Stuff you Pawn

This year for Christmas we treated ourselves to some things we've been wanting.  I've been wanting to get a new gun of some sort and I thought it was a good time to buy my first AR-15.  I was going to get another shot gun for mom and Chapter, but I thought I would be more likely to be able to purchase one of those down the road.  Sydney blames Glen Madsen for me buying this "Tacky" gun, but she really should blame Glenn Beck.

For Sydney we got her a new opal ring.  a few years ago after we hiked Coyote Gulch, Sydney bought an opal ring to commemorate her first backpacking trip.  You see Sydney has a fetish for birthstones and opal happens to be my birthstone.  Last spring while listening to Elder Oaks at Stake conference the opal fell out of her ring and we lost it.  I guess you can't expect a 30 dollar ring from Ruby's Inn to last forever, but at least more than 3 years would be nice.  With Chapter deciding to be born in October instead of September. We decided that instead of getting two birthstone rings we should get one nice one.  Luckily we found a simple yet beautiful black opal at Mack and Sons Jewelry  which was good because every where else was out of them or had lame settings even the pawn shops.  I like the Black opal because it's different and blue, so it matches mine and Chapter's eyes, seems more fitting that way don't you think?

Chapter's 1st Christmas

This year was the very 1st Christmas for Chapter.  It was an eventful one at that. We started out at home and took some pictures after we had the "Christmas" dinner with my family.

We decided that we needed to participate in the tradition of eating soup and listening to the scanner in Elsinore, so we went up there for a couple of days and had a white Christmas. It snowed all day on Christmas Eve.   

 Chapter couldn't quite open his presents, but he tried, we think next year will be his year.

 He did like the left overs...

and sleeping on his Christmas pillow.

This year Chapter was also the star of the show at the ward party.  He played baby Jesus and made all the old ladies cry with his moving performance.   

Chap LOVES getting mail

Especially if it's a package:)

Ward Party #1

Let me begin by saying that we have THE BEST WARD in the whole world!  There are so many fun people here and we feel very blessed to be living in such a wonderful place with so many great friends.

This ward knows how to throw a party.  Like seriously.  Incredible!  This was the Relief Society party for couples.  But we got permission from the RS Pres to bring Chap.  And he didn't make a peep the whole time.  He was such a good boy.  Anyway, Logan was asked to participate in the program.  It was an original program that was written by Jill (I think, she can correct me if I'm wrong).  At least she choreographed it for sure.  Anyway, the premise was that Lail was going hunting on Christmas and Jamie didn't want him to and she was trying to convince him to stay.  I get that nobody will think this is as hilarious as I do unless you know everybody.  But Logan was a member of the Jackson 5.  Only there were 3 of them. 

 Here's a couple of pictures of Logan on stage.  His sweet shirt is his dad from the 70s.  It's "authentic":) We made his pants from some pants at DI and a scrap of polyester I bought at a yard sale and knew it would be useful someday.

 And this is Chap, the 4th Jackson 5, only he was sleeping during the performance, just kidding:)  He decided to sport Logan's wig after the program.  He seemed really bald to me when we took it off:)

New Job

Logan got a new job this year.  He is now an Estimator/Project Manager for Quality Excavation.  So far he likes it very much.  Since he gets paper paychecks now, I insisted that we take a picture with his 1st pay check.  

The year there was a Fall

This year instead of green leaves suddenly all dropping off at the same time we had fall.  Well, fall for St. George.  The leaves didn't change color all the way like they do in places with 4 seasons but this is probably as close as we'll get.  Here's a picture of Chapter when we tortured him and put him in a pile of leaves.  Enjoy:)

12:12 on 12/12/12

I thought it would be fun to take a picture of Chapter at 12:12 on 12/12/12 so that someday his kids could look at it and make fun of Logan's phone:)

Interestingly, I have a nephew that turned 12 today.  What a cool day to turn 12!

25

Yesterday was an exciting day.  It was my 25th birthday and we took exactly zero pictures of it.    We went to Pizza Factory on Saturday night and then went and got my buy 1 get 1 at Coldstone (which made us sick from all the sweetness).  Then yesterday we went to church, took birthday cake to the Beehives and had steak for dinner (which is the tradition we started last year).  But the main reason it was so exciting is that I was exactly the age Logan was when we met.  We met on his 25th birthday and he seemed soooo old to my 18 year old self:)  He was still a fun loving 25 year old college bachelor, and now I'm a 25 year old married mom.  So crazy how lives change!  Thanks for all the fun presents and all the birthday wishes! It was a fun day and so far 25 isn't half as bad as I thought it would be!

Yes, I'm one of those mothers

I guess I'm one of those moms who has a baby and then can't really talk (blog) about anything else.  But, hey, it's what I do for a living now:)  Here are some pictures of my boy.

 This is Chapter when we go for walks, or when we go to a store that doesn't have shopping carts.  He sort of hates it:) And he genuinely hates that hat.

 This is Chapter chilling on the "Meatball" aka tiny Love Sac   It's his downstairs lounge place and the only reason I am able to blog.

 This is what Chapter looks like at 10pm.  Wide awake while daddy (and mommy) are tired.  We wait to put him in his cradle until he is drowsy if not totally asleep.

 This is Chapter "Angry Sleeping".  Everybody wants to see what we're talking about so here it is.  Sometimes the kid just looks angry when he sleeps.  PS I didn't move his binky because I knew it would wake him up.  I wasn't being mean, I promise:)

 This is Chapter smiling.  He's super duper handsome!

And this one is just cute.

I didn't think this would happen to me but I guess when they say that having a baby changes everything they really just mean it changes your priorities and sucks up all of your attention.  And that they are really fun to look at! :)

Turkey Shoot

Logan dominated the 3rd Ward Elder's Quorum Turkey Shoot again this year!
Since nobody wanted a turkey, they decided to get a trophy that you get to keep all year until a new winner is crowned.  Logan anticipates having this trophy in the living room for years to come:)

Here are couple fancy pictures Logan took of his trophy and one I took of Logan with his trophy.

4 Generations

There's a new Blake boy in town, so that meant that we needed to get a picture of Chap with his dad, Grandpa Ron and Great-Grandpa Cecil.  We got this picture at the Blake family party this month.  Great-Grandpa Cecil even gave him a kiss on the forehead:)

Election Day

Chapter's Blessing Day

 Yesterday was Chapter's blessing.  Chapter wore the outfit that Logan wore when he was blessed.  We also used Logan's baby blanket.  I made the shoes he wore.  It was really touch and go to see if Chap would fit into this outfit.  He gained 3 pounds in the first 4 weeks of his life so I was a little worried.  Logan was a small baby and Chapter is not:)  Logan also wore his "special occasion" tie which is ugly:) He claims he wore it to the temple when we got married and on other special occasions but I really don't think he did, of course I could have been so deliriously happy that I didn't notice his ugly tie, but I digress...

It was an exciting day.  Chapter only whined a little during the blessing, which was wonderful.  He was blessed to have common sense, happiness and a good work ethic among other things. Logan did a great job:)   We had family over afterward for ice cream sundaes with all the fixings and it was so much fun.  Chapter got passed around to all the relatives and got pretty worn out which worked in my favor:)

I'm so glad that I'm married to a man who holds the priesthood and can bless me and our children.  That was something that was very important to me when I chose a person to marry.  I didn't have that growing up and I'm go glad that my children will.  

Too Much Halloween Fun!

This year we thought we weren't going to make it to Bobbi's annual Halloween Party which is always completely outrageously awesome but it worked out that we could go (that's a story we won't talk about) and it was really incredible again this year.

It was Chapter's first Halloween Party and he loved it.  He slept in his carseat or on our friend Lacy all night:)

Here are the pictures I stole from Bobbi's Facebook.  The theme was that one person had to be a vampire and the other person the victim.  Logan decided to be The Count from Sesame Street.  I was supposed to be covered in numbers, but somebody had to be fed and changed and it didn't happen.  The "victim" (me) had to wear blood bags on our wrist and around our neck.  We played a game like the Newlywed game and if you got it wrong you had to suck a bag.  Whoever had the most bags at the end won.  We almost won, but we missed the last question and our friends Jack and Jill got it.  Good job guys, some of those questions were hard!

On Halloween Day it was wild.  Logan went to work at 3 that morning so I had slept on the floor in Chapter's room so Logan could actually sleep.  Then he worked until 4pm and came home for a little while before he had to go back for meetings until about 7.  In between we were fortunate enough to have good enough weather to take pictures of Chapter outside, it was probably pushing 80 degrees, nice but nothing like the Halloweens of my youth.  He was so big and sat by the tree so well!  We didn't take him trick or treating except to Grandma Deb's and we didn't get any trick or treaters at our house either.  Lame.

Chapter's First Bath

Chapter's first real bath was a while ago, but I'm still cracking up about these pictures.  I know he looks like he is freezing to death in that first one but I assure you that the bathroom was approximately 1000 degrees and that Mommy and Daddy were dying of heat:)

He handled the first bath really well, he just looked confused most of the time.  Then the next one he screamed bloody murder the entire time.  Each bath has been increasingly better since then and I actually think he liked it last night.  Logan was using a cup to pour water over his belly and legs and he looks really relaxed and happy.  I hope Chapter grows up to be as comfortable with water as Logan is.

The Post Where I Tell the Story

Having a baby is kind of like every other milestone in life, like moving out or getting married.  You think it’s going to be really weird, and then it happens and it isn’t.  It’s just normal.  Except now someone else lives with you in your house and every once in a while you look down and realize, holy cow, that baby is mine.  I made that.

If this post is too much info, I apologize.  But I love reading other people’s labor and delivery stories and I just want to write it out because my memory is already getting foggy.  I’ll blame those amazing hormones that my college biology professor told me actually do dim the memories of labor, hence people have more than one child:)

So I was 8 days overdue.  There was some speculation at the last minute about my due date being 2 days earlier than it should have been but September 24 was the date I had been waiting for and it was the date that came and passed and in my mind is my due date.  I was supposed to go to the doctor at 11:40 on Tuesday October 2, and the plan was to induce me the next day.  Only I pretty much hadn't told anybody that. 

On Monday I decided I had been living on borrowed time for too long and I needed to get stuff ready, especially Logan’s birthday presents and some grocery shopping.  So I got that done, luckily.

Anyway, so I woke up about 4am on Tuesday because I felt funny.  Not sick, but not what I had imagined labor to feel like either.  I got up and went and laid on the couch.  Just for kicks I decided to time my “sickness” and found out that I felt gross about every 7 minutes or so.  Then I got bored of that and I tried to go to sleep.  Only as time passed my feeling sick started to hurt.  Around 6am I went back to bed and I decided that this probably was fake labor but I was tired of being the only one concerned about it so I woke Logan up.  By now it was hurting fairly bad.  Not unbearable but enough that I was pretty bugged about it.  (I wonder how Logan remembers these events, especially since his memory isn’t foggy).   

Just before we went to the clinic

Logan started to worry.  He went and got his bag and packed it.  He grabbed the car seat.  He started reading about early labor in my pregnancy books.  I did a load of laundry.  Weird I know.  I also wanted to shower before we did anything. So I got in the shower.  Logan called the doctor.  By the time all of this had happened it was about 7:30ish.  By the time I had blow dried my hair and got ready it was about 8.  The doctor still hadn’t called back.  Showering had made the contractions a lot less painful.  So now I was thinking I was being dumb and that we shouldn’t have called the doctor.  But then they got worse again.  So Logan decided to just take me to the clinic and we would see.

 

I think Dr. Chamberlain thought I was crazy.  He had seen me just a couple days before and there was absolutely nothing happening.  But he saw me right away anyway. I was at a 3+.  I was so relieved I wasn’t crazy.  By now I was really really feeling it.  It sucked way more than I had imagined.  Anyway, the doctor sent me home with a prescription for Loratab to wait until I couldn’t stand it anymore.  I know, everyone I have told that to has had the same reaction I did.  I couldn’t take so much as an Advil for 41 weeks and now I can have painkillers?  Weird.  So we headed home and went to the Walgreens drive thru.  They told us it would take 20 minutes to fill the prescription for 2 little pills that I desperately needed.  I was dying big time now every time I had a contraction.  Logan was getting worried.  So we dropped off the prescription and went home.  Then I decided that I wasn’t waiting until I couldn’t stand it anymore because I already couldn’t stand it anymore, they were about 3 minutes apart and very painful.  We stayed home for 20 minutes and then got the Loratab and I took some on the way to the hospital.  It was amazing.  It didn’t fix anything by any means but it took the edge off enough that I could walk into the hospital without crying.  By the time I got to the hospital at about 10am I was a 4+.  They got me into my room and then promptly blew a vein in my hand trying to get my IV in despite my many warnings that they needed to be really careful with my sucky veins.  They got it in the second time.  Then they came and drew my blood.  And they left us. 

Time went by really really fast.  I got my epidural around noon when I was almost a 6.  It was amazing.  I didn’t even feel it.  It worked perfectly.  I could still move one of my legs really well and I couldn’t feel anything.  Logan went and got lunch about 1:00.  While he was gone the doctor came and broke my water.  The afternoon flew by.  I was so excited that I didn’t need any Pitocin to keep my labor going.  We decided to call my mom at 3.  Then 3 came and went and we decided to call her at 4 and we did.  She left to come immediately.  My nurse (who was kind of grumpy) got off at 6.  I was really kind of nervous because I knew I was getting close and as much as I didn’t love my nurse I was getting used to her and I knew all the other people were going to be strangers.  At 6 when they did shift change I knew immediately that I loved my nurse.  Then I realized I was getting really close because another nurse came in and told me that she would be my baby’s nurse.  Then all the closets started opening and baby stuff started coming out of them.  And then Dr. Chamberlain came in wearing scrubs and I was like holy cow, shouldn’t this feel weirder to me?  Why am I not panicking?  And then they were like “Okay it’s time to push.” I was like, “Okay, no big deal.”  They asked Logan if he wanted to hold my leg and we said no, to go get another nurse.  I said if he holds my leg you are going to need 3 more nurses to take care of him when he passes out and it would be easier to just start out with one extra. 

Everything was calm and relaxed which I liked.  My new nurses were funny and they kept joking and stuff with us and the doctor.  It wasn’t weird at all.  Then after about a half hour or so out pops a baby.   I looked down and I was like, “He has Logan feet!” and Dr. Chamberlain looks at them and says, “He does have Logan feet.” (Dr. Chamberlain is the one who got Logan through the foot fiasco last year).  So here I have this beautiful baby boy with lots of dark hair and Logan feet. 

And we still have no idea what to name him.  We start chatting about names and Dr. Chamberlain says the weirdest name he has ever heard was a baby girl name Urethra.  Anyway, we decide to name him Frederick.  And I’m not completely sold on it, but I’m not completely sold on anything because it’s still weird to me that this little bun is ours.  Logan starts taking pictures and keeps saying stuff like, “Hey, turn Chapter toward the camera.” or “Hey little Chap.  Daddy’s taking pictures of you.” And I said to Logan, “Isn’t his name Frederick?” Then we realized that his name was Chapter.  His name had always been Chapter since the day when we were dating and Logan told me that if we ever had a son his name would be Chapter. 

 But that’s the story.   Maybe another day I’ll write about that night.  About our paranoid nurse on the post-partum floor that made our night terrifying.  Or the wonderful nurse we had the next day who did everything she could to help.  But either way this is definitely just the beginning of our story.

Happy Birthday Logan!

Today is Logan's Birthday.  It's been pretty low key since we have a new person living in our house!

 Here is Logan with all of his gifts.  Chapter and the tripod were opened earlier this week:)  More about that later.

Happy Birthday to my sweet husband. I'm so glad I got my butt in gear on Monday and went shopping and wrapped stuff up, or this poor man might not have got a birthday from me.  He also got money from all the parents, and a very nice pan that he has been dreaming of for a while from his siblings.  He's very excited about that.  As a matter of fact he's leaving right now with his birthday funds to look for more sizes:)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY my love, hope you have had a good one!

Swiss Days and Elder's Quorum Breakfast

We were able to celebrate Swiss Days! Sydney was a little worried that the baby would come and she wouldn't be able to attend, but alas he has not graced us with his presence.   The day started with the infamous Pancake Breakfast.  It's hosted by the Santa Clara 3rd Ward Elders Quorum and it's in our drive way because we live the closest to the town hall.

I found a very pretty hand model for this picture thanks Jeff.

This is the President and counselor setting up for the breakfast they also do all the cooking. 

Here are some of the "Cool Kids" hanging out on our front porch.

The breakfast was a success, nobody left poop on our toilet seat this year.

Here people lining up for the parade, we counted 18 members of the 3rd Ward. How many do you see?

It was a fun day and we got hit with some really good candy at the parade.

Baby Shower

This is very much belated, but since I still haven't had the baby I thought I'd kill some time blogging about my baby shower.  I had one thrown for me in June by some sweet ladies in my ward.  And then over Labor Day my adorable sisters-in-law threw me another one for family and close friends.  The theme was Dr. Seuss, which was so fun because I love children's books.  

I stole these pictures from Anisa since I'm not cool enough to remember a camera:)

 These were the invitations, they were like library cards with a cute little poem requesting that guests bring a children's book instead of a card.  We got some really nice books which I'm sure our little baby will enjoy very much!

 This was the food table.  All the foods were Dr. Seuss themed and really fun.  We had: Cat in the Hat fruit kabobs, Hop on Popcorn, Thing 1 Thing 2 cupcakes, Truffala Seeds (skittles), Green (deviled) eggs, and Ham (sandwiches), and yummy Pink Ink punch.

So much work went into this and I really appreciate it.  None of my family were able to make it since my mom got the flu, my oldest sister was hospitalized due to complications from a surgery earlier this summer, my other sister was also sick and none of my nieces can drive:) There were still a ton of people who attended.  Most of Logan's aunts, grandma, and cousins were there and my friends Moe and Jessica.  It was a lot of fun, and Baby Blake made a haul:) I think this kid's gonna be just fine with so many people who love him, now if he'll only decide to be born!

That night Logan had a "Dad-chelor" party thrown by Lucas.  

This is the only picture I have of the occasion.  Logan, Lucas, Ryan, Ron, and Craig (and possibly others, I wasn't there) went to Mesquite and ate at a buffet and then went skeet shooting somewhere along the highway on the way back.  The whole time all I could think about was how funny it would be if they got pulled over.  Imagine a minivan filled with men and fire arms:) Haha!  It was a fun and busy weekend, thanks to everybody who spent so much time planning it!

Tarantula Season

I've been on the lookout for Tarantulas lately because I remember that September is when I saw a ton of them last year.  They are surprisingly sneaky and I haven't seen a single one this year.  I thought that spray that Logan's cousin Cash recommended was working:)  Then yesterday a friend from the ward came to borrow our cow for the evening for her mom for Relief Society. (Goodness, all you people who don't live nearby are going to need an explanation.  It's a fake wooden cow for Swiss Days that people decorate.  I blogged about our cow last year too).  Anyway, while she's here picking it up she says, "Oh, why'd you squish him?"  And I was like, "What?"  It looks like this poor guy got backed over by Logan as he was going to work yesterday.  He's big.  Probably the biggest or second biggest one I've seen since living here.  Of course his splatter might make him look bigger:)  What I don't understand is why he didn't run away when Logan started the engine?  They are very skittish and fast, I can't believe it was dumb enough to get ran over.  

I put my foot in the picture to represent the size.

I surprisingly am not overly concerned with the tarantula situation.  I'm much more concerned with the scorpion situation.  I'm about 85% certain I saw one going down my stairs a while back (they, too, are surprisingly swift and can go down stairs much faster than I can), and now my poor sis-in-law has been stung in her house in Ivins and has since found another one.  Tarantulas are pretty nasty looking, but harmless.  But if I find another scorpion (or even what I think is one) I'm calling someone with bigger better poison to take care of the situation!

UPDATE: When I left this morning to go to Target, I apparently backed over a much smaller one.  Maybe they aren't as intelligent as I had given them credit for, poor stupid things.

The Flood

Since I'm not cool enough to take my own pictures, these have been "borrowed" from my facebook friends who are cooler than me and took pictures.  Especially Gina Prisbrey, her pictures rock:)

So it started raining at my house about 7-ish this morning.  We didn't think anything of it because it has been pouring here pretty regularly and giving us scares with our basement.  It rained all morning.  I went to hang out with Logan at work for a while and it still rained.  We went home for lunch and when we were done I was going to take Logan back to work and go grocery shopping.  When we left to take him back to Sunbrook, Sunset Blvd. was closed.  We thought the wash had flooded the road (again) and went down through the Santa Clara valley and made it there.  I was planning on going to Walmart to pick up a few things, but then I realized I didn't have my phone. In light of all the closures I thought I better go back and get my phone because I didn't want to risk having to navigate through some back roads to get home and get lost without a phone.  On my way back to the house the roads I had used to get to Sunbrook were now closed and I had to find another way back through the valley.  I made it.  Phew!  And I got my phone and tried to get back through the valley down to Dixie Drive so I could go shopping.  Now all the roads were closed and the police informed me that the valley had been evacuated.  I scoffed, I mean it wasn't even raining anymore.  But I obviously complied and went up into the Heights to get to Pioneer Parkway and into town.  On my way I drove past the little league ball fields by the Santa Clara Park.  They were full of water til you could only see a little of the fence poking out at the top.  Wow!  This was maybe about 1 in the afternoon.  It took me forever to get to Walmart.  As I drove I called Logan to complain about having to go around and told him that the valley had been evacuated.  He told me that they must be worried about the dike by the Middle School.  I was like, "What dike?"  I didn't even know it was there.

While I'm at Walmart I get a voicemail from the Santa Clara Emergency Response team.  I assume that I have now been evacuated.  Then I get to my car and the voicemail tells me that I have not been evacuated, but there has been a breach in the dike.  It said to go home (if I could get home) and stay home.  So I drive clear up and around again to get home and on the way pass by the ball fields again...only now they are empty.  Just a little water in the grass.  Apparently the dike really has been breached.  I knew it was bad, but seriously, I didn't know how bad.  I had no idea how much water that sucker was holding back.  I was obedient and I went home and stayed home.  Therefore I got interesting pictures of nothing;)

 Here is the flood.  Poor Dutchman's Gas Station!

 Inside Dutchman's Gas Station.  I think this picture came from their Facebook page.

And the monster "breach" in the dike.

Again, thanks to all those who I stole pictures from.  I think it's just Gina and Dutchman's.  All this went down about 1.5 blocks from my house, maybe less.  We are fine.  Thanks to all the many people who have called both Logan and I throughout the day to see if we are safe and dry.   Logan is down on Vineyard right now helping to dig people out.  Keep these poor folks in your prayers, it's going to be a long haul cleaning this up.  I just wish I wasn't 38 weeks pregnant and basically useless when it comes to shoveling mud.