Books I've Read In 2009

The City of Ember (The First Book Of Ember)
The Candy Shop War
Change of Heart
Marley & Me: Love and Life with the World's Worst Dog
Inkheart (Inkheart Trilogy, #1)
Dairy Queen
The Off Season
Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)
The Eyre Affair (Thursday Next, Book 1)
Poison Study (Study, Book 1)
Magic Study (Study, Book 2)
Water Keep (Farworld, Book 1)
Fire Study (Study, Book 3)
The Spark: Igniting the Passion, Mystery, and Romance in Your Marriage
The Dragon in the Sock Drawer: Dragon Keepers #1 (Dragon Keepers)
The Christmas Cookie Killer (Fresh-Baked Mystery, Book 3
Royal Target
New Moon (The Twilight Saga, Book 2)
Eclipse (The Twilight Saga, Book 3)
Magyk (Septimus Heap, Book 1)
Chocolate Kisses for Couples: Practical Ideas to Sweeten Your Love Life
Kite Runner
Epicenter
Dragon Slippers
The Hound of Rowan (Book One of The Tapestry)
The Mysterious Benedict Society
Casting Spells
Wicked Lovely (Wicked Lovely, #1)
Ballet Shoes
Flowers of the Winds
Breaking Dawn
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Book 2)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Book 3)
Harry, A History: The True Story of a Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter PhenomenonInk Exchange (Wicked Lovely, #2)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4)
Storm Glass (Glass #1)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book 5)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6)
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows (Book 7)
Dead Until Dard (Sookie Stackhouse #1)
A Wrinkle in Time (Time, Book 1)
Candy Apple Dead (Candy Shop Mystery Book 1)
Pick Your Poison (Yellow Rose Mystery #1)
A Wedding to Die For (Yellow Rose Mystery #2)
Lemon Tart: A Culinary Mystery
Magic Kingdom for Sale--Sold (Magic Kingdom of Landover, #1)
Book of a Thousand Days
Eggs in Purgatory: A Cackleberry Club Mystery
The Brethren
Shades of Earl Grey (A Tea Shop Mystery, #3)
Round Robin (Elm Creek Quilters Novels)
The Mummy Case (Amelia Peabody, #3)
The Hunger Games (Hunger Games, #1)
Key Lime Pie Murder (Hannah Swensen Mystery, Book 9)
Fatally Flaky (Goldy Bear Culinary Mystery, Booke 15)
The Actor and the Housewife
Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary (Fablehaen, #4)
The English Breakfast Murder (A Tea Shop Mystery, #4)
The Rise of Zion (Standing in Holy Places Book 3)
The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1)
Pursued
The Sound of Rain
Hazardous Duty (Duty Series, #1)
Missing Pieces
Flashback
Fool Me Twice
Silhouette
Diamondback Cave
Shadow Hunter
The Cross-Country Quilters
Dead Wrong
Seventh Seal
Keeping Faith
The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands
Above and Beyond (Duty Series, #2)
The Ties That Bind
Pride and Prejudice
The Lost Symbol (Robert Langdon, #3)

More Baby Pictures

Christmas Eve I took some pictures of the kids in their new Christmas PJ's with the baby. I also took pictures of Mom with the baby. They are so cute!

Merry Christmas 2009

We had a fun Christmas yesterday. Of course I realize that I didn't take enough pictures. I was up until the wee hours of Christmas morning wrapping gifts which was awful but once that was done Christmas was great. I will never again wait to start wrapping gifts at 10:30pm Christmas night although this year I did have a good excuse.

The kids were happy with their gifts. ZMan wanted Guitar Hero World Tour and finally Santa gave it to him. He also got new Heelys, DSi games and Wii games. He spent a lot of time in the family room downstairs playing his new games. Princess Izzybee got an Easy Bake Oven and Heelys from Santa and we gave her games for her DS, Bendaroos and Phxo's. She is excited for her cousins to visit today so they can bake together. The Doodle was so excited to open gifts, she loved all the presents. She got a new baby with baby accessories, A My Little Pony Baby, a Leapster 2 and games along with other toys. She is happy and we are still opening things. Most of the day was spent napping and relaxing which was wonderful. I don't think we've ever had such a lazy Christmas day.

My mom has the few days off after Christmas so she flew up from St. George Christmas Eve to visit for a few days so it was perfect that Baby Ruby had arrived. It was fun to have Mom here for Christmas. Today Tiff and her family are coming down for dinner.

Grandpa and the kids

About a month ago Grandpa C was admitted to the hospital with some major health issues. After he improved he was moved to a nursing home down the street from our home. Randy has been so wonderful and made it a point to visit him at least once a week and generally more often. The night the baby was born the nursing home had a Christmas party and Santa visited. We bought gifts for Grandpa and the kids from Santa and then Santa gave them the gifts. I was in the hospital but Randy took the kids to the program. Hopefuflly new slippers is what Grandpa needed/wanted from Santa.

Merry Christmas

Welcome Baby Ruby Noel

Our special Christmas present was born yesterday, December 22nd at 7:37am.
She weighs 7 lbs. 13 oz. and is 20 inches long.

Isn't she beautiful? We are very happy and feel very blessed. I will give you more detail when I have a chance to catch me breath.

Added later:

I woke up around 11:30pm to go to the bathroom and it felt like I was leaking. I wasn’t sure if my water had broke so I stayed up and cleaned the kitchen and put a few things away. About 12:15am I decided that my water had broke and it was just slowly leaking. I woke Randy up and we talked about who we should call to take care of the 3 kids. Randy called his brother Rick who drove out from the West Valley area. We left the house about 1:00am for the hospital and it was snowing; I was so glad it was the Christmas break and the kids didn’t have school in the morning.

After I was checked into the hospital and situated with my IV I asked for an epidural. I wanted to make sure I had the epidural before any major pain came my way. When I checked in I was a 4 so we had some time. Just as I was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable, the anesthesiologist gave me an epidural. About 4:00am I was still a 4 so the doctor instructed them to start me on pitocin to get me moving along. I dozed a little and finally at shift change I felt a lot of pressure and the new nurse checked me and I was a 10. She called the doctor who was there within about 20 minutes. I only pushed two or three times and Ruby was out.

Rick and Kayla kept the other kids for a few days, which was such a blessing. I didn’t worry about them and I knew they were having fun. I was able to go home December 23rd about 5:00pm and I was so happy to be home.

Finally Friday

This taking it a little easier the past few days has been more difficult than it sounds like it should. I still have life and family things that need to get done so it's hard to just lay down and rest instead getting stuff done.

I'm just about done with our Christmas shopping. Just a few more last minute things I will need to get but nothing super major if I didn't get if done before the baby came (except one thing I need to work on today online). My 3 hour shopping trip about killed me this morning, I was so tired. I guess I will need to do some grocery shopping next week.

I do have a few things for Randy but I'm still not sure what he wants. He is so hard to shop for. If he wants something he just buys it for himself. Randy always gives me the best gifts and I never know what to get for him. If you have any ideas, please share them.

Back in September and October I told Randy that we should just disregard our regular family Christmas Photo Card and newsletter and send out a Happy New Year's Card and newsletter after the baby came. Then we are only sending out one announcement/card and I don't have to have family pictures when I'm so pregnant. He seemed on board with this idea although he really didn't say much which should have been my first clue that either he may not have been listening or he didn't agree but didn't want to say anything to me. The other day Randy said he's going to write a family Christmas letter and I should try to find a family picture to add to it. I reminded him of my New Year's idea but he said he still wanted to do a Christmas card. It's just funny how we communicate. My friend who has normally taken our pictures has retired from it so I am going to try newborn shots and family pictures from a girl in our ward. Change is always hard so I'm hoping I'll be just as happy with the new experience. I've heard good things so I think it'll be okay.

My mom has Christmas off and the two days after so she is flying up Christmas Eve. We've never had Mom here for Christmas so it'll be fun to have her with our family. We are also trying to hook up with Tiff and Allen but Tiff works every night so we'll see how that works out. I guess in thinking about it I should grab a few more gifts for Mom. I sent a few home with her two weeks ago but I don't know if she's bringing them back up or what. I never know what to get for her.

One more week until Christmas and today was the kids last day of school until after the New Year. Yay!

Doctor Update

I went to the doctor today and she said I was a 2. Yay! Again, this doesn't mean much but it's better than a 1.

The doctor was worried about my blood pressure she said it was too high. She had me rest on my left side for awhile and then took my blood pressure again and it was higher. She sent me home with instructions so take it easier, rest for about an hour every morning and afternoon lying flat on my left side, and do only do light household chores not heavy cleaning. She said if my blood pressure doesn't improve by next week for my appointment the doctor will put me on all day long bed rest. I've never had problems with my blood pressure before so this is new to me. I asked her to just induce me today but she didn't go for that yet. Anyway, I will try to follow her instructions but I am hoping that I'll have the baby by next week. Patience!

Tuesday Update

Last night we braved Christmas shopping at Toys R Us with the kids. We took them to purchase gifts for each other and it's funny how after an hour of walking through the store several times they still had a difficult time deciding on what to get. I had to keep reminding Princess Izzybee to focus on her brother and sister because she kept finding toys she wanted. I'm glad that part is done. I'm still not finished with all of our shopping but daily I'm working on it. Again, I hope by the end of the week.

My blog ticker reminds me that I have 19 days until my due date. Please, please happen soon. I have a doctor's appointment this morning. Last week the doctor said I was only a 1 which basically means nothing. I keep hoping that today she will say I'm in labor or something. With ZMan I went to the doctor and he told me I was a tight 1 and he would probably see me back there the next week. That night my water broke. Then 3 years ago with the Doodle the doctor said I was a 4 so I thought I would deliver within the next 24 hours or so. Six days later she finally came. It's amazing how different each pregnancy is. The unknown is killing me.

This past Saturday Randy and I celebrated our 11th anniversary. Instead of planning a special date like we should have we spent the day as a family with the kids. It was fun and Randy took me to one of our favorite restaurants. We should have at least gone out alone without the kids. We did take the kids to see the Princess and the Frog. It was such a cute movie, I loved it (even though I did snooze through it a little).

After Friday the kids are out of school for 2 weeks. I'm happy about this break and I know they are so excited. Their dad plans on taking them skiing which again they are very excited for. Hopefully we will be able to do some other fun stuff but it depends on this baby and when it decides to join our family.

Snow Day

The Doodle loves, loves the snow. She loves to put her boots on and walk through the snow, especially the deepest part of the snow. The Doodle was so happy to see snow and begged to go out into it all day long. When Daddy got home I bundled her up and she "helped" him shovel the driveway and walkway and had so much fun. She wasn't happy when she fell in the snow but otherwise she was in heaven to play in the white stuff.

When brother and sister got home from school they bundled up to go sledding at Cheese Park with their neighborhood friends. While waiting for their ride they grabbed their snow shovels and attacked the neighbors driveway across the street. They didn't get it finished but it was so cute to watch them over there working.

Tuesday Tidings

Woke up to snow this morning. Too bad it's not a Saturday and we couldn't just stay home warm watching Christmas movies and enjoying our Christmas tree.

We finally got our Christmas tree up this past weekend. We mainly let the kids do it. I did put the lights on and the top half of the ribbon on the tree. By the bottom half my back was killing me so ZMan finished the ribbon and even though it doesn't look "perfect" he did a good job. The kids hung the ornaments wherever they wanted and I just let them. The Doodle has been playing with the ornaments ever since and I just have to let her because otherwise I would be yelling at her all day long. It's funny how I used to be so particular about the tree and where everything went and I've had to let it go as the kids have gotten older. I still need to finish putting up some of our Christmas decorations through the house.

This past Saturday we went up to Logan to see Danni get baptized. It was so nice to share her special day with the family and see how happy Danni was. Watching Allen baptize and confirm Danni was pretty awesome as well. Congratulations Danni!

I have a doctor's appointment this morning. For a little over a week I've been having contractions so I'm anxious to see if I'm dilated at all. I am so ready to be done with this pregnancy. I'm not sleeping very well so I've spent many late nights watching Christmas movies on Falalala Lifetime Channel while my family is in dreamland. I so hope I go early.

I am about halfway done with Christmas shopping so I need to finish that up this week. I was hoping to already be finished but I still have stuff to get. I am jealous of everyone who is done. I'm stumped on Princess Izzybee, the other two kids were easier this year. My goal though is to be done this week.

California Pictures

Cornbread Chicken Pot Pie

This recipe is a good way to use up some Thanksgiving turkey. It's simple and my girls and husband really like it (ZMan doesn't like anything). I use whatever vegetables we have around.

Cornbread Chicken Pot Pie
1 10 3/4 oz can cream of chicken soup
1 8 oz can whole kernel corn, drained
2 cups chicken or turkey, cubed
1 8 1/2 oz pkg corn muffin mix
3/4 cup milk
1 egg
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Mix soup, corn and chicken in 9 inch pie plate. Mix muffin mix, milk and egg. Pour over chicken mixture. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Sprinkle with cheese.

Serves 4

Piano Recital

ZMan had his first piano recital this past Tuesday. He played "Theme" by Mozart and played it perfectly. ZMan started taking lessons this past September and has really improved. It seems like he likes taking piano lessons. Every morning he practices from 7:00am to 7:30am before school. We are so proud of him.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We're Back

We got home from sunny southern California Sunday night. Our vacation was so much fun so it was difficult to come back to "normal" life.

I will have to come back and post more detail about our trip but basically we went to Sea World, Disneyland, California Adventure Park, Ripley's Believe It Or Not and Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. A ton of pictures were taken so I have a lot to post. We've been having some computer problems so I'm not sure when I will be able to share everything.

I thought I was smart before we left on our trip and gathered up the kid's school work so we wouldn't come home to massive amounts of homework. We were so busy having fun that we hardly worked on any school work. Sunday night was spent doing about 4 hours worth of homework with the two kids. I'm glad this week is a short week of school so they don' t have any homework for the week.

It's hard to believe this week is Thanksgiving. I have lots of unpacking, house cleaning, shopping and food preparation to do but unfortunately I don't have very much energy. I am 34 weeks pregnant and ready to be done.

ZMan's Brithday Celebration

ZMan had a good birthday yesterday. He really wanted Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days. I order it for him last month when it first came out but every time we walked by the book he would beg for it not knowing that I had already bought it. it's one of the few series he loves to read so I am happy he wanted the book so badly. His DS broke this past spring so he has been patiently waiting the a new one so we surprised him with a new DSi and he was so happy that he hugged it. His sisters gave him a new game for his DSi.

Happy 10th Birthday ZMan!

Birthday Celebration

The Doodle turned 3 on Friday. Friday was also the day we planned for ZMan to have his friend birthday party so an hour before his party we celebrated the Doodle's birthday. She had just woke up from a nap so at first she wasn't super happy but once she started seeing her gifts she perked up. She has loved her princess shoes, princess dress and pony toys.

Our Crazy Life

I can't believe that today my baby is 3. Some days it seems like time goes by so quickly and other days it just drags. The Doodle doesn't get the whole birthday thing yet but I know she'll be excited to receive some gifts today. She has been quite a challenge with her strong personality and such a blessing to our family. I'm a little anxious and nervous to see what type of big sister helper she will be with the baby.

Tonight we are celebrating ZMan's 10th birthday. His birthday is next week but we are having a sleep over birthday party tonight with his friends. He's pretty excited, I'm not as excited about this sleep over.

A week from today we are taking the family to Southern California for a family vacation and we are all so excited. We will do Disneyland, Sea World and I'm not sure what other sights we will see. I'm excited to see the Doodle get excited at Disneyland. Last time we went she had just turned 1 so she didn't get into any of the fun stuff but this time she will love it. Randy's sister and her two boys along with Randy's mom will join us so we will have a full group. I'm sure the kids will have a fun time with their cousins. There is so much to do to get ready for a family trip so I'm feeling a little overwhelmed, and I can't wait until we are ready and on our way.

Randy finished the front side yard with grass two nights ago. It looks good. It's exciting to have a yard again. He's working so hard on our yard in all his free time. I think tomorrow he will tackeling the rock area in the front yard.

The baby's due date is quickly approaching and I'm ready to not be pregnant anymore but our home is not quite ready for the baby. There's still so much to do and things to buy. I will concentrate on this stuff after or trip.

Happy 3rd Birthday Doodle!