's first time on the boat and he did AWESOME! He did not get a nap at all that day, but was a trooper and loved being on the boat and the tube. We had a hard time convincing him to get back on the boat after his first tube ride. He LOVED it. The day was fun but there was a casualty. While Brenda and I were tubing, I of course got thrown off the tube, into the FREEZING water I might add, and didn't realize I had my cell phone in my board shorts pocket. Unfortunately, it didn't survive, even after a few days in dry rice to soak up the water. Luckily my birthday is coming up so Mark got me a new phone! I really like it. No more butt dialing! Here are some photos from the day.

Captain Chase

Daisha, Cierra and Jadyn enjoying the ride up front

Cierra Close-up

Jadyn Close-up

Cierra and Daisha on the tube

Mommy and Chase on the tube

Mommy and Chase enjoying the breeze

Sleepy Chase

P.S. Mark is scheduled on May 3rd for his revision ACL surgery so please keep him in your prayers.

Poor Mark!

2010-03-27T10:24:00.000-07:00

Remember this picture from last April? Well it is going to be a repeat. Mark has reinjured his knee pretty bad. He was playing flag football with the Elder's Quorum and Young Men from church last month (Feb 27th). He had his knee brace on. I took him to the ER that day where they did an x-ray. The x-ray was unremarkable. They told him to follow up with his orthopedic surgeon the next week. An MRI was scheduled and then he had a follow-up visit for diagnosis this past Thursday. His diagnosis is a 100% retear of his replaced ACL, dislocation and severe tear of his medial meniscus. The orthopedic surgeon said this should not have happened. We think that the ACL that was put in last April was put in too tight causing it to tear again. Mark is scheduled for surgery on May 3. Please keep him in your prayers as a revision ACL surgery is pretty major and the success rate is decreased. He also was told he shouldn't play sports for 2 years after his surgery. Mark is devastated.

My Luck Has Run Out!!

2010-03-07T13:41:00.000-08:00

So I always felt so lucky when I would hear other mom's stories of their child removing their diaper and painting the walls with poop. I never had that happen with my girls. Chase made sure that I got to experience the surprise and pure joy of finding your child buck naked with the smell of poop in the air and streaks in the bed and on the body. Thank you so much Chasey Boy!

Doesn't he just look so proud!!!

Our BIG project

2010-03-07T09:49:00.000-08:00

We have always wanted to cement off the side of our house. That dream has finally been realized. We were actually forced to do it because HOA was starting to fine us for parking in the street. So the cementing of the side of our house also turned into extending our driveway. WE LOVE IT!!!! The kids now have a place to ride their scooter and little cars, we were able to finally put our shed together, and now all 3 cars fit into the driveway. (Why don't we use our garage? We have the boat in there!) Here are pictures from the project.

BEFORE:

IN PROGRESS:

AFTER:

The kiddos

2010-03-07T09:43:00.001-08:00

Just wanted to post a few pictures of the kiddos.

Chase being as silly as normal.

Chase poured a whole bottle of shampoo into the bath. The kids had a blast with all the bubbles though!

Cierra had a scooter accident into the stucco column of our backyard. Hey, at least both eyes match now!

Bunny and Chase

2010-01-07T20:03:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple pictures of the bunny:

Here is the picture of Chase in mischief:

After Christmas and Happy New Year!

2010-01-07T19:41:00.000-08:00

The Monday after Christmas, Tim's wife, Lillie, and the two kids came for a quick visit. It was so great to see them, even if it was for such a short time. Before they left to go home, we went to Hawaiian Ono for dinner. Alex took this picture in the parking lot.

We brought the New Year in with friends at the Fort's house. It was a lot of fun!

Us and the Calloways

The men: Dennis Fort, Jamar Calloway, Chris Cleveland, Dave Fairbanks and Mark.

And just to let you know some of things that happened in the interim. Crystal's last day of work was on December 31st. It was a very bittersweet day. I am going to miss my students tremendously, but I am so excited to start Dental Hygiene School on February 1st. We added a new member to our family. We got a Satin bunny that Jadyn named Patches. We got her for free from a rescue volunteer for the Humane Society. She was abandoned at this lady's house. She is very sweet and brings back lots of memories to me since I had bunnies growing up. Chase is as fiesty as ever and getting into tons of trouble. My next post will have the pictures of the bunny and Chase is mischief!

Cierra is 10!

2010-01-07T19:35:00.001-08:00

Cierra had her birthday on December 27th. She turned 10 years old. I can not believe that our oldest is already 10! We had a small celebration on the 21st with Tiffany's family since they were in town. We got Panda Express and had some cupcakes and Neopolitan ice cream. On Sunday the 27th, I made Cierra's favorite dinner of enchildas and the Merrill's came over for dinner and some apple pie and ice cream for dessert! Here are a couple pictures:

Cierra with 10 candles in the apple pie.

Cierra with Zane looking on. (That is a black lightening bolt on the cupcake. Bolt is Cierra's favorite movie, so she put black bolts on her cupcakes).

Christmas 2009

2010-01-07T19:16:00.001-08:00

Christmas was at our house this year. The San Diego crew same and stayed with us and included Crystal's parents, sister Amber, sister Tiffany with her husband, Jeff, and 3 boys, grandparents and uncle. It was a full house! Crystal's granfather and Aunt RaNae were unable to come and were greatly missed. Mark's family joined us for dinner on Christmas Eve. Here are some pictures from the week.

Christmas picture of the kids.

My beautiful girls!

Chase (little man)

Great Grandma Hawn, Grandpa & Grandma Bair and Zackery (nephew)

Alex with the girls during funny gift exchange on Christmas Eve.

My cute nephew Zane

My adorable nephew Zander

My sister Tiffany and husband Jeff with a hat he got from the funny gift exchange.

Cierra was Santa this year. (Calling names and passing out gifts). Here she is in her Santa hat with the stuffed dog the real Santa left for her.Chase got a firetruck from Grandma and Grandpa Bair!

In Memory

2010-01-07T18:52:00.000-08:00

We went to San Diego this year for Thanksgiving, got home on Sunday evening and at 3am Monday morning we got a call that Mark's oldest brother, Tim, had been killed in a car accident. This was such unexpected, tragic news! Luckily, we were able to visit with Tim and his wife Lillie when we were in San Diego just a couple days before the accident.

Tim is such an amazing, thoughtful and giving guy and will be greatly missed by MANY people. He left behind his wife Lillie, step-daughter Nikki (age 20) and son Jordan (age 16). We were able to attend his "Celebration of Life" the following Sunday. It was a beautiful service. Tim worked for the United States Postal Service and they had a mail truck procession to start the service. Tim also served in the military so they played "Taps" and did a ceremonial flag folding and gave his wife the flag. Tim's best friend, Mike Wood, gave the eulogy and a beautiful slide show of Tim's life was shown. There were over 500 people in attendance and it was very clear how much Tim impacted the lives of others. Tim is a huge Charger fan and was so proud of those Chargers this year. He will forever be in our hearts and minds and we can't wait to see him again!

Thanksgiving 2009

2010-01-07T18:39:00.001-08:00

We went to San Diego for Thanksgiving this year. We have never had so many trips to SD in such a short amount of time. It was great. Here are a couple of pictures from our trip.......Ok nevermind. I guess I never downloaded those pictures before I cleared the memory card! Total bummer!!!

Chasey Boy

2009-11-02T19:26:00.000-08:00

Chase is a total character. He keeps us laughing daily. I had to post these cute pictures of him.

This is just a cute close-up that Alex took.

We bought a bike pump when we got Cierra a new bike as an early birthday present. Chase LOVES to play with it! He will pump it and drag it around. It is so funny!

Halloween 2009

2009-11-02T19:12:00.000-08:00

Halloween was fun this year, as always. We went to our ward trunk-or-treat on Friday night and then the Calloways came over on Saturday so Daisha could trick-or-treat with the girls. Cierra was a Vet, Jadyn was an Alien and Chase was a Giraffe. They looked so cute!

We have a neighbor that is an avid collector of movie props. His house is FILLED with original movie props from movies like Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Ghostbusters. He is a HUGE fan of Ghostbusters and has a Ghostbusters uniform. This year he brought out his newest prop. It took him 3 years to finish, but IT IS THE COOLEST! Check it out:

Jadyn's New Glasses

2009-11-02T19:08:00.000-08:00

We got a call from the school nurse about a month ago saying that they did an eye exam on Jadyn and her vision may need correction. I took her in to get an eye exam about 2 weeks ago and sure enough, Jadyn is near-sighted and needs glasses for distance vision. Was she ever excited about getting glasses! Every day she would ask when her glasses would be done. Of course, now that she has them, she isn't quite as excited as before. I think she looks cute in them though.

Unexpected Guest

2009-11-02T19:01:00.000-08:00

So not too long ago, we notice a disturbance in the dirt near our air conditioning unit. It looked as though something had dug out underneath it and may be living under the unit. We had no idea what it could be.

Here is a shot of the disturbed dirt. Mark filled it in a little bit under the A/C unit before I could take a picture.

A few nights later, Buddy was crying at the back sliding glass door. I looked out to discover what had made a home under the A/C unit.

A SKUNK! Are you kidding me? I never thought it could be that. The bad part was that since Mark filled in the den it had made under the A/C unit, it decided to move into our spa. Notice in the picture that a panel is missing on the spa. We had left a panel off of the spa after the bee incident and never put it back on.

We think as of now, the skunk has moved on. Thank goodness!

Family Photos

2009-11-02T18:24:00.000-08:00

While in San Diego for the Hawn Reunion, we took some family photos at the beach. Here are a few:

Hawn Reunion

2009-11-02T16:52:00.000-08:00

We attended the Hawn Reunion in San Diego the weekend of September 18th. It was a wonderful time and my mom, her brother and parents put a lot of effort into it. We had a Mexican Fiesta on Friday night, Hawaiian Luau on Saturday at the bay, with kayaks, volleyball, a hula dancer, bike riding, a treasure hunt and a trip on The Seal; and a lovely breakfast on Sunday morning. Here are some pictures from the weekend:

The 20 lbs. of guacamole I made. DELICIOUS!!!

Our family at the Fiesta

The 3 amigos at the Fiesta

The girls flying a kite.

Chase's cage. Daddy made the mistake of letting him down outside of this
containment. He wouldn't go back in it after that!

The kids getting ready for their treasure hunt.

After our ride on The Seal. It is a bus that takes you on land and in the water!

1st trip to the ER!

2009-09-11T16:42:00.000-07:00

Chase had his first trip to the ER last night. He slipped in the bathtub and split open his chin. Then while we were waiting to be called back, Chase fell and smacked his head on the tile while running around the waiting room. He got an instant blue goose egg! It was a rough night for him. Luckily, they were able to use the "glue" to seal up his chin, and felt his head injury would heal just fine on its own. The doctor would have put stitches if we wanted them, but the glue is so much less traumatic. It was traumatic enough as it took 4 people to hold him down while they glued it shut. He SCREAMED the whole time and then after they were done, any time a nurse or doctor got close to us, he would cry again. Such a horrible event for him. Poor baby! He is doing well today, has kept the bandage on, but has a nice bruise on his head.

Jadyn is 7!

2009-09-11T16:31:00.001-07:00

Jadyn turned 7 on September 5th. She had a slumber party with her 2 closest friends on the 4th. They had pizza, painted a little dog and cat figurine and decorated cupcakes. It was a fun time.

First Day of School

2009-09-11T16:23:00.000-07:00

The girls started school on Monday, August 3rd. Jadyn started 1st grade with Ms. Nunez and Cierra started 4th grade with Ms. Lee. They were not looking forward to going back at the time, but they are enjoying school very much. Homework is a whole other issue though!

Don't they look tired? First day is always hard!

Salt River Tubing

2009-07-18T21:20:00.001-07:00

Last weekend Mark and I and 8 of our friends decided to take on the Salt River and do a little tubing. We had heard it advertised a lot and thought it would be fun. An adventure it turned out to be. We had heard the weekend is definitely a time to leave the kids at home, but I don't think we were expecting what really happened. First off, we were probably the ONLY group not drinking alcohol or smoking weed. We were also probably one of the oldest groups of people heading down the river with an average age of 33 (Thank you Charlotte for bringing our average down!). We were able to witness the arrest of one young lady as she got pulled out of the water by the Sheriff's department on an airboat and was handcuffed. The Sheriff's helicopter was hovering the whole time and there was a Sheriff's SUV waiting on the bank. Mark later found her mugshot on the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department website (by accident) where it said her crime was misdemeanor indecent exposure. I guess you have to wait until the Sheriff's Department is not looking before you flash, because there was plenty of boobie flashing going on without an arrest. There were parts of the river that were moving pretty swiftly so at times we did get slammed into the bank with low-lying branches and parts where the river got super shallow and we had to lift our butts up so as not to hit it on the rocks. Mark got his wedding ring caught on a branch and almost lost a finger and Mike Gerardi slammed his back into a rock and got a nasty contusion. There was more exciting action that I won't go into detail about, but I will mention that the natural scenery was beautiful and we even saw a group of wild horses wading in the river. It was an experience we will always remember though!

Here is our wonderful group: Mark & Crystal Merrill, Dave & Charlotte Fairbanks, Dennis & Erin Fort, Jamar & Brenda Calloway, and Stacie & Mike Gerardi

Crystal enjoying the ride

Mark and Mike kicking back

Stacie and Crystal

The Calloways, Merrills & Gerardis

Father's Day and 4th of July

2009-07-18T20:29:00.000-07:00

So once again I am behind on my posting. I can't believe this year is more than half over. Where is time going? The summer is in full swing in Arizona with temps in the 100teens! Miserable! This is when I wish we had a pool!

Only 2 weeks left until the girls are back in school. They start really early this year. Neither one is looking forward to go back. They will have to learn to like school again real quick.

We had a nice Father's Day. Mark's parents and brother brought over dinner. Cierra made the coolest pop-up card for Mark. If you can't tell, it is Mark and Cierra fishing. The fish even come off the hook. So cute!

Here are just some photos of Chase being Chase. He has become quite the photo subject. He now will smile for the camera.

He just loves to go by the stairs and sit down. It is the perfect height for a seat for him.

I spiked his hair after a bath one day.

His 2 front teeth just crack us up.

This year we spent 4th of July weekend in Payson, AZ. Thanks to the generosity of Reed and Becky Watson (brother-in-law and sister-in-law to Erin Fort), we were able to stay at their house. With us, the Forts, the Calloways and the Watsons, we had a total of 24 people sleeping in a small 2 bedroom with a loft house. It was so much fun though. They have a river just 50 yards down from their backyard that we walked down to the night we got there. The next day we drove to a campground that allowed you to hike to these swimming holes and cliff jumping areas. There were some treacherous areas so it was pretty scary trying to manuever over these cliffs with a baby! We made it safe and sound though and had a great time. There was this one swimming hole that had a little natural rock slide and an area where they put this huge log with steps that you could climb up and jump off of. Cierra and I had a great time jumping off this log into the cold deep water.

That night we had a bon fire in their backyard. Reed told us stories of experiences he has had as a cop and highway patrol officer. We did get a taste of country living while we were there as we saw several country mice, the biggest, and I mean the biggest, meanest ant you have ever seen that crawled into the house, (it had huge pinchers and it was the terminator too. Mark killed it like 3 times and it kept putting itself back together and trying to crawl away! No joke!) and literally a 6-inch slug that one of the kids caught and brought in on their arm. I didn't know that slugs could get this big and long. Totally gross. Here are some pictures from our weekend.

Chase just hanging out in his stroller after surviving the hike in.

Jadyn sliding down the natural rock slide.

Cierra and Crystal jumping off the log. Yes, I'm a nose pincher!

Cierra doing a cannonball off the log.

Crystal jumping off the log.

Recent Pictures of the Kiddos

2009-06-24T20:28:00.000-07:00

These are the pictures we had taken for Chase's first birthday. Of course I had to get one of the three of them and the pose of the two girls turned out so cute I had to get that one too!

Things are still moving right along for our family, nothing new to report. It is getting HOT now in Arizona though. We have really enjoyed the milder weather, but alas, all good things must come to an end.

We did discover that bees have decided to make a home behind the paneling surrounding our spa. We noticed a bunch of bees flying around the spa on Monday. Today I looked outside and didn't see any flying so I thought they must have moved on. I decided to do a walk around the spa and discovered that they are crawling in and out of a space in the back of our spa. I showed Mark when he got home and he was instantly stung from just looking. Once the pain went away he got out the Hornet and Wasp spray and gave it right back to those bees. At first, not much happened but about 20 minutes later there were thousands of bees flying between our backyard and the neighbor's backyard (luckily the home is vacant) and they kept pouring out of the paneling. It was pretty scary to see. As of right now, things are calm again. Mark is planning to spray more tonight and eventually if it looks like they have left, we will open up the paneling and see what exactly they have been up too. I am a little afraid to find out.

My Baby is One!

2009-06-02T15:15:00.001-07:00

( Don't laugh at my hokey backdrop. He is getting professional pictures on Saturday!)

I know, I know. It has been way too long since I last posted. A LOT has been going on! I will start with Chase. He turned 11 months and then before I knew it he turned one since I last posted! I can not believe it has been a year since I had him. He has 3 teeth now and is almost walking. He takes lots of steps but isn't consistent with walking yet. I think he figures he can crawl faster, which is pretty fast I must say. We had a birthday party for him with my family that came out for Memorial Weekend. We had it at the Goodyear Community Park. It was a lot of fun, and luckily wasn't too hot.

Chase 11 months old

This is what happens when I let Cierra feed him!

Unwrapping gifts at birthday party

Chase's personal cupcake. I know, I didn't do a special cake. Shame on me.

Getting that little bit of frosting on his finger was enough. After that, I had to feed it to him one bite at a time!

On to Mark. He is recovering really well. He is back to work and doing physical therapy twice a week now, down from 3 times a week. He was able to do exercises on the first day of therapy that most people aren't even close to doing after his type of surgery, so he is recovering fast. I am so happy that things went so well and that he is recovering faster than expected.

The girls finished school today. Jadyn finished kindergarten and Cierra finished 3rd grade. I can not believe that I will have a 4th grader this fall. She is growing up so fast.

Now for my news. Your prayers must have worked, because I am back to work! It was the most bizarre of happenings. I got a call from the President of the college I used to teach at before Chase was born. He asked me if I was interested in having my old teaching position back. Are you kidding me? I jumped at the opportunity as I loved my job before I left, and so I have been teaching there again since May 11th. Hence, the expanse of time between posts. I thought I was busy before! Now I feel like I have no time for anything!!! The other mircale that occurred was Chase started sleeping through the night about a week before I started working again. It has been WONDERFUL!!!!

Mark is recovering and Happy Easter!

2009-04-13T12:57:00.000-07:00

Mark's surgery went well on Thursday. One of Mark's meniscus were frayed so the doctor had to smooth it up, but no meniscal repair was needed. The "new" ACL was placed and it looks good. The surgery did take the doctor longer than he expected so the tourniquet they used on Mark's upper thigh stayed on longer than hoped. We don't know if this was the reason or the fact that Mark started his physical therapy exercises just hours after being home, (they had injected a numbing solution into the knee, so Mark felt no pain), but that first night was horrible! (Once the medicine injected into his knee wore off). Mark was in terrible pain and neither one of us got much sleep that night. Luckily, Mark is feeling much better and the pain is very minimal now. Mark's leg is wrapped in an Ace bandage from mid-thigh to just above the ankle and he has to wear a compression stocking to prevent blood clots. He is also in a knee brace that is in the locked position to keep his leg straight. He must wear the bandage and stocking until his post-op appointment on April 22nd. (He can remove the brace for his exercises and a little break every now and then.) At that time the doctor will remove the bandage and stocking and unlock the brace. He will also check the incision sights and hopefully give us some pictures to take home. The doctor showed me some pictures after the surgery, but I was not given any to take home. Mark thought we would be given some, so hopefully we can still get them. It was pretty cool to see the inside of his knee and the before and after shots.

We had a nice Easter Sunday with Mark's parents and brother. The girls had an egg hunt and we mostly relaxed. We hope everyone had a nice Easter as well.

It was a mad dash competition between the girls to find those eggs!

Trouble with a Capital "T"

2009-04-06T16:00:00.000-07:00

Doesn't he just look like trouble? Chase turned 10 months on March 30th, and it seems like everything about him has changed! He has discovered the toilet paper roll, and loves to unwind it; he has discovered how to open drawers and cupboards, so it is time to childproof! He loves to hit me in the face, has started growling, knows how to clap now, thinks it is funny to drop all of his food off of his highchair tray onto the floor, hates to be confined in the gates we got him, wants to eat whatever we are eating, and the list goes on. He is such a stinker! But he is so cute, you can't help but love him.

Cierra received the Student of the Month Award at school this past Friday. She also won the monthly drawing they have for students with Perfect Attendance (month of February) and got a $25 gift certificate to Toys R Us, which she was really excited about. Congrats Cierra!

Mark is scheduled to have surgery this Thursday at 8:30am. We have to check-in at 6:30am so the girls will stay the night at Grandma Merrill's on Wednesday night so she can get them off to school for me. Mark, Chase and I will be up before the sun to get him to the hospital on time. The surgery will be done at West Valley Hospital which is where Chase was born and is very close. The surgery should only take a couple of hours. They are replacing Mark's ACL in his left knee with an achilles tendon from a cadiver. Very interesting procedure. The doctor promised to take lots of pictures to show us after the surgery. Please pray for Mark that all will go well with his surgery. I will keep everyone updated.

I am still looking for a job....applying for anything and everything. The job market is just so harsh right now. I am keeping my fingers crossed though that something will come along!

Spring Break

2009-03-27T15:58:00.000-07:00

The kids and I got back on Wednesday afternoon from almost a week in San Diego. Mark stayed home to work. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed seeing my family. The weather was beautiful and we even got some rain on Sunday. We went and fed the ducks at Miramar Lake on Monday. The lake was very full which was a huge change from just two weeks ago. It was gorgeous there. We went to the zoo on Tuesday, then stopped by to see my sister Amber's cats. They are bengal cats so have beautiful markings. Marley is the brown and black one and Cosmo is the white and gray one. Cosmo weighs about 27 pounds! He is the fattest cat I have ever seen, but is a total sweetheart. We also stopped by Ocean Beach for just a few minutes. Chase absolutely hated the sand. Cierra refused to go near the water because there is a warning that it may be contaminated with Hepatitis A. Supposedly, a lot of dead bodies are floating up from Mexico because of the drug wars. Cierra heard that there were people at the beaches giving shots to surfers and she wanted to take no chances having to get a shot!

Chase:

Has become quite the American Idol fan.

He also cut his first tooth today. The very tip has broken through. That explains why he has been so crabby lately!!!

Some bad news came on Friday while I was in San Diego. Mark received a siginificant paycut of 17.5%, effective Monday the 23rd. Couldn't have come at a worse time. I have been actively job searching since January and have only had 1 interview and no other bites. This economy is so rough with so many people out of work. Mark also just found out that he has a 100% torn ACL in his left knee and needs surgery. He would be out of work from 2-4 weeks without pay. We are trying to decide what to do. Things are very scary for us right now, so please keep praying for us. We need all the prayers we can get!

Jadyn's Field Trip

2009-03-09T08:41:00.000-07:00

This past Thursday, Mark and I were able to go on the Centerra Mirage Kindergarten field trip to the Wildlife World Zoo. There were so many parents in attendance that we just had Jadyn and another girl named Mikaylah to chapperone. We pretty much got to do our own thing and just met up for a show and lunch. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time.

(These pictures were taken with our video camera so the quality is not the best.)

Here is her whole Kindergarten class:

On to other news: Chase is officially crawling!!!! My last post I had said that he only army crawls and rolls everywhere. Well, a few days after that he perfected his crawling and he is FAST!!!! He is so proud of himself. He is officially mobile and I am not liking it too much because he wants to get into EVERYTHING! I have to be on my toes now. Here is a video of him crawling with daddy. This is right after he learned to crawl the right way, so he isn't as fast in this video as he is now.

Is it March Already?

2009-03-01T13:04:00.000-08:00

Where is this year going? Time is flying by. A few things went on in February. The girls started gymnastics last week. They are in a class together and absolutely love it. I have been dying to get them into something, and Cierra has been wanting to do gymnastics again. Jadyn really wanted to play soccer, but it didn't start until the end of March so I talked her into taking gymnastics with Cierra. I think Jadyn actually likes it better than Cierra. Here is a shot of the girls all dressed up for gymnastics. I couldn't take any pictures during class.

On the way home from gymnastics there was the most beautiful sunset. I had the camera with me so I pulled over and took these shots. The sky was literally a hot pink. It was beautiful. Arizona can have gorgeous sunsets.

Chase turned 9 months old! He is growing so fast. He is actually mobile now. He hasn't quite perfected his crawling, but he does army crawl and he easily gets where he wants to go. He can do a few normal crawls but usually results to the army crawl or rolls where he wants. I am glad he is learning to move, but at the same time I am worried because this kid wants to get into everything. Pretty scary. I think I am going to have to do away with the sign I usually use for his monthly shots because he is destroying it and won't leave it alone!

I have to say that I ABSOLUTELY HATES WEEDS! Mark and I have spent the past two Saturdays pulling weeds. We filled 3 grocery bags, and 4 kitchen trash bags! That is how many we had. We always say we won't let it get to that point, but alas, we always do. We get so lazy when it comes to our backyard. If we ever get another house where we have to do the landscaping again, we will definitely take our time with planning the yard and not rush into it like we did in this house. We absolutely hate our backyard. Lesson learned!

Master Defender of Chase

2009-02-12T09:20:00.001-08:00

So Chase has had bronchiolitis for the last week which means tons and tons of snot and mucousy coughing. He has even been given a nebulizer to help him breathe. All the snot means I have to suction his nose out every now and then. Well, Chase absolutely HATES this. He cries as if I am torturing him. Our cat, Buddy, does not like to hear Chase cry like that, so one time when I was on the floor with Chase suctioning his nose, Buddy came over crying to me and started lightly biting on my arm and trying to grab my arm with his paws as if to say: "C'mon, leave the poor kid alone!" I have never known a cat to act like that. It was so endearing that I had to share.

Chase is 8 months old!

2009-02-02T15:09:00.000-08:00

Chase turned 8 months old on the 30th. He is so much fun now and so stinkin cute! He isn't quite crawling yet but he does get up on all four and rock forward and backward. He gets where he needs to by rolling. He smiles a lot and absolutely LOVES watching and playing with his sisters. I have graduated him to a bigger blow-up tub as he got too big for his infant tub. I also had to lower his crib mattress because I think he will be able to get himself to a sitting postition soon and be able to pull himself to a standing one as well. He started to sleep on his tummy last night. Now that he can roll, there is nothing I can do about that. He still eats likes a pig and really enjoys the jarred baby food after a bowl of baby cereal. He is still nursing but has started biting me so I don't know how much longer I will nurse him. Luckily he doesn't have any teeth yet or he would have been done a long time ago. I can't get him to take a bottle though, so I am stuck for now.

It has been busy so far this year, although I don't feel like I have accomplished anything! I am still trying to decide what to do about finances. The preschool I wanted to start isn't happening, so I may have to go back to work. That means daycare for Chase which absolutely kills me. I just wish I knew what I was supposed to do. It is taking a lot of faith just to get through each day. Please pray for us that we may be guided in this tough time. We hope all is well with everyone.

Happy New Year?

2009-01-02T16:56:00.000-08:00

Happy 2009! So here is what has happened since my last post:

#1--On New Year's Eve, our computer completely crashed. Since it had happened to me in the past, I was prepared in the fact that I had backed up all my pictures and music. The one thing I didn't think about was all my e-mail folders in Outlook. As of now, I have lost everything I had in Outlook. Any past e-mails sent by friends and family that may have had pictures, addresses, etc. I lost all the e-mail addresses I had. Total bummer! Mark is going to take the hard drive into work and see if he can recover anything from it. I have my fingers crossed. It is nice that he has a laptop from work that I am able to work on until we suck it up and purchase a new one.

#2--We brought in the New Year with close friends. The party was at my house! There were a total of 14 adults (age 14 and up); 6 kids; and 2 infants for a total of 22 people!!! It was pretty crazy, but the party went off without any major complications........

Wii was a huge hit that night.

This is my friend Brenda and two of her daughters.

........as I was saying, the party went off without any major complications......until the party was over and people were literally loading up their cars. There was only me, Jadyn and one her friends left in the house. I was in the living room by the bottom of the stairs and Jadyn and her friend decided to break one of my house rules and RUN around the island in the kitchen. I heard a sound like someone fell, then laughing by the two girls..no wait, It's one girl laughing and one girl crying. I went into the kitchen to find Jadyn on the floor screaming. She looked like she was grabbing her leg but then I noticed her ear was turning purple. She had hit so hard, I don't think she knew what had happened. Further investigation revealed that she had slipped and slammed the side of her head on the tile. Luckily her ear absorbed most of the impact but she also ended up with a nice bump on her head behind her ear. She hit so hard that her ear instantly turned purple and we think not only did she break blood vessels, but also cartilage as she now has a pointy bump on her ear that wasn't there before. It is still very purple today but she is not in too much pain. Here is a picture of the initial damage:

Thinking about it today, we think she hit the best part of her head she could have. We cringe to think what could have happened if she had landed on her face!

Minor inconveniences have happened since then, like stores being sold out of things we went for, restaurants being out of key ingredients, etc. I am hoping this is not a indicator of how this year is going to be.

We hope everyone else had a great New Years and has a healthy and happy year!

Where Did December Go?

2008-12-30T19:42:00.000-08:00

I can not believe how fast December went! We had a fun and eventful month though. These are the happenings of the month in chronological order from November 30th until December 30th.

CHASE IS 6 MONTHS OLD:

Chase turned 6 months on November 30th and had his check-up on December 3rd. He weighed in at 20 lbs. 13.5 oz. and was 28.5 inches long.

We started Chase on fruits and veggies that first week in December. He was unsure at first and did not like sweet potatoes, which I started with and they eventually made him gag. He did like pears and apples and when I reintroduced sweet potatoes he liked them. Now he eats anything I serve him and even likes winter squash which I introduced yesterday. Here is a shot of him trying sweet potatoes for the first time:

GIRLS WINTER CONCERT:

The girls had a little winter concert at their school before their winter break. It was a singing concert. Jadyn and all the kindergarteners sang "I'm a Very Fine Turkey" and Cierra and the third graders sang "Over the River and Through the Woods" and a Japanese song called "Ichi Gatsu" (I think). Here are some pictures from the concert:

WARD CHRISTMAS PARTY:

We had our ward Christmas party on December 20th. It was a dinner with a short program and then a visit with Santa. Here are a couple of pictures from the party. First is one of the girls with Alex at the dinner table, then a picture of Chase in his stroller, and then the kids with Santa:

CHRISTMAS:

Before we knew it it was Christmas! We had a quiet one this year without any of my family here. We spent Christmas Eve with Mark's parents and brother and did our traditional telling of the Christmas story with carols, watched Polar Epress while drinking hot chocolate and added a video this year called "A Christmas Bell for Anya" which was performed in the Conference Center with a storyteller, live musicians and The Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It was a beautiful video with amazing music.

We had Christmas morning with just our family and then went to Mark's parents for dinner and a gift exchange with them. Here are some pictures from the day:

Here are the kids with their stockings

Here is Chase with a bow on his head.

This is Jadyn's gift from Santa: High Heel Shoes!

This is Cierra's gift from Santa: Zelda figures. (They are in the balls needing simple assembly)

These beautiful books were from Grandma and Grandpa Bair and were a huge hit!

When I was a kid my Aunt RaNAe was always better than Santa. This year was no exception for my kids. Here are the girls' gifts from Aunt RaNae:

Chase in a Baby's First Christmas Santa Hat. He wouldn't keep it on for long so I was glad to get this shot. He does not like hats!!!

CIERRA'S 9th BIRTHDAY:

Cierra turned 9 on December 27th. I can not believe I have a 9 year old! She had a little party with a few friends and one friend spent the night. I decided to tackle making her a cake this year all by myself. I promised her a Spongebob Cake and after two solid days of working on it, I finished it. The figures are made by hand out of fondant and just the figures alone took an entire day. I was so glad to be finished, but I was also very proud of how it turned out:

Here is the party table:

Cierra even had a Spongebob pinata. Mark made fun of my set-up. I bungee corded the pinata to the swingset and gave the kids a skinny stick. We had to upgrade to the broom after the skinny stick did minmal damage. The kids had fun though.

Cierra got a pair of Heelys from us. (She needs a lot of practice though!)

Overall, she had a great birthday.

MARK'S ENCHILADAS:

We were supposed to go to Grandma and Grandpa Merrill's to celebrate Cierra's birthday with them on Sunday, but Grandma Merrill got really sick. She was going to make Cheese Enchiladas for Cierra as this is one of her favorite foods. Since this didn't happen, Daddy made her some on Monday night. They turned out so beautifully I had to post a picture.

CHASE IS 7 MONTHS OLD!

Chase turned 7 months today. I weighed him and he is about 21 lbs. 5 oz. and about 29 inches long. He is growing so fast. He is sitting up now, and has found his voice. He is now pretty noisy during Sacrament Meeting at Church. He is saying lots of fun sounds like "da da da" and "na na na" and other sounds. He is so fun and such a smiley little guy. He is adored by everyone.

One more day until 2009! We hope the new year brings good fortune and happiness to everyone!

Our San Diego Trip and Chase is 6 Months Old!

2008-12-01T18:30:00.000-08:00

We got back from San Diego late Saturday night. It was a fun trip and we did some fun things. We also had a lot of GREAT food to eat so Mark and I came back about 5 pounds heavier! The weather ended up being heavenly despite the forecast for a week solid of rain. It did rain, but only at night, which made the days lovely. Thanks to Mom and Dad Bair for a place to stay and absolutely WONDERFUL hospitality.

Chase's make shift bathtub.

Chase watching football with daddy.

On Monday we went to the San Diego Zoo. It was a beautiful day and not crowded at all. Most of the animals were out so we got to see a lot. We actually enjoyed the zoo more than we ever have.

The girls in front of Zoo sign.

My beautiful insects.

I think we took a picture of the girls on every statue they had!

Jadyn in petting zoo.

Girls and cousins, Zane and Zackery, in petting zoo.

Super tired Grandma Bair left to watch the babies while we went to petting zoo.

My angel baby.

Girls in front of beautiful vegetation.

On Wednesday we went to the Wild Animal Park. We always preferred this Park to the Zoo, but this time the zoo won. Once again though the weather was great and hardly any people there at all.

Getting ready to go into Wild Animal Park.

Grandpa Bair and Aunt RaNae.

The gang at Wild Animal Park.

Giraffe sisters.

Beautiful Cloudy Weather.

Big Lion.

They even had a Spongebob Ride!

Waiting for the Bird Show.

Jadyn loved hugging the deer in the petting zoo.

On Thursday we had our Thanksgiving. Of course we all ate too much, but had a good time with family.

Chase with Great-Grandpa Bair (93 years old)

On Friday I went shopping with Chase at about 7am. I did not go with the rest of the crew that left at 4:30am. Sorry, but my sleep is more important to me. Besides, I only had a few places I wanted to go anyway. So it ended up being me and Chase on our own. He was an angel as he was the WHOLE trip including the long drive both ways.

Saturday morning I went to the swapmeet with my parents and Aunt RaNae. I always have loved the Kobey's swapmeet. After shopping, we grabbed some Subway and headed to Fiesta Island and met Mark and the girls for a quick picnic before having to go back and pack for home.

Overall the trip was great and it was so nice to see family.

On Sunday, Chase turned 6 months old. I can not believe that a half a year has past already. He is such a joy and so fun. He has become a flirt and flirted with my sister Tiffany the whole trip in San Diego. He has gotten over his stranger anxiety, at least for now and got a lot of attention this past week. We are so happy to have him in our lives.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

Cierra's Baptism

2008-11-22T20:34:00.000-08:00

Today Cierra was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was a very special day for Cierra. Thank you to all of our friends and family that came and supported her.

Cierra and Daddy

Cierra, Mommy and Daddy

Cierra, Daddy, Grandma & Grandpa Bair

Cierra, Mommy, Daddy, Jadyn, Chase and Grandma & Grandpa Merrill

Cierra, Jadyn and friends: Brad and Jordan Fort

Cierra's Cake

We will be leaving for San Diego tomorrow for the week of Thanksgiving. I will post when we get back. We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!!!

Veteran's Day

2008-11-12T08:52:00.000-08:00

The girls had yesterday off from school in honor of Veteran's Day. It was wierd having a day off in the middle of the week, but we had a good day. We started the morning by changing the girls' bedsheets over to flannel sheets as the nights are getting pretty cold here. Hallelujah! I got ready for the day and then we had a little teaching session which I will get back to in a minute. We had a picnic lunch in the girls "clubhouse" on their swingset. It was hilarious fitting all ouf us and Chase in his bouncy seat in it to eat. Tight quarters, but a good time nonetheless. After that we played games: Blurt!, Where the Wild Things Are and Mall Madness. The girls loved Mall Madness and we even made daddy play when he got home from work. I had just gotten this game at the Goodwill for a $1 last week. Great investment!

Ok, I had to comment on the teaching session we had. I felt it was time to give the girls the "SEX" talk. I had gone to the library and checked out some books and after putting Chase down for a nap all three of us sat on my bed up against some propped up pillows and began to read and talk about it. Jadyn was pretty much oblivious to the whole conversation. Cierra just listened and nodded along through the anatomy lesson and talk of sperm and eggs, etc. But when I got to the part of what happens during sex, Cierra stops breathing, looks up and says: "Wait, WHAT?" I had to repeat to her what happens and she said, totally dumbfounded, "Daddy did that to YOU?" I said, "Yes, that is how you are here and Jadyn is here and Chase is here." I had to explain a little more and she seemed okay with everything and we went on with our day. Last night however, as Mark and I were watching TV and the girls were getting ready for bed, Cierra came in and said: "Do mommies and daddies really do that thing?" I said "What thing?" She said,"You know, what we talked about today." I answered, "Yes." She said, "That is so gross!" and walked away. This morning she told me she would not talk to friends at school about what we talked about because I had told the girls before we started talking that this is a topic that is sacred and not to be talked about with friends or joked about. We'll see if she has anything else to say today. By the way, one of the books I used was excellent. Very well written and with good information. It is call "It's So Amazing! A Book about Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, and Families" by Robie H. Harris. I highly recommend it. Also, I didn't use this book to teach from, but I sure got a good laugh out of it: "Mommy Laid an Egg" by Babette Cole. It has a hilarious story and even more hilarious pictures.

Anyway, I am glad the sex talk is done and I told Mark, I took care of the girls and he gets to be Chase's teacher when he's ready! :)

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-03T11:26:00.000-08:00

So our ward's Trunk or Treat wasn't that bad. They actually had PLENTY of food; I was able to pig out eating 2 bowls of chili, 2 pieces of corn bread and 2 hot dogs (which was a new one this year)! There was a huge turnout this year, so I ran out of candy really quickly. The kids had a lot of fun and I got out of cooking dinner, so it worked out great. Here are a couple of pictures of the kids before we left.

Halloween night was even better. The girls' friend Daisha came and trick or treated with them and we hung out with her parents afterward. It was a great time. The kids got lots of candy and we had lots of laughs. Here is a picture from Halloween night with Uncle Alex as a character from the movie "Spirited Away."

We went fishing again at Surprise Lake on Saturday, as this was the last week they were stocking catfish. The girls had a blast catching little bluegill one after another. (I missed all of this action as I had to make a dollar menu McDonald's run for dinner!) Mark actually caught 3 catfish without any help from fellow fishermen! Tee-hee. We didn't keep any of the fish this time. Too much work to clean and cook. It was a great weekend!

Jadyn insisted on bare hand holding a catfish.

Mark caught another crawdad that Cierra insisted on getting a picture of.

Chase is 5 Months Old Today!

2008-10-30T10:46:00.000-07:00

Chase is 5 months old today. I weighed him this morning and he weighs 19 lbs. 3 oz. He is going to hit 20 pounds before he is even 6 months old! My poor back.

Here are some pictures from today:

We have our ward Trunk or Treat tonight. The girls are insisting we go although Mark and I would prefer not to. They always run out of food and we really don't have any friends in our ward. But we will go, for the girls.

Tomorrow is Halloween and our friends the Calloways are bringing their daughter Daisha to trick or treat with our girls. We have done this the past couple of years so now it is a tradition. The girls are going to be cats and Chase is going to be a bee. I will put pictures on my next posting. We hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween!

What We've Been Up To

2008-10-27T12:55:00.000-07:00

I know it has been a long time since I posted. I blame it on the Twilight Saga Series. We were supposed to read the first two books for the Book Club I am in and I couldn't stop at the first two. I read all four in less than a month, so that took ALL my free time. Now that I am done with them, I should be able to focus on what is important.

So last weekend we had a pretty productive weekend. It started with Mark taking Friday off to be with the family since that was the girls last day of Fall Break. We decided to go catfish fishing at Surprise Lake. We packed a picnic lunch and got there about 3pm. There was hardly anybody there and the weather was beautiful. We ate our picnic lunch and got all settled in with fishing, when a man and his son (probably about 7 or 8 years old) came walking over near us. I thought "Oh no, please keep walking and set up to fish elsewhere." This did not work as he set up about 10 feet from us and whipped out a pack of cigarettes. "Great," I thought. "So much for a nice relaxing perfect day." The guy's son, Bobby, was not shy at all and came to talk to us frequently, much to my dismay. After about 30 minutes of fishing, the man started catching catfish one after another, as we continued to get skunked. At this point I am getting upset because we are fishing just 10 feet away, using chicken blood bait just like him and not catching a thing! The man was really nice and kept offering to give us the catfish he was catching as he was just going to throw them back in the lake since they only eat them a few times a year as he fishes there quite often. After saying no to the first two fish, I told Mark if they catch another one and offer it to us, we better take it as we were planning a catfish fry with his parents on Sunday. If we were to have anything to eat, we needed to start taking this guy's fish. The guy kept catching fish and offering them to us (we ended up taking 3 fish from him) and also offered to let us use the bait he was using since it was a different brand. Mark refused the bait, but the guy eventually came over and just plopped some down near Mark. Low and behold after Mark started using the guy's bait, we started catching fish. We ended up with 7 total and had a yummy dinner on Sunday. I learned not to be so judgemental as the guy ended up being very nice and the only reason we caught any fish at all! Well that is not totally true. Cierra caught her first unassisted fish ever. It was a tiny little bass, and she was very proud. Here are some pictures from our trip.

Cierra's First Unassisted Catch

Jadyn with a catfish

The catfish Cierra reeled in.

On Saturday, we finally finished the girl's swing set that has been sitting in our garage since June! It had been so hot that we just couldn't motivate ourselves to build it. But now it is done and the girls are loving it!

Mark working on roof of fort

Chase spent a lot of time in his bouncy seat that day. Buddy hung out with him a few times too.

Jadyn trying out the swings juat after finishing.

The finished project!

An update on Chase: He is laughing now, Trying to roll over (he has a lot of weight to move around), grasping and holding toys, eating cereal very well now, and finally allows Grandma Merrill to hold him without screaming. Grandpa Merrill though, can not even talk to him without him frowning and starting to cry! We got some cute video of Chase laughing and I also included some pictures of Chase's frowney face. It has got to be the saddest little pouty face ever. He juts his bottom lip out and you can't help but feel sad with him!

Here is a happy picture I took today.

TO HEAR THE SOUND OF THE VIDEO: GO TO THE SIDEBAR AND FIND THE MUSIC PLAYER. CLICK ON THE PAUSE BUTTON (II) TO STOP THE MUSIC AND THEN CLICK ON THE VIDEO.

My Monster

2008-10-08T15:29:00.000-07:00

Chase had his 4 month check-up on Friday. He is very healthy, but also very BIG! He weighed in at 18lbs. 7oz. and was 27 inches long! For his age, this weight and height are off the charts. What does that mean? If you were to take 100 four month old babies, he would be bigger than all of them! Since he is proportionate, the doctor is not concerned. My back sure is though as it is having a hard time carrying around this lug! I decided to take a picture of Chase just in his diaper so you could all see the chubbiness.

We started cereal on Monday, but Chase didn't take to it too well. We also discovered he is allergic to milk just like Cierra was. He broke out in the same rash that she did. (I mixed the cereal with formula to test this.) Bummer!

We broke out the "Johnny Jumper" today to try. Chase loved it! This has definitely been the best baby gadget I have ever owned. I got it from a co-worker before I had Cierra and since both her and Jadyn loved it, I couldn't part with it. So glad I kept it.

The Month of September

2008-09-30T16:09:00.000-07:00

Let's play a little catch-up. It has been way too long since I posted and I have lots to share. I'll start from the most recent and go backwards. Chase is 4 months old today! Time is going by so fast and he is getting so big. He has already started with "Mommy anxiety" and if anyone but me or daddy holds him he starts to scream. He is even doing it towards the grandparents which neither of the girls did that I can remember. I thought that didn't happen until later, but he decided to start early I guess. He has his 4 month check-up on Friday which I am not looking forward to because that means more shots. He is doing really well sleeping in his crib and on good nights only wakes up once. He goes between 7 and 9 hours before he wakes up to be fed and then goes back down for a few more hours. I can't wait to get a full night's sleep. Here are his 4 month pictures and a few other cute ones:

Last Saturday we were able to attend Tim's (Mark's dad) company picnic at Castle's N' Coaster's. It is a lot like Family Fun Center but with more rides and a cool roller coaster. It was a hot day so we were miserable playing miniature golf and cut the game short. Chase had a really hard time for the first couple of hours we were there. He screamed for 45 minutes with no consolation. He wouldn't even eat. I think it was a combination of the heat, the noise and him being tired. Mark finally got him to sleep and after that he was pleasant for the remainder of the day. I thought it was going to be a horrible day so was glad that we were all able to have some fun. Here are some pictures from the day:

The girls playing miniatrue golf; posing in front of a castle.

Our most favorite ride was the log ride called "Splashdown." It was fun and refreshing. The girls didn't like it quite as much as the adults as you can see from their faces:

They did manage to smile for me as they came off the ride and did go on it with me for a second time, but that was it!

Mark's birthday was this month on the 9th. He turned 36! Oh boy, 40 is getting so close. Mark's brother Tim and his wife came into town the weekend after his birthday so we didn't celebrate with friends until a week after that. My friend Brenda and I made him a Charger helmet cake. It turned out pretty cool and Mark loved it. We went to Chipotle for dinner (Mark's favorite) and then opened presents and had cake at the Calloway's house afterward. Here are pictures of his cake and a picture of Mark and Jamar showing off their new BFF necklaces. You can't see Mark's necklace but he is holding it trying to show the camera. The necklace is a silver heart with a pink rhinestone. Mark's half of the heart says "Best" and Jamar's half of the heart says "Friends." It was hysterical. I also included a picture of Mark's reaction when he opened the gift:

I can't beleive tomorrow is the start of October! I am glad that Fall is almost here because that means cooler weather for Arizona! It is also the beginning of the holiday season, my favorite time of year. The girls are excited for Halloween. They are still undecided about what they want to be for Halloween, but hopefully some costume shopping with Grandma Merrill will fix that!

Crazy Hair Day

2008-09-19T14:01:00.000-07:00

There was another "Crazy Hair Day" at school for the girls. I really wanted to put a bunch of braids in their hair, but we ran out of time the night before. So this is what we came up with. Definitely crazy, but I wish we could have done something else. There will be more "Crazy Hair Days" in the future I am sure, so I can come up with something extraordinary!

Blessed Day

2008-09-11T15:08:00.000-07:00

The second celebration was Chase's blessing. What an awesome day. Even though I woke up with a 102.5 fever and felt horrible, the day went without any hitches. Chase looked adorable and Mark did a beautiful job on the blessing. He also gave a wonderful testimony which made me cry, of course. It couldn't have been more perfect!

Other big news on Chase--he is sleeping in his crib now in his own room! YEAH!!!

Merrill Family with both sets of grandparents and Uncle Alex

The Andrew Family and Merrill Family

The Grandkids

Chase's Cake

Jadyn's Birthday

2008-09-11T14:57:00.000-07:00

I know it has been awhile since I posted. Family came into town and I also got really sick. I am still trying to recover, but am feeling better. My parents and sister's (Tiffany) family came into town for the weekend for two celebrations. It was so fun having everyone here! The first celebration was Jadyn's 6th birthday. We had a little party at Peter Piper Pizza for a few of Jadyn's friends on Saturday and then a family party that night at our house. Jadyn scored pretty good with an interactive horse video game and her own pink digital camera! Since Jadyn loves horses so much her cake was a white horse theme. Here are some pictures from the day.

Chase is 3 months old and other happenings....

2008-09-02T14:29:00.000-07:00

Chase is now 3 months old. He is so fun now and so cute. He had his first little chuckle last night so I am thinking he will be laughing very soon. He is very smiley, but does have stranger anxiety. If he doesn't know someone or remember them and you talk to him, he puts out his bottom lip (which is the saddest little pouty face ever!) and then starts to cry. It is so SAD! Once he warms up to you though, he will smile and coo at you.

Chase just loves to have his blanket in his face. If he is tried and you put it around his face he almost instantly goes to sleep. Here he is in his swing with the blanket tucked around his face:

We had a huge storm this past Thursday night. One of the biggest monsoons we have ever seen while living here. I had book club that night and got home at about 9:45pm. It was pretty windy while I was driving home and you could see lightning flash about every second just south of us. It had been trash day so I decided to put the trash can away so it wouldn't blow down the street as we have seen happen to others. Anyway, since it cools down so nicely when a monsoon is coming Mark and I decided to stand out on our front porch and enjoy it for a while. We weren't out there for very long when Mark said, "What is that noise?" It sounded like a freight train off in the distance. We looked down the street by Mark's parents house and saw this HUGE wall fo dust coming right for us and at a high rate of speed. Mark yelled, "Get in the house, now!" We ran and opened the door and just a Mark was trying to shut it, the wind hit us. Mark had a hard time getting the door shut as this huge wall of dust and wind made its way down the street. It literally sounded like a freight train traveling down our street. The winds were reported up to 80 miles an hour around the valley. After the dust storm, the rains hit, which was so nice. We got a good amount of rain, and lots of thunder and lightning to keep us up that night. The next day I went to Wal-mart, as I practically live there, and the parking lot was full of fallen and broken trees. When I got back home I noticed something sitting in the driveway that I couldn't quite make out. When I got out of the SUV, I looked to see what it was and discovered it was a roof tile. I thought to myself, 'this must have fallen off of the roof during the wind, which means it most likely hit my SUV.' Sure enough, there was a nice dent on my hood that took the paint off down to the metal. My poor SUV has been through so much since we have had it: tire blow-out, broken windshield, catalytic converter stolen and now this. So back to the shop she goes.

Other news: Cierra has become quite the lizard catcher. Her latest catches were a pregnant lizard and three little baby lizards. She wants to set up the big empty fish tank we have upstairs and keep them all. We may let her in the near future.

We had family pictures taken earlier this month and just got them back. They turned out pretty cute for the most part. Chase did ok, but would not smile for anything.

Jadyn turns 6 this Friday and is so excited. I hope she isn't too disappointed that she will not have grown the 3 inches she expects and still won't be able to read which should magically happen once you're 6, among other things. Poor girl.

Things are going well and we can't wait for summer to be over and the cooler weather to come.

The San Diego Ants Have Found Me!!!!

2008-08-22T15:22:00.000-07:00

We woke up this morning to find a trail of ants leading to Buddy's (our cat) food bowl. This is the first time since we moved in four years ago to EVER see ants inside the house. They looked just like the ones we always had to deal with in San Diego except that there were also some bigger ones too. If I didn't know any better I would say the San Diego ants recruited some of the bigger Arizona ants and they came to my house. I can handle this heat if I don't have to deal with indoor ants! Hopefully I can get them under control and won't see them anymore!

I wanted to give an update on the girls and school. Cierra has decided that she LOVES the third grade. She is still madly in love with Christian and they talk on the phone almost daily. Jadyn on the other hand has decided she DOES NOT LIKE school anymore. She says that she misses mommy. I don't think she realized all the work involved in being a kindergartener. The only thing that keeps her going is that she gets to see "the boy with the glasses." This is her new love. I guess there is a kindergartener in another class that she likes that has glasses. Since she doesn't know his name, he goes by "the boy with the glasses." The other day she came home all excited because "the boy with the glasses" talked to her. Mark asked, "What did he say to you?" Jadyn answered, "He said, 'Are you using that?'" We busted up laughing. It was too funny. Jadyn always has the funniest things to say, so I am going to try and write them in these posts so I don't forget them.

I got some really cute pictures yesterday. Linda came over and Chase was so cute talking to her. Also, I had Cierra read Chase the story she was reading for her book report while I took a shower and it was too cute not to capture on film.

Chase--Too Big for Bed and Babbling

2008-08-15T11:50:00.000-07:00

Chase is really starting to outgrow his bassinet. I have it tilted a little bit to help with his reflux, so he slides down during the night. When he wakes up in the morning his feet are sticking straight up in the air and over the top of the bassinet. It is so funny. I am going to try and transition him to his crib and own room over the next few weeks, as he is sleeping well enough now.

Chase is also "talking" a lot more too. I got some video of him talking to me while in his bouncy seat. He talks quite a bit more when Mark is around as loves to talk with daddy, but this was too cute not to share.

***TO TURN OFF MUSIC AND HEAR VIDEO: GO TO MY SIDEBAR AND FIND THE MUSICPLAYER. CLICK ON THE PAUSE BUTTON (ll), THEN WATCH VIDEO.***

Cierra's Olympic Gold Medal

2008-08-15T08:16:00.000-07:00

Cierra had Primary Activity Day on Wednesday and they had their own "goofy" Olympics. They had events like finding a piece of gum in a bowl of whipped cream using only your face, "Chubby Bunny" (which is pretty scary) and chugging Sierra Mist from a baby bottle. Cierra claimed to have done very well and even got a gold medal! I thought the medals were cute. I hope the picture shows well enough, but they are round sugar cookies with melted butterscotch candy in the middle. You'll have to excuse the bite taken from the bottom. Cierra let Jadyn have a bite of the cookie before she remembered she wanted a picture taken. :)

Smiles and Sleepful Nights

2008-08-11T16:12:00.000-07:00

Chase is smiling a lot lately and really trying to talk. He has also become quite the good night sleeper! (Knock on wood). He averages about 8 hours a night but sometimes only does 7 hours, but has also done 9 hours. It has been so nice to get some uninterrupted sleep. I only hope he can keep it up and only get better. On Saturday night we went to a friend's house for a UFC fight night get together. Chase fell asleep at about 7:15pm and didn't wake up until 4:30am the next morning. I couldn't believe that he was able to sleep through all the noise at the party, sleep through me strapping him into his car seat and the transfer to his bed, but he did and it was great! I plan to move him to his own room soon. Here are some shots I took today while trying to capture that smile.