Banner's

6 Months of Updating

2011-02-19T18:49:00.000-08:00

*In no particular order*

My mom made all the grandkids the cutest hooded towels that all say their names on them. Griffin's has cars on it and it's T.D.F. Thanks g'ma! My best eater by a long shot...he loves to eat and I love to feed him cuz he actually eats...unlike my girlies. I will feed you all day little dude!

He loved the lights

Temple lights...it's a must

Family picture and opening Christmas gifts with family

First Santa picture...so sweet!

So Jolly!

QT PIE

Finney loves to swing!

Boy toys

Cousins+cabin+marshmallows=a lovely weekend in good weather

Cousins

Ellie loves animals (Halloween ward party)

My cowboy baby at Halloween ward party

Love the kissy face

J'dorableAwwww! PreciousRandom...silly girls dressing up :)Batman (Griffin)Sledding with the fam. at my aunts' cabinRandom hippie Scout picture

Griffin's first Christmas...He's so excited!!!Jake's awesome gun for Christmas

Halloween Ward Party Outfit
(She changed her getup for every party)

This Indian costume was the exact one I wore when I was a little girl

Halloween at preschool

Halloween (one of many costume switches)

Desks

2010-10-10T08:42:00.000-07:00

Here are two new pieces added to our furniture blog. We will also be adding some end tables, a coffee table, another desk, and an armoire within the next week or so. Go check it out and help spread the word. :)

Restoration Furniture Blog

2010-09-29T08:20:00.000-07:00

As a lot of you know, my husband is an artist and we have our own faux painting business. He does venetian plasters, murals, glazing, textures, cabinetry and furinture refinishing, art work, etc. We have started a blog to showcase his furniture that he has refinished which is called http://restorationfurniture.blogspot.com and whatever has a price on it is still for sale and whatever says "sold"...well you can figure that out. We have a button which is at the top right of this blog. We are trying to get the word out so pretty soon here we will be having a contest. The winner may receive one of many things. We haven't discussed exactly what yet but something along the lines of a free finish for one your pieces, a free piece of ours that Jake has refinished etc. Check out the blog to see the collection. (We also have a blog for our Royale Finishes business which is http://royalefinishesdesign.blogspot.com)

Behind the scenes of 2010

2010-09-23T12:09:00.000-07:00

So, jugding by the two comments left on my last post, I know there aren't many readers out there which is fine because it's just kind of like a journal for me anyway. I know there are probably more readers that just don't comment...I'm not a good commenter myself. Anway, a lot has happened this year and although I know the year is not over, I'm writing this post optomistically hoping the rest of the year turns around for the better.

The year started off with me being in my fifth month of pregnancy with my little boy. I feel like the fifth and sixth months are pretty good cuz I get out of throwing up every day and the morning sickness stuff and I'm not too huge and uncomfortable yet so that was a good time. As the third trimester rolled around, it was getting harder and harder. Everyone knows how that goes. Emotions are running HIGH, nothing fits, you can't bend over, or even roll out of bed for that matter. The bathroom becomes your second home, nothing fits, your swelled to the brim yadiyadiyadda. So I finally have this sweet little baby and it was the best labor ever! I didn't feel a thing! TGFEpidurlals! I have really good, chill babies but I feel like no matter how good your baby is, it's still hard those first few weeks with a newborn. Actually, it seemed like my girls were harder than Finn because he would just lay there and the girls would just want to jump on him and destroy him. Every time he cried, Ellie would die laughing because she thought it was so funny and would never want to help put his binkie in etc. I thought they would be good little mommies but they wanted to kill him basically. They're getting better :)

When Griffin was about three or four months, he was sleeping pretty good through the night and I would jut lay awake all night. Also at this time, probably as most mothers do, I started feeling like all I do is be a mom which sometimes isn't super rewarding and it can get draining doing the same things every day especially in summer when there is no school etc. I decided to train for a half marathon which is 13.1 miles. The gym is just a good getaway for me and I wanted to make a goal and achieve something that I was proud of myself for but be realistic. Most of my family members have run a marathon and I haven't but I'm starting small and we'll where it takes me. Some things had been bothering me like no sleep, some neck problems and some moles that I needed checked out. When I was getting my epidural, my aneasthesiologist (sp?) told me I had some moles on my back that I should get checked out. I thought ok but I kind of disregaurded it. One of the trips we took in California, I was laying out trying to get tan and later that day, one of the moles on my back got charred by the sun and the middle part literally fell off and looked like a piece of charcoal. I thought for sure I need to go get this checked out.

When I made my appointment to see the Dr. for my laundry list of things wrong with me, my moles were just a little side note at the time. Dr. Greg Allen took a look and immediately wanted to schedule surgery to have two of my moles removed to be biopsied. I thought, no big deal. I've had like three moles removed already..."whatever when should I come in?" I went in the next week on a Thursday and Monday morning I got a call from Dr. Allen. At first I thought "that's weird, doctors never call their patients...something's wrongd" but he is a family friend so then I thought no big deal he's just being personable and nice. He asked me how I was feeling from surgery and I said fine and then he said the one thing you never want to hear from a doctor "I have bad news!" My heart sank. He told me that they found out in the biopsy that my moles were in the pre-cancerous stages of melanoma which is a skin caner. I wasn't sure if I should freak out or what. He was acting serious so I just listened. The mole on my right shoulder blade was moderate and the one toward the middle of my back was severe. He wanted my to go to a specialist and have them take off a larger radius and go deeper to make sure they cut it all out so nothing was left to turn into cancer. To add to the stress, I talked to Jake around 3:00 that day and he had an appointment at 4:00 to meet with a client but I didn't hear back from him after the appointment and couldn't get a hold of him for like six hours. I found out that he didn't make it to his appointment and I thought for sure he's dead somewhere and I'm dying of caner. It was the most aweful day. Clearly he's not dead but I didn't hear from him until about almost nine that night. I won't go into major details but the person on the other line said " This is the Mesa City Jail calling with a collect call from...Jacob Banner". Yes my husband was in jail!!! Basically he was driving on a suspended license and didn't know it and then tried to go to court but they didn't have record of his ticket so they said they'd send a new court date, so he didn't go to court and the next day his warrant for his arrest went out and a sherriff impounded his car and he spent the night in jail. That was on August 23 and today is September 23 therefore it's been the 30 days and we can finally go get his truck out of the impound. I'm starting to sound super white trash. It was all a huge mess and not fun to go through but that was just a part of our year ya know?!

Back to my moles... I had five more moles on top of that that he wanted removed. I had another surgery for four more moles removed with Dr. Allen the next week. He told me what to watch for with moles: ABCDE A is for a-symetry, B is for borders-if it's not a perfect round circle and it has jagged edges, C is for color (I think) look for it changing color and getting darker, D is for diameter if it is larger than the back a pencil on the eraser part, and E is for elevation (self explanitory) So, I checked myself and he thought there were only four left but I found one on my lower right breast. He asked if I laid out naked and all I could think of was tanning beds to whick he replied are worse than the sun. He said this new one was for sure being taken off because it looked the most sketchy. He would only do three at a time because if one gets infected, they all get infected. This left two more to go.

The following week was when I met with the specialist who was going to be basically digging out my back to cut out anything that was left behind from the first surgery. By this time I was getting kind of sick of doctors appointments, finding a babysitter, freaking out that I might have cancer, copays and dealing with insurance, surgeries, and not being able train for my marathon because of the pain and not even being able to shower etc. The Dr. numbed me which isn't pleasant and started digging away. I felt like my back was a piece of meat and they were just shredding it to pieces. The one closer to the middle of my back, as they got deeper and deeper, I started feeling them cut me so they had to stick me again to make it numb. I was so nauseos from the pulling, cutting, digging, sewing...this was my third surgery in two and a half weeks and I threw up on the pain meds they gave me so I was just done with it.

That last surgery was brutal and kept me from running for about two weeks. On Monday of this week was the first day that I really started feeling good to back to working out because it just felt sore and if sweat got in it, it just felt like when you have a wound and add salt to it it burns. I went back to Dr. Allen to take all my stitches out and he wanted to set up another surgery for my last two moles. I pleaded with him to wait and let me heal. He advised me to take pictures and watch for change and see him in six months or so. I was so releaved. However, I still hadn't heard back on the results of my other surgeries. Of the three that Dr. Allen did, two came back normal and the one on my right breast came back in the mild stages and they cut it all so those didn't need any more digging. The last two I just got my results back on Monday and my right shoulder blade came back normal but the one on the middle of my back had started working it's way lower and that's what happens and starts on the surface and builds lower and lower until it attacks your body. So this one had started going deeper but they cut it all out in the surgery so I'm cancer free! It was such a relief to hear that.

I know that was so long to read but I just want to raise awareness about skin cancer and melanoma and advise everyone to get there moles checked out. I wanted to leave out the hard things about getting surgeries and it not being fun at all but at the end of the day, if I hadn't gone through that little part of checking and removing and suffering for two months, look at the long term suffering and I would have gone through and ultimately death. There are no symptoms of melanoma. Anyone could have it and have no idea. I wasn't sure why people needed to get there moles checked or what the deal was with skin cancer but it's time to stop thinking that it couldn't happen to you because it can happen to anyone. Trying to be tan is not worthe it! It's so bad for your skin number 1 and it's expensive and hard to maintain staying tan. It's so much more fun to sit under an umbrella and chat with friends and family and preserve your skin and health. I am so happy that I got this taken care of and I didn't disregaurd getting mine checked out. I am in full force training for this half marathon in November and I'm excited and nervous at the same time. I just want to say thank you to everyone who helped and supported me through all this and for my dad running with me in this race. He is a little intimidating but I know he's good motivation for me so I'm excited to push myself and see what I can accomplish. I'd like to bear my testimony...jk I won't do that right now :) I really am grateful for good friends and family though and...that's all I have to say about that.

Our Summer In A SeaShell :)

2010-09-13T14:29:00.000-07:00

Our first family photo!

We were actually going to family pics in Cali but we just couldn't fit it into our busy beach-bum schedule so hopefully soon we can have an official family photo.

The three stooges! In order from left to right: Reef Banner, Henry Banner, and Griffin Banner

It has been so fun to have these little guys be so close together. We will all have our hands full next summer when they turn one. Eeek!

California with the Banner'sI just love this picture of Jake's mom. I think she looks beautiful!California with the Jensen's!!! We got mani/pedisThe girls were in absolute heaven As soon as we walked into Disneyland, Scout runs over to the candy and starts chomping on a succor. She has a sucker for a mom when it comes to the Big D and those big brown eyes!

We were waiting for the family to all meet up and the girls look up to see the Snow White witch and as she walked passed she said "move out of my way". The girls still talk about it...Scout one day was talking to her cousin Macy and she said "some day I'll be a princess" and Macy said "Scout, you already are a princess" and Scout said, "No! I'm a waitch!!!" It was hilarious!

Finn's first Mickey shirt and Disneyland trip! I already have his shirt for next year!

Waiting in line to see Minnie Mouse and her house

Just sitting down for family dinner in Minnie's kitchen. It was so cute and I had never seen it before. Highly recommend!
Waiting in line
Princess Tiana!!! We waited forever to see the princesses and the girls were so excited to see what they call Princess and the Frog. Princess Jasmine was first and when Scout saw Princess Tiana was next she bent over and put her hands to her mouth and yelled "Jasmine, Princess and the Frog is here!!!" Everyone was dying laughing!!I love this picture of Ellie with Mickey! Pure joy! M & J at Luigi's mmmmmmm!!!Me and my man. I husbandless a lot on these trips :(

QTPie!

Me and MalPal
My bro-in-law built this city outta sand.

It was a little chilli on the beachMy sis Brooke and her third girl Kylie. She's having her fourth girl in one month!

Best Baby Ever!!!

Sandy Cheeks!The "Ellie Face" still going on strong
We found out watermelon is very hard to keep unsandy on the beach. Duh!

Ellie Mermaid
The kiddos

2 months!

2010-06-12T21:11:00.000-07:00

We made it to the two month bench mark! This little guy is so sweet and handsome.

Finn's two month stats are:

Height: 24 inches ( 85th percentile)

Weight: 10lb 8oz (25th percentile)

Head: 14 3/4 (8th percentile)

Yes that says the 8th percentile for his head. He looks proportioned to me but apparently he has a tiny little head. He's such a cutie and he's growing so fast.

All the kiddos together. He loves his extra mommy helpers. They can't get enough of him.

photography by yours truly

We had Finn's blessing on June 6th and here's his little outfit. I loved it and Jake did such a sweet job. We are so happy to have so much family around us that could be there. We had our after party :) at my mom's and had yummy bbq with my favorite sugar cookies and tres leches cake that was divine (thanks to my gourmet cook friends)

Everything is going so well. I have the most chill babies and I just keep waiting for a crazy baby to arrive. Maybe I'll never know cuz I think we might be done. Lets do it like Seinfield and end on a good note eh!? He's been sleeping pretty much from 10 until 5 but the other night he slept from 10 until 7. It was the best night ever. It had been so long since I had a baby that I was so nervous but things couldn't be going any better. I wish my hubby was home a little more but he's so busy with work which we are very grateful for. Finn eats about 3 or 3 1/2 oz every 3 or 4 hours. The doc says he's a perfect little baby. I know it'll all change when he hits one so I'm enjoying his innocent sweetness while I can.

Strike A Pose

2010-04-25T09:48:00.000-07:00

The girls had their very first dance recital on April 15th and it was so adorable! They loved every minute of it and they had so much fun. Their faces lit up when they saw all the older girls dancing and you could tell they were in heaven. Good job girls!!!

Here was Griffin's first bath and he wasn't very happy about it. He loves to be wrapped tight in his blanket with his pacifier, not out in the open.

He's much happier in his little monkey towel!

...and sound asleep. Ahhh!!!

I love this little guy. He is such a sweet baby. I don't know how much he likes having two extra little mommies all over him every second but the girls can't get enough of him either. I think it's funny when babies are born, people go crazy about trying to figure out who they look like. I don't get it cuz I guess I think they are who they are, ya know? But for all those crazies who try so hard to figure out who they really look like, Griffin has Jake's chin but the top half of him is total Jensen so he's a good mix of both of us. He is such a bessing to have in our home and I'm just happy he's healthy and growing.

Official Family of 5!!!

2010-04-17T19:58:00.000-07:00

Our sweet little boy has arrived! Here's the long story short...I was scheduled to be induced on April 7th and the hospital had no beds (apparently the entire rest of the world is having babies right now too) so they said "don't call us, we'll call you". I was bumbed but went to bed and at 1:50 in the morning we received a phone call telling us to hurry cuz they had a bed open. We got there and by 3:30, I was hooked up with patossin and ready to go. By 7:00 a.m. I got my epidural, 9:00 a.m. the doc broke my water and Jake went to work right after my epidural so I was just chillin' all day. My mom came to sit with me around noon and I was about a 4 so Jake stayed at work. He came back around 2:30ish and my mom was leaving at 3:00 to pick up my kids and they checked me as she was walking out and I was at a 10 all of a sudden. They called the doc and four sets of pushes and 25 minutes later, out came our little angel. I didn't feel a thing and it was the easiest quickest labor ever.

Griffin David Banner Born on April 8, 2010 7lbs. 5oz. & 20 & 1/4 inches long. Name explanation: The name has always been Griffin but his middle name was James. For some reason a night or two before having him, I asked Jake if he liked Griffin David to name him after my dad. Jake said whatever but we just decided to stick with James. When he was born though, I took a pic of him and his hand was up and showed that he has a line that goes across his entire palm and my dad has the same line across his palm. It's rare but a few people in our family have it and everyone makes a big deal when someone is born with that so we changed his name to Griffin David and my dad was so excited.

Ellie's B-day and Clown Party

2010-03-24T15:14:00.000-07:00

Here is Ellie on her 4th Birthday! I can't believe she's already 4 years old. I feel like I just had her and now I'm on my third. We had a very fun day and she woke up to these delicious pancakes with strawberries and powdered sugar (which she asks for every day since then).

Then during the day, we went to a place called jump street which is just full of long trampolines and we went with some cousins and grammie. It was so much fun and us pregnant girls just got sit and watch. We'll be going there a lot this summer!

Finally at night, we went to Superstition Springs mall to ride the carousel, however, I had no cash so that was a bust but luckily the Easter Bunny was there and the girls got to see him and tell him what they wanted for Easter. Ellie still talks about that but Scout was terrified. So funny!!! Then, my sister-in-law told me that on your birthday, you can get a free dozen doughnuts at Krispy Kreme so we just had to go there on the way home. Jake had to work on her birthday so it was just us girls that night. He has been working so hard lately and we missed him that night but we still had so much fun! ( That pic of Ellie is her showing me how old she is. Such a cutie!!!)
I combined the girl's birthday parties so I could get that out of the way before my little guy comes. It was so much fun!!! We had a bouncer, popcorn machine, cotton candy machine, lemonade and junk food galore! Jake did face painting and there was a photo booth, bean bag toss, fishing for goodies, and clown cupcakes.

Baby Brain and Bad Luck!!!

2010-02-26T20:37:00.000-08:00

Happy Belated Valentine's Day!!!

So it all started when I thought I would host a craft night. Hosting an event no matter how big or small, it is stressful. For some reason, your "to do" (and then some) list you've had for years MUST get done all before people start showing up. I had been working on another two crafts until 2 the night before and the entire day of the craft night. Needless to say I was already so tired and pregnant etc. but I just HAD to get these finished for everyone to see. I still needed to make dinner so I started some rice but realized I needed to go to the store real quick. My five minute run to the store turned into me chasing my girls around Wal Mart (or I was waddling as fast as I could without crying because of the pain I was in) and it took 3 times as long as expected. My rice now looked like a lump of coal and smoke filled my house and my girls lungs as I franticly opened windows and doors to air out the kitchen. It was about to catch on fire. There it is. I burnt rice. People say "is that even possible?" What was I thinking? Can I blame it on the baby brain? So my husband pulls up and asks if I burnt something and I said "what are you talking about?"(with a smurk on my face) He was like "tell me seriously cuz I smell something and I think it's my truck and it might blow up right now!" He was dead serious and I had to hurry and tell him I burnt the rice. I was dying laughing!!! Poor guy has the crappiest truck in the world. I wish I could buy him a new one. Anyway, he was pissed at me and our house stunk like crap and I started bawling and was expecting people in one hour. I didn't even make my craft that night I just sat and watched everyone else. It was a rough day.

On a lighter note, here is one of the crafts I made...

I just made that love sign in honor of love month but I think I might just leave it up. It was super easy and cheap (thanks to my mom for giving me some of her fabric). I was happy with how it turned out and the options are endless.

So that was the Tuesday before Valentine's Day so ON Valentine's Day, Jake had a meating at our in the morning before church. It was my responibility to keep the girls from distracting him while in his meating so I thought I'll put them in the shower cuz they love to play in there forever, and I'll get them dressed in my room and we'll just play etc. Well, the shower lasted maybe 5 minutes and they got bored. They wanted out even before people started arriving. I did my best but all of a sudden they bolted out my room. I had no make-up on and wasn't even close to being dressed. I took a second to throw on some clothes and a little make-up to look descent and went to find what my girls were up to. This is what I found...

Ellie CUT HER HAIR!!!!! I let out the biggest scream and Jake came running in from his meating. (He thought by my scream that someone died) I let my emotions get to me and I yelled at him for not shutting the salon door which was obviously my fault cuz he was in a meating. I started bawling and he left the room to finish his meating. Everyone was leaving at that point so when it was all clear, he came back in and I will stop right there. Let me just say it wasn't a pretty sight. Ellie's hair and Jake being upset with me for embarassing him. Mind you, the girls still had wet hair from the shower so all I saw was long, wet, curly, beautiful locks of hair all over the floor in my salon. I hadn't even calmed down enough to inspect the real damage she had done. It was bad but not THAT bad. Again, can I blame it on my emotional baby brain? Along with getting huge while pregnant, a few hundred melt downs and unexplainable emotional events WILL occur. I'm warning you, Keep Your Distance. My poor husband is stuck with me. After we all calmed down, we said our sorries and we're all cool now. These pics don't do it justice and I'm still trying to figure out how to style it and hide as much as possible.

As if those two events weren't bad enough, just as I'm getting to the point where I can go in public with this HAIR and just laugh it off when I look at it, another horrible day strikes again. As I'm coming closer and closer to my due date, it's getting harder and harder to do normal every day things. Going to the store is like someone asking me to run a marathon. I feel like walking around for 20 minutes is near impossible so I try to make my store trips as organized as possible so I don't have to go from front to back and from one side to the other a million times looking for everything to cross off my list. For some reason, that never works for me. I always end up passing the very thing I need ten times and not know it and then spend another 10 minutes looking for something right in front of my face. Can you say BABY BRAIN? (What will I have to blame things on when I finally do have this baby?) Anyway, I went to the store while my girls were in dance but I only had like 45 minutes to shop, check out, load up in the car, and pick them up. On my way to the store, I realized I forgot my check I needed to buy my groceries. I raced home to grab it and raced back to the store and cashed my check leaving me 30 minutes until I needed to pick up my girls. I raced (waddled) around the store blah blah blah and was checking out as fast as I could. Because I'm pregnant (and times are hard) we are on WIC and a few of the items weren't being approved. The checkout guy kept saying "this isn't approved, can you go get a different one?" So I held up the line and felt so stupid waddling off to find the right thing. I could barely walk from being so tired etc. and I made another 2 or 3 trips around the store to find the right juice or whatever. By this time, I was running so late to pick up my kids, I was on the phone with my mom to ask if she could pick them up but she was too far. I finally got the groceries to my car and started bawling out of nowhere. It took me forever to get the stuff in my car and get to my kids. I couldn't stop crying and of course my girls were the last ones there and Ellie asks "what happened to your make-up?" Those kids are used to me crying lately so when they se me cry, they just get quiet and let me have my moment. They are so sweet and we're all excited for my normal emotions to come back. Oh wait, it's not over...So we get home and I open the door to get Scout out and a gallon of milk falls out and busts open all over my drive way and on my pants. (Meanwhile I'm still bawling) The girls also got their dance costumes that day so they were bugging me to try them on etc. I just wanted to finish getting the groceries out so they went in the house and as I was getting another bag out, a jar of pickles rolled out and busted all over my driveway. So there was milk drooling all down the driveway, and now broken glass, pickles, and pickle juice all over the place. Still bawling by the way. I went to grab the hose to spray everything off and because I live on a somewhat busy street, people are driving by and honking at me while I'm cleaning up this annoying mess. If you are still reading this, aren't you exhausted just from reading this? Sheesh!!! To top it off, I thought to myself, I don't want to make lunch, I'm going to order a huge yummy salad from Applebees and put my girls down for a nap and just sit it peace and quiet and eat. I called in my order and went to pick it up and they say "we don't have any to go orders right now". Just my luck! I just waited until they could whip up a salad for me and after I scarfed that, I took a much needed nap. Does anyone out there know what I'm talking about? Or am I just a crazy pregnant lady? Ok, I'm done complaining now.

At the end of the day, I just need to say that I'm very grateful for the good things in my life which is a lot. Although Ellie cutting her hair was traumatizing, it could have been a lot worse and at least she is healthy and didn't cut herself with my shears etc. Although it is hard, I'm grateful to be pregnant with this little guy and I cannot wait for him to come. He's so active and it's so fun to picture him in our family and just wonder what he'll look like and how the girls will be with him and how Jake will be with him. I also am so grateful for Jake and his hard work and his putting up with me. I love him more than anything and I couldn't be more happy right now. Counting my blessings is what gets me through these dumb days that I've been having. Life goes on and it's never too late to change your attitude to think positive. (I'm telling myself this) Just keep on keepin' on.

-Joe Dirt

Silly Scout

2010-01-16T12:07:00.000-08:00

So Scout broke my camera but if I rig it the right way, I can kind of take a picture. Needless to say, we have like no pics from Christmas or anything really. So sad!!! I think we'll be getting a new one for Valentine's Day so we can have a camera for when this little guy comes. We are getting so anxious and excited to bring him into our family. Ellie asks about when he is coming every single day. She keeps saying "Mommy's tummy is getting full!" She also has been going to up to other people that aren't the skinniest people and saying they have babies in their tummies. Isn't that so cute?!!!!! Here we go with the embarassing things my kids are going to say in public. Ellie has been so funny about time lately and she doesn't quite know what I'm saying but she makes things up like I've been telling her the order of birthdays in our family and when hers is going to be. Also, after her birthday, the baby is coming. So she will come to me every day and say "Is my birthday in two weeks and then the baby is coming?" I'm like, two weeks? where did she get that idea? Or if we're at the store, she'll want something and say "Can Santa bring this for my birthday for tomorrow?" Which is nice because I can still use the Santa Clause thing and say if she's good then Santa will bring her that toy for her birthday and she'll just put it back on the counter and say "ok". I figure whatever works ya know? Anyway, my mom has been bribing me to potty train Scout and I was putting it off forever. She would offer to buy me a maternity dress, or an outfit, or take me shopping etc. This has been going on since October and finally she wouldn't stop bugging me so I said if she gave me an ipod that I would do it and she said ok. I started right around Christmas and she has not had an accident for almost two weeks now. She is doing so good and I'm so glad I didn't wait any longer. Jake surprised me (and him) with an ipod touch for our birthdays so my mom was like "oh, now I don't have to get you one anymore" I was kinda bumbed but honestly thats sad that she had to bribe me to do that. Thanks for the push mom! She is actually doing a lot better than Ellie but for the most part they are out of diapers except for a pullup at night and I'm so happy. We are going to get started on the nursery soon and hopefully we'll have a camera to update y'all on the progress. Jake found this awesome wood to put up on the walls and if you know Jake, he'll work his magic and make it amazing. In the mean time, here are a few random pics...

Our Christmas tree! We didn't do ornaments this year except those two princesses at the top. So lame of us I know. The girls got a swingset for their main gift and then a bunch of little things. They loved it all however, all the make-up is hidden because of hot pink lipstick on my rug. Not a good idea for a two and three year old.

Scout making silly faces with Avatar 3D glasses. I love this pic!

I caught Scout crawling up in our closet and she does every so often and just lays on Jake's shoes. She's so funny!

Ellie in our garage just watching dad work away.

Jake working on projects. We actually got a big storage unit for Christmas and so we had an early spring cleaning and he cleaned out and organized our garage out. I am heaven with all the organizing.

My baby bump at I think 24 weeks.

My baby bump at 27 weeks. Can you say Ghetto Booty??? Hello!!!!

2009-11-23T18:55:00.000-08:00

Ellie was a cowgirl for Halloween. She loves to pose for the camera and loves her picture taken (unless it's for professional family pics...she hates to hold still. Why do kids do that???)

Scout was trying to hold still for Jake to paint her face. My girls loved getting their face painted by their pro painter dad

Chowin' down at one of many Halloween parties we attended

Doesn't my ol' man look handsome? (Wal Mart greeter if you can't tell :)

Mom: I love Lucy Dad: Don't ask

Hula girl and Cowgirl. Scout dressed up for the first party and was over it very fast. She refused to put on anymore costumes.

Bloody Lady Finger Cookies Mmmmmm!

My 16 week baby bump. Granted that was about four weeks ago and I'm a lot bigger now but better late than never right?

Summer/Fall

2009-10-18T20:59:00.000-07:00

In no particular order, here are some highlights from our summer and fall. Hopefully my winter posts will be not so few and far between--not to mention more exciting.

Fourth of July family pic

I know they're going to kill some day for always making them match. Oh well, I'll deal with it later but for now, I'll take two please :)My 12 week baby bump. It looks smaller in this pic but whatever makes me look smaller, I'll take it!

Girls' lunch at Barro's for Paige's Birthday. This was fun but also the reason we have girls night...sheesh look at all those kids!

Good news in a minute...just a little something my husband freehanded for a client. He is so talented I just thought I'd show off a little bit of what he does.

My little Pebbles

Our first camping trip. So fun but no sleep :(

It was a ward camp out and they made a cute little train for the kids to ride...they loved it.

The girls started dance and Ellie is obsessed with wearing her leotards and tutus.First day of dance...awww
First Day Of School! Ellie loves her preschool and is learning so much. Her teacher had a cute idea to have the kids wear a certain color every day so they could learn their colors and she knows every color now. Such a smarty!

Chocolate Lipgloss! Any time my kids get a messy face with like mac 'n cheese or something, they say they have mac 'n cheese lipgloss. They are so girls!

Another Pied Piper Contest

2009-10-09T16:08:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm entering another contest. Pied Piper Photography is holding a contest asking for the weight, and date of her new baby girl's arrival. She does amazing work so go check out her blog. Pick me, pick me!!!

Lola B's

2009-09-24T22:00:00.000-07:00

As you can see, I have a new addition to the left of my blog. This button represents a getaway to the fantasy life/style we all want to have. Jet setting to vintage sales and great finds at boutiques, parties, the list goes on. This girl has impecible style and I love following the Lola B's Boutique blog. Her house is j'dorable, and she takes such great photos. I'm always interested in where she's going next and what great finds were found while traveling the world to different boutiques etc. She also gives great giveaways which seems to be all I post about lately. I have never won anything and apparantly I feel I need to enter every contest out there cuz the one I don't enter is the one I probably would have won. Does anyone else have this luck? Anywho, check out her blog and see what it's all about. Hopefully soon I will get back to my real life and actually post about more important things like my children, wonderful husband, and my sweet little baby coming what seems like never. I have a lot to be thankful for so I "think" I will be ok if I don't win yet another little contest :)

Pied Piper Contest

2009-09-10T17:56:00.000-07:00

Pied Piper Photography is having another contest!!! I would love to win a family photo shoot considering my belly is getting bigger by the day and our last summer family pic will be out dated come April. Pick me! Pick me!

2009-08-28T22:31:00.000-07:00

*****Due in April '10*****

Pics...

2009-07-02T13:27:00.000-07:00

Here is my little Ellie!!! I was cleaning out a closet and found my graduation hat. It's so weird to see my kid in my graduation hat. I calculated that Ellie will graduate in 2024. It's crazy to think about but I know it will come fast. :(

I taught Ellie how to do this face and we call it her "Ellie Face"

Here is Scout trying to do the "Ellie Face" hehe

Here we are on Easter. (I know...so long ago but it's like one of our only more recent family pics)

"Happy Father's Day" Getting ready for bed, trying to take last minute Father's Day pics to remember that day.

Sleeping Beauty with the cousins. This play was really fun. We had front row seats. The people were literally dancing on our feat. It was so fun. Afterwards, we went to Chil Fil A and had ice cream. We also saw Blaine from the black team on Biggest Loser. WOOHOO!!!

Swimming with cousins at Grandma J's. Swimming and popcorn...can't beat that !

Splash pad at San Tan.

Spaghetti mess!!! Scout watches me do hair all the time and I think she thinks that anything she puts in her hair will make it pretty. This is the mess I have to clean up after EVERY SINGLE MEAL!!! I'm not even kidding!

Weekend getaway in Scottsdale. My parents gave us two nights to stay in Scottsdale and they watched our kids. It was ssssooooooo fun and so needed. We totally splurged and this is us at Salt Celar. Mmmmmm! We also went to Cheesecake Factory, Carrabbas, shopping, a movie etc.

Crab from Salt Celar. Gone in 60 seconds!
This might look familiar to other moms of toddlers out there. This is what I woke up to on Mother's Day morning. Actually, it was strung entirely off the roll all over the bathroom and I had roll it back up. That was the best I could do. Happy Mother's Day to me!
Smiley Scout! On our way to swimming lessons.

WOW! I got them both smiling in one picture. Very rarely do I get one of those.

DANCING QUEENS!!!

Pied Piper Photography

2009-05-27T13:59:00.000-07:00

Pied Piper Photography is having a catch-up contest which details you can read about here! Go read all about it and check the cute website. She does adorable stuff!

Update

2009-05-04T21:48:00.000-07:00

This is Ellie with her Starbucks treat for going poo in the potty all by herself. I can't beleive she is doing so well! Good job Ellie!

These girls have been playing so cute together lately. It's been fun to watch them get older and play together...I spoke too soon. As I am writing this, Ellie is taking every toy away from Scout and Scout is now whining to me non-stop. WOW!!! Although there are rough times, it has been so fun and I am enjoying these two little monsters ;) I mean angels! Sometimes I wonder why I want more. This blog is a taking a different turn than what I was expecting to write about. Maybe that is why I change my mind EVERY DAY about stopping at two or entering into a family of 5!

Scout had a birthday! She is the big 2 now. She is still my little sweetheart, cuddler that lets everything slide. I love her to death! Ellie also had a birthday and I'm so bad for not posting anything for either of them. Maybe at the end of the year, I'll just do a big birthday post. haha!

These girls are the love of my life and I wouldn't trade them for the world. As a tribute to Mother's Day being this Sunday I would just like to say that I'm so grateful to be a mother. I have experienced things I never thought I could. My love for my kids is so great and I know that this is exactly what I'm supposed to be doing right now in my life. I am clearly not the best mom but I hope to become better and better as the years go by.
I look forward to our future and what it brings. I also want to give a shout out to my mom. We have become so close the past few years and she is such a big help to me with my kids. If I am bored, she will drop everything she's doing and come meet us for lunch or shopping etc. I know she is doing all she can to be a fun grandma-she is even re-doing her whole backyard to make it more fun for the kids. I love you mom and thanks for everything you do for Jake and I!!!

Help Me!!!

2009-04-09T18:58:00.000-07:00

So, everyone posts stuff about their new babies,
and the baby's nursery etc. and I figured I don't
have a new baby but I'm redecorating my girls'
room. Does that count? I actually need help on colors.
We just painted the beadboard white and
the top is a very pale pinkish tanish venetian plaster. I want to add more color and they have some of that hot pink as you can see and their curtains are the green of this message that I just made them ( it's not quite done yet). I want to paint diamonds on top but the question is do we do hot pink diamonds or green diamonds? The color samples are above the pink tin frame. I chose hot pink and Jake chose green. Please, help a girl out and vote. Thanks!

Also, little side note, we ended up selling our puppy. I know, so sad. It was for the better and my advice to anyone with little kids who don't already have a puppy... don't do it.

Hawaii

2009-03-27T22:41:00.001-07:00

Are you ready? Here are a bunch of pics from our Hawaii trip. It was so much fun and so nice to get a break. Jake and I haven't really been on a vacation without our kids in a long time so it was well needed. The original reason this whole trip was planned was because my cousin Alli was getting married and she married my new brother-in-law's really good friend so Jason was actually in the wedding party. We thought we'd show our support and sacrifice leaving home to go to Hawaii. Thanks Chase and Alli! Maui airport waiting for our car. The tree branches in the background look like they a part of Jake's spikey hair. :)

Us girls already getting bored still waiting for the car.

The wedding luncheon was held at Outback the day after we arrived. Who can beat a free meal at Outback in Hawaii? mmmm!!!

We stayed on Ka'anapali beach and this was at one of the restaurants by the boardwalk Hula Grill

More food! You can't go to Maui and not eat at Bubba Gump in Lahaina!

At Bubba's with the fam and my aunt and uncle Nancy and Terry. It was so fun to see them. (They were there for the wedding.)

What tourists?

This was on our way in to go to the wedding. We planned a scooba diving day and that is why Jake is so clean shaven (not for the wedding). I guess the hairs in his mustache makes his mask not tight to his face and lets water in. Doesn't he look cute?

This was the location of the wedding. It was on the beautiful cliff/mountain side looking over Molikini. It was amazing!

If you look at the mountains in the background and go to very middle of the pic and a little to the right, you can see Molikini. That is where we went scuba diving and it's a hot spot for snorkeling.

Mal and I waiting for the Bride to walk down the aisle.

All three of us girls brought black dresses to the wedding. Random!

That wedding was so beautiful. It was so small and intimate on that little hillside and looking over the ocean...amazing!

We found a fun little restaurant called "Cool Cats" in Lahaina. We spent like 3 hours booking our scuba trip and the luau so we were starving and it was really yummy food. We got amazing deals on all the stuff we did but we had to sit through our first dreaded time share meeting. That sucked but I think we saved all together about $800.00. Well worthe it!

Aren't Jake's legs sexy?!? This was at our resort which just opened in January called Honua Kai. It was super nice. Because it was brand new, we got an awesome deal but they weren't finished building so we would be laying out and we would hear cranes, saws, back up beeping noises, trucks, more saws, etc... It was still really fun though.

Jake holding the umbrella pole while Jason tries to hold his body out parallel to the ground

The last night of our trip was our luau. It was really fun. It rained a lot while we were in Hawaii and it rained that night so they were handing out ponchos. It was pretty funny to see everyone sitting there with ponchos on.

The guys with one of the luau dancers

The girls and some luau dancers

Mallory getting frisked by security at the airport. She was so mad, it was really funny!

There you have it. That was our wonderful trip. Hopefully it won't take us as long to get away together again. We did take some underwater pics when we went scuba diving but we haven't developed the film yet. Probably won't ever see those. I'm too used to digital ya know?

Filling you in

2009-03-24T19:40:00.000-07:00

Surprise! We got a puppy. Jake has been begging for one since...forever. I surprised Jake and the girls on Valentine's Day and picked up our little Shih-tzu. Her name is Coco. She is a cutie! The girls love her (probably cuz they don't have to clean up after her) Jake liked her at first but now, he wouldn't care if we got rid of her. He is sick of picking up her crap etc. I don't know the first thing about potty training a dog. I have a three year old human that isn't even potty trained.

I know, I know. That is so sad that Ellie isn't potty trained. I have been getting so much crap for it lately. I'm sick of hearing people tell me what a horrible mom I am. We just got back from Hawaii (which was fun but I will post about that later) and so I just started her yesterday. It actually has been going farely well. She gets embarassed and doesn't tell me she has to go so she'll just go by herself and pull off her panties and go. Which I guess for the second day, is pretty good. However, sometimes she goes pee while she's just standing there and realizes she's not a wearing a diaper and run to the bathroom so half makes in the potty and the other half has made a pee trail to the bathroom. I have prepared myself for the worste so to me, that is great if a drop makes in the potty. Anyway, I will keep you updated on whether or not we still have Coco in a few months. : )

Coco taking a bath in my salon sink

Then New Year's, My Birthday, & Jake's Birthday

2009-01-12T14:51:00.000-08:00

As you can see, we have a very busy December and January. My birthday was January 3rd and Jake's was January 7th. I don't have pics of my birthday other than this beautiful cake my very good friend Kari made for me. This sparkler we put on it stayed lit for like 10 minutes. It was so fun. As we were walking out the door, our babysitter canceled but Kari came to the rescue and offered to let our girls come play with her kids. Thanks Kari, you are such a sweet friend and I'm so glad I can come to you for anything. (And thanks for my yummy cake and cute necklace!) Here we are on Jake's birthday and if you'll notice, that is not a glove to keep his hands warm. That's right, Jake broke his hand the night before his birthday. We spent that night until almost 2:00 in the morning of his birthday in the hospital getting x-rays. I'm embarassed to say that this was the cause of him being a stupid boy and punching the garage door. Not cool! I won't go into any more detail but everything is fine and he only has to wear the cast for three weeks. I'm already sick of his whining.

Buddha, Jake, and Jake's stupid cast.

Jake blowing out candles on his birthday cake that once again our dear friend Kari made. All Jake wanted for his birthday was a great meal made by Kari and he undeservingly got it. I'm just kidding but I sure hope he learned his lesson. He also got Les Miserables tickets from yours truly which we are so excited for.

Happy Birthday Jake!!! I love you despite ALL your imperfections. I know this year started a little rocky but I'm glad we are getting through these times together. I'm so proud of all your hard work and what a great dad and husband you are. Thanks and I love you sugar!!! Hopefully we'll get a break here pretty soon.

Then there was our anniversary...4 years!

2009-01-11T19:34:00.000-08:00

We had our 4th Anniversary on December 29th at Maggiano's. I would reccomend it to everyone. Delicioso! When Jake made reservations for us to eat there, they asked all these questions and when we got there, they sat us right away and this menu of the day. At the bottom is said "Happy Anniversary Jake and Kelsey". It was so cute. The best Tiramasu ever! Gone in seconds.

Jake trying to be funny with our Maggiano cookies. Those were delish too! You have to go!

First there was Christmas

2009-01-10T15:24:00.000-08:00

Here we are on Christmas Day. We spent Christmas Eve with at the Jensens and had a lot of fun! Afterwards, we had a slumber party with Jake's family and stayed up to put out presents and play games. The girls got this awesome rocking carousel horse. Jake faux painted this rich old couple's house and they had this horse so Jake asked if we could do a trade for it and all their kids and grand kids were grown so they agreed to it. It is so fun and the girls love it!

It was the Banners' year for Christmas dinner but with Jakes' parents getting a divorce and all the craziness, we decided to just do our own thing. It was good for us to just be together and do whatever we wanted and not have to please everyone else. We ate at T.G.I.Fridays. It was the only place open and it was packed but it so fun just the four of us.

These are just cute chairs we got the girls. We have to two of the exact same matching thing so they don't fight over everything. We have learned our lesson about trying to get them different things.

Holiday Festivities

2008-12-15T21:03:00.000-08:00

We have been so busy going holiday parties/

events/family get-
togethers etc. It has been so much fun! I love seeing my girls' faces light up when they see Christmas lights, Santa, snowmen and hearing Christmas music on the radio. They love it! They are finally getting to a fun age where they know what is going on.

These pics are from temple lights and that little train park off Indian Bend. It was so cute. They had chanel 8 characters like Winnie the Pooh, Cookie Monster,
Dora, etc. I recomend to anyone. Also, there is a Starbucks up the street and I recommend the White Hot Chocolate with Caramel. mmmmm!!!

We went to an Ugly Sweater party and Jake took this plain peach sweater and used puffy paint to paint on the rudolph and all of the snowflakes. He free handed the whole thing. It was pretty hilarious. What a talented husband I have. ; )

Scout usually has this milk face. She loves her sippy and nothing in her hair. No matter what I put in her hair, she manages to tear it out and get milk all over the place. Love you Scout!

Blow Out!!!

2008-12-15T20:44:00.000-08:00

I love playing with my girls' hair! I blew out
Ellie's hair for the first
time and she
seriously looked
like she was 14!!!

That is called her "Ellie Face" and I love when she does it. I love that girl.

Bang Bang!

2008-12-01T21:40:00.000-08:00

Jake was cleaning out the garage and the girls were getting restless so he decided to mess around with them and make their staticky. It was hilarious. Anyway, Scout needed a haircut so I cut it into a bob and gave her bangs. She never cared if her hair was in her face (as you can see) so I chopped it off. She was so good while I cut her hair. What a cutie pie!

No Turkey?

2008-12-01T20:55:00.000-08:00

My parents just remodeled their kitchen therefore they got new ovens and didn't know hot to work them. Needless to say, the turkey was not done so I had No Turkey on Thanksgiving. I was so sad. It was still a fun day and here are a few pics from our Thanksgiving. Mal and Jas got married two days after Thanksgiving so we celebrated with the Jarvis fam and some cousins.

Jason's fat face. (He has gotten so fat. haha)

I love this pic. of my favorite three people eating pie. Mmmm!

Ty and pregnant Jade

Open wide!!!

Allie and Chase (soon to be bride and groom)

Bride and Groom

Mom and Dad

Bride and Father of the Bride

Me and my man

My mom trying to tape everyone

Love To Love You

2008-11-26T19:44:00.000-08:00

I love these girls so much. I just wanted to say that I have so much to be thankful for. Through all of the chaos in the world, and trials we go through, there still comes a time to step back and count your blessings. My family is a huge blessing to me and I don't want to be anywhere else in my life. I couldn't have asked for a better husband and I'm thankful that during all the trials we've been through, we have gone through it together and come out better for it. I have learned the past few months that your life can change from someone else's actions and no one knows what other people are going through. I have also learned that this is a sick world and we need to surround ourselves with people we trust and who make us feel loved and wanted. That is why I am thankful for my loyal family members, my husband and kids, loyal friends, and the church. Thank you to everyone who has shown love to us and to the Banners as they are going through such a hard time right now. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

Which Paint to Pick???

2008-11-15T21:02:00.000-08:00

We got the front of our house restuccoed about... I don't even know how long ago and it still isn't painted. We are having the hardest time deciding on a color. People drive by all the time and slow down when they get to our house and just stare. I'm sure everyone is sick of looking at our Rainbow House. I went to Home Depot three times yesterday. Some day we'll be done.

Family Pics '08

2008-11-05T22:01:00.000-08:00

We took these on Halloween day. I'd like to say it was fun but after having a two year old and a one year old with no naps and no dinner...enough said. We did get a couple of cute ones and hopefully they will last us a while. That is a nightmare picking out outfits, matching bows, shoes, a place, time...blah blah blah. That is why I can't wait to have a boy because they seem so much easier to dress, and there is no hair to figure out etc. I guess my odds aren't in my favor after seven granddaughters, my parents got one grandson. I'm doomed for drama! Help!!!

To be continued...we are deciding on a paint color for our house. We just smoothe stuccoed it (i don't know how to spell that) and put stone over our brick and I know that everyone that drives down Adobe is so done looking at our ugly unpainted house. I know I am. I will post pics. We are taking votes.

Fall Fun!!!

2008-10-27T21:59:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry to everyone. I'm a horrible blogger! Anyway, I just found a few posts that I have no idea how I got into but everyone is yelling at me for not posting anything new so I will accept your challenge and start blogging more. I can't believe it's already Halloween again. We just had our ward Halloween party and the girls had so much fun dressing up. Aren't they adorable. (hopefully I can figure out how to put their pics on here so you know what I'm talking about.) They are a little young to appreciate all the masks and skeletons everywhere so they got a little scared but they had lots of fun.

2008-05-12T17:04:00.001-07:00

Ellie turned 2 tu

2008-05-12T16:49:00.000-07:00

So Ellie turned two and we had a little tutu party. It was so much fun. Lots of little girls running around in tutus. We had the party in my sister-in-laws' backyard and played on the trampoline and ate cupcakes and pizza. Doesn't get much more fun than that. Although, we are new at the whole "throw your kid a party" thing so Jake missed half the party so he could grab things that I forgot. What a great husband!!!

2007-11-11T17:47:00.000-08:00