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)

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!

End of Summer fling

 

Stephen's employer sent everyone and their families to the Arizona Grand Resort, and Oasis Park.  The above pictures were taken at the end of our time at the water park.  My favorite, and the kids favorite part was the river.  It was nice and relaxing to just drift along.  Franklin didn't want to sit in the water, he wanted to sit on the tube.  Lisette however had to be in the water the whole time.  She got impatient when she wasn't in the water.  Don't get me wrong, Franklin thoroughly enjoyed the water.  We would have stayed longer for him if Lisette wasn't getting so sleepy.  Afterward they both slept for 3 hours.

During that time I went to the spa and enjoyed a 50 minute massage.  I wish I had known more about the spa, when my appointment was and such, before hand.  I would have gotten there sooner and enjoyed the whirlpool or sauna.  Very relaxing though.  If we had more time before dinner I would have taken a nap myself afterward.

Dinner was fun!  It was at the Rustler's Rooste, with a live country band, and a live bull out front.  Inside they had a one story slide.  The kids loved it.  Franklin got to go down several times with some of the other wives.  Lisette would probably have liked to go more and I wish I had taken her.  She did grab Stephens steak knife several times while he wasn't paying too much attention (no blood shed) and dumped Franklins juice all over her giraffe blanket that i can't get her to part with.  Luckily Franklin never knew he had it so he didn't miss it.

We returned home on Sunday, a little sad that it was all over so quickly.  We did enjoy ourselves, and it was relaxing and fun.  We had to get back so I could be at ward choir, I'm the choir director.  Its actually been a lot of fun.  I was nervous at first about it because I'm more into instrumental music than choral, but I am enjoying it a lot.

Lisette is cutting her molars, so we're having late, or early, nights again.  Franklin took to drawing, all over himself.  The two pictures were taken about 2 hours apart.  I did take away the pen the second time.  Notice his facial expression changes.

Happy Birthday Franklin

My special guy is 3, and it seems like overnight he literally did grow up.  We started potty training last Monday.  By Wednesday afternoon he had gotten it down, and been accident free ever since.  After two days of frustration and I don't know how many underwear changes, he had proved to me that he was fully potty trained.  Makes me feel like super-mom (emphasis on "feel" I know I am not).  He has so much more to say in English now; seemed like with the potty training, he was ready to grow up, so he knew that meant speaking less Franklinese.  Don't worry, he'll talk your ear off in Franklinese.  He knows you all still love it.

We had a Reed-side bowling party for Franklin on July 31st.  He LOVED bowling, I already have a blog about that.  This is just part of the cakes from that party.  He loves anything Toy Story, and hopefully we'll be taking him the newest movie today for FHE.  We had intended to take him on our last trip to SV but it was gone.

On his birthday we had Danny and his family, Travis and his family, and Guy and his family come over for pizza and cake.  I had meant to make that cake look even more awesome since it wasn't cup cakes, but ran out of time.  Besides I used awesome recipes so they tasted great and didn't need frosting.  Franklin had so much fun, talking, and being the center of attention.  Believe it or not, Lisette was asleep through the whole thing. 

We had a long weekend; Lisette didn't sleep well at all, if any, Friday night.  We traveled to Sierra Vista to attend a funeral for Saturday; yes on Franklin's birthday.  It was beautiful and I'm so glad we went.  Clayton is an amazing person, and you know he's doing great things beyond this world.  He has such an amazing family too.  That whole family had been close to the Reeds long before I was born.  Our dad's went to med school together.  Their dad was the man that delivered Franklin 3 years ago.

War of the Sunflowers

Ever since I planted sunflowers, back in April, I have been battling forces to let them grow and keep them alive.  Our home is surrounded by fields, and because we live in farm country we have gophers.  Not just one, or two.  Stephen has been able to catch and kill 6.  The first one Stephen get it stranded by filling its tunnels with water, and it was either drown or face instant, painless death by Stephens hands.  Does that keep them away, or diminish their numbers? Never!

My first sunflower to survive through the first sprout fell prey to those pests.  It was over 2 feet tall and I believed it was going to make it.  Nope.  One gopher ate right through the main root.  We even tried transplanting it into a bucket, but that was a wasted effort.  Out of complete frustration as more sprouts were shriveling up from heat and lack of water and we saw more and more dirt mounds piling up (a sign of more gophers) I bought more seeds.  I planted the seed every 6 inches in hopes that with more sprouts there would be more that could survive all at once. 

A week later I lost another 2 feet tall stalk to a different gopher, a smaller one that I don't believe we have been able to catch.  Because I saw several new sprouts I wanted them to have a chance, as well as all of my existing plants that were still living, I went to war.  We first purchased this funky stake thing that you put in a fuse, light it, and toss it in a gopher hole.  Essentially it gasses them out, or kills them.  We lit one, and for a day or two we didn't see any new mounds.  That supposed victory was short lived.  We tossed in 2 stakes in 2 holes that were 20 feet away from the other.

It was like that gopher that took down the second stalk was mocking us.  4 hours after lighting up a stake there was movement around it.  It returned for the remaining roots and water.  I was so angry!  I was losing this battle, and at this rate I would never have a single bloom; not if the gophers kept eating through any stalk that was big enough to produce one.

So I got 2 of these babies.

And guess what!...

There are 2 blooms on that one stalk, with about 5 more close behind.  And I'm not worried that it'll be taken down by any gophers.

Of course seeing that many blooms on one stalk made me realize that planting seeds 6 inches apart from the next was far TOO close for these gigantic plants.  However, now that I've purchased a 3rd gopher repelling device I'm going to extend my line of flowers all the way to the back fence, and maybe even around the corner a little.

I do have to report that though I've won the battle against the gophers, the war isn't over.  The previous tenants were so kind as to dump oil in random places throughout the property.  The biggest dumps sites are along the fence line.  One reason why no weeds have been growing there, and another reason why my sprouts keep dying. 

If you look in the picture of my bloomed flower, the stalk in the foreground is the one suffering from the oil.  The rest of the sprouts (and seeds that never sprouted) have died.  So on Saturday Stephen dug out 10 (5 gallon) buckets full of oil-tainted dirt from that spot, leaving the sad looking sprout.  Today it is already perking up, and its newest leaves look stronger and fuller.

I better set the story straight before it gets lost in translation

Franklin fell off our bed while playing and goofing off.  He cut his head on my elliptical and it bled pretty good for a few minutes.  He was hysterical, and he had every right to be.  We got him to calm down by playing some Wii, so we were able to asses that it was wide enough that we should take him to the ER.  The only way to could brake his need to play Wii is we brought Monsters vs. Aliens (a new-to-our-collection film that he's now obsessed with) on the portable dvd player.  If you don't have one, and you have small children, get one.  You never know when you'll need it for an unusual situation.

I hate waiting, not a fun game when its already after 9:00 that you get to the hospital.  We weren't home till 11:30.  Franklin was so tired, and emotional.  They put 2 staples in his head (sounds odd) and he didn't need a hair cut, thank goodness.  The bandage was to hold the anesthetic to the wound so they could put the staples in.  Upon leaving they told me that we have to wake him every 2 hours just to make sure he's not unconscious. 

We had him sleep in our room, and that booger hogged the whole bed.  We went to sleep after 12:30, and woke up for the day before 6.  The elliptical is on its way to storage till we can put it in a secure place, and Franklin acts as if nothing is different.  Oddly enough he's less emotional today than he has been all week; go figure.  He's also back to bossing Lisette and driving my nuts with it, but I am enjoying the less emotional about everything part.  The staples can come out Thursday.  Now we just need a doctor to take them out so we don't have to go back to the ER.

When did that happen?!

(WARNING: since it’s been a month since my last post, this one is going to be long. Now you can’t say I didn’t warn you.)

We’ve had so much fun this last month, and there was so much going on! Stephen has definitely been busier than ever. We’ve been experiencing 100 degree heat and higher and summer has only just begun. On top of that his company is now down to 2 technicians instead of 4. One guy has a bad back, and too many injuries have caused him to finally stop doing this line of work. The other guy was let go suddenly, so that day was very interesting for Stephen and the other remaining employee who has only just begun taking calls on his own 3 months ago. So they’ve got Stephen and a newbie. All I can say is over-time, and it makes me believe I can learn to be more patient about his job.

One of my old roommates got married at the start of this month and we were invited to the sealing!! It was so great to be there, and my mom overnight babysat for us which made it all worry-free, kid-free for us. It also made me realize I need to do that more often, having overnight sitters. Natalie is so beautiful, and her dress!! You just have to see the pictures, she’s just so stunning, words can’t describe! I ran into her mom after, while she was waiting for Natalie to come back to the bride’s room. She thanked me for coming and I told her that I owe Natalie; after all she was my only roommate who was cheering me on from the start to go for Stephen.

I also have reached 100 sales with my on-line store, and it’s only been picking up faster since. I’ve recently added more styles to my inventory, and in celebration of reaching 100 sales I am giving away a “Bright Blue Tie” that I personally love. The way to win it is fan me on my facebook fan page and comment on my picture of the tie. On Friday at midnight I won’t be taking anymore entries and will announce a winner on Saturday (this is for any of you who may read this and haven’t been on my facebook page and want to enter). We’ve also changed things around a little at home to make my work station more organized and easier to see what I have made and ready to go.

Franklin has been so funny. Just on Monday I heard him say “Oh Man” and I couldn’t help but giggle. He’s definitely been paying attention to things we say, though he hasn’t been repeating it; yet. I’ve begun the whole “if you’re a good boy, and obedient, then you get a treat”. An almost sound like I’m training a dog, but since I started it there has been far less whining, and that was my goal. I have to keep snacks with me at all times now so I can stop the whining before it gets out of hand. Trips to the store, getting into his seat, opening his scriptures, putting a game or toy away, etc. has been far more pleasant. Threats just weren’t working anymore, and now I know that I can make a positive situation work with rewards.

Lisette is miss attitude already. What am I going to do when she reaches the phase that Franklin is at?! (Rhetorical question) At least she’s been letting us put her to bed when Franklin goes to bed, no more of this 10 p.m. or later nonsense. She definitely loves her brother to the point that she’s annoying him already. Because of that annoyance he’s been having episodes of not being very nice to her. She’s also very quick. Sometimes I just can’t keep up with her. I get distracted by Franklin or the cats doing something they shouldn’t and all of a sudden she’s practically falling into the bath tub (empty of course) reaching for the knobs, under a bed, in a closet, or if I left the gate down, on her way to the cat box.

She still stares down people she doesn’t know but she can sure smile, laugh, and play it all up around people she’s close and comfortable with. She’s a ham too, she knows when people are watching her, thinking she’s cute, and plays it up; little miss center of attention, what kind of monster are we creating?!

Lisette also LOVES the water. It’s another one of those bravery things. I’ve got to start her on swimming lessons as soon as humanly possible for her. Franklin I need to because he’s afraid of not having something under his feet, so he sat on the steps the whole time, but still in the water. Lisette was too funny, I’ll need to keep the camera close by next time, but she was leaning back in her floater thing, and kicking her feet so she started to travel. She thought it was so great! That’s my girl! She doesn’t like the feel of grass on her knees though, changing subjects.

My baby is 1!! However, unlike most parents, I was ready for her to be 1, and move to the next stage; walking! She's a brave little girl, oh my goodness. She loves to jump, and almost achieves air. Mostly she jumps on her bed while holding onto the rail, or similar situations. She still has yet to completely let go of things to stand on her own, but you can tell that she wants it very much. She's also starting to cut teeth again. Finally!! Back to her big day…

To tell the truth we had to big days if that makes sense. We had a party with the Reed’s in Sierra Vista the weekend before her birthday, and one the day before her birthday with the Quinn’s. Sierra Vista was busy, but so much fun. That Saturday morning we went to a little ranch with Heidi, Sam and their kids, of someone Sam works with. They have alpacas, goats, horses, chickens, dogs, and donkeys. Franklin really enjoyed himself there!! Oh boy did he throw a fit when it was time to go. That night we had a little picnic on my parents’ porch since it was too windy to go to the park. Lisette got a wagon for her birthday, and because Reyn (7 months older than Franklin) and Tanyth (6 weeks older than Lisette), Heidi and Sam’s kids, have one too, we all went for a walk after the party to take the kids for a ride. They loved it!! Franklin and Reyn rode in the green one while Tanyth and Lisette rode in her red one.

Then for the Quinn party we went to the local park to do a joint birthday party for Lisette and Bridger (Travis and Jamie’s little boy that is 2 days older than her). So much fun! I was allowed to make the cakes and I tell you it was an ALL day event. I used 8 cake mix boxes!! What was I thinking?! Well, it was worth it when I saw some people’s reactions to my fancier cakes. After all I do like to entertain and cook/bake. We stayed till it was getting a little too dark to stay any longer, but it was so much fun. Stephen could only be there for an hour and a half before he had to get back to work (on-call that week) but some friends came to our place afterward and we had an after party, I guess, till Stephen got home.

Whoa, this is a novel so I better end my stories here. Just know that it’s been an exciting month, and we’ve been so busy, and very happy. Enjoy the slide show!!!!

What a busy Spring

Unfortunately we have all become sick over the past few weeks. I’m finally getting over a sinus infection, and both the kids are back to good health. Lucky Stephen wasn't even phased by his momentary turn of being sick. Things are heating up, but that’s nothing new about Arizona, or even interesting. That does mean that business is picking up for Stephen. My business is picking up as well. 82 sales in the last 6 months of actually selling (the last 20 in the past couple of weeks alone). Sheila will be opening a space in her home to sell her jammies (culottes) and my pacifashions. She also has gotten us a spot in a shop in Pima. I’m super excited to see what that holds in store for my product!! Thank you Sheila!

Franklin slowly prefers English over Franklinese. I’m very happy about that since we are struggling with communication. He’s very sweet, and somewhat patient. He’s also extremely eager; finally!! I haven’t pushed him to learn everything since he didn’t have patience, or interest. Now it’s a steady flow of information, and he’s soaking it all in. He’s so much fun, but he’s Franklin, he’s always been so great!

Lisette is dead-body crawling, at least that’s what I’m calling it, in correspondence with her whole “rigor” thing. She uses her toes and her arms and propels herself forward; it’s very funny to watch. I honestly was beginning to think she’d skip this stage, she’s been so proud of her rolling abilities. Her other new trick is putting herself in the sitting position. Don’t worry if you thought she could do it all along, just about everyone else did too. After all she is 10 months old. I can’t tell you how elated I am that she can FINALLY sit herself up. No more yelling and crying at me to put her in a more comfortable position. I just about cried when I saw her do it the first time I was so very happy. Stephen likes to tease her with the laser. There is a video I am uploading of this very thing, and why not get some laughs about her new tricks!

This will probably be useless information to most of you, but I am very thrilled about this; we have discovered what breed of cat Rizzo is. Now I never really needed to know, or care much about cat breeds. Granted I grew up with Persians, the very beautiful, “Fancy Feast” type Persian (no squished faces) and I cared very much about that breed. Now that is a beautiful breed of cat. However Rizzo is a VERY odd cat. He doesn’t entirely act like a cat, nor does he have much of the same temperament of our fat lazy Osgood. Thanks to Animal Planets series Cats 101 we have discovered that Rizzo is an Egyptian Mau (Mau actually means cat in Egyptian). It truly is an amazing breed, and very beautiful, too bad they are so rare. Rizzo is definitely the perfect cat for me, I wish all cat lovers could have a cat like him. It’s almost a shame that we had him fixed; almost, but not quite.

We are also making an attempt at growing flowers. We have two beds of watered seeds, at the current time, in front, and we planted a long row of sunflower seeds along the century-old wood fence along the road. It’ll look awesome, if we actually can get it all to grow. Let’s hope.

Ok, Easter! On Saturday we went out to Cedar Hills and had fun with the Quinn clan. Nearly everyone was there, and though our family didn’t camp out (due to illnesses) we stayed for several hours that morning. I also forgot that the Arizona sun burns me very quickly. I got used to being in Utah and hardly ever got sunburn. It was worth it. Franklin LOVED being out there with his cousins, Aunts, Uncles, and Grandparents. He learned about playing in the dirt from Brooklyn, and Caylee (yes, the girls had to show him) who are his age. His uncle Danny helped him color an egg, which he loved. Later, after lunch, we went for a drive in Brent’s awesome 4-wheeler. Franklin could sit between us. I didn’t think we had been gone that long, but Franklin started to fall asleep. We headed home after that to let the kids sleep.

My parents joined us Saturday night for the festivities the next morning. Franklin got to be 100% center of attention between conference sessions as he did the egg hunt. There are some videos of that as well; one is long, I must warn you, but it was just cute to hear Franklin say egg a million times. When his basket was getting too full he’d put his eggs in Lisette’s. I wish she was old enough to appreciate that since I really don’t see that happening ever again in the coming years. However, Franklin does always surprise us. After a very filling, and delicious ham dinner, my dad returned to Sierra Vista, and my mom stayed behind to hang out with me for the rest of the day. I had to go to Sierra Vista the next morning anyway to finally get Franklin’s birth certificate, so my mom rode with me, and Franklin loved having her there.

Enjoy the video below of Lisette's version of crawling!

The promised pictures

I'm glad I was able to get right to it this time, instead of waiting several weeks. I didn't take as many pictures as I had liked, but here are a few, and I hope you enjoy them. Also make sure that you go to the bottom of our blog page to see the new videos. I'm still working on adding a few more. I've discovered with our new internet that I can't download several things at once; it takes way too long for my patience. Enjoy the slide show, and videos!!

October in Pictures

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

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.

Family slide show

Just in case you don't go to the bottom of my blog to watch all the videos, here's just one of them.

2 years of Franklin

Before you realize that you’re not quite caught up with the time flying by, reality takes a check. Franklin turned 2 on Friday the 7th. Of course it was only 2 years ago he was born, but I remember it vividly. Franklin was born 11 days early and after 6 hours of being in the hospital, 2 of those hours spent on pushing alone, he was born at 4:58 p.m. 6 lbs. 10 oz. and 19 ¼” long. He has been the perfect child; easy to please, and highly entertaining all on his own.

Of course I now realize that birthday’s are more for mothers for the early birthdays than for the children. We had family here for Lisettes’ blessing so the night before we did a little birthday celebration. He loved being the center of attention with both sets of grandparents, and Heidi and her family there.

Franklin is a very intelligent boy, and extremely lovable. He has been stealing hearts left and right since the day he was born. It’s amazing how easy it is to love him, and he is addictive to be around. He understands so much that we tell/ask him, and he has very many words he knows. However, he still only wants to speak his language; it adds to his ability to steal your heart. He is so animated when he talks, and has great inflection to his voice and many expressions in his face.

We love our son, and are so grateful for the love and joy he brings to our life, and to everyone who knows him. Enjoy these photos of 2 years of Franklin!

5 years and counting

Along with these pictures (you can click on the blog title to go to the album) don't forget to check out the new videos at the bottom of our page. Franklin has been having a lot of fun lately.

For our anniversary we decided to do some family activites. The night before Greta baby sat for us so we could have our own private dinner. I had a doctors appointment in the morning, and thankfully all my tests came back negative; no more infections. After Franklin's nap we headed up to Salt Lake and wen to the Hogle Zoo. It was very warm with some cloud cover, and a few sprinkles occassionally. Franklin completely enjoyed himself. We bought him a hat first thing since we didn't think about it before we left. He loved his hat (never took it off, a first) and kept changing his mind between riding on the stroller and walking.

The monkeys were his absolute favorite. He would have stayed there all day, every day if we let him. He was interested in the giraffe's; they had a really cool way for you to get up close to them with this tall building/corral. I should have took a picture, but I was mesmorised by one of them. We stayed at the zoo till they were hearding everyone out.

After we left we headed to The Gateway (super cool mall) for dinner. There's this fountain in the plaza of the mall, so after dinner at Thaifoon, aisan cuisine that was very good, we let Franklin have his fun. Just make sure you watch the video, Franklin had a crowd going!

Lisette is definitely rounding out, and she is so adorable. She's been getting better with sleeping longer, just need to make it happen at night instead of the evening when we want to be awake because Franklin is in bed. Franklin is still very facinated with her, and wants to help. He also gets very animated when she cries, wanting to help even more.

Just a reminder, we are going to have a joint blessing Lisette/birthday bash for Franklin on the very first weekend of August. We'd like to have a head count of who will come, mostly cause we've been thinking of having it catered; less for me to do, especially with a new born. Email me at lisl_music@hotmail.com or just comment on the blog.

Lisette Alicia Quinn

Born May 27th, 2009 at 11:23 a.m. Weight is 6 lbs. 13 oz. and she is 19 inches long. She was born 27 days early and is doing well. They have kept her in Special Care Nursery over night, just to make sure she's not contracting an infection or having any breathing problems. Soon we will know if she can come home today, or if they want to keep her one more night. If that's the case then I'll be allowed to stay tonight with her too. Franklin has been staying with Aunt Greta and her family and doing lots of fun things since school is coming to a close, and summer is upon us. Greta and Adam have loved having him, and enjoying his chatter, dancing and laughter. Stephen and I have been missing him like crazy and can't wait till the whole family is together at home.


We didn't take pictures right away because we were stuck in surreal mode since delivery was very fast, and since pregnancy wasn't easy we couldn't believe she was here. I only pushed 3 1/2 times till my doctor told me to stop.











She's already won over many hearts; nurses, family, and even some strangers. We were told last night that another couple was visiting their infant who slept next to Lisette. As they were holding their little girl they were asking the nurse about Lisette, how she was doing, if there was anything wrong, and that she looks so sweet and wonderful. Obviously she couldn't disclose any information to them about her. I hope you enjoy these pictures, and we'll get more soon!

May in pictures

Springtime for Franklin

So lots has been going on, and yet sometimes it feels like nothing new happens to us. For over a week now Franklin has been sleeping in a toddler bed, and loving it. We're not sure who's happier, Franklin or us. Since he started sleeping in his bed (no longer the converted crib, an actual toddler bed and we didn't ease him into either, we just took away the crib all at once) he's been sleeping a full 12 hours through the night, and 3 hours for his nap. Its been a real miracle for us since we haven't had those numbers since the disturbance moved in upstairs. That's since October. For any of you with toddlers still in cribs don't listen to statistics; Franklin LOVES his toddler bed and was more than ready to just switch.

We canceled our house phone, and even though it hardly rang, the silence has been great. 90% of all incoming calls have been telemarketers. There's been one company that I loath!! They would call sometimes 3 times a day, and I finally lost it with them. 2 calls in a row was the same operator, and when I asked for a manager, he first told me there are none, then later that he was the manager. By the end of our conversation he was laughing at me. Stephen wasn't home, so I called him up and said that this particular operator was in some serious trouble with me, and if I hear his voice again, I'm going to let him have it. Our resolve was just get rid of an expence we don't need, and then there won't be a way for that awful company to contact me anymore. Franklin's been happy to play with the disconnected phones.

The weather seriously can't make up its mind on what it wants to do. Right now its perfect, no sweater needed, nice and warm, but we're supposed to get a thunder storm tomorrow. We've also had a few days its snowed, and been super windy (have I ever mentioned there is no weather I hate more than wind?). We've been trying to figure out things that we can do indoors, and near by. We wanted to go to Gardener Village one weekend, but it was windy, and had just snowed. So instead we stopped at the mall in Draper. They had a play ground meant exactly for Franklin's age group, and we couldn't be happier.

Stephen's also been home a lot because even though its been cold the majority of people will just simply wait till next winter to get furnace work done, and no one has needed their a/c running. So on April Fool's day we went to Gardener Village anyway, with snow; but no more wind. I'm super happy, we found the exact baby quilt we've been looking for the upcoming nursery. When I have more of it together so you can get idea of what I'm trying to create, then I'll let you in on it, for now I'll say its yellow, black and white.

So when we got back from Arizona Stephen and I agreed that I needed to just take it easy and rest as much as possible. The drive home was harder on me than I will discuss and we thought just a few days would help. I've been in to see my doctor, and had some good and not so nice news. This whole pregnancy I've been right on track for the amount of weight I'm supposed to gain, not a pound more. I was super worried because my stomach rounded out very quickly even though the scale didn't budge a whole lot. However I'm still on bed rest and this time ordered by the professional, and not myself.

Its helped big time to have Stephen home a little more often, and he's been doing more housework. He's a great sport, and support. Franklin has loved having his daddy home as well. Make sure you check out the new video below to see just how much fun its been for Franklin. Stephen and I do feel better when there is work for Stephen, especially since things have been so slow. It also helps that Franklin is very helpful and obedient. He helps pick up his toys, and sometimes helps me in the kitchen. He isn't very helpful when its time to do laundry, unless I want it all over the floor, which I never do. He has a lot more personality, and has been a lot of fun.

Another Picture Post

These are the pictures I promised of Franklin's adventures; Fortress in the living room, and finger painting. (not pictures of the mattress bouncing just videos at the bottom of the blog) Some additional pictures are of Franklin chasing a cat through the cat tunnel, and getting stuck. Franklin recently got a hair cut, but we made a mohawk out of his hair one night. We also made cookies one night and Stephen introduced Franklin to the wonderful taste of cookie dough. We also took family pictures near Utah Lake.

















Make sure you check out the videos at the bottom of our site. Franklin's been so much fun, we can't keep him to ourselves. (If this was emailed to you, make sure you click on the link to our blog site to see the videos at the bottom)