October Slideshow

Enjoy the pictures! (photos of our home to come as soon as we have gotten rid of all boxes; you can see some in the background of some of these pictures)

The 2010 year Newsletter

We've been desperate to get newer, up-to-date pictures on the wall.  So as I was uploading pictures I got to review 2010 in photographs, looking back on the year.

2010 was a time for change and lots of growth.  The year began for us in Lehi, Utah.  It was cold and white; just how winter should be (not without the white part).  We knew our time in Utah was coming to an end and we didn't even need to pray about where our lives should go next.  Instead, Lisl fought, argued and cried for 2 weeks, the end of January into February, about how she didn't want to move back to Thatcher, Arizona.  Half way through Feb. we made a visit to Arizona to find a place to live in Thatcher.  Our search was only 3 days but felt very long, tiring and we were afraid we'd end up in the wrong home.

On our last day of searching we gave one of the homes on our list a second glance.  With the promise of a few improvements before moving in, we signed a lease.  We hurried back to Utah with just a few days to pack up everything including the two kids and two cats and began our journey to our new home.  Just as March began we settled into a new home, a familiar ward (it was Stephen's home ward growing up and Lisl knew a few from college) and Stephen began a great new job.

April was full of family and friends, between Easter (including a horrific sunburn from being out in the hills and forgetting that Lisl actually burns in Arizona: she still has a tan line from that burn - at least we were concerned enough for Lisette since she inherited her mother's fair skin and kept her shaded) and the Gila Valley Temple Open House.  We also began to do a LOT of work around here. 

There was zero landscaping on our propery.  We had a few early rains to get an idea of what was in store for us for monsoon season with all the mud. 2 different gardens were planted; flowers and vegetables, rocks were laid for a place to park our vehicles and to walk to the door, and we tried our best to make a back lawn with lots of grass.  We then discovered the gopher problem as well.  (We know exactly what to do about all the many obstacles for this coming Spring, that's for sure)

The Open House ran on through half of May so we managed to visit twice.  All the landscaping and growing various things continued into May.  At the start of the month we celebrated Stephen's birthday and at the end of the month, our little girl turned 1! 

In June we celebrated our 6th anniversary and got in a short get away before the busy season with Stephen's job took over for the rest of the summer.  July was hectic and crazy with work for Stephen.  August became even more so, but we still managed to celebrate Franklin's 3rd birthday!  We began the potty training process with him 2 weeks before his birthday.  There were many awful accidents over the next few months and lots of back and forth with progress.

In September, Stephen's employer sent everyone on a weekend getaway to the Arizona Grand Resort and fun at the Oasis park.  It was lots of fun and very much needed since we hadn't been able to do much as a family for a few months.  Lisl had been called as the ward choir director over the summer but didn't begin practices till Sept.  At first it seemed too overwhelming and seemed as if she was in over her head, but the first performance in October went very well. 

October was still incredibly hot during the day, but the nights were just right.  We decorated our home for the season and Lisl began listening to Christmas music, for her calling (She discovered at that point that she was in charge of the entire program for the Sunday before Christmas).  Stephen was gone for half of the month, on and off.  He had testing, classes, all for work, then at the end of the month he went on a hunting trip with all of the men from the Quinn family; Stephens dad and all 4 of his brothers (first and maybe even the last time that will happen, so we are all so glad he got to go).  Halloween was a bit last minute for Lisl and the kids.  We were so happy that "Mom's mom" (that is what Franklin calls Grandma Reed) got to come and spend it with us.

November was surprisingly (and truth be told a bit disappointingly) hot.  Lisl had been asked to sing for the Jazz clinics performing for some of the World of Music classes at the college.  It was so much fun and it brought back lots of memories; almost as if we never left.  The next week was Lisl's birthday followed by Thanksgiving in Sierra Vista with Heidi Lewis (Lisl's sister) and her family.  We seriously enjoy doing things with family since that didn't happen much while we lived in Utah.

As December began the pressure was on for Lisl to complete the Christmas program.  We decorated our house and tried very hard to make it feel like Christmas since the weather was still too warm for us.  It was also during this time that Franklin seemed to fully and completely grasp the concept of, and the necessity of potty training.  We haven't rewarded him for going #1 in a while but we began giving fun size candy bars for #2.

The weekend before Christmas was very busy and went very fast.  That Saturday Lisl sang with a Jazz Combo at her cousins wedding reception.  That was definitely a treat for all and an amazing opportunity for Lisl.  The very next day was Lisl's Christmas program which went very well.  She had already began ideas for next years program.

Christmas was exciting.  The Fellers (Lisl's sister Inga and her family) came over from San Diego and Stephen got a last-second day off for Christmas Eve.  We headed to Sierra Vista a day earlier than planned and really enjoyed all that time with family, especially for all the little cousins.  On Christmas day we traveled back to Thatcher to spend the afternoon with everyone on the Quinn side.  It was so much fun to spend the holiday with so much family!  That was what made it a wonderful Christmas for us.

Happy New Year everyone!  We know that this year will be even more exciting and hopefully we will see more family, more often.

Terrible two better not last 2 whole years

So much going on and so many stories to share. I realize that I am failing horribly on the writing blogs multiple times a week thing. And since there is so much, I'm going to shorten as much as I can so that you all can keep up and not get overloaded.

We started painting in the kitchen. Mostly just the cabinets but its a huge improvement. And, no, we're not done. Stephen was gone a lot during October. He had NATE classes and testing, a 4 day long Comfort Adviser training and workshop, and the hunt. He enjoyed all of it, apart from stressing out about his test and we will know the results of it soon. All that time of course left me at home with the kids and Franklin is DEEP into his "terrible twos" now. Two words for you: NOT fun.

I've opened up a new shop on Artfire. I'm very excited about this new shop, there are fewer fees and it takes far less time to upload and create on it. I've also been working hard on updating new photos for everything. Its been a lot of work, but we are serious about my business and enjoy it very much. We hope to get an LLC this coming spring!

Now on to the good stuff everyone wants to hear.

Lisette has been very fun, funny and oh so daring. That girl can get running, without really wanting to. She turns 18 months this month but has been going to nursery already. She can push back when pushed and is an eating machine. We went to Casa when my parents visited me (on Stephen's hunting trip) and my mom was feeding her beans. She wasn't being fed fast enough, so she got her own fork, turned it around and used the handle part to scoop up the beans and feed herself.

My favorite thing Lisette does is putting herself to bed. I was rearranging Franklin's room while he was playing at Grandma's. Lisette was refusing to nap until she was so tired she couldn't fight it anymore. I gave her her giraffe blanket and she climbed onto Franklin's bed and instantly fell asleep. Ever since, at night when she's "put down" to bed, we don't let her out. She plays in her room till she's ready to sleep. She'll fall asleep in the just-crawled-into-bed position. Very funny! I LOVE that she's great with her toddler bed. I made a few adjustments to it myself. Its working out great, looks better and is completely safe.

Franklin has been getting into so much; and most of that is trouble. A wise woman once told me, when Franklin was starting his terrible twos before he was 2, that, "Its not called Terrible Two's because it starts at age 2. No. Its called that because it lasts for 2 years." It has almost been 2 years since that wonderful, angelic, can-do-no-wrong little Franklin disappeared and the wrath of Franklin began. It has been tolerable until now. He throws the most dramatic, emotional fits over something as little as not wearing the right colored bib, or putting on the wrong pajamas, to him calling our home "Grandpa Reeds house" and me correcting him saying, "No, this is our house".

He has been a HUGE bully to Lisette. Good thing she pushes back. He will hit her just because she was in arms reach. He'll forcibly take something from her, or push her off of things. Remember those two words? Not fun! There's been a LOT of crying here. But don't worry, there are a few funny stories of Franklin to share, as well as some good.

I had Franklin screened at Brighter Day Preschool. His non-sense way of talking has caused problems at home with his highly emotional state. Though most of you love and adore Franklinese, I don't, at least not as much as I used to. His screening went well. He ranks average for his age with speech on single words. They did tell me that when Franklin uses sentences he gets ahead of his thinking. That's why he understands me, but I don't understand him. He is very smart though, knows his ABC's very well, and can count to 15 (working on higher numbers) without trouble, though he likes to get ahead of himself counting sometimes too.

Franklin has been a sneaky devil to top it all off. A week before Halloween we made sugar cookies with some friends. It was fun, but I forgot to put those cookies away. Franklin gets up before me, all quiet like, and helped himself to all the ones that were frosted and a few of the not frosted ones. 2 mornings later he saw bags of candy on the table. Tried opening one bag; no success, but lots of evidence that he tried. The other bag had been opened, and wrappers from half of the candy was strewn about the floor.

3 mornings later he rummaged through my junk drawer in the kitchen where I had Smarties hidden for when he did good deeds and hid in the corner of the dinning room to eat them. Would have gone unnoticed if I didn't catch stupid Rizzo trying to eat the plastic wrappers. Nearly a week later he gets banana bread off the counter, pulls the plastic wrapping back and tore off chunks to eat. That last one I thought was his dad being in a hurry to get out the door but Stephen let me know he had nothing to do with it. Needless to say, all the Halloween candy they collected at Trunk or Treat on Saturday is hidden in my closet and daily the child-proof gate is put up in our bedroom doorway. No way is he helping himself to all that with his track record. And because I never saw him actually do any of it, he never got in trouble for it, but I know it was him.

Here's a few pictures of the past month. Enjoy and sorry that this still ended up being long but thanks for sticking with me!

A little for now

Franklin is currently entertaining himself with Sesame Street, and Lisette is asleep, so this is my chance to write something. Not that they keep from it, but somehow I forget, and have been forgetting for a few weeks. We are doing well, just sad that its now December and no snow. Stephen has been kind of busy, but not the way we'd like. Franklin has been duking it out with his natural self, and his inner 2-year old thats been trying to take over. In short, a lot of unnecessary drama. Lisette adds a little to that too.

Franklin sings along with Elmo, and some of his other favorite shows. Sometimes he sings with me, or tells me not to. He tries to play with Lisette, so I'll be glad when the two of them can. Lisette is mad more often about not sitting up on her own. She has a problem though. She's fat, she's chunky, she's got multiple rolls on her legs, and though its really cute, and makes people smile, I think it hinders her being able to sit up on her own. She'll do it for a few seconds, but she's only 6 months so we're not worried. I'll have to post a picture of her chub, she's too cute for words.

We've been trying to get her to eat baby food, but that tongue of hers sure can launch things. I usually give up, after she and I both have cereal, peas, or sweet potatoes all over us. I'm trying to conquer with the spoon before I add in the sweet stuff that all babies love, however, I'm starting to rethink my strategy. She shows a lot of enthusiasm but its not fast enough for her. Franklin has been on an all grains diet. We've been tired of the fits and drama that we've decided to let him have cereal, breads and crackers for all of his meals. I try to add other things to it, or changing the flavors. But I decided when it 9 at night, and he's not falling asleep because he's still hungry, I no longer care how his stomach gets full as long as its full. I gave up about a week ago, and he's been sleeping better, and happier much more often, and less drama.

Ok, the past few weeks over view. My birthday was calm, and relaxing; what all moms need/want. Stephen met the kids demands, and let me relax a little at home. That evening we went to Greta's for dinner, games, and cake. It was so much fun! I really enjoyed it. On Tuesday night we dropped off the kids at Gretas, and we went on a date. Dinner ended up being very short, even though we had originally given ourselves 2 hours before the movie began.

Less than a mile from our place in Thanksgiving Point, and there is a MegaPlex movie theater. No lines, ever! You purchase your tickets in advance, and reserve your seats, so there's no need to wait in line forever to get tickets to something that could sell out, nor fighting to find good seats. Stephen bought our tickets to New Moon nearly a week in advance. New Moon was done so much better than Twilight. Apparently not all agree, so that's all I'm going to say. The audience was 85% girls, and 15% guys. There was one point where the guys (along with me) laughed first, then the girls. It was funny.

Well, there's all of a sudden a lot of drama, so I better end there. I'll do a review of Thanksgiving later.

This could be the start of Something Big

Not really, but getting there. However, I was referring to a song Buena Show Band played back in my high school days. It was one of our starter songs for most of our gigs. One of my fellow tenor players and I would have a conversation that was strictly song titles (a lot like "Who's Line is it Anyway"). It was a fun game. In show band we could cheat because all of our songs were in plastic holders in a 3 ring binder. It was either rediculous, mushy, or even mean; but always funny.

PaciFashions are actually starting to pick up. Getting requests for my ties, and lots of compliments. From Stephen's work place there are a few ladies who purchase them for friends, and ward members who are having babies. The store is also growing with Sheila's culotte's added to the line. Visit QLuvItDesigns.Etsy.com to see the culotte's, and if you're just curious as to what they are. I remember I had something like it when I was a little girl.

We all got a cold in our home, except for Stephen, but we believe he brought it to us. He has a stronger immune system than the rest of us; poor kids got that from me. No one has really been horribly sick, but on Sunday we got substitutes for Nursery anyway. Don't want to risk the kids picking up something else, apart from them giving it to another kid. Sunday was interesting because we actually spoke in church; first time in over 2 years. We were looking forward to it, and I was determined to make myself known in this ward since we never got that chance in Springville. So we spoke, and then went home. The front was empty, since we sat in the front row of the congregation. Our names also weren't on the program, so it was almost as if the odds were against us. Good thing we went home afterward; both kids crashed hard when we got back after sacrament meeting.

Lisette and Franklin just adore each other, and it is so adorable! Franklin is the greatest big brother, and Lisette couldn't be luckier. That goes for us too. We couldn't be luckier to have these two kids. Lisette is just a doll, seriously, she looks like one. Her spikey hair is funny, and, like my sister Inga once called a little persian kitten once upon a time, I call her Spikah sometimes. Long story short, Inga named the kitten Spike, turned out it was a female, so it turned into Spikah. However, I call her babydoll most often. She has the prettiest, deep blue eyes. Like the deep ocean, its captivating. She's a looker! How could she not be with her daddy's good looks. Sure, she has a few of my traits, but she looks more like her daddy, and I couldn't be happier. Afterall, Franklin looks more like me, so now we're even.

Franklin has a deep interest in English; FINALLY!! He shoves his puzzle pieces, and books in my face till I tell him, again, and again, the english word. When I say in my face, I mean he sometimes hits me in the face with it if I'm not paying attention. He still speaks fluent Franklinese, but some english is getting in there more and more. We couldn't be more relieved. Body language can only get you so far, before someone can get frustrated, and I still don't speak Franklinese. He also rides his bike all the time, just not with the pedals so much. He loves to play with Lisette's toys, afterall they were all his once. He's also officially out of the high chair, and into the booster, so we can use the hair chair for Lisette. I asked him yesterday if he remembered being that small, and eating cereal, and he said "(very enthusiastically) Yeah!".

I LOVE Skype. I'm addicted, and people aren't on it enough to satisfy me. We purchased a webcam recently. We discovered, kind of by accident, that we have a rewards program with our bank. So we turned them in for cash and purchased a Logitech C3000 HD. Sweet!! Franklin has been able to chat with Grandma and Grandpa Reed, and Heidi and her family. Reyn is adorable, and is so sophistocated when he talks, I'm so impressed! Tanyth is adorable of course, she and Lisette are only 6 weeks apart in age. I've chatted with Inga, and her 2 kids. I can't believe how handsome little Shemp is. Last time I saw him, his hair was so long he reminded me of Elvis in his later years. Franklin has yet to chat with them since his sleeping schedule has been a little off from being sick. As for the rest of you, get a Skype account, and give us a call!!

I will need to start making more PaciFashions soon. I need to make more ties, and Holiday ones. Tanyth is going to be featured in some (thank you Heidi) to show off another baby, and another type of pacifier; the soothie, and how PaciFashions work with it. I've started a PaciFashions blog, simply addressed PaciFashions.Blogspot.com and soon I hope to have an instruction video to show people that they can work with any pacifier out there. Heidi will be my beautiful hand model. If you've never seen her hands and seens how beautiful they are, just wait till we've got the video. She really does have beautiful hands!

Well, thanks for sticking around and reading all of my run-off. I've left the store window up below my blog posts. I promise I will have new videos and picturse soon!

October in Pictures

Enjoy!!! We have a lot of fun here!

Whoa, another week disappeared

I realized on Monday that a week has gone by, and Sunday came and went without me writing another blog. Last week went by so fast starting up my business. I've actually had a few orders, and updated my store with some new ones. The kids have been very patient and easy going while I've been working. Stephen's been working hard making the store look good (I created the banner though) and listing everything I make.

We've had some very warm, a little on the hot side for me, days last week. It was good weather, perfect for being out side, and playing, too bad I spent most of it inside working. Franklin still had lots of fun! He's been learning a lot about cause and effect. We've been working on the whole if you make a mess, clean it up. And we are both so impressed by how polite he is. Completely on his own (learning by example from us and not from us telling him to) he says please and thank you, a LOT!! Its more like "peas" and "dank you". At night when we say our prayers and tuck him in bed he says, "kiss" and then after the kiss goodnight he tells me "bye" and his own version of I love you. I absolutely love it!! He's such a sweetheart.

Last Friday he leaned in and gave Lisette a kiss on the cheek, all on his own. I didn't ask him, and it was just too cute. He hasn't repeated that act without me asking him, but still, its too cute. He loves to go outside, torture his kitties, give Lisette things, climb on the back of the couch, play with his musical toys, and scatter things around the house. He loves dancing, laughing (even if its just at himself) and tries to sing along to many songs.

Lisette makes the cutest random noises. She can stare and stare at you until you smile, and then give you a huge smile. She loves being tickled, and squeals. She's officially a blue-eyed beauty. We're still a little unsure what color her hair is. Still couldn't describe what color Franklin's hair is either, but her tends to have a hint of, well, a color that we don't want to say out loud to make anyone excited just in case it won't be that color. She has got the grabbiest hands. I've lost some hair to her grip, so has Stephen, if he holds her without a shirt, or if she gets some arm hair. She has been such a good model for us to show off some PaciFashions. She doesn't always cooperate, but still, we're having fun playing dress up. Stephen loves it.

Stephen is still busy, but last week, with the warmer weather, was better than the 2 previous weeks. He had been home before dinner every night, and able to spend time with the kids. That's another reason last week disappeared on me; we had more fun at home, and less frustration. Time flies when things are fun.

If you haven't checked out my store yet, I have a link posted on the side to my store, or my last post has another link.

Good Morning October

So here's my brief excuse as to why I haven't blogged in nearly a month. . .

The first Sunday after I wrote the last blog, I started a new one. Once I was done, spent quite a lot of time on it, I had Stephen read it over. He lost the whole thing, and I was so frustrated I stayed away from the computer. Then he start to rewrite one to copy what he read, but didn't get very far. After that I got really busy with my at-home business that I'm creating. Now on with the update.

Several Sundays ago, after our Stake Conference we decided to go for a drive. We stopped in Canyon Glen Park for lunch. Played a little with Franklin then moved on toward Park City. We saw that in the down town, historical district there was a Sunday Market/Farmer's Market. After searching forever for a parking spot we decided to cruise main. Franklin was tired, but it was exciting to see all the dogs. Lots of people brought their dogs, some sort of dog event was going on. Then tucked away to the side was a childrens corner. Free facepainting and balloons. We decided to get Franklin's face painted. Did great, waiting in line, watching all the other kids. The wind picked up and it was a little chilly. Then when his turn came, he wasn't happy. He was just fine for the face cleaning, but he didn't want the brush touching him. The woman was great, and patient. She painted a really cool looking cartoon car on his arm, and he watched. When we got home we let him have some ice cream. HUGE mess but it was a very fun day for him.

I began work on my product. Months ago we bought a BinkiGrip from Babiesrus. They only had 2 colors, and the one for little girls was a bold pink. Most of you know how I feel about pink (I am lightening up about it, just won't wear it myself much, but you kind of have no choice when it comes to infants) and that pink didn't match with much to begin with. I decided to make my own that I could interchange with just having the one clip but several ribbon styles. Now Stephen is helping me when he can, and I have dozens completed and some posted for sale on Etsy.com and pretty excited about it. Plus I like being able to change up the one daily accessory she wears to match or accent her outfit. Yes, I've been sucked into the whole dressing up little girls. I think Stephen likes it more than I do. That man has been sucked in that little girls' grasp. When she's older she'll know to by pass mom if she really wants something and go straigh to dad. I'm going to have to do my best to train that man now to always come to me first if he feels he'll obey her every whim.

The following Sunday we had lots of visitors and tons of new comers. We have 4 nurseries in our ward. Our nursery is typically 8-11 kids. We ended up with 15 that day. All the other nurseries kept turning them away. We were promised that wouldn't happen again, but it proved to me that its too hard with an infant. Lisette is demanding and highly dramatic at times. We can't put her down, she hates it, or its too dangerous with all the toodlers. She doesn't get her nap, so her dramatics is blown out of proportion at times. Plus it ends up one of us, mainly me, holds her, and takes care of her the whole time while the other, mainly Stephen, takes care of the kids. Not so easy, especially with 15 kids.

That Sunday though, Stephen recognized someone from his graduating high school class. Julie Dorr (maiden name Hooper. Her brother is an optometrist in Sierra Vista) had just moved into our ward from Anthem, AZ. Danny is her husband and they have two adorable little girls, Brooklynn and Sadie. It was super exciting especially since Stephen and I have been trying to make good on our new goal of making friends since we didn't the 20 months in our last ward.

We're trying to have other things we make too. We're commissioning Spencer and Julie, at least giving them a little business from us to help our business, to make different things in home decor. Its a mixture of windows with sayings, plaques, boards, and what not. We finally have 2 of those finished, we have to frame most of the rest of them, and a 3rd is nearly complete. Just a lot of fun making these things, when I don't mess up on the sewing machine and get temporary frustration, and some of my PaciFashion (my official name) just might find its way to some of your homes. I need more advertising.

Stephen has been working insanely. I know there are warnings out there about what a person should post on-line because many people have access to read it. I don't care right now. I've been very upset with his company. He was on-call the week before conference. At first it started slow, Monday wasn't much of anything, and then Tuesday the first cold front hit, and hit hard. In the morning there wasn't work for him, so we were going to work on some of these project we have. Not a chance. It was very windy and raining. He worked for two weeks straight, coming home most often after 8 pm. There were a few days he came home after 9 pm. I had to keep Franklin way up past bed time just to see his dad! Now I'm going make sure my voice gets heard by his boss if this schedule keeps up. We really need Stephen to spend time with his family, as well as Stephen is overly tired, not getting enough sleep and his body is worn out. He's been so over worked.

I need to do a brief entry about the kids. Franklin is the greatest brother. He loves his sister, he helps when he can either with her, or with me, cleaning, cooking, etc. He's such a sweetie! He's patient and willing, not always but most of the time. Lisette loves her brother. She watches him non-stop, smiling. Its so easy to get her to giggle, squeal, and laugh. She's adorable! We're starting her eating cereal. Slow going, but she seems to like it, just taking time to learn to eat it. She's also been going to bed later, and waking up in the early morning. So I'm hoping once she gets this eating figured out, she'll be full more to help her sleep longer again. We all need more sleep.

I suppose I ought to end there and with a few pictures of what I've been up to. Thanks for reading. I try not to make them so long just so I can keep your full attention since I know most of you don't have much time to be on the computer.


I'm leaving his hair just a little longer lately to be able to style it as well as he won't look so bald.

It was too cute to watch him when he realized all the ice cream was gone

The face painting that ended up being the arm painting.

A random moment that ended up looking like a pose.

One of my PaciFashions.