Half a year sum up.

It’s nearly July!  That means Stephen and Lisette are both a year older and Stephen and I celebrated our 7^th wedding anniversary.  That also means a lot occurred this month.  But I’ll give a summary of everything leading to this point…

January = a haze.  Honestly I don’t remember much about that month.  February: I (Lisl) began having a lot of pain in my hand (remember the story of spraining my finger back in August?) and it was causing pain in my left arm.  We battled with Lisette getting sick on and off again; her canines were cutting through all at once and it took over 2 months for them all to FINALLY poke through.  Franklin got an ear infection in March and he still talks about Daddy taking him to the doctor.

I had to finally address the issue with my arm and hand very seriously in March.  My visit to the Orthopedics office reunited me with a familiar face.  My very first roommates’ husband; Cole Bryce, who is now Dr. Cole Bryce!  

Dr. Bryce gave me a very painful, but happily accepted shot in the arm that helped with the pain while waiting 2 weeks for surgery on her sprained finger.  Surgery was quick and the anesthesia was just right.  Grandma April came for a few days to help and after she had to return to work our amazing ward jumped in to help me through the next month.  April felt long and slow and the constant wind didn’t/hasn’t helped.  Isn’t it March that’s supposed to be windy? 

Easter was very enjoyable and fun for the kids.  Our ward had a major egg hunt at the ball fields next to the Temple.  Then we had a huge (and very rewarding for the kids) hunt in our own backyard.  Earlier this Spring we decided to expand the fence for our back yard; so we more than doubled our yard from last year and had many places to put lots of candy-filled eggs.

May began with birthdays.  We tried our best to celebrate Stephen’s birthday as work had gotten busier for him.  We also took on a project for Lisette’s birthday which included building a back porch.  Stephen did just about all the work and the Elder’s came to help put the deck together.  I was very grateful since I’m not allowed to use my left hand as much.  

June has been crazy busy.  The heat came, and the wind still insisted on battling our mood.  The second weekend we went to Gilbert for a family gathering with the Randy Quinn clan.  Their youngest son, Trevor, was baptized.  Back in Christmas they had given us tickets to see Les Miserables that very same weekend.  So we left the kids still swimming in the pool (they were being watched, don’t worry) and went to see the most amazing show!  We’ve had Les Mis stuck (very happily) in our heads for weeks.

The next weekend was supposed to be Lisl’s 10 year high school reunion and the celebration of 7 years of marriage.  Alas, Stephen was on-call and because of many different factors coming to play, we decided not to go.  I was planning on seeing some old friends still, but a fire had been threatening the area.  

My parents’ neighborhood went on Pre-evacuation and just as we decided it was time to get out of the pool to pack, another fire began just west of us.  We were surrounded by smoke on 3 sides of us, with the helicopters and airplanes practically on top of us.  Officials were so busy with battling both fires that not a lot of communication was going on and we all felt the urge to evacuate immediately.  

So I never saw my friends, and as quickly as we could manage, we all got out of there; I took two of my mom’s cats to stay with us for a week.  My parents did go on mandatory evacuation 2 days later and a few days after that they were allowed to go back home.  

The following weekend (last weekend) my high school Show Band was having a reunion.  Coach (our director, we always called him Coach) had reached 40 years of directing Show Band.  So as many who could make it got together for reminiscing and putting together a concert.  I had no intention of playing, just singing.  I actually started crying when I found out I would get to sing I was so excited.  However, at the dinner on Friday night I was told that I should play and represent my years (I was a part of Show Band from fall of ’98 to spring of ’01) and ended up playing for both decades; the 90’s band and the 00’s band. 

It was so much fun and such a blast that I never wanted it to end.  Sorry to all my fellow Buena ’01 classmates that I ditched out on.  I hope you can forgive me and I hope to see you at our 20 year reunion and I truly hope it’ll be during something like Homecoming and nowhere near my anniversary.

p.s. Stephen and I didn’t get to celebrate much, so we are hoping to get a short vacation with just the two of us in the fall when Stephen isn’t so insanely busy.  And I’ll have to get back to you about how work is all going when it’s behind us and not at our throats.

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.

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!

Stress, Snow, and Kidney Stone

I'm sure the word has leaked out now that we are moving. Stephen hasn't had work for 3 weeks; a serious lack of snow has put all technicians on hold. Stephen did take one of those weeks for vacation so we could go down to Arizona. He had been planning on installing some heat pumps at my parents home. However, we took a detour to Thatcher, and began a house search.

Stephen had been offered a job with Altech Heating and Cooling of Thatcher, Arizona the same time he was offered a job up in Utah to work for One Hour Air. Arizona requires 2 years of training before you can be paid to do what Stephen has been doing for the past 2 1/2 years. Utah doesn't have that same requirement, so we obviously took the smarter option at the time. Now that Stephen has had his training, and years of work behind him, that job in Thatcher made him a new offer. This offer was stated more than a month ago, but we weren't sure if that was the direction we wanted to take. We love Utah, but Stephen has hardly been working at all, and then all the snow melted with none to take its place.

We took an earlier-than-planned vacation when we got our tax refund, and decided to search out all our options. This job in Thatcher was an amazing offer, but we still were undecided. When we made the choice to go to Arizona things fell into place too beautifully. We decided to house hunt, and after 2 1/2 days we made our decision. We feel extremely good about our move. If you know Thatcher, our place will be off of Reay Lane, before you get to the river.

We will be packing for the next 4 days, and on the 5th (Thursday) we load up the rental truck, drive away from Lehi, and arrive at our home in Thatcher on the 6th day (Friday). With 2 kids, and 2 cats we will definitely be making a half-way stop and split the trip in 2 days.

Our trip has been long, and insane. High levels of stress were our constant companions. The kids got colds while we were still there, and my cold has appeared now that we're home. We're going to keep our fingers crossed tightly that Stephen doesn't get it too. On our return trip home we hoped to make the trip in one day. It could have worked, but driving through the canyon between Panguitch and Beaver, we hit a huge snow storm.

My dad researched the weather report on the internet for us, but by the time we could see Beaver (and we almost couldn't see it due to extreme fog on top of the snow storm) we decided to stay the night. The kids needed it more than we did. Not long after we got our room Stephen heard a trucker who had been coming down from the north said that just before the exit we took there were already 6 accidents.

So we woke up to a winter wonder land. At least 4 inches fell during then night, and was still falling in the morning, but more gently. You'd assume with all that snow we drove through that we would return home to the same scenery. Nope, still no snow!!

Lisette didn't have a good night, and neither did we. Tonight is already following the same pattern; poor girl is so sick. We are happy to be home, even if its for a few days, and filled with cleaning and packing. Our cats were happy to see us, and our wonderful neighbor, Arnie, has been taking such very good care of them.

So about the kidney stone part, yes, I had another stone, just over 6 years since my last. If you knew me during that time, I was in pain for 2 weeks, then it went dormant for 4 1/2 months, then it hurt for 3 days till it passed. I don't know when I got this one because VERY fortunately it didn't hurt during the first stage. However I did get a gosh awful bladder infection, only find out (my own diagnosis, but since I didn't see a doctor about it I didn't tell anyone, except Stephen, I had it) I had a kidney stone, and it makes perfect sense that my infection was so horrible.

I didn't hurt me all the time, but riding in the car, between stops, it would remind me it was there. Our first stop on our return trip the nasty little booger came out and I then knew I was right all along. It made our return trip more pleasant than our trip going down, for me at least. So that's the past few weeks in a nut shell.

January Photos, and Lewis visit

So Heidi and her family were up here for a very (and I mean VERY) short visit. So I took a lot of pictures of that brief encounter. The cousins had fun, and the adults had fun watching them, and talking. If you go to the bottom of my blog to the videos, I have uploaded 3 new ones. 2 of them are quick, but one is longer, and you can hear our interesting conversation as the kiddos played. Hope you enjoy it all!

p.s. first one to tell me what we were referring to as a dead body wins. Not sure what the prize is, maybe its just praise from us.

Lots of stuff in just a little time

We absolutely loved having everyone here that was able to come. My parents came on July 31st in the morning, so I went with the kids to pick them up. Franklin was so thrilled to see them, and talked the whole way. Lisette stayed pleased as long as she was eating; I love bottle feeding. We stopped at Wal-mart before we went home, and while there Lisette got upset. My mom picked her up, and to our horror, she had overfilled her diaper. Took some time in the family bathroom to clean up the mess, but after it all, she was very happy.

Stephens’ parents arrived August 1st after my nephews’, Boston, baptism. That night we had a little birthday bash for Franklin. My little boy is 2! We had Grandma and Grandpa Quinn, Grandma and Grandpa Reed, and Heidi, Sam, Reyn and Tanith. Tanith is 6 ½ weeks older than Lisette, and Reyn is 7 months older than Franklin. Franklin really liked having his cousins around.

Its so amazing to know Boston is already 8 years old. I remember the day he was born. I was 18 and had just graduated from high school. It’s so hard to believe he is 8 years old, the first born Reed grandchild, and has been baptized. It was beautiful! And I have to give a little shout out to his younger brother, Miles. He turns 7 on the 24th, and he sang at his brother’s baptism. It was a beautiful number by Miles!

Sunday went beautifully. Lisette is a very beautiful little girl, and was gorgeous in her white dress. It was a beautiful blessing. We met at my sister, Greta’s for lunch afterward. Thanks to all that came, and making it memorable for all there. Franklin loves riding around on his new tricycle, and we have definitely found the resolution for Lisette. She is back on her original formula, but with purified water. Our kids are wonderful, and lovable. We are grateful for them both, and love them very much.

I got seriously behind on blogging because I got sick immediately following having company over. I get bronchitis every year so it must have been that time again. This time, however, I also got a sinus infection with it. It was fun for others to listen to my voice; it was very deep and sultry. I went to the doctors’ and Franklin came in the exam room with me. He kept getting into the cupboard, and though I had been whispering all day so that I wouldn’t have to use my deep voice I finally had to get after him to stop. Well, he stopped, turned around, looked at me and started laughing. He liked mommy’s voice, thought it was really funny.

I still have my cough, and unfortunately my kids did get a little bit of a runny nose, but at least that was all they got. Lisette has been an incredible eater, we’re trying to keep up with her appetite, and Franklin has been a great eater lately too. Not always, but he’ll eat almost everything on his plate. I am finally putting my foot down for when he won’t eat it all, or at all, then he doesn’t get anything else to eat. I refuse to let my kid be a junk food/snack eater and not eating his meals. So far so good, I’m winning.

Sheila (my mother-in-law) gave me a box of apples along with all her wonderful goodies, and things that she gets through her amazing coupon skills. We can’t keep up with Fruit in this house, before it goes bad (due to my food allergy, and Franklin’s picky eating) so I peeled a whole bunch to make into pies and crisps to give to some neighbors, and my sister. Franklin had one of those nights he decided not to eat his dinner, so I wasn’t going to give in. He did however pick up a peeled apple and ate the whole thing himself. I was so impressed! And he didn’t have to go to bed without dinner that night, and I was happy about that. I was sure I was going to give in before bed and let him have something, but he made it easier.

Lisette is having nights that she can sleep about 5 or 6 hours straight, its great!! She’s still picky about wanting to be held, but its getting better. She might grow up loving or hating the oboe. Right now it’s the only classical music we own on cd, so we play that in her room at night, and she sleeps to it every night. I don’t mind if she wants to play oboe when she’s older, that would make me very happy!

We’re getting to know a few more people in our ward. Last Sunday we got a new bishop, and this Sunday they split the ward boundaries. Apparently we had over 300 people in our ward. There is a new building that’s almost completely and is in our neighborhood, apart from the chapel we already meet in. We have 2 growing developments in the area. We’re also getting to know our neighbors a little more. Turns out the ones that live across the hall were from Tucson, so he knew about Thatcher and Sierra Vista. His dad owns most of the Peter Piper Pizza’s in Arizona.

I promise to get a slide show up soon of this month, events and visitors. Franklin is up from his nap, and that means Lisette will be soon too. Hope you are all doing well, and sorry this was a long blog. I didn’t feel like writing a whole bunch of blogs in sequence or some stuff might get missed. And to all you Reed’s out there, the reunion is on. I’ll write a blog on the family site really soon.

A Family of Four

So we are still grasping the reality that we are parents of 2 kids; two wonderful children. I will say that Franklin has been putting on the dramatics very heavily lately (terrible two's), and Lisette has proven to be a very easy, wonderful baby (just as Franklin was). Franklin’s episodes have everything to do with him not getting everything his way. He sure was spoiled with Grandma Reed here!

We loved having my mom here, especially Franklin. He wanted to do everything she did, be where she was, sleep next to her, eat what she ate; I think you’re getting the idea. He has been adding more words to his vocabulary, and has been utterly fascinated with his sister. He’s been very good with her, and wants to help, even if it’s not needed. We’re very happy that there haven’t been any accidents, and so far no one has been hurt (I should say no one has been hurt with the new addition, I’ll explain my injury later).

Lisette was kept in the Special Care Nursery for 48 hours. Luckily my insurance allowed me to stay that long as well so I could stay in the hospital with her. I was blown away by how great the whole experience was. When we arrived at the hospital, at 1:30 a.m. May 27th, we were nervous we were going to be sent back home. Luckily the staff was very busy that time, so by the time they were going to discharge me, they did one more check, and discovered I had dilated more. When the anesthesiologist came in I jokingly asked if he was going to be my best friend, and he was. After my experience with this epidural I realize that my epidural with Franklin was nothing, a joke! It might as well have been natural child birth.

Back to my story . . . A few hours later they gave me pitosin to speed it up a little (had the same thing with Franklin). Then at 11:20 I could start pushing, and she was here at 11:23 a.m. With Franklin I had to push for 2 hours. I couldn’t believe how easy it was with Lisette! It was amazing! The nurses were great, and my doctor was wonderful; that surprised me as well.

My mom arrived the night we got to take Lisette home. We had intended for her to be able to sleep in Franklin’s room. There were a few nights, and mornings, that Franklin would get out of his bed and crawl into bed with my mom. With her help we were able to sleep more at night, and I was able to take naps during the day; huge help!! Last Sunday I woke up feeling very weak, and feverish. We took me over to the ER and I was diagnosed with a Uterine Infection. Not cool, and I still don’t understand how I keep getting infections!

All last week we had Art City Days; or you could say Springville’s founders’ days/week. We didn’t participate in everything we had originally planned, but we did watch the Hot Air Balloon fest, and went to the carnival Saturday afternoon. Franklin’s first ride was cut very short; he started bawling when it began, only because he was on the ride by himself. Then he got on the carousel with Stephen, but was still too nervous from his previous experience to fully enjoy himself. Stephen and I used the rest of the tickets (didn’t get too many because the rain was threatening to fall) to ride The Zipper. It was fun until we were getting off, and I hit my elbow on the latch. Looked down after we had walked away and noticed I split my skin open in a nice, deep gash. Yeah, still hurts, can’t bend my elbow all the way, and very happy for the invention of liquid bandaides.

Now my mom is back in Arizona, and we are sad she has gone, but very grateful for her help, and the time she spent with us. Don’t forget to look at the new slide show in my previous post for what we’ve been up to over the last 17 days. Yes, Lisette is 17 days old today, June 14th, and has already gained a pound since she was born, and an inch. She’s the size of the average new born, and my original due date is still a week and a half away. And just as a side note, this Thursday Stephen and I will have been married for 5 years!

Hooray 2009

We had a fun New Year. The night before Franklin didn't allow me to get much sleep so by the time I went to SLC airport to pick up Janiel, I had to have Stephen talk to me on the phone so I wouldn't get too sleepy. It was so exciting to see Janiel again, and have her stay with us for a few days!!

Franklin was obviously cranky that day since he also didn't get a whole lot of sleep, and Janiel had been up most of the night herself; staying overnight at the Tucson airport, so she could check in at 4:30 a.m. (Thanks for the sacrifice, because I was sure glad to have you come visit!) After we got to our place we talked for a little bit, and Janiel wore out Rizzo. Rizzo played fetch with Janiel for a very long time, but after Franklin went down for his nap, we decided we all should get some sleep. Janiel got to lay down, and was later joined by Osgood (practically smothering her) and Franklin had other plans for me. I got some cleaning done, and got Franklin a meal. After Janiel was up we talked some more, and waiting till Stephen got off of work. Unfortunately he was on-call. He got home a little late, but picked up the pizza on his way home. After we ate, we headed over to Spanish Fork (5 minutes away) to their city Festival of Lights. It was actually really cool!!

We went home, and Stephen left for Salt Lake; called off to work. Franklin went to bed shortly before Stephen got back, which was between 9:30 and 10. We lit som fireworks on our street, which was covered in ice and snow. Janiel was running and sliding all over the place, occassionally Stephen joined in. We went inside, and I honestly don't remember what we watched while we waited to turn on "the count down". It was interesting that Time Square didn't really do much this year, they really cut down on their budget, so all the fun stuff was aired from Vegas. We counted down last year, and then 20 minutes later went to bed.

We were fortunate to have Stephen with us for the entire day! He didn't get New Year's off last year. On Saturday we went to Gardener Village, and even though it was cold, it at least wasn't windy. Franklin wasn't always willing to leave a shop when we were done, nor was he always allowed to walk around. He is cute, and well behaved, but just like all children, he had grabby little hands, and isn't gentle with everything. I won't give you a travel log at this point. However I was thrilled to have Janiel with us, it was so fun to have her here!! Franklin just ADORED Janiel. We called him her boyfriend the whole time. Janiel allowed us to go on a date Friday night, and called up just to say that he was cuddling with her, and just chilling out. They were still cuddling when we got back. It was so sweet!

Franklin wanted everything that Janiel had, he wanted to be where she was, and do what she was doing. Sometimes if he wouldn't eat what I was giving him I'd just give it to Janiel, and then he'd want it. He really doted on her, and it was very cute. On Sunday we all were feeling a little sick, Stephen had to go to Salt Lake again, and the rest of us ended up taking naps all day. I was glad that I wasn't really sick, just needed more sleep, and it sure helped the next day to have had some catch-up sleep. Monday when she had to go to the airport, it started snowing. Her flight was delays about 30 minutes, but it was enough to make her miss her connecting flight to Tucson. It could have been worse, because from the time she left, until Wednesday morning, it snowed, and Springville's report was we got 8 inches of snow. It was beautiful, but also dangerous. At least she made it home that night.

Janiel, thanks so much for coming to visit, I had so much fun!

I will post pictures, but my computer isn't cooperating.

Our Christmas

Please click on the title to be able to visit our photo album. There were just too many pictures for us to post them on our blog. Plus I know my sisters want the link to get some of these pictures for themselves. And don't forget to watch the 4 new videos below.

We had so much fun, and did so many things with family. We loved having Heidi, Sam and Reyn up here to share Christmas with. Christmas Eve we had dinner with the Lewis' (Heidi's in-laws, and Stephen's boss). The food was great, and it was so nice to be with a large group of people, and have a lot of laughter. Franklin went to bed very late that night; I hope this isn't the beginning of him waiting for Santa. We had to make the cats sleep in our room that night so they wouldn't terrorize the gifts. Obviously we woke up earlier than we wanted due to their pleadings. Rightly so we shut them in with us because immediately Rizzo went for his stocking.

Franklin slept in till 8:30 but went down again for a nap at 10:00. Heidi and I had planned on seeing a movie, so this meant at 12:20 waking up Franklin quickly, and opened his presents. We saw "The Tale of Despereux" and Franklin chatted through the whole movie. Luckily there weren't very many people there, and he made Heidi laugh the whole time. Reyn slept through the whole movie. We all went to our place after the movie and we gave each other the gifts we had for one another; we had each other this year.

Christmas dinner was at the Whites' with Greta and her family. Reyn wanted to push around the toy strollers Greta's girls got for Christmas, and Paisey joined in as they went 'round and 'round the house. Franklin got to hang out with his favorite uncle; Adam. Every time we go to Greta's Franklin has to hang out, and sit with Adam. Its been an instant bond that we don't know when, and how it began. When Heidi was at our place Franklin wanted to hang out and sit with Sam. I guess he just really likes to hang out with the guys! Dinner was wonderful, and we all forgot to leave room for pie.

We headed home late, and Franklin instantly went to bed. We had dinner that next night at Greta's again with Heidi and family. On Saturday Stephen and I headed out to do a little shopping, and met up with Heidi and Reyn at the mall, while Sam was out skiing, hoping that we could let the boys play. Bad idea. They both wanted to play with the slide, but from the opposite end, and there were probably a good 35 - 50 other kids. We finally had to leave the play area because there was no hope in getting them to play and be safe.

Sunday was quiet, and relaxing; sort of. Franklin took a very long nap in the middle of the day, but for some reason I don't remember that day except for going to church. Hopefully that means I got a nap too.

Monday Heidi and Reyn came over in the morning and we had breakfast together. We got to hang out that day before I took them to the airport. Greta and her girls had caught the flu over night so we had to skip out on visiting them that day. I was excited that we got to see so much of the Lewis' while they were here, and we had a lot of fun with them.

Enjoy the pictures, and videos. The first video is from Greta's when Paisey and Reyn raced around the house with the toy stroller. The second video is Franklin drawing on his magnidoodle. He loves that thing so much it goes every where with us. He's fallen asleep in his car seat holding on to it. The third video is of Franklin and Rizzo. Rizzo makes a very funny meow when he sees birds outside. The Franklin started being silly. The last new video is Rizzo trying to get his stocking. He wouldn't quit!

Arizona here we come!

So things have been busy and crazy. Jess and Jon Rutherford and their twin boys came to visit. They are a month and a half younger than Franklin but really got into each other's faces. They were so funny to watch that I forgot to pull out the camera. Well, we may be able to see them on the 9th, and I'll have the camera ready this time!
Franklin is into everything, and doing his best to keep walking (I'm trying to make him do it without my help). We got him some soft shoes to get familiar with shoes, and walk with them on. He still has only 2 teeth, but has proven that he can chew on many different things anyway. He is a sprint crawler, laughs often, and is quite the chatter box. We keep trying to get him to repeat what we say, but he loves to repeat what the cats say more. He also loves to immitate mommy's hiccups. What a goof!
Not only do we have a future commedian, he is also going to be a percussionist. We decided that we'll have to accept whatever type of musicain he wants to be. We are thrilled that he is showing signs of being a musician. He LOVES music, especially jazz and swing. He can keep a constant beat for a little bit, and loves to make different sounds on the things he bangs. So we got him something to encourage him for his birthday.
We also had our cats declawed. It's best for Franklin, our hands, and our furniture. Plus they are both pretty clumsy with their claws. I was surprised Osgood didn't get mad at me for taking him to the vet. He used to take everything personal with me, and held a grudge for a while. Stephen was the only person he liked. He has really changed, and not only did he heal quickly, and did well, but he is social with others, and not just people he knows already. Rizzo didn't do so great. He kept his over-active energy, and kept wanting to get into/out-of things, and have everyone's attention. He took 3 weeks to heal, and is still healing. Some of his toes are bald (the vet said that the surgical glue can sometimes do that) and he is finally out of his cone collar. He wore it for the past 3 weeks, and then some. Poor thing.


We are traveling down next week to spend Franklin's birthday in Arizona. We'll spend two days in Thatcher, with the Quinn's and two days in Sierra Vista with the Reed's. I'm so excited, and even more so, I'm excited about Franklin's birthday. I can't believe its almost been a year since he took his first breath of air. I've also realized that birthday's are for mommies. I think it's more of a celebration of what our moms have done for us, and continue to do. I know that I haven't forgotten what I went through a year ago for Franklin, and everything since that day.

It'll be a quick trip, but we're going to try and make the most of it. We are super excited to go, and can't wait to get going!!! So Arizona here we come!!