Tomorrow (January 12th) my baby turns 2 years old! It's not that big of a shock to me that he's actually two years old though... He's acted like a two year old for several months now. Unfortunately for me he never really wanted to be a baby. :( He's always been doing things pretty advanced for his age. When he was just a few months old he started refusing a pacifier. He started sitting up at 5 months old. He began crawling a month later. At 9 months old he was walking without any help. By 12 months old he was saying words and had been using a spoon and fork to feed himself. By about 16 months old he was speaking in short sentences. Now at almost 2 he says complete sentences better than most 4 year olds do.

It amazes me at how much and how quickly he's learned everything. (Especially after having my first baby being a bit delayed in everything compared to his peers...) I feel like I haven't had a baby around the house since he was a newborn 2 years ago. I can't wait to see what the future holds for him. I'm looking forward to working a lot more with both he and his older brother on pre-school activities this year. He loves learning new things and I have no doubt that he'll be learning everything just as fast as my 4 year old.

Why am I freaking out? Well, it's probably because I have so little time and still so much to do before Baby Josiah arrives! It could be that I've never waited this long before getting everything prepared. It might also be that I've never had 2 kids, a husband and 2 dogs to take care of as well as my own household to run.

This is definitely new territory to me.

It might seem strange to those of you who have had babies and who have done all of this before and think that it's really not that big of a deal. Especially for baby number three. You might be thinking that I've already had two kids... so what's the difference with number three?

Well... The answer is pretty much the same with both of my first two boys. I was living at my mom's house and I didn't have a husband around to help me. Of course they were both very different circumstances. With Camron, my (ex) husband was on deployment to Iraq. With Brady, my (ex) husband was divorcing me and was too busy with his new (pregnant) girlfriend to help out at all. (Do I still sound bitter? lol Maybe. I just think it's wrong that so many men out there get to start completely over while the women they leave are left to handle all the responsibilities... that they helped to create... on their own.)

With both boys I felt like I had all the time in the world to prepare for the new baby's arrival. I had their rooms ready, all of the baby essentials bought, hospital bags were packed... and it was all done about 3 months before they were born!

I have three weeks! (Give or take.) I feel so unorganized and unprepared. I just barely bought the first package of newborn diapers yesterday... and that will last what? 3 days. If we're lucky. So we need to buy lots more ASAP! I have to finish washing all of the old baby clothes and blankets that I've had in storage for the past 2 years. (I think I have about 3 more loads to go... Then it becomes, where the heck am I going to put it all?!) I have to pack a hospital bag for me and Josh. I'll also need to pack Josiah's going-home stuff. I have to pack a bag for both boys so they have everything they need while staying at Nana and Papa's house while I'm in the hospital. I still have to turn the back part of my living room into a make-shift nursery. Complete with a cot for me to sleep on, the bassinet for baby and a changing area. I also have to find some place for a few extra clothes and blankets for those middle of the night diaper blow outs or spit-ups... because I don't want to wake the boys by getting it out of their room.

I think it felt like things were easier to get done with my first two boys because I actually had a lot of help from my mom. My step dad was working out of town both times that I gave birth while I was living there. So she had tons of time to help me! This time around I have my own household to run. Dinner to make. House to be cleaned. Two boys to take care of. A husband to keep happy... So I'm almost doing all of this on my own. I have a lot more responsibilities on my shoulders than I had before. It's kind of nerve wracking to think that I'm the one who has to make this transition go as smoothly as possible.

I don't want this blog post to sound like I'm complaining about anything. I'm really not complaining. Or even getting close to complaining. I'm just stressing and I think writing it all out helps me gain some sort of clarity to be able to put it all in perspective for me.

I'm so grateful for my little family and the life that I have. I'm so excited about Josiah's arrival and having our family finally feeling complete. I know that in the end everything will work out and I'll feel like I was stressing out for nothing. I have pretty much everything that I'll need for him in his first month of life... it's just a matter of getting organized. I'm great at organizing. I just need to take it one step at a time and focus on the task at hand. I'll set some goals for myself this week... I'll write them down and cross them off one at a time. I think it'll help me in feeling like I'm getting anything accomplished.

So here we go! I'm giving myself one week to get everything done. Time to set some goals and get things done!

With our one year anniversary fast approaching (October 16th) I've been thinking a lot about how much my life has changed... Not just this past year, but the past several. I've got to say, this has certainly been one of the best! I'm happy and most importantly my kids are happy.

I cannot express in words how much I appreciate my husband and our new life together. I am so thankful for everything that he's done for me, the boys and our family. He stepped in and stepped up when he really didn't have to. He's more than just a step dad to Camron and Brady. In fact, the words 'step dad' never enter my mind unless some one else points it out. He IS their dad. Period.

Josh has been here for us since Brady was only 4 months old and Camron was 2.5 years old. Josh was the one there who witnessed all of Brady's major milestones. Rolling over, crawling, sitting up, pulling up, standing up, walking, talking, etc. He has been there for Camron in all the ways a dad should be there for his son... teaching him how to be a good big brother and showing him right from wrong.

Josh is the one who provides for us and makes sure we're never going without any of life's necessities. When Camron needs new shoes or clothes it's Josh who takes him out shopping. When Brady needs more diapers it's Josh who comes with us to the store.

My marriage to Josh is such a sharp contrast to my previous marriage... I was always doing things on my own. Very, very rarely did we ever do anything as a family. Even after Camron was born. Josh on the other hand, wouldn't have things any other way. He comes home right after work every day so we can eat together at our dinner table as a family. He spends every weekend with us doing something as a family. All of the grocery shopping is done as a family. He insists on doing it all with us. (Of course there are times now and then where we each go do our own thing, but it's not the norm.)

Now don't get me wrong, it's not all rainbows and unicorns 24/7. We have had our ups and downs... like every couple. I'm sure there are plenty more disagreements and petty little fights in our future... (mainly because we're both so hard headed!) But we handle them and we move on (because we also easily forgive and forget).

I'm looking forward to all the years to come as we enter new chapters in our lives. I have no doubt that Josh will be right there by my side through it all. He has definitely come through for me and our boys and I couldn't be happier. I love him so much and I'm thankful that Heavenly Father helped guide us to one another (because I have no doubt that he had a hand in all of this). He knew just what I was looking for and needed in a husband and I am so thankful I have found everything and more in Josh.

Happy Anniversary Babe. <3

When you find out that you're going to have your first baby you do like most women do and get prepared.... by reading books, magazines, internet articles. By taking parenting classes. By talking to your mom or your friends who have already had kids....

Then your baby arrives.

Everything you read about, talked about and learned about goes out the window. It becomes a learn as you go type of process. Sure, some of the things you learned about during your pregnancy might apply to you and your baby, but you also learn that your baby might not go by the book.

I know my first baby didn't.

My oldest always seemed to take his time with everything that he did. He arrived 2 weeks after my due date... (he had to be evicted because he was just so warm and snug that he didn't want to come out.) He didn't sit up til he was 8 months old. Started crawling at 10 months. Walked at 14. He didn't start talking well until he was almost 3. He didn't understand the potty training concept until just a few weeks ago... and he's almost 3 and a half.

That's just him... He's like his mama and takes his time with things. I think he wants to be sure that he gets it right before he actually does it.

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When you find out that you're pregnant with baby number two you might think to yourself that this is going to be a piece of cake. (I know I did.) You think to yourself that you've done all this before.... baby #1 was almost like your "practice" baby. Now you're a professional. You've been through it all and now you're totally prepared for another baby.

Then baby number two arrives.

Everything you thought you knew has now gone out the window. Baby number two is nothing like baby number one! Where did this child come from?! He's the complete opposite of his brother!

There must have been some sort of mix up at the hospital.... 


---------------------------------


I quickly learned that, yes it's true... every baby IS different. Even if they're related. I thought I knew everything I needed to know when I got pregnant with Brady. I thought surely another boy of mine wouldn't be that different than his older brother. I was wrong.

I was thinking about all of this earlier today when I was watching my 2 boys fighting playing together in the living room. Where did this 16 month old child come from?! He's screaming, talking, running, fighting, playing, jumping, singing.... He's doing everything that my 3 year old is doing. I don't remember Camron being like this at 16 months old. But I guess that's just it. Brady has an older brother. Camron just had me. Makes me wonder what Brady would be like if he were an only child.

From the time he was born Brady seemed like he couldn't wait to do things! Rolling over at a few weeks old. Sitting up at 4-5 months. Crawling at 6 months and walking by 9 months. He's been playing side by side with his brother ever since. Was he just trying to keep up with his brother... or is that just him? I'll never know.

What I do know is that this has been a huge test of my patience learning experience for me. I love learning about their personalities, seeing them grow and learn new ideas and concepts. They constantly amaze me when they learn new things.

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Now baby number three is in the works. :) We're in the "talking about it"/"considering the possibilities" phase of it right now. We haven't officially told anyone yet, but I think a few people are suspecting. Well, if anyone in our families is reading this... consider yourself in-the-know... but no talking about it! (:::cough::cough:::Annie!:cough:::) When it happens it happens.... :)

I'm sure that baby number 3 will be no different than my first two... (Read: I will have no idea what I'm doing when the baby arrives.)

I'm excited, nervous, happy and scared all at the same time about the possibility of a new baby... a new baby with the man of my dreams. One thing will be for sure. This experience will be completely different than the previous two. I can't wait to share about this new chapter coming up in our lives.

This is going to get interesting....

 Well, in San Diego county at least. :)

Today Josh and I took the boys to go see snow for the very first time. We drove about 40 minutes east of where we live to the little town of Julian, California. Since we've been having some pretty crazy weather here in Southern California this past week we figured that it probably snowed in Julian. Today the forecast predicted pretty clear skies.... So off we went to find out! About halfway there the snow started showing up....
I started to get excited because I hadn't seen snow in about 10 years. How crazy is that? I live 40 minutes away from where it DOES snow and I haven't driven up here since I was a teenager!









 It was absolutely breathtaking! The skies where a bright, bright blue with very few clouds. The snow was freshly fallen. I just kept saying, "Oh my gosh. Oh! Oh my gosh! How gorgeous is this?! Oh my gosh! Oh man, I have to blog about this..." Josh just kept laughing and making fun of me. I couldn't help it though! It was just fabulously GORGEOUS out there!





Seriously, doesn't this just take your breath away?!












Ok, this could be on a stinkin postcard. AHH-MAAAZING!











First time seeing snow in real life!! They had a blast!












On the way back home I couldn't resist taking a few more pictures...












We tried to bring some back home with us and this is all that managed to make it.











So now I'm realizing what an awesome place we live in. I kinda get why we're paying outrageous rent on a tiny 2 bedroom/1 bath apartment. Today we spent a day in the snow... Tomorrow we could be going to do this: (like we did this past summer....)

We're probably going to be super busy this weekend (Chargers are playing on Sunday!) and I'm not going to have time to blog. I don't normally post anything on the weekends anyway... so this is a super special treat! Tonight (Friday) I went over to my old friend Alyssa's apartment to pick up our photo session CD. I've been anxiously waiting to get this CD for about a month now. :) I'm soooo excited to finally have it! Hopefully soon I can print them out and decorate our apartment with our beautiful pictures. (My mom let me know last night that it looks like we're moving out because there's nothing on our walls lol.)

So without further interruption here are just a few of the fabulous pictures that Alyssa of Hybrid Photography took for us back in December...

It's been a busy week for us. I can't even remember the last time I spent the entire day at home. My kitchen and apartment are evidence of this. Dishes piling up. Beds left unmade. Floors haven't been vacuumed. I should actually be doing all of that instead of sitting here on my couch typing this out. I don't feel like getting up at the moment. I'm taking a mommy break while the kids are being good. ;)

Let's get to the reason I'm writing this... we have to back up to Monday morning... I get a phone call from this woman that I go to church with. (She's one of my visiting teachers. If you're LDS you know what I'm talking about.) She wanted to know if I had time for her to come over to visit with me on Thursday (today).

I have to mention that I really don't care for this person at all. She's nice enough, but just not someone who I would normally talk to. She's one of those people who can talk non-stop about anything to anyone. She actually kept me on the phone for a good half hour talking about everything under the sun. I tried my best to keep up with her. Mostly I just said, "Uh-huh." "Yeah.." and "Well that sucks." 

Anyway, she told me that she had talked to my other visiting teacher (who is actually a friend of mine.) and they wanted to come over this Thursday. I told her that it wasn't a good idea to come here because we have an 8 week old puppy at home... I just really didn't want to deal with several kids under the age of 4 going after lovable little Harley. She's a kid magnet. (But she's still underweight from the Parvo and too small to be jumped on, sat on, etc.) So she suggested we all meet at the park at 10:30ish. Sounds good to me...

Fast forward to today.

I'm rushing to get myself and the boys ready for the day. Not an easy task with these kids. They are NOT morning people. I somehow manage to get us all ready by about 9:55am. Perfect. We can all get out the door without rushing. We get to park at about 10:20am. No one is there, but that's okay, we're a little early. I get the boys out of the car and let them run around like mad men. (Thank you to the smart park people who decided to take all the sand out and put in the squishy ground instead! I was prepared for sand and was worried about Brady getting it in his hair, mouth, eyes and diaper.)

10:30am comes and goes.

10:45am... still no one.

11:00am and I'm still not seeing anyone I know. There's a huge mommy playgroup that was meeting there and I'm suddenly feeling like an outsider because all the moms and kids know each other.

11:15am I end up leaving because Camron decided to have a meltdown right in front of everyone. "Mama! My tummy is growling!!! My tummy is growling!! MY TUMMY IS GROWLING MAMA!!!!" He suddenly bursts out in tears and an all out tantrum. Brady, not knowing what was wrong with his brother, bursts out in tears too. Thanks kids... So now I'm holding my crying one year old on my hip while dragging my 3 year old by the hand to our truck. Not my best mommy moment. I could feel all the other moms' eyes burning a hole through my back as we walk away.... Good times, good times...

The next time this woman asks me if she can visit with me I'm just gonna tell her thanks, but no thanks. Some how my month suddenly filled up and I can't possibly fit in an hour visit with her. Maybe next month...

My baby boy turns ONE today! My gosh, I can hardly believe how big he's grown in these 12 months. At 5 months old he was sitting up and got his first tooth. At 6-7 months he was crawling. Eight months old he was standing. Nine months old he started walking. Now he's a year old and already thinks he can do all the things his big brother does. 


I didn't have this blog when he was born, but I did post his birth story on my old blog. I'm reposting it here in honor of his first birthday. :) Happy birthday my Monkey Boy!


Late morning on Sunday, January 11th I felt the first contraction. It was some time around 10am. I really didn't think anything of it because I had been having contractions all along... so I figured this was just some more annoying Braxton Hicks. About 45 minutes later I felt another one. A short time later another one. I mentioned to my mom that maybe we should start timing these as a just in case. So we timed them.... 30 minutes apart, 13 minutes, 40 minutes, 25 minutes. They were all over the place! The only thing that made me think they COULD BE the real thing was that they were getting more intense. I had to actually stop and breath through these ones! From 3pm to 5pm they were 14 minutes apart... FINALLY some kind of pattern! I called everyone who needed to be called just in case this was the real thing. I still wasn't entirely convinced.
I called up Lizz and told her what was going on. I needed her to take me to the hospital since my mom just got out of the hospital and my dad had left that weekend on a trip to Mexico. She was really excited and was convinced that this was the real thing. 

To pass the time I made dinner for me, my mom and Camron. In between making dinner I had to stop to sit down during every contraction. They hurt so bad! 

Shortly after I finished making dinner Lizz decided to come over. At about 8:30 she convinced me that we should go to the hospital to get checked. Couldn't hurt... 

At 9pm I was at Balboa with Lizz by my side. My grandma and grandpa were on their way. When the nurse checked me I was already 7cm!! Holy crap! I was completely surprised by that because my contractions were still about 10 to 14 minutes apart. Hospital policy is that you are not to come in until they're 5 to 10 minutes apart.

They admitted me to the hospital and took me to my labor and delivery room. I told the nurses and doctor that it was my goal to not get the epidural. I wanted to try to do it all natural since I had already made it to 7cm with no help. Shortly after making it to my room my grandparents showed up. 

After an hour or 2 the contractions were getting closer together and coming on harder and harder! Close to midnight the doctor checked me once again. I was STILL only 7cm. I was gonna go nuts when I heard that!! I thought for SURE I was close to pushing. 

After that check things started to get really intense. The contractions were getting almost unbareable. My whole body was shaking. I was hot. I was going out of my mind! I BEGGED for the epidural! I kept saying that I couldn't take much more. FINALLY the doctor came in after what seemed like forever... I was shaking even worse... She told me I had 2 choices. I could get my bag of waters ruptured and deliver this baby or I could get the epidural. I wanted the pain over with right then and there so I choose to have the baby! Plus I knew there was no way I could sit still long enough for the epidural to be put in. By the time the bag was ruptured I was 8cm and unfortunately there was merconium in the water...

As soon as my bag was ruptured things moved VERY quickly! Right as the nurse left the room I felt the urge to push... From here things are kinda fuzzy for me. I was out of my mind with pain... I couldn't control the urge to push. I remember my stomach contracted and I felt myself pushing and a gush of water came out. (Ew! lol) I think Lizz and my grandma were freaking out because the nurse wasn't coming back and they weren't answering the call button. 

After what seemed like forever a ton of people filled the room. I was screaming from the pain. Like screaming on the top of my lungs. My body was pushing the baby out and I couldn't stop myself! The stupid doctor kept yelling at me not to scream, to stop pushing and she kept shoving the baby back inside of me! I guess they were worried about him coming without the pediatritian there. She did this about 5 times. Lizz was ready to kick her butt. They started arguing and I asked them both to stop. 

FINALLY I was allowed to push. I think I pushed maybe a total of 5 to 7 times and he was out. As SOON as he was delived I instantly felt normal again. It was amazing! I felt like super woman. I did it! I did it all on my own! Oh my gosh. I just kept saying, 'I did it!' over and over. 

Brayden had to be cleaned off right after delivery so I didn't get to see him right away like I wanted. Lizz got to cut the remainder of the umbilical cord. (The doctor did the first cut since he had to be rushed over to the table.) While all of this was going on the doctor was stitching me up... taking her sweet time. I swear she did it on purpose! 

FINALLY I got to hold my baby! I put him straight to the breast and he he started breastfeeding like a champ. Nothing like Cam! It was so awesome. 


He was 7lbs, 3oz and 20" long. He arrived at 1:42am... very early morning on Monday, January 12th, 2009. :)

When I was ready to go to my recovery room Lizz (plus her family) and my grandpa went home. My grandma stayed with us. 

Well, that's my birth story. Nothing like Camron's, thank goodness.

I am so glad that 2009 is over and done with. Don't get me wrong, there were many happy times... but there were some bad times too. It's amazing to me how much things have changed in just 12 months. I had a baby. I got divorced. I got married. Geez... It takes most people many years to accomplish all of that.


2010 has the potential to be a great year for all of us. I'm looking forward to this year and all the things we hope to achieve as a family. There will be lots of changes in the near future, but this time they're all for the better. We have a few road trips planned... Paying off our debts... Moving to Missouri... I'm looking forward to all of it!

As promised, here's some pictures from Christmas... (We also got the boys... ok, ok, Josh... a new puppy. More about her at a later time.)

Well, that's all for now. I'm hoping to be able to find more time to blog soon. With two boys and now two dogs it's kinda hectic around here. Having a puppy is like having a newborn that runs, jumps, bites and pees every where. Like I said, more on here later.... I need more hours in the day! Hoping to catch up on everyone's blogs soon. I have a LOT of reading to do.

Yup, we're all sick over here.... Sooooo NOT fun! If I ever find out who gave this 24 hour flu to us is gonna pay... BIG time! Seriously, this sucks.

It all started very late on Tuesday night with Brady throwing up. Think - baby exorcist. It was that scary. I've never had a vomitting child before so this was all new to me. Welcome to being a mother. At first we thought it could have been from the new can of formula we fed to Brady... but no. Right in the middle of doing a load of laundry and baking cupcakes yesterday I had to drop everything to go lay down on the couch. I was there the rest of the afternoon and evening. By the time I went to bed last night I was slowly starting to feel better. So now I'm thinking that he picked something up when I took my sister to her WIC appointment. Now I'm gonna make sure to carry hand sanitizer everywhere!

At 2AM I woke up to Josh rushing to the bathroom. I think he just barely made it. Unfortunately he has to work a half day today. I'm praying that we're all better by tomorrow so that we can make it over to our families houses. So far we're all doing pretty good today. Poor Camron, never got his cupcakes yesterday...

Every year ever since I can remember my paternal grandparents have thrown a Christmas party the weekend before Christmas. I can remember when I was little the excitement I had leading up to the day. Picking out my special Christmas dress with my Grandma. (Because I was ALWAYS over there during school breaks.) I remember being at the Christmas party with my sister, brother and cousins playing games while the grown-ups stood around talking, laughing and dancing. Our favorite games to play were hide-and-seek and one we called witches. (Not sure why it was called that... it had nothing to do with a witch. The game was to make it from one side of the house to the other without a grown-up seeing you. If they spotted you then you had to freeze until another kid tagged you.) I have the best memories from those parties.

My oldest son's third birthday is coming up on the 23rd of December.  My youngest will be one on the 12th of January. Our family and a few friends keep asking me what I'm planning to do. When I tell them that we're going to have cake and ice cream at home they sound disappointed and ask me why I'm not throwing either one a party. Well... quite frankly, I don't believe in throwing little kids huge/expensive birthday parties. We don't have the money and I have enough to stress about in my life right now without throwing 2 birthday parties in the mix. Who would the party really be for anyway? In my opinion, the adults. Sure, the kids will have a good time.. unless it's close to nap time... but they most likely won't remember any of it. Do you remember your first, second, third or even fourth birthdays? I sure don't.

Now if you want to deal with the planning and the cost that comes with children's birthday parties... more power to you! If big birthday bashes are something your family does... AWESOME! If I'm invited I will show up and help you celebrate! ...It's just not something we are gonna do in my family.

I think cake, ice cream, singing happy birthday and a present or two to open with just the four of us works just as well... for us. I'm not doing it to try to exclude anyone. (Which is what I think a few of my family is thinking.) If YOU would like to plan a birthday party for my kids... go for it! I'll be sure to get us all there! Just let me know what time and where. ;) I just don't want to deal with it.






I'm not judging anyone who throws a big party for their kids.... Just don't judge me for NOT doing the same.

My boys are still pretty young, but today we I made a birthday/Christmas chain to count down the days. They made a huge mess helped out as best as a 10 month old and almost 3 year old can. I don't think they really knew what we were doing, but they thought it was fun to play with the strips of red, green and gold paper... along with the markers and glue stick I had out. The chain that we I made has all red & green for the normal days... the gold chains represent Josh's birthday, Camron's birthday and Christmas. Now when Camron asks me, "Where's my berffday mama?" I can show him the chain and we can count the days.



We I also wrote out a quick letter to Santa. (The boys just scribbled on it and kept trying to grab the marker out of my hand..Which is why it's so messy...) Camron keeps asking me for a million different toys OVER AND OVER AGAIN. I figured if we wrote them all down he'll stop asking for the same things. (I thought I still had a few years before he starts asking for specific things...???!) If he does ask again I can point to the letter on our fridge and show him that it's already on the list. Anything to give me some of my sanity back...

ETA: In case you can't read my sloppy writing... Camron's list of toys include:
-A little Batman (as he says this he pretends he's walking around a toy with his fingers.)
-A BIG Transformer (Bumblebee) (he says while throwing his arms in the air)
-Tools ( just like Daddy's of  course)

LOL Kids are too funny.

A few months ago I joined this awesome community of bloggers who know that The Secret is in the Sauce... or rather... the comments. Just wanted to give a shout out to all of my SITStas and wish everyone a Happy Merry SITSmas to all!

Can you believe we only have 2 more weekends to go Christmas shopping?! I know I still have some shopping to do. I keep thinking I have all this time, but I still have so much I need to get done! Christmas cards to fill out. Pictures to print. Presents to buy.... for both Christmas AND birthdays! I still don't have all of our Christmas decorations up. UGH....Can I just say that I'm a tad overwhelmed??

Well, I was hoping to put up our new family picture in this post, but it will have to wait for a future one. (No rush, Alyssa! Lol I know Saturday was only 3 days ago.)

ETA: She sent me 2 of the pictures!! I can't wait to see the rest. :)

We've been so busy all weekend that I haven't had a chance to post anything in about 3 days! The day after the exploding casserole incident we went to Lowes and bought our Christmas tree. While we were there we also picked up this really cute toy tool set for Camron. (He's been following daddy around the house, helping him baby-proof the cabinets... pretending my nail polish is a screw driver.) I think he's gonna love it.

Friday night we went to Sea World's Members Only Night. They closed down the park at about 4:30pm and then re-opened it just for members at 5pm. We got there at about 5:30. I mainly wanted to go because they were handing out Sea World ornaments. Plus we hadn't been in over a month. When we go into the parking lot we were stuck in a long line of cars. Josh decided to follow the car in from of him out of the line, over the orange cones and through a gateway that said, "STOP! Wrong way. Severe tire damage." I was freaking out thinking that we were going to have to call for help because our tires were flat. Luckily his truck tires went over it just fine. We ended up parking right near the entrance.

We were thinking it was going to be really crowded inside, but it wasn't too bad. At around 6:20 everyone in the park seemed to head over to see the Shamu show. After seeing flood of people headed toward the Shamu stadium we decided against going. We pretty much had the park to ourselves after that. We were able to see the sharks, the penguins and the eels with no problem. The boys had a lot of fun... until about 7... then the crying started. Time for bed. So we left.

Saturday afternoon we took a drive to Old Poway Park in North County. We were meeting up with my old high school friend, Alyssa who is now a wedding photographer. She offered to take some family pictures for us as a late wedding present. The location she choose for our pictures was perfect! I had never been to Old Poway Park and I was really impressed. It's located right in the middle of this adorable little community. The boys had fun running around in the grass and playing in the leaves. I think she got some really cute pictures of us and I can't wait to see how they turn out! I'm hoping there's a good one in there of all 4 of us that I can put in our Christmas cards.

Sunday was spent going to church and trying to get the boys to behave during sacrament. Right now our ward starts at 11am... which is right before nap time for both of them. (Not a good combination... Church + Cranky Kids = Most of our time is spent walking the hallways.) I can't wait til the beginning of the year when it will change to 9am. I think they'll be in much better moods at that time.

Now it back to the regular work week. Only 17 more days til Christmas!

It seems like our family has been non-stop since we got married. As of right now, I don't see any signs of it slowing down. I'm not complaining really... It keeps life interesting. The month of December and January is no different.

• December 4th - Sea World's members only night. We want to go get the special ornament that they're passing out that night.
  
• December 5th - Family pictures! An old friend from high school is a photographer and offered to do pictures for us as a wedding gift. :) She's awesome!
• December 15th - Josh's Birthday
• December 23rd - Camron's Birthday
• December 24th - Christmas Eve and my Dad's Birthday
• December 25th - Christmas
• December 31st - New Years Eve
• January 3rd - My Birthday
• January 12th - Brady's Birthday

Mixed in there we have Christmas shopping, grocery shopping, doctor's appointments for Camron's 3 year check up and Brady's one year (that I still have to make), getting our Christmas tree and decorations up, wrapping presents, making cookies, making cakes, visiting family, putting together the gifts I'm making... not to mention doing our daily routines. Oh yeah and Josh's friends want him to install heating ducts on their addition to their house as soon as he can...

There's lots to celebrate this month and lots of fun to be had... but I'm not gonna lie, I'm looking forward to when I can stop stressing about all this and finally breath again!

Thanksgiving is tomorrow! I'm pretty excited because we get to spend time with family that we don't get to see everyday.

It's always been a family... ok MY... tradition to go over to my Grandparent's house for the holidays. Ever since I was a child we spent every year doing the same thing. When I was married to Ron he never argued with me about where to go because his family is spread out over several states. It worked for us at that time. Now I'm married to someone who has family here in town... Things are going to be a little different.

This year and next there's going to be a lot of firsts for both Josh and I. We just spent our first Halloween together... not really a big deal to us or our families. Next is Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. We're going to have to figure out and establish our own traditions. New traditions. I think it's important for Josh, the kids and I to come up with our own. Next year we're planning to move to Missouri and we won't have our families around...

Maybe next year we'll figure out our own family holiday traditions. I think this year we'll just spread ourselves thin and try to visit everyone who wants to see us. We won't have the option next year so I think it will be worth it.

First stop for Thanksgiving will be Josh's parents house at noon. We'll eat just enough to hold us over for the next meal. After we finish up there we'll head to my grandparent's house around 2pm where we'll eat a little bit more and probably have dessert.

Next we'll head over to my mom's house for a quick hello and to drop the boys off with her. They're going to be spending the night with her so I can do some Black Friday shopping in the wee hours of the morning. (Wish me luck on that...) I'm still trying to convince Josh to come with me. He hates crowds and he hates shopping. Black Friday is not a good mix for him...

Now I'm off to make some pumpkin pies for tomorrow's feast!