It's a girl!!!

What a wonderful experience it was last Friday. My parents were coming to visit us. My dad had a business conference in San Diego and so they scheduled to stay for 9 days! I knew that they were coming, but Wednesday night my brothers Darren (and pregnant wife Brandi), Cory (and wife Lindsay and my 3 month old baby niece Brooklyn-who I hadn't seen yet) and Kevin showed up! I was so surprised and touched that they came to surprise us! I have been a little homesick lately. Probably a combination of no family here, the holidays, foreign winter weather and of course those lovely Pregnancy Hormones! So all of them coming was THE BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT EVER! They all happened to come 2 days before my ultrasound and came with me. Brandi videotaped so we have it on tape as well. Maddi can't stop hugging and kissing my tummy! She talks to her all the time! She's so cute.





I am seeing a specialist OBGYN because for some reason, I can't understand (cancer-wink wink!), they think I'm a high risk pregnancy. They did a real in depth ultrasound and measured EVERYTHING. The size of her bones, brain, heart, lungs, fluid levels etc. They checked for spina biffida and clef palate etc. They said that we have a perfect baby girl. When we looked a few times she had both hands up at her mouth. My doctor looked on Tuesday and pushed a button to make it 3D so we have a picture of her face. What a cutie. At this point babies have practically no fat on them, but he said for having not much fat she still has a cute little face. We'll see who she looks like. I can't imagine Carson and I's features arranged in any other way than Madison! Maybe she'll have brown hair and green eyes. Maybe she'll be a tom boy and not like pretending, dancing and princesses. In which case she and Maddi will have NOTHING in common! Growing up in a house of only brothers I never pictured having girls. I really don't know what I'm doing. I know wrestling, star wars and ninja turtles. But Maddi has introduced me to Dora, princesses and nonstop pretending! Heavenly Father is helping me develop my feminine side!



While they were here we went to Disneyland. Madison had never been and Carson and I were very young when we went so it was like our first time too. It was truly magical and I am not being sarcastic! It was like being in this little fantasy world where everything is good and happy. (Until you had to pay $4.00 for a Churro!) But then on top of that they had Christmas music playing the whole time down the streets. It was a really neat experience. It was fun for all of us to watch Madison. EVERYTHING was "so cool" and she wanted us to see everything she saw too. When asked her favorite part of the day, she said "well, I'll tell you my worst part of they day!" Here's what happened.

Pluto ran to her and got down on one knee. She ran to him too (so unlike my shy daughter) and they hugged and then she couldn't get away. His collar had a hook that got her braid and she couldn't get out. It was actually quite funny, but apparently not her most favorite part of Disneyland! She loved going on the "big boy rides" with Grandpa and daddy.







Carson had fun too!








I could not keep my hands off of my sweet niece! We all got some newborn practice in!



It was a wonderful week and I owe all thanks to my family!! I love you all!

Let's play catch up!

Ladies and gentlemen we are going to catch you up today with Halloween, Carson and I's birthday and Thanksgiving. Oh and Proposition 8 too.

First of all we had trunk or treat! Madison was princess Belle from Beauty and the beast. A very beautiful one at that! Carson's brother Brian and his wife came from the Los Angeles area for the weekend so we all had a blast that weekend. Normally we would have to bundle Madison up so you couldn't see her costume and bring an umbrella. But not here. We were in short sleeve shirts all night! Wow, what a change being in Southern California is to what I've been used to my whole life!!











Carson and I's birthday was fun we had a yummy cake. (Brownies with a pudding and whip cream layer with bananas and strawberries and grated chocolate on top-yum!!)












It was a wonderful Thanksgiving. I did it all by myself!!
We had lots of invites from church, but we decided to do it on our own this year. It turned out pretty well if I do say so myself! There was one slight problem that I have to write down so that when my daughter makes her first turkey I can advise her against doing what I did! Also so that if she botches it I can prove to her I did too with mine. So I bought a turkey 5 days before Thanksgiving. On the tag it said there are bacteria that can make the turkey go bad if not properly preserved. It mentioned freezing or refrigerating. I was NOT going to make my family sick, because I didn't know what I was doing, so I decided to freeze it until it was closer to Thanksgiving. Well this particular turkey was 21 lbs. Now all of you turkey experts are smacking your foreheads right about now right? Well I didn't know, first time turkey cooker remember? Well I thought I ought to take it out a day before to thaw right? Well I did some reading and found out that for as big as it was I needed 5 days to properly thaw my turkey!!! So after panicking a little, I ran to the store, bought a small turkey roast and made that for thanksgiving dinner and it was great. And 2 days ago on Sunday (5 days later) I cooked my first turkey and it was heavenly!! Well now I know right? =)

Also this Thanksgiving included our very first Thanksgiving music concert. We have a child old enough to have those! So we were delighted to listen to 4 classes of kindergartners sing such song's as "The pilgrims says thanks, the pilgrims says thanks, high ho the dairy o, the pilgrim says thanks..."
and "5 fat turkeys are we.." It was VERY cute! Here are some pictures of our little pilgrim girl. She is the one in the blue on the bottom row 5 from the left.















We helped a lot with phone calling, and sign waving in favor of Proposition 8. We passed it by 52%.
It protects traditional marriage between a man and a woman. I know that I have friends who may read this who do not share our beliefs, so please don't be offended, we can just respect each other's beliefs right? Anyway, we have received a lot of "crap" for our stance, but we felt it was the right thing to do. The temples in California have been picketed for I don't know how many days now and the gay activists are in the process of appealing it. Anyway we'll see how this turns out. It was good for Madison to experience what it's like to stand up for something you believe in. She was so excited to wave signs with us and was heartbroken when she saw a "no on Prop 8" sign. So sweet.



One last thing. I feel great. My tummy is getting bigger every day and pretty soon I may have to cave and wear maternity clothes. We'll see. I am 16 weeks. Bye!

Maddi turned 6!!

Wow, my "baby" just turned six. I cannot believe it. I guess there'll be a 7 and 8... She's been the light of our lives these past 6 years. She is so talented. She loves to sing, act, dance, read, play softball, color and ride her bike and scooter. She likes to play with Polly pockets, Barbies and my little ponies. Pretty much anything girlie. Did I mention that while she does all of these things (except biking etc..) she has to be in dress up clothes? And usually with each new activity there is a new outfit!
If I am lucky I get to be the queen or princess but usually I play the slave, servant or horse. A couple cute things she has said lately are 1-"Mom look, I can dance in portuguese!" 2- "Mom is this a dream or did you say that we could eat chocolate for breakfast?"

Her birthday was on a Saturday and Carson had to work so Maddi and I went to Sea World . (We have season passes there and if you go one and a half times it pays for itself!) As it turns out it was trick or treat day there. Most kids were dressed up in their Halloween costumes. She went as a um... "birthday girl!" She wore her "I'm gonna be a big sister shirt and all of the employees thought that was a really cool way to tell her and congratulated her on her birthday and baby!

She loves to study the Solar system. She is obsessed with reading these books I got her about each one. They have GREAT pictures and they teach a lot. She knows them in order from the sun. I am constantly amazed by my sweetie. She loves doing the monkey bars at school and is learning to jump rope. Go, go, go! Maddi being in Kindergarten has helped me remember things like "bubble gum, bubble gum in a dish", choosing things by "eenie meenie miney mo" and cubbie holes. What a fun time of life.

On a more serious note she is going to be the best big sister ever. She LOVES babies and just wants them to be happy and not sad. She loves to hold them, make them smile and give them anything they want even if she "had it first". I realize that some of that will change once it's not a novelty, but I think she's old enough to see that "the baby didn't mean to rip your paper" or "the baby didn't mean to knock over your building". She's so caring, I think she'll do great! She already is my best helper, and especially since my surgery, she is very intuitive with bringing me anything she thinks I may need. Well I love her, I love her, I love her and that's my birthday tribute to my sweetie!

We're Pregnant!! Okay, mostly just me!

As my brother so lovingly reminds me "I think it's time to post again". Thanks buddy!! So does it count that we moved a few weeks ago and we didn't have the internet for the first week and a half? No? Okay, well here we go.

I AM PREGNANT!! Yes I will be very surprised if this comes as a shock to anyone because I did a mass email and had people spread the word etc. But if you slipped through the cracks, this blog is for you!!

Most of you have been with us throught the cancer and our heartache that we may not be able to have more children unless it was through a $20K in vetro fertilization. So you know what a HUGE thing this is. When I found out, I dropped to my knees crying and said a prayer of thanks. It was really early in the morning so I layed awake in bed for an hour staring at Carson before I could justify waking him up!! He was so shocked and excited too!! He's decided it's a boy and Maddi wants a girl. I don't care either way, just give me a tiny little one and I'll be happy! I have been sick so I hear that's a good sign. Right now I am 14 weeks and for those who aren't women that's over 3 months. You can hear the heartbeat around 12 weeks and find out the gender around 20. So there are some reference points for you. I am not really showing yet. Well, I feel like I cannot suck in my gut very well anymore, but no one would be able to tell. I have shocked people when I say that I am prego. I am due on May 10th and that is actually Mother's Day! We just told Madison 3 weeks ago even though most of you have known for quite awhile! We didn't want to tell her until we were ready to tell everyone because well let's just say she has no "Poker face"! When we are playing "Old Maid" everyone knows when she has it and when you take it from her! She's so cute. So the story is that she and I made her a new tee shirt but we wouldn't let her wear it for another month. So we took this picture to email to our parents when I was 6 weeks along. Maddi is SSSOOOO excited and loves to read every week in our pregnancy book how big the baby is and what parts are developing this week. Right now the baby is as big as my fist. So I definitely feel it when I lay on my stomach. That for some reason is one of my favorite parts of pregnancy. It just feels cool! Try laying on a baseball and that's what it's like. Anyway...

I thought it would be fun to post some baby pictures of Maddi because she just turned 6, (subject of my next post) and so you can see what a cutie baby we have in store! What would a boy Maddi look like?

Roadtrip to Seattle and Spokane

Well we had to leave our food storage in Spokane, there just wasn't room to bring it. But living here in earthquake land and watching the natural disasters all around the globe, we decided it was best to be prepared so Madison and I bravely drove to Seattle and then over to Spokane. We couldn't go all the way to Washington and not see my family too. The only thing that was a challenge was the fact that we were driving in 105-110 degree weather in a little black pickup with no air conditioning in July. No fun. On the way home, from Spokane it's quicker to go through Utah, so we drove through Southern Utah, Arizona and Nevada death valley etc. It was lovely. We survived by having squirt bottles and being drenched the whole time! What fun memories-at least we weren't walking right? Anyway enough of my whining!

So when we were in Oregon there was a sign that said "Seaside and Cannon beach" 1 hour away. It was 9 pm, not too late. I decided it would be a fun part of our trip to go to the Oregon Coast. We had to stay in Oregon anyway so why not be there? = ) (This is a dog we made friends with)
Now everyone said I was so brave to drive over 3,000 miles alone, without my husband, and I thought, I'm tough, I can handle whatever comes! Then right around 10 pm when I was getting close to the beach, it hit me what they were talking about. I was (and had been for at least 30 min.) completely surrounded by trees on a narrow, windy road in the middle of nowhere. I hadn't seen another car for about that long either. So I thought, what would I do if the car broke down or I ran out of gas? Madison was asleep on my lap and I was alone. Normally you would wait for someone to stop and help. But would I want anyone stopping? Normally I would stay with Madison while Carson walked to the nearest gas station. But this time it would be me in the dark most likely carrying Maddi to....where? So yes, after that, many prayers were said. We made it safe and sound. I talked to the front desk and they said the lowest tide point was 8am.
So Maddi and I woke up at 7:30 to walk down to the beach. We had so much fun. There were so many people there clam digging. They were digging for the long yellow ones that you have to dig around 3 feet to find. We met a family who who were visiting too and learning how to do it. So they let us watch. They were so nice. You looked for a dimple in the sand and plunge a PVC pipe with a handle into the sand around the dimple. When you are all the way down you plug your thumb over a hole and pull it out.
The suction pulls the sand, water and the clam out. It was so fun. Maddi and I found tons of the dimples and we were told to draw a circle around them in the sand so the guys would know where to go next.

Madison spent literally hours writing and drawing in the sand.
She wrote "Madison Lee, Kande". She also wrote "pbskids.org"! She's so funny. These are the sweet, dirty little hands that made so many pictures in the sand that day.

On the way to find breakfast we saw this "End of the Trail" monument of Louis and Clark. It was really cool to stand at the monument and look out over the Ocean.

Now this sign struck me funny. It says "Tsunami evacuation route." Now first, if you see a tsunami coming, I think you'll know which way to go! (AWAY from the water!) Second, do they really think that during that chaotic event people would be looking for a sign to follow?


Next We went to the famous "Haystack Rock" at Cannon Beach. It was only a couple miles down the beach. We had fun. There is so much driftwood! After a few pictures all Madison wanted to do was draw in the sand. She couldn't get enough.
When we got to Seattle we had a welcoming crew!
She had many aunts and uncles ecstatic to see her. We all went out to dinner sometime during that week and she had fun with her CRAZY uncles! Yes Darren did his eyes like that on purpose! How does he do it? Madison made a sign like a beggar and she and Cory decided to go outside (in the backyard) and pretend that they were begging for money. They are so nice to indulge her active imagination! Then she had him be the prince at Cinderella's ball and ask her to dance and she, of course, suggested a dip for the finale!

It was hard to leave, but we had such a fun place to go next! On to Spokane with more family and Grandma Lee! We got our food storage all packed up. And can I just say that it was mostly because of the thoughtfulness of a certain family that I just love. They are the Collins. They don't have the internet so I know they'll probably never read this, but I am so grateful to them for being such great neighbors and friends. They volunteered their family (their kids from 5-17 years old and an uncle staying with them) to come to help me lift all of the heavy wheat and rice etc. I thought I could do it alone, but after all of their help I realize I couldn't have. They are the most thoughtful and serving people I know. I strive to be more like them.
Madison had fun being on 80 acres again and being able to run wherever she wanted and not have to worry about people "taking her" as her mother is always worried about in California!
All in all it was a great trip and hard to leave the great Northwest! We are so blessed to have a great family. Thanks again guys.